I have to admit I got ahead of myself when I praised this arc. It's been awesome but it's stopped progressing in interesting ways and to say that it's better than Drum Kingdom or Khaladore at this point would be silly. That said, this was one of the best episodes of the arc! The last episode was quite wonderful too now that I mention it.
In the past, I was not fond of the recurrent Lola joke. However, this episode turned that around for me. While I do think it overstayed its welcome, by adding to it with Nami tricking Lola that she was Namizo the cross-dressing man, it immediately got much better for me. I hope the fact that Chopper thinks Nami is a man now comes up again. Loved how Usopp turned to him and was like, "hey..." when even he knew Nami was lying. Somehow Lola became... cute to me?? I wasn't expecting to like her but Namizo's hilarious speech about friendship and how it inspired Lola just made me want to root for her. Those two better end up together by the end! Seriously though, I loved this scene in particular for how it showed just how much of a con artist Nami is. That side of her doesn't come out as often anymore! "She seriously turns her misfortune into fortune".
So, Nami is to rob Perona as Perona robs Nami. I guess snakes think like snakes. Ironic but funny.
The talk about calling the "Three Phantoms" to reincarnate no.900 with Luffy's soul got me thinking. Two are clearly Absalom and Perona, however, I wonder if number 3 is Hogback or if we're intentionally being subverted. I guess Moria has a lot of respect for Luffy if he wants to combine his soul with such a legendary number. That too got me thinking, in typical shounen fashion in an area One Piece has yet to subvert, the protagonist must have some reason he cannot fight until the final battle is ready as a 1v1. Whether it's being held under water or being eaten by a snake. Water 7's was more natural as the fight started before it became the final one but it only got serious once the rest were done so kudos for that. It did get me thinking however, I wonder if Luffy will have his soul taken and he'll either be in jail or passed out until he gets a chance to fight Moria at the end. That said, I can't imagine that being the case because my understanding is that we aren't halfway through this arc yet so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.
Finally, we got some more awesome Robin and Franky action. I adore how Franky casually told Robin to keep Spider Monkey busy as he went and made some pillar nunchaku. Robin shows her concise and decisive decision making as she stalled for time with one quick move causing him to cover his own eyes. Then Franky comes out and beats the living hell out of it. I honestly felt bad. He beat it so hard with pillars about the size of its face. It begged him to stop and he didn't feel any sympathy he just continued beating it down and when it finally got the weapon away Franky didn't care. He just shot it in the face. My gosh. We're seeing the brutality he has in him come up again. He was similarly brutal to Usopp when they fought. He's an interesting guy. I think he punches first and talks/thinks later which can result in him bawling his eyes out when speaking to his former enemy but being an especially deadly foe in combat.
And duh, I have to mention Brook. Being a skeleton lets him jump the height of towers and run on water. That had me laughing. Okay. He has a cool cane sword sheath and he proved himself to have the same techniques as the zombie samurai did confirming our suspicions. Interestingly enough, I think Brook and Zoro have to have a duel at some point, even if it's a friendly one! Zoro wants to be the greatest swordsman and seeing that Brook is also quite the legendary swordsman himself there's ought to be some competition there, even if Brook doesn't care for the title of a swordsman and just fights for self-defense or for defending his values. He certainly seems that way in that we didn't even see his sword when the crew met him and how he hides it with a cane. I suppose he could be an assassin or something but I doubt that.
P.S. I love how Luffy's outfits often devolve into cool stuff he found laying around and he decided to put on. |