 There are only two chapters left in One Piece, that is for the rest of 2022 obviously and not the entire series. But still, we only have at most two chapters left for the rest of the year and chances are the coming weeks are going to present some of the most groundbreaking developments we've seen in the series to date. Echiro Oda seems to have picked up a new habit of ending the year with some particularly crazy chapters before leaving us for the holiday season and then returning to drop even crazier developments to fire up the new year. For example, 2021 came to a close with some of the most high-pissed moments of the Onigashima battle and the Wano arc, with Sanji being declared the victor over Queen, the reveal of King to be one of the near-extinct Lunarian race, and the finishing moments of the gruelling Zoro vs King fight. At the beginning of 2022, we celebrated Zoro's victory over King and received even more delicious bite-sized, lore-filled treats, finding out about the history between King and Kaido, deepening our understanding of the Yonko as a potentially failed joyboy, and the relationship that underpinned the Beast Pirates Commander and Governor General. The ye before that, Oda graced us with a two-part chapter, with the titles combining to read, the sake I brewed to drink with you, Straw Hat Luffy, and these special chapters were also admittedly in celebration of the 1000th chapter anniversary of the series, but again, this was timed with the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. The chapters themselves containing the Ace and Yamato flashback, the mystery of Luffy's true dream beyond that of becoming the Pirate King, and some other truly awesome moments such as this panel of the supernovas facing against the Yonko, the Red Rock, and another epic reminder of the chapter's titular character, Straw Hat Luffy, the future pirate king. And in the chapters that transitioned us from 2019 to 2020, we saw the great Whitebeard and Goldie Roger Clash, Oda's journey with the late pirate king, the discovery of the One Piece, the reveal of the final island's name as Laugh Tale instead of Raugh Tale, completely recontextualizing the series, and of course the iconic panel, Roger Just Laughed. All of these chapters contain some of the series's best moments, developments and reveals which have completely flipped our understanding of the greatest mysteries, characters, and the lore of One Piece, introducing completely unexpected concepts and pieces of information, sending us all into sheer and utter frenzy. And so if these previous years are anything to go by, then we are in for one hell of a treat in the next few weeks. Now admittedly, this does seem to be a relatively new trend that Oda has embarked on. I can't comment on any particularly groundbreaking moments that were contained in the chapters that closed off 2018 and opened up 2019, for example. And honestly, I haven't gone back to check the chapters in the years prior to that. But if you know, then please do share with us any revelations that you find out in the comments below. And while I'm at it, please do subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, because I'd really appreciate the support and in return you will be provided with more One Piece discussions. Regardless of how long or how short this tradition dates, it does seem like Oda is, as of late, consciously timing some of his biggest moments to tie in with the final chapters of one year and the opening chapter of the next. It sort of felt like a Christmas present, where I've been surprised with a gift that I didn't even know I needed or wanted. And instead of milk and cookies, I've been leaving Oda with tears of joy and admiration. And in light of this suspected trend, it's occurred to me that this time of year has once again come around. We are almost at the end of 2022, meaning that we only have likely two chapters left for the year. I mean, holy crap, where did the year go? And while I am sad that this means we're going to be facing another break over the holiday season, this can only mean that Oda will be blessing us with some particularly fire chapters in the weeks to come. But this does leave the question of what exactly will this entail. For the past couple of months, we've made some steady headway into the Egghead Island arc and Oda has actually already dropped a whole lot of lore and huge reveals about the history of One Piece. Twists and turns that have already changed how we view some of the biggest mysteries in the series, such as the aftermath of the Ahara incident and what that means for some important characters, as well as truly unexpected information about the Void Century and the Ancient Kingdom, which should actually be more aptly called the Futuristic Kingdom. There are also other very important and pressing side stories that Oda is going to have to come back to at some point. For example, we haven't found out the results of the showdown between Lore and Blackbeard and what has happened to Kobe and how this all may link back to the Rocky Port incident. But the latest developments seem to be narrowing in on the conflict between the CP-Zero who have recently arrived on Egghead Island, the Vega Punk army who will have to battle these killer agents unless they themselves want to be exterminated and the straw hats and Bonnie who have found themselves caught up in this mess. And the trend behind these special chapters that are released during this time of the year seem to contain two very important elements. The first is action and the second is lore. It's the not-so-secret recipe on what really gets us going. And the recent developments are perfectly poised to result in these two very elements. We can definitely anticipate some action between all the parties who are currently present on the island as well as some lore in the form of Kuma and Bonnie's backstory given that Kuma also now seems to be