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One Piece Chapter 1123 Review/Recap

It’s finally over. After almost two years, the Egghead Island Arc has come to an end, and what an ending it was! The Straw Hats, Bonney, Kuma, Lilith, and Giant Pirates have made it out safely, but the feeling remains bittersweet. Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t save the original Dr. Vegapunk, and this chapter confirms that he did, indeed, die. In a surprising twist, though, we learn just how thoroughly Vegapunk played the World Government without even remembering it. He made sure that he didn’t, and sacrificed himself to tell the world the truth.

Recap

Thanks to Emeth’s final attack, the Navy Fleet at Egghead Island is out cold. None of them can pursue the Straw Hats or Giants! Thanking Emeth for what he did, Luffy and the others make for all ahead full and sail away from Egghead Island. But while most are celebrating, Sanji looks at Vegapunk’s lifeless body, uneasy about what he said to him earlier.

In a flashback two weeks ago, Vegapunk, Shaka, and Pythagoras were reviewing data when they realized something: someone had stolen part of the Mother Flame! Knowing only a Vegapunk could do that (and thinking it was Lilith), they kept quiet about it. A week later, Pythagoras confirmed that the real traitor was York. She stole part of the Mother Flame and ratted on the Vegapunk’s to the World Government. Then, a day later, the unthinkable happened: Lulusia was destroyed.

Realizing this could have only happened if the World Government had used the Mother Flame to power an Ancient Weapon, Vegapunk could only conclude that it was due to York gave it to them. Horrified by this, but knowing that they’re already dead men walking, Vegapunk chooses not to run. Instead, he will turn the coming second Ohara into a giant “F you” to the World Government. So, the three of them get to work.

Two days before the Straw Hats arrive, they make the recording and program it to go out once Vegapunk’s heart stops beating. Then, they erase their memories to ensure no one can catch onto them. The only evidence they leave behind is a warning that the World Government is coming for them and that they should have faith in themselves. So, Vegapunk told Sanji he would stay behind while everyone else escaped.

In the present day, everyone left celebrates their reunion, escape, and the journey to Elbaf that awaits them.

Review

This was my legit reaction when I read this chapter. Even before the Straw Hat’s and Bonney set foot on Egghead Island, Vegapunk had already won. He made sure that no matter what happened, he would get the last laugh!!! Bravo, Dr. Vegapunk. You really were the smartest man in the world for pulling one over on the Five Elders like that. And thanks to your final message, no one will forget your name.

Vegapunk Had Won Before the Game Even Started

As much as I want to gush about the entire arc right now, I’ll keep things as brief as possible and save the rest for later. To put it simply, the revelation that Vegapunk had planned to sacrifice himself from the get-go re-contextualizes everything about the arc. Even though Vegapunk and most of his Satellites are either dead, turned traitor, or MIA, he did everything he could to ensure at least one of them would get off the island. And I’m very happy with the fact that it wound up being my favorite of the Vegapunk’s, Lilith. She’s the most fun out of the entire group, and thanks to Atlas faking her death, she can continue their research in hiding. It would be awesome if she joined the Straw Hats, but my guess is that she’ll come to reside in Elbaf with the Giants.

It should also be noted that Vegapunk is now the latest in a line of well-known people who were hunted by the World Government, only to use their deaths to de-stabilize even further. Roger lit the fire, Whitebeard confirmed that the One Piece exists, and Vegapunk confirmed what fans already knew: the One Piece is the key to unraveling everything. And hopefully, it will help bring about the fall of the World Government.

I’m not joking. Now more than ever, the World Government cannot be allowed to survive as it is before the series ends. And thanks to Vegapunk’s truth bombs, I foresee most of the world panicking and turning on them. Their reign is coming to an end. My only regret is that Vegapunk won’t live to see his dream of a world with unlimited energy.

Then again, Lilith and others will see it through.

Egghead is Done, Onward to Elbaf

So, it looks like it’s over. After almost two years, the Egghead Island Arc has come to an end. Considering how feels much longer than that, it feels surreal to think that the arc that had so many breaks between it is over. But how was it in the grand scheme of the story?

Honestly, I’d rate it among my top five favorite arcs from the series thus far. Yes, it did continue longer than some fans wanted, but there’s a good reason for that! With One Piece entering the endgame, Oda had to make sure that all the people were where he needed them to be. And considering the massive roster of the series, that’s a lot of people! With how thorough Oda is, it makes sense he would want to cover as much as possible. And it was worth it! From everything we learned about the Void Century and Joyboy thanks to Vegapunk as well as the potential apocalypse, to Kuma and Bonney’s absolutely heartwrenching backstories, this arc ranks among the series best. And the craziest part is that many of us didn’t think it would go on this long. We thought it was the prologue to what would come next at Elbaf.

