It's out: https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1022483
No break next week.
It's out: https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1022483
No break next week.
Not much to say about the chapter. It's a fun little adventure, but it's hard to guess where this is going in the bigger storyline. It's enjoyable but (apparently) inconsequential.
So, I'll just leave three thoughts about it:
First, it makes no sense for Muginn to carry the Sunny, unless he, like Iskat, can transform into a larger form.
For comparison, the Sunny is 56 metres tall and 39 metres long. Giants' heights:
Second, I like that Luffy has internalized Gear 4, making it more manageable and less consuming. I like this kind of growth, and I wanna see him pulling moves like his limb-bending homing attacks. I hope it means Luffy won't be using Gear 5 immediately in every fight from now on.
And third... where do you think they are? Is it Elbaf? Another island? A ship? With the characters constantly saying they think or hope this is Elbaf, it feels it won't be, but Oda can also just play it straight. I have no idea, really.
It's kinda fun that it's like he was playing a board game with them (perhaps a fruit), but I'm wondering where the story will take us too. Hopefully Robin and co shows up soon
So Road is a racist and an incel?
Looks like this was a little side adventure kinda like the Flying Fish Riders before Sabaody, which ended up becoming pretty relevant in the actual arc, I'm not sure I see the same potential here, but we'll see, I probably didn't see it when I first read Sabaody either.
Aside from future story potential, I think I'll enjoy this side-arc more when rereading. It didn't have a Duval-tier gag, but it definitely had some fun scenes and the Lego world was a cool design choice. Guess it's still not 100 % that we are on Elbaf but I think we are, and I hope we open the next chapter with a beautiful full-page spread.
@cavendishsama said in Chapter 1129: Livedolls:
Looks like this was a little side adventure kinda like the Flying Fish Riders before Sabaody, which ended up becoming pretty relevant in the actual arc
I think there's a big difference there in which we could surmise how things were related to the grander story. Back then, we reached the Red Line but had no knowledge of how to reach Fishman Island. Things followed a logic path:
With this, it feels like a hyatus, or a tangent. Being kidnapped by Road so far has little relation with any plot we were following.
There's nothing wrong with that setup, of course, eventually we will find out how and why things will be carried from one point to the next. I'm just point out that this time we are left speculating on why we got this small side adventure and how it will lead into whatever main plot Elbaf will have.
I just gotta say that I'm pretty relieved that today's reveal didn't include an extended hiatus for the manga.
@Deicide Yeah I agree this is definitely a lot more random, but Duval and the Flying Fish Riders were still very much characters who didn't seem very consequential. I think it was reasonable to think that Oda did the whole Duval thing just for the gag; he could've just reintroduced Hatchi along with Camie and we would've ended up in the same place. But Duval did end up becoming fairly important when Camie was kidnapped, so we'll see where this goes.
Not much to say about the chapter. I'm not sure what this introduction purpose is. I suppose all the other humans who were imprisoned will be of use next.
I suppose they will need to ask where the Sunny has been hidden and if Road knows who the Strawhats are, he really thought he could keep them imprisoned ?
@Kdom He doesn't strike me as the sharpest sword in the armory.
Fun chapter.
So the partial Gear 4 is called “Mini Gear 4th”, huh? Out of curiosity, is that also what it’s called in the raws?
EDIT:
Luffy said ちょっと"キア4" so it’s somewhat like “Gear 4 for a bit”. “Mini Gear 4” works well.
So, this Legoland is a prison for Giants, right? I guess if Road turned it into his playplace, it no longer serves that function then.
@Johnny-B-Decent Scan translated the place as a prison for giants, official defined the room as originally a cell for giants, so it's anyone's guess if he meant the entire facility or if this is a holding cell in a not-prison.
The mini mystery of the last couple of chapters will be a footnote in One Piece's run - likely to be resolved in a matter of minutes by all future readers as the answer isn't even going to be broken up between volumes - but it's a great show of Oda's willingness to keep arcs starting in fun and novel ways. It almost would have been too comfortable for the crew to land normally on Elbaf, flanked by powerful warriors, Luffy maybe even welcomed as a messiah. I can see that kind of event tempting a storyteller. Yes, it's low stakes, but you'd get to tour the island, dump exposition and ease into conflict at whatever pace you want. While the justification is ultimately contrived, the choice to do this at all unbalances the characters and the audience from the sense of security the last arc's ending might have left them with.
