Hm. I’m starting to think shonen manga author, Eiichiro Oda, isn’t good at writing political drama.
Did Harald have to be portrayed so oblivious to the Five Elders and Celestial Dragons, in general? They own slaves! They consider anyone not a Celestial Dragon as inferior! They attack weak countries not affiliated with the World Government! This makes ZERO sense that Harald didn’t pick up on all of that and, instead, put HIS ENTIRE TRUST into the World Government and the mysterious guy you swore totally loyalty too!
I fear for the Void Century flashback if it contains political drama because it’s just not Oda’s strength. That’s fine, not many authors are good at writing every single genre of storytelling. But… I suspect none of Oda’s Editors told him this or he just doesn’t care.
As punishment, Imu’s gonna make Harald do that 6-7 meme. The monster!
But instead of heading for Laugh Tale, Shanks decides to take a different approach: Learning as much as he can about the true enemies of the world—Imu and the Celestial Dragons.
It’s safe to say Shanks inherited Roger’s will to learn the truth about the world, but how much did he know before going to the Holy Land? Roger didn’t want to tell him anything that happened on Laugh Tale, but there’s someone else who could’ve pointed Shanks in the Celestial Dragon’s direction…Blackbeard!
[Thanks to LunaPianArt for putting this Blackbeard idea in my head, by the way.]
“Well, everything except skateboarding. Where’s a guy gotta go up here to do a 720 kickflip?”
Here’s what I’m thinking: Shanks confronts Blackbeard who spills some beans about the Celestial Dragons being the final boss of the world and the ones behind, well, everything. After their battle, Shanks decides learning the truth for himself and feigns loyalty to Team Imu. Makes sense, right?
Does that mean Shanks intentionally attacked a World Government ship to steal the gum-gum fruit? Does it also mean Shanks purposely got his arm bitten off to remove the Holy Knight’s tattoo? Yeah, probably. This guy has been planning to take down the World Government, something Gol D. Roger couldn’t do, for a looong time.
Can anyone tell me the purpose of the God Valley Incident?
Answer: Setup.
The Rocks Pirates’ reason for going and their break-up, mostly meaningless. Just a means to an end. That end is, of course, being How To Take Down The World Government (and Imu).
Joyboy took his shot and missed. Rocks, a decendent of Davy D. Jones, never got to see his plans fully go to fruition before dying. BUT, in doing so, allowed his son, Blackbeard, to survive and give it the ole Davy try in the present. And while Blackbeard isn’t ready to destroy the World Government, he’s well on his way! He’s got the crew, the darkness-darkness fruit, and someone willing to spill the beans on Pluton’s hidden location beneath Wano.
What’s left for Blackbeard to do before giving the World Government the D. Clan boot? Finding the One Piece! Whatever’s on Laugh Tale may be the key to ultimately destroying the WG and Blackbeard needs it! That and some Eternal Flame to power Pluton. What? You think it’s gonna run on AA batteries? But that’s a discussion for another time.
If only Garling hadn’t brought that paper mache sword, he never would’ve beaten Rocks.
So, Rocks is dead, but we learned Imu’s Domi Reversi curse can be reversed with enough haki. I smell a Luffy and Loki team-up against Imu!
Oda skipped a scene showing Rayleigh and Gaban saving Roger and Garp from God’s Knights. Why? Heck if I know. Probably to hide Gaban’s knowledge that Supreme King haki infused attacks affects the Knights ability to regenerate. Absolutely unnecessary. Every fricking thing doesn’t need to be hidden up to the last second, Oda!
The Roger Pirates find Baby Shanks inside of a treasure chest. I guess his full name’s printed on his clothes somewhere. Hey, mom had to tell him and Shamrock apart someway.
Well, looks like the big DraftKings Haki fight is over.
Winners:Monkey D. Garp and Gol D. Roger
Luckily for them, Gaban and Rayleigh will save those two since defeating Rocks took every ounce of big D. energy they had. Gonna take a lot of V8 bottles and D3 vitamins to get them back on their feet.
Rocks’ Crew have officially broken up. Either “betrayed” by Davy Hasselhoff D. Xebec or just grabbed some loot and bounced. Do I care? No. None of them are worth talking about except for Edward Newgate. I find it interesting Newgate left on Captain Polo Gram’s ship. I never would’ve guessed our favorite Quaker met Marco’s father.
Bye-bye, Polo Gram!
I’ve seen better fight scenes watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
Ain’t no dang-darn-doobley way the Rocks Pirates didn’t notice Rocks was possessed!
Seriously, Oda? Big Mom, Kaido, and Edward Newgate never noticed their CAPTAIN—whose body grew larger, gained monstrous fangs, sounds different, and sprouted WINGS—was being controlled by the giant monster who’d impaled him just a moment ago?
Hey. Come over here a moment, Oda. Come on, this won’t take but a second…
Let me guess, you didn’t know how to breakup the Rocks Pirates when you first introduced the idea earlier in the series, right? It’s okay. You can tell me.
…Yeah. I thought so.
