THIS IS A REPOST! I posted this on YouTube, and I wanted your opinions on it.

What this chapter shows us is that Big Mom will not go down at Whole Cake.

1. The plan has been going really well, and those KX launchers are the last steps in the plan to KILL Big Mom, and that would be truly underwhelming if Big Mom (a YONKOU) was killed without showing her full power to validate her Yonkou status. Once Big Mom "awakens" from her flashback, she is going to manifest her potential "full" strength and power in order to overcome the plan Bege, Luffy, and Jinbei have set in motion. It won't lead to a full one-on-one with Big Mom and Luffy, but it will give us readers a legitimate preview as to what she can do strength-wise.

2. Big Mom's crew (her ministers and commanders) with all their unique powers have not really lead to any legitimate fights; outside of Cracker, many of the fights the SHs have had with Big Mom was mainly intended to push the story forward. Maybe Oda is saving the showcase of their full power for another time (like Elbaf?).I think there are too many ties to Elbaf with Big Mom (e.g., Loki, Mother Carmel, her homeland?), and if Big Mom vs. Luffy is not resolved in Whole Cake, I can see this Yonkou fight being resolved in Elbaf. Once the arc hits its aftermath, Big Mom will realize that she has to make a move to be Pirate King. The mere fact that a rookie (Luffy) came into her stronghold, and managed to get away with the Road Poneglyph - something that no other Yonkou has successfully done (to our knowledge) - will force her to move, and the first step would probably involve taking a crew of her top subordinates to Elbaf.

Whole Cake Island will not be in its once peaceful state after this Tea Party. If you observed closely, you can see that Mont D'or was affected by Big Mom's Haki shriek. Maybe Mont D'or faints, and like a Sugar-in-Dressrosa type of way, Mont D'or being unconscious may trigger the release of his power over the prisoners in the books (which has been predicted before). The chaos that ensues will change Totland as a whole, and contribute to Big Mom making a move for the top spot.

@Muerte:

So I've been looking forward to Reverie ever since Otohime's story during FI. For the sake of how the story is set up so far (Stelly and the location of Reverie), I'm gonna assume that the Revo army will be heavily involved in this arc.
The things I expect to see happening during the Reverie:

• Alot of new introductions (Both royals and revo's + some marines)
• Plenty of political discussion. Likely also about Yonkou/Supernova uprising
• Luffy will be mentioned in some context, which will unite Riku, Elizabello, The Nefeltari bunch and the Neptune fam.
• An outrage will occur after Cobra inquires about the poneglyphs and the void century.
• General disdain against the Neptune family for attending. With either Fukaboshi or Shirahoshi delivering a powerful speech, akin to what their mother would have done to fight the noble's biggotry.
• Things escalating in general.
• Vivi/Shirahoshi teamup.
• Revo army arrives to stir things up.
• Dragon actually fighting. (Possibly against last unrevealed admiral? Would be a justifiable introduction plot).
• Sabo facing Stelly. I'd really like them to fight too, but this might be much wishful thinking.
• Koala (perhaps with Hack) setting Mariejois ablaze and freeing the current slaves. Would be one big hommage to her and Tiger, not to mention some badass character development.
• A great escape
• Celestial dragons and the current world order will take a massive blow.

Just spouting theories here. Really curious how this arc will play out!

This is my Reverie Arc checklist! Beautiful work, Muerte!

I love this cover.

• Best Moment of the Year - The unveiling of Gear Fourth in Ch. 784, and being able to get a general idea of how the technique worked. _- Fujitora and his marines falling prostrate before King Riku, and the war of words/ideologies of justice between the Fujitora and Akainu (Ch. 793)

