Episode 911, “Will of D.D. Tee” (with Brendan Sean Murray)

Summary

The One Piece Podcast

Episode 911: “Will of D.D. Tee” (with Brendan Sean Murray)

March 23, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode brings together the full crew—Zach, Ed, Steve, and Alex—joined by translator Stephen Paul and special guest Brendan Sean Murray, the actor behind Brogy in the live action One Piece series (OPLA). The show dives into:

• Brendan’s fandom and role in OPLA
• A lively, in-depth manga recap of Chapter 1177, “Furious”
• Wrestling references, live action adaptation discussions, and fan Q&A

The conversation is spirited, often irreverent, and always steeped in genuine One Piece love.

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Key Sections

1. Host & Guest Introductions [01:27-04:00]

• Full core host lineup returns; Steve shares highlights from his Japan trip focused on One Piece merch.
• Special guests:
  • Stephen Paul, translator for One Piece
  • Brendan Sean Murray, Brogy actor from OPLA, joining at 1AM his time!

Quote:
Brendan: “It’s like 1am here, but I would wake up at any time of the night to read a new chapter of the One Piece with some buddies because it’s way better than power reading it on your own.” [02:54]

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2. Brendan’s “Hazing Ritual” – Fandom Quiz [05:01-14:47]

A rapid-fire set of character/fandom questions to establish Brendan’s One Piece bona fides.

• Favorite Straw Hat: Franky

  “Franky, he’s just super like that.” [05:22]

• Favorite Antagonist: Blackbeard/Teach

  “He’s compelling. I still want to know, like, how. How many souls are in that body or how many different–how does that body work?” [06:06]

• Favorite non-Straw Hat or Antagonist: Kaku (giraffe from CP9), for his awkward giraffe powers and running gag.

• Favorite obscure character: Magellan’s janitor (Impel Down)—for cleaning up after the poison warden!

• Favorite arc: Enies Lobby for Sogeking’s hero moment

  “That moment where...there’s that sniper shot from a distance and you’re like, holy shit, it’s Sogeking. And then he starts singing the theme song. I just–it was amazing.” [11:43]

• Favorite anime OP/ED: “Hikari e”

• Favorite JP Voice Actor: Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy), but shouts out Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp), and makes a Bleach/One Piece actor connection. [14:23]

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3. Podcast & OPLA Update [16:05-18:39]

• Announcements of recent and upcoming OPLA interviews:
  • Mark Herlick (Dr. Hiriluk)
  • Aura (Chopper “Am I Enough” vocalist)
  • Rob Coletti (Wapol)
• Chopper is now an official mascot for Doctors Without Borders—Eichiiro Oda drew a new image to celebrate!
• Success of S2 in cinemas worldwide, including international celebrations with giant parade floats/statues in Taiwan.

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4. Manga Recap – Chapter 1177 “Furious” [24:28–73:19]

Segment begins: [24:28]

Cover Page: [27:29]

• Robin planting flowers with moles; fun with visual puns and Japanese language wordplay (“mole whacking”).

Elbaf Mayhem: [31:26]

• Wounded villagers tended, kids are amazed at the brewing giant-on-giant battle.
• Dory and Brogy vs. Domi Reversi’d (mind-controlled) giant pirates.

  Dory: “Look how you submit to a new master. So much for the pride of the giant pirates.” [32:18]

Domi Reversi Mechanics, Battles & Humor: [33:06–44:46]

• Killing Domi Reversi’d giants may restore them, but only when their bond is strong, mirroring Dory and Brogy’s relationship.
• Brogy’s grudge: “Whenever you asked for a bite, you took half. Sorry, Captain—SLASH.” [40:21]
• Zoro, Chopper, and the Straw Hats join the fray with signature moves and bits of slapstick, like Chopper possibly using Monster Point, and Zoro’s food-based pun attack name (translation insight from Stephen).

Nami the Voice of Reason & Comedic Highs: [54:38]

• Luffy and Loki (the giant dragon) enjoy smashing up enemies but Nami scolds them for burning Elbaf.
• Comic gold: giant squirrel Ratatosk consoles bashful Gear 5 Luffy after Nami’s lecture.

  “I got yelled at because of you, Loki.” [59:42]

Usopp & Brook vs. Imu-Gunko: [61:01–66:55]

• Usopp refuses to run, defends Elbaf’s honor, and risks his life.

  “I’ve been dreaming of this place for years, and I’m not going to humiliate myself here. More importantly, I’m furious!” [61:48]

• Gunkimu (Imu) shrugs off Usopp’s attack; both Usopp and Brook take serious damage.

Gear 5 Luffy vs. Imu-Gunko—Showdown Setup: [68:04+]

• Luffy sees Usopp/Brook down, faces Imu-Gunko with Loki at his side.
• Chapter ends with Imu’s threat:

  “Thou canst obey or die...Nika and Nidhoggar, those are your names, right? This battle will divide the world.” [71:05]

Notable Panel/Art & Translation Moments

• Oda’s visual ellipses: several pages use triptych-style or split panels for pacing, tension.
• Stephen Paul details Zoro’s continual food pun attack name challenges, and the translation choices for “Furious” [72:07].

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5. Manga Recap Discussion & Analysis [73:53-101:12]

Key Points

• General praise for art, pacing, humor, and focus on Straw Hats.
• Multiple hosts thrilled for Usopp finally getting his big Elbaf moment; parallels to Alabasta.
• Wrestling references galore in character/naming discussion.
• Possible mechanics/theories on Domi Reversi reversal—more to be revealed.
• Major hype for Luffy/Imu showdown; “this fight will divide the world” speculation (literal vs. metaphorical split).

  Brendan: “The moment Luffy clocks to everything that Imu is up to...it’s gonna peak fairly quickly, and I think Gunkimu will be strong...but the real Emu vs. Luffy is coming.” [100:29]

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6. Brendan Murray Exits (Dad Mode) [101:12]

• Brendan leaves the recording at ~2:00am his local time, reflecting on how much it means to experience new chapters as a community.

  “It’s just nice to read a panel by panel with people who appreciate what’s busy going on.” [101:37]

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7. Piece Together - Q&A and Theories [103:55]

• Fan questions cover OPLA adaptation changes, world character poll choices, and Domi Reversi & Usopp theories (“Usopp the Demon King,” etc.).
• OPLA interview spoiler policy discussed: listener-friendly, minimal future spoilers.

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8. The One Piece Arc Tournament & WT100 Poll Update [142:33]

• Community arc bracket narrows to Water 7/Enies Lobby, Jaya/Skypiea, Alabasta, and Arlong Park.
• Top 100 character poll discussed: Sanji surprisingly topping global/regional rankings, hosts advocating for meme votes (e.g., Dr. Fishbonen).

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Notable Quotes & Standout Moments

• “Whenever you asked for a bite, you took half. Sorry, Captain—slash!” — Brogy [40:21] (Brendan reading)
• “I’ve been dreaming of this place for years, and I’m not going to humiliate myself here. More importantly, I’m furious!” — Usopp [61:48]
• “I got yelled at because of you, Loki.” — (Gear 5 Luffy, bashful, after Nami’s scolding, [59:42])
• “Forgiveness was never an option.” — Loki [71:00]

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Running Bits / Tone

• Irreverent, rapid-fire jokes and banter ("hazing" questions, banana-eating shame, wrestling deep cuts).
• Celebration of both unhinged humor and heartfelt manga moments.
• Insightful yet lighthearted analysis—never taking things too seriously.

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Useful Timestamps

• [01:27] – Main show starts; introductions
• [05:01] – Brendan’s One Piece “hazing ritual”
• [16:05] – News and upcoming OPLA interviews
• [24:28] – Manga recap begins (Chapter 1177: "Furious")
• [53:55] – Ratatosk consoles Luffy/Epic Nami scold
• [61:01] – Usopp and Brook battle Emu-Gunko
• [68:04] – Gear 5 Luffy/Imu-Loki confrontation climax
• [73:53] – Hosts review and discuss chapter/theories
• [101:12] – Brendan signs off (with parenting wisdom)
• [103:55] – Q&A/Piece Together segment
• [142:33] – Arc tournament + WT100 voting

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Final Thoughts

This episode brims with classic OPP energy—a quirky, deeply knowledgable group relishing every new chapter and One Piece adaptation. Brendan Murray’s guest spot is a highlight, showing the genuine fandom among One Piece’s new generation of live action cast. The manga recap for Chapter 1177 balances impactful drama with trademark Oda absurdist comedy, setting up the next phase of the Elbaf saga and the looming Luffy vs. Imu confrontation.

Next week: Chapter 1178 recap and more OPLA interviews—subscribe and join the community (and don’t forget to vote Dr. Fishbonen in WT100).

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“I’m not furious. I’m glad. I’m so glad to have it. It was, it was very hard waiting a whole week.” – Brendan Sean Murray [74:04]

Transcript

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[Zach]

This is the One Piece podcast episode 911 for the week of my Monday, March 23rd, 2026. My name is Zach.

[Ed]

And my name is Ed.

[Steve]

My name is Steve.

[Alex]

And my name is Alex.

[Zach]

They're all here, all the hosts for the first time in a while. Steve. Steve, actually. How was Japan? Did you have fun?

[Steve]

I thought it was Japane Rific.

[Zach]

That's the kind of review I expect.

[Ed]

Any cool One Piece merch?

[Zach]

Yes.

[Steve]

Oh, you know, just only about like,

[Alex]

you know, how much money did you spend?

[Steve]

Like a carry on, like full of just one piece stuff.

[Zach]

We have two very, very special guests though, and we'll talk more about Japan. Don't worry, Steve. We will definitely. I want to hear every.

[Steve]

I bought lots and lots of crap.

[Zach]

It's all good crap. And he also. Yeah. Anyway, we have very special guest translator for One Piece in weekly Shonen jump in Manga. Plus Stephen Paul's with us. How's it going, Stephen?

[Stephen Paul]

Very good. It is blazing hot here, which is not nice for March, but it's the world we live in.

[Zach]

And last but not least, really just humbled and surprised that he was able to make it being on the other side of the world at, as I put it, an ungodly hour. But this is no God, this is a giant. We have Brendan Murray joining us. How's it going?

[Brendan Murray]

Ahoy. What's up? It's going good, man. I mean, it's like 1am here, but I would wake up at any time of the night to read a new chapter of the One Piece with some buddies because it's way better than power reading it on your own.

[Zach]

Yeah, tell me about it. I try doing that every day.

[Ed]

That's why we do this show.

[Zach]

Oh, man.

[Steve]

And who needs sleep?

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah. It's so hard to not just turn that page and get the next slice of the story instead of just waiting and drinking in that spread.

[Zach]

So we have. You might be listening to this before our interview with Brendan, even though we recorded that already with Raphael. But Brendan, you play Brogy in the Live Action One Piece series that just came out on the 10th.

[Brendan Murray]

I do.

[Zach]

I don't know what to set you up with, because that could be a whole two hour podcast. It will be, I'm sure.

[Brendan Murray]

It requires no introduction. If you've seen a tall man with a large axe and a bigger beard and an even bigger smile, then you know who Brogy is. You met him on that fishing trip on Little Garden, and he's in this Witch Weeks chapter, so you should maybe know who he is. He's the one with the horns. That clears it up. We're on Elbaf. No one has horns.

[Zach]

Well, I think there are horns on his helmet. Right? Just on the helmet.

[Ed]

Especially not King Harold. He doesn't have any horns anymore.

[Brendan Murray]

Exactly.

[Zach]

It happens when he wasn't alive. Yeah, that's true. The horns. Yes, Steve. I've only seen a tall guy with an axe once. And then Steve doesn't have the beard or the.

[Steve]

Oh, that was in another episode of the One Piece Live Action.

[Zach]

Oh, I heard about that. Yes. Maybe later. Everyone has a doppelganger in the show. Yeah. So today we're going to be talking with Brendan about Chapter 1177. We also have some news we're going to mention at the top, but we have a hazing ritual for people who come on for the first time on the podcast.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach]

And there's only one right answer to these. There are five or six simple questions. Brogy can't be the answer to any of them. I'm just cutting that out right now.

[Brendan Murray]

That's fair. That's fair.

[Zach]

So the first question. Who is your favorite straw hat? Oh, and don't let the actor's fight get in the way.

[Brendan Murray]

Literally the most difficult. I think it's got to be Frankie. Yeah, it's got to be Frankie. I mean, when I first. When you first meet him In a water 7, you're like, this dude's cool. This dude is almost too cool. I feel like we might. And then when he joined. When that. When the story opens up for him to join the crew as the shipmaker. It is just too, too perfect. I mean, I think Frankie's my favorite. Everyone, Everyone wants to love Chopper. They're like a little Robin or a Nami or like Sanji. They all have their moments. But Franky, he's just super like that.

[Zach]

He did the thing.

[Ed]

Yes.

[Zach]

Second question. Who is your favorite antagonist in one piece?

[Alex]

Ooh.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, but okay, so, so some people do flip flop. I mean, one arc they're an antagonist, the next one, they're the protagonist. I'll try and pick one that's subjectively. Subjectively for you. I mean, I'm gonna go with, with Teach. I mean, Blackbeard, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's compelling. I still want to, I want to know. I want to know, like, how. How many souls are in that body or how many different. How does that body work?

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Cool.

[Ed]

What should always happen when he's around?

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah. So I think Teach is probably. He's the one that stuck with me the longest.

[Zach]

Who is your favorite character that fits in neither bucket. So that Neither antagonist or straw hat.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, man, this is another tough one because there's lots of cool, like, little ones. I mean, if Frankie wasn't a straw hat, it would definitely be Frank. It was Frankie for so long. But favorite, who isn't one of the straw hats?

[Zach]

Why.

[Brendan Murray]

Why are you doing this? It's one of the small, like little, little people in a tiny arc who's got. You know what? I'm trying to remember his Name now. The CP9. He turns into the giraffe. The guy with the other nose.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That's a podcast favorite, I think. I think we really love just.

[Brendan Murray]

Just because when. When his fruit awakens and he's not entirely sure of it, but he wants to be confident in his giraffe ness. And the wolf guy just keeps giving him so much crap. I mean, that is something that sat with me for a long time. I rewatched those episodes quite a bit, like two years ago. It was beautiful.

[Zach]

I look forward to live action Kaku one day. It's going to be something, dude.

[Brendan Murray]

So much. And also just the chaos you could cause, like if you just use the zone fruit.

[Ed]

I love the gag of him talking like an old man too. Yes. In Japanese, but.

[Brendan Murray]

But also just turning into a giraffe. Like giraffe, half giraffe at will. Like, you know, just sticking your head out the side of a bus occasionally. Just. Just any. You can turn any situation into. Into a picture book.

[Ed]

Turning himself Into a cube.

[Zach]

That's true. As all giraffes could do, I think was the joke.

[Brendan Murray]

When he starts using the neck like a piston, you know, it gets longer and shorter. I can't remember the name of that form because it was so long ago, but he does some crazy stuff. I think he's one of the pasta machine.

[Zach]

Pasta machine.

[Alex]

Pasta machine.

[Brendan Murray]

Now you're making me think of that cook on the train.

[Zach]

That's one of my least favorite.

[Alex]

That's one of Zach's least favorite characters.

[Zach]

So we're really covering all the vases. Yeah. Can you believe it? The guy who has. I'm gonna rephrase this question from how I usually do, because I'll say, like, I usually ask, like, who's your favorite obscure character? But I'll say, who's your favorite character who you think no one else remembers but that you. That, like, stuck with you?

[Alex]

Ooh.

[Brendan Murray]

I think it's. I mean, it's. It's not a niche character, but it just. It sits with me to this day. The warden of Impel down the Poison. Poison fruit man.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Ed]

Magellan.

[Brendan Murray]

Magellan. So it's not Magellan that I remember. There's the sexy subordinate, and then there's the co.

[Zach]

Warden.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah. Whenever he's in the bathroom, like, there's someone around, and whenever they make the bathroom joke. God, what is their name? Anyway, it's for me, Warden Magellan. And thinking of the dude who cleans his toilet. Yeah, that's the one.

[Zach]

Iceborn.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, it's just like, who would do that job?

[Zach]

Poison crap.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, that's what's also poison crap. Cleanup crew. You know what I mean? Like, by the time you leave the toilet, it's clean. But you know what's gonna happen?

[Alex]

What's nice about this is that you're also lifting up our. The sanitation workers of the world.

[Zach]

That's true.

[Brendan Murray]

This is true. Having been to New York City several times, you cannot do it without the sanitation.

[Steve]

You're talking to a couple New Yorkers.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Former one.

[Zach]

Well, yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

This I'm praising sanitation workers. I remember the one time they went on strike. Six days it lasted. The banks in Ireland went on strike for six months and eventually just had to come back to work because everyone got by without them.

[Zach]

You can't get by without that. Yeah, that's true. What is your favorite story arc?

[Brendan Murray]

Ooh, Favorite story arc.

[Zach]

And I'm going to cut out little garden.

