Chapter 356 "Tom-san" Discussion

Satsuki

I think the Government does a verrrry good job brainwashing their agencies into "justice"-oriented drones.

Originally posted by Carly@Feb 24 2005, 08:42 PM
(And I think young Iceburg is still probably the hottest guy in One Piece. hoooly god _)
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Whoo! Tell me about it. Just put him in a high-school uniform and add some swirling sakura petals and you've got the shoujo-bishounen character of One Piece!

And I still think it's interesting how Paulie's hair is so similar to young Iceberg's hair.

Battle Franky

Heh, I'm secure enough in my heterosexuality to admit, young Iceburg is a total stud muffin.

I can't believe the fangirls haven't gone gaga over him yet. :P

Carly

Originally posted by Satsuki+Feb 24 2005, 10:10 PM–>QUOTE(Satsuki @ Feb 24 2005, 10:10 PM)

Satsuki

Well, Iceburg is his mentor.

We can't forget Franky though! He's got a nice "cool surfer dude" look going for him. Ahhh, and to think soon he'll get blown up and replaced with ugly cyborg parts!

Forte EXE

Tom has just replaced Bellmere as my fav mentor.
He took that harpoon to the chest like a man.A MANLY MAN.
BTW,how in the world did he just pull it out of him??

Carly

Originally posted by Forte EXE@Feb 24 2005, 10:41 PM
BTW,how in the world did he just pull it out of him??
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Dude, he's Tom. What other explanation do you need?

Griever

Originally posted by Forte EXE@Feb 25 2005, 03:41 PM
Tom has just replaced Bellmere as my fav mentor.
He took that harpoon to the chest like a man.A MANLY MAN.
BTW,how in the world did he just pull it out of him??
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Well.. Cos he's Tom and he's a merman..
:D

Tom is THE BEST mentor EVER!!!! He is SO COOL!!! And Iceberg is so BISH!!! _

I feel SO sad for Franky!!! And so sad because Tom will die but at least he leaves a GREAT message!!!

Oda you ROCK!!! XD

Battle Franky

Heh, just had a thought… imagine taking a punch to the face from a guy who can toss an entire ship over his shoulder!

:blink:

Yeh, Ouch! :P

Knight

Originally posted by Battle Franky@Feb 25 2005, 04:44 AM
**Heh, just had a thought… imagine taking a punch to the face from a guy who can toss an entire ship over his shoulder!

Yeh, Ouch! :P
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I would imagine a heavy concussion, losing my head or even having my brain turned into porridge, depending on what sort of protection I use :lol:

Forte EXE, good point on the similarity between Bellmere & Tom. They both act as a parent and are willing to die for someone not of their own blood. Sigh….why do thse noble people keep dying in One Piece? :(
Anyway....similarity between Tom and Bellemere........hint of Franky of being more qualified as a Strawhats? Just a thought :P

Buccaneer

…..I thought Tom was dead from the harpoon. Guess he'll give a "take me, leave them" deal next chapter.

Ubiq

Originally posted by omae no kaasan v.2@Feb 25 2005, 01:24 AM
**Remember, I said nameless. Those characters you mentioned all had name introductions their first run in the comic.

Where Oda didn't employ this was in Mock Town with the Black Beard Pirates, but you knew some weird shyt was up since he was spending an abnormal amount of time with random characters.
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While on the note of character introductions, isn't Zoro the only crewmember who didn't have a name box appear before he joined?

Has he ever even had one for that matter or have I simply missed it somewhere?

Luffy's had at least three, but I don't recall ever seeing one for Zoro.

I feel sort of torn. I love the current flasbacks very much and want them to continue forever. But I also want to see how the other characters are doing. But I don't mind how long Oda-sensei takes to finish the flashbacks as long as he keeps up the current highstandard (of which I have no doubt). These flashbacks are great.

Like I said before, I'm really insanely curious about Iceburg and Franky's relationship in the present. Like, Franky's reaction when he heard about Iceburg getting shot. And CP9 told him Iceburg died, right? Maybe if they're not as close as they used to they'll fight side-by-side in the current arc. Or something ^^;

Pretty O/T but… My Scottish cousins (who are 7 and 5) visited us for their first ever trip to London about a week ago and we took them to some musuems and Harrods and all that jazz. We found out one of them is really into pirates.

Then my mum said "We should've taken you to see the Cutty [somethingI'veforgotten]"

Me: "?! What?"
Mum: "Didn't I ever take you to see it?"

Is that the ship people thought Franky was named after? If it is, I would be pretty interested in asking my mum where it is and going to check it out.

Daz

Could it be the Cutty Sark? I belive it was a very famous flagship…The worlds fastest, I think.

