One Piece chapter 955: Final preparations for battle in Onigashima (4,000 VS 30,000)

Only three days before the battle in Onigashima, the Pirate-Ninja-Mink-Samurai allied forces gather at Amigasa village. All members of the allied forces are making final preparations. Zoro, with his new sword Enma is trying to tame it. Robin makes a report about their current battle preparedness status.

According to Robin’s investigation, the Beast Pirates army has about 20,000 men, and Shogun Orochi has 10,000 men escorting him during the procession. On the other hand, the allied forces’ current number is only 4,000.

Two days before the battle Luffy arrived at Amigasa village with the prisoners of Udon amounting to 200 men in addition. Their new number is 4,200. There are still prisoners at the Flower Capital who wish to join the fight. But as they are yet imprisoned, they are not accounted for.

4,000 VS 30,000 is clearly far from a fair battle. Although the Strawhats has won many similar battles in terms of number, we cannot assume that a battle against an Emperor’s army would be the same. Likewise we cannot dismiss the possibility of winning despite the scarcity of the allied forces.

Lets discuss who are the members of the forces of each side.

Allied forces

Strawhat Pirates

Of course the main strength of the allied forces comes from the Strawhats, with Luffy as probably the strongest, now that he mastered Ryuo. Followed by Zoro with his new sword, Enma. And the rest of the Strawhat crew, Sanji, Franky, Brook, Yussop, Chopper, Robin and Nami.

I’d like to add Carribuo but he will not make any appearance at all in chapter 955.

Heart Pirates

The Heart Pirates crew are still not accounted for in the 4,200 allied forces. With Law just freeing his crew as we saw in the previous chapter, they are yet to make an appearance in upcoming chapters. Although Law will be seen at the end part of chapter 955, after the part where Orochi will he seen with new intel on the location of the allied forces.

This raised some speculations among fans that Law was the one who gave Orochi the information. This might be true. But we cannot brand Law as a traitor just yet. We know Law to be carefully strategizing his next moves to ensure victory.

He might have some other plans to win the upcoming battle. I believe he is not sharing this plan with the rest to make sure it happens. As things got out of hand at Luffy’s arrival at Wano, I think Law wants to avoid Luffy from messing up his plans again.

Nine Red Scabbards

An elite group of retainers of the Kozuki family. The Nine Red Scabbards are Kinemon, Kanjuro, Raizo, Inurashi, Nekomamushi, Kikunojo, Ashura Doji, Kawamatsu, Denjiro. In chapter 955, seven of them together with Momonosuke and Shinobu will go to the promised port one day ahead of everyone else.

Nekomamushi is not yet seen (probably and hopefully taking some time to get to Wano with Marco and the rest of the Whitebeard pirates).

Denjiro is yet to make an appearance. We have not seen him yet in Wano arc. A famous fan theory suggests that he is in hiding in the enemy territory blending in ad one of their allies. Many believe that it is Kyoshiro.

When princess Hiyori was in trouble in the Shogun’s palace, Kyoshiro pretended to kill Hiyori and somehow helped her escape. But this theory is yet to be proven perhaps in upcoming chapters.

Prisoners of Udon led by Hyogoro

After Luffy and old man Hyo took over Udon prison, many prisoners enlisted to join them for the upcoming battle. This was somehow due to Luffy’s words reinforced by old man Hyo, who was in fact the former yakuza boss Hyogoro. Their team will be seen in chapter 955 joining the main forces with five other strong yakuza members who were imprisoned at Udon.

Wano’s Samurai

Many heeded the call when Kinemon spread papers with the symbol of the return of the Kozuki clan. They are now with the allied forces preparing for the destined return of the Kozuki family to power. However, many of them are still in prison at the Flower Capital.

Enemy forces

Kaido

The captain of the Beast Pirates, Kaido is said to be the strongest creature in the world. As the main authority figure in Wano, he is expected to be in the frontline in the upcoming battle.

The Disasters

Kaido’s right hand men and his closest confidant, King, Queen and Jack. These three are Kaido’s strongest force, much like how the marine admirals are the marines strongest power.

Numbers

We saw the numbers first in the previous chapter. Whether they are humans with Zoan devil fruit powers, or a different kind of creatures remains a mystery. What we know about them for now is that next to the Disasters, they are Kaido’s next strongest warriors.

Headliners

The Headliners are led by X-Drake and Page one. Other Headliners like Hawkins, Holdem and Speed act under their direction. They are a step lower to the Numbers in terms of power and authority.

Gifters

Gifters are still officers in Kaido’s army. They may be in charge of leading several hundred or thousands of foot soldiers.

X-Drake pirates, On Air pirates, Hawkins pirates

As the captains of these pirate groups are commanders in Kaido’s army, they are considered part of the enemy forces. We should see them in battle led by their captains. However, if fan theories come true, Hawkins and his pirate crew will be joining with the Strawhat’s alliance to defeat Kaido instead.

This seems unlikely though as the Supernovas does not seem to be that cooperative. Instead of joining the Strawhats, we might see Hawkins and his crew fighting with Kaido’s army separately. The same may be seen with Kid and Killer.

Orochi

As was reported by Robin, Orochi has 10,000 men escorting the Shogun during the fire festival. His men will probably be led by the Orochi Oniwabanshu, Orochi’s elite ninja squad.

Big Mom and Big Mom Pirates

The formation of Kaido-Big Mom alliance would be the biggest challenge. As the two Emperors, their power and strength is at a completely different level. The last time Luffy encountered Big Mom was at Udon prison. Although she was friendly to Tama and her friends, Luffy must be expecting her to join the battle also.

The rest of Big Mom’s crew might make an appearance soon. But this may not assure Kaido their allegiance. The last time they were seen, Perospero and his siblings were planning a rescue mission. When they arrive at the battle field, they would be at the assumption that the Beast Pirates are their enemy.

These are the forces of each side. Strawhat alliance is obviously outnumbered. An additional forces may be expected as the next chapters of One Piece are released.

Note: Looking for more One Piece-related stuff? Head here.
Image credits:Viz Media/ Funimation/ Onepiece.fandom

Are you a One Piece enthusiast who’s got a good hand on writing, & would like to share their knowledge base with other Manga fanatics? If so, then our platform could be your opportunity.
Write for us!

Follow @PiunikaWeb

PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.