[Brendan Murray]

Cut out little garden. It seems like all the characters and all the things are coming around from there, so probably Enies lobby is the one that I enjoyed the most. And the reason I enjoyed that the most is a Soge King. And the way they played that. Just. Just the outfit. The. When you watch the anime, like that intro to the one episode where it starts with like. It's like an episode of Soge King. And they've done. They've done the bad karaoke over the top. And that theme song. Like, dude, that moment where it's towards the end of Imi's lobby and you wonder how they're going to save Robin before the gates of justice and there's that sniper shot from a distance and you're like, holy shit, it's sogeking. And then he starts singing the theme song. I just. It was amazing. It was perfectly. Yeah.

[Zach]

I wonder if Jacob's ready for that specific scene.

[Brendan Murray]

Listen. I wonder if we are ready for Jacob being Sergey King.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. His singing needs to be bad though for that. I feel like that is one of the great things about that.

[Brendan Murray]

I think he could make it perfectly bad. Like that's the thing. He could. He could find the bad way of singing that you love the most.

[Zach]

I know we talked about you acting opposite him a lot, so I feel like you would know better than most about that. Yeah, I'm excited for that. It's still a couple years, I'd say away at least.

[Brendan Murray]

Listen, it's still a couple of years away. But I mean, you know, it's. It's going to happen. It must happen.

[Zach]

It's going to happen.

[Brendan Murray]

I need action so GE King in my life. And then it would mean that we made it to indies.

[Ed]

Just film like a Tokusatsu show. Like it's Ultraman or something.

[Zach]

The last question, the last question is what is your favorite opening or ending theme for one piece from the anime?

[Ed]

Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh yeah. Probably Blue Sky. I'm trying to remember like the actual name of the track but pretty much only English words are right at the end. It's beginning arcs, which.

[Zach]

Yeah. Do you remember when it was?

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, I think it's before Skypiea.

[Alex]

Bon Voyage.

[Brendan Murray]

Could be Bon Voyage. No.

[Zach]

Or Hikarie.

[Alex]

Oh, Hikarie. There you go.

[Zach]

Is it the one where it spoils miss all Sunday? I'll say for those who are for some reason listening and don't.

[Brendan Murray]

Well, to be fair, during that section of my watch throughs I was normally like either making food or coffee.

[Zach]

Yeah,

[Brendan Murray]

it would be the 1 1/2 minutes that I actually got other stuff done for that Roughly half hour of my life.

[Zach]

I get it. Okay. Those are your hazing questions. I think you did well. I think we'll accept you for now. No, but seriously. No, the good answers. Frankie always deserves more love from Oda too. Frankie, always.

[Ed]

Do you have a favorite Japanese act, actor or voice?

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, voice actor. I would. I do not know who they are, but the voice of Rukia's older brother in Bleach. Damn, what's his name now?

[Ed]

Oh, I was talking about performances in the One Piece anime.

[Brendan Murray]

In the One Piece anime. Oh, okay. Well, no, then. Then I'm gonna look him up.

[Zach]

It's in One Piece. I just don't remember.

[Steve]

Everything is only One Piece.

[Brendan Murray]

That's fine. That's fine, guys. Well, no. So then, my favorite voice actor in the Japanese One Piece, I think the lady who does Luffy knocks it out the park. But I think the swagger of the guy who plays Usopp, I dig that guy. When I see little interviews with him and who he is as a person outside of it. Love it, but he's great.

[Alex]

Oh, shit. Byakuya in Bleach is played by Ryotaro Okiya, who is credited as Kizaru. So maybe it's Kizaru's current voice.

[Brendan Murray]

Hey.

[Alex]

Oh.

[Zach]

Oh, interesting. Yeah, because the other one passed away.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's his replacement voice and. Yeah. Okay.

[Brendan Murray]

Okay, cool. Well, that.

[Zach]

Because everyone is an actor in One piece too. That's why I'm like, you could even choose something from a different show. You'll find them. You'll find them.

[Brendan Murray]

Well, I'm just saying, that voice, he was just so cold, man. He was so. He played it. He played it so perfectly. That was a man of duty and a man of honor.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

He didn't want to do it. He had to do it. And you knew, like was flat, but there was so much depth to it. He played it so well, man.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk more about Bleach later. We talked about Bleach a bunch on. On the interview, actually. So of all, there's always more time. I want to make some podcast announcements, including, in addition to the interview we did with Brendan, we have more coming. And I'll announce some here. I've been announcing them not very slowly, but somewhat frequently on our social media. But we'll also have Mark Herlick, who plays Dr. Hiriluk on what? I mean, Steve and.

[Ed]

Wow, his real name is too close.

[Zach]

I was looking up the term. It's called nominative determinism. As to your name, Determining where you go in life. And that is def. He was just destined to Robotnik.

[Brendan Murray]

Like Dr. Robotnik.

[Alex]

Yeah, I think we. I think the, the. The joke I think I tried making in that interview was that Seinfeld reference. Like, oh, if he was an ice cream man, his name would be Cone.

[Zach]

Right? Yeah. There you go.

[Alex]

Detective. The. The Library Detective episode. Bookman.

[Zach]

Bookman, right.

[Alex]

That's like a season two or three.

[Zach]

That is an early one. Anyway. Speak. He was on Seinfeld, so this is related.

[Alex]

He was.

[Zach]

But yeah. Mark Herlick. We also have the singer of the. Or featured singer on the Tony. Tony Chopper. Am I Enough Song. Aura will be joining us and Rob Coletti, who played Waffle, will be on. We haven't recorded those two interviews as we sit here now, but it works. Those. We're recording those kind of soon. So, yeah, keep a lookout for all those. And we had Mikayla Hoover, who played Chopper on our previous episode of this season. Please check that out. I think I mentioned you said that

[Ed]

was on YouTube when you talked about it last week.

[Zach]

They're on YouTube video. We're trying that out. We also have. It's also wherever you get your podcasts, so all the other places, too. And please check out last season we've had, like, the executive producers of the show, directors of the show, Megan here, composers, lots of great opla.

[Ed]

Was that OPLA or on the podcast proper?

[Zach]

Opla. Opla. Opla. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so check that all out. Hopefully we'll have, like a full discussion on season two, because I think we're all aching to, like, really go into it, which we haven't yet. But we can't do it with Brendan here because we. Too many compliments specifically targeted to him.

[Brendan Murray]

No, that's okay. I can stick my fingers in my ears and go, la, la, la, la, la.

[Zach]

For sure.

[Brendan Murray]

I do know I know some things about other episodes in season two. I've watched most of.

[Ed]

I was going to ask if, for those who have watched it, did they let Crocus be funny?

[Zach]

Yes.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, they did.

[Ed]

Oh, good.

[Brendan Murray]

They did.

[Zach]

He's good.

[Brendan Murray]

But they didn't make him be funny, if that makes sense.

[Zach]

He just was.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Existed as funny.

[Brendan Murray]

Absolutely. No. I've got one episode left of the live action to watch and I'm saving it.

[Alex]

Awesome.

[Brendan Murray]

Because I had to watch, you know, obviously up to the beautiful when does a man die? Speech. But that doesn't mean I have to finish it. So now I'm going to watch it on Tuesday. I wanted to. I wanted it to be a two week experience.

[Zach]

I. The thing I will say about. I wish these were weekly episodes. Like, I know this is not on anyone in the production specifically. Like, it would be great to be able to like. I mean I like get around like we do for the. The manga chapters. Like just sit around, talk about each episode as it comes out, what's gonna happen next. There's. I think most fans agree on that, but not to. Not that that takes away from the experience, but that kind of sometimes takes away from the community aspect of it. Yeah. So hopefully in future years that's something that could happen. But I will say we're. We're gonna keep that flame going for many weeks to come because we have lots of great people to talk to.

[Brendan Murray]

So.

[Zach]

Yeah, check that all out on our website, YouTube, all of that. Subscribe to us.

[Ed]

Sorry, Zach, was there other news you

[Steve]

wanted to talk about?

[Zach]

There was. Besides subscribing to us on patreon.com OnePiecePodcast where you could get those interviews early. Steve. We also do a sticker of the month crew. I don't know if you want to talk about. Is the poll still open? I guess it's the end of March.

[Steve]

No, the poll is closed. But everyone's getting a Harold Emu Eating Faces party sticker. If you sign up before the end of the month. So you have till March 31st. You know, it's crazy. I do the Parks and Rec bit where I'm like, is there a March 31st or not? So I always second guess myself.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

If that's a sticker you're interested in getting, you have till through the 31st to sign up for $12 minimum. And you'll get that in the mail.

[Zach]

Yeah. And last but not least, we talked about this a little in the Mark Herelic, like the in between of the interview. But Chopper is now an official mascot for Doctors Without Borders, which is super awesome. ODA drew a specific image for it and everything.

[Alex]

So.

[Zach]

Yeah, just good news, like having good news. Like when that happens. There is like so much live action stuff that happened. The one I like celebrating the release of it that we just don't have time to go through today. But the one I wanted to.

[Ed]

And it was in cinemas in America.

[Zach]

Yeah, and it was in cinemas in America.

[Brendan Murray]

I was gonna say if you do want to watch it with people, that's something amazing they did this season is having it in cinemas. I think they should have had all the episodes. But you put it out like I suppose.

[Zach]

I think the first one was in it.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

I think the first two you could do.

[Zach]

I think you're in the second episode. Right? Second and third. Because the first is locked down.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, fourth and third.

[Zach]

Oh, I forgot about Whiskey Peak. God.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Zach]

How could I do that? Yes. You're in the fourth. Yeah. Maybe next put the Dory and Brogy stuff in theaters. That should be on a giant screen. No, I'm gonna say it.

[Brendan Murray]

I did get to see it at the little South African premiere that they did. Their screen was like. It was a 60 foot screen. So when he was in close up, I could. I could see. I could be like, yeah, that's brogue sized. That's brokey sized. Take me there. They.

[Zach]

I. So the. The one thing I found is that in Taiwan they had a whole parade over the live action season two premiere. Yeah. And they had apparently going Mary Laboon and Dorian Brogy statues paraded around. They also have a chopper crossball. So I'm amazing. So that's. That's all I need in. In my life. I need more of that.

[Brendan Murray]

I don't think I'd be able to cross the road though.

[Zach]

I see the giant Dory in the picture, but where is the giant Brogy

[Brendan Murray]

off doing the real work? That's where Brogy is.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

He doesn't have the golden helmet. He's not the pretty one with the long silky beard.

[Zach]

Dory does have a nice silky beard. Okay. With that, I think we could get into some manga. Guys ready?

[Steve]

Yes.

[Brendan Murray]

Sweet.

[Zach]

Disney wants to know, are you ready for Marvel Studios? Thunderbolts the New Avengers, now streaming on Disney.

[Alex]

Let's do this.

[Zach]

One of the best Marvel movies of all time is now streaming on Disney. Hey, you weren't listening to me. I said Thunderbolts the New Avengers is now streaming on Disney.

[Alex]

Meet the New Avengers.

[Steve]

That's cool, man.

[Zach]

Marvel Studios Thunderbolts, the New Avengers. Rated PG 13. Now streaming on. You guessed it, Disney.

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[Alex]

How did I not know Rack has Adidas?

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[Zach]

This is the manga recap for chapter 1177 furious. I'd be furious if you didn't Read this at Shonen Jump, viz.com or MangaPlus. Shueisha Co JP Where's Vin Diesel when you need him? I don't know.

[Alex]

We need the FAST chapter.

[Zach]

It comes out legally for free.

[Steve]

Away from this manga. He'll be like, oh, I don't. It's like, no, Vin Diesel doesn't get dummy reversed.

[Zach]

He's always said that. Um, it's available worldwide anyway. Ed.

[Steve]

Yeah, out of context.

[Ed]

Only if the rock gets domi reversed first.

[Steve]

This is a really funny conversation.

[Zach]

I say that almost every episode of the show. Ed, what's going on on Oda's comment? What is he up to this week?

[Ed]

Yes, Oda is in his hard boiled egg phase. The ones at the convenience store are so good that I'm having issues. And my issue is I feel bad for anyone who has to smell his protein farts.

[Zach]

Wow, you're right. That was tmi. Ish. Or. Well, for Oda, I guess.

[Ed]

I did mention before we started recording that I had gross thoughts about this.

[Zach]

And there they are.

[Alex]

Well, actually, me and. Me and my wife were having a conversation earlier that she posed to me. What is worse to watch somebody eat in public? Fish or a hard boiled egg?

[Brendan Murray]

Mm.

[Zach]

Or boiled egg.

[Alex]

And this also includes the smell too. Like if you have to reheat fish in the microwave.

[Brendan Murray]

It depends. How public, man? Are we public? Like on a bus where we're public and in an enclosed space?

[Alex]

Are we actually in a bus in

[Brendan Murray]

a park or on a mountaintop? You know?

[Alex]

Well, no, no, I think a bus is actually the perfect spot for this

[Steve]

to eat some fish. Yeah, it's a microwave dish.

[Brendan Murray]

It's definitely a fish. And is the head on this fish or off this fish?

[Steve]

I would need to know.

[Zach]

That's the question. That's the question. Is it for life?

[Ed]

He's eating straight out of a packet of T. The bus.

[Brendan Murray]

That would be awful.

[Alex]

Oh, God.

[Zach]

Yeah. No, the can. Tuna. Chicken of the sea.

[Alex]

Knife of the can.

[Steve]

Tuna prank on this list.

[Alex]

Bananas.

[Steve]

Where? Bananas.

[Alex]

Bananas are fine. Like they're hand.

[Zach]

Bananas are fine.

[Stephen Paul]

They're delight.

[Zach]

Yeah. What is wrong?

[Steve]

But do you want to want. Do you want someone watching you eating a banana?

[Alex]

Yes. You know what?

[Brendan Murray]

Listen, man, there's places you can go where you can pay people to watch you eat a banana.

[Steve]

It's kind of like how they have privacy areas for like feeding mothers. Like little booths for people eating bananas.

[Brendan Murray]

You just buy like a shame. No, it's just a big hoodie you put over yourself. It just says go away outside.

[Alex]

Bananas Inside, I take my time eating a banana. I take my time, and I make sure to eat very seductively. It's not my fault if somebody else is, you know, having an adverse reaction to it.

[Stephen Paul]

I mean.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Exactly how far are we into this recorded right now?

[Alex]

I don't know. I'm not keeping track of. Anyway, what's happening on the COVID page there?

[Zach]

I could talk about that for a lot longer, is the scary thing. Yeah. What's going on the COVID page? Yeah.

[Ed]

This is a reader request for Robin planting flowers in a bed dug up by moles by Mrs. Fuji. There's moles with the digging helmets and goggles on. One of them is wearing headphones that say Mog on them because they're Mogura.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes. Yep, that's right. Mogu or Moguda, which is mole. And yeah, you can also see. I'm. Although you can't. Obviously, you can't see everything that is on Robin's shirt, but you can see a little. It's a little bunny rabbit. And you can kind of make out that in front of it, there's an A and then there's a gi at the end. Usagi is a rabbit in Japanese, so it's presumably something Usagi.

[Ed]

And if you're a Sailor Moon fan, you'd already know that.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes, indeed.

[Zach]

Or was it Usagi Yojimbo? That one as well also means rabbit. I know. I'm just saying you'd also be for moon. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Fuji, for that. Really. It's an adorable one. And Robin.

[Alex]

Very cute.

[Ed]

And Robin's leggings are. I'm not sure what the. That's. What is that?

[Stephen Paul]

Stripes?

[Ed]

Yeah, it's the stripes.

[Zach]

Alice in Wonderland.

[Brendan Murray]

Pippi Longstockings.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, there you go.

[Zach]

That house is great. And I want to live there. Yeah, Sorry, go ahead.

[Brendan Murray]

I like how she's using a devil fruit to harvest some turnips in the background there. Or do you think she's planting them and transport. I'd like to think she's taking them out.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it.

[Zach]

And there's a straw hat on that one mole used in the traditional fashion as a farming hat. Yeah. As they often are in every other movie.

[Stephen Paul]

And you'll notice he's whacking those logs in. That's because it is literally whack. Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, man.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Why didn't I get that? Why did I get it?

[Stephen Paul]

They do call it that in Japanese. It is mogura tataki. Which means whacking moles.

[Ed]

And I was thinking, actually, I remember the scene with Kentucky when Frankie puts tea in his. During any lobby. When Frankie puts tea on himself. Like, isn't. Doesn't he briefly turn into a. A farmer with like a straw hat?

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got a straw hat when you're a farmer. That. That's Luffy.

[Alex]

His hair becomes the. The onsen. Or is that the other. The other one.

[Stephen Paul]

The wavy one. Yeah, yeah, those.

[Zach]

How many of those were. Anyway, this is again, another topic.

[Ed]

The other drinks were. It was what? Hot tea and vegetable juice in an EAS lobby.

[Alex]

Vegetable juice is the firmer.

[Zach]

Oh, okay, right, okay, okay. Yeah. The hot tea was the gentleman, I think the British.

[Alex]

That was the anime only Darjeeling.

[Zach]

Ah, yeah, that's what I'm having right now. Hard Darjeeling. No, Alex.

[Brendan Murray]

Some hard D.

