A

Sam. This is the One Piece podcast, episode 923 for the week of Monday, June 15th, 2026. My name is Zach.

B

And my name is Ed.

C

And my name is Alex.

A

And on today's show, we have very special guest translator for one piece in weekly Shonen jump in manga. Plus we have Stephen Paul with us. How's it going, Stephen?

D

It's going well. Simba is trying to stick his hand up my sleeve.

A

Is his cat?

E

Yes.

A

So context needs to be given. For those who somehow don't know Simba, it's his cat. Everything else good, Steven.

D

Besides that, it's all good. Everything is wonderful.

A

And we also have voice actress extraordinaire Marianne Bray joins us once again. How's it going, Marianne?

F

It is going

B

good.

F

Yes.

A

We want things to be going.

F

We're good. Come see. Come see.

B

It's going to be a good episode. We got the professor and Marianne.

D

Is that my new nickname now?

C

Wow.

A

Okay.

C

And the rest.

F

Wow.

A

And we're the rest.

E

Yeah.

D

Wow.

F

Wow.

A

You and my Alex. Yeah, I don't like that either. But here we are today for that chapter we're going through. I'm sorry for that. Whatever. We're going through chapter 1185, mind you. Beeswax. Which has to be said, I assume, in a New York accent.

D

Stephen, you know that. Yeah, that's some serendipity right there.

A

Yeah. You know, I'm gonna go just straight into that. I don't know. Mike Patton has probably told you. We're going straight into it. Ben Stiller is definitely talking about it. I would say the Knicks won last night as we sit here. So this, this past week, big deal for us New Yorkers who had completely given up hope that we didn't have to. But more importantly, for those who don't care about sports, which I get, the one piece NBA crossover includes a Luffy Nick's thing figure.

D

A figure.

A

A figure. Coming out in October. Very exciting stuff. That was already, you know, planned and announced coming out. Luffy is, I think, available in all or a lot of potential team jerseys. Yeah, yeah.

D

But they made sure. They made sure to publicize the Knicks one after, you know, the last game.

A

Yes. Yeah. Reasonably.

B

Which of the straw hats do you think would be the best basketball player?

A

Like in reality, Brooklyn. Right. If we just go by.

C

Why wouldn't it be? Why wouldn't it be Luffy? He can stretch his arms.

B

Yeah.

C

Some sort of rule.

A

Yeah.

B

Usopp has the best aim.

A

That's true.

F

But that's from like firing something not like throwing.

C

Yeah, Also. Also, that's like a. That is a flagrant foul. Like, flagrant foul. Star would be as. Like that would be.

D

Yes.

A

Basketball jokes.

C

Well, here's. Here's. Actually, here's a legitimate question, though. Like, if Luffy dunked the ball from halfway across the court, does that violate some sort of traveling rule?

F

Probably. I say, knowing nothing about sports.

D

Depends. Yeah, it depends on the steps.

C

Because I think they'd have to, like, rewrite the rules a little bit for. To accommodate for. For Devil Fruit rule.

A

Yeah, the Luffy rule.

B

See Bellamy dunking from half court.

C

Yeah, yeah, that sounds fine to me. But yeah.

A

Yeah, that's just a good jumper right there. Like, he's got hops.

F

Buggy would also be good at basketball.

C

Oh, yeah.

D

Robin. Robin could do any, like, alley. Oops.

A

That's true. A lot of crazy stuff. But Robins would definitely violate something.

F

Oh, for sure.

A

Tending or something.

B

Yeah, they do have offensive goaltending is a thing.

A

Yeah. So they've revealed some of these that we've talked about. Some of the other ones, like, Ace was originally the Knicks rep. As far as I know, Sabo was.

B

He should be either Miami or Phoenix or the Suns.

A

It's insane that he isn't one of those. That's just such a missed opportunity.

C

He's a Knickerbocker.

A

Yes. I've always said Ace is a Knickerbocker.

B

And Roo for Oklahoma City Thunder.

D

That was a good one.

A

That's an excellent, inspired choice. Denver is the Thund, isn't it?

D

Is that law?

A

No, no. Denver is Nami. The Nuggets. Thank you.

D

Oh, right, right.

A

Golden Nuggets.

D

Yes.

C

Gold Nuggets.

D

That's good. That's very good too.

B

Ace could also be the Portland. The Blazers.

A

Shanks is the Bulls. Because that just feels right. It does feel. He's red herring. And also it just. It feels right, generally.

C

Is the goat.

A

Yeah.

B

Chopper is the Milwaukee Bucks.

D

You would think so.

A

No, Yamato is the Milwaukee Bucks. Why? Why?

D

I said it was because the flower capital of sister cities with Milwaukee. So, you know, it's easy crossover.

B

That isn't the good land.

C

See, Kuma should be on the Bucks.

B

He's the Grizzlies.

C

He a Buccaneer?

A

No, he would be a Grizz Buccaneers.

B

Shouldn't Yamato be Minnesota Timberwolves?

D

Yeah, that would have been good. Yeah.

A

Yeah. Maybe they should have had us do this.

B

I think Brooke would be the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know, with the sword and everything.

C

Oh, well, I mean, that's a very recent reveal.

B

That's.

A

No, he's the sword. And now we knew he was in the way. Whatever, whatever. We don't have to litigate this that much. Although we just did other news and I think this took. This came. Oh, sorry. You have more NBA stuff?

C

Well, no, I had figure art news.

A

Oh, figure arts. No. Yeah, please.

C

Nico Robin will be the next pre timeskip sh Figure arts figure. And she's wearing her Ennis lobby outfit. And know what really grinds my gears? When you make a posable action figure and they have a skirt, a mini skirt and you can't pose them in cool poses. The Nami one is hard to pose because she wears a mini skirt. The Robin one should be her Jay outfit because she wears pants and has the cowboy hat. Any slobby outfit does not have a cowboy hat. Not as cool.

F

This is why my head canon is that any One Piece woman who is wearing a mini skirt is actually in a skort.

C

See, that's nice. And I think they did that in the live action too. Which is like, you know, it solves

A

a lot of problems and it does. You're absolutely correct. Yeah. So any other figure arts news, Alex?

C

I will be buying it anyway. And it. Because you know, fucking Nico Robin action figure. Know what I mean?

B

Because you're a mark, Steve.

C

Yeah, I am a mark for that.

A

Steve Yurko is joining us. How's it going?

C

And Steve is a yerk for that.

A

A yerk? Is that a set? Yeah, he's telling us. Oh, we have to. Okay, we have to kill time for him. So we have more news. I don't know. I. I want to say I don't usually watch the Nintendo directs, but for some reason I was randomly watching the Nintendo Direct this week and look at. Lo and behold, there's a one Piece announcement coming out of complete left field. As far as I know.

B

Is that game or is that something else?

A

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's One Piece. Grand gourmet comes out October 23rd. So. October, a very big month. You get your NBA figures, you get your Nintendo Switch games. It looks.

C

I mean it's also. Yeah, it's not just on the Switch. It's also on every platform including your phone, so.

A

Oh really?

C

If you want something. Yeah,

D

no, no, they never are. Yeah, it's a Kairosoft, which is a very long running development company that does lots of little management games like this that are all pixel.

A

I like these. That's the problem.

F

It can be on your phone. That's great.

A

That's. That's dangerous.

F

Yes, it is.

A

That's why I try not to play games on my phone. Because it's just dangerous. Because then also you get looped into other things on your phone. And I don't want to be on my phone. Right. People, get off your phone. Unless you're listening to us right now on your phone, then please forget on

C

your phone and call a family member. Tell them you love them.

D

Although these. These games, at least I do believe even on phone, that you have to pay for. They're not designed to like steal your soul by being free. And. Yeah. Incentivizing you to pay for stuff. You just have to buy the game first. But yeah, it looks adorable. It's like a cooking. It's like. What is it? Like simulation running a restaurant. So you get to.

A

But with one of these characters.

F

I need Flompe to be one of them. But we don't know yet.

A

Vegapunk is.

C

So is Jango.

D

Yeah. And Vanderdecken.

A

Big news Morgans. Big news Morgans. We got a big news Morgans.

C

Look, if Elder Neon is in the game, and if Elder Neon's in the game, I bet you Flompe is in the game.

F

She better be.

A

I think Flompe has a chance to be in the game.

F

I think she does.

B

That'd be great. She'd be a demanding restaurant guest.

D

Right, Right.

F

Is in the game.

A

They have the Sanji Penguin in it from Thriller. Bark like the penguin, Bulldog, whatever.

F

So surely. Surely you can, you know, whip up some. I don't know.

A

You mean Charlie. Her name is Shirley.

D

Yeah. Don't call Charlotte.

F

Well, it's Charlotte, actually. Charlotte Flappe.

A

I'm talking. I'm talking about Charlie. Anyway. God, that was a bad.

F

Yeah.

A

How's it going, Steve?

E

Going okay. The next one.

A

Yeah, we talked about that. Do you have any. Are you going to be getting either the Luffy or Snyx Figures?

E

You know, I'm tempted, but they cost so much money. But like, aren't they releasing like other sh. Figure arts? Luffy's in other teams. Or was it like a Super Bowl? Or is it like a Super bowl shirt kind of thing?

D

They destroyed all the others.

A

Knicks have won by your Luffy. And I. I think what must have happened back in. Whenever this was announced a while ago at this point. But the NBA just. They. They sold their. What? What is it? The merchandising rights. Their souls. Their souls. Toy animation and Shueisha. Yeah, I think they just have like a car. Blanche.

F

Wow.

A

Elder Neon is On the one Piece Grand Gourmet. Sorry I'm getting all ADD here. But don't you mean yes but no. This is Elder Dion version. Like, I guess it's like her transformation at an older age, she transforms into Elder Neon. Okay. So Grand Gourmet. Oh, Steve, did you have thoughts on that though? That's like. It's the Sanji game. We get a Sanji game. Yeah.

E

I mean that was. As soon as I saw, like the shrimp and the fried rice, I was like, huh? No way.

B

Shrimp fried this rice.

D

No, Sanji does.

E

No, Sanji did.

A

Sanji's regular Sanji.

E

It's Sanji's fried rice for Gin. So yeah, I saw that. I was like, nuh. Couldn't be. And so, yeah, it was a pleasant surprise. I'll probably check it out. I might not get it right away. Maybe I'll wait for it to be on sale or something. But looks fun.

A

Yeah. How much is this game? I should probably check. Be good. There would be good information. The last thing. The WT100. The second one of these is over. So I hope you got all your votes in. And I hope. I hope. They were all for a Flompe.

F

They were all for Floppy.

C

I voted with the exception of like a couple days where I was like UK and a couple other fun like Club Shadows. I voted for Jongo until I got a gold one and then I voted for Frankie until I got a gold one and then it ended. I thought about like doing like all of Yao's characters until I get gold, but alas, just Django and Frankie.

A

The results will be revealed right in August. August 22nd and 23rd. They come out for One Piece Day. They have to count the votes by hand. It's a very laborious process. So please.

B

Still faster than the LA Mayor election.

C

Ooh, Dunk.

A

How many people ended up voting in this? Did we get like a final? I think we did get a final tally. I should probably have checked then. I just thought of that. But it seemed to have done well. The bots really voted this year, as I recall. Oh, I guess they took it off because that's going to be revealed. I assume at a later date.

D

They got to cook these numbers a little bit more until they're just right.

A

By the way, the rewards that the meaning the people. The characters who get the highest. The top 30 get a special outfit drawn from Hiro Oda for merchandise. The top 50 will get new cards in the One Piece game.

B

Merchandising. Merchandising.

A

The top 15 get eye catches in the One Piece anime in 2027. And the top 30 get merchandising at the Mugiwara store. So it's like two levels of merchandising there. Wow, merchandising. But will they get an NBA crossover? No, no, they won't. So I look forward to seeing Django in that new outfit. So that doesn't.

D

Yeah. Well, actually, one last bit of news here from Ken. Since we're on the topic of popularity polls, we are now doing the Decks of the World or excuse me, not the Decks of the World, the COVID stories poll popularity polls on our Discord

A

tournament style for Discord. Because we. We did. So we did. If you haven't listened to last week's. We did like a kind of vibe based tier makeup.

D

Yeah, we did tier rankings live.

A

A live episode. Please listen. It was a lot of fun. We talked way too long about these, as we always do, and we ranked them. You could check that out. And so it is seeded based upon that. Do you want to reveal, Steven?

D

Yeah, well, I was just gonna say. So, yeah, we, we had a couple like the, the lowest ones. You know how they do in the NCAA where they do like the first. The. The first four in or whatever where they. They have some that have to do a play in just to get into the regular bracket. That's basically what we did last week. Jinbei advanced past CP9, Gatsu story beat the Straw hat separation arc and Yamato triumphed over the Decks of the world 500 million man arc. And now, now it's like, I don't know if Ken does all of these in one week or if he's gonna like. He does split them. Okay.

A

He goes by like round, so that's okay. It's the art madness, right?

D

We're gonna have.

B

This is being voted on in the general podcast Discord, not the crew cast.

D

Yes. In. In our regular Discord. Everyone who is on there can. Can vote. And so yeah, we have eight different matchups. Basically everything else is now in play. So yeah, go log in on Discord and cast your vote when those are live.

A

The other big piece of One piece podcast news is we have a new sticker poll up. Steven. Steve. Steve Yuriko. Do you want to talk about the stickers for the $12 tier for June that folks could vote on?

D

Sure.

E

You still have up till I believe, you know, this coming Thursday.

B

And those get mailed in July, right?

