Posts made by Zanze

@Coookie Right... There's actually quite a lot now that you list them all.
I think VP's fruit bothered me more because he looked so gross before he cut off his brain.

But yeah, the way Punk Records came to be begs for an explanation.
The satellites too, in my opinion. How does one create copies of himself? At one point I thought the six Vegapunks might just be AIs in cyborg/robot/whatever bodies that can access Punk Records, and thus, having access to all of Vegapunk's memories and thought processes, also "are" Vegapunk.
But the fact that each of them embodies a trait of the original personality doesn't really fit with this interpretation... I hope this stuff gets explored more.

One thing I've thought about is, the Brain Brain fruit making your brain grow like that is a little unusual in One Piece. Most fruits don't permanently alter their user's appearance like that, it could have just granted infinite memory to VP even without his brain growing island-sized.
The way it works could be a set-up for VP and his brain to become separare characters. It has a bit of a Skynet characterization this way.
Also, Punk Records is one of the main geographical features of Egghead.

Dunno, I was sure the traitor would be one of the satellites but I can see it ending up being Punk Records instead.

If anything, more or less grounded theorycrafting and predictions are more interesting to read than the endless and increasingly wilder Yamato coping. Even if they pan out to be wrong they can offer you a new perspective into the story you didn't think about.

A wild Carrot appears!
It's like she's just there to forever remind you of how random and unsatisfaying her closure was.

Typical cover for a volume in-between big arcs, aside from it being a throwback.
Thank god from Vol. 106 and onwards there won't be anything Wano related anymore

I started to be pretty sure Yamato wouldn't join when he got sent on sidequest duty instead of being the centerpiece of the showdown against Kaido.
Overall father and son were pretty similar, characters with tons of intrigue and potential that kinda just weren't explored; Kaido was more entertaining though imo.
But still, yeah, no idea what Oda wanted to do with this character tbh

@andre said in Chapter 1073: Miss Buckingham Stussy:

@Zanze said in Chapter 1073: Miss Buckingham Stussy:

but the only comment the Elders made was that they were happy Sabo also happened to be there.

I legitimately don't understand how you can read that into it. They don't say they're happy or act happy. As they're listening in and realize he's in Lulusia, they seem taken aback that he's there in the first place. One of them says he's unlucky and another says it's just fate. What are you reading that makes you think they're happy? It's chapter 1060 for reference.

Again, "happy" is a bit of a strong word, but... Sorry if this is going to get long.
I think destroying Lulusia was a very disproportionate reaction. It was just an island where a coup happened. They didn't even potentially hold earth-shattering secrets like the Ohara archeologists.
The WG could just have sent the military to put the members of the new government into jail and restaurate the old one, instead of literally erasing the island from history and killing everyone who was in it (even people who might still have been pro-WG). Can't even use it as en example against rebellious nations because I think they'd like to keep Uranus or whatever that weapon is a secret.

To keep it short, the Elders' only comment about such senseless bloodshed pretty much amounting to "Hey Sabo was also there, we're getting two birds with one stone!" didn't paint them as characters who particularly care about this kind of stuff, at least to me.
Maybe they really were unhappy about what happened and Oda wants to keep eventual conflicts between the Elders and Imu as a surprise, but as of now their wills look pretty much 1:1 in my opinion.

@andre said in Chapter 1073: Miss Buckingham Stussy:

That's still not casual. They regret that they have to kill these people. One can regret what needs to be done and still understand the necessity to do it. They seem to see the greater good that they're protecting as more important than whatever any of us think should replace it, probably because of the knowledge they have of what replaced it before they were in place. Their use of slavery is abhorrent and unjustifiable, but they aren't without a desire for progress. Indeed, they lament Jinbe's betrayal so much because they saw him as a force of good towards their relationship with fishmen.

I see your point, but I just think there's too big of a disproportion between the regret they express and the mass killings / genocides / witch hunts that they regularly commission.
Like sure, the idea of blowing up Lulusia did probably come from Imu, but the only comment the Elders made was that they were happy Sabo also happened to be there. Plus there was Ohara, and the whole mass killing of children in the womb just in case one of those was Roger's son... I mean they're not exactly "casual" but these are all extreme, exaggerated reactions compared to the threats they were supposedly preventing.
They might do all of that stuff for the greater good, but the fact that the greater good is also supposed to be their own power system where they have all those absurd priviliges is a bit suspicious.
Even the balance of the world is just something they keep in place mostly to prevent another Joy Boy / Roger from showing up to destroy their government.

As for Imu, yeah we don't know much and mostly have to assume so it's up to personal interpretation.
I assume that he's immortal, actually comes from the Void Century and, in spite of his existence being hidden, he's actually the rightful king. I also assume that, unless he completely breaks any and all power levels in One Piece, sending Akainu and the three admirals to dispose of him should be more than enough unless he uses his weapon to blow up Marijoa with himself in it... So, in my reading, the Elders want to keep him in there. He might even be an asset, like he seems to have some divinatory powers or something like that. He knows Luffy, Blackbeard and Vivi somehow are the biggest threats to the WG.
This is 100% a personal reading, though. Things could actually be very different. It's just, I really haven't gotten the vibe that Imu and the Elders don't play in the exact same team.

@andre said in Chapter 1073: Miss Buckingham Stussy:

And I don't think their discussion about extinguishing lights was casual. Their faces are darkened and in supplication. They always discuss things like this in terms of keeping the balance, never flippantly.

