Luffy, Law and Zoro have split up from Viola and Riku, Luffy grabbing ahold of both of them, Law still in cuffs, and jumping off the plateau to do the Luffy special, head straight for Doflamingo. Franky is headed to the factory which has no guards right now due to Doflamingo’s confidence in it’s impenetrable nature, going so far to destroy the keys. If Franky wasn’t a mega cool cyborg who I have faith in, I’d say this would be a job for Galdino. Machvise, Senor Pink, and Dellinger were still looking for Franky and Luffy landed right in between them. They almost ganged up on Luffy and Law incredibly hard but Zoro casually kicked Dellinger to the side and freed Luffy. Inside the underground, Sabo and Koala, presumably Hack as well despite it not being shown, all separated to pursue their investigation here and go on with their personal missions and Robin looked a little disappointed in seeing her friends go so soon, it was cute. And for the time being Robin, Rebecca, and Usopp are staying together, I wouldn’t be surprised if Robin and Usopp are tied together for most of the remainder of this arc now that he needs a bodyguard.
To speak in more detail, earlier in the episode, Law mentioned something incredible. It is crucial not to take Doflamingo down but rather to isolate him from his SMILE’s thus making Kaido kill Doflamingo. If they kill Doflamingo, it is them to blame for the SMILE’s being depleted and thus they make an enemy out of Kaido instead. Law said this as a warning to Luffy which continues to have us ask if Law is the type of guy to sacrifice Dressrosa for his own interests, his kindness so far has either been pragmatic like with Smoker or convenient for him like helping the kids. That said, Luffy was able to show everyone the kind of guy he is by declaring how that is not an issue to worry about right now. He lives with no regrets and he wants to help his new friends, his nakama’s wishes, and kick the hell out of Don Quixote Doflamingo. Plus, he’s already kind of at war with two of the emperors, literally with Big Mam and Blackbeard does want Luffy’s head already as Jimbei told us. What’s one more to add onto that list? It looks like this was not initially about taking down Kaido but rather to use the Straw Hats will naturally transform into a genuine plan to kill Kaido for their own lives. And, I just love the tangled connections and deep ramifications of taking actions like this, Law wanting to turn the system against Doflamingo and Luffy rather willing to challenge the entire system to take him out.
Meanwhile, we also got a look into Doflamingo’s palace and a few scenes focusing on the navy’s role in this. The navy are restraining those who can’t control themselves which is a great action to take. Maynard is okay and ready to testify everything he experienced against Doflamingo but unlike what he and Bastille want to do, Fujitora refuses to focus on Doflamingo at this moment. I had thought the birdcage inherently meant for making an enemy out of Fujitora but that is not the case. And if he does trust Doflamingo’s game would end if the 12 were caught, maybe that would be the best solution in stopping this massacre. Either way, him confronting Luffy’s group at the end of the episode tells us that his intentions should become clear soon. We also got a nice and emotional scene showing his distaste for the government and how it perpetuates this behavior with the warlord system. Doflamingo on the other hand continued to show forgiveness in his own men. Despite them making excuses for their failings and suggesting it wasn’t their fault, two failing which have caused unfixable damage to Doflamingo’s kingdom, he forgave them just as he forgave Baby 5 and Buffalo. Just as he chose not to chase after the Sunny when Giolla had failed her mission and been taken hostage. This is a character trait of his which continues to be very prevalent. Further, he plans to use Fujitora while he can and then kill him afterwards since he will eventually become an enemy. There is something chilling about the phrase “there is no advantage to keeping him alive”. |