You mess with the red-haired bull, you get the pistol horns.
I know what Bartolomeo was thinking.
He’s on a personal mission on Gartel Island (located in Emperor Shanks’ territory) showing Luffy’s dominance by burning Shanks’ flag. And, I bet he thought his barrier-barrier fruit would protect him from any Red-Haired Pirate attack. Too bad for him, strong haki messes up many seemingly overpowered devil fruits. Not to mention, I doubt old Bart thought that Emperor Shanks himself (along with his senior officers) would pull up to confront little ole him.
That punk, Bartolomeo, actually burned an Emperor’s flag then waited for someone to show up. What the hell was he thinking?!
He’s lucky the only things he got for his transgression was a butt-whooping and his ship destroyed. But, you know? I get the sneaky suspicion Oda had Bart’s ship destroyed by Yasopp only for him to get a new ship that’s a tribute to the Thousand Sunny. And, maybe the Barto Club washes up on Elbaph? Nika fanboys + Luffy fanboys = A good time for all!
Let’s talk about how differently each Emperor is approaching finding the One Piece in this chapter. Yes, I know Chief Shanks wasn’t looking for One Piece here, but he was pretty passive about going to Laugh Tale until recently. I think his desire to find One Piece is less about want and more about keeping it from less savory people.
And then there’s Commodore Blackbeard. This man has a plan. He’s always had a plan! From joining Whitebeard’s crew in order to find the darkness-darkness fruit to becoming a Warlord to gain access to Impel Down, this guy has been scheming since day one and continues to do so until he reaches his goal: World Domination.
The entire world knows now, but I wonder just how long has Blackbeard known obtaining the One Piece will help him conquer the planet? Hmm…
And, it not just finding the One Piece. Blackbeard’s keeping tabs on the Celestial Dragons and Revolutionary Army. He’s gonna use Garp as a bargaining chip in some way. He’s got Pudding to (I assume) help him read the Ponegliffs. He’s evil, but it’s so fascinating seeing this guy working so hard to achieve his goal. Even if the world’s screwed if he reaches it.
And then…there’s Monkey D. Luffy—The Lucky One. Luffy rocks that protagonist luck energy everywhere he goes. He stumbles across Ponegliffs compared to Blackbeard. Don’t get me wrong, Luffy works for his successes. BUT, there’s an element of luck that is required for him to achieve his goal. And we may have seen it again at the end of this chapter.
Luffy and Nami are confirmed to be missing along with the Thousand Sunny. There’s rumors of a Man With a Burn Scar sailing on a black ship containing the final Ponegliff. Luffy and Nami were lost at sea… Do I have to spell it out ? My guess is Luffy’s protag luck has pulled him into Burn Scar’s orbit without him even trying. Is that bad? Not really. Storytelling involves characters having perfect timing (good or bad), but it’s really obvious seeing it now after watching how hard Blackbeard’s working for his goal through endless strategy. In the end, Luffy and Blackbeard really are each other’s antithesis. It’s almost as if Oda planned it this way, heh!
This was a good chapter! I love world building chapters, so having the focus mostly be on non-Straw Hats in-between the start of a new arc works for me. Maybe the next time we see Buggy the Clown he’s letting Gecko Moria join. We all know that’s coming. But, since it’s Oda, he’ll just have Foxy join Team Buggy instead.
Mammoth Base Opera Castle 