Luffy vs. Rob Lucci – Round 2

One Piec Episode 1100 is the first amazing episode of the Egghead Arc. It had the same crazy animation we saw a few times in the latter half of Wano — specifically during Luffy’s fights against Kaido. Anytime the animation looks like this, it’s a great episode.

This time around, though, Luffy isn’t fighting an Emperor of the Sea. Luffy is the Emperor of the Sea in this battle. And, the one challenging him is Rob Lucci of CP-0. So, will this fight go the same way as it did back on Water 7? Or, will Rob Lucci take the win?

I think most of us saw this fight as only going one way. Regardless of how much stronger Rob Lucci has gotten since then, he’s up against Luffy. But, I don’t mean that Luffy will win because he’s the protagonist — he’s lost many times before, like against Kaido.

What makes Luffy such a bad opponent for Rob Lucci is the ceiling of their abilities. Rob Lucci is a normal Zoan-type Devil Fruit user. Luffy is a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user whose ability works more like a Paramecia. There’s an inherent difference between the two.

Also, let’s not forget how Kaku and Stussy were telling Rob Lucci not to fight Luffy. They knew this wasn’t going to end well. Sure, they were worried about going against orders and starting a war. However, I also think they simply couldn’t see Rob Lucci coming out victorious.

The best-case scenario for Rob Lucci is that the fight is a tie. And, even in that scenario, he still started a fight with one of the Emperors of the Sea. But, what was always more likely was that Luffy dominated Rob Lucci. Only the Admirals are on par with Emperors.

Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard, Awakened Form

It turns out that Rob Lucci did have an ace up his sleeve. Luffy’s not the only one who’s awakened his Devil Fruit since they last fought. And, we learned quite a lot about Zoan-type Devil Fruit awakenings thanks to Rob Lucci.

Let’s start with the appearance of Rob Lucci’s awakened form. It doesn’t make much sense, to me. Why does his tail have a black flame on it? Why does he have a black flame hagoromo around his shoulders? Luffy’s hagoromo makes sense since Nika is a god. Rob Lucci’s doesn’t.

But, the answer may lie in something Dr. Vegapunk says after seeing Rob Lucci’s awakened form. He’s surprised that Rob Lucci hasn’t gone berserk. Think back to the jailer beasts of Impel Down or Chopper’s Monster Point transformation. Those are also awakened Zoan-type forms, as far as we know.

Sure, Chopper can now control himself, for the most part, while in Monster Point. But, he still hasn’t mastered using it. So, it looks like the difference between Rob Lucci’s awakening and that of other awakened Zoan-type users is his mastery over it. And, that’s something he and Luffy may have in common.

It’s possible that any awakened Zoan-type user who’s mastered their awakening would get a hagoromo like these two have. At this point, we simply don’t have enough information to confirm or deny that. Luffy and Rob Lucci are the only awakened Zoan-type users we know of who look like this.

However, if the hagoromo is the sign that a Zoan-type user has mastered their awakening, what about Kaido? Kaido didn’t have one. And, there was never any mention of Kaido’s Devil Fruit being awakened. But, are we seriously assuming Kaido never awakened his Devil Fruit?

Vegapunk’s Devil Fruit Theory

As cool as the fight between Luffy and Rob Lucci was, I wouldn’t even call that the highlight of the episode. The highlight was Dr. Vegapunk revealing his theory about the origins of Devil Fruit.

Where the Devil Fruit come from and why they exist, in the first place, has been a huge mystery for the entire series. We still don’t have a hard confirmation. But, this is Dr. Vegapunk we’re talking about. If he has a theory, there seems to be a pretty good chance that it’s correct.

So, where does Dr. Vegapunk think Devil Fruit come from? He believes that the desires of humans cause them to pop up into existence. Every Devil Fruit represents something that someone on the planet has desired. For example, Rob Lucci’s Devil Fruit came from the desire to be a leopard.

That doesn’t mean that the users of each fruit had those desires, though. Rob Lucci himself may never have desired to be a leopard. He just happened to eat the fruit that manifested in response to that desire existing.

This is a very interesting theory for a few reasons.

First, Vegapunk mentions how a Devil Fruit will continue to exist as long as someone desires it. So, if it stops being desirable, it won’t respawn. Does this mean Luffy will be the last Nika-Nika Fruit user? If he frees the entire world, there won’t necessarily be a need for that Devil Fruit to come back.

On the other hand, this also means that new Devil Fruit can pop up at any point. If a new desire arises, it can spawn an entirely new Devil Fruit. Vegapunk says the Gum-Gum Fruit doesn’t exist in the old encyclopedias. But, that doesn’t mean won’t ever exist.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1100? Do you think Rob Lucci actually had a decent matchup against Luffy? How do you feel about the appearance of Rob Lucci’s awakened form? And, do you like Dr. Vegapunk’s theory about where Devil Fruit come from?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

Release the Seraphim!

