Chapter 969: Fool of a Lord
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So the flashback may be over for now. I wonder if we'll get a mini flash back for what happened before the samurai met up at the current time.
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Wouldnt it be amazing if Kinnemon and co, to this day, still dont know the truth and yet still did everything they did. That would be absoluely perfect, i hope thats the case
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I dont get it. Why exactly did he dance for 5 years and decided to do nothing but then again did something when he heard of a death of the mafia wife?
Do not get it at all.
Anyone has any clue that makes sense?
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I wonder if we are only getting part of the Wano flashback here (Oden's POV only ), and will be getting a more detailed one down the line. Things feel too fragmented at the moment.
Also it seems Oden really trusted Orochi to hold his end of a some sort of deal? wth Oden, you can't be this stupid.. right?
Maybe this is a test to not only the population of Wano, but to the reader's faith in Oden, we will see I guess.
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Hmm I've finally got used to the official schedule, I still need fan translations for the honorifics, like what did that old man with the Bari Bari no mi referred to Oden as .
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Hmm I've finally got used to the official schedule, I still need fan translations for the honorifics, like what did that old man with the Bari Bari no mi referred to Oden as .
I read the scans, and honestly.. I regret it. All current scans are very low quality.
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I would like to believe that Oden did all those stupid things because Orochi knew the true secret of Wano and Oden wanted to wait for Joyboy to appear. But he lost patience eventually.
But most likely answer is perhaps Oro made him believe that he was a hostage of Kaido too and promised him to build some ships to go for help.It fit Oden's naivety.
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Short question, do we know if or when Kanjuro and Kinemon eat their Devil Fruits? At the moment its seems like they haven't. Anyways what a chapter, cover story starts with Gotti possible defeated by some guy from the navy with ease I would say. The chapter itself got a goofy Oden, which I like, wish we had seen him like that before. But yeah it seems like he made some kind of deal with Orochi, so that the people of Wano wouldn't be harmed by him or Kaido. The final straw broke as innocent people were killed. Now Oden wants to drive Kaido and Orochi out, but how will he do that, when they have the guy with the barrier Devil Fruit and the old hag with the copy Devil Fruit. And I wonder how will Oda continue? Will he show us how the flash back ends, or will we get some kind of break from the flash back? I mean this scene would be a good break point to go back to the current story line, as the akazaya nine are on their way to kill Kaido and in the current story they are as well. Or will he continue the flashback ones Kaido/Orochi are nearly defeated?
Great chapter 9/10 -
I would like to believe that Oden did all those stupid things because Orochi knew the true secret of Wano and Oden wanted to wait for Joyboy to appear. But he lost patience eventually.
But most likely answer is perhaps Oro made him believe that he was a hostage of Kaido too and promised him to build some ships to go for help.It fit Oden's naivety.
Right after they talk we see kaidou's men shoot two people down, so oden maybe wanted to protect the people of wano, since kaidou's men could easily take them down if oden kept opposing orochi. And then oden asked for a ship so he can maybe take the people of kuri with him and leave wano for good and move… to east blue?
The dacing could also be a ritual from oden to try to bring joy to the pople in these bad times. Not orochi asking him to dance. -
@Gol:
Short question, do we know if or when Kanjuro and Kinemon eat their Devil Fruits? At the moment its seems like they haven't. Anyways what a chapter, cover story starts with Gotti possible defeated by some guy from the navy with ease I would say. The chapter itself got a goofy Oden, which I like, wish we had seen him like that before. But yeah it seems like he made some kind of deal with Orochi, so that the people of Wano wouldn't be harmed by him or Kaido. The final straw broke as innocent people were killed. Now Oden wants to drive Kaido and Orochi out, but how will he do that, when they have the guy with the barrier Devil Fruit and the old hag with the copy Devil Fruit. And I wonder how will Oda continue? Will he show us how the flash back ends, or will we get some kind of break from the flash back? I mean this scene would be a good break point to go back to the current story line, as the akazaya nine are on their way to kill Kaido and in the current story they are as well. Or will he continue the flashback ones Kaido/Orochi are nearly defeated?
