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Chapter 942: Daimyo of Hakumai, Shimotsuki Yasuie
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Damn. Look how they massacred my boy.
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Those two guards talking shit about Oro-dude just crack me up.
He really doesn't get any genuine respect from anyone
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Yes .
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This post is deleted!
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I like Yasu's shittalking skills. It does a good job of being noble and insulting at the same time.
I'm not sure about the smile thing. I was happy with a village that to keep a smile even in most tragic time. And maybe you see Toko finally not be able to smile when it his her father dying or something.
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-With my last breath i curse zoidberg!
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Oda pulled no punches this chapter. Really shows how important beating Kaido is. From what Oden said about Tonoyasu taking over instead of him, I want to know if he's related to the Kozuki Clan. Either that or he was the most powerful noble after the Shogun.
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Give me Ushimitsu Kozo already!
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Feels like Yasu wasn't introduced all that long ago, but still sad to see him go. Rest in peace.
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Act 2 may be ending soon after this major development. If that means we're going to take a peak again to what's taking place outside Wano, I'll welcome it.
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I'd been dubious about Tonoyasu pretty much from the start, as his "normal person" act never quite held up for me (also, the name Yasu throws up all kinds of red flags in my mind…thanks, Umineko!). So, while I wasn't expecting him to be a former Daimyo, the reveal that he was someone of more importance than he let on didn't come as too much of a shock. His summary (and by all appearances, conclusive) execution, on the other hand, I was not expecting...but damn if he didn't make the most of it.
There have been several people decrying the number of events occurring off-panel during this arc and, while there are quite a few things that seem to simply be cut for time/page-space, I don't think Yasu's capture is one of them. Looking back, it seems obvious to me that he acted with the intention of being caught, because by outing himself as a wanted criminal (a rogue, "disloyal" daimyo) and also pretending to be the Witching Hour Boy/Ushimitsu Kozo, he was able to co-opt the existing audience for Komurasaki's funeral and delivered not only an EPIC verbal takedown of the current Shogun to the entire nation at once, but also gloss over Kinemon's coded message as nothing more than a prank Orochi overreacted to while simultaneously ensure the Kozuki loyalists currently imprisoned will both go free (and/or Orochi will lose even MORE credibility for trying to keep them locked up) and have the knowledge that the cause they're supporting is very much real and ongoing. By sacrificing himself, Yasuie has done a massive service for the Kozuki Rebellion at a time when they desperately needed it, and I think that keeping us in the dark on his actions these past few chapters helped a lot to make those actions more impactful.
I am curious what will ultimately become of Toko... As the daughter of a Daimyo, there's a part of me that wants her to step up and ultimately revive the Shimotsuki family/clan as powerful allies of the Kozuki Shogunate, but as a traumatized little girl who has obviously suffered immensely through no fault of her own, another part of me just wants her to be able to live a happy, peaceful life... While O-tama has also had a hard life, she has also explicitly chosen the path of a kunoichi, so a life of danger, challenges, and adventure are more or less inevitable for her...but we don't really know what O-toko wants yet... And of course, if the whole "can't express any emotions except smiling and laughter" thing is truly irreversible, the idea of an older O-toko as a samurai or ninja feels pretty damn creepy to me...
Speaking of, I am definitely curious how the "SMILE" Devil Fruits tie into the condition of the people from Ebisu...
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I think the Pleasures from Kaido's crew are also affected by the Ebisu Town smile syndrome. They're always smiling no matter what happens to them.
Smile fruit chemical runoff? Maybe the Pleasures were the main victims of Smile's effects before Kaido dropped himself into Wano?
FC(3DS) - 2724-4238-5489 (LZTan)
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I noticed that one line of Yasuie saying that Orochi owes everything he had to Oden, which makes the possibility of Orochi being originally a peasant now very likely. My guess is that Orochi was like a fisherman or maritime merchant (Or maybe a really minor pirate?) who helped Oden with getting out into the sea or something along those lines.
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@S.C.:
I noticed that one line of Yasuie saying that Orochi owes everything he had to Oden, which makes the possibility of Orochi being originally a peasant now very likely. My guess is that Orochi was like a fisherman or maritime merchant (Or maybe a really minor pirate?) who helped Oden with getting out into the sea or something along those lines.
Yea, I noticed that Orochi wasn't one of the five daiymo, so he likely started as a nobody of sorts.
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Is that thing behind Oden a tail? it could be part of his attire, but it looks more like a tail to me.
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Wow, what a chapter this turned out to be. I think we can safely call this the finale of volume 93, then?
