I was expecting more to go down in this episode honestly, whereas the Monet and Vergo situations were barely advanced. Still what happened was by no means bad. Firstly, we had the group split up some more, Robin suggested the favor Luffy asked was to get sea prism handcuffs and sent Brook and Usopp to get them, Kin’emon ended up tagging along. This makes it so Usopp, Kin’emon, and Brook are elsewhere, Luffy is in trash dump with Momonosuke, Nami, Robin, Chopper, Zoro and the kids are with Monet, Law and Smoker are with Vergo, Sanji is with Tashigi and the G-5, and Brownbeard has gone missing ever since the crew went to Chopper’s aid, he may have split up to pursue his own goal of helping his boys. We also have Franky presumably inside the Sunny but I think he ought to come up at some point again, we do have some Doflamingo guys coming from my understanding so it could be then. Also regarding the Monet scene, I thought it was so cool how Monet referred to the Straw Hats as infamous as they aren’t rookies facing the notorious people like the Warlord’s of the sea or the CP9 now, instead they are notorious, fearsome people themselves and these conflicts are closer to equal in reputation!
The brief Vergo vs Smoker scene was nice. Law is hurt and constantly in danger of having his heart crushed more, keeping him out of commission. However, there is a prime opportunity for Smoker and Law to work together here and if Smoker can get Law his heart then this can become a serious 2v1. Smoker also showed how seriously he looks after his group of misfits despite how tough and stern he is as he told Vergo, “DON’T LAY A HAND ON MY MEN” and got a great blow on him. Speaking of the brief bit of combat we saw, it was wild, it had some matrix dodges, it was both a reminder of how slippery Smoker is and it let us see Vergo shoot an explosive out of his bamboo stick… He’s an interesting guy and knowing that Luffy ultimately will probably win here, I hope Vergo goes as far as he can, the dude is devoted and to the point and I love that. He hits people so hard and the way he comes back after being hit is so fun. Plus, vice admiral vs vice admiral is awesome.
The brief Sanji and G-5 section was sweet. Sanji fits right in with the G-5’s love of Tashigi, and the three way dynamic of the G-5 loving Sanji, Sanji loving Tashigi and hating the G-5’s compliments, and Tashigi hating how the G-5 are calling a pirate “brother” is glorious. As was Sanji running back to help any of the G-5 falling behind into the gas he could, even kicking some out of the way. The Sanji and Tashigi evacuation squad is wonderful, they are a powerful team.
Luffy is in the garbage dump with Momononsuke, he has a cute pink dragon form, and it made me reflect on what Monet said. That if he can’t fly he’s stuck in there. But Momonosuke can fly presumably so it looks like Luffy may have a way out after all! I was concerned Luffy would try and eat him but that didn’t happen, so far at least, and I wonder if Momonosuke hid in the garbage dump as to avoid being experimented on… Also, I just want to mention how Luffy’s reaction to waking up here was great Luffy content, his casual remark over that being awful and wondering where he was- then immediately shifting to looking for food was great. His ability to adapt and accept his situation is always inspiring.
Finally, what I’d consider key to this episode was focusing on Caesar’s plan and background. He had this big display of manipulating his men with crocodile tears, acting as a total selfless savior fighting for their sake, all while thinking about how dumb they are and how smart he is. That confidence and tendency to make a fool out of himself reminds me of Buggy, both are charismatic schemers who hold a high opinion of themselves, just Caesar’s far more capable of awful things. Caesar’s plan is to create a gas chamber and lead everyone into it to be frozen at once for his brokers, leaving only the path to the room open. We saw his background in how everyone was against his experimentation, how he frighteningly suggested that innocent death is collateral damage and suggested that Akainu would agree with him, as well as he made a point that the navy is already cruel to prisoners, he’s just taking the next step. Finally, we heard Vegapunk’s voice and saw that in a last ditch effort, Caesar nuked the island before being taken away. |