What I find interesting about the chapter is the fact that now that we have shifted the focus from the Bonney and Kuma’s plot-strand, to the Vegapunk one, Oda only now seems it fit to introduce the vice admirals to the story. This means that the VAs will play a vital role during the now starting plot-strand. And this is why Oda gives us insight to some of their characters, with Doll even revealing that she served under Saul 20 years back.
Also odd is that for the beginning of the plot-strand, we have already Vegapunk down and on the brink of dying. If the Stellar cannot move anymore and is almost dead, than focussing now on him, would not make any sense – what is there to write about, if said character cannot physically contribute to a story? Unless Oda will change the focus to something else beside Vegapunk. What this is, is still not clear, but talking about an incapacitated man would not be very exciting. Besides, Oda is even giving us a hint in which direction he is strearing the current plot-strand: Vegapunk mentioned in this chapter that he has changed his mind and does not want to flee from Egghead anymore, but instead wants to stay there to protect something.
The questions, which arise, are: What does he want to protect and why has he changed his mind in the first place? It must be something important to him.
Furthermore, I find it curious that although the Stellar before had told everyone that he should lie where he was, because he would die, if moved, Sanji did ignore him and carried him away only a chapter later. This hollows out the seriousness of Vegapunk’s statement and feels more like a means to an end to separate the Stellar from the rest, who have now gotten to safety. This means that Oda still needs Vegapunk there on the battlefield for some reason. What this is, can only be theorized.
Another thing that seems odd is that Oda and his team seems to have not really cleaned the chapter before publishing it. They also were not really detailed about some background characters. We can see it on page 10 from the raws very clearly: The giant in the last panel is drawn rather messily and around VA Pomsky’s scar are still the outlines from the pencil. I hope Oda does not force himself into too much work again just to stick to a time table he forces upon himself. Burnout is no joke … .