#ch 1047

Nearing the end of the fight, which is nice.

I also appreciate the nods to Momo’s growth as a future leader. Although we’ve seen him act as the eight-year old boy he is, he has also grown so much.

Yes, he is still a kid. And kids are selfish. They want their mum and little sister to come with them.

But that step away? That shuddering determination as he steps away from his mother/childhood and towards his retainers/future? That half-shaded panel where he moves from memory to present?

Something is also wonderfully wrong with Toki’s hand in the lower right corner. Can’t really parse the perspective.

And favourite page of the chapter:

Love the way Kaido is, like Luffy, also a proficient at using the other dude’s powers against him. See how he smashes Luffy into the rubber ground! See how he uses the upstroke to get in a perfect hit! See the futility of Luffy’s tiny totty arms against his BIG BAD CLUB! And of course the confirmation that Roger didn’t have any fruit powers, just ridiculous amounts of haki.

No idea what happens here. It looks like Luffy should be slashed to pieces; I’ll chalk it up to rushes drawing and/or bad perspective.

We always return to the smiles. The forced mirth of the SMILE-fruit, Luffy’s eternal sunshine, the laugh at the end of the line. And here people are laughing and smiling because they know that although they may die, they die for a better future; they die for their families, fighting an invading horde.

The dramatic art style used on Orochi is cool. Oda’s inability to give women agency, not cool.

If Hiyori doesn’t defeat him, but someone else suddenly appears (like Sanji who conveniently woke up or Denjiro who’s been missing for a long time), I will be cross. Not surprised, because Oda and female fighters hasn’t had a good run so far, but still very cross.

The perspective here is really cool! Kaido, in the lower third of the panel, looks tiny and insignificant against the Hand of God that bears down on him from the heavens. Now with HAKI(TM) as he himself pointed out earlier in the chapter. Luffy does listen! Not often, but sometimes!

And speaking of, Luffy is still keeping his grip on Kaido, stretched from heaven to hell.

This is interesting and will definitely become significant but the idea that Devil Fruits aren’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to strength has already been proven to be true based on what we know of Roger (and people like Rayleigh and Shanks and Mihawk, for that matter) but it does seem like a lot of characters that have these abilities rely on them to the point of ignoring everything else and I think this is a pretty clear warning that from here on out that’s not going to work anymore.