The Lulusia Kingdom Never Existed

One Piece Episode 1089 was an amazing episode. Everything about it was great. The art and animation were great. The direction was great. And, the content was epic. So, let’s get right into the big talking point: Im’s power.

In my Episode 1088 review, I was wondering whether or not Sabo saw Im. We now know he did. And, to prevent him from revealing Im’s existence to the world, the entire island he was on got obliterated. Not by Marine warships, but by what appeared to be Im’s power.

Now, to be fair, we don’t know if this was Im’s doing. It was heavily implied, though. We also don’t know what exactly this power is. Is it Im’s devil fruit ability? Or, is this one of the ancient weapons? If it’s an ancient weapon, that would mean it’s Uranus — we already know where Poseidon and Pluton are.

My prediction is that this is Uranus, not Im’s devil fruit ability. It’s been long theorized that Uranus would be a sky-based weapon. And, if this is a devil fruit ability, I have no idea what devil fruit it would be.

But, regardless of what this power is, we can be pretty sure Im’s held it for a very long time. Remember that little thing called the Void Century that took place between 800 and 900 years ago? Remember how it ended with the destruction (and disappearance) of the ancient kingdom?

Well, it looks like we now know what happened to the ancient kingdom. After its destruction, the World Government (and likely Im) came to power. So, it seems pretty clear that Im used this same island-destroying power 800 years ago. Forget everything Morgans is writing about, this is big news.

Entering a New Chapter

You might have noticed that the second part of Episode 1089’s title was “Luffy and Sabo’s Paths!” But, that’s kind of a weird title for the episode if Sabo’s path just came to an end, right? That’s why I’m pretty sure Sabo survived the destruction of the Lulusia Kingdom.

How could he have done this, though? It’s not quite as hard as you’d think. After all, Sabo has a logia devil fruit. That means the lasers that rained down from the sky shouldn’t be able to hurt him — unless they’re haki lasers.

The only thing he has to worry about is ending up in the ocean now that the island no longer exists. But, I have faith that he’ll figure out some way to escape a watery grave. Oh, and speaking of the island disappearing, did you notice the giant hole that was left behind?

It looks a lot like the hole below Enies Lobby. Is that where the ancient kingdom was once located?

Anyway, enough about Sabo’s path. What about Luffy’s? We know that this is the Egghead arc. And, we know the Straw Hats are going to make their way to Egghead Island. But, at this point, they don’t really have a destination.

It’s not like, after Wano, they knew they were going to Egghead Island next. If you recall, Luffy, Law, and Kid all chose different directions and went their separate ways. And, on top of that, nobody knows where the final Road Poneglyph is.

For the first time in a long time, the Straw Hats don’t have a clear destination. Ever since Punk Hazard, their path has been set. From Punk Hazard to Dressrosa to Zou to Whole Cake Island and finally to Wano. Now, they’re back to exploring.

The Girl in the Water

Despite being in a cold, snowy climate, the Straw Hats came across a hot, floating bubble of water in the ocean. Then, they noticed that there was someone within this bubble. Am I the only one who thought they were about to pick up Sabo?

Well, my Sabo theory didn’t last long. It turns out the person in the water was Jewelry Bonney, a member of the Worst Generation. She’s one of only two pirates from this generation who hasn’t gotten much screen time. So, I guess Egghead is the arc in which she’ll get to shine.

Law spent a lot of time with the Straw Hats. Blackbeard is one of the main antagonists of the series. Bege was at Whole Cake Island. And, Kid, Hawkins, Apoo, and Drake were all at Wano. Other than Bonney, Urouge is the only Worst Generation pirate we haven’t seen much of.

Do you think Urouge is going to make an appearance in this arc, as well? From what I remember, the last time we saw him was before Apoo sold Kid and Hawkins out to Kaido. Kaido jumped off a sky island at that point, and I think we saw Urouge sitting up there watching.

I’m going to guess that Urouge isn’t going to be in this arc. Maybe he’ll be in the next arc (Elbaf?). But, I’m also going to guess that Bonney’s going to play a major role here. She’s going to be like Law in Dressrosa, Bege in Whole Cake Island, and Kid in Wano.

I’m looking forward to learning more about her. We know her devil fruit lets her change the age of herself and others. We also know she likes to eat a lot. However, I don’t think we know much else about her.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1089? Do you think the power Im used to destroy the Lulusia Kingdom was Uranus or a devil fruit ability? How do you think Sabo is going to have escaped from the destruction? And, what do you want to learn about Jewelry Bonney in this arc?

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 benefits of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1090 is available now.

