One Piece

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

First of all I just want to say that this week's chapter of One Piece was excellent. It's been a while since I've been this emotionally invested in the Straw Hats Pirates.

Secondly, I've been meaning to post about my re-read of One Piece. I actually just bought the omnibi versions of volumes 16-24, which completes the entire Baroque Works Saga, and I'm currently five volumes into East Blue right now (right at the beginning of the Baratie arc). I intended to update you guys with my thoughts on the series after completing each 3-in-1 volume, but I've been so exhausted from work these days that even during my downtime, I don't have the mental capacity to write what I want, but I'll still post my thoughts up in briefer posts. Just don't expect them too frequently.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So I'm currently about seven volumes into my re-read of One Piece from scratch, and I figured I'd give you guys some updates on my thoughts about the manga in retrospect whenever I got some time to talk about it.

One thing that I should definitely mention is that it really does help that I can go into this series from the start again without a pre-conceived bias against it. Back in late 2007 to early 2008 when I first got into the series, I was watching it more out of curiosity than anything else since quite a few of the members that I hung out with on the YYH board from TV.com were fans of One Piece, and I figured that there must be something to this series. But I also hung out with a lot of other members who hated a lot of shonen series at the time, and this was around the time when I was really self-conscious about my opinions and figured that I was "supposed" to hate shonen and with just a few exceptions only "dumb kids" could find any enjoyment out of stuff like that. It didn't help that One Piece was regarded as one of the "Big 3" of the time and I had completely turned on Naruto and Bleach by that point (and to be fair, neither of those series appeal to me even now, so that had less to do with peer pressure and more to do with me just naturally growing out of those shows). Having One Piece lumped in with the likes of them didn't help my conception of it much, and this was also the time when I was a bit of a snob about my opinions and had turned on the Dragonball franchise, so having it constantly compared to that was also a turn-off for me (I of course would soon realize how stupid that was of me when I rediscovered DB through the manga about a year later).

Anyways, I've talked about that at length before, but needless to say, I no longer see shonen manga as an inherently inferior form of story-telling to any other genre or medium of entertainment. Like everything, quality depends on the talent of the people behind the story and how they tell it, as well as how interesting and engaging the characters are. So, going into One Piece once again with this fresh perspective made me realize how much more fun and entertaining the beginning of the series is, whereas I had found it too slow and dull on my first time through when being overruled with a pretty idiotic mentality about how I was "supposed" to feel about a show like this.

Now, a point of contention among many people who haven't gotten into the show or manga is that it looks and feels too "kiddy." Unlike other popular Shonen Jump manga like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Rurouni Kenshin, or heck: even the later portions of Dragonball, One Piece has a much more cartoony design and it's unfathomable to anyone that you could get any value out of it as an adult. And on the one hand, yes, this is clearly a series that was designed with its much younger readers in mind. There is some blood and violence, but it's really tame compared to most WSJ fair not only from before when there was less censorship in the publication but even in regard to its own time. However, as good writers have proven time and time again with timeless works like the old Scrooge McDuck comics or Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, a story for children can still be appealing to any person of any age if it doesn't talk down to its audience, and to me One Piece very much falls into that camp. It's intentionally silly and designed to be light-hearted, but that by no means restricts it to never being legitimately emotional and heartfelt when it wants or needs to be.

So, with that stuff out of the way, I really do enjoy the early arcs of One Piece and how different they feel from what we have now. In many ways it's amazing how much Oda has managed to keep the core spirit of the series in-tact in a way that even the likes of Akira Toriyama or Hirohiko Araki couldn't quite do with their long-running epics. What I mean is that while both JoJo's and Dragonball do carry on the spirits of their creators' writing styles, they do feel immensely different from what they were at the start once you get several hundred chapters into either. One Piece of course feels very different as well, but what's strange is also how it simultaneously feels all too familiar, and in that regard it's because while the scale and stakes of the story change over time, the actual spirit of the series that was established at the very beginning is still just as pronounced as ever, and it somehow manages to still walk that tight-rope of balancing both comedy and action in a way that's rather unbelievable for how long it has been going on for.

