And thus continues the big battle to end all big battles.
The first half of this episode sees the Worst Generation throwing everything they have at Big Mom to knock her off the side of Onigashima and into the sea, while also attempting to keep her various animated companions from saving her. It sounds silly when you say it out loud but that's really the entire approach – and it totally makes sense. Why fight two Emperors of the Sea when you could fight just one instead?
It's kind of funny to think about, but the weakness of the Devil Fruits is seldom a key aspect of the story. Sure, it's never forgotten about as far as plot or abilities go, but for a series that takes place almost entirely around water it's rare that characters sinking to their death comes up in combat. In fact, I think you could make an argument that in battles between extremely powerful Devil Fruit users it would be far more difficult to outright slay an opponent and far more efficient to just try and knock them off their ship and into the water Smash Brothers style.
Which… is what our plucky heroes are doing here: aiming for that big ring out. Sadly, it doesn't work and Big Mom is back on her way soon enough.
The second half of the episode focuses on Zoro trying to stop Kaido from giving Luffy the ol' coup de grace while he's laid out. This gives us a return of one of my favorite Zoro abilities, the Demon Asura strike. It's been, what, twenty years since we've seen it last and we still haven't gotten much in the way of an explanation for what it is. Shockingly for Zoro though, this single big attack does not instantly win him the fight. But, in true Wano fashion it does look extremely cool and sets up Luffy's triumphant rise again which is a good bonus if nothing else.
So yeah, more Wano means more gorgeous fights and it looks like that ain't ending anytime soon. See you next week for more.
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