That's the thing, though. I'm sure that, unlike the average Celestial Dragon, they fully understand the weight of certain decisions and that's why they always express regret for what they're about to do.
But ultimately they don't take those decisions for any greater good. Keeping the balance just means keeping in place the power structure that has them on top and protects them (and that originates lots and lots of pain, via slavery and the heavenly tributes among other things). Vegapunk and the Ohara archeologists didn't even enter their kill list because of something they did, just because of something they maybe could know... And they keep doing this kind of stuff. If they regretted it that much, you'd think they would stop.

As for Imu, yeah. It could be that he takes some decisions in spite of what the Elders think. But in the great cleansing scene, for example, it's the Elders that go to him to basically get told who they need to kill, not the other way around - and that happens right after they said between the lines that they kinda want to kill Cobra. And after all, unless Imu has some kind of enormous bargaining chip, they are the ones who keep him in power.
I don't know... I don't really see them as conflicted characters.

It's just my two cents but the Five Elders were also "regretful" about the order they were about to give when they decided to blow Ohata to smithereens. Then 20 something years later you see them casually talk about great cleansings and erasing lights from history. They even destroy an entire island very casually.
They're just hypocrites, just like most of the Navy's upper echelons. Maybe something will come out of Saturn and Vegapunk having met each other but in general I wouldn't read too much into the stuff they tell themselves.
Love to hate them, though.

Best moment of the year
Has to be the sequence from Kaido taking down Luffy to the end of the first full chapter of Gear 5 fighting.

Worst moment of the year
Wano's last chapter felt very flaccid. The crew leaving without saying goodbye to Momo and Kin felt forced, the 2487th intermission with Hiyori and Orochi (this time in a flashback) where neither of them says anything new didn't land for me, and I was never a big fan of Yamato and I didn't think he'd join but that goodbye was also handled in a very meh way still.

Best character of the year
He has a lot of missed potential, but if I have to decide who the most memorable non-SH, non-Vegapunk character was in the last year's chapters... It's got to be Kaido.

Worst character of the year
Sentomaru. I didn't think he'd turn out to be a super memorable character, but after his cool introduction all those years ago he deserved a better treatment.

Best new character of the year
Goes without saying... Vegapunk. He's a pretty complex character, even contradictory, in a very realistic way. Works for the WG but is friends with the Revos, because he's clearly good-natured but he doesn't really care that much. Scientific research comes above anything else. His multiple bodies are also a nice twist and they all have fun designs, Shaka and Pytaghoras especially. On top of everything he has a lot of potential for turning out to be even more interesting than he already is.

Worst new character of the year
Ryokugyu. I like his powers and I don't think he'll turn out to be as one-dimensional as he seems now in terms of characterization. However, his tree form just looks goofy and, even if the main characters are now in that league, him literally pissing his pants because Shanks stared at him menacingly is really not the way to introduce an Admiral.

Best fight of the year
Luffy VS Kaido of course.

Worst fight of the year
I'm loving Egghead, but Luffy, Jinbe, Chopper, Sentomaru and the Seraphims VS basically just Lucci shouldn't have went they it did. Just made no sense for Luffy to leave.

Best surprise of the year
Probably Law VS Blackbeard. It's a very unexpected turn of events that speeds up the ending, and Law actually feels in danger here.

Worst surprise of the year
Carrot being appointed as the next ruler of Zou by virtue of literally just having left the island for two weeks. I get that Oda wanted to give her some kind of uplifting closure but that's not the way to go about it. Would have preferred at least a goodbye with the crew...

Quote of the year
Tie between "I can hear the drums of liberation...", "I REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE STRAW HAT AS AN EMPEROR" and "Everything in this world is born from desire".

Funniest moment of the year
That panel in Chapter 1046 where Kaido shoots a gust at Luffy and he dodges by pulling up his legs

Best panel/spread of the year
The double page with the mecha shark appearing under the Sunny. Fantastic spread

The SMILE users were portrayed decently in terms of strenght. They were mostly fodder, sure, but Oda managed to sell the idea that they were still very strong. They managed to slow the heroes down, to fatally wound Izo, some characters were entirely devoted to keeping them in check (Kawamatsu, Drake, grandpa Hyo), and without Tama the battle probably wouldn't have ended with the SH alliance victorious.

The problem is, when you see them in action they all look so weak and feeble and like the animal part is more of a hindrance than anything (in what way would having your body grow out of a chicken's ass be a power up?) so for me It was impossible to not notice a disconnect between what was happening in the story and the way it was portrayed. Big Mom's crew is also goofy but it felt way more fearful.
On the other hand I love how goofy Oda gets with his designs, so overall I'm mixed

My list:

1. Whole Cake Island
   Up there with Alabasta, Enies Lobby and the likes for me. One Piece at its best.
2. Dressrosa
   Dressrosa was a slog week to week but I've enjoyed rereading it. The gladiators were fun and well-used and the beef between Law and Doffy was awesome. Plus it had Bartolomeo.
3. Wano
   High highs and low lows, much like Dressrosa but doesn't come together as good as the Doffy arc. Still, it has been entertaining mostly the whole through.
4. Zou
   It was short but memorable. Awesome location and Capone was a highlight.
5. Fishman Island
   The action in this arc was sub-par. The adventure secrion was pretty bad. I enjoyed the flashback though, and framing the villain as just a product of his environment was a very realistic choice for a shonen that I enjoyed seeing explored.
6. Punk Hazard
   Some enjoyable moments mostly from Law and Smoker, Caesar was very fun. But overall it dragged a lot and was not that fun.

Egghead has the potential to become second or even first, really enjoying it so far.

Oooh, I get it now.
The Warlords aren't actually right next to each other, Hancock and Mihawk are way closer to the camera than Doffy and the others.

What if CP0/the Marines force Bonney to age the Seraphims up?

