#Oda you can’t just give us a lady with a D. in her name and then do nothing with her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

purplehairedwonder · 2 years

Text

Chapter 1063: Ambush

When I read the spoilers this week and saw Law’s name, I actually gasped. I had just resigned myself to not seeing him for at least a year, if not longer--depending on how long this current arc lasted. But we must truly be in the endgame if we’re seeing flashes to the outside world in the middle of an arc rather than between arcs.

And then I saw what was happening with Law and basically had this reaction:

Me: I miss Law already. I hope we see him sooner rather than later. Oda: Law vs. Blackbeard Me: NO NOT LIKE THAT

But I’ll come back to this. First, the cover story:

So, it looks like Kuzan kidnapped Pudding, which would give Blackbeard the ability to read the Poneglyphs. For all the twisted nature of the Charlotte family, you can tell they really care about one another.

Of course, Zoro’s request from last chapter was left on a cliffhanger. Still, we have some good moments with divorced dad Jinbei and his Devil Fruit-eating children.

And thus, the Glutton Trio was born XD

And Atlas throwing some shade at Jinbei, but Jinbei just goes with it.

I love him. So much.

And just when I don’t think I can love him any more, he becomes even more the divorced dad with his Hawaiian shirt.

Huge eyeroll for Bonney’s outfit. Why would a battle suit not have pants?

Luffy also gets new threads:

The boots are giving Mega Man vibes.

Also nice to see Luffy using his future sight here with the Pacifista.

Luffy attacks the Pacifista -- and it’s nice to see Luffy fully aware that this is a Pacifista and not the real Kuma -- and Bonney interferes.

This is a cool shot of Bonney.

The shot of a younger Kuma and Bonney is actually heartbreaking. (Kuma looks a bit like Kyros here.)

She has to know this isn’t her father. Is her reaction that she doesn’t like the visual of Luffy attacking a Pacifista that looks like her father? Oof.

Okay, anyway. To the completely unexpected part of the chapter: TRAFALGAR D. WATER LAW IS BACK.

The Blackbeard Pirates have ambushed the Hearts, and the Tang has taken too much damage to stay submerged.

And suddenly...

The fandom explodes. Oda’s been finding ways to bring a number of his SBS sketches into canon, from the young Warlords (Seraphim) to female Law. This is so random and more evidence someone needs to bonk Oda and send him to horny jail.

(She is really cute, though.)

I can’t stop laughing at female Bepo in the background though.

Shachi and Penguin are such dorks, and Law has no patience for it. I love their friendship.

For all the people (looking at you, Reddit) who think Law has weak Haki, well...

He’s able to overcome the effects of Doc Q’s powers with his Haki.

Look, Doc Q’s powers are the ability to spread disease, so I find the idea that being a woman is a “disease” pretty gross. I’d like to know if Ikkaku turned into a man during this; if the “disease” is just changing genders, then my annoyance drops significantly.

Still, the translation of “Ma-lady” was clever. I’ll be interested to see the official translation of this line.

(Update: The official called it the “Feminizaton Disease.” Gross.)

We see the various Devil Fruits members of the Blackbeard Pirates have gotten, including the Warp-Warp Fruit and the Buff-Buff Fruit.

I was thinking about this, but @chromatic-lamina has a nice breakdown here of how these powers are essentially all things Law’s own fruit can do. He seems like the best person to counter these various powers.

And then the big man himself arrives -- hilariously, on the back of Doc Q.

I love this panel with Law popping out of the panels as he faces Blackbeard. (Also, he’s still in his tank top. Now I may need to be bonked, oops.)

What’s really interesting to me here, though, is the familiarity with which Blackbeard is speaking. It shows they clearly interacted at Rocky Port. And, lest we forget, Blackbeard is holding Coby -- the so-called hero of Rocky Port -- captive. This is where we learn what happened during that incident, isn’t it? *vibrates in excitement*

Am I worried about Law here? Yes. Law has a damaged ship and Blackbeard plus three of his lieutenants. Is Law going to hold his own in this fight? Absolutely. I mean, look at this face.