Elbaf, the fabled land of the Giants. Next to Laugh Tale itself, that’s the place that One Piece fans have been wanting to see the most. But everything that’s happened, I don’t even know if it’s possible to top what happened on Egghead. Then again, this is Oda. He’s good at outdoing himself.

I’m gonna miss Egghead Island, without a doubt. My only regret about how things ended is the fact that the World Government has possession of the Mother Flame and Vegapunk’s database, meaning they’ll likely go full dictator now.

I Give “The Void Fortnight” a 4.5/5

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One Piece Chapter 1089 Review/Recap

You know what makes the World Government such a great group of villains? There’s the fact that they’re willing to level entire islands and risk the safety of the world to cover up the fact that they’re built on a lie. They’ve made it clear time and again that they’ll let the world burn to stay in power. More than that, though, its the fact that almost every time they try and mess with Luffy and the Straw Hats, they lose. So even though this chapter shows they just create climate change on steroids, I can’t stop grinning. The Straw Hats have one-upped them once again. 

Recap

In Luffy’s hometown of Foosha village, everyone’s reacting to the news about Garp going missing. However, all that becomes secondary. A world-spanning earthquake and accompanying tsunamis sweep over the entire world. Devastation ensues as some islands are even swallowed by the sea. No one knows it, but this is the result of the erasure of Lulusia Kingdom. It’s destruction caused global sea levels to rise by a whole meter, leaving nothing but a massive waterfall underneath.

On Egghead Island, the Marines have finally arrived, and they’re not playing around:

• 100 Warships
• 30,000 Marines
• 9 Vice Admirals from Navy HQ
• 1 of the Five Elders

This massive force is led by Admiral Kizaru, with Saturn of the Five Elders overseeing everything secretly. Saturn even orders the ships of Egghead Island workers and researchers fleeing be sunk. At that moment, though, they get a call from Egghead Island from Punk York. As Kizaru listens in, York reiterates her wish to join the World Government as a Celestial Dragon, arguing she has no interest in the Void Century. The Elders start considering her offer so long as she can replicate the “Mother Flame” Vegapunk created. The Elders all agree to York’s demands, but there’s one tiny problem: the Straw Hats are still there. They’re all fine, Lucci’s fine, they’re all fine, and they’re holding York prisoner. The Navy and World Government are left in shock.

Review

Oh, World Government, when will you learn? Every time they end up picking a fight with the Straw Hat Pirates, they get humiliated. Even the few times they win, Luffy ends up turning that back around on them. When they got separated for two years, they got stronger. When Luffy failed to save Ace, he still embarassed them by raiding Marineford again. Even their attempt to kill Luffy in Wano backfired on them by unlocking Luffy’s true power. They should know better than to mess with him by now.

At least we know the World Government’s not playing around regarding Egghead Island. A fleet of 30K people and officers is the largest force they’ve mustered since Marineford. It’s even larger than the dreaded Buster Call. They’re even willing to sink the civilian ships fleeing. In addition, the aftermath of the destruction of Lulusia , with what I assume was the equivalent of a nuke, likely killed tens of thousands worldwide and put countless more lives in danger. And so many people have witnessed what happened, there’s no way they can keep the truth a secret after this. Many people will eventually discover what the World Government did and get angry. 

At any rate, the Straw Hats, Bonney, Vegapunk, and the others are okay, even Lucci (how is he even free?!?) So, that means they either beat the Seraphim or found a way to get them under control. While it stinks that we still don’t know how they win, that can wait for the next chapter. For now, I’m just glad that they did win. The World Government might have lost its new toys, enough to make waiting another two weeks worth it!

I Give “Under Siege” a 4.5/5

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One Piece Chapter 1079 Review/Recap

Okay, Red-Haired Shanks is officially the boss. Every time he shows up, stuff goes down, and fans go wild. When we last saw him, he was facing down Eustace Kid, fresh off the events of Wano and helping beat Big Mom. He thought he was in the running to be King of the Pirates. 

Then Red-Haired Shanks puts him in his place.

Recap

In a flashback on Egghead Island, York realized the World Government plans to kill her along with everyone else. So she activates her backup plan: have the Seraphim kill everyone, save for her, the OG Vegapunk, and the CP Agents. She even let’s S-Snake petrify her to deflect suspicion. In the present, the island’s in chaos as everyone trying to get to safety.

Meanwhile, at Elbaf, Kid and his crew are sailing straight at the Red-Haired Pirates and their allies. However, not all of them are as strong as a New World Pirate would normally be, since Shanks protects a lot of people. Regardless, Kid prepares to go in guns blazing, constructing a massive metal railgun that he uses to waste the Red-Haired Pirates allied fleet!

