What a magnificent chapter. You could feel the ambiance the entire time that Oden was bowing out of the story.
The "legendary hour" wasn't just Oden boiling but all of Wano waking up from their slumber. When you have scenes of Oden killing himself to save a few lives on top of everything he's done over the last 5 years, then a sharp contrast on the other side with Orochi easily offing civilians who spoke against him and bearing his sheer hatred of them on his face, it pretty much clicks in everyone's brains what happens the moment Oden leaves for good. After this awakening, you can understand see why war rages all across Wano as the other Daimyo all refuse to bend the knee to Orochi and their regions are forcefully subdued with clans even wiped out.
Great to see that Oden got a final speech passing on his dream to the Scabbards and the rest of Wano. I was wondering when this was going to happen, no surprise it was saved for the final climatic moment. None of the Scabbards are having second thoughts. Even if you couldn't believe their initial reason for joining and putting their loyalty oo Oden, at the very end lord Oden more than repaid them by saving all of their lives as subordinates. A traitor in the past could not be a traitor in the present. After this, I assume Denjiro and Ashura stay behind to distract Kaido, next Inu and Neko go down possibly doing the same, but the other 5 Scabbards make it all the way to Toki in Kuri.
I love how Oden started out wanting to open Wano just to satisfy his own curiosity, going in and out of the country and exploring the world to quench his adventurous heart. Now opening Wano is something he's obligated to do, this concerns something beyond him and the Kozuki and involves the entire fate of the world. Oden even told the Roger Pirates he wasn't planning to open Wano for another two decades, when theoretically if Orochi wasn't in his way he could have opened Wano in mere years after his return. Wano is hiding big secrets, far bigger than just another poneglyph and Road Poneglyph, and for its safety Wano was keeping these secrets to itself until the next Joyboy made his entrance. The war that will separate the oceans. Wow. Easy to see the conclusion of Wano will directly lead to the events of the Final Arc.
Nice to see Kaido regain some of his awe. Kaido killed Higurashi for getting involved in his fight. Like he set Big Mom free from the cuffs, Kaido seems to care about his 1v1 record but he's not going to stab himself like Katakuri in the name of fairness. Flampe better kiss her big brother's ass. Strange to see him pick up a gun but I assume Kaido was limited in his options for instant execution, and he had enough respect for Oden that he wanted to end the man himself. Similarly, Oden tells Toki nobody at this time is going to be able to remove Kaido from Wano. It's reasonable. There's a lot of outsiders he wouldn't want getting involved in Wano, while Roger is dead and Whitebeard and his young crew may simply stalemate the Beast Pirates + Orochi's forces who have the home advantage. Oden tried to do the deed himself and failed, he's not getting second chances here so he's forced to put his faith in Momo and Joyboy. Joyboy is the man who will surpass Whitebeard and Roger, and he's going to be chasing down Poneglyphs, so the odds of drawing him to Wano and defeat Kaido are pretty good. Oden even tells Kaido to get stronger, because Joyboy is coming for that ass.
I thought the flashback was pretty enjoyable overall. Oden started as the perfect man but then we learn he has just as many flaws a certain MC. He started out rather petty and quick to draw his sword, even Whitebeard is concerned about letting him on his crew, but then ends up laying his sword down for 5 entire years because that's how he personally believed he could save the most lives. The ragtag group of fanboys following him were people Oden was not interested or invested in, he wasn't a pirate recruiting manpower. They earn Oden's attention by proving themselves by becoming proper Samurai, at the end of it all Oden sacrifices his life and leaves it to them to carry out his dream. Oden's personality is hard to pin down. He's not badass, goofy, hotheaded, or a quirky immature MC like Luffy. Oden is his own unique mix of all these things which made him charismatic and memorable to me. Honestly, the only thing that really bothered me was that the longest flashback was not long enough. I would have loved to have spent more time with Oden and the Scabbards, spend more time on off-panel events or shortened sequences. But at some point this thing has to end, this may not even be the only flashback in Wano with Kaido and Big Mom sharing a past with Rocks. Summarizing the entire life of a man in a couple of chapters is very hard to pull off, especially if that includes a journey with the Pirate King which could potentially overshadow you, though I still quite enjoyed what we got out of it as these were some of the strongest chapters in Wano.
