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Zach
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Sam Leach
See so many cars.
Zach
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Sam Leach
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Zach
Just a hop, skip and a click away. And bought. No better feeling than when everything just clicks. Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. This is the One Piece podcast episode 9, 905 for the week of Monday, February 9, 2026. My name is Zach and on today's show we have very special guest. He is the translator for One piece in weekly Shonen, Jump and Manga. Plus Steven Paul's with us. How's it going, Stephen?
Joey Weiser
Hey.
Stephen Paul
Going. Going good.
Zach
That's good. Yeah, that's good. We also have our anime recap host, contributor and card game collector, Sam Leach.
Sam Leach
I don't think I qualify as a collector, but bonjour.
Zach
Yes, I'm glad you're speaking your native French. And we have our artist for today's episode, also an Eisner Award nominated author. Every time I say I'm going to write them down. Dragon Racer, Ghost Hog, Merman, the Littlest Fighter. Am I missing at least one right? No, none. Okay, we have Joey Weiser here with us. How's it going, Joey?
Joey Weiser
I mean, there are more books, but that's good enough. Is it? Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me again. And yeah, I'll be drawing the episode image so I'm sure everyone's enjoyed that so far. I have no idea what it's going to be, but how do you not.
Zach
Know you did it and it's there already and everyone sees it.
Joey Weiser
Um, that's true.
Zach
Last but not least. It's been a while. I wano feels like it was only a few months ago, but I've been told that that's not the case. But we have author not. We have. I don't know if you're authoring, to be fair. Oh, no, no.
Isaiah Colbert
Not planning on it.
Zach
Coming right off of Joey. Sorry. We have reporter I know at Aftermath and you've been like everywhere. I feel like you were on Kotaku. I don't know if you still do, but. Isaiah Colbert, welcome back.
Isaiah Colbert
Yeah, nice to be back. Nice to be back. Definitely been keeping up. I've like, it's been rough because I've been not keeping up with one piece. I've been like banking chapters for I feel like weeks at a time. I'll be like maybe once every four weeks. I'll be like, oh, I need to catch up. Because my friend who catches up is like, Isaiah, have you read the new chapter? Like, oh, I need to do that. Because you've said that one too many times that we've been hanging out. So that's a sign I should be catching up.
Zach
I think 90% of the people that come on the show do that. I don't. I feel like most people who come on don't do what we do. They're not crazy. Although we've like really committed to the bit here. I don't think we could get out of it. But for people who don't know you, Isaiah, where can. What have you worked on? Where could people find you, I should say at the top of the show? Yeah, yeah.
Isaiah Colbert
So yeah, I'm a former kotaku writer. I used to go by the Otaku of Kotaku back when they were doing more anime. Anime and manga coverage. I was kind of one of the guys who was mostly doing that got laid off, I think in 2023, I want to say. So since then I've been kind of being the Otaku without Borders has been my rebranding of all that. So I've been writing for places like Rolling Stone. I've been writing for IGN for a spell and I'm currently writing for Aftermath. Kind of worker owned, user kind of funded, I guess or user subscription based kind of website that we do video game stuff and I mostly do our anime and manga coverage and things like that. And we do more industry facing stuff and just general news without all the gloat of ads and stuff. There is kind of our mantra so that no AI shit and if anything we shit on AI. It's kind of our whole thing. So I've been working there and also been a contributor over at Gizmodo at the iO9 desk. So lately I've cracked the code of crack the system and I've been using just writing there as Just a weekly thing to be like, hey, I have a backlog of things I've been wanting to read or things I've been. And I need to put my feet to fire to do that. So I've been like, oh, this week I'll write about this one manga I've been reading and the next week I'll write about this other manga that I've been reading. And in the back of my head I'm like, all right, this will make it so that I will have to have read this by that point so I can write about it. So that's currently what I've been doing.
Zach
That's also what 90% of our guests say about one piece when they come on. It's like, eh, I was like 30 chapters behind. But I had to come on your show so that forced me to do it.
Isaiah Colbert
Yeah, I'm usually better about it, but one piece is usually probably one of the last ones I read in the weekly shonen lineup. I usually maybe start with like Blue Lock or I think what was the other one? Or Hemanton. Just something light. And then it's all right here. It's kind of the meatier thing to get into. Let's save one piece for last. Is usually this. I need to remember 10 years worth of information sometimes at a time.
Zach
All right.
Isaiah Colbert
Or what are we getting into?
Zach
Yeah, I can't put myself in those shoes. Like I like even Akana Banashi. Like. So I was like catching up on a few this week and I'm like, okay, what was going on? They were having a conversation. This is very confusing. A conversation. But in one piece it's like 10 battles happening and then the backstory of something that went on for several years and Yeah, I get that. And every time, Isaiah, I see one of your articles coming across my feed. I'm always into it. I saw the one from a few months ago that you had reposted with the Arakawa and the. Not pseudonyms, but like disguises for all the mangaka. Which is something that I've always wanted to be spotlighted and I'm happy has been. That's just the fresh. That's my recency bias though, with that too. And also that she has a new. There's a new anime series coming out from the Demons of the underworld, right? Something like that.
Isaiah Colbert
Something like that, yeah. It's one that I have a blind spot on. So I look forward to diving into it as an anime only. At least starting out and seeing how it pans out. Because usually whenever those Things happen. I'm like, all right, I've gotten to the anime. I'm going to. I'm going to peek ahead in the manga and see whether I want to commit to that or just treat it like other series where I'm just like, demons are like. I feel like I'm getting the better version of it if I just watch the anime or something like that.
Zach
There are a lot of those too. It's Demons of the Shadow Realm, I think, to be fair.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
It is a very generic. It sounds like, oh, if I made up an anime title, this is what it would be.
Sam Leach
Our cards sent to the greatest. Do they get sent to the Shadow Realm?
Zach
No, no.
Joey Weiser
Oh, they're just.
Stephen Paul
They're going all. All over, back and forth.
Zach
So, Joey, I know you and I have birthday right around the same time and that show comes out. Hakano Banashi, I think, is in April. Witch Hat Atelier, which I am extremely excited about, is in April. Wasn't there a fourth one I mentioned? Anyway, and this one, Steel Ball Run.
Joey Weiser
Starts in March, I think.
Zach
Oh, well, that doesn't count though. Is it Aries related? I guess.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Joey Weiser
But that's going to be a busy month for starting anime.
Zach
Yeah, that's a busy month for me.
Isaiah Colbert
Getting paid because I'm like, oh, cool.
Zach
I get to review it. All these things from the bills paid. Yeah, I know. There you go. And it's good stuff. Hopefully. I mean, at least all I haven't read Arakawa's latest. But all those manga are excellent. I know. So I'm excited to see if they do a good job with those. Before we get started, I'll start with podcast news. Just a few days ago, we interviewed congressional candidate Kat Abu Ghazali on the podcast. Super proud to have that. That's going to be released midweek. It should be out now. If you're listening on Patreon on the Patreon Channel, which you could subscribe to. Just $5 a month, you get access to, you know, exclusive and long episodes and alternate art, alternate titles. And for $12 a month, we have a sticker of the month crew. That's my pitch in like 5 seconds. 30 seconds. I don't know what that was, so check that out. And her interview will be available for everyone this Thursday. It's the current plan. So excited about that. More one piece. Politicians who actually understand the political implications of one piece is kind of the thesis, I think, of that. Not the ones who completely do not understand it. And yeah, that's the big podcast News One piece news. There's one non sports related story. So we're recording this during the Super Bowl. So we're obviously all very, very big fanatics of football and sports generally as. Sure. Right. Well, Steven is probably the most Baseball. Yeah, but that's baseball. Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
So what I was going to mention is. Did you know on March 31st the Mariners and the Yankees are playing in Seattle. There's going to be a one piece. The same thing I think that they did last time for one piece where it's like a one piece night at T Mobile park there in Seattle. I see you get a commemorative jersey. The jersey looks pretty cool. I would go for just the jersey. Like that's actually good looking merch. You can't always find good looking merch. Thank you, Steven.
Joey Weiser
They somehow like cute ified that like stock Luffy image made him Chibi.
Zach
So that one. That one is. I'm sure you didn't notice. That one's for the Red Sox in Boston on May 12th. They have. That one is a little more of an interesting get. Not jersey. What is that? Like a zip up?
Stephen Paul
Like. Like a bomber jacket?
Zach
Bomber jacket? Yeah. They did cheapify Luffy and it includes a Wally plush, which I assume a Wally named after the wall. That makes sense. Yes.
Stephen Paul
The green.
Zach
The green Monster. Monster dressed as Time Skip Luffy from the Fishman island outfit. Because that's the only outfit people know Luffy in. I have to say it's cursed. I mean I still didn't.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, they didn't give him scar stitching or anything. So poor attention to detail.
Zach
Not off to the start, obviously. Yeah, they. We all know Wally the mascot stabs himself in the eye in the first inning. That happens. Don't. Come on. Don't recon this. What's. God, I'm forgetting the. I know the Philly fanatic. But there's the. The. The amazing mascot for the hockey team whose name is Escaping Gritty. Gritty.
Joey Weiser
When I see you talking about Gritty being punched through the chest in order to make that scar on. On Luffy.
Zach
Or Gritty is. Oh, that's. Oh, you mean the X scar. I thought you meant the one under the eye. But yes, both. It could be pre time Skip Wally. But I just want to.
Joey Weiser
Not with that outfit.
Zach
Gritty as Luffy. That although gritty, I feel like would be a different character in one piece. Let's be honest. Who's the most cursed character in one piece? Is the question there. Which I'll leave open.
Stephen Paul
You got a choice? Yeah.
Zach
And in Less sports news. Heroines. The novel is getting an anime in July based on the Nami story. I think this first time we heard that July 5th is the date a new key art, a promotional art poster came out which looks gorgeous because everything out of that looks gorgeous. Any thoughts on that? If anyone, back in the day, they.
Stephen Paul
Used to call these OVAs.
Joey Weiser
I guess that is O NA now.
Zach
Is it airing on TV though? I don't know.
Stephen Paul
I haven't checked it. I honestly don't know.
Zach
You said it and then I'm just like, oh, I actually have no idea. I'll check that one.
Joey Weiser
I've been wondering that too. If it was going to be like a half hour TV episode coming. I like the fan letter one. Or what?
Stephen Paul
Or the Zorro. Or was it Zorro? Or was it the one shot from before Monsters? The one that the other animation studio did?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, that was Monsters.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that's right.
Joey Weiser
Well, that was straight to Netflix.
Zach
Right? I think that was an ona. This one, Is it Toei? It has AN Air Date 11:15pm so that's their time slot too. I think that's the One Piece time slot.
Stephen Paul
All right. That would explain that.
Zach
I don't know if it's Toei, but I mean, it looks completely different. It isn't.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, yeah. It's based on the character designs by the artist who accompanied the novel, which are really nice. They're very, very well designed.
Zach
Yes.
Stephen Paul
Very attractive looking characters.
Zach
Yeah, it's. I love seeing one piece reimagined in a completely different style and genre. So I'm very excited for this. I have not read heroines yet either. The novelizations are really a blind spot for me.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, it's fun, it's cute. And the Nami story is really. I understand besides just the fact that Nami's in it, why they would choose that one. It's a good story.
Zach
The Hancock one I heard good things about. Was that from you, Joe?
Stephen Paul
Hancock one is very funny. I keep talking that one up because I had to translate it. But that was in the second book.
Zach
So you had to. You mean you got to. I got to, yes. And you got paid. I hope that's all. Good, good. We have to check in here on Viz.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Cover the bases. Yeah, cover our bases. Today we're going to go through chapter 1173 with these good folks here. We're going to do some piece together. The anime is still off the name of the chapter, Warrior Generation. Since we're all not watching the Super Bowl, I think we could say we are the greatest warriors of our generation as well. I don't know what that even meant.
Stephen Paul
I don't know either. I was just going to say I.
Zach
Like halfway through saying that, I'm like, okay, I just got to finish the sentence. Anyway, so let's get into the show. If you're the purchasing manager at a.
Stephen Paul
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Zach
That's why, hands down, you count on.
Stephen Paul
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Isaiah Colbert
At the start of their shift.
Stephen Paul
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Zach
This is the manga recap for chapter 1173, Warrior Generation. You could read this chapter and all chapters as soon as they come out@shonenjump, viz.com or mangaplus. Shueisha Co JP I guess I'll do the COVID which I don't normally, but come on, how could I not? Because this is a reader request from Hoshi Mia Usopp smearing honey on the tip of his nose to lure in rhinoceros beetles. An alzheimer, I think we could say.
Stephen Paul
I don't like this one. I don't like this at all.
Joey Weiser
Not a fan, is it.
Zach
Is it squat? Is it the connotation?
Sam Leach
If you were the beetle, would you feel awkward?
Stephen Paul
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Joey Weiser
I like the further proof that Chopper is actually a bear.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Zach
He's just turning into a bear. The rhinoceros beetle looks thrilled to be getting this nose honey.
Stephen Paul
Well, actually, I can explain something that may shed some light on Chopper's presence here. So if you look down at the book next to the honey, there's some real tricky looking Japanese down there. So this would.
Zach
English.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. Well written in the Alphabet. But this would presumably be a. What they call a zukang or like a picture index. So it's a picture book of beetles, I would guess, or insects or something like that. And it looks like it says hobo shika, kabutomushi. And kabutomushi is like, I guess it's rhinoceros beetles. Right. It means helmet bug in Japanese. But those are like, you know, the big ones that the kids catch and make them fight and stuff. But the. The hobo she got. It's kind of hard to tell for sure, but it kind of sounds like. So hobo would be like mostly or almost. And then shika could be deer, so. Because if you look at the bug, it looks like he just straight up has antlers coming out of his snout. And. And so actually, when I was working on, I was like, oh, should I just call it a stag beetle instead? But then I looked it up and I was like, wait, no, stag beetles are a specific thing. Like, they're like. They are literally a different type of bug that has a different type of little prong on the. On the face. So I could not use that. But. So, yeah, the fact that it's basically a deer rhinoceros beetle might explain why Chopper is there, too.
