One Piece Chapter 1001-1003 Review: Rooftop Rumble

One Piece, Chapters 1001-1003

I've been a bit more quiet and less update-y about One Piece because... well, one thing I learned when reviewing the Whole Cake and Dressrosa arcs is that action chapter reviews are very fun to read, and absolutely neat to react to on youtube and stuff, they don't really make for particularly riveting text-based reviews. Still, talk about these chapters I will!

Chapter 1001: Battle of Monsters on Onigashima

This one is pretty fun, opening up with everyone's reactions to Luffy's defiance and punch on Kaidou at the end of 1000. We get Luffy using the future-sight Observation Haki to barely dodge Kaidou's Thunder Bagua. Nice to acknowledge the power-up from the previous arc, even if it's a 'passive' one, so to speak. I like that Kaidou and Big Mom are just raining blows down on Luffy and his companions.  Again, a lot of neat sequences of stuff like Zoro cutting Promotheus with Foxfire-style, or Law just using Shambles to teleport his allies away from deadly attacks. Throughout these chapters there's a fun sense of Law trying his best to assert that, no, he's not being the Straw Hats' lackey and stuff. It's fun to see that Law, in-universe, maintains that he's still a pirate captain at the same level as Luffy. 

Obviously, the comedic highlight in this chapter is Kid, Law and Luffy bickering, leading them to get a game of chicken against Big Mom's fire attacks... even Law! And those silly dumb faces with their tucked-in chins that the three of them make as they glare defiantly at each other, all of them refusing to wuss out... that's absolutely hilarious.

I do like that Kaidou and Big Mom are just utterly tanking everything that the Supernovas throw at them. Purgatory Onigiri and Killer's Beheading-Claw attack? Killer summoning a giant junkyard mech? Luffy going Gear Fourth? Law doing some sort of surgical strike? No problem, they're staggered at best. The chapter ends after the Supernovas do some huge attacks, but Big Mom and Kaidou just float in the skies looming over them. I do like that there's a neat sense of Kaidou and Big Mom actually fighting to win here, not just the abstract 'manpower', but also the poneglyphs they have since it'll make whichever side win closer to the title of the King of the Pirates.

Chapter 1002: Four Emperors vs. New Generation

More fighting, with Kaidou rampaging in his dragon form, and how cool is that backhanded wind-blade deflection by Zoro? This chapter has some of the coolest two-page spreads in the fight, with the barrage of attacks everyone is doing on to the dragon-form Kaidou. It's just a whole ton of cool shit, y'know? Everyone is tossing their strongest attacks, and just how cool is that "I don't know a dragon's anatomy, but I'm gonna guess the heart's around here?" line by Law? And we finally get to see what Killer can do, which, based on the name 'Scyther Sonic', is some kind of sound-based blade? Kaidou just tanks everything. 

We get a fun repeat of the Law-is-not-your-servant joke from 1001, Zoro uses Enma to unleash a particularly cool cut that slices off Onigashima's horn, but then Big Mom just uses her lightning to zap everyone from Zoro to Kid to Killer. Except, of course, for Luffy. We don't get a repeat of the Enel face, sadly, but Luffy is invincible to lightning because he's made of rubber. Kaidou unleashes a Blast Breath head-on at Luffy, and he tanks it with... 'guts'. Which would be a huge eye-rolling silly-shonen-tropes moment, but here I feel like it works a lot better because it's a direct retort to Kaidou's earlier off-handed line about how they're not just mindless fools relying on guts... and, more importantly, this isn't Luffy beating Kaidou with guts. He's just tanking an attack and delivering a Kong Gatling attack.

This one, I feel, is the one that feels like it flies by the fastest, but it's a pretty fun, hype battle chapter -- we haven't had one of these since... since Katakuri, I guess? And it's pretty dang glorious. 

Chapter 1003: Night on the Board

Again, not to talk down any of the badassery in these chapters or anything, but it's mostly just action scenes! Very, very cool action scenes, for sure -- the Kong Gatling barrage that opens this chapter is pretty damn badass even if, well, it doesn't really damage Kaidou all that much. The Gear Fourth side effects finally hit poor Luffy, and he ends up petering out from the side-effects of Gear Fourth. Big Mom just continues wailing on our heroes with her fiery sword, and, well, this ends up being a fun showcase for the other characters! Well, mostly Zoro. 

We get Kaidou summoning a dragon twister ('tatsumaki' is a pun that means both just a tornado and a dragon-twister), and then Zoro countering with his own black-rope dragon twister where he finally cuts Kaidou, actually drawing blood. Oh, and he also frees Luffy from temporarily being chomped on by Kaidou, but mostly the drawing-blood part. Kaidou then counters with his own Dragon Twister Demolition Breath, which also involves the invisible air blades, cutting up the battlefield. Still, Zoro does cut Kaidou and that is a huge ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! FANBOI moment for me. 

Then we cut away to... CP-0? With Bao Huang? I'm not sure if Bao Huang is just being Kaidou's representative in entertaining CP-0, or if she's part of CP-0... with how many people that CP-0 has inserted all over the One Piece world, I honestly wouldn't put it past them. With a little board of Go, the lead CP-0 guy gives a little speech about the clash between Kaidou's armada and Luffy's little ramshackle alliance, noting that they offset the amount of numbers with their ally-gathering and surprise attack. Basically, their observation amounts to 'the New Generation's warriors need to beat up Kaidou's commanders, otherwise they lose'. Which may or may not be a segue to actual one-on-one fights. I would like to see Franky versus Sasaki, if nothing else. CP-0, meanwhile, just wants the pirates to take each other out since it'll be a good thing for the World Government. Oh, and the chapter ends with the cliffhanger that Kaidou has transformed to his (silhouetted) half-man, half-beast form. Overall, all three are pretty fun action chapters for sure! 

Random Notes:

• 1001 has a panel showing Kaidou seeing the shadows of Whitebeard, Roger, Oden, Shanks and Rocks behind Luffy, and everyone is freaking out over what this means for this character or that character or the power levels and stuff like that. 
• Killer's spinning scythe-things are called Punishers. 
• Presumably there's a Hunter x Hunter or Bleach style "there's a limit to how much your ability can affect me if the Nen/Reiatsu/Haki difference is too much" thing going on that prevents Law from just ripping out Kaidou and Big Mom's hearts and ending things right there. 
• The cut Zoro unleashes on Kaidou, Hiryu: Kaen (Flying Dragon Blaze) is one we've seen before, back in Thriller Bark, against Ryuma. There's a lot of Monsters wink-wink-nod internal homaging going on here, and I love it. 
• Kong Gatling (or, well, "King Kong Gatling") is the final move that Luffy used in Stampede to beat down Douglas Bullet.
• Orochi's head shows up. He may or may not have been dead, for the simple fact that, y'know, we haven't actually seen his devil fruit in a fight. From that side of the narrative alone, I don't think Orochi and Kanjurou are properly disposed of.