Oda’s question corner that regularly gets featured is always interesting. I highly recommend you to read through them while you read these volumes, there’s much more interesting stuff going on there than you might think. For example, we learn the entire backstory of the gruff carpenter that gave some food to Usopp while the Aqua Laguna was fast approaching. We also get a funny interaction with a French reader and Oda mentions that he hopes the reader sees his answer in this question corner in like 2 years, because France is about 10 volumes behind Japan. Imagine reading a new One Piece volume and seeing your question from 2 years earlier answered, that would be pretty cool.
Speaking of pretty cool, the Baroque Works cover story ends in this volume and I’m glad it does. It’s not a particularly interesting cover story and although these stories tend to be more lighthearted than normal, I just never cared for most of the characters involved in this particular one. The one big takeaway we get from this cover story by the time it ends is that Mr. 3 Galdino, Mr 2 Bon Kurei, Mr 1 Daz Bones and the former warlord Crocodile are all transferred Impel Down, the navy prison that’s linked in a triangle with Marineford and Enies Lobby. That last one is where we are right now, in case you forgot, so let’s dive into the Straw Hats’ antics.
The Galley-La Foremen and the members of the Franky Family are quickly being abandoned as the navy soldiers all flee the island. Luckily Paulie was able to manipulate his ropes so once there’s a moment they all get untied and make a run for it together with Oimo and Kashi, the two giants that have allied with them due to Usopp’s diplomatic skills. They’re trying to find a way to get out, but it’s hard to leave the island the way it is right now. They also worry about the crew and Franky.
Throughout Enies Lobby, several fights take place. Nami deals with Kalifa by using her weather abilities through her new clima tact. Usopp has done a great job dealing with it and through cleverness and actual impressive fighting prowess Nami wins the fight. As much as she’s one of the weaker straw hats, once you start thinking about the kind of opponents she defeats throughout the series she becomes pretty impressive. Even at this point in the story she’s defeated one of the strongest officers in the Baroque Works organization as well as a CP9 agent who is basically a super human. A relatively dumb one, but a superhuman nonetheless. After defeating Kalifa she brings the key over to Zoro and Usopp who are still tied together.
Converging in the same area are most of the Straw Hats. Chopper and Franky show up and through some ingenuity of Nami and Franky they manage to blast the doctor without self control into the water, thus deactivating his powers. Franky then dives in to save him from drowning and things seem to be alright for now. While everyone is distracted by this, Nami frees Usopp and Zoro. Usopp gets hurt badly by Jabra before Sanji comes in to save the day. Zoro fights Kaku and unlocks his Asura form in which he has three heads and six arms. Sanji fights Jabra and shows off his Diable Jambe, his ability to turn his leg into a molten leg that gives off immense heat. They each deal with their opponent and every key has been retrieved. The only CP9 members left standing at this point are Spandam and Rob Lucci.
Speaking of Rob Lucci, Luffy has gone after him, chasing the bastard down and confronting him in a storage room on the way to where Robin and Spandam are. The two clash while Franky runs on ahead. Luffy activates his Gear Second and Lucci shows off his devil fruit.
Lastly, all the remaining Straw Hats are slowly making their way towards where Robin is. Franky is the first person to get there but he’s too late to help Robin and gets blown up by a trap mine. Things seem pretty bad for a moment when Usopp steps up and saves the day in a big way. He snipes Spandam from all the way across the map. Better put that in his montage with some dubstep to accompany it. With Spandam down, Robin seizes the moment and runs the other way at full speed. Several marines shoot at her but Franky blocks the shots. Things are finally looking a little bit more winnable and seeing Robin finally accepting life in this arc has been so heartwarming to see, I’m really rooting for her. She is easily my favorite character in this series. But we aren’t in the clear yet. Rob Lucci still needs to be dealt with and on the bridge it’s only Franky and Robin vs. the world. And not to mention on top of all of that, a buster call is still coming this way. We’ll see how things progress in the next chapter, but although the odds are improving, they’re definitely not in the Straw Hats’ favor yet. Thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 