Zach
There is a picture of fictional.
Stephen Paul
Yes. Yeah. This is not a real. Okay, yeah, fine. But you can see on the left. On the left page, it looks like there's a deer with antlers.
Zach
There's a deer with antlers and a stick with. Oh, no, no, that's not deer. That must be the rhinoceros beetle getting lured in by a stick of honey.
Stephen Paul
And by a nose with honey on it.
Zach
Or a nose with honey on it.
Sam Leach
Yeah, I was thinking Chopper's looks like that. That, like, caricature that big mom, like, young big mom was based off of.
Zach
I know.
Sam Leach
Isn't it like a mascot?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, yeah.
Zach
You know what? Yes. Also, if Milky still exists. Right. Or did it end up.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, yeah, no, totally.
Zach
They should use. Have they done this with.
Joey Weiser
They did a one piece collaboration thing a few years ago when I was in Japan and I went into one of the stores and got a little, like, blind box thing, and I got a little Jimbe that stylized, like Pico chan, I think is her name.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, I was. I was trying to think of what the name of the character was, but. Yeah, I think that's right.
Joey Weiser
Yeah.
Zach
I looked up Milky one piece, and I got the character, the reindeer. Yeah, that does also love Chopper, to be fair. So really, there's the connection.
Sam Leach
There's layers to this.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Chopper does do that face in that. But I think he. I think it's a more. I think Oda did a pretty good job bringing that essence in. You're 100% right. It definitely looks like that. That's excellent. So why don't you like this cover story, Steven?
Stephen Paul
I would rather not say unpublic.
Zach
Okay. Get your mind out of wherever it is.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. Out of the honey pot. I will say I appreciate Usopp bringing his paintball helmet. His. His headgear for straight from the.
Zach
Yeah, I love that course.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Yeah. Is that. Oh, it's the. What do you. It's the same kind of thing that chopper has. I don't know what that's called. Like the kind of aviator kind of looking helmet.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, the strap helmet. Yeah.
Zach
Yeah. It's a cool one. I like that one. I imagine it being colorful because. Let's start. When I saw the first page. What do you call it? Thing in Shonen Jump where they preview it a couple days ahead of time. I'm like, oh, it's a two page spread because it was a square and I've never. Did they change their. Anyway, kill Jarl is where we begin. As we see Jarl and his little puny giant forces against the evil forces of evil who are much larger because they're evil. Everything's aflame as they face off. Here you have evil Dory and evil Brogy facing off sword and head Jarl. Tory Brogy, what has become. Wait, I have to do an old voice. Tory, No, I can't do this right now. Okay. Tory Brokey, what has become of you? He says. Meanwhile, he and Stanson are running. Thank you, Steven. Running. Running toward Oris Castle and the town. They said the name of it, right? It was like Westport.
Stephen Paul
It's just. Yeah, it's just the western village is what they call it.
Zach
That is boring. In Wano we got. Every port had a really specific name that no one could remember. West Port, I guess in Elbaf they don't. They don't have the same.
Stephen Paul
Anyway, yeah.
Zach
So we all were on pins and needles. I think this was last week. About what is Rowan or Zoro's secret plan that he's really put together that he's crafted? Obviously big, you know, galaxy brain theories. I think we all agreed it would be something about cutting something. So. So. So Stanson and Haradin have the same question. Okay, what's the plan? And he's like, first you have to tell me if it's okay to cut them into pieces. That's the entirety of the plan. I'm pretty sure that's the confirmation there. That's the entirety of the plan. Iridan says that's a good question. Good job, Zorro. There. Are that brain cells working? They're all members of the giant pirate crew. So protecting Chief Stancing continues. They finish each other's sentences.
Stephen Paul
Sandwiches.
Zach
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Protecting Chief Jarl's life is our top priority. But ideally, we don't want to harm vaunted warriors who've earned our respect. Meanwhile, these are just two schmucks, right? We don't know who.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, these I Don't know what their names are.
Zach
Yeah, they're just Evil Gian. Is that Hired And Stanson and. Oh no, they've spotted us. Remember, don't get sandwiched. I'm sorry, sentenced.
Joey Weiser
Yeah. Don't finish each other's sandwiches.
Zach
Don't finish each other's sandwiches.
Isaiah Colbert
My turn.
Zach
My turn. Yes.
Isaiah Colbert
Definitely gonna look at you, Steven, if I fuck up any of these names, because I'm like, oh, it's been a minute. And places and things. Nouns. Proper nouns. So, yeah, we move back to the two nameless goons who I'm sure will have a Wikipedia page with like paragraphs upon paragraphs of their backstory in a couple chapters from now. They go, so have you boys managed to unite all of giant kind yet? I'm guessing the answer is no. And so they. They take very kindly to this rage bait our two giant friends here.
Stephen Paul
They.
Isaiah Colbert
There's a kaching moment, and they both just side by side panel. They're. They're very pissed now. Go right ahead, Roanoa. So they're all aboard with Zoro's genius plan that he's been cooking for at least about a week.
Zach
Very funny to do his thing.
Isaiah Colbert
So he smirks and says, I hear you, brothers. So he hops off of the Rage.
Zach
Baiting is exactly the correct term because wow, they fall into it immediately. No, don't kill them. Murder them. No, no, fuck that. They spoke ill. They spoke kind of ill of us.
Sam Leach
Do it.
Zach
They said we didn't finish our. They said we didn't finish our goal yet. Murder them. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.
Stephen Paul
It is really funny that they're like. It's like two giants. And they're like talking to their little Chihuahua, like, get them, boy. Get him. Get him. Relying on the human to do the.
Isaiah Colbert
Work, Zoro hops off his shoulder. And then we see them talking again. Aha. They can't get sandwich. Oh, they can't sandwich you if you're overhead.
Zach
Hey.
Isaiah Colbert
And then they start laughing. D Ga ga ga. Clever. So we see a wild swing. It misses both of them as they kind of split off both different ways. And so they now vocalize their plan so that we know their plan, even though it's pretty obvious from seeing it. Let's flank. Let's flank them from both sides. Stanson. You got it, Hardrun. So as all that's happening, Zoro is like hopping off of everyone's heads like a video game. And they're going, huh? Hops off the last.
Zach
When this comes out in the anime, please put the Some Super Mario World music. Yeah. Yep. And then he gets a coin or something when he gets up there. Yeah.
Isaiah Colbert
Anyway, what would his symbol even be? Like, his coins? Like, what would he even be collecting at this point? It's more swords or just beard.
Zach
He just collects more swords. Yeah.
Isaiah Colbert
So then they all look up.
Sam Leach
If you collect 100, you get an extra life.
Isaiah Colbert
Exactly. He gets a new technique that he came up with on the spot. So they all look up. He's above a puny human man. So he then prepares his thing. He says, three sword style, secret art. And there's a big shoe. And then he does a little twirl, and it's crossing the six paths, and they all go gr. And everyone's falling. And because he did a big cool, like, just fighting game attack that knocked out waves of enemies type move. So they say, well done, Roanoke.
Sam Leach
Imagine, though.
Isaiah Colbert
And as all that's happening, he jumps over the heads of. I'm forgetting their names now.
Zach
I'm gonna.
Isaiah Colbert
I'm gonna.
Zach
Dorian, Progey, Dorian, Dori, and Brogy. So the only two. We definitely know the name.
Isaiah Colbert
We definitely know. I don't, but everyone else does. So they go.
Zach
They're not important. They go, oh, sorry, That's.
Isaiah Colbert
As they see Zero just flying overhead, and they yell. Both got, like, fire in their eyes. Dory Brokey says Zoro. As he pulls about both of his swords. He's, like, slowly falling in between them. And so one of them. I'm. I'm gonna assume this is Brogy Brody, who's the one who says, whoa, gotta move. Very smart.
Stephen Paul
Oh, that's Zorro.
Zach
Because he's.
Isaiah Colbert
I interpreted that he was not the one saying. I was like, oh, is one of them smarter enough to realize what's about to happen is about to happen?
Zach
No, I'm.
Joey Weiser
My mistake.
Isaiah Colbert
My bad.
Zach
Is he. Is he, like, using the swords? Like.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, he's attacking the air to shoot himself down.
Zach
That's what I thought. Okay. Like, it's like a skywalk, but with swords, because. Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, it's not super help from gravity.
Isaiah Colbert
So as they both do wild swings, they both miss Zorro, but they both very much hit each other directly into the chest. And everyone's like, oh, and Dory, Brogy, we're yelling for them, and everyone's yelling for their captains that they both just cleave their. Each other's shields and stab each other in the chest. But they're both smiling. Says they just kind of can't really care what happened.
Zach
Yeah, they love this.
Sam Leach
They live for this.
Zach
They live for dying.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, well, it is. It is ironic because this is what they were doing before, you know, the straw hats met him. But it's pretty gnarly.
Joey Weiser
Zoro's brilliant plan was surprisingly effective.
Zach
Brilliant plan? This just happened to happen. Yeah.
Stephen Paul
His brilliant plan was I'm just gonna jump on their heads and then do an attack.
Zach
Yeah. Look, I've been playing a lot of Nintendo.
Joey Weiser
Roanoa Brothers, right?
Stephen Paul
Nice.
Zach
Mario Brothers.
Stephen Paul
He called the brothers. He called them brothers.
Zach
Him and Luffy's idea of a plan.
Isaiah Colbert
Is just to go in Unga Bunga style.
Zach
Yes, We. We mentioned. I think I mentioned last week how in wano, Luffy's plan with the sword was to punch them while holding the sword because that's how Luffy would handle a situation. Yeah. Zoro's face.
Sam Leach
Zorro and Luigi Zorro.
Stephen Paul
I don't like that for some reason. I get it.
Zach
Yeah. But Zorro's face on this page is excellent. That's, like, one of my favorite Zorro faces in a long time. On the bottom.
Stephen Paul
Which one, though? The panicked one?
Zach
Yeah. I don't know. It's very. It's, like, funny, and. I don't know, it's funny because, like.
Isaiah Colbert
What else did you expect was gonna happen, Zorro? Like, this was your plan.
Zach
Like, they were swinging. You moved.
Isaiah Colbert
They hit each other, like.
Zach
Yeah, no, he definitely did not plan this. This is definitely a coincidence. He even, like, whoa. Gotta move. Oops. I didn't mean to be in this situation. Like, he's clearly. This was not. It worked out for him. And he could say it was his plan. He does. He didn't know what the hell he was doing.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Anything else on this page?
Stephen Paul
Also, the. The. The. The crossing the six path. This is not even a new move. He did this in Fishman Island, I think is when.
Zach
That's what I thought.
Stephen Paul
Busted that out. Yeah.
Zach
I wasn't positive, though. And is that Conqueror's Hockey? Because everyone on the Internet's gonna care about whether or not that's Conqueror or something talking. I hear that.
Stephen Paul
I mean, yeah, it looks like. It looks like there's some little, like, bolts of lightning coming off of him. I think it would count a little tiny bit. Yeah.
Sam Leach
I think that's what that means.
Stephen Paul
I think. I think also you can tell that this is not a new attack because Oda, like, crammed it into a small part of a panel in the corner.
Sam Leach
Yeah.
Zach
Rather than.
Sam Leach
I'm, like, trying to make out the pose. I'm, like, trying to. How does this look? Like in a Musso game.
Zach
I was. I was thinking Musso games too, because this is the most Musso game specifically, except you get to do it with giants, and that actually sounds like a lot of fun. I don't know if there is a Musou game where you fight giants. They're probably.
Stephen Paul
I mean, they did an attack on Titan 1.
Zach
They did.
Sam Leach
And they. They do. I guess. I mean, they have like, white beard and big mom and stuff in those games.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, they did kind of differentiate them in the fourth.
Zach
Yeah, but you're not fighting all giants. Like, you're not fighting a group of giants. It's like a tiny person.
Isaiah Colbert
Yeah.
Sam Leach
Yeah. Pirate Warriors 5.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, whenever that comes out, you know, when they do DLC pack number 10 or whatever.
Zach
That's a. Yeah.
Joey Weiser
They haven't done like, Ennis Lobby in there fighting like, pirate giant marines or anything.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, well, they. They sometimes they have bigger guys, but they're not like giant sized.
Zach
Okay, let's move on from the Pirate Warrior series. Steven.
Stephen Paul
Let's go see what Brooke is doing, who was infamously missing. Yeah, he's doing the worm. He is pushing himself somehow, probably with his. His toes. He is. He's doing Kegels. Sure. Yeah. He's working his taint in. Across branches.
Sam Leach
He doesn't have one.
Isaiah Colbert
Yo.
Zach
Oh, what? But now I have to think and see. Okay, I want to look at a skeleton that way.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, but, yeah, he's. He's crawled away while wrapped up with the. With the arrows and is pushing himself painstakingly across the tree branch. And he has somehow reached where Gunko is, and he is huffing and wheezing. He sits up, and then he calls her Princess Shuri. Is that you, Princess Shuri? And she reacts and looks at him in silence. But there's definitely a, you know, a big impact of recognition or of reaction, even though she's not saying anything. And so we know for sure, yes. That whatever Brooke was remembering or imagining, he was right about it. And he, you know, he. He. He takes in her silence. And then he. He continues. No, of course not. I know you can't be her, but you look so alike. It reminds me of her. And I couldn't help but check, just in case. And still she is just watching in silence, not reacting. And he says, but even if you're not the same person, you must be blood relatives. Yes. If she were still alive, she'd be nearly 80 years old, after all. And she certainly wouldn't recognize me, not in the state I'm in now. But your eyes, your blue hair, your face, your blue hair, your mismatched eyes, the Holy land, and your love for my music. So, you know, he's obviously put together all of these details.
