 Three, two, one. Happy new year! Wow. 2024, I can't believe how fast the last year flew by. Maybe it's especially so because 2023 was such a jam-packed year, especially for One Piece fans. 2023 was a huge year for us. We were just eating all year long. The One Piece anime, crazy good episodes. Episodes that captured the hype of those key climax moments of the Wano arc. Sanji vs. Queen, Zoro vs. King, Luffy and Gear 5th. My god, that was a fantastic episode. And towards the end there, the anime added in some filler, but actually well done filler scenes to really flesh out the finale of the mammoth arc. Give us some closure, bring the chapters to life, which is the direction that we all really want for the anime. And now we also know that the series is getting reanimated. And I'm personally someone who actually enjoys the slow and simple style of the earlier One Piece, but I am so equally excited for this reanimation. This is just what is needed to bring even more fans on board and bring new life into the series. Obviously hopping onto the hype train that the One Piece live action generated, and why not? The One Piece live action was an overwhelming success. Probably one of the highlights of 2023. The Netflix adaptation just delivered and reached heights that none of us expected. Trending number one globally, new fans getting on board, including my own friends who now share the love that I feel for the series, which brings me so much joy that you don't understand. Now they're even talking of future seasons all the way up to season 12. And in terms of the series itself, we've just had so many crazy developments. Reveals on a scale that no one anticipated. More lore, more mystery, and a fantastic backstory. Maybe one of the best backstories in the series to date. Just week after week, Oda gave us quality chapters. Well, not weekly, because the man did take some much-deserved breaks, which is something I hope he actually continues, especially if it means that he's going to continue to deliver the quality that he did over the last year. And going by his comments at Jump Festa, he is ready. Oda is ready to deliver. Egghead might wrap up this year most likely so that we can go to Elbuff, a battle between two legends over the one piece. My God, we have some big things happening this year. And if Oda is ready, I am ready. I am ready to eat. And I know you all are too. More than anything, I'm ready to get to 100K subscribers this year. And if you wanna help me, please click subscribe if you haven't already. This way you can have the pride, joy, and my gratitude for being a part of the first 100,000 members of the Dory Fleet. But that's enough. Let's jump right into it. The first chapter of 2024, or at least the first official chapter of 2024. And it's a big one, guys. It's a big one. I've reread this chapter a number of times now, and there is a lot happening. So pay attention, because we're gonna blow some minds today. First thing we're gonna talk about, first thing that caught my attention, what is Kizuru doing? What is this man up to? Because this yellow monkey is acting sus. He is 51 shades of gray in this chapter. Kizuru's loyalty, his allegiance, his innermost thoughts and feelings have been pretty shady, pretty murky, ever since he arrived at the good. And Otis kept us questioning, especially as we found out more about his history and relationship with Vega Punk, with Sentomaru, Bonnie, and Kuma, the lot of them. But this, this is when I say... This is the chapter when I say Kizuru is on their side. He was only in two panels in chapter 1103, but those two small panels have triggered some bells in my brain. Because this chapter may be the most emotional, most concerned with scene of Kizuru, who up to this point, even when expressing emotions, seemed pretty detached. But here, he actually seems to care and be alarmed at the fate of his friends. Which is why I'm going to go out on a limb here, and I'm gonna say, Kizuru fed Luffy. Kizuru's the one who saved Luffy and got him the food. He's the only one that could've done it. Right before we see Kizuru expressing concern for Sentomaru and Bonnie, we see that Luffy was asking for food, asking for meat so that he could regain his energy. And Atlas responded that she couldn't move so she couldn't do it. And that's important because supposedly, none of the straw hats and the Vega Punk should be able to move right now because Saturn is pinning them down somehow. But who would Saturn not be using this power on? Kizuru, because Saturn doesn't see the need to because he thinks that they're part of the same side. And so the next time we see Kizuru in this chapter, he's sitting down now. When did he get up? This panel also happens to be right after we find out that someone gave Luffy food, someone gave Luffy food without Saturn being able to realize. Who can move like that? That fast, that skilled to go undetected. Someone of Kizuru's caliber. Look, I may be wrong here, but as of this moment, I am convinced that he used his devil fruit ability like we saw him do when he fought a Puerza body and it was Kizuru that got Luffy the food because he wants to help his friends survive. It's the perfect way to continue developing Kizuru's character after what we've seen so far in this arc and really it's the only natural progression for this character from this point forward. Now I don't know how it's all going to pan out. Maybe Kizuru will only help them just this once