Getting into the thick of things with the early arcs, one thing that struck me right away was seeing the seeds of Oda's decisive writing style planted as early as chapter one. What I mean is that Oda is very distinct for a shonen mangaka in that he's one of the few who has serialized a long-running series of this caliber with a clear plan for how the major plot points will unfold and how the adventure will finally end when it comes to that point. Whereas this genre is clearly better suited to writers who are able to adapt and change plans in response to what does and doesn't resonate with their readers, such as the likes of Araki or Toriyama or Togashi, Oda amazingly enough (to his much deserved credit) sticks true to his original vision for the series and pursues the type of tale that he set out to tell. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that he had every little detail planned out and of course certain things are made up as they go along, and at times the story can feel like it drags when Oda is so steadfast on trying to get things set up the way that he wants them set up, but on that end, the payoff almost never fails to exceed readers' expectations, including my own. Without that long haul of set up and exposition and backstory, you wouldn't get some of the most well-renowned story arcs in all of Shonen Jump history, nor would you experience the revelation when bomb-shell plot twists are dropped which makes it feel so rewarding to have stuck with the series and see how everything adds up so perfectly yet you were so oblivious to the clues right in front of your face several years (or hundreds of chapters) ago (which is why I refer to Oda as the George R. R. Martin of shonen manga in that regard).

To get back to the point which I was just making, though, Oda already showed us his ability to flash clues at us without us even realizing it only for something seemingly insignificant to come up right in our faces, and he did it right from the very beginning. It's just on a much smaller scale, just like all of the East Blue saga is. For instance, in the very first chapter itself when Luffy first attains his Devil Fruit ability, whereas a common writing trope would be to introduce the fruit, give it a lot of exposition, and then have Luffy consume it in a panel that draws a lot of emphasis to that action, Oda instead opts to not tell you anything about what these fruits are or even the fact that there are mysterious fruits that can grant people unique powers, and also doesn't even draw attention to the fact that Luffy eats one. You can just see him casually munching on it in one panel (and at that it's partly obscured out-of-frame), only for readers to experience a bizarre reaction when Luffy's arm stretches out for apparently no reason once Shanks grabs him. The exposition then only comes after that point and even then it's kept relatively brief and doesn't tell us all that much right from the get-go, leaving something to the imagination and a bit more mystery to reveal to curious readers in increments over time (something which I feel that the current One Piece material could stand to remember in certain instances). Another example is in the Captatin Kuro arc when we see the flashback of how Kuro had Django hypnotize a Marine to declare that he had successfully captured and executed Kuro as a way for him to fake his own death. Oda doesn't draw any special attention to it, but if you pay attention to the character design along with subtle clues, you realize that this Marine being hypnotized was a younger version of Captain Morgan from two arcs prior, and this little flash-back not only explains Kuro's backstory but also why Morgan was such a pompous, self-entitled dick when we saw him as a minor villain in the Zoro arc. And right before the Baratie arc, Yosaku and Johnny casually mention to Zoro about how "that Swordsman he's been looking for" has been spotted roaming around the waters that they are headed to. It's done in such a nonchalant and casual way that makes it really easy to forget about, only for it to become a plot point out of seemingly nowhere right in the middle of the Baratie arc.

Ultimately, I can see that right from the very beginning Oda had a natural talent for setting things up and paying them off. And even if it's on a smaller scale, I really have to admit that there is something so quaint and charming re-reading this stuff in retrospect and realizing just how big the series will get later on. There is something really amusing and rewarding about seeing the Straw Hat pirates taking such small steps and making minor accomplishments that you know will ultimately lead to even greater adventures and feats of prowess. Reading Mihawk telling Zoro that he needs to learn just how big the world really is takes on a whole new meaning than the first time I read that bit of dialogue since now I really do know just how insanely big the world of One Piece is, much like the characters themselves come to experience over time.

So there's my long-ass introduction to this series of "not-articles" that I'm going to occasionally churn out. I'm not going to do anything fancy or even try to make very long posts unless I somehow have the time and willingness to write something like that, but I did feel it apt to first explain my general thoughts and how I was approaching this series for my second time going through it. In subsequent posts I will talk about the series proper, arc-by-arc, and critique them while also comparing how I feel about them now as opposed to how I felt about them back then. I do however think that I'll wait until I finish a whole saga before I post about my thoughts regarding the arcs which comprise it. I won't have much time to read this week, if any, but I'm a bit more than halfway through the East Blue saga and will probably manage to finish it either by next weekend of the weekend after that, depending on if I get any chances to read this week or not.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yes, One Piece makes a splash right out of the gate. The first few arcs are more entertaining than great but it finds its footing remarkably fast since Oda knows exactly where he's going with his characters and story.

