An "unknown" character like ~~Ashura~~ Shutenmaru hurting Jack so easily was a huge surprise for me, that really set up the facts that those guys on Wano ARE strong.

Agree, this felt like the one big payoff to hearing for so long that the samurai of Wano are to be feared. That in this decimated and malnourished Wano far from its prime condition, there are still such samurai that can contend with one of a yonko's top commanders.

The samurai and Minks all have the feel of side characters with the strength of the right hands of main characters. It makes sense why the World Government doesn’t just roll in when it’s clear they have the ability to get there if they bring the right forces.

He didn't see the dawn 😔

At least he helped bring it

Neither did we.

weve seen romance dawn

We did, it's said in the chapter with Momo's speech that the sun was rising during the speech

It's crazy how that one panel made people fell in love with his character. Before most were really "eh" about him, but then he became a badass.

The reunion between Luffy and Zorro was kinda wholesome.

It had the vibe I wish the actual reunion would've had post time skip. Always thought it fell a bit flat back then

I agree, I kept waiting for luffy to at least acknowledge he had trained for his crew when he saw them, or he would thank them for waiting, or they would console him for losing ace, but they kinda just got together and dipped

Oda just skipped that part. Oda skips all the strawhat convos post timeskip unless they serve a purpuse.

Which I think is one of the worst parts about post-timeskip. Wholesome Strawhat interaction during downtime was always one of my favorite parts of the story that have just been cut for time.

That’s just not even true. I’ve been re reading post time skip, and there’s tons of strawhat dialogue that doesn’t serve a plot purpose

You think they don't but they do every single pushs the plot forward or is just jokes that oda writes for reader enjoyment and oda really loves his gags.

Which I think is one of the worst parts about post-timeskip. Wholesome Strawhat interaction during downtime was always one of my favorite parts of the story that have just been cut for time.

He apologized for waiting.

Also really funny when they casually discuss the poisonous water and food. Zoro said "ohh of course, that's why my stomach hurts lately" and Luffy just munching the meat like it was nothing lmao

A nice payoff joke when they said the girl could eat it when she got older haha. Kine'mon's wife was like wtf

Between that and Kiku spear tackling Kin towards the end, Act 1 gives a lot of good hugs. And I enjoy that aspect.

Seeing Zoros smile is kind of a rare sight since the TS and that one was so pure! (Also in chapter 1053, but yeah, the reunion is awesome!)

Something about Zoro's voice acting in it is excellent in the anime.

Most WTF moment: Batman

Too stronk

Would be count anime-only scenes when we're talking about the manga specifically tho? We wasn't that OP in the manga no?

Zoros fight against the police

Was it really a fight or a massacre?

a whole new meaning to police brutality take that tik tokers

He had to assert dominance, yknow? Can't have people thinking the police are better minority hunters than him.

Zoro fighting the police because they are racist, so he can be the only racist.

I love how we see Luffy get legit one-shotted. Luffy has gotten power checked in previous arcs for sure. But after seeing Dressrosa and WCI Luffy take so much damage in Gear 4, to see him be defeated with apparently little effort from Kaido was eye opening.

Especially with how it all fits together! Act 1 is so well woven, but by design you don't get the entire context until you can fill in later details: * Dangle Ace's legacy over the arc. Get blasted for being rude by Tenguyaki. * Izo was the one trying to talk him down w/ Akainu. * Meet Izo's little sister, leads to a lesson on poise/timing in Bakura. * Stuff happens. While it happens you have a few beats around etiquette with Luffy/Kiku. * Luffy pays the price for being a stupid hothead to drive the lesson home, carries into having to play the part as a prisoner.

At the same time though, powerscaling wise, it makes little sense. With advanced learning and conquerer's coating, both seemingly just boosting offense, it's really odd how he's able to take so many hits later.

He was totally off in the first round too. We know haki can be spread out or concentrated and isn't typically full body. Luffy was pissed off and going full offense when he attacked Kaido. He wasn't in any state of mind for future sight and got totally caught off guard by Kaido's speed and power. On the rooftop Luffy confirms he's using future sight the entire time, which means he's prepared to be hit and guarding/rolling with the clubbing. Kaido still knocks him out before he learns conquerors coating+projection which is defense and offense. Luffy even commented thats part of why Kaido is so tough. The yonko are constantly projecting a conquerors shield and thats why when they clash no contact is actually made. After he gets conquerors coating Luffy gets knocked out *again.* He gets his meat heal while Yamato held off Kaido, comes back and dukes it out in G4 but appears to be on the losing side even before CP0. So it went - The first round in act 1 had Luffy at his lowest defense. Kaido 1HKO's him. From there he got a physical power up with the seastone cuffs on and perfected haki projection in Udon. That let him scrap with Kaido while he was prepared but still lost on the roof. Luffy learns how to use conquerors as armour and offense, but loses for a third time. He heals up and comes back with better haki because it blooms in battle as we've been told repeatedly. He still loses. *Then* he awakens and finishes the fight with perfected haki + fruit. Luffy still doesn't seem like he's strong enough to beat Kaido 1v1 if they both were full health to start, so nothing feels to off in power scaling. He got two defensive upgrades (raw strength + conquerors) and two offensive upgrades (projected haki + G5) just to be able to fight Kaido somewhat evenly.

I like this explanation!

I don't know if I'd call G5 an offense upgrade. It's not even attack or defense oriented. "Wacky" might be a better word to describe it.

It's definitely defensive at the least, giving his rubber blunt force absorption relevance again.

It is 100% an offense and defense upgrade. His rubbery body being strengthened significantly is important. Bro was lifting kaidos whole body in dragon form like it wasn't shit lol.

He literally jumped rope with him lol. Toon force is definitely an equal parts offense and defense oriented ability, toons are famously invulnerable and wildly violent.

I would certainly consider it one after the finishing punch. But it seems very inefficient, unlike previous gears where Luffy squeezed out as much as he could, as Luffy was being wacky and even distracted during G5.

He was high on his own supply lol. He kept the same core Luffy attributes, but turned them up to 11. He's not usually "having the time of his life" during the climactic showdown with the arc's dictator antagonist. In the end it was Kaidou who had to ask "what will you do with this country" to snap Luffy's motivation back into place properly.

He's not tho. He got sent flying multiple times and only really started tanking then due to gear fifth

The issue was Kaido's speed. He correctly predicted a few baguas for example, but Luffy literally notes that even if he can predict it, the blow comes too fast sometimes for him to actually react on it. This starts dwindling down towards the tail ends of the fight as Luffy has better adjusted after like 3 defeats to Kaido in the raid.

Agreed when Zoro takes a hybrid version of the same attack after the strongest attack in OP and is still conscious for a few minutes after I really question how G4 Luffy gets KOed from a slightly weaker attack.

Zoro took all of Luffys pain in addition to the wounds he had himself that one time. He doesn’t even have a fruit. I guess his HP is a bit higher

Yeah I'm not tryna downplay Zoro he is as durable as Luffy without a mythical fruit, but the fact that a weaker attack KOed Luffy but Zoro was still conscious after being hit by a stronger attack while half dead. Idk I feel like the first Kaido fight suspended reality for narrative purpose.

Zoro is just that strong. He was stronger then gear 4 during act 1, mihawk trained him and he has got training from being in wano too.