It didn’t feel like much happened in One Piece Episode 1099. CP0 landed on Egghead Island and Rob Lucci defeated Atlas in one hit. That’s it. We didn’t even get much in terms of lore, which would have made the episode feel more full.

For example, the Vegapunks released the Seraphim to fight CP0. And yet, we didn’t learn which additional Warlords the Seraphim are based on. We only got to see the Seraphim we already knew about — S-Hawk, S-Snake, S-Shark, and S-Bear. There should still be three more.

Now, as I’ve gone over in previous reviews, we can guess who the remaining Seraphim are. For example, since they all have animal names, Crocodile is definitely going to be one. But, what about the other two? As I see it, there are three potential warlords who could fill those slots.

Anyway, despite the Seraphim being “released,” we didn’t get to see them in action, this week. I don’t watch the next episode previews for One Piece, so I don’t know if they were shown in that. But, I have to assume that they’re going to fight CP0 in Episode 1100.

Something I’m a little confused by, though, is when Zoro is going to fight S-Hawk (shown in the OP). From what we saw in this episode, S-Hawk is under Vegapunk’s control. And, since Vegapunk is allying with the Straw Hats, there shouldn’t be any reason for Zoro and S-Hawk to fight.

Of course, it may be that Zoro requests to fight S-Hawk. After all, S-Hawk is the Mihawk Seraphim. Zoro wants to defeat Mihawk in a duel, so fighting S-Hawk could be good practice. However, the OP may have been hinting that CP0 will gain control of all the Seraphim.

Egghead Island’s Frontier Dome

I said there wasn’t really any lore in this episode. But, that’s not entirely accurate. We got a little bit of lore about Egghead Island (and Stussy of CP0). It turns out that Stussy is very familiar with Egghead.

Did Stussy grow up on the island — potentially alongside Bonney? That’s definitely one possibility. And, to be honest, I’m predicting that’s the case. She may also be familiar with Egghead because she’s been there before for another reason. In either case, we should get to learn a bit about Stussy’s backstory in this arc.

What we should keep in mind, for now, though, is that she’s very familiar with Egghead. She knew the giant dragon monster was a hologram. She knew who Atlas was. And, she even knew about the Frontier Dome that protects Punk Records from attack.

So, let’s talk about the Frontier Dome. Punk Records sits on the clouds that are above Egghead Island. Those clouds have two yellow lines around them which serve as the boundary of the Frontier Dome. Anything that goes beyond those lines gets shot down by lasers. It’s a laser defense system.

Of course, it makes sense for Punk Records to have a defense system like this. That’s where Vegapunk’s brain is located. If anything happened to that, it would be a major disaster for Vegapunk. Also, remember that Vegapunk wants to share his brain with the rest of the world. So, its destruction would be bad for everyone tapped into it.

However, is the Frontier Dome enough? Based on what we’ve seen of it, I’m going to go with “No.” Sure, it stopped Kaku. And, in Stussy’s example, it stops missiles. But, could it stop a powerful devil fruit user like Blackbeard? I doubt it.

Allies of the Four Emperors

The most interesting part of Episode 1099, to me, was when Stussy warned Rob Lucci not to fight Luffy. She said that since Luffy is now a member of the Four Emperors, they shouldn’t fight him. Not because he’s too strong, though.

Stussy’s reasoning is that the Emperors tend to have a lot of allies. If CP0 (the World Government) starts a fight with one of the Emperors, it could lead to an all-out war. This is why the World Government generally leaves the domains of the Emperors alone.

Could the World Government have taken out Big Mom or Kaido? I’d say so. But, by attacking one of them, they would have opened themselves up to attack. If they attacked Big Mom, they’d have to fight all of her allies. That would leave them open to attack by someone else, like Kaido.

Luffy is now in a similar situation as Big Mom and Kaido were. Shanks and Blackbeard are a bit different. But, Luffy has a lot of allies around the world. As far as nations go, he’s allied with Alabasta, Amazon Lily, Fishman Island, Dressrosa, Zou, and Wano. He also has the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. And, he’s friends with Shanks, another Emperor.

When you consider all those allies, what Stussy said makes a lot of sense. Luffy has powerful allies among pirates, World Government member countries, and rogue countries. If they came to his aid in a war, that would be disastrous.

However, I highly doubt Rob Lucci fighting Luffy here would lead to that outcome. Luffy’s not the same kind of Emperor as Big Mom and Kaido. He’s far more like Shanks — someone who’s willing to overlook slights against himself. Luffy wouldn’t start a war over a fight.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1099? Were you disappointed by how little happened in this episode? Which devil fruit users do you think the Frontier Dome would be useless against? And, do you think the World Government has to worry about starting a war with Luffy and his allies over a fight?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And, I’d like to thank Pepe and Rob for supporting at the Kouhai tier. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1100 is available now.

