977 : The Sea Is For Pirates! Raid! To Onigashima!
Among the many who are assisting the Straw Hats in trying to take down Kaido are the Akazaya Nine. A band of legendary samurai that served as loyal retainers to the late Kozuki Oden. These samurai were betrayed by one of their own when it was shown that Kaido knew of their impending attack in a battle set 20 years prior. When it came time to raid Kaido's island in present-day, it was revealed that Kurozumi Kanjuro had been stabbing them in the back the entire time.
977 : The Sea Is for Pirates! Raid! To Onigashima!
The raid on Onigashima was in full swing, but the full scale of the attack was still relatively unknown to Kaido and the shogun Kurozumi Orochi. The dastardly shogun was preparing to publically execute Kozuki Momonosuke in front of his partying henchman and Kaido's pirate crew.
The introduction of Brook was unusual, even by the established standards of what One Piece characters could be. The jolly skeleton was as afraid of humans as they were of him, and seeing his tragic backstory of the Rumble Pirates falling prey to a disease added meaning to the Binks Sake song. Yet, the biggest bombshell is uncovered when it turned out that Brook and his crew were the ones to initially find the great white whale, Laboon, long before Monkey D. Luffy and his team.
During a meeting at Marine headquarters, the officers are told about the bounties of certain influential pirates both past and present. It's during this meeting that Sengoku explains the existence of the Rocks pirates. A crew that tried to take over the world and had three of the current emperors of the sea amongst its members.
An adaptation of the second Romance Dawn one-shot manga, a predecessor to One Piece. The pirate Luffy is sailing in a search of "Piece-mains", pirates that focus on adventure and attack the "Morganeer" pirates who plunder lawlessly, when a Ruku ("monster bird") named Balloon lands in his ship. Luffy hands Balloon over to the nearby sorcerer pirate Speil, but gets imprisoned on Spiel's ship after insulting him. Luffy is trapped with Anne, a close friend of Balloon who explains that Spiel is after his magic blood and has kidnapped her as bait. Luffy in turn mentions that he was inspired by his pirate grandfather, and as a child unknowingly ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit belonging to him. Luffy uses his rubber powers to break them both out but is uninteresting in saving Balloon. Spiel shoots Anne after discovering her unlocking Balloon's cage and attacks Luffy when insulted again. Losing the fight and having obtained the Ruku he was after, Spiel destroys his ship with his former crew still aboard and uses Balloon to escape. After Anne saves him from drowning, Luffy successfully fights Spiel and rescues Balloon.
At the secret place where Kawamatsu stored weapons, Zoro agrees to return Shusui in exchange for Enma. At the Flower Capital, Law subdues Hawkins and escapes prison with the help from an unknown individual. As the day of the Fire Festival draws closer, the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance continues with their preparations for the raid on Onigashima. Apoo returns to Wano with a group of gigantic beings known as the Numbers. At Onigashima, Kaido and Big Mom decide to put aside their feud and form an alliance to conquer the world.
It is revealed that Orochi had the Beasts Pirates bombed the Thousand Sunny and destroyed some bridges to cut off routes to Tokage Port. At the port, the Nine Red Scabbards prepare to continue with the raid on their own. A flashback to many years ago begins.
Yamato tells Momonosuke and Shinobu about how Ace gave him hope for the future. Meanwhile, Luffy and the other allied pirates from the Worst Generation make it to the rooftop to finally face off against Kaido and Big Mom.
Who is the spy that Orochi is talking about? Can Luffy and others succeed in carrying out this raid? Comment down your thoughts and let us know. For more One Piece content, make sure to follow us on social media.
The Nine Red Scabbards (led by KozukicMomonosuke and made up of Kozuki Family retainers) have a traitor in their midst in Episode 977, in which they attempt to launch a raid on Onigashima. The turncoat is revealed to be Kanjuro in a major (and very satisfying) twist, one of the best in recent memory. The "One Piece" anime is still airing episodes that are part of the Wano Country Arc, and Episode 977 happens right in the middle of that, setting various things into motion that are still playing out to this day.
Unlike "Dragon Ball," where the heroes tend to only look increasingly more "cool" as they get more powerful, "One Piece" is never afraid to have characters look ridiculous as they power up, and that's one of the things that makes the series so unique. Luffy reaching Gear 4 was a major moment in the Dressrosa Arc, which was just about to hit the home stretch by this point in the anime's run.
One thing that hasn't yet been addressed in this feature is that the "One Piece" anime will sometimes have an original song within an episode, and many of the songs are really great. As it's a show about pirates, the songs typically have that sea shanty sing-along feel, and "Binks' Sake" from Episode 380 is one of the best. In keeping with the overall vibe of the show, the song sounds upbeat and happy on a surface level, but it has a much sadder subtext when one knows the context.
Luffy, Zoro, Law, Kid, and Killer are members of a group referred to as the Worst Generation, a band of notorious pirates who all have huge bounties. The name comes from their enemies at the World Government, though in truth they're one of the best groups in all of "One Piece." This is evident during Episode 1017, when all five of the aforementioned members come together and give their all against Kaido and Big Mom. What follows is one of the most gorgeously-animated battles in all of "One Piece" history.
Episode 957 blew "One Piece" fans away with its gripping story and crisp animation. Following up from the Reverie mini-arc, "Big News! An Incident That Will Affect the Seven Warlords" sees the collapse of the Warlord system and the Marines setting about finding the remaining Warlords. Now that the Seven Warlords of the Sea (a group made up of powerful and highly influential pirates) are no longer under the umbrella of the World Government, it's open season for the Marines, who set about hunting them down one by one.
Bartholomew Kuma is one of the more difficult adversaries that the Straw Hat pirates have had to face, and this is proven in Episode 377 when he defeats them along with some others who had come along to help. He's almost able to capture Luffy, who is weakened from the tough battle. That alone would have made this a memorable episode, but it's what Zoro ends up doing that really hammers its greatness home.
Any "One Piece" episode that introduces a character (or a group of characters) who will end up playing a big role going forward is always going to be significant. Episode 982 does just that, debuting the Tobi Roppo, a group of pirates that includes characters like Black Maria, Uti, Sasaki, and X Drake. They advance on Onigashima, interrupting the Straw Hats as they celebrate the fact that Jinbe has joined the crew. 041b061a72