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My major theory regarding Kaido at this point is that he’s someone who wanted, and failed to, take on the Joy Boy role. If a near death experience is what is required to become Joy Boy, it explains why Kaido tried to kill himself so much. It would also explain Kaido’s line to Luffy “so you couldn’t become Joy Boy either…” with the “either” referring to himself. After all, in the King flashback, King told Kaido that he thought he could be Joy Boy. And Kaido in the past has said he’s the one who can change the world. Also, if there is some prophecy that Joy Boy will return to the world in Wano, it would explain why Oden thought it was so important to open Wano’s borders and why Kaido is specifically in Wano. It’s also worth noting that if Joy Boy was said to spread smiles and laughter to the slaves, Kaido has literally done that but in a very twisted and sadistic way using the Smile devil fruits.

Merphy back then: Can't wait to catch up and see all the discussions and theories! Merphy and absolutely every single person after chapter 1043: *confused screaming

Luffy has the same smile in Chapter 598 when he picks up his hat after completing his 2 year training with Rayleigh that we see at the end of 1043. So I believe the smile is still his.

"The week to week grind sucks" "I need ten chapters tomorrow" Merphy has never been more relatable 😂. Thanks for the video! We've been looking forward to your thoughts!

So Merphy finally joined us in the "Oda you deserve your breaks but god damnit I need more" mood. I've been reading OP since 2008, so, I get you. I really get you. But it only makes the chapter after break a lot more fun IMO.

Theres neither an episode nor a chapter this week, But Merph got us coverd for our weekly One Piece dose! Highly appreciate it in this One Piece drought ;-;

My logical headcanon/theory is that Shanks knew the Gomu-Gomu No Mi was JoyBoy's fruit and that he originally stole it to give it to Ace aka Roger's son (remember Ace didnt get his DF until he was already a pirate). If he was in the East Blue looking for Ace to give him the fruit it would explain why he immediately left right after Luffy ate it and he gave him his hat.

I honestly don’t care which would Oda takes this. I have so much faith in him that no matter what he does, he will do it in a way that I will enjoy. He’s never disappointed me in any arc till date and he ain’t about to do that with Luffy either.

00:00:00 ⟾ [Sponsor] 00:00:02 ⟾ Format - minor details, 1043 last panel, sponsor 00:01:14 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Joyboy, fan theories, many directions 00:02:15 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Possession: spirit, smile, heartbeat, ‘voice’ 00:03:49 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Fruit Awakening: tree sap, honey 00:04:58 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Monkey Sun God: mythical 00:05:31 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Joyboy’s fruit 00:06:07 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Kaido lines: rubber doesn’t move like that, so you couldn’t be Joyboy either, death completes a person, Joyboy’s fruit/mantle 00:07:41 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Chosen One: destiny/mistake, Shanks’ plan/knowledge, prophecy/dream 00:09:57 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Shanks meeting Gorosei 00:11:25 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Kaido’s knowledge/expectations 00:12:45 ⟾ [Sponsor] 00:14:37 ⟾ 1041 Hiyori - struggle (also Momonosuke), grief, identity, Orochi, fight 00:17:44 ⟾ Binks’ Sake, Drums of Liberation 00:18:04 ⟾ Cold reality, if Luffy loses, hope lost, will to resist 00:20:23 ⟾ Oden’s Journal pages torn, Toki 00:21:22 ⟾ Week to week grind 00:31:36 ⟾ Sky lantern theatrics, Fire Festival 00:22:47 ⟾ {Dripper Scarfino}, Kaido flashback/personality 00:25:15 ⟾ Oda-box, Luffy died, stoic {D. RIPper Scarfino} 00:26:38 ⟾ Marco, players left standing, Kaido HP bar 00:27:04 ⟾ Kaido as villain: speech, {Momosuki*}, squash hope, demand surrender 00:29:32 ⟾ Nami refusal (to Kaido) 00:30:12 ⟾ Yamato’s speech to Momonosuke 00:31:51 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Zunesha, eyes, Drums of Liberation, Skypiea, Joyboy 00:32:26 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - hopelessness, Sanji different powers, Zoro facing Death, players down 00:33:00 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - many possibilities, fruit awakening, not rubber, Joyboy mantle/smile/spirits/possession 00:33:59 ⟾ 1043 Last Panel - Huge Twist: not rubber, power-ups, more questions 00:35:15 ⟾ Break Week 00:35:39 ⟾ Outro 00:00:54 ⟾ [Promo] [Sponsor] [Credits]

