Amen to that, this board needs more people like you instead of the blind fanboys brigade.
I love how people liking a chapter makes them blind fanboys.
Amen to that, this board needs more people like you instead of the blind fanboys brigade.
I love how people liking a chapter makes them blind fanboys.
@Galaxy:
I love how people liking a chapter makes them blind fanboys.
Especially when this chapter heavily features one of the most polarizing protagonists in the whole manga.
so Riku said he wasn't going back to being the king .. does that mean .. King Kyros?!
This fight with Pica was a joke. Pica is probably the strongest among dofla's commanders and still he did not manage to even touch zoro? the whole fight was underwhelming and there was no pathos at all. It was like zoro was on another league and his only problem was to corner pica's body. the top officers where introduced as incredibly powerful but here's pica not even giving a scratch on zoro's body…
It's Pica's own fault, he continuously made himself a HUUUUUGE target and very easy to dodge. I mean even last chapter: he attacks Zoro with a HUGE stone face and then when that failed, ignores him to make himself even larger to attack Riku. Maybe if he had fought Person vs Person instead of Stone vs Person he would have done more damage but from the get go his main strategy was a big failure
@Galaxy:
I love how people liking a chapter makes them blind fanboys.
Liking a chapter is quite different than going on a crusade against every criticisms towards the manga.
Zoro is awesome glad he brought back Sanzen Sekai thought it got replaced by Rokudo no Tsuji. Zoro is a beast no doubt. So far in the series he's only used that move three times.
Liking a chapter is quite different than going on a crusade against every criticisms towards the manga.
Well, you see, this is a forum.
And in a discussion, people have differing views about what could be called a "criticism" or what's "good" or "perfect". Not everybody is going to agree on all of it, ever.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
so Riku said he wasn't going back to being the king .. does that mean .. King Kyros?!
Anything to stop the "Kyros for crewmate" campaigns.
Also, when you have a character that can cut nearly any solid object in the world, is kinda hard to find an armor to deal with it.
Its kinda like Enel and Luffy, Pica just got the worst match-up.
Vergo and Sanji confirmed fodder as well.
Zoro defeating an enemy using his strongest attack and Hardening on his swords does not in any way make Sanji fodder.
Zoro defeating an enemy using his strongest attack and Hardening on his swords does not in any way make Sanji fodder.
I wouldn't call this Zoro's strongest attack but otherwise i agree with you. Vergo is by no means a fodder same applies to Sanji
We all love the artificial power levels based on willpower, what are you talking about :ninja:
To be fair, we've had those since before haki was revealed. 95% of One-Piece's fight are determined by who has more spunk.
Zoro defeating an enemy using one of his strongest attacks and Hardening on his swords does not in any way make Sanji fodder.
Much better now.
Especially when this chapter heavily features one of the most polarizing protagonists in the whole manga.
When did Zoro become this exactly? I don't remember there being any Zoro hate before the timeskip. Is this all just Post-Fishman Island/Punk Hazard fallout at his cocky attitude?
@Nex:
To be fair, we've had those since before haki was revealed. 95% of One-Piece's fight are determined by who has more spunk.
One Piece fights are determined by Oda's whim, which is why adding additional fictional statistic to it is stupid.
Characters are as strong as they need to be in One Piece.
I don't go wowz for Zoro because he takes out glorified nuisances in a flashy way. I love him because of his insistent locomotion no matter the challenge presented. The challenge makes Zoro. If there's no challenge, there's hardly a Zoro. And that's what I've found to be a problem in these 180 chapters (that's nearly 1/4 of the series…) since the timeskip. It doesn't feel like Zoro. It feels like some poor copy of his least interesting aspects.
I wish the forum had a "like" system just for this post. You should post more.
I agree with a lot of your sentiments, even if I thought the final moments were pretty cool. My take-home feelings on Pica is that from a character and "fight" perspective he's a bit lacking, but as a spectacle, a setpiece, he was entertaining.
Have you guys noticed Zoro hardening is swords? I think it's the first time we see him using CoA on his swords. When i first read the chapter i didn't even noticed, but taking a closer look, it looks pretty badass.