@Barkworm Rebecca was a lot better before she left the coliseum too. It's like at one point he can't help himself

She was cool up until Kyoshiro "killed" her. Then she turned into a generic princess character and never recovered

Kin'emon was fantastic. He got a ton of great scenes, from his hilarious misunderstanding of Yasuie's message, to declaring Luffy will be PK, and finally taking down Kanjuro and his last stand against Kaido. Him having a wife and his personal bond with Momo made him more three-dimensional as a character. And his closeness to the Straw Hats felt natural since they spent so much time together.
He had been a bit whatever in PH and Dressrosa but here he really shined.

The others got a bit fumbled, I liked them overall though. Oda crammed so many interesting ideas into these characters: the lost brothers, the ex-criminal who turned cynical during those endless 20 years, the man who got so enraged his face changed, a graverobber and his fox, the traitor who would have been ready to die for the cause anyways. They're not really Straw Hat level since they're a bit too similar in terms of characterization, but you don't usually get these many backstories for a group of supporting characters and overall it was a neat idea.
Unfortunately not much of that stuff paid off in the plot. The dramatic Kanjuro fight being offscreened only for him to get up N times, Izo and Ashura dying randomly (Ashura's scene was good though), Kawamatsu doing pretty much nothing in the whole raid, Dog and Cat's fights being awful, and perhaps what stings most, Denjiro disappearing in the background forever after all the hype he got and randomly showing up just to cut Orochi's head.
Feels like Oda wanted to juggle too many things.

I'd say they worked very well up until Kaido defeated them, and that fight was awesome, but then they should have stayed down. Maybe keep Kin'emon around but that's it.
First of all they made Kaido look very ineffective, for all the brutal hits he gave them he couldn't fully KO a single Scabbard. And then they didn't really get to do much even after they got up, so...
Also Kanjuro was a bit wasted, his betrayal was very dramatic and he worked very well as a villain but it all felt underdeveloped afterwards.

A mixed bag overall. I think this is the biggest flaw that post-TS Oda can't escape from, if he made the various storylines develop in a more natural way instead of cramming the Scabbards' revenge tale, the Straw Hats Pirates VS Beast Pirates fight, the Worst Generation burying the old guard, the Yamato fiasco and the payoffs to the Zou stuff (+ a ton of other smaller things like undercover Drake and CP0) all into a big royal rumble. Something had to give.

Maybe I'll post more thoughts at a later time, but I think Kaido's biggest problem is: he was just not very hateable as a villain, and not much of a personal foe to the main character at all (in fact, they respected each other and both were having fun during the final showdown).
Since he's the main threat of a good 30% of the manga, maybe those two aspects should have been more pronounced in order to make the moment he finally went down truly satisfying.

Aside from this, I like that Oda tried to make him a bit more of a 3d character compared to past villains, but unlike Doffy or Big Mom it feels like there's something missing. Can't believe we got pretty much nothing out of his relationship with Yamato, and didn't even found out what exactly made him so depressed.
In the end he came off as just a violent drunkard, but not even a particularly malicious one. So I don't know...

As the strongest creature in the world, he worked pretty well though. He's been a very imposing presence and taking him down really took a lot.
But even there, sometimes he felt more like an HP sponge than anything. This is the first arc where some good guys actually die, and they die by the hands of Orochi (the weakling villain!), Kanjuro, and CP0 (who were not even actually part of the conflict). Wouldn't it have been better to have Kaido be the one who killed some of them?
The fight scenes themselves however were 10/10. Kaido has been the most spectacular villain in all of One Piece hands down. So that part worked well.

Last but not least, aside from King & Queen and Ulti, his crew kinda sucked?

I don't know, I enjoyed him overall but it feels like there were a couple of things missing.

Marco was handled well. Played support and passed the torch to the next generation.
Izou was also nice, being both a Scabbard and a WB Pirate. A nice touch of complexity for a secondary character. Too bad he ended up dying randomly.
Ace was... fine? I was expecting something better. I thought Ace would have some unfinished business with Kaido and Luffy would have finally surpassed his brother by defeating him. That's more or less kind of what happened but Ace never even meeting Kaido was lame. The rest was fine.
Whitebeard was cool, him not going after Kaido is kinda lame but the sign was on the wall since Zou so I had time to make my peace with it. It's ultimately not the biggest deal but it did feel forced. Would have almost preferred if Whitebeard, for all his virtues, was also a bit of a stubborn mule and was still mad at Oden for leaving his crew.

The change from "Roger deciphered the Poneglyphs because he could hear the voice of all things!" to "Actually Roger just made Oden read the Poneglyphs" makes me more upset than Imu, Rocks and Nika combined.
At least the latter three are interesting. I like Imu's creepiness and the whole drums of liberation imagery a lot. The Roger/Oden thing feels like it breaks canon for nothing particularly worthwile.

The Celestial Dragons having their own intelligence agency that does all sorts of shady stuff was a pretty fun and plausibile idea, imo. Same for the WG having a secret branch that does deals with people the WG is not supposed to do deals with. And I suppose having the two be the same agency makes sense for the sake of simplicity.
Tying the concept to CP9 made everything a lot messier, though. My biggest perplexity about CP0 is that they seem to be teleporting around the OP world, first they're in Dressrosa, then at WCI while also supervising the Reverie and also fighting the Revos at Baltigo, and a few days later they all show up in Wano and now they're in Egghead, and every single time they show up for a different reason!
Also it's not clear if their identities and professiona are secret or public, Lucci being the most notable member of the agency is kinda lame, and the mask thing makes no sense.

