I will be one of them!
Me too! We'll get torches and (ironically) set Oda's house on fire!
I will be one of them!
Me too! We'll get torches and (ironically) set Oda's house on fire!
stuff
I guess that trying to topple a country allied with the world government and ressucitating an ancient weapon is quite alot.
The fact that there are people who think Luffy will get a second Devil Fruit disturbs me. Please keep your illogical fanboy fantasies to yourself.
Going on the presumptions that Luffy will eat the Mera Mera no mi. I completely do not want this to happen, I like Luffy's rubber fruit and how he utilizes it. Being able to eat a logia would contradict the type of character he was meant to be. However seeing how it's still early, I'll bite my tongue and say as of right now it's a possibility that he will eat it.
Luffy's shoes should get a df
He'll have haki arms and df feet. it'll be brilliant! Brilliant i tell ya!
@The:
Too early for Sabo… He's the main villain of One Piece, afterall.
Luffy: Sabo, why are you doing this?
Sabo: Because you let Ace die…
@Panda:
How does a character surviving undermine their sacrifice, in any way, whatsoever? It's like people insist on some cynical meta-interpretation of the story when it comes to this. Yes, at this point, we as readers can pretty much assume a character won't die in One Piece, but the characters themselves can't do that. Pell was still willing to give his life to save his country and its people, and the fact that in the end he didn't have to doesn't change that, or make it any less noble.
In the internal logic of the story/characters, it doesn't really undermine anything, and therefore on some level, it's perfectly valid.
But in the context of a story that refuses to allow death in all but a few distinct exceptions, it's a slap in the face to the readers whose emotions it is attempting to affect. To use your example of stepping in front of a bullet, it's more like someone jumping in front a bullet trying to save your life, but then finding out that it was only a pistachio and your life was never in danger to begin with. The more pistachios you see, the more those tearful sacrifices are going to appear tiresome and comical, which is antithetical to the purpose of the scene.
@Foxy:
The fact that there are people who think Luffy will get a second Devil Fruit disturbs me. Please keep your illogical fanboy fantasies to yourself.
http://pundit.blogpeoria.com/files/2012/02/facepalm-Obama.jpg
Fujitora ? :ninja: 16 charac
@wolfwoof:
Luffy's shoes should get a df
He'll have haki arms and df feet. it'll be brilliant! Brilliant i tell ya!
DF shoes will appear before the end of the series. Oda would've shown them at EL but he ran out of time :ninja:
[/curls up]
I didn't make it myself and I've only read the MangaPanda version and no one told me there were any errors (except some really obvious ones) = A =
I can see you all quoting that post like 'dumb bitch'. Honestly.
And when I went 'honestly?' about the Kuzan Shichi thing I meant as in 'Who the hell honestly believes Kuzan would ever be a Shichibukai dear lord > A <'
…I feel grandly annoyed for some reason. Sleep. Yes. I require it. I'll get some before I go all .mov Discord on yo' asses with a mix up of textbook mass cannibalism.
Not literally of course but my rage shall be felt in your toes :UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Seriously, of all the stuff this chapter gave us were talking about Luffy getting another devil fruit? Nah it aint happening so we can stop that.
I think Doflamingo gave Ace the devil fruit in exchange for the spades seat. Foxy could possibly be a Shichibukai simply for the influence has with his huge Pirate crew. I don't think the 7th spot is a new character if so why keep it a secret.
So many things to discuss, this arc is shaping up to be epic
@Panda:
That's the problem with writing books for posts, I guess, nobody reads them. Well, that and getting buried in this speeding thread, I guess.
Anyway! On the topic of the fruit, I would think it would be obvious Luffy isn't going to eat it, for any number of reasons. In story, it's been an established rule that a person can only have one fruit, to which Blackbeard was an exceedingly notable exception. On a more meta-level, what purpose would it serve other than a power-up which is completely unnecessary? Not to mention the fact that Luffy's entire fighting style would have to be changed up in order for him eating the fruit to not be entirely pointless.
