Posts made by Elastic_Swindler

It all sounds like a professional kitchen. You have the chef that is responsible for everything, and the cooks that do all the prepping and cleaning up. As soon as the cooks level up their mad skillz enough, they go out to start their own dynasty. Their professional ability is founded upon the skills they learned from other masters. That could be called plagiarism, but I'd call it the natural course of action.

I remember ordering Shounen Jumps for chapters in Skypiea. Must've been sometime during the survival game.

@Zephos:

The One Piece is..

The Rio Poneglyph.

I've seen this claim sometimes, and it became more popular since the Ohara flashback. What none of the theories have explained is WHY a stone block is One Piece. It has some history written on it – So did the Skypiea block. What exactly is it that makes this particular piece of history so important? Civilizations are born and lost all the time. Whatever this Lombax culture invented back in the lost history is all mere speculation at the current point in the timeline. They could have been a culture of banana farmers with no military power whatsoever, just as easily. If we take Clover's explanation at face value, we also have to accept that the Gorousei knows everything that Clover did and more. Doesn't your theory imply that Gorousei is aware what the One Piece is and means? Though with everything WB said before dying, there is a certain degree of merit in this line of thought.

In the OP world, the One Piece has been painted as a treasure beyond imagination. Chances are it's something highly symbolic, which doesn't make sense on its own. Like if it was an item, the One Piece could be a copper fork, or a fossilized parrot, or a ripped off page from a book, providing there's enough explanation why it's so important. Even if we could use ESP to figure out what the One Piece is, that doesn't necessarily tell us anything useful right now.

Same goes with One Piece being a piece of history or some other abstract treasure, it means nothing without the correct context.

(Though I have to note that this is basically what Rayleigh said to the Strawhats.)

I wouldn't put it past Oda to do something like that when it's least expected, but the explanation is very convenient and easy. I could see that happening in some manga with a much less developed plotline.

@$abZ:

Buggy or Shanks haven't mentioned it, so they either haven't been there, forgotten about it or know there's a special way to get in and they can't do it at the present time.

HAKI !

(16 letters of doom)

もう二度と会う事はない

That is certainly ambiguous. Literal: "There will not be a second time for a meeting to occur."

Whether he means a meeting between Luffy & Strawhats or Luffy & Kuma, there's no way to tell without context.

This thread is already all but off-topic, so more derailing shouldn't be a problem.

@igetownd:

Gomu Gomu sounds just as lame in Japanese as Gum Gum sounds in English.

The fruit names are pretty good little language tricks in Japanese. It ties the complex sound effect meanings with the word-doubling idea from regular Japanese grammar. Like "hito" = person, "hitobito" = persons. "Hane" = wing, "hanebane" = wings. Those examples have a dakyon for emphasis, but you could for example look at the three kanji of 木 (wood), 林 (grove), and 森 (forest), which has 1, 2, 3 times the kanji of wood depending on the size of the tree-infested area. Oda of course customized the original ideas like he does with all of his OP stuff.

That kind of meanings are impossible to convey using the English language. Everyone has to remember that fan translators are amateur enthusiasts - They aren't tied with (or benefit from) the professional translating etiquette (or translating pride) that drives the really creative translations. Figuring out good English terms for all these things is a really difficult job.

I like to keep my fan translations half-Japanese, and my professional translations fully English. Coolest part about fan translations is that anyone who is not happy with what they've got can just translate on their own and get exactly what they wished for.

Why is this discussion about nouns and quotes? You're analyzing linguistics from an author who has resorted to language puns throughout One Piece. Most of the questions should receive an answer just by waiting for future chapters. In the meanwhile, nothing useful is getting added to the discussion.

The thing about the most exploitable Haki bursts we've seen so far is that they only target cannon fodder that was going to get kicked in the butt anyways.

About powering up punches and weapons - Well, it's a shounen manga…

When Rayleigh mentioned that he will not use whatever he used to help them escape the slave auction, his untranslated bubble read 「力」 as if it was some extraordinary power or skill.

I can see why people hate this kind of development happening in OP, but I've started to trust in Oda somewhere along the way. I believe that this is his way of twisting the overdone DBZ Ki cliche into something interesting, yet believable and dynamic in storytelling terms.