…is what would have happened if Kid had gotten his shot off. However, Shanks uses his Observation Haki to see far enough into the future to know what will happen. Enraged, Shanks one-shots the Kid Pirates ship, taking Kid and Killer out in one go. Terrified, the rest of the crew hands over their copies of the Road Poneglyphs to Shanks, begging him to spare them. He does; Dorry and Brogy don’t. The two Giants tear their ship in two, sending it, and its crew, into the ocean. The end result: the Kid Pirates, with a bounty worth 3 billion Berries, get folded.

Review

We all knew going in that the odds of Eustace Kid winning against Red-Haired Shanks were slim to none. After seeing what Shanks did to that Admiral in Wano Country without setting foot there, it’s safe to say he might have the greatest mastery of any Haki user in the series. However, Kid fought against Kaido and Big Mom, and helped take the latter down. That should’ve counted for something, right?

Evidently not. The Red-Haired Pirates ended the Kid Pirates before they even got a shot off. Of course, Shanks has a long history of giving massive flexes. Back to the first chapter, even. Whenever he shows up, people start freaking out if they’re not a Yonko. This is the man that Luffy may end up having to face if he wants to get the One Piece. It’s scary-impressive and scary.

I don’t think that Kid is gone for good since we don’t know if he’s dead or not. However, I do think this might be the end of his chances at becoming King of the Pirates. Either way, the next two weeks are going to be long. Especially since there’s a Blackbeard Pirates ship headed towards Egghead Island! It’s chaos, even by Straw Hat standards!

I Give “The Red-Haired Pirates-An Emperor’s Crew” a 4/5

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One Piece Chapter 1078 Review/Recap

If you’ll recall, last week I dropped some ideas on who I thought the traitor was on Egghead Island. I suspected that it might be Stussy due to the timing, but I was mistaken. For the second time since I started reviewing One Piece on this blog, I got blindsided by a surprise traitor. Who it was will either surprise you, or make you say “I knew it!”

Recap

Stussy informs Sentomaru of how serious the situation’s gotten for Egghead Island: the World Government knows Vegapunk’s continued Ohara’s research into the Void Century. As such, they’re sending a massive fleet led by Admiral Kizaru and including one of the Five Elders to do to Egghead Island what they did to Ohara. Hearing this, Sentomaru tells everyone in the factory they have one thing to do: get on a ship and run.

The situation’s no good for Franky, either. With half his body now stone, he’s powerless to stop S-Snake from apparently killing Pythagoras. Elsewhere, Nami’s freaking out as Edison clings to life; Brook leaves to find Vegapunk; and Sanji continues to own S-Shark. As for Luffy and Lucci’s group, their fight’s against the Seraphim’s going nowhere. Things get worse when S-Hawk ups and vanishes, forcing Zoro to follow him. And for Kaku to follow Zoro since he has no sense of direction. 

Egghead Island’s in utter chaos, with it being noted it’s just one day before an event that will shake the world: the Egghead Incident. However, things began three months before when someone on Egghead Island called Mary Geoise and ratted on Vegapunk. The CP agents that followed up found nothing, though…and they didn’t return. Again, this traitor contacted them, this time telling the Five Elders what was happening. As a result, CP0 was sent to kill Vegapunk, along with one of the Elders and Admiral Kizaru. Then the Straw Hat’s showed up and became a massive wild card. That didn’t stop the traitor from acting, though, which brings us to today, with Shaka’s apparent murder. The traitor is none other than…Vegapunk York.

Holy crap.

Review

I have so many questions right now! How did I not realize that York, who’s the embodiment of Vegapunk’s greed, was the traitor? Honestly, I was shocked when I read the spoilers earlier this week; heck, I still am. However, to be fair, I did see York get turned to stone by S-Snake earlier; the perfect cover. My guess is that York ordered S-Snake to do that and change her back when no one else was looking. 

The bigger question is why York thinks she can get away with betraying the original Vegapunk and her fellow Satellites like this? She says she aims to become a Celestial Dragon by doing this, which aligns with her character. However, I doubt the World Government will abide by her request; they’ll likely kill all the Vegapunks and destroy Egghead Island like they did with Ohara. 

Now that we know that the traitor is one of the Vegapunks, this means that it’s nigh impossible to get the Seraphim’s to stand down. Only someone of higher rank can do that, and the only ones higher than Vegapunk are the Five Elders; and they won’t do that! In other words, the Straw Hats will have to beat the World Government’s deadliest weapons and escape with Vegapunk from the approaching fleet. The odds aren’t in their favor.

I really enjoyed the twist in this chapter, as it only heightens the importance of this arc going into the final saga. Given what the narrator says about what’s to come, the events here will be cataclysmic for the World Government. Could it be the Straw Hats beat the Seraphim and Kizaru before escaping with Vegapunk? Could Vegapunk die? I’m giddy with excitement for what’s to come! I do hope that York gets what’s coming to her, though. 

Also, it’s funny how Luffy calls Kaku Usopp. LOL!

I Give “Escape Limit” a 4/5

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