I think Kaido said, "So you couldn't become Joyboy either." So maybe Kaido knows that you aren't born Joyboy but you have to die to become Joyboy. Edit. I just saw that you said that lol

You know what is even better that Merphy finally caught up, Now She can be in the theory gang, maybe even we can see her in the Reverie. Edit: Loving your take on Luffys "Destiny" a Chosen one by mistake, and Shanks is critical for this development, love it, love it, love it.

After reading Chapter 1043, all I could think of was "Oh man, Merphy is gonna go bonkers with that last panel!" lol

I really liked the idea of it being the resin-resin fruit and when I heard that Oda’s second favorite scene in the entire manga involves the resin bubble of Saboady, it blew my mind.

Props to the guy who wrote the English subtitles, he seems like a genuine fan interacting in his own way and that made me smile.

That chapter was so great. It really broke my brain. I hope to god it isn't a literal possession from some hidden tucked away spirit or just destiny. Literal Joyboy really is a bit of something that is unnerving. I hope Luffy hasn't lost his autonomy and freedom.

What Hiyori said in the Komurasaki chapter to Orochi made it clear to us as the readers that perhaps each time she wears her mask to play a song, that is probably the only time when she gets to cry (which would explain how she handles her grieve). No one can see the expressions she makes when she has her mask on, no one would even bother to lift her mask up as they are probably having fun listening to her music instead

(this gonna be big sorry) hi merphy i wanted to say that recently discovered your channel (yt algorithm recommending bc of one piece content) and honestly...i just loved your one piece videos. they came to me right when i most needed them and as i adore the series with my whole soul those videos are being truly my safe space. the way you review the arcs with such a passion brings back to me feelings i had while watching the actual anime (i literally SOBBED with u talking about ennies lobby and i'm not even a crier). love how the videos are so damn long too, LIKE A LOT. these has been some tough times filled with sadness and emptiness and yea...you helped a lot, so THANK YOU SO MUCH. really mean it. sorry for my english (i'm brazilian AND BTWWWW when you talked about BRAS CUBAS FROM MACHADO DE ASSIS i was so damn happy lol my nation being representated. read more of him plsss if you want of course) well that's it bye take care :)

Woohoo finally made it early, and for the catch up too! Love these chapters

Let us take a moment to mourn CP0 boss. We didn't get to see much of him but whenever we saw him he always made his presence felt. He always made us interested in him too bad we didn't get to know more of him. If anyone is doubting he is still alive remember last time when kaido's fight got interrupted bon Chan was able to change faces.

I don't think anything has hit me with as much hype in One Piece as Zuneshia talking about "the drums of liberation" and immediately rolling into saying Joyboy has returned.

I've honestly never felt so exhausted from theorycrafting in my life lol. The first 3 days after the chapter came out I was constantly checking reddit and twitter and youtube for theories and writing my own and talking with friends and I HAD TO STOP. I've never had to stop before. I'm taking it easy and just enjoying the moment. I'm so glad I got into One Piece all those years ago

Haki also translates as willpower. So I think Law was saying he used all his Haki, not that he lost his will to fight.

Also on Hiyori’s trauma - she is taken in and raised to be the Oiran, or the star prostitute/concubine, for the land of Wano. It’s certainly possible that Kyoshiro protected her from that, especially having to serve the courts of the people that betrayed Wano, but it’s also unlikely she rose to the highest position without some kind of actions on her part. It certainly would multiply her trauma, imo. Side note: it’s is possible that Hiyori occupied the place of a Tayuu Oiran, one who did not engage in any sexual acts at all, but only entertained her patrons, though everything I’ve read has signaled that they were incredibly rare and uncommon. That is to say, the standard assumption of an Oiran is yuujo, or a “woman of pleasure.”

