sahugani's One Piece Review 475

sahugani · Oct 20, 2007

Sahugani’s One Piece Review 475

i wanna see centaur Franky on skis

Yaaay!!! More One Piece!!! You know how I look forward to writing these each week. Today has been remarkably good for some reason and I hope to let it end on a positive note as well with this review. Oh and also, since the Enel cover arc seems to be over, I’ll be one commentary section down till a new cover-arc starts up (hopefully one based on Kumadori) but you could probably guess this as I never wrote cover commentary when Oda used color spreads instead of the cover-arc. Once again, my favorite AMV artist, JuniZorofan, has surpassed herself. I present to you the new pinnacle of her work, One Piece – Rooftops. The pics for this week’s review come once again from Franky House’s Edited Manga. The title pic is a piece made by xxataashixx over at DeviantArt, so go check out the rest of her gallery.

Got Milk?

reminds me of all the "got milk" commercials

Well as confirmed last week, Brooke has reappeared in the story and has brought with him a gift of salt that might be enough to purify the gargantuan Oz. For the Strawhats though, this begs the question of how Brooke was able to move (a question that really should be asked from the moment they see no muscle tissue). According to his story, he dragged his body to the kitchen to get some salt and while there drank some milk, which restored him. Usopp points out how unbelievable it is that milk can heal Brooke’s wounds. In the ridiculousness of a world where a cyborg can be powered by cola and snails can transmit telephone messages, this part doesn’t really bug me that much. Brooke’s skeleton had been chipped and cracked during his fight with Ryuuma five years earlier and the wounds had somehow healed despite the lack of the body organs that would normally do that, so there had to be some alternate way to heal bone damage. At least this milk idea carries some basis in the idea that drinking milk really does help build strong bones in reality. The only question now is how Brooke was able to acquire milk last time to heal his wounds.

In the Way

i feel bad for Brooke here

With Brooke’s salt now in their possession, the Strawhats have a chance however small at beating Oz. However, due to Oz’s incredible speed and evasion, the only way to win would be to actually stuff the salt into his mouth from point blank range. The only ones capable of launching the salt from a distance are Usopp and Franky. Since Oz has dodged every one of Franky’s shells and Moria isn’t stupid enough to let Usopp launch it quietly, there really seems to be no other option. Brooke offers his help, but he is quickly rejected and told to hold onto the salt while they battle. Even though he has been revived by the milk, there is little he can actually do. In terms of battle strength, he is far inferior to Zoro and Sanji and lacks the versatility of Usopp, Franky, Robin, and Chopper. It’s sad to say, but if he fought, he would only be in the way. For all you fans of Brooke as a Mugiwara, I think this is a good indication of why I don’t think it is going to happen. When the current Strawhat members were put into the final battles before their recruitment, the crew trusted the person to do their part in the thick of combat and the person came through. What speaks to me more than Brooke’s combat inferiority is the fact that the Strawhats are pushing the position of guarding the salt on him rather than let him fight. It is that ability to trust another person that is the basis for the bond shared between the crewmates. If Brooke has not built that bond by now, its hard to accept him as a Mugiwara.

Phoenix Fire

he could have wiped out a shitload of nomal zombies with this

Once again the assault on Oz resumes. Starting it off is a united attack from Franky and Usopp. Using an abura boshi (oil star) that is either bigger or more concentrated, Usopp fires the projectile through Franky’s fresh fire to create a massive hinotori boshi. I think how he normally creates the hinotori boshi is that he fires a regular abura boshi and using a flame dial imbedded into his Kabuto, he ignites it as it leaves the staff. In this case though, the size or concentration of the oil makes igniting it normally impossible. It could be that it is too dangerous to ignite something that powerful so close to him or it could be that a stronger starting flame is needed to make it light fully. Either way, the resulting fire is enough to engulf Oz’s head in flames. Despite the immense pain Oz is in from the burns, Moria is completely unconcerned. He isn’t worried because even charred flesh can still be manipulated by the stolen shadow. No matter how much damage a zombie takes, as long as he’s not purified, he can get back up again. This does make me wonder about Zoro’s victory over Ryuuma though. Zoro didn’t purify him with salt, so why did Brooke’s shadow return? I figured at the time that the fire was also a purifying agent. The zombies fear fire because their corpses are dried out and therefore more flammable. I deduced that the fire had some effect on the devil fruit link since being engulfed in fire makes all shadows disappear. It might still be the case as Ryuuma was fully engulfed while Oz has only his head affected, but if it was, Moria would show at least a bit of worry. I guess Ryuuma’s purification had more to do with Zoro’s flame having holy effects of its own or something of that nature.

