Excellent chapter, excellent chapter discussion. It'd be an absolute crime to not comment on this one.
On the first few pages, you notice Oda leaving the backgrounds blank. This is for dramatic effect because the atmosphere around these people is more important than the backgrounds (usually rife with interesting little tidbits). That is how you accomplish the no background effect, when it makes you focus on the scene. Of course, to achieve this, you must you use it sparingly like our friend Oda.
Right off the bat, we get interesting character backgrounds. Oda loves this method of character introduction, and it pulls you in like a vortex. Riku? Dude is a shadow of his former self and talks of his failings and crimes. Whitebeard? He was the "strongest", sure, but check this out, he's hooked up to medical equipment. It's an interesting combination of the inflation of expectations and the deflation back to reality and problems. And what do problems make? Good storytelling, of course.
Even in the depths of a pit of the tattered and defeated, solace can be found. We get this in the form of an unexpected show of gratitude via the toys. As usual, the feeling of calm in the air is quickly corroded by Sai getting abducted. I just really like the flow of this chapter, man. Expert, effortless-feeling storytelling.
Awesome dialogue moment: "Doflamingo has split us into subservient winners, and rebellious losers…!!! Just like with the World Government, really..." I'm sure it's quite easy to apply this to many people's lives. This hits hard.
I can't really pick words to do this chapter justice. All I know is the panel flow on those last several pages was just entrancing, all those varieties of textures just made your eyes happily shift to the next panel. It's one of those moments where Oda really was casting his spell on you. Just remember that this is one fucking chapter of this series and look at how much it provided on so many levels. That's insane, this late in the game of the story. Also, it's a reason why it's downright silly to judge by the bullet points of a spoiler. If you bullet pointed everything, wouldn't everything be so dry? Oh, I'm going to eat, so this happens: - I drive to the restaurant, - I order my food, - I eat the food, - I leave. How boring and predictable. There's nothing like the actual experience of eating the food, which can't be reduced to a bullet point. Use the bullet points for what they are, the basics. Don't try to judge pages upon pages of panel composition and transitioning and dialogue by them.