Overall I'd say CP0 is a perfectly valid idea that got executed very messily.
But eh, at the very least it gave us the Legend! And the scenes with them dealing with Orochi and when they get found out by Drake were also very cool imo

They're pretty cool, mostly because they don't come out of nowhere but have been slowly building up since Sabaody at least. If Oda didn't introduce all the stuff that's used for them (cloning, gigantification, DF replication, child experimentation, Lunarians) as carefully as he did, they would have (rightfully) been seen as an omega-asspull. Instead their introduction felt very natural.
Plus I love how creepy they are. Them being children is a nice touch.
One thing is going to make them or break them for me, though: they need to stick to the original warlords (or, at most, be extended to later warlords like Law). If the likes of Ace, or even worse, Roger or Whitebeard start to show up as Seraphims this whole plotline is going to become very trashy.

Also, maybe King would have needed to be a main arc villain, that would have been more appropriate for all the relevance he's getting now. His powers weren't really all that developed during his fight with Zoro (I guess we're going to find out what exactly happened when Zoro sliced him and he just exploded through the Seraphims), and above all he was so cool once he became an actual character :'(

Vegapunk is so fun. We've been waiting for more than half of the series' runtime to meet him, but so far it's been worth it.
The idea that he didn't split only his body, but also his personality is really cool. It both makes for a fun cast of weird scientists, and creates intrigue for just what kind of person is the main Vegapunk going to be. He has made many ethically questionable things to say the least, and it's a bit telling that two of his personalities are devoted to "negative" traits (Lilith is Evil and Atlas is Wrath), while the other four are more impersonal (Edison and Pythagoras just do "cold" scientific research, York just does bodily functions, and Shaka... seems to be a decent guy?), but everyone spoke very well of him in his home island, and overall we've been getting an ambigous vibe from him.
An entire body being devoted to eat/poop/sleep and seemingly not even being able to talk is pretty creepy, though. I wonder how far Oda's going to explore this potential thread.

The fight with Seraphim Jinbe was cool, him having Pink's fruit is also a stroke of genius. Can't help but feel worried for Pink though... Maybe he's dead and that's why his meeting at a bar with Franky was drawn as a non-canon chapter cover. I always found that a little weird, but it's only clicking now.
Otherwise, Vegapunk can now wholesale copy Devil Fruits. He already did that with Kaido's fruit but that was supposed to be a secret, at least to the WG, while now DF clonation is public. Assuming Pink is still alive, of course.
The final reveal isn't super surprising, with the Ancient Kingdom having built Pluton and all the similarities to Atlantis assuming they were very technologically advanced was sort of a 2+2. I'd agree that these reveals are being introduced in a bit of an anticlimatic way, but so far the set-up of the island is still very intriguing and these are easily the most fun chapters we've had in a long while.

What if the WG didn't have access to Uranus until recently?

What if not every Blackbeard fights a Straw Hat 1 on 1? The party could start with all the Straw Hats VS San Juan Wolf, for example.
Plus I don't think Aokiji (if he is indeed a commander, but I mean what other role could he have?) is actually going to fight a Straw Hat to the death in the endgame.

Call me boring but I think the crew is complete with Jinbe

In the end that's the main problem about Wano, the Scabbards are simultaneously the best and the worst thing about it.

The best because they're a lot more developed than your average arc side characters, and most of their backstories are just cool (Kawamatsu's past with the Fox, Ashura giving up hope and going back to being a bandit, Denjiro literally getting his face disfigured by rage and infiltrating Orochi's inner circle, Kin'emon becoming Momo's adoptive father, Kanjuro's betrayal...), it's a cool group and their fight with Kaido was spectacular.

On the other hand most of them didn't have particularly amazing resolutions (Ashura dying kinda randomly, the Kanjuro fight being offscreened and Denjiro disappearing for a ton of time and not even getting his face back I think are the worst offenders - not to mention Kiku not even getting to mourn Izo's death) despite the huge amount of panel time they "stole" from the Straw Hats...
And also, every single one of them getting back up after getting destroyed by Kaido just killed any sense of tension during Onigashima.
So, eh.

Kin'emon though was consistently amazing in this arc. He got a ton of dramatic scenes and badass lines, and the gags about his absent-mindedness were hilarious. So at least the main Scabbard was totally nailed imo.
The others at least were interesting characters but they also caused a lot of wonkiness...

@Daz said in Chapter 1058: New Emperors:

@Zanze said in Chapter 1058: New Emperors:

I think it's fine that Onimaru didn't reappear in the raid. The character served his purpose, and he did reunite with Kawamatsu in the end.

He did? When did that happen? I totally missed that.

They're together in those two panels where we learn that Izo and Ashura died

The chapter about Kawamatsu and the fox is low-key the best chapter of Wano. The last panels with the mysterious monk shapeshifting into the fox are so sweet and mindblowing when you don't already know the twist... And just the story of this defeated samurai and the fox he adopted spending months graverobbing in the snow felt very real to me for some reason.

I think it's fine that Onimaru didn't reappear in the raid. The character served his purpose, and he did reunite with Kawamatsu in the end.
I wouldn't even say those were wasted pages because I enjoyed the story. Too bad Kawamatsu didn't end up doing much in the raid.

I might elaborate more in a few days, but to keep it short, the Minks were Just kinda sad

The thing about Sanji is that he's all about crippling himself.
Not hitting women no matter what.
Not fighting with his hands no matter what.
Feeding anyone no matter what, even if they're an enemy.
And lately, he decided to never use the Raid Suit again.

Sanji is very principled.
I don't think we'll ever see him hitting a woman. His character is all built around not doing stuff.

Then again he did use the Raid Suit a couple of times and that development is still ????? to me, so who knows

Let's do the not disappointing ones now.