[Alex]

Yes. Oh, boy, you fit right in, man. All right, so here we are on the first page, continuing from last week's chapter, of course, the mayhem that's happening here in the western village of Elbaf. The looks like the parents are, you know, are still being. Well, the wounded are being tended to, the kids are being carted away, and Colin is totally enamored with what's happening. Actually, all of them are. I forget the one kid's name he has. He's got stars in his eyes as well. And he goes, whoa, the giant pirates are gonna fight. And this giant says, oh, it's gonna get hairy, kid, inside with you. You're not allowed to watch this. And then there's this amazing panel of Colin's face just totally fixated on the sword of one of the giant pirates. This is what he's been waiting his whole life for. So good.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, with the demons in the background there. It's awesome.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's totally cool. That's such an awesome panel. And then we have this bottom panel

[Zach]

here, by the way, the. The kid, I believe is Olav, who is Oemo's grandson. We have a spreadsheet for this because

[Brendan Murray]

isn't that Shaky's kid?

[Alex]

Colin is. No, Colin is. Colin's Ripley.

[Zach]

Ripley. Ripley.

[Brendan Murray]

Sorry, Ripley.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

And Scopper. Yep. All right, so then we have this big shot of the turned Domi reversed giant pirates. And they're all waving their pitchforks or their triforks, as we've called it before.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, because we were having a semantic debate about that.

[Alex]

Yes. And they say, ah, come back to us, captains. We've got ample strength in regenerating bodies enjoy the feeling of liberation unchained by any concepts of evil. And one of them stabs Dory. It, it just goes right through his shield and into his forearm and he says just feel this power, Captain Dory. And yeah, it just goes right through his arm. But because Dory is a total badass, he just takes it and he says, look how you submit to a new master. So much for the pride of the giant pirates. This doesn't seem to face these demons. And then we have a.

[Zach]

He's just very happy about the whole experience.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Ed]

So wasn't it the end of last chapter? They were killed and that that's how they are.

[Alex]

Yes, they were.

[Ed]

The way to unreversed, the way to

[Alex]

unreversy them is to kill them. Yeah.

[Zach]

If you have an undying enemy, just remember to kill them. And then it solves the obviously.

[Alex]

Yeah. And look on an island where of war, you know, we're addicted pirates. This is actually the best case scenario. I think it is.

[Brendan Murray]

But we don't know whether you have to be dummy reverseeed and kill someone who's dummy reverseed for it to work though. Because we've only seen it happen with Dory and Brogy killing one another.

[Zach]

That's true. That's a good point.

[Brendan Murray]

So that's something that I've been ticking over in my head. I mean I know the people on Reddit were going crazy about, you know, how does it work? And you know, what about rocks? And I just wonder if there's not maybe something specific about the bond that they have or. We'll see.

[Stephen Paul]

We're about to find out.

[Brendan Murray]

That's why

[Alex]

you're up.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh yeah.

[Alex]

So if you're looking at the spread, this bottom panel.

[Ed]

Poor Dory, he's got a living body now again. And he's been stabbed in the end.

[Zach]

He got stabbed in the arm.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, it's fine. It's a shield arm. I mean, come on. That's the sacrificial arm.

[Alex]

Well, now his arm can be a shield. So if you're looking at this in spread view, this is really, this is, this is a fine, fine paneling because it. Yeah, it sort of. It mirrors the page next to it because on that side you have the demon giant pirates and then you have the regular, you know, regular, you know, normal but hardy giant pirates. And they're ready for battle. And Dory backs away.

[Ed]

Hired in Stanson. There.

[Alex]

Yeah, hired in Stanson. Dorian Brogy. And Dory backs away, battle ready pose. And he says, you empty headed fool should be ashamed of yourselves. And we go to the next page. Brendan.

[Zach]

Brendan.

[Alex]

Ooh.

[Brendan Murray]

Okay, so in the top right hand corner, Team Chopper by the lift on the Sun World.

[Alex]

We've.

[Brendan Murray]

We've gone upstairs. Hey, stop this. We were comrades in battle. I can't attack you guys. Didi Tee Rhodes. All you see is a picture over the top of the canopy of the forest. And there's just a massive pirate ship wreck over on the right hand side. And they're screaming and shouting and Ka. Ching. Clang. Coming from the within the forest. And I'm assuming now we go. Oh, yes, we do. We go into the forest. And there is Chopper. Chopper standing.

[Ed]

That's even more wrestling references.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, yeah.

[Ed]

DDT and Rhodes.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, absolutely. And so there's. There's Chopper sitting there valiantly in his tiny little form, standing up for rally. And the. The. The Domi Reversi giant pirates are coming. You can't attack us. Is that your excuse? And Kashi is also standing there, so don't worry.

[Steve]

It's.

[Brendan Murray]

It's not just Chopper. There is also an ax and a shield in the way. You can't attack us. You can't attack us. Is that your excuse? Come to our side, Kashi. It's incredible to have an undying body. I mean, we all know we're all in our 40s. We have undying bodies. You say you can't attack us.

[Zach]

We're not all in our.

[Brendan Murray]

We're not all in our bodies. I'm. I'm. I'm projecting here. Oh, yeah, that's okay.

[Zach]

But actually, I'm not at the very end of it.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, some of us here, Some of us here.

[Ed]

And.

[Brendan Murray]

And I was not judging by the video that I'm busy seeing, ladies and gentlemen, as judging by those beautiful voices that have been honed over decades. We've got another giant pirate. You say you can't attack us, but could you do it even if you wanted to? Let's see you try.

[Zach]

Gya.

[Brendan Murray]

I thought they all went away. Oh, wait, there's Chapo. Yeah, I thought they all went away. Be careful, Kashi. If you get surrounded, you'll be turned into a demon too. Hardcore ellipsis. Rally's busy. Rally's. He's got two sets of IVs going in. One of them is dark. I'm assuming that's blood. One of them is light. I mean, that could be saline, but that could be glucose. That could be anything. Whatever's going to get Rally up in

[Steve]

the morning gravy,

[Zach]

Brendan. It's Gabon. I just don't want the.

[Brendan Murray]

Is that Gabon? I'm so sorry.

[Zach]

It's Gabon.

[Ed]

You can tell by his beard.

[Brendan Murray]

That's true.

[Zach]

And his scar. Well, actually, they both have those.

[Alex]

Well, really, I mean. I mean, if.

[Ed]

If you.

[Alex]

If you confuse the two of them, they would like, you know, like Zorro and Sanji.

[Zach]

Yeah, they get very upset. I want them to be pissed at you.

[Brendan Murray]

I wouldn't want anyone to be pissed at me.

[Steve]

And I'm so sorry. I'm just trying my hardest, man.

[Brendan Murray]

But yes, thank you. That. That is Gabon. You. You have reminded me I. To. To be. To be. Full disclosure. I went away this weekend into the complete wilderness by the coast to like, try not to get any spoilers into my system and enjoy a lovely time with my family. So I did not even read 1176 today to remind myself. So listen, I know I'm treading on

[Steve]

so many people's toes.

[Zach]

You're fine.

[Steve]

I'm here walking with giants, but it's fine.

[Ed]

It's going to be coast in South Africa. Watch out for sharks.

[Brendan Murray]

I was actually in Hans Bay, which is the place to go to see great white sharks, unless they're an orca around because they like to eat the great white sharks and then the great white sharks ghost.

[Zach]

Good for that.

[Steve]

That's cool.

[Zach]

That is really cool.

[Brendan Murray]

They will just. They'll swim up and they will just eat the liver because a great. Like a shark normally doesn't have a swim bladder. It's got a liver full of oil that helps it like float up and down. And the orca know this and they just come and they'll do in one bite. They'll just take the whole liver and then the rest of the. The caucus.

[Zach]

Why are we talking about one piece I want to hear more about or saying they're too smart.

[Ed]

That's what makes them scary.

[Brendan Murray]

There you go.

[Alex]

It's like Prometheus. That's. That's amazing.

[Zach]

That's amazing. That is amazing. God, I gotta get myself to South Africa for so many reasons. Oh, damn, that's cool.

[Steve]

Do it for Shark Week.

[Zach]

Do it for Shark Week. Orca Week. Really? I mean, let's get that going. Sorry. No, I. It's also, as we said, the middle of the night for you, so I don't think anyone out there is judging. I mean, it's the Internet, so there's one person out there doing it, but don't worry about that.

[Brendan Murray]

There is no. But if you live your own life, you might never read that comment.

[Zach]

That's True. Wow. You know, that's. That's. I need a. I need to hang that up somewhere. That's a really good one, but.

[Brendan Murray]

Okay, onto page five. Kiz Gaban, please. Kashi, you gotta fight. I can't. We've been friends for decades. Because he doesn't know that there's a way out of Tommy Reversi. I can't hurt them. Ka Chang. Kashi. Hey, Gantonio. We've known each other for ages, but I gotta get something off my chest. This is Brogy talking now.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Brendan Murray]

Move back to the giant fight. There's Brogy with his bruiser axe. Whenever you asked for a. Oh, hey, Gantonia. We've known each other for ages, but I gotta get something off my chest. Whenever you asked for a bite, you took half. Sorry, Captain Slash. Like, that is such. That is such a Progy thing to do. And I'm busy looking in the background there. He has strapped his shield to what remains of the stump of his left hand.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

[Brendan Murray]

He's, like, bolted it on there. Oh, man.

[Zach]

Are you ready to. Are you ready to film this in 20 years?

[Brendan Murray]

I'm so ready. I've always been a righty dude. They can save some money on the prosthetics.

[Zach]

You know, Oda's a lefty, so I'm actually almost surprised that he went with that arm to cut off, but there you go.

[Brendan Murray]

I know, but at the same time, it was the arm. I think maybe it was the arm he picked up Imu with, you know, and so it just worked well for that panel. And then he's like, well, that's the one that's got to go.

[Zach]

Works out for you, not for Brogu.

[Stephen Paul]

I do. I do love this. Just because, like, we know about the giants is their. Their love of, like, dueling one another. They often have very flims. Need much of a pretense in order to do it. And so, like, the idea. The idea that he. He's looking. Searching deep inside himself for, like, what makes me angry about this guy. And he's remembering him.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

You know, eating half of his plate of food or whatever it is.

[Zach]

To be fair, that that's a real thing.

[Brendan Murray]

I have, like a ride or die buddy of 25 plus years who still has a thing. Because apparently when I ask for a bite, I will take two bites. And for me, it's just so, you know, when you bite a sandwich and then you've left like a little piece off to the side. I'm a gentleman. I bite that piece off. I don't expect you to eat that piece. But he sees that as a full second bite. And he and I, we will die brothers, but we will never solve this intractable problem for me.

[Zach]

My dad would always take. When I ordered a milkshake as a kid, he would always take, I'm just gonna have a sip. And then, like, two thirds of it is gone. So he's allergic to chocolate. So I realized if I have chocolate ones, it doesn't happen.

[Brendan Murray]

That's so wise.

[Zach]

And that's my evil, evil plan. That's my own father. Go ahead. Sorry. Back to giants.

[Brendan Murray]

No. So one thing I don't know about the bottom of page five. It'll probably become clear, but I think it's still Brogy speaking because the sorry, captain doesn't seem like it came from the Domi Reversi guy.

[Zach]

The sorry. No, I think he's.

[Stephen Paul]

The other guys. Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, I. I feel like. But it could. It could also be. Yeah, I suppose Brogy wouldn't be calling him a captain. Sorry, Gantonia, you're about to get got on to page six.

[Ed]

Oh, yeah, that. Tyler didn't. That was his finishing attack from Dressrosa.

[Alex]

That's right.

[Brendan Murray]

Okay.

[Ed]

Against Mark Rice.

[Alex]

Yep.

[Steve]

Dude, how do you remember that?

[Brendan Murray]

And.

[Ed]

And then I remember recapping that page at the time.

[Alex]

Yeah, that's like his. That was his one move.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, yeah, that's his one move.

[Brendan Murray]

That's his one.

[Steve]

That's his thing. That's what he does.

[Brendan Murray]

He gungnears. And then we've got. Okay, we got another. Another one mover here. Sovereignty. That is Dory with his Terry sword slashing completely in half. One of the Domi reverse giant pirates. We do not know if it's gonna bring him back to life, though. Giant trauma. And that is, of course, is that.

[Stephen Paul]

This one is stancing stance.

[Brendan Murray]

Stancing with the big hammer. The big. Yes, of course. Sledgehammer. Giant trauma, which I want to think is trauma, but I'm sure our translationist will tell me that I'm just misreading my own trauma into it.

[Steve]

Steven.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, yeah, it. Well, it is trauma is. It actually exists in several. A few different spellings in several northern European languages. I think this one is, like, Icelandic, maybe is a drum, which I guess if you look at his big hammer, maybe that's what he was thinking of. But perfect.

[Brendan Murray]

It could make sense. It could.

[Zach]

He also is a hammer cuts him in two. So that is also traumatic. It works.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach]

This.

[Brendan Murray]

This is true. And I mean, it may Be foreshadowing the drums of liberation. Let's give it a full Norwegian accent. Giant trauma. Three swords now. Red Ogre. We're here on a single panel hidden in the bottom left hand corner. But it is definitely Zorro looking badass. Mouth full of sword. And he says, three sword style. Red Ogre. Red Ogre, by the way, is. Is Brogy's nickname.

[Zach]

I know.

[Brendan Murray]

I'm very keen to see.

[Zach]

Whoa.

[Brendan Murray]

Mega rage. Yeah. He slashes in into a cross. A perfect little hot cross bun for those of you who are waiting for Easter to come up. But no, it looks more like the British flag, actually. He has slashed.

[Zach]

I was thinking that eight times.

[Brendan Murray]

Eight times. And look, I'm sure there's a ninth hidden there somewhere because it is the three sword style. But he is literally union jacked this dummy. Reverse Eve pirates. We've got arms flying off. We've got a head completely obliterated. Seven hands, shields fully chopped in half. These. These swords. And Zoro ain't stopping for nothing. Now we're back on the ground. There's fire, there's death, there's tiny people running around. Terrifically fatal stuff. Don't worry. You guys won't die from this. And that's the biggest, loveliest giant in the world with that sword still in his head. Will we see him get dummy reverse heats? They can pull the sword out.

[Zach]

We don't know.

[Brendan Murray]

But do they seem a little too eager? And that's in a great little panel all by itself. Double split up. It's like a visual ellipsis. I love when the panels break up like that and kind of like drift apart. They turn one thing into, like a triptych. It just makes me so happy.

[Zach]

There's a lot of that. This chapter, too.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, yeah. And we smash back to Team Chopper. We're back on the giant wreck we're seeing over the canopy. Yeah. Run away, Kashi. I'm sorry. I can't do it. Oh, Anchor Ban has got his axes out. He looks badass. I can I. If I zoom right in. In the reflection on his glasses, I think I see some dummy reverse wings and things in there. But he. He's just so cool. He.

[Zach]

He looks like a. Oh, yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Woody Harrelson in Natural Born Killers if he had all the hair, you know?

[Alex]

Yeah, that's true.

[Brendan Murray]

Like, there's just. There's just something about him. And then. Oh, my goodness. We're with Chopper. Chomp, crack. Oh, my God. I think Chopper just took a rumble ball. Ladies and gentlemen.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Brendan Murray]

There is no there's no clear indication there. But I. I believe that he. Is it one, Is it two? Or is it three? We will have to find out on page eight. We don't know though.

[Zach]

We don't know.

[Brendan Murray]

I mean, if he wants to get

[Alex]

big, we don't know.

[Brendan Murray]

There's only one way to get. There's only one way to get big real fast.

[Zach]

A rumble ball.

[Brendan Murray]

Three rumble balls.

[Zach]

Steve. Actually, can you fill us in?

[Steve]

Here's some clear indication. We see Monster Point Chopper on the next page. Taking a swipe at this giant chef. Don't know if he's DDT or Rhodes or not. And he says, knock it off, you jerk. And this guy just laughs it off. He says, gaga, that doesn't even hurt. It doesn't even move you. And we see this little. This little shadow start to peel off.

[Brendan Murray]

He.

[Steve]

He looks like something out of like Moria's Devil Fruit or something from the video game Okage.

[Alex]

Okay. I was going to. Yeah. You beat me to Okage.

[Steve]

I love you, man. He falls on.

[Ed]

He goes timber. And thwart on the float on the ground.

[Steve]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

And.

[Steve]

But all of a sudden the ground just flips over.

[Zach]

Excuse me.

[Steve]

And to Chopper. Surprise. He's back. But why? I would sure like to know he

[Brendan Murray]

didn't take fatal damage.

[Zach]

No.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Steve]

This is very preposterous.

[Zach]

No. When you get slapped in the face by Chopper, it emotionally murders you.

[Ed]

Monster Chopper.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Ed]

It seems like he's doing like a monzai. A gag slap.

[Zach]

It does. It's a whack. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Be more like it was backhand though. Knock off.

[Zach]

That would be funnier.

[Steve]

But now we.

[Zach]

Try to hold yourself. It's like the airplane scene. It's just like everyone's slapping him anyway. Go ahead.

[Steve]

Gets the demons out of you.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

I'm a slap.

[Steve]

The demonstration power of Christ. Maybe. Maybe Chopper's a man of the cross in two ways. But we're near the owl library now and it's a nice wide shot here as we see a big Zeus having a meal here. And he says, black balls.

[Brendan Murray]

Yum.

[Steve]

And you can see a trail of those. I think we know who's feeding him. But then we get a close up here of a beheaded Killingham here, who's gagged but in one piece. That really doesn't do much considering everyone's mouths are bigger than your fists.