He doesn’t look afraid. However, Blackbeard and his people fight dirty.

There is zero narrative purpose to killing Law here. For one thing, if Oda planned to kill Law as soon as Wano ended, there was no need to give him the new motivation to learn about the Will of D. Yes, Robin is also interested, but Law is the only D. we’ve seen who wants to know about his name. For another, Luffy doesn’t need more motivation to want to fight Blackbeard; his role in Ace’s death is plenty.

But Blackbeard also is going to get some kind of win here, I think.

That said, I could easily see Law being taken captive and, held alongside Coby, we learn about the Rocky Port incident. I could also see an interruption to the fight a la Rayleigh coming to Amazon Lily.

I hope it’s not off-screened, but then again, the last time we saw Sabo, he was on an island that got nuked and we haven’t heard anything since.

(Are we going to see what Kid is up to in a future chapter as well? I’m still so surprised to see Law so soon after the end of Wano.)

#One Piece #One Piece 1063 #One Piece chapter 1063 #One Piece spoilers #Trafalgar Law #Blackbeard #Monkey D. Luffy #Jewelry Bonney #Tony Tony Chopper #Jinbei

87 notes · View notes

neverwatchedonepiece · 6 years

Text

517-519: "The Beginning of the New Chapter! The Straw Hats Reunited!", "An Explosive Situation! Luffy vs. Fake Luffy!" and "The Navy Has Set Out! The Straw Hats in Danger!"

The hat is back on!

I was excited about this. Was also oddly excited to click on the “Fishman Island” arc on CR, finally, after so long on Marineford.

These episodes were another curve ball for me. I thought the timeskip would go one of two ways: either they’d all meet straight away at Sabaody, group hug, then sail off into the New World, or we’d get a training montage for each Strawhat before the meeting.

Then I remembered you guys mentioned there would be a mini-arc and I cursed myself for being dense.

There’s not much plot to it. Some fake Strawhats are blighting the real ones’ good name and reputation. Unfortunately for them, 3D2Y is kicking off and the real Strawhats are gathering on Sabaody like the Avengers Assemble. Plus, pretending to be an infamous pirate crew isn’t a great idea when the Marines and World Government are after them.

I think I can see what’s coming. The fake Strawhats are light-hearted fodder, there only to show off their real counterparts’ training. And bring some lulz. No idea how it’ll unfold, though. That’s half the fun of watching One Piece, to be honest.

Luffy

It was good to see Oda hasn’t tinkered with Luffy’s design too much. (Saying that, I liked the Strong World outfit). He still has those flip flops and cut offs, but now the red vest has sleeves and is open at the chest. (Gotta expose dat 8 pack and scars, right?)

Of course, the iconic straw hat was picked up at the beginning of the episode. He was ready! Hancock and the Kuja pirates were there to see him off. Hancock packed Luffy half a year’s worth of supplies in a massive pack and gave him a handy-dandy Groucho Marx disguise in case any Marines spotted him prior to sailing out.

(Is it me, or does Luffy finally realise Hancock likes him? He kept saying, “I’m not getting married.” Though I did like the part when he refused to say goodbye because he wanted to see her again. That was nice of him. He acknowledges just how much Hancock helped him - and she helped A LOT. You could argue Luffy is as indebted to Hancock as to Rayleigh, Jimbei and Ivankov.)

Then, he set off! The next time we saw him, his massive backpack nudged Fake Luffy. There was an altercation.

Of course, Luffy couldn’t retaliate. Drawing attention to himself and bringing the Marines down on his head before he reunited with his crew would be a Bad Idea.

He did get his own back. Just not in a way that would draw attention.

When Fake Luffy fired the gun, I cheered because Real Luffy gave us a teaser of his new power. Observational Haki! Armament Haki! Conqueror’s Haki! He deflected the bullet, dodged it, then floored the Fakers without lifting a finger.

Honestly, I cannot wait until Luffy’s next big fight. Sentomaru has returned with some Pacifistas. I hope the Strawhats get their rematch. Oooh, maybe the Pacifistas will be fodder now....

