Episode 888, “My Life as a Teenage Kaido” (with Marianne Bray & GolferGareBear)

Summary

The One Piece Podcast – Episode 888, “My Life as a Teenage Kaido”

Release Date: October 13, 2025
Host: Zach (Maji Media)
Guests: Ed, Steve, Marianne Bray (voice of Flampe), “Golfer GareBear” (TikTok), with recurring co-hosts

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Episode Overview

This week’s episode covers One Piece manga chapter 1162: “God Valley Battle Royale”, plus news and discussion about New York Comic Con reveals, the state of the English dub, the latest cover story with Yamato, and a deep dive manga recap. The episode is filled with lively banter, deep dives into One Piece lore, and the usual humor and tangents, especially when it comes to Kaido, cover stories, and the evolving state of the series' legacy and fandom.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Recent One Piece News

• NY Comic Con (03:00–06:30)
  • Straw Hats’ Elbaf outfits were revealed, with key art and color schemes, a hit for anime/cosplay fans.
  • Toei’s massive booth and immersive One Piece displays were noted.
  • Mercer Labs’ immersive “Wano” experience drew mixed reviews.
  • English dub update: Crunchyroll to release Episodes 1134–1143, making One Piece dubs much more accessible.
  • Marianne Bray, who works on the dub, explains simuldub challenges for a show with “10 billion characters” and tight Toei production:

    “I don’t think a true blue simuldub is gonna happen…just because of the grand scope of the whole thing.” (07:49, Marianne)

• Other News
  • One Piece Magazine Vol. 20 focuses on Shonen Jump covers, “packed with a lot of stuff we’ve never seen before.” (13:10–14:20)
  • Tease for next week: a special on the use of the One Piece flag in global protests.

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2. Yamato Cover Story Recap

Chapter Cover: “Ogre Child Yamato’s Golden Harvest Surrogate Pilgrimage Final Volume”

• Panel rundown: Yamato triumphant, Momonosuke and Kin’emon present, Ulti looking side-eyed, and the tabloids discuss the importance of Yamato's new cape.
• Banter about cover story quality (19:00–27:30):
  • Mixed reviews: Fun but lacking impactful reveals besides the Moria tease.
  • Many cover stories, like Baroque Works and CP9, considered higher-tier for their world-building.
  • The group agrees the recent Yamato cover is “charming” but not as memorable, suffering from proximity to Wano/recency and Oda’s recent break schedule.
• Fan question: Would you want these cover stories animated? The consensus is yes, noting the lost opportunity for expansion and flavor in the anime.

Notable Moment

“I just don’t think any of the gags were that great. It was charming. I can’t remember much from this one.” (25:20, Steve)

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3. Manga Recap – Chapter 1162: "God Valley Battle Royale"

[Starts 17:53, Full Recap from 32:33]

Setting the Stage

• Scene: God Valley, site of the epic historical battle involving Rocks, Roger, Garp, and the World Government.
• Battle Map: Diagram focuses on the core combatants: Roger and Rocks Pirates, Marines, and Celestial Dragons.

Key Story Points

• Rayleigh and Shakky Reunite (33:40)
  • Cute romantic moment: “Shakky, there’s something I need to say to you.” / “Don’t say it. I already know.” (34:25)
• Devil Fruits Chaos (34:54)
  • Big Mom wrestles the dragon fruit from Ivankov; Kuma forced to urgently eat his Zoan fruit.
  • Kaido’s first transformation triggers hilarious manga-wide speculation about turning into a fish (Magikarp-style), much to the hosts’ amusement.
• Rocks vs. Garling (41:19; 43:08)
  • Shocking violence: Garling takes fatal wounds—but regenerates, echoing current Elbaf powers.
  • Revelation: Garling and others are “Domi-reversed,” turning into devils, heightening stakes.
• Rocks’ Family and Motivation
  • Rocks’ wife Aeris (“not Ginny!”) and baby Teach are rescued amid chaos.
  • Emotional stakes clear: “If it looks like they’re going to catch me, I’ll kill Teach and end my own life.” (48:04)
• Kaido Steals the Dragon Fruit (53:02)
  • Big Mom shows off her prize, only for Kaido, in classic teenager mode, to snatch the fruit from her and eat it mid-air—a comedic highlight.

    “He looks like a 1960s cartoon, like a kid just got away with stealing a gobstopper.” (54:09, Golfer Gare)

• Dragon Fleeing with Shanks / Aeris with Teach
  • Tearful, parallel escapes showcasing parents protecting future icons.
• Saturn & Emu’s Involvement (60:56)
  • Saturn wrestles with unexpected turn of events, with Emu ominously demanding no new “birth” arise from the destruction.
  • Transformation: a monstrous dragon rises—the battlefield escalates.
• Climactic Build-Up
  • Garp, Roger, Rocks, and Kaido/Whitebeard gear up for the series’ legendary confrontation.
  • Rocky alliances, power flexes, and humor fuel the breathless pacing.

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4. Critical Analysis & Group Reactions

General consensus: Chapter is “heart-pumping” and “fun,” with a fine blend of hype and silliness.

• Highlights:
  • Kaido’s teenage antics, “vroom-vroom” energy, dragon reveal.
  • The unexpected use of legendary figures (Aeris/Ginny lookalike, parallels with Ginny/Bonney, Dragon, Garp) and “nepo piece” jokes.
  • Recurring mention: Frustration that Kaido doesn’t initially flop as a fish, in line with myth (and meme). Fans wanted Baby Magikarp Kaido.
• Character depth:
  • Rocks shown to have genuine concern for family, subverting expectations.
• Theme:
  • The flashback is not just for lore—serves as a parable for current Elbaf storylines, with Domi-reversal, Emu’s power & government machinations.
  • Discussion on love, sacrifice, and morally gray figures (especially Garp).

Notable Quotes

• On big moments and humor:

  “What an example of just really some of the funniest things we’ve seen in a while, mixed with this very poignant, emotional thing.” (55:23, Zach)

• On Garp:

  “I think this is the turning point for Garp going, you know what? Fuck the world government. Actually, I’m going to do what I want.” (75:14, Marianne)

• On Kaido’s MVP performance:

  “Kaido was really kind of the MVP of this chapter…doing donuts in the parking lot.” (83:26, Steve)

• On the flashback's structure:

  “I have to treat this as its own arc…a self-contained cautionary tale for the reader for the current day.” (89:21, Zach)

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• [07:49, Marianne]: "I don’t think a true blue simuldub is gonna happen…just because of the grand scope of the whole thing."
• [34:25]: “Don’t say it. I already know.” – Shakky to Rayleigh
• [53:02, GolferGare]: “Big Mom holding up the model Azure Dragon fruit like she’s Link just got an item out of a chest.”
• [54:09, GolferGare]: “He looks like a 1960s cartoon, like a kid just got away with stealing a gobstopper.”
• [65:20, GolferGare]: “I finally got my own power to use. I want to test out my new strength!” – Kaido, as an excited teen
• [83:26, Steve]: “Kaido was really kind of the MVP of this chapter…doing donuts in the parking lot.”
• [75:14, Marianne]: “I think this is the turning point for Garp going, you know what, fuck the world government…”
• [55:23, Zach]: “What an example of just really some of the funniest things we’ve seen in a while, mixed with this very poignant, emotional thing in just the last two panels of this page…”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:33–10:29: One Piece news & NYCC talk
• 10:29–17:42: Housekeeping, upcoming projects, Patreon stuff
• 17:53–32:33: Yamato cover story / COVID story wrap-up & brackets talk
• 32:33–70:06: Manga Recap: Full panel-by-panel breakdown of Chapter 1162
• 70:06–89:16: Post-manga group reactions, analysis, and lore/thematic context
• 100:22–110:00+ (Piece Together): Q&A (best devil fruit swap, fan experiences)
• 134:54–End: Plugs and sign-off

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Additional Highlights & Calls To Action

• Listener Questions: Hopes for future cover stories, hypothetical devil fruit swaps (Ivankov as a drag-on/queen), and mangaka they’d like to see draw One Piece chapters.
• Next Week’s Tease: An episode focused on the global use of the Straw Hat flag in real-world protests—“stunning” reach and symbolism.

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Tone & Style

The hosts maintain a conversational, irreverent, and affectionate tone, with a mixture of deep lore analysis, meta-commentary, running gags, wild fan theories, and tangents emblematic of long-running fandom. They balance humor (e.g., Kaido as a teen, Magikarp memes, “Nepo Piece” jokes) with sincere appreciation and critique for Oda’s storytelling.

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Final Thoughts

• Chapter 1162 is celebrated for its blend of hype, emotion, and humor.
• The flashback’s narrative serves as a parable for the current Elbaf arc, with key themes of power, sacrifice, and “love as revolution.”
• Host and guest consensus: The arc is best digested as a “self-contained” legend, rather than as part of the modern manga flow.
• The show closes on excitement for both the One Piece story and its far-reaching real-world impact.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Marianne]

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[Zach]

This is the One Piece podcast episode 888 for the week of Monday, October 13th, 2025. My name is Zach.

[Ed]

And my name is Ed.

[Steve]

And my name is Steve.

[Zach]

And on today's show we have the voice of Flompe. Marianne Bray joins us once again. Hi. How are you?

[Marianne]

I am swelling.

[Zach]

Awesome. Yeah, yeah, we all are. Swell.

[Steve]

Like that's an accomplishment in itself.

[Zach]

It really is. It is.

[Steve]

Swellness. Mental swellness. Awareness.

[Ed]

Mentally swell or mentally swole?

[Zach]

Yeah, both don't sound healthy. We also have.

[Steve]

We have massive heads, Zach.

[Zach]

That's true. I forgot. We have massive heads. Hey, we could always use that image for this week. Again, Steve. We also have. I guess I could call him TikTok sensation SAS. We have golfer Gare with us. How's it going, Golfer?

[Golfer Gare]

It's going great. And speaking of like mental swellness, I had to explain Saw three to my wife last night because we watched the first Saw movie and I was like, let's not. Let's not go through the rest of the series. Is the only one worth watching. There's the part where she has to relieve brain swelling by cutting a guy's head open without anesthesia.

[Zach]

Oh yeah, that's cute. This is the one piece podcast.

[Ed]

It's called Trepanation.

[Steve]

You guys are going to kill me. That is the only Saw movie I ever saw.

[Marianne]

The three saw at any of them.

[Zach]

Nice, Marianne. True for me as well. Yeah. This week, if you like violence, this one's for you. Chapter 1162 God Valley Battle Royale. So, yes, this fits into the theme. There's no anime this week, but you're free to watch the chopper recap special that's online now. And we also have some piece together a little bit later, so look forward to that. Before we get into the show, there's one piece news first. New York Comic Con, guys. That happened this weekend. Did you realize? Anyway, yes, I know.

[Steve]

I'm on the opposite coast.

[Zach]

Yes, there were two pieces of news. The Elbaf, I guess. What do you want?

[Ed]

The only thing I saw about New York Comic Con this weekend was a wrestling promo that happened in a staged fight.

[Steve]

That was so real to them. Damn it. Yeah. The key art, I think, is the term you're looking for, Zach, of the straw hats and their Elbaf outfits was.

[Marianne]

Revealed at the panel, AKA color schemes for cosplayers.

[Steve]

Yeah, because I think we still didn't know. I think like Brook and like Genebay's, we didn't know.

[Zach]

That sounds right.

[Steve]

Maybe Frankie too.

[Marianne]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah, that might be right. Yeah. I'm thinking of what covers we've seen.

[Marianne]

Well, in seeing it, sometimes the colors for the covers and then the actual anime are slightly different. So.

[Steve]

Zach, we've come a long way from having to walk over to Bryant park to have some sort of one piece gathering to just.

[Zach]

I know those are just a thing.

[Steve]

At your Comic Con now.

[Zach]

Not just a thing, but like a main event. And I saw Ian Sinclair was like kind of the emcee of that too, or at least an mc. So that's really cool.

[Steve]

I mean, Toei usually has a booth at a lot of these Cons now, and usually one piece is the main focus.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Big inflatable Luffy's.

[Zach]

Yeah, they had.

[Steve]

They debuted like. Yeah, they have like a newer display now. It's kind of like a. We're like an Egghead Part two kind of display.

[Golfer Gare]

Where.

[Ed]

Aren't all Luffy's inflatable?

[Golfer Gare]

Well, it's a good point.

[Zach]

Rubber is. So let's take a step back beyond the inflatable Luffy. They had something from Mercer Labs that was heavily promoted, as far as I know, because I was going to. Yeah, it looked very cool. I know we had at least someone that we knew who was there, I think that took pictures of it and it looked cool. Yeah, it's like an immersive experience sort of thing. I don't know what to compare it to specifically, but it looked very cool and it looked like a big setup there. I know those, like the New York Comic Con ones, when I used to go more often. They get pretty high tech and giant, so that. That looked cool. I have nothing to say about it, though, because I didn't see it. They also announced the newest batch of dub episodes, though. Yeah. Which 1134 through 1143. For those who have been very out of the loop, the episodes are now dubbed on Crunchyroll.

[Ed]

Speaking of English dubs, Marianne, is there anything you'd like to promote while you're here?

[Marianne]

Oh, not.

[Zach]

That is an mda.

[Marianne]

Not necessarily. Specifically. The season is still young, though, so that may change.

[Zach]

Okay. Okay. Keep an ear out for Marianne's voice, potentially. Yeah. No. So the One Piece dub episodes come out in November on Crunchyroll. No longer do you have to scour the Microsoft Store, which no longer exists, as far as I know. Right. I think we'd reported on that a few weeks ago, so there's that.

[Steve]

Yeah. Hopefully that just means that dub episodes go on Crunchyroll quicker than I think so would have.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'm assuming as much. 11:43 is like the one that just aired, right? That's the one. You just did the recap for last week, right, Steve?

[Steve]

No, no. Oh, wait. Oh, you're talking about the batch that just came out. Sorry, I thought you were saying, what was the last batch that came out?

[Zach]

No, no, that's the batch that's. Yeah, that's the one that's coming up.

[Steve]

Sorry, I misheard you.

[Zach]

My mistake. That's okay.

[Golfer Gare]

Is there any chance we ever get to the point where it's simul Dubbed? I feel like a lot of big shows that have been coming out the past few seasons have been coming out.

[Marianne]

Simul dubbed with One Piece. I don't know that that's a super feasible thing to do because there are 10 billion characters in it and some of whom are from actors, characters we haven't seen in a really long time. So, like, coordinating all of that can be difficult. I believe, and I could be mistaken, that we are equivocally dubbing it like a simuldub, but we're releasing them in batches to make sure that we get everything, everybody there and it polished correctly and all of that. So I don't think a true blue simuldub is gonna happen with One Piece just because of the grand scope of the whole thing.

[Golfer Gare]

Makes sense to me.

[Zach]

I would add.

[Marianne]

I'm not an authority on this, mind you.

