I thought it was so charming that Oda made those weird small moments in the past have some basis for Sanji and Zoro's haki. I remember asking how Sanji could kick and hurt the logia user Caribou. Later after the Fishman Island banquet Zoro and Sanji also sensed Caribou when Luffy did. As someone earlier in this thread said, Zoro dodging bullets is probably another indicator. When those moments normally happen I have to ask, wow was that a joke or a meaningless moment, or did it have some importance? And Oda answers up those questions with, yes, it was on purpose. I wonder if they even know they have traces of haki, it obviously seems to be the untrained and natural kind of haki like Coby awakened. This means that the demonic fighting trio of the Straw Hats has gotten even more reason to be the brawn of the crew. They can hurt logia users.
Law becoming the new temporary crew member akin to Vivi in Alabasta is brilliant. This episode sold me on his inclusion excellently. But first, the plan to take down an emperor. The choice to not tell us which one is an interesting one. Obviously it's not Shanks, Luffy would fight Law if he wanted to take down Shanks. The obvious picks are Big Mam, who Luffy is already in a war with, and Blackbeard because you now, he's basically responsible for killing his brother and they have some bad blood there. I can't imagine Luffy would want to take Kaido down without even understanding the kind of guy he is, but I can't say it's entirely off the table. For Luffy's reasoning, - Wants to have fun by forging an alliance, aka being friends.
- Wants to pay back Law for saving his life, I'm sure, and would gladly help him.
- Could be one of the Emperor's he is already against.
Now that Luffy has reason to work with Law, seeing him show up to the Straw Hat base was hilarious. Law's seriousness rivals Robin and he wasn't expecting nearly the entire Straw Hat crew to be so impulsive and crazy. The moment where Luffy hilariously asked "are you going to betray me" and then turned with a triumphant smile was a great way of showing the difference between these two guys. And the way he won his crew over instantly by praising them was excellent too. And despite how awkward Law feels around this high energy group throwing boogers at each other, he has reason to work with them. He thinks he needs Luffy and Luffy refuses to go with Law until Nami and Chopper save the kids, and Sanji deals with his samurai bro! It's a dynamic with excellent potential and I love the natural and organic way Law has sided with the Straw Hats. Seeing that Chopper of all people is going with Law to investigate the drugs has me excited for Law/Chopper bonding, plus seeing him embarrassingly change the adorable Chopper-hat to a Chopper-sword-keychain was soo endearing already.
Law spoke more about Caesar which showed some important facts. He knows more than Robin interestingly enough and stated that the government creates giants and has for hundreds of years. During the visual it seemed to show the Oars family showing they had a hand in creating them. If they have an army of infinite giants they are invincible and Caesar has taken Punk Hazard over in secret to win this nuclear arms race so to speak. The kids are the test subjects and he wants to kill everyone who could give away the perfect hiding place he has founded. I think it even implied with "how does it feel to be loose after so long" in regards to Smiley, that Smiley was the chemical weapon that sealed off the island to begin with. Perhaps everything has been according to his plan, he uses Smiley, locks it away, and creates artificial poison fumes to keep the appearance that the island is uninhabitable. Good thing Luffy has poison resist now! Lol.
There were so many good things this episode I'm sure I may be forgetting some. But to mention a few small moments I loved: When Chopper was being tied to Tra-guy's head and everyone was laughing, Usopp wasn't! He was serious and gave supportive words to his little bro Chopper who showed some serious strength back! It was a great moment. Nami taking over Sanji's body is wonderful but what's even more so was the whole deal where Law was like "help this raccoon", and Chopper ignored him until realizing it was his body and then swapped into it and was super mad. Also I loved the hard lines when depicting smiley, smiley overall looked great. |