E

Probably they get mailed when they get mailed. But in terms of like your two choices, it's between like I think one of the first Lokis we did for Thicky the Viking and the and the Homestar Runner inspired Harley, but I don't think it's a close race.

A

What is it right now? I haven't looked. I try and surprise myself.

E

I would say more than 2/3 of members who are signed up for that tier have voted. But you still have three days left as of Monday. Or maybe as of Monday would be two days. I think you have till Wednesday to vote.

A

So just vote now before it's too late. Just vote.

E

Just vote.

A

Yeah. Just sign up $12 to get out

E

of line wherever you are and go vote.

A

Get out of line from actual voting to go vote in this, even though you could do it while standing in line to vote? Yes. Thank you Steve. Those both awesome images. I forgot the title was Sticky the Viking for a second. Yeah, go vote on that patreon.com/one piece podcast. If you subscribe at the $12 tier you get that you also the stickers. You also get alternate art. Alternate this week the art is from Kirby, so please check that out. I'm sure there'll be some ridiculous stuff there. But to find out what ridiculous stuff might be there, we have to go into the next segment. So let's do it. This is the manga recap for chapter 1185 man yo beeswax, I'm trying to walk here. You can read this chapter and all chapters as soon as they come out@shonenjump, viz.com or mangaplus. Shueisha Co JP it's free, it's legal, it's available everywhere. Ed, what is going on in the author comment this week?

B

Oda ate something which is one of the too frequent topics of his author comments. But yes, this is the what he says this week. And the author comments were posted on the Viz vlog early before recording this week. So get to talk about it. But Oda says is the Lawson Party Party Chicken seriously good or what? It's so good they should. They could open a store that only sells that. And I posted on my blue sky that if ODA ever goes to Nando's, we'll never hear the end of it.

C

Do you suppose he meant Peri Peri Chicken?

B

I think so. That's what I thought.

C

Unless you meant para para chicken which is a dance.

D

I mean I don't know what this product is, but putty Putty would. It would be describing, if I would assume correctly, that would be describing like like the crispy chicken or crispy skin of the chicken or something. So it might just be like extra deep fried or something.

B

I just figured it was a seasoning, like a. A seasoning that they put on the chicken.

A

Speaking of cooking, what's going on on the COVID page this week, Ed?

B

I'm getting there. Okay, I got it. Yes. We got a reader request for I Can't Wait for Luffy to eat this. Hancock practices her cooking by Masako. And I know you're thinking it's probably not Masako Nozawa, but it is.

A

No, it isn't.

B

That'd be funny if she was writing in requests like that, but people have

A

the same name sometimes.

B

Yeah, it's just Hancock barbecuing meat for Loopy.

D

Those steaks are well done.

B

And when balancing it all in a serving platter with one hand, big stack of meat on.

A

Yeah, that meat is indescript. It could really be anything.

F

Yeah, he'll eat it. He's not picky.

A

No, I know he's not. I is when I first. So I'm gonna mention this probably one or two more times when we read the chapter, but I was reading this on my phone, obviously with kids asking things in the background. And when an initial glance, I thought Hancock was burning down the kitchen, which would have, I think, been much funnier. And.

C

Yeah, it was.

A

I'm a little upset that that's not where this went.

D

Especially if that was just her. That. That was still her. Same expression.

A

Yes.

D

Behind her. Yeah.

A

But everything is on fire. Yeah.

B

That when she's cooking like that, she's gonna get, like grease burns all over her chest.

A

Yeah. Everywhere. I mean, that's. Yeah, that's. I've had those. Those are not fun.

C

Zach, I thought of you today when I read this chapter because I wasn't in a Lowe's parking lot, but I read it at line. At Costco.

A

Yep. Welcome. Welcome to being a dad. When you aren't able to, like, sit and read a chapter with like one piece music.

C

This was a real waiting in Costco.

B

How far is it to go to Costco, Alex?

C

For me? Yeah, it's in Wheaton. It's like. It's like, are we going to talk to you? Can't give a shit. Okay.

B

I love it because the only other Costco I can think of is the one near the Pentagon City Mall.

C

Well, there's one also on New York Ave. And that one sells liquor. And this one does not because it's Maryland, but it is from me, and it's super easy to get to. Actually.

A

No segment brought to you By Costco in Maryland, specifically.

C

Actually, Delaney, please bleep out the minutes that it takes to get to Costco from my place.

D

That's good.

A

Just write that down for me, Alex. Okay.

C

So I was also gonna say that Hancock might be cooking liver and onions.

A

Any other thoughts on this cover page?

C

Thank you, Steve.

F

She could use an apron. You are right.

B

Has anyone ever tried cooking bacon without an. Without a shirt on?

F

Grease burns on the titty is not a thing that anyone wants to experience.

A

Episode title. I'm not writing that.

E

I was gonna say. I was gonna say if someone else was gonna mention it. Like, she should be wearing an apron.

C

Yes, everybody should be wearing an apron when it comes to cooking. It's just proper. Proper.

A

I need to get all titties.

E

Need to be protected.

C

Yes, Protect all the titties.

A

Hashtag. People do that still. Right, let's go to the. Let's start the chapter. I know I was making fun of myself.

C

Alex, it's me. Yes. So we have Reuven with a dong. He says, kendel, I want you to take Brook as your squire and teach him proper manners and speaking etiquette. She says, of course, Prince Rufin. And Brook's walking around with a sword twice the size of him. It's very funny and very cute. And he goes, boy, there sure are a lot of pretty ladies around the palace. Pretty lady, pretty lady. Skip that one. Pretty lady.

B

Rude.

C

Yeah, very rude. Kendall says, stop that.

A

It's generally very rude. Negatively unpun.

D

It's like that.

E

Does Candel also have the same voice there? Yes, as Reuven.

D

It's kind of like the. The half baked scene. Fuck you, you. You're cool, you.

A

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

C

And then Brook says, but you're the prettiest of them all, Candel. And Kendall says, lady Kendell, you are my squire. And Brooke turns around to one of the ladies and says, show me your panties. And her reaction is as what you would expect. She says, brick. And has a. Her. Even her speech bubble has a pulsating vein. So we skip forward a little bit to Brooke in at school. And, you know, he's wearing his. The same clothes he wears, you know, as a little ragamuffin. And she says, you don't like your uniform? And he goes, if I conform to school culture, I'll lose my touch for writing good music. But the convoy uniform, now, that's what I want to wear someday.

E

But for now, he'll wear his number nine shirt as if it was his destiny.

A

It's also. Isn't this so this is the one from the.

C

I'm the ninth member of the Beatles.

A

Was this in the SBS or the color spread like this, known as the ninth Battle.

C

Nice beattle. Yeah, this, this is. That's from the color spread. Yeah, but they all have like the shirts with their numbers on it. So this is a weird.

A

It feels very like, oh, I got a shoehorn. This look in while doing this.

D

I like that. He's like, school is conformist. I want to join the army.

F

Yeah, that's better. I'm enjoying the little tiny children in the background going,

D

yeah, yeah.

F

They're very expressive. Even though they're like itty bitty tiny

A

little scribbles with two of them looking through the window.

F

Yes.

C

I like his.

B

If those children could read, they'd be very angry right now.

F

Correct.

C

I like his music instructor. Everybody's murmuring. So then we have a few other fast forwards. One of him sleeping with his giant guitar, where it's giant to him and it's really, really freaking cute. We've got some of the other convoy fellas in the locker room saying, you're a lucky kid, you know that you

A

get to be Lady Candel's squire.

C

And Brook says, yo. And they're. They're practicing their sword techniques, hitting some targets with. What are these called? Episodes.

B

Rapier, maybe?

C

No, no, rapiers are the actual swords. Ape's, I think, are the fencing swords.

D

Fencing ones?

C

Swords, yes.

B

Yeah. With the blunt ends, right?

C

Yeah. And they have a little conversation. Brooke says, are you in love with any particular man? Kendall. And she just reminds him lady. And yes, but he is far out of my league. So I trained very hard with the sword so that I might be as close to him as possible. And Brook says, I bet he'd like you more if you dress more ladylike and rude. Yeah, that's not necessary. I'm happy. Happy Simply being at his side is at his side. Are you talking about

E

me,

B

Steve?

A

Yes, you, Steve. Yes, Steve.

F

I thought.

E

No, I was reading the page.

F

If Steve had hair, that's what he would look like. Look like.

E

Yeah, I guess so.

A

You can say that about any character.

C

Rip Jean Shallot.

E

We'll think of some Gene Shallot puns later. But yes, that is indeed him saying me. And she says, no. And. And then we continue the inappropriate behavior with Brook asking if Kandel wears men's underwear too. And she says no.

A

Sorry to interrupt, but I do need to mention that my 5 year old's friend asked, said, oh, I was wearing the same shirt as the Other dad. Oh, you're wearing the same shirt. Do you also wear the same underwear? So this isn't that off is what I'm.

E

I mean, he's a little. He's a little pervert, though. That's the thing.

A

No, it's, you know, it's. The problem is it's Oda being expressed through this.

E

Because Brooke is like, what? Then show. It's like, show me them. And she's like, brooke, it's like, you still haven't learned any etiquette when asking a favor of others. You have to speak politely. And he says, then would you mind showing me your panties, please? Shing.

D

He said the thing.

E

And he finally, deservedly gets clobbered on the head. And she says, of course I mind. Forget speaking politely. I need to beat some manners and civility into you. Yara, Yara.

A

Sexual harassment or child like corporal punishment? There's no winning in this.

B

We can have a little bit of both as a treat.

E

And now we're fading out of this flashback in a flashback as Kandel walks away saying strength and etiquette are equally important. And Brooks says, really? Then I'll do better. I'll try harder. And then we go back to like, the quote present.

B

And Brooks, Brooke is telling the story to Shuri.

E

Yes, he says, lady Candel is the light of our admiration. And Shuri just thinks to herself, and he says, the sun that shines upon our city. Which reminds me, one time, a ship from the World Government. Uh oh.

A

Oh boy.

E

Hope you enjoyed that. That nice little moment there. But yes, a World Government ship washed up on Esperia, and the kingdom was stunned to encounter a type of authority we'd never experienced before. And Shuri asks if Shuri is aware of the celestial dragons. And Brook confirms, like, that's right. They certainly threw their weight around. Lady Candel was bedridden for several months after that due to fatigue. And you wouldn't believe how gloomy the people were during those months. Yo. He says I shouldn't laugh, but it truly was as if the sun itself had set. However, there was one. There was only one precursor to wonderful news. Princess Shuri.

A

It was only the precursor.

E

That was only the precursor to. I read everything in a different tone. That was only the precursor to the wonderful news.

A

Sorry.

E

Your father, Princess Shuri. Just making sure you're paying attention.

A

You better be paying attention to my long winded story. Your father, the beloved uncouth prince, ascended to the throne. And at the same time, coincidentally, he married your mother, Lady Candel. The stage of Esperia was engulfed in the cheers of the audience. And then you were born.

C

Yeah.

A

Strumming Was that in. That must be in English, I guess in the. Yeah, yeah, that's fun. Princess Shuri, the kingdom was all in a tizzy.

C

Show us your face.

F

Thank God she looks after her mother.

A

Hey, rude. So many rude people in this. So many rude people. And got a bit off track. There something we at the One Piece podcast would never do. My point is, I love your parents dearly. I owe them everything. I would give my life to them. Now let me sing this song called Sacrificial Rock. Completely unrelated to the story. And Shuri responds.

C

Papa.

A

Mama. Papa, Mama. Well, Brooke, what would you do if it was me in danger? Huh? Huh? What about me thinking like a teenager? The same thing. Of course. I'd give up my life. Indeed, yes. Thinking like an idiot because I'm Papa and mama's daughter. No. And then ellipses and she's.

B

I love the face she's making when she's saying that. Like with the pursed lips.

A

Like it's the emoji with the three mouth. Yeah, whatever you call it. And then pauses because it's you, of course. And bows and says, oh, why did you pause? Be honest with me. She pouts with a hermph. But Brooke has a lollipop. All's forgotten as she stabs him with a sword. In presumably a different scene, does the piggyback ride. To be fair, Brooke is eight foot something. So I guess if Steve gave me a piggyback ride, it would be kind of similar. I'm not hinting at anything, but next

B

time I see you down that pat panel there. Sure, he's trying to stab rook, but he's deflecting it.

A

I don't think I. I don't think he's. She's actually trying to murder him.

D

They're coming.

A

Yeah, I think it's. Yeah. Anyways, Papa. And he responds, father, call me Father said this a million times. Don't be a child.

C

I'm a priest.

A

I love you too, Father. Heart emoji, I said. Or what? Is it greater than three or less than three?

D

Less than three.

C

My God, Zach.

A

No.

B

Ruben and Kendel are both have the chin on hand.

A

Yes. Very cute. Very cute.

F

Yeah, but he's frowning and she's smiling. It's cute. It's sweet. They're like, oh, our daughter.

A

He's secretly, you know, proud. Anyway, go ahead.

F

Okay, so the next page we have Shuri, and this seems to be a voiceover of A whole bunch of different events. So the first image we have is Shuri with a cut finger and Brooks running over looking aghast with a little medical box. I don't know if I should describe what's all happening and then do the voiceover or.

A

Yeah, yeah, I think I would. It's Brooke, I think, doing all this stuff.

F

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He is so next.

A

Talking a lot.

F

Next little panel is because the voiceover is like, clearly it's like a. Here's a time lapse of stuff that has happened. He is holding an umbrella over, I guess Shuri, probably still with a puppy. And then measuring her. She's trying to make herself taller, standing on her tippy toes with the marks against the wall of like how tall she is and what age is she is at those heights. And then, you know, Brooke hitting on ladies and her being mad at him as he does. Like she is scaring him with a ghost sheet thing, which is ironic, you

D

know,

F

singing and fishing with some weird looking fish.