It has to be acknowledged at this point that Oda's attitude towards death has shifted. I don't see any satisfying way for Yasu to still be alive, and while he is a meaningful figure dying a meaningful death, it's obvious a whole different thing to the likes of Whitebeard and Ace. This definitely doesn't mean its all over for Vergo, Monet, Pedro, Pound, Pekoms and Absalom, but it does improve the chances that a few of them could stay down and never been seen again. But despite being so surprise, Yasu's death is a hard hitting tragedy. Not only that, it's freaking brutal. He doesn't get to stay hanging on his crucifix like the martyr he is, he falls and crumples into a broken, mundane heap on the ground. Maybe talk about Oda's love of Game of Thrones is getting overdone, but the comparison has to be made to last week's episode, which also featured an execution in which the corpse was left callously to plummet. It's pretty full-on stuff. And worse, reading from a met perspective, we know Yasu's sacrifice hasn't even brought our heroes close to winning the war - only a step away from losing it. As Greg has been mentioning in his thread, the crew still seems too strong for this to be the darkest hour of Wano. Despite Yasu's sacrifice, things are going to get as bad as this again and then worse before its all over. Will it take another life to turn things around then?
My favourite part of the Oden flashback at the start of the chapter is the backgrounds. Look at how lush and scenic Hakumai is compared to the wastelands we've seen so far in Wano. This was a beautiful place before Kaido and Orochi polluted it. Hopefully we get to see it restored to at least a little of its former glory before the crew moves on. In fact, the art was great all the way through the chapter. Those scenic shots of the view from the crucifix are amazing, and the crowd shots are spectacularly detailed. Once again the mix of a forced smile and genuine anguish on Toko's face is brilliant, but the random Ebisu locals in the crowd don't look quite as good.
I also really like that the story is playing with the social politics of Wano, showing how even the people outside the plan are being made to gradually lose faith in their leader. I'm sure that will be key to victory later on, maybe moreso than the dedicated rebels being recruited actively, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Very curious to see where the Smile thing goes as well. Those things were first mentioned around when, Sabaody? More than a decade of build-up, a red herring with Dressrosa, to make us think that was the end of their significance, and now they're finally coming fully into play? Colour me excited!
The one big complaint of the week is travel times. Zoro's group makes it to the capitol how exactly? That shack they were in must have been right on the boarder of Ringo, and even then it's a stretch. And how long has Chopper's group been travelling to the prison for, comparatively? You could say I'm nitpicking, but if Oda didn't want me keeping track of where people were he shouldn't have drawn a map, damn it!
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So could that girl from the start of the arc, tama, be daughter of daimyo too. I doubt she is just random girl with the importance she had in act 1 and still has some kind of role in act 2 part of rescue luffy team.
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Wow, what a chapter this turned out to be. I think we can safely call this the finale of volume 93, then?
It has to be acknowledged at this point that Oda's attitude towards death has shifted. I don't see any satisfying way for Yasu to still be alive, and while he is a meaningful figure dying a meaningful death, it's obvious a whole different thing to the likes of Whitebeard and Ace. This definitely doesn't mean its all over for Vergo, Monet, Pedro, Pound, Pekoms and Absalom, but it does improve the chances that a few of them could stay down and never been seen again. But despite being so surprise, Yasu's death is a hard hitting tragedy. Not only that, it's freaking brutal. He doesn't get to stay hanging on his crucifix like the martyr he is, he falls and crumples into a broken, mundane heap on the ground. Maybe talk about Oda's love of Game of Thrones is getting overdone, but the comparison has to be made to last week's episode, which also featured an execution in which the corpse was left callously to plummet. It's pretty full-on stuff. And worse, reading from a met perspective, we know Yasu's sacrifice hasn't even brought our heroes close to winning the war - only a step away from losing it. As Greg has been mentioning in his thread, the crew still seems too strong for this to be the darkest hour of Wano. Despite Yasu's sacrifice, things are going to get as bad as this again and then worse before its all over. Will it take another life to turn things around then?
My favourite part of the Oden flashback at the start of the chapter is the backgrounds. Look at how lush and scenic Hakumai is compared to the wastelands we've seen so far in Wano. This was a beautiful place before Kaido and Orochi polluted it. Hopefully we get to see it restored to at least a little of its former glory before the crew moves on. In fact, the art was great all the way through the chapter. Those scenic shots of the view from the crucifix are amazing, and the crowd shots are spectacularly detailed. Once again the mix of a forced smile and genuine anguish on Toko's face is brilliant, but the random Ebisu locals in the crowd don't look quite as good.
