On Onigashima, Kaido receives a report that the Big Mom Pirates are approaching Wano Country.
However, as the Big Mom Pirates reach the top of the waterfall, King comes flying in, having transformed into a pteranodon with the power of the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Pteranodon. He attacks the front of the ship, halting its momentum and causing it to flip over as it falls straight down toward the bottom of the waterfall.
There seems to be a large consensus that Big Mom’s crew was a fake. Possibly due to Charlotte Brûlée’s power. Burlee made a bunch of clones of all the Big Mom Pirates out of homies and now that Kaido thinks the threat is done all the real Big Mom Pirates are making their way into Wano through the mirror world. While I can’t guarantee that they were definitely real, I can say with 100% confidence that they were not Brûlée’s clones.
Notice that Luffy’s clone, in chapter 832, is “reversed”. The scar gives it away. This is how Brûlée’s power works, like a mirror.
Now, in this chapter, you can see Big Mom’s hat is not reversed, neither is Smoothie (her hair is normal) nor Perospero’s hat in the following page. Having this in consideration, either Oda made a mistake (highly unlikely) or they are real.
Assuming they are real, I agree with most people that say this is very strange. Nevertheless, I feel like King’s quote is important from a narrative point of view. Him scoffing at Big Mom that one ship is not enough is exactly what we, as readers, are doing right now.
If I had to guess I would say that there are two options:
Option A: Since the last thing Big Mom said to Kaido was for them to work together, there’s a chance she was hoping that as soon as she got in Wano they would form a temporary alliance “like the old times.” Kaido’s debt and her overconfidence during that phone talk, are clues of this.
Option B: There’s a backup plan, one involving a larger invasion force, yet Linlin got there faster due to her reckless personality.
I’m personally leaning towards option A due to the fact that I’m really intrigued by their (Linlin & Kaido’s) past relationship. Either way, Big Mom’s crew just made a massive mistake (since no other cloning power was shown in Whole Cake Island and it wasn’t definitely Oda’s mistake, meaning they are most definitely real) and she suffered very real consequences. Notice Oda’s trademark thin panels that show time passing as her body falls deeper.
Finally, once her crew gets out of this mess it’s already possible to make a safer prediction: Kaido tried to kill her, they won’t definitely be working together “like the old times” as she confidently said.
This incident and King’s quote go hand in hand in foreshadowing a big clash. There might not be a way for them to go back from this.
*Theory by boredpimpinela
