After a 1-week break, One Piece returned with episode 996 and the raid continues. As the Akazaya samurai remind Kaido of the scar Oden gave him, Ulti returns to face Yamato again. Luffy, on the other hand, catches the attention of Big Mom, and the two exchange blows. Although Luffy has grown and learned the Ryou haki, the Yonkou manages to push him back here. In the meantime, more samurai remove their disguises and openly begin the raid.
As Big Mom mocks Luffy and jokingly asks him if he came to Wano to defeat Kaido, she gives him a chance to show his determination. As he says he’s not there to defeat Kaido, we shift to the other Yonkou, who connects the dots and realizes that the Straw Hats were the reason the 20 year prophecy came true. Punk Hazard, Dressrosa, Zou. They were there for each one, but he says that the pirates will betray them and run away as soon as they realize they’re losing.
However, nobody doubts Luffy anymore, and we quickly get to see him explain that he’s actually there to take down Big Mom, Kaido, Orochi, and all their officers and subordinates. He declares an all-out war, which ends the episode and makes us look forward to next week. You can watch One Piece episode 996 on either Crunchyroll or Funimation.
The One Piece manga will release chapter 1029 later today. Then chapter 1030 and episode 997 release date is October 31st. The anime episode, titled “The Battle Under the Moon! The Berserker, Sulong the Moon Lion!” will be showing the Minks under the full moon, and it will premiere in Japan at 9:30am JST, with the international version premiering 1h30m later.
You can watch the anime on Funimation or Crunchyroll, while you can catch up to the latest One Piece manga chapter for free on either VIZ website or MANGA Plus. There’s also the Shonen Jump mobile app, which costs $2/month and allows ‘unlocking’ 100 chapters per day. The chapter arrives at 24:00JST.
There’s now only 3 more episodes left until episode 1000!
All images via Crunchyroll
©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha/Toei Animation