Zoro's Wado Ichimonji "normal"
http://i.imgur.com/qCgGlVl.jpgZoro cladding is swords in CoA
http://i.imgur.com/vSspSPT.jpgZoro's Wado Ichimonji fully hardened
http://i.imgur.com/D2aY7Te.jpgAll 3 swords hardened
http://i.imgur.com/3IeJwmL.jpg
doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it though..it's not like his swords were at risk to break..so harden them is useless
even though he probably put it on because he though pica could use haki too
I am a little disappointed in the discrepancy of power between Doflamingo's crew and himself. On one hand it makes kind of sense now how much respect they have for Doflamingo, but on the other hand it is a bit weird that someone with the ambition, power and famousity of Doflamingo doesn't have individually stronger crew mates. I really thought that Vergo fit Doflamingo nicely in terms of personality, ambition and fighting skills, but it kind of kills a lot of the hype of Dressrosa that the best of Doflamingo's fighters was beaten before we really got to know Doflamingo himself.
I think if Sanji had his own fight, Zoro's fight had been more bloody, and if there had been less involvement by the gladiators (and more of the Strawhats) then it would be a more satisfying ending. Right now it feels like Fishman Island where only Luffy get to have a fulfilling fight (a much better one that is) after very very long build up.
Maybe I'm just looking into it too much… But this arc started out so nicely with the Colosseum, Sabo, Fujitora, Green Bit, Burgess, Franky getting 3-manned... And yet it all seems so far away because (in my opinion) all the time spent sneaking into the palace, invading the palace after its relocation and too much focus on Kyros/Rebecca/King Riku. I think it was necesarry to bring Rebecca and the royal family into the story, but I would rather have seen less involvement of Kyros and Rebecca when it came to the actual battle progression.
I gotten used to story stucture being how it is with it streching lately and sagas becomming far more complex and with bigger scope so to say.
I decided only that this pace is alright, nothing to get worked up for me. It hurts at times when I have to wait for Sanji for more than a year while I get Zoros fight but its good to take whats best out of what I get and dont stress too much what I didnt.
Three years now we are on two arcs.
The longest Saga thus far, the Water 7/Enies Lobby one, took three years as well. That was four arcs. And you know, there was setup in that one as well, but it didn't took as much space.
The change in format is there. That's why I'm criticising it.
I guess that Marines were needed here mostly for Fuji to state his intentions on destroying Warlords group. If Admiral could have been replaced by somebody not from Marines then maybe there is a chance to form group of strong generals etc from different countries and create leaque of good guys, avoiding using Pirates that are most often rotten and using their Warlord status against World Goverment by playing behind scenes.
That, however, could have been easily done in post-arc period. That does not justify the presence of Admiral through the entire arc.
Isshou was there so it became possible for Luffy and Law to have a shot at Doflamingo. I do think that if Fujitora would try to take on himself entire Doflamingo family on their turf he would risk death(I know admiral n stuff but its Doflamingo and his crew together on their own island and Doflamingo hinted that he has some means to deal in difficult way even with an admiral) and he could loose his admiral status.
If he did, then he would have used it on his current enemies.
If at this point you truly believe Doflamingo has a sure way to take out someone of Fujitora's caliber, after arguing how his entire crew stagnated and how they are not ready for being challenged, then I honestly don't know how to argue against it.
And how exactly did Fujitora allow for Luffy and Law to have a shot at Doflamingo? What did he do, which made that possible?
So he decided to let things happen on their own to his favor while he doesnt risk anything and can protect as many people as possible. New Marines will get their time as well - if they would be shown as extremely competent then there would be no need for their change that is builded up for quite some time already. So something in exchange for other things. Im okay with that really.
He risks plenty.
And the entire point of the draft was for them to be more competent. If one of the symbols of said draft looks like an incompetent imbecile, it hurts their image as antagonists. Even if we are to believe he does have some secret plan, which at this point feels more like stalling on Oda's part.
Zoro defeating an enemy using his strongest attack and Hardening on his swords does not in any way make Sanji fodder.