Zach
How did. How did he know that she liked his music? Wasn't she in a completely different place when that was happening?
Stephen Paul
She told him that she wanted to make him her slave to write music.
Zach
Yeah, okay. I thought I caught it. I thought I caught a big cinema sense here, and I did not.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. And she. She's still silent. And Oda, like, throws in a couple sound effects just so you. You can hear, like, the battle raging around them. And he continues. All of it aligns perfectly, doesn't it, Princess Shuri. And then we get this big, cool, you know, close up on Brook, as he says, I. I never wanted to think of you again for the rest of my life. Not the father killing Princess. The life you stole away belonged to the man to whom I owe everything, which he.
Zach
So he doesn't have to think of her for the rest of his life. Sorry, I had to do it.
Stephen Paul
His second life. Yeah. This one actually does, you know, strike home. She kind of has a reaction and the, The, The. The. The beating of her heart. Sound effect in her ears is, you know, rising to a fever pitch. And on the next page, then it hits her. She's like, she. She really tenses up. There's a. There's a battle going on inside of her. And, you know, kind of in her mental, you know, landscape, she sees a familiar sort of a ringed eye staring into her. And it says, gunko, is thy memory coming back? As she's struggling, and it seems like she is fighting, perhaps fighting against Emu for control over her body. And suddenly there's a crack and her eyes open up again. And something about them, just because they're not glaring anymore, it kind of. You can instantly tell, like.
Zach
Oh, they're. They're heterochromia again. She's got the two. Yeah, she's got the two different type eyes, which she did not have.
Stephen Paul
Oh, that's right. That's right. When. When Emu took over. You're right.
Zach
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Yes. So this is clearly. She's.
Zach
She has her regular eyes back. Her extremely regular eyes. Yeah.
Stephen Paul
And she says, run, Brooke. And she's kind of. She's doing something. She's making a pose, sticking out her butt, in case you didn't notice.
Zach
And it's like egghead all over again.
Isaiah Colbert
And the panel, too, so, you know, you will see it.
Zach
And. Yeah, I. I Want to thank our artist Kirby from last week. The don't, the don't you hate pants image we did for last week's episode, which if you haven't checked out, please do it is like, like the mantra. I like it now as the mantra of all of the holy nights. They just really don't enjoy pants. And that's why as long as it goes for everyone.
Stephen Paul
But yeah, she's doing some kind of a spiral thing with an, an arrow. And you know, I don't know, I don't know exactly how all of her. If she has like multiple arrows or if she just has one very, very long arrow that is like doing all of this stuff.
Zach
Stuff.
Stephen Paul
But at any rate, it seems to loosen control of the arrows because immediately Brooke is like the, the, you know, it's like they cut the, the mummy strips around him and they're all just falling loose now. And then we see the kids where they are walking alongside the uh, the arrow on the branch and they're like what? The rope is wobbling and there goes Brooke. He is loose. He is. He's just kind of slipped straight through the, the little package of arrow, you know, spools that were holding him tight. He says, free at last. And Emu reacts in Gunko's mind saying, gunko, how darest thou. And she's, she's trying to, to say something. She's like Brooke. I. Oh. And suddenly it's like, you know, he's doing the, the Palpatine lightning to her. She's just like screaming ah. And you know, tensing up in pain as some, you know, more lightning.
Zach
I did not notice that her wings were disintegrating in the prior with the run brook. And they still continue to. I mean, because it is an emu related power, presumably.
Stephen Paul
Yes. You can kind of see it's a visual sign of the level of control.
Zach
And they come back though. Yeah, yeah.
Stephen Paul
So she, she screams and then all of a sudden Brooks is like, yikes. It tightened up again. And so you see like the little, you know, pile of arrows is squeezing shut once again. And then as, as Zach mentioned, you see the, the wings appear to be whole again, as he demands of Gunko. What was that just now? What do you mean run? Don't you realize I came to finish what was started? Who in the world are you? He screams at her. But we see that it is once again emu. What did you. What do you call Gunkimo? Is that.
Zach
Or Emukimu is what we.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that's a. That's A zachism for sure.
Zach
Thank you.
Stephen Paul
But yeah, she is back to under full control, it seems when we used.
Zach
To have the Punk Hazard, the Sanji Chopper Chopper Sanji and.
Stephen Paul
Oh, God.
Zach
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Joey.
Joey Weiser
Okay, so on the next page, Gunko, possessed by Imu, attacks Brooklyn, yelling out, shut thy mouth. What are thee to Gunkou? In a cool impact panel here. But then we cut away to Usopp, specifically in Branch Route 8, who is yelling out, yes, I'm free. He's holding his fist up in the air, saying, I feel like my mental powers did that. With little mental power stink lines coming off of his wrist. And Jim BAE is mental powers come.
Zach
Out of the wrist, by the way, for those keeping sword.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, yeah. They remind me of Migraine Boy. If anybody knows those old cartoon shorts in Comic Strip. But. So, yeah, Jinbe's wondering why the arrows suddenly went slack. But as we see in the next panel, Robin is still tied up in the thorns, and Nami is attempting to untie her here, saying, she's tied up with something else. We've got to get you out. But she says not to worry about her. Just save the children. And Jinbe says, the Western village is quite far away. Anze took off running, and even she might not make it in time with a little bubble of Ane. And then my favorite detail of this panel is that we see Usopp in the background testing out his mental powers. I did not notice that on a Cryptid in the back.
Zach
Yes, I wonder how that's going to be Usopp.
Joey Weiser
And then a familiar voice calls off panel here, saying, oh, Nami. Maybe Nami Swan or something. I would assume.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that was a Nami Swan. Okay.
Joey Weiser
And that is Sanji.
Zach
How could you localize that?
Joey Weiser
It's got a nice heart, which I like. I assume is in the Japanese as well.
Zach
The heart is what conveys it. It. Let's be honest. Has.
Sam Leach
Has Viz ever used Nami Swan?
Zach
I know.
Sam Leach
Funimation has sometimes.
Stephen Paul
I mean. Yeah, well, funimation or Crunchyroll, like the subs. They'll do whatever with the. No, like, I mean, like, even in.
Sam Leach
The dub, they've thrown in a few Nami Swans.
Zach
Well, the voice flaps. That makes more sense. That makes sense. Cuz how do you say nummy?
Joey Weiser
And you can kind of like, justify it that it's an English word.
Zach
It is.
Sam Leach
Yeah. It sounds like a nickname.
Zach
Sounds like a. Yeah, it's a perfectly reasonable nickname.
Joey Weiser
But before we see the man who I'm sure is making a little Sanji tornado on his way over to Nami. We cut to further down Branch Route 8 by the Western village. And Summers is laughing saying walk you brats. The goal is just ahead. And all along we've been seeing these really cool like I love the little like visions of the cryptid sleepdids off in the background. They look very cool.
Zach
Sorry Joey, you reminded me though I wanted to mention the bunny one in the background of the very serious speech book was making. There's the most.
Joey Weiser
I wanted to mention that one too. It's a very Sam and Max looking.
Stephen Paul
Yes it is.
Zach
Yeah, even I at first I was.
Joey Weiser
Kind of like life in hell. I think Sam and Max is what I'm landed on for that one. But anyway back here we say Colin upset saying I bet you're one of the demons that the chief Jarl was talking about. Well you're gonna regret it. Elbaf's really strong. And a close up here which I like the detail here that you can see the like the transparent thorns because they're invisible. And let's see. So Summers is saying that he knows that they're strong and that's why they're using them. I hear you're Gabon's son, huh? Shut up. Untie these rope. Thorns or thorn ropes. And as they're walking along and we see the thorn dragon in the background there. Yeah, let us go or at least fight us fair and square. But he. Summers just thinks this is hilarious. But it's too late. Kids, look over there. It's the port and ship. Take a good look at your homeland. It's the last time you'll ever see it. And as they approach they're like, oh no, I won't get to see mommy and daddy anymore.
Zach
Help.
Joey Weiser
Don't take us away. And Summer's calling over the transponder snail I assume saying, hello Great one Killingham. I've almost completed the mission. Get a nice look at this Viking ship with a duck head. I like the design of that quite a bit.
Zach
Yeah, that's a great one.
Stephen Paul
I do like that. Like as, as the, the phrase like great one comes up in more contexts. Like it does sound more and more just like like a cartoon henchman like hello your. Your Evilness or whatever.
Zach
Yeah, I do like those terms like used in a more offhanded way like this. Hello?
Stephen Paul
Great one?
Zach
Great one, you there? Oh, did you hang up? Oh shit, did you hang up?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, Great one, line three, your magnificence.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Must have no reception up here, Sam.
Sam Leach
So we continue the phone conversation. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. Anything else we need to do. And we've got the, the parents running after the children. They're arriving behind in the, in the wide shot, Cullen, Ylva, Olav, and Summers is reacting like, hey, what are those sleeptids doing? They're supposed to be keeping those giants occupied. And we got the scene of the adults running at the camera and the voices of the kids saying like, mama, it's our parents.
Stephen Paul
Oh, grandpa.
Sam Leach
Grandpa. Oimo. Oimo's the grandpa of one of these kids. And this little girl is warning them, look out from up above. Ah, it's Nika. And so we got a sleep tit. This would have been a children's drawing of Nika once upon a time. Like Nika, the God of destruction, just like jumping in with a big knife, slamming it into the ground. This, this Nika's got some peach fuzz.
Zach
Nika's using his famous stabbing attack.
Sam Leach
A very manly, masculine looking version of Nikka.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, it's also, it's also interesting to note that, like the figure in the Harley and in all of the art stuff he has, he's noticeably dark skinned, you know, in contrast with the hair, which I feel like Oda has definitely been very consistent about that.
Sam Leach
Yeah, it's interesting. I wonder if the beard is like, like, because, because it's like giant kids imagining what a, a God like Nika is. Like, beards are terrifying. They, they think of, you know, grown ups having beards.
Stephen Paul
Yes.
Zach
Yeah, More often grown ups are terrible.
Sam Leach
You know, the kids are, are kind of reacting with concern about their parents who almost got stabbed. But then the, the parents are saying, oh, you call that Nika? Don't play games with us. And, you know, the Nika barely gets to look up before they're all doing a big team up attack on him. And we're the warrior generation, brah. And the, the Nika sleep Ted goes and the kids are all bugging their eyes out, like they're so strong.
Zach
The joke I should have made is, does the warrior generation come after the greatest generation and before Boomers Also bad joke. I'm sorry. That's a little bit better because it makes sense.
Joey Weiser
Where does the jet generation come in here?
Stephen Paul
Jet generation. Yeah.
Joey Weiser
Thank you, Steven.
Sam Leach
And so now, yeah, now the Nika is more perturbed than anything. And so returning the attack with more stabs, just like, just like jabbing into the ground. Like, you know, like the knife scene in Aliens. It is very, like really fast.
Zach
It is very funny that. I guess this nightmare Of Nika. They're just imagining. Okay. They just stab and that is the thing that they do.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Scary.
Sam Leach
Yeah.
Zach
Which is scary, but not really supernatural.
Sam Leach
Like a Jason Voorhees.
Zach
Yeah, he just comes. Yeah. Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Well, he kind of.
Sam Leach
Michael Myers.
Stephen Paul
He kind of looks like a Muppet too. So just imagine that it's like on the little wire. Like the way that he's got the.
Joey Weiser
The show.
Zach
Stephen, the anime. They better make the sleep tits. All Muppets in the background. Like live action looking or like stop motiony.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Sam Leach
To get that like effect of it.
Zach
Yeah. Because they're already. They're done with like the watercolor here, which I love. It would be really cool if they just did something very outside the box like that.
Stephen Paul
I'm glad we're just. We're just wish casting impossible things for the anime that will never happen.
Zach
Putting it out there so that all of the directors and animators in Japan who are definitely listening to this, take notes and do it.
Isaiah Colbert
We've asked patiently the first time.
Zach
All we want are more this propaganda is going to work at some point. We want Muppet One Piece. That's all we want we've ever wanted.
Sam Leach
Thunderbolt Fantasy One Piece.
Isaiah Colbert
Oh, that would go crazy.
Joey Weiser
Oh, hell yeah.
Zach
Sam, Sorry.
Sam Leach
We finished this spread off with this trio, the new giant pirates arriving at the scene saying, oh, look over there. That's where the kids are. It's. It's too late even if we run. And then Gerd and I always forget this guy's name.
Stephen Paul
Goldberg.
Zach
Goldberg.
Sam Leach
Oh, she says it in this bubble right there. So I could have been. No, could have read one second ahead.
Zach
Steven, you said ready Shet here. But it could have been ready. Shit. Pretty easily. I feel like.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, he was definitely saying ready. Sitting. Ready. Sit.
Zach
Go. I'm just trying to get some.
Sam Leach
Here we go, Goldberg. Ready. And then double general. And then Roto is like, wait, no, I can join too. I'm coming to save you, little brother. Triple general. I like how they correct the. The name of the.
Zach
No, they didn't correct it. He said it. And they clearly don't want him included. Isn't that what's happening? That's how I'm going.
Stephen Paul
Definitely looks annoyed.
