Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight
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Just 2608 more fortnights and you get a century Vegapunk, you can do it.
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This chapter does not deserve a review.
Vegapunk's plan makes no sense.
There's no reason to not plan for the Satellite's survival if only Stella's death is necessary.
They may not be able to undo what York did, but they should take care of her for the damage she's yet to inflict.
I'll just repost this:
So let's revise Vegapunk's plan:
- Imprison or eliminate the traitor so she stops feeding info to the WG.
- Fortify Egghead by reprogramming Pacifistas and Seraphims, deploying holograms for decoy tactics, and employing bubble traps to nullify DF users.
- Contact Dragon early and ask for help/send info.
- Send some of the Satellites away so they are safe.
- Warn Sentomaru early so he can help planning defenses.
- Prepare a broadcast to show the government's actions to the world live.
- Create a trigger to broadcast the Void Century info in case of his death.
- Erase his own memory so he forgets everything and let the traitor do as she pleases.
Wano predictions: There will be 5 acts; All Straw Hats will get fights, some in Act 4; Big Mom Pirates will arrive; Carrot will have her moment, but won't join; Yamato will be a Kouzuki samurai and Wano's Guardian; Shanks will visit Luffy in Act 5; Next arc is Mary Geoise.
- Imprison or eliminate the traitor so she stops feeding info to the WG.
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Pinned by
Shift
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One thing I like in this chapter is it explains the timeline issues York was having trouble with during the announcement
I feel it's also worth noting that that Vegapunk had less than a week to react to and plan for what was going on (excluding the days post-memory wipe and the week spent confirming the culprit).
The way I read it is Vegapunk knew he and his were screwed, other than York, and acted accordingly. Despite what Stella asked of the Straw Hats, escape was never Vegapunks' true plan. My take is he opted to lose the battle (the Buster Call at Egghead) in the hopes he would ultimately win the war (whatever the aftermath of the broadcast will end up being)
While perhaps arrangements should have been made to get the Satellites out or warn Sentomaru ahead of time, anything else would, far as the 3 Vegapunks were concerned, have only delayed the inevitable or wasn't an option in the first place. Plus, as Vegapunk noted, escape would only ensure constant pursuit from that day on and the Vegapunks' ability to fight back is essentially tied to Egghead.
As also noted in the chapter, dealing with York wouldn't do anything about what was to come. At best, it would deprive the World Government of additional information but they were already acting on what they had, so it's a moot point, really. The memory wipe is questionable, but did ensure York couldn't do even more harm by leaking their precautions early.
While there's merit to bubble traps and holo decoys, the Pacifista and Seraphim were vulnerable to being taken over if, as indeed happened, an Elder came in person (remember the only reason that didn't screw them over entirely was the Seraphim being disabled beforehand and Vegapunk long-ago putting Bonney in charge of the Kuma-pacifista).
While it's unclear what resources Dragon has access to, remember after Dressrosa he was routed from his primary base and their big attack on Marie Jois was an infiltration headed by only their very best and brightest.
Vegapunk likely wouldn't have opted to show the Government's actions live because, horrible as they are, he doesn't understand why they're doing it. It's the same reason why his broadcast went out of its way to avoid implicating the WG, even as we now know Vegapunk was fairly certain they had and used the Ancient Weapon.
If I have a point of contention it's that, after all that happened, the Straw Hats still can't claim a definitive, unambiguous victory over the Navy. They haven't truly had one since Axe-Hand Morgan. The closest they can claim is Enies Lobby, since they achieved their goals in rescuing Robin, but even then the moment the Navy came in force with the Buster Call it became a fighting retreat that would never have succeeded if not for good fortune (The Merry's arrival) and some quick pre-planning (Sanji closing the Gates of Justice). One thing I was hoping for in this arc is that the Straw Hats would face a Buster Call level military force and manage to defeat it.
Unrelated to any of the above, a youtuber has finally done what I figured someone would do once the broadcast completed and created a read-aloud of the broadcast in full without other action. Sadly, he doesn't do a voice, but if I find a version that does I promise to share it.
Waldorf: You know Statler, after watching the last one thousand episodes of One Piece, I think I've come to a conclusion.
Statler: No you haven't.
Both: DOHOHOHOHOHO!
