 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line review, your source for everything one piece, and today we have a review of chapter 970, Odin vs Kaido. And that title quite accurately sums up this week's events, with this very much being the moment that many fans have been waiting for, as after acting like a fool for the better part of half a decade, Odin and his forces have finally stood up to the might of the beast pirates. Although despite it taking up the bulk of the chapter, the entire thing is dealt within a very montage-like manner, so the entire experience feels very very swift, which is a bit of a shock after just how much this conflict was seemingly being built up during the last chapter. Because at the end of 969, it felt like we were gearing up for some sort of incredibly epic clash, however I do completely understand why Odin decided not to take this route with things, because this event is not the centerpiece of the flashback. I imagine that the execution would serve that narrative purpose, and meanwhile when we cut back to modern day events, that will be the stage for action to truly dominate. The one thing I can't help but feel though is wanting more from Kinemon and the rest of the Scabbards, as well as Shinobu actually, because she is here now. Because this chapter had a really fantastic part where Odin kicked into gear and just demolished a ton of the beast pirates, which prompted all the Scabbards to follow. And seeing that kind of action from Odin is great and there's a bit more to focus on with him as well, but the rest of the characters were very neglected. Although once again I believe this to be a very purposeful move, because the right time to showcase these guys is going to be back in the modern day, because they are all still alive and kicking, so that is when they'll get their chance. Still after spending the better part of a decade with some of these characters, I can't help but want to see Kinemon, Raizo, Kandro, and the others in combat at one of the most dire stages of their life. At the same time though the logical part of me recognises that taking the time to focus on that too much would continue to bloat what is already the longest flashback in one piece. And given that this battle doesn't contribute greatly to the meat of the story as a whole, I do think it's very much for the best that the entire thing was concluded within a single chapter. And for those who want more, well that's what the anime is for it seems, because when they reach this point I guarantee that this one chapter will play out over at least two, maybe even three episodes. Getting to the highlight of the chapter for me though, it was most certainly when Odin struck Kaido. This panel is nothing short of stunning, and you can really feel the impact of Odin's slashes thanks to Kaido's expressions of utter what the hell. I know that we really don't know much about Kaido in the grand scheme of things at this stage, but I highly doubt that he or anybody else was expecting any form of injury because invulnerability seems to be Kaido's thing. But don't expect this figure, who very well could have taken down the dragon boy. But with all of this in mind, I would like to note that all of this still happened 20 years ago, so I don't want to be hearing stuff like, oh Odin equals Yonko level confirmed her, because Kaido at this stage most certainly did not exude the same godlike force that he does today. In fact, Kaido is most famously known for his incredible sort of defeats in the past, so I really would not read too much into the skirmish. With that said, I don't think it's even a question that Odin could have won at this stage. Especially when you consider that this fight took place under Kaido's ideal conditions as well. He had the time to muster his forces, including King and Queen, and even chose the location of battle. Kaido could not have been better prepared to take on these 11 individuals, and he still came very close to losing absolutely everything. So that's pretty incredible to think about. And the only thing that really prevented Wano from being saved right here and now was the interference of the mana-manonomi user, and what's incredibly creepy to think about is the fact that Higurashi at some stage must have had access to Momenosuke in order to touch him in his present form, meaning that she must have impersonated someone incredibly recently to get close to him. And so this whole situation becomes awfully suspicious all of a sudden, and very much reignites the traitor of Wano idea. Although Kaido does a very good job of that himself by pretty much outright stating that he has a spy within Odin's castle. And while that could be something very simple like a servant or another low level being of some kind, that is definitely the boring answer, and one piece does not often go for that choice. So whoever the traitor is, I suspect that they allowed the mana-manonomi user to touch them and use their guise in order to get close to people like Momenosuke and commit their forms to the fruit's memory system. And you know what, we may even be very likely to find out who that is quite soon, because if it is one of the scabbards, well, they're all currently imprisoned, so one of them should be receiving some sort of special treatment, and I guess by special treatment I mean not being executed. But it's just so hard to see any of them as the traitor at this point though, because I would definitely rule out Kinamon, Ashredoji, Raizo, Nekamamushi, and Inorashi. And it's because they've all just had far too great a display of loyalty, which leaves us with Dendro, Kondro, and Kiku, all of whom are much more of a blank slate to me, but we'll see I guess. Something I do want to go into though is that last week it was mentioned that an event was coming up known as the Hour of Legends, and I think that most people, very much including me, took that to mean that it was referring to the battle that we would come to see during this chapter. But after reading it, I highly doubt that this is the case, mainly because this conflict was treated as nothing particularly special, and the people of Wano had an almost neutral reaction to it, not something that I think anybody would ever label as an anything of legends. And with that in mind, I think it's more likely that this Hour is going to be closer to the execution of Odin, with the Toki prophecy business happening within said Hour, and leaving Wano with some mystery and speculation earning this event title. And something else I do want to discuss is that before this whole battle thing takes place, Kaido notes that if Odin had teamed up with Yogoro, many years before, and combined