Yoska

Originally posted by Monsieur Orange@Feb 25 2005, 05:37 PM
Maybe if they're not as close as they used to they'll fight side-by-side in the current arc. Or something ^^;

Franky's eyes almost pop out when Lucchi claimed they had killed Iceberg. So yeah, he cares of him.

Is that the ship people thought Franky was named after? If it is, I would be pretty interested in asking my mum where it is and going to check it out.

I think ocean post something like this long time ago.

Oda has been beating us over the head with the fact that Tom is a very powerful guy. The question here is how do you kill someone like that? I'm guessing whatever happens to Tom is also what disfigures Franky, but we'll have to wait and see. As for Franky being unknown in W7, he's still wearing the same speedos and shirt from the time that the Battle Franky attack occurred. Franky might stand up after the death of Tom and take responsibility for building the ships, which would brand him as an outlaw. This situation would leave Iceburg the opportunity to break away from Franky and found Galley-La. I can't imagine Paulie making an appearance in this flashback (besides the proposed train cameo), but he could get his own flashback as the Straw Hat crew/CP9 fight progresses. As for Spandam being the shadowy figure, I personally think that he was executed for not getting the blueprints and the shadowy figure is just Lucci. The Five Elder Stars may allow him to deal with the gathering of the blueprints as he wishes, but I can't imagine the highest ranking officials in the government would tolerate a failure of this magnitude (i.e.- not obtaining the plans on how to build an ancient weapon). Spandem could be more important than I give him credit for though.

Satsuki

Not to mention that if he failed to get the plans then he's guilty of firing on a Judiciary Ship, the 5 Stars probably wouldn't like that.

Paulie definitely deserves his own flashback. I mean, his extreme loyalty to Iceberg is not something created just by being a teacher/mentor. Iceberg must've done something to change Paulie's life for Paulie to be so devout in his loyalty. And Paulie doesn't strike me as somebody who gives out such unwavering loyalty easily. Then again, I could be totally wrong. But that's why he needs his own flashback.

Knight

I don't know if this has been pointed out but I'll just point it out again.

After ch 356 it occurs to me that my view of merman has completely changed. If I'm not mistaken this is the third time that we have been exposed to merman in One Piece. The first was Arlong and his crew, the second was during Foxy's arc. During both time, I always view merman as an arrogant and evil-natured species. However, after seeing Tom it completely changed my view on merman :)

Ai Lupin

Originally posted by Battle Franky@Feb 25 2005, 02:21 AM
**Heh, I'm secure enough in my heterosexuality to admit, young Iceburg is a total stud muffin.

I can't believe the fangirls haven't gone gaga over him yet. :P
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I know I sure have. XD

VildaHawk

I finally read the chapter - I was hosting guests and didn't get a chance before now.
I haven't read the thread yet, and I may not for a bit because I have a couple of papers to write.
But I'll say this:

One thing I really like about flashbacks is seeing what shapes the characters' values. Here we see how Tom-san affects the way Franky views his ships.
First Franky likes building his ships. Then he learns to take responsibility for them. Now Tom teaches him that a shipwright must always love his ships.
I wonder how Merry (Kaya's Merry) will feel…

Oh, and young Iceburg = drool

That is a really good point, Vilda. Omae mentioned a theme concerning everyone's "ships" and how we must take responsibility. The Luffy/ Usopp conflict fits right in with that idea. When those two take responsibility for the ship (in this case, a conflcit) that they built, they will be friends again and Usopp will likely rejoin the crew if that happens. Robin has enough "ships" to make a fleet and it is hard to say that she is responsible for all of the stuff that has followed her. I think she is in a far more nebulous position than Usopp and it doesn't look like that situation will change anytime soon.

Buccaneer

After ch 356 it occurs to me that my view of merman has completely changed. If I'm not mistaken this is the third time that we have been exposed to merman in One Piece. The first was Arlong and his crew, the second was during Foxy's arc. During both time, I always view merman as an arrogant and evil-natured species.

Prejudging them makes you no better than Arlong.

Yahiko: zomg!

Solid

Originally posted by Satsuki@Feb 25 2005, 11:37 AM
**Not to mention that if he failed to get the plans then he's guilty of firing on a Judiciary Ship, the 5 Stars probably wouldn't like that.

Paulie definitely deserves his own flashback. I mean, his extreme loyalty to Iceberg is not something created just by being a teacher/mentor. Iceberg must've done something to change Paulie's life for Paulie to be so devout in his loyalty. And Paulie doesn't strike me as somebody who gives out such unwavering loyalty easily. Then again, I could be totally wrong. But that's why he needs his own flashback.
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Yes, he definitly need a flashback… a short and emotional flashback. :)

Greg

You know what I almost did? I was almost going to place a bet on the next crew member but I just can't. There's just still too many factors left and for as many reasons I could say it could be ____ it could still just as well be ____ . So frustrating.