That said, I do think there is interesting room for discussion regarding how Luffy will react to the fruit in general. I could really see it going either way. On the one hand, I feel it would be entirely in character for Luffy to say 'why should I care about the fruit', and it would probably make a pretty amazing moment of Doflamingo realizing that Luffy is just too, well… Luffy, to be manipulated.
On the other hand, I don't think it would be unreasonable for Luffy to have some desire to have the fruit. No, the fruit isn't Ace, and Ace wasn't the fruit, but much more than that; however, it can't be denied that the fruit is very much associated with Ace, not just by Luffy, but by anyone in the One Piece world, and as such it would certainly serve as a memento of his lost brother. Beyond that, something is going to need to go wrong for the protagonists; and while Luffy is more than capable of throwing Law's plans off the rails on his own, I think it would be nice to see something going Doflamingo's way, to help re-establish his credibility and threat, before things start to really come down around his head.
Really? Luffy only saw Ace with the fruit twice so I really don't think he associates it with Ace, unlike say how Ace would associate Luffy with rubber since for as long as he's known he's always had it.
And Luffy will click his heels together 3 time exclaiming "There's no place like Raftel!" and just like that, One Piece will be found.
Wait wait wait wait wait.
Stephen has an account on Arlong Park??!
Last 2 chapter discussions we've been going on and on about what he said in his stream and he never bothered telling us? D:
Wait wait wait wait wait.
Stephen has an account on Arlong Park??!
Last 2 chapter discussions we've been going on and on about what he said in his stream and he never bothered telling us? D:
He is not like us college students, he is actually busy
Wait wait wait wait wait.
Stephen has an account on Arlong Park??!
Last 2 chapter discussions we've been going on and on about what he said in his stream and he never bothered telling us? D:
I knew of this and you've been here longer than I. He's probably a busy guy though.
You know what's funny? The title of a warlord actually fits Buggy.
He may be weak an all, but he has an army of strong pirates (an army that is probably immense by now) ready to fight whoever be on a whim of his. I don't know, but I think a man who can put a powerful army into motion is more fit of being called a Warlord than a man who is insanely powerful and fights alone (like, say, Mihawk) or has only a hand of very powerful men with him (Blackbeard).
I knew of this and you've been here longer than I. He's probably a busy guy though.
That's just the date i joined the forum for the first time. I have been inactive on the forums for over a year, I only rejoined like halfway into january 2013.
That's just the date i joined the forum for the first time. I have been inactive on the forums for over a year, I only rejoined like halfway into january 2013.
Well my apologies my friend.
In the internal logic of the story/characters, it doesn't really undermine anything, and therefore on some level, it's perfectly valid.
But in the context of a story that refuses to allow death in all but a few distinct exceptions, it's a slap in the face to the readers whose emotions it is attempting to affect. To use your example of stepping in front of a bullet, it's more like someone jumping in front a bullet trying to save your life, but then finding out that it was only a pistachio and your life was never in danger to begin with. The more pistachios you see, the more those tearful sacrifices are going to appear tiresome and comical, which is antithetical to the purpose of the scene.
Yeah, I do see your point. I suppose I wasn't exactly fair in my post; I can see where people are coming from on the issue, and certainly respect their right to hold that opinion. I suppose it comes down to, how to put it… a sort of fundamental difference of approach?
If you'll allow me to make another analogy, I would compare it to watching a horror movie. (I'm going somewhere with this, honest). Personally, I watch a horror movie to be scared, and so I let myself be immersed in it, and tend to scream like a little cub and cover my eyes all the time. Part of that, admittedly, is because I am a huge wimp; but it's also because that's how I want to react. I could, if I wished, simply watch it with friends, and mock the horrible special effects and the blatant, re-used horror tropes instead, but I choose not to. Some people choose to; and for some people, it's not even a choice, and they simply can't manage to look past those things if they wanted to, and so the movie fails for them.
