Posts made by Joy Boy

Kaido is one of my favorite characters but to me Oda did him dirty. I mean the flashback does explain stuff but it still feels like Oda in the end just wanted to finish things. Every time we thought that we could get a bit more Oda was completely shafting it to get to another point. When he spoke about how a death completes a person I was awed. Never an antagonist character in the series spoke so openly about defeat. When we got the Joy Boy stuff and him wanting to change the world I was even more intrigued. Oda does explain those things but in the end they come out to us readers as poor exposition. Kaido wants a grant death to be remembered but we don’t see what made him like that. We can only assume that he was jealous of 3 guys. That bright smile all of emotion when he says that he wants to change the world is just explained as him wanting to cause war and make everybody equal through battle which doesn’t make sense to me. No in depth relation with Yamato. He’s supposed to be an Oni and Oda neglects that also. Why did he speak of humans like that ?

As for his strength I think we’ll never see anything like him again in the story so props to Oda for that. Still in the end I feel that he had to nerf him because it doesn’t make sense for someone like him to not showcase awakening.

Such massive potential yet Oda simply failed to deliver. That’s Kaido

I guess it’s pretty clear that Oda didn’t give Kaido and Mom awakening because they would never lose. It still sucks and it’s bad writing. Lucci of all people having it is a slap to the emperors

Pretty sure Greg that some editor talked about Wano having a surprising ending

@Greg:

I would disagree on that. I was going to make a list of the threads the fb tied together but then someone went and totally did exactly that in the sp thread.
The fb was spot on on laden with all sorts of aspects/mysteries we've been presented with over the years.

I really enjoyed that.

The significance of the matsuri being uninterrupted.

And Luffy's words.

The drama is all there.

But Oda failed to tie the drama and action together like he almost always does.

It actually felt like reading another series.

To me the flashback didn’t tie anything. Kaido seemed like a special creature but was presented to be from a normal kingdom. At least Mom was supposed to be a freak of nature. What about Kaido going to Wano because it’s special ? How does he go from a guy who aspires to change the world to a guy that wants to destroy it ? Many loose ends. As for the fight itself, it sucks. Luffy is just a god, nothing more. It’s not interesting.

The thing with Kaidos flashback is that is completely half assed. Like Oda just showed this stuff because he knew he HAD to do it. What about his defeats, what about the Oni race and how he views humans, his need to die, who betrayed him etc everything was simply half assed. Put that alongside his defeat and you get a bad chapter when you put it together with the entire narrative. And a single entity the chapter might look good but it completely ruins the narrative

@Monquito:

Oda made a very clear point that distractions end up giving them unstatisfactory victories.

I ruled out MomOden appearing in front of Kaido since then.

Luffy is the same guy who used Brûlée to escape and had others distract Doflamingo so that he could recharge. Momoden could easily happen but as I said Luffy is a golden boy now a literal god that has to be above all

I still think that Kaido getting distracted because of Momo looking like Oden would be the best way to beat him. But Oda has to have Luffy being the golden boy he is. Oda has really fallen as writer and this arc is a prime example for many reasons. Whenever we got a glimpse of tension, Oda was sure to make it disappear right away

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@ARTEMlS:

Apparently it's indeed pure coincidence that Kaido is so obviously an Oni and in Wano there's an island called Onigashima.

Yet, as it turns out, none of that matters as the sole reason Kaido got to Wano is cause some random woman just invited him.

What about Kaido mentioning betrayal, exposing Big Moms goal and yet making that plot point disappear for god Luffy to appear ? Seriously the more I think about it, the more problems this arc has

@black-leg:

The thing about Luffy beating Kaidou and how that affects the power balance of the world is that Luffy didn't just solo Kaidou. Kaidou fought 9 Samurai, some of whom on the level of his own commanders, 5 of the worst generation who are way stronger and can do internally damaging attacks, his own son whose not as strong but knows how his father fights so isn't simple to take down, Momo in his dragon form briefly and 1v1'd Luffy three times - with him getting stronger each time and getting a break inbetween 2 of those fights.

I think the idea is that Kaidou only went down through attrition, the problem is that Oda didn't show it that way in this chapter. He just had Luffy beat him. It would've been better had it been a collective effort in this specific fight (even if Luffy is the one who got the finishing blow).