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@Deicide
Vegapunk's plan is horrible, but in it's shitness it's consistent. Evacuate the civilian researchers and die to activate your fail safe message.
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Would like to point out unless it was meant to be brought up during the brief interruption during the broadcast or if it was meant to be brought up later before the broadcast was fully destroyed, don’t think Vegapunk brought up Egghead has cloud making tech the world could use for the potential future. It ended up being a reader only bit of info this chapter.
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@pariston_hill said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
@Deicide
Vegapunk's plan is horrible, but in it's shitness it's consistent. Evacuate the civilian researchers and die to activate your fail safe message.Was the dying because he didn’t want to live with the shame of the world recognizing the part he played in the disaster? If he was truly marked for death, the thing I don’t get is why do the “death activates the broadcast” plan and not just, broadcast the message the moment they made it.
I guess living in blissful ignorance would allow him to continue working on his research and make more progress given he had no idea when the WG would end up pulling the trigger and hunting them down, but iono…
Spoiler thread pretty much talked about this to death, so not really up to debate/have others parrot these thoughts/have more posts venting, but iono. Just wondering if there was a human element to the decision instead of just a plot contrivance one.
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@sgamer82 said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
I feel it's also worth noting that that Vegapunk had less than a week to react to and plan for what was going on (excluding the days post-memory wipe and the week spent confirming the culprit).
The thing is that once they found York's doings, he could quickly take an unsuspecting York out and then have 5 or so days to prepare with the help of all 5 satellites. That's a lot of resourceful genius tinkering with solutions for various problems. And then there's also Sentomaru to help.
I just don't buy how they threw away the possibilities of stopping York and saving the Satellites immediately, without any thought on the matter.
@pariston_hill said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Vegapunk's plan is horrible, but in it's shitness it's consistent. Evacuate the civilian researchers and die to activate your fail safe message.
I agree that is consistent in shitness, it's just that I expect a bit more from a supposed genius who is being counciled by two other supposed genius, one supposedly good, one supposedly wise.
And I really really hate how Vegapunk threw people under the bus to save his skin during the entirety of the arc. He literally bullied Sentomaru into saving him and made Stussy sacrifice herself for him. The Satellites were all willing to sacrifice themselves for his survival. Except his survival was never the plan.
On another note, I wouldn't be surprised if Vegapunk wanted to preserve Punk Records and the Mother Flame because those are his dreams, and that helps explain his decisions. However, the story should address it, to show his flawed objectivity, not treat readers as if we are supposed to acclaim him for his selfish sacrifice.
Wano predictions: There will be 5 acts; All Straw Hats will get fights, some in Act 4; Big Mom Pirates will arrive; Carrot will have her moment, but won't join; Yamato will be a Kouzuki samurai and Wano's Guardian; Shanks will visit Luffy in Act 5; Next arc is Mary Geoise.
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@Deicide said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
I agree that is consistent in shitness, it's just that I expect a bit more from a supposed genius who is being counciled by two other supposed genius, one supposedly good, one supposedly wise.
And I wanted a good explanation on DFs but we got power of wishing, Vegapunk is a hack any way you cut it.
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@pariston_hill Now you reminded me we got no demonstration nor explanation of how an object can eat a Devil Fruit...
Wano predictions: There will be 5 acts; All Straw Hats will get fights, some in Act 4; Big Mom Pirates will arrive; Carrot will have her moment, but won't join; Yamato will be a Kouzuki samurai and Wano's Guardian; Shanks will visit Luffy in Act 5; Next arc is Mary Geoise.
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@Deicide They just wish really hard (either to eat or be eaten...those than zoan spirits)...
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Great chapter. Sanji not interrupting the party is funny. I think in the spoiler thread, somebody thought Luffy's reluctance to party had something to do w/ VP lol.
VAs went from sweating to foaming at the mouth, who in the world beat this JB guy?
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@Cockycent said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
who in the world beat this JB guy?
Isn’t obvious?
He was betrayed by whoever is Blackbeard’s counterpart. -
I don't mind the arc, but it's because I never was interested in Vegapunk in the first place... The genius mad scientist trope has been overdone and it never lived up to my imagination of a genius.
I guess it takes a genius to imagine a genius, lol. -
Almost everything else i can kind of rationalise, but the reasoning behind the memory wipe eludes me. Especially when you also leave a memo with some of the info erased but not the crucial ones.
