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After a four week break, agonizing or not (Oddly, I was the latter), One Piece is now back in it’s normal once a week run. Two years have passed since the last chapter, and while I thought the changes in character design would be massive, they are still changes indeed. I guess Oda took the more safer route in order to still keep the familiar designs of the characters we love. Franky however looks a bit too ridiculous, but we’ll see how that pans out eventually.
Character Thoughts:
Brooke: Brooke didn’t change much, except some outfits, but he’s a freaking skeleton so nothing could really change.
Franky: Franky seems to have a gigantic body of some sorts, and if that’s permanent, I’ll be a little sad as he looks completely ridiculous. It seems like his new body is modeled after a gorilla, but he shaved his trademark hair!
Chopper: Chopper also didn’t change much, which was also expected. His hat looks similar to Strong World’s. Studying medicine doesn’t really change an animal does it?
Robin: Robin had slightly longer hair, but it is now slicked back, showing her forehead. Not the most attractive hairstyle for me, but her oddly conservative dress was a little interesting.
Sanji: Sanji earned a moustache and a goatee. Also not too much of a change. Doesn’t look bad on him, but I like Sanji with a more clean look. Who knows, maybe he’ll finally find a lady with his newfound ruggedness.
Mansopp: Mansopp raised 10 mantier levels with his bulging pecs and stubby beard. Also, man eating plants as weapons.
Nami: Nami now looks like a mermaid with her long hair, and her body proportions look worse than ever. Those jeans are so lowcut, it defies the laws of gravity. Another question is, jeans and a bikini top? Odd combo.
Zoro: Zoro scares me the most. From the cover spread, it seems as if he lost one eye and even one arm. That would really suck if that were true. I’d put more bets on the eye though, because he wouldn’t be able to do his signature santoryuu if he lost an arm.
Luffy: Battlescar +1. A gigantic X plastered over his chest, which is rather distracting. I can’t say I’m a big fan of this, but whatever. I’m betting Rayleigh or something almost killed him, and that scar is the result.
Minor complaints really, digging most of the changes so far. In retrospect, Oda really shouldn’t have shown all the character changes on the front cover. It would have been much cooler to have them revealed one by one.
Although there’s no significant changes, it’s what will be shown in battle that should show the real fruits of the time skip. Since the crew was gone for two years, an imposter crew has shown up, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be giving up easily. The crew will probably gather up next chapter and show off some of their newfound powers against the imposters and hurriedly escape to their ship in classic OP fashion and make haste to merman island. Soon we’ll be back into the ol’ one island, one arc story again. How nostalgic.
All in all, I’m going to have to say this chapter was slightly underwhelming, if only because I was disappointed that it would actually take more than one chapter to really show the weight of the time skip. In fact, I have a feeling it’s going to stretch out to be much longer than just one chapter. Honestly, this really should have been a 50 page chapter or something, because waiting for next week is going to be more agonizing than the four weeks before… Oh well, less is more right?
1 eyed Zoro; totally bad ass!
Franky Looks Hillarious
Brook = I dont know if hes singing death metal or sumthing xD
Usopp = Is now the manliest man in the group xD
Luffy/Robin/Sanji,Chopper = Not much change
I really liked Franky’s outrageous hair, the shaved look isnt that great -_-
As for Brooks, I think he is singing some sort of blues… though Death Metal is a nice pun :3
yea, waiting a week for the next chapter is worse than the four weeks break. i had no qualms about the character designs though.
I have a couple thoughts on the scars. Zoro had an injury across his eye in chapter 597 when he spoke to Mihawk to become his student. http://mangastream.com/read/one_piece/98271344/5 Although on the next page when it shows him talking to Perona, its not visible in the one panel that shows his face from the injured side. Just bandages wrapped around his head and one on his cheek. So I don’t know. As for Luffy, I thought he got punched through the chest and the end of the Marineford war by Akainu. I assumed that’s where he got the huge scar.
