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One Piece Chapter 995 Review/Recap

I think that we all knew going in to the raid on Onigashima that the Straw Hats were about to face their toughest battle yet. After all, they’re going up against two Yonko at once. But if they can’t win against Kaido and Big Mom, then what hope will they have against Blackbeard? After the last chapter saw Queen unleash a plague of ice zombie demons on everyone, things get desperate. And this week, things get even worse.

Recap

As Marco continues to try and block Big Mom’s path, he soon finds himself outflanked by Perospero, who’s more than willing to take a killing shot against him. Fortunately, though, help arrives in the form of the Sulong-empowered Wanda and Carrot. Both of them have a score to settle against Perospero for killing Pedro, so they stay behind to fight Perospero while Marco pursues Big Mom into the palace of Onigashima.

Inside Onigashima, things are becoming desperate for the Straw Hats. Zoro and Drake are desperately trying to get the antibodies from Apoo, but the pirate remains as slippery as ever. Worse, Chopper manages to get infected by the ice virus!

Elsewhere, Nami and Usopp are doing no better. Try as they might, they can’t overcome the likes of Ulti and Page One. Left on the brink of death by the two Beast Pirates, Nami’s left with a choice: admit that Luffy won’t become the Pirate King and live, or refuse and die. In utter defiance, Nami proclaims that Luffy won’t stop until he’s King of the Pirates. Enraged, Ulti prepares to end the navigator’s life…only to be stopped by the timely arrival of Otama atop a giant dog.

Review

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the Straw Hats get backed into a corner. They’ve had to deal with this kind of scenario several times in the past, and aside from Sabaody, they always came out on top. Hell, Sabaody ended with them being separated for two years instead of being outright killed or captured. In other words, I knew that the Straw Hats were going to make it out of this in one piece. And I was right.

No matter how bad things may look, I know that the Straw Hats are going to get out of this mess in one piece. Simple as that. Good chapter, overall.

I Give “A Kuonichi’s Oath” A 4/5

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One Piece Chapter 992 Review/Recap

When you’re the mangaka behind one of the greatest manga ever made, you’ve got high standards to meet. Then we Eichiro Oda, the genius behind One Piece. The man works so hard on his series that he hardly sleeps. It’s no wonder why lately, he’s been taking frequent break. However, after a nearly two-week vacation, Oda returns with one of the most action-packed chapters of the manga of the year. And all I can hope to say about it is “wow.”

Having recovered from the Straw Hat’s throwing her out, Big Mom meets up with her son, Perospero, and Marco the Phoenix. Apparently, the latter two teamed up to beat up Kaido. now that they know Big Mom joined up with Kaido, though, the deal’s off, with the Yonko mocking Marco for the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates for falling so far. Marco fires back, though, by saying that the Whitebeard Pirates are free to do as they wish. Speaking of which, Carrot runs off to fight Perospero and avenge Pedro, while Luffy continues on to the roof.

On the roof of the school, the fight between Kaido and the Scabbards begins in full with neither holding back. The fight is so epic and intense that I cannot properly explain it in this recap. The long and short of it, though, is that the Scabbards manage to hurt Kaido. Several times!

After giving Kaido the beating of a lifetime, the Scabbards then adopt Oden’s two-sword style stance, much to the Yonko’s fury. Despite saying that their strength’s inferior to Oden, they still manage to hurt Kaido!

Recap

Oh my gosh, Oda; this chapter was so worth the two weeks of waiting! It’s these kinds of action sequences that define a great Shonen manga series, and One Piece has some of best fights you can find. In addition, after the first act established how tough Kaido was by shaking off Luffy’s attacks, this fight reminds us that the Yonko’s not a god. He’s a man; an unnaturally strong one, but a man just the same, and he can be beaten. Also, seeing Raizo turn Kaido’s own attacks back on him using his ninja arts was a great reference to Naruto.

