sahugani's One Piece Review 454

sahugani · Apr 30, 2007

Sahugani’s One Piece Review 454

Consider this a teaser for FH's return

This week has really spoiled us One Piece fans and shown us how far the series has come along in popularity here since I started. Before the new year, it was completely normal for the One Piece RAW to arrive much sooner than Bleach or Naruto, but it was generally the last one to get a Edited Manga out. This week we not only got a Tuesday release, but so many Manga Editors worked their best to get out their translated scans with lightning speed. I applaud the efforts of these Manga Editors and RAW hunters for this beautiful event and so do all the One Piece fans on MH. This week’s pics come from Crayola’s Edited Manga. The title WP though, is a present from Franky House, who has done a fantastic job cleaning Oda’s newest color spread for a future quality release.

Also, I’m sorry for how incredibly late this review is. Midterms, issues arising from midterms, and being locked out of my room prevented me from getting the time to sit still and do this. Fortunately, now that this round of midterms are over and One Piece is once again coming out ridiculously early, I think that in the future my reviews will be able to be released much earlier in the week.

…Ahem!!!???

The plastic surgeon must have done a great job

Last week gave us our predicted initial confrontation between Nami and Lola as the hog chases after the Thief Cat. From there, the chase continued into Perona’s garden and we could expect the trio to give her the slip somehow…WTF!!!??? This was totally unexpected in true Oda fashion. Instead of escaping from her pursuer, Nami actually tricked Lola (and Chopper) into thinking that she was a man. As if this arc wasn’t already screwy enough with Nami’s near-sexual abuse and the perv-zombie that was responsible. It is almost as if Oda is celebrating the death of the 4Kids dub with us by giving us this comedy gold. Anyways, with this new joke, Nami’s character has been taken from one end of the spectrum to the other in this arc. The question this brings up is how will Lola react after mentioning Nami’s maleness to Absalom, who has actually seen her naked. We may yet see a fight between Nami and Lola as the hog seeks vengeance for lying and revealing her body to Ab-sama.

Tea Time

revenge is sweet

Along with tricking Lola into thinking she is a man, Nami also uses the opportunity to turn an enemy into an ally (even if it is only temporary and under false pretenses). While pretending to be a guy, she takes the role of a best friend who is there to be supportive and agrees that Absalom belongs with Lola. She even helps Lola plan out how to get Absalom to marry her, though the method is not exactly the kindest for poor Ab-sama. I think at this point, Nami is getting a bit of revenge for Absalom attacking her and seeing her naked as her advice to Lola is nearly simply fighting one moral taboo with another. Nami also uses the opportunity to extract some extra info for her own benefit, the location of the treasure room. Even after all that has gone on, her mind is still on finding her treasure. Nami seems to be one step closer to crossing paths with Perona as each the two see each other in the act of stealing from the other person. It seems inevitable now that Perona’s duel will be with her fellow thief instead of Robin no matter how cool that fight would have been. Anyways, when Absalom arrives, Lola takes Nami’s advice to knock him unconscious to heart and gives them an opportunity to escape. Unfortunately for her, she stands no chance against the invisible telekinetic. Though this does bring up the question of why Absalom is so willing to eliminate anyone who gets in his way except Lola. Ponder that and come up with a fan-fiction past for Lola and Absalom to explain it.

News of 900

i'd kinda like to see Hildon in combat, but don't think it'll happen

Speaking of Nami’s treasure, the scene changes to Perona and a few zombies on the three boats in the webs (Sunny, Mini-Merry, and Brooke’s ship). The ghost girl is disappointed by the lack of treasure on any of the ships and instead takes the crew’s provisions. The actions are halted however as Hildon delivers news to Perona. Apparently, Luffy’s capture marks the birth of #900 and the mysterious three are required to attend. As for the mysterious three, my best guess would be that he is referring to Perona, Absalom, and Hogback. Unless the three are in reference to a special unseen trio of beings that are required for more powerful zombies, it is most logical that it refers to Moria’s three highest ranking subordinates. Also, the #900 is intriguing as it implies a definite importance to the zombie numbering system. As I mentioned before, all creature zombies (plus Hildon) we have seen bear numbers below 400, Cindry has the number 400, the graveyard zombies are between 400 and 800, and the general zombies are above 800. The birth of 900 likely marks the creation of a new level of zombie. Here the shadow theory also applies as Luffy will be the shadow base for this new creation. The creation of a Luffy zombie brings up a whole slew of questions. Will the new zombie bear Luffy’s devil fruit powers? How is the #900 procedure different from the ones that create the other zombie levels? Will Luffy have to take out both his zombie self AND Moria? With every clue Oda gives us as to the Island’s mystery, multiple questions arise in the process.

Clashing Commanders

how tough can a zombie teddy bear be in a fight?

In his attempt to hide from Lola, Absalom takes refuge in Perona’s mansion. Here he crosses paths with both Bearsy and Perona. We can see that Nami, Chopper, and Usopp have hidden themselves inside Bearsy’s stuffing (proving that he is an actual teddy bear turned into a living zombie). While Bearsy seems to know that the pirates are inside of him, Perona won’t let him talk and thus the information is never revealed. Instead, Perona and Absalom continue to talk openly about how much they dislike each other. This has been pretty easy to infer from Absalom’s interaction with Perona’s subordinates, but now we get to see them insult each other to their faces. While they bicker a bit, Hildon appears again and tells them that the Humming Swordsman has returned with the pirates. The name even makes Absalom sweat, so he must have been quite fearsome. However, the name brings to mind Ryuuma’s technique that he used against Nami, Usopp and Chopper. In combination with the personality and technique similarities we have seen with Zoro/Jigoroh and Sanji/Dogpen, it is quite easy to figure out who the name refers to, but takes away none of the shock from the realization.

