Episode 913, “Drums of Subjugation”

Summary

The One Piece Podcast — Episode 913: “Drums of Subjugation” (April 6, 2026)

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Overview

This episode is a jam-packed deep dive into both the anime and manga sides of One Piece, centered around the explosive reveal in manga Chapter 1179, “Narona Imu Descends.” Host Zach and the regular crew—including Alex, Stephen Paul (One Piece translator), Jill Knight, Ken O’Connor, and a late-game cameo by Steve Yurko—are joined by their trademark blend of critical insight, inside translation knowledge, and off-the-rails humor. With the anime back after a lengthy hiatus and the manga dropping one of its most historic villain reveals ever, the episode is filled with close analysis, fandom reactions, notable quotes, and a lot of laughter.

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Episode Highlights & Key Discussions

1. Anime’s Return & Artistic Direction

Timestamps: 03:15–13:20

• Anime Recap: The crew dig into the anime's first episode back, appreciating its polished look and “Oda-esque” style.
  • Stephen (04:05): “It felt very polished. It did not feel like, oh, there’s twenty different people animating this, and you can tell. It felt very smooth in terms of character art.”
  • Zach (05:28): “It looked the most Oda-like looking that I’ve seen … for good or bad.”
• Nostalgia & Direction: Old music and sound effects draw out nostalgia, but also feel dissonant with modern animation.
• Seasonal Format: Speculation on the switch to a seasonal model and its impact on animation quality, consistency, and opening theme handling.
  • Ken (11:36): “I wonder if the opening has a bunch of Elbaf imagery, and they don’t want to spoil…”

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2. Fandom & Food Crossovers

Timestamps: 13:36–20:35

• Popeyes x One Piece Collaboration: Light-hearted discussion of the leaked One Piece/Popeyes fast-food tie-in. The menu doesn’t impress, and the panel jokes frequently about the dry-looking “Chopper’s Cupcake.”
  • Ken (16:02): “It looks like a biscuit with icing.”
  • Zach (16:07): “There is no greater sin I could bestow upon a baked good than that.”
• Brand Synergy Oddities: Noting the surreal nature of recent crossovers, including one with the Seattle Mariners, and how “off” American One Piece brand extensions feel.

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3. Live Action & Interview Announcements

Timestamps: 20:35–24:48

• Announcing a slew of interview content with Netflix’s live-action cast and crew, as well as behind-the-scenes discussions with VFX artists and musicians.
  • Alex (21:29): “That was a really fun interview. I am looking forward to everybody getting to hear it.”
• Meta-Commentary on Interview Interruptions: Amusing self-awareness about the challenges of multi-person Zoom interviews.

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4. Manga Recap: Chapter 1179 — ‘Narona Imu Descends’

Timestamps: 25:58–74:00

A. Spoiler Avoidance

• How much of the fandom avoided the historic Imu character reveal, and memories of the “fake spoiler” culture.
  • Zach (26:59): “I feel like I would have thought this page were fake…”

B. Reader Request & Color Spread

• Fun with Yamato, Ace, and Otama leading boar piglets—a lighthearted moment before the heavy plot beats.
  • Ken (29:46): “I love Yamato. That’s no surprise. Oda draws Yamato eating a lot recently.”

C. The World Government’s Food Crisis and Garling’s Debut

• York is now forced to run the energy plant in Mary Geoise, but is hungry and tantruming—much laughter about her “hungy” outburst.
  • Stephen Paul (37:57): “That’s genius.” (regarding spelling 'hungy')
  • Alex (37:54): “This is just toddlerhood. Jesus Christ, is it just really toddlerhood.”
  • Alex (36:11): “He’s like Kramer. He just bursts open and he’s like ‘Hey, buddy!’ and eats cereal out of the box.”

D. Imu’s Descent, Flashbacks, and Preordained Conflict

• Imu prepares to descend from Mary Geoise to Elbaf, with the Five Elders and Garling debating the move. Imu delivers cryptic lines about fate and preordainment, including a flashback panel montage of previous “D” figures and Joy Boy.
  • Imu (40:23): “Arrogance, sloth, detachment, pride, casteth away these things at once. All is preordained.”
  • Panel flashbacks to Rocks, Roger, Neptune, Shanks, Loki, Whitebeard, Luffy, Teach, Lily, Joy Boy, and Davy Jones.

E. Elbaf Aftermath & Enemy Gags

• Defeated members of the “Five Elders Guards” are now comic relief, as Zoro, Sanji, and the Giants play with their would-be executioners’ disassembled bodies.
  • Zach (48:50): “If this idiot [Zoro] could figure it out, I’m fucked.”

F. Revelations Amidst the Chaos

• Loki explains that his flash freeze can’t be undone except by Ratataskr, as Luffy struggles to eat frozen food.
• A mysterious, black, pillar-like magic circle descends on Elbaf, accompanied by “drums” and musical, Big Mom-esque anthropomorphic houses and trees—the “Drums of Subjugation”.
  • Stephen Paul (58:05): “It just is very much in that vein of, like, Nightmare Before Christmas. Bunch of wacky, kind of evil-ish looking things all cackling…”

G. Imu’s True Form Revealed!

Timestamps: 64:46–77:46

• The much-hyped reveal: Imu emerges atop the castle, depicted as a tall, dark-skinned, shirtless, androgynous figure with Lunarian-like features (horns, wild white hair), patchwork pants, a championship belt, menacing aura, and a distinctive eye motif (echoing ‘Pride’ from Full Metal Alchemist and even Final Fantasy/20th Century Boys/Legend of Zelda art).

  • Stephen Paul (74:54): “My very first thought was, ‘oh, this looks like a bad guy from…Hiro Mashima… Fairy Tail…’ because it’s outside Oda’s wheelhouse.”
  • The group debates: cool or OC? Alien or demon? Deliberately non-One Piece design?

• Translation Knot: “The Devil’s Fruit”

  • Stephen Paul (113:24): Spells out the translation riddle of how Imu’s “Akuma no Mi” is written differently from any other devil fruit, as a possessive: “Devil’s Fruit,” not “Devil Fruit”.
    • Possible implications: the “original” devil fruit, or the devil from which all others come?

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5. Fandom Reaction Roundtable

Timestamps: 77:46–107:37

• Each host offers their take on the design and impact of Imu’s form:

  • Deviates from Oda’s usual style, looks like it’s from another series.
  • Reminiscent of Final Fantasy, Amano artwork, Fairy Tail, Bleach, the “god” character archetype.
  • Most think the out-of-place design is deliberate—to mark Imu as otherworldly.
  • Some humor over “oh no, he’s hot,” and meme potential.
  • Oda’s paneling/composition for this historic reveal is critiqued for not giving Imu’s form space to breathe.

• Thematic Speculation:

  • Is Imu an alien, a god, a demon, literally the origin of devil fruits?
  • Are we headed toward a Luffy/Blackbeard joint final boss scenario?
  • Multiple references to Oda’s influences and history with video game and manga art forms.

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6. Listener Piece Together / Q&A Lightning Round

Timestamps: 149:17–163:56

• Notable listener discussion topics and memes:
  • Best classic One Piece silhouette fakeouts.
  • What is Imu’s “Devil’s Fruit”? Did previous translations drop hints?
  • What music plays for Imu’s entrance—jokes about “My Sharona” and “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
  • Will the story now prioritize spectacle over narrative?
  • “Does Imu poop?” (answer: yes, probably.)
  • Is Imu a Lunarian, an alien, or something wholly new?
  • Multiple callbacks to the wacky “Chopper’s Cupcake may vary” running joke.

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7. Closing Announcements & Plugs

Timestamps: 164:40–END

• Promotion of Patreon, Anime & OPLA Interview content, and community events like Arc Madness.
• Where to find the hosts on Blue Sky & other socials.

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Memorable Quotes

• Stephen (40:23): “Arrogance, sloth, detachment, pride — casteth away these things at once. All is preordained.”
• Zach (74:00): “Oh no, he IS hot.”
• Ken (32:33): “Come to Wano, where we’ll bore you.”
• Alex (37:54): “This is just toddlerhood. Jesus Christ, is it just really toddlerhood.”
• Jill (55:45): “That is a front-facing Simpson if I’ve ever seen it.”
• Zach (127:57): “Maybe he’s like the devil. Maybe it’s just the Drums of Liberation played backwards.”

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Key Timestamps for Major Segments

• 03:15 – Anime Recap and Artistic Critique
• 13:36 – Popeyes Crossover & Brand Musings
• 25:58 – Manga Recap Start: Imu’s Descent
• 41:00 – Imu’s Fate, Flashback Montage & Preordained Conflict
• 64:46 – Imu’s True Form Revealed
• 77:46 – Full Reaction Roundtable on Imu’s Design
• 113:24 – Stephen Explains “Devil’s Fruit” Translation
• 149:17 – Piece Together Q&A Lightning Round
• 164:40 – Show Closing/Round-off

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Tone and Style

• Deeply analytical but highly irreverent: meta-commentary, memes, running gags (“cupcake may vary”), self-aware goofiness, and zippy banter are as common as serious plot analysis and translation nerd-outs.
• Full of references to One Piece history, fandom culture, and broader manga/anime tropes.

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Summary Takeaway

Episode 913 captures a major One Piece milestone—the reveal of Imu’s true form—through the lenses of translation nuance, artistic critique, lore speculation, and hearty fandom inside jokes. While some wrestle with whether the reveal “feels” One Piece enough, the consensus is that the series has stepped into uncharted, exhilaratingly weird territory, blending devilish new stakes with the irrepressible fun that defines the podcast (and the series itself).

Transcript

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[Zach]

There's no one like you and there never will be.

[Steve Yurko]

From the producer Bohemian Rhapsody

[Stephen Paul]

There are

[Steve Yurko]

many legends, but There is only one Michael.

[Stephen Paul]

Radio PG13 in theaters April 24th.

[Zach]

This is the One Piece podcast episode 913 for the week of Monday, April 6, 2026. My name is Zach.

[Alex]

And my name is Alex.

[Zach]

And on today's episode we have very special guest. He is the translator for one piece in weekly Shonen, Jump and Manga Plus Stephen Paul. How's it going?

[Stephen Paul]

It's good. So you can say 900 now. I see.

[Zach]

This week. We'll see, we'll see, we'll see. This week. Yeah, it changes. We also have our contributor, Jill Knight. How's it going, Jill?

[Jill Knight]

Hi everyone. I've been to the dentist 12 times in 35 days.

[Zach]

Thank you.

[Jill Knight]

Throwing that out there. It's my life update.

[Zach]

Well, thank you for keeping our dentistry and dentist industry afloat. Single handedly. But I. I'm glad you're doing okay now because that sounds unpleasant just a bit.

[Jill Knight]

Didn't have dental trauma before this, but you know, they started putting me in the room closest to the door and man, sometimes I was thinking about taking a runner.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. Someone without any dental issues that we know of. Our archivist, Ken o' Connor's with us. How's it going, Ken?

[Ken O'Connor]

What if I just said like Zach today had so many drills in my mouth you wouldn't believe it.

[Zach]

Delaney, isolate the footage.

[Ken O'Connor]

Happy April, everyone. I haven't talked to you all since last March.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh my God.

[Zach]

Can someone. Why do I keep inviting.

[Ken O'Connor]

I just asked that right before we started recording.

[Zach]

I know, that's great.

[Stephen Paul]

How are you, Zach?

[Zach]

Good, Ken. It's great to have you here.

[Ken O'Connor]

Thank you so much.

[Zach]

Yeah. Today we're going through chapter 1179 Nerona IMU descends. So probably going to be kind of a quiet chapter.

[Stephen Paul]

It's pretty boring.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Well, yeah, we'll go through the. The specifics of the manga soon. The anime is back after a four month hiatus. It's been, or at least I think it's been since October November, I'm trying to remember specifically. Yeah. Sam Leach will return with our anime recap maybe next week, if not next week, soon thereafter. So look forward to that. Did any of you guys get a chance to watch the latest episode?

[Stephen Paul]

I did.

[Zach]

Stephen. I did too, which is rare. Also, I need to. As a one piece podcaster, I should probably be.

[Alex]

Anyway, how was it?

[Zach]

Alex, I think you specifically would probably like it in that they. Yeah, they lean into the nostalgia in a way that feels new. I mean, Steven, what did you think?

[Alex]

I'm not sure.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, well, it's kind of interesting because they, they hit a lot of the, like, in between stuff. So like, a lot of the episode is like what happened with Bartolomeo and Shanks and Blackbeard and Pudding and like all these other scenes. So it is kind of like a table setter episode. There's not a ton of the straw hats, but you know, they start off with like the scene at the end of Little Garden and like, you know, go ahead, onward to Elbaf, blah, blah, blah. And you know, they're all getting excited about it. So it is very much a table setter. I do kind of wonder, you know, I'm sure there are plenty of reasons that they had to, to make the decision to like, switch to this seasonal format now, but I also do wonder if maybe one of the benefits or one of the things that they were looking at was like trying to, to focus more, especially with all of these outside animators and folks who are like, helping out if, if they were trying to like, focus a little more on the, like the cohesion of the, the look and stuff. Because it, it felt very polished. Like, it did not feel, it did not feel like, oh, there, you know, like, like 20 different people were animating this and you can tell, like, and each, each shot that, that cuts, it's, it's very, it felt very smooth in terms of like the character art and stuff.

[Zach]

I thought it looked great. Like, it looked the most Oda, like looking that I've seen from high praise. But like, yeah, for good or for bad, it did look like ODA in a way that I feel like I haven't seen in the anime in quite a time.

[Alex]

Good, good. I hope that's consistent throughout the rest of it. And you know, I mean, I don't talk about the anime much on the podcast, but when I do, it's usually like, well, I don't like the over sakification of it. I, I mean, I like how whenever they do like, oh, here comes a big Gear for five set piece. It's like. It's like, yeah, like, show off, that's fine. But I feel like they go a little too far.

[Zach]

I sometimes. But I think it. I do like the idea as. As we've dubbed it in the past, it being an animator's playground, I do think is fun. And I think it fits generally within the spirit of the show.

[Alex]

That's fine. I just want it. I just want some consistency. And I think that with Egghead, I kind of like. I watched it here and there, but it felt like, really uneven to me at points.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, at points.

[Zach]

I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

Anyway, whatever.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. And there's. There's nothing in this episode that is gonna, like, test that, like, you know, if. If it is gonna be more of that kind of like, okay, here's the highlight for X Animator or whatever. There will be chances to test that out later in the arc. Obviously. This is just kind of like, you know, folks hanging out and talking type of an episode.

[Zach]

I'll say. The direction in this episode I thought was stellar. It's still weird, though, like, hearing the old music with, like, the stuff from Little Garden, you know, fits. But then hearing that same old music from like 30 years ago. And everyone knows I love Tanaka and all of that music deeply, but it is. It feels so, like, discordant with what's happening and the sound effects. I know if you listen. Steve, who will be on in the show later on, was also on Quest for the Best, talking about One Piece Movie six. And I think the complaint from Tristan, one of the co hosts, who is not into One Piece at all. The sound effects are like the thing that took him.

[Stephen Paul]

The library.

[Zach]

Yeah, the library. Like recognizing them from, like, Gundam or something else too.

[Stephen Paul]

Right?

[Zach]

It still suffers from that and that. Maybe it's just because it's like, on my mind right now, but I did notice that more than usual. I mean, that said, it was like, the direction in particular was stellar. Like, especially since I'm so manga saturated at the moment, like, everything's literally black and white for me. So it's just like, nice to see the. Both the color or like, the mood, the setting. Like in the Blackbeard scene, like in the. In the dark, you know, it's just. It's a very different. Yeah, I'm not.

[Stephen Paul]

It is. And it does have. You know, we're just going to keep talking, spoiling all the stuff that happens in this episode. But they do end with like, that little teaser of like, Nami waking up and it's like, oh, where. Where are we? What. What is this Elbaf like place? And like seeing it in color where it's like, it's very immediately obvious. And I mean it was. It was pretty easy to tell in the manga. But like looking at the anime too, like, it just really hits you over the head of like, oh, these are Legos. Like she's in a Lego place because it's all colored and like you can see the details very clearly. And so, yeah, the illusion. There's no mistaking what's going on there.

[Zach]

I'll say. As manga readers, I think this is just like a good thought experiment or whatever you want to call it for like manga versus anime, like consuming the story whichever way you choose. But like with the manga, you really do have to be detail oriented. Like you really have to pay attention to everything to really grasp the full situation. Whereas the anime by design is, I want to say spoon feeding it, but it's much more. It's just there and you're. I forget that because I'm not as inundated, especially since it's been on break for, for many months, by that kind of storytelling for one piece. It just feels very foreign almost at this point.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, there's a. Oftentimes I feel, especially in this arc, I feel like we more than ever we've had these, these moments where like we're looking at the panel and we're like, is this detail, like, are we focusing on something that is not like supposed to. Like, are we. Are we supposed to be like getting our magnifying glasses out and like trying to tell like what. What is going on with this character's limbs or whatever. And I just feel like that's something you just don't have to worry about with the anime because they, because they go into each shot like knowing, okay, what is the detail that we're supposed to be focusing on in a way that like Oda just can't do, apparently.

[Jill Knight]

And not only in the anime, but if it is important, you'll get a flashback for it. When it's important, they'll like give you a two minute segment of what I want.

[Zach]

I think Oda is writing the manga with that in mind, which does, I think hurt the manga sometimes. And we've talked about this. I know. So I don't want to harp on it too much. There also was no opening or ending. Like, you know, actual. They had the opening theme, but they didn't actually included in the episode, which was interesting. Maybe it wasn't done yet or they just had a lot of content.

[Ken O'Connor]

Was it a longer episode? Like, did they.

[Zach]

No, I don't think it was. It's 23 minutes.

[Stephen Paul]

No idea. Yeah, interesting.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't.

[Stephen Paul]

Those cold opens.

[Zach]

Well, it was a cold open and then it never. There was the open never happened because I'm like, oh, cool, a cold open. Yeah. This is great.

[Stephen Paul]

It's just a cold show.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, it was a cold show. That's what it was. And it's just like, oh, no, we're at the halfway point and there's. Okay. No, it was. I was very impressed. Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

I wonder if the opening has a bunch of Elbaf imagery and, like, they don't want to spoil until, like, Elbaf proper is revealed. Because if you see Elbaf the opening and Nami's in Legoland, there could be like, well, we've kind of spoiled the surprise for viewers who only watch the anime.

[Stephen Paul]

It's never bothered them before.

[Jill Knight]

No, no, they can't spoil Robin's bangs.

[Ken O'Connor]

This is season two now. Who knows, dude?