Great chapter 9/10They must've eaten it by now, so we just didn't see it. This is the day everything goes to shit for them before they're sent through time. It wouldn't make any sense to have them randomly eat it as they're fighting Kaido's men or something.
Also Kanjuro has his paintbrush as a weapon, which would only make sense if he already had his DF.
Wouldnt it be amazing if Kinnemon and co, to this day, still dont know the truth and yet still did everything they did. That would be absoluely perfect, i hope thats the case
I wouldn't be surprised, I doubt they'll have a moment for Oden to really tell them the truth of things, they're about to fight. It's up to Shinobu to reveal everything it seems.
So the flashback may be over for now. I wonder if we'll get a mini flash back for what happened before the samurai met up at the current time.
What? The chapter literally ends with them going to approach Kaido, why would you think its over lol
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@uniaka:
Right after they talk we see kaidou's men shoot two people down, so oden maybe wanted to protect the people of wano, since kaidou's men could easily take them down if oden kept opposing orochi. And then oden asked for a ship so he can maybe take the people of kuri with him and leave wano for good and move… to east blue?
The dacing could also be a ritual from oden to try to bring joy to the pople in these bad times. Not orochi asking him to dance.It is more likely that Oro asked him to dance so that people lose faith in Eden and he can keep the shogun position. Oden was willing to let the position go for greater good.
Also Oden would never leave Wano with a section of people(Kuri), it had always been all or nothing for him.I am sure there was no question of him agreeing leaving Wano for good…
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That Gecko Moria cameo tho.
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I feel like the Wano narrative is slowly falling apart because Oden's followers, the people who want to save Wano in his name, had no actual connection to his dream.
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I feel like the Wano narrative is slowly falling apart because Oden's followers, the people who want to save Wano in his name, had no actual connection to his dream.
Well, it would appear such since Oden's dream and Wano's future are yet to be connected.Oda juggled too many plots in too little story space and thus made the whole thing 'inhomgeneous' or disconnected.
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Hmmm, real curious what could've convinced Oden to act like a fool for 5 years. The only slight clue was Oden mentioning something about Kaido's ships when Orochi comes to Kuri to build weapons factories….but I just can't quite figure out if Oda is playing on Oden being naive and trusting Orochi to some deal or if Orochi threatened Oden in some major way that Oden knew he could not win without major casualties. I guess Shinobu knows the details, and it would be real dumb if she has held onto that info this entire time without telling the others. It would make more sense IF she told them the truth and they pretended to play along with Oden, similar to how Cocoyashi Village played ignorant to Nami as well.
I like how the end of this chap parallels the walk that the Nine Scabbards did before the flashback started. Feels like the incoming fight is going to be epic
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Really enjoyable read. The somewhat pompous viz style fits those narrator-heavy chapters well.
Content-wise, the only real difference I could spot was the line Orochi said to Oden. The fan translation made it seem like Oden was expecting a boat from Orochi, but here it looks like Oden was expecting Kaido to manufacture boats (plural) in general. Maybe the deal involved Kaido leaving once he's built his fleet on Wano? And now it turns out that he's also producing other stuff and the agreement was based on a lie to begin with?
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I feel that it might have worked better if Oden got lost at sea after the Roger Pirates disbanded and had a five-year Odyssey.
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Clearly all the Kurozumi clan cared for was power and revenge, they didn't care about the people of Wano at all. They, along with Kaido, blackmailed Oden, threatening to wipe out Kuri, his vassals, and his family, possibly all of Wano if necessary.
By not killing Oden and instead making him dance like a fool he didn't become a martyr that would have led to all out revolution. Instead, the people lost their faith in Oden and he became a fool that behaved himself (didn't cause any trouble for Orochi and Kaido).
What's interesting is that Shinobu saw, and I assume heard the entire exchange between Oden and Orochi but what was she doing all those 5 years? Who did she tell? She isn't one of the 9 but clearly became their ally at some point. I could understand Oden keeping the secret to himself but Shinobu should have acted on her own with that information.