[Ed]

I would love to see it though.

[Steve]

He says, curse you, fiends. Do you have any idea what kind of hell awaits commoners who dare to defy God? And we zoom out and it's Jinbei here holding him up by the hair. And he says, get your hands off me, you filthy fish, you.

[Alex]

Damn.

[Steve]

And Jinbe says, when you're just ahead, all you do is bark. But no killing hand proves him wrong by also proving he could.

[Zach]

Bleh.

[Steve]

And we could see here on this wide here that Frankie and Sanji are and have tied up Killingham's body parts very similar to what they did with Buggy way back when. Chapters just had two digits in them.

[Zach]

I was also thinking, I mean, since the live action is, like, on my brain, because they have Buggy's head for like half of the first season, like. Yeah, I'm wondering how much of like a yelling, screaming head is on.

[Ed]

I mean, killing him is still. He's tied up, but he's still bleeding. You can see that he's leaking somewhere.

[Zach]

Deservedly.

[Steve]

A lot of. A lot of brand synergy these days

[Zach]

in one piece, I think I'm. I bet you it's like on Oda's head. Also, the caribou being thrown into a barrel came to mind here with Frankie.

[Ed]

Love that gag.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, great run to have to

[Steve]

ask Frankie twice to do this, but he says if we put him in boxes or something, that should keep his parts separate. And Sanji has a drag here and says supposedly there's a way to finish him off. And by the way, Zeus is still eating in the background here, being fed by Nami. And he's saying, thanks, you guys. Yeah, thank you, Zeus, for all your hard. Just being a spam attack these days. But Sanji continues says, so these are the knights who protected the holy Land. Is it still me on the next page?

[Zach]

Stephen. Stephen.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, it's me. Okay, so, yes, now we get some talking heads here of the. The. The characters in this scene as it continues. Frankie says, I think we got too strong. Sanji Luffy's an emperor now.

[Ed]

No such thing.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, no, though dangerous words to say around the author. And Sanji says, yeah, I like to believe that, but it's sickening to think that Elbaf was brought to its knees by this scum. And Killingham retorts, scum indeed. Yeah, he's. He's worked his. His. His mouth. I was gonna say mouth fold. What? His gag off. It's no longer visible. He's like, that's right, maggots keep overlooking us. And then off panel, he is stomped for his trouble.

[Zach]

I didn't notice.

[Stephen Paul]

And screams. Yeah. Presumably Sanji's like, stomping his. His torso or Whatever. And Jinbe says, be careful. One of them is still unharmed. And now we see Nami is. Is finishing feeding Zeus his fuel. She says, there's fire burning all over Elbaf. And he says, sure is. Okay, that's a very helpful comment. Yes. I'm glad you noticed. So I want you to keep dropping rain on it. And he says, okay, will do. And so it sounds. Yeah, it sounds like that will. You know that that will be taking care of the. The fire issue.

[Ed]

Love his doofy voice.

[Zach]

I do. Yeah, I did. It's. It's in a bunch of panels here. But I do also like the chart. Like the look at the char I want to say remains, because most of it's still there, but the owl library and that whole area to see the damage was done. Hopefully not a ton, but yeah, sorry, yes.

[Stephen Paul]

And then just coming out of out of nowhere here and framed by a an enormous, presumably dragon related explosion, we get Loki and Luffy and Ratatosk and they are all yucking it up. Doga.

[Alex]

Ha ha ha ha.

[Stephen Paul]

And Luffy's going, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the squirrels going. And Luffy notices them down there. Oh, hey, Nami, Sanji, Frankie, Jimbe. And they are all reacting with shock at the, you know, the size of the dragon they're seeing. Jim Bay says it's enormous, like a Neptunian. And Sanji is putting. He's connecting the dots. He's like, if it's with you, then is that Loki? And Frankie is thrilled. What? You guys are buds? Damn, that's cool. And yeah, Luffy is. Is yucking it up. Yeah, he's so huge. It's ridiculous.

[Ed]

It makes sense that Frankie has a perfect intuitive understanding of what cool is.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

I mean, Frankie being buds with a giant dragon, That's. That is cool.

[Zach]

I mean, it's objectively cool. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

And then the voice of reason speaks up and Nami shouts them all down.

[Brendan Murray]

Are you all idiots?

[Stephen Paul]

And they all stop in their tracks.

[Steve]

You idiots.

[Stephen Paul]

And she points an accusing finger at Luffy. There you go, making friends with weirdos again. Which of course, you know, Luffy is always wants to do. She says, yes, yes, it's nice that he's taking out the monsters, but the flames he's spitting are just making the problem worse. Don't you get it? So, yes, she's angry that he is just increasing the burden of of work that she has to be responsible for doing. If you help the enemy burn down Elbaf, then what was the point?

[Ed]

Get a clue.

[Stephen Paul]

And they're all looking over like, oh. Oh. I guess she's right. They seem very nervous about that.

[Alex]

Steve, were you doing shit? There are stunt doubles.

[Steve]

Yes.

[Alex]

Yeah. I knew it. Fucking knew it.

[Steve]

Yeah. The equivalent of spongebob and Patrick. It's like, we did it, Loki. We saved the city and it's just burning. But what follows is undoubtedly one of the funniest things I've seen in the manga in God knows how long. I legitimately busted a gut reading this ratatask just patting a solemn kind of Luffy realizing the mistake he's made. And just. This is the format for many of memes here. Like, take your pick. First one that comes to mind is, even though it doesn't apply here, is we're going to have to kill this guy Luffy.

[Brendan Murray]

Damn.

[Alex]

He's gonna pat Luffy on the back like he's Warren.

[Zach]

I think what makes this extra funny is remembering that they're both extremely giant.

[Steve]

Huge.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

This is a giant squirrel.

[Zach]

It's a giant squirrel with giant Luffy. Who is on giant Luffy. Yeah.

[Steve]

I'm also glad Gear Fitz Luffy's eyebrows can move because it seemed like for a while they were stuck in just

[Alex]

the weird angry position. So I'm kind of glad.

[Ed]

And I remember who said it, but it looks like Luffy has stubble or something. Gear fifth Ock. Shadow.

[Zach]

Yeah. I got Jo pointing that out. Yeah.

[Alex]

I think it's. Yeah.

[Zach]

But Shadow is very funny. But. Yeah.

[Alex]

I don't know why, but I think he looks like Timothy Shalame in that panel. What?

[Steve]

I'm curious because I don't see the similarities. The squirrel.

[Alex]

No, no. And I'm glad I'm the only one because. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

And let's not overlook the little daw. His bashful sound.

[Zach]

It is an all timer pattern. Like Steve is absolutely right. It is one of the funniest things.

[Steve]

He's making fire. Of course. Maybe that's why you're thinking of Timothee Chalamet, Alex.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Alex]

He's making fire.

[Steve]

Of course.

[Brendan Murray]

It's because his body has the lineaments of an apex predator. But the eyes of a kindly woodland creat. That's what you're seeing there.

[Zach]

The squirrel.

[Brendan Murray]

It's all about the squirrel, guys. Come on.

[Zach]

It is. That's all I care about. The squirrel's adorable. I love the squirrel.

[Alex]

Honestly. Ever since he made his appearance. Oh, okay, Steve. I get it, Alex. Okay. Anyway, sorry. Continue. I derail this then.

[Zach]

We got one panel on that page. So let's Move it.

[Steve]

But on a dime, Luffy flips and says, I got yelled at. I got yelled at because of you, Loki. And Loki respond, responds with, I'm destroying the people who are harming Elbaf. Why should I be scolded by your crewmates? And just fires a mouth blast at him. And Luffy here going, ah, that is what he's doing.

[Zach]

I didn't realize he's like doing that fake like, oh, no. Yeah.

[Steve]

And then he says, oh, it's just lightning. And Loki's like, why does it work on you? And something I didn't realize when I was reading on my phone this morning that Loki has the little bug eyes.

[Brendan Murray]

Yes,

[Stephen Paul]

the tiny little Loki doesn't read

[Brendan Murray]

the manga,

[Steve]

or he's never heard of rubber before. And I guess as Luffy saying, if it did, I'd whoop your butt right now. But a loud noise catches Luffy's attention.

[Ed]

I see Luffy was doing the kabuki pose there for a sec when he was going.

[Zach]

It does kind of look like it's kind of like that.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

I think it's the pretend. Oh no, I'm dying.

[Ed]

Oh, oh, yeah, right.

[Steve]

But over on Brook Team. Team Brook over at Branch Route 8, this is Brooke here, pleading for Usopp here. And we see on the wide that he is smoldering here, clearly from an attack from Imu Gunko here. And Brook, who's pinned down by a sword through. Through his chest, though he barely has one, being a skeleton must be through the rib cage here. And he's pleading. It's like you have to run away. I only did this for my own personal reasons. She's too dangerous. And he did kind of pause before he said personal reasons. So interesting here.

[Zach]

It's for personal reasons. Yeah, personal reasons. Personal reasons.

[Steve]

And Usopp picks his nose up from out of the ground and he says, you expect me to run and leave a friend behind? Brook, a real warrior doesn't run away. And we see. We get a clear shot of broken his predicament here. And he's at a loss for words here. And Usopp continues here. He says, I've been dreaming of this place for years, and I'm not going to humiliate myself here. More importantly, I'm furious. You see, Brook, these guys are disrespecting Elbaf, sneaking around, kidnapping children. He continues on the next page.

[Zach]

Alex,

[Stephen Paul]

You're muted.

[Zach]

Alex.

[Alex]

No, I know my. I was hit the wrong arrow. All right, so, he continues, you attack the kingdom with monsters rather than Using your own strength, taking over the minds of proud, noble warriors and forcing them to kill each other. And Gunko, Gunkimo. Gunkimu just sort of rushes towards him, and he says, you plan is scummy, cowardly and cheap. Shame on black. And gets a knee right to the face. Brook calls out for Usopp still, you know, still not doing. Doing too well. And it looks like Gunka uses the Force, or. What do you call that thing?

[Zach]

That.

[Steve]

That's your answer for everything.

[Zach]

That's not how the Force works using

[Alex]

the Force or forks. What's the. What's that technique that Goku uses at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z?

[Zach]

Oh, it is like that, where he

[Alex]

just sort of, like, hits somebody with air. No, no, no. It's.

[Stephen Paul]

It's like it should be.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's literally just like an air push or something. I forget what it's called.

[Zach]

I know what you're talking about. I know what you're talking.

[Alex]

He uses it on a bunch of dudes. He's. Well, it primarily uses at the. At the 24th Tenkaichi. No, 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.

[Steve]

Oh, I think he did it on Jason Birder. I think, you know.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking of.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's the same.

[Steve]

Yeah, because you've watched that Toonami promo, like, several hundred times.

[Zach]

I did watch those episodes a hundred times, too, let's be honest. Yeah.

[Alex]

Well, anyway, so Gunko hits Brooke in the face with the Force, and we hear, like, a huge crack, like, she just broke something.

[Zach]

No, those were my ribs.

[Alex]

No. Oh, my head. I need that. Ouch.

[Zach]

Ouch.

[Steve]

My spirit.

[Alex]

You can break my bones, but you can't break my. Oh, you broke my spirit. Usopp continues with his determination, and he. And he whips out his kabuto and aims it right at Ginko and says, elbaf is a nation of warriors that have lived by their swords, their shields, and their very lives. If you want to rule over them,

[Ed]

they have lived by their lives. Wise words, Usopp.

[Alex]

I mean, yeah, sure.

[Stephen Paul]

Just think about it, Steve.

[Alex]

Yeah. If you want to rule over them, at least have the pride to fight them head on. You coward. And this is a really great, really great panel of Usopp's face.

[Zach]

Yeah. Mustache, by the way, stays there despite.

[Alex]

I love it so much.

[Zach]

No, it's very good. It's just funny. I was thinking about it.

[Steve]

That's some good cosplay glue.

[Zach]

That is very good.

[Alex]

Yeah. So, of course, Gunkimu says one who rules does not sully their hands with such tawdry matters. And Usopp unleashes his attack. Skull blast grass. And it's really hard for me to figure out what happened here. Gunko, I guess, appears right in front of him, catches it.

[Stephen Paul]

Well, yeah, he hasn't shot it. So he says the attack, but he hasn't shot it yet. And he's right about to. And then she just teleports right in front of him so that it. It goes off point blank.

[Alex]

I see. Right in his face.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, but it also.

[Zach]

It hits her too. You could see. Yeah. Sorry. Now I get it.

[Alex]

Yeah. Not like it's gonna do anything. Yeah. So right.

[Zach]

Exactly right.

[Ed]

His own petard there.

[Alex]

Yes. Literally. That is what that means. That is what that means. So he says, duck season.

[Zach]

You got that?

[Alex]

Duck season. Fire. And yeah, I mean, we've seen this attack before, but this one's huge. It's. It's gigantic. We see the. The giant skull mushroom cloud envelop the entire panel.

[Zach]

And with the book stuff, I feel like super apropos. Like, I actually think this is a cool incident.

[Ed]

And yeah, we see Usopp on the ground. And then we see Brook with a sword. It seems to be gone.

[Alex]

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it's elsewhere, but the two of them seem to be KO'd. And we see that Gunko is regenerating. Not really.

[Zach]

Is she missing a finger there? Like a finger coming. Coming back there?

[Alex]

Yeah, I think so. Because she used her hand to, like, block it, I guess. Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah. That is the same hand she used to block it.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, you're right.

[Alex]

So, yeah, Emu Gunko, like that Honey badger don't give a shit. Right?

[Stephen Paul]

That's true.

[Alex]

All right. And we move to the final last page.

[Zach]

Yes. We talk about the. How did you put it, Brenton? The split panels. You put it better than Ellipse.

[Brendan Murray]

It's almost like ellipsis, you know, like dot three things at the end. It looks like it's moving or coming and going.

[Alex]

I like that.

[Zach]

Time passes.

[Brendan Murray]

Time. Time is passing. You know what I mean? It could have been three panels, but it's just one panel.

[Zach]

Be wearing glasses to show the time had passed. But instead they. They cut the panel in three. No. So we get. We get a big, big panel of Gear fifth. Luffy. Seeing the carnage that has. That has ensued here. And I love that Loki is.

[Brendan Murray]

What's our shadow bay scale out of 10 on this one?

[Steve]

Guys?

[Zach]

Yeah. What are you doing here?

[Brendan Murray]

I think we're Low on the chalamet scale.

[Zach]

Yeah, we're pretty low on that chalamet scale.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Steve]

I think this is like not quite Lady Bird, but we're not anywhere near.

[Stephen Paul]

Was that his face when he didn't win the best actor award?

[Alex]

He seemed quite pleased. Well, it does look like he's a little bit of. A little bit of body supreme there. Oh, God.

[Brendan Murray]

There's a little gif at the clock shadow now. Only on the upper lip.

[Alex]

That's right. Yeah. So there's little Marty. Suprema. Little Marty.

[Brendan Murray]

I love the gif already.

[Ed]

Adequate.

[Stephen Paul]

Okay.

[Zach]

I've lost control. I never had it to begin with.

[Steve]

I was gonna say.

[Zach]

Yeah. Wow. You got that really quick.

[Steve]

So, yeah, we're just a bunch of energetic 40 year olds. You know, it's just. It's in our nature.

[Zach]

We're 30 or 40 years old and we're energetic.

[Brendan Murray]

Late 30s. Very late.

[Zach]

We're like 17. Right. And here comes Loki. I do love how just imposing and gigantic he is here. You also have Ratataskr on his helmet head.

[Steve]

Any other character would be shitting a brick if it wasn't for what could be the literal devil of one piece.

[Zach]

Yeah, I would love to see if the reaction were. Whoa, look at that. A giant squirrel. And like that's the part.

[Steve]

They're like a giant helmet.

[Zach]

A giant helmet.

[Steve]

How do they do that? Look at the size of that bandage.

[Ed]

Damn it.

[Zach]

How did they wrap that? Who did that? Even he has claws.

[Brendan Murray]

He has no opposable thumbs. Who wrapped that horn? Who loves this dragon so much?

[Zach]

I would love if Imu were just like really got into minutia. Like, what is it? Cinemasins? Just like, that's Imu. And that would make sense.

[Steve]

No, I would not like that at all.

[Zach]

No way. Look, it's a villain.

[Steve]

To testify, he's more of a punchable villain than that.

[Zach]

Yeah, I know. Exactly. That's why I think that's great. Anyway, Kunkimu is looking toward the background here as Loki says. See, I always want to do the pika voice here with the very high pitched. But whatever.

[Steve]

Please don't.

[Zach]

I'm not going to. This is the one. The source of the haki that reached the underworld. You see, I can't. And you have an actual ellipses here from Gunko. I do really like this panel here.

[Ed]

And so is that Luffy was jumping down off of Loki's head or his

[Zach]

back or from floating in the sky. It's really uncharted.

[Ed]

And he lands next to Usopp.

[Zach]

And Brook, he does as he sees both having looked better in the past. And he says, hey, Loki, I'm pissed. And Loki love this line, too. Forgiveness was never an option, but Kunkimo gets the final. I don't know, gets the final word here saying, thou canst obey or die. Nika Nidhoggar. Those are your names, right? This battle will divide the world. And that closes out the chapter this week.