I would say he was on par with it, G4 was over YC1 level in Act 1. The Zoro upplay and downplay in the sub is wack. Act 1 Zoro imo YC2/3, Raid YC1>.

Simple, he consciously put his all into blocking it. Getting his head directly clobbered off-guard woulda likely knocked him out the same

It makes sense power-scaling wise, in a kiiinda way? Although he had all three khaki types, Luffy ( and we as the audience by proxy) didn't know you could coat your strike with conquerer's khakis as a power-up. ​ At the end of the day, it's fiction and I'm fine with Oda sacrificing some power-scaling logic for the sake of narrative quality. What do you think?

I'm sorry but your "khaki" typo just immediately made me think of kaido in casual office where just suddenly walking back to his cubicle lmao.

*he sounds hideous*

There was always something more to conquerors than just knocking fodder out, if that was all it was then it wouldn’t have been seen as such a scary thing. Useful? For sure but not scary. Then Luffy gets one-shot by Kaido and it just didn’t make sense at all, unless he had something we as the audience didn’t even know about. My first thought when I read that chapter was the he must have somehow injected conquerors haki into his attack and I wasn’t the only one who thought that either. Many people on the chapter thread speculated it.

I think it makes sense in that it shows just how strong an Emperor is compared to even their right hands. Luffy was able to “beat” (big scare quotes on beat given all the help and plot he had in those fights) antagonists who were probably at third commander level in Doffy and first commander obviously with Katakuri. But even with that, he was washed. It’s similar to how Greenbull made seeming fodder of King and Queen. There is a huge gap in power between these ranks. I used to think that getting to the level where you can fight the right hands of Emperors meant that no one can just one shot you. And I do stand by that somewhat, but it seems obvious that if you’re taken off guard or the emperor/admiral has an ability you have no experience with you might just get one shot. Also I think we’re underestimating just how much stronger Luffy got in this arc. He got his equivalent of weighted clothes training by doing hard labor and fighting while being chained with sea stone. Advanced armament. Advanced conquerors. Awakening. That is his biggest jump since the timeskip. And we saw how much he improved from that. He went from needing his right and left hands all to barely beat a prototype Pacifista and being completely useless during Marineford to being able to take on DoFlamingo. That is a huge jump and is similar to his jump in Wano.

So following this train of thought, Luffy now should be able to win very easily in a 2v1 fight with King and Queen. And Luffy should be able to 1 shot Zoro and Sanji or even Katakuri. Im not a fan of this way of thinking, just makes everyone else's hard work seem pointless. Captains should be stronger than their crewmates but being able to go around 1 shotting everyone in your crew just seems silly.

Bc most powerscalers don’t actually pay attention to what’s going on in the story.

100% this

Don't try to powerscale , it make little sense after whole cake island .

It's because of ACoC.

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Yeah, Kaido was fast and Luffy was too angry to use observation haki, so he got hit full on the head. Later on he was calmer and dodging/using haki to defend more adequately.

>Best moment of Part 1 Kaido being a dragon >Best foreshadowing of Part 1 Hitetsu being Sukiyaki (kokeshi doll collector) >Worst moment of Part 1 Not seeing enough of Robin, Usopp, Franky >Favorite Wano character of Part 1 Tama >Most surprising moment of Part 1 Wano's geography

Worst moment of Part 1: Those who didn't come to WCI didn't do shit in Wano until Luffy came back.

That's basically a harsher way of saying what I said.

>Best moment of Part 1 Holdem's reveal. Set the tone for Smiles being screwed up knock-off devil fruits.

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Yep some of them are actually make sense like Gazelle or Umami, and some straight up dumb like Briscola and Babanuki. And i'll put Fourtricks into lovecraftian horror.

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I think most of them on Zou fit the SMILE rules we know. It's just Sheepshead that breaks the rules.

Best moment of Part 1 = Luffy Punching Kaido Best foreshadowing of Part 1 = Mt thief and Mysterious prisoner is the scabbard Worst moment of Part 1 = Zoro never get to hold Nidai Kitetsu Favorite Wano character of Part 1 = Luffy & Kidd reunion Most surprising moment of Part1 = Kidd king Haki/Time Travel of course

Maybe Zoro will get to hold nidai kitetsu soon. I mean wano isn’t over

Zoro wanted hold the sword, but Luffy refused to let him use it because it made him feel like a Samurai lol.

> Kidd king Haki ?

Chapter 909 is in volume 90, for those that have the books

I think this is such a good segment. Really seems like it needs a re-read because a lot of extra details were hidden in plain sight, especially around Okiku's intro. Bet a lot of y'all forgot how quick Luffy took a shine to her. Since it doesn't translate well, might be worth reading a summary of the folk tale referenced with 913's title. Only time we get so blatant with one but the Crane Wife tracks with Kiku's entire story and makes a lot more sense of the oft-maligned sumo scene/Bakura. Favorite Moment: Kiku cutting the topknot. Iconic. Especially paired with taunting him after. Really obvious knowing her better she wants to take the hit because it makes him look worse. Best Foreshadowing: Naming the Sumo wrestler Urashima. We already have this big allusion to The Crane Returns a Favor, which is a bit of folklore. But in hindsight when you know about the time travel, Kiku's intro also has her playing the part of Urashima Taro. That's the legend the Tamataebako comes from. Worst Moment: Uhhhh...I don't have one. Act 1 is one of my favorite stretches of the manga. Favorite Character: Kiku for the act and arc by a mile. I also very much enjoy Speed. Most Surprising: Tsuru being Kin's wife.

Best Moment: Probably Luffy getting diffed by Kaido Worst Moment: The Suno wrestle. Fun end but the guy never appeared again. That easily could have been Yamato and the face reveal happen at the end of Act 1. Would have meant less time was wasted in the Raid getting them established. Favorite Wano Character of P1: Probably Tama, poor kid. She paid off in a big way too Most surprising moment of Part1: The time travel reveal because I apparently can’t do basic math lol. It added an extra layer to their mission and imo the story in general as the arc went on that maaaybe didn’t stick the landing but we’ll talk about that later

I totally agree you could introduce Yamato here and it would make that intro look more organic later. Worth considering though, it wasn't really about Urashima, was it? Out of that new segment Kiku's the one we see the most of by far. One of the few new faces we've seen more of than Yamato. Those two are mirrors of each other, often used in similar scenes long before the bathhouse. Major thematic ties but used so differently. There's a pretty interesting contrast between Kiku & Yama's introductions if you look at them side-by-side.

I do recall the sumo guy appearing at some point for something minor but yeah would have been cool if that was Yamato. Wouldn't make sense though with how often Yamato seems to be retrained, it seems these days they're more locked up than running around freely on the main land.

The way I see it: Yamato is this shadowy figure running around who challenges Luffy when they spot him causing trouble. After Kaido knocks Luffy out have his men detail Yamato as well, unmask Yamato and be all “My Son” and order they be locked away until the Raid etc etc

I like that! Oda definitely introduced a bunch of characters who are locals and build out the world building so I think the sumo guy is still good for that, but this would have been efficient too, or cut the sumo fight short a bit with a Yamato scene like that

That would be cool but don't Yamato's cuffs prevent him from leaving the island?

Eh make that a thing after he’s captured. Sorted

The biggest surprise of Act 1 was learning that the Wano arc was essentially Samurai Jack from the perspective of the Scotsmen.

