#Robonosuke

[basedkikuenjoyer]

End Transmission

I swear it always comes back to this damn clown. Crocodile's response is so funny to me and Buggy's expression is so good but the scene as a whole. Vegapunk's transmission concludes here. He's left the world in a panic. Buggy though continues to make the best of opportunities through sheer charisma. Don't forget where we left off last time, this may be a tense relationship but he's somehow worked himself into solidifying the Emperor title. I get the vibe at least CrocHawk are fuming here because they're realizing they have to play ball with Buggy on some level because he's the one with the men's loyalty. That's an important note for this chapter, the power of charisma vs. Vegapunk muddying his own message.

Let that one sit a moment because it won't really play much in the rest of the chapter, but like we often say with Egghead it is an interesting scene to frame the rest with. While Vegapunk's message and the impact of it remind me so much of David Bowie's Five Years, the little lead-in line made another rock music reference worth paying attention to. "The Times They are A-Changin." We couldn't use it as the chapter title because that, in full English, was already one which was confirmed as a reference. 572. Whitebeard giving the final order. Our lead in to the death of Luffy's brother Ace.

We'll talk narrative structure in a minute. Because I want to keep smoking this Whitebeard pack while I have it open. "I failed to make him King." That line, the flashback, the sacrifice...I see why we have that callback. Emeth here ends up being a pretty cool combination of Whitebeard back then and Izo's sacrifice late in Wano on top of the obvious internal parallel with Kuma. Especially when you mix it with seeing Koby's reflections on early chapters this chapter really felt like it was hitting that deep DNA of the series.

And of course, that makes the title interesting this time. "The Time is at Hand." I feel like I'm supposed to be making that connection right now. And honestly? All I've talked about this whole time could work just fine if Luffy simply gets taunted after this like Ace does. For all the pomp and circumstance. All the big ideas of Grand Fleets and mystery interlopers, that could tie it off here too. Are we ready to "untie the knot?" Are these scattered contexts about to make sense and reweave time?

It's not like I can ignore the confluence here. The bulk of the Gorosei are banished. Nami's lament about Atlas & Edison imply Lilith is the Last (goo-, evi-...allied) Punk Standing. Er...laying. You know I just thought "Last Punk Standing" sounded cool okay? The broadcast is donezo. Robonosuke's done his thing. Even cinching up Caribou and the Blackbeard bits. All this happens as the ships come together and the gang is drifting away.

Just saying, feels like the broadcast did sorta serve as this third discrete segment where Egghead takes on a different tone. And now that's settled. We'll have this break and honestly? Next few chapters feel like a total wild card.

[hauntingblue]

ENIES LOBBY TIME!!!

Sanji's face here.... he Knows he is going to fuck him up

THAT IS SANJI??? 😨

Holding them in my hands again....

Sanji struck a nerve there akdjaoajkq

Increible trio btw.... look at the evidence

............ me next please 🙏🏻

That is love right there I can see it

What if we all killed ourselves (except usopp is telling her the opposite ajahkdhsakjd)

I need sanji to go insane like this more often.... after the timeskip it doesn't happen as much and I love to see him suffering

This is so funny.... there is no denying to her face card

"It's not like she actually wants to die" well yes she does, but no because you know she doesn't really. It is in a quantum state right now

Luffy is such a menace akdhaksjkaak

TELL EM!!!! THAT'S MY GIRL!!!!

Look at franky worrying about robin.... do not fret luffy is coming and he will NOT lose!!!!!

This is zoro remarking how usopps fear of being left behind makes no sense.... this is so good.....

This is so endearing but it also breaks my heart....

Who is that sultry binch... (I don't recall this attack AT ALL and i'm sure we never see it again)

They botched his bbl.... 😔😔😔

Luffy's face here... he was convinced she wanted to go with them but was compelled to do otherwise but no.... he thought wrong and he can't fight to her.... I've just been staring at this page for minutes like damn.

Nevermind.... this is something your mother would say "you want to die??? Just wash the dishes and you can do whatever you want later"

"If you wanna die, or whatever...." this is so good like he knows what he is doing.... he Knows.... look at her face. After knowing how luffy and ace were as kids this just makes more sense (oda didn't think about this i'm sure but damn does it fit) also the slight manipulation.... look at all of us we're already here and look how we all miss you already... you know that post about luffy being selfish but his selfishness is jusg kindness to others... yesh

Thinking about robin's cinderella lifestyle.... why did her mother leave her with that aunt and why didn't some archeologist take her in?? Because she doesn't complain about anything just like she doesn't respond when that mother accused her of hitting her child without reason... that's so fucked

Alright this is funny (and also true)... I'm sorry fellow women....

*Justin Bieber voice* I like your laugh... dereishi shishishi

SHE'S GONNA ASK HER MOM TO TAKE HER TO THE SEA WITH HER??? LIKE SHE DOES AFTER WITH LUFFY??? MY GOD!!! I just bursted into tears like I got punched in the nose I can't keep going ajdhakajk

I lied i can keep going... but head in my hands over this....

Find out how my emotional stability survives this arc in ennies lobby part 2. coming soon

[fallensnowfan]

A Treemendous Dream

One Piece chapter 1138! First thoughts + unfiltered rambling.

Loki is having a tough time in this chapter. Luffy and co ought to hurry to Loki’s location so they can learn who is really here.

Shamrock’s Cerberus sword, plus Gunko’s design being reminiscent of a scrapped Thriller Bark design is cool. I’m liking these nods to Thriller Bark. Them going after the children is nasty. Bad, mean Shamrock and Gunko!

Luffy and Nami talking about Shanks and Belle-mere are cute.

Ripley casually holding Franky like an action figure is amazing. Also really like her having a bit of a devious side, mentioning selling Adam Wood. Nami-like for sure.

Real star of the chapter though. Learning about the Harley’s three passages and seeing the mural. Wooooow!

I like that we casually get a fourth interpretation of it from Ripley, that due to Elbaf never having been involved in cultural exchange, it’s simply the dreams or imagination of children at work.

And I think that is a valid reading too, one I believe Luffy would agree with.

He continues to say that the legends of Nika have nothing to do with him.

First World

Within the earth was fire, mankind succumbed to greed and touched the forbidden sun. The enslaved prayed, and the sun god appeared. The earth god raged, and with its serpent of hellfire, shrouded the world in death and darkness. And they will never meet.

Mother Flame controlled by the Ancient Kingdom?

Everything is new, yet to be explored, people want to create. Ancient Kingdom expands? Blinded by desire?

Nika fruit comes into existence?

Mother Flame? Rejecting their own humanity? Reaching beyond the limits of what was considered possible?

Redline formed? World divided? People can’t pursue what they wanted to?

Darkness = separation? Lack of shared knowledge? Misuse of power?

Second World

Within the void there was breath. The forest god tamed demons and the sun spread the fires of war. Those of the half-moon dreamed. Those of the moon dreamed. Man killed the sun and became god, and the sea god stormed. And they will never meet.

Void = Fishman Island or Fishmen before the Sunlight Tree reached the ocean floor? Other Fishmen countries? Original Poseidon?

Ryokugyu’s devil fruit? Twisted version of Shirahoshi’s dream to see a forest? Imu’s Room of Flowers? Devils = the Five Elders?

Eve Tree lighting Fishman Island? Joyboy brings sun to FMI and declares war against the 20 Kingdoms? Makes a promise to Poseidon?

Kozuki Clan and Minks form their bond?

World Government took the Red Line from the Lunarians? Someone betrayed Joyboy? Zunesha’s crime? Wano closes itself off from the world? World flooded? Poseison enraged?

World Government formed? Joyboy fails to keep his promise to Poseidon?

Third World

Within the chaos there was emptiness. The inconvenient remnants recall the promised day and hear The voice of the half-moon, the sun god dances and laughs, guiding the world to its end. The sun returns and brings a new morning. And they will surely meet.

World flooded and divided. Imu in control, suppressing the study of the Poneglyphs.

Toki? The dawn? Joyboy’s message to Poseidon remains.

Ancient Robot? Robonosuke/Emet? Toki’s voice? Nine shadows? Nine families with the Will of D? Amatsuki Clan? Will of D = half moon?

Luffy vs Kaido. Chapter 1043 & 1044. Luffy will meet the one who carries the memory of dawn from the void?

Toki 973 - “You are the moon, unaware of the dawn, may your purpose be fulfilled and cast nine shadows on the night woven of 20 years, and you shall know the brilliance of the dawn.”

Black Maria 992 - “On a snowy night, two who wished to be united, but could never be together. At last, beneath the light of the moon, will meet!”

Drawing

Far right - Pluton. Slavery? Dragon devil fruit? Robots from Enel’s cover story?

Middle - Adam tree? Eve Tree? Another dragon? Western dragon?

Far left - Various races? Shadows of Thriller Bark? Enemies of the sun? Imu?

[tae-rambles]

OP ch 1118 SPOILERS

my reaction to the chapter as i read:

a cool title :D though i was accidentally spoiled about Bonney turning into Nika (which i'm pissed about) so i guess i know what the it's referring to

the bento box won't last last him too long if he eats it right after leaving the capital lol

haha marines go splat

"...and their name was..." huh? what are you trying to say Vegapunk! i'm going crazy bcs of all this blueballing aaaaaaa

poor snail tho :(

oh no... i feel so sorry for Robonosuke i'm tearing up, i hope this is not the end of him and he'll get a chance to meet Luffy

"but the government would never do that!" oh yes they would

Leo my poor boy... good thing Rebecca is there

"only two left" nooo Edison! i knew it was coming but fkin hell it hurts

leave Atlas and Lilith alone you monsters!

but great to have a confirmation about the state of Punk Records after Stella's death... do you think his consciousness could be downloaded into like a robot or a computer so that he can communicate? but idk if i'd like that... on one hand it would show off Vegapunk's genious, on the other it would be another cop out death... hmmm

they finally made it yay :D

awww Bonney is so happy to see Luffy :D

take Bonney's name out of your mouth Doll >:(

kid Blue Grass is surprisingly cute

awww mini mech sea beast so cute

cocky Bonney love to see it

wow i'm surprised Luffy remembers Oimo and Kashii's names lol

Sanji and Usopp are such a good duo lol

i really hope the Straw Hats don't get separated

also where is Stussy and Kaku

now that i think about it we also still don't know what happened to Sentomaru in all this commotion... i hope he's ok

fuck off Mars

awww they thought of Luffy's appetite i love the giants so much

oh shit i forgot Mars can do that

doom-da-ta-ta! doom-da-ta-ta! oh how i love that sound :D

is he rubberizing the fkin ocean??!!! that's so cool!

Luffy believes in you Bonney you can do it! be free! (oh fuck i'm cyring)

i can't stop smiling i'm so happy what a wonderful sight i love this so much fuck i'm still crying and smiling and ohmygod i can't wait to see this animated with the soundtrack and everything

wait is that Kuma remembering???? fuck yeah!!!

"let's do this." "yeah!" oh god i can't wait for the next chapter i'm so hyped!

the gorosei felt a chill run down their spines (good.)

