Chapter 1,009: Naraku

[King Cannon]

Chapters 569 and 764 are both called "White Monster" with the former being written in kanji and the latter in katakana. That being said, from what I've read I'm not sure "Naraku" is exactly equivalent to the kind of Hell that most of us think of, it is simply the closest thing to one in Buddhism.

Yeah, I believe it's closer to a purgatory if I'm not mistaken. It's where you go if you have bad karma and have to suffer until your bad karma is spent.

Christian hell is eternal damnation.

[Deicide]

People have repeatedly expected Big Mom to be out of the picture. First, by hoping O-Lin would overtake her. Or that she'd just leave mid-fight for reasons (Blackbeard attacking Tottoland, running off with Kaido's Poneglyph, or whatever).

I feel they ignore Big Mom's role in this saga. While Kaido is clearly shown as the top dog in fighting prowess, Big Mom's plot has been built up since the early days of the New World, and the Rocks' past was introduced at the beginning of Wano in order to weave Big Mom and Kaido together as the big foes to be defeated.

This final confrontation is supposed to be huge, which is why we are nowhere near the end of the arc yet, and I won't be surprised if Big Mom turns out to be the mastermind big bad of the arc (she was the one proposing an alliance with Kaido since the early days of Wano, and she surrendered herself to Queen in order to meet Kaido), while Kaido is just the main physical threat. Linlin also seems essential for understanding Kaido's past.

Once this "Yonko Saga" ends with the fall of both Kaido and Big Mom, the final saga can begin with a very different world after the abolition of the Warlords, Blackbeard and Shanks making their moves, the revolutionaries striking the WG, and Navy's power increasing with the SSG force. It will be the "throne war" hinted by Doflamingo, which is most likely going to be built over a few separate arcs (Mary Geoise, Vegapunk, Elbaf...)

[Johnny B. Decent]

What does ragnarök have to do with hell?

Well, during it, an army of the dead and evil come out from Hel.

[Robby]

Big Mom still has a lot of buisness to deal with in Elbaf, including Loki, her forgotten past, feud with the giants, everything with Lola... and Pudding is still an outstanding side plot for Sanji (as is the fate of his family) so it's perfectly reasonable for her to be out of this arc and then come back one more time. Plus add in that she's actually friendly to Chopper when she has amnesia and owe Sanji for the cake and STUFF.

Not as a main antagonist, her threat level is diminished a smidge at this point, but she still has a role to play.

Though Prospero running around is super weird given he's the only one there aside from being used to tie up Carrot's buisness.

But BM being done for the next thirty or so chapters so Kaidou can get his proper focus for the rest of the year is fine. The whole crew can still be a final act dramatic "oh crap" moment, similar to Kuma showing up at Thriller Bark.

[LightningAce]

Man, Zoro is just such a total badass. Getting in the way of that insane combined attack.
I love this guy. He is an total beast

[Deicide]

Big Mom still has a lot of buisness to deal with in Elbaf, including Loki, her forgotten past, feud with the giants, everything with Lola... and Pudding is still an outstanding side plot for Sanji (as is the fate of his family) so it's perfectly reasonable for her to be out of this arc and then come back one more time.

I don't think any of those need her to be present in person. Big Mom isn't important to Elbaf, it's Elbaf that is important for Big Mom. I feel the giants' history and secrets will be essential to understand the One Piece world. I'm sure Pudding and Lola will still have importance at some point, if not in Wano itself. But Big Mom does not need to remain a player at all, she can still be important in flashbacks and in how her actions influence the giants' attitudes.

[Kaworu]

Wow. This is the first chapter I felt truly was a Volume 100 chapter. Above and beyond that, actually. I've liked and appreciated moments from the previous few likely vol. 100 chapters, but this was orders of magnitude better than them. This is the type of chapter I wouldn't have even known Oda was capable of producing had you shown me this back in early One Piece.

I love the callback of Ocean Sovereignty, and how this was a fantastic way to show the truly dominating force that Emperors are. Most powerful attack in the series that I can recall. Can't believe Zoro even attempted to block it. I actually very much got Sabaody vibes from that moment, that's how dismal the chances for the good guys seem. I feel that Oda balanced this well, Zoro blocked the attack for JUST a moment, and still ends up worn out, heavily injured and coughing up blood from it anyway.

I was not getting good vibes from Kaido's Ragnarok attack. From what I've seen from Roger and Whitebeard's attacks, that looked exactly like them, streaming Haki behind it, besides the fact it physically touched Luffy. So I'm pretty sure Luffy just took an attack of that force, which is the top level seen in the series so far. Bagua's one handed, Ragnarok's two-handed, as well. Another terrifying thing is that this of course reveals that Kaido can use Armament Haki -- top-tier Armament. I've been wanting that "reveal" since forever, so he truly does only use it against opponents he sees as worthy. For my money, Luffy's now in the state Zoro is or worse... he will not be shrugging off an attack like that.

