Awesome / One Piece: Land of Wano Saga

"The Strongest Creature" has met his match!!

The Land of Wano is home to many important moments in the series, so many in fact, it had to have a page fitting the arcs' length!

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Wano Act I & Act II

Wano Country Arc: Act I

• Chapter 909:
  • Zoro has been back to the story for only a few pages. What's the first real thing he does? Cut down a magistrate and the building behind him, from across the hall, with a tanto (dagger used for seppuku).
  • Before that, Zoro sniffed blood on the magistrate and deduced the true culprit of the street murders, the magistrate himself, who tried to frame Zoro to get his hands on Shuusui.
  • Zoro achieving said feat owes itself to some Fridge Brilliance: it brings to mind what Mihawk said about any blade serving as a black blade as very viable and goes back to the showdown where all he used was a dinner knife to attack Zoro. Zoro has just proven he is able to match Mihawk on that level.
  • Whitebeard turning out to spend his seventy-year life making his homeland prosperous by funneling in all his treasure as dirty money going to a good cause a la Robin Hood, and never once being exposed by outside parties for doing that.
• Chapter 910: The way to Wano is gorgeous. The scene with the wave is straight out of the famous Great Wave off Kanagawa. It seemed that Wano was designed so that Oda can show off his skill at traditional Japanese art.
  • Wano is apparently a lot like the places Luffy and Zoro trained on during the timeskip mixed into one. Rusukaina (a place full of giant beasts) + Gloom Kingdom (populated by Humandrills who copy what they see, including armed combat) = Wano (giant animals who can wield weapons like people), as the first thing Luffy notices after making landfall are two beasts fighting, one of which is wielding a giant katana.
• Chapter 911:
  • Luffy's skill with the Color of Observation have really improved after having fought Charlotte Katakuri. No sooner than the two members of the Beast Pirates find him, they try to capture him. Luffy has none of that and knocks the first guy out without even looking behind him from far away. Then the second guy is knocked down by Luffy kicking the lizard steed the two were using right into the rifle which misfires.
  • Tama is building up to be a tough little girl despite the fact that she was captured and is adorable. Right after Luffy knocks the guy down and tames the baboon that was fighting the Komainu (both of which soon come to be tamed by her later using her Devil Fruit power), she gets out of the bag they were holding her in and using a stick, knocks the Beast Pirate member out. If that wasn't enough, right after thanking Luffy and everything, she decides to give her hard-earned rice to Luffy as a way to thank him for saving her life and is fighting the hunger she has to express her gratitude. Then there's a fact that she's dealing with all of this as she waits for a pirate named Ace who promised to see her again, when she could've moved to another place that has no toxic rivers (courtesy of Kaido's factories) and not have to survive in the most meager way possible.
  • To top it all off, the "Headliner" that the Beast Pirates were talking about? The guy that obviously is a higher member of the crew? It is the "Magician" Basil Hawkins, who like Apoo, has joined the Beast Pirates!
• Chapter 912:
  • The long awaited team up finally happened: Zoro and Luffy vs Basil Hawkins! To add to the awesomeness, Luffy is wielding the Nidai Kitetsu (Kitetsu the Second), the middle member of the infamous cursed swords trio (Zoro already possesses Sandai — the Third). You just know that this will lead to some awesome revelation.
  • Yet another awesome points for "Oda never forgets". The story of the Kitetsus was first mentioned all the way back in Loguetown, more than 800 chapters ago. Now we are meeting their bladesmiths who may have an answer to the curse.
  • Also, the name of the village that Ace was in is Amigasa, which mean a type of Straw hat, this is likely where Ace learn how to knit the straw hat for Oars Jr.
• Chapters 915 & 916: Urashima, the arrogant Yokozuna-rank sumo wrestler in Wano, summarily got his honor torn into pieces when Kiku cut down his topknot and subsequently got trounced by Luffy in a straight-up sumo wrestling, sending him off flying through the tower where Tama was kidnapped.
• Chapter 917:
  • Luffy and Zoro moving so fast that Luffy is able to snatch Tama from Kamijiro's jaws without Holdem even seeing it happen (let along Kamijiro being able to crush Tama first), and Zoro slices through the mooks menacing Kiku.
  • Luffy not only isn't hurt at all from Kamijiro's huge fire attack, but then defeats Holdem in one hit with Gum Gum Red Hawk.
• Chapter 918:
  • Luffy and Zoro successfully deliver the food to Okobore, and Luffy declares he will not leave Wano until the people are able to always have a good meal.
• Chapter 921:
  • Shutenmaru, the leader of the bandits mentioned in several prior chapters, appears and though he is robbing the citizens of Leftover Town, he is shown to be no slouch. He takes on Jack, who rides on what appears to be a giant land shark creature, and instantly wounds Jack with no trouble. Indeed, the bandits and citizens stay away due to the intense fight.
  • After years and years of theories and speculations after the mention of Kaido and how he is the strongest "creature" in the world, Oda delivers a bomb almost as big as when Kaido 1st physically appeared...Kaido has been revealed to have eaten a Mythical Zoan type Devil Fruit that can turn him into a Dragon!
    • This is also retroactively a big moment for Shanks as well. All the way back in the Paramount War Arc, THIS is the monster that he stalled without a scratch to allow Whitebeard to enter Marineford.
• Chapter 922:
  • Kaido shows exactly why he's feared when he proceeds to wipe out Oden Castle with a single breath attack.
  • Of course, that doesn't scare Luffy as he finishes the chapter by delivering an Elephant Gun straight to Kaido's head in furious retaliation for attacking his crewmembers.
• Chapter 923:
  • Kaido gives us the very greatest demonstration of the Four Emperors' personal might ever seen, by effortlessly no-selling everything Luffy throws at him, then beating him within the inch of his life with a single effortless hit from a lightning-powered kanbo! As in: two things that Luffy is almost immune to! Nightmarish, unpleasant, but still awesome.
    • It's understated, but Kaido's reaction to getting hit with three Haki-infused finishers? He just sits up, sighs in disappointment, and one shots Luffy. Given his disappointment, it's entirely possible that Luffy's initial barrage made him think for once he might be up against someone who could challenge him.
  • Adding to that when Luffy dodges another flame breath and prepares to strike Kaido again, the warlord just stares before getting hit.
  • The battle is also one for Luffy, though to a lesser extent. Kaido is not reacting in pain, but Luffy's attacks are clearly uncomfortable for him to go through. Even though Kaido is known for tanking everything that comes his way, Luffy’s assault is at least more than he expected.
  • It should be noted that Kaido is the first enemy to One-Hit Kill Luffy. Crocodile, Smoker, Admiral Kizaru... none of them managed to take out Luffy in one hit... all of them beat him at least once in the past... but none so soundly and abruptly as Kaido. Talk about a Hero Killer.
  • "I'm gonna be king of the pirates!" is Luffy's catchphrase, and he tells Kaido the same thing. After Kaido's done with him, this is his response.
    Kaido: You, Pirate King? You, boy!?
• Chapter 924:
  • Kaido when sober quickly proves that he's not Dumb Muscle by stating that Luffy is still conscious and glaring at him, even though he is no longer moving. A couple of mooks fail to listen to this perception and get a blast of Luffy's Conqueror's Haki for their insolence.
  • Beaten within an inch of their lives and captured by Kaido's men, Kid and Luffy both display their unbreakable will and determination. Luffy still has the strength to glare at his captors, and both of them declare that Kaido will pay for this.
  • An unknown prisoner demonstrates just why you don't want to feed him fish with any bone in it, impaling a guard who was menacing Luffy in the neck with the fishbone he spits out. Oh, did we forget to mention that the fishes he ate daily are normally fatally poisonous?
  • Despite being KOed last chapter, Luffy is already on his feet and walking.
  • Kaido is vocally disturbed by Luffy. A stark contrast to when he was insulted into a rage when he was advised to take Luffy seriously.
  • A slight one for Kid. While he was still unconditionally crushed, we at least learn he put up enough of a fight to leave a firm impression, just like Luffy did.
    • Oh, by the way. Kid is confirmed to possess Conqueror's Haki!

Wano Country Arc: Act II

• Chapter 925:
  • Teach makes his debut after the Time Skip and is revealed to have a bounty of 2.247 billion.
  • The Blackbeard pirates display another two of the Devil Fruits they've acquired during the Time Skip. Devon has the Mythical Zoan Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine-Tailed Fox, and Shiryu has the Clear-Clear Fruit.
• Chapter 926:
  • Both Luffy and Kid move over 500 stone blocks several times their size despite being weakened by Seastone, having turned what was supposed to be a hellish imprisonment into a Friendly Rivalry to keep themselves from giving in to their jailers.
  • After eating hundreds of kibidango, they're confronted by the deputy warden Dobon, who uses the giant hippo attached to him to eat Luffy and Kid. They then proceed to punch their way out of him despite the Seastone restraints, and then pull a "you didn't see anything" due to the rules of fighting back.
• Chapter 927:
  • Sanji reminds us why you never waste food around him. When one of Kyoshiro's goons knocks over his soba cart, he kicks his head in and force feeds him the soba off the ground.
  • Franky gets in on the fun as he suplexes another goon from the top of a building. Seems he learned some tricks from his fight with Senor Pink.
• Chapter 930:
  • The Big Mom Pirates are heading to Wano and are breaking through with ease. That is until King shows off his Devil Fruit ability (Dragon Dragon Fruit: Model: Pteranodon) and knocks Big Mom's ship and crew into the ocean.
  • When Page One goes on a rampage looking for Sanji, he shows himself with a kick to the face, and then in order to make sure his identity is hidden, he takes out the Germa Raid Suit, forgoing his vow to never use it.
• Chapter 931:
  • We finally see Sanji in his Raidsuit, and it is glorious. Known as Stealth Black, it grants Sanji one of his greatest dreams: invisibility! Bathhouses and foes better watch out.
  • The fight between Sanji and Pageone looks good for both of them. Pageone is forced to go hybrid form and sends Sanji though multiple buildings with one attack, thinking that has done his foe in only for Sanji to show up far above him still ready to fight. Brings back memories of him being punched through a wall way back at Arlong Park, only for him to get up and complain about how weak the blow was.
• Chapter 932:
  • Despite being caught by the Oniwabanshu, Robin still shows some quick thinking while trying her best to get away from them:
    • Even after being warned that she'll be tortured to death if she lies, Robin lies anyway when asked who she is and what she's doing there, claiming to be the Witching Hour Boy investigating the flow of money in the capital. When the ninja try to capture her, it's revealed that "she" is actually just her flower clone, and she's able to get away temporarily.
    • Robin also realizes that, since she won't be able to get away from the palace, she might as well blend in by going back to the party and trying to continue her mission anyway. She does successfully conceal herself from the searching ninja for several minutes, and goes right up to Orochi when he invites her to him and starts asking him questions for the mission.
  • Komurasaki shows she won't take crap from anyone, not even the Shogun. When he tries to kill Toko for apparently laughing at him and refuses to listen to the courtesan's pleas for Toko's life, she gives him an epic bitch-slap across the face and tells him that she won't kneel for anyone, and doesn't even blink when he threatens to kill her for it.
• Chapter 933: As Robin, Nami, and Shinobu are escaping the palace, Nami summons Zeus to send a powerful thunderbolt onto the palace.
• Chapter 934: Off-screen, Kid has escaped the inescapable Udon Prison with his Seastone handcuffs still attached to him.
• Chapter 935: Luffy, on the other hand, has been practicing with his Seastone cuffs to Fight Off the Kryptonite so that he'll come out of the prison even stronger than before. Queen, one of the All-Stars who serves under Kaido, outright labels Luffy a freak of nature.
• Chapter 936:
  • We learn the identity of the dangerous prisoner: Kawamatsu, one of Oden's samurai. He's been stuck in this prison and eating poisoned fish for 13 years, and he's already fired up and ready to fight upon seeing one of his old friends.
  • Queen finally decides to execute Luffy, but it's more of an Amazon Lily-style execution where he is made to fight and die for their amusement. This requires him to remove Luffy's Seastone cuffs, and Luffy's immediate response upon being thrown into the ring is to knock out the first wave of enemies with Conqueror's Haki.
• Chapter 937: Zoro shows that he doesn't need a sword to use Three-Sword Style. Grabbing one of Kamazo's scythes with his shoulder, taking it out and using it to perform Purgatory Onigiri on the man-slayer. The anime adds Yutapon Cubes.
• Chapter 939:
  • Luffy's battle against Katakuri has truly improved his Observation Haki as he is able to completely foretell what his enemies are doing, and is even directing Grandpa Hyou during battle so that the old man can put up a fight.
  • Of course, what really sells how amazing Grandpa Hyou, or rather Hyougoro of the Flower, is the fact that he can wield the same type of Haki that Rayleigh did when he stopped the giant elephant way back. That's right, Grandpa Hyou is on par (Haki-wise, at least) as the Pirate King's right-hand man!
  • In another episode of "Oda NEVER Forgets", Hyogoro describes a technique that allows one to cut steel, but can also allow one not to cut paper. Sound familiar? The Breath of All Things has made a comeback!
• Chapter 942: Sad as the whole moment is, there is solace to be found in the fact that Yasu went down giving a good amount of momentum to the rebellion, and most importantly, making his archnemesis Orochi look like an absolute bitch in the process.
  • To elaborate, Yasu claims the markers Orochi's been using to arrest members of the rebellion, a tattoo and a pamphlet, were a random fad from twenty years ago and a prank by himself to make Orochi look like a coward. The actual rebels realize that Orochi can't say anything about the rebellion now without looking like he's jumping at shadows.
• Chapter 943: After nearly six real life years, Sanji and Zoro finally reunite to defend O-Toko from Orochi.
• Chapter 944:
  • Despite knowing well that it will cause them problems, the Straw Hats decide to not only steal the body of Yasu back while they're saving Toko but Zoro even aims an attack at Orochi for good measure.
  • Kyoshiro's strength is now being shown as he easily deflects Zoro's 720 Pound Cannon with one sword swing.
  • Of course, the Beast Pirates aren't slacking off on awesome, either. Queen demonstrates that while he's a fun guy, he's not someone you want in a bad mood as he easily blocks one of Luffy's punches.
• Chapter 945:
  • Battles all over the flower capital are showing that both the forces of Wano and the Beast Pirates (or rather, Drake and Hawkins) are not going to let the Straw Hats have it easy. Kyoshiro is still holding off Zoro easily (while Zoro is showing fatigue), the Orochi Oniwabanshu arrive and show they're pretty smart (rather than hoping to capture them all, they decide to go after one to make them talk), Sanji is stalled by Drake in full dinosaur form, and (perhaps the most dark awesome we've seen) Hawkins is using his powers to hold Law's friends as hostages and shields.
  • Of course, we can't sell the Straw Hats short as Brook displays his soul power to some of the Orochi Oniwabanshu and scares them off while Zoro and Sanji aren't giving their foes an inch.
  • The chapter ends in a confrontation that will have massive consequences in the future: Big Mom vs Queen.
  • It's probably also worth noting that even suffering from amnesia, Charlotte Linlin still makes it clear that if she wants some food, you do not deny her. Queen tries to do just that and the amnesiac Emperor grabs his head (when he's a Brachiosaurus) and violently slams it into the ground.
• Chapter 946:
  • Even with amnesia, Big Mom is no joke as she takes out Queen in two hits.
  • Amazingly even after that beating, Queen was still conscious.
  • In another Call-Back, Luffy manages to figure out how to remove the neck restraints in the nick of time.
  • With an angry Big Mom down their neck, Hyogoro stands his ground and orders Luffy to stop her in an impromptu training session. Ending on:
    Luffy: Come then, Emperor!
• Chapter 947:
  • Though Luffy fails to activate Ryuo (the true name for "the Breath of All Things"), Hyogoro assures him that he has the potential and goes on to explain how it works — and it sounds strikingly similar to the Haki techniques that make Big Mom and Kaido so freakishly tough. Luffy figuring out how to activate this power at will would allow him to finally challenge the Emperors directly, all he needs is a chance to train with it.
  • Queen deserves props: despite having been thrashed by Big Mom in the previous chapter, he still manages to stand back on his feet and devises a plan to stop her, luring her into a place where he could drop onto her head with the full weight of his Brachiosaurus form.
    • Not to be outdone, Big Mom tanks the attack, which only manages to restore her memories... and then she unceremoniously falls asleep for unrelated reasons.
    • And when Big Mom is out cold, Queen immediately orders the use of 100% seastone chains and 100 doses of beast tranquilizer on her, to ensure that she is completely immobilized for the entire time she's being shipped off to Kaido. Considering who he works for, he knows what kind of monster Big Mom is, and he's willing to take precautions that would be considered No Kill like Overkill for anyone else.
  • At the end of the chapter, with Queen, Big Mom, and majority of the guards gone, Luffy is finally able to go wild against Babanuki and the remaining guards due to no longer being bound by any restraints; the last panel of the chapter showing him declaring he's going to take over Udon.
• Chapter 948: Raizo manages to successfully free Kawamatsu, and he shows off not only his sword skills, but his sumo skills.
• Chapter 949:
  • Daifugo infects several prisoners with Plague Bullets, meaning if anyone touches them, they get the plague too. Luffy takes it, grabbing several prisoners and purposely taking on the virus. Luffy then calls out the prisoners for being weak and to stand up to Kaido, telling them of his promise to Tama to make sure nobody in Wano starves.
    Luffy: (While infected) You call this devastation?!! You call this overwhelming power...? This stuff has no effect on me!!! The samurai I know are all strong and hardy. But you guys are broken all the way on the inside! What do you mean, normal life?! Obeying every order they give you, living off of dumplings... is that normal?! Open your eyes!!! You're nothing but slaves!!! So what if I came from another place?! Why can't an outsider help protect your country?!! I made a promise with a friend named Tama... who fed me back in Kuri!! I promised to make this a place where you can eat your fill again!!! If we can't make that happen, this will always be Hell!!! I already heard about Oden!! He was a great man!! But the day Kaido killed him 20 years ago was the day this country stopped working, right?!! WE CAME HERE TO FIGHT KAIDO AND WIN!!! There's no reason for the people on our own side to stop us!!! So make up your minds! Right now!! Are you with us... or are you with Kaido?!
  • When Babanuki tries to attack with a bomb with the power of 200 bullets, Luffy "sees" it and ties up his elephant's trunk. Then turns away when he explodes.
  Luffy: I saw a pretty bad future just now...
  • When Daifugo tries to intimidate the prisoners, Luffy's speech already got through to them. What happens afterwards is a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for Daifugo. The takeover of Udon is a success!
    Luffy: You get the rest.
    Daifugo: Hey! Stop, you!! Remember, anyone who defies a jailer in their first offense gets...
    Prisoner 1: We know, and we don't care.
    Prisoner 2: We've decided to rebel!!!
• Chapter 950:
  • Zoro being epic and protecting Hiyori from several of the ninjas.
  • The end with Law unflinchingly grinning at Hawkins and Drake in defiance, and in the next chapter urging that he doesn't need rescuing.
• Chapter 951:
  • Even after Big Mom gets her memories back, Queen has the stones to call her an old hag to her face.
  • King proves himself to have balls of steel, upon telling Big Mom, to her face, his response to her asking him to join her crew: "I refuse."
  • After having her Seastone handcuffs removed, Big Mom draws Napoleon and clashes with Kaido, causing the heavens to split a/la Shanks and Whitebeard.
  • Another one for how much Brook impressed Big Mom, when Kaido threatens her, she paraphrases the line Brook used on her about "What kind of fool would have come planning to die?"
• Chapter 953:
  • Onimaru the Fox was not only the loyal companion of one of Wano's renowned sword masters, Shimotsuki Ushimaru, but joined Kawamatsu in stopping actual grave robbers as the two worked hard in obtaining as many weapons as they could to stop Kaido when the time came. Even more awesome is the fact that Onimaru decided to continue as "Gyukimaru the Bridge Bandit" and collected even more weapons while Kawamatsu was captured.
  • Yet another awesome moment for Kozuki Oden was revealed: with the aid of his legendary sword Enma, he was the only one to leave a scar on Kaido.
• Chapter 954:
  • Law proves he didn't need rescuing after all. When we finally see him again in this chapter, he has had an Offscreen Moment of Awesome, having freed himself and defeated Hawkins.
  • Luffy, recovered from the Mummy virus and free to train without enemies breathing down on him, has made considerable progress towards mastering Ryuo in just three days, demonstrated by him pummeling a giant cube of solid steel. Compare this to his battle with Katakuri who could make his limbs as strong as steel, where Luffy expressly needed Gear Four to break through it; now Luffy is in base form and treating the steel cube like jelly.
  • This chapter also put a high bar on the "Holy Shit!" Quotient. Big Mom and Kaido did what everyone from the Marines feared in the last arc, and have officially teamed up to destroy the Straw Hats and take over the world.
• Chapter 955: Act 2 comes to an end.
  • Zoro tries out Enma, and its power is so great that his experimental swing at a tree results in him cutting a cliff. The secret to the blade is revealed: it forcibly draws Haki out of the wielder for massive strikes, and in inexperienced hands it's enough to drain their life force dry. Zoro has to will his stolen Haki back into his arm, which shriveled from the Haki extraction after just the one swing. Even with the danger it poses, Zoro gladly accepts Enma as his own. The Cursed Swords subplot has finally reached its payoff!
  • Luffy has mastered Advanced Armament Haki enough that he's now able to punch a big hole into a tree without touching it, just like how Grandpa Hyou punched out some of the executioners.