Nami and Usopp

Look at them.

Look at how beautiful Nami and Usopp are.

It seems that over the course of two years, certain Strawhats have ended up with less clothes than they started with.

Nami has lost her t-shirt, but at least she has that bikini, right? Like Luffy, Usopp has buffed up and has a shirtless look to show off his gainz. They both have longer hair too - and it looks good on them.

Not sure about this comment from Usopp, "I don't belong to the weak trio with you and Chopper. I became a warrior who is not fazed by anything!" I guess (or I hope) it was acknowledged by all three that they were the weakest members of the crew, but it’s a bit much saying he’s graduated to a higher tier. Especially since he doesn’t know what Nami and Chopper have been doing. I like that Usopp has found some more confidence, but don’t find it at the expense of your friends.

Or, it’s classic Usopp overcompensating because he’s underconfident. Or he’s just joking.

Nami must have quiet confidence in her fighting ability because she sat at that bar in Sabaody on her own and talked back to Fake Luffy who had just shot someone. She can control the weather and summon thunderclouds indoors. That is not someone you’d mess with.

Usopp has some new weapons in his arsenal too. He’s weaponised the plants from Bowin Island and I’ll bet he has much more than carnivorous plants up his sleeve.

I love how casually they walked out of the bar, talking about their training, “Yeah, so I was studying new weather tech on a Sky Island...” while thunderclouds tore the bar apart in the background.

And Nami was driving a hard bargain for a discount. Never change, Nami. Never change...

Zoro and Sanji

Never realised how much I missed these guys and their bickering until I had a genuine laugh-out-loud moment (in 519, I think?)

I love Zoro’s new design. I think it’s my favourite out of the new outfits. The green robe looks great. It gives him more gravitas, as though he has now graduated from Sword Training School and is allowed to wear the academic gown. Not sure what kind of garment it is, but it’s definitely more traditional.

Sanji is still in a suit. I liked his previous style, so I’m kind of glad Oda didn’t mess with it too much. Sanji and suits are like Luffy and flip-flops, you know? He’s changed his shirt, has grown a goatee (which, of course Zoro noticed and roasted Sanji for it) and maybe his hair’s a bit longer?

Zoro arrived at Shakky’s bar first. This was a source of woe for poor Sanji, who arrived seventh after Franky, Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Brook. (Robin was eighth because she had to shake some CP goons off her tail.)

The fact that Zoro arrived first was nothing short of a miracle. I’m still not sure how he managed it. Maybe Perona dropped him off right at the door. When Sanji arrived, he was overcome with emotion at the sight of women to the point his enthusiasm freaked out a couple of innocent ladies. Then Sanji met Duval (I love how they’re friends now) checked out the kitchen and went food shopping.

On the way, he met Zoro.

Zoro wanted to go fishing. Rayleigh and Shakky shouldn’t have let him out of their sight. Instead of getting on a fishing boat, he boarded a pirate galleon and fell asleep. Sure enough, the ship set sail with him on it. “THAT IDIOT!” Sanji yelled. But it was okay. Of course Zoro would do something like that. At least the ship was headed for Fishman Island and they knew where Zoro would be.

I was annoyed for a half a second (rob Zoro of the big reunion? How dare you!) But then he showed off some of his new skills. Mihawk-esque skills. He sliced an entire pirate galleon in half. It was awesome. He still has great lines too. “I ruined your New World dream? No. It was your fault for allowing a plague on your ship.”

Has Zoro taken a Mihawk level in edginess? I think so.

Then they started arguing on the way back and I honestly laughed out loud at their shit-flinging contest.

“Stay with me, or you’ll get lost!”

“Who’re you talking to, moustache eyebrow!”

“Shut up, lost moss!”

“How could number seven talk bossily to number one?”

“SHUT UP, I TRAINED MY LEGS IN HELL FOR TWO YEARS!”

“BRING IT ON, I’LL CUT YOU IN HALF!!”

They love to pretend they hate each other, don’t they?