The thing is Luffy did things Kaido was supposed to do. Luffy took an insane amount of damage and got up. Luffy was the first mythical zoan with awakening, Kaido didn’t even show it.

@KageKageKing:

We still don't know what an Oni is supossed to be in the world of One Piece.

Disclaimer: I know what an Oni is according to japanese mythology, do not try to explain to me.

Pretty sure Oda retconned that since Kaido comes from a human kingdom. Ugh the travesties of this arc..

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@andy:

Let me ask you a question , luffy beating any Yonko would have put him into top tier no matter what .
So if the yonkos , admirals suppose to be close to each other you would end up with the same problem of luffy is match for anyone .
How can you be near the end of the series and not run into that aspect ?

Ehh Luffy didn’t simply beat an emperor. He beat the strongest one. Heck Katakuris defeat was more ambiguous than this. Here Luffy straight up overpowered Kaido. No ifs or buts. Oda went back on his word, he did exactly what he said his fans would find wrong

@Tyki_Mikk:

What @Greg wrote, I totally agree with him.
Kaido is and was the strongest one, like legit Oda and his stuff hyped this guy everytime when they had the chance to do it.
Kaido was portrayal as the strongest, Luffy actually beat that threat, he took that position via beating his strongest move(if Kaido is really down)!!
And that makes it what Greg wrote, Luffy is the strongest being in the world right now. And even if argue that he only beat Kaido because of Kaido facing so many opponents, in the end we all can agree that Luffy is close to close to Kaido, beat Kaido strongest move.

And that makes Luffy currently the strongest one next to Kaido and here start the problem, when we ever had something like this in OP? The strawhats already made a Yonkou crew this arc, looking like the underdog, how it keep going? How matches like Kid vs Luffy,Weevil encounter and other fights even happen at this point if Luffy stand as the number one at the top?
And even if we say BB and Shanks been stronger, do you think the gap between them and Kaido are huge?
It will be like Kaido(100), Shanks and BB at best 1-2points above 100, otherwise and here Greg point start, the gap between Kaido and Luffy upcoming opponents became ridiculous.

And there the unrealistic events start and kinda open up the question, how big will be Luffy grow at that point?
"There's no threat. No danger. No latitude. No need to grow. No need to explore. No need to struggle."
This kinda desribes the problem who await us in the next arcs, with Luffy the man who beat the strongest creature.
No one in OP world(except Imu probably) going to surpass Kaido far exceed, the other opponents at best surpass that very slighty at best with a small gap.

Can you quote Greg’s post in this thread since I’m banned from the spoiler section ? Would appreciate it

@Vongola_Boss_XI:

I don't think it's over.

It’s clearly over. What’s the point of getting back ? Oda wanted to end this since everything feels rushed. As I said, can’t believe we got this rushed flashback while we got tons of chapters for Orochi and Kanjuro. Oda realised that he wasted tons of time and decided to end this fight. Possibly the worst climax of an arc we’ve gotten. Even Dressrosa with the whole countdown fiasco felt like a bigger climax than this

@Vongola_Boss_XI:

Well, I know about 923, but I actually don't think it's going to be just Luffy vs Kaido. But that model of chapter title. As for 7, sure maybe - but in the broader context I think there's multiple reasons to be doubtful.

That list isn't even exhaustive. Oda said in 2017 Luffy simply punching his way to victory might not be satisfying. Sure, plans change and maybe he meant he had to give Luffy 3 powerups in the course of a single battle and make the punch even bigger to make it satisfying. But I still think he meant something else. There's also the fact that Zoan users don't stay down for long and Luffy was already granted 3 miracle resurrections in this battle alone. The villain not even getting one in turn feels like a bit of a cheap trick.

Zoan users stay down just fine if they fight the protagonists. Also imagine in an arc full of experienced Zoans, the only Zoan awakening we saw came from a paramecia fruit turning into Zoan.

Too many problems with the final stretch of the arc. Too much bullshit for the straw hats to win. Oda failed to deliver

Greg how do you feel about Oda going back on his word and doing what he said would disappoint the fans ? Luffy did beat Kaido with a punch

@FatDogForMidTerms:

going to be in a minority here and say that i've liked this fight from start to end (toon luffy and drunk kaido being the highlight).

there was tension, drama and cool shit happening all over the place. but i do get why other fans maybe don't feel the way i do.

What tension ? Luffy getting back up constantly ?