York on her own was able to fool the other 6 for however long so effectively that even after the leak was discovered it took another week for 3 Vegapunks to pinpoint her among only 4 suspects. How is it impossible for the 3 of them to do the same in reverse? Why keep the other 3 in the dark once you established that there is only 1 traitor? Even if you're resigned to die, why not leveraging on your surprise effect on York to reverse her plan against her and do the most damage control possible?
Also, how is it possible that the wildest of wild cards, meaning an emperor, Bonney and the giants coming to eggehead, ended up not mattering at all?These things happen when you first write the story and only after you shoehorn in the character actions to fit it.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing
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@Deicide said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
On another note, I wouldn't be surprised if Vegapunk wanted to preserve Punk Records and the Mother Flame because those are his dreams, and that helps explain his decisions. However, the story should address it, to show his flawed objectivity, not treat readers as if we are supposed to acclaim him for his selfish sacrifice.
There's also the cloud-making technology, which is tied to humanity's well-being more than any personal wish.
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@Deicide said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
So let's revise Vegapunk's plan:
- Imprison or eliminate the traitor so she stops feeding info to the WG.
- Fortify Egghead by reprogramming Pacifistas and Seraphims, deploying holograms for decoy tactics, and employing bubble traps to nullify DF users.
- Contact Dragon early and ask for help/send info.
- Send some of the Satellites away so they are safe.
- Warn Sentomaru early so he can help planning defenses.
- Prepare a broadcast to show the government's actions to the world live.
- Create a trigger to broadcast the Void Century info in case of his death.
- Erase his own memory so he forgets everything and let the traitor do as she pleases.
Well, congrats. You made a scenario where Vegapunk looks more selfish and doesn't have the time to really do the research to properly figure out the Lulusia incident and what it's causing for the world. His message to the world will end up being more about trying to blame the government for attacking him, but lack anything substantial to help with the current panic about the earthquakes and raising sea levels. And of course, he's still gonna die in the end regardless of how well he prepares the island is still gonna burn.
- Imprison or eliminate the traitor so she stops feeding info to the WG.
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By the way, would preparing a broadcast of the WG's actions really be of any help when he had just admitted to researching the poneglyphs?
Like, that alone creates a plausible deniability for the WG to attack Egghead. VP would just be branded a criminal.
If the WG can destroy whole islands without receiving that much public scrutiny, then I'm not sure how a live broadcast would help, especially since there were no innocent civilians involved this time around. VP wouldn't really be able to play victim.
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@Marcotty said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
You made a scenario where Vegapunk looks more selfish and doesn't have the time to really do the research to properly figure out the Lulusia incident
How caring about others make him more selfish?
Also, the plan above is for when they found about Lulusia already. And once you take out York (just a sucker punch from Atlas is enough), you have time to do your stuff with 3 extra Vegapunks to help (they are six, remember? Vegapunk made them so he could do multiple stuff at the same time).
Also, about Lulusia, how did Vegapunk know about it the same day it happened, when the WG kept it a secret and only verified its erasure six days later? Also, the Revolutionaries only learned about its erasure when Sabo arrived, five days later. So, how could Vegapunk know about it?
"They say the Kingdom of Lulusia is gone..."
They who?
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@Alfiere said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Almost everything else i can kind of rationalise, but the reasoning behind the memory wipe eludes me. Especially when you also leave a memo with some of the info erased but not the crucial ones.
York on her own was able to fool the other 6 for however long so effectively that even after the leak was discovered it took another week for 3 Vegapunks to pinpoint her among only 4 suspects. How is it impossible for the 3 of them to do the same in reverse? Why keep the other 3 in the dark once you established that there is only 1 traitor? Even if you're resigned to die, why not leveraging on your surprise effect on York to reverse her plan against her and do the most damage control possible?
Also, how is it possible that the wildest of wild cards, meaning an emperor, Bonney and the giants coming to eggehead, ended up not mattering at all?These things happen when you first write the story and only after you shoehorn in the character actions to fit it.
Yeah, it was a very weird chapter. It addressed some unanswered questions Oda had brought up before, but all of it reeked of "afterthought" instead of something he had envisioned prior to the events we saw.
