I knew two spoilers outside of who the Straw Hats were going into this. Those were Ace's death and Whitebeard's death and I do not feel they lessened the impact. This climax is so well done it's shocking. I felt so many emotions during it and I feel somewhat empty now. It was a great and heroic death on Whitebeard's part but everything has been leading up to this since the end of Amazon Lily and if you want to go really far back since Alabasta. And what happened? Oars jr is probably dead. Bon Clay may be dead. Tons of people are dead. Ace is dead. Whitebeard is dead. Oh, and Luffy has gone insane. Wow...
I guess I'll start at the top. The opening changed to indicate the released prisoners on Blackbeard's side! That was a great change. Next, the fact that on top of everything that was happening Blackbeard released the most notorious criminals ever makes me think there may be some hope for Bon Clay. Through all of that commotion he may have made it out! Lastly, Blackbeard is an interesting guy. His power makes him take even more damage than a normal person would while allowing himself to hurt any power user. Yet, despite this he isn't smart with it. He nearly died by Magellan in one single attack and here he went in without considering the fact that Whitebeard could kill him with raw strength. He pleaded for help and showed fear for his life and to win he had to scream for his allies. He's arrogant and sadistic, he loves mocking people for the deaths of their loved ones as we saw it with Luffy and Whitebeard now. But it's not like he's skillful or intelligent, he uses brute force to force his will onto the world and nearly dies doing it constantly. I wonder why his crew is with him outside of his overwhelming power, or if it anything deeper than that.
This also finally illuminated Blackbeard's plan. His steps to becoming all powerful wasn't by becoming a warlord, it was to use that position to release his new allies and use them to then shake the world. I suppose we'll finally fully see what he's been trying to do next episode. It's a nice detail that it was his teammates hypnotizing that let Luffy's group in! It also makes me worry, could he, say, make the Straw Hats fight each other with his hypnotism?
I wasn't sure if Whitebeard would still care for Teach at all as he was once his son, but as he was brutalizing Blackbeard and Blackbeard yelled 'you can't kill me, I'm your son!" or whatever he did it was clear that once someone breaks the iron rule they are nothing in his eyes. He will forgive a son for stabbing him but he will not forgive Teach for killing one of his children. So, to have that brutal slash, crushing of his hands, and exploding earthquakes point blank on his throat, that was cathartic. Sadly, it wasn't enough though. I must say it was a cool choice to go black and white with only red blood in that gang beating of the already struggling to walk Whitebeard...
I must agree with a user in this thread. Ace's death was shocking and unexpected. It was miserable and like Luffy we couldn't accept what was happening. It was absurd and in a way it was realistic. He was taken from everyone in mere moments after being saved. However, despite that one being so bitter and horrifying it was also warm, he was able to die happy that he was loved by so many people. Here with Whitebeard we knew it was coming a long way before hand. As soon as Whitebeard broke the ground we knew it was his final stand even if Blackbeard didn't appear. So to give such a valiant attempt to take down both of his sons murderers and refuse to falter in the face of everything, making his final moments one of telling the world of the One Piece's existence, it was triumphant and beautiful. The way he died was as if he was a glorious statue shrouded in heavenly light. I was sold on Whitebeard but this didn't hit me like Ace's death hit me, instead it felt fitting. For he was amazing in life and death and he came here to retire. Whitebeard was a man about his family, even denying Roger's offering to get to raftel. he was a strong man but one full of compassion and he chose to carry those he cared about under him. His dream was fulfilled because of everyone and he was able to die somewhat happy too.
I guess the last thing to touch on is the will of "D". It's from way back before even Roger's time, and an inheriting of one's will that cannot be broken, "hundreds of years of history on their shoulders". It's still not clear to me but its linked to the One Piece which is real and big enough to start a war that will overtake the entire world, and if I had to guess the World Government's erasing of history was probably to hide this. Perhaps their genocidal tendencies can be understand as the preemptive actions to stop a world war. |