Manu Hook: Egghead Island is over, and it has by far been the most lore and detail-heavy one piece arc EVER. Meaning that there has been so much information and action crammed into these 20 chapters, that there have been tons of details and easter eggs throughout this arc that you probably missed, some funny, some weird and some that are just straight up MASSIVE for the ending of one piece. Starting with….
…Our first look at Vegapunk's facility on Egghead Island, which makes it clear right from the start that we’re leaving the traditional Japanese aesthetic of Wano behind for a retro-futuristic fever dream, and towering over all the high-tech wonders of the Future City are two *gigantic* holograms of a monster dragon and a robot, locked together in EPIC combat. It's a powerful panel, and with how much the robot resembles Emeth, who right now as of chapter 1120 is also fighting giant monsters who happen to be Celestial Drgons? Yeah, this is definitely another example of Oda-sensei hiding important things in plain sight.
And to all you Crocomom truthers out there, did anyone else notice that the monster dragon has a weird banana shaped section on its head, kind of like the banana-gators from Arabasta? Just saying. Speaking of things hiding in plain sight, this is a video about interesting details so we can’t miss out on the funny ones.
There’s always been plenty of pop culture references in One Piece, and the current arc is no exception. Heh, you could even call them EASTER EGGheads, amiright? And in keeping with the sci-fi setting, there’s an awesome mix of things from games, anime and movies.
Right from the start we get some serious Astroboy vibes as well as a lot of nods to classic tokusatsu in all the funky robots and monsters, even Godzilla himself seems to be hanging out in the background. On the games front we also get Gear 5 Luffy doing his best Gigantamax Gengar impression during his much anticipated rematch with Rob Lucci, and there’s even what looks like a Super Nintendo controller on one of the buildings. As far as movie references go, the grid patterns on the ground look like they came straight out of the sci-fi classic Tron, and the Iron Giant Emeth is possibly a nod to the book turned movie ‘The Iron Giant’.
The Pacifista Police are getting in on the action too, looking kind of like if a cross between Robocop and Judge Drdd became a mall cop. Come on, tell me I'm wrong. So as you can see already Egghead Island has a *lot* going on, but did you notice how it came to be?
It’s been a work-in-progress ever since the explosion at Punk Hazard four years prior to current events, and during the Kuma flashback we get to see it go from a small winter island, all the way to a state-of-the-art, tropical paradise. So how, you might ask, did they pull off building one of the most impressively high tech settings in the entire story to date, and in such a remote area so close to the very end of the Grand Line? And no, it wasn't just all those fat stacks of dirty government money and the power of science (though they definitely helped), because as it turns out the secret ingredient was actually crime all along.
During the six months Kuma and Bonney were on Egghead Island for treatment we see some of the construction, as well as a panel showing a *massive* container ship arriving with 'Umit Cargo Ship' written on the side. Back during Big Mom's tea party we were introduced to the Emperors of the Underworld, one of which is known as "Deep Ocean Current" Umit, an influential shipping magnate. From the 1069 cover story we know that even back in his MADS days Vegapunk had "Loan Shark King" Lu Feld as a financier, so between him and Stussy, another Underworld Emperor herself, he would have had no trouble getting hooked up with whatever he needed to make all his science dreams come true.
Now you might be curious about what Vegapunk’s been doing on Egghead Island, well, when he wasn’t betraying the World Government that is. We’ve known things weren’t as they seem ever since the reveal that the ‘Island of the Future’ has actually been re-creating advanced technology from a lost past, so isn’t it fitting how our first proper look at the Mother Flame at the beginning of the Egghead Arc wasn't actually our first time seeing it all? That's right, all the way back during Thriller Bark we also had one of the best series of cover stories, 'Enel's Great Space Operations', and if you look closely one of the final installments had Enel inspecting an ancient mural depicting the moon races leaving to settle on the planet, and in the top left is what seems to be a familiar circular structure containing a freely burning flame.
