第103回：Oh Captain! My Captain!

Sorry folks, close but not close enough! Jinbei -while apparently being accepted as part of the Strawhat Crew- will not be travelling with Luffy to Wano. This might rub some fans the wrong way but I’m fine with this decision as it leaves room for Jinbei to make a dramatic entrance on Wano which will no doubt result in a legendary ‘Assembled’-esque moment!

And how about this Luffy. Doesn’t he look great there? Truly a depiction worthy of a pirate captain! Oda-sensei definitely likes to depict his captains with coats over their shoulders.

Whitebeard was certainly one case but don’t forget, he gave Sanji the same treatment back when he temporarily took control of Merry in Dressrosa!

A longtime friend noticed that Luffy’s decision here is deliberately the opposite of Mom’s regarding Jinbei ‘leaving’ her crew. Mom was willing to gamble Jinbei’s life in order for him to leave her side but Luffy allows Jinbei save his old crew with the only stipulation being that he *doesn’t* die. Beautiful juxtaposition!

Well, well, if it isn’t Moscato, alive and well! Mom has dominion over the lives she takes and although there might be some restrictions, she may also *return* life to bodies.

It’s a small detail that might not mean anything in particular but I like how Sanji is clearly in motion here and seems to be heading in the direction of the Devil Fruit users to rescue them underwater. Good on ya’ Sanji!

Beginning with a musical and ending with a musical, Whole Cake Island marks one of the series’ few ‘unhappy’ endings. As is standard for Oda-sensei, a sad ending means no celebratory feast.

This is why we see the Strawhats getting a ‘meal’ and not a ‘feast’.

The term ‘Soul Pocus’ was introduced by Morgans in Chapter 863 and describes Mom’s Soul-Soul Fruit powers which affect those in whom she inspires fear. Ever since Soul Pocus was first introduced as ‘Life or Death’ it seemed like a nod to our own ‘Trick or Treat’ and sure enough, the Japanese lyrics of the song even include the Japanese translation of ‘Trick or Treat’.

Will Mom’s ability work on Germa 66 and the Fishman Pirates?

For anyone worried about dangling threads with Big Mom, I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s not like Mom is going to sit tight if news gets out that a pirate was able to infiltrate and escape from her very own territory! But how can Big Mom track the Strawhats?

Well, for one, Nami is in possession of Zeus and as we learned in Chapter 889, Zeus and Prometheus could sense Napoleon’s whereabouts due to Napoleon’s ‘nenpa’. Does this mean Zeus can act as sort of a Vivre Card to tell the Big Mom Pirates where Nami is at any given time!? This is an intriguing reversal considering Nami had Mom’s Vivre Car and could location her whereas now Mom may learn Nami’s location through Zeus!

Recognize the pirate captain eating at Baratie?

That’s Galley of the Crescent Moon Pirates from One Piece’s debut one-shot Romance Dawn!

You can currently see parts of this at the Shonen Jump exhibit in Mori Tower of Roppongi Hills in Japan!

Finally, this week’s color-spread is an obvious allusion to Ghostbusters but here’s some interesting background on the use of ‘SWEETS’. In Japanese, the term ‘sui-tsu’ (sweets) usually refers to pastries etc. It’s very likely that Oda-sensei always wanted to use this word in the series alongside the Whole Cake Island arc (for example, the Sweet Commanders) but was afraid it might go out of fashion as a word in Japanese. He expressed this concern as far back as 2011 in an author’s comment from Shonen Jump alongside chapter 629!

“I was determined never to use the word ’sweets’ so here’s hoping it doesn’t die out.”

Woah! A tailor-made opening for the episode that finally helps Sanji see the light at the end of the…cake? Bits and pieces of past episodes from WCI help summarize Sanji’s story and the efforts of the crew in reaching out to him.

Great job on the Katakuri entrance! I feel this works even a smidgen better than his first manga appearance and is strongly reminiscent of early One Piece by giving us a shadowy glimpse of a villain with just a tiny hint of their ability to ponder over!

Wow, two variants on the opening in as many weeks! The majority of the opening has returned to the standard version but we’re treated to a drop-dead gorgeous Luffy x Katakuri scene which suggests that a brawl between Luffy and Katakuri is in the cards.