Rayleigh to the Rescue

One Piece 1088 is the final episode grouped within the Wano arc (on Crunchyroll). But, the content of this episode, and the previous two episodes, falls under the Egghead arc. Why is that the case? Because it has more to do with Egghead than Wano.

Also, before I get into this episode, I want to say that I’m not as close to being caught up as I thought. There are (currently) five more episodes out. But, considering I’m doing two One Piece episode reviews per week right now, I should catch up soon.

Alright, now, there were two big surprises at the start of Episode 1088. The first is that Silvers Rayleigh rescued Boa Hancock. He arrived just in time and negotiated the withdrawal of both Blackbeard and the Marines. And, that was a shock considering this is Blackbeard we’re talking about.

Now, I know Blackbeard is a smart pirate. He’s a schemer, which is how he’s gotten this far. But, I wasn’t expecting him to fall for Rayleigh’s bluff like that. Sure, this is Silvers Rayleigh we’re talking about. But, Rayleigh himself even admitted he’s not strong enough to beat Blackbeard.

I guess Blackbeard’s thought was that it wouldn’t simply be him versus Rayleigh. He’d also have to fight Boa Hancock (and probably Koby) at the same time. However, I still think he would have had the upper hand in that battle. After all, he has both the Dark Dark and Tremor Tremor Fruits.

The second big surprise was that we finally learned what pirate crew Shakuyaku was part of. We knew she had been a pirate in the past. But, we now know she was the captain of the Kuja Pirates. Shakuyaku was the Empress of Amazon Lily two generations before Boa Hancock.

Sabo and Cobra

The Reverie happened quite a while ago in the anime. But, what we have to keep in mind is that it was actually happening at the same time as the events of Wano. So, news from the Reverie is only now getting out to the rest of the world.

The big news (as Morgans would say) is that Sabo killed Cobra. As we know, Sabo is a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Army as well as Luffy’s sworn brother. And, Cobra Nefertari is the King of Alabasta and Vivi’s father.

So, the question on everyone’s mind is, did Sabo actually kill Cobra? It seems unlikely for a variety of reasons. First of all, Sabo’s dream is to create a world in which everyone can be free. He’s not someone who’s going to kill others unless absolutely necessary.

Second, Cobra isn’t an enemy of the Revolutionary Army. Sure, he’s one of the rulers who make up the World Government. But, that’s not who the Revolutionary Army is fighting against. They’re fighting against the Celestial Dragons who oppress the people of the world. It’s the Celestial Dragons, the Five Elder Stars, and Im who are the tyrants.

Though speaking of Im, I’m not sure if the Revolutionary Army knows about him. I mean, we barely know about him. And, I don’t remember if Sabo ran into him during Reverie since that was so long ago. He might have. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Anyway, why did this news come out about Sabo and Cobra? Well, Im or the Five Elder Stars likely had Cobra killed. Then, since Sabo infiltrated the Reverie, they used him as a scapegoat. As for Vivi’s disappearance, we also know that Im’s interested in her for some reason.

Luffy’s Dream

At the end of the episode, Luffy reveals his dream to the rest of the Straw Hat crew. And no, I don’t mean his dream of becoming King of the Pirates. Everyone knows that one. I mean his other dream that’s even more important.

Becoming King of the Pirates is something Luffy wants to achieve, of course. But, one of the main reasons he wants to achieve that is so that he can fulfill his true dream. And, from what I remember, it’s implied that this is the same dream Roger once had.

However, we still don’t know what this dream is. I really thought we were finally going to learn it considering the title of the episode. But, no. We’re not important enough. Luffy has only ever told 12 people — the 9 other Straw Hat crew members, Ace, Sabo, and Shanks.

With that said, it’s not as if Luffy’s trying to keep this dream a secret. He genuinely didn’t realize that he’d never told his crew before. He thought they all knew what his dream was. So, he tells them without making a big deal about it.

What could Luffy’s dream be, though? We know it’s more than becoming the King of the Pirates. And, we can assume it’s not the same as Ace’s or Sabo’s dreams. So, it’s not to become a famous pirate or to create a world in which everyone can be free.

Everyone who hears his dream thinks it’s ridiculous, and most of them laugh. Is that a clue? He didn’t say he told Tama. So, it’s not to create a world in which everyone can eat as much as they want. But, it could be to create a world in which everyone laughs together.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1088? Do you think Blackbeard could have beaten Boa, Koby, and Rayleigh? Do you think Sabo really was the one who killed Cobra? And, what do you predict Luffy’s true dream is? Do you think it’s something we’ve already heard him say before?

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 supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1089 is available now.

Protecting the Land of Wano

The beginning of One Piece Episode 1087 wasn’t the most exciting. But, it was important. We needed to wrap things up in Wano before moving on to the next arc. And, that’s exactly what happened. We now know why Yamato didn’t join the Straw Hat crew.

