There’s no “this is endgame” excuse that justify sacrificing what’s great about One Piece in first place. Rush the endgame, and you just have a frustratingly bad ending to a series that should be great.
Also, sacrificing established characters is no excuse when Oda keeps introducing a plethora of new ones that end up using available time instead. We didn’t need 7 Vegapunks nor Stussy joining the good guys, but here we are, spending precious time with them.
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.
This endgame is not being rushed at all. Stussy has had negative screentime past that clone reveal panel and so have a lot of the vegapunks. The SHs had a ton of scenes in Egghead and they're getting more in the chapters to come. The interludes are necessary because again, there is so much movement in the world that has actual stakes and will inevitably matter in Luffy's quest for the One Piece, yet we can't afford to get it all off-screened or just featured in passing. How laughable BB would be as an antagonist (and possibly Shanks too) if the story didn't build him up without having him only meeting Luffy physically. Jaya and Impel Down were pretty self-contained affairs after all. Nowadays the lad is an emperor and he's having ambitions for the world, even wanting to kidnap 800 marines or just hold a pair of marine heroes hostage in order to make deals with the WG. The revolutionaries also needed their screentime without having to share it with Luffy at Dressrosa and whatnot. Ace and WB suffered from a big lack of screentime and development prior to Marineford, so I'm satisfied that we are now rid of such problems now. It was NOT a problem pre-ts, mind you, only a minor but notable grievance regarding Ace, WB and a couple other people. The final saga however, it makes sense that everyone and everything culminates, and it's not just the straw hats show. The stretch from Dressrosa to Wano was already doing the right thing in featuring way more people at Luffy's side (from Law and Cavendish to Momo and Marco) than just the same old gang. The stakes in each arc are relevant to more individuals and plotlines than just Luffy and his little treasure hunt.
We already had the interludes between the acts of Wano and they were damn well necessary then as well, so it's odd to act like this is suddenly an issue that Egghead brought along. You can also count the Reverie while you're at it. 10 chapters isn't excessive considering how much content they provided AND never ceased to lay clues and that all relate to what's going on at Egghead anyway (Dragon discussing Vegapunk's motives, the gorosei getting more fleshed out and the Mother Flame being mentioned every now and then, Bonney and Kuma, Blackbeard being featured in several places is also interesting since we saw a ship of his en route to Egghead. And lastly Kid and Shanks giving us a glimpse of Elbaf was obviously no coincidence)
This story has never been only about the Straw Hats, that's what makes this world and cast of characters so rich. (well ANY story is not just about its protagonists, but you know)
Just like you I was mad when I initially read the spoilers for 1089 and saw that Oda offscreened EVERYTHING, save for the Bonney flashback which ofc we wouldn't have gotten if we spent more time on the death game. But in hindsight it's just too damn clever of Oda to have done that. Everything relevant will be covered or mentioned in the remainder of the arc either way. He isn't rushing things, but merely pacing them correctly.
@Daz said in Official Egghead Thread:
If your series is all plot and no time for characters to be characters, why should I care any more? If the casts is fully flattened into empty husks with barely any time to express their endearing characteristics because The Plot Must Advance, why should I care about them as before?
Because Oda is human and can't draw more than 15 or so pages every week anymore, so he has to be pickier about what he includes or not.
It was feasible back when he was full of energy and still drew up 18 pages. That meant he had time to include more character moments, but now he has to juggle several plotlines and make sure characters he built up a long time ago get a fair showing.
Mind you, I'm not telling you to care about characters because of Oda's condition, but to understand things are nevver going back to those times because people can't age backwards.
@Deicide said in Official Egghead Thread:
There’s no “this is endgame” excuse that justify sacrificing what’s great about One Piece in first place. Rush the endgame, and you just have a frustratingly bad ending to a series that should be great.
I wouldn't say Oda is even rushing things that much. He's actually taking his time with the cards he's given.
However, it is ridiculous to demand Sanji to have his own arc about Wano famine when he aleady got overexposed during the previous arc. At some point, pleasing everyone is impossible, because you still have nearly a dozen Straw Hats. And the ones that NEED focus are often pretered for the popular ones.
