第101回：Quintessential Quintet Quintuplets

“Wait what!? Course 101!? What happened to Course 100!?”

Is probably what you’re thinking right now, isn’t it?
Well you see that uh…it uh….uh…I forgot what I was gonna say. OH WELL!

Anyway, we have something special for the 100th Course but in the meantime we’re going to keep charging ahead! Here comes #101!

Pekoms’ appearance as Nazoms might be comical but don’t let that cheapen the impossible weight of the decision he’s made in siding with the Strawhats, betraying friends close enough to call family, in order to protect the ones who saved your *actual* family.

We’ve seen that Pekoms is indebted to the Strawhats, but his declaration to Bege in Chapter 834 reaffirms that despite his actions here, he deeply respects Mom. But here he is, placing his life on the line pointing his gun at not only a pirate, but one from his own crew, just like Higuma’s mountain bandit. If we’re to believe Shanks’ statement from Chapter 1, Pekoms is literally placing his life on the line for the Strawhats which is above and beyond when he pled to Big Mom to spare Pedro’s life.

Every cell in Pedro’s body wants to avoid what he’s doing right now, but his honor won’t let him and I believe that paints him as one of the most impressive supporting characters not only of this arc, but of the series. The weight of his decision must be soul-crushing but he’s using every ounce of his strength to save the Strawhats. Even if he escapes execution, will he ever see again?

Consider this situation if the tables were turned. What if a Strawhat crew member’s family and hometown was saved by an enemy of the Strawhats? Would one of the Strawhats betray the crew if it meant respecting that savior? I’m not sure I want to think about the answer to that question!

Pekoms, you’re a true (lion) king among mink!

Oh, hi Stansen.

The title of Chapter 898 refers to a line from the chapter where Sanji tells the crew to keep pushing and that he’ll return to Sunny without fail. But did you know that this line also calls back to Chapter 813? The final line in Sanji’s letter of departure to the Strawhats is the same as this chapter title!

It might have taken almost 100 chapters but Sanji is going to make good on that promise! But why do I get the feeling that they’re not quite out of the woods yet?

While most of Big Mom’s family are named after desert-like foods, it seems Mom also entered a musical period when she named her first set of male quintuplets. The birthing order was: Opera, Counter, Cadenza, Cabaletta and Gala. Before you dismiss them as breaking the food pattern, consider that ‘opera’ in addition to being a musical performance, is also a French cake. Perhaps Mom was satisfied keeping trend with the naming of the eldest quintuplet and added the others because she was going through a musical period.

Of the five brothers, only Gala hasn’t appeared (as of this writing) but there’s a good chance that we might have a *least* one clue about his appearance. Starting with Opera at zero, each brother has an increasing number of hair tufts. Counter has one, Cadenza has two and Cabaletta has three. If Gala ever shows up maybe he’ll have four!

The meeting led by Mon-t’Dor gives us our first color glimpses at a few more members of the Big Mom Pirates and a few more Charlotte family members.

While we didn’t get a glimpse of the candle-like object on Nusstorte’s bicorn -and thereby a hint at his fighting prowess- it does seem that his bicorn is sentient and very possibly a Hommie like Mom’s Napoleon.