Wano Act III

Wano Country Arc: Act III

• Chapter 956:
  • "Big News" Morgans shows that he's not all talk. He gets offered a "hefty" sum from the World Government to perform a cover-up, only to flatly refuse. The messenger then reveals himself as a Cipher Pol agent, threatening him at gunpoint to reconsider. Unintimidated and thoroughly unamused, Morgans kicked his ass not even a page later and went on to publish the full story.
  • The Seven Warlord system is gone. The representatives of Alabasta and Dressrosa explained at the Reverie how their nations suffered horribly under the Warlords, and the decision to revoke their Government protection was met with the majority agreeing.
  • X Drake is revealed to not only still being a Marine, but he is a member of a Special Unit known only as "SWORD." It's revealed that Koby is also part of that group.
  • Best of all, however, are the reactions of the other Warlords. Buggy, while maintaining his image of being a great pirate, rallies his crew to fight (though he admits to himself he'll run away in the middle of the commotion). Weevil is, at first, dumbfounded by the fact that the Marines have turned against them so his mom elects to just kill them all. As for Boa Hancock and Mihawk? Hancock, upon hearing that some Marines (with Koby being a part of this group, mind you) are heading her way makes tells her Kuja subjects to calm down. Mihawk, on the other hand, just smirks at the prospect of being on the opposite end of the Marine's sights. The two warlords then make the most badass statements in the face of this impending threat:
    Boa Hancock: Don't panic! You seem to have forgotten something. The reason they chose us to be the Seven Warlords was for our strength!
    Dracule Mihawk: I'm feeling a tremor of excitement. It has been a while... since I was the one being chased.
• Chapter 957 drops a lore nuke after lore nuke courtesy of former Fleet Admiral Sengoku, to the point where everything in the chapter is awesome:
  • We're finally given information on the pirate crew that Big Mom, Kaido, and Whitebeard were once a part of before their heyday: the Rocks Pirates, led by Rocks D. Xebec. Essentially the Evil Counterpart to Gol D. Roger, this captain and crew were so mighty and relentless, they were regarded as terrorists rather than pirates, with Rocks' main goal being to usurp the Empty Throne from Imu. Unsurprisingly, this crew is also noteworthy for birthing a number of legendary pirates, some of which the Straw Hats contended with in the films.
  • The "God Valley Incident" where the Rocks Pirates were disbanded, courtesy of Vice Admiral Garp and Gold Roger in what could've only been a battle too epic to put to page to take down Rocks, defending the Celestial Dragons and their slaves from what would've been certain doom. This incident was one of the things that the World Government tried to erase from the history books.
    • Additionally, this confirms that Garp was on par with the Pirate King, and has been turning down promotions to a more fitting rank than Vice Admiral so he could uphold his ideals of justice without being the Celestial Dragons' lapdog. Sengoku thinks the only reason they haven't got rid of Garp for this attitude is because he's just that good.
  • After years of ambiguity, we've finally been given the bounties on the Four Emperors and Gold Roger (Rocks was exempt due to the Government Conspiracy), putting their threat level as the One Piece world sees it into stark relief:
    • Blackbeard: 2,247,600,000 Berries, which might've been the highest revealed in the series had he not been new to the Emperor business.
    • Shanks: 4,048,900,000 Berries.
    • Big Mom: 4,388,000,000 Berries.
    • Kaido: 4,611,100,000 Berries.
    • Whitebeard: 5,046,000,000 Berries — that's over five billion.
    • Gold Roger: 5,564,800,000 Berries, the highest bounty for a pirate in the world's history.
  • What prompted Sengoku to start dropping all these lore bombs? He learned about the alliance between Big Mom and Kaido, and grouses that this happened at the exact same time that they decided to go to war against the Seven Warlords. The world-spanning war Doflamingo predicted has indeed begun.
  • And Sengoku still wasn't done after all of this, having one last bomb to drop: Kozuki Oden was a pirate, and a pirate of Whitebeard's crew at that, a mere subordinate to an Emperor able to do lasting harm to another Emperor. It's clear that something big is brewing underneath the coming war at Wano...
  • And just like Chapter 956, this chapter similarly started trending on Twitter. But the difference here is that it trended within 30 minutes after it released. And this was worldwide, meaning that the Western half of the globe stayed up into the night to read it.
  • Outside of the aforementioned lore nuke, there is another CMOA that is a bit more subtle. At the beginning of the chapter, Issho is talking to Sakazuki. If you look at Issho, though, it is clear from how heavily bandaged he is that he sustained massive injuries in his off-screen battle against Sabo and the Revolutionary Commanders, despite being backed up by Green Bull. Bear in mind too that throughout the entire Dressrosa arc where Issho clashed against the likes of Law, Doffy, Sabo (after just eating the Mera Mera), and Luffy, he only suffered a few bruises at worst. While Sabo and the Revolutionary Commanders lost the battle, the fact that they were able to not only face off against two Admirals and seriously wound one of them is a testament to how strong they are.

The Life of Kozuki Oden

• Chapter 959:
  • Props to Orochi. Despite being labeled as a fool and everyone in his forces not believing him, he still manages to ruin things for everyone when he orders the destruction of all the bridges to Tokage Port and any ships on any of the other ports. What's more, he even sends some men to go and destroy the Sunny!
• Chapter 960:
  • Kozuki Oden's childhood was nothing but one crazy feat after another, complete with a List of Transgressions as early as one year old.
  • Tsuru pinning down Kin'emon while he was trying to steal her money to settle his friend's gambling debts. Keep in mind that Kin'emon was a yakuza thug back then.
    • And she tops it off by threatening to rip off and sell his organs to reclaim his debt.
• Chapter 961:
  • Oden has definitely earned his reputation. Taking out the Mountain God (a gigantic boar that can eat buildings and humans) in one strike and saving every person she ate. This is what made Kin'emon and Denjiro loyal to him.
• Chapter 963:
  • This chapter highlights how much work, dedication, and loyalty the Akazaya Nine have for Oden when they take Yasuie's words to heart. They all pour themselves into not only training physically, but mentally by learning manners and polishing themselves up from their rough habits. In fact, they become so polished, that the people of the capital are shocked to see them as exemplary samurai.
  • Oden himself is still an amazing man from not only using the Mountain God and its child as steeds, but for having accepted Cat Viper, Dog Storm, and Kawamatsu as part of his retainers. The best part, however, comes at the end, where Oden races to the shore to face off against Whitebeard himself, brazenly asking to join his crew.
  • Episode 963 of the anime shows us the fight in full, with Oden being delighted in finding a Worthy Opponent in Whitebeard. The fight ends with Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit-enhanced fist overpowering Oden's Oden Nitoryu and knocking the samurai flat on his back.
• Chapter 964:
  • To get Oden to prove himself, Whitebeard has him hold on to chain attached to the ship for three days. He almost does it too, only letting go when he hears a woman in distress. That woman being his future wife, Toki.
  • But it turns out that was also a test, as Whitebeard sees Oden as a man willing to abandon his ambitions for someone else, he happily rewards him with an invite. On top of that, he refers to Oden as "brother" rather than "son", seeing him as an equal.
• Chapter 966:
  • We finally get to see the Roger Pirates and Whitebeard Pirates clash, and the only word for it is epic. Oden starts off by taking down a number of the Roger pirates before clashing with Roger, who expertly and easily sends Oden flying through six trees and into a seventh with one strike. Oden runs back in time to see Roger and Whitebeard clash, a clash that not only showcases their respective Conqueror's Haki but shakes the island so much that the Moby Dick nearly capsizes from how powerful the clash is. In the end, it took three days for each crew to finally call a draw.
  • Just before this epic battle, it is shown that the Roger pirates had an encounter with a Marine ship. We don't get to see how the fight went down, just the result: everyone on that unfortunate ship is dead, the ship itself damaged beyond repair, and Roger has some parting words for the captain before leaving him for dead.
    Roger: If you're going to go after me, you'd better bring Sengoku or Garp with you.
  • That's not even the best of it. When Whitebeard and Roger raise their weapons, they're coated in such an intensely dense layer of Haki that they leave thick trails of Haki arching through the air just by moving them.
  • Also, about that clash, their weapons didn't even touch each other. Their Haki was so unbelievably thick that they were unable to get their weapons to touch each other. This means that that shockwave that almost capsized the Moby Dick came entirely from the pressure of just them swinging their Haki-infused weapons.
  • The simple fact that the viewers get to witness both Roger and Whitebeard fighting in their prime.
  • On a minor note, Buggy notes that Teach (who was fighting with the crew) also didn't sleep for the days of the truce after the fight. Heck, Buggy even mentions that there is a rumor that Teach had never slept once in his life. Considering what the future holds...
• Chapter 967:
  • We bear witness to Roger conquering the Grand Line, and finding Laugh Tale.
• Chapter 968:
  • When Oden learns what Orochi has done in his absence, he goes full One-Man Army and charges through Orochi's entire legion of bodyguards with no issue.
• Chapter 969:
  • Oden made an unknown deal with Orochi that involved him spending five years acting like a fool, smearing his own name. When Orochi unsurprisingly reneged on the deal (something involving boats and Kaido), Oden had enough and with the Akazaya Nine they storm the castle. Ending on a badass two-page spread.
• Chapter 970: We finally see the decisive battle between Oden and Kaido. The Emperor's forces number a thousand, though they are not the army of Devil Fruit users he has been building up in the present day; Oden, the Akazaya Nine and a late-joining Shinbou are crushing them, culminating in Oden leaving his legendary scar on Kaido. The battle seems even, or perhaps even steeped in Oden's favor... until Higurashi interferes by impersonating Momosuke, providing the critical distraction Kaido needed to knock Oden out.
• Chapter 971: Oden prompts a bet out of Kaido that if those sentenced to boil survive one full hour in the pot, they go free. Kaido agrees to it and gives his word. So Oden proceeds to jump in and have his retainer stand on the lid while he holds it up by himself. Oden spends at least the first five minutes of this execution standing there, holding up all nine of his retainers while his body is steadily boiled. And keep in-mind, this is a man who has no Devil Fruit powers and besides that, no Devil Fruit user would be able to do anything in this sort of situation. If wounding Kaido didn't certify Oden as utterly badass, this solidifies it.
• Chapter 972: Oden did it. He stood in the boiling pot for one whole hour while keeping his allies alive! But then Orochi reveals he changed his mind at the last minute and orders Oden, his allies and his family to be shot dead.
  • He did not go quietly either. He stood defiant to Kaido, telling him that he was born to boil before Kaido shoots him. Even then, Oden went out with a smile as his body sank into the oil. It should also be noted that Kaido personally ended Oden's misery as a sign of respect for the only man to ever wound him, having gone so far as killing Higurashi offscreen for interrupting the only bout with a Worthy Opponent he's had in decades.
• Chapter 973: We finally know what happened to Denjiro. While Kin'emon, Kanjuro, Raizo, Kiku, Momonosuke went forward in time, Dogstorm and Catviper went back to Zou each blaming each other for Oden’s death, Kawamatsu taking Hiyori, and Ashura-doji biding his time; he was consumed with such a rage that his hair changed color. He then went to the Flower Capital where he assumed the name Kyoshiro. He quickly rose in the ranks of the underworld there to the point he caught Orochi’s attention who made him his vassal. The reason for his epithet “Napping”? He spends all night awake as Witching-Hour Boy! After Hiyori left Kawamatsu, she ended up finding him and instantly recognizing him as Denjiro, who had her sworn to secrecy as to his identity until the final battle and gave her the name Komurasaki.

