What a marvelous chapter. The flashback just keeps getting better and better and I can't see the climax in sight. It's written that way by design, probably to match the crescendo of Oden's life. Last week we saw the retainers reach new heights by becoming better versions of themselves, this is week is Oden's turn as we see him in a new element living as pirate, a subordinate of another legendary man.
When it comes to adventure, there is really no other manga or comic that I read that manages to evoke the same emotions. Oden is quite literally the Luffy that got to ride on Shank's ship and experience the world through that crew, but I imagine Luffy wouldn't have his own Pirate King ambitions if that took place. I said Oden wouldn't be that irresponsible, but he totally was! He abandoned everything in Kuri for the romance of the sea. With Kuri already rebuilt from the ground up and seeing the retainer's transformation, Oden probably figured his boys could manage things for a number of years.
Interesting to see only Izo, Cat and Dog sailed in the end. Cat and Dog starting out curious about the world outside of Zou and ending up pirate adventurers themselves was a really nice follow up to their life story. We also get a nice nod to Nami's dream here. In the Viz, Marco suggests there are beyond 10 or 20 million islands if you wanted to count them all. Exaggeration? Absolutely wild, I don't think Earth comes close to a million islands unless you start subdividing barrier reefs and whatnot. And Nami has to spend the rest of her life drawing, charting, cataloging, and putting all these islands together to create one complete globe. Even if she mapped one new island per day, she wouldn't have enough lifespan to reach a million! For the first time, the scope of Nami's dream sounds just as impossible as Zoro becoming WSS and Sanji finding the non-existent All Blue. Maybe even more so.
So Oden is Whitebeard's little brother. That simple gesture makes it easy to visualize their relationship. Oden was probably the oldest and by a big margin the strongest of Whitebeard's subordinates, with the same independent mind as the fierce butting heads aboard the Rocks crew, Oden even has his own family as it relates to his retainers on the ship and his wife Toki. In that sense, Whitebeard and Oden operated on a similar level. Speaking of which, I wonder why Izo stayed with Whitebeard over Oden in the end. He only got on board as a victim of circumstance but by the end of the chapter he's partying too. Did he stay to make Whitebeard pay, to serve him in gratitude for his service like Jinbe in Marineford, or did he genuinely gain a new pops?
Toki's appearance again is giving me endgame vibes. A legit time traveler from the Void Century. A man who accompanied Roger to One Piece. The Kozuki clan that created the Poneglyphs to begin with. The fall of multiple Yonko armies. The impact of Wano opening up and its secrets spilling all over the world. The World Government could find themselves in a desperate situation again. The conclusion of Wano is going to be insane, a nice segue into the final arc.
And then finally Gold Roger arrives on the scene. I smell two more adventure chapters here: Roger meets Oden and the crew transfer, then the end of his pirate journey and return to Wano. With Sukiyaki looking frail, Oden missing, Orochi making power plays, that's when the actual conflict over Wano should take place. Easily the longest flashback in the series and one of my favorites already. Please Oda, take all the time you need.
