It's out!
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1008129
Chapter 999 next week! Its ending will probably give us a big hint of what 1,000 will be about. Make your bets!
It's out!
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1008129
Chapter 999 next week! Its ending will probably give us a big hint of what 1,000 will be about. Make your bets!
Whole chapter full of cool fruit reveals, but yeah…nothing really happened.
I liked the feline room the most, although the upside-down Maria is the best drawing. Her fighting Robin is 100% gonna happen.
Sasaki being a triceratops is fitting, will be a manly fight.
Jimbei is gonna mop the floor with Who´s Who though (I hope), he wasn´t confident enough to deal with Drake alone. That room will be knocked out in 5 minutes tops.
Pineapple guy is a helpful ally, first he warms you, then he lifts you up...
I'm thinking 1000 might be a flashback, but I wouldn't bet on it. This was a cool chapter and it's nice to finally see all of the devil fruits! I'm very interested in Black Maria's, since it seems more like a Smile than a Devil Fruit.
Given how this chapter ends, we may see a small flashback in the next's opening. I don't think we will get a full flashback now, however. I believe that Kaido, Yamato and Tama will be remembering their PoVs of Ace's journey in the island over several small flashbacks over Act 4.
How chapter 999 ends will define what we see in 1,000, most likely. If it ends closing Act 3's curtains, then Chapter 1,000 is set during the intermission. If not, then whatever the last scene of 999 will most likely be the theme of 1,000, be it a flashback or Luffy's encounter with Kaido/Big Mom.
I liked the feline room the most, although the upside-down Maria is the best drawing. Her fighting Robin is 100% gonna happen.
Sasaki being a triceratops is fitting, will be a manly fight.
Jimbei is gonna mop the floor with Who´s Who though (I hope), he wasn´t confident enough to deal with Drake alone. That room will be knocked out in 5 minutes tops.
Talking like Drake himself isn't a monster of his own, with attacks that are comparable to the Kong Gun.
The idea of Jinbe the Fishman fighting a pack of his natural archenemesis is just too entertaining to not focus on.
Robot Vs Dinosaur.
Who would win?
Phoenix Pyreapple. Pure brilliance.
Video Review / Discussion
I believe chapter 1000 will be Yamato recounting Oden's journal to Momo , particularly why Wano was closed. It will start at the end of 999.
This might be the first time Oda had to name a Devil Fruit through a scientific name.
I believe chapter 1000 will be Yamato recounting Oden's journal to Momo , particularly why Wano was closed. It will start at the end of 999.
That actually sounds pretty plausible.
Here's some trivia: Did you know that the full name of the Pachycephalosaurus is Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis
This means Ulti is canonically from Wyoming.
They were also not gigantic Yoshi-like dinos.
Author Comments: https://www.viz.com/blog/posts/mangaka-musings-12-13-2020
**Eiichiro Oda
I went to the Buster Call exhibition. Seeing things in person is awesome! I love stuff like this.**
I can't take serious Sasaki's comment about being the most powerful animal considering Pre-TS Zoro and Sanji can casualy kill them.
Maybe evolution wasn't nice to those dinosaurs in Little Garden.
The designs revealed in this chapter are so much better than the ones already known. Oda did a way better job to incorporate personal traits from their human visuals to their animal forms. Who's Who and Sasaki look great. Black Maria is also amazing, although her transformation is atypical for zoans. On the other hand, Ulti, Paypay and Drake look kinda boring in their dino forms.
Alright, so…
Who's Who's Who?
I had wanted Sasaki to be an ankylosaurus, but I'll accept triceratops especially since Black Maria and Who's Who aren't dinosaurs.
I wonder what led Oda to choose the Rosamygale for Maria, from what I've read about it it doesn't seem to be super notable. Shame the Tobiroppo had to be bound to Ancient Zoan fruits, otherwise I think a black widow fruit would've been cool. Also, what's up with that spider's face?
I'm pretty interested in seeing the Ace flashback particularly because of how people were wondering about why Whitebeard wouldn't find out/get involved over what happened to Wano and Oden. Ace went against Kaido to try to free Yamato and I wouldn't be surprised if he also had a bone to pick with the Tama stuff, so how on Earth did that all end up?
@Kaido:
I had wanted Sasaki to be an ankylosaurus, but I'll accept triceratops especially since Black Maria and Who's Who aren't dinosaurs.