Back to the Present

• Chapter 974:
  • On the cover side story, Gotti manages to save Chiffon despite looking like he had quite the tussle with the Marines.
  • We finally come back to the present, and things are looking bleak for the Akazaya Nine. Not only are they trying still to get to Onigashima in a bad storm but it is revealed to them that Kanjuro was in fact the mole the entire time! With the arrival of the Beast Pirates and Kanjuro kidnapping Momonosuke, hope finally arrives in the form of Luffy, Law, and even Kid taking on the Beast Pirates!
  Luffy: Don't pick on Samurai in a rowboat! When you're at sea, you fight against Pirates!
• Chapter 975:
  • The Sunny survived the sabotage attempt made by the Beasts Pirates because it was made of Adam Wood; the only damage done was the sails being torn. When Franky claimed that the Adam Tree could handle cannonballs being fired at it, he wasn't kidding.
  • Luffy, Law, and Kid immediately obliterate one of the enemy ships. The end result is the three of them arguing on a small piece of driftwood.
  • When Denjiro/Kyoshiro shows up in his own ship, he reveals his true colors by slicing another of the Beast Pirates' ships in half!
  • It turns out that Orochi's precautions were utterly pointless; Blowing up the bridges between the regions? The rebels had already crossed them, so it didn't matter. Destroying the ships? Those were just the leftovers the samurai didn't need. With the inclusion of the 200 man Kyoshiro Yakuza and the 1,000 supporters imprisoned in the Flower Capital, the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai alliance now has over five thousand men ready to take on Onigashima!
  • Yasuie gets a posthumous one, as it turns out his adding two lines didn’t mean Tokage port but to remove the middle of the message so it read wharf as in the wharf of Habu.
• Chapter 976:
  • An Offscreen Moment of Awesome: While Kanjuro is getting away with Momonosuke, the three arguing pirate captains obliterated another of the Beast Pirates' ships.
  • Towards the end of the chapter, the remaining Beast ship gets smart and sails to a safe distance, bringing out long-range artillery to ravage the Samurai's fleet. It looks like they're going to get away with it until something from under the sea gouges a large hole in the ship: Jimbei is back with impeccable timing! He then finishes off the final ship and loudly proclaims he has officially joined the Straw Hat Pirates, assuaging any fears from the audience that he'd be on a Long Bus Trip for this arc.
  • As if to underscore just how big of a deal Jimbei officially joining the Straw Hats is, both Law and Kid immediately respond with a mixture of Oh, Crap! and You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!. Jimbei was already a legendary pirate in his own right, a former Warlord of the Sea and a prominent member of Big Mom's crew... and now he's a proud member of the Straw Hat Pirates, making an already monstrously strong crew that much more powerful.

Beginning of the Infiltration

• Chapter 977: The fact that the Straw Hats (including their newest member, Jimbei) destroy the fortress that is the front gate in seconds. Hilariously? This was so that they could get some booze to celebrate Jimbei joining the crew.
• Chapter 978: Kin'emon, with two sentences, summarizes how much he and those under him are willing to risk to see Wano free and Kozuki Oden avenged. They are fully aware that the risk they will fail and be killed to the last is there - and they aren't letting it stop them.
  [The allied forces disembark from their ships, which start sinking almost immediately.]
  Luffy: Huh?! The ships are sinking! What happened to your ships, guys?!
  Kin'emon: We sink them before we go! On this mission... we need no return ships!!
• Chapter 980:
  • Luffy knocking the Beast Pirate mook for wasting the oshiruko? Cool. Zoro slashing a tower apart to reprimand Luffy? Cool. When Luffy explains why he knocked the mook out? The two decide they need to knock a few heads for what happened to Tama.
  • We get to see some of Apoo's Devil Fruit powers at their best against Luffy and Zoro, and it is still as bizarre and awesome as when he began to display them against Kizaru.
    • More props to Apoo for visibly hurting Zoro, which was an extreme rarity to see in the New World.
  • At the end, it's not Luffy or Zoro that go to smash Apoo, but Kid, with a giant metallic hand for Apoo's treachery from before.
• Chapter 981:
  • The Big Mom Pirates make it back up the waterfall, only to be knocked down again by a different flying pirate. Marco the Phoenix has arrived to Wano! And he brought Cat Viper and Izou.
    • What's particularly notable about Marco's Dynamic Entry and makes it stand out is how ruthlessly pragmatic it is for one of the Straw Hat's allies. By knocking them all the way back down again, Marco has effectively removed the Big Mom Pirates (with the exception of Big Mom herself) from the playing field, meaning that Luffy and the others will not need to worry about them interfering in the battle against the Beast Pirates.
      Marco: The next time you show up the times may have moved on a bit more than before.
• Chapter 983:
  • Yamato's big introduction. When Ulti begins to overpower Luffy and he was about to use Gear Four, he runs in with a Thunder Bagua and knocks her out. Like Father, Like Son indeed.
  • Rather than try to go up the waterfall again, Perospero heads into Onigashima alone. With no Smoothie, Daifuku, or anyone strong to protect him.
  • Usopp and Chopper survive their encounter with Big Mom with only a couple bumps on their heads.
• Chapter 984: Yamato's big secret: "he" is actually a "she," having decided to take on masculine mannerisms to emulate Kozuki Oden. And as a daughter of one of the Five Emperors, he sets the bar for what it means to be an Action Girl in this series!
• Chapter 985:
  • Nightmare Fuel though this action of his may also be, for what it exactly is he intends to do... no one can deny that Kaido has served as the MVP of this chapter, for one simple reason: killing fucking Orochi. In the midst of his speech, on turning the Flower Capital into another factory grounds. And, in that same speech... his goals are made clear: he and Big Mom both intend to find the One Piece, the very goal our heroes have been journeying long and hard for, this entire time. A Crowning Moment Of Evil, if ever there WAS one.
  • What's particularly impressive about the way Kaido kills Orochi is just how immediate it is. Unlike a lot of One Piece villains, he doesn't monologue or go into some long-winded Motive Rant or Evil Gloating about how Orochi was nothing more than his Unwitting Pawn and how Orochi no longer has any usefulness. Instead, the second Orochi starts to catch wind of what Kaido is planning, Kaido immediately beheads him and resumes discussing his plan with his men.

Beginning of the Raid

• Chapter 986:
  • Luffy shows some impeccable use of Advanced Armament Haki when he easily removes Yamato's handcuffs.
  • When Yamato learns that they really were explosive handcuffs, he immediately disowns his father.
    • One for Luffy shortly afterwards — instead of leaping straight into the fight, he holds Yamato back and tells him that the two of them aren't meant to throw the first punch. The Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero is following the plan.
  • Momonosuke shows some real development. When faced with death if he confirms that he's the son of Oden, he proudly shouts that he's Kozuki Momonosuke and he will be the Shogun of Wano.
  • The Raid begins! The Akazaya Nine charge in, rushing Kaido. Izo shows his impeccable marksmanship by shooting a sword out of King's hand. The Nine's presence is so overbearing that Kaido actually flashes back to Oden. The group jumps him with a cry of "Sunacchi!". King and Queen be damned, nothing will stop the retainers of Oden from killing Kaido.
  • A special mention the animated episode of this chapter being released with the Nine racing through the hallways, cutting and shooting down anything that gets in their way, along with the stellar animation of Kinemon’s performance and technique, taking down Kaido’s many goons. And a slight reminder that this dangerous guy was introduced as a joke as a detached head and legs, courtesy of Law, in Punk Hazard.
• Chapter 987:
  • The Akazaya Nine do what nobody but Oden managed to do in 20 years: wound Kaido. Their blades don't go far (especially when one considers that Raizou went for his throat), but their blades still pierce the Emperor's nigh-impenetrable skin, and Kiku stabs through his hand. Even if they didn't do much damage at the outset, Kaido is shocked by the fact that he's even feeling pain.
  • Luffy confronts both Big Mom and Kaido, announcing that he's not there just for fun — he's there to declare all-out war on them! And Kaido's response is to laugh — not in a mocking fashion, but with excitement as he gleefully accepts the challenge. Clearly, things are about to get real in the next several chapters.
    • This also implies that Luffy managed to earn Kaido's respect. Of all the vanquished foes that Kaido sentenced to a living hell, Luffy was one of the very few whose spirit was never broken. And now the captain of the Straw Hat crew has returned, having Took a Level in Badass, and is ready for round two. And that is how one earns the respect of Kaido, who's infamously known throughout the world as its "Strongest Creature."
  • Kaido doesn't waste time playing around in human form. Instead, he smashes right through the roof of his castle in his dragon form, declaring that he's all sobered up. Clearly, he has no intention of holding back; the Akazaya Nine have impressed him enough to take this fight seriously.
  • Closing out the chapter is Boss Cat Viper noting that the Strawhat-Samurai-Mink Alliance were counting on Kaido smashing up through the roof. That's why he and Duke Dogstorm brought all the warriors of Zou to fight; they're all up there already waiting for Kaido. And his closing remarks about the full moon being out that night can mean only one thing...Boss Cat Viper and Duke Dogstorm are about to go Sulong!!!
• Chapter 988:
  • It turns out not to be just be Viper and Dogstorm going Sulong, but all of the Minks involved in the raid, forming an angry mob that prepares to keep Jack and his cronies away from the battle with Kaido.
  • Shinobu and a suited-up Sanji work together to rescue Momonosuke, and despite King brutally retaliating, they succeed.
  • In case you've forgotten how strong Big Mom really is, she uses her Ikoku technique to blast a hole clean through Onigashima and into the sea.
  • When it looks like Nami is done for after Big Mom reclaims Zeus, Franky and Brook suddenly arrive on the scene, cutting Zeus in half again and running Big Mom over. Not just running her over, driving over her face!
  • In the Anime adaption of this chapter, Brook and Franky start singing as they ride towards Big Mom, and the whole time they never lose their cheerful expressions. Quite possibly the most dangerous opponent they have ever faced, and they treat the whole thing like a celebration.
• Chapter 989:
  • Franky, Robin, and Jimbei team up to directly fight Big Mom, aiming to take her off the board temporarily. And they succeed. Jimbei grabs her by the arm from behind as she goes to swing at Franky (who was distracted by one of Kaido's wild beasts and was forced to attack it rather than Big Mom), and Robin then restrains her with her powers before rolling her straight out of the building like a soccer ball. Suddenly, she seems like someone the Straw Hats can actually beat.
  • Franky's response to Nami warning about Big Mom being one of the Four Emperors was pretty much a "so what", boasting that Luffy is going to be the King of the Pirates. Noteworthy, as Franky was freaking out over Luffy challenging her back at Fish-Man Island.
  • A subtle one for Franky. As he aimed his Radical Beam at Big Mom, she had a worried look on her face. Franky managed to intimidate one of the Four Emperors.
  • After their confrontations with King and Queen, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy regroup with the rest of the crew. The final frame of the chapter is the ten of them standing ready to fight (reminiscent of the iconic scene from Fish-Man Island), and Luffy declaring that he knows he can rely on his crew to defeat Kaido's lackeys while he goes for the big guy himself. Awesome.
• Chapter 990:
  • Even when facing the Minks in their Sulong form, Jack still puts up a fight, easily taking several of them out despite cuts all over his trunk and swords in his body.
  • Facing down the Numbers (revealed in the last chapter to be failed experiments at recreating ancient giants), Luffy is reminded of fighting Oars on Thriller Bark, remembering how his crew had to work together to take him down, and barely even did it then. But now, Luffy can easily take each of the Numbers on by himself, and does just that by going Gear Four and attacking one with a Kong Gun.
  • Zoro and Jimbei show their stuff when taking on a Number. Zoro cuts its mace in half, and Jimbei punches it to stop it.
  • Drake ends up getting outed as The Mole by Queen, Who's Who, and Hawkins. In response, he sets off an explosion, escapes, attacks a Number, and, remembering what Koby said, joins Luffy's side.
• Chapter 991:
  • Apoo sobering the Numbers back up. In addition, when Luffy and Sanji cover their ears from his attack, he points out the Logical Weakness in that strategy:
    Apoo: Aaaa pa pa pa pa!! So you learned, huh?! But it's a lot harder to fight in silence than you think!
  • Kin'emon gets to show just how powerful his Fox-Fire Style is when he literally cuts Kaido's Blast Breath in half, protecting the rest of the Akazaya Nine and injuring Kaido in the process.
  • The Akazaya Nine showing just how determined they are when they state that it doesn't matter if they die, so long as Kaido goes down with them.
    Denjiro: (about escaping) Run? Don't make me laugh!
    Raizo: We're tired of running!! Tired of hiding!!!
    Ashura Doji: Just let us die!!! As Oden's samurai!!!
    Kawamatsu: Once we've taken your head, that is!!!
• Chapter 992:
  • The whole thing is practically one long moment of awesome as the Akazaya Nine (with Izo effectively replacing Kanjuro) go to town on Kaido's dragon form and actually hurt him. Repeatedly.
    • Cat Viper and Kawamatsu draw first blood, causing all of Kaido's subordinates to have a collective Oh, Crap! moment when they realize their boss can be hurt.
    • Dogstorm puts his new pegleg to good use by stabbing it into Kaido's skin.
    • Izo and Kikunojo pepper Kaido with enough ranged attacks that he resorts to using his Blast Breath on them, except...
    • Raizo summons a scroll from out of nowhere, absorbs the Blast Breath with it, and sends it directly back at Kaido!
    • The whole thing culminates with Dogstorm, Ashura, Denjiro, and Kin'emon all simultaneously replicating the very same technique Oden himself used against Kaido over 20 years ago and reopening the scar Oden gave Kaido at the same moment. All four strikes land on the exact same spot.
• Chapter 993: Kaido once again shows why he's the "King of the Beasts" when he shrugs off the attacks of the Akazaya samurai, claims they're still nothing compared to Oden, and launches a Razor Wind attack that cleaves off Kiku's arm through her armor.
• Chapter 994: After Kiku loses an arm, her brother ties up the stump to lessen the bleeding before Kin'emon cauterizes it with his Flaming Sword. She then states that she's still good to fight. Kaido himself was impressed by this.
• Chapter 995:
  • Marco briefly clashes with Big Mom and Prometheus, even injuring the latter with his phoenix powers. Goes to show that this guy was second-in-command to Whitebeard not just out of fatherly love.
  • As Perospero is about to shoot Marco with an arrow, Sulong Carrot and Wanda rush in and slash him across the eyes!
  • Ulti brutally beats Nami, and in a fit of anger demand she say Luffy will never be King of the Pirates. Nami, bleeding and afraid, defies her and says he'll "never STOP until he's King of the Pirates". Her loyalty to the crew will never waver.
  • Just as Ulti is about to smash Nami's skull, Tama appears with Komachiyo and bites down on her.
• Chapter 996:
  • Kaido is shown wiping the floor with the Akazaya Nine showing he was just toying with them all along.
  • How did Tama get to Onigashima? She snuck aboard an enemy ship. On her own that wouldn't be impressive, but the fact she brought a large lion-dog and sword-wielding baboon with her is worth mentioning.
  • Where has Law been the last several chapters? Turns out he was hunting for the Road Poneglyph, as he's now dedicated to finding out the truth of the D. name along with Robin (and the audience).
• Chapter 997:
  • In the anime at least, Sanji almost says he doesn't like Black Maria. Considering it's Sanji post-timeskip, the fact that it takes actual effort from Maria's part to seduce him is an awesome moment for him.
  • Zoro shows us why he's largely considered to be the Vice Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. He first takes Apoo down in a single strike and proceeds to give Chopper the vial and instruct him to synthesize an antidote to the Ice Oni virus. He then destroys Queen's Excite Bullet gatling gun before Queen can even react and caps it off by dropping a Badass Boast on him:
    Zoro: I DIDN'T COME ALL THE WAY TO THIS ISLAND TO WASTE TIME ON A BUNCH OF NONSENSE!!! THEY SAY KAIDO'S THE TOUGHEST GUY IN THE WORLD!! SO I'M HERE TO SLICE HIM INTO PIECES!!
    • Keep in mind Queen has a bounty almost 4X that of Zoro's current bounty and is one of the top three in an EMPEROR'S crew and Zoro basically told him he isn't worth his attention. Bad. Ass.
  • Terrifying as it is, Kaido's power lifting the ENTIRE ISLAND of Onigashima!!
• Chapter 998:
  • Marco's flames allow the infected to be temporarily subdued while Chopper and a few Minks create and distribute the antibody.
  • We finally get to see all of the Devil Fruits of the Tobiroppo. Turns out, they're all Ancient Zoans:
    • As previously seen, X Drake, Page One and Ulti can transform into an Allosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Pachycephalosaurus respectively.
    • Now, Sasaki knocks General Franky down as a Triceratops, Black Maria entangles Sanji with the webs of a Rosamygale Grauvogeli, and Who's Who confronts Jimbei in the form of a large Saber-toothed Tiger.
  • The last page reveals that Yamato met Ace when the latter visited Onigashima, and that Ace came to Onigashima with the intention of killing Kaido of all people, seemingly on his own!
• Chapter 999:
  • The flashback starts with Ace clashing with Yamato. Due to the fact that Kaido and his higher ranked were on an expedition, Ace is able to take down everyone except for Yamato.
    • It is also shown that Ace and his crew were apparently there to save kids who were kidnapped, which they succeeded in doing with no problem.
    • When Ace notices the shackles on Yamato's arms, he tells Yanati that he shouldn't let his heart be shackled too, which moves Yamato, leading to the two becoming friends.
  • Marco is taking on both King and Queen to bring Zoro to the roof.