A

What is.

E

What kind of.

A

What's going on?

E

I don't know.

F

Maybe they're dancing to the music. We got a cute little.

A

I need an SBS explaining those fish.

F

I'm just gonna say, Oda, what are these fish about? Brook's in bed, laid up in the hospital because I guess he got himself beat up at some point. And she's fighting the nurse for some reason. And then we got. Oh, it's learn cooking lessons with mama. She's determinedly making something. And the Brook eating while she's sleeping. And then our lovely little voiceover is Brook saying, when you want to be independent from your parents, why not sing this song for a change? Mind your own beeswax. And she says, what's that supposed to mean? It's a praise from Kamigata, a land to the west. Mind your own beeswax. I ain't some puppy dog lured by the candy store. I ain't a kid at all anymore. More. And we cut to the next page and it's more of them being happy and having a grand old time. And then nothing ever bad happened, ever. Except everything. Except. Except. Except we get the actual, I suppose narrator saying the year that Shuri turned 15 and there's a musician trying to play a violin, but it's going creee. What the. It sounds awful. So the year that year that Shuri turned 15, Esperia lost its music. The kingdom was shrouded in a deep and terrible mist that lasted for half the year. The country's heritage, its treasured instruments all rotted and the mist curdled into smog that swallowed the whole island. And we see an image of this barrier covered in this mysterious foggy mist and a pile of rotted instruments. From that point on, the streets were filled with not music, but the sounds of coughing. And Brook tries to sing and play on his own rotting instrument. Let's lift their hearts with Mm. The poisonous smog racked the lungs of tens of thousands and took several hundred lives. And we see these people in the streets looking pretty bedraggled and Kendell herself looking a little worse for wear, saying, the mist will clear. I know it will.

B

Famous last words.

A

Literally.

D

Yeah, yeah, I guess I should. I'll cut in here with a little explanation with the, the phrase thing being from Kamigata island to the west. So this is kind of a, you know, it's a bit of a throwaway thing in, in English, but it is sort of a lost in translation thing because to the Japanese, what Brooks says, his, his mind, the, the phrase that I translated is mind your own beeswax is in Kansai Ben, which of course is like, you know, sort of the number one regional dialect that is not standard Tokyo Japanese. And OD specifically, very notably, like avoided using that. Like, you know, a lot of, a lot of authors will just, you know, they'll just have a character who speaks in Kansai because like they're, you know, it, it conveys a certain shorthand. Yeah, it conveys a certain type of personality. Maybe it can also just mean like this is a person who is slightly different from the rest of the group, that sort of thing. And Oda has had a few characters that do speak in regional dialects, but

B

they're usually more like Hibari and Sakazuki have. Hiroshima.

D

Yes, Hiroshima. That's, that's one of the main ones. And then some like Fujitora kind of speaks in like old Edo style, like, like very Tokyo style and, and stuff like that. But he's never really had like a Kansai Ben character. And so that's why it's kind of notable when she's like, what's that? Because it's, it's like the first time that we've ever had a blatantly Kansai Ben usage in one piece. And so when he says it's from Kamigata, a land to the west, Kamigata is a phrase. It's a word that literally means like upward. And so it's an old fashioned term that you would use in Tokyo, for example, to refer to Kyoto specifically and, and Osaka like Because that was where the capital used to be. And so whenever you were in Edo talking about Kyoto or Osaka or, you know, Kobe or one of those cities, you know, Kamigata would be the reference to that. That region. And you can still hear that today. It's been used in Akane Banashi. Because Kamigata rakugo is like, it's not Edo rakugo. It's the. It's the one that's done in Osaka where there are different variations. And obviously they're speaking Osaka ban. So when Brook says, like, oh, it's a phrase from Kamigatai lands to the west, like, every Japanese reader is going to be like, oh, it's because, like, the. That's Oda's sort of, like, clever way to say, like, oh, yes, it's from the mysterious Osaka, you know, region. And so, yeah, so it's immediately clocked by the. By the Japanese readership that he. Like, that's kind of explaining why Brooke is talking in. In Kansai Ben. And that's kind of how the whole song that he. He sings throughout this chapter is done in the. The Osaka.

A

For those who have enjoyed dubs of the 90s, they're Southerners.

D

Yeah, that tends to be the usual. The.

A

The.

D

The. The safest or the. The easiest way to do it in. In English.

A

So many unintelligible accents.

B

Unintelligible, like, Northeastern accents. I feel like some of those would be like a main accent.

A

I.

D

Once I.

A

Or like, really deep Canadian, like Nova Scotia or something.

B

Yeah,

D

I. When we were doing a kind of. Again, going back to Kane Banashi, the. The character Hikaru is like, has a very strong private accent. And my initial attempt, I had her talking like a. Oh, my God. She had a. She had a very strong Boston accent. And I think the editor did not like it. And so they. They rewrote it in, like, the Southern style.

A

Well, they're wrong.

D

You know, there's no right answer, really.

A

But yeah, no, the right answer is the ball.

E

Connie's Rockigo goes wicked hard.

D

Yeah, that's what. Yeah, I had her going, like, because she was talking to her mom on the phone and she's like, I told you, Ma. Like, I. I'm just doing this, you know.

F

So.

B

Yeah.

D

Anyways, back to this very sad scene that has nothing to do with the Boston accent.

A

Oh, since. Since we're already on a tangent. Just the. The rotting guitar thing. I was like. I was saying before, like, oh, this must be a reference from a show I watched, because it's. It's an episode of Curious George I saw has. And he tries to wash the guy's guitar and turns into this. So I was thinking, put it.

B

Put it down for the wood instruments. But what about, like, the brass. The brass instruments.

A

I was thinking about that. But that's the breathing. So I could see why that would still be an issue. And rusting. Didn't they say something like, I know, I guess it's rotted and. Yeah, I don't know. That part's interesting. And we'll get back to it. Perhaps the part I said is uninteresting.

F

Perhaps Esperia is more a land of woodwinds or was.

A

Damn.

B

Yeah. The humidity would mess with the reeds.

A

I think humidity messes with everything Steven don't mess with.

D

But in the face of many baffling and horrific events, the kingdom grew weary and numb. And even after the mist lifted, the scars it left were felt deeply by all. And though the narration itself does not mention. Yes, we have the. The portrait surrounded by flowers with the traditional Japanese diagonal banners over it signifying that the. The person depicted has passed on. And so the people are there sniffling and coughing before her grave, I presume, or her coffin. And then we get a little montage of Shuri crying, and Brooke is crying, and Reuven is kneeling before her grave, and he is crying. And then we cut to another wide shot of the kingdom, and it looks like the mist is still there. It. You know, everything. It's. It's all done over with the. With the screen tone that makes it look gloomy. And someone is telling a rude.

B

See the harp in that panel?

D

Yeah, yeah, it's a good. It's a good.

A

It's all deteriorated. You could tell.

D

Yeah, yeah, it's.

A

It's like.

D

It's a good.

A

Almost as.

D

Yeah, good illustration of the. The kingdom itself, all the detail. And this court figure is saying, your majesty, we can no longer afford to make the heavenly tribute payments to the world government. And. Yeah, ominous, because we move right on from there to another training scene with Brooke and Shuri clashing with their swords. And Brooke remarks rather pointedly, sometimes it's as if you can see into the future. Princess. Odd note to. To say there. And she says, I want to be like ma. I mean, I like mother. So, you know, she's trying to remember her polite terms for her parents. And Brooke says, you certainly have the potential, but I don't think your father will allow a princess to fight on the front lines of battle. As they. As they take a stroll here through the Garden. And she says, father seems to have something weighing on his mind these days. And Brooke says, oh, this is the

A

dog she rescued earlier. I'm just getting that. Sorry.

F

Probably so.

D

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

B

He barks gently. He's very cute from a distance.

D

And Brook says, I can imagine what it's about, but there's nothing we can do. My only option is to serve the king faithfully. And Shuri has picked up the dog and she's like, I thought you wanted to be a pirate, Brook. And he says, oh, my onus comes first. Dreams are a secondary matter. Which does not sound like something a one piece character should be saying, but. Yeah, the. The. The smog rain is coming down. And she says, oh, okay. Well, when you leave, I'll go with you. He says, you can't.

E

I will, I will.

D

Who's next?

A

Alex, it's on you.

C

Okay. Sorry, had to pause for my. So here we see Reuven looking more haggard than he's ever looked, and he's saying, there's going to be a war against the world government. Yeah, everybody. Everybody is like, huh? And Brooke has. Has absolutely no problem with this. He goes, understood, Majesty. And the rest of the convict goes, wait, Captain, at least tell us why, your Majesty. And he speaks very candidly to Brooke Ruven. He says, brooke, they demanded a thousand slaves from us. That's the only way to get out of the heavenly tribute this year. Being a slave in the Holy Land might as well be death. And we hear. We see the rest of the convoy go, oh, no. Murmur, murmur, murmur. And he. He warns, the government will be coming here in two months, but I'm not going to choose sacrifices to be handed over to them. And Captain Brooke walks through the. The. The town and the peasants say, is our country doomed, Captain? Unaffiliated countries turn into a lawless wastelands, don't they? And some more they say, is it true that they'll pillage everything we have? I heard another country in the West Blue got wiped off the map. And Brooks from Osaka. Yeah, Brooks drums his guitar and he sings a song. Who knows if this is. I mean, I guess this guitar still sounds okay. Doesn't seem to be as rotted as the rest of their instruments.

D

It's gwanging.

C

Yeah, it's gwanging all right. And he goes, well, I heard a little story once about a sea brimming with violence where the boss don't want to go. Full of samurai warriors and towering giants. So watch out for all of them. Give them a little bite, and they'll be weak at the knees. Like they're running from a swarm of bees. Better think twice. Cause we got nothing to lose. And everybody is in pretty good spirits. They're like haha. That's true, that's true.

B

We've already lost our music and Candel is dead. So.

C

Yeah, well, Brooke is there to. Brooke is there to cheer everybody up.

A

Yes. Nothing else could go wrong.

F

Definitely not.

C

Yep. Basically this is a song about how, you know, once you hit rock bottom, there's nowhere to go up but up. But unfortunately, we have not hit rock bottom.

E

We've discovered rock bottom two.

C

All the rock.

F

No bottom.

B

You smell what the rock is cooking.

C

Rock bottomer. So we, we, we fast, fast forward a little bit two months from now. It doesn't say this, but I'm, I'm just, you know, context clues, baby. We hear on the loudspeaker they've landed on the north harbor. Get over there. 12th platoon. And we see the soldiers sort of like running off towards. Towards the harbor.

F

Yep. The rock bottom boys, they make the depressing world go worse. I don't know. Let's see. All right. And then we get a lovely little montage of war Hooray. As Brooke sings throughout Mind your beeswax. They didn't say it'd be this many of them. Don't let them disembark. Mind your beeswax. And we see there are navy ships and world government ships attacking. And it looks like, yeah, Brooke doing his little like, I've already cut you shink thing. We're only in the corner of the map, but our name won't be erased just like that. He breathes heavily while fighting this is the one place you can't steal from us. And of course all the men behind him go, ah. Because they've been cut and they didn't even know it. And then we go to. Well, I guess this is. I was like, see the next page, but it's sort of a holdover page. People yell and they say, commander, the enemy's reached the palace. He says, block off the stairs, I'll go in. And we get a little mini callback to Reuven and Shuri. But why can't I fight? Don't be stupid. If they take you hostage, then our arms are tied. Please be safe. Princess Shuri says, brook, it's the guard. Oh, Princess. The garden we strolled through all those times is now burning. Ah. As he, he walks through. And it sure is, well, runs through I should say. Everything is aflame and everyone is a fighting the dump where we hung out is ablaze. Mind your own beeswax. Mind your own beeswax. The corners of the map are shining. Feel your courage slip away Once you taste my vicious blade. As he cuts more people down. And he runs up the stairs to the castle. Your Majesty, Princess Shuri. And wham. Opens the doors.

E

Dad.

B

Yeah. So sitting on the. I guess on like the platform there, around the steps is a very sinister looking figure in a military uniform smoking. And on the ground there, it looks like Princess Shuri with wings and a sword and her father bleeding on the floor before her. And behind his body, a. A flame figure with emu eyes. Looks like a. Looks like a giant bird made of emu. Emu smoke. Reuben is face down in his own blood and Brook just has a blank shocked look on his face. And we zoom in on Shuri and she's got blood splattered on her face. And the. We see a close up of the sinister figure and with the. The cigarette and the chin, it looks a lot like Shiryu from Impel Down. I don't know if that's supposed to be that. The inference, but. Or maybe that's just a sort of a ODA stock sinister swordsman figure that he likes to use.

D

Yeah, it reminded. Is it Doberman? Is he the vice admiral who has.

A

That folks have mentioned.

D

Yeah. That kind of anvil chin look.

A

Yeah. Equally possible it's someone we don't know.

B

With the cigarette and the chin and the low. The low hat brim. That's what reminds me of Shiryu and the nose even.

A

Yeah.

B

But Shuri has something to say. She says the war is going to be over. Brooke, aren't you happy? And she gets this crazy look in her eyes as he's got. As Brooke is sort of stunned. And that's it. To be continued. You coming back next week?

A

No, two weeks.

B

Two weeks.

F

Something I wanted to note. Both Shuri and Reuven have both the devil wings and horns. Both of them do.

B

Right.

F

So they were both dummy reverseed.

C

Yeah. Hers are a little cuter though.

F

Well, yes, that's the thing we're focusing on.