Chopper

Aw, Chopper. He has definitely take an level in cuteness. Chopper is a rare example of more clothes. He has acquired a cute, stripey shirt and red shorts. The hat is okay. It’s huge. Maybe to accommodate his massive brain (because he has absorbed the contents of all those medical books, right?) Must say I prefer his old hat. Mainly because Dr Hiluluk gave it to him and it’s a huge part of his identity. Parts of it are still there, but I guess it’s difficult to change Chopper a lot, so the hat is an obvious target.

Haven’t seen any of his new abilities yet, so Chopper hasn’t changed at all personality wise. He still loves cotton candy and, like Luffy, is still absolutely hopeless at seeing through lies and bad disguises. The part when Chopper was running after the Fake Strawhats and crying out at them to rescue Fake Robin was a bit daft. I mean Chopper did admit later on to Nami that the Fake Robin, “didn’t smell familiar.” But then, that’s the gag. It goes all the way back to Sogeking, so I’ll let it slide. :)

He really thought the Strawhats had changed so much, though. It was interesting to see that he’d stick to his principles and go rescue Robin himself: a real marker of Chopper’s new determination and confidence in his own abilities!

After that stressful moment, it was nice to see how glad Nami and Usopp were to see him, hugging him and telling him how much softer his fur was, how much bigger he’d grown. And Chopper’s outrage once he realised there were impostors about: “WAIT, NOW I’M MAD!”

Even though he’s stronger, kind, innocent Chopper hasn’t changed that much.

Robin and Franky

Again, how good do these two look? Robin is the most drastic change out of all the Strawhats. Could you believe I actually didn’t recognise her at first? (Only the eyes and the voice acting finally gave it away.) The blunt bangs/fringe/whatever you call them were iconic to her look, so it’s a definite departure. She looks great, though. Similar to Boa Hancock.

I’m 100% being Franky’s new look. The colour scheme is the same (red/blue) and he has his loud fashion sense, but the chunky cybernetic enhancements, the sharp shades and the buzz really add an intimidating edge to Franky that he was missing pre-timeskip. And apparently, the Sunny has some new weapons as well as a Full Underwater Coating courtesy of Rayleigh. Can’t wait to see what nightmarish destroyers of ships Franky has constructed! >:D

Franky injected some tension into the narrative, which was cool, even though I am 99% certain it will turn out fine in the end. While losing the CP9 goons trailing her, Robin picked up a poster for Brook’s concert. Quite rightly, she WTF’d over it and asked Franky if he knew what was going on.

“Brook's quite the star now. From the lonely shadows to a place where everyone cheers for him. He might not come back to pirating again.”

Surely Brook would not be so ungrateful to abandon the friends who lifted him out of loneliness into the spotlight again?

Nah. Brook’s not like that. I’d bet money it.

Soul King?

Brook has now graduated from garage band Slash-wannabe to issuing health and well-being advice via the genre of soul and the medium of arena tours.

He has acquired a manager. Before the gig, Brook had something to tell him and I’ll bet it was about quitting.

I’m still wondering how Brook got away with becoming so famous. Wasn’t he identified at Sabaody when Kizaru kicked their asses two years ago? Hasn’t his bounty poster been updated since? Did not a single Marine think, “Hey, there was a talking skeleton in the Strawhats’ company at Sabaody. Here is another one on TV. Coincidence?”

Love that we got to hear most of the song, though. Brook hasn’t changed that much, either. He still loves those skeleton puns.

(I am very behind on replies, btw. I know. I will reply to every single one tomorrow. ^_^)

“Move, bitch. Get out the way. Get out the way, bitch. Get out the way!” - Ludacris

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #sanji #usopp #nami #tony tony chopper #nico robin #franky #brook #silvers rayleigh #thousand sunny #shakky #fake strawhats

75 notes · View notes

pxrtgasdace · 6 years

Note

(in an AU situation where Roger was in the picture, how different of a character do you think Ace would be?)

♠ @xfaucheuse. munday.

You once asked me something about Roger, but that was for me to answer in character. For the second time in a row I feel forced to cheat but… It does depend on what criteria play in this inclusion of Roger’s.