on his way to join the fray. And there are some really interesting things to be said about each of these. The widespread expectation seems to be that Luffy will easily load if Rob Luchi. And fair enough, given Luffy's recent power-ups and his latest achievement in leading the victory against Tu Yonko, a former villain we've already witnessed getting beat, doesn't immediately pose a huge threat. But Oda seems to have made a point in reminding us of Luchi's ruthlessness in his recent one-shot of Atlas, giving us still cause to fear the secret agent assassin. It's important to remember that not only has Luchi won back his role as a cypherpole agent, but he has risen in the ranks to become one of the CP-Zero members and better yet become one of the masked agents. And we know what being a masked agent means. So given that Luchi is back in the series, and Oda has positioned him to be an opponent yet again, surely this means our leopard man has also powered up since we last saw him. Maybe he's even achieved the awakening of his zoan devil fruit. I will have to say that I'm slightly disappointed that the CP-Zero have completely bypassed the ports of Eckerd Island given the presence of the sea beast. It completely makes sense that they have done so. But this also means that Zoro and Brooke are completely left out of the action or for now anyways. I've already discussed my thoughts on wanting Brooke to fight the former CP-9 members and how this would be an awesome callback and provide some continuity of each of the straw hats getting a one-on-one against the cypherpole agents. But this doesn't seem to be happening or not yet at least. But the fact that Zoro and Brooke have been separated from the rest of the crew must have been for some purpose. And I did think fighting the CP-Zero was going to be that purpose but seeing as it's not now I'm wondering why. Usually when we see characters being isolated like this we get some sort of side story or journey that will later connect to the overall plot line. But the Zoro and Brooke front have been pretty much silent. But then again given the expectation to come across some crazy chapters in the weeks to come we'll be also see some totally unexpected storyline affecting our straw hat swordsmen. Maybe they'll be tasked with fighting the Mihawk Seraphim for some unknown reason. As for the clearer battle against the CP-Zero agents I don't know what I'm excited to see more. The different fighting styles of the vagabunk clones. Robin getting some sweet revenge although I do have to comment on this sweet moment featuring Sanji trying to protect Robin. God I love Oda's attention to detail. Or Luffy showing off his new power-ups. Will he really load if the cypher pole as is widely expected? Or is he going to be forced to resort to his awakened powers and will this be what sparks the conversation between him and vagabunk about the nature of devil fruits. Luffy's Nica devil fruit in particular and maybe more lore about Joy Boy and the ancient kingdom. Because we do need to fulfill that lore aspect of Oda's special tradition. And the most obvious revelation in relation to this would be Kuma's backstory. This has been one of the biggest mysteries since even before the time skip and ever since we found out about Kuma being part of the revolutionaries all the way back in the Saabodi archipelago arc. His epithet being the tyrant despite his otherwise religious demeanor. His relationship with vagabunk and the world government allowing the scientists to conduct those experiments on him. And more recently the confirmation of him being Bonnie's father. There are so many paradoxes and seemingly conflicting traits that have made Bartholomew Kuma such an interesting character and these are all questions we need answering. It's also likely that revelations about Kuma's past will also unveil more about Monkey D Dragon as well as the history of the Revolutionary army which may also then result in some more information about the ancient kingdom in that case. Especially if we combine this with all the information that vagabunk holds. I wouldn't be surprised if we see another cut away to the Gorose discussing everything vagabunk knows about the ancient kingdom revealing more information about the truth of the void century. Again my money's on the true nature of devil fruits. With all things considered vagabunks extensive research and work on genetic modification and lineage factors combined with the information he learned whilst reading the surviving books of the Ahar and scholars and added to that Luffy's own very special Nika devil fruit. I think we can expect some crazy new details about the very nature of devil fruits. Whether that be the revelation that all devil fruits are actually artificial having been created by the futuristic ancient kingdom or whether the truth about the devil fruits tell us a lot more about the true nature of the one piece world which is actually even more mystical and marvelous than it already seems. Either way I think the truth about devil fruits is a revelation that will result in the requisite all factor that we're used to around this time of the year. A new reveal that will completely reshape how we view devil fruits and devil fruit powers. The first power system we were introduced to in the series. So in saying that if you have any ideas about the truth behind devil fruits then please do let us know by leaving a comment below or if you have any other ideas as to what sort of jaw-dropping groundbreaking revelations that Oda has to share with us to close off 2022 and lead us into 2023. Then please by all means share those in a comment below as well. Please do subscribe for more One Piece discussions. You can also join our Joy Fleet discord server or even become a Patreon or channel member and I do want to thank all our executive officers for help supporting the channel. This is Joy Girl and I'll see you again soon.