One Piece 1010 Review: The Hype!

One Piece, Chapter 1010: Colour of the Supreme King

I've been taking to reviewing One Piece on a basically monthly basis, talking about anywhere from 3 to 5 chapters all at once. Particularly during the early days of the Wano arc, I felt like it's the best way to enjoy this manga -- I reread Dressrosa and Whole Cake Island's arcs after they were published week-by-week, and they all felt much better read and talked about in batches of multiple chapters at once. (It also avoids pitfalls like getting overly excited for rather obvious 'nah, it's just a trolling cliffhanger' like the Kanjuro Oden thing recently)

But then sometimes you get bombshells like this one. 

Boy, and I thought last chapter was the huge Zoro chapter. And, sure, Big Mom being dropped off of Onigashima with a rock is very anticlimactic and a bit too silly for one of the Yonkou, so I wasn't surprised when turns out that Prometheus managed to get away from Zoro and grab Big Mom. Nothing too surprising -- although the events that led to this sequence is pretty interesting. Turns out blocking that Ocean Sovereignty attack is too hard on Zoro and he's stumbling, and Law elects to save Zoro from an onrushing Kaido instead of allowing him to continue dicing Prometheus up. 

Also interestingly, I think throughout the Wano arc, the manga has been pretty much hammering home that the Big Mom pirates... aren't in their A-game. Sure, the amnesia subplot was still kind of terrible all around, but with how disorganized the entire organization was (other than Katakuri) back in Whole Cake Island, how the Big Mom Pirates got kicked off a waterfall twice and Big Mom's children seem content to be sitting around doing nothing, and Big Mom herself held off at various points of the arc by characters like Queen or Franky or Jinbe or Robin? As Kaido himself notes in this chapter, "that was pathetic, Linlin." Are we getting a Gekko Moriah style story where we get a badass who's essentially let himself get rusty? An interesting direction to take Big Mom, and honestly, considering how she's honestly more destructive to her own family compared to the Straw Hats back in Whole Cake Island, I actually find this kind of intriguing.  

Anyway, Law can't Shambles or personality-swap these Yonkou characters, but apparently he can stab Kaido with an Injection Shot. He also tanks a full-on swipe from Kaido with an ability called 'Curtain', whose kanji reads 'antibacterial armament'... I mean, I guess it's something defensive, but the panel is so small that it's kind of hard to tell what's going on. Also interestingly, Law tells Zoro that 'the plan isn't worth one of us dying', which is surprising! I guess Law has became soft and is growing to really treat the Straw Hats as his true companions or some such. That's a nice reminder that despite all of his bluster and his insistence that "if you get tortured, die before you reveal information!" earlier this arc, he cares for some of his newfound friends. 

Kid and Killer exit stage left to deal with Big Mom. And... okay, sure. Also, speaking of Big Mom herself being treated as useless, Big Mom rants about how Zeus has been a burden to them (this one isn't even Zeus's fault!), and Prometheus actually seems to be egging Mama on. He asks Big Mom for 'something', which... honestly seems to lead to Big Mom making a new Zeus. Is Nami really going to permanently gain Zeus?

And then we get Zoro getting up from all the injuries, pulling out his blade, and, for the first time in forever (500 chapters, to be exact), Zoro busts out Kiki Kyutoryu: Asura. How is he standing after the previous chapter? Sheer guts, I guess -- we all know Zoro's got massive pain tolerance and stuff. It's still one of the weirdest things the Straw Hats had done, and Zoro has done it only twice throughout the story! And it's something everyone's been anticipating because, well, up until Wano, I don't think post-timeskip Zoro has really ever been in a fight where he's seriously challenged. We get the very cool "Blades Drawn: Dead Man's Game" attack, which draws blood from Kaido and is confirmed that it will be leaving a scar, just like Oden's blow. 

Asura's such a huge moment for me personally, because it's actually one of the things I was spoiled about for Zoro because I saw him bust it out in a fighting game back when I was just first starting to get into One Piece. And with how the form gets marketed and hyped up by the video games and movies and most other marketing material, it's worth remembering that unlike the other Enies' Lobby power-ups (Gear Second, Gear Third, Diable Jambe, Monster Point) Zoro only ever uses Asura twice. Once to take out Kaku, and a second time in an ineffective, easy-to-miss effort against the Sabaody Pacifista. With so many things going on, I honestly sometimes forget that Zoro has this ability...

