One Piece: Wano - I'm Caught Up 

CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome aboard the weekly reader crew! It's a very different experience going through slowly, but equally as amazing!

i love how Vivi mentored Luffy in leadership and responsibility, and post-timeskip he pays it forward to Wimpyhoshi and Momo ❤️

Hearing you talk about Luffy’s sometimes “harsh” treatment of Momo reminds me of the fact that Luffy never received coddling and typical care as a child. He was either on his own or being thrown to the wilderness by Garp. Of course Luffy’s care for Momo would manifest as tough love.

The fake out deaths are the only problem I’ve had throughout the story. The emotions, the story, the characters, and the underlying lessons are all masterfully done.

My favorite thing about queen turning into a snake is Marco’s reaction. Marco was whitebeard‘s right hand, he has seen some stuff and even for him this is WEIRD.

I just realized Doffy "flying" by attaching to the clouds was foreshadowing how he was a dragon the whole time. Albeit a celestial dragon, but a dragon nonetheless

Sanji struggle with himself was one of the best moments in this arc. Law, kid vs big mom was so epic I love Law

Sanji’s kindness and honour is actually one of his greatest strengths. Other than Luffy, Sanji has been the best crew mate at consistently being able to win over people to the Straw Hats side simply due to him being his best. We’ve seen this ever since his introduction, with him winning over the cold blooded Gin due to his genuine kindness. We also see this with Viola and Pudding, but he’s also the one who most wanted to help Kin’emon back on Puck Hazard.

It was stated in Kaido’s introduction he was captured quite a few times. It seems he met King when he was taken to Vegapunk’s lab to make Momo’s artificial fruit.

YOU’RE FINALLY HERE! Merphy your journey through this series means so much to so many of us. Your one piece videos have given the entire community something to look forward to, and you are absolutely one of the most cherished voices in this community. I’m so glad this series means as much (if not more) to you now as it does to all of us!!!

One of my favorite moments is the series is when Sanji is asking himself what Luffy wants. Which version of him and he seems willing to become an emotionless monster. And he seems to come to the conclusion that Luffy doesn't want him to be an emotionless monster. He wants him as he is. That was such a big moments for the two of them.

I think having to elaborate on character moments and themes that you didn't get to explore much bcs of time crunch would be a lovely idea now that you're all caught up. Your take on the narrative parts of the story is what makes this channel stand out for me. Thank you for being a breath of fresh air. 🥰

To add a little about the symbology between Sanji and Zoro's power ups: Robin wrote the title "Wings of the Pirate King", is clear that both are Luffy's right and left hand men, we have a lot of visual confirmation about it and Marco's speech about the "stars". Now their power-ups also are, in a way, a complementary opposite. Sanji became a Shield. He, the guy that always protects the crew first and foremost, the guy that constantly sacrificed himself for others and works as a first line of defense has unbreakable skin. The core of his fight was how he didn't break and his core was a strong as always and Sanji can no longer be broken down by anyone. Zoro became a Sword. Zoro can cut what barely anyone was able to cut before, a refined blade that thrives for new oponents to defeat, his power up went since Roof Piece about cutting down on harder objectives (first the fire in Prometheus, then Kaido's skin, then King's skin), showing his power as a Conqueror.