[Steve]

Before we kind of start discussing it too much, I just have a question for Steven. Luffy's last line here. Is that where we get the title of the chapter from?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Oh, okay. Sorry. Because I was, like. I was. I forgot he said furious. I'm, like, pissed. Yeah. I guess it was a good call not to call it pissed.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, that would be good. Yeah. Well, that's true.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

I'm even a little surprised that they let me put that in there, just because. Yeah. The standards that we work with on the. The print version of this is very different from the scripts that they. They use in. In the Netflix series, that's for sure. Just. Just getting this level of. Of, you know, fury in. In terms of the text is not always.

[Zach]

I don't think piss has a ton of fury.

[Stephen Paul]

I'm gonna just say that it shouldn't be. But, you know,

[Alex]

compared to everything else that we've seen in at least the vis. Version, like, this is. I guess, is this, like, in the Japanese version? Can pay. I'm sorry. Convey a. Like, this is the first time you said anything like that. Like, the most.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's a very visceral like. Like, you would be like, I've. I've snapped, or like, I've had it or something like that. Like, it's not usually, you know, you don't hear Luffy say that, really, with that kind of directness. So especially with the way that it's presented, where you just kind of have like two. There's just two panels, and they have, like, one word in each. And so I was like, well, I mean, this is. This is the easiest way to convey that.

[Steve]

So maybe it's also another wrestling reference. This is referencing Lex Luger, who couldn't get a tight T shirt off his body. And he said, I'm pissed now.

[Zach]

I'm just.

[Steve]

And your T shirts are. Your T shirts are too tight, Emu.

[Zach]

You don't even wear pants. Why would you care?

[Brendan Murray]

What is the thread count on this cotton? God damn.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Ed]

Emu is announcing Super Brawl Saturday.

[Zach]

So let's go. Let's go around that was just for Steve. Let's go around thoughts on the chapter. Brendan, start with you.

[Brendan Murray]

Hey, man. I, I, I, I'm, I'm not pissed. I'm not furious. I'm glad. I'm so glad to have it. It was, it was very hard waiting a whole week. But I mean, it's always, it's always hard waiting. But to have the break in between and then to actually have the fights progressing, things are moving forward. We've got Loki and Luffy standing there in front of Emu. We've got some broken friends on the ground, and that's always good, good fuel to get the most out of Luffy. So I feel like we've, we've taken a nice big step forward. We haven't really figured out exactly what's happening with Domi Reversi. I think some people were busy hoping that we'd get a little deeper into like, the mechanic there, but it's definitely that, you know that, that flip tile game. So is it, is it that they die or was it because they fell over? You know, like that dude who got slashed in half. We didn't see them turn back into their giant form. So I don't, I don't feel like we really know how that Domi reverses. Getting Domi reversy, reverseed, like. But I, I did such beautiful panels there. I mean, the, the stuff with the, the giant, as you were saying, the giant pirates on the one side and, and the, the Domi reverse heat pirates on the other. Beautiful little, little moments. I, I could sit and look at a bunch of them. You, you called out that one with, with Ratataska standing there with his hand on Luffy's back. That was awesome. But there were some other ones that were just gorgeous. Gorgeous. Just if you have the time, zoom in and just look at one panel at a time. They are like the gnarls of the grain of the wood in Brogy's axe in that one panel when he's busy slashing forward. I mean, I could look at that for ages. And I just hit my microphone.

[Steve]

I was so happy.

[Brendan Murray]

But yeah, I'm stoked. I'm thrilled. I'm going to have to wait another seven days before I get another dose, but I'm definitely going to go back to read and reread. I'm glad that they're not setting fire to Elbaf anymore as well. I was wondering with Loki, because he's, he's taking out big giant things. Fine. But he's using these huge area of effect Attacks. And I was wondering whether that was going to decrease the stability of the tree or not. But it looks like the tree is still rooted. We're still all good.

[Zach]

Well said. Ed, did you have thoughts on the chapter?

[Ed]

I just wanted to say I'm so happy that Usopp is getting involved in this. Like he's. Yes, his anger is. Is visible and him trying to directly attack Gunko like that is. He's a brave warrior of the sea.

[Brendan Murray]

Yes.

[Ed]

It's typical brave warrior behavior. Usopp talking about how I dreamed of this place and you disrespect it. And I understand his offense and I appreciate his bravery attacking like that.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Ed]

But that was the biggest.

[Stephen Paul]

Because we were talking.

[Ed]

We've been talking about this should be Usopp's arc and hasn't really been. But him, he gets to stand up like this and look cool. Even if he does take a sh. Even if he does blow himself up,

[Brendan Murray]

which is classic Usopp as well. You know, the harder he tries to fix it, the deeper trouble he's going to get into.

[Zach]

Now. Now I'm just imagining Luffy going there and just seeing Usopp there after being blown up. It's like classic Usopp.

[Brendan Murray]

Yes. Dude, that was such a cool panel as well.

[Zach]

Yeah. Steven, thoughts chapter?

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, it was. It was quite an action packed installment. A lot of. A lot of fun stuff here. I did. I guess since I. I didn't want to derail the. The discussion, I could. I could say here that I. I took extra long to do this one because, specifically because of some of the. The attack names, we did get, you know, a big kind of string of them. And Zorro's in particular is another entry. So, you know, Zorro has. Obviously he's. He's been around since almost the very first chapter, and he's had so many different attacks and they come in a variety of. Of forms and they have, you know, certain patterns as far as how they're named. And one of the things that he is known for is having these like, food pun related attacks. And unfortunately, most of them are kind of untranslata in terms of English. So they usually get turned into just kind of like. All right, well, what's a. What's a cool, you know, attack name? But you know, for example, his very first attack is Onigiri, which is like, you know, demon slash or something like that. But if you. If you know, Japanese, an onigiri is like a rice ball, you know, with a little bit of seaweed wrapped around It. And so he's always had these. These kind of silly secondary meanings to it. And so in. In this one, the red ogre part, I don't think that didn't strike me as. As being related to anything aside from maybe, you know, a. A slight nod to. To Brogy's nickname. But the. The one that I translated as mega rage when he actually does. The attack was. Was very creative. And in Japanese it was okomega. And so it was the. The kanji that he used were anger and large or gigantic. And the. The oko would be angry or part of the. The verb for, you know, to. To anger or to be. To be angry. And then the giant one, he. He pronounced it mega, as in like mega, you know, is in huge, as in very large. And so it kind of reads as like. It's like. It's like saying big mad or something like that. Like it. Like it, you know, makes something kind of slangy, but is also includes okome, which is the word for rice or like, like uncooked rice or just kind of food in general in Japanese. And so I like, sat there for hours just like, okay, so it's got to be big angry. And hopefully there will be some pun involving rice to go along with it. And eventually I just had to. To. To throw in the towel and say, you know what? I can't. I don't think there's a way to do this. And. And so we. We just have mega rated, you know, which just sounds, you know, imposing and badass and stuff. But alas, this is the sort of thing that happens with Zorro every now and then. But that. That was your. Your little translation minute there. Otherwise, yeah, very cool. You're. You're certainly welcome. And yeah, very cool to see the. The straw hats in particular getting so many chances to shine here. Especially Usopp. I. I definitely agree with Ed. You know, this. We were all expecting this to be Usopp's arc, and so I think seeing him stand up and. And really speak on, you know, the. The idealization that he has had of Elbaf and the. The way that that's been mocked by all of the stuff that they are. Are doing to Elbaf, I think is a. It's a great moment. And I'm. I'm sure that this is setting up, you know, the. The classic, you know, Usopp being even more incredibly badass than you could have imagined. I am very much looking forward to seeing where we go next with him in this battle. So very, very eager for that. And that's all I have to say.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's one of those things. Again, I feel like Oda probably has Opala on the brain. And Jacob. We talked about it, Brendan. I know in our interview a little bit, but he really kicks it out of the park. That's not how that metaphor goes. But you could kick it out.

[Brendan Murray]

You might break your foot. But hey, if you kick it out the park, good for you.

[Zach]

I know you're a rugby player, so I don't know if you would kick it out.

[Alex]

Oh, are you?

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I had to choose between like acting or rugby. Cause I couldn't go to rehearsals and practice and I was just like, okay. I've had knee surgeries and things before. I've broken a lot of bones. I've had a good time. Let me see if acting is more fun. But yeah, man, I played a fairly high ish level until I was about 24 and then I had to stop.

[Alex]

Wow, that's far out. My best friend plays rugby locally. Well, locally. And he's been doing it for like 20 years.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Alex]

And he's had like three new surgeries and.

[Brendan Murray]

Absolutely.

[Alex]

I've been to my fair share of games. Yeah, rugby is wild, but it's also so much fun.

[Brendan Murray]

It's as close to literal warfare as you need to get.

[Alex]

I mean, I've been to the drink ups afterwards, so it's. But it's definitely very much in the same realm as Elbafs.

[Zach]

Absolutely.

[Alex]

Whole thing.

[Brendan Murray]

No, that's the one thing I must say about rugby is. It's. It's war. It's like organized mayhem and warfare on the field. But the moment you step off and you get a beer in your hand, that's just another dude who plays rugby. He loves the thing that you love almost as much as, as. As you do. There's very few other people in the world. Yeah.

[Zach]

When you play rugby, you could be angry that they stole half of your sandwich or whatever.

[Brendan Murray]

You can't. No, you must especially be angry if they stole half your sandwich. But you're gonna settle field.

[Zach]

You're.

[Brendan Murray]

You're going to wait until he catches the ball and then you're going to tackle the crap out of him. You don't tackle the crap out.

[Steve]

Of.

[Brendan Murray]

You wait until you just that perfect moment and then you pounce. Take his joy. Don't hit him when he's down, hit him when he thinks he's up.

[Zach]

Sorry, I like got. Anyway, my point, My point was I'm glad Usopp is also Getting this moment. Steve.

[Brendan Murray]

Dude, I. I didn't want to say that in my thing as well, because I didn't want to try and say absolutely everything, but us up, my man. I'm really glad that he's showing the backbone that we knew he had some

[Zach]

spine for say everything. I mean, we don't know how to stop talking, so it's fine.

[Steve]

I don't.

[Zach]

Steve.

[Steve]

I feel like there's so much I want to say this week also, because I think I've been gone for a bit. But I think Oda was particularly cooking with this chapter. There's so much that I enjoy from it. Just from like, a technical aspect alone. Just the artwork has been very clear, you know, I think part of it is just the use of just filling in blacks with a lot of this stuff. Pages are, you know, just feel a lot more clearer. Like, I think Loki in this dragon form being like all black is very striking. And I think it really helps just sell just like how ferocious and how powerful this form is. And it's just something different that we haven't seen. But I just think the pacing has been phenomenal in this chapter. I think action is clear. You know, even if, like, reading this on a phone, I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of moments where I had to zoom in on something. I think he just did a really great job of just moving this along and knowing when to zoom in and then when to reveal stuff with Killingham and just the gag with Luffy after getting scalded at. It's just really good. And then even the last spread is. I think he's just getting better with demonstrating scale, which I think Elbaf was severely lacking in those earlier chapters once we got out of like, Legoland. But, like. And not just like the. The literal scale in the one piece world, but having like, that big panel of like, Luffy. Luffy reacting to the side of Usopp and Brook being down side by side with just like this panel of how huge and fearsome Loki is. It's just a really good chapter, you know, and not just for. It's like, you know, the contents within, like, the text. It's just. The artwork is really good this week, but within, like, the context of the chapter too. Just the straw hats are doing stuff. And I think it's like, damn, this is what I've wanted to see in the last year. And I, you know, I knew I was hungry for this. And like, damn, did I just get like a Michelin star, like, kind of meal out of this. Like a lot of the. A lot of the straw hats are being used to their strengths here. Like mainly like Luffy, Usopp and Nami here. Nami being the one that has to scold everyone for being stupid. Shonen characters just blow. Just pulling a man of steel when they really, you know, gotta dial it back a little bit.

[Zach]

It.

[Steve]

I really enjoyed that. The gag with Luffy is like an all timer. I really hope the anime knows how to pace that. Don't try to milk it too much. It's just boom, boom. Don't set it up too much. And Usopp kind of having like a moment parallel to his in Alabasta. I think a lot of people have just been clamoring for like Usopp needs to do something in Elbaf. And I think we realized that we've been away from these characters for so long that I think you just have to be a little bit more patient. And yeah, he's. He got a little moment here for sure. And hopefully he's not done. But now the fact that we have Luffy in Emu facing off here feels like. Oh, like, oh, this is a big deal. Luffy's not gonna get like stuck in a chimney or something again.

[Brendan Murray]

Or.

[Steve]

Hopefully not. This feels.

[Zach]

Where's the chimney coming from? Is the question.

[Steve]

Big chimneys in Elbaf. You know, there's definitely a big enough chimney for him.

[Zach]

Yeah. Wait, no, definitely. Luffy was between two buildings.

[Steve]

Oh, yeah, sorry. Luffy was stuck in between cinema sins or just Luffy gets eaten by snake.

[Zach]

By a snake.

[Steve]

Yeah. Luffy gets eaten by Loki on accident.

[Zach]

Oops.

[Steve]

Yeah, oops.

[Stephen Paul]

All Luffy's.

[Steve]

That could happen.

[Zach]

Oh, you do fit in.

[Alex]

That was whole cake island. Yeah.

[Steve]

I did enjoy the references. The wrestling references. DDT is a very famous wrestling move. Rhodes is a famous last name. Steve, you might have heard.

[Zach]

No, can I just say with ddt. I mean the will of Will. I was going to say the will of D. What if you have two? It was confusing as someone not familiar with.

[Steve]

No. I wonder what's gonna come up here is like the Stone Cold D Stunner Power D bomb.

[Alex]

But Rhodes has Dusty Rhodes. Or there's more than one Rhodes.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

Well, Dusty Rhodes and then currently one of the top stars in wrestling is Cody Rhodes. His son. But definitely Oda's an old school guy. So he knows who Dusty Rhodes is.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Steve]

If you're not familiar too. I think we talked about Zof Mic, but like Brogy, you know, his axe is the bruiser axe. And Brogy sounds like Brody, as in Bruiser Brody, another infamous gaijin wrestler that Oda probably certainly saw on TV or something back in the day. I was trying to remember, and, you know, like, Hanson, Stan Hansen, Goldberg, Bill Goldberg. But I don't bother listing off. Don't bother telling us in the comments that we missed some.

[Alex]

I'm sure there's something missing. You mentioned that.

[Steve]

Yeah, Sorry. Thank you. Sorry. Also, snapping is not appropriate on the podcast. I apologize. Yeah. There's another. Yeah. Gantonio.

[Stephen Paul]

Who? Giantonio.

[Steve]

Yeah. The more that I look at him in this panel, he kind of looks like me here, because I was about to say. Yeah, that's a reference to Antonio Inoki, a very famous wrestler. And even if you're not familiar with wrestling, you might know Antonio Inoki. Probably the most. I think, famous Inoki reference in anime is Jonouchi, more famously known in the States as Joey Wheeler from Yu Gi. Oh, that weird face he makes with the chin. That's the Inoki chin.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes.

[Steve]

Yeah. Antonio Inoki. Hell of a cleft on that man. And hell of a jawline on this individual, too. So there's undoubtedly 100% a reference to him. So that's Steve's turnbuckle corner. That's her new segment here, Tales from the Turnbuckle. I'm here to help, but. Fantastic chapter. What a great one to come back to. I was very excited to read this. I was excited after reading this. I'm really looking forward to seeing where things go from here, even though I'm getting a little less miffed about Domi Reverse just being easily reversed. But it seemed like there's. Seems like there's more to it, because I don't quite understand what Chopper did unless it's just, oh, you hit them so hard. Which makes my eyes roll a little bit. I'm kind of hoping there's something more to it.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, I feel like there's gonna be, like. I don't think it's gonna be that. I think it's got to be something special, because otherwise, why would they be so. I mean, I. I feel like if that was the.

[Alex]

The.

[Stephen Paul]

The punchline, he wouldn't have left off with everybody being confused and not having an answer to it. So, yes, we're definitely set up for something.

[Zach]

Alice.

[Alex]

Yeah, since we're talking about that, I'm just gonna go right into that. At first, I wondered, like, if Imu's sort of gearing up for, like, the big. You know, the big battle now. And now is D. Doming like peeling off the, off the demons just so they can like, yeah, like maybe this, this chef character was the first to get domied. And we may see more after that as Imu builds up their power. But this could also just be a chopper thing. I think somebody mentioned on Discord, this could be like a human, human fruit thing. Like it slapped humanity into, you know, whatever demon is, you know, taking a hold of the giant. So I don't know. This is, this obviously is more questions than answers, but I think it's interesting that there's more than one way to undomy or reverse. And. Okay, I think we talked about this at the end of last week's chapter, but I was really pumped for the next chapter. This, this, this chapter in particular because I knew that, you know, there was going to be violence ahead. And I like how everybody just gets punched and cut in half. It's so funny. Like that's the fact that I already can punch somebody in half is really funny to me. I don't know. It's just a. Yeah, sure, that'll work. Yeah. Zora's move really, really rules. Yeah, seeing, seeing, you know, Jinbei, Sanji and Frankie like have little like moments. Like I miss talking heads like that, you know, like we have like close ups of their face and they're just sort of hanging out. Like it's, it's nice to see that again. I think like, I got a little burnout after God Valley because it was so long and we hadn't seen our friends in so long and now here they are. I like that Zeus has like two brain cells. It's so funny. Yeah, the Nami bit was really great. I don't know, it just. This was a hell of a one piece chapter, guys. Just felt like, felt like one piece to me. Usopp's moment was really, really fantastic. We've all said it. We were all kind of waiting for it. And in moments like this, when Usopp's on the ground, as we've seen before, honestly, like, yeah, he's not, he's definitely not done. I feel like these are the best moments for him to lay traps

[Brendan Murray]

or

[Alex]

to like, you know. Yeah. And the fact that him and Brooke are there are very, It's. It seems pretty intentional. And for what, I'm not sure yet, but I'm looking forward to what is coming next.

