One Piece, Chapters 1014-1015
Chapter 1014: The Ham
What an eventful pair of chapters! The internet went wild in-between these recent chapters, which really shows just how effective these week-by-week cliffhangers are. And boy, I didn't really participate or care all that much, but I remembered the fandom exploding and arguing about power scaling and stuff thanks to the one-on-one fight between Luffy and Kaido, and honestly? Kaido off-screen defeating Luffy who just learned how to weaponize Conqueror's Haki is definitely the most logical conclusion to that. I definitely would've not liked it at all if that had been the case, but I trust the writer enough to either show Luffy's defeat, or show him winning through alternate means, like a team-up with Yamato or something.
Luffy just straight-up falls into the ocean in the beginning of this chapter, although, again, he's obviously not going to die. Kaido also off-handedly confirms what the fandom had guessed for a while, that 'Joy Boy' is a title that some people are expecting to appear in the present day and that for now, Kaido doesn't think that Luffy is it. (Spoiler alert: this is a shonen manga, and Luffy is basically a shoo-in for being 'Joy Boy', whatever that entails).
Momonosuke also seems to have finished reading Oden's journal and says that 'I truly must not die', which... yeah, I also feel that I, personally, must not die, but I guess there's some revelation within the pages of Oden's journal that really makes Momonosuke necessary for some prophecy or something or other.
We cut to other parts of the battlefield as Kaido orders Bao Huang to spread the news of Luffy's defeat, and the first one we cut to? Motherfucking Monster Point Chopper wrestling Brachiosaurus Queen. These two chapters make it kind of clear that Queen's easily tanking all of the hits, but honestly, after being treated as part of the 'cowards' for so long since basically Enies Lobby, it's nice to see that Chopper's still pretty powerful. I mean, he's physically wrestling a Yonko commander, and also tanking arrows from Perospero, that's way more than I expected Chopper to do in this arc. We get glimpses of all the other fights all over Onigashima and the Straw Hats mostly reacting in defiance. I guess we're either getting the fights in the next act, or just in the anime?
And I thought that was just going to be the bulk of the chapter. But the second half? Shinobu, Kin'emon and Kiku are all gathered around Momonosuke, who's getting a headache for reasons explained next chapter. Kanjuro shows up disguised as Oden again, confusing Shinobu and Momonosuke, and we get the confrontation between Kiku and Kanjuro. Hey, neat, we actually see the fight, and it's a pretty neat resolution. Unfortunately, it's not the resolution we're expecting? Kiku hesitates just a bit thanks to Oden's face, and she gets stabbed in the gut by Kanjuro, and seemingly falls.
Kanjuro gloats about how this is payback since he also has a mortal wound from earlier, and it's honestly kind of depressing if this is it for Kiku. But then we get kind of a two-page spread of Kin'emon slashing Kanjuro in the stomach and dropping him to the ground. We get a brief flashback of their first meeting, and these are the two Wano samurai that the audience knew the longest. I did like Kanjuro's lunatic speech -- even to his dying breath, what he sees as a good ending is being sliced down by his best friend on stage.
And then, without giving the audience time to breathe, Kaido bursts in through the walls and just swings the shit down with his club. The angle really makes it look like the upper half of Kin'emon's body is just utterly squished and pulverized!
So yeah, three potential deaths in this chapter. The thing is... y'know, One Piece has had a pretty terrible track record at keeping deaths permanent. Sorry, Pell, Pound and a bunch of others really have made me really cautious at going 'OMG THESE GUYS ARE DEAD'. I actually believe Kanjuro's death since it is a pretty fitting end for the character, but I honestly wonder if Oda would go that far and end Kiku before the character has resolved anything that she has been built up for. Unlike Ashura Doji, Yasu or Pedro, Kiku doesn't even get a heroic last act, and I don't think Oda's the type of writer that would end a character with her last act being 'oh fuck, I failed'. But Kanjuro, and more importantly, Kin'emon in the next chapter? I'm mostly a huge fan of just how quick everything happens in this chapter. Oh shit, Kiku gets stabbed! Is she dead? Now Kanjuro gets slashed! A flashback, and he is most likely dead. Oh shit Kaido! Oh SHIT KIN'EMON! That was pretty great to read.
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Chapter 1015: Chains
And then this chapter. Hoo boy. We start off with the other parts of Onigashima, with everyone else reacting to the news that Luffy has been beaten. Chopper's really the only one that's panicking, while everyone else is more or less confident that at the very least they need to keep fighting. Also, Sanji is using sleeping-bandaged-up Zoro as a bludgeon to beat the shit out of random pirates, that's hilarious.
