WARNING: The following contains spoilers for One Piece Episode 964, "Whitebeard's Little Brother! Oden's Great Adventure!" now streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
In spite of the superpowers, larger-than-life characters and gigantic fantasy world of One Piece, there is one part of the series that is entirely realistic: its relationships -- and the blossoming relationship between Toki Amatsuki and Oden Kozuki in Episode 964, "Whitebeard's Little Brother! Oden's Great Adventure!" is no exception.
Picking up right where the last episode left off, Oden and Toki, like so many in the series, trade moments of saving, with Oden rescuing Toki from her pursuers, only for Toki to tend to his wounds after he faints. While Oden shows off his superhuman regeneration abilities by returning to normal almost immediately, the encounter still leaves him weaker than he'd like to be, so when the Cephaloctopus Pirates return the next day, their captain is able to hold him at bay. Fortunately for both him and Toki, Whitebeard shows up and makes quick work of them before offering Oden a spot on the Moby Dick -- a spot both he and Toki accept.
Toki's initial purpose in joining the pirates is a simple one, though she herself is not so simple. Toki knows that her ancestors came from Wano, and wants to return there -- though Oden can't really understand why -- and has been slowly working her way there for hundreds of years. Despite only physically being 26 years of age, Toki reveals to the Whitebeard Pirates that she is a time traveler born almost 800 years ago. Yet, despite her desire to reach Wano, she finds herself compelled to travel with Oden and Whitebeard, waiting for the day that Oden returns to Wano to join him.
Oden, of course, is completely distracted by all the adventures the crew finds themselves in at first, from accidentally sinking an enemy ship before it could be plundered, to rushing ahead into danger on every new island. But while his antics are difficult for the crew to control, his personality and charisma draw everyone to him, like a reckless, kindhearted brother.
Oden's enthusiasm for exploration rubs off on Toki, who expresses her desire to see more of the world one quiet sunny afternoon when Oden asks how she's enjoying the trip. This leads the two to discuss her reasons for wanting to go to Wano and realizing that the reason why Toki hasn't left the ship yet is because wherever Oden is, is where she wants to be. Neither of them understands why this is, and the two laugh about the mysteriousness of it all while their much more knowledgeable eavesdropping crewmates do their best to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the lovebirds.
Someone who's no good at keeping secrets presumably explained to Toki the feelings she had, and that Oden reciprocated them in full, because a quick transition into the second year of Oden's journey later, the cry of a baby rings out on the Moby Dick, with the crew suggesting the names of various foods like Tamago (egg), Konbu (edible kelp) and Tsukune (chicken meatball) in keeping with the theme of Oden's own name, before promptly being shut down by Oden himself. He believes he can come up with something better for his and Toki's child -- and thus Momonosuke likely becomes the first future Shogun of Wano ever born at sea.
While romance was not something Oden sought in his journey to the outside world, his kindness and strength endeared him to his future wife, while her own compassion and sense of humble nobility made her an ideal match for him. Growing both organically and believably, their romance, though not given much screen-time, sets the stage for greater developments yet to come.
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