@Ivotas said in Chapter 1059: The Matter Involving Captain Koby:

But worrying about falling for her while is doing the exact opposite is the textbook definition of a self contradiction.

I didn't understand it quite like that. I would say Blackbeard is troubled by the beauty of Hancock, which is why he assumes himself to be vulnerable to her petrifying powers. Nevertheless, it doesn't go any deeper and certainly doesn't reach Sanji levels of stupid where he'd be head over heels for her, all drooly and not daring to raise a hand.

@Kdom I wouldn't be so definitive about Kizaru.

For one, I can't quite make sense of his comment after Kuma punches Saturn. The french translation is pretty straightforward, but both the official english and scans were more ambiguous with him saying "it's over". What is over? Does he imply Saturn will see everyone dead after the offense (which he was already intent on anyway)? Does he think punishment is coming because he was unable to protect Saturn?

Then there's his line about growth before hitting Franky. It almost sounds like a challenging encouragement, "show me you can rise from this one". If you can't, you don't interest me, but I'm curious. Not exactly the words of someone who is going for the jugular.

Even the Buster Call. It's a terrifying act of war, but the Straw Hats already survived one and Robin two. Maybe in Kizaru's perspective it still gives Bonney and Sentomaru better chances than Saturn using the full extent of his powers and doing whatever he is capable of.

Not that I would want Kizaru to openly rebel, in the end. But him being faithful to his duty while still not agreeing with the way things are and trying to nudge events here and there would make for an interesting situation. Moreso than "against all expectations, Caribou chose to stay behind and help us instead of turning tail in the confusion because reasons".

@access-timeco said in Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !:

But when Kaido said that Haki is above all, I couldn’t help but think a deeper meaning was lost due to that.

This. Compare with the very early series, all the way back to when Zeff commented that Krieg never stood a chance against Luffy: because it wasn't weapons but guts that mattered in a fight.
Kaido's haki comment is essentially this a thousand chapters later, except it's now wrapped in this abstract concept we mostly see as a different brand of magic these days. Which makes it easy to forget that he should really be saying "if you have an unbreakable will/spirit/ambition, nothing on this earth can stop you".

So I've been re-reading the chapter seeing how spoilers are out and we will soon get our hands on the next one.

This time around it hit me : while Luffy is feeding himself, between the two panels where we see Kizaru react to Bonney and the capture of Sentomaru, he has moved. If you look carefully, the first time Kizaru is apparently lying on the ground with his arms spread in a cross and rubble scattered around his head.
When we next see him, however, he is sitting with his back against a different block and his mantle is falling on his shoulders, unlike before. He is not in the same spot he used to be and something happened in the meantime. It could just be him gathering enough strength to sit up, but it leaves an opening for much more.

This doesn't rule out Caribou intervening, but I can't picture him being fast enough, or able to erase his presence, that he would go unnoticed by Saturn. Kizaru, on the other hand...

Put together with Greg's comment about his latest column, I wouldn't deem impossible that the "shocking news" yet to come is in part about a certain admiral turning coat, or Saturn eventually realizing what he has done and dishing out retribution.

(yes, the wait is rather long and I am getting bored. )

@Barkworm to me, the impact was not so much about Garling as it was about reinforcing the Saturn scene and showing the elders are disposable and replaceable. "Holy crap, not only are these guys not all that immortal, they're also on Darth Vader's payroll" was my first thought.

Also, for all we know Garling still leads the Holy Knights and may confront the revos in the future regardless of his promotion.

At least, I hope he didn't earn that seat just to remain glued on it

@hideoushorrendous said in Chapter 1121: The Upheaval of the Era:

how did he knew that the royal pirates knew everything by simply claiming the treasure
that's what upsets me the most. it makes zero sense that he knows that and made a big global scene all thanks to this particular information
this will change the world yet it came outta thin air. there is no build up or anything to explain it. but people are okay cuz he's a scientist.