I also really like that the story is playing with the social politics of Wano, showing how even the people outside the plan are being made to gradually lose faith in their leader. I'm sure that will be key to victory later on, maybe moreso than the dedicated rebels being recruited actively, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Very curious to see where the Smile thing goes as well. Those things were first mentioned around when, Sabaody? More than a decade of build-up, a red herring with Dressrosa, to make us think that was the end of their significance, and now they're finally coming fully into play? Colour me excited!
The one big complaint of the week is travel times. Zoro's group makes it to the capitol how exactly? That shack they were in must have been right on the boarder of Ringo, and even then it's a stretch. And how long has Chopper's group been travelling to the prison for, comparatively? You could say I'm nitpicking, but if Oda didn't want me keeping track of where people were he shouldn't have drawn a map, damn it!
Clearly Kuri to Udon takes longer than Ringo to Flower Capital, Ringo is next to the Flower Capital etc
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@td1:
Clearly Kuri to Udon takes longer than Ringo to Flower Capital, Ringo is next to the Flower Capital etc
Kuri and Udon are also adjacent on the map. Obviously the distances are different, but not so different that a child can reach the capitol on foot in like an hour while a mounted group has been going to the prison for two days. It just doesn't fully line up in my mind.
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Since we found out Orochi has 8 heads i always thought that he will be defeated by the 9 samurai. Each one of them will take care of one of his head.
Not such a bad idea.
It fits perfectly if only the Wano samurais and Momo without Inuarashi and Nekomamushi are involved.
So each of the 7 scabbards will cut off one head and Momo cuts off the last one and revenges his family. Would be pretty nice, I think.
And all the non-Wano people (Minks, Strawhats and so on) will be responsible for Kaidou. It also makes sense since Neko and Inu have to take revenge on Jack for what he did to the Minks.
I would like that. -
Not such a bad idea.
It fits perfectly if only the Wano samurais and Momo without Inuarashi and Nekomamushi are involved.
So each of the 7 scabbards will cut off one head and Momo cuts off the last one and revenges his family. Would be pretty nice, I think.But the logistics of all that?
Just curious how you'd make it so that it doesn't end up looking like some childrens' fanfiction.
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So Kaw, Den and Ash are each worth a 100 men. I assume that the Mink duo can account for atleast 75 men each. And the other guys could atleast pull of a value of 25 men per guy. So that's 550 men worth of manpower tied up into one single Spandam. Unless it's a quick series of comical beatings it all sounds like whatever is the step that's beyond overkill. Kinemon himself could probably handle him in my estimation
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There are many strong cowards like Cesar .
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There are many strong cowards like Cesar .
He's not strong, he's tricky. That's like saying Nami and Usopp are strong.
But this chapter was sad as hell, I legit cried because I thought something would happen at the last second. What a way to go, too. Not a quick beheading, but multiple gunshots. Really want for the trend of not killing the bad guys to be suspended for Orochi just this once. Oda's already bucking the trend of not killing anyone with Pedro and Pound, and now Yasu, so why not let it happen with someone who deserves it?
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You guys realize this Smile stuff was first introduced to us(or rather hinted) back on Saboady during the human auctions? The people of Wano have had to suffer the side effects of this stuff for several years now.
And man this Smile stuff reminds of me of the Neptune brothers. Two of them were outright weirdos but then later we learned of a traumatizing incident that caused them to get stuck in that seemingly weird mindset for years to come. Leave it to Oda to wait an entire year or more to give some heavy weight to what seems to be a small or silly plot point/character attribute.
I didn't outright cry like I have in past One Piece scenes but I sure did begin to tear up. That was a legit sad moment and I feel for all the characters. I know some of us aren't attached to Yasu at all but I found him to be extremely endearing early on and way more so after we understood his helping hand role in Ebesu town.
The Smile stuff is super interesting. Makes you wonder if SAD has gotten it's name after it's side effects were clear. Devil fruits seem to have an actual spirit inside of them. I'm of the opinion that they can think and "do" things on their own. Sort of. Black Beard saying that the Darkness fruit chose him makes me think we'll interpret that literally some day. The artificial devil fruits seem to be created with animal DNA as well as the "spirits" from actual humans. I'm wondering if the soul of the Smiles is somehow taken from humans and then cultivated and harvested in a way that creates artificial fruits. The fruit maybe needs certain emotions to operate. Caesar might have deemed that taking certain negative emotions like anger as something that would be more fitting for a weapon. Leaving behind that laughy happiness allows for more vicious fruits and maybe the humans who are affected by it aren't total expressionless zombies. Perhaps the mixture of the human and animal attributes is partially what makes them unstable.
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He's not strong, he's tricky. That's like saying Nami and Usopp are strong.