The Supernovas confront the Emperors

• Chapter 1000:
  • To start things off this chapter, we have Marco (in full phoenix form) putting Queen AND King in neck holds with his wings. This is especially impressive given not only their own strength but also the size difference between Marco and them.
  • Yamato reveals that within Oden's logbook, he left a message describing what will happen in the future.
    Over 20 years in the future, powerful pirates leading the next generation will come swarming into the New World!! If I am dead by then, they will be the ones to strike down Kaido!!!
    • As this is being said, Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer all make it to the roof to confront Kaido and Big Mom.
  • When Luffy arrives at the summit of Onigashima, he is joined by all of his fellow Supernovas participating in the raid, resulting in a two-page panel of them fearlessly facing down the two Emperors. The final confrontation for Wano has begun.
  • When Luffy sees the Akazaya Nine, he immediately goes to Kin'emon. Kin'emon asks that Luffy save Wano, to which Luffy responds that he'll do it because it's his friend's country.
    • Also, to get to Kin'emon, Luffy strides right between two of the most powerful pirates in the world like they aren't even worth his time.
  • When Luffy encounters the two Emperors, Kaido demands that Luffy dare to say what he said to him in their first bout all those chapters ago to his face again. Incensed by Luffy ignoring him to tend to Kin'emon, he attempts to crush the Straw Hats' captain on the spot — only for Luffy to dodge into the air. Thinking back to all the friends he's made in Wano who Kaido has hurt, he summons up an Elephant Gun, only to instead unleash a Red Hawk variant of it called Red Roc. This attack draws blood from Kaido and smashes him facefirst into the ground. As Big Mom reprimands Kaido in disbelief, Luffy stands before them and, at last, answers Kaido's question for the both of them:
    "I am Monkey D. Luffy. And I'm the man who will surpass you... to be King of the Pirates!!!"
    • Both Kaido and Big Mom are shocked that Luffy could do damage to Kaido, which shows how much stronger Luffy has gotten since his last bout with him. For bonus points, Kaido doesn't have the "I was drunk out of my mind" excuse this time around, nor was Luffy taking advantage of his scar — he legitimately drew blood from Kaido on the word "Go". Luffy's brief Ryuo training has already levelled the playing field.
• Chapter 1001:
  • Zoro shows that his time training for the war was well spent as he performs Kin'emon's firecutting technique to cut Prometheus in half.
  • We finally get to see what Kid was planning to do with all the scrap metal he'd gathered a few chapters ago: Form a giant mech that's larger than Kaido.
  • Luffy is capable of partly dodging Kaido's attack. Kaido even compliments him for that.
  • In a callback to their first meeting at Sabaody, Luffy, Kid, and Law engage Kaido together with Luffy punching him in the stomach with a Gear Four Kong Gun, Kid crushing him between the hands of his mech, and Law using his powers to bury Kaido in rubble.
  • Of course, Kaido's no slouch either. His Thunder Bagua is so fast that even with advanced Observation Haki, it's almost impossible to dodge. And when the Worst Generation gang up on him, he's able to take their hits and come back swinging.
• Chapter 1002:
  • Kid, Law, and Killer attacking Kaido and actually making it hurt. Kid uses his Punk Rotten to throw Kaido's much larger body and slam it, and Law uses his Gamma Knife to strike the dragon's heart directly. Killer follows this up with something called "Sonic Scythe" where his Punishers apparently bypass scales to reach the internals, represented visually by his blades growing larger and cutting through Kaido's body! Even Kaido admits that he can't rely on his natural durability to win this one alone.
  • Just when it looks like Luffy is about to take a point blank Breath Blast from Kaido, Zoro with Law's help dives in the middle and cuts his attack clean in half to disperse it. This is followed by Big Mom freaking out and screaming for Kaido to dodge the counterattack when she sees his sword, and even Kaido seems intimidated when he senses the same aura as Oden coming from Zoro. Kaido barely dodges and the whiffed strike ends up cleaving off one of the castle's horns. Let's repeat that: Kaido, who has tanked every attack without any concern, decided to dodge the attack instead of risking it head-on. The fact Kaido even felt the need to heed Big Mom's advice about dodging speaks volumes of the threat Zoro poses now that he has trained with Enma.
  • In an amazing Call-Back that's both this and hilarious, Big Mom strikes Luffy directly with Zeus and is convinced he's toast, but when he turns up unscathed she demands to know why, and Luffy casually reiterates that he's made of rubber. Big Mom is left making an identical Oh, Crap! face as Eneru as she realizes that not even Zeus being magically animated and empowered by Haki keeps Luffy from being the Logical Weakness of a third of her powerset.
  • Immediately after is an even better moment: Luffy gets hit by a point-blank Blast Breath... and powers through it with sheer guts. Repeat: Luffy managed to tank an attack that OBLITERATED AN ENTIRE CASTLE AND THE MOUNTAIN IT WAS STANDING ON. Which is then followed up by Luffy revealing Kong Gatling. He's pummeling Kaido right in his face, just like he did during their first fight... but this time, he's not going to come out unscathed.
  • This chapter really shows how far all of the Supernovas have come. While Kaido is built up throughout the arc as a justifiably immense threat, his opponents have managed to reach that threat level. From a narrative standpoint, this is why Big Mom was reintroduced for this arc: not to help Kaido deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle, but to prevent him from being on the receiving end.
• Chapter 1003:
  • Despite getting hit by Big Mom's lighting in the last chapter, Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer are all revealed to be relatively unscathed and watching as Luffy delivers his Kong Gatling on Kaido.
  • Law managed to hurt Big Mom with his Counter Shock. It goes to show that even if he isn't the heavy-hitter that Luffy and Kid are, Law's analytical fighting style and precise close-range attacks can now pierce straight through and hit even the strongest of Devil Fruit or Haki-users.
  • Luffy finishes his Kong Gatling by hitting Kaido with a punch that knocks him into the ground with enough force to create a massive dust cloud.
  • Another point to Kaido, he gets right back up and uses his powers to create tornados across the battlefield.
  • Then when Kaido tries to eat Luffy, Zoro counters with his own tornado and actually manages to cut him with the power of Enma.
  • And a major one at the end, Kaido has finally assumed his hybrid form.
• Chapter 1004:
  • We find out why Tama snuck into the battle: she used her Devil Fruit ability to create as much kibi-dango as possible on the boat ride to Onigashima to tame a bunch of SMILE-users mid-raid - every dango fed equals a new ally for the rebellion. That prediction that CP0 made last chapter about the Beast Pirates defeating the alliance with sheer numbers? Already called into question because of one little girl.
  • Tied with the top, Nami and Usopp are able to fool Sasaki and his crew long enough for Usopp to snipe the kibi-dango right into the mouths of many of the Armored Corps.
  • Nami is able to nail Ulti with a Thunder Lance Tempo. While she admits she needs to use more power to take Ulti down, it is nice to see the same move that took down Kalifa from CP9 way back when.
  • Not to be outdone, Franky is able to fight Sasaki to the point where he lands a deadly sword attack on the currently transformed member of the Flying Six.
• Chapter 1005:
  • Sanji asking for help. Considering his pride and how he fears putting women in danger, him admitting he needs help takes serious guts. He also uses his cry to help to show how the Beast Pirates network works, which Usopp takes advantage of and starts making a plan to exploit it.
  • Robin and Brook show up to save Sanji from Black Maria. Robin slaps the Tobiroppo with a giant hand, while Brook uses his Ghostly Chill to free Sanji.
• Chapter 1006:
  • Proving that he was Whitebeard's Number Two for a reason, Marco continues to absolutely trivialize both King and Queen with utmost ease and at the same time, to the point that he's openly more invested and entertained at what's happening around him than the fight itself.
  • Hyogoro shows why he was such a feared warrior when he unleashes a move that defeats all of the Mimawarigumi and the Orochi Oniwabanshu single-handedly. This is because catching the Ice Oni virus drew out his dormant strength.
• Chapter 1007:
  • Chopper successfully creates a cure for the Ice Oni virus and heals everyone who's been infected — not a second too soon either, as Hyogoro would've had to be given a Mercy Kill otherwise.
  • How does Chopper do it? He and his assistants fire an airborne cure through a cannon. This is enough to purify the entire floor, saving thousands of lives.
  • Just before this, Queen was ranting at how the Pleasures and Waiters are useless Cannon Fodder whose only purpose now is to spread the Ice Oni virus. Now that Chopper saved them? They all turn on Queen. CP0 might want to run the numbers again, because the Beast Pirates' advantage just evaporated.
    "We're not gonna sit still and get murdered by an insane boss! We'd rather die on the side of the guy who saved our lives!! Ain't that right, boys?!"
  • Chopper caps off his moment of heroism by immediately using Monster Point and decking Queen as a means of venting for all the Tanuki comments.
• Chapter 1008: This quote as the 5 Supernovas face down against the 2 Emperors.
  Kid: [Grinning] With the two of them [Big Mom and Kaido] standing side by side it looks like we're in Hell!
  Luffy: [Smiling] That suits me fine. I've been to Hell and back a few times already!! It's Home Territory!!!
• Chapter 1009:
  • Kin'emon and the others decapitate all of Orochi's heads like it's an afterthought.
    Kin'emon: We have no time to waste on you. Your judgement will be served in Hell!!!
  • Big Mom and Kaido's Combination Attack, Conquest of the Sea, is probably the strongest attack seen in the series to date.
    • Zoro then manages to BLOCK IT. Yes, it's only for a moment, and he is still heavily injured, but read that again. Zoro managed to block a Combination Attack from two Emperors!
  • Luffy and Kaido are still fighting. While Kaido is still hammering Luffy, the younger pirate gloats that Kaido is now actually bothering to dodge his attack, thus fixing Kaido's full attention on him long enough for the others to pull off their plan to separate the Emperors.
  • Zoro, Killer, Kid and Law display excellent teamwork against Big Mom and her Homies. Kid creates a metal box that Law uses to trap Zeus in. Then Zoro uses Kin'emon's Fox Fire Style to cut Prometheus into pieces while Killer separates Napoleon from Big Mom. With her Homies gone, Kid attacks Big Mom; although she No Sells his attacks and smashes him into the ground, he wraps her arm in metal and uses Repel to launch her into the air. Law then uses Tact to chuck a rock at her, which doesn't harm her, but manages to push her off the edge of the island and towards the sea below. With Zeus trapped, Prometheus in pieces and Kaido busy with Luffy, Big Mom is very likely out of the fight, at least for a time.
• Chapter 1010:
  • Zoro, for the first time since the Time Skip, brings back his Nine-Sword Style Asura mode to unleash a devastating move that leaves Kaido with another scar. And Kaido realizes that Zoro has Conqueror's Haki as well!
  • But the real MVP is Luffy, who has discovered that he can use his Ryuo moves with his own Conqueror's Haki, allowing him to block Kaido's club without touching it, just like when Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard fought! And Luffy then follows up with a punch to the gut and an uppercut that sends Kaido reeling. And Luffy did it without his Gears.
  • Just the fact that Luffy GETS RIGHT BACK UP after being knocked unconscious for a brief period by one of Kaido's strongest attacks in the last chapter.
  • Kaido proves deserving of his reputation as unkillable by tanking all of the above without much trouble, while still making the island float with his power.
• Chapter 1011:
  • In their only scene of the chapter, Luffy and Kaido have an epic clash of Haki reminiscent of whenever the Four Emperors clashed. It's official: Luffy is now in the league of the Emperors.
  • Tama continues to be an epic Spanner in the Works. She, Nami, and Usopp are still fleeing Page One — and run into the recovered Big Mom! It almost looks like they'll have a new pursuer, until Big Mom recognizes Tama. She stops everything and genuinely thanks the little girl for giving her food when she was an amnesiac... and then Tama sullenly reveals that Okobore, where she got that food from, was burned down by the Beast Pirates not long after. Big Mom is incensed, doing a complete 180 and citing Even Evil Has Standards as she smashes Page One into the floor. Whatever pretext the Beast-Big Mom Alliance had just collapsed.
    Big Mom: Don't you know... that even in the cruel world of pirates, there's still a code of honor?!! You clowns!!!