[Zach]

Yeah. I'll make my thoughts short. I was looking back. Chapter 1150 is when Domi Reversi was introduced. So I was checking to see if Alex's theory Checks out. Brogy was first, obviously, and then Dory and then a bunch of random captain or random people, I guess. So we don't really have an answer there. I don't see the chef. Anyway, this chapter. Yeah, I loved. I agree with what's been said. I, I, the, the pacing. I'll say the pacing in the arc is probably very good. We don't really know the full extent to, like, what Oda is planning here. And I, I'd say also, so I forget when we mentioned this, but the idea that Gunko. Yes. Is probably the, the main big bad here because they're, you know, literally, you know, emu is within them. But I do like the idea of this fight being, getting, getting Emu out

[Alex]

of her

[Zach]

like we talked about. I don't know if she'll necessarily get a quote unquote redemption arc here, but I do very much look forward to seeing what exactly was going on with Brook. Yes. I don't want more flashback, but if it's a Brook flashback, I would be happy to see that. So I was, I mean, I guess, you know, Gunko is inhabited by like the big bad of the series, so I shouldn't feel bad that Usopp and Brooke are on the ground in pieces or whatever it is. But I, I feel like it, like the Usopp, Usopp. I feel like we really got what, what I wanted here. But Brook, I feel like got sidelined a little more than I would have preferred. And I feel like that's kind of a result of the pacing. But I like, I don't know. I'll hold my thoughts to the end of the arc basically, to like, okay, did they do Usopp and Brooke justice? And then. Yeah, I, I don't really know if I have much else to add other than this was a really badass chapter. I don't really know if there's a better way to put that. Yeah. And I love seeing killing him getting stomped. Like, more of that, please. The. I don't know if I have anything else. Like, really. Yeah, I think you guys have said it all. I'm looking forward to this fight. This won't be the fight with Imu, but this will be Luffy's introduction to Imu as a character, presumably.

[Alex]

Yeah. This is like, as soon as Luffy figures, like, finds out Imu's whole deal. That's the true beginning of the end game, I think.

[Zach]

And I think we're there. I mean, yeah, I mean, the endgame could still be many years and it will of Course, Yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

This fight, like she said, this fight will divide the world just into the two factions that will contest the final fight.

[Zach]

You know, this fight reminded me not

[Steve]

gonna split the Infinity War.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, exactly. Without the portals.

[Zach]

Without the portals, yes. You reminded me that someone on our Discord, I think, mentioned this. But the dividing the worlds. The dividing the world in two, I think, was something Jarl said during his speech as well. Like, this is here. Here's a question. Do you think it's literal or do you think it's metaphorical? Like, it is one piece, so it could 100% be a literal. Like, you know, the battle or, I guess the war. Maybe she's talking about here. But what it. You know, what do you think?

[Alex]

I mean, like, how the red line divided the. Exactly. That kind of a thing.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brendan Murray]

Like, is the red line perhaps a result of some big old fight back in the day?

[Zach]

It probably is.

[Brendan Murray]

Or it's a more metaphoric. Now. Now we're going to decide who looks cooler in a silhouette where you can just see their eye. Is it Emu or Loki who gets the black panel with the single eye? Exactly. Loki looks cooler. She's been replaced. He took her thing and does it better.

[Zach]

Oh, that's what it is.

[Alex]

You know?

[Zach]

So only one of us could be silhouetted.

[Brendan Murray]

Exactly. Only one of us can be. Can be midnight and pitch black.

[Zach]

Obsidian. Super cool.

[Brendan Murray]

Obsidian. Oh, I love that. So, yeah, I think it's not the end. It is the precursor to the end. And I think you're right. The moment Luffy clocks to everything that Imu is up to, just subjugating all those people all over. Like, just the opposite of freedom, you know, It's. It's. It's gonna peak fairly quickly, and I think, you know, go.

[Zach]

Go.

[Brendan Murray]

Will be strong, Emu. Strong. But they'll. They'll end up facing off somewhere else. You know, the. The real Emu against Luffy.

[Zach]

Steven, Steve, Alex. Any thoughts on dividing the world or on the chapter? Okay.

[Stephen Paul]

Okay.

[Zach]

We'll leave it there, then. We have. We're gonna try and get through some peace together. Brendan, if you want to go to sleep, you can. I don't want to keep you up too much longer.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah, my kids do wake up in two hours, so, alas, I'm gonna have to ring off because I've still got a dad tomorrow. I've got to make lunch boxes. I gotta get them into school. But this was absolutely amazing, gentlemen. Thank you so much for having me.

[Alex]

Thank you for coming.

[Stephen Paul]

Thank you so much.

[Brendan Murray]

Very tickled I'm tickled pink. And it's just nice to read a panel by panel with people who appreciate what's busy going on. Oh, it's glorious. I can't wait for. Because my boy, he reads it, but because of the Ultraviolets, I got a couple of books in Japanese, so he can't read

[Steve]

the writing implications.

[Brendan Murray]

The implications. So he's like, dad, what's happening here? And I'm like, well, it's okay. That's just a little garden arc. That's a dinosaur being chopped in half. It's okay. But one day, I hope he and I can sit there and go over week by week, page by page. Otherwise, I'm just gonna. I'll listen along with you boys, of course.

[Zach]

And where could people find you? Or.

[Brendan Murray]

Oh, just follow me on Instagram. I mean, I'm terrible at the business of doing business, but as soon as I have new stuff out there, I've decided that's where I'm gonna put. So there will be films and TV shows and short films and all sorts of things, but right now, it's all about one piece, baby.

[Zach]

And if you want to hear more about Brendan, we have another half hour with him. This Wednesday, we had a little chatty

[Brendan Murray]

chat, which my two little children also interrupted at the end, because that's the thing. One is always pulled back into the more important things. But it was a joy to be here, gentlemen.

[Zach]

Yeah, no, thank you so much.

[Alex]

Thank you so much, Brennan. This episode is brought to you by White Claw Surge. Nice choice hitting up this podcast. No surprises. You're all about diving into tastes everyone in the room can enjoy. Just like White Claw Surge. It's for celebrating those moments when connections have been made and the night's just begun. With bold flavors and 8% alcohol by volume. Unleash the night. Unleash White Claw Surface. Please drink responsibly. Hard Seltzer with flavors. 8% alcohol by volume. White Claw Seltzer works, Chicago, Illinois.

[Steve]

Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's

[Brendan Murray]

never tasted so good.

[Steve]

You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.

[Zach]

This is the Piece Together segment where we take your questions, comments, theories, and if you don't have any, I'll slap the demon straight out of you. Let's start with our Patreon subscribers on Discord. Alex.

[Alex]

Diz. Peace.

[Zach]

That's it. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yes, this is Dis. Peace. We got a bunch of them, so let's start.

[Zach]

Start them off strong by the way. Yeah. Brendan left and Ed left, so you're stuck with. With Steve, Steven, Alex and me. Just letting you know.

[Alex]

Lucky you. Anyway, it's Big Mike and he says, I'm very happy I got to see Nami in a bikini for a few seconds in the live action series.

[Zach]

I regret this already happening.

[Alex]

I didn't even. I didn't. I didn't read these beforehand. Yep, I was getting worried they were going to cut out the fan service of the women and only show off the men. And I was going to have to watch Lara above a skinny dipping scene from the movie Honeydew and pretend it was Robin. But fortunately, the lovely Emily Rudd was able to depict the dreams of men. And it makes up for Nami not getting her shirt burnt off a little garden, which created a plot hole. Oh yeah, the plot hole. Because that's how she got bit by mosquito. And even Dr. Kreha mentions Nami being exposed in the little garden. Yeah, this is the real reason I wanted to see Nami shirtless and any other fan service. Because it's necessary for the plot, not for any pervy and impure reasons. Anyway, what original or altered scenes in season two did you like the most? And what would you have liked to see? What was cut out in season two?

[Zach]

Hey, that's a great question with an awful.

[Steve]

Hold on, I was typing. What's the name of that movie? Honey don't.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's one of the con. The other one of the cone brothers because they split up. It's apparently not good.

[Zach]

I will say. The one thing I will say is that there definitely is more male fan service in the live action. Which. You know what?

[Alex]

There's a lot of it this season too.

[Zach]

Yeah, there is a ton.

[Alex]

A lot of apps, abs everywhere.

[Zach]

You know what? It evens out the anime. I think it like Luffy's meat juice.

[Steve]

Cut.

[Stephen Paul]

You really gotta lean into the plink.

[Zach]

Steve gets out.

[Stephen Paul]

Read these for Big Mike.

[Zach]

We gotta do a full Season 2 discussion at some point. It's been just hard to schedule for many good reasons. But.

[Steve]

Yeah, I mean we could just do lightning round.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, sure. But with the light.

[Steve]

Are you like. And this is like going to be spoilers for season two? I guess so. If you haven't watched yet, don't.

[Alex]

Don't listen. Two minutes or so. Yeah.

[Steve]

All right, do it now. I'm going to start yapping.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Steve]

I like Bartolomeo's inclusion in Logtown. I was skeptical at first, but I liked it.

[Zach]

Agreed.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, Steve, I like it. I like it in principle, but I didn't like the way that the actor played. Didn't feel like Bartolomeo to me.

[Steve]

So you. You needed that. That New York accent that you.

[Brendan Murray]

He.

[Steve]

That you kind of coined.

[Stephen Paul]

He needs something even. Even if he's not the Luffy fanboy. Like, he needs to have more character than he did in those scenes. But, you know, like, in terms of lore, like, I get it. I think it works well, I.

[Steve]

Sorry, this is just gonna. I don't wanna start debating stuff. I just think you didn't need to know too much about him. Just know that he's just some street punk from Mogtown.

[Zach]

I mean, that is what he was. Yeah.

[Steve]

The hypothetical dressrosa. That's because, you know, what's his name? Gatz, is gonna, like, spiel a bunch of exposition about Bartolomeo. Save it for then. Then it's back. Oh, this is what his reputation is.

[Zach]

And then.

[Steve]

So I. Yeah, I can understand your grievances.

[Zach]

We'll get to that. Alex, what about you? When.

[Alex]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like they did. They. They pretty much played it pretty, Pretty. Pretty true to what the show the original was, for the most part did. I like the most. I always. I'm coming back to the, like, Zoro. The Zoro Whiskey Peak fight. I thought the fight was really awesome. I thought that the choreography was really fun. That was basically like a Wild west saloon fight. But what I thought it was missing was. I mean, I do miss a little bit the fact that the fight goes through the whole town. But given limitations and stuff when filming and stuff, I think having it go up the saloon was a pretty fun way to kind of circumvent that. I do miss the moon scene, though, where Zoro's in front of the moon and he's like, I'll take you on Baroque works. Like, that's.

[Steve]

You want the moon?

[Alex]

Yeah, I'll slice the moon for you. Baroque works. So I did miss that.

[Steve]

Why the hell was I thinking of that recently? I'm like, what? Was I thinking of one piece or was I thinking of now? I was thinking of Majora's mask. Oh, you want the moon? Put a big evil face on the moon and make it crash into this town.

[Alex]

I'll say, buffalo girls. Maybe that'll help.

[Steve]

Maybe that'll get out of here.

[Alex]

Jesus Christ. But, yeah, I think that was a fun way to circumvent that fight. Not spanning the whole.

[Steve]

Sorry. Leaning. Like, he changed the setting on his chair so he could Lean all the way back and just be like, jesus

[Stephen Paul]

Christ, let him get it out of there. System.

[Alex]

Oh, yeah. Anyway.

[Zach]

Literally slinking into it. Yeah, go ahead.

[Alex]

Oh, and I think that WaPo having a big monster army was kind of fun because it gave everybody else something to do.

[Steve]

Agreed.

[Zach]

That probably was my least favorite. I don't know. It felt weird. Like, unnecessarily. I mean, I guess it's supposed it

[Steve]

was grotesque, but when you hear the description of Waffles powers, it does sound grotesque.

[Zach]

It is grotesque. Yeah. I guess.

[Steve]

Like, if they look too goofy, then, like, you wouldn't think that there was stakes. And I'm talking in terms of live action. You know, it's. I guess they had to look kind of scary. Otherwise it'd just be like, well, look at these weirdos.

[Zach]

I think that was my least favorite change. I'll say. And I think the reason is. And he was this a little. But WaPo should be really inept. He should be. I mean, he thinks he's strong, but he isn't. You know, like, his power could be formidable, I suppose.

[Alex]

Well, I do feel like the live action, though, makes a little concession as far as anybody that Luffy's fighting goes.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Alex]

So I'm not, like. I don't think that was a problem,

[Zach]

personally, on the good end of things, like, good changes. I think the Bartolomeo. I agree with Steve. I think. I think the way you put it when we talk Steve was like. It was really adorable at the end when he, like, looks in the mirror. Yeah. I think I like it. I don't really care if it's Bartolomeo. Like, if it. We're never gonna. We're never getting dress versa. Like, that's not happening. And if it does, I'm not gonna be very interested in that season.

[Alex]

Isolate the audio. And then, like, seven years later.

[Zach]

Look, I could be wrong.

[Steve]

It's time to review the drift roses

[Zach]

season of live action.

[Steve]

Fellas.

[Alex]

I'll say, take my Metamucil.

[Steve]

We've talked about, like, now I am basically 40.

[Zach]

Yeah, we're all 30 or 40. And, you know, we can't. Anyway, I think about that a lot.

[Stephen Paul]

We're all meat mods. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. We're all. No, we're all shakes.

[Alex]

Shakes.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, that's right. He's talking to me. Wad.

[Alex]

Yeah, I am 30 or 40 years old.

[Zach]

30 or 40 years old. Yeah. That is. I fel that way for many years now. Anyway, what was I. We were talking. There was actually something I wanted to say. Oh, I'VE been watching a lot of those, like the cast talking and having fun. Because those are actually just really fun videos to have on in the background usually. Although sometimes a little stupid. But McKenu said something like they were talking about Wano and he's like, yeah, when I'm 80, I'll look forward to getting to that. Because I think the, like Emily or someone else.

[Stephen Paul]

That's funny.

[Zach]

Yeah. I'm like, oh, okay. They finally are admitting that this is funny.

[Alex]

That's very good.

[Zach]

They may age one day. I mean, I know if anyone won't age, it's probably that group, but. Yeah, no, it's a shame they can't. But, you know, limitations of real life. What's next, Alex?

[Alex]

Oh, Steven, did you have.

[Zach]

Oh, Steven. Yeah. Did you?

[Alex]

No, no.

[Zach]

Now.

[Brendan Murray]

Cool.

[Alex]

Okay, great. Sailor Karna says, hey, Opp. What it do? What it do? I want to give an update on my demon nuggets. Watch through. We are currently on Punk Hazard, and she has learned a most valuable lesson. Caesar Clown's a dick. She has my full permission to proselytize.

[Zach]

Proselytize. It just. It. It means just to tell everyone. Yeah, just. Yeah, it's like, you know, proselytized. Latter Day Saints would go up.

[Steve]

They use those words. Exactly.

[Alex]

Proselytized to the world that he's a dick. Hope you have a good week. And I can't wait to listen to the Opal episodes. Thank you, Sidharkarna.

[Steve]

For a minute there, I thought demon nuggets. I'm like spicy chicken nuggets.

[Zach]

Yeah, I was thinking of some chicken nuggets there.

[Alex]

Nuggets. I got dummy reversed.

[Steve]

I want them to do that to Mc McN. McDonald's. McNuggets again. Cuz I want them to be dark meat again. So maybe Tommy Reversi would.

[Zach]

You've been hanging out with Sun a lot, haven't you?

[Alex]

I'm pretty. I'm pretty sure McNuggets are just slurry that they put into bread.

[Steve]

Yeah, but they're like white meat slurry. I want them to be dark meat slurry again.

[Alex]

I never liked McNuggets.

[Zach]

Can you guys stop saying the word slurry?

[Alex]

Little Lisa Slurry.

[Zach]

Right?

[Alex]

Reverse Skull Blast says Opp. Where did Loki's bandages go anyway? What about his helmet? Actually, what about all of his clothes? Oda's gonna get yelled at by the PTA because of you.

[Zach]

Loki, all the SBS questions this week. What is happening?

[Alex]

This is essentially what the SBS is.

[Zach]

Yeah, what's the next one?