[Zach]

But yes, I would add also. And this might not be the case anymore, since One Piece, the anime has changed so much, but the one thing Toei and one piece have been known for is really getting down to the wire in, you know, finishing the episodes, like, days or weeks before sometimes. So I don't know how that compares to the usual simuldub at Crunchyroll. But, yeah, I'm not surprised.

[Marianne]

I will say what it does sometimes mean for us, because I've done some bits and stuff for some of the more recent episodes, is that you can kind of hear a sort of. We don't have it. The episodes aren't as, like, clean as you normally would get for recording, so. So normally when we record, you would have, like, all of the Japanese dialogue is removed entirely and you just hear what we've recorded in English. But in this case, it's sort of muffled out. So while you're recording, you can still hear like a kind of. But that's obviously cleared up in the final thing. And I think that's part of the reason why there's a little bit of, like, a batch.

[Ed]

It'd be funny if everyone sounded like the adults from Charlie Brown.

[Marianne]

Yeah, it's a little bit. It's kind of like trying to. If you were to take out. Try to take out the audio yourself and do it, like, without having the individual elements. That's kind of what it sounds like when we're recording it, but. Or it has been in the past, but they're able to obviously do that properly for the official releases. So it's a little different, but interesting.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't know if that's what it would be the case, I guess, currently, if you're dubbing them like simuldubs, I say you as if you're.

[Marianne]

Personally, I'm not in charge of that at all.

[Zach]

Well, hopefully Emily will be on a future episode because we've been trying to book her, but I know she's busy, but we'll hopefully have her on soon and we could maybe pry her for those questions.

[Marianne]

She would definitely know much better than.

[Zach]

I think she would. I mean, as a lowly podcaster, I understand. So that's what happened at New York Comic Con. There was also a little bit of live action series news. I don't know if we discussed the poster that showed the. What was it? What was the tagline? I should have had this in front of me. Like, the straw hats will never are never coming back.

[Ed]

The crew is never coming back. Or something like that.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, we got the first Laboon. Yeah.

[Ed]

I sent that to my nephew. Laboon's like, one of his favorite characters.

[Zach]

And your nephew's correct about that top tier character. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, we saw Laboon and we saw Crocus, both of whom super impressed by.

[Marianne]

They look great.

[Zach]

They both look great. From what we saw. Like there were all still images. Right. I don't think we saw. There's a behind the scenes thing with Clive Russell who plays Crocus.

[Marianne]

It kind of looks like they're maybe not doing the inside of Laboon stuff based on some of the images we.

[Zach]

Saw, but I think that's fine.

[Marianne]

Yeah. I mean that part is a little weird, but it is a little weird. It's one piece. It's one piece though.

[Ed]

This is something I was saying to somebody a long time ago, but I hope they let Crocus be funny.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Marianne]

Yeah, that.

[Zach]

I will say that gag, at least in the anime, my first watch through was the hardest. I laughed at anything in the series, I think. I wonder if that's very funny.

[Marianne]

I don't know if that gag will.

[Zach]

Work in live action. They might try it. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. But I don't know because that's such a specific like making fun of anime. Sort of like tropes kind of thing too. At least at that time. Because you had that don't sound effect. Soned effect. Anyway, I'm looking forward to those two quick other things. Also kind of housekeeping things. The one piece magazine, volume 20 is out now. Technically. I got it the day after we recorded the episode last week with Stephen. It's focused on Shonen Weekly, Shonen Jump, basically. And there's special pages devoted to Shonen Jump covers, including the original cover art and a lot more. And Stephen is not going to be in town, I don't think for the next break, which I believe is next week. So we'll have. We'll be able to do that afterward. But I will say it's packed with. I could. I could tell not reading Japanese. That's packed with a lot of stuff we've never seen before and have been asking for. There's lots of.

[Ed]

Yeah. I would always recommend people go and listen to our episodes about the first three One Piece magazines with the interview with Oda at Stephen talked about for us.

[Zach]

Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I remember. That was. I thought that was all in one magazine and we broke it up because it was just so packed. It was three. It was a three part interview across.

[Ed]

The first three magazines.

[Zach]

Okay. You might be right. I don't remember. But there's some cool stuff, like rough drafts of some of the Elbaf pages. There's a comic featuring some editors. And also I didn't realize the the draw. I think we talked about this last week. The artist for Akana Banashi formerly was an assistant as well as two other series. I don't know.

[Ed]

I didn't know that.

[Zach]

Yeah, me neither. So we get to see a little. We get to hear from them as well. It looks great. I'm very excited to go through that. Plus, I think there's chapters of both the Law and Zorro novels in that. So there are some levels that's new.

[Marianne]

Oh, okay.

[Zach]

Cool.

[Marianne]

His first I've heard of it.

[Zach]

Yeah. It's just him going like huh the whole time. It's very short. Wow. Yeah, I like swords. So next week our current game plan is to go through with the Good doctor, formerly Dr. Gomez. I need to get her new last name out. And we're going to be talking about what we've kind of been referencing for the last few weeks on the show. Just the use of the one piece flag around the world and protests. I think since we last recorded, you could add another dozen countries to the list that we had previously made. If, if you want to look, I've already like kind of started teasing out some of the research I've been doing over the last few weeks on this on our bluesky account. But we're hoping to do something in depth and informative and engaging. So look forward to that next week. Unless, you know, for whatever reason, we move that back. But that's the plan right now. And last but not least, to support the great folks here, including the great art that Steve does and the great work that we all do, please subscribe to us on patreon.com OnePiecePodcast if you subscribe for $12 a month or more, you could join our Sticker of the Month crew. Steve, what's the competition this month? Which sticker?

[Steve]

The October poll just went up on Friday and it ends this coming Friday. As you're listening to this and your options this week are the the Demonio Robin Chernobog style drawing I did years.

[Zach]

Ago.

[Steve]

And then your other option is the the Emmet artwork that I did for an episode last year. That poll is going to end, I think it ends around 10:00am Pacific Time this coming Friday. So get those votes in. I haven't looked, but it seemed like Robin was winning last I checked. Yeah, that's what it seems right now because I actually still have the tab open, but I'll say also. So for those already at the on that tier, make sure you get your vote in. If you're that invested or if any of those stickers sound appealing to you, you should join at that tier.

[Zach]

Yeah. So for any time this month so far, we did the Scupper Gabon was done last month. The Loki Sidecar, Life Vest Sidecar Loki, Dorian Brogy and Dorian Brogy. So yeah, all great Steve art and also just support Steve and his art generally. Steveerco.com I don't know if that's open at the moment, but it is. Okay. There you go.

[Steve]

Not much going on there, but it's a site. It'll always be there. I'll continue to pay to have a website because I don't trust putting all your artwork on a social media page.

[Zach]

Why not? With that in mind, why don't we get into this week's chapter?

[Ed]

Absolutely.

[Zach]

Foreign. This is the manga recap for chapter 1162 God Valley Battle Royale. This chapter and all chapters are available at viz, shonen jump, viz.com or manga plus Shuea Co JP legally free and available wherever you live. Ed, what's going on on the COVID page this week?

[Ed]

Every. Every. Every week when I go to read the chapter, I just go to shonenjump.com and it redirects to the proper page.

[Zach]

Okay, what do you want? And I thought of shonenjump.com was the Japanese site, but maybe co JP. But you know what? Ed, what's going on in the COVID page?

[Ed]

Yeah, this is Ogre Child Yamato's Golden Harvest Surrogate Pilgrimage Final Volume Dear Sir Luffy Wano is once again at peace. And we got sort of triumphant looking Yamato with the tongue hanging out like Michael Jordan with bat over shoulder.

[Zach]

Is that what that is?

[Ed]

And a stick and a skewer of Odin in his hand and got.

[Zach]

I get it.

[Ed]

They're basically hanging out under that tree. Like where the. Or on the. Like by the mountain where the castle is. Let me see. But Momonosuke, Kinemon and Ulti. Am I missing anything?

[Zach]

No, I think that's everything. This is a pretty simple one. Oh well, don't forget. Looks like has a new cape. So.

[Ed]

Yeah, it looks like there's. Yeah, cherry blossom petals floating by in the background. But that's just how it always looks, I think in the flower capital.

[Zach]

So that to focus on the cape, which is. I know what everyone else is thinking about because I am.

[Ed]

Yeah. No, Yamato's not joining the Marines.

[Zach]

No, but they're the crescent moon, the Kozuki symbol. So honestly, I can't see it.

[Ed]

I'M not sure what you're talking about.

[Steve]

Yeah, he got his members only on the sides.

[Zach]

On the sides of the jacket. They're there. Zoom in. Enhance any. Yeah. Any thoughts on this besides Kinnamon's weird look at Ulti?

[Marianne]

Oh, he's just giving a side eye to Ulti. He's like, are we sure about this one? That's what I interpreted it as.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's what I interpreted as too. But I know not everyone has.

[Steve]

He's like, y' all could trust little old me.

[Ed]

Can I come to you?

[Zach]

I forgot we had that accent for her. Oh, my God.

[Steve]

Yeah. Page one conspicuous by his absence here. So the Yamato cover story is over or is it? No, no, it's over. Finale means in brackets of consequence.

[Golfer Gare]

Would this be like a 12th seed in terms of.

[Zach]

Oh, that's a good question.

[Golfer Gare]

Yeah, we tried to. If we did a brackets of consequence for all of the COVID stories, well, this would be.

[Zach]

This would be a ranking. You're more. I guess more of the question makes.

[Steve]

A good cover story. That's a good question about like filling in the world.

[Golfer Gare]

Like how we got a lot with Jim bae, I think is just neat little things about the One Piece world where we kind of just walked around Wano. Saw some people that have already gotten beaten up. Saw them get beat it beaten up again.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Fuck.

[Golfer Gare]

Who didn't see the straw hat Jolly Roger back in the Wano capital.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

And then we're here now and it's. I guess the entire culmination of this is like doing the. The Shogun Walk.

[Zach]

The.

[Golfer Gare]

The Stations of the Cross, if you will, for a Shogunate. And then picking up page one and Ulti. I think like, did we. Did we learn anything new other than that?

[Marianne]

I think the point of this story arc was just to. Let's see what Yamato is getting up to. We knew what his plan. Plan was, but now we get to actually see it without it taking up valuable manga space.

[Zach]

I mean, it technically did.

[Marianne]

It did, but not in a. Like, here's a full flashback to Yamato's adventures in Wano.

[Zach]

I mean, Steve, for. At least subjectively, I think a good cover story melds both bringing new information into the story that will at one point be, if not crucial, at least like kind of important, but also has some good humorous side, I think like. And one or two perhaps cool, if not like unexpected things. I mean we had some unexpected things of this. We talked about Moria to death. So we're not going to do that right now.

[Steve]

Yeah. Like that's. That's like. Probably one of the biggest things coming out of this was the Moria reveal. Which is to say, at least.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

And I. There was that wall of all. Like the.

[Zach]

Yes. At the end.

[Steve]

The mural with all the names. And there were some names we were not familiar with. Some.

[Ed]

You couldn't see everything. The lanterns with the names.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

I could only assume those are like little nuggets of ooh, I wonder who this could be. But I.

[Zach]

They could be SDS answers too though. That's the thing.

[Steve]

Yeah. And which is kind of a little disappointing, I will say. From the get go, I think what was working against this cover story is now these happen so soon after the arc relevant to these characters has ended. Maybe I could be wrong. I know the buggy one was pretty buggy. Was still just in the manga not too long before.

[Zach]

And he comes right back in Logtown. That's right.

[Steve]

But I'm thinking, you know the CP9 cover story that was happening during like, that was happening during Shibandi and like Amazon Lily.

[Zach]

And that's kind of. That's a lame one though. Like, I don't know.

[Steve]

Kaku turned into a giraffe slide for the children. They went bowling. That's a. That's like a. I don't know. That's like an. A tier one for me.

[Golfer Gare]

Right.

[Steve]

They had a bowling on for.

[Zach]

I mean, like the ones off the top of my head that. I think the most underrated one is Gadatsu's. I really enjoyed that the last time I read it. It's been a while, to be fair.

[Steve]

Well, if we're going to grade these on like, what they contribute, I think Gadatsu's might be low.

[Zach]

Yes, I agree. But it was fun. Like, I think it was just because at that point we were, you know, like loops back into alabaster. So kind of to go to your point, like, to have a little more distance does sometimes feel cooler because. Oh, I haven't seen these characters in a long time.

[Ed]

Dad and Uncle.

[Zach]

Yeah. They go to Yuba. That's where they always wanted to meet. What Koza was there too. I mean, it was, I think one.

[Steve]

That'S never really talked about that I think just hit like every nail on the head and was so good and something I'm like, damn, I want to see this in the actual story. Was the Baroque Works cover story.

[Zach]

Absolutely. I agree.

[Steve]

That one is so good.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

And I just. I feel like maybe people aren't always talking about the COVID stories. But that one just, I think that's like, I think that's like kind of what you strive for there. I just think my issue with this one was like, yeah, we're catching up with characters and even though what it's been three years, I guess since yeah, three years since we've been out of Wano. Like maybe because it's the anime too, I feel like yeah, we just saw these characters, you know, and.

[Zach]

Yeah, and.

[Steve]

Like yeah, just going around Wano just kind of catch up, seeing where they're at now. It's fun enough but I just think like I haven't been longing for these characters yet, so it really didn't hit that for me. I think what the, the mission statement of this Yamato story was to kind of set up a little bit more lore for Wano with this Kozuki bloodline with Moria potentially and maybe some of those names that we are not familiar with. But other than that I just don't think like, I don't think any of the gags were that great. It was very, it was charming. I think Yamato interacting with like slice of life Okiku. Yeah, like Okiku and Otama. There's some really like charming drawings there. But I, I, I can't remember much from this one.

[Zach]

I just, No, I really can't either.

[Golfer Gare]

Yeah, who's who's who, who's on the team now thing. I do really like that Ulti and Page one.

[Zach]

Who's who give a shit that I do.

[Golfer Gare]

I, I, I, I like those characters. I really like their design. Yeah, I really like having some of the. Are they ancient Zoans? They're not mythical zones, they're ancient Zoans.

[Steve]

No, I think they're just because they're dinosaurs. Yeah, mythical is something else.

[Golfer Gare]

But it's nice to have a couple of those on eventually. The Straw Hat Grand Fleet when one day we have the 10 year long fight that culminates the entire manga and he has to get everybody in within one chapter. We're just adding names to the list.

[Steve]

Ten years of podcasting, I don't know if I have it in me.

[Zach]

Might be more than that. Steve is contractually obligated to go to the end. That's why it's just this one.

[Steve]

I think I was always expecting this to end and then when it kept going I was like, all right. And now it just, it ended and I, I'm like, yeah, I guess I feel like it, that might be the.

[Ed]

Best thing about it.

[Steve]

The penultimate one didn't feel like a big. We're building up to the. This is what we know now. This is the finale. It kind of.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Steve]

I felt like we were just getting more information thrown at us and then it was over.

[Golfer Gare]

So, I mean, I think this.

