These are some of my thoughts after reading One Piece Chapter 852.
Going back to the chapter parallels, Chapter 53 is the first chapter that we actually see Sanji fight (his fight with Fullbody was off-paneled in the manga). Itās also when the Baratieās ultimate weapon (Sabagashira #1) is revealed, and Sanji kind of takes charge of defending the Baratie.
So I wonder if that means next chapter weāll finally see Sanji take some action? I hope so, but I always expect Sanji to do something the next chapter, and it always turns out to be too early. Since he finally admitted that he was naive to think that he could sacrifice himself and marry Pudding to save his friends, I hope this is the turning point in the arc for him.
Overall, I really liked the chapter, even though it was a relatively calm transition after all the crazy revelations that we got in the past few weeks. We still got a lot of important information -- and this chapter was packed full with info -- and also an emotional scene between Sanji and Reiju.Ā
I really loved this scene, because the relationship between Reiju and Sanji was always kind of an enigma to me. I always felt there was more to their relationship than was shown earlier, and that Sanji cared more about Reiju than he expressed. In spite of the fact that Reiju and Sanjiās last parting during their childhood was very emotional (with Reiju rescuing little Sanji from his cage, and both of them parting in tears) we didnāt get any touching reunion between them and Sanji was even pretty cold to his sister when we first saw them together. So I always wanted to know how these two really felt about each other. Overall, I really love Reiju but her character was really mysterious and Iām glad I finally got to know how she really felt about Sanji, their mother, and the Germa kingdom.
I loved seeing Sanjiās mother again, and itās interesting that her name is Sora/Sola ( ć½ć© ), which means āskyā in Japanese (according to my friend, it also means āseashellā in Korean?). Itās also the same name as the hero in the comics that Vito mentioned. According to Vito, this Sora fought against the evil Germa army and could walk on water, and had a seagull and robot sidekick (when I think of transforming robot, somehow I think of Franky and Vegapunk :)). I wonder if the seagull is important? All I could find was that itās a scavenger, very opportunistic, and the āgullā comes from āgullibleā because seagulls swallow anything you put in their beak. They also stand for freedom.Ā
Itās interesting that the comic Sora can walk on water, because Judge wanted his children to become superhumans. I think itās fitting since both Soras fought against Judge and the Germa kingdom (it would be cool if Sora could actually walk on water). Anyways, I wonder if this possible connections between the 2 Soras will become important later.Ā
I think itās pretty sad that Sora was so happy that Sanji told her to get well again (to the point she was crying like a baby and calling him such a good kid), because telling their sick mother to get better is something any normal child would say.
It seems like self-sacrificing tendencies run in this family, and Sanji must have gotten his sacrificial traits from his mother. Not only did Sora sacrifice her life for her children, but now Reiju is planning on dying with Germa, and putting Sanjiās life before hers. The three of them are so alike, and yet so different from Judge and his other sons (who use their soldiers as human shields to die for them). Why did Sora marry Judge in the first place??
Sanjiās kindness is really emphasized a lot in this arc. After all the emphasis on his kindness, I feel like it wouldnāt make sense for him to leave Reiju, or even the rest of the Vinsmokes, to their death. Sanji hasnāt really been the type to just leave people to their death.
Also, I think itās important that Reiju said she was investigating Pudding and was suspicious of Pudding all along, because she was too good to be true. This kind of adds weight to Pudding being really evil for me, because I donāt think Reiju would have been suspicious of her for no reason. If Oda makes Pudding a good person, then it will make Reiju look pretty stupid, for suspecting an innocent person for no reason. It also kind of explains why Pudding shot Reiju , even though Reiju is supposed to die during the wedding. Reiju was probably caught snooping around by Pudding (and maybe found out something that would endanger Big Momās wedding plans), and the latter had to immobilize her and alter her memory. I know some people think Pudding shot Reiju to mess up the wedding plans, but I think Pudding had to shoot Reiju, to prevent Big Momās wedding plans from getting messed up.
Well, next time I see a character in OP who seems too good to be true, I guess that means I should be suspicious of them.
I also love how Sanji can be so stealthy, that he snuck onto Puddingās balcony (probably) unnoticed, and now took out the infirmary guard and snuck into Reijuās hospital room without anyone noticing in a castle where Homies are watching everything, but in the meantime, Luffy is raising a huge ruckus running around and yelling for Sanji.
Switching to Luffy, Nami, and Jinbei -- Iām kind of sad they burned the book, but I hope the other prisoners were also able to escape. Itās probably better to set the prisoners free and create some chaos, so that the Strawhats can escape more easily later.
Nami got a new outfit. Iām a little sad, because her WCI little dirndl dress was one of my favorites from her. I like that she gets to wear different costumes in this arc, rather than just bikinis, because I love seeing Nami cosplay (Note: I just realized she has her hair in 2 ponytails, kind of like Pudding...is this a coincidence?). Her new outfit seems to be stolen from a soldier and look like overalls? Itās not as cutesy as her dress, but she still looks cute in it (Oda has been making her look really pretty lately). And itās probably easier to move around and fight in, so Iām wondering if this is a sign that sheās getting a fight soon. Iām sure Usopp didnāt upgrade her climatact for no reason so Iām hoping weāll really see her use her new moves this arc.Ā
Besides, out of the Strawhats, we had:Ā
Luffy (w/ Namiās help) vs Cracker (winner: Luffy)
Chopper and Carrot vs Brulee (winner: Chopper/Carrot)
Luffy & Nami vs Enraged Army(winner: Enraged Army)
This leaves Nami. She was an essential help during the Luffy vs Cracker fight and really put up a fight against the Enraged Army. She was really badass and useful this arc, but Oda offscreened a lot of her moves, so we didnāt really get to see her using her new climatact. I feel like this means sheās going to take down someone (hopefully). Since thereās so many women on Big Momās crew, itāll probably be a female? Maybe Smoothie, since we havenāt seen her fight yet either, or Pudding, whose fighting skills we still donāt know a lot of? At this point, I canāt really tell.Ā
And Luffy -- somebody, Sanji! please feed this boy! His hunger is brought up again this chapter, and I really feel itās time for him to get some food. I hope heās the first one to run into Sanji and eat that bento.Ā
One more thing: it seems like most of the obstacles Sanji has been facing, are being almost magically removed in this chapter. But the way Oda seems to be tying things up so smoothly makes me nervous. I get the feeling that something really awful is going to happen to throw everything off again. Also, since this chapter didnāt end on a huge cliffhanger, and we have a break next week, I kind of get the feeling that Chapter 853 might bring some kind of huge plot twist.Ā
Also, we still didnāt get confirmation about what Vito whispered into Sanjiās ear, back in Zou. I think the whole head-in-the-box threat that Pekoms mentioned could be a red herring from Oda to throw the readers off, and Vitoās threat is something that us readers either donāt know about, or something almost impossible for us to predict. We had 2 whispers in 2016 -- Puddingās whisper to Luffy and Nami, and then Vitoās whisper to Sanji. Although Sanjiās reaction to Vitoās whisper was not as shocking as Luffy and Namiās reactions to Puddingās whisper, Puddingās whisper was revealed only 2 chapters later, while Vitoās whisper has still been unrevealed for almost a year. Seeing how shocking Puddingās whisper turned out to be, itās possible Vitoās whisper is going to be something really shocking. But either way, even if Sanjiās cuffs are fake and Big Mom really doesnāt care about Zeffās life, the Vito threat could still be an important threat for Sanji.
Anyways, Odaās chapters are usually fabulous when we come back from break, so I have very high expectations for OP 853.Ā