I highly doubt that the next arc will introduce flying space monkeys with Haki detecting visors. (Other than as a joke)

A couple Google searches with 覇気 brings up all kinds of trash.

http://kyamahonya2.blog98.fc2.com/blog-entry-275.html has basically most of the non-linguistic arguments about haki debated by Japanese people. Yeah, they're just as clueless about it.

Further matches came up with a King of Fighters game video where someone uses a special move kick strengthened with his 覇気. Move was called 覇気キャン or something equally descriptive.

Even Prince of Tennis manga had its own Haki, why not OP?

Oriental martial arts legends are packed with examples where a weapon is imbued with the "Ki" of the fighter to receive supernatural qualities. Like a cloth whip that can cut through armor etc…

You can even see versions of those in popular manga, like One Piece or Ranma 1/2.

With my limited understanding of Eastern culture and Japanese language, I've understood "Haki" as OP's version of the good old "Ki" used throughout the ages. An Oda-ism that takes a traditional thing and adds the dreams and ambitions layer to it.

The specific applications of this "Haki" have been more or less spelled out as special techniques. That page from chapter 519, which has been quoted in this thread already, has the Kuja pirate say "…今の…！！　「覇王色」の覇気…！！" which I can't understand as anything else but a more special technique of "Haki" having taken place.

Whether or not "Haki" itself is a special technique - I don't think it makes a difference.

If Lucci had a fight against each Shichibukai starting from full health each time, it's not inconceivable that he could have a chance of beating at least Crocodile. He's extremely fast and able to take a lot of damage, plus he has a shrewd mind when he's not indulging in his bloodlust. A guy who had only half his "raw physical ability" (power level) kicked a large tower in two pieces. If Lucci keeps jumping around with Geppou and Soru, Croc will have a hard time dragging him down into quicksand or even getting a single hit in. Of course the arena for the fights has to be considered too. In Alabasta, Croc had an unnatural advantage from all the sand. In neutral ground the sand Logia shouldn't be nearly as strong.

The difference between the CP9 and rogue pirates seems to be discipline and versatility. The CP9 was lacking in their fighting skill because they were so physically oriented, and that was the only thing they had been trained in through their lives. That's a major weakness that any Logia user would be happy to abuse. But thinking about it… Lucci was an assassin, so what are the chances of him assassinating DF users? He should be well versed in different fruit types if it was so.

Luffy has had some heavy luck involved in his matches, but he's won most of the time. Rubber ability is a somewhat simple skill, relying on physical contact to deliver damage. Still he managed to beat several Logia users, even while logics suggest he too should have been one-shotted.

Although, the Eneru fight can't really be counted, since there wouldn't be many people in the OP world with even a fleeting chance against him. Luffy had something of a miraculous luck with having a way to nullify his attacks. Who else could survive 200 million volts and still manage to invent some way to block it?

I've always thought of manga as the proper way to enjoy One Piece, and the anime as the 'B-grade way' to experience it. Filler and changes to the storyline are what made the decision for me. If these don't bother you, then I don't think it would make any difference how you go through the story.

I'm a fan of staying as close to the source as possible, which is another reason why I read the manga version. I've never thought of any scene better as animated either - this especially applies to the action scenes.

This had lots of good information in it. Some technical things stood out to me:

@boiga:

Oda was flipping through the channels when he ran into a Nova program about black holes…

The explanation behind this power is that Oda figures that if a black hole can attract light photons...

I did understand this was meant as a joke, but please don't put your deductions in other people's mouth. It's rude.

Paramecia would lose the ability to manipulate their power. But those paramecia whose body has been transformed by the devil fruit would not revert to their vanilla state.

This is, like many other details presented, 100% opinion without any factual basis available. Concluding this much from just the Ace vs BB fight is slightly hasty IMO.

We've never even seen what happens to a Logia fruit user when coming in contact with Seastone, or a partially transformed Logia user, or a wholly transformed Logia user.

One unexplained drawback of the darkness fruit is why blackbeard can not cover his whole body with his black hole element…

BB only recently ate the fruit. He might still develop new abilities as time passes.

