Chapter 1109: Interception

[Cockycent]

Communication is big. Yonko Buggy can benefit here with all these Vice Admirals around. Since bounties was such a big deal in his segments. Wait, it just hit me. All this time, i've been thinking about York ending up with the WG or BB and I never considered how her and Buggy match so well.

Both dislike Luffy and its actually hilarious. Buggy coming here has no build up tho. Hawk is mini Mihawk and he has Daz ability, can't have that right.

As I said earlier, communication is big here. Marines can't shut off the signal. I doubt it has any effect on this arc, but i'm trying to remember times the WG communications were key and the BM Pirates ambushed some Cipher Pol ships right at the end of Wano. Also, it is fitting that they had Sabo's final words shut off before they fired on Lulusia.

I can see many possibilities. Would the Gorosei have the Mother Frame used on Egghead if they believe they can't shut the signal off in time? What does that mean for the things they feel should be kept safe?

Imagine if what VP has to say isn't that crazy and the Gorosei are doing all this lmao. Like it is something sweet or a way to help the world that doesn't really conflict with the WG's agenda. That is the cool part about the message. It has the opportunity to drag some character out of the Gorosei and they don't even know what the message is. This is how much VP means to them. He is such an asset and at the same time a big threat. He's in the cover story alongside them, Imu orders to use his weapon, he just means so much to them.

Just look at the anger as Saturn stabs him.

[blue-san]

I ll say it again. Unless Vegapunk is pulling some next level observation haki feat and wants to catch the WG in the act while they are desperately trying to stop the recording. It makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO sense that the entire recording isnt just put on a nonstop repeat and he lets it rip from the first second.

I think Oda didnt think about such possibility and dropped the ball. People who would want to say such vital information surely would and you can bet that if anyone than the world's greatest brain would come up with that and more....

Clover was killed instantly infront of a shity audience for just attempting to say the name...

[Sengokusgoat]

By the size of those circles and Saturn, I think the elders are gonna appear in their full demon forms, so I think we're gonna go for a clash of Titans sort of thing, at least as an opener.

Luffy can take one, Dorry and Broggy can take two, the ancient robot can finally do something with the fourth, and for the last one I'd guess Kuma and/or Bonney (leaning on Bonney doing a distorted future giant version).

[Captain M]

Saturn showed up in full demon form, so it might even be a prerequisite for this kind of travel. That said, the telepathic communication was working with the other Elders still in human form so not all their abilities are locked to the transformation.

But yeah I would expect all four of the remaining silhouettes to be revealed in one big showstopper spread next chapter.

[Rean]

@access-timeco I was there for the caribou one, it was always titled from the beginning.

This is the 1st cover story since I started reading weekly (from the timeskip) that starts without a story title.

Edit: just checked and I was wrong, Caribou indeed didn't have the story title on the 1st chap (674).

[Deicide]

About the cover story, from the wiki:

Unlike the "main" story arcs, each cover arc has an official title, typically printed on every installment except the first (which instead counts off the total number of cover arcs serialized thus far). Reflecting this, most cover arcs keep their protagonists obscured—or outright hidden—in the first installment, effectively challenging readers to predict their identity from context clues.

It's that way as far as I remember. Wapol, Hachi, Ace, I can't remember a cover story that revealed its title and main character in the first installment. Not saying there isn't any exception (my memories aren't perfect, soi maybe the very old ones are different), but most of them are like that.

If anyone cares to check them all, the Wiki has listed every Chapter with a cover story.

After giving it a look, it seems only Buggy, Koby/Meppo, and Jango had the main characters (not titles) revealed in the first panel, thought some of the others, like Hachi's, aren't hard to guess (not many six-armed characters to fit that silhouette).

[hideoushorrendous]

Damn Kizaru actually killed Vegapunk!

Those fucking fraudhats, useless clowns.

[Sengokusgoat]

@Deicide Yeah, only the special ones like all the strawhat ones , from the decks of the world and the grand fleet confirm the title in the first one.

The first issue is always more of a 'hey guys, new cover story' and setting the scene, and then the second one confirms what it's really about. Although for whatever reason the Gedatsu one took until the third issue to do that.

For this one, Yamato's trip around Wano seems like obvious cover page material, specially since it could very easily be used to check on all the other characters. But I think it's likely Momo also joins in. Something like 'Yama-Momo father-son travels around Wano'. Cover stories always have goofy titles like that.