Hell, as a ninja she could have seen Kurozumi Semimaru had the Barrier fruit, slit his throat as he slept, and then let Oden deal with Orochi as he wanted. Sure, pretty dark thing for a "good guy" to do, but worth it.
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It is more likely that Oro asked him to dance so that people lose faith in Eden and he can keep the shogun position. Oden was willing to let the position go for greater good.
Also Oden would never leave Wano with a section of people(Kuri), it had always been all or nothing for him.I am sure there was no question of him agreeing leaving Wano for good…
Maybe oden wanted to take all people from wano with him, not just kuri, and expected kaidou and orochi would just let all their workforce leave like that. Kaidou wants the island so bad, take it, we can just leave and find a new one for the people of wano. That is why he wanted boats.
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Going with "Akazaya Nine" really hurt when it came the occasion to explain the name, huh!?
As for the content itself, I believe Orochi revealed Sukiyaki is still alive and being kept as a hostage. The fact Kaido went to the castle after his men dispersed the crowd surrounding the castle could mean that he was carrying Sukiyaki there as proof once Orochi contacted him.
So five years before the fight against Kaido, Shinobu was still part of the Oniwabanshu and saw what happened in that room. I suppose it was after this scene that she decided to leave the group (we already knew she left when Fukurokuju decided to serve Orochi against Oden) and ended up becoming Kin'emon's protegée. The problem is that in this very same chapter we already moved 5 years past that point and already got to the final hours before Kin'emon went 20 years into the future. Not only we didn't saw anything regarding their relationship, the chapter also suggests after all that time Shinobu never said a word about what underwent there… maybe Oden asked her to keep it a secret himself? Also what about that male Shinobu we saw a couple chapters before the flashback started?
Other than that, a shame the flashback apparently missed Ushimaru entirely. Maybe Oda is saving him for when the Shimotsuki line is explained?
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@uniaka:
Maybe oden wanted to take all people from wano with him, not just kuri, and expected kaidou and orochi would just let all their workforce leave like that. Kaidou wants the island so bad, take it, we can just leave and find a new one for the people of wano. That is why he wanted boats.
No, that clearly contradict his words to Roger. He had more reasons to stay at Wano than ever.
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**One Piece
Eiichiro Oda
I got so emotional over an autograph request from a foreign superstar. I grew up on your movies!**
Like the Avatar? / Like the Miis?Dragalia Lost ID: 97617932505
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An amazing chapter, if puzzling. Why did Oden turn to dancing like an idiot instead of attacking? That part confused me
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An amazing chapter, if puzzling. Why did Oden turn to dancing like an idiot instead of attacking? That part confused me
I think you're supposed to be confused, same as wano citizen.
I trust Oda will come up with plausible explanation, because the 'deal' this chapter implies is not cutting it for me.
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Arrows signifying to Oden that the whole populus is Orochis hostage and if Oden doesn't comply for 5 years people will die or go blind etc?
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Arrows signifying to Oden that the whole populus is Orochis hostage and if Oden doesn't comply for 5 years people will die or go blind etc?
So he just delays his battle for 5 years and still decides to go? The whole population is STILL hostage if this is true.
There has to be more than that, this is weak excuse.
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Oh man that ending though, bigging up the 9, and teasing the epic finale to the tragedy of Oden.
I will rejoice when the time comes and that piece of crap Orochi is finally taken down and killed.
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Amazing chapter!!! What a read. I'm really curious to understand what Orochi said to Oden.
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I will rejoice when the time comes and that piece of crap Orochi is finally taken down and killed.
That’s gonna rival the Spandam Slap panel for me. Cannot wait for it.
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Regarding Oden's action, we have some pieces to understand it. First, the crowd at the capital was getting shot by poisonous arrows. Second, Kaidou arrived at the castle. Third, Orochi was invulnerable because of the Bari Bari no Mi. Fourth, Orochi left Kuri alone for five years. Oden inquires Orochi about Kaidou and some boats.
