I don’t think we see Big Mom a single time in this entire 101st volume. Instead we focus on other characters and a big primary focus of the first half of this volume are the Tobi Roppo. Let’s give you a quick refresher and tell you all their fates. Roppo – I would wager – is meant to come from the word six in Japanese. If you’ve done even a little bit of Japanese practice you’ll know that counting in this language is utterly cursed. I saw a great video the other day of two Japanese guys working through the logic and just confusing themselves. Anyway, these six Tobis – if that is their real name – conclude their rampage in volume 101.
Let’s start with the scary sibling, Ulti and Page One. As you’re well aware, they were taken out by Big Mom and a combination of Nami, Usopp, Zeus and Tama in the previous volume. Unfortunately it seems that although Page One is down for the count, Ulti is still up and about, hellbent on getting her revenge. In a final clash between her and the Straw Hats we finally welcome Zeus as a proper sidekick to Nami. He asks her to rename him and when she settles on Fluff he decides that staying Zeus isn’t such a bad idea after all. They take out Ulti together.
Two more members of the Tobi Roppo fall in this volume in pretty straightforward fights. Robin releases her inner demons as she fights against Black Maria and is ultimately victorious over the spiderwoman. We get a cute little flashback where both Koala and Sabo try to teach her some fighting techniques because they can’t protect her once she leaves them again. Robin has been running from the world for thirty years, I think even being among the top of the pirating world doesn’t faze her anymore. Elsewhere in the castle, Franky fights Sasaki who turns into the strangest Rhinoceros you’ve ever seen. And the only one, but you know what I mean. Using some funky movement abilities he makes it a difficult fight for Franky, but the cyborg ultimately wins out and Sasaki is down.
The final member of the Tobi Roppo – as Drake has turned traitor and is on Luffy’s side – is Who’s who, who is a mysterious figure. We learn a little bit more about the guy before his fight concludes. Thirteen years ago he was in prison, being the only CP9 agent to ever land in prison like that. It seems like he failed to guard a very important devil fruit, the Gum-gum fruit. Now that makes you wonder, why is this fruit so important? Sure, Luffy has made great use of it, but there are so many devil fruit powers that seem far more impactful. Why is failing to guard a single devil fruit so important that you’d get locked up for it. We also get another little bit of lore during this fight as he asks Jinbe if the former warlord knows about the sun god Nika. This is the first time we hear this name and with Jinbe being a former member of the sun pirates, it makes sense to ask him. The guard that told Who’s who about Nika got disappeared the next day, so it must be important knowledge right? Either way, Jinbe has never heard this name before and takes care of Who’s who. With the former CP9 agent down – which is also the reason why CP0 was on this island – the Tobi Roppo have been taken out completely and Kaido’s forces are down to a number of foot soldiers plus the three lead performers of King, Queen and Jack.
Speaking of Kaido, he is currently still on the roof of Onigashima, fighting against Yamato. We learn that Yamato has been wanting to be Oden since a very young age. The young warrior was locked up in a cave for these shenanigans. There he encountered three former Daimyo who fought for him and treated him like an equal which lit a fire in Yamato’s heart even stronger than before. One of these three Daimyo, Shimotsuki Ushimaru, looks to be related to Zoro in some way. It has long been theorized that Zoro is originally from Wano – or at least his family is – and this chapter all but confirms it. Despite that, Oda has explicitly stated here that Ushimaru is not Zoro’s father. Perhaps they’re related in a different way, but it seems all but given that Zoro is a Shimotsuki and a descendant from Ryuma.
While chaos is spreading, Zoro gets healed up with magical medicine from Zou and Sanji makes his way to the performance floor. The duo squares off against King and Queen. King is hinted to be a Lunarian which is a race of people we know very little about. Wano and onward are big about bloodlines, different races and how they all fit into the world of One Piece, so this is important lore to keep in mind. With this duo fighting off the two lead performers, Dogstorm holding off Jack and Cat Viper holding off Perospero, we get into the final act of this story.
While all of this fighting has been happening, Luffy has been recovering. With some unexpected help from Caribou, the Heart Pirates helped him back to full power by feeding him a ton of meat. Now restored, Luffy teams up with Momo who is turned 20 years older by Shinobu’s powers. Now a full dragon – and still a crybaby – he flies Luffy back up to the roof of Onigashima where Yamato is fighting a losing battle against his father. It’s time for another rematch between the strongest man alive and the man who will be the king of the pirates. I’m excited, are you?
Opal Kaharis 