I think Luffy's "melting" is just his devil fruit powers returning to a more natural state as rubber sap since rubber comes from Rubber trees. This would also explain why his gear 4th punches are able to move like it does to the point Kaido had to point it out. Plus Rubber tree's are found in Brazil, the country Oda said Luffy would be from if he was in the real world.

What a time to catch up huh? Something that's been on my mind as Brazilian for a while. Oda has told us in an SBS, long ago, what the nationalities of the strawhats would be in the real world and Luffy would be Brazilian. A significant part of the first wave of Japanese immigrants to Brazil went to the Amazon region to extract resin from rubber trees, while the other came southwest to work in Agriculture. So the Japanese came to Brazil to turn resin into rubber and Luffers, a Brazilian, went to the country of Wa (Japan's first name) to be turned back from rubber into resin?

I'll say it a lot but it's so much fun being caught up with you Merphy! I'm more on board with the theory that this was JoyBoy's fruit but it's not been rubber this whole time and Luffy's awakening it! I have no doubt Oda could pull off the possession trope well but it'd be cooler to ME if we've been trolled this whole time by Oda on the base knowledge of our own protagonist. It would also fit with Zoro and Sanji awakening new abilities or new knowledge about themselves that they didn't know like you said! Also shoutout to CP0 for doing what no normal person would dare to do! He'll never die because he'll live in our hearts as the ballsiest man in history😂😂

I need to point out that the narrator did not say Kaido Vs Luffy, kaido winner, he said rooftop fight, kaido winner, and that is enough for me to know this isnt over for luffy

I always go back to Shanks saying "come meet me when you become a great pirate", "you're not ready yet", and specifically "I think we'll be meeting soon" before luffy went to Wano. It gives me a strange, villain-like chill down my spine to think that he's been waiting for luffy to "ripen", for lack of a better word, before meeting him again. Like he wants to be xebec 2.0, but this time use luffy to beat the WG.

It’s almost certainly not Luffy in there. Luffy’s smile/laugh has always been “Shishishi”, but the smile/laugh here is “Nika” I also can’t see Oda making such a big deal about Luffy’s voice being gone and then when he awakens we’re told Joy Boy has returned for it just to be Luffy waking up.

I am convinced that One Piece is one of the best stories currently existing...and I am a huge fan of books and stories. It does such a perfect job of mixing light fun with deeper moments, and, unlike almost every other long running story. It just gets better and better. So glad to see more people discovering it! Thanks for what you do.

I need a video on chapter 1044 omfg😭

personally, I think luffy's real fruit is a sun type logia, and all of it's properties are like the dark-dark fruit, but reversed. It's still solid lie blackbeard's, but instead of absorbing attacks, they bounce off. instead of things getting sucked in, you are constantly expanding in small ways. And here would be the kicker, instead of weakening devil fruits, luffy would enhance those around him. It even gives a decent explanation for red hawk

Merph really arrived at the perfect time to be reading weekly

I like the idea, that Luffys Fruit has the abillity to change his body to whatever he desires. So the first time we saw his powers were, when he refused to let go of some food. So he just assumed that steching was his power and he went for this. But in the end (like gear3) he can change his body however he seems fit.

Seeing these videos on Merphys channel is so unreal in the best way. It feels like only yesterday she was just starting to get into OP

Oda has a way in using shonen manga tropes and doing them in a different way. I also don't think he's gonna take the "Luffy did all this important stuff because he's the One" route but rather he's the One because of all the amazing stuff he's capable of. If someone tells Luffy he's expected to do this or that because he's the new Joy boy I don't think he'll like it. He has been all about freedom and doing what he wants, being attached to a predetermined path it's not like him. Edit: typo

I read 1043 and immediatly thought: "Oh Merphy is gonna LOVE being a weekly reader now" xD I literally screamed when I read that page and even took a screenshot. I had so many goosebumps, we're literally watching a prophecy come true.

I'm so excited that you are caught up and doing monthly videos! I've had a theory for awhile that all Devil fruits are created and they include the souls of the people of the Ancient Kingdom. Personally, I believe that Luffy's fruit was JoyBoy's fruit.

