One Piece 990-994 Review: Here for the Ride

It's been a hot while since I've done one of these, yeah? It's not that I've not been following One Piece (which I will fully admit that I haven't been following any manga chapter-by-chapter other than One Piece and Kingdom; MHA sort of lost me in the latest arc and I'll wait until it's over to read it in one go) but I just... don't have a whole ton to say about any of these newer chapters. It's all hype and stuff when I read it, but without getting into huge speculations I just find that I don't have much to actually say in a review, y'know? Oh well. Here's my little catch-up review.

Chapter 990: Army of One

Another thing that sort of makes this feel bland is that a lot of things sort of happen off-screen or in montages, like the Mink-army-vs-goons fight on page two of this chapter. And it's like... sure, it's unimportant, and we kind of want to see actual named characters do things, but it's also something that I kind of wish we get to see a bit more of, you know? I barely remember any of the minks other than Carrot, Nekomamushi and Inuarashi, and the moment that the three musketeers or the two warriors or whatever are about to do anything, Jack shows up and one-shots them in a single panel; Nekomamushi and Inuarashi transforms into Sulong in silhouette, and we cut away. It's like, something that's obviously intended to fill up half of an anime episode's screentime, and while I do like the faster pacing, I also wished that the manga does take time to breathe just a bit. 

This chapter has Queen and King talk a bit as they try to essentially figure out what's going on and how they can handle things, while we have a fun little sub-plot with Drake and Hawkins, the two headliners that also happen to be Supernovas, talking to each other. King basically calls every member of Kaidou's pirates in, while Drake tries to convince Hawkins to turn traitor...

We cut away to some Straw Hat stuff, then we cut back to Queen, Hawkins and Who's Who beating up Drake bloody after figuring out that he's the traitor. Because, turns out, Hawkins ratted Drake out to Queen. Ultimately Drake runs off, beats up a Number with Luffy and asks to join him, because Drake remembers that Coby talks about how reliable Luffy is. 

The Straw Hats, at least, get a lot of good scenes as a collective even if basically everyone not Luffy or Zoro sort of get the shaft. We get the Numbers rampaging around. They're more like a video game boss and a nice chunk of scenery instead of characters, a neat showcase for Zoro to slice off one's club, for Jinbe to block one effortlessly, and for Luffy and Drake to do the double-takedown on two of them in this episode. I like that. I like that we literally have a disposable batch of characters that look impressive on page but are literally unimportant so we don't have to like, keep them in mind. Luffy and Drake just beat up two Numbers, cool, let's move on. 

Again, not a bad chapter on its own, but I really do wish that the story had made me just a bit more invested in Drake and his betrayal just a bit more. It's like, okay, they're Supernovas and they got an Oda Box(tm) and we care about them, but on the other hand there's so little we actually know about Hawkins and Drake and Queen and Who's Who that Drake goes rogue and joins Luffy and I just shrug and feel like "okay, sure, why not?" and at the same time, we kind of want the plot to move on a bit faster so it doesn't get bogged down here... a bit of a dilemma in pacing, really. 

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Chapter 991: Let Us Die

We cover just a bit more of the Drake betrayal here, but I do like that none of Luffy's allies like this. Zoro even goes to attack Drake immediately. Franky and even Jinbe disapprove of this dishonourable man, and I do like this little lampshade. Luffy (and, I bet, the writer) wants to just rush through all these recruiting of allies and secondary characters, while Zoro and the others are there to hang a lampshade on how stupid this action really is.

We get a fun bit of Ulti and Page One Pay-Pay charge in to stop Luffy, and... the Tobiroppo, I actually like. Well, I like the ones that have at least gotten a bit of screentime, but these two especially. Particularly Ulti's weird possessiveness over Pay-Pay. This chapter sort of sets up a fight, with Usopp doing a skull grass bomb thing to beat up Pay-Pay, then hiding behind Nami and making it look like she's antagonizing Ulti, and then exit stage left for the quartet. Apoo also shows up, gives a little monologue about how totally badass the Numbers really are and how they destroy towns one after another, and then sics Hatcha (#8) after Franky.