I'm a bit curious about the names "Brook" / "Brooke" and finally "Thriller Park" …

Is the correct romanization for "Burokku" not "Brock" ?? Then I'd understand Thriller Park if the Japanese read "suriraa paaku" but it in fact reads "suriraa baaku" - which should be "Thriller Bark" ?? Something like "Thrillerburg" but twisted into a nonsense name?? Both of these naming details kind of weird me out in this English discussion.

About the difference between BB's and the skeleton's DF power, BB has apparently Yami Yami fruit while the new crew member has either Yomi Yomi or something along that road. Oda avoided giving a kanji for Yomi in a couple places so it's deliberately confusing. 甦 reads "yomigae" anyways. Yomi could in theory mean "returning" given the context, but I'm not quite going to accept that translation at face value...

@joekido:

I spent a short while on Arlong Park Wiki and a long time in OP Wikia trying to make this series as big as possible, althought reality took a hard slam on me. I've always wanted this series to be a masterpiece like Star Wars or biggest-best known like the Muppets but it's like I'm working to materialize tha goal but it comes out as an disappointing result.

People praised One Piece like they praised Final Fantasy 7,

I think you can't feel bitter towards some minor setbacks like this. You're doing a thankless job, so of course the response won't be supporting. For every 'ignorant viewer' you're disappointed in, there might be several quiet ones that found the information you presented and learned to enjoy the series through it. This was what you were aiming for, no? Unless you wanted to make it into a big shot series overnight… which doesn't sound very realistic.

Are there higher quality scans or scripts for this one?

Bellamy initiated the fight with some sort of special move of his, the bystanders recognized it as something he used to beat another pirate earlier. I don't think it was his weakest move anyway…

Adding to the list: In Arlong fight he got stuck underwater.

But there was at least one fight where Luffy was rested and sated when it started.

That was of course the Bellamy fight.

I think you're forgetting that it might take another two years before Jinbei appears in a chapter where he discusses things with Luffy.

The common word in all of these, "ki," is an extremely versatile concept used in the most curious places. Dragon Ball is one of the most famous mangas where they (in connection with some special moves) used it as a physical projection of an abstract 'willpower.' If you want to understand all of its various meanings, you're in for the long haul…

I took this whole Shanks' haki thing as Oda's little tipping of his hat towards the oldschool shounen series.

Just to stay as offtopic as possible…

the final 'ha' in Kamehameha is written with 波, thus a wave. The same kanji has a kunyomi of 'nami' which is what confused people here. Often (but not always) when you have several kanji in a single word, you use the onyomi readings. Of course this word doesn't have several kanji, but it's a compound word anyways.

For the ontopic part - since bloodstream and bones have been gone through, the suggestion about Luffy enhancing his nervous system sounds interesting. OTOH you could say Gear 2 does that already, since his reaction times increased a lot...

I'd imagine there's some sort of Tekkai type move in store for Luffy later on when his rubber gets hardened (vulcanized) somehow.

@Kaze:

All I know is that it'll have a big ass cannon on it, bigger then Buggy's. :]

It's not the size, but how you use it. At least that's what the pirates with small cannons say.

@Mr_Wonx:

My thought is that Roger may have acted like Shanks does now and gave himself up to save the younger generation.

I agree with the part about Shanks here, as I'm not willing to set my opinion on Roger's motives just yet.

The only reasons why Roger's primary crewmates would pass unpunished are that either all of them had died before Gol D. Roger got captured, or the Marines didn't know who they were. Why wouldn't they know the crew of the Pirate King? I've been thinking about the definition of the Pirate King lately, thinking about artists and other creators and human psychology. More often than not, the label of a 'genius' is applied to someone's name post-mortem. Especially if it was a title that people were half afraid to utter aloud while the actual person was around, their passing on gives an excellent reason to cement this uncertainty into something graspable.

