Chapter 1120: Atlas
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Now we know Vegapunk was with the WG 26 years ago. I've been trying to piece together MADS' timeline. There's too little to pinpoint when it started and ended, all we know is that they were active at some period between 38 and 26 years ago.
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The official translation went with Clou D. Clover. A D in the traditional sense of the letter completing a word. I was kind hoping for Crow D Clover, since we already have Monkey and Jaguar families in the D clan, lol.
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At least Ju Peter did something impressive before the arc is over. Emet was unphazed by canonfire and barely damaged by Warcury's charge. Ju Peter are through his metal body like it was butter.
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I knew Saturn would come for Kuma and Bonney before the arc was over. It would make no sense for him to not suffer defeat while trying to kill them for good. They deserve to see his fall, even if it's just a setback.
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Emet is about to do something. Stella is about to talk about the future. This chapter sets up 3 events: Saturn's fall, Emet's death/sacrifice (self-destruct?), and Vegapunk's final revelation. It's likely all three will be covered next chapter, ending Egghead's action.
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Hmm, looks like Oda had Denjiro handle the situation with the Kaido-hating kids instead of Yamato alone. Makes me wonder how Yamato will handle any future Kaido-hating situations.
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Just repeating what I said in the spoiler thread: for a few weeks now I've been thinking the real big surprise from VP's message is still to come. I mean, we know he started the message with the thing he thought was the big shocker already. But while it makes sense for him to do that (ensuring the most important things get out earlier to reduce the chances of it being cut), it doesn't really make sense for Oda to start the message with the big thing and then follow up with months of deflating...
So I'm thinking while VP believes the sinking stuff was the most important, that won't really matter a lot to the average people (I mean, aside from being anxious they can't really do much with that information if they have no idea who is even causing it). Meanwhile a information that he will mention just as a footnote, something he might not even think is a reveal at all, will cause a huge impact. The nonchalant "Gol D." could be the beginning of that. -
- The more I think about it, the more I like the tiny flashback from the beginning. It sets up the situation which put Vegapunk in the ruins of Ohara and in pursuit of the books that survived.
- I like that Punk Hazard used to be a tropical island and became a snowy wasteland. And Egghead used to be frozen and Vegapunk made it a tropical island.
- Still not sure about the skull peeking over the gate. Doesn’t look like the big dragon, the horns are too different. It looks like the skull from the warning signs, and I think it might be a Number.
- Wish we’ve got more details about MADs time, and the horrible human experiments Vegapunk made in Punk Hazard with the Numbers, Kaidou and King (who, I imagine, was the DNA donor for the Seraphim). Maybe Oda thought it would destroy Vegapunk’s reputation too much.
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@access-timeco I fully agree.
This next info will be the bomb, but I feel Oda will cut part of it with Emet's death. Still, the piece we do get will feel hugely important.
@Chams-0 said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
Wish we’ve got more details about MADs time, and the horrible human experiments Vegapunk made in Punk Hazard with the Numbers, Kaidou and King (who, I imagine, was the DNA donor for the Seraphim). Maybe Oda thought it would destroy Vegapunk’s reputation too much.
So far, I'm leaning towards Vegapunk not being yet in the WG's employ when Kaido and King were in Punk Hazard. I pieced together a timeline in Twitter:
-65: Vegapunk is born
-56: Vinsmoke Judge is born
-55: Caesar Clown is born
-47: Alber (King) is born
-38: God Valley Incident
-??: MADS is formed with Vegapunk, Judge, Caesar and Buckinham Stussy
-35: Edward Weevil is born
-??: Kaido is taken to Punk Hazard and experimented on
-??: Kaido and King escape Punk Hazard
-28: Kurozumi Higurashi meets Kaido and King for her plan to take over Wano
-26: Vegapunk meets Clover in Punk Hazard
-24: Gold Roger's execution
Reiju is born
-22: Ohara incident
-20: Sanji and his brothers are born
-4: Punk Hazard's destructionThe thing is that it's implied Kaido was captured soon after God Valley, and MADS was formed after that as well (because the original Stussy was a member), and Vegapunk was only recruited by the Government after MADS got disbanded.
King's 47 years old, he was 19 when we saw he and Kaido talking with Higurashi. We saw he was quite young when he escape, he was still in his teens, so it must have happened between 35 and 28 years ago.
Edward Weevil is 35, and if he's an imperfect clone, then it means Stussy was succesfully cloned later. Stussy (the clone) was created during MADS, and she seems to be around her late 20s/early 30s now. This suggests MADS was still active around when Kaido escaped, though it's still possible that Vegapunk had recently joined the government when that happened.
