 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. And today we have a review of chapter 994. My other name is Yamato. And getting straight into the thing that it is that we do, which is review the chapter, I think we'll go in chronological order this week because 994 was just a really solid installment of One Piece. But after having read it, nothing particularly sticks out to me as like a crowning feature. It's all just really consistent stuff across the board. Badass moments with the samurai, fun comedy with the smile users, and also very excitingly, this chapter review is the 700th Grand Line Review upload, which is pretty incredible. Over the course of five years and 700 videos, we've managed to build a crew of just under 300,000 Grand Fleet members. So to celebrate this whole 700th video thing, there has never been a better time to subscribe and join the Grand Fleet, which will indeed result in regular One Piece content being uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. That and inching us ever closer towards that very satisfying 300 number. But I was actually kind of struck from the very first panel of chapter 994. It's always so weird to see any proper perspective shots of Onigashima because I commonly forget just how massive it is. Like at first glance, I was kind of dissatisfied by the panel because Kaido looks so small and insignificant, but it really does just highlight the sheer scale of this location, which was a nice way to begin. And in a fairly awesome turn of events, it looks like Kiku will remain in the fight for now, giving off some of the greatest Black Knight vibes I've ever seen in One Piece. It was just a flesh wound after all. But come to think of it, that's such a classic thing with arms and One Piece, isn't it? When someone loses an arm, they just find a way to continue as if it was nothing at all. It was a great moment to give to Kiku though. Of all of the vassals, I think she has been the least explored and showcased to date. I mean, I guess there was the whole Kanjiro conflict, but even then that took place off-screen, so what can I say? I'm thrilled that Kiku got some nice time on stage this week. And if anything, I found myself seriously dwelling on this particular panel, just looking into Kiku's eyes. They're so terrifyingly dead. It's an empty stare into the distance. Like she's not even looking at Kaido, she's just looking at nothing. Completely aware of the situation and very much resigned to the inevitable death to come. I'm not saying that I think she'll die, but I do think Kiku believes she will die and is very much at peace with that whole idea. So in that mental state, pheh, what's one arm? It's not like she's ever going to need it again. Also, at first I thought there was something a bit weird because I could have sworn that her sword got destroyed in 993 and looking back on it, yes it did. Because the one she wields in 994 has a different, much more basic guard. So I'm not entirely sure where this new blade came from. Perhaps it was donated by one of the dual blade users. All we really know is it wasn't Kinemon because we do see him holding two swords at the end, but whatever, it's not overly important unless it is, but it probably isn't. The best part about this opening section for me though is seeing Kaido revert to his, I mean, I hesitate to call it a human form because I don't think he's human, more like an oni, basic form I guess. But I think this very much confirms the idea that Kaido is more powerful or at least more capable in this state. Whereas the dragon mode is more about toying with opponents for fun. And as much as it doesn't look like Kaido sustained any real permanent damage of any kind, this is pretty damn high praise for the vassals given that they were able to trigger the second stage of this boss fight. And it also makes me wonder if Kaido's ultimate incarnation is the dragon oni hybrid, which we still have yet to see, I think. Unless this is the hybrid, but I don't think so. But Kaido has some fun and insightful dialogue during the segment as well. I love every time we get to hear some honest thoughts from Mr. Dragonborn, really emphasizing his obsession with death or I suppose what he believes dying has the potential to achieve. And how weird is that? Not so much the concept, but the idea that both Kaido and the vassals are basically looking to die, but on their own terms to produce a great effect. And with that in mind, I'm starting to see a bit of an inferiority complex here with Kaido, because in a kind of really twisted way, being the strongest creature in the world is actively preventing him from attaining what he most desires in life, which is a spectacular and meaningful death that would complete his existence. If anything, Kaido might even be a bit jealous of the vassals right now, in the same way that he was super jealous regarding Whitebeard's death at Marineford. I suppose because his former crewmate was able to complete what he is incapable of. And that's why he's eternally frustrated, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, trying to start the greatest war the world's ever seen, and even doing insane things like leaping off a sky island, all in pursuit of that memorable full stop on life. That are trying to distract himself from the fact that he doesn't seem to be able to achieve it. That's what I took from this section anyway. And after this chapter, I am far more intrigued by Kaido than I think I ever have been. And I'm looking forward to eventually seeing how this mentality may have developed. But moving on, we have what is, unfortunately, very seriously, my favorite part of chapter 994, which is the Luffy Sanji Jinbei stuff and the introduction of two smile users who have officially eclipsed Brescola in terms of sheer awesomeness. And you know what? I feel really bad for Hamlet because in any other panel, he would be the prime focus. He is literally like the head of a giraffe, but he gets paired with Fortrix, who is literally the ass of a chicken. And it makes me wonder, where has all of this stuff been? The last two chapters has given us three amazing smile users, whereas the rest of Wano has mostly delivered these kind of really hidden misanimal fusion ideas. And look, I don't care what anyone says. Fortrix is the height of creativity, perhaps even the height of one piece. And he may be one of my favorite characters in the series for some time to come. And that's kind of it for this entire section. It's just a short burst of comedy, which once again is strategically placed in the middle, so as not to take away from the opening or ending drama, but also to provide some relief between the two. And then we spend probably the most time in this chapter, checking in on the whole queen being a dick situation. And if there's anything that may end up turning the Oniwabanshu and the Mimawaragumi against the beast pirates, then this is definitely a good start. They're all caught up in this insanity as well. So at the moment, everyone on this floor is effectively facing off against queen or at least his concoction. And in retrospect, this probably should have been pretty easy to predict, but queen has decided to turn this into a