 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. And today we have review of chapter 991, Let Us Die. And all right, today the countdown has officially begun because including this chapter, we are now officially 10 away from hitting that amazing 1000 mark, which is ridiculous. And not something I ever would have thought possible when I started reading this series back when it was in the late 300s. And with that in mind, I think it's only appropriate that the action on Wano is definitely stepping up and who knows an awful lot can happen in 10 chapters just as a rather surprising amount happened here today. But 991 is the kind of chapter that risks feeling a bit slow and dare I say even a little pointless on a surface level because really not a whole lot happens to progress the story. However, in exchange for that, this chapter gives us a whole host of superb character interactions and really reminds me of one of the core reasons why I love One Piece so much. Because even in a chapter where people are just primarily talking and a bit of action, it's still ridiculously captivating. A boundless captivating is the idea of you subscribing to the Grand Line Review which will go on to deliver regular One Piece content uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. Our current goal is for the Grand Fleet to reach 300,000 members by the end of the year and with your help, I definitely think we can get there. But the obvious place to start would be with Drake and the Straw Hats. And in many ways, this was such a classic interaction at this point. You know, former antagonist suggests an alliance and everyone except Luffy objects to it. The whole scenario very much took me back to the alabaster days when the crew discovered Robin as a stowaway aboard the Going Merry. However, there are some things about this Drake business that do quite surprise me. Firstly, being that Jinbei joined the Zora Frankie bandwagon of being against the idea of trusting Drake. And I think I find that weird because he was the one who really spearheaded the whole alliance with Capone Gang Beige. And as arguably the most wise and member of the Straw Hat Pirates, he should be the first to see great value in a member of the worst generation defecting to their side for whatever reason that is. I mean, yes, it is a very different situation because Jinbei was aware of Beige's plot. Whereas here, there is a very specific point being made about Drake still being quite unwilling to reveal the full truth. Still, you might think that Jinbei would be more or less used to Luffy's tendencies by now, although I suppose you could say the same for the rest of the crew. In fact, that does bring up the greatest strength of Jinbei's reaction though, because he really did feel like part of the crew during this scene. And it was good to have a moment like this because I don't predict many chances for crew comedy going forward with this whole climax. Now Zora's reaction is a bit more understandable because he's a pretty simple guy. Enemy equals enemy. Enemy does not equal ally. And it was really cool seeing him leap straight into combat with Drake because as small of a skirmish as this was, I always appreciate members of the worst generation facing off against each other. And at the same time, Zora and Drake then go on to make quite a nice pair as well later on in the chapter when they both suddenly lash out at scratch when a poo. And with that, I'm wondering if we're starting to properly divide up for some fights during this chapter because there's a couple of other examples, but Zora and Drake's situation ends with the two of them being assaulted by Queen. And I really don't mind the idea of a Drake and Zora versus Queen scenario. And maybe meanwhile, Sanji has a different team up to take on King, which let's be real at this point, Sanji is probably much better positioned to do. With the Raid Suit and Skywalk, Sanji is just much better able to handle King's flight. But back to Drake, I also think it's quite interesting that Luffy treats the situation very differently. I mean, I say differently, this is actually what I kind of expect of Luffy, but it makes it all the more surprising that he treated Yamato with such hostility, especially considering it was under almost the exact same conditions. Yamato, just like Drake, was an unknown and likely enemy popping out of nowhere who dealt with Luffy's opponent and then offered to join forces. But with Drake, he accepts that offer immediately and with Yamato, he's much more irritable and unwilling to listen even for a second. And initially I thought that, well, that might just be because Luffy was in a hurry to maybe save Momonosuke from being executed, but he actually didn't even know that any of that was happening until much later. And I don't know, it's just an interesting little difference between Luffy happening there. Skipping to some great comedy of the chapter though, we have a pretty fantastic quartet forming here with Usopp Nami Ulti in page one. There was a lot of cool things that happened in chapter 991, but I think that my favorite moment was