WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece, Chapter #1004 by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English now from Viz Media.
One Piece's battle between the Supernovas and Yonko has been raging for a while now on the rooftops of Onigashima. But there's still much going on within the base of the Beast Pirates -- case in point, Chapter #1,004, in which perhaps the youngest participant in this war sneakily pulls off a clever plan.
Chapter #1,004 centers on one of the first Beast Pirates Gifter to be introduced, Speed. We see Speed handing out dumplings to all the injured Gifters to regain their strength, but a flashback reveals the true purpose of these dumplings.
The young kunoichi, Tama, who Luffy met when he first came to Wano, can use her Devil Fruit powers to produce dango that turns any animal that eats them into her friend. This is how she befriended the baboon, Hihimaru, and even Speed, the Horse SMILE User. Since Gifters are as much animal as they are human due to the artificial Devil Fruits (SMILEs) they consumed, it makes sense that Tama's dango could work on them.
With Speed using her ship to sail to Onigashima, Tama produces even more of her dango while onboard to have Kaido's Gifters ally with her, as Speed did. A genius plan by the young kunoichi. The huge number quantity of dumplings she produces does take its toll on her, but Tama persists, wanting to see a Wano without Orochi or Kaido.
Tama's plan works without a hitch -- Speed and the other Gifters start sharing Tama's dango around like hotcakes. As this is happening, Franky is being overwhelmed by Sasaki, the triceratops Devil Fruit user, and his subordinates. As he's about to be trampled by Sasaki, Tama, Nami and Usopp arrive, riding on Komachiyo and being chased by more Beast Pirate Gifters. Unfortunately for Sasaki, these Gifters no longer answer to him, as they charge the triceratops and save Franky.
Ulti and Page One soon arrive to take down Nami and Usopp after being interrupted last time, but Nami manages to stun Ulti with her Thunder Lance Tempo. Meanwhile, Usopp uses his expert marksmanship to fling more dango into the mouths of Sasaki's subordinates, creating even more allies. With Sasaki's attention now divided as his subordinates ignore his orders, Franky moves in, delivering a finishing sword blow with Frankensword, V-For-Victory Flash.
For the youngest character in this arc, it speaks to Tama's courage, cleverness and resolve that she is successfully able to pull off a strategy that not only bolsters the numbers of the Pirate-Mink-Samurai alliance but also drastically weakens the Beast Pirates. What originally made Kaido's crew so powerful and feared, the SMILEs, which gave them superior strength and animal abilities, is now their complete undoing. All of this is thanks to one little girl who just wants to see her home country as a place where people can live without constant fear or hunger.