Caesar is legitimately strong, not just tricky. The crew even notes at one point that his battle powers are no surprise considering his bounty.
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Caesar is legitimately strong, not just tricky. The crew even notes at one point that his battle powers are no surprise considering his bounty.
Compared to who i suppose, he does have a devil fruit that plays nicely into his skillset and he does have some offensive capabilities but at heart CC is neither a fighter nor particularly strong.
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Compared to who i suppose, he does have a devil fruit that plays nicely into his skillset and he does have some offensive capabilities but at heart CC is neither a fighter nor particularly strong.
His physical abilities obviously aren't that great, but who cares about that in a world with a ton of different ways to fight.
I wouldn't want to compare him to top officers of a Yonkou crew, but he definitely belongs in the New World as a competent combatant.
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But the logistics of all that?
Just curious how you'd make it so that it doesn't end up looking like some childrens' fanfiction.
So Kaw, Den and Ash are each worth a 100 men. I assume that the Mink duo can account for atleast 75 men each. And the other guys could atleast pull of a value of 25 men per guy. So that's 550 men worth of manpower tied up into one single Spandam. Unless it's a quick series of comical beatings it all sounds like whatever is the step that's beyond overkill. Kinemon himself could probably handle him in my estimation
It all depends on what his fruit can really do. We don't know his full power yet. Sure he is a coward, but his fruit can be strong.
Even if his fruit can't do much or is just weak, there are possibilities how this can work.Let's say Momo wants to be the one who kills Orochi (because he's a pride samurai and wants to revenge his parents), that's not that easy for a kid.
So he needs the help of his subordinates. The scabbards clear the way, get rid of Orochi's subordinates, cut off a few of Orochis heads and leave the last head for Momo.Why does Momo train with his sword if not for cutting off heads, and well, Orochi has a few, so.
I can totally imagine that happening.
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Momo said he wanted to take down Kaido, so I'm not sure he'll fight against Orochi. I think he'll support Luffy vs. Kaido, but Orochi is fair game for the retainers.
Spoiler:
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He's not strong
That's a big understatement! not everyone is Luffy, can use armament and have immunity to poison.
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Would be even more impressive if he could do both.
And technically taking down Orochi is helping taking down Kaido.
Once Orochi is taken care off, Momo gets the support of the whole Wano country and with combined forces of Wano, Kaido will be taken down. -
Momo said he wanted to take down Kaido, so I'm not sure he'll fight against Orochi. I think he'll support Luffy vs. Kaido, but Orochi is fair game for the retainers.
I mean, he's still just an eight year old kid with a defective DF.
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Call me stupid but I actually just realized SAD isn’t an acronym but the literal counterpart of SMILE…..
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His physical abilities obviously aren't that great, but who cares about that in a world with a ton of different ways to fight.
I wouldn't want to compare him to top officers of a Yonkou crew, but he definitely belongs in the New World as a competent combatant.
I'd be more worried about his heart and determination in the face of adversity. If the foe still stands after his bag of tricks has been emptied he has next to no chance of winning against anyone who is anyone and is most likely to run or grovel for forgiveness
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Congrats Oda, you finally killed someone in modern day in a meaningful way, fully on camera, with a smile and passed on dream, whose death serves a real story purpose, with a body and an onscreen death blow, and a multitude of credible witnesses including the strawhats, in a way even you probably won't weasel out of, without it being a major world changing event. About time!
Of course, its One Piece and its only bullets, and Law is on the island and devil fruits and what have you, so even this can be undone. He seems like he even took a bullet to the head, but maybe his thick floofy hair blocked it. But for now it seems like a legit real time death. That I'm not going to completely doubt for months to come. FINALLY.
Pedro's probably still alive though, as all of those things being so clearly on camera here makes their absence with him even clearer, so it is what it is.
Compared to who i suppose, he does have a devil fruit that plays nicely into his skillset and he does have some offensive capabilities but at heart CC is neither a fighter nor particularly strong.
He'd be near unbeatable in the old world like all the other Logias. It's only in haki town that he's pathetic.
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Call me stupid but I actually just realized SAD isn’t an acronym but the literal counterpart of SMILE…..
Interestingly, SAD is pronounced S-A-D but SMILE is read like the word…but obviously the connection is there
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See, I thought S.A.D stood for something like "Synthetzied Artifical Devil".
