Episode 909, “Giant Sicko Pirates”

Summary

---

The One Piece Podcast

Episode 909: “Giant Sicko Pirates”

Air date: March 9, 2026
Host: Zach (Maji Media)
Regulars: Ed, Alex, Ken
Guests: Stephen Paul (translator, One Piece & Weekly Shonen Jump)

---

Overview

This episode is a packed celebration of One Piece news, fandom, and manga discussion. The team welcomes translator Stephen Paul and covers a range of topics: community/fandom news (including interviews and the live-action show), a spirited Manga Recap of Chapter 1176 (“With Pride”), the return of the World Top 100 character poll, and plenty of irreverent One Piece humor. Notably, this recap spotlights the ongoing Elbaf arc, surprising power-ups for Frankie, and the emotional decisions of the giants Dorry and Brogy. The episode closes with a lively listener Q&A and results from the podcast's “Arc Madness” fan tournament.

---

Episode Structure & Key Segments

• [01:16] Main Show Start/Introductions
• [03:12] One Piece Podcast News
• [10:32] One Piece News Roundup (WT100, Cast on Fallon, etc.)
• [19:03] Manga Recap: Chapter 1176 (“With Pride”)
• [58:55] Manga Recap – Impressions/Discussion
• [82:06] Piece Together (Listener Q&A)
• [136:31] Arc Madness Tournament Results & Closing

---

Major Discussion Points & Insights

Community & Podcast News

[03:12]

• Podcast plugs a special interview with Mikayla Hoover, the mocap/voice of Chopper in the live-action adaptation. Available early on Patreon, public on YouTube March 11.
• Live-action cast recently appeared on The Tonight Show. Some actors (Chopper, Robin’s actors) were absent, leading to playful speculation about how this fits broader One Piece canon.

WT100 Character Poll

[11:29]

• The global “World Top 100” One Piece character popularity poll returns; early results show typical favorites (Luffy, Zoro, Sanji) dominate, but fans are amused/confounded by the high placement of newer/obscure characters (e.g., Zabek).
• Zach: “If Zbek is in the top 10, I think we could all agree democracy just doesn’t work.” [15:57]

Elbaf Arc and Manga Recap: Chapter 1176

Frankie’s Power-Up & Vegapunk Tech

[24:47], [41:03]

• Lilith gives Frankie “Super Vega Cola,” a more potent source of fuel created by absorbing heat energy from Elbaf’s fires.
• Lilith: “…fuel is passion! Use this stuff and your raw power will explode.” [41:00]
• Frankie’s “super strong right (“Dexter”)” punch gets attention for its translation and Oda’s wordplay.

Nami & Zeus – Creative Combat

[31:40]

• Nami uses “Pouring Rain Tempo” via Zeus to save the burning library and school—an uncharacteristic but effective (non-lightning) attack.
• Zeus is gobbled up by a sleep monster (Lindworm), sending the crew into rescue mode.

Straw Hats & Giants vs. Holy Knights

[46:47]

• Jinbe, Sanji, and Frankie team up for a flashy group attack on the Lindworm.
• Sanji: “Just the sort of elitist mindset I’d expect from a Celestial Dragon… I think you need a hole in that mask.” [45:06]
• Lindworm and Killingham get physically pummeled but are not ultimately defeated.

Dorry & Brogy’s Sacrifice and the “Domi Reverse” Mechanic

[54:13]

• The possessed giants Dorry & Brogy behead each other rather than continue to harm comrades—restoring themselves from Emu’s “Domi Reverse” possession.
• “When we die, we die with pride.” [54:41]
• The solution to the “Domi Reverse” curse is fatal damage—violence turns the possessed back to normal.
• The “Giant Sicko Pirates” meme is born: “Get the children inside. There’s gonna be a lot of violence.” [57:30]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Stephen Paul [41:03]: “Your innards are immaculately designed… You see, Frankie, fuel is passion! Use this stuff and your raw power will explode.”
• Alex [54:41]: “We are the warriors of Elbaf. When we die, we die with pride.”
• Zach [57:30]: “Get the children inside. There’s gonna be a lot of violence.”
• Ken [61:13], about the “solution” to Domi Reverse: “Just kill them. It’s a killing blow. That should do it.”

---

Discussion Highlights & Analysis

• Frankie’s Upgrade: The crew speculates that this was a long-delayed but satisfying Egghead payoff for Frankie fans, though it arrives abruptly.
• Fight Pacing: The panel agrees the pacing is rapid, perhaps to keep the massive Elbaf arc from dragging; some potential drama is sacrificed for action.
• Domi Reverse Mechanic: Reaction is mixed—while plot-convenient, the Norse/Viking undertones (kill, respawn, drink, fight again—Valhalla-style) fit Elbaf thematically.
• Killingham & Summers: The two lesser Holy Knights are dispatched (or at least seemingly neutralized), leading to the expectation that Gunko—as Emu’s current host—is the long-term threat.
• Speculation: The crew discusses how Usopp may yet have his big arc moment, foreshadows possible future dragon and alliance fights, and connects Domi Reverse to past lore (e.g., the fate of Rocks D. Xebec).

---

Listener Q&A Highlights (“Piece Together”)

[82:06]

• Most well-written women in OP: Robin, Bellemere, Kureha, Okiku, and Big Mom draw praise for depth.
• “What’s the best One Piece fighting/energy system?” Panel praises Six Powers (Rokushiki), Fishman Karate, and Big Mom’s Soul abilities for being both creative and distinct from Devil Fruits.
• Favorite obscure character for WT100 campaign: The podcast settles on “Baburu” (Caribou’s Dead Grandma) as their meme pick to push in the poll.
• What food would you bribe Luffy with to save you from fascism?— Meat is the default, but specific answers include carne asada fries and goulash.

---

“Arc Madness” Bracket Tournament Results

[136:31–149:00]

• First-round results: Egghead, Sabaody, Whole Cake Island, Baratie, Elbaf, Zou, Thriller Bark, Drum Island, Impel Down, and Dressrosa advance.
• Next-round matchups previewed, with panelists discussing surprises and the recency bias influence in voting.

---

Tone Recap

• Language & Mood: Relaxed, irreverent, highly knowledgeable fandom banter. Frequent tangents and deep-dive analyses are peppered with puns, meta-commentary, and affectionate ribbing.
• Energy: Upbeat, joyous at the action-packed chapter and community milestones, but thoughtful when critiquing pacing and plot mechanics.

---

Final Thoughts

• The hosts and guests celebrate One Piece’s ability to deliver fun, explosive action while keeping the reader emotionally invested, but they share in some impatience with Oda’s “magical technology” and pacing shortcuts.
• The community-focused WT100 and Arc Madness brackets showcase the ever-growing and evolving nature of fandom.
• The coming chapters and episodes—especially with the live-action returning—promise more high drama, shenanigans, and fan-energized discussion.

---

For More:

• Special interview w/ Mikayla Hoover available from March 11 on YouTube; early on Patreon.
• Join the Discord for “Arc Madness” voting and daily fan artist spotlights.

---

Enjoy the live-action Season 2 and see you next week on the Grand Line!

Transcript

[Advertiser]

Spring is here, and there's a whole new way to chai at Starbucks that's made perfect for you. Choose your sweetness. Dial it up or keep things light. Add a touch of pistachio, a hint of strawberry or vanilla, or make it a spring classic with lavender. Because this season, there's endless ways to chai at Starbucks.

[Alex]

Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental

[Zach]

car right so I can tune out travel advice. That's just plain wrong, bro.

[Alex]

Sky coin. Way better than points.

[Zach]

Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade.

[Advertiser]

Stop taking bad travel advice.

[Alex]

Start comparing hundreds of sites with Kayak and get your trip right. Kayak Got that right.

[Zach]

This is the One piece podcast, episode 909 for the week of March 9, 2026. My name is Zach.

[Ed]

My name is Ed.

[Alex]

And my name is Alex.

[Zach]

And on today's show, very special guest translator for One Piece and weekly Shonen Jump. Stephen Paul is here with us. How's it going, Steven?

[Steven Paul]

It's going great. So this morning, my wife, whom I love and cherish very much, decided she really wanted to do a 10k event, which meant we had to get up early on the night that we lose an hour due to daylight savings time. So if I am a little out of sorts of today, you will know why and understand, hopefully.

[Ed]

So you Woke up at 5, but it was actually 4?

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, basically.

[Zach]

Hey, that's when my son woke up, too.

[Alex]

If you were out of swords, then you'd be like Zorro after his fight with Mihawk.

[Zach]

And our archivist Ken returns. How's it going, Ken?

[Ken]

Hello. I've been playing way too much Pokemon Pocopia all weekend.

[Zach]

Shocking.

[Ken]

So I'm glad to break up with.

[Steven Paul]

So dismissive.

[Zach]

Thank you.

[Ken]

Thank you.

[Zach]

Shocking. I mean, I'm always.

[Ed]

You gotta say it like this.

[Zach]

Shocking.

[Ken]

There we go. That's it.

[Zach]

There you go. Good job.

[Alex]

You mean like the mask?

[Ken]

Somebody stop me.

[Ed]

That was a sound bite they used on Loveline back in the day.

[Zach]

Okay, we got a lot to do today, guys. We can't talk about Loveline.

[Alex]

Somebody smoke me.

[Zach]

We just can't talk about Loveline any longer. Today we have our manga recap of chapter 1176. We have piece together. Before we get into that, we have One Piece news. But before we get into that, we have One Piece podcast news. Alex, we got to talk to someone really cool this week.

[Alex]

And who was was Michaela Hoover, the live action voice slash mocap actor who portrays Tony Tony Chopper in the One Piece live Action.

[Ed]

Technically, on the COVID of Jump this week.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Alex]

She is. Technically.

[Zach]

She is. Technically.

[Alex]

You want to get technical? She absolutely is. Yeah. It was a great interview, honestly. Couldn't have gone better.

[Zach]

No, I couldn't have gone better. It's supposed to be 20 minutes. It was an hour. So that's how you know it's good.

[Ed]

It's too bad she didn't get to appear on Jimmy Fallon this week with the rest of the cast. McKenzie wasn't there either.

[Zach]

Oh, not McKenna. Yeah, McKenna. I don't know why I was thinking.

[Ed]

And lira also just.

[Zach]

Well, to be fair, technically, not yet.

[Ed]

You're right. Taz, Jacob, Emily and Inaki, you could

[Zach]

say McKenna got lost, so that's easy. There's your excuse right there. Chopper isn't technically part of the crew at the beginning at least. So you could say that. And who's Nico Robin? No one really knows. More spoilers for those not who for some reason are listening and have only watched the live action to come. But yeah, please listen to that episode. It's available right now if you are a patreon [e-mail] One Piece podcast or you can tune in on Wednesday. It'll be on video on YouTube. That means with faces and all of the fun zoom ins we've been talking about with Alex's camera. So look out for those. Big thanks to Dr. Bentley for coming on for that as well. She's always amazing and I think she's going to Japan soon. I forget. So if you're around there, check, check her out. Speaking of Patreon, though, Steve, who's back from Japan now, though not here with us for some literally mysterious reason, he's

[Alex]

no longer with us.

[Zach]

I said he's not with us tonight. I didn't say generally. He has put up the latest poll for the One Piece podcast episode image that gets turned into a sticker. It's what we call our sticker of the month crew. You could join it for $12 a month on our Patreon.

[Ed]

What are their options this week? This month?

[Zach]

Their options, as Steve has dubbed it the meme match. It is the Chad Momonosuke vs Harold. The recent one.

[Steven Paul]

We did teleport again.

[Zach]

Telford again. Yeah. So decide. Would you like the Chad Momentosuke or Harold falling for it yet again? I'm curious who wins that one? That just that one again.

[Alex]

He fell for it twice.

[Zach]

Yeah, he fell for it many times. At least twice. So yeah, take a look at that. We talked about Jimmy Fallon a little bit with the One Piece Cast. Did anyone have a chance to watch Fallon?

[Ed]

I watched that segment. It was very silly.

[Alex]

I watched the clip because I'm not going to give him ratings

[Zach]

and thoughts.

[Alex]

It's fun.

[Zach]

It's fine.

[Alex]

I mean, it's very silly.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Alex]

I mean, they're all quite silly. I think if you're going to watch anything with the One Piece cast, though, you should definitely watch our interview with Mikayla Hoover, which drops on Wednesday.

[Zach]

I will say the One Piece podcast objectively better than Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Tonight Show.

[Ed]

The Tonight Show.

[Zach]

Yeah, the Tonight Show. Late Night was his previous one. Also, for those who are keeping up with weird crossovers, as Joey Weiser put it, this was specifically done to cause Zach pain. And that is in Yaki and Elmo coming together to talk about the word nakama.

[Ken]

Oh God.

[Zach]

That has no translatable.

[Alex]

A word that lives in infamy for me.

[Zach]

That can't be translated, right, Stephen? No, no possible translation. I did see one comment saying can. Can nakama, whatever can that be used for? Like, I think Zach Davison or someone posted like it could be used for like inanimate objects and stuff. Like, is that true? I don't like. Can it be used in non. Like friendship?

[Alex]

Legally. Legally in Japan, I guess it could be used for a Game Boy Advance.

[Zach]

Right?

[Alex]

Because you could also maybe marry Game Boy advance if you remember this from a couple.

[Zach]

None of us remember this.

[Alex]

Yeah, that happened. Somebody married their like dating sim.

[Ken]

I remember the lady who married the Eiffel Tower.

[Zach]

Yes, I saw that. Documentation.

[Ed]

Special attachment for that.

[Zach]

The Eiffel Tower. The themeboard.

[Alex]

Well, the Eiffel Tower, you need at least three people.

[Zach]

Wow, we really got from Elmo to that right there.

[Ed]

Wow.

[Zach]

No segue there on that. Besides, I personally hate it and everyone else probably thinks it's adorable.

[Alex]

I hated it too. One Elmo sucks too. The word. The word nakama translated not being translated English is something that I've nails on a chalkboard. It's Kurt.

[Ed]

It.

[Alex]

It's cursed. It's a curse.

[Steven Paul]

I was gonna say it is like a cursed butterfly flaps his wings in 2003 or whenever that was.

[Zach]

What a butterfly effect there.

[Steven Paul]

And now Elmo is. Now Elmo is saying it.

[Zach]

That is nuts. Whoever did that for Kaizoku fan subs, I'd say pat yourself on the back, but not in a good way. So I don't know what the. The inverse of that one.

[Alex]

In the same vein. In the same vein. Then Elmo should have another one where somebody teaches him the word Mikan and tangerine.

[Zach]

They don't have tangerines in Japan. You should know that.

[Alex]

No, they only have Mikans.

[Zach]

Um, I, I, I want to rant about Elmo for a while, but Alex, I'm happy you agree as a fellow dad.

[Alex]

No, Elmo sucks. He's, he's the.

[Zach]

We could talk about this in a Patreon only segment or something because I could go on about this, like, in detail.

[Alex]

Elmo. Elmo. Elmo belongs in garbage land or whatever. The, Wherever the Oscar went for that movie.

[Zach]

Oscar lives. You mean that's Grouch Land.

[Alex]

Going kingdom

[Zach]

with the rest of the game. Looks and sees like a very cheap.

[Ed]

There was a category on Jeopardy.

[Alex]

This week.

[Ed]

It was I love trash with Oscar the Grouch. And it was Oscar the Grouch doing the questions.

[Zach]

Okay, that's, that's better than Elmo saying the word nakama. Yeah, by like miles.

[Alex]

Anyway, it's like, oh, today's clue. Well, he's furry and amazing and scary and red and he lives in the garbage.

[Ed]

Amazing.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, the tickle me element. That was that, that was. Yeah.

[Alex]

Who is element?

[Ed]

That was. Anyway, we did Oda's deep thoughts.

[Zach]

Right. Many years ago.

[Ed]

That was a fun segment. Many years ago.

[Zach]

Many years ago.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. One less important thing. And then we'll get to the more interesting piece of news. The volume 114 video came out and we, I know, Steven. We talked about this in depth a few weeks ago when we did our magazine review. But Stussy was included. Not as a spoiler, if you want to hear, but Steven, go ahead.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, she was in the, the under the COVID illustration, which I don't know if that excuses. I mean, you could still definitely argue that, like, he realized he forgot her and then was like, oops, let me add a little doodle for the under the COVID bit.

[Zach]

They also added it to the One Piece Volume 114 promo video, which I now realize I should have sent to all of you before. But it's like this stupid thing at the end. Like, oh, and there's Stussy. Isn't it funny? She was forgotten because Whitebeard doesn't really

[Steven Paul]

like her, like, Porky Pig thing kind of.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ed]

That's all, folks.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Okay. The real big news this week, as Morgans would put it, is the WT100 is back the world. Hot characters as they're called, and boy, are they hot. I want to go through.

[Ken]

How are they?

[Zach]

I'll go through.

[Alex]

They're so hard.

[Zach]

So right now, the one of them

[Alex]

is named Ace Kirby, who is doing

[Zach]

our image this week. So big thanks to Kirby for many reasons, but also for finding that our top five for each region was just released. So I'll go through it really quickly. Japan Zoro, Luffy, Sanji. Water Law. And Ace Asia. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami Ace. Good job. Asia Oceania. Luffy, Zoro Sanji Law. Robin North America. Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Robin Law Latin America. Luffy, Sanji, Zoro Robin Law. Are you noticing anything here, Luffy? Oh, so I didn't say everybody loves Robin. Europe. Here's. Here's where it gets more interesting. Luffy, Zorro, Sanji, Nami Zabek Pog. Middle East. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Zabek Nami Poggers Africa. Luffy, Zorro, Sanji, Zbek Shanks.