the Might of the Samurai with that of the Akusa, then he and Orochi really would not have stood a chance at all, which after seeing how difficult it was to deal with 11 people in this one chapter, I completely agree there. But something else I very much agree with though, is Kaido calling Odin too soft, because here's the thing, as much as we don't know exactly why Odin agreed to a deal with Orochi, at least part of it had to do with protecting the people of Wano. So in theory, Odin shows this path to ensure their safety, however in doing so, he doomed the country to tyrannical rule for at least two decades. I mean more actually, because there was the five years he spent dancing naked, so a total of a quarter of a century at least. And then you have to ask yourself, well how many people would have died during that time due to Orochi's cruelty? Like being forced to work to death in the Prison of Mine, or even committing suicide to avoid the pain of starvation, like we have seen many about to do. And I get that this is a way to highlight Odin's honourable to a fault personality, and it will lead to a nice traumatic conflict in the modern day. But in the end, the more favourable trade, probably would have been to stand up and fight right there at the beginning, with some civilian casualties yes, but then not incur the absurd amounts of people who would come to die over the next two decades. Although maybe eventually discovering Odin's full reasoning for his actions will clear this up, because at the moment I'm still left with that strange feeling I had last week, of constantly asking myself why we are even in this situation to begin with. If the only thing at stake was protecting the citizens from boys and arrows or whatever, then there was no reason for Odin to make it such a cryptic scene of intrigue. In any case, in regards to this chapter overall, it was a false climax. One that we knew was going to happen because in the flashbacks, dramatic weight is never put on any particular fight, but generally on the moment of death of a character. So as much as I felt after last week that we were going into something big, what happened in 970 makes nothing but sense. In fact, one could even make the argument that this was the most inconsequential chapter of the Wanna Flashback yet from a narrative standpoint because when you think about it, nothing happened during 970 that we didn't know already. Nothing important anyway, because we knew that Odin was the one who dealt Kaido, his one and only wound, we knew that Odin's rebellion would fail, and we knew that he would be sentenced to be boiled alive. And all this chapter really did was show that information we already knew in its process of occurring. I think the only thing that comes even close to being surprising or new information, at least would be how heavily Shinobu is involved in these events, but that's about it. So in some ways it was a very technically necessary chapter, but it was still a lot of fun to read because I for one will never be complaining about seeing Kozuki Odin or Kaido in action, but I am glad that we've dealt with this stuff now, because after the battle is where things start to get really mysterious and interesting, aka the hour of legends. So I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of Toki, as the Kozuki clan reaches their most desperate point, although I don't know how much I'm banking on seeing too much of her. Toki at the moment seems to be quite deliberately ignored in this Odin flashback, she's just kind of there which is utter utter madness considering how ridiculously important she is. But I have stated my thoughts on this before, and I feel like she is bound to have her own separate flashback potentially. She isn't the only one though because over the last two chapters, I've gotten a really strange impression of Kaido as well. He's another character who all of a sudden is just there, and almost deliberately ignored as well. Well ignored beyond his necessary involvement, which leads me to believe the same thing in regards to him as Toki. I feel like Kaido is bound to have his own personal flashback in the future, because this man has quite the story to tell, and part of that will no doubt how he became involved in Wano. But it just feels like there are a lot of really big pieces missing here, because after this whole Odin business is done, it's not going to give us the full picture. And that's pretty crazy because by traditional arc standards, we would be rocketing towards a conclusion right now, given that we are 61 chapters in. Yet Wano almost feels like we're very much still in the meddling phase, and there's still so much to explore in the modern day as well. With characters like Hawkins, Apu, Drake, Nekomomushi, Kyoshiro, etc. there's so many more. And I can't come to any other conclusion other than this arc is going to be massive. At the moment, I would be shocked if we were more than halfway through, because there just aren't enough pieces in place yet for the big action finale. So I will once again suggest that we all get very comfortable, because this is going to be a long ride. But in regards to this chapter specifically, there was also a lot to like about it that I haven't mentioned yet. In fact, a very special mention needs to go to Chibi Shinobu, who is the most adorable thing ever, and her baby ninja attire. In general, I also find it quite interesting how increasingly important she seems to be in the story, having spied on Odin's conversation last week, so it looks like she is an awful lot more than just a gag presence. Also, every time Hiyori appeared in the chapter was very delightful. She was equally as adorable having her hair done by Toki, whilst Momonosuke was very seriously reading a book about swordsmanship. Plus, in a panel further into the chapter, Hiyori is performing one of her signature drop kicks on Momonosuke, which is always fantastic, and she's just such a delightful child. Very reflective of what we know of her in the modern day, although much less reflective of Komarasaki. But I won't get into that business again, because I imagine you've probably all had enough of my, uh, crackpot thinking. But that pretty much does it for chapter 970. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produces in general, then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon, because the support of all of you amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. And if you'd like to see more videos like this but applied to other anime and manga series, then please do check out my second channel, New World Review, for all of your wider needs. 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