ONE PIECE released episode 1046 this Sunday, and we are finally getting into the heat of the Wano arc! The episode started with Zoro still unaffected by the cure and thus bandaged. This meant he still needed to be protected, which both Marco and Sanji were aware of. With Queen holding off Sanji, Marco pushed past his limit and managed to surprise the bystanders. After repelling King’s attack, he managed to pull out in a badass fashion, saying that it’s time for the star to take the stage. o6t2t
This brought back Zoro in full strength, getting a badass scene of his own for his comeback entrance. We see the two face off against King and Queen in some well-animated scenes, but the most interesting part was Hyogoro reminiscing about Shimotsuki Ushimaru while looking at Zoro. There were already hints and theories about Zoro Roronoa’s backstory, but now the anime showed that he looks almost exactly the same as Ushimaru (as well as the legendary Ryuma, though he was a skeleton).
On the other side, his opponent King’s backstory was also teased. Marco reminisced about Whitebeard talking about an ancient race that lived on top of the Red Line who could ignite themselves. Queen name-dropped Lunarians, and it will be interesting to watch Zoro face off against him. With these two match-ups set, the episode ended with Luffy being ready to fight and adult Momo having turned into a dragon. They didn’t completely show him here (as expected), but the preview and title of the next episode already have us ready to see him!
Both the ONE PIECE manga and anime episode 1047 will release next Sunday on January 15. Its title is “Ascend to the Dawn! A Pink Dragon Gets Agitated!”. You can watch episode 1046 of ONE PIECE on Crunchyroll, and you can catch up to the latest manga chapter for free on either VIZ website or MANGA Plus.
Images via Crunchyroll
©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha/ Fuji Television Network/ Toei Animation