So it wasn't quite over yet. There's a fun irony in the cover showing Big Mom kicking ass while she takes her ultimate loss in the chapter, but the cover' description of her as "a creature beyond the power of science" really drives home the strength she's showed hanging on this long. I said last week it felt a little like Damned Punk was framed as a finishing move but didn't quite have the visual impact of one. Maybe I should have guessed there would be one last gasp from Big Mom, but even then, I probably would have limited it to the opening pages, not most of the chapter. Luckily, the events of this chapter feel a lot more in line with what I expected for the fall of an Emperor than the last one.
I really enjoy Kid and Law's defiance of Big Mom's ability. Jinbe did it better, but there's still some great power in their certainty that she's on her last legs.
The spread of Law cutting Misery in two while Kid blasts Big Mom in the background is absolutely going down as one of Wano's absolute best pages. I love how Oda managed to frame it so both Kid and Law are in the spotlight, with the two halves of the homie filling the negative space in a memorable way. Absolutely incredible work. I really enjoy Law's nod to Corazon as well - even if it only further emphasises how random his skillset really is.
I don't know if I'm totally on board with the logic of Yamato being able to keep the bomb Big Mom touches from setting off the rest of the armoury at point blank range, especially considering how much damage we see it do to the island. But then again, I don't know if there would have been a more graceful way to blast open the side of the island to let Yamato and Momo talk at the end. The backgrounds showing the whole armoury being iced over certainly helps Oda's case, but it's still a lot to justify. It also seems that Kazenbo is ultimately destroyed by one of the bombs it was sent to detonate. The dying scheme of Kanjuro was very, very literally hoist by its own petard. Good job, Oda.
Zoro, concerningly, has been rolled over and left a lot more bloody than when we last saw him. King didn't really land any hits with his sword on Zoro's body, so the blood isn't leftover from the fight. Whatever was looming over him before can't have been just an illusion or hallucination - it really slashed him! We also see Book still trapped in the castle with Robin, ruling the best guess for friendly reaper. So there's more to this reaper thing than I thought…
Orochi and Fukurokuju are going forward on the course they've had for like 20 chapters now. Of course Raizo endures the fire while Fuku falls. I'm ready for these plot threads to be over in the next chapter.
It speaks to the kind of threat Oda wants these bombs to be that a single one blows out the side of the island, and seemingly another lone bomb creates the huge explosion at the end. Funny that the one we see dropping after her is more of a traditional-looking warhead with no ice on it than the oversized cherry bombs that were front and centre beforehand. Really raises some questions about that nuclear warning sign we saw a couple of chapters back. However, with just a single bomb (and potentially a crate or two of ordinance) dropping, there remains a question about how much of Onigashima's payload remains in the armoury. Would it feel cheap to still use the bombs to finish off Kaido or destroy the island (as has been speculated) after all of this? Given that Big Mom could just punch through it and trigger an explosion, is the layer of ice enough to keep everyone safe when the island falls? It's framed like it's done, but these issues remain.
That said, I do really like the blast as a finishing point for Big Mom. What else to cement the fall of one of the series' toughest characters than an explosion meant to destroy a whole city? :ninja: But really, it's big, bombastic and visually memorable, just like you'd want from the last moments of such a major antagonist. Interesting that the it remained silenced though. Oda usually wants the locals to see Luffy overcome the big bad, and the sound of the blast would have been the perfect way to get them looking properly at Onigashima. There's obviously some part of the bigger picture I'm not seeing yet.
She's probably not dead, considering this is Oda. I'm definitely not the first to guess it, but a permanent O-Lin conversion and being left behind in Wano feels like a reasonable way to handle her obvious perchant for revenge. It's hard to say how to break the news to her crew though, or Perospero, if he recovers from his wounds enough to start asking questions. Although, if O-Lin remains and Pero is detained in Wano, it could open the way to Katakuri taking the helm of Big Mom's empire, which could be very interesting in the long run.
Big Mom's final lines truly speak to the overgrown and entitled child she is. It reminds me of her exchange with Luffy in chapter 847, when she complained that if only Lola had gotten married she would be King of the Pirates by now, and Luffy tells her off for pushing her unfinished business onto Lola. Now it's somehow Roger's fault for setting off a Rube Goldberg Machine of piracy leading to the two Supernovas facing her. His fault for not just giving her the answers she wanted to know right away. She wants her gratification immediately, but can't let go of other people's differing goals and opinions. Instead of finding new ways to try again at her dream, she rests on her laurels and rambles bitterly about what could have been if everyone had just danced to her tune.
All Roger did was carry on the will he inherited of Joyboy and whoever else hid the One Piece. Law and Kid fought for their own dreams. Lola put her own happiness first. And, as Luffy observed, Big Mom failed to become King of the Pirates.
Odd wording - "some of it's in this country too." No doubt we're finding big clues in Wano after the battle, but a piece of the actual treasure? We know for sure Roger himself never returned to Wano after getting the treasure (he left the crew before they dropped Oden off in chapter 968), but was Oden allowed to keep something he needed to open the borders? Foreshadowing for a big reveal, or just Big Mom being dramatic?
You can feel the breath that everyone on the Performance Floor had been holding get let out in the page after the explosion. After years of fighting, the main stage of Onigashima finally appears clear of enemies, and there's a moment to celebrate as Kaido's castle burns down in the background. phew!
Oda keeps setting us up for big reveals in the post-arc lore dump. He's just teasing us at this point. Mystery fruits? Zunesha's crime? Said crime being comitted at the end of the Void Century? Joyboy? Nika? I can't wait. There's not really that much new in this last conversation. It's more of a reminder of what's coming. I'm not shocked that we're connecting Zunesha to the Void Century. When we first learned it was over a thousand years old, no one who was paying attention expected anything less. The Lode Ponegyph guarded on its back for generations hinted hard at a Joyboy connection already. But to call it Joyboy's crew… Hmm...
So let's look at the Onigashima to-do list.
Kaido
B̶i̶g̶ ̶M̶o̶m̶
Orochi
Fukurokuju
CP0
K̶a̶z̶e̶n̶b̶o̶
Apoo
Inbi
Grim Reaper
D̶i̶s̶a̶r̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶m̶b̶s̶
Evacuate the castle/island
Fuku isn't going to take a full chapter to deal with. I imagine he's going down basically the next second he's onscreen. Big Mom was the last real threat and final truely plot-important remainder before this chapter. The way is clear to focus on Kaido, with small asides to wrap up those final hanging threads. I don't think there's quite enough room left in volume 103 to wrap everything up and give Kaido a satisfying defeat, but we could definitely see it ending in the front half of the next volume. That's a satisfying point to leave us on before break week, knowing that shit is going to absolutely get in gear for the next set of chapters.