@Captain-M said in Chapter 1072: The Weight of Memory:

The amount of people still tying Bakkin in comment sections across the internet when the context here makes it crystal clear that the name was meant to be Buckin all along (with the official release even getting it right from the start) is a show that most fans care more about which translation they saw first than they actually do about accuracy. I think if there'd been even one early scan that went with Zolo over Zoro we wouldn't be able to get people to stop saying it today.

Similarly, many fans still say Green Bull since it was translated that way by scans at first (I believe), even though they wouldn't be caught dead referring to any of the other admirals by their English-translated codenames (even though they probably should be translated, but I digress). Is that because it's what they read first? Or because Ryokugyu is a bit of a mouthful for English speakers? Or is it because they'll just go with whatever sounds cooler to them 9 times out of 10, accuracy be damned?

Is that poll of predictions still around for whether or not Yamato would join the crew? I feel we deserve an award. It was not easy carrying the Yamato-Won't-Join torch for so long in this fandom. Toward the end, I'll admit even I was coming to terms with the fact that she was probably going to join. It really seemed like it was heading that way. Something about it always felt off to me though, which is why I was never pushing for it (that "something" was put into words pretty effectively by Captain M in the chapter thread).

While we're still making predictions, put me in the camp of people who feel like chapter 1056 was teeing up Carrot to join the crew by stowing away on the Sunny. I could even see Cat and Dog laughing about it later, as if that was their plan all along. I don't have a position one way or the other about whether or not Carrot should join, and I had long written off that possibility, but that bit in 1056 just felt a little incomplete, and that's what got me thinking this might now happen. Of course, it could just as easily play out at face value, and we'll know soon enough, likely by the next chapter.

@Captain-M Reading your reviews/thoughts is far better than watching any YouTuber at this point. I enjoy them every week but never really say anything, so I just want you to know how much I appreciate them.

Onto the chapter. As a Law mega-fan, I was incredibly sad to see him separate from the Straw Hats at the end of Wano, only because I didn't think we'd see him in the story for quite some time, so this chapter really was a treat. I'm not so naive as to think we'll cut to Law in particular too often, but it did feel like Oda was setting things up for him in Wano that would lead to reasons for us to pay attention to what he's doing even after exiting the main storyline (which, from an editor's standpoint would make sense given Law's overwhelming popularily, particularly among Japanese readers). For one, it sure seemed like Law knew who Kid was talking about when Kid mentioned "The one with the burn scar" (and Robin noticed), so if anyone is going to find the last Road (Lode?) Poneglyph outside of the Straw Hats, my money's on Law. Fairly certain we won't be seeing much of his fight with Blackbeard though. I'd also be surprised if he bested Teach, since Law's the only one on his crew really worth a damn in terms of combat, but I don't think he'll be outright defeated. I predict that he'll get away, or the fight will be interrupted by the likes of maybe Sword (possibly including Drake), or even the Big Mom Pirates if the cover story is indeed pointing in that direction, giving the Heart pirates the opportunity to escape. There's also history between Koby and Law from the oft-referred to Rocky Port incident, so a lot could be potentially lining up here.

@Zanze said in Post-Wano plotline roundup: Law, Kid and the other supernovas:

Although he was handled in a very messy way during the Wano portion of the arc, like, what was the deal with him getting captured? But whatever...

If I recall correctly, from a narrative standpoint, Law's crew getting captured allowed for them to be able to spread Yasuie's new raid plan outside of the prison once they were eventually released. If Law hadn't swapped with them, then the new plan wouldn't have spread, or at least wouldn't have reached our main characters as quickly.

I am shocked at the amount of Law shade being thrown in this thread. I'm not sure I really understand why, unless some are just salty that he gets more focus that a lot of Straw Hats...? I guess I don't really engage enough with the online fanbase to have been aware of this. It's interesting seeing how popular he is in Japan vs in English-speaking countries, where the more outspoken fans seem over him. I personally love him and am disappointed that he's not going to be around for a bit. He's felt like one of the crew for years now.

