 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. Today we have a manga review of chapter 907, The Empty Throne. And yeah, this week is pretty damn insane, and I've got to just jump straight into it with a potential alliance between Big Mom and Kaido. This is big news of the highest order because if this were to happen, I don't believe that there is a single power in the world that could stop them. It took the entirety of the Marines plus the Shichibukai to face but a single Yonko in the form of Whitebeard, and even then it also took Blackbeard's entire crew to take the man down. Although I do think the Marines probably would have won without Blackbeard, but only barely. The point is that the world simply cannot handle two Yonko combining their forces, which is why the Marines are quite rightfully shitting themselves during this chapter. But this development excites me a hell of a lot. At many points during the whole Cake Island arc, I speculated that Big Mom may pack up and follow the straw hats to Wano. This is mainly based on the fact that we were introduced to a lot of characters like Charlotte Smoothie and Ifuku who weren't given a single shred of development despite being incredibly important members of the Big Mom Pirates. So I thought it would be a pretty cool idea if they all carried over into the next arc, and it looks like they'll do just that. Which also makes the really sudden ending of Whole Cake Island feel a lot more fluid because Big Mom's part of the story hasn't concluded, it's simply changing arena. Very importantly though, when I speculated about this happening, my belief was that the Big Mom Pirates would be caught up in an engagement with Kaido, becoming enemies and sparking a war that would cripple both forces. Giving Luffy's faction a chance to defeat Kaido. And maybe even Big Mom would get taken out somehow, perhaps in a very black beard kills white beard-esque manner. But it appears that things are going to be heading in the exact opposite direction, which is terrifying because I was already pretty skeptical about how we were going to take down the forces of a single Yonko, especially after we've seen their overwhelming power first hand during Whole Cake Island. And now we need to deal with two? Oh my god. However, this is incredibly convenient in terms of the meta narrative because we now no longer need to revisit Whole Cake Island for Luffy to keep his promise of defeating Big Mom. Because I think that by the end of Wano, both Big Mom and Kaido will be out of the picture, paving the way for the worst generation to take their place at the top tier of this world and seriously commenced the race for Pirate King. But the thing I find most intriguing about this whole portion of the chapter is that we now have official confirmation that Big Mom and Kaido have quote unquote history. It would seem that there used to be some form of alliance between the two of them, and I'm going to get straight to the point, they totally boned down. Yeah, enjoy that image. Now a long time ago at the end of last year in fact, I posted a video that was more or less meant to be a joke titled The Son of Kaido. In this video, I compared the appearance of Charlotte Oven to that of Kaido and noted that they are actually strikingly similar. So I proposed the hypothesis that Oven was the son of Kaido. Now this was all speculation based on a single panel of manga really, and it also didn't take into account the fact that Oven, Daifuku and Katakuri were triplets, the latter two sharing very little to no aesthetic resemblance to Kaido whatsoever. But with this chapter, I'm going to resurrect the idea that Kaido and Big Mom had children, and they just so happened to be three of her most monstrous creations. I think it makes a degree of sense because of Big Mom's desire to have every type of creature united within her family, and Kaido certainly is a unique kind of creature, whatever the hell he may be. But other than that, my mind is racing with exactly how many other parties are going to need to show up for what promises to be a bigger event than Marineford. I mean, we'll definitely need the Grand Fleet. I can't see Luffy not calling them in for this. We've also got the entirety of the Ninja Pirate Minx Samurai Alliance, which is pretty much the entire Minx Tribe, the Heart Pirates and the Wano dudes. And just a note on Wano, there's an intriguing thing brought up this chapter about how the forces of Wano are completely unknown. I imagine that they'll have some pretty powerful Samurai that will fight on the side of Luffy to overthrow Kaido though. Then there's also Marco, who from a narrative standpoint is practically guaranteed to show up, and who knows, he may even be able to reunite the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and rally them to Luffy's cause. That would be interesting because that goes a long way towards cancelling out the power of Wanyanko. Although it should be noted that with the involvement of Marco, probably also comes Edward Weevil, and he is highly unlikely