Dofla trusted Pika he could get rid of everyone on Dressrosa including AN ADMIRAL, that pretty much tells you he is stronger than Vergo. About Zoro, that was his strongest attack he has shown so far, not his strongest attack(Need to see Improved Ashura).
Zoros feat in todays chapter > Law chopping Vergo/Punk Hazard in 2.
One Piece fights are determined by Oda's whim, which is why adding additional fictional statistic to it is stupid.
Characters are as strong as they need to be in One Piece.
I disagree with this i think the scaling oda uses is fine. Zoro was trained by Mihawk even though he hasn't gotten a challenge yet I think he will soon. Think about it when did Zoro really get a challenge when he was first introduced in the series.. I think Mr.1 was and that was awhile into the series.
! @Coruscation:
! > Gonna try to make a comment on this chapter and why I didn't like it.I'm disappointed in this finisher and disappointed in the whole fight not because this particular chapter was badly done, but because the rest of the fight was.
See, during one (pick one) of Zoro's old fights the finisher might look something like this as well, but you'd have an, interesting, engaging, on-panel, focused-on back-and-forth romp preceding it. Zoro would be legitimately challenged and interact with his opponent's abilities in interesting ways (despite what you might hear, Zoro is, or used to be, more than "cut cut cut"). Take such a minor fight as his duel with Braham on Skypiea. Even in that fight he bled; he was legitimately pressed; his opponent was portrayed as respectable despite in truth Zoro being the stronger of the two by a lot. Zoro even gained a brand new technique to overcome him. Most fights would have more to them than that.
This is what made me emotionally engaged in Zoro's fights: the feeling of challenge and that the opponent was respectable, lending an air of credibility to it all. Zoro is a character who, more than most others in One Piece, thrives on conflict and challenge. Think of your favorite Zoro moments. He's at his best when he's seriously pressed and facing danger undaunted with a bloody smirk, isn't he? Even in "lesser" fights Oda would always use to creatively find ways to challenge him. When he finished his enemy with some flashy move it wasn't the flashy move that made it satisfying; it was the way he overcame what felt like a legitimate and respectable challenge.
But with this battle, from the very outset, Oda pushed the far less interesting, arrogant "You're-not-in-my-league"-Zoro on us. From the moment he 1080 PC'd Pica's shoulder and said that line with that face, you just knew where this was going. In my mind that was the step that doomed the fight.
It's more excusable when he went this route with a guy like Hyouzou, who was genuinely a big fish in a small pond (I hope this is considered an acceptable context to talk about Pica and Hyouzou at the same time in). But who is Pica again? Quick recap: he's a top-level subordinate of the Conqueror's Haki-using "most dangerous" Shichibukai who is the villain of the longest One Piece arc ever and is, mildly put, strong as hell. Pica's introduction consisted of him saying he'll take out everyone on the island and then coming out as a mountain-sized golem that even Fujitora noted how it seemed to be dangerous. Simply put, there was absolutely no need or really a good reason to portray Pica as such a chump compared with Zoro and go the whole "you're out of my league" way with it. But that's what Oda chose to do and, for me, that quickly killed off any semblance of a feeling of tension and challenge that could've been in this fight. Seriously, Zoro's fighting a man the size of a mountain with all the necessary credentials on paper to at least give him a pretty tough challenge. But we just couldn't have that. Instead he's just been a glorified nuisance as Zoro so pointedly noted after cutting through his oddly out of nowhere all-body Haki hardening.
I don't go wowz for Zoro because he takes out glorified nuisances in a flashy way. I love him because of his insistent locomotion no matter the challenge presented. The challenge makes Zoro. If there's no challenge, there's hardly a Zoro. And that's what I've found to be a problem in these 180 chapters (that's nearly 1/4 of the series…) since the timeskip. It doesn't feel like Zoro. It feels like some poor copy of his least interesting aspects.
Since critique should be constructive, if it wasn't fairly obvious, what I would've wanted done differently is for the fight, and Pica himself, to be portrayed as much more of a genuine challenge to Zoro. He wouldn't even need to get that much more injured (as in, at all) or worn down by it. Like I said, the Braham guy, much more of a mook than Pica, in Skypiea pushed Zoro more than this. The Whiskey Peak bounty hunter pack arguably pushed Zoro more than this in terms of the depiction of the fight as a challenge, a genuine test, a threat.
