Ohhhh man, the mother of all build ups. It's Roger vs Whitebeard next week! All the animals freaking out and running away is a very hype premonition. Gods are about to clash.
Oden still messing around and having fun, only Oden would start a family on the ship and take his kids on the adventure. Every other pirate seems to abandon their wife and kids for the sea as if it's an ultimatum. To be fair, Whitebeard's crew is the perfect pirate day care for children all over the sea. So Ace inherited Oden's long abandoned position, and we know that's the division Blackbeard worked under. There is no hierarchy in Whitebeard's Commanders, so it doesn't really matter who is assigned to what number. I just want to know who were the five most capable guys assigned: Oden, no longer apprentice pheonix Marco, young high potential Jozu, young high potential Vista, and someone else who gave their position to Thatch?
Blackbeard is finally here, already scheming to achieve greater ends by using Whitebeard, and he definitely met the man who followed the path most similar to him which is Oden. There is no way these two men from the same division didn't have a somewhat close relationship, Oden was tricked by Blackbeard and by Orochi. I like the contrast between orphan Blackbeard and orphan Orochi. Blackbeard made wild moves as a child in the New World and obtained the Yami Yami through his own efforts, from researching this specific power to killing Thatch. Orochi was more less manipulated and set on a disastrous path, over time inherited the ill will of his grandfather bounded by blood and clan, even his Mythical Zoan was brought from outside Wano to him by someone who already consumed a Devil Fruit.
Orochi finally gains his motivation, becoming Shogun was just him rectifying the misfortune brought by the universe. Some sketchy outsider that was able to obtain the Mane Mane and Mythical Hebi Hebi set the wheels for turmoil in Wano in motion and left. Fascinating. It doesn't seem like she even wanted anything, she lived in miserable conditions with Orochi for years and got out there before she could enjoy the plush Shogun life. Because of the Mane Mane, even her grandma appearance could be a fake front. The conspiracy is much greater than it seems. I want to throw in the possibility of a Cipher Pol agent weakening Wano from the inside, but at the very least this character should be dead in the current timeline.
Interesting stuff about the 5 Daimyo families. In the past they all had a representative until Granpa Orochi offed them. Currenly Ushimaru and Yasu both belong to the Shimotsuki, the Kurozomi fell out of favor, and there are two unknowns. Meaning another family was also not holding power at the time. I wonder if they bear any of sort of grudge for that, though most likely it would be directed toward the Kurozomi so it's not anything significant to worry about.
Every time we see the Roger Pirates, we get a more complete view of his crew. There are crew members here I've never seen before in the background like the Young Franky design. Seagull is very likely a fishman with that fin-like hair and trident, maybe a normal colored human-looking one like Jack. And Shanks wearing both of Roger's hats, he's the Nami of the crew lol. I wonder if we'll finally get the complete crew next week.
Wondeful chapter. Roger feels like killing himself, Oden feels like his adventure is lacking a final destination, who will these two destined men meet on a battlefield? Someone please freeze me for 7 days.