Particularly weird is the panel where Vegapunk is overwhelmed by the news of the parties arriving on top of the other on Egghead... except the Cipher Pol. only got there later than the SH/Bonney (when Vegapunk was down in the Labophase with Luffy). And the Marines, with Borsalino and Saturn, only on the next day.
The chapter feels so sloppily put together even the confirmation of "we are finally going to Elbaf" in the end felt weak after all that.
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Looking forward to seeing how much Oda chooses to solve the Kaido hate in Wano with oden lunches.
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@access-timeco said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
@Alfiere said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Almost everything else i can kind of rationalise, but the reasoning behind the memory wipe eludes me. Especially when you also leave a memo with some of the info erased but not the crucial ones.
York on her own was able to fool the other 6 for however long so effectively that even after the leak was discovered it took another week for 3 Vegapunks to pinpoint her among only 4 suspects. How is it impossible for the 3 of them to do the same in reverse? Why keep the other 3 in the dark once you established that there is only 1 traitor? Even if you're resigned to die, why not leveraging on your surprise effect on York to reverse her plan against her and do the most damage control possible?
Also, how is it possible that the wildest of wild cards, meaning an emperor, Bonney and the giants coming to eggehead, ended up not mattering at all?These things happen when you first write the story and only after you shoehorn in the character actions to fit it.
Yeah, it was a very weird chapter. It addressed some unanswered questions Oda had brought up before, but all of it reeked of "afterthought" instead of something he had envisioned prior to the events we saw.
Particularly weird is the panel where Vegapunk is overwhelmed by the news of the parties arriving on top of the other on Egghead... except the Cipher Pol. only got there later than the SH/Bonney (when Vegapunk was down in the Labophase with Luffy). And the Marines, with Borsalino and Saturn, only on the next day.
The chapter feels so sloppily put together even the confirmation of "we are finally going to Elbaf" in the end felt weak after all that.
There was some setup for this. In chapter 1,116 York was confused by the timeline of events, since Stella made the video after realizing the Mother Flame had been stolen but without being aware York was the traitor (since she knew his surprise at the reveal wasn't feigned). This seeming contradiction confused her at the time, but the flashback explains that York was right about the timing but, as noted by Vegapunk before the memory wipe, they were going to experience the revelations all over again.
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Yeah, that's what I meant when I mentioned "unanswered questions Oda had brought up before".
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@access-timeco said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Yeah, that's what I meant when I mentioned "unanswered questions Oda had brought up before".
I'm responding more to the "afterthought" portion of the post. You may be right about it, but it's at least something Oda had enough awareness of to set up some time beforehand.
Also one thing I saw pointed out elsewhere is Vegapunk doing things this way gives him some extra agency in how things turn out, even if he he himself didn't know it.
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The king of half-assing it feels like a more apt title for Vegapunk
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Vegapunk really should have at least warned Sentomaru about the traitor.
Can't hold the memories and risk being discovered on upload or whatever, okay. But there was zero reason for him to not know the plan.@electricmastro said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Looking forward to seeing how much Oda chooses to solve the Kaido hate in Wano with oden lunches.
My guess is Yamato stops a giant rampaging boar or some such, like Oden before him.
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I think I kinda like this chapter?
I personally think the presentation of the Vegapunk character arc suffered from the convoluted rules of memory syncing and the satellites not being explained very well, and the non-chronological telling of Vegapunk's journey.
But I think we have enough right now to understand what Oda was going for with Vegapunk, he started out as a maverick genius that's only out for himself and his science breakthroughs (he even pissed off MADS with his flower gunpowder thing), any cause that didn't provide gratification for his selfish greedy ambitious side was discarded (like Dragon's offer to join the Revos), you can also see it in how he talked to Clover, Vegapunk simply couldn't understand why Clover would put himself and his friends at risk for some void century secrets. The York in him was simply too strong for him to understand, thus, he followed the easiest option for massive scientific achievements every time.
Now old man Vegapunk is an almost entirely different person, he's a person with regrets, and furthermore, he meets THE most selfless character in One Piece: Kuma.
Kuma's influence on Vegapunk is immense, he is a man who always chose personal suffering for the greater good over anything else, and that clearly hit a chord with the old man.