Zach
Goldberg is like, no, well, well, Gerd is just looking badass because Gerd's badass. Yeah, but Goldberg's like, who the hell invited you? Get the hell out of here.
Sam Leach
He is like side eyeing.
Zach
It's like, no. Captain General this.
Sam Leach
Go Koku Sovereignty. And then they do the big team up Giant. I won't call it a laser blast, but I guess it's just the traveling slashes of one piece.
Zach
So is this a number pun? Because the other one's Ikoku sovereignty.
Stephen Paul
No, it's. At least I don't think so because, you know, we've seen multiple versions of this. Now do you want me to get into this now or should we just finish the page?
Zach
No, let's finish the page.
Sam Leach
We're almost done. We're almost done.
Stephen Paul
And then.
Sam Leach
Yeah, so that. That blows a hole through the. The Nika. And Sommers is writing like just a big giant spike club. Much bigger than he is. Where has he been hiding that this whole time?
Zach
He's a thorn powered guy, so I guess, I suppose.
Sam Leach
Do you think that's made of his thorns?
Zach
His thorns? Is this a euphemism?
Sam Leach
I mean, if it's like copy. Well, like, he's using his like thorn powers to.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, maybe it's a balloon and he's just inflating it and then adding the thorns. With his powers.
Sam Leach
Yeah, with like armor hockey.
Zach
He had that sword. He did have that thorn sword. He's probably inflating it like Steven just said. Yeah, sorry.
Sam Leach
But the. The Nika just crashes right into the ship, tearing it to shreds.
Zach
Oh, wait, I just want to get the. I want to get the physics here correct. He's. Does Summers hit the na. Into the ship. That's what I got. So therefore Summers, it looks like he's like preparing to.
Sam Leach
But like, like, it's probably just like much too big of a crash to.
Stephen Paul
But there is an impact thing on top of that hill where he's sitting.
Zach
I think that's what happens.
Sam Leach
Yeah.
Isaiah Colbert
And there's like a little. Explains his down the steps that kind of imply that he's like fallen into the other area. That's how I read it.
Zach
Well, because he's falling straight into the thorns.
Stephen Paul
Okay.
Sam Leach
No, yeah, I. I think he's hit it and then it's like recoiled backwards into the ship.
Zach
To the ship. Because the. Oh, shoot. I'm sorry to skip ahead of on.
Sam Leach
Your opinion, but the like his bad aim.
Zach
He's like, oh, his own bad. This should be. Oh, shoot. Sorry, I'm trying to scan leash in this.
Sam Leach
Ship sinks and Sommers has a great snot nosed dramatic close up where he's like.
Stephen Paul
Ah.
Zach
Yeah, that's what I. This joke could have been very slightly clearer, I think. And it had like a little bit more punch to it. No pun intended. Because it is a very funny joke generally that He F's up his own plan by protecting himself is fun because this guy sucks. So it's really great that this is happening to him. Wait until great one finds out when he calls you on a conference call. Could have been an email, but it's going to be a conference call. Okay, thoughts on this chapter? We have a chapter next week, right?
Stephen Paul
Yes.
Zach
Three in a row. Isaiah, what about you? What were your thoughts?
Isaiah Colbert
I like it in the way that there's a thing that I've just noticed whenever a new thing is coming out soon, that's probably gonna be referencing an older thing with more specifically a One Piece Live Action Season two that's gonna be introducing the Giants and how this is, like, every manga always, whenever this happens, I'm gonna really showcase that thing that's about to happen for people who are only watching in this one medium to be like, and here's for people who are already caught up to be like, oh, yeah, we're being reminded of that. Cause I know that Dana Don did that, and I know that Spy Alex family does that often, too. So it's just very cool to be like, all right, you're getting the Giants. And for manga reads, like, you've had the Giants. But, like, we're going to kind of showcase more on, like, why they're cool and, like, show off, like, more of their battle stuff. So, like, that's always really cool for me. I like just the brook backstory that just was like, oh, we're getting this, like, right now. Oh, oh, there's stuff here. There's stuff happening here. Wasn't expecting that in this chapter at all, but yeah.
Zach
Any other thoughts? You don't have to. That's.
Isaiah Colbert
I just, like. I just like it when. I, like, you can tell when, like, a creator is, like, kind of being a little influenced by, like, my cat just knocking things over. It's fine. You can always kind of tell when cats are. He's, like, laying in my lap as I'm trying to do all this. He's. He's a menace. But you can always kind of tell in, like, a creator, especially Oda, because he's been so involved with the One Piece Live Action where he's like, yeah, he's really thinking about this. So he's been like, all right, we're gonna go pretty in depth on the Giant stuff since he's, like, overseeing, I assume, the giant stuff happening in the One Piece Netflix Live Action. So it's really cool to see a creator who's, like, very much thinking about something and kind of using it to talk about or further use that as inspiration in whatever he's currently working on. So.
Zach
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
I think I was just going to say the same thing that we definitely pointed out that all of a sudden when season one was airing or was up on Netfl, that all of a sudden he did like a chapter cover request that was for Kuro from Syrup Village.
Zach
And I'm pretty sure he forgot existed.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, like as soon as that arc was over, he was just like, well, forget. I. I don't know who that guy was, but.
Zach
Well, we had that great Bon Clay one a week or two ago and he's definitely in season three stuff right now. So.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, season two because they.
Zach
Yeah, no, I just mean he's. Oda is in season three like stuff right now, so he's probably. Banklay is very prominent, I assume in season. In season three. So. Very excited for that too. And so, Isaiah, any more thoughts? I want to cut you off.
Isaiah Colbert
Very funny visual gag kind of chapter. Enough things to keep the wheels moving, like story wise. Because I know that that one piece is kind of famous for like, we're gonna be here for a while. So it's a lot of just like slow kind of builds for stuff. But it feels like this arc in particular was like a little bit more faster pace in terms of the movings and shakings of things going on in a way that doesn't feel like you're kind of sitting on. We're getting backstory that's not really going anywhere in particular. And definitely you can feel in this chapter and the last chapter where the art in particular is like, oh, that weak break that you guys had, it's really showing off here was like, oh, this. It's always a little bit more clearer, a little bit more legible, I feel, because part of the reason why I usually kind of wait for one piece in my weekly readings is that sometimes, not often, but sometimes it's a little bit harder to get through and kind of discern what is happening because there's always so much happening at once. And you can really just chalk that up to just the weekly schedule of just. There's a lot of things going on that you have to do and draw in the span of less than a week even to get all of it out. I do appreciate that the time off is really kind of shown off in the quality of the panels and just kind of the legibility of everything.
Zach
Yeah, I think ODA has intended his readers should be on a podcast and discuss it every week. That's really the only way to experience it. To be fair, I definitely miss things until we talk about them. Like, I missed Usopp using his Force powers, which I am ashamed that I missed because that was excellent.
Sam Leach
I wish Viz would upload the higher resolution versions.
Zach
Yes, Steven, I know that's your fault, specifically.
Stephen Paul
That would help a little bit, I'm sure. And specifically for one piece, maybe not even for any other series, but, like, one piece really could use all the clarity it can get.
Zach
I mean.
Joey Weiser
I mean, on the subject of, like, readability and clarity and clutteredness, I think this is one of the things that I've been really loving Elbaf about, is that with the Giants, they take up so much space that, like, it forces Oda to kind of, like, pull back a little bit and, like, let things breathe. And I feel like it's been in general kind of, like, a lot easier to just kind of enjoy his character drawing. And the legibility has been very clear whenever we're dealing with the Giants.
Zach
Joey, you want to give us your thoughts?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, sure. I loved this chapter. I thought it was great. We came out of the flashback and that's cool. And then the last few chapters kind of felt like setting the table for where we are now, getting back up to pace, you know, and then now he's really going for it. And, you know, the way that you kind of split this apart with everybody taking two pages more or less, like, also highlights that he was doing a really good job of kind of doing like two spreads at a time, more or less for a scene, and getting a lot out of it in each scene. So it doesn't feel like one of those chapters where it's just kind of like spinning its wheels. And then there's one dramatic thing at the end, you know, that there was just a lot of stuff going on and it was really, really cool. I'm very excited about the Brook stuff. You know, Brooks needed more attention ever since he basically first showed up and they split the crew apart.
Zach
He's still the newest one, right? Yeah.
Joey Weiser
Well, besides Jinbe.
Zach
No, I'm joking, I'm joking.
Joey Weiser
But oddly, yeah, it feels like he was a little more sidelined than Jinbe even. Although Jinbe could use a little bit extra story too, I think. But he got Marineford.
Zach
Like, he did end Impel down. Like, I do think he got a lot more time pre emptor. That's true. Yeah.
Joey Weiser
Yeah. And so, yeah, I like this direction that it's going with Shuri as much as it's like, oh, another princess. Like, it's clear that the story is going in a direction where Imu is targeting royalty specifically. And so that kind of makes sense. And it also is mirroring the flashback that we just got out of in an interesting way where it's kind of like, you know, on one hand you could say, oh, well, this has taken away the mystery of what he means by the father killing princess. Like, we can all kind of infer. Cause we just saw it in the Herald story that she was probably overtaken by.
Zach
I do not think of that.
Sam Leach
Yeah, I didn't put that together.
Zach
Oh, Joey. Like, are you all seriously got this point that I just said, Right?
Isaiah Colbert
It seems very obvious now.
Zach
It is very obvious now that you said it. I don't. Yeah, you're a storyteller, Joey, so you should be a few steps ahead of us.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, I think that it mirrors that flashback in an interesting way. And I think. I think sets the.
Zach
Okay, I'm just watching my whole drive with one go.
Isaiah Colbert
I got everything. The first watch.
Zach
I don't. Okay, I'm tired.
Joey Weiser
Yeah. So, you know, she's under Imu's control. And so this must have happened back when Gunko or Shuri killed her father or something similar to that. Like, the father died in some circumstance where it looks that way at least. And Brook would have been the guard at that point and whatever. Like, I'm very excited to kind of get into that story just to get a little bit more meat for Brook Yohoho, but I think that's really, really exciting to me. And I am a big fan of the giant pirates, so I was happy to see them get some, like, cool moments here to essentially defeating Luffy, which is fun. Kind of an evil Nega Luffy, so. And the panel of him, like, crashing into the boat is really, really great. I love the, like, kind of messy marker work that Oda's been doing with the Sleepdids. I think it's a, like, fun way to make them look different and otherworldly, and it makes them have a lot of impact. And like I was saying, I was really, like, enjoying seeing them in the background in the other pages, even when they weren't particularly present in the story. And I think the last thing I want to point out is a note from our friend Alex, who was not able to be on the episode. But in talking about the chapter this afternoon, he mentioned that it was like, kind of tear jerking, that Dorry and Brogy finally finished their battle, but in a sort of heartbreaking and not Ideal way. And so I think. I think that that's very poignant as well. And. And a cool panel, cool composition and everything. So that's all I got to say.
Stephen Paul
I'm trying to remember, like, when he. For when Emu first turned them, do they. In their, like, reverse eat forms, did they regenerate all the stuff, like the, like the five elders and the other nights, did.
Zach
I think, Brogy's hand. So that's like, how they reversed him. Remember initially, like, Brogie was the first one, and they, like, cut off his hand as part of it. And I think it does. I mean, he has a hand here, right? He has two hands. Yeah.
Sam Leach
It would make sense with, like, Zoro having this permission to just, like, chop people up.
Joey Weiser
Was it rocks regenerating or. We've seen other reverse eaters, people.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, I was just trying to remember. Yeah. If it was the reverse Saturn.
Sam Leach
Well, but Saturn already had that, didn't he?
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Saturn was just.
Stephen Paul
That's what I'm trying to distinguish. So I feel like this may be more of, like, a shocking in the moment sort of thing, and then they're gonna, like, you know, regain their.
Zach
Yeah, I don't see it.
Joey Weiser
It would be pretty sad if they died in a tiny panel as we're shifting to another scene. Yeah, like, I don't think that that's the case. I think it's just a kind of like. Like, dramatic moment that kind of tugs at your heartstrings a bit.
Zach
I mean, at the very least, it's like, shocking. Zoro's reaction is appropriate value. Yeah. God, Emo has too many powers. I don't know if this has been said, but it's confusing. Okay. Sam.
Sam Leach
On the discussion of, like, the clarity of the action, like, in the scenes where it's like a small person fighting the giants, I do think that's really struggling to be clear. Like, those.
Joey Weiser
I like.
Sam Leach
I really like the. The scene with Sommers at the end, but I did not really understand it until we were going through it just now. And like, with Zorro's actions too. I think the. The characters having to be so small in the panels for. For their like. Like the moment where they're making contact with the. The big characters. I think. I think that is not been clear enough for me. I. This, this, this, like, you know, two plus two connection with the Gunko Princess Shuri is. Is super interesting. Like, that. That really makes that a much more. I was already kind of interested to.
Zach
See, like, how this chapter. So much. Yeah.
Sam Leach
How. How to go into, you know, like, are we going to get like a second flashback for every single straw hat or are we just being, like, selective for the time being? Because it. This definitely feels like we're, we're about to learn more about Brooke. But, but yeah, like this, this idea that he's spent all these years, like taking the, the, the father killing at face value. And so there's probably going to be probably, probably like a heart tugging scene of him learning that this girl he knew from the past wasn't actually committing this horrible act. And so it's gonna be like reuniting them. So. Yeah, like, because the twists and turns of, like, what is Brooke's relationship with this girl? Is he gonna be happy to see her? Oh, wait, no, he's not happy to see her. Oh, but he might end happy to see her. Anyway, it feels like that's the arc we're on and I think that's kind of interesting. Other than that, I think that's about all I have to say.