• The heartfelt exchange_ between Law and Sengoku regarding Rocinante, especially seeing Sengoku's reaction to Rocinante's death (Ch. 798) • Character of the Year Sabo; he's my favourite character in the series so far. This dude is as classy as they come: To trust Luffy enough to leave him to take care of Doflamingo, while he took care of Burgess; to not hold a personal vendetta against Burgess, even though as a part of the Blackbeard Pirates, he was somewhat involved in Ace's capture; to so quickly incorporate the Mera Mera no Mi into his fighting style while facing Burgess; to see him cope with Ace's death and move forward; to be content to leave Luffy in the SHs' care without saying goodbye, and lastly, to immediately start training with the Mera Mera no Mi once he got back to Baltigo (Ch. 803). I feel like Sabo is a "better" Ace; he's more level-headed than Ace was, and it shows in battle. Furthermore, he is not dependent on his devil fruit to fight like Ace was – Sabo can use his haki and his dragon-style technique to complement his devil fruit. My hope is that Sabo is stronger than Ace and Luffy right now, and I hope Sabo displays that in the potential fight with the Revolutionaries and Blackbeard Pirates. • Best New Character Master Nekomamushi; I love his Cheshire-Cat-like design from the minks we've seen, and his introduction was pretty epic and fearless. I look forward to seeing more of his fighting style and learning about his past. (I know he appears in Ch. 809, guilty) • Best Fight of the Year Luffy vs. Doflamingo; pretty self-explanatory (Gear Fourth, devil fruit awakening, King Kong Gun splitting open towns and breaking glasses) • Best Surprise of the Year Kaidou's introduction. During the narration on Kaidou, I honestly had no idea it was him, so when I saw it was him I was like, "How is Luffy going to beat someone who can't die?! How?!" Kaidou basically encountered five of the eleven supernovas in the span of 1 chapter, and the narrator's description of Kaidou was executed perfectly. Great surprise. • Quote of the Year Admiral Fujitora for the win. "If our credibility has been so compromised by the admission of a single mistake, it never existed in the first place!" (Ch. 793) "I… I wish I hadn't closed these eyes. I'd have enjoyed taking a good look at you." (Ch. 799) --> The regret is real. • Funniest Moment of the Year Luffy's refusal of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet in Ch. 800, and Luffy's attempt to explain why he didn't want a Grand Fleet, along with the celebration thereafter. I would say it was the "funnest" moment of the year rather than the funniest. • Shame of the Year Not being able to see Doflamingo's eyes immediately after his capture by the Marines, or in the aftermath of Dressrosa when he was talking to Tsuru in Ch. 801. The mystery behind his eyes was something that was hinted as important to gaining insight into Doflamingo, or at least satisfying the speculation we had as readers for so long. I don't know if Oda will have the time to re-integrate this mystery of Doflamingo back into the story at any point. • Worst Character of the Year Trebol. Nothing further. • Worst New Character of the Year Edward Weeble a.k.a Whitebeard Jr. I don't like his character design personally for a Shichibukai, and he comes across as daft. Maybe his powers or backstory may change my mind, but I highly doubt it. • Worst Fight of the Year Luffy vs. Fujitora; I just wanted to see more of a fight between them than what we were given. Zoro vs. Pica; Wasn't really a fight, but more so Zoro figuring out a way to cut down Pica, and prevent Pica from being a threat to those at the platform. But Zoro basically cutting through a city-sized Pica was cool. • Worst Surprise of the Year- _Gear Fourth being constrained to a time limit, during use and after use. I wish Gear Fourth was a mode that was not limited by time, and drainage of Haki was less than 10 minutes. Hopefully Luffy gets more acclimated with Gear Fourth, and those constraints/side-effects diminish with time, like Gear 2 and 3.

• Duke Inuarashi and Master Nekomamushi getting their respective limbs cut off by Jack. I feel like it took away some of their coolness, and I fear that we will never be able to see them at full strength as a result :( (I know, this occurs in Ch. 810, I'm bending the rules haha)_

I absolutely loved this chapter. I'm very happy Sabo got the Mera-Mera no Mi, and I believe that he is noticeably stronger than Luffy (even without the DF). To be the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army is a remarkable feat. I'm not even fanboying, but what makes Sabo awesome is that he is not Ace; Sabo doesn't come across as hot-headed and ignorant like Ace was, but seems to be calm, cultured, and aware of his surroundings/circumstances. I love Ace as a character, but I feel Sabo is a successor that will surpass Ace's mastery of the Mera-Mera just because of his character.

Reading from the Mangastream translation, Sabo is the Chief of Staff, I'm guessing that recruiting members (like Dragon did) is in his job description. Based on their interactions, I don't think it would be too far-fetched to say that Bartolomeo will join the Revolutionary Army, maybe at Sabo's request. We'll have to see.

But Sabo, man… Sabo.

Umm, I'm probably not the first to say this, but I believe Raftel is IN Reverse Mountain, but I don't think Raftel is like a hollow chasm inside the Mountain, but Raftel is upside down in Reverse Mountain (so Reverse Mountain is the protruding base of Raftel). Why do I think could Raftel be "upside down"? Because maybe the natural phenomena (magnetic field of RM, gravity or lack thereof) which causes the waters from all the Blues to flow UP the mountain, is the same force/phenomena which anchors Raftel DOWN to Reverse Mountain in "upside-down" position. With this possibility, Reverse Mountain could stay true to its name to a degree, in that some laws of (OP) nature are "reversed". There are a lot of holes in this obviously.

I guess All Blue and the Rio Poneglyph would be at Raftel. Ashura, I say of all this because if my scenario is true, and All Blue and Rio Poneglyph are there, why would there be a reason to "creating" All Blue, if All Blue is already a secure location. I understand the importance of uniting the seas, but if Reverse Mountain is totally destroyed, wouldn't that jeopardize the existence of All Blue and the Rio Poneglyph residing there? I don't think Luffy and the SHs would want to do that, but I can't really determine the scope of reasoning and the repercussions, because I'm not Oda :P

Hmm… well based on Luffy's current abilities, I would say that Luffy's ultimate power up could be a combination of his current abilities. I will use Red Hawk as an example; Red Hawk is basically armament Haki combined with Gear Second, which creates a combustible reaction for Luffy to have explosive firepower. If Luffy followed this formula of limb + armament haki + Gear Second, he could add explosive firepower to all of his basic skillset. I think that would be a cooler (and more destructive) way to fight. Or to push things further, as we saw when Luffy was destroying Noah, we witnessed Luffy use Gear Third and armament Haki like never before (Elephant Gatling). Imagine if Luffy incorporated Gear 2 into that equation (limb + gear 3 + armament haki + gear 2), he could have a giant fire fist - who knows what he could do with that.