As much as Yamato wanted to set out to sea, he (yes, I’m using Yamato’s preferred pronouns) has an important job to do. Kaido and Big Mom have been defeated and Momonosuke is the shogun of Wano. But, that doesn’t mean the threats to Wano are all gone.

With Kaido out of the picture, it opens the gates for the World Government to intervene. Why does the World Government want to control Wano? Because Wano is where the ancient weapon Pluton is located. Also, the World Government doesn’t exactly like countries that refuse to be a part of it.

What really convinced Yamato that she needed to stay behind, though, was Ryokugyū. Ryokugyū is the other “new” Admiral besides Fujitora. He has the Woods-Woods Fruit and is strong enough to beat the samurai, Yamato, and Momonosuke. The only reason he didn’t continue attacking Wano was because of Shanks.

Shanks isn’t near Wano anymore. And Luffy, Kid, and Law are all leaving the country, as well. Once that happens, there won’t really be anyone left in Wano who can defend it from major threats. And so, Yamato chooses to stay behind and grow stronger so that he can defend the country.

Sure, Yamato isn’t strong enough right now. But, one day, he probably will be. He’s Kaido’s son, after all. And, as we know, Kaido was the strongest person in the world. The reason the World Government didn’t try to mess with Wano for the past 20 years was Kaido.

The War on the Island of Women

As we know from Episode 1086, the Marines are going around and trying to arrest the former Warlords. This brings them to Amazon Lily, home of Boa Hancock. But, they aren’t the only ones after Boa. Blackbeard and his crew are, as well.

Let’s focus on the Marines, for now. Koby and Helmeppo are among the Marines who landed on the island. And, Koby has two brand new tools at his disposal — the Seraphim. The Seraphim are the latest and greatest version of the Pacifista cyborgs.

Now, while we see two Seraphim here, my assumption is that there are at least seven of them. This is because of how the two Seraphim we see look. The female one is very clearly based on Boa Hancock. And, we can use that to figure out the identity of the male one.

I didn’t immediately recognize who the male Seraphim was. But, looking back, it seems like it’s based on Mihawk. Why? Well, like Boa, Mihawk was one of the former Warlords. And, this Seraphim is an extremely good swordsman who uses a sword that kind of resembles Yoru.

So, if we’re assuming these Seraphim are based on Boa and Mihawk, it makes sense that there would be more. Why would there only be two based on Warlords? Why not all seven? We could also have Seraphim for Buggy, Weevil, Crocodile, Moria, and Doflamingo. Or, any other former Warlords, I guess.

Something else I need to point out is that these Seraphim also appear to be Lunarian. This probably comes from when the World Government captured King. And, that means they could have something from Kaido, as well. After all, the World Government captured him for a time, too. That’s not good for the Seraphim’s opponents.

Blackbeard’s Devil Fruit Collection

Obviously, the introduction of the Seraphim in this episode was interesting. But, I’d say the most interesting thing that happened was Blackbeard showing up. Blackbeard went to Amazon Lily specifically to steal Boa’s devil fruit. He has two, and he wants more.

When Blackbeard killed Whitebeard, we learned he could have more than one devil fruit. Because of that, we know he currently has two: The Dark-Dark Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. We also know that his crewmates have devil fruit previously held by other characters.

I don’t remember if his crewmates’ fruit have anything to do with his power. I feel like they do — in that he somehow extracted a devil fruit from one person and implanted it in another. But, that doesn’t have to be the case. You can kill the previous owner and have a regular fruit nearby.

What’s always been unique about Blackbeard is that he somehow has two devil fruits at once. That shouldn’t be possible. We know that if you eat a devil fruit when you already have one, you die. The body can’t handle having the power of two fruits at once. So, how does Blackbeard do it?

We finally have an answer. He tells Boa that he’s going to use the power of his Dark-Dark Fruit to absorb her devil fruit. This seems to be why he was so set on acquiring the Dark-Dark Fruit. It’s not only a powerful logia-type fruit. It also has a special property that lets him absorb other fruit.

So, is there a limit on how many fruit Blackbeard can absorb? We don’t know. He might even already have 10 or more devil fruit within him that he hasn’t revealed. We can’t know for certain.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of One Piece Episode 1087? Are you okay with Yamato staying behind in Wano as Vivi did in Alabasta? Which of the Warlords do you think the Seraphim will be based on? And, do you think Blackbeard would be able to make efficient use of Boa’s Love-Love Fruit?

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 supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1088 is available now.