This climax sucked. No tension, Oda forcing things. Don’t know what else to say. Hopefully the series can end as soon as possible

Half assed flashback which left out many things, Kaido actually losing to a punch which Oda himself said is bullshit. But I forgot focusing on Orochi and Kanjuro is much more important than fleshing out Kaido

Arc instantly drops to 6/10. Oda failed to deliver yet again

@Vongola_Boss_XI:

To be clear, however this current clash concludes, I don't believe the fight is ending here. I still think Kaido is going to awaken. There are a lot of reasons why, but I think Oda is setting up a false victory.

Victory seems clear to me because there is nothing else to show. Kaido will be beaten next chapter, Oda dropped the ball with awakening. The WSC, emperor and king of zoans isnt awakened. Bad writing

It’s pretty clear Oda wanted to nerf Kaido otherwise Luffy can’t win. Still doesn’t change the fact that him not having awakening is plain bad writing. When guys far weaker than him have it and he doesn’t show it, it’s just Oda spitting on our faces. The final stretch of the arc has major problems and it’s a shame because the potential is there. I’m not expecting much after this arc, everything about Luffy now and the way he wins is clearly forced

@Zhenja:

Big Mom being able to manipulate the souls of others with her Soul Pocus surly has nothing to do with awakening…
Kaido's fire dragon and all the element attacks and what not also have nothing to do with his awakening...

Why do you need it to be spelled out... with those two it's a given that their fruits are awakened... after all we've seen...
It's obvious...

That’s like saying Marco used awakening because he healed others.

Oda has highlighted every time when someone uses awakening. He dropped the ball here. Kaido didn’t use it.

@Deicide:

I have so many problems with this arc that I just gave up on it and I'm waiting for the next one.

Meh Oda could do some simple things in this raid and the arc would be 10 times better. Have Orochi actually die to the combined attack of the scabbards, Kanjuro should have stayed down when Kiku beat him the first time, have Kaido actually kill Kinemon and Kiku. Plus the biggest of all, have Luffy actually stay out for a little while after the CP0 intervention with Kaido wrecking the entire alliance. That’s how you raise the stakes. Instead not only Luffy came back right away but he came back as a god

I think one of my biggest problems with this arc is that it is one full of Zoans and the only one who showed awakening was retconned fruit in Luffy. 2 emperors not showing awakening is a travesty by Oda. Some random zoan scrubs have awakening but the strongest creature doesn’t ?

Greg any hidden meaning behind Kaidos association to the number 8 ? The name of his kanabo, his Hakke attacks, the Kanji behind his Jolly Roger

Momo and Yamato only know it’s Joy Boy because of Zunesha. Question is why Kaido is looking for him or at least expecting him to appear. It doesn’t look like he doesn’t give a fuck and it surely portrays someone that aspired to be said legend, failed and then waiting for said legend to appear

If Kaido doesn’t give a shit about Joy Boy then why does it appear that he is expecting him ?

@Greg:

The suicide hobby is pretty straightforward and the Oden fb made it moreso.

Kaido remarks that WB 'knew how to do it' and of course he means 'die like a (so-called) man'.

After his loss/win to Oden, Kaido has somewhat been emasculated. He knows he didn't earn it and that death would have been a great death tha would have put his name in legend for having been killed by a legend. He's searching for a way to die that will put him in history.

As for why he has no problem dying, it's very likely he's just bored. I recently platinum'd Elden Ring and when I did, I immediately deleted it because I was bored, exhausted, and had nothing left to prove. Kaido has platinum'd 'strength' and he wants to delete the world now. He's the strongest being and he lost the stronges 'man' who had the greatest chance of taking him out and leaving his name in legend.

The only question is…why does Kaido equate dying awesomely as a way of putting his name in history? It's a damn fine good chance that this is related to how/why Rocks went down(?) and the impression that and a possible betrayal of his hopes/trust established in him. Think about it. The world knows how Roger died, but so little is commonly/publicly known about Rocks. I think it's a safe bet that had an influence on him.

(Theory coming soon to your favorite YouTuber)

I don’t think Kaido is just bored. Kaido seems really disappointed with the Oden fiasco and also very disappointed about not becoming Joy Boy. I mean he only seemed affected by Oden after Oden died in a spectacular way. It strikes his pride that he won like that but what affected him the most was Odens death.