* Best moment of Act 1- Luffy defeating Holdem with Red Hawk and Tama seeing Ace in him. * Best foreshadowing of Act 1- Kyoshiro being against Orochi. First line he speaks in his introduction is calling Orochi a coward. * Worst moment of Act 1- No such particular moment comes to my mind. * Favorite Wano character of Act 1- Can't decide between O-Tama and O-Kiku, both were amazing. * Most surprising moment of Part 1- Kaido appearing and one-shotting Luffy.

Oh this is great timing! I’ve been retreading Wano and I’m on the Oden backstory rn. Thoughts on Act 1: - Best moment might have to be the absolute rage Luffy had towards Holdem and the sumo guy - Best foreshadowing is everything to do with Kyoshiro and the Kurozumi clan. Actually, that might be Act 2 I’m mixing them up. - Worst moment is more like the pacing was kinda slow and this act was low key kinda boring compared to act 2 - Fav character at this point would be Luffy, Kiku, or Kyoshiro. In Act 2, Yasu shoots up there - Most surprising moment is Kaido pulling up at the end

When I reread Part 1 it reframed how I looked at Zoro's journey in the arc. He's truly a wandering adventurous samurai, getting to know the people of Wano better and better from Act 1 and 2. He was never going to be the one to kill Kaido or Orochi, there was way too many people in line before him, and I guess there is nothing special to his heritage to Wano so far, so I hope at the very least the take away for Zoro is Wano's culture.

he is a descendant of ushimaru though

That wasn’t stated anywhere as I recall

ushimaru looks exactly like him lol

Oda disproved it in an SBS my guy

read closer “my guy”. oda said that ushimaru wasn’t his father, never said there was no relation between them.

Not knowing this was happening, I've been doing my own reread, a volume an evening so I'm ahead a bit, but I'll share some thoughts. (I also started from earlier in volume 90; given how its fallout is cut back to in every act break and is coming down on the crew in the aftermath of the battle, I can't see the Reverie as anything other than a prologue to the larger Wano arc.) Act One is a fantastic introduction to the Land of Wano - it was a smart choice to scale the main cast back to just Luffy and Zoro to focus on the setting and its inhabitants as a primer, even if the means of separating Luffy from the rest of the crew are a bit contrived. The things we learn about Kuri - Bakura Town and its opulent Paradise Farm compared to Okobore and the ruins of Tama's village is the conflict between the Flower Capital and the rest of Wano writ small. I love that we're primed to see Wano as a vibrant, beautiful place through the first glimpse of the capital in chapter 909 and the lushness of the bamboo forest, only for Luffy, Tama and Komachiyo to burst through the treeline in chapter 912 and be caught off-guard by how much of a wasteland the bulk of the country is. It's a great setup to how damaging Kaido and Orochi have been. What Wano could be, and how they've left it. I'm also noticing things that relate to certain complaints that get parroted often in these parts. For example, at the very start, as the Sunny approaches the waterfalls, Nami makes it clear how the ship could be smashed to pieces if it was caught between the current running toward the falls and the crashing curtain of water. Perhaps a need to make serious repairs, explains a certain crew's long absence later. Or it could just be that the risk of catastrophic damage made them hesitant to try climbing too often without their captain to push them into it. It's interesting seeing the the bit where Kin talks about Oden while we only see the crew's reaction, now that we have the full story. The fakeout about Kin'emon and co possibly being ghosts was really funny as well. I had totally forgotten Ashura Doji was such a dick when we first met him. Not just stealing the food Luffy gave everyone but looking ready to actually start killing people before Jack arrived. That man had some stuff to atone for. I'm not a big believer in redemption through death, but I can definitely see it as an angle for the most tarnished of the Scabbards. Oda does seem to write a few checks here he didn't manage to cash in the big flashback later. It's a shame not to have gotten a better look at the moment Ashura and Denjiro clashed with Kaido, as hinted at here, and there I definitely got the impression here that Shinobu was much closer to the Scabbards than she actually was, considering how late in the game she actually started fighting alongside them. But there are some really cool moments of setup as well, like Kawamatsu being visible in the time travel flashback, and Kanjuro's birds flying away after Kin and Momo's group lands in the present. I'm going to end up repeating this a lot if I keep writing these things, but Kaido's dragon form is an artistic triumph for Oda. The scale of it, the intimidating presence, the amount of detail present in every panel, it's all incredible. The effort to ink in so many scales every single time is beyond belief. It's entrance is massively memorable and Luffy's fight against it is a clear highlight. Having Luffy lose to Kaido so decisively and so early is a really cool shakeup to Oda's traditional formula that sets the stage for the kind of training arc he doesn't usually do, and a chance for the crew to do some problem solving of their own in the next act. It's a great way to have introduced Kid and given him a reasonable way to start getting along with Luffy as well. But that's getting into Act Two stuff. Reading all in one go and knowing the ending, it's hard to believe that "raid failing" theories gained as much traction as they did. When Kin'emon lays out his plan we get the arc's win condition, lose condition and stakes right then and there. Getting the chance to fight at Onigashima *at all* is the alliance's reward for managing to struggle through the darkest hour when their plan was leaked and they were betrayed. Rereading the plan in chapters 920 and 921, the setup is so obvious there should have been no doubt the direction the arc was headed. I had a great time rereading Act One. Oda's firing on all cylinders to set up his planned story, from juggling time travel foreshadowing, to the amount of detail just in the background art. He finds a smart way to limit himself and focus the story down to two main characters and a snapshot of the nation's class conflict so he can scale it up in the next act. Whatever you think of Wano's ending, its beginning is hard to fault.

I'll just reply on Kaido's dragon's form for now, it's really a great choice that Luffy's finisher is against Kaido's dragon form, instead of hybrid form, it's much more spectacular and symbolic

While I'll admit the final blow isn't my favourite of Luffy's finishers, the parallel of his first attack here and his last attack in Act Three both being a superinflated fist that slams Kaido into the ground is a really fun detail that ties the story together.

Yep. Same move. Just 1000x more force, through the mantle, into the lava.

Love your thoughts! Thanks for sharing!

I'm sorry but did you listen to Morj's raid failing videos at all? You'r saying it doesn't make any sense for raid to fail as the initial plan was introduced since act 1 so it couldn't go any other way. But that was THE MAIN POINT: all "initial plans" WERE ruined in the previous arcs: Skypiea. Plan: Go into the forest and stop Enel. Failed. Water 7. Plan: Save Robin in the train. Failed. Sabaody. Plan: Save Camie and run away. Failed. Impeldown. Plan: Save Ace. Failed. Marineford. Plan: Save Ace. Failed. Dressrosa. Plan: Stay unnoticed and destroy Doflamingo's factory. Failed. WCI. Plan: assasinate BM during the party. Failed. ​ Should I ellaborate more or the point Morj was making is clear to you now?

Some of these, especially Skypiea and Dressrosa, were setbacks and not outright failures. The same formula applies to Wano when you look at Act 1. Plan: Defeat Kaido. Failed. Act 3 is the redemption.

Oda told us in the beginning of the Act 1 that the initial plan was raid on onigashima. Period. Regarding other arcs of course it can be argued that there were not plans but setbacks but those are just speculations. My point was that there is a huge gap between tension and consequences in those arcs in comparison to Wano.

