One Piece - Chapter 944 [manga]

[marvelB]

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Another week, another chapter! Credit goes to AP's Redon and co. for the info:

-Chapter title is "Partner". Splash features Hancock.

-Orochi becomes further enraged when he sees people came to protect Toko, and orders his men to kill all those who defy him! Zoro leaves the girl in Sanji's care, and, thinking of Yasu and those who grieved for him, fires a 720-Pound Cannon at the shogun! However, the attack gets blocked by none other than.... Boss Kyoushirou!!! The next one to take action is Drake, who goes full dino mode and targets Sanji and Toko! The rest of Nami's group jump in to save the day, as well: Franky is particularly active, as he shields Zoro from the bullets fired at him by Orochi's soldiers, and manages to get a hold of Yasu's body, as well. In the midst of all this chaos, Orochi chooses to flee back to his castle....

-Back at Udon's prison, Luffy, who was watching all of this mayhem transpire on TV, cheers on his friends! Meanwhile, a couple of familiar faces have been captured and escorted to the prison: Eustass Kid, and Kamazou, the assassin whom Zoro defeated earlier! It turns out that Kamazou is the reason behind Kid's capture, as the supernova put up no resistance whatsoever when he saw the man. He says the man used to dislike the sound of his own laugh, and would beat all those who made fun of it to within an inch of their life, so he wore a mask to stifle his laughter. Now, however, he laughs freely. Kid then reveals the truth: Kamazou is none other than his crewmate and fellow supernova, KILLER!!! Kid angrily demands to know what Kaidou and Orochi did to make Killer like this, as his companion continues to tearfully laugh..... it seems that he too, has fallen victim to a failed SMILE.

-Soon, Queen continues the sumo tournament, but with an added rule: He has Kid and Killer suspended from chains, and their heads dunked in water. For as long as Luffy and Hyou survive throughout the tournament, the other two supernovas will continue to drown! Naturally, Luffy doesn't stand for this, and attacks Queen! However, the Disaster easily blocks the rubber man's attacks, and says he'll continue torturing the prisoners until they die! Luffy is furious, but before either party takes further action, a loud sound is heard outside the mine! Soon, the prison staff report to Queen that some of their guards are missing! Outside is Big Mom, who is VERY hungry for some oshiruko.....!!!!!

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[Freya]

Why is having their heads dipped in water considered torture? Just assume it saps their strength?

[Kanon]

Did not see the reveal about Kamazou coming. That explains why Zoro had trouble with him, he is a supernova after all.

I wonder who's going to find a cure for the Smiles (Chopper?). Because there will be a cure.

Originally Posted by Freya

Why is having their heads dipped in water considered torture? Just assume it saps their strength?

It's their whole heads they're putting underwater.

[teejmo]

Originally Posted by Freya

Why is having their heads dipped in water considered torture? Just assume it saps their strength?

Ever heard of waterboarding? Yeah, what Kidd and Killer are going through is worse.

[judasmartel]

Dang, Luffy-Law-Kid alliance in Wano foreshadowing!

[Rainbowman]

We finally get to see Killer’s face (sort of).

[~Yami~]

Finally, everything started to connect
Orochi and Wano stuff probably would be solved by Straw hat pirates, while Luffy, Big Mom, Kid, and Law would fight Kaidou

It is little bit sad to see Kaidou managed to mess Kid and Law's subordinates like that
I think this arc will give big impacts toward Eleven Supernova group... Most likely, Kid, Law, Drake, and Hawkins will drop out from the One Piece race
since these four lost quite a lot in this arc

[Ramero]

Well, that's quite a start for Zoro vs Sanji. They address each other's name like Mossjuro and Browjuro. Still, this is the first time Killer's face was revealed (While previous chapters, we got no idea).

Law will most likely joins Straw Hats as part of Grand Fleet. Since he is the only chance aside of chopper to remove the effect of SMILE, he can be handy to Straw Hats. As for Straw Hats, they need to deal with Scratchmen Apoo first before defeating Kaidou.

Speaking of Big Mom, i wonder how long before her syndrome got hit? Two weeks at the longest? My guess is Queen will be surprised to see Big Mom in a "rampant" state, demanding Oshiruko.

[Kanon]

I'm surprised Kyoushirou still hasn't betrayed Orochi, this seemed like the right time.

[marvelB]

Okay, updated the summary slightly! Personally, the chapter highlight for me was Orochi looking ready to shit himself when Zoro fired that slash at him, heh. And on that note, Kyoushirou certainly proved himself a tough customer, blocking Zoro's strikes like that. Looks like his boasting about wanting to face the Scabbards wasn't just empty talk, after all....

