One Piece Chapter 1021 Discussion

FMmatron said:
Senor Pink telling Franky the story of his wife, this cover is legendary.




And wow, wow, wow, just wow. I loved this chapter so much. This is the shit I wanted to see from Robin. After all this time Oda finally delivered a fight that does a skilled woman like her justice. I always thought he held back on her due to the nature of her ability. I wasn't really able to imagine a scenario where she could have a heated exchange. Most of her techniques mean either instant K.O for her opponent, are good to stall time, to spy, to support for herself or others. Oda got really creative here. The exchange he created sold you the intensity of this match-up. Black Maria didn't held back on Robin. It's rare enough to have a slugfest like this between women in One Piece. What left an even greater impression was the fact that we got to see some actual hits in the face. Ok, that may be not quite right. Technically, it was just the giant replicate of her body. We still saw the impact on her actual face, so I'm just gonna go ahead and count that. What's almost nastier were the verbal attacks...or so Black Maria must've thought. Actually kinda cute compared to real hardsips. Brook knew better than to entertain that bs. Priceless how he even gave her a polite heads up. Moments like these are among the reasons I love Brook.

Moving on to the flashback. It was a short and sweet one that added some value. For one it was a callback to the their journey to FMI where Robin demonstrated her improved way of fighting for the first time. Pre timeskip she almost solely relied on grappling moves. This detail effeciently reminded us just how far she came. I also like how it subtly underlined Robin's keen mind by her initiave to get stronger by using her palms. Plus we got to see a bit of Sabo, Koala and HackDragon when? These memories gave her the final push. Few panels accomplished a lot, nice.

From there on it was finest Robin domination. That Fishman Karate would make Jinbe proud. The gap between the races has shrunk another few cm. What really made the chapter, tho was "Demonio Fleur" 😈 Got me hype af, even tho I don't know if the black is CoA or just shading. I mean, on one hand it's only apt that she should have it with her skills. This was furthermore a deadly battle where haki can reach a new level/awaken as we know. Luffy did it, Usopp did it, so why not Robin? On the other hand it looks rather mat compared to Vergo's fully body coating or G4. This, however might merely be a stylistic choice cause it could look weird if Demonio Fleur looked all polished.



The anime could give us more context. Already looking forward to this. Just hope they don't go overboard like they tend to as of late xD


More importantly, it did not look only vicious, it's yet another major moment with immense significance. Being better known as the Devil Child has always been a testimony of the governments opression and Robin's lonely life on the run. Like Chopper she finally embraced that part of her past.

"I have no problem with becoming a demon.
Since there are people who make me feel needed...!!
And people who willingly rely on me for help!!"

Man, what a roast after Black Maria's petty attempts to break Robin. And simply awesome how so many things came together in these simple lines. It even made Sanji's action look a lot better in hindsight. It alread had it's charm, this scene simply reinforced it again. Straw Hat power, biatch. You dumbass Beast Pirates who fight among each other and sacrifice your own people will never understand that.

I think this is excellent character development you love to see.

And we're not done yet. Black Maria was absolutely shooook when Robin paid her back in kind. With the sole difference that actions speak louder than words. Savage Robin with the good ol clutch went wild on her 😍 Didn't get to see everything which left things to our imagination ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Honestly best fight against the disappointing Tobi Roppo.

- Pacing felt good with almost two entire chapters
- Pretty equal match-up where a Straw Hat wasn't outmatched or not challenged. Robin even collapsed. Especially Jinbe vs WW was too one-sided.
- Significant character focus + tying in a character arc.
- Pay-off was incredible since Robin got to show off highly anticipated new skills after all this time in an all out fight. Fucking W.

Recency bias or not, I would go as far as claim that this was her best fight in the entire series. Ok, there wasn't really any competition besides Yama, lmao.

Brook did his thing as well. A shame that he didn't get a proper opponent, but it made up that he made light work of one of the Numbers. Not too shabby. And we need someone to take care of Robin-chwan.

Lastly, back to Luffy and Momo. I was wondering how Caribou could be an asset with his DF and here he comes with a supply of food. As Crocodile once said "Even rubbish has his use"

The prospect to see Momo in a grown ass physical body sounds epic. Would he be as strong as his dad, just not able to utilize it properly? We gotta see how Oda will handle this if he goes that route. As a huge dragon he should be able to carry Onigashima and it might prove whether Vegapunk's fruit was a failure or not. I kinda doubt it.

5/5

FMmatron said:
Senor Pink telling Franky the story of his wife, this cover is legendary.

Anime_Guy219 said:
I enjoyed Robin's fight a lot, this was her first real fight since Thriller Bark vs. Hogback and Cindry (if you can call that a fight).

ArabianLuffy said:

Can’t call Robin’s fight against Yama in Skypiea a real one, huh?

Anime_Guy219 said:
Do you not know how to read?

Anime_Guy219 said:
I said SINCE Thriller Bark which was after Skypiea.

ArabianLuffy said:

Do you?

Then why you didn’t mention Yama? Why you neglected that fight Robin had as her first?

Anime_Guy219 said:
I didn't neglect it. My comment just had nothing to do with her first fight. I only said that her previous fight was in Thriller Bark.

ArabianLuffy said:

You said “this was her first real fight since Thriller Bark”. She fought Yama. You shouldn’t neglect… sorry. Wrong word. You shouldn’t forget her first “REAL” fight “as a StrawHat crew-member”. Whatever the word “real” means. I thought of myself as a friendly reminder, and you ask me do I know how I read? Very rude, son, but it doesn’t matter anyway.