rather chaotic event because he is an entertainer at heart and good on him for that. As someone who is highly entertained by the idea of scratchmanapu being targeted and chased by everyone in the room, I do appreciate queen sense of fun. What I'm not too sure about is that we've been given our first time limit of the arc being an hour, which is about how long one can survive as an Iconi. And yes, I do say first time limit because we're going to have another. Most arcs these days have a very time sensitive factor at the climax. Like say the time it would take Sanji to bake the wedding cake, or the time until the bird cage closes in and et cetera. And those can often be some of the more draining aspects of the series when you're reading it weekly. So I do hope that this one hour game doesn't become too drawn out because it might exhaust us for later on. Something very notable here though is probably the one thing that we don't see, which is Drake. We know he's here on this floor somewhere, but Oda has very purposely decided not to show him and include him in this weird game set up. And usually I wouldn't think too much of it, but in a chapter where every single other named figure on this floor gets showcased, even the super minor ones, Drake's absence is indeed intriguing. And I imagine this is designed for him to make some sort of surprise action, either against Queen or maybe even against Apu in the near future. Sort of like, oh, we've forgotten about him for a week or two. And then, oh wow, it's Drake out of nowhere. What a surprise. And there's more that happened here like a funky dramatic moment between Hyogoro and Catman, who I know his name, I just don't care. And I don't know, is he a mink? Like surely not. Everything about him is human except for the feline face. He even has whiskers, so I have no idea what's going on here. Anyway, he has a dramatic moment, which, sure. I do think it's always quite a tall task to get us to care about these characters that we've spent next to no time with. But then again, it was more of a technical scene showing that everyone's allies are going to turn against each other because immediately after that, we see the same thing with some miscellaneous beast pirates. So I guess it's designed to add some weight and stakes to the situation. Although a more effective way to do that might be to have Hyogoro himself or even a straw hat become infected. Then I'd probably care a lot more like back on Thriller Bark when the sun was rising in half, the crew were missing their shadows and about to die. But it was another solid section and I do look forward to seeing Scratchmanapu comedically struggle. All right, and now as for my least favorite part of the chapter, which isn't, say it's bad, but this is more a continuation of my discussion from last week, I've been pretty consistently uninterested in the whole Yamato, Momonosuke, Shinobu sections of recent installments because it's mostly been an artificial roadblock. It was kind of annoying because Luffy told Shinobu and Momonosuke trust Yamato and for I suppose reasons, they just didn't. And from then on, we were just waiting for this exact moment to happen where they finally all come together. And what I will say is that now that it has finally happened, I'm excited to see where the thread goes, but to be perfectly honest, the ending of the chapter was a little mere to me. I will admit the Yamato did look particularly awesome in that last panel, standing nice and heroically, but it just didn't quite hit me the way I think Oda may have intended it to. This could very much just be a me thing though because I also did enjoy everything leading up to it. It was pretty cool to confirm that I suspected Yamato was present at Odin's execution, which is where this incredible obsession began. And it was interesting to learn that Yamato was converted from that very moment and even attempted to save Momonosuke on that day, but wasn't strong enough to do anything but observe. That's not a throwaway thing at all. That's actually very important because it makes the Odin obsession much less random and even adds in an element of guilt for Yamato not being able to save Momonosuke at all, which he is now making up for in the present. So that is nice. It really is. But I think I might just be spoiled by all of the latest chapter endings to really appreciate it. You know, 991 ended with Kinamon Slicing Kaito's Bora Breath, 992 ended with the Scabbards using Odin II sword style, 993 ended with that shock of Kiku being mortally wounded, and then 994 ends with the thing that we all knew would happen. Yeah, look, I'm pretty prepared to accept that I'm just spoiled with the series. The chapter ending was fine. The whole Yamato section was fine. I just didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as everything else, which is a shame of a note to be leaving on when we've got a break coming up, but whatever, the amazing things are most certainly on their way. And I will say that my favorite part of this whole section was definitely that look on Sasaki's face after his subordinate gets obliterated by Yamato. Like this man is thoroughly shitting himself. And really what? Did he not know who he was going up against here? Regardless of what kind of inevitable dinosaur he ends up being, I think he's in for quite the world of hurt here if they remain matched up too much longer. And also it has finally happened. After 37 wild installments, Gang Beige's own My Family has come to an end. Around the classical ending as well, I really love that Oda went all out and even added the Finn to the final page. And I said this last week, but I really was wondering why that wasn't the last page because Goddy getting married is just such a great image. So apart from the comical Finn, I'm really not sure what this page offers to the story as a whole, but also I don't really care. Cover stories are just a bit of fun after all and it's quite sad because after this I imagine we'll go into a period of art requests and just whatever Oda wants to draw as per usual, which is still fun, but not quite as fun as seeing these little glimpses elsewhere in the world. But in the end, Beige's adventure was one of the longer cover stories. I mean, actually 37, it probably felt like quite a while, but it's not all that unusual. In fact, I believe Django's dance paradise was exactly 37 issues long, but it would seem that not including the, from the decks of the world stuff and the mini series of the Grand Fleet Adventures, Caribo's cover story is still the reigning champion in terms of length, 46 issues of nothing, but Caribo and Caribo look-alikes. And oh, what a treat that was. But in any case, farewell for now, Kapungang Beige, and I hope to see you again shortly in the future. And that pretty much does it for chapter 994. But what do you guys think? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join my Discord server. And if you'd like to see more videos like this, then please do go and check out some of my other content or even subscribe to the channel for more glorious One Piece business uploaded straight into your YouTube feeds. But for now, this has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.