The Island of the Strongest

One Piece Chapter 996 Review/Recap

I’m only going to say it once: I cannot wait for the One Piece anime to get to Onigashima! The chaos, the fighting, the stakes! It’s getting so good. Right when you think one side’s got the upper head, a new player enters the stage and ups the chaos even further. And that’s just what this chapter is, in a nutshell: chaos.

Recap

Thanks to Tama’s timely arrival, Usopp and Nami are able to escape from Page One and Ulti, though Usopp’s in no shape to fight. That giant monkey that Tama brought with her holds the two pirates off while the others escape. Nami’s worried that the ape can’t hold them off, but Tama reminds them that they’re also Samurai who came there to fight. They’re going to bring down Kaido!

In another location, Yamato’s fighting a losing battle against the Beast Pirates and he knows it. Yet he refuses to leave Shinobu or Momonosuke behind. At that moment, Franky comes running in as he tries to escape the giant Hatcha, who then makes a giant hole in the floor with his club. Yamato uses that as a chance to escape into the basement., but not before taking out Hatcha as thanks. In another part of the basement, Law finds one of the Poneglyphs. Alas, it’s not a Road Poneglyph, so he decides to keep looking.

Meanwhile, Kidd and Killer are going on a rampage, gathering up as much metal as possible as they fight their way to the rooftop, where Kaido has the Scabbards on their last legs. At this point, another player returns to the fight: Big Mom! Rather than focus on the fighting in the main hall, she’s going to the roof to join Kaido.

Meanwhile, Luffy, Sanji, and Jinbei are halfway to the roof, mowing down anyone dumb enough to get in their way. Unfortunately, Sanji seems to stop dead in his tracks as he hears this enchanting melody being played. Uh-oh.

Review

Like I said: pure. Chaos. This is a full-scale war that we’re witnessing, the biggest since Marineford. I knew that this whole thing was going to get crazy, but I think that Oda’s outdoing himself with the fighting and chaos, jumping back and forth between dozens of major and minor characters.

Having to focus on so many people at once can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it helps readers get the bigger picture of what’s going on. On the other, it requires dividing a limited amount of time even further, thus shortening how long we can stay with everyone. Hence why I can’t wait to see how this turns out in the anime; animation has more freedom to focus on what needs to be focused on.

In short, this chapter was good, but I don’t think that it was great or a game-changer. With the 1000th chapter coming up, though, I hope Oda can change that.

I Give “The Island of the Strongest” a 3/5

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