*.:White ShadoW:.*

Nujsuro's silhouette with his katana dripping blood was badass, I gotta admit he looks like the scariest of the Gorosei to face 1 v 1.

Some things I noticed off the bat:

•  Marcus Mars' observation haki being so keen he could sense a Den Den Mushi is kind of crazy. Which leads me to...
• Topman Warcury's armaments being so tough even Luffy's Red Roc which could penetrate Kaido's CoC coated exterior actually did damage! This might be the most impressive display of defensive haki thus far!
• Luffy's transformation being reliant on food is interesting, and it seems the amount might matters as well, since he didn't go straight into Gear 5. 
• I feel the Den Den Mushi is really a rouse and the countdown/ tampering is supposed to initiate some other device or contraption. Vegapunk is probably playing 4D chess with his reveal.
• Stussy has barely had screentime and she's already putting herself on the chopping block. I have a feeling her abilities will allow her to survive.

There's a lot to digest this chapter, but apart from the cool stuff like G5 Luffy duffing a Gorosei in the face and Sanji blocking a laser beam, Catarina Devon touching JayGarcia might be the most game-changing event this arc. If her copying ability is perfect it could mean through her Voidbeard gains control over the Seraphim since Gorosei don't need an authority chip, just their direct command! The balance of power could shift in an instant since Gorosei are unlikely to directly speak to these Seraphim normally and their hierarchy supersedes anyone else. This isn't even counting the other shenanigans, but I don't think Devon could infiltrate the Gorosei ranks because I feel their busoshoku haki/ instincts can sus out any such ability user.

The true "Fist of Love"  is here. Man that was so cathartic, my hatred for St. Saturd knows no bounds.  

Vegapunk is too pedantic and focused on logical outcomes, just like how he couldn't entirely wipe out the aggression from his cyber-creatures you can't erase the loving, protective nature from Bartholomew "Best Dad in Shonen" Kuma. Same way even a memory wipe won't stop Sanji from protecting women in distress. Dreams can't die!

What's also interesting is JayGarcia's regeneration, it's not anything we've seen a Zoan nor Logia do. He didn't just regenerate his arm but his clothing as well.  This feels like something else...

Kizaru either go  Swiss or be on the right side of history. Unclear Justice needs to stop!

Even if Bonney now has received Kuma's letters via his memory paw bubble she will never experience their warmth the same way, nor will she ever see the real Kuma again, barring some Nika-level hax/ plot miracle. That's immensely saddening, Alpha is a completely heartless sociopath, that punch was too satisfying...

Reticently, I think her DF ability is potentially  overpowered, especially since it's apparently not awakened. She has the ability to envision a future and make it come true, which is very much in line with Luffy's awakened Zoan. Perhaps she can even touch her papa Kuma and envision how he was, or could be in a "better future" bringing him back to his old self.

But first they'll have to deal witha true Devil aka St. Sa-turd, a man who couldn't even hold his side of the bargain— a basic agreement at that. I was hoping he'd at least have that as his redeemable quality but he's complete scum. I'm seriously hoping Kizaru will have a change of heart and his  "Unclear Justice" will finally take a real side.

Last but not least, I wonder if Kuma was watching over Luffy as a substitute for Bonney, or does he suspect that Luffy could be Nika/ Joyboy reborn? 

And does anyone else think it would've been cool if Oda reverted to his old lanky, no muscle definition style Luffy design he had pre-timeskip this chapter? It felt kind of weird seeing buff post-Marineford Luffy before Romance Dawn tbh...

The Wellest of Men  made a good point, I think her masquerading as the former, former  queen is what allowed Bonney to infiltrate the Reverie. I'm actually surprised Oda didn't use her Age Age fruit ability as a way to "reverse" the disease, but narratively it now makes sense why Vegapunk has a bond with her and why Kuma sacrificed himself. It would be awesome if Kuma can get his consciousness/ memories back before his inevitable you know...

Garling and his celestial dragon ilk are the most reprehensible scum imaginable. Oda has really really hammered in just how evil and selfish these bastards are. Using humans as game, and even manipulating them to try to survive until the end by falsely giving them hope. The worst part is, we can assume this "game" has been going on for centuries! Centuries of slaves and human sacrifices under everyone's noses!

