The best thing about this chapter is that it adds a HUGE amount of additional dimension to Law's character that enhances prior chapters. Why he saves Luffy and why he decided to dismantle the SMILE/SAD operations, for instance, is given a lot more weight to it now than simply being "mysterious" or "realizing the error of his ways."
Also the whole aspect of the children in PH being injected with poisonous chemicals that kills them slowly over time now seems to purposefully allude to Law's past. Possibly the catalyst that ultimately made him a turncoat?
Very interesting side story. Never expected the series would introduce an element that involves a very extreme version of lead poisoning. Definitely one of the more creative uses of an epidemic.
@silversatyr:
Also, kinda sick of all the people saying it's so 'dark', 'darker than OP before', 'not for kids' and generally whining (in other places not just here). I mean, hello~? Auto-cannibalism anyone? And a kid watching her parent shot in the head then having to work with the killer for years after? Or any other flash-back ever? Oh, what about destroying a whole country because of 'books'? OP has always been dark. Hell, slavery arc anyone? Yeah… there's been plenty of grim stuff always around. Frankly, I was prepared for worse because past flash-backs have told us that the heart-ache is just starting. >.<;
Yeah definite agreement there. I mean the Dressrosa flashback of Doflamingo's coup against the Riku family is pretty close in sheer brutality and trauma. We should be prepped every time a flashback starts rolling along. Only difference is that sometimes they are otherwise glossed over (Tontatta flashback) or mostly comic relief (Chinjao, Duval).
Well, this a slight notch above those if only because that shot of a whole landscape filled with children's corpses. Most of the other flashbacks had more implied tragedies where the horror was left to the imagination, such as Ohara or the similar Jaya tree-borne epidemic. Even in those, there was some silver lining (Norland curing the natives, Law helping the poisoned prisoners). Here, there's virtually nothing outside of Law escaping the island. Not even the equivalent of Saul and his laugh to keep his spirits up in his darkest hours. Though I suppose that will change once Law gets the Modify-Modify fruit as some sort of poetic justice in the next chapter or two.
Oda's been pretty caught up on "bio-distasters". First Punk Hazard, which had a quasi WMD aspect to it, now a disease pandemic. One can assume he's riding the current headlines on potential Ebola epidemics, but it seems Oda had the "lead-poisoning" aspect of the flashback already planned out several months ago.