I'd also really, really like to have seen the fight be done in a fluid motion instead of this 25-chapter bit-by-bit thing. I think it would've improved the presentation a lot as we'd get the chance to "settle in" to it a little more. But I'm not going to rag on this chapter specifically for that as that's an issue with the overarching story structure and execution of Dress Rosa.
This is a well put together post. And it perfectly explains the problems with this fight and Zoro post-timeskip at the same time.
I raise my glass to you, good sir, in appreciation of this fine argument.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
I disagree with this i think the scaling oda uses is fine. Zoro was trained by Mihawk even though he hasn't gotten a challenge yet I think he will soon. Think about it when did Zoro really get a challenge when he was first introduced in the series.. I think Mr.1 was and that was awhile into the series.
Buggy.
And right after Buggy, there was Mihawk.
And my argument still stands. Oda does not use scaling. He determines fights almost arbitrary. Look again at his arcs, it shows very clearly actually.
And the entire point of the draft was for them to be more competent. If one of the symbols of said draft looks like an incompetent imbecile, it hurts their image as antagonists. Even if we are to believe he does have some secret plan, which at this point feels more like stalling on Oda's part.
since when ò_ò?
inside the story it was needed because they lost many of the main figures during the timeskip..aokiji,garp,sengoku
outside of it,it was needed because oda had to justify new strong marines after marineford,where every single marine of any relevance was supposed to be present.
so from whenever you look at it,the draft was not made to make the marines more of a threat..actually ,after winning the marineford war ,the last thing they needed was something to make them more threatening
also…before the timeskip ,other than sengoku,the guy the marines had in the highest ranks were garp,that doesn't follow orders,a psychopath,a mentally slow psychopath,and a lazy guy
efficiency and being competent was never requested to become an admiral to begin with
DD's supposedly strongest family members are getting their asses handed to them like schoolboys. A bit underwhelming if not to say disappointing for me.
Dofla trusted Pika he could get rid of everyone on Dressrosa including AN ADMIRAL, that pretty much tells you he is stronger than Vergo. About Zoro, that was his strongest attack he has shown so far, not his strongest attack(Need to see Improved Ashura).
Zoros feat in todays chapter > Law chopping Vergo/Punk Hazard in 2.
For one thing, trusting Pica to take care of an admiral says more about Doffy's poor judgement than it does Pica's strength. We saw what Pica was capable of, and if he couldn't land a meaningful hit on Zoro, he would have been a very large flea to Fujitora.
We'll have to agree to disagree on wheter or not Asura is stronger than Sanzen Sekai, but for what it's worth, Sanzen Sekai made Mihawk break out a sweat. From East Blue Zoro. Which is some impressive shit.
I disagree with this i think the scaling oda uses is fine. Zoro was trained by Mihawk even though he hasn't gotten a challenge yet I think he will soon. Think about it when did Zoro really get a challenge when he was first introduced in the series.. I think Mr.1 was and that was awhile into the series.
It is true that Zoro was quite clearly at a level beyond everyone sans Mihawk until Mr. 1, but Oda still always found a way to put pressure on Zoro and make it a challenge. Against Cabaji, Zoro is heavily wounded, and Cabaji targets the wound like a dick. Vs the Meowban bros he is without two swords for most of it, vs Hachi his wound from Mihawk puts severe strain on him, and on Whiskey peak the entire island is thrown at him at once. The only fight where Zoro didn't take a direct hit was against Hachi, where he was bleeding out anyways.
I liked that a lot better than what impression I got from the spoilers. I really like the bit about survival vs humanity and King Riku admitting that he would step down as a king because of his mistakes. His ideology of peace is admirable.
The art looked excellent, too, I'm also happy that Orlumbus and Elizabello got to contribute and of a little bit of smarts on Zoro's part. But, it still felt a rushed to a degree. I feel like were another chapter of struggle added this would've felt a lot more impactful. Also, huh, Jinbei found a Poneglyph. What a turn in the cover story.