A

Also the figure, I think it's been spoken, looks a lot like Marcus.

C

Marcus Mars.

E

Yeah.

D

The bird.

A

What was it? The bird again? I forget the figure I should know.

D

Oh, the Itumade bird.

A

Yeah. Thank you. Which is certainly possible given their seeming longevity.

B

But the eyes you're giving Imu.

A

Well, the eyes are. Sure. I mean, I think it's just more that otherworldly creature kind of. Yeah, I think that is what they look like when they were initially silhouetted and maybe when.

F

Yeah, when Cobra saw them. Cobra and Sabo saw them.

D

Oh, yeah, I like that. It's almost. It's almost like it's an impressionistic thing of, like, maybe. Maybe there actually was more detail, but, like, it's so alien to Brooke that this is all his mind can register is just this kind of like wispy, flamey thing.

C

Remind me, what was the. What was Marcus Martin, the guard? The godhead of environment?

A

Climate change. The environment, which actually does fit pretty well. Yeah, I just looked that up because I was just thinking the same thing, Alex. I forgot to actually care about that

D

prior the desolation of smog.

C

Oh, and I'm looking. I'm looking at that full body shot of the mystery man, and it looks like he's got like a hat or a hairdo or something. Kind of goes.

A

Yeah, I thought when I first turned this page. So this is the example of like standing in line in Costco or whatever you want to. Yes, Alex. I thought it was the king decapitated, because the way. Do you see what I mean?

F

It does look like that.

C

Yeah, it does sort of look like that. I did, I did, yeah. That kind of looked like that because,

A

I mean, I got the idea of what happened basically, to be honest. But, yeah, yeah, from a distance, it looks like that.

D

He kind of looks a little bit like Roto, too.

A

Like, I mean, piano made it fine. It looks like they couldn't have played this piano the whole time. Let's focus on the real important things here.

F

Yeah, I'm guessing because this stuff has happened after the war happened, after the kingdom, like after the smog cleared out. And so they must have revil smog ever cleared out. No, it said it did.

D

It said it did.

F

It said it on the panel where she dies. It says. Yeah. And even after the mist lifted, the scars it left were felt deeply by all. So sorry.

A

Sorry, sorry.

E

Yeah, it was not soon enough.

F

So they probably rebuilt and that's why Brooke had his guitar. El guitar. And the piano is there.

A

That explains it. Yeah,

F

because of course they're going to focus on building instruments instead of saving all the poor people on the street.

A

I mean, they need an export to import identity. Yeah,

C

they need to. Yeah, they need to give their money. Yeah. Art Vandelet.

A

That's who this is. This is Art Vandelay, mystery man.

E

The big question is. Yeah, who's this mystery smoker guy? So looks like a combination of a million characters because he looks like he Does.

C

You could say he looks like a brand new character.

E

He looks like Onigumo.

A

Yeah.

E

Yeah. He's so many characters. He's a new character.

F

I mean, to be fair, this is chapter 1185. How many characters is ODA made up?

E

1185.

F

Yeah.

A

At least he definitely makes more than one per chapter.

C

That's so I. I had a theory about this in the Discord, and I'll just say it here, that I think that's Reuven's father. Like, we haven't seen. We haven't seen Reuven's father. We've heard about him. And he was apparently a terrible ruler according to Brook's song. And I guess he must have been terrible enough that Reuven didn't want to hang around the palace, instead wanted to hang out in the trash dump.

A

True, true.

C

I don't know. I mean, obviously there is, like, a huge chunk of this story missing because this is all told from Brook's perspective.

F

Mm.

C

So we don't know, like, you know, what happened the day the Celestial Dragons decided to come to town. But after that, it seems like Reuven, he starts getting scraggly. He starts wearing a tank, A messy tank top around his hair. Doesn't look good, and he's unshaven, and he just. And sure. He says something has been weighing heavily on his mind. I don't know.

F

I.

C

There's. There's a lot of stuff that doesn't really add up here, but this guy, I don't know. I think that the day Celestial Dragons came, maybe the man mayor family was like, hey, guess what? You're a man mayor. You should come with us and be a, you know, be a Celestial Dragon. And that's. And that's why Reuven ascended to the throne, because the previous king abdicated himself, I guess.

A

I think. I think that's possible. And to add to that, I think it was someone in our discord noted that the outfit. Is that the Celestial Dragon badges. It's the. Yeah, it's the Celestial Dragon badges and specifically the Holy Knight outfit. I think that Garling has. Is very similar. I mean, to be fair, it's very similar to a lot of things, but it definitely looks like a cross between, like, the Holy Knight's garb and the garb of, like, almost what, like, Brooke is wearing, you know, like the same kind of tassels and so forth.

F

I like the details of the stripy socks.

C

Yeah, me too.

A

Yeah. The clown shoes in the socks.

F

Yeah, yeah.

A

So he's Buggy's dad, obviously. Oh, God, I'm here. I'm here just to throw a pot, a buggy pot. But yeah, I think, I mean, this is the main takeaway from the chapter is who the hell is this guy? But thoughts on it generally? Stephen?

D

Yeah, this chapter is a. Is a tough one in a variety of. Of ways. Like, it's tough to read because it's. There's a lot of. It's. It's like, it's. It's. It's sad enough, like, just on a surface reading and there's a lot of real gnarly, you know, potential conclusions you could take from, you know, as Alex was saying, like the, the sort of. The parts of the story that were not being told, like the suspicious timeline of. Of, you know, Reuven instantly marrying Candel after she's been not seen for many months. And then Shuri was born and, you know, stuff coming after the, the visit from the. The celestial dragons. So, yeah, there's a lot of unsavory implications that you can take away from it. And then it. On top of that, it was also particularly tough for me to work on just because there was so much of the song lyrics, which between the specificity of the. The Kansai Ben and the fact that like, like there is a through line, there's like there is a theme to the song, but. But a lot of it kind of seems like sort of random details. It really made me. It made me think and I actually, I literally went back to find Cho's YouTube channel just to make sure that it wasn't like another real life. A real life song that Oda heard someone sing and then decided to do like another little, you know, sort of indulgent reference to the same way that he did with the. The Cat Viper song. And yeah, as it turns out, no, like, show has not posted another. A new video in several years, but it has that kind of a feel to me and, and so I did have to take a long time and I did like, I, you know, you can definitely tell there's. There's. There's a fair amount of. Of rhyme scheme going on in the lyrics, but it's not like perfect throughout and. And so like, it. It took a lot of work to get it into the shape that it is now. So, yeah, it was a tough, tough chapter. Although, yeah, the stuff in the, in the throne room with the. The mystery man is quite intriguing. And it's. It's kind of interesting on two levels because it's like we know as the. The readership what a lot of These things mean, although not all of them, but you. You know, that Brooke is, like, completely flabbergasted because, like, this is just, you know, total chaos to. To him not understanding, you know, what this, this evil possession and all of this stuff is. So. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm. I'm kind of curious if he's going to, like, figure out more in the flashback that, like, might, you know, like, like, if you compare this to how Brooke reacts to the dummy reverse stuff in the present day, like, does he seem. Does it seem like he does recognize something or. Or what? Now that we're finally here and kind of getting his. His background, that'd be something interesting to. To look at. But, yeah, pretty brutal chapter.

A

Marianne,

F

I have similar thoughts of. Yeah, it's. It's brutal that end. Little bit. The, like, her just looking so cold with the, like, the war's gonna be over. Aren't you happy? Like, like, it's so unnerving. And I'm just. I. I'm curious how the hell Brook gets out of this situation. Um, like, I'm sure we'll. I guess we'll probably have one more chapter of flashback of him getting out of it and then joining the Rembar pirates. But the stuff with, like, Kendell, because we knew obviously she's not gonna make it, but I wasn't. I was not expecting an I will say. And it almost, like, makes it worse if you think about it of like, whatever this strange mist was feels kind of similar a little bit to, like, the random illness that the Rumbar pirates get. And then Brook is yet again dealing with another, like, thing sweeping the people that he knows.

A

So they also starved to death, right? Was it. I'm trying to remember.

C

They lost a fight and they had poison tipped arrows, so they all got poisoned and died.

F

Is that what it is?

A

Yorkie.

C

Yorkie is the one that had a weird illness. Yeah.

F

Is that.

A

But never. We never find out if he truly is dead in that.

F

Ah, it's been long enough since I've, like, seen the backstory that I just didn't. I was thinking, oh, they all got sick, right? I guess not. Well, but in any case, still. Yeah, I don't know. It's a. It's a rough chapter. I also, like, I can't wait to see this animated with, like, voiceover because I, I'm. I'm a sucker for a, like, montage where somebody's talking over it and we're seeing a, you know, happy past. I'm a sucker for that. And I'm like, especially with music. Yeah. It's gonna.

A

I'm thinking about how you should be feeling.

F

I know I'm gonna think about that. And I'm like, oh, I want to hear the song. And what they did. I realized halfway through when I was doing it that I unintentionally. The mind your own beeswax is 100 da. Like, I didn't do that on purpose. It was just the song that, like, I was like, what Melody? I don't know that, but, yeah. I don't know. It's.

A

I like the jazzy. I like the jazzy.

F

It works. But I didn't intend on doing that. It was like, as I said, I did it a couple times and went, no. Why does it sound familiar? Shit. Oh, well. But, yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's a good chapter, but. Ooh, my heart.

A

Steve.

E

Yeah.

A

Another

E

tragic backstory for the books. Another tragic backstory has hit the tragic tower.

A

Why? Oh, you missed our whole.

C

You weren't even here for that.

E

No, you were. Oh, really?

A

Actually, nor was anyone else, because we were recording that part, but, yeah, go ahead.

E

I think the. The first thing that's on my mind here is Kendel

F

fridging yet another dead mom.

E

Yeah. Well, it's like, I knew this character was gonna die, but I was like, man, she's a badass sword fighter.

F

And that's how she goes out.

E

Yeah. She got kawina'd, you know, well, koenas. I. I don't really.

F

She got usopp momed.

E

I would say, yeah, Usopp moms. Because I feel like, Kawina, that whole death is about just the fragility of life and how things just happen. So I don't roll my eyes at that story. But at this point, I was like. Like, did she have to, like. I felt like it's like, was she too op. To the point where he had to write her off? Because it's like, would she put up too much of a fight? I don't know. I. I gotta see how the rest of this plays out. But I kind of really wish she was still, like, even if she was domi reverseed and kind of taken down here, I would have. You know, I. Maybe I would have preferred that. I don't know. It just felt like her dying is just so. It just comes and goes so quick that, like, it. It wasn't even devastating for me. It was kind of just like, it's like, and she dies here and moving on. And I was like, I don't Know,

C

I think the problem with it is that we haven't really gotten to know her that well.

E

I think we spent, like, the least amount of time with her.

F

They went, look how cool she is. Dead.

C

Yeah. So, I mean, like, I wouldn't necessarily. I. I don't know. I'll wait until my turn.

E

I. I don't know. I guess it's because I know, like, Reuven is. Is the one with the. The stronger connection here to Brooke. I don't know. I just feel. I'm just a little disappointed because I thought Kandel was like, wow, like, this is, like a cool new female character that feels different. You know, she dresses different, and she's a strong fighter, and she doesn't really get to fight. It's kind of. It's almost. It's reminded me of, like, Rebecca. It's like, wow, what a great warrior. She's fighting this coliseum. And then Kiros is like, no, you must never fight again until I start training you. When we. When we cut to around the world during Egghead. So I'm just always kind of just baffled by this. So I'm a bit disappointed. You know, I'm not totally being, like, throwing this out. Like, this sucks. This was a terrible chapter, but it was disappointment, and not in the way I think that. I think you want to be like, yeah, you want to be disappointed that this character dies, but it's a given. You're a parent figure in a flashback. You're not. Unless you're Saul. I guess at this point now, you're not living past these black gutters here. But I don't know. I was just bummed. I'm like, this is all you could do with this character? Because I don't even feel like her death moves anything along or inspires any change. The inevitable is still happening. The world government still shows up. Unless this whole mist was a ploy to take her out, because clearly this is a. This is a government psyop. I think the government sent a big mist over the island to kill a bunch of its people. Visit my website at www.sperrios and inside job.com. you know, and finding out what Marcus Mars like reminding us what he's the God, science person title. Whatever. Whatever he is again, I think there is a connection there, and this could very well be him here.

F

Are you saying poison gas can't kill hot queens? Just like, you know, jet fuel can't melt steel beams.

E

You know, let me go back and think of all the times poison didn't kill men.

F

Well, you're right.

E

Poison gas didn't kill Gin and Baratie.

C

Poison literally killed Luz. All of the Rumbar pirates.

E

Yeah, poison.

C

And they were all.

A

It has to be flashbacks. You can't. It's apples and oranges when you're comparing present day, to be fair.

F

Yeah, that's true. That's true.

A

Does poison gas kill people in flashbacks? I think is the.

E

I'm really bummed that Kandel felt like a kind of breath of fresh air, but then it's just like, nah, you just get more. Here's some more Shuries. Here's some more teenage girls. Yeah. So I'm. I'm just bummed, you know, I really was hoping for more. That's why. And that's saying, that's me. That's me hoping that's not me getting angry. Like, this is not how it went, how I predicted. It's. It's just a bummer. And not. And like I said, and not in the way I feel like, it's not the sadness that I think is intentional, but I think other than that, I think this is a great chapter for Brook. Like, his continued optimism through all of this. Just playing music. We've seen all this before. He's done this so many times, and then to then jump a page, and he's like, a total badass, slicing down government guys. This flashback is doing wonders for him. It's really great to see. And then, like, the last page, I think, was, I think, one of the better cliffhangers. I've seen, like, a chapter end on right before, like a break or something in a while. I think there's, you know, there's just so much on this last page here to just chew on here. So very satisfying. And, you know, like, what, 17 pages, you know, basically a full chapter here. So that's always a treat. But, yeah, it's a bummer. And I'm curious, like, what is going to be, you know, a. You know, like a dangling little carrot here? Any, like, threads Otis setting up here, or how much is. We're looking too much into it. But to me, like, I'm in the camp that I feel like this poison mist is totally, you know, the government putting the screws to this kingdom. But it makes me curious, like, who Reuven's father was. And since they weren't involved in the world government, it makes me wonder if the former king went to the world government and been like, it's like, hey, like, well.