One thing is for certain.

Volume 37 should now be more or less complete. If Oda finishes the story by 42 he's some kind of inhuman manga monster sent from the fiery pits of Hell.

IF Paulie ever does join the strawhats, I bet we'll learn his flashback in retrospect like we did with Zoro's and (sooner or later) Robin's. Unless this arc is going to go on a lot longer than I imagined. :blink:

Yoska

A lot of characters would deserve a flashback. Kaku's would be so cute is imaging a little kid with a square nose.

Greg

I wouldn't dare say it can't be Paulie because I can think of some damn fine reasons why it could. But even if Paulie does join, I doubt he's going to get a flashback.

Mog

Well, I think he'll most likely get a few dramatic flashback panels concerning Iceberg, but I do think that's it.

One Piece ending at 42? Honestly, the way it's going, and knowing Oda's scrutinous storytelling, I couldn't even see it ending at 50 yet…. Not that I'm complaining.

You never know, this flashback can include Pauley too. If I'm not mistaken, the next year (which would be 7 years ago) Iceburg unites the 7 docks. We could see some Pauley action if Oda decides to show this.

Cap'n Carter

Pauley was in it a few chapters ago, when the train got finished. :P

VildaHawk

Maybe Bishiberg will change his mind and join?

Greg

I don't doubt Paulie could show up (again) in this, but I doubt he'll get his own.

Please tell me what's going on, people! PLEASE!!!!! MOMMY!!! Sucks on thumb and goes in pajamas. MOMMY!!! I've got a wet dipie! TELL ME, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!
CRIES.

Eiichiro Oda will not end the series at 42 volumes. He already stated that the series will go to a minimum of 48 volumes…. or at least, I hope.
Actually I hope for 1,000,000 tanks of One Piece, but I doubt it will happen.

Greg

Should that be in fanfic section? <_<

VildaHawk

Ok, I read the thread. Now to address some things in it, as well as some other stuff I thought of:

-First of all the shadowy guy is definitely Lucci. Compare:

Second, didn't Franky tell Lucci that he didn't have the blueprint? Maybe Franky destroyed it already? Then again, Tom told him to keep it safe…
Tom is next going to either:
a) Attack everyone (not likely because that won't really do any good)
B) turn himself in (very likely)
c) Try and negotiate some sort of deal
d) Blow the place up
or
e) Dance
I think one thing that makes Oda's drawing style so distinct and not quite as stereotypically "anime" is that the hair he draws can move. Particularly the guys. Look at Bishiburg's hair! Look how wavy! squee! It's not just stiff and spiky or anything.
Franky was pretty confident in his workmanship on the harpoon. I guess now he'll have to design a merman-proof harpoon.
Sure, Luffy never gets smacked by Shanks, exactly, but Shanks does pick on him. And Higuma makes a couple attempts on his life.
I'm ok with having a long flashback - so long as after the flashback it doesn't keep flashing back every other page. coughChopper'sPastcough
I wonder what Spandam was originally planning to do? I don't think he knew that Tom and Ice would come after the Battle Frankys…
So here's my question: It appears that Tom will be absolved for building Ouro Jackson because he built Umi Resha. (sp?) The crime for which he will be convicted appears to be attacking the Judiciary Ship. Lucci said that Cutty Flam was convicted of the same crime as Tom. Assuming that Tom is executed and Cutty Flam "dies" in an accident - what about Iceberg? How did he manage to get off scott-free? Maybe this is when he sob cuts his hair and becomes a respectable citizen?
What Tom says about ships here reminds me of what Franky said about ships to Usopp a few chapters back. A ship that cannot fulfill the promise of bringing one from shore to shore is no longer a ship.
I'm still torn: On the one hand, Franky sees the damage that a battle ship can do. On the other, Tom teaches that a ship is a ship is a ship.
I'm under the impression that Cutty Flam dies in an explosion.
About the people of Water 7 recognizing Franky: Maybe these events will result in an elaborate government cover-up? I can't imagine how - so many witnesses present, but maybe.
Luffy's had at least three, but I don't recall ever seeing one for Zoro. -Ubiq
No, Zoro didn't have one. But in the anime he had that badass electric guitar riff. So it's all good.
Why has everyone suddenly let up on Kokoro? Before everyone was like "Kokoro is the leader of CP9!" or "Kokoro is really Tom!" or "Kokoro was Iceberg's lover!" The we see Kokoro as Tom's secretery in the past and everyone's just like "Oh, ok. Kokoro's just a former secretery." I don't think she's done. Not yet.
I really don't know who will join. I'm still hoping for Usopp, with some guidance from Franky.
I think the straw hats will receive a new ship as a gift for saving Iceberg or clearing Franky's name or something. Similar to how they got Going Merry as a thank-you for saving Usopp's village. If the whole crew helps out in this iminent fight, everyone will have the same emotional investment in the new ship that Usopp had in Merry.

