Warning: The following contains spoilers for World Trigger, Season 2, Episode 4, “Destiny,” now streaming on Crunchyroll.
As Season 2 of World Trigger approaches the end of the Galopoula Invasion arc, the success of the invasion entirely rests on the ship hanger battle, since all the other battles are simply decoys to help the ship hanger team. This battle began in Episode 2, which was also when the outcome of it was set up. Still, the payoffs, plus the excellent action, make its conclusion in Episode 4 all the more satisfying to watch.
In "Destiny," Gatlin notices that Border fighters are very mindful of his cannon, so he attempts to use it as the ultimate solution to destroy both the ship and his enemy. What he doesn’t know is that Tachikawa has a plan to stop him. Tachikawa deliberately steps in front of the cannon to block Gatlin’s line of sight so Konami can attack from behind and cut both him and Gatlin in half, just as Jin foresaw in his vision. This scene suggests that even seemingly bad visions can be turned into an advantage by the right people.
But Gatlin doesn’t go down without a fight. In his last moment, he fires his cannon, but his injury gives Murakami enough time to move into place and block his shot. Since Murakami also blocked the first shot in Episode 2 but lost his arm as a result, he now has a more accurate reading of how powerful the cannon is. This time he uses a second smaller but thicker shield and successfully stops the cannon.
The battle between Kazama and Ratarykov also winds down as both fighters start to figure out the other’s attack patterns. Kazama uses his camouflage trigger and Ratarykov attacks him knowing that Kazama can’t be invisible while he uses a weapon. But Kazama only uses his arm to deflect the attacks, intentionally making his severed arm a decoy. This allows him to stealthily move behind Ratarykov and cut off his legs. In Episode 2, Kazama saw Gatlin make a cannon in place of the arm he cut off, promising that he will aim for the legs next time. He certainly delivers on that promise in this episode.
The ship hanger battle is a great demonstration of how battles in World Trigger are set-up and paid-off. Foreshadowing isn't usually done in the series through grand gestures but is instead introduced organically through dialogue and small details. Winning battles is never the result of sudden power-ups, either, but the culmination of past experiences, tactical thinking and great teamwork.
But since Galopoula’s mission failed, there is no status quo change after their invasion, so what’s the point of this short arc? Now that we know most events in World Trigger will be setting up future plot points, it is clear that the main purpose of Galopoula’s invasion is to pave the way for Hyuse -- the captive from the Aftokrator's invasion -- to join Border.
It was established in the last season that Hyuse is extremely loyal to his housemaster on Aftokrator, so he wants to get back to his planet. Hyuse did not believe Border when they claimed the Aftokrator army intentionally abandoned him during the invasion. But after Galopoula’s Reghindetz confirmed that the Aftokrator army doesn't want him to go back, he knows this is because Aftokrator's army is going after his master and doesn’t want him to get in their way. Now Hyuse is more determined than ever to go back and protect his master.
The only way for Hyuse to go back is to get on Border’s expedition ship, which he cannot do unless he joins Border. And the only team that will take Hyuse now is our protagonists’ team, Tamakoma Second. Even though Hyuse refused to join the team in World Trigger Season 1, this is now his only path forward. This is also the “destiny” referred to in the title of this latest episode.
Another function of Hyuse’s confrontation with Reghindetz is to show the strained relationship between Galopoula and Aftokrator. Reghindetz’s flashback shows Galopoula was invaded by Aftokrator and became a slave planet, so most Galopoula soldiers don’t fight for Aftokrator willingly. Since the Galopoula team knows Earth has the ability to hold back Aftokrator’s invasion, and have witnessed Earth’s fighting ability first hand, there is a chance that they will ally with Earth to fight back against Aftokrator, laying an interesting road ahead for World Trigger Season 2.