I think it's no coincidence that a lot of Vegapunk's actions later on in life are driven by extreme guilt: he makes Bonney the highest authority over the Kuma-shaped Pacifistas because he regrets what he did to Kuma, he continues Clover's research into the Void Century, and he ends his life with a stream that brings the void century, Joyboy, the ancient weapons, the flooding of the past world..etc into public consciousness. Everything he does as an old man is essentially an attempt to fix something he did when he was younger.
You also have to look at which Vegapunks are doing what in the arc: Vegapunk's greed is the literal villain here. And I think it would be an interesting exercise to go back and re-read what each Punk's role in the story is, and see how it thematically ties into what attribute of OG Vegapunk they're embodying.
Like in this chapter, Old Man Vegapunk, Shaka (Good) and Pythagoras (Wisdom) develop a counterplan to mitigate what York's (Greed) plan was gonna do, and give the good guys a fighting chance. Vegapunk's Wisdom and Good fought his Greed to save the world.
How Oda got there is flawed for sure, but any alternative that's supposedly better or more logical needs to hit some sort of thematic to beat it in my book.
I have a lot more to talk about tbh, but it's 1AM and I'm tiiiiiired, so maybe tomorrow.
@Robby said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
My guess is Yamato stops a giant rampaging boar or some such, like Oden before him.
Holdem is still out there, and Yamato's actual journey began through saying good bye to O-Tsuru (who had a burn on her face that he's most likely responsible for too).
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A really unsatisfying chapter: it brings bad answers to all the good questions this arc had left hanging.
I can get behind Vegapunk wanting to warn the world and chosing to stay on Egghead where he can put up the best fight. However, the fact that his death was always the core of the plan and not just a contingency measure is weird at best. That he doesn't even once consider shutting down York and the Mother Flame, after having proof that they can and will revive ancient weapons (and erases any memory of it, to top it off) is criminally idiotic. Really paints the character in a terrible light when we're supposed to marvel at his selfless sacrifice : at the end of the day he prefers sacrificing himself, the satellites and many others, rather than admitting his invention could be wrong and do something about it. It's like Oda first wrote the plot, then came up with whatever clunky justification he could to make it look cool. -
@Rean said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Holdem is still out there, and Yamato's actual journey began through saying good bye to O-Tsuru (who had a burn on her face that he's most likely responsible for too).
I'm betting we will see Holdem in the Kuri section of the cover story.
@Seafarer33 said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
A really unsatisfying chapter: it brings bad answers to all the good questions this arc had left hanging.
Except one: who fed Luffy (only Kizaru left as a possibility, I guess...)
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I've seen bounty talk and I don't know about numbers, but the interesting part is what for. I think the narrative that the crew murdered VP might be the explosive part. Even with VP's message possibly creating small doubt around that, that can be their angle.
In the end, Robonosuke allowed them to escape.
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I really really doubt we will get new bounties.
Narratively, it feels pointless because they just got raised.
In-story, the WG won, the Straw Hats didn't do much, and most of the work was done by Vegapunk himself and Emet. They also escaped thanks to giants. And this time the Elders were there to witness it, so it's no 3rd party account they must evaluate.
If anything, the Giant Pirates are the ones deserving a raise.
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The idea of arcs and sagas as a two-tier approach to story structure exists mostly in fan wikis rather than officially released material, but it was an effective way to show how a lot of the overarching pre-timeskip stories came together over multiple islands. Post-timeskip, that model became largely irrelevant as everything started to point towards Wano as one massive saga made up of old-saga-length arcs. But here we are again, at what can only be described as the start of a new saga, for the first time in a dozen years.
Yes, Egghead has a self-contained story locked to its local setting, as all arcs in all sagas have, but as the crew sails away from its ending, we realise how much is left up in the air. Bonney and Kuma got symbolic blows in on the architect of their suffering and are out of immediate danger, but they don't yet have a place to settle. I was a little surprised that this final act of Egghead didn't address more directly how much of Kuma's mind can still be salvaged. This chapter raises questions about what death means for a consciousness as fragmented as Vegapunk's, and what the implications are of a satellite surviving instead of the stella. The Seraphim remain a threat, beaten only offscreen using easy-win technology the crew won't have access to again. Overarching villains have been teased, but circumstances aligned to prevent a direct confrontation. It's like being at the end of, say, Whiskey Peak again. Act one of something much, much bigger.