Originally Posted by ~Yami~

I think this arc will give big impacts toward Eleven Supernova group... Most likely, Kid, Law, Drake, and Hawkins will drop out from the One Piece race
since these four lost quite a lot in this arc

Perhaps, perhaps not. But this does remind me of those complaints about the supernovas getting ahead in the NW while the Straw-Hats were busy training.... and yet, many of them ended up hitting a dead end of some sort until Luffy and co. came along. Personally, I think I can see many of them end up as powerful allies in Luffy's grand fleet by this arc's end, like all those pirates from Dressrosa.

And on the subject of Killer.... weren't there some people who originally thought he might have been Denjirou of the Nine Scabbards when we still knew him under his "Kamazou" alias? Doesn't seem to be the case, now. Personally, I'd say a possible candidate could be that weapon thief guy who stole Shuusui from Zoro, Gyukimaru. There's clearly more to that guy than him being a pilferer of arms, especially when he revealed rather detailed knowledge of the history of Wano and samurai Ryuma during his clash with Zoro.....

[Theia_Loki]

I'll admit I was the one who came to that out of place conclusion, though the perpetual laughter and near-constant smiling from "Kamazo" should have clued me in that he was affected by the SMILEs.

I still want to know how the hell Orochi and kaidou's men found out about the marks thing for the rebellion. I'd have guessed Fukurokuji and his Oniwaban came across it or even Hawkins noticed it and started looking into it.

And at the moment I really want to see Queen get trashed by Big Mom. He's earned it.

[Tommy]

Man this Killer reveal is quite the surprise... Also Zoro really has become a monster, yes he took a blow from killer, but he handled him in one chapter. Interested to see how Kyoshiro matches up to a handicapped Zoro (wounded and 2 swords). Also I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE'S REACTION TO BIG MOM!!!!

[marvelB]

Well, now that Big Mom's finally arrived to the party, I am most curious to see how events will unfold from here on. I mean, sure, it's a given that this will trigger a prison riot of epic proportions, but how will Linlin herself fare against Queen? I'm unsure if she'll simply stomp him due to a combination of her memory loss + hunger, but I don't see her going down easily, either. Other factors could come into play, as well.... for instance, one idea I remember seeing elsewhere was that Queen may take advantage of BM's current naive state and manipulate her into attacking Luffy. But then, I suppose what will ultimately decide how things play out is whether or not there really is any oshiruko left.... or if the prison is hiding any tastier treats within its walls, heh.

Originally Posted by Kanon

I wonder who's going to find a cure for the Smiles (Chopper?). Because there will be a cure.

Most likely Chopper and Law will collaborate to find a cure for the SMILEs, I think.

[Tommy]

I think Queen would be a convenient opponent to knock big mom back to her senses, but after she's caused enough damage and confusion for everyone to escape.

[Tuor]

I'm wondering if Luffy can do that thing that Rayleigh did with the collars at the Auction House. It's an application of Haki, and Luffy was impressed by it, so maybe Rayleigh showed him how it's done.

Up until now, Luffy hasn't really wanted to get the collar off, because he is viewing it as training. But that has probably changed now that Kid and Killer are about to be drowned.

[Theia_Loki]

Originally Posted by Tuor

I'm wondering if Luffy can do that thing that Rayleigh did with the collars at the Auction House. It's an application of Haki, and Luffy was impressed by it, so maybe Rayleigh showed him how it's done.

Up until now, Luffy hasn't really wanted to get the collar off, because he is viewing it as training. But that has probably changed now that Kid and Killer are about to be drowned.

I think it depends on how well he's managed to figure it out by then since Hyou demonstrated to him, and Rayleigh did say before the time skip that he was going to be teaching Luffy the basics. At least we can admit that Sentoumaru isn't some now-marine chump since learning about that level of Haki, so his claim of having the strongest defence is a claim he can back up.

If Luffy does decide to risk tearing the collars off of both him and Hyou, I'm at least hoping they're put to some use before they go off. I was looking to see them decapitate a couple of those deserving Beasts Pirates thugs or even a couple of the Headliners, but perhaps they'd be of more use freeing Kid and Killer from their waterboarding.

Edit: Also, I just went back and noticed that Kyoshiro's hair including his pompadour topknot look like they'd be pretty darn long if it was left flowing. And considering Denjiro's hair was shown in silhouette as a long ponytail and Kyoshiro's own capable fighting skills compared to Kamazo/Killer's, what are the odds?