to be on anybody's side except his own. So he might just cause general chaos for all. But that's still just not enough, is it? But luckily we've also got some members of the worst generation who are almost guaranteed to be taking part in the Wano arc. Lore we've already mentioned is part of the Heart Pirates, but Eustis Kid is currently being held prisoner by Kaido. Then there's Killer who will presumably want to rectify that, and Hawkins also has a staking kid's well-being. Then there's Scratch Manapu and X Drake who look as if they've joined Kaido, but just like Apone they could easily turn tail. And who haven't we covered? Eruge. Eruge was kind of present when Kaido defeated Kid, so he may very well get involved somehow, especially if Big Mom is present because he may want to take another crack at her forces. And Bonnie. Well currently I have no reason for Bonnie to get involved, which is a shame because it looks like this arc is gearing up for just about every member of the worst generation to stand up and make a grand statement to the world. Even Blackbeard could show up. But I'm going to end the speculation right here, because there are going to be a billion horrible text to music YouTube videos that you can watch containing all of those ideas. So let's pull our heads out of the clouds temporarily, and get back to the rest of this damn amazing chapter because we have hardly scratched the surface. We are going to continue the Onko theme though by discussing the very end of the chapter when none other than Shanks meets with the Gorase. First of all, hell yes, amazing to see Shanks as always, but really hard to know what to make of this. Confusion is a word that comes to mind. I mean generally it's been an accepted belief that the pirates are the enemy of the world government, particularly the Onko Hrchen, no threat to destroy everything they hold dear at any given second. But then again Shanks is a unique individual, because I'm more or less going to presume that he has visited Raftel and knows the true history of the world. So maybe the truth of the matter is that the Gorase themselves aren't that bad, or perhaps they're even a necessary evil. Something along those lines. Of course the alternative is that there is a threat out there so concerning that these natural enemies are willing to put their differences aside, and that could very much have to do with the certain pirates they wish to discuss. There are two obvious options for who this may be. The first of which is Blackbeard. He is definitely plotting away in the background, collecting devil fruits, and for whatever reason destroying the base of the revolutionary army. Now Shanks has been very consistently worried about Blackbeard in the series, dating back to when he tried to warn Whitebeard about him after the Ennis Lobby arc. Shanks is probably one of the only individuals in this world who sees the true threat of Blackbeard, and he saw it long before the audience was even aware of it. So I can see him approaching the Gorase to address his extreme concerns once more. I mean let's be real, what other option does he have? Whitebeard was the only other reasonable Yonko to approach, given how volatile both Big Mom and Kaido are. So this discussion could be a very last-ditch effort to turn the world's attention to Blackbeard and prevent him from becoming the pirate king. Then again the other candidate is Luffy. I'm not so sure why Shanks would come all the way to Marishwa to discuss Luffy, but the Gorase are holding newspapers, which could be a hint that they are referencing the news about Luffy's bounty. The reasons why Shanks could be seeking an audience in regards to Luffy are speculative at best. There's a lot of stuff that's been thrown out there about Shanks. For example, the theory that he is a Celestial Dragon or was a Celestial Dragon, or that he is the caretaker of the Will of D, or even the weird theory that Shanks is the ultimate mastermind of the entire series. So I'm going to put the Luffy being that certain pirate idea on hold this week because we really have less than nothing to go off. With all of that said, there is one other person that this certain pirate could be, and it's not going to be anywhere near as exciting as Luffy or Blackbeard, but his name is Edward Weevil. I get that Weevil was a highly underwhelming character during his introduction, but he has some serious power behind him. And if he is in any way comparable to his alleged father, Whitebeard, aka the strongest man in the world, then that is cause for slight concern. But moving on from that, I said last week that the reappearance of Saint Charles was setting himself up for another Luffy-style punch, and hey, I was kind of right. A very unexpected character, Saint Mosgar, pops up and socks him in the face with the club, which is a very primitive and unrefined weapon for a world noble, I would think. Regardless, it is incredibly satisfying to see, especially because the panel almost mimics exactly the one where Luffy punched Charles during somebody. But I