At the risk of sounding decidedly crazy, I think the enemy might be Imu. I started to think so back in chapter 1075 when the footstep sound effects used for the enemy (KTOK) reminded me of Imu, since they were the same effects used in the same way. Imu would also fit that silhouette that Shaka saw in the monitor before it was destroyed. This chapter, again, used sound effects that were very reminiscent of Imu’s steps. The terror in Vegapunk’s eyes would certainly make sense if he were looking up at Imu.

I know it’s little to go on, and maybe those steps are not unique to Imu, but they never stood out to me until Imu’s introduction (if anyone can point to other instances in the manga where they are used, please do). Things have been ramping up very quickly lately and seemingly heading towards endgame, so I could see Imu showing up here.

I’m only going off of the English translation though. Perhaps the Japanese version might provide more clarity?

@Vongola_Boss_XI:

I will reiterate - I really wish these received a printed edition (in English or Japanese, don't really care which, though would like something in English). I wonder if it's ever possible or if they're worried it would cut too much into sales of the black & white manga? For the record, I would buy both lol

@Captain:

Completely agreed on the final point. I have the full English set and a smattering of Japanese volumes already, but I'd double dip in a heartbeat if there was a physical colour release. Especially if it was in English.

Personally, I just wish they'd release them digitally in English officially. I never read physical comics anymore, and those that I already own just collect dust on my shelf. I suppose they'd look cool though.

Super pumped about these new volumes, wow! Three volumes, and we just hear about it two weeks out or something? It's probably just my imagination, but I swear the window from announcement to release gets smaller every time. It's exciting, it feels like it could happen almost any month!

@DaPikminCoder I checked booklive.jp, and it looks like the older volumes are still lower res, with the newest being higher. I would love it if they upgraded the older volumes, even though it will mean a lot of work for whoever decides to rip them.

And man oh man, this was a surprise. I learned about it on reddit, of all places! They really must have snuck these things out with very little notice. But I'm not complaining. Loving the higher res, and hoping the rest of Wano gets out in color soon.

@Zin-Magala said in Next Straw Hat Crewmates (Vol. 10 - Egghead):

And no, I'm not going to entertain the idea that Law is going to walk away from his friends and crew to join the SHs. That's the type of speculation I'm talking about. That doesn't make any sense when I factor in everything that Oda has shown us.

Okay, but what if he no longer has a crew to walk away from? That's where Oda seems to be taking his storyline; I feel like he's been moving the pieces into place for Law to, if not join the crew officially, then at least accompany them on the final journey to Laugh Tale, and at that point, what's the real difference from our point of view as readers anyway?

I'd say the biggest thing that was preventing Law from continuing on with the Straw Hats was him being the captain of his own crew*. But now his crew has been wiped out and, more importantly, his ship has been destroyed. There's a lot that he'll need to figure out before he can continue on with his journey, and in the mean time, it would make a lot more sense for him to just link up with the Straw Hats again, whose goals align with his own of finding out what the Will of D is. Furthermore, Robin seemed to notice that Law was acting funny at the mention of the guy with the burn scar, so Law will likely be our guide to the last poneglyph.

Outside of the story, Law is by far the most popular non-Straw Hat character. We know that Oda didn't plan for him from the beginning, but I think you'd have to be crazy to think that Oda isn't doing what he can to keep Law relevant at this point and possibly stick with the crew. Oda wound up with another main character on his hands by accident, and I don't think he's going to just ignore that.

In terms of characters who already feel like Straw Hats, Vivi and Law are the best candidates, and Law maybe even moreso simply based on how much real-world time we've spent with him. Yet he is almost never mentioned in these threads, and I think that's kind of insane.

I've had some very hot, very dumb takes in the past that I think have even gotten me blocked by some here (and I would like to assure those people that my own shame and embarrassment is punishment enough), but I don't feel like this one is that crazy. Still, I could absolutely be wrong, but I'm just speculating along with the rest of you, and that's what this is for, right?

*Oh, and also him being a doctor while the crew already has a doctor. I don't really have any defense for that one, and it's a biggie. Maybe Chopper would be the doctor, while Law would be the surgeon? I must say, together the two of them would be unstoppable in the field of medicine.

@Marcotty said in Chapter 1081: Tenth Ship Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, Kuzan:

Between heading for Egghead or Elbaf by chance, back to Wano, or Zou, I think I'm gonna side with guessing Zou is Bepo's destination. Law did always have the vivre card for it.

