1001 Ways To Say The Wano Post Arc Begins!! One Piece Chapter 1,052 BREAKDOWN

Yeah; doing this again. There are just too many titles I could come up with for this review, so……. this is what you get!! And yeah; it’s time to get into the “End Of Arc” Epilogue content. Healing; emotions; repairs; set up; and Oh So VERY MUCH MORE to talk about going into forward- to the Final Saga Of The Story. From Dressrosa to now; the Straw Hat’s and their allies have been at War with The King of Beast- Kaido Of The Four Emperors. But that battle is done now. Meaning it’s time to go on towards the One Piece, and end this 25 Year Epic!! Boy was that a lot to take in in a 24 Hour Timeframe. One Piece Chapter 1,052: “A New Morning!!” Let’s begin.

Germa 66’s “Ahh…. An Emotionless Excursion” Vol 14

We continue the Germa’s escape from Tottland with Reiju and Ichiji walking out of Whole Cake Chateau- when they come across the mad scientist Caesar Clown. He’s an insane, sadistic sh!tbag, but he comes in handy when you’re forcing him to help you, so……….. They’re taking him. I guess now we’ll be seeing what becomes of Caesar and the Germa! Maybe he’ll give the boys their emotions so he can enjoy torturing them or something………

REVIEW

We begin the chapter in the Holy Land- Marijoa. The Gorosei are informed by the Top hat CP-0 Agent(let’s call him “Top Hat”) about the events of the Onigashima Raid. With their grestest fear “Nika” having finally awakened, 2 Yonko down and out, and Wano still closed off; the Gorosei panic that they won’t be able to keep this news on the DL. They try to find silver lining in the idea that they can finally have Nico Robin captured, but…………. NAH. In any case; someone hijacks the transmission, however, and says that they’re coming to their location now. Who? We’ll find out later. For now; we catch up with what’s been happening outside the Flower Capital.

Within the interior of Kaido’s castle; Drake and Hawkins remain conscious…….. just barely. When Hawkins asks if Drake was a “Government Lapdog” the whole time; he refuses to answer, instead telling Hawkins that he looks to be in worse shape than himself. So he asks why Hawkins ended up this way even after the cards told him he’d be safe sticking with Kaido. The Magician reveals that, when Kaido came to their front door in chapter 795; he just kind of gave up. And even by the slim chance that Kid won that exchange- he didn’t want to turn back around and suck up to him. Ergo, in chapter 990; he divined a “certain man’s” chance of survival- His Own. Probability of Survival To The Next Morning: 1%.

Cut to 7 days after the Raid: The Flower Capital is preparing for another Festival soon- Shogun’s Orders! Somethings are happening around the Capital; kids getting a proper education about Kozuki Oden; Komurasaki revealing herself as Oden’s daughter; clean drinking water; etc. But then we cut over to the Eternal Graves in the Ringo region, where Kawamatsu, Kin’emon, and Onimaru begins plans for another Shrine- one on par with the tome of Sword God Ryuma!! It’ll start with a proper grave for Oden, and gradually branch out to incorporate all of the Daimyo who fought against Orochi(starting with Yasuie), and then Ashura and Izo.

They lament in their roles when Marco shows up; how their allies have continued dying around them, while they 3 still live once again. And they can only hope that the same fate doesn’t befall their “Heroes.” Speaking of; we jump cut to the Flower Capital- The Shoguns Castle. Yamato has taken this “Vigil” to not eat of bath until Luffy and Zoro got better. So he’s chanting to himself “I’m Not Hungry!” on the roof. Low and behold; Hiyori comes in dropping kicking Momo in the face to tell them that Luffy and Zoro are finally up and at em!!- and they want meat and booze, obviously.

With them now awake; Momo says that they can finally start the banquet they’ve been preparing all week. They don’t recognize him, but don’t care at all. So he cozies up to Nami- and gets punched in the face. I love this series- I really do. But now that they’ve eaten and gotten some booze- it’s Ba~th Ti~me……. Neh hehe hehe heh heh heh. Unfortunately; the castle doesn’t have mixed bath, so boys bath somewhere else, and girls elsewhere. End Of Arc Stuff; not really anything to dissect of expand on.

