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Manga One Piece

Well, Excuse Me, Princess! [One Piece 1173]

Can’t have an One Piece arc these days without having to save a princess. Huh, Oda?

A young woman with blue hair and no pants. Imu really has a thing for that type of lover. Or, should I say sex slave? Or are we going to believe an evil bastard like Imu isn’t gonna take advantage of a young brainwashed woman? Imu Epstein aside, looks like we’re getting another damsel-in-distress princess for the Straw Hats to save.

And, with that to look forward to, we’ll soon see someone with a deep-sea contract freed from Imu’s control. Will that come with a side of Shuri/Brook backstory? Probably. And don’t even think about Shuri not being redeemed for all of her brainwashed shenanigans for dessert. What? Did you really think Gunko (a woman who’s NOT a mom in a flashback) was gonna die? In One Piece? Ha!

Who knew Hajrudin and Stansen were so petty. They should change their group name to The New Butthutt Pirates.

So, Zoro’s big-brained plan was just attacking from above. Simple, yet effective. Not exactly worthy of being hyped-up last chapter, but it’s a weekly series. Every chapter can’t end on a cliffhanger that pays off. See, Oda? I can be understanding, sometimes.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Last Time On… [One Piece 1172]

Flashback’s over. Let’s get back to the Straw Hats!

…A recap chapter!? NOOOOO!

Guess I’ll touch on the non-recappy parts, like Chief Jarul finally coming (somewhat) clean about what went down in Aurust Castle fourteen years ago. I still think it was a dumb decision to stay quiet, but I like Jarul going with keeping the secret in order to prevent a losing war against the World Government as a valid reason. That makes more sense than the B.S. reasons Loki was spewing out in the flashback.

Zoro has a plan. Well, I’ve got one too: Burn down the boats! No boats. No trips off Elbaph. That could be Zoro’s plan too. Either that, or just cutting Branch 8 so the kids can’t reach the harbor. Oh Zoro! I’m—erm—I mean YOU are such a genius! And mad cute too! ♥

So who’s gonna do what? Prediction time!

Wait. You said three enemies or Mr. 3? Sorry, I’m listening to Beck’s new album.
Categories
Manga One Piece

Elbaph: My Life on the D-List [One Piece 1171]

Sorry, Oda. You didn’t convince me Loki keeping Harald’s rampage a secret was a good idea.

Elbaph’s citizens not accepting Loki as their new king despite his justified killing of Harald? Sure. I’ll give you that.

Loki feeling undeserving to become king because of his past and genuine guilt from killing his own father? Yep. I get it.

Loki determined to make the World Government pay for putting the whammy on Harald? I’m with you, Oda-sensei.

So, why not just tell the people of Elbaph what happened, with Jarul and Gaban backing you up?!

Seriously. Why not? The citizens won’t want you as their king? Fine! You don’t want the job anyway! They’ll still blame you for it? Fine! You wanna leave and take on the World Government anyway, so it doesn’t matter!

It. Doesn’t. Matter.

WRONG! It’s E-L-B-A-P-H.

Loki being imprisoned in The Underworld seems like an half-assed excuse to keep Loki’s true motivations secret from the readers until it was time for the action-packed back half of the arc. It feels so forced to me.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Stop! Hammer Time! [One Piece 1170]

All it took to defeat King Harald was a powerful, ancient blood giant with the color of supreme king haki and the added power of an ancient zoan fruit who also wields an incredible ancient weapon that also ate a devil fruit.

Simple, yet effective.

The flashback itself seems less about the drama (which is hard for me to get into because of how stupid Harald had to act to get into this situation) and more about Oda holding off revealing Loki’s devil fruit ability and Ragnir for as long as possible. And even now, Loki’s devil fruit didn’t get a full reveal because Oda must wait until the big super awesome fight against Imu in Elbaph to unveil it. But, I’m sure it’s all gonna be worth it.

…Sorry. Sarcasm’s hard to display in reviews sometimes. *AHEM!* NO! It WON’T be worth it.

Haki is the alpha. Haki is the omega. Haki is all. All is haki. How to defeat Imu’s knights? Haki.

How to defeat someone under Imu’s Domi Reversi? Haki.

I guess that explains why the flying death hammer smells like hazelnuts.
Categories
Manga One Piece

A Royal Pain [One Piece 1169]

Oh, no! King Harald’s gone crazy!

Anyway, pass me another glass of eggnog. *BURP!*

See? That’s why I always tell you kids: Never make deals with the devil!

[And yes, that includes billionaires, movie producers, and those people who make fake AI trailers on YouTube.]

So… How do you kill an immortal ancient giant wearing sexy black leather pants? Easy. Make his sexy ancient giant son in sexy black leather pants eat the royal devil, then beat his father to death with a hammer. DUH!