Part of this bothered me as well.
The first half of the broadcast is well-documented, with VP taking precautions in his affirmations and quoting his own scientific readings to back his claim of the rising waters. He provides evidence as to how the Ancient Weapons are still around and a threat to the present world. Everything fine so far and we get to learn nice things. I can even buy that he has read enough about poneglyphs in the O'hara records to understand they fill the blanks of history and assume LaughTale has the most relevant ones.

But then, in this chapter, out of nowhere it suddenly spirals into "so you should just go grab the One Piece, it will shape the world and don't mind anything I said previously."
It's like Oda was going to let us in on some good stuff, yet changed his mind and instead went for "wait a few more years, here is a shallow flashy BE HYPED !!!!!11!1! to chew on". I would seriously have prefered to learn a few more tangible elements and be left to decide for myself why and how grabbing the One Piece is so important.

All in all, this makes me sad, more than anything else. The manga is entering its endgame, these are key moments we have been waiting for for decades and I want to enjoy them. Yet at the end of arcs there's always some element or another that spoils the fun and I am left with frustration. Whole Cake had Sanji's cake fiasco, Wano had Yamato and a super-weak epilogue, now Egghead : it's becoming a feature in recent years. Dressrosa is possibly the last time I felt really strongly excited about the conclusion of an arc. Maybe I have grown tired with the tricks and artifacts of weekly storytelling. Call it series fatigue, I guess.

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1125: What Death Means:

That sounds right, but the mechanics of it aren't really clear. The clouds had to have already been lifting Punk Records for it to break free, when it makes more sense to just lift the whole Labophase from below.

The overall intention is clear, but the details are clunky indeed.

Such as it is, York's interference should at best have caused the Labophase to depart in a different direction from Punk Records, yet float away all the same. More pragmatically, breaking the hinge with so few clouds around to support its weight could have made the upper floors crash down, period.

I feel it should have been the other way around: we lack a scene of York somehow anchoring the lab floors on the ground below, to which Edison would have responded by unlinking Punk Records, hereby achieveing his escape.

Good chapter.

I would love if Vivi partnered with Morgans in the future to lead the World Economic Times. That panel of them arguing over the truth worked wonders, it had me wishing she could become a co-editor just to see more of their dynamic.

The part with Kizaru was much needed, it's nice to have some insight into his mindset at last. With this I'll put my hand in the fire that he is indeed the person who gave Luffy instant food when everything seemed lost, buying a tiny extra chance for Bonney and Sentamarou to survive.
Speaking of, I appreciate that someone gave Sentamarou a way out. He stood his ground and had done nothing to deserve a gruesome death, I will be glad to hear about whatever he does in the future. Hopefully Kizaru's doing ; it could also have been the work of Stussy, but in this case I would expect to see her on the boat.

Translation had its up and downs. The wording of Vivi and Morgan's argument felt convoluted compared to the natural angry flow of TCB; however, the part with Lilith leaves room to suggest that she also gave them the long version before what we hear, which makes the shocked Straw Hat faces feel more natural.

The mysterious final figure is something I absolutely can't get myself to care about, though. We have so little information that this farce of a cliffhanger feels like a quirk of Oda wanting to place silhouettes at all costs, rather than an actual element of storytelling. I would honestly have been fine with a couple more panels of partying and an "onwards to Elbaph" narrator box concluding the chapter.

Also a bad note, Zoro's heartless comment was especially bad. Delivering stoic one-liners is one thing, but sometimes stoic silent badass is an improvement. I'm with whoever wrote in the spoiler thread that he should rather have kept his mouth shut.

Finished watching yesterday. My biggest gripe possibly is that live action adaptations are simply not for me ? All along I kinda felt disconnected and could never quite experience the series as a separate work, always mentally comparing with what I enjoy in the manga format. Which does not do it justice, as some things just don't translate well in a realistic motion picture. Fishmen, Luffy's over-the-top facial expressions, hair color... Negative points also for the overdone color filters. Too much gray on marine ship scenes, bleached colors on some occasions. It could have been more vivid.