[LumRanmaYasha]

It's great that you're enjoying your re-read! I've always enjoyed early One Piece myself. A lot of Oda's talents as a writer and artist already show themselves here and hint at the scope and potential of this story and world. Maybe because I've revisited the East Blue stuff the most, but a lot of moments and scenes from those arcs have stuck with me over the years and still stand among my favorite moments from the series overall. Volume 9 is still my favorite volume in the series overall, for many reasons, including being the first volume of the manga I had ever read and bought, and the first time I had seen the series "uncut" as opposed to the butchered 4kids version.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yes, One Piece makes a splash right out of the gate. The first few arcs are more entertaining than great but it finds its footing remarkably fast since Oda knows exactly where he's going with his characters and story.

Yeah, the beginning does show Oda's lack of experience with telling a story, but he learns really fast and manages to hook you in by Arlong Park, IMO. What I really like about the East Blue saga is its good combination of both humor and action, and in this regard it really tonally resembles the Red Ribbon Army arc of Dragonball, while still of course being its own thing, which is a huge plus in my book.

One little pet-peeve that I have with these releases from Viz is having Zoro's name still featured as "Zolo" in the manga. I understand that these volumes were originally being published in English back when 4Kids still held the NA licensing rights to One Piece, but it's a shame that they never corrected it for the reprints. Honestly, though, I'm not sure why they felt the need to match the 4Kids naming of Zoro alone. Every other character retains their proper names, and none of the violence in the manga is edited out, so I find it to be incredibly weird that this one little detail from the 4Kids dub was retained in these translations. It's not a big deal, though. I still read his name as "Zoro" in my head, anyways.

[LumRanmaYasha]

One little pet-peeve that I have with these releases from Viz is having Zoro's name still featured as "Zolo" in the manga. I understand that these volumes were originally being published in English back when 4Kids still held the NA licensing rights to One Piece, but it's a shame that they never corrected it for the reprints. Honestly, though, I'm not sure why they felt the need to match the 4Kids naming of Zoro alone. Every other character retains their proper names, and none of the violence in the manga is edited out, so I find it to be incredibly weird that this one little detail from the 4Kids dub was retained in these translations. It's not a big deal, though. I still read his name as "Zoro" in my head, anyways.

Actually, Viz STILL uses "Zolo" instead of "Zoro" in their translations even with current material. It's an unfortunate carryover of trying to match the 4Kids naming that's been kept for the sake of consistency. Funny enough, when Viz started publishing OP chapters back in 2003 in their Shonen Jump and in the first printings of the first couple of volumes, they originally used "Zoro" in their translations, but later changed the name to "Zolo" in reprints and later volumes when the 4Kids dub started coming out. I wish they'd just have stuck with "Zoro" and kept that as a different naming from the 4Kids dub just like how their naming of several Dragon Ball characters ("Kuririn", "Tenshinhan", etc.) differs from the FUNimation dub's.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It's great that you're enjoying your re-read! I've always enjoyed early One Piece myself. A lot of Oda's talents as a writer and artist already show themselves here and hint at the scope and potential of this story and world. Maybe because I've revisited the East Blue stuff the most, but a lot of moments and scenes from those arcs have stuck with me over the years and still stand among my favorite moments from the series overall. Volume 9 is still my favorite volume in the series overall, for many reasons, including being the first volume of the manga I had ever read and bought, and the first time I had seen the series "uncut" as opposed to the butchered 4kids version.

Speaking of early One Piece, I may be in the minority on this, but I actually much prefer Oda's early artwork to the style that he developed later on. The art from the get-go is legitimately great, being very simplistic but using pretty advanced techniques to create depth perception for Luffy's Gum-Gum abilities, and everything is easy to follow and has a good flow to it. Later on I feel that Oda's drawing talents lead him to be overly detailed to a fault. Nothing in and of itself is badly drawn, but often times these days I find his panel composition can be very messy and it's hard to tell what's going on sometimes, especially in spreads and chaotic action scenes. I do think that he could benefit from simplifying things a bit more like he did in the early material.

