WALL OF TEXT AHOY
Phenomenal chapter, one of the best we've had since the beginning of the arc, not much in story, but a lot in kickass action. Nice fodder destruction, nice art. On to the end of Luffy VS Hodi.
@jos92:
I found Zoro's attack wasnt THAT impressing. He sure looks totally badass and awesome but hyouzou doesnt look very demolished while he's flying away..
Really? I enjoyed it, it was very simplistic but fairly cool, a air-strike onigiri that starts in a different position and does a inverted x from down instead of up.
@Aru:
Nope, this didn't do anything for me. Sorry Oda, if you want to show something special, worth a doublespread, then first show us that these fights require some effort from SH. Everything was too easy for them, I mean - a number one fishman swordsman is defeated with two attacks? Everything seems too rushed, and that's a horrible thing. Either they will somehow stand up with awesome power ups OR this isn't an arc about fighting but purely plot driven adventure. I liked CP9 arc, it has plot AND fights. Here we had a lot of plot and… two or three chapters of fighting. A shame, I really expected more from Oda.
That's the point, this is a fodder arc after the big training arc, having them actually have a challenge would be the dumb after they had their colossal 2 year training arc, that's like saying the first arcs of this manga suck because Luffy destroys everyone in his way.
@AlucarDraculA:
I love how Zoro told Hyouzou the same thing Mihawk told him in their first encounter.
Nice catch
@MasterKingJC:
The best attacks were:
#1. Sanji
#2. Franky
#3. Jinbe
#4. Zoro
#5. Usopp
#6. Brook
#7. Chopper
Nah!!!
- Jinbe
- Usopp
- Zoro
- Brook
- Franky
- Sanji
- Chopper
@mr.french:
It's possible Oda wanted to do something with Hyouzou, but later trashed the idea.
Yeah, I was just thinking this, I was thinking Zoro VS Hyozou was gonna be a fair match up that Zoro won without much trouble but more trouble than anyone else, kind of like Luffy VS Hodi, but I guess Oda gave up on that idea.
@Nekketsu:
Caribou is the only villian left now.
I'm guessing Caribou is gonna become one of those villains that stays around until they eventually meet the Strawhats again, like Buggy, Alvida, etc. Only he won't even be defeated by them
@.access:
Well… the chapter didn't live up to the hype the spoilers created, to be honest. I was underwhelmed by most of it :/
Maybe if you stopped reading spoilers, you would enjoy chapters far more, some food for thought.
@blue-san:
(Colossal wall of text)
I understand where you're coming from and I can't judge you, but I think its wrong of you to not enjoy the arc, you are 100% right in that this is not a very story-based arc even with all the flashbacks and new characters, because, in the end, much like the first arcs of One Piece, this is a arc where we see the StrawHats doing cool shit and wrecking shit up, that's the whole point, they trained for 2 years and now they're on a high tier of fighters, way above what they were before. But yeah, its understandable if you got disappointed, to be honest, I expected exactly what I got, so its why I have been enjoying this arc as it went.
@DarthAsthma:
I hope not lets just get this arc over with and move on to the new world.
Yeah, I agree with this gentleman, if we have something lame like a big ass character that is strong appearing now, it would kind of defeat the point of this arc in the first place.
Have the story about Fishman ending, maybe 8 more chapters with dialogue and shit (although I'm sure it will only be about 2), and then go on to the NEW WORLD!!!
@sekida:
Just go find an HxH forum, your like Narutards but in HxH form o.O
Shut the fuck up
@thewonderer:
I think he's been really cautious of making any arc too long since Skypeia
Absurd, Skypiea was fairly short, it was the Anime that fucked it up and made it look incredibly long
@onemoment:
You know, know that Hyouzou is KO'd I realize what a crappy character he is. Really, its only his strength that's been developed, otherwise he's just an asshole who fights for money. At least the rest of the NFP share Hodi's character development. Hyouzou is just a hollow shell of a character.
He's a drunk mercenary, fine by me, we need more of these in a pirate story, Yarr
@tatermoog:
Fishman Island was doomed on this board before Oda ever started drawing it. It was:
-hyped as a location since the East Blue arc
-the site of several significant characters with mysterious backstories (mainly Jinbe and Fisher Tiger)
-the first major arc with the crew reunited in around two years
-the first step of the entire second half of the series
-the testing ground for a whole array of new abilities for the entire crew following a two-year timeskip
That's a lot on the plate for one arc. And one problem is that even if a fan's satisfied with his handling of one of those categories, he's bound to disappoint their expectations in one of the others. And seeing that this board tends to accentuate the negative…
Personally, I think this chapter pretty much encapsulates my response to the arc. Were the island, the villains, and the backstories somewhat disappointing compared to my expectations? Yes. Is it still a helluva lot of fun to see the crew back together and, for the first time in around five years, not struggling to barely scrape past an enemy? Absolutely. The art's still great, the humor's still there, and the central crew is still as likable as ever. Hard to think of any western series that's lasted more than five years that I can say that about.
I think the main problem is that Oda decided to use this arc as the arc where the StrawHats wreck shit up. If you notice, you will see Oda actually planned this far long ago, it has been his plan to use the Fishman Island as the way to divide the StrawHats that were fairly weak and the StrawHats that were phenomenal, that was why he did the war, the timeskip, and the first arc after they evolved is this one.
But he hyped this arc so much, that you were expecting a big deal out of it, when Oda never had that in mind.
Oda basically wrote himself into this trap, and now he's suffering the consequences.
@Hinscher:
Funny your argument center around his prior fights, which I believe I defended and was the reason for my bitching. He USED to have ingenuity and unique ways of fighting using limited resources. Combining gas and fire to make an explosion. Combining alcohol and gunpowder, combining wind dials and shock or fire dials to make electricral or fire birds. Masking the scent of gas behind rotten eggs, using lies to shoot either tobasco sauce or gunpowder, ect.
Usopp was like our own little McGyver. Now he is our Ash Ketchum. There is no strategy involved, no inventiveness, no neat factor, just BAM big powerful plant comes to save the day.
His so called "strategy" this fight was to get the enemy in the air in order to have an easy target to shoot his finisher at. In chapter 636 Chopper sent that same guy "Flying into the air" So could not have Usopp finished him off back then? Or lets even look at this chapter. When the wolf is coming at him, he doesn't even seem to think to dodge even if he could, he plans to "bite it to shreds", thus why could not have Usopp shot that at him in the start of the battle and just been done with it?
Before the timeskip we had the crew say what they will become for Luffy, from Chopper saying he will become a Monster to Nami saying she will learn all about weather and the New World weather and sailing. What did Usopp say? I believe it was he will become the TRUE SNIPER KING. I want you guys to show me even one ounce of decent sniping skills this arc? He feels more like a rogue to me than a sniper. He has set traps around that spring on their own and then he shot a plant at the falling enemy that finished him off for usopp.
I mean just look at the spreads. Brook's in his spread, Zoro's in his, Chopper is in his, Franky is in his, and so on. All ATTACKING. Meanwhile in Usopp's spread it is a giant wolf attacking. Its like Usopp's animal companion beat the enemy.
You have to realize that this is a fodder battle, I'm sure Oda will write Usopp as having good plans soon enough, when he actually faces some big villain (Which I'm hoping he does)