One Piece - Chapter 902 [manga]

[marvelB]

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That time of the week is here! Credit goes to AP's Redon and Sandman for the info:

-Chapter Title is "End Roll". Splash is a color page.

-Sanji finally learns of Pedro's death, and reminisces about first meeting him. Carrot tries to comfort him, but he ends up comforting her instead when she starts to break down crying. Elsewhere on the ship, Chopper is tending to Luffy's wounds now that they managed to escape their pursuers.

-At Cacao Island, we see Pudding, who recalls her experiences over the past few days. She finally flashes back to the final moment between her and Sanji, where she embraces.... and yes, KISSES HIM (though it's offscreen from us readers). While the cook is stunned by the action, Pudding uses her ability to rip the memory from his head and leaves him! In the present, the three-eyed woman breaks down crying while still holding onto that scrap of memory....

-Elsewhere at Cacao, Germa 66 prepares to withdraw from battle. Meanwhile, in the mirror world, someone removes the hat from Katakuri's face, who soon awakens. It turns out it was Brulee who woke him, and interestingly, she seems unbothered by her brother's countenance. We then get a brief flashback of the two's childhood: First, we see Katakuri greedily eating food next to his brothers Perospero, Daifuku, and Oven. We then see a later scene where someone cuts the younger Brulee's face, resulting in the scar she currently has. Seeing his younger sister come to harm, an enraged Katakuri punishes those who hurt her. Since that incident, Kata covered his face with the scarf. Back in the present, the two siblings wait for the rest of the family to gather as Brulee tends to her brother's wounds.

-Back at Cacao, Big Mom has finally arrived, to the joy of her children. Unfortunately, Germa didn't manage to escape yet. In front of the combined forces of the Sun Pirates and Germa 66, the Yonkou asks them: "Life, or Death?"....

-We skip back to the Sunny, to what seems to be some time after the Big Mom scene. Luffy and co. are eager for a meal from Sanji. Interestingly, we're shown a concurrent scene at the Baratie where some pirates demand food from Zeff, though the restaurant's chefs are reluctant to serve them. The last page shows both Zeff and Sanji serving food to their respective tables, bringing the Whole Cake Island arc to a close. Next chapter a new arc begins.....!!!!!

[SOGESNAKE]

Question is I guess did Jinbei escape or is he going to have to answer the Big Mom again?

[necrolyte]

If the info is right the only good part is BM's question to Germa and the fishman. The part where Sanji's memories are being erased sounds pathetic, but throughout this arc I got used to him being pathetic so nothing new under the sun, but I am still dissapointed from Oda using such a trope.

[marvelB]

Well, while I do agree that it's a bit disappointing that Sanji had no big, climactic moments outside of making the cake, at the very least the arc gave him some much-needed development otherwise. Plus, while it seems the cake had no effect on Linlin at the moment, something is sure to give, considering the chapter skips over the outcome of her encounter with the Sun Pirates/Germa....

And that's another thing I wanna address: The arc may have ended, but we're clearly not done with the Big Mom Pirates. There's quite a few loose ends that need to be addressed: Pudding (not just her relationship with Sanji, but whatever mysterious power her third eye possesses), the fact that not just Big Mom herself, but several of her children didn't get a decisive defeat (Perospero, Smoothie, Oven, Daifuku, etc.), and other variables. My best guess is that the Big Mom situation will get closure at Elbaf, since that place has the strongest connection to her outside of Totland. As for how she'll end up getting involved there.... well, can't say for certain at the moment, heh. But I still have a good feeling that place will be where everything between Luffy and Linlin is decided.....

[SOGESNAKE]

I’m not sure if we’ll actually get a full explanation of what goes down with Germa/Fishmen for awhile. I think the story will follow the Strawhats, and we’ll find out what happened when either Jinbei does or doesn’t return.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by SOGESNAKE

I’m not sure if we’ll actually get a full explanation of what goes down with Germa/Fishmen for awhile. I think the story will follow the Strawhats, and we’ll find out what happened when either Jinbei does or doesn’t return.