This makes MADS foundation sometime between 38 and 35 years ago, and its dissolution happened at some point between 35 and 26 years ago. Meanwhile, Kaido was captured between 38 and 28 years ago, and escaped between 35 and 28 years ago.
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Clover is supposed to be 81 in the flashback. That doesn't seem right.
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@King-Cannon Oh, you are right, I hadn't picked up on that! This is just 4 years before Ohara, Clover surely aged up fast!
Edit: Not only that, but there's a scene of Clover at 79 in Ch 393, and he's old like when he died, so the guy actually rejuvenated in-between.
Either Oda retconned something or made a mistake that should be corrected in the Volume.
Edit 2: I used the Wiki for Clover's age in the flashback-within-flashback of Ch 393, but reading it, it seems they used a previous moment (2-year-old Robin) to define how old Clover was. However, it feels like the two moments aren't in the same year. Clover is likely 81-83 then.
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@Deicide
I agree that Kaidou being imprisoned in Punk Hazard seems to be earlier than Vegapunk going there to work.
But there are many connections: Vegapunk was the one who cloned his fruit, and who got Lunarian blood to make the Seraphim clones (probably from King or other Lunarian prisioneir). Either he worked directly with them or he continued the research from someone else. This previous scientist would have been the one to test gigantification with the Numbers. And this previous scientist also would have collected Kaidou’s DNA (lineage factors, in OP world), which seems strange because Vegapunk was credited as the person who discovered the lineage factors in the first place.
It’s also possible that other scientists around the world used Vegapunk’s discoveries made during his time in MADs, including the ones at PH.My personal headcannon is that Queen was also brought to work with the government after MADs and he was the one who helped King and Kaidou escape. It’s possible Queen felt empathy for those prisioneirs and wanted more freedom to research weapons and diseases, so he chose the pirate life and left Vegapunk and Cesar behind in PH.
Too bad Wano didn’t explore Kaidou’s past too much. -
@Chams-0 I think Vegapunk inherited material from previous research. The knowledge of lineage factor may have not existed when the original research was made, but there could still be preserved tissue from previous experiments
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@Chams-0 said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
Too bad Wano didn’t explore Kaidou’s past too much.
I imagine Oda is holding off right now for either when Rocks becomes more established, because Rocks being a significant figure in Kaido’s life is prob the biggest reason Oda didn’t delve into more than what he did.
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@Chams-0 said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
- The more I think about it, the more I like the tiny flashback from the beginning. It sets up the situation which put Vegapunk in the ruins of Ohara and in pursuit of the books that survived.
- I like that Punk Hazard used to be a tropical island and became a snowy wasteland. And Egghead used to be frozen and Vegapunk made it a tropical island.
- Still not sure about the skull peeking over the gate. Doesn’t look like the big dragon, the horns are too different. It looks like the skull from the warning signs, and I think it might be a Number.
- Wish we’ve got more details about MADs time, and the horrible human experiments Vegapunk made in Punk Hazard with the Numbers, Kaidou and King (who, I imagine, was the DNA donor for the Seraphim). Maybe Oda thought it would destroy Vegapunk’s reputation too much.
The Numbers I suspect may be brought up again at Elbaf, considering how they’re cloned from Ancient Giants. So we might delve more into Ancient Giant history at Elbaf then, along with the Buccaneers.
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IIRC Vegapunk did explicitly state the Seraphim had King's (or rather, Alber's. I think he didn't know they were the same person before that) DNA in a scene where Zoro brought him up after meeting them.
On another note, I kinda love the scene where the marines ask the VA what the hell is going on and he's just like 'I have no clue either'. These guys didn't sign up for this.
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Gol D. Roger's name started the meme. Yet Clou D. Clover continues it, officially, wow.
Luffy not knowing he's "joyboy" is adorable lol
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At this point, they can just announce the MADS 3 part film and i'll throw my $ up. I'm more interested in MADS than D family stuff.
It doesn't feel like a flashback is coming unless it is tied to Saturn because Science/Defense is his field.
I noticed in WCI and Wano arcs, Kata and Kaido got these mini flashbacks while Oden, Linlin, and Sanji got the typical ones. So many bits and pieces have been given away on VP through others flashbacks or minor scenes like the Clover segment or cover, but VP is unique because there are wide gaps like before MADS, during MADS, and since they were broken up.
To gain an audience with the Gorosei, whenever that was for MADS or post MADS, they most likely trusted Saturn's expertise. He can possibly trigger the VP flashback or York if need be.
