Recent Chapter Discussion

[SSJ2]

989 was pretty solid.

So the numbers are a failed government experiment to recreate the ancient giant race. I'm curious as to why they are considered failures. It seems odd that the government wouldn't want more powerhouses on their side, so they must have some serious defect.

It was nice to see Franky, Jinbe and Robin step up and be useful for once.

Luffy and Zoro ignoring Queen was pretty funny, though it appears he is still someone capable of beig a threat to Luffy. Makes it even more curious as to how they will overcome Kaido or Big Mom.

Sanji is confirmed to be far below the likes of King still, having only survived due to the raid suit.

Also very curious that Luffy is comfortable leaving his crew to fend off Big Mom, King, Queen, and the numbers. Does he know something we don't? I can't see that ending well at all. I was thinking that perhaps the entire crew would be able to take on Big Mom similar to the Oars fight, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It would have been a good opportunity for the crew to power up.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Chapter was a little decent beyond one major problem I'll discuss later, better than most of the previous ones at least. The Numbers do seem to confirm there's a tie between Kaido and Oars (as though that wasn't obvious already). It does seem a bit questionable that Jimbei and Robin were able to get the better of a seasoned pirate like Big Mom, but not as much as her incompetency prior and it's at least consistent with her seeming easy to counter yet too much of a tank to do any damage to.
I do have to wonder why Sanji removed the Raid Suit when it didn't seem to be falling apart though. There seems no logic behind removing it in a dire battle against a Yonko alliance, his feelings about the suit being irrelevant compared to the boosts he conceded it offered, especially after he barely survived fighting King because of it.

So the numbers are a failed government experiment to recreate the ancient giant race. I'm curious as to why they are considered failures. It seems odd that the government wouldn't want more powerhouses on their side, so they must have some serious defect.

They were probably too difficult to control, considering how they're shown acting when drunk. Kaido probably only managed to control them through proving his dominance over them.

 

[SSJ2]

992 was decent. It was nice to see Raizo do something significant for the first time in hundreds of chapters

 

[SSJ2]

I have a feeling that Kaido will transform into his hybrid form in the next few chapters. Things are going far too well for the Scabbards, and we know Kaido's dragon form seems to be worse at fighting than his Base form. His hybrid form will likely be revealed and will turn the tables on the scabbards. I'll be curious to see if they did any lasting damage to him, I'm pretty shocked they've wounded him several times. Also it seems as though Big Mom might be up to something now.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

A bit behind as I haven't read it since last posting in this thread, so I'll cover those 3 chapters.

990 was mediocre, being a big fight scene for the most part. The Numbers end up being underwhelming. Sure, they're something that only the strongest Straw Hats can deal with, but how's that different to...literally any of Kaido's named subordinates on Wano up until now? The dialogue about Oars and the Straw Hats' growth is also completely redundant when it's no different from the comparison given to the Monster Trio oneshotting Pacifistas after the timeskip .
Queen an co. figuring out Drake was the traitor was worthwhile at least. Excuses how overly cryptic and incompetent his subordinates were being earlier in the chapter at least.

991 was pretty bad. The Straw Hats being untrustworthy of Drake was good, only to be ruined by Luffy being as unrealistically trusting as ever. The dialogue in the flashback with Coby was the typical forced Shonen drivel that always comes up about Luffy of "people are drawn to him" because he's always the special snowflake . It also seems very unlikely, even with Ancient Zoan durability, that Jack could last any significant time against the Sulong duo when their base selves were an even match for him when taking turns and he's now facing far stronger versions 2 on 1. Also, Usopp's over the top cowardice again takes away any growth he may have had and makes it apparent how forced it'll be when he inevitably becomes a brave warrior of the sea .

992 was another asspull one. Kaido's thoughts are the same as my own here - just how are guys far inferior to Oden still damaging him? Even accounting it to Ryuo's potency, that still lines as inconsistent with the performance we saw of characters like Kinemon in Dressrosa. It'd be more understandable if the Sulongs and everone else had attacked simultaneously rather than taken turns, or Raizo had used his ability to damage Kaido before the group attack (seriously, why has the guy with a literal "No U" ability not been spamming it on every occasion like someone drawing a Mirror Force before its ban?). The way the scene is structured instead makes it pretty nonsensical, especially them being able to all wound Kaido as much as Oden did because of power of friendship or some bullshit.

Also read the Story of Ace spinoff as it was listed as Chapter 991.5. Nothing to say about it of worth, since it offers little insight into the characters beyond how Ace got his fruit and, even by OP standards, Masked Deuce is a ridiculous name .

I have a feeling that Kaido will transform into his hybrid form in the next few chapters. Things are going far too well for the Scabbards, and we know Kaido's dragon form seems to be worse at fighting than his Base form. His hybrid form will likely be revealed and will turn the tables on the scabbards.

