One Piece 1096 Review: We Built This City on Rock(s) and Roll

One Piece, Chapter 1096: Kumachi

This one came a bit later than usual for me. Bit hectic for me IRL, but this was also a very hectic chapter as well! So much shit happened in this chapter, and this is a chapter where the second half arguably didn't have much content to it after the God Valley conflict got off-screened and saved up for a later flashback. I do admit that we got a lot more than I thought we would be getting, though. 

The first two-page spread has all of the citizens of God Valley run around in terror. Or, as the Celestial Dragons refer to them, "Rabbits". An announcer talks about the killing bonus as the Celestial Dragons assemble around a throne, and we get some quick shots of Celestial Dragn facial designs. The ones we focus on -- presumably the God's Knights -- don't wear the stupid bubble helmets, though one guy does have a gas mask. We don't dwell on it much but people are being slaughtered left and right by the Celestial Dragons, even the children. 

Instead, we cut away to Marine HQ, where Kong is yelling at Garp and arguing about Garp's deployment. It's interesting that Garp is just chilling in some beach, refusing to go and help out the Celestial Dragons' "little field trip". It's a whole can of worms to unpack what good people like Garp and Sengoku are doing when the Celestial Dragons are enacting such heinous shit like their little rabbit hunt, and how they could justify it to themselves... but we haven't really seen the God Valley incident from Garp's side of things, so I'll reserve judgement. 

Garp did note that it's the Celestial Dragons' fault for "poking around Hachinosu", and how the Celestial Dragons apparently succeeded in stealing the "crown jewel of Pirate Island". Piecing things together, it does appear that the Celestial Dragons stole something precious, probably one of the Devil Fruits we see later in this chapter. And then Kong tells Garp that "Roger is coming", which gets Garp all a-flustered and immediately ready to deploy. 

There's a brief shot, interestingly, of other pirates on Hachinosu being pissed off that Rocks have sailed without them, so every other pirate also wants to protect whatever this enigmatic 'crown jewel' is. 

And we cut back to God Valley, with Ivankov giving a whole speech about how desperate their situation is. Celestial Dragons killing people wily-nily, Marine ships blockading the island, and Ivankov is also quick to dash Kuma's hopes with a harsh sense of realism -- there was no way that the Celestial Dragons would let any slave live, regardless of whether they survived the allotted 3 weeks or not. The false hope is just to make the 'rabbits' run faster and give them a more fun hunt.

We briefly see that jackass Garling run around stabbing people. A random shark Fishman frees Ivankov and the others from their chains, and Ginny is... a hacker. I guess she just happens to be that good? She manages to find out that the two prizes in the competition is the Uo Uo no Mi Fruit, Model Seiryu, as well as the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. Ginny also reveals something far more impressive. She's a wiretapper, and she's leaked all this information to the outside world. Kuma briefly volunteers as decoy for the slaves there, and Ivankov is impressed by this... and vows to keep Kuma alive. 

Now obviously in the modern day, all the information about God Valley has been silenced by the government, but the implication is that Ginny was the reason Rocks and Roger knew to attack God Valley in the first place. 

But it's not just Rocks and Roger, oh no. They each bring in their own crews of all-stars. As Rocks and his fleet arrive, we get a wonderful large panel of all of Rocks' crew gathering. "Whitebeard" Edward Newgate, the future strongest man in the world. Buckingham Stussy, looking like her modern-day clone counterpart clinging on Whitebeard's sholder.  "Golden Lion" Shiki, dual-wielding swords as he makes his glorious canonical appearance. "Big Mom" Charlotte Linlin, holding Prometheus in one hand like a fireball. Gloriosa, Empress of the Kuja Tribe and a very unexpected addition to this crew. The drunkard Captain John. And choreboy Kaidou of the Beasts, still young and with legs that are proportional to his body. Plus two faces that the manga call attention to but didn't give dialogue, presumably Silver Axe and Wang Zhi/Ochoku, the other two names in the Rocks Pirates that we've heard name-dropped here and there. 

One notable exception? Rocks D. Xebec himself, the man who gathered all of these all-stars, who rushed on ahead so he doesn't get caught on screen.

But the rest of the Rocks crew, as advertised, don't work together cohesively as a unit at all. Whitebeard is just shit-talking Rocks for his yolo tactics. Stussy is simping all over Whitebeard and arguing with Gloriosa. John is just drinking. Shiki and Big Mom are both yelling about how they will claim victory. And Kaido's actually just casually being told to shut up and know his place as a rookie. 

And then the future Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, makes landfall on another part of the island. Accompanied by Silvers Rayleigh, Scopper Gaban, a viking-looking dwarf guy and a giant in the background -- people in his crew that have names but I can't be bothered to look them out -- they all charge in for their own fight. Love to see Roger still with the straw hat, since this all happens pre-Shanks, and I love the little banter that Scopper tells Roger that he's not allowed to use the captain card to call dibs. 

