Hyogoro of the Flowers

One Piece Chapter 934 Review/Recap

The last chapter of One Piece dealt with a whirlwind of events in such a short amount of time. Robin’s mission was compromised leading to Nami, Brook, and Shinobu to rescue her, an amnesiac Big Mom’s helping out the Alliance, and Komurasaki was seemingly cut down by Boss Kyoshiro. My gut tells me that she’s not really dead, though.

As with a lot of cases in this arc, this chapter’s all over the place. As in, it splits between five separate locations. I think that this shows just how ambitious Eiichiro Oda is with the Wano Arc, but it could end up backfiring on him. Dividing the focus of the story between several locations means giving each of them the right amount of focus, and that’s hard even for the best writers. I think he can pull it off, though.

The chapter first shows us that the Big Mom Pirates that came with Big Mom made it out relatively intact. Some of their Devil Fruit users did drown, though. With King in the skies, they have no way of getting inside the country. They know Big Mom’s alive thanks to her Virve card, but that’s about it.

Speaking of which, Big Mom’s headed to Udon Prison with Momo, O-Tama, Kiku, and Chopper to bust Luffy out. Oddly, it seems her hat Homie’s been quiet the whole time. Losing her memories means she doesn’t know about her Soul-Soul powers, so that could explain it.

The biggest highlight of this chapter, though, the one thing I think is more important than anything else? We finally have a map of Wano Country!

I’ve been trying to figure out where everything is in Wano, but can’t think of anything. This map will help make sense of everything!! Thank you, Oda-Sama!

Going back to the group that busted Robin out of Orochi’s Castle, they’re all in shock at Komurasaki’s apparent death and how Kyoshiro could kill her like that. Kanjuro notes that he wasn’t in power in Oden’s day. The head of the Yakuza was called “Hyogoro of the Flowers”.

The important thing is, they’re all safe, though they’ll need to lay low for a while. And Robin managed to learn a lot of information.

Brook also confirmed that while there was a Poneglyph in Orochi’s basement, it wasn’t a Road Poneglyph. The only likely place it could be is at Onigashima. Guess we’ll have to wait.

As for the Flower Capital…

State of Mourning

They’re all mourning Komurasaki’s death, while I still don’t think she’s dead. Even Sanji’s crying.

More importantly, back at Udon Prison, it’s revealed that Kidd managed to escape.

He still has his Seastone Cuffs on him, so it’s not like he can get far. So much for a second Impel Down. Luffy (yes, Luffy’s in this chapter!) has bigger problems. The old man he befriended and gave food to is being beaten by the guards who want to know who’s been feeding him. The old man refuses to talk even with the threat of death, revealing who he really is.

So this old man’s Hyogoro, the former head of the Wano Yakuza. In Japan, the Yakuza are known to provide aid to those stricken by disaster and provide protection for the people living under them. They’re still capable of being murderous thugs, though, so take their actions with a grain of salt. Hyogoro seems to represent the more honorable aspects of the Yakuza, so I like him. He could be a huge help in the coming battle against the Beast Pirates.

However, the Straw Hat’s plans to break Luffy out may have hit a roadblock: Queen showed up at Udon Prison. Great.

I don’t want to sound optimistic, but this could be an opportunity. If the Alliance (Big Mom included) shows up, Luffy could rally the prisoners and they could take down Queen. They’ll follow Hyogoro, which makes the odds even better. That would be a major blow to the Beast Pirates’ strength. It could also attract more attention, though, so they will need to be careful about this. Guess we’ll find out in two weeks time!

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