probably shouldn't say unexpected character in regards to Mosgar though, and me Marishwa is his home. I guess forgotten character is more accurate. But I love this because it reminded me that we never got to see any of Otahime's travels with Mosgar during the Fishman Island flashback, so I am really hoping that we get some sort of resolution and explanation there. And I really hate to say this because Mosgar was such a prick, like most of the world nobles, but I kind of like him now. I love that he saved Shirahoshi, the daughter of Otahime, because even if he was only doing this to repay a debt, because remember, Otahime took a bullet for him. It shows us that Mosgar has learnt some humility, and dare I say it, some value in life other than his own. It's just cool, but the other incredible thing we have here is the revelation of his full name, which is Don Quixote Mosgar. This is confusing at first, because it's not exactly clear where he fits in as a Don Quixote. I would say that Mosgar in the Fishman Island flashback looks about the age of Saint Charles in the modern timeline. Not that I have any idea how old that is, because all of the world nobles are hideously deformed in general. I can't imagine that Charles is much older than his mid to late 20s. So let's say Mosgar was that old when he went to Fishman Island. That was 10 years ago. So he's currently mid-30s, possibly 40 now, which puts him in the same realm as Dolflamingo, who is currently 41 years old. All right, so unless Mosgar is the secret child of homing, he has got to be a cousin of Dolflamingo. However, during the scene with Mosgar, we were also treated to an appearance from CP Zero, and Kaku has finally officially been confirmed as a member. I highly enjoy his fluffy top hat. Stussy and Rob Luchia are also there, which is cool, as is the mysterious tall dude with a mask that we saw during Dressrosa. Oh, and Hartery is also looking quite fly, because he's a pigeon. But moving on to something much more important, this week, One Piece suddenly became Game of Thrones with the introduction of the empty throne. This throne looks pretty damn magnificent. It's so simple yet incredibly detailed. I particularly like the obelisk lord portion ascending into the heavens, which is also covered with lots of dots that look very similar to the vague parts through the grand line that we've seen. So this is complete speculation and bullshit, but I wonder if the throne actually contains a map of the grand line and the new world. Probably not, and they're just lovely dots for the hell of it, but hey, throwing it out there. I really like the concept of the empty throne surrounded by weapons, representing the 20 nations that forge the world government. And of course, it is a sign of peace that nobody is sitting in the throne, but come on. I don't think that Odor is going to introduce a throne just to have it remain empty. If you're at all familiar with the world of theater or literature, you may know of a dramatic principle known as Chekhov's gun. This is the idea that every element in a story must be necessary and to not make false promises to the audience. So for example, if in the first act of the show you have a hung pistol on the wall, then at some stage during the show that pistol should be fired. Otherwise, don't put it there because you're making a false promise to the audience. Obviously there's a lot of argument to be had over that particular idea, and people can even use false promises to subvert expectations. But in this case, I can't see Odor introducing a chair this profoundly important just for somebody not to sit in it. And right now, the most glorious picture I have in my head is dragon sitting on that throne. But my god, we still aren't done with this chapter because it was packed with cameos. In addition to the characters from the previous chapter, we have marines such as Gizaruhino, Jango, Full Body, Momonga, and Doberman present amongst others. However, the two most important cameos in my eyes are incredibly obscure and they are Momo Usagi and Shaton, literally meaning Pink Rabbit and Brown Pig. And these characters are both amazing because they sprang from the SPS section of Manga Volumes. When somebody asked Odor when Marine Admiral Momo Usagi would appear, and Odor then responded by drawing her and also clarifying that she is a Vice Admiral. These two characters also appeared in Film Gold, which was pretty amazing as well, but now they are actual proper canon characters in the series. So that person who invented Momo Usagi and asked that SPS question must be feeling pretty amazing. And that pretty much does it for the overwhelming chapter that is 907. If you enjoyed this video, then feel free to like, favorite or subscribe, and please do comment with your thoughts on the chapter. Also, if you're in any way inclined to feel free to follow me on the old Twitter as well as join the Grand Line Review Discord server. Links to both of which are in the description below. This has been the Grand Line Review, and I'll see you next time.