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One piece Chapter 778 :Tactics no.5
Hello everyone and welcome to this new review of One Piece. I have to admit I was very excited about this chapter in particular, because it had my favorite character finally getting the chance to shine: our favorite swordsman Zoro^^ I wasn’t disappointed and I quite enjoyed this chapter, for various reasons that I’ll try to explain.So without further ado, here’s the review.Credits to mangastream
Jinbei's cover story
After coming to the conclusion that the situation at the port town is due to Wadatsumi’s failings, it seemed that Jinbei’s cover story had lost all interest, that was until it was revealed that the villagers have found a Poneglyph among the ruins . Now this is quite an interesting bit of info, and depending on where the port town is located, this could be a hint about the SHs potentially visiting this town, and Robin getting the chance to study that Poneglyph. I wonder if it’s the one that reveals the location of the last ancient weapon, Uranus.Seeing how originally those ruins were found underwater and were uncovered by Wadatsumi when he threw them to the surface, and how Poseidon is in fact Shirahoshi, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the case. Either way it does look like Wadatsumi inadvertently did the SHs a favour by tossing those ruins away.
Review
With the defeat of Diamante at the hands of Kyros, the true hero of the colosseum, the focus shifted to another executive in DD’s crew. As seen in the last chapter, Pica’s true intention was to kill King Riku in order to foil any attempt at restoring the Riku family on the throne. As one of Doflamingo’s must loyal men, Pica sees DD as the one true king of Dressrosa. He decides to launch an attack on the plateau where the King along with an injured Usopp are currently on. Seeing this Zoro is desperate to find a way to stop Pica from putting his devilish plan into execution. The title of this chapter, Tactics no 5 is just another name for the fifth plan Zoro came up with( Plan E).
Tactics no.5 is set in motion
As Pica is approaching the plateau we get the reactions of various characters including Kyros and Rebecca, the colosseum fighters and an anxious Bartolomeo who is worried about his dear senpai Usopp.Elisabello seeing this decided to use his king punch, but luckily he is stopped by Zoro who informs him that without knowing where Pica’s true body is, he would just keep on regenerating himself. It would indeed be a waste to use the King punch under such circumstances. Zoro then approaches another colosseum fighter, Admiral Orlumbus, who seems to hold the key to the success of Zoro’s plan.
As a reminder the plan consists of having Zoro leap into the sky and then slash the gigantic statue. There’s been quite some speculation about how Zoro would be able to launch himself into the air including the king punch, sky walk, and my favorite of them all the infamous Zorocopter^^…but it does look like Admiral Orlumbus’ Killer bowling technique that allows him to throw his enemies in the air would do the trick. The technique could potentially be dangerous, but Zoro decides to go with it either way.
Riku tries to stop Pica from making more victims
Meanwhile King Riku tries to stop Pica from killing more innocent lives, and we get to know Pica’s vision of a king. To him a king must be strong in order to defeat his enemies, something that obviously King Riku refuses to do. As the pacifist he’s supposed to be King Riku acknowledges that he failed at protecting his country, but he claims he'd rather die than become a murderer just for the sake of protecting his country. Once again King Riku’s ideology is the opposite of that of DD, and as Pica remarks how history doesn’t remember “good people” his hand gets dangerously closer to the plateau, where a freaked out Usopp is crying for Zoro’s help.
Zoro executes the first part of his plan with the help of Orlumbus
The Admiral grabs Zoro and successfully tosses him in the air to where Pica currently is.
As Zoro is travelling he is holding a monologue that emphasizes on his ability to cut anything, which makes me wonder how much of that statement is true.
To be honest I am more moved about the feelings of camaraderie between the SHs at this point than any of King riku’s talk about what makes a good king. I cannot help but think that is highly idealistic, and I agree with Pica about the part that a king must protect his country. That said DD has been using murder and all sorts of evil deeds to control the citizens of Dressrosa, which is the worst that could happen and makes him a tyrant more than anything else.
Zoro cut Pica's statue
Just as Pica is about to launch his attack, Zoro makes it to where he is and cuts down the giant statue with his three sword technique “Greater three thousand: the great thousand worlds".While this is not a new technique per say, it is definitely an improved version of the technique he used against Oars back in Thriller back. It turns out to be so powerful that it cuts Pica’s statue in half, separating the torso from the lower body. It is spectacular and just shows how much Zoro has grown as a swordsman in those two years.