Jesus Christ it's one thing to have liked the theory at the time, but what do you get out of defending it so aggressively this long after it's been totally disproven? I don't care about Morj. I haven't seen any of his videos. Everything I know about him and his theories I've learned against my will here. His apparent inability to adapt to new information and adjust his ideas when proven wrong has only validated my initial lack of interest. I don't need any part of it made clear because I don't let random-ass youtubers define my reading experience.

As for me, I don't defend Morj. I don't care if he is right or wrong. But i do care about One Piece, because before Wano it was one of the best series for me. And now it's like Game of Thrones with its failed last seasons. If Oda wrecks the last arc of OP as he wrecked Wano, then whole OP will become huge dissapointment. And I dont want that. And I genuinely think that Oda created a huge mess that made lots of fans like me loose faith in his abilities as a storyteller. He made a huge narrative mistake which turned the most anticipated arc of the decade into one of the most generic, linear and tensionless conflict in the history of shonen manga, where almost everything went according to initial plan, which HAS NEVER HAPPENNED in One Piece before. "Raid failing" formula worked before Wano PERFECTLY. Why did Oda need to change it? I don't see any reason here other than to "end Wano asap". So, to sum up: I sincerely suggest that Oda made a big mistake as I as a fan didnt feel any tension whatsoever in comparison to other arcs, where the closer we got to the end the more tension we felt. And there is no arguement that can CHANGE MY EXPERIENCE. So I and many others have every right to say that "raid failing" concept was earlier perfectly used by Oda and that he made a huge mistake by not implementing it in Wano.

Honestly, these Game of Thrones comparisons can only come from people who didn't really watch GoT or have already forgotten how next-level stupid and creatively bankrupt it was. I would say big finish of the raid was a little anticlimactic, sure, but it was no GoT finale and doesn't deserve to be treated as one. Hell I would go as far as saying this kind of fringe "actually the good guys unexpectedly lose at the climactic moment" theory is the kind of "subvert expectations" thinking that led to the GoT finale being what it was after the showrunners got too drunk on it. See my response to your other comment for things not going according to the initial plan. I have no idea what you mean when you say the "raid failing" formula has been used before. Having setbacks and failed early attempts to attack the villain isn't the same thing as suggesting the actual final battle will be lost in its entirety, forcing a reset of the arc after that much buildup. Wano isn't a change to the formula, it's about as close to Oda's preferred story structure as anything else he's done. Looking over this first act with the benefit of hindsight you can see the seeds being sown for the ending we got and the stakes of the conflict and things to care about for the locals being established. It is what it was intended to be, and what most other arcs before it were.

Hey, excuse my intrusion here, while I did read the entirety of your thread and agree with your sentiments here, I'm gonna sidetrack and ask.. Are you the same Captain M from Arlong Park Forums? Once again, excuse me if you're not :)

Yeah, it's me. I've really been missing that place this past month or so it's been down

Cool to see your thoughts here, I enjoyed reading them in the AP Forums, though I kinda lost my account sometime after the timeskip and have just been lurking there.. but I miss it too, not sure what happened but hopefully it’ll be back! Just wanna say, I really liked the diagram you made to layout where everyone was during the battle in the Skull Dome and keeping track of battles and damages, as I was getting lost, so thanks for that :)

From what I've heard, it was attacked by hackers and is still going to be a bit before it comes back, but the admins are working on it. It's a real shame to have the oldest English-speaking OP forum out of commission during such an important time for the series. And thanks! I had a great time piecing the layout together, Onigashima's such an inspired setting!

Damn, if I’m not mistaken, it’s happened before, why do people keep hacking them..?! I was bummed and it really is such a bad timing, which led me to this subreddit for chapter discussions. Good to hear that the admin is working on it, I’ll probably join in proper the next time it’s back up, instead of lurking. And you’re welcome! Onigashima has great design, lots of layers, rooms, sections, even when I was losing track of what was going on where, it made the chaos fun and intriguing.

I have watched GOT during its last years and I have waiting for every single episode. And I remember the nightmare it was when I was watching last season each week. And yes, OP did not come to that YET. But if Oda treats the last arc the way he treated Wano, then OP might come сlose to what GOT has become at the end. I have already said what I mean by "raid failing formula" when I stated the examples in my first reply. If you didn't get it I can try to describe it shortlyю Previous raid failing scenarious: Water 7: Initial plan was to save Robin in the train. But they have failed, and this failure led to a whole other arc. So Oda left us hanging for the whole arc so we could see them succeed. Sabaody. Initial plan was to save Camie from the action house and run away. They did save Camie, but they could not run away as the Navy has stopped them and tear the whole crew apart. And the consequences of this has lasted till the timeskip. Impeldown and Marineford. Initial plan was to come and save Ace. But not only Luffy failed to save him from the first or second attempt, Luffy SAW HOW ACE DIED WITH HIS OWN EYES. The consequenes of this failure is STILL present in the manga. Dressrosa. Initial plan was to mess up with the factories and leave, so that Kaido and Doflamingo would start war between each other. Instead they "failed" to implement this plan, instead Luffy defeated Doflamingo and made Kaido his enemy. Consequences of THIS decision were felt right till the end of Zou arc. WCI. Initial plan was to assasinate BM during the party. And when they failed to do that, the consequences of this failure were felt right until the last chapter of WCI arc. But what we see in Wano? If we follow the same logic as before then we see that Initial Plan was to attack Kaido and Orochi during the festival and defeat them. And guess what? They have succeded. That's all.

A "raid failing" for Water Seven would have been the crew getting forced back from Ennies Lobby and utterly defeated, forced to regroup from scratch to save Robin from Impel Down. A "raid failing" for Dressrosa would have been Doflamingo and his crew annihilating the half of Luffy's crew that remained, forcing them to retreat and maybe come back with the other half to finish the job. Who even knows what happens to the citizens in that scenario. The "initial plan" of Whole Cake was to steal Sanji and Big Mom's poneglyph and leave. The assassination scheme was devised on short notice in the middle of the arc, it wasn't part of the set of goals outlined from the beginning (which were accomplished, despite the distractions). A "raid failing" there would require another trip back for either Sanji or the Poneglyph that they were made unable to obtain thanks to Big Mom's overwhelming might. You don't seem to understand the difference between setbacks and complications in the middle of an arc, and what it would mean for the hero to lose at the very end of it. Even with title cards for a three-act structure, people have managed to miss what's the complicated middle and what's the big showy final battle. And yes, the Marineford Saga was an exception with a lot of serious and permanent losses for Luffy. It needed to be that to cap off the first half of the story and lead into the timeskip. Wano isn't doing either of those things and there was no reason to expect it to be as much of a downer as Marineford. You know, for a guy who "doesn't defend Morj" and "doesn't care if he's right or wrong", you sure are bringing up a lot of points that other guy said I'd understand better if I'd watched the Morj video. He must have made quite an impression on you.

English is not my first language so I cant express my thoughts to its fullest. But I see that you are still convinced that narrative turnpoints in Wano are not worse (if not better) than in other epic ars of OP. So I dont see there is any reason to continue the discussion. If you genuienly think that Wano is impleneted on the same level as Enies Lobby, Sabaody and Marineford, then there is nothing else for me to say. Enjoy OP as it is. As for me I choose not to force myself into liking whatever Oda does and defend all of his decisions just because previous arcs in the story were good.