Meta under the cut.

Firsly, it’s fair to break down just which types of loathing Ace feels for Roger, even if for a bit.

One, Roger had the gall to, as the world’s most infamous pirate, sully a pure lady and condemn her to a bad fate (for we must remember Rouge was searched after), purely by associating with her. Roger’s sin begins with this contact. Of course had he not done so, Ace would not exist in the first place and it’s not smart to defend a mother who might have not been a mother had things been different, but Ace can be so fiery and protective of Rouge as to ignore reason.

Two, Roger was partly responsible for Rouge’s death, though Ace places himself first as his mother’s murderer. If contact was not enough, he left her with child while aware his time was running out, which is a despicable thing to do. I have no idea what contraceptive methods exist in the world of OP but, from Ace’s POV, no good man who knows he’ll die soon one way or another - illness or gallows - leaves a woman who’s alone in the world with an extra mouth to feed. As a pregnant woman, Rouge was chased - which Ace would at some point learn from Garp - and while this event speaks volumes of Rouge’s will, to Ace it also speaks volumes of Roger’s carelessness to “walk around Baterilla as though he were but a civilian”. (I am paraphrasing some character, possibly Sengoku; I’m afraid I do not have notes on this).

Three, there’s a feeling of abandonment here on the behalf of himself and of Rouge too, for the aforementioned reasons. If Roger meant to have a family, he left his family behind, arguably doing nothing for its sake. (We do not know whether Roger took some preventive measure for Rouge’s sake but, if he did, it must have been ineffective, as she survived just enough by her own merit). The one measure he took was to ask Garp to adopt and raise the baby. Ace would have mixed feelings about that, on one hand feeling it’s the only good think the bastard made (not ignoring the bittersweet taste of what his existence is); on the other finding it all the more reason to hate Roger, as though he treated his son like a poor puppy who’d otherwise die without a carer. And what did Garp do? Raise Ace as his own father? No. He’s not even in the role of father but of grandfather, and at some point would little Ace think Garp doesn’t actually want to be so, if he left a baby with mountain bandits.

Then of course we leave Rouge aside and enter Ace’s particular existentialism. Roger is the root of all (of Ace’s) evil(s). Piracy is in his blood and so is anger, rebellion, which happen to be the things he can pride himself about. He loves and hates the way he is, if it comes from Roger. It’s best if he doesn’t think much about his personality in connection with Roger!

In the end, all of these nuances amass themselves in a big ball of loathing (and a smaller one of self-loathing too), and while might not seem important - just nuances, as I said - to me it is important, especially if the question is the exact one you asked. As I said, it depends of a number of terms.

If Roger survives and stays with Rouge, then it’s safe to assume Ace would love him, for they would be a happy family. Perhaps not happy, proper, as Roger’s infamy would make them WG prey or force them into hiding, but at least Ace would be a boy with two parents who love each other very much and, to a kid, that might be enough. Ace’s call to piracy would either be forbidden (if the circumstances make it so) or applauded and one day Ace might become Roger’s fist-hand man. Ace would take up a civilian profession if he had anonymity and be, as a whole, happier with a humble life than he is in canon.

I could link this to how I envision things had Rouge survived and raised Ace but I’d be going way off topic.

If Roger survives but doesn’t stay with Rouge, then Ace’s feelings would be based on whether they know Roger’s alive. Say he and Rouge do, because ‘the criminal Roger is still at large’, Ace would hate him for the reason he never calls him. He’d still be a bit of a brat, a headstrong one at that, and blame the man he would accept as his father for not caring about the family. His mind would understand Roger’s being chased and all that but he’d refuse to believe it. In time, growing up with Rouge while Roger remains alive, not visiting Baterilla where they live, Ace would stop considering Roger as his father, as chances are he would see how fathers and sons interact in the locals, and decide Roger can’t be a father if he’s absent. He would stay quiet seeing such talk upset Rouge, but he would hate Roger all the same. If Roger died on the run and the news reached them, then he would blame him even more at seeing Rouge’s suffering but nothing else would have changed - Ace would have cared for and protected his mother since infancy in this context, “the (little) man of the house”. If, on the other hand, Roger returned, there would be an argument starting with “You’re not welcome here”

But say Rouge dies, Ace is taken to Dawn Island and Dadan WHILE Roger is alive? Pretty much the canon biography we know but with Roger present in the background? Ah, then, again, I have to say it depends on when Roger becomes part of the picture.

