This chapter was simply brilliant.
The buildup panels with Luffy and his long lost bro Sabo, Luffy´s Enel-face and him crying like a baby while running around in a fish costume, being scolded by a 3 sword cat and joined by a 2 sword frog who thinks the costumes are appropriate, finished by a very emotional last two pages with Koala the Sun Pirate girl who is now all grown up, very cute and a revolutionary, sitting like a boss on someone she just beat up and discussing stuff with Sabo, who has taken the position of Lucy in the tournament in his costume, talking about inheriting Ace´s will while the author draws the grave of with the characteristic 3 cups that created a brotherly bond between lonely kids with big dreams. Words can´t describe how great this was.
While Koala alone would´ve made the chapter for me easily, we also got Sabo. Wow. I don´t think anyone but the author would´ve called his reappearance at this very moment and in this fashion. Storytelling at its finest. I thought last week´s surprise Big Mom ship outta nowhere was a shocker but this chapter was a couple of levels better.
Special mention goes to Barto, an incredible character who went from picking his nose and throwing a ball into the audience (that´s like the most ridiculous but coolest thing ever) and trolling them, through blocking King´s Punch, later being totally starstruck by Luffy almost unable to talk to him, now even helping a fellow participant-oponent whose trust was betrayed by the very person he looked up to for so long. Barto promising to get the fruit for Luffy while being turned around because he can´t even talk to him face to face, pure gold. Last but not least, Bart was even touched by THE Sabo´s CoA hand. Barto is one of the best new characters introduced in this arc alongside Fujitora in my book.
The whole Barto/Bellamy interaction was mighty fine. It´s unbelievable that Oda even made us feel sympathy for a character like Bellamy who Luffy one shot quite a while back and it felt sooo satisfactory back then.
What else? We can´t forget the dwarf army and the operation SOP explanation, toy fruit user Sugar and her bodyguard, literal underground business on the island and of course Usopp acting all brave when it comes to beating up a child (LOL), Franky´s unidentifiable hairstyle change and my lovely Robin basically facepalming all the time. Simply hilarious.
No wonder people are going crazy. As a One Piece fan, you simply can´t ask for more than this.