Chapter 998: Ancient Types

[Deicide]

It's out!

https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1008129

Chapter 999 next week! Its ending will probably give us a big hint of what 1,000 will be about. Make your bets!

[Nubtro]

Whole chapter full of cool fruit reveals, but yeah...nothing really happened.

I liked the feline room the most, although the upside-down Maria is the best drawing. Her fighting Robin is 100% gonna happen.
Sasaki being a triceratops is fitting, will be a manly fight.
Jimbei is gonna mop the floor with Who´s Who though (I hope), he wasn´t confident enough to deal with Drake alone. That room will be knocked out in 5 minutes tops.

Pineapple guy is a helpful ally, first he warms you, then he lifts you up...

[andre]

I'm thinking 1000 might be a flashback, but I wouldn't bet on it. This was a cool chapter and it's nice to finally see all of the devil fruits! I'm very interested in Black Maria's, since it seems more like a Smile than a Devil Fruit.

[Deicide]

Given how this chapter ends, we may see a small flashback in the next's opening. I don't think we will get a full flashback now, however. I believe that Kaido, Yamato and Tama will be remembering their PoVs of Ace's journey in the island over several small flashbacks over Act 4.

How chapter 999 ends will define what we see in 1,000, most likely. If it ends closing Act 3's curtains, then Chapter 1,000 is set during the intermission. If not, then whatever the last scene of 999 will most likely be the theme of 1,000, be it a flashback or Luffy's encounter with Kaido/Big Mom.

[King Cannon]

I liked the feline room the most, although the upside-down Maria is the best drawing. Her fighting Robin is 100% gonna happen.
Sasaki being a triceratops is fitting, will be a manly fight.
Jimbei is gonna mop the floor with Who´s Who though (I hope), he wasn´t confident enough to deal with Drake alone. That room will be knocked out in 5 minutes tops.

Talking like Drake himself isn't a monster of his own, with attacks that are comparable to the Kong Gun.

The idea of Jinbe the Fishman fighting a pack of his natural archenemesis is just too entertaining to not focus on.

[KageKageKing]

Robot Vs Dinosaur.

Who would win?

[Jabra]

Phoenix Pyreapple. Pure brilliance.

[Vongola_Boss_XI]

Video Review / Discussion

[auem]

I believe chapter 1000 will be Yamato recounting Oden's journal to Momo , particularly why Wano was closed. It will start at the end of 999.

[KageKageKing]

This might be the first time Oda had to name a Devil Fruit through a scientific name.

[wolfwood]

I believe chapter 1000 will be Yamato recounting Oden's journal to Momo , particularly why Wano was closed. It will start at the end of 999.

That actually sounds pretty plausible.

[King Cannon]

Here's some trivia: Did you know that the full name of the Pachycephalosaurus is Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis

This means Ulti is canonically from Wyoming.

They were also not gigantic Yoshi-like dinos.

[Shift]

Author Comments: https://www.viz.com/blog/posts/manga...ngs-12-13-2020

Eiichiro Oda



I went to the Buster Call exhibition. Seeing things in person is awesome! I love stuff like this.

[KageKageKing]

I can't take serious Sasaki's comment about being the most powerful animal considering Pre-TS Zoro and Sanji can casualy kill them.

Maybe evolution wasn't nice to those dinosaurs in Little Garden.

[theackwardstation]

The designs revealed in this chapter are so much better than the ones already known. Oda did a way better job to incorporate personal traits from their human visuals to their animal forms. Who's Who and Sasaki look great. Black Maria is also amazing, although her transformation is atypical for zoans. On the other hand, Ulti, Paypay and Drake look kinda boring in their dino forms.

[King Cannon]

Alright, so...

Who's Who's Who?

[Kaido King of the Beasts]

I had wanted Sasaki to be an ankylosaurus, but I'll accept triceratops especially since Black Maria and Who's Who aren't dinosaurs.

I wonder what led Oda to choose the Rosamygale for Maria, from what I've read about it it doesn't seem to be super notable. Shame the Tobiroppo had to be bound to Ancient Zoan fruits, otherwise I think a black widow fruit would've been cool. Also, what's up with that spider's face?