As for how the Scabbards are able to hurt him despite his claims of them being weaker than Oden, I can only think of one explanation: Haki. Either they’ve used their time to train their mastery of Haki to greater levels, or them using it in conjunction is enough to overwhelm Kaido. Either way, they need to keep up the pressure.

As fun as watching this has been, though, I have no doubts that Kaido hasn’t begun to fight seriously. Because when he does, then I don’t know how long the Scabbards will last. It’s sad, but also necessary so that the main hero can take down the big bad. Standard Shonen formula. Until that happens, though, I’m going to enjoy watching Kaido getting what he deserves.

I Give “Remnants” a 5/5. Pure. Epic.

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One Piece Chapter 989 Review/Recap

You know, there might have once been a time when the Yonko would have scared me. When they were these powerful pirates who even the toughest enemies Luffy had fought feared. Then came the events of Whole Cake Island and we saw Luffy spit in the face of Big Mom several times. Then once we got to Wano, and we’ve seen Kaido try to break Luffy, only to fail like we knew he would. Now that the big raid’s come and Big Mom knows Luffy’s here, she wants nothing more than to kill him.

And here I am, just laughing at her threats.

I’m serious. The angrier the Straw Hats seem to make Big Mom, the funnier it seems because the old hag can’t read the writing on the wall. She may be powerful, but what’s a Yonko in the face of the future Pirate King? She can try and resist as much as she wants, but the Yonko will fall at Onigashima.

Recap

The enemy remains in utter shock at the fact that Franky just used his bike to attack Big Mom, while Shinobu and Momonosuke use the confusion to get to safety. Yamato also joins them (much to their confusion). As Big Mom recovers and gets even angrier at more Straw Hats, Franky insults her by calling her a hag. Nami tells him to run, but he stands his ground, saying that they’re going to make Luffy King of the Pirates. To make things even crazier, the Numbers appear. It turns out, they’re “failed giants” that Kaido got from Punk Hazard.

Franky takes one of them down pretty quickly, but he leaves himself open to attack by Big Mom. Before she can, though, Jinbei judo-throws him into a net made by Robin. Together, the two manage to roll the Yonko right out of the banquet hall.

Meanwhile, Luffy meets up with Zoro and the two try to make it to the roof to take down Kaido. Before they can, they get intercepted by King and Queen, forcing them back into the banquet hall. As a result, all of the Straw Hats are in one place and the Alliance has enemies on all sides. Despite this, Hyogoro admits that he doesn’t feel like they’re losing. Neither does Luffy, as he tells his crew to defeat the enemy while he goes to kick Kaido’s ass.

Review

Holy cow, that chapter was amazing. No wonder this was trending on Twitter yesterday!

I also wasn’t kidding earlier when I said I laughed at Big Mom’s threats. We’ve seen how powerful the Yonko are, and how strong their flunkies can be. But we’ve also heard that about every foe that Luffy and his allies have fought. Save for the Admirals and Magellan, the Straw Hats have managed to beat them all.

So, Big Mom can get as angry as she wants. She can rage about tearing Luffy apart and how much she hates him, but that’s not going to change the simple fact: two of the Yonko will fall at Onigashima, either by Luffy’s hands or by the Samurai. And while I’m pretty confident that Luffy and Zoro could go toe-to-toe with Big Mom and Kaido, I’m even more confident with all the Straw Hats fighting together. And if the last page of this chapter says anything, they’re about to kick some serious butt.

Great chapter all around, really looking forward to seeing the Straw Hats show the Yonko why they shouldn’t have messed with them.

I Give “Somehow, I Don’t Feel Like We’re Losing” a 4.5/5

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One Piece Chapter 940 Review/Recap

When you read One Piece long enough, you’ll learn not to freak out over every little problem that occurs. The reason being that it will either work itself out or turn out to be to Luffy’s advantage. In this case, I’d say getting thrown in Udon Prison’s working to Luffy’s advantage.