Good chapter, though! A lot better than I expected from the spoilers. I always like when that happens.
This is a well put together post. And it perfectly explains the problems with this fight and Zoro post-timeskip at the same time.
I raise my glass to you, good sir, in appreciation of this fine argument.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Buggy.
And right after Buggy, there was Mihawk.
And my argument still stands. Oda does not use scaling. He determines fights almost arbitrary. Look again at his arcs, it shows very clearly actually.
Buggy wasn't much of a challenge if not for his devil fruit he would have been in half, and Mihawk that wasn't a fight just a massacre. We need Zoro and someone to go back and fourth. I'm not surprised with this fight really Zoro has proven that it takes someone more then Pica to even give him a challenge
Excellent Chapter! Zoro the strategist? lol
since when ò_ò?
inside the story it was needed because they lost many of the main figures during the timeskip..aokiji,garp,sengoku
outside of it,it was needed because oda had to justify new strong marines after marineford,where every single marine of any relevance was supposed to be present.so from whenever you look at it,the draft was not made to make the marines more of a threat..actually ,after winning the marineford war ,the last thing they needed was something to make them more threatening
also…before the timeskip ,other than sengoku,the guy the marines had in the highest ranks were garp,that doesn't follow orders,a psychopath,a mentally slow psychopath,and a lazy guy
efficiency and being competent was never requested to become an admiral to begin with
Actually, if you look at their track record, they have been remarkably competent.
Especially the one that was made Fleet Admiral.
Nevermind me, I'm just bitter about things being the same when we were promised they would be different.
@Daz:
It is true that Zoro was quite clearly at a level beyond everyone sans Mihawk until Mr. 1, but Oda still always found a way to put pressure on Zoro and make it a challenge. Against Cabaji, Zoro is heavily wounded, and Cabaji targets the wound like a dick. Vs the Meowban bros he is without two swords for most of it, vs Hachi his wound from Mihawk puts severe strain on him, and on Whiskey peak the entire island is thrown at him at once. The only fight where Zoro didn't take a direct hit was against Hachi, where he was bleeding out anyways.
I understand what you mean there is always an obstacle for Zoro to overcome. But through all the fights besides mihawk & buggy.. he ended them fairly quickly using Santoryu Ohm was a good example but once again he was just testing out air slashes and waiting for a strong opponent to see if it works. I still see no issue in how Zoro handled this bout.
What frustrate me more is lack of tension in this arc.
Tell me when was the last time you genuinely felt tension in this arc?
Doflamingo not being strongest in his own arc killed all the tension of the arc.
When he used Birdcage only thing going through my mind was why in the name everything holy Issho or Sabo not tearing it down ?
Don't give me bullshit that you can't break it without defeating DD. It would be no limit fallacy otherwise.
There is nothing stopping Issho to destroy Birdcage and put all the blame on Luffy . All he has to do is lie .
For someone who claimed to be worrying about normal citizens safety Issho sure did jack shit .
And what more Issho and Sabo both are on Luffy's side now.
How the hell I am supposed to feel threatened by Doflamingo when those two monstrously strong people are there backing Luffy up?
All Executives and Seats were lackluster. Every single fight ended with one shot. They feel underwhelming for the hype they have received at the start of arc.
Kyros vs Diamante was abomination with Diamante's strongest attack getting blocked by 'flowers' of all things and Pica didn't manage to even scratch Zoro.
I am not asking him to give Zoro fight of his life time but he should have been atleast be a competent fighter. He looked like total looser.
Oda made mistake by introducing so many characters in single arc which resulted them dragging arc which in turn resulted in sub par quality fights with poor execution.
Luffy is acting like moron with Bellamy and Zoro is generic bland badass.
This arc had so much potential to be greatest but it is just a mess right now.
Honestly, you sound like a random complaints machine. There's no cohesion whatsoever in those posts.
Actually, if you look at their track record, they have been remarkably competent.
Especially the one that was made Fleet Admiral.
don't know.. marines that kill civilians and destroy public property as a joke have never striked me as "competent"..strong?yes..but competent?
