One Piece, Chapter 896: The Last Request
Ah, the long-awaited conclusion to the Luffy/Katakuri bit has arrived and it's... unconventional, for sure. Instead of a chapter devoted to a full final confrontation between Luffy and Katakuri, all we got was that two-page spread over there. Which, not gonna lie, seeing the gigantic mochi flail-arm slamming down onto the ground, and then panning over to the combatant's faces to show that Luffy has struck a blow onto Katakuri's stomach is pretty damn badass. And the conversation they have afterwards, after they both collapse, we have a brief time-skip (like, it's a matter of minutes) before Luffy and Katakuri both get up, exchange a couple of Manly Respect (tm) words about Katakuri acknowledging how, yes, Luffy might just come back here and beat Big Mom is pretty damn cool. Oh, and of course Katakuri falls down on his back.
And taken as an individual climax, it ain't all that bad. What's rather unsatisfying, like Snake-Man, is how long this tussle between Luffy and Katakuri has gone on, and how quickly it wrapped up. It seemed, really, that the Luffy/Katakuri fight only happened after that whole stab-myself-in-the-gut acknowledgement deal, and the fact that Snake-Man ended up being rather mundane and the future-sight observation Haki doesn't really come into their final clash honestly makes this feel somewhat lacking. Not to say that it's bad, mind you -- it's still an extremely exciting conclusion... but it also feels like it's going through the moves more than anything.
We get a couple of scenes of Sanji basically planning to take on the entire Big Mom army by himself, dressed up in a cloak all cool and shit in an alleyway, and he and Pudding share a moment. I've not been the biggest fan of Pudding throughout this arc, but it's actually a neat little tie to the tsundere deal that Pudding has had, with Pudding crying that after all this shit Sanji's actually saying that "I'm glad I got to meet you". Pudding's final scene with Sanji is to pluck the cigarette out of Sanji's mouth, seemingly hinting at her going in for a kiss, but I dunno. It'd be nice if it's just a kiss, reciprocated or otherwise, since it would tie a nice little ribbon around the whole Pudding's redemption storyline, but at the same time I could totally see Pudding trying to erase all memory of her from Sanji's mind, which I don't think would suit the story that well at this point.
We get Big News Morgans and CP-0 Stussy talking to some of the other higher-ups of the Big Mom Pirates, and while they're mobilizing en masse, Mont D'or is convinced that not even Gol D. Roger can get out of their little blockade. Mont D'or promises Morgans some 'big news' -- the death and decapitation of the Straw Hats, but we know that it won't happen. We'll see what Stussy's agenda through all this is about. As a member of CP-0 she was introduced to be important but never actually did anything other than egg on the Big Mom Pirates for a bit.
At the end of the chapter, Pekoms (a.k.a. Nakoms) shows up in a disguise, having bound Brulee and here to give Luffy a way out, citing Pedro's death as something that motivated him to help out to make his brother's death not a complete waste. Overall, it's... it's a solid chapter, I guess? I just kinda hope that whatever we're building up next of Luffy and Sanji escaping from the Big Mom Pirate blockade is actually interesting and not formulaic.
And taken as an individual climax, it ain't all that bad. What's rather unsatisfying, like Snake-Man, is how long this tussle between Luffy and Katakuri has gone on, and how quickly it wrapped up. It seemed, really, that the Luffy/Katakuri fight only happened after that whole stab-myself-in-the-gut acknowledgement deal, and the fact that Snake-Man ended up being rather mundane and the future-sight observation Haki doesn't really come into their final clash honestly makes this feel somewhat lacking. Not to say that it's bad, mind you -- it's still an extremely exciting conclusion... but it also feels like it's going through the moves more than anything.
We get a couple of scenes of Sanji basically planning to take on the entire Big Mom army by himself, dressed up in a cloak all cool and shit in an alleyway, and he and Pudding share a moment. I've not been the biggest fan of Pudding throughout this arc, but it's actually a neat little tie to the tsundere deal that Pudding has had, with Pudding crying that after all this shit Sanji's actually saying that "I'm glad I got to meet you". Pudding's final scene with Sanji is to pluck the cigarette out of Sanji's mouth, seemingly hinting at her going in for a kiss, but I dunno. It'd be nice if it's just a kiss, reciprocated or otherwise, since it would tie a nice little ribbon around the whole Pudding's redemption storyline, but at the same time I could totally see Pudding trying to erase all memory of her from Sanji's mind, which I don't think would suit the story that well at this point.
We get Big News Morgans and CP-0 Stussy talking to some of the other higher-ups of the Big Mom Pirates, and while they're mobilizing en masse, Mont D'or is convinced that not even Gol D. Roger can get out of their little blockade. Mont D'or promises Morgans some 'big news' -- the death and decapitation of the Straw Hats, but we know that it won't happen. We'll see what Stussy's agenda through all this is about. As a member of CP-0 she was introduced to be important but never actually did anything other than egg on the Big Mom Pirates for a bit.
At the end of the chapter, Pekoms (a.k.a. Nakoms) shows up in a disguise, having bound Brulee and here to give Luffy a way out, citing Pedro's death as something that motivated him to help out to make his brother's death not a complete waste. Overall, it's... it's a solid chapter, I guess? I just kinda hope that whatever we're building up next of Luffy and Sanji escaping from the Big Mom Pirate blockade is actually interesting and not formulaic.
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