while still remaining in the Marines. Otherwise the implications of yet another admiral defecting to join the ranks of pirates would be huge for the world. Is it going to be part of the earth-shattering news that reverberates across the rest of the world as we were foretold earlier in this arc? Or is it just going to be more of a subtle reveal? Maybe something that Luffy just comments on later that Kizuru's not actually such a bad guy because he gave Luffy food, which is something that's just going to shock the rest of the crew later on. I guess we're just going to have to see, but my point is, Kizuru, I'm on to you. And hey, that rhymed. Next up, Bonnie. It was actually only upon rereading the chapter that a lot of panels with or concerning Bonnie really caught my attention and got me thinking. The first thing is that now that Bonnie has witnessed Kuma's memories and understood the truth of the whole situation, we see that her demeanor towards Vega Punk has changed, which is something that Luffy also mentioned back in chapter 1090, but seeing as it's in this chapter that we actually get to see what transpired immediately after Bonnie witnessed Kuma's memories, what struck me was that Bonnie is now in her original child form. Up to this point, Bonnie has been using her abilities to appear her older self, because that's the persona that she wants to have to appear stronger, more fierce and invulnerable. Even when it was just her and Vega Punk, Vega Punk who already knows her true age, she still used her age manipulation abilities and only showed her true young age as a way to trick and manipulate Vega Punk so that she could attack him. Whereas here in this chapter, we actually see that Bonnie is allowing herself to be her true self and allows herself to be vulnerable because she trusts Vega Punk again. She's reverted back to being just a sweet child with her uncle, which I think is a nice detail. Something that triggers my speculation brain is the sapphire sun necklace that Vega Punk gives to Bonnie on behalf of Kuma. We've seen previously that Kuma's asked Vega Punk to pass on a birthday message to Bonnie, but never that he also left a present. And I have to say that this present definitely seems to be a setup for some future event. Vega Punk describes it to be some sort of protection charm and the fact that there's so much symbolism with the sapphire and the sun, but also that Oda dedicates quite a large panel to this necklace. We seem to have a Shekov's gun situation here. Is it something that Vega Punk designed and or created to have protective qualities? Is it a honing device that connects Kuma to Bonnie? And maybe that's what's guiding Kuma to Egghead. It is just all speculation at this point, but I feel like it's a pretty random detail to add into this chapter for it to not have bigger implications. But maybe the most important development about or concerning Bonnie in this chapter is the reveals about her devil fruit. So Saturn reveals that Bonnie didn't actually eat a devil fruit organically and rather horribilities are the result of some experimentation with devil fruit extract infusions. And I think this suggests a number of things. Firstly, it makes sense that at the time the experiments were being conducted, they were playing around with extractions whether than artificial devil fruits, because we know from Vega Punk and Momonosuke's devil fruit that artificial devil fruits is an invention that Vega Punk really only perfected later on and not 12 years ago when Ginny was still alive. Secondly, the nature of the devil fruit ability really interests me. Upon its first introduction, we just assumed that Bonnie's devil fruit was strictly age-related. And it was only more recently with the Egghead Island arc that we put the pieces together to understand that she could also use her imagination to produce alternate futures. But that idea of possible futures actually seems to be the core basis of her power. She can take on and produce for others their possible futures. But because her power is imagination-based, Saturn also seems to imply that the more she lives out her own life and therefore her future becomes certain, the less imaginative her devil fruit iterations can be. And if you think about it, that's quite similar to Luffy's devil fruit where he can manipulate or use elasticity to bring his imaginations to life. And now that we know Bonnie's devil fruit ability is the result of purposeful world government experimentation. This suggests that the world government intentionally chose the devil fruit ability similar to the Nica devil fruit. Most likely to counter the Nica devil fruit because we all know how much they consider Luffy and the devil fruit to be a threat. The fact that they were using extract infusions may also mean that they were trying to create an army of these devil fruit ability users. And in a twisted way, Bonnie is almost like the prototype of the seraphim. And even more twisted, the prototype for the pacifista army that Vegapunk ended up creating for the world government. In chapter 1099, we and Bonnie's family just assumed that Bonnie unwittingly ate the age-age fruit or the toshi-toshi-no-me because that's the fruit that her abilities most closely resembled. But identifying or misidentifying her abilities seemed to have had the same effect that it had on Luffy. Luffy just understanding his fruit to be the gomugomenomi meaning that for a long time, that's what the