[Alex]

They spoil spoiled Robin joining the crew. They would just spoil 20 episodes.

[Ken O'Connor]

No, no, believe me, I get it, but I can't. I just can't think of another reason why they wouldn't have the opening part of this as the bigger turn.

[Alex]

I think it's because it's a big return and they're like, let's do something kind of special.

[Zach]

I think that's what it was, the actual opening. Yeah. Or maybe they just legitimately did not finish it yet. Is possible. Which is funny.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. We paid this singer for 12 episodes, not 13.

[Zach]

Or even that. It could legitimately. It could. That could be.

[Alex]

That would be kind of funny though, if they did air the opening, but it had like. Oh, shit. Like when Oda doesn't finish a chapter, it had like just the pencil shading

[Jill Knight]

lyrics written.

[Zach]

They've been like, working studiously over the last, like six months on the. On this episode.

[Alex]

Yeah, guys, look, we're.

[Zach]

We're forgot the opening.

[Alex]

We are really going to be like, extra careful this time. We're going to make sure that it's fits Oda's vision one to one. So we're not going to finish some of the episodes. We're just gonna like, put some of the. What is it called? The Ginga. I don't know what Genga.

[Stephen Paul]

I don't know what Genga.

[Zach]

Yeah, I think it's Genga you're thinking of.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, one piece will be off next week.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah, that would really give. Give the full. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of, one piece is off next week, right?

[Stephen Paul]

Yes, it is.

[Zach]

Yes. Yeah. Before we get into the manga, we have some more very important news. I'm gonna throw this once again, so go for it.

[Ken O'Connor]

All right, so if rumors are to be. I don't think this has been officially announced yet, but if we believe these rumors, there is a one piece Popeyes crossover coming out April 13th nationwide. Here in the US you can get such delicacies as Gum, Gum, Fruit Lemonade and Chopper's Cupcake. You know, we all know Choppers Cupcake, famously from the manga. You can also get. They have like two meals. There's the Luffy Bento Box, which is your choice of a side, and only two pieces of chicken, which goes against, I think everything Luffy stands for. And there's the Luffy Bento Bundle, which is the chicken Mac and cheese, the gum, Gum, Fruit lemonade, Chopper's cupcake. It's all in a special Popeyes one piece, like, custom box. And yeah, again, this has not been officially announced yet, but everyone's been posting it, so it seems to be legit. Does anyone have any thoughts on this crossover?

[Stephen Paul]

I can't wait to save my greasy custom box collector's item.

[Alex]

I can't wait. Honestly, this sounds like Universal Studios food.

[Jill Knight]

I was just saying that.

[Alex]

Yeah, 100%.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah. It doesn't sound great. Like, I was saying before the show that the cup. There's an image going around of all the food from the crossover. And the Gum, Gum, Fruit Lemonade is in this really nice looking glass cup that has the devil fruit swirls all over it. And Jill politely crushed my dreams. Like, Ken, that's gonna be a plastic cup or a sleeve. It's not gonna be a glass y.

[Jill Knight]

No, I'm sorry. This isn't McDonald's from the 90s. We're not getting our commemorative cups here. I mean, I'm sure the chicken will be fine. It's Popeyes, like, whatever. But the cupcake is a little sus.

[Ken O'Connor]

The fact that, like, the chicken and the choice aside is not even one piece theme. It's like, oh, it's just two pieces of chicken. Like, they couldn't call it something. I don't know, just call it something different. Like what's meat on the bone? What's the water meat from?

[Alex]

Water, Water meat.

[Stephen Paul]

Water chicken.

[Ken O'Connor]

Water Chicken.

[Zach]

That sounds.

[Alex]

Nobody's going to want to. Nobody's gonna want that even look good in the anime.

[Jill Knight]

Let's be real here. It looked pretty bad in the anime.

[Alex]

Chicken and Chicken Sauce.

[Ken O'Connor]

I mean, have you seen this? Shoppers cupcake? No one's. No one's gonna want this cupcake either.

[Zach]

No. That is the worst looking cupcake I've ever seen.

[Ken O'Connor]

Dry. It's looking. It's not even a cupcake.

[Alex]

It looks. It does look dry.

[Ken O'Connor]

It's like a flat. Like, it looks like a biscuit. It's a biscuit with icing.

[Zach]

Before we were starting that, I had a kosher for passover cake, which are the worst. Never have. That's what it looks like. There is no greater sin I could bestow upon a baked good than that. Yeah.

[Alex]

I think a biscuit with icing is probably what it is. And honestly, I love Popeyes.

[Ken O'Connor]

Well, according to Kim, according to icing, it's a strawberry cake topped with pink strawberry icing and white sprinkles.

[Zach]

Yes. But actual cupcake may vary.

[Alex]

Actual cupcake may vary.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yours may be a biscuit.

[Jill Knight]

I would not just see everyone take pictures of their cupcakes and compare.

[Zach]

Please do. I. Intrigued, man.

[Alex]

Yeah, I think this is. This is. This is so funny to me, like, this entire thing, because there's. It's not live action branded one. I feel like that would be the reason to do this.

[Zach]

Well, this is an official.

[Stephen Paul]

Right, like, so this could be a markup.

[Zach]

This could be a markup with.

[Alex]

It could be. But, like, what if the. The person in charge of, like, at the test kitchen or whatever is like a Weeb and they're like, you know what? I love one piece. It's peak. It's what other. What other YouTubers are saying these days. Peak. The other words.

[Zach]

Alex, you're on YouTube right now.

[Alex]

Shit. That means I'm doing it right. Anyways, I feel like this has never happened with Dragon Ball.

[Zach]

Right? I mean, for Naruto, not Popeyes, I don't think. But there's definitely been Dragon Ball related

[Alex]

food, crossover Burger King, kids meals, like, ages ago.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah. Like Dragon Ball.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, my God. Yes.

[Jill Knight]

Yes.

[Stephen Paul]

It is funny to think, though, that, like, if this was the glamour shots that they came up with, like, just how bad are the real thing gonna be?

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Or maybe they'll be better. I don't know.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't. I didn't even realize there were sprinkles on that cake until I zoomed in because it's the same color as the frosting and it looks.

[Jill Knight]

Well, you know, it's like prepackaged, like in little plastic.

[Ken O'Connor]

It's like a little Debbie's cake.

[Jill Knight]

Yes. I mean, that's what they're gonna be.

[Zach]

This does not look appetizing. I'm not even gonna say what I. I'm not even gonna say what I think it looks like.

[Ken O'Connor]

I also don't like they calling it like a bento box. Like. Yeah, I mean, I guess kind of.

[Zach]

It's Japan.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

I better get chopsticks to eat my fried chicken with.

[Zach]

I will say it is generally, and I say this for everything I feel like these days, but it is surreal to see something like this. Generally. Speaking of surreal crossovers with one Piece the Seattle Mariners and one piece crossed over, when was this? The third. So this, this past weekend with a chopper that looks adorable and a Luffy that looks terrifying. I don't know if I have anything else to say about that to you, Steven.

[Stephen Paul]

No, I didn't. I did not even hear about this until I saw this picture.

[Ken O'Connor]

Saying that is terrifying though.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

That Luffy. It's just a Luffy mask. It's a guy in a.

[Ken O'Connor]

No, it's a full body. It's a full body suit.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah, they should just have like.

[Zach]

That's. That's much worse. Oh, my God.

[Alex]

I will say that this, this effort to bring One Piece over to America in ways other than the anime and manga is really baffling to me.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Alex]

Like sports events and Popeyes. Like, it's really weird. I'm not. Am I, am I the only one who thinks this?

[Zach]

No, it's weird. It's not. I don't know if it's bad. I don't know if it's misguided.

[Alex]

It's just, it's baffling.

[Zach]

But it is baffling. Yes.

[Stephen Paul]

You can, you can really, you can really see the like, okay, here's like the brand, the branding meetings that they're having where like these different companies are like, okay, well, we need a promotional thing for this week or the, like this half of the month. And they're like, all right, what is happening in the end of March? Like early April. And like, okay, well, Netflix is doing a big push for this one show. So I guess we'll just do this because this is the biggest, like the, they cross the. The graph crosses the line at this point. So we'll just, you know, do a one piece collab or something. And that's just how you get these really bizarre, like, completely tone deaf promotions. Cross promotions. I don't know. It's a strange world.

[Zach]

Less baffling. We want to let everyone know that we have interviews up now with the live action cast of the One Piece Live action show from Netflix, including we have Mikayla Hoover, who plays Chopper. We had Brendan Sean Murray on as well, who plays Brogy, and most recently, Mark Herlick on the show. And if you have not listened to that interview, that's a really fun one. I hope you all enjoy it.

[Alex]

Watch that one on YouTube. There's a bonus at the end.

[Zach]

You can watch all of them. But yes, on YouTube, there is a bonus visual thing, so you could. You could join us for that. This coming week, we have Rob Coletti, and Alex was there with me to interview Rob, who plays Walpole.

[Alex]

Yes, that was a really fun interview. I am looking forward to everybody getting to hear it. I will say I never do this because why do I. Why would I ever do this? I did see a YouTube comment that I want to address. What, the Mark her like interview? Yeah, yeah. Saying that we cut him off a lot. And I'm just gonna. I will just say that everybody's Internet connections different. There may have been a delay here or there. So, yeah, there's. There may be some cutting off when it comes to, you know, the interviews, but that doesn't mean that we were doing it intentionally. I'm just putting that out there for the record and getting off the bottom.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. I think anybody who has been in a zoom meeting where everybody is, like, just on their laptop mics with no headphones understands how that. How that works. You just talk over each other.

[Zach]

I am. I've become very bougie about my zoom meetings for that very reason. I'm the Internet commenter. Usually, to be fair, someone responded and said I was surprised how little they interrupted, considering it was five people on a zoom meeting and, like in a. In a zoom call. And to that person, I.

[Stephen Paul]

Your mileage. Your mileage may vary.

[Zach]

Yeah, what was it, Cupcake? May vary? Is that what we're calling this? We also have our interview with Aura coming up, and Kirsten Carey, the musician on our show, also joined me for that. That was a really fun one. And we kind of just gush about anime in one piece for a good half of it. And I think that one's also. I think that was around an hour as well. So enjoy that. I know we spoke after we finished recording for, like, another 20 minutes, so I can't remember how long the actual interview was. So enjoy that. And we haven't recorded it as we sit here today, but our interview with the folks at Frame Store who did the VFX for the one piece live action that's coming in a few weeks as well, you could also find more One Piece podcast content besides the 913 episodes or 913 episodes as Steven would like me to say on this on this on this main feed. If you go to patreon.com one piece podcast. I don't believe the latest Sticker of the Month crew poll has come out yet. Right, Ken? Do you know?

[Ken O'Connor]

Not yet, no.

[Zach]

Yeah, but it will be this week I believe. Maybe Steve will have information if and when he joins us soon. You could also subscribe though and get early access to our OPLA episodes. You get ad free and episodes ad free and extended episodes of this podcast as well as alternate images and alternate titles from our amazing artists. So please subscribe. What are you waiting for? I think that's everything. Happy Birthday to Usopp, Jinbe and Brook. But with that out of the way, let's move on into the manga.

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[Ken O'Connor]

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[Stephen Paul]

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[Ken O'Connor]

No, it's our honor. It is our larger honor.

[Jill Knight]

No, really, stop.

[Ken O'Connor]

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[Zach]

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[Stephen Paul]

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[Zach]

This is the manga recap for chapter 1179. Narona Imu descends. You can read this chapter and all chapters as soon as they come out from ShonenJump, viz.com or MangaPlus Shueisha Co JP it's legal, it's free, it's worldwide, and so I have to start here. On that note, who made it through this week? Spoiler free. Me, Steven.

[Jill Knight]

Me.

[Stephen Paul]

Me.

[Zach]

Ken. You did.

[Stephen Paul]

No. Would have spoiled me.

[Ken O'Connor]

I got spoiled on what was coming, but I did not see the. I did not see any designs, but I got spoiled on what was coming.

[Zach]

Yeah, me too. I think that's about.

[Ken O'Connor]

I mean, if you read the chapter Title as soon as you read legally, you know it's coming. But.

[Zach]

Well, to be fair, we kinda even at the end of last week, I was pretty convinced. That part's not a surprise. I was waiting for it.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah. I was more upset how prevalent they were this week though, from what I gathered.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah. I know. Roger and golfer and others were talking about like just avoid the Internet this week. And I did mute like terms including emu for the last week. And that helps.

[Ken O'Connor]

It was April Fools too. So it was a. It was a good week to not be on the Internet at all.

[Alex]

I kind of want to go back now and see like if any. There were any fake spoilers floating. Floating around as to what I will

[Zach]

say before we get into like the really like the. The chapter itself. I feel like I would have thought that this page were fake. Was fake. But we could get into it.

[Alex]

I definitely would have. I 100% would have too.

[Zach]

Which is actually kind of. Would have been an amazing April Fool's joke. I would have been mad about it. Don't get me wrong. Like most April Fool's jokes, it will leave you angry and bitter.

[Ken O'Connor]

But.

[Zach]

But it is a little funny. You have to, you know. Yeah. Because it. I'd be like, this is not real. What are you even sending me this for? Especially if it looked like we've had

[Jill Knight]

some great fake one piece spoilers back in the day.

[Zach]

I still remember the one is the one where that we all always talk about.

[Ken O'Connor]

Which one is that?

[Zach]

Jill?

[Jill Knight]

Oh, well, I was talking about. Were they the one who did Impel Down? Yeah. Where it was like Luffy got the even cough treatment and was going through the rest of the arc as a woman. That was. That tricked quite a few people when that first happened.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's funny.

[Zach]

That one. I was disappointed. Did not happen. I'm like, I think that would have been a lot of fun. And I think that is a really missed opportunity. Especially like right after the Amazon Lily. Yeah. But that would have been perfect. Like in after Amazon Lily with that whole thing with the. You know. I feel like that would have been fun. But Impel down is fine. I don't know why I said it like that. Anyway. Okay, read a request. Who do I have first? Ken, do you want to read the reader request?

[Ken O'Connor]

I would love to, Zach. Thank you. Ace. No Tama and Yamato leading boar piglets on a hike down a wetlands path by Naoyama wants to travel. And you have that pen name, right?

[Alex]

That's your pen name.

[Ken O'Connor]

No, no. If my pen name is the man who loves Yamato or whatever it was. Yeah.

[Zach]

You actually got one in, so.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. For those who don't know. Oh, I'm. Come on. For those who don't know it was you.

[Ken O'Connor]

Listen, if it said Ken o', Connor, I'd be over the moon. I'd be claiming. I'd be putting it everywhere. But because it just says the man who loves Yamato, I'm like, okay, there's enough there for me to doubt, But

[Zach]

I still, like, your 15 minutes of fame is 100%. The fact that Ken is the person behind Robin playing chess with the straw hats color spread, which is like a favorite color spread, I think, of the modern era. So.

[Ken O'Connor]

Absolutely.

[Zach]

You should absolutely take all the credit for it, including the art. But. Yeah. Thoughts on the mountain God and. And his kids, I guess.

[Alex]

Good to see him, I guess.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah. Ace wants to eat that.

[Ken O'Connor]

He's gonna eat that fish.

[Jill Knight]

He's like, ooh, nugget.

[Alex]

Oh, I can't wait to eat that monkey.

[Ken O'Connor]

He's got a hat on. A hat too.

[Zach]

Ace should have a southern accent in this. In this little situation here.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Some freckles.

[Ken O'Connor]

Is that Otama waving, like a little flag in the background? Like, follow this way kind of guess.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

It looks like the straw, you know?

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Oh, is that a straw hat flag?

[Stephen Paul]

It looks like it.

[Steve Yurko]

It looks.

[Stephen Paul]

You can see like the hat and the bones.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

Actual. Okay, so let me point out my glasses here. And that's impossible. She can't have a straw hat flag. And Ace also being alive. That doesn't make any sense. I didn't even think of that. Should have gotten fired for that blunder.

[Jill Knight]

Yamato's too short.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, boy.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's actually true. Yeah. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yamato should be towering over Ace.

[Stephen Paul]

Yamato standing in a large hole.

[Jill Knight]

I can see the foot.

[Zach]

It's just forced out.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah. Also, the mountain gotchi bigger than 2.

[Zach]

Yamato is just all the way in the distance. You can't tell because he's not, but he is.

[Alex]

Peter Jackson filmed this.

[Ken O'Connor]

I was about to say that's how they filmed Gandalf.

[Zach]

That's how they filmed.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. And that's not Otama. That's a full grown man wearing a body suit like Mariners.

[Ken O'Connor]

Actual otama may vary.

[Zach]

Ken, your thoughts on Yamato?

[Ken O'Connor]

Just generally, I love Yamato. That's no surprise. I realized that Oda draws Yamato eating a lot recently. Like between this and the sweet potato color spread they had. And during The Yamato cover story, they were always eating something. I'm just. I'm noting that it gives him like

[Zach]

the attitude, you know.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, absolutely.

[Zach]

Yeah. It's like.

[Ken O'Connor]

It's like me.

[Zach]

I'm Odin. I'm Eden.

[Jill Knight]

It's the whole Wano for food is, you know, freedom thing.

[Stephen Paul]

True, true.

[Zach]

So that's a good point.

[Stephen Paul]

The pose and just like the. The composition with Yamato makes it look like it's like a travel brochure or something. Like, come see wano we have.

[Ken O'Connor]

You were here visit Curry now with 100 less Kaido.

[Zach]

Come to. Come to Wano where we'll bore you.

[Steve Yurko]

That's good.

[Jill Knight]

You'll never be bored. Encourage.

[Zach]

No, you will be. And you'll be bored and gourd. Okay, let's. Let's start the chapter. I apologize for all of that for few seconds.

[Ken O'Connor]

Apologize. It's great.

[Zach]

No, I'm.

[Ken O'Connor]

This is good stuff.

[Zach]

No, it wasn't. It wasn't.