Also, since it came up in my re-read, does anyone remember Gaimon? I totally forgot that he was a thing. Knowing Oda's tendency to have seemingly insignificant characters become big deals in the story later on, I'm sure that there has to be some crazy One Piece theory out there about how he's some essential plot point towards finding Raftel or unlocking one of the Ancient Weapons or something like that. But....maybe he's also just some random character that Oda thought would be kind of funny. The thing about Oda and One Piece is that you never really know what the hell is going through his head when he throws something silly like that at you.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Actually, Viz STILL uses "Zolo" instead of "Zoro" in their translations even with current material. It's an unfortunate carryover of trying to match the 4Kids naming that's been kept for the sake of consistency. Funny enough, when Viz started publishing OP chapters back in 2003 in their Shonen Jump and in the first printings of the first couple of volumes, they originally used "Zoro" in their translations, but later changed the name to "Zolo" in reprints and later volumes when the 4Kids dub started coming out. I wish they'd just have stuck with "Zoro" and kept that as a different naming from the 4Kids dub just like how their naming of several Dragon Ball characters ("Kuririn", "Tenshinhan", etc.) differs from the FUNimation dub's.

Wait....so does that mean that Smoker is called Chaser in this translation? I'm gonna be pissed if I see that when I get to the Logue Town arc....

I've always considered going back to watch the 4Kids dub for the shits, but I'd need a drinking partner to watch it with.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Actually, Viz STILL uses "Zolo" instead of "Zoro" in their translations even with current material. It's an unfortunate carryover of trying to match the 4Kids naming that's been kept for the sake of consistency. Funny enough, when Viz started publishing OP chapters back in 2003 in their Shonen Jump and in the first printings of the first couple of volumes, they originally used "Zoro" in their translations, but later changed the name to "Zolo" in reprints and later volumes when the 4Kids dub started coming out. I wish they'd just have stuck with "Zoro" and kept that as a different naming from the 4Kids dub just like how their naming of several Dragon Ball characters ("Kuririn", "Tenshinhan", etc.) differs from the FUNimation dub's.

Wait....so does that mean that Smoker is called Chaser in this translation? I'm gonna be pissed if I see that when I get to the Logue Town arc....

I've always considered going back to watch the 4Kids dub for the shits, but I'd need a drinking partner to watch it with.

I'm one of those people that started One Piece with Shonen Jump before 4Kids, so yeah, this has always been a pet peeve of mine. If you're going to name change I can accept it at the beginning of the beginning of the series but not when I'm already reading it and its been running a while. It's jarring and takes you out of the story when they do it this way.

A funny thing is that every time his name is said in NA Jump there's always someone in the comments asking them to stop calling him Zolo. So obviously it's never been accepted and I wish Viz which just yield and change his name back. It's always been the worst part of the translation here.

[Markness]

Actually, Viz STILL uses "Zolo" instead of "Zoro" in their translations even with current material. It's an unfortunate carryover of trying to match the 4Kids naming that's been kept for the sake of consistency. Funny enough, when Viz started publishing OP chapters back in 2003 in their Shonen Jump and in the first printings of the first couple of volumes, they originally used "Zoro" in their translations, but later changed the name to "Zolo" in reprints and later volumes when the 4Kids dub started coming out. I wish they'd just have stuck with "Zoro" and kept that as a different naming from the 4Kids dub just like how their naming of several Dragon Ball characters ("Kuririn", "Tenshinhan", etc.) differs from the FUNimation dub's.

Wait....so does that mean that Smoker is called Chaser in this translation? I'm gonna be pissed if I see that when I get to the Logue Town arc....

I've always considered going back to watch the 4Kids dub for the shits, but I'd need a drinking partner to watch it with.

No, don't worry. He's still called Smoker in the Viz edition.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, in regard to current One Piece, I've read the theory that Pudding is deceiving the Straw Hat Pirates and that she's the one who actually sent Big Mom's forces after Luffy, since Big Mom herself seems to be pretty oblivious to what's going on outside of Whole Cake Island at the moment given how preoccupied she is with planning the wedding. The evidence to support this is small, but one tidbit that I found interesting is how someone pointed out that there were clocks scattered all over the background of The Seducing Woods, and the clock in Pudding's room from the most recent chapter (which Oda specifically displays in its own panel) apparently matches the designs of those found in the woods. While the theory could go either way, I have to admit that Oda's propensity for using subtle visual clues does have me at least somewhat convinced of this possibility.