Zach
Steven.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that is kind of an interesting turnaround as far as with Brook's relationship to this girl, because we saw in his little sort of, of. I forget if it was his flashback or if it was Gonko's flashback, but, you know, there was like the, when she was even younger, she was just like a little kid.
Sam Leach
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
And was clearly like interacting with him and playing with him. And we knew that he was like, the. What was it? He, he was like the leader of, of a military band for the kingdom or something like that. And so clearly if she was the, the father killing princess and the one who stole away, you know, the life of the one who, to whom Brooke owes everything, well, that's obviously going to be the king then. And so, like, he clearly had. Had some kind of, you know, a, A protector relationship with her, presumably when he was, you know, in his regular life. And so. Yeah, that's definitely. Yeah. It's hard to imagine, you know, a girl because even Gunko in her quote unquote grown state, Oda could easily say, like, oh, yeah, she, you know, she's like 16 at the time that Emu took her over or whatever. Like, that's what her age is frozen at now, as far as we know. That's, you know, it's. It's hard to tell without his designs, but, you know, she can't be that much older than, than when Brook was seeing her. And so it's hard to imagine like, that character, the one that he remembers, like, literally murdering her father without obviously Emu's influence. So.
Sam Leach
So what necessitates about a ten year difference?
Joey Weiser
Oh, sorry, go ahead.
Stephen Paul
Sorry.
Zach
Joey and Sam.
Joey Weiser
Sorry. I was gonna say that we know that there's about a 10 year difference between the two. If he was saying that, she'd be nearly 80 years old at this point and he's 90, so.
Stephen Paul
Is that right?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, I looked up his age. Cause I thought he was 80 and I was like, wait, that doesn't make sense. They can't be the same age. But. But according to Internet, he is 90. So.
Stephen Paul
Okay, and then what were you saying?
Sam Leach
Yeah, he was 88 before time. Skip 90 now. So my question was, what necessitates the name change? If she was Princess Shuri, but now she goes by Gunko.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. So Gunko. I may have mentioned this initially, but gunko is spelled with kanji and it literally means like military child or army child called. And it definitely feels like, oh, this is some weird like replacement name or title or something. Yeah, that. That emu probably gave to her to rue. Because it did. It does not sound, I mean, it kind of sounds like a Japanese name because it has co in it, but it's, it, it's not. You know, you would never find anyone named this in Japan. So it definitely has this feeling of like, oh, this is a very weird and artificial name for a character to have, which combined with the, you know, the.
Sam Leach
She does. She does also keep a surname?
Stephen Paul
Well, supposedly. Yeah, she is. She is related to the Manmire family, which again, I don't know if that's literal or if that's just like where she was adopted.
Zach
Yeah, but she, I mean, it could also be something like akin to Dressrosa, where, you know, the. Or I, I don't know. Like it. They still, the royalty of the kingdom may still have connection to the royalty in the celestial dragon.
Stephen Paul
You know, maybe like, maybe they're branches of the same family or something.
Zach
I feel like Oda could absolutely just. Yeah.
Sam Leach
One of them is like a, is like a 20 kingdoms family. Right, Right one's.
Zach
Yeah. Like maybe it was. Yeah. Maybe it wasn't one of the original kingdoms and then blah, blah, blah. I don't know.
Stephen Paul
But, but her, her dad would not have been the man Meyer, because he was ruling over the kingdom. Like that's where Brook worked, you know, and they, the celestial dragons do not do that. They. They hang out and marry.
Zach
Yeah, no, I left. I, I'm. What I'm saying. My, my prediction would be that he, that Oda finds a way to get around that. Okay, that's. I agree. But I. Like, we've already seen him get around that with Doflamingo. In a way, I feel like there's no reason something like that can't happen here. It could literally be that story where, you know, maybe her father quit and didn't want to be part of the, you know, celestial dragons and she. Yeah, I don't know.
Stephen Paul
Right. Yeah. There's a lot to be explained.
Zach
I mean, Brook knew that there was a connection to the Holy Land, so. That's true with the princess, so. Yeah. And also, you know, the blue hair. Gotta have blue hair.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. But, yeah. Anyways, all of that aside, I did enjoy the chapter. I like how propulsive it is. Like, it feels like we're really moving now. I think Joey was saying, like, you know, we kind of had to. We had to come out of the flashback with Loki because he was kind of the conduit that we went into it with. And then we go back up to where the actual action is happening. And, you know, if I'm being perfectly honest, like, the. The conundrum of, like, how to save the kids is not really the thing that I'm, like, the most interested in, even though it's obviously the, you know, the driver of the. The drama. And I don't think that there's a. You know, I think Oda's doing a fine job of, you know, making you really want to see the kids saved. Like, he's. He spent enough time showing you what they're like. Like, and they're. They're very adorable, you know, little moppets. But also, it is a very much like. I always call these, like. Like a Batman 66 sort of a thing of like, oh, here's this ingenious slow moving trap that we have to wait and see how the heroes will get out of. And, you know, it's always kind of a foregone conclusion that they will find some way to do it. So in that sense, I'm glad that we're, like, kind of of. It. It feels like we're moving very quickly to address this stuff, which is.
Zach
It's great, though, that they. And the way the plan is thwarted in that. Yes. Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Yes.
Sam Leach
The.
Stephen Paul
The last page is. Is fantastic. And I guess I'll talk about the. The new. The new giant move, which is just the. It's the curse that keeps giving. Because I know I. I know I went through this, like, the last time we had one of these, but it. It is just so. It is so exquisitely frustrating. For me. So, so to, to recap the whole thing of like why the giants have all these special moves is so you go back to Little Garden, right? It's like the, it's like literally the very last chapter of Little Garden, right? Because they're leaving and the giants are like, all right, just go straight ahead. And then the giant fish comes up and the crew's like, oh no, what do we do? And then they, you know, they do the team up attack that, that blows this hole through the gigantic fish. And in Japanese it's called hakoku, which is like, it's spelled with this kanji for like conquering or you know, rule or like, you know, ambition and country. And it's literally the hot is the same hot that's in hockey.
Zach
Oh, that's interesting. I forgot about that.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, but there's no. Yeah, it's one of those weird things where like hockey is literally a word in Japanese.
Sam Leach
These.
Stephen Paul
But they also. The Oda invented a separate meaning for it. It's like the Force in Star Wars.
Zach
I do remember when that was originally. Sorry to interrupt. I do remember when that was originally being translated and like decided upon hockey.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, ambition or presence or something like that. You know, there's different ways you could, you could do it. But anyways, hakoku is not a word. Like, it's not a real word. So it, that's a, that's a made up thing. And so some, some, you know, some combination of whoever was the, you know, the translator or the editor, you know, the, the them working together for viz at the time decided to translate it as Hakoku sovereignty. So so you, you have the Japanese name which is not given any context. So it's just a, it's just a name, it's just a word. And then they included sovereignty, which is kind of like, like, I mean, I guess sovereignty would be like a country, right, because you know, sovereign is like a king. So sovereignty would be a thing that is ruled over by a king. But it's, it's not really a translation. So it's kind of like a worst of both worlds thing where they just split the difference and then like you get something that's not really translated and doesn't really include all the context. So that's a little frustrating. But you know, okay, whatever. It's one special attack that appears one time. You know, how could that possibly be a problem? Well, the reason it's a problem is because then you flash forward to, to whole Cake island when Big mom does an attack. And I Forget which scene it was that she. She does this. But it's specifically, you know, she calls it Ikoku. Her version of this, you know, super, you know, power blast is Ikoku instead of Haku. So there's a different kanji, but it's obviously the same style pattern. And specifically Luffy recognizes it and it's like, oh, that's the thing from the Giants. So in other words, for the mitts. For the scene to make sense, it has to mimic the text of the original thing. So I couldn't even re. Translate it because then, you know, everybody would be like, why does Luffy recognize this? Even though, you know, the. The readers should recognize it. So I had to carry it on. That's why Big mom uses Ikoku sovereignty. Because we're basically. And now it's just again, now. Now we have Gokoku sovereignty yet again. Another. Another change in kanji. I think I'm. If I recall correctly, I think was this one, like a rumbling. Let me just pop my file.
Zach
I was gonna ask, while you do that, what if. If you had full freedom, what would you call it?
Stephen Paul
That's a good question, which I have never had to answer because that's why I'm here. I never had the chance. Yeah. So I don't know. I would. I'm sure. I'll tell you one thing. I would be. I would be using, you know, like powerthesaurus.com and a bunch of other sites that I like to use to like, look for different, you know, different sort of associated words. I'm sure I would have gotten increasingly frustrated as. As, you know, he came. Comes up with more and more of these that I would have to base off the pattern. And like, same thing with the double general and the triple general. I don't actually know, like, if. If there is like a homophone or something where oda's like, oh, I'm secretly. This is like. Sounds like this other. You know, like, it's probably gonna turn out that like. Oh, he. It's the. It sounds the same as like the name of like this robot from a 1975, you know, kids TV show or something. Because that's like.
Zach
That is probably it. Probably it.
Stephen Paul
That's how odor rolls with a lot of these things.
Zach
Actually, Joey would be the best source for whether or not that's the case.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, I just know. I love to pour myself a hot cup of sovereign tea.
Zach
Oh, we made that joke. Sovereignty definitely made that joke.
Joey Weiser
Okay, I should stop drawing the sketch.
Zach
No, you can. I think you made that joke, Joey. Were you active?
Stephen Paul
So, yeah, we.
Zach
Okay, whatever.
Stephen Paul
Go. So the go in gokoku is like. It's sort of like. Like rumbling or roaring. It is literally the. The kanji is like the word for. For car or vehicle, like three times in an arrangement. So that's what. That's what the kanji is. So, yeah, I don't know. You know, there's conquering country. There's like, you know, powerful or attacking country. Now we have have, you know, roaring country or rumbling country or whatever. Anyone else's guess is as good as mine, but that's. That's what we got.
Zach
I remember making this joke like 10 years ago, and now I'm trying to find it. Sorry, go ahead, Stephen.
Stephen Paul
But yeah, it's, you know, I'm excited to see what happens next, particularly two summers. Hopefully we'll get more of the, you know, the disaster unfolding for him, because that would be. That would be very delightful to see because he's got it coming for sure.
Zach
Absolutely. My thoughts. Oh, I get to. Yeah, Forgot about mine. Yeah. I really love this chapter and I feel really ashamed that I also did not put two and two together. I think that adds such a. That. That adds so much in like two pages. I think Oda. Oda really was economical in this chapter. And I think you guys have all mentioned this in some form or fashion. Like, it's pretty. This is. This is like one of the best uses of like three different scenes in one chapter, conveying what's going on in different places, not being too repetitive, being pretty clear with. With caveats that we've noted, while also mixing in some really funny moments. Like, I think this is a pretty, like, solid chapter. Like, obviously this isn't gonna like, blow anyone's mind sort of chapter, but the Brook stuff, like, the thing I have really enjoyed about Elbaf in particular is that a lot of our post time skip one piece does not not focus on the straw hats. And a lot of that is because the straw hats have been so developed over the course of several decades and pre timeskip, just like, you know, think of Water seven, for example, with Usopp, like such and Robin. And you know, we've gotten the stuff with Sanji. The further away I get from it, like, yes, there were good parts of, you know, this is going to be my hot take of the day. There are good parts of Sanji's flashback and there are good reasons to revisit that. But, like, there are also a lot of parts that feel very lifted from previous flashbacks, like Sanji and Robin's had a ton of parallels. And was it ultimately wholly necessary to have. I don't know. I mean there were cool stuff that came out of it, like the Germa stuff and all that, but like with this one, I feel like it is necessary. Like Brook's flashback. I've always thought Brook has had the most potential to mine into his backstory because he's literally the oldest. He's literally had two lifetimes and we saw the story of the end of his first lifetime and that's really like we saw the tail end of his life there in probably one of the best flashbacks of the series. Like Brooke. The strongest part of Brooke, I think most people can agree, is his flashback and is his story, which like every time I think about it is just so heart wrenching that he just had to sit on a ship, watch everyone die and survive for 50 years by himself on only sustained on fart jokes like ultimate. That's tough. And I was looking back at chapter, what was it? 489, which is when he officially joins the crew. I've mentioned this pretty recent whenever we last talked about this Brook stuff. When it came up when the Gunko stuff right before the flashback, long ago. The translation at the time at least was I was the leader of a battle convoy in a certain kingdom, which. Come on, Brooke, be a little more specific next time you're. You're joining a crew. Like, let's get your full CV out here. But it's soup. I, I'm, I'm really excited to hopefully see more about this. And the one other hot take I would have is that as much as I love the flashback, if I had to choose between a flashback for Loki and everything that we got and one for Brooke, I might choose the Brook one because also he's a straw hat and I want, I really want that fleshed out. However, having both might be too much of a good thing because we just came out of six months of the longest flashback we've ever had in the series. Will we get this now? Maybe. Should we get this now? Maybe. I don't know. But I'll say again, in the economics of it, he did a really good job conveying a lot of that story in just two pages. And I know Greg and you talked about this Stephen, in a recent SGS episode, but that like, I think it was you guys talked about like Gunko might have the come to Jesus moment or at least that she'll like, you know, if not become one of the good guys, at least like, figure out, oh, you know, be able to get out of the grip of Emu. Or, like, at least try. I mean.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that, like, tearing Gunko away from Emo, especially with the Brook relationship, is like the. The dramatic center of the. The fight part of the. The arc, for sure.