[Ken O'Connor]

Okay, let me. Let's get into this then. We start off here on the first page with the silhouette of Imu. And the elders over the phone are like, great Emu. Did I hear that right? And we are in Sacred Mary Joa in the hall of Power. And the elders are like, you don't mean to go to Elbaf, do you? Please don't do this. You mustn't descend to the Lower world. And Garling enters the room. Do not be so smug and secure. Do you think that the Holy Land can remain safe forever? And they're like Garling. Garling continues. With Shamrock's return, it seems that the situation is quelled. But the Lower World's plan to starve us still continues. Dignity and power will not fill our stomachs. What can we do on our own? And Garling continues. What we need right now is the military might to keep the rest of the world under our thumb. And then there's the former Navy headquarters. And Garling's cut off by a click. And we hear Garling, where's all the food? This is a very special dragony of you. And we are. We see York is now located in the Labophase power plant, which has now been relocated to marry Joa. I don't know if this is. They took the entire lab from Egghead here, or this is a brand new one. But the Mother Flame is in the tank in the background, and Garling is lecturing York over the phone. I warned you about this, York. The Holy Land is under a food shortage. And one of the things that can break the siege is the Mother Flame. You want to live like a Celestial dragon? Then hurry up and produce energy for us. But I'm hungry. As York just flails on the ground. I'm very happy to see York, by the way. And she continues, this wasn't part of the deal. And then back to Garling. Needless to say, your original form, Vegapunk, is one of the rebellious forces against us. Consider this way. This way for you to take responsibility for yourself. And as she starts to scream, Garling just clicks and hangs up on her.

[Stephen Paul]

Sucks to suck.

[Jill Knight]

I love that York has to deal with this particular consequence of her action. When she goes hungry. I think that's really great.

[Ken O'Connor]

It's like the one thing that she was excited about was all the food. And it's the one thing that the revolutionary army has taken away from the Celestial Dragons.

[Stephen Paul]

Do you think he was like out of the room because he was like waxing his beard at that moment?

[Zach]

Absolutely.

[Stephen Paul]

He had to freshen it up.

[Jill Knight]

And he was listening at the door too for like when it was like a good moment to step in.

[Alex]

I feel like this is. You know what he's like, Kramer. Because I feel like the only times he ever shows up to this room is like he just bursts open and he's like, hey, buddy. And he just starts eating cereal out of the fucking box. I like the last couple. Like the only Kramer.

[Zach]

He's the one Kramer. Yeah.

[Alex]

So he's the one celestial dragon that doesn't. I'm sorry, the 15 5th elder, I guess, who doesn't just sit around doing nothing and waiting for shit to happen. He just. Yeah, he's going over there making deals with his friend Bob Sakimano.

[Ken O'Connor]

And

[Zach]

you're making my day getting in

[Alex]

the get rich quick scheme.

[Zach]

I was going to say he's doing his job too, since he is the science new science minister and he's like the direct, you know, employer, if you want to say a Vega punk here. So funny.

[Ken O'Connor]

He does feel like that new hire at work who's like overly, like, like ambitious. Like, I'm going to do everything I can for this company. I'm going to do so great. Either for like we are. We don't have this energy anymore.

[Zach]

No, I agree with the second part in particular. But I think he also brings the energy of I'm new here and I know what the fuck I'm doing. Like, I was hired because I'm the guy who's going to fix this place and it gets shit done as the Walls crumble around.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's a garlic guarantee.

[Alex]

Yeah. This is our too little too late hire.

[Jill Knight]

He gets a really good bonus. Meanwhile the cashiers can't pay their wage. Yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

This is what. Yeah, this is what happens when you, you know, just. You have old people at the helm at all times.

[Zach]

By the way, York like this is

[Alex]

slightly younger people in there.

[Zach]

This, this freak out. And Alex, you'll see soon in your life is just toddlerhood like. Jesus Christ. Is it just really toddlerhood? It's even the way you spelled hungry Stephen there also.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's genius.

[Zach]

Yes, I'm hungry.

[Alex]

Feel the urge not to start hungy.

[Zach]

I wanted yellow cheese, not white cheese.

[Jill Knight]

Alex, if you think about it, Garling is much younger higher than these guys. He's the new young higher.

[Zach]

He is the younger.

[Alex]

He is. Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Bring your York to work day.

[Zach]

Bring your York to work. That's what's happened here.

[Alex]

When he's not in the room. There are the other four are complaining of this young whippersnapper.

[Jill Knight]

I don't understand.

[Alex]

He thinks he's so high and mighty because he only gets to drink Metamucil to quell his illness.

[Zach]

I'm on fire today. Jesus Christ.

[Alex]

I'm having a very good time with

[Zach]

this chapter with the Metamucil jokes.

[Ken O'Connor]

I've dragony of you.

[Steve Yurko]

Yes, very celestial Yurk just has to

[Stephen Paul]

just chill until April 13th. You can get your two piece chicken and your choice of sides.

[Ken O'Connor]

York's cupcake may vary.

[Stephen Paul]

All right, so Garling takes a seat here and says it's been one disaster after another and it all started after the arrival of Nika. Is it coincidence or fate? As the others watch in silence. And then Ju Peter says, be that as it may, great Emu, you should not leave Pangea Castle. As we see in the the chamber of flowers, which I don't think I ever noticed that it like there's a. There's like a floor there. I thought it was always just a feel like a grass field. I don't know, maybe that's just a detail that I missed. But Emu walks silently through the room

[Zach]

as I want to note that Imu's quote unquote crown. Or we never really find out what that is, but it grew three sizes that day.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

That's a long ass crown.

[Stephen Paul]

Maybe it's like beaker's hair.

[Zach]

Oh, that's okay.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Shepard continues. We can send the Navy admirals from headquarters to Elbaf. And Njiro says no, just count the number of situations we're dealing with right now. There's too much going on. And Warcury gets to his feet. Then we should head into the field again. And finally, Emu speaks up. This is no longer coincidence. Warcury. Arrogance, sloth, detachment, pride, casteth away these things at once. All is preordained. And so that's.

[Zach]

That defeats the theory that he's Pride from Full Metal Alchemy. Or. Which would.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, actually.

[Zach]

Which one was it? Was it Pride? No.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Who's. Who was Detachment

[Zach]

the good version?

[Jill Knight]

They're both good.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

I'm not a hater.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, that's true. And. And then we get this. This. This very interesting flashback sequence here, where. Yeah, obviously this is not all from Emu's perspective, but some of them you can definitely tell are like this. This image of rocks when he says, I will be back, which was said in this very chamber that Emu is in now. And then we get Roger at his execution. You'll have to search the whole world. And then people are saying, oh, it seems Neptune had a daughter. And someone asking, they stole the devil fruit. With a little picture of younger Shanks, obviously referring to the gum. Gum fruit. And what is in Elbaf? As we see Harald with his horns removed. We found out who the pirate captain in the mists is. He is Loki, Harold's son. And we see a picture of Loki and. And then from Marineford, where Whitebeard stands there with his head. Head chunked out. And it says, Whitebeard protected him. Who is it? Monkey D. Luffy. And then. Who is that? Marshall D. Teach. It continues.

[Zach]

Oh, that's me. The. And to go along with the theme. Who are you? I'm. Oh, wait, no, no, that's Cobra Nefertari. D. Lily. And finally, Joy D. Boy. No, Joy Boy and Davy Jones. And we see the image from God was that 300 chapters ago now of. Of Emu smashing the picture of Luffy and Blackbeard. Joy Boy, Davy Jones. Still you continue to torment Moo. I desire Vivi said in the least creepy way possible. He moves, staring at the portrait of Lily, presumably. Right. And then.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, just.

[Zach]

Yeah, and then just the eye. The eye. They have the same. And we go to Emu's. We go back into Emu's lair, out of his thoughts and saying who continues. The sentence that started this all is preordained. It all began long before this. And we have the five elders presumably, presumably simultaneously saying, great Ebu. No, he says, the Holy Land. I leave to the. The five elders again. Say but great Emu in the lower world. You are not gonna finish that sentence because he's cut off by Garling, who says we do not have the right to stop the Great one. He just hired me. He's great. You guys should really have more faith in him.

[Steve Yurko]

A genius pants.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what? Yes. It's a new character that none of us wanted and who really sucks. And this is. This is Marcus Mars. This is Marcus Mars, right? Yes, but still. And we actually see like his lower mouth and. And everything. It's just. It's a funny. I don't know, it's a funny face. He's faking. Warcury says, but if crate Emu leaves this castle, I'll have no one to share my Popeyes with. And this is Jupiter. Venus. Venus Duro. I'm losing it today. Dad brain. As Alex said. Pretty good. Thank you for the pity.

[Alex]

Dad brain prevents you from remembering complicated one piece character names.

[Zach]

It's so specific. But it's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you're not a dad and you're commenting about how we can't remember any of the names of the really stupidly named Five. Five.

[Ken O'Connor]

Shut up.

[Zach]

Just shut up.

[Jill Knight]

Have a guy Gandhi in my head, to be honest.

[Zach]

No need to say it. We all know, especially the reader. The reader knows what you're gonna say. And finally, this is Jupiter, who says it is by the great ones design. None of us can prevent it. And the transmission's cut off because Imu does not want to listen to these fuckers anymore. And off he goes. He out of Mary Geoa a thing that has not happened in. Oh, I don't know. And we see an ominous look of the some of the flaming wreckage in front of the Pangea Castle. And we zoom out even further to the Red Line entrance with the bandola with those statues that we saw back during the Reverie. And we go to the next page.

[Alex]

Alex Elbaf New World. There it is. It's Elbaf the tree. We are going to zoom into Western Village. Sun World. We hear higher than Stanson. Oh no, it's. It's Gerd hired and Stanson.

[Ken O'Connor]

I mean look at work.

[Alex]

Look at this. One of the demons was trying to put himself together again. So. And it's Summers. And he goes, God damn it, not again. Hardin says. And he's still alive. And Gerd goes, look, it's like a magnet. It's scary. And he. Summers is bisected and she's sort of like just kind of playing around with him like he is two. Two little magnets.

[Zach]

And this. Actually, I forgot she had the character quirk of really liking the human. Like thinking they're cute.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Balls. Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah, I look forward to this. Merchant

[Zach]

Vodo is the one who should be looking forward to the ultra rare Summers. And that's where he deserves to live out the rest of his days.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, the LEGO world.

[Zach]

That would be so easy. Oh my God, that would be perfect.

[Ken O'Connor]

More tea, Mr. Summers?

[Jill Knight]

My name is Mrs. Nesbitt.

[Alex]

So, yeah, she says it's scary. And he goes, not as half as scary as you. Which is funny considering how, oh, how the worm has turned Summers and. And she's kind of squeezing him by the head there and dangling him. And he says, you said your name was Gerd. I'll remember that. You better watch yourself, cuz I'll personally

[Ken O'Connor]

see to it that you experience a miserable death, you wretch.

[Alex]

And Goldberg just sort of nonchalantly goes,

[Stephen Paul]

you should look at this too.

[Alex]

And it's that little heart that, see in the last chapter that we had no idea what the fuck was going on with, goes bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. And Zorro and Hen look at it very pensively. And we zoom in on it and confirmed a steel heart. And Zorro says, does that mean if we destroy this, they won't be able to go back to normal? And I think he hit the nail on the head, judging by the next panel.

[Zach]

Why do you say that?

[Alex]

Summers has this really scared Eep.

[Ken O'Connor]

The worst ever.

[Zach]

If this idiot could figure it out, I'm fucked.

[Alex]

Well, it's so funny because Zoro's main, like, you know, his main brain thing is just. Oh, so if we kill it, can I cut this?

[Zach]

If I cut this.

[Alex]

If I cut this and Zora can cut steel.

[Zach]

Oh, 100%.

[Alex]

So that'll work. Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

It's funny, Steven, what you were saying earlier, before that we started the chapter with how, like, the anime, like, things are much more clear in the anime than they are in the manga. Like, last week we saw the heart and we didn't think anything of it really. But I think if you're an anime watcher and they see that scene, it'll clearly be a metal mechanical heart. It'll be much more obvious. Yeah, I didn't get that at all

[Alex]

last week that it was a steel heart. I also, I also thought that, like, for some reason it belonged in his head because it looked like the two pieces of the head snapped into place with like. So is that his brain?

[Ken O'Connor]

He's like the Iron Giant putting himself back together.

[Alex]

Yeah. I mean, they kind of are.

[Zach]

I think it was obvious, personally, that it was. It had some import, but it was not clear, like, oh, we just kill that, and it's over. Okay, cool. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

It is really funny that, like, because of the scale of the Giants, when Oda has smaller panels to work with, like, he regularly has to have them acting like brand spokespersons that are, like, holding the thing up right in front of the camera, like, in a really obvious way.

[Zach]

Oh, my God. That's amazing.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Cupcake is, like, really small in his hand.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Yeah. It's like they're doing the Wayne's World thing when they did the, you know, the holds up the Pepsi and.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

The taste of a generation. Yeah.

[Zach]

Wow. I guess those photoshoppers out there have a lot of work cut out for them here, Alex.

[Alex]

Meanwhile, by the Walrus School, we hear, usopp, Brooke, hang in there. And Frankie says, they've got broken bones. Maybe I should cyborgize him. And you see sort of a little like, what From Brooklyn, Usopp.

[Stephen Paul]

That's really good.

[Alex]

Little reaction there, which is super funny.

[Zach]

It is a very funny set of panels.

[Alex]

And Jinbe's like, where's Chopper? An actual medical degree.

[Zach]

They're not gonna be able to do their backs for some reason, but I could fix the front.

[Alex]

Yeah. And Killingham's various parts are sort of stringed up on the tree. And he's yelling at Sanji, and he goes, I'm going to personally remember your name, Sanji, for revenge. Now say mine. And Sanji is just like, I forget, which is super good.

[Zach]

That's the best in character Sanji thing I've seen in a while.

[Alex]

I feel like I don't care about you. I don't even think about you.

[Ken O'Connor]

I love this panel because it's like a Christmas tree with Killingham ornaments or one of those office desk toys where they have the little balls all next to each other.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, you know what?

[Zach]

Let's get. This is merch that needs to be made.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, Killing ham. O killing ham.

[Jill Knight]

And the bubble is filled with candy.

[Zach]

Oh, absolutely. It's all filled.

[Alex]

I think it's.

[Zach]

And a heart and a steel.

[Alex]

It's so funny that, like, the bubble clearly popped when Sanji used his technique, and it's kind of still intact here. At the beginning of the entire arc, I was calling it that Sanji and Sanji would have a rivalry with Summers and killing him. Whatever, with Zoro. But now this is pretty Pretty. This is pretty clear now.

[Ken O'Connor]

Well, I guess all their clothes reform too, then. It's not just their bodies regenerating. Their outfits must be regenerating too.

[Jill Knight]

I mean, that's just kind of one piece.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Luffy doesn't have bullet holes in his vest all the time.

[Alex]

It's true.

[Ken O'Connor]

And when he goes Nika, he turns into his Nika form and back to his normal outfit for some reason. Yeah.

[Alex]

So then we kind of zoom in on the big hunk of ice to reveal that. Oh yes, Gunko is still in here, by the way.

[Zach]

Next page, that's gonna still be you, Alex. Ah, yes.

[Alex]

Oh yes. Well, we kind of pan over to the frozen school, and Loki is just like, why is the school frozen? And Lilith says, very matter of factly, it's not. I merely sapped all its heat energy. And Loki just kind of chows down on some frozen bread and he goes, school foods frozen solid don't even taste good. And Luffy can't really eat it.

[Ken O'Connor]

He just goes, fug, gotta give some

[Alex]

to Usopp and Brooke. Trying to eat this frozen thing, but just can't. And he says, not until you get back to normal, bud. And Luffy continues to. To speak. He says, hey, Loki, that bad guy you froze? Is she dead? And Loki says, it's a flash freeze. It won't be fatal. But only this guy can melt the ice. Don't worry, they're not going anywhere. And it's Ratatasker getting a chun. A big hunk of bread there going, so Luffy can't eat this bread, Right? That's. It's just too frozen for him.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah, he's like, don't put money on Luffy not being able to eat something.

[Ken O'Connor]

It looks like he's trying to stretch his mouth over it, but like, it's not really working.

[Alex]

Well, it seems like, convenient that Luffy's gonna be out of Commish, it looks like. Anyways, we see what Nami's up to, and she's sort of looking on the horizon while Zeus continues to put out the raging fires. And she's just like, what? And we see a gigantic. Like this gigantic black pillar. Like a big pillar of, I guess, Conqueror's Hockey or something. Like it's at the end of a blockbuster film in the mid-2000s. Yeah, this pillar just coming down from the sky. And everybody from the villages can see it. They comment, what's that? That ain't just black smoke. And we see three more, I guess, of these pillars kind of come down which is interesting. I guess we'll figure out what the deal is with those at some point.

[Zach]

But in the next panel.

[Alex]

Oh, the next panel. Right, right. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I'm a moron. Anyways, the giants continue to be, you know, aghast at what's happening. And one guy goes, oh, look at the sky.

[Ken O'Connor]

And he points.

[Zach]

Wow, what a design on that guy. That's. That is a front facing Simpson if I've ever seen it.

[Alex]

Yeah, 100%. He kind of looks like Ito Mimizu from Baby Backfight. Same kind of mouth.

[Jill Knight]

They're related.

[Zach]

But that's Stanson in the front still, right?

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Stanson. Yeah.

[Zach]

Where's everyone else? Okay, Jill, what happens next? Then we do go to Full Metal

[Jill Knight]

Alchemist as a giant magic circle.

[Zach]

Full Metal Alchemist.

[Jill Knight]

Full Metal Alchemy. Alchemist.

[Ken O'Connor]

Elback.

[Alex]

Independence Day Gay Rat Wedding.

[Zach]

A seven year. I can't believe that's seven years old. Please.

[Jill Knight]

As we have a giant magic circle appear in the sky above, right above the castle. As Nami quickly pulls everyone over who clearly can't see this. Everyone come quickly. As Frankie is shouting, what's all that rumbling about? And you know, Sanji's only got eyes for one thing. It's. Don't worry, Nami, I'm with you.

[Zach]

Frankie was in the middle of cybernizing the. Yeah, he had to give up.

[Jill Knight]

They're actually only half cyberized. It's gonna be real unfortunate when we. Yeah.

[Zach]

There's like a gear sticking out of Brook's eye socket or something.

[Jill Knight]

Just the nose. Just the tip.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

So. Yeah. And then we suddenly get some boom. Some music of playing as everyone looks on, questioning as we get some booms. Booms. And then some Dororon as shockingly houses start coming to life. Very, very reminiscent of Big mom. Yet creepier.

[Zach]

Somehow creepier. Steven, Is there any. I was going to say reason for the rhyme? Is there like a. Any beat that's discernible here specifically?

[Stephen Paul]

No, not really.

[Zach]

But can you sing it?

[Alex]

Can I, Can I. Can I throw in a joke?

[Ken O'Connor]

Go ahead.

[Stephen Paul]

Okay.

[Alex]

No. My Nerona.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, very good.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's not bad.

[Stephen Paul]

I didn't know where you're going.

[Alex]

Yeah, sorry it took us.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, well, the Dororon stuff is kind. That's kind of like a. Like a ghostly sound, which I do feel like, you know, that that just is already sort of implied by the obviously evil vibe that they all have. But yeah, it just kind of sounds like it. You know, it is very much in that vein of like Nightmare Before Christmas. Sort of like, ooh, bunch of wacky kind of evil Ish looking things all cackling and, you know, making a big, big fuss about stuff.