The tides begin to turn against the Beasts Pirates

• Chapter 1012:
  • Villainous though it may be, Ulti gets some points in awesomeness in that she is willing to fight Big Mom. Let's repeat this: Ulti was willing to fight Big Mom after seeing Big Mom deck Page One and only stopped to continue pursuing Nami, Usopp, and Tama. Then what does she do to show she is willing to cross lines? She beats up Komachiyo and then, IN FRONT OF BIG MOM, slashes Tama.
  • When Ulti slashes Tama's cheek, Nami goes from trying to escape to smacking Ulti with a lightning bolt. While Usopp freaks out over her actions, Nami swears she'd never tolerate someone who'd raise their hand to a child.
    Nami: I'm going to stay here and crush her!!!
• Chapter 1013:
  • Livid about what Ulti did to Tama, Big Mom proves her status as an Emperor by combining her three Homies into a Sword Beam she calls Maser Cannon, blowing a hole straight through Ulti's gut and taking her out instantly.
  • When Big Mom turns her attention to the Straw Hats, Captain Kid comes down on her with Punk Gibson, before deciding to take her on while the Straw Hats get away.
  • A villainous one for Kaido. Despite the set up that Luffy has a fighting chance now that he knows how Kaido's power works, the ending has the chilling scene of an unconscious Luffy falling from Onigashima, once again proving that Kaido is "the strongest creature alive". In a one-on-one fight — on land, on sea, or in the air — always bet on Kaido.
    • That also makes Kaido the very first antagonist since Crocodile to beat Luffy twice in a row (or even three times if you count the moment Luffy was knocked out by Kaido's Ragnaraku during the fight on the roof).
• Chapter 1014: Everybody refusing Kaido's offer to join him even after they hear about the Akazaya Nine and Luffy's defeats.
  • Kin'emon not only took down Kanjuro, he also took on Kaido by himself while alone and injured.
• Chapter 1015: Things are looking bad for Chopper. Queen just won't go down and Perospero has unleashed a massive rain of arrows onto the samurai. Then Sanji shows up, kicks Queen (In his brachiosaurus form) so hard the Lead Performer goes into a spin that not only deflects the arrows but also smacks Perospero away!
  Sanji: Rotisserie...STRIKE!!!
  • Kin'emon staying conscious despite being hit with a two handed kanabo Conqueror's Haki attack from Kaido. For perspective: Page One, who has an ancient Zoan type devil fruit, was knocked out with a single handed Conqueror's Haki blow from Big Mom. Even when severely injured, Kin'emon still managed to injure and survive Kaido.
  • Momonosuke announces that Luffy is still alive and restores everyone's morale, showing he is doing his part to contribute.
  • Luffy managing to still speak while underwater and unconscious. Despite how serious his situation is, Luffy still doesn't give up and continues to fight Kaido.
• Chapter 1016:
  • Ulti just won't quit. She nearly got her side blown off by Big Mom and is running on fumes, and she still manages to catch up to Nami, Usopp and Tama at the stage.
  • Fortunately, Nami and a miraculously-surviving Zeus manage to trump Ulti's awesome moment with their own. Zeus managed to cling to life by accidentally letting some of his soul slip into Nami's Clima-Tact, turning it into a homie that doubles as a Morph Weapon — and this time he's completely loyal to his new master. Nami and Zeus team up, and together they finally take Ulti down for good.
  • Props to Usopp; Nami initially can't attack Ulti because the Headliner is holding Tama, so Usopp, despite being beaten down, fires a Green Star Sargasso to help Tama escape. Then, once Ulti is beaten, he captures Bao-Huang with a Green Star Devil so Tama can use Bao-Huang's connection to the Marys so she can talk to all of the Dango-eating Gifters on Onigashima!
  • With Luffy temporarily out of the action, Yamato steps up to bat against his father, and while he's fully aware there's no way he can defeat Kaido without Luffy's help, he's ready to Hold the Line for Luffy to get back into it with him. This is followed by the firm declaration that once Kaido is deposed, Yamato is going to take to the seas... as a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. Yamato also got Kaido to take him seriously as the latter went straight into his hybrid form to fight.
• Chapter 1017:
  • Tama did it. Using the kidnapped Bao-Huang, she sent her orders to the entire island. The result is every SMILE user on Onigashima who ate Tama's millet dumplings (which at this point is most of them) pulling a Manchurian Agent and allying with the Straw Hats. Thanks to Tama, the Animal Kingdom Pirates' numbers advantage has diminished to the point that the Straw Hats can now turn their full attention to the Lead Performers and the Tobi Roppo.
  • Though that's not to say the Animal Kingdom Pirates are making it easy. Queen, having been sufficiently incensed by Sanji, reveals his past. He was a part of the same research group as Judge, known as MADS, and decides to show how more of his cybernetics combined with his hybrid form, which results in a gigantic man with dinosaur skin and several unfriendly-looking robot limbs. Despite this intimidation tactic, Sanji is unfazed in the slightest and is regarding the Calamity with pure annoyance more than anything.
  • Meanwhile in response to the chaos, Who's-Who of the Tobi Roppo has also realized he needs to get serious, fighting against Jimbei, and starts busting out Six Powers techniques in tandem with his Sabertooth powers — turns out Who's-Who’s a former CP9 agent. His combination attacks rip the room apart like a knife through butter.
    • Why is a CP9 Agent now working as a pirate? Twelve years prior, a Devil Fruit he was in charge of transporting was stolen off his ship by pirates, which he was promptly fired and imprisoned for. Which Devil Fruit did the pirates steal? The Gum-Gum Fruit.
    • Not only that, the fact that a CP9 agent was tasked with guarding the Fruit means that the World Government considered the Gum-Gum Fruit valuable enough to protect- and the Red Hair Pirates still managed to steal it.
  • Not that Jimbei lets any of that scare him. In fact, before Tama's announcement, the First Son of the Sea makes it clear he fully expected a 5K vs 30K war, and that he's not going to complain about the very uneven odds. When Who's Who whips out the Six Powers moves, Jimbei counters easily, even blocking a Tempest Kick with his bare Armament Haki-covered arm.
    Jimbei: And this is what you call Iron Body, correct?
• Chapter 1018:
  • Jimbei vs Who's-Who, a battle between a former Warlord and CP9 agent! Who's-Who unleashes a blitz of his Six Powers techniques on the First Son of the Sea, never letting up while making derogatory comments about fishmen. But Jimbei takes it all without flinching — when Who's-Who unleashes a rapid-fire Finger Pistol, the Tobi Roppo ends up breaking his fingers.
    Who's-Who: [Performing a rapid-fire Finger Pistol] Stop pretending like you don't know anything about slaves! You're a Fishman, arent you?! So, out with it already, JIMBEI!
    [Jimbei blocks Who's-Who onslaught of attacks for a moment, before his words finally ticked him off and covers himself in Armament Haki, breaking Who's-Who's fingers and twisting them with a Shark Grip.]
    Jimbei: I have nothing to tell you! Do you understand me?!
    • Jimbei steps on Who's-Who's tail to keep him from running away from one heckuva punch; the Demon Brick Fist to the face.
    Jimbei: You run you mouth about this like it's some sort of game! This is the weight of history! Do you understand now?!
  • Tama ends up making even more Animal Kingdom members turn to the Straw Hat's side than expected, as the brainwashed Headliners take their non-brainwashed subordinates with them. With this, we get the new numbers for the armies: 16,000 on the Animal Kingdom side, 9,000 on the Straw Hats side, with the strength of the rogue SMILE users making up the difference. It suddenly seems like the Straw Hats can win this war, and CP0 has realized it; formerly confident that the Straw Hats had no chance, they're now preparing to pull a Villain: Exit, Stage Left (after confirming that Who's-Who has been silenced).
• Chapter 1019: With the Gifters changing sides, Sasaki enters his hybrid form. And with this form's flying ability (see the Funny page), the Tobi Roppo now has an edge in speed and maneuverability! In earlier showings, the General Franky decimated its foes, but Sasaki ends up overwhelming it, even breaking the Franken with his Screw Sword. Knowing that a protracted battle won't end well, Franky pulls out the stops and blasts Sasaki into the air with the General Cannon! When Sasaki recovers from that and goes into a divebomb, Franky ejects from the cockpit as the triceratops-man crashes into the robot and fires his Radical Beam into Sasaki's earlier wound!
• Chapter 1020:
  • Yamato shows he's on near equal ground to Kaido, thanks to the Mythical Devil Fruit he ate that allows him to transform into a divine wolf.
  • Black Maria creates illusions of Robin's loved ones (Olvia, Clover, and Saul), but she quickly sees through them and slaps them.
  • In the anime adaptation, Brook also sees an illusion of his beloved former captain, but he isn't fooled either. In fact, he and Robin are mad at what Black Maria did.
  • Brook goes into soul mode and easily dispatches Black Maria's Wanyudo weapon.
  • As Brook takes care of the rabble, Robin takes on Black Maria by herself, and shows she is not to be messed with. By summoning "Gigante Fleur", sprouting a giant Robin.
• Chapter 1021:
  • After more than a decade of not getting a simple one-on-one fight like many of her contemporaries, Robin finally gets a chance to show her stuff against a peer opponent. Despite Black Maria's webs and brute force, Robin unveils Demonio Fleur, creating a giant demonic-looking version of herself. It even manges to frighten the Tobi Roppo member for a bit due to how sudden Robin's new form appeared.
    • She even declares her resolve to help the Straw Hats and the people who count on her no matter what. She's not a liability Black Maria thinks she is.
    Robin: You were wrong. There are people in this world who need me, who love me and rely on me, and I’d do anything for them. Anything. Even turn into a demon!
    • Demonio Fleur: Gran Jacuzzi Clutch; Robin's finishing move against Black Maria. She first surrounds and grabs the Rosamygale spider Tobi Roppo with her now crimson red arms uses a leg to further her hold on Black Maria, tightly locks her hold and with all her might, crushes the Tobi Roppo member with a single joint lock.
    • Even better, Black Maria before was just pummeling Robin within a inch of her life and taunting her "uselessness" when she had the upper hand. Now, she's at the mercy of the demonic archaeologist, screaming for her life while Robin preforms her clutch.
  • When Black Maria sets her webs on fire to create a massive blaze, Robin creates a giant hand and palm strikes the ceiling, burying the fire with the rubble!
  • Brook then follows up by taking down Maria's lackies, including one of the Numbers, with a slash in the shape of a treble clef.
  • Momonosuke asking Shinobu to age him into an adult so that he can help save Wano.
• Chapter 1022:
  • Perospero is about to snipe Sanji with a candy arrow, only for Cat Viper to ambush and send the villain flying.
  • In the anime adaptation, Sanji holds off both King and Queen, with the former Lead Performer visibly saving the latter from serious harm, until Zoro recovers and gets King off Sanji's hair.
  • Zoro and Sanji counterattack against King and Queen and this was after Marco referred to them (Zoro and Sanji) as the star players.
    • Marco's comment alongside the chapter title ("The Stars Take the Stage") plus the ending chapter comment ("The Two Wings in Action!") really puts into perspective the crucial role Sanji and Zoro serve among the Straw Hats AND serves as a Call-Back to Robin's claim regarding Sanji during her fight against Black Maria.
    Robin: He's one of the wings that'll allow the Pirate King to soar!!
  • This short exchange between Zoro and Sanji just straight up sends shivers down your spine.
    Zoro: Hey Curly Brows, if we win this—
    Sanji: I know, it'll finally be in sight... Luffy becoming King of the Pirates!!
• Chapter 1023:
  • King and Queen get back up, barely fazed by Zoro and Sanji's opening strikes. The duo take it in stride, dodging Queen's blaster fire and blocking King's sword strikes like pros.
  • Sanji makes an interesting remark in passing about how he's body's felt a little different — but not in a bad way — since he started wearing the Raid Suit. Is it possible he's about to receive a power-up?
  • When Queen demands to know if Sanji's fiery legs are the result of some kind of cybernetic modification from Germa 66, Sanji shoots down that theory by pointing out he's all human.
    Sanji: The heat of my passion surpasses the temperature of flame!
  • King's sword turns out to have sawteeth that can trap an opponent's swords. He does this on Zoro's two main blades, then forces them aside to hurl a punch at Zoro. Zoro's counter? Blocking that punch with the sword in his jaws, then catching his two main swords to keep fighting.
    • Kawamatsu and Hyogoro, watching this, remark that Zoro reminds them of the Daimiyo of Ringo, Shimotsuki Ushimaru, right down to the three-sword style. And they happen to drop another bombshell... Lord Ushimaru was the descendant of Ryuma!