"there you are..." fuuuuuuuuuuuuck please Oda let Robonosuke be happy!

god damn what a fire chapter i love it i love it i love it so much! i'm so happyyyyyyyyyyyyy :DD

and even though i was spoiled aout the two Nikas it still had a great impact on me actually seeing it drawn... still cried like a happy baby :D (the same happened to me with Ace's death - though i cried like a sad baby that time lol)

ok gtg re-read rn :D

[purplehairedwonder]

Chapter 1066: Knowledge Is Power

The longer we go without seeing more from Law and Blackbeard, the more worried I get. I’m serious, Oda: My anxiety will not be able to handle waiting for the end of the arc to find out what happened there.

That being said, holy lore drop, Batman. 

More than 600 chapters ago, Robin’s flashback revealed that the Oharan scholars had learned too much about the Ancient Kingdom:

And now, we return to this history. Vegapunk has theorized what the Oharan scholars learned and were wiped out for figuring out:

How inept are the Marines to let all these books go untouched? Lawd.

Still, I find Vegapunk’s reaction to finding the works--crying at the preservation of all that knowledge--moving. And Robin is moved as well; the sacrifices of her people were not in vain after all.

Especially once we learn that the books were saved.

They were rescued by giants from Elbaf by a giant wrapped in bandages.

Hello, unexpected Dragon appearance. 

(Side note: Is the giant wrapped in bandages the same as the man marked by flames that Kid is looking for? Iiiiiiiiinteresting.)

So, Dragon and Vegapunk know each other and have similar sympathies, it seems, but they decided to go about their attempt to change things in very different ways: Vegapunk changing things from within (and with funding) while Dragon wanted to build a revolution.

Vegapunk traveled to Elbaf, learned about the Oharan research, and has continued it. And Robin realizes that the giant wrapped in bandages was her savior:

Am I annoyed by yet another fake-out death? Kind of.

But when we look back at how Kuzan attacked Saul

he uses the Ice Time, of which the OP wiki states, “The victim in question can remain alive in their icy prison for some time, in a state of suspended animation, but any decent hit will shatter them to pieces.”

It seems likely Kuzan never intended to actually kill Saul (keep in mind, this comes right after he seems Sakazuki blow up the ship evacuating civilians, and he’s disgusted by it), and now we’re seeing the results.

Not to mention, how can I keep any level of annoyance when Robin is happy crying like that? My queen deserves all the happiness in the world.

I also just wanted to say that “Robonosuke” is such a good line. (We’ll see what the official line looks like, but I love it.)

Okay, and the elephant in the room: Vegapunk’s design. It’s silly as hell. Clearly, he’s based on Albert Einstein -- particularly that famous picture of him with his tongue sticking out.

And his head is significantly smaller now, so it seems likely that big brain has been split into parts and given to the satellite Vegapunks.

Overall, fantastic chapter (but I still want to go back to Law and Blackbeard to see what’s happening).

[basedkikuenjoyer]

No Conflict On My End

Catch the classic Wano trick? Scattershot chapter but the title gives you the clue; conflict. It was smoother but we've stepped away from the Straw Hats, they aren't in this one. I said this when we finished Bonney's cutaway. If you look at what's left it's Stussy as a springboard to Bakkin/Marco which we haven't checked in on since their first appearance parallel to Egghead. SWORD also has an unfired Chekov's Gun with Drake. Either of those can pull a Kuma and rewrite Wano. Only one person there can do that and it was the girl playing coy in the end.

Last week, it was "If he's gone, who am I to live for?" This week it's this titular line about inner conflict, how it's proof of your humanity. Especially with the Seraphim and building off of CP9 being these vicious government dogs who just need the order to indulge bloodlust right by it. That role doesn't have to be who you are, and if circumstance deals you a bad hand that forces you to go against your nature those conflicted feelings are proof you're not losing yourself to it. The difference to me though is like we said with Stussy maybe needing her own "Okobore" era. I don't think this is really Kiku's story replacing humanity with gender identity...I see it more as a parallel to the implied backstory and growth that allowed you to give it your all freely on one final show with the old gang. Also, don't forget Bakkin was last seen with Marco and that's all tied up in Sphinx Island as one of these wayward villages in need of a humble guardian.

Oh yeah, and doing this while York introduces a truckload of ambiguity. This is a cool scene. Because we really have to stop and think about what York knows, what Stella knew, and of course these weird gaps when we also now know Vegapunk Prime was with Bonney during the Void Night. As above, so below and all that right? A story about the Void Century on the surface when the micro clash on this island has that big blank night before raising so many questions.

Specifically highlighting the idea VP is a horrible liar and a bad actor. Is there like, anything specific we could pair this with in York's conclusion that would enhance the aroma?

Hey look! We got Robonosuke and Momonosuke in the same chapter! If you count the cover page we also got both Tsurus which is nice. York's theory is that Robonosuke is set to guard the broadcast. My point is that, alongside Stella telling us his limited version of the Void Century after a string of unreliable narrators we have York offering us this theory in frustration. Specifically highlighting solid reasons to be flummoxed. Vegapunk may have pulled a big brained plan all along, he was dicking around with Robonosuke when we met him. But he also like, weirdly disappeared from that scene too which is one of those little things I try to remember about Egghead. Vegapunk also wasn't really far along at getting Robonosuke online.

This becomes some really good shit though if there is a mystery interloper. Because really it could go both ways. If York's right, they could already be there and ready to make use of it. A trap. If York's wrong, the chaos just gave you a perfect distraction and it's a perfect sign of beating the genius by getting in her head. I still think there's something to the idea that Vegapunk didn't have time overnight to fix this dude. Luffy's G5 heartbeat being a signal or that backhanded way of someone making good on his assumption you just need to know Robonosuke's real name? That works in a night we still haven't filled in. And no matter what this big, bad mofo is about to start wrecking shit. Which is pretty cool.