[Alex]

That one's at least St. Pagenstein the third.

[Zach]

So I don't know what's happening in the Eastern. Not the entire Eastern hemisphere, but along the Greenwich Mean Line, I guess. Like around there. Something's happening with Zabek. He's getting into your water. Um, you know, I think the rest of the world got the message that it's too new to be in the top five. But everyone. It's okay. You could. You could like whoever you like.

[Ken]

He's a great character. Just. I don't consider him an all timer at this point.

[Zach]

Alex, who do we like? Who are we at the One Piece Podcast endorsing here? And you're going to give a big cavalcade of people so you get to choose.

[Ed]

Longtime listeners will remember a lot of this.

[Alex]

That's right. In no particular order, if you've been listening to the One Piece podcast, then you probably would have voted for Strawberry Dr. Fishbonen, Sarfungal King Baum Calico Aristocracy Burger Ham Lincoln. That's not his name. You can look him up. King Beard. Hamburger King Hamburger King. King Beard. Virginia Porch King Beer vi. I'm sorry.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's King Beer. Yes.

[Alex]

Porcemy Penis Face Kinderella Gatherin Flapper Whoopslap now retired because he was in the top 50 last time and stole one blue gory. The Satanists Gladius aka Mr. Anime, Nisekoi from Nisekoi Bobbin Hamlet, Babanookie Four Tricks, Diesel Little Oars Jr. Squard or Lumbus Yonka Two Pica de Crotch, Josh the Cat. I have to be very specific there.

[Zach]

Ook.

[Ed]

Ook.

[Alex]

And of course, everyone's favorite. And Caribou's favorite Dead Grandma.

[Zach]

There you go. I don't remember Dead Grandma's real name, but that's on you. The listener to look up for yourself.

[Ken]

I think it's Babaroo.

[Zach]

How dare you, Ken.

[Ken]

Sorry.

[Zach]

No, it's fine.

[Alex]

Babaru Nuki.

[Zach]

So the. Ken, do you have like the. The info as to like, voting and stuff open? I don't know why I'm assuming you do, but maybe.

[Ken]

What do you mean? Like how to vote or.

[Zach]

Yeah, like all that stuff. By the way, over 1.6 million people have voted in like three days or four days. How long has it been? It hasn't been that long. Oh, here, wait, I have it open.

[Alex]

Okay.

[Zach]

Oh, go for it. You do it.

[Ken]

Okay. Yeah. So you go to1piecewt1002026.com to vote. You can vote once a day. It refreshes around. I think it refreshes noon my time every day. So I don't know if it's.

[Zach]

Which is different now because of daylight Savings night.

[Ken]

Yeah. Voting goes until June 11th. So you have from March 4th till June 11th.

[Zach]

That's a lot of voting. Yeah.

[Ken]

And then I think the results will be released in August 2026 and the top 20 characters will be drawn by Oda.

[Zach]

I'll say if Zbek is In the top 10, I think we could all agree democracy just doesn't work.

[Alex]

Yeah, I think I'm probably going to like this time around. Like last time I voted for Django pretty much every day, but. And I voted for him a few times already. But I think this time I'm going to probably focus a lot of my votes towards Frankie or Brooke because, you know, I owed it. I just voted for.

[Ken]

Actually last time around, Frankie came in at 28 and Brooke came in at 26. So they didn't. They didn't break the top 20 last time.

[Alex]

That's shame.

[Zach]

But I will say, if you vote for like any of the people that Alex just mentioned, I think we could take at least 50% of the credit because I don't think most of those people are remembered in any way, shape or form.

[Alex]

Yeah. Especially Nisekoi from nisa.

[Zach]

Yeah. Good luck finding them. So that's gonna. That's gonna do it for our news. But yeah, check out the WT100 and it goes. The results will be announced on One piece day in August 2026, a day that should be defined but moves around for some reason.

[Ed]

And as everyone knows, the One Piece live action is coming out on Tuesday this week.

[Zach]

Thank you actually, yeah. March 10th is when the One Piece live action comes out. If you forgot, our interview with Mikaela comes out for everyone on the 11th.

[Ed]

If listeners see it in theaters, let us know how it went.

[Zach]

Yes, I am curious about that.

[Alex]

The.

[Ed]

The theatrical experience.

[Zach]

That's on March 10th as well, right? I believe.

[Ed]

I think so. We talked about it last week.

[Zach]

Yeah, we did.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Alex]

If you're on Blue sky at us or if you're part of our Patreon talk about In Discord, add us on

[Zach]

Twitter too, but we're not going to see it. Or Instagram or wherever you get your social media or podcast. Just let us know. Spotify has comments. You could let us know there, I guess. Okay. Let's do some manga. You guys ready?

[Ken]

Hell yeah.

[Ed]

Oh, yeah.

[Alex]

So good.

[Zach]

So good. So good.

[Advertiser]

New markdowns up to 70% off are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. And that means so many new reasons to rack.

[Alex]

Because I always find something amazing.

[Zach]

Just so many good brands because there's always something new.

[Advertiser]

Join the Norty Club to unlock exclusive discounts. Shop new arrivals first and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack when you want your spring break to feel like. And your kids pool day to feel like. And your hotel bed to feel like. Ooh. And room service to feel like. Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like.

Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels?

It matters where you stay. Book [e-mail] Hilton for this day.

[Zach]

This is the manga recap for chapter 1176 with pride. This chapter could be read with Pride legally free Worldwide, Shonen Jump, Viz.com or MangaPlus Shueisha Co JP um, Ed, let's start with the author's comment. What. What do we have this week?

[Ed]

Vondi's Tokyo Dome show was way too cool. I'm so impressed how he continues to evolve. And this is an artist who did an ending theme for Chainsaw man and the second opening for Ranking of Kings.

[Ken]

I think.

[Zach]

Yes, that's what I'm doing.

[Ed]

He also worked with Otto on a song for this film, Red soundtrack.

[Zach]

And he's doing. Oh, he's doing the. I think it's the opening for Witch Hat atelier. So that's exciting. They're very good. I think Steve and I back in the day discussed the ranking of King's openings. Like, the first one is definitely more apropos for the series, but the second,

[Alex]

the first one rules.

[Zach]

The second song, the. The music, particularly in the Second rules. Even if it's not as like, you know, if it doesn't fit quite as well, but it's so good.

[Ed]

The other thing I wanted to talk about is the COVID of Jump here. It's a one piece live action cover, basically. It's a. It's a.

[Zach]

Our guest, Michaela Hoover.

[Ed]

Yeah, it's a. It's a manga Luffy Anomi's jacket, obviously, with a live action Chopper. And you can see the sort of fabric detail on Chopper's hat. It's pretty cool where the, like, the cross is obviously like sewn onto his fabric hat.

[Zach]

I didn't even think that that was Nami's. I like, didn't. I don't know why I didn't.

[Ed]

Yeah, the yellow plaid coat she had.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's a great.

[Ed]

If he stole.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah. It's a very timely design too because, you know, they get to do obviously with.

[Zach]

They're.

[Steven Paul]

They're advertising season two, which drops this week on Netflix, so they get to advertise Chopper. But also it is the. The sakura, you know, blossoms, which is, you know, it's March right now.

[Ed]

It's getting to be Hanami time, of course.

[Steven Paul]

So yeah, it all. All works out.

[Ed]

It's the time of the year for people to leave their trash in the park.

[Steven Paul]

Yes. And then all the Japanese people complain about it on social media, about how their country, what is. What's been taken from them, you know, by bad.

[Zach]

I wish that was the worst thing that happened our country. Ed. Yeah. What. Ed, what's going on on the. Oh, I do want to say though, very cute cover. I didn't say this during Michaela's interview, but the one thing about the chopper, the new chopper design is the teeth. And that still bothers me.

[Alex]

But no, it's the teeth and the. Also the hoof fingers. Uh, like, that's fine.

[Zach]

I think.

[Alex]

I didn't. No, no, no, I don't think it bothers me. It just. I. I'm like, oh, you really are grotesque.

[Ken]

And you.

[Alex]

It actually shows how he can.

[Zach]

We. We grabbed it. We do talk about in the interview really is like how he is defined as like, grotesque, which I think is a good thing. I think Alex kind of converted me on like, all the little things that bothered me about Chopper way back, like many months ago whenever he was revealed because he's supposed to be a grotesque little cute boy.

[Alex]

Like, those are all he's supposed to be like. Yeah, like, oh my God, you're cute. What's wrong with her furs.

[Zach]

Ken, did you send a up vertical? I could say yes.

[Ken]

It's in the Discord.

[Alex]

It's in the Discord chat.

[Zach]

So Ed, do you have it? And if so.

[Ed]

Yes, I do. It does kind of bother me. It was hard to read.

[Zach]

Yes, it also bothers me. So.

[Ed]

Yeah, it's a big one piece color shred with our favorite straw hats and including the Sunny and lots of treasure.

[Zach]

And do you recognize what this is an homage of? Not to put you on the spot, not really.

[Alex]

This is a recreation of volume volume 12.

[Ken]

Ah, cool.

[Alex]

Yeah. But with all like the current crew members and the Sunny.

[Ed]

Didn't they just recreate that with the live action cast?

[Zach]

Yes, they did. I think it's probably related to this.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was friend of mine.

[Alex]

I.

[Zach]

That one freaked me out a little. McKenu looks odd in that. But it's like it's.

[Alex]

I think it's. I think it's interesting that like he chose to use their time. Their Fishman island outfits for only some of them though. True. Nami. Nami and. And Robin and Sanji I think are wearing different stuff. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Oh, and Luffy's pants are yellow instead of. He's wearing his.

[Zach]

Yeah. You know what? You know what that makes. That makes me not like it as much. I. But beyond the outfits, I really like this one. This one is really fun design.

[Ed]

Kind of not quite front and center, but he's. He's sort of there on top of the ship.

[Zach]

Yeah. He's stealing Luffy.

[Alex]

He's drinking.

[Zach]

If Luffy looked behind him, he'd be pissed. But no, seriously. I really. I love these kind of ones where it's just everyone having fun. So I'm Frankie.

[Steven Paul]

Frankie with the pompadour instead of his stupid ass. General Frankie or not General Frankie, but you know his. His usual post. Yeah, his post default.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah. I think Otto was like, oh, I've made a huge mistake pretty early on.

[Ed]

And not his back on that.

[Zach]

Yeah. I think even like he put himself. He gave himself like a just in case thing. The fact that he can change his hair was like, okay, it's a fun idea. But also in case I don't like this. We'll talk more about Frankie later. Any other thoughts on the color spread? I mean, I like it. I don't know if I have much else to.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's fine.

[Ken]

It's good.

[Ed]

I like. I like the light blue and gold Nami shirt.

[Zach]

Says sexy something. It says just sexy. Well, there's something below it.

[Alex]

Sexy.

[Ed]

Sexy Something and numbers.

[Zach]

Sexy numbers sexy 21.

[Ken]

It reminds me a lot of the one he did for. I think it was when they had chapter 1000. It was like that two parter where it was like half the starhead sitting on gold. Kind of like this one too.

[Alex]

Yeah, well, that one was. Yeah, that was a recreation of the first. The very first.

[Ed]

Yeah, exactly.

[Steven Paul]

I was gonna say. I've never been disappointed by his revisiting of old. Old.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's a. It's fun. And it also looks different, you know, like from the current thing. It looks both different from what we usually see and also from the original. And it's fun to see the. The evolution.

[Alex]

Yeah, I do. Well, evolution wise, though, I think it's kind of interesting because he did draw these sort of in the style of volume 12. Because like, everybody's sort of got like. If you look at like Sanji, he kind of looks like a little rounded. And Luffy's toes up front and center are like, oh, that's how he used to draw Luffy's like toes.

[Ed]

And you can kind of see Sanji's shoes. Not that it matters.

[Alex]

Yeah. But yeah, Sanji's shoes have like rounded. They're a little rounded. And everybody's sort of like. Like. Yeah, I think. I think he's sort of trying to emulate his older style a little bit. Not. It's not one to one. Because if you look at Robin and.

[Zach]

Excellent. Yeah, I was gonna say it's definitely the bangs, but. And the red shirt. But yeah, everyone who's not in their Fishman island designs looks especially excellent. I think this is great. Sanji though. I. I think the roundedness is so. Yeah, he's got everyone looks good.

[Steven Paul]

Keep on trucking, Sanji.

[Ken]

I like to that it's the Sunny and up and Mary in the background.

[Zach]

Me too. Because Mary's dead.

[Steven Paul]

I guess right now that it's Sunny that Mary's dead. Yeah.

[Zach]

Sanji definitely has this Steve Buscemi look here. Anyway. Yeah, Alex, go ahead.

[Alex]

Sorry, I didn't know that the Sunny had a canonically red nose. I'm not sure if that was reflected in the anime or not.

[Zach]

Sunny the red Nose Lion.

[Alex]

Yeah. Anyway, let's. Let's get into the chapter.

[Zach]

Ken. First. First set of pages.

[Ken]

Alrighty. Starting off here, we have a wide shot of the destruction of Loki's final blast in the last chapter. Just completely decimating a part of the Elfath branch there. Frankie is down below on the branch saying, yo, what kind of party's going on over There. And then we cut to Frankie and Lilith. I guess this is by the lab that Lilith started setting up. And Frankie's. Whatcha doing, Lilith? That was the box Vegapunk was in, right? What's in the box? What's in the box? And Lilith is like, I'm glad I left it right here by the school.

[Alex]

It's the Vegapunk's head.

[Zach]

It's a Katarama head in a jar is what it is.

[Ken]

Exactly. Just a giant jar. Lil goes on to say, it's the odc, the Omnidrain converters. And Lil pulls out.

[Zach]

He drain out his brain fluid and put him into a. Yeah. Anyway, go ahead.

[Ed]

No, they look like the portable shield things from Gundam Wing that are on the shoulders of those mobile suits.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah. That is what that looks like. Well, I forgot what those are called. But like in the second half of Gundam Waiting. I know what you're saying.

[Alex]

God, I used to know Mercurious.

[Zach]

Yeah, I think you're right.

[Ed]

And there are mobile dolls.

[Alex]

Yeah, they're supposed to be kind of like funnels.

[Zach]

They're a cool thing.

[Alex]

I don't remember what they're called though.

[Zach]

By the way, before we even get into the substance of this, I was so shocked when I saw this first page on Friday during the When Shonen Jump releases the first page like this truly shocked me because I was positive he forgot these people existed.

[Alex]

Right. Same. Same.

[Ken]

It is very jarring from where we left off last week's episode two.

[Zach]

It's shocking. Sorry, Ken. Go ahead. Yeah.

[Ken]

All right. So as Lilith has explained the function of these, Frankie is giving the same look that my dog gives when she's just staring at me by tilting his head 100% true. Lilith continues, their hover function should work in Elbaf. And Frankie's like, mm. And then you see that Bonnie is riding on top of Frankie's helmet, which is just a very cute image. Aw. Lilith goes on.

[Zach]

Just.

[Ken]

Just feel. It's everywhere, all around us. That's energy. Have you ever run off a more potent fuel than cola? And then Frankie's horse now goes a full 90 degree angle saying, huh, you

[Zach]

know what's better than cola? Midi chlorians.

[Steven Paul]

It's a monster.

[Alex]

I was gonna say gasoline.

[Ken]

Here, Frankie, here's some Baja blasts. Let's see what happens. We get another widespread of just Elbaf in general. I guess it's on fire. There's smoke going around and someone's saying, no, the fire's spreading. It's a nightmare. The whole world's coming to an end today. Did you see that dragon? It's bigger than Kaido. So this must be one of the Straw Hats. Probably talking. Yeah.

[Ed]

Who else are we seeing?

[Steven Paul]

Kaido. I wonder. I wonder who.

[Ken]

Then we cut to the Straw Hats running in Twosop saying, But that was clear. Luffy riding on its back, right? So is the dragon on our side? And then Nami picks up that idiot without a thought in the world. Zeus, are you ready? Sure thing, Nami. I guess. Who's this is Jinbe. It's quite fearsome. But we should hurry. Especially if the children are out of harm's way now. And you have Robin in the background checking on Saul, who's still laying down all bloodied with thorns sticking out of his body. And ouch. Who's the one here saying ooh. Like ah, that looks ooh. But Saul's like, sorry. I know. I gotta get up. Are you all right? And then it cuts back to Nami. Okay, here we go.

[Zach]

You're all right, right?

[Ken]

Is that Sanji? Okay.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

Right?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

Yep. Correct. Then we cut to Nami. Okay, here we go. Zeus, Mission critical. And next page we just see the entire library in full blaze. Burning down Nami. Can Nami continues put out the fire in the library and school? I'm ready, Nami. I've absorbed plenty of water. And then Sanji's. That's our Nami. She's always prepared. And Nami launches an attack. Pouring rain. And Zeus just completely like overloaded with rain. Slams down onto the fire in the library.

[Zach]

All I was thinking of here. It's like, oh, no. Nami's gonna use a lightning attack to get rid of the fire because she only knows how to use light attacks. So this was. This was pleasantly surprising. Yes.

[Alex]

Agreed.

[Steven Paul]

I wonder what Zeus like. Is he just preparing to take like the hardest piss of his life right now? Is that what it feels like? Yeah.

[Alex]

He's been stirring it up.

[Steven Paul]

But yeah, she can.

[Alex]

He's been edging.

[Zach]

She.

