Dude……….. Bro………… Oda Understood The D@mn Assignment. This man……… This- MANGA WRITING GOD OF THE PEN– returned to his Magazine and told all these other series “This. This Is What You Have To Beat.” I don’t care what these other guys are bringing to the table- This Has Got To Be Chapter Of The Week- Neigh– YEAR. I mean; just look at the D@mn title of the review!! I COULDN’T PICK A TITLE; there’s just so much that I could have talked about with the title- so much that I could hone in on- so much that I speculate about that it’s driving me Fre@kin’ CRAZY!!!

It’s like Oda took everything I love and adore about the series, dialed it to 11, cloned it, had them breed, and spit out THIS!! This…….. this has gotta be my favorite chapter. Move over 1,044 and 1,047– You’ve been replaced!! L-let’s(oh man I’m tired) get into the chapter. One Piece Chapter 1,054: “Flame Emperor.” Hoo Boy……..

REVIEW

We open on the Party at the Flower Capital, but the Kozuki forces are assembling outside the capital because an enemy is coming and they’re not gonna dump the problem on a Luffy still recovering from………. ALL OF ONIGASHIMA. I don’t care what he says; he just fought a Yonko on his own and had to level up twice to win– there is no WAY he’s ready to take on an Admiral. When he’s all better, though…….

Ryokugyu is making his way to the Flower Capital- leaving a trail of flowers behind him as he walks. The Kozuki intercept him, recognizing him as one of Luffy’s enemies. He tells them that this country has no standing since it’s not allied with the World Government. As such; he’s prepared to wipe out as many people as necessary to claim Luffy’s head. Ladies and Gentlemen: The Woods Woods Fruit(Mori Mori No Mi)– a Logia Type that makes the user a living Forest.

He opens it up with “Groves Of Wrath,” making tree shaped like fists that cover the ground. He then makes his stance and character known:

The Celestial Dragons Are The Gods Of The World!! And here in this country, unaffiliated with the World Government- YOU HAVE NO HUMAN RIGHTS!! Don’t blame ME for it; it’s how the world works!!

Let me teach you something: Humankind has lasted through the ages by creating and defining “Inferior;” all the rest of us can look down our noses at you unaffiliated countries. DISCRIMINATION CREATES SOLACE!!!

Ryokugyu/ Aramaki

He immediately tries to kill everyone one of em, and threatens the country. But everything that he just said has sent Yamato into a rage, and he knocks the Admiral into the dirt. To divert his attention; he admits to being the son of Kaido(That’s Where The Bounty Poster Comes From). Momo also intervenes, but messes up the “Blast Breath.” So he bites the Tree Man. THAT fails, and he ends up getting captured in the vines. But he refuses to accept help from the others for some reason…………

Shanks And His Crew Appear And Do More Things Than Just “Show Up.” Then again, just seeing them is enough to tell you that this is important. They’re in the Seas Of Wano. They’re all reacting to the news of Luffy becoming an Emperor Of The Sea, while Shanks finds it surreal to be back in Wano after so many years. He wonders how much Momo and Hiyori have grown since he last saw them. Geh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh………

His crew wants to see Luffy now(except Yasopp who says he’s not ready to see Usopp yet). Shanks looks at Luffy’s new Wanted Poster- the Gear 5th Picture- and flashes back to……… The Day. The Day That His Crew Stole The Gum Gum Fruit. Beckman deduces that there are CP-9 agents on the Transport Vessel, meaning that 1)They were aware of that group and 2)How Important the cargo is. They still go for it, though. Then the meeting with Luffy, and……….the rest you know.

But as much as the crew wants to meet with Luffy- and how curious the newer ones are(the ones not depicted at Marineford)- It’s not “time” yet; they’ve still got some problems to deal with in their own territory. Like that Bartelomeo guy taking down their flag and replacing it with the Straw Hat’s. Can’t let that go lying down; THAT would heard his reputation, which would leave other islands in his territory open for attack. And besides; Shanks is feeling like it’s time the they for…….

THE ONE PIECE!!!!!!!!!

