Did Oda write this chapter specifically to make up for shafting Zoro and dropping all his plotlines at the end of Wano? If he did, he mostly, but not entirely succeeded.
I like getting to see the little bits of the crew on the Sunny (and no Carrot or Caribou is good too, although they may still appear). In fact, I could have taken this chapter over two, one for Strawhats, one for Cross Guild and Revos.
Strawhat bounties. Being honest, not a fan of most. It’s like Oda had these all planned at the start of Wano, changed his mind during Wano about what they would achieve and then just stuck to them at the end anyway. Anyway
Chopper’s joke wasn’t especially funny at Dressrosa and it’s just obnoxious now. Give him a real bounty ffs.
I think generic raises are cheap and lacking in effort. It means Usopp in particualr gets far more than he deserves while Franky got shafted. Franky’s bounty poster presumably setup for a Sunny Mecha.
I like Robin’s.
Jinbei, Sanji, Zoro. Now, from a fanboy perspective, I love Jinbei, I can laugh at Sanji fans. I am delighted that it looks like Oda will keep Jinbei as a top four guy. This does remind me that really, Jinbei should have beaten Jack instead of wasting him on trashing WW (which cost Brook a fight). And I think Zoro’s is too low.
Honestly, think it would have made more sense for Jinbei and Sanji to swap bounties and Zoro just having a flat 1.2 billion. I don’t really get these numbers, but oh well. It is what it is. Sucks to be Sanji.
Cross Guild. I fucking love CG. It’s the best thing Oda’s done in years. I was never worried that Mihawk wouldn’t be strong- what I was worried about was that he would just be this strong guy that Zoro and Shanks has fought and that is the extent of his role. This is a very, very welcome change. First, that’s it’s giving him other characters to play off- and two of my favourites to boot. Second, we’re getting an interesting Mihawk backstory. A Marine Hunter? That’s very interesting considering how little there is to benefit someone in doing that. Also, a hint at being betrayed in the past? Was Mihawk betrayed by Marines and that’s why he hunted them?
Mihawk and Croc bullying Buggy is excellent, especially since it seems some folk here genuinely needed reminded what Buggy’s gag is. He’s fucking fodder. He rises to positions he does not deserve. Croc showing more charisma in a few pages than the Wano villains did in 150 fucking chapters.
CG bounties
Is Croc’s complete and utter fanservice? Yes. Do I care? No, because I’m one of the fans it’s servicing. If Oda wants to make Croc insanely strong than be my guest.
Buggy. Lol.
Mihawk. Had to be that high, cause Kid and Law’s was so stupidly high despite havig garbage crews. I find two things interesting about it
-he’s now, roughly, 2.5 billion away from Zoro, which is the same distance Luffy is from Roger.
-there’s a ~500 mil difference between Mihawk and Shanks… the same as between Roger and Whitebeard.
Think both could be deliberate. You just know the line comparing him to Shanks has been done deliberately by Oda to stir some fan wars, I still think we’re going to see Shanks and Mihawk as the mid-gen Roger (Shanks) and WB (Mihawk).
The RA: now, please god Oda, I’m on bended knees here. You’re giving Mihawk great stuff. Do the same for Dragon, please. Hell, let him kill Sabo if he wants, idc. With Kuma’s state and the coverstory I think the next arc (or, if the next arc is short, the next big one) could be the RA trying to get Kuma healed by Vegapunk, meeting the Strawhats, along with Caeser and Germa for some MADS reunions. It does seem that some mix of the RA, CG and Shanks are the next big plotline.
And of course, this is interesting because someone seems to have sunk right into the background where he delights in being- Blackbeard. This is where he shines, when the world’s eyes are elsewhere. As far as everyone else is concerned- at least bounty wise- he’s not that big a threat. He will do something huge at some point to disabuse them of that notion.
Also as an aside, I think we can just dismiss Blackbeard’s current bounty and the fifth emperor thing. I think Oda just doesn’t care about Blackbeard’s bounty compared to everyone else until it rises to it’s peak, which will be 5 billion plus.
And I think we can just flat put ignore Wano Luffy being the fifth emperor. I don’t think it was mentioned once in Wano, Oda’s giving people like Croc a bounty over it, it just seems like an idea Oda had one chapter then decided he didn’t like it right after.
Anyway, for bounties I’m interesting in seeing Mihawk vs Ray (and to a lesser extent, Oden). Also thinking that the RH and the eventual BB bounties might make the old Yonko ones we’ve seen look like shit. Like, I’m not going to be surprised if random folk like Lime Juice and Vasco Shot have billion plus bounties over Katakuri and if Beckman is 2 to 3 billion himself.