Uh, wasn’t that Ace? LOL. I mean, it’s what he died for…
Check out Chapter 578. Akainu nails Jimbei and it reaches Luffy. Akainu makes the comment that his missed his target (Luffy’s heart) because of Jimbei.
Its when he was being carried away by Jimbei. Akainu rushed over and tried to kill him. Don’t have any links to older chapters.
mmk, yeah that might be it.
Zoro didn’t have an injury across his eye. It was a cut across the right side of his forehead that led the blood to drip across his eye.
agreed.. I looked at the crew pic for some time before reading the whole chapter. my first thought about Luffy’s scar was that from Akainu. His chest was totally bandaged the last few chapters after Akainu’s attack. And I never once thought Zoro lost an arm. I clearly saw him holding two swords. But the eye probably wasn’t from the chapter where he begs Mihawk, that was a forehead cut.. Whether he is blinded or not is still unknown. But I would like it if he’s not.
it seems that people dont remember that akainu punch on luffy’s chest…. yes.. thats the scar..
Zoro has both arms. If you look closely, you can see the unsheathed sword between Luffy’s legs, coming from the right arm that’s blocked by Luffy’s body. Plus, he has three sword sheaths on his waist.
As for Luffy’s scar, I think it’s more likely from Akainu’s attack during Marineford.
The chapter, itself, felt underwhelming just because I waited a month for it in anticipation. I’m craving the next chapter like crack. All in all, I like the new character designs. Luffy shouldn’t change too much, since any major changes and you might piss off the readers too much. I dig Nami’s long hair, it makes her look older and more mature… plus she’s now on Boa’s level of hawtness. Robin was already at an age where two years won’t make a difference, so you can only expect the hair style and clothing to change. Usopp got the best design change, as he now looks like a respectable pirate… though I hope he still has some cowardly tendencies. I like Sanji’s facial hair, plus I think his hair got flipped to the other side for some reason. Chopper looks relatively the same but with bigger antlers and a new hat… he’s still an idiot though. Zoro looks badass, I just wonder whether he lost his eye or if it’s just a scratch… leaning towards scratch though. And I reserve comment about GUNDAM Franky until I see his entire body… but he looks like he might be Kuma-sized now.
The Fake Straw Hats were hilarious, though it makes me wonder how retarded the One Piece universe has become. Seriously… none of them look even remotely like the wanted posters. And worse, everyone saw Luffy’s image around the world, so how do they think he grew three feet taller and five feet wider over the course of two years? It looks like a really bad Luffy cosplay.
Oh… and Akainu is totally the new Admiral. He’s the only one who would move Marine HQ to the New World. Plus… him being the Admiral will boost the Marine’s aggressiveness to a whole new level, which makes sense because the Marines pretty much ignored the New World for the most part beforehand.
I see Luffy Haki blasting the fake Luffy, showing that he doesn’t even have to touch guys of such a low level anymore. Then he’ll probably beat the crap out of the two new rookies that the Fake SH’s allied with… just in time for the Marines to flood Sabaody. Luffy will beat an established Vice Admiral (like maybe Momonga), while the crew gets back to the new and improved Sunny that Franky spent the past ten days Vega-Punking up to head on over the Fishman Island.
Whoops… I meant Zoro’s left arm is holding the unsheathed sword that’s blocked by Luffy’s body.
No, it’s not you. Sanji DID change his hair part so that his LEFT eye is now visible to everyone.
You have to remember that Sengoku recommended Aokiji to be the Fleet Admiral so you can’t necessarily say it’s Akainu.
CRACK???? brother, thats an UNDERSTATEMENT!!!!!!! i’m late with it, but HOT DAMN!! what an chap!
I’m looking forward to Jimbei’s appearance.
Oops for double comments.
Nami’s bikini top + jeans = win, imo. :]
Haha. Not sure if anyone else thinks that.
Oh, the win is no question, I’m sure.