On another note, I find that through the last few arcs, Caesar has become far too fun and humorous. I'm pretty convinced that he'll get some redemption in either this or the Wano arc (if he sticks around for that long) since he's just way too amusing and strangely likable to remain as a villain. I won't be surprised to see him become yet another ally to the Straw Hats in the future, especially since he's screwed without the backing of Doflamingo and Kaido protecting him from Big Mom, and she's certainly not going to be happy when she finds out that he flat-out can't complete his research at this point. Backing the Straw Hats is literally his only hope for survival at this point, and I'm pretty sure that this will occur to him before long.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've always considered going back to watch the 4Kids dub for the shits, but I'd need a drinking partner to watch it with.

I'd volunteer, but I'm not an alcoholic. 

Speaking of early One Piece, I may be in the minority on this, but I actually much prefer Oda's early artwork to the style that he developed later on. The art from the get-go is legitimately great, being very simplistic but using pretty advanced techniques to create depth perception for Luffy's Gum-Gum abilities, and everything is easy to follow and has a good flow to it. Later on I feel that Oda's drawing talents lead him to be overly detailed to a fault. Nothing in and of itself is badly drawn, but often times these days I find his panel composition can be very messy and it's hard to tell what's going on sometimes, especially in spreads and chaotic action scenes. I do think that he could benefit from simplifying things a bit more like he did in the early material.

I like Oda's art from Arlong Park through Alabasta the best, actually. That was when the series looked the cleanest and sharpest too me. I love the amount of detail and the scale of the art in later arcs, but especially these days, it looks too busy and cluttered that I have trouble understanding the flow of action sometimes. I wish he returned to that simpler aesthetic with his fight scenes in particular.

Also, since it came up in my re-read, does anyone remember Gaimon? I totally forgot that he was a thing. Knowing Oda's tendency to have seemingly insignificant characters become big deals in the story later on, I'm sure that there has to be some crazy One Piece theory out there about how he's some essential plot point towards finding Raftel or unlocking one of the Ancient Weapons or something like that. But....maybe he's also just some random character that Oda thought would be kind of funny. The thing about Oda and One Piece is that you never really know what the hell is going through his head when he throws something silly like that at you.

Well, he did factor into Buggy's cover story, and I can totally see the friendship between them coming back into play at some point.

So, in regard to current One Piece, I've read the theory that Pudding is deceiving the Straw Hat Pirates and that she's the one who actually sent Big Mom's forces after Luffy, since Big Mom herself seems to be pretty oblivious to what's going on outside of Whole Cake Island at the moment given how preoccupied she is with planning the wedding. The evidence to support this is small, but one tidbit that I found interesting is how someone pointed out that there were clocks scattered all over the background of The Seducing Woods, and the clock in Pudding's room from the most recent chapter (which Oda specifically displays in its own panel) apparently matches the designs of those found in the woods. While the theory could go either way, I have to admit that Oda's propensity for using subtle visual clues does have me at least somewhat convinced of this possibility.

Pudding is totally deceiving them. She came off pretty manipulative in the latest chapter, and those visual clues and set-up with how twisted some of Big Mom's children are earlier in the chapter is definitely foreshadowing. I'm curious to see if Sanji will discover her deception himself or someone else will find out and intervene at the last second.

On another note, I find that through the last few arcs, Caesar has become far too fun and humorous. I'm pretty convinced that he'll get some redemption in either this or the Wano arc (if he sticks around for that long) since he's just way too amusing and strangely likable to remain as a villain. I won't be surprised to see him become yet another ally to the Straw Hats in the future, especially since he's screwed without the backing of Doflamingo and Kaido protecting him from Big Mom, and she's certainly not going to be happy when she finds out that he flat-out can't complete his research at this point. Backing the Straw Hats is literally his only hope for survival at this point, and I'm pretty sure that this will occur to him before long.

Yeah, he's pretty much stuck with the Straw Hats at this point, and since he's so important to both Big Mom and Kaido, he's probably going to continue be relevant in the story for a long while. I don't expect he'll every actually be "redeemed," but like Buggy in Impel Down and Marineford, he'll probably continue to be a reluctant ally that also serves as comic relief.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I finished re-reading the East Blue saga last weekend, and my thoughts on it pretty much hold up to how I felt about it before, but I'll wait until this weekend to write about it in more detail.

