One Piece Chapter 998 is titled “Ancient Zoans,” referring to the Devil fruit eaten by the “Tobbi Roppo” (The Flying Six). Oda decided to put this group in the highlight as they are the direct opponents to the Straw-Hats at this point. Each of them shows their true transformations gained from their ancient zoan models of devil fruits, and it explains why they are grouped together in this manner. Considering we knew long ago that Page One and Drake are Dinosaurs, it was obvious that the rest are also in the same class. So, chapter 998 starts with everyone’s reaction to the ability of Kaido to left an entire island. Even some of the members of his crew didn’t know that Kaido is capable of such a feat. Kaido had decided to move his castle Onigashima, the whole landmass, to the flower capital in the Wano Country and establish his rule on the nation. This feat of Kaido should remind you about the time when Whitebeard shook the entire Marineford island with his earthquake power. One Piece finally explained the Strongest Creature of the World name, which the manga gave Kaido long ago. If you are still trying to explain why is Kaido is able to do something this absurd, the answer lies in his dragon form. Kaido stays afloat in his dragon form, huge body, with his peculiar dragon flames. The same power keeps the island afloat. It is one of those powers that only make sense after the writer introduces it. Still, this is the biggest object any person in this franchise has ever lifted, and I mean, with a big margin. Let’s see how this translates for the future of this arc. The focus moves over to Marco The Phoenix after that who is here to end the ice virus that is wreaking havoc to all, friend or foe, at the main battlefield. Marco imparts his flames on Chopper, bringing a strong reaction from Zoro and Brook, but Marco easily dodges. At the same point, Chopper is unaffected by the flames; rather, this blue fire slows down the effect of the virus. Marco uses the fire on everyone else, giving Chopper the chance to analyze the antidote and stop Queen’s fun and play.
At that moment, Apoo comes back angrier to take the antidote. Marco is planning to take the straw hats to the roof of Onigashima for the showdown against the main force of Beast Pirates while these enemies keep coming up. This is where Drake makes his appearance to take down apoo and open the path for them to move up. What follows is the description of the flying six, their full appearance, and what their groups are capable of.
The Flying Six of The Beast Pirates
This group is the strongest in the beast pirates, excluding the main three, King, Queen, and Jack. All of them have the power of Ancient Zoan devil fruits, mainly different models of dinosaurs. It is known that the Ancient Zoan users have more endurance compared to other devil fruit users, and they boast huge bodies and raw power along with stamina.
1. X Drake
He is the first to be introduced in the series as the captain of one of the worst pirates of his generation. After accidentally running into Kaido, he was beaten and recruited into Kaido’s crew. His dinosaur power is of much use to the crew that is mainly made of Zoan users. Drake is also a former marine and currently undercover. Most recently, Drake retaliated against his superiors of Beast Pirates and agreed with allegiance with Luffy. His Ancient Zoan is dinosaur-type Dragon-Dragon Fruit, model: Allosaurus, similar to the popular T.Rex (Tyrannosaurus). He is now helping the straw hats.
2. Sasaki
He is pitted against Franky right now. Sasaki was fooled not to participate in the fight, but he returned. Sasaki uses the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Triceratops. It is a popular dinosaur with three horns, two on the head and one on the nose, with the same body shape as a Rhino but much larger in size.
3. Black Maria
Sanji was trapped by Black Maria’s all-women group, and now he is struggling to find a way out. Black Maria is one of those flying six, who is not a dinosaur. She turns into a massive spider while retaining her head in the normal form that she was first revealed in. Not to mention, she was shown to have a huge body, to begin with. Her power comes from the Spider-Spider Fruit, Model: Rosamygale Grauvogeli. She is notably surrounded by subordinates with Snake type powers.
4. Who’s Who
He is arguably the strongest in the Flying Six with a much more imposing personality over the rest. Jinbe and Luffy ran into his group, so Luffy was separated from Jinbe to face Who’s Who. Both of them have met each other before. Who’s Who is sitting on a huge platform in his massive panther body facing Jinbe, surrounded by the rest of his subordinates. Luffy was able to escape the group, but Jinbe will have to fight him. His devil fruit is Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Sabertoothed Tiger.
5. Page One
Outside the dome, the dinosaur siblings Page One and Ulti are frantically looking for Nami and Usopp. Page One has the Dragon-Dragon Fruit: Spinosaurus. He is a young guy who we saw fighting against Sanji previously. He ranks lower in strength as Sanji was able to take him down.
6. Ulti
Her species was the most interesting among the dinosaur models. She turns into the Pachycephalosaurus, a dinosaur with a heavy skull. Ulti is seen head butting her opponent to shatter their skulls in one shot. However, this is her only move while she can be easily distracted in her brother’s presence. These two are a curious couple of siblings. This is what the flying six are capable of in terms of power. I don’t think we have reached the point where we get those intense battles, but the duels are kind of becoming clear. Luffy is, ofcourse, heading for the roof to go head-on against Kaido, but the rest of the straw hats have found their opponents as well.
At the end of the chapter, we get a brief moment with Yamato and Momonosuke. With interference from Franky, these two were able to escape. However, when Kaido took the whole island to the air, Yamato went to the storeroom of the dome to get some peace from the fight. Momonosuke asks about the giant statue on the ground of the store. She tells him that this statue used to be on the entrance of Onigashima at a time. The statue of Kaido as a dragon. Yamato mentions Ace again. She tells Momonosuke that this statue was broken when her friend came to the island to kill her father. Meaning that when Ace came to this island, probably before he had joined Whitebeard, he met Yamato. When he saw the destruction of the island, he came to confront Kaido. The rest of the details of this fight and what else happened would make for a great flashback involving Ace. At least we know that Ace got out alive, and Yamato was only trapped because of the collar stuck to her. Still, this is an intriguing plotline, and we could even get a romantic story between Yamato and Ace. Sadly, an incomplete love story. This was exciting before we get the 1000th chapter for the manga. We can confirm that Shonen will have colored covers for the next two chapters to celebrate the occasion. The official release of Chapter 1000 will most likely be delayed through the holidays and come in 2021. Still, the manga has accomplished a lot in the current arc, and most of us will wait for it to get translated to the anime in the coming year. This story arc will transition to the final arcs of this manga. Whatever happens at the climax, that unfolds at the flower capital, will ultimately influence the rest of the straw hat crew’s journey to the final treasure.