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Nineteen pages without even the extra two added by a colour spread. Wow. This hasn't happened since... chapter 869, back in 2017. We're 10 chapters into volume 110 but I don't think it's over yet, not with the amount of 13 pagers in the run. I think there's a pretty good chance this volume and this arc reach a climax together next week, which would be a cool pair of things to coincide with the 27th anniversary. Held back by extra breaks and short chapters, there's no denying the broadcast chapters have felt slow on the weekly read - it's hard to believe there's only been 8 of them - but this penultimate release builds up a lot of momentum for the finale, and I'm genuinely looking forward to my reread of the full arc once it's done.
I love the details of the young dragon and the Number poking its head over the gate in the opening flashback, but if you want a real continuity deep cut, you can see in the '22 years ago' establishing shot the same rear entrance to the lab Law uses in the Punk Hazard arc, recognisable even without the destruction and snowfall.
I'm not sure how I feel about the murder of Clover's brother over his D. Does it track fully with what we know the the World Government would be so ruthless with them? On one hand, the Trafalgar famiy's choice to hide their D seems to point towards persecution. On the other, Garp and Saul's ranks in the Marines feel like a contradiction. It's hard to gauge what the world at large really thinks of the D, if they think of it at all, and how dangerous it is to openly be one. But at least Vegapunk's speculation that Clover was let do on the assumption he would draw more Ds out of hiding offers Oda an out for any Ds that were let live when they shouldn't have. It'll be interesting to see if the level of threat is clarified later in an SBS.
As expected, Nusjuro is being kept around to stall the Sunny from taking off and make sure the events of the finale happen in sync. What I didn't expect is Atlas being the one to get the last action against him, and how tragic that would be. Man, she was my favourite Vegaclone. The big sad eyes as she says she's leaving Lilith in the crew's hands are rough. That childlike, Astro Boy-like design doesn't feel like something that should be cut up and bloodsplattered, let alone killed off. But she gets to end it as a hero, saving the Sunny, the crew and one part of Vegapunk in the process. Hard to ask for a better way to go out than that.
Down below, we get some solid humour with Luffy and Emet. It's good for Luffy stay as obvious as possible to Joyboy, Nika and their implications. At least, he should continue to not care about them. The Gear Five transformation doesn't change who Luffy has been without the Joyboy connections up to this point, and Oda will be smart to keep the revelations from influencing the core character.
It's a tough dose of reality for Emet's cooler features to malfunction from the years of decay. I'm sure that rocket fist would have been cool. The amount of damage done to it here seems to suggest the robot will not be joining us for the next arc. I think it would be a little redundant for the final move it seems to be building up to be another self-destruct though. Maybe a beam similar to the Mother Flame-powered Uranus that makes an ocean crater out of Egghead?
And then there's Saturn. I've said in my past two reviews that something had to happen with him to put a bow on the Kuma and Bonney story. It's too personal. He always had to be the final Elder confronted as the crew departs. But we still can't do lasting damage to him, and though Luffy has shown the ability to pick and throw the demonic spider, I doubt he'd fall for that twice. So who takes Saturn off the ship? The most tragic answer would be Kuma, whose presence is emphasised as Saturn lands. Can he launch Saturn from the ship, or the ship from under Saturn, without it being an ultimate sacrifice? Kuma's had such a hard go of it, I really want him to get some downtime with his daughter one or both of them is inevitably being drawn into the final battle, but if I was writing the series I'd be seriously tossing up giving the readers one last gut punch to cement the retreat from Egghead as a costly loss for the heroes right about now.
There's been a decent chunk of fandom negativity over the broadcast these past few months, but I think this chapter built up some solid momentum, and my energy's high to see how Egghead concludes next week (or maaaaaaybe the week after) and I hope I'm not alone in that.
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@Captain-M
Not sure which color spread you are referring to, but there was none in this chapter just Yamatos cover story and the color spread is scheduled for next chapter. -
@The-Light-of-Shandora Usually these days it takes a colour spread to get to 19 pages. Some colour spread chapters still end up being 17 total, but generally if a chapter is longer than 17, it's because of the colour spread.
This week, it's 19 pages of regular, canon content. Hard to believe this used to be the standard.
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Oda sure looks confident that the payoff for the whole D. thing is going to be worth the ever increasing mass of retcons and inconsistencies it's leaving behind.
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@Captain-M
My bad, must have been my reading comprehension who took a dip this morning. But yeah it's clear what you were talking about.Anyways, still not sure if I like the reveal of more D clan members. Clou D. Clover is fine I guess, but was his last name always Cloud? I cannot remember and I checked his Oda-box in Vol. 41, which just introduced him as Clover head librarian of Ohara. Though as a retcon it's kinda nice that we have Gol D. misread as Gold and Clou D. misread as Cloud, both family names make sense when read in English.
