WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece, Chapter #1007 by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English now from Viz Media.
One Piece's Chapter #1007 is an excellent reminder that Chopper is a doctor without equal. Yet, the conclusion to the Ice Oni debacle is not the most noteworthy aspect of this installment. At the chapter closes out, the Nine Red Scabbards witness a shocking return.
After being defeated by Kaido on the rooftop, the Scabbards were teleported to safety by Trafalgar Law to Onigashima's Treasure Repository. This small storage room is a safe haven for the brave retainers of Oden to rest while Luffy and the other pirates continue their fight against Kaido. Yet, strangely, when the Scabbards wake up, their wounds have been treated and they're all bandaged up.
The Scabbards have no idea who could have treated them while they were unconscious, but as they prepare to return to the battle, their might've-been savior arrives: their former master, Kozuki Oden, alive and well. The Scabbards are astonished because they saw Oden get shot by Kaido into a pot of boiling oil previously. So how did Oden survive, and how could his possible reappearance change the course of the battle?
We must consider the most logical answer first: that this is not the real Kozuki Oden. There's one character close to the Scabbards who could possibly imitate their beloved master, the traitor Kanjuro. Kanjuro's Devil Fruit allows any ink drawing he makes to come to life. This includes ink body doubles, as we saw him make in Chapter #974 when he revealed himself as an informant for Orochi: Kin'emon tried to cut off Kanjuro's head, but it turned out to be just an ink double. As it reverted back to a drawing, the real Kanjuro was actually at Wano's port holding Momonosuke.
If Kanjuro could create life-like creatures and body doubles with his powers, he could just as easily create an ink Kozuki Oden to trick the Scabbards. However, this does not explain why he would treat them or if he had anything to do with that in the first place.
There's another option. At the tail end of Chapter #1004, we saw a woman treating the Scabbards in the Treasure Repository, but we haven't seen this mystery healer since. Assuming this is someone from the present, she could be Kozuki Hiyori, daughter of Oden and former Oiran of Orochi. Her face matches the shape of the woman in the final panel and we also know she wants Kaido out of Wano just as much as the Scabbards. The only caveat here is that we don't know how Hiyori could have made it to Onigashima by herself, but if Tama could do it, then why couldn't Hiyori?
All that being said, there is a slight chance this could be the real Kozuki Oden. After all, his wife, Toki, has a time travel Devil Fruit ability that can send herself, and others, forward in time. This would explain why Toki was so unfazed before Oden's execution when she went to see him in Chapter #972. But Toki's previous uses of her powers on the Scabbards and Momo makes the idea of her bringing Oden back feel a bit abrupt and ill-considered.
If this is the real Oden, though, it could certainly be a game-changer for the battle of Onigashima. Oden is only the person to ever mortally scar Kaido, so alongside Luffy, we now have two heavy hitters that can go toe-to-toe with the Yonko on the battlefield. We also know Kaido fears Oden's swords as much as Oden himself, so, with Zoro possessing the present-day Enma, this late-game addition could finally spell Kaido's downfall. That doesn't mean attaining victory will be any easier, though. We're about to see Kaido's hybrid Zoan form, after all, meaning that it may have become harder than ever to defeat the pirate who controls so much of New World.
