One Piece - Chapter 998 [manga]

[marvelB]

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It's been a long road, but we're nearly at a thousand chapters! In the meantime, we have an ultra-brief spoiler, courtesy of AP's Redon and co.:

-Chapter title is "Ancient Species". Splash features God Eneru (aka Enel).

-Marco helps with containing the spread of Queen's virus by using his phoenix flames. In the meantime, Chopper starts producing antidotes with the help of two of the minks' medical staff, Miyagi (goat doctor) and Tristan (squirrel nurse). Furthermore, the yakuza volunteer to stand guard for Chopper's group. As the preparations are being made, Marco offers to transport the Straw-Hats to the roof. However, unbeknownst to them, Apoo, despite being heavily wounded, managed to recover from Zoro's strike, and is still intent on taking back the antibodies! That's when X Drake, in full Allosaurus mode, decides to step in and gobble up the enemy supernova!!! He too, will protect the medical team....!!!

-Meanwhile, on the fourth floor, Jinbei tells Luffy to go ahead while he stays behind to mop up that floor's foes. As they split up, the both of them assume that Sanji's contending with a tough opponent of his own. It's at this point that, true to the chapter title, we're introduced to a new set of ancient beasts, courtesy of the Tobi Roppou/Flying Six: Franky faces Sasaki, who has the powers of the Ryuu Ryuu (Dragon) no Mi: Model Triceratops! As for Sanji, he's indeed squaring off against a powerful foe: Black Maria, who wields the Kumo Kumo (Spider) no Mi: Model Rosamygale! However, he has trouble fighting back against her and her subordinates since they're female. Finally, Jinbei encounters Who's Who, who possesses the Neko Neko (Cat) no Mi: Model Smilodon (aka the saber-toothed cat) Ancient Zoan! Curiously, Who's Who seems to be familiar with Jinbei from his Shichibukai days. The ex-warlord asks him to reveal his identity by taking off his mask, but the enemy pirate flat-out refuses....

-Elsewhere, Page One and Ulti are hunting down Nami and Usopp, having already taken out Tama's baboon companion. At the end of the chapter, Yamato comes across a broken statue of a dragon. She says it was a friend of hers who broke it, whom she describes as a man who journeyed to Onigashima a few years ago with the purpose of killing her father, Kaidou. A silhouette reveals the friend in question was the late Portgas D. Ace....!!!!

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[Ramero]

Yaay~~ No breaks~~ And we got 2 more chapters to reach 1k Chapter. Is it Christmas or New Year for 1k Chapter?

[Hoodspirit]

Originally Posted by Ramero

Yaay~~ No breaks~~ And we got 2 more chapters to reach 1k Chapter. Is it Christmas or New Year for 1k Chapter?

Officially 4th of January (Magazine), so 3rd of January for official online release.

iirc from the past years, chapter tends to be very early for scanlations.
Since we have a new leaker this year, there is no guarantee for that to be the same. (if my memory is even reliable on that point)

[Kanon]

At the very least, we'll get spoilers for the thousandth chapter before the end of the year.

[Ramero]

999 can be like 16th December, so at 1000th Chapter it can be either Christmas or New Year

[marvelB]

Yep, it's long been a tradition for the Christmas/New Year chapters to leak extra early, so we should indeed see chapter 1000 (unofficially) hit before year's end!

Anyways, updated the OP with more info! Glad to see we finally got Triceratops and Smilodon Zoans! Black Maria's makes sense too, considering she trapped Sanji with webs last chapter. Still, I was kinda hoping we'd get to see a Trilobite Ancient Zoan as far as arthropods go... well, maybe in the future. I at least hope we get to see the hybrid forms sooner rather than later....

[Kanon]

With this reveal, I definitely still think Black Maria's DF will be her undoing in that turning her ugly is what will allow Sanji to fight back.

I wonder how Oda will explain why Ace seemingly abandoned Wano without making him look bad. He obviously got his ass kicked by Kaidou, but so did Luffy and he didn't turn tail. Yes, Luffy has a shit ton more allies, but even without them, he wouldn't have stopped.

[Rainbowman]

While I’m glad that all the Devil Fruit powers of the elite characters are revealed and they are all ancients, I’m disappointed that not all of them are Dragon/Dinosaur zoans. Black Maria’s zoan form turns out to be an ancient species of spiders. 🤮 Sure glad those spiders are extinct. The zoan form for Who’s Who isn’t a Dragon/Dinosaur either but I won’t complain too much since we haven’t had a canon cat zoan user since Rob Lucci. 👍

[Hoodspirit]

Originally Posted by Kanon

With this reveal, I definitely still think Black Maria's DF will be her undoing in that turning her ugly is what will allow Sanji to fight back

She should still be conidered a woman by Sanji, even if she turns ugly.

How about him using his speed to trap Black Maria in her own webs? Victory by bondage should be within Sanji's sexual harassment repertoire.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Hoodspirit

She should still be conidered a woman by Sanji, even if she turns ugly.