Kaido needs a flashback for the Joy Boy stuff, his lineage ( he did say he is an Oni) and the rocks stuff. Kaido went from a guy who wanted to change the world to a guy that wants to destroy it. We have to find out what happened

@Johnny:

My dude, nameless mooks don't mean shit in One Piece. XD Those thousands of samurai might as well throw themselves headfirst into Kaido and save him the trouble.

Also, Kaido isn't the final boss of One Piece, I can guarantee you Blackbeard and Imu will have even more bullshit overpoweredness to them. Luffy has even said he has to keep getting stronger so he can fight anyone against him, or else he'll never be Pirate King. He can't be the plucky underdog forever, he needs to be a true world-class powerhouse. And that time is now.

I said slow him down. Marco, Yamato, Jinbe, all the samurai could slow him down until Luffy regains consciousness. Instead he just gets back up right away like that blow never happened

Don’t see what Teach and Im have to do with what I say. Them being ridiculous down the line doesn’t take away from the fact that this arc is full of forced developments for Luffy and Co to win. Let me say also that Kaido is incredibly important when the post skip narrative is focused on bringing him down

@Johnny:

Our heroes are exhausted themselves, however. I think Jinbei and Yamato are about the only ones standing that actually can still keep going, but really, how much damage can they do against Kaido?

And also, my point is Kaido also has both very fast recovery and an extreme pain threshold, just now like Luffy is acquiring. But you don't seem to say he's over-powered?

And it's not like Gear 5 and all that with it is going to suddenly vanish after the fight, you know. You may not like it, but this definitely was planned out and it's going to be a key element of things to come.

Yes but there are still thousand soldiers down there. It’s preferable to have them slow down Kaido than have Luffy get back right away after supposedly losing.

And again I don’t see why you compare Kaido to Luffy. Kaido is the worlds strongest creature and a guy who can’t die. Luffy was never that. Kaido was supposed to be overpowered, Luffys fruit just tuned OP in this arc.

This isn’t a deserving victory for the alliance, it’s just a victory based on forced writing and situations full of BS galore. No awakening for Kaido and Mom, magical fruit that can control animals, unkillable and guys who can take as much punishment as the author wants them in order to win, flying six severely underperforming , Numbers bring a waste, god fruits out of nowhere and the list goes on

Oda says that he wanted to draw Wano for a long ass time but the way this raid proceeded just screams that he came with a lot of solutions on the fly. Imagine Kanjuro and Orochi getting this much focus while you neglect giving a backstory for the biggest antagonist of the series to date.

@Johnny:

So, you would have just stretched out the last couple chapters out and do what is basically happening anyways.

Also, to note: Kaido's DF is also considered a divine entity as well.

With others being involved. Now it’s just Luffy tanking everything, the others are doing nothing

Yes and we knew that from the start. So I don’t get your point. Luffy magically turned into a god that can negate every bit of damage.

@Johnny:

OK, so what would you have done then?

As I said have Luffy stay down for a bit longer. Have Kaido fight the entire floor, have everyone push him even more. We get Momo, Yamato and Marco challenge him on last time and then we have Luffy awakening. Have the others back him up for the last big finisher since if Kaido gets his hands on him again Luffy actually does. Then at the last moment of despair where Kaido appears to have everyone beaten, Luffy does his last big attack and wins. Not this cartoon god tier power crap

@Johnny:

Undeserving? The poor dude got one hit K.O.'d the first fight, and was briefly dead a few chapters ago. And he's had to get like 3 separate power-ups to be able to actually beat Kaido. How much more does he have to do?

That’s exactly why he doesn’t deserve to win. Convenient power ups, getting back up right away when he’s supposed to be beaten, can now survive everything because god powers etc. Oda dropped the ball here, this fight isn’t realistic anymore

@fana:

He still feels the pain (especially the slash attacks who remains a weakness). And he still had to guard with CoA against that huge attack this chapter.

I'm having trouble thinking how the fight was supposed to go to satisfy some of you. Would you rather have Luffy escape all attacks to make it believable ? How many hits max taken by Luffy would be believable ?

Luffy in near death just shrugs everything off. What pain ? Kaido landed so many attacks in this chapter and Luffy was just fine. Compare these attacks to what rokuogan did to him in EL

@Robby:

That would have been a TERRIBLE time for a flashback given the Gear 5 change right after. Switching from Luffy being beaten to a long long pause and then coming back to surprise weeks or months later revival and new form would have been even jankier than it already was.