And then we jump over to the Navy HQ to learn what the heck went on. You See: Sabo and co attacked the Marie Geios, destroying a Monument of their Symbol and openly declaring War with the World Government in the process. After a duel with Admirals Fujitora and Ryokugyu; they managed to free Bartholemew Kuma. But something else happened before they escaped. Based on all the evidence collected; it would seem that- and this is a Dousy–

Sabo Has Killed Nefetari Cobra.

They blame it on the fact that Cobra is a descendant of one of the 20 Kings who founded the World Government all those years ago- that Cobra was assassinated for his family’s role in the current system. Which might also be why Vivi has gone missing. Sh!t just got RE~AL. Kurouma- Chief Of The Criminal Affair Units- is on the case, but the damage is done now that the news is out. Alabasta’s in chaos and Cobra’s closest Advisors won’t leave until they get to the bottom of this!

And if that wasn’t bad enough; Sabo’s “Flames Of Rebellion” have spread to the world at large- from civilians and Pirates hailing him as the “Flame Emperor,” to even 8 different Kingdowms rebelling against them all at once. So they’re going to let Aigis 0 take care of the Charlos incident with Shirahoshi, while Akainu plans to F*CK THEM REBELS RIGHT BACK!!!! I enjoy saying that. One Piece Chapter 1,054 END!!! Oh My God I Love This Story And I Can’t Wait To See How All This Is Handle God Almighty Give Oda The Stamina Of Atlas To Draw This Story Non Stop. But they need to still give him a break.

Analysis

I……. I don’t know what to say. Like- GENUINELY No Words for what I just read, guys. I’m gonna take a page out of RJ Writing Ink’s book and try to see if talking about this TITANIC SH!T in segments. This is going to be a long one………

Kozuki vs Aramaki

Aramki’s Devil Fruit is………… pretty cool, to be honest. It’s kind of like Caribou’s Swamp Swamp fruit in that it’s not specifically a “forest” or a “swamp,” but aspects of those(plants and mud respectively). He’s also not a bad character; I don’t hate hate him the same way I hate someone like Spandam- he’s hasn’t been a bad character thus far. Although………… his beliefs are troublesome. He’s aligned with Akainu’s “Absolute Justice,” and he’s got a powerful Devil fruit to back up his beliefs. That’s not good.

And Oda adding in Yamato to the fight was a nice touch. Now that he knows that Yamato is Kaido’s kid; 1)HIGH. @$$. BOUNTY. 2)Now his attention will be diverted to Yamato and away from the others. Which could work considering their Devil Fruits; plants don’t do well in winter, ya know!! I don’t know what it’s called when plants die in winter. Maybe it’s just “frostbite.”

Seeing Momonosuke joining the fight is cool! I heard a theory once that the reason he was able to make the final, massive Flame Cloud was because of some weird connection thing with Kaido’s devil fruit and Momo’s artificial copy made Momo weaker, and when Kaido was defeated- he was able to access his full power. If this is true, then Kaido might be up and about elsewhere. If not, then he’s still not in control of his power and can only access his abilities in times of great stress. Wonder when that’ll kick in……..

Will Luffy get involved? Can he even fight in the state he’s in? Okay, the answer to that is “yes,” but I mean…………… Luffy is injured right now; that fight with Kaido wiped him out. And he needs more recovery time to be ready to face an Admiral. But when he recovers- with all the sh!t he’s gone through- I think he’d be able to win against them. At least Aramki; I don’t know about the other 2 or Akainu himself. But even injured; there’s no way he doesn’t sense some powerful Haki outside the Capital. He’s on his way to help……………..

SHANKS

Simple as that: “SHANKS.” He just made a move. You know; I had a feeling YEARS ago that Shanks would show up at some point in Wano. And I had this idea of a funny scene in which Luffy finds out he’s here, and he announces to the crew that it’s time to leave- because he doesn’t consider himself a “Great Pirate” yet. And he won’t until he becomes the King. And Shanks knows this. Which is why he’s trying to avoid meeting with Luffy again until………..

