I like the misdirection with Hakuba. As many others, I was thinking that Rebecca may have used conqueror's haki. Firstly because, why show Agilia get cut up by Suleiman if not to put Rebecca in a state like those times Luffy used it before training. She has this whole motivation of “wanting to protect rather than be protected” yet to even get a chance to protect Soldier, people are dying for her. It would be crushing. Secondly because, well, duh, that is what conqueror's haki does and it’s already happened in the tournament! However, despite both of these setting up the answer to be obvious, it did the completely unexpected. Cavendish has a murderous alter ego that comes out when he falls asleep and wrecks absolute havok with wind cutting abilities, sporting a psychotic face. It seems he may have eaten a wind-wind fruit of some kind but doesn't use it when awake and he is famous enough that the revolutionaries and the navy know about him. That is unexpected and it adds another layer to his character and yet another wildcard into this arc. I presume he is truly chaotic evil, even striking at Rebecca who he defended earlier, yet she used her observational haki skills to avoid the attack which allowed her to become one of the finalists. The scene also ended with more of the commentator being a super awesome guy, he can hardly fake disdain for Rebecca because he respects these warriors and loves their strength and he knows better than anyone just how hard Rebecca has to work. Now, I doubt he’d step in if Diamante wanted to cheat but I do think he’d be against that kind of dishonoring the contestants.
Meanwhile, Franky is having a friendly battle with Senor Pink. He hilariously showed off every mechanical part of his body at once, including his tank treads and his small hand and while the girls didn’t like it, Senor Pink stood up for him. Both of these are men who are so resolute that they are willing to be huge perverted weirdos to express themselves and I think Franky’s smile at the end denotes that he had some respect for Senor Pink as well. It makes them trading blows end up feeling quite fun. And, we’ve seen Doffy’s men are willing to die for him quite eagerly and thus, I don’t know if Senor Pink could end up as a Bon Clay figure but I wouldn’t say it’s entirely off the table. That said, I think Senor Pink helping Franky in a small way that doesn’t necessarily make him a traitor is more likely. I must agree with him, we ought not make fun of how a man is…
In the palace we saw that Doflamingo had brought king Riku in and has taken him as prisoner. That is quite horrifying knowing what Doffy did to him. He commented on how everyone in the royal family is attacking at once, him, Rebecca, and Violet, and Riku confirmed that not only were the Tontatta inspired to fight back by the hoax but he was as well. More importantly, Doflamingo put his cards on the table and revealed how little he knew. Primarily, discounting the Zou squad, he thinks only Cyborg Franky is doing anything and he’ll lose. He is not aware that Luffy got away from the colosseum and thus he doesn’t now Sabo took his place, and he doesn’t believe that Robin and Usopp could have gotten into the basement. That’s a lot to be wrong about, Luffy is about to initiate an attack and Usopp and Robin are in the middle of it, Franky doesn’t even need to win, he’s a distraction. I do love how Doflamingo knows of Usopp by “Sogeking” though, that is so charming. And as the person above me mentioned, he put Law in the heart seat that Buffalo said Doffy had been saving for Law!
Lastly, I didn’t realize the palace was on top of everything. That means that we’re hitting a pretty huge point in the arc, everyone involved with the Straw Hats in Dressrosa are attacking in the same area, at the same time, without Doflamingo seeming to have knowledge of it. There can be a lot of overlap here. I would honestly expect Doflamingo to be more on top of things, guessing that Franky was a diversion, having some idea of the Tontatta, although I can admit that lacking knowledge of Zoro/Kin’emon and Sabo is easy to understand. That said, I also understand that he relies on Violet who can leave these things out and he is preoccupied with Law right now. I just don’t want to underestimate him. |