I wonder what led Oda to choose the Rosamygale for Maria, from what I've read about it it doesn't seem to be super notable. Shame the Tobiroppo had to be bound to Ancient Zoan fruits, otherwise I think a black widow fruit would've been cool. Also, what's up with that spider's face?
I'm pretty interested in seeing the Ace flashback particularly because of how people were wondering about why Whitebeard wouldn't find out/get involved over what happened to Wano and Oden. Ace went against Kaido to try to free Yamato and I wouldn't be surprised if he also had a bone to pick with the Tama stuff, so how on Earth did that all end up?
Oda probably remembered Megarachne from when he was young, and wanted to combine that with Jurogumo for Black Maria, but then he did research and found out that it wasn't actually a spider, so he had to quickly google extinct spiders.
Woot, one more before the big milestone.
Looks like things are finally starting to fall into place here where everyone is meant to be. I Will admit this honestly feels like Tower of Justice 2.0 only with more Zoan fruit users (heck even Sanji fighting a female member again and another time limit) but still liking how the situations are developing
That said, a bit annoyed some of Kaido's men will believe Queen after they saw him blatantly firing on them and Marco going out of his way to temporarily reverse the Plague bullet. Just feels like an excuse to keep the conflict on the bottom floor going. Seriously Apoo, the man was leaving you at the mercy of allies and foes there. Why in the heck would you still want to follow his order and keep up the attack? He'd likely kill ya if you did succeed for the snafu the first time. I do like the little defense game they got going though with Chopper and the doctors.
Okay I did complain a bit about the usual "Sanji helpless against women" streak in the spoiler previews. But I'll admit that's a pretty cool reveal for Black Maria and her yokai-like assistants. I'm a bit of a monster nut and seeing female yokai is always cool. So I can get down with this. Still get the feeling someone gonna have to bail him out again but we'll see.
Finally a proper battle with Shogun Franky. This thing never really gets a worthy clash (I don't really count that scuffle on Punk Hazard, especially if Nami and Usopp had to finish it), so it's time to see if this thing is as strong as it looks and, yeah figured this dude was a triceratops.
Darn there goes my theory that Who-Who was really Aokiji in disguise after that Devil Fruit reveal. Still pretty curious, a water user versus a cat creature. Also sensing some history here between Jinbe and him.
Luffy still heading on up, I swear 80% of these climaxes are just Luffy trying to get to the boss.
Nice to see Ulti and Page One in full dino forms. Do wonder if this is meant to lead into a round two with Ussop and Nami now that they've seen what they can do and can plan accordingly. WMG, their fight will spill into Black Maria's area and they switch opponents.
And finally, why am I not surprise Yamamoto knows Ace. Not decrying it just that it doesn't have as much impact as it wants of me. I guess that'll give Yams the strength to fight harder since that'll be a connection. Also sensing a mini-flashback next time: How Ace did chip damage to Kadio. LOL
We're getting there folks, I'll give the chapter this for showing what the heroes are in for and they're indeed cool reveals. But I won't lie that I really wanna get this party started now. Though feel we got one more chapter before the big throw down. But hey excited though and I can't think of a better place to end year of the series off on.
Maybe he chose Rosamygale to keep with the ancient theme. Also, it's an ancestor to tarantula-like spiders, so maybe he wanted Black Maria to look like those bulcky hairy spiders rather than the thin-legged ones like black widow. By usingan extinct genus, he may also be able to tinker with the spider's abilities, like having traits from multiple species while not having to rely on real world creatures.
Lol this is reminding me a lot of Hitman Reborn
Also can’t wait to see all of there hybrid forms
The fruit reveals were neat. Sasaki's and WW's were kinda obvious, but the spider one was a nice curveball. I'm interested to see how Sanji vs Black Maria goes. I hope no one has to intervene to get the job done, Sanji's been on a roll lately. Some say Robin, but I still hope it's just Sanji soloing (even if it would be cool to see Robin get a fight). Chopper also turning into a low-key arc MVP with the antibodies. He definitely doesn't get enough recognition for all that he's been doing during Wano.
Alright, so…
Who's Who's Who?
I'm not sure he's actually supposed to be anyone we already know. Probably someone from Jinbe's past that might get revealed to us.
It seems Marco can adjust the temperature of his flames. That's a neat trick. I appreciate that this time the doctoring feels more like a cooperation rather then Chopper getting taken over by a much better doctor.
The spider, the triceratops. I liked the Ropppo fruits that werent dinos. The cat crew panel in shadows I loved. And when we see them in full view they have a lot of nice designs. One them has 4 arms!
