@Greg:
Because he dropped the ball down a well that leads to the roiling core of the planet.
Terrible move. I'm sure he intends to give her a great scene. But the momentum and meaning he developed has entirely been lost.
If Ulti gets back up, Mom looks like a clod.
If she helps delay Mom, cool story bro, but her grudge with Ulti was far, far, far more meaningful.
If she delays both, Mom looks even worse.
With wolfwood on this…
I don’t agree with this. That “Oda dropped the ball” narrative, and not just Greg has this opinion. Also to note Greg didn’t say that “Oda dropped the ball” that’s me butchering the quote (meaning this post is not just directed at Greg). It’s just some comments being made, especially during the spoiler thread last week kinda rubbed me the wrong way.
It is easy to say that Oda dropped the ball for Nami’s moment or Oda robbed her of her moment because we “consume” One Piece weekly and Oda “draws” One Piece weekly. But I’m sure that Oda has written Wano’s manuscript to its completion with only changes, additions, edits and suggestions from himself and Editors when it comes time to drawing the narrrative (also during the drafting stages).
If Oda draws Nami’s declaration one week then the next he subverts it, do people honestly not believe that he has a reason/intention behind it? It is easy to complain and express opinions week to week about the developments but to say that Oda dropped the ball is a bit much when people actually mean that they just don’t like that particular development or the implications of such a development .
Also the subversion was done well. There are multiple characters in that scene/location and they all have agency. So what if Nami claimed the one on one. Is Big Mom supposed to say “okay Nami, you’ve got this”? People complain if Big Mom is idle and people complain when she does things.
Also, I’m not under the impression that Ulti was actually punctured/pierced physically. Big Mom’s attack was a lightning based attack and she still had Napoleon in her hand when the beam was shot.
Nami’s lightning attacks have passed through enemies bodies too (doing mainly internal damage and some external). I do expect Ulti to get back up eventually but if she does fight Nami again she won’t be at an “I’ve got a hole in my abdomen” disadvantage.