It's possible Roger was just another strong pirate captain on the latter half of Grand Line, and the only one who sailed all around the world. He "tied" with Whitebeard and he "tied" with Garp, which means he wasn't all out of fighting opponents. If Luffy ever fulfills his dreams, it's possible Smoker will be hailed as the hero who cornered the Pirate King… This means Gol D. Roger maybe wasn't as respected alive as he later became, after delivering his final speech that marked the start of a revolutionary era. While the talk about the "One Piece" was inspiring, it's also possible that it's not something that just anyone can reach by becoming strong enough. There are ridiculously strong pirates out on the second half of Grand Line. Why hasn't Whitebeard become Pirate King already? He was the one who knew Gol D. Roger while he lived... Part of why I think Roger's crew had passed away before his capture was that Whitebeard said in ch. 434 only Sengoku and Garp remain from those (in addition to Whitebeard himself) who knew how it was like back then. Shanks counters this by answering that it's obvious that 22 years of fighting will kill off just about anyone...

Nami's small smile was the highlight of a long time for me. If there was a time and place in another world, where she would fall in love with Luffy in a romance-oriented One Piece, this would be it. It's a small death of the old Nami.

@Mr.:

How strong did we expect her to be exactly?

It seems to me that escaping four powerful Government agents is quite a feat, but I don't think that's a reference to her strength, more to the abilities she's learned from twenty years as a wanted criminal. Surely Oda doesn't want us to believe that Robin could defeat Lucci, Blueno, Kaku, and Kalifa simultaneously?

Difficult question. I'd like to think that Robin is the sort of natural enemy to physical fighters like the CP9 that there are little limits to what she can do with them. Just like Eneru dropped Robin with a single attack, she should drop physical fighters as easily. At the bridge scene in EL she did just that against the Captains.

From the point of view of dramatic storytelling, it's not a very good idea to let her fight the CP9 if this is the case… On the other hand, Oda's hints along the road have stated that her arm strength is limited and her arms have a weakness when attacked, which make her claim of speed and strength having nothing on her questionable. In conclusion, there's too little to discuss before she gets into a serious fight with someone comparable to the rest of the population.

About Garp being sent to see his grandson, but no other Marine forces around… There are several possible reasons where the latest chapters are perfectly logical. For one example, the WG is trying to keep things under wraps as much as possible, while they aim for a better grab of the whole situation. For another, it could be all the WG forces are now guarding critical locations where they fear an attack by one of the Four Emperors as soon as the WG shows any signs of weakness... I don't want to get too set on an opinion about this before the reactions of the Gorousei appear in an upcoming chapter.

About various Strawhats learning Rokushiki techniques... I can see them assimilating the ideas for their own future moves, in the style of, "That [CP9] guy, he/she moved more like this…" For them to learn the exact same moves would be horribly flat in my opinion, with the sole exception of Sanji learning Rankyaku techniques.

A lot of speculation… I'm thinking the Yonkou just don't have any reason to attack Enies Lobby, since they're all spending their time on the latter half of the Grand Line. Only someone like Dragon would have (political) motivations for making this type of move in an otherwise meaningless area like the early Grand Line.

I've so far gauged Whitebeard's strength through Ace, Saul, and Aokiji. Ace willingly keeps himself below Whitebeard even with his ridiculously powerful abilities, like punching several warships down with a single attack. Then the only Vice Admiral really we've seen in action was Saul, who lifted a 1000-man Buster Call ship up from the sea and threw it into another further away. We should expect the five VA's that came to Enies Lobby to hold at least comparable strength, which makes it a shame they never got around to doing anything. The second VA we've seen in more detail, Garp, lines up with this speculation… Above the VA's are the three Admirals, which I've thought of as a 'honorary title' for the strongest VA's. There's no reason to believe any of the WG higher-ups are anything but very strong. Aokiji used to be a Vice Admiral in the past, even when he had already eaten the elemental fruit.

This comes back to Whitebeard with the explanation of Yonkou that Garp gave, about the Marines and Shichibukai hanging in a delicate balance with the four strongest pirates (and their crews). These three other pirates, including Shanks, are supposedly the only ones who can stand toe-to-toe against Whitebeard. Aokiji came to the first half of Grand Line only to meet up with Nico Robin, a special acquaintance from his past, but then just stayed to view the fireworks at EL while he was heading back (The W7+EL trip lasted for less than two days I've understood). If the strongest Marines wandered around the place like they wished, who'd keep the Four Emperors at the end of Grand Line in check?