Kidd - It might be because of his punk rock theme but I really like Kidd. He hasn't been as developed as Law did during Dressrosa, which is a bit of a shame considering they're the two most prominent members of the Worst Gen (sans Luffy and Blackbeard)... But I don't think his role is finished. In any case, I like what we got. His bond with Killer is really well made, you can feel they're every bit as close as Luffy and Zoro, but unlike our two main characters they're also allowed to fail, which made for some interesting scenes. The scene where Kidd and Kilelr are brought back to Udon in particular really hit hard for me for some reason. Killer got basically disfigured, and Kidd rushed to his aid despite having just managed to escape the prison... It's nice stuff. And they also have each other's back during Onigashima, which is also pretty cool. Then, the gags with Luffy, Law and Kidd have been consistently fun and I just like the way he fights, like yeah he uses magnetism in a very unrefined way but it fits the character - plus, the skeleton mecha, the metal bull and the final laser cannon were all really cool. Also I think he's by far the supernova who got the most natural shift from mainland Wano to Onigashima. Law, Drake and Hawkins were getting involved into all kinds of subplots that promptly went nowhere, while Kidd just befriended Luffy in Udon, regrouped with Killer and the rest of his crew and then went to war against Kaido. I guess there's not a lot of substance to the character aside from being rude and headstrong and his bond with Killer, but that's enough. I see him and Killer as kind of a pair, and Killer is the one who expresses their philosophy a little more explicitely. Which leads me to...
Killer - what a surpirse this character was. No lie, I think his fight with Hawkins might be one of the best ones in Onigashima. Sure, other fights were more spectacular, but this one felt so personal, and it felt like not only a clash between characters but a clash between lifestyles. We were told at the beginning of the post-skip that there's only two ways to survive in the New World - serve the emperors or fight them, and here we have two characters representing those two opposite choices. And it was executed so well, Killer being the one who suffered the most (he's basically disfigured because of the Smile he ate) and yet standing his ground proudly against the man who chose the easy way out was very cool. When he tells Hawkins to F off with his luck predictions, we rely on our own strenght, aah, so cool. Just classic One Piece. And the tower card at the end... That fight was just perfect in my opinion. Killer's fighting style is a bit whatever though, but he got to participate in the rooftop battle and every character involved was spectacular there.
Kidd and Killer as a pair added a lot to the story in my opinion.

Law in my opinion has gotten a bit old, we've seen his tricks over and over and the bulk of his development as a character was in Dressrosa. He felt a little just along for the ride sometimes. But his new goal of finding the meaning behind the D is a very natural development for him, and I liked that. And like Kidd, yeah he might have lacked in substance a little but he sure provided some spectacle. 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...
Also Law and Kidd's final blow against Big Mom felt more satisfying than Luffy's one against Kaido, for some reason.

Another thing I liked about the Supernovas is that they provided some break from all the samurai and dinosaurs fighting styles. Magnets and mechas! Voodoo! Music! They all still feel like very fresh characters even when they're underused. I guess this is another field where Drake gets the short end of the stick...
Anyways, I hope they manage to stay in the story somehow.

Green Bull was handled fairly well in my opinion.
Sure, he didn't give off the same grossly overpowered, completely unsurmountable wall that past admirals' introductions had, but I think it makes sense. The main characters play in that same strenght tier now. The admirals aren't as scary anymore, and that's fine. That said, he didn't look like a pushover either, his powers are formidable and very varied, and also imo just very cool visually. Especially him leaveing a trail of flowers as he walks. Great stuff.
In terms of characterization, I've enjoyed what little we have seen. People say GB is an even worse fascist than Akainu and while it may look like that, I think there's enough nuance in his actions to make a more interesting character later. First off, his power is nature. And the rule of the strongest is one of the rules of nature (or at least, it can be seen as such). I like that he offers a darker, unconventional characterization for someone with such a power. Then, his speech came off as kinda "matter of fact", it's what he works for but not necessarily what he believes in. I think.
The ramifications of his actions on Momo and Yamato make sense but were kinda underexplored... or un-explored.

Shanks though, he was just there to promote Film Red.

Overall the Supernovas were one of the most fun parts of the arc in my opinion.
Drake - the most disappointing one by far. He didn't do much in the mainland, then during the raid he allied with Luffy, disappeared for like 30 chapters and showed up again to get owned by CP0. He got a couple of cool scenes (the last confrontation with the CP0 guy in particular) and Sword is an interesting concept and he's probably going to be more important later, but overall as of now... Meh. He's been connected to Kaido since the pre-skip and he has a t-rex Devil Fruit, I think everyone was expecting something more out of the guy.
Apoo - he was consistently fun but honestly he's also been just kinda there, and we didn't even get a quick showdown with Brook. A kinda wasted character
Hawkins - rounding up the disappointment trio... But actually I think Hawkins has been pretty cool. It's just that I think his design and his powers are incredibly cool and interesting and I wanted more. He was pretty proactive in mainland Wano though, and his fights with Law were cool. I like that he's the one major character to actually get his morale broken by Kaido. The fight with Killer, pretty cool, his final scene with Drake pretty cool again. It's just... Compared to Law, Kidd and Capone he feels underdeveloped and underused, though not as much as Apoo and Drake and I loved every time he was on scene regardless. I hope he's not dead...

I'll do the others later

I like Sabo and Yamato, but they both wish they were half as fun as Alabasta Ace tbh

@Zik:

When I say do what Kaido wants I’m talking about his general stance of you will have no friends and you will be stuck in Wano doing what I want.

That's not going to happen either way. Even if Yamato stays in Wano it's going to be as a free choice and he's going to have friends and not do anything of what Kaido wanted.
A free Wano with Yamato there makes Kaido happier than a free Wano with Yamato elsewhere? That's what I don't get…

I don't think he's staying in Wano anyways

@Zik:

If you actually thought yeah Yamato might still end up doing what Kaido wants even after their confrontation and Yamato’s act of defiance.