It hasn't been proven, but I believe if Luffy could use full-body armament haki and combine that with Gear Second, that combustible reaction would happen over Luffy's body and he could achieve a fighting form where he would emit fire, rather than steam. The great thing about this form is Luffy could still stay true to his fighting style, armament haki would still be incorporated in the blows he lands, and it will be in tribute to Ace. I think Oda could work this out.

This is all fanboy bias and speculation, but if Luffy can do this, it won't be a gimmick like Water Luffy or Nightmare Luffy, but shows that Luffy has achieved a form based off his own skill and creativity, which would be a great development -- at least for me :) Any thoughts?

Chapter Review, Theories and Predictions

This chapter was THE turning point in this arc for me, but I’ll explain that later. First off, the dwarves are a unique species and I can’t wait to see the relationships Usopp has cultivated with the Tontatta tribe (in less than 15 minutes LOL).

I’m glad to see that the flower garden – a feature of Dressrosa that was mentioned earlier in country’s introduction – was not lost in the shuffle and will be an important site and will play an important role in this arc, for Zoro-Wicca and Franky-Sol will probably meet there.

This is where it gets good. The events at Green Bit will be a turning point in this arc. Obviously Law’s plan has hit a bump in the road, for Doflamingo has not stepped down from the Shichibukai, and I believe this is the doing of Doflamingo, Akainu, and CP0. The priority is Law and Luffy for Akainu, and with Doflamingo’s help, they have impemented a ‘DIVIDE and CONQUER’ strategy to effectively take them out. And it looks like it’s going to work.

You have Fujitora AND Doflamingo coming after Law, and this is not like Punk Hazard where Aokiji comes and saves the day; no insanely-strong person is going to come out of the wood-works to save Law; all the big players are here for a battle-royale on Green Bit.

Luffy, Law and Kidd are the key players in this era, but only Luffy and Kidd have been ‘baptized by fire’; Luffy entered the Marineford War and realized how inferior he was in strength compared to all the other big-wigs, and barely made it out the War alive (and has a scar on his chest as a reminder of that experience); I don’t know what happened with Kidd, but he must’ve encountered overwhelming challenges to cause him to lose an arm in his time in the New World.

Law has kind of cruised in his time in the New World, and I think this encounter with Fujitora and Doflamingo will be Law’s ‘baptized-by-fire’ moment; I’m not saying he’ll lose an arm like Kidd, but he will sustain significant injuries that will remind him of how naive he was to take on big fish like Doflamingo. Any thoughts?

@RomanceDawn:

This is a tough one. When I think back to Robin saying Haki can't stop an ability user from using his or her ability it makes me wonder if Buggy can't be cut even with Haki because he is more or less never touched by the blade in the first place.

I think back to Aokiji opening a hole in his body to avoid White Beard's stab and maybe because of the automatic nature of Buggy's ability a blade just never gets the chance to touch him at all. Basically making even Haki cuts useless. I don't think of Buggy's ability like cutting into say clay and then just reforming, I think of it as his body instantaneously moving out of the way.

It could potentially explain Mihawk's slashes having zero affect on buggy at all.

That's what I'm leaning towards anyway and it still falls in line with the given rules. Well only if cutting attacks never touch Buggy in the first place.

The bold is a very interesting thought. So you are suggesting that Buggy's Paramecia ability is unconsciously active, but can intentionally be activated by Buggy as well. I think Paramecia DF users like Buggy are case-sensitive when it comes to Haki, so I don't really know what would happen.

Exactly Kirk, the Gorousei are the guardians of truth, but I think they are protecting an inconvenient truth. I feel as though in that moment with Professor Clover, just the revelation of the AK's name was something that put the Gorousei in anguish, and if they had a role to play in the Ancient Kingdom's downfall and Void Century, I think that the Gorousei were a malicious enemy that destroyed the AK from the inside out, OR I think if the Gorousei lived in those times that they made an ERROR of some kind which led to the destruction of the Ancient Kingdom, the Void Century and possible creation of some anomalies in the OP world. That ERROR is something that they do not want to get out.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Ashura_KingFisher:

I have thrown my personal opinion about that in page 3.

or check this out

thinking of that as well.

I've been wondering why would Oda called them gorosei aka 'the 5 Old/Elder Stars'. Old stars are known for one of the oldest being in the universe… Even the oldest star recorded by NASA is older than the universe itself (approx 14,5 billion years old, while universe has been existed for 'only' 13,8 billion years). If the gorosei title was based on it, then it might say something about their true identity.

This was very interesting… I'll comment later on this. Thanks Ashura.