 Wano is like nothing we've seen before. A long, sprawling, complex story with a massive cast of characters that can be quite difficult to keep up with. However, in roughly 15 minutes, that will no longer be a problem. Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review your source for everything One Piece. And today we have quite a special and necessary video because this is one of those rare moments in the series where it doesn't matter whether you're reading or watching One Piece, we all happen to be going through the exact same arc being Wano because this beast began manga publication in 2018 and almost 100 chapters later, it shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Which is tricky ever, so tricky because an awful lot of stuff has happened in this close to 100 chapters now which you may or may not remember. But none of that is going to be a problem after this here video because we are going to go through everything that's happened on Wano so far. After the utter shenaniganry of Hawkeak Island, half of the straw hat pirates led by Luffy make their way to Wano country, a land of samurai based on feudal Japan, a nation which practices an isolationist policy having zero contact with the outside world, meaning that we are now stepping into a complete unknown. And to make matters even more intriguing, shall we say, on Wano awaits our biggest challenge yet, an emperor of the sea and an individual who has been described as the most powerful living pirate, hundred beast Kaido, a seemingly insurmountable challenge but not one that we have to face alone. Currently on Wano, a rebellion has been brewing against Kaido led by Kinamon, the other far samurai we found on Pankazid, the mink tribe from Zo, as well as the rest of the straw hats and even worst generation member Trafalgar lore. However, even with all of these funky allies, nobody would be prepared for what was to come. After arriving on the island via Koi infested what for, the crew were unfortunately split up, leaving Luffy on his own, which is never a good idea, where he experienced the plight of the Wano civilians firsthand. Under the rule of Kaido and his puppet Shogun Orichi, the citizens of the flower capital were gradually starving to death, as well as being forced to work to produce weapons for Kaido's empire. And one young girl in particular served as the vehicle for this plight being Tama, a girl so hungry that she resorted to drinking water that was poisoned by Kaido's factories in order to simply fill her stomach. Meanwhile, already on the island waiting for Luffy was Zoro, who had been left alone, which is never a good idea. And as such, he found himself being framed for a murder, then promptly slicing up the legal official who had accused him. There he stand at Zoro's stuff, really. And against all odds, Zoro would reunite with Luffy whilst on the run, at which point the two were confronted by Basil Hawkins, another member of the worst generation who had submitted his services to Kaido. And here Hawkins displayed his rather maddening ability, something of a mixture between devil fruit and voodoo magic. However, in order to save Tama, Luffy and Zoro would be forced to retreat and take refuge in Okuborita. Another in a long line of simply desolate villages scattered across the nation, and thankfully Tama would be given some herbal medicine and saved. Saved before being promptly kidnapped, that is, kidnapped by a gazelle man wearing fishnet stockings and a portly gent with bat wings protruding from his posterior region. And these two happened to be smile fruit users, by the way, artificially created devil fruits with their questionable benefits to the user, often resulting in comical abominations of nature. However, with nearly 500 of these artificial fruit users incorporated into Kaido's army, they do become rather threatening. So we're off to save Tama again. Yes, look, I know she is becoming something of a problem child, but it does lead Luffy to fighting a sumo as well as another smile user with a lion crotch. But in general, things go very well. So well that we do save Tama again and eventually reunite with both Trafalgar Law and Kinamon. The latter of which just so happens to dump the world-changing information that he, Momonosuke, Raizo, and Kandro have traveled through time and that they are in fact from 20 years in the past. They were sent here by the powers of the mysterious Lady Toki, who had prophesied that there would be no one capable of defeating Kaido and his forces until this very point in time. In her own words, you are the moon unaware of the dawn. May your purpose be fulfilled and cast nine shadows on the night woven of 20 years and you shall know the brilliance of dawn. As such, Kinamon and the others had been sent forward in time to gather allies for this coming night and so the plan from here was simple. In two weeks time, the allied forces of this nation would march on Kaido's stronghold in order to defeat the emperor of the sea and free one are from his grasp. And look, that all sounds great in theory. However, as per usual, what nobody accounted for is a little something that I like to call the Luffy Factor. You see Luffy and plans while they don't mix very well, sort of like pancakes and ketchup. In theory, yes, you