Franky’s Offensive

What can Franky NOT do?

We shift scenes once again to Franky and Robin as they look down on the comical Brooke shaped hole in the ground and realize who it was that fell. Spider Monkey uses the opportunity to climb up and resume his attack on Franky and Robin. Unfortunately for him, he has grossly underestimated his opponents. This leg of the fight shows off the fortes of both Strawhats’ abilities. While Robin figures out how to turn the freak’s power against him, Franky prepares his coolest weapon yet. In addition to the modifications he has installed into his own body, Franky is also a weapons master and uses his super strength to fashion enormous nunchaku with stone pillars. There is a reason Franky is my favorite Strawhat. In addition to having fantastic personality, he is by far the most versatile fighter in the group and this is the best example of that that we have seen so far. While he is simply waling on Spider Monkey for quite a bit, his opponent eventually immobilizes Franky’s giant weapon with webbing, to which Franky responds with a quick weapons left.

Caught in the Web

if you think about it, her powers should be unaffected

While it was enjoyable to no end to see Franky kicking so much ass, the fight is eventually brought to a halt as Robin has been caught by Spider Monkey’s subordinate spider mice. A distracted Franky is the next to go as the Spider Monkey catches him off guard and covers him with webbing. From the looks of it the spider mice are the reason Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy were caught. They very sneakily bound the pirates with their webbing and transported them to the mysterious room. The fact that Hogback modified their webbing and the odd numbering for them is also a bit interesting. In regards to the webbing, it seems that Hogback has done more than simply revive dead flesh. He said before that the general zombies are made of special flesh to begin with and I wonder how he is influencing these special abilities. About the mice, the numbering is somewhat confusing because although the one whose number is seen most clearly seems to have a three digit number in the 500’s, the others seem to vaguely have numbers in the 5000’s. While Spider Monkey said there were 500 spider mice on the island, the 5000’s seems most logical due to the fact that the alternative would screw up the numbering system I found. This also implies that among the zombies are certain classes that are mass produced and given a four digit number to separate them from the regular zombie classes.

Brooke: Skeleton, Musician, Swordsman

This proves the power of the afro can overcome even the loss of muscles

While Absalom gave us the clue to put this together already, it just would have been wrong of Oda to finish this chapter without showing off the newly realized abilities of Brooke the gentleman skeleton. In his usual carefree fashion, he simply jumps up to say hi to Franky and Robin when he becomes the next target of Spider Monkey. After unsheathing a sword from his cane, we see him pull off the same style move Ryuuma used before (but with the bladed side this time), thus solidly confirming that the zombie creation method copies both personality and abilities and that Ryuuma is the zombie product of Brooke’s shadow base (assuming the shadow theory). This revelation has massive implications on the future of Brooke in this arc. First of all, as I said last week, he could be the true owner of Ryuuma’s sword as I doubt that Brooke took down the dragon with his cane sword. A feat like that is only deserving of a meitou. If this is the case, it gives a better reasoning for Brooke to give Zoro the sword as a gift after Zoro beats Ryuuma. We may see Brooke fighting his zombie counterpart first, but loses and lends Zoro his cane sword to complete the santouryuu and thus allow Zoro to win in the first place.

Also, I know a lot of people don’t want to hear this, but this is just one more nail in the coffin for the theory of Brooke joining the crew. As much as I love Brooke and would enjoy seeing his antics and interaction with the other members, this just adds to a multitude of reasons why he can’t join. The fact that he is a swordsman would make any future fights he has seem repetitive with Zoro using sword techniques as well. Also, if my theory about Brooke being the one to give Zoro his third sword is true, it would take a lot of the meaning from that exchange for Brooke to come along.

1. The crew just got Franky, whose recruitment took so much development that a quick recruitment directly afterwards would somewhat cheapen the meaning of Franky joining
2. Each time a member of the crew has been recruited, there was a specific need in the story beforehand set by the crew’s need for a specific job or the necessity for a character type in the story. Luffy (main character), Zoro (Luffy needed a serious character to contrast him), Nami (needed a navigator to actually get to new locations and an authoritative brain), Usopp (needed a strong and consistent comic relief), Sanji (needed a cook and a womanizer), Chopper (needed a doctor and an innocent kid), Robin (needed a woman to fill the hole Vivi left), Franky (needed a shipwright and an over the top character)...there is no reason for Brooke to join
3. Unlike Chopper and Franky, who can go about town without attracting too much attention, Brooke would cause a huge stir no matter where he went so it would get repetitive for the same events to occur at every island they come to

Overall

I just want to give Oda a big hug right now for this chapter. We get to see more hilarity from Lola as well as both Brooke and Franky kicking some serious ass. Once again I’m sorry I couldn’t get this review out sooner and it is likely that the next chapter will be out in less than half a week, but this was just too much fun to skip. I’m still waiting for the day that Oda will actually disappoint us (actually it did occur once but that was only disappointing to me personally, so it doesn’t count). I cannot wait to see this arc develop more as it has far more going on behind the scenes than any other arc I can recall.

MDLatqp · Apr 30, 2007