[Marianne]

This one might have hit a little harder if we had had, like, more in between stuff, like another story before this one. And then it's like, oh, yeah, Yamato, let's see what they'. But having it right after is kind of like, oh, well, okay.

[Zach]

I mean, we did. We had the Germa Double Six, which I think was all an egghead, if I recall.

[Steve]

That was crazy because.

[Zach]

Yeah, that was an especially crazy one.

[Steve]

The events of that were coinciding with things that were happening in the manga. You know, it's pudding is captured. And then we see pudding is captured.

[Zach]

In the manga in that chapter.

[Marianne]

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

[Zach]

That was very cool.

[Ed]

Live action news. Earlier in this episode, we were talking about that, but it looks like in one of the pictures, Crocus is reading a newspaper where the headline has a thing about Princess of Arabasta is missing.

[Marianne]

Yeah, Princess still missing. Which is a good, like, hey, let's tie this into what's happening and hint it. It's a hint for the. The manga readers. Are they anime watchers?

[Steve]

Crocodile never knew what Bebe looked like.

[Marianne]

Right.

[Zach]

Anyway, bring us back.

[Steve]

I think also with the previous cover story, too, was also. I think that kind of wound up serving more as like, I don't really have time to get into Vegapunk's backstory. So I'm going to incorporate into this cover story. It kind of felt hand in hand, which was unique for a cover story.

[Zach]

I agree with you, Steve. I think it is really. And we've said this a lot on the show, so this is nothing new. It's a real shame that these aren't really animated, that these don't really get a time to shine in the anime. And you could really do it in creative ways too. Like, I wonder if the One piece is going to do it. Like, you could have it as like, you know, an A plot and a B plot in an episode like that. Meanwhile, for a lot of these backstories, the buggy one is one that strikes me as, like, really potent.

[Steve]

Like, oh, it's a shame because I.

[Ed]

Just think great job with Hachi and Kimi because they show up in Sabati.

[Steve]

Yeah, I think we with it.

[Zach]

I think we talked about. I think we talked about the issue was just that the. The main cast is like contracted and if you have episodes of the anime that don't have them, you're kind of throwing money out the window.

[Steve]

Maybe. Maybe that's kind of why. I don't know. With the Kobe Helmeppo one, they would have like. It would kind of be like sandwiched between the straw hats on the ship.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Steve]

I always think those episodes were good and they didn't overstay their welcome. There's only like two episodes and I think the. Especially like the Koby and Helmeppo one.

[Zach]

That one's fantastic.

[Steve]

It gave Bogart dialogue until this chapter where I believe he has his first line of dialogue in the manga.

[Zach]

Really?

[Ed]

Those filler episodes are why everyone thinks Bogart is cool.

[Steve]

Yeah. Otherwise Bogart is a guy, but I think also it's a joke.

[Zach]

He also dresses nice.

[Ed]

I mean.

[Steve]

Yeah, it's. I don't know. Maybe now time away from this cover story. I might have some fondness for it, but I just. Nothing in this cover story particularly did it for me.

[Zach]

I think the biggest thing against it was that Oda has had a ton of breaks during this cover story in particular. I think we had the month long.

[Steve]

I mean, that's also affected me with the mang manga too.

[Zach]

Yeah, it has. It definitely. Like I was thinking today, for example, with this chapter, like you kind of lose the momentum of like the. The fandom almost when you have frequent breaks as a weekly reader, when you're like really invested weekly.

[Ed]

And I've. And I've mentioned this. I feel like I mentioned this every week, but you kind of lost the momentum of the straw hat story with this extended flashback.

[Zach]

Well, we'll talk about that, I'm sure, at the end too, but. No, I agree. But I think with the COVID story here, I would like to give it a chance and read it like in one shot at some point because. Or just read it as part of a volume because I think it probably hurt the whole thing. Because I remember particularly the who's who thing that Ed mentioned. That felt like two thirds of this. And I don't think it was, but it felt. It felt lengthy. Like that was like the majority. I don't remember much that happened before that. I'll put it that way. Anyway, so I'm trying to give it the benefit of the doubt because I think when we come off of something that takes too long, in our opinion, on a week to week basis, I think we're down on it usually. Sometimes rightfully, but Also, sometimes I think overly harsh. So I am giving the listeners out there a chance. Like, I don't want to close the door on this cover story necessarily, even though ODA is. Ed, why don't we start the chapter? Yes.

[Ed]

We start off on God Valley, and there's an explosion. And we hear Rocks and St. Garling are locked in combat in the northwest. Send backup. Presumably these are marines talking. Not sure we get a helpful little diagram here of.

[Zach]

A flashback with a map is a very scary thing.

[Ed]

So Roger is in the middle of the valley, and the Roger pirates are sort of with him. And the rocks pirates are heading in. And we see Rocks versus Garling up on the northwest side of the island, and that's near where there's a big treasure chest symbol. But you keep going. We hear Rocks is behind us. The navy's ahead. Keep going. Really? Let me handle this one. Thanks, Roger.

[Zach]

Really.

[Ed]

Anyway, Ace, the rocks pirates or the Roger pirates saying really's gotten Shaggy back?

[Zach]

I think this is the rocks pirates. I think you're right, because. Is that Captain John in the back?

[Ed]

I can't tell.

[Zach]

Yeah, I can't tell either.

[Ed]

Circle the ship around to the southwest. We see Rayleigh and Shakky embraced.

[Zach]

Still, he's carrying her through the threshold of God Valley.

[Ed]

I'm so jealous. Damn it. My guess is, is this rocks or who's saying don't even dream of it, fools. Get rough and you'll harm Shakky. That would be a tragedy. Switch targets to the treasure. We're taking everything but Shakky. And there's rawing and screaming and. And I guess that's Rayleigh breathing heavy while carrying her, huffing. And imagine him sort of lowering his waist for this. He says, chucky, there's something I need to say to you. And I guess she's like, don't say it. I already know.

[Zach]

Oh, cute.

[Ed]

And the next panel, you get a Odabox has primary prize treasury. It's a wild melee out there. You can't ask for a better chance.

[Zach]

I assume this is even copy. Yeah, yeah, this is it.

[Ed]

And it's like Kuma's got. He's holding something. Might be his devil fruit.

[Zach]

It is his devil fruit because it looks like a paw. So what could it be?

[Ed]

It sure is. I don't know which is what, but.

[Zach]

Let'S eat them, Marianne.

[Marianne]

All right. And then we cut to Big mom crashing in and shoving Ivankov up against a wall and grabbing what will be. As we know, Kaido's dragon devil fruit.

[Ed]

It's Covered in scales. Of course it is.

[Marianne]

Yes, from him. And she says, ha, not so fast. And Kuma in the background's like Eva. Oh shit. And she goes to reach for his as well. I'll take that one too, she says. And Eva screams, eat it, Kuma. Don't think. Eat the fruit. And so Kuma is. We get him a nice little shot of him with chubby cheeks, fruit in mouth. He has eaten it and gained his powers. Big mom says, and she's mad. Let's see. Oh, and I guess this is a continuation. Oh, it's a continuation of eat the fruit and save yourself, says Eva. We just need one survivor and then we've won. And he looks very triumphant. This is presumably over a radio. We have some marines probably shouting. Chaos is unfolding everywhere. The pirates are fighting each other. Should we retreat or arrest them? We need orders, sir. And then explosions and ah, in a little box thing. Now from the Navy's perspective, and that appears to be Garp and Bogard running. And he says, hey, Sengoku, did you know this was going on? There was one man who reported some rumors, says Sengoku, but he vanished from the Navy's ranks.

[Zach]

Steve Bogart doesn't even talk in that one. Does he talk later maybe. Am I like.

[Marianne]

I don't forget.

[Steve]

My God. Is that. That's just. Was that a morning stupor of me or something like that?

[Zach]

I get that. Don't worry. When I read the first chapter.

[Steve]

Isn't that Bogart right there?

[Zach]

No, it is, but he's not talking. That's Garp to Sengoku.

[Marianne]

Yeah. And it kind of seem. Seems to imply that Garp did not know about this little slave hunt thing.

[Steve]

I stand corrected. Yeah, sorry, that was a morning stupor thing. Bogart continues to not say anything about the kiss.

[Marianne]

Did not talk.

[Zach]

He might have.

[Ed]

I wonder if he was talking about the confrontation between Rox and Roger that's going on.

[Marianne]

Maybe.

[Zach]

Did you know this was not.

[Steve]

I'm sure he wrote about it very passionately in his diary.

[Ed]

No.

[Zach]

So I think it must be because you see all the civilians that are murdered there in front of him as they're discussing this.

[Ed]

So the person who reported rumors and disappeared, are we to assume that's Dragon?

[Marianne]

Almost certainly.

[Zach]

There's one man.

[Golfer Gare]

I don't know if Sengoku would know Dragon at this point.

[Zach]

No, that doesn't make sense. Yeah, that's. That doesn't make sense. It would have to be someone like in some earlier time before the God Valley incident.

[Ed]

Or was this like, even COB's getting information off the island, maybe.

[Zach]

No, I don't.

[Golfer Gare]

Now, these happen so frequently that I'd imagine that it has to have been somebody talked and nobody heard them.

[Zach]

And these happen every three years.

[Golfer Gare]

Every three years.

[Zach]

So I'm sure he means from a previous one of these. That's how I took it.

[Marianne]

Possibly.

[Ed]

All right.

[Zach]

I would just.

[Ed]

He was made to disappear.

[Zach]

Steve, are you the one who first pointed out the character that makes an appearance here at the top of the page? Because I did not notice this. And Oda probably wouldn't want me to either.

[Steve]

Sorry, I'm jumping ahead here. Let me go back.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, we have a kick.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah, Marco.

[Golfer Gare]

Pineapple head.

[Marianne]

Oh, it does look like him.

[Zach]

That is definitely not him. I mean, in that it can't be.

[Marianne]

He wouldn't be alive at this point.

[Steve]

This is gonna be my first stolen joke of the manga. Recap. Oh, no, that's his father, Polo.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Marianne]

Oh, my God.

[Steve]

Seriously?

[Ed]

That.

[Steve]

That is Marco. And I bet this is another SBS thing. It's like, was Marco at the Valley and Otis, like. No.

[Golfer Gare]

Is Marco's age from a. From a beaver card? Because the ages.

[Zach]

Yeah, he's 45. He's 40.

[Steve]

He was the. He was a kid in the Odin flashback.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Marianne]

Oh, that's right.

[Zach]

Yeah. And he was. He was a rookie. Like, he had just joined as the newest pirate. Yeah.

[Marianne]

Because you could. Except that we do know it is the very card. You could say, like, oh, if he's a phoenix, maybe he does the phoenix thing. Like die and get reborn sort of a thing. But I don't think so.

[Zach]

He just.

[Ed]

Every few years. Every few years, he randomly bursts into flames and is reborn.

[Marianne]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

I mean, we. We could full send it on Nepo piece and have it be Marco's dad.

[Zach]

Yeah. I mean, we are in Nepo piece here.

[Ed]

That was maybe my least favorite Anime Con trend of all time.

[Zach]

Oh, I forgot about that.

[Steve]

That or who is the Byowie Paddles.

[Marianne]

But also, people are allowed to have the same bad hairstyle.

[Golfer Gare]

Yes. Yeah.

[Steve]

It's like everyone with the mullets right now with the shave. Those sideburns look. Yeah, those are hip right now for some reason. And there's a lot of bald guys out there. Doesn't mean they're my dad. Even though my dad also shaves his head.

[Marianne]

I'm pretty sure every bald guy is your dad, actually.

[Zach]

Yeah, I agree. You have many dads, as we know, and many boyfriends. And that's why not to spread rumors here. But Marianne, shall we continue?

[Marianne]

All right, so we see Garp looking really peed off and he says, if I ain't awake and dreaming, then it's all real. We go to the next page. From Rox's perspective.

[Ed]

That Garp line doesn't really make sense to me.

[Marianne]

No, I think it's because he didn't know about the slave hunts. I don't think he was.

[Zach]

No. If I agree with Ed. I thought it was a weirdly worded one. If I ain't awake and dreaming, why did. What does that mean? Oh, that specific part of the line.

[Golfer Gare]

And it's when you need him.

[Marianne]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

If I ain't asleep and dreaming. I guess is. Would make more sense. Or am I awake or am I dreaming?

[Marianne]

Oh, yeah, that is a little confusing.

[Zach]

We'll. We'll bother Steven about that right now. Not really. Well, I could. Well, nah, it's fine. Let him, let him have his week off. Sorry, my hurry. Good.

[Marianne]

All right, so this is from Rox's perspective. And presumably Rox is yelling, are they immortal or something? And we see a woman and she says, let me down, Sebek. And he's yelling, we just gotta run. Everyone who got chased down transformed like that. And there are people behind him, including Garling, yelling, come back, Sebik.

[Zach]

And he's.

[Marianne]

He says. Or she says. I think actually the girl. The woman says, what the hell is that? Is it someone's powers? And if you look in the back, you can see clearly some somewhat familiarly devilish looking, mysterious shadows. Delightfully, yes, delightfully devilish. And she yells, dad. Granny. What happened to you? We see a couple of people who look like they might have been turned into devils, much like some of the giants in the current story.

[Steve]

Oh no, they got dummy mommied.

[Marianne]

They got. What is it? Dummy reversed.

[Zach]

Yes, that's the real answer. Yes.

[Marianne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Steve]

You know, double protein style.

[Marianne]

What?

[Steve]

Sorry, that's a joke. For mostly Californians. Or if you've been to the In n. Out in Cal. In Texas or Las Vegas.

[Marianne]

I see.

[Zach]

Thank you.

[Steve]

It's a thing. I promise.

[Marianne]

I. I see more.

[Zach]

Go ahead.

[Marianne]

Oh, this is me. Sorry. All right, so we see then more of a close up of Garling and I forget the lady's name, but Garling has got two very.

[Zach]

She's new.

[Marianne]

Ah, okay, we've. Garling has got two very clear what should be fatal attacks. Cuts across his. Both his head like cleaved all the way to his eye almost and then.

[Zach]

Through his shoulder like a slice of cake, like just Like a perfect slice down the middle.

[Steve]

It's like one of those.

[Golfer Gare]

Garling was cake the entire time.

[Ed]

One of those meme videos from months ago. Yeah.

[Zach]

Garling was cake.

[Marianne]

Oh my God.

[Zach]

God, someone better make that now. The actual cake. Yeah. Garland cake.

[Marianne]

Yeah. He kind of.

[Zach]

So you could eat it and enjoy eating just oppression and fascism. Many other awful things. He is.

[Marianne]

I enjoy my oppression and fascism with.

[Zach]

A side of bleeding.

[Ed]

Profusely though.

[Marianne]

Yeah. But he seems.

[Zach]

That's not blood. I think that's like. Or what was it like?

[Marianne]

Wasn't it ichor?

[Zach]

Yeah, I like that. Let's call it that.