[Steven Paul]

She concludes Pouring rain. Tempo. So we know it is a canonical attack from Nami's perspective. And attack it does. He attacks the flames with a downpour of Ra. And Robin is urging them on. Nami. Zeus.

[Ken]

Hurry.

[Steven Paul]

As Saul observes, it's raining. And no. And Zeus is. He is. He's letting loose. He's like, yeah, go out. Fire. Very, very intense. Not at all ruined by the little, you know, twirly hat that he wears.

[Zach]

I was just thinking of that too. It's the funniest little thing.

[Steven Paul]

Um, but can't forget the deasified Killingham is still around. And he's lurking on the side of the panel here with one of his sleep dudes, which you can tell by the, you know, the watercolor effect. And he says, hang on, you're breaking your word. Who said you were allowed to put out the fire? And Nami's like, ah, monster. Look out, Zeus. And he turns his attention.

[Alex]

Huh?

[Steven Paul]

Is he. You know, he resumes his usual dopey look and killing him reminds them, you promised to cast aside the history of the world. And suddenly the, the newly arrived beast chomps onto Zeus. Just sticks a big old bite of cloud. Yum. And yeah, probably doesn't taste like much. And Zeus screams. And now he's like Zeus. And Saul is reacting to these, this new monster. He says, a snake? No, it's a lindworm, which is, you know, one of the mythical Norse monsters. Like it's basically. It's basically like a dragon, but it's. But it is more snake. Like.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's.

[Ed]

This is like a what? It's like that T shirt snake? No. Lindworm the hippo.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

Frog.

[Alex]

No. Linda in Richmond. She sits there and says, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. One piece. Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

And here, and just to remind you of where these guys came from, we have the little. The return of the little essay captions that says what I'm afraid of Lindworm. And it.

[Ed]

I like how his teeth are kind of crooked.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does. The like makes it scarier.

[Zach]

Also two things. These kids are great artists. I think generally this is fantastic. Second now, Steven, because of the way you just did that, I hope when they have it in the anime, they read it and like they just have a classroom full of kids saying it at the same time. Yeah, Lynnworm, you know, like, who's that Pokemon? Yes, exactly like that.

[Steven Paul]

It's my mom. Yeah.

[Zach]

So Crunch, if you're listening, this is a free idea. Please take it. Go ahead.

[Steven Paul]

No, no, Toei won't give us shit. They're not going to do that. But yeah, so the Lindwyrm chops Zeus and gulps. And Nami is like suze. As Sanji reacts. That was our one hope of putting out the fire. Who is that? And Jim Bay says, is that one of the three demons? Referring of course to what Yarrow said. You know, he called them three demons, obviously referring to the, the Holy Knights. And a voice, obviously. Lilith says, activate odc. It's a combination of dyslexia and ocd.

[Alex]

Yeah,

[Ed]

it's over the counter.

[Zach]

Obsessive disorder, compulsive. But yeah, I like thank you for mentioning the three demons thing because like Joey, I'm like, oh, they're introducing a thing now. Here we go.

[Steven Paul]

Oh yeah, the three demons. Yeah, it's the Sanma. That's what they called him in the scanlations. So you have to get used to that.

[Alex]

The San G is where. Where's Nightmare?

[Zach]

The San Ma sounds like a Vulcan like mating ritual. Isn't there something like that in definitely pon far? Yeah. Von Ma.

[Alex]

It definitely sounds like something that a Star Trek alien calls sex.

[Zach]

It is 100% jama Sharon.

[Alex]

What was it? Jama Sharon. Was that they. What they call that on Risa?

[Zach]

Yeah, I think that is a. You know, what is it called? A Klingon. I forgot what it is. Now. That's a.

[Steven Paul]

This is nerd convention here.

[Zach]

Sorry. Well, please go back to talking about this manga panel that we do every week.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, we're going to talk about something serious here, which is Vegapunk's new inventions. Yeah. So on the next page, these. These things that kind of look like. They look like sort of like, I don't know, like inflatable like ship wheels or something. They're like ship witches.

[Ed]

They zip. They zip it in like fidget spinners.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Alex]

Yeah, they do look like that.

[Zach]

Good merch. Opportunity here again toy. You don't have to pay us, but pay us. Come on. Where you don't.

[Steven Paul]

They are vooming across the the sky and Lilith says collect heat energy. And they are just sucking up the fire like like little UFOs. And it leaves behind just crackling like it's just absorbing all of the heat entirely and leaving behind ice and yes. And then they. When they inflate up, they do kind of look like chip witches. And Killingham understandably is like what are those? And. And suddenly there we go. The. The library and the school. They are encased in ice. As he says fires put out.

[Ed]

Take it down a notch.

[Ken]

Killing him.

[Ed]

They're not ugly shoes. What are those?

[Steven Paul]

The. The fire has been put out frozen. And Robin is like huh, what does this mean? And Saul realizes, hey, we're in the clear. The school and fire. Library fires are out. As Lilith says, all natural disasters are a maelstrom of energy. And she attaches like. Like putting a. Like the, the. The glass on the. The bar keepers. Like you know, water cleaner. Like you just. She just kind of shoot like sticks it on.

[Ed]

I don't know if you've ever been to a. Like a sports event where they have the. The beer cups that fill from the bottom?

[Steven Paul]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

Very similar to that.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. And it just. Just fills up one of the sort of classic cola bottles, and she pops it out and tosses it to Frankie, says, there you go, Frankie. Try using that. The first one's free.

[Ken]

Thanks, Mean Joe.

[Alex]

The rest are microtransactions.

[Zach]

This new dealer, Ken, are you talking

[Ed]

about the Mean Joe Green Coca Cola commercial?

[Ken]

Yes, thank you. Very good.

[Zach]

Someone heard that. That is actually. That is a good.

[Alex]

Tossing him a jersey.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. A sweaty jersey. Yeah.

[Zach]

I use soda. Thank.

[Alex]

This is just backwash.

[Steven Paul]

He's like, hey, this.

[Zach]

You just shook this. You just shook this.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the Fourth of July.

[Zach]

It's the April.

[Steven Paul]

Or the April fools. Yeah, that's April 1st.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. April Fool. Boom. That's a.

[Alex]

It's.

[Steven Paul]

It's literally pulsing in Frankie's hand. And he. And l says, indeed, I call it Super Vega Cola.

[Zach]

Here's what I did. I took regular soda, I shook it up, and then I gave it to you. Good luck.

[Ken]

I mean, that's.

[Steven Paul]

That's basically like what happened here. It is. It is just taking. Taking the soda and adding energy to it, right?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ed]

And adding fire.

[Ken]

We'll call it Vega Cola, and then people will hate it. And then we'll rebrand it as Old Vega Cola.

[Steven Paul]

Vega Cola, Classic Cola.

[Ken]

Zero. They won't stop.

[Steven Paul]

She said. She says your innards are immaculately designed. Just as advanced as the Pacifistas, which is why I was stunned to learn you only use cola to power yourself. You see, Frankie, fuel is passion. Use this stuff and your raw power will explode.

[Zach]

Love this panel.

[Steven Paul]

Stunned. Yeah.

[Ed]

Yeah. And her eyes are almost kind of sinister there.

[Zach]

No, she is evil. To be fair, now she's everyone, I think. Right. Didn't like, she officially convert to. Now I'm just the amalgam of whoever remains.

[Ken]

She can connect back to the others, but she's still herself.

[Steven Paul]

Right.

[Zach]

Okay, I guess. But I do love this Frankie.

[Steven Paul]

I do feel like the whole, like, oh, well, you know, the pacifist is like they run on whatever 500 year future technology or whatever. And the idea that Frankie did that also to himself while he was operating on his stomach or whatever, maybe stretch his believability a little bit, but, you know, whatever. I guess. I guess he was.

[Zach]

It was 500 years in the past, too, or whatever it was.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe he was like, I guess you could Say he was doing upgrades on the in Baltimore or whatever. Like when he was you know, time skip power ups and stuff.

[Zach]

Yeah, well, he was at Vegapunk's lab. Remember that was how he got the designs.

[Ed]

He's in his lab sealing his tech.

[Zach]

Yeah, it was a tiger plus rocket equals we have a gorilla. Gorilla plus rocket. Yeah. That's a very old episode.

[Ed]

I don't remember.

[Zach]

If Ed doesn't remember, then it's a very old episode of time.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Ken. Right, Ken.

[Ken]

Next page we cut to Zeus and what apparently is inside the sleep dude. The stomach of the. Of the Lindworm. He's like, looks like like based on

[Ed]

where the voice is coming from. It's like in the middle of his throat.

[Ken]

Yeah, it's like half halfway down it looks like. But Zeus is like oh, it's too dark. Help me Nami, please help me. And Nami's like hang on Zeus, I'll save you. Just like looking up at the. The worm dragon monster. And Robin goes Saul, can you guess the library? And poor Saul just. Yeah, you bet I will. I know you must be worried sick about the world history Ohara left behind. Robin taking advantage of a brief shot of killing ham with a very shit eating grin. And he orders the Lindwyrm to devour the library sleep tit. Don't give them a shred of hope. Only when history is ended can the new world come about. And he's gone full evil at this point.

[Zach]

He's been full evil this whole time. And his teeth have been like this the whole time.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah. I hope he actually does eat shit by the way.

[Ken]

Have been like kind of like reserved for the most part. And now they're leaning into the evil for the like They've like been playing a game now they're like having more.

[Zach]

No, they've always been this evil. We just have not seen. No, we've the entire time that they've been trying to murder children.

[Ed]

Ken Gunko and Summer. Summer's got until Summer's got punched couple. Was it last chapter a couple chapters ago?

[Zach]

Yeah, last chapter. Is he dead? Ken? What happens next?

[Ken]

Yeah, next page we see Jinbe, I guess like he's in like a. In a river now and he's like I'll rescue Zeus Nami. My fish should be enough to make the beast throw him up. And we have killing him. Ew, it's a fish man. The ugliest species in the world. I'm going to puke. Good thing my mask keeps me my air clean.

[Zach]

What voice Is this. I'm trying to pinpoint it.

[Ken]

I'm just going for something evil and shitty.

[Alex]

It's a voice. It's not me.

[Zach]

Yeah, it feels like that GI Joe guy mixed with.

[Ken]

Oh, it is a little Cobra Commander.

[Zach]

Cobra Commander Command mixed with, like, the Joker or something.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, I don't think it's a river. It was like a little lake. Right. Like that was. That's why there was a little shore by the library.

[Ken]

Okay.

[Ed]

There was a lot of.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. They have the pond that's right next to the library.

[Ed]

And there was a lot of water that just came down, too, from Zeus and helps.

[Alex]

I saw a screen.

[Ken]

Oh, yeah.

[Alex]

I saw a screen cap earlier of this panel from this translation, and they didn't translate Saiken. Just like my saken should make him throw up. And I'm like, translate it.

[Ken]

Yeah, it's untranslatable.

[Zach]

Wait, which what? Oh, my fist?

[Ed]

His punch. My water fish?

[Ken]

Basically, yeah.

[Zach]

This dish I made that has some real bad bacteria, and it should really make him throw up, as far as I know. That's what it means.

[Ken]

So as Killingham's giving his little shitty monologue, well, he's the fish, so it would be.

[Ed]

It would be salmonella.

[Zach]

Can I get a rim shot here, someone? Thank you.

[Ken]

Anyway, as Killingham's giving his little shitty monologue, here we have Sanji saying. Just the sort of elitist mindset I'd expect from a Celestial dragon. For the crimes of being ignorant of Jinbe, former warlord of the sea and insulting member of our crew, I think you need a hole in that mask of yours. And then, if on cue, we have Frankie doing a super look at my hops.

[Steven Paul]

All the muscles of my body are screaming, my monster. Any monster I unleash on is gonna cry uncle after a single punch. Super strong.

[Ken]

Then you cut to Jinbe Fishman Karate secret art. And then you have Sanji Ifrit Jambe. And this poor. This poor Lindwyrm is like. And then all three attack.

[Ed]

How doofy he is.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ken]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach]

So Doofy Ed. Yeah. What's on the next page?

[Ed]

Yes. And so that was. So that's Jim Bay's attack is the super strong Dexter, and he clocks the Lindworm in the jaw, breaking his teeth.

[Steven Paul]

That's Frankie.

[Ed]

That's Frankie.

[Ken]

Frankie's the Dexter.

[Ed]

Frankie's or Cranky's Vagabond drill.

[Zach]

Nope.

[Steven Paul]

Isn't it Dragon Bot?

[Ken]

No, that's Jinbei's vagabond.

[Ed]

Jinbei's vagabond drill. Yeah. And Sanji's concusser crush, he does the axe kick and.

[Alex]

Yeah. Effectively popping his bubble at his head.

[Ken]

Oh.

[Ed]

And killing him.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steven Paul]

He gave him the Charlos special.

[Zach]

This is the Charlotte. Just like his face in the Reverage or the one in. I'm sorry, Mary. Joaquin. Yeah, yeah.

[Ed]

This is one of the best fang crinky punches since he punched Fukuro.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah, it's good. You know what?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

I was like, why? Why did he call it Dexter? And then I had to. To discover that dexter is the Latin root for right. So that's so like dexterous is. I know it is associated with the right hand.

[Ed]

So that's why sinister is left handed.

[Steven Paul]

Yes, yes.

[Alex]

Really?

[Zach]

That's right.

[Alex]

Whoa, that's so cool. That's crazy.

[Zach]

Well, this is why there was anti left handed stuff for many, many a time.

[Alex]

Wow. So basically this is a super strong right.

[Steven Paul]

Yes, yes.

[Alex]

Okay.

[Steven Paul]

Although right, it's with the kanji for right. Which is usually, you know, when he says raito instead he says dexta, but it's the same right. Kanji.

[Zach]

Now I want a strong sinister though. Sounds good. Or sinister strong or something like that. That sounds fun.

[Ed]

Or it'd be.

[Alex]

Probably be like weapons. Sinister weapons or something because he's.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, that's what. Yeah, you're right.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

What a cool panel this is. I mean, cool page.

[Ed]

Yeah. Fuck you, Gillian.

[Ken]

I love the. The teeth on the Lindwyrm. Like they're all like we mentioned before, they were a little janky, but now like they're like. Yeah, they're flying all janked up.

[Zach]

I'll say. Alex, I want to ask you about this specifically.

[Ed]

You can see that in that bottom left panel. It's the. The mouth is all.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Ken]

Clean off.

[Zach]

The head is so funny.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Punched his head off.

[Zach]

Yeah. The whole thing has been ripped in several pieces. The teeth. He's been. Oda's been into like the teeth horror thing, which affects me because that stuff's scary, but.

[Ed]

And where is Zeus though?

[Zach]

Zeus comes out the top.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Alex]

He pops out, he goes, whoa.

[Zach]

I was like, who's saying whoa? Oh, it's Zeus. It's like woo.

[Alex]

No, he's not saying woo. That's just air escaping from his.

[Zach]

I do want to know is Alex. So we've talked about how the sleep tits are like drawn differently with like, it looks like watercolor or something. You know, it's a different type. So here I feel like you could see the layer difference between the speed lines in certain spots. And the sleep tid. The linworm.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's fun. You can kind of see. Well, you can sort of see, like, the pencil outlines a little bit and

[Zach]

the drop shadow or something, like almost like for Photoshop or. I guess that's the.

[Alex]

Well, no, I think that's just. Yeah, I think it's just the stroke of whatever ink he's using there. Unless that's done digitally, which it might be. Either way, it's a really cool technique. And it also allows Oda to sort of like, you know, not put like 100% into these things because obviously they're figments of these kids.

[Zach]

Draw outside the lines, literally. Like.

[Alex]

Yeah, it gives him agency to do that, and I think that's smart.

[Zach]

Yeah. What a fun panel. What a fun page. This is great. Yeah. Loved it. On the next page, we had to the Western village, the village with no real name. What is it west of? I don't know.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, all the other villages have, like the brewers village or the Fisherman village or whatever.

[Zach]

And this one, the one with the palace.

[Ken]

Yeah, that's the Western village, the cowboy village.

[Zach]

It's the one where the king lives. It's the one that everything happens in. That's the western village.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. This is the Tokyo of Elbaf.

[Zach]

And they just called it the western. What if you just call Tokyo like it is in the west part?

[Steven Paul]

I mean, technically. Yeah, well, technically, Tokyo does mean eastern Kyoto.

[Zach]

Oh, really? Okay, well, there you go. And New York City is also a pretty lame name if you think about it for more than a second. I love it. I. But yeah, let's just be honest here. It's no Istanbul, but although that was Constantinople. The giant pirates turned demons, Brogy and Dory, or as they're commonly known as Dory and Brogy, are fighting the warriors of the western village as you know them. Stanson hired. And Jarl and Zorro, who is much smaller than the rest. And you see them trying to make some. Make some headway against the demon giants. But of course, they are regenerating and there couldn't possibly be any way to stop that. So as. As noted by the giant pirates, who said, every cut we make just seals itself up. I know these men. It's hard enough just to bring myself to attack familiar faces. So how are we supposed to stop them? And you see the giant. Even to giant, the giant demon army of giants. It's redundant, but that's what they're called. So coming toward the Jarl and then the western, the warriors of the western village and wish it was less wordy. And Brogy and Dory suddenly kneel onto the ground as everyone is concerned. And by everyone, I mean the enemy, the people fighting them. It's like, oh, no, what happened to you, Captain Story? Brogy, I do like how that's hyphenated like they're a couple. Because, I mean, they are.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. But yeah, when I do that, it's because they're saying, dory, bro, Dory, Bro. It like it's, you know, like Kimutaku or, you know, one of the other, like, nicknames for famous people.