Zach
Agreed. And it gives a lot more attention to everything going on because it's like, once Luffy shows up, I'm gonna be like, okay, kick. Kick everyone's ass. And it's gonna be great, don't get me wrong, to watch him kick all of their asses. But the. The drama will, at least briefly, probably subside when Loki and Luffy, in a good way. But my point is, I think this chapter really solidifies that. I do also want to remind people that Gunko was saying some really heinous shit before she got possessed by Emu here. Like, she did say that she was going to take Brooke and make him, as you mentioned, because I forgot that this happened. That to make Brooke like her music slave for the rest of time.
Sam Leach
Right.
Zach
Since both of them are presumably immortal. That.
Stephen Paul
You know, the way you said that, like. Like, it was like her on her Twitter or something. Like, you didn't see the shit she was saying back in the day.
Joey Weiser
Cancel Gunko.
Zach
Well, Gunko should have been canceled. Like, this is. She should be way beyond that.
Isaiah Colbert
And.
Zach
And so that's kind of why I never put two and two together. Because I'm like, oh, Gunko's just awful. Anyway, like, she has already proven herself to be a Celestial dragon with all of the qualities of a Celestial. She was in the human hunt in God Valley. She, like, briefly showed up there. We don't know what specifically she did, but come on. Let's not be apologists for the Celestial dragons here, especially the ones who love murdering people and enslaving people and the whole. Yeah. So, like, I don't want to see her redeemed, however, unless she's been completely out of her control this entire time. But I don't. We have no reason to believe that, given what we saw this chapter. But I'm curious what brought her to this place in time. It's definitely one of the most interesting things that remain on the table in this arc. Despite her. Despite her pantslessness, she is a. And her extremely anime design. She is very interesting. She has so many hats on hats.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Yeah, she is.
Joey Weiser
It will be interesting to see how her design at least wardrobe changes after this kind of like, waking up moment.
Zach
I know we saw in the flashback she did, presumably, if that was her look. She had the longer hair and looked a little different. But I think it was the longer hair that maybe triggered Brook's memories there completely. Although, again, when you're alone for like 50 years on a ship, your mind. You know, one last thing I wanted to mention, and that's that I really. We talked about it a little bit or I brought it up. Is that the stuff where the visual cues you have as to how under control she is from EMU is really fun and cool and subtle. Like, I mean, like obvious in a way that, you know, Joey thought that the thing was obvious with Gunko's backstory, but I think it's a good. The reader is smart enough to get these little cues, sorts of things that ODA does a lot. I also just want to say how much I love, I think, Donnie, they posted on our Discord. This is a great reaction image. The I never wanted to think of you again for the rest of my life. But also just an excellent panel. Like, it probably is very difficult to get the full emotion out of a skeleton, but I think he does a very good job this week and I'm looking forward to more. Brooke. I love Brook. I love Ian Sinclair. And so we'll get some of that too, I'm sure, in the Dub One Piece, season two. Yeah. So you too are on the Internet.
Isaiah Colbert
I found that very funny.
Zach
I was like, oh, what are people talking about?
Isaiah Colbert
They don't know.
Zach
It's a very long. I, I, Some people take that like, what are you talking about? I think it is funny. It's ridiculous. It's funny. Any. Any final thoughts? Okay, why don't we take a quick break and we'll get into some piece together questions. This is the piece together segment where we take your questions, comments, theories, but we don't finish each other's since what Gunko. Who says that? That's not even. Sam, what's the first segment we got here?
Sam Leach
Our first segment is Dis Peace.
Zach
From our Patreon subscribers. You too could make us read your questions, comments or theories. We're forced to through bribery. So, yeah, join on Patreon.
Stephen Paul
Forced to read Discord.
Zach
That's the. That's what we should have called it. Yeah.
Joey Weiser
Spin off podcast.
Zach
Just do a whole podcast about it. Sam, what's the first question?
Sam Leach
Our first disc piece comes from Recrossed Six Paths. Who says, hey, Opp. Brook got so much. Got to do so much in this chapter. I feel like my mental powers did that. And we got to see a Cute little ducky boat before it got destroyed. I feel like my mental powers did that too. Where did the boat come from? All the holy knights of God teleported there. Was it a ship? Was it a giant ship that they dummy reversed into an evil duck ship? Off screen. Did they build it out of arrows, thorns and dreams while we had a six month long flashback? I feel like my mental powers did not do that. It looked like a Viking ship.
Joey Weiser
Like a Viking ship.
Zach
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Sam Leach
They're using it for transporting the kids.
Zach
I did not get that immediately either, I think when I first saw it. But yeah, it is. Definitely. And also, think about it. They wouldn't have a giant ship, but they. I mean, whose ship was it? I guess is the question originally. Wrong answers.
Stephen Paul
And it's not the giants ship. The Great Eric. Because that got smashed.
Zach
Yeah, everyone said the Great Eric. No, Eric. Sean. The Great Sean.
Joey Weiser
It's the lesser Eric.
Zach
The Lesser Eric.
Stephen Paul
The Great Eric is also what they call emu on Zoom calls Great Eric.
Zach
Love it. More of this. I love them on Zoom call. I just. I love powerful characters doing very mundane things. That's like my sense of humor in a nutshell right there.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, it's the. It's the Dr. Evil Principle. Right.
Zach
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Just put them in silly. Yeah.
Zach
Situations like emu with an accountant or something is just funny to me. Like very boring shit with a very overpowered individual I think is very funny. Yes. Next one, Sam.
Sam Leach
Our next disc piece comes from Radio against the Machine, AKA Slay. Hello, my fellow nightcrawlers and honey smearers. Man, I can't believe Nika died in this chapter. Shot through the heart. Left a hole in his chest. Just like his late brother.
Zach
I guess we have to call this one Shot through the heart or Stabbed through the heart or something of like icock.
Sam Leach
Sovereignty through the heart.
Stephen Paul
Sovereignty through the heart.
Zach
Ooh, we could still call it that. Feed through the heart. That's when I took my tea. That's what I. And I got heartburn after. That's what I called.
Sam Leach
Great development for Brooke and Churi. I do hope their fight wraps up soon. Good thing Brook is out of his bind. Wink, wink. I want to see them work things out. Anywho, Zorro's plan really was just him cutting people. Never changed, Zoro. My question is this. If the Straw Hats couldn't physically fight, how would they each get out of a moment of conflict if they had no other choice? Thank you and have a great week. So no physical fighting. Luffy would eat the enemy.
Zach
Luffy's effed. I think. Basically, though.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. He would eat the enemy.
Zach
Like cracking with cracker. Yeah.
Sam Leach
Brook would soothe their soul with music.
Stephen Paul
Yes.
Zach
That's easy. Yeah. Nami seduction would cut them and thereby Nami seduction.
Sam Leach
Usopp lies.
Joey Weiser
Chopper cries.
Sam Leach
Yeah. Chopper's doctrine.
Zach
Robin uses archaeology. No.
Joey Weiser
Frankie would just claim to be a.
Zach
Robot and scare them walk off.
Sam Leach
I feel like Robin would just be a really good liar as opposed to.
Zach
Usam Robin and Nami. And maybe Usopp could talk their way out of it. I feel like Usopp.
Sam Leach
He could talk his way out if his opponent is dumb.
Zach
Which is it? Did they say specifically who if the. No. Yeah, they usually are.
Sam Leach
No, just if they couldn't. If they. If they're not physically fight, what would their other option to get out of a moment of conflict be?
Zach
Well, here. Here's. Let's throw this one level further. Which major villains in one piece that off the top of your head, do you think Usopp could beat by talking his way out of it?
Sam Leach
Then which major.
Zach
Yeah, like. Like big Orc villains. You know, like the ones that he would.
Stephen Paul
He would try. You would think that he might be getting somewhere with Big mom. And then she would. And then she would pull her rug out from under him and that's like, oh, my God, she is so terrified.
Sam Leach
They could.
Zach
I do love this concept.
Sam Leach
Could Usop appeal to. To Enaru?
Zach
Yeah, he tries.
Sam Leach
He is God. Usopp.
Zach
He. They. He like, remember they had that Nami went with and which. What a fun concept too. The. Everything that happened with that. But like, Sanji's like, I'm cool. I'm gonna. But like, Usopp had to like kind of waffle there.
Joey Weiser
I feel like maybe Magellan. He could kind of like filibuster him until he has to go to the bathroom or something.
Sam Leach
Yeah, he could probably get Caesar.
Zach
Caesar, definitely. I mean, he kind of did. Remember he had that like big speech at the end about Luffy too, but.
Sam Leach
He was in a different room than.
Zach
You're right. He was in a different room. I could tell you which ones. He definitely would not be able to talk his way out of. Crocodile. No way in hell. Arlong Lucci. No, Lucci. Definitely not. Doflamingo. I don't even think he would let him continue talking. Yeah, those. Those are big ones. Kuzan. Definitely he could get like. I know he's not like a big time villain, but Kaido. I think if he put some alcohol in front of him, could probably talk his way out.
Joey Weiser
Usopp kills Kaido uk.
Zach
I think Stephen Paul did this intentionally. Yeah, yeah. That's what that concerned. Right. I think that was related to that. Next question. Sam.
Sam Leach
Our next question comes from Straw Hat Rigby who says, hey Opp. What a chapter. I really liked the bit of a swerve in Brooke actually hating Gunko instead of having a fond memory of her. Oda always keeping us on our toes. So anyway, today is Super Bowl Sunday. I'm sure there's been some version of a joke about sports or sportsball or. Oh, oh, we know how many of our listeners also like sports. Looking at you, Zach.
Stephen Paul
Oh, nailed you. Absolutely.
Joey Weiser
I'm gonna go right out and say superb owl is the new sports ball. I put my.
Sam Leach
I was tempted to, but I was like, ah, it's kind of a weird.
Zach
Has been around for a really long time. Joey.
Joey Weiser
I know it's ancient, but I feel like it's coming back as the like new kind of annoying way to say these are all like, I'm not interested in the super Bow.
Zach
I look up to Mike Patton's sense of humor of using the really older, like older humor to describe something like it's so out of popularity that it's funny. That's just what I'm trying to do here.
Sam Leach
Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
Joey Weiser
Exactly.
Zach
Wow.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
If everyone's taking a drunkest toe, everyone's taking a drink for the shitty jokes we're telling here. Please take yourself to a hospital. Keep going. Sorry.
Sam Leach
But I'll have you know that there are listeners who listen to this podcast and like sports, there are dozens of us. Shout out Arrested Development joke. So in honor of the big game.
Zach
Gotcha.
Sam Leach
In honor of the big game Trademark free usage. Here is how I would break down the straw hats if they were a part of a football team team. Luffy is the quarterback. Zorro is his right tackle. Sanji is the field goal kicker. Usopp is the running back. Nami is the punter. Chopper is the left tackle in guard point form. Robin is the wide receiver. She can sprout a million hands to catch passes from anywhere. Frankie is the tight end. And Brook is also a wide receiver. Super fast. And Jim Bay is a defensive tackle.
Zach
With that speed up.
Sam Leach
Is that a position tight end?
Zach
Yeah, I think.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, no, that's actually that. That is a good like, like literally his build is that of a tight end because they're usually pretty big. They're bigger than a wide receiver because they're also kind of.
Zach
Stephen All. I don't know this sports ball I know how many of our listeners do, but I know like I didn't even invite golfer on the episode tonight because he is a sportsball fan. So he would probably enjoy the superb owl as said I heard recently.
Joey Weiser
I assume he likes golf.
Zach
I assume golfer likes golf. And if he doesn't, then it's. I'm not getting the chance.
Stephen Paul
What if Alex like hopped on this call right now and we'd be like, oh my God, you guys. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock again.
Zach
Yeah, I definitely made that joke last week.
Isaiah Colbert
But yeah.
Zach
Yeah, it's still funny though. Yeah. Let's get on for making fun of me to hopefully not making fun of me. Sam.
Sam Leach
Yeah. Hope you enjoyed this full breakdown. You are legally obligated to have enjoyed it since I'm a Patreon subscriber. Have a great week and go. Patience.
Zach
No. Okay. Why isn't he straw hat rugby instead of Rigby if he's such a sports fan?
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that's true.
Sam Leach
Our next disc piece comes from memory. Cramming back. Who says Ahoy Opp. Banger chapters all. As always. As a Brook fan, I am eating with this new lore and added mystery. Who do you think Shuri and her king dad really are? Wrong answers only.
Joey Weiser
Only.
Sam Leach
Have a great week. P.S. mental powers. God. Usopp does it again.
Zach
Was Shuri and Katakana Stephen. I forget if I know we're. I'm taking it serious. No, there's like nothing to be clean.
Stephen Paul
Shuri was in Black Panther. That's. That's the joke. I get it.
Zach
Yeah. This is how much I know about Marvel. I will say. Yeah, my son definitely was sure.
Sam Leach
He did have a king dad, right?
Stephen Paul
Yeah, I was trying to remember because it's not t'. Challa. I don't remember what their dad's name was.
Sam Leach
The other dad was in civil war and then died.
Stephen Paul
That's right. That's the exception.
Zach
The joke just really flew way over my. The reference. I feel like anyone with Steve Yurko in a room right now like just completely over my head. Sorry. That.
Sam Leach
Yeah, I think that fulfills the question that does.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Sam Leach
The Black Panther characters.
Joey Weiser
King of cartoons know.
Sam Leach
Our next disc piece comes from Tyler who says. Hey opp. Longtime listener since punk hazard, one time voicemail lever and first time discord poster. I showed my 2 and 4 year old film Red last night because they wanted a one piece movie for a family movie night. Makes me think of how much he was flushing out the devil demon powers to get the and get to get to the end of the series already. I wonder what concepts from Film Red may play in the ending of the series. Also, if I probably should have. Also, I probably should have picked a different OP movie for a 2 and 4 year old. But my boys did like dancing to the music.