Recap

After his argument with Shinobu, Trafalgar storms off in order to bust the Heart Pirates out of prison, despite knowing that it’s likely a trap or they already talked. Usopp and Nami don’t blame them; they’d do the same thing.

The quiet’s interrupted by three newcomers to Ebisu Town: Bungo, Bongo, and Bingo. These three stooges lived in the Flower Capital running an arson scam, burning down buildings and then getting the money to rebuild them and from the families of people who died.

Komurasaki swindled them out of all their money, and when they tried to kill her a few chapters back, they got thrown out. I love karma. They’re now living with Tonoyasu.

Speaking of Tonoyasu, he tells the others that he will provide all the support he can when the Alliance launches their rebellion, then goes on his merry way. Shinobu and Kanjuro still have no idea who he is, though.

Regardless, it’s clear that everyone in Ebisu Town loves Tonoyasu and his smile. He doesn’t have any money of his own since wages are virtually nothing. He even had to sell his own daughter to the Flower Capital. To everyone’s surprise, his daughter’s actually Toko.

Toko sends all the money she earns back to her father, but her dad feels bad about it, so he gives it to everyone else in town so that they can get by, even if it means he goes hungry. So he’s beloved by everyone in town as their Buddha.

Meanwhile, in Udon Prison, Luffy and Hyogoro have managed to beat the stuffing out of everyone Queen throws at them. Fed up, Queen decides to call it a night and continue tomorrow.

While the guards are knocked out, Luffy tells Hyogoro why he’s so determined to beat Kaido: so he can be King of the Pirates. Not surprisingly, Hyogoro actually met Gol D. Roger when he came to Wano years ago. Their conversation’s cut short by the appearance of Caribou and Raizo. That key Raizo stole turned out to be for Caribou’s shackles, so now he can he use his Swamp-Swamp powers.

Caribou then begs Luffy to let him be his subordinate, and that he’s changed. (So lying). So what does Luffy do?

The implication is that if Caribou tries anything again, Luffy will kick his ass. That will be enough to keep him in line for a while.

Hyogoro, meanwhile, nearly cries tears of joy when he learns that the Kozuki Clan and the Nine Red Sheaths are still alive. Combined with Luffy’s compassion to him, the old man decides to throw his lot in with them and help take down Kaido and Orochi. And he won’t be alone. Udon Prison is bigger than they know.

There are four other mines that make up Udon Prison, each as big as the one they’re in, and home to tens of thousands of prisoners. Most of them were imprisoned for attempting to rebel against Orochi. On top of that, the former bosses of the Yakuza are in Udon as well; they will follow Hyogoro and the Kozuki Clan. Luffy makes it clear to everyone what they need to do: destroy Udon Prison and join forces to defeat Kaido.

The hour of freedom may be closer than the group thinks: Chopper and Big Mom’s group has just arrived outside of Udon.

Review

If you read my recap of the First Act of the Wano Arc, then you’ll remember how I said that Luffy would be running Udon Prison within a few days. That’s largely come true. I also predicted that when Luffy escaped, he would bring all the prisoners with him for the rebellion. This has turned out to be even better than I hoped for. Tens of thousands of people in one place, and all of them hate Orochi. If they were to escape, they would have the numbers they may need to crush Kaido.

They may not have a choice, though. With Big Mom already at Udon Prison’s gates, they may end up getting out that night. Oh well, just improvise.

There is a downside to this, though. If everyone was to escape, then Orochi and Kaido would become too paranoid to hold their yearly meeting. For all we know, Kaido could decide to call whatever forces he doesn’t already have in Wano to his location. This could lead to an even bigger war than I anticipated.

This chapter ended up getting me seriously pumped for what is to come. If done right, this will be the second mass prison break that Luffy’s responsible for. There are still a lot of unknown factors to worry about, but I know Luffy can handle anything.

I Give “The Spark of Rebellion” a 5/5. I am so pumped for the next one!