Last but not least we have our reactions to the message. One big thing I thought was cool was seeing a lot of Alabasta stuff but not Vivi directly. V cool. Not like these breakout stories anchored around the three ladies are exclusive; Stussy had that great beat introducing her inner conflict during Bonney's and Bonney was incidentally involved in the stuff @ Mariejois. Before we get to our main man here too I'd highlight Shakky potentially carrying over that idea from Nojiko & Miss Goldenweek last week. Practical, grounded women aren't paying much attention and going about their day-to-day.

But then you got Rayleigh. Love this little line of conflict between Vegapunk and Ray. Because like we hinted at last week on a meta level this is kinda fucked up for VP to be just dumping all the Void Century stuff. Or it would be if he wasn't walking that fine line of not really revealing too much. Notice how he's kinda back to talking about his own stuff over the past few months as York puzzles it out. We can forgive Ray for not catching the subtleties though because he's drunk. I like this balance honestly, especially when you have Crocus kinda straddling the two.

One last thought too that just can kinda go anywhere with this message...Robin still has like, four regular Poneglyphs we've seen but not really fleshed out. The other two in Big Mom's stash, the one above the secret passage in the Flower Capitol, and the one Law found on Onigashima. She might already know something important Vega doesn't and her being mysteriously injured last night is a great excuse for not giving them time to touch on it.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Uneggpected Development

Honestly it was hard to know where to start so let's start with Silly Boy and his silly face interacting with Robonosuke. Yes of course I'm going to keep calling him that but don't worry, we'll get to the actual heavy Wano callbacks later. This is a weird chapter...because it feels like we're hurtling swiftly towards an ending to Egghead now. Our giant robot friendo is a big part of that.

As we're blasting off the big robo seems to be gearing up for a huge attack. Maybe a self-destruction. A concept echoed nowhere else in this chapter and certainly not anywhere recently. But you do have this moment that reminds me of Zunisha. Luffy hearing what is likely the Voice of All Things emanating from Robonosuke. Dude is finally ready to rock and roll, looks like it'll time out well with the final notes of the broadcast. You'll see this theme pop up again here, I really want to see the next note before I think too heavily about that but we'll have a lot more to talk about that through the lens of...

Atlas pulls a move we've seen out of other Vegapunks before and seems set to become yet another casualty of this arc. I don't care too much about that for this review, not because I don't like it but because of what Atlas does first. Slamming Lilith into the deck and turning off some kind of tracking device York was using. Which...type of thing that would have been nice to come up at some point earlier but I'll give at least a chapter or two to see if there's like, a reason they didn't do that earlier.

It's obviously Lilith I care about. We could move very quickly out of here into the next arc. Like, you could literally do it in one chapter. Robonosuke go boom cutting off Vegpaunk from giving too much of a reveal, Coup de Burst off into the sunset, cue the newspapers. Lilith is hanging around for whatever reason as a tie to the next. Lilith even can relatively quickly become an off-ramp for what I've seen winding out of Wano through Vivi, Bonney, & Stussy this arc. She was a first impression of the arc too, even had some little quirks with that building off of Kiku last arc who did the same with Pudding who did the same with Rebecca. Speaking of though, pay attention to the title.

Two problems. One that leaves a lot untied. Like, much more than Wano. I suppose you could fill in a bunch of stuff after the exit about Lilith, but the reason that idea ever worked at all for Kiku was because of her personality. Stussy's someone who can believably pull that too, we even just saw her do something like that with her talking to Kaku. Lilith is like, the opposite of mysterious. There was nothing like a mini arc introducing you as cryptic and guarded or juggling loyalties all Egghead. York was the one who played really well into that aspect of things. Lilith is even after Atlas right here giving you the self-sacrifice and how about that light/dark framing with the different expressions up there!

Two, as it stands now there's still no real "point" to the story. This is all literally happening while Vegapunk Prime dumps everything he knows about the big lore, of course he isn't going to get too close because that's Robin's story. So I doubt Lilith has some extra info to add. And of course...a lot of things have flared up for a couple of chapters and faded as quickly as they did. I don't think we're too far from the end, but I still have that feeling this is a little misleading. There was one last aspect of this chapter that makes me wonder about just a little more getting us there:

It's the combination of Clover's denial of his name to survive as well as this late-game Punk Hazard flashback. It all feels so, so Kaido all of a sudden. Maybe it helps or hurts that I'm watching through dub Wano's end with sweetie but this scene feels like such a blend of Kaido, King, & Momonosuke right now. Which is a really weird discordant note. And one that casts that shadow over Vegapunk again.

That's actually the big thing to me. The broadcast has crackled but now its coming to an end. Watch the next few chapters closely. Egghead could end in the next chapter or two, but I wouldn't be shocked if it had another volume in it to get a little weird.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Bases Loaded

No I will not go one step further until we address this. Gnawing a tree down into a big baseball bat is one thing, I can understand that. The hair aviator goggles were pretty believable. Did...did this mofo just conjure paint and a batter's helmet? This is seriously the strangest G5 bit by far and that's saying something when we also had:

Getting the cuffs smacked off is my favorite touch. The baseball gag though, it's so funny and I love it but it really does feel like a new level of cartoon silliness. Trivia time! Where else have we seen a baseball theme? Baroque Works, Mr. 4 & Mr. 9. And I can't help but notice the more cartoon art style is leaking. The demon Gorosei are evil looking but it's still a very flowy family of designs. The giants do too, lighter and sillier. Even get some weird stuff like an almost Dutch Angle shot as they're running away. Noticed last night the anime is getting in on this too. It slowly escalated throughout manga Egghead, so if we're doing stuff like introducing sparkly transitions now I'm curious what Toei does with this leg of the arc.