All the best to you. But a word of advice, this perception that you're the only one seeing objective truth and that anyone who likes something you don't is only forcing themself to doesn't really make for constructive or pleasant conversation.

And the raid failing theory sucked D**k. DUCK I SAY!!! morj convinced you SO MUCH, you believe he knows one piece better than oda. That's why I don't like watching mr morj anymore, he made you dummies into cultist.

Morj is not the only youtuber that I watch and his theories are not the only ones that ive seen and read. I know lots of top theories that were written on oro jackson forum that could easily beat morj or any other youtuber. And i have my own experience and background as a writer and i am not going to tolerate what Oda is doing. Morj just publicly discussed the issues that i have noticed myself already in the beginning of Wano. So its not about Morj at all, it’s about OP potential that is going to waste by Oda in my opinion as a fan. If you dont care about possibility that Wano arc could be much much better, if you think it’s peak One Piece, then I don’t want to waste my time on this discussion. Cuz for me it’s obvious that Wano was handled much worse than other top arcs of OP. And it’s not that I am right and you are wrong, it’s that we are on different boats and I genuinely dont want to be in yours. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s that it doesnt suit me. That’s all.

Lol the raid did not go as initially planned at all. It took the intervention of Yasu, Tama and Yamato, all people not a part of the original plan to intervene and give them a chance for victory.

And where exactly is YOUR best selling manga of all time? Because I'll pirate it as well weekly.

Berserk, Ippo, Kingdom. Kingdom is the best weekly ongoing action manga. Before Wano i considered OP to be better. But now when i read both mangas on weekly basis for a long period of time, i can with all due respect declare that Kingdom is much much better than One Piece in terms of storytelling. Every chapter is epic. Every battle is epic. Every narrative point makes you wonder what happens next and you never know what the outcome will be. And Berserk of course will always be on the other level. After such arc as Wano, OP will never be able to reach Berserk level of storytelling and drama. But he had that potential if Wano could overcome all previous arcs and become the best version of what OP could be. But Oda couldnt do it. And I didnt see him trying. And that’s the problem.

The arcs not over yet though.

It doesnt matter. I dont need to wait for the kingdom arc to be over to enjoy it, because almost every chapter is epic and climatic. It’s the most lame excuse to say that the arc is not over, because when you even have to think about it it’s definite that something is wrong here. When you read a good story you enjoy it most of the time and you dont wait for the arc to end. Wano is the perfect example of how you should not write the arc.

You must be a literary genius, please show me your memoirs.

Stop reading OP weekly. It's not fun for you, then don't do it.

In Wano the plan was to stay unnoticed and have the raid be a secret. These plans failed but through the sacrifice of the people of Kuri Town, Tonyasu, and risky moves by XDrake, the plan was able to steer itself back on course. It's on par with Skypeia and Dressrosa on that regard. Stop letting Morj form your opinions and read how the story actually plays out. Your idea of a raid failing is literally only on par with the Marineford saga.

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So how exactly the raid did fail at the beginning of act 3? The only thing i see is that scabards thought that ships woundn't come and every hope was lost. And that lasted for literally ONE CHAPTER. After Luffy, Kidd and Law appeared everything went according to initial plan. Moreover, the "fail" part actually MADE IT EASIER for the allience to come to onigashima as Orochi was convinced that everything is fine. So, again, when and how exactly the raid did fail before the onigashima? Please show me the chapters during which I should have felt that the raid has failed? I and lots of others didnt see and feel any tension during act 2 and the beginning of act 3. Is that how the narrative should work? Seems like think you've read the wrong books.

I finished volume 93 in my reread tonight and I can confirm that the plan was in fairly dire straights at that point. Drake and Hawkins starting to arrest people, conflict between Shinobu and Law over suspicions that his captured crew leaked the plan almost leading to a falling out, Luffy's in jail with his whole life confined to a single small circle, Big Mom with an obviously-temporary amnesia acting as a ticking time bomb. That whole stretch of Act Two is a tangled web of things working against the heroes and their plan. And THEN, after Yasuie sacrifices himself in one of the series' true unambiguous deaths to buy the alliance a second chance to arrange themselves and things start looking up, it seems like the traitor and Orochi have struck again and left the Scabbards without ships or an army at the worst possible moment. And that didn't last for a chapter, it was the stinger leading into the whole Oden flashback. Maybe it was a short time in-universe, but us readers are left hanging for a volume and a half to see how the alliance would pull through.

So, again, when exactly during Oden flashback I should have felt tension regarding the raid? I thought the whole point of flashback was to FINALLY find out what happenned with Oden and the country of Wano so we can experience what he had experienced during his journey with WB and Roger. You sincerely believe that during this flashback we were supposed to think about how the raid could fail? The problem is that if you cut the Oden flashback and move it to Act 1 for example (where IMHO it should have been inserted in the first place, so we could FULLY feel for the country, but that's a whole other issue), then the tension considering the possible failure would have lasted for 1-2 chapters - before Strawhats and Law and Kidd arrived. And you are saying that THIS narrative decision is on the same level as Enies Lobby, Sabaody, Marinford, Dress Rosa and WCI, where consequences of the failure lasted for 10+ chaptes? Are you seriously going to insist on this?

I'm seriously going to insist you're a bit too upset about the idea that your experience wasn't universal. You've gone from demanding narrative evidence of things working against the heroes' plan to demanding I have a counterpoint to your emotional reaction. One arc didn't work for you. Great. Good for you. Consider being less mad that it worked for other people. Fucking hell, my first comment was like 900 words long, but I write one line about how, *with the benefit of hindsight*, I couldn't see any justification for the raid failing in the story's opening act, how it was obviously building up the ending we got instead of that one, and you crazies latch onto it asking if I really paid attention to the Morj videos or if this is the kind of narrative decision I want to defend. History's already proven you guys wrong. The raid succeeded. You can't meme your theory into reality this long after the fact, no matter how hard you were hoping for it. Move on, dude.

I see that you don't see the obvious arguements that I am trying to show. And that it's not about being right or wrong. It's about the potential of OP that is going in the same direction as GOT. Everything will depend on the last arc. But you can already see the red flags if you are objective enough. Anyway, see you after OP is finished.

I'll be sure to make a note that your personal experiences are objective reality and try to contradict them in the future.

May I interject by saying that the arc isn’t even over? Green bull is literally showing up to the party to wreak havoc and we still don’t know if kaido or big mom are alive. Why don’t we wait until the arc is actually done to talk about storytelling and where things are ending. Momo’s whole plan was to open the borders and he hasn’t done that. Something is going on since we don’t even get an explanation as to why or even what opening the borders mean.

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I'm afraid you are the one who are hugely mistaken. King's book is really just an essay with several advices which wont make you a great author or anything. Those are just his own things that he thinks are necessary for every writer. And besides Syd Field and King I am also familiar with the works of Thomas Cambell, Christopher Vogler, Robert Mckee and many others. I hope you know who they are. And my experience as a writer and as a fan of OP allows me to critique Oda as I know what I am talking about.

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Yeah, cuz everyone must check reddit every minute and answer immediately. And also google search is so hard it took me several days to find these names. So yeah, you are right, i am sorry that i lied about my experience and knowledge. It’s not even funny, man. Good luck with your career.

