This arc is awesome, who would have known it would have started on an adventure to Fishman island and end up here... Only Oda can make me laugh my butt off for 15 minutes and then cry for the remainder of the episode. Luffy is the perfect character for the tone of One Piece. The way he lives is always 100%, always looking forward, always having a good time and not taking things too seriously, not letting things get to him, until something calls for action and he's able to switch to a very serious and tear-inducing person in the snap of your fingers. I love that about him so much. He's the type to only fight for things worth fighting for and to enjoy himself all the time outside of that, but when those times come he will be an entirely different person.
The first half of the episode was hysterical, I was laughing and I was totally happy. Seeing Luffy show the Kuja tribe how to have a banquet, renditioning his own version of binks sake, showing them all his tricks, and turning a hateful group of women into his fan club was wonderful. It reminded me of back when him and Blackbeard became bros in their brief meeting at Mock Town. If given a chance Luffy can become friends with nearly anyone in an instant.
Speaking of that, rewatching the scenes Blackbeard was introduced in are quite interesting. He preaches the age where pirates dream and tells Luffy to follow his ambitions, speaking down on Doflamingo's attempts at a new era. The two had a really joyous meeting. It also showed Luffy looking at both Shanks AND Ace as his heroes which made the events this episode even more sad.
Even Luffy's interactions with Granny 'bean' was hilarious. I love how he showed that he has no awareness of anything outside of him and his nakama and the things he thinks are cool. He didn't even know Boa was a Warlord. "Do you read newspapers?!?", and a blunt response of "No, I don't read them.", because why would he!! He has no shame and I love it, he just cares about what he cares about. The moment where he said it was too much information before going to drink some tea made me laugh ridiculously hard to me, the panicked confusion and then the clueless expression as he took a sip signified to me that it all went in one ear and out the next. It was so wonderful.
And the very next moments showed that duality of Luffy's I mentioned at the start of the post. It's as if all this information is cluelessly going past Luffy, he doesn't even comprehend it. It's one of the most charming and hilarious parts of his character, the fact that he doesn't even care about his crews backstories, just their current actions. He's 100% in the present just following what he wants to do with the people he loves. Yet, the second he heard about Ace that switch went off. He changed from that loving and joyous boy. You could see how intense he was, “Ace is going to die” was the one thing that made it through to his head out of everything Granny told him. He shook Granny bean and yelled at her, HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE, ACE IS HIS BROTHER. TELL HIM ABOUT ACE. The way he was shaking and his expressions and the abruptness of this mood change were so powerful to me.
Luffy had to question the faith he had in Ace. He wanted to let him deal with his troubles on his own but now it seems the Vivre card is working the opposite way it was intended, not for Ace to look out for his little bro, but for Luffy to look out for Ace. I wonder if these events will make Luffy more aware of the world events going on around him, it's nearly too late to save one of his heroes lives. Coming off his past losses where he nearly had his nakama die and nearly had his new friends die, this hits hard. Granny Nyon had a lot of emotion too as her eyes were watery, she knew what she was telling Luffy hurt him but she wanted to get everything out there for him. It's respectable for her, and her being someone who probably feels the same connection with Boa, she knows Luffy would too take that one in a million to save his brother like she would her pseudo-daughters. Maybe I'm going too far but I felt a lot going on with her too.
In a Luffy fashion he doesn't care about the consequences. He will go there somehow, he doesn't care about anything else but making it there in time. My tears started to slow down as I realized it wasn't as hopeless as it seems. Sadly Luffy keeps disregarding haki, probably as something mysterious and magical as that's how he explains things that go over his head. But now's the time he'll need it most and on a 4 day ship ride to Marineford we could get a 4 day training sequence where he learns the basics at least. I'm assuming that has to happen. Luffy may not ask for it but someone will tell him he needs it to have even that one in a million chance to save Ace. Further, Luffy thinks he's leaving his friends behind but if you think about it, they know Luffy so well, if they hear news about Ace they will go to Marineford too. THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND. They are strong as hell and love Luffy to death. They know he's going there and we will have some wicked scenes involving them all reaching Luffy together in this upcoming battle. Further, we have the navy ship we need and Luffy can go on it in secret potentially, and he has a Warlord comrade who hates the World Government and will probably gladly attack them with him. It's abrupt but not a horrible situation. Luffy could be far more hopeless here. There are opportunities they can grasp. BUT THEN BOA GOT A TERMINAL ILLNESS, THANKS ODA, NOW WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!?!
Anyways, sidenote, on the news paper we saw two things. Blackbeard's pictureProbably news on him becoming a warlord and defeating Ace. And A PICTURE OF BUGGY!We can see the Celestial Dragon attack article which we know already, but on the side it's Buggy. Now I don't think this is for no good reason, Buggy is up to something and it's big enough to be in the newspaper, on the same page as a celestial dragon attack no less.
How the heck did I end up writing this much?!?! |