One Piece 1066 Review: Big Brain Time

One Piece, Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara

Even more major lore in this chapter, though I did find certain aspects of this particular chapter a bit more... disagreeable, I think? It's not as bad as some of the lows in Wano. Robin takes center stage this chapter because, unexpectedly, Vegapunk is actually connected to the Library of Ohara! We get a brief enigmatic discussion about a 'machine being produced somewhere' originally built in the Void Century. I don't think we get any real clarification about that. 

But Shaka-punk gives a brief recap about the Void Century, and it's nice because not all the Straw Hats there are probably aware of it. We get Shaka basically setting down on paper that there was a war between the Ancient Kingdom and the 20 Kingdoms, which became the World Government. I'm pretty sure the fandom had pieced this bit of information, but I'm not sure if it had been specifically confirmed in the manga itself or not. There's also a comedy moment with Usopp panicking as he realizes that anyone who learns this information will be eliminated by the World Government. 

I do really like that Robin was initially very suspicious -- rightfully so -- about Vegapunk's intentions, being evasive and stuff. Shaka does note that the government had basically admitted that the Ancient Kingdom's existence is true by their actions on Ohara. Also, Shaka notes that Vegapunk's status as a government dog doesn't protect him from being eliminated if he speaks up about the Ancient Kingdom... which might be another reason that Lucci is arriving to murder all the Vegapunks. 

Robin gets progressively panicked as Shaka recaps her backstory and that of Ohara... and I absolutely love that we're getting a lot of Robin after she had basically been reduced to 'archaeology exposition chick'. We get the rather surprising revelatoin that Vegapunk and Professor Clover were friends in life, and that Clover used to go around becoming like an archaeology-pirate or whatever, and founded Ohara after looking all over the world for information. 

But then Vegapunk -- the original Vegapunk -- arrived on Ohara several months after the Buster Call to pay his respects to Clover, but ends up finding that gigantic lake filled with books .Which is all dramatic and heartwarming and cute and all to find out that the knowledge that the Ohara historians fought so long to preserve ended up being actually protected. But... I don't know. We don't actually get a reason or explanation for this. Did the marines/government agents not care about the books? Or think that they could be harbouring something important? I did remember fuzzily that the reason that the excuse the government gave so that Ohara got firebombed to oblivion was because they were allegedly researching ancient weapons or things that could wipe out the world. And I really find it hard to buy that Akainu or the Gorosei's CP-9 minions would just leave a very conspicuous lake filled with books there for months.

We get a brief recap of the Ohara flashback, leading to a very emotional panel of Robin crying. Love that all the Straw Hats immediately get angry and defensive around Robin, telling Vegapunk that he's going to get some for making Robin cry. Vegapunk then recaps when he arrived on Ohara... and his original body is finally something we see. It is... uh... it's the dorkiest looking design out of all the now-revealed seven Vegapunk designs. I guess there is something cutely One Piece about 'oh, the smartest guy has a super-long head to fit his giant brain' and that does fit the comical nature of the manga's character designs, but... man, that Eggman mustache and the gigantic tongue always permanently out just makes it hard for me to look at Vegapunk and not go 'yuck, disgusting'. 

Vegapunk sees a bunch of giants -- the very giants that are part of Hajrudin's pirate crew, I believe -- scoop up the books under the direction of a bandaged giant. Which isn't hard to guess to realize that, well, it's Jaguar D. Saul, who survived his Ice Time Capsule attack... and... yeah, it's Aokiji. Aokiji is a good guy. And it is foreshadowed in the 'Time Capsule' nature of the attack. So it's not completely bullshit like Kin'emon's survival in the Wano arc, or Pound or Pell or whoever, but... I just sigh and find it rather unnecessary for Saul to survive like this. It's a much, much less egregious one compared to other fake-out deaths, but still.

Oh, also we get to meet Dragon. He doesn't have the tattoos yet, and he is the leader of the 'Freedom Fighters', a pre-Revolutionary group. It's more characterization for Dragon than we've ever gotten in the entire story for sure! There's a bit of an argument between the two about Vegapunk not joining Dragon's military army, but Vegapunk needed the government's funding. Vegapunk also tells Dragon that there are many reasonable people within the Marines, and it's not just the entire organization that's evil. Dragon also used to be very anti-war, but it was the very sight of Ohara that caused him to found the Revolutinoaries with Kuma and Ivankov. 

Shaka then reveals that he carries the whole legacy of Ohara in his brain after memorizing it, and essentially all but confirms Saul's survival. And... okay, I bitched about Saul's revival, but man, that panel with Robin's smile and tears running down her face? That's a wonderful panel. I just find it a great moment for Robin. 

The final couple of pages has Vegapunk (or 'Stella' Vegapunk) show up in the present day, after a teleporter or some shit caused him to phase into the robot in front of Team Luffy. Vegapunk recognizes Luffy and Bonney, and a bit more importantly, he no longer has a giant brain. I'm going to assume that we are working off of cartoon logic and Vegapunk divided his brain up into his satellite bodies, reducing it to his current... apple-top... hat-thing. Okay, then?

Lots of great moments. Not a huge fan of Vegapunk's design, or of Saul's survival. But I absolutely love the unexpected revelation of Ohara, the Revolutinoaries and Vegapunk all being connected to each other!

Random Notes:

• The cover story has the Germa 66 seemingly return to their snail-boats. I guess this means that the Germa's cover story is close to over, then? 
• I talk about Robin's happy-crying face, but that brief shot of her panicked face when Shaka talks about her origins as a Demon Child is also a very great art. So is her crying face as she ends up remembering the tragedy of her backstory. 
• In addition to referencing Punk Hazard, Veagapunk's ship having PH on it is a sneaky reference to pH. 
• Clover broke out of prison ten times. That's far more impressive than Kaido, who had super-strength so it's not that special, you know what I mean? 
• There has been a lot of speculation about characters like Vice-Admiral Strawberry or Fukurokuju being part of a 'long-head tribe' in conjunction with the long-arm and long-leg tribes. The aliens from Enel's cover story also had long heads! Stella-Vegapunk might be one of those!
• Vegapunk is 43 years old in the Ohara flashback, putting him at around 60-ish in the present day. I had this idea that Vegapunk was like a super-old person, but I guess he's not that old, all things considered. 
• Among the Straw Hats' reaction, I love that Sanji is completely bamboozled that the weirdo Ivankov is actually a Revolutionary bigshot. 
• Apparently, Stella Vegapunk's design is based on like, a specific meme-edit of the Albert Einstein photo with his tongue hanging out where the forehead got stretched out.