Yamato actually protecting Wano is not what Kaido wants anyways. He wanted his shogun puppet to have that fruit as a symbolic thing to enforce his regime (see how they were already brainwashing kids), not for actually protecting Wano (as in, Wano's citizens).
I really don't get what you guys mean with this whole discourse.

Well, it's simple. Kaido wanted whoever he originally had in mind to replace Orochi to eat the guardian deity fruit just as a facade - masquerade as Wano's protector while actually acting as its oppressor (that was clever from Oda, authoritian regimes do this kind of stuff all the time).
While Yamato eating the fruit means that he will actually act as Wano's protector. He already did, in fact.

Now protecting Wano could even mean sail with the Straw Hats and unlock the One Piece's secret… I think the guardian deity thing is kind of a moot point, it can fit either way

My two cents on the fights.
I liked Nami VS Ulti a lot. Nami not doing much was a little sad, but the Zeus stuff with Hera eating him was so touching and dark and just weird, can't help but love it.
Usopp VS Page One, if it even counts, was just sad though.
Franky VS Sasaki is kinda just there and it's over too quickly but it has the triceracopter!
Jinbe VS Who's Who had some awkward exposition but the final blow was great.
Robin VS Black Maria was great, I also liked Brook's role a lot, he's become so reliable lately
Sanji VS Queen was… It had some great moments (especially Sanji destroying the raid suit) but the finale has to be one of the worst Oda has ever done. With Queen going after the geisha and getting KO'd... Come on...
Zoro VS King was great. King was amazing, he really felt like a powerhouse and "this is how pteranodons used to hunt" is 10/10. Too bad it was over a little too quickly
Luffy VS Kaido was very good once it kicked into gear (pun intended), the first chapter of Gear 5 is one of my favorites ever

Pretty good overall, although sometimes it felt like the chapter is out of pages and the fight abruptly ends, I'm not sure how to put it better.
Easily the best Straw Hat showing since forever overall, though. Everyone got some memorable moments (RIP Usopp)

@Deicide:

I got a lot of flak a few months ago when I said Yamato's role in the story was to enable other characters' stories.

We need someone to have Oden's journal.
We need someone to protect Momonosuke.
We need someone to stall Kaido once Luffy is thrown outside.
We need someone to teach Momo how to be a dragon.
We need someone to be Momo's mentor figure while Luffy is busy.

So, someone was made to fill those blanks. How do you make people interested in such a character? Create big expectations about him.

I do see Yamato having a character arc, it's just does not seem to be the one people want. If it's meant to make him fond of Momonosuke and realise his role is as Wano's "Guardian Spirit", every choice so far makes sense. He starts in Point A ("I want to go to the sea") and ends in Point B ("I see this is my place after all"). Wants vs Needs. If not, then it's questionable while he got those roles in the first place. His character arc should have been something else.

You know, given his background (20 years of isolation and suffering, with pretending to be another person being the only thing to keep him sane) I thought Yamato would be a little too naive, or a little too nutty, or a little too sheltered or all of the above. And he was like that in the first few chapters, but then as soon as he met Franky he was basically the most mature person in the entire Onigashima already and then he went on to become Momo's mentor. Even the Oden thing was kinda dropped.
It all felt a little artificial, I don't know how to say it

Thing is, even though the character was introduced kinda suddenly, as of now there was plenty of space to explore Yamato better. He had a lot of screentime.
Have him interact with the crew, make him more central to Luffy's motivations for taking down Kaido, give him a proper flashback more in line with the actual standards… Instead he got immediately sent to do sidequests completely separated from the crew, with the bombs subplot amounting to pretty much nothing. Didn't go through any character arc, mostly serving to make Momo go through a character arc instead... It's like if Chopper or Franky didn't change at all during their first arc and prompted changes into Kureha or Iceburg instead.

Like... This just isn't how you introduce a main character to me. And maybe Oda isn't writing Yamato like a main character because... he isn't a main character?
Wano isn't over yet but the rising action part of the arc is. If Yamato is actually joining and Oda really left all meaningful developments for later, well, that's something new which is fine but I hope he does a good job because up until now the character has never fully worked in my opinion

That summed up my feelings better than I could.
I'd only add that even though the pacing of the story has been wonky for a while, basically for the entirety of post-TS… When Oda has wanted to fully flesh out a character he has always taken the time to do so. Just look at Law.
Wouldn't a character technically more important than Law warrant a similar treatment? Instead of whatever it is that Yamato's gotten up until now.

Even Jinbe, his joining may have been rocky indeed but he got special moments with the crew every time he appeared. The Amazon Lily scene with Luffy, Nami forgiving him, the blood transfusion, him quitting Big Mom's crew at the tea party and then taking the helm of the ship for the entirety of a long chase scene...
Yamato got nothing comparable to that. Yamato's mostly gotten text, to be honest.
The text is there for sure though, but... Eh, I'm remaining skeptical for now

@Alfiere:

I think this as a good time as any to (re)state that i (and i believe many others as well) don't think Yamato will join because he's a particularly likeable (i like him fine though) or in any way well handled charachter, but rather because if he doesn't anything about him till now would have been an enormous, meaningless waste of time.
After having him state hel'll join at every occasion, share meaningful moments with Luffy, being the only truly proactive actor on the alliance side in the entire raid, being on the cover of the 100th volume… how would any other outcome make sense or be even remotely satisfying?

