Hmm… up and down chapter from my point of view. Some new insights, and some new ridiculousness.
@Castelmore:
And Luffy… What a great use of haki !! But I think I'll get bored by him saying "Color of..." everytime he uses it. :/
I'm hoping he starts to abbreviate the entire attack to just "elephant gun" the same way he does with gear two attacks to "jet pistol" and the like.
@Don:
Sanji having trained his legs, so that he is fast like a fishman..cool but also nothing extraordinary.
I agree with the others a stating that sanji's new move looks too much like geppou to be ignored. Could Blue Walk be an okama version of moonwalk geppou? I was more upset that Oda abandoned the explanation behind sanji's diable jambe. In the water, he has no way to gain the friction previously needed used to heat up his leg.
Zoro using a new technique..iam curious how he made 5 vertical slices and one horizontal slice here.
Means two slices with each sword, but that would mean that he used one sword to slice vertical and horizontal at the same time.
Guess its trivial, but could also show us how extrem quick he now handles his sword to be able to slice so quick so many ways.
I don't think the number of slices matters so much as the size of those slices. We've seen the marine one sword technique slice and dice metal objects in the garp cover story and with shadow luffy, so that's not that big a deal. However, the precision with which he sliced down the tentacle into strip steaks using the cutting waves was impressive. It looked like a giant sushi chef was going to work. He wasn't kidding about thinking the kraken looked tasty.
@Zkaiser:
I just noticed something:
Luffy doesn't shrink after Gear 3rd.
Hmm, good observation. My take on the gear three shrinkage was that luffy overinflated himself with gear three and went beyond the limits of his elastic control of his body. Elasticity is the force returning a stretched or stressed object to its original form and therefore the shrinkage represented a limit on luffy's control over his DF. It's possible his training over two years has increased his gomu gomu abilities to the point that he can now stretch enough to perform gear three without exceeding his body's elastic potential and thus have difficulty regaining his standard form.
@Louis:
I still think the way he's able to use Gear 2 in one limb and now the way he can prevent himself from shrinking is because he can use life return. On ther hand there are probably other explanation, that one just seams to fit with other things he has done in the series (i.e. Eating all that food after being sick and digesting it instantly)
Like I just said, I think this is simply due to luffy's increased capability in refining his gomu gomu abilities. It is still exceedingly unlikely that luffy has trained in Rokushiki techniques.
@Devil:
I know it's pointless to try and question the science of manga, but how the hell does a bubble withstand pressure that their submarine could not?
Nami already stated the the bubbles have the ability to negate water pressure. That is the only real danger (besides sea monsters) associated with deep water so the ship is protected.
@King:
HEY! sanji heats up his right leg, but kicks with his left.
Good catch. Probably just and Oda mistake but the ability makes no sense to begin with, so oh well. I hate diable jambe. It's by far my least favorite OP ability.
–-----------------------------------------
The other real interesting part about this chapter is that it confirms the way water effects devil fruits. Unlike kairoseki, water does not nullify a fruit user's ability. It simply weakens them physically in a manner proportional to what percentage of their body is underwater. So the weaknesses of DFs are thus:
1. Water weakens.
2. Kairoseki nullifies and weakens.
3. Haki either nullifies or bypasses in a limited fashion.
4. Darkness fruit hand contact completely nullifies.
@dinty:
I'll consider myself warned.
(though it's unlikely to stop me from posting those throbbing theories).
[thanks to all and sundry who brought us this week's chapter – it's made staying home with the flu actually kind of enjoyable, well, except for the part when I was hacking up a lung...]
Throbbing theories are the best kind.
Oh and feel better dints.