B

Well, that's it.

E

Well, I keep forgetting the detail with. With the ship Crash landing there. It's amazing how quickly that was kind of just, you know, mentioned and brushed over and that feels like a bigger deal. So I wonder what happened there and if we're going to see some of that and maybe Reuven's father just isn't important at all. Maybe it was just the celestial dragon saw this kingdom and they'd be like, I want it or something. But still, it's good. It's a great chapter. Just a little disappointing for a potential new great character who feels like is gone all too soon. I think we've only had Candel for about a few chapters, I think.

F

Well, I mean, from that standpoint, we had her as long as we had Reuven, but. Yeah, yeah, he got like killed in a more epic way.

E

That's the thing. Yeah. More of a dramatic way.

F

Yeah.

C

I mean, almost kind of. We also don't know what happened. What happened. We're probably. We might see her again and figure out what her deal is because there's a lot that's. That is unsaid and a lot that's hinted at and.

A

Yep.

C

Yeah.

E

Such as?

C

We mean, such as like Alex.

A

Well, Steve, did you have anything else you want to mention about the chapter before we.

E

No, I was.

A

Alex. Yeah, go for it.

E

I wanted to hear.

C

Okay, so we're going to assume that off. Off the cuff, we're going to assume that she trained so she could be as close to him as possible. And that's. And that him is Reuven. Right, That's. That's an easy thing to assume. It could be someone else. It could be Emu. She could be a psyop. I mean, I don't. I don't necessarily think that's. That's, you know, great, you know, great storytelling. We'll see what happens. But you know, there's.

D

That.

C

We don't know what, like this entire. Like there is a void century in this chapter. There's a void century sized hole.

A

Absolutely.

C

That Brook just sort of glosses over. He basically is just like, oh, yeah. By the way, one time celestial dragons came and your mom was fatigued for a while and then. And then you were born. She got married to your dad and had you.

E

Wow.

A

Now, what a weird series of events.

C

What a weird series of events. That. Yeah, that seems totally normal.

F

Also, isn't it great that she looks just like her mom?

D

Yeah, yep. Yeah.

A

Yep. Yeah. I'm just gonna mention that as well.

C

And she's got two different colored eyes for some reason. Yeah.

A

Something that heterochroma. Well, No, I mean, but like heterochromia, that clearly is not present in Reuven or can tell.

C

Yeah, it's. So we talked about this on the Discord and you know, I'm not gonna. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, I mean, it's pretty safe to say.

A

Yeah, it probably has to be broached a little bit, but yeah.

C

Yeah. The trigger warning of it all, I guess is here.

A

This is the trigger warning.

C

Yes.

A

Skip ahead.

C

Yeah. Basically the same beat. I'm thinking, like, initially my thought was the same beat as the Kuma flashback. Right. Given the implication of Bonnie's parentage. Correct. For sure. He's. And that's why Reuven is also really sour, because that, you know, this isn't, he knows everything basically. I don't know. This is, this is the problem with a huge chunk missing from this is that now we are to speculate the worst. And, and I hate that so much. My thing about Kandel potentially being fridged is that for me, this, for me, I wasn't really. This flashback for me was basically like, great. I want to figure out what Brooke and Shuri's thing is like. I want to see their relationship. Kendall is a very cool looking character. She's like Nami, but she has blobby hair. That's cool.

A

And she uses a sword and she dresses really nice.

C

Yeah, she doesn't dress provocatively like every other woman character in one piece. The thing that I got, yeah, the thing that I got the most out of this is Brooke and Shuri's relationship, which I think is really great. And I think that that has really been like, that's the highlight of this chapter by a lot. I know, Steve, you kind of glossed over it and was like, yeah, we get teenage Shuri whatever. Right. I mean, but I mean, I think that's like the best part of this chapter. I think that's this, this really. It makes their, their meeting in the future that much more heartbreaking. Not just because she killed his, you know, his, his mentor and best friend, but also because they had like this, he basically raised her. You know, he's like another father figure to her.

D

He's the, he's the cool big brother, basically.

E

Yeah. I, I, I just want to make mention that I'm not annoyed that characters are teenagers.

A

It's more like I am.

E

It's more like, oh, how could I put this bluntly? The woman who wears pants is killed, but the teenage girl who doesn't wear pants is. Sure.

C

No, I get it.

E

I mean, it's Kind of more like a. More like an eye roll. Like, okay, man.

C

Well, that's also, like. That's also completely unsurprising because wackety schmackety do. That's.

B

Oda.

C

You know, I'm. Why am I not surprised? You know, it's. It's. It's. For me, I'm like, yeah, okay. Again, whatever.

A

Begin with. I mean, Gunko, we know is, you know, there.

C

Yes.

A

Like, this is.

C

This is how defining character design is that. And I.

A

Which is problematic. Minimally.

E

I feel like it's gonna. I think it's gonna tie to Brook.

C

It does already. Like, it's. And I guess it's sort of like. Okay, we get it.

A

We did mention that, to be fair, when Gunko first showed up and there was any connection to Brook, we're like, oh, perfect.

C

Yeah.

A

He doesn't even have to ask.

C

Like, I guess if I have any issue with this chapter is that it should have been two chapters. I feel like it could have been a little more patient. Or maybe it's because I'm just like, I want to know where this missing chunk is.

A

I think it's on purpose. Yeah.

C

In order to reveal what happened later or whatever. But I wonder now, are we gonna get a different flashback for all the different godheads or all the five elders they're just gonna be involved in?

A

You know, I don't think it's that. I think probably not. They're pretty major figures in the world, and they're gonna show up.

C

Yeah.

E

I wonder if there was any kind of deal cut with the Celestial dragons is, you know, we'll take out the king. We'll recognize you and the world government, you know, put you in power. Yeah, I feel like that.

C

But in return, something's gonna happen at some point down the line, and that something is a Caesar, like, gas has taken out all the instruments and made everybody sick and kills Kendall, who might have actually died fighting.

A

Yeah. We really don't know. And if there are, I mean, I think at this point, you could. There's like a 60, 40 chance that. But for me, at least, that she is. Has a. Has more nefarious intentions potentially, or at the very least, is more connected to the government than it seems.

D

Yeah. She was the one who did not have any interiority in the previous chapters. Like, we saw all of Reuven and Brooke and all of their, you know, their thoughts, but not hers. She was always sort of a little

C

mysterious in that way. And. And something that gave me pause is, you know, Brooke is like, oh, yeah. By the way, let me tell you about this thing that happened where this weird. Where this ship came aboard and we were. We've never seen this type of authority figure before. And then Shuri immediately just says, oh, the Celestial dragons. Like she has heard of them before.

A

Like, I think, oh, go ahead.

D

Yeah.

C

I mean, I feel like there's. There's got to be some sort of weird connection, right? Like something. There's something fishy about that in particular.

A

Yeah. I. I want to say specifically, I have waffled back and forth today after reading this chapter, trying to digest it, because my first instinct, Alex, I think, was the content warning. 1. It was the fact that this is a repeat of the Ginny Kuma.

C

And for me, that puts a pit in my stomach for that. And also, like, oh, come on, you're gonna repeat a beat? Like, that's the thing.

A

I don't have faith with Oda when it comes to the thing that we mentioned before. However, I do have faith in Oda when it comes to generally knowing not Sanji's flashback. Second flashback aside, he usually avoids similar story beats like that. Like, especially when they're like, kind of the crux of it. Which makes me think.

C

And so close together. Because the Kuma flashback is relatively recent.

A

Yeah. And it was the same kind of deal. So that makes me think it is likelier than. Not a red herring in that we are supposed to. And this something recently. I remember. Oh, the stuff with where we thought the arc might be almost ending a few months, a month or two ago, before Emu kind of makes his debut. This feels similar. It feels like, okay, we're putting a pin in this, but we're not really. Like, you're supposed to think we're moving on from this point, which. The point being Candel and I am like, fixated on the line from the penultimate page of the last chapter 1184, where we're reintroduced to Kandel, who, remember, we had been introduced to on that initial flashback page. But she gets another otobox here and says, and this is after finding out about Brooke and all that. I'm not ang you, Prince Reuven. I'm simply asking that you be more mindful of your royal position. She just sounds like such a narc. And I don't know. I don't have another way to put that. Like, she's like, dude, you gotta do your job. Like, that doesn't sound like someone infatuated with him. That, like, it's supposed to be potentially. It's supposed to be potentially interpreted as I care about you, so don't put yourself in dangerous situations. But that's not what she's saying here. She's saying you should not hang out with scum when you're supposed to be projecting the idea of a prince. And that's what I'm getting there. And just her general aura does feel it. Feel. And the fact that she kind of looks like the typical, like, oh, she's beautiful. She's. This will is a great red herring to, oh, she can't be in league with celestial dragons who are all ugly and awful. I think at this point, sitting here today, I mean, first of all, we're judging a book that we've read, half of which I always say this, but particularly now, feels like we have. It's like we're at. Like, I'm in the middle of the book and I'm saying this book is great or this book is terrible. Either way, I'm wrong because I've only read half. But I think given what we know, I am extremely suspect of Kandel. Like, I think I was like, the end of last chapter, it was that. But also then he called. She calls Brooke adorable on the next page, so she can't be evil. Evil people never think kids are cute, but like, you know, there's enough doubt. And like, I think I feel like I know kind of what Oda does these days with like these kind of red herrings. He really enjoys them. That's his favorite frickin literary device. He loves throwing curveballs. We know that, guys, right? So like, that's why I am more optimistic. That said, even if she is off screen, I 100% agree with Alex that she is not the focus of this as much as we would love her to be. Cause I do agree she's a cool character design.

C

She's cool.

A

Different personality.

C

But I just feel like we just need, like, that's why I wanted two chapters. Because that way at least her death would have some sort of like, oh, we get more for character development. We get more of who she is. We get these couple pages where she's training Brook and they're kind of cute, but it's, well, Brook's awful humor.

A

If there's one thing I could, I could.

C

Well, I was going to say she said I need to beat some manners and civility. And she's like, oh, well, you clearly didn't beat him enough.

A

Yes. Yeah. The part that I found cringiest was the typical Brook humor. As an 11. He's 11, right? As an 11 year old, which look, I guess an 11 year old is crass and awful. That isn't. The 11 year olds are pretty awful things. Watch out for 11 year olds, everyone. But still, it's not, it was not fun to read that. Those, those parts personally. And then that combined with the potential implicit, like sexual assault, you know, that doesn't. It's like crazy that this chapter I could either interpret to be fantastic or just like gut wrenching in a bad way. Like simultaneously. It's because we don't. We don't really know what the context for a lot of this is. As you said, there's a void century in this chapter. Alex.

C

Yeah, 100% agree. I mean, that aside, like, man, all the music stuff I really liked the songs were. I mean, Steven, this is. I'm looking at. Yeah, I mean, great job with the melody. Fantastic. Steven, I'm looking through this chapter and I'm like, oh God, this is like. I'm looking at how many dialogue boxes there are and it feels like your worst fucking nightmare.

B

Nightmare.

D

Oh yeah. I think I turned it in at like 12:30 or something. Like I worked on it all day before I.

A

Did I ask if you wanted to be on and you're like, no. And I'm assuming this is part of the reason. Or was it. Did it come in later for last week's tier?

D

No, no, no, no.

C

The man has a life outside of no work, Zack.

A

No, no one has. No one has a life outside the One Piece podcast. We don't exist outside. We just disappear when this goes off.

C

Yeah, I mean this would, this would. This would drive me crazy. But. So I think he did a really great job with, with these, with these songs and I, I wonder, I mean, what this is going to look like in the anime.

D

Yeah.

A

Which is that I am super.

D

Could hit a lot harder. That's always.

A

I think it certainly will.

C

Music cues tend to do that.

A

And you could also live with these characters a lot longer in the anime. Like they could really do like each of these little vignettes could actually be a lived in moment.

C

I'd like to. I want to bring up some of the art here or at least some of like the actions that are happening. I'm kind of going through it now and the nice thing about looking at it on my monitors versus a phone is that there's a lot of little. At Costco, there's a lot of little details that I think are really kind of fun. Like when Brook is fighting his way through the town and going up to the palace a Second to last spread when he's. He's sort of dancing, like, and spinning through these, through these guys and fighting them. And it's. It's kind of like you can see how he moves, how whimsically he fights, even in, like, the threat of danger. And it's such a great. I mean, this has been a real long time coming for Brook to get, like, such a robust flashback like this. And the one thing that, like, I kept thinking about, like, all week, like, was, why now give us this Brook flashback? Like. Like, I don't know if Shuri was always in the cards, like, as a character for Oda. I mean, who even knows? But, like, so late in the game to have a. Like a. Hey, here's Brook's history type thing. And I. I don't know, is he a Davey?

A

I think. I think the fact. Look, all that stuff is always going on.

C

He's got a blackbeard, like, nose.

