Love how so much of Merphy's one piece journey can be summed up by going from "oh, ok we're fighting a literal Circus now" to "Buggy is king and he deserves everything"

Rayleigh really mentored 3 of the current 4 emperors, what a legend.

The first fight in Orange Town is now no longer a small scale battle between two minor pirates, but rather a clash between two Emperors of the Sea.

I internally hope that the "certain pirate" Shanks told the Five Elders about is actually Buggy. I want a scene of Red-head selling it and the Elders going like "wow"

Calling it right now, if Buggy doesn't go to Laugh Tale alongside Shanks and Luffy to find the One Piece, he's going to somehow end up on the Empty Throne in Mariejois and become the literal King of the World

Lmao, so poor Magellan really just let 3 next emperors escape back then, I can't this is golden

I wanted buggy to be an emperor ever since he became a warlord. I was called a madman. VINDICATED

I really hope the series ends with Buggy and Usopp being the next Roger and Whitebeard, but the two realize they're in the same positions of having to pretend to be who their crews think they are. So when they have their "epic clashes" it's just the two of them setting off fireworks while they complain to each other about how stressful life has become.

As soon as I read the chapter I immediately thought “Merphy is gonna love this”

I love Merphy's reaction to Pluton being in Wano, "Luffy wouldn't care, but you could've told me!" sums up how the whole fandom felt about that lol

When I first saw Buggy as a Yonko I immediately thought of Merphy's reaction

I personally really enjoy the gag with Jinbei staying for the banquet when everyone else ditched it for the festival. Characterization and comedy all in one.

All hail Buggy the true Pirate King

If anything, I think it's highly more likely Boa declared Amazon Lily under Luffy than Buggy. Luffy is now a Yonko but we know that he didn't get that title just for defeating Kaido or else either Law or Kidd would be a Yonko too; he just got a bounty increase for that. That means that Luffy was made a Yonko for things happening outside of Wano & we know a criteria to be a Yonko is to hold territories in the New World. With all that context I can totally see a scenario where since she's not a Warlord anymore Boa openly declares her love for Strawhat Luffy and pledges Amazon Lily as his first territory. Then Luffy had already claimed Fishman Island as his back in that arc, and ig both of them declared then that could push Dressrosa & Alabasta to do the same.

Love that moment with Nami being kinda shocked at Tama when she chose to stay with Speed. Nami has always loved kids. It also helped that Nami was orphaned like her. She felt a lot for Tama.

What I really love about the ancient weapons is that they're talked about in one location (Alabasta, Skypiea), and they're located in the opposite location (Wano, Fish-Man Island). Alabasta is surrounded by sand while Wano is surrounded by water. Skypiea is 10k meters in the sky and Fish-Man Island is 10k meters under the sea. Greenbull (I loved that you called him "Red Bull") is kind of terrifying to me. The fact that he's an Akainu fanboy and likes the idea of that kind of dark justice, is exactly why I want Coby to take over and change how the Navy works. Izo's death threw me at first, but after a re-read and him telling Kinemon that he wasn't going to give up this chance to die, I feel was subtle hinting from Oda that he wasn't going to walk away from this fight. Also, Luffy's bounty of 3 billion is rather reminiscent of him getting 30 million and 300 million. Lots of 3's in Luffy's bounty career.

Every time Buggy gets a new title Oda has to take a month long hiatus. Coincidence? I'll let you be the judge.

Hitetsu does say that he contemplated suicide after what happened to him. So yes I think that him having lost hope and having fallen to despair is what happened, even if it was only for a time. He failed, which is why he refuses to show his face.

Also liked the Kiku/Yamato bath scenes. Because it shows that Oda actually respects who Kiku is and also goes along with Yamato's freedom of being ! I also love how nobody is making a fuss about it unlike some of the fandom which has been divided about this. Some making real horrible transphobic comments about Kiku when it was made as no big deal in the chapter.

I know you don't tend to talk about this sort of thing but the fact that Yamato was in the men's bath and O-Kiku was in the women's was so freaking wholesome to me. Luffy and Yamato just vibing like bros made me laugh and Kiku shyly admitting to feeling shameful over bathing with the scabbards in the past got me right in the heart. All the love to these two characters.