I think that's a lot like the issue of death in One Piece. I want to be emotionally involved with it, and so choose to invest myself with what the characters do, and the sacrifices they (believe) they make, without taking the cynical approach of 'Oh, I know they're going to live anyway, honestly why does Oda even bother'. I suppose, for the people that complain about the lack of death, this is just something that they are unable to do; to compare to my analogy, it's not that they don't want to be scared by the movie, but that they can't help but laugh every time the guy in the rubber monster costume comes on screen.
Anyway, I won't derail the thread any further with this. As interesting as I think it can be to discuss, this isn't the place for it, and there's enough going on as is without me cluttering it up.
P.S. Hi Stephen! Don't believe I see you posting in these parts very much of late, although I guess maybe I just miss it. The threads do get pretty huge, after all.
Really? Luffy only saw Ace with the fruit twice so I really don't think he associates it with Ace, unlike say how Ace would associate Luffy with rubber since for as long as he's known he's always had it.
I think there's two separate things. There's associating Ace with his fruit, and there I agree with you. I very much doubt, when Luffy thinks of Ace, that the first thing that pops to mind would be his fruit; rather, when Luffy thinks of Ace, he would think of, well, Ace, his brother.
But associating the fruit with Ace? Yeah, I do believe Luffy's, or again anyone else's in the One Piece world, reaction to the Mera Mera fruit being brought up would be 'Oh, yeah, that was Ace's fruit!'
[/curls up]
And when I went 'honestly?' about the Kuzan Shichi thing I meant as in 'Who the hell honestly believes Kuzan would ever be a Shichibukai dear lord > A <'
well, Kuzan is one thing but this forneverworld guy took the biscuit when he said that marco could be the new shichibukai
btw, great posts mister panda bear.
Hurrah, I got through the entire thread.
@.access:
You know what's funny? The title of a warlord actually fits Buggy.
He may be weak an all, but he has an army of strong pirates (an army that is probably immense by now) ready to fight whoever be on a whim of his. I don't know, but I think a man who can put a powerful army into motion is more fit of being called a Warlord than a man who is insanely powerful and fights alone (like, say, Mihawk) or has only a hand of very powerful men with him (Blackbeard).
What I find funnier is that you've only posted this here. I'd have expected to see a post like this MANY pages back.
@Wolfwoof & Nolus Why. Why would you two bring up these horrible memories of skating around 4ch. Ow my head.
Well my apologies my friend.
No need for apologies, you couldnt really have known.
Also, i made a post like 20 pages ago but everybody seems to ignore my posts which i want opinions on lately so forgive me ima repost it
Okay I actually think this is a very unlikely theory but I'm posting it here anyways in case people wanna read it and comment on it.
I'll say though that I do not think it will happen, it's just something interesting I thought of:We know that Vegapunk will apear some time in the story to explain all about the Devil Fruits.
So what if like, Luffy gets / wins the Mera Mera and they just keep it in a box on the Sunny as a treasure sort of thing, and then when they meet Vegapunk it becomes important. How??
The options I thought of is this:
~ Vegapunk shows them some stuff using the Devil Fruit (NO IDEA what that could be)
~ They give it to Vegapunk because he needed a Logia for his last piece of research on DF's.
Now I know this last one sounds very impropable but think about it. On one hand the man should have obtained a Logia ages ago. But what if he didn't because of their rarity? It would also do good for the story, since SOMETHING has to happen with Vegapunk. It couldn't just be "oh hey we met Vegapunk now tell us everything so we can leave.", what if they actually help him with his last piece of research so that they help him figure out the last bit?Iunno, just some thoughts. Since I don't believe anyone in the crew will eat it (someone else might) and I wanted it to be a treasure instead of it being used, I thought this would give it some further use in the story aside from emotional value. Though just emotional value would be fine with me, too.