can combine the two, but what you end up with looks like more of a bloody mess and there's some foreshadowing for you there. So Luffy being Luffy decided to skip the whole planning phase and just attack Kaido head on, at which point we were properly introduced to the emperor of the sea who possessed a Zoentype devil fruit allowing him to transform into a mythical dragon creature. A form that Kaido enjoyed assuming to terrorize parts of Wano in a drunken stupa and Luffy made to attack Kaido with everything he had. Even whipping out his ultimate gear fourth form and valiantly deciding to save Wano right here and now as well as claiming directly to the face of Kaido that he was the one who would become the king of the pirates. And so everything was set for the greatest conflict that this series had ever seen. Luffy was about to take on his toughest challenge yet but he knew he could do it and so did we. This was the man we'd been following all throughout the grand line, constantly rising to the occasion to overcome those more powerful than himself. And with one strike, this man was completely and utterly defeated. One hit from a sober Kaido was all it took to turn Luffy into a pile of bloody pancakes on the floor. At which point Kaido looked down as far as he possibly could. The expression on his face screaming something along the lines of pathetic. And he said, what king are you going to become again? After which point a broken and beaten Luffy would be imprisoned in the cell next to one of his greatest rivals. Another man who had lost overwhelmingly to the power of Kaido, Eustace, Captain Kid. Thus bring an end to act one of one. So let's be honest, it's definitely not the best start to an arc we've ever had but without our main character being so thoroughly and utterly defeated. But there is plenty of time to rectify that. And we will get right into act two after a quick round of one, no or one. Yes, a very simple minigame the rules of which are as follows. I am going to ask you a trivia question about the one or arc with a yes or no answer and your job is simply going to be to answer one, no or one, yes. And should you answer the question incorrectly then your punishment will be to subscribe to the Grand Line Review which will also result in a consistent injection of one whose content administered straight into your YouTube feed. And if you do guess correctly then you will win this wonderful smile fruit so that you can also grow wings out of your butt. But here is today's trivia question. After washing up on the shores of Wano the very first character Luffy meets is the baboon swordsman, Hihi Maru. Is this a one, no or a one, yes. Please do select your choice now and we shall reveal the answer in three, two, one and bam, it is a one, no. The first character Luffy meets is actually this nameless crab who snaps at his nose. So if you guessed incorrectly then you know the thing to do and please do comment down below if you are a new member of the Grand Fleet, welcome. But onwards with Wano we now step into act two where we are introduced to a flood of new and exciting characters. So having to deal with the fact that Luffy was imprisoned it was very much up to the rest of the straw hats to continue the actual plan until a method was found to break him out. And through the eyes of Nika Robin specifically we are introduced to the ruling class of Wano. Aside from Kaido this nation was run by the Shogun Arochi a purely despicable man in every sense of the word and a man by only the technical sense of the word. And in any case Arochi cared only for his own personal desires and to that end he had arranged a meeting with Wano's highest ranking courtesan named Komarasaki. However this meeting resulted in the unequivocal rejection of Arochi by Komarasaki after which point the courtesan was struck down by Boss Kiyoshiro one of Arochi's top bodyguards. However as it turns out this was but a clever ruse and Komarasaki's death was faked in order to allow her to flee the flower capital and eventually she stumbled Ponzor who saved Komarasaki from an assassin sent to pursue her. After which point Komarasaki revealed that her true identity was actually that of Kozuki Hiyori the younger sister of the rightful Shogun Momonosuke who I suppose is now older than him thanks to time traveling reasons. But shenanigans was also occurring elsewhere on the island as Kaido's forces were now well aware of the straw hat pirates leading to one altercation between Sanji and page one which very much worked out in Sanji's favor. However pressure continued mounting upon the allied forces as it was discovered that there was a traitor amongst them someone who was feeding Arochi information regarding their plans and to make matters infinitely worse Wano was about to be hit by the unstoppable force that is Charlotte Linlin seeking revenge from the events of Hawkeye Kailin this emperor of the sea planned on barging right into Wano in order to take Luffy's head. But unfortunately for big mom after being kicked by a tyrannodon she became shipwrecked and washed up on Wano with amnesia and which point she was discovered by a terrified Tony Tony chopper and then incorporated into their group. Meanwhile within the Udon prison Luffy was actually thriving he was training himself