I’ve always assumed Law was using Bepo’s vivre card to get to Zou which wouldn’t do him any good right now. But that doesn’t mean Bepo wouldn’t be able to get there himself using a different vivre card (I’d be surprised if he couldn’t), so yeah, Zou’s still in the running, but it’s the least interesting destination for me, personally. He’d at least have to stop at a nearby island first, right? How far can Bepo swim with an injured Law in tow while also being injured himself?

@realtenchu said in Chapter 1079: The Emperor's Crew, the Red-Haired Pirates:

I think BB ship is there to kidnapped Robin. I assume by this time they know that the Triclops is useless. The weird feeling is that they are probably gonna succeed in kidnapping. I’m gonna hate that storyline if it happens.

That could potentially team Robin and Law back up again, if it turns out that he’s also being held hostage on Blackbeard’s ship. Building more on that relationship would be interesting, and could make Robin’s escape a little more palatable a storyline.

@G1Ravage said in Chapter 1079: The Emperor's Crew, the Red-Haired Pirates:

Official translation used "poneglyphs" today instead of the usual "ponegliffs".

Good catch. Surely a mistake though—I don’t expect to see that continue moving forward.

@All-Fiction I see! I missed that small translation next to the fx. Someone mentioned on Reddit that it was also used for Sabo before his reveal on Dressrosa. However, in both instances, it wasn’t used in quite the same way with the same font. But again, I’m just going off the English translation, and it could mean absolutely nothing anyway.

Admittedly, my track record when it comes to theories is quite poor.

At the risk of sounding decidedly crazy, I think the enemy might be Imu. I started to think so back in chapter 1075 when the footstep sound effects used for the enemy (KTOK) reminded me of Imu, since they were the same effects used in the same way. Imu would also fit that silhouette that Shaka saw in the monitor before it was destroyed. This chapter, again, used sound effects that were very reminiscent of Imu’s steps. The terror in Vegapunk’s eyes would certainly make sense if he were looking up at Imu.

I know it’s little to go on, and maybe those steps are not unique to Imu, but they never stood out to me until Imu’s introduction (if anyone can point to other instances in the manga where they are used, please do). Things have been ramping up very quickly lately and seemingly heading towards endgame, so I could see Imu showing up here.

I’m only going off of the English translation though. Perhaps the Japanese version might provide more clarity?

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1072: The Weight of Memory:

The amount of people still tying Bakkin in comment sections across the internet when the context here makes it crystal clear that the name was meant to be Buckin all along (with the official release even getting it right from the start) is a show that most fans care more about which translation they saw first than they actually do about accuracy. I think if there'd been even one early scan that went with Zolo over Zoro we wouldn't be able to get people to stop saying it today.

Similarly, many fans still say Green Bull since it was translated that way by scans at first (I believe), even though they wouldn't be caught dead referring to any of the other admirals by their English-translated codenames (even though they probably should be translated, but I digress). Is that because it's what they read first? Or because Ryokugyu is a bit of a mouthful for English speakers? Or is it because they'll just go with whatever sounds cooler to them 9 times out of 10, accuracy be damned?

@Captain-M Huh! My bad, thanks for the callout. Just flipped through some of Dressrosa and yes, while his hair is overall darker there (sometimes just black), I guess they have always added at least a hint of blue to it. Maybe his blue cape and feathered boa are bringing out the blue in his hair a lot more now, haha.

I'll echo what you've all been saying about the cards, and add that I find the cropped panels a little jarring when a speech bubble is cut off like on that Kid card on the bottom left. Still cool to see them translated officially in English in some form, odd as it is.

Regarding this latest batch of volumes, has anyone else noticed that at some point recently they started to color Law's hair dark blue like Oda does in the color spreads? I'm not sure exactly when they started doing that, but I've noticed it with these past three at least, and I think I recall it still being black earlier in Wano. Interesting to start now after so much time.

Having not made the connection when they were partially revealed in chapter 1062, I might have been the only one who chuckled this week when Punk-01/Shaka was revealed to look like GM08 (Guy-Manuel) from Daft Punk, because of course they do. Thinking that had to be intentional on Oda's part, though I suppose it could be a common helmet design...