No offense, but seriously my last few posts have been completely ignored and i want opinions xD
Luffy is reckless enough with his rubber fruit. Giving him easy access to fire would be a bad move for all.
The other DF users on the ship couldn't use it without dying. But I think it'd be fun to try and guess possible outcomes for the others.
Sanji would be fairly pointless as his diajamble already gives him fire ike abilities. And it would make blue walk pointless unless he needs to hit the bottom of the ocean at record time.
Nami…Hah that'd be kinda funny but I couldn't see her ever getting any DF powers at all.
Usopp. I feel ike if he got the fruit he'd be so over powered just from being able to be cocky and fairly immune to a lot of attacks. But then he'd get taken out in weird ways.
Zoro...Nope.
Franky would be funny. I'm curious how a logia fruit would work with his mechanical parts.
Thousand Sunny....Hmmm..
I assume Luffy will want the DF but I wonder if they'd just keep it in a lockbox or something on the ship.
Also, I know I can't be the only one who notices the over saturation of fire that the Strawhats are getting.
Sanji, Franky, Luffy's Red Hawk, and now Zoro's soon-to-be ability to cut and manipulate it.
And there are some of you that really want Luffy to have more fire?!
No need for apologies, you couldnt really have known.
Also, i made a post like 20 pages ago but everybody seems to ignore my posts which i want opinions on lately so forgive me ima repost it
No offense, but seriously my last few posts have been completely ignored and i want opinions xD
Vegapunk may know more about the Uses of Devil Fruit, since he come up with the idea of artificial fruits initially. To be honest, it's way too early to tell "what" will happen to the mera mera fruit. Vegapunk is already foreshadowed to be big key in the latter part of the new world arc.
@Wolfwoof & Nolus Why. Why would you two bring up these horrible memories of skating around 4ch. Ow my head.
Because sometimes love hurts. But we only do it because we love you very very much
Also, i made a post like 20 pages ago but everybody seems to ignore my posts which i want opinions on lately so forgive me ima repost it
No offense, but seriously my last few posts have been completely ignored and i want opinions xD
A lot of posts have gotten buried during these 47 pages. Anyway, your theory sounds plausible.
Also, I know I can't be the only one who notices the over saturation of fire that the Strawhats are getting.
Sanji, Franky, Luffy's Red Hawk, and now Zoro's soon-to-be ability to cut and manipulate it.
And there are some of you that really want Luffy to have more fire?!
Sanji is really the only one to excessively use it.
Luffy has only used the Red Hawk once, we don't know anything about whether Zoro will really learnt to cut fire (though it would be really badass if he did!), and Franky hasnt breathed fire yet, am i wrong?? maybe once. yea like once maybe twice i believe….
and nami doesnt really use fire either, and usopp stopped using it.
i dont find it overused at all to be honest.
Fair is fair.
We know that Vegapunk will apear some time in the story to explain all about the Devil Fruits.
So what if like, Luffy gets / wins the Mera Mera and they just keep it in a box on the Sunny as a treasure sort of thing, and then when they meet Vegapunk it becomes important. How??
The options I thought of is this:
~ Vegapunk shows them some stuff using the Devil Fruit (NO IDEA what that could be)
~ They give it to Vegapunk because he needed a Logia for his last piece of research on DF's.
Now I know this last one sounds very impropable but think about it. On one hand the man should have obtained a Logia ages ago. But what if he didn't because of their rarity? It would also do good for the story, since SOMETHING has to happen with Vegapunk. It couldn't just be "oh hey we met Vegapunk now tell us everything so we can leave.", what if they actually help him with his last piece of research so that they help him figure out the last bit?
Interesting. What would Vegapunk want to discover by studying each classification of Devil Fruit? The real question is what has the guy been during for the whole series and/or the two-year timeskip. He's an enigma.