through all of the manual labor and even stumbled upon a curious inmate named Hyogoro who offered to teach Luffy a form of advanced armament Haki a particular way of wielding his Haki that would allow his strikes to penetrate Kaido's ridiculously tough body. In addition to this Luffy and Hyogoro were selected to participate in a brutal event known as the Great Sumo Inferno set up by Queen one of Kaido's most trusted officers and the ruler of the prison and the idea of this event was pretty simple. Luffy and Hyogoro went to keep fighting wave after wave of enemies until they were eventually killed. Good fun. But what was much less fun than that is that at this very moment in the flower capital an execution was being conducted. A former Daimyo of Wano named Shamotsuki Yasue was caught in order to be publicly crucified and through Yasue and the members of his village we were given insight into the true horrors of smile devil fruits as this entire town were fed defective models resulting in the side effect of never being able to display any negative emotions. And so as Yasue was killed in front of their eyes the villagers including Yasue's daughter Toko could do nothing but laugh at the sheer horror and despair laid before them. Back to the prison now and it would be assaulted by an amnesiac big mom crafting much anarchy and confusion which forced Queen himself to fight against the Emperor of the Sea to great success surprisingly. Not only did he manage to knock Big Mom's memories right back into her but he also caused her to fall asleep. And so Queen said about immediately to capture Big Mom and bring her to the only person on Wano who could possibly handle her strength, Kaido. And this was a rather fateful event because without Queen being present the stage was set for Luffy and the other prisoners to revolt and successfully commandeer the prison adding a fairly incredible amount of allies to their cause. And now this may or may not be a good time to point out that Kaido's base was not actually on Wano itself it was on a little offshoot island named Onigashima. And this was where the raid was scheduled to take place however at this point after awakening Big Mom and Kaido found themselves face to face. They were former crewmates having both been part of the Rocks Pirates. However, they did express quite a bit of hostility towards one another to say the least and immediately began a battle that split the very sky above them open and lasted throughout the night. A battle that would only result in further bad news for the Allied forces as after this fight Big Mom and Kaido decided to form an alliance the single greatest pirate alliance ever in history designed rather ambitiously to take over the world as well as to become the ultimate force in finding the one piece. But with little choice left to them the allies continued to prepare for the raid. With Luffy persisting with his arm and Taki training Morzoro also received a bit of a nifty upgrade in the form of Enma a sword that had once belonged to Kozuki Oden the man who would have become Shogun of Wano had Kaido not intervened but with that there was no time left. The appointed day had come and the allied forces commenced their march towards Onigashima thus bringing an end to act to Ovano. And at this stage I'm not sure if this is a battle or a worse ending than act one of Wano because at the very least after the end of act one we were still only dealing with a single emperor of the sea whereas now we are facing off directly against two times emperors of the sea making victory in this situation look all but hopeless. Oh dear. And hopeless is very much how we open act three standing alongside Kinemon and his close allies of the appointed port completely alone. But despite the mysterious absence of the greater forces Kinemon resolved to go to Onigashima on his own if he must which went on to commence a great flashback featuring the life and times of Kozuki Oden. And just as fair warning from here on out we will have spoilers for anime only watches because we are going to go through this flashback and then some so you have been warned. But 41 years ago on Wano Oden was an infamous figure who had been exiled from the capital due to his various outrageous actions such as generally picking fights and burning down casinos. However, despite that Oden was a man of exceptional strength and garnered quite a following over his exile including that of the young Kinemon. But what Oden really wanted was a more extreme form of exile from Wano. He longed to explore the world that his nation was cut off from and he would get this desire when the Whitebeard Pirates became shipwrecked on the island. And no, it definitely wasn't easy to convince Whitebeard to accept Oden as part of his crew. But after a display of peak determination and a grueling three day challenge Oden was invited to take part in the adventure of a lifetime. And he would sail with the Whitebeard Pirates for two years meeting his future wife Toki and even having two children being Momonosuke and Hiyori. But Oden would stumble upon an even more curious adventure when the Whitebeard Pirates encountered their longtime rivals, the Roger Pirates. Their Captain Goldie Roger explained the existence of some enigmatic stones named