It would have been cool if that's something all D-clan member had in common, though reveals like that wouldn't hit hard once the pattern was obvious. Out of 7 families only two have that in common.
Vegapunk sure is a dick, nothing surprising after all we got to know about him rejecting to work with Dragon, but its nice to see where he picked up the torch to carry on Ohara's will, but I truly hope that the man marked by flames doesn't turn out to be Clover, as the Vegapunk hopes that he somehow survived the buster call.
I think Vegapunk is going to reveal the name of the ancient kingdom as his last words of the broadcast.Every man being amazed by the robot is a running gag I love in One Piece, not sure how big General Franky is compared to a giant, but I think he might be as tall as a giant kid, so it might be considered a toy for them. I wonder what Emet's final attack/sacrifice will amount to, as of now I think it will stall for time but not kill the elders. On that note, I cannot see more than 1 Elder truly dying this arc and if one should die that spot has to be taken by Kuma killing Saturn.
Luffy being ignorant to the Joy Boy stuff is great, but the longer this continues I fear that Joy Boy will respond to it at some point or Luffy just has enough of it and gets really pissed about it.Lilith being the Vegapunk who might survive and be part of the crew for the foreseeable future is cool, she was the first person who introduced herself as Vegapunk so it's fitting that she survives, only one left to die is little old York.
Btw. was there no editor note at the end of the chapter, as the German version didn't have any and they are usually translated too.
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@The-Light-of-Shandora said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
but was his last name always Cloud?
His surname was never revealed. He was just Clover until this chapter.
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@Alfiere You're absolutely right
Garp & Saul are right there to prove this retcon wrong
Also the Gorōsei have talked a lot about Luffy in the past and never once mentioned any specific targeting just because he bears the D moniker. This is all new and it's retconned trash.
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@hideoushorrendous said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
@Alfiere You're absolutely right
Garp & Saul are right there to prove this retcon wrong
Also the Gorōsei have talked a lot about Luffy in the past and never once mentioned any specific targeting just because he bears the D moniker. This is all new and it's retconned trash.
And yet we know from Law since Dressrosa that D. (or Water D.?) were targeted.
It may be a case of some kingdom somewhere that does that for some reason.
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It seems this will be the release schedule for next chapters, with a break after 1121:
Jul 7 - Break
Jul 14 - Ch 1120
Jul 21 - Ch 1121
Jul 28 - Break
Aug 4 - Ch 1122
Aug 11 - Jump Break (Obon Festival)
Aug 18 - Ch 1123
Aug 25 - Ch 1124
Sep 1 - Ch 1125 -
@Alfiere said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
Oda sure looks confident that the payoff for the whole D. thing is going to be worth the ever increasing mass of retcons and inconsistencies it's leaving behind.
I don’t remember a good payoff of anything built up from Oda, ever.
He’s great at the hype, great. The result of it, is usually crap or lacking.
I would say that I liked the Nika thing thou. The presentation and performance has not been good, as usual lacking, but the reveal was good, I liked it a lot.
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@realtenchu said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
@Alfiere said in Chapter 1120: Atlas:
Oda sure looks confident that the payoff for the whole D. thing is going to be worth the ever increasing mass of retcons and inconsistencies it's leaving behind.
I don’t remember a good payoff of anything built up from Oda, ever.
He’s great at the hype, great. The result of it, is usually crap or lacking.
I would say that I liked the Nika thing thou. The presentation and performance has not been good, as usual lacking, but the reveal was good, I liked it a lot.
Here in this Arc Oda made a build up of Saturn as the main bad who should get his comeuppance. The entire Kuma and Bonnie Flashback was Saturn messing with them like a troll. Now will Saturn get his comeuppance, because that has been the build up. It doesn’t look good to me but the arc is still not over.
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@Deicide Since we got the first 19 page chapter in 7 years, I'm gonna dare to dream of the first 4 chapter run in 2 years!
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@cavendishsama Leakers have confirmed no chapter after 1121, sadly.
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@SirCaesar Yes that would make Law a target for a radical celestial dragon like Doffy, his brother however does not see an issue despite sharing the same lineage. It's a natural enemy if you make it so. otherwise none suggests anything and Corazon's sacrifice is a proof. Imu's attack towards Cobra was out of hatred towards the D clan. there is no such thing as natural enemy it's all hatred that we know nothing about or how it started.
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