Although if Luffy really cared about the Mera Mera, why would he just give it to some science guy? Vegapunk would have to make s_ome_ persuasive argument.
I like the theory overall…..anyone think we might learn more about Vegapunk with Caesar as the Straw Hats' hostage?
Also, I know I can't be the only one who notices the over saturation of fire that the Strawhats are getting.
Sanji, Franky, Luffy's Red Hawk, and now Zoro's soon-to-be ability to cut and manipulate it.
And there are some of you that really want Luffy to have more fire?!
It's kinda annoying, actually. How that DF can be replicated so easily.
And there are some of you that really want Luffy to have more fire?!
There's no such thing as too much fire. Not on One Piece :ninja:
Sanji is really the only one to excessively use it.
Luffy has only used the Red Hawk once, we don't know anything about whether Zoro will really learnt to cut fire (though it would be really badass if he did!), and Franky hasnt breathed fire yet, am i wrong?? maybe once. yea like once maybe twice i believe….and nami doesnt really use fire either, and usopp stopped using it.
i dont find it overused at all to be honest.
Franky used it against that fishman that curls up anytime fire is near.
Zoro only became interested in Kinnemon because he wanted to learn the fire cutting technique.
Luffy's Red Hawk will resurface.
Point is fire is already prevalent. When everyone has the ability to use it, it seems to undermine Sanji's use of it. Ace's fruit would make things unbearable.
So I guess I'm late to the chapter thread, but I will reiterate how awesome this chapter was in reveals and plot progression.
On the subject of Luffy and the Mera Mera no Mi:
I would put myself in the boat of those who would not like to see Luffy eat it, although I don't think I oppose it as vehemently as a lot of users here. If Luffy were to eat it, I'm not sure how the abilities would interact with each other. Rubber that turns into fire? I dunno. It would be a huge increase in Luffy's fighting power and it doesn't feel like it would be one he earned. The gears were so amazing because not only were they a great increase in his fighting power, but they came from the fruit Luffy's been using. It required smart thinking and clever application of the gomu gomu no mi. Getting Ace's fruit would just be, in my opinion, too big of a power jump too quickly. And I'm aware it would take time for Luffy to train it and hone his skills with it, but I don't really believe that's what will end up happening. At the same time, I don't believe its impossible.
So what do I want to happen? It could always be eaten by a third party, though I can't see it being any of the Strawhats. Someone mentioned many pages back that they thought/hoped Luffy would put the fruit at Ace's grave when he goes there eventually and I think that's a really nice idea. I see there's some discussion over Luffy not remembering Ace by his fruit since he only saw him twice with it anyways and I think that's fair to say. The fruit certainly wasn't defining of Ace in Luffy's eyes. But I do think Luffy will view the fruit as significant because now that his brother's dead, it would be something that was part of him that Luffy can keep for sentimentality. But of course anything can happen.
Oh and just a question or maybe it's more of a comment, not too sure. The way "his pace" is used in this chapter just sounds so awkward. "Don't get drawn into his pace" and lines like that just don't sound like proper english. Maybe it's just a phrase I've never heard, but I can't recall ever hearing someone refer to another's charisma or ability to draw others in as falling into their pace or anything like that. Am I the only one?
@.access:
You know what's funny? The title of a warlord actually fits Buggy.
He may be weak an all, but he has an army of strong pirates (an army that is probably immense by now) ready to fight whoever be on a whim of his. I don't know, but I think a man who can put a powerful army into motion is more fit of being called a Warlord than a man who is insanely powerful and fights alone (like, say, Mihawk) or has only a hand of very powerful men with him (Blackbeard).
Good point, i agree with you. I'm really curious to see just what kind of association he rules, I don't think we'll have to wait too much to find out
Wanna I wanna know is how Absalom got to both Luffy and Kid's meeting sites
He didn't. He just covered Kid's alliance.
Luffy and Law's alliance was covered by "Lucci".
Wait wait wait wait wait.