  • Jack, meanwhile, is about to crush Dogstorm...only for the latter to go Sulong thanks to a hole in the roof, judo-throwing Jack out of the palace and into the courtyard. And while that's happening, Cat Viper joins Wanda and Carrot in confronting Perospero... and he's going Sulong too, intent on avenging Pedro!
  • Raizou matches the Oniwaban leader ninjitsu for ninjitsu, shutting down the latter's mockery by proclaiming that Momonosuke will grow up to be a fine young man.
  • And the big kicker, for the end of the chapter: Momonosuke's gambit worked. Thanks to Shinobu's powers, he now has the body of a 28-year-old man... and, in his transformed state, the body of a magnificent adult dragon. And he's prepared to carry Luffy back to Kaidou for the final round!
• Chapter 1024:
  • Usopp shows what a powerful liar he is when he convinces a bunch of Beast Pirates that he has Conqueror's Haki (when it was really Big Mom's own Haki that was leaking all over).
  • Yamato had Conqueror's Haki since he was eight. Showing how strong he was even as a kid.
  • The unnamed Samurai (more than likely Shimotsuki Ushimaru) willingly giving his food to Yamato, saying again that Samurai do not get hungry. He also manages to cut down the stone barrier despite the lack of nourishment.
• Chapter 1025:
  • Yamato matches Kaidou blow for blow throughout the chapter, instead of suffering from the Worf Effect like Rebecca did in Dressrosa. They're evenly matched up till the end of the chapter, but more on that in a bit...
    • This includes refuting Kaidou's claim that he was always alone, citing Ace and the samurai who helped him in the past.
    • Not to be outdone, Kaido retorts that Yamato's friends ended up dying, and how Yamato must rely on his own strength alone.
  • While Momonosuke's still afraid of heights, his grown-up dragon form is apparently durable enough that ramming through Onigashima's castle — he's flying with his eyes shut, you see — barely fazes him.
  • Finally, at the climax of the chapter, Luffy guides Momo back to the top of Onigashima just as Yamato rallies and charges Kaidou. The end result is Luffy going Gear Four (Snake Man) just in time to land a Jet Culverin on Kaidou at the same time as Yamato delivering a White Serpent strike. Kaidou gets flung backwards, once again taking visible damage.
  • Undeterred, Kaidou re-emerges in full dragon form, demanding to know who this other dragon is. Despite being visibly frightened, Momonosuke rallies his nerve and announces himself alongside Luffy, who's giving his own Badass Boast.
    Luffy: Nothing you do is going to kill me! I'm the man who will be king of the pirates!
    Momonosuke: And... and my... my name is...Kozuki Momonosuke! The man who will be shogun of Wano!
• Chapter 1026:
  • Momo might not have fire breath like Kaido, but he's able to dodge the latter's Blast Breath technique all the same. Keep in mind that aged-up or not, he's mentally still a kid; and he's still able to dodge shots from the man who traumatized him.
  • Luffy convinces Momo to try and bite Kaido. While it doesn't do any lasting damage, it still makes Kaido roar out in pain.
    • More importantly, it shows how far Momo's grown — despite insisting that it's impossible for him to do that, he starts flashing back to when Kaido killed his mother, and how terrified he was...and then Momo gets furious, and lunges for Kaido. Even when the latter seems unharmed and demands to know what Momo's thinking, Momo keeps biting, seething about how he's lost his parents to this monster.
    • Even better, when Luffy declares that after biting one of the Four Emperors, nothing should seem scary for Momo anymore, the latter agrees...which means that he's not scared of flying now, and will be able to hold up Onigashima.
  • Luffy's pep talk to Momo is carried down to the rest of Onigashima, and when he announces that he's going to beat Kaido, every member of the resistance starts cheering wildly, their morale boosted like nothing else.
  • Luffy and Kaido resume their battle, with Luffy declaring that even if he's lost to Kaido twice, so long as he's standing, anything is possible.
    • Take note of what happens during their initial clash — the Haki infused into their blows splits the sky, a Call-Back to when Red-Haired Shanks and Whitebeard did the same thing. This is solid proof that Luffy's new title in the papers isn't just hype — he really has reached the same level as the Emperors.
    • Further adding to the moment of awesome? During the clash, Kaido swings his kanabo attack with two hands. Meanwhile, Luffy's using a single fist...without stretching it at all. And all the same, Luffy's blow is still EQUAL to Kaido's.
  • Oh, and that clash of Haki that the splits off the sky? It reveals the full moon again, allowing Cat Viper and Dogstorm to assume their Sulong forms just as Perospero and Jack were about to finish them off. This development turns the fight completely around, with Cat Viper and Dogstorm finishing off Perospero and Jack respectively with a single blow apiece, avenging both Pedro and the agony unleashed on Zou.
• Chapter 1027:
  • Yamato's still processing the aforementioned sky-splitting. Just like when Roger and Whitebeard would fight in Oden's journal.
  • It's subtle, but after getting bitten by him in the last chapter, Kaido calls Momonosuke out by his name, whereas the most acknowledgement he could muster before was calling him boy or brat. It's clear that even though it failed to do any real damage, Momonosuke's stunt impressed Kaido.
  • While Luffy's duking it out singlehandedly with Kaido, Yamato and Momonosuke notice that chunks of Onigashima are starting to chip off the main part. What's more, the Flame Clouds holding the island up are weakening. Proof that Kaido is getting tired.
  • Of course, that means that if Onigashima falls out of the sky, the whole capital will be destroyed, including the citizens. Momonosuke panics because even if his dragon powers can generate Flame Clouds like Kaido's, he's not sure he'd be able to prop up the whole island in time. Plus if Luffy takes down Kaido prematurely, that'll instantly negate the Clouds present. Momo considers going back to tell Luffy to hold off... and Yamato gives him a good conk on the head, reminding him that Luffy's already got enough on his plate. Their job right now is to handle Onigashima, so that's what they'll do.
  • The Zoro vs. King fight continues, and it shows no signs of easing up. King's mask got damaged, which has pissed him off, and now he's putting some serious effort into killing our favorite three-swordsman. This is very impressive of both parts:
    • On King's part, considering that every opponent Zoro has had ever since the Time Skip before Wano, have been absolutely Curb Stomp Battles, this shows just how powerful the top brass of the Animal Kingdom Pirates are. King is not even predominantly a swordsman, and he's pushing Zoro almost as much as Kaido himself did, showing that his status as a Lead Performer was very well earned.
    • On Zoro's part, the fact that King is openly trying to kill Zoro, compared to his almost casual bout with Marco alongside Queen, shows that he's taken Zoro to be a considerably more dangerous enemy than almost anyone in Onigashima right now and knows that holding back against Zoro is not viable in any way, so he's not even bothering in the first place.
  • At one point, King does succeed in knocking Zoro off of Onigashima. The Pirate Hunter uses a Razor Wind technique to propel himself back up!
• Chapter 1028:
  • Sanji's battle with Queen continues, with neither letting up. Queen launches Sanji into a wall with his mechanical fist, but Sanji is barely fazed and counters with Bien Cuit: Grill Shot, the same moved he used against the Kraken!
    • Even though Queen took next to no damage from it, he compliments the attack, saying it packs a good punch. He then reveals the utterly nonsensical ability to separate himself from his legs, turning himself into a snake that can crush even masters of Armament Haki under its coils.
    • Even though he was in pain from the attack with Queen confident that he is dead, Sanji gets up just as quickly as he went down, his bones not having broken, but bent. As he snaps his body parts back into place, Queen goes for a sucker punch with his sword. The blade snaps like a twig on Sanji's neck, with Sanji looking thoroughly unimpressed by the attempt on his life. Sanji's Raid Suit has awakened his dormant genetic modifications, and it's made him much, MUCH stronger.
    • It's also worthy of noting that back on Whole Cake Island, Sanji kicked Yonji's face so hard, he bent the latter's exoskeleton to the point that they had to use an hydraulic press to force his head back into its normal shape. When Sanji got his own exoskeleton bent by Queen, he bends it back to normal simply by flexing.
• Chapter 1029:
  • Sanji's new Germa power-up shows that he's now immune to bullets.
  • Killer continues to be the MVP of the raid. Understanding how Hawkins' powers work, he slices off his left arm, knowing the damage will not transfer as Kid doesn't have a left arm. Then Hawkins summons his Strawman with the Death card, but Killer effortlessly decapitates it. With his trump card taken out, Hawkins scrambles for something new, only for Killer to slice him down the middle. Victorious, Killer wishes his partner good luck.
• Chapter 1030:
  • Even though he's near death, Kanjiro uses up the last of his strength to paint a living flame with the intent to light the entire castle ablaze.
  • It's revealed that both Law and Kid have Awakened their Devil Fruit abilities, though they can use said Awakened abilities for a short time. They use their Awakenings to deal a huge blow to Big Mom at the end of the chapter.
• Chapter 1031:
  • Despite been struck by both Law and Kid’s Awakened abilities and being buried under a pile of metal, Big Mom gets up enraged that their attacks managed to hurt her. She then proceeds to rip out the the souls of the nearby Beast pirates to bring an army of objects to life then consumes a year of her own lifespan to power herself up and grow even larger, finally being forced to take Law and Kid seriously. Kid and Law, for their part simply state that she’s the kind of person they need to beat in order to achieve their dreams and get ready to continue fighting her.
  • Sanji discovers that the effects of his newly awakened Germa modifications have apparently caused him to unconsciously strike a woman and is horrified. After Queen finally catches up to him, Sanji decides to crush his Raid Suit declaring that he’ll never belong to Germa and deciding to finish their fight regardless of what happens next. Then he calls Zoro and tells him that if he’s no longer himself by the time the fighting is over, he wants Zoro to kill him. Sanji promptly moves fast enough to vanish from sight and hits Queen with Hell Memories.
    • Really, Sanji deciding that he doesn't need the Germa modifications to beat Queen is awesome by itself. The rest just adds to it.
  • Drake's intelligence in countering Apoo's attacks as he noticed they were based on his line of sight and hearing the sounds. He'd also rather take down Apoo than team up with him to take down the winner(s) of the war.
  • While brief, the unnamed Minks Hold the Line to allow Brook to help Robin escape from the CP0 pursuers.
• Chapter 1032:
  • Thanks to the fire monster Kanjuro brought into existence, CP0 end up separated from Robin and Brook, and stumble onto Drake and Apoo. Because Apoo plans on giving their involvement to the newspapers, and Drake is a Navy infiltrator, the agents decide to kill both pirates...who immediately stop quarreling to fight back.
  • Goofy moment aside with his beak, King continues to keep Zoro on the defensive in their duel. Zoro notes how despite every attack he's thrown his way, the Lead Performer hasn't lost a single drop of blood yet. He's not even sure he can beat King without knowing what race he belongs to.
• Chapter 1033:
  • Back to Zoro vs. King. Zoro has to keep telling Enma to stop drawing so much Haki out of him, causing him to get knocked to the floor. For a moment, he thinks back to his childhood in Shimotsuki Village, when the old geezer of the village gave him a couple swords to practice with and some choice words: that swords have souls and personalities. He recalls the old tales of the village having been founded by a former pirate, and it suddenly dawns on him. That "old geezer" was none other than Shimotsuki Kozaburo, the founder and namesake of the village who fled Wano half a century ago...and the man who forged the very Enma in his hand right now, a sword he claimed to be his masterpiece. Zoro then gets it. Enma isn't trying to be greedy; it's daring him to rise up to Oden's level! Zoro is hesitant as it means putting his life on the line...and then realizes if that's what he has to do, then so be it! He gets back up again, and his three swords course with Haki, earning a compliment from King that Zoro actually shows kingly ambition. Zoro replies of course he has ambitions...and a couple promises he has to keep.
  • Take a look at Zoro's swords when he gets back up: they're all emanating with black lightning. The same type of emanation that's associated with advanced Conqueror's Haki. If there were any doubts at all at Zoro having Conqueror's Haki before, those doubts have been quelled by this chapter.
  • A couple of Animal Kingdom Pirates try gang up on Zoro but fall unconscious instantly. And Zoro wasn't even really targeting them, he's prepping his Haki for Enma.
  • Props to King as well: he first blows himself up when Zoro stabs him, then weathers an Ittoryu attack that usually finishes off Zoro's fights.

