 One piece is dropping legendary bomb after bomb. In just the previous chapter, we finally saw Shang's inaction, proving why he's arguably the strongest pirate in the series, and this recent chapter showcased the power of perhaps the strongest non-pirate in the series, Monkey D. Garp. Garp is truly a living legend, the hero of the Marines. The man who's said to have cornered the pirate king multiple times, and this chapter finally shows us a glimpse of what's behind the ridiculous powerhouse that earned him his hero title and legendary reputation. In a chapter filled with devil fruit reveals, Garp and the power of his fist stole the spotlight, and it was quite literally out of this world. The events in this chapter also gave us a lot of things to think about, such as the importance of Kobe in the story, the epic devil fruit showdown that's about to begin between the Blackbeard Pirates and Sword, and it also hinted at bringing another player back into the story. And the seeds for these current events was planted with Kobe declaring outside Amazon Lily that he's going to capture the pirate Empress Boa Hancock. This is what resulted in the battle between the Kobe-led Marines and the Kooja tribe, during which time a wild Blackbeard and his crewmate their appearance, attacking participants alike. And although Boa were shown to be impressive in this battle, turning most of our opponents into stone, Blackbeard, as he usually does, ended up gaining the upper hand, and just as Blackbeard decided to kill Boa, a wild Dark King appeared, with Rayleigh kindly asking everyone to leave the island quietly or else. And that else is something that Blackbeard did not want to stick around and find out, so he and his crew left taking Kobe with them. And now we finally find out the reason behind Blackbeard kidnapping Kobe, that being because he wants to use Kobe as leverage against the world government to turn his base Hachinosu into a kingdom approved by the world government, making himself the king of Hachinosu. And then what's interesting is the information divulged from Kobe and Aokiji that Blackbeard's plan won't work because sword members are Marines who have officially resigned their codes, therefore no longer falling under the responsibility or the liability of the Marines. And this new revelation forces me to reconsider who may or may not be members of sword. For example, on one hand, Aokiji being a member of sword seems much more plausible now. Previously, I considered it more likely that he was actually now working as a revolutionary, and this was largely based on a conversation with Smoko, where Aokiji says something to the effect that the world government isn't the be-all and the end-all, and that you don't have to be affiliated with the Marines to achieve things, and that independence may actually yield more results. Well, Oda's just about gone and confirmed that sword is exactly this, unaffiliated and independent to the Marines. Although caveat, it's just on paper because they obviously still work very closely together. I can sense Oda is deliberately making it very tricky to decode whether Garp is also a member of sword because all the other Marines who have shown up in this arc have received info boxes confirming whether or not they are a part of sword, except of course Garp. But then there are so many other clues that suggest that Garp could in fact be a member of sword, maybe even its leader. I mean, in fact, Garp calls Kobe the future of the Marines, knowing that Kobe's a member of sword, and that's gotta mean that Kobe is the future of the Marines as they see the Marines. Not as the dogs of the celestial dragons doing their bidding, but an institution with integrity perhaps unaffiliated with the world government. Personally, the most exciting part about all of this for me is the incoming meeting between Garp and Aokiji. We know that these two have a closer relationship than most members of the Marines, and Aokiji has always looked up to Garp to whom he owes a debt for helping him sometime in the past. And the idea of an extended backstory between the two, perhaps even showing us in detail how Garp helped Aokiji, and maybe just maybe how Aokiji residing from the Marines and joining the Blackbeard Pirates is part of a plan between him and Garp, because as we've just established, after all, residing from the Marines still allows you to be a sword member, and infiltrating the Blackbeard Pirates is a form of attacking a Yonko crew by going after their intel, which is the only operation we know sword to be working on today. The absence of the other Blackbeard Pirate members during their ambush against lore is explained in this chapter as Shiru, Pizarro, Vasco Shot, and Sanwan Wolf are confirmed to have stayed behind at Hachinosu, and just as we saw of their crewmates in Chapter 1063, we are finally shown what their devil fruits are capable of, and I have to say, they are ridiculous. Perhaps one of the most OP devil fruits we've ever seen. Pizarro is the holder of the island island fruit, which as I understand it, allows him to control everything on the island, and perhaps the only thing stopping this overpowered ability is his somewhat oddly careful attitude. Him saying that he doesn't want to wreck the town right after they finished repairing after the Rocky Port incident, not only does this make some suggestions about his personality, it's a scary indication of his potential. I mean, I can't imagine how much more crazy this ability could be if Pizarro goes beyond the limits he sets on himself. Vasco Shot's liquor devil fruit is very fitting for his epitode, but this is the one that makes me most curious as to how it's going to be used in combat. I'm very excited for all sorts of very creative fighting that may result from this sort of ability. Sanwan Wolf is a big boy, and it's confirmed that with his devil fruit, he can turn into an even bigger boy, which is something we already sort of knew through his Vivera card, but now we also know its name, and it's only a matter of time before we see what sort of havoc his colossal size will wreak. Together with Shiru, these titanic captains are definite heavy hitters, but it seems they face equally diverse devil fruit wielding opponents in sword, because the members who were introduced back in Chapter 1061 are shown in action, most of them with