For all that weirdness around the main scene though I don't want to miss this. Because it was subtle but if you've been following along you'll probably recognize the core thread. Jinbei arrives, Zoro has won but is wasting time because Lucci stayed on his feet. So Jinbei smacks the shit out of him. It's hilarious but he knocks Lucci right to someone he can report to. We saw this type of thing in the Onigashima Raid. It was nice to let Jinbei have his time to shine early in the arc and he was solid for going to grab Zoro...but it's kinda like Nami and Luffy. You can't quite reign him in. Think like Usopp making shoddy repairs until we got a proper Shipwright.

That's the type of thing I see as justifying the final role of a Quartermaster regardless of who it may be. It rings hard when it's Jinbei coming up short. But he is just the Helmsman. Like the other adults his arc should be lightening up. One of those big reasons Kiku at least works as a template is because there's someone who'd make sense to find freedom in being more of a fussy tightass.

Oh huh? Never mind all that...Robonosuke. This dude is huge! Like, my goodness I knew he was big but this mecha monstrosity looks primed to wreck shit. Good cliffhanger. Ready to see what he does. Sad we're going to have to wait a bit but I've gotten used to it.

All this though, it leaves us in familiar territory for Egghead. Feels like we just escalated again while still not changing the core issues. The Straw Hats are roped into stuff that doesn't concern them, they're taking their eyes off the ball, being a little too loose and carefree is causing all this to spiral. Definitely have to prepare ourselves for the real possibility we come back and launch into another cutaway segment. But we'll have a few weeks to chat about that sort of thing.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Obvious focus this time is seemingly the end of the broadcast. Maybe there's a coda, maybe it's done here. This was a weird chapter and potentially the hardest one in Egghead to write about. Bring honest, it's a common complaint these days but this was the first time I felt it was just spinning its wheels a bit. I'm also really confused. I think it'll flow better reading as part of a binge later but parts of this feels like they may have worked better before stuff last week.

Otherwise...Vegapunk's climax. It's a perfect microcosm of how I feel about this segment. It's kinda like how "Roger Laughed" told us about the One Piece without telling us about the One Piece. A big theme here, part of what Wano and Egghead share, is setting the stage for the finale. We've used the phrase separating the wheat from the chaff. I've made the comparison to how Wano acts like a lot of school play arcs in slice of life anime, that little bit of distance allowing you to narrow down on what's really important. Tie off your loose ends that don't need to be here anymore. This chapter really does that.

Heh, I love this joke with the reactions. Skypiea has continued to grow over time. It makes sense serving as somewhat of an overture to this main thrust of the series. They have nothing to fear from sea level rise but their plight was very much the results of that. Nice to see Conis again. But we have a more important reaction.

Hey Marco! You can call it a reach if you want but I think this one is a little sneakier than some of the fluff reactions. Part of doing this is nudging you what some of these characters are doing. Marco alone here does tell us one thing, Bakkin seems to have moved along. It's also kinda interesting he's lumped in with this more functional scene. A lot of them have just been seeing a character listening, Marco is used more as a tie to the content and it's here with Pudding who is also one of the oddballs at the periphery of this arc.

I still wonder about these two. So their placement here together is intriguing. We could just be checking them off the list, we could be nudging they still have threads in this arc. It's tricky right? The line between reactions to this broadcast and scenes we're seeing around it.

...Cmon Robonosuke. *Nudges with stick.*

This robot's a trip. Really felt like he was about to do something cool. Maybe we get it next time but it's weird how this was such a non entity. Let me put it this way. I with these two chapters would have just done a full split on the two levels the main cast has coalesced around. It almost does that. But it doesn't.

Special note for the title too...very cool it uses part of Roger's classic speech. The destiny of an age. All in all it does frame this message in an interesting way. It's good for pulling back on the image of Luffy as a unique chosen one, same with Bonney learning to mimic his ability. I love the big splash with the main players at the end. Now can we please get to the fireworks factory and draw out a clearer point to all this?

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Never Mind the Bollocks, This One's About the Robot

Does...does Bonney just make everything a named attack? You can guess from the title what we'll be focusing on the most here from Chapter 1092. I could start by pointing out a lot of things as this quiet thread weaves ever more and more into the foreground. Seeing more of a known scene through Akainu/Bonney. Kizaru and his forlorn attitude towards duty demanding the elimination of those he has a bond with. Here's one that'll waggle your eyes, isn't Kuma right now quite reminiscent of Cindry?

At this point, we've seen enough to know at least one thing is true. One of One Piece's little tricks is every arc has a thread that's more about setting up the next. Okiku is Wano's. You know what I say; the conspicuous absence from the Ryokugyu fight and ending on Rakugo Rocky's unreliable narration after the type of story we told with her opens the door to more than that. But forget about that...Robonosuke.

So that was the original pitch right? We didn't see closure on Kiku and a lot of things because she is still on the ship this whole time and has been quietly coordinating with the Grand Fleet, a sensible niche for a new quartermaster. One it's not time to write off yet, a lot of things could still happen. The ship getting tossed is a good chance to play with that. We did lose our stated plan which was a necessary step, and I'll remind you now how easily that came about very recently. Vegaforce-01 went down. But something else happened. Luckily, we have a spare though I don't think this one can fly. This...this is where we now have to heavily consider another idea. One we've poked at before.