Tama's powers are actually a reference to The Tale of Momotaro, an icon in Japanese folklore. In the story, Momotaro leaves home on a journey to Onigashima to fight a gang of oni who have marauded the lands. On the way, he meets a dog, monkey, and pheasant, and shares some of his kibi dango (millet dumplings) with each of them, and they then accompany him on his quest. ...Several elements of this folk tale ended up in the Wano arc.

00:00:00 ⟾ *Update* - Vacation, Format 00:00:40 ⟾ *Buggy* - credit, luck 00:01:48 ⟾ Buggy - WG incompetence, worthy, failing upto Pirate King 00:04:02 ⟾ *Shanks* - all 4 Emperors connected, exploring character, explaining actions 00:06:56 ⟾ *Warlords* - under Buggy, Hancock, Mihawk 00:08:32 ⟾ *Bounties* - Luffy, Kid, Law, Morgans 00:10:24 ⟾ *Big Mom Crew* - disappointment, hanging card, future plans, loyalty to Linlin 00:12:08 ⟾ *Sukiyaki* - {Randy Troy} {SAVAGE) theory, imprisoned, reasons for inaction 00:14:43 ⟾ Sukiyaki - Toko conversation, Tama, belief in prophecy, inaction, human reaction 00:17:51 ⟾ Sukiyaki - Momonosuke, Poneglyphs, Hiyori 00:18:57 ⟾ Highlights - Toko lantern, Tama flashback, crew moments, HUMOUR 00:19:51 ⟾ *Ending of Wano* - borders of Wano, Zunesha 00:21:47 ⟾ *Disappointments* : abrupt, fast, Big Mom, Big Mom Crew, open threads, Toki, Grim Reaper, Ryuma’s grave 00:23:29 ⟾ Ending of Wano - Cinematic, volcano, smoke, shadows 00:24:36 ⟾ *Shogun* - Hiyori vs. Momonosuke 00:25:37 ⟾ *Disappointments* : too big cast, side characters build-up vs. pay-off 00:26:42 ⟾ Shogun - Momonosuke: Udon 00:27:52 ⟾ Plot - *Gorosei and Robin* : capture, Enies Lobby vs. now 00:29:24 ⟾ *Green* Bull/Aramaki* - {Red Bull}, restoring vegetation, sucking out life, powers 00:31:00 ⟾ *Deaths* - Hawkins, Ashura Doji, Izou, Yasuie 00:31:21 ⟾ Ashura Doji, Izou - weird deaths, Pell, Pedro 00:32:46 ⟾ *Yamato* - crew 00:33:30 ⟾ Highlights - Zoro-Sanji deal scene, Grim Reaper 00:34:28 ⟾ *Tama* - powers not fitting themes of One Piece 00:35:20 ⟾ Highlights - Sabo 00:35:42 ⟾ Highlights - Red Poneglyph 00:35:57 ⟾ Highlights - Pluton, post-Wano, Poneglyphs, grave 00:36:32 ⟾ *Outro* 00:36:56 ⟾ [Promo] [Credits] ☕ 🐧

I love how merphys qualifications for being a yonko has to be something grand and noble

Tama's powers work on animals only, not humans/other sentient races. She could take control of Kaido's forces very specifically because of the Smile fruits making them permanently part animal. It also doesn't enslave the subject, it just makes them like her and want to listen for the duration of the effect. Tama's powers are really more like a scaled down and time limited version of Shirahoshi's connection to the Neptunians than anything.

I love the fact that Kaido's+Big Mom's bounty is a combined 8 999 100 000 while Kid+Law+Luffy is barely higher with a round 9 000 000 000. It may be part of the reason for their bounty's being 3 billion equally between the 3.

I love the idea that Buggys devil fruit is actually powerful when awakened. He can divide anything or anyone in his vicinity.

I think a huge point of Wano before SH came was that the majority of the country gave up. They stopped fighting back. I think Sukiyaki was also like that

Buggy D. Clown once again SHAKING the One Piece world!

I was in the end very confused about why Zunesha would just arrive, drop a bit of expo and then just leave w/o doing anything. What I kinda landed on is that just like with the Sea Kings Zunesha will arrive when Momo reaches a desperate situation, kinda like what happened with Shirahoshi and the Sea Kings. But tbh I like your version more, where Zunesha was there because it thought it was time to open the borders^^

I believe that Shanks did hype Buggy up to the Five Elders, and that he did it primarily to troll Buggy.