But since we're starting with Onigashima, it could be someone who was left behind there or something.

[blueinthespace.]

@Deicide About this, I believe it's not even a prerecorded message and Vegapunk baited the Goroseis to lure them on Egghead.

the fact that only those that died were shown so far (Stella, Pythagoras, and Shaka)
I also think that if it was pre-recorded then York would have known about it and could have warned the Five Elders.

the "recording" imo is actually a broadcast from the big brain in egghead, where the conciousness of the dead Vegapunks were uploaded once they died.
Vegapunk's brain is not even attached to the body + vegapunk said he still had things to do right before "dying" so I don't think it's a reach here to say it's happening in real time.

[Kdom]

I would like one on Jack since he was a bit mistreated in Onigashima, also I'm not sure if we have seen him in the last chapters of Wano. I'm confident Oda can find a solution to his hammer issue when underwater

Otherwise I must say I had a good laugh with the coffee joke so I don't mind being trolled. Especially since the summon of the 5 elders was a big surprise I don't think anybody had expected and I'm really excited to know how things will unfold

[Gizmo]

@Deicide mind updating the first post to remind people we’re on break week after this chapter?

Needed to reconfirm on manga plus next chapter comes out officially on the 17th. Not seeing next chapter availability on the viz site.

[Deicide]

@Gizmo done! I’ll keep that in mind next time I make the thread.

[The Light of Shandora]

@blueinthespace
If this turns out to be true I’m on board with the 10 minute delay, otherwise Oda should come up with something better, I’m sure he is capable to think of something else.

[StrawHatJedi]

@Captain-M

Thank you for the time zone analysis, particularly the images. I was trying to communicate a similar idea on twitter, but it's really difficult without visuals.

The biggest problem I think is Dressrosa. The Straw Hats entered the New World in the waters surrounding Punk Hazard, so we know it's very close to the Red Line. It was then a one day voyage to Dressrosa; this is much shorter than the time it took to reach Zou, WCI, and Wano.

The Straw Hats were also sailing across the width of the Grand Line in the SE direction toward Egghead and it took six days of sailing.

All of this tells us that Dressrosa should be much, much closer to Marijoa than it is to Egghead.

If it was still night in Dressrosa, or at least, not quite dawn, it would be feasible for a small portion of the West Blue to still have dark skies. The island would need to be very near the intersection point between Red Line and Grand Line, but it could work.

The other detail I'll add is that because the 'end of the line' is still in the North East direction from both Egghead and Wano, it positions the Straw Hats geographically in the first half of the New World. Meaning, this voyage is far from over. At the very least, there's more than one more stop along the Grand Line before they approach Lodestar and Laugh Tale.

As for your comment about Alabasta's river, I honestly think its scale is the most fitting for the One Piece world. It's a shame Oda didn't account for longer travel time between story arcs, because I think a world larger than our own is probably more fitting for the scale of the adventure and the fantastic locations they visit.

Honestly the only thing I would change about One Piece is a little more padding / filler between major story arcs, ironically enough. I love the down moments between big adventures / battles where we get to spend time with the Straw Hats sailing between islands. I feel like it would've benefited the sense of scale as well as the world building if the Straw Hats encountered a few more stops along the way like Gaimon's island where no big battles happen, no major conflicts, but perhaps we get to see another crew member take center stage; an island where Sanji's cooking skills advance, Robin arrives at some insightful discovery, Nami's thieving or navigation skills are highlighted, etc. Given the strength of the Straw Hat's bonds and the fact that Oda suggests they have regimented daily and weekly living routines aboard the ship, I feel like more travel time would have been really beneficial.

In my head-canon, I insert more travel time wherever possible - most notably, between Skypiea and Longring and between Thriller Bark and Sabaody. Those are the two stretches of story where it doesn't explicitly say the Straw Hats arrived at their destination 'a few days later.'

EDIT: I see you already bring up Egghead being in the first half of the New World; I just skipped over that, but should've realized since it's also in your diagram.

[StrawHatJedi]

I really think Kaku / Lucci / York are going to unleash the Seraphim inside the labophase. It's the best way to give the Straw Hats up top something to do and better explains why Oda skipped over the overnight battle - because it would've been redundant.

I'm guessing that the Giants and the Iron Giant are going to be Nika's backup against the Elders because I can't imagine the Straw Hats standing up against them.