When the pirates become this strong, I don't think they care much for some newcomers on the early parts of Grand Line. If they're really strong, they'll make it to the end... Since Grand Line is a place that makes strong people meet with each other. That innocent nugget of information was given as mere quip by Blackbeard, but I think it describes how Oda has thought the sea to function.

So, Luffy at Yonkou level? I'd say Luffy with Gear 3 is Vice Admiral level in physical strength, but can't maintain it because of the side-effects. Of course his speed and such are nothing of the sort while in Gear 3. It's not necessary to base fighting around physical strength either, what with all those elemental fruits and such around. While Luffy could probably be called a very strong rookie, he's only just arrived at the foot of the mountain when looking at the strongest fighters.

Blackbeard also, he spent his time on the earlier parts of Grand Line looking for an easy bounty to pick up. I think he was plain afraid of going to the latter parts where the stronger pirates hang around.

Problem for Luffy is that first he beat up a Shichibukai, what the Gorousei already thought was very annoying. Now he made another, bigger imago upset. While I don't think the stronger pirates or Shichibukai really care either way, the Marines and Gorousei could take them as a political eyesore, or someone who's stepping on their pride. Burning the flag was symbolic, but who of the strong people in One Piece is going to take a couple rookie pirates seriously?

I think a lot of this should be obvious in the way a masterful mystery writer relays answers and the readers slap their foreheads thinking, "I thought it should have been like that!"

The whole picture with Luffy, Garp, and Shanks is extremely logical through hindsight. Also it shows Oda uses ideas from real life in his characters, and that we can use our experiences from growing up to fill up the blanks in the One Piece -verse. There's no reason to argue that these last few chapters (or any storyline-relevant "facts" presented in them) were faulty in any way, since it's more a question of Oda's style than anything else.

The only word Luffy has used to refer to this 'grandpa' of his is 'jii-chan,' at least I can't remember another word. While it can mean a family relation, it could just as well mean that Garp took Luffy in as a kid and gave him shelter. Sort of an affectionate way to say 'old man' …

IMO, assuming Garp is Luffy's grandfather is jumping the gun. Next chapter will give more hints, I hope.

The only fourth gear I can think of would be a sort of elemental-form of heated, near-liquid rubber. Luffy could then control this in ways similar to how Crocodile moved with the sand and kept himself unharmed, ie. inflate "rubber extensions" and shape them like his body, at will. If it's cut into pieces with an enemy attack, no problem, just reform it elsewhere. But then again, this thought is the sort of tired idea that copies all those cool elemental fruits without adding anything inventive.

I understood it as an affectionate 'nickname' from Kokoro. She'll probably laugh as always, did Luffy become the Pirate King or not.

Robin is ridiculously strong, though. For example at the bridge scene on the end of EL, she finished the first 3 marine captains in an instant. Every bit worth the 79 million.

More on topic– I can see the WG sending queries about joining Shichibukai to Luffy, but I can't see him agreeing. It's almost the definition of the type of pirate Luffy doesn't want to turn into.

I'm soo jealous of that lion in the color pic…

@Malintex_Terek:

I'm thinking Lucci has a huge increase in power for his normal Beast-Man form (6000 douriki) while a lesser amount in the Kami Bushin (5000 douriki) but still more than normal. Jyabura and Kaku's Beast-Man forms are not as large as Lucci's (I'm disregarding Kaku since naturally his animal is bigger) so I'm not sure if they would have the same amount of douriki bonus from using them. My guestimate of this bonus would be +1000 douriki for both of them, while +2000 for Lucci (so Kaku's douriki would be 3200 and Jyabs' 3180).

Very interesting estimates. Using your numbers as a base, I'll pull some up guesstimates too: Luffy is about 2500-3000 Douriki at 1st Gear, with 10000+ at 2nd Gear. My only suggestion is that Lucci's bonus from his DF transformation should be much more than +2000, at least doubling that. He was the one who claimed Zoan fruits have little limits to improvement, so I'd guess he had trained his to reach very high figures.