[Stephen Paul]

I didn't notice that like, like the. That until we saw the. The close up of Loki on the last page where like you can see like the metal plate from the helmet, like on his skin or whatever. I was like, what the hell? I didn't even realize that.

[Zach]

We've. We've talked about that. But it's. It is weird.

[Alex]

It's. It's kind of wild. It's almost like it's. I don't know if it's like if it's cool or lazy. I'm trying to. I'm trying to decide, I think. But either way, the. But. Well, I like earlier I'm gonna. You know, Steve, I like what you said earlier in the manga recap at the end when we're talking about like our thoughts and you really brought up the. You know, this hasn't really ever been done before with a character. Loki, this big dragon.

[Steve]

Never seen a big dragon in one piece.

[Alex]

No, but I'm obscured by, you know, all the ink that Kuboteete was hoarding.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah. I was gonna say.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Now that we can brag on bleach again.

[Stephen Paul]

I guess he needed to do it because the. The horns were on Loki's helmet.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Are they going through the helmet? Like, how does he. I don't know.

[Zach]

The helmet. Yeah, no, those are real horns. They're just.

[Alex]

Well, he's. He's like Elmer Fred. He's a spear. Magic helmet. It's. Magic helmet.

[Zach]

Magic helmet. Yeah.

[Alex]

Trow. Trow. I am bad at reading these names today.

[Zach]

I am bad at reading.

[Alex]

I'm just. Yeah. Trow. Slay. It's Slay says hello, my fellow slapping doctors. What a great chapter man. Usopp was so great. And it's so nice to see that Oda can bring it with the humor multiple decades later. Not sure why they thought gagging, killing him with that piece of fabric would do the job. Especially when he has sharp freaking teeth. Any who. Do any of you have any crack pop theories in the series that you'd like to share? I have one myself. This may seem out there, but I feel like there's some evidence pointing towards Usopp and the one and only Soge King being the same person. Love to hear yours if you have any. Thanks and have a great week.

[Zach]

Just like wrong answers only.

[Alex]

I think this is just any. I am actually out of theories this week. I plum out.

[Zach]

I mean, the ones that I have for this week are mostly ones that have been talked about because I don't think there's like Anything except for the domi reversy stuff. There wasn't. And that I like. I don't really care about what we've talked about. Like the levels of theorizing that we all like doing, which is mostly not a lot, except for me, I think, probably. But that's not the kind I'm interested in as much. That's like short term. Like, okay, how does this power work?

[Alex]

Oh, sure.

[Zach]

Like that. I'm fine waiting and just seeing as I think Brendan said, you know, going out and, you know, forgetting about the chapter and the Internet does wonders. But like the big overarching stuff, like the very last line dividing the world like that I'm interested in. I don't have an answer for that. I don't even really have a theory for that. But I am interested in. There's definitely something there that I need to think on more when my brain is intact at some point.

[Stephen Paul]

Well, I can follow Slay's lead example here. And I do feel there's just a hunch that I have that this Emu character. I kind of feel like they are real super old.

[Alex]

Might be the way they talk. Perhaps they talk like they were kind of fishy. They talk like they're in hamnet.

[Zach]

Wait, does he have a fish? Do they have a fish head? Is it odor?

[Alex]

I do think it would be funny if it looked like fish head Nami or whatever.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Alex]

Like what?

[Zach]

That's been a thought.

[Alex]

Or I'm sorry that Luffy thought that Fishman looked like.

[Zach]

Or the. The statue and Skypie. I still wanted to look like that. Like that.

[Alex]

I mean, that has merit. I think that has merit.

[Zach]

I think it does have merit and it would be hilarious. I think like Loki looking badass does. And I don't think I thought about this. I'll say. Does make it much funnier when he does have fault faces or like reactions like this.

[Alex]

It is funny actually, you know, I think here's a crackpot theory. I'm just gonna throw this out there now that Emu looks like. He looks like so shitty that he looks like one of the personifications of like the weapons that Oda draws in the sbs and that he used to be a weapon himself. Like, that's.

[Ed]

That.

[Alex]

That's why he looks so stupid.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh my God.

[Alex]

Like Emu used to be a sword and he's a person now. So he looks like a stupid asshole.

[Zach]

You know what?

[Alex]

So there's. There's a theory for you. There's a theory for you.

[Stephen Paul]

Can't rule it out.

[Zach]

I don't know if it's probable, but it's definitely possible.

[Alex]

Okay, shall we go to the next one, please. It's from Sheepman, who says, howdy, Opp. Y' all think. Think that the Straw Hats talking about putting Killingham in boxes was inspired by OPLA season one when they did the same to Buggy. I can't recall if that had been done before in the series. Speaking of opla, y' all will probably discuss a lot of it eventually on the podcast. I don't think I'm spoiling anything if I mention how awesome it was to see Usopp meeting the giants on Little Garden and how well it lines up with the current manga arc, especially this chapter. Hopefully, Usopp will have more to do in this arc. Also, please vote Nico robin to number one in the the world top 100. I don't think the sway of votes from my friend's Discord chat is enough, but maybe the podcast has enough. Well, you heard it here, folks. Make sure to vote for Jongo on the world top 100.

[Zach]

No, what you meant is Dr. Fishbone in slash. We have a lot of in chat.

[Alex]

I'm going to read the list again.

[Zach]

I'll get it. I have a lot of them here.

[Steve]

Don't forget Pearl. I don't think Pearl's on that list.

[Zach]

No, Pearl is not on that list. Kind of weird.

[Alex]

From Nisakoi. Everybody voted for Nisakoi. I. I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna straight up say that, like, in the original manga, they did that with Buggy's body.

[Steve]

They did, yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. I. I will say, given what we know about the way it works, I don't feel like that should have worked with Killing Ham. Like, I feel like he should have just, like, if they cut him in pieces, he should have just, like, regenerated, you know, just kind of did a little. That little weird effect that they do or something and. And come back to there. I'm not, like, you know, pissed at it or whatever. Like, it's fine as a way to. To. To incapacitate him, but it did seem a little like, so, by the way, too much of Buggy.

[Alex]

Well, if I do it with. If they also do it with Summers, then I'm even more cool with it. It's got to be consistent across all.

[Zach]

So our. Our endorsements for the WT100 don't include any of the straw hats. Because they're fine. They'll be fine. Okay.

[Alex]

Yeah, they'll all be fine.

[Zach]

These characters may not especially dead Grandma or Babaru. Who is dead. Strawberry Pika. The crotch. Hamlet.

[Alex]

Dr. Hamnet, not an actual character in the story.

[Zach]

King Bao Mogura. Who is the mole character who embodies. Who is the personification of Katakuri sword. Who. We also have the. We have Josh, even though he could not make it here today. Josh.

[Alex]

Josh the cat.

[Zach]

Oh, right. Yes. Charlotte Moscato, Minister of Gelato Calico. Flapper. Don't forget about Flapper. And. Or Lumbus and maybe Pearl and Nisekoi. From Nisekoi.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Was blue. No. From the bar on our list?

[Zach]

Oh, shit. No, he wasn't blue. No, from the bar is also a. I think he's fine.

[Alex]

Yeah, no, yeah, he was. He was in film Red.

[Steve]

He's.

[Alex]

He's fine. He's doing quite okay.

[Zach]

I do like how much that's caught on, because, really, I don't know if it was the translations at the time, but that is from film Red. They always just say blue. No, from the bar. I'm like, who remembers him from that?

[Steve]

Lightsabers.

[Alex]

What's wrong with your face?

[Zach]

What's next?

[Alex]

That would be Crampy Bogart.

[Ed]

Heart.

[Alex]

Who says, Ahoy, Opp. Banger Chapter, as always. God. Everything with Loki, Nami, Luffy and Ragnar was an absolute riot. And, ooh, that Usopp speech. I'm so proud of my bravery of the sea. Even if it didn't work out for him. Heart. My question this week. Do you think if he used his mind powers, he would have G U K G God. Usopp kills Gunkimu. Have a great week and keep up the amazing work.

[Zach]

Was that an onomatopoeia you used this week, Steven? Because.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, yeah, now I'm. Now I'm gonna put that in as a sound and people are going to be like,

[Zach]

Oh.

[Alex]

Oh, God.

[Zach]

Stephen Paul definitely did that intentionally.

[Alex]

We know Zoro kills. It's still the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life.

[Zach]

It is very funny. Does they know?

[Alex]

So funny. It's years old.

[Zach]

And as we know, Zoro did kill Kyno.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, I don't think. I think USOP still has a part to play. Here are we are. Next one. Shall we go? Next one.

[Zach]

Next one.

[Alex]

Whis.

[Brendan Murray]

Wh.

[Alex]

Wispy says, hey, Opp, do you think we'll see Usopp get Domi Reserv finally making good on his life from Arlong park and turning him into Usopp the Demon King who commands an army of Demon giants. And then they posted a panel from the Arang arc where he says, they call me Usopp the Demon King. And kings tremble at the name. Flee now and live. I have 8,000 hardened killers behind me. Man, I hope that doesn't happen. But Oda hasn't done the thing yet where he's made. I mean, he definitely, like, skirted around the fact that Doflamingo could have done this and made Luffy fight his allies. Yeah, I wonder if he'll do it.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Steve]

I'm so hung up on this great adaptation of one of the fishermen saying, who slop?

[Brendan Murray]

I. I was gonna say that too.

[Zach]

That's so funny. It is. It's a good one.

[Stephen Paul]

In the. Yes, in 2026, the year of blank. Slop being a pejorative term like him. Him saying who slop is so funny as a reaction.

[Alex]

Who slop is what you'd call Dr. Seuss AI. Yeah.

[Steve]

Who slop? Is that what people are describing? The latest season of Doctor who?

[Alex]

Oh, that's so funny. Or like if.

[Brendan Murray]

If.

[Alex]

Or if Orion Judson made an AI Knives out who slop done it? I guess. I don't know.

[Zach]

Stop. One earlier. Go ahead.

[Steve]

I mean, that's my. That's my letterbox. Review of the 2000s Grinch with Jim Carrey Slop.

[Alex]

Yeah. Okay, can we go on a little tiny tangent about the Jim Carrey Grinch? I don't fucking get love for it. I don't understand why people like it.

[Zach]

Alex.

[Steve]

Because they were children when they watched it.

[Zach]

Alex.

[Steve]

That's why. It's not that hard. Savage children.

[Alex]

The Grinch doesn't need to have a compelling backstory. The part. The part of the point is that he's an evil.

[Zach]

Okay, anyway, if you don't read the next question.

[Alex]

Are you going to turn this car around?

[Zach]

No, I. We're going back to Winnipeg.

[Alex]

Okay. Well, anyway, it's the last one. It's the last one. It's Vegapunk Hairstylist. Megapunk's Hairstylist. Have they been on the show yet? I don't know. Anyway, cut off the whole top.

[Zach]

Is that the problem here?

[Alex]

I guess so. Ahoy opp. Though it doesn't need to be said. Banger chapter. As is tradition, my question actually pertains to the OPLA interviews. Will the interview. Will the interviews have any form of spoilers for the real series? I have a lot of friends who are only watching the live action and are interested in the interviews, but I don't want them to get spoiled on the story. Thank you for all that you do. And I look forward to the incredible podcast episodes to come. Netflix said nothing on the OG One Piece podcast.

[Zach]

We'll talk about that in a second.

[Stephen Paul]

That's some good butter right there.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ed]

Yes, it is.

[Zach]

Can I just say the part I am most upset about with the quote unquote, official one piece podcast?

[Steve]

Oh, here we go.

[Zach]

Quote, unquote, here I go. Here I go. My rant.

[Alex]

Guys, we haven't heard this yet. This is great.

[Steve]

Maybe I do want to hear about the Jim Carrey Grinch.

[Zach]

No, I buttered up, as you just mentioned. It's. It's. It's late. Shut up.

[Brendan Murray]

Shut up.

[Zach]

We've been doing this for almost 17 years. No, the part I'm glad we talk like it. The part I'm actually upset. I'm just loopy at this point. The part I'm most upset is the. You've heard this before. Is that they call it a podcast. It's not a fucking podcast. Okay, it's not. But otherwise it's great. I am legitimately happy it exists. And I don't have necessarily brand names.

[Steve]

Band Aids is the brand name. They're called adhesive strips.

[Zach]

There you go.

[Alex]

Okay.

[Zach]

Am I being that person?

[Stephen Paul]

And they're. And they're called records. They're not called vinyls. While we're. While we're at it.

[Alex]

Oh, my God.

[Zach]

Come on. But come on, it. A podcast is not just something that is exclusively available on Netflix and video format only and released all simultaneously. That isn't a podcast. That's like a. That's a behind the scenes featurette. That is.

[Alex]

Somebody tell Joe Rogan, because all of his podcast episodes are like. They're all video.

[Zach]

Joe Rogan is as much a podcaster as something that's not a pod.

[Steve]

Anyway.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Zach]

I've gone. Guys, parenting destroys your brain, and you're

[Steve]

about as much of a writer as.

[Alex]

You know, that guy doesn't write.

[Zach]

You know, the. The one who wrote that.

[Steve]

It's the pen that couldn't write.

[Zach]

Guys, kill me with the freaking Doctor who thing. And then the Whoville whatever. The who.

[Alex]

Sloan, thank you for the lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely compliment.

[Brendan Murray]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That is a good question, though, you had there about the OPLA series being spoilery potentially, that I just completely went off on something that made no sense.

[Alex]

Yeah, you should give them an actual answer because this is important.

[Zach]

So I can't remember the previous seasons. Maybe someone here could attest better. I think for the most part, you're Good. And if we do spoil, it's very, very vague. We did one for the Eurek interview.

[Alex]

Yeah. When we interviewed Mark Harlock the other night, I did mention vaguely that I alluded to monster chopper, but it was like a very. But it was like a vague thing, like, oh, you should. Well, in the future this happens, sort of. I mean, you know, you're not off base. I think I said something to that effect.

[Zach]

Like, I think that's the level of spoilers you'd get. It's not really like, oh, and then he goes, gear five. And then this and this happened. And then I like, well, maybe we

[Steve]

didn't ask hero's actor what he thought of Dressrosa.

[Alex]

No.

[Zach]

Oh, that was the first question I had written, but I avoided it for some reason. Star Trek Voyager.

[Alex]

That's true. That happened.

[Zach]

That did happen. You'll see. I'm trying to think, like, I don't think for the Chopper interview.

[Alex]

No, not at all. Mikaela's interview is not. There's no spoilers there. I wasn't there for Brendan's interview. And when we interview Rob, I'll make

[Zach]

sure not to anything I. Brendan's might. Only because I was asking if he was caught up and we might, like, mention that get to Elbaf at some point. But I mean that also. It should be pretty hard. We knew that way before we did get to Elbaf. We're like, we're gonna get there. Like, that's gonna. Yeah, all right. Yeah, I think that's. Your answer is probably not. You're probably fine. But.

[Alex]

Yeah, probably fine.

[Zach]

Yeah. There might be like one or two little things, like if you're really, like, purist about it, but I think you're fine. That's it, right? For.

[Alex]

Yep, that's it for dis piece.

[Zach]

We're gonna wrap it with dis piece because we've been going long today, so we have some stuff to do on the other end here, including the latest results in our tournament. Thanks to Ken for putting together. So we're gonna take a break. We're gonna get right into this. That after the break, score more with

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[Zach]

This has been episode 911 of the One Piece podcast.

[Stephen Paul]

You did it this time.

[Steve]

I did it.

[Zach]

I had to. That's the number. It is.

[Alex]

It's.

[Zach]

It's number nine. Eleven. How do you say?

[Steve]

Where were you when the One Piece podcast dropped?

[Alex]

Episode 9 11, the second episode, has hit the airwaves.

[Zach]

There is that one person who's gonna

[Alex]

be really ugly at us.

[Steve]

I was trying to be so. So, like, on the rails just to land this episode. Just get it done.

[Alex]

Damn.

[Zach]

It's never, never, never. I know. I'm looping.

[Steve]

I guess. You're keeping this. He's keeping it, folks.

[Zach]

Delaney, it's. It's your call. This has been episode 911 for March 23rd. What? 911 for March 23rd, 2026. It's a number. Steve, be more mature about it.

[Alex]

This is the only time you've ever said it like that, though it's usually episode 910. Next week it's going to be episode 912. This is the only time that you're ever going to change it up.

[Zach]

This.

[Steve]

It's not like at the beginning of the manga recap. This is chapter 1117.

[Zach]

That is not what this one is. 9 11.

[Alex]

9 11.

[Steve]

That's like 1177. Sorry. Ah, there's too many chapters in one piece.

[Zach]

You broke me. You broke me.

[Stephen Paul]

Me.

[Zach]

This is episode 911 for Arch. No.

[Steve]

And he does it again.

[Alex]

Delaney put this at the end of the episode, okay. As a little treat for that one.

[Zach]

Actually doing a real one, you should. Okay.

[Alex]

Do a real one.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Alex]

Say 911. I know you got it out of your system, Zach. You got out of your system.