I think this time, Buggy did not take anyone's credit. Since becoming a Warlord, he has become a big name in the Black Market and has established some territories. Also, the fact that he used to sail with Roger alongside Shanks is a big factor.

When it comes to Tama, I think her power is perfectly fine since we know that this power was mainly supposed to be used for beasts/animals. While Zoan types are immune to this power, playing against nature and trying to make artificial zoan fruits while taking over not one but TWO countries to benefit them (Wano + Dressrosa), the fact that Tama has used her power conservatively and treated the beasts and SMILE users she did use it on with great consideration and care shows I think some of the best usages of powers in the series that highlight the best things about One Piece. She only made all those dangos for the raid because she wanted to help Momo and them save her country from being forced into work camps for 20+ years by a corrupt Shogun and Pirate Dragon that would rather starve, torture, and kill everyone in Wano before asking for their input. With Tama, she'll use her powers to save her country and her friends but she won't just force that life on you every time it's about to run off. She'd rather have them choose what they can do from then on. Idk, I think with added perspective of how the Beast Pirates wrecked her home country and how kind Tama actually is with her powers (Plus the fact that this power was very much no meant for human beings with animal powers), I do enjoy how she has utilized it and was basically a second chance for minor Beast Pirate characters like Speed.

Pluton means "Pickles" in the old tongue

Tama’s devil fruit is worth it to me because of her relationship with Speed, who is now a mother to her. Their relationship is super genuine, especially after Tama’s back story

Ay Murphy, I have a slightly different theory on Buggy's crew. The warlords are under him yes, but basically because of a shared interest of survival against the government. The reason they are under Buggy is because he's the perfect lightning rod of attention, so while people are worried with the pirate Bozo they can freely roam about.

I think the thing about tama's powers that make me feel better is the fact that they were never meant to work on humans in the first place. They don't work on normal people, and they don't even work on zoan fruit users. They only just so happened to work on the smile users, plus let's be real none of the smile users were exactly good people, considering they were all pretty much Kaido's underlings. Plus the fact that it even happened, and the fact that tama was even there with probably the perfect fruit to combat the smile users was actually most likely pure luck and coincidence. It was really a luffy vs enel moment, with rubber vs lightning, and tama's taming power vs beasts

You have now been completely christened as a true blue one piece fan. You, who doesn't remember character names, are reciting names as if they are the names of your immediate family! The amount of excitement that you exude is truly infectious. ❤️

I don’t see why people are downplaying Buggy. Oda said in an SBS that if he actually trained he would be as strong as Shanks. And just imagine if the Chop-Chop fruit awakened, that honestly sounds like one of the most broken powers there are. Just my opinion though. Man I love Buggy-sama.

I'm a big fan of that Zoro and Sanji interaction. Best bromance that I need more of

I just love whoever writes her captions, they're the best 😂

Ah yes - the exciting new Admiral Red Bull. Full of energy and gives you wings 😂

Personally, I think hitetsu wasn't just hiding the whole time... He trusted the red scabbards... He was busy keeping pluton hidden for over 20 years... Explains why Kaido couldn't find it for so long even though they ruled the land

I also felt really weird about the scabbard deaths! Like on the one hand, if Oda is really killing his characters off, that's good for the story. It adds stakes. But also, why Izo and Ashura when it could have been Kinemon and Kiku? I was so much more emotionally invested in their deaths. Hawkins on the other hand, I have no problem with. That was cool

One thing I think bears mentioning is that when Admiral Ryokugyu shows up he's seen having drained life or energy or something from King and Queen, and immediately afterwards, we see grassland and flowers growing on Udon. The whole thing feels very karmic. The Beast Pirates spent decades draining the life out of Wano, and then they are drained to return life to the land. On a side note, I do hope his fruit is a Logia since a plant Logia would be departure from Logias we've seen so far, and can have a different set of rules to work with. We've already seen Blackbeard's darkness Logia working differently from other Logias on a fundamental level, and it'd be nice to see more of that.

29:24 "red bull enters the scene" i didnt know Oda Sponcored them

The two people who left Oden are the ones who came to him

I think there's a misunderstanding with Tama's powers it's only ever shown working on animals and gifters so I really think it doesn't affect people normally and that it's more of an animal taming concept rather than an enslavement thing

Hitetsu/sukiyaki maybe dont want to make such big scene to attract beast pirates attention. Because he can read poneglyph, and kaido really want to have him as a tool to get pluton and to get to laugh tale. So he keeps hiding in the forest

something worth mentioning imo is that Tama can only "forcefully befriend" animals and people who ate the Smile fruits and got a power from it. Her power doesn't work on normal people nor zoan users so even if it's not that much better at least the people who can get affected by Tama kind of deserve it since they screwed with the country and its people first.