To get any sort of perspective in analysing Luffy's strength, and to find out what Douriki means, I'll have to go with a few things that could be considered off topic…

The only scene permitting cross-Douriki analysis is the moment when Franky got owned by Lucci. I think it's safe to say Franky was about equal with Fukurou, at 800 Douriki, or at least not a relevant distance away. Lucci, at 4000 Douriki, took his strongest attack with a basic Tekkai and then floored him with an unnamed punch. The difference between 800 and 4000 is 5x, so this kind of result should be expected. On top of this we have to consider that taking damage doesn't seem to be Franky's forte. There are several scenes that highlight his low pain treshold compared to for example Luffy, who can take virtually limitless physical abuse from blunt objects.

What about Kaku or Jabura? Could either of them give Lucci a good fight? How about Zoro or Sanji vs Lucci?

A simpler exchange to look into the meaning of a single Douriki would be switching Zoro's and Sanji's opponents, to get Zoro vs Jabura and Sanji vs Kaku. Can anyone claim Zoro would not have the easier time like this, of the two of them? (It's a natural reflection of the type of ranged skills Zoro can employ, while Sanji is still missing his version of Rankyaku.) The difference between Kaku and Jabura is much more than the mere twenty Douriki given through Fukurou's Teawase. I'm basing this supposition entirely on the fact that Sanji is a purely close-ranged fighter and still managed to win against Jabura, meaning the wolf-man wasn't a strategically sound fighter who could employ his Douriki efficiently. I think the Wanze fight gave a good amount of attention to Sanji's problems, namely his lack of ranged skills.

Luffy's fight against Blueno wasn't a traditional fight at all; Luffy was clearly playing around, just using his speed to see how he matches up against a speed specialist. He attempted to reach the ultimate end of his abilities at the first gear, and found out it wasn't enough to create a decisive victory against the likes of Blueno. Worse yet, after Blueno turned to his DF abilities, Luffy's hopes of a quick victory became even more muddled. It was clear that Luffy could finish Blueno off rather easily even without using the second gear, through using his more advanced first gear battle techniques in a fight uncomparable to either Crocodile or Enel -- But that wasn't the type of victory Luffy was aiming for.

However... While I want to claim that Luffy could beat either Kaku or Jabura without resorting to the second or third gears, it doesn't seem plausible examined against the introduction scenes of the CP9 fighting skills and the Strawhat pirates' fighting skill evolving scenes. This is counting the use of DF abilities to the fullest by both Kaku and Jabura. It's also counting the unstated canon claim that speed is the main forte of the CP9, not strength (=Douriki). At best it would become a close fight, good enough for a final fight in any previous arc. Using 2nd Gear it's no competition: I've estimated the difference (10k+ Douriki with 2nd Gear, 3k+ for Kaku and Jabura) at a step or two below the 5x of the Franky-Lucci difference, so I think it's not too weird to expect Luffy to drop either them within about a half a dozen attacks like the JET Pistol and the JET Bazooka, if not less.

If Luffy is that strong with the 2nd Gear, why did the fight with Lucci prolong so much? The answer to this lies in the amount of fatigue this technique generates in Luffy and the superhuman damage absorption of Lucci, which I think was the other reason why we received an otherwise simplistic narrative detail of Franky's best attack being shrugged off by Lucci like it was nothing. Lucci also used speed to his advantage: He jumped backwards to absorb the damage of the JET techniques, while still retaining his ability to charge forward instantly. No matter where he was, when receiving straight hits from Luffy's 2nd Gear he was always hit hard or even blown away, while not getting knocked out of the fight in a decisive way. This is in line with the less-than-1.5x difference in Douriki I assumed between them, if Luffy has something between 10k and 12k Douriki in 2nd Gear. Halfway through the fight Luffy's 2nd Gear lost most of its edge, also making the final parts of the fight uncomparable with the earlier scenes. In the end he overcomes Lucci with pure spirit.

Of course, the conclusions drawn from this pondering include that Zoro using Asura would defeat a gearless Luffy. Sanji with his red-leg kick should be right up there too. To give some perspective to 3rd Gear, I'd assume it was around 30k Douriki, meaning it would send Oimo or Kaashii flying in a one hit KO.