Could Oda-sensei have *really* teased the Mother Flame all the way back in 2007, the absolute madlad? Considering all the other connections between these two arcs it's very likely; the four automata Enel finds on the moon were built by Dr Tsukimi, a scientist from Vegapunk’s home island, and there are a lot of robotic assistants on Egghead too, including a few which look a lot like automata. Some of them even have things like ‘History’ and ‘Petrology’ written on them to show which departments they must work for, which I thought was a nice touch.
Overall the Egghead Arc emphasizes the importance of energy and natural resources, just like Skypeia did. Through the cover story we learned along with Enel how the winged races left their home due to a lack of resources on the moon, so in hindsight it was kind of like getting a peek at Vegapunk’s worst-case scenario. Both arcs also have ominous flying ships with the power to destroy entire islands, even though the Arc Maxim got Enel to the moon without any kind of Mother Flame because really, who needs an external power source when being a Lightning Logia basically makes you the final evolution of the Energizer Bunny: Moon Rabbit edition?
It’s been clear for a while that the good doctor was going to be different from a lot of other characters we’ve met, but who else did a SERIOUS double-take when we met Vegapunk for the first time? After years expecting some kind of eccentric old man in a lab coat, I don’t think I was the only one who was *pretty surprised* when out of nowhere we got introduced to a hot blonde in a bodysuit. Especially since she was trying to mug the Strawhats like the Thousand Sunny was a stagecoach and she was a highwayman, only with fewer horses and more giant robots.
Even after learning more about the Vegapunk Satellites we still don’t know why Lilith looks so familiar, and I'm not just talking about how you could have a pirate crew made up *entirely* of One Piece women who look like Nami, though for the record that would be both hilarious and *terrifying*. No, I mean that with her asymmetrical blonde fringe and big, sparkly shoujo eyes, she looks kind of like Sanji’s mom? Or at least, as if Vinsmoke Sora had a bratty little sister who joined a cyberpunk biker gang in high school.
All the male Satellites are either retro-looking robots or a Daft Punk understudy, but if we continue with the dead mom's club theme then you can’t deny that with her hairstyle and spunky attitude, Atlas bears more than a passing resemblance to Ginny. Vegapunk seems to have always taken the "gotta catch 'em all" approach when it comes to collecting his biological samples if Kaido and King are anything to go by, and with both Sora and Ginny being linked to him through MADs and the Revs respectively it's entirely possible he got his hands on their lineage factor at some point. That or they just made enough of an impression on him to be inspiration later on.
York was the hardest to place, and at first all I could find was one of the Celestial Drgons who was competing at God Valley, that member of the Manmayer Family in the hat. But coming back to it later, I realised York actually kind of resembles the Tontatta Princess Mansherry too? Like, that can’t just be me right?
York has rosy cheeks and a slightly pointy nose just like she does, plus they both have long, wavy blonde hair with two little space buns. Sure one of them is a kind-hearted dwarf while the other is even taller than Brook and the *literal* embodiment of greed, but still. To be that perfectly opposite in some of their key traits while still looking similar, it might be a coincidence but it’d be a pretty interesting one.
No idea how she might be connected to Vegapunk though, unless any of you have any ideas. Honestly there’s not much which would surprise me these days when it comes to just how far-reaching Vegapunk’s influence has been thanks to his inventions and scientific discoveries, long before he decided that broadcasting his postmortem whistle blowing agenda to the entire world was the best response to receiving a *literal* termination notice from his employers. Unsurprisingly, this influence seems to have extended even to the ranks of the Marines who are pursuing their own form of justice.
Commander Hibari is a member of SWORD with cute taste in teddy bear accessories and a huge crush on best boy Koby. In addition to living her best coming-of-age workplace romcom life, she's also a sniper, and a pretty good one too if her rescue of Koby on Hachinosu is anything to go by. But the really neat thing is that she did it using bullets made out of GP-Flower.
A special kind of flower that only blooms in gunpowder, they were invented by DrVegapunk while he was still with MADS, and as we see in the chapter 1073 cover story this invention won him the Ibel Peace Prize. Which is even more relevant when you consider that the Nobel Peace Prize it’s based on was actually created by a man called Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and other types of explosives. Much like Vegapunk after some of the Mother Flame was stolen and used to destroy Lulusia, his inventions were responsible for violent death on an scale no one was prepared for, and it’s likely the Nobel Peace Prize was a way for him to leave behind a better legacy through giving something positive back to the world, just like Vegapunk is doing now with his broadcast.