But Shanks is going to get the One Piece; the thing that Luffy needs to become Pirate King. I had a post Idea once- I asked and tried to answer the question of whether or not Luffy is “ready” to become the King- to do what Roger did and to see what he saw, and to make the choice that he couldn’t. “Is it finally time?” And in that post- before I scrapped it; I proposed the idea of Shanks being the “Final Hurdle” that Luffy must overcome to reach the One Piece. I think the next big enemy he’ll fight is Blackbeard, and that’ll focus more on his development as a character- staring down the man most responsible for the sh!ttiest moment of his life: The Death Of Ace.

Once he overcomes that hatred he has towards Blackbeard- that anger that I feel will consume him and lead him to almost murder Teech- it’ll be time to face Shanks. Because he needs to have stronger “character” if he’s going to battle Shanks. You know, some kind of Poetic sh!t like that. Shanks will stand before the Entrance to the One Piece(let’s be honest- it’s in some kind of cave), and challenge Luffy. He wins, and he gets to be Pirate King. He loses, and………. we’ll go from there……….

Sabo And The Nefertari

This is the single most significant thing from this chapter– I’m sorry; it just IS. As cool as it is to see Shanks, and as much as we joke about him just taking a dump is enough to get fans hyped; he didn’t do anything- he just set up an event 100 or 200 chapters down the line. Just because we’re going into the Final Saga doesn’t mean everything’ll starting going fast– we’ve got MORE THAN A FEW YEARS of this story left, and you know this. No, no- THIS WAS THE THING.

Okay, he so obviously did not murder Cobra in cold blood– I’m going to say that right now. It was more than likely a CP agent- be it the Aigis 0 still that stayed behind in Marie Geios, or 9 agents that were stationed there. And I think you guys know why this happened.

It was probably during the battle the Revolutionaries had against the Admirals; Cobra was there helping people get away, and Cipher Pol got the orders probably from the Gorosei themselves this time to kill Cobra “covertly.” And that’s just one of the things that I love about this series; the world is constantly “moving” beyond what Luffy’s main group is doing in every arc- all those moving pieces end up converging at some point to facilitate some interesting events. You could probably make an entire Side Manga to show off what happens when the Straw Hat’s aren’t on screen; it can be comedic, or it can be Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am serious!

But then you things like that end up becoming significant like this. Sabo is effectively the “5th Emperor” now; his bounty has to be higher than Dragon’s at this point. Still no excuse for that low @$$ 602 Million berry bounty, but now he’s got one fitting of his status. Also he started a number of revolts against the world. So, uh…………. he’s become some sort of Deity for those who have suffered underneath the Celestial Dragons. Kind of like the slaves reverence of Nika. “Flame Emperor………” “Sun God……..” “Revolution………” “Liberation…….“

I want to propose an idea to you guys: Sabo has the Flame Flame fruit. There’s the legend of a “Sun God” that went around freeing people. Sabo freed Kuma(I wonder where that leaves Bonnie). As Ace showed us in his fight with Blackbeard; you could make a miniature Sun– dubbed the “Flame Emperor(nice touch on Oda’s part).” Are people going to start thinking that Sabo is some kind of “Emissary” for Nika- come to free them from the Celestial Dragon’s oppression?!

Conclusion

I could- and probably would– talk about this chapter for another few hours. But that would just be “Hype Riding,” and I’ve got other things to do. To be honest, I’m quite surprised that I was able to finish this post as soon as I did with all this content. I really SHOULD write down my notes before I go into these………

But I’ve honestly said what I wanted to say. This was a Great Godd@mn chapter, guys; Oda has made his return to the Manga scene in style. But it honestly doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. I kind of wonder how binge reading these last 2 chapters is gonna feel? Heck; when this all over- what’s binge reading even gonna be like? Should be the most fun anyone has ever had.

But in any case, guys; that’s all I got for you all today. Now all we need is “Black Clover” and life will be complete. By the way; Have you SEEN the leaks for the next chapter of Black Clover? I might have to change my pants a few times next week………. Well; whatever! Til next time, duckies- Have A Magical Day. By~~~~~e!!!