This was a super fulfilling episode despite the recap being pretty awful. We were shown so much of the Vergo scene and then shown the Caesar and Luffy scene again leading us into 7 minutes before the episode started. But, I felt the episode had so much in it that I didn’t mind at all.
So, I’ll start with where the episode started: Luffy and Caesar. Like their first encounter, the sheer joy of having Luffy dodge and take on Caesar’s attacks and then pummel him with awesome impact frames never left. The fight totally became one of Caesar attacking Luffy like a bullet hell game and Luffy occasionally punching the hell out of Caesar and launching him flying. I really think it came down to a game of exhausting Luffy and slowly inflicting serious damage onto Caesar, but it became clear quickly with the amount of fire, swordplay, explosions, and oxygen stealing that Luffy would be the loser here. The damage Luffy was inflicting was not enough even if it was incredibly enjoyable to see. So, when given the opportunity to run or die, it was awesome to see Luffy’s decision. We all knew it was coming but this rubber bastard doesn’t give up and he gave what would have been an immaculate ending to this fight. Luffy learned the range of Caesar’s oxygen deprivation and he cuts him off, entering second gear, he even gives a badass one liner that “if he can’t breath then he’ll take Caesar out in one breath”. A bell to get out of the range and get that one good breath comes and he bashes into Caesar, and then follows him as he dodges to give him a hardened gatling. It was cool! It was like he tech chased in smash bros terms. A super spontaneous and juicy and instinctual maneuver that Luffy is so known for. Of course though, Monet let this happen until it was time to save Caesar and she did so because if she didn’t then Doflamingo would kill her. She seems to have snow powers and she’s keeping Luffy busy, I fear her even more than Caesar because she seems highly intelligent but lacking the ego problem Caesar has. But seriously, the first blow of the episode, the first jet pistol that Caesar didn’t see coming, and the knee into his gut as he was trying to cut Luffy up were all gold.
Then we have the continuation of Sanji and Vergo. Oh my gosh, that was awesome! How does one episode have these two fights at the same time?! The first two good blows were given by a Sanji taking Vergo off guard, flying in and getting a headshot and later being unexpectedly strong, catching Vergo off balance, and then slamming him into the wall. It reminded me of Bon Clay vs Sanji in Alabasta with the vicious trading of kicks. But it can’t be that easy, Vergo climbed out of the wall like a robot showing he didn’t retain too much damage and showed the real strength of a vice admiral. The animation was certainly fluid and the second we saw Sanji’s bone start to crack was the tide turning. Vergo totally came in prepared this time and Sanji was put on the defense, culminating in Vergo presumably winning round 2 like Sanji won round 1. The gas rushing from behind them as the gates were closing made for quite the memorable and tense moment, that and Sanji having quite the strong opponent for the first time post time skip I think! I also liked the little moments like Sanji showing his smarts and predicting Caesar’s plan to gas them before anyone else, and his empathy when he saw the hurt G-5 that didn’t get out. Sanji can be brutal but he definitely cares for people at a core level. :)
Lastly, Law seems to have a dangerous idea and we’re finally starting to understand it… Vergo expressed that Law formed an alliance for defence and joined the warlords to get to this room, he has a worst scenario in mind that could ruin the New World… It’s ambiguous at this point but it seems Luffy is involved in quite a controversial plan and presumably the object in the room will be what he came here to look for to begin with. The thing that may be instrumental in taking down the emperor. And you know what, it gave us one cool walk from him as he casually strolled down the hallway and some quite smug moments of satisfaction on his end so I’m all for it. A smiling Law is a smiling me! But, can’t Vergo just crush his heart right now if he really wants to? As for the dragon going berserk, I felt bad for Brook!! You jerks, Zoro is the dragon slayer, don’t push Brook into it! |