No doubt about that, but you also have to add her long hair XD
I am thinking Oda timed it so 598-599 would a short little two chapter arc about the crew getting back together and then 600 will be the launch of the 2nd half of the story and heading to the New World. I am pretty sure he said ages ago that getting to the New World would only be the first half of the story. If so, that means we have like what? 10-13 more years of One Piece? Count me in!
Guess I’m going to be the first mentioning this here but Sanji’s hair has changed, different side now.
Not only that byt the curl is on the inside instead of the outside
The only thing I don’t care for in the new designs are Luffy’s silly puffy sleeves. I get it, he’s a pirate.
Otherwise, Nami getting longer hair and growing two cup sizes? Thank you, Oda, please take more breaks. I know what you were doing for four weeks.
I guess Kiirage doesn’t really like the new character designs xD. I for my part are happy with them, also I didn’t expect any really big changes besides maybe Usop and Franky (which happened). 2 years may be some time, but not that much time to radicaly change a human being. Franky’s design shocked me too but I’ll first have to see him in action~ Nami and Robin look even hotter now, especially Nami, so those changes aren’t so bad at all 😀 I hope Sanji will get Nami some day, he may be an idiot but he still deserved a nice girl^^
Well I’m not exactly obsessing over how cool they now are, but I still like em.
I don’t think Franky shaved his head on purpose. He was on fire at previous chapters.
YAY One Piece is back. Can’t wait for next week’s chapter. I bet the scar from luffy will be less distracting in the future since it won’t be colored in. We’ll see though.
Nami fap fap fap
Stay classy, 7.
Four weeks of waiting! But it was worth it, I still can’t get the image of manly Usopp and Nami with long hair out of my head…
…and I would like to go to Brook’s concert ^.^
As I predicted,Nami did grow a couple more sizes.
But I did not expect Zoro to lose an arm….
I’m pretty sure Oda is just going to take his time to build up a new arc from a clean slate now,so a month or 2 of information based chapters to fill in the gaps of what happened in the past 2 years will follow soon.
He didn’t lose an arm. He has three sword sheaths on his waist, and he’s holding a sword in each hand.
glad ur prediction was right!
Hmm…i think Oda is turning Nami into his wife…
Well, his wife in real life did act as Nami in some One Piece stage production XD
this chapter was LOLz.. XDDDD Man, those mugiwara impostors were freaks!! i lol-ed so much at brooke’s part.. HE’S ELVIS PRESLEY…minus the flesh..XDDD.. that part when a girl was crying for him was akin to seeing those die hard fans of MJ. LOL.
chopper was too gullible like before..sanji was sanji, but a lot more of a pervert..franky resembled an ape.. usopp’s look was surprising..LOl with the muscles..nami was rather HAWWTTTT!! xDDD and DAMN, JUST DAMN, ROBIN!!!! *nosebleed* she’s oozing with HOTNESS– *killed*
zoro appeared to be a lot more manly now, but he’s still scowling XDD
on a serious note, those fakes were certainly ruining(more?) the STRAWHATS’ name..tsk!!
i think Oda did a great job with Nami :). must of been the four weeks of waiting. This chapter was especially good. cant wit till next week.
The fake Luffy gang was hilarous. Though not a new technique its always funny when the writer makes the loser imposter face the real stuff
Just a side note : did anyone notice that Luffy’s scar kinda resembles Jiraiya’s one? The one he obtained when he got slashed by a 4-tailed Naruto or something.
Other than that, i too felt that this chapter lacked a bit in substance or it could just be me expecting too much. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop me from savouring every single page of this manga. Can’t wait for next week’s chapter to be released. Its finally time for the strawhats to kick ass once again!
i also wanted to see how zoro will act in his one eye.
I like most of the new designs! as for Luffy’s scar, he got it from Akainu.