00:00:00 ⟾ Skit {Will of K.} 00:00:22 ⟾ Intro - basement update 00:00:37 ⟾ Intro - Caught Up!, Re-read 00:01:37 ⟾ Intro - Format: Ch. 1026-1040 00:01:48 ⟾ Plot - Momonosuke biting Kaido, Luffy support 00:04:52 ⟾ Plot - Luffy Sky Split, Sulong 00:06:22 ⟾ Plot - Momonosuke and Flame-clouds 00:06:56 ⟾ Roles - Momonosuke & Yamato: Oden embodiment 00:10:12 ⟾ Capturing Robin: CP-0, Rob Lucci, Gorosei, Kaido, Linlin 00:11:15 ⟾ Plot - After Raid Stuff: CP-O, Gorosei, information 00:12:09 ⟾ Characters - Yamato: full beast form 00:12:27 ⟾ Dinosaur Dynamics: Queen 00:13:54 ⟾ Fights - Killer vs. Hawkins 00:15:08 ⟾ Will of K. - Kin’emon, Kikunojo, Kanjuro 00:16:28 ⟾ Plot - Kazenbo: Orochi manipulation 00:18:35 ⟾ Characters - Law & Kid: awakenings, duo dynamics 00:20:18 ⟾ Characters - Big Mom: abilities, portrayal, lifespan steal 00:22:20 ⟾ Characters - Sanji: monster, conflict, hitting women, devotion 00:25:09 ⟾ Characters - Sanji: destroying raid suit, gag/humour, flaw 00:26:46 ⟾ Characters - Sanji: Sora sacrifice complication 00:28:13 ⟾ Characters - Sanji & Zoro: death pact 00:30:29 ⟾ Characters - Sanji & Zoro: complementary powerups: augmentation and flame-cut 00:31:15 ⟾ Plot - Drake and Apoo team-up 00:31:25 ⟾ Fights - Zoro vs. King: Dinosaur Dynamics, action panels, Enma 00:32:22 ⟾ Fights - Sanji vs. Queen: Germa abilities, Queen science, Sanji conflict, Ifrit Jambe, conclusion panel 00:34:35 ⟾ Chuji (flashback, Sanji and Osome) 00:35:05 ⟾ Characters - Sanji: Post time-skip, Whole Cake Island, Wano 00:35:40 ⟾ King flashback - Kaido (joy, ambition) 00:38:01 ⟾ King flashback - loyalty, Zoro parallels, foreshadowing? 00:39:26 ⟾ Fights - Zoro vs. King: action, King of Hell, Enma 00:40:00 ⟾ Highlights - Usopp and Samurai: death wish, Oda’s portrayal of concepts, Whole Cake Island (Sanji/Lola) parallels 00:44:29 ⟾ Fights - Luffy vs. Kaido: range of emotions 00:45:39 ⟾ Highlights - WG renaming a devil fruit: Zunesha, Tama 00:48:08 ⟾ Highlights - Grim Reaper: magic mink medicine, theories?, scythe and Brook 00:51:47 ⟾ Fights - Law-Kid vs. Big Mom: abilities, pushing limits, Roger speech 00:54:30 ⟾ (Cat) 00:54:36 ⟾ Big Mom Crew: Perospero, Pudding, Katakuri 00:55:34 ⟾ Tangent - Beast Pirates vs. Big Mom Pirates: complexity, depth, dynamics 00:57:26 ⟾ [Cat] 00:57:31 ⟾ Big Mom Crew 00:58:09 ⟾ Fights - Raizo vs. Fukurokuju 00:58:21 ⟾ Reveals - Zunesha & Joyboy: Momonosuke?, punishment? 00:59:20 ⟾ Outro - Caught Up, Future Format, re-reading, Hunter × Hunter 01:00:54 ⟾ [Promo] [Credits]

I was initially dismayed that Sanji's power up was, as you put it, "hurtproof" but then as I sat on it I realised, alongside Zoro, the both of them become Luffy's Sword (Zoro) and Shield (Sanji), and now I am in love with this. Also I love Merph's captions. Amazing!

I always found interesting the parallels and opposites between Sanji's story and Chopper's. Chopper was mistreated because he was considered a monster, and tried to stay away from his monster ball form because he was afraid it would hurt people around him. Through character growth, he decided to embrace that aspect of himself to control that form and channel it to help those he cared about instead. Sanji was abused because he was not a monster, but ends up making the decision to remain himself instead even though it could be considered less powerful or useful when dealing with those who want to harm his loved ones. Both of them were given the choice to become more of what people around them believed they should be, and instead chose to embrace the versions of themselves that they were mocked and tortured for.

I always saw Kaido in a tragic limbo; hes strong enough to be virtually unkillable to almost everyone, yet not strong enough to achieve whatever his original dreams were. For someone whose philosphy is to Go Big or Die Well, no wonder why he was so down. That is, until Luffy gives him the last chance for his Vallhallan finale.

I’m so glad someone understands the dynamic with Zoro and Sanji so well. The rivalry between their respective fanbases is funny, but a lot of people genuinely don’t realise how close they are, and how many deep moments they’ve shared throughout the series.

