#chapter 1090

[brave-symphonia]

I like that Vegapunk seems a bit impressed with Franky's designs.

[brave-symphonia]

Honestly so excited to finally get to the Elbaf arc. I mean, I'm thoroughly enjoying this arc, but I'm really excited for Elbaf.

[brave-symphonia]

Nice to get a reminder that the Five Elders are horrible.

Referring to the lives of the people under the Navy's command as insects that will just breed and replenish themselves is just, absolutely horrible.

Like, the Celestiel Dragons have already shown they don't view the rest of the people on the planet as the same species as them.

But this feels like a more focused kind of that thought. Like, it feels even more malicious, which I'm surprised could be done with how despicable they are.

[brave-symphonia]

Honestly, more of a negotiation than I expected from Luffy.

[algumaideia]

They were figuring things out but pigeon guy hates them so

[ediesgraveyard]

kuro being based.

[curlybrow-kun]

Luffy is so territorial over Sanji. a bit fruity if you ask me

[basedkikuenjoyer]

(Egg)Shell Game

We've had breakfast, everyone's all rise and shiney, who's ready for a lil Chapter 1090? Hope you are because this was a great followup to 1089 finally getting us back to Egghead in pitch-perfect fashion which here means the perfect fashion for my lil pitch. This followup? Even better. We gloss over the night in the lab for the intrigue then Uno Reverse that shit by popping the bubble and showing it's a mixed bag. But this bit here is what has me downright giddy. Simply put...we could have chosen any detail to cut off in this fashion. Robin's right 100%, but put a pin in that. She specifically cuts off Luffy talking about who is all assembled up there. And if you want to write this off as coincidence...

We do it twice, this time more meta. I just think, given my whole oeuvre, this is the type of weird lil trickery I want to see. That said there's a lot to this chapter so lemme finish the thought on Robin. This is a fantastic demonstration of what I mean when I say personality wise Robin & Kiku are very different. Robin is the cool head here, but because she isn't exactly a specialist at this kind of thing she's missing the chance to execute Luffy's legitimately good mindset here better. Get what I'm saying? All New World we've had beats like this, I don't feel it's a stretch at all to say Luffy is thinking of the ability to solve this through theatrics at least partially because Bakura Town impressed him. We'll have to touch on this being another great "bookend" chapter for Luffy too. But let's get to the meaty middle first.

I like this beat. First, gotta note this is a banger Nami chapter. Love seeing mah girl prime just wail on York. Beat the shit out of her. I love her being a savage little shit. It's just like the best parts of having Caesar around, I adore how everytime he comes up Nami cannot let it go without wishing he'd die. Also, Future Kick! from a little while ago is a modern classic. Getting distracted by my sweet tangerine of Cocoyashi.

The log, this moment carries a lot of symbolic weight and it's something we've had a lot to say about. Think about it in contrast with Jaya, where we had a time limit before it would reset and we'd miss our real adventure. A lateral move. Not to say we haven't broken from the Log Pose plenty, just that while Elbaf is an attractive idea tempering it with something so foundational to the series really feels like it could be a way of saying we're not done here. Consider that plus how this chapter ends, but I'd also note there is that subtle but very Kiku-like story structure in casually making a plan now. Oh...y'all just got things relatively under control in 1089. You haven't even fully dealt with York.

Before that though, something else feels like it has begun in earnest.

Think about a shell game, this is the part where the dealer starts shuffling faster. Teasing you with Lilith's excitement, Bonney admiring Sanji, Stussy's intrigue with Lucci, Vivi on Morgans's ship. These are all things that we can see in fandom reactions, it's the type of thing that raises questions. None of it's really substantial, it feels like a scattershot more than anything. Quantity over quality. None of this is selling me on the idea we've had our fun and we're scooting off to Elbaf in a handful of chapters. But I don't feel we're taking a lot longer here either. It's very interesting the other shoe drops as we approach the ship with a small group:

Did Luffy pull a Kin'emon? As in, did his blunder incidentally bait Kizaru into the dome alone because he's misjudging the bluster? This can be very interesting from here. It's really just putting us right at where I mentioned as we pulled away. Kizaru leapt in alone, especially with the Sea Beasts in front...the Grand Fleet would tear through this Marine Fleet like paper. Gold star friend of the blog and lifetime Admiral's club member Fallensnowfan actually laid this out bizarrely well before reading this chapter. What's really cool is how Egghead has shaped up to be a sci-fi encore of Wano.

You're 100% right about that. We had a meandering time early meeting this famous faction and some other stuff on the side that relied on similar themes. Broke away for a big segment away from the main cast and had the nighttime battle up in a cordoned off space where no one really knows what went down. Playing with that idea explicitly. And now a smaller group is broken off to clash with an admiral. Bookends, just like the last Admiral bookended a big theme of Wano centered squarely on our girl.