I’m more surprise to Luffy’s reaction to handcocks “Would’nt I make a wonderful wife?” then he goes”I’m not marrying you!” hahaha i found that hilarious @_@
I devoured this chapter in a matter of a minute, I was so eager that I literally ate it up XD
The new looks are totally fine with me, I have no intention of nitpicking here, and as expected, Oda couldn’t change Luffy’s looks much, he is the ‘trademark’ and ‘face’ of this series, nothing more could have been done I believe.
And as many above, it feels like there was not enough stuff in this chapter, it felt lacking, and when I reached the last page I felt at a lose @__@ But it must be due to my expectations and my wanting to see more here, now, fast!
Off topic, but I’ve been wanting to buy the 2011 calendar of One Piece, but my brother asked me a killer question: “do you know if the new artworks will be included? Else you will be stuck spending the whole year watching illustrations of the crew ‘2 years ago’ in their old looks…” and that left me speechless =__= Ouch, that question hurts ;__; *staring at their new looks*
Oh I do hope that Zoro did not loose an eye. I dunno, But I rather see 2 eyes during his bandana look. Other than that, I think the rest of the crew looks fine 🙂
That fake Luffy gang…why have I heard of this kind of scenario before….
Oh and I just realized Robin looks abit like Fang fom ff13 hairwise
love it love it love it love it.
seriously, i think the wait for the next chapter is even more excruciating compared to the 1-month hiatus.
Nami = Sheryl Nome
Forget Naruto and Bleach, this series ROCKS!
Haha funny, coz I really did forget about Naruto and Bleach.I stopped reading Naruto when Itachi died…..Bleach I stopped when…ugh when the shinigamis went to earth.
My first manga that i bought was OP…then Naruto and I read Bleach on jump weekly. But as time passed, I stopped watching/reading OP around the begining of Skypeia arc. Its only round 2 years ago when my school had a strike I had a loooong marathon to watch (all the way till the Shabody arc 🙂 And I just realized how good OP was all over again. 😀
i have to agree. I stopped reading Naruto and Bleach…it’s all One Piece now and I’m quite happy!
usopp’s change is what fascinates me the most. I will be heartbroken if his manliness level up gets rid of his natural born cowardice! I mean what was funnier than him always screaming like a girl and running away! a lose of innocence I guess… but man I was hoping he would never change. On that note it looks like Luffy isent as clueless as he was before as well. he seems to know now that Hancock has a thing for him. Oh no! I can feel the idiot trio breaking up!! I hope chopper hasent become all manly as well… (or what ever you call a manly deer >.>)
Apart from Franky losing the hair I love all the new designs – especially Usopp. I just hope Franky’s huge size is the result of “docking” a large body to his regular one (one way to deal with the weak spot on the back!) then he gets to be huge in fights without being crazy giant when with the rest of the crew
“A gigantic X plastered over his chest, which is rather distracting.”
Yup, that is irreversible and better for us to get used to it. I will miss the clean bare-chested luffy (in a non-gay way, of course).
I wonder how much of a chaos is right now the chaotic New World!
I didn´t like the new characters desingns xDXDXDXDXD
I´m still unsure about the timi skiping, but i´m happy to see those guys again =)
A lot of people are speculating that Monkey D. LOLfy and his Asshat Pirates are going to be put to sleep by Luffy’s haki, or that he’s going to beat them into paste.
I dunno, I think he’s just gonna ignore them, and we’re going to get the new gag villains who are steadily picked off by the World Government one-by-one in hilarious ways, like “Robin” was.
Speaking of Robin:
http://i52.tinypic.com/2vlpkqv.png
Thanks, Oda.
actualy the strangest and best change is sanji :). if you look carefully his hair is across his OTHER eye and his left eye is now exposed. If you look carefully you can see that his eyebrow curl is on the opposite side over this eye. it’s a really small change but it’ss really funny XD
First of all, Luffys scar was made from the injury from Akainu power. Zoro has the two arm, is holding is two swords, look at the middle of Luffys leg than you’ll see Zoro second blade. The rest is the rest.