I loved the parallels between the monster trio and Kaido, King and Queen. They're like a wicked version of our monster trio, with Queen harming women and abusing the same science Sanji was rejecting (and that he only accepts to use to help his crew), King fighting with dirty techniques for a swordsman and Kaido filled with despair and discouraging others dreams by destroying people's hopes. Kaido was once charmed by Xebec, who ressembled Joy Boy, but his story ended and destroyed Kaido's hopes and it feels like he thinks that path is the most painful to walk and can't end right, but I think Luffy might show him that there's a chance he will succeed, but even if he doesn't, the point was never to achieve being king of the pirates, but to TRY TO, to pursue that dream of freedom until he accomplishes or dies trying, and it's cool with him if it means he gave it his all.

The one thing i will say about Zoro and the Grim Reaper is that one of the first big quotes Zoro has said in the series is "Not even death himself can take my life away" which was when he was fighting Hachi in Arlong Park. This was stated in the context that he refused to die until he met Mihawk again which adds a scary layer to this because he "HAS" met Mihawk again at this point. This is absolutely a call back to that quote. Heres hoping he still refuses to die.

Sorry about the flood! Congrats on catching up and great job on that opening skit, it was hilarious!

The thing I like about Kaido's crew is that it's really small. He has a lot of expendable minions (the smile users and the ones who haven't become smile users yet) but his actual crew is just 8 very strong people (9 if you count X Drake) and that's it. I agree with you that the dynamic with the big mom pirates is more interesting but she just has way too many kids to keep track of.

It's definitely a bittersweet moment that you've caught up to One piece now. The hour long reviews will definitely be missed. But on the bright side you're up-to-date and can actively discuss where the story might go and just theories.

Law using Corazon’s move at the end made me tear up. Completely unexpected, but perfect

"I read the first chapter of Hunter X Hunter and it was adorable." Ah as one amazing journey slows, another begins. Great review as always Merphy and I'm sure everyone is excited for your reactions to what HxH does with its narrative. And as for alternative One Piece videos, there's a few amazing theory videos out there that I'm sure you'd have a blast analyzing.

4 seconds in, and maybe Merphy is dead??? That's one way to catch up. I'm so happy that you are caught up. Sanji has had such great continuation in his character development from Whole Cake Island in Wano, I have to be honest, I didn't see it coming but I'm absolutely here for it. Momo biting Kaido and Luffy hyping up the kid and helping him boost his confidence really spoke to me. Proud of our boy for splitting the sky, it took so long that I couldn't believe it when it happened. Can't wait for Hiyori to end Orochi. I don't care what anyone says the goofiness Oda has injected in his dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) is hilarious. Eichiro "Dr. Grant" Oda really just said that's how pterodactyls hunted and the true form of brachiosaurus is a big snake. The helicopter Triceratops was already funny. But that being said, the Tobiroppo fights with the exception of Robin's fights were pretty lackluster and not personal at all. But who knew in all of One Piece apparently Raizo is the biggest among the big badasses and would outlast every single fight. Just Oda being Oda. However, this is the most important thing I'll ever say: King is a beautiful man. Nothing else. Just thought everyone else should acknowledge it. Edit: sorry about the flooding. Hope no books were destroyed in the process. I'm incredibly hyped about all the theory crafting that can come from the three chapter weekly discussion. Also, its not Brook. In 1040, you can see Brook with Robin, while Zoro is falling off the island.

I love how you've been portraying the relationship between sanji and zoro, and bringing all the little things they do for each other to the table in all of your video series. Some of us already loved sanji and zoro, and we saw some of this, but you, with your analysis and fresh vision make a lot of sense of it and show many how to appreciate and approach it. I knew you'd love that call in the middle of a fight. Thanks Merphy for all your analysis and giving value to so many things that readers sometimes didn't pay to much attention. :)

Merphy, with her background in exploring tons of Literature, she offers a more unique perspective exploring these stories. It’s refreshing. She challenges us to see things in a new light

Just wondering if you plan on reviewing One Piece: Ace's Story, is a Light Novel with Vol 1 & 2, it the depicts parts of Ace's life that we haven't seen. & it's considered Canon to the main One Piece story, because Oda had a hand in it. Also One Piece Episode A, is the manga adaptation of One Piece: Ace's Story illustrated by Boichi not Oda so the art style will look different. Boichi is the mangaka (author) for the manga 'Dr. STONE.' "PS: the manga adaptation is also missing a good amount from the light novels, so I recommend reading the novels first and then read the manga. That's just some helpful information in case you plan on reading them."

I believe in chapter 1040 when the buildings kinda falling apart we see brook running with Robin and Zoro falling in panels. Meaning brooks super far away from Zoro so the reaper is likely not him.

