@Greg said in Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !:

The narrative positioned Vivi to join at the last second.
Vivi did not.

The narrative positioned Yamato to join at the last second.
Yamato did not.

Actually the narrative positioned Yamato to join for about 1.5 years if I'm counting correctly. Or perhaps longer than that.
If the same happened with Vivi, I would have been pissed the same way (or just a bit less because Alabasta was a much more satisfying arc than Wano anyway).

Instead, Vivi joining was presented as a possibility only at the end. And of course the possibility had to be considered given how much time she had spent bonding with the crew, but there was never a legitimate expectation that she had to join.

It's fair to compare Vivi and Yamato, but only to stress the profound differences between the two character stories. And those differences are what makes the handling of Vivi very good, and the handling of Yamato very bad.

Congratulations everyone on being back! The journey on Arlong Park has been almost as long as the SHP's, and I'm sure we will all get to destination!

@Greg said in Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !:

The narrative positioned Vivi to join at the last second.
Vivi did not.

The narrative positioned Yamato to join at the last second.
Yamato did not.

Actually the narrative positioned Yamato to join for about 1.5 years if I'm counting correctly. Or perhaps longer than that.
If the same happened with Vivi, I would have been pissed the same way (or just a bit less because Alabasta was a much more satisfying arc than Wano anyway).

Instead, Vivi joining was presented as a possibility only at the end. And of course the possibility had to be considered given how much time she had spent bonding with the crew, but there was never a legitimate expectation that she had to join.

It's fair to compare Vivi and Yamato, but only to stress the profound differences between the two character stories. And those differences are what makes the handling of Vivi very good, and the handling of Yamato very bad.

Congratulations everyone on being back! The journey on Arlong Park has been almost as long as the SHP's, and I'm sure we will all get to destination!

@Deicide:

Robin fight was great but there's something lacking. When it ended, I expected more. I think it was because Black Maria's abilities went unexplained, so I was expecting some twists in that regard (at the time I thought her torso was a web puppet and she was the spider, for instance). I feel it was a pretty big flaw to not explain the nature of her powers in the story. We only got an explanation in SBS, and it showed a lot of wasted potential (so, she manipulates her form throught chemicals, and that explains her illusion mist, but we got a chemist that barely incorporates it into her fighting style).

Jinbe vs Who's Who was fine but didn't feel like a decisive battle. Again, I was expecting Jinbe to have another fight, most likely against Smoothie once the BM Pirates arrived. Nope, it was just that. Oh.

Franky vs Sasaki's choreography was really good but the fight was too short. Sasaki destroying the General Shogun was pretty impressive, but Franky defeated him too fast once he exited the cockpit. Unprotected Franky vs Sasaki would really up the tension instead.

Ulti and Page One were impressive, but it was Big Mom who defeated them, not Usopp or Nami. Zeus was in autopilot in the finishing move.

In the end, the entire Beast Pirates didn't feel worthy of being an Emperor crew. Big Mom Pirates were far more menacing, varied and interesting, and yet they were kept out of the battle. Bummer.

This might be my own limit, but choreography can only do so much for me.
I loved Robin's fight because it finally gave her a strong opponent and a dangerous situation, with a physical struggle that she was able to win.

Jinbe vs Who's Who was reasonably good because of the psychology of the characters involved.

Frankie vs Sasaki was not good for me because it lacked the psychological dynamic of the fight against Senor Pink and the comedic cleverness of the Water 7 fights.

Ulti and Page One were decent opponents, but it turns out that Nami and Usopp were too weak, and Big Mom too strong, for their fights to be interesting.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Greg:

While we have some slices of insight as to the BM pirates' goings on, do recall that they are privy to world events and we don't have an exact timeline (yet) for precisely when the cover story is happening.

We know that WG is in the vicinity and that shit might be going down on WCI.

I think it's safe to keep a judgement on why they've been held back until we've seen the larger story.

If Oda doesn't address it, fair game. But we've been locked into the Strawhat crew's perspective on MAJOR on-going world events on a country closed off from the world (which was by design) so it might be best to wait and see there.

Agreed. But it would have made sense to see BM or (especially) Peros wondering why it was taking those other guys such a long time to enter Wano.

@DatYute:

yeah im with you there. none of the fights in this arc have been at all satisfying

I disagree. Robin got a GREAT fight, and Jinbe vs Who's Who was also reasonably good.
As for the rest… yeah, not particularly interesting.

@Ghost:

Congrats! All your hard work finally paid off and the funny got found! Now to go easter egg hunting and figure out which of the other expressions of dry wit had unexpected comedy to them:ninja:

You should contribute to the discussion rather than… not even sure what point you're trying to make.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

@wolfwood:

Luffy is blown up loading up a big fist, Blacky cancels his rubberness and Luff is hit by the recoil of his own inflation. Then quake to the face, regular punch returning from Luffy, Blacky saying oh that hurt kiddo then quake chop in the neck. Should be a fun match with Luffy being cancelled out of his moves and and dealing with being a normie for the first time in ever.

Yeah. I mean, there are so many ways the next big fights can still be made interesting, regardless of the fact that Luffy is now among the world's strongest. The real question is whether Oda still has enough creativity and storytelling skills, or he's aged too much.

@kevo_koma:

This has to be the funniest statement I have ever seen on an internet forum.

LMAO.

What other than stating opinions did you expect to find on a discussion board?

Thank you for noticing, it was supposed to be funny indeed.

Since everyone is stating their opinion, I will also write down mine for the future generations:

1. The conclusion of this fight was underwhelming. It's adequate, in the sense that I'm satisfied that Kaido was beat, but one of the least iconic of this manga.

2. The fight should be over. Maybe someone wants him to meet the same fate as WB, with all of the main fighters teaming up to hit an extremely resilient but moribund strongest creature until he's finally dead. Meh, I suppose that could happen, but my point stands: any serious fighting should be over.

3. Wano is not finished. Something must be done with BM and Kaido (they won't be lying down unconscious forever), the BM pirates are around (it's silly enough that they couldn't make it to Wano YET, but it's downright impossible that they would be out of commission for an unlimited amount of time), the WG is coming, and seriously I don't see Zunesha as the deus ex machina who will blow away all the ill-intentioned people who may come to the island: how unsatisfying would that be? In other words, I consider it very unlikely that all that is left to this arc is just poneglyphs, partying, and farewell to Momo.

4. Yes, Luffy is now one of the top dogs, but I don't view that as a problem. If anything, it'll bring a change of dynamics to this long-running series. I guess we will now see the SHP being chased by many enemies who want to prove themselves. And do you remember that theory that BB wanted to get the strongest fruit for every category: logia, paramecia, and zoan? Maybe the strongest zoan he wants is actually Luffy's.

@MarcelloF:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPeQD_JXMAUbkGj?format=jpg&name=large

I guess that proves One Piece has always applied cartoon physiology.

@King:

Makes me wonder what was the deal with Kaido's eyes. Did Luffy's powers just transform them into exit holes? We can see Luffy's nails when he grabs Kaido's nose, so it's not like he stretched the eyes like he did with Kaido's head.

More importantly, how is Luffy able to se the light outside through Kaido's eyes when he's inside Kaido's mouth? Rubber or not, that shouldn't be possible.

@FatDogForMidTerms:

The fruit revelation: awful, dumb. Oda at his worst.
The fight after it: great, funny, wacky. Oda at his best.

Pretty much. Quite enjoyable, with some stuff that's difficult to process…