It’s kind of ironic when you think about it, how the guy with serious 60s hippie 'make love not war' vibes, ultimately ended up being a weapons manufacturer for the same assholes who’ve spent the better part of the last eight centuries treating the Geneva Convention like a to-do list. So while GP-Flower might’ve been invented as an expression of early Vegapunk's idealistic but ultimately naive hopes for the future, the fact that a young person like Hibari - part of the 'future of the Marines' herself according to Garp - has repurposed his invention as ammunition for use in combat, but solely as a way to disarm and de-escalate? It’s actually kind of nice.
Maybe it hasn’t finished just yet, but Broadcast-Gate is already being considered one of the most significant in-universe events to happen in a very long time. Both in content and the sheer scale of the reach it’s gotten, there’s almost no-one on the planet it isn’t affecting in some way. Well, unless you’re up on Skypeia apparently, though that seems to be an exception since even Wano and Fish-man Island are listening in.
This might explain how one of the best parts of Vegapunk's broadcast has been the chance to check in with so many characters from all over the world, some who we haven't seen in *years*, maybe even decades. It also gives some serious perspective on just how hard the World Government goes when it comes to enforcing censorship, because when the fate of Lulusia is revealed it’s clear the vast majority of the world had *no idea* it even happened. One of the best examples of this is a great panel of Vice-Admiral Comil, with a nice hot cup of joe and a look of horror on his face.
It’s simple, but if you’ve read Ace’s cover story “Ace’s Great Blackbeard Search”, you’ll know that there’s *a lot* of emotion packed into that one reaction, and it’s all down to the coffee. You see, Comil is in charge of the G-2 Marine Base, which is located just north-east of the gaping hole formerly known as the Kingdom of Lululsia. Over the course of Ace saving Moda the milkmaid, he also ends up saving one of Comil’s men from a fire, and even Comil himself from the nasty, bitter coffee they serve at the base.
Our man Comil is the decent kind of guy who appreciates the little things in life, and getting a steady supply of high quality milk for the base means his coffee, his meetings, and just his workdays in general are that little bit better. It worked out well for Moda and her family too, and it’s overall a pretty sweet feel-good story. Right up until you remember that Moda the milkmaid got front row seats to the utter annihilation of her home by the literal wrath of god falling from the sky.
She and the other recruits who had just left with Sabo to join the Revolutionary Army are now all that’s left of an entire island, and that’s driven home in the very humanising realisation by Comil that he won’t be getting that nice milk for his coffee ever again. Okay, who else had to brush away a very manly tear after that one? Well here’s something to balance out the horror of government sponsored genocide, and fittingly enough it takes us back to a kingdom ruled by their own secret *D-ynasty*, Arabasta.
It's been over two years since we've seen the town of Yuba, and if you remember back then it was a run down, former oasis which - thanks to the drought engineered by Crocodile - had long been abandoned by all but one stubborn old man and his shovel. When the gang left Arabasta it had been in danger of being swallowed up by the desert forever, but now, a bit over two years later, the people have returned and Yuba has been restored to all of its former greenery and glory. Good for them huh?
It might not be one of the most exciting examples, but it's definitely one of the most heart warming in my opinion, mainly because we don't often get to see just how much Luffy and the rest of the Strawhats really are leaving the world a better place than they found it while they're busy speed-running the Grand Line. Some of the highlights are definitely Gin, Don Kreig and Pearl being spotted on Hachinosu, Tonjit and his new stilts (a bold choice considering his last pair), and all our East Blue besties listening in. Some of the Fake Strawhats even make an appearance, though they’re dressed up as the Kid Pirates now instead.
I have to say, the fact that the closest we’ve gotten to a sighting of Useless Captain Mid being Demaro Black larping as him in jail is just, wow. Speaking of jokes, most hardcore One Piece fans know how much Oda-sensei likes playing around with numbers to make puns and add deeper meaning to things, like how often Luffy has the numbers 56 in his bounty or on his clothes in the cover art, since 5(Go) and 6(Mu) sounds like Gomu. But aside from his obsession with using this popular kind of Japanese wordplay in his work (seriously go look it up, it’s called *goroawase* and once you start looking it’s EVERYWHERE in One Piece) he also really likes making things *match*.
This arc has a lot of references to demonic forces and fittingly it also has chapter 1066 as well, which might not be 666 but is close enough. The cover story for the chapter is about Germa 66, and features some of their snail ships proudly flying huge flags with the number 66 on them. Even the chapter itself continues the pattern, with the first page having the number 066 prominently displayed right there on the huge island cloud.
This number and the accompanying horizontal lines are actually part of the Frontier Dome, a complex laser security system which protects the Labophase and Punk Records from seemingly everything except for Kizaru’s Light Logia abilities and Saint Marcus Mars’ high score in Angry Birds. But tell me, have you noticed anything off about this panel yet? It’s a cool little detail I only really appreciated when going back and reading through the whole arc again in full, but when you do we can actually see the number displayed on the Frontier Dome steadily increase.
Starting at 066 when we first arrive it climbs all the way to 100 in chapter 1071 as the security is slowly ramped up to the max along with the threat level, only for it to be switched off and back down to 000 right in time for the invading Cypher Pol agents and Seraphim to slip through. Though when it’s reset back to 100 a couple of chapters later it turns into a real ‘I’m not locked in here with YOU, you’re locked in here with ME’ kind of situation, especially once Luffy starts to bring the literal noise so he can more efficiently punch Rob Lucci into the dirt. On the topic of hilarious wordplay, up next is a funny one I'm genuinely surprised I haven't heard more people talk about.
For chapter 1106 there was a cover art request by a reader for "Robin dresses a crocodile in a cute get-up". And boy did Oda-sensei deliver, and we get to see Robin giving an approving thumbs-up to a very dapper crocodile. They must’ve just finished up a spot of beach-side shopping and he's showing off his sick new threads, including a tshirt with a crocodile and the word 'Lacosta' on it.
Pretty adorable right? Well, it just so happens that it's also incredibly clever on multiple levels, because not only is Lacoste a luxury French sportswear brand that's super popular in Japan, but the brand's logo is *literally* a crocodile too. It also turns out that 'Lacosta' is an old French noble surname meaning 'by the coast', so with them being right next to the beach?
Yeah, this seemingly simple panel isn't just funny because Robin used to work in another sandy place for another stylish Crocodile, it's also a joke that is a seamless blend of visual humour, multilingual wordplay, and really dumb puns. Classic Oda huh, there's really no one else out there doing it like him. Who’s ready to go from that cute intermission to one of the single most tear-jerking backstories in the entirety of One Piece?
We now know that two of the most important Devil Fruits in the whole story - Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit and Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Drgon - actually came from the same place, God Valley, where they were intended to be prizes for the Native Hunting Competition held there by the Celestial Drgons 38 years ago. But if you look closely at the panel you'll see there are actually *six* identical prize chests on display, which begs the question, what were the other four Devil Fruits up for grabs that day? And what are the odds that we've already seen them in action?
Basically the only Devil Fruit we know it can't be is Luffy's, since if the Gorosei got a hold of the damn thing there's no way in hell they’d do anything except put it straight in the time-out freezer, right next to the giant straw hat Imu-sama was staring at ominously that one time. We know the Soul-Soul Fruit is out since Big Mom already had her powers before the God Valley Incident, but it’s not confirmed if any of the other Roger Pirates had any at all, or if the Rocks Pirates like Whitebeard and Shiki who we know have powers already had them or got them later, and something as powerful as the Tremor-Tremor Fruit would definitely fit in with the other two we know of. There’s also the curious case of Kurozumi Higurashi, who seems to have known Kaidou, Shiki and Miss Buckin back during their Rocks days.
For a native of the isolated Wano, isn’t it interesting that she somehow got her hands on not only her Clone-Clone Fruit, but also Orochi’s Mythical Zoan Snake-Snake Fruit and maybe even Kurozumi Semimaru’s Barrier-Barrier Fruit? It’s easy to forget sometimes but Devil Fruits are rare, most people can go their entire life never seeing one at all, but this would all make sense if she was also on God Valley and managed to swipe a couple during all the confusion. Speaking of God Valley Devil Fruits, there’s something interesting about how the Paw-Paw Fruit was introduced to us.
When Ginny was explaining their plan, she mentioned those two Devil Fruits *specifically* because they’d be useful for an escape. Makes sense right? Only, while she's describing their abilities Oda-sensei drew a couple of little critters behind her to represent each of them, and while one is predictably a dragon, the other is actually a cat instead of a bear.
Everything about Kuma, from his name to his hairstyle - his hat style? - has always been bear themed, so why is it different just this one time? The simplest explanation is of course that Ginny only just met Kuma and is thinking of the first animal with paws which comes to mind, and most people would probably agree with you.
But when you consider any of the increasingly popular theories linking Nefertari D Lili and/or Vivi to the Paw-Paw Fruit, that’s when it really gets interesting. Can you remember Vivi telling the Strawhats about a certain animal the people of Arabasta hold sacred? That’s right, it’s the Sea Cat.
This reverence isn’t new either, since there’s a bunch of statues and carvings of sea cats inside the thousands of years old Tomb of the Kings, even if there being a secret entrance to it underneath one was an anime only addition. They're also shown to look kind of like a *maneki neko*, a white lucky cat with a raised paw which is meant to bring good fortune in Japan. And what does the cat in Ginny's explanation look like?
Yep, you guessed it: a white cat with a raised paw. Here’s something else I’m sure at least some of you with Advanced Observation Haki might have noticed: while Kuma's off on his Best Dad in One Piece world tour, why don’t we see him visit Amazon Lily? Think about it, we get a look at a bunch of the places he visits while trying to find a doctor for Bonney, and what do you know, they’re looking pretty familiar.
Torino Kingdom, Kuraigana Island, Karakuri Island, Tequila Wolf, Weatheria, the Boin Archipelago, they're all places Kuma sent the Strawhats after they fought him at Sabaody. Of the three that aren’t, as a friend of Ivankov he definitely could have visited the Kamabakka Queendom at some point, and being located in Paradise even Namakura Island could be explained by his Revolutionary or Warlord activities, though maybe that’s a mystery for another day. Amazon Lily really is conspicuous in its absence though, and that absence raises *so many questions*, because if he'd just dropped by looking for a doctor sometime during this time frame they would have shown it with all the rest, right?
There's also how Amazon Lily is located in the Calm Belt, which means a normal ship can’t get there since there’s no wind or tides. You also need a way to deal with all the massive Sea Kings, and the only methods we know for doing that are Conqueror's Haki, a ship with a seastone hull coating, or by having Princess Shirahoshi on speed dial. Two out of three of those wouldn't have been available to Kuma, and sure the seastone option was a Vegapunk invention, but there's also no evidence of this happening *and* no other precedent of a Warlord being given access to this Marine exclusive technology.
Kuma can only send people to places he's been himself, it's a hard limit of his Devil Fruit, so if his visit wasn't during his years as a Warlord it would have to have been during his time with the Revolutionary Army. If you believe popular fan theories, Drgon could theoretically have both the Conqueror's Haki and wind powers needed to get a ship there, which would also give support to some of the *other* fan theories going around that the recently revealed former Empress Tritoma is Luffy’s mother. Even if that’s not the case Amazon Lily still doesn't allow men on the island, but don’t forget that the Revs also have Ivankov.
A few shots of their *special* hormones could make that a non issue, so who knows, maybe the big secret is that *Drgon* was actually Luffy's mom this whole time. Luffy’s parentage isn’t the only secret the fans are obsessed with, One Piece as a story - and a world - is defined by its secrets. What is the One Piece, what happened during the Void Century, how did Big Mom have a kid with her tiny Tontatta husband?
Egghead has been a good arc for anyone curious about the oh-so mysterious secret behind the Will of D, especially with the reveals that not only have the Nefertari family been part of the D clan all along, but Professor Clover as well. But here’s someone else who’s had strong ties with multiple members of the D Clan for a while now, and that’s of course Sabo. While he’s spying on King Cobra’s audience with the Gorosei, we get to see a brief flashback to a discussion he had with Ace and Luffy when they were kids about how they share a middle initial even though they’re not related.
In typical D fashion Ace has no idea what’s going on there but offers to share it with him too anyway, saying he could call himself Sa D Bo. Which is actually pretty hilarious when you think about it, the second coming of Joyboy having a brother named Sadboy. Sabo’s recounting of the Reverie was another treasure trove of information, and you don’t have to be a hardcore theory crafter to thank him for not only peeking at the secret ruler of the world, but also not hesitating to throw hands with the most powerful people in the world when given the opportunity.
There’s a lot of theories and speculation on who or what Imu-sama actually is, especially since we only heard their first spoken dialogue back in chapter 1085. With their character design being so heavily obscured we don’t have a lot to go on, though it’s true you can tell a lot about a character from how they speak, how they act, the way they interact with others. But do you know another great way to work things out about a character?
*Sword math*. Apart from the confrontation between Cobra and the Gorosei, Imu-sama is almost always depicted alone, and usually in settings where it’s impossible to use any nearby things as a frame of reference, right up until they sit on the Empty Throne. It’s impossible to scale with total accuracy, especially with the tall black hat thing they always wear and their long train of shadows, but when we get a nice top down view of the throne itself and the upright swords around it, suddenly we have something to work with.
With everything we’ve seen from the Celestial Drgons and their bigotry, it seems fairly safe to assume that all 20 of the original Kings were human, which means the weapons and throne were likely made to be an appropriate size for a human as well. Celestial Drgons range in height from normal to Doflamingo, but even if all 20 swords were sized for someone 3 metres (10’) tall like him, it’s still a fair guess that in comparison Imu-sama is at best *maybe* Luffy’s height, but likely even smaller. Now I’m not saying for sure that they’re basically going to end up an even more terrifying version of what Sugar was to Drssrosa (which is genuine nightmare fuel by the way, yikes), but I *am* going to put my Berries on Imu-sama being a literal short king.
Imu-sama isn’t the only one working quietly in the background though. Sanji’s had his MrPrince moments in the past where he took care of business behind the scenes, but this arc that role seems to have been taken up by our man Jinbe. This is something I completely missed my first time reading chapter 1093, but if you pay attention it shows Jinbe carrying something while down on the second floor with Sanji, when he tells Vegapunk over the Den-Den Mushi that he's “got everything you asked me to bring aboard”.
Is anyone else as curious as I am about what Vegapunk considered important enough to take with him? Back during the call between York and the Gorosei we only see Jinbe a few times in the background while everyone's eating and getting ready to go, so that leaves around three chapters where we don't see him at all, and no one else mentions what he was doing during that time. Apart from a brief reaction shot when Saint Saturn arrives on the island we don't see him again until chapter 1110, despite him saying he’ll head to rendezvous with everyone at the back exit.
By the time the others arrive he's already left *yet again* to go fetch Zoro, so we have no clues for what kind of fancy scientific macguffin he was stowing away on the Thousand Sunny, though I feel it's safe to say that we’ll definitely be finding out sooner or later. Anyone else notice that by now we’ve seen two former slaves from two different, marginalised races climb the Red Line and cause a hell of a lot of holy property damage when they get to the top? Bartholomew Kuma the Buccaneer and Fisher Tiger the Fishman both have complex and deeply tragic backstories, wanting nothing more than freedom for themselves and others.
Both are associated with Sun God Nika, either directly like Kuma who was a pastor that worshipped him, or indirectly in the case of Fisher Tiger who named his crew of liberated slaves the Sun Pirates. And in the immortal words of James Bond in Goldfinger: once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, and three times is enemy action. Because when you throw in the Iron Giant, odds are high this was absolutely intentional on Oda-sensei’s part.
Don’t forget, the only reason Emeth ended up with Vegapunk is because 200 years ago he was climbing the Red Line to Mariejois before he ran out of energy and stopped moving. Why was he going up there, and what are the odds he’ll end up having even more in common with the other two? If you watch enough anime I can pretty much guarantee you’ve heard of at least one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, three treasures said to be passed down through the Imperial Family from the sun goddess Amaterasu herself.
They also happen to be what Admiral Kizaru’s attacks are named after, so let’s have a look at that. The first attack he uses in the arc is *Yata no Kagami*, the Sacred Yata Mirror, which represents the virtue of wisdom. This light speed ricochet move is what gets him through the Frontier Dome’s shielding later on too, which is a pretty wise movefor sure.
His next attack is *Yasakani no Magatama*, String of Jewels, which represents the virtue of benevolence. This is when he splits into many beads of light which can all move independently, and later in the same chapter is a flashback to when he and Vegapunk met a young Sentomaru. Kizaru reminisces about how Sentomaru was alone and Vegapunk took him in when he needed a job so he could buy onigiri, that he’d been a cute kid and how meaningful the time they all spent together was.
Pretty benevolent huh? The final attack is *Ame no Murakamo*, Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds, though you Naruto fans might recognise it’s later name of *Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi*, the Grass-Cutting Sword. It represents valour, and considering that when Kizaru whips it out he’s bringing a light sword to fight a sun god, one who already went full on Looney Tunes and yeeted him halfway into the next manga volume?
Yeah, I’d say that he’s being pretty valorous, even though I think this whole arc from his perspective comes under the category of ‘cool motive, still murder’. Motive continues to be a key factor throughout Egghead. Stussy's betrayal of her fellow CP0 agents Kaku and Lucci in chapter 1073 definitely took them by surprise, even though the foreshadowing began as soon as they arrived on the island.
Before an over-excited Kaku fails to land a kick on the giant dragon hologram she knows it won't work, telling him it's useless to try, and when Lucci remarks on how she's well-informed she just says that it all feels 'nostalgic'. Meaning this elite government assassin is already familiar with either Egghead Island, DrVegapunk himself, or both. Now that should raise some suspicion right?
Well no, you might say, it isn't all that weird for a member of an intelligence agency to have intelligence on the place they're targeting, right? Especially when we know she's been undercover as an Underworld Emperor, a group Vegapunk has been affiliated with for years. But thanks to their vocal complaints after Kaku follows up his attempt to kick light by almost getting laser murdered by the Labophase's Intercept System, we’re shown that she's holding things back from her fellow agents.
Then on the same page that Lilith says "They're after our necks! " there's a truly incredible set of panels of Stussy looking sideways at the Satellite while she’s speaking, and the line of her gaze goes directly through Lucci's neck. With the way she quite literally goes for the throat when it's time for her to reveal that she's been a loyal to Vegapunk all along, it's clear that whoever it was in the World Government who thought it was a good idea to hire Stussy really was *biting* off more than they could chew.
Who else got super excited when the giants rocked up to Egghead mid Buster Call from *literal* hell to fetch the Strawhats like a pack of enthusiastic, battle-hardened Uber drivers? As Wano came to a close we all knew that Elbaf would be coming sooner or later, but it looks like our OG giant besties are even more impatient for the crew to finally get to Elbaf than we are, it's great. This is probably one of the few occasions where airdropping in an entire crew of giant pirates isn't overkill either, with Dorry and Brogy teaming up just like they did on Little Garden to help Luffy out.
After a particularly strong attack by a transformed Saint Warcury is unleashed they use the joint technique 'Sun Shield Svalinn' to defend him, which in addition to looking *badass* is actually a reference to a shield mentioned in Norse mythology. The original stands in front of the sun to protect the world from its heat, so it's a fun subversion that this time it's protecting the sun instead. Their follow-up attack on the Boar-osei himself is called 'Split Skylda', with *skylda* seeming to be an Old Norse word meaning duty, or the act of joining together in the name of duty.
Very fitting for a combo attack that hits this damn hard right? Especially when it's done for the sake of a friend who also happens to be the embodiment of the chief solar deity of your religion.
