Coby mentioned a Dr. Vegapunk. He's the guy who made those devices that allowed objects to eat devil fruits, and he made camouflage for navy ships using sea prism stones. I image we'll meet them at some point and when that time comes maybe Usopp will get a devil fruit slingshot?? It may even give him a strength increase so he can keep up with the rest of the crew better. Anyways, a problem I have with this is that it proves the world government does use sea prism stones for stuff more than jail cells! Why do we never see anti devil fruit user technology for battling and especially stuff like sea prism defense at Enies Lobby. That one filler had sea prism nets if I'm remembering correctly! It just seems like such an unexplored idea that seems like it should be prominent.
Aside from that, seeing how much Coby and Helmeppo have grown made me really happy. It was sweet to see Nami smile while eavesdropping, it seems it wasn't just the world government secrets she wanted to hear. They're so strong now. A long time ago Coby was an absolute crybaby, and Helmeppo was a brat. And while those are still partly there they have gotten such strong resolves and senses of justice. They're able to stand their ground, persevere, and chase after what they believe in. Helmeppo's line about how Coby just has to make it big and change the way things are done actually made me tear up. I once said the navy was 1 dimensional and evil and I'm not that wrong, but with navy like Smoker, Garp, Coby, Helmeppo, and Aokiji challenging that I have to think that things could seriously change. It's not as black and white as it once appeared to be.
I also love how Luffy reassured Coby once more, just like back on Alvida's ship. He's stronger now but getting a reminder that someone as strong as Luffy has his full faith in him being an admiral without anything to show for it but friendship and trust can go a long way. These two have such an adorable and awesome relationship even though they haven't been face to face for so long. The fact that Coby was just a snot-nosed brat when he met Luffy really echoes Luffy's relationship with Shanks. He's Coby's hero that Coby wants to live up to and surpass, just like Shanks is to Luffy. :)))
I would have liked to know about the name the red line, or the new world in the past but I wouldn't be surprised if only legends of it came outside of the walls of the grand line! It's pretty exclusive to join the legends in the second half of this dangerous sea.
The Sogeking concert party was pretty great. Usopp was moved enough to revert from Sogeking and show his support to Luffy as Usopp, but now that the intensity is over he's back to being Sogeking once more. I wonder how he'll get the confidence to face Luffy mask off. I'm not exactly sure how that'll playoff.
And lastly, Aokiji's final scene this ep... He's an interesting character for sure. He's had a name change since the Ohara incident. He was friends with Saul and it was his wish, not only his guilty conscience, that allowed him to send the last Ohara child to escape. But, because he's the one who let her go, and due to Saul's wish, he's kept responsibility for her, keeping an eye on her these last many years. It seems he found her to be too dangerous, always a threat to the world and leaving a trail of destruction behind her all this time without ever finding a new tree to call home. He lost faith in her ability to find one and seemingly decided to take her out of her misery. But now, he sees that she has a will to live, and friends to fight for. She may still be a danger to the world but to take her out now, when even she wants to live so badly, it would be a dishonesty to his friend Saul. He couldn't do that. So, for now, he's going to let her live with them knowing that she could cause mass destruction one day, putting his trust in Saul, and telling her it's up to her to show him if that's called for. COOL! But, we still don't understand the name change, and I'm starting to realize that Spandam may have not been that great of a character after all. I had initially assumed he was being used by CP9 to allow them to enact their justice. And I had assumed Aokiji was using him for some bigger goal down the line, why else would he entrust him with the buster call?! But, now it's hitting me. Spandam was just there because he was born into the position and he scammed Tom into getting appointed the leader of CP9 and being in control of the search for the superweapon. I suppose Aokiji could have decided, conveniently enough, that it was time to take Robin in and put her out of her misery preventing the possible future despair, and to do so he entrusted that mission to the leader of one of the strongest government groups, CP9, and he just happened to be an absolute idiot. Aokiji is intelligent so I assumed he would not have done that but I think that could explain it all and perhaps I overanalyzed it way too hard. I loved how after the conversation, Robin finally stopped watching the group as a happy outsider and instead ran towards the inner circle. She's finally truly a part of the Straw Hats!
I'm still fascinated in how the world and government will treat the Straw Hats now that they've been labeled as the individuals who burned a government island to a crisp.. After this relaxing arc I think nothing will be quite the same again. At least Garp is going to make some excuses to get them some healing time.
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