Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys

Deicide

A bit late, but here are some thoughts about 1071:

First, Lucci continues to be entertaining. I love it how the villain knows he's outmatched and yet perseveres, as this is a trait usually displayed by Luffy instead. I feel he will figure out what Gear 5 is and its weaknesses, thus allowing the marines to be better prepared to clash with the Straw Hats.
Bonney, on the other hand, has been very boring. I hope things change, but so far she's been used for exagerated reactions, then taken off the story when she could be giving useful insight or doing stuff. I feel her role has just been to make things more difficult for the heroes.
This chapter makes me think we will start to learn about Kuma soon. It was quite surprising to see him returning to the Red Line. I wonder what's his objective, but since we saw marines tapping into Kamabaka comunications I've been thinking he was spying on the Revolutionaries.
I really doubt the entire Vegapunk ensemble will be on the ship. Things will keep getting worse, I feel, and many of them may be left behind. I also question if one (or more) of them may be sabotaging things. And I think this saboteur may be none other than... Atlas!
We also get a new mystery character. I was expecting a certain one for this arc, but this can't be her. The only clue about its identity is the very polite manner of speech (in the japanese original), which rules out characters like Smoker or Weevil.
And finally, Garp's arrival was quite the surprise. This further reinforces Egghead as the New World's Sabaody. It seems the two that will clash this year will be Blackbeard and Garp. I wouldn't be surprised if Garp gathered an ensemble team of familiar marines (I posted about this supposed team in the Garp thread).
To cap this thread off: it's funny that I originally thought Kid was going to Hachinosu and Law to Elbaph, but it was (kind of) the other way around. I look forward to see more of Kid, since I feel he's a very undeveloped character.

Anyway, since we are starting 2023, here are my predictions for this year:

Hancock will be back in the main story
Egghead ends in a dire situation
Next arc is NOT Elbaf
“Garp’s Eleven” (team of sympathetic marines)
Gear 5’s weaknesses revealed
Vivi’s whereabouts
Dragon finally acts

electricmastro

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@DollarScholar My pet theory is that all the satellite imagery is leading to Punk Records being blasted off into space to become a literal satellite, safely out of the World Government's reach and arguably better positioned for the internet-like remote connection on a global scale.

Of course, there's not really any actual evidence to go on yet, I fully expect to dump the theory when the arc starts pulling toward what Oda actually has planned. But I do think whatever contingency Vegapunk has planned will play a big part in the Egghead finale, and will probably give the Vegaclones their role in the story going forward.

I don’t think there will be much harm in all six punkbots being on the Sunny for around 10 chapters. I don’t know about their overall role, but they’ll at the least provide for some entertainment for a time before we inevitably get to Dragon, as well as Koala.

Captain M

@electricmastro No harm, sure, but finally having the whole crew sailing together with no one off on other missions or anything else is something I'd personally like to have in its purest possible form for as long as the story allows. Let the Strawhats just be Strawhats without seven whole extra characters trying to steal the show.

Even at peak tagalong guest companion after Punk Hazard, there were only three extra companions for a crew that didn't have Jinbei yet, just Law, Kin and Momo. Getting Jinbei and including main body Vegapunk and maybe Bonney depending on the destination gets back to similar numbers to that on the ship. The six clones as well just feels like too much for me.

But we'll see what happens. Oda will use as many characters as the story needs regardless of my preferences.

Marcotty

@Captain-M How dare you not include the great Ceasar Clown to make it 4 extra companions. He will always be fondly remembered for his time with the crew.

electricmastro

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@electricmastro No harm, sure, but finally having the whole crew sailing together with no one off on other missions or anything else is something I'd personally like to have in its purest possible form for as long as the story allows. Let the Strawhats just be Strawhats without seven whole extra characters trying to steal the show.

Even at peak tagalong guest companion after Punk Hazard, there were only three extra companions for a crew that didn't have Jinbei yet, just Law, Kin and Momo. Getting Jinbei and including main body Vegapunk and maybe Bonney depending on the destination gets back to similar numbers to that on the ship. The six clones as well just feels like too much for me.

But we'll see what happens. Oda will use as many characters as the story needs regardless of my preferences.

We basically got that from around 1058-1060. In fact stuff like this might be part of Oda's reasoning for why Tama or anyone else didn't join by now, so Oda can give more focus to Vegapunk and his bots. I suppose people are feeling a little anxious already with Jinbe not getting more attention, but even he has multiple sentimental moments with Luffy at this point.

Captain M

@electricmastro That's basically two chapters of just Strawhats (not counting prisoner Caribou), a total of around 16 pages of just them if you're not counting scene changes and flashbacks to Wano.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want a whole volume of nothing but the crew on the ship just talking. That would kill the story's momentum, and even in the slower early days it just never happened, we've basically always gotten the setup of a new arc in the chapter immediately after the last one ended. The best characterisation comes from the Strawhats as a group playing off the world and the strange people in it and then playing off each other's reactions to all of it. Anyone hoping for absolutely zero outside influences on the group dynamic is setting themselves up for failure. The story needs to keep on rolling.

We've had a lot of fun with side characters coming between islands in the past decade, straddling that line between the permanent companions experiencing the unknown and the outsiders being introduced at each location. I've got nothing against that kind of thing. Law is a favourite and Carrot, Pekoms and Pedro had great chemistry with the Whole Cake Island squad. But it has been a decade. And that long's worth of characters rolling forward into Wano made its finale incredibly bloated. This is a good time to go back to basics and let the main cast speak for themselves.