While Ace wouldn’t run to him calling ‘daddy!’, I say the younger Ace is, the higher Roger’s chances of setting things right are. There would be a confrontation still, should Roger come to Mt. Colubo during Ace’s childhood. After all, Ace is something like a hand-me-down son, given by Roger to Garp and by Garp to Dadan, and that to a child should translate as “father didn’t want me / no one wants me”. It would take Roger a lot of time and convincing but, in this state, he could still turn Ace around if he knew how - getting closer step by step, day by day, enchant Ace with stories of the seas and faraway lands and all those fairytale things a little boy would marvel at. He could, in time, accept Roger as his father and once that’s settled, they might stay together or go separate ways, with the promise of meeting on high seas once Ace is a grown-up man.

My view on this might change but, right now, I am inclined to say that, if Roger appared and redeemed himself during Ace’s childhood, that pride he has got in him - the one that makes him snap at anyone who badmouths Pops, for instance - might channel into him liking the idea of being ‘Pirate Prince’. Not in the sense of him acting he’s got a crown on his head, but as in feeling pride in being Roger’s son and wanting to sail with him - I don’t doubt the WG would dub him ‘Pirate Prince’ then. Somehow they tend to empower pirates by giving them epithets that make them legitimate enemies rather than stand superior to them.

But say, in this context, it’s not during childhood that Roger comes to Ace but much later? I am proud to say I have a taste of it thanks to the great nonny who came here to roleplay this situation with me. Something I did not know I wanted and needed so bad! Now that… That would be the Ace we all know and love but an arguably worse one at meeting his dad. It’s the catharsis.

For the first time in a long time, Ace would feel a will to kill. One that has nothing to do with the dangers of the sea and the confrontations they raise. A very selfish - though not totally so, as part of it would be in the name of Rouge - unrestrained, animalistic want to kill. If that ever got animated, I am sure that would be the first time audiences would see a truly dangerous Ace who’s closer to being the likes of a villain than a good guy.

This being said, I do not believe Ace would get to kill Roger. Yes, the Roger nonny plays is in a wheelchair so he can’t fight back, naturally that changes things a bit - however I find it brilliant of nonny to play with Roger’s disease like so.

It’s not in Ace’s core. In a ‘real life’ kind of way, people can lose control, lose themselves, and say see ya to their core for the sake of feelings and emotions impossible to control. However, from an author’s standpoint, there’s enough calm for a character to remain true to their core, because fiction allows us to control that which we, as flawed humans, can’t.

And what’s Ace’s core, do you ask? Protection. He’s an older brother. A pirate captain. A commander. He’s responsible for lives and would blame himself for Thatch’s death, even if Thatch’s life was not on his hands - but Marshall D. Teach was one of his men, therefore, blame reflects on the commander. Yes he’s angry. Yes, he is violent. But he is not about being destructive of others, otherwise Oda would have made a villain out of him.

This is why Ace’s “element” is fire. It’s dangerous, passionate, can be untamable but, once tamed, it’s an element of protection, warmth and light, a beacon, which is exactly what Ace is to those he loves and, arguably, to the series itself.

Therefore, in this confrontation, we would be scared of Ace but he would not be able to and have an epiphany or two, That he’s Roger’s blood, not Roger himself. That he has the power to decide whether he’s a monster or not - it’s not blood that dictates it.

I hope I have answered the question though chances are I used it to talk lengths about nothing.

#xfaucheuse #✕ set the world on fire [answer]#✕ [ooc answer]#[munday meme]#[thanks so much for the ask allie ;-;]#✕ [headcanon]

4 notes · View notes

cipherpolfiles · 7 years

Photo

Welcome to the grand opening of the newly created* CPFiles’ Corner!