Attack on Marijoa 200 Years Ago

One Piece Episode 1098 reveals a new piece of One Piece world lore. We already knew that the void century took place 900 years ago. And, although I forgot, we knew that the Fishmen joined the World Government 200 years ago.

What we didn’t know is that there was an attack on Marijoa 200 years ago, as well. This attack was perpetrated by the ancient robot Luffy found on Egghead. So, at some point, this robot managed to scale the Red Line. But, luckily for Marijoa, it ran out of power before being able to do much damage.

The big question left over from the attack is, “Who was responsible for it?” According to Dr. Vegapunk, the ancient robot was built 900 years ago during the void century. Was it programmed to attack after 700 years? Or, did something else trigger the attack?

As far as we know, there wasn’t anyone piloting the robot. So, either it was following a program or it had a will of its own. The robot having a will of its own seems unlikely, so that leaves a program as the likely answer.

However, if it was a program, it was a pretty specific one. I doubt the robot took 700 years to reach Marijoa. And, it would also be weird if the 700-year gap between its creation and attack were intentional. That only leaves one other answer that makes sense right now: The Fishmen triggered it.

Now, I’m not saying that the Fishmen had a direct involvement in the attack. What I’m saying is that the attack intentionally happened when the Fishmen joined the World Government. My guess is that this action was supposed to trigger the fall of Marijoa, but it happened too late.

The Bear Escapes

In the middle of Episode 1098, we got a random scene of Kuma running away from the Revolutionary Army. The Revolutionaries brought the original Kuma back to the Kamabakka Kingdom. And, they were somehow treating him there. Though, I don’t know what it is they hoped to accomplish.

As far as I know, the Revolutionaries don’t have the technology to turn Kuma back into a human. He’s a cyborg forever now. They even stated that his personality isn’t going to come back. But, that might not actually be true.

Around this same time in the episode, we saw Cipher Pol 0 showing up at Egghead. They mentioned how they had previously been after Bonney for some reason. However, they don’t need her anymore, so she can be eliminated.

It looks like this is why Kuma suddenly sprung into action.

I don’t know how he would have known that Bonney was in trouble. But, it looks like he figured it out and went off to save her. We don’t know exactly where he sent himself with his ability. Though, I’m pretty confident in saying that he’ll show up on Egghead Island soon.

Anyway, why was Cipher Pol 0 after Bonney, in the first place? Is it because she’s a member of the Worst Generation of pirates? Maybe. Is it because she somehow escaped after the Marines captured her? Also maybe. Or, was there a different reason? You know, like her connection to Kuma and Dr. Vegapunk.

I’m assuming that the World Government got some information about Dr. Vegapunk from Bonney. That’s likely why they were interested in her. And, now that they have that information, they need to silence her. Luckily for them, she and Dr. Vegapunk are both in the same place.

Vegapunk Discovers Nuclear Energy

A man with as much genius as Dr. Vegapunk isn’t limited to having only one goal. Sharing his knowledge with the world is one of his goals, for sure. However, in Episode 1098, he also mentions that another of his goals is to provide the world with energy.

During the void century, there was an energy source far beyond what the world has today. It’s what powered the ancient robot that attacked Marijoa. But, that power source was lost. That’s why Dr. Vegapunk can’t get the ancient robot working again.

With that said, Dr. Vegapunk believes that he’s close to rediscovering this power source. His experiments and research have brought him closer and closer to it. And, this is another reason why the World Government needs to eliminate him. Just imagine how the world would change if he discovered an infinite power source.

Right now, travel around the world is primarily restricted to sailing ships. There are some other means of transportation. As a whole, though, there’s nothing that’s very fast. Airplanes don’t exist. If Dr. Vegapunk rediscovers this infinite power source, that could change.

Why is this bad for the World Government? If people could travel around the world at high speed, it would make it harder to control them. News, ideas, and culture would all spread faster than the World Government could stop.

So, what exactly is this theoretical power source? According to Dr. Vegapunk, it’s energy that exists everywhere on the planet.

That sounds a lot like nuclear energy. In our world, nuclear power plants are the pinnacle of energy production. They produce cheap, clean energy and are way more efficient than anything else. Also, nuclear power is directly related to the rise of the super robot genre in Japan.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1098? Do you think the ancient robot’s attack on Marijoa is somehow connected to the ascension of the Fishmen? Do you think Kuma can regain his personality? And, how else would Dr. Vegapunk’s theoretical infinite power source ruin the World Government’s day?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1099 is available now.