when Usopp was pretending to be Nami. And we just have this fantastic shot of her just completely deadpan, allegedly saying all of these inflammatory things to Ulti. It's such a wonderfully Usopp move. And then it's even accompanied by some very classic Nami with her talking smack whilst running away. And this is the second scene in the chapter where it feels like we might be forming proper matchups. In this case, Usopp Nami versus Ulti in page one. And I do think that is a surprisingly fun idea. Firstly, because Nami and Usopp are such a unique team within the crew. To my knowledge, we've only really seen them work together once on punk hazard against Buffalo and baby five, although I would never go so far as to call that, you know, a fight. But they are an intriguing pair because obviously neither of them is capable of raw strength, yet both of them have access to some pretty fearsome strategic prowess. Some of which is on display in this very chapter with Usopp's attack. And I honestly thought that was one of Brooke's soul techniques at first, but no, it was an Usopp special. And it was fairly effective against page one. Meanwhile, Nami's climate attack has always been one of the most overpowered weapons in the series when used under the right conditions. And I'm very keen for the potential to see her use it in, you know, an actual fight. And I don't know if I should be getting my hopes up very much in that respect because the worst case scenario I can think of at this stage is for Usopp and Nami to briefly engage in a fight, realize how completely our class they are and then have to be saved by someone else. Sort of like Usopp's very awkward situation against Jabba at any sobby. But if we are indeed going down this path, I would much rather see Usopp and Nami come out on top against Ulti in page one. And I don't think that's out of the question either. I mean, yes, they are undoubtedly the two weakest members of the crew, but they are also the two smartest. As comically cowardly as they are, their minds are incredibly sharp and they happen to be up against, you know, what looks like two of the least intelligent members of the toby roper. So this could turn into a very typical brains versus brawn matchup. And the more I think about it, the more keen I become and it should be a pretty hilarious fight as well in theory, should it go ahead. And something else that may or may not be worth flagging is that of course, Sanji noticed Ulti. And Sanji is a bit of a weird figure in this chapter in general actually, because when thinking back on all of the big moments of 991, I actually forgot he was in the chapter at all. But he does have a lot of these sprinkled in moments. Small panels here and there of him popping into the conversation, like when he comments on Ulti, or even better when he placed his trust in Usopp after he and Nami ran off. And that's a pretty big thing actually. And another one of those nice nods to how much belief the rest of the crew has in Usopp. Certainly more belief than he has in himself. But speaking of Sanji, he also features in another scene I quite liked, which was Luffy engaging in Future Sight to see Scratch Menopu's attack incoming. And then Luffy warns Sanji to cover his ears. And yeah, it was a very mind bit of the chapter, but I do love seeing Luffy's progress in action. Every time he whips out Future Sight, it just continues to add value to that extraordinarily long fight against Carter Curry on Hulkic Island. And it just makes everything worth it. But all right, Scratch Menopu. He's back in focus and it's getting a little harder to see a situation where he does eventually betray Kaido. He just seems like such a profound jerk. But I do need to remind myself that Capone was also portrayed as a villain before he eventually joined forces with Luffy. So who knows if that matters? Although in the end, I do think it would be good to have at least one worst generation member standing up as a true antagonist. Because quite frankly, I do see Hawkins defecting the very moment his cards tell him to do so. But Apu is a different story. I think the only way he turns against the Beast Pirates by seeing them all practically defeated. And even then, I don't know how big of an opportunity that is to actually join the other worst generation members. They all hate him. Kid hates him. Drake hates him. I'm sure that Hawkins hates him. Killer probably hates him. Sorrow hates everyone. Lore hates everyone. And Luffy, well, I don't know, maybe Luffy. But it's still not looking too great. So I am very much tossing up the idea of whether or not we'll see the end of a worst generation member here on Wano, specifically Scratch Menopu. And the more romantically adventurous aspect to me wants to believe that once the Onko saga has concluded, that we will shift to exclusively focusing on the worst generation members. And only then and there can they start to be properly taken out. So we shall see, but the part about Apu that I think was the weakest in 991 was anything to do with the numbers. I still don't care about them. And in this chapter in particular, I