One Piece Chapter 698 Review
Oda is really vying for total scumbags being able to live on, eh? Caribou despite all his misdeeds gets a happy fairwell after being nursed by a New World nanny. Why, he even looks like a kid off to the schoolbus! That's what that scene represents to me, in a very distorted sense. The question is, where's he off to? We all thought he would meet Kaidou, or an affiliate, on the island he was presently at.
We open the chapter with a distance shot of Punk Hazard, a little reminiscent panel that signals a goodbye to this barren wasteland. Complaint time: I knew it was coming, but darnit Oda, there are invisible little jellyfish in -real life- that can sting you and you're gone within minutes. I refuse to believe a potent weapon of gas destruction gives you half a day to live.
Brownbeard: yet another shining example of the massive love Oda has for his characters. We all thought he was some no-name who would get one-shotted by Basil Hawkins never to appear again, but lo and behold, turns out Oda was foreshadowing all along by never having his bottom half showing before the timeskip, and now along with his bottom half, we've seen his true colors reveal themself. He's actually a chipper old fellow that got caught up with the wrong gang, and now, just like Caribou (but Caribou is more an example of, "yeah, bad people don't always get their comeuppance"), he's getting a second chance. Smoker even mutters a "Whatever" when Brownbeard offers to turn himself in, implying he really doesn't mind him not doing so; grey justice that fits along with his pal, Aokiji's.
And so, leaving behind the heartfelt smile of Brownbeard, we stumble onto the odd sight of Buffalo and Baby-5's remains. Get used to sights like those, G5! The heads surging towards their bodies makes for a rather creepy precursor for the main course, Do-fucking-flamingo himself. It's funny that G5 were the ones who ended up getting the brunt of the immediate consequences of a prolonged party. Luffy really has all the luck. Buffalo grinning sheepishly in the background shows he has all the faith in the world in his master, and does not bode well for these stray Marines.
I knew it. I didn't think we would get the string reveal so suddenly, but Doflamingo really is going to take up the gore level in One Piece up a notch. Instead of the sight of dead bodies to make you shiver, Oda instead opts for people looking just about as lifeless after the 'flamingo gets his claws on 'em. I've also gotta agree with CCC here that Law was being cautious in telling Smoker the wrong place, in case the info leaked out, so the inevitable wild goose chase would head to Green Bit, possibly leaving Dressrosa just a little more exposed.
Haha, Usopp still in disbelief about the bipolar New World sea. It makes it even funnier to me that he snapped at Law, wasn't expecting that. …Dear Lord how am I going to take Franky (or Francine, as FelRes put it) seriously in that 'do. I bet Luffy's happy to give his crew the 'haps instead of Law for a change, look how giddy he is. The panel afterwards where Oda subtly placed the wreckage of a ship is so great. Thank Enel the Sunny's made out of some robust stuff, maybe it wouldn't end up like... that.
See everyone, smart Sanji was never gone. It's in little comments like this that he shines the most. Also, just gotta say that that panel of Caesar is really well-done. Even though he's a total wreck, you still fear for the Straw Hats just from how insane he looks barking that higher demons will come after them.
Now this is just fucking fantastic, probably my favorite part of the chapter (probably even moreso than Aokiji): things get much more complicated in the New World in how you go about swashbuckling with other crews. There's a whole zone of influence you have to penetrate if you even want to get near the leader. Luffy shares the daydreaming excitement of the reader in the next panel, and even Usopp's got a little smirk there. Even he can't cover up his excitement. Huge mistake, holy shit Zoro lol. It's understandable because his clothing does look quite a bit like Luffy's there, but yeah, OUCH.
Caesar's interactions with the crew are going to remain interesting, to say the least. It's like Caribou being on the boat all over again, except Caesar's just a little less rapey-eyed. Kinemon brings up yet another point that's going to tie Dressrosa to Wano eventually, a comrade of his being kept there.
Did Oda just legitimately make me feel for G-5? Dude things really are not looking good for Smoker. Oda alleviates some of the quickly-hoisted tension after seeing Smoker lying there, barely a breath in his iron lungs, and has the best possible person appear! This only furthers the hinted-at relationship between Smoker and Aokiji (they even share the same type of justice, p. much), while showing that Oda is not gonna play around with revelations anymore. Expect to see big name person after big name person appear nowadays. Style is a huge part of One Piece, and dammit, everything Doflamingo touches lights up with it.
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10/10 chapter. The perfect mix of everything I love in One Piece. Doflamingo arriving, tearing through G-5, and chokeholding Smoker is really an engine of tension to be reckoned with, while you had more quaint moments like Brownbeard setting off, to complicated world expansion...
Slytherin all the way, baby~
I know, just thought I'd put it out there for laughs.
now with kusan interference there is a lot of parties in this kidou luffy and his friends donflamingo probably big mom and the kid alliance . lol law plan is going smoothly but we know that its going to fail so hard because of 
law don't know about luffy declaring war on big mom i imagine it will be like this : law : why are we bing flowed by big mom man we did nothing to her luffy : naaa i just declared war to her a while ago law having an enel face : we are f*cked .really cool chapter