Overall, regardless of the details, it seems that Oden was overwhelmed by the situation and he understood that he could not beat Kaidou and Orochi, and that innocent people would die if he insisted on fighting. Nonetheless, Oden got to make a deal with Orochi to let Kuri out of his control in exchange for his weekly humiliation in the capital. Meanwhile, Oden was probably hoping that Kaidou would leave Wano eventually or maybe he had a reason to believe that Kaidou would not stay for too long.
What happened at the end is that Orochi started to break his part of the deal. He went to Kuri and said that he would build factories there. He killed the old lady and captured Hyou. And implicitly Orochi made it clear that Kaidou would not be leaving anymore.
As the deal was over, Oden had no other option but to fight. And so they went to war.
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**One Piece
Eiichiro OdaI got so emotional over an autograph request from a foreign superstar. I grew up on your movies!**
I'm very curious about who this was. The possilities!
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Arrows signifying to Oden that the whole populus is Orochis hostage and if Oden doesn't comply for 5 years people will die or go blind etc?
I don't think Oden saw that happening. The arrow stuff happened while Oden was inside the castle. If I am right, the purpose of that was just to disperse the crowd before Kaido arrived (we know he went to the castle as soon as people sought refuge in their homes), so maybe he was carrying something people shouldn't see (my guess would be Sukiyaki).
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Arrows signifying to Oden that the whole populus is Orochis hostage and if Oden doesn't comply for 5 years people will die or go blind etc?
Doesn't seem all that different from being worked to death as a slave. If anything dying in opposition sounds slightly better than submitting and dying in a more drawn out humiliating manner
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Regarding Oden's action, we have some pieces to understand it. First, the crowd at the capital was getting shot by poisonous arrows. Second, Kaidou arrived at the castle. Third, Orochi was invulnerable because of the Bari Bari no Mi. Fourth, Orochi left Kuri alone for five years. Oden inquires Orochi about Kaidou and some boats.
Overall, regardless of the details, it seems that Oden was overwhelmed by the situation and he understood that he could not beat Kaidou and Orochi, and that innocent people would die if he insisted on fighting. Nonetheless, Oden got to make a deal with Orochi to let Kuri out of his control in exchange for his weekly humiliation in the capital. Meanwhile, Oden was probably hoping that Kaidou would leave Wano eventually or maybe he had a reason to believe that Kaidou would not stay for too long.
What happened at the end is that Orochi started to break his part of the deal. He went to Kuri and said that he would build factories there. He killed the old lady and captured Hyou. And implicitly Orochi made it clear that Kaidou would not be leaving anymore.
As the deal was over, Oden had no other option but to fight. And so they went to war.
Yay, someone who actually gets the chapter and explains it. Should be added to the OP or something, thread is full of angry Wano citizens.
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From chapter 819:
This was weird and fucked up, I like it. I love that panel on the last page where they cross the bridge. Expectations for the rest of this flashback are high.
I'm a little bit disappointed though that the theft of Ryuma's corpse and shusui was completely skipped. I really want to learn more about Ryuma. -
yeah, also, Oden is crying and laughing when he hears about Roger's death just like Rayleigh did
http://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/506/15 -
From chapter 819:
https://i.imgur.com/taOThCc.jpg?1This was weird and fucked up, I like it. I love that panel on the last page where they cross the bridge. Expectations for the rest of this flashback are high.
I'm a little bit disappointed though that the theft of Ryuma's corpse and shusui was completely skipped. I really want to learn more about Ryuma.I remember the Korean scans where this panel said "You dad was an idiot".
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From chapter 819:
https://i.imgur.com/taOThCc.jpg?1This was weird and fucked up, I like it. I love that panel on the last page where they cross the bridge. Expectations for the rest of this flashback are high.
I'm a little bit disappointed though that the theft of Ryuma's corpse and shusui was completely skipped. I really want to learn more about Ryuma.I think expanding on Ryuuma is one plot-line too many for this arc. I'm sure Oda would be happy to, but he needs to stay at least somewhat focused.