felt like every panel of them was a bit of a disappointing waste of space. Oh, and I'm also really, really hoping that Hatcher is not going to be the center stage conflict for either Frankie or Jinbei. Both of them definitely deserve better than dealing with a giant bowl cut. However, just like with Nami and Usopp and Zoro and Drake, it would seem that Frankie and Jinbei might be being set up to face off against Hatcher. Heading outside into the moon, let's know though, the strongest and most fascinating material of this chapter definitely happened within these last few pages. And there's three very key things here. The first of which is obviously that we finally have the Soulong forms of Inaarashi and Nekama Mushi revealed. And they do look pretty boss. They're quite similar to how the other minks are in terms of design, which is not so much point in their favor, but I do love how they are drawn in this panel. It's just a really good example of how to use super basic features to structure an image. With the light of the moon around them, their fur has this nice white glow around it, which allows the rest of them to be cast in a degree of shadow, which very much adds to their intimidation factor, rather than being classically one piece bright. Also really, really easy golden ratio use happening with Nekama Mushi filling two thirds of the frame and Inaarashi inhabiting one third. It's very, very simple, but ever so important. I guarantee you that if Nekama Mushi and Inaarashi each had half of the frame, then this glorious picture would look like utter amateur garbage. More to talk about though, because very surprisingly, at least to me, and it shouldn't be, Jack has been defeated. And no, in retrospect, it shouldn't be surprising for many, many reasons. The first of which was that he was unable to overcome the base forms of Nekama Mushi and Inaarashi on zo, the second of which being that Jack got pretty manhandled by Ashura Dolji much earlier on. And thirdly, because he was very clearly struggling in the last chapter, before Nekama Mushi and Inaarashi had even stepped in. I guess it just came as kind of sudden and another example of Oda electing to show minimal action to convey a point or a bit of story. And I do definitely quite like it. However, I do wonder if people are going to complain about this being another, you know, off-screen battle because that tends to happen with things like this. But actually, you know what? You wanna know something sickening. I actually feel kind of sorry for Jack. There's just something so pathetic about that panel seeing his mammoth form on its side with Daddy Kaido coming in to defend him. And he's just so teeny tiny in comparison, like a toy elephant being bullied by a street gang. And I know I shouldn't feel sorry for Jack. He's one of the most horrendous figures in one piece and that's saying something. But there was also something, I don't know if empathetic is the right word, but something empathetic about Kaido stepping in to protect his crewmate, which is not something I would have necessarily anticipated him doing, especially with the Beast Pirate's policy of strength-trumping everything. So it's not the first sign of something deeper with Kaido, I think he's had some very nice noble-esque moments before, particularly showing disgust and disapproval to the actions of Orochi. And he seems to perhaps be very slowly unraveling into a more empathetic figure, which is what we really, really need from our main antagonist in one way or another. And the third thing to note about this section is the ending, absolutely underrated ending here, where we see Kinema launching towards Kaido in full force and slicing through not only his attack, but also Kaido himself. I love it. This whole section is very evocative of the conflict between Odin and Kaido, only instead of one man, it's an entire legion of vassals who together present the same level of power and more importantly will that Odin did, which means that Kaido may actually be in a bit of trouble here because he wasn't exactly able to overcome Odin without the interference of an old hag lady thing. At least that's how I think this chapter is meant to make us feel. Kaido was on the ropes in the Samurai are far more powerful and prepared than we ever could have imagined. And part of me really wants to see a resolution where it's just the vassals that take down Kaido, but I think we all know that's not quite where this is leading. There's just been too many hints about Zoro wanting to take on Kaido, unfinished business between Yamato and Kaido. And of course, Luffy is the most important of all as the designated Kaido crusher. But as much as certain tragedy is incoming, this is easily my favorite Kinema moment of his probably entire existence in the series. And I am incredibly pumped to see the rest of the vassals kick into gear soon, which might be next week because there's no break. Fantastic. The countdown to chapter 1000 will continue smoothly. But that pretty much does it for chapter 991. And what do you guys think? 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