One Piece chapter 960 was officially released today in the weekly Shonen Jump issue. It briefly details the state of the Wano country during the leadership of Kozuki Sukiyaki, Oden’s father. It also gives us a sneak peek of how Oden gathered men who became known as the Nine Red Scabbard.

Bountiful Wano

The chapter begins by detailing the bountiful nature of Wano’s natural resources. Unlike the present condition of the country, Wano was abundant with the necessities of life.

Before Kaido tarnished Wano with his weapons factory, the country was filled with lush, deep forests. Flowers and plants grow thick and verdant. And the water in the river was pure leading to the crystal blue sea.

Although with its own imperfections, the place was almost like a paradise to those who lived in Wano. Aside from Oden, Kinemon and maybe a few others who constantly caused trouble, the country was in a state peace.

Oden as a Child

The newly released chapter clarifies some details about Oden’s history. Kozuki Sukiyaki and a confidant talk about Oden’s life so far. While still a suckling child at age zero, Oden threw his wet nurse to the ground.

The presence of a wet nurse in Oden’s infancy may indicate that Oden either did not have a mother growing up or his mother died at his birth.

By age two, Oden was agile enough to catch two hares at the same time. Considering hares can run up to 60 km/hr, Oden was pretty fast even as a child. At age four, Oden dropped a boulder on a bear killing it. When Oden turned six, he wasted the palace’s money in the pleasure halls.

When Oden was eight, he was already gambling and drinking alcohol and got himself into a fight with other gamblers. By nine years of age, he was on the yakuza blacklist and was forbidden to enter the gambling den. As revenge, Oden burned the den and was imprisoned at the age of ten.

Oden as a Teen

When Oden was sent to the quarry for rehabilitation, during that time, he developed his talent as a stone mason, an innate talent in the Kozuki family who are the know creators of the poneglyphs.

When Oden was fourteen, the flower capital was experiencing a terrible drought. To alleviate the situation, Oden curved a river to reroute it towards the capital causing some damage. He then attempted to use the river to flee out of the country.

At age fifteen, Oden kidnapped women from the capital to form his own harem. The women were free to leave anytime, but it seems like Oden’s charisma held the women in place. This created no small stir among the men of the capital, causing them to attack Oden, but in vain.

Needless to say, Oden had an unorthodox personality right from his infancy. In the current flashback, Oden is eighteen years of age and continually causing trouble. This provoked his father to disown him.

Kinemon the Thug

In another panel, Kinemon’s younger years was explored. Kinemon was a childhood friend to O-Tsuro, who was working as a waitress in a teahouse.

Three men came to the teahouse to dine. They speak of their year-long pursuit of a rather peculiar creature, the offspring of a mountain god, a white boar. This catch was supposed to bring them a fortune as the Kurokoma boss was willing to pay a high price for the boar.

Kinemon was eavesdropping at their conversation. Later he beat up those three men, taking the pig for himself and the supposed bounty on its head. He also took their clothes as Kinemon only had a girdle to cover his intimate body parts.

The Mountain God Appears

Kinemon later ran around the capital towards the house of Kuroboro. But he was chased by Hyougoro’s men to collect payment for his debt. On his way, he met Denjiro who said that Kinemon should not be carrying the pig around.

According to some ancient scrolls Denjiro was talking about, wherever the piglet is, an adult mountain god is sure to follow. He further told Kinemon an unfortunate history that befell a town due to a similar piglet.

Apparently, an adult mountain god of the size of a mountain attacked the town in Denjiro’s story causing its utter destruction. Oden overheard the story and asked that the pig be given to him.

An adult mountain god has just appeared. Maybe Oden wanted to use the piglet to lure the adult mountain god and fight it himself. The chapter ends with another cliffhanger. But we won’t have to wait long to see what will happen next. The next chapter will be officially released on November 1.

NOTE: For more One Piece-related stories, readers may route here.
Image credits:Viz Media/ Funimation/ Onepiece.fandom

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Lambert Nathaniel
193 Posts

I am a university teacher who can't get enough of anime and manga. My class' group names are based on my favorite characters, especially from One Piece. I read manga or watch anime every chance I have. I started reading manga just a few years back and I was hooked the first day. I usually follow fan pages and am consistently given a Top Fan Badge. I also love baking and cake decorating and trying to make anime-themed cake designs.

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