One Piece is finally out of Wano Country and into the open seas in episode 1086, and it feels like forever. As the Straw Hats sail along for the first time in almost five years, the winds are at their backs and new bounties are out! While the episode serves to mainly introduce the new bounties and how things have changed in the Grand Line, there’s plenty of great humor to give a nice reprieve from the seriousness of past episodes.
This article contains spoilers for One Piece through episode 1086. Catch up on Crunchyroll before continuing further to avoid spoilers for the latest episode!
What Happens in One Piece Episode 1086?
Episode 1086 is a relative break in the chaos for most of what One Piece has been lately. There’s no worrying about rebuilding Wano, no alliances in effect, and the Straw Hat Pirates get a chance to just vibe on the Sunny. Seriously, this is the first time since before Punk Hazard that only the Straw Hats have been aboard the Sunny all together. That’s not to say there are no guests though, because that barrel Chopper and Usopp hid behind definitely has Caribou in it.
The second half of the episode takes time to check in on the other parts of the New World. Specifically, Emptee Bluffs Island is the home base of Buggy’s Delivery Service. Except now it’s under attack since Buggy is no longer a Warlord of the Sea. Now, the Navy has him under siege as he’s desperately trying to escape without anyone noticing. Lucky (or unlucky) for Buggy, some familiar faces show up to collect on Buggy’s debts. Instead, they end up forming one of the newest great alliances of the Grand Line, turning the tables on the Marines.
New Bounties!
After the massive fight at Onigashima, which most of Cipher Pol Aegis 0 was present for, new Straw Hat bounties are out! Everyone gets a major bump, though there’s now quite the difference in ranking for the strongest members of the Straw Hat Pirates. Now, the Straw Hat Pirates have some of the greatest bounties in the entire Grand Line, with only poor Chopper seeing his still at only one thousand Berries. The poor kid just can’t win, meanwhile, God Usopp has a bounty of a half-billion, rivaling others like Donquixote Doflamingo pre-Warlord.
Luffy of course got his a few episodes ago, but now the rest get theirs. The greatest surprise of all though is that Sanji is no longer the number three highest bounty! While Zoro is still second behind Luffy, Jimbei now takes the spot at number three! Sanji is more than pissed at this point, but there’s not much he’s able to do about it now. Adding insult to injury, it seems that Sanji’’s bounty picture has been switched back to Duval’s face, completely undoing the actual picture he got after Dressrossa.
Oh, and poor Franky didn’t even get a picture of himself because he was in Mecha-Franky the whole time. Instead, the World Government uses a picture of the Thousand Sunny!
No More Warlords
After the Reverie, the Warlords of the Sea are officially no more. Instead, all of their bounties have been reinstated and re-evaluated to modern-day bounties, especially for some like Mihawk who have been in the program for longer than most have been alive. Now, Mihawk and Buggy hold even higher bounties than Luffy, though it’s really only thanks to experience and connections in Buggy’s case. Mihawk however gets a massive bounty thanks to his sheer might, able to rival even Shanks during the prime of the Emperor.
A lot of people are questioning why Mihawk doesn’t get the position of Emperor over Buggy in this case. The simple answer is reputation and how they operate. Buggy is charismatic as hell to anyone with an IQ under 75, which makes him dangerous since that’s around 95% of New World Pirates. Meanwhile, Mihawk has incredible power that can give Shanks a run, but he’s a lone wolf who would rather operate without any sort of crew. Even when Perona was there, she was more of a tolerable annoyance than anything.
What is Cross Guild?
When Crocodile comes to the rescue of Buggy at Emptee Bluffs, he mainly means to take back the money he lent after Marineford. Of course, Buggy being the total dumbass he is, blew all the money and doesn’t know how to operate any kind of profitable business. Since he doesn’t have it, he volunteers to work for Croc for free, providing the men, ships, and resources to become the newly formed Cross Guild. Sir Crocodile also reaches out to Dracule ‘Hawkeye’ Mihawk to invite him into the fold, playing on his old epithet of ‘Navy Hunter’ to draw him in.
Now Crossguild operates by taking out bounties on high-ranking Marines or other political figures. However instead of Berry numbers, the bounties are on a star system of one to five, with five being the most lucrative and dangerous to go for. Cross Guild has the public perception of being run by Buggy the Clown, with Croc and Mihawk serving under him, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. Buggy is the figurehead to take all the steam off the real masterminds, while Croc and Hawk operate in the shadows.
Buggy’s Luck
The Genius Jester isn’t really that much of a genius when he’s out in the open. Instead of being the absolute leader that all of Buggy’s Delivery Service believes he is, Buggy is actually a total idiot with no sense of what to do. He’s also a total coward, trying to run away at the first hints of trouble. Instead, he just constantly falls upward, earning the title of Emperor thanks to his history on the crew of Gold Roger and a friend of Shanks. Now this paints a much more dangerous target on his head though, and Buggy isn’t a huge fan of living in a dangerous spotlight.
He fell upward into the Warlord position previously after taking all the credit for Impel Down from Luffy. Now, after Luffy does the real legwork of taking down two Emperors alongside Law and Kid, Buggy comes in to steal the thunder again. At this point, it’s probably a good bet that Buggy manages to fall into the coveted position of Pirate King, especially since he’s declared intent to go after the One Piece now.
Does Nami Have Supreme King Haki?
This gag was hilarious in the manga, with Nami beating the crap out of Luffy after his stunt leaving Wano. She puts him up in a cage after beating him senseless, with Luffy only complaining about being hungry most of the time. Then when Jimbei tries to intervene, Nami turns her wrath on him. It’s his first time on the Thousand Sunny with the entire crew, and he’s just now learning the natural order of the Straw Hats. That’s to say, he’s finding out just how scary Nami can be when she’s mad.
When she turns her anger on him to tell him to stay out of it, Jimbei fully believes that Nami has the Supreme King Haki. It’s almost visible too, as within the massive fire around Nami there are arcs of lightning bolting off. Knowing the power Nami has over the other crew, with even Zoro fearing her wrath. Thankfully, Jimbei learns quickly from the advice of Usopp and Chopper, who adorably still calls him Boss.
What’s Next for the Straw Hats?
While the holidays come around, One Piece is going to be on a little break. The anime is set to return on January 7th, with the beginning of the Egghead Island arc! Key visuals and a short trailer have already come out, but everything is shaping up to be great with some of the coolest outfits the Straw Hats have had in a while. Even better, these episodes won’t have nearly as much drawn-out filler, because the manga chapters that make up Egghead so far are incredibly dense. A lot is about to go down in the One Piece world, and it will make for some seriously exciting episodes. Expect a much sooner return for Gear Fifth in a great fight, plus checking in on what Sabo has been up to!
One Piece ends 2023 on a peaceful high note with Episode 1086, and things are shaping up for a big year to come. The Straw Hats have a new status as Emperor crew, the New World is seeing tons of change, and Luffy is on his way to becoming King of the Pirates!