The Raid draws near its end

• Chapter 1034:
  • Now back to Sanji vs. Queen. We now see why Queen has been so anxious to see Sanji in the Germa Raid suit. It turns out he's also adapted his body to incorporate versions of the same tech the Vinsmoke brothers have, only more brutal. He wanted to beat Sanji in his Stealth Black to prove himself superior to Judge. But in doing so, he pressed one of Sanji's Berserk Buttons: bringing up the Vinsmoke family. Sanji, bruises and all, starts wailing on Queen for that, and this time he scores some real hits! So now Queen reveals that his copying of Germa tech includes a version of Sanji's Stealth Black! But Sanji replies by tapping into his Super-Speed to hide. Just then, Osome (the girl who's scared of Sanji and who he thought he hit in a fit of "Germa Rage") stumbles in looking for her mouse. Queen drops a hint that he abuses her, pressing another of Sanji's Berserk Buttons: he hit a lady... and pinned the blame on him. Sanji decides to combine his enhanced endurance, speed, and Armament Haki to introduce Queen to a whole new level of hell: Ifrit Jambe!
  • The anime version of the fight sequence captured the introduction of Ifrit Jambe perfectly. As Sanji realizes that his enhanced biology as a Vinsmoke are merely tools in his "arsenal" that he can combine to create stronger attacks, he becomes completely engulfed in fire... before revealing that his normal orange flames became blue, the hottest flames in existence. He proceeds to rocket toward Queen foot-first, powered by rage over the latter framing him for the striking of an innocent woman. The Curb-Stomp Battle that follows is fluidly animated, with Sanji delivering powerful kicks while swiftly evading even Queen's strongest attacks, showing just how outclassed Queen is compared to Sanji's newest technique before he is sent flying across the prison corridor as a coup de grace.
    Sanji: FLY AWAY, YOU ASSHOLE!
• Chapter 1035:
  • It's confirmed that Sanji's new Ifrit Jambe has kicked Queen off the island and out of action...shortly before Sanji returns Osome's mouse to her as he passes out, too.
  • Meanwhile, Zoro has figured out King's trade-off: he may be Nigh-Invulnerable when his flames are on, but to outmaneuver Zoro he has to turn them off...and Zoro can cut him then. He starts to exploit this to score some serious hits on King, first by cutting off his mask and revealing his dark skin, confirming him to be a Lunarian. Before anyone can react to this, King lashes out with his fire, but both realize they're at their limits, so each goes for their ultimate techniques. King unleashes his Imperial Guardian Flaming Dragon. Zoro counters with the full power of his Conqueror's Haki coursing through his three swords — King of Hell Three-Sword Serpent: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation — and cuts King's Dragon to pieces down its whole length... and the attack continues on down and strikes down King.
    Zoro: I shall become... the King of Hell!
  • The Zoro vs King finale in the anime was unbelievably beautiful, with many comparing the quality of the animation and compositing to a movie - and it was all done by one animator, on his first ever major animation project. Even cooler, as an added flourish after Zoro strikes down King, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment where the lightning spells out "Z-O-R-O."
• Chapter 1036:
  • With the defeat of King (the last of the All-Stars) CP0 finally realize that the Straw Hats and their allies actually have a chance at beating Kaido and Big Mom, pulling a 180 of their assessment at the start of the battle. Meanwhile, news of the defeat of the All-Stars spreads all throughout the battle. Things are coming to a head, and everyone realizes that whatever happens in the next few minutes, it's gonna be big.
  • Usopp proving, once again, why he's a trusted member of the Straw Hats, refusing to leave Kikunojo and Kin'emon to their deaths despite being surrounded by Kaido's pirates. Despite their pleas for him to save himself, Usopp downright refuses to leave them behind, also spitting their honorable culture back at their faces, daring them to continue to live, like him and Luffy.
    Kin'emon: Just go, Sir Usopp... You must save Kiku! Leave me behind!
    Kikunojo: No... Master Kin... I won't make it... Leave me here...
    Usopp: Okay! I'll leave you both and get out of here on my own! THEN WHY DID I EVEN BOTHER COMING HERE?! YOU STUPID SUICIDAL SAMURAI! Dying with honor is still dying! Don't sacrifice yourself to take responsibility! I know that's your culture, but I don't like it one bit! I'll survive, crawling with snot dripping out of my nose! If that's what it takes... it's worth it! So live! If I'd died with dignity, then who'd be there to help you?! Just pulling off a raid should be enough for you! You have to live!
    • Afterwards, it seems that Usopp's efforts were all for naught as a group of Beast Piartes still surround him... that is until a certain former Whitebeard Piartes division commander overhears his speech and buys him enough time to escape with them.
      Izo: Listen to him you, too! Take cover!
      [Usopp ducks as Izo snipes all the Beast Piartes close by with little effort]
  • Raizo refusing to let go of the paralyzing jutsu on his opponent despite the fire surrounding him. He even declares the fire isn't hot, a callback to when he was suffering from the heat of the oil Oden was standing in.
  • On word of that, we finally take it back to the top of the island, where Luffy and Kaido are trading blows, and we're talking serious blows here; tough as they are, each one's blows are having definite effects on the other. The chapter ends with the two of them staring down each other and declaring, "This is getting good!"
• Chapter 1037:
  • The fight between Luffy and Kaido keeps heating up as Kaido downs an entire barrel of alcohol, and gets horribly drunk. However, this doesn't lower his fighting capabilities but rather boosts them that he has Luffy in the defensive for a good portion of the fight as he goes from being a happy drunk to a sad one to an angry drunk all in the span of a few pages.
  • Of course, Luffy manages to weather the storm, and lands a few solid hits. Their scene ends with Luffy delivering a Gear 3 kick right to Kaido's gut.
  • Remember that fleet of World Government ships that are waiting for the results of the battle? They might not be able to do battle. Why, you ask? Because Zunisha, the giant elephant of Zou that decimated Jack's fleet has arrived at the Land of Wano.
• Chapter 1038:
  • Kanjuro's final fire monster proves strong enough to melt Yamato's ice breath and a formidable opponent for the Oni Princess.
  • Big Mom has utterly stomped Kid and Law. When their crews try to save them, she just swats them away like they're bugs. As she heads to the roof to assist Kaido again, Law gets back up and once again activates his DF Awakening and shocks her from the inside. Then Kid gets back up and smashes her with a metallic bull that's even bigger than Big Mom. The two rookie pirates declare that they would rather die before allowing her to get to the roof.
    • After defeating both of them, Big Mom is taunting the two, confident of her victory over them. But as soon as Law pierces her again and is about to hit her with another shockwave, she starts begging Law to not do it again. It's as if to say that yes, Kid and Law ARE doing real damage to her, and she's afraid of them now that they've shown the potential to surpass her.
    • Perhaps the most impressive of this is *how* they are doing it: without using a single ounce of Haki. Luffy trained to learn Ryuou in order to actually fight the Emperors with their unbelievable durability, backed by empowering themselves with Conqueror's Haki. But after so long of having it touted that Haki use makes Devil Fruit powers all but null and void, Kid and Law show through clever application that they don't need it to overcome her, Law bypassing her defenses with internal shockwaves, and Kid utilizing crushing force to violently compress her body and make such defenses moot anyway.
• Chapter 1039: Law and Kid just might have done the impossible: defeating Big Mom!
  • First, it's revealed that Kid's attack from the previous chapter managed to break Big Mom's bones, forcing her to once again use portions of her own soul to heal herself.
  • Then, Kid uses his Awakening again to once more make her magnetic, attaching her to a wall. Just before he's about to slam her with the same attack from last chapter, she just barely manages to block by swinging around so the wall attached to her back takes the hit instead.
  • Then Big Mom tries to hit Kid with one of her own attacks, an absolutely monstrous combination of Napoleon, Prometheus, and Hera called "Mother's Visit Cannon: Three Thousand Leagues of Misery". Kid barely dodges in time.
  • Next, Law attacks her again, once more piercing her with his sword and extending — except this time, he extends it all the way through Onigashima, through the air, until it reaches the ground of Wano below. And then he uses his Awakening to shock her from the inside, the impact of which reaches throughout his sword and creates an absolutely massive crater right in the heart of Wano.
  • And finally, finally, that gives Kid the opening for his trump card: a giant electromagnetic railgun! And then... this exchange:
    Big Mom: YOU RATS! GIVE ME ALL YOU'VE GOT THEN! YOU THINK YOU CAN BEST ME?! I'M BIG MOM!
    Kid: And that's why we're getting rid of you! (fires railgun)
    Big Mom: (spits blood) AAAAH!!!
    Law: Your era... is over!
  • The anime expands the fight by having Law deliver a Shock Wille to Big Mom's face and Teleport Spamming her as he and Kid attack her in tandem, leaving Big Mom with very little room to defend herself. When she finally loses her patience and summons Misery, the homie lays an absolutely feral No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Kid, who only survives due to Misery being distracted by Law dropping a tower on Big Mom. That Kid survived at all says a lot about how sturdy he is. In fact, the very episode opens with Kid resting from the beatdown Misery gave him, slowly preparing Damned Punk with ragged breathing while covered head to toes in his own blood as his life flashes before his eyes, before jumping to his feet when Law signals him to finish off Big Mom.
• Chapter 1040: Law and Kid HAVE done the impossible: they defeated Big Mom!
  • Big Mom gets a great moment as well, shrugging off Kid's railgun and moving to steal the lifeforce of everyone around her. It only doesn't work because...
  • Like Jimbei before them, Law and Kid aren't afraid of the Emperor in the least. Kid continues blasting Big Mom while Law uses a new move to silence her, cutting off her soul-draining.
    Kid: Why should we be afraid of the weak words of some old hag who's outlived her welcome?
    • To really shut her up, Law demonstrates another form of Awakening technique - the R-Room, with which he copies Rocinante's "Silence" technique, preventing Big Mom's words from reaching ANYONE and stopping the soul drain on everyone else.
  • Kid keeps blasting Big Mom, finally knocking her through the floor and eventually all the way through the bottom of the floating island. Unable to call for her Homies thanks to Law's R-Room, she lands in the crater Law created earlier along with several MASSIVE bombs, which explode. And boy, do they explode: the blast alone dwarfs the Flower Capital, going unheard thanks to, again, Law's R-Room. The battle for the future of Wano Country is reaching its end, and the people in the Flower Capital have yet to notice as they celebrate the Fire Festival.
    • For added fun, those bombs? They came from the armory Yamato was protecting — Law's and Kid's attack went through there. Not only that, Big Mom's collateral damage took out the fire youkai threatening to detonate the island.
  • The ending of the battle is awesome for both sides. It's heavily implied Big Mom survived the explosion, while the narrator confirms Law and Kid are the victors. For the first time in the series, a healthy Emperor has been defeated. The New Generation has arrived.
    • On that note, the cover page shows how Niji and Yonji were utterly trounced by Big Mom. The latter is labelled "a creature beyond the power of science," highlighting her supposed invincibility. And yet, Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law defeat this same creature through sheer persistence.
  • Also worth mentioning; For some time now, Raizou and Fukurokuju have been locked in a stalemate, holding each other still with paralysis techniques, in a burning room...and Raizou was the first to catch fire. The first man to succumb to the heat? Fukurokuju, because to Raizou, being fully enveloped in flames is nothing compared to the boiling oil that Oden stood for an hour in.
  • Yamato manages to freeze most of the bombs and creates an ice wall to shield the remaining explosives, preventing the utter destruction of Onigashima.
  • Momo then ends the chapter with a cliffhanger. Zunisha has come to Wano for a reason: an Old Shame from back when he was with Joy Boy...800 years ago.
• Chapter 1041:
  • When the ceiling above Orochi collapses on top of him, the phony shogun finds that he cannot transform into his Zoan form and is trapped underneath the rubble. "Komurasaki" then reveals that while Orochi was cozying up to her, she planted a few sea prism stone nails to negate his Devil Fruit power. It is then she reveals her true identity as Hiyori, and basically tells him You Killed My Father.
  • The Five Elders telling CP0 to kill Luffy. Yes, that's right, Luffy is considered so dangerous by the Government that they wanted to eliminate him even if this means that the CP0 had to interrupt Luffy's fight with Kaido. The CP0 agent who received the order was so shocked by this, that he started to wonder what's so important with the Straw Hat crew that the Government had to use such extreme methods to eradicate the captain.
  • When Kaido finds that Big Mom was defeated, he tries to go Alas, Poor Villain, but Luffy ain't having it. Luffy goes Gear 4 Snake Man and begins to pummel Kaido. And he's not going to stop until Kaido is out of Wano.
    Luffy: Your ambitions mean nothing to me!!! Especially if it leaves the people here with no food to eat!!
• Chapter 1042:
  • Kaido, still drunk at the moment, shows that he is also capable of using the advance form of Observation Haki to take on a Snake-Man Luffy. Not only dodging, but then counterattacking Luffy before using his powerful breath attack to send Luffy to the bottom of Onigashima. Luffy still won't give up, however. Even when he's caught off guard by Kaido's counterattack, he decides to go into his Bounce Man form to fight back, unleashing a new Kong Gun on Kaido. Kaido, then fights back by unleashing an even more powerful version of his Thunder Bagua to knock Luffy back off before the two prepare to unleash their (possible) final attacks...
  • Only for Luffy to be distracted by the CP0 agent, who is able to catch Luffy's attention and use his power to slow him down just as Kaido's Roaring Thunder Bagua lands! Kaido then has a flashback to when his fight with Oden was interrupted and we all know how angry he was then.
  • Kaido is by far Luffy's toughest, most badass foe. It took him the Akazaya Nine, Zoro, Law, Kidd, Yamato and a round with Luffy before the hero could fight him fairly. One distraction in his favor and he still wins, so his victory actually was more earned than he thought. Also, he has now beaten Luffy three times, a record that's hard to be surpassed.
• Chapter 1043 is a doozy:
  • First, we have to give credit to Kaido for putting the CP0 jackass in his place for daring to interrupt his fight with Luffy. With an ice-cold look on his face, Kaido just curtly notes he's prepared for what happens next before slamming his kanabo onto the agent's head hard enough to shake the foundation of the floors below. Kaido might be a villain, but damn if he doesn't have a level of valor that the government lacks.
    • The CP0 agent does deserve some props, despite his actions. When Kaido calls him out over his interference, he doesn't respond or attempt to justify himself and merely lowers his hat to hide his eyes, as if ashamed of pulling such a low move, even if it was under direct orders from the Five Elders. He simply stands still and allows Kaido to bring the full force of his might down on his head, accepting his end with grace despite the circumstances. He could have used either Shave or Iron Body to attempt to evade or defend himself more, even if it would have been futile against Kaido, but he instead allows himself to be struck down, almost in apology towards both fighters for his underhanded move.
  • Kaido then goes on a rampage, demanding that either Momonosuke surrender or he'll start fighting anyone and everyone, because Luffy is dead and nobody is left who can challenge his authority. This begins a sequence of excellent events in rapid succession, culminating in what's shaping up to be an eight on one battle against Kaido.
    • First, Nami of all people challenges Kaido, telling him to his face that he's a liar.
      Nami: Don't cry, Tama... He's going to be okay. Even if you kill him, you can't keep Luffy down for long.
      Marco: [Tries to hold her back] Hey! Stop! Are you crazy?!
      Nami: I won't let him keep lying! [continues walking out of cover] Who does that snake think he's fooling...? He's a liar and I won't let him get away with it!
      Kaido: Where's your fight now, samurai? I'm about to put an end to your country! What's the matter? Did Straw Hat's death break your spirits?
      Nami: Stop bullshitting just because you can't beat Luffy, you coward!
      [Kaido overhears this and turns to Nami]
      Nami: Luffy would never lose to an old lizard like you! I can see the shape you're in! He's been kicking your ass! You say Luffy's dead...?! You think we'll just believe your stupid lies and give up?! When Luffy says he'll win... he'll do it, no matter what...! He will never lose! Do you hear me?! And he will not die! He can't die! You're a liar!
    • When Kaido attempts to attack her, Marco proceeds to show us again how inhumanly tough he is by completely nullifying Kaido's Blast Breath, thus preventing Nami from getting harmed at all.
    • Nekomamushi and Carrot as well heed the call and decide to join the fight against Kaido.
    • Law and Kid are attacked by the rank and file Animal Kingdom Pirates, but are defended by their crews. They decide that surrendering isn't an option for them either.
    • Momo wants to surrender, but Yamato refuses to agree to this — they decide that dying with dignity is better than surrender.
  • Finally, as Yamato and Momo go to join the fight, Zunesha speaks to Momo. He hears Joy Boy's voice. And coincidentally, Luffy is smiling...
    Zunesha: Momonosuke!! I can hear it!! How long it's been.
    Momonosuke: What is it, Zunesha?!
    Zunesha: I hear the drums of liberation. For the first time in 800 years... he is here!!!
    Momonosuke: Who is?!
    Zunesha: Joy Boy... has returned!!
    • Also at the same time, a mysterious substance begins coming from Luffy's body, giving the impression that his Devil Fruit may have AWAKENED.^note But then, just like when Luffy first revealed the existence of Gear Four, Oda decides to go on a break.
    • The anime adds up to the awesomeness with the amazing Drums of Liberation, that really gives the feeling of being Luffy's heartbeat as he becomes Joy Boy.