I liked Ace casual traveller that chilled at Wano and partied with the locals like he loves to do and then peaced cause he likes to see new stuff. I'm way less interested in Ace warrior of justice that totally wanted to beat up Kaido. I am really not loving Wano dragging so many characters into his plot. Cant it just be about the characters we have now?
Talking like Drake himself isn't a monster of his own, with attacks that are comparable to the Kong Gun.
The idea of Jinbe the Fishman fighting a pack of his natural archenemesis is just too entertaining to not focus on.
Drake was seemingly the strongest Tobi Roppo, acknowledged by the members themselves. The question is if you believe Drake to be more capable than Jimbei (and Sanji), I don´t.
But I agree with you, cat vs fish is an interesting premise.
Around chapter 990, I´ve made a personal overall power estimation of the present main named characters while trying to figure out the pairings, it looked something like this:
(1) Kaido, Big Mom
(2) Luffy
(3) Marco, King, Queen
(4) Law, Kid, Zoro
(5) Jack, Jimbei, Sanji
(6) X-Drake, Yamato, Perospero, Who´s Who, Sasaki, Carrot (S)
(7) Ulti, Apoo, (Hawkins), Killer, Franky, Page One, Black Maria, Robin
(8) Brook, Chopper, Carrot, Bepo
(9) Usopp, Nami, Penguin, Shachi
Strawhats
Bad guys
It also included Kin & co. (had Denjiro in 4, Neko-Inu-Doji in 5, Kawa-Iso in 6, Kin-Kiku-Raizo in 7, sulong Neko-Inu were 2 or 3), but those were expected to fight Kaido and they seem to be out of the picture.
Before this chapter, I thought Killer would run into Who´s Who, but Jimbei did. Hawkins is a wild card and should be nearby as well.
Luffy, Zoro and Kid vs Kaido. Law might join and can teleport, but he´s underground (?)
The worst part is still Big Mom, there is no way anyone gets to the roof and lives to tell the story of facing Kaido + Big Mom. An OK-ish stalling force would be Marco, Jimbei and Law in my book, but yeah, a week ago I jokingly predicted BM would simply fall off the island, now adding she might slip while checking the view from the edge.
If Tama joins up with Momo and the siblings find them, we could get Yamato vs Ulti and Usopp+Nami+Tama teaming up against Page One.
If they get back to the main stage, Brook and Chopper could fight them.
Either way, Sanji and Jimbei seem to be locked in a "separate" location, but these characters are mighty, who´s to say Who´s Who doesn´t end up being brick punched through a wall and join the main stage fray.
Those ancient zoans are tough, he´d simply stand up one minute later.
Drake was seemingly the strongest Tobi Roppo, acknowledged by the members themselves. The question is if you believe Drake to be more capable than Jimbei (and Sanji), I don´t.
Drake is not really the strongest Tobiroppo. That was based on a mistranslation.
The actual dialogue had Maria referring to Who's Who instead, with Drake just showing no interest in the conversation
Great collection of ancient zoans, especially Sasaki looks amazing.
Black Maria having a spider zoan finally confirmed, hell yeah…so which model does Onigumo have?
Also still missing tyrannosaurus and velociraptors, which makes me put my money on Yamato having a velociraptor ancient zoan.
Jimbe's final line to Who's Who when he's fallen unconscious on the ground and without his mask: "sorry, I don't know who you are."
- And finally, why am I not surprise Yamamoto knows Ace.
Probably because Yamato told us us much in his introduction a dozen chapters ago. That's not new information.
Jokes were made at the start about Tama being their child or something but the timeline doesn't work out.
Awesome, they're not all Dinosaur Zoans after all, we even got our Sabertooth Tiger as many predicted.
Now to wait patiently for Robin to swap places with Sanji…
I can't take serious Sasaki's comment about being the most powerful animal considering Pre-TS Zoro and Sanji can casualy kill them.
Maybe evolution wasn't nice to those dinosaurs in Little Garden.
Killing a dummy dummy animal and fighting an intelligent being are not the same thing.
Zoro and Sanji could also just kill Leopards here and there, but Lucci would outclass them both pre tk.
Sasaki is smart and also a Dinosaur, that's like putting Einstein's brain in the Indominous Rex.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Alright, so…
Who's Who's Who?
I'm still thinking his identity is not important, it'll be revealed he's and ex-shichi, level 6 prisioner or an old timer notorious Supernova.
