One Piece 1091 Review: Sumo Boy's Last Stand

One Piece, Chapter 1091: Sentomaru

This one is a bit of a shorter, simpler chapter and... I honestly really don't have a whole ton to say about this one compared to just how jam-packed the previous dozen chapters have been! The earlier segments of the chapter just show the Pacifistas fight against the army of (still-mostly-nameless) Vice Admirals. One of them, the ultra-chin guy, even has a named attack called 'Steam Knock', which... he appears to have some kind of a metal gauntlet or something. Doll also gets to do a kick that knocks back one of the Pacifistas, which is neat. 

We get a little recap of the order hierarchy for the Pacifistas and Seraphims, and this is basically a setup for Sentomaru's eventual defeat and how the Marines would be able to wrest control of the Pacifistas back. And... let's be honest, no one expected Sentomaru to be able to do anything significant to Kizaru... but damn if he's really trying his best! And even if he can't win in terms of actual combat, I do appreciate that we're getting a huge flashback for Sentomaru and Kizaru's backstory. He can hurt Kizaru through emotional damage.

Kizaru bombards the ground with Yasakani-no-Magatama, and Sentomaru just keeps charging in with his axe, and yells that he's going to do whatever he needs to do to get his saviour and benefactor, Vegapunk, off the island. There's a cool shot where Kizaru just splits himself down the middle by turning himself into light. We get a flashback of a younger Vegapunk and Kizaru meeting up with a child Sentomaru, who beats up bears in a jungle after being driven out of his home village. Eventually cute little Sentomaru ends up working and asking Kizaru to teach him to fight so he can protect 'Old Man Punk'.

It's the backstory that was actually already given in an SBS, although unlike some other SBS-exclusive backstories (sorry, Kid) I'm surprised to see it make its way to the main story. Again, it's really not much and I highly doubt that this interaction would make Sentomaru turn into anyone's favourite character or anything... but it really does make the fight feel like it has a fair bit more weight. Ultimately, Kizaru notes that he taught Sentomaru all he knew and that his own defense is also the greatest and hyper-beams Sentomaru to unconsciousness. 

Kizaru then takes control of the Pacifistas and turns them against the cyborg Sea Beasts, while St. Jaygarcia Saturn mutters about the waste in resources. 

There's a fair amount of reaction shots before Kizaru notes how this reminds him of Sabaody, before turning into light and going through the forcefield. I do like Kizaru muttering his objectives of what he can't attack, while musing that his friend should've been on that list to. I do find this to be rather interesting. Kizaru's "unclear justice" -- he still considers Sentomaru a friend and clearly respects him and is pissed that he has to zap Sentomaru to unconsciousness; but he's doing what the government is telling him to do regardless -- is really kinda weird and that's what makes him so different as a character. 

Meanwhile, in the control room... someone else is doing what the government is telling him to do. Rob Lucci charges in to finger-pistol Vegapunk right in the head, but Stussy jumps in the way and takes the Shigan to the gut. Now let me get this out of the way -- she's definitely not dead. From a narrative standpoint it'd be silly to build up all the mystery around her and then to kill her off with barely any explanation. But I do like this really rebuilding up Lucci's rather inglorious defeat earlier in the arc, making it really clear that Stussy got the upper hand by catching Lucci off-guard. 

Sanji is quick to bubble-gun the wounded Kaku, who is very confused. Meanwhile Zoro just zips in with his two swords, clashing against Lucci's leg, and basically calls Lucci out on how he's suddenly feeling all uppity just because he's got an ally. And... to be fair, though, Lucci was never on the good guys' side. There was some ambiguity thanks to the CP9 Independent Report cover story, and some lines of dialogue, but if nothing else Lucci has always been pretty consistent in how dead-set he is in murdering and exacting vengeance against the Straw Hats. This isn't so much of a betrayal and more of him just playing the long game. It seems like we're getting Rob Lucci vs. Zoro, though with so many other combatants in the room I find it highly unlikely that Lucci's going to be able to withstand even just either Zoro or Sanji alone, let alone both at once.

Zoro and Lucci clash and burst out of the control tower, while we get a badass final panel of Kizaru absent-mindedly looking at the Vega-Force-01, before Luffy zips in and clashes and kicks Kizaru with a Haki-empowered kick. Both of them clearly still remember Sabaody, and Luffy boasts that he's 100 times stronger than he was before. And... I am inordinately excited about this! I am a huge fan of the Sabaody arc, and of Kizaru's portrayal in it in particular. There's a break next week which sucks, but I am definitely looking forward to see the Luffy/Kizaru clash play out!

Random Notes:

• Again, I am still unconvinced that any of these Vice Admirals would amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but I definitely do appreciate that they're not given a bad showing. Vice Admirals have been basically used as fodder so much that other than Garp the rank's honestly been reduced to kind of a joke. I really do feel the concerted effort that Oda is making to sell the Marines as a more credible threat. 
• Young Kizaru wears a beanie cap. I can totally see Kizaru as a beanie guy. 
• Before Rob Lucci strikes, we get a panel of Hattori flying and for the briefest moment I thought that all the Hattori memes about how he's secretly a Zoan fruit user or something is actually going to pay off. Nope, he's just flying from Lucci's shoulder. 
• While there are a lot of hints at Lucci being dissatisfied with the government -- like some of the dialogue lines that caused Kaku and Stussy to get flustered at the beginning of the arc -- I would really like it if Lucci remains 100% antagonistic towards the Straw Hats basically all the way up to the end of the story. Not everyone needs to be redeemed, and even if they are redeemed it doesn't mean they have to suddenly become BFF's with everyone else!