You don't stop for a long flashback at any point that will truly interrupt the tension and dramatic build, especially since you need to rebuild it after the pause.

Oda could it and get could do it pretty easily

Have CP0 interfere, Kaido gets his flashback, Kaido goes mad over another fight of his ending like that, goes down to fight the rest of the alliance, has them nearly killed and then Luffy awakens. Luffy actually getting up in such a short time just backs up what I’ve been saying in the other thread. It doesn’t feel like he’s actually close to death as the author wants us to believe
I mean Luffy just getting back up constantly and shrugging off every attack has really diminished the stakes of the fight.

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I mean heck we all thought that the CP0 involvement was about Kaidos characterization but instead it was just a vehicle for the Elders to narrate the asspull god fruit of Luffy.

Ugh the more I think about it, there more I realize that Oda dropped the ball big time on some things just to have his golden boy shine like the sun.

Oda could have done so much better. Such a shame

@Robby:

The arc isn't over yet. Unless you think the next hit is actually the finisher, but there's very little to indicate that dramatically speaking.

I think it’s pretty clear it’s the end. Kaido pulled his last attacks and they weren’t enough. Now it’s Luffys time for the finisher.

Also how is Oda supposed to include those things at the moment when the fight is on its climax ?

That joy boy has returned chapter really hurt the climax of the arc

@Sirxxx:

Do not understand how oftentimes the same people who willingly accept that Kaido and Big Mom can just shrug off all damage no matter what forever because "lol" are so upset that Luffy can take a similar beating but keep going. There's only so many ways Oda can make Luffy lose the fight but conveniently not die before Luffy's just gonna have to go the distance.

Also, that destroyer of death looked like it HURT! And did a great job of showing that cartoon character or not, Luffy's still taking damage.

Kaido and Big Mom are build on the premise of them being invulnerable you damage. Luffy isn’t

So Greg no Kaido flashback and awakening ? We got Orochi and Kanjuro resurrecting 10 times but no Kaido flashback ? Oda with his priorities again…

The point is that Luffy isn’t supposed to be Kaido ( ie worlds strongest creature and unkillable ). Worst example of Luffy just magically surviving everything is Oda having him get back up right away after losing against Kaido. Oda needed to take a breather from the fight, this would look like a million times better if Luffy actually came back after Kaido had time to nearly waste everyone on the floor. Now it’s just Luffy getting back up from everything and shrugging off Kaidos beat attacks like nothing

@Shiebs:

I’m just glad this is still a fight, and that Luffy didn’t just roll over Kaido because of his new power up

Instead he just shrugs off every attack Kaido throws at him like nothing

@andy:

Long time .
you see the attacks base luffy was getting back up from with out problems and that was before his power up .
Every power up just seem to add to luffy tanking power lol .

Luffy didn’t take Kaidos attacks that well. At least Kaidos high end ones. Horai Hakke nearly wrecked him twice. Now Kaido does an even stronger Bagua and Luffy completely shrugs it off in a cartoonish way.

Also if Kaido loses to a punch, Oda goes back on his word

Why are people acting like Luffy only took blast breath ?

Luffy in a single chapter took a couple of blows from Kaidos club, Demolition Gust and Kaidos strongest bagua to date and he fought back right away without an repercussions. He just straight up forced himself through these attacks to pull his biggest attack to date.

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I mean it’s atrocious that Luffy now is just shrugging off every attack the strongest creature is throwing at him. And he is supposed to be nearly dead. Imagine if he was fresh. I love how the fight looks but Oda has dropped the ball on what Luffy can possibly take if the strongest guy in the series can’t even push his shit in now

I’m severely disappointed from a couple of things.

Why is Luffy still taking so much damage and shrugs it off ? What’s the point ? It just makes his future fights even less interesting if he can take this amount of punishment and still keep going like he’s Kaido

Where is Kaidos backstory and awakening ? Did Oda just don’t give a f ? Having Doflamingo and Katakuri show awakening while Kaido doesn’t is stupid

Enough with Orochi. He and Kanjuro really took a big portion of the raid while Oda could just show other things. Kanjuro should have stayed dead the first time and Orochi should have been dead when all the scabbards cut him.

Also is Oda gonna keep his word that Kaido losing to a strong punch doesn’t make sense ? Because right now he’s certainly losing to a big strong punch

Greg do you think that if Kaido doesn’t show awakening it will be major BS from Odas part after Kaidos in this chapter ?

