Chapter 997 was one of Zoro’s best chapters ever.
Those panels of his face show his grief through pretty much all the stages:
– Initial shock when he sees something fall through the roof
– Anxiety, depression and disbelief when he realises what it is
– Some kind of internal bargaining when he’s looking around and realising that he’s just wasting his time with Queen. So down goes Apoo, game’s done.
– Then comes the anger, he’s finished with this shit. He yells at Queen that he’s not here to play games anymore.
– And by the end, he’s just calmly accepted that he’s going to delete King and Queen and go straight to Kaido no matter what it takes.
Then we’ve got the sheer contrast in Zoro’s expression (and the way he’s drawn) between when he’s shouting at Queen and when he’s addressing Chopper, one of his closest friends on the crew. It’s really, really well illustrated.
The emotion in those panels is something extraordinary. These are some of the best chapters in terms of really transporting you into the characters.
*Theory by ivanosauros