How about him using his speed to trap Black Maria in her own webs? Victory by bondage should be within Sanji's sexual harassment repertoire.

To me, it always felt like Sanji couldn't fight back against beautiful women and that he could break his code against an ugly one. He's certainly treated the ugly women (like the mermaid from Water 7) differently from the beautiful ones in the past. We'll see.

[Ramero]

Originally Posted by Kanon

To me, it always felt like Sanji couldn't fight back against beautiful women and that he could break his code against an ugly one. He's certainly treated the ugly women (like the mermaid from Water 7) differently from the beautiful ones in the past. We'll see.

Oh, I remember. Sanji identify Kokoro as a Dugong much to her annoyance and when Usopp reminds him about Kokoro when meeting Camie, Sanji got heartbroken

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Kanon

To me, it always felt like Sanji couldn't fight back against beautiful women and that he could break his code against an ugly one. He's certainly treated the ugly women (like the mermaid from Water 7) differently from the beautiful ones in the past. We'll see.

Well, the complete summary is out, and.... unfortunately, it looks like Sanji's code applies to the less appealing ladies, as well. Even in the face of Black Maria's freakier-looking subordinates, our love chef still considers himself to be in heaven, lol.

[Ramero]

Originally Posted by marvelB

Well, the complete summary is out, and.... unfortunately, it looks like Sanji's code applies to the less appealing ladies, as well. Even in the face of Black Maria's freakier-looking subordinates, our love chef still considers himself to be in heaven, lol.

Please, just blame the old hag cook Jeff for that cause. He already uses his iron fist to taught Sanji that kicking any woman is simply unacceptable.

As for Jinbe, can we guess who is with him during Shichibukai days...?
I doubt it was Arlong for sure, but it will be strange for a Fishman to eat DF let alone Smile. (We already have it confirmed with Decken that he can't swim because of it, at least. Or maybe I was wrong.)

Another possibility is... Who's the Marine Officer that takes Arlong's bribe and put Luffy on the first bounty? He's a cat-looking guy, could be him.

Also, I'm curious about why Ace faces Kaidou, though. I think it can be a trigger for Luffy to power-up to fight Kaidou.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by marvelB

Well, the complete summary is out, and.... unfortunately, it looks like Sanji's code applies to the less appealing ladies, as well. Even in the face of Black Maria's freakier-looking subordinates, our love chef still considers himself to be in heaven, lol.

Yeah, I just read the chapter. Was a bit surprised he was delighted by even the weirder looking girls. I think someone else will take over for this fight (Robin?), although I like the bondage solution Hoodspirit brought up.

Black Maria's zoan form makes her look more like a Smile user. I guess Oda didn't want to go for something too freaky. That said, we haven't seen her hybrid form yet.

[itachi-san314]

Great chapter for such a short one. I'm loving the cat cafe already and really curious who the cat will be who apparently knew Jinbei.

Originally Posted by Ramero

As for Jinbe, can we guess who is with him during Shichibukai days...?
I doubt it was Arlong for sure, but it will be strange for a Fishman to eat DF let alone Smile. (We already have it confirmed with Decken that he can't swim because of it, at least. Or maybe I was wrong.)

Jack too. He was left at the bottom of the ocean twice for his crew to pick him up. Speaking of Jack, have we ever heard about his history with Jinbei? It doesn't look like they will meet up anytime soon, but I assume they must know each other if they're both such powerful fishmen.

Originally Posted by Kanon

I wonder how Oda will explain why Ace seemingly abandoned Wano without making him look bad. He obviously got his ass kicked by Kaidou, but so did Luffy and he didn't turn tail. Yes, Luffy has a shit ton more allies, but even without them, he wouldn't have stopped.

Yea I was thinking about why and how Ace would leave too. I bet it was King who beat him though. Just a hunch.

[Ramero]

Originally Posted by itachi-san314

Great chapter for such a short one. I'm loving the cat cafe already and really curious who the cat will be who apparently knew Jinbei.

Jack too. He was left at the bottom of the ocean twice for his crew to pick him up. Speaking of Jack, have we ever heard about his history with Jinbei? It doesn't look like they will meet up anytime soon, but I assume they must know each other if they're both such powerful fishmen.

Jack was already went up top and defeated by the Red Scabbard IIRC. So I didn't put him into the list.

[khoa1708]

i'm convinced sanjis now nothing more than just a comic relief character...

[Ramero]

Sanji already got his debut at Big Mom, so let's leave it to Zoro anyway.

[Itsmepatrick]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Yeah, I just read the chapter. Was a bit surprised he was delighted by even the weirder looking girls. I think someone else will take over for this fight (Robin?), although I like the bondage solution Hoodspirit brought up.

Black Maria's zoan form makes her look more like a Smile user. I guess Oda didn't want to go for something too freaky. That said, we haven't seen her hybrid form yet.

Was that her Zoan form or Hybrid form?? I

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Itsmepatrick

Was that her Zoan form or Hybrid form?? I

All the Tobiroppo were in animal form in this chapter so I'm assuming that was the case for her too.