[Steve]

His life. His life goo.

[Zach]

His life goo.

[Marianne]

And he seems like, oddly okay. Having, you know, frosting. Yeah. For having a wound in his head that should have killed any normal person. And we hear. We see sound effects going.

[Zach]

Yeah, I think that's the regenerating. Whatever. Like you would see in DBZ or something.

[Ed]

Or like with. Because that's what. What's her face was doing now in the. The arrow lady was doing in the Elba.

[Zach]

Right, right, right, right. Kum kum. Yeah.

[Marianne]

Yep.

[Zach]

Yeah. Saint Gunko of the Meyer. May Meyer. God. I'm off today.

[Marianne]

Yeah, we're good.

[Zach]

We all said man Meyer, so we're good.

[Marianne]

One of those, you know. Garling says as he regenerates. He's strong. No doubt the wounds he's inflicted will take longer to regenerate. The woman with him says, but now we know that he's one of the Davy clan. The Great One will be delighted if we can take him out. And is that him or is that the person below him? Somebody is saying, yes, the game is ruined, but this is a stroke of luck. Meanwhile, the woman over Xebek's shoulder is saying, let me down, Zebec. Do you really think you can. You can hold them off one handed? And he says, listen, Aeris. So we discover, hey, that's his wife. Anyone with the Devi name who gets caught will be put through agony. That makes hell itself seem like a lukewarm bath. And she says, I know that I'm part of the Devi clan too. They welcomed me among them even though I was a pirate. I. I understand the fate of the Devi clan. So let me down. And so he tops her.

[Zach]

He.

[Marianne]

He just drops her. And she says, hey, if. Oh, no, I guess he doesn't drop her. She kicks free. That's what's happening. He's saying, hey, come on. And she says, if I was the type of helpless woman who could only cling to you and Couldn't protect a single child.

[Zach]

Steve.

[Steve]

And then we go to the next page with that single child in her arms, we get a close up of her and she says, then you wouldn't have fallen in love with me, would you?

[Zach]

That's an adorable Blackbeard, by the way.

[Ed]

So if she's Aerys, then is he Davey D. Cloud?

[Marianne]

Oh my God. Davey D. Zack. That's the real ship.

[Steve]

Yeah, I was gonna say Zack. No, it turns out she's just Ginny with a Photoshop filter.

[Marianne]

I was gonna say she really looks like adult Ginny. Like a lot, just with really frazzled hair.

[Zach]

Well, it's a good thing that Ginny's not on this island. Wait a second.

[Steve]

It's like it's such a similar hairstyle, but it's like, what if it was just round at the end instead?

[Zach]

Maybe she's Davey. Maybe she's Davey's. Maybe she's.

[Golfer Gare]

Maybe old cartoons where they would have like the slate underneath and then slide the pieces page over maybe so they could change what's on there.

[Marianne]

Yeah, maybe she's related to Ginny. And then it turns out that Bonnie is part of the Davey clan as well. Maybe. Probably not.

[Steve]

Oh, no. So even though she's not a buccaneer, she. She's a. A Davey and well, are buccaneers.

[Zach]

Davey or Davies are like a clan within the buccaneers. It's not clear. Yeah, not clear. This has not been cleared up. Yeah, the next flashback we'll just dive into that kind of genealogy sort of discussion genealogy. I like it.

[Steve]

Rox says, don't be an idiot. If it looks like they're going to catch me, I'll kill Teach and end my own. Oh no, this is. Sorry, this is. What's her face. Not Jenny. Not if I kill myself first. No. She says if it looks like they're going to catch me, I'll kill Teach and end my own life. And all I'm thinking right now is Teach can hear you.

[Zach]

Yeah, I was also thinking that the whole. To be fair, Teach has seen some pretty terrible shit in just the last couple hours here, but I just be.

[Steve]

Numb to all this now.

[Ed]

He's never sucked in his life.

[Steve]

Wait, he already decided. He's like, yeah, I'm going to be a pirate when I grow up, so I'm going to talk like a pirate.

[Zach]

Well, how old is he here? He's not. He's like 2.

[Marianne]

Is that he looks pretty baby but.

[Zach]

Because he's 40, isn't he? Or something like that. And this is 38 years ago. Let me check this. He's. Because I'm always wrong with ears. Yeah, I got it. Keep going.

[Steve]

And she says, so let's find a way to survive and we can meet again in Lugia. Xebek. And I'm like, no, but they're going.

[Zach]

To destroy it in 38 years.

[Steve]

I'm like, yeah, I'm like, Lugia has been brought up to be relevant again. I don't know if there's any significant about that or. It just so happens that it's close by.

[Zach]

Yeah, he's 40, so he's 2 here.

[Steve]

It's kind of like how the live, you know, we talked about the live action so much. It's like how the live action would reference like locations in. In one piece. And it's meant for the audience to.

[Zach]

Be like, eh, eh, I. That's what I. That's all I was thinking it was fan service is what I thought. Like in the traditional sense, not in the other sense.

[Steve]

Then Garling hears. It's like he's finally relinquished his wife and son. So how shall I attack? And we see Zabak here drawing his sword as. As Eris here and Teach Tip Tip run off and. And Zabex says, why am I. Why am I the one getting sheared up? And he.

[Zach]

That's a good line. I like that line.

[Steve]

And he flexes and we see his big burly muscles and so does Garling. And whoosh. He drops down his sword, sending like a big, you know, big slash like we've seen him do in the past, assuming. But then we cut out wide and see the whole island shake. And he says, stay here with me, I insist. Or maybe this is Garling. Who knows?

[Zach]

No, no, this is, this is all vox. Yeah, because he was running away.

[Steve]

Yeah, now he says, now come and do your worst, you monsters. And with a zurd, some sort of explosion happens in the background as Eris calls out to Xebek and a young Teach can only watch as they run away. And we got a little narration here. It says by the primary prize treasury.

[Golfer Gare]

And.

[Steve]

This I could only assume. Yeah, this was Big mom, but I want to make sure she says, ma. She says, well, this one should do just fine.

[Marianne]

When do we think, when do we think Big mom developed her laugh? Has she been going, you know, mom, Mama, hahaha. Since she was like a child, or did she like have her first kid and she was like, you know what.

[Zach]

Maybe she learned it from Mother Carmel.

[Steve]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe Mother Carmel just like had really good Carlin esque stand up for the kids.

[Marianne]

Oh, my God.

[Steve]

I want to talk about the difference between the groggy ring.

[Zach]

I just want to say one thing about Blackbeard. If he is indeed two in normal purlance, I. You know, like in the real world, I don't think he would actually remember any of this.

[Marianne]

No, but it's one piece.

[Zach]

But it's one piece. I was about to say. So he definitely remembers this, but I wanted to make that. Well, actually.

[Marianne]

Anyway, actually, maybe he has infantile. He doesn't have infantile amnesia like most children do. And he remembers everything because he's super special, awesome, and a main character and you're dumb.

[Zach]

Infantile amnesia does. Is like an extremely interesting thing that people don't talk about.

[Golfer Gare]

I don't know.

[Steve]

Nothing's off the table. A woman kept a baby in her womb for like two years. How long was it?

[Golfer Gare]

Conquerors hockey surpasses the infant amnesia. You just permanently remember it when you're around that much. Conqueror's hockey.

[Zach]

I want to hear more YouTubers talking about infant amnesia. That's all I'm saying. Go ahead. Sorry. Yeah, I said it.

[Golfer Gare]

So we get. We get Big mom holding up the. The model. The fish. Fish model. Azure Dragon fruit. Like, she's link that just got an item out of a chest. She says it's.

[Zach]

Hey, I could appreciate that. Now.

[Golfer Gare]

Have you finally played Ocarina of Time?

[Zach]

No, I played. No, I played the two more. No, I played the two more, but I did watch you play Ocarina of Time. That's like it. Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild. I played, but they still have the music.

[Marianne]

Yeah, it's like the truth.

[Golfer Gare]

He still holds it up in the air.

[Zach]

Yeah, he still does. Yeah. But I know what you're referring to.

[Golfer Gare]

And she says, I'll give this one to Katakuri. It'll be a major new power up for my future pirate crew. And then we get Silhouette piece with Oda. Or not Oda.

[Ed]

Kaido.

[Golfer Gare]

With Kaido jumping out of nowhere seemingly, and then just smacking. Big moments.

[Zach]

Elkai. God.

[Golfer Gare]

Having the. Having the.

[Zach]

No.

[Steve]

Ew.

[Golfer Gare]

Having the fruit pop up in the air. Big mom, eyes white, so furious. And then Kaido, I. I imagine bites it out of the air. Like, doesn't even grab it.

[Marianne]

He just straight up catches it with his mouth.

[Golfer Gare]

Catches it with his mouth. She's tumbling, loses her hat. And he looks like a 1960s cartoon. Like a kid just got away with stealing a gobstopper.

[Zach]

This is incredible. Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

A massive explosion. What looks to be Conqueror's hockey lightning blasting all over the place. Damn or damn you, Kaido and his furious big mom. And then we check in below with Dragon running with a young Shanks while Shanks is crying in his arms. Says, don't worry, I won't let you die. The guy's bleeding through his justice jacket. And. And then we see Teach and Eris, and she's saying, I won't let them kill you. A nice little parallel between those two characters.

[Zach]

Yeah, I thought you're forever. Go ahead, Steve.

[Steve]

Yeah, I say, I won't let anyone kill you except me.

[Zach]

She did just say that.

[Steve]

Your life is spared unless I decide so. I know, I know, I know.

[Golfer Gare]

It would be ceremonious, whereas the world government, not so much.

[Steve]

She's doing some real John Q. Stuff here.

[Zach]

I will say, this is a. What an example of just really some of the funniest thing. One of the funniest things we've seen in a while mixed with just like this very poignant, emotional thing in just the last two panels of this page, which I think is well done. I just would have put it on the next page if I were actually.

[Ed]

Kaido snatching the fruit out of midair like he's one of the. One of the puppies stealing Homer's chips.

[Zach]

Yes, that's what it is. That's what it is.

[Steve]

Couldn't help it here. Don't you get it, Linlin?

[Zach]

It's over. You lose.

[Steve]

Now.

[Zach]

Excuse me.

[Steve]

All this talk is making me hungry.

[Marianne]

I don't know. Every time I see Kaido dragon stuff, Trogdor pops into my head. Except that it's. Kaido was a man. Or maybe he was a dragon man, a fish. Or maybe he was a fisher dragon, but he was still.

[Zach]

Steve doesn't get this reference.

[Steve]

No, I get it. I just never grew up with it.

[Zach]

Behind the game stage, the secondary prize treasury, much less important. Well, wait till we get to the tertiary prize treasury. That's where. And the Quaternary. Anyway. Found the treasure. Yeah. So we get. These look like all the Roger pirates. Right? Because we definitely have Scopper and. Yeah, yeah, it is. And I've never seen such riches in my life. Whoa. There's even some devil fruit. I didn't have time to draw it, but there it is.

[Ed]

This is all the material treasure. Like gems and.

[Zach]

Yes, yeah. The things we care about, FYI. So we. I'm just gonna take a tiny step back, and this might be me being too much of a theorizer, but we've talked about the Fact that Thriller Bark might be a piece of God Valley. Look, there's a gold cross there. That was a big thing in Thriller Bark, right? Anyway, we move. Hey, I'm just positing it out there for the crazy people like me. Here comes Scopper Kaban blocking. This is not Wangji, which this is the one I always forget the name of. Will anyone else assault me out there?

[Marianne]

I don't recognize them.

[Zach]

Oh my God. That's the one with the big arms. He's one of the rocks pirates.

[Steve]

Yeah, that guy Gonzui.

[Zach]

Yeah. I mix up Wang Xi and Ganzui and I don't know why I would mix those names up, but yes, that's him. And I think the last time I said I would look up his name, I did. And I never mentioned it, so I have to do that here. So. Not so fast, Roger Pirates. But I do love Scopper's face of just. I'm just going to hold up this ax and block you with one hand, like get away. Meanwhile, the navy, which includes one stripe striped shirt guy, one train conductor.

[Marianne]

I love the train conductor design. It's beautiful.

[Zach]

That's Steve's new fave, right?

[Steve]

Oh yeah.

[Zach]

Are you gonna draw him for the episode of Richards?

[Steve]

He's about to tell many stories about a bunch of sea trains maybe and how useful they are to the economy.

[Zach]

Oh my God, I'm gonna kill you with my stories about economic development from future infrast structure in the train.

[Steve]

Anyway, this is what happens when you try to form a union.

[Zach]

Wackety schmackety. We get a close up of Garp's eyes as he again is absorbing exactly what is going on here with the celestial dragons. So what is justice on an island where everything's gone crazy? That is, by the way, a trailer tagline for independent thought.

[Ed]

Alarm goes off somewhere.

[Zach]

That's probably also true. This is an island where justice doesn't mean anything. Anyway, so we go to the next page. It's the world government's navy. Please rescue us. The citizens of God Valley who have not yet the targets. Yeah, they are. They do have their handcuffs on. And the short. Yeah, well, yeah, the wabbits. Meanwhile, it was also slaves, I know. That were part of the rabbit contingent. And we see offshore. God Valley is unaffiliated with the government. Therefore, let me read you subsection 14 of the. And we head toward. Back toward Kuma briefly. And I think this was. This must be Saturn. Remembering what Kuma says before he disappears. Is that right? Someone could correct me if I'm wrong. It seems like Saturn is remembering. I want to save as many of these people as I possibly can. And he's in thought on the top of a cliffside. And by thought, I mean telepathic communication with, I assume, Emu here saying, Saturn is rocks dead. And Saturn respond. Saturn looking more perplexed than he ever has in the series. Including when he gets killed. It says, I couldn't say. This is also unexpected. I thought we were just gonna murder a bunch of people, and now we're the ones trying to get People are trying to murder. I don't like this. So he continues. Yeah, sorry. If anything, if anything, there is a danger that such wanton destruction might bring about the birth of something entirely new. It's like he could see the future. Meanwhile, in the distance, a dragon silhouette rises out of the fire. And the Navy and pirates who are fighting here both notice this happening. And we see Emu presumably responding. That must not happen to Saturn's point. Steve, what happens next? What is that?

[Steve]

All right, we got a little bit of time has passed here. And this is. We're back to the Kuma side of the rocks. The God Valley incident here. And the slaves prisoners that they've all managed to help escape, they're saying, thank you, thank you, thank you, Kuma, you're a hero. And Kuma's like, oh, gosh, save your breath, just hurry. And they're saying, anywhere.

[Zach]

And.

[Steve]

This next dialogue is, anywhere that's not here would be heaven compared to this. And then another group says, we had lost all hope. We never thought we'd survive. Thank you. And then we see that he is sending them all away somewhere far away. And getting more close up shots here of people thanking him. You know, some old man, a woman and kids, tears in their eyes. Ginny is bawling here, and Kuma's just happy to help here. And we get a wide shot here and we hear just another like, thank you echo as we see all the supreme King Haki here, the lightning bolts here, just emanating from the center of God Valley here. And Roger, Garp and Rocks respond to this. And we see familiar little spider legs here.

