Future Nick here. I took a little bit of a break between writing the previous post and this one. It felt like a good moment to take a break from reading One Piece and pick up some other stuff. I’m currently reading Eragon. It’s better than I remember, but it definitely still reads like it’s written by a teenager at times – which it is, so that makes perfect sense. I am excited to read the other three installments and now the newly released Murtagh novel that should arrive on my doormat tomorrow. Anyway, we’re diving into the second half of One Piece now, which is already looking to be a longer half than the first half by a lot. Let’s get to it. Future Nick out.
I started watching One Piece just before the time-skip happened. Seeing as I was a high school student at the time, I had basically unlimited time. So I watched all of One Piece in the span of about 2 or 3 months so I was completely caught up around the time this volume started to be animated. Imagine the hype at the time when we learned our favorite characters spent two years getting stronger and cooler before jumping right into the dangerous New World. But before we get to that point, we have a few more small obstacles to get past. Let’s have a look at them.
After learning where several of the pirates from Sabaody Archipelago ended up – including Bonney being captured by Blackbeard and subsequently by Akainu – we learn what the crew does during the two years. They each got the message from Luffy loud and clear and find their own ways to get stronger. Robin is going to meet Luffy’s father while Nami learns about the weather and navigation. Chopper, Sanji and Brook each practice their skills in strange environments while Franky accidentally becomes a legend on Vegapunk’s home planet. Zoro bows his head to Mihawk to have him become his teacher. Usopp is going to lose some weight and get swole. Good for him. While all this is happening, Luffy spends 2 years on an island near Amazon Lily where he’s going to be trained by the dark king himself: Silvers Rayleigh. In 2 years the crew will meet up again at Sabaody Archipelago and continue their journey.
As the crew reunites on Sabaody, a few things are happening. For starters, everyone is on edge as there have been sightings of Straw Hat Luffy even before the man himself has arrived. One of the people present is Sentomaru who expected the Straw hats to return here somewhat soon. As the crew reunites we meet their imposters as well. A pirate named Demalo Black has posed as Luffy and hired a few bad lookalikes to represent the rest of the Straw Hats. Of course Luffy and Chopper both fall for their silly schemes but the rest realizes what’s wrong pretty quickly. While all this chaos is happening we see Brook giving his final performance as Soul King, the legendary artist. Duval and Hachi did their best defending the ship but they are both very wounded by this time. Two years is a long time after all. In the middle of the gathering of the new Straw Hat Pirates crew we see Luffy, Zoro and Sanji reunite. Many of the pirates present, including Coribou and Caribou, who are famous for killing navy soldiers, think they’re with the real Luffy. Sentomaru quickly shows off that this is an imposter by calling him out on his bullshit and taking him out in a single hit. Meanwhile he trains his pacifistas on the real Luffy, who happens to be present as well. To the shock of everyone present, this Luffy looks much more like the wanted poster and they all feel a little bit dumb for believing this triple-tongued fool.
Luffy shows off his newly learned Haki powers and takes out a pacifista in one punch after dodging its laser attacks. Zoro and Sanji then take out another pacifista and the trio leaves, but not before thanking Rayleigh, who came to watch. As the navy sets out to chase them, they get stopped by many allies of the Straw Hats. Rayleigh, Perona, Heracles’n, the researchers from weatheria, Chopper’s birds, the Kamabakka queens and many others stop the approaching navy, leaving the straw hats to depart with relative ease. After inflating the bubble coating they make their way down to the bottom of the ocean where Hachi and Jinbe should be awaiting them.
As the ship sails down the sea current, Franky tells the crew what he’s learned about Bartholomew Kuma. We know most of this by now, but he is a former revolutionary who – for some unknown reason – let Dr. Vegapunk turn him into a mindless cyborg. One last thing he wanted to accomplish was help out the Straw Hats. He didn’t send them to strange islands to defeat them, he sent them to strange islands to give them a way to train and get stronger. They weren’t ready for the New World yet and because Luffy was the son of the revolutionary leader, Kuma didn’t want to watch him die quite yet. After the war, Kuma was turned into a complete cyborg, no more emotions and humanity left in him. He did have a final order programmed into his brain by Vegapunk. Protect the Thousand Sunny until one of the Straw Hats shows up to collect it. What a hero. After this story, the straw hats then get found by Caribou and Coribou, but we’ll have to wait until next volume to see what happens when they fight this deadly duo of pirates.
One thing I want to mention – and this is a problem that unfortunately never fully goes away – is that I think Sanji’s character is terrible. The first few volumes after the time skip this is at its worst, but his womanizing is grating at best and cringe at worst. I get that this is a cartoon, but he’s too cartoonish. And that’s saying a lot considering how far from reality a lot of One Piece’s wackiness often tends to get. There’s just something about him lusting over every woman he sees that really turns me off. I guess this characteristic is considered funny by a lot of the audience, but I can’t be the only one that really dislikes it. Despite that small problem, I think this arc is great and watching the Straw Hats reunite is something I rewatch regularly, even just the few episodes during which it happens. Thanks for reading, we’ll dive – pun intended – into the Fishman Island arc next week.
Opal Kaharis 