Sanji literally got a 70-chapter arc of his own solely because he's the third most popular SH. Jinbe meanwhile was more or less a footnote despite his connection with Big Mom being established earlier.
Like, if you're going to complain about the lack of character moments, at least do it for the ones that haven't got many moments lately. Chopper got way more screentime treating the Ice Oni than Franky did fighting a Tobiroppo!
@King-Cannon I think you are confusing threads since I didn’t mention Sanji at all. And, if anything, it’s exactly the lack of Chopper, Franky, and Jinbe moments that are bothering me.
Correction of the corrected probable chapter release due to unforeseen break after 1091:
3- Ch 1091
10- Break
17- Ch 1092
24- Ch 1093
1- Ch 1094
8- Break
15- Ch 1095
22- Ch 1096
29- Ch 1097
5- Break
12- Ch 1098
19- Ch 1099
26- Ch 1100
3- Break
10- CH 1101
17- Ch 1102
24- Break (Holidays)
31- Ch 1103
Due to 4-week break and two unforeseen breaks, this year will end with four less chapters than originally expected.
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.
@Deicide
Like I said the last time, I would tame any expectations for a schedule prediction with 3 chapters in a row.
Since we know Oda was in LA for the LA premier, I doubt he worked a lot. He deserves a break and maybe we are back to a 3 chapter schedule at the start of October, maybe even earlier.
SW-3170-8630-8341
@The-Light-of-Shandora It may be, but it's hard to predict something that is unexpected. He already took an extra break after 1089, so with the next one it's two extra breaks. I'd say it's 50/50 on him taking a 3rd.
There are still some wild cards in Egghead so I'll wait a little bit, but Ch 1092 indicates we had actually reached an arc reset. Which means: We are seeing just "Round 1" against the marines. This is just the first clash, and the arc isn't ending any time soon.
Consider this:
There's still the connections between Kuma, Bonney, Vegapunk and Kizaru to explore.
The escape plan failed. No easy way out. We will need to battle the marines.
Bonney fell to Fabriophase and I doubt the crew will escape without her.
We don't know who between Kizaru and Saturn is the strongest enemy, but Saturn is sure the main villain here and hasn't even made a move yet.
There are still a ton of potential Chekhov's Guns left to be fired.
There are still 9 Vice-admirals left to deal with.
There's that Blackbeard Pirate ship lurking around...
There's still the possibility of Lucci freeing the CP agents and Seraphim.
If this is an arc reset, then expect the situation to get worse before it starts to be resolved.
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.
@Deicide said in Official Egghead Thread:
There are still some wild cards in Egghead so I'll wait a little bit, but Ch 1092 indicates we had actually reached an arc reset. Which means: We are seeing just "Round 1" against the marines. This is just the first clash, and the arc isn't ending any time soon.
Consider this:
There's still the connections between Kuma, Bonney, Vegapunk and Kizaru to explore.
The escape plan failed. No easy way out. We will need to battle the marines.
Bonney fell to Fabriophase and I doubt the crew will escape without her.
We don't know who between Kizaru and Saturn is the strongest enemy, but Saturn is sure the main villain here and hasn't even made a move yet.
There are still a ton of potential Chekhov's Guns left to be fired.
There are still 9 Vice-admirals left to deal with.
There's that Blackbeard Pirate ship lurking around...
There's still the possibility of Lucci freeing the CP agents and Seraphim.
If this is an arc reset, then expect the situation to get worse before it starts to be resolved.
It might as soon as Luffy gets Kizaru to be barely moving, and then Laffitte and Devon swoop in to kill him for his devil fruit.
@electricmastro said in Official Egghead Thread:
@Deicide said in Official Egghead Thread:
There are still some wild cards in Egghead so I'll wait a little bit, but Ch 1092 indicates we had actually reached an arc reset. Which means: We are seeing just "Round 1" against the marines. This is just the first clash, and the arc isn't ending any time soon.
Consider this:
There's still the connections between Kuma, Bonney, Vegapunk and Kizaru to explore.
The escape plan failed. No easy way out. We will need to battle the marines.
