Great action chapter. Lovely sea train color spread with the Strawhats toasting to Oda's good health hopefully. Yamato on the Jump cover reveals red horns just like Black Maria then her multi-layered hair fading from white to green to Kaido blue. I like it. Ulti who had blue hair with pink streaks, now Yamato with her partially dyed hair, it's rare for Oda to give his girls multiple hair colors and now we have two prominent ones.
Big Mom returns having a business meeting with her favorite sons Perospero and Marco. Because Robin seriously sent her all the way outside the skull. "Do you not trust me?", Big Mom's words for the fanbase. She fully intended to pull one over on Kaido at some future point and take the PK crown for herself. I have to agree, why bother joining forces with your hated rival just to end it a few days into the alliance before you obtain a single Poneglyph? It's pretty funny that Marco is treated like an equal partner in this negotiation. Perospero is freaking out while Marco plays it cool. He's here by himself and not even in charge of the raid, but BM sees him like a psuedo-Yonko backed by forces of the ex-Whitebeard Pirates and respecting his choice to pick a side in the war. Finally, the reason at least Perospero but none of the other BM Pirates made it to the skull was for a Carrot and Wanda revenge plot. Spared from the rooftop battle to become candy. Surely with Wanda's brains and both of their Sulong forms, there is a creative solution to defeating one-armed Peros. But if Wanda goes down and Carrot pulls a miracle off by herself, it's Carrot4Nakama time.
Kaido...this does not make you weak. They're just THAT strong! Amazing choreography and paneling, lots of creative shots. That's how a gang of samurai slaying a dragon should look like. All the damage Kaido keeps taking, but he just looks clean one page later. Kaido remains a slow big fat target in his Dragon form because he still can't believe what's happening. He has fire breath, lightning breath, ability to create clouds, flies without the use of wings, none of it useful so far but this is one Mythical Zoan that breaks all ideas of restrictions. Raizo also showcases powerful ninja scroll magic, potentially world-breaking. Raizo was the one fiddling with the seastone box hiding the keys to Luffy's Udon seastone cuffs, it's unlikely he's a DF user. He could be carrying legendary scrolls created by a talented DF user in the past. Otherwise we're left to assume there's a potent magical power system that ninja have access to in the background of this series. Raizo was introduced making clones and substitute logs, to go from that to sealing Kaido's Boro Breath with paper and throwing it back in his face is a stunning leap in his capabilites. I would love to hear more about this stuff in a future SBS or databook.
It's nice to get confirmation that Oden's disciples were each working hard to develop their own unique fighting styles behind his back. But still charming that they learned Ryuo and even mimic Oden's technique at the end of the chapter to show their respect. The extra katanas being weilded there probably belonged to some fallen Minks. Inuarashi with his Zou rapier on one hand, his Wano katana on the other, and leg sword Santoryu style looks the best. I could imagine Black Maria being given her own OST by the anime to segue into the battle between Kaido and the Scabbards. Very surprising to see how little the Strawhats were involved in this action heavy chapter, something Onigashima desperately needed, but next week we're definitely getting back to them. It'll be interesting to see how Big Mom and Marco, Perospero and Pedro's avengers plays out with all the other action inside the dome.