I don't think the gears can be analysed just with this. To figure the difference between the first and second gears, the only thing we have to go with are the two fights with CP9 members Luffy had. The source material leaves a lot of questions still… Dramatic techniques aside, the power increase Luffy gains from the second gear is nothing short of enormous. How much should the power gain from Lucci's transformation between his human and half-and-half shapes be measured as? Luffy's was even greater in scope: His normal, gearless hits didn't really cause any problems for the human form Lucci, who was more playing around than seriously going for the kill right from the start. When Luffy turned to second gear, Lucci felt the hits strongly even in his transformed state. How the hazard punch from Franky comes into this, that's a good question.

The Gigant moves of the third gear are again untouched by the lower gears. The only hits we've seen from the third gear either knocked the latest main villain out in one hit or destroyed a battleship large enough to carry a thousand marines. About the air in his bones, he didn't blow that much air in the arm when you look at it closely. After he started the initial bloating of his fist, it spreads out on its own during the Gigant Pistol attack. This is why I don't think the arm is filled with CO2, but becomes an actual giant's hand for the duration Luffy keeps the third gear active.

Much ambiguity remains in his traditional moves aswell. Which is stronger, Rifle or Bazooka or Axe, and why? If we only consider the order they were introduced in, Bazooka is the weakest and Rifle the strongest. But I find this to be an unsatisfying scale...

I read some of this thread and other Usopp discussions, where people complain that Usopp didn't get a single good fight at Enies Lobby… Looking back at the past happenings now that another turning point between arcs is about to happen, I noticed that I don't even care that Usopp didn't get a traditional shining moment at EL. That's because 'Captain Usopp' became my personal hero back at Alabasta, and only Sogeking can oust him from his spot in my heart. (100 shots, 100 hits, lu lu la la ~)

@Virgilijus:

Thanks BF!

I guess Kokoro guides them to Fish-man island next (as in next arc)…

Seems like a very sensible continuation. No doubt the Shichibukai will be there too - on the move to either 'check out' the Mugiwara gang or perhaps even on a mission get revenge on them for Enies Lobby (if they'll feel like it). Well, not just the Shichibukai, but the other leading pirate gangs should want to at least exchange greetings with this newcomer team that managed to make it into the big league… Any low-ranking marines should just run away if they see the Mugiwara flag.

Actually, the thought I had about Aokiji wanting to destroy Enies Lobby with Buster Call turned out to not hold water. Reading back on the scene at Water 7 where CP9 is revealed and Nico Robin has a chat with Iceberg… She says (Null trans), "The CP9 have permission to put the 'Buster Call' in motion against the Strawhats, but only just this once." And as we found out later, this one Buster Call was supplied by Aokiji.

Back at Long Island Aokiji got fooled into a mano-a-mano fight, but didn't finish Luffy off because of his sentimentalism. This didn't take away his worry of the Strawhat crew possibly starting to cause trouble in the (near) future, so immediately after this encounter he gave Spandam the Buster Call Dendenmushi - to be used in case the Strawhats ever start to cause problems.

It's not impossible for Aokiji to think Luffy would even attack Enies Lobby head on. He seemed to put a lot of weight for the initial "D." in Luffy's name... Saying that being rash and headstrong was something that ran in the family. The possibility of the Strawhats surviving through a Buster Call wasn't part of his equation. I don't think there was anything more complicated that should be read into this.

Two things about Aokiji and Buster Call come to my mind.

1. Aokiji didn't seem the type who was overly concerned with the Strawhats. His dialogue had a line like, "Maybe I should just kill you all now," as a sort of spontaneous conclusion about a possible threat the pirates could one day represent. The only motivation I can figure out for him that fits the information we've been given is that he wanted to destroy Enies Lobby, but there's not much to back this up with, at the moment.

2. Spandam ended up doing an amazing thing when he accidentally pressed the button. Seriously, a rookie pirate group attacking the front door of the World Government, guarded by thousands of soldiers and the CP9… Which leader would have the guts to call for a Buster Call there? An all-out attack that wipes out the island completely, aimed at their own toes. Now that we look at the situation, it seems the Buster Call could even turn out to having been an inefficient countermeasure - but the early calling for it could easily be seen as visionary leadership and excellent strategical judgement from Spandam, as twisted as it sounds.