Something I love about Momo and Yamato having inherited Oden's will is that both, on first glance, are oposed to Oden's identity as a man. Yamato is biologically female, Momo is a child, two identities that define themselves in opposition to manliness. And yet the former can claim Oden's name and it seems like Momo has claimed its image. It fits so much. also Merphy's CAT!!!!

this is the 3rd scythe/grim reaper that Zoro has faced this arc (Hawkin's puppet in act 1, Killer in act 2). So Zoro vs Death, which is a recurring aspect of his quest (never letting X kill him), is a real possibility.

Sanji's moment is deeper than just his chivalry. He was afraid of losing his emotions, all of them. Sanji's defining trait is his kindness, hes the kindest man in the world. Turning into a machine only capable of fighting like his brothers is the worst that could ever happen to him.

So glad to have you caught up! Merph, just because I did not hear you mention it. SANJI'S EYEBROWS. Just a neat detail visualizing his internal conflict. Zunisha being the unnamed devil fruit weilder lines up neatly with their punishment walk thing. Possibly with some ancestors to Momo giving the order to walk and not use whatever power, or that power being a zoan of the ultra long leg elephant eaten maybe by a giant or ancient giant.

Whoever writes the subtitles/close captions for the video is really having fun doing it, gives an extra layer of fun to watching these ....also around minute 35 the subtirtles stop being on sync with the video

44:25 Another detail to take into consideration is what happens immediately after. Same as when Marco said "It's time for the stars to take the stage", now Izo, another one of Whitebeard's commanders, the most powerful crew since the death of Roger, not only agrees with him, but he also regards him by name (or at least by the name in his wanted poster, "God Usopp"). One of the biggest players in the scene knowing who Usopp of all people is speaks A LOT of how far our crew is

The Huh! At 14:49 is me when I start understanding something.

It doesn't seem like a year, but I can't believe that you're here. Now the pain and joy that is reading week to week! I've been week to week since Sabaody and the wait is long, but being able to do this with so many friends that I have made because of One Piece makes it worth it to me. Can't wait to talk with everyone and you in your discord with our love of One Piece!

One of the core principles Oda uses in writing is "two sides of the same coin", this can be seen in Arabasta and Dressrosa. Love that you have picked up on this in this chapter. Love your content, keep up the great work !!!

Big Mom was so cool, I really fell in love with her during her fight with Kidd & Law. It feels like Elbaf probably won't under horrible suffering so Big Mom will chase after them to Elbaf and become the main threat there. And that's when her crew will be finally used. Possibly, feels like everything could be leading to that outcome lol. I swear, so much of the New World has been set up for Wano/after Wano.

The opening skit is so hilarious 😂 This was an amazing journey with you and now welcome to weekly readers

YES!!! She finally caught up! I'm so excited for the future One Piece videos.

I'm very curious about the Numbers. We were introduced to the kids who were being turned into giants, and I can't help but wonder if a similar formula was used on the Numbers and they were samurai or other people of Wano before they lost their faculties and became Kaido's obedient slaves. One thing I noticed when Sanji was having a personal dilemma was that his eyebrows reversed. There's no way that after more than 1000 chapters that Oda would make such a mistake. One thing that was skipped over, but that I absolutely loved about the Big Mom fight was Law using his room to mimic a silence ability so she couldn't call out to her homies to come rescue her. The fact that it was something he created in honour of Corazon brought a tear to my eye.

I love your subtitles, it is amazing! adds another layer to the commentary and shows how much effort is place in editing the videos

The inevitability has been reached. Looking forward to the future structure, you have a really good idea going

Congrats merphy, i found your channel with those one piece reviews and stayed because your amazing content and personality. Hope your channel grow more and more

Congratulations, Merphy. It's been such a treat to watch someone join us on this journey.

Congratulations on finally catching up, Merphy! It's been a blast seeing your journey on this wonderful series. Been here since G8 Filler arc review. You've made my fridays very blissful along with the release ot chapter scans. Can't wait for more of your content!

I love that you are caught up now I won't accidentally spoil things. This has been an incredible ride watching you read along and its so enjoyable. I love your extra views on things and various literary devices and such. I don't know just love the way you talk about it and i still learn things not just about fictional pirates but storytelling in general.

Love seeing people discovering One Piece for the first time and getting caught up in this crazy story that hopefully never ends (well not for awhile anyway).