Kinda similar to how Gear Five and Nika represented a turn in the increasingly serious tone up to the end of Wano, maybe the number of would-be crew candidates left behind can represent a narrowing focus. At least temporarily, before things pick up both in seriousness and cast size again for the final battle.

Like I said above, it's feeling inevitable that we're getting at least one tagalong to guide the crew toward the last Poneglyph or whatever else the next arc needs. But personally, if you're asking me what direction I'd like to see the story lean in, I'd rather the option with one or two extras in the cast, not seven or eight.

electricmastro

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@electricmastro That's basically two chapters of just Strawhats (not counting prisoner Caribou), a total of around 16 pages of just them if you're not counting scene changes and flashbacks to Wano.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want a whole volume of nothing but the crew on the ship just talking. That would kill the story's momentum, and even in the slower early days it just never happened, we've basically always gotten the setup of a new arc in the chapter immediately after the last one ended. The best characterisation comes from the Strawhats as a group playing off the world and the strange people in it and then playing off each other's reactions to all of it. Anyone hoping for absolutely zero outside influences on the group dynamic is setting themselves up for failure. The story needs to keep on rolling.

We've had a lot of fun with side characters coming between islands in the past decade, straddling that line between the permanent companions experiencing the unknown and the outsiders being introduced at each location. I've got nothing against that kind of thing. Law is a favourite and Carrot, Pekoms and Pedro had great chemistry with the Whole Cake Island squad. But it has been a decade. And that long's worth of characters rolling forward into Wano made its finale incredibly bloated. This is a good time to go back to basics and let the main cast speak for themselves.

Kinda similar to how Gear Five and Nika represented a turn in the increasingly serious tone up to the end of Wano, maybe the number of would-be crew candidates left behind can represent a narrowing focus. At least temporarily, before things pick up both in seriousness and cast size again for the final battle.

Like I said above, it's feeling inevitable that we're getting at least one tagalong to guide the crew toward the last Poneglyph or whatever else the next arc needs. But personally, if you're asking me what direction I'd like to see the story lean in, I'd rather the option with one or two extras in the cast, not seven or eight.

Well they’re playing off other characters and their reactions in the world even as of now, and isolating them away just to be amongst themselves doesn’t really solve much of anything I’d say. I didn’t really care for Carrot as a character behind her role and kinda got tired of Law until he started butting heads with Kid, but to blame all of them and many more would just understate how big Wano was since wars are inherently big in the first place especially against emperors. If it feels bloated, then that’s prob a natural feeling due to how much of a presence Kaido had even though some things could have been given more time. That really might just be due to Oda dedicating Act 3 mainly to Momo and leaving as soon as his progression had been put in motion, and meanwhile saving things like Zoro visiting Ryuma’s grave for later. To go “back to basics” would also prob understand just how big Luffy’s journey has gotten in when real honestly, because Blackbeard and others prob wouldn’t care about that.

DollarScholar

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@DollarScholar My pet theory is that all the satellite imagery is leading to Punk Records being blasted off into space to become a literal satellite, safely out of the World Government's reach and arguably better positioned for the internet-like remote connection on a global scale.

Of course, there's not really any actual evidence to go on yet, I fully expect to dump the theory when the arc starts pulling toward what Oda actually has planned. But I do think whatever contingency Vegapunk has planned will play a big part in the Egghead finale, and will probably give the Vegaclones their role in the story going forward.

I like this idea alot, great way for Oda to open up the whole space chapter of the One piece world too

electricmastro

@DollarScholar said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@DollarScholar My pet theory is that all the satellite imagery is leading to Punk Records being blasted off into space to become a literal satellite, safely out of the World Government's reach and arguably better positioned for the internet-like remote connection on a global scale.

Of course, there's not really any actual evidence to go on yet, I fully expect to dump the theory when the arc starts pulling toward what Oda actually has planned. But I do think whatever contingency Vegapunk has planned will play a big part in the Egghead finale, and will probably give the Vegaclones their role in the story going forward.

I like this idea alot, great way for Oda to open up the whole space chapter of the One piece world too

Alternatively, it could turn out Vegapunk has links to the automata, like his contemporary from Karakuri Island.

Dogmeat

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

@DollarScholar My pet theory is that all the satellite imagery is leading to Punk Records being blasted off into space to become a literal satellite, safely out of the World Government's reach and arguably better positioned for the internet-like remote connection on a global scale.

And that is how you create Mother Brain...

I'm all for it

Medical Orbit

This chapter sets a lot of interesting things up, but they all go by so fast. Each event feels around 2-3 pages and makes the chapter feel kind of unfocused to me. It's like if you find a playlist of songs you really like and you think you're going to really get into it, but it only has 30 seconds of each song.

electricmastro

@Medical-Orbit said in Chapter 1071: The Hero Deploys:

This chapter sets a lot of interesting things up, but they all go by so fast. Each event feels around 2-3 pages and makes the chapter feel kind of unfocused to me. It's like if you find a playlist of songs you really like and you think you're going to really get into it, but it only has 30 seconds of each song.

Oda is even putting things like Law vs. Blackbeard and Garp's declaration of rescuing Koby in the arc itself even though Luffy isn't directly involved with them. I suppose it really gives the feeling that many things are happening all at once now that the Warlords have disbanded.