This shouldn't be too hard of a thread to follow. We've already raised the idea that we've seen Egghead Island before. It has the right placement to have been where Oden met Toki, which would be pre-lab. Let's assume that's true for a moment. Why was Toki there in the first place? According to Vegapunk, that robot has been here for 200 years since its assault on Mariejois. It isn't crazy to think that's why VP wanted to set up his lab here, but that was post-Toki.

One of the most consistent thoughts we've always had about Okiku's peculiarities is how well they could go hand-in-hand with the potential her actual idol was the 800-year-old woman. Toki was a huge card to put on the table and never really utilize, even moreso when you have a cryptic but major new face in the present who can carry on a separate will and keeps hanging out in the background doing a whole lot of typical "new recruit" type things.

We certainly imply Robonosuke here awoke due to the drums of liberation...but that doesn't jive. This is the third time Luffy's gone G5. At least second if you don't count the quick bit with Bonney. Egghead just did the misleading stinger. We've already floated the idea that maybe instead of the ship our newbie who quietly slipped away has been solo questing on an island that could have tangential personal significance. Putting us back at another moment where you could actually pull the trigger very easily from here, assuming you deal with a couple of logistical problems. The plan to fly away being so spur of the moment and instantly dashed works better with "oh yeah, we forgot..." at least. Remember the cloud cover skipping over the night gives us for justifying almost anything.

What if Luffy had the right idea with Robonosuke? You just needed to know his name. That relationship with Toki would make Kiku one of the absolute best candidates to believably know exactly what she found and how to use it. A scrap heap sounds like the exact right place thematically for her to do so.

Weird thing about factoring in Toki is that she could really pop up a lot of places in history. We don't really know much about her past, she took to the life of a Daimyo's wife quite well. There's also the idea Oden's journal is our main source about her. Toki just flat-out could have been a part of why Robonosuke ended up on this island or any number of things.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Rock Emeth Sock Emeth

Bahahahahaha look at the snail getting up! No matter how deep and heavy this story gets at times sometimes it's really that simple. You know that feeling when you see something so eye-catching and it just takes you away? Almost like stars in your eyes? This lil guy doing his best is that for me. And I felt it needed acknowledgement. No other reason.

So the broadcast is back! People who got really hot about apparent sudden turns in the last chapter have a bit of egg on their face this one. We flow back into our current bestie, pulling a very Wano trick yet again of a double meaning in the chapter title. A lot of people get the connection in the title to the Golem of Jewish folklore. But "Emeth" literally means truth, faithfulness as well. Our concept in the little lead-in text "Words that shroud the truth" for our return to...

Here we are, getting back to Stussy. And it seems to be the case that we skipped over the heart of her conversation with Kaku. Last we left off was this notion of her conflicted, wanting to be faithful to both. It's so interesting to use Kaku this way, not for a similar name or the odd through line of giraffes but because we know he was here once before too. He was the one who had some earnest love for his role as a Galley-La shipwright. Is he thinking about Paulie and Lulu and Tilestone? Wishing he could have done the same, enjoy that humble role and honest job forever?

Regardless, broadcast is back and that means Stussy's Gay Pop Summer continues. I got that from a comment on the Chappell Roan clip and well, it's just perfect. This is essentially the same type of bit I saw so heavily in Kiku, very similar to the End of Act 1 example actually, which means it could end up meaning anything. Stussy is both someone who could be our window into what happened last night as well as the subject of it, you know? Like the other two I wanna give room for the idea one of these cutaway ladies is just setting herself up and this right here opened up a lot for Stussy. Girl's really working her way into the very tippy top of the blorbo rankings in her own right with these past few chapters too.

And of course, when we get back to all of this with the Elbaf ship it moves on pretty swiftly. Apparently now there's also some mystery holdup above. Bonney ran out of steam almost immediately and it's even highlighted how it was an illusion of the Age-Age Fruit. I quite like smacking Luffy in the back, especially with the bit about Sanji & Franky doing it without a second thought. Don't forget Bonney's been a rather successful captain in her own right.

All in all, feels like this little side-segment has done what it needs to. Especially since our return to regularly scheduled programming also includes...

Big robot. No one is excited for this. How silly. Look at my entirely flat affect...

Seriously, how fun! Rock Em Sock Em Robonosuke! First off if he's back and the broadcast is still going then yeah that means the idea this ends up in the broadcast being hijacked is back in play. But we do now know for sure there's no ambiguity with the robot reacting to the Nika heartbeat and having this explicit connection to Joyboy. Still think it's interesting we're playing with the split between the two and of course, if it's from the Void Century you always have to wonder about the potential of further info passed on through Toki in some fashion.

All in all, definitely has me feeling good about reading the last little bit as a "crackle" in the story we're still telling. Boo to break week, but they're necessary. Curious to see what's up next when we come back.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Transmission Transition

Yeah buddy, I'd want some time alone too after that full-blown verbal holy war Kendrick Lamar dragged your ass with. Kinda shit that makes you need to stop and reflect on your life choices. Drake is back and he is straight-up pulling a Crane Wife hot on the heels of Stussy putting words to some interesting concepts we've seen.

It's been a while, so for a refresher I care a lot about X Drake coming back around because we dangled his report on Wano as a Chekov's Gun way back at the start of Egghead. If he's the one to open up a reinterpretation of Wano...Drake's scenes overlap with Kiku/Izo's a fair amount. So once again, hot on the heels of Stussy speaking that potential baggage aloud here's Drake playing very nice as a followup. Drake, Stussy, Marco. That was the trio I was looking for in this pseudo-anthology's third side story. Speaking of...

