Chapter 999 – “The Sake I Brewed to Drink With You”
One Piece manga chapter 999, “The Sake I Brewed to Drink With You,” begins with a flashback of when Portgas D. Ace and his Spade Pirates crew came to Wano. Ace announces that he intended to “take the head of Kiado.” However, Kiado and his crew left on an expedition. Yamato tells Ace to leave, as the Whitebeard Pirate notices Yamato is wearing explosive cuffs. Ace and Yamato clash, while Ace asks Yamato why they allow “to chain their wrists, but their heart as well.” Yamato expresses the desire to have an adventure on the sea. Ace is impressed and they share a bottle of sake. Ace tells Yamato of the new pirates making names for themselves. He points out Cavendish, Eustass Kid, Trafalgar Law, Capone Bege, and of course Luffy, who’s a few years from starting his journey.
Yamato is explaining all this to Mononosuke and Shinobu in the present. I think Oda is using Ace to weave Yamato and Tama into the story more. With so many characters, we can forget some and their motivation. Ace was a beloved character for fans and of course Luffy. If he inspired characters like Yamato and Tama, then they will be endeared towards us. The connection with Ace gives us a reason to care about these characters. Elsewhere, Queen orders his men to stop Marco. Confused considering Marco helped save them from the disease Queen expose them to. The Beast Pirates are reluctant. Marco tells Brooke and Robin to head into the castle while he takes flight with Zoro. Marco flashes back to a time when the Whitebeard Pirates considered invading Wano. However, they feared the potential loss of life.
Big Mom and Kaido want the One Piece
In the present, King and Queen transform into their respective dinosaur forms. Queen tells Marco that “he can’t just assume he will fly straight past them.” King says that when “Oden’s son dies,” the battle “will end.” Queen tries to shoot Marco, but in his phoenix form the bullets simply passed through him. At the top of Skull Dome, Big Mom and Kiado wait for Luffy. Big Mom tells Kiado that he can kill all the Strawhat’s except for Nico Robin. Kaido reveals that he’s planning on dropping Onigashima on a castle in the Flower Capital. Kiado expects a lot of civilian deaths as a result, but he simply doesn’t care. Big Mom asks if the Road Poneglyph is in the Capital and Kiado rebuff her.
She responds by reminding him she gave him his Devil Fruit and he owes her. Oda not going to reveal too much until the historic 1000th One Piece chapter, but I think that’s the smart thing to do. I’m interested in seeing more of the past between Kaido and Big Mom. When Luffy arrives, I don’t think he can take on both Big Mom and Kiado, I wonder who will fight Big Mom, Zoro?
I did NOT see the “Fish Fish Fruit” twist coming. But something that I did expect was to see Ace again in a flashback at some point. Though I expected it to be a little bit longer- not that I’m complaining. What we got was great. And I expect Ace’s influence to pay off with whatever Tama has planned- and maybe even with Luffy fulfilling Ace’s promise of taking Tama to the outside world. Yamato as well. Man…..is THIS what Oda meant when he said “the next members will join up one after another?”
It never occurred to me that Yamato would join the Strawhats, although now that I’m thinking about it Oda is signaling that she will join them.