There are some good elements, mind. All the winks and easter eggs (pretty sure I missed half of them), the Nami-Zoro-Sanji dynamic which carries the crew on screen, Buggy and Arlong, some well-made locations that really bring the One Piece world to life...

However, Luffy and Garp were never quite there for me. The only time Garp felt true to himself was when he angrily threw a canonball at the Merry then laughed at their escape, plus that curry house side comment by Borsalino. Otherwise he felt too serious on most occasions. I did not mind seeing more of Garp (and Coby), but it was not the character I had in my mind and I was never able to distanciate myself enough from the source material to tell whether his part the the story is genuinely interesting.
As for Luffy...At times he didn't feel carefree enough and there were only a very few scenes where I felt immersed, but I'm not sure the fault lies with Inaki. Mainly I guess manga Luffy is etched too strongly in my mind for any flesh and blood person to act as a convincing substitute.

@andre said in Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !:

A dragon with talking legs attached was our formal introduction to the New World. I salute you, Kinemon

Legs that talked by farting, if you please. I happened to re-read parts of Punk Hazard recently and indeed, it was glorious.
After a decade we may not have seen much of the madness the New World geography had promised, but Punk Hazard was one hell of a start.

I'm eager to see what's next and keeping fingers crossed that Mashiba pulls through. He has made some real progress with this match, it would be a shame to see his self-control be rewarded by defeat. Especially against Rosario.

@Zanze I want every chapter to be about Nika. Eyes Popping Out for even pages, Maniac Bouncy Laughing for odd pages, plus each chapter a spread of every character in a ten miles radius with their eyes popping out in awe while chanting Joyboy's name.
Then on chapter 1569, we learn in a SBS that Buggy became king of the pirates and off-paneled every other parties thanks to his Entertainor's Haki, the super-secret brand of Haki only clowns can awake. He then proceeded to sink the world with Pluton because someone commented on his nose. One Piece concludes on a triple spread of everybody drowning while Nika-Luffy laughs it off without a care.

@Deicide said in Chapter 1125: What Death Means:

If we get anything in Egghead in 1126, it will be just one scene, not the whole chapter.

There's always a remote possibility of showing Stussy's fate, but I hope this isn't another of Oda's instant-noodle-riddles that exist purely for shock value and get solved the very next chapter. If it wasn't going to remain a mystery, then she should have been on that rowboat with Sentomarou 2 chapters ago.

Such as it is now, I expect her to show up in the next round of cover stories, whenever that is.

OK. The baseball part was completely nuts, I loved it. Okarun did a good job of not utterly freaking out.

The goodbye scene was bittersweet, but she'll be back one way or another. Do I sense a future "Rescue Turbo Granny" arc when Saint-Germain pushes on his agenda?

@Captain-M said in Chapter 1125: What Death Means:

That sounds right, but the mechanics of it aren't really clear. The clouds had to have already been lifting Punk Records for it to break free, when it makes more sense to just lift the whole Labophase from below.

The overall intention is clear, but the details are clunky indeed.

Such as it is, York's interference should at best have caused the Labophase to depart in a different direction from Punk Records, yet float away all the same. More pragmatically, breaking the hinge with so few clouds around to support its weight could have made the upper floors crash down, period.

I feel it should have been the other way around: we lack a scene of York somehow anchoring the lab floors on the ground below, to which Edison would have responded by unlinking Punk Records, hereby achieveing his escape.

@Barkworm to me, the impact was not so much about Garling as it was about reinforcing the Saturn scene and showing the elders are disposable and replaceable. "Holy crap, not only are these guys not all that immortal, they're also on Darth Vader's payroll" was my first thought.

Also, for all we know Garling still leads the Holy Knights and may confront the revos in the future regardless of his promotion.

At least, I hope he didn't earn that seat just to remain glued on it

@Deicide it's true that Vegapunk mentions a year of rehabilitation. During which Bonney still can't be exposed to the sun ? It's possible I missed that information, which at least would explain why Kuma doesn't consider taking her with him. I don't think the nurse and her team ever did any genuine medical care for Bonney, though, and I doubt Kuma was fooled either. Maybe it's a matter of perspective : to Vegapunk and to the reader, it seems obvious that everything will be fine after the procedure on Egghead is over. But from her father's point of view, it can still go wrong anytime so he doesn't take any risk and plays nice.

Optimism is maybe Kuma's main weakness, all in all. His entire life as a slave, priest, revolutionary and warlord showed him time and again that playing nice with the world government won't get you anywhere, yet he still somehow convinces himself that, eventhough she is his daughter, Bonney will escape this fate and her captors won't horribly abuse the situation.

@Deicide I can get behind that reasoning, for sure. Kuma sacrificing himself for the sake of others does work consistently throughout the flashback; up to the point where Vegapunk has finished her treatment, everything aligns perfectly and I support his decisions.

However, for me whatever hopes he may have held for his daughter's future don't quite excuse that he accepted to let her become a hostage. Especially considering everything he previously agreed to for her sake. That part wasn't self-sacrifice, it was putting Bonney in danger with no good reason. The moment agent Alpha cracked that rock and made her threat, I would have wanted Kuma to crush her then and there and vanish with his daughter. But... honest to a fault and foolishly naive, he was.

In other news, I completed my Egghead re-read.

Some parts flow better in one sitting, others are still just as bad. The first dozen chapters after the elders make landfall work nicely, until 1112-115. The elders are relentless and efficient, they're everywhere and practically tip the balance by their actions alone. At some point you really feel the Straw Hats are in a pinch, which is good. Bad points however for the constant chit-chat in between moves, which makes parts of the action feel like a caricaturally overdone bullet-speed sequence. Bonney gaining control of the Pacifistas is one very nasty offender in that respect.

Then the core content of the message starts and everything gradually weakens. I really enjoyed the message altogether, but it's too little information spread over too many chapters with parts that should have been cut.

At first the worldwide reactions are a nice touch, it's nice to see long-gone faces and the revelation of the sinking world is one tough blow to the guts. Then the reactions and VP monologue go on and on and on, to the point where they make it difficult to keep track of the main action, which in return feels like a disjointed sequence when it should be one furious rush of adrenaline.
At the same time, the elders lose their efficiency because they're frantically trying to locate the source of the transmission. Which kinda makes sense, but when Saturn just vanishes in the middle of a fight against the Weak Hats it really becomes too much. Previousy these guys felt threatening, but progressively all they do is big flashy moves with conversely tiny consequences. Partly because they're fighting Nika plus the giants and apparently a big laugh and popping eyes will let them shrugg off anything. Fight choregraphy is really weak throughout this part and scale is all over the place when they're in their giant form, which doesn't help.
It doesn't get any better afterwards, with the message refusing to end - it really should have concluded after the sinking world and ongoing war, we didn't need to hear again about the Roger pirates and One Piece, this last parts felt off-tune. Plus, too much action crammed in a very short sequence, between Ju Peter and Saturn invading the boat one after the other, more elders coming after the robot, robot coming back out of the water, haki bomb...It's just too much, I would have prefered a more concise ending with additional breathing space.

Bad points also for the Vegapunk memory wipe afterthought. It explains his actions, but I can't accept that he didn't even once try to stop York or secure the Mother Flame out of the World Gov's reach.

All in all a good arc that kept me entertained, but the last part is clearly weaker and dilutes the fun, eventhough it had some massive reveals.

Interesting, I had not considered this angle. It's true that the more the story unravels, the more Yoru feels like some freaky teenager rather than an ageless terror the way Darkness did.

Awww, I could have done with a little more Chainsawman rampage.
(also, War's reason for wanting to fight is reaaallly dumb)