[Zach]

So I. I also. Are. Is this onomatopoeia all written in the original or was this you guys? Or was this.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, oh, you mean was. Did I. Did we have to put a font in there?

[Zach]

No, because I know Oda sometimes writes in English. Some of the animal people.

[Jill Knight]

Right.

[Stephen Paul]

No, none of that. None of that is.

[Zach]

Okay. Okay. Am I just making that up that that happens ever?

[Alex]

Yes.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes, you are.

[Zach]

Oh, okay.

[Alex]

At quick glance, it looks like they're just saying names of manga.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Where's Bobo? Where's Giga?

[Ken O'Connor]

Gig.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Yurko]

Oh, Dadon's here.

[Zach]

Oh, Dadon. Yeah, there it is.

[Jill Knight]

I'm glad to see Dadon making a comeback.

[Zach]

I assume that was on purpose. Steven did this intentionally.

[Ken O'Connor]

I assume they're having a house party.

[Alex]

Or a house party too.

[Jill Knight]

One of these trees has wings, too.

[Zach]

They all. Oh, you're just them. Yeah, just that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one's especially evil. That's an oak.

[Ken O'Connor]

He brought his own wings.

[Alex]

Yeah, he brought.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah.

[Zach]

By o. W. What's the most evil tree type? That's. Let's think on that while you continue.

[Jill Knight]

That one. That. Oh, when I was in Peru.

[Zach]

Oh, no, go. No, no, no. I. Chill. I want to hear about your.

[Jill Knight]

When I was in Peru, I went hiking. I put my hand against the tree and it was covered in spikes. I was like, oh, shit.

[Alex]

Oh, my God.

[Ken O'Connor]

Why does this exist?

[Alex]

The Pluribus tree? Nobody's seen Pluribus. Okay. Anyway, listeners would know if they've seen it.

[Zach]

Okay, we'll think on. I mean. Oh, I know that. I'm sorry. I know the answer to this question. The tree of Heaven is the most evil tree. We had one. Apparently. What happens is it attracts all the invasive species around and the spotted lanternfly, particularly. It eats the bark, turns it to a weird black tar, and attracts all the yellow jackets in the area. So that's my answer for most evil tree. Jill. Sorry, go ahead.

[Jill Knight]

As. As the. As the giants look on, the houses have come to life and started singing and drum beats. And also the trees, as. As they are also on fire, actually singing. Very exciting. I guess this beat must be fire. They go. Even the forest. Is this someone else's power? I mean, that's a stupid question, bro. Let's be real here.

[Zach]

Well, we don't know who said it. It was probably someone stupid.

[Stephen Paul]

It could be natural causes.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah, you're Right. Maybe the trees are natural, cyclical. And this is natural to happen.

[Zach]

The trees have always been singing.

[Ken O'Connor]

The walls couldn't lose green slime. Oh, they always do that

[Jill Knight]

as. As a giant. Basically. Like a circle of black flames seems to be burning around the castle as the beat continues. And then on the next page, a giant bolt of black hockey appears from the sky directly into the castle. And there's like a huge impact that sweeps people away. And the. The weaker. Like the children are collapsing with foaming mouths.

[Zach]

I. I didn't notice that. That middle conquerors hockey pillar like lightens up the other ones. Like it's so like literally the aura of it so much darker.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah. You can see the gray ones in the background.

[Zach]

It's cool. Yeah. No, it's a cool effect. I didn't notice that at first.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah, There's. It's. It's interesting. There's definitely not like. It's not like everything went dark. Like there's definitely light involved in. At least in Oda's drawing of it.

[Zach]

Yeah. You could see Oda had actually drawn a lot like the pillars and the. You could tell the difference by just the pen, you know. But interesting. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, Joe.

[Jill Knight]

As you know, everyone here is getting knocked back by this impact. And then this incredibly cute panel is. Chopper is clutching onto Zorro's face, blocking his one good eye, by the way.

[Zach]

So, so happy that this gag has come back finally. This is one of my favorite running jokes. Is the Chopper grabbing onto Zoro's head when he's scared. Oh, love it. Excellent. Excellent.

[Jill Knight]

As. As Zoro says, that's color of supreme King. And then mirroring same pose almost. Luffy is on Loki's shoulder. And Loki goes. Was that from the castle? That's the same Haki from before old Luffy drained Luffy.

[Stephen Paul]

It's a funny fan of the witch.

[Alex]

Really funny.

[Zach]

It's really. This is how old people react to things. As everyone knows, when you hit a certain age, you're just like.

[Jill Knight]

That's definitely the face of Luffy. Who's like. I really just wanted to eat this. Okay.

[Zach]

I just wanted to eat the meat.

[Stephen Paul]

It looks like when talking. It looks like when they did. When they did that. Like the slug reaction from Star wars.

[Alex]

Huh?

[Jill Knight]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Claude.

[Alex]

Is that the character's name?

[Stephen Paul]

Something like that.

[Alex]

Somebody at me in the comments.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

As. Then we go into inside RS Paddle or paddle. Wow. Castle camera.

[Zach]

Wow.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah. I don't know what that was about.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh yes. The paddle room.

[Jill Knight]

It's where they keep you Know the space emu.

[Ken O'Connor]

You're finally here. We've been waiting.

[Zach]

Harold's been waiting there for. For 50 years. Finally you're in the paddle room. I've been waiting for.

[Ken O'Connor]

Go ahead, Harold supreme.

[Jill Knight]

As we're into the throne room here and a figure has appeared amongst the flames and marking on the ground coughing and on the ground coughing up blood. Huffing and puffing preserve as they pain or ink. You're right.

[Zach]

Yeah. Maybe that's pretty sculpture.

[Jill Knight]

Black ink. Sure.

[Zach]

Oh, no. My silhouette could also just be ketchup.

[Jill Knight]

Be pulling an usop. We don't really know.

[Zach]

Would he be doing that to. There's no one there.

[Jill Knight]

The audience clearly we're here. As they start shouting out screaming as wings or something else bursts out of them in a really, really, you know, not painful looking eye.

[Ken O'Connor]

He's a beautiful butterfly. He's emerging from his cocoon.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yes. That's what this is.

[Jill Knight]

And then suddenly an explosion. I actually didn't realize this happened.

[Zach]

Yeah, me neither.

[Jill Knight]

I'm not really sure as the reasoning for this, but he did.

[Zach]

And you know, when you're evil, you

[Jill Knight]

know, sometimes butterflies always explode.

[Zach]

Butterflies, it's the butterfly terminator.

[Stephen Paul]

Caused lightning bolts and stuff. So. Okay, good to know there's precedent.

[Zach]

Who's that? Steven.

[Stephen Paul]

All right. Okay, I'm gonna have to paint you a word picture here to do this set of pages justice. So first we get the furthest we pull back yet. Just kind of depicting the entirety of the scene here. And it's cool because there's no actual like black surfaces. They're all just hatched. So you get the, you know, the clouds overhead and the pillars of darkness that are all around the castle and there's fire and the woods and the, the smoke and the clouds and everything. And it all looks very grim. And then we see some more of the. The houses and the trees which are kind of like, you know, it's almost like they're. They're half transformed into evil. They're like, you know, dark chocolate dipped cookies or something. And the, the two people here who would recognize this person apparently are Killingham and Summers, who react. Great one. You mean in person. So they are shocked. They. They recognize what this stands for, apparently. And the crowd in the village meanwhile is saying, ah, someone's up there on top of the castle. And so you can, you can kind of see in this panel and then in the, in the top one, very small, that like one of the side spires is still intact. Not the big one that, that blew up, but this is where the figure is now, resting atop this little needle point, who is silent. And then we get a don, and it's like, not. It's not a close up. It's kind of like a medium distance shot. And so it is actually kind of hard to make out some of these details, but we do have the. The Ota scroll here that says creator of the world government, one of the first 20 power, the devil's Fruit. And it seems like we have a. A figure with dark skin. Dark skin and light hair. White hair. It's very much like Lunarians, like. Like king with horns, curved horns, and seems to be shirtless, but with some kind of, like, tattoos or markings. Little dots all over his body. And the fact that he doesn't have a shirt means it's probably male. You never, you know, can't be sure. I don't actually see any wings, which is odd. There's like a cape. He's wearing a cape.

[Zach]

I was thinking of that, too. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, with a. With a symbol.

[Zach]

That's some kind of. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Insignia on it. Do you recognize.

[Zach]

That's the Covenant symbol. The. The highest level. Covenant. It was. I remember, it was the horn, right? Yeah, it was the horn with like, the.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, I didn't get that.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, with the World Government style symbol.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Interesting. Yeah, but he's got a big old wrestling championship belt and.

[Zach]

What do you even call that weapon?

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, he's got. Well, he's got some. I'm kind of going down. He's got some poofy pants. And there's. There's something. This might be his tail. There's. There's a couple different, like, sort of trailing circular things rotating around his feet and around the top of this. This spire thing. And I think maybe some of them are his tail.

[Jill Knight]

I think that looks like Gunko's arrow, doesn't it? Just circled around.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Well, I mean, I think Gunko's arrow is the tail of the. Or I mean, at least the. The, like, the. The visual motif is. Is the same because we did. We definitely saw the. The arrow. That's the pointing. Yeah, the. The pointy devil tale in the throne room in. In Mary Joa.

[Ken O'Connor]

With cobra pals.

[Alex]

Cobra.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. But, yeah, he's got some kind of, like a polearm weapon that is very long, and it has a. A very strange, like, sort of zigzag blade. It looks a little bit like Whitebeard's weapon, but kind of more. More sinister.

[Alex]

A little more unnecessary.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. A little more extra. For sure. Yeah. He's got some skulls on that. On. On like the little tail, you know, swively thing. And then of course there are like dark clouds that they basically look like the inverse of Luffy's clouds. And then there's like a. There's like a halo or some kind of. Of a. Of a floating effect with a bunch of very creepy staring eyes, which are very familiar.

[Zach]

That's probably my favorite of the motifs.

[Stephen Paul]

That is cool.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah, it's like the godly scarf thing.

[Zach]

Yeah. Which I'm. Now I'm being. I'm being annoying about it, but which Fullmetal Alchemist sin was it again? Who in brotherhood? Pride. It is Pride. Okay. I think I'm mixing up my Full Metal alchemists is the problem. But yeah, that. That was. I've. I've like kind of always hoped it was just like. Oh, it's just Pride's thing. Because that is such a. And crazy power in that series and it might still be, but. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes. And so I think. Yeah. And of course there's a. There's a couple crackles of hockey naturally. And then we get one more slice here. Vertical slice. A very close up view of King of the World St. Nerona Emu. And we can now see of course, the. The signature eye. Although he's kind of got. He's got a bit of an emo hair thing here where you can only see one of them. And then he's got these very. You know, I'm sure there were many other people who were like, oh, this is like Breath of the Wild or like Tears of the Kingdom.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's what I. Yeah, yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Literally on the arm.

[Stephen Paul]

Right. The. The sort of like tattoo marking.

[Steve Yurko]

I didn't.

[Zach]

I got that. I just played that.

[Ken O'Connor]

He's like, I have a few thousand hours in Tears of the Kingdom.

[Alex]

Dad Rain.

[Zach]

Dad Brain. Yeah. Oh, wow. That really is. And I do love that particular motif. So I'll say that. Yeah, that's also 20th century boys. Ish.

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, with the eye. Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Creepy dots all over his body.

[Zach]

Yes, the dots more than the actual whale shark who should have them.

[Alex]

I feel like I've got a theory on that.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Okay.

[Ken O'Connor]

And then.

[Stephen Paul]

And then of course we do also see a little drip of presumably blood or some kind of, you know, life. Life giving.

[Ken O'Connor]

Some bumpy fluid.

[Jill Knight]

Just ate a cheese fluid.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Well, he's got a tasty cheeseburger. Cheeseburger.

[Alex]

I guess. Can I have blood Burger? I think that's the blood that he coughs up in the previous page. I Guess because he's got the consumption.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Can I has Luffy Bento?

[Zach]

Can I has Blood Burger?

[Alex]

Can I has Luffy Bento?

[Ken O'Connor]

You knew.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Descended for Popeyes.

[Zach]

Can I ask satisfy?

[Stephen Paul]

Oh, man.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Zach]

Wow.

[Stephen Paul]

And it should be sad too.

[Jill Knight]

Commercials.

[Zach]

Alex. Why don't people take us seriously?

[Stephen Paul]

And since we haven't said it yet, we should probably point out. Oh, no, he is hot.

[Zach]

Did you say his name? The full name and everything? I forgot. Okay, okay, I did. Oh no, he is hot.

[Alex]

Oh no, he is hot.

[Zach]

I was saying before, how many times have we had reveals of people's faces where we're like, oh shit, he. He's ought like as the reveal king is the first one that comes to mind because that was a big one and that was our episode title and image at the time, I think, Steven.

[Jill Knight]

I mean, you can't forget Duval.

[Alex]

Oh, it's the hottest one of all.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Which pre getting kicked in the face or.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes.

[Zach]

Oh, Wanze too, also.

[Alex]

Yeah, they're both hot. Extremely. Extremely sexy.

[Zach]

Yes. Steven, you were the first one I assumed to see this out of us.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Zach]

Can I hear all about your story and your initial thoughts? Start from the beginning.

[Stephen Paul]

My initial thought was like, oh, I didn't expect this. And I remember I had reminded myself going in that I had said I'd been on the record as saying, when we see Emu, either it has to be something like unbelievably goofy or extreme or has to be like unearthly beautiful sort of a thing. And I do think that this, it's close enough. Like, okay, I'll give it to him. That, that this, this appears to be like a very attractive or alluring design. Like it's, it's kind of a sexy design. But I also, I, I, I have to be 100 truthful here, that the first time I saw it, I thought, oh, this looks like Someone's like fan OC. Like this is Luffy's gear 5 Satan mode or something like it does it because just because it's kind of outside of of oda's wheelhouse. And I don't know, maybe some of that is just because it is that that kind of Lunarian style where it's something that is very different from the sort of the, the bible of one piece character design that ODA has built for so many years where like, you're immediately like, oh, that looks different. You know, it doesn't look like like a typical one piece character. And, and to be fair, you know, that's probably a, a good thing for. For Emu in this sense, but I can't deny that, like, my very first thought was like, oh, this looks like a bad guy from like, what's his name, the other guy? Hira Mashima. Like, you know, the, the not one piece artist, like a fairy tale guy or something.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

And so, yeah, that, that was. So my initial reaction was a bit muted. And I'll. I'll say, to be fair, that also, like, I didn't really like Rox's design at first and it grew on me and I do, like, rocks as a character. So that doesn't necessarily mean that's a bad thing for, For Emu, but it, for me, it will be a bit of a. Of an adjustment period. Also, I don't, I don't like that he kind of drew him in this, in this weird, like, not very clear, like, middle distance range, especially because that's going to be. It's going to be completely stuck in the gutter in the book too, where, like, it's going to be impossible to see the details. And obviously we'll, you know, we'll probably see more of this in the next chapter. I would imagine we'll get a better view of him, but as a first impression, you know, my, My. My reaction was mixed. Aside from just like the, oh, we finally get to see, like, it's. It's finally unveiled after so many years. And that's, you know, that's the more exciting thing, I think for me.

[Zach]

We. We also haven't had something so easily spoilerable, which is, yeah, I'm extra grateful that Alex and myself and the rest of us managed to avoid it like this. But again, as I said at the beginning of the recap, I agree with the OC thing. I think it is kind of just like a victim of like, the fact that. You are absolutely right. This doesn't look like Oda's. Like, I think he purposely was trying to step out of his wheelhouse.

[Alex]

It looks like Dragon Ball af. Like, that's exactly what this looks like.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

But it's like, okay, has Toriyama like, tried to draw something or had he tried to draw something completely? Like, it doesn't look like his style, like, on purpose.

[Alex]

Not really.

[Zach]

That would be an interesting thought experiment. So, yeah, sounds like you want to talk about Nerona.

[Alex]

Yeah, my Nerona. Yeah, I think. I think we should all go around and talk about our first reactions to this, because mine is definitely a.

[Zach]

Like, that's what I was gonna do.

[Alex]

Yeah. Like, my first thought was like, oh, God, that's overly complicated.

[Zach]

It's Oda.

[Alex]

But I also was like, somebody. I think a deal in our Discord set looks like a Kishimoto design. And I'm like, yeah. And I think it's because of the dark skin with the white hair, and obviously that's Lunarian, but also, like, the God. I like the Chica tattoos. I. I was like, God, that sucks, because it looks exactly like Tears of the Kingdom. Like, it. It almost looks rip.

[Ken O'Connor]

Like.

[Alex]

Like, this looks like a fake spoiler page. Now. I. My initial thought, too, is that, like, okay, well, this is his, like, devil, by the way.

[Zach]

It's that logo. It's, like, insane how it looks like.

[Jill Knight]

Well, I think those are based off of something, right?

[Alex]

I mean, let's. I'm willing to give. I'm willing to give his whole design the benefit of the doubt, because there's a lot of stuff in here that I think is really interesting. Aside from, you know, Kishimoto or, you know, just. This is clearly drawn by a different artist or designed by different artists. The one thing that it reminds me of more than anything is Eniru with the puffy pants, like his. I mean, Ener is trying to be God. I feel like. Yes, the polearm. Exactly. And the.

[Zach]

The nose, even. Almost the nose.

[Alex]

Almost. Yes. I.

[Ken O'Connor]

No wings.

[Jill Knight]

The circular. I totally see it.

[Alex]

And I do think that is not coincidence. I feel like, because Emu is the closest thing, I guess, there is to a God in one piece, and Enera was like, the Pauper. There's. There's going to be some similarities there. And his design also brings up a lot of questions that I'm sure we're going to get answered at one point. Like, he does look vaguely Lunarian or not of this world. Like, that's. That's probably the case. I had my tinfoil hat on earlier when I saw the bridge of his nose, and I'm like, oh, only Robin and Olvia have that kind of nose. Hmm. I wonder if the Devil's Child is not just a moniker. It's a weird, you know, I don't know, some stupid idea I had.

[Zach]

Weird.

[Alex]

And then I just. And then when you noticed that you brought up the fact that he's, like, emo here. I'm like, oh, like Sanji. And I'm like, wait, is he, like, all of the straw hats combined into one weird fucking, like, stupid thing? I think it's. By and large, I think it's, like a cool. It's a cool design. Like, it's an Amano like, this is. Yeah. Yoshitaka Amano, who designed, you know, Final Fantasy Art since the beginning. It's very much like something that he would paint front to back. Like, everything about this character. Like, I'm looking at, like, the pants and how there's, like, oh, looks like there's some patchwork here.