Alright good chapter and it will absolutely bollocks if Kaido doesn’t show awakening in the next chapter. Unless you think his mind and body didn’t catch up to him ability

@auem:

No, rather he 'perfected' it, that's my theory. He simply didn't want WG to get hand on such such improvised fruit and thus labeled his own research failure.

Doubt or else he’d have made many more. Don’t see how the fruit is awakened. Oda makes sure to state that something awakens

@auem:

Momo got a synthesized version, you can't compare the two. Vegapunk may very well condensed the fruit's real power.

So Vegapunk made a lesser fruit in an awakened form ?

@Sereques:

At the rate of Luffy getting one punch in per chapter, we will still be in wano end of 2023/24

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I thought his awakening turned him from a fish to a Dragon.

No ? Why would Momo be a dragon then ?

Kaido is Seiryu, thats his normal form, not a fish

Hopefully next few chapters aren’t like that. Stakes need to be serious and high

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Also now that Kaido directly mentioned awakening, it would be major bullshit for him not to show it.

@blue-san:

Might as well post it here:

After reading this chapter for 4 times and contemplating a long time I have finally been able to set my mind at ease, collect my thoughts and for some reason in this spoiler thread decided to be probably one of the last people to share my thoughts. Not just about this chapter but the entire ordeal in general. Something I haven't done here in ages. So for anyone giving two rats arses about it here they are:

Wano is the longest arc in One Piece and it still has I believe quite a few chapters before it wraps up and I think there is a very significant reason for it. Well there are actually many.
There seems to be a clash of minds, thoughts and opinions throughout the community. My mind was clashing with itself as well, but after rereading the chapter several times and going back in time to think and have a look at the story as a whole it is starting to come together for me.
And as it does, I just got this feeling of "liberation" no pun intended.
It was like I was in darkness but now I see the light. No pun intended as well…

Luffy being Joy Boy, being the Sun God Nika is in my opinion, Oda connecting the dots, starting to fill in an important piece of what is the giant one piece puzzle and most importantly setting up the stage for what is about to happen / come.
And the main focus Oda wants to bring across imo is that in this imperfect world of One Piece is that people are living, in a world full of Racial differences, supression, rule of elites, cenzorship and general hurt of the people who are lacking the power to defend themselves or carry out their own WILL this is a moment when the Sun will rise and the dawn will come and their wills will be carried out through a certain individual.

One Piece started with a chapter called the Romance Dawn. This was no coincidence. The crew we have been following through all these years has a symbol of a straw hat, which is no coincidence. Their ship was first to be Merry and was to tell of the Merry old journey the SHs would take.
There is a song out there known to the general fans of stories…. It is called The Merry old Land of OZ and its lyrics go:

_You are out of the woods
You are out of the dark
You are out of the night
Step into the sun, step into the light
Keep straight ahead, for the most glorious place
On the face of the earth or the sky
Hold onto your breath
Hold onto your heart
Hold onto your hope
March up to the gate and bid it open

the middle of the song then tells about a spot on earth where people are not to tall, too young and where they dont compare and dont complain
The song finishes with
HA, HO HO HO, that's how we laugh all day in the land of OZ.

It is a song from Wizard of Oz and it might not have any relevance to the entire thing and it may be Oda doesn't give two rats about it or doesn't know it….or maybe he does... I thought it is interesting and so I brought it up.