The Will of Ohara!

One Piece Episode 1097 confirmed something I predicted about Dr. Vegapunk last week. In my review of Episode 1096, I said that I got the feeling that the main thing Vegapunk cared about was knowledge. He’ll side with whoever allows him to continue his quest for knowledge.

I said this in regards to whether or not Vegapunk would assist the Straw Hats. The World Government funds all of Vegapunks research and inventions. So, from his perspective, why would he help the Straw Hats destroy that? It wouldn’t make much sense for someone as logical as Vegapunk.

Now, I do think that Vegapunk will help the Straw Hats to an extent. But, we also now have direct evidence that Vegapunk thought the way I predicted in the past. Apparently, he turned down joining Dragon and instead joined the World Government. Why? Because they funded his research.

Until this point, the reason Vegapunk was affiliated with the World Government was unclear. Did he work for them of his own free will? Or, was he threatened or otherwise coerced into working for them? For a long time, I assumed Vegapunk was essentially a hostage of the World Government.

But, it seems that’s not the case. Vegapunk knew what he was doing when he agreed to work for the World Government. And, he even attempts to justify his choice when talking to Dragon. He points out that the World Government isn’t the enemy. The World Nobles are.

Just because Vegapunk works for the World Government doesn’t mean he opposes Dragon. And, in the same way, it doesn’t mean he opposes the Straw Hats. The World Government can continue to exist and benefit the people of the world after the fall of the nobles. It’s not an inherently evil organization.

Vegapunk’s Brain-Brain Fruit

For some reason, I never considered the fact that Vegapunk would have a devil fruit ability. We’ve been hearing his name for hundreds of episodes by now. And, there’s been plenty of time to theorize about him. But, this is something I never thought about.

I assumed that he was a very smart guy who was interested in devil fruits but hadn’t eaten one. Why wouldn’t he have eaten one? I don’t know. I don’t have a good answer to that question. It’s just what I thought. However, in Episode 1097, we learn that he does have a fruit.

Vegapunk ate the Brain-Brain Fruit, which causes his brain to continuously grow. As he learns new information, his brain gets larger to store it. That’s why he had such a giant head in the past. But, today, his brain is too large to store within his head.

Instead, his brain can be found within the Punk Records building of Egghead Island. And, Vegapunk and the Satellites communicate with this central brain wirelessly. That’s why they all refer to themselves as Dr. Vegapunk. They’re “clones” who share the same brain. They all are Dr. Vegapunk.

Something I’m curious about, though, is when Vegapunk ate the Brain-Brain Fruit. Was he already a successful scientist when he ate it? Was he already interested in uncovering the secrets of the devil fruit? Or, was eating the Brain-Brain Fruit what sent him down this path? That would be interesting to find out.

It’s also surprising that the World Government hasn’t blacklisted this devil fruit. They tried to do that to the Human-Human Fruit Model: Nika by renaming it the Gum-Gum Fruit. But, why not the Brain-Brain Fruit? As they say, knowledge is power — this is a powerful devil fruit.

The Inherited Research

Alright, so how exactly is the Brain-Brain Fruit powerful? And, why would the World Government need to blacklist it? Think of it this way: What’s the World Government (World Nobles and Im) most afraid of? They’re afraid of the citizens of the world gaining knowledge.

They don’t want people to know anything about the void century. That’s why Ohara had to be destroyed. And, that’s why Im obliterated Lulusia — he couldn’t let Sabo reveal the truth. If the people of the world learned the truth, they might try to rise up.

The Brain-Brain Fruit grants the power to gain an extraordinary amount of knowledge. Dr. Vegapunk knows more about the world than anyone else. Well, except for maybe Im. And, that makes him a threat to Im’s rule. Why do you think Cipher Pol says they’re going to assassinate Vegapunk at the end of this episode?

But, if Vegapunk was the only person with all of his knowledge, that wouldn’t be that bad. Up until now, the World Government has been able to use him and his brain. His existence has been a net positive for the ruling class.

Unfortunately for them, the direction Vegapunk is going in isn’t a positive one for them. His ultimate goal is to make it so everyone in the world can connect to Punk Records. That would mean that everyone in the world would know what he knows. And, the World Government can’t have that.

This is why I’m surprised that the World Government has allowed this fruit to exist for so long. Sure, the Nika Fruit inspires people and ignites their desire for freedom. But, the Brain-Brain Fruit gives people the power to question the state of the world. That’s equally as dangerous to a dictator.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1097? Were you surprised to see that Saul is still alive? Which do you think came first, Vegapunk’s genius or him eating the Brain-Brain Fruit? And, do you think everyone being able to connect to Vegapunk’s brain is a good idea?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1098 is available now.

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?

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/Support.

My review of Episode 1097 is available now.