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I suppose the biggest thing to note this chapter was the fact that Luffy’s Strawhat.. isn’t something that’s just between Shanks and Luffy anymore (which was pointed out a bit too casually). I’m not sure if Oda was trying to imply that the Strawhat was actually originally