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dude, this chapter was tight as hell. yasu's speech is amazing, paints a more interesting picture of wano and its people, establishes the stakes a little better, and it really feels like a meaningful escalation tonally. this was really the first time i had a strong idea of wano and bought it being this big, interconnected, complex country. and i'm with greg, i think yasu dead af. like the man literally get shot up and falls to the ground in a crumpled mess. oda's been flirting with actually killing characters for a while now and i think that wano is a pivotal enough arc with high enough stakes (both within the arc and the larger narrative) to do it. this one hit different.
lemme put it like this, i'm gonna feel real cheated if yasu's alive.
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But the logistics of all that?
Just curious how you'd make it so that it doesn't end up looking like some childrens' fanfiction.
I dont get why you insist calling it "cartoonish" or "childish" its just actually the most logical thing. Orochi's power seems made exactly for the 9 samurai to fight him. I could accept the criticism that maybe is 'too predictable' but i just dont get the 'cartoonish' thing.
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I dont get why you insist calling it "cartoonish" or "childish" its just actually the most logical thing. Orochi's power seems made exactly for the 9 samurai to fight him. I could accept the criticism that maybe is 'too predictable' but i just dont get the 'cartoonish' thing.
Should ve been 8 scabbards?
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Kiku got eaten by O-Lin so we're down to 8
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Congrats Oda, you finally killed someone in modern day in a meaningful way, fully on camera, with a smile and passed on dream, whose death serves a real story purpose, with a body and an onscreen death blow, and a multitude of credible witnesses including the strawhats, in a way even you probably won't weasel out of, without it being a major world changing event. About time!
Of course, its One Piece and its only bullets, and Law is on the island and devil fruits and what have you, so even this can be undone. He seems like he even took a bullet to the head, but maybe his thick floofy hair blocked it. But for now it seems like a legit real time death. That I'm not going to completely doubt for months to come. FINALLY.
Pedro's probably still alive though, as all of those things being so clearly on camera here makes their absence with him even clearer, so it is what it is.
He'd be near unbeatable in the old world like all the other Logias. It's only in haki town that he's pathetic.
He's not even really pathetic just dwarfed by the pirate king and beneath his top 3 men.
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He'd be near unbeatable in the old world like all the other Logias. It's only in haki town that he's pathetic.
True true, before ambition he'd be somebody based on the inherent value of the devil fruit itself. But post-ambition in the new world he is pretty unremarkable, a glass cannon essentially, with no fallback skillset beyond that quick burst offensive power
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@S.C.:
I mean, he's still just an eight year old kid with a defective DF.
VegaPunk made that one and it was displayed as if it was an achievement. Cesar was the one who claimed it was 'defective', most likely because of jealousy.
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VegaPunk made that one and it was displayed as if it was an achievement. Cesar was the one who claimed it was 'defective', most likely because of jealousy.
He can't control when he transforms, and when he does, his clothes vanish. Also, can only fly barely. It's not much of a DF.
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@S.C.:
He can't control when he transforms, and when he does, his clothes vanish. Also, can only fly barely. It's not much of a DF.
He's also a child and hasn't had his DF for a long time, he could just be getting used to it, remember luffy in his flash back trying to figure out how to use his pistol or Kaku having a tough time in the beginning of his fight with Zoro
I mean obviously we've seen that Dragons are ridiculously powerful in one piece it's probably just because he's
A: an 8 year old kid
B: new to his DF
not much of a fighterBy the epilogue of the series he'll probs be a insanely powerful ally
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I dont get why you insist calling it "cartoonish" or "childish" its just actually the most logical thing. Orochi's power seems made exactly for the 9 samurai to fight him. I could accept the criticism that maybe is 'too predictable' but i just dont get the 'cartoonish' thing.
Well, we have a villain who's obviously not much of a fighter. At least not for this point in OP. Then we have these 9 Scabbards who are supposedly cream of the crop of Wano. At least 3 of those are good enough to take on one of Kaido's Calamities.
Now, I've no doubt the devil fruit makes him more of a danger. He probably has something like regeneration or poison or some other magical ability or both of those and more. But it would still be too much of a power up to warrant that many fighters of similar caliber as Ashura, Neko and Inu. And if you consider the logistics of all of them having to chop their head in the same time, it makes it look a little too forced. So can't say I agree it's the most logical thing, no.
The only way I could maybe see it happening is if Orochi starts realizing he's losing, maybe has a flashback with Oden being better than him in anything he does, and then loses it and his devil fruit takes over and turns him into something like those awakened zoan guards in Impel Down. That would probably be a huge power boost which I could live with. And let's say his heads can regrow as long as at least one is remaining, so they have to do them all in in one fell swoop.
But still don't see it as something especially creative.
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Kiku got eaten by O-Lin so we're down to 8
My 'theory' was that one of them would have died during the arc