[Zach]

Is that their ship name or is their ship name. It's official.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Dory, bro, are you in there? And saying, are you in there? Dory? And Dory responding, just barely. Brogy, I'm sorry, I. Alex will do these voices more justice in a second. And Zorro's like, huh? How many swords am I holding right now? That's probably what he's thinking. And broke his sorry. Dory says, I'm living through my deepest shame, hurling insults I don't believe. And my beloved chief Jarl, if I were to take his head, it would shame my family for generations. And Brogy responds, yeah, it can't happen. So we're in agreement then. Alex, what are we gonna do?

[Alex]

Well, Dorian Bergi say, of course. Farewell, partner. We'll never give in to demons. The century of battles was the best time of my life. Life, life. And you see a little flashback panel of them in little garden clashing their weapons. And they say, we are the warriors of Elbaf. When we die, we die with pride. And they both decapitate each other using their weapons. And it's very clear that they're decapitated. Their heads are just sort of off.

[Zach]

And boy, are they happy.

[Alex]

Well, at least Brokey and their heads are off.

[Steven Paul]

Just as decapitated is this text bubble.

[Alex]

That's right. That's right.

[Ed]

You hear them hit the ground with the thud?

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

You do.

[Alex]

You hear a gigantic thud. Hopefully nobody got crushed. And the new giant pirates in Jarl are like captains. And the Zoro is really freaking out. He's like, dory, Brogy. And you hear everybody crying, captain Dory, Captain Brogy.

[Ken]

Why'd you do it?

[Ed]

It's seppuku, basically.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah. You see their headless dead bodies. Seppuku.

[Zach]

It's on other. It's on a different person.

[Alex]

Yeah. You see an overhead, a bird's eye shot of their headless bodies, sort of a flame. And then swoop. They've become reverse Edomied and Zoro's perplexed by this. And on the other side, it's the Dorian Brogi that we all know and love. Not demons, just regular old giants. Looks like Dory's still missing his left hand and. I'm sorry. Yes, thank you. Brogy is missing his left hand still. And they sort of like. They wake up with like a huff and a puff.

[Zach]

Huh? Are they?

[Alex]

And oh, no, I'm sorry. The other people are saying this. They're back and their heads are on. I like that.

[Zach]

They're back and their heads are on. Sunday on Fox.

[Alex]

We're back. A decapitation story. And then Jarl says, this must mean. And this is next page. This gigantic spread of this doom of. You know, Stanson hired and Dorian. Brogy and Zorro basically lay it all out for us. If they die, they stop being demons. So Brogy says, even the most mangled corpse is the picture of health when you flip it over. Harridan says, no need to hold back. All we have to do is inflict fatal damage to turn them back to normal. And yeah, yeah. Dory says, that's how you get back into character.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

Like chopping their heads off or running them through the heart. Come on. These are our comrades. We can't do that, can we? And Zoro just says, so we can do whatever we want. And the bottom of the spread, we have this army of gigantic Domi giants. And you hear, hey, get the children inside. There's gonna be a lot of violence. And Zorro says, yeah, I hate to see it. Brogy says, it's a real shame.

[Zach]

Or it's a real shame.

[Alex]

Dory says, it pains me on the inside. Iridance is a real heartbreaker. And Stanson says, don't take it personally, but prepare to die and kick ass.

[Zach]

Spread.

[Alex]

To be continued. Yeah, this was this. This totally rules. Yeah. We're land indeed.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steven Paul]

The Giant Sicko Pirates.

[Ken]

I just picture all. You know that meme with the guy looking through the window like. Yes. Yeah.

[Alex]

It's all five of them looking through

[Ken]

the window in the panels.

[Alex]

The Giant Sicko Pirates. Good ones.

[Ed]

And another chapter next week. Back in two weeks.

[Zach]

Yeah. Add thoughts on thoughts on this chapter.

[Ed]

I'd love to see killing him. Get up.

[Zach]

Yes, we do. Yes, we do.

[Steven Paul]

We love to see it.

[Zach]

Yes, we love to see it. You hate to see. Dude loves to see it.

[Ed]

I wonder if the snake thing could really have like, destroyed the library in school by like jumping on it covered in ice already. So I don't know true ice. Yeah. Yes, you do.

[Steven Paul]

Which of the sleep tits would crunch its ice?

[Zach]

There's an sbs.

[Alex]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ed]

Otherwise, very fun chapter. Love to see Frankie get an upgrade. Frankie is so cool.

[Alex]

Yeah, he's great.

[Ed]

Vegapunk's like, where did you. I see this technology inside of you. Where'd you get that?

[Alex]

It's like I stole it from you.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Steven, thoughts?

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it was a fun chapter. I think that you could maybe argue that it is also a little, I don't want to say glib, but, like, it definitely is offering a lot of pretty quick solutions to some problems. And I could see that being, you know, a little bit unsatisfying in some ways. Like, I know there were a lot of people who were like, oh, you just kill them. And then that. That undoes the. The dummy reverse, which, you know, I will probably get some questions about that or, you know, other people will. Will mention it too. I think that there are. I think that ODA has given us enough evidence to. To kind of put a lot of those criticisms into context within the series. But, you know, it. It is like, oh, okay, yeah, so you just have to kill them. It is a pretty simple answer. And like I said earlier, the, like, the, the Frankie power up does feel like a very quick, like, okay, well, you would do a power up, Frankie, so here, let's give you one. But having said that, yeah, you know, it is satisfying to see. To. To see all of this, you know, just kind of bam, bam, bam, like, lined up and, you know, to. To have happen with some. Some pretty awesome spreads and stuff. So that was a lot of fun. And then, and yeah, the last. The last spread was a lot of fun to. To work on specifically just because it's like, oh, okay, I see what ODA is doing here where, you know, it's like, okay, all the giants are like, oh, no, we have to. We have to like, battle to the death with our best friends here to, like, turn them back to normal. Oh, no, that's the. Don't. Anything but that. You know, having this is like, very thinly veiled, like, facetious response. And then getting to, like, play that up in. In the text and stuff you hate to see.

[Zach]

It is chef's kiss. Good job. Yeah, that just conveyed that perfectly.

[Steven Paul]

That was a fun one.

[Alex]

And of course, the most. The most bloodthirsty straw hat is leading the charge.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, right, right, right.

[Zach]

Well, the post opla. It is definitely. He is definitely the most bloodthirsty God.

[Steven Paul]

And like, trying to tweak it. Trying to tweak it. Said that it was like stance and is like, okay, well, don't take it personally, but prepare to die. You know, that was like a really fun stinger to. To end on.

[Alex]

So.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, that. That part was really fun.

[Zach]

And Stanson gets to be cool. That's fun.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

Good for him.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

I mean, I. Yeah. And I like that it's like, not only is it Zorro teaming up with the Giants, but it's like new. New and old giant pirates, you know, doing a tag team thing. Like, that's really cool.

[Alex]

And yeah, I do think Stanson battling the very people who tried selling him off in an auction is also pretty poetic.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. In a broad sense, right? Because it's.

[Alex]

In a broad sense, yes. Directly fighting these other guys. But yeah, I think it's definitely.

[Zach]

I keep forgetting that was Stancing.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it's a long run.

[Zach]

I keep forgetting I'm like, who's Stanson again? Like, why do we care? And then you've just reminded me, me there pretty quickly. That's. That's on me. That's on me. Anything else, Stephen?

[Steven Paul]

Nope.

[Zach]

Alex?

[Alex]

Yeah. Great chapter. This is. This was a chapter of one piece. I, you know, better. Yeah, like, like, like Steven said, better late than never. I feel like maybe this was sort of in the pipeline for Frankie during Egghead, but there was so much other stuff happening that it was really hard to give Frankie a moment to shine like that. I don't know if that was, you know, these energy disc things sort of do come out of nowhere. But, you know, it is nice that we're like, oh, yeah, remember, Vegapunk has this, like, gigantic, you know, box full of goodies. Slash Vegapunk's body maybe. Also, as a Frankie superfan, I'm really happy to see him actually do something and get a power up on par with the people that they're going to be fighting in the future. And I'll say the same thing with Nami too. She finally learned a new trick other than lightning. I was honestly expecting after Zeus to get eaten him to, you know, her to say, hey, use a lightning thing and, you know, rip him open from the inside. But I guess this also gave, like, Jinbe something to do as well, because who knows if we're going to. I mean, I wonder if we're going to get to see them fight more at all this arc. I kind of hope this isn't it for killing him and Summers just because I want to see them actually try and battle. But the bubble bursting on Killingham is very satisfying to me. And I really want to see that reaction afterwards that he's, oh, no, I'm breathing in air from the downstairs.

[Ken]

It's going to be like another story when they hit Buzz's helmet.

[Alex]

Yeah. Or at least maybe at this point, Summers and Killingham are going to retreat and we'll have to fight them later. But. Yeah. So back to this domi reversi remedy. Yeah. I think Joey said it best on the podcast. It's a little lame, but when you think about where we are and the repercussions of this, it's going to make for a lot of fun. And I'm really looking forward to that myself. And it's also like, we are also on the verge, I think, possibly of Loki getting domied by Imu. And I thought to myself, well, if that happens, how are they possibly going to defeat something that large? And now that there is a. Oh, well, you kill it to turn it back to normal. And I think that maybe that's going to be the big bad of the arc. Is everybody teaming up to fight a giant ass fuck dragon?

[Zach]

It's like Loki, everyone was like at the beginning, well, is he gonna be the big Bad? And it's like, no, he's not gonna be the big bad. Oh, wait, no, he is gonna be the big Bad. It could.

[Alex]

Yeah. I mean, you know, that's. That's, that's where I'm. I'm leaning here. Just because it's also cool. It'll be cool to see them fight and kill a huge dragon. And maybe we'll get to see Usopp wield Ragnar somehow. Maybe using Biblo's powers somehow. I don't know how that works exactly. I'm. I'm still on team. Like, Usopp gets to use a, you know, big, big ass fuck, you know, one million pound hammer or whatever. When million.

[Zach]

We did whatever. We did the math. I think we decided that it was actually.

[Alex]

We talked about that. Right?

[Zach]

You guys did. I think 10,000 ton.

[Alex]

100,000. Something like that.

[Zach]

10,000 ton. It was. There's like a multiple.

[Alex]

Go back and listen to the episode 100. We talk about it. Yeah, Yeah. I don't know. I think that has potential to happen. And the fun thing is, once they kill the cool, big dragon, Loki's fine. He's not dead. Just the evil domied version is this gives Oda a great opportunity to create some really fun battles and violence. And then I wonder, of Course, like, if somebody gets Domied, will Luffy refuse to kill them? Because he doesn't do that. I don't know.

[Zach]

This kind of explains, I guess Zabek in God Valley got Domied, right?

[Alex]

Oh, God.

[Zach]

And he is back at the end after they, like, kick his ass. Remember Roger and Garp? And then he gets his head smashed in after by.

[Alex]

Yeah, that's right. I forgot about that because I thought to myself earlier, I'm like, oh, yeah, he got Domied and then killed. So is he, like, lurking around somewhere? But if that's the case.

[Steven Paul]

No.

[Zach]

That explains that little epilogue. Like, why was he still alive? A little.

[Alex]

Okay, yes. And I'll say that, like, when we're at the. During the God Valley flashback and you find out that, like, oh, well, the only reason, the only way we can beat this guy is to really, really use hockey super hard. And I thought that was kind of lame.

[Zach]

I thought that was lamer actually than this.

[Alex]

Yeah, this is actually kind of like, it sort of ties in with that a little bit. I guess that was maybe the only way that Garp and Roger could have done.

[Zach]

Well, no, the Conqueror possibly killed him was for Emu. Like, Emu possessing someone. Because that's what was happening to Harold. It's so confusing because there's like, two separate and distinct powers that Imu has and demonstrates. So he does the domi reverse the possession, right?

[Alex]

Well, he got Domied. Rox did get Domied.

[Zach]

Yeah, Rox got Domied. He got domi reverseed, and Harold got the covenant possessed.

[Ken]

He made a covenant.

[Zach]

He made a covenant. Don't make a covenant.

[Alex]

Yeah, covenanted.

[Zach]

Covenanted. We'll come up with better podcasters for this, I'm sure.

[Alex]

Yeah. Anyway, great. I loved it. It was a lot of fun to read.

[Zach]

Ken, let's do it again right now.

[Alex]

No.

[Ken]

All right, page three. I was a bit more mixed on this one than I think than you guys were at the end of the chapter. I liked everything that happened. I didn't like how we got there, per se. I've been waiting for Frankie to get a huge power up now from Vegapunk for a while. And I don't know if I was thinking too much. Back to, like, Ennis lobby, where, like, Frank, the different drinks affect Frankie's personality.

[Zach]

That was filler. Oh, no, no, I'm sorry, You're right. There was a canon.

[Steven Paul]

It was gags. But yes, it happened.

[Ken]

So I was hoping, like, okay, he gets a super cola. I was hoping for not necessarily a transformation per se, but, like, give Me a distinct like, from what we see in this chapter. He just jumps higher and gives a bigger punch. I'm like, okay, I guess that's a power up. So I wasn't, like, overly thrilled with that. Like, I'm happy that Vegapunk and him are working together. That's all I wanted during Egghead. Like, okay, that's fine. I guess a super cola and whatnot. The answer to Domi Reversi is fine. I just think that it's very funny that, okay, Dory and Brogy kill each other at the end. And then the last panel, they're all talking as if, like, oh, that's the solution. We kill. They're so sure that, okay, that's exactly what happened. They're not. There's nothing else could have happened there that undid. Maybe you have to behead the person. Maybe you have to do this. It's like, nah, just kill them. It's a killing blow. That should do it. Maybe there's more to it and we'll see. Oh, it's more than just a killing blow. It has to be a beheading or it has to be something else. But there's also. Okay, that's exactly what it is.

[Zach]

Wait, you haven't played Othello and when you want to win, you just smash the other pieces?

[Ken]

I haven't tried that.

[Zach]

Okay, it works. It works. The other person runs away and they're like, what the hell is wrong with you? But it works.

[Ken]

Yeah. Thematically, though, I was talking in the discord, like, the way of reversing the dummy reverse makes a lot of sense for Elbaf. I was talking about how, like, in Norse mythology, like, there's Valhalla. Valhalla is like the heaven or the afterlife for Vikings where they can drink all day, eat all day, and there's a big field where they can go and fight to their heart's content. And when they die, they respawn back in, like the guild hall. Brand new, no injuries. They eat, they drink, they go back out, and they kill each other again. So, okay, we're thematically on Elbaf. It makes sense to see all these giants just unleash on each other, kill each other, and then respawn good as new. So, again, it works, I think. I'm not saying this chapter felt rushed. Just we got to all these conclusions very, very quickly, and they're all great conclusions. I love everything that happened. I feel like we got there so quickly, and I hope that we get to see. Okay, Frankie, is there a drawback? To this cola. Is this your new standard cola? Do you need Vegapunk around to constantly make you a new cola kind of thing?

[Alex]

That sounds like an SBS question, honestly.

[Ken]

Yeah, it's that nitpicky SBS stuff. But well.

[Alex]

Well, I mean, like, I think is

[Zach]

he chew ice what you're talking about?

[Alex]

Yeah, what you were talking about kind of reminds me of what Oda said in his Jump Festa comment about how everything's going to be moving at a breakneck pace this year.

[Ken]

Yes.

[Alex]

And. And I. And that's why I do truly hope that like, you know, we. This isn't like the ultimate blows for both Summers and. And killing him. Because I feel like there needs to be more of a. I don't know, a slower reckoning, if that makes sense.

[Ken]

I think we'll see them because we saw Summers.

[Zach]

You want to see them tortured slowly.

[Ken]

Yeah, we saw Summers slowly regenerating back when he got the big Luffy Punch and whatnot. And the straw hats, I think need to learn, like, okay, you need to deliver a pretty fatal blow of Conkeror's Haki to really injure the God Knight. Because as far as we know, Sanji doesn't have. I guess he has Armin Haki, but he doesn't have Conker's Hockey. Right.

[Steven Paul]

Right. Yes. Yeah. Because what was it? Gabon specifically mentions Zorro, but not Sanji.

[Ken]

So like, this blow to killing him is really just a bump on the head and a shattering the bubble. I don't think Sanji is actually doing any damage here.

[Zach]

I agree with the Killingham thing. I don't think anyone thought killing him was dead. I think he's just.

[Alex]

No, but I mean, like, I.

[Ken]

Well, yeah.

[Zach]

Anyone. I mean anyone in this room here, this virtual room.

[Steven Paul]

I kind of thought he was defeated, but defeated.

[Zach]

At least temporarily.

[Ken]

But yeah, I just wind up like, popping the bubble. He's like. Like, he like, that's it. I'm done.

[Zach]

I'm done.

[Ken]

I'm going home. I'm not breathing this air.

[Alex]

Well, I do wonder if this all

[Zach]

that would be fun.

[Alex]

I wonder if like he takes his

[Zach]

ball, he just leaves. He's like, I didn't sign up for this shit.

[Ken]

I'm going home.

[Zach]

To be fair, any character, this one would.

[Alex]

Yes, Gunko's. Gunko is not Domied, right?

[Zach]

No, she's Covenant.

[Alex]

Gunko's possessed. Yeah, okay, so. So I was gonna say, like, oh, yeah. What if. What if Brooke kills Gunko and she turns back to normal and. And they have a fun little like, moment yeah, but he hated her before. Whatever the. I mean, yeah, but I'm sure I don't know that she could have committed patricide because she was under the influence of Emu at that point.