It's been a while. Always had nascent ideas about the idea Zoro busts out an attack called Rashomon with Kuma way back when. Of course I've made plenty of mentions of the film reference. Even if you haven't seen it you've seen the story structure. Three POVs on the same event, the real magic is in stitching the truth together out of three unreliable narrators. Marco's perfect to spell it all out as the sorta "framing device" between Wano & Egghead.

It's hard to tell week-to-week what we'll do with this one, but I think we can see what our trio is for Egghead:

First we step away to see a collection of side stories, end on filing in the truth of Sabo/Vivi in Reverie. This though obscured what happened in the lab.

Next we give Bonney a whirl through her backstory with Kuma, where he'll both be a bit of an unreliable narrator and also rewrite some events we've seen prior through giving his POV. When we return we reiterate last night was a gap and add the mystery pile of food for Luffy.

Vegapunk's Broadcast, duh. It was more of a distraction while we saw some relation to the main plot but it still fits the bill. We've done Stussy, we're getting Drake, if you do loop Marco in than it's a way to complete the ASL theme with an Ace connection too. And don't sleep on the York focus here either.

Of course, we'll need to see the next few chapters to really evaluate that. Each one have had their content that raises questions, unreliable narrators and oddball tropes like that. But let's get back to this chapter, there was a cool running line in there I liked:

I could riff on Koby, Grus, & Kujaku getting a bit meta here but I'll save that until I know the next few steps. Kujaku gets to shine a lil more in this SWORD segment as the one checking on Drake but her line here gets a lot more interesting when Bluegrass & Doll have a similar mindset attacking the giants. Bluegrass especially encouraging the young ones to step up and become a star. Makes me think a lot about our OP for the anime adaptation The end of the dream, the end of the sea...but first we have to make a shining legend of ourselves.

It's just funny to me one could interpret the lyrics to "Us" as a threat this arc maybe will break the direction I've long hoped it would is all I'm saying. Let's bring this all home with the main highlight of the chapter though.

It's not just the stinger, the Gorosei seemed a little shocked their first hits on Robonosuke stopped everything. York is relieved but recall last time we talked about her theory that's where the antenna snail was hiding was just that, a theory.

Type of thing that could go either way and either option could have a lot of ways of unfolding. That said...this is a perfect ending if some unknown force is about to take advantage of these gaps to justify being in prime position to hijack the broadcast. Kinda feels like it'd be a cop out to have Robonosuke hanging around this whole time just to get smacked around a little. Still very, very excited for this next stint.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

That's it, Punk Rocks

Score! This is exactly the type of gag I meant last week. For this next leg of Egghead I want Oda to constantly be asking what absurd ancillary antics the Vegapunks can fill time with. Is it too lofty to note the spooky devil symbols juxtaposed with turning water into well, coffee here for a guy who might have let that death be a planned self-sacrifice to get his message out? Maybe, not like we have our series's big Biblical allusion hanging around or anything. Forget that though, I don't even like coffee and I wanna try Vega-coffee. Keep it up, dicking around like this in the background of scenes is what I want.

It's not just that I love this style of humor, don't miss that the shift in focus is revealing how Egghead has elements that fit the performance theming of WCI & Wano. "Punk" Records, a worldwide broadcast, the elements are there. It's not unlike an old anime special where the plot is protecting a final run of a play. Don't want to diminish the rest of what's going on, just this is the kinda undertone thing we've been on about the whole time. Especially when the same core threads keep popping up. Remember what we said about Buggy?

Love how objective focused the Gorosei are. Really solidifies the tone. Big Egg is still holding up which is good, makes me wonder what we aren't privy to going on in there. Still think there's a lot of potential for something truly weird to break this all into an odd direction.

Like a lot of people, pretty impressed by Samurai Gandhi's spooky horse form. he's cleaning up the Pacifista efficiently. This is quite intimidating and while Dorry & Brogy are awesome to see come into play in such a big way you gotta wonder. Sanji's giving the call to run and let them hold the line. Feel like Robonosuke evening up the 5-on-5 has potential. Hard to tell but this is all so wild.

For now though, don't ignore this is still the big themes we've been looking at since back in Wano. The Gorosei have arrived and they're tamping down the morale hit caused by infighting. Infighting that feels generated along a lot of the same lines Tama did. That, the performance, self sacrifice...I said it early on the more you build that the more it narrows down who threads the needle of all of them. That basic concept that Bakura Town still showcased a way of approaching things that would help here, that Luffy discarded some of the real growth we were seeing since hitting G5. It's all still escalating, deeply woven into this story in front of us while there's another one running in the background.

Speaking of leaving, like this panel for both the bamboo visual and uh, I guess that nut shot would hurt Brook...if he had any! Yohohoho! Glad that's resolved. But, there's an interesting mismatch between Sanji giving the order to flee and the change in focus. The Gorosei showed up wanting to stop this broadcast. It's important. Worth mentioning the only big picture idea I've talked about longer than the Grand Fleet was some kind of worldwide story. Hijacking the broadcast or continuing it to expose the Gorosei's monstrous forms? That could be a huge win for the Straw Hats. A possibility no one in play is really thinking about. The broadcast is all in the background. The enemy strategists just leapt into battle to launch their own surgical strikes, right?

I'm just saying, there's still one mystery from the end of Wano I can't help but notice could make good on the anime theme's promise. Reweave time by tying all this off the wall shit together. A more established outlet for mysteries like it was just taken off the table in the front of this chapter. We'll take on the cover serial tomorrow, but very intrigued by all of this still. Even if I don't point it out everytime, we've never left that core wheelhouse lingering just under Wano's surface.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Honestly? This chapter took a lot of time to show us the full range of worldwide reactions and while I respect it, doesn't offer much to say we haven't already. This is still a very cool element; the reaction is so scattered and that says a lot about the character of these different lands we traversed. Mock Town laughing their ass off with the cynical take is a favorite. But man was it fun seeing Hina, Margurite, Paulie, Boodle & Shushu was a hit. Always love that type of thing.