Jenga

shot to the breadbasket

Next in the lineup of combos comes that of the two strongest Strawhats currently in combat. To start it off, Chopper launches Zoro into the air so that he can dice a building into six stacked blocks. As usual, the name for this technique is a reference to Bhuddism, which is in this case is a statue of Bhudda. In addition to the name, the appearance of the attack is loosely similar to a pagoda, which is a tiered tower sometimes used in Bhuddist worship. Despite the beautiful Bhuddist imagery that Zoro’s attack inspires, it gets toppled instantaneously with one word from Sanji: Jenga. In fitting with the often frustrating game, he kicks the diced sections at Oz from the bottom and gravity reloads his next shot. From there the attack is pretty straightforward. It allows very powerful ranged shots since it is too difficult to get in direct hits. Watching this combo made me realize, Chopper has really been pretty inactive throughout this fight. His abilities are not really as well suited for fighting Oz as the others’. He hasn’t even brought out a rumble ball, so we know the fight is far from coming to a close, but even then, there isn’t really all that much he can do in this fight other than help the others set up their own attacks, which is what he has been doing so far using only heavy point. There is only one thing I can think of that he could do but it would not only mimic an attack he has already done this fight, but it would deviate from the general idea of teamwork that has become more and more prevalent as this fight has progressed. Using jumping point, he could strategically move to strategic pressure points and joints and hit each one with arm point.

Inventors Combo

a superman pose would have been perfect

Once again Usopp and Franky take the plate with a combo of their own, but this time it is Franky’s abilities that are most apparent. The two of them have assembled a gigantic slingshot among the rubble on the ground. Using Usopp’s impeccable aim, Franky is launched straight at Moria and from point blank range he launches his most powerful shell that is capable of taking down sea kings. The thing that confuses me most about this is that Usopp should not be strong enough to hold that sling back. It would be understandable if he had the support of a bunch of Robin arms, but for a sling that powerful, it takes a great deal of force to hold it back and logically Usopp should lack that. Anyways, unfortunately for my favorite cyborg, Oz’s speed is great enough to dodge and kick Franky directly into a building. This is the first time this arc that a Strawhat’s death has really felt immanent. In most arcs, we get to see Zoro on the brink of death before he pulls of a miraculous win or Usopp gets pummeled to the point that all logic says he should die. We haven’t gotten to one of those moments yet but now as Oz is about to finish off a defenseless Franky, I felt that same tension. Unfortunately, unlike those examples, the victim isn’t the one that comes through this time.

The Final Member

stings, doesn't it?

Rather than fight from the brink of death and find some untapped strength like most of the Strawhat men have done at least once, Franky is saved by Nami, who has returned to help her nakama after changing out of her wedding dress. I was kinda hesitant before as to whether or not Nami would come back to join her nakama. On one hand, it would have only seemed right that Oz would be facing the Strawhat crew (minus Luffy) as a whole, but on the other hand there seemed to be much value in her remaining in the background to investigate Kuma and learn the weakness of Moria and/or Oz. However, with Moria now being within Oz, Luffy and the crew’s targets are now one, so it would be flat out wrong to get the whole team together without Nami. Also, from the later events of this chapter, it seems Luffy himself is filling the role I thought might be passed on to Nami. Now that she is here, she proves that her thunderbolt tempo in its strongest form is indeed powerful enough to do damage to Oz on the giant’s scale. Unfortunately for her, Sanji’s idiotic comments give away her location to the enemy. While she has the courage and power to fight Oz effectively, she still planned to use her long range abilities to keep her hidden and out of harm’s way.

