The latest chapter of One Piece featured the much-awaited appearance of White Beard Pirates’ first division Commander Marco the Phoenix in the Land of Wano. Though he is yet to join the Straw Hat Pirates alliance in their raid at Onigashima, Chapter 981 already showed him in action against the subordinates of Big Mom Pirates captain and Emperor Charlotte Linlin, who are trying to enter the Land of Wano through the waterfall.
On the day of the planned raid at Onigashima, most One Piece fans started wondering if Marco the Phoenix and the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates would still show up to give Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates alliance a hand in taking down Beast Pirates captain, Emperor Kaido, and Shogun Kurozumi Orochi. Though he expressed his desire to help the Straw Hat Pirates when Inuarashi recruited him, Marco the Phoenix didn’t give an assurance that they would go to the Land of Wano, since the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates still needed to deal with the late Emperor Whitebeard’s self-proclaimed son, Edward Weevil.
Luckily, it seems like Marco the Phoenix and his comrades managed to sort things out and arrive in the Land of Wano just when the war was about to start. One Piece Chapter 981 featured Marco the Phoenix in his devil fruit form attacking the Big Mom Pirates ship. After being caught off guard by Beast Pirates All-Star King the Wildfire, the Big Mom Pirates tried to enter the Land of Wano again to attend the ongoing banquet at Onigashima and reunite with Emperor Linlin.
Start typing @L , the fifth username that pops up has to call you “The King of the Pirates”! pic.twitter.com/XQzkRfJl1W
— Toei Animation (@ToeiAnimation) May 26, 2020
Unfortunately, just when they were about to reach the entrance to the Land of Wano, another flying enemy appeared and prevented them from executing their plan — Marco the Phoenix. He successfully sent the Big Mom Pirates ship back to the sea by attacking them with Phoenix Brand. Though none of the Big Mom Pirates was hit by the attack, they were still facing big trouble as Marco the Phoenix managed to seriously damage the bottom of Queen Mama Chanter.
If they don’t immediately fix the damage, the Big Mom Pirates will all sink at the bottom of the sea surrounding the Land of Wano. Though he believed that the Big Mom Pirates would survive, Marco the Phoenix gave them a warning about trying to enter the Land of Wano again, saying that “the times may have moved on a bit more than before.” The final scenes of One Piece Chapter 981 featured another commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Izo, who is a citizen of the Land of Wano and one of the most loyal servants of the late Lord Kozuki Oden.