I think the Monsters one-shot is more than enough until Oda decides to make a spin-off or a side-story one day. -
They must've eaten it by now, so we just didn't see it. This is the day everything goes to shit for them before they're sent through time. It wouldn't make any sense to have them randomly eat it as they're fighting Kaido's men or something.
Also Kanjuro has his paintbrush as a weapon, which would only make sense if he already had his DF.
I wouldn't be surprised, I doubt they'll have a moment for Oden to really tell them the truth of things, they're about to fight. It's up to Shinobu to reveal everything it seems.
What? The chapter literally ends with them going to approach Kaido, why would you think its over lol
"The story of their march is a thing of the past, sadly.."
I fear that the last two bubbles are setting up a return to the present. The Hour of Legends might be speaking of the upcoming fight in the present and not the past.
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"The story of their march is a thing of the past, sadly.."
I fear that the last two bubbles are setting up a return to the present. The Hour of Legends might be speaking of the upcoming fight in the present and not the past.
No, it's just reminding us that despite their determination, this ends in tragedy. It doesn't even make sense to postpone showing his death for later lol
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Yup, we need to see how he got wrecked there.
Also, I believe next chaptee might show us some big hint about who the traitor is.
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No, it's just reminding us that despite their determination, this ends in tragedy. It doesn't even make sense to postpone showing his death for later lol
I understand what you're saying, but the emphasis on Hour of Legends, and the fact we have a set time for the fight in the present…
Obviously it would make more sense to include the fight and death right now, but we don't know if Oda will introduce other things in the present, because if he does it will reduce the emotional effect of Oden's death (in the reader's mind) because of the gap (in actual time) between his death and Kaido's fall. Who knows!?
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Hopefully not. I loved seeing Roger be fleshed out into a character I actually started to like for who he really is and not just for his role, but damn I seriously need some work on Kaido before we go back to the present. We also have many things to see from the fight against Kaido (why Inuarashi and Nekomamushi went from best friends to hating each other guts for 20 years. Why Ashura Doji and Denjiro were missing from the group when they got to the castle. What's the matter with Jack's age or who was the OG Jack), stopping the arc again at a later point to go back to the same flashback and resume it would probably feel like a clunky writing.
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@.access:
Hopefully not. I loved seeing Roger be fleshed out into a character I actually started to like for who he really is and not just for his role, but damn I seriously need some work on Kaido before we go back to the present. We also have many things to see from the fight against Kaido (why Inuarashi and Nekomamushi went from best friends to hating each other guts for 20 years. Why Ashura Doji and Denjiro were missing from the group when they got to the castle. What's the matter with Jack's age or who was the OG Jack), stopping the arc again at a later point to go back to the same flashback and resume it would probably feel like a clunky writing.
But do you go back to the time Kaido came to Wano or do you just show him fight Oden and count that as character development. Oda already skipped the time Kaido and crew came to Wano and how that came to be and the deal with Orochi. There is a lot of details before Oden's execution that are still missing and either Oda will explore them through other characters' point of view or ignore them, which I doubt.
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What? The chapter literally ends with them going to approach Kaido, why would you think its over lol
The way the page was worded, especially on the bottom right, seemed like it was going to go back to the present, and would probably continue the flashback later. It felt like it would have been interesting to transition from the shots of the final page, back to where we left off in the present with how similar the pages look.
It was also 7am and I didn't go to bed yet so my brain was probably mush. Rereading the final page does make it silly if the next chapter were be back in the present, with how much it's teasing what happens later.
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Oof, what a chapter!
I was not expecting another legacy devil fruit to be playing a part here. The need for Semimaru and Higurashi to die before the present day is an interesting plot problem. Any other series, I would confidently be expecting Oden or one of the Scabbards to kill them outright next week or the one after, but Oda doesn't like making his heroes killers, even for characters so completely irredeemable. I wonder if he plans to twist the plot to have Kaido execute them for failing to control Oden, or have them fall victim to some kind of near-comical accident while the more serious battle goes on around them.