Kin'emon and Kanjuro's jaws drop while they're witnessing Zoro's prowess
Even though he cut the statue in half, it seems that Pica was once again too quick and he is moving to the upper part of the body. Zoro decides to take advantage of the momentum given to slash the statue yet another time before it crumbles down on the plateau. He slices it as if it were nothing more than cake, which astonishes everyone, including the two Wano samurais, Kinemon and Kanjuro. Zoro not being able to say for sure where Pica is going to move next can be puzzling, but to me it looks like it could have to do with the fact that unlike Caribou back in Fishman Island, Pica can conceal his presence, or simply that Zoro hasn’t mastered Observation Haki yet. The latter I see as the most logical explanation as it was previously stated by Oda in a SBS that each of the monster trio specializes in a color of Haki: Conqueror’s haki for Luffy, Armament haki for Zoro and Observation haki for Sanji. With this in mind Zoro prolly realized that the best course is to continue to slash the statue to force Pica out of it. With each slice the space where he can hide becomes smaller, and as he realizes he is cornered Pica comes out of the statue to settle his score with the pirate hunter in person.
Pica comes out of hiding...only to be finished off by Zoro.
Pica has his body completely imbued in Haki, similar to Vergo back in Punk Hazard. But Zoro ascertains that he can cut through anything, and it looks like his haki is stronger, as he cuts Pica with another Sanzen Seikai.A heavily injured Pica is seen falling down as Zoro remarks that he shouldn’t mess with “good people”.
Tactics no.5 is a success.
But they’re not quite done with this ordeal since there is still the issue of the crumbling statue falling on the plateau. This is where the King punch enters in action, and Elisabello uses it to blow the rubble away from the plateau.And with this it does seem that Tactics 5 is a complete success.
Conclusion
Again this chapter was very good on many levels. While it did not have Zoro use a new technique to launch himself in the sky or even use a new one to cut Pica, which can be disappointing to some, it still works very well overall. The action is very well executed, I haven’t felt bored while reading it and it had just the right amount of talk and drama. That said I’m a huge fan of Zoro so it’s only natural that I would like a chapter that focuses on him
. While it looks like Zoro might have had an easy win, and that he came out of the fight unscathed, I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion just yet. The killer bowling could have dealt some damage, and it does look like Zoro is exhausted after using the Sanzen seikai technique, which is apparently the strongest Santoryu technique. Also I had the impression that the fight was rather balanced since Pica is imo the strongest out of the three executives. Not only does Pica have a rather troublesome DF, he was pretty serious about his role, and I was quite surprised when he emerged of the statue completely imbued in haki. Also traditionally Zoro faces the second strongest fighter in a crew, kinda like with Daz Bones in Alabasta. However I still stand by the fact that he wasn’t the ideal opponent for Zoro since I like it better when he faces another swordsman or someone with a DF that would allow him to learn how to cut a new element.Also their mano a mano fight could have lasted a bit longer, and maybe have Pica use his gigantic sword only to be broken by Zoro but that’s just me being picky I guess
In the end all that matters is that we now have a better idea of how strong Zoro is after the time skip….and he’s pretty damn strong 
Now what I expect for next chapter is maybe see Zoro try to take down the birdcage if that’s feasible. His speech about being able to cut anything could mean that he’s one of the few people on Dressrosa who could do such a feat. There is also the issue of Trebol not currently having an opponent and if Zoro is not too worn out maybe he should take him down, but I doubt their fight would be interesting since Zoro can just slash any logia using Haki. Finally I think we’re one or two chapters away from seeing the main fight, and that is Luffy vs DD. I think one chapter is enough to show Bellamy finally go down, and possibly the factory(and maybe the bircage) be destroyed, which will seriously anger DD. With Luffy vs DD starting right after that.
If I were to rate this chapter I would give it a 9 out of 10, with a BADASS seal of approval^^(let’s see how many of you will get this reference). This chapter showed us how much of a badass Zoro is. It established how much Zoro has grown as a swordsman, but surprisingly it showed that he is a good strategist. His plan on paper didn’t seem believable, but he took care of everything, even of the possibility of the remains of the statue falling on the citizens.
Don't forget to comment and share how you feel about the chapter
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