Congrats on being caught up! We pass our time here by theorizing and watching reviews of the series, like yours.

Love all your in-depth takes and ideas. Feels like justice seeing someone truly appreciate the intricacies and meanings of these recent chapters that many in the weekly community either don't see or gloss over. Welcome aboard!!! 😁

This is BIG NEWS!! And very exciting :) I'm so glad for all of your reviews. And you've been Nakama for a long time, now we can just be open with you and not worry about spoiling everything.

CONGRATS MERPHY ON CATCHING UP WITH THE SERIES!!

Love the personality you inject into your subtitles. Your hard work there is much appreciated.

I'm so glad you pointed out the Split the Sky moment! It has a practical purpose that drives the plot forward and it's such an Oda-ism that I love! Glad to have you caught up! 😊

I just realized how much better/funnier is watching your videos with subtitles on hahaha So glad you're caught up. Welcome to the weekly madness, you'll love it.

The best part about one piece being so long is that as soon as you finish one read through it has been enough time for you to go back to the beginning and it feel fresh :D

In chapter 84, during Zoro’s face-off against Hachi in Arlong Park, he says that until he’s achieved his dream, “Not even the grim reaper can take my life away!” So I think the grim reaper we saw was a real, foreshadowed manifestation of death/hell, and that Zoro may have to face off against it.

I've been loving your One Piece reviews and I'm so glad you're caught up. it's been a great journey to be on with you

Just a reminder: read the Monsters one-shot (if you haven't yet). It's canon, and seeing Ryuuma in his prime is fun

Hi Merphy, congrats for finally caught up with us! Can't believe my first encounter with you is the Skypiea arc last year and now we are together in the end of Wano. It's been an amazing journey so far and I hope we can sail to the end together. And last, thank you for making me love One Piece more and more again with your review :))

the fact that this is 'the end' (not really but, you know, in a sense it definitely is) makes me emotional so I don't really have the words, but that series of videos was the most amazing and I just want to say thank you for these videos and I hope you enjoy your re-reads and the week-to-week experience from now on

I have been going through some personal stuff and the utter joy you have while talking one piece has been keeping me going

The other thing I think is that Luffy has been impulsive and blunt from a very young age. So I don't think from his pov he is expecting too much of Momo, causeif Luffy were in Momo's place he would be the first to bite Kaido. Like if kid Luffy had been the one Kaido held over Oden's burning castle Luffy would tried to punch him or at least bite him with his eyes burning with rage and fury. Kaido would have been far more impressed.

Congrats on catching up! Now you’ll be itching for more every week like all of us. Have fun with the re-read, keep us updated. Also sorry about the basement :(

Stumbled on your One Piece reviwes a few days ago and loved it! Weekly OP has been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. As I'm now close to 40 it's wonderfull to see an adult reacting to One Piece without preconceptions and just taking it the depth of the story from the beginning! Soon you Will be in the "Dressrsa was si

I'm so glad I was here relatively early in Merphys reviews of one piece, her learning to love the absurdities and the humor and the characters we all know and love. The story we adore and watching her get more and more anxious to read more arcs and even seeings some of her "hot takes" and interesting points of view I've never seen from one piece reviews before. I know the joy and sadness of finally getting to be week to week and waiting to get more of it but finally joining everyone who's just as anxious as you are to see more and go on the journey is something I'll always cherish. Congratulations and welcome aboard. 🎊 🏴‍☠️🌊🌊

Congrats on getting caught up. I HOPE you can finally enjoy the rest of One piece RU-vidr space without fear of Spoilers and hope you enjoy your next read through. The details you missed will the new treasure you dig up on the Lap back from start to finish.

And now the pain of being caught up😭, but also the hype to see what Oda does next! What's gonna happen to Big Mom,? Zoro?!?! The falling island? Oh, and the GIANT elephant and government ships waiting for the battle between the rubber boy and drunk dragoon emperor to end! It's slowly starting to seem like we might not have time to party at the end of the battle like Luffy planned😰 But like everyone else now we wait to read what's next. And in a way the buildup makes each chapter feel more rewarding as we get them, but I'll let you experience that for yourself😉 Hope the water damage wasn't too bad! Enjoy HXH and can't wait for the other videos about OP you plan to make☺

Welcome to the intensities of Wano!! This journey has been so fun to watch and I'm looking forward to wherever it goes now!! Can't wait to see what else the community has in store for you! Heck, maybe even a spot in the Reverie!