Moving on with my thought. So they had a ship called Merry... but as their Merry journey started unknowingly shifting from a random adventure to a "mission" they left the Merry and got a ship called the Sunny. Specifically Thousand Sunny. Coincidence that in the Hindu Script: Bhgavad Gita wrote Chapter 11, Verse 12 there was a saying: If a thousand suns were to blaze forth together in the sky, they would not match the splendor of that great form.
Perhaps… their ship being called the Sunny after Merry is a coincidence? I do not think so..
And just as the ship would set sail in the east and travel to the west, so would the sun.... and here we come to this chapter.
We have just witnessed the awakening of the Nika .... the sun god...in other words we have just witnessed the awakening of a Sun/Dawn and where did we get that? In the land of the Sun "Japan/Wano" however , take a note how until this moment Wano was more or less contected just to the moon... or was it? They are waiting for the dawn....and remember that the moon only reflects the light of the Sun... And in the kozuki crest there is... and then there are Toki's words: "You are the Moon...unaware of the Dawn..."
So yes…_ Is it a coincidence we see the Sun that a captain of the Sunny is the Sun God? Is it a coincidence that his awakening and Dawn it bring would be happening in Wano? Is it mere chance that the people of Wano were treated as Slaves and are now to be liberatad by the guy whose pure purpose is to do exactly that.
Shandorians believed that the spirits of the dead are caught in the trees…
We have been hinted at the importance of these giant trees in OP for long time. Eve.... Adam.... and of course Fruits usually come and fall from the trees.... If the trees possess spirits....then I guess so would the fruits and if there is a garden....there is a forbidden fruit... and if there is a forbidden fruit...there is the devil... and thus Devil Fruits with the spirits of the dead make sense.
As does the fact that even the smiles fruits are in a shape of an apple...Oda playing symbolism to the bone.
And so does the inherited Will.
Let us go back to the Drum island to Choppers "father" and his famous words: When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No When he eats a poisonous mushroom soup? No. They die when they are forgotten!
But Blackbeared tell us on Jaya... People's dream never die!
But Roger Tells us... I am not going to die partner!
And there is a common theme in One Piece. Those who die... and know their will be carried on... die with a smile...
Oden... Roger... Saul...Ace...

And there he is...the Sun God Nika... and his trademark... the smile...
And here is Kaidou people have already mentioned how "King, the Lunarian...asked him if he is the Joy Boy and that the very name Kaidou could mean that"...interesting... as is interesting that Kaidou could also mean a road...an important road from the Meiji period...road towards what? Or there is even the Kai D Ou option...Kai = Ocean, Ou = King....
Joy Boy -> has to go through Kaidou (road) -> in his journey to become Ruller of the Seas...aka Pirate King. Maybe we are stretching things a bit...No pun intended again...
But are we?
Kaidou...is sad, Kaidou drinks away his sadness with Sake....Kaidou goes through a lot of trouble to get the Yamato a Mythical Zoan fruit which is supposed to be a Guardian Diety of Wanno...
Why? And Zoans we learn have a will of their own... they effect the user/host in some way... If Yamato is given a Guardian of Wano DF what is supposed to happen next?
And Kaidou goes from saying Winner need to rationalizations in one chapter to I am sorry for winning like that in the next one....

Is that so? Or is there more? Is there a whole lot more? Are the "Slaves" to be freed here really because Kaidou just....operates that way? Why is he seeking a glorious death? Why does he say that Death completes a person? And there is a Festival in Elbaf for Death and Rebirth of the Sun... interesting...
And then there is Big Mom with her sad story and her inherited will and control of the souls...but then a part of her soul...gets free indicating the strength of free will perhaps?

We are literally being bombarded with symbolism and these different ideas, ideals, prophecies and goals.... but to what end... what does it all mean, where is it all leading. Are things above just a coincidence. __**_I think not and I think, we are about to see how the Sun will rise in the East…

After a long long thought and debate with myself I have come to conclusion that I am excited about the next chapter, excited about learning about Kaidou…excited to see how Oda wants to tell his story... It may be a shounen, but I believe it carries a much grander message and overarching story behind all of it.

To anyone reading through this giant wall of text. You are brave, a brave warrior of the seas indeed...maybe even Usopp..._**__

Love you post, OP is such a deep story whether some want to admit it or not. To me also Kaido is the most fascinating character in the series. Nobody comes close. There are so many things about him that make him interesting. Hopefully Oda will showcase everything about Kaido in the next few chapters. He deserves it

@Greg:

http://apforums.net/showthread.php?t=43241&p=4173012&viewfull=1#post4173012

This is not some fancy/sly attempt at a hint or commentary. Simply the only thing I have to say right now. If you're interested in this topic again when I'm back for commenting, I'm happy to discuss it then.

So Greg my question stands once again. How does Kaido reply to this ? Where is his awakening ? How will he react knowing that Luffy is Joy Boy ? Where do we go from here ?

@Greg:

I'll pop in just to say, if you are the type who enjoys a chap without spoilers, this is the week to take a breather from social media. Not likely to be a chap quite like this one in some time, if ever again.

Greg how do you think Kaido loses ? Also will he make comments about Joy Boy or will Oda neglect it ?

Oda just took a shit on his story.

Bad chapter.