The other big factor is that Kizaru can travel through the barrier; I don't think Zoro is going to defeat Lucci and then move on to defeat Kizaru; just too much. I don't think Oda even wants to give Zoro a clean victory against Lucci, hence Jinbei coming in to join the fight.

Kuma is another factor here; He's being brought to the Giants ship rather than the Labophase, but if he can regain his humanity at any point, he could use his power to teleport everyone to freedom, just as he did on Sabaody and God Valley. Maybe he does the opposite? Maybe he instead uses his power to send Kizaru or the Elders somewhere else? I would guess there might be some other power at work which prevents Kuma from teleporting the Elders. Haki can also negate Devil Fruit powers, so that alone would probably prevent him from teleporting the Elders.

[StrawHatJedi]

Regarding the cover story arc, I think Yamato is probably the most likely point of view character. Onigashima underwater might hint that we're headed toward the underground / underwater caverns, but I just can't imagine Oda's ready to reveal anything more about the old Wano, considering he chose not to do so when the Straw Hats were actually on Wano. Revealing Kaido & Big Mom's fates through a cover story arc would be way too underwhelming and would completely undermine the intent behind their removal from the narrative.

Kaido and Big Mom are still more powerful than the rising worst generation captains (in my opinion, this includes Luffy) and thus needed to be sidelined. Blackbeard's own crewmate said that very thing to Pudding, 'the new generation can't rise with the old legends still hanging around.' Kaido and Big Mom are powerful enough that even if they were beaten up, could easily regain their power and influence after recovering from the battle - particularly Big Mom, whose crew and territory are still mostly intact. Nothing would stop Kaido from reclaiming Wano after Luffy and crew set sail. Hence, they needed to be removed from the story - and will likely only reemerge at some later point in the final war.

Yamato's solo trek across the Land of Wano is the most likely path for this cover arc to follow. The official translation even titles this chapter 'Onigashima sinks' as if it had just been dropped into the sea, likely by Momo with Yamato's help.

Not to mention, Oda's probably anxious to draw Yamato, Momo, and Kin again.

[danie]

@hideoushorrendous said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

Damn Kizaru actually killed Vegapunk!

Those fucking fraudhats, useless clowns.

That's right! Can't count on the fraudhats!

Don't worry though, that blow from Borsalino likely will be what saves Vegapunk if it comes to that...

[danie]

It didn't occur to me prior to this chapter, but i'm really liking the prospect of Borsalino turning on the elders... The main reason being: it should be the trigger for the inevitable marine cival war as Borsalino would be bound to be destroyed.

[electricmastro]

Just found out that there was a 16 year gap between Iceburg's new secretary debuting and being named. The only characters that took longer to be named are the Five Elders. Pretty crazy.

https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Alice

[electricmastro]

@Shiebs said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

@electricmastro said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

@Shiebs said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

@electricmastro said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

@Shiebs said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

Where the hell is this cover story going?

I suspect it's meant to start off with Momo, training with his flame clouds by throwing Onigashima into the water.

I was thinking it was Black Beard sinking Wano, but it’s way to early for him to know about the ancient weapons yet since they haven’t even brought Caribou to him

Unless the cover stories aren’t time adjacent to the regular story

I get the feeling Oda would have showed the process of him going to Wano since it's that big. Until he decides to act on Caribou's on info, he currently doesn't seem as if he has any reason to go there.

In any case, I'm excited, because that means I get to see Yamato again!

How many people have the power to submerge Wano though? Shiroshi definitely could but she definitely wouldn’t, Black Beard but he hasn’t learned about the ancient weapons yet, the man with the burn scar was said to be able to make whirlpools with water so it’s possible he might be able to do this, but that seems far fetched and really random and not his mo, maybe enel bringing the moon down lol

So yeah I’m excited to see more of this cover story since I have no idea what’s going on

Unless it’s just overflow from them destroying that island with the mother flame and i’m just overthinking things

Actually, with Blackbeard’s quakes, Burgess’ strength, Pizarro’s island moving, Wolf’s size, and Augur’s warping, they prob have more than enough resources to dig a deep hole through the Earth in little time if they wanted to.

[Deicide]

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

I really think Kaku / Lucci / York are going to unleash the Seraphim inside the labophase.

I expect the Seraphim to be gone when we next check the basement. I find them being taken by the Blackbeard Pirates a more cunning move than being used here.

Sure, I was hoping for them to become a threat in this arc, but that was before we got 4 more elders in it. As it is right now, the Seraphim are not needed, we already have 7 powerhouses on the enemy team that each seem equal to or greater than the 3 strongest Straw Hats bellow Luffy.