Bonney fell to Fabriophase and I doubt the crew will escape without her.
We don't know who between Kizaru and Saturn is the strongest enemy, but Saturn is sure the main villain here and hasn't even made a move yet.
There are still a ton of potential Chekhov's Guns left to be fired.
There are still 9 Vice-admirals left to deal with.
There's that Blackbeard Pirate ship lurking around...
There's still the possibility of Lucci freeing the CP agents and Seraphim.
If this is an arc reset, then expect the situation to get worse before it starts to be resolved.
It might as soon as Luffy gets Kizaru to be barely moving, and then Laffitte and Devon swoop in to kill him for his devil fruit.
Kuma deserves a very thick flashback, and I still believe that happens during Egghead. This arc has the potential to be much longer than I feel most people expected.
@Deicide said in Official Egghead Thread:
There are still some wild cards in Egghead so I'll wait a little bit, but Ch 1092 indicates we had actually reached an arc reset. Which means: We are seeing just "Round 1" against the marines. This is just the first clash, and the arc isn't ending any time soon.
Consider this:
There's still the connections between Kuma, Bonney, Vegapunk and Kizaru to explore.
The escape plan failed. No easy way out. We will need to battle the marines.
Bonney fell to Fabriophase and I doubt the crew will escape without her.
We don't know who between Kizaru and Saturn is the strongest enemy, but Saturn is sure the main villain here and hasn't even made a move yet.
There are still a ton of potential Chekhov's Guns left to be fired.
There are still 9 Vice-admirals left to deal with.
There's that Blackbeard Pirate ship lurking around...
There's still the possibility of Lucci freeing the CP agents and Seraphim.
If this is an arc reset, then expect the situation to get worse before it starts to be resolved.
The only reason I'm not so keen on this arc being that long is because of Kuma, who has the perfect power to save everyone and outright end the arc in a convenient way.
I do expect his backstory to be a long one though. It deserves as much after all this teasing.
I really don't care for Kuma's flashback but i know it's coming. Hopefully soon. I just want to get it over with.
@King-Cannon For Kuma to save the day everyone needs to be together, which I don't think it will be the case.
After seeing Kuma being a practically mute broken down machine, a shell of the man he used to be for so long, people like Sabo and Bonney outraged at his condition....I'd want the Kuma flashback to be thorough and not be in a chapter cut up with other stuff.
There's so much about him only shown off in bits and pieces and while that was good to generate mystery and speculation, he's right in the story's focus now.
@Deicide said in Official Egghead Thread:
There are still some wild cards in Egghead so I'll wait a little bit, but Ch 1092 indicates we had actually reached an arc reset. Which means: We are seeing just "Round 1" against the marines. This is just the first clash, and the arc isn't ending any time soon.
Consider this:
There's still the connections between Kuma, Bonney, Vegapunk and Kizaru to explore.
The escape plan failed. No easy way out. We will need to battle the marines.
Bonney fell to Fabriophase and I doubt the crew will escape without her.
We don't know who between Kizaru and Saturn is the strongest enemy, but Saturn is sure the main villain here and hasn't even made a move yet.
There are still a ton of potential Chekhov's Guns left to be fired.
There are still 9 Vice-admirals left to deal with.
There's that Blackbeard Pirate ship lurking around...
There's still the possibility of Lucci freeing the CP agents and Seraphim.
If this is an arc reset, then expect the situation to get worse before it starts to be resolved.
Nah, this is the final confrontation. Editor's note said the arc is entering it's climax, which always happens when the arc is in it's final stage.
@MetaMario I wonder how Kuma's flashback will be structured.
Usually flashbacks are based on a single event, and the entire story builds up to it. Anything important but not directly related to that event is glossed over quickly.
For instance, Law's flashback is about Corazon's death. As such, it's structured around Law meeting and befriending Rosinante, so that the death properly kicks us in the guts. There are other important stuff for Law, like his origin in Flevance and that place's history, but that is not experienced in detail because it's important to know but not that important for the flashback's main purpose.
But so far we don't know anything about what event is the "center" of Kuma's backstory. Is it his life as a slave? He as king of Sorbet? He meeting Dragon and forming the Revolutionaries? His story with Bonney?