[Zach]

And.

[Steve]

This is someone just saying, roxas, crew captain. And Roger's like, no, wait, we got bigger fish to fry. And we see this badass silhouette of. Well, not silhouette, just like this badass drawing of rocks here with this flame behind him. So it's just casting him in dark light. And with his sword planted in the ground, he says, you dare use my family against Me, this is going to be my end. Of course I'll fight to kill. And we hear some panting here.

[Ed]

And I guess before he was just fighting for fun.

[Steve]

I don't know, fighting for another hot wife.

[Marianne]

I don't even think that's the intention there. I think it's that he has killed those family members because if he's gonna die anyway and they've been turned into devils, he probably doesn't think he can rescue them. So they're like, oh, well, if we fight you with people that you know, then you won't be, you know, as lethal.

[Steve]

But this is like, this is like the, you know, going back to the chapter. Sorry, the page that Marianne did, the dad and granny.

[Zach]

Right?

[Steve]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Zach]

I don't know if that was Rox's or Jenny's, but either it was his in laws.

[Marianne]

You mean Eris.

[Steve]

Can'T get out your head. And Garling once again has his ass handed to him here. He's, he's. He's out cough. Hacking up blood here.

[Marianne]

Good. Yeah, I like, I like seeing shitty people suffering.

[Golfer Gare]

I also do Fraterland Garling. Really easy to be tough when you're fighting slaves.

[Marianne]

Your hands tied, right?

[Zach]

Yep, yep.

[Steve]

These ones had devil horns.

[Zach]

Golfer. Yeah. I think we're up to the last page, right? Yep.

[Golfer Gare]

We have Rox talking to Whitebeard and he says, there's nothing in it for you. You sure you want to help? And Whitebeard responds, don't worry about it. I've been drinking on your tab this whole time. And then we've got Kaido flying around all excited saying, hey you two, check this out.

[Steve]

This shit is sick. This is Kaido acting like such a teen here.

[Marianne]

He is a teenager, right?

[Ed]

He got a new car.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what this is.

[Golfer Gare]

I finally got my own power to use. I want to test out my new strength.

[Zach]

Vroom, vroom.

[Golfer Gare]

And then I love how Rox is still supportive even in this pretty hectic moment. He says, good for you. As far as I can tell, you're having the most fun of anyone right now. The Whitebeard says, that's all well and good. Can I ask what in the world that is?

[Zach]

I'm a fish.

[Marianne]

Yeah. He said, they have, they have bigger fish to fry. Well, bigger fish to fry than Kaido, who is now a fish. That's probably not actually what that was. Nervous too, but maybe, I don't know, fish.

[Golfer Gare]

And then we've got, we've got Saturn who now has the emu head. And he says Saint Saturn. Why? Or there's marine saying St. Saturn. Why do you look like that? Oh, monster. We see the. The Conqueror's hockey blasting off of him. And then Garp looks up and says, now I know I'm dreaming. What is this island? Then Roger, ever the adventurer, says, what grand days of adventure we live in. Still have so much to learn. Rock says, what is that you say? I had to call it anything that represents the world.

[Ed]

Za Waterdo.

[Golfer Gare]

Yeah, I was tempted, I was so tempted to do the do.

[Steve]

Now the world is one big wacky waving inflatable arm, too.

[Zach]

I'm writing that down. That's it for this week's chapter. We're off next week, right? Does it say, I should probably double check this. I was pretty sure. Let's go around the horn. Ed, we could start with you. What did you think of this week? This week's chapter?

[Ed]

I think I said it at the top of the. At the beginning of the show as well. But I'm missing the absence of the straw hats every week.

[Marianne]

You're missing the absence of.

[Ed]

I'm missing their presence.

[Marianne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ed]

But I do say that. I feel like I do say that every time I appear on the show, but wonder what Luffy's up to right now.

[Zach]

He's still listening to this story, eating meat.

[Steve]

Well, hold on.

[Golfer Gare]

Grieving it.

[Steve]

No, no, I know, I know, I know. Sorry not to take up Ed's time, but this is. I think one of the things I'm kind of rolling my eyes at hearing is people like, how did Loki know what happened at God Valley? He wasn't there for that. I know, I know. The flashbacks aren't the actual character telling the story. There's been a few exceptions. Like, no, Chico. That was her telling the story. But, you know, it's not like when the Akazaya 9 saw the ships destroyed in the.

[Zach]

Let me tell you all a story.

[Steve]

They're like, hey, why don't we take a knee here and I'll tell y' all a story?

[Zach]

Even though you were all, we know this. We were there.

[Marianne]

I'm gonna be honest. This story has gotten. This flashback has gotten so sidetracked, I forgot until you said it. Oh, yeah. This is supposed to be Loki telling them about stuff.

[Zach]

We'll talk about that, I'm sure.

[Steve]

But yeah, I forgot Monkey T. Luffy was a character God.

[Zach]

I often.

[Ed]

So I guess this is where Roger was. Got the inspiration to, like, actually find the one piece.

[Marianne]

This is, like, didn't he label it as such? He was the One.

[Golfer Gare]

His goal was to transverse the entire world. That he even really think about the one piece before he set off.

[Zach]

This might have been. Well, there.

[Ed]

There's so much he doesn't know. And that's what he doesn't know.

[Zach]

Well, I mean, I think it's more showing. This is his. This has always been his character. Wanting to. The curiosity to explore and to adventure. Like he is the true romantic pirate, which we've always known, but shows us that even at this ripe young age of whatever he is, that he still had that kind of.

[Ed]

And he really looked. I mean, I say this every week, but I think he really looks like Ace here in this triples list. Triple sliced panel with him, Garp and Rocks. The hair. The hair is very Ace.

[Zach]

You okay, Marian?

[Marianne]

Yeah. Ace is my boy. Just makes me sentimental.

[Ed]

That's a hot Roger right there.

[Zach]

But is it the hot Roger?

[Ed]

Hot hot Roger? What is that? Like a Rusty Venture?

[Marianne]

What?

[Zach]

Okay, it's a Venture Brothers joke.

[Steve]

We're not gonna get into what that could possibly mean.

[Zach]

No.

[Steve]

No one will.

[Zach]

Ed? Yeah? Any other thoughts?

[Steve]

I could circumvent the entire world.

[Ed]

I don't know. I guess what I get I got out of this is we don't actually see that sort of the defeat of Rocks. That's supposed to be what happens at God Valley. But seeing is this. It's obviously a monumental event. Like the Kaido thing is very funny. But him bonking Big mom like over the head and snatching the fruit out of midair is very funny to me. But overall it's a very good chapter. The Heiress and Rock's relationship is kind of also funny to me. It's a little weird. Wonder how they met. I don't have much else to add.

[Zach]

Okay, Golfer. Your thoughts.

[Golfer Gare]

I'm. I think the thing that's standing out to me the most is that we know when we get back to Elbaf, we know Gunko is possessed by Emu. We know there's a ton of different folks that have been Dami reverseed. And I like how, at least for this chapter. And while we get to wait, it gives us the anticipation of this is what it takes to take on Emu in this moment and take on, you know, a Gorosei member or a Holy Knight who's been possessed by Emu. And it's. It's literally like the strongest man in the world at one point. The greatest pirate of all time that isn't named Roger. The guy that Luffy died three times trying to beat. The greatest Marine of All time. And we know one of them still dies and loses and Saturn is still alive after this. And we know everybody goes on their grand adventures afterwards. But, like, Whitebeard basically gives up on. Not gives up on, but he goes into, like, I want to have a family. Like, what. How much does this one fight change? Absolutely everything.

[Ed]

And so we're still like, what, 15 years away from Roger actually finding one piece. And he gets. He's executed 22 years before the beginning of Luffy's story.

[Golfer Gare]

Yeah. So, like, we see all of this happening and it. It fills me with so much anticipation of, like, I don't know if we have five guys. Five guys or ladies on Elbaf right now that could fill out this kind of spread and have us be confident that he's going to be able to take on Emu. How much power comes with, like, being in gear five and. And being the warrior of liberation. Like, how much of a boost does that give? Because they don't have that here.

[Ed]

Although actually, I think the. Of the. Of the Straw Hat Pirates, really the most important member for the. This. That part of the story is Robin with her skill and knowledge of the past.

[Golfer Gare]

I mean, that'll be big. And then who do they get to kind of take on this moment together? And how do they kind of hobble it together in a. In a way to save Elbaf and not have it be completely destroyed? And then I've been known to slander Garp a time or two. It was wild to learn that he had no idea. He called it a field trip beforehand. And I was like, look at him just passing off slaves, being killed on an island and being hunted. So to learn that he had no idea what was actually happening here is a bit more comforting for his character that he. He wasn't just outright ignoring all of this. And it seems like he.

[Ed]

Maybe he didn't want to know.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ed]

Don't ask too many questions of the. Of the higher ups in the government.

[Golfer Gare]

Are you. Yeah.

[Ed]

Disappear from the Navy.

[Golfer Gare]

Overall, just absolutely insane chapter. And it's gonna make the break feel so, so long because this is. This is it. Right? Like, this is. You know, Zach, you joke that one Piece is like a comedy first and foremost, but second, it's like an insane battle. Shonen. And this is what we all want is every great character possibly going up against one person.

[Ed]

These characters are all legends in their own world.

[Zach]

Yeah, I. I don't think. I personally don't think One Piece is a comedy first and foremost. I just think Oda Thinks One Piece is a comedy.

[Golfer Gare]

Oh, gotcha. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

No, no, no. Yeah, I, I, I don't know if I said that. That was a few weeks ago.

[Ed]

I think you said, especially all the straw hats have their own comedy shtick. We know which we recognize when we see it.

[Zach]

Yeah. I mean. Oh, yeah. I may have mentioned that earlier. I don't remember, but, yeah. Anything else? Golfer.

[Golfer Gare]

That's it.

[Marianne]

Marianne, as previous people have said, God Valley is obviously a turning point for basically all of these characters. And I think it's really cool that we're seeing some of the moments that are going to clearly become those turning points. Like, I think this is the turning point for Garp going, you know what? Fuck the world government. Actually, I'm going to do what I want to do. And I'm not listening to the World Nobles. They're getting up to this shit.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

Yeesh.

[Marianne]

Like, it's kind of cool just getting to see all of that. I'm glad we finally.

[Ed]

I mean, I think it shows a lot of why Garp would protect Ace and make sure he grew up somewhere.

[Marianne]

Yeah.

[Ed]

As opposed to, like, what happened to the Davy clan.

[Marianne]

Yeah. I'm glad we finally got to see, like, Eris and Baby Teach. I'm a little disappointed that Eris is a Ginny copy yet again. Oda, man, you're so good at designing male characters, and yet your women really do 90% look the same.

[Zach]

But he, he can do it. And then we have Eda, who I think is excellently designed. He can, but he just chooses not to.

[Marianne]

And it's because we just had, like, the Ginny stuff. It's almost like, oh, it's a woman in a flashback. It's like he drew Ginny and then went, oh, shit, hang on, let me change the hair a little bit. Like, that's a little disappointing. But it's also like, well, she's probably only gonna be in this chapter and maybe the next one where she inevitably probably dies or something. Uh, but, yeah, I don't know.

[Ed]

Yeah, her son's a pirate.

[Marianne]

Yeah. And has obviously not grown up in the best of circumstances. I, I really liked the chapter. I thought it was good. There's a lot of hype. I mean, it's God Valley, so of course it is. The parallel, that one. Well, the two panels, I should say the parallel of, you know, Dragon and Shanks and then Eris and Teach, like, we're doing this to save the kids. And then, like, seeing some stuff that we have seen before with Eva And Kuma with, like, the devil fruits. Like, it's kind of nice. We're, like, calling back to it. I almost wish we could have gotten rather than snippets before, and now we're getting God Valley. Almost wish we could have just gotten all of God Valley in one go instead of teasing it. But that's okay. We're getting it now. So. I don't know. I liked it.

[Zach]

Steve. Yeah. I wasn't sure.

[Steve]

Sure how I felt after this chapter. At first, I'm like, oh, God. Another back and forth between liking and not caring for chapters. But revisiting it, it is, you know.

[Zach]

A lot of fun.

[Steve]

I will say, like, where we're heading, it's like, okay, we're. We're heading to the big climactic battle here at God Valley. This lineup here of Kaido with rocks and Whitebeard. I think I'll steal one from our friend Ken here. So it's like, oh, this is very roof piece esque. And yeah, it definitely has that kind of energy. It's like, all right, here's your main event. The major players are here. It's like, let's run wild. I will say, I guess I was wrong about Zabak here. I guess he does care about his family. Because I thought. I'm like, he's. He's faking it.

[Zach]

He's lying. I bought into. Into that. I thought you made some very good arguments.

[Steve]

No, I guess he cares.

[Zach]

I mean, his, you know, dad and.

[Steve]

Granny got turned into Demonios.

[Zach]

He did kill them.

[Steve]

It's a Robin thing. Yeah.

[Zach]

Because he. He's, you know. Yeah, yeah.

[Steve]

It's all about his goals here, I guess. He didn't try to be like, it's got to be a way to reversy this. Reversi uno.

[Marianne]

Reversy.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

He did not play the card. He didn't have a good hand here. It makes me wonder, so is Imu already on the island here? Because this feels like an emu move.

[Zach]

Okay. An emu move. I mean, at the end.

[Steve]

No, no, no, before that. Because why are these characters.

[Marianne]

Well, it seems like.

[Zach]

That's a great question. That's a great question.

[Marianne]

It seems like. I mean, Imu is like, gets. It's the same thing with what's happening currently in Elbaf. It seems like Emu is probably in whatever little hut that they were in. And then they did the same thing that they did to Gunko to Saturn, which is like, possess them from a distance and. Or maybe they can also teleport, which would make sense.

[Golfer Gare]

I think the question is, is was Saturn possessed by the time we saw those?

[Zach]

Or. Or is this part of Gunko's like ability even at this time? Cause she's there. Although we don't see.

[Steve]

But not.

[Zach]

It's a very good question if so.

[Steve]

You her running with Garling.

[Zach]

Yeah, I was. That. That did cross my mind as well. I forgot to mention it, but.

[Steve]

Well, I am just curious what the order of events here though. Maybe it's because we are not yet meant to understand how these powers work. But I just assume this was an emu thing. Like, I just assume it's the same thing here. Like IMU is in their little sanctuary here. It's only when they hear things have gotten so bad is when they show up and possess someone. A lan right here. And being in the situation we are. So I'm curious what that all means here. But besides that, you know, like the. You know, the Rox and Eris moment. It's nice, but I can't help but kind of be like, this is Ginny. She looks so much like Ginny. And this is not me. Just like, oh, that's another one piece mom. You know, sacrificing or dying and. Or all women look the same in the series. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That tired argument. But it's just the hairstyle. And I even got Zach, you know, mixing them up. So to be fair, it even feels like similar personalities too. Even though like we're hardly.