But that's not all. That's not the most hype thing about this chapter. Yes, not Zoro slashing Kaido in a massive gash across his chest. 

Kaido's first reaction? "You can use Conqueror's Haki too?"

Holy shit, guys.

I've never subscribed to the 'Rayleigh has Conqueror's Haki and he's the first mate, ergo Zoro must have it too', for the simple fact that I've never really liked the explanation that 'the previous generation did X, so the main characters must do X too'... but if we're being completely honest, when Brook joked about it a couple chapters ago, I really didn't think that it was too far off that Zoro (and Sanji, but mostly Zoro) is going to be able to unlock Conqueror's Haki.

I love that Zoro doesn't even know he has this power, and he's even surprised -- all he intended to do is to knock Kaido down. And that's what makes the Zoro/Brook exchange in 998 or whatever so much more clever, I think. Sure, it's played off as a joke there, where Brook thinks Zoro's shaking the room with Conqueror's Haki... but while we could easily brush it off as a joke then, with this chapter? It becomes a neat little way for the author to insert the idea that 'hey, wouldn't it be cool if Zoro has Conqueror's Haki?' into our heads. And, hey, turns out that he has! It's very cool.

Kaido uses a Thunder Bagua to blast Zoro and Law down, and they're still alive... but I don't think they'll be getting up any time soon. The one that gets up, though? One Monkey D. Luffy, who spends the first half of this chapter with whited-out eyes after taking that Ragnaraku attack last chapter. Apparently, Luffy figures out that Conqueror's Haki isn't just an ability to blast down random weaklings, but it's something that can be infused to objects and weapons. 

The layout of the panels is slightly confusing and almost implies that Ryuo is Conqueror's Haki, but I think it's less that Ryuo is Conqueror's Haki; but more that the principle of Ryuo channeling Haki is what Luffy is going to do with Conqueror's Haki. And Luffy displays this by kicking towards Kaido's kanabo... and we get the clash of the leg and the club hovering inches from each other... the exact very cool effect that we had in the Oden flashback between Roger and Whitebeard! That is still one of the best-looking effects that truly demonstrated the clash well, and was recently animated spectacularly in anime form. I really need to sit down and watch the Wano arc of the anime, really. 

The rest of the chapter is a 'Luffy finally draws blood' chapter. We had an equivalent of this for most of Luffy's major drawn-out fights. And he just zips around, and starts to strike Kaido with his fists unleashing black Conqueror's Haki lightning and causing impacts without coming into contact. Some very cool panels here, and Luffy does a pretty badass boast saying he's going to beat Kaido. End chapter. 

And... and it's very, very interesting. It's been a while since we've gotten Luffy seriously beating down the main antagonist of an arc. The last one we got was Doflamingo, and that was after a series of three story arcs where the previous two major antagonists (Caesar Clown and Hody Jones) are more threats because of what they would do to the civilians as opposed to 'oh man, they are insurmountable threats'. With Whole Cake Island, the Straw Hats barely manage to escape Big Mom, and Luffy's victory over Katakuri has the underlying factor that Katakuri sort of let Luffy escape after a 'worthy opponent' deal. And Zou doesn't even have Luffy face off against Jack. 

And so the story has been going on with the assumption that, hey, Luffy might have very well bitten off more than he could chew. Taking on the Yonkou basically almost immediately into the new world, and dragging in a second one after his arguably selfish whim to save Sanji? Which... honestly, I can really see this going either way. I could see this leading to Luffy actually fighting Kaido -- if not beating him, then at least matching him the same way he matched Katakuri. After all, the other Supernovas note that Big Mom has been separated from Kaido. But on the other hand, with so many things still left unresolved all around Onigashima, and the whole five-act Kabuki play thing, I'm unconvinced that this will definitely end well. We're still in act three, after all, the one that ostensibly will end in tragedy... and I do kind of feel like whichever direction we're going, it's definitely going to be interesting!