[electricmastro]

I think I’m starting to see how Oda may try following up Kaido as a villain. Kaido was a very physical fighter, so if Oda won’t try to outdo Kaido as a physical fighter, then maybe he’ll try following up with magical ones, like Saturn’s black magic summoning circles. Kaido’s only “magical” sort of element was his Bolo Breath, and the rest was physical attacks. So it makes sense for Oda to focus more on magical attacks.

[Marcotty]

Finally time for the inevitable Wano Cover Story. It's unfortunate, but I guess the logic is that the people of Wano just wanted to be rid of the big skull base and the memories of Kaido. It's a shame. It would've been more impressive to see Momo and co come up with a plan to use the base for something actually useful. But the land of Wano isn't exactly mature enough to come up with a solution like that. Oh well. My original expectations for a cover story in Wano was to first see all the scabbards split up to become the "Guardians" of each region as Yamato visits each one. Time to wait to see if we head that direction.

There are lots of fans out there that still can't seem to accept that Vegapunk isn't the perfect genius schemer that had everything go according to Keikaku. This video is the real Vegapunk. The fact they never even bothered to go back and edit or redo the start of the video to make it more professional just feels so natural and right. No doubt the punks rushed off to return to work as soon as they finished this recording.

It was fun seeing all the counts around to the world having to prepare for the message. This is exactly what I had issue with last week, and Oda solved it perfectly.

So Luffy's getting annoyed that Saturn doesn't take damage. Well, the same could be said about your new Nika form, you giant nutcase. I wonder if Oda realizes that. I don't know what's more annoying, having Gear 5 tank hits and shake off the damage, or having Luffy dodge everything with laughing ease. Having a time limit doesn't excuse pure invincibility. I'd also argue that Kizaru really should've been able to get away from the cymbol slam, but I'll excuse it just cause the attack was legitimately amusing.

Attack of the Old People! This should hopefully be the hype tool this siege desperately needed. Going by their habits, I can't help but think the Elders will stand around and waste a good couple minutes talking before they actually spring into action. Maybe they'll only waste 5 minutes, or maybe they'll waste the whole 10 and they'll be moving to out-speed Vegapunk's own pre-recorded ramblings.

Dorry and Broggy should jump in and join Luffy asap. Maybe they even have some knowledge of the elders, given how old they are. Maybe the giants getting so close to Nika that there will be enough energy to awaken the Robot finally and that'll be another blockade for the elders. I don't know how that thing's supposed to finally work. Either way, the chaos should be sweet. The blackbeards could choose to either leave in a panic, or stick around to hear the message and see if they can't touch a few other elders. Kizaru could return right away, or maybe he'll be forgotten for a few chapters, allowing him to be the one to run through the barrier and take down the message.

Finally, with Bonney having made it to the Giant's ship, and Bluegrass heading there... it's almost inevitable that Bonney's gonna turn her young and hot at this point.

[Deicide]

Something I've been thinking about is that the Straw Hats may split again for a time.

Brook, Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Robin are ready to jump into (or already in) the Sunny. The ship can't be stopped (presumably), and I doubt it will take 10 minutes to fall off the cloud (Brook says "We'll be passing through in a moment" even before the message started).

That would mean these Straw Hats (plus Edison and Lilith) go to Elbaf first, while Franky, Zoro, Sanji, Jinbe and Luffy are left behind to deal with the Egghead stuff. They'd probably go to Elbaf with the giants.

That could mean the "weaker" group in the Sunny reaches Elbaf first and may start their own adventure there, while the "strong" group takes more time to arrive but once they do they already have giant friends to guide and inform them of any troubles in the island.

[StrawHatJedi]

@Deicide I think the Serephim could only really benefit Teach if he also took York. Their hard coded command hierarchy would make them more of a liability than an asset against anyone with an authority chip or higher on the chain of command.

Although, I just had a thought; York said she had a contingency plan. I thought perhaps Teach's crew was that contingency plan. If York invited them to rescue her, then perhaps the reason they needed to copy the likeness of an Elder is to command the Seraphim.

I think this only works if the BB pirates already knew about the Seraphim hierarchy from York. As in, I don't think they changed plans after meeting Caribou. This would need to have already been their plan from the beginning - to steal the seraphim and then copy the likeness of an Elder. The only way they could know about this though is through York.