Kuma's backstory is especially tragic, especially his father's sudden death. We now know why Bonney is acting so impulsively but it seems the WG gave her a lot of leeway, with even St. Saturn not explicitly ordering her death until she became an annoyance. The Gorosei's hatred of the Buccaneer race seems to be tied to their knowledge of Nika, but it may be that Joyboy himself was a Buccaneer. This would explain the giant straw hat and their race's cheery disposition. 

The God Valley tease was a bit painful, I'm not going to lie, but now I know why Roger and Garp teamed up... Garp was likely horrified to find out that these games existed and actually rescued the commonfolk. It was likely Garp's "war value" that kept him still in good standing afterwards. 

It was cool to see Captain John in the flesh, I loved his devil-may-care attitude in Thriller Bark  (despite it being someone else's shadow) and thought the real guy would probably be similar. I wonder what his abilities were? Xebec seems to have the D/ Luffyisms down pat based on Blancobeard's annoyance with his blasé attitude. Unsurprisingly Newgate seems like the de facto First Mate of this ragtag crew.

It was nice seeing how much of a dominant role Ivankov took early on and his general intellect, I wish we would've saw his first interaction with Dragon, but I guess this isn't the incident that started Dragon on his path. 

Seems like we're going to get to Bonney's origin story next week, Ginny is going to have something tragic happen to her I'm sure. *sigh*

I'm starting to get the strong impression that their abilities might transcend the standard model of Devil Fruits. If Zoan devil fruits have a will of their own, what if these are just the pure manifestations of their existence rather than the Gorosei just being men who ate the fruit? The pentagram teleportation and eye beams aren't anything in the lore for Saturn's demon historically, and the presence everyone on that island felt when Jaygarcia arrived felt unlike anything we've seen before. As if otherworldly. Basically, they're the pure aspects of these "devils" rather than being mere users like what we've seen prior. 

Which lead me to Voidbeard. What if Xebec (the presumed previous wielder of the Yami Yami no Mi) has perpetuated his existence/will through Teach and the Yami Yami no mi is also a mythical Zoan unrealized, similar to Luffy's Nika Nika no mi? This might explain why their fates are intertwined despite having different internal motivations.

Drum Beat Activated ROBOT!

Someone posted this in the comments and it seems to be very much on point. The Ushi-Oni is definitely St. JayGarcia's Zoan devil fruit and all these monsters represent the underworld and thus the rest of the Gorosei. Which coincides with the Yami Yami no Mi's origins and also gives us a strong hint as to Imu's DEVIL fruit ability.

Ushi-Oni can spit poison, fly, and shapeshift. The crazy part is that how JayGarcia's could also teleport with that pentagram seal that was also emitting conquerors haki. This is unlike anything we've seen before and likely a trait they can all share. These mythical Zoans might transcend our previous notions of how Devil Fruits operate entirely and may rival the absurdity of the Nika Nika no Mi. 

Back to the story. St. Jaygarcia and Akainu showing a lot of mercy to Jewellery Bonney is not a coincidence. There was no reason why Akainu allowed her to escape when DAWKNESSbeard had her captured way back. She must be of some value to the World Government that goes beyond simply being Kuma's daughter.

Luffy's Gear 5 also has a timer, which sucks but at least makes sense, because he must be consuming an ungodly amount of Haki/ stamina. That said he was capable of maintaining his form vs Kaido when he looked on the verge of death. I'm curious if there's a bigger price to be paid than just becoming emaciated. I hope he at least incapacitated Kizaru because I don't think Zoro, Sanji, and Jinbei are enough to handle a Gorosei, an Admiral, and soon an entire squad of Pacifistas.

Lastly, Shanks must be a real boss G to be granted an audience with these Gorosei monsters with the confidence that he could leave that room alive...

Not Kuma, probably the greatest driver of plot for the Mugiwaras in the entire series...

Damn Akainu! Absolute justice doesn't hesitate.

Luckily he's a cyborg now, but I wonder if the some Lineage Factor will is still driving him despite his lost memories? 

Luffy going through that energy barrier twice clearly shows the durability of G5 toon force powers. It's interesting that Kizaru could hardly react to Luffy's grab, as unlike before he seems to be taking him seriously.