A Dragon-Human hybrid? We already know what to expect.

Spoiler

And if he awakens his DF to perfect the form:

Spoiler

Perfection

 

[SSJ2]

I think it's plausible. Their attack power as a group is far higher than it is individually. Gear 3 Luffy pre training was already strong enough to pound Kaido's dragon form. The only reason his G4 was unable to damage him was the lack of advanced Haki. Ashura, Denjiro and the Minks are at the very least Commander tier, and then you can add in the rest who are boosted by their Haki. I think Oda is just setting it up so they can fail spectacularly.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The problem is, even Kaido is at a loss to how they're doing that individually, despite having observed their power beforehand (especially the Sulong duo). You'd think he'd be able to factor in the threat their combined power would pose, yet he didn't, and it's not as though their teamwork was done in a seamless way beyond Raizo's attack at the end.

 

[SSJ2]

A resolve boost is all I can think of really.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

993 didn't really offer too much beyond some fight scenes and it doesn't help that the first 4 pages were complete filler. The only interesting part was Queen's new weapon, though that has a lot of issues. If he's able to turn people into "ice demons" with just a bullet from his weapon, how is anyone able to beat Kaido's crew? More importantly, why haven't they been mass producing this instead of making Smiles for fodder soldiers? My guess is it only works on those below a certain threshold of strength/haki, which is about as cheap and uninteresting an excuse as Super's answer to overcoming almost all haxed techniques being "just increase your Ki."

 

[SSJ2]

I thought Drake got shot in one of the previous chapters? Why is he fine?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

We didn't see Drake actually get hit by the bullets, so his reaction to Queen thinking he could beat him with such a weapon and his shocked realisation afterwards were likely just him knowing bullets in general would be useless against him and realising what it'd do to all those nearby who got hit rather than himself.

 

[SSJ2]

So Usopp can survive hits from someone equal to current G3 Luffy?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

So Usopp can survive hits from someone equal to current G3 Luffy?

Pretty standard for Straw Hat plot armour, considering how even pre-TS Usopp and Nami could avoid getting oneshotted when fighting Moria and Oars .

Not much to say about 994 and 995 beyond that, though Queen's strategy was very questionable. Sure, giving the antidote to Apoo means he can divert the enemy's attention away from himself, but making it clear who's holding it and hoping he can simply outrun everyone when Kid had already tagged him is laughable . I'm hoping Queen reveals that antidote was a decoy and the real one has been placed somewhere else with multiple fakes, otherwise I've got to question Kaido's leadership even more with him allowing such a buffoon to be amongst his top 3.
Also, it seemed Marco could clash evenly with Big Mom when she was utilising Prometheus. Do you think this is a sign Marco's grown stronger, or can it be entirely chalked up to his fire outmatching the heat of Prometheus? I'm thinking more towards the latter when considering he was helpless when Big Mom grabbed him, though it would make sense for him to have improved in the timeskip after suffering such a colossal loss against Blackbeard.

 

[SSJ2]

I doubt Marco is stronger. He made sure to mention that his flames were unique, it's probably due to his fruit more than anything. I'd assume his fruit is awakened as well, so it probably can beat most types of heat. Akainu wasn't even able to beat his ability was he?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

996 had a decent moment with Law wanting to discover the origin of the Will of D., giving something for his character to do rather than being the medic of the group. It would've been a lot better had the moment between his and Robin discussing it been actually shown at the time it took place as build up for his character decision rather than just being thrown in to excuse it now though.

Beyond that though, the rest of the chapter had little of worth to note and it seems like the next chapter will mainly have Sanji splitting off from the main group to be a degenerate voyeur .

 

[SSJ2]

997 was more mediocrity. Sanji is continuing to be a tool. Zoro finally did something of worth. It feels like Luffy and Joanne have been running through the same hallway for a month

 

[SSJ2]

Also Kaido lifting Onigashima is retarded

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yeah, this chapter had nothing of worth. White Knight Sanji continues to be an insufferable idiot who fell for the most predictable ploy. Remember back when Sanji was actually one of the intelligent members of the Straw Hats? Yeah, I remember Alabasta....which wss what, almost 20 years ago now? Queen's whole virus thing ended up being as pointless as one can imagine with how he indeed had no backup plan beyond jaborni Apoo managing to not get KO'd and Kaido's reasoning for lifting Onigashima is stupid. How are you going to make this "New Onigashima" on top of the Flower Capital a haven for pirates by destabilising the entire land around it by dropping an insland on it? Well, Kaido is consistently retarded if nothing else.

 

[ahill1]

What's the frequency the chapters have been released?

 

[Papasmurf]

Oda takes about 8 to 11 hiatus weeks per year iirc.