One Piece episode 1097 is a solid entry, though it is almost entirely exposition with mixed levels of engagement.
We've got two big chunks of backstory this week, and the first has to do with Ohara. Now of course I'm obviously biased towards Robin and anything involving her, so this was the more interesting section for me. Finding out about Saul's survival and passing the knowledge of Ohara on to Vegapunk is a nice detail. It also makes Robin cry big happy crocodile tears, which is wholesome and warms my heart. The flashback bit with Dragon is helpful to understanding his impetus to forming the revolutionary army too. In fact, it occurs to me now that after Wano focused so heavily on Gol D Roger's early days (or at least critical moments in his journey), it appears this arc is focused on the backstories of the big players in the Revolutionary army (namely Kuma, Ivankov, and Dragon). In my opinion, Dragon is the weak link here in terms of being truly engaging to learn more about, but I am open to having my mind changed on that front.
The back half of the episode has more discussion of Vegapunk's additional selves. I think this has some nice animation flourishes, but is largely an extended roll call that adds very little to our understanding of Vegapunk's abilities. I think it was made very clear during the York episode that all of the Vegapunks share mental and bodily functions, and while I don't mind it being explained here for clarity it feels a bit over explained if I'm being honest. Seems to me that we're belaboring the point. That said, there are some fun moments - namely Bonney's beam saber attracting insects and Vegapunk being upset that his custom Kaido fruit turned Momo pink. I'm just not sure there enough to move the needle on an otherwise slow outing.
Rating:
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