The fight choreography with Big Mom's section was also brilliant! The delayed impact from Kid felt great. Hopefully she is actually out of the scene for a while, Hybrid Kaido's just too much and still completely unscratched in that form, with much more powerful attacks to boot.

One of my personal favorite chapters of all time, having seen the last few as "pretty good yet needed".

[King Cannon]

People have repeatedly expected Big Mom to be out of the picture. First, by hoping O-Lin would overtake her. Or that she'd just leave mid-fight for reasons (Blackbeard attacking Tottoland, running off with Kaido's Poneglyph, or whatever).

I feel they ignore Big Mom's role in this saga. While Kaido is clearly shown as the top dog in fighting prowess, Big Mom's plot has been built up since the early days of the New World, and the Rocks' past was introduced at the beginning of Wano in order to weave Big Mom and Kaido together as the big foes to be defeated.

This final confrontation is supposed to be huge, which is why we are nowhere near the end of the arc yet, and I won't be surprised if Big Mom turns out to be the mastermind big bad of the arc (she was the one proposing an alliance with Kaido since the early days of Wano, and she surrendered herself to Queen in order to meet Kaido), while Kaido is just the main physical threat. Linlin also seems essential for understanding Kaido's past.

Once this "Yonko Saga" ends with the fall of both Kaido and Big Mom, the final saga can begin with a very different world after the abolition of the Warlords, Blackbeard and Shanks making their moves, the revolutionaries striking the WG, and Navy's power increasing with the SSG force. It will be the "throne war" hinted by Doflamingo, which is most likely going to be built over a few separate arcs (Mary Geoise, Vegapunk, Elbaf...)

I expect Big Mom to only become relevant again when the confrontation with Kaido's is over. Again, he needs the focus, especially when he already had to share space with Orochi during the first part of Wano as the main villain.

[Zeorn]

I find it weird Big Mom can't use Geppo or some variation of it when her children can.

For a Yonko, Big Mom is awfully reliant on her Devil Fruit ability.

Her time during WCI should have established to her how weak she can become when she doesn't have one of her main Homies with her i.e. Zeus. The very fact that she let rookies escape her territory with a copy of the Road Poneglyph and the destruction they caused should have sent her a loud and clear message.

Yonko being dumb is no fun.

Should not have skipped leg-day, Linlin.

All Kaido needs to do is ignore Luffy for a bit, transform into his dragon form and fly down to pick up Linlin. Doubt he will do that though...

I don't know what Big Mom you've seen up until now. Her Devil Fruit has never been what has made her scary although once you combine it with her base abilities it turns her into one of the strongest scariest characters in One Piece.

At the age of 5, before she had a devil fruit, she already had the strength to kill a giant bear with one punch. Combine her insanely strong body with her berserker cravings and she can break the sword of a giant lord with one fist and then kill him.

On her 6th birthday she celebrated by eating her entire adopted family. I'd call that "scary."

Don't you remember the entire point of the scheme to break Mother Caramel's picture at the wedding was just to send Big Mom into a shocked state that would allow them to scratch her body. Her resilient body and inhuman strength are her real power.

Yes she has a very strong devil fruit that lets her tear away a person's lifespan but it only works if people are scared of her. Everyone is already scared of her because they know there is no way to kill or defeat her in a fight, all you can do is run away as far and fast as you can.

If you had a body that nobody could harm and knew there was nothing to stop you why would you even bother training for speed or dodging. Big Mom uses her devil fruit to make up for her lack of mobility by flying around on Prometheus and Zeus.

Big Mom is an unstoppable force and the only way to deal with her is to put as much distance between yourself and her as possible. So, that is what they did.

[KageKageKing]

What does ragnarök have to do with hell?

Ragnarok is a War. And War is Hell.

So there you have it.

[Maju]

Another bad chapter. Wano is the worst arc so far.

while i'm not liking wano as well, this chapter was decent, finally some teamwork and some strategy

[DoctorPhil]

I don't know what Big Mom you've seen up until now. Her Devil Fruit has never been what has made her scary although once you combine it with her base abilities it turns her into one of the strongest scariest characters in One Piece.

At the age of 5, before she had a devil fruit, she already had the strength to kill a giant bear with one punch. Combine her insanely strong body with her berserker cravings and she can break the sword of a giant lord with one fist and then kill him.

On her 6th birthday she celebrated by eating her entire adopted family. I'd call that "scary."

Don't you remember the entire point of the scheme to break Mother Caramel's picture at the wedding was just to send Big Mom into a shocked state that would allow them to scratch her body. Her resilient body and inhuman strength are her real power.