It feels weird seeing merphy catch up to the latest chapter of One Piece and theorizing like another OP youtuber because it's like yesterday I watched she's crying after Ennies Lobby. Love you merph!

I love CP0 Agent. His commentary throughout the arc has been fascinating, and his encounter with Drake before his big scene in 1042 was great for the dialogue and the really cool action.

Congrats for reaching Laughtale (meaning latest chapter 🤣) Now Merphy can experience how we read chapters week by week. I've been following the manga 10 years ago since high school. Sometimes it's fun reading the spoilers but when you read it officially it really thrilling ❤️

I believe the lanterns are important for two reasons: Otokos specific scene talking about her hopes rising, and Kaidos sudden diatribe about how the people of Wano are just beaten down losers with no hope left. The scene of Kaido literally falling down from his position of dominance over the people of Wano as their dreams float up past him and the dawn breaks over the horizon is just too good of an image for Oda to pass up.

A popular theory is that Luffy's devil fruit is RESIN, it fits with all the properties displayed in the series. It's also funny how one of Oda's favorite chapter/moment was when Robin, Usop and Luffy where discussing the couting for the ships to get to Fishman Island (has similar properties at Luffy's devil fruit). These one piece theories are so good but I lean more on this 1.

I love that Kaido comes back inside so pissed off. I thinks its just good writing and very true to his character and his current mood. And i love the true sense of desperation overall that Oda has built up by now. Hes got us!

When Merph said she'll make an effort to learn/remember character's names I thought "You don't have to do that. There are a ton of characters and no one should fault you for forgetting them or using nicknames". But this video I realized she's got it! Idk when it happened but dang merph you're just built different I guess

Chapter 1043 was a legendary chapter, one of the best in Wano and one of the best in the entire series. We've been blessed by Oda-sensei with top tier chapters basically nonstop since 1000 (a few exceptions like 1030). What a time to be a fan of One Piece.

The only problem with Luffy's fruit NOT being rubber is it kinda voids the whole reason he could stand up to Enel the way he did in sky island.

My take on joyboy and all of this: I believe the line “the drums of liberation” are key to this whole mystery. I dont think this is literal joyboy from the void century, i don’t believe this is necessarily his old fruit, and I don’t think luffy was a child born under a lucky star. I believe the “drums of liberation” are what we experienced in the chapter, a heart stopping, that person dying, but through their sheer will power and desire for justice, they willed themselves back one more time. I think the last time someone with a will this powerful was alive, it was the previous joyboy. I believe that this has changed luffy in a sense as in he experienced death and came back, which is why his smile is different and why it seems to have awakened his devil fruit (which I believe to be tree resin). He has a better understanding of himself, including his own powers, and zuniesha has heard this happen before, a man who died but kept fighting on.

I'm super hyped about everything from this chapter but I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who felt this. When we get the Yamato and momo scene it made me think of Oden and how he tried to peacefully save his people at first. Yamato has inherited Odens will and momo has taken the his leadership mantle but represents a naive side of Oden, to have them go back and forth in this way really reminds me of how Oden's innocent thinking and love for his people stopped him from fighting at first but in his finals moments knew that only through action could he liberate his country. To see that contrast with the 2 people that represent him was freaking awesome. Idk why but it was just something that I really liked

It's like Oda just waited for Merphy to catch up and drop a bomb 😂 But seriously what a time to catch up Ps I expect Jushi jushi no mii (resin resin fruit) There are alot of hints 🤔 even in chapter number 1043, 10-4-3(juu-shi-mii (In the romanji pronunciation 3 is mii) Pps YAY Merphy can now actually read the comments!

You literally caught up at the most exciting part in a while. Perfect timing. Weekly discussing is fun but the wait is often painful lol.

Everyone seems to be forgetting someone that always clutches in the last moments, even giving Luffy that last push or lending that precise helping hand on the most dire of times, someone that hasn't shown up in this last chapter...God-Ussop has yet to appear to help everyone when it's most dire and seems lost, nearly dying and giving Luffy the time he needs.