The Warrior of Liberation Returns

• Chapter 1044: with a title like Warrior of Liberation, you know that what's about to happen will be supreme.
  • To begin with, kicking right off the last chapter, Luffy's wide awake, and laughing like a madman. Even though he just lost, he's somehow up again and feels better than ever. All the while, the "drums of liberation" that Zunesha had mentioned, what he believes marks Joy Boy's return, are now pronounced more than ever, and their source becomes clear: it's the heartbeat of one who has Awakened the Gum Gum Fruit, what Luffy has dubbed "Gear Five"... Or, as it is now revealed by its true name: the Mythical Zoan, Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.^note Model: Grin.
  • The return of Luffy's "voice" after being snuffed out is so loud and so prominent that every member of the crew and alliance who can sense Haki realize what's happening. Even Sanji, who'd been unconscious after his fight with Queen, snaps awake.
  • This infodump comes courtesy of the Five Elders, who had previously ordered the CP0 agent on a Suicide Mission: Nika is a power that the Elders define as "the most ridiculous" amidst a World of Badass, so much so that they attempted to hide it away once they found it twelve years prior, and would rather risk Kaido's world-spanning war than have another Nika holder around. The reason they dread it so much? Because Nika, once it’s fully awakened, gives its user the power of Toon Physics. Luffy's become the embodiment of freedom itself — which is anathema to the World Government, which wants order and control at all cost. Even worse for them, Zoans are revealed to have some degree of sentience, and Nika in particular seems to have been actively avoiding the World Government for 800 years.
  • His Conqueror's Haki starts knocking out Kaido's men left and right, without him actively using it.
  • Having now released his ability's true nature, Luffy shows off what it can do: he no longer needs to apply any focus towards stretching, warping, or enlarging his body, he just does. With an almost comical gait, he reaches a colossal hand down into Onigashima, yanks Kaido right back out to continue their fight, and immediately starts Metronomic Man Mashing Kaido all over the roof. When Kaido attempts to counter with a Blast Breath, Luffy grabs hold of the Skull Dome like a fabric and pulls up a slab like a rubber sheet, which bounces the blast back at Kaido. And it should be noted: while Luffy had his hands on Kaido, Kaido's eyes were comically bugging out, and after getting his head smashed in, a swollen head lump and the cartoonish "dizzy star" effect was swirling over his head — but as soon as Luffy lets go, he's back to normal. All the while, Luffy's laughing up a storm and having a ball. With how much visual emphasis is being put on these details (right down to Luffy doing an actual Wild Take when Kaido tried his Blast Breath), there can be no denying what this conceptually is. Long ago, Oda said that he wanted Luffy to be akin to a cartoon character... and now he’s become one, wielding Toon Physics like the bygone days of rubberhose animation.
  • Kaido, for his part, isn't cowed. Once he's stopped being on the wrong end of Luffy's Metronomic Man Mashing, he thanks Luffy for surviving, and after Luffy deflects his Blast Breath, he apologizes for CP0's interference. He doesn't understand the changes Luffy has undergone, and he doesn't care about them. He doesn't have a Villainous Breakdown like so many of Luffy's conquests before him. In fact, he's overjoyed that his Worthy Opponent is back up for one last round.
  • Finally, take a close look at Luffy. Not only are his eyes different, but his hair's changed. No longer black, it's a bit longer and glowing like a flame.
  • One more thing? Nika's a god, meaning Luffy now has the power of a deity.
  • This is underrated and unnoticed, but the fact that Luffy has been able to take the most basic form of his DF powers and continually honed Haki skills and, with his imagination, develop them to the point he can fight on par with The Strongest Creature in the World at age 19 speaks volumes about his potential, without factoring in his awakening. One can only imagine how much farther he'll go with full access to his Devil Fruit's true power.
    • Honestly, Oda deserves mention for his skillful storytelling, for being able to retroactively reveal that the main character's power, established and developed over 1000+ chapters, was something completely different than advertised the whole time and have that not come off as an Ass Pull of the highest order, but rather a logical conclusion of Luffy's abilities and personality demonstrated over all that time.
  • All this aside, another moment happens in the bowels of Onigashima, when Hiyori finally confronts Orochi and lays out all of the Shogun's transgressions: most notably, going back on his word and allowing her father to die. With a final declaration of hatred, Hiyori drops the mask of "Komurasaki" and reveals that she is still alive and here to avenge her father. At this point, Kazenbo, carrying the final embers of Kanjuro, emerges in the room. Orochi orders him to burn Hiyori...but Kazenbo, following Orochi's own words to 'go to where he is' heads towards the immobile dictator and burns Orochi instead.
  • The anime adaptation deserves credit for nailing Gear Five's cartoonish powers. Not only are the effects animated well, but cartoonish sound effects were added and even the animation style and quality are changed to fit. It all adds to the feeling Luffy's powers are even affecting the show itself.
• Chapter 1045. We get an idea of just how absurdly powerful the Nika fruit is.
  • Kaido spends much of the chapter completely at Luffy's mercy, as Luffy's literal cartoonish antics operate similarly to The Mask. ^note Kaido's body is warped in cartoonish fashion, but he FEELS that warping as damage. Such gems include giving Kaido a literal case of Balloon Belly and using his dragon form as a jump rope.
  • On Kaido's end, we're once again reminded that he's a freak of nature as even with Toon Physics in play, the blows Kaido lands are visibly powerful and painful even to this newly-minted Physical God, and he correctly points out that Luffy is burning the candle of his life at both ends by channeling this power so hard. Luffy's Super Mode put him on par with the Emperor, not above him.
  • However, Luffy's not the only one running out of steam. In the brief lull when Luffy's Joy Boy form runs out, Kaido actually collapses to his knees from exhaustion, something that seems to severely surprise him, showing that for all his immense power and endurance, even he's been pushed to his limit by this conflict. The biggest example of this is when Luffy endures Kaido's attacks, then begins a Tornado Move attack culminating in a massive Gear Five punch that runs through Kaido's face. Both fighters cannot continue the fight for much longer, and the climax is drawing nearer, but Luffy has just pulled off a major feat: In spite of his dragon form, Kaido is down.
• Chapter 1046:
  • First, a brief lull. Luffy and Kaido are both down and exhausted and have a brief exchange. It serves to fire them back up, and they get back up to trade blows yet again! And with Luffy still in Gear Five, both of them are comically stretching from the ferocity of each other's blows. The reader is left to marvel and wonder: What's it going to take?!
    • The final shot of the chapter has Luffy using his new powers to grab the background lighting to their duel and make a spear out of it to strike Kaido with, again demonstrating the sheer versatility and expanded range of combat options his new state grants him.
  • And in the meantime, as Luffy starts warping the world around him, Kaido is grinning madly, a full-blown Slasher Smile covering his face.
  • Meanwhile, underneath, Onigashama is burning, trapping everyone inside and threatening to overwhelm them. But then Raizo and Jimbei deliver a Big Damn Heroes team-up. Raizo had long ago used his Devil Fruit to seal some of the massive torrent unleashed by Zunesha bathing in a scroll. Remembering his failure to protect anyone in the Kozuki clan from the flames of Oden castle on the night Oden died, Raizo vows to not let the people he swore to protect down again, unleashing this deluge now, which Jimbei then redirects downward with his Fishman Karate into the rest of Onigashima, drowning out the flames.
  • While all this is going on, Yamato tells Momonosuke to get ready. Kaido is on his last legs, and if Momonosuke can't suspend Onigashima with his own flame clouds, when Kaido goes down, so will Onigashima!!
    • 20 years ago, Kozuki Oden held up 9 men aloft over a pot of boiling oil for over an hour to protect them. Now, his son will have to repeat this feat, with a lot more lives on the line.
• Chapter 1047:
  • Luffy's evolved abilities enable him to not only throw the lighting at Kaido, but use it as a temporary pole/handhold to swing around and launch a counter-attack after Kaido dodges and smacks him out of the air. For his part, Kaido gives no quarter even whilst facing off with an opponent who's altering the very rules of reality around him, deriding Luffy for thinking his new powers will be enough to overcome him on their own, and furthermore, allow Luffy to take the mantle of the Pirate King. As he goes on to demonstrate, the driving power that determines who stands at the top of their World of Badass is not who has the strongest Devil Fruit ability, but who has the strongest Haki, smashing Luffy around with just his physical hand-to-hand skills and Haki-infused mace, even with Joy Boy blunting the effect of his blows, at one point even turning Luffy's own powers against him by thwacking him down into the rubberised roof of Onigashima, resulting in Luffy getting uncontrollably bounced back into Kaido's followup full-power blow to the face, even breaking through Luffy's Haki-guarded block with his arms and nearly rendering him unconscious for the fifth time.
    Kaido: Play all the games you want, but abilities alone cannot conquer the world!!! The world is convenient that way!! Roger didn't have any fruit powers!!! Because only Haki... can transcend all!!!
  • Furthermore, Kaido's rant confirms the long-standing theory that Gol D. Roger was a Badass Normal human being. In a world with insane weather, fantastical creatures, superhuman opponents, and a World Government actively suppressing the truth about the Void Century with extreme prejudice, Roger spurred the temptation of gaining a Devil fruit of his own as 'not being worth it' and went on to conquer the seas with just his sword skills and immense Haki, discovering the truth of the lost century, finding Joy Boy's treasure, and overcoming untold odds all whilst remaining an un-empowered human being, and dying from an incurable disease towards the end. And he went on to go out in style and kick-start a new era of piracy to boot. Truly, the man was the stuff of legends.
  • Inside Onigashima, almost everyone has realized that the island is getting ready to fall. Hyogoro promptly states that it’s a good thing, because it means Kaido’s reaching the end of his rope and reminds everyone that if Kaido wins then they’d only stay alive for a few minutes longer than falling with the island. After that all the samurai decide to Face Death with Dignity and happily yell for Luffy to keep going.
  • After being launched into the air by Kaido, Luffy stretches his hand down and grabs onto the Emperor, refusing to let no no matter how many time he's slashed, smashed or blasted by his fiery breath. The chapter's end reveals the reason why — the clouds part to reveal Luffy’s other fist, covered in Haki and larger than Onigashima itself, ready to come down on Kaido like the proverbial fist of a god. However, the island and his allies are in the way of his Finishing Move smashing Kaido down to earth. Does Luffy hesitate? Nope! He just yells out to Momonosuke to move the entire island right now, cause he's finishing this fight one way or the other! If there was ever a Die or Fly time....
• Chapter 1048:
  • Kaido retaliates to Luffy's finishing blow with his own final move: Flame Dragon Torch, a flaming shell of his own likeness formed from his dragon breath, hundreds of times larger than Kaido's already-massive dragon form, hot enough to melt Onigashima's remaining horn formation just by Kaido's tail brushing past it, turning it into molten rock in seconds. Luffy is forced to release his death grip on Kaido from the heat, but despite that, Kaido promises him he won't run away from his final attack. Instead, he'll take it full-force head on and melt Luffy's arm into nothingness. Far from being intimidated by Kaido's seemingly impenetrable defence and offence in one, Luffy just quips back that he already knows how to hit him without touching him directly thanks to Hyogoro's training him in the Ryuo technique, combining both the new powers and new application of his Haki that he's learned in Wano into one massive attack that collides with Kaido in a epic Punch Parry.
    Luffy: The old man taught me how to do that without touching!! I'll smash you all the way down to the bottom of hell!!!
  • During a flashback to Oden's death 20 years ago, Kaido declares that he will go kill Momonosuke and the rest of the Kozuki. The crowd, having been won back to Oden's side, quickly stands in his way and begs him to leave them alone. It doesn't work, but having the balls to stand up to Kaido is pretty amazing for the non-powered civilians.
  • Kaido and Orochi then turn to the daimyo and give them an ultimatum: Join or Die? Shimotsuki Ushimaru then offers this badass response before charging Kaido with his fellow daimyo and their subordinates.
    Ushimaru: A stupid question, with an obvious answer! We refuse to accept a Shogun who is not a Kozuki!
  • After a montage of the pain inflicted upon the civilians on Wano in the 20 years since Oden's death in the name of Orochi's Revenge upon them for his clan's misfortunes, in the present the petty tyrant, aflame and on on his last legs, attempts one final attack in his burning Zoan form on Hiyori, swearing to meet her again for a drink in the afterlife, looking every inch the monster he is underneath in his last moments. Rather than understandably flee from him, Hiyori merely closes her eyes, content with finally taking the hated despot down with her and refusing to shame herself in her last moments. However, before Orochi can strike, he's interrupted by Denjiro, who fulfils his promise to Orochi that he'll 'gladly show him his swordsmanship' on the promised day by cutting off the burning shogun's head —hinted to be his last and final one— and standing betwixt him and Hiyori, leaving the mad ruler to burn in the very 'flames of vengeance' he had Kanjuro create to strike back at all his assembled enemies in in Onigashima.
    • Of note however — despite Denjiro's interference, the narrative doesn't portray the act as him stepping in to 'dirty his hands' for Hiyori's sake, nor to do what she herself couldn't by striking down Orochi. Orochi himself admitted that he was dying from the fires that Hiyori immobilised him long enough to be engulfed by and all his efforts were merely him trying to enact one last act of petty suffering against the Kozuki clan, taking Hiyori down with him to deny her the reward of her long 20 years waiting for that very moment. Denjro's interference was merely him denying the tyrant even that small victory, leaving him to die an utter disgrace at the hands of a woman who wasn't even a fighter, yet rendered him utterly helpless to avert his demise regardless.
• Chapter 1049:
  • With one last, mighty effort on Luffy's behalf, the Bajrang Gun prevails over the Flaming Bagua, blowing Kaido out of the sky and knocking him clear to "the bottom of Hell" as promised, Kaido shooting thousands upon thousands of feet straight into the earth at rocketing speeds, and still falling even as we last see him leaving behind a hole in the shape of his dragon form.
  • Not to be undone is Luffy's crowning moment amidst the final clash. Way back in the beginning of the New World half of the series, at Fish-Man Island, Luffy stated without any doubt whatsoever that he has no interest in being a hero. All he wanted was to be free and live life however he wanted. However, here, Kaido challenges Luffy's determination, claiming someone like him can't change the world, and demanding what kind of world he possibly thinks he can make. Luffy's response is that he will — to make the kind of world where his friends will be free "to eat as much as they want". The Warrior of Liberation has fully emerged in him.
    Kaido: STRAW HAT!! WHAT KIND OF WORLD DO YOU WISH TO MAKE?!
    Luffy: A world where… my friends… can eat… as much as they like!! THAT'S MY KIND OF WORLD!!!
  • Props to Kaido as well. Even though he ends up getting overpowered, he actually manages to match Luffy's final attack with his own for a while before being ultimately overcome, in spite of the amount of fighting he had done throughout the entire night against everyone who'd come his way.
• Chapter 1050: It's official. Luffy defeated Kaido, and the long war for Wano is finally over.
  • After ten long real-time years since Luffy and Law formed their alliance to bring down the Emperor Kaido, it's finally over with the narration itself noting that the winner of the fight has been revised. Luffy made good on his promise to punch Kaido to "the bottom of Hell", with Kaido having been hit so hard that he ended up shooting thousands of feet straight into the earth at rocketing speeds, right into the magma deep under the ground. After a battle nearly fifty chapters, and spanning the longest arc in One Piece history, Monkey D. Luffy has triumphed over the Emperor of the Sea.
    • How awesome is that? In the anime adaptation, Luffy's beatdown on Kaido was initially set to a Dark Reprise of "We Go", the show's first opening theme song after the time skip, until Luffy eventually makes a comeback and the song changes of a Triumphant Reprise of "We Are", the show's first ever opening theme song!
  • Big Mom also ended up in Wano's mantle due to Kid and Law. The final shot we see of her and Kaido is their unconscious bodies beside each other on the mantle... which then proceed to explode like a newborn volcano that rocks the whole nation. It's as if Wano itself has given the boasts of the Supernovas a seal of approval: the era of the Four Emperors is finally over.

The suffering of Wano ends

• Chapter 1051: Not so much the chapter itself which lends more to Heartwarming Moments than Awesome, but rather the announcement that followed it: One Piece is going on hiatus for a month following the June 27th issue... so that the author can prepare for the final saga. After 24-and-a-half years^note The first issue of One Piece hit shelves on December 24th, 1997, following the defeat of Kaido, One Piece has officially entered the endgame.
• Chapter 1052: A mysterious figure is using a spinning flower growing out his back to fly up and effortlessly bypass the treacherous hazards leading into Wano seven days after the Fire Festival. Who is it? Admiral Ryokugyu. The chaos that took place was leaked to the World Government by Scratchmen Apoo, and Sakazuki had to reluctantly send a very powerful but troublesome Admiral to assess the situation, warning him not to make the situation any worse (like Fujitora). Ryokugyu doesn't even show any sign of intimidation towards his superior officer, treating his order like an afterthought.
• Chapter 1053:
  • Big News Morgan released the information that Big Mom and Kaido have both been defeated at the hands of Law, Kid, and Luffy, against the wishes of the Five Elders.
  • We learn what Ryokugyu can do when he takes down all the remaining Beast Pirates, including both King and Queen (though the two are injured and tired from all the fighting they did).
  • Luffy is now officially a member of the New Emperors, alongside Shanks, Blackbeard, and (surprisingly) Buggy.
  • Tenguyama reveals himself to be Kozuki Sukiyaki under his mask and confirms what Robin learned from the Poneglyph in Alabasta: that Pluton is somewhere in Wano.
• Chapter 1054:
  • We finally learn the full story of Sabo's actions in Mary Geoise: Not only did he and his fellow commanders successfully make their declaration of war against the World Nobles, but they managed to escape their clash with Fujitora and Ryokugyu while taking Kuma with them, along with inspiring eight countries to rebel against their monarchs while they were at the Levery, resulting in Sabo being declared the "Flame Emperor" throughout the world. The only thing that offsets it is the alleged story that he murdered Nefertari Cobra.
  • Aramaki takes on all the powerful natives of Wano all alone.
  • Shanks making a bold claim after over a thousand chapters of not showing any particular interest... until now.
    Shanks: Say, Beck. I think it's time we make our move. ... Let's claim the One Piece.
• Chapter 1055:
  • Aramaki shows that he isn't just strong after he takes on a fire attack from Raizou, lampshading that he would be prepared to defend against an obvious weakness.
  • Momonosuke refuses to ask Luffy for help because they are outsiders; the people who are supposed to guard Wano should only rely on themselves to defend the country.
  • After Aramaki calls Momonosuke pathetic, the latter finally succeeds in firing his own Blast Breath, seemingly burning Aramaki into nothing and completely overwhelming his countermeasure against fire. This noticeably causes Aramaki to visibly panic.
    Momonosuke: GET OUT! GET OUT OF THE LAND OF WANO!
    • More importantly, Momo uncorks not just one Blast Breath, but several. In rapid succession.
  • Aramaki reforms from a single sapling, and is ready to continue the fight (to Momonosuke's credit, the admiral still clearly felt the onslaught), but is suddenly halted by someone's Conqueror's Haki. The admiral then realizes that this Haki belongs to Shanks. This is all the Emperor needs to do to get the admiral to retreat.
    • Somehow, Shanks is able to use his Haki to converse with Aramaki from all the way outside of Wano, taking a moment to point out how it's poor form to go after the Worst Generation right after they've worn themselves out making history. Aramaki is visibly sweating while Shanks has him pinned down.
      Shanks: Does the New Age frighten you that much?!
    • On that note, Shanks is the last remaining Emperor of the original line-up back when they were introduced. This surge of Conqueror's Haki, which is even knocking out a couple of the Red-Hair Pirates' new recruits as noted by a crewmate of his, shows people just how the happy-go-lucky, one-handed party lover who inspired Luffy to become a pirate stood on equal grounds with legendary monsters like Big Mom, Kaido and Whitebeard.
  • Turns out, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Jimbei are completely aware of Aramaki's presence. And they're willing to let Momonosuke and the Red Scabbards deal with him, showing they no longer see the Admirals as a threat for them to fight.
• Chapter 1056:
  • Some light gets shed on how Buggy of all people became one of the new emperors. While nothing is yet confirmed on the exact reasoning, it seems that Buggy has had the sheer audacity to start issuing bounties on marines. Keep in mind that bounties are one of the ways the World Government keeps pirates in check by enticing powerful bounty hunters to take pirates down for the government, and this is so ingrained in the world's culture that a pirate's bounty is a large part of their identity, both in and out of universe. Buggy took that entire script and decided to flip it, turning one of the World Government's biggest anti-pirate tools against them.
    • Buggy even managed, at least according to the newspaper, to somehow make two former Warlords, Crocodile and Mihawk, work for him. Even Law acknowledges that Buggy deserves the title of Emperor if he was able to get those two to work for him.
    • Even when it turns out his status isn't genuine, he still succeeded at tricking the government into thinking he is the Emperor, and stayed in command due to Mihawk's pragmatism.
• Chapter 1057:
  • As recounted in the play retelling of their daring raid on Onigashima, it turns out that despite being decapitated and aflame, Orochi was Not Quite Dead, and spitefully swore to Hiyori that the Kurozumi clan's wrath would forever curse Wano until it's last generation, in a similar manner to Toki and Oden's own prophecy and deaths 20 years ago. Rather than accept Orochi's words as the final say in their feud, with 20 years of suffering fresh in her mind, Hiyori instead steps forward and taunts Orochi with an echo of her father's catchphrase. "Kurozumi was born to burn!"^note The Kanji used for the phrase referencing 'smoulder' , akin to the Kanji for the Kurozumi clan's name meaning 'charcoal' and thus how their revenge and Orochi was always destined to go up in flames. Orochi can do nothing but scream in frustrated anguish as the flames he ordered to burn his enemies in the name of his clan's revenge and his own spite consume him instead, leaving him an utter pathetic failure everybody is glad to move on from.
    • The anime somehow makes this moment more awesome as the play's narrator asks the audience to join him in saying Hiyori's last words to Orochi ^note The translation the anime subs went with was "black charcaol could not be called kurozumi if it wasn't burned," complete with an image of Oden appearing as Hiyori speaks. . Given that there are children wearing wigs that imitate Denjiro and Hiyori's hairstyles from when they were undercover plus people cheering that they were waiting for the narrator to get to that part, it's clear that people have gone to see the play multiple times.
  • Momonosuke catches up to Luffy and the Straw Hats at the harbor, crying and asking Luffy to not leave. In response, Luffy says that he's like a little brother to him and hands Momonosuke a copy of the Straw Hat Pirates' flag, telling him to hang it somewhere in Wano and that he'll come to help if the country is threatened. In other words, Luffy has marked Wano Country as his territory, much like he did with Fishman Island.