One Piece 840 Review: Attack of the Clones

One Piece, Chapter 840: Iron Mask

As everyone guessed, Vegapunk is involved in this whole cloning business. And, yeah, Germa is manufacturing genetically-modified soldiers. Yonji gives this introdumpy speech about how Judge and Vegapunk used to be science buddies and they discovered, well, DNA, basically, but with all the big 'whoaaa blueprints to life itself' that would come with such a huge discovery. It's something that the World Government shut down, with them arresting Vegapunk and apparently hunting down all members of his old research group except for Judge.

Ichiji and Niji show up (I'm still having trouble telling their pompadours apart) and Sanji delivers a very much well-deserved mega kick to Niji's face. Fuck yeah! Ichiji's a lot more calm, quietly reminding Sanji about how they have East Blue as a hostage, basically. Niji can apparently disappear, and electric-kicks Sanji in the back. Ichiji talks about the heirarchy within the Vinsmoke family, and we get a short flashback that all but confirms that the five Vinsmoke children are genetically engineered to be more powerful than normal humans...

Which actually pretty much fucking confirms just how utterly insanely powerful Sanji is for a normal human. Zoro at least has the whole weird Asura spirit thing going on with him, and he has weapons. Before Haki, Sanji has been blocking all sorts of unreal shit left and right with nothing but his legs and his gentlemanly rage.

Oh, and we get yet another montage of the Vinsmoke five trained to be supersoldiers, basically, and Sanji keeps failing and getting beaten up by his other siblings. Also apparently Ichiji, Niji and Yonji (what about Reiju?) have 'outer skeletons' that matured, while Sanji is just a normal human being. Well that explains how Yonji got his skull repaired a couple of chapters back. Also apparently even as a kid Sanji has been cooking and feeding literal rats, so it isn't just Zeff that awakened the desire and respect for food in Sanji. A bit of a teeny continuity error, but hey, it's one that makes for a better story.

Also, quite interestingly, we get a short scene of Reiju telling Sanji how she has 'no choice' but to laugh alongside the other three boys because she didn't want to be bullied. She's still a bit of a shit for propagating the bullying, but at least she's... a lesser evil, I guess? Reiju was impressed with Sanji defending Colette last week, after all, and I guess she might be more open to siding with Sanji if it comes to it? I dunno.

Apparently someone, implied to be Judge but not confirmed, ordered Sanji disposed off, and he has his head locked inside the titular iron mask, while Judge announced to his troops that his third son 'that he had such high hopes for' has died in an accident, while Ichiji and Niji dick around. Reiju's expression is conflicted, while Sanji finds himself in a random dungeon, wanting to be let out, while Germa 66 agents tell him that they are working under direct orders of the king to create a world without a failure of a son. Man, Judge, you get worse and worse every chapter, don't you?

Very excellent backstory, and, well, we get Niji's face kicked in in this chapter. So definitely happy times for all.