Thread by @DesuRachel

#ONEPIECE CHAPTER 1049 INVERSION THREAD:

Let's go! Long thread ahead, but first and foremost, Marineford's impact thematically on Wano cannot be overstated:
Kaido's challenge to Luffy verbalized what Whitebeard wanted to see: What kind of world will Luffy create?

#OnePiece1049

We have been wondering about Kaido's finisher for AGES! What could it possibly be??

Luffy's punch in #OnePiece1049 ends up inverting his showdown with Garp at Marineford!

Luffy was the one person Garp couldn't strike down.
Luffy was the only person who could strike down Kaido.

Not only is Luffy's pose identical, but the progression is mirrored: Luffy punching Garp to move up vs. Luffy punching Kaido down.

The wind-up before Luffy punching Garp & Luffy's follow-through against Kaido both have his stretched arm at the bottom of the panel.

#OnePiece1049

Both encounters force something to move:

Luffy told Garp to he couldn't kill him. He asked him to move, and was eventually forced to move him out of the way.

In Wano, Luffy challenged Momo to move Onigashima out of the way - he said he couldn't, and did it anyway.
#OnePiece1049

Aight, let's cycle back a bit to #OnePiece1046:

Luffy's conversation with Kaido is a perfect inversion to his dialogue with Crocodile in Alabasta!

Croc stole from the country - Luffy is trying to steal things back from Kaido. Panels and dialogue are flipped too!

#OnePiece

There's another piece to the Crocodile connection which is fun:

Crocodile asks Luffy if he knows who the hell he is, and Luffy says he doesn't care.

Kaido actually has to ask Luffy who he is to make sure he's still the same guy.

Luffy says he'll surpass both.

#OnePiece

The tone of the surrounding situation, however, comes from Enies Lobby:

At EL, Lucci floods the tunnels, putting Luffy's entire crew in danger.

On Onigashima, Kaido has helped set the castle on fire.

In both cases, Luffy trusts in his allies - his tone is inverted.

#OnePiece

In both cases, the allies inside the tunnel/castle try to escape but are unable to. They're stuck dealing with the consequences of the situation.

#ONEPIECE

But while water is a death sentence at Enies Lobby, water is the savior at Onigashima.

#ONEPIECE

The last time we saw Jinbei start the shoulder throw on screen was in Impel Down.

His move was inverted not only in its introductory panelling, but also in the direction he throws the water.

#ONEPIECE

Quick aside, there's a cool connection between Big Mom and Moria:

Jinbei uses water to limit the powers of both, but the progression of their conflict is inverted as well!

Jinbei blocks Moria, then punches him. Jinbei can't block Big Mom, but rallies to punch her.

#OnePiece

Back to Wano though, the set-up to Luffy's finisher took me awhile to narrow down, but it makes sense in hindsight!

Luffy grabbing Kaido to hang on reminds of him preparing to face Enel again in Skypiea.

#OnePiece1047 #ONEPIECE

His clash against Kaido was initially kind of confusing for that reason! Remember, Luffy's Golden Rifle was already perfectly inverted on Fishman Island - the Red Hawk against Hody.

But the set-up didn't echo Skypiea like the above!

#OnePiece

Luffy is also faced with a conundrum in the sky - he can choose to stay impaled on Enel's trident, or fall. He chooses the latter.

On Onigashima, Luffy succeeds in holding onto Kaido as he attacks him from below in an attempt to loosen his grip.

#OnePiece

It's also interesting that Kaido sheathes himself in flames like Magellan wrapped himself in venom. Both are capable of melting their surroundings because of the attack, but Kaido's dialogue reminds me a lot more of Enel's - reminding Luffy of the history at stake.

#ONEPIECE

It's not an inversion on the larger scale of the series from what I can tell (I'm open to suggestions on this by the way!) but even tho Hiyori/Orochi/Kyoshiro clearly pulls from Kaya/Kuro...

...I love the inverse symmetry between Hiyori's "death" and Orochi's death.

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I for the life of me haven't been able to pin down Kaido's backstory just yet, but I did find it kinda interesting both Kaido and Ace were fast-rising youngsters who were asked to join larger groups.

Ace turned down the Warlords, Kaido joined Rocks.

#ONEPIECE1049 #ONEPIECE

When Wano originally began, I thought for sure that Kaido would have a panel similar to Whitebeard's below. I haven't seen it yet, but I get the feeling its inversion might be similar to Kaido and Rocks' relationship.

Look out for this kind of moment moving forward.

#ONEPIECE

Oh! I almost forgot 😂

Oda even had Kaido's surprised eye look similar to the Lord of the Coast's eye from Chapter 1 when he's confronted by Shanks!

Left eye vs. Right eye

#ONEPIECE #ONEPIECE1049