Nevermind me, I'm just bitter about things being the same when we were promised they would be different.
edit.ok ,I leave you alone :P
hot diggity, the art was gooooooood~~ also liking the utilization of some of the side characters, using Orlumbus and Elizabello
Although King Riku can fuck off. Why was he just chilling on the plateau to begin with? Why not use that considerable strength and help some people out, him and dozens of dressrosa citizens should be able to at least subdue some rampaging citizens
fucking idiot, easily my most disliked character in the arc
don't know.. marines that kill civilians and destroy public property as a joke have never striked me as "competent"..strong?yes..but competent?
If by competent you mean how well they can do their job, which is to bring criminals in by any means necessary…
when exactly in the story it was said that the marine would have been "different"?
all i remember is a warning from jinbei that just said that they were scheming something because they did basically nothing for 2 whole years
You mean when he described them as one of the two most important changes that took place in New World during time-skip and how they gained unprecedented power under new leadership of Sakazuki?
Yeah. That different.
If by competent you mean how well they can do their job, which is to bring criminals in by any means necessary…
i thought their job was to protect the civilians…
You mean when he described them as one of the two most important changes that took place in New World during time-skip and how they gained unprecedented power under new leadership of Sakazuki?
Yeah. That different.
I must have read a different translation..because the "unprecedented power" was what akainu got in his hands..as in political power..not new military power for the marines as an organization…but as i said,that's the translation i read and/or how I intended it.
i thought their job was to protect the civilians…
If it is, then they are terrible at it. That includes the supposed good marines.
I must have read a different translation..because the "unprecedented power" was what akainu got in his hands..as in political power..not new military power for the marines as an organization…but as i said,that's the translation i read and/or how I intended it.
I believe it's the difference in translation, yes.
Well, in this series, the big bad is always leagues more powerful than his strongest liutenant. Whereas Zoro can challenge Luffy for captain seat and he's likely to win… well if it's only one round. Luffy always loses round 1 against good foe, the author's cheap hype tactics.
Well, in this series, the big bad is always leagues more powerful than his strongest liutenant. Whereas Zoro can challenge Luffy for captain seat and he's likely to win… well if it's only one round. Luffy always loses round 1 against good foe, the author's cheap hype tactics.
i don't think it's for hype purposes…i always saw it as a way to both make luffy aware of someone's powers before the big battle (since he is good at fighting but strange powers easily trick him,just like what happened against Moria),and because since the main guy is always luffy's material,there must be some reason why the main battle doesn't start immediately...so a little fight does indeed start,but it's quickly resolved and luffy is incapacitated/tricked in some way,so that the villain has the time to go and do villainous stuff and interact with other people before the main battle.
in fact,the battle with doflamingo is kind of a first..since luffy is going against dofla without knowing much about his powers..and as a result is getting his ass kicked...the opther exception was hodi..but there the opponent was several leagues below,and luffy had to be handicapped
I disagree, this is the way Ussop fights though. He'll somehow come up with a way to scrap a win. Do you think that face was just a coincidence. I don't really think so. That was his last gambit to get something from his fight.
It was the hottest thing in the world put into his mouth when he was pretty much comatose from Trebol… yeah... not intentional :P
We'll have to agree to disagree on wheter or not Asura is stronger than Sanzen Sekai, but for what it's worth, Sanzen Sekai made Mihawk break out a sweat. From East Blue Zoro. Which is some impressive shit.
Yeah, I had actually forgotten about that up until now. Sure it didn't do shit against him, but I'll tell you what, I can't think of any other moment in the series off the top of my head that has gotten so much as a raised eyebrow out of Hawkie'.
Oh, and to bring up Asura; I don't mind it….but it's one of my least favorite of Zoro's attacks. At least until it's explained that is. So far my own personal theory is that it's related to the "curse" on
his Sandai Kitetsu. That way, when wano comes around and Zoro comes across another Kitesu he can "upgrade" his skillset.
Art was great. Pica running away from Zoro took away most of his cred but love the way Zoro forced him into a fight. Zoro not being injured makes me wonder if there's something else he's gonna do before the arc ends or Oda wants him at 100% for their immediate departure.