The cover story's quick resolution to the kids' assault on Yamato rings true to the way Oda has tackled themes of prejudice in the past. Think of Hody, who harboured all this hatred based only on the stories told to him by the adults in his life. He was too far gone, but these kids are young enough to have their horizons broadened if other influences are offered. Putting hate to rest by getting to know each other over food and drink feels like a very One Piece thing to do.
But does Oda intend to test this idea by giving Yamato an enemy who won't be so easily brought to the table?
The opening scenes ease in slowly, (enough so that I wonder if this could be the start of volume 111 instead of the last chapter) and let the fallout of the last chapter's ending simmer, but S-Snake's consciousness is a detail worth noting. Are the Seraphim that strong, or are they instead that inhuman?
And in a key example of why I didn't try to fit an Egghead reread and full arc review in last week, Vegpaunk's flashback comes right in on the home stretch to fill in gaps and provide the bigger picture. Weekly reading can be tough. You just don't have the full story until you have the full story.
But the timing's good for this actually. My copy of volume 106 came in last week and obviously got a read when it did, and a lot of the stuff here builds on things in that volume.
Vegapunk's personality comes through hard here, and it's been consistent from the start. He's a genius when it comes to tech, but he has massive blind spots when it comes to people and politics, as well as simply not knowing what genre of story he's in. His choices were probably not the optimal way to handle the situation, but they were undeniably the Vegapunk way to do it. Look back to the start of the arc and Vegapunk's passion for the ideas of infinite energy and widespread access to information. Of course he's not going to dismantle the Mother Flame before the Government can take it, he wants to perfect it so the whole world can use it. Is that playing with fire, risking handing an authoritarian empire a power source for their ultimate weapon? Werner von Punk hasn't concerned himself with the negative potential of his ideas before. Watch him dismiss Jinbe's concerns about the Punk Records database being poisoned by ideologically-driven misinformation. That stuff is not his department, he just wants to finish building things. Vegapunk sold out on his revolutionary sympathies to get Government funding; we see him debate Dragon over this choice. All of these factors run consistently into a personality that would milk the status quo for as long as possible, and try to finish as much work as possible, with his last act of rebellion set to go off only in the event of his death.
His perspective on the decision not to run makes sense as well. The World Government seems so large and so inevitable to a person who has to live with it. Even in lawless lands, the idea of being iced quietly by a Cipher Pol operative would scan as a real threat. Even Wano wasn't safe from that kind of thing. I can see how running seemed pointless in his circumstances. At least staying on Egghead, the assassins ring the front doorbell and give you a moment to make peace. And, of course, the chance for a death that's bombastic and impossible to come up. What would have happened to his countermeasure if the Government had launched a smear campaign to discredit him and reattribute his accomplishments to others the moment he fled? This way, Vegapunk's narrative gets out first.
Now, this is a Shonen manga where a big million to one play of determination and defiance would have been rewarded, like the Strawhats declaring war on the whole Government for Robin, but we can't expect Vegapunk to know he's in that kind of story.
A very interesting point of emphasis in this section of the story is the Cloud Plant. The Buster Call sure as hell didn't care to spare it, but it's the place Edison was last seen before his signal went dead. If he came to the same conclusion about its importance as Vegapunk-stella does here while hearing the broadcast, he might have gone offline deliberately and made off with a vital component needed to recreate the technology on the run. My stance was 'died from his injuries until Oda gives a reason to think otherwise,' and this feels just vague enough to make a reason. The next cover story could be his and Stussy's great escape from the burning island, slipping onto a ship or through the blockade while everyone else is knocked out by Emet's Haki bomb. Let's stick a pin in that one.
And we also get the question of what it means for Vegapunk to die, with his brain separate from his body, and his mind duplicated across half a dozen androids. The lines are blurry; the clones can seemingly share the stella's memories from before they were created - seen through Shaka being the one to trigger the brief flashback to the aftermath of Ohara. But there's also a heirarchy. We're told its the satellites' duty to die to protect the stella, as if there's something special or extra about him that the others lack. But the lack of significant mourning or atmosphere of loss over the stella may be because Oda intends us to think Vegapunk lives on through Lilith. Again, things still to explore.