Kuma's life seems to be full of important events but not a single one that could be the focus of a flashback, at least for now. A flashback that just goes from period to period, chronicling someone's history, may be very interesting but lacks narrative momentum (the buildup to tragedy) and a climactic conclusion (the big tragic conclusion).
In the case of a series of events in his life, I think the better narrative option would be a series of smaller flashbacks, each coming at an appropriate time in which they are meaningful to the current events. Like, something in the present brings the subject of God Valley or slavery, so the story shows a period of Kuma's life related to that. Then another moment in the present calls for info on the Revolutionaries, so we get Kuma's memories related to them. And so on and on, until we get all the pieces and reach the end of his journey.
So, I keep wondering which option Oda will go with. But whatever the case, I feel we will get a in-depth look into Kuma's story.
We don't know why Bonney changed her mind about Vegapunk. It is probably something she saw in Kuma's memories and that we still need to learn about
Guys after 1093 we are hit with another break.
This is getting worrysome
Gotta face it, One Piece is switching to an effectively bi-weekly format 
so many breaks we won't hit 1100 before the year ends /s
This is the updated schedule after the 7th unexpected break of the year, assuming we don't get any new ones.
24- Ch 1093
1- Break
8- Ch 1094
15- Ch 1095
22- Ch 1096
29- Break
5- Ch 1097
12- Ch 1098
19- Ch 1099
26- Break
3- Ch 1100
10- Break (Probable)
17- Ch 1101
24- Break (Holidays)
31- Ch 1102
That break in December 10th is uncertain. It would normally go in Dec 24th, but usually Oda reschedules breaks when they coincide with or are adjacent to Jump Breaks. It's likely to happen, but Oda could throw us a bone instead.
WIth that, we lost 5 chapters this year in total. The original estimation had the year ending with Chapter 1107.
Assuming this ends up right, the usual 3-chapters-1-break routine will have happened only 4 times total in the whole year.
Hey! During Fishman Island Jinbe was telling the crew that the Marines or Government had gained a tremendous amount of power. Was that foreshadowing of the Seraphim? When Jinbe sees them for the first time I believe their concept and design seemed new to him. Am I remembering things properly? For some reason I had this idea that he had always known what was going on.
What am I not getting right?
Folks who read One Piece… Just better people. ¯\(ツ)/¯ 
Am really not that impressed with most of the Straw Hats not getting to fight more. It’s harder to sell me on the idea of an Emperor’s crew if most of the crew isn’t getting to show off more of their skills.
@RomanceDawn My take is that Jinbe was talking about the military draft the marines did during the timeskip, as well as Sakazuki pushing for a stronger marine presence in the New World.
Fujitora and Ryukogyu were enlisted during the draft, for instance. So, it supposedly also enlisted some other powerful guys.
@electricmastro said in Official Egghead Thread:
Am really not that impressed with most of the Straw Hats not getting to fight more. It’s harder to sell me on the idea of an Emperor’s crew if most of the crew isn’t getting to show off more of their skills.
I agree with this statement. Of course the problem is that Lucci and Kizaru are attacking them and before Seraphins which are considered high tier opponents but none the less you would want to see them being capable and each contributing in managing the situation. Nami could maybe already be gathering thunder clouds above Egghead for a great storm attack, Brook could be using his soul soul fruit. USOPP MAYBE GETTING iN A POSITION TO SNIPE FROM REALLY AFAR, Franky modifying his weapons with all the Vegapunks tech or upgrading the Sunny for escape etc....
Robin reading more about the knowlede VP has about ancient Kingdom to tell them afterwards.
Chopper maybe finding out more about his Zoan fruit and how maybe he can awaken it....?
I mean so many possibilities...
@Deicide Ah that makes sense thanks.
As for the crew not handling business and showing more of their skills at this point, yeah I'd have to agree. Hopefully when this arc is all said and done we get a lot of crew mate highlights that don't have to wait for a 10 year saga defining battle. With so many Vice Admirals, Seraphim, CP0 and major lore related content on this island you'd think we are positioned to see every crew mate get to shine with their unique skills.