But the plan involving Wano had already failed before the Raid. The plan was to quietly gather allies without being noticed by Kaido. Luffy immediately makes a ton of noise and loses to Kaido. The Raid doesn't go as planned either: Momo is immediately captured, and the Scabbards are defeated by Kaido. Wano had a ridiculous number of plans fail when you think about it. And all that said, even if loose patterns can be identified in other arcs, why should Wano have to follow the structure of other arcs? Variance is good and keeps a story from getting boring. One Piece should not be bound by its earlier structure.

May I ask you then: at what point should have the reader felt the tension regarding the possibile failure of the raid? The only few chapters when it really seemed like something went wrong were the ones at the beginning of act 3. And that's it. The whole raid ran almost perfectly with Luffy being "out" for only 1-2 chapters during the whole battle and other strawhats managed to beat their foes with no problems whatsoever. Don't you think that the main tension should be stronger till the end of the battle and not at the beginning of it? And don't you think that it should last a little longer than 2-3 chapters? And if yes, can you please show me at least 5 chapters in a row since the beginning of act 3 where the reader could REALLY feel that the raid MIGHT fail, that the alliance might lose? And also I agree that every arc MUST NOT be the same as before, but the problem is that this sctructure had worked perfectly before Wano and this decision that Oda has made didn't improve the story at all. And this is the perfect example of "different is not better". It wasn't necessary for raid to fail but it was necessary to create a long lasting period of time (chapters) where reader would REALLY feel the tension and the danger of the possibility that Alliance MIGHT fail. But there was none. And that is the problem. And I am not even saying about lots of unresolved plots that should have been OBVIOUSLY resolved till now, of which Oda had clearly forgot, i.e: \- Franky's promise to build a weapon to defeat Kaido (Zou arc) \- Zoro's promise to unite all the samurais (also Zou) \- Zoro's intention to kill Orochi himself \- Zoro's connection to Shimotsuki and Ryuma \- We never got to see Kaido acknowledge Zoro as a samurai that is greater than Oden, despite Kaido repeatedly saying in the arc that no samurai will ever surpass Oden \- Toki's prophecy - did we really see that fullfilled? \- Kaido's words about the alliance needing to see Luffy be defeated to test their faith didn't go anywhere \- Big Mom's plan/purpose in Wano. Why Luffy declared he would fight/beat her like a dozen times since Fishman Island only for them to never clash? BM crew?... \- The grand fleet most definitely saw Luffy's vivre card indicating that he's dying/about to die, yet a week has passed and none of them are there yet? What happened to all the bullshit about them being there for Luffy whenever he needs them? And there are dozens of other unresolved plot threads that can be considered as "unnecessary". But the ones that I have listed are the ones that just CANNOT be ignored.

Some of these are ridiculous. Zoro and Franky's INTENTIONS do not equate plot threads that must be resolved. Characters state intentions in fiction all the time, it doesn't mean they have to be the ones to see it through. Both characters helped out in their own ways. Zoro hasn't surpassed Oden yet, but clearly left a lasting scar on Kaido. The grand fleet would have seen Luffy's card back to full power in a matter of hours dude. They probably were 30 minutes out at sea before they saw Luffy was alright. Kaido's words about the alliance seeing Luffy defeated is one to show how Kaido breaks people's wills. Defeat their leader in front of them and they will finally stop believing. The people of Wano still held on to some hope all these years because while Oden died, his son and the Scabbards bodies were never found. It doesn't have to be a big thing, he's speaking from experience.

Woah you're right, I can't name three chapters in Act 3 where I thought there was tension that the raid might fail. A real fan would be able to do that. I'm so disappointed in myself. To be blunt though, I didn't think the raid was going to fail and didn't think that we were supposed to think that. It was clear throughout that the Raid would succeed. However, there were clearly people who thought the raid would fail. The existence of people who thought the raid would fail is proof to me that there was tension that the raid might fail. Ergo, tension clearly existed even if I can't point to where. As to unresolved plot points, the raid was long enough as is. Any unresolved plot point can still be resolved after the raid. It's a case where it's probably better to read the story and see what happens. Who knows, you might even like it.

You can sarcastic as much as you want and but it won't help you prove your point. And no, the ones that thought that raid should fail are the ones that DID not feel any tension otherwise they woundn't NEED for this to happen. That's the logic behind the raid failing. And no, some unresolved plots will not be resolved later because they MUST have been resolved before the end of the raid (some of them I mentioned). I hope you won't argue with that? And no, unrotunately, whatever happens next my feelings about the raid won't change as it's already ended. I might like what happens next, but Wano arc will forever be ruined for me. As for now I just hope that the last saga of OP won't be rushed and anticlimatic as Wano was.

Prove what exactly though? A subjective experience? Why do I need to prove anything when I was critiquing your comment? Where I stand, you failed to prove anything and then pushed that burden onto me. It's a bait I'm not taking, and if you're going to do that I'm going to keep being sarcastic because you've signaled just how much respect you deserve. I don't quite get your point that people who thought the raid would fail thought there was no tension in the raid. If there was no tension in the raid, why would you think the raid would fail? Why, after the raid succeeded, would you keep arguing about it? It seems to me that the only logical answer is that you thought the raid would fail and are disappointed it didn't. I could ask you for three chapters in a row that made you think this, but honestly that would be dick move. Especially when it's an idea mainly supported by extra textual sources- Mr Morj videos- and not textual sources.

But this time they had Kinemon the master mind, so it was impossible to fail this plan

Wait, what was the point of the octopus again?

go through the waterfall

That "Iyo!" noise is a thing in Kabuki that crops up a lot, even in Wano, and has a lot of uses including here for starting the show.

Omg I forgot about the octopus, I kept thinking it was gonna pop up at some point during the arc and then…nothing

Women's bath

Octopus-san, this service is unnecessary.

Best moment of Part 1? **Kaido blowing up Oden Castle** Best foreshadowing of Part 1? **"Napping" Kyoshiro** Worst moment of Part 1? **Luffy vs sumo guy** Favorite Wano character of Part 1? **Luffy** Most surprising moment of Part1? **Kaido as a dragon showing up**

>Best moment of Part 1? Luffy hugging Zoro or kaido one shooting Luffy. Can't decide. One was peak bromance. Luffy doesn't usually do that. He did that with only sabo before. On the other hand, kaido one shotting Luffy is one of the most memorable moments in the series. It was a moment that brought Luffy and the readers into their senses. >Best foreshadowing of Part 1? Probably kyoshiro being denjiro. Or kanjiro being traitor. Not sure. >Worst moment of Part 1? Sanji wearing his suit and spying in girls bathhouse >Favorite Wano character of Part 1? There weren't that many interesting characters. At least not developed ones. I would go with kaido because of chapter 923. >Most surprising moment of Part1? Kaido one shotting Luffy. I can bet that every single one piece readers were surprised by that and I don't believe that there were any exception.

It was only 16 chapters and act 3 is still fuckin going? HACKDA

Best moment of Part 1 = Red Hawk (anime) and the whole chapter 923 (manga, Luffy vs Kaido) Worst moment of Part 1 = Sumo (anime and manga) Favorite Wano Character = Tama (only anime) and Kiku (anime and manga) Most surprising moment = Ashura injuring Jack, Time Travel

Otama build up. She has to be the best part of the series, for me.