I do like the chaos of this chapter, at least. Apoo causes chaos, Hatcha chases Franky, Zoro and Drake clash, they both attack Apoo, Queen pulls out a gatling gun and shoots them... this bit, I like. It feels like a fun, chaotic moment that would make sense in a battlefield like this. 

The next part, I feel like we could've had better pacing, or at least more of a panel to show what's going on. Jack just gets beaten off-screen, and fall to the ground defeated by Sulong Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. And it's like, there's something poetic about just how much Jack is discarded like garbage considering the torment he put the Minks through, and that sure is a great entrance for doggy and kitty... I dunno. This moment felt rushed and could've probably used a page or two. 

What is cool, though, is Kaidou's blast breath being cut in half by Kin'emon. Holy shit if that isn't a badass moment, as is the badass boast by the Scabbards about how they're tired of running and hiding and they want to die as Oden's samurai in battle. But while it probably doesn't mean much in the scale of things, holy shit that moment with Kin'emon is badass as hell.

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Chapter 992: Remnants

Speaking of something that moves very quickly but also feels like it has been stagnating... Big Mom! Who the manga sort of forgets half the time in this arc, and apparently she's just been talking with Perospero off-screen, telling him to get on with the program. And just like that, the plotline built up with Perospero and Ace's alliance is just resolved very quickly. Not a particularly good moment for Big Mom, but a badass one for Marco and his badass glasses. Marco gives a badass speech telling Big Mom about the meaning of the word 'remnants', and how Whitebeard's pirates are all free to do as they will. "Dead men give no orders", apparently. 

This chapter also has a surprisingly long but atmospheric sequence of Black Maria just... hanging out in her banquet hall, playing her lute, singing while we get to see a badass two-page spread of the Scabbards and Kaidou charging each other. The definition of "this will be fucking awesome in the anime". 

And this entire chapter? It's the sort of 'slow-down' I wished the previous two had. It's just a huge, extended action scene, but it follows up Kin'emon cutting Kaidou's blast so well. It's so exciting, seeing these Scabbards actually do something instead of just taking badass stances and talking smack to Kaidou. Kaidou breathes lightning! Nekomamushi does a swirling Sulong thing! Kawamatsu makes Kaidou bleed! Inuarashi weaponizes a sword peg-leg! Guns! Swords! That randomly badass two-page spread with Raizou of all people nullifying Kaidou's breath attack with a scroll and returning the attack back at him! Then four of the Scabbards doing the Oden two-sword style and cutting Kaidou! Again, it's all pretty badass and exciting, pretty well done! It's hard to find something to talk here, but I did feel like this is a chapter that wasn't rushing to do a dozen different things simultaneously, and I appreciate this chapter for it. 

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Chapter 993: The Dream of Wano

993 is another one that felt like it was paced well, starting off with a neat monologue about the fire festival and what it means to the people of Wano, as well as the wishes of the people and all that jazz. 

Then we cut to the chaos happening in Onigashima, with Queen's bullets from 992 actually containing another one of his Plague bullets, the Ice Oni, that turn people into ice oni zombies. Okay! Sure! Meanwhile, Luffy, Sanji and Jinbe are fighting their way up the tower, and we get a convenient map to show us! There's a fun gag with someone whose gorilla Smile causes an entire gorilla to grow out of his knuckles! Jinbe one-shots the gorilla! Then we get Sasaki cornering Shinobu and Momonosuke with his Armored Division (which feature some of my favourite SMILE designs from the banquet hall), Momonosuke very nearly gets killed by random axeman guy, but then Yamato saves him. Neat. 

Then we get Kaidou rising up, because of course he's not dead. 992 gave us a badass moment, gave us the samurai showing that they carry the will of Oden, but... y'know, Kaidou's a goddamn dragon. He is bleeding, and he's talking about how the samurai can't even make him open up his old scar? Okay? Then he breathes invisible wind blades and slices off Kiku's arm. Cliffhanger!

