They took the rocketman, going anywhere~
Welcome back to our weekly One Piece manga recap. Today we’re looking at volume 39. Last week everyone set off towards the dangerous Enies Lobby to chase after Nico Robin who has been captured by CP9. Luffy, Sanji, Nami, Robin and many of the people they met on Water Seven have boarded the Rocketman, a dangerous prototype sea train that has no brakes. That’s right, the sea train has no brakes. They’re hot on the tails of the normal sea train, the Puffing Tom. On this train are Nico Robin, the CP9 members we’re familiar with as well as CP9 rookie Nero, ramen chef Wanze and Navy Captain T-bone. Having to fight through all of them are Sogeking, Franky and Sanji. The odds are stacked against them, but they are each pretty resourceful.
The first two cars are dealt with pretty easily. They do an almost looney tunes-esque trick where they lock everyone in the cars, lure them to the front and then cut them loose. This works wonders and the gang quickly find themselves in front of both Wanze and Nero. Wanze is a cook who can turn ingredients he puts into his mouth into ramen through his nose. Pretty disgusting stuff and needless to say Sanji isn’t impressed. They fight and this is the first time we see Sanji pick up a weapon. It doesn’t count since he’s only using the kitchen knives to serve up pasta, but it’s still fun. He does finish Wanze off with a kick since he wouldn’t dare use his tools for something so barbaric. In the meantime, Franky is facing off with Nero. Nero seems to pride himself in his speed but that’s really where it ends. Once Franky gets a hold of him he pummels him into the train below them. That leaves only Nico Robin and the four CP9 members that were on Water Seven. One interesting thing we hear Sanji say here is that his parents didn’t raise him particularly well. I wonder what that means.
While Sanji and Franky were fighting, Usopp was trying to convince Nico Robin to join them. She unfortunately doesn’t listen and tells them all to leave. Usopp has one last trick on his sleeve though, and he pulls out a smoke bomb, bringing Robin with them. They cut the connection between the wagons and are about to escape. Unfortunately, this isn’t CP9’s first rodeo. Kalifa uses her thorn whip to hold the train together and then Blueno deals with Sanji and Usopp. Franky then sacrifices himself to let Robin, Usopp and Sanji escape. Unfortunately it isn’t enough and Blueno uses his door powers to capture Robin again. He does get shaken up by Sanji’s kick a bit, which hints at the fact that they might be strong enough to actually deal with these CP9 agents. But right now they’re utterly defeated. The train travels on with only Franky and Robin still captured.
In the meantime, the rest of the straw hats are chasing after the Puffing Tom in their train of pure death and no brakes. They come across captain T-bone and his men, but Zoro deals with them with ease. T-bone seems like a good guy. Compared to a lot of the navy admirals, captains and soldiers we get, he seems to actually want the world to be a better place. It’s even played up a little bit, as if it’s a strange exception to how these people normally operate. After cutting through the waylaid wagons, the crew encounters Yokozuna, the frog that stayed with Tom’s Workers and challenges sea trains for Franky. They bring him aboard after he derails their train and with Nami’s help they get back on track. Not only that, but they find Sanji and Usopp on the way there, reuniting everyone in the crew except for Robin. With the gang back together, they’re ready to head into Enies Lobby.
Speaking of Enies Lobby, CP9 arrives there with Robin and Franky. We’re introduced to another three of their members, Kumadori, Jabra and Fukuro. One is a priest, one has wolf-life features and the other looks like a balloon with a zipper for a mouth. You know, regular cops. As they’re waiting for Lucci and his group to arrive, the island gets attacked by pirates. Luffy jumps the fence and starts beating up marines left and right. The rest of the crew follows shortly after and all hell breaks loose on the judicial island. We end the volume with a big chunk of the pirates and their allies facing off against Kashii and Oimo, two giants who work here. Things are still heating up and we’re coming closer and closer to the flaming phoenix that sets this arc fully on fire. We now know how scared Robin is of losing the Straw Hat crew. She was accepted so easily by them despite who she is and she values that a lot. Unfortunately for her, Luffy doesn’t let crew members leave without permission. I love how Usopp delivers that line to Robin. Because you can really see on her face that deep down she knows that there’s no way Luffy is going to stop. No matter what she does. Her only real hope is getting beyond reach so that Straw Hats have no choice but to give up and be safe from CP9. But I’m afraid things aren’t going to go according to plan. I can’t wait for next week, thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 