Now the memory erasure. To be honest, this one does feel a little like it was done for the drama. They've managed to not let anything slip and keep the information from syncing with Punk Records for two weeks as they set up and execute their contingency, but now it's a threat that something could come out? Okay, but then he leaves a note revealing everything short of the traitor's identity anyway. Surely the a scientist's curious need to investigate the claims on the note would cause more disruption than just holding onto the lie. No, this one was done mainly to keep Vegapunk from giving the whole game away to the Strawhats as soon as they arrive.
On the flip side, the conversation with Sanji fills in a gap I remember talking about as it happened. Why did Vegapunk disappear from Sanji's side and wander back into the fire off screen when he was poised to escape? I'd said there felt like there was a beat missing there, and here it is. Good work closing that hole, Oda.
This is running long already, so I won't go too deep into Elbaf expectations from the last page. There'll be plenty of time for that in the months to come, but I'm pleased to see it looking like something Oda's excited to draw, with that same passionate energy as the introduction of Wano. He's been waiting for this, and so have we. Looking forward to watching this final saga continue to develop next week!
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Couple of small errors this week as well:
Someone working on this backgrounds forgot to draw in the ratlines in the rigging of the giants' ship in this one panel:
And the second last page says CP6 are arriving when it probably should say CP0. I wonder if that's Oda's typo, or the work of the editor who does the typesetting.
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It feels weird reading "LOL" in a chapter of One Piece. The Internet doesn't really exist in this world, so seeing Internet slang just seems out of place here.
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@Robby said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Vegapunk really should have at least warned Sentomaru about the traitor.
Can't hold the memories and risk being discovered on upload or whatever, okay. But there was zero reason for him to not know the plan.@electricmastro said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
Looking forward to seeing how much Oda chooses to solve the Kaido hate in Wano with oden lunches.
My guess is Yamato stops a giant rampaging boar or some such, like Oden before him.
Oden himself ended up being despised by most people in taking the fall for Kinemon because of the boar incident, so that would mean Yamato would get derision by some as well.
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@rastergrafx Yeah, it caugh me off guard as well.
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@Captain-M said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
The cover story's quick resolution to the kids' assault on Yamato rings true to the way Oda has tackled themes of prejudice in the past. Think of Hody, who harboured all this hatred based only on the stories told to him by the adults in his life. He was too far gone, but these kids are young enough to have their horizons broadened if other influences are offered. Putting hate to rest by getting to know each other over food and drink feels like a very One Piece thing to do.
But does Oda intend to test this idea by giving Yamato an enemy who won't be so easily brought to the table?
It's always worth bringing up that people like Orochi, who always held onto the hate in his heart even to his death, much less so how he wasn't just given an oden lunch to overturn his hate. So yeah, this is definitely a good continuation from the Fish-Man Island kids Shyarly talked to who told them to think for themselves.
But this definitely sets up a potential conundrum Yamato may face in the event of being confronted by older people who've harbored hate in their hearts for many years, especially from Kaido enslaving and murdering their family members, since Kaido very much did ruin many lives in the course of what he did. So it will definitely be interesting to see how Yamato deals with all of this, and how far she's willing to fight back against Oden's people who are too far gone in their hate like Hody.
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I think that was someting added by Stephen, since the scanlation had nothing of the sort.
Weird choice anyway.
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How many of you feel like if this was the last Egghead chapter, the "Egghead Incident" lives up to the hype. I think the actual details of it may, but we need at least one or two more big happenings to make it work.
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@rastergrafx Saw an explanation elsewhere that in his note Vegapunk actually is writing like a Japanese social media user in his note, using 笑 as a mood/tone indicator. Suppose it makes sense since he's about to become the world's most cancelled streamer.
In fact, if you put that character into Google Translate, the result is 'lol' so it seems like everything lines up.
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@andre said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
How many of you feel like if this was the last Egghead chapter
IMO, it is but it isn't. I think we will deal with Egghead fallout for some time before next arc starts for real. My guess is more or less like this:
- 1124: Covers lingering thread on the island: Lucci and Kaku, Saturn and York, Sentomaru and Kizaru, and Stussy.
- 1125-1126: Resolutions for Kuma/Bonney and Lilith, closing their arcs and setting up their next roles, be it with the crew or not. Also there's room for other character appearances, like Vivi.
