If we thought this was already exciting and crazy, we hadn’t seen anything yet. Firstly, the confrontation with Doflamingo and the Straw Hats. It started quite horrifying honestly. Luffy was trapped behind sea prism stone bars and he had to watch his friend Tra-guy get shot, his friend Kin’emon get cut, and then his second in command Zoro “disappear”. This felt incredibly similar to Sabaody. Luffy being unable to act while watching his friends get hurt one by one. In fact, in both cases Zoro “disappeared”. We were able to see how casual Doflamingo was and how he played “the hero” again while also mentioning his responsibility to deal with Law. But, Zoro and Kin’emon in a single moment deciding to charge in against the warlord and save Tra-guy showed their guts. Kin’emon may be goofy but he can hold his own. I was initially thinking that, like when Sanji was around, Zoro may be able to hold Doflamingo off just long enough to save Law. But then Fujitora clashed with him, with a trade of blades the gravity of Zoro’s body grows heavier and makes him topple through the ground. That shot of him in the hole looked dang painful. Yet, Zoro, the mad man he is, was able to slash, despite the weight, and cut through the air hitting Fujitora which loosened the grip. Interestingly, Fujitora’s power is kind of the inverse of Miss Valentine of Baroque works in the same way that Law’s power is the inverse of Buggy’s.
The silver lining of this scene was that despite Zoro not being there to save Law, Fujitora blocking Zoro essentially reminded us that he wants Law alive. He wants to arrest him. So, despite Fujitora’s presence here being frightening, he works as a sort of insurance that whoever he takes down will stay alive whereas Doflamingo is not so nice. He also had a cute line in there about how he didn’t have anything against the Straw Hats, in fact, he felt a little guilty “paying kindness with ingratitude.” But, before things went absolutely crazy, Doflamingo whispered something to Fujitora, a deal he wanted to make, and he got Fujitora’s word that he’d hear him out in the palace. Something Zoro tried to stop before he got surrounded. I understand the next sequence was filler, and in my mind it wasn’t additive but actually somewhat harmful. It was hilarious to see Zoro run around in a circle reminding me of running from the Punk Hazard gas, but it made the marines seem like they had no strategy whatsoever, they seemed stupid to not spread out. Then it allowed for a moment where Zoro could have easily cut the bars but didn’t and told Luffy to find an exit. Either way, Luffy could break the wall if he really wanted to. Overall that small filler broke immersion and made both Zoro and the marines seem overly dumb.
So we already have a war brewing, one of the most powerful logia fruits floating around, the presence of Blackbeard with Burgess, the most dangerous warlord with the help of an admiral opposing the crew, but that isn’t enough. This is One Piece and that’s all too structured. What we need is a wildcard to make me, who was already shaking in tension, start screaming. That wildcard is the presence of a second emperor at Dressrosa. WHAT THE HELL?!?!??! Quickly we saw Pekoms and the other candy loanshark of Big Mom’s and they immediately made their cause known. They are here for Caesar and they figured the Straw Hats had him. They were broadcasted at Punk Hazard after all. This ends up being two birds with one stone, the Straw Hats are already an enemy of Big Mom, and Caesar has swindled her for research funds. What a nutcase, as Sanji put it: everybody wants this mad scientist. Whether it’s because he’s crucial to Kaido, or because Big Mom wants to skin him alive. Yet, this led to a delicate Sanji moment. He saw the seriousness in Caesar’s plead for help, and despite telling him “I don’t care if you live or die” I think we saw some concern on his face. He rationalized it as “we can’t let anyone take you anyways” but this was almost like some words of reassurance. And, although Caesar may hate the Straw Hats for ruining his plan at Punk Hazard and keeping him away from Joker, if they save his life from Big Mom he may get a bit of stockholm syndrome. It’s not like they’re awful to him all the time, Chopper fixed his broken nose earlier too.
Soooo, Big Mom… She has a singing ship and it’s massive and trying to sink the Straw Hats. Brook is steering the ship and telling everyone to pray while freaking out, and Nami had a moment of leadership. She was the reason to balance out Sanji’s loyalty. Sanji wanted to risk everything to fight with his nakama. But Nami pointed out that they have both Momonosuke and Caesar with them so the only thing in Doflamingo’s hands that he’s gunning for is the factory which they can still destroy. Leading Big Mom to Dressrosa and having their trump cards stolen is only going to hinder them. Further, Sanji did the incredibly awesome, he, the only one of the demonic trio there, asked for permission to counter attack Big Mom. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I have faith in Sanji’s plans. He’s done some amazing stuff in the past.
In conclusion, there are three major plans going on now. Franky, Usopp, and Robin fighting with the army to destroy the factory which will be defended by the Don Quixote family. Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Brook, Momonosuke, and Caesar are heading to Zou while planning to counterattack the following Big Mom. And Luffy, Zoro, and Kin’emon seem to be heading right to the palace to save Tra-guy, which coincidentally, Violet is heading there too! That is amazing already, and we mustn't forget about Ace’s devil fruit with Rebecca’s story and the other contestants either. And if that is Sabo as his hat would suggest, then that means the revolutionaries may be here too?!?! Although to be fair, it could just be him. Either way, I want to know why he wasn’t there for Ace, that’s a burning question I’ve had, and further, if he’s a friend then that’s just one more strong ally for this upcoming clash of emperors, warlords, worst generations, and admirals. O.o
P.S. I was wondering if Kin’emon, Kanjuro, and Momonosuke are important people in Wano. If Momonosuke is like the secret prince of Wano then I could see why Doflamingo would want him. Further, he has a dragon zoan fruit so, if controlled, then he could one day be a deadly subordinate. Still, I’m not confident on any theories just yet. |