Stephen has an account on Arlong Park??!
Last 2 chapter discussions we've been going on and on about what he said in his stream and he never bothered telling us? D:
Wait what did I do?
I don't usually read chapter threads here, they're all based off of bad translations. I just popped in to see the reaction to this holiest of grails.
Kidd's ship(page 5 for MS) is dangerously similar to Moriah's Mini Thriller bark.
! last panel:
http://www.mangapanda.com/103-2593-2/one-piece/chapter-486.html
Damn it, busy day but thoughts need to be vented.
Coverpage
Now I'm pretty much sure that Oda teases us on purpose. Just when I thought that the mini story would take a step forward, Caribou goes 2 steps back. Anyway, the factory is obviously what he wanted to highlight there, and coincidently the main focus of the chapter is the location of the SAD production facility. Now judging by the snow on the roofs it is safe to say that it is a winter island, but the climate on Dresrosa appears to be tropical (palm trees in the background)
!
So my bet is that they won't find anything at Dressrosa (except for trouble, of course).
Chapter
Starts strong with a random Bonney in our face. So even after being destroyed by Blackbeard and captured by Akainu, she really managed to get away? What was the point of Sakazuki's speech and the "chills that went down his spine" if he allowed her to escape the government again? What is Oda implying here? That Sakazuki himself wasn't competent enough to apprehend a Supernova, who was already beaten up and in cuffs? That she is skilled enough to escape from an Admiral? Or that something allows her to avoid the hell that is Impel Down, which in turn gives her the opportunity to escape with relative ease (bird in the golden cage style)? Whatever it is, as of now she is the most intriguing from the worst generation. At least to me.
Gossip Girl Gecko Moriah, hilarious. Even if Absalom should be the one who writes the articles, with the appearance of the Thriller Bark we know that the almighty Moriah-sama is behind it. Really beyond awesome. Now he is basically the forum troll of the One Piece world! I can already picture him behind a desk, laughing like a maniac as he spreads rumors and info that is supposed to be top secret. I'm glad he is back no matter what role he will play in the future.
Back to the crew and the anticipated response from Doflamingo. That guy just got outsmarted by Law and was intimidated by the thought of facing Kaido, yet he appears as threatening and powerful as ever. I love how he seems to instinctively go for the weakspots of his enemies, "fishing" for a possible trauma he can abuse to his advantage. The first thing he asked Crocodile was if he enjoyed being thrown into a pool of blood, while he reminded Law how Vergo tortured him in the past. And now he casually mentions Ace, almost as if he wanted to connect his voice with Luffy's terrible loss. Too bad for him that these tactics don't work on someone like Luffy, at least not in the way he intended.
The crew interaction was enjoyable as always. Franky is now the official siege engine of the Straw Hats, Robin trumps with her weird imagination and Law slowly being sucked into the crews dynamic is just priceless. The only small gripe I have is Sanji worrying about Doflamingo's crew. Of course he was the one who faced Vergo and he knows firsthand how powerful he was, but there is no reason to get worked up over it (considering the force of their alliance). The same goes for Chopper and Usopp, really. I know that they are supposed to be the scaredy cats of the crew, but they should have a little more faith in Luffy's strength (and Law's for that matter). It's okay for the time being, but I hope Oda won't overplay the joke.
Marine Headquarter time! Unimpressive meeting with only 2 familiar faces, but the Shichibukai page made up for it. Or better said, BUGGY MADE UP FOR IT! Of course we all saw it coming, but it feels good to have it confirmed. Am I seeing things or does he have super long hair now?
! Anyway, Fujitora is the hottest girl in school now, eh? To be honest I'm just relieved that his or her theme points away from any of the Vice Admirals who were present at the war. Not that I dislike their designs, but the greatest force is the greatest force, and Oda would have a hard time to sell any of them as one of the new Admirals. And now that his name is revealed, the happy hyping can begin! I bet Doflamingo or his crew will have to do, granted that Law really just lured the Admiral to DD. At the very least I demand a proper fight and not the offpanel-action Oda seems to be so fond of lately.
