#Chapter 1076

[nature-nerd-sarah]

I love how Lucci has the same level of tact and intelligence as Luffy

[curlybrow-kun]

Luffy you sweet summer child

[chromatic-lamina]

Red Heads, Chapter 1076 spoilers

Not much to say, but Oda must have a purpose for not curing those afflicted affected by Smiles on Wano. He hasn't forgotten that Killer ate the fruit.

But let's have a look at that whole frame and the one adjoining it (and above it):

And then the last page:

TWO sexy redheads (Shanks looks so good), and Benn! and Yasopp and the rest of the crew. Shanks being written ambivalently. Good to know the town he's in, but he's also after:

Kid's poneglyph rubbings (like, if they were etchings, I'm sure there's a joke in there), or has Kid come to challenge him as a matter of course.

And

Seems that Beck's got some history with the Kid pirates too, and will it be that neither should underestimate the other? Or that the Kid pirates will have their arses handed to them? Or there'll be some longstanding old time buddy-ship between them? Or they'll win each other over? Or? SO CURIOUS. We've got Law in Blackbeard's territory, and Kid in Shanks' (kind of), and Eblaf being Saul's stomping grounds now.

Hoping it's not too under-referenced.

AND, these guys:

Dorry and Brogy, and of course Shanks knows them! Aaannnd

Lucci

Not knowing when to tone down the vindictiveness and bad-assery for a while

is a delight. Kaku and Zoro again being the voice of common sense, and Luffy and Lucci running with the primal.

It was a fun chapter. There's more! Go check it out.

PS: @sashi-ya wrote that they’d be the ones Law dropped with Kid and that maybe he dropped fake ones? It would help Kid out in this case, or not… I can still seeing Shanks and Kid working together ultimately, but I’ll wait and see!

[fallensnowfan]

Definitely feel that I was onto something in my post about chapter 1075. Stussy’s words to Lucci are really just another way of phrasing the message Shanks imparted to chapter one flashback Luffy.

Chapter 1076 introducing us to Elbaf Makino and Elbaf Luffy feels all the more intentional now. I love everything about Elbaf here and the parallels it is invoking. Luffy thinking Kiku is the coolest for not directly fighting Urashima, her instead opting to taunt him into humiliating himself, makes so much sense given what Luffy learned from Makino & Shanks.

[mugiwaraluv]

I love Lucci but really how dumb 🤦‍♀️

[algumaideia]

Shanks is in Elbaf?

Kid wants to fight with him again?

Shanks will steal their road ponegraphys, this is loser behavior

What is going on in the lab

Where is Law

[bydxsign]

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Usually wait until I have two chapters but who cares? Break week upcoming and I have feelings about this chapter. Starting with the easiest, nonspoilery one. Not a huge deal, but said something about it last time. The idea that Egghead might be the same island Oden met Toki, which has a lot of cool potential implications. It’s not the signature spotted rafflesia flowers that’d make it obvious, but this shot does show the similar trees we already noted this time with the right type of coconut-looking fruit. So one more point.

There’s some amazing stuff going on in this chapter from the angle we’ve been looking at. Luffy straight-up taunting Lucci so blatantly Zoro’s spelling it out. A certain redhead knocking around with less cool alternate versions of Luffy & Makino. That whole segment offers a lot obviously, but let’s go ahead and wait for 1077 to do em in pairs like we have been. I want to think on it and see our next step, but this chapter pulled the neat little trick of dangling something I was juuuust starting to seriously wonder about. This time, I only want to offer a plausible answer on the table to that finicky question; isn’t it past time to give it up? What on Earth could justify a newbie hanging out in the ship this whole time?

Aww, Shanks has a doofy Grand Fleet who decided they were his underlings too...

This was honestly on the short list of ideas from the start, hell I might have even mentioned the base logic before Wano ended, it’s a layup if you’re pitching an opening for a Quartermaster. Either way, at least back when we were just saying hey...arc could theoretically fit this rough sketch and build around a twist. We’ve done well sticking to that even if it was kinda vague. Vegapunk got the lore dump out of the way early and now this is devolving into chaos all while we’re keeping some of those big cards like X Drake back and still nailing the right themes.

Drifting away though, our goal at the moment is to lay out a hypothetical for how where we’re at on Egghead could be resolved through a quiet new addition working behind the scenes unbeknownst to us the readers. It’s the Fleet. Got 100 Marine ships in bound? Scary, sounds like a good use for Luffy’s ~70 backup ships. You just have to get Kizaru away from them, and him leaping into the fray on Egghead early is the perfect moment to turn the tables. Unfavorable, but not insurmountable odds at a perfect rate to justify the upset through smart command. Especially when you have guys like Orlumbus and Sai who can be your seasoned field marshals familiar with naval combat, it’s really a perfect stage for a Quartermaster who’s bringing social/speech skills. Less naval tactics, more balancing the egos. “Now Cabbage-kun...I’d expect a star to know the value of waiting a little to build tension.”

We have this big Chekov’s Gun loaded, look at what’s possible. Think taking a Gorosei hostage would count as historic proportions? The beauty is how it all just...flows. Luffy’s vivre card probably was going haywire over the past few weeks. Say they trusted Luffy and let it smolder from being thrown in Udon, but when it snuffed out and popped back for the Awakening or whatever decided they should probably move in. That’d give almost two weeks to get in the area, especially with the three days post-Wano. What if they’ve been trying to constantly call for a while now? Snails pick it up as they’re leaving Wano...there you go, that’s a perfectly fine excuse for someone new who gets the value of numbers spending a lot of time for a few days in the hold coordinating. It’s a great way to rapidly get up to speed on the wider world and could end up keeping a bit of mystery on the enemy end. You could even spin it into a killer Tokyo Rose-type vibe.

I feel like that type of propagandist, something like Gen in Dr. Stone, plays absurdly nice with what we’re seeing floating around this story. Don’t tell me it wouldn’t suit that little drama queen more than swinging a sword.

[fxllingout]

SHANKS

[andaniellight]

trust Roronoa Zoro with bounty over 1,111,000,000 to freak the fuck out if the crew got separated away from him AND their godly captain

[goldenandhappy]

[nature-nerd-sarah]

I'm glad to see Dory and Brogy re-enter the story, but now I'm wondering: Which of them won that fight?

[zoluforever]

This is pure genius and Zoro's reactions prove that this was deliberate. Luffy just made Lucci agree that as long as Luffy is alive, he won't touch his crew, the Vegapunks, or anyone else he deems as a "friend". Well played, well played. Lucci, welcome to the world of being a Strawhat ally for life. Whether you like it or not... shishishi

Luffy certainly has a way with cats (i.e. Zoro and now Lucci)

[dbphantom]

idk kaido he's changing my world

[fallensnowfan]

Been a while since I’ve talked about the SMILE fruits, though if learning more about them from Vega is part of the intention for this arc, it works well what we’ve seen in recent chapters. The big questions at the moment are which Vegapunk gave the order to the Seraphim and who is sabotaging the Labophase and kidnapping CP agents+Vega Stella.

For those who have eaten a failed SMILE fruit, the inability to express emotions beyond laughter being described as a “mask” works well with the true faces of both Shaka, who I still suspect, and this figure on the left being obscured. Also have Killer appearing outside Elbaf and showing he’s still under the effect of the fake devil fruits.

And of course miss mask symbolism herself has many thematic ties to these ideas, appearing to be a different person entirely, while donning her own figurative and literal mask.

[mugiwaraluv]

Talk about a massive flashbacks 😵