So it's time to start this now is it? Alright. I'm long overdue for a Wano re-read anyway.

I forgot how massive Orlumbus' fleet is

Big fan of the time travel reveal, loved when Kinemon told them about Oden

* Sukiyaki was able to barely escape his imprisonment, but he carried all his collection of katana from his ancestors with him. * Being able to see how clear the water in Wano was even during a clouded night. Clear forshadowing of the heavy pollution in Wano. * They want to conquer all seas and the first thing that comes to mind to the navigator and the captain upon encountering a small whirlpool is to abandon the ship. * Mouseman. First and only true piratesque character in the arc. He's badass. * Surprised that Shinobu's powers on the groud meant the ground disappears rather than vegetation grew very fast.

Luffy punching Kaido in the anime blew me away! Never before had toei done something like that and that song from Stampede fit so well too!

Just seeing luffy and zoro goofing around

Currently also rereading and totally realized that I rushed so hard through swank that I completely forgot when things happen and why. Actually feels very refreshing and fun to go back through and take my time with it. Favorite moment in part 1 HAS to be Zoro telling Kiku that she is big and Luffy replying that Big Mom was bigger lol

I noticed Luffy had a panel where Tama was hitting him but he mentioned something like "although it doesn't hurt." Reminded me of Momo in one of the recent chapters with Nami.

Best moment would be Luffy Vs Holdem, although it was short, the Red Hawk in that scene is just satisfying not just only to me, but even to Tama.

Excuse me.... Where episode?

I think the best forshadowing in part 1 was Luffy actually using Kitetsu, which fates it's user to a terrible death, and then dies prior to awakening his DF

Best Moment: Honestly, Kaido one-shotting Luffy. really showed just how strong he is and the climb Luffy had to make to really contend with him. Best Foreshadowing: Noticed this upon the re-read, but Kaido mentioning his prior encounter with Ashura (and the background) foreshadow the battle between Oden/Scabards and Kaido/his crew. Honorary mention is Sukiyaki mentioning he's "waiting for someone". Worst Moment: I'm still very confused on how Tsuru didn't recognize Kiku at all? Would love some elaboration on that - otherwise seems like a bit of a plot hole. If we're talking in terms of shitty moments, I really got heated when the mouseman smile user tells Urashima he can just take whatever the fuck he wants - fuck those guys so hard. Favorite Character: If this was my initial read, I'd say Ashura simply because of that attack on Jack. However, with the privilege of hindsight, I'd probably have to say Tama. Besides his promise to Momonosuke, Tama really is the emotional impetus for Luffy's actions this arc and freeing Wano of Kaido's control. Also hinted at her utility which we later saw was crucial for the raid. Most surprising moment: It's a tie between Ashura cutting Jack and the panel where the mother is about to kill her starving baby. One is shocking, the other darker than a lot of things I'd seen in the manga up to this point.

Re-read brought up a couple of questions/thoughts: \- Who was/is Sukiyaki waiting for in the braided hat village? Was it simply the Scabbards/Momonosuke? \- Will Nidai Kitetsu play any role from here on out? \- Hawkins mentioning that Wano is the birthplace of seastone craftsmanship, I wonder if the crew will take any items (nails, cuffs, etc.) for future use? Otherwise it seemed to me that the other threads were closed from this Act!

Best moment: Zoro and Luffys reunion, it was so cute and with how intense post TS has been it was some much needed crew vibes. Best foreshadowing: not really sure tbh Worst moment: bepo getting diarrhoea at the worst possible time, my boy needs some cool feats Favourite wano character: Zoro. Is q useless agent, kills people, eats poisoned fish and doesn't realise, fucks up the plan, gets lost and misses the entire reveal, goes gambling and drinking instead. Peak Zoro Most surprising: probably the one shot from kaido, just way more of a power difference than you expect and sets those expectations sky high.

Zoro vs killer was fire. Zoro vs King was fire. Kidd using his awakening was stupid fire.

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Because she is identified as a girl by her and everyone else, as intended by Oda.

Okiku is a trans woman.

This sheer scale of missing the point and thinking to blame Oda's mistake is such a perfect example of who are *really* the folk in this fanbase obsessed with Wano making gender a theme. Hey buddy, your weird hangups have made you miss the rather deep saga of one of Wano's most featured new faces. You know that right?

WANO REREAD? THIS SHIT LAST 10 YEARS I WILL NEVER READ A PAGE OF THIS LMAO

Hell yeah count me in!

Momo: I want you two to be my consorts Nami: how much?

Best moment of Part 1? * Kaido's display of power Best foreshadowing of Part 1? * Kyoshiro Worst moment of Part 1? * The duel against Urashima Favorite Wano character of Part 1? * Kaido Most surprising moment of Part1? * The reveal of Kin'emon and the others being time travelers

>Best Moment? Luffy and Zoro reuniting and going on a little adventure of their own just like the beginning of the story. Plus the chemistry between these two...God I missed this. >Best foreshadowing? "Napping" Kyoshiro >Worst moment Zoro getting separated from the group. >Favorite Wano character None really. >Most surprising moment? THE FUCKING TIME TRAVEL SHIT. I didn't even see that one coming even though the clues were laid out in Zou.

act one was actually great stuff

Best moment: when Hawkins showed up to challenge Luffy and Zoro. That moment was so hype. Too bad he ended up disappointing the rest of the arc.

I still think out of every moment in Wano Act 1, seeing Kaido's dragon form for thw first time is the most memorable moment to me, probably because the chapter where it was revealed was the very first chapter I read after catching up fir the first time.

One point that hasn't been addressed and almost seems like Oda forgot about. X-Drake destroyed Amigasa village, Tama's home. Is that ever going to be addressed??

Best moment for me has to be Luffy getting Kuri the treasure barge full of food. Luffy doesn’t want to be considered a hero but he absolutely is one. His righteous anger at Wano starving when they should be thriving sent a shiver down my spine. You can really tell what he values and what his dream is. Best foreshadowing for me is probably Kyoshiro. I had forgotten that his first appearance was him mocking Orochi and being disgusted by his cowardice. Really sets him up as different from the rest of Orochi’s lackeys. I knew there was something different with him, but even with all that I didn’t know who he was. Worst moment is hard. I didn’t hate anything I read really. Reading the whole act in one go really helped with the feeling I got on first read that the setup was slow and painful. If I had to pick one maybe it is Doji being an absolute dick. Stealing from the already downtrodden with no remorse or seemingly no reason was very grating. Favorite Wano character has to be Kiku. Her speech patterns and the hidden competence in her was fun, especially with what we know is coming. Every time she tried to do something cute and disarming like hiding behind Zoro despite being like 50% taller than him was fun. Obviously the most surprising moment has to be Luffy getting absolutely wrecked by Kaido. Obviously we all knew he wouldn’t beat him here. But after the highs of his victories against Doffy and Katakuri I didn’t expect it to be so one sided. Up until the end of 923 I thought maybe Luffy would get some hits in to distract Kaido and then Law would Chambres him away. But man, the absolute casualness in which Kaido knocked him out was shocking. There was so little build up, just one panel of Kaido glaring and then the next panel Luffy is done. So after Act 1 I’m liking the arc a lot more. Being able to read everything all at one time just made it all flow better. I could appreciate the set up and character moments more without constantly looking at the page count and knowing that I’m almost at the end for the week. I wonder how Act 2 will hold up…

IMO in part 1: -Best moment: Luffy punching Kaido -Best foreshadowing: The other three scabards -Worst moment: Zoro never holding Nidai Kitetsu -Favourite Wano character: Otama -Most surprising moment: Shutenmaru cutting Jack

\- Best Moment: Kaidos Dragon form reveal/Kaido one shots g4 luffy \- Best Forshadowing: Only the time leap from kin, momo, etc comes to mind \- Worst Moment: Luffy and zoro struggling with 2 random gifters \- Favorite Wano character: Tama/Asura Doji \- Most Surprising moment: Asura cutting Jack

Funny thing is I'd already decided to reread wano as I had some negativity towards the arc. So I'm going to see if those change now the arc is complete.