Yeah, that's most likely what's going to happen. We'll probably have to wait a long time before we find out what happened to them.

Anyway, I'm glad this arc is apparently over now. It went on for too long IMO.

[khoa1708]

so this "year of Sanji" all came down to him making a cake?!

[P_Dezz]

Originally Posted by marvelB

Well, while I do agree that it's a bit disappointing that Sanji had no big, climactic moments outside of making the cake, at the very least the arc gave him some much-needed development otherwise. Plus, while it seems the cake had no effect on Linlin at the moment, something is sure to give, considering the chapter skips over the outcome of her encounter with the Sun Pirates/Germa....

And that's another thing I wanna address: The arc may have ended, but we're clearly not done with the Big Mom Pirates. There's quite a few loose ends that need to be addressed: Pudding (not just her relationship with Sanji, but whatever mysterious power her third eye possesses), the fact that not just Big Mom herself, but several of her children didn't get a decisive defeat (Perospero, Smoothie, Oven, Daifuku, etc.), and other variables. My best guess is that the Big Mom situation will get closure at Elbaf, since that place has the strongest connection to her outside of Totland. As for how she'll end up getting involved there.... well, can't say for certain at the moment, heh. But I still have a good feeling that place will be where everything between Luffy and Linlin is decided.....

if Luffy doesn't I think Blackbeard will be the one to do her in. Maybe to show how far he's come? Anyways, BM knows Luffy will be going to Kaido next so we could expect some intervention from her or her children at Wano.

[Ultragunner]

Brulee being a true little sister (unlike Flamebe), am I dreaming or what?
and it is confirmed that Katakuri was, at the very least, partially willing to let Luffy go? I guess he had come to believe that Luffy can “liberate” his family from Big Mom’s curse (her eating disorder and random rampage)?

what exactly did Pudding take away from Sanji? He seemed to still remember her.

...
anyway, while it is disappointing that Sanji had made no major feat fighting wise this arc, I am still glad it is over

[Kaz_]

Damn, this is truly a frightening upgrade as villians will have to think twice before messing with Sanji's bakery skills from now on. Imagine Sanji baking the ultimate cherry pie and stopping Blackbeard single handedly.

It is also obvious that his bounty will skyrocket due to being capable of creating the perfect cake. They will have a special place at Impel Dawn Level Six for such monsterosity.

[~Yami~]

so who might survive from that deadly island???
is it Germa or Fishman Pirates??? or both died??? I'll be sad if Reiju didn't make it out

and seems like it is still a better future for Sanji and Pudding.. Pudding only took out the memories when she kissed him
so Sanji is still recognizing her as his fiancee

[OH&S]

The Good:

• Considering all that's happened, there wasn't a single bad thing in this chapter; It was actually pretty great!
• Acknowledgement of Pedro's death - Good job, Oda!
• Sanji-Pudding moment - SaNa shippers on suicide watch. Also SaPu because we might not see Pudding for another 200 chapters... Either way, we'll meet again Pudding.
• Katakuri-Brulee moment - well done again Oda.
• Big Mom arriving leading to a cliffhanger for Sun Pirates and Germa 66 - good cliffhanger.
• Sanji-Zeff ending - good ending to Sanji's arc in theory***(see the following)

However,

The Bad:

Originally Posted by OH&S

Ultimately my point is that Sanji baking the SuperCake and Big Mom being satisfied doesn't even make an inch of progress in giving meaningful closure to his character arc and emotions for this entire WCI arc aka Year of Sanji. There needs to be something else; some more definite and obvious. There's only one last chance for this to happen. If they escape before Big Mom catches up, this arc and Sanji's character will have been ruined.

I didn't want to be wrong about this; not because I'm full of myself but because the alternative would be concluding that Oda did a shit job of handling Sanji, a core member of the Straw Hat Pirates. While Oda managed to save the arc with a great chapter he couldn't save Sanji's character.