[Stephen Paul]

Right.

[Ken O'Connor]

And.

[Alex]

Yeah. And I. And he interviewed Amano in one of the color walks. Right. So obviously, there is definitely some. Some inspiration there. I. I would not doubt that. Like, there. There has to be some Amano inspiration there in this design.

[Stephen Paul]

All the tchotchkes to the visual design.

[Alex]

Yes. Like, all these weird. Like, this weird thing he has hanging off his belt.

[Jill Knight]

The eye shape.

[Alex]

Yes, the eye shape. God, the eye shape. Yes. And how his horns are kind of gnarly like that. Like, I do wonder if, like, from the very beginning, this is sort of what he had in mind for this character. The dots, I think they could be nothing. They could just be a stylistic choice. But I wonder if all the dots represent all the devil fruits that exist.

[Jill Knight]

I was thinking electronics.

[Alex]

Oh, now that's interesting.

[Zach]

I was thinking that, too. Jill. Yeah, go ahead. But I want to hear Jill.

[Jill Knight]

No, I mean, that was just. I don't know. When I first saw this. I don't know. I had to take a moment because I wasn't spoiled for this at all. I didn't know what was happening, and I actually didn't think Emo was gonna show up in person. I thought there'd be, like, a little bit of a break, and then we have him descend. So this was all kind of a shock to me, but, yeah, I mean, my God, first of all, I turned that page, didn't realize he was standing on the roof. And I was like, where'd this pyramid come from? And I was, like, getting, like, yu.

[Zach]

Gi.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh.

[Jill Knight]

Vibes.

[Zach]

Me, too. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Nice.

[Jill Knight]

And then I got bleach vibes, because it's, like, such a stark white panel, and then, like, the really dense blacks, and then there's a bunch of things with eyes and bleach. But then I was like, bros, is this an alien? I don't know. This was, like, a crazy cage for me to flip to. There's just. There's just so much. I feel like Oda has been working on this design for so many years and, like, continuously changing it over and over again. It's got so much to it, and I don't know how well that's gonna translate later, especially because we can't. We can barely see it as is.

[Alex]

Well, well, I think now that the anime is seasonal, they have a much better job at showing this character in action. My big. I think I was a little disappointed that he didn't look like a guy goofy asshole. But, but, but I mean, there's still room for that, right? Like, if this is his like devil form, then ostensibly like, oh, his human form is going to look like, like how goofy all the celestial dragons look with like a big fucking snot and you know, just kind of shaped like a weeble. I feel like that's with, with the, you know, the long stupid crown. I, you know, I think that by virtue of having this power, that's why, you know, he looks so hot.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Never underestimate oda's power to make a cool character stupid.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Zach]

And also never underestimate how hot the devil is. Or. Yeah, the devil's fruit makes you. Yeah, yeah. What I was, I was gonna say though, I agree with Jill 100% about like, the more I think about first it was almost like jokingly like, oh, maybe he's an alien. And we've discussed that possibility. I know it sounds far fetched, but I'll explain. But I think it would be much more interesting if his skin color were something literally out of this world. Like, it would also be like Homestuck Red. Got the horns making red initially red like the devil. It could be like that, that 100%. Because they definitely are different types of horns than we see in any other character, including Yamato. Can. It's. I mean, you know, the question is how much is it the devil's fruit? Which we'll talk about, I'm sure. And how much of it is him. And I don't know. I still really am a subscriber and the only one, I feel like, to the theory that he's literally out of this world and like came here to subjugate, you know, everyone on this. You know, like, there's still. Yeah, I'm still with you.

[Jill Knight]

And it's because there's that whole, it's the whole, you know, evocation of like, such and such descends. What if he also descended to Earth originally? It's like, I think this is an alien.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I mean, I also don't want to. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

The descending is also. It is very religiously charged, like the, the term that I use for descent. And it works here because also like, it's Mary Joa. So it's like at the top, top quote unquote, the top of the world. And so everything else is the lower world as they Say it. And so by going down, he is going to the lower world, but also, like descend. In this case, like that. That term is also how they translate. Like Advent, like the advent of Jesus Christ, like taking form on Earth as a mortal sort of a thing, which. Happy Easter.

[Zach]

He is risen. He is. He is descended. He has descended it.

[Stephen Paul]

And. Yeah, so there's a lot of. There's. There's a lot of interesting parallels there too, just in terms of real world stuff. But.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'm wondering. And we. We've also talked about. I know Greg's talked a lot about with you, Stephen, on the sgs. Just like the idea of demons and underworld and otherworldly things finally kind of showing their face. Post one piece film Red. And that is 100% possible here. I feel like he could go in the science fiction direction or in the mythology direction here.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. I'll tell you about the devil's fruit thing, but I think we should get to Ken first.

[Zach]

I was gonna say. Yes, I cut you off, Ken. And I didn't get to. Yeah, I wanted to say my two cents, but. Ken, go ahead.

[Ken O'Connor]

So kind of like what you guys were saying. I immediately thought the design was a lot. I was making the joke from how about yout Mother in our Discord, where there's a character naming like you Cheekscar and you Face Tattoo and you Larry. And Larry has a handlebar mustache. He's petting a ferret. He has a bunch of different accessories. He's like, why don't I get a nickname? It's like, cause you have too many things. So you have the weapon. Everything that Steven pointed out already. It's a lot. And I know if we. It's funny. We've drawn IMU in their shadow form for so many episode art images. It's like, all right, now, this is a much more complicated design. I could see our artists not wanting to draw IMU as much just because there is so many little details here and there.

[Stephen Paul]

Steve's gonna be like, put it back on. Put it back on.

[Ken O'Connor]

Exactly. Put that thing back on. The dots on the body reminded me of. I don't know, from Black Panther, the killmonger, the bad character. He has the scarification all over his body of all the dots. And that's like victims he killed. I don't know if emus are in the same. That's what the dots reminded me of. I didn't think electronics or anything like that. And this is just something stupid that I was looking at the way he's standing on the top of that tower, it looks like he has a little ballet slippers on. Like, he's like daintily on the tip of the tower. Like, okay, that's just interesting. And then size wise, because this is not a human sized tower. This is a giant sized tower. So I was like, how big is Imu? Like. Cause he's. Because he looks small on top of this tower, but it's a giant sized tower. So is this like a junk?

[Zach]

Oda may not have thought about that either.

[Stephen Paul]

That's true.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah. Evil signs may vary.

[Zach]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex]

Wow. Rest of the game, Ken.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah, sorry. Yeah, that's about it. Really like the design. I think the design overall is cool. I was really hoping it would be either something stupid looking or the idea that it was a female character. Just because that ODA was so cagey assigning gender or pronouns or anything to this character for so long.

[Zach]

I forgot who in our discord, or I think the main discord said, like, no, the pronouns are moo slash moo.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

So

[Ken O'Connor]

it's a fun.

[Zach]

Did they say I?

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Well, that whole moo thing has been a fun dialogue quirk. Like, okay, why, like, if it's just a guy, like, why not just kind of make it that more obvious? But I don't know if ODA didn't know what they wanted to do while they were designing the final character here. But also, we don't know. Like, again, we're gonna talk about this devil fruit power in a minute. But like, this could just be a form. This could not be his original form. Like maybe the horns, the tail, the eyes, all this stuff could be from the power. He could be a normal ass guy. And this is just because again, at this point, he's hundreds of years old. If we believe everything now that we've learned. No.

[Zach]

Well, we can believe it. Cause the Oda scroll says one of the first. What he knows.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yes, yes, exactly. Who knows what this guy looked like? What part of these are his original form again? Is he red? Is his skin dark? We don't know any of these. Is this what he originally looked like? Or is this the power? And I think that Oda will have a fight.

[Zach]

Who's already done this? I guess at this point, the drawing. Because I was. I don't know if we're doing a drawing with Nerona in it.

[Ken O'Connor]

And again, back in the. When we saw the flashback with Cobra and Sabo in the. In the throne room, like, Emu transformed into a whole bunch of different beasts. Like when that happened. So like this could be the final form that. Yes, we're gonna see this form walk around for a while, but I think we're gonna see many, many forms of emu. This is a very cool, badass one that he gave us today.

[Zach]

Yeah, I was gonna say. And maybe everything that you said explains away my aliens here with it. Well, no, no. I still think that the alien thing is possible. Alien or demon, like, literal would be fun, but the things that, like, so talking about, like, my initial reaction since we're going around doing that, where are those wings that he spouted out? We mentioned that that was a little odd. And where is the crown that he has been presumably wearing this entire time? And what happened to that? Like, his silhouette or whatever the fuck that. His plush doll that, you know.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yes, his plush form.

[Zach]

It looks. Not his plush form. His silhouetted form just looks nothing like this. Like, we could, I think, say that

[Ken O'Connor]

assuredly, that was imperfect emu. This is perfect emu.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

I mean, at this point, like, it feels like the most logical explanation is that that is just like a literal darkness, like, coding. Like, it's not like a physical object that has, like, certain inert properties to it. Like, he can just do whatever he wants with it. And so, I don't know, maybe the. Maybe what looked like wings was just, like, I don't know, all of his.

[Zach]

Wait, so he did have the silhouette power this whole time?

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, yeah, maybe. Okay, but. But, like. Yeah, and that's why, like, you know, when you. When you look at his. His fit, like, I don't know, when I. When I look at his face in. In his, you know, quote, true form here, and try to, like, map that to, like, the silhouette, like, where the eyes would be and stuff. Like, I'm. Like, it doesn't look like it's the same shape. Like. Like, you know, if. If that was just a cloth hanging over him, it would have a different shape, obviously. So that's why I feel like, okay, it's just like a literal, like, curtain that he is manipulating around him at all times.

[Zach]

Yeah. With those eyebrows.

[Jill Knight]

I think it looks too visceral when. When he arrives and is, like, in pain. I think it's like a physical, like, body maybe, that his true form was trapped in. And then we'll find, like, a destroyed body in the ruins of this castle later or something.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Jill Knight]

It doesn't seem like it's just a curtain or something or, like, even just, like, a power. It definitely looks like something being ripped apart.

[Ken O'Connor]

Like, I was joking. Before saying he was emerging from his chrysalis like a butterfly. But that literally could be he's shedding off his skin into another body.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

More clear in the anime.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yes.

[Zach]

Leave that specific part off. By also saying the. The stuff that the five Elders specifically mention, you know, they don't really mention anything specific, but it gives a lot of wiggle room specifically for like, oh, Emu is this in the lower realm? But he's this, oh, you know, because

[Stephen Paul]

they were like, oh, if you leave then blank, you know, you'll get hot.

[Zach]

Yeah, we don't want you to get hot. Oh, no, we can't do that.

[Jill Knight]

Interesting too, that it's like a physical difference from going to Mary Geoa down to Elbaf. Like, there is like, I don't know if it's like leaving the castle itself or leaving like the altitude, I don't know. Or close to the sea.

[Ken O'Connor]

This is probably too far off. But there's. If any of you have watched Adventure Time, there is a character in Adventure Time who is an alien. And when they are on Earth, because of Earth's gravity, they're in a small, cute little form. But when they get back into space, they're able to go back into their full alien form. But the gravity Earth compresses them into a little harmless form. Maybe when Imu is up high, they can maintain this. Whatever this darkness form is that gives them. Who knows? Maybe they're more powerful in Mary Geoa in this form. And he's in a weakened state here. Cause now he's in a human form. A human can get killed. I have no idea.

[Jill Knight]

Maybe, you know, devil fruits in the sea. The closer you are to the sea, something happens. There's so many things.

[Zach]

Ooh, I like that. So we have someone joining us. Steve Yurko has arrived. Steve, the question we've been asking is. We just finished the recapping through it. So the first question we had is, what were your initial thoughts on Emu when you turn the page? And also, did you avoid spoilers?

[Steve Yurko]

What happened today?

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[Steve Yurko]

hanging out on Zoom. Sorry, in what order do you want me to answer these questions again?

[Zach]

First, did you get spoiled? I should go through, or did you manage to make it through?

[Steve Yurko]

No, but I did see some kind of people, people saying like, batten down the hatches. So I avoided most pockets of the Internet, which was easy, I guess, because it's getting easier with social media. Just social media not being very entertaining. Also, a deadline will keep you distracted.

[Zach]

Nice

[Steve Yurko]

tips for that. I don't know. Instagram sucks because they'll push threads on YouTube and threads are always like clickbaity crap. So. Yep, definitely.

[Zach]

If you.

[Steve Yurko]

If you're really cautious about spoilers, I recommend, you know, if you're checking Instagram on your phone immediately go to the following tab above. So. Because also that's just a better way to look at social media in chronological order.

[Alex]

Also get one piece off your YouTube algorithm. That definitely helps.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, I really don't watch a lot of one piece videos though our friend Sai recommended some really good ones.

[Zach]

And also us not.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, us and friend recommendations are the only one piece allowed on my YouTube.

[Zach]

But the second question was, what were your initial thoughts seeing Emu?

[Steve Yurko]

All right, here it goes, please. Oh, okay.

[Zach]

Wow. This is why we do live reaction videos.

[Steve Yurko]

This is why I am a podcaster. I don't know, don't take it the wrong way.

[Zach]

I.

[Steve Yurko]

It's not like I was like, he's stupid. I was kind of just like, okay, all right. Not what I was expecting. I think I could tell. Oda must have really liked the. The last couple legends Zelda games. Or at the very least, he liked looking at pictures of them.

[Zach]

Yeah, we mentioned that. Yeah, I wasn't really.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, I was. Yeah, I wasn't kind of expecting anything like this. Just my initial thoughts. I'm like, now that kind of like the funny design is gone and then it's just, here's someone's oc. I'm like, I kind of, kind of care about Emu a little bit less, but this is just two panels. Like, it's really hard for me to judge how I feel about this when I don't know much context about like his race, where he came from. I kind of want to like take pulling him out of that. That it's just like, oh, cool character, dude. You know, it's like, so I don't really have strong feelings. He. He seems very, you know, it feels very Japanese, you know, inspired. Like those clouds surrounding him feel like something very much from an old painting. Like the posture, a little bit of the clothing. Yeah, it's interesting, you know, And I'm curious if his skin color is the same as Lunarians. I feel like, at this point, Oda wouldn't use gray tone on characters. Now it feels like that's exclusively for Lunarians, so. But he doesn't have wings, as you guys were talking about before. I kind of really need to see it play out a little bit more. I just. And this is just my personal taste. Like, I like my one piece a little bit goofier, and this is just, like,

[Alex]

cool. I'm like, yeah, okay, that might be the point.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Steve Yurko]

You know, so it's like, it doesn't necessarily. It doesn't appeal as strongly to me, but it's not what I was expecting, so that's a start. Did you talk about his nose yet? Because now the more I look at

[Alex]

it, the more the Robin nose.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, this could just be. You know, you draw millions of characters. Some of them are going to share similar physical qualities there, I guess.

[Alex]

Saga for movie 5 also has that nose.

[Jill Knight]

She does have her devil form, I'm just saying.

[Stephen Paul]

But it was like, who is the most beautiful character in all of one piece? Clearly, it is Nico Robin. So I got a. A crib from my genius here.

[Steve Yurko]

Give him her old nose. Yeah, Robin's gonna see Emu. Be like, where'd you get that? It sounds negative. It's kind of just like a very.

[Zach]

Kind of.

[Steve Yurko]

Very similar to where it was last week, which is the chapter. I'm like, okay. I mean, I kind of don't feel very strongly in either direction. I kind of just want to see how he acts now. Like, before. Like, it's. It's definitely. I need more of a vibe, you know, more of a personality than just a look, because I think, like, I. I think, like, if you showed me this, like, out of context, I would have been like, yeah, that's fake.

[Alex]

That's exactly what I said.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Fake spoiler image. Steve, does he remind you of somebody that. That just middle panel, that middle page, that silhouette, like, does that remind you of anybody that you like?

[Steve Yurko]

That I like?

[Alex]

Yeah. A character that you like, Maybe.

[Stephen Paul]

That's a very loaded question. Put him on the spot here.

[Alex]

Who uses a polearm and big puffy

[Stephen Paul]

pants and no shirt.

[Alex]

No shirt.

[Ken O'Connor]

Big running of God.

[Zach]

Oh, that I mentioned five minutes ago.

[Steve Yurko]

Gadatsu.

[Alex]

I wish he looked like Gadatsu. Actually.

[Steve Yurko]

That would be pretty great. It's interesting. I kind of just. I want to see him, actually. Move around some more.

[Alex]

Yeah, right. I mean, good luck. That. That's a real complicated ass thing.

[Zach]

Like, I.

[Steve Yurko]

Because, you know, if you look at some of like, Oda's like, concepts in the past, like, there's points where it's like it's going too far in some directions where you could see. He pulls it back.

[Zach]

Frankie. Frankie. No, Frankie's toes get. He had the really big. At the beginning, the like the shoulder pad thing.

[Steve Yurko]

He was a really big boy at the beginning.

[Zach]

Yeah. And he definitely shrunk him.

[Steve Yurko]

Like, there's sometimes Oda pulls back and there's like. I. Why is. The first thing I thought of was like, spondom, where it's like, oh, he has got weird hair. And then when he puts on his mask, they look like pants of ears. It's like.

[Zach]

No, that's too.

[Stephen Paul]

That.

[Steve Yurko]

That's.

[Stephen Paul]

You're.

[Steve Yurko]

You're hammering it in, like, way too hard there. So I. Sorry. From the point I was trying to make here was I feel like he probably wanted to make a design that had like, a bit of broad appeal to not just One Piece fans, but people outside, you know, the circles.

[Alex]

Yeah. The people who jumped out to One

[Zach]

Piece last couple years.

[Steve Yurko]

I feel like I could already tell what some of the conversations were before I even hopped in here.

[Zach]

I think. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense.

[Alex]

Well, you'd be surprised. So I went upstairs to grab my Color Rock compendium because I mentioned, Steve, that this looks like a Yochitaka Amano design. Like front to back, like almost just sensibility wise, this is something that Amano would draw.

[Steve Yurko]

What series has he done?

[Alex]

Final Fantasy and. Yeah, and Vampire Hunter D. Like, you know, very sort of very loose, flowy. And if you look at all of his old Final Fantasy stuff, like, his character designs are all like patchwork, like, pants and really complicated bullshit and like, what charms. Yeah. And Jill brought up, like, his eye. Like, that's very much in line with.

[Jill Knight]

With.