Ponyglyphs. Historical artifacts that had actually originated from Wano and as such Oden was capable of reading them. So much to Whitebeard sheer displeasure, Oden joined Roger on his quest to find these stones which eventually led them to the final island's Laugh Tale where Oden witnessed the treasure that would become known as the One Piece and after which point Roger would be crowned as the pirate king. But having discovered some integral information on his journey, Oden returned home to Wano determined to open the borders of the country in order to prepare for the future. However, he discovered that in his absence Wano had been taken over by Kaido and Orochi. And after eventually launching an unsuccessful attack alongside his vassals, Oden would be defeated and sentenced to execution by being boiled alive. And whilst Oden would strike a deal to save his vassals his own fate was completely sealed. Oden left them with the instructions to open the borders of Wano as he went on to die with a menacing smile on his face as his lifeless body sank deep into the boiling pot. From here the vassals split up and Toki used her abilities to send a group of them with Momonosuke into the future where they would eventually meet the Straw Hat pirates. Little did they know however that amongst this traveling group was the traitor. Cutting back to the modern day now Kandro elected this very moment to reveal himself as an agent working on behalf of Orochi as he took Momonosuke hostage and several beast pirate vessels closed in to take the lives of Kinamon and the others. However, before all was lost the ships of Monkey D. Luffy, Ustas Kid and Trafalgar Law arrived at the port to commence the raid alongside all of their hard-gathered allies. As it turns out they were just late because Kinamon misread his own plan and showed up at the wrong place. Regardless it did work out for the best and the raid was now on. But also showing up rather unexpectedly for this here raid would be a certain Jinbei who had kept his promise from the end of Holkek Island reuniting with the Straw Hats and becoming an official crew member occupying the position of Helmsman. Good on him. Time to celebrate now though because our allied forces sailed straight into Onigashima where they rather stealthily snuck into an island-wide festival that was being held. And at this point Luffy went off on his own which we have established is never a good idea. And so he caused a commotion but actually ended up being saved by a most unlikely individual. An 11th hour new character named Yamato who happened to be the son of Kaido and held the distinct desire to overthrow the emperor. This was because a young Yamato was present at the execution of Kozuki Oden and was so impressed by him that Yamato vowed to continue Oden's legacy to the point of quite literally attempting to become Oden. Yamato would not be the only additional ally however as during this time Marco the Phoenix and Iso both former members of the Whitebeard Pirates arrived on the island to take part in the festivities. They harbored a deep connection to Oden from the time he sailed with them and in Iso's case he was one of Oden's original vassals. Now as for Oden's son Mamunosuke well he had been taken to Orochi and was now set to be executed within Onigashima which I would like to point out is the third execution scene that we've had in this arc so that's quite a few. But thankfully this one was unsuccessful having been interrupted by the allied forces specifically the vassals who launched an all out attack on Kaido himself and officially commenced the raid. And also Orochi got his head cut off so he's now just kind of lying decapitated on the floor but as the chaos ensued all across the island Kaido transformed into his dragon self in order to face off against the vassals who performed shockingly well against him very much embodying the spirit and even direct techniques of Oden however they would all ultimately and brutally be defeated. Thus leaving the entire fate of Wano and perhaps even the world in the hands of a very few key figures who arrived on the roof shortly thereafter. Eustace Captain Kidd and his subordinate Masked Soldier Killer the Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law the Straw Hat Swordsman Rono Azoro and the Straw Hat Captain Monkey D. Luffy. Five members of the worst generation who are now staring down two emperors of the sea a once in a lifetime generational showdown was about to begin. The outcome of which was set to radically reshape the world as we know it. But paying no mind to the conflict in front of him Luffy walked directly to a broken and beaten Kinamon who tearfully pleaded with the pirate captain to save Wano after which point Luffy invoked his newly acquired skills to deliver a powerful and effective strike on Kaido sending the emperor face down into the rubble below. He then went on to claim I am Monkey D. Luffy and I am the man who will surpass you to become king of the pirates. And that's about everything you need to know to jump into Wano at this stage but if you'd like to know more about the overall history of One Piece in general then please do check out this video that details the complete timeline of the world. Very exciting stuff and I look forward to seeing you there.