That's whats gonna matter.
Villains are mostly full of shit when they're talking about their own abilities. It would have more credibility if a nameless exposition mook made that statement, because they're basically Oda.
That said, even fully transformed they don't seem to be superior to the Sabretooh / Mammoth model, when we compare size and other wicked features. At least I would rather face Sasaki instead of Jack or Who's Who.
If the Straw Hat Pirates are going to fight and defeat the Tobiroppo, I wonder if Robin and Brook will encounter Ulti and Page One. I certainly would love to see Ulti headbutting a Robin clone as it disappears or an afro covered skull.
Considering Nami and Usopp already lost to Ulti and Page One, I don't see Nami and Usopp rematching them. Instead I believe the mid-tier members of the Straw Hat Pirates will face off against the Tobiroppo (with Luffy and Zoro being the top and Nami, Usopp and Chopper being the bottom).
Given Sanji's seemingly impossible situation, I actually would like to see Sanji get himself out of the bind he has found himself in. Will Sanji surpass his own nature in order to escape or defeat the enemies before him. Or will Sanji going complete Sanji be enough to overwhelm his enemies with a different power?
Luffy, Zoro and Yamato are definitely being saved to fight Kaido/Beast Pirate All Stars.
Excited to see what happens next.
If the Straw Hat Pirates are going to fight and defeat the Tobiroppo, I wonder if Robin and Brook will encounter Ulti and Page One. I certainly would love to see Ulti headbutting a Robin clone as it disappears or an afro covered skull.
Considering Nami and Usopp already lost to Ulti and Page One, I don't see Nami and Usopp rematching them. Instead I believe the mid-tier members of the Straw Hat Pirates will face off against the Tobiroppo (with Luffy and Zoro being the top and Nami, Usopp and Chopper being the bottom).
Given Sanji's seemingly impossible situation, I actually would like to see Sanji get himself out of the bind he has found himself in. Will Sanji surpass his own nature in order to escape or defeat the enemies before him. Or will Sanji going complete Sanji be enough to overwhelm his enemies with a different power?
Luffy, Zoro and Yamato are definitely being saved to fight Kaido/Beast Pirate All Stars.
Excited to see what happens next.
If their first fight was more like Sanji vs. Page One, I'd probably agree, but them losing is exactly why they'll get a rematch. Not to mention Ulti and Page One are specifically singling them out, with Ulti in particular displaying a vengeful streak against Nami. For the rematch, there's all sorts of things Oda could do to allow them to squeak out a win, the biggest probably being getting Zeus back
At any rate, the setup is already there, and Brook and Robin are able to go up onto a higher floor/roof and probably deal with completely different Tobi Roppo opponents.
Yeah but @Jabra was constantly complaining that they were under-sized in comparission to the CP9, and that reached Oda's ears like everything we say.
Hope Jabra is satisfied. Who's Who is probably bigger than the cat bus from My Neighbor Totoro.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
If their first fight was more like Sanji vs. Page One, I'd probably agree, but them losing is exactly why they'll get a rematch. Not to mention Ulti and Page One are specifically singling them out, with Ulti in particular displaying a vengeful streak against Nami. For the rematch, there's all sorts of things Oda could do to allow them to squeak out a win, the biggest probably being getting Zeus back
At any rate, the setup is already there, and Brook and Robin are able to go up onto a higher floor/roof and probably deal with completely different Tobi Roppo opponents.
I mean, good luck getting Zeus back when Big Mom's at the top of the mountain, laughing evilly while throwing amputated samurai limbs down the hole.
I said it in the spoiler thread, but Robin vs Black Maria seems like a given at this point. She doesn't really match up against anyone else and she has no business being on the rooftop (and neither does Brook tbh).
Black Maria's devil fruit is confusing. It acts like a SMILE devil fruit but apparently it's actually an Ancient Zoan? Hell it would make more sense if it were a Mythical Zoan even if that breaks the Tobi Roppo's theme of all Ancients.
Could there be another form of Awakened Zoans that act similar to SMILE fruits?
Hope Jabra is satisfied. Who's Who is probably bigger than the cat bus from My Neighbor Totoro.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
I mean, good luck getting Zeus back when Big Mom's at the top of the mountain, laughing evilly while throwing amputated samurai limbs down the hole.
Lol, I have no doubt Zeus will be returned to Nami eventually, though yea, might not happen before Nami's fight.
