Although I keep these blog posts free of spoilers for what happens after the volume in question, it does feel fun to me to read and write about a volume that has an absolutely major reveal in it right after the latest chapter was such a massive reveal as well. What that reveal is, you’ll have to wait. I’ll talk about more up to date One Piece stuff once we make it all the way to volume 108, so look forward to that. Either way, let’s not waste each other’s time since big changes are about to happen.
In Zoro’s endless journey to specifically defeat villains with a darker skin tone, he finishes off King who is to Kaido what Zoro is to Luffy. A right hand man with sword fighting capabilities that are far beyond normal and a loyalty that is unquestionable. Joker, Jack, Queen and King are all down, which means that the only big threats left on Onigashima are the CP0 agents, Big Mom and Kaido. Things are looking more and more in favor of the alliance but until someone can defeat Kaido, there is no victory in sight.
Fights are still happening all over the place as Usopp guards Kiku and Kin who are both badly wounded. He may want to be a strong warrior of the sea, he does not subscribe to the Samurai’s “deathwish”. He’ll cling to life no matter what and to support this decision is Iso, the former division captain of the Whitebeard Pirates. He’s here to defend them as Usopp gets the wounded to safety. Seeing Iso take off his Kimono and reveal the Kozuki crest on his back is one of my favorite panels of this arc. It’s such a bad-ass moment. In the meantime we see the total opposite of badassery elsewhere in the castle as Apoo is running away while Drake is defeated by the CP0 agents who are still in hot pursuit of Nico Robin. Amidst all the chaos, Luffy and Kaido are enjoying a fair duel on the roof of Onigashima.
During Kaido and Luffy’s brawl of epic proportions we take a quick flash to Mariejois where things seem to have gone very poorly at the Reverie. We see the five elders – who are the highest authority in the world – talk about the chaos and how they should have Nico Robin in custody by now. They talk about a fruit that should not be mentioned and has a different name to hide its true power. Zuneshia seems linked to this somehow as she shows up at Wano at this moment, scaring the crap out of the navy warships that are surrounding the island. Yamato is facing the remnants of Kanjuro while Izo squares off against CP0. In the performance floor, the battle between Kid, Law and Big Mom is coming close to its conclusion. The two young captains team up and unleash everything they have into the warlord of the sea that’s been reigning for decades. After almost being killed several times they manage to blast her down to the ground below, taking her out once and for all. Out of the four emperors of old, only Kaido and Shanks still stand. During this, Yamato manages to prevent the bombs from going off as he and Momonosuke learn that Zuneshia was a companion of Joyboy who committed a crime 800 years ago. The plot thickens fast and we’re not even at the main event yet.
In the basement of Onigashima, Komurasaki reveals her true identity to Orochi, who has been trapped under rubble and sea prism nails, making him unable to move. This is the end of the false shogun of Wano. CP0 is stopped by Izo for a while, but after Izo and Maha kill each other, the remaining CP0 agent in Wano gets the order to kill Straw Hat Luffy at any cost. Luffy is a top priority target for the World Government, his devil fruit came from Shanks who is one of the four emperors and Who’s Who was imprisoned for failing to defend a very important devil fruit while he was still a government agent. Everything’s coming together, the clues are all there, but the reveal is still a few chapters out, later this volume. I sure didn’t fully see things coming at this point which is the downside of weekly chapters with regular breaks. A lot of the overarching plot is much more clear when reading these volumes all at once.
Luffy and Kaido continue their fight, both taking serious damage but Kaido still having the upper hand. Despite this, when Luffy is about to deal his final blow before he runs out of Gear 4, the fight is interrupted by the remaining CP0 agent who blocks Luffy’s attack, the distraction allowing Kaido to defeat Luffy once and for all, making him the victor of this fight and last man standing. He takes out the second to last CP0 agent – yes, I forgot there was another one hiding somewhere that we haven’t seen in a little while – and starts rampaging through the castle, while everyone mourns Luffy’s death as his voice has fully disappeared. There is one exception to this. Zunisha is celebrating. She’s not celebrating the death of Luffy, no, she’s celebrating the return of Joyboy, whose voice she hears for the first time in 800 years. Da-dum, da-dum, the drums of liberation are finally here.
So let’s summarize what we just witnessed because it fully changes a lot of what we know about the world. The Gum-gum fruit that Luffy has been using for the past 1000+ chapters secretly has another name. It is actually a mythical Zoan fruit containing the sun god Nika. Awakening the devil fruit – which hasn’t happened since the void century – turns the user into the most free form they can be. With white hair and a heartbeat that sounds funky, Luffy turns into the warrior of liberation, the next Joyboy, the man who will become the king of pirates. For over 800 years this fruit has been avoiding the world government, not allowing them to ever possess it. That’s why Who’s Who’s “crime” was so severe. They almost had the legendary devil fruit in their hands and then Shanks stole it. Did he know? What was he planning to do with it in the first place? I have so many questions. But back to the fight at hand. Luffy and Kaido are fighting like we’ve moved from One Piece to Looney Tunes and it’s incredible. The animated version of this fight is also top tier for those of you wondering. It looks like Kaido is about to lose, but to get a proper conclusion we will have to wait until the next volume. Gear 5 being the Sun God Nika both feels like a massive plot twist and a sensible continuation of the weird story we already had. Oda has said since this moment that giving characters more power ups without it feeling stale like Dragonball’s endless upgraded Super Saiyan forms is difficult. With this power he takes Luffy into a completely new direction that feels creative and earned and I do agree with that sentiment. Mark the dates in your calendar because next week we will discuss the thrilling conclusion of this fight and there is much more interesting stuff to come before we leave the island of Wano behind us. As always, thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 