I really do love that we get this moment of Vegapunk apologizing for his mistakes. As a character that has been shown to place scientific advancement above (for the most part) any potential negative side effects or outcomes, it is nice to see him acknowledge that own flaw within himself (even if it did come too late).
It really does speak to Vegapunk's own willful ignorance that he never thought that the same government that has commissioned him to create living weapons that could only be controlled by a select few might also try to get their hands on the very powerful energy source he was working on to power even larger, more devastating weaponry.
Granted is doesn't appear that Vegapunk knows who exactly took a piece of the Mother Flame, nor does he know who has the Ancient Weapon. But I think that speaks even further to his ignorance and naivety that he doesn't even seem to speculate that the government that has forbidden anyone from learning about the Void Century (which is where the nearly all of the knowledge about the Ancient weapons come from) are the ones how have the weapon in their arsenal. (It also could be that he didn't want to speculate about that on a broadcast going out to the entire world so as not to cause a panic.)
Also, other people have already made this comparison, but the Mother Flame and how it was used to power an island destroying weapon is (in my opinion) a very clear allegory for nuclear power/energy. A power source capable of providing vast amounts of energy worldwide, only for it to fall into the hands of a militant and corrupt government, and have it instead be used as a weapon of mass destruction. If that's not a nuclear power allegory then I don't know what is.
I really do love what Oda has done with Vegapunk as a character. It is such excellent commentary on how blindly creating for a government entity leads to more problems than solutions, and the few solutions that do exist end up becoming double edged swords used to power nuclear levels of destruction.
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Catch the classic Wano trick? Scattershot chapter but the title gives you the clue; conflict. It was smoother but we've stepped away from the Straw Hats, they aren't in this one. I said this when we finished Bonney's cutaway. If you look at what's left it's Stussy as a springboard to Bakkin/Marco which we haven't checked in on since their first appearance parallel to Egghead. SWORD also has an unfired Chekov's Gun with Drake. Either of those can pull a Kuma and rewrite Wano. Only one person there can do that and it was the girl playing coy in the end.
Last week, it was "If he's gone, who am I to live for?" This week it's this titular line about inner conflict, how it's proof of your humanity. Especially with the Seraphim and building off of CP9 being these vicious government dogs who just need the order to indulge bloodlust right by it. That role doesn't have to be who you are, and if circumstance deals you a bad hand that forces you to go against your nature those conflicted feelings are proof you're not losing yourself to it. The difference to me though is like we said with Stussy maybe needing her own "Okobore" era. I don't think this is really Kiku's story replacing humanity with gender identity...I see it more as a parallel to the implied backstory and growth that allowed you to give it your all freely on one final show with the old gang. Also, don't forget Bakkin was last seen with Marco and that's all tied up in Sphinx Island as one of these wayward villages in need of a humble guardian.
Oh yeah, and doing this while York introduces a truckload of ambiguity. This is a cool scene. Because we really have to stop and think about what York knows, what Stella knew, and of course these weird gaps when we also now know Vegapunk Prime was with Bonney during the Void Night. As above, so below and all that right? A story about the Void Century on the surface when the micro clash on this island has that big blank night before raising so many questions.
Specifically highlighting the idea VP is a horrible liar and a bad actor. Is there like, anything specific we could pair this with in York's conclusion that would enhance the aroma?
Hey look! We got Robonosuke and Momonosuke in the same chapter! If you count the cover page we also got both Tsurus which is nice. York's theory is that Robonosuke is set to guard the broadcast. My point is that, alongside Stella telling us his limited version of the Void Century after a string of unreliable narrators we have York offering us this theory in frustration. Specifically highlighting solid reasons to be flummoxed. Vegapunk may have pulled a big brained plan all along, he was dicking around with Robonosuke when we met him. But he also like, weirdly disappeared from that scene too which is one of those little things I try to remember about Egghead. Vegapunk also wasn't really far along at getting Robonosuke online.
This becomes some really good shit though if there is a mystery interloper. Because really it could go both ways. If York's right, they could already be there and ready to make use of it. A trap. If York's wrong, the chaos just gave you a perfect distraction and it's a perfect sign of beating the genius by getting in her head. I still think there's something to the idea that Vegapunk didn't have time overnight to fix this dude. Luffy's G5 heartbeat being a signal or that backhanded way of someone making good on his assumption you just need to know Robonosuke's real name? That works in a night we still haven't filled in. And no matter what this big, bad mofo is about to start wrecking shit. Which is pretty cool.
Last but not least we have our reactions to the message. One big thing I thought was cool was seeing a lot of Alabasta stuff but not Vivi directly. V cool. Not like these breakout stories anchored around the three ladies are exclusive; Stussy had that great beat introducing her inner conflict during Bonney's and Bonney was incidentally involved in the stuff @ Mariejois. Before we get to our main man here too I'd highlight Shakky potentially carrying over that idea from Nojiko & Miss Goldenweek last week. Practical, grounded women aren't paying much attention and going about their day-to-day.
But then you got Rayleigh. Love this little line of conflict between Vegapunk and Ray. Because like we hinted at last week on a meta level this is kinda fucked up for VP to be just dumping all the Void Century stuff. Or it would be if he wasn't walking that fine line of not really revealing too much. Notice how he's kinda back to talking about his own stuff over the past few months as York puzzles it out. We can forgive Ray for not catching the subtleties though because he's drunk. I like this balance honestly, especially when you have Crocus kinda straddling the two.
One last thought too that just can kinda go anywhere with this message...Robin still has like, four regular Poneglyphs we've seen but not really fleshed out. The other two in Big Mom's stash, the one above the secret passage in the Flower Capitol, and the one Law found on Onigashima. She might already know something important Vega doesn't and her being mysteriously injured last night is a great excuse for not giving them time to touch on it.
Sandman on Twitter (and the original text) tying into my ithiughts that perhaps Rayleigh’s words are a little bitter. That by not helping the next generation out, they put them in danger to a degree. (Rayleigh is reflecting on Vegapunk’s words). Maybe the scans implied this.
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We finally have confirmation that Imu is immortal, or that at the very least that they have been alive since the Void Century. Most people already had guessed this was the case (myself included) but it's nice to see it be confirmed, even in a more implicit way like this.
Also, why the fuck does Imu have a portrait of Nefertari D. Lili?? Their past relationship and connection has to be one of the most intriguing things in the series (to me) aside from who exactly Joyboy is. And this panel is only adding fuel to the fire.
If I were to make a guess, it would be that Imu and Lili were at some point friends/allies, but when Lili stared seeing corruption within Imu and the newly formed word government, she left. Maybe Imu killed her and that's why she never returned to Alabasta, or many she went off to try to find a way to stop them.
We really don't have a lot of information to go off of, both Imu and Lili are still relativity unknown, so I could be ( and probably am) way off the mark. But, it's still fun to speculate on how exactly these characters are tied together, and I'm looking forward seeing how it unfolds in the future.
-they're on a mountain temple while it's raining buckets
-girl talk and making fun of shinichi
-a missing monk
-FLAMING SKULL (DEMONS?)
-KOGORO GOING MISSING
OMFGGG WE FINALLY GOT SOME GOOD OLD OG CONAN CASE W A CREEPY LOCATION, A CREEPY CASE AND MY FAVES W NO ANNOYING SIDE CHARACTERS 😭😭😭😭 +THE FCKING HOPE OF HEIKAZU BECOMING A THING. I'M SO HAPPY RN I'M SO THRILLED OMG I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A CREEPY OG CASE LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS FOR AGESSSSSSSS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND
