Admittedly, the art and animation of the re-done backstory wasn't very good. If it was consistently excellent and in the new style I would say, great. But it didn't look very good most of the time. So to that, it was unnecessary and largely disappointing even. That said, we finally got Luffy stabbing his face animated within the series rather than a special which has to amount to something assuming I'm not forgetting another time it has been, and it was pretty freaking cool to see the contrast in art styles during the detailed frames. My favourite was the “I'm saying those aren't for threatening people” as, no matter the scale of what Shanks does, that will probably always be my favourite moment of his.
Besides that there was some crew shenanigans. Firstly, we witnessed Sanji’s raid suit fall out of Luffy’s pocket which felt like something we could dig into. The first place my mind goes to is, why? We can assume that the raid suit automatically fits your body so there's a chance that it was made before Sanji was determined as a failure. But even if so, afterwards I would presume they would either throw it out or work it into something more valuable rather than keeping it around. Therefore, I can't help but imagine it's more likely that they made him the suit, likely in the time that they were off screen before they saved the day. I could be misreading the situation, but regardless of the whys, you can read extra far into the act itself and see it as a gesture of Sanji’s equal standing within the family now. He is worthy of wearing that suit in their eyes and to give it to Sanji acknowledges that. Or maybe you could assume it was a mean prank like Sanji did. I'm not sure what to make of it but it felt important. It is also presumably a power up that will be used in the future.
The most important part of this episode was the newspaper. There seemed to be a warning about Whitebeard's supposed son on the back, the new warlord, as was there an article on Punk Hazard and Bonney. The main article however was on the events at Whole Cake. It was perhaps premature journalistic embellishment, but nonetheless it stated that Luffy is the fifth emperor. Regardless if this was a premature assessment, one can easily understand why. Our boy commands a huge fleet, takes entire islands under his safety, has alliances with powerful groups and kingdoms all around the globe, has connections to Ace, Sabo, and Dragon, and picks fights with the emperor's themselves while holding his ground and defeating even their best men. It is very possible if not fact that Luffy is the weakest of the emperors, but one can argue he still deserves to hold that title. I mostly feel bad for Bege as this journalist asshole assumed Luffy was in charge of everything when we have to give so much of the credit to Bege, he wasn't simply Luffy’s cronie, he was the necessary brains of the assassination plot!! Years of his life went into this, didn’t it?!
I had heard that Crocodile, one of my favorites, would get another appearance reacting to Luffy’s feats. Given his history of being depicted from behind for a single frame ever since post-Marineford, I came in expecting that and expecting to love it anyways. That was not the case, this was the most in-depth look at Crocodile since he and Daz decided to move into the New World together! My man had numerous shadowy figures beside him giving a hint for what he has been up to, and with red curtains, it almost made me think he was in Doflamingo’s former room but I imagine that is a coincidence. Either way the room looked familiar and I wonder if we have seen it before. Most importantly however, he seemed to crack a smile and there was a shimmer of hope in his eyes. I don't think we've ever seen him make that expression before, it was as if he was saying ‘atta boy’ in his head, and if the reading that he has grown to respect Luffy and has been inspired by him is correct, then Luffy’s victory is further affirmation that Crocodile can follow his true feelings and dreams too. :) |