I why does it feel like BM will fall in the sea again, with onigashima floating above it. No way luffy and whatever team he gets can take on both yonkous down, but luffy punching BM and and she falls in water, would solve it.
Pretty light chapter this week, albeit one with incredible art.
It was easy to expect Marco to be a deus ex machina for the ice oni plot, bring a fire doctor dealing with an ice virus, but thankfully he's just being used to add some minutes on the timer rather than resolve things completely. Chopper may still get to do something for the plot! His attack name, Phoenix Pyreapple is an inspired pun as well. Unfortunately, Marco's spread is by far the weakest one of the volume. Marco is drawn too small and sketchy to work as a focal point, so aside from the infected pirates in the foreground the page just looks like a vague spread of swirly lines. Doesn't look bad, there's just hard to read anything other than negative space out of most of it. I think this is one that will improve significantly in the colour version, where they can play with different hues in the flame and empashise the lighting.
The panel with Drake is a great show of the Onigashima battle damage continuity I talked about when I mapped the Performance Floor a few chapters ago. In the background of that one panel you can see the tower Zoro cut down when he first appeared, the hole in the wall Big Mom burst through when she arrived and the place where King and Sanji crashed during their little clash, all exactly where they're meant to be relative to each other. Always love being able to catch this kind of attention to detail!
Jinbe overestimating the crew's ability to not get lost, not start trouble and prioritise dangerous opponents over women has been a fantastic gag so far. His unwavering faith in the team despite how unfamiliar with them he is warms my heart.
Franky seems to have brought out the General Shield in his battle. Wonder if it was any more use against Sasaki's goons than it was against Baby 5. It's starting to look like we're getting confirmed battle matchups as Sasaki reveals his devil fruit against Franky. An armoured dinosaur against an armoured pirate. Fits well enough. Not much more you can say besides that the art for the reveal is fantastic, and that's going to be a reoccurring theme.
Black Maria looks great in her hybrid form. I don't know if it's just me, but the text introducing her fruit seems really light and hard to read. Just one or two shades of grey darker would make a big difference here. I have no comment on how Sanji's handling himself so far. All I can do is hope Oda's got a plan for this.
The fourth floor as a giant cat cafe is brilliant design-wise, and I'll be interested to see what role that design plays in Jinbe's fight against Who's Who. All those very cat toy-like climbing perches we see in the bit with Jinbe and Luffy would give a cat a lot of mobility and highground advantage against someone like Jinbe, who thus far has seemed really heavyset and grounded. Who's Who looks great in his cat form as well. The hint that he's someone Jinbe's seen before has interesting implications, but I'm not yet convinced he's someone we the audience has met. He just doesn't physically match up with anyone unaccounted for.
Ulti and Page One have made it outside the dome, but it's not yet clear where they've burst through, why they think Usopp and Nami are out there, and where those two actually are relative to them. This is the only other kinda weak spread besides Marco's one. These dinosaurs aren't anything new, and for a pair of ancient monsters bursting through a wall, it's not the most dynamic of panels. More space could maybe have been given to the panel showing a fallen Hihimaru. I've still got no idea what part of his body I'm meant to be seeing in that shot.
Yamato starts building up Ace's time in Wano again. I guess it wouldn't be too bad for the chapter 1000 event to centre around that. It looks like at least some of chapter 999 will be this flashback, given the creeping blackness in the gutters around that last panel. Maybe we get a chapter of flashback and in chapter 1000 we go back to the present just in time for Luffy to reach Kaido, or the battle matchups to be fully locked in with Odaboxes.
We're so close to the big milestone! Assuming the site I used to use for getting things from Japan as opened up international shipping again, I might try to get my hands on the next two issues of Jump for my collection. Can't wait!
Probably because Yamato told us us much in his introduction a dozen chapters ago. That's not new information.
Jokes were made at the start about Tama being their child or something but the timeline doesn't work out.
Oh right, they did mention that to Luffy during that interlude. My mistake, then again things have been getting crazy. So kinda hard to keep up info in between developments.
Drake is not really the strongest Tobiroppo. That was based on a mistranslation.
The actual dialogue had Maria referring to Who's Who instead, with Drake just showing no interest in the conversation
Hmm, this is interesting. Does anyone have the official translation of the forelast page of chapter 978 - Introducing the Tobi Roppo?
978
Who´s Who: …What if...Queen were to die suddenly...who´d be up next in your opinion?
Black Maria: Wouldn´t it be you, right?
