Before touching on this episode, I wanted to add something I forgot when I was trying to recollect on where everyone was. Bellamy should almost definitely be going to see Doflamingo right now. He wanted to hear the words of betrayal from Doflamingo himself before he could truly believe them. Due to that and him not being with Luffy, my friend suggested that he may be taking a back route straight to Doflamingo as people are gunning for his head. I suppose he really is the Brownbeard of this arc, I can already imagine a similar “I killed them all” scene.
I’d like to further preface that this episode also worked as a study on the art of building characters up and tearing them down. It’s a simple writing device but it’s effective. We began with more of the SOP and the building up of Trebol’s strength. Usopp watches him cowardly as he notices a fly and has the accuracy to hit it with his slime which breaks through numerous walls and pins it down perfectly. This also goes to build tension as a boy as small as a fly will be attacking soon, it later goes to show just how much courage Leo has as he fights for his enslaved friends knowing the risks well, and as Usopp explicitly put it, if that’s a casual swat of a fly to Trebol then this is going to be dangerous. Ultimately we had Leo charge in with a pretty striking running animation to sell the speed that he was going; to be faster than a fly, but Robin caught onto something and stopped him. I also wanted to briefly mention that the scene was also strong for Usopp’s fear being perfectly captured, especially in moments like his hesitant thumbs up, and it was more of Robin using her absolutely creative power. You have to love the ways she uses it, last episode by putting eyes on the wall to spy on Trebol and Sugar, this episode creating a clone to inspect the fly, and previous things like rolling Zoro away or pinning herself to the Sunny with her own arms.
The colosseum was another huge case of build up and this time, tearing down. Primarily we had Burgess show off that shockwave power of his on a flying fish, imploding its face and launching it into the crowd, breaking the stands. This is obviously used to show that Sabo has the haki imbued strength to clash with it, minutes later, and shatter his armor unscathed. It made for a strong moment on Sabo, he’s determined and calm even in the face of “one of the ten titanic captains supporting Blackbeard” and Doflamingo’s very own Diamante of whomst sword he easily shattered. It was to tell us that Sabo may be one of those haki users which gives the New World a reputation for the deaths of young cocky logia users. He’s freaking powerful, he even wiped Burgess’ smile off his face for like one of the first times I can recall in the series and that felt good. Yet, it wasn’t all about making Sabo appear to be efficient and strong, it also ended with Rebecca. She hid behind Bartolomeo’s barrier shaking, she had to realize how far below the others she was and for that she determined that she had to, at the very least, attack like she’s willing to kill. In the end she charged for Diamante.
Then we have the toy Soldier who just beat en entire elevator of Doflamingo’s goons by himself, the build up of his strength and conviction, only moments before meeting Lao G who pummels his face into the wall like it was nothing and then swats a Tontatta so fast we had a Dragon Ball gag about him putting on glasses. With Dellinger arriving to face Franky, it only seems fitting that Soldier gets the honor of holding off Lao G so that Franky only has to deal, what, 3 executives and a vice admiral? Not easy but if Soldier actually gets a major fight scene that would be awesome. And as for Lao G, he did not disappoint from his eccentric appearance in the opening. He’s such a cheesy superhero in his design and his behavior and it clashes with his hardened and serious old man face. He poses and markets himself as “G”, he even fits it in when he’s explaining that he went down the wron”G” lift. What a weirdo, I wonder if he’s a fan of Sogeking. I also have to wonder why, if he is dressed as a superhero, he works for such cruel people. He’s kind of a supervillain. But he likes making a show of things so he’s entertaining already and fits the zany world of the Don Quixote family.
Luffy and Zoro showed off just how freaking cool those boys are by avoiding being crushed with balloon and swordsmanship and prominently the end of the scene. Pica being able to form walls and stop their progress made Zoro take initiative, cutting the blockade and telling Luffy, as if it were a matter of fact, that he will take Pica and Luffy will kick Mingo’s ass. These two have been through a lot, they have so much faith in each other. From the map it seems the palace is beige rather than the stone color of the tower so I did expect fleeing to get out of Pica’s stone domain but I suppose Zoro holding Pica off is the best way for that, if it is true. The warping of walls knocked Kin’emon over and he had another cute moment with Wicka as she has exclusively been comrades with the most simpleminded of Straw Hats group, Kin’emon ignoring her, even if out of good intention. They must go to the palace, where Luffy is still headed, and take the lift down, and Kin’emon used his head once he heard about the security. He’s about to Bon Clay it and disguise as Doflamingo himself. Yet, we’ve seen Kin’emon’s disguise skills and he can’t change his facial structure and his behavior is quite noticeable and I think we saw a topknot on the Doflamingo costume. So, I’m eager to see him play the part as bad as I anticipate it.
Dellinger has caught up to Franky, and Senor Pink gave him a warning, to not be cocky as Franky is a robot but also a pervert, perhaps showing that he knows exactly the kind of man who Franky is. As Franky does cherish both of those sides of himself. Plus, the brash Dellinger and the hard-boiled Senor Pink are fated to have an adorable relationship. Assuming Bastille isn’t down for good, we have a room full of enemies, Bastille, Dellinger, Machvise and Senor Pink. Lao G is up against Soldier, and the top executives are all in fights too! Specifically, Zoro declaring that he would cut the stone man reminded me of the promise to Daz that he would finish their battle a man who could cut steel. And Zoro is a man of his word, I think we should have faith!
P.S. imagine if Pica’s voice is finally revealed as a joke, like if it’s super high pitched or something. If we don’t want to cut the sails out of Pica then the inverse could also work super well, him revealing his cool voice when it counts most. If he talks at all that is! |