[Alex]

With how Amano does stuff. So I went upstairs to grab my book and I kind of like thumbed. I. I've flipped through his interview, Oda's interview with Amano, and nothing really comes out because it's mostly them just sort of like blowing smoke up each other's asses. But at the end, Oda tells him, when I told people about this interview, they were surprised that I was a fan of your work. It's probably because you can't. I can't see your influence in my art. And I wouldn't dare to try and imitate it. LAUGHS I just want to keep gazing at the works you produce. So please continue doing your thing. So in this interview, which was written, which was. Which was conducted, what this is color walk three. So 20, 20 years ago now.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah.

[Zach]

At least. Yeah.

[Alex]

You know, maybe he didn't think, one day I will draw something in the same vein as. As this guy. But I'm. Because he's such a fan, I'm almost positive that there's DNA there.

[Zach]

There's a lot of video game DNA. As we discussed in this.

[Steve Yurko]

He saved it up till now.

[Jill Knight]

So a Raid boss. Final Fantasy 14 raid boss so maybe

[Steve Yurko]

it makes sense why he kind of doesn't like this. Feels kind of something not quite in one piece.

[Alex]

So it's like otherworldly, ethereal. It sort of has to true. And just because I'm not like, you know, I'm not blown away by the design per se, because this is. I mentioned before, Dragon Ball af. I'm also willing to give it the benefit. Yeah. The benefit of the doubt. Just because it is so not indicative of what we see in this series.

[Steve Yurko]

I like that.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Steve Yurko]

This is very af. As this is afraid.

[Zach]

Af A F af AF S. Af. I was af.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Steve Yurko]

That's how he said.

[Zach]

Yeah, I was. For whatever reason, Sashomaru pops in my head also with this design.

[Alex]

Very flawless. It's like the kimono and the caper.

[Zach]

It's like I'm evil, but I'm also good looking. And I.

[Jill Knight]

The white hair.

[Steve Yurko]

It's a very Elbaf looking kind of belts he's got on there.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah, the skulls. The skulls too have horns. I'm intrigued.

[Zach]

But the skulls are also like floating around his tail.

[Jill Knight]

They're stabbed through the tail.

[Zach]

I don't know, it's very unclear.

[Alex]

Stabbed through the tail. Is that another.

[Zach]

No, I'll write it down.

[Steve Yurko]

But no, he still has the tail.

[Jill Knight]

Got a katsuki clouds everywhere. For my knowledge.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, I was gonna say that.

[Zach]

But I do wanna repeat for Steve. What Stephen said is that the. This middle panel is. Is gonna be in the gutter, like literally of the page.

[Steve Yurko]

Oh yeah.

[Zach]

And it's just. It's just like, oh yeah, people.

[Alex]

I saw people in the discord talking about this and it's. And they've all got some pretty fun jokes.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Alex]

It's gonna look like crap in the volume.

[Zach]

I. I'm gonna. I'll go one step further. So like most of my negative opinions about this is one. What ODA did here, like decision making and paneling and such. Because when you're introducing a character you've been building up, whether good or good reveal or not, after like 300 chapters, you should probably give it more space and more detail and more what do we really need all the stuff on the right there? I mean, do we true.

[Ken O'Connor]

What, like the houses and the trees going awoo?

[Zach]

Yeah. Like, we've gotten that at this point. We've gotten that establishing stuff. The only difference is that the sun is coming through in this ethereal way. So I guess that's interesting. But he could have done that. He could have economized that. I feel like much better, especially since he's trying to give this as to be a big moment. Obviously, I think Oda is aware. I just. This feels like the least. Like he knew with the five Elders when they showed up on Egghead. I'm gonna give them a full page to like, this, you know, like, we had like, you know, a bunch of reaction stuff, but, like, this does not breathe. And I don't know if it's deadlines or what, but it's. It. I feel like a lot of the choices in how it was presented are kind of the issue at this moment as we sit here today.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Like, if he'd done one page and one page of these two panels. Yeah. That would be more fun.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

Even. I mean.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

I will say it is kind of fun to like, to. To break out the proverbial magnifying glass and like, us trying to figure out what. Like, there is. There is some inherent fun to trying to figure that out, but that is a different topic from, like, is this effective, you know, correct.

[Zach]

Artistic for podcasting? It's fun, I suppose, but. Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Right.

[Zach]

But for, like, a reader just reading this, I feel especially if they're reading a physical version of this, it's. It's just so antithetical to what he's trying to get across, I think. Should we talk about the devil's fruit, Steven?

[Stephen Paul]

Sure. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah. What can you.

[Stephen Paul]

So this.

[Zach]

What light can you shine on this?

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, this was a fun little translation riddle to do here. So if you just read out, you know what they say here, Norioku is like power. That's like, you know, what's your. What's your ability? What's your thing that you can do? And it says Akuma no mi. Obviously that is devil fruit. That is the. You know, the. The term. However, akuma no mi. When. When Oda is talking about, you know, oh, this. This guy has a devil fruit. In any other place in the series, Akuma is Spelled with kanji. And the kanji for akuma is like aku is evil and ma is like magic or monster or some kind of, you know, unhuman thing. And so akuma is like demon or devil or something. You know, it's the evilest thing that can be. And so that's, that's always been spelled in kanji. And here it is instead. Akuma is spelled with katakana, which is the sort of phonetic vocabulary or Alphabet, if you will, syllabary for Japanese that like, for example, pretty much all of the characters, aside from the wano characters, pretty much everybody's name is spelled in, in Katakana, for example. And the names of the devil fruits, like gum, gum, Gomu, gomu no mi. Like Gomu gomu is in katakana. And so it's akuma no mi. So it's, it's pronounced exactly the same way. Like if, if you saw this in the anime and somebody said, oh, he has devil fruit, you know, you, it would sound identical. You would, it would sound like he was just saying he has a devil fruit. But it is written in a different way. So it is distinct from just a devil fruit. And so I had to come up with a solution that was like, okay, so how do I make this distinct from devil fruit? But it should be as close as possible to, you know, the, the phrase devil fruit. And I came up with the devil's fruit as a, as a substitute where it's like, okay, it's just different enough that you can tell there's a difference when you're talking about it.

[Zach]

It.

[Stephen Paul]

What this might mean is obviously up to some interpretation. It could be the case that like, this is just Odo. Oda was like, okay, I want to have a devil fruit that is the devil, like the devil, devil fruit. But he didn't want it to like, he thought that if it was like the devil, the, you know, the devil, devil, devil fruit, it was too much, like it was too many repetitions. And so he decided, well, what if I just spell like devil fruit but in katakana? So instead of doing the repeating thing where every devil fruit has a, you know, a doubled up name, I'll just spell out, you know, akuma no mi and that. And that's how I'm going to differentiate this one. Or it could obviously have more lore implications. We've had a lot of discussions about like, like what, what are the devil fruits? Like where do they come from? I think we have enough evidence to surmise that like, you know, the, the the current present day format of like people getting powers by eating a fruit is maybe not like where all those things originated. And you know, there, there may have been some different form of that or they may have come into being at some point in the past. And so there are, you know, other possibilities. Maybe this is like the original devil fruit. Maybe this is the, you know, this is the fruit of the titular devil that, you know, all devil fruits stem from. It's. It's hard to say, but that's kind of like these are the things that I was thinking about as I was trying to come up with like, I was thinking of like, oh, should I do it like the fruit of the devil or something like that. That and I, I could not stop thinking of Fruit of the Loom, so I did not do that. But you know, I ended up with the devil's fruit which I thought, you know, was, was interesting enough. And it's one of those things where like, yeah, depending on how you interpret it or how you like parse it out, there may be implications to spelling it to, to writing it out as the devil's fruit rather than like the devil fruit or the fruit of the devil or you know, any other kind of takes on that. There might be certain implications that one has that the other don't have and you know, they may lead, mislead you down certain theories or whatever. That's kind of unfortunately an unavoidable part of, of trying to translate stuff in an ongoing series like this. Like, you know, we were talking a lot about the, with the God Knights or the Holy Knights and like how, how to translate that. And so I was reminded a little bit of that just in terms of like, well, I don't really know know for sure how ODA might end up playing this later on down the road. But, but I do, I do find it interest. I like the way the solution that it came up with as like a like boy, what the hell does that mean? But it sounds interesting is this.

[Zach]

I think we've answered this a lot, but it's been a little while I think since we've had this discussion. Is this something that the team in Japan would have an opinion about potentially like that you would hear feedback about? I, I assume that I believe from our previous discussions that rarely if ever happens.

[Stephen Paul]

No, usually when there is some kind of conversation or you know, occasionally, sometimes you'll get like feedback where it was like, oh, we, you know, we, we misspelled this or something like we need to change this or issue a correction or Whatever that goes up on the A H0 staff account or something like that, you know, they'll. They'll let us know about that. And you know, occasionally I have reached out with something specifically where it's like, okay, am I interpreting this wrong? Or like, is this supposed to mean this or that? This strikes me as more of like a. Like I might as well be asking, like, hey, so what is the one piece really? Like, I need it for translation purposes. Like, it feels like it's a little

[Zach]

too try doing that.

[Stephen Paul]

No, I haven't, to be fair. But yeah, I, I. This one seems more like it. It would be a little, like, asking a little too much to try to get clarification on that.

[Zach]

No, it's not quite.

[Stephen Paul]

It's. It's not quite in the spirit of like the, I guess, the. The usual, you know, translation of a serialized story thing.

[Alex]

Well, I'm sure that at some point soon we're gonna find out all this.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, I think so.

[Alex]

I mean, this is the. The beginning of that. I do think that. I think David Bednar brought this up, you know, sort of briefly, like, as speculation as to what the powers of this could be. Or like, the implications that, like, oh, if this is the one Devil Fruit and why, you know, Domi Reversi didn't work on, you know, Luffy. Yeah, like, well, well, one emu would. Why wouldn't emu already know that? That wouldn't work. It's kind of dumb. Yeah, he might be dumb.

[Zach]

He's very.

[Alex]

I hope he's just dumb. I hope he's just an idiot. He's a real himbo.

[Zach]

He's a. He's a mubo.

[Alex]

An imbo.

[Ken O'Connor]

He's a Hemu.

[Zach]

Yeah, he's an imbo. Actually, that's.

[Alex]

He's a man.

[Stephen Paul]

Impo is the Japanese slang term for impotence.

[Alex]

Oh, nice.

[Jill Knight]

We don't know that yet.

[Steve Yurko]

Or.

[Alex]

And Chinpo is. Yeah, so. But it's interesting when you think about, like, how, like, oh, well, if. If all. Are all the Devil fruits somehow tied to Emu, can he turn them off? Like, I thought. I. I had a scary thought today. Like, oh, well, well, right now, Luffy's in no condition to fight anybody. And because the food is frozen, he can't really, like, if he's going to fight, fight emu now, he's going to lose. But then I thought about, like, can Emu, like, take away Luffy's powers? Can those powers be taken away, like, from, like, Blackbeard? Kind of like Blackbeard and then I had, like, a really, like, sad thought. Like, well, what if Chopper tries to fight him, and then he takes away Chopper's power and then he's just a helpless little reindeer? Made me really sad to think about.

[Zach]

Well, it looks like Chopper is the

[Alex]

one with Brooks just dies.

[Zach]

Yeah. Brook just dies. Well, that's. That's funnier, though, because he's dead already. Chopper, though, seems to have, like, the cure all here.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Pun intended.

[Alex]

Potentially. We still don't know what the deal is with that.

[Zach]

Yeah, it's. That's. I. I feel like if anyone.

[Jill Knight]

Chopper's bounty has been so low this whole time so that people don't pay attention to him. I had this thought the other day, before even this chapter, I was like, feel like they're. They're trying to make people overlook them because why would you put a bounty on someone's pet? We didn't put a bounty on Osama bin Laden's dog. You know, I don't know.

[Zach]

I wouldn't put it past.

[Steve Yurko]

I wouldn't put it past our country. I'm not gonna lie.

[Zach]

Yeah, and he had a dog.

[Ken O'Connor]

Alex, just going off what you said before, I had similar thoughts, too, because we had that chapter a couple. A couple chapters ago where Emu was like, oh, Nidhogg, there you are. The way they were talking about it is like, almost like. Like, oh, I lost my car keys. There they are. Like, if Imu. If all devil fruits come from IMU and he can reclaim them in some way. Like, right now, Loki seems very big and powerful. How do you. I don't say nerf Loki, but make him less of a threat. Remove the devil fruit from him if that's a thing that he can do. So I didn't have that same thought of what if all devil fruits come from IMU and he can reclaim them?

[Alex]

I mean, I do wonder that, but I also. I also think, like, my other. My other thinking here is that Emu is very clearly, like, also not at, like, tip top shape. Like, because, you know, he's got the sateen coughing blood into my. My palm disease that, you know, everybody gets when from the early 1900s consumption. I think that's what. It's tuberculosis. Whatever. The point. The point being this is a good opportunity. I know we talk about this every major arc, but I think this is a great opportunity for Blackbeard to come and beat this and just kill Emu and take his power and then become the final boss.

[Steve Yurko]

I'm not gonna lie on Mark out so hard for This.

[Alex]

I. I want that to happen because I feel like that design. Now that's a design I would fucking.

[Steve Yurko]

I just like Blackbeard more.

[Alex]

Me too. I mean, we don't like. I mean, if somebody mentioned on the discord, like him getting snoked and I'd be like, that'd be really cool, actually.

[Zach]

I think that would actually be pretty cool.

[Ken O'Connor]

I think Sam said too, that Emu feels like Blackbeard. Like Puppy Chow or something like that. Like Blackbeard is going to eat Emu and gain his power.

[Alex]

Yeah. Blackbeard food, I think he called it.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah, that's what it was.

[Steve Yurko]

I'm down to Marshall D. Teach hungry.

[Ken O'Connor]

I can totally see Luffy and Blackbeard like forced to team up to take down Emu. And then at the last second, Blackbeard. All right, power for myself. I'm the final boss. And there we go.

[Steve Yurko]

I was gonna say eat him like a. Like an emu shaped hoagie. You know, it's that black ink bread and he's just, You know.

[Zach]

Yeah. Who was Joe? What were we gonna say?

[Jill Knight]

Sorry, I don't know. I mean, we don't even know how TJ is getting another Devil Fruit. Like, does he already have a connection to Emu here? Like, we don't. We don't know anything.

[Zach]

I was. So I also wanted to ask. I'm trying to find it. It was early on in the series where they kind of go through like the Devil Fruits more broadly. And the thing is, I'm sure the translations then also were probably not yard.

[Ken O'Connor]

The fruit of the devil take you to the sea.

[Zach]

Yeah, I'm trying. That wasn't in the first chapter. Right. They don't like completely go. I thought they had something a little more in depth at some point in East Blue, but maybe that was just the anime that I'm thinking of.

[Ken O'Connor]

I can look it up while you.

[Zach]

Yeah, I. Because I think it. I think it would. I for some reason remember something of, you know, you're claimed by. Or maybe this was like a four Kids or like. Like the devil claims your soul or something like that. And you are.

[Stephen Paul]

Which is basically a Davy Jones legend thing too. So I mean it.

[Zach]

To be fair, it would be funny if like 4 kids ends up accidentally being correct in that adaption. Choice. Adaptation. Choice. Yeah. There's. There's a lot here obviously that we don't know. I. Yeah. So you guys want to go through thoughts on the chapter as a whole? As Steve, since we didn't have you here, do you wanna.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, let me go back. Just want to say I want to comment Yamato on his pose on the COVID story. Just, you know, take a bite of onigiri and just doing this

[Zach]

like, hey,

[Steve Yurko]

everyone, come on, get in, get in, get in for this picture.

[Zach]

And he's just like, oh, we brought

[Jill Knight]

this up as a travel brochure.

[Zach]

Yeah, we did.

[Steve Yurko]

Come, come to wano see our wild boars and our ghosts, our wandering spirits.

[Ken O'Connor]

Now with 100 less Kaido.

[Steve Yurko]

See here, I, I, I did enjoy some of, like, the squabbling with the, the elders and York here. I kind of like our, our, our will of D cheat sheet here on page five. When we're just looking through all these key moments here. Not everyone's a D on this, but I just mean just a lot of, you know, with rocks, Roger and all this stuff, setting that stuff up. Just remember these are things Emu was pissed off about. Other than that, I don't know. Alex, when you saw a steel heart, did you think of the monarchs? Oh, my black heart.

[Alex]

I did not. I did not. No. My first instinct was, oh, that thing's gonna get sliced by Zoro.

[Steve Yurko]

Oh, yeah. Oh, but you missed my black heart. No, I don't think anything kind of really stood out so much. I just like the little bit of cute character moments here. Truly freaking somers has become Mr. Funny Face here, constantly overreacting to everything. So that's kind of enjoyable. Even though he's a massive prick. Yeah, it's kind of just. It basically everything was just leading to, like, this last spread here. So I don't think anything kind of really has, like, an incredible amount of substance for me to really kind of divulge in just, you know, it read great. I think the, the art was pretty clear. But yeah, I think everyone, the, the one thing everyone's always going to talk about is, you know, the last chapter. And I guess imu's got his own entrance music too. So one gets the upside, the other gets the downside. That's how it works.

[Alex]

That's right.

[Steve Yurko]

One gets the A side, the other gets the B side.

[Zach]

Yeah. Or if you were listening to the Mark Herilic interview, I mentioned Star Trek Voyager, like 10 times. The counterpoint is the name of that episode. And that is also the portion of music that inverses is. It's inverse to the main point.

[Steve Yurko]

Oh, it's maybe he's like the devil. So maybe it's just the drums of liberation played backwards.

[Ken O'Connor]

No, it's the drums of subjugation.

[Zach]

Yeah,

[Steve Yurko]

that's A title.

[Zach]

That's good.

[Steve Yurko]

That's a title.

[Alex]

Telling people the music tells people that Paul McCartney's dead.

[Zach]

I was gonna ask. What instrument. What instrument is the opposite of a. Don't know. What instruments? The opposite of a drum?

[Alex]

A kazoo.

[Zach]

The kazoos of subjugation. Wow. Kazoo is actually probably the right answer to that. To kind of circle back to the devil fruit thing. Steven, I don't know if you have, like, volume three on hand, because. Because I'm sure the translation in chapter 19. Thank you, Ken. Is incorrect. We'll see.

[Stephen Paul]

Do you need me to get the.

[Zach]

Is that possible? I don't know how do you need the Japanese version? Yeah. Because I'm assuming this is not.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah. In the English translation right now you go.