Yes she has a very strong devil fruit that lets her tear away a person's lifespan but it only works if people are scared of her. Everyone is already scared of her because they know there is no way to kill or defeat her in a fight, all you can do is run away as far and fast as you can.

If you had a body that nobody could harm and knew there was nothing to stop you why would you even bother training for speed or dodging. Big Mom uses her devil fruit to make up for her lack of mobility by flying around on Prometheus and Zeus.

Big Mom is an unstoppable force and the only way to deal with her is to put as much distance between yourself and her as possible. So, that is what they did.

Bruh all you need to do is throw a motorcycle at her face and roll her away.

But really, this is a good chapter on it's own. The real problem is that BM needed her threat restored after the laughable way she got clowned on before, but the opposite happened, even if she got dealt with in a reasonable way this time. Her threat and hype are totally deflated.

Kaido now needs some time to get development STAT so I can start getting invested in him.

[Zeorn]

Does anyone have an idea why Stephen left the chapter title as “naraku”? It also appears in Kaidou’s attack that was otherwise translated as Ragnarok as the obvious reference, so what’s up with “Ragnaraku”? I get that it means hell and that Buddhism has “Naraka”s but it just doesn’t seem obvious to Westerners. Is it just another case of “Akazaya” and “Tobi Roppo”?

Well it is just another thing that would be entirely missed for us non-Japanese otherwise. The title of the chapter was Naraku which can mean Hell, Hades, and obviously Naraka from Buddhism but that isn't the only meaning. It has other meanings along the lines of rock bottom, the end of the line, or the worst possible circumstances. In Japanese theater it refers to the trapdoor room, or the area below-stage where they can use trapdoors and stage elevators to influence the play.

I think Oda used this word to convey the multiple meanings in this one chapter. It starts out with a raging fire started by Orochi, the worst generation is fighting two emperors and have to endure their combo attack, and then they set up a trap and implement it in such a way that removes Big Mom from the stage and sends her through a trapdoor to the rock bottom.

Then Oda doubles down on his use of the word and uses it to create a portmanteau with the word Ragnarok creating Kaido's attack Ragnaraku.

Essentially there is no way to translate these things directly into English and also convey the meanings when most Westerners don't know what Naraka is or the connection with Naraku.

I mean maybe you could try combining English words that have similar meanings like calling Kaido's attack Apocabyss or something but that just creates a bunch of other problems.

This is one of those times where you just have to add translator notes into the volumes to explain why you couldn't just throw in some literal English translation.

[Seafarer33]

Great chapter, focused scenes + emperors battle keeps being a working recipe. I wish Oda had remembered it sooner.

I'm a little fuzzy on Orochi, though. Can someone confirm that his DF is a 8-headed monster? So one head struck by Kaido + 6 by the Scabbards = he is on his last leg, right?

I love the callback of Ocean Sovereignty, and how this was a fantastic way to show the truly dominating force that Emperors are. Most powerful attack in the series that I can recall.

So I'm not dreaming, it is the same attack (or stance, if the name differs) that Dory and Brogy used all these years ago to force open a passage for Going Merry ? Awesome, then.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

Naraku stuff

This does shed light on the title chapter, I was a bit lost there aside from the Ragnarok reference. Thanks !

[Cockycent]

When I saw the title, I automatically thought of the Inuyasha antagonist.

[Sengokusgoat]

But if the actual Buddhism realm is Naraka, why call the chapter Naraku. I guess in Japanese it probably works better that way when Kaido's attack or something, but in English Ragnaraka would sound fine.

[Cockycent]

I read that Ragu means to drag or lug something around. Does it also mean to drag them to hell?

[Deicide]

I expect Big Mom to only become relevant again when the confrontation with Kaido's is over. Again, he needs the focus, especially when he already had to share space with Orochi during the first part of Wano as the main villain.

Big Mom does not need to to directly to the rooftop yet. Her children causing havok in the dome while she goes after Kaido's poneglyph makes perfect sense. I also think she will be defeated by the combined Straw Hats in an Oars-like fight, while Luffy takes care of Kaido.

But I don't think she's leaving the arc. She's here to stay. In a narrative sense, removing BM now would make this already long saga even longer by leaving all of her plot hooks dangling. IMO, once we leave Wano, we will not be worrying about Yonko anymore.

[Kaworu]

So I'm not dreaming, it is the same attack (or stance, if the name differs) that Dory and Brogy used all these years ago to force open a passage for Going Merry ? Awesome, then.

Yeah, though interestingly they have different names, the Giants' one is Hakoku, the dual Yonkou one is apparently Hakai. Still a clear reference visually, I think it'll all tie up neatly at Elbaf.

[Deicide]

Talking about Dory and Broggy, I never forget that they said the weapons of Elbaf can vanquish anything but the red serpent around the world...