Yes I forgot to post it yesterday but in my defense it’s Christmas. Happy Holidays!
While the samurai, minks, ninja and pirates are all preparing their raid on Onigashima, Kaido is busy doing preparations of his own. There’s the yearly festival and all of his soldiers are returning to celebrate. And to make things even worse, Kaido and Big Mom have teamed up to take over the world. I’m sure this is going to go splendidly for the Straw Hats and their allies. They need some serious power ups to break through this disaster. Luckily it seems like things aren’t all perfect among Kaido’s men as someone has a plan and has just broken out Trafalgar Law. With all these preparations going on – Orochi aware of most of them – we end the second act of Wano. It’s a three act structure just like a kabuki play, but there is still a ton to come in act 3. First, we shift course to another part of the world.
First things first, the world keeps moving while Wano is closed off. Compared to most islands, where the Straw Hats spend a day or two sometimes, the time spent in Wano is much longer and includes much training and preparation. Things shift and the balance tips in different directions. We learn that something bad has happened to both Sabo and Vivi, and it seems like Wapol is involved. We’re not told exactly what happened, but Morgans has been telling the news without allowing the world government to bribe him. Corrupt as he may be, he’s got his moments. With those two currently MIA, we learn that the severn warlord system has been dissolved and Koby is on his way to arrest Boa Hancock while another gang is attacking Buggy, Mihawk, Weevil and the other remaining warlords. We also learn that Drake – one of Kaido’s underlings – is working for the government and he’s spotted CP0 in Wano, which is a dangerous revelation. What are they planning to do?
On top of all this, we get an interesting history lesson. You see, there was once a dangerous pirate crew known as Rocks. Rocks D. Xebec was a feared pirate who had many legends under his command including Whitebeard, Big Mom, Kaido and Shiki. They were on pace to take over the world but they were destroyed by a team of Garp and Gol D. Roger. Garp is embarrassed of this feat of his as he had to work with a pirate and also had to protect the celestial dragons and their slaves which goes against his morals. An interesting thing to note is that Sengoku, Sakazuki and the leadership of the marines present in the room do not object to the celestial dragons or their widespread use of slaves. One bad apple spoils the bunch and these people are so far beyond spoiled that they should have been tossed away a long time ago. But to make a long story short, the Rocks pirates were defeated during something called the God Valley Incident and Garp became a hero. Rocks dies and his crew turned into the monsters we know today. And then an interesting figure is brought up with a connection to Roger. None other than Kozuki Oden once travelled with the king of pirates as well as with the Whitebeard pirates. Let’s learn about what he was up to in those days.
From the age of a toddler, Kozuki Oden has been a menace and a force to be reckoned with. By the age of 18 he had collected so many legends about himself that he was basically a deity. He was just a rowdy youth with more power than he could manage and this got him exiled from the capital city. After going on a journey through Wano, he slowly started collecting allies and turned the dangerous region of Kuri into a much more respectable region, causing his father to reinstate him as a family member and make him the Daimyo of Kuri. With the help of Yasu – Lord Yasuie – the vassals of Oden – who we know as the Ayakaza nine – cleaned themselves up and trained to become powerful and respected samurai. We also see a young Orochi working for Yasuie as a manservant. He’s a slimy one and Oden immediately dislikes the guy. He is the one who finds out that Oden secretly stole some of Yasuie’s money, but Yasuie is doubtful that Orochi is telling the entire truth. This is likely one of his early schemes, what a piece of garbage. After being established as a Daimyo, Oden once again gets bored of his life as it is and he now wants to leave Wano. To do so, he tries to convince Whitebeard and his crew to take him with them.
He unfortunately fails to convince Whitebeard, but this doesn’t stop him as he throws a chain around the ship and tries to follow it that way, Izo in tow. Whitebeard lets Izo onto the ship but Oden needs to hang on for three days if he’s allowed to join. He almost succeeds, but in the last moments he hears a woman scream so he swims to the island she is on and saves her. Despite failing the challenge, Whitebeard sails to come collect him and Toki – the woman he meets who is apparently from 800 years in the past – and welcomes them to his crew. They also let Izo as well the cat and dog stowaways join the crew as they go on a grand adventure. We get the second half of Oden’s backstory in volume 96, so look forward to that next week, in the very first post of 2025. Thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 