* Newly created literally means I just came up with this crap, because I couldn’t find a suitable image from this week’s chapter (One Piece 865), so I recycled this from an edit I made back in September and added Judge into it; now Niji looks like a midget LOL. The layout ended up looking like it was advertising a section, so here we are. Hope you don’t mind. Also, sorry for the delay.

Here, I’ll try to analyse manga scenes, backgrounds/backstories and even offering critique on Oda’s treatment concerning certain characters, always taking the info we have on them into account. To sum it up, basically what I’ve been doing until now, but with a fancy name. Let’s go then!

As the section header claims, today I’ll be analysing the panels the Vinsmokes and Sanji had in chapter 865 ‘Hey, Mother’ and comparing them to what we already knew about this infamous family beforehand.

Now, everyone should know I find the Vinsmoke family interesting by now. Do I think they’re good, nice people? No, I don’t. Do I agree with their methods or ideology? Not a chance in hell, but that doesn’t automatically exclude the fact that I think they make fascinating characters. Just wanted to make sure you all understood that before anyone has the brilliant idea to accuse me of being pro-nazi or something of the sort.

Well, let’s begin with the actual analysis.

The first thing I noticed a few chapters back and that I kept wondering about during this chapter, was the change when it came to seating arrangements. See, as I said here, the immediate positions to the head’s right and left are always reserved for guests of honour or people/family members they have in great esteem. To date, as far as the Vinsmokes are concerned, these two positions have always been occupied by Reiju and Ichiji.

As you can see in the panels, Ichiji maintains his position at the seat of honour whereas Reiju has been replaced by Niji. What happened?

My first thought was that Judge had “demoted” his firstborn for everything that’s happened involving her, but then I remembered that he doesn’t know a thing about it, so there would be no reason to take away the seat from her.

Then I realised that, because it’s a big event with many guests, they probably had their seats assigned by Big Mom’s staff and didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Let’s go to the next panel.

This issue they keep repeating about needing the raid suits and Judge’s entire attitude when it comes to trusting Big Mom really bothers me, because it really shows just how inconsistent Oda is being when it comes to his characters during this arc.

1. Judge’s attitude

Judge was first introduced as a ruthless genius warlord and we later discovered he’s also a genius when it comes to science, since he discovered the lineage factor (good old DNA) along with Vegapunk.

Then we got this from Reiju. As I said before on another post, Reiju is basically telling us her father is a very cautious and rather distrustful man, but that even he seems to be taking the situation lightly. She makes him sound like he has some serious trust issues. What we were shown in chapter 864 though, is a Judge who blindly trusted a notorious pirate such as Big Mom would keep to their word, which is completely out of character for him.

This is not “taking a situation a bit lightly”, this is far beyond getting a little overconfident; it’s pure recklessness and it completely clashes with that cautiousness Oda was conveying at first. How can someone who is so wary and suspicious of everything, trust a criminal blindly and show up without any sort of back up plan?

2. The Raid Suits

This one REALLY bothers me. I understand Judge needing one, because he’s not genetically modified like his children are, but whatever do his kids need the raid suits for? Aside from being a bit of an extra help, I mean.

They have superhuman strength, speed and exoskeletons that are as hard as a rock and that function as a “natural” armour. These kids were already doing stuff like the images below show by the time they were 7-8 years old.

So I ask again, why would they need the raid suits if they already are human weapons themselves?

And, yes, I know that candy coating Perospero created for their bullets pierces through the exoskeleton, but the Vinsmokes don’t know that, with the exception of Reiju, who was actually the test subject for said bullets.

Anyway, moving on.

Afterwards, we got this page showing us Sanji’s desperate attempt to get to his blood-family before they’re murdered and Reiju playing martyr once again. I’m seriously getting tired of all this Saint Sanji and Saint Reiju stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love both characters, but there’s no need for Oda to keep repeating just how wonderful they both are over and over again, it’s getting old. I already commented on the “I’m ready to die” smile on another post, so I have nothing else to say about this.