Cliffhanger of the chapter, Doflamingo holding the Mera Mera no Mi. Of course I'm just speculating here, but his behavior during the war makes much more sense to me now. No one can tell me that the Marines didn't know how to capture the essence of a Devil Fruit when it leaves it's old users body, and they are in no position to let one of the most powerful fruits go to waste just like that. So my bet is that the fruit was partially the reason why Doflamingo joined the war in the first place, and why he even did some extra dirty work by hunting down Moriah. Why would someone like Dofla make any extra effort if there wasn't something to gain?
It will be interesting to see how Luffy reacts to all of this. Funny that even after 700 chapters he is still completely unpredictable when it comes to things that don't concern friendship or meat. My therory is that he will be touched by the situation, but not in a way some would expect (ragemode, honor shit etc).
I believe Luffy will show us that apart from becoming stronger, he also used the timeskip to overcome the pain caused by losing his brother. That will be his answer when Doflamingo asks him again about what exactly he has been up to. The fruit won't have any relevance any more. At least not to the Straw Hats.
And now I'm going to read the rest of the thread, seems people posted a lot of interesting stuff.
Sakazuki said this matter will be cleared in a day but that probably doesn't mean we will see Doflamingo or the Fujitora guy anytime soon since the whole punk hazard arc only lasted a few days in the OP world?
Wait what did I do?
I just popped in to see the reaction to this holiest of grails.
You implied exactly that in one of your streams, so people guessed what it could be.
The appearance of the mera mera no mi really throws a loop in things. I wonder what will happen with it.
Ya know what's realy odd after 700 chapters ? Not knowing the current in-story date/year.
This continues to bother me.
Wait what did I do?
I don't usually read chapter threads here, they're all based off of bad translations. I just popped in to see the reaction to this holiest of grails.
Well you said in your stream "Oda seems to be continuing his streak of amazing 100-chapters".
Somebody on AP found this and said to us "Stephen said that chapter 700 will make us jizz our pants!" and this rumor kinda spread.
That was when 698 was out and a big fuss started, about whether you knew what was gonna happen in 700 or just expected it to be good because of 699, or there was discussion about what you really said, and if you could know it, etc etc.
it was rather funny actually :P
@No:
Ya know what's realy odd after 700 chapters ? Not knowing the current in-story date/year.
This continues to bother me.
Yeah. That seems like something he could add in like a corner of the first page of a chapter or something.
Damn it, busy day but thoughts need to be vented.
Coverpage
Now I'm pretty much sure that Oda teases us on purpose. Just when I thought that the mini story would take a step forward, Caribou goes 2 steps back. Anyway, the factory is obviously what he wanted to highlight there, and coincidently the main focus of the chapter is the location of the SAD production facility. Now judging by the snow on the roofs it is safe to say that it is a winter island, but the climate on Dresrosa appears to be tropical (palm trees in the background)! http://s1.directupload.net/images/130227/lwa8r6xg.png
So my bet is that they won't find anything at Dressrosa (except for trouble, of course).Chapter
Starts strong with a random Bonney in our face. So even after being destroyed by Blackbeard and captured by Akainu, she really managed to get away? What was the point of Sakazuki's speech and the "chills that went down his spine" if he allowed her to escape the government again? What is Oda implying here? That Sakazuki himself wasn't competent enough to apprehend a Supernova, who was already beaten up and in cuffs? That she is skilled enough to escape from an Admiral? Or that something allows her to avoid the hell that is Impel Down, which in turn gives her the opportunity to escape with relative ease (bird in the golden cage style)? Whatever it is, as of now she is the most intriguing from the worst generation. At least to me.
