One Piece's Wano Country arc came to its conclusion in this week's chapter as the manga returned from a magazine break earlier today. With the war in Wano Country having finally wrapped up and the Straw Hat Pirates, along with their pirate allies, having fully recovered, it was time for the crew to leave the island behind and head out on a new adventure.
Wano has been One Piece's longest arc to date and its conclusion certainly lived up to the expectations, for the most part. One Piece 1057 dropped the curtain on this wonderful three-act arc and did it in an ever so beautiful manner by telling the touching tale of the struggle of the Samurai against two monstrous pirates, all the while giving hope to a country born anew.
Yamato's Decision
One Piece 1056 ended on quite an interesting note with the crew all set to depart from Wano. While the alliance was bickering on the Tokage Port, it was revealed that everyone, other than Momonosuke and Kin'emon, had already said farewell to them. At the same time, Yamato made up his mind about whether or not to join the Straw Hat Pirates. Ever since his very first introduction, fans have been wondering whether he will eventually end up joining the crew or not.
In fact, Yamato even declared that he is going to sail with them after the war concluded. However, in the days that passed, it seems that his mind somewhat changed. Befitting his journey of becoming Oden, Yamato decided to travel across Wano country before finally setting out to sea. By the looks of it, Yamato will act as Wano's protector for the time being and will set out to sea at a later date. This decision had been conveyed to Luffy and his crew already and was made known to the fans in the chapter. While it is understandable, the vast majority of the fans expected him to leave Wano with the Straw Hat Pirates. Nonetheless, the doors for Yamato to join have not been closed permanently just yet.
The Tale Of Wano Country
With the arc wrapping up, Oda made sure to go over the current living conditions in Wano. Following the fall of Orochi and Kaido, Wano appears to be a prosperous place where the tale of Oden and the brave samurai who retook the country after 20 years of misery is now being told. The chapter focused heavily on kids being educated on the subject of the Onigashima Raid. This was done to draw a parallel to the beginning of the arc, where misinformation flooded the Flower Capital, and children were brainwashed by Orochi and his followers.
Finally, his era is over and Wano appears to be prospering more than ever. At the same time, fans also got to see a small flashback of Kozuki Hiyori where, after cutting Orochi's head off, the former Shogun was seen cursing the people of Wano. According to him, those of the Kurozumi would always curse the land of Wano until it rots, however, Hiyori replied with a clever remark stating that he was born to burn into nothing with his hatred.
Luffy's New Territory
Quite possibly the biggest and the most important part of the chapter was Momonosuke's meeting with Luffy. After Yamato's announcement that he won't be joining the crew, Momo confronted Luffy about not saying goodbye to him. While on the outside, he appears to be a capable leader, on the inside, he is still an 8-year-old child. As such, he broke into tears and made fans connect to him even more. Luffy, realizing this, called him his little brother and offered him his flag. Now, Wano is Luffy's personal territory and anyone who dares to mess with Wano will be facing the wrath of the Straw Hat Pirates, who are one of the Yonko crews. This also means that Luffy's influence over the seas of the One Piece world is now increasing. He has already taken Fishman Island under his wing and now has added Wano country to the list. As the crew journeys further towards the One Piece, Luffy well certainly claim a few more countries as his territory.
Following that, Momonosuke vows to become a samurai strong enough to surpass Kozuki Oden one day. Yamato will soon begin his journey to travel all across the land of Wano and, at the same time, protect Momonosuke and the citizen of the country. Eventually he will head out to sea and might possibly join up with the Straw Hat Pirates. At the same time, Luffy and his friends depart from Wano and aim to go southeast to a place closer to the Calm Belt. It is unknown where they are headed right now, however, next week's chapter is more than likely to give fans an idea of what lies ahead for Luffy and his crew on the path to finding the One Piece.