The NEXT PART, however, tells us something ve~ry interesting. We cut over to Tokage Port, where Franky and Usopp are helping to repair everyone’s ships- and even find time to repair the General Franky. Everyone is amazed and relaxed now that all the fighting’s over, but Kid and Law know better; they know that the information that they managed to take out 2 Yonko is gonna make headlines in the paper somehow. And when it does– THEY’RE GONNA HAVE SOME MASSIVE TARGETS ON THEIR BACKS. And being in an Isloated land means they have no way of knowing what’s coming for them next.

That’s when Scratchman Apoo comes in- telling them that he’s already snitched about the events of Wano. And because he was able to leak the information; he was also able to get the Paper. New Emperors Have. Been. CROWNED. And new bounties have been dealt out. Meaning exactly what Kid and Law said is coming to pass: Admiral Ryokugyu Is In The Skies Of Wano. He was ordered by Akainu to not cause any problems. But it’s Luffy and Kid, so………. All H#ll ’bout to break lose. Thus; One Piece Chapter 1,052 comes to a Chilling END!! Cliche adjective, but I’ll take it!!

Analysis

There are……………. a Great Many Things that I want to say about this chapter- heck; This Whole Situation that was just announced. For those unaware: One Piece Will Be Going On A 1 Month Break Following Chapter 1,053. We’ll have some booklets or whatever coming out in the meantime that revealed some original ideas that Oda had for the story that ended up getting rejected. I imagine this ranges from everything to concept art, story beats, tidbits about the countries and islands we’ve visited, Movies characters, and many more things that we probably couldn’t even imagine. That’ll be cool.

But in the press release; it was ALSO revealed that- following the break- We will be in the Final Saga Of The Story. Yeah; this is just like Black Clover– the mangaka is getting a break to prepare for the Finale of the story. Why Oda’s break is shorter than Tabata’s is anyone’s guess- not gonna say anything more on that subject. But I think this might be the new model Jump’s trying now that their stories are being shortened. With My Hero Academia and The Promised Neverland‘s endings being…………………………………………………………………….. The Way They Are; I honestly think they should have done this a little sooner.

I………………. I don’t know how I feel. On the one hand; I’m so excited to finally solve all the mysteries the story has to offer- to finally know about the Will of D, the history of the Void Century………….. The One Piece. After what will be 25 Years this July; we’ll finally know everything there is to know about the story!! But on the other……………………. I don’t………. I don’t know if I’m ready yet. You know what I mean?

Like; it’s always been joked that this series would go until we as a species no longer exist, but it looked like it was closer than ever before with the reveal of Im. And we knew that Wano would be one of- if not honestly THE– most important story arc in the franchise. The themes; the action; the build up; what it means for the characters on both a personal level and the effect it’ll have on their standing in this world. I always knew that we’d be heading into the Final portion of the story following Wano, but……… to actually here them say it just made it feel so “Real.“ And it kind of…….. IT FREAKED ME OUT!! So I didn’t really……… react that well to the information.

One the bright side: Tabata and Oda have time to plan out the story so that they can make the best story possible that- unlike the Spade Invasion arc or Wano- the Final arcs don’t drag in places; don’t go on too long- basically they can avoid the problems leading up to this. And they can fit in with the Current era of being so short. And really; the only problem is that I’m not ready to say goodbye to these stories yet- not ready to say goodbye to “that era” yet. But all good things must come to an end, right?

For now; let’s just focus on the good- starting with this chapter! But which part do I want to focus on? Yamato’s interactions with the Straw Hats? The Bounties? Or Ryokugyu? Decisions Decisions!! Hm…………… Maybe I could talk about how much Death there was in Wano? “One Piece” had always made sure that Character deaths MEANT something- be it someone’s character arc, or an important moment in the history of that country that causes a chain reaction that ultimately ends with Luffy fulfilling that person’s dying wish unintentionally. It carries weight. So seeing more death’s in this arc than any other is kind of…………. “Unreal.” Know what I mean?