[Zach]

No, I haven't. My system is gone. On three. Want me to fucking say it? Do you want me to fucking walk in here? 3. 2. This has been the One Piece podcast episode 911 for the week of March 23rd, 2026. Huge thanks to Brendan Murray for coming on again. Our OPLA interview with him is this Tuesday on Patreon Wednesday. Everywhere you get your podcasts and you get to also see our lovely faces with the OPLA interviews, including Alex's wonderful zoom ins on Zoom. So that's, that's fantastic stuff. You could check that out. Michaela Hoover, we just interviewed that is available on OPLA, the YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. And you could also find future interviews, including with Mark Harrell, who plays Dr. Hiriluk. That is coming the week after this one. We have Rob Coletti and we have the artist aura and more planned some really interesting out of the box ones, I'll say for the next few weeks and probably months of episodes of opla. So lots of fun stuff. Steve Yurko, how was Japan? You doing okay then?

[Steve]

Japan was great. You know, it'll never quite be a special since you guys weren't there.

[Alex]

Geez, you know, you're so and so.

[Steve]

I did plenty of one piece shopping, but never is there someone to be like, look, guys, it's them. Or you know, it's. It's a blue. No bartender, blue. No acrylic. Stand at this book off. That's something I bought. Yeah, bought it for me. But you know, Japan's great. I always have a good time there, I think, you know, if you followed me on Instagram, that's where I was posting most of my stuff and that's really where I should stay in Instagram stories. I feel sorry if anyone has to travel anytime soon. Reading the latest news, you. Well, I'm tugging at my collar for you guys, especially anyone that might be going to Japan soon. Get to the airports early. But yeah, Japan, food's great, clean, easy to get around.

[Zach]

I love it. Yeah, I'm going away, but I actually don't think I'm missing any podcast episodes because I think we're going to end the week. If you want to know my personal life, which you don't.

[Steve]

Was that me? Was that whether. Was that also time for me to plug stuff?

[Zach]

That's really what I. Yeah, no.

[Steve]

You asked me about my vacation.

[Zach]

I only care because I want to live vicariously through you right now. Steve.

[Steve]

Zach, if you didn't care, you'd be

[Zach]

like, how are you?

[Steve]

Well, that's good.

[Zach]

That's what I said.

[Steve]

Go to my website, steveyerko.com, follow me on social media. Maybe bluesky Instagram is probably your best bet. See me there. Listen to me on Proz Plays games over on YouTube. Go back and listen to 4Kids flashback upcoming conventions. Conventions, not so much for me. I think I. Yeah, I'll be helping someone. Helping out someone at some in the future. But right now I'm kind of just staying home, which is probably smart.

[Zach]

I'm proud of you. I'm legitimately proud that you're staying home more. Yeah. As the homebody Stephen, where could people find you?

[Stephen Paul]

I'm on Bluesky StephenPaul BSky Social. And I guess I could. I'll just say here since I, you know, I was teasing stuff about this that I didn't realize that it had actually been announced so long ago because I guess it was sometime last year. But something that I've been doing this week which has been a lot of fun is it's been a long. Is a 20 year circle coming back around. I am working with Kodansha on their upcoming print omnibus revival of the Beck manga, which was my very first professional job. And they currently sell the old Tokyo Pop editions that I did as digital, but they are not really redoing as much as just kind of like going back. We're revisiting and kind of revising stuff. And so at this point right now I am just redoing and retouching a lot of the old first and second volume translation stuff for Beck, which I think is just going to be called Beck. I don't think it's going to be called Mongolian Chop Squad.

[Zach]

Mongolian Chop Squad. Oh, they're finally not afraid of being sued. That's amazing.

[Stephen Paul]

I think so. I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure what went into that decision in the first place, but

[Steve]

we haven't heard a peep out of him in a while. So maybe just now's the time to strike.

[Stephen Paul]

Mr. Mongolian Chop Squad.

[Steve]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beck D. Mongolian Chop Squad himself.

[Alex]

His name was Beck D. Odalay,

[Zach]

the will of Becky. That's exciting news.

[Steve]

That's.

[Zach]

That's interesting.

[Alex]

That's really cool.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, it's really fun, like just. Just going back to it and being like, wow, this actually feels very different from so many other manga that I've worked on in between. So it's fun to. To be reminded of that.

[Zach]

And Akane Banashi I know is hitting chapter 200 next week, right?

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, I just worked on that.

[Alex]

Dude, that's so wild.

[Zach]

They come out much faster than one piece.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes they do. Yes they do.

[Zach]

But I'm Enjoying so far, the setup. I'm curious how this is gonna go. Yeah.

[Steve]

Yeah. It's getting good.

[Zach]

Yeah. And the art as always. You know that dancing, I love it. If that's a spot.

[Stephen Paul]

Spoiler.

[Zach]

Whatever. Alex, where can people find you?

[Alex]

I'm on Blue sky at dude exclamation Weeb Simpsons is also on Blue sky@web simpsons superart fight.com we have a patreon now. I guess it's patreon.com superart fight. Please join it. See old shows and if you're in the Baltimore DMV area this Saturday, you can see a live show with me. It's our friend and co host Marty's last show ever and we are sending him off in style. I will be doing a tag team with my tag team Spaceballs, which previously has only been seen at Magfest. This is my first time at a bar show as me, not as a character. So it's very special. Please come. If you are in the area or would like to be in the area, it's going to be. Be great. At the auto bar this Saturday at 5pm Go superright fight.com for details.

[Zach]

Thank you. You can find me at zacklogan.com on blue sky and that's it. You could find the podcast@one piece podcast.com YouTube.com One Piece Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts or social media. Just about. I think I really promoted myself plenty of with just, just listen to the interviews. They're fun, they're good and they're all very like. Everyone's been very honest and open and definitely worth a listen. They've all been great so far. So Ken, or archivist or the other, would you call it whipping boy? Was that the whipping boy?

[Alex]

Cabin boy

[Zach]

has been putting together a tournament for us that was seeded thanks to Alex. Alex, we're not doing the Sungwon random. Random thing.

[Alex]

I didn't do any of the seating. To be fair. To be fair. I didn't do any of the seating. I just yelled at people to seed the thing.

[Zach]

Yes. And I listened when Alex yells at me.

[Steve]

So you're like an associate producer kind of.

[Alex]

That's right. That's right. I was a former, former PA and now I'm an ap.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve]

I forget if that joke was even on air.

[Zach]

I don't think it was.

[Alex]

And it's five hours ago. Yeah. So let's talk about this fucking bracket.

[Zach]

So we. I don't know. I assume I have to listen to the sgs. I'm still a little behind, but I am assuming you mentioned the results of this.

[Alex]

They did not.

[Zach]

No, I did not think so. You also recorded before it ended, so that would make sense.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, that too.

[Zach]

So for week two, we had the matches of Water 7, Ennis Lobby versus Egghead. And believe it or not, Water 7 won 32 to 5. Whole Cake island beat Shabbati Archipelago 20 to 17. That's very close. Yeah. Paramount War against Baradier. The war won 25 to 12.

[Alex]

That's a tough one for me to call.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, I think that's a decent, decent showing for Baratie.

[Alex]

I agree.

[Zach]

That is a decent showing. Yeah, especially that's the war. The war.

[Alex]

You know, for me personally, I think that's one that would, I would have trouble with.

[Zach]

We have Jaya Skypiea versus Elbaf and yes, Jay Escapia one. I am surprised. 31 to 5.

[Alex]

I'm not. The arc's not done yet.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, yeah, I, I know.

[Zach]

I, I, I just feel like a lot of recency bias usually just like generally it's true. Speaking our community or anything, but it's always like I have the opposite of that. I'm always like, let's see, let's see how I feel in like 10 years. Anyway, Alabaster beat Zoe, believe it or not, 33 to 4. Wano beat Thriller Burke 20 to 17. That's close. Drum beat Impel down. There you go, Steven. 22 to 15. Just for you.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And Arlong park beat Dressrosa 28 to 10.

[Alex]

That's too close.

[Zach]

This week's I have not. There's, there's Alex for you. So I have not seen these results until just now for week three. Some of these were very, very close from what I've heard. Oh, I'm okay. Surprised by some of these. Water 7 NES lobby versus whole cake island. Water 7 once again takes that title 23 to 13.

[Stephen Paul]

They took the cake.

[Zach]

Surprised by that spread. Oh, you're right.

[Steve]

Thank you, Steven.

[Alex]

Hey, that cake, by the way, where are you going to take it to the store to see the other cakes.

[Zach]

Jaya Skypiea beat The Paramount War 25 to 12. Alabaster versus Wano. Alabaster wins 22 to 15.

[Alex]

That's very close.

[Zach]

And our closest match is Arlong park and Drum Island, 19 to 17. Arlong park eked out the victory there.

[Alex]

Oh, wow. I as of like two, as of an hour ago, they were tied.

[Zach]

They were tied. So they weren't tied and mess.

[Alex]

So did these, these just closed?

[Zach]

I guess they did. They closed right before polls just Closed.

[Alex]

That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I thought about like coming in and breaking a tie, but I'm like, I haven't. I haven't voted on any of these. I just want to see, you know what our.

[Zach]

So we're in the semi final Monsters

[Alex]

are going to vote.

[Zach]

That's what we're calling our fans.

[Alex]

I don't know. That's what.

[Zach]

Not diva children.

[Alex]

That's hard to even. Children. Yeah.

[Zach]

Diva nuggets or no. What.

[Stephen Paul]

What was. What was Brendan's joke? They're domi reverses. There are homie.

[Zach]

They're homie reverses. Yeah, that's it.

[Alex]

Dude. That's like the name that should be like, you know, the name for the schmucks for every single.

[Zach]

Yeah, you're right. You're right. They're the homie. Versies. Brendan.

[Steve]

That's gonna be the name of Chopper's Attack

[Zach]

or Big Mom.

[Stephen Paul]

Just.

[Steve]

Just dab him in the face. You know, just doing all this.

[Zach]

That translates.

[Steve]

It only works on video.

[Zach]

No longer.

[Steve]

I do it and so.

[Zach]

All right, the semifinals are this week. You have until we record next Sunday at around 7:30 Eastern. It is Water 7 and East Lobby versus Jaya Skypiea.

[Alex]

Holy shit.

[Zach]

And Alabaster versus Arlong Park.

[Alex]

Holy shit. This is a good final.

[Steve]

Who's voting in this poll? Fans or the podcast? Because it's. We have different years, same shit. Right.

[Stephen Paul]

That's true. But also like, I think whatever the final ends up being is going to be a great matchup too.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you're guaranteed a good one with these four. Yeah.

[Alex]

Also I'm not going to like go off and say our fans are the best fans even though they are. But if I think, you know, someone else were running this or if this was like Twitter one piece, I feel like Dressrosa would be in the top four or maybe wano even.

[Zach]

Yes, Elbaf definitely would be God value would be its own thing, I think for. For better or worse, definitely would be in the top four and I think

[Stephen Paul]

anywhere else, I mean, Elbaf does have top five character Rocksy Z back, so.

[Alex]

It does.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Oh yeah.

[Zach]

The other thing I wanted to do. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Thank you for reminding me.

[Alex]

Go through who's who' in the top 100 this week.

[Zach]

Legitimately Want to know. I have not seen these results. So let's see where we are. By the way, as of recording time on March 22, 76 million votes. Come on. We could do better.

[Alex]

I gotta vote for a vote today. Let's do that.

[Zach]

Yeah. Voting ends June 11th. You could vote once per day or use an incognito window if you really want to.

[Steve]

Or 6. 11, as some people would say.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Zach]

Who would say that? Steve. Okay. In Japan, this is shocking. So let's do top five. I'll go five to one. Ace. Trafalgar D, Water Law. Zorro.

[Steve]

Don't say their full names, please.

[Zach]

No, just for him. Zorro, Luffy. And number one. Steve, can you guess number one? Who's above Loafy?

[Stephen Paul]

Woo.

[Zach]

It's Sanji. Yeah. I'm shocked. I don't know what happened there. Why is Sanji number one?

[Stephen Paul]

Did they write it out like Vin Smoke? Sanji? Like his full Christian name?

[Zach]

No, just Sanji. Which is right. Whoever did this. Which I assume is like you and Greg.

[Steve]

Good going, Sha.

[Alex]

Oh, my God. I'm actually. So I'm. I'm going to vote right now. And I was just going down the list and I gotta applaud Steven again because I forgot that he translated Brown Beard's name to Brown Dress Beardriguez.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Anyway, I'm voting for the Eggplant Soldier.

[Zach]

So Japan is its own region. Asia is the other. Asia. Trafalgar D. Water Law. Nami. Sanji. Zorro. Number one. Luffy. Oceania. Oceania. Whatever. Robin. Trafalgar D. Waterlaw. Why is he there so much? He hasn't even been in the story. God.

[Steve]

Stop being pedantic.

[Zach]

Zorro. Luffy. Hold on.

[Alex]

He's. He's in. He's in OPLA playing Zoro.

[Zach]

There it is. And number one in Ocean. Oh, shit. Yeah. I've lost it. Sanji. Sanji is number one there too. What is happening this week? Nami. This is in North America. Nami. Robin. Zorro. Luffy. Sanji.

[Steve]

Chef's Kiss.

[Zach]

Yeah. What are you doing, Steve? Are you cheating?

[Alex]

Sanji's having a moment. Huh? Huh?

[Stephen Paul]

We've been proselytizing the Gospel of Sanji for using our vocabulary.

[Zach]

Proselytizing?

[Alex]

New word.

[Zach]

I know the word. I just can't pronounce it like most words. Central and South America. Trafalgar. Deep Water Law. Nami. Zoro. Luffy. Sanji. What's happening?

[Steve]

Breaking it in.

[Zach]

What is happening? Okay, here we go. Europe. Let's see if you could do it right. Robin. Luffy. Sanji. Zorro. Number one. Nami. Wow. Good choice. Good choices. The Middle East. Zabek or Davey D. Zabek. Rox D. Zabek or David D. Zabek.

[Alex]

Are they dying? Different entries.

[Zach]

No, it's the same. It's Parenthesis It's a parenthetical monkey. D. Luffy. Zorro. Sanji. Nami. You made it up there at the end. Oh, so Zabek is only in the Middle east right now, so. Not in this one.

[Stephen Paul]

His star has fallen.

[Zach]

His star has fallen. Africa. Shanks.

[Steve]

Not Africa. No. No, he's not shanks.

[Zach]

Nobility. Luffy. Sanji. Zoro. So there you go, Mosshead. That's the rankings that we have right now. Do they have like a everyone or No? I guess they don't do that.

[Steve]

No.

[Alex]

Hold on. I'm going to look up Teach to see if they also have parenthetical Davey D. Teach or whatever.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh God, I don't think so. Because they haven't referred to him by that name.

[Alex]

Okay. It just says Marshall D. Teach. Blackbeard. Okay.

[Zach]

Also, I need to read this. Dear One Piece fans, it has recently come to our attention that the following characters were not included in the currently ongoing second global One Piece Character poll. We apologize. We sincerely apologize for the omission of Minatomo Parenthetical East Blue. Da Dee Dee. Charlotte Basans. Charlotte Doze. March. I'm so pronouncing these incorrect. Charlotte Compo. Charlotte Hatch. She. Charlotte Maple. This brings the total amounts of 1567. They're still missing.

[Steve]

Some nerd asked for them to be fired for that blunder.

[Zach]

I think they still don't have Bogart.

[Stephen Paul]

Apparently.

[Zach]

Bogart is who they're missing who? You would think.

[Brendan Murray]

Which is insane.

[Zach]

It is really insane.

[Steve]

Yeah, that one's good because he would just get the. He would just get the Bardock.

[Stephen Paul]

Vote

[Steve]

for appearing in like three films.

[Zach]

More than Hordon.

[Alex]

That made me so mad for like five minutes of my life.

[Zach]

Anyway, we're here to say vote for Dr. Fishbone in. I think that I want Steve to be able to own a figure of Dr. Fishbone in.

[Steve]

Be pretty swell. I was in Japan and like they still make frickin whoopslap shit, you know?

[Zach]

You know, warranted.

[Steve]

It's like they had to sign a contract like, because they damn well knew he was a meme vote. But it's like he's getting stuff.

[Zach]

Yeah. I mean, once you become a top 100, you get maybe just vote for that.

[Steve]

That Fishman. That's not Jim Bay. They were in the hack. They're in top 100. What's his name? Freaking. The magic of Reading Charlotte kid. What's his name?

[Zach]

Oh, Mont.

[Steve]

Montor. He hasn't gotten crap. So.

[Alex]

The Bookmobile.

[Zach]

Yeah, the Bookmobile guy.

[Alex]

Check it over.

[Steve]

But there's hope.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Zach]

Let's wrap this up. We'll be back next week with our 1178 recap. Please check out OPLA, which is on the main feed. We also have a separate feed for it, so. And it's on YouTube and so on and so forth. And. And the voice you heard today will also be in our interview this week. So look forward to that. But until then, my name is Zach.

[Steve]

My name is Steve.

[Alex]

And my name is Alex.

[Zach]

And that's Steve and Paul. Fuck Ice, everyone. Goodbye.

[Stephen Paul]

Fuck Ice.

[Alex]

Thanks.

[Brendan Murray]

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[Steve]

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[Zach]

the og it kicked off this whole

[Brendan Murray]

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[Steve]

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[Brendan Murray]

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[Steve]

So if you've been living in the

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[Steve]

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