Old Friends Return on All New One Piece!

One Piece Chapter 1076 Review/Recap

I think at this point, fans of One Piece are used to Eichiro Oda taking breaks between manga chapters. None of us want that man to risk his health for our sake! Thankfully, when he does go on break, he gives us a chapter that keeps the hype going. In this week’s chapter, he gives us four things to be pumped about: the Straw Hats and CP0 team up against the Seraphims; we get closer to learning who’s been messing with Egghead Island; and, not only do we see Shanks again, but he’s about to clash with another Supernova…in Elbaf! In addition to all this, we see some old friends that I did not expect to see again anytime soon!

Recap

Faced with the prospect of teaming up with Lucci and Kaku to fight the Seraphims, Zoro’s understandably unhappy. Kaku tries to lie to them (Luffy buys it), but Lucci flat out tells the truth: as soon as they’re done with the cyborgs, he’s going after Luffy, his crew, and the Vegapunks. Then S-Hawk attacks, revealing he’s got Mr. 1’s Dice-Dice Fruit powers.

Then Luffy pulls a big-brain move: he asks Lucci if he’ll go after the others after he figures out he can’t win against him. Lucci actually takes the bait, and thus, the two CP0 agents are freed just in time for a four-on-two showdown with the strongest cyborgs!

Meanwhile, deep in the lab, a group of Cipher Pol agents waste away in captivity; they got captured months ago by the sea beasts guarding the island and brought to this prison. At first, they thought Vegapunk did this, but the recent arrival of the Dr as yet another prisoner debunks this. Now the Navy’s sending a massive fleet to settle the matter.

Meanwhile, in a bar in a small port on a certain New World island, a young boy’s begging Shanks to take him out to sea with his crew. Just like with Luffy, he refuses as he and his crew feast, having reunited with some old friends. However, their fun’s interrupted when another crew member comes in and says someone’s trying to attack them: it’s Eustace Kid and his crew! The last time they fought, they didn’t even catch sight of Shanks, but Kid’s spoiling for a rematch. Thus, Shanks decides to head out with his crew and his old friends, Dorry and Brogy. His goal: get the rubbings of the Road Poneglyph’s from Kid, and make sure no fighting comes to his old friend’s home…the land of Elbaf, home of the Giants!

Review

Holy s*!*, this is epic! A team-up of the Straw Hats with

enemies they fought tooth-and-nail to defeat in the past! The captive Cipher Pol agents and Vegapunk! The approaching Navy armada! And last but not least, the setup for an epic clash between Eustass Kid and Red-Haired Shanks and the return of Dorry and Brogy! The hype train’s left the station!

Egghead Island’s Getting Crazier By the Minute

Let’s start off with Luffy and Zoro and Lucci and Kaku. While I enjoyed the four’s interactions as a whole, special mention should go to Kaku trying to be the rational one between him and Lucci, and freaking out when his boss won’t listen. That man’s grudge against the Straw Hat captain’s gotten to the point where Luffy managed to trick him outright. Given how it’s Lucci, though, I’m half-expecting him to get his butt kicked again before this arc’s over. As a side note, this marks the second time the Straw Hats have been on an island affiliated with Vegapunk and had to team up with an enemy. 

As for Vegapunk, we have yet to determine who took him captive nor who’s taken the CP agents prisoner. However, it’s nice to know that Vegapunk isn’t behind this chaos, as he’s as surprised as we are. I’m hoping that whoever did this will be someone we’ve already met. It would make for an interesting twist.

Old Friends Reunite! Are We Going to See Elbaf in Full?

Lastly, we have Shanks and his old friends. It’s confirmed: Kid and Shanks are at Elbaf! We might finally be getting a glimpse at the fabled home of the Giants! The biggest surprise, though, was the return of Dorry and Brogy. The last time fans saw them, they were at Little Garden fighting each other to the death and refusing to come home until they decided the victor. The fact that they’ve finally returned home must mean they either gave up or something more important came up. Given the revelations that Saul’s alive and the Giants saved the knowledge of Ohara, Oda’s about to give them a major role. He’s either great at foreshadowing or really good at making things up as he goes along. Either way, it’s worth it.

In any case, Oda delivered another banger of a chapter. Any chapter with Shanks in it is good by default and seeing him and our two old friends are worth the hype. I eagerly await to see what happens two weeks from now. 

I Give “Old Friends” A 4/5

Click here to see more animanga stuff.