[Zach]

While he reads it. Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

You could go for chapter 19. The current English translation set is Shanks talking. He says, they say that the devil fruit was enchanted by sea devils. Whoever eats it gets amazing powers, but the seas turn against them. Captain says, anyone who wants to eat it can eat it. And then Buggy's like, yeah, what sea dog would give up his ability to swim? And that's the earliest you see them talking about it from that chapter. So a fruit enchanted by sea devils.

[Alex]

I would bet that it's pretty wrong, because earlier in those. In. In that run they call, Luffy said, I ate the fruit from the gum gum tree. And that's definitely not.

[Zach]

I'm almost positive this is wrong. That's why I wanted Steven to take.

[Ken O'Connor]

Is that really a thing the gum gum tree?

[Zach]

Was that. You're sure that four kids or. No, it's not.

[Alex]

That was viz. That was. That was really viz.

[Ken O'Connor]

I'll look for that, too.

[Zach]

Okay. Yes, Steven.

[Stephen Paul]

So the very first line on this page. What page is this?

[Zach]

That's the one we want.

[Stephen Paul]

Page 40. Page 40 in the Japanese. So it might be like 42 in the English. But yeah, it. So when in the English it says they say that the devil fruit was enchanted by sea devils. And the actual text is like, I've heard that the devil fruits are like an incarnation of. Of sea devils or of the sea devil. You know, it's not.

[Alex]

Not.

[Stephen Paul]

You don't know if it's singular or plural, but that they're like. You know, they're like manifestations of it, which is not really, you know, enchanted by. That's it. That's a different. Different view.

[Zach]

Yeah. Okay.

[Stephen Paul]

It does say sea devils. Yeah. That's not. That wasn't a pirate ism.

[Zach]

I mean, to be fair, that Sounds like pirate is out of context. Yeah. Okay, interesting. I think I was thinking of this. I'm trying to think of when else that this would have even come up.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

I found the gum gum tree, Chapter two of the Viz translation.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

You must have eaten the fruit of the gum gum tree. Incredible.

[Stephen Paul]

That is said.

[Steve Yurko]

What the hell is that?

[Ken O'Connor]

That's Kobe talking to Luffy.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, that is.

[Zach]

He's an idiot.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. And that's. And that's. That is 100 a translation of like. Well, I don't know what the context is for this. Like, I don't real. I don't know if there are trees or not. So I'm just gonna have to assume that there's a tree involved in. In some way. And yeah, in this series, as we've

[Zach]

learned here, a lot of translation is kind of context and guesswork, you know, for these things, given the context you have. And obviously in chapter two, the context was limited.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah. Now they should have been better at it because there were like 20 volumes out at this point. But you know, I'm going to pretend that's a, that is a lot of work to do to prepare for your new series that you're putting out, so.

[Alex]

No, true, true.

[Zach]

Yeah. Okay. Any goodwill you just, you just launched out of my window here. Alex, thoughts on the chapter?

[Alex]

Yeah, as Steve said, it was sort of like a, A, you know, lead up to the final, final bit. But I did love the little moments. I loved killing him and Sanji. Zorro, man. You know, it's so funny. Every once in a while I'm like, man, Zorro does look cool with those goggles. But this panel where he's like, hey, we should cut this. His nose looks really stupid. Like with, with the stupid mask. I don't know. I guess I'm. I'm anti mask now. Like, it's. It's bad.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, I wouldn't say that in public.

[Alex]

One, One thing that I did think was really funny, by the way, is during his, his little montage of his demontage it. Emus, that is. It goes back to like hundreds of chapters ago when he was like cutting up the wanted posters of Luffy and Teach and. And also Shirahoshi and we were all like, oh my God, does that mean he's marked them for death or whatever? And now it's just like, no, he just had a Kylo Ren esque tantrum.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Alex]

And. And he just had this picture of Evie because he's a simp. Like, it's. It's just very funny. To me that, like, it's true. Like, true, true, truer to. To the nature of a celestial dragon. A character has never been like, very much a just whiny little baby horny

[Zach]

little pussyork doing her stupid temper tantrum. Like, it's the same shit.

[Ken O'Connor]

But she hungry.

[Jill Knight]

I hope we get a crash out.

[Alex]

She hungy.

[Zach]

She hungry.

[Stephen Paul]

I mean, is that not what she's doing right now?

[Ken O'Connor]

That page is funny though, during the emu, like, memory flashback. Because, like, Blackbeard, Harold, like, all these hardcore men. Oh, there's baby Shirahoshi just there.

[Zach]

True.

[Ken O'Connor]

Just for Jill. Jill's still got that one.

[Jill Knight]

I don't know who was reading this page. And they were like. And they were mentioning, like, oh, is this from. Some of These are from IMU's point of view and some of them aren't. I was thinking, like, if these were all from IMU's point of view, what is he doing? Is he just attending Shirahoshi's birth? Like, was he an invited guest?

[Zach]

He's like, hi, Whitebeard, I just want to see you die. I'm leaving now. Bye. Or he's watching on tv. Or he's watching the birth on C Span.

[Stephen Paul]

It's. It's Easter. It's Jesus Day. He's watching everything too.

[Zach]

So he is descended. He is descended.

[Stephen Paul]

He's descended indeed.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Alex]

You know another thing about that spread that I really like is that like that for the five elders, they're like, oh, but if he leaves his castle, Marcus Mars face is so funny. Like, he's like, got sad eyebrows and it's. It's.

[Zach]

Yeah, it is a very funny panel.

[Alex]

Very, very funny.

[Zach]

I don't want to bring that emu. Don't do that.

[Jill Knight]

I do want to bring up these panels. I find it interesting that they zoomed in on actually, like, the structure of Mary Geoise after he left. As in, like, him leaving means something's gonna happen to it either, like, physically, like, he's no longer to keep it up there, or like, revolutionaries are gonna go wild with him gone.

[Ken O'Connor]

I don't know, am I wrong or like, when they cut away to like the red line, like the zoomed out shot.

[Alex]

Yeah, the red line one is interesting.

[Ken O'Connor]

I thought the red line was shaking or starting to crumble.

[Alex]

Like,

[Zach]

for an establishing shot, like.

[Jill Knight]

But why would there be two. Establishing shot of the castle.

[Alex]

Fine.

[Zach]

Because it's supposed to show the gravitas of him leaving.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes. Yeah, it's him descending to the lower world. So they're like taking us down There.

[Ken O'Connor]

Okay. So the red line is not falling.

[Zach]

Yeah. And the fact that you get an establishing shot of Elbaf and, like, Elbaf New World, like. Yeah, we know, but it's. I think it's supposed to show that.

[Jill Knight]

That.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Alex]

If. If there's anything that I'm a little dis. The most disappointed is that that Emu's eyes aren't nipples. As I keep looking at the silhouette design. Like, that's just the chest. Yeah.

[Jill Knight]

We don't have a good view yet. We could still.

[Alex]

Nipple lights. Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Alex]

Exist. Those are my thoughts. We went. Yeah.

[Zach]

No, I don't think we're having any other segments today. Steven thought we should.

[Stephen Paul]

I thought that the, like, the body of the chapter itself was admittedly quite inessential for the most part. Like, it's. It's all just kind of setting up stuff for the reveal at the end. But I think it does a good job at setting the table for that. I like Emu's little montage of just kind of, like, all these people, all the. All these, you know, figures that are apparently reminding him of stuff in the past and how it all began long before this. Like, I think he does a good job of setting us up for Emu leaving at the. You know, in the start of this chapter. I do think it's funny that within the span of the same set of pages, we have both Sommers and Killingham being like, I will remember your name. I will commit it to my memory for my revenge.

[Alex]

Funny.

[Stephen Paul]

Again, see that they both do the exact same thing in separate situations, which is very. It's very good. Very, very bit rate villain. I do love that. But, yeah, other than that, this is all just kind of setting up the. The stuff. And. And for. For all of the quibbles that we had about, like, the kind of the composition of the Emu reveal on the last two pages. I do really like how much time he spent. Like. Like, showing all the. Going down with the pillars and then, like, getting the big shot of the magic circle over the castle.

[Zach]

Yes.

[Stephen Paul]

And stuff like that. Like, I thought this looked really, really good. Very, very cool and evocative and definitely, you know, it. It is really very funny in retrospect that we spent so long last week being like, well, is this really, like, are we gonna. Is Emu gonna show up in the next chapter, or is this gonna be the end of the arc and that's the end of Elbaf? Boy, that was really disappointing. And, you know. And then within a couple pages, it's like, oh, this is actually very, very bad act, you know. Indeed, this is not anywhere near the, the end of. Of Elbaf or at least at the end of. Of our, you know, danger here. So that, that was very satisfying to see that kind of the descent of. Of Emu. And other than that, I mean, I don't know, maybe. Maybe our reaction or our overall reaction if it seems a bit muted, maybe that's just a generational thing. Like we just don't appreciate aura like, like the younger, the younger folks do. But you know, I'm looking forward to seeing where, where it goes from here and, and like how, how Oda will. Will turn this, this new, you know, version of. Of Emu into a three dimensional character like in, in multiple ways and, and how. How we will, we will see them see him evolve from here. So very exciting. Very fun. It's always, it's always fun when you have a chapter of One Piece that's like, oh, this is going to be one of those milestone things of like, well, it was, it was one series before this and now it will be a slightly different series after this, you know, because it's just that. That impactful. So very cool to be present for it.

[Zach]

Chill.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah. I mean, not too much more to say, but like I, I'm so intrigued by everything here. I mean, yes, appearance wise, I think almost too cool for One Piece. But I do think that it feeling like a design that doesn't work in One Piece makes it kind of work as like an otherworldly being. So I'm okay with it that way. Plus, I mean, I mean it's One Piece. We'll get him making like a funny face when Luffy punches him eventually. Like we'll get some humor there. But there's so much that's just like intriguing like, like why did, why does this stuff come to life just like Big Mom's Fruit, you know? Like I, I don't know this. There's not like too much this chapter other than the Reveal, but it's just like a lot of little things. Like the, the Steel Heart is interesting. I wonder if that has anything to do. I wasn't here last week, but I don't know if it has anything to do with like laws Fruit with the whole heart thing. And I don't know, I'm just. I'm just really excited for One Piece. Yeah, like Stephen was saying, like I was thinking recently about chapters of what moments in One Piece that basically just completely change everything. Like when we saw that giant hat, the freezer I was like, oh, okay. This is. This is. Everything is different now. Like, everything is different. This is one of those where maybe not quite the same because we already knew this character is coming, but it's like we have taken another step in the series now and closer to the end. But I don't know this. I'm just so interested in one piece.

[Zach]

Yeah. Now we only have a few decades. We only have a few decades left now until.

[Jill Knight]

Yeah, you know, what was it, 2070 we planned?

[Zach]

Yeah, 20. 20s. I'll give him, you know, maybe if he.

[Jill Knight]

If he rushes.

[Zach]

Yeah. Ken, thoughts?

[Ken O'Connor]

We've said pretty much everything. We're going a bit long today, but I think for good reason. Just a couple things I wanted to bring up real quick. That one panel where Loki is mentioning about the ice. He says, in a flash freeze, it won't be fatal, but only this guy can melt the ice. Referring to Rat Tasker, I just posed a theory in our discord. Like. Like, maybe this has something to do with the giants frozen on Punk Hazard. The Galila giants. Like, okay, after Elaph is said and done, is this Loki will take Ratataskar to go unfreeze them? Or does Ratataskr have something to do with the freezing? I don't think there's anything there. Just the fact that they're mentioning ice and melting and flash freezing a lot recently. And he brought up the Galila giants not too long ago. Like, okay, is there anything there?

[Alex]

True.

[Ken O'Connor]

But yeah, just overall, a really good chapter. Again, I'm sad this one was so highly spoiled for a lot of people and posted online because it's a really fun chapter. I love all the designs for the evil trees and the houses and whatnot. And the fact that Steven mentioned they're basically singing their own Nightmare Before Christmas. La La song is like. It makes me love them even more. And if we're going with the whole devil theme, like, okay, the devil makes contracts and has souls. So what if some extra souls spill out and these trees come to life? Kind of like Big mom, where she was just dumping souls left and right and they were coming to life, too. So it all thematically works really well for me. And, yeah, I want to see more of Imu in action because right now he's just devil maxing on top of a tower. I want to see him in action.

[Zach]

I'll try and keep my thoughts short because I have many. But the one thing I keep meaning to mention, I keep forgetting is the very famous characters that we all voice the Satan worshipers back.

[Jill Knight]

But this is your time. Look at this.

[Zach]

We have to offer him more. But is this Ed's line? Is this. The devil does keep ringing in my ear every time I hear the word devil. But for. But seriously, it is like it ends up being kind of this like. Oh, in the mythology of the One Piece world, I guess this did exist and was kind of established even at that point in the series. I have to go back and look. But it is something that is in my head. I think it would certainly be interesting. I. So I. I posit that overall I. I really enjoyed this chapter. Even the. The last spread aside. I think like working backwards, I'm not going to talk about Emu anymore specifically. But I think I agree that that Devil Circle page was that page 12 into 13 a little bit is just. That's badass without having to be funny. Like, that's. That's really cool. What a cool panel. And an ominous as shit. The. The panel in Egghead where Saturn first arrives and is like our first sight of this kind of The Pentagram was equally cool and effective. This obviously is on a much larger scale, literally, but. And it's coming from above and not below, which is also interesting because he is literally descending presumably. I don't know very. I. We don't know the mechanics or the reason for these yet. I mean, we could have theories, but. Very, very, very cool. I love the fact that there does seem to be a wacky element to it in the singing that like, made me extra happy because, like, even if he is badasshomeru slash, what other characters did we compare him to? Kishimoto Sashomaru. Even with that, like, the fact that there are potentially like cartoony and weird, you know, offshoots to it is fantastic. I'm very happy about that. And the stuff with Somers and killing him that was mentioned were just that Summer's face is an Alzheimer. The yeep face. I don't know what else to call it on page nine. And it. This chapter also with Emu, was it the inherited will kind of discussion in one piece is such an. The. The combat. The. The debate between like fatalism and just like history repeating itself. And I'm. I'm pretty sure when this is finally posited to Luffy, he'll be like, f you. No, that's not how that works. I do what I want to do. It's not because of a preordained thing. And the fact that kind of Emu is buying into the fact that it is makes Me think it almost certainly is not or. Or at least that his point feels like it needs to be be, you know, crushed because that's kind of the. The stance that we as readers are supposed to be given. And the last and least important thing I'm thinking about right now is that the floor of the five elders room also dotted in a similar pattern as emu. So they must be related the floor and emu. I think we figured that out now. Is the new thing polka dots the new black apparently in the orange is the new black is what it was anyway. Any other thoughts? Chapter what is this? Two hours later where are we?

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, pretty good.

[Zach]

Okay, let's round off the show. This episode is brought to you by Fandango.

[Stephen Paul]

People say fans are too distracted these

[Zach]

days, but the truth is when a

[Stephen Paul]

great movie hits the screen, you show up, you stay glued, invested part of the story.

[Alex]

And without fans like you, there'd be

[Stephen Paul]

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[Ken O'Connor]

Protein is now at Starbucks and it's

[Stephen Paul]

never tasted so good.

[Ken O'Connor]

You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha.

[Stephen Paul]

Try it today at Starbucks.

[Zach]

This is the Piece Together segment where we take your questions, comments, theories, and sing a little of O. Killingham. Yeah, I remember Drew, Joe, Ken. I wrote it down for some reason.

[Ken O'Connor]

Thank you. I didn't think anyone liked that one.

[Zach]

It felt like a good title potentially. Alex, we're going to do. I said we weren't going to do anything else because we sit here usually when we end, but we're going to do a lightning round through dis piece since they're all relatively short questions.

[Stephen Paul]

And you promise there's some good ones?

[Zach]

They were short. I promised Alex.

[Alex]

They're all like one to three lines most of late. And that none of them really are questions. So easy to wrap. I'm gonna go go right through them. One specifically is for Steven, so we'll get to that in a second. All right. King Doji says hello. Pp with what seems to be the final fake out silhouette. What was your favorite fake out silhouette of the series? I think mine is the seven warlords back before chapter 100. So. Well, me Oda said, well, Mihawk is a warlord. Let's make them all look like Mihawk. Also contending with the possibility this is not a silhouette instead a cover of some kind. Yeah, that's always the one that I thought I think of personally, the big. The. The original Kaido silhouette's also very funny.

[Zach]

I will say the UMU silhouette, I think will go down in infamy as, like, being one of the best, particularly because of the merch.

[Alex]

Oh, yes.

[Zach]

And oda's. Oda's thing, you know, posing with them. So a big fan of Emu's silhouette. Definitely still more than the real thing because. Come on, you can't beat it. It's. It's great.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah, I like the. The Loki one we saw back in Whole Cake Island.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Ken O'Connor]

Oh, yeah, we had a big, like, flower given to the.

[Alex]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

And it's not really my favorite, but just for honorable mention, we should also point out the Conjuro silhouette that changed when ODA realized that he was going to give him an actual design.

[Zach]

Fine.

[Steve Yurko]

No, no, actually, I totally.

[Zach]

From what I recall, right?

[Steve Yurko]

No, no, no. From what I recall, it's Dendros.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes. Yeah, it ended up being Dendros. Yeah, he changed. He was like, wait, no, I want that to be a different.

[Steve Yurko]

No, I like Denjiro more.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Well, all right.

[Alex]

SNP says, hey, Oopp. Oh, no, he is hot. And we get reminded once again that Emu want Phoebe, probably because she looks like Lily. Looks like a bad breakup happened. Love triangle between Emu. Joy Boy and Lily, perhaps. And laugh Tale. More like love tale. Am I right? But now for the real question. Can Stephen tell us anything about the line Garling said on page two, the one regarding former Navy hq? I saw a few people take it as a location. Marine Ford that is now G1. But now I think it's about a person, maybe former Navy hq, Vice Admiral Garp. He has saw a comment about giving. Giving us a devil on Easter Sunday. What is he trying to say? Say, that's very funny. But, Steven. Well, you can take this.

[Stephen Paul]

He is descended. Yeah, this. This was probably the. The most kind of mysterious, like enigmatic thing that appears in the chapter. And he's referring to this line that Garling says. What page is this? Page three? No, it's page three, but it's in the first one, he's walking up to the. To the other guys and he says, what we need right now is the military might to keep the rest of the world under our thumb. And then there's the former Navy headquarters. And I was like, what does that have to do with anything? And. And I'm still not entirely sure. He says, yeah, so he. It literally, like the sentence is just also former Navy headquarters. And like that. That's it. So you're just supposed to be like, figure out, okay, what does he mean by that? Because he's talking about we need military might. Maybe he is referring to. I mean, the thing is, if he was referring to, like, officers, like, like Garp, for example, like, that's probably the worst way you could possibly refer to. So, like, what, like, how, how. How are you going to get Garp from former Navy headquarters? Like, what does that.

