One Piece

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

One Piece's manga really is on fire right now. Wano was suitably epic in both scale and length and Egghead Island, despite clearly being a shorter transitional arc, has done a fantastic job of vastly fleshing out the lore while brilliantly setting up the endgame of the series.

This is the absolute most exciting time to be a One Piece fan. Not coincidentally, I have noticed an exponential influx of new fans in the past couple of years as the hype has just gotten that infectious.

[Mustang]

Wait, time out, time out. What the hell did I just see with this last chapter? My imagination is running wild right now. Tell me that's not who that is at the end.  This is taking me back to them days where all the theories were running rampant (them Toonzone Naruto theory-crafting days. Probably a few years prior to me joining TZ. Them theories were wild at other forums as well).

[Mustang]

Wait, time out, time out. What the hell did I just see with this last chapter? My imagination is running wild right now. Tell me that's not who that is at the end.  This is taking me back to them days where all the theories were running rampant (them Toonzone Naruto theory-crafting days. Probably a few years prior to me joining TZ. Them theories were wild at other forums as well).

Let me clear this up and tell you where my headspace was at when I first read that chapter lol (my previous laptop died so I couldn't get back to this).

So I didn't pay any attention to the wheel chair at the end of that chapter so I didn't put 2 and 2 together at that point. So when I see Cobra looking the way he look, and seeing this is coming from Sabo, not seeing that wheel chair, I'm like "oh shit, Rayleigh!" At that point I had already rushed to post that post and I usually would re-read that chapter to make sure, but again, laptop died around the time I was going to do that.

Fast forwarding to today. Ohhhhhh. I completely forgot about Wapol, so seeing him knowing what ever is going on and his reaction got a chuckle. I do hope to get at least one more chapter here cause I still don't know who or what they are.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, the vibes I'm getting from the recent chapters are on par with how nuts everyone was going on the TZ forums back during Impel Down and the Marineford arcs, albeit for somewhat different reasons.

The reveals have just been insane lately, and this really does feel like things are finally gearing up for the endgame while still being a fair bit off from actually reaching the ending.

[Mustang]

I don't know what to make of these last few chapters. I know this explanation is supposed to be "shocking" but it's not hitting me. This is probably due to me skipping a lot of flashbacks back then, so a lot of this is either going over my head or just don't come off as detrimental. I suppose the only thing that did get a "reaction" out of me (if you call "heh" a reaction) is this latest chapter. I'm homing in on just the message itself, excluding the chaos going on around it

Spoiler

Holy Hell these old people

[close]

I will say damn you, Oda. These double spreads or whatever kills me. Dial it back a bit. You're going too crazy on them lol. I can just barely make out whats going on. Definitely gonna need to see this animated.

[Mustang]

Spoiler

Shanks has an older twin brother that's part of the God Knights... Um,    So this is what we're doing? Shanks has always been the favorite since Ace, but Shanks skyrocketed past him since then, and now you mean there's 2 of them? I'm getting Dante and Vergil vibes here. DAMMIT ODA!!!

[close]

Just when I thought I can stop reading to let chapters build up cause I was not really feeling this place at all, this is thrown at me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Now I need a One Piece spin-off game developed by Itsuno at his new studio where you play as Shanks and Shamrock is his Vergil for all of the rival boss-fights.

The mural and poem-style text at the end of the most recent chapter has me REALLY wanting to see the theory videos that will spring up from this. I'm not usually a deep lore nerd and I don't typically put much stock in the One Piece theory community, but when it's done this well and is this intriguing in it's relation to the story then I make an exception.