[Marianne]

Yeah, you get a tough rowdy lady who is willing to fight. Yeah. Okay.

[Steve]

Right.

[Marianne]

She's cute and spooky.

[Steve]

She is.

[Zach]

Yeah, she is.

[Marianne]

Right?

[Steve]

I do. And I think I did point this out. I feel like the. The Kuma flashback was the start of like love being mentioned a lot. And I'm not, you know. And I know there was the stuff with Hancock and Luffy, but that was like so one sided.

[Zach]

But you know, Sanji and putting someone in our comments did mention love, but.

[Steve]

Love was that maybe, I don't know, maybe.

[Zach]

Maybe Sanji said I love you, but.

[Steve]

Sanji was just like, let's get married. Let's save this.

[Ed]

And also in this chapter, we had Rayleigh gonna confess something to Shaky and she's like, I already know. Doing the Han Solo.

[Steve]

Yeah. But I. I think this is only just like a recent thing where we're really seeing love get mentioned so much. Because it really was something Oda avoided for so long.

[Marianne]

Oda, I don't write one piece. I don't write romance.

[Golfer Gare]

No romance for the straw hats.

[Zach]

Oh, true.

[Steve]

You know what? Touche.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

But even still, like, it just feels like something. Maybe I'm space now. I'm sure that maybe there's more examples, but I feel like this is kind of like. Well, there's Kiros and Scarlet, but, yeah.

[Zach]

I think it's definitely more fun. Well, this is. We talked about this before, Steve.

[Steve]

I don't really recall so many characters saying, like, I love you in a romantic way.

[Zach]

Well, also, it's the High School Musical flashback, as we talked about. Explain how it's also, like.

[Marianne]

It's. We're into the. Sorry to call it this Nepo piece era, so we have to get, like, okay, well, people's parents. So, I mean, I guess the Rayleigh and Shocky stuff doesn't apply to that, but, like, yeah, we need. If we. If we're getting people's parents, we gotta see the romance.

[Steve]

Yeah. And maybe in case there's younger readers reading this, they don't know where babies come from yet. They're like, oh, it's when a mommy and daddy love each other, you know, very much.

[Marianne]

It's when a mommy. It's when a mommy gets kidnapped and a daddy has to rescue her and. Yes.

[Zach]

No.

[Steve]

Just something I've kind of been noticing myself, really. I enjoyed the Kaido and Big mom thing a lot with Kaido just eating the fruit out of the air. That was really the most entertaining part of the chapter for me. But now we got this. And. Oh, and Kaido being a dragon.

[Zach]

Like, check it out.

[Steve]

It was really funny.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Marianne]

Yeah. It's fun seeing a character like Kaido who is. Well, I guess he has his drunken stuff later on, but who is generally a stoic, serious person getting to be, like, a dumb teenager. It's pretty good.

[Steve]

This pimply face dragon, Kaido.

[Zach]

Hey, look, everyone.

[Steve]

I'm a dragon doing donuts in the parking lot. And now and then we have, like, Emu taking over Saturn. And I can only assume this is a silhouette here because it's just, like, so strange. This is the strangest bowl of shaved ice I've ever seen.

[Zach]

But it does. Yeah.

[Steve]

So I. Because I. I gotta think, like, all right, so Rox was killed, like, was. Was taken down in a. In a joint effort with Garp and Roger. And I'm. And I. Is that Truec hasn't really done anything to warrant that yet. So I could only assume that maybe he's gonna be reverseeed here.

[Zach]

You know.

[Steve]

Unless, you know, he, you know, he hits IMU with, like, a Draw 4 or something.

[Zach]

That would help. Those are wild.

[Steve]

I mean, yeah, I. Yeah, I'm kind of still perplexed here, but this seems like, okay, we're kind of moving things into the center here. This is gonna be the big battle here. And it seems like, okay, you know, Shaky's been saved. Oh, but I guess there's no way Eris is making out of this island alive. So I guess we gotta resolve that too. But it seems like this is all that remains to cover for this story. So let's see what happens, and then maybe we'll go back to Harold if he's still relevant.

[Zach]

But it.

[Steve]

It was fun. I think Kaido was really kind of like the MVP of this chapter is really entertaining. Although I am disappointed and maybe I. This got just too caught up in fan theory and stuff like that. I'm like, I thought he was gonna be, you know, like, the azure dragon is the carp that swam upstream and then became a dragon. That's the myth.

[Zach]

Right.

[Steve]

I think I'm getting some nods here.

[Golfer Gare]

I thought the waterfall through the gate.

[Steve]

Oh, the waterfall.

[Zach]

Thank you.

[Steve]

Yeah, I thought, you know, I thought that we were gonna have like a Magikarp Gyarado situation here where he has to, you know, he has to level grind as a crappy fish first who.

[Zach]

Can'T go in the water, by the way.

[Steve]

And it would have been. It would have been so entertaining. Yeah, because we know Kaido. Kaido is this, like, intimidating hoss of a villain, and his crappy fish form would be really entertaining. But I guess, like, if that were to exist, it would just create more problems because Devil Fruit users can't swim. How can a fish, you know, why.

[Zach]

Are there fish devil fruits if it kind of defeats the purpose of it?

[Steve]

I just would have loved to just see, you know, just crappy carp, Kaido.

[Golfer Gare]

Or even just small version like when Momo first gets the fake one.

[Zach]

Yeah, well, he's a little kid. That's why.

[Steve]

But I think, like, Momo kind of, I should have realized. I should have looked at Momonosuke. I'm like, oh, well, if Momonosuke was like a little fish at first, but he was pet since that. And yeah, it was a failure.

[Zach]

Failure.

[Marianne]

But also, also, that was because Momonosuke was a child.

[Zach]

Yeah. No, I am, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Steve]

So I really should have looked at that and be like, oh, no, it's not gonna happen. So I was a little bummed that Kaido's gonna be like, cool, I'm a badass dragon now. And I'm like, damn, I Wan Work a little harder.

[Zach]

Yeah. But Nepo babies, you know, all of them.

[Ed]

And Kaido rides off on his skateboard.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ed]

Motorcycle.

[Zach]

So long, suckers. And he just.

[Steve]

Yeah, I would love to see, like, just Kaido just try flying around. He's just like crashed into walls and stuff.

[Zach]

His.

[Steve]

No yet. But yeah, he was. He was the MVP of this chapter for me, and I enjoyed that.

[Zach]

But Momo did do that in Onigashima, by the way, what you're describing. Yeah.

[Steve]

Kind of like Momonosuke.

[Zach]

Yeah, he might still. There's still. All he did was burst up into the air and come down and say, look how cool I am. Like, he hasn't actually done anything.

[Steve]

And I think, like I said, these are like the last two plot points. I think they're really left to conclude here.

[Zach]

And.

[Steve]

And I'm also hope. And I'm hoping for some sort of Dragon and Garp confrontation. I don't think that's.

[Golfer Gare]

I think Dragon's Dragon and Garp.

[Zach]

It might happen. Yeah, it might.

[Steve]

But I. I mean, I would love to see it.

[Golfer Gare]

The central focus of their dynamic is just leaving the Marines versus staying in the Marines after. And then we've seen him on this island. Like, this is the moment if ODA wants us to see. Those two have that agreed. Familial conflict. Like, it. Where else could it possibly.

[Steve]

Yeah, and that's something I don't want to see off screen, where it's like, oh, just Dragon never came home or.

[Golfer Gare]

Even a call afterwards. Like, if they leave and then it. You know, because they talk, I'm quitting.

[Ed]

Yeah, that's. I really want to see that because that's also relevant to Luffy and the main character of the series.

[Zach]

Steve. Anything else about that?

[Steve]

No, no, that's.

[Ed]

It.

[Zach]

That's it. Okay. I'll try and make it quick. Yeah. I really enjoyed this chapter. I think the thing I've talked about before, I'm going to start out with the negative and go to the positive because it's not really negative about the chapter. I think it's been a negative about my reading experience that I need to kind of suspend belief on. I have to treat this flashback like. And we've discussed this before in the. On the show. I have to treat this as its own arc because if I think of this as part of Elbaf, it's a little frustrating.

[Ed]

It's a fairy tale that exists in the world of the. Of the series.

[Zach]

Yeah. Like, I have to think of this like the Nolan and Kalgara flashback almost like, that is like. So, I mean, that's different in a lot of ways. Absolutely. I'm not, you know, they're very, very different flashbacks, but it is its own kind of thing, separate but related to what's going on in the current story. Like the. It represents parallels and, you know, like we discussed the. The Domi Reversi and the emu, you know, showing up and. And all these things. So in this story is less about the story of Loki and Harold, which it also is. Which is, I think, why this starts to get a little messy.

[Ed]

Or Harold and Rocks and Harold and.

[Zach]

Rox, Loki and Harold and Rox. But it also is a flashback that is guiding the reader in the present day to set up expectations and to set up kind of where, you know, where the battle lines have been previously drawn. And I think this chapter was kind of the first time that. That. That became much clearer to me. I think emu showing up in particular, it's like, okay, and the dummy reverse thing is like, we're really seeing the parallels now between the current day in the story and 38 years ago on God Valley. I think this isn't necessarily going to be a flashback, and I might. I very, very likely will eat these words, but I don't think this is going to be a flashback built on character as much as it is a flashback built on story. Story. And obviously built on hype moments and aura. Yeah, hype moments or. And that too. But I mean, talking like, in like, a literary sense, like, it is going to be about a story that happened, like you said, a fairy tale almost, that happened in the past. That kind of is a. What do you call it, like an educational lesson for the present day as readers. Cautionary tale might be, you know, versus, like, Kuma's flashback, though, very all over. You know, like, having a lot of important story elements generally is about a character. Like, it is about Kuma. And it is important to the moment when we go into it. This is the latter, it's not the former. This is not all about Harold. This is not all about Loki. This isn't even all about Rocks. We have all this stuff with Roger and Shaky and Rayleigh. We have this stuff with this Kaido and Big mom stuff, which I love, by the way, but has really nothing to do with. Like, where are we at this point? Like, if you try narrative question, like, if you. Well, God Valley. But if you try narratively to, like, be like, why are we discussing these characters? I think it makes a lot more sense if you plug it in. As the cautionary tale slash story of. These are how. This is how we got to today almost in Elbaf versus And. And globally versus. This is a story about blank. And I think. And maybe this was obvious to listeners and readers out there. But for me that has been a real hurdle and I'm starting to get over it. Over the hurdle. So that's generally where I'm coming from. And I've said I'm holding my opinion until the end of the flashback. Like generally as to like what I think of it. This chapter was heart pumping. That's. That's how I would describe it. Like it definitely had funny moments. Like the Kaido thing. That munching grinning panel is like an all timer. That's. That's excellent. That is Oda at his best. I know everyone else is gonna say every. You know everything else. I also just like, I love the narrative thing. Like we already knew that Big mom stole the Magikarp fruit out of. Out of even Cough's hand. But then. But it's great seeing Kaido steal it away from Big mom after that. Like going through that. Like.

[Ed]

Yeah. Just bunker over the head with his club.

[Steve]

Biggest game of Hot Potato.

[Zach]

I guess it's very funny.

[Steve]

You don't want to hold on to the hot potato.

[Zach]

That's true. Yeah.

[Ed]

It's just a little airborne. It's still good.

[Steve]

I want to steal another thing from Alex because it was a great joke.

[Zach]

Please.

[Steve]

He said Kaido single handedly saving us from the most Edge Lord One Piece character imaginable in Dragon Katakuri.

[Zach]

Yeah. Which is. I think fans have already drawn art of that and I'm sure. And we discussed this before, it will 100% be in an SBS or a magazine or something.

[Steve]

Yeah. Oh, like there's. There's a lot of SBS bait here.

[Zach]

I kind of agree a little Edge Lord. But I do love him.

[Steve]

I mean he already is his weird.

[Ed]

Leather gear and his.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And a dragon.

[Golfer Gare]

He's Dennis.

[Steve]

What's great about Katakuri. Yes. What's great about Katakuri is he's a One Piece character. So there has to be something silly about him. That's what's great about One Piece is like villains. There's always like this little bit of silliness.

[Golfer Gare]

Even when he was a child. He never hit his back. He never laid down.

[Steve]

I just would love to be like Mom. Big mom be like she guesses no loss. It would break the theme. Anyway. I think also I'll steal one from Ken. God. Like Our friends had some really funny stuff. They should be on this show. It's like, stop stealing Big mom giving Oven Kuzan's fruit. And it's be like, my name is. My name is Oven. And like, he sounds like that as a child. It's like, well, now your name is Fridge.

[Ed]

Your name is Frieza.

[Zach]

It's copywritten. No. So that part was very funny. And yeah, Katakuri having a mochi fruit and having to settle for that instead of a dragon is also kind of funny. I will say. I do remember us falling in love with Katakuri after the Donut chapter in particular. Like that. Oh yeah. We were waiting for the quirk and seeing it like that. That just excellent.

[Steve]

I still have my Marianda plate.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's a great. That is a great spread. Burches is very funny and that made me. I do really enjoy Katakuri.

[Steve]

So maybe this like chapter really helped me with Kaido here. Because, like, I mean, well, Kaido was, you know, like he was silly, you know, at certain points, but he was.

[Zach]

Well, he was an alcoholic and that's. He wasn't.

[Steve]

Isn't it so silly?

[Zach]

Yeah, I think it was. It was a really interesting quirk that I don't think Oda took quite enough advantage of. He took some. I forgot to tell you that I forgot to mention also all the way back at the COVID stories. I think one of the reasons, like it feels so recent is because it was so much time in Wano. Not that it's bad, it's just it was. We were there a long time, so it feels like it like forever recent. Like Dressrosa feels like a couple years ago, but that was over 10. So there you go. This chapter, what I was talking about. Yeah. I don't know if there's much else I want to say about it, but I think that, you know, seeing the maps and all that stuff, as I like to go back to my original point, I feel better about it, thinking of it more as itself contained kind of thing. Self contained cautionary tale for the reader for the current day. I don't have a better way to put that. Ginny 2.0 I ignoring the design because Steve is right, obviously I've slipped up at least once. But I do enjoy her as a character so far. I think Spunky is absolutely right. So of the moms in this flashback, so far, my ratings eda way at the top. Then you got Eris Shanks's mom, who does not have a face and at the bottom, the evil one. That Loki. Loki's evil mom stepmom whose name I forget, that was in this flashback. What are we, like 10 chapters into this now? I don't even. I have lost count.

[Marianne]

I don't remember that few.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's just because we've had a lot of breaks. I mean, I could check, but I. I don't think we're as far as you would suspect. Well, let's see what was going on at 11:52. That was. Yep. That was the beginning of it. So this is. We are 10 chapters in it. It does. That's a volume. That's one. Like 11 chapters is a volume. So we're at like just about a full volume volume.