Shinobu is unexepectedly fat again on the cover. I was critical at the end of Wano of the way Aramaki's draining revitalised her while only shriveling Raizo, but you know what, I can roll with her having a yo-yo diet body type as a gag. That said, the fact that she was still skinny and in the capital listening to Vegapunk's broadcast in chapter 1115 raises some questions about the cover story's timeline.
One thing I'm not as hot on is the Strawhats killing Rodo's pets. I know, they aren't heroes and there's a strong case to be made for self-defence, but wow, you would think Oda would find a way to write around that uncomfortable idea. That poor rabbit must have had no idea what hit it.
And in contrast to the above, Luffy shows a whole lot more remorse about breaking the block town than he does about eating the guy's bunny, but I enjoyed the joke of the cat not caring one bit about smashing straight through.
This is a great chapter for Nami. Actually, this whole mystery mini arc has been good for her, with hilarious new expressions and good moments to showcase her skills, from memorising the blueprint to dropping massive lightning bombs on Rodo. Usopp gives a hint of the power he'll be able to show in the future after he builds up his confidence with the sheer size of that bomb grass explosion, but with Luffy still being needed to knock down the wall behind him it's clear we'll have to wait for the character development to happen before he's allowed to notch real wins.
As for Rodo himself, an otaku role-playing a god is a unique villain angle, especially for One Piece. But it works well for making the reader hope for his downfall - the laughter over the death of his pet for the sake of "character development," the dehumanisation of his captives, and the skeevy attitude toward Nami make that thunderbolt at the end richly deserved. I wonder if he's a sacrifice to make the opening mini-arc work, or if there's more to come. I can't imagine him as the ultimate villain of Elbaf. Certainly we'll have to turn back and see him again at some point to recover the Sunny and Luffy's hat that was presumably taken when their clothes were changed.
I said above that the means of setting up this conflict were contrived, and I mean it. Muginn's goes crazily out of scale to be able to steal the ship, and this Sleeping Mists are something that comes fully out of nowhere to advance the plot. It does cover the bases of how and why and the reason not even the non-drinkers are talking about what happened, but come on. This is a small enough part of the story that I don't think anyone will remember this as a major flaw, but it stands as a minor missed opportunity that it couldn't come together better. Oh well.
And what a tease to end on, Luffy's reaction instead of the reveal. One more week of wondering. At least there's no break. I think there's slim odds it won't be Elbaf after this chapter's reveals. While Road is surprised to see the Strawhats, the way he talks about their journey doesn't imply a different destination to where he is. And the fact that the cell was designed to hold giants means that they're commonly found in the place we're at. Could all still be a misdirect for a small, offshore facility or closely neighbouring island I guess, but I like the idea of the next chapter opening onto a lavish spread of the Elbaf environment. Well, wherever it goes, I'll be here.
If Duval and the Rosy Riders were a preview to the type of folks all over Sabaody that kidnap, what part of this can possibly be applied to the upcoming conflict?
Looks like we'll have a 2 week break after 1130.
@cavendishsama could be worse, we could be anime watchers
@Captain-M Yeah, since we were on schedule for a break anyways, it's just one extra week.
I'm feeling the purpose of this segment is for Luffy and his team to reach Elbaf with the New Giant Warrior Pirates, while Robin and her team get there with the old-school Giant Warrior Pirates. So, the crew starts split up, explore two places at the same time, and may even take different sides in a conflict.
@Deicide Hmm, might that result into a death match of honor between Luffy and one old-fashioned giant (Odin?) similar to the one on Little Garden?
@ARTEMlS That's a bit too specific to predict at this point, but sure, why not?
We on break this week??
Nope, we will have a chapter on Sunday and then a 2 week break.
Why the 2 weeks by the way ? Is this Oda taking some well-deserved rest, or am I forgetting a specific event, or a holiday that puts the whole Jump on break ?
No reason given, as far as I know the magazine is not on a break so make whatever you want out of it.
I thought I read it was for research or something similar, but that might have been a leaker extrapolating rather than actual facts
It’s more likely the extra break to be related to other projects than to the manga, IMO. Live action oversight, possible movie pre-production, things like that.