Zach
So true that the soundtrack is. Yes.
Sam Leach
I got happy Superb owl.
Joey Weiser
Oh, yay.
Zach
You know, I didn't scroll down enough and I actually did not see that. So that's perfectly. Yeah. What was I going to say? My son took after me in that he is scared of everything right now. Like Totoro was very terrifying. Although I get it. That's the thing with all of them. Like, I get it. It's terrifying. Everything's terrifying.
Stephen Paul
I mean there's a lot of like crazy visions and monsters and stuff in Film Red. Right, right in the songs.
Zach
Yeah. I think Movie six is really what you should be starting. Oh yeah, yeah, that one. I'm like trying to think of the least. Which one for my four year old specifically would be the least. It would probably. I haven't seen the channel one of.
Joey Weiser
The shorts where they're playing soccer or something.
Zach
Yeah. Actually that is exact. Like we've been watching a little of the Olympics and he's like, although he's been really into like the skiing and my wife is like, oh, don't. This person crashed. Make sure you don't show that.
Stephen Paul
Oh yeah, yeah. That was pretty ugly.
Zach
Yeah. He's got to see that someday. He's got to see. No, that's not what I said. But.
Stephen Paul
Maybe the, maybe like the early movies, like the first four.
Zach
That's what I was thinking. The Chopper I haven't seen. I haven't seen most of the early ones because they haven't been legally available and I'm saving myself.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
But when they are. But the chopper one probably I would assume would be a good one. I could already tell that my daughter is not going to care at all about like that. But maybe I'm wrong. I mean she's one.
Stephen Paul
I mean I, I, I, I see the re. I, I see the, the logic behind it because there's a, there's so much music in Film Red. Right. So like, you know, nothing Gold has the get best.
Zach
Well, Film Red is like. Yeah. Dancy dancing.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. It has like songs, you know, like it's not just music. There's and yeah. Music video style.
Zach
But you know, none of them have Elmo in it. So that my one year old is out.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Although Red could refer to Elmo, God forbid. Although the Muppet. If we have the Muppets in one piece. This is all we're saying. Somebody listen to us.
Stephen Paul
That's right. Yeah. Netflix bought the Muppets.
Zach
So I. I mean, like, they love.
Sam Leach
A crossover film, Elmo.
Zach
I mean, I think I mentioned that my son came in here asking if they were. If the manga on my shelf were superhero books. And I'm like, kind of.
Stephen Paul
Oh, yeah.
Zach
But like, I don't know when or how I would introduce one piece to.
Joey Weiser
Them.
Zach
But I know I can't push it on them unless they're of a certain age, because then they definitely won't be interested because that's one thing I know about children. Except the thing is, at this age would be perfect because they are copying everything we're doing. But one piece, I just feel like isn't quite four year old. But I guess this longtime listener disagreed. Anyway, that wasn't at all the question. Anyway, what's next?
Sam Leach
Our next disc piece comes from Sailor Karna, who says, hey, Obp, my kid wanted you to know that she made it to the time skip and is enjoying seeing Luffy beat the fake straw hat.
Zach
That part is great.
Stephen Paul
That's great.
Zach
That is a lot of parents on our discord today.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Yeah. That is probably one of the more satisfying because there is enough build up there. You're like, come on.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He. Because he. He waited through like a chapter or two right before, like, Luffy actually figures out what's going on and then finally has an excuse to beat him up.
Zach
It's like a Curb episode where you could see it coming, and it's like, Although with that, it's not. It's usually satisfying to see him get his comeuppance, but it's kind of like that. It's like someone's doing, you know. So, yeah. What's next?
Sam Leach
Our next disc piece comes from male Daddy, who says, hey, Opp, I seek your expert wisdom. My friend owes me a tattoo, and I was thinking of getting a manga panel of Luffy. Do you have any suggestions for a specific panel of our future King of the Pirates that I should get?
Stephen Paul
Thank you.
Zach
Do any of us here have tattoos?
Stephen Paul
That's a. That's a very heavy responsibility.
Zach
That is a very heavy. I can. I defer this until, like, we have our tattooed contingent on here? Because I feel. I will say, I know Ken recently got one of a panel with Yamato that looks just badass.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that looks really good.
Zach
It looks like. I think a manga panel for a tattoo is, like, specifically very cool. So I think you were Going in the right direction.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. Because it has the framing around it already.
Zach
I think that that makes it really sharp and, like. I don't know. I don't know, like, what tattoo artists would do there. I only know stuff about temporary tattoos and very little about that even. But I think there's just something. There's a gravitas behind it, and it looks like just. It looks like the thing that you want it to look like. I mean, behind me, I was like. Yeah, go on.
Sam Leach
I was like the panel of Luffy after they first did the GAO canon with the Thousand Sunny. And he's got, like, the stars in his eyes, and he's, like, crying.
Joey Weiser
Oh, that's nice. Yeah. I was thinking it would be. Yeah, I think I would.
Sam Leach
You want a funny one or a cool one or.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, exactly. Like, I think I wouldn't opt for one where he's looking super tough or angry or anything like that. I think I would want one where he's got a little bit more of a relaxed or excited expression, because it just brings some good vibes along with you wherever you go, you know?
Stephen Paul
Yeah. I hesitate to sound like. Like a scolding parent or something like that, but I. I do feel like this is one of those things where, like, it's. It's supposed to be one that you picked out yourself that means a lot to you. You know what I mean?
Zach
So unless he really, like. Unless you really like us so much that we could pick out a random panel that really is not relevant to your life at all, and we're, for some reason, choose that.
Sam Leach
Please get the one. Get the one as a. Sam.
Zach
Don't even say one as a. Don't even say one is a joke, because then he'll get it and, I don't know. Too much responsibility.
Stephen Paul
Water, Luffy, I think.
Zach
There we go, Steven.
Sam Leach
I want him to go bad liar Luffy.
Zach
Although he could stab himself in the arm, and when blood comes out, it could. No, don't do that.
Sam Leach
Get the one of Luffy stabbing himself in the face.
Zach
No, my serious answer would probably be either the recent Luffy dream one where he, like, right after he says his dream, and he has that very nice, serene, happy face. Although we don't know what that is yet, so you're putting a lot of stock into that.
Stephen Paul
That's right.
Zach
Oh, I want to kill everyone. Oh.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. His dream is like, I want to establish a base on Mars. Yeah.
Sam Leach
Like, you got, like, an Eren Yeager tattoo earlier.
Zach
Yeah, I want a cyber truck. No, I think any like the that face, though there's a few instances, and I'm struggling to remember specifics where he gives that, like, at the end of battle face. I think Ennis Lobby has a pretty prominent one. Like, that's like my Luffy. Like, yeah, I like that. But it really has to keep thinking of. Yeah, go on.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, I just keep thinking of Luffy with the puckered lips kind of whistling off to the side.
Zach
Great one. Yeah.
Sam Leach
That's the Bad Liar one that I was thinking about.
Zach
That's an excellent one. I. It really needs to mean something to you. And maybe what I would suggest to do.
Sam Leach
Or were you thinking of, like, the sanji imitation?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, I think maybe you put that in my head. But, yeah, the sanji one would be good too.
Zach
Oh, yeah, that's a great one, too. Why don't you come back to us in March when I know more of our tattooed contingent should be here and you could give us more details, too, and then maybe we could help you with this problem. And by problem, I mean tattoo. We have two more of these, right? Yeah, two.
Sam Leach
Two more. Our next disc piece comes from Big Mike, who says, hey, Opp. It's been a while since Brook has asked any of the women if he can see their panties or do anything pervy. Is he okay? I've been expecting a gag of him attempting to walk underneath the giant woman to look up their skirts and Nami punishing him, but nothing's happening. Happened. Should we be worried about him?
Joey Weiser
There's a lot going on.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, Brick's got a lot. Yeah, yeah, he's dealing with a lot right now.
Joey Weiser
He's got all the paintings he needs to see right now, and he doesn't.
Sam Leach
Want to say anything about, about Shuri until he, like, knows for sure if what his relationship with her is.
Zach
I, I, I'm fine if that joke disappears into time. Yeah.
Sam Leach
I suspect that they are weaning away from that.
Zach
Like, like, like, it'll never go away completely.
Sam Leach
It'll never go away completely. But, like, like, I think especially with the live action show and, like, their, their push for, you know, more international stuff and, like, the way, the way, like, like Minetta from, like, My Hero, like, kind of slowly got phased out over the story and, like, they just kind of stopped having Minetta jokes after a while.
Zach
Because I, like, I don't know, is. No, I get it.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Sam Leach
I just, like, I, I don't think they'll ever stop being, like, you know, like, some privy jokes here and there. But, like, I think, like, the, but like, when was the last time Sanji.
Zach
Even did that in this chapter? Well, I mean, not literally, but yeah.
Stephen Paul
He wasn't harassing anyone, but not yet.
Zach
He's on his way to Hearts in.
Sam Leach
Their Eyes, Girls in Skimpy Clothes. That's still all.
Zach
Okay, well, yeah, I mean, I mean, have you seen Gunko, like this week?
Sam Leach
Right. But yeah, DNA is fine.
Zach
Yeah, Yeah, I don't know. I don't have that much faith in that joke going away, but. What's the next question? Sam? Yeah, yeah, we could talk about this all day. For some reason we shouldn't.
Sam Leach
Our final disc piece is from Sheepman, who says howdy opposite. I'm in Japan right now and simply wanted to ask what everyone on this week's episode of the podcast about what their favorite One Piece related experience was in Japan or something One Piece related that you're looking forward to doing in the future. The One Piece statues last year for me were the biggest highlight.
Zach
Steven, have you been to Japan?
Stephen Paul
Yes. In fact, my answer is quite easy because I went there and while I was there I had enough. Well, so I had a certain amount of money. This is when I was. It was a student exchange, so I was in high school and my. My parents gave me a certain amount of allowance to spend and most of it may have gone to VHS copies, a box set of VHS of the end of Evangelion movies, which was the only way that I could access them at the time. But I also did buy the first three volumes of One Piece while I was there because I was like, oh, I should buy some manga while I'm here. And I had been thinking about it because I had seen, yeah, I had seen One Piece in Jump for a, like a book report that I did for school and that was that. You know, we were talking about that on the One Piece and Jump Magazine episode that we did a few weeks ago. But after, after that, then when I was in Japan, I was like, I should buy some manga. And so I settled on the first three volumes of One Piece, brought them home with me, and the rest was history.
Joey Weiser
Joey, I have a kind of similar story. Yeah, I had encountered One Piece in some imported issues of Shonen Jump while I was in high school. And then I did a student exchange and the family I stayed with, the other high schooler who was their son was like, I'm not that into. I don't read that much manga anymore, but I do read this and he had a bunch of One Piece volumes. And I was like, oh, wow, that's that thing that I've seen. And so I was starting to kind of get the idea that it was popular, and I was seeing it in some merchandise and stuff. And then I visited my host mother. My host mother worked at a preschool, and I visited and I met the kids, and they asked me what anime I liked and stuff. And they asked, do you like One Piece? And I was like, I'm interested in one piece, but when does it air? And they all were like, oh, it airs. They told me exactly when it was on tv. And so I made a point to watch it one day. And it was during Baratie, because I remember I didn't really know what one piece was, but I was like, okay, there's a bunch of chefs in the water. I don't understand. Like, I thought this was a.
Zach
That's when I was initially airing in Japan.
Joey Weiser
Yeah.
Zach
Wow.
Joey Weiser
It was like 2000. And I still have the jump issues from that time were drum. I have a lot of those still.
Zach
You guys are the real thing.
Joey Weiser
Yeah, it was cool. It was like getting to see something that was just. Just really. Yeah. Blossoming into something that was very popular. It already was very, very popular at that point.
Stephen Paul
Oh, yeah.
Joey Weiser
And I got the sense like, okay, this is kind of like the big hit sensation. And I knew what Shonen Jump was because I was a big Dragon Ball fan. But there is not Dragon Ball stuff anywhere to see. But there was One Piece stuff everywhere.
Stephen Paul
I should say. Speaking of anecdotes, I did bring them, so I bought the volumes at some point in the middle of it. So. So, like, you know, part of the. The trip was during summer vacation, and then part of it was during the school years to, like, you know, ensure that you could sort of experience both parts of. Of, you know, teenage life there. And. But they. They did have, like, my. My host student had a gym period, and I didn't. Obviously didn't have any gym clothes. I couldn't really participate. So I remember. Remember, like, sitting, you know, against the wall in the gymnasium when they were doing, you know, some. I forget if it was table tennis or something like that. And so I was just like, well, I'm just gonna pull, you know, one piece out of my. My bag and. And, you know, just look through it, try to read a little bit of it. And at some point, like, some of the guys came over. They're like, oh, what do you. What are you reading? What you got there? And then I. I showed them that it was one piece, and they were like, oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, cool. So I got like the. The like. All right, you pass. Yeah, exactly. They're like, okay, that's a good one. Yeah, that's a cool.
Zach
Cool. Nice. Sam. What? I. You haven't been. Right.
Sam Leach
I have not been to Japan.
Stephen Paul
No.
Zach
What would be.
Sam Leach
I mean, it's. It's not a specific to Japan thing, but I. I probably have a better chance of seeing it in Japan. Are like, the. Those exhibits with the real, like, drafts of the monster manga, the one that.
Zach
Went to San Francisco.
Sam Leach
Yeah. Yeah. Like, seeing that in person with my own eyes is something I absolutely want to do at some point in my life. I think that would be a really, like. Like, even just. Even just like, imagine daydreaming about it in my head. It's like a very powerful experience.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that would be really cool.