Pica got owned like Hody, lol.
Biggest question for me is now: Does Jimbei know of Robins ability to read the Porneglyphes?
Fifty Shades of Void History.
I don't get the marines discussion, was there a marine anywhere this chapter?
Do you guys think maybe Oda left Zoro fairly uninjured/unfatigued to ready him for the stuff coming up right after this arc (Or during it)?
Still, slicing repeatedly cities-thick solid rock should be really epic in paper, but why I feel that it doesn't have that impact. Maybe because it's not a final attack or something? The feat should at least be at the level of Mihawk's iceberg slash or Law's Lab splitter in magnitude in my opinion.
Jimbei's cover story took a turn I never expected and now I have no clue where it's going to go.
It was a cool chapter. Liked that the coliseum fighters are still relevant and had a hand in taking out Pica. Zoro did some cool stuff with haki and also figuring out how to track where Pica was moving within the stone. Pica managed to be threatening and it made for some good tension on whether Zoro would reach him in time.
I don't get the marines discussion, was there a marine anywhere this chapter?
You hit the nail on it's head.
so Riku said he wasn't going back to being the king .. does that mean .. King Kyros?!
It's Pica's own fault, he continuously made himself a HUUUUUGE target and very easy to dodge. I mean even last chapter: he attacks Zoro with a HUGE stone face and then when that failed, ignores him to make himself even larger to attack Riku. Maybe if he had fought Person vs Person instead of Stone vs Person he would have done more damage but from the get go his main strategy was a big failure
Pica did fight at first in his own form and after realising that he stood no chance he ran off and hid in the rock.
Whether you like Zoro or not, I am neither here nor their with him tbh, he would have been more than a match for any of the officers except maybe Vergo, Trebol and obviously Doffy himself.
Pica's sole purpose in the arc was to keep Zoro busy by being hard to pin down but the end result was never I doubt.
Not a bad chapter. Overdid it with the reaction shots, considering we had a fair few in the chapter beforehand.
I liked Zoro's strategy in forcing Pica to come out. It reminded me of the Red Dwarf Episode: Epideme. (Extra points if you get the reference). Pica's Haki was out of nowhere and didn't go anywhere. Considering how dependant Pica is on not being hit at all using his DF, I can accept that his Haki wouldn't be as strong.
I did like how so many people speculated Elizabello was going to use his punch to launch Zoro and we get something different.
Good chapter, imo
Tactics #5 is a shockingly thought-out plan for a guy who, pre-timeskip, had amazing ideas such as "cut off feet" and "use usopp as sword"
It showed a good amount of thought into the limitations of Pica's Devil Fruit by isolating him where he couldn't escape into more stone, and he even had the idea to use the King Punch for clean up to make it so that everyone wouldn't be completely crushed by the debris, just minorly crushed by the debris.
I wasn't so bothered by the Haki thing. I mean Iv'e always been under the impression that Haki was just weaponized force of will and whoever could that harder would win in a clash of their Haki.
I do have to agree with one thing, though. I think the arc would have been a lot more… clean, I guess, if the fights had their own chapters, rather than splitting them into pieces. I get wanting to show the chaos and not leaving some people out, but hectically cutting back and forth between the fights was a major weakness of this arc. I've still enjoyed a lot of these fights, for the most part, but the going back and forth made things pretty hard to follow.
As for Isshou, I'm honestly looking more forward to playing as him in PW3 than anything he may do in the story, lol. His personality kinda failed to make an impression on me more than his powers and inspiration did, so I can't say I'm really bothered that he's not doing anything, since I can't really tell if it's out-of-character with what little I've had to go on. But that's just me, I guess.
Oh, and Jinbei finding the glyph was cool, made the whole cover story a lot more interesting.
Wow, that was a cool Zoro chapter. It looks like with Pica gone We're getting closer to seeing a Dolflamingo vs Luffy confrontation.
It looks like Zoro has evolved in his strategies and liked seeing Zoro using his head in his fights that aren't just taking out weaklings.