One Piece 897 Review: Germa Does Something

One Piece, Chapter 897: Pekoms' Cacao Island Escape Plan

This is a... weird chapter, I guess. It's not a bad chapter, but it seemed like it's rushing through a fair amount of things, and is doing some things that have apparently upset some of the fans online, from what I've seen. I don't really think this chapter deserves all the bile thrown its way, but it is a somewhat wobbly chapter.

Let's acknowledge the cover story, which, this time around, isn't actually telling a story but acts more like an introdump to show off Hajrudin's giant crew -- this time showing us the shipswright Stansen. He's one of the giants that was a background character back in the auction house arc in Sabaody. Okay? Can't say I particularly care. 

We then have the Straw Hats finally reaching Cacao Island and Smoothie observing how the Straw Hats have put themselves between a rock and hard place, with Smoothie chasing them and the gigantic Oven fleet in front of them. We then cut away back to Pekoms and Luffy in the Mirror World, where Pekoms immediately tells the audience that he can turn into the Sulong form, which he can't  really control and only Pedro can stop him from going on a full rampage. It does make sense, considering what we know of the Sulong form, how Pekoms always wears that sunglasses, and the brief exchange Pedro and Pekoms had when leaving Zou. The thing is, the execution of the reveal of Pekoms's uncontrollable Sulong form is just kind of underwhelming, isn't it? It's just Pekoms going "oh, by the way, there's this" without any real fanfare or excitement. 

And then finally Pekoms, holding Brulee, jumps out of the giant mirror at the center of Cacao Island, and everyone immediately realizes that Nekoms is Pekoms. Pekoms is transforming into his Sulong form, which is awesome, but mid-transformation everyone just keeps shooting Pekoms. Oven shoots Pekoms with a Heat Wave Fist, pissed off that Pekoms is using his sister as a shield... yeah, as much as there are some really horrible members of the Big Mom Family, it's nice that some of them actually do care about each other. Oven's blast ends up exposing Luffy, who falls out of Pekoms'  clothes.

And then everyone present goes wild, which I absolutely love. Mind you, none of the Big Mom Pirate members here are really anyone we care about, having only been introduced last chapter, but it is very neat and fancy to see the random twin kids whacking down on the ground with giant scythes, and some dude called Raisin showing up and about to do an iai slash on Luffy... oh, and then Sanji comes in and kicks the fucker in the face with a burning kick, apparently one-shotting Raisin. Which... which is badass, don't get me wrong, but it would be more badass if this was someone who we actually, y'know, know about. 

Oh, nothing about Pudding is mentioned here. So is it her wiping herself from Sanji's memories after all?

Of course, poor, poor Sanji can't catch a break even in this huge arc that's supposed to be all about him, because beating Yuen is  all he manages to do. Pekoms is being beaten up by the masses below, who try to stop him from transforming into Sulong, while this other big fat dude called Yu'en by the last chapter shows up with a gigantic club and whacks Sanji and Luffy down. 

And, wow, neither Sanji and Luffy really thought this out, huh? They're honestly quite screwed here, until a huge explosion rocks the Big Mom Pirate fleet, because apparently the Germa 66 Fleet shows up. And it's... it's a reveal that isn't quite that dramatic. Germa 66 was last seen just standing on top of the assassination squads meant to destroy their armies, and they're just hanging in the sidelines, this plot device waiting to be used, and honestly? I expected them to be the ones to save the day, not Pekoms. And... and I can't say that I can genuinely muster much interest for the Germa, since they've by and by been insanely boring characters, especially the cool-looking-but-hollow brothers. Reiju and Judge will be intersting to see, for sure. Overall, though, it's still a decent chapter, although there's definitely a sense of things being rushed. But honestly? I do like this pacing better. We're actually making progress and moving through things at a decent pace.