Joey Weiser
Yeah. My more recent trip to Japan, I went to a Mugiwara store. It wasn't especially, like, one Piece y trip, but I did make a point to go to the Mugiwara store. Do you hear my cat going wild?
Zach
We're cat friendly.
Joey Weiser
They have a bunch of reproductions of the color spreads around. And when I first saw them, I thought it was the original art.
Zach
Me too.
Joey Weiser
And I thought my eyeballs just about popped out of my head.
Zach
Yeah, that happened to me too, with.
Sam Leach
The Boogie War Story and that display that they have in Japan with the Ishitani animation that's wrapping around the wal.
Zach
Oh, yeah.
Stephen Paul
Base. That looks great.
Zach
That would be a. Yeah, that's one piece. I don't know what that. I think. I think. I think stuff like.
Sam Leach
Yeah, stuff like that is the kind of stuff I really want to see.
Zach
I mean, first of all, I've been, like, really fortunate to do lots of One piece stuff in Japan. You could watch online for free. Our documentary One Piece podcast, goes to Japan from. I can't believe I'm saying this. 13 years ago.
Stephen Paul
2013.
Zach
Yeah, 2013 is. Yeah. The thing behind me. Yeah. That we did that. And that whole experience is so special. And like, getting to go to Greg's apartment, going to. Going to USJ and seeing the show in Osaka. Going to the not really licensed One Piece bar that existed there. I think it's still there. I mean, they have that, like, those, like, quasi. Like you're allowed to do this kind of thing for those sorts of things. I think in Japan, getting to go to ODA's, like, schools, like, so you could watch that for my full experience. But I'm like, oh, it would have been so much better if I went now and did all those things like, and actually knew a little bit of what we were doing. A little bit more and not rushed right after I took the bar experience exam to do that. I feel bad for the amount of like, pressure I threw on Greg and myself, but more Greg to do that. But I think it came out great. And really getting to meet the inspiration for Zeff, even though he thought he was the inspiration for Sanji, was an all timer. And the last trip I went was amazing too. And I really hope I could do something like that again with everyone in the crew before all is said and done, because, you know, we only have one time to do these things. And one piece. Tokyo Tower was incredible. I'm super sad that that's gone. I think my favorite moment of that was seeing Alex jump scared at the Brook exhibition, which looks. I'm not Mr. Like, I don't get scared of things, but I did not scare. But it was great. I'm like, oh, Alex, I didn't know you were like this. God, that whole thing. And also seeing Greg. Surprise.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that's. I thought that's what you were gonna say was Alex getting jump scared by Greg.
Zach
That was. Yeah, equally good. I forgot the actual thing, but it was very funny that Alex got jump scared at the Brooke haunted house thing. But God, there's still so much. I want to go to Japan all the time. I think I've said this before. Like, it's the place I get homesick even though I don't live there and have no like ancestral connection to. But I like, yeah, I want to. I just want to be there all the time. But I don't know how I would drag two kids on an intercontinental flight. That seems difficult. Or leaving my kids for such a long period of time is also equally tough. That's why I went in 2019 though. I'm like, I gotta do this now. Not that I knew it was imminently happening, but like, you know, I don't know when I'm gonna get to do this again. I. But my goal is to do it again before the series is over. That was the last disk piece, right, Sam? I think that was a yes.
Sam Leach
Yep.
Zach
The end. We just have three blue Skypieas, which we're gonna do first comes from DK Toychest, who says it's been 19 years and we are getting. Wait, no way has it been 19 years since Brook was introduced. Is that true? That is true, isn't it?
Joey Weiser
I'm sure you could tell me any stretch of time with one piece.
Zach
We've Been doing this for almost 17, so that makes sense. It's been 19 years. And we're getting Brook more backstory. Us Brook fans are living the dream. Now, they said, I assume Shuri's story is going to parallel Harold and Loki, that she was a d. She was duped and becoming a vessel for Emu. And Emu use used her to kill her father. So there you go. Someone else got two plus two on this. Joey. Never. I'm never gonna live that down. And also the sports ball thing from earlier AD has the next one since the flashback ended. And we haven't seen Frankie, Bonnie, or Lilith. They were with Ripley and Root to the kids, but so far haven't appeared. So where'd they go? Maybe Frankie's going to grab the General. It'd be perfect to fight with the Giants. I feel like it would be tiny in comparison, but maybe not. Would love your speculation. Love the show. Anyone?
Joey Weiser
Maybe they can enhance the General so that it can be bigger or something. With all those scientists there, I don't know. I honestly don't think about them very much. Like Bonnie and I think about Frankie. Yeah, sure. Yeah.
Zach
Lilith is like one of those things that's like, oh, yeah, what's going on with that? The fact that we aren't thinking about Bonnie and Kuma at all has been disappointing. Like, it never really felt like we got the full cap on that story.
Sam Leach
Well, it just means it's going to be like an out of left field thing when they.
Zach
Yeah, but does that. Does that diminish what we got there? Is what I'm saying. I don't know. I. I'm not saying it does. I'm just saying it might. Last question. Ice Fisher. Tenacity High. Opp. Now that Summers getaway is flotsam, I theorize they'll kidnap Biblo, steal the Summer Sunny, and use the owl to enlarge the ship to make their escape. Thoughts? Wow, that is a complicated plan. So definitely.
Stephen Paul
We'Re gonna turn it around. We're gonna march all the way back to. To where the. The school is.
Zach
Where do they go from here? That is a good question, though. And we never really addressed it, like, what could possibly get out of Holy Nights?
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
Yeah. I think Summers is relatively fucked.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. Yeah.
Joey Weiser
My big, big blow theory was that he was gonna shrink the hammer and let Usopp use it, but now that it's a living thing, I don't think that that really works.
Stephen Paul
Yeah, that's right. Has to be inorganic matter or inanimate matter, I guess.
Joey Weiser
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
Yeah. I don't know. You know, now that it's happened, it does seem like that was a big weakness in the plan all along was, you know, you got all these magic powers but it kind of requires the use of a ship.
Zach
Yeah.
Stephen Paul
I don't know. Maybe Oda will do maybe, maybe Odo will do another one of his classic like with the the ships in Wano where it's like oh there's a there's more ships just hiding around the the side of the the panel and that's his way to get out of it.
Zach
Okay, that's gonna do it for piece together. Why don't we round off. This has been the One piece podcast episode 905 for the week of 2-9-2026. I want to say this year generally has sucked. Obviously I think everyone knows that it sucks. However however this year in podcasting has been pretty amazing so far. If you have not listened to the first few episodes of the year, please do. I think so. 900 we had the quest for the Best folks on a lot of fun. That episode 901 is an all timer with Steven's we talked about a little bit before the translation of the interview with Oda in Jump and I'm sorry in the in the magazine the one after that we had the squirrel and all that. I'm trying to remember more specifics besides that what else happened in that I'm sure things happened in that I just can't even remember. We had a new SGS for the year and last year. Last week's was also fantastic. Fantastic with golfer golfer gear and I got to be on Quest for the Best last week to talk about Orb which I already have Kirsten messaging me as she goes through that being shocked about things. It's awesome and I hope you all are able to watch is violent. So if you have a two and a four year old, probably not the show to watch much with them. However still very good. Still good. Historical fiction anime. I have to watch King. I have to read Kingdom and Vinland Saga next. I think those are my next two because it fits in that I've said I have Vinland Saga. Like I need to just find and I need to do what Isaiah does and like find a deadline for me to actually start it and we'll book.
Stephen Paul
You on a podcast and then yeah.
Zach
Someone find a Finland Saga podcast out there. You know, I'm sure it exists. We also as I mentioned at the top of the show have the congressional the congressional candidate for Illinois's 9th congressional district, which I will say we have, I think three members of the podcast live in that congressional district or are voting in that congressional district district. I'll make the announcement here as to who will be on that show and includes two of her potential future constituents. Kirsten Carey, who is, yes, living in Japan at the moment, but is from and lives in that part of Chicago. We have Dr. Bentley will also be on. She teaches there, I think the University of Illinois. I think I might be wrong about that, but you could look her up. Dr. One piece usually wherever you find your social media. And we have golfer who is from Texas, which is kind of like Illinois. Anyway, please check out that podcast. It's out now on Patreon if you want to listen. It's just $5 a month and you get that right now. Or you could listen to our interview with K Cat on Thursday. Anywhere you get your podcasts. I'm looking forward to a fun year of podcasting at the very least. Next week we have Roger on the show for the first time in a while as well. And Dr. Bentley will be coming on a proper episode soon, assuming we don't have a break in a couple weeks, which I'm sure we do. So look forward to all that. Just Joey, where can people find you your work? Thank you so much for doing the art this week that you're currently drawing, I think. Where could people find you?
Joey Weiser
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me. You can follow me on bluesky, joeyweiser or joeyweiser Comics on Instagram and check out my graphic novels. The Littlest Fighter is the newest graphic novel. It's a Kaiju inspired book that's great for all ages. And my previous two books are Dragon Racer and Ghost Hog which are connected but you can read them in any order you prefer. And yeah, check out this spring. I've got a ton of like convention and event appearances coming up. I don't have them offhand but like it's starting in March. Basically I'm going to be all over kind of the Southeast so. So keep a lookout on my various social media for announcements about that.
Zach
Thanks Sam. Where could people find you?
Sam Leach
They can find me on Bluesky CSAM.
Zach
Stephen, what about you?
Stephen Paul
I'm on Bluesky at StephenPaul BSky Social and you can continue to read One Piece, Akane Banashi and Kurumizawa's Fog. Those are all coming out on the Shonen Jump app and whatnot. You know where to find them. They are all cool.
Zach
Good. Steven only works on cool anime, a cool anime, cool Manga. Oh my God. Just lost all my credit.
Joey Weiser
Some of them are anime.
Stephen Paul
Yeah.
Zach
I mean, if they turn into them.
Stephen Paul
If they get to anime, then they're cool. That's kind of how it works.
Zach
Oh, is that. Is that how that works?
Joey Weiser
That's how it goes.
Stephen Paul
That's the proof.
Zach
That's the proof. Okay. I'll remind you about that when something really shitty gets turned into an anime.
Stephen Paul
No, I did, I did work on that. What was it called? Platinum End the series. The series by the Death Note guys. And it wasn't very good. And then they made an anime out of it and people hated that too. So I guess that is the. The counter proof too.
Zach
There's an exception. Every rule. Also, big thanks to Isaiah Colbert for coming on the show. Please check that them out at Shin Isaiah I spelled not the way it's spelled. S H I N E Y E Z E H U H H@BluesGuy Social. If you got that, great. If not, just look up Isaiah. I'm sure you'll find them. And you can find me zacklogan.com As I mentioned before, I'm on Quest for the Best this past week talking about orbs. Please check it. Listen to that. I also. Oh, I haven't had a chance to talk to Steven about it. I also am trying. The thing I hate doing, considering I do a one piece podcast is trying to convince someone to read the series. I am not good at it. I am like I will admit. But I think it helped that you translated also Akana Banashi I think helped. Look, Tristan, one of the co hosts had one piece open at the end of the series saying I'm starting to read it now. I have no way to check if there's been any accountability there except with Miles. I guess I could bug Miles about it, but Miles is busy with his own stuff. But hopefully Steven is the reason some new folks get into that and Vinland saga. I think I mentioned as well. So. So as we said, good anime, that Steven has good manga. Wow. I made the same mistake twice. I also forget to do this at the end of the episode we recorded for Cat, but our sign off as usual should be Fuck Ice. Yeah, very important to mention as they try and come into my localities as well. I've been consistent on this so I. I do want to know. Note that. I also want to note you could follow us at one piece podcast anywhere you get your social media, anywhere you get your podcast, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, all the other ones you could check us out on YouTube. Please do YouTube.com one piece podcast. Hit that like and subscribe button. And we don't have a phone number. Patreon.com I mentioned, and I think that's everything. We'll see you next week with our review of. With our recap of chapter 1174. My name is Zach. We'll see you next week, everyone. Goodbye. Bye.
Date: February 9, 2026
Host: Zach (Maji Media)
Guests:
Main Theme:
A spirited look at One Piece chapter 1173 ("Warrior Generation") and its developments – ranging from Zoro’s “galaxy brain” tactics, the giants’ sovereignty moves, hilarious cover story moments, and a surprisingly deep dive into Brook’s mysterious past. Includes industry talk, news from One Piece tie-ins (like baseball collabs), upcoming anime announcements, and dynamic, off-the-wall panel discussions.
The episode’s tone is fun, knowledgeable, irreverent, and warm, filled with running jokes and close group chemistry.
[01:45 – 07:38]
“I think 90% of the people that come on the show... they’re not crazy. We’ve really committed to the bit here.” – Zach (03:49)
[08:12 – 13:12]
[13:12 – 15:43]
[16:33 – 54:41]
[22:37 – 31:00]
[32:24 – 41:19]
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[43:43 – 53:36]
[54:41 – 91:56]
[75:14 – 81:11]
[91:56 – 115:11]
[124:52 – 135:00]
This episode was an engaging dive into one of the current era’s best One Piece chapters, from emotional reveals to slapstick action and intricate translation lore. The panel’s chemistry, signature off-topic segues, and expert analysis make it a must-listen for die-hard fans and even those lapsed on the manga. For listeners catching up, the Brook/Shuri revelations and the breakdown of Oda’s growing cast and attack names are especially invaluable insights.
Next time: Chapter 1174 recap, with special guests Roger and (soon) Dr. Bentley. Subscribe via your favorite podcast app or join the Patreon for early and extended content!