Duval continues to be a strong figure in this arc. I bet he's still going to play a big role. He showed off his strong sense of duty when they picked up the Straw Hats after Luffy punched the Celestial Dragon and now he's making sure their ship is guarded until they return. Sure, he did do that slave trading stuff and kidnapping and he was a nuisance even in his hometown but at least his sense of personal gratefulness is very redeeming!
I wonder what happened with Law and Kid, they definitely had an easier time escaping, Luffy's crew had two Pacifista's, a warlord, Sentomaru, and Kizaru on them, it seemed Law and Kid only had two Pacifista's and some fodder navy men. If they managed to take both Pacifista's down I'm sure they made it out okay although that's still quite the task to take on. It does lead to the question of why Kizaru sent all of their major power to the singular Straw Hat crew and not both Law's and the higher bounty Kid's crews.
Kuma seems to have sent each Straw Hat to a different location. I wonder if he controlled where he sent them to. Seeing that he tried to save them in a way I at least think he sent them all to land so they wouldn't drown. People like the devil fruit users or people as hurt as Zoro are people he'd have to be careful of where he sent them if he wants them to be okay. Another thing to think about is if he sent any of them together or if he sent all of them separately.
The most interesting part of the episode for me was the range of emotions Luffy showed. I was honestly worried if he'd be able to go back to his happy, forward moving self and at first I thought he could when he showed his absolute happiness upon realizing if he wasn't killed but instead sent away so were his friends. He immediately acted and wasn't down in the dumps and headed towards meeting his friends with Rayleigh Vivre card.
However, upon grounding himself and upon realizing his friends were okay and having faith in them we saw him finally reflect on what had happened in a stable mental state. Before this he was in the moment and couldn't understand what was going on and couldn't deal with his emotions, and in the bubble and upon landing he was too busy thinking about his friends safety. But, when all that had slowed down and he was able to properly acknowledge what had happened he got so mad at himself he charged into a cliff. "What's wrong with me?!" he exclaimed.
He lands on the ground exhausted and he calls to Sanji out of habit. This was a moment that reminded me of the Arlong arc where he gave that speech that he cannot do anything and that's the beauty of being a human, he can't cook, navigate, lie, sword fight, he can't do a single thing alone, that's why he has his nakama. They are a part of him, and that's why he so habitually called out to Sanji. Later he mentions how quiet everything is and does something that reminds me of something Brook did. He stuffs his face with laughing mushrooms, something that was probably in the jungle he was thrown in as a kid, and he says the line "I can have fun, even though I'm all alone!". That's what Brook said when he was on his ghost ship surrounded by memories of his loved ones past, in a constant nightmare, as he tried to force himself to feel happier. By doing weird things and laughing. I read this as trying to overcome your sadness with forced positivity. And maybe that goes too far and perhaps Luffy would have eaten all those different emotional mushrooms regardless, but I read the situation as Luffy not wanting to feel his current emotions so he overdoses in artificial ones and ends up eating shrooms that nearly kill him.
Every time he thinks of being alone I'm sure there's a part of him that blames himself for his situation, in his inability "to even save one friend". There was just something so sad to me about the "I can have fun even if I'm alone!" line, perhaps I'm overlapping it too much with Brook's situation but I think it has something to it.
This tribe and island is fun, it's a jungle but not a prehistoric one this time, filled with a tribe of women who haven't even seen a man before. Props to Oda for addressing Luffy's stretchy penis.
I also laughed so hard at how he showed his at times obtusely straightforward nature as he approached the cliff, saw the Vivre card was pointing through it, and didn't try to stretch on top of it, or go around it, instead his first instinct was to punch through the heart of the issue literally and break it. Nice one Luffy!!! |