Predicting the earthquake for credibility was cool on Vegapunk's part. Very intriguing seeing a Celestial Dragon not knowing about the Void Century. Like, even as a basic concept. We've set this up with Doffy's backstory you know, some of them may be atrocious but it's the only life they've ever known and that makes them a victim of circumstance too.

Chapter was pretty light on the main cast actually. Given what we've seen so far it has me looking for anything that doesn't really add up but so far it's playing straight. Even if it's not a full-blown cutaway segment the broadcast for now is an excellent way to distract us and create another weird gap like last night or the food pile.

Vegapunk calling the earthquake too made me think of that. How it strikes worldwide but within that gap in time last night. Something that might have shaped things you know? And of course Robonosuke is still floating around. Which makes me wonder about Edison's plan here. Logic is sound, expand the cloud layer and you can drop right into the sea. Not to diminish his little guy energy pulling it off...but Egghead's done this so much I have my doubts it's that easy of an answer. You're still very vulnerable scooting across the cloud.

Heh, more York dashing around in the lab. Yeah...I chose that over the Mother Flame. No shame. I know what I'm about. The snailhunt is fun. The Gorosei are getting desperate and the more they do the more they run into that territory of desperation making someone's moves predictable. We start a notion here too with the narration that altogether makes me think about that possibility all these gaps hide some unknown interloper.

After all we've seen of Vegapunk, if this broadcast is taking over narration duties in the story I care so much about places he's talking about predictions and the limits of his own knowledge. We haven't seen it flip over into an unreliable narrator like Oden, or Kuma, or smaller examples just yet...but you're teetering on this. And that will change the whole tone of this segment.

This is why Toki is such a great card to have hanging around as a loose thread. Vegapunk so far seems like he really doesn't know much more than Robin would. Less I'd argue though there is a possibility he's picked up a stray Poneglyph or too. From the sounds of it he may have taught himself to read them which I can buy tbh. But his angle seems to be the start of the Void Century. Toki is interesting because she's born more towards the end of it. So capping off with something that made its way in through her is a great way to turn Vegapunk's message on its head.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Dos Soles

1118 ended up being a very interesting chapter for me. Didn't need to read it too deeply, but it immediately serves as this big "separate the wheat from the chaff" moment for ideas swirling around in my head. Luckily it's the type where the deep core is further enhanced while the little nuts and bolts "how" parts fizzle. There's an idea I had previously, for Chapter 1101 titled Backup Drummer where we said a lot of this idea, but reversed in Kuma's backstory. How Stussy has this oddball moment of butting in while Kuma is shifting gears. Laying groundwork she'll pick back up in very recent chapters.

So that got a lot more literal with 1118. While the broadcast literally crackles over a seemingly big reveal (an idea we already saw in a meta sense with Sabo/Vivi) our side story crackles. We snap back to mostly an update on the Straw Hats and what's going on in Egghead. Noteworthy though that the world's reaction starts to shift against the Straw Hats. If nothing changes, it feels like they might endure Sabo's fate of a government assassination of a popular figure being pinned on them. All while we're at a juncture this "side story" of Vegapunk's broadcast is ready to shift gears. Not unlike Marineford in a way. So let's keep that big picture element in mind looking at the rest.

First off, strike against two nuts and bolts ideas. We see Leo here and York was right about Robonosuke. So like, directly hijacking the broadcast or calling in the Grand Fleet look a lot fuzzier. Though of course there's lots of roads to use Robonosuke and he's still undercooked and we're also finally seeing a Grand Fleet captain once there's a "crackle." That's not meaningless.

For Robonosuke though, one thing that stands out to me is that it vs. Bonney in this chapter sorta play a nice game with the difference between Joy Boy and Nika. Those concepts have gotten a lot fuzzier thanks to Vegapunk's cast and I'm still 100% behind the idea the actual point is all of that prophecy stuff is a distraction. So without further ado...

There seems to be some controversy, not on my end. I've said for a while we're seeing the end of Bonney's journey. You fit this interesting space next to Koby & Yamato with Vivi trending towards it over time. Rebecca's not a bad one either. Someone inspired by Luffy who could easily be the "relatable" protagonist of a series. But together enhance the idea Luffy's a step further. Way I've always put it is One Piece is not a coming of age tale, it's a young man's odyssey.

Anyways, you get my point right? Kuma shifts into the next phase of his big segment, Stussy steps up and seeds her inner conflict as an intermission. The broadcast fuzzes out as we've set up Stussy & Drake? Bonney gets an excellent capstone moment. Much like we had a glimpse of her transitioning over into filling in the real version of Sabo at the Reverie.

Now don't skip what's right before this. Luffy going all Nika is framed as reckless. The giants had that kinda creepy SMILE-type mirth going on. Talking about how they need to tend to the fire. If nothing else kinda shows why it's dangerous if the devotee is hanging around, is "Nika" taking over and seeking this kind of influence? Excellent stuff to transition this segment, it'll be fun to watch how the next steps shift things.

Especially if we start playing with the specific idea of Luffy lunging back in after everyone's efforts got him to safety, the purest potential expression of how much Nika's silliness may be making him walk back growth we saw through Wano. It's very fitting a lot of the anger seems centered around the idea Oda's losing the story with all this...because I still think that's the point if Luffy doesn't rein in his awakening.