A

I feel like that shit is always on the table. But I will say, I think the reason why now is because I think Shuri, I don't think, has always been on the table, but I do think Oda has always planned that his past involved a greater world government thing that he wanted to go into.

C

Yes, there's definitely been. I mean, from day one, like, when Brooke joins the crew, he says, I've been a convoy. Like, so there's always going. There always was going to be this faction of his. Of his past. I don't know, it just seems like at some point, just like, where am I going to put this? If Brooke is a Davey, I'm not going to be mad about it just because there's, you know. But I feel like the inclusion of this flashback after we have opened up the. The, you know, the Pandora's box of, well, the government killed all these different people, including the Davey clan and the Buccaneers and yada, yada, yada. And everything is sort of, you know, sort of tied into this celestial dragon brouhaha they do every year, hunt the rabbits. I feel like. I don't know. There's a lot I want to say, but I can't. I don't think I can because there's so much of this puzzle that's missing.

D

I do agree. I agree that we are kind of past the point of, like, shock and disappointment, of, like, oh, my God, this character is this now. Like, it's just. It's happened so many times that the shock value is kind of worn off for me.

A

Yeah, I. I'll go out on a Limb. And I'm going to say I don't really think it's about Brook's connection to the world government. I think the fact that we're holding off to this moment is Brook's connection to this kingdom.

C

Yes. And it just happens to sort of coincide with all the events that are sort of happening. And.

A

And he's had, like, during whole Cake island and during. I'm trying to remember what his reaction. Sabaody was with the celestial dragons, because he was there for that.

C

He didn't have one, really. Right. So I remember him having one. And I do think that maybe you can't tell this. This story without having known all the stuff that happens in God or the stuff with Emu possessing people and domi reversi. I mean, I think that maybe that's the reason why that's such an integral part of this story.

A

I think we're gonna find out in the next chapter exactly why. But. Yeah.

C

Did Steven. Not. Steven. Steve, you mentioned that I totally forgot about this, that they weren't a member of the world government. Esperia,

E

initially, you know, I said that, and I kind of. Maybe I'm just getting things like Elbaf mixed up. I can't remember if this kingdom was affiliated with them or not.

D

Yeah. Yeah. If they. If they didn't pay the tribute, then they would be unaffiliated.

E

Yeah.

D

Right. So they would not be under the protection.

C

But I guess what I was. What I was wondering is, until the celestial dragons washed up shore, were they a member of the world government already?

A

Yeah, they were, I believe. I mean, they were king now, otherwise. Yeah, they were. Because they were having that discussion in this chapter about, like, oh, if we don't do this, we'll be unaffiliated and then this will happen, and this will happen.

E

Okay. I think maybe it makes sense because I realize not everyone knows what a celestial dragon is. So when them it's like, oh, a weird ship showed up. I'm like, have they not heard of the.

C

I guess that's true. I guess that not everybody knows who the celestial dragons are. And I mean, the other thought I had today was Reuven's family name is Manmeyer. Right. Like, I mean, I think that's what I was. And that's kind of getting out with this mystery figure that his father came back and was like, all right, but. But why, I guess is this.

A

Yeah, the big question is why? And Beethoven that we could do since

C

we have a loot and probably not. But I mean, I guess. I guess the other, the other thing too is like, what's, what's the deal with Shuri and, and Emu? Right? Because all this is tying to Emu. Like, Emu needs a new body. Right? I think maybe that's, I think that's what's sort of inferred here. The problem is we don't know what the fuck is going on with Emu. Like, why, why is emu. And I think that, like, for me, it's like, oh, I guess this whole thing, this whole thing has been orchestrated into like, oh, well, Shuri is a very talented sword fighter. And, and, and apparently it's observation hockey and very, very, like, great warrior. And maybe that's part of the reason. Like, maybe Kendel is, was in on it the whole time. Was like, oh, yeah. Well, let's.

A

You know, the more I look back at these Kandel panels, I'm gonna, I'm

C

gonna fashion you a new soldier emu, and then you can use that as your body. Oh, great one. Or whatever.

F

You know, I, I, Emu has Usopps. I can't land on. This is.

C

Okay, that's something we gotta do. That's a title somehow. Wow. Anyway, I, I have no more thoughts on this because they're all jumbled. They're all like, all over the place. It's a crazy chapter and I liked it, but I, I just, I need the rest of it.

A

I, Yeah, I, I didn't say my full thoughts. I mean, I said some of them. I'll be, I'll be quick, though. I, I'm just, like, looking at 1183 and even like, her first entrance. Like, I, I could totally read her as being evil very easily, so. Well, Look, I'm either 100% right or 100% wrong. Either way, I'm gonna probably sound like an idiot, so it's fine. But I look forward to seeing what happens and then forming an opinion about this flashback somewhat based on that.

D

It's not like we've ever had an extended discussion about whether a character was good or evil.

A

Exactly, exactly. We've never done that. We've never talked about whether characters are really dead or not dead. We've never been wrong about anything in the past. Check the records. If Delaney had all the time in the world, she would then make a montage every single time we were wrong, which would take 80 years.

C

Okay, wait, hold on. Okay, so I just went back to her first appearance, this little ODA, box 1183. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, very clearly the one.

A

If you go before that Too. Just like the part where you don't see her eyes the page before. I don't know, it just. Oh, what a beautiful performance, that one.

C

Oh, she's very clearly like. Oh, very clearly.

F

A.

C

You know, a woman of discerning tastes when it comes to now. My. The thing that gives me pause here, too, is that, like. And this also brings Steve's point into motion here, and it's this. 70 years ago, the kingdom of Experia harbored two great stars. So they really make a point in singling out Brook and Kandel as these big characters. And the fact that, you know, Candel did get, like, under a little under baked and offed so quickly is. Is suspect.

A

Yeah, it's suspect is the word.

C

It's definitely like. And it feels on purpose. It doesn't feel like it. The fact that she was made such a great deal of and then is sort of like, killed off screen like that. And a lot of like. And a lot of what she has done and been a part of has been sort of hand waved away just by three sentences by Brooke as weird. And I don't think that it's a measure of bad writing. I think it's like what Zach said, the red herring aspect of this.

A

Yeah, I'll say. If it ends up being that way,

C

then, I mean, I certainly hope it's a red herring because otherwise it does suck a little bit.

A

Yeah, it does suck, because when I first read it, I had the same. I had the same.

C

When you read. Yeah, when you read it all in one go, then it's like, okay, yeah, she's gonna be important. And then. Oh, I guess not the weird.

A

Yeah, I had the same feeling, like, oh, she just got fridged and what are we doing here? Even, like, is this just. No, that was my first. I'm saying that was my first reading of it. But, like, the more I thought about it, like, first discussing about, like, okay, the relationship with the celestial dragons. They're obviously doing, like, a morning sickness inference that's supposed to exist there. And then. I mean, we've already talked about this, so I think the fact that there is that void century in this chapter leaves. I don't want to say hope. Hope that she's evil and really defies her. Defiles her legacy. Like, I do think there is hope for this character having some literative, you know, like, actual narrative closure versus right now. I feel like it is just very poor writing.

C

It seems more of a weird plot device than anything else. But to what end? Because, like, there's

B

too sweet.

A

It's too precious to me.

C

Whenever Oda does a flashback, there's always some point to it. There's not a single character flashback that I think is bad, that even Senior Pink has his moments. Zach.

A

Oh, I'm, I was.

D

He worked at a bank.

C

He works at a bank, for example, I think. Okay, so I, I, I think that like Oda would have to really fuck this up big time. Like if he were to just kind of go through this, go through the motions like that and not, not have something like something else planned for this character at some point.

A

I think what would work for either Red Herring or conversely, if it ends up being like this is that you could kind of tell he is trying to move through this flashback. I, I'm sure it is in his brain. This is the second flashback of the, of the arc. We're away from Luffy for this period of time this is going on. But, but it is a straw hats flashback. And so I am sure he's also cognizant for that reason that it does need. And the fact that we go back to Brook when he was little, 11 or whatever it is is I think indicative that we are not going to be breezing through this. I'm not saying this is going to last forever, but I think that the details do matter and I think that Oda, I'll put my faith in Oda here and say that I'm hopeful that that is. Anyway, my thoughts.

C

Sucks about doing this week to week, honestly.

A

It is. And I talk about that a lot like that I kind of wish that we could marathon through it sometimes. I mean, there is the community aspect of reading it week to week. That is so cool and great. But then there's stuff like this where it's like, like this is, this is the prime example of a chapter that I feel like is like almost it is. And it's not meant to be read week to week. Like Steve said, the cliffhanger in this is one of the best I think we've had.

C

No, it's really great. And part of the fact is we don't know who the fuck that is in the background.

A

I think that is, I think the fact that it, I am crossing my fingers is not someone or a relative of someone that we know, I think would be great.

C

I don't care anymore. I just. What?

A

I just, I just want it to be some douche. But if, if not, I like, I think the fact that if it is Reuven's father, I think that works narratively, particularly I think it works super well narratively if it's his father, because of the song that we first see Brook singing on the trash heap about the king sucking and all that. And I think that would really, really bring this, I think, together a lot more cohesively. And so I am hoping that. And particularly if Candel is like this agent like of the. I don't know, like that, that whole, like, if Reuven's father and his wife are both working against him, that's a tragedy.

C

That's tragic.

A

That's tragic as shit. And then his daughter kills him. Like, or his. At least his adopted daughter.

C

That means the only in his life that was ever really true to him was Brooke.

A

It's Brooke. And that feels like a one piece flashback. The other thing I was thinking. It really does think about it. The other thing about one piece flashbacks.

D

Don't trust your dad. Don't trust your wife. Don't trust your daughter.

A

Yeah, they're all trying to murder you or they're going to get hallucinated into murdering you.

D

Trust the kid from the trash heap.

A

Yeah, always trust the kid from the trash. Gosh, it's the real family is found family. That is a one piece theme, certainly. And the other thing that we really get in flashbacks that we haven't like quite seen the full extent of here is, and I'm sure Oda will deny this to the ends of the earth, is the political overtones and the historic analogs that we often get with these. I was really thinking of laws, the white lead disease poisoning kind of thing for some reason with this flashback a lot. And there are so many real world parallels to that, not just with lead poisoning, but a lot of, you know, similar things. And with this one, you know, I think we're going to get that, but we haven't gotten that yet. So that also. And I think we all know as, as Steve said, esperias an inside job.com but like for series. I didn't say that.

E

Jesse Ventura said that.

A

Oh, sorry. But for, for that reason it does. I mean, this is obviously, I think to the reader, we're like, we're all reading like, oh, the government is doing this shit. Obviously the question is why? To what end? And what for me at least, what political and historical analog is Oda drawing here? Or which combination of them? It's very interesting and again, the weekly week to week problem, but like the deterioration of this kingdom. Is this supposed to be like acid rain too? In the middle of this with it

C

kind of, I was like, that A little bit, but.

A

Well, because everyone's clothes are tattered. I don't know if it's just because shit is going bad or because of the smog.

F

I mean, if the instruments rotted, I can't see why their clothes wouldn't rot too.

A

Yeah, yeah. It's super fascinating.

C

It's not like he. Like, it's not like they asked Vega Punk or Caesar or somebody to just be like, hey, I need you to make a mess that just, like, destroys musical instruments. It's like, unless they did Blue Meanies. Yeah, it's the Blue Meanies. It's the Blue Meanies did this. I think that's the Going back. Like, Oda's cribbing from Blue Yellow Submarine yet again with quartet. Trio duet. Yeah, solo.

D

The aliens from Mars attacks. Didn't they get killed by music or what?

A

Is something you've hit on a childhood fear of mine. Mars attacks. Anyway, no, that's. That's. That's all I have to say. We've talked a lot. It. I'm just, like, endlessly fascinated by the level of how this could go completely wrong narratively, how this could go completely right narratively, which would suck. Probably be in a bad place for everyone in the story. But, like, this is, at the end of the day, going to be a story about Shuri and Brooke. Because it's a story about Shuri and Brooke. Because it's Brooke talking about his relationship with Shuri to the straw hats.

C

Yeah. And it's endearing. It endeared me to Shuri. I really like Shuri a lot.

A

Yes, I do, too. I agree with you, though. I feel like more time would have helped because, really, her traits being, I want to marry Brooke and I can't speak eloquently. I don't know. If she had. I feel like there could be more.

C

Well, no, I think you're missing the big one, though, which is she wants to be like her mother and.

A

Yes, yes, yes.

C

And that might play into who she eventually becomes.

A

That's true. That's true. I mean, like, a lot of. Maybe you could do that with, like, Shirahoshi. But, like, I'm trying to think. There are a lot of characters whose moms die and they, you know, are trying to step into that role. Rebecca is a terrible example of everything, but that's just a general statement. That'll do it for the manga recap. But let's move on into some Piece Together. This is the Piece Together segment where we take your questions, comments, theories, and determine whether you could land on this segment. Disease exists. Alex, what

C

do.

F

Peace.

A

Look, they're not gonna be winners, Steven.

D

They're not gonna be winners. Yeah, law of averages, right?

C

We've got a. We've got a fair amount of big disc pieces for this episode, so let's just get right to it. Sam, the cocoyashi drunk says re watching the one piece Grand Gourmet trailer. I can just imagine if Emu was in this game. The kind of bullshit he's going to demand you make for him. So who is asking for the most absurd meal and what are they for?

B

Ooh.

A

I mean, celestial dragons are a very good starting point for most ridiculous meals.

C

Yeah, Bald eagle.

A

I mean, who would ask for a sockeye salmon with the. With a. With a punched eye. Punched out eye?

D

Mr. 7.

C

Mr. 7.

A

Mr. 7. Who is like the most like fastidious? Like Mr. 3 might be a good answer too.