Drake: Nah, I´m not interested…
Sasaki: I´ll be thankful if you pull out, that goes for the thorn in our side, Page One.
Ulti: Huh?!
Sasaki: You wouldn´t want to leave?
Ulti: Hey Sasaki, if you keep screwing around like that, I´ll tear you apart!!!
This is what I found somewhere, dunno if it´s the official one. It´s a bit confusing, but why would Drake respond like that right after what Maria asked if it was him? His panel is right beside her. The sequence would point towards Drake.
In the viz translation, Black Maria was talking to Who's Who, not Drake, and X Drake was just making a comment, not replying.
Regardless, I think both X Drake and Who's Who are probably in that same Snack/Perospero level of 'just below the actual commanders'. And to be honest that's where I place Jinbe too. I can't imagine him being stronger than Doflamingo, and we saw in Luffy vs Cracker how much stronger Yonko commanders are compared to Doffy.
Hmm, this is interesting. Does anyone have the official translation of the forelast page of chapter 978 - Introducing the Tobi Roppo?
978
Who´s Who: …What if...Queen were to die suddenly...who´d be up next in your opinion?
Black Maria: Wouldn´t it be you, right?
Drake: Nah, I´m not interested…
Sasaki: I´ll be thankful if you pull out, that goes for the thorn in our side, Page One.
Ulti: Huh?!
Sasaki: You wouldn´t want to leave?
Ulti: Hey Sasaki, if you keep screwing around like that, I´ll tear you apart!!!This is what I found somewhere, dunno if it´s the official one. It´s a bit confusing, but why would Drake respond like that right after what Maria asked if it was him? His panel is right beside her. The sequence would point towards Drake.
Who's Who: …But if Queen were to die, say, tonight... Who would be the next Lead Performer, you think?
Black Maria: I'm guessing you think it's yourself?
Drake: I have no interest…
Sasaki: If you're dropping out as a candidate, that'd be great. Pay-Pay can't hack it either. You're dropping out, too, right?
Ulti: What?!
Ulti: Hey! Sasaki!! If you insult my Pay-Pay one more time, I'll break you in two!!
Do you guys think Yamato and Marco joining the strawhat crew is possible?
Do you guys think Yamato and Marco joining the strawhat crew is possible?
Chopper is already filling as the Doctor position on the crew, so Marco is out.
Yamato is still mathematically speaking possible.
Chapter 1000 could be all of Strawhats sending their picked enemies flying. Luffy sending Kaido flying with his King Kong gun included. I do not mean KOing them but showing that they are capable of attacks that push back Yonko crewmembers. So all of them having a page with awesome attack and Luffy having 2 page spread. It would be symbolic for them to push Yonko crew at least a little since start of series and testament to them getting closer to being at top of pirates world.
Is it weird that I'm not the least excited about the chapter ?
Chopper/virus plot is progressing, but I find it pretty much the only notable thing. Nothing in the chapter was bad, however…I find myself again at this weird spot where so much is happening at once that I don't have time to breathe and enjoy any of it. Is this the manga equivalent of a Michael Bay movie ? Whatever mark Oda wants to hit by chapter 1,000, the fast-forward pacing he has adopted to fulfill that goal is killing the sequence for me.
Pieces are falling in place for Straw Hats-centered 1v(1+)s, so by all rights I should be looking forward to what will come next. But at this point I am beginning to doubt whether even these will be anything more that 1-page (-panel ?) snippets drowning in a sequence of over-crowded chapters.
Even the Ace hint at the end felt Meh. Ah, so he's been here before, befriended another key character. Ok, let's put it on the pile of convenient coincidences. The actual flashback may end looking better, but right now it doesn't hold any promises for me.
Oda can do whatever he wants with yamato, but Ace's bonding with Tama felt way more genuine over the famine, established ever since the arc started, didn't want to believe luffy about ace's death, even called him brother, and luffy is here to fulfill ace's promise to tama.
Gotta go into work (as always urgh), but I do need to comment on a chapter like this.
Not the absolute best of what Oda can produce, but for entertainment value and expansion on high-end Zoan fruits, this was a great chapter. If I wasn't into Devil Fruits, one of the main establishing pillars of the series, I could see not being into this chapter. Chapters where Oda hits us with back to back reveals + double spreads are cool because Oda pretty rarely does them.
As a guy interested in Devil Fruits, Zoans, and the Tobi Roppo, this was a great chapter with very expressive artwork. Gets a lot of reveals out of the way all at once so we can really get the arc going on all cylinders.