Some of the youtubers are associating the nature and DFs of the core members in this fight to the core characters of the story: "the journey to the west" In that also, we had a main character called momotaro (Momonosuke, aka momo), accompanied by a bird (Marco), a dog (Yamato), and a monkey (luffy)

I just want to say i'm glad YT recommended your channel! First woman i see talking about OP and i loved it! 😄

And so it begins. Merphys slow but steady transition into a One Piece KZfaqr.

Underrated subtitles, whoever wrote the sub deserves a medal !

whoever does your closed captions deserves a raise

the surreal experience of hearing merphy discuss current op theories, I love it! honestly there are so many interesting theories and I feel at this point I never know what to expect from oda, I'm so excited for next chapter ahhhhh

I knew you'd have a bunch of thoughts about this batch of chapters! So many theories about the drums. I can think of 3 separate drum sounds in the anime myself! Personally I'm hoping for the skypeia campfire drums

Ever since the chapter when Kaido tossed Luffy off Onigashima, saying he wasn’t Joy Boy either, I’d always theorized that Kaido found Oden’s journal, read it, then discarded it somewhere. That would explain how Yamato got her hands on it. The only thing I’m uncertain of is if he also ripped out the last pages.

I'm definitely holding my judgement on what's going down with Luffy. This can go in ways that kinda kick the core themes Oda has spent the past 25 years building in the face, but I trust the man's ability not to do that lol. On fact, I think if it does go the possession route he'll throw a wrench in the trope to actually make it a bad thing. Like, LUFFY having his body taken over by someone not him? That dude is not gonna sit well with that. Maybe Joyboy might actually be an ANTAGONIST for the Strawhats in particular as they definitely wouldn't want their captain in that state, and remember Rayleigh did say they would reach their own conclusions about the history and secrets (Joyboy being one of those secrets). Just cause the Roger pirates viewed his arrival as a good thing doesn't mean the Strawhats will. But yeah, waiting and seeing.

Up to date One Piece content AND Hunter X Hunter discussions. These videos honestly mean a lot to me. Getting to see somebody experience something I love and love it as much as I do is just joyful And yeah you picked a hell of a time to catch up because… 1043…

Hi there, here bc of your vid with Liam and picked this point to start looking into your analysis. At first: Thank you for being so witchy. The world needs more witches. I like your comparison between Oden and Momo as the leaders of Wano, deciding on the best course of action to protect their people. I like how you already thought about Kaido trying to off himself because death possibly means becoming Joyboy. I like how much time you spend on focusing on Shanks here. More than rewriting our brain regarding Luffy, it meant a big shift for the story to finally confirm that Shanks wasn't just goofing around and that he just... knew. That just meeting him to give him the hat back wasn't the objective all along. That every time he showed up and said anything, it can be read today, sooooooo many years later (Shanks vs. Whitebeard :DDDD) without any consistency issues is just such a treat. And that everything about those revelations won't possibly change a thing on how Luffy makes his dream come true and it's hilarious :D

Whooo!! Been waiting to hear her thoughts on 1043. Didn’t disappoint

I don't think Luffy has been possessed. If you understand why Yamato calls herself Oden, it becomes easier to understand why Zunesha is saying Joyboy is back. Yamato has inherited Odens will or at least strives to, and I would also like to think Luffy has just now inherited joyboy's will(maybe the straw hat has something to do with it and it required Luffy dying to activate). Yamato is Oden, and in the same sense Luffy is Joyboy. She even tells Luffy "maybe you're more oden than me", I strongly feel that Oda chose to introduce yamato right before this point in the story the way he did for this reason. It sheds more light on Yamato's seemingly strange reason to call herself Oden or the other way around, shedding more light on why Zunesha might see Joyboy in Luffy. Another connection is Kiado literally seeing Oden as they tear into his scars. They've only inherited Oden's will but they did it so much so that Kiado literally sees Oden again in the flesh.

Welcome to weekly One Piece reading. It's a thing! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. On the point of hopelessness I love that this arc is realistic about what's going to happen. Without Luffy they are screwed. What are the consequences of this? Everybody will either die or be enslaved and Kaido wins. Kaido has fought 12+ people one of whom was on his level and he's still just as confident that he could kill everybody on the Live Floor. Not many manga have the guts to tell the readers the consequences of failure and I love that in this moment One Piece chooses to do that.