Solid

Did you really spoke with Oda?

Hah, thats a pretty funny story. Can't really imagine hopping back and forth between the Grand Line and the East Blue that many times, though. I did like the part where he went Super Sanji-jin and beat down Lucci :D

That was hilarious!!! :D I really enjoyed it. lol.

Especially Buggy, Arlong, and Mihawk coming back.

e1n

Originally posted by omae no kaasan v.2@Feb 25 2005, 04:35 PM
Should that be in fanfic section? <_<
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yeah, that should have been in the fanfic thread or some thread in the general OP. this is for manga discussion. such a thing can mislead people. please post at the right section, next time.

Cap'n Carter

Oh, and Carly, I think the "badass shot" more belongs to tom ripping out the harpoon, imo. :D

You guys are so silly, trying to look for hidden images in the goofy cover pages. The poor ostrich just wants a break..

oceanizer

- Second, didn't Franky tell Lucci that he didn't have the blueprint? Maybe Franky destroyed it already? Then again, Tom told him to keep it safe…

I thought Tom told them they can do whatever with that blueprint.

Tom: Yeah, the world would fall apart.
Tom: Tahhahha…!!
Tom: It's all up to you what you'll do with it!!
Tom: If you think it'll be dangerous for you, you can even throw it away.

wouldnt that map be a precious memory to him or something,i highly doubt it that he will destroy something like that.

Battle Franky

The blueprints seem to have brought upon a great deal of pain & suffering to anyone connected to it. But I think Franky & Iceburg both hate it & revere it at the same time, as Tom intrusted the blueprints to them & requested they keep it hidden from enemies.

So they may hate the burden of keeping the blueprints, but also hold dear the promise they made to Tom of keeping it safe.

Carly

Originally posted by Cap'n Carter@Feb 25 2005, 06:03 PM
Oh, and Carly, I think the "badass shot" more belongs to tom ripping out the harpoon, imo. :D
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I pick my badass shot of the week based on how cool the shot itself looks, not in what's actually happening in the panel :lol: The one where Tom rips out the harpoon doesn't quite have the flash as Franky getting -bitchslapped-, even though I like what happens in it more.

Buccaneer

I think the badass shot would be Tom breaking out of the handcuffs. We all knew he could do it, but him actually just snapping them made whoever put them on him look kinda dumb.

I figured that Tom would sacrifice himself, but what about Franky? It really looked to me like he'd die somewhere around that time.

And Vilda, I think people gave up on Kokoro because she's just a secretary. Who cares about an ugly old secretary?

sgamer82

I'm pretty sure a good aprt of Iceburg & Franky's reason for not destroying the blueprints is the practical side of things. Iceburg points this out to Robin. If the weapons DID revive, something of equal strength whold be required to fight it. That one thing would be THEIR Pluton. So long as a cahnce of the weapons' revival exists, they can't destroy those blueprints, much as they'd like.

Yoska

Could Tom be still alive ? In a custody of the Marine or the World Government ?

I've decided to change my attitude from pessimistic into optimistic. If I really believe in Franky joining the crew then it will happen.

Yeah, I don't think they have afford to lose the blueprints. Otherwise they could be in a big trouble if somebody else awakes an ancient weapon (I find it a bit arrongant but..). If it's not with Franky anymore he could have gave them to Kokoro.

Edit:

This chapter made me suspicious of Kokoro again: Why did she smile all the time? Or is this her only facial expression?

I wouldn't say she's smiling but all doors are still open.

RedShanks

Originally posted by VildaHawk@Feb 25 2005, 06:39 PM
- Why has everyone suddenly let up on Kokoro? Before everyone was like "Kokoro is the leader of CP9!" or "Kokoro is really Tom!" or "Kokoro was Iceberg's lover!" The we see Kokoro as Tom's secretery in the past and everyone's just like "Oh, ok. Kokoro's just a former secretery." I don't think she's done. Not yet.
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This chapter made me suspicious of Kokoro again: Why did she smile all the time? Or is this her only facial expression?

Buccaneer

You guys sayin' she could be a spy?

Well, anyway,I've lost part of my position on Franky. I didn't think he'd join, but he'd make the ship. While he wouldn't be reluctant to make it, I don't think he'll just pass it off. Maybe he'll go with them to see how it's used or something.

…...I've just confused myself.