[StrawHatJedi]

@Marcotty

They're gonna be forced to see the skull again when the borders open and the reservoir drains since they dropped it in their inland sea. Onigashima will re-surface at least once.

[StrawHatJedi]

@Deicide

I thought something similar, though I was considering that Luffy might be the one to stay behind while his crew escapes. He might not even accept Zoro and Sanji staying in this case. However it plays out, I really do think splitting up is a potential outcome, especially with the likes of Stussy, any surviving Satellites, Bonney, Kuma, etc. in the mix.

It's hard to imagine this big group will all be going to Elbaf together, especially since it seems some of these characters would be better off meeting up with Dragon.

I could imagine a course which leads to an island where the Straw Hats (at least some of them) can meet Dragon and the Revs before heading to Elbaf.

Sending a group of Straw Hats on ahead to the Land of Giants could make sense, much like Robin, Zoro, Franky, and Usopp went on ahead to Elbaf. The only reason I think Oda might not go that direction is because he tried to balance out the absences last time.

Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Brook were missing for most of Dressrosa. Zoro, Robin, Franky, and Usopp were missing for WCI. Both halves of the crew got their time to shine.

If Oda sends part of the crew ahead to Elbaf absent the others, it's hard to imagine how he'll balance that out. But then again, we don't yet know what lies beyond Elbaf, so there might be an opportunity to then follow the other half of the crew on a different adventure with Luffy.

But I could also see this being a complete inversion of Sabaody, where Luffy was forcibly separated from his crew. Here, perhaps he's the one that's captured and the crew comes after him.

This could also tie into the Marco / Weevil story thread. It's hard to imagine Luffy being taken to Impel Down again though, so maybe there's someplace in the New World he would be taken first? In any case, maybe springing Luffy is the big 'Grand Fleet Incident'? The Straw Hats and Grand Fleet all have Luffy's Vivre Card, so they could come to save him wherever that might be.

We followed Sabaody with an arc centered on Luffy. Perhaps what comes next is an arc centered on the crew absent Luffy. On the one hand, I don't feel like Oda would be content to remove his main protagonist from the story for very long. One consistent thing throughout the entirety of One Piece is that Luffy is almost always present.

This could be the way to 'balance out' the Paramount War though, if the next story focuses on the crew retrieving Luffy from the WG. I can't imagine they're going to Elbaf without Luffy though, so the crew would need to travel elsewhere first, rescue Luffy, and then head to the Land of Giants together.

[electricmastro]

@Marcotty said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

Finally time for the inevitable Wano Cover Story. It's unfortunate, but I guess the logic is that the people of Wano just wanted to be rid of the big skull base and the memories of Kaido. It's a shame. It would've been more impressive to see Momo and co come up with a plan to use the base for something actually useful. But the land of Wano isn't exactly mature enough to come up with a solution like that.

Which makes me wonder how more of the citizens will treat Yamato the more they find out she's Kaido's child.

[Sengokusgoat]

I think in the event of the crew splitting up, this time we'll simply follow the two groups simultaneously. Oda has already been switching perspective in the middle of an arc to other characters like Garp and whatnot since the final saga began, so I don't know why he wouldn't do it for the crew. We could get some kind of Elbaf adventure with Usopp as the star while Luffy's group does something else.

[Deicide]

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

I thought something similar, though I was considering that Luffy might be the one to stay behind while his crew escapes. He might not even accept Zoro and Sanji staying in this case. However it plays out, I really do think splitting up is a potential outcome, especially with the likes of Stussy, any surviving Satellites, Bonney, Kuma, etc. in the mix.

The thing is that current situation begs a split between those who will be in the Sunny and those who won't. Brook caused a situation in which the Sunny won't wait for anybody, and half of the crew isn't in position to get a ride in the brief window of time before the ship falls off the clouds. That would leave Zoro, Jinbe, Sanji and Franky behind.

Plus, Luffy can't stay alone. He probably is not even aware of the importance of the broadcast, and he can't hold off all five elders. If the rest of the crew leaves, Luffy will also try to escape, leaving the island unguarded and ready for the government to conquer it.

[Deicide]

@Sengokusgoat I see it as a situation similar to Baratie/Arlong Park, in which Nami, Zoro and Usopp left mid-arc, but had a headstarted on the following adventure.

