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One Piece Chapter 1069 scanlations were released on the afternoon of Thursday, December 8, bringing with them the incredibly exciting continuation of the Egghead Island arc. The arc has been one of the best in recent memory thus far, with nearly every fan of the series praising it for turning its gaze toward the series’ past, at least in its baby steps.
Chapter 1069 of One Piece especially takes this look back to a new level, featuring a rematch between Luffy and Lucci for the first time in over 16 years. As always, series author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda was sure to drop in some subtle parallels and connections to their original fight.
Follow along as this article fully breaks down the parallels Oda makes in One Piece Chapter 1069 with the start of the Luffy versus Lucci rematch.
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One Piece Chapter 1069 sees Egghead Island arc begin to match series’ past in setups, reveals, and more
One of the most obvious and apparent parallels in the latest, unofficially released issue of One Piece saw Luffy and Lucci begin their rematch. While fans should wait until the official release of One Piece Chapter 1069 to confirm the events seen in scanlations, official issues typically corroborate what’s seen in the spoiler process for the said issue.
Easily the most obvious and apparent parallel to the series’ past comes when Luffy and Lucci are seen clashing - the two’s fists hit each other and lock up as they did during Enies Lobby. The paneling in One Piece Chapter 1069 is also extremely similar, albeit not exactly the same. Nevertheless, the connection is apparent and clear enough to signify Oda doing this on purpose.
This Enies Lobby parallel, coming 660 chapters after Luffy and Lucci’s initial fight, has fans incredibly excited and is seemingly swaying those who had previously lost faith in the series. While not many fans began to critique and lose faith in Oda after the Wano arc’s less-than-ideal ending, this vocal minority seems to be slowly but surely being swayed back by the Egghead Island arc.
Various narrative parallels are also helping to sway these readers to a different opinion, as briefly touched on above. Both this vocal minority and fans in general have shared opinions that Egghead Island reminds them of Sabaody thus far, especially with the recent arrival of Sentomaru in One Piece Chapter 1069. The issue also saw confirmation that Kizaru is on his way, creating yet another parallel to Sabaody.
The recent introductions and uses of the Seraphim Pacifista models provide yet another parallel to Sabaody, which saw the original Pacifista models based on Bartholomew Kuma's debut. Furthermore, on Egghead Island specifically, roughly the same number of Seraphim have shown up as standard Pacifista did during the Sabaody Archipelago arc.
One subtle parallel to the Enies Lobby arc also comes in the form of Luffy having acquired two new Devil Fruit forms since his last encounter with Lucci. These come in the form of Gear 4 and Gear 5, both of which were introduced well after the Enies Lobby arc. Similarly, Lucci also has a new, Awakened form here, which he debuts in One Piece Chapter 1069.
Another parallel to the Enies Lobby arc comes in the form of Dr. Vegapunk requesting Luffy to take him away from Egghead Island and the World Government. Obviously, this mirrors Luffy and the crew’s rescuing of Nico Robin from Rob Lucci and CP9 in the Enies Lobby arc.
The only other major difference aside from Dr. Vegapunk taking Robin’s place is that Luffy and his crew are now fighting Lucci’s CP0 rather than CP9.
Nico Robin and Dr. Vegapunk have also been shown to be similar in terms of why they were willing to work with the World Government in the first place. Both had ulterior motives which the World Government wouldn’t approve of. Dr. Vegapunk was looking to gather as much knowledge and allies to fight against the World Government as he could, whereas Robin was looking to protect Luffy and her friends.
Regardless of which aspect of One Piece Chapter 1069 or the Egghead Island arc is looked at, the parallels to past arcs of the series are apparent and obvious. It seems that Oda has finally found a way to win back what little fans he lost following the Wano arc’s end.
Follow along for more One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as the year of the series’ 25th anniversary progresses.