devil fruits, but not Hibari, who was the girl begging with Helmer Poe to save Kobe. And it seems she doesn't have a devil fruit, but she was revealed as a tsundere sniper who uses one of Vegapunk's inventions, the GP flower bullets, which can turn enemy gunpowder into flowers. And Vegapunk's mobile prize-winning invention was first seen in the cover page of Chapter 1073. And its effects make you wonder if Vegapunk has always been a pacifist, wishing to replace dangerous weapons with beauty, or is this the result of one of his failed inventions? Either way, it's a nice homage to Flower Power, which is a Pulitzer-winning photograph, which captured the pacifist movement during the Vietnam War. Also, speaking about Hibari, I just love the callback to her introduction, and the contrast in the little care that she expresses to Kobe in this chapter. Girl, you're not fooling anyone. Prince Gru, or Prince Gru's, I'm not too sure how to pronounce that. You guys confirm whether or not it's a silent S, but either way, the prince is confirmed to be a devil fruit user, owner of the Clay Clay Fruit, and he's seen able to create golems with his ability. Other sword members alongside Prince Gru's bodies were also turned into clay by his devil fruit. And the potential of a Clay Clay Fruit seems boundless if you consider other devil fruits that are similar in nature. For example, we've seen Katakuri use mochi to his advantage in a fist fight, such as by extending his power and range to ridiculous extremes, although it remains to be seen whether Gru's can also use his devil fruit in this similar way. The girl who was next to Prince Gru's in his introduction is confirmed to be Rear Admiral Kuchaku, and she is the granddaughter of Vice Admiral Suru. She's also a devil fruit user having the whip whip fruit, which gives her the ability to command anything she whips, including inanimate objects, as we've seen her whip buildings. Mami? Odai is not slowing down with all the dumb waifus in this arc. And now that we've been introduced to what these new characters are capable of, I want to see what a character that we are already familiar with will do in this battle. Helmepo has been an interesting addition to this story, because he was someone who we were originally set up to despise, who has since turned into an ally and best friend of the very character this mission is trying to save. So maybe a full-powered Kobe and Helmepo tandem is upon us, and I would just love to see them in action, because it would be the addition of another great dynamic into the story. And then retrospectively looking at their early appearances in the series would be even more fun. And to that end, I think it would be the perfect time to see some of Kobe in combat, please. Because so far we've heard a lot of talk, but no action from the man who's the current people's hero and the future rival of Luffy's. Speaking of familiar characters, in Kobe's escape with help from Perona, it's revealed that Moria is still alive and imprisoned, which confirms that Moria declined Blackbeard's invitation to join his crew, and although Moria is probably one of the least liked villains in the series, it seems he may be a part of the developing story moving forward. All I can say is with Moria's devil fruit capable of creating an army, he's going to be useful whichever side he chooses to join. But of course, the star of the battle is none other than Monkey D. Gar. Gar was hinted in Chapter 1071 to have taken some battleships to go with him to Hachinosu, undercutting some of the fleet that was ordered to be sent to Egghead Island by Kizuru. And with other random pirates on the island after Kobe's five star reward, this is turning into a full blown war. But battleships or not, we have one powerhouse who is demanding all the attention, I seriously love Garp. In fact, I was actually in the middle of writing a video analysis on Garp's character and future in the story, but since this chapter's dropped, it seems like I'm going to have to put that in the backlog. Or actually, you know what, I'm gonna just use this as another chance to talk about him in the context of his role in this arc. But where else can I start? But with oh my god, Garp just destroyed the entire town with his fist. It's perhaps the most devastating attack we have ever seen in the series, without the use of a weapon or devil fruit, but it's definitely comparable to the most biggest attacks we've seen in the past. This has to be one of, if not the highest displays of haki we have ever seen in the series. It explains how Garp could go toe to toe with the late pirate king, and it makes you think how differently Marineford could have gone had Garp been serious and actually unleashed his full power. He only delivered the most basic punch to Marco, which still sent the white bead commander flying. But imagine if Sengoku didn't stop Garp to go after Akainu. I have literal goosebumps right now. And this is just a glimpse, because Oda has an opportunity to show his readers the full extent of Garp's ability against half of the Blackbeard pirates. Fingers crossed, fingers and toes, that this is not just off screen. The idea that Garp is this strong in his current state, out of prime, and Luffy just entering his prime, it really makes you wonder how ridiculously strong dragon must be, since out of these three, dragon might be the one currently in his prime years. And with the innate physical ability of the Monkey D bloodline, provided that dragon is indeed part of the bloodline and not by marriage, but adding his rumored devil fruit into the mix, definitely makes dragon strength my most anticipated reveal in the series. But as for Garp himself, seeing his capability now, it only makes me so much more excited to see the God Valley flashback, because if this was only a taste of his strength, I am salivating at the thought of witnessing him in combat during his peak. So the same as Kobe's bounty, I give this chapter five stars. I mean, that's just based on the last two pages with Garp's appearance alone. And everything else is just icing. But that's just me, what about you? What did you think of this chapter? Let me know in the comments below, and please like and share if you liked this video. As usual, this has been Joygirl. Thanks for listening to another one of my ramblings, and I'll see you again soon.