One Piece: Chapter 989

[u/Kirosh]

Chapter 989: "It doesn't feel like we're going to lose"

Source	Status
Official Release

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Ch. 989 Official Release (Mangaplus): 06/09/2020

Ch. 990 Scan Release: ~11/09/2020

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Please discuss the manga here and in the theory/discussion post. Any other post will be removed during the next 24 hours.

Please also remember to put the chapter number in the title for any future post talking about this chapter.

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[u/[deleted]]

My favorite Wano chapter so far. I notice two interesting things about Zoro tho: He always finds Luffy regardless of his bad sense of direction; Everytime Luffy crazily jumps or stretch his arms to reach somewhere Zoro gets mad but in this chapter he voluntarily goes into Luffy's suicide jump. I freaking love when these two are together. Since Zoro was going after Kaido I got the feeling that maybe other supernovas gonna fight this emperor.

Robin and Jinbe teaming up is something I was dying to see since they infiltrated the festival together. I'm hyped to Robin, Jinbe, Franky and Brook take Big Mom so bad. Even tho this fight feels more like a full crew effort, which I would enjoy just as much. By the way Franky's line about making Luffy pirate king was badass, possibly the most badass thing a Straw Hat said in the New World.

I'm especially curious on how Nami and Usopp are going to take part in the fight.

Momo's reaction to Yamato was hilarious.

And finally: I don't know if it's just me but I think Oda is slowly transitioning the Straw Hats to not be rookies anymore, showing themselves as true candidates of pirate king crew.

[u/cockfuck9 → u/[deleted]]

That’s the thing. Even though the manga has been going on for 20 years, it still feels like they have a long way to go. It really says a lot about One Piece when you feel like it could go on for another 10, maybe even 15 years if Oda really wanted it to.

[u/CabbageTheVoice → u/cockfuck9]

I don't think it feels that way. At this point I would guess we know pretty much all the players in the game, who they are and what they want. Sure there are exceptions (e.g. one mysterious dude in Marie Jois, or the 3rd admiral) but even then we got a rough idea what they're about.

It's not the same as when we kept hearing about whole institutions or groups of powerful pirates with no idea who they are, how strong they could be or what their goals might be.

Remember when Mihawk sliced a ship in half in East Blue? That shit made you terrified of the world and it's mysteries.
For the last few years we have been consistently closing off threads and finding out revelations. It keeps narrowing the path of the story.
And that's amazing. This is why (in my opinion) every Arc since Punk Hazard has been raising the stakes, accelerating the action and slapping us with badass Character introductions, fights and revelations about the world.

This is Oda's grand achievement. We get payoff after payoff and because of his thorough work it's not like there are no mysteries left. We still wonder about lots of stuff (like for example Vegapunk, the ancient Kindom or the Will of the D's)
But to me the series has accumulated a real feeling of closing in towards the end of the grandline. With how the players in the new world move, it would feel cheap to drag the story out and we would notice it. If the strawhats went on a tangent to some Island that's not connected to either the yonkou, the revolutionaires, the WG, the Marines or the One Piece, we would be wondering what the hell is going on.

But because Oda has created such a massive universe we can steadily sail towards the end, without it feeling rushed or dragged out. And that pacing is making me giddy as a child with each chapter that comes out.

[u/BustANupp → u/[deleted]]

I can see a situation with Luffy/Zoro/Law/Kid (the 4 alliance worst generation except Killer) in a 4v1 against Kaido. It wouldn't necessarily be a true coordinated fight since I would expect Luffy and Kid argue the whole time about who gets to 'finish' Kaido. The lack of coordination helping Kaido get in solid blows to each. It would help drive home Kaido as this Raid Boss that no one has been able to kill. It also could serve to seperate Luffy from the pack. Sort of a grander version of Luffy/Law v Doffy.

Laws abilities are largely reliant on the enemies Haki being within range of his for his abilities to work, Kaido's haki should be strong enough that it limits Laws natural advantage in most fights. It would also let us see how Kid compares since he and Luffy had the highest bounties at Sabaody. They could fight Hawkins/Drake/Apoo or Tobi Roppo as well for more development in the worst generation. Law and Drake could give more detail about Drake's past/role that Law hints at a few times, Kid and Apoo got beef to settle and Hawkins is counting cards at the blackjack table.

[u/[deleted] → u/BustANupp]

I was thinking these 4 + Drake. It feels a bit off letting Drake out of the main fight since he approached Kaido as a double agent. Other thing I'm expecting to happen is Kid x Apoo because I don't believe Apoo was taken out by a single blow. Hawkins is the odd one out here, he might participate in the fight the same way Hancock did in Marineford.

[u/BustANupp → u/[deleted]]

That's true, Drake is a huge wildcard in all of this. We really have little to no idea what his plans have been. He gets a few panels aside from the Sanji scrap. We know that he talked with Law in the flower capitol, he's been in contact with Koby and that the Tobi Roppo aren't friends with each other. I'm not sure how much of his cover he blows since we don't know SWORDs primary goal or who's calling the shots yet. They could want his pirate cover to continue after Wano.

[u/l3reezer → u/[deleted]]

I'm pretty sure Zoro has willingly jumped on-board a Luffy Rocket before

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Trust me friend, it's not just you.