DO NOT discuss the source material beyond this episode. If you want to discuss future events or theories, please use separate threads. DO NOT ask where to watch/download this episode or give links to copyrighted, non-fair use material. DO NOT troll/bait/harass/abuse other users for liking or disliking the series/characters. DO read the Anime Discussion Rules and Site & Forum Guidelines.
Kigaru said: In my opinion.. it was horrible. But that is just my opinion. I know they always make these kind of episodes at the end of an arc, but really now. For me this episode was: skip to 5:20 (intro, recap from underwater+++), then "we hate pirates x20", then 2 mins of happy and crying Navy, the recaprecaprecap, and the end wa interesting, but not really..enjoyable. The start has pissed me off or a lng time now. An episode sould be around 17-20, not 13-14mins. But still, it' one piece. I have to watch it, lol.
my thoughts exactly! All that recap was irritating, this did not need to be an episode in and of itself.
Minagatachi said: Terrible episode, but end was great. For some reason just seeing an always-happy character like Doflamingo angry is so enjoyable for me, but also pretty terrifying.
Yeah! I can't stand that jerk's cocky constant smile! Law is really getting to him!
Behold of my awesomeness~
controversial and/or sensitive topics likely devolve into the same repetitive, derogatory, abusive, and harassing comments can no longer be posted.
But my feels.
Highlight of this one has to be seeing Doflamingo flustered with things out of his control for once. We've known him to always seem to be on top of things and this contrast was nice, that he actually has a weakness and all
Other than that, what is up with this anime balancing buxom babes with wussy crying grown-up men?
I'm Bruneian and I like anime. And Manchester United. And fat cats.
I don't think Doffy's pride will let him resign, and I'm pretty sure Law knows that but just wants to make him squirm lol
Wonder what this Kaidou dude is like- he sounds like a monster and by the way they're building him up, possibly a final villain of some sorts (even though I've never thought of One Piece as really having that one, specific "big bad" like a lot of other Shounen series).
Now I'm also curious as to why Law wants to kill Kaidou- I mean, it could just be because he wants to find One Piece and Kaidou's closest to finding it since he's the strongest...but I dunno, I'd like to think it's something that runs a bit deeper than that.
The only decent Yonkou is Shanks- Big Mom and Blackbeard are horrid, and Kaidou doesn't seem like a good dude either :o
Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines.
Long post so I’ll spoiler tag it for organization.
The Luffy and Law alliance got more screen time. I do like Law’s shock to see Luffy’s eagerness to take down all the emperors. He hardly needed any convincing when it came to agreeing to take down “the strongest creature in the world”. It’s why Law thinks perhaps it’s he whose being taken advantage of. Luffy wants to do it anyways and he can ride along with Law to make it easier. The alliance itself does make sense, to get someone as insane and strong as Luffy and the Straw Hats with him is both a huge strength and a weakness. It makes me wonder if it’s for the extra firepower or even further thought out, like I once said, perhaps Law saved Luffy in Marineford so he could use him later down the line. I admit the chance meeting in Punk Hazard makes it feel more spontaneous though.
Another piece of Kaido dialogue later was that “Kaido isn’t the negotiating type, fierce battle will take place and he’ll destroy you”. He is incredibly strong and quick to combat those who disappoint him it seems, he is not even human. We’re finally getting an idea about all of the emperors and with Luffy having a meaningful relationship with each now we can go in any direction and that’s narratively awesome. This really is the emperor’s sea, huh?
I posited an idea before that if Doflamingo is the “young master” then I would assume there is a higher “master” and the easiest bet would be an emperor and thus it would fit narratively for it to be Kaido as Luffy and Law agreed to take that one down amonst other things. Doflamingo could be a stepping stone to that. Here Law described Doflamingo not as his son or someone below him in position like I thought but rather as his most important business partner. It is implicit that Doflamingo is creating the man made fruits for Kaido to create an army, and now that he can’t do that he’s in a predicament. So the Kaido relationship doesn’t seem to be the “master” and “young master” situation at first glance but the connection between these two is still strong and if not then the name “young master” is still fascinating.
To talk more specifically about the episode, I thought the G-5 making one last attempt to be enemies with the pirates they befriended was a bit drawn out at first but I definitely found it endearing as it went on. The G-5 believe this mantra of “navy good, pirate bad” but they know in their heart of hearts that isn’t true. They must believe that their vice admiral father figure did truly betray them. They know for a fact that Sanji, a pirate, saved their lives and was a great guy. It’s akin to the Punk Hazard soldiers when they let the gas in for Caesar and refused to believe that they were guinea pigs to him. If anything, the navy let this happen to the kids and the pirates saved them. So, Tashigi screamed that they were shameful and in that moment they broke down and revealed that they know they’re being shameful but they feel they have to go out as enemies or everything they know is wrong. They felt they had to make these good pirates bad with slander and prejudice but they were forcing it. Perhaps it was a little much, but I think it was sweet.
