One Piece 928 Review: Queen B*tch

One Piece, Chapter 928: The Courtesan Komurasaki Takes The Stage

It's... it's another more slow-paced chapter, this one introducing the Courtesan Komurasaki in a more complete manner. And I really don't have much to say about this, although the introduction of this Wano character at least feels like it's handled in a less... "oh, btw, this character exists!" manner, I guess. A lot of these Wano-kuni setup chapters aren't straight-up bad, but they are just basically introductions to concepts and characters that are honestly kind of just... there. 

Take the conversation in the prison, for example. We get a brief encounter of the old grandpa that Luffy saved a couple of chapters back, and then we get Caribou trying to cozy up to Luffy, who is having none of Caribou's shit. Lufy tells Caribou to basically fuck off... and then we get a somewhat awkwardly-incorporated list of Eustass Kid's backstory as Kid shows up to squash the inaccurate rumours Caribou is saying. And... and I'm not a big fan of Caribou. Compared to other former enemies that are turned into allies, willing or unwilling, Caribou is easily one that has the least style and charm.

Kid tells us his story, that he lost his arm a while back during a battle with the Red-Haired Pirates, which explains why Kid was gunning for the Red-Haired Pirates prior to being curbstomped by Kaidou. Oh, and he was gunning for Big Mom's head because one of his subordinates was beaten up by one of Big Mom's Sweet Commanders? Which one? Well, it's... it's interesting, but I kinda feel like the dialogue leading up to it could have definitely flowed a lot better.

Oh, and Raizou is sneaking in and out of the prison to help Luffy break out, and is basically in the process of doing so. Neat! I don't dislike the prison sequence, but it's neat that they're quickly showing that, yeah, the prison is a mere setback and it's not going to take a whole arc to get Luffy out. Hopefully. 

The rest of the chapter is a long, surprisingly intricate flashback detailing how a poor old schmuck is duped into saving up money and giving all of them to Komurasaki, even selling all of his belongings and fortune, under the belief that he could 'free' this courtesan that is in love with him from the red-light district. It's... it's actually pretty damn sobering and pretty nasty to read, a huge, huge degree removed from the comedic robbery we've seen done by, oh, Nami or whoever earlier in this series. These poor men attempt to assault Komurasaki in the street, but, of course, everyone else just sees a bunch of old geezers trying to attack the Most Beautiful Woman In Wano (TM) so they end up being beaten up and exiled, while Komurasaki goes "ohohoo I despite poor men". 

It's a way to basically build up Komurasaki as being utterly unlikable, and I'm not sure if this is just there to build up her as an unlikable character (for Robin, perhaps, to defeat?) or if there is just something super-tragic or whatever that is driving Komurasaki to do this. I don't know, though, what kind of super-awesome backstory is going to be able to counter-act the pretty heinous shit Komurasaki did here. 

Meanwhile, in Kuri-Amigasa, we get Momonosuke meeting with Tama, interestingly discussing about Momo's missing sister. We get to see Tama's... pretty neutral expression, while Momo notes how if his sister is alive, "she would be 26". Everyone's pretty sure that Hiyori is alive, but the question is if she's thrown into the future and is Tama, or if she's grown up to be one of the woman in Wano (maaaybe Komurasaki?). It's an interesting foreshadowing for sure, to have Momonosuke discuss all of this in the same chapter that properly introduces us to Komurasaki, as well as having Tama be the one to ask and peruse this question. We'll see where this goes.