That said, one thing that I want to touch on is Usopp's character. In the beginning, Usopp does certainly have his cowardly side, but he also does have a legitimate sense of pride and while he mainly shows his fear before engaging in a fight, he honestly takes things fairly seriously once he gets into the action. Yes, he still has his quirks and anxious attitude towards being in so much danger, but he also is still giving a legitimate effort to win his battle, and mostly through strategy at that.

I mention this because for a period of time after the time-skip, I swear that Oda seemingly forgot this and made Usopp a charicature of his former self, being jumpy and overly cautious about EVERYTHING and having him contribute a lot less to fights than he usually did. It's almost like he regressed the character by overemphasizing his cowardly side, but the thing is, I've always seen the main theme of Usopp as a character being that as scary as the world is for people like him, his eagerness and desire for adventure and his bonds with his crew-mates will always win out over that.

Now, Oda has gotten a lot better with characterizing the Straw Hats again, lately, but I just hope that he keeps this in mind for Usopp going forward once we make it to the Wano arc.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Ussop has by far the best development in the series before the timeskip, as you can see in every arc him becoming just a little bit braver, more confident, and more heroic. Then after the timeskip Oda regresses him back to how he was before his experiences in Water 7 and Thriller Bark. I think the breaking point for me was when he ran away from his fight with Sugar. I mean, sure, he did forget about Robin because of Sugar's powers, but Ussop should still be long past running away crying from a fight. It really disappointed me, as Ussop was (and still is) my favorite character because of all the development he had received in the series from the beginning through the timeskip.

I'm hoping just like how Sanji's character has been redeemed a good deal by the current arc, Ussop will also get his due come Wano, or maybe Elbaf if they ever visit there.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, that bit from Dressrossa always has and always will infinitely enrage me, and Ussop isn't even my favorite Straw Hat. In both his introduction arc and the Arlong Park arc, which take place early on in the series BEFORE much of Ussop's development, even then he would never hesitate to save someone else's life, even if it meant putting his own in danger. Remember when Arlong was about to kill Genzo? Ussop shot him with an Exploding Star. He physically assaulted the main villain of the arc without a moment's hesitation to save someone he didn't even know. Sure, he ran afterwards, but only AFTER he had drawn the Fishmen's attention away. He earned the right to run like a coward in that instance, because in reality he wasn't a real coward, and he had proven it. Compare that to Dressrossa where he ran from helping an entire group of people who not only pleaded for his help, but had fought for and supported him as well before this point. You done fucked up, Oda!

Elbaf will definitely be an upcoming arc at some point. It was a big surprise to have the events of Little Garden come back in a big way in the Enies Lobby arc, and it simply wouldn't make sense for Oda to bring it up again like that if it wasn't going to be a future Island that the crew visited.

On that subject, some of the loose-ends that I'm most looking forward to Oda tying up (besides the obvious ones like what happened during the Void Century and what the other Ancient Weapons are) would be:

-Crocodile's past: Oda teased that there's more to his backstory than we know in both the Alabasta arc and the Marineford arc, so I would be surprised if we didn't get any insight into it when he inevitably makes his next appearance in the series. I've actually read some pretty interesting theories about how he may have had some connections to Germa 66, but the evidence isn't quite strong enough to support it well enough for me to completely buy into it, yet.

-Why was Doflamingo ordered to take out Gecko Moriah after the war, and where has he been hiding since the time-skip? I'm a tad peeved that Doflamingo didn't shed much light on this during the Dressrossa arc, other than dropping a hint or two for theorists to go nuts over. This is another former villain who has been hinted at having a more interesting past than we may realize, and it'd make the most sense for him to pop back up during the Wano arc as a possibly ally to the Straw Hats since his character may develop in order to rekindle his hatred towards Kaido. And as we've seen with Bellamy in the Dressrossa arc, Oda does in fact redeem some of his former villains, and I suspect that Moriah will follow suit.

-When the fuck are we going to meet Vegapunk? This one should be pretty self-explanatory.

-Eneru's return: I want to know the significance of what he found on "Fairy Vearth" (which, yes, is basically the moon and thus takes the world of One Piece to fucking outer-space). Oda made one of his longest cover story arcs to date about Eneru's discovery, and as we all know, that shit always comes back. Who knows, maybe the Straw Hats will even make it up there themselves!

-Will the Straw Hats ever manage to pull off a complete Dock Formation 15, or will Nico Robin forever snub the idea? Just for shits and giggles.