One Piece Finally Brings Admiral Ryokugyu to the Action
One Piece has fully introduced Admiral Ryokugyu to the manga series with its newest chapter ahead of the final saga of the series! With series creator Eiichiro Oda going on a break for the Summer as he gets ready for the final saga of the series overall, the manga has been setting the table for the grand finale as it explores the immediate aftermath of all that happened during the course of the Wano Country arc. This fallout includes filling in some of the gaps left during the Reverie arc in the pages between the second and third acts of the arc with some pretty big debuts.
After first introducing him as the new Admiral who had won the rank during the time skip as part of the fallout from the Reverie arc in between the second and third acts of the Wano Country arc, the previous chapter had teased that we would be seeing Ryokugyu in action as he was already on Wano following the fights against Big Mom and Kaido. With the newest chapter of the series the manga has fully introduced him, and he's just as deadly as you would expect.
#ONEPIECE1053
— Qal (@Haiqality) June 16, 2022
Oda really subverts everyone's expectations by making Admiral Ryokugyu be as ruthless as Akainu
And the fact that Oda is setting him up as the final boss of Wano instead of Kaido and Big Mom is fucking crazy
I DIDN'T EXPECT THIS WTF pic.twitter.com/0h4urgCbTV
Chapter 1053 of One Piece picks up after Ryokugyu seemed to make his way to Wano, and it's confirmed that he's been moving before getting proper permission to do so. He's revealed to also be pretty deadly as he's quickly defeated King and Queen along with all of Kaido's other subordinates in a single wave. He seems to have a power that uses plants and flowers as his roots spreading from his body have drained all of the subordinates of their liquids. More so than that, he's already there in the attempt of taking down Luffy.
With the intent of nabbing the Straw Hat and taking him down for the military due to Luffy's quick rise in prominence, the final moments of the chapter before the series takes its break before the final saga sees Ryokugyu readying to attack Luffy and all the other people of Wano as they are celebrating their latest victory. This Admiral is a lot more ruthless than the one he replaced, so it's definitely going to be trouble for the Straw Hats moving forward.
What do you think of Admiral Ryokugyu so far? Did he live up to his full introduction to the series? Curious to see how he factors into the final saga as a whole? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!