Imagine coming up with One Piece predictions and theories for several years and never getting anything right. Then out of nowhere Merphy correctly predicts Buggy being Yonko then Pirate King.

About your questions on sukiyaki's actions, when i read the manga my first thought was, "oh he needed to protect pluton", since he was the only one who knew about it. He trusted the prophecy, he knew Wano would be once again safe, so his job was to protect the family's legacy and the secrets they always protected. Doing that he can reveal himself after Wano is safe again, and pass the legacy to his grandchild

Everyone seems to be mislead by the whole "these are the new Yonkou" thing. I don't think the WG had anything to do with that, they set Luffy, Kid and Law's bounties the same because they didn't want to draw attention to Luffy. Then Morgan screwed up their plan by declaring Luffy to be one of the new Yonkou. BIG NEWS!

I like that the last generation of Pirates mostly stemmed from the Rocks Pirates (directly or indirectly), while the new generation mostly stems from the Roger Pirates. It makes complete sense, but it's fun to see the transition as the era shifts

What if pluton is actually in the lava that kaido and big mom fell into, and they get a hold of it?

I’m so invested in YOUR ONEPIECE JOURNEY! My girlfriend seen me watching your videos and she noticed I’ve watched everyone of your videos ever since you were in marineford… and she was so confused by WHY I was watching and I explained it to her as “you know that feeling when you love something ? And then someone else gets into something you love and THEY LOVE THAT THING JUST AS MUCH AS YOU DO??? That’s what I feel when I watch this girl read one piece” and it’s so true… like Everytime you post a video… I get so excited Cus I’m like “omgggg okay she’s caught up and she’s posting a review I gotta enjoy this with her”… I LOVE your content, I’m very glad your enjoying the story, I’m even happier that you care about the series as much as you do!

Shout out to the person making the subtitles for this video, the tiny references and jokes hidden among them are pure gold !

Thematically, I'd like Buggy to at least keep failing upwards until he and Shanks reunite durring a pivotal moment, and maybe Shanks or Buggy will have a tragic sacrifice

You forget that the emperor made swords. That then armed the rebels. He could have also been protecting and hiding the secrets of wano. So he can then pass on wanos secrets

I have LOVED watching your one piece journey. Your first video came out literal weeks after I started One Piece, but I hadnt seen your channel until about a year later when I saw your Avatar videos. When I first found your videos I was through fishman island and so I would put your videos on in the background while I was working, one airpod in and cooking up food and id just listen to you go from someone who liked the silly little pirate stuff thats going on, to being as obsessed as I am with One Piece. I haven't watched you in about a year though, so I've taken up my habit again, using your videos as a podcast while I'm at work cooking and can't read or watch it myself. I'm caught up in both anime and manga, now the last step is for me to go through all of your chapter reviews, I cant wait to see what you've said about chapter 1109, the most recent, and in my opinion, best chapter of Egghead so far. Keep up the amazing videos!

“ I am on vacation, different location” That’s a cool rhyme

It's funny how Merphy is already the type to make long videos, but even so her review of 4 chapters is less than 40 minuets, whereas Tekking's review of 1053 alone is over an hour.

It makes the most sense for Momo to Officially take the role of Shogun after this fight as he is Oden's Son and the living embodiment of hope and a new future for Wano. The people don't know he is 8 in a 28 year old body. They see the next generation of a golden era stolen by Orochi. And in a traditional heavy place like Wano, there's probably a bias for male heirs take Leadership. Hiyori could still totally act as the shogun behind Momo though, because she probably has all the training and knowledge needed to run a country. Momo will eventually learn but right now, he is basically a puppet figurehead.

I think the thing about Tama's powers is just a very concentrated version of how food bonds people (and people and animals). Luffy will become your friend if you feed him, animals are generally able to be befriended with treats, and that is the original application of Tama's fruit. So I do feel like there is a thematic element to it. Kaido sought out to make the most ferocious army by "reducing" people to base beasts, but that element was also his downfall because humans love bonding with animals (Luffy every time he meets a weird thing and wants to befriend it first). Can't quite put this into smarter words but I hope this makes sense.