You did a trivia face off against Daniel about Avatar a while back and it was a fun video, so I was wondering if you'd consider doing that again but with One Piece trivia?

Yo what a time for merphy to get caught up to One Piece LOL

A point in favour of Luffy's devil fruit having a "special" awakening is how difficult/painful it is to improve the control of the fruit. What other fruit have we seen in the series that inflicts so much pain upon the user that way Gears 2, 3 and 4 do on Luffy? So it's not nearly enough to just find and eat this legendary fruit, it has to be consumed by the ideal individual.

The closed captioning on this video was amazing! Great work to the editor

I have found my salvation during One Piece break week, and that is Merphy break reviews. Thank you :)

Oda msg in Jump festa 2022 "REGARDING THE MAIN STORY, I'M SURPRISED THAT THE WANO COUNTRY IS STILL NOT OVER. ANYWAY, LUFFY! PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE MAIN CHARACTER!! I HOPE I CAN DRAW IT WELL...! ALSO, I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DRAW THE LAST SCENE OF THE WANO COUNTRY! AAAAH! BASICALLY, I'M SUPER EXCITED FOR ONE PIECE NEXT YEAR. I HOPE YOU KEEP ROOTING FOR ONE PIECE!!" So oda was seriously talking about something he could draw well....maybe the last panel.

Fun fact... Chapter 1044 is 10 times wilder...

Here's one odd thought: CP0 bowler hat guy may have sort of saved Luffy's life. Now, for starters, I think Kaido was _probably_ going to be winning that clash still. The Tekkai shoulder grab just made sure of it, and gave a bigger margin. Earlier after Kaido beat Luffy, he was saying "I should have taken his head to show the alliance to crush their spirits, but I knocked him off the island... oops." But this time, now that he has Luffy available for that, he still didn't do it. My inference would be that it's because of the way the fight ended. He can't be proud of his victory, he didn't even let out the victory cry Big Mom mentioned. So he won't do that kind of gloating over it. And leaving his head on his shoulders leaves Luffy to possibly recover through... whatever is going on at the end there.

The closed captions are fantastic, made something great even better. I Love your videos.

Even if Luffy is being possessed by Joyboy, there are ways it could still lead to a satisfying conclusion that is thematically consistent with the rest of the manga. For instance, this could lead to a plot thread about Luffy trying to wrest back control of his body to regain his autonomy and freedom. I don't think it would feel out of place for the story to have something like that

Another theory I heard about in another video (from Tekking101) that I liked was that Luffy's fruit could also be something completely different and the last chapter was the awakening of the fruit; not a specific thing like rubber or a mythical being but a concept that allows him to have the properties of rubber (the base for this theory is that there's the laundry fruit, like the literal concept of laundry).

I just wanted to say that it has been an immense pleasure to be on the ride with you, Merphy, since you uploaded your first One Piece video. Thank you for your work and being a part of this community. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who doesn't like to think, hear, nor read fan theories about stories that I love. I like to go in blind and see what the author has cooked up instead of expecting the one of the read or heard theories. I'll be leaving the ship here but I wish the very best to you and your channel.

I was trying to find the right word for the way the smile made me feel. Unnerving is a good one. An ominous smile. It was a wierd scary feeling. Kinda like the smile when Oden drowned and boiled after getting shot. I dont think it's any type of zoan fruit. No wukong. No Indian monkey hanuman. I think it's just his awakening. It could be like a honey or a resin or oil. As long as it's lightning Insulated im cool. Personal question merph, is it overwhelming getting an entire crowd of the anime community flooding your videos now that you do one piece discussions?

Remember when Luffy almost got executed by Buggy D. Clown in Loguetown and he laughed and said “Sorry Im dead” and the lightning came crashing down and we all thought it was Dragon fdjjsbjsuvsnnss my brain is fried

Luffys personality matches with so many interpretations of Son Wukong. Plus the whole story of taking down the Gods. Out of all the possible ways this can go, I'd be really Ok with this one lol

WOW! This Take of the situation is just amazing, I have been looking through the community and seems to be divided between people who like the idea of being destined and those who feel it will take away from luffy. But this take 9:20 is absolutely refreshing and I cannot believe I did not think of it myself. Luffy became the chosen one because he is who he is "A little slow but extremely hungry boy, who ate what he was not meant to!"