[Ed]

You could just call the entire volume God Valley Battle Royal.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's a good name for a volume. And also, I would add, I think the Odin flashback was around this length. So we're like approaching overtaking it, I think. But that's it for the manga recap. Any other thoughts? So let's round off the manga recap. This is the piece Together segment where we take your questions, comments and theories. But it's not a Nepo piece. Piece Together segment. We don't all come from some amazing stock of. I don't know. That's. I'm done. First segment is called Dispiece. I have to do everything this week. Crams them Prague, but Scary says ahoy, Opp. Banger chapter, as always. Or it would be if Kaido turned into a fish and not a dragon. 0 out of 10. Oda, you are a hack. I didn't say. Seriously though, What a great and dense chapter. So Eris was a pirate and what do you mean Lucia? But my question is on the most important panel of all. What was Rayleigh gonna say? My guess is that he was gonna tell Shakky that he's. And that he laid the giant egg that hatches into buggy. Have a great week. What did I just read?

[Marianne]

I think that's all true.

[Golfer Gare]

Mm. We leave it at that.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Marianne]

Yes. And the end.

[Zach]

Okay, I'd like to hear your improv on this scenario here. The Slayer, King or Slay says, hello, my fellow fruit munchers. What is happening this week? What kind of things do you think would be different if even Cough had Kaido's devil fruit and Kaido or Big mom had even Coughs? Have a great week. That's a great question. The reverse there not all.

[Golfer Gare]

It's so hard to think about because it fundamentally changes just everything about them.

[Marianne]

I would love to see a Flamboyant dragon. I think that would be sick as hell.

[Zach]

Does the fruit make you flamboyant?

[Marianne]

No, no, no, no, no. I mean. I mean. I mean, Ivankov being flamboyant, if he had gotten the dragon.

[Zach]

Oh, a dragon. I got it.

[Marianne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

Drag queen.

[Zach]

The. That I like.

[Marianne]

Like a gay trogdor.

[Steve]

A drag queen.

[Marianne]

He puts the dragon in drag queen.

[Zach]

See?

[Marianne]

Yeah, okay, I see it.

[Zach]

What are Ivankov's pronouns? Or do they change?

[Marianne]

Yes, their pronouns are whatever you want them to be.

[Golfer Gare]

Pick one, any and all.

[Zach]

It's not whatever you want. It's whatever they choose to be at that moment.

[Marianne]

Yeah, I think that's probably correct.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Marianne]

As he says in the anime. As he says in the anime. You can even call me Dookie. Don't call me Dookie.

[Zach]

I don't remember that.

[Marianne]

I do.

[Steve]

No, I remember such a great line.

[Golfer Gare]

Such a great line.

[Zach]

I need to rewatch the dub because.

[Steve]

Then, like, what if. And then what if Kuma became a dragon? Be like, hop on my back, everybody.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'll save you. Then he just runs into things just like you were imagining. I'll get the hang of this. I think Big mom or Kaido having even Cough's fruit could be interesting. I mean, so it's hormones of like, all kind. I don't know enough about hormones as like a scientific concept to be like, how crazy could you go with this? Like, is it just gender related stuff? Or can you do other. You must be able to do other.

[Steve]

Stuff because it's kind of like. I. Sorry, this might have been where you were going. But like, he could like, alternate. Like he could get like, muscular and stuff, right?

[Zach]

Was that like a thing?

[Golfer Gare]

There's that in here.

[Marianne]

I saves Luffy.

[Golfer Gare]

Doesn't he? Doesn't the operation? Like, I don't know, maybe. Maybe the. The sky's the limit with what you could do with hormones.

[Zach]

Hormones are required for the normal development of animals, plants, and fungi. This is Wikipedia. Do the broad definition. Yeah, I mean, it does a lot.

[Steve]

You're just in your mind palace for a moment.

[Marianne]

I think they can do whatever ODA wants them to do.

[Zach]

Mm. That's a very op power if you think about it more than, you know, one second. I mean, even Cough deserves it. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, but. Okay, I'm not gonna read the entire scientific analysis about hormones. I'll just move on to the next question. Anyway, that being said, save that for our next segment. But maybe Kaido could have his animal army if he still Wanted it with that devil fruit with hormones, like, just to make people more animalistic. I don't know, Sailor. Karna says, hey, Opp. Well, looks like everything's coming up God Valley. But seriously, I'm glad that Yamato has finished his journey. Maybe. Possibly. What are the odds for the COVID story to continue in the next chapter? Steve? None. Okay, there you go.

[Steve]

But it was like the next cover story is like, but. And it's like.

[Zach]

It'S not impossible. Oda could do that if he really.

[Steve]

Wanted, but it'd be like a black square. So then we would have to wait a whole nother week to find out what the hell he's talking about.

[Zach]

You're correct. That is how that would work. Kingdoji says, hey, Opp, I went, oh, here's the person who went to the One Piece Immersive Experience at Mercer Labs in New York City today. To sum it up, it stinks. It's all about Wano, which isn't inherently bad, but I'm honestly a little fatigued by it. It's a little disorienting. And half of the things are just art pieces that are normally there. Weird thing for my parents to take me to. How do people try to relate to you guys about One Piece? So I guess non One Piece fans, how do they try and relate to One Piece with you? It's a good way to.

[Golfer Gare]

They buy me soap.

[Zach]

Oh, we talked about this, didn't we? I forgot if we did this on air or not, but yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, that was. That whole. Okay, I'm remembering now what that was. Patreon. Patreon listeners get the full I hate One Piece soap. I think brand like anyone I know.

[Steve]

Who doesn't know the series just doesn't bother. They just, they I, I think they, they don't even like, I I. They don't even feign interest. They just don't ask about it. So I've never really had to do too much explaining.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

[Golfer Gare]

I'll get like a passing interest. But it's about my TikTok. I'm like, I, I talk about One Piece. And you get the same thing every time that if you tell someone you make videos online, they're like, oh, that's cool. And then they see how many followers you have and they're like, oh, okay.

[Steve]

Then they ask what you talk about.

[Zach]

Now they want to talk about, oh.

[Golfer Gare]

Now you're like a little influencer. And I'm like, I don't tell people where I live.

[Zach]

So no, I'm A little tiny influencer.

[Golfer Gare]

Internet niche, micro celebrity.

[Zach]

I don't even like that you're better than that. But you know, first of all, I want to preface this by saying LinkedIn is a cesspool. But I saw like something they're saying that like Gen Z and our Gen Alpha people who are children are like the youtuber and influencer are like the highest thing that they want to be. And I say this again with the caveat that LinkedIn is awful. But like I. That's nuts for many reasons. Cheaper than going, cheaper than college. Yeah, yeah, we know that. I know that's true. I think this Steve, I think artist was also on that list.

[Steve]

So doesn't surprise me because it's just. No, it, it's, it's more diy. You can do it on your own. You do have to invest time and money into it.

[Zach]

But it's something.

[Steve]

And it's, it's a hard, you know, it's a, it's a hard thing to crack. Like it's really hard to get like notice but like I don't know the people that do. And it does happen. But it's also, it's kind of like an artist thing too. It's like not every artist is going to become successful. But it doesn't surprise me at all. It's just relatable and it is. And then it's also. There's glamorous sides to it. I mean there's glamorous sides to like any kind of art making.

[Zach]

So podcasting, very glamorous.

[Steve]

We're like kings.

[Golfer Gare]

I mean it's the most present thing for kids where it's so visible to them, like where you can be creep. Like the whole thing is being creative whether like whatever you do within it and like, you know, maybe the, maybe the anti capitalist in me is like it's the best way to kind of beat the man. Even though like you're still working for basically Google at that point. But yeah, you know, probably seems better than a 9 to 5 when your parents are miserable every day. And then Jimmy from Mr. Beast looks so happy all the time.

[Zach]

Yeah, to be fair, most YouTubers look much happier than my life. Yes, I'm, I am positive. Well, I not like from personal experience. I will caveat, but there is no way people are as happy as they appear in a lot of those videos.

[Steve]

That's social media, baby.

[Zach]

That is social media. Which is funny because it bothers. Sells awful, you know, like negativity, but it also sells extreme positivity.

[Steve]

Yeah, I Mean, just like any like people that aren't influencers or creators, just, it's like not everyone's sharing like their, their worst days online.

[Zach]

Some people are. And that's a whole other issue if you're on LinkedIn.

[Golfer Gare]

Yeah. You share everything. How this relates back to B2B SaaS sales.

[Zach]

Yeah, no, that's, here's my AI this, this and my AI that. It's so crazy.

[Golfer Gare]

Like, that's how Grok got me through my divorce.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Marianne]

Oh my God.

[Zach]

It's like linked it. He is not far off from what.

[Golfer Gare]

That is so down the middle as you can get on, on LinkedIn. It's all fake too. They're all like AI posting.

[Zach]

It is these AI posts like blue, like blue sky. And not saying it's perfect, but Blue sky and LinkedIn are as opposite is. It's just crazy. Completely different ecosystems. They are. And it just, I mean, it. Also with any social media ecosystem, it's the one that you choose, you know, like you choose your, you choose your players in your, in your social media ecosystem.

[Marianne]

Pick your poison.

[Zach]

Pick your poison. I mean, sometimes things leak in from the outside one way or the other. But all that being said, what were we talking about? Yeah, I, I, I, I was gonna say the same thing. How do I, how do people who don't read one peacefully. To me it's about the podcast usually. And I also, like, I don't think people who especially like boomers, I don't think understand either, like, why are you wasting your time with that or why aren't you making $7 million a week on it? Like it's one or the other.

[Steve]

Whereas now we're in such a different time now where everyone's got a freaking podcast and.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Steve]

But also it's like a lot of like, you know, celebrities, it's like the, you know, it's the next frontier for them, you know, so it's, yeah.

[Zach]

Now I feel like, oh, this is an old story. But Billy West, I Remember back in 2010, we saw him at a very tiny convention, Steve and I, and he was going off and I think very correctly so about how celebrities kind of get put into voice acting roles just for their name and they don't actually know how to voice act. There are many exceptions. But, you know, I do agree with that. That kind of, it's like celebrities, you got your own thing, you're doing fine.

[Steve]

Are they?

[Zach]

That's true.

[Golfer Gare]

Finding out how little money people actually make off like Netflix television shows blew my mind.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'll let You guys inform me.

[Steve]

On this after streaming has definitely thrown everything asunder. And also just less things are getting made. Actors aren't getting residuals from television anymore, no DVD sales.

[Golfer Gare]

So you can't even get that after the fact anymore either.

[Zach]

I miss commentaries and bonuses, features.

[Steve]

That's why, like, I'll watch like Hulu with ads. And I'm like, every ad is a celebrity hawking something. I'm like, damn, times are freaking tough.

[Zach]

Well, recessions. Yeah, I. How many of. How many of those have we gone through as a podcast now and then.

[Steve]

You got to feel bad for the commercial actors that aren't getting work anymore.

[Zach]

Yeah, I mean, I do enjoy not watching commercials and that my son doesn't really know what commercials are.

[Steve]

Of all the Geico cavemen gone.

[Golfer Gare]

Or even just him trying to bust in with the. He's like, did you say Gecko? And they're like, no, it's Geico. And he's trying to run into like.

[Zach]

Their offices guys, they're not paying us enough for Geico for free advertisement. And by enough, I mean. Well, actually, I don't know, maybe they are. It's dynamically inserted somewhere, so maybe, I don't know. Know. Anyway, next question. Before we talk more about the Geico Gecko, Big Mike said, I'm sad. Opp. Yamato's cover story ended today, and I was hoping it would go on for another 10 to 15 chapters. Anyway, when do you think the COVID story took place? Did the entirety of it happen while the. After the day after the Straw hats left Wano and were sailing for Egad. Maybe Yamato went to Elbaf while they were on Egghead and he'll show up after the flashback is over. Like when Jinbe shows up in Wano after Odin's flashback.

[Steve]

I think since nothing. Since nothing major happened in this cover story that's like important to the current story, it really doesn't matter to me.

[Golfer Gare]

Imagine it happens like right after they leave too. Because it's the whole shogun. There's a name to it. Like the Surrogate Pilgrimage.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

But like, I feel like there's a. There's a better title for it, but it happened to happen immediately. Just Surrogate Pilgrimage. Like I get to walk around Wano.

[Zach]

I think you see one piece, like time frames are really tough, especially post time skip. Well, actually just generally like how like Trust Rosa takes place in like half a day and that's 100 chapters. So wrap your head around that.

[Steve]

Don't let me remind you that apparently everything before the time skip was just three months.

[Zach]

Yeah. That also pisses me off because it's like, okay, how close to people? You were gone longer than you were together. Come on. Yeah. And Iota definitely has a time frame in mind, but, like, it feels like that the Yamato stuff could be over a few weeks because he's going all around Wano and which I assume is not a small grouping of islands conglomerated together. Whatever the hell the backstory is there anyway. I don't know. That's my answer. Next, Sheepman says, does it feel like for anyone else that God. That the God Valley portion of this flashback is being well fleshed out and. And also not at the same time. There are a lot of characters showing up. Events we've known about happening and getting a lot of unexpected moment. A lot on unexpected moments. But this chapter at Eris's character being shown off but the first time we hear about her and when it's revealed that Teach has been born, their first interaction and them falling in love happens off screen or off page. And also Roxx and Girl and clashing isn't shown. Most importantly, Kaido turning into a fish is skipped entirely. We gotta hold Oda accountable for that one.

[Golfer Gare]

Your listeners really wanted him to turn into a fish.

[Zach]

I think. Steve, what do you call that?

[Steve]

This would have been funny. Like I said, I don't think that was ever a guarantee that he was gonna just turn into a fish.

[Zach]

It's like everyone's holding Steve accountable.

[Steve]

I just thought it would have been cool.

[Golfer Gare]

I think some of the things they brought up are like, maybe it's just the way I read one piece. It's like, I don't need to see more than a page or a panel of Eris and. And rocks getting together. Like, he can't get shacky. So let's. We gotta move on. But I can't think of anything that I don't feel satisfied with.

[Steve]

And, well, maybe action too. But like, Oda really is like, yeah, you got to fill in the gaps there. I got bigger fish to fry here. I'm not doing a whole chapter dedicated to a Rocks and Garling fight. Which is kind of unfortunate. But, you know, I guess that's. I think there's a lot of chapters where I feel like Oda's like, eh, the anime's gonna do this.

[Golfer Gare]

So anything to make Garling look like a bum, though. I can get behind.

[Steve]

Yeah, same here.