It led to the G-5 saying bye earnestly, they admitted they’d be enemies next time but they let that strict idea of theirs falter. And in this moment Law let out what looked to be a genuine little smirk. It’s a small moment to touch on but I love it! Law looks so serious all the time. He may show a little anger or nervousness, but generally he’s really straight faced or he’s smiling like a psychopath because his plan is going good. This moment of Law smiling swayed me to think he’s a good guy again.
Him never being clear about his good intentions, his lack of smiling when Mocha thanked him or when he saw the kids off, it made me think he may be a total sociopath, but this said otherwise. It was like he had fun seeing the chaos of these groups coming together. And moreover, he saved Smoker beyond when he needed him alive. Why? “No particular reason”. Why did he save Luffy in Marineford? “Despite being enemies we share a bond, it’ll be boring if he dies here” and to address Luffy here in PH he said he saved him “on the spur of the moment”. I don’t think anyone told him to help the kids in the way he did either. I take it that despite being cruel, cold and calculated he does try to fit in being a sweetheart now and then, especially to those he respects, when it fits into his plans. I don’t think he’s excessively cruel but I do think he does what is necessary and without remorse which leaves some skepticism over whether I should trust him.
The final scene, the raft with the decapitated Buffalo and Baby-5 on it, was brilliant. It came off in a way that’s somewhat rare for One Piece, and in a way I adore. Law brings something fresh to One Piece. I once made a joke to my friends saying that in the manga Shinjuku Swan the scouting company Burst wants to move into new territory but its guarded by an incestous relationship of dirty cops and yakuza protecting a rival scouting company. The way they try to break in? They have to figure out how to break the “iron triangle” they have protecting them at each point. What does Luffy do when he’s told there’s an “iron triangle” protecting Caesar, that triangle being Doflamingo and Kaido? HE PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE! Luffy doesn’t care and he takes what comes at him and makes the best of it. But Law is more of the negotiating type, he doesn’t just punch Doflamingo in the face, he corners him and then forces his cards on the table.
Doflamingo must resign as a warlord and give up everything he’s built over 10 years or Law will turn Kaido against him with Caesar’s capture. He’s either about to make enemies with admirals and lose everything, or make enemies with Kaido and have everything destroyed. That’s it! It’s lose-lose. Law took his time planning ahead and forcing Doflamingo into a hole and then he started to bury him in it, and that kind of long game scheming and playing the system is so cool to me. I loved seeing the smug Law snailsponder tell him that his men’s bodies being lost is “frivolous” to worry about, and confidently putting Doflamingo in a losing position to the point he turns blue and later furious.
I was curious to see how Doflamingo would act towards Baby 5 and Buffalo and despite Buffalo wanting to die for his failure, he didn’t seem too bad on them. Not at all. Further, Doflamingo is right, if Law doesn’t have a bigger plan for Caesar he should kill right now as to not give Doflamingo a single chance to fix this, because if he gets Caesar back then he’s won. Caesar really was the trump card to decide the winner here.
I know that those G5 morons were lying to themselves when they were ridiculing the Straw Hats while praising the Marines even after seeing their own commander turning his back on them but I'll have to say that I was pretty annoyed at how they took their joke too far. Despite that, I was pretty touched when they finally dropped their act lmao
Law's driven Doflamingo into a corner and I can only imagine what will happen next!
that Smoker facepalm lol "good grief... maybe I shoulda been a pirate"
nice music during that recap and epic sendoff back into adventure, Dressrosa baby here we goooooo
Holy shit, Law actually got Doflamingo cornered! Kaido or the Navy. Which one does he think he'll have a better chance of dealing with?
Tashigi took far too long to shout at the G5 soldiers. While it was touching in the end that they were going so far purely to convince themselves as now proud Navy soldiers...they still started going too far with their chanting.
Going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. Strawhats first had got Big Mam on their arses. Now they've got Doflamingo as a Law accomplice, along with the alliance to take downn Kaido (who will eventually be after them if he finds they were involved with the SMILE production sabotage).
Man I love G-5. That was touching see the marines and even Tashigi concerned for them. Best marine group my far.
But the highlight of this episode was Law and flamingo tall. Law is absolutely peak character. He definitely one the smartest. Outside of shanks and whitebeard he my favorite non straw hat. I’m very curious to see what flamingo does. I assume he will try to go after them, but I think he pick to say a warlord and try to see if the navy can help him with Kiado. That be my bet if I can’t get to Caesar