[black-leg jex]

There's no way the crew is splitting. Absolutely wild to think that not all of them will go to Elbaf. We already know Nami et al are on their way to the Sunny to help stop it, as per Lilith's request. Jinbei is also meant to head straight there when he grabs Zoro. Franky is on the giants ship already and Sanji is on his way there. Luffy is the only one without an escape plan right now but Dorry and Brogy are literally heading to him right now, so they can help him escape.

[Deicide]

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

I think this only works if the BB pirates already knew about the Seraphim hierarchy from York.

The Seraphim hierarchy follows the same rules as other Pacifistas, and it's possible the Blackbeard Pirates already had info on that even before they encountered the Seraphim on Amazon Lily. They could get that info from captured marines, maybe even Koby.

The way I see it, they may have abducted the Seraphim, then took Saturn's likeness to override the entire command chain. "You will now obey Blackbeard Teach and his crew's orders. Ignore all orders on the contrary from now on". Only Saturn himself could ever undo that order.

---

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

Although, I just had a thought; York said she had a contingency plan.

Her contingency plan was for the events prior to the cutaways, a reaction to CP-0 coming to kill her.

[StrawHatJedi]

@Deicide I suppose Kuzan might know about the Pacafista hierarchy.

[Deicide]

@StrawHatJedi Oh, good point!

[StrawHatJedi]

In which case, the Seraphim won't do the Blackbeard Pirates any good against the World Government because the real Elders and possibly Imu can circumvent the command.

S-Bear should also be answerable to Bonney.

Where the Seraphim might benefit the Blackbeard Pirates is in a battle against the Straw Hats, Cross Guild, & Red Hair Pirates prior to the true final war against the World Gov.

Unless all Five Elders somehow exit the picture, they won't be perfectly loyal to Teach. But it could be the reason some of the Titanic Captains are so underwhelming. Maybe they'll be swapped out for Seraphim copies of the Seven Warlords. Zoro could face S-Hawk in adult form rather than Shiryu for example.

[.access timeco.]

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

In which case, the Seraphim won't do the Blackbeard Pirates any good against the World Government because the real Elders and possibly Imu can circumvent the command.

If the Vegapunks can’t override York’s orders, the Elders should be unable to undo an order given by Saturn!Devon, except for Saturn himself.

[Deicide]

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

In which case, the Seraphim won't do the Blackbeard Pirates any good against the World Government because the real Elders and possibly Imu can circumvent the command.

No, since someone on the same level can't override a command, so "Saturn"'s command is absolute, except for Saturn himself.

Or if the other Elders beat up Saturn to unconsciousness in order to override his command. And they'd need to be present near the Seraphim to issue an order as well.

---

@StrawHatJedi said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

S-Bear should also be answerable to Bonney.

Yes, that's the one flaw in the plan, but the Blackbeard Pirates don't know that. Besides, you'd need Bonney in person near S-Bear to order him.

[electricmastro]

@Sengokusgoat said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

I think in the event of the crew splitting up, this time we'll simply follow the two groups simultaneously. Oda has already been switching perspective in the middle of an arc to other characters like Garp and whatnot since the final saga began, so I don't know why he wouldn't do it for the crew. We could get some kind of Elbaf adventure with Usopp as the star while Luffy's group does something else.

I really hate this idea that there's trouble giving focus to the Straw Hats because there's too many of them, and doing that would prob reinforce that idea. Oda justified it enough with a group going to Zou due to circumstance with Sanji, but to seriously have some of them away just so Usopp can get a little more focus doesn't sit well with me somehow. Things shouldn't have to be that way.

[Chams 0]

Intermissions are coming into the story in full force. When Sabo saw the shadows of the Elders in the flashback I really thought we would wait at least 10 years to see their designs. And then… suddenly they are here.
So I also expect Garp and Koby’s intermission to have some effect in the Egghead narrative. Maybe this is truly the split between the Marines. After whatever Vegapunk reveals Koby and the new generation will choose a different side.

[Cockycent]

I spent a good amount of Wano trying to figure out how Oda would get BM and Kaido out of Wano. I did not see them being sepulchered in lava soup. It still fit what I thought was the goal, which was to take those 2 out of the game as real contenders and get their grubby hands off Wano. I just didn't see that specific ending.

On the Gorosei's end, what is the goal? I think its to really embarrass them. I don't see them as enemies that have to be taken down after this arc. Their strength is showcased this arc and other characters do things to show both sides are formidable, but all out defeat for all 5? I don't think so.