fruit was used for without really tapping into its true abilities. I don't know if that means Bonnie needs to or needed to or has already unlocked slash awakened her devil fruit to make full use of the imagined possible futures. Probably not because the nature of her consumption or her obtainment of the devil fruit abilities. Similar to how Momonosuke already turned into a dragon straight away even though Kido's devil fruit is technically a fish fruit which is why Bonnie already has the distorted future power under her belt. But it's also interesting because if Bonnie only has an extraction that means the real devil fruit must exist out there in the real world somewhere. Which means that there may be someone who again can use their imagination to have almost unbridled abilities. It's also interesting because Odo recently confirmed the name of Bonnie's devil fruit in an SBS. But now looking back on his words, it's worth noting that he said that she's an age manipulation human from the Toshitoshinomi without actually outright saying that she ate the Toshitoshinomi herself which is really clever if you think about it. So it actually seems like it was Ginny that was experimented on which is how the devil fruit abilities were passed on to Bonnie and this is what caused the sapphire scales in both mother and daughter. I guess this also explains why Bonnie's use of her devil fruit abilities There's an element of gemstone to the devil fruit ability which also took the form of a disease. Now I'm off two minds about whether Saturn's dialogue about the experiments suggests that Ginny was taken by Saturn to become his wife for the sake of being his experimental guinea pig meaning that Saturn is also Bonnie's father or that Ginny simply ended up becoming Saturn's guinea pig after being taken to Marijuan. So because I was unsure about this I consulted our Joyfleet's residential Japanese speaker for his expert opinion and according to Sekaiichi Saturn seems to be saying It was only me who did drug experiments on your mother once she was brought to be the eighth wife of a person from the Holy Land which seems to suggest that he was talking about another person and not himself but we all know that Oda has a way with words and I also understand that in Japan people often refer to themselves in third person so this could go either way with maybe Saturn still indeed being revealed to be Bonnie's father later on but who knows? Either way it now makes me wonder how many other experimental wives and babies are out there Ginny was wife number eight for God's sake and that's wife number eight of only one celestial dragon How many celestial dragons took on multiple wives for their pleasure only for Saturn to treat as his test subjects later on How many Bonnie's are out there in the world How crazy would it be if someone like Weevil for example is also an experimental baby with crazy powers because the world government wanted to create another white beard Maybe that's what Bakken meant when she said that Vega Punk could prove his lineage to white beard because Weevil was involved in the science experiments and not just because of Bakken's relationship to Vega Punk being the model for his stussy clone Anyways I know that I've gone on a bit of a tangent here and I might be overthinking it Maybe Ginny is the only one that was able to escape and all the other wives slash babies never made her to tell their tales which is actually just sad if you think about it but on that note of overthinking I went back to reread the Egghead Island arc and I found out that the first memory of Kuma that Bonnie witnesses is Kuma wishing that he would just die because he doesn't have the will to go on Kuma says kill me here instead I'm just going to die anyways which is interesting because in this interaction between Bonnie and Saturn Bonnie says some very similar words along the lines of if I'm going to die here anyways but here she says it to attack Saturn still determined to avenge her father until she discovers Saturn's overwhelming powers and his overwhelming role in Bonnie's life and this is something I only understood the full significance of after rereading the chapter a couple of times but when Saturn reveals the truth of her devil fruit abilities to Bonnie Saturn is in effect revealing that he alone is responsible for everything in Bonnie's life Not only is he the man that ordered for Kuma's cyborgification but is also the one responsible for Ginny's death Bonnie contracting that same disease that would then separate her from Kuma The cause of Kuma going through all of those struggles that she witnessed just to find her a cure and then ultimately his death and the only thing that gave her a sense of bravado a sense of pride and agency was her abilities From a young age Bonnie was confident in her physical powers and able to use her devil fruit to outsmart a cypherpole agent to rise in notoriety in the world of piracy by using her devil fruit only to now find out that even this isn't her own this is also owed to Saturn Saturn has since birth controlled her entire life and I think this is what causes her to become so emotionally dejected even despite witnessing everything that her father sacrificed to save her she thinks her life isn't worth living despite her protests to Saturn inwardly she's questioning whether Nika actually exists she's doubting she's losing faith giving up and so here enters Kuma Daddy Kuma to the rescue to restore