I mean, Yamato is fine but the way he's been handled feels closer to, say, Shirahoshi than to Brook or Chopper or even Jinbe. My guess is that something unexpected is going to happen and he's going to be tied to whatever the endgame implications for Wano being special are.
It's either that or Oda forgot how to write and present a main character. But the fact that he didn't put Yamato among Luffy's motivations to fight leads me to think that he knows he hasn't written Yamato like that.
I could be wrong though… We'll see in the next 10 or so chapters

@Robby:

Zoro's freedom was pretty easy to get too. Usopp didn't need freeing at all. Sanji, Chopper and Franky needed some help defending their homes, but the only freedom they needed was the courage to leave, no symbolic destructions or chain breakings there. Jinbe did need help getting out of Impel Down, (though he could have left just by "agreeing" to join the war) but later on could have just left Big mom whenever he felt like… and he ultimately did. Nami, Robin and Brook are the only ones that really needed to be saved.

I brought up Nami and Chopper because those two feel like the closest examples to Yamato in terms of just how big of a personal grudge they held with their arc's villain when they joined, but yeah, I guess this makes sense if you break it down like that.
Still, I can't help but feel like Yamato's emotional bonding with Luffy and the crew in general has been very lacking. You can't go dot by dot but all the Straw Hats got much more extended focus in relation to Luffy or the rest of the crew in general when they joined. If it wasn't Luffy putting his hat on Nami's head or putting Hiruluk's flag on top of Drum's castle, it could have been Zoro getting destroyed by Mihawk and swearing to never lose again, Brook explaining the Laboon situation and impressing everyone, or Jinbe snapping Luffy out of his depression. Not all of this might have happened in the same order or in the arc they first appeared but it all happened while they were being explored as characters, and, subjective I know, but a lot of those made for some of the most memorable scenes in the series.
Has Yamato been explored as a character? The most interaction with the main characters he has gotten is still the handcuffs scene which was a super casual thing that lasted maybe two pages, and I guess him talking about Luffy with Ace in a flashback and the scene was all just for teasing anyways since we don't even know what's the fabled thing that Luffy and Roger said. To me that's just not comparable with what the others got. This would be fine in a vacuum, but with this arc's villain being Yamato's father (and oppressor), like, why isn't Yamato as a character front and center? Imagine if this was all that Nami got in Arlong Park or Franky in Water 7.
If it's all on purpose I genuinely have no idea where Oda is going with this.

@Robby:

Well the obvious answer is because certain crucial elements like history of the Oni or the brief period Kaidou was willing to be nice to someone for at least 9 months weren't important compared to the samurai stuff, and the starving stuff, and the friend of Ace stuff.

I don't know… Being an Oni was the last of Yamato's problems and Kaido is down anyways... Plus he's been caged his whole life, it's not like we're missing many details. And any future arcs can't be as personal as Wano to him. Leaving everything for later is just weird to me. But we'll see.

@Robby:

The other less fun explanation is that between gear 5 and the unsatisfying resolution of Kaidou's defeat is that Oda's lost his touch and we need to stop holding him to the standards he himself has consistently set. That he's human and missed a step, and we just have to settle with dissapointed with this entire finale. He keeps putting more balls in the air than he can actually satisfyingly juggle now and that hurts the whole.. and thats been a problem since Dresserossa.

The hope is that the finale isn't as done as it seems to be and there's still a little more time for… something to pull it all together but eh.

We're probably going to get a lot of lore bombs in the arc wrap-up but Wano as a story I think is done. Orochi is "dead" and Kaido sure seems defeated. Even if he gets back up for one last rampage (which I somehow doubt), he has clearly lost.
I think the finale wasn't Oda's best but it was decent enough for the arc as a whole. It's mainly that the last strike didn't feel that powerful, but the drama was there. It's been said that Kaido getting buried underground lacks thematic relevance, but with Big Mom sharing the same fate by Kidd and Law I think it's pretty clear the point here is that the new generation has buried the old - which isn't really a Wano theme but yeah there's tons of things going on in the story now. The raid was also a generational conflict.
Going back to Yamato though, yeah, he's the character who got the most screwed by the ending, if this is it. Having him react to Momo moving Onigashima instead of to Luffy defeating Kaido is just… meh.

But why would Yamato's flashback take place -after- Kaido has been taken down though?
This isn't a Brook situation where his past and his current troubles were somewhat unrelated (Moria had nothing to do with Laboon or with Brook's crew being dead). This is more like a Nami or Chopper situation where they have very personal ties to the arc's villains and we got their flashbacks before Arlong and Wapol got taken down. We also got scenes where Luffy "freed" his crewmates (destroying Nami's room, putting the pirate flag on top of Drum's Castle) and this just hasn't happened with Yamato unless you count that lame scene where Luffy casually took off his handcuffs…
Yamato not being at all one of Luffy's motivations to fight (and not even among Kaido's) is also hard to shake off. Instead Yamato has been used as Momo's supporting act for most of his screentime.

Design and personality are whatever, that's going to be very subjective territory and it's not really worth talking about it, but if this really is how people expect a main character to be treated... I don't know. You would have expected the future crewmate's flashback to be placed where it was the most dramatically effective instead of as an afterthought, or at the very least to have him be one of the emotional centerpieces of the arc or even just to leave some kind of impression on the main character(s)? Or to get a clearly defined profession (no, sake brewer ain't it).
Nothing of that happened instead, sure Oda could have purposefully left all of that for later, to intentionally introduce the character in the lamest way possible... But why would he?