I'm pretty interested in seeing the Ace flashback particularly because of how people were wondering about why Whitebeard wouldn't find out/get involved over what happened to Wano and Oden. Ace went against Kaido to try to free Yamato and I wouldn't be surprised if he also had a bone to pick with the Tama stuff, so how on Earth did that all end up?

[Sengokusgoat]

I had wanted Sasaki to be an ankylosaurus, but I'll accept triceratops especially since Black Maria and Who's Who aren't dinosaurs.

I wonder what led Oda to choose the Rosamygale for Maria, from what I've read about it it doesn't seem to be super notable. Shame the Tobiroppo had to be bound to Ancient Zoan fruits, otherwise I think a black widow fruit would've been cool. Also, what's up with that spider's face?

I'm pretty interested in seeing the Ace flashback particularly because of how people were wondering about why Whitebeard wouldn't find out/get involved over what happened to Wano and Oden. Ace went against Kaido to try to free Yamato and I wouldn't be surprised if he also had a bone to pick with the Tama stuff, so how on Earth did that all end up?

Oda probably remembered Megarachne from when he was young, and wanted to combine that with Jurogumo for Black Maria, but then he did research and found out that it wasn't actually a spider, so he had to quickly google extinct spiders.

[Retro]

Woot, one more before the big milestone.

Looks like things are finally starting to fall into place here where everyone is meant to be. I Will admit this honestly feels like Tower of Justice 2.0 only with more Zoan fruit users (heck even Sanji fighting a female member again and another time limit) but still liking how the situations are developing

- That said, a bit annoyed some of Kaido's men will believe Queen after they saw him blatantly firing on them and Marco going out of his way to temporarily reverse the Plague bullet. Just feels like an excuse to keep the conflict on the bottom floor going. Seriously Apoo, the man was leaving you at the mercy of allies and foes there. Why in the heck would you still want to follow his order and keep up the attack? He'd likely kill ya if you did succeed for the snafu the first time. I do like the little defense game they got going though with Chopper and the doctors.

- Okay I did complain a bit about the usual "Sanji helpless against women" streak in the spoiler previews. But I'll admit that's a pretty cool reveal for Black Maria and her yokai-like assistants. I'm a bit of a monster nut and seeing female yokai is always cool. So I can get down with this. Still get the feeling someone gonna have to bail him out again but we'll see.

- Finally a proper battle with Shogun Franky. This thing never really gets a worthy clash (I don't really count that scuffle on Punk Hazard, especially if Nami and Usopp had to finish it), so it's time to see if this thing is as strong as it looks and, yeah figured this dude was a triceratops.

- Darn there goes my theory that Who-Who was really Aokiji in disguise after that Devil Fruit reveal. Still pretty curious, a water user versus a cat creature. Also sensing some history here between Jinbe and him.

- Luffy still heading on up, I swear 80% of these climaxes are just Luffy trying to get to the boss.

- Nice to see Ulti and Page One in full dino forms. Do wonder if this is meant to lead into a round two with Ussop and Nami now that they've seen what they can do and can plan accordingly. WMG, their fight will spill into Black Maria's area and they switch opponents.

- And finally, why am I not surprise Yamamoto knows Ace. Not decrying it just that it doesn't have as much impact as it wants of me. I guess that'll give Yams the strength to fight harder since that'll be a connection. Also sensing a mini-flashback next time: How Ace did chip damage to Kadio. LOL

We're getting there folks, I'll give the chapter this for showing what the heroes are in for and they're indeed cool reveals. But I won't lie that I really wanna get this party started now. Though feel we got one more chapter before the big throw down. But hey excited though and I can't think of a better place to end year of the series off on.

[Deicide]

Maybe he chose Rosamygale to keep with the ancient theme. Also, it's an ancestor to tarantula-like spiders, so maybe he wanted Black Maria to look like those bulcky hairy spiders rather than the thin-legged ones like black widow. By usingan extinct genus, he may also be able to tinker with the spider's abilities, like having traits from multiple species while not having to rely on real world creatures.