[Zach]

Yeah, we talked about that.

[Ken]

I'm assuming that she was possessed by that point when she did it. If she wasn't, that's an interesting wrinkle to the story, but I'm assuming that Emu made a deal with her, like, oh, help me kill your father, like, I'll give you power, or something like that. And she's a little girl not knowing what she's doing.

[Zach]

Well, I think she was. I don't know. This is.

[Ken]

She's the age she is now because she has not aged since that she made the covenant.

[Zach]

Did we ever get a. Any verification on what that is?

[Steven Paul]

The age.

[Zach]

Yeah, the age. Okay.

[Steven Paul]

No.

[Zach]

Ken, any other thoughts on the chapter?

[Ken]

No, that's about it. Again, like, good, good chapter. I love seeing all the straw hats. I like the conclusions we got. I just thought we got there very quickly and a little sloppy, but otherwise, I enjoyed the chapter.

[Zach]

Yeah, I really love this chapter. Like, maybe I'm just at the point in the series where I'm like, yeah, fights. Like, I'm finally like everyone else on the Internet. I just love fights. I don't know. It was just a very cathartic. This chapter and last chapter with Summers and killing him were both very cathartic. The Frankie power up, I like. I'm torn. I'm like, okay, yeah, maybe I wish we got a little more focus on that. But also, we're 1176 chapters into the series. I'm okay if we kind of skip over a little bit of the. But I. I do love. I. I mean, I guess there's like a little part of me that's like, I kind of wish Frankie were the only one doing this, like. But I also really enjoy seeing these kind of scenes from Jim Bay and Sanji. So Sanji in particular, standing up for his crew despite the fact that they're this seemingly the same gender as him. So that's a big deal. I feel like for him. Good. Good for him. Some non. I don't know what you call that kind of chivalry. Being a good person. It was just a really fun chapter, like, start to finish. And Oda remembered some people he forgot. We like, kind of see what Lilith and Bonnie and Frankie are up to. We get the Killingham stuff, kind of resolve the Dorian bur. Like, these are a lot of boxes that needed to be ticked off that he did. I think in a very cathartic way. I think Steven's. I'm not just saying it because he's here, but Steven's translation was a lot of fun this week. Yeah, I don't know if I have too much else to say. I'll say the Frankie thing. I don't have a doubt in my head that it was one of these two scenarios. One, he's like, oh, Oda's like, oh shit, I forgot to do this in Egghead. I meant to do this and now I gotta do this. And luckily I have Lilith here and I could do it. Or he was gonna do it in Egghead and he didn't forget, but it's like, okay, you know, that's, that's actually follow through with this plot I was hoping to do but couldn't fit in. Which is actually, I think probably more likely the case. Even though I do call Oda recently the master of retconning and that you don't even know if it's retcon. That's how good he is with that.

[Steven Paul]

Maybe, maybe the biggest like culprit as far as the Frankie stuff goes. The big, the biggest culprit of like this is Oda. It feels like Oda is just trying to speed us past this is the whole like. Oh yeah, Elbaf just has special energy. Like it's, it has all the special stuff from all the other arcs, like with the hovering and the, and the, the dials and everything, you know that that was what, like Lilith here? Not yet, but like that. That's basically what. What Lilith said, like right at the start of was like everything works here. And it just felt like a very transparent, like, okay, like don't worry about this. Like we're just gonna throw this stuff in here and, and this doesn't do anything to like dispel that notion.

[Ken]

It's. It's very convenient.

[Alex]

How do you.

[Ken]

And especially because the little discs, like they sucked up the fire. Like if there had been no blazing fire happening, would those discs have served a purpose? How would the cola been made? Like, it's just, it's very convenient.

[Zach]

Well, no, no, no. She took them out of her. They were in the case with the, with the decapitated Vegapunk.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it's just an energy absorbing tool, basically.

[Ken]

Yeah, they're talking about the energy of Elbaf and all these things. But like the disc sucked the fire. It wasn't like they plugged.

[Alex]

So the energy of Elbaf.

[Ken]

Elbaf Energy. Yay.

[Alex]

No, I think it's more. I think it is more related to dials, honestly. Like it's sort of. It is reminiscent of dial technology. Like dial technology can do the same thing, only this is much larger scale. And I'm pretty sure that.

[Zach]

And they fly. They fly now.

[Alex]

Yeah. They fly now. They fly now. Yeah. I think that these, you know, novelty flying discs. We can't use Frisbee unless we get shoes. I think that, like, they're. They're basically just flying. They're flying dials. Yeah, fly alls, as I like to call them. Frogger.

[Zach]

Okay, that. That does it. I don't think I have any. There's nothing like, you know, revelatory in this chapter. Just, I think a fun chapter is, I guess, where I will end things. Particularly the last page, which is just fun. Okay, let's move into some piece together right after this. Great.

[Advertiser]

This episode is brought to you by Nespresso Introducing Virtuo up, the latest in a long line of innovation from Nespresso. It's innovation you can touch, sense and taste in every single cup. With a three second start, easy open lever and dedicated brew over ice button, it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way. Sip for yourself. Shop Vertuo up [e-mail] Are you dreaming

[Alex]

of the perfect prom?

[Advertiser]

But there's just one thing holding you back. Speak English, Mom. Welcome to Ethnosync Ethnic Modification.

[Zach]

What is this place?

[Ken]

We help you reach your true potential.

[Steven Paul]

Potential.

[Alex]

How are you feeling? It's good to be white.

[Zach]

Hey, new girl. Hey.

[Advertiser]

Look at what you've done to yourself.

[Zach]

For a new plant to grow, the

[Alex]

seed has to die.

[Advertiser]

Slanted Rated R. Only in theaters March 13th. Side effects may occur.

[Alex]

Close your eyes. Exhale.

[Advertiser]

Feel your body relax.

[Alex]

And let go of whatever you're carrying.

[Advertiser]

Today, while I'm letting go of the. The worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts.

[Zach]

Oh, my gosh.

[Advertiser]

They're so fast.

[Alex]

And breathe.

[Advertiser]

Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.

[Steven Paul]

1-800-contacts.

[Zach]

Hey, sickos. It's time for the Piece Together segment where we take your questions, comments and theories. Alex, what's our first segment?

[Alex]

Yes.

[Ken]

Yes.

[Alex]

Our first segment is called disbease. And we'll start off this piece with Big Mike who says, yo, what's up my nakamas. Happy International Women's Day.

[Zach]

You could do anything on disc piece except that you're done.

[Alex]

That's right.

[Zach]

Kidding.

[Alex]

Also, I'm just going to say that I have a really big pet peeve about the plural of nakama should be nakama, not nakamas.

[Zach]

But that was nakamai Knock.

[Alex]

Maybe it is. That's.

[Ken]

No, it's a last name.

[Zach]

Oh. It's a murderer of nakama. I like it. I'll write it down. Even though we already picked the title.

[Alex]

It's a crew.

[Steven Paul]

A crew of nakama.

[Zach]

I feel like a murder a little

[Alex]

bit more, but it's a Mekan of nakama.

[Zach]

Okay, okay.

[Alex]

It's a tomodachi of nakamo.

[Zach]

Not as good as a Tamagotchi of nakama.

[Ken]

We got to move on.

[Zach]

No, we don't.

[Alex]

Okay. Anyway, Big Mike says the thing, and then he says International Women's Day, whether you are a Nami guy, a Robin guy, or God forbid, a big mom guy, if it's one thing and we can agree on is that one piece has the best women.

[Zach]

Why were you reading that? Like Casey Kasem. You've been doing that recently.

[Alex]

I don't know.

[Zach]

It's fine. I just was confused.

[Ken]

The best women.

[Alex]

Fine. I'll do the next one as Casey Kasem.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Alex]

This is Mr. And Mr. 2 Pombon Clay, aka Slay Rights.

[Zach]

Maybe I'm fishing here for you just to do that. Go ahead.

[Alex]

Hello, my fellow women lovers. Wow. Pride came early this chapter. Thanks to the giant bears killing each other. Who knew? Anyway, since it's International Women's Day, who do you think. Who do you each think is the most well written woman in the entire series? And why? I might personally have to say either Robin or Bellemere. Probably Robin. Thank you and have a super week.

[Zach]

Okay, Maybe we should do a twist on this. Which one? That doesn't get murdered.

[Alex]

By the way, I was reading. I was reading this from the disc piece and as soon as I finished, Ken put an emote on it.

[Ken]

I'm using as like a checklist, like real time.

[Alex]

That's fun.

[Zach]

Is that what's happening?

[Alex]

That is fun. Look at you. The most well written woman. Eda.

[Zach]

Eda's was great.

[Alex]

Eda, baby.

[Zach]

Like a recency bias there too.

[Steven Paul]

A little bit.

[Zach]

A little bit.

[Alex]

But I really love Eda and Belle

[Zach]

Mere is an exceptionally well written woman. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Zach]

It's a shame that all of these women are dead.

[Alex]

Oh, Kreha.

[Steven Paul]

Maybe I was gonna say. Yeah. When I think of, like, well written. I. I'm also thinking of, like, what are like, characters who are kind of conflicted or they're. They have like, very obvious flaws that.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Steven Paul]

Make them more complicated. And. And I do think that Korea and Bellemere work pretty well with that.

[Zach]

Yeah, there's. There are many. I think Robin at times fits the description and at times does not. Like, I feel like if she were like, existing outside of the series, she would. So maybe that's the best example of that I'm trying to think of.

[Ken]

I want to say boa, but like the whole like, just like head over heels for Luffy thing kind of doesn't gel with that. But like the entire early backstory with her and her sisters escaping slavery and regaining her power and like.

[Zach]

And kicking puppies.

[Ken]

There's something. Yes, well, there is something there, but then it's kind of done away by the usual one piece shenanigans. But.

[Alex]

Well, it seems that the. That the Okiku. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah, I feel like that's.

[Ken]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Zach]

I feel like she's a well written one.

[Ken]

Oh, Hiyori. I like Hiori's entire story too, where, like, she has to like, pretend to be someone else for her family and kind of like deal with some assholes for years and whatnot. There's something there. And again, it's a bloody killing revenge story at the end. Like, she kind of goes in on it, but that's a pretty compelling scene.

[Alex]

Yeah, go ahead, you say something there. But we're trying to figure out the best. Anyway. Ms. Merry Christmas,

[Ken]

Lady Tree.

[Zach]

Do you mean your favorite or. Or the best written, I think. What about like.

[Ken]

Well.

[Alex]

Well, I'm going to. I will say yes. Boa, though, the. The I Love Luffy thing we found out recently is a pretty hereditary thing. Right?

[Ken]

That's.

[Alex]

Now that's just part of the lineage, right? It's part of your. It's in the. It's in your blood to love one man.

[Ken]

Oh, the seraphim thing, right?

[Alex]

No, I'm talking about like Gloriosa and.

[Zach]

Well, no, but we knew that already because that was mentioned. Yeah. Elder Nyan, as she's now known, did mention that. That took out one of the. You know, like that was a speech that was given at that time.

[Alex]

People talk about glow ups. How about a grow down? I'm sorry.

[Zach]

Thank you.

[Steven Paul]

I do. I do like Big Mom. She has.

[Zach]

Yeah. There's a lot of facets.

[Steven Paul]

Big moments.

[Alex]

Yes, the Big Mom. Yeah, Big mom is like one of. I think One of the more well written villains too, in the series.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah. A very richly portrayed character.

[Ken]

She's great.

[Zach]

She's like. I mean, like. Yeah, no, she's just like a really interesting character, period. Like, probably of, like, I've said this before, but, like, of if you're, like, looking for, like, which I'm, like, most interested in and like, compelled by, like, every time they show up on screen, I am like, their big mom. Definitely would be one of those characters. Yeah. I don't know if I could say the same for all of the characters we've listed.

[Alex]

Has anybody read. Read the heroines?

[Zach]

No. Stephen, obviously. Has he.

[Alex]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach]

Translated them.

[Alex]

Is there anything. I mean, I'm not sure if this is a spoiler, but is there anything in there that, like, lends credence to any of our opinions there or.

[Steven Paul]

I mean, they're all just kind of like working off of Oda's material, obviously. I don't think it, like, they're not designed to, like, show you a new side of a character, you know, it's more just like, okay, well, what. What if we took this character and kind of expressed this part of their personality in a different scenario that's not, you know, related to some adventure or something?

[Ken]

Yeah, let's stick her in a fun little, like, shopping mishap and Ranger. What happens there?

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it's. It's basically just like very high quality filler is what I would agree. What I would say.

[Zach]

What's next, Alex?

[Alex]

Next is reverse headback. That's pretty good. Hey, y'. All. Dexter chapter, as always. I'm glad that 102 years of giant yaoi can outdo the flashback math yaoi for defeating Emu. Anyway, I hope Franky isn't the only one who benefits from getting gamer fuel. Maybe Usopp, Nami or even Sanji can upgrade their tech and go Sicko mode with patented Vegapunk elixirs.

[Zach]

Hey, Sicko mode. There you go.

[Ken]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Zach]

What's next?

[Alex]

Nakrama, AKA untranslatable term. I love it.

[Zach]

That's for that one too. Yeah, Nakrama, I guess. But yeah, more like crappa is what we should have been saying to Nakama. Not to this person.

[Alex]

Well, anyway, Banger chapter, as always, as they normally say, absolutely kick ass for sure. I bet the Sanjin Jinsan Jim San shippers are losing it right now. And great to get a reminder that yes, stupid sexy Killingham is much of a fascist bastard as the rest of his ilk. Where is Brook, though? Question marks. With how funny it is that Franky finally got his Vegapunk assigned to power up an arc after Egghead. Are you all looking forward to Usopp getting his big moment in the next arc instead of here? Ouch. And of course, final point. Would Domi Reverse Buggy be invincible after all? He can chop chop his head off to prevent decapitation. Have a delightful week and keep up the hard work.

[Zach]

Do you keep your devil fruit Reverse y. You know, like, I mean, why wouldn't you?

[Steven Paul]

I guess we haven't really tested it yet, have we?

[Zach]

Yeah, just throw him in the water.

[Ken]

Also, I think this goes back to

[Zach]

like, but also, Reverse Buggy is very competent.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. So I was gonna say, did. Did Rocks use his powers? I don't remember.

[Ken]

Did Rocks.

[Zach]

We never. We never found out if he even had them.

[Alex]

I don't think he does.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't think he does either.

[Ken]

I thought it was like a Shank situation where Shanks is just strong and Roger. And Roger. Yeah.

[Zach]

Which I do love. And I hope we don't find out that they do have something. I really do love the idea that someone could just be kick ass. Like Garp. I think at this point has been confirmed that that's, you know, kind of what's going on there. And Kobe soon. But yeah, yeah, more of that. I like it.

[Alex]

Yeah. I do think that, like, can. If Buggy. If somebody used hockey against Buggy, would they be actually able to chop his head off? Like, if Mihawk hit him with a hockey, like, slice, would that.

[Zach]

Actually, that's a good question. I don't know. That's a good question.

[Ken]

I mean, I think as long as he connected to skin before Buggy could separate, I feel like, yeah, that would work.

[Alex]

Well, it's also about him separating and more about, like, he literally can't be cut because.

[Ken]

Yeah, but Buggy can, like, you know, Buggy like, burst into pieces and what, he can separate himself? So if he can separate before being hit by the sword.

[Zach]

I see you're asking a lot of Buggy.

[Alex]

Oh, no, no. My. My question is if he gets sliced with the hockey slice.

[Zach]

Does it?

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it just comes down to Oda saying, like, is your hockey stronger than the other person's powers or whatever. Yeah, it just. It just comes down to, like, who wants it more? Basically, yeah.

[Alex]

I think the what has been confirmed, right? Is that like, oh, yeah, Haki works against Logia users, but nothing against Paramethia users. So I don't know.

[Ken]

Well, it depends because now we know that the Supreme Like Conqueror's Haki can, like, do pretty much everything now at this point, as long as you infuse it into.

[Steven Paul]

What if it's a special Paramethia?

[Alex]

A mythical.

[Ken]

Wasn't Katakuri.

[Steven Paul]

Katakuri was special.

[Zach]

What was originally Logia. You know, the element of Mochi.

[Alex]

Robert Loggia of Mochi.

[Zach]

There it is, Alex.

[Alex]

Yeah. Tyler says. Hey, Opp. I hope you had a great weekend. Finally we get our Super Vega punk upgrade we've been waiting for since the Egghead arc. Frankly, Frankie finally getting some love makes me happy. Second. Omg. Rain Tempo hasn't been seen in so long. But then with it immediately getting stopped by the nightmare creature, it's like Otis saying himself. No, Nami, you only do lightning now. I hope one day we get to see stuff like Mirage Tempo on a mass scale with Zeus's help.

[Steven Paul]

I mean, to be fair, like, if it wasn't interfered with by a giant creature, it would have worked like she was on the right track.

[Alex]

Yeah, I agree.

[Zach]

It was starting to work like it.

[Alex]

I guess I was a little. A little disappointed that Nami's attacks haven't seemed very successful the last couple times. Right. That she's done a big one.

[Steven Paul]

Is that right?

[Alex]

I don't know.

[Zach]

I feel like Nami's attacks, being lightning, usually work pretty well.

[Alex]

That's what. Yeah, that's what it feels like to me anyway. But she got. Did she get the final blow on Ulti? No, that was the Mazer Cannon. That was the Maser Cannon.