i have been here since your "not-island" review. which was back in summer of 2021, and ever since then i have been waiting eagerly for your reviews each week. i don't like many other reviewers, but the fact that you did not have an idea about what manga is and went in one piece blindly made your reviews so much more interesting. thank you merphy for being my friend through my last semester of college, and for sometimes easing me to sleep. i truly enjoyed the past 7 months with your reviews, they added a lot of flavor and joy to my week every one piece friday that you did. i can't wait for what the future holds for us one piece fans, and can't wait for your reviews as we get more and more information about one piece lore. again, thank you so much. i'm infinitely thankful to youtube algorithm that suggested your channel to me during that fateful day. i wish you the very best.

Now that you’re caught up I know you’re not a big movie person but if you want more One Piece content I’d really recommend Strong World, Film Z and Baron Omatsuri They’re not canon but the villains of the first two are canonical characters that exist in the story and the latter is just a really solid creepy movie

33:40 the ironic thing is that Sanji being worried about him becoming an emotionless monster and losing himself is actually one of the most human reactions he's had and that someone could have

Congratulations! I loved watching you go through this series. Looking forward to future videos where you can discuss chapters more in-depth.

CONGRATS MURPHY !!!! what a journey it has been. these videos have been such a joy to watch and made me love one piece 72828282 times more. thank you for the videos ❤️

Credit to whomever is doing the the subtitles, they’re hilarious (and so are you Merph!)

The thing with the death visit is... Two chapters later, when Kid shoots Big Mom through the island, we see Brook with Robin after that scene. So it's not Brook clowning on Zoro. In the same sequence we also see Zoro, face down lying in a pool of blood, clearly unconscious, as he doesn't react at all to the ground crumbling under him. Now I also don't think Zoro is actually dead, but he's in _real_ bad shape to be seeing that specter, and who knows where he even is now that the ground under him gave way.

Love you love you’re channel loved seeing you experience one of my fav series ever has been one of my favorite pieces of content consistently since I first found you ironically through one piece reviews/reactions peace love and prosperity to everyone who isn’t a rival pirate crew

Emna had me dieing ngl 🤣😂 Can't wait for the monthly reviews Merph!

Hell yeah Merphy! Glad that you are finally here with all of us. I would personally really love to see you have talks with other one piece youtube folks, you offer a really fresh perspective on a series a lot of us have been consumed by for years now.

We had Triceraheli, we had Brachiosnake and we had Pteracanon. I loved Odas creativity this arc. The Smile-users got more ridiculous as we went on, the dinosaurs got more ridiculous moves each and every time. I loved every single panel of that. I wonder what xDrake pulls out of his T-Rex body

Congratulations and condolences on catching up! It's a bittersweet feeling. :) Have to say, as much as I'll miss these big arc overviews, I'm really looking forward to you diving into smaller sections and really getting into the details, too. Your opening skit had me giggling. I can remember rolling my eyes at this same stuff back when Water 7 was just getting going. One of the sayings in the (much smaller) fanbase was, "no one dies in One Piece (unless it's a flashback)." Have very much learned to roll with it by now, but yeah.... sometimes it's just like, if you're not going to kill them, don't pretend you are and then take it back. Just don't do it in the first place. As much as I really agree with your pride in Sanji for his choice in here, and as much as I waved my arms around during those chapters, I do still get annoyed that this was SO exciting as a potential step toward being rehabilitated after so long of being so badly characterized for seemingly no reason. This moment still could work and feel triumphant for him and signal character growth, without it having to come from a place of him being actually unlikable for so, so long. When he wasn't before that. If this was the point of that, then I'm just angry, because it wasn't necessary. If it was just because Oda thought it was funny, then I'm still mad, but I guess it's less a really hackey writing move and just really bad personal taste and lots of sexism, transphobia, and objectification of women. That being said, I love this moment for the character and I have my fingers cautiously crossed that post Whole Cake Island, he's still on an upswing in terms of... being not gross. Okay, so I have no idea if this was intentional, or if it will end up playing out this way by the end of the arc, but one of the things I've noticed through Onigashima as a theme is this idea of emotion and passion and hope along with coldness, resignation, and cynicism. The Strawhats and the Beast Pirates have so many similarities and proverbial doppelgangers amongst them (not unique, this is really common in most of the major antagonist forces), and each of them seem to be this "there but for the grace of god go I" for the other. The Beast Pirates represent the parts of themselves that the Strawhats have to defeat in order to ascend emotionally or spiritually to the next level, not just physically. Plus you have all these fire and ice motifs, but in typical Oda fashion it's not this one-to-one, "fire is good, ice is bad" thing. You have the ice oni plague, with its symptoms of stealing the personalities and desires of its victims, which is helped by Marco and his phoenix fire long enough for Chopper to create a cure. You have Yamato using ice powers to freeze the bombs in the basement to prevent Kanjuro's fiery manifestation of rage and hatred from destroying everything in its path. You have Sanji fighting to retain his emotions and his passion instead of turning into an emotionless servant of others' wills. You have Zoro versus King, the latter of whom has a significant power boost when he manifests fire, which Zoro has to figure out through cold and rational puzzle solving. You have Usopp's amazing speech about clinging to life in spite of how shameful and unseemly it might look, to Kin'emon and Kiku who are dispassionately resigned to their deaths. And the fact that this is all taking place inside a giant skull, with different locations named after different sections of a brain just really gives me "metaphor for depression." Again, no idea if that's what Oda is going for, or if this reading will be held up by the end of the arc, but right now I just can't help but gravitate this way.