Gomu Gomu Restored

oh noes. think about Oz's fuusen

After noticing Nami’s presence, Oz prepares a punch that seems to be too short to reach the target, so the Strawhats don’t initially worry. Luckily, Robin was sharp enough to save Nami when it is realized that Oz can now use Luffy’s devil fruit powers. This doesn’t really make sense as Oz wasn’t able to do this before due to the fact that his body was not affected by the devil fruit like his shadow’s was. I have a theory on this that is far from complete due to lack of information at the moment. My theory goes to the products of devil fruit research most likely by Dr. Vegapunk, which as a Shichibukai Moria would have access to. I don’t mean a contraption but mere knowledge that I assume could only be found by a dedicated researcher. According to this theory, eating a devil fruit causes two changes to a person’s body. One is of a mysterious nature that is difficult to quantify through study but can be seen as the individual abilities that devil fruit users gain. The second change is universal to all devil fruit users and is an actual physiological change in the body. It is this physiological change to the body itself that allows it to utilize the mysterious unique abilities and is also the reason for the weakness to the sea, which normalizes the person’s body and renders the abilities useless. The shadows that Moria takes mimic the original person’s personality and abilities, which would seem to include the devil fruit abilities. However, devil fruit powers need a devil fruit user’s body to channel the abilities. The reason Oz can now use Luffy’s powers is because Moria’s presence causes Oz’s body to mimic a devil fruit user’s body (which leads me to believe the physiological change I talked about before is something like the emission of a certain wavelength energy). Had Moria put Luffy’s shadow into a corpse that in life had a devil fruit power, I believe that zombie would have been able to use Luffy’s rubber powers from the beginning.

New Allies?

the years without showering or a change of clothes show

While the Strawhat crew is dealing with the now rubber powered Oz, Luffy is being held up by some hideous looking people. These people are in fact the crews of ships that have been captured by Moria. These are the shadowless masses that are counterparts to Moria’s army. While Luffy just wants to go kick Moria’s ass, they are trying to convince him to stop and listen to them since they know Moria’s secrets. I figured that there would be some secret trick to beating Oz or Moria, but I expected the intelligent Nami to be on the receiving end. However, this means it’s going to be hilarious, so I’m even more intrigued. Also, I’d like to make a note on the names these people presented. So far, among Moria’s zombies, the zombies have taken the names of the corpses that have preceded them. Ryuuma took the name from his corpse rather than his shadow as did Captain John (I’m assuming due to the fact that there has been an earlier reference to Captain John’s treasure being buried, implying that he had died). However, these guys bear the same title as the zombie squirrels and their captain bears the same name and title as Lola. I guess that for zombies whose bodies are made from animals rather than humans, their corpses had no known name before and thus go by the name their shadow instinctively reacts to, which would be the name of the shadow’s original owner. Another note I’d like to make in regards to these guys is that it seems to support my idea that Brooke will lead Thriller Bark after this arc is over. Since their bounty-head captains were cast off to sea with their ships and the crew is left on the island, there are two reasons of support that are born. First of all, without ships, these former pirates have nowhere to go, so the only future they have is to live on this massive ship, presumably with Brooke as their new captain. Also, with their former captains cast out to sea, they share the same dream as Brooke to find their lost nakama. This deep understanding between them and Brooke will lead him to take command and help find the lost captains while on his own journey to meet up with Laboon. They might even appreciate him so much that they stay with him even after finding their captains. Foxxy accumulated a large crew that included former captains, so I don’t doubt that these humiliated captains will join their former crew under Brooke’s command, thus giving both Brooke and Laboon a whole crew of nakama, which neither has had for 50 years.

Overall

This chapter is awesome. It contained such unexpected twists that I was blown away. While Nami’s appearance wasn’t completely out of the blue, the use of Luffy’s devil fruit powers and the appearance of the shadowless masses gave me a lot to theorize on, which is in general more fun than direct analysis. To me this chapter presented a couple major nails in the coffin in regards to Brooke’s recruitment, but I won’t go as far as to say the chances of it are completely gone. This is Oda we’re talking about, so I can’t allow myself to think with a closed mind. I did that once and it backfired badly.

Helltroll · Oct 21, 2007