Next time we see the Vinsmoke family is in this scene: Big Mom’s scream.

Let’s have a look at what seems to be going on in these panels.

A - Reiju. We can’t see her eyes, but we can see in her expression that she’s making an effort to stay conscious, although not too much. She does seem to be withstanding the wave rather well. On the lower panel, though, we see her slightly toppling over from her position, as if she were completely exhausted.

B - Yonji. He seems to be the most affected by the scream and Haki. Just by looking at his rolled eyes, he actually seems to be on the verge of losing consciousness. Thus, we can conclude his willpower is the weakest.

C - Niji. He seems to be one of the most affected by Big Mom’s Haki, along with Judge and Yonji. We cannot see his eyes, but just looking at his tense jaw and the veins popping up on his face, we can determine that he’s making a huge effort to stay conscious.

D - Ichiji. His facial expression seems a bit tighter than usual, but otherwise, he keeps being nearly impossible to read. He seems to be resisting the cry and haki combo rather effortlessly, but we can’t see his eyes, like in Niji’s case.

E - Judge. He seems to be holding his own rather well, actually. He’s grimacing and making an effort as the rest of them, but his eyes are not rolled back, not even an inch. His willpower is pretty strong.

Let’s continue with the next set of panels.

Ok, so Chopper plugs the Vinsmokes’ ears (Reiju’s in the picture) while Sanji destroys the candy that’s immobilising them.

Is no one else bothered by the fact that Reiju looks like her child/preteen self here? I mean, her face was drawn rounder, like that of a child’s; I don’t know, I just find her weird in these panels.

Also, I want to seize this opportunity to talk about the Vinsmoke eyebrows now that we have a rather good headshot of Judge.

As you can see, Judge’s eyebrows seem to be thick and unlikely to curl in the way his children’s eyebrows do (I’m not going to trust the anime right now, because they seem to be making an awful lot of mistakes this arc - the longleg lady, turning the raid suits into tights...). We also know that Sora’s didn’t curl at the end either. So my conclusion is that Oda was NOT joking when he said that maybe Sanji was a devil fruit in SBS Volume 45. It’s very possible that Judge might have actually mixed some devil fruit DNA into his children to make them more powerful, hence the swirly eyebrows they all have, but that they do not seem to have been inherited from their parents, or their mysterious ability to create/wield elemental powers (fire, lightning). I’m probably completely wrong, although it might be worth considering.

Next one is probably everyone’s favourite panel.

There it is!

The evolution from chwan to swan I joked about while comparing Sanji’s backstory to The Ugly Duckling.

This is clearly the moment when Judge realises, even if it’s for just a second since we don’t know what he’ll do next, that Sanji might not be a failure after all.They’re all awestruck, with the exception of Niji, who isn’t even looking at Sanji at all. Wonder if that has a hidden meaning or he’s just trying to get up after being trapped by candy for a while.

I must say it’s nice to see Ichiji with an expression other than anger or a blank face, but it’s obvious he doesn’t understand why Sanji is doing this. He can’t wrap his mind around the fact that he’s being saved by someone he had bullied all his childhood. Also, notice how the panel is specifically designed to leave Reiju out of it, because she already knows how great Sanji is. This was clearly planned to be the moment for the rest of the family to realise the greatness that is Sanji and be forced to look up to him for once.

And last but not least, we have this panel.

Nami and Carrot handing their respective raid suit to each Vinsmoke.

Once again, Ichiji seems lost and doesn’t really know how to react to these people who are giving their all to help them even though they were nasty to them and Sanji turned them away rather rudely the previous day. Not much else to mention here, except for what I already said here: Ichiji’s ears go from elf to normal every other panel he appears in, which is not important per se, but I find it funny.

My God, that was long!

| Thanks for taking the time to read this |

| CPFiles |

Spanish version | Versión en español

#opspoilers #one piece #one piece 865 #vinsmokes #black leg sanji #vinsmoke judge #vinsmoke reiju #vinsmoke ichiji #vinsmoke niji #vinsmoke yonji #agent report #new world unit

32 notes · View notes