Luffy splitting the sky was great, and a definite sign of how far he's come, but otherwise, I wasn't a fan of this chapter. When I saw the early spoilers, I thought I might be jumping the gun, but my issues with those spoilers seem even worse in the context of the chapter.
A minor issue that I had was Momo biting Kaidou and making him scream out in pain. Given that Kaidou's skin has been built up to be extremely difficult to get through, with Luffy needing to specifically train in advanced armament haki to be able to do it, and the Nine Red Scabbards barely being able to pull it off, it seems weird that Momo can just do it without even knowing that it's a big deal. (it seems to undermine Kaidou's threat as a villain when someone who was an untrained eight year old five minutes ago, and still is one mentally, can make him scream out in pain)
My bigger problems were with Jack's portrayal and the whole Perospero plotline. When it comes to Jack, he's one of Kaidou's top minions, and yet he didn't even get a named attack, let alone a full chapter worth of fighting. (instead, throughout the arc, we've gotten a few snippets of fights that happened mostly off-screen, and the snippets that we got involved Jack getting his butt kicked) I get that he's been treated as though he's not as tough as King or Queen, but he's still a juggernaut with a billion Berry bounty - it seems weird to give him less focus than the Flying Six, or for someone like Holdem to have more named attacks than him. It would have been nice if it seemed like it took some actual effort to beat him, rather than having him go down in one good hit from a single member of the Scabbards. (I get that it's personal for Inuarashi, given what happened to Zou, but Jack's defeat seemed so effortless)
And then there's the Carrot-Pedro-Perospero plotline - what was the point of it? If it had just been dropped after Whole Cake Island, I could assume that people (myself included) were reading too deeply into a few panels, but then Perospero made it to Onigashima (the only member of the Big Mom Pirates, aside from BM herself, to do so), Carrot specifically went after him to avenge Pedro, and it seemed like the plot was actually building up to something…
...and then Carrot was beaten off-screen and mocked by Perospero for even thinking that she could stand a chance. Still, villains act arrogant in their own abilities all the time, and Perospero only won because the moon was covered up, so maybe...
...and then Nekomamushi, who had no idea who Perospero was, beats him in one attack while Carrot can only sit on the side and watch, despite the fact that Nekomamushi going into the Sulong state meant that Carrot should have been able to as well.
It just raises the question of why Carrot was involved in Whole Cake Island (if it was to make us feel sad about Pedro's death or introduce Sulong, Pekoms could have done both of those things), or why Perospero was brought into the raid when all he accomplished was allying with Marco for a chapter and occasionally attacking Marco or Chopper, or why that plotline was built up over the past year (more if we count Whole Cake Island) if all of that was going to amount to Perospero being beaten in one hit by someone who had no idea who he was a few minutes ago, while Carrot (who actually saw what happened) contributes nothing. Considering that Oda's someone who brought back the plotline of Captain John's treasure years later, across several arcs, it seems weird for him to abruptly rush through an entire plotline and two separate fights like this. (it also ends the plot on a note that's weirdly pessimistic for One Piece, with Perospero telling Carrot that she should have stayed home and never gone out to sea - that seemed like an opportunity to Carrot to prove him wrong and contribute to his defeat, but instead, we're left with the feeling that Perospero was right and Carrot should just stay in Zou instead of seeing the world)
Maybe I'm jumping the gun, and Jack will get up later to get an actual on-screen fight (he's been shown to be durable), or we'll get a conclusion to the plotline at the start of next week's chapter, but given that the narration at the end seems pretty definitive, I have my doubts.
Sorry for the rant; like I said earlier, I liked Luffy splitting the sky, but the rest of the chapter just seems like wasted potential.
