Amazing Jump cover. Boichi drawing Ace had to happen. Horikoshi choosing Krieg gets my respect. Shima picking Gaimon is hilarious. Love whoever chose and drew that Bellamy. Somebody picking old Shinobu as their favorite character is hard to believe, but commendable. I assume we'll see the rest next issue.
Lovely seeing Yamato and Ace have a grand old time. A short and sweet flashback as it wasn't very eventful. I like seeing the updated Spade pirate crew in the manga infiltrating Kaido's card domain. Luckily, Kaido and the boys were off partying so they didn't get handed a retroactive L. Ace could have quite literally burned Onigashima to the ground, but that would have resulted in Kaido taking out his frustration on Yamato and the people of Wano. Interesting that a rookie like Ace has eyes on up and coming rookies like Kid, Law and Cavendish. That means Yamato should know who they all are. While Kid and Law are expected to have big roles here in Wano, including Cavendish could be hinting that the Grand Fleet will show up to the rescue after all. Should I even ask what Kaido the Beast Pirates were abducting kids for?
Even Whitebeard falls to Kaido, king of the hostages. Ace, Marco and Izo knew about Oden for years and wanted to invade Wano for quite some time. The rest of the commanders are strangely not that attached to Oden, which explains why they didn't show up to the raid. Sorry boys, majority votes we never go back to Wano. On one hand, Whitebeard was sick and Wano naturally fortified putting the WB pirates at a disadvantage. On the other, Kaido did not have a Gifter army back then (See Babanuki, Poker and Stag-less) and half of his Tobiroppo (X-Drake, P1, Ulti) likely missing as they were young additions, with Yamato as another powerful enemy. It all came down to the fact that Kaido occupied Wano and held it captive. Whitebeard wasn't going to avenge a long dead comrade and risk wiping out survivors in Wano for Oden's sake, quite possibly losing the war so Wano is not even freed at the end. At least Marineford was a mission to save Ace then turn tail, civilians already evacuated from the battlefield and defeating Navy HQ was never their winning condition.
Zoro looks like the happiest man in the planet knowing he doesn't have to challenge the stairs. Good sequence from our phoenix friend trying to ignore King and Queen. We got cut just one page away from a Marco Vs King. I love that Queen rigged his Zoan form to hide a bunch of weapons in his mouth. Maybe his arm is not the only part that's mechanical. If nothing else, all that dino mass is good for hiding a lot of weapons. Robin and Brook not able to get a ride to the roof, running up the castle instead just adds to last week's suspicion that both of them are taking over Tobiroppo fights.
Big Mom reveals Katakuri got his fashion sense from babysitter Kaido. It's somehow adorable that Big Mom sees Kaido as her little brother. Big Mom told Perospero she proposed the alliance, she tells Kaido how vital Robin is to finding One Piece, and the lifelong debt she holds over him is the Mythical Uo Uo no Mi. She honestly looks like the mastermind in control right now as Kaido is left asking about Pudding. Then she reveals her hand too early asking if Kaido's Road Poneglyph is in the castle where Onigashima is heading. Kaido knows betrayal is right around the corner. Nekomamushi telling Robin how vital she is to all the poneglyph hunters in the New World finally comes back to haunt her. But while I don't believe anything special will happen to Robin now that Wano is near its climax, the fact that big players are well aware they need Robin is feels like foreshadowing for a cheater and a trickster like Yonko Blackbeard to pull off a scheme in a future arc. Lastly, Kaido dreaming of New Onigashima that will cause lots of death is the nightmare scenario of the arc that must be avoided. Somebody has to stop these Yonko before that happens.
Linlin - "Kaido? Maaamaamama, you guys will never take down that
THING"
Koi D. Ou, the big fish in little Wano. Damn, Oda's still got it. Wano on top of a waterfall, the carp leading you into the country, the myth that Kaido achieved immortality, the strongest in land, air and sea. It was right in our faces. Kaido is the little fish that could. A fish incapable of swimming is as bad as it gets for the Zoan class, maybe the hybrid form has a pair of lungs but Oda has avoided aquatic Zoans telling us the are simply a burden. For Kaido to work through it and achieve the strongest Zoan of them all is an inspirational story. If Zoan Awakening is tied to the power of evolution then that would be a really interesting power up for a limited class. Blackbeard would not put up with a Devil Fruit that doesn't grant him instant power, he won't be stealing this fish. It's very unlikely there's a living race of Eastern dragons, but Ryuma sliced a Western dragon and they were the basis for the Punk Hazard dragons. Oda left the door to the Mythical Ryuu Ryuu model wide open, with Yamato a strong candidate for a Mythical Zoan and then there's that character called Dragon.
A banger of a chapter. Yamato talking about fate, Luffy's D. and whipping out the book of Oden could lead to a huge Chapter 1000 revelation. The man of the hour was missing this entire chapter, so 1000 I expect the focus to go back to Monkey D reaching the roof. Some predict Chapter 1000 to drop an iconic character introduction and the best bet of that is Rocks D. Xebec in the start of Kaido and Big Mom's flashback. While I don't believe it'll happen until Act 4 as following an Ace flashback with another flashback is a little too much for Oda, the timing wouldn't be bad with Big Mom and Kaido together and ready to fight. We might see another dark chapter like 900. If you're a Scabbard, I wish you all the best of luck next chapter. To add a sense of hope, Mr. D Clan and all the characters touched in this chapter like Kid, Law, maybe even Zoro make it to the roof to face against two Yonko at the end. Still too many possibilities! I'm over the moon until next chapter leaks.