User blog:Xilinoc/Ch. 852 - Oh The Humanity

So Oda's chapter string has finally broken, but I think this was a good note to end it on.

After a hilarious cover page featuring Robin's...eclectic drawing of Chopper, we kick things off in the infirmary, where Sanji finds Reiju recovering from her arrow bullet to the knee and tells her the truth about what happened with Pudding. What a guy, at least his depressing didn't cripple him too much.

Meanwhile, Jinbe frees Luffy and Nami from their book prison by...burning it. Apparently that's the only way to free people without Mont-d'Or's consent, so yeah. Also funny that Jinbe had to use a bucket of water to extinguish the two. Apparently, in spite of what the dirty MSM is saying about him, Jinbe did in fact resolve his business with Big Mom, so he's free to ally with Luffy against her now. However, Luffy's currently more interested in finding Sanji due to what Pudding told him, so he runs off on a less-than-empty stomach to track him down. This cannot end well. Neither can the fact that Smoothie has authorized the soldiers to use lethal force so Big Mom's plans for tomorrow aren't disrupted any further.

Finally, we cut back to Sanji and Reiju, where we learn just why Sanji's so special: apparently, his mother (named Sola? Sora? Warrior of the Sea?) took some sort of drug when she was pregnant with him and his brothers so that they'd come out and grow up as normal human beings, but only Sanji became a normal human while Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji became emotionless monsters (Reiju was apparently born before all this), and his mom's declining health and eventual premature death were due to taking the drug. Sanji's about to break down even harder over the idea that his mother sacrificed her life for his, but Reiju reassures him that she was completely happy because of Sanji's humanity and kindness. Oh, and he should also let his family die and leave with his friends tomorrow because they all deserve it and he's not gonna find anyone else like them, respectively, and Reiju gave him fake bracelets to begin with so he can keep his hands. D'awwwwwww.

Pretty heartwarming chapter to face a break with, and it looks like we're past the despair nadir of the arc with Jinbe helping out Luffy and Reiju giving Sanji a way out of this awful situation. She's been in less than a chapter's worth of pages combined, but I really like Sola/Sora's character, or at least what little we've seen of it - feels like only the moms in OP are cool parents, despite Oda's claim that they're the antithesis of adventure. The question now is, does Sanji peace out with Luffy and the others now or try to stay and fight Big Mom with him? I don't have an answer just yet.

There is only one option here Reiju confirmed top-tier waifu 4 laifu