This chapter was okay. Loved the spread of Germa 66 posing. Could the Tamate Box possibly have fallen on the side where the Apple Juice waterfall is? Maybe he brings it back up the top and BM sees it in his hands and assumes he was trying to steal her treasure. She's already pissed off at him and this could be the icing on the cake for her to outright want to murder him.

This was a theory I had written about on Twitter back in May and I'm so glad that I was right. MC is a slave trader that sold orphans to the WG. I'm 100% sure that this is how Bonney ended up with her relationship to the Marines. Now the Q is: Did BM eat MC and gain her Soul powers that way or did MC die and the fruit regenerated in a nearby fruit?

BM has said before that she hates "bitter" sweets so is it possible she ate the reborn Soul Fruit after mistaking it for Semla? Or the crazier theory: Is it possible for MC to have infused her soul into BM? I've always found it interesting how BM's capitalist mindset clashes with her childlike personality. So are there actually two "personalities" inside BM? MC may be the one that runs the business side of operations and is the one that threatens to kill people that don't show up to her tea parties and makes marriage alliances. So far nothing of what Oda has shown about LinLin's personality gives me the impression she suddenly became a complete asshole one day.

@TitanG545:

Is it me or did anyone expect more from the chapter after a break. It just seemed kind of meh to me, I enjoyed seeing familiar faces. However her backstory I was just going through the motions.

I definitely expected more from BM's backstory. I mean it really wasn't anything that special. At least Oda is confirming that even as a 5 yr old BM was a beast, so hopefully we see more of that after the flashback ends.

Mixed feelings on this chapter:

• So basically BM was born with monstrous powers that she was never taught to control because people were too afraid of her.
• Loved seeing Elbaf, Oimo, Kashi, and Hajrudin.
• So BM apparently does have a "medical condition" and its not pregnancy cravings.
• I theorized a while ago that MC ran an orphanage and Totland was BM's tribute to her. It is also like a giant dollhouse because BM is basically a giant kid.
• While I get where MC is going with the "Linlin is nice she just doesn't understand what she is doing is wrong"…I mean come on. The way to handle that is not forgive her for trying to rip body parts off of other kids. Oda is going a little to far with the whole "Holy Saint" MC shtick.
• So either BM will kill MC and the Giant and have no recollection of what happened or MC will sacrifice herself for BM and beg the giants not to tell BM that she was the cause of MC's death. Or she'll offer to become a "sacrifice" in place of BM to quell the God of Elbaf's anger.
• If it's the former then BM might have repressed her memory of what happened and Pudding may force BM to remember them either by choice or by accident.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

A question and a hope:

Question:

1. Was the Soul fruit originally meant for Loki but BM raided the castle and ate it after mistaking it for the Semla?

Hope:

I want Chiffon to stand up to BM during her tantrum and take her to task for being such a terrible fucking mother. While I get that Oda wants to sympathize with BM cause she doesn't "understand" what she's doing...it's an overplayed trope.

So now that we're getting a BM flashback, will we see how she ended up in a relationship with Pound? He's kind of the biggest wildcard in WCI. He disappeared how many chapters ago and we still haven't seen even a hint of what he's been up to. Still really hoping he crashes into the wedding hall at some point and sets of the bomb in the Tamate box. Just to make sure BM gets even more pissed at him.

@Count:

You're right. But I can't really think of a role that I can see Oda writing for Smoothie unless…

Remember how Reiju has poison sucking powers (that we still don't know are due to either a Devil Fruit or random genetic modifications...)? We'll most likely see her try to suck up all of the poison from Caesar's weapons to save Big Mom's life (or whoever those launchers hit). But the amount of poison may negatively effect Reiju and threaten her dying, which would fit in with how Oda keeps building up her will to die. So what if... Smoothie just wrings out all of the poison from Reiju in this state? lol It would be pretty funny and give her fruit some actual purpose besides being a bartender.