Kaido weakness: mastering your channeling of haki to inflict damage on the weak insides of an opponents body. Buggy weakness: *NUT CHECK!*

Izo's death makes the most sense to me. Why would a government assassin leave him there without confirming his death? I love you Merphy but I laughed when you said Red Bull. Robin fighting off her own kidnappers is fine but I don't want her captured. Enies Lobby 2.0 would piss off majority of the fans.

The whole thing wih Tama's power is its meant to control animals, smiles didnt exist when it came to be (i would think) so taking liberty away from humans wasn't its intention. Outside of Wano she cant control anyone other than animals and even then it sets limits to how long she can control the animal before it returns to normal.

Glad you mentioned about toko and tama scenes. It took a quite while for my tears to stop flowing after I read those parts.

Best line from this conversation has to be “I will accept it BUT I WONT ACCEPT IT!” But don’t forget the people from Wano seem to be extremely prideful so………

About the freedom of the eslaved beast pirates: I think the interesting (philosophical) point Oda raises is that, since ('good') smiles turn you into half-nonhuman-animal, when you eat them you are not only acquiring new (animal) forms as with real zoans, you are also literally losing part of your humanity - and together with it, your free will is lessened to the point that you can be 'tamed', rather than literally enslaved (and what Tama's fruit does is only the former). In a sense, Tama can 'enslave' them only because they have already willfully gave up their nature as self-determining human beings when they decided to eat the smile fruits.

I just came after catching up to the manga, i think people tend to forget that Emperors are people who have a lot of political influence or some kind of influence of territory under their name for example: - BB took over WB Territory after his death, Luffy saved major nations , Albasta, Dressrosa and even smaller ones such as Drum and he has 5000+ subordinate ( if i haven't forgotten), Shanks can literally talk to the Five Elders and also can stop war just by showing up cuz of the influence he has Similarly ,after Buggy gained the prisioners, and some of them are big names under him and he also does mercenary work and gained influence through it so basically he is kinda emperor level although may not be powerful (physically) but influence is more than enough to cope up with it.

Merphy called him Red Bull hahaha. Never change

The thing is Sukiyaki is very very old lol. Seriously though, he did raise Tama who was vital for the raid. And he kept Oden's swords safe! No Emma, no Zoro feats. The main thing is that he wasn't involved in any of the Oden stuff, so unlike the Scabbards, he's in the same position as the people. Not knowing when they'll come back, or the details of what Oden told them etc. Edit: Also, the purpose of ponegliffs was to preserve the truth until it was time. That time is now. Besides, Momo is gonna have too much on his plate to learn how to read & write the gliffs. No doubt it won't be an easy thing to learn and how much real time is left in the story? A few months at best.

I get the feeling Pell’s situation was meant to play up the hope and perseverance themes of the series along with possible implications of him now being a guardian mythical Zoan after what happened with Luffy and death completing a person. Izo and Doji didn’t have that going for them and wasn’t helped by Usopp not going to help them, so that happening was prob the most “natural” way it could have played out.

"Fun" fact: Izo and Ashura Doji are the only two of Oden's servants that died because they were the only two who "lost" their way. Ashura Doji of course by losing his hope, and Izo by deciding to continue his journey with Whitebeard. At least I think that was the symbolism behind that. Even if they still fought until the end because of their loyalty to Oden

Lol the way she said “Whose success did he stumble into” had me cracking up. You really know him well 😂

If you think about it, now that the entire smile operation has been completely destroyed, Buggy now has the largest criminal organization on the planet, that alone, in the Navy's eyes, would make him dangerous enough to make yonko

I loled so hard when you called Green Bull by the name of Red Bull. lol Awesome video!

"Red bull has entered the scene" wow I didn't know One Piece got sponsored

I don't know why but the mid-sentence break, " - I don't know if you watched my sock puppet video - " made me chuckle.

I really admire your patience and faith to Oda as a new weekly reader. You have that mindset that things will pay off in the future, unlike some others who always act like every new chapter is the final chapter and sometimes they criticize an entire arc based on the feelings they had on recent chapters. Wano might not be flawless, yet it is still a masterfully done arc for me and Oden's epic journey is the cherry on top.