I've been waiting for this video since I read 1043, I've been watching so many videos on 1043 because of what a huge turning point in the series this represents and yours is one of the ones I've been most excited to see!

My theory is that Luffy is one of 3 substances, the first of which is gum syrup/gum Arabic, too similar to make separate theory's as its basically an all-natural resin harvested from the Acacia tree and found primarily in Northeast Africa. The second substance Luffy could be is Sapodilla resin which was used by the Aztecs to create gum that they consumed to quench their thirst and hunger which is quite fitting for Wano. Finally the third and my favorite of these is Frankincense which is also a resin and the symbol of deity in the story of the three wise kings that I think Oda based Joyboy, Luffy, and Roger off. The story goes that the three wise kings sought a journey to the same place and all brought gifts because for the son of god was to be born, one brought Gold (Roger), another brought Frankincense (Luffy), and the third brought a myrrh used to anoint the dead (Joyboy). This myrrh that Joyboy brought and left at that place must be the Onepiece and suggests Roger also left an absolute ton of treasure there too.

I like to think Kaido has been waiting on Wano since Shanks told him Joyboy would come to Wano and give him the defeat he’s been looking for nearly 2+ years ago. This is Kaido’s only motivation; death by combat.

8:20 I've recently started to believe that Shanks actually wanted to give the fruit to Ace. He was probably traveling around the east blue looking for him since he knew Roger had a kid. If Shanks knew it was Joyboy's fruit, then he probably wanted Ace to have it so he could complete his father's journey.

I just want to say how great are the captions!! English is not my first language, but I ussually don't need captions for your videos but since I notice the little comments they put in them I love them, like the real name when you used nick names or even the number of the chapter when you are referencing something but don't remember tbe number and specially the little jokes, woow So, to the person that do the captions THANK YOU, I didn't thougth it was possible, but you made Merph videos even better for me

My only problem with it being a different fruit is Enel. Luffy was able to defeat his lightning specifically because his DF was rubber... what else could it be with the same stretchy powers AND immunity to electricity?

I'm not really convinced that Luffy's Devil fruit isn't rubber. When a devil fruit user eats the devil fruit, they instinctively understand the basics of the fruit. I believe that melted Luffy is still rubber, I just believe that his awakening is to control the consistency of his rubber. But this is Oda we're talking about, I could be completely wrong.

You caught up one month before me. That final panel reveal was in the 1st chapter I read as it was coming out. We had great timing lol

1st off, Hey Merphy. I recently got back Into One Piece and have been watching your decent into it's depths has been a delight to watch. I love how....hard to describe this...positive? Not sure how i can describe how it feels to me as I've been watching your reviews. I've watched others and yours just hit me in the feels in a very good way. Like seritonin. 2nd: I love your theory that Shanks went to the Gorsei to help Luffy. I've seen this mostly in a negative or iffy light. I love your view on that.

Zunesha is based of Ganesha, which is an an ethnic name, so I feel it's best to pronounce it as such. (Zoo-neesh-uh, not Zoo-nesh-uh) Also Mochi is pronounced (moh-chee) not (moh-key)

The Joy BOY reveal of Luffy wasn't shocking. I think we all expected Luffy to be Joy Boy.i still think 1043 will CHANGE One Piece at it's entirely (positive or negative... We will see).

Cant wait for your 1044 reaction!!!! Fantastic chapter!

Loved the review! Maybe an idea for future recaps, you could show some panels on the screen while you are discussing them.

I feel like Shanks didn’t talk about the fruit simply bc I’m not of the belief that Shanks knows THAT much. Like he’d have the same knowledge as Imu at that point. But u never know

If you are missing a lot One piece, you can always reread one piece. Every reread you find some new perspective and things

Props to whoever did this video's subs, btw. The subs are perfectly timed and transliterated, with a lot of tiny details including cat meows, silences and SFX. Seriously, great subs.

I've been reading one piece week to week for 14 years now. It never gets easier, but it's a testament to how good it is.