That’s pretty much the entire chapter. Harald’s compelled to follow Imu’s orders to turn Elbaph’s citizens into an army. And Loki’s gotta eat a devil fruit in order to get powerful enough to stop him.

Oh! And Shanks and Gaban show up for the assist. So, yeah, they know the truth about what went down that day. Why didn’t they just tell the citizens of Elbaph Harald went crazy due to a weird power from the World Government? They live in a world full of magical fruit. Not like it wouldn’t be hard to believe. Especially with Chief Jarul and Gaban backing up the story. Can’t tarnish Harald’s legacy, I guess.

Tricked by the EVIL World Government?! You don’t say?
Categories
Manga One Piece

Silly Harald, Troops Are For Kings! [One Piece 1168]

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!
Categories
Manga One Piece

Tattooed Teenage Machiavellian Fighters from Beverly Hills [One Piece 1167]

Shhh! Shanks is undercover!

Quite the truth-seeker that Shanks is, eh?

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.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Heart Attack [One Piece 1157]

Is this how the Rocks Pirates/Roger Pirates rivalry starts?

Both legendary pirate crews fighting over Shakky like she’s an object to be won? Yeah. It’s Oda we’re talking about. No doubt it’s how it all starts.

If Gloriosa’s in love with Gol D. Roger, why is she apart of Rocks D. Xebec’s crew? Did she just join them because she can’t hang out on Amazon Lily and they’ll eventually run into Roger? Is Gloriosa the eventual mother of Marshall D. Teech? No, wait. Gloriosa’s last name isn’t Teech, it’s… Ooooh! We don’t know yet. Hmm…

Interesting how we see the Rocks Pirates robbing a corrupt charity organization. Did Oda do that to make Rocks a more complicated character? Or, did he do so to keep Edward Newgate (Whitebeard)’s deeds relatively clean?

Maybe both.

All hail Nami w/ Lip Injections!

I find both the how and why Rocks’ trying to takeover the world interesting. How do you defeat such a powerful group as the World Government? And is Rocks doing all of it because he thinks the Celestial Dragons deserve to be dethroned or is he simply doing all of this because he’s a megalomanic?

Maybe both.

How does Rocks know about Monkey D. Garp’s hatred of the top brass? Is it widely known or is there more going on here? Could Rocks have his own double agent working for the Navy? Hmm…

Categories
Manga One Piece

All The Single Kuja [One Piece 1156]

Eiichiro Oda screwed the Kuja Pirates. And not in a good way.

It’s bad enough Amazon Lily’s current head honcho’s known more for her beauty than talent. But, in today’s chapter, we learn that’s always been the case!

The Kuja Pirates aren’t dangerous because of their resources, or skill, or strength. No. It’s because they’re attractive.

That’s it.

If they happened to be gorgeous but still kick ass like Wonder Woman or Xena: Warrior Princess, fine. I’d have no problem with that. They’ll just be powerful fighters who happened to be attractive. BUT! Making Boa Hancock, Glorioso, and Shakky’s beauty their defining trait (and the ONLY reason they win fights) is lazy.

And just plain misogynistic.

Oh, please! Cara Delevingne did the same flip at her photoshoot last month in 12-inch pumps while holding two bouquets of roses. Poser!

Let’s talk about the second, better half of this chapter, shall we?

Categories
Manga One Piece

Rocks, Caper, Scissors [One Piece 1155]

Rocks D. Xebec is such a vibrant and bombastic character. I can almost hear his voice inside my head.

You hear that? Guess it was just the wind…

Anyway, let’s talk about this chapter.

It opens with Kid Loki getting hurt by Rocks—all to get Harald’s attention so he’d come back to Elbaph—then IMMEADIATELY transitions to another flashback.

The Reverie. Hmm… I wonder what Rocks thinks of the Reverie.

Rocks captured five kings to create a panic so he could sneak into Imu’s Chamber of Flowers. Makes me wonder if he had a chance to pump any of those kings for information.

Inside the Chamber of Flowers, Rocks confronts Imu—whom he seems to already know is the secret ruler of the world—and his female assistant(?) who looks to be Gunko. How the heck did Rocks learn of Imu? Good question. Let me know if you figure it out, because I haven’t got a clue.

I can only imagine what Rocks thinks of Imu.

Looks like Gunko’s no mere Holy Knight. But I guess it makes since Imu has someone tending to his every whim. And that person has to be a Celestial Dragon to help keep things secret.

How’d Rocks get into The Chamber of Flowers? Easy. He found the key hidden under the welcome mat.

It’s mentioned Rocks is a worshipper of Davy Jones. I never really thought about the character since his mention back during the Straw Hats Davy Back Fight against the Foxy Pirates. Seems like there’s more to Mr. Jones than I thought. Could he even had been a member of Joy Boy’s crew?!

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