This tone setting is amazing. We get one of the most hopeless situations against Kuma in Thriller Bark then we come to the middle point of the sea, the place before entering the New World and we immediately see another of the most hopeless situations the Straw Hats have ever been in. Even Luffy one of the most straightforward, confident, and simple minded people ever fearfully ordered his crew to retreat. The man who approaches some of the mightiest on the sea yelling that he's going to punch them in the face... Do you remember the other most hopeless situation? It was the battle against Aokiji before Water 7. The admirals are nothing to mess with and they seem much stronger than the Warlords we've faced so far. Every time one is involved it's a mess. The way they got out of those two near death situations wasn't through being saved or pulling out on top. The first time was because Aokiji who rightfully killed Luffy and could had shattered him, gave him another chance as a thank you for taking down Crocodile. Kuma let Zoro go after being moved and testing his resolve for the crew. Maybe out of respect, perhaps he felt it was disgraceful like he said to take out such a strong group of people in their weakest state. Either way, both cases this hopeless were overcame through the opponents sympathy. I don't think that's a possibility here at all. And like Zoro said when he was facing Kuma, "If I start making excuses will someone come rescue us?". Back then Oda knew that I would assume someone would save them, and he had Zoro make fun of me with that line directly saying things aren't that lucky.
So how do they get out of this? If Rayleigh doesn't come save them and even I don't think he'd be able to take on all three of these foes, then perhaps one of the Straw Hats can be as Franky suggested to Sanji, a decoy. Maybe one will take it on themselves to cause a big enough commotion and hold back the three, willingly getting caught with faith the others will save them. But even then, Kizaru can move at the speed of light and teleport. Is that even possible? Perhaps this is a moment the Straw Hats will get caught and we'll get an escape from inside the navy prison arc this time...
This episode was truly remarkable in how hopeless it all felt.
As for the Pacifista's I have some thoughts on them. They are so interesting. They bleed and imo have shown pain but they don't have brains. Like the zombies all he would have to do is not open his mouth and shoot hand beams but he did anyways. Then he went berserk like a robot and died like a robot. Further, his vision indicates bounties almost as if those are his orders, he acts automatically when it comes to criminals. Yet, he still bleeds and shows pain like I had said. If Franky is right it's as if they used a real human to make them into a brainless war weapon, the price of a warship. At least the price of them indicates why they haven't been mass produced and seen all over the place. Lastly, their name is a play on Pacifist if Nami is right which seems incredibly ironic. Google defines the term as "a person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable", and it defines pacifista as "someone opposed to violence as a means of settling disputes". Perhaps it's an ironic way of saying after using absolute power to wipe out all of the evil in the world there won't be war or violence any longer.
The moment Usopp hung onto Zoro's back was adorable. I love those two. In a way I think it shows just how much faith he has in Zoro despite his injuries.
P.S. I can totally see the Pacifista's coming up as an end game army and having all the super strong Straw Hats take them out with somewhat ease. Or perhaps they will find an effective way to kill them like with the lightening and mouth shots and that won't even be necessary. |