her faith reinvigorating her will to survive and this was the perfect setup for Kuma so much build up as we see him make his entrance usually when a character has such an epic entrance it comes by surprise but in this chapter we actually see the stages of Kuma making his appearance which strangely causes more anticipation and hype it fit perfectly with the last chapter where we saw the montage of Kuma's life with him running interspersed through it and Oda continues that motif with Kuma running in this chapter running to save his daughter it's so beautiful and poignant because running means that Kuma is actually physically toiling by running rather than just using his devil fruit abilities to simply teleport himself Kuma really is the man maybe the best father in one piece and I'm gonna say it all of anime one panel that really stood out to me about Kuma was this one because it really reminded me a lot of chapter 1099 when Kuma stood up to King Bakori one of the first times we've seen the gentle pacifist Kuma express real rage and violence on such a scale but also this panel really resembles this shot of Frankie which is neither here nor there but I just thought it was worth mentioning on a more significant note something that causes me some concern is that this chapter doesn't actually end with Kuma landing the blow on Saturn I feel like with most chapters like these where a character is making a surprise entrance in a high stakes battle the chapter would end with an attack see for example here 1091 ends with Luffy landing his attack on Kizaru making that hurrah leaving that sort of impact ensure the fight might then go on to show the two struggle afterwards but that moment of impact both physically on the opponent but also that emotional catharsis and payoff for the audience is there in that same chapter but in contrast here we end chapter 1103 with a cliffhanger a huge cliffhanger and given what we know about Kuma being cyborgified and the Gorosei assuming the highest level of command these are my predictions for the next chapter or should I say provided that odor continues with this battle in the next chapter and we don't jump to elsewhere in the world here are my predictions for chapter 1104 so the ending of chapter 1103 naturally sets us up to expect a satisfying blow on Saturn but odor has the chance to stretch this out before giving us that sweet catharsis and satisfaction of seeing Kuma actually punch this detestable man so imagine this as we expect Kuma to land a blow Saturn overrides him the Gorosei uses his command and powers to stop Kuma odor delivering on us a major swerve and a massive case of blue balls and instead the person who actually attacks is Luffy who after eating food has now recovered and Saturn preoccupied with Kuma doesn't notice Luffy making a move so Luffy in all his Nika glory fights Saturn confirming for the Gorosei what a threat this legendary devil fruit and its young but crafty wielder poses while the father and daughter get to finally witness their deity figure in action affirming their beliefs and hopes and faith in the legendary figure as not only a myth but a real hero who will bring about the new dawn but at the end of the day we have to remember that this is Saturn we're talking about here a centuries old figure with unknown powers and abilities and it's only natural to assume that this isn't going to be an easy fight for Luffy who has by now also had to fight a CP-Zero agent and an admiral so maybe Saturn gains the upper hand this prompts the Gorosei to say some cliche line like this is futile you think you can actually hit me to which Luffy cheekily responds I can't but he can and this is when Kuma punches Saturn finally delivering the blow that we were promised all the way from the end of chapter 1103 ironically adding Kuma to the short list of characters who have actually hit a celestial dragon a feat which only chapters prior we saw him comment that no one had done in hundreds of years maybe it will take us back to the end of the god valley flashback and flesh out the interaction between Saturn and Kuma that we didn't get to see and with this mighty punch a satisfactory end to a series of twists and turns that delivers all at once one Kuma saving Bonnie and Luffy ensuring the future of his legacy even if that's the last thing he does as per his wish and his final words to Vegapunk two confirms that Vegapunk really did defy Saturn and provided for Kuma to retain some of his consciousness after all and three Kuma and Bonnie getting to witness their legendary Sun God Nika in action and if it were up to me that's how I would write chapter 1104 but of course I'll leave that for Oda because he's the actual mastermind but what do you think what are your predictions for not only the next chapter but the year of one piece ahead of us let me know by leaving a comment below don't forget to subscribe click like share the video because it goes a long way to spread the channel across the mysterious algorithm of YouTube and if you're feeling really generous you can even become a Patreon or channel member and on that note I want to thank all of our executive officers for their continued support and I want to thank all of you guys for your continued support in 2023 and I know I can rely on you guys for the year ahead thank you for listening to another one of my wild and crazy ramblings you know this isn't the last one this is Joygirl and I'll see you again soon