But most importantly. The Robot awakening to the drum heartbeat! Sun God, The Eternal Flame, and the Lunarians are clearly all connected here. This robot is likely powered by such a thing, and it's probably something similar that activated it many years ago. Memories of the past.

Luffy said he's 100 times stronger than he was at Shabondy I remembered what Shakky said when talking about Rayleigh. EPIC!  Yellow Monkey vs D. Monkey!!!

Future Sight vs The Speed of Light!

Also, it seems these Vice Admirals actually mean business and won't be fodder either. I liked the short expansion on Sentomaru's relationship with Vegapunk and Kizaru. With the PX's now back in the WG's possession it's going be more of a fight.

Last and least, Lucci's being bitchmade again proves a leopard truly cannot change its spots. I hope Zoro can finally put him out of his misery with a decapitation. 

My theory that One Piece/ Laugh Tale is the fever dream/ imagined reality of a person like the finale of Big O is true after all...

It's highly likely to be the repercussions of using what's likely similar to Pluton or Uranus  (heck it might actually be a reproduction of Uranus) . This would also explain why the One Piece world has all sorts of environmental aberrations that we treat as a normal part of their wacky world (e.g., weird magnetic fields for islands, the Red Line, Calm Belt, etc.)  but due to the Void everyone has forgotten. Even Imu seems to be surprised by this event, which I find quite interesting. 

This makes me want to know more about this Mother Flame and how it relates to everything. An infinite power source, did the Lnarians put this flame in their lineage factor making them the godlike beings they were?

I love how the Straw Hats totally mollywhopped their adversaries, but I'm still curious how they handled the Seraphims? Did they thoroughly beat them or did they capture Gluttony and force her to give commands to release them from their duties? 

Lucci is the background was an unwelcome surprise... after all he's still a hater and mass murderer who admitted he'll kill the Straw Hats if he ever gets the opportunity and won't acknowledge Luffy's boss mode Yonko status. But I'm intrigued where his character arc will go from here. 

It's interesting that Koby's technique basically looks like one giant Shigan in terms of effect. Pretty cool, although I'm not a big fan of the name. As for him holding back it fits his character since he's and observational haki empath and has that Peter Parker morality. He didn't go all out to even protect his life, it took the endangerment of all the civilians to push him to the limit.  I still want to see his full fighting style though, we've been denied that for a minute.

Garp's attack was awesome and I notice that Aokiji intentionally froze his wound shut. I'm certain this was done as a mercy rather than anything strategic, meaning he might really be a double agent going very dark. So yeah, Garp definitely lives.

Garp-san did an Ace to save the heir-apparent Koby, I kinda feared that happening since Garp decided on saving him. I really hope Koby steps up his game this arc and I'm surprised Oda is still not showcasing his abilities.  It's interesting that Observation haki works in different ways for different users. Some can see the future, some can feel emotions/voices of others, some can see auras, and some can see through illusions. Koby seems to be the empath type.

Oda has established an important distinction for us this chapter. Haki and Devil Fruit users are put in a similar category of  being "special" i.e., Haki isn't just an extension of one's self but a technique that is distinct from pure brawn. We saw this with Rokushiki and Douriki power scaling but this is the first time Oda has showed us that honing one's body and cultivating Haki (aka ambition) are distinct. It's also why I loved when Luffy OHKO'd that giant panther Bacura on Amazon Lily the Amazons noted that it was amazing that Luffy wasn't even using Haki send him flying into the arena.

That training montage also showed Kuzan's dedication and respect for Garp and showed that Garp earned his ability not just being a freak of nature like Big Mom and Kaido from birth. I think the respect Garp has earned will probably mean other Marines will be coming to his aid, possibly Sengoku.

Also important is that we don't know the exact timeline of when these events are occurring. It could be that Voidbeard is on his way back with his core captains, which might spell doom for some of the Marines. 

Lastly, what's insane is that Garp sent the gigantic SanJuan Wolf flying miles from the island with an attack! Utterly insane when you think that this guy made Marineford look like a large playground set. 

That all the Gorosei are either mythical Zoans or maybe something even greater? But the devil tail seems like it was directly from Imu.  But yeah they are intentionally silhouetted, I find the Samurai Gorosei dude the most interesting because it seems he has the awakened clouds around his neck but still looks human, could be another mythical human Zoan, and I guess we'll see JayGarcia's abilities soon...