New Arc, New Bounties

One Piece Episode 1086 is officially the first episode of the Egghead arc. Starting with this arc, I’ll be doing weekly episode reviews for the remainder of the series. But, as you may know, Episode 1086 isn’t the episode that aired this week.

In fact, the episode that aired this week is a special episode that I won’t be covering. But, that’s not why I’m reviewing Episode 1086 now. I’m a few episodes behind. So, over the next couple of weeks, there will be two episode reviews per week until I’m caught up.

Anyway, with the new arc starting, we also have new bounties for the Straw Hat Crew. So, let’s take a look at how much the bounties of each crewmate have increased since the events of Wano.

The biggest bounty of the crew is obviously Luffy’s, sitting at 3 billion berries. That puts him beneath Mihawk, Buggy, Blackbeard, and Shanks.

Zoro has the next highest bounty on the crew, at 1 billion 111 million berries. Jinbe’s bounty comes in third at 1 billion 100 million berries. And Sanji’s is fourth at a measly 1 billion 32 million berries.

To me, the biggest surprise was how low Robin’s bounty is. She’s only worth 930 million berries. That’s not a lot considering how important her capture is to the World Government. After Robin, there’s Usopp, with a bounty of 500 million berries. And then we have Franky, whose bounty is 394 million berries.

Brook’s bounty is 383 million berries. Nami’s is 366 million berries. And Chopper’s bounty is a whopping 1 thousand berries. Ironically, Chopper’s bounty is the one that increased the most percentage-wise. So, he shouldn’t be too mad. A few more increases like that and he’ll be worth the most.

Cross Guild

One of the big takeaways from this episode is that there’s a new organization to be wary of: Cross Guild. This is a group led by three former Warlords, Buggy, Mihawk, and Crocodile. But, why and how did these three come together?

Okay, so, this happened a while back. But, do you remember the Reverie? I know, that’s pre-Wano stuff that happened like 2 years ago in the anime. But, during the Reverie, the nations of the World Government disbanded the Warlords. This meant Buggy, Mihawk, and Crocodile were now regular pirates once again.

That means they were no longer sanctioned by the World Government. And, in turn, that meant the Marines were coming after them. To combat this threat, these three decided to team up. Though, it’s more like Crocodile and Mihawk decided to team up. Buggy’s just kind of along for the ride.

But, there’s an important question to ask here. Is this group actually dangerous? As we learned from the end of Wano, they’re now an Emperor of the Sea crew (led by Buggy). Do they deserve that recognition over the likes of the Kid or Heart Pirates?

This is probably obvious to most of you. But, I’m going to say that Cross Guild isn’t as strong as the Marines believe. Sure, we know Mihawk is a swordsman on par with Shanks. But, he doesn’t exactly have any desire to overthrow the Marines or the World Government.

And then there are Buggy and Crocodile, who aren’t that dangerous, even if they do want to engage in piracy. Okay, sure, Crocodile is dangerous on a technical level. He has a logia fruit and can do some damage. But, there’s no way he and Buggy could defeat even a single Marine admiral.

Buggy the Genius Jester

As we all know, Buggy is a comedic relief character. So, of course, he was going to be named as one of the Emperors of the Sea. It’s the same as when he was named as one of the Warlords. He didn’t earn it. It was all coincidence.

That same thing is happening now. Buggy hasn’t done anything himself to earn this title. What happened was that he was a former Warlord who teamed up with two other former Warlords. And, thanks to fliers made by his crew, the Marines believe that he’s the mastermind behind it.

In reality, Crocodile is the mastermind, Mihawk is the muscle, and Buggy is the mascot.

But, what I like about seeing Buggy continuously fail upward is how similar he is to Usopp. He went from Buggy the Clown to Buggy the Genius Jester. This is like how “Captain” Usopp became known as God Usopp.

Is there anywhere for Buggy to go from here? Has he peaked as a pirate? Logic says yes. But, I’m going to make a prediction and say that no, he hasn’t peaked. I’m betting that at the end of the series, Buggy will be “King of the Pirates.”

That’s not to say that I think Buggy will acquire the One Piece or anything. It would feel weird if Luffy didn’t achieve that. So, technically speaking, Luffy will be the King of the Pirates. However, technicalities and the truth don’t matter when it comes to Buggy’s success.

I can see the World Government, Marines, or the world at large believing Buggy found the One Piece. Once Luffy finds it, will he care about making sure everyone knows he found it? I doubt it. And so, Buggy will be the one who gets all the glory.

Final Thoughts

What do you think about One Piece Episode 1086? Which of the Straw Hat crew members’ bounties is the most surprising? Is the Cross Guild worth going after right now? And, do you think this is the peak of Buggy’s upward trajectory? Let me know in the comments.

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 supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of Episode 1087 is available now.