:shocked:. That's actually a really interesting idea. Which brings up the interesting Q: Does Reiju have a limit to the amount of poison she can "absorb". It would be interesting if the Stone Fish poison came back into play with Oda saying that she was still breaking it down and that absorbing more deadly poison overpowered her system. We still don't know whether her powers are DF based or its a modification like the ones her brothers have.

Another plot device that I hate that Oda introduced: Reiju being unable to oppose Judge because he modified her. I'm still of the mind that if she hadn't been in danger and she had left WCI, then Sanji wouldn't save the rest of his crap family.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Count:

And… I just want Smoothie to try. I know Oda's Oda, but... He can have female characters TRY to be active even when we know they will inevitably fail to be relevant.

I don't know what would be worse though. Have a female character do nothing, or have them do something but fail miserably. It's my biggest feat with BM. I know in the end the SH's will "win" and leave the island, but I at least hope that BM does some serious damage to at least Capone's group in retaliation for his betrayal.

@SamTheDrunk:

WOW a Big Mom flashback?

also curious when mangastream will drop the 'dogtooth' name

From what I've seen…never. It seems like they are actually kind of being assholes about it and mocking anyone that comments on the fact they should be changing it.

@Count:

Again, I am not criticizing Smoothie for not being able to do anything in this particular situation. I am criticizing the story/Oda for not giving Smoothie any relevant roles. She didn't do anything to inhibit Brook in the treasure room. She didn't do anything to help stop the Straw Hats and Bege when the assassination plan started while Katakuri and lesser ranked members like Daifuku and Oven took action. And now she's inhibited by Big Mom's scream (like evrybody else without earplugs is) and can only beg for somebody else to help. That type of portrayal is rather embarrassing. It's not all that different from how Rebecca kept being running into situations where she would only cry and need to be saved in Dressrosa even after she herself acknowledges her incapability to efficiently fight. It's redundant and monotonous to see the same type of inefficiency over and over again. Why would you keep having a character be useless/not do anything if nothing changes about their portrayal or character arc? Why introduce a Yonko Commander if you're not going to see them act like, well, a Yonko Commander?

Oda might do this just to have the token powerful female so that he gets fewer complaints from his female readers. We've seen this before with the Warlords and Supernovas, both of which have only 1 token female. At least Hancock got involved in fights and Bonney seems to have a mystery story arc set up. Hopefully he has something bigger for Smoothie set up or else her character really will be a waste.

@uniaka:

I don't know why, But now that he is free, I could see judge order reiju to suck the poison out of BM after capone shoots her, as a way to get on BM's good side again and still try to make their alliance work. And have some kind of bellamy moment, that still was on doflamingo's side even after he tried to kill him more times.

While I can see this happening it would still seem like a really stupid move on Judge's part. The only other thing I can see happening is Sanji asking Reiju to suck the poison out cause BM is a woman and he's "kind".

@Count:

I like how Smoothie's only role in trying to help out with the assassination is asking for somebody else to stop Bege. I don't blame her for being incapacitated by the scream, but her inactivity and inefficiency throughout this entire wedding is so laughable. She may as well not even exist in this arc and nothing changes.

I would critique how awkwardly convenient it is that the Straw Hats have the Vinsmokes raid suits on-hand and somehow know that they were contained in capsules (which I don't think we ever saw. But I hope it's a cool reference to Dragon Ball), but… That page of Sanji standing over the table with both of his legs blazing and Judge gasping below him is... just wow. I like how this chapter relies more on silent communication between planned events we already know, so everything still follows even on pages without dialogue. I always appreciate some neat visual storytelling.

When I look at Elbaf's geography, I don't exactly know why, but it looks like an arctic mountainous area to me.

I remember how excited I was seeing Smoothie for the first time with her huge ass bounty and all she's done is squeeze juice for party guests. I guess I should have seen this coming when she didn't even try to break into the Treasure room to confront Brook, but it's disappointing for sure.

Elbaf being arctic like makes sense with the Elbaf giants being based off of Vikings. Especially with them having Loki as their prince Oda might be referencing the Frost Giants