Gossip Girl Gecko Moriah, hilarious. Even if Absalom should be the one who writes the articles, with the appearance of the Thriller Bark we know that the almighty Moriah-sama is behind it. Really beyond awesome. Now he is basically the forum troll of the One Piece world! I can already picture him behind a desk, laughing like a maniac as he spreads rumors and info that is supposed to be top secret. I'm glad he is back no matter what role he will play in the future.
Back to the crew and the anticipated response from Doflamingo. That guy just got outsmarted by Law and was intimidated by the thought of facing Kaido, yet he appears as threatening and powerful as always. I love how he seems to instinctively go for the weakspots of his enemies, "fishing" for a possible trauma he can abuse to his advantage. The first thing he asked Crocodile was if he enjoyed being thrown into a pool of blood, while he reminded Law how Vergo tortured him in the past. And now he casually mentions Ace, almost as if he wanted to connect his voice with Luffy's terrible loss. Too bad for him that these tactics don't work on someone like Luffy, at least not in the way he intended.
The crew interaction was enjoyable as always. Franky is now the official siege engine of the Straw Hats, Robin trumps with her weird imagination and Law slowly being sucked into the crews dynamic is just priceless. The only small gripe I have is Sanji worrying about Doflamingo's crew. Of course he was the one who faced Vergo and he knows firsthand how powerful he was, but there is no reason to get worked up over it (considering the force of their alliance). The same goes for Chopper and Usopp, really. I know that they are supposed to be the scaredy cats of the crew, but they should have a little more faith in Luffy's strength (and Law's for that matter). It's okay for the time being, but I hope Oda won't overplay the joke.
Marine Headquarter time! Unimpressive meeting with only 2 familiar faces, but the Shichibukai page made up for it. Or better said, BUGGY MADE UP FOR IT! Of course we all saw it coming, but it feels good to have it confirmed. Am I seeing things or does he have super long hair now?
! http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130227213502/onepiece/images/0/04/Manga_Buggy_Post_Timeskip_Infobox.png Anyway, Fujitora is the hottest girl in school now, eh? To be honest I'm just relieved that his or her theme points away from any of the Vice Admirals who were present at the war. Not that I dislike their designs, but the greatest force is the greatest force, and Oda would have a hard time to sell any of them as one of the new Admirals. And now that his name is revealed, the happy hyping can begin! I bet Doflamingo or his crew will have to do, granted that Law really just lured the Admiral to DD. At the very least I demand a proper fight and not the offpanel-action Oda seems to be so fond of lately.
Cliffhanger of the chapter, Doflamingo holding the Mera Mera no Mi. Of course I'm just speculating here, but his behavior during the war makes much more sense to me now. No one can tell me that the Marines didn't know how to capture the essence of a Devil Fruit when it leaves it's old users body, and they are in no position to let one of the most powerful fruits go to waste just like that. So my bet is that the fruit was partially the reason why Doflamingo joined the war in the first place, and why he even did some extra dirty work by hunting down Moriah. Why would someone like Dofla make any extra effort if there wasn't something to gain?
It will be interesting to see how Luffy reacts to all of this. Funny that even after 700 chapters he is still completely unpredictable when it comes to things that don't concern friendship or meat. My therory is that he will be touched by the situation, but not in a way some would people expect (ragemode, honor shit etc).
I believe Luffy will show us that apart from becoming stronger, he also used the timeskip to overcome the pain caused by losing his brother. That will be his answer when Doflamingo asks him again about what exactly he has been up to. The fruit won't have any relevance any more. At least not to the Straw Hats.
And now I'm going to read the rest of the thread, seems people posted a lot of interesting stuff.
I really enjoyed reading this. GOOD Going!!!
Since Monosuke is a dragon I wouldn't mind him eating the Mera-Mera fruit (if he can at all)
@wolfwoof:
Because sometimes love hurts. But we only do it because we love you very very much
Then this thread indeed needs more love.
Good thing Stephen is here too. Not that he needs people smothering him or anything.