[Ken]

What? No. Remember Zeus went inside. That was when Zeus went inside the staff and she attacked Ulti that way. Yeah, but that laser cannon was big, Mom. Right?

[Alex]

Yes. And that's. That's what ultimately defeated Ulti.

[Ken]

Right, Right.

[Alex]

But like, yeah, Nami's attack did damage her, but it didn't.

[Zach]

Do you know how much of that fight I remember? None of it. It's like that. Very little. It's really crazy that I spent many hours of my life probably talking about that, and I have no memory about it whatsoever. Like, I like, vaguely remember a couple panels from it. I remember our discussion calling Big Mama Kaiju and why. That was so much fun. And that's all I got. What's next?

[Alex]

Wow. I'll tell you what's Next. Straw Part 9. Who says? What a fantastic chapter. Nothing more satisfying than seeing an elitist get his head kicked in. I was really scared for a sec. Sec. That Dorian Broi were dead. But it saved them instead. Hooray. My birthday is on the 9th. And it feels great to have it sandwiched between this chapter and OPLA season two. On the 10th, I was at the Netflix fan event in LA. Oh, my God. That first episode was perfection. I am so ready as a fan of a certain fanboy in the series. It was everything. And then he has a little Barto club flag there. That's all I'm saying. Everyone be super excited. Well, the fact that it's a Barto flag.

[Zach]

Well, I've seen that.

[Alex]

I know who's in it. Yeah, I think they were like a screenshot.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't know if they were. And we talked a little bit. I forgot if this was last week or the week before, like, the different types of fan service. Not like in the. In the way that, you know, like, we're gonna write this thing in to help, like. I'm still very conflicted on it.

[Alex]

Well, Bartolomeo's origin is that he saw Luffy in. In Logtown. So it would make sense that.

[Zach]

Yeah, no, no, it makes sense, but it's like, I don't know, he's not actually in, you know, the chapters that exist in 1999 or.

[Alex]

I mean, it's an adaptation.

[Zach]

No, I think that. I know.

[Alex]

I think that, like, I think, you know, they might do something like, I don't know, like, maybe he's a member of the Buggy Pirates before.

[Zach]

That would be fun, actually.

[Alex]

I like that, like, before seeing Luffy, you know, declare his cheek.

[Zach]

I mean, here's a question. Do you think the one piece will include stuff like that is.

[Alex]

I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's going to be a straight up at it. Yeah, I think it's going to be more of a straight adaptation of the manga. That's what it seems. That mean. That seems to be what they're going for with. With the one piece.

[Zach]

I'll say. Did any of you, as you were reading it, like, actually think, like, okay, this could be the end of Dorian Brogy in this chapter? Did he, like, catch you for a second? Because he caught me. Catch me for a second. Because I'm expecting them to die.

[Alex]

I thought. I thought that they were kind of done like a couple chapters ago because I thought to myself, oh, this is really poetic in a way where, like, they. Even though they were possessed, they basically continued their, you know, their Hundred Years Battle and they took out each other and that's how they, you know. Yeah, they end their duel. But I guess they technically ended their duel here because they killed each other. But they almost did it on purpose.

[Ken]

I'm just glad that Oda revealed that they were fine in this chapter. I can't imagine going on break and then the next chapter starts off with the flipping of them over and it's like, oh, they're okay.

[Steven Paul]

They could have done that.

[Alex]

That would suck, actually.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, that would be really annoying.

[Ken]

Oh, they've been dead for two. Yeah.

[Zach]

By the way.

[Alex]

No. Know what that's like? That's like killing Chewbacca and then thinking he's dead for about a minute. And then the scene later, he's revealed to be okay because he was in another ship.

[Ken]

Dory and Brogy were on the other spaceship.

[Zach]

God, is that Rise of Skywalker?

[Alex]

It sure.

[Steven Paul]

Oh, Zach doesn't know.

[Alex]

Yeah. Guess what happens, Zach? That happens. Yes. Chewbacca dies.

[Ken]

Sorry. Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

Disregard whatever he said. He does die, actually.

[Alex]

Yeah. Dies for real.

[Zach]

I mentioned this in the movie. I will be watching the. The Dynasty typewriter. What's the. What's the organization that actually puts it together?

[Alex]

George Lucas talk show.

[Zach]

Yeah, George Lucas talk show. I should have known that because I have watched that. Yes, go on.

[Ken]

We went.

[Zach]

We went together. We met George Lucas.

[Alex]

We did. We met. We met retired filmmaker George Lucas. Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

Friends of Steven Spielberg.

[Alex]

Yeah, that's right. Special guests. Special guest, Spielberg.

[Zach]

Very special guest, Steven Spielberg. Spielberg.

[Alex]

Hot. Women's research Fund says, what a chapter. I really thought we're having a great Women's International Women's Day.

[Zach]

Yeah, we're celebrating them with their research fund.

[Ken]

Yeah, we have all.

[Alex]

Guys.

[Zach]

That's why I'm laughing.

[Alex]

I really thought that egghead was going to be pretty focused on the idea of energy sources, since there was Vega pumps and Vega Punk's ambition to find an energy source. An infinite energy source. The Mega Flame could be a source of fuel for an ancient weapon. And in general, sci fi likes to focus on an idea of harnessing the energy from the sun. The sun in the palm of your hand. In the real world, access to electricity could be considered a human right. Just like food and water is. Like how rural Puerto Ricans still don't have electric grid access after Hurricane Maria all those years ago. One Piece already did a resource war with Alabasta being robbed of drinking water. I wonder if we're headed towards something like a power outage planned by the World Nobles. But power in the One Piece world means something different than our electric grid. I wonder what innate energy Lilith is sensing from this treetop country of Elbaf. Speaking of Lilith, she reached out to me and Said if I give her money for her research, she'd pay me back later. Boy, it's been a long time since then.

[Steven Paul]

Oh, dear.

[Zach]

Ken liked that question. Fourth walling it. I. I think that if we got something like this, it would be an analogy because there really isn't electricity in the one piece world in the way that we. Or you know, like a power grid. Or it would be like disrupting like transponder, snail communications, I guess, across the world or something.

[Alex]

I will say that. That right now it doesn't seem like the world government's in the position to do anything, considering according to Emu, everything in marijuana is on fire. And not literally.

[Zach]

Yeah, well, maybe probably not literally.

[Alex]

I would.

[Zach]

Well, we saw Mary Geoa in the last chapter a little bit.

[Steven Paul]

We saw the palace, but the palace was fine.

[Alex]

Yeah, they said it was a sea of fire. The Holy Land is a sea of fire. That was the.

[Zach]

That could be. That could be. Not alliterative, but. Yeah.

[Alex]

I don't know. I don't know. Well, Steven, you translated that. Do you remember if that was. No, I think literally.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, I mean, you could. I guess you could take that as like. What would the term be?

[Zach]

Literally?

[Steven Paul]

No, like gospel. Like a figure of speech or something.

[Zach]

Figure of speech.

[Alex]

Right.

[Zach]

The other way around. Okay. What did you thought it was literal then?

[Alex]

I mean.

[Zach]

Yeah, Steven,

[Steven Paul]

I mean, I just assume like, I. I just take that in a general sense to mean, like, you know, the situation is chaotic there.

[Zach]

That's what I thought.

[Steven Paul]

They're being beset on, you know, multiple sides or something.

[Zach]

Like poetic language.

[Alex]

Well, yeah.

[Zach]

Shit's going down.

[Alex]

The food shortage. But I. I took it to mean that Blackbeard made a move or something because what's his nuts?

[Zach]

Maybe Sakazuki had to leave his office.

[Alex]

Lafitte. Lafitte. Yeah. Lafitte was spying on something.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, there. There are definitely a. Well, the feat was at the. What's his name? The red line. No, no, he was with the. Yes, but he was the underworld dealer. What's his name?

[Alex]

Umit.

[Zach]

Umi. Yeah. He was at his ship port, which is related to that. I know. That's why I remembered it, because it's stupid. And why is it in my memory.

[Alex]

It's not stupid. If Blackbeard's got his fingers in a pie, that means that pie is going to explode.

[Zach]

Right? Yeah.

[Ken]

I'm forgetting. Did we see Caribou meet up with Blackbeard yet?

[Zach]

He was about to. He was like sailing is right in front of full lead about to meet Him. And I think they're like talking over the Pizarro's loudspeaker. That joke still, even all these years, even though we're past 2021 when the show takes place. Go ahead.

[Alex]

Next one is Hopkins hat 15 who says, hey, opp, how it be? Long time no see. So Summers and Killingham are both beaten. Now we still don't know what Shamrock is up to. And Brooke and Gunko are confron each. Oh, are confronting each other. What is. What is there left for Usopp to do in this arc?

[Steven Paul]

That's a good question.

[Alex]

I. I mean, I put. I posited of course, that yeah. Yeah, perhaps everybody has to work together to defeat a gigantic dragon that had been domied. But who knows? Who knows what Oda has up his

[Ken]

sleeve for his like the Thriller park fight, but better.

[Alex]

Yeah, I'm kind of. I was kind of thinking that, I mean, fighting a dragon.

[Zach]

Fighting a dragon.

[Alex]

So cool.

[Zach]

Indisputably pretty damn cool. Yeah.

[Alex]

And it. And imagine if. If Imagine dragons. Imagine dragons that were Domied and also Loki'd and also like, I guess radioactive.

[Zach]

Scared the shit out of me.

[Alex]

Yes. A radioactive dragon.

[Steven Paul]

The.

[Alex]

When. When the giants were Domied, they became huge, right? They became bigger.

[Ken]

Yeah, they got bigger.

[Alex]

I wonder if that would happen.

[Zach]

Yeah, he probably would. He probably would.

[Alex]

Even bigger. Big fucking ass dragon.

[Zach]

Geez.

[Ken]

Like this paintball can't get any bigger.

[Zach]

I will say I meant to say this during the manga recap. Things are looking a little too good for the Straw Hats right now. Like it is.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. Yes, it's definitely looking up right now,

[Zach]

which could be good. You know, maybe it's just, okay, things are going well now. Or it could mean that we're about to get a turn and something's gonna get. And we kind of have been saying this whole arc, things are really gonna go down because we had the party at the beginning.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I mean, let's see if that's true. But right now, I mean, they're looking really good. Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

Because the thing is. Yeah, Summers and Killingham are the jobbers. Like they were introduced for the Straw Hats to beat. Like Gunko was as the. The host for Emu is clearly like the. The. The main threat, I feel like. Or this at least the central focus of. Of like the antagonism in this. This arc right now. So I do feel like that's going to be much, much harder to. To get past.

[Alex]

And I think that like. Yeah, this. This sort of reminds me too of like Whiskey Peak or you know, in Bleach or whatever. When you find out that Aizen's like the Big Bad or whatever, like, this is where the Straw Hats are going to find out, like, who this big, like who the Big Bad of the Shonen series is going to be. I feel like that hasn't happened in a while for them to like.

[Steven Paul]

Like it has to become personal at some point. Yeah, yeah, Right.

[Ken]

Because if they can knock Emu out of Gunko and she turns into the 80. Because she's supposed to be like 80 years old. If she turns into like her proper, proper age, get all the Emu influences out of her, she can like, tell the Straw Hats or Brook, like, listen, Emu on the throne, this and that. This is the plan. Like, it could be a giant just info dump if they managed to save her in some capacity.

[Zach]

It is kind of remarkable how little of the world, like now we have after the flashback, we basically know that only a handful of people know IMU even exists. Right. You know, funny enough, Sabo is one of them and the revolutionaries. So it would not be absurd for the Straw Hats to be one of them as well. That would be a really interesting turn. That's a. That's a good point. Plus, they don't really know. They know their enemy is the World Government. I mean, they've known that since Lobby and before.

[Alex]

But because of. Yeah, because of the Harley, too. The Harley being introduced. And I think, you know, at some point there's bound to be a large and.

[Zach]

Yeah, sorry. And Vivi is about to show up again. I mean, it was hinted at the beginning of Elbaf with the X. I kind of.

[Alex]

I kind of hope so. I mean, that's.

[Zach]

Oh, no. I'm. I'm like, relatively certain Vivi is on the horizon, but I. But she also is privy to what was going on. I mean, that was the whole thing, why she was getting chased out. One of the reasons her father getting killed and Waffle telling her too much, I think. Yeah. So very interesting stuff. Anything else, Alex?

[Alex]

We have one more, and this is from Wispete, who says, hey, oop. Loving Frankie's new Coca Cola Classic upgrade. Didn't realize he was such a fan of cable serial killer dramas. What other upgraded Frankie techniques would you like to see? Named after Showtime Original programming. Radical Weeds, Shameless, Nipple Lights.

[Zach]

I don't know enough Showtime shows for this.

[Alex]

Yellow Jacket.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, Jacket, Jacket Fruit. Yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

Yellow Jacket Jacket Fruit.

[Steven Paul]

Like two or three shows. That's about. I think you've. You've just listed off all of the Shows.

[Alex]

Yeah, all the Showtime shows was. Wait, was Six Feet Under HBO or Showtime?

[Steven Paul]

That was hbo. Yeah.

[Alex]

Okay. Yeah, then I did name them all. It's true.

[Zach]

The Soprano. No, I can't. No, no, I'm thinking of the HBO once now. Like curbing your enthusiasm or something. I don't know.

[Steven Paul]

Oh, man.

[Zach]

Pretty good punch. Pretty, pretty good punch.

[Steven Paul]

I'm feeling okay.

[Zach]

I like the HBO ones more. I would stick with those. That's it for disc piece. Do we have anything on the subreddit archipelago, Steven?

[Steven Paul]

We do have just a few here over on Reddit.com r One Piece podcast. We'll start from Brad Wonder who started the thread for us. Thank you, Brad. Hey, Opp, I feel bad for Brogy losing his hand before he got reverseeed, but at least there was some consequence to he and Dory facing the Big bad. Speaking of which, does anyone else hate Emu's powers? So it seems like Dory and Brogy are relatively fresh after being flipped back. Whereas in the flashback, Rocks still retained the damage dealt by Garp and Roger. All three presumably took killing blows, but for some reason the giants are good to go now, while Rocks could only lay on the ground to be finished off by Garling. One piece is more enjoyable when we don't look into the abilities too much. But Imu's powers might have less rules than even Law's fruit.

[Zach]

I don't know if we know enough for that to be.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Zach]

Ken, are you raising your hand or are you stretching?

[Ken]

Yeah, the one thing I'll say is, like, we've been saying that Rox was Domi University just because, like, visually that's what it looks like. But if you want to talk about how it actually happened, like IMU in Saturn lifted him up into the air and like the tendrils and the darkness and whatnot. And then when he came back down, he was evil demonic.

[Zach]

I have to look. He didn't get the tattoo right like that.

[Ken]

No, no, it wasn't the tattoo, but we never saw the Othello flip either. So maybe it wasn't exactly Domi reversity. Like maybe IMU can just put demon powers through other covenants.

[Zach]

That's what we call actually now I forget what it's called. Plausible deniability. That's it.

[Ken]

I'm just saying, like, if we find out that what happened to Rox wasn't dummy reversi and that's why he didn't come back and he came back in pieces or he was came back injured, I Don't think it makes a big difference to me. Story wise. And like that could easily be. Oh, that wasn't dumby reversedi.

[Alex]

That was don't be stabby.

[Ken]

Yeah, don't be stabby or don't be chokey or something. I don't know. Like, it doesn't really. It doesn't matter much to me. I think that people keep debating on how this works. Like at the end of the day, Emu is the person who makes you evil. Like that's all it is.

[Zach]

Like, and well, I wish I had your, you know, optimism, outlook. Yeah. Like, it's just. I don't like it because it's so nebulous. But also Emu is so nebulous right now. I like, this will be one of the occasions where I use my cop out answer that I'm gonna hold off my opinions until we actually like have a little bit more.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. If that turns out to be a new thing too, it's gonna be like Emu has more forms of possession than there are like types of devil fruits at this point. Yeah, like it's get it is getting a little bit excessive. Yeah.

[Ken]

Well, that's what again, like, we just still don't know if what Imu's doing is a fruit. Because we go back to the elders and the elders were never were confirmed to have fruits. They were just like, oh, they have the power of these, right?

[Steven Paul]

Yes, that's true. They didn't see it.

[Ken]

So it could be that again. People always say emu has a devil devil fruit or a demon demon. Like something like that. Like, who knows what's actually going on here?

[Zach]

I'll put it this way. I'll put it this way. Blackbeard had a book of every devil fruit and he chose the darkness fruit. Why not the devil devil? Like wouldn't he have seen this? Like awesome, those books.

[Ken]

I'm sorry. Because we know the world government changed the name of the Nika fruit to the gum gum fruit.

[Zach]

So more importantly, what did he need the book for? The fruit just looks like the power. Can you just tell? Okay, what's next?

[Ken]

This is the dark dark fruit of the oil oil fruit. It's a little.

[Zach]

Well, let me take a bite. Oh shit.

[Ken]

Oh God.

[Zach]

It's the tar tar fruit. What's next?

[Steven Paul]

All right, our other Reddit comment comes from amiibo hunter000 who says hey opp. Happy live action season two release week. Anyone from the crew watching the first two episodes in theaters now? I believe Kirsten is going to see it. In Japan. Oh, I think.

[Zach]

By the way, I hate to go back to this, but chapter 1163, emu literally says domi reversi when he stabs.

[Steven Paul]

Okay.

[Ken]

Does he?

[Steven Paul]

So there you go.

[Zach]

The very end of that. Yeah.

[Ken]

All right, never mind.

[Zach]

Yeah, so there goes that. There's only two types of weird things. Anyway, I am not seeing it in theaters, but, Alex, are you going to be?