D

Yeah, that's a good one.

C

Galdino.

A

And he also. He's Italian, so he actually like knows his food. Although if he has the wax, I

C

don't know anybody else.

A

I'm thinking of the Simpsons thing with the wax when for the spice to stop him from tasting it.

C

Galdino spumoni. All right. Dimadome says hi Opp. What a chapter. A true banger. Solid. Yo ho ho out of 10. Since I imagine you covered it in great lengths already, let me instead touch on something completely unrelated. Then I have a couple thoughts. Starting with our video. Very first and long nosiest God on the crew. God Usopp. His purpose in the story of Dressrosa seems to be. Seems to me to be very similar to the role of Nika. Both being the symbol of hope for the imprisoned and being hailed as a God as a consequence. Now if we assume devil fruits to be truly man made synthetic objects capable of capturing ideas and concepts into tangible body alterations if they had access to the technology. There is a non zero chance for some die hard believer to one day build a mythical human human fruit model Long nose in the image of the tales of a proud warrior of the sea. Anyone holding their breath for a clown nose zone. Anyway, it appears to me further that devil fruits share some characteristics with time capsules. So that in the case of say two world ending events, people still had remnants of what once was. Imagine if whatever stopped the first world and heralded the second also wiped out giraffes. Boom. Kaku's fruit eternalizes them. Granted it works best on mythical zones, as they are mostly folk tales that can be easily lost without people telling them like the Phoenix Buddha or the sun God. Not so much logia types, but yeah. Though the time capsule part might be getting into tinfoil hat territory. I do believe God Usopp's and Nika's influence to be intentional parallels. If there was such a devil fruit, I wonder what their abilities would look like.

A

What's the next question, Alex?

B

Hold on.

C

No, this is good.

A

That was a joke.

F

All I can say is that if. If giraffes went extinct, then they would be a mythical Zoan.

C

That's right.

A

Or ancient. It might turn to like ancient

C

Kieran. Another. Another Kiran fruit. I think that devil fruit power would just be the ability to say anything to anybody and they would believe you. Like yeah, the human model goddess.

A

I do like the idea that according this theory could be taken to the extent that everyone has eaten a devil fruit, but they all have like real world non. You know, not obvious effects. And also they could swim for some reason.

C

You know, I did think about how cool it is the other day that that like in Skypiea and. And in. To many people in Dressrosa, Usopp is seen as some sort of a God. And it's sort of like. It's sort of like. Yeah, the most like maybe the most powerful like main character, I guess, and then the least powerful main character are both seen as gods by different people. Which I think is very cool. Anyway, Matt R. Says, hey Opp, I'm a new Patreon member but have been listening since Zoe. I love all the work you guys do. I'm a 37 year old guy from Chicago and I started watching One Piece during the 4 Kids Run. I love all the Simpsons references. You do. As well as the home movies references. I don't have a chapter specific question, but if the right people are on the podcast this week, can I get Walter and Perry giving their thoughts on the chapter? I appreciate all the work you guys do. Well, Matt R. I think it would sound a little.

A

Steve plunged to the unmute button. I just like a little.

C

It would sound a little something. Something like this.

E

Which one's Walter and which one's Perry

A

Again, does not matter.

C

Walter's the one with the clown hair and Perry is the one that has the glasses.

F

Okay.

C

Right.

E

I think which one's the John Benjamin

C

one and which one's the Brendan Small one?

A

I could kind of tell when I'm

C

listening it feels like it's been done before.

E

Brendan is Perry and John Benjamin's Walter.

B

So I think.

A

Yes.

E

What are we talking about again?

C

The Chapter.

D

Don't overthink this.

C

Yeah, I thought it was a fine chapter. I just wish.

E

I don't think they should have killed the mom though.

C

Yeah, don't kill the mom. Never kill the moms.

E

Mars needs moms.

C

Mars needs moms.

B

My,

A

you said it too.

C

Mars. These moms.

E

It's a movie.

C

Brandon's mom. There we go.

A

Okay, it's Fenton's mom.

D

Marcus Mars needs mom.

C

Well, Fenton's mom.

A

I'm shocked you didn't say that.

C

But that's gonna happen. Watch that actually happen. That's gonna be a plot point. Marcus Mars needs moms.

E

The boys need a new mommy. Marcus Mars needs a new mommy.

C

Meow.

A

What's a legendary bird guy gonna do when he needs a new mommy?

C

Matt R. I hope you like Venture Brothers references too. All right. Reverse eyes wax says obviously phony plague beeswax chapter as always. And one that has me eyeing my red string conspiracy board. It seems pretty sus that the big Itsumare plague bird shows up at the end of the chapter featuring the big evil plague fog. I wonder if the mysterious fatigue that hit Kendel after the celestial dragons showed up was some kind of precursor to the instrument eroding fog between the country they allude to being destroyed in this chapter. Esperia, God Valley Thriller, Bark and Ohara. It surem seems like someone has it out for the West Blue. What could it be? The mob? The evils of transponder, Snail, radiation? Whatever fucked up place Lafitte comes from, feel free to. Free to speculate wildly why this west side story is so tragic.

A

Ah, good. More west side Story references.

C

Wow.

A

I, I, I wonder if it's just a coincidence. Like I mean, we know East Blue is the most peaceful of the seas, so it like kind of makes sense that. But also we don't hear about the places that are disappeared for the very reason that they have been disappeared.

C

I do, I do think that like there's that, I do think that like that's that the scuttlebutt in Esperia is they disappeared a whole, you know, a whole kingdom or whatever. So I don't know. I think that's kind of.

A

Well, he did say like it's a kingdom that doesn't exist anymore. That, that could also mean just that, you know, there's no one living there. You know, like it's, it's been eradicated in the traditional sense versus eradicated. The thing from the sky, you know, coming down and wiping it the face of the earth. Like it could mean something closer To Ohara. Or even just a place deteriorating until there's nothing.

C

I didn't even think about Marcus Mars using Itsumade powers to make the fog. I just.

A

What does an Itumade do?

D

It's a yokai. So just creeps people out. Yeah.

F

It fridges moms. It does.

D

Yeah.

A

It's just specific. Marcus Mom. Marcus Mars needs moms because he keeps fridging them.

F

Them.

C

I mean, that's a really good point.

D

My collection.

C

Stephen. That's actually a really good point. I feel like since they're all based on yokai except for the Sand Worm, I guess they should all just be like, boo. That's their power. Yokai are just here to scare us. They don't actually mean us any harm. All right.

B

Right.

C

This one's from Slay. It ain't so. Hello, my fellow mamas and Papas. Oh, man. We didn't do a Mamas and Mamas and the Papas reference. That would have been good, too.

E

Yeah. Our parents would have loved it.

A

That's true.

C

Why never aren't you happy? And then there's an oni emoji. You should be. It's Pride Month. Brooke really walked into. Walked in on something like that Famous scene. Sl. Gift from Community, actually.

A

Yes.

C

Yes.

A

Also. Also a good reference.

C

The worst timeline. Curious to see what happened there. Guess we'll need another flashback. And a flashback. And look at Boa try to cook for Luffy on the COVID She's trying. Which makes me think, what, Mila? Are y' all good at cooking? Wait, that seems familiar. I think I'm getting Slay Javu. I asked that question weeks ago. Oopsie, poopsie. Under a proper question. How would the world government and OR Marines celebrate Pride Month? Have a good spits of blood, Great week. Stupid fog.

A

I'm sorry that you're going through that fog.

C

How would the world government and OR Marines celebrate Pride Week?

A

They. They put rainbow things on stuff and then just murder people for their beliefs.

F

I don't think the world government would celebrate it. I think the Marines would try, too. And it would just. The Marine flag with a rainbow, and they'd be like, all right, Cool.

C

You know who would really celebrate a sword, though? Because sword is just.

A

Oh, yeah.

F

Oh, yeah.

C

Sword is just made up of queer characters.

D

Yeah. They'd have a parade and there's a picture, and it's like Koby and Helmeppo. And the newspaper article says local gays show their pride.

A

I saw where that joke was going, and I let it happen.

D

Thank you.

A

Yeah, there's your episode image.

C

There it is,

A

I assume.

C

All right. Straw hat pirate9. Very apt user. I mean, you know, they. They chime in every now and again, but yeah, definitely apt this this time around. God, poor Brook. That last page hurt. So Emu used Domi Reversi on both Shuri and Reuven. Bastard. I do love having these chapters to read. While Shuri Gunko makes her appearance in the anime May. Oh, yeah. I guess she showed up this week. Sailor Karna says. Hey, Opp, how's it going? Are you enjoying the insert sports event here? Between the NBA Finals and the World Cup, I was able to not be spoiled. However, I did see that people are tired of the flashbacks.

A

How.

C

What are your thoughts on the flashbacks? Personally, I'm for them.

A

Yeah.

C

I'm assuming they mean the flashbacks within this particular story, Eric.

E

I mean, the fact that this is related to a straw hat, I'm just very invested into it.

C

Yes.

A

I think it's. I'm. This is not going to be like a straight on answer. So it's going to be a gay answer. It's not going to be a straight answer. No. Happy bread, happy pride. But seriously, the flashbacks are always great. Even the worst flashback is great. Great Senior Pink, but it definitely does kill the momentum of the arc you're in, no matter what the flashback is. The longer the flashback and the less related a flashback is to that arc, the more it kills that momentum. So both things are true. I think.

C

I think I can poke holes in your argument with the Wapole Punch slash chopper backstory one. And maybe fair.

A

Fair.

C

And maybe the Trafalgar Law one. I don't remember where.

A

To be fair, there was no momentum there to. To steal from.

F

Yeah, that's The Trafalgar Law 1 was a breath of fresh air in the midst of slog.

A

It's smog. It's the. That was the desolation of smog that we went through. I'm gonna just keep doing it. Sorry.

C

All right. I think the general consensus is we like them.

A

That wasn't a good movie.

D

I never saw it.

A

Me neither.

C

I tapped out after the first Hobbit movie. I was like, oh, boy. I could have read the book. The whole book in this time.

F

It's better than the Battle of Five Harmies. But anyway, I continue.

C

I'm going to say that we're all pretty for flashbacks on this podcast.

A

Yes, 100%. I would take a whole arc of just flashback.

C

Yeah. I mean, I. I had my complaints about God Valley because it Was so long and it felt.

A

But it's still derivative. But it's just. It's still there.

C

Yeah.

A

Was. And there's like. We've talked about this to death, but we have. I do still think it is. It is a very good story.

C

Yeah. Anyway, I love this one because it's Brooklyn. We've needed this for a while. Crammy. Crammy. Got a land to the west. It's very says Ahoy Op Banger chapter. As always. Even as a Brook fan, I am tired of the panties gag. But otherwise, I love the chapter. It's fair. I'm very suspicious of the whole events with toxic mist and Kendall's death, along with Sherry's potential lineage now. And shout outs to Brooke for agreeing to go to war with the government before even given a reason why. That's my soul king. My question this week is who the hell is that at the end? Why does he look like Shiryu? Have a great week. Greater than 3. P.S. i promise this is the last week of me doing jokes about less than greater than three threes.

A

It is three, right? Yeah. I got it wrong before.

C

It's a heart.

A

But he's just said greater than three. They just said greater than three. Sorry.

C

Because it's fun. It's a fun. They're. They're trolling you. They're tooling with you. Yeah. I mean, we. We talked about this in the manga recap, right? I mean.

A

Yes. Yeah. I think.

C

Who could this person be? Why does he look like Shiru?

A

We don't have an answer. Yeah.

C

Cuz he's got a hat.

A

Yeah. Yeah.

C

Cuz he's got a hat. That looks very similar.

A

And the idea that he. That he's just some decapitated guy sitting there.

C

Jesus mother Christ. Here's Big Mike with a really short one.

A

Oh no.

C

Big Mike says that can't be good. I wish. I wish I could marry Boa Hancock. No, wait. I mean is the mist that covered Esperia's emu's fart again?

A

You are looking to write into the sbs. That's not us.

C

I really do like that we have our very own Sonata.

A

Do you?

C

I do actually. Okay, I do. I've, you know, ebbs and flows. But today I do wispy says. Hey. Oh. App. App. Jesus. Hey, Associated Press. I can't believe Kendel got mogged by some small smog. Oda is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ways to fridge his mother characters and the spirit of the world government wiping out western civilizations. If you had to pick a country in the West Blue to destroy. Which one would it be?

D

Who's left?

A

Yeah, I gotta look at what is even in the west Blue.

C

Where's Capone from?

E

I don't know.

A

I like that idea of if you get to be an evil tyrant who has to destroy one island, which would you want it? So location.

B

Yeah.

D

So from Italian Blue.

A

So we. Jesus Christ. So we have Alicia. That's the one. What the hell is Alyssa? It's. Oh, it's the guy. It's like the. It's. There are some characters that have.

D

Is the wiki feeding you filler arc locations?

A

No, no, because it was. They were in the Reverie and one of the people from it was the guy holding up the dragon picture apparently is from that. He was a former king of that kingdom, Elysia. But they haven't. Not very much.

D

That one I haven't even.

A

They just named one. Oh, get ready. These are the good locations. Ohara God Valley Thriller, Bark Esperia. The who is Byron? Oh, the guy who eats his. The guy who. Who cuts off his tongue. Who bites off his tongue in his. From Taroa in the way. In the west Blue, the lost camp is a sea invaded by pirates a few weeks after Edward Newgate's death. That doesn't help. The 80th branch of the Marines. Kano country. Okay, that's an actual one. Bollywood. Which is where Brigham Lincoln is from. And Soja Island. Esho is originally from. That's where he was before he joined the Marines.