This is their 2nd go at it anyway. First, it was hidden against Sabo. Now, they are possibly directly in front of the crew.

lot of this looks like VP vs Gorosei with Luffy vs Kizaru as a more suitable attraction. That kinda resembles Luffy vs Kata, but then how do you deal with BM of this arc??? I see Giant Warriors and Robonosuke, but who else? Seraphim are right there.

I think the most likely to go down this arc are the 9 VAs.

York started a lot of this, even if VP and the WG's relationship wasn't meant to last. She ignited this, so I believe she will have a hand in resolving this.

So in short, key components

• York and her Seraphim
• Giant Captains
• Robonosuke
• SH crew
• VP's tech
• satellites

[hideoushorrendous]

"awakening clouds floating around Saturn"

some 200 IQ readers : OMG he's a sorcerer!

...

[electricmastro]

Saturn is using pentagrams, which I think are unlike anything else we’ve seen in One Piece before since it mostly relied on either physical-based Haki attacks or devil fruits. These summoning circles seem more akin to something like Fullmetal Alchemist if anything.

Magic was never really something outright associated with the series before, so what Saturn is doing might be the most magical the series has gotten thus far, which is kinda ironic seeing as how this is all happening at a science-based island.

[Captain M]

@StrawHatJedi I totally forgot how short the travel times were to Dressrosa. Yeah, that really throws things out of whack, but maybe we just chalk it up to the difficulty the series has with travel times in general.

And yeah I totally agree that a commitment to a larger-scale world would be awesome to see (maybe not exactly in the case of Alabasta when the crew has to cross half the country in an afternoon on duckback at its 'canon' size - absolutely not happening), but you imagine it would also make the timeline that much harder to keep track of to stop characters from teleporting across the world.

For pacing reasons, I wouldn't want to see much real between-arc padding in the canon series, but slightly more ambiguous travel times to space things out in the reader's mind could be a net win. It really is hard to find good places for them though. Everything from the start of the Grand Line to Alabasta is on a tight, serialised timer. Jaya's early scenes leap right off from Robin being revealed as a stowaway, and there's only so long you can realistically say she hid. Sabaody features Zoro still recovering from his Thriller Bark wounds and Brook claiming to be in his first battle with the crew after joining. And the New World is even more tightly serialised.

And I think it's genuinely admirable that the series has run so long with so many arcs and so few, if any, can reasonably be accused of being filler or skippable. Having to separate plot arcs from goofing around arcs would definitely lessen some of that tightness.

[Riddler]

That's actually one thing I do like about the anime. Massive pacing issues aside, you usually do get the impression of much longer traveling times between arcs (or in some cases like Alabasta, even inside arcs) than what comes across in the manga. The Post-Alabasta fillers are a perfect example of that - since the crew has multiple small scale adventures on different islands in the anime, it feels like at least a week or two pass between the end of Alabasta and the start of Jaya.

[The Light of Shandora]

What about the possibility of multiple suns and moons for the One Piece world.
I know that theory isn’t new, but this might be the best proof we got, outside the planet system seen during the Ohara flashback.
This could give us an explanation why there is always daytime on Enies Lobby, I got that idea back when I read the three body problem.

[danie]

@hideoushorrendous said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

"awakening clouds floating around Saturn"

some 200 IQ readers : OMG he's a sorcerer!

...

Why not both? I initially thought everything Saturn was doing was just going to be regulated to a devil fruit ability, but now i'm inclined to think their is something else at play besides devil fruits...

Seems pretty fitting that the tight-knit group know as the "five elders" would have interconnected abilities.

[Sengokusgoat]

I'm waiting for one of them to get thrown into the sea and just come back stronger or something.

[Deicide]

@hideoushorrendous said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

"awakening clouds floating around Saturn"

some 200 IQ readers : OMG he's a sorcerer!

...

He can have an awakened Devil Fruit AND some other new power system on top of it. I don't see how that's far-fetched. He has shown a lot of psychic-like abilities that seem divorced from his zoan form.

This is like when we were pre-timeskip and haki was introduced. Devil Fruits aren't the only possible explanation for weird phenomena, and it's not like we haven't seen some sort of psychic powers or magic before, they just weren't as powerful.

---

@Sengokusgoat said in Chapter 1109: Interception:

I'm waiting for one of them to get thrown into the sea and just come back stronger or something.

Telepathy: "Summon me! I'm drowning!"

Gets summoned back to land by the others.

[Shiebs]

I’m really excited to hopefully see Yamato again in this cover story