Quite honestly another great episode. First I'll mention the way the crew split up. Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy would normally be like little brothers to the more serious Sanji but with him dying from perversions it makes them one fun having group lacking in much seriousness, until Sanji almost died that is. Then we have Franky and the two ladies, a group I can love. 3 very determined people in their own way, Franky saving Robin like a shark and beautifully pouncing out of the water yelling SUUUPER, then scouting out the nearby town. As Sanji predicted Franky kept Robin safe, there was some serious faith there. And Franky may be more of a goofball but he's a good person to have to get what needs to be done, done. In another way we have the Water 7 duo that dealt with the Spandams, both the mom and dad of the group age wise, and Nami. It's a good one. Franky's there to keep it spicy and bombastic, but I think Nami and Robin alone would be very sweet and relaxing. Then we have Zoro alone in a coral forest, lost. With the news that the army came as a precaution unsure if they were the Straw Hats or a threat but with news from Jimbei perhaps Zoro got the news the princes wanted Luffy to receive. And finally, Brook, the devil fruit skeleton is out there somewhere. Alone. I worry about him, if someone saw him in the water they'd think he was dead and I suppose he could be washed out in that case by someone worried about what happened.
Sanji being a pervert is growing on me. Especially if he slowly loses this perversion, as I'm sure he will since the nosebleed trope will get old. Despite my hesitancy it's quite charming. Deprived of women, he literally cannot hold in his lust and love of them, as he appears as genuinely creepy and his nose bleeds put him in a genuine situation of near death. That's some good stuff, a nice realistic implication to an age old trope, and a humorous way he got to this point. I was stubborn we lost the old Sanji but think I was being unfair. Speaking of the differences in the Straw Hats, Nami and Usopp may seem cooler and more fearless on the outside, Sanji may be a huge pervert, Zoro may like to fish, Luffy may be more precautions, but the core personality of everyone is still the same. The fiery emotions of Sanji, the cowardice of Nami and Usopp when their lives are on the line, Luffy's stubbornness, it's all there, just with some added quirks and powers!
The conversation about Jimbei and his mentioning was interesting. Firstly, I love how casually Luffy brought him up, alerting Usopp that in the time they were away Luffy befriended two separate warlords. But, just the way Luffy brought it up made me tear up. "When Ace died 2 years ago I didn't lose heart thanks to him". The way he brought up Ace's death so bluntly and straightforwardly and put it behind him, all while thanking Jimbei for stopping him from absolutely breaking down, it showed me that he has gotten over it. I wasn't sure how he would approach the topic, but Ace is now a part of him, a trauma, a brother, a friend, someone he will never forget, but he will use the loss of this second brother to make sure he keeps what he still has safe. It was powerful stuff and just the manner it was mentioned was a sign of how Luffy has moved along, as was it a sign of how much Luffy respects Jimbei. Jimbei and Luffy both admire each other and it's so great, Luffy's Ace-like determination and Jimbei's undying support and sympathy, it makes them one unlikely duo and I can't wait for them to meet again. Their send off was beautiful.
But, with the Princes saying they were there to deliver a message from Jimbei to the Straw Hats, implying the soldiers were more of a precaution, and Camie talking about something dark going on which is stopping humans from reaching the island, I'd say Jimbei and his boys are on that case. That would explain why he's gone and the message was probably about that. With the absence of the old fishmen pirates the new ones have taken control of the pirate stuff of the island and quickly both sides, the Neptune and the Hody Jones pirates motivations started to be spelt out. The royalty of the Neptune princes seem to have a good relationship with the people and were probably alerted by Jimbei to let the Straw Hats come through and to help them out. Whereas the Hody Jone/New Fishmen Pirates clearly have a disdain for the oppressive humans in the same vein as Arlong did so long ago, probably wanting to get revenge on Luffy for crushing his ambitions. Or, as they wanted him to join, maybe see if he's a worthwhile ally? With how Luffy somewhat changed Hancock's view of men, I wonder if he will change the New Fishmen Pirates view of humans and perhaps that will create a subversion of them joining the Straw Hats and the real villains of the arc being elsewhere. Luffy did pay attention to hearing that Fisher Tiger, the man who freed the slaves like Hancock and her sisters, potentially Hachi, died from racist humans refusing to give him blood. So, he must sympathize with their hate a little.
The tug of war over the Straw Hats as they all begged for someone to help Sanji was a great little moment. The Neptune army surrounding them as the New Fishmen pirates come in to talk down to the humans and try to force Luffy to come with them as both motivations are not yet clear, it was exciting and interesting. Luffy firstly knew they were after him and drew their attention away from his crew so the weapons wouldn't hit them, blasted past the nets and took all three out with a casual 2nd gear showing how far he's come in a small way, and then a bigger way with how he conqueror's haki'd the sea monster all in a few moments. They were no match for him at all! As for Sanji, I wonder if Hachi has the same blood type as Sanji or if a stranger will have it.
Lastly, two little things I noted this episode:- Sanji has noted before that he was actually born in the North Blue but then he ended up growing up in East Blue with Zeff which already made me think we'd touch on that at some point. Now Sanji has a super rare blood type, S RH Negative, which potentially gives him some unique origins. In case I'm embarrassing myself right now I know nothing about blood but in my mind I linked the two!
- Second, I was assuming as we have seen no female fishmen or fishwomen, that the two sexes of fish people were fishmen and mermaids. However with all three princes being Mermen it makes me wonder why there are no fishwomen that we've seen. Also the fishmen district being a rough place and the princes being mermen may show a class distinction.
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