C

Damn. West Blues.

A

And there's also a city. The Feat was expelled from an unnamed island far northeast of o' Hara, from which a departed boat on which Nico Robin was spotted by the.

E

So, Okay, I didn't realize that.

A

We're three hours after Ace's execution. A patriot who met Whitebeard a year prior argued that Whitebeard had not gotten weaker. Great. Good, good, good on that.

D

Shut the up. Wiki writer.

E

Didn't realize that.

A

I apologize.

E

Wiki writer Gecko Moria was confirmed from being from the west Blue. Is that a victory card thing or is that okay? I assume that's how most of these characters like.

A

Probably, yeah, probably these characters. But some of these, like the one from the Sabaody, might have been mentioned because they were like. And this is blah, blah, blah. From the. The west Blue. Blah, blah, blah. That's probably why that came up.

C

It's Ballywood, not Bollywood, right?

E

Yeah.

A

I don't know.

E

Hey, Mother Carmel from West Blue. All the best blue.

A

So which do you want to destroy. I'm going to destroy the marine base.

E

Feel like Ohara's had it coming for a while.

C

Yeah, I think it's. I think it's really. I forgot that Ohara was in the west blue. And as soon as you said Ohara, like that was the first one, I was like. Oh, we've.

A

We just mentioned it.

C

We've really entered 10 minutes ago. Yeah. Cuz you listed them all. It took 10 minutes.

A

No, before that. Okay, go ahead. What's the next one?

C

All right. I mean the last one.

A

Perfect.

C

This is from. This is from Sheepman. Or maybe it's Sheepman. Hey, Sheepman or Sheepman. Let me know which one is it? How do you open?

A

Go ahead.

C

Howdy, Opp. With Brooke being the straw hat in focus with the recent chapters, I wanted to ask if when any of y' all do a reread of the series, do you play the applicable music to the scene? Applicable music to the scene.

F

Applicable.

C

Oh, my God.

A

Either way. Either way, it's fine.

C

This is like exacerbation here.

A

Exas. You don't want to be exacerbating.

E

No, that's.

A

That was what Steve did last week.

C

Steve did this last week when he was exacerbated. Oh, yeah.

A

Delaney would never let him live that down and will continue to not live

E

him for the world to hear.

A

Yeah, it was really exacerbating.

C

And this is like. This is also like Steve trying to. Trying to pronounce Crabominable inside baseball.

A

Embarrassing.

E

I am going to keep receipts.

F

So.

A

Yeah, that's why I'm not saying.

C

Anyway, play the applicable music to the scene. Thank you, Marianne. Like bink sake when Thriller Bark rolls around. Or smaller example, when Luffy uses Conqueror's hockey during Fishman island and overtaken his plate. I didn't know that. For me, at least, reading music lyrics doesn't hit the same when you can actually listen to it. Which is a primary aspect as to why anime is such a great companion piece to any series. I'm just gonna straight up say I don't listen to music while I read. Read.

A

I used to work. I used to. Yeah.

E

I mean, would you have to like. Oh, no, wait, no. They played Overtaken in the anime here, so I gotta get that queued up. And you know, like on the old albums, it's usually like two songs combined into one track.

A

True, true. That is really annoying when that happens.

E

I would do that if I was doing nothing. If I was sitting at home and doing nothing else and reading. But I tend to Maybe, like, at this point, rereading the series, which I'm starting to. Let's see how well that goes. Kind of just whenever I have a free moment just to, like, you know, get like, a chapter in or something.

C

Yeah, Rereading is definitely, for me, a, like, whenever you can type thing, especially if you've already. Yeah. If you've already read through it. And I mean, honestly, like, I read Akana Banashi on the train like a proper Japanese salaryman, so.

E

So you stand up, you know, holding

A

on to a handle in a suit, but, like, the tie is a little loosened with one button.

E

Being quiet.

A

Yes.

E

Keeping chatter to a minimum.

C

Yeah. But I mean, like, I don't know, I feel like. I feel like maybe at some point in my life, I probably would have done that, but I.

A

Yes.

C

There's one thing in this world that we all desperately need and we all don't have. And that's time.

A

I will say to this to sheepmen in particular, enjoy.

C

I respect the Hustle.

A

Honestly, I. I think you. Absolutely. And anyone else listening, if you have the time and energy, you should. I used to read Chapters while listening to Tanaka, but I. Obviously, you know, we're in Lowe's parking lot and Costco line land here, so we don't really get to do that as much. And it's a shame. Like, I wish. I'm sure there will be a time in the future I will be able to do that again. The question is, will that time come before One Piece ends? Yes. Because One Piece isn't going to end for 70 years. That's the last question, Alex.

C

That's the last. This piece.

A

That's for sure, the One Piece manga will never end. We've talked about that. And we made that joke. Let's round. Yes.

C

Speaking of, I was talking to my dad today, and he was like, you're still doing the podcast.

A

Yeah, people. That's actually how people asked me about it.

C

And then he asked me again what the name of. And then he asked me again what the name of the podcast was. I've told him so many times.

A

And you told him, wtf with Marc Maron.

C

I did.

A

And you said, no, I stopped Recently.

C

We ended. We ended pretty recently.

A

We had Barack Obama on. You don't remember that happening? Anyway, that'll do it for the One Piece podcast for the Piece Together segment. Let's round off the One Piece podcast. There we go. I remember the name now. Okay. Okay. This has been episode 923 of the One Piece podcast for June 15th. Thank you all for coming on the show this week. I don't think we have anything specific planned for next week. So we'll let you all know what's happening as it gets closer to the date. Marianne, where can people find you?

F

I am on the hellscape known as Twitter and Blue sky and Instagram as Marianne D. Hobbit. Yep. I'm also next weekend if you are in or near San Antonio, Texas. I will be at a signing event on Saturday and Sunday at the Rolling Oaks Mall. They're doing like a one piece sort of event. I think it's just, it's just a fun like, like food, Japanese food festival thing. But they're, they're theming it one piece for the summer. So I'll be there. And I was looking at the map and it, there's a place right next to it called East Blue Sush and I feel like I am obligated to go there.

A

You are obligated to go there. Steve. Where could people find you?

E

You can find me on my website, steveyerko.com, social media. Steve Yerko Listen to me on Procyd plays Games 4 Kids flashback and that's it.

D

Steven, I'm over on BlueSky, StephenPaul, BSky Social. One Piece is off next week of course, but you can still read Akane Banashi. And I believe there's a new chapter of. It's hard to tell with Kurumizawa Kurumizawa's Folly because it is a slightly less conventional release schedule. But yeah, we're getting through the last couple chapters for that one I think. So you can definitely read those two while you're waiting for more ones piece.

C

Alex, you can find me on Blue sky at dude exclamation bisky. You can also go to patreon.com superart fight to see some superart fight live shows featuring yours truly and a lot of really great talented artists. I'm in no way affiliated with this show but you should also watch the show Widows Bay on Apple or wherever you can can find that show. I've been watching it and it's great. I've. Anybody go watching Widow's Bay?

A

I've never heard of it.

E

No.

A

Because it's on Apple.

E

Because it's on Apple.

C

It's basically like, like what if Jaws but from the perspective of the mayor and the mayor's Matthew Reese.

E

Thought I was gonna say the shark.

D

The shark, yeah.

A

Oh my God, that would be great.

C

No, that would be the movie called Shark Tale featuring Martin Scorsese as Of course, of course.

A

Of course.

E

Hold on. Can I plug a show that I'm actually affiliated with?

C

Do it.

A

No.

D

You had your chance, Steve.

A

No, go ahead, Steve.

C

Is it Rick and Morty?

E

Yeah, Rick and Morty Season 9. It's currently airing. I boarded on a bunch of episodes including last week's episode, Rick Fu Hustle and the one airing tonight. I don't know its name because the episode episode titles are impossible to remember. I saw that by tonight Sunday, so. And I know it's going to be on HBO Max soon. I think in August. I think they're putting season nine up. But if you have cable and you have Adult Swim, watch it.

C

You should definitely watch it. I am so behind on Rick and Morty, but I saw some of the scenes that he boarded and they're really funny.

A

Yeah.

E

Thank you.

C

What a talented person we have on our podcast.

A

I know. Who let this talented person on our podcast?

E

Brian Newton.

C

I'm sorry, hold on. Not just a talented person, but a very hard working person.

A

Yes.

C

It's not just talent. It's also putting in the work.

A

I mean, sometimes.

E

Fellas. Fellas.

F

And putting on the Ritz.

A

And you're exacerbating him. What we're hearing about this. You could fall. Sorry.

E

You know, it's only funny when I say it.

A

Oh, you're right. That's the problem. Please also follow our artist on this week's episode. Kirby @D Kirbyjuesky and elsewhere. Donald kirbyart.com I should be plugging that at the end of every show. You could follow me. ZackLogan.com on Blue Sky. The kind of Banashi anime I think also has been a lot of fun to watch. Along with the manga. I'll say, Stephen, because it's both about the. What's his name? Kate Casey. Is that. I forget. Kaiser. I don't. Yeah, I don't know anyone's name in that show because they're all.

E

I don't even know.

D

They have very distinct designs that you can.

E

They do.

A

I know who everyone is. I just don't know what their names are. Or just like in real life. You could find us@one piece podcast.com or patreon.com One Piece Podcast. New episodes go up on YouTube just a few hours after they do Everywhere else. @YouTube.com One Piece podcast We did a tier. As I mentioned before, we tier ranked all the COVID stories. If you like that kind of thing, please let us know in the comments or wherever. Discord. So I thought it was a lot of fun. I Would totally do that again. I like that kind of off the cuff podcasting.

C

Anyway, that was really fun.

A

We'll do it again. I don't know what we would do it for because we're not doing arcs again because I know Water seven is gonna win.

E

No, no. And speaking of time, none of us have six hours to spare.

A

That's the problem. Yeah, I mean, maybe something we'll have.

E

You know, people have requests. I mean, tears are fun.

A

Yeah.

E

Tears are delicious.

C

Tears for fears. Yeah.

E

Musical references. Save those for another week, please.

A

Yeah, so, yeah, that's something I'd be

E

down to do in the future.

A

So, yeah, it's a good off week thing. Like, I am. Definitely. It's fun too, because you talk about current stuff and old stuff and it makes me want to go back and revisit those things. Especially the COVID stories were a lot of fun because I've forgotten them. So it was fun to revisit. Anyway, we'll be back next week for something, probably. And the following week, 1186. And we'll see if Kandel is alive or evil or both. Maybe we'll see you next week, everyone. Goodbye. My name is Zach.

E

My name is Steve.

C

And my name is Alex. RIP. Gene Shallot. 100 years old.

E

Goodbye.

A

Areno, Maggie.

C

Maji. Rific.

A

Goodbye, everyone.

F

Okay, bye.

A

Ice.

F

Wow.

A

Yeah, I almost forgot. Forgot. Can never forget. Never forget. Alligator. 9 11.

E

King of the Pirates. More like king of the box office.

C

Yeah. Actually, Steve, you came in. In with the second. Yeah. You came in with a great 911 reference when that's exactly what was being talked about before the podcast started.

F

9 11. Yes.

A

Yeah, because I have to go soon,

C

but you should see the link that Marianne put in the.

E

Oh, I can't see it.

A

Okay, I'll say the story again, even though I stopped my recording, so I'm sure Delaney's gonna put not on here. So I guess Delaney, if she wants to add the story, you can. There's a neighbor of mine who also went to the same university as I did, who had a professor who said, and this is the only thing they remember from the class, hey, my husband died on 9 11. And goes on and goes on and tells the story. Yeah, he died on 9 11. He got eaten by an alligator on 9 11, 2001.

C

The woman's name, Mrs. Hook.

A

It is a real. It is real. Because we just. Marianne helped me find the link to this person. And their husband got eated by an alligator on September 11, 2001. And then we made the joke a second alligator has hit the tower.

E

Mr. Delaney, if you want a stand up bit.

D

I said it was the. It was the norm joke about his brother.

E

Yeah, yeah. It feels like a Norm MacDonald joke somehow.

A

Death, but it's real.

F

And we decided that light Yagami caused 911 by saying that. Two alligators.

E

And then I come in and be like, wow, sure feels 911 in here today. Nice 911 weather we're having. I just thought. I don't think Marianne will be aware with this, but I just want you all to know that the Ken o' Connor this slash next March bit has now it's left containment and other people know about it.

C

Oh, good.

E

And it's definitely been referenced at least a couple times on the. Let's play.

C

Oh, my God.

D

Oh, boy.

A

Good. And deserve it.

D

Wow.

A

He deserves it because he's awesome.

E

I think to sum it up, Ken was saying something was coming out out like, oh, like March, Marianne. Let's just say like. Like March 2027 or something like that. And I'm like, oh, next. It's like, oh, this March. He's like, no, no, no, next March. And I'm like, yeah, that's what I said. This March. He's like, no, this March is this year's March. And I'm. And even though this is like the end of the year, and I'm like, yeah, I'm like, once March passes, no one says this march.

C

People say last March speaking.

E

When I say this past March, he's like, well, that's this March. I'm like, no, this past March is different than this march.

D

It's a Laurel Hardy bit. Yes.

E

No one I like because, you know, we're in the month of June. The month of June. No one says much of June.

A

I'm hungry of June.

E

No one says this March referring to three months ago. You would say this past March.

C

Mar on your face.

A

Deserve it. Yeah.

F

I'm also like editing while doing this, cutting out all the, like, just me breathing in the background stuff, because I can.

E

That was just context.

F

Yeah. It's lovely.

A

Thank you. Very lovely. It's very lovely.