The God's Knights also deploy, with Garling showing up with a lady and some freak with a goat skull hat, about to protect the Celestial Dragons and trash-talking the Marines. 

And as the random generic Marines of the island despair... Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, the Fist, the Hero, who's going to fight all of the worst pirates of all time with his fists comes charging in with a small army of his own. Including Bogard! Bless Bogard, he did jack-all in present-day Hachinosu. 

...and that's the big hype panels. We cut to see Kuma, Ivankov and Ginny escape from their POV from this point onwards, and I have to be honest that this is kind of blueballing me a bit. But I do admit that it's a fair bit more than we otherwise would've gotten to see. Team Kuma uses this chaos to get to the prizes... and Kuma and Ivankov each have one of the prize Devil Fruits. 

Then Big Mom just pops up and slams Ivankov into the wall, and... doesn't exactly kill Ivankov, but at least reclaims that fruit. Ivankov has to be hell of durable to survive that slam, too, since Big Mom does already have insane giant-murdering strength. Kuma eats that fruit while Ivankov yells about the importance of at least being able to get people off of this island... and then Saint Jaygarcia Saturn shows up with his fucking Sith-Force powers, mocking Kuma for his Buccaneer blood. Kuma gives an epic comeback about how 'are you born important', then pisses Saturn the fuck off by stating that he's going to rescue people just like Nika. 

And just as Saturn gets a death-glare, Roger and Rocks clash in the background... we cut away to several days after God Valley. At least with the Paw-Paw Fruit it's not too hard to imagine how Kuma and his allies got away safely, but the clash between Rocks, Roger, Garp and Garling all have to wait for the future, I suppose. 

Kuma, Ivankov and Ginny have moved over to the Sorbet Kingdom, with sweet Kuma still praying in a church about how he thought he could've saved much more people in God Valley... in a nice contrast to how none are even supposed to be alive. Ivankov told Kuma he saved a total of 500 people... a drop of water compared to the 10,000 in the country, but still exponentially more than "none shall survive". Ivankov bids farewell to Kuma and Ginny, heading off to sea to return to his kingdom for some hijinks, one would presume. 

And the last two pages could just be summarized by Kuma and Ginny just... just living peacefully. Cutting wood, getting into fights with bullies, curing bullies... and they just share a meal with each other and cry in joy. It's kind of an abrupt ending, and one that's jarringly happy-go-lucky. We also get the all-but-explicitly-said confirmation that Ginny is Bonney's mom with Kuma calling her a "Big Eater". But we all know things aren't going to be happy for ol' Kumachi for too long, huh? This might be the end of God Valley for now, but I really don't think it's the end for Kuma's suffering in the flashbacks... 

Random Notes:

• Among the nameless generics in the Rocks crew panel, there are 4 or 5 unidentified, unnamed people. And in the background just above Whitebeard's head is a guy with Wolverine claws. We do know Blackbeard uses Wolverine claws, so maybe this is Blackbeard's dad?
• The first two-page spread name-drops another Celestial Dragon family, the Mannmeyers.
• Between the four designs we see in the hunting spread and the two that hang out with Garling, we actually are starting to fill in the designs for the God's Knights. Assuming, of course, all these guys without astronaut helmets are all God's Knights, and they're all active to this day. 
• This is a 'big year' for Kong, huh? After being MIA for so long, he shows up in the edges of the credit maps for the Netflix One Piece. And now he's in a single panel yelling at Garp!
• There is a nice little hourglass plot as Garp is in the past yelling at Kong about how stupid it is for someone to 'poke around Hachinosu', because you'll get stung, but in the present day he's the one poking around Hachinosu to rescue Koby. 
• The 'Rabbits' all have targets on their shirts, which just really adds to the fucked-up dehumanization going on in here.
• This isn't the first bloody competition with Devil Fruits on the line. Did Doflamingo model his Mera Mera no Mi tournament on these purging Celestial Dragon hunts?
• How cool is it to see Shiki finally show up outside of generic tie-in mentions to Strong World? It's so nice to see him properly acknowledged as a canon character instead of this weird-ass limbo that he normally finds himself in. 
• So Shakky isn't part of the Rocks Pirates as the fandom had speculated for the last couple of years, with the recent revelation that she's the captain of the Kuja Pirates... but another old Kuja Pirate turns out to be a member all along! Gloriosa is Granny Nyon from the Amazon Lily arc... I don't really know how I feel about this. To be honest I don't really care about either of the characters, but it's nice to have the confirmation.
• Could you imagine dragon Ivankov in the timeline where he eats the fruit instead of monologuing? A giant HEE-HAW-ing dragon wreaking havoc in Marineford?
• Ivankov calls Kuma's hands the "Hands of Liberation". Okay, sure.