[Alex]

How.

[Stephen Paul]

How do you draw that line? That's what I think is.

[Zach]

Could it be, like, Kuzan maybe, like, former Navy headquarters Admiral?

[Stephen Paul]

Like, yeah, I mean, maybe that's ODA trying to seed that without, like, giving away that that's who he's talking about.

[Zach]

I assumed my assumption, but that it was through the lens of the translation, was like, Something happened on G1 Marine.

[Stephen Paul]

Right, right. That's. That's obviously kind of the most straightforward way. But you'll notice that when I translated, I said, and then there's the former Navy headquarters. So if he's talking about Garp or Kuzan, it could be. And then there's the former Navy headquarters, Vice Admiral Garp or whatever. Like, you know, you can still read that off the end of the trailing ellipsis, but. But still, like, I, I just find that a very unsatisfying, like, doesn't, I don't think, sense.

[Zach]

Because he's not former. Really. He still was like, Right.

[Stephen Paul]

That's the other part. That's a.

[Zach]

Is I am like, yeah, let's. Fujitora actually quit. All right, what's that?

[Stephen Paul]

But, but even, yeah, even, even then I would expect him to say former, like, headquarters admiral or something. Like, not just like the former headquarters, so.

[Zach]

Well, he got cut off by the call.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. He was gonna say something really important.

[Alex]

I see. So this is vague. Yes, darling, is vague posting.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Zach]

I will say that it is comforting to. It's a. It's a good explanation as to why, like, the full forces of the world haven't been able to be laid bare in any specific place. Because there feels like there's a lot happening and unraveling for the government and the fact oda's obviously trying to throw in more things for the government to have to deal with. But things are, like, things are looking good for the straw hats on Elbaf right now. Yes, things are looking much worse, I feel like, for the government right now.

[Stephen Paul]

And it would be, it would be nice to, like, actually see some of these things in the manga, but I, I totally get that. That is. That is a very tall ask with how many plot lines are going.

[Ken O'Connor]

Yeah.

[Zach]

We have to see York's temper tantrum. Go ahead.

[Alex]

All right. So like I said. Lightning Round. I'm just going to try and get through these as fast as I can. The rest of them? Because there's a bunch. But they're all pretty short. And apologies if you can hear my cat. Reverse Cyborg Geyser Patch. Cyber guys. Patch says. Wow. Opp. This is the biggest reveal in years. That's right. Sanji forgot killing him's name. Or was it curing him? Gearing him? Kicking Spam. Krillin. Sam. All right. Sailor Karna says hey. Opp. The Great One has been revealed. And what an entrance. I wonder what kind of music did they use? Take a guess at Emu's entrance song. Personally, I'm imagining a creepy version of We Are.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Alex]

My Sharona was the one that I had.

[Stephen Paul]

My Narona. Yeah.

[Alex]

Yeah. My Nerona. That's the one.

[Steve Yurko]

Say, Too bad the the fake Straw Hats are reclaimed. We aren't. As a song.

[Zach]

We were.

[Alex]

We were.

[Steve Yurko]

We were.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Alex]

It's We Were.

[Zach]

So could still be. We Aren't.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah.

[Alex]

The way we were.

[Stephen Paul]

What did we say? The Kazoo of subjugation.

[Steve Yurko]

The moose kazoo.

[Stephen Paul]

I like that.

[Alex]

All right. Straw high. Pirate9 says. I am proud to say I was somehow able to avoid the spoiler for for this. I'm glad that the shields I have set up on my social media platforms held strong. Damn it, Odo. Why did you have to make them attractive? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I still hate Emu. Love my girl Vivi. More Luffy Supremacy all the way. Let's go, Straw Hats. Let's go, Luffy. I'm excited to see Luffy get back to 100 for him. To him and Loki to kick Emu's butt. We'll see. Tyler says Happy Easter, Op Opp. And to all you fellow OPP listeners, may you have an Egg Salent day with your families. Or if you prefer, away from your family. So is Emo a Lunarian? Solid setup. Chapter we are now officially in the things get really bad part of the arc. Ellipses. Agreed.

[Zach]

I don't think he's a Lunarian to answer that question. Because he doesn't have any of the other characteristics. I still think he's an alien. And I don't think he's really this. I think he's a different color. Like, I think he's an otherworldly color.

[Alex]

Blue Mad Mad Mad Wan Slay says hello. My fellow demonic flora and architecture. What a chapter. I truly can't believe this shocking scene before our very eyes. What a game changer. What a magnificent wonder. What an edge of your seat moment. Frankie could have cyber guys the entire crew this entire time and he never did.

[Ken O'Connor]

Wow.

[Alex]

Color me shocked. Any blue? It seems this could be Emu's true form. And maybe Blobby Emu is just their armor or like a cocoon. My questions are these. Does this emu poop? And what do you all think of their blob armor taste like, feels like and smells like? We have to know for science. Have a great week.

[Jill Knight]

Maybe for smells like the inside of a mascot suit. Not great.

[Stephen Paul]

It's a delicious chocolate shell blueberry jam.

[Alex]

I'm going to say poop.

[Zach]

Yeah, good. Good answer. Maybe that's what all the blackness was.

[Alex]

Yes. Does Emu poop? Yes. That was Emu's poop. Wispy says heyo. Who slop with Emu's badass transformation, we have officially entered the Shonen slot part of the series. I have faith in ODA to keep the story satisfying, but there have been many series over the years where I've just have to turn my brain off for the narrative and enjoy the action as the final arc or arcs play out. Do you ever worry one piece may go that route? Personally, I've been feeling like ODA has written a lot of conveniences or quick resolutions across this arc, but I still have hope it's all working towards something bigger. Thanks, Opp.

[Stephen Paul]

Well, you know, we. We were just complaining about that last week and then Imu showed up the next chapter. So you know, it can change very quickly in terms of like, okay, how. How quickly is this actually resolving?

[Alex]

Yeah, I'm to. To tldr. My. My response. Yes, I definitely thought that too. And then this happened. So.

[Zach]

So

[Alex]

I as. As an arc as a whole. But I. But I. But I do think. I mean, we're still. Who knows when the arc is going to be finished, but I'm not sure if this is going to be in my top 10 ARCs. When it's all said and done, we'll see Saint Nimona from Pokemon. Ku says oh, like the saint. Saint Ann anyway. Or Nimona is a character from Pokemon. Whatever. I'm not saying whatever to you, Cram. I'm just trying to get through this.

[Zach]

Good digging. Good digging yourself out of that holes.

[Alex]

Thank you.

[Zach]

Really, really did a good job there.

[Alex]

We love you, Cram. You do great work. Anyway, Cram says. Ahoy opp. Banger chapter as always. What a reveal. There are some interesting implications here about IMU's form and body. Especially with how how the very intentional silhouette we see throughout even here doesn't match this very classic Shonen villain ass design. Is the implication that they've chosen a form that isn't the natural one? And what the hell does Power the devil fruit mean or imply? What exciting stuff. I don't really have a question this week. Just want to hear folks thoughts about what IMU's power description implies. Have a great week and keep up the work. P.S. steven, if you're on, thank you for the stellar work on both OP and especially Akane right now. This current arc in Akane is wild and I'm loving it so much much. As for the Devil's fruit, it's on a boat aan right now.

[Stephen Paul]

Yes.

[Alex]

Oh dope. I gotta catch up.

[Stephen Paul]

They got their flappies.

[Zach]

Glad someone said it.

[Alex]

I a mermaid as as for that happens next week. As for the Devil's fruit, we do cover that in the Mongery recap and Sheep Man. Howdy opp. So is Emu's appearance different entirely in Marijoir versus anywhere else? Emo has horns which aren't prevalent at all in the silhouette appearances so far. Maybe it's a Power Rangers like transformation when they morph. Also, Emu really dropped the ball on taking Vivi when she was a kid. And during the Reverie arc when she attended with her dad, she was right there. I can see why they're mad. With Vivi and Teach having been so close proximity at various points of the series and not doing much about it, it gonna have to start calling him Butterfingers. That's funny. That's. That's a really good freaking point.

[Zach]

That is a good point. He's such an idiot. He's such an imbo.

[Ken O'Connor]

In all honest, he just learned that they're. They're a D now. Like he didn't know about the truth.

[Zach]

No, but he was obsessed before because he had that picture and he was looking at.

[Jill Knight]

You know.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's right. Yeah, you're right.

[Alex]

I do. I do wonder if like Emu's really, really is confined to that room and the only way he can get his information is by like the Elders telling him something.

[Zach]

To be fair, can he tell if they're lying?

[Alex]

Seriously, like that's. I think that's. I think that's. That's it. Because otherwise he's pretty not very well informed at all.

[Zach]

He's Just is.

[Alex]

Oh, I'll get these five old to tell me, like, what the important things are.

[Zach]

I did cough up blood when he left, so there is a. A reasonable.

[Jill Knight]

You know, I could see Garling trying to scheme about that against the others and trying to, like, really take control and maybe, like, give Emu specific info. I don't know. He kind of feels like it to me.

[Ken O'Connor]

They've been gaslighting Emu for years, telling him fake stuff.

[Jill Knight]

Everything's going fine. Yep. No problems here.

[Zach]

Nothing to see here.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, he's just the new suck up.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Stephen Paul]

You won't believe what these guys are telling.

[Zach]

Telling you.

[Alex]

Prison Mike says, hey, Opp, Hope you all have had a great week. My only input on today's chapter. What the devil fruit?

[Zach]

See, someone else thought it.

[Alex]

Yeah. And we close this week with Big Mike shockingly not saying anything horny. So that's what Emu looks like. It's a good thing this chapter was released this week because I thought the leaks I got spoiled by were April Fool's jokes.

[Zach]

What a good note there to end on.

[Alex]

Yeah, that's a good. Yep. And that's. And that's pieced together, baby.

[Zach]

That's pieced together. Let's round off the show for real this time.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

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[Zach]

This has been episode 913 of the One Piece podcast for April 6, 2026. See, Stephen, I say it like that.

[Stephen Paul]

Okay, thank you.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Zach]

Thank you all for being on. We're gonna make this kind of quick. I'll say. First, check out our latest OPLA interviews. The latest one out is with Mark Horlick, who plays Dr. Hiriluk. A very fun episode. Please check them out on YouTube if you want to see our lovely faces. And also, more importantly, the lovely faces of our guests. This week we have Rob Coletti on opla, who plays waffle. And next week we have Aura, who sings the Tony, Tony, Tony chopper. Did I say enough?

[Alex]

Yeah, there's a three times.

[Zach]

There's three.

[Alex]

It's like Beetlejuice.

[Zach]

Yeah, he just appears. Oh, shit. He's in Here. Oh, he's very cute. But he's swearing. Not in front of the children.

[Stephen Paul]

Probably a shithead.

[Zach]

Bullshit.

[Alex]

Oh, shit. God damn it. You know what?

[Steve Yurko]

Mr. Weisenheimer called me today. A shithead

[Zach]

can work.

[Alex]

If people find you me?

[Ken O'Connor]

You could find me anywhere. Online at kyneking01 with the blue SK Instagram, you name it, I'm there. And also, please check out the the one piece art collab on Blue sky at opcollab Bsky Social. I've said more than enough about it, so you probably know what it is. But go check it out. There's a lot of amazing art there. Including art that Alex did too.

[Alex]

Yep.

[Ken O'Connor]

And just because we've been going super long tonight, Ark Madness is over. Thank you all for a very successful March Madness Bracket. Surprising no. 1 Water7 Enies Lobby 1 Alabasta. Taking second place. Third place going to Jaya Skypiea and fourth place going to Arlong Park. Thank you to all who participated and voted. This did pretty well. So we will probably do more brackets like this in the future.

[Zach]

Thank you, Ken. Yeah, thanks for doing that. Yeah, Ken has some fun ones actually lined up where I don't know what the answer would actually be at the end. Jill, where can people find you?

[Jill Knight]

You can find me on Blue sky and most other social media as pirates unluck. And you can find me in The Final Fantasy 14 server in Ultros as p. Unluck as always.

[Zach]

And Jill is going to be fighting Saint Nerona Emu. Is that right? In the next raid?

[Jill Knight]

That definitely. Well, you know what's interesting, I forgot to mention it, but what. What's the. The Lindwyrm or whatever. That's a thing in one piece.

[Zach]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is.

[Jill Knight]

That was actually the latest Final Fantasy 14 raid possible. That's the Lindwyrm.

[Ken O'Connor]

That's great.

[Zach]

Maybe he's just playing a lot of Final Fantasy 14 right now. You know, I wouldn't put it past him at all because there's been a lot of Final Fantasy references.

[Jill Knight]

The Final Fantasy 14 team has multiple times said that they love one piece.

[Zach]

So I will say the Final Fantasy rep is there. Nippelheim was the other one, I think. Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy 7 though. Steven, where could people find.

[Stephen Paul]

I post on social media at Bluesky, StephenPaul B Sky Social and you can. Obviously we. We will be off with One Piece next week, but Akane Banashi is always on and you can check out the anime, which I believe they. They have some crazy set of like locations of where to Find it depending on what country you're in, but at least in North America. I believe it is exclusively on YouTube right now. Now, I have not seen the first episode yet, but I will definitely check that out in the next day or two. And yeah, get those. Get those numbers up.

[Zach]

Yeah, I. The comments so far that I saw were very positive. So that's.

[Stephen Paul]

Yeah, apparently. Apparently the guy who does the. I just saw this. The. The guy who does the like rakugo supervision of the manga was also like training the voice actors to. To do on their like, delivery of. Of rakugo stuff, which is kind of. Kind of neat. I don't know how big of a would make. But it's cool that at least you know, they're kind of keeping it within the family as far as, you know, the. The vision for the show.

[Zach]

The one thing I watched was the opening, which was just charming as hell. So I'm. I'm very much looking forward to it. Alex.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, that's. That's the most like 2000s anime opening

[Zach]

I've seen in a while.

[Steve Yurko]

It was very charming.

[Stephen Paul]

Looking for.

[Zach]

Forward to it, Alex. Where could people find you?

[Alex]

You can find me at dude, exclamation bisky or whatever on Blue sky and also web Simpsons on blue sky. Patreon.com superart fight. We're always releasing new videos from our archive, including Art fights with me. Oh yeah. I also wanted to shout out a listener who was at my most recent art fight in Baltimore. Howdy, Matt, and thank you for showing up. You brought your fiance with you. Thank you very much.

[Jill Knight]

I

[Alex]

don't remember her name. I'm sorry. If I was on the week prior, then I definitely would have remembered. But thank you so much for listening and thank you so much for coming to Super Art Fight. And if that is not your that, I'm really, really sorry, but I'm pretty sure it was Matt. Keep listening and I love you to them, specifically Steve. I just love anybody who comes up and says hello.

[Steve Yurko]

Okay.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's true. I mean,

[Steve Yurko]

Steve, go to my website steveyerko.com, follow me on socials, mainly bluesky Instagram. Listen to me on Procd Plays Games. Listen to me on 4Kids flashback plug in. Another couple more things. As Zach mentioned, last week I was on our friend's podcast, Quest for the best, talking about One Piece Movie 6, Baron Omatsri and the Secret Island. Go listen to that. Also, we on ProZ plays games. We just did our April Fool's video this year, which was the most ambitious. We've ever been yet. So please check that out because we put a lot of work into it.

[Zach]

Yes. Steve was inspired and should be winning the Oscar this year, I think.

[Steve Yurko]

Yes. The kids say I acted my pussy off.

[Zach]

That's what the kids say.

[Ken O'Connor]

I've heard that.

[Zach]

Yeah. Weird.

[Alex]

Oh, how lovely.

[Steve Yurko]

Sorry, I just love Steven's

[Stephen Paul]

much to think about.

[Zach]

Maybe I should watch this. Yeah, no, please, please check that out. I, I watched it like two days after it came out. It still doesn't feel like that came out this week. It still feels like that came out several weeks ago. This is my time. Well, I'm sure you've. Is that, is that what you were quote, unquote filming that one day? Was that correct in my assumption in that recently? Yeah, it was like a few weeks ago.

[Steve Yurko]

A few weeks ago. Oh, I think that was just the, the cowboy stuff was because I'm like,

[Zach]

what he's filming is the only reason

[Steve Yurko]

why we couldn't film that was it was surprisingly raining and I'm like, oh yeah. You know cowboys, they love, you know, being out in the rain.

[Alex]

It's a cyberpunk.

[Zach]

I did enjoy how the comments on your successive videos because they like pop up on the bottom. It was like, well, in the cow. Can you imagine a cowboy world where this was like just like now? Very. It's. It's definitely worth watch. I was just. Why is Steve filming something? But it hit me later used a

[Steve Yurko]

real film video camera.

[Zach]

A film video camera. Yeah. You could check us out at One Piece Podcast Calm. You could check me [e-mail] on Blue Sky. Please check us out at patreon.com Steve, the poll is going up this week for sticker of the month thing.

[Steve Yurko]

Yes. Yeah, sorry. Also had a big deadline at work.

[Zach]

I wasn't trying to guilt you.

[Steve Yurko]

Yeah, that'll be going up soon. And March, the stickers will be going out shortly.

[Zach]

Nice. Thank you, Steve. Great work as usual. Everyone loves the stickers. I've only seen glowing positive reviews, so if you'd like stickers. Patreon.com One Piece podcast stickers. Thank you, Alex. I think that'll do it. Next week we'll either. Can I say the two possible options I think we're currently doing. Stephen. Yeah. So we'll either be doing our SBS for volume. The SBS for volume 114 of the manga which came out last at the beginning of last month, I think or we'll be doing some like mega anime recap catch up show with Sam. But we'll see until then ice. My name is Zach.

[Steve Yurko]

Oh, my name is Steve.

[Alex]

And my name is Alex.

[Zach]

See you next week everyone. Goodbye.

[Alex]

Bye Bye. I almost jumped the gun there.

[Ken O'Connor]

Only Rat Tasser can melt the ice Maji.

[Alex]

But can he melt this reindeer's broken heart?

[Zach]

Just a time Chill. You made it. You made it a few months late.

[Ken O'Connor]

This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Co. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in

[Jill Knight]

the crowd or manning the snack table,

[Alex]

Athletic Brewing fits right in with a

[Ken O'Connor]

full lineup of non alcoholic beer styles. You can enjoy bold flavors all game long.

[Alex]

No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half.

[Stephen Paul]

Stock the fridge for tip off with

[Alex]

a variety of non alcoholic craft styles

[Ken O'Connor]

available Available at your local grocery store or online at athleticbrewing.com near Beer Fit for all times.

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