第204回：Chef’s Kiss...of Death

I remember it like yesterday. It was summer 2017 and I was seated in a hospital waiting lounge reading ONE PIECE Chapter 872. Whole Cake Island’s tower had just been toppled by the Tamatebako’s explosion and we were eagerly waiting to see which way the story would go from there. I had my fingers crossed for a battle that involved Sanji fighting against the Charlotte family while simultaneously using their attacks to help create an exquisite wedding cake that would sate Mom and save Totto land. It turns out I wasn’t entirely right. I never did get that epic food fight, the likes of which would make even an Iron Chef blush, but at least I was on the right track about Sanji using his skills to save the day. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. See, the reason I have such a vivid memory about Chapter 872 isn’t because of the tower, it’s entirely because of this line from Bege:

Despite being welcomed and trusted in the Charlotte Family, Bege had no clue about what his deal was and specifically said that Streusen was always something of a ‘mystery’ and that he’d ‘probably be really tough’ in a fight.

What purpose did this comment serve?

It’s one thing to have your character remark, “X-situation is probably due to Y-character’s doing.” Simple, straightforward exposition and action justification wrapped in one package. Nothing special.

….But that last part??

♫Ooooh, Whee! What’s up with that? What’s up with that?!♫

Friends, I contend to you here and now, that Streusen has a very big role to play in our story going forward, and his defeat will rid the Charlotte Family of a dark cloud that has shrouded Totto Land in deception from the very start!

There are two living individuals we know of who witnessed the events of Charlotte Linlin’s 6th birthday.
An unnamed giant from Elbaph...

And Streusen…

Interestingly enough…even we the readers don’t know exactly what happened. We certainly can assume what happened, but it’s not beyond Oda’s skill to twist the truth of the matter. Either way, the important part is that we have two witnesses. Streusen is pretty much introduced as a conniving thug, and the Elbaph giant is…well…he might not be a friend of Linlin’s, but he certainly hasn’t been presented in an unflattering light.

We know that Streusen essentially raised Mom and that Mom -given her strained relations with the giants- likely never saw that giant again. So why the two witnesses? Whatever Streusen told Mom about the events of that day, will directly conflict with what the giant saw because there’s a very non-zero chance he lied to Mom in order to manipulate her.

As Mom still thinks she was abandoned and is carrying that trauma with her, learning the truth of what happened that day…possibly even what kind of person Carmel actually was…might lead to some major shifts in her character. Heck, with Streusen out of the picture (and a lil’ help from Luffy) Mom might even get to realize her dream of everyone eating at the same table eye to eye with every race….wait, haven’t we heard that ‘same eye level’ thing somewhere else recently? ANYHOO, let’s get back to Streusen!

We learned in Chapter 1096 that Streusen had joined the Rocks Pirates alongside Mom…or at least someone who looked strikingly similar to him. Oda did a bang-up job of cleverly ‘hiding’ him in plain sight. If you own the volume, don’t ruin your copy trying to find him. He’s almost entirely within the page seam itself!

This was finally confirmed in Chapter 1156 where we received written confirmation of his place within the crew:

And with our knowledge of Xebec and Teach’s relationship, this makes Streusen’s role in the story more intriguing than ever. Streusen is clearly a leech and a user. He’ll simply slink his way from master to master so long as he feels he can use them to his own advantage. First he felt he could use Mom, then he no doubt felt he could use Xebec. Unless it was pure fortune that lead Mom to Xebec, I have little doubt that Streusen aimed her on a collision course with him for his own benefit.

But then God Valley happened…