User blog:HanataSanchou/Chapter 919: Back To The Future

Some major info-dumping this chapter, which is to be expected given that this is the point in the arc when we get the historical context on why the bad guys need to go down. We however also find out that there's a freakin Devil Fruit that can literally send you forward in time, and Oda cleverly closes the can of worms by clarifying that the time traveling can only be forward. Certainly begs the question of the fruit's current whereabouts if Toki is indeed deceased, but all in due time! Let's dig in shall we?

I first find it quite interesting that there appears to be some kind of door at the base of the rock formation Oden Castle rests upon. It could end up being a completely minor detail, but it piqued my curiousity nonetheless just what could be in there. I figured Luffy and Co. were closer to the top. Anywho, we get our first major bomb, Oden was son of the Shogun, Kozuki Sukiyaki. It was seriously boggling my mind how the Kozuki clan ruled over Wano if Oden was only a Daimyo, and this makes perfect sense - he was already of royal blood. In either case we get a silhouette, though it isn't 100% clear if this Oden or his Sukiyaki. Given how Toki and Hiyori are later shown to be silhouettes as well, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that Oda will do a huge flashback reveal of the actual story, so he's holding off on showing us their actual appearances for now. Apparently Oden was quite the rabble rouser in the Flower Capital, and got exiled to the then (and apparently still now?) lawless region of Kuri. After defeating Kuri's strongest ruffian by the name of Ashura Douji, Oden completely transformed the lawless land into prosperity, and the outlaws into productive members of society. What a guy. So as many have speculated for a while, Oden was indeed rather strong. In either case, this is when the famed "Paradise Farm" was built, and Oden built his legacy as a man of the people, earning his title of Daimyo proper as a 20 year old. Even with all he accomplished however he had a knack for feeling cramped in Wano, which I can only imagine made him more susceptible to being captivated by the life of a pirate. Before I get too ahead of myself though, it would seem that Inu and Neko "drifted" ashore to Wano during this time, and the young Oden took them under his wing. What those 2 would have been through to "drift" to Wano at such a young age must certainly be an interesting story in and of itself, hopefully we get it later.

It isn't made clear just how far Zoro has gotten separated from the crew, but he nonetheless appears to be at a port of some kind. I seriously couldn't hold in my laughter that he thinks THEY got lost while HE was riding on the Komainu, not even taking the time to consider how he ended up not being on the Komainu himself......please never change Oda. This brings up the rather interesting question of what kinda journey Zoro is about to go on here. Will he meet and introduce us to a new important player in the arc? Will he meet someone that tells us more Wano history? Will he get himself into even MORE trouble by fighting? The funny thing is that all 3 aren't mutually exclusive, and we could get them all. What happens next in regards to Luffy and co is nothing short of confusing. We very rapidly transfer from the jovial times of Oden meeting Whitebeard and Roger, to all of a sudden a bunch of reaction shots of absolute terror/fury in the Straw Hats' faces. It's very clear that Oda is blocking out the part of the story that details Orochi's conniving behavior that led to the Kozuki clan's downfall, but I don't think he's ever done it like this where we just get absolute nothing. Again, I'm pretty sure he's gonna tell the actual story in a flashback reveal, but it's interesting that Oda didn't even leave us with a clue as to what Orochi did that caused such a shift in public opinion of the Kozuki clan. Apparently Kin'emon and the others witnessed the execution live in person, and realized that with no allies left they had to protect Momonosuke at all costs. This is the point at which Inu and Neko had their famed argument, but we also learn that they were captured by Orochi's people somehow. How they survived seemingly unscathed is yet another interesting story for another day.

It is revealed that Kaido was already in Wano and in league with Orochi at this point, and burning Oden Castle was his doing. In the panel of the castle burning, we see what I'm about 95% sure are the 3 Calamaties off on the right. I'm also fairly certainly that of these 3 silhouettes, that's Jack on the leftmost, the strongest Calamity in the middle, and the 2nd strongest calamity on the right. In the same panel, we get the silhouettes of Oden's retainers witnessing the fire. Kin'emon in the middle, Raizo to the left, Kanjuro to the right, and Kiku to the right of Kanjuro. There is a yet unnamed figure to the left of Raizo. This figure is seen again next to Kanjuro as they all swear their oaths to Toki, wearing a straw hat that seems rather familiar. In any case, it is revealed that Toki is actually from a distant past, and has been using the powers of her Toki Toki no Mi to travel forward in time. However she feels this is where her journey ends for some reason, and sends [from what we see] Kine'mon, Kiku, Kanjuro, Raizo, and Momo 20 years into the future. This is BIG. If Toki truly is from the past, then it could explain so much in terms of how the Kozuki clan are sculptors of the poneglyphs and all sort of other wonky possibilties, but that too deserves a separate discussion. Not sure why she didn't send Hiyori, but we can confirm that Hiyori's is the 4th Kozuki grave that was revealed to us last chapter. Whether she is actually dead is certainly debatable in my opinion. The rest is history as we as OP fans, minus the part of them leaving Kiku as an informant, but we'd gathered she was some sort of informant for the resistance movement already. More importantly, we get to see some of the Wano warriors that are ready to fight Kaido and Orochi, and they are sooooooo..........old. Which actually makes total sense, considering it's been ya know, 20 decades. Regardless, we learn to look for a crescent moon on the ankle to note our allies (Kokuzi = Moonlight/Moon lit FYI). Another quick conundrum.....apparently their pursuers don't believe they are alive and are actually ghosts.........but Jack tore Zou to shreds looking for Raizo? Something doesn't quite line up there, but nevertheless the obvious plan is not get exposed in the 2 weeks before they plan to launch their final attack. Which Luffy TOTALLY understands. Yep. Totally. The plan to raid Onigashima where Kaido resides is apparently ideally supported by 5000 soldies, and I sooooo wonder where they would get that. LOL. I'm getting pretty hype, even though I continue to think of more questions than I'm getting answers for.