One Piece Episode 1096 Review

A Forbidden Piece of History

In One Piece Episode 1096, Shaka reveals that he knows about the ancient kingdom. Not only does he know that it existed. But, he knows that the 20 kingdoms that make up the World Government destroyed it. And, he knows that the World Government still fears its ideology to this day.

That’s all kind of a big deal considering who Shaka (Vegapunk) is. Yes, he works for the World Government. However, that doesn’t mean he’s supposed to know that information. If the higher-ups of the World Government found out, he’d have to be killed.

Shaka also knows that this is why the World Government destroyed Ohara with a buster call. Most of the world thinks the archaeologists of Ohara were plotting something sinister. So, the fact that Shaka knows the truth about Ohara is also important. That knowledge is just as dangerous as knowledge of the ancient kingdom.

Considering how dangerous this knowledge is, the Straw Hats weren’t exactly thrilled that Shaka told them. Well, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, and Franky weren’t. The only ones present when Shaka revealed all of this were those four and Robin. But, Robin already knew this — that’s why she’s been a wanted criminal for decades.

Why are the Straw Hats worried about having this knowledge? It’s because knowledge of the void century is an information hazard. It’s dangerous to the World Government because it may lead to uprisings. And, it’s dangerous to the average person because it puts a target on their back.

That second part is what’s most important here. When Shaka told the Straw Hats about the past, they didn’t yet know if he was friend or foe. For all they knew, he was going to have to kill them now that he told them about it.

Ancient Kingdom Recap

A lot of this episode was recap. Basically, everything that had to do with the ancient kingdom and Ohara was recap. The only part of all of that that wasn’t recap was when we learned that Vegapunk visited Ohara. After the buster call, he went there and found the surviving books.

It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure that even the fact that the archeologists saved the books isn’t new. I remember them throwing the books into the water to save them from the fire. But, it’s possible that my memory is wrong and this is the first we’re hearing of it.

This is why I’m not actually mad that a large part of this episode was recap. I think we learned all this stuff about Ohara and the ancient kingdom back in Enies Lobby. I watched the Enies Lobby arc six years ago. But, if you watched it when it aired, that was 18 years ago.

Considering I’ve only been watching One Piece since 2018, I often forget how long ago some of these arcs were. If you’ve been watching One Piece weekly all this time, I can totally see how this recap would be helpful.

Based on everything we’ve seen in this arc, so far, it looks like the ancient kingdom is going to be important. This feels like the arc in which we’re going to learn a lot more about it. So, it only makes sense to remind everyone what we already know.

And, I want to say that if this is the arc we learn about the ancient kingdom in, that’s pretty cool. It’s cool that we’ll be learning about the ancient past in an arc that takes place on a future island. These details are why One Piece is so good.

The Real Dr. Vegapunk

I wasn’t sure if we’d get to meet the “real” Dr. Vegapunk in the present timeline. I figured he might only show up in flashbacks from before he split his mind into six. But, that turned out to be wrong. He still exists.

What do the Vegapunks mean for Dr. Vegapunk, though? Is his body connected to theirs? When York eats, does it fill him up just as it does for the other Vegapunks? Is he neither good nor evil because Shaka and Lilith have taken those roles from him? I need to know.

What we do know is that Dr. Vegapunk appears to be working on a teleportation device. He accidentally teleported himself halfway into the robot Luffy and Chopper were looking at. And, that would have ended badly for him if Luffy wasn’t there. Though, I assume he only teleported there because Luffy was there.

But, what does Vegapunk want with Luffy? He knew Luffy was on the island and it looks like he wanted to meet him. Why? Could it be the simple fact that Luffy is Dragon’s son? Or, is there more to it? Does he know that Luffy awoke the Nika-Nika Fruit?

It’ll be pretty interesting if Vegapunk wants to help Luffy fight back against the World Government. I can see Shaka wanting this. But, I don’t get the feeling that the other Vegapunks care. And, that includes the original Dr. Vegapunk himself.

From the little we’ve seen of Dr. Vegapunk, I get the feeling that all he cares about are knowledge and inventions. Sure, the World Government wants to keep certain knowledge from him. But, that doesn’t seem to have stopped him yet. And, they’re bankrolling his inventions, so that’s a positive for him.

He could go either way.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1096? Did you expect Sanji and Franky to be scared of learning the forbidden history? I expected it from Usopp and Nami, but not those two. And, how did you feel about the amount of recap in this episode? Was it helpful?

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My review of Episode 1097 is available now.