I am so ready for this episode! I've been waiting for your reaction 😁

the excitement in your speech when you talk about one piece just shows how much deep you have fallen in love with not just one piece, oda makes us fell in love with even goofy characters

Buggy has the best bad luck. Got his hands on a devil fruit as a treasure to sell...ends up swallowing it. He was on Roger's crew!...but got sick before reaching laugh tale. Has become world renowned!...so he has a target on his back without the power to protect himself or his crew from that level of threat.

Also, Tama’s kibi dango power doesn’t matter than much in the grand scheme of things, even if the few wild beasts/beast-like people were subservient to her forever. Kaido and big mom are huge question marks considering they are too strong to be just captured, so we’ll see!

I think me and the rest of OnePiece community were collectively excited for your reaction of Buggy being the new emperor 😂😂😂🙌🏼. It's really plausible that in the future, for a moment he might be Pirate King too😂😂.

Wow Merphy is going to love the chapter that came out this week lmao.

the thing that stood out to me about the new 4 emperors is that Shanks is the only one who isn't laughing on his poster. With laughter being a theme in One Piece, that seems notable

Tama’s powers are a direct reference to the Japanese folk story of Momotaro, which I highly recommend you look up because of how much the story and it’s characters parallel the arc of Wano. As for whether Tama’s powers fit with the theme of freedom you have to remember who her powers were being used on, the Gifters. The Gifters, were people Kaido either beat into submission or were so afraid of him they were mutilated on the genetic level using Smiles becoming the animal freaks we saw in the story. Heck most didn’t even get powers only becoming Pleasures while the rest still had to wait for Smiles being labeled as Waiters. So yes I see how Tama’s powers can feel like a contradiction with the theme of freedom but it’s not like the people she “enslaved” were free to begin with. They were already enslaved. Now with Kaido defeated they have a chance to one day become normal and truly free. So yeah I dare say Tama’s powers were a necessary evil to help free everyone even if they do seem at odds with the concept of freedom.

Merphy’s pirate crew video just got 1000 times more hilarious Also guess oda felt bad about ruining your schedule a few months back cuz now he’s giving u a month off as compensation lol

Remember the man who kept digging for water in Alabasta? I think Hitetsu was meant to fall into that same role - the Man of Faith who was powerless (ish?) but endured the nation’s suffering with a constant knowledge that there will eventually be a day of liberation. (Maybe just not executed quite as well.)

Just like in WCI, BM flt more like a plot device, then a fleshed out character

Buggy elevation, the way I see it is vastly different I think from the community, I don't think buggy has had no new crew influx or other warlords joining his crew. Buggy is at the same level as he was, I mean the crew wise too. Let me paint the scenario of what has happened, the Shichibukai, or Warlords were eliminated, and we also saw the defeat of 2 emperors of the sea. The World government under Sengoku preferred a more status quo way of administration. But with elimination of the warlords the power balance became very weak. So now the world government is in a predicament of having to promote 2 yonko. They know buggy is an easy target and promoting him to an emperor would give them as easy target in future to capture and defeat for their propaganda of future. What I mean is elevation of buggy was only for the reason of the Navy and WG having an easy person to defeat and create more propaganda for themselves in future in tough times.

My theory: Buggy somehow got Mihawk on his side. Maybe he was captured and suddenly the fleet ran into Mihawk who cut everything except for Buggy. Buggy and Mihawk would make a lot of sense. They both know Shanks and individually are rather incomplete to be emperor. Mihawk is powerful but alone, Buggy has a huge following but is weak - together they are formidable!

Merphy: Goes on vacation. Works anyway.

The ability of Merphy to see characters as real people with unique motivations and her ability to identify that as intention from the author is truly rare in the one piece KZfaq community.

The WG is not the one who gives titles to pirates. actually, they might even hate the title these pirates have because it encourages others to walk the same path. a Yonko is a Yonko because of the people and the press. remember what they said about Luffy, that some even go as far as to call him the 5th emperor.

What if Buggy’s character arc is that he denies credit for being Pirate King?

29:23 I know you said you were bad with names but that takes the cake lol

It's not implausible that Greenbull's DF could be a Logia because in eastern mythology, wood is considered one of the five elements (they're wood, fire, earth, water, and metal; incidentally, the days of the week in Japanese are named after the elements as well). It wouldn't be the first time we've had a solid Logia, either, because Aokiji and, to a lesser extent, Monet also had solid Logias.

My theory about what was oden's dad doing: ensuring he wasn't captured again so he could give oden's swords to his children when they came to take down kaido.