In short, by not giving a meaningful conclusion to Sanji's character this arc, Oda has inflicted long term damage to his character; and that's indefensible. This is proven by all the joke comments above me; everyone knows it in their heart.
This travesty is up there amongst the worst moments in One Piece; same tier as Pell surviving in Alabasta but arguably worse considering how important Sanji is (or has been).

[marvelB]

Wow, the Katakuri/Brulee scene was actually the highlight of the chapter for me. I'm actually impressed that Oda can put a hag like Brulee in a sympathetic light. But then again, her ability was invaluable to both heroes and villains alike for this arc, so maybe Oda felt she deserved more recognition for that. And as mentioned before, at least she's a better, more caring sister than that bitch of a so-called "king of little sisters" Flambe or Franpe or whatever she's called.

Anyway, I'm still gonna reserve judgement on Sanji since, in addition to what I said earlier about the lack of closure for Big Mom, we've yet to have proper closure for Germa, as well. So I'll wait until either of those elements pop up again before I make my final decision on how his character is handled (even if it means waiting until chapter 1500 or something, lol ).

[OH&S]

Originally Posted by marvelB

Anyway, I'm still gonna reserve judgement on Sanji since, in addition to what I said earlier about the lack of closure for Big Mom, we've yet to have proper closure for Germa, as well. So I'll wait until either of those elements pop up again before I make my final decision on how his character is handled (even if it means waiting until chapter 1500 or something, lol ).

Fair enough, but even if these issues are addressed in another 600 chapters (your words, not mine) it won't change the fact that for this arc and the YEAR OF SANJI, Oda has ruined Sanji for the foreseeable future.

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by necrolyte

If the info is right the only good part is BM's question to Germa and the fishman. The part where Sanji's memories are being erased sounds pathetic, but throughout this arc I got used to him being pathetic so nothing new under the sun, but I am still dissapointed from Oda using such a trope.

Originally Posted by Ultragunner

what exactly did Pudding take away from Sanji? He seemed to still remember her.

Pudding took away only the memory of the kiss. Sanji still remembers everything else that happened between them

[P_Dezz]

my only dissappointment with this arc, is it being about Sanji without us seeing a huge Sanji fight, where we see everything he's capable of. Had he took on Oven or Daifuku in a decisive fight, i would have been pretty satisfied with this arc.

[Kanon]

Brulee surprisingly turned out to be the best imouto. Who would have thought?

The Pudding scene made me really sad. I really hope she'll reunite with Sanji and find happiness.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by khoa1708

so this "year of Sanji" all came down to him making a cake?!

Making THE cake. This was a masterpiece in the making, taking months and days to get right, and he did it under that time with Big Mom rampaging. All those lives saved were because of Sanji, who stuck to his belief in the end about feeding friend and enemies alike. He's a Chef first and a fighter second.

On another note, Mama sucks when it comes to caring for her children. Katakuri had to be the one to avenge Brulee, meaning they didn't give a crap who their mother was and she didn't make the effort to have someone watch over them. Pudding is basically a doll to her too. Whitebeard was at least willing to go to war over his kids.

[WyrdMonger]

Considering that Brulée was constantly used by the Strawhats repeatedly, I was surprised that Oven called her precious. This chapter implies that the older siblings (or at least the five seen in the flashback) are closer then the rest.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Twi

Making THE cake. This was a masterpiece in the making, taking months and days to get right, and he did it under that time with Big Mom rampaging. All those lives saved were because of Sanji, who stuck to his belief in the end about feeding friend and enemies alike. He's a Chef first and a fighter second.

Tell that to the Sun Pirates and the Germa. Big Mom was weakening, as evidenced by her extreme weight loss, the only reason she's standing in front of them at full strength ready to slaughter them all is Sanji's cake. I'm not losing hope there'll be a twist regarding this cake though, because right now it looks like that cake benefited the BM Pirates more than Sanji's allies.