The big mystery of the chapter is of course what Oden and Orochi talked about. I'm sure we'll get some info on it next week, either through a flashback within the flashback or from Shinobu's perspective. I would guess from the context in the rest of the chapter that it was a mix of things. The lives of the commonfolk on the line, either through the poisoned arrows (Queen?) and Kaido, a promise to leave Kuri relatively untouched (hence why Orochi still had to "make his move" on the region four years later, and an agreement that Kaido's operations would result in ships being built and the borders opened. A delicate balance of factors combined with Oden's trusting nature (given how many loans he gave Orochi back in the day) that resulted in what we see here.
This is the real tragedy of Oden. Unlike most flashback characters, he hasn't been undone by being too virtuous at the wrong time (Bell-mere refusing to disown her family, Hiruluk taking poison in his attempt to support Chopper's work, Tom not rejecting the ships he built, Rocinante giving up his life for Law's), no, Oden has actually been undone by his flaws. He felt too big for the space he was living in and was undeniably selfish about pursuing his dream. He didn't fail when he made his stand against Orochi and Kaido's invasion because he wasn't there to stop them at all. Even when Roger's crew came for the Poneglyph he chose to look away from the blighted landscape and horrible factories and keep putting his adventure and his dreams first. By the time he was ready to actually give Wano (the land he was meant to be responsibly for) his full attention, Orochi and Kaido had too great a stronghold and too much leverage for him to fight back properly. Oden was a big personality, one of the biggest we've seen so far. Massive amounts of virtue, but shortcomings to match. I wouldn't call him a bad person, especially given that he couldn't have known the true extent of what Orochi was doing, but he undeniably let Wano down when he chose his priorities, and now it's come back to bite him.
Although, that brings me to the thought that Oda maybe could have set this up a little better. I think most of us believed until this chapter that it was just Orochi causing trouble in Wano while Oden was off with Whitebeard and Roger. No one thought Kaido was moving in until after he came back, probably until the night he died. A better look at the state of things when Roger picked up the Poneglyph, or some mention that they had to sneak past Kaido's crew to get in might have made things clearer for the readers and enhanced the dramatic irony of us knowing how badly the country is falling apart while Oden remains willfully ignorant. Eh, we've had weeks to overthink it all. Maybe things will read a little easier in the volume binge.
And another slightly critical point, this time about the translation. I liked the thinking behind "Akazaya Nine" at the time it was revealed, but I don't think it would have been chosen if we'd known at the time it would need to be referenced so literally like this. The price you pay for an up to date translation is not being able to anticipate little things like this. It's why I'm going to be cautious of any retranslation initiative that comes up before the series is completely or almost completely said and done.
That last spread is incredible though. The march of the scabbards in chapter 955 was a powerful enough moment on its own, but it only gets stronger seeing it reflected here. It's fun that Oda plays with the time travelly-aspect of the story by making the recreation of this famous moment in the future being the one we see first and the original the one that comes after. Oh, and I can't wait for the digital colour manga to get this far. I always think it's at its best with scenes covered in warm hues, and this big sunset with a strong emphasis on red lighting is perfect for that. See ya'll in two and a bit years for that I guess.
I'm not expecting the flashback to end next week, but I'm expecting it to start accelerating toward an ending. Details of Oden and Orochi's deal intercut with the trip to Kaido in the first half, some shit going down in the second, possibly closing on Oden and Kaido clashing for the first time. We've had some of the most exciting lore reveals in years in the past few chapters, so I expect the trend to continue with some of the hardest hitting drama in the next few. Volumes 95 and 96 in their entirety are going to be remembered as one of the highest points of the series, you all mark my words!
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Oof, what a chapter!
I was not expecting another legacy devil fruit to be playing a part here. The need for Semimaru and Higurashi to die before the present day is an interesting plot problem. Any other series, I would confidently be expecting Oden or one of the Scabbards to kill them outright next week or the one after, but Oda doesn't like making his heroes killers, even for characters so completely irredeemable. I wonder if he plans to twist the plot to have Kaido execute them for failing to control Oden, or have them fall victim to some kind of near-comical accident while the more serious battle goes on around them.