[Zach]

Okay, let's go to some emails. One is a suggestion for a new trivia segment so If I indeed take that up, I will go through that later. But we have a longish one from Psych who says thanks for the recommendations. I was curious. This is follow up from last week. I think I was curious if there were any prior oh, so this person stopped listening to our show I think like episode 500 or something. And we're almost up to 900 now and is looking for episodes to go back on. So that's the first part of the question. I'm not going to rehash that though. I also want to clarify in regards to Pel last time that I wasn't particularly pushing awakening as an explanation for his survival. More so that Pel went through a deadly experience much like Lufiatop Onigashima and in the aftermath made a strong connection that led to his awakening. I'm not going to read this whole thing because there's a lot and I don't think it's like I think it's well thought out, but it's a lot of going through last time. Also in chapter in episode 583 of our podcast entitled the Big Cannoli in relation to Shokugeki no Sanji and the Boichi Zoro versus Mihawk Redraw. Wow, this really takes me back. I've always been enamored with the intersection betwixt the fictional martial arts of one piece, so I would love a side story displaying that diversity. Maybe something during Robin's two years with the the revolutionaries while learning Fishman Karate from koala, dealing with the Rokushiki wielding Cipher Pole or Marines or other martial artists. The mangaka is what's tripping me up Though we're years past Iraqi's Ripple and Spin days, but his modern art still remains impeccable. Tatsuya Endo of Spy Family definitely would be solid for the kind. Okay, so he's talking about other mangakas who could potentially redraw something. That's a good question. Are there any mangaka that you think would be fun to redraw a chapter or a scene in one piece that you could think of?

[Golfer Gare]

I mean, well, yeah, yeah, that's easy peasy. But the guy who does Sakamoto days because that's coming to an end soon, Getting a nice redraw of just wow.

[Zach]

I could see that there's a.

[Golfer Gare]

Of a fight, you know. Well, they wanted martial arts explained. Like I. I don't know if I misunderstood what that I think it was.

[Zach]

Several different points here is how I was getting it. But maybe, maybe I think maybe they're suggest. I think they're suggesting if we got another side story like we did with Shokugeki no Sanji, that kind of stuff, I would want one. I think he was saying, or they were saying about martial arts, so.

[Golfer Gare]

Which I agree that like that'd be right up the alley of the guy that does Sakamoto Days.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

I'm trying to think Fujimoto Disciple, if I remember.

[Zach]

Oh, really?

[Golfer Gare]

I believe so. The guy from Spy Family and then the person that does Downadon. I think we're all.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

Chainsaw man.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of. I mean there's so many good. Urasawa is never going to do a one piece thing, but I mean, I know we gushed on him last golfer. Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

It had to be all political. It has to be all because he doesn't.

[Steve]

I don't know.

[Zach]

You're right. It's not actually. It would be. I mean, there's plenty of one piece stuff that is. That fits that. I'm just trying to think of like a good one.

[Golfer Gare]

I feel like most croc taking over Alabasta. Like if we just got kind of like an insert of how he took over the kingdom. Same thing with Doflamingo.

[Zach]

Like Doflamingo would be a lot of dialogue. Yeah. Or inner monologue. Do Flamingo does feel like Iraqi. And anything with Doflamingo actually sounds pretty perfect because he's flamboyant, ridiculous and probably monologues a lot. And that feels like a jojo anyone to me. Oh, that is. What would I have Urasawa do? What is like the most talky thing in one piece? I am trying to think.

[Golfer Gare]

The reverie.

[Zach]

Yeah. He could just do the Reverie. That's true.

[Golfer Gare]

Everybody's got big noses.

[Zach]

Yes. Everyone's got very specific types of noses. Yeah. They're all very European. Oh, God, that's. I want to get my hopes up. Oh, we were talking about Witch Hat atelier. A little between the segments. And I think that author is incredible too. And I'd love to see what would be. You know what? Even like this recent Elbaf stuff with Emu and those like devil powers might be fun in that style. Yeah. I gotta think on that. And I'm just looking at my shelf. There's so many good manga artists. We could talk about that question for a really long time. But instead I'm gonna take us all the way up to Blue Sky Pia, which is our Blue sky questions. Since we had a few first comes from Victor Warmergard, who says, what are we thinking about Yamato? Is he finally joining Luffy? Will he eat more Dongo? What's next for Best boy?

[Steve]

They're gonna start their own YouTube channel and a Patreon.

[Zach]

You know, True Gen Alpha. Actually, isn't he, like, much older than a lot of the straw hats? He's, like, 30. He's, like, closer to my age, I think. No, I thought he was in his 30s.

[Golfer Gare]

Closer to Jinbei than Luffy.

[Zach]

No, I don't know about that.

[Steve]

I thought Yamato was late 20s.

[Golfer Gare]

40.

[Steve]

No.

[Zach]

Jim Bay's. I thought Jimmy was in his 60s. Jim Bay, age one piece. 46. Okay. I don't like how I'm getting so close to jimpe's age. All right, next question. Scotty Beveridge said, how bummed are you that we didn't get to see. Okay, the Magikarp Kaido flop around God Valley. We get it. You like Steve. We get it. Ice. Ice. Fisher Tenacity says, what a week. New York Comic Con showed off the Elbafits. More English dub. And now God Valley's main event. Question, what are your hopes for the next cover story in 2026? Which is probably when it's going to be Edison in with Area Centomaru. Maybe Sword Centaur is still alive. I always ask this question, and I'm never sure the answer.

[Steve]

I don't think he's dead.

[Golfer Gare]

Is Sword too important to get a cover story at this point? Like, what they're doing?

[Zach]

I'll be honest. I still don't get what SWORD is really supposed to be.

[Golfer Gare]

Oda having his cake and eating it too.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

Oh, they quit the Marines. But.

[Zach]

But they didn't.

[Steve]

But they didn't.

[Golfer Gare]

They can ignore orders. And I'm like, this is.

[Zach]

It's kind. This is bs. It's.

[Steve]

It's a little sloppy. I wasn't. I. I wasn't really a fan of the reveal there. I was like, oh, are they like, oh, are they, like, secret resistance within the Marines?

[Zach]

So they're like. But they're not.

[Steve]

They're not just like, there's.

[Golfer Gare]

They still uphold the world government. Like, they still believe in it.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

And I've always wondered if Oda kind of always knew how nasty the world government is, but how conflated the Marines in the world government would become even then. Like, even, like, chapter four. You. You already have Ax and Morgan. So, like, I don't know. I feel like he's trying to give Kobe something so that when you Know the inevitable loopy v. Kobe moment happens. It's not world government versus Luffy. It's Kobe's idea of justice versus.

[Steve]

That's a good point.

[Zach]

I think that's which, like, great.

[Golfer Gare]

You want to have actual justice, but you wear the badge that slaves identify you as their slaver.

[Zach]

Next cover story. What are thoughts? I. I do agree with that whole.

[Steve]

Discussion, but I guess it's gonna be something egghead related. It's sent tomorrow. Wouldn't be a shocker there.

[Zach]

I think Edison would be awesome.

[Steve]

I love Edison's body blew up.

[Zach]

No, he made a new body. You don't remember?

[Steve]

Oh yeah, the weird. Like the Tinker toy. Not Tinker toy, but like the weird.

[Zach]

Like that's mashed together. Yeah, that's mixed together.

[Steve]

I forgot about that.

[Golfer Gare]

I completely forgot about that.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Golfer Gare]

I thought Edison was dead this whole time.

[Zach]

I thought it was just Edison. It was just Edison. And Lilith. What happened to York? I legitimately don't remember.

[Golfer Gare]

She went to Marijois.

[Zach]

If I remember correctly. She did. Okay.

[Golfer Gare]

They talk about taking her.

[Zach]

Okay. So it's just the three of them that are alive, as far as I know.

[Steve]

Well, they all exist within Lilith.

[Zach]

That's true too.

[Steve]

And don't forget, there's the big Vegapunk clone in the.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah. Now the question is, is that ever gonna actually happen with everything going on right now?

[Steve]

It's a shame. We've already seen what Vegapunk looks like as a. As a child because of Bonnie's powers.

[Zach]

So the anticipation of seeing adorable is what you're gonna.

[Steve]

Little baby Vega punk.

[Zach]

Little baby Einstein. Which is also a brand.

[Golfer Gare]

I think if we got the Edison. Because the whole thing about them both being connected to punk records but like, shut off from each other. Like how York knows that information. She's still a Vega punk. And then Lilith is still a Vega punk and still has punk records. Like, maybe it can give us some clarity on like, how the world government can't just have York tell them where the straw hats are. Like, because they all know the same information. Like, do they all record it at the same time? That's one thing about, like both of them being connected to punk records. I'm still a little confused about.

[Zach]

Edison would be my answer to the COVID story question. And I. The. The punk records is so different now that it's literally in the cloud. Although it was in the cloud before, I guess too. But now it's really because the cloud.

[Golfer Gare]

Is somebody else's computer. At the end of the day, somebody else's brain.

[Zach]

Oh, I meant a literal cloud, but yes, that too. He says, after this, it seems likely to me that Rocks will be turned into a demon. And that's the reason I think domi reversi is what they mean specifically. And that's the real reason Garp and Roger fight him, making the whole hero of the Navy story based on a lie. With that in mind, how do you think Garp is able to remain in the Navy after literally fighting emu? We actually don't know if he does. Was literally fighting. I'll say that. But, yeah. Thoughts?

[Steve]

Sorry I missed out on that. What happened?

[Zach]

How does Garp. This is more of a golfer, I guess, is saying, but how does Garp able to remain in the Navy after literally fighting emu? And we did kind of touch on this, but we don't know if he does.

[Steve]

We don't.

[Zach]

Like, I'm.

[Steve]

Yeah, I think I'm. I. I guess there's been a little bit of, you know, Garp backlash for, like, man, he knows all this stuff and he's a bootlicker, but I'm still waiting. Yeah, I mean, you know, he's still a cop, but I'm like, I'm waiting to see how this plays out, because I guess he's seeing all this stuff. Yeah, I. I want to get into.

[Golfer Gare]

Some charity in this. In this moment for all this kind of stuff. It's just.

[Zach]

Just.

[Golfer Gare]

It still feels hard to know that he sticks around after this. And, like, what are his actions here and why does he, like, not want to talk about it so much? Like, what. What does he do? He sees all of this happen. He sees these three or four people going up against. Literally, like, he's freaking out, seeing dead slaves everywhere and dead civilians. And now he sees, like, a demonic presence with, like, crazy hockey. Like, and then you. You clock back in the next day. Like, let's see how he goes through God Valley. And I'm praying we get the dragon interaction. Like, I need. I need his son to hold him to account.

[Zach]

I agree. But I will add that. And this is not Apologize, this is not being an apologist for Garp, but I am pretty sure in his mind, after whatever happens and transpires, that he thinks he is doing the right thing. Like, just how Oda has written this character so far. He thinks he is doing the right thing in the. In as good a way he possibly can. Like, he is trying to work within a system that is. That he knows is fundamentally not just flawed, but fundamentally evil. And I think he's, like, okay, either I do this within the system or I try and become a pirate or a revolutionary and a criminal, like, as he's seen it his entire life. Like, I think for him, I think that's. That's the internal debate that he has. And it does not make him a good guy for doing that.

[Golfer Gare]

You know, makes him an interesting character.

[Zach]

Absolutely. Which I. That's kind of why. Look, like, if I want my Garp to be perfect, like, you know, if I want him to be like a good guy, period, you know, that's one thing. But I think it is a much more interesting character study to do some. Someone who means the best as he possibly can, but does. But does it so imperfectly that he ends up supporting a system that, you know, subjects people to the worst of mankind just by where he is. And he's like, kind of given it's. There's no real good choice for him at this point in his career as far as he's concerned. Like, what does he do? Dragon is. Is to be fair to Dragon, in a very different point, he just joined. Like, he's brand new. Like, what does he have to lose compared to Garp?

[Golfer Gare]

I guess, other than his life.

[Zach]

Other than. Well, yeah. Which he's willing to sacrifice. But it's like there's less. There's less baggage for him, though. Tons of it. But like, for Garp, he, like, is my career. I've done this my whole life. This is what I know. This is what I love for whatever reason, but. Oh, shit, this is happening. What do I do now? It's interesting. I don't agree with his decision at the end of the day, but I think it's really interesting. Yeah. Which is what you want. That's all I got for Piece together. So why don't we round off the show. This has been episode 888 of the One Piece podcast, Triple 8s. There's a joke there, I'm sure I don't know. Thank you all for coming on the show this week. As we mentioned, the manga will be off next week. The current plan is to do an episode devoted to the. The symbols of One Piece being used through protests throughout the world. I have been, myself and Dr. Gomez, we've been doing a lot of research and just like diving into it along with other members of our crew. It's. It's like. I think last week we had said something like, it's not. It's not surprising that the One Piece as a symbol has been latched onto by. By Gen Z and revolutionaries and leftists and so on and so forth. That makes sense given the story particularly. But the word I think I've been using to describe it is still stunning to see. Like, so so far, just for a little taste of, for next week, it's been going on in Indonesia, Nepal, there were protests about Palestine and also about social programs and stuff in France and Italy. It's been, wait, here I have a whole thing here. Madagascar, Italy, France, Philippines, Morocco, Mexico, ecuador, Brazil, the U.S. peru and others. Like that's just, you know, the beginning of the iceberg. This is just what I've been able to find with my own research so far. And it's, it's just been stunning is the only word I have for it because it's like I'm not shocked that, that it is a resonant symbol. I'm just shocked that one piece is at the point where it is that resonant symbol. So we'll be talking about that in a lot more depth next week and please continue to check out our social media and stuff for updates on that. We also in the coming weeks we'll be doing our usual thing. But before we go golfer, where could people find you?

[Golfer Gare]

You can find me on TikTok at Golfer Garebear.

[Zach]

Marianne where could people find you?

[Marianne]

On the hell site known as Twitter, Instagram and Blue Sky, Though I've been forgetting to post post there. Whoops. As Marianne D. Hobbit and Steve, where.

[Zach]

Could people find you?

[Steve]

You can find me at my website, Steve yerko.com social media, blue sky, Instagram, etc.

[Zach]

By name.

[Steve]

Steve Yurko Listen to me on Percy Plays games over on YouTube. Listen to poor Kids Flashback and yeah, that's it.

[Zach]

And please, I'm on Blue Sky. You can check me out if you want. I occasionally post Zach Logan.com you could check out the podcast at One Piece podcast.com patreon.com One Piece podcast anywhere you get your podcast, anywhere you get your podcasts. Look for One Piece Podcast and you could check us out on social media anywhere you get that. Also at One Piece Podcast, including Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and the rest. Am I forgetting anything? Check us out patreon.com One Piece podcast.

[Steve]

Steve once again, I'll plug the Sticker Club. You have till this Friday to vote on the Robin or the Emmett Sticker. And if those stickers intrigue you and you haven't signed up for a Patreon yet, you have all month, the rest of this month to sign up for that. But you only have till this Friday to vote on which one's getting made. So if this interests you, don't sleep on it.

[Zach]

And there'll be another month next month to get more stuff.

[Steve]

There will be.

[Zach]

Well, that's to be seen. So we'll see you next week, everyone. My name is Zach.

[Steve]

And my name is Steve.

[Zach]

Goodbye, everyone.

[Golfer Gare]

Bye. Bye.

[Steve]

Toodles.