- 1127-1128: Big shots announcing their moves: Blackbeard, Shanks, Cross Guild, Sakazuki, Dragon and so on.
- 1129: The next big event, that will either influence next arc or become important after it. Think things like Lulusia being nuked or the Warlords losing their status.
- 1130: Next arc's plot begins.
@andre said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
the "Egghead Incident" lives up to the hype
It's funny that I predicted the Egghead Incident pretty accurately one year and half ago.
But it still underwhelmed me. I was expecting juicier revelations and better juxtaposition with action on the island.
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@Captain-M said in Chapter 1123: The Void Fortnight:
@rastergrafx Saw an explanation elsewhere that in his note Vegapunk actually is writing like a Japanese social media user in his note, using 笑 as a mood/tone indicator. Suppose it makes sense since he's about to become the world's most cancelled streamer.
In fact, if you put that character into Google Translate, the result is 'lol' so it seems like everything lines up.
Makes me wonder what would have happened if Vegapunk had implemented his version of the internet.
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Egghead's finally over
I've said long ago that Vegapunk didn't meet my expectations of him and that is on Oda ( he hyped him up so much for decades )
When we finally got to meet him and discover him, he's surprisingly full of emotions, full of mistakes. but honestly it matches his dumb looks anyways.
I expected a totally different character in appearance and personality, I also expected someone powerful on Admiral level if or similar
But what we got is someone who would absolutely lose to Queen easily in a fight, I understand he's old but couldn't he do something about it for being the genius that he is ?
So yes I was disappointed after the long wait, however I don't dislike the one we got, especially Shaka.
Regarding this chapter I was surprised by the amount of criticism of which i don't agree with, it reminds me again those who read spoilers are ........ a bunch of .........
He erased his recent memory to make sure his plan is as safe as it can possibly be.
All the criticism because of York, before the erasure he could never guess that York will use the seraphim to destroy them, that only developed after the CP0 arrived which is something he can't block or change has he kept his memory, not to mention the reinforcements that he can't deal with even if York is out early
Kizaru alone finishes everyone on that island, Plus Saturn could also pass the barrier so his death was indeed inevitable as he expected, his genius was to use his certain death against them and it was the biggest blow the WG had taken in its history.
I will not criticize this chapter, except for the cover page story which is so boring and irrelevant. almost making me wish to erase Wano from my memory.
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Sometimes I'm really puzzled on Oda's decisions to rush his story. He skips part I would have been interested in and here he spends all a chapter on a flashback that I would not care at all if it never existed.
One point of interest is Joyboy's haki at the beginning of the chapter. Countrary to previous chapter, Doll is shown uncouncious whereas none of the good guys is affected. Is it because they feel no hostility ? Is that how Raileigh choose who to knock out in the slave auction. It is not by targeting someone but by making the haki "hostile on demand" ? I'm not sure to understand how that works :-)
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@electricmastro I think Jinbei got in one. They would Have Issues, just like the real internet.
Morgans would probably be having a good time though.
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@Captain-M
I think its truly CP6, I think that panel is meant to show all the events happening, we know that other CP units paid a visit to Egghead, so it could be CP6 and not necessarily a typo.SW-3170-8630-8341
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@The-Light-of-Shandora Everything else in the panel flows chronologically from Luffy's arrival though. Plus, when Vegapunk is imprisoned by York, it's Cipher Pols 5, 7 and 8 already captured, no mention of 6 being on the island at all. Through any lens, it feels like an error.
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I wonder if the chapter title is meant to suggest us something about the void century and the reason why the it was erased.
Anyway, fine chapter. The whole plan is just kinda ok and makes sense for the most part. The only missing part for me is - what about Punk Records? Would be weird if Vegapunk didn't plan to do something with that and just left it to be destroyed by the WG. Can satelitles function while being away from it? Hopefully we'll learn something next week.
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@Captain-M
Good call, I didn't check to see if it's one of the CP units already on Egghead, so yeah probably a mistake. -
Not a great chapter.
Like people said in the spoiler thread, this seemed mostly about getting the Strawhats off the hook for failing to save Vegapunk, he planned to die all along but didn't know it because reasons, so it's not really their fault he's dead.
The whole chapter just feels so unnecessary, filling in gaps that didn't need filling and by doing so, creating more issues.