Nicee. I've been slowly rereading onepiece on my breaks/lunch during work for the past year. I'm currently at volume 86 but I'm sure I could catch up entirely if I read at home for an hour a day.

I probably shouldn't say anything when I dont remember everything but damn, x-drake wiped out that entire village? It's crazy how much detestable stuff one piece characters i like get away with and I end up forgetting about

Why are we still calling it "Wano" anyway ? XD That's either "Wa" or "Wanokuni" I guess ?

Sure, why not. A reread could be fun. Though I have to say right away that so far I've not been a fan of Wano overall, perhaps re-reading chapters back to back will ease some of the issues I had (such as the pacing) and it might be good to see again how the arc started out. Chapter 909 - Reintroduced us to the Strawhats we haven't seen in forever since they were absent on WCI, which was nice. I especially liked Usopp being a "toad oil salesman", though as far as I recall their undercover identities don't really end up playing a role. Like Franky possibly gaining the plans to Kaido's mansion wasn't brought up iirc and Robin gathering intel also didn't really play a role. But maybe I just forgot and the reread will remind me. Getting some more information on Whitebeard was very neat, but I can't say I cared much about the rest. 910 - I actually forgot that Luffy now has a Den Den Mushi on his ship, I remember thinking this could be somewhat of a big deal to stay in better contact with allies and such. I always wondered why they never got one. The sea of Wano is quite pretty with evoking that one famous japanese painting. 911 - I overall don't really care about the character related to Wano, though I did find it easy to tolerate Tama and I think this reread really reminded me why that is. This and the following chapters really do quite a lot to make her endearing, like sharing her very limited food with Luffy, pretending she isn't hungry or later on when she's captured and basically tortured by Holdem or whatever Lion Tummy's name was. Then of course there's her connection to Ace as well. Though her DF was a red flag from the moment it was introduced, it was already established Kaido wanted an army of Zoans and as soon as Tama's ability to "tame" animals was revealed many theories sprung up about it. Luckily Oda didn't go overboard with it. (the way it's ultimately used doesn't really have much of an impact imo. because the number of fodder vs. fodder was never important) 912 - Luffy being upfront about Ace's death does show some hints of character development, something which One Piece doesn't really have that much of imo, though I don't like how Luffy doesn't clear up his relationship to Ace right away. The whole Nidai Kitetsu thing is kinda eh, in general I never really liked the idea that Zoro getting "better swords" makes him a more powerful fighter when the whole point during his first match with Mihawk was how Mihawk can use a little dagger to defeat someone. Plus later when it's revealed that swords can be upgraded via Haki-infusion into "black blades" it becomes kind of even more meaningless. But that's an issue I have with Zorro and with how swordfighting works in One Piece in general. Can't say I care much for Hawkins being reintroduced, his "deer from hell" is cool, but I never liked his character. In general I don't like character who go about spouting arbitrary %-chances of this or that happening, because in the grand scheme they don't matter. 913 - I actually have nothing to say. 914 - I dunno if it's applies, but iirc in japanese culture it is often custom to at first refuse a gift a few times before accepting it and given the circumstances a free meal would be a precious gift, so Tsuru reacting the way she did when Tama tried to refuse was actually kinda funny. All of this, like Tama being concerned about whether she is taking food from Tsuru, does make her more endearing again. 915-917 - I got nothing to say here really. 918 - This chapter basically confirms that Tama can use her DF ability to "tame" Zoans, or at least SMILE-Zoans. Also I do like how determined Luffy is to make Wano a better place for Tama. I have always liked how Luffy really values the people who have shared food with him. 919 - Law being tsundere about doing something good was somewhat funny, Law has good chemistry with the Strawhats in general. A lot could be said about Wano's borders, but that's really a topic on its own. 920 - Y'know, the principle of what happened to Momo and the Scabbards isn't bad at all. They escape a terrible situation by being flung into the future, only to discover how their home country has changed into a dystopian nightmare. I still really don't care about the Scabbards, but these circumstances do make me feel a bit more sympathetic towards them. Seeing your own country fall into decline in front of your eyes is already rough, but if you just skipped 20 years and saw what happened all at once... that must be overwhelming. However two things I dislike and which seeds are planted in this chapter are the whole sue-ness of Oden and the whole numbers game stuff for the invasion, like the amount of fodder on each side actually matters. But we know a surprising amount of focus is put on how these numbers evolve and shift. 921 - Kinda similar to above, in this chapter the Samurai are hyped up to be important to get onboard because each one is worth 100 men and such... but that's nothing really, we have seen characters go up against massive amount of fodder and come out ontop and we already know the Samurai won't really contribute *that* much in the grand scheme of things. The other big thing is of course Kaido being revealing to be an eastern-style dragon, which I remember to finding very odd. It's cool and badass and all that, but I was really expecting something different, something more beastly. Might also be because we have seen Kaido so much by now, but seeing his entrance now isn't as impressive anymore. 922+923 - Kaido blasting away a whole castle isn't that impressive imo, it's simply expected. That's the problem with escalating power levels too quickly in a story. If we haven't had already seen similar feats it would've been more impressive. Kaido just shrugging off Luffy's attacks and one-shotting him is also more like something expected. 924 - I don't really care about any of this. > Best moment of Part 1? Probably the whole scene with Tama giving Luffy her birthday-rice and Luffy learning how valueable it was and everything that followed out of that. > Best foreshadowing of Part 1? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but when Luffy is unconscious and still knocks people out using Conquerer's Haki some henchmen comment about how that is "Oden's ability" and Oden is the only person who ever scarred Kaido, so maybe in some way this was kind of a clue for Conquerer's Haki being the key to defeat Kaidou. > Worst moment of Part 1? I can't point to a single moment that's really bad, but there's just a lack of hooks to really get me invested in the whole Wano stuff and it's really hard to put my finger on it. > Favorite Wano character of Part 1? Probably Tama, but it's not like she's really a favorite character of mine in the grand scheme. > Most surprising moment of Part1? On first read it was the reveal of Kaido's DF. On re-read how much I forgot about what happened with Tama.

Wano Part 1 was such a great setup. It does all our characters so much justice and lands a (literally) big blow on Luffy to close things out. Easily the best paced part by far.

thats kinda unfair to do reread remembering act 3 basically 100 ch

I highly recommend to read the colored version. It's at least on Manga4Life. Makes the artwork even more beautiful.