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Chapter 994: My Other Name is Yamato

...one that's immediately resolved, but at least 993's huge deal is to make sure that, no, Kaidou isn't someone to be trifled with and he's still indestructible. Kin'emon uses his fire blade to cauterize Kiku's wounds, then Kaidou talks about how the samurai, Oden and Whitebeard did it right, to get 'glory' in death... while he transforms back into his human mode. That's his motive rant, I suppose, to want to gain the perfect death. Meanwhile, Kin'emon just doesn't give a shit, because there's no honour in dying to Kaidou. A nice line, and a good 'shut up, asshole' speech that tries to over-dramatize the 'death and glory'. 

Then we get Luffy, Sanji and Jinbe one-shotting two of the grossest Smile users, someone who grows out of a giraffe's neck (the poor giraffe is trembling holding that body up) and someone whose face grows out of a chicken's ass. The way this is set up is awesome, it's like the writer is actually making fun of how weak these headliners really are in the grand scheme of things. They even get an Oda Namedrop Box! Also, love the gag of everyone being afraid of Straw Hat and Jinbe, and Sanji gets pissed that no one mentions him. 

We get a couple of pages in this one talking about the Ice Oni bullets, and that's basically what the banquet hall has to deal with. Chopper is obviously very angry and wants to take Queen down; Queen is super-sadistic and doesn't care if many of Kaidou's people die; one of the random yakuza bosses almost commits seppuku but Hyogoro notes that they shouldn't do it prematurely; and Apoo gets the only cure and everyone hunts him down. Pretty fun setup. Then the final scene in this one is Yamato, who reveals that Shinobu's words touched her years ago during Oden's execution, and we basically get Yamato's huge proclamation to protect Momonosuke by one-shotting Sasaki's goons. A fun, neat moment that honestly is kinda long, but we kinda need a moment where Yamato and Momonosuke meet and acknowledge each other. 

Overall... yeah, the chapters are a bit oddly paced, but it's a fun read nonetheless. 

Random Notes:

• The part of the fanbase that care about power-scaling rioted online over these chapters, particularly 992. One Piece just isn't the right manga to do something like this, honestly, it's always more about the story impact of the fights more than 'paper beats rock', 'this power level is bigger than that power level'. 
• Zoro's monologue about how something the size of the Numbers needed a whole crew team-up to take down back before the timeskip, and now they can just one-shot them, is a cool little one-liner from him. And it's like... okay, Franky is apparently running away from one, but considering he one-shotted one of the Numbers with a Radical Beam a while back I sure don't feel like Hatcha is going to be a threat. 
• 990 has a bit with Hawkins talking about "one percent", the chances of 'him' surviving until tomorrow. Okay? Luffy or Kaidou or Drake?
• Also, random shit that happen in like, one panel or other... Fukurokuju shuffling off in 990... something with Orochi? We never see him after that scene, so maybe? 992 has Carrot heading off to kill Perospero for a panel. 993 has Bao Huang report to King about Luffy's whereabouts. All scenes that's no doubt going to be followed up in a future chapter. 
• VENGEANCE FOR PAY PAY
• Kaidou is surprisingly understanding and protective of Jack after he fell, even saying that this doesn't make him weak. After so many main villains treating their men like shit, it's interesting that Kaidou at least values his highest-ranked minions. 
• Kori oni, or "Ice Oni", is also the Japanese name for the playground game that the English-speaking world know as 'freeze tag'. 
• As much as I feel horrible saying it, Izo and especially Ashura Douji are probably the most disposable among the Scabbards for me. Kiku is probably near the bottom of the list if we're ranking the rest. Kiku hasn't really done much on-screen, and her big moment of seemingly killing Kanjurou happened off-screen, so I really hope that if she falls in this fight, she does so in a more spectacular fashion. 
• The Bege cover story is finally over, hooray! Lola and Gotti got married, and Pound hangs out with them!