We get the set-up of Sanji versus Queen, which is something that everyone apparently really wants. With the foreshadowing that Queen knows Germa in some way, it is kind of appropriate that Queen gets matched up with Sanji. It's kind of overly convenient, though, that Sanji comes in just as Perospero is unleashing a rain of candy arrows, and just as Queen is about to chomp down on Chopper with his needle teeth. And that Sanji's Rotisserie Strike is able to cause Queen's neck to perpetually spin and deflect all the candy arrows. Okay, sure.
Anyway, Perospero gets knocked away (presumably so he can fight Nekomamushi), while Sanji gives a badass speech to Chopper and leaves Zoro for Chopper to cure. It's about damn time Sanji gets to do something cool in this arc.
Meanwhile, Kaido is looming over Kin'emon. He's in pretty terrible shape but not at all squished to death, while Shinobu and Momonosuke are escaping. Even with his broken sword, Kin'emon still tries his best to stab Kaido, bleeding from his wounds and having a flashback to when he and Momonosuke set up the whole masquerade of being father and son during the whole Punk Hazard arc. Kin'emon is only buying a couple more extra seconds and Kaido notes this, before stabbing Kin'emon straight through the chest with a dagger. It's in silhouette even if it's pretty obviously graphic and...
...and you know what? If Kin'emon survives two seemingly certain-death moments, it probably would kill One Piece's credibility of having actual characters-dying stakes. And Kin'emon's death, as desperate and unsightly as it was, is at least a lot more... conclusive, I guess? He died protecting his master, and at least he took down Kanjuro earlier. It's perhaps not the most elegant death, and I wonder if the later stages of this arc would be the discussion of what constitutes a noble death, and whether Kin'emon, Kiku and Ashura achieved that? Or something? At the moment I really do want to take this at face value, that, yes, in the span of two chapters the manga just killed three characters. But I don't know. I've been burned so many times by shonen manga that I kind of want clarification.
The final couple of pages is honestly not the most interesting ones. Momonosuke uses a stolen Mary frog to give a speech that Luffy is alive and somehow telepathically told Momo that he's still alive -- that's the source of the headache last chapter. Something to do with Conqueror's Haki or the Voice of All Things, I suppose? At the edge of Onigashima, Shinobu uses her ripe-ripe fruit to decompose the ground and drop her and Momonosuke down, away from Kaido. Oh, and Law's submarine finds Luffy as he's drowning, which... not going to lie, I actually forgot Law's submarine is a factor. Everyone gets re-invigorated, Law arrives to help Kid fight Big Mom, and Yamato arrives to face Kaido.
Honestly, again, there's a not-insignificant part of me that doubts the deaths of Kin'emon, Kiku, Kanjuro and much earlier Ashura Doji, but on the other hand... maybe, maybe we're finally getting high stakes? And if so, I do wonder how Kiku and Kin'emon's character arcs will be wrapped up in a satisfying manner, particularly Kiku's. But then everyone and their mother have been talking about the 'tragedy' of a kabuki play, and having multiple supporting characters die would definitely be a pretty huge tragedy! I'm honestly waiting with bated breath for the next chapter, something that I've not been feeling since the rooftop battle.
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Random Notes:
- 1014 gives us the honestly rather out-of-nowhere revelation that with Caesar Clown's help, Chopper has extended his Monster Point to thirty minutes. Kind of interesting, although I am inherently suspicious of anything that comes from Caesar Clown... I definitely would be a fan if Chopper's new and improved Monster Point comes with new drawbacks.
- Queen's laser beam is called 'Black Coffee'. It's... it's a long-winded pun that involves 'black' and 'brachio' sorta sounding similar in Japanese, and the Japanese pronunciation of 'coffee' (kohi) being also a possible reading for 'light fire'.
- Queen's robo-brachiosaur neck extending is pretty creepy.
- Shinobu is all 'um, guys, there's a frog with the creepy talismans'... you're a goddamn ninja, Shinobu, you really could've dealt with it yourself. Though I guess not killing the frog does allow Momo to have his big moment in 1015.
- Marco liking the Straw Hats for fighting even though their captain is 'dead' adds a couple extra layers because, y'know, his captain is dead.
- The whole Kin'emon's (possible) death thing is kind of the focus of that scene, but we get another speech from Kaido about a good death, where he talks about facing death like a warrior, and how many humans being unable to accept defeat when it arrives? I really wonder what's going on in Kaido's mind and am eagerly awaiting the inevitable flashback or motive rant.
- It's mostly the Straw Hats fighting, but there is a short scene of Raizo and Fukurokuju's ninja fights with hand seals and everything.
- I also completely forgot about when I first posted the review, but Zeus! Zeus survived and became Nami's Clima-Tact! I guess when Big Mom ripped Zeus's soul out, the soul jumped into the tact? Okay, that's actually more interesting than 'Zeus survived and hid in the Clima-Tact'.
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