[Alex]

No, I have a kid.

[Zach]

That's where I would say, yeah, bring your baby.

[Alex]

The only thing I'm trying to see if I can see in theaters is they're bringing one battle after another to our local theater in 70 millimeter. And I have not watched it yet because I was waiting to see it again, but I don't know if I can make that happen.

[Zach]

Having a kid makes it tough to leave the house.

[Alex]

It's very true.

[Zach]

Yeah. That's why I haven't left the house in, like, five years. Go ahead.

[Steven Paul]

Amiibo. Amiibo. Hunter continues ironically here. Now that the second WT Top 100 is live and voting has started, I was thinking it would be cool if, as a community, we tried to get an obscure favorite into as high a ranking as possible. Any ideas for a character we could all vote for to see how high we can get them in the ranking?

[Zach]

Alex, can we choose one of the ones that you listed? Is there, like, one we could settle on?

[Steven Paul]

Oh, well, that. That was the setup for him to read off the entire list again.

[Alex]

Yeah, well, let's go ahead and read it off again.

[Zach]

Oh, my God.

[Alex]

No.

[Zach]

Just pitch strawberry.

[Alex]

Dr. Fishbone, our phone call.

[Zach]

I'm just gonna talk.

[Alex]

Fine, fine, fine. Fin. Fine, fine. Look, I. I'll pick. I'll pick. I'll pick one.

[Zach]

Yeah, Alex, pick one.

[Alex]

All right. Nisa. Coy from Nisa.

[Zach]

Oh, my God.

[Alex]

Honestly, Dead Grandma might be the.

[Zach]

Well, what's her name?

[Steven Paul]

You already voted for Ukuk.

[Alex]

I. I voted for Uku.

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Ukuk would be great, actually.

[Zach]

Pone. Gorilla.

[Alex]

Gorilla. Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

I did think it was very funny when you posted the picture that it just says, thanks, I voted for Ukuku.

[Zach]

Okay, should we do. Oof. Is that where we're gonna land?

[Ken]

Grandma's name is Babaroo.

[Zach]

That's pretty good. We're changing the image. It's just Babaroo.

[Alex]

Okay, you know what? Babaru I think might be.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, Babaroo.

[Alex]

All right, guys, it's Babaroo. That's the.

[Zach]

That's our screen cap of that.

[Alex]

So, people, officially, it's the One Piece podcast.

[Zach]

Official Babaru.

[Alex]

WTO 100.

[Zach]

If Babaru then gets anywhere close to the top 100, we could take full credit.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Zach]

By we, I mean the community, but yes, most people.

[Alex]

And tell the people. Yeah, tell the people and tell them we sent you, damn it.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

And then she'll be two over, and we'll. We'll. We'll forsake her for the third voting. We'll be like, she's too popular.

[Zach]

Yeah. And Paparoo is gonna have to have a figure.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, she's too passe.

[Zach]

It's gonna be too passe. Yeah. That's what's gonna happen. Ba Ba Ru. Okay. It's gonna be stuck in my head all night. Sorry.

[Alex]

Your son is goo.

[Zach]

It's true. Your grandson.

[Alex]

Grandson is goo.

[Zach]

Okay, let's get that whole song running, Steven. Anything else?

[Steven Paul]

That was it for Reddit.

[Zach]

We have a few from Blue Sky P. I'll go through them quick. Someone stole the catchphrase banger chapter. As always, this comes from Game Cat. Especially with the return of our long lost beloved Dials in vegapunk form. Hey, someone else agreed with them. Love seeing the crew in a collaborative problem solving mode again. Fluffy question. Interesting. I haven't seen this, but I haven't read this yet. But let's see. If you had to cook one dish for Luffy to get him to save your community from fascism, what's your go to? You had to cook one dip. Oh, I see what he means. Like, to motivate Luffy to save your town from fascism. Well, would we be cooking for us, or would we be cooking for Luffy? Because then it's easy. Just give him a big stick of meat. I mean, wouldn't that be enough for him? Just meat? Or. Or like, like hibachi meat? Or like.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, like, this is how easy Luffy's recipe requirements are for you. Just. Oh, just give him a piece of meat and he'll love you.

[Zach]

Well, he'll save me from fascism growing up.

[Ken]

Like, a very simple meal that my dad used to make would be like a goulash, where it was just like, chopped ground beef and like macaroni and like, tomato juice kind of, like, simmered all day. That seems like a very, very simple but hearty meal that I think Luffy would like.

[Zach]

Alex, I think the real answer to this is to just bring him on a tour of Takayama in Japan, which is just all meat.

[Alex]

Oh, yeah, that'd be dope.

[Zach]

And. Oh, God, I missed that. I missed that meat.

[Alex]

Sorry, I was just looking it up. It's baburu you have to spell it. B A, B U, R U. I was looking at Babaru. It's baburu.

[Zach]

Oh. Because it's probably. It's a pun off of Gaburu. Gaburu. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah. That's just a pun. That's so lazy.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

So it's really bavara.

[Alex]

Oh, cute. I also found out that Babar. I also found out that. I also found out, looking through this list, that Mr. 9 and Ms. Monday's child is named Nanday.

[Ken]

All right.

[Steven Paul]

Wow, that. That's really good too, because.

[Zach]

Excellent. Here.

[Steven Paul]

If that's. If that's the spelled the way, that I would assume that that's. It's basically like saying why.

[Ken]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Oh, Nande.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oh, I get it.

[Ken]

I get it.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Alex]

You know what?

[Steven Paul]

That is pretty.

[Zach]

That's an untranslatable word, though.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, that is. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. We have, like, two more questions. That's really funny. Yeah. I named my kid why? Why her?

[Alex]

The two of them shacked up. Huh?

[Zach]

All right.

[Steven Paul]

I would introduce Luffy to carne asada fries.

[Zach]

Ooh, yeah. I'm sorry, we didn't. That's a good answer. Yeah. Okay.

[Alex]

What was the question?

[Zach]

What would we give bribe Luffy with to save us from fascism?

[Alex]

Oh. Ooh, let's see. Yeah.

[Zach]

The best meat you could think of or like, like, barbecue in, like, Texas is, like, really good Texas barbecue.

[Alex]

I mean, come on. Ham melon, prosciutto, and cantaloupe. Like, that's. Oh, it's so fucking good. And he loves it. He's like, what the fuck is that? Ham melon. Are you kidding me, dude?

[Zach]

God, there's a lot of good meat out there. Not to endorse. Not. Not to. Not to endorse killing animals, but you know, there is. Plum Dragon said, hi, Opp. What a great chapter. And how awesome was it to see most of the crew show off some skills, especially from Frankie or frankly here. And my boy Sanji. Did you notice his leg shine bright like kizaru. Is this the first time we've seen it be so bright? What are your thoughts? This person's just. Maybe this is Maddie and they're just really into Sanji's leg. Is my Sanji's, like, hair number one fan. Sanji's, like, hair number one fan. Best pen name still. I've.

[Alex]

Very funny.

[Zach]

It is very funny. I think that's the same amount. It's going to be my. I don't know if anyone has an opinion on that. DK toy chest says, what flavors does super Vega Cola. Come in. Wildfire. Wild Berry. Maelstrom. Mango Tsunami. Citrus

[Alex]

Cola.

[Zach]

Alex, this feels like cola flavor.

[Steven Paul]

It's just jolt, that's all it is.

[Zach]

Cherry.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Ken]

It's almost like game fuel in the.

[Alex]

No, it's like the Panera. It's like the Panera lemonade that kills you.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah. It's pure energy.

[Alex]

Supercharged. Yeah.

[Ken]

I wonder if there will be a cooldown or some repercussion for using that cola in his body.

[Alex]

Yeah, he loses all. Like his balls fall off or something. Too much yellow. 5.

[Ken]

His hair falls out.

[Zach]

I'm glad I wasn't drinking tea when you said that because I would be all over my microphone. Last question comes from Ice Fisher. Tenacity.

[Alex]

Hold on. They'll fall off like oranges. Then they'll go orange.

[Zach]

No, they would go mekai.

[Alex]

Mika.

[Zach]

Mikan. What is. Oh, I wrote it down. Losing it.

[Alex]

Baka mitai Thai.

[Zach]

Yeah, I get that one too. Now I love me some super science. Out of all the power systems found in one piece, both major and minor, do you have a favorite? For example, hockey, hypnosis, devil fruits, divination, the six powers. Fish, karate, Sulong. Super science. Ms. Golden Week's magic, paint, etc.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. Colors. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah, I like colors. The colors do. The colors.

[Zach]

The colors, children.

[Alex]

I really like six powers, like, a lot. When they were introduced, I thought that was a fun. A fun thing.

[Zach]

I thought they were stupid.

[Alex]

Rokushiki. Really?

[Zach]

Yeah, I. They felt. I mean, the explanation is really stupid.

[Alex]

It's martial arts. That's all it is. It's not like.

[Zach]

But why are they able to fly?

[Alex]

Because they're walking like it's part of the tech. I know they trained. They trained to do it. Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

I like them because, like, especially looking back at them now, like, they're six actual, like, skills that are distinct, that do different things. Like, he's gotten. So he just. Yada, yada is everything now it feels like when it comes to powers and stuff, like, okay, yeah, it's awesome that Frankie did something cool. But let's be serious. He jumped up really high and he did another punch. There's nothing unique about it that he did.

[Ken]

I wanted a beam or something. I was expecting a giant hyper beam.

[Alex]

I'm actually kind of sick of Frankie using beams. I feel like that's all he's been doing. And I'm like, I like a punch this time.

[Zach]

He did a punch this time.

[Alex]

Well, it was a punch that exploded, which is cool.

[Zach]

Well, it's a big punch punching, but I will.

[Alex]

Yeah. I agree with Steven. Is that like Rokushiki or six Powers had its own, like, rules and stuff and then like, I guess they kind of did it. Well, a. If you trained so hard, then you can use Kamie or. I forget what it's called in English to like literally make yourself kind of like a blob so you can, you know, dodge stuff easily.

[Zach]

Oh, paper arts. Right? Paper arts or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

I think of this list.

[Zach]

Oh, go ahead.

[Alex]

And like. And she gun is really. Or finger gun. Finger. Finger pistol.

[Zach]

That one is fun.

[Alex]

I don't like that the English version calls it finger pistol because the word gun is literally in the she gun. Like it's just a finger gut.

[Ken]

Pew pew.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's funny too.

[Alex]

Yeah, I like that. It's literally just I'm going to use my finger to punch you.

[Zach]

It is kind of funny. Yeah.

[Alex]

And to maybe stab you. Like it's. It's like Tao pie Pie tongue. Like it's. I don't know. I really in a series where up to that point it was just like devil fruit. Devil fruit. Devil fruit. Oh, here's some actual cool techniques. And then you find out that oh, Koby can also do this. And that the marines also know how to do this now too. Because this was like a world government. Agents of the highest power know this stuff. They were trained in it. So I think it's kind of neat that it sort of infiltrated Marine training too, in that way. Yeah, I think. I don't know. Ken, do you have a favorite thing

[Zach]

like this of these?

[Ken]

Yeah, I like big mom's homie powers and soul powers a lot. Just because it was so, I think overly complicated when we first got introduced to it. Like the fact that she takes soul and just like she drops it places. So homies are coming alive. She could take a certain amount of your lifespan. So you're still looking like you're 20 years old, but you're gonna die at 25, because 80 something years of your life depending on the person that she took from her own. Homies were stronger because she was such a monster as well. She was able to track Zeus to Wano through Nami and then she took her soul out of Zeus and Zeus attached to Nami's wand. There's so much stuff with the soul powers and I feel like, like it's just weird enough where it's kind of magicy, kind of like it makes sense and it doesn't make sense. And when she took out like her son Moscato, like, all the Townsville. All the Townsville gathered up the time that she, like, she attacked him and dropped all his, like, lifespan around him. And so that's why, like, later he's alive, because they got it back inside of him. Like, it's so weird.

[Zach]

Alex, can you write down Moscato, Minister of Gelato, too? That should be a. Oh, yeah.

[Ken]

Should be one, right?

[Alex]

Yeah, we really. We really loved that guy for a while.

[Zach]

We did. It was because we thought he was. We knew he would come back, but we were like, oh, he's so dead.

[Ken]

He just has such a good name, too.

[Zach]

Well, yeah, he just rolls off the top.

[Ken]

He was Moscato, Minister of ice Cream. Not as good. Has to be Gelato.

[Zach]

Thank you. Yes, that.

[Ken]

Yeah, Big Mom's.

[Zach]

But also he's a wine type. Whenever I see Moscato wine, I always think of Moscato, Minister of Gelato.

[Ken]

And, like, also when she fought Brook and like, the fact that her soul powers work differently with Brook. Soul powers. There's a lot of cool stuff with the soul, just soul stuff in general, in one piece that I really like.

[Zach]

Yeah. I think that's why I. I like Greg's theories about, like, afterlife and usage in the series. And I hope we do see more about that. I think we are right now. But I think of this group, I think the idea of Fishman Karate is super interesting. I feel like it's been squandered a lot of the time, much like the Fishman island arc. But, like, I. I think it is a very cool concept. What is it? Jim Bay describes it in Impel Down. Right? Like it's the water through your body. Like, he's able to. I think it's for the same reason as the six powers. I like it because it is a non devil fruit, you know, combat tech. Like, Jim bae, he doesn't have a devil fruit. Never needs to, because he's just fucking badass with this.

[Steven Paul]

And anything that gets ODA to, like, describe something in specifics of any kind is usually good because it means like, okay, he knows what he wants to do with it and stuff. And when he's very, very vague about stuff is usually when he's just like, I'm not gonna explain this. I got other things to worry about right now.

[Zach]

Yeah. Emu feels closer to that right now.

[Alex]

I think that, you know. You know, Zach to that point, I do think that the fact that humans can learn Fishman Karate is kind of cool also.

[Zach]

I do too.

[Alex]

I think it basically tell. It tells you everything you need to know about this human that they're like, oh, they've really put the time into, like, yeah, you know, learning this art.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

But the koala thing is so cool too, because that story is really like heartbreaking and beautiful too.

[Alex]

With Fisherman, she's basically raised by fisherman,

[Zach]

so it makes sense. That's like the inherited will that he has passed on to her, even if not directly. It's just a. It's a very touching thing to see. And then there's Hack, Jim Bay's best friend.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. Oh, cultural exchange Hack should also be on the list.

[Zach]

That'll do it. It's a form of cultural exchange. Exactly. That'll do it for piece together. Let's round off and I think we have to go through the results of round one of our Arc Madness tournament.

[Alex]

Yes, we do.

[Zach]

Let's find out right after this.

[Advertiser]

The world moves fast. Your workday even faster Pitching products Drafting reports analyzing data Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn [e-mail] M365 copilot Eczema is unpredictable,

but you can flare less with Epglis, a once monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema after an initial four month or longer dosing phase. About four in ten people taking mglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks, and most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing.

MGLIS Lebricizumab LBKZ, a 250mg per 2ml injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies. EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to ebglis, allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis. Before starting ebglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection.

Ask your doctor about ebgliss and visit ebgliss.lilly.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

[Zach]

This has been the One Piece podcast episode 909 for March 9th. Thank you all for coming on next week. SGS Stephen, maybe perhaps.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, Greg was not available last time because he was busy with translation stuff. Hopefully he will be a little more free this time. But yeah, that will be the plan

[Zach]

as of today and this Wednesday we have Mikayla Hoover, the voice and mocap actress behind Chopper in the live Action One Piece series which as we mentioned premieres this Tuesday. Right. March 10th. So tomorrow, if you're listening to this right after it releases and now if you're listening to it any day after that, please check that out. I don't know if we're gonna do anything in particular for that just because as Alex mentioned earlier, children take up time. But maybe we'll figure out something. We did the team viewer thing, I think last time where we like could all watch it. Maybe we'll do something like that over the weekend. But keep, keep your ear to the ground and keep your ear on our discord. If you haven't joined it, the link is on our [e-mail] yeah, check that out. Ken, where could people find you?

[Ken]

You could find me anywhere online under kindkings01, whether that be Bluesky, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, you name it, I'm probably there with the exact same username. Very easy to find. And make sure to check out the one piece art collab on Blue sky under Opcollab. Bsky Social. It was a giant collab we ran back in 2024 where we got hundreds of artists to draw hundreds of one piece characters from post Dressrosa to Egghead. Currently volume one and volume two are free to download. They're two giant PDFs of beautiful art. Please check them out. And on the Blue sky we're currently posting a character a day. So if you want like a little one piece daily calendar character kind of thing, it's a great way to see the art doled out little by little.

[Zach]

Steven, where could people find you?

[Steven Paul]

I'm over on Blue Sky, StevenPaul BSky Social. You can check out one piece when it returns. But every week we have a chapter of Akane Banashi getting to be fun stuff. And Kurumizawa's Folly should be returning this week. I believe that's a bi weekly one. It's been a lot of fun very hectic and crazy Cliffhangers Chapter two chapter so it's one of those things where I think if you just read it all the way through, like just binged it really fast, you would lose a lot of the fun effect of that. So if you're interested in some, you know, sort of conspiratorial thriller, manga making, you know, mystery sort of series, check out Kurumizawa's Folly.

[Zach]

And Alex, where could people find you?