Think back to all of the other arcs in the story- think about all the character deaths that occurred in the Present storyline. How many can you think of by name? With this arc; we’ve seen Yasuie, Izo, Ashura, 2 CP-0 agents, Kanjuro, and even Orochi. That’s only 7, but that’s already more than Alabasta; than Skypiea; Enies Lobby, Impel Down, Dressrosa, Punk Hazard, and Arlong Park PUT TOGETHER. So I guess that Oda’s being a little less stingy with the Kill Card going into the final part of the story. Oh boy………. I just hope he keeps handling it with all the caution he does; Orochi’s death, and Ashura and Izo’s didn’t “come through” that well. Like; I GENUINELY thought that Orochi would still be a live somehow. Might need to convey these deaths better going forward.

But seriously, though- What’s up with those bounties? “The Names Of Those Who Have Been Dubbed ‘Emperors?'” Luffy, obviously. Between Kid and Law……………………. I can’t say. Law has done a bit more in his time allied with the Straw Hats. And when the Government does its little digging; they’ll find out about it all. But then you have the fact that Kid- pre time skip- had the highest bounty out of any of the Super Nova’s present on Sabaody. And in the 2 years he’s been in the New World; he’s come into conflict with 2 Yonkou(Shanks And Kaido)- just like Luffy. And he was the one who shot Big Mom into that hole in the ground. Either way, though; they both have bounties over a billion.

As for Luffy; what can I say that hasn’t already been said? On the low end; he’s got a 3 Billion berry bounty. High End: 5.6 Billion. Because “Gomu.” And it’s higher than Whitebeard and even Roger. If we’re going into the Finale; it makes sense that his bounty would reach that level. But the Government can’t go overboard with it because they don’t want people to know about the “Nika” problem, but underselling it would look just as suspicious. I suppose they could change it to “Only Alive” like they did for Sanji- so that they can make another attempt at stealing the fruit. Would that raise suspicions? It did with the Straw Hat’s when it happened to Sanji, but that was because of the Germa’s former relationship with the Government. Eh…….. maybe not.

Other things from the chapter: Momo can no longer cuddle up to Nami. We knew that was coming, but it was still SO~ VERY Cathartic to watch unfold. No more bathing with the girls for YOU, you little rat!! Although I though he’d lament in his “terrible mistake.” Yamato and the Straw Hats. Huh. Welp- SANJI’S DEAD. Which probably just warmed Zoro up to Yamato a little bit more. And to Brook. Though Nami is pretty puzzled by him. Don’t know how that’s going to end. A~~~~~ND GREENBULL. Paramecia or Mythical Zoan? ‘So hard to tell these days!!

There’s the line of thought that each of the current Admiral’s have one of each type of Devil Fruit: Fujitora’s Paramecia Stomp Stomp Fruit; Kizaru and his Logia Glint Glint Fruit; so Ryokugyu would have a Zoan. And because he’s an Admiral; people assume a Mythical– something to do with Plants. In that regard they’re right, it would seem. Take solace in that fact. Though I don’t think anyone was expecting…………. THAT. We’ll find out eventually- maybe not next chapter, but after the Hiatus. You know Oda Sensei.

Conclusion

Wow; I actually managed to talk about every plot point in the chapter that time- in a DAY no less!! Enjoy it ’cause it may never happen again. I don’t know what happens next; I just know that we can’t leave Wano just yet. To relegate something like copying the Road Poneglyph(H#ll; it seems like it might take a chapter just to FIND that thing if it wasn’t on Onigashima or in Orochi’s castle), or the decision on Yamato’s status, or heck- even saying “Goodbye” after all the stuff that the Kozuki and the Straw Hats and Heart Pirates and everyone else- to a FLASHBACK? No. I’ve seen enough of that sh!t from My Hero– I Am Not Doing That Again.

My feelings towards My Hero aside; let me know your own thoughts on the chapter! And let me know what you guys think about us heading into the final stretch of the story! We’re almost there, boys and girls………. Almost there……………..