The journey to catch up around the world of One Piece continues in Episode 1087 and keeps a damn good pace. There have been a number of comments about the pacing in the past year of the show, but 1087 takes everything in stride even with minimal page-to-screen adaptation. Before we get too deep though, time to talk about One Piece episode 1087 and the big events that have been taking place around the Grand Line!
Warning that this article contains spoilers for One Piece in the manga and anime. Catch up on Viz or MangaPlus to avoid any of the big spoilers, you’ve been warned!
What Happens in Episode 1087?
The episode begins with Marco heading home with the Red Hair Pirates, saying goodbye to Shanks and the others. They’ve taken him back to Whitebeard’s home village, where he’s been taking after the small population as a doctor. As they all say goodbye, another flashback to Wano is shown. Yamato declares to the others that he’ll be remaining in Wano, protecting the country from invaders like Greenbull. Marco shows up to tell the Straw Hats goodbye, and there’s a very touching flashback to Marineford when Marco saves Luffy.
In the second half focus shifts to Amazon Lily, currently under siege by Marines. Koby and Helmeppo are the junior officers during the mission, and the Marines unleash a new weapon, the Seraphim. It’s bad timing though, as Blackbeard arrives right around the same time to take Boa Hancock’s Devil Fruit for himself. Everything comes to a head as Blackbeard, Hancock, and Koby clash in the center of town, with things looking bleak for the good guys.
Marco Goes Home
Seeing the characters of One Piece have a chance to relax and just shoot the breeze with each other is always so refreshing. After seeing the ridiculous trouble he went through in Wano too, it’s nice to see Marco have a chance to just sit back with the Red Hair Pirates and chill. It’s even better when he gets to tease Shanks a little, with even Beck and Lucky Roux taking part in the fun. Poor Shanks is just like Luffy when it comes to how he’s viewed by his crew- a fearless and caring leader, but chaotically mischievous.
The small flashback of Marco saying goodbye to the Straw Hats is great, flashing back further to Marineford. Getting to see that moment with Marco looking at Luffy, Ace’s reflection in his eyes is one of the subtle reminders that Luffy is living for more than himself now. Marco knows that Ace lives on through his little brother, and it’s something that will keep him coming back to Luffy’s side in the story to come, no doubt.
Yamato’s Decision
It’s honestly interesting that the pacing of the anime has gone back to Wano in flashbacks for such critical moments. Flashing back to the battle with Ryugyu was a moment that happens in real-time in the manga, showing the intervention by Shanks. It’s been dubbed as ‘wi-fi Haki’ by the fanbase, but that massive burst of concentrated Haki from Shanks is one of the coolest things yet. It was great to see the utter madness of Greenbull being torn down in one shot, especially after dealing such massive damage to the Red Scabbards, Momo, and Yamato.
So hearing him say that he was staying behind to protect the country was no surprise after that ordeal. He knows more than ever that Wano will be vulnerable after overthrowing Kaido. Then there are powerful people outside of their borders waiting to invade, and Wano is nowhere near ready for more like Greenbull. Yamato will stay behind, and Luffy approves of the decision with an open invitation to come back to the Straw Hat Pirates.
Amazon Lily in Trouble
Time to shift focus again outside of the Grand Line. Last week caught up on the saga of Cross Guild, showing their founding and base of operations at Emptee Bluffs. This week brings us to Amazon Lily, showing the plight of Boa Hancock who is no longer a Warlord of the Sea. Even worse, the Marines have paddle ships equipped with Sea Prism Stone, negating whatever advantage the island of women has in the Calm Belt.
But wait, it gets worse! Blackbeard arrives on the island right behind the Marines, and he’s after Hancock’s Devil Fruit. He even brings along Vasco Shot and Catarina Devon, who seem ready to kill everyone to take it. Devon even notes that she wants to kill Boa to take her image, a possible indication her shapeshifting ability requires killing the original. Either way, Amazon Lily is being blown to bits by artillery fire, and things aren’t looking good as Blackbeard demolishes the city.
What are the Seraphim?
Manga readers have been waiting to see the Seraphim in action for a while now. The anime finally delivers too, making them every bit as terrifying of a threat as they should be. These look remarkably like the Lunarian race, just like King the Wildfire of the Beast Pirates. Except they’re in the spitting image of former Warlords Dracule ‘Hawkeye’ Mihawk and Boa Hancock! They’re the latest in the Pacifista line of weapons, and the real reason the World Government allows the Warlord of the Sea system to dissolve. The Seraphim are anything but angelic like the creatures they’re named after.
The two seen here are S-Hawk and S-Snake, perfect clones of Hawkeye and Hancock spliced with Lunarian DNA. They even get the Devil Fruit powers of the user they’re based on, and Vegapunk includes some other Lineage Factors from Devil Fruits to boot. With all the power and fighting skill of the Warlord they’re based on, and an even more powerful, reinforced body, the Seraphim are near unstoppable weapons. They’ll see more expansion in the upcoming Egghead Island arc, with even greater power to come.
Standoff
While Koby makes his way toward Kuja Palace to try and convince Boa Hancock to surrender, Blackbeard does the opposite. The Emperor comes storming through the city, using his Dark-Dark Fruit to collapse buildings in his wake. There are going to be a lot of Marine deaths once this is over. Possibly even more among the Kuja people. Blackbeard is reminding everyone that he’s a massive force of destruction though. He’s proving once more that he’s barely containing his chaos. Koby meanwhile is taking the more reasonable approach to things. He tries to tell Hancock if she surrenders then they can just leave, and he’s desperately trying to stop the Seraphim from attacking.
Hancock turns almost every Marine, including the Vice-Admiral, to stone. She even manages to catch Devon and Shot off guard, and things seem alright until S-Hawk starts destroying everything. Koby and Hancock come to blows but Blackbeard cuts between, getting a hand on Hancock so things look hopeless. His Dark-Dark Fruit negates other Devil Fruit powers, and he’s proven more powerful than Hancock’s Love-Love Fruit. Things are looking really bleak for most of the island when the episode cuts out. Of course, it wouldn’t be One Piece without leaving everything hanging for next week.
Is One Piece Pacing Getting Better?
After how badly paced some of the past few episodes have been, we’re finally back to it. Maybe Wano was just getting tiring. Maybe because most of the episodes from the Raid on Onigashima were barely adapting half of a chapter at best. More often than not the episodes with big fights were drawn out with repeated animation angles. Even more with filler moments, or just standing around and glaring at everything. It got bad for a while, let’s be brutally honest. These next few chapters are going to benefit from that same approach though, even with only partial chapter adaptations.
The next few episodes will see a ton of events unfolding in flashbacks. Many of those are updates on what happens at the Reverie among other things. So much is packed into so few chapters during the manga that things end up showing mostly highlights. Even with this episode, there was never actually anything in the chapter showing Blackbeard making his way through. There were also some extra scenes added in with the Seraphim wrecking the island.
One Piece is hitting a big milestone with the new year coming around. A new arc begins, with Egghead Island bringing plenty of hype already in the manga. Plenty is in store after episode 1087, and the next few episodes are going to blow minds and be some of the best in the series. Lots of great fights and some world-changing moments are on the way!
