Recent Chapter Discussion

[xmysticgohanx]

I'm predicting her power to be on par with Smoothie

 

[SSJ2]

Starting 888

 

[SSJ2]

Super Saiyan Carrot. So the spoilers were true.

 

[xmysticgohanx]

she is going to be smoothie tier

 

[sei'taer]

Where is germa 66?

 

[SSJ2]

From the wiki:

With the Big Mom Pirates beginning to recover from Big Mom's scream, the Vinsmokes donned their raid suits and aided the Sanji Retrieval Team in retreating to Bege's Big Father fortress by fending off the Big Mom Pirates.[55] Inside the fortress, the Vinsmokes decided to face off against Big Mom to give Sanji's friends and allies an opening to escape.[56] While they are soon overpowered by the Charlotte Family, an unexpected explosion triggered the collapse of Whole Cake Chateau and allowed everyone, including the Vinsmokes, to escape.[57] With the exception of Sanji, the family fled the chateau and retreated back to their kingdom. After defeating the Big Mom Pirates squad sent after them, Niji tricked Mont-d'Or into thinking that Germa 66 had been crushed. They were then informed of the status of the Straw Hats, and Ichiji gave the order for Germa's ships to set sail.[

So either they ditched, or they will be on their way to help soon from the sea.

 

[sei'taer]

They're obviously on their way to the same point as everyone else, it's just that this is about the point everything is coming to a head

 

[sei'taer]

Not that I expect them to abandon the Sunny, but that ending.

Also still no vinsmokes

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Big Mom looked pretty cool in the last two pages. Not much to say about this chapter beyond it being more of the same and Sulong not being a complete copy-paste of the Werewolf trope.

 

[SSJ2]

I thought the chapter was decent overall. I'm rather curious to see how they handle Big Mom.

 

[sei'taer]

That might be the best chapter this year honestly. Franky is going to be pissed when he sees the sunny after this arc.

The art in this chapter is top notch too.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Indeed it was the best chapter in a long time. That's not really saying much though, but I at least found there to be more to take away than just basically being more of the same. It was good to see the low and mid tier Straw Hats fight tactically against a top tier threat. Seems Jimbei's stronger than we would've thought since he can alter his body with Busoshoku Haki like many other characters, though I do find it contrived that he didn't use it during Marineford, showing that Oda doesn't plan everything in advance. Speaking of which, I'm not really fond of every Busoshoku expert gaining blackened limbs, since it makes it far less interesting than when we could've assumed Luffy's utilisation of it was due to being vulcanised rubber.

 

[sei'taer]

I don't know what it takes to impress you man, there were some pretty awesome stuff in one piece this year.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I don't know what it takes to impress you man

Genuine character development and not repeating tired tropes at the very least.

there were some pretty awesome stuff in one piece this year.

Such as?

---

New chapter was...more of the same. We get introduced to yet another forgettable Big Mom child defined by one or two hyperbolic character traits. Also, the Luffy VS Katakuri fight is stretched out once more with Luffy's Kenbunshoku Haki improving to the extent he can counter Katakuri somewhat, despite being heavily fatigued and having used Gear 4th. It's Post-UI Goku VS Kale & Caulifla/Kefla all over again with slightly more in-universe excuses.

Only interesting part was the end where we finally have Sanji arriving, likely giving Big Mom the cake and putting an end to the conflict in the next chapter (though would've been this one if it hadn't been padded out with a fight scene that only needed 2-3 pages to tell it's tale), and even that was at the extent of Pudding being an annoying bipolar again.

 

[SSJ2]

Why does Pudding act like that? Was there a reason given that I missed?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Oda trying to write a character with internal conflict and complex goals, yet failing at it spectacularly. In the end, she's just OP's Lunch who got gaslighted by her upbringing (like 90% of OP characters).

 

[SSJ2]

I am really not a fan of Pudding.

Btw CC I haven't forgotten about the review thread. Sorry for delaying.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

So, yet another chapter with poor pacing in terms of story progression, seeing as how other than Sanji reuniting with the Straw Hats, the only events worth discussing are the last five pages, seeing as how the mid point of the chapter only introduces two more caricaturish Big Mom daughters that will become pretty forgettable. Cinnamon also looks like a thot.
I liked Oven's plan of breaking all the mirrors except for one. As simplistic as it is, it still has a lot more substance than any battle related moment we've had for the past few months.

Katakuri still isn't able to KO a fatigued base Luffy. Even Super Galu would be jealous of his plot armour.

Luffy getting stabbed and losing a bit of flesh was the first engaging part of the Katakuri fight since it started, so there's that. Too bad his plot armour will have Luffy either endure it or be completely healed by someone like Chopper and never acknowledge the injury afterwards. The last panel being Flambe laughing seemed like a strange choice to end the chapter on. Perhaps she'll play some role of relevance after all.

 

[SSJ2]

How fucking long is Luffy vs Katakuri going to go one for? It's felt like months now, ffs.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

How fucking long is Luffy vs Katakuri going to go one for? It's felt like months now, ffs.

It started in Chapter 878, so it's been 14 chapters already (can't remember if it's been featured in each chapter though), so since September. All for a fight sequence that could've been shortened down to being in 3 chapters at most and still having the same major plot points intact.