The big mystery of the chapter is of course what Oden and Orochi talked about. I'm sure we'll get some info on it next week, either through a flashback within the flashback or from Shinobu's perspective. I would guess from the context in the rest of the chapter that it was a mix of things. The lives of the commonfolk on the line, either through the poisoned arrows (Queen?) and Kaido, a promise to leave Kuri relatively untouched (hence why Orochi still had to "make his move" on the region four years later, and an agreement that Kaido's operations would result in ships being built and the borders opened. A delicate balance of factors combined with Oden's trusting nature (given how many loans he gave Orochi back in the day) that resulted in what we see here.
This is the real tragedy of Oden. Unlike most flashback characters, he hasn't been undone by being too virtuous at the wrong time (Bell-mere refusing to disown her family, Hiruluk taking poison in his attempt to support Chopper's work, Tom not rejecting the ships he built, Rocinante giving up his life for Law's), no, Oden has actually been undone by his flaws. He felt too big for the space he was living in and was undeniably selfish about pursuing his dream. He didn't fail when he made his stand against Orochi and Kaido's invasion because he wasn't there to stop them at all. Even when Roger's crew came for the Poneglyph he chose to look away from the blighted landscape and horrible factories and keep putting his adventure and his dreams first. By the time he was ready to actually give Wano (the land he was meant to be responsibly for) his full attention, Orochi and Kaido had too great a stronghold and too much leverage for him to fight back properly. Oden was a big personality, one of the biggest we've seen so far. Massive amounts of virtue, but shortcomings to match. I wouldn't call him a bad person, especially given that he couldn't have known the true extent of what Orochi was doing, but he undeniably let Wano down when he chose his priorities, and now it's come back to bite him.
Although, that brings me to the thought that Oda maybe could have set this up a little better. I think most of us believed until this chapter that it was just Orochi causing trouble in Wano while Oden was off with Whitebeard and Roger. No one thought Kaido was moving in until after he came back, probably until the night he died. A better look at the state of things when Roger picked up the Poneglyph, or some mention that they had to sneak past Kaido's crew to get in might have made things clearer for the readers and enhanced the dramatic irony of us knowing how badly the country is falling apart while Oden remains willfully ignorant. Eh, we've had weeks to overthink it all. Maybe things will read a little easier in the volume binge.
And another slightly critical point, this time about the translation. I liked the thinking behind "Akazaya Nine" at the time it was revealed, but I don't think it would have been chosen if we'd known at the time it would need to be referenced so literally like this. The price you pay for an up to date translation is not being able to anticipate little things like this. It's why I'm going to be cautious of any retranslation initiative that comes up before the series is completely or almost completely said and done.
That last spread is incredible though. The march of the scabbards in chapter 955 was a powerful enough moment on its own, but it only gets stronger seeing it reflected here. It's fun that Oda plays with the time travelly-aspect of the story by making the recreation of this famous moment in the future being the one we see first and the original the one that comes after. Oh, and I can't wait for the digital colour manga to get this far. I always think it's at its best with scenes covered in warm hues, and this big sunset with a strong emphasis on red lighting is perfect for that. See ya'll in two and a bit years for that I guess.
I'm not expecting the flashback to end next week, but I'm expecting it to start accelerating toward an ending. Details of Oden and Orochi's deal intercut with the trip to Kaido in the first half, some shit going down in the second, possibly closing on Oden and Kaido clashing for the first time. We've had some of the most exciting lore reveals in years in the past few chapters, so I expect the trend to continue with some of the hardest hitting drama in the next few. Volumes 95 and 96 in their entirety are going to be remembered as one of the highest points of the series, you all mark my words!
Really great post!
I'm also looking forward to the anime adapting the last page. They're doing a good job at the moment, hopefully they can keep it up.
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Loved this chapter, just like the rest of this flashback.
I'm going to make a guess and say that Oden wanting boats as a part of the deal means that at least part of the agreement was for Orochi to open the country while he was still in power.
Also, I think Orochi might seriously be my favorite "love to hate" villain in anything ever. Every thing he does this chapter makes my blood boil in the best possible way. I'll be very happy and very sad to see him go.