Look. It happens. You write something cool then can’t quite make the plot fit perfectly to justify it, so you do what you can hoping no one notices. Don’t worry, we forgive you!
It’s fitting Imu’s the One Piece devil because he’s boring as Hell.
And my lack of interest in this Super Duper Big Bag is one big reason why I’m not loving this part of the flashback.
Imu rules the world!
Imu’s evil to the core!
Imu’s uber-powerful!
Yeah…but what’s Imu’s motivation? What’s his endgame? He mentions wanting a perfect world. What does that mean? The total destruction of all sentient life? To flood the planet in order to have the largest swimming pool ever? Give me something, Oda.
I know. I know. All will be revealed later. Yeah, like in the final arcs of the damn story! That’s just not soon enough for me. Especially, with all we have to chew on until the final flashback is an overpowered monster with the personality of a packet of mayonnaise.
Forget Imu’s origin. The biggest mystery box is how Garp kept his job after punching his boss’s bosses’ boss.
Look, I’m just tired of all the mystery boxes. We’re getting the barebones minimum of the history of the One Piece world in a part of the series where the author himself has said it’s the story’s final saga. Nothing wrong with mystery boxes, but too much of a good thing can ruin a story for some readers. The constant teasing of future reveals, the slow IV drips of new lore, and the unnecessary and overblown use of silhouettes of characters that don’t have to be silhouetted just to drum up hype. Hey, Oda-sensei? GET ON WITH IT!
Well, Imu & Saturn VS Davy Tennant D. Xebec, Edward Newgate, and Kaido Smith to be more accurate. But that fight’s setup at the very end. Let’s talk about what happened elsewhere in this chapter.
…Not much.
Seriously. Just a lot of running around and off-screen battles. If I didn’t read this for free, I’d demand my money back and a free pumpkin spice latte!
…Um, Garp finally noticed the hundreds of dead civilian bodies spread across the island. I guess that’s the reason he decided not to be a Navy Admiral, as to not be directly under the Celestial Dragons’ control. Great idea, Garp! Too bad entire civilizations on unaffiliated World Government islands are still dying in Human Hunts and you’re basically letting it happen. But, it’s okay, Y’all. Because even though Garp’s complacent, he feels bad about all the mass murdering and genocide. Ugh!
The Rocks Pirate joining the “No Kings” protest.
There’s still the chance Garp is the one who creates SWORD but again, what’s his endgame?
Other than everything that’s happening with Teen Dragon, Baby Shanks, Davy Rocks, Marshall Mathers D. Teech, and the poor innocents being hunted by rich authoritarians with unchecked power…I’m kinda uninterested.
I’m waiting…
I’m waiting to see Kuma, Ivankov, and Ginny escape God Valley.
I’m waiting for Dragon to hide Baby Shanks in a treasure cheat so a pirate crew can take him away.
I’m waiting to see Dragon confronting a Garp who seems completely uninterested in acknowledging the Celestial Dragons MASS MURDERING the residents of an entire island!
I’m waiting for Rocks to— Hold up! Let’s talk about Monkey D. Garp for a second.
Garp! Garp! He’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can! Except for the Admirals, Holy Knights, Five Elders…
Reading this chapter, I couldn’t stop thinking about Gaza, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and other places in our world where genocide is currently happening.
Because of that, was the toughest chapter of One Piece to get through.
Ah, screw it! No review today, kids. I’m just not up to it. Here, watch this video from an interesting One Piece YouTuber I recently discovered. Redgeek, out.
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Da-ba-dee, da-ba-di! Bluegeek’s here to save the day! You brats want a review? I’ll give you one.
At God Valley, the Celestial Dragons are on vacation just trying to have a little fun, but Baby Monkey D. Dragon’s all “Boo hoo! People are dying!” People die all the time! Dragon definitely gets a weather devil fruit ’cause that guy’s a total snowflake.
You know what? Let just go through the chapter and talk about everything that comes to mind, okay?
Shakky. She’s just there to be the ultimate damsel-in-distress. That’s her role in the story: To get the Roger Pirates to God Valley. …Ow! I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out of my skull. Next!
Looks like Wang Zhi was the government narc all along. That slimeball really set himself up good, considering he controls Pirate Island for decades until Blackbeard’s takeover. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, kids. Let me know when you find it.
Garling is such a bastard! He found his God Valley hookup just to kill her. What a great villain to hate. It’s no wonder Shamrock’s a total dickhead too. I can’t wait for both of their downfalls.
I’m sure you’ve heard of my mother, Catherine Zeta-D. Jones.
Monkey D. Dragon. I’d figure it’d take a while, but it seems like Dragon learned just how disgusting the Celestial Dragons are early in his Navy career. The God Valley incident was plenty enough to send Dragon down the revolutionary path.
So…why is Garp still apart of the organization? What’s going on here? Is Garp somehow playing some sort of long game against the World Government, or does he truly believe he can change things from within the system? I’m looking forward to Daddy Garp and Dragon’s final conversation before Lil’ D quits the Navy.
Mammoth Base Opera Castle 