WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter #1013 by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English now from Viz Media.
Since being thrown from the roof of Onigashima -- thanks to the combined efforts of Law, Kidd, Killer and Zoro in One Piece Chapter #1009 -- Big Mom has offhandedly mentioned a new homie named Hera. Now, in Chapter #1013, the thundercloud homie Hera finally arrives -- and that's bad news for Zeus.
Picking up where Chapter #1012 left off, Usopp is adamant that he and Nami leave with Tama, but Nami refuses to back down after Ulti attacked the young kunoichi. As Ulti picks herself up, Nami launches her next attack, Tornado Tempo. However, Ulti dodges the attack grabs Nami.
However, just as Ulti is about to break Nami's skull with another devastating headbutt, Big Mom unleashes a combination attack of her homies Napoleon, Prometheus and the newly introduced Hera on the Tobiroppo, knocking Ulti totally unconscious. Saved by Big Mom's attack, Nami and Usopp try to make their escape, but as they do, Nami catches a glimpse of Zeus nearby. Seeing how easily Big Mom replaced him, Zeus feels rightfully abandoned. But when he tries to catch the attention of Nami, she snubs him. After all, Zeus didn't have much trouble returning to Big Mom's side when she showed up.
When Zeus does get the attention of Big Mom, the terrifying Yonko has Hera eat Zeus to absorb his power. Zeus apologizes and begs for Big Mom to spare his life, but Big Mom's cruelty is on full display, telling Zeus that, if he's really sorry, he'll let Hera eat his soul.
Big Mom plucks Tama from Nami and Usopp's hands to better finish off the Straw Hats without harming the young girl. Yet, Zeus manages to slip from Hera and tearfully apologizes to Nami for trying to kill her under Big Mom's orders. He then tries to save them with a lightning storm, but Big Mom snuffs the little cloud as easily as crushing a fly in her hand.
Even Nami's thunder balls fail to awaken Zeus as Hera finishes absorbing him. Tama manages to slip back towards Usopp and Nami, but this only reignites Big Mom's rage. As she's about to crush them all with Napoleon, a massive arm of scrap metal appears, knocking the Yonko over. Eustace Kidd finally arrives, ready to confront Big Mom after pursuing her off the Onigashima rooftop.
This chapter is disappointing in how it follows up Chapter 1012. That chapter ended with the promise of Nami personally confronting Ulti, only for Chapter 1013 to see Big Mom job her out. This chapter was the perfect opportunity to showcase Nami's more fearsome side with a full-blown fight, and having it resolve so quickly is an outright waste of potential. Although it's possible Ulti could come back from this, as Sasaki did from Denjiro's attack, there's no guarantee.
As for Zeus, his "attempted" sacrifice is introduced and concluded in the One Piece manga way too quickly to be more than an odd joke. Temporarily returning to Big Mom's side didn't make him particularly endearing, but Big Mom flatly snuffing him out as she did definitely leaves the chapter wanting. How Big Mom had Hera absorb Zeus was a great way to show off her crueler side, especially in how quickly she went from protecting O-Tama to deciding to kill her for protecting Nami and Usopp. It's easily the highlight of this chapter, but whether that makes up for Ulti's insta-defeat is up for debate.
Kidd now taking over to fight Big Mom should be exciting, but it's hard to say how the scrap metal pirate will fare against the Yonko who can command thunder and lightning.