[Alex]

You can find me at dude, exclamation whatever on bluesky. Weebsimpsons is also on Bluesky. Same thing. Weebsimpsons Bisky Please sign up for the Super Art Fight Patreon to see Super Art Fight past episodes in our archive. It's great, just video of our live shows. It's fantastic, super fun, hilarious, yada yada. And if you want to see Super Art Fight in person very soon with me, I will be at the Auto Bar in Baltimore on March 28th. So please, if you're in the DMV area or if you want to like come out of state to see it, why not? That is a good show to come to. It's Marty Day's last co host show and there'll be plenty of fun surprises.

[Zach]

So thanks Alex. I have so many excuses that I have to come down there. I just need to figure it out. Mostly you. You can find [e-mail] or patreon.com One Piece Podcast as we mentioned, we have a meme match going on and to celebrate this week's episode title, I guess we have the Chad Momonowski versus Harold who what is it Again? Award Again Award. I have it right in front of me me. If you ever checked out our episodes this year as as I mentioned a few weeks ago, 2026 is a year has generally sucked. But we have had some of my favorite episodes like we've ever done this year. Including manga is something you create by yourself. Steven's interview, Steven's interview. Steven's translation of the interview with Oda from One Piece magazine number 20. That one is a must listen to if you ask me. A new SGS don't yout Hate Pants? We had the 900th episode. We had our interview with Kat Abu Ghazali. We had even more volume 20 of the magazine discussion and we had we've started Opla season, the latest season of Oplo whatever you want to call it. We will announce guests as soon as I can. But either way, if you want early access, if you want immediate access to those interviews. Make sure you subscribe at either 5 or $10 a month, depending on I think 5. You should get access to everything probably. Anyway, Ken, we have some business to get into. I forgot to mention fuck ice, but now that we've done that, what do we have? Basketball.

[Ken]

Yes, we have. The first round of Arc Madness is done. We launched this exactly a week ago and this wrapped up while we were recording actually. So we have the results. Do you want me to go through the one by one?

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't know what they are, so I'm curious. Yeah, so there were quoted early. So I don't know if there were

[Ken]

10 matches, I guess in the last week and here there's results.

[Zach]

Oh, by the way, I think we should go through Alex and Steven and give it a yay or nay, the three of us, as to whether we

[Ken]

agree with this personally. Okay, I'll slow roll these then.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Ken]

All right. We had Davy Back fights versus egghead. Egghead one 11 to 38.

[Zach]

Alex.

[Alex]

Wow. I don't know if I'd call that an upset just because I feel like Egghead has recency bias a lot of people and Davey back fight is one of the strong most. I feel like a very strongly contested arc in terms of people like it or not. Divisive, you could say. I guess my personal choice probably would have gone Egghead. Even though I have some fun memories with Davey back fight. It's much shorter and pretty. You know, I love a short and sweet and it's honestly when oda's art was kind of at its peak, I think. But Egghead does have the Kuma flashback, which does a lot for it moving forward, I think.

[Zach]

Yeah, I would gay that too. Steven. Do you.

[Steven Paul]

So we're. So we're doing yay or nay on the result of Egghead over.

[Zach]

Yeah. What do we.

[Steven Paul]

I'll say yay.

[Zach]

Okay, go ahead.

[Ken]

All right, next up, we had Sabote Archipelago versus Orange Town and the Archipelago won 47 to 2.

[Zach]

I Yay. That. That.

[Ken]

Yay. Yeah.

[Alex]

I would say that the seeds sort of did the. Did their work here. Orangetown losing is not a to. To something like Shabani Archipelago is definitely not a surprise there.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Ken]

All right, next up we have Amazon Lily versus whole cake island. Whole cake island one 43 to 80 heat.

[Zach]

Yay.

[Steven Paul]

Yay.

[Ken]

Yeah. Yep.

[Alex]

I. I'll also say yay. Now the question is, is Whole Cake island going to have its work cut out for it going up against Shabani Archipelago in the next round?

[Zach]

I think so.

[Alex]

If you look at. If you look at the seeds, it's got a nine seed versus an eight seed.

[Zach]

Yeah, I haven't. I haven't looked at the. I need to open the. Well, I'm being. I'm trying to be surprised by.

[Alex]

And I gotta say, you know, there's a lot of factors here what to consider. The short. The length of the ark, the emotional impact of the ark, you know, the fights, if that's your thing.

[Zach]

And everyone's different because some people digest it through the anime, some people digest it through the manga, some people digest it through the live action, if that's available. Or the chopper movie. Movie nine. That's right.

[Alex]

It's anybody's game.

[Zach]

Anyone's game. It's like I'm watching basketball right now. Go ahead.

[Ken]

Next up, we have really waiting for this. Barati. And Barati won 40 to 11 against

[Zach]

which one was Barani?

[Ken]

Fishman Island.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yay.

[Ken]

Yep.

[Zach]

I hope there's any nays.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

I don't think that you're gonna get any argument from me, Zach.

[Ken]

Right. Moving on, we had Elbaf versus Loguetown. Elbaf won 40 to nine.

[Zach]

I'll say this is one of the more divisive. Is this an arc Arcs Logtown? It is very short in the manga. It is like Forge, something like that. But yay. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah, I'll say. Yeah. Even though it's really hard for me to vote for an arc that we're currently in and hasn't ended yet.

[Zach]

But yes,

[Alex]

Loguetown is such a whisper of an arc that I have no problem putting.

[Zach]

It's a lot of fun. I love the Logtown stuff. I think I put it very high on the first time we did an arc Arcs of consequence, like in 2015. But a lot of stuff has happened since then.

[Ken]

All right, next up, we had romance dawn versus Zou Zou 1:30 to 21. This one was closer than some of these.

[Zach]

Yeah. And also yay to the proportion. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Steven Paul]

It's a good. That reflects they're both very short.

[Zach]

Yeah, they're both short. They're both. They both have positive qualities. There's nothing really like terribly wrong with either of them.

[Alex]

No, I'd say they're both. They're both pretty competent arcs, so good job, Zo.

[Ken]

Next up, we had Thriller Bark. First Little Garden. Thriller bark won 44 to 5.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah. That I think the proportions off, but wow. Thriller Bark has really improved in its standings over the years. I feel like.

[Alex]

Well, I think when you factor In Zach, the pound for pound jokes that are in Thriller Bark, coupled with the.

[Zach]

Oh, my God.

[Alex]

Coupled with the fights, coupled with an amazing flashback and as the kids say these days, several really great aura farming moments. I think Thriller Bark, really, Alex, you're on Friday. Tonight it eats Little Garden's lunch. Even though I personally have great nostalgic

[Zach]

love for Little Garden, I. I love Little Garden a lot. Not just because of its nostalgia, but sure. But, like, I don't know, it's this, like, very fun little adventure. It, like, really encapsulates, like, things I love about One Piece. Just like, wow, there are dinosaurs and giants on this random little island. This is.

[Alex]

That's right.

[Zach]

It's fun. I agree with the results, but I think I would split it a little closer is what I'm saying.

[Alex]

It made me think a lot at a little. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

All right, next up, we had Drum island versus Syrup Village. Drum Island, 1:48. 3.

[Zach]

I think that proportion is too nice to Syrup Village. Drum island specifically, I fucking love, as we discuss in the Michaela interview.

[Alex]

But, yeah, I think there's no question here. A juggernaut versus something that is very clearly not a juggernaut.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah, it is. The Atomic versus the coughing baby.

[Ken]

Next up. Are you okay?

[Zach]

No, go ahead.

[Ken]

He's broken in half.

[Zach]

Clean off. Decapitated.

[Ken]

Clean off.

[Zach]

What was it? They're open to the decapitation story. That's what it is.

[Ken]

They're back in decapitation.

[Zach]

Back into decapitations.

[Ken]

Next up, we had Twin Capes slash Whiskey Peak versus Impel Down. Impel Down 1:45 to 6 Twin Capes.

[Zach]

Whiskey Peak being one thing in this. Correct.

[Alex]

Twin Peaks.

[Zach]

Twin Peaks is what we call it.

[Ken]

Yeah, Twin Peaks.

[Zach]

I think if we labeled it that, it would have done a lot better.

[Alex]

Where are you on this, Steven? I'm very.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, you're the impel down skeptic. Ooh.

[Steven Paul]

And what was the number again?

[Alex]

The.

[Steven Paul]

The C. Yeah, the. No, the ratio.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

Oh, it was 45. Impel down six to twin capes.

[Steven Paul]

I mean, you get how you have to give it to impel down, but yeah, I. The both of them together gives them a little bit more weight. I. I would have liked to see, like, at least 10, but. Yeah.

[Alex]

Well, I know you have opinions on

[Zach]

Nippel Down, Steven, so I don't know if those have changed over time one

[Steven Paul]

way or the other, but I never changed my opinion.

[Zach]

That's how you know it's a good opinion.

[Alex]

Yeah. Impel down another. I would say another Juggernaut but as you know that my. My love for Whiskey Peak is. Is above and beyond consequence. It was my number four arc, of course. I think I came to my senses by the time we did. Yeah, I came to my senses by the time we did our last one, but you just can't get any cooler than Zoro fighting 100 Baroque works, however, I fell down.

[Zach]

Thank you. It's the commentary done. No, I still think of the Zorro line about, like, I would never drink enough to, you know, or whatever it was. I forgot. I think it's a good, like, basically, I'll never drink too much that I can't kick your ass if I need to is a very badass moment from him.

[Alex]

It's very good.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken]

All right. And our final One from round one was Punk Hazard versus Dressrosa. This was the closest one we had here. Dressrosa 129 to 21.

[Alex]

Yeah, it was the closest one by far.

[Zach]

All right.

[Steven Paul]

Yay.

[Zach]

You know what? That is a toss up. That is like, I think I voted for Punk Hazard, but to give you an idea, I voted, but I know that my opinions change like the wind, so I'm not like. Like,

[Alex]

I'm not. I'm. You know, I'm not surprised that Dressrosa beat Punk Hazard because I feel like my dislike for Dressrosa is almost an anomaly. And I feel like I've poisoned the rest of the podcast in some way or another sometimes.

[Zach]

Poisoned? We were all poisoned.

[Alex]

But no, we definitely had a bad week to week time with Dressrosa. But it also.

[Zach]

I'm actually surprised it was that close. Maybe you poisoned the listenership.

[Alex]

Yeah, I might have poisoned listenership.

[Ken]

This one had the most discussion in our. In our discord. People were going back and forth on it a lot because I thought Punk Hazard was gonna take this one. I was surprised people were going for Dressrosa. I like Punk Hazard more too, so I was surprised that we had so many Dress Rosa people like, yeah, Dressrosa.

[Zach]

The thing about Dressrosa. So when we did the last reread, I was like, okay, this time I'm gonna reread. I'm gonna go through Dressrosa. The first half of Dressrosa is really excellent. The second half is garbage. Maybe I'm being too mean, but it's really rough. It's like, I wouldn't call it garbage,

[Alex]

per se, but it's definitely. It definitely loses itself a lot. And, yeah, it exemplifies kind of all

[Zach]

the problems with a one piece arc.

[Alex]

Sometimes the last Time I did a front to back, one piece reread. I stopped at Dressrosa. Like, I started Dressrosa, and I stopped, and that was like. I had to take a break. Like, that's that. And I don't know if it was

[Zach]

a shell shock, maybe. Yeah.

[Steven Paul]

But.

[Ken]

So. Oh, go ahead. Sorry.

[Steven Paul]

The thing about Punk Hazard is it, like. I think the buoyancy for Punk Hazard is that, like, it is the kind of the classic. Like, oh, it's the overlooked arc. Like, it's better than you thought it was or people give it credit for or whatever. But I don't think the highs of Punk Hazard are very high in particular. So, like. Like, especially compared to Dressrosa, because the cool stuff in Dressrosa is super cool, but I. I think that Punk Hazard is just kind of more.

[Zach]

Even Punk Hazard was fun because of the novelty of it, and especially since.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I think. Well, in the new world, I could count two. Two places that we didn't know the next place we were gonna go.

[Ken]

Right.

[Zach]

And that was to get to Punk Hazard and to get to Egghead. And those are the only times that have. That has happened since the time skip or before that even, really.

[Steven Paul]

Yeah. So it truly was the adventure.

[Zach]

It was truly at the first.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oda's first hat, like, the first quarter and the last quarter for going with, like, his basketball. And halves are quarters now. They're quarters. Right.

[Steven Paul]

Nickels in pro basketball.

[Zach]

Pro basketball. That's true. Not college. Okay. So the first quarter and the last quarter are always pretty damn stellar, but it's always those middle parts that are, you know, like. Oda, come on. You can figure this out. Not always, but that is a tendency,

[Alex]

I think, to borrow a phrase from Nick Weiger of the Doughboys, it's a bit of unga pachka. A little too many flavors. Too many flavors at once.

[Zach]

Dressrosa is that.

[Alex]

And I think that it does. You know, Steven, you make a really good point. The highs in Dressrosa are really high. And, yeah, I guess the highest thing in Punk Hazard, I really. When I think about it, there's a lot in Punk Hazard that's kind of the Eddie Cool Brothers. Yeah. I do think that there's bits of Punk Hazard that do feel like a slog also, because I feel like they're also running from stuff. The gas or whatever.

[Zach]

There's a lot of that in every arc.

[Alex]

Yeah, Running from the gas, the running from the dragon, the running from the

[Ken]

start of the running, though.

[Alex]

Running screaming forever.

[Zach]

I'm trying to.

[Ken]

Well, do they run in an Impel down?

[Zach]

Impel down is all running, basically, is 100% running. Is running down and then running back up again. It is the running arc.

[Alex]

So I will. I will concede Dressrosa at this point, thinking on it, because honestly, it's. Maybe I need to revisit it a third time.

[Ken]

There is good stuff in Dressrosa. Like, I do like the law flashback with him and Corazon.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Alex]

Oh, yeah.

[Ken]

Oh, my God.

[Alex]

Jesus.

[Ken]

Yes.

[Alex]

That's the problem. There's. The problem is that's the.

[Zach]

Too many flavors is a really good analogy, I think, because there's some amazing flavors in Trespass, so do not get me wrong. But there's also some real. Just like. It's like eating a lot of.

[Alex]

You know, for every mint chocolate chip, there's a rum raisin.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's rum raisin.

[Alex]

Basically.

[Steven Paul]

Just a little bit of Luffy in the. In the kitchen with that stew there.

[Zach]

Yep, that is a good analogy.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Zach]

So our next matchups will be on our discord again. Again, that's public. You could join it. You don't have to even be a Patreon subscriber, though. You should. And what are our next rounds? Let's not have opinions on these. Let's not tip the scales.

[Ken]

No opinions. This is just what the current matches are. And if you're listening to this podcast again, the polls are already live. You can vote right now.

[Zach]

And they close Sunday March or when do they close?

[Ken]

They close right when we start recording next week. So we'll close a week from today around 7:30 Eastern Standard Time, March 15th. You have all week to vote.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Ken]

The matchups for round two of Ark Madness are Water 7 and East Lobby versus Egghead, Shibote Archipelago and Whole Cake versus Whole Cake Island. The Paramount War and the post war verse Barati.

[Zach]

Baratier.

[Ken]

Baratier.

[Alex]

Is how they pronounce it in the four kids.

[Ken]

Yeah, that's what. That's what I'm thinking of. Elbaf versus Jayaskiea. Alabaster version Thriller, Bark versus Wano, Drum island versus Impel down and Dress, Rosa versus Arlong.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Zach]

Some big hitters, I'll just say, have entered the fray.

[Ken]

Yes. The seating has now made this much more.

[Zach]

Yeah, this is an interest. These are interesting rounds.

[Alex]

Yeah. I'm actually a few of these, especially more recent arcs. I'm kind of interested to see what our listeners think matching up against some real heavy hits.

[Zach]

How many voters did we get on the last one? You said like 50, right?

[Ken]

Yeah. Yeah. In the last round we had about 50 votes per poll. So thank you all for voting. That's a bigger turnout than I think I was initially expecting. So I hope that as we get further and further down this more people will vote so we can see if

[Zach]

we can beat and the next time and the next tournament is going to be our Glup shitto's, right?

[Ken]

Yeah. If this goes well, we can definitely do our Glop shitto as our next.

[Zach]

I'm half kidding.

[Ken]

No, it's going to happen. Now that you've said it, you've willed it into existence.

[Zach]

Okay, cool. That's the power, the monkey paw of the podcast. Anyway, Simba, do you have anything you want to say before we leave?

[Steven Paul]

Chirping

[Alex]

little baby.

[Zach]

His head is baby. That's gonna do it for the One Piece podcast. My name is Zach.

[Alex]

And my name is Alex.

[Zach]

We'll see everyone next week. Or maybe for an sgs who knows. See you next week everyone. Goodbye and enjoy the live action Season two premiere of One Piece.

[Alex]

Thirty years ago, blinds.com broke the mold and made custom window treatments easy for everyone. Over 25 million windows later, we're celebrating by giving our customers a to 50% off site wide during our anniversary sale. Whether you DIY it or want a

[Advertiser]

pro to handle everything from measure to

[Alex]

install, blinds.com has you covered. Shop online, access real design professionals and get free samples. Thank you for 30amazing years. Shop the anniversary sale now through March 11th and get up to 50% off site wide at blinds.com/5casino is the top

[Advertiser]

sweepstakes casino that's free to play. Sign up today to receive the a free welcome bonus and exclusive first purchase offers. Choose the premium jackpot package for $29.99 and claim up to 700 game coins, 55 sweeps coins, 1 sweeps coin daily bonus for 5 days and 400 diamonds. Your high five moment [e-mail] no purchase necessary. Boardwear prohibited by law must be 21 years or older. Terms and conditions apply.