I just read the most recent chapter, the next chapter for you (while the official chapter releases are on Sunday, there is generally a fan translation out on Friday) and OH MY GOD that chapter was so insanely hype. There's so much to unpack in the next chapter

That’s exactly how I felt when I caught up! It’s so weird knowing that there’s no next chapter! It’s surreal, but cool too…because now you have the opportunity to chat with everyone about what’s going on now. I’m currently rereading because why not 😂

Welcome aboard! Let's sail in this absolute delight of a series now, together. Hope you enjoy your stay as much as you enjoyed catching up to us.

cant believe you are caught up loved every review of yours and im excited for the future

Congrats for catching up can't wait to see your reaction when chapter breaks comes ahaha

It's like reaching the red line

WELCOME MURPHY-SENPAI! It's a weird feeling being week to week. Welcome to the grind, I've on the week2week since 2005 and No it doesn't get easy with the wait 🤣

HxH, Mob Psycho 100, and One Piece are my favorite mangas ever, in no particular order. Super excited seeing you cover two of the most meaningful stories i've experienced

Just started reading wano. I will have to wait till I’m caught up to watch all your other videos. Thanks for showing me one piece!!

CONGRATULATIONS MERPHY AND WELCOME AT LONG LAST TO BE CAUGHT UP 🔥 One Piece is probably THE most enjoyable I experience I’ve ever had with any piece of media/fiction/art, and with your series, I was able to not only relive that same joy of reading it through, but you also bring so many unique perspectives to the OP community which has broadened my love and appreciation for this masterpiece even more.

I like how Big Mom's defeat was not really a defeat because she was taken out in the most convenient way (no trying the insult GODA's writing more like the opposite). She took a lot of damage from a bunch of other battles and when she was fighting Law and Kid she was pretty weakened. Law's ability (R-Room) came in such a clutch in the end its actually kind of crazy how big of a role Big Mom's voice is in here combat abilities because her homies need to hear her to do anything to help her. And of course in the end she hits a bomb cause why not? When she fell from Onigashima she didn't even go unconscious which shows how durable she is considering all the hits she took.

I got here Friday I cried. Thank you for letting me watch/read along with you

Happy that you're finally part the crew and very excited for your hunterxhunter reactions!

Linlin and Kaido dynamic is one of my favorite in all of one piece I absolutely love these 2 and they Benefit from each other

There is an interesting theory that suggests that since we actually met Dinosaurs in the Little Garden Island in the Grand Line, Oda is doing something with King, Queen and Sasaki's DF features. I suspect that with these bizarre features, Oda is heavily implying that devil fruits are man made. The ancient zoans are potentially inaccurate because the creator of the devil fruits did not have access to the actual animal. Instead, they had to base the fruit on the fossils of animals that were already extinct. (Since the only dinosaurs we've seen exist only in Little Garden and function normally) The shape of the pteranadon's skull led them to believe it could be used as a weapon, just as the length of the brachiosaurus's neck and tail led them to believe it was some kind of snake.

I already know I'm going to love this video Welcome, Merphy it's good to have you here all caught up

Congrats on catching up 😁 watching theories unfold in future episodes is gonna be fun 😄