@Niddhoggr:

Seriously, you're trying to be serious about a comic where a banana can turn someone into a giraffe.

Now that the head is opened with hard scientific explanation, how about a biologist or chemist will tell us the effects of transforming into an animal on a human body?

Joke joke. Don't click the spoiler if you're too young to read descriptions of violence.

! But not only does Bon Clay have a superman neck, his brain and skull can withstand the Hummer-hits without any noticeable health effects. He didn't even get his nose broken through all this. His eyes would have been gone with the impact, actually his whole head would have become nothing but fine spatter raining over the nearby walls and roofs - or, at least a shoe-shaped hole in the middle of his head would have done that.

@Refii:

-Enel's devil fruit was completely nulled when he fought Luffy,

Eneru had the strongest fruit I can think to exist, unless some time control fruit with much greater scope than Foxy's appears. He was just tactically very immature and just about locked up when he couldn't find out an easy way to handle a fruit that his perceived god-powers didn't do much against. It shows he had never had a hard fight in his life and didn't know how to get serious when push comes to shove.

Although, it seems in the OP-verse lightning doesn't amount to much… Didn't Eneru do something like 20-200 million volt releases? The electricity in that kind of situations would reach a temperature of over twenty five thousand degrees (Celsius, 40k+ Fahrenheit), five times hotter than the sun, instantly disintegrating the whole sky island - and definitely killing anyone up there, lest they have a suitable elemental ability of their own. If the lightning ability followed the real world physics, Eneru would have probably destroyed the world single-handedly (or made it inhabitable for humans).

Continuing in the spirit of the manga physics, beating an elemental ability like Eneru's should already be worth several hundreds of millions. Double anything he'll be assigned from the Enies Lobby trip, I'd guess.

@Percy:

Hi,

That should come with a warning, "Do not read while you have liquids in your mouth."

More on the topic, of course Oda will have to show us reactions from people around the world. It's an excellent way to give perspective on exactly what it was that took place… I'd be happy to see some more varied reactions than excitement and surprise from the new bounty (that could reach several hundreds of millions for Luffy). Like fear and anxiety, if they've for example heard that the shipwright who was connected with Gol D. Roger got executed just for having done business with the former Pirate King...

It doesn't help to get strong opinions about whether Zoro will pick up Funkfried or not. All it does is set you up for disappointment with nothing to gain in return.

I don't see anything crucially strange in either option with the elephant blade. It's obviously a very valuable and powerful weapon, so someone should pick it up. The animal is quite cute, has some good humor, and would fit in nicely in the Strawhat crew, I think.

The Wadou Ichimonji is from the second highest class of swords, from the group of 20 (Oo-Wazamono). There was a group of 12 above that, but I forgot the name (Something-Oo-Wazamono). This information was stated in a SBS where Oda listed all the sword classes.

I don't understand the argument about Funkfried being a wrong type of sword. If the storyline requires it, I'm sure an elephant that can turn into a straight sword can also turn into a katana-shaped sword. It could be argued that if the fruit was fed to a straight sword, it could only transform into that shape, but we don't have any evidence about if this is the one and only sword shape that Funkfried can use… I mean, having multiple forms is almost like the signature of the Zoan fruits.

They've been doing Kochi Kame specials last week too, it was a Bobobo/Kochi Kame crossover in there. I don't think Ryou-san will be a recurring character in OP.

Why did Luffy withstand the hit? Did he assimilate Tekkai too?

@Ivotas:

I don´t know if how many of you guys are familiar with it, but in the original version Kaku´s language is the one of an old man.

Japanese manga is very weird and doesn't always connect with the tangible reality. Especially in dialects you can see so, so weird stuff, as I'm sure you've noticed… Anyways the point is, that I've always taken Kaku's dialect as a total pun, something that doesn't translate anyhow into English. Maybe after the manga is complete, some roughly similar type gimmick could be created for his translated lines.

@Mr.:

I'm pretty sure it's just a different style of speech; like Orochimaru in Naruto speaks like a woman.

There are some (archaic) forms where males can use -wa aswell. They are long since obsolete from normal Japanese though…