The chapter with Perona learning that Moriah is alive. She leaves Shikkearu Kingdom to go find him. We get to see, Gekko Moriah, Catarina Devon, Pizarro and Blackbeard (with his new beard) for the first time after the time-skip. Gekko confronts the Blackbeard Pirates, looking for Blackbeard. Shiliew of the Rain reveals that he has taken the Suke Suke no Mi from a deceased Absalom.
Catarina consumed the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kyubi. She’s now Captain of the 6th ship in Blackbeard’s crew, with Pizarro heading the 4th. Teach is reveal to have a new look and is the first Yonko to have his bounty shown: 2,247,600,000 Belli. Teach now has the highest bounty so far in the series. He asks Moriah to join his crew, as he reveals that not only has the Revolutionary Army clashed with Fujitora and Ryokugyu over Kuma.
Meanwhile, we switch to the second act of the Wano Country Arc. Tama is fine, but Luffy has been imprisoned. Shutenmaru and Inuarashi fight briefly. Finally, we are introduced to the last two members of Kiado’s three disasters, King the Wildfire and Queen the Plague. After a week off, Oda gets right back into it. He largely skips the details, instead opting for reintroducing other characters while they explain what happened. It’s a good way to remind us of other characters and quickly get’s us back to speed on what happen in the last chapter.
Moriah has been down on his luck since Luffy beat him. I think he better join Blackbeard otherwise they’ll likely kill him and take his devil fruit. One criticism I have of Oda is his tendency to “of screen” the battles between the Revolutionary Army and their adversaries. He did it when they fought the Blackbeard Pirates and now when they fight against the Marines. I assume this is because he wants to prevent us from seeing their abilities yet.
I had no idea Devil Fruits get recycled when a user dies. Then again I have only watched 100 episodes of the anime adaptation.
When a fruit user dies, their power is somehow transferred to the closest nearby fruit. That fruit then becomes a new Devil Fruit. It’s actually quite fascinating, and I would love it if Oda would explain the origins of the Devil Fruits someday
Blackbeard has figured out a way to steal the devil fruit abilities from users and transfer them to another person using his devil fruit ability. He uses his devil fruit to do it, but it hasn’t been made clear how.
Blackbeard is even stronger than I thought now, and I thought he was already pretty strong to begin with. As the Blackbeard Pirates are essentially the antithesis to the Straw Hats, they will likely be the final and biggest obstacle to their journey to find the One Piece. It’s probably years off, but it’s going to be a battle to shake the heavens.
That’s going to be a highly anticipated battle. I think the Strawhat’s need to get MUCH stronger first.