I guess some seeds for Yamato to join have been planted, and yeah Oda has been a little sloppier lately, but this is... Just not how you write a supposed main character in their supposed most personal arc

Crewmate or not, the way Yamato has been handled was very disappointing.
He's been paired with Momo the whole time, even in the final scene, even as Luffy was taking down Kaido, and Yamato's freedom or Yamato as a character in general has been completely absent from Luffy and Kaido's mind during the fight. Freaking Rebecca got more focus than this as Luffy was taking down Doflamingo.
Even if he joins I can't see how Yamato getting any future development is going to be satisfying, the opponent here was his own father, this arc should have been all about him but it just wasn't - and this is why I think he's not joining. If he joins I'll seriously lose faith in Oda, he can't write a supposed main character like this

My two cents on Kaido.
I think he's been an interesting character. I believe the most important trait about Kaido is that he's bored. He's the strongest thing alive and he has been on top of the food chain for years. He can't reach the One Piece (at least not in a short timeframe) but he also has no real challenge. So, in his general lack of excitement, he spends his time trying suicide and getting wasted while he rambles on about wanting to get a glorious death.
From this perspective, I think him getting fired up when Luffy offers him a good challenge and enjoying the fight makes sense. Keep in mind he's also stronger than Luffy still, and he's 100% sure he'll come out on top. He's still playing. We haven't seen desperate Kaido yet. This and his sentimental drunk phases have been fun character traits that give him a little more nuance than just being a typical evil mastermind or just a mindless brute like Jack is.

Then there's another trait about him that rounds off his character pretty well I think. Kaido is kind of a hypocrite.
His compliments to Luffy? They come from arrogance rather than from sincere appreciation for his opponent like in Katakuri's case. He has also praised Law and Zoro and neither of them was really a menace to Kaido. But they're dangerous enough to force him to be focused on the fight! That's quite a feat against Mr. Indestructible.
His longing for a good challenge? It sure is there, but only for as long as he's sure he will win. If he wanted to fight Oden so much he could have let him recover from his sucker punch and go at it again instead of boiling him to death. Even against Luffy, yeah he was sad and angry when the CP0 guy interfered but he shrugged it off pretty quickly.
And even his longing for a glorious death may not be so sincere, he could have gone up againts the WG or against Whitebeard at any time if he was so serious about it. But he prefered to stay in his skull island getting wasted.
On top of all this he has enslaved an entire nation for twenty years, enabled scum like Orochi, Caesar and Doflamingo and we've seen how he treats his daughter. There's plenty to despise there. He's… kinda casual about it, which is interesting imo. He's not a mustache-twirling villain that takes pleasure in inflicting pain, he's just cynical. He benefits from enslaving Wano, so he enslaves Wano. If the citizens are not okay with it, they'll rebel and he'll crush them, otherwise that's the end of the story. It also doesn't seem like he really holds grudges, he'll try to recruit any opponent he defeats instead of killing them or whatever. He uses brutal methods to break their will, but you can see he's more business-oriented than anything else in these matters.
Yeah Crocodile and even Ener were more magnificent bastards than him but it's fine if Oda tries to give more nuance to his later villains. Big Mom was not straightforward at all either and I think both her and Kaido have been interesting and generally more human than other villains.

However there's one thing that, in my opinion, didn't fully work... Kaido has been a good character but not exactly a great villain.
First, Kaido is the enabler but most of the real evil stuff was done by Orochi. So Luffy beating up Kaido doesn't feel as cathartic because nothing we've ever seen him do on-panel has been particularly despiceable. There was his speech to Momo on the cross where he gave him a choice to survive by forsaking his name that felt delightfully devilish, but not much else.
And then, yeah we don't know what his goals are. Doffy went down without us ever knowing what his plans were too, but at least you could more or less understand he wanted to overthrow the Celestial Dragons because they rejected him and he needed Law's fruit for that. With Kaido though... We don't really know anything at all. His ultimate goal, why he is in Wano, his past with Rocks... Nothing. Even though he's been fairly well characterized, if you don't know what his villain status stands for at its core, yeah it falls a bit flat.
Also, I don't really think Yamato has been a spectacular character and that ties into Kaido as well. You'd think Kaido and Yamato would have been used to develop each other as characters, but we didn't really get much from their relationship. Just Kaido trying to break Yamato's will and Yamato not bending. But not much about what they think or feel about each other. The drama between Sanji and Judge felt way more visceral, on both sides.
Finally, Kaido's gimmick of "breaking wills" helped to further flesh him out as a character, but was painfully ineffective on the main characters. He tried this on Kidd, Luffy, Killer, Yamato and Momo and it failed every single time. The only major character to fall victim to this is Hawkins and he barely interacted with Luffy.
And finally finally, his status as the world's strongest creature leading the most brutal crew didn't really deliver. He and his crew didn't take out even one character. The Straw Hats definitely struggled more than usual but it still falls a bit flat.
120 chapters with Kaido on screen, you may have wanted him to be a little more effective, or a little more brutal, or for his goals to be a little more defined. At this point I don't think Oda will deliver on everything (personally I'd want to know at least some of his past, to get some closure with Yamato and to see him actually get really angry). That's kinda been the problem with Onigashima, the plot moves but the story doesn't and sometimes it feels a little frustrating.
I'm still always hyped to read the next chapter anyways, so what Oda is doing can't be that wrong…

Welp, this turned into a wall of text. Sorry, everyone!

@electricmastro:

I figured this much. Maybe this title is relevant to Yamato's occupation, maybe it isn't:

[qimg]https://i.imgur.com/OfhxWxS.png[/qimg]

If I remember correctly that was just a reference to a poem.
Besides, if Yamato was a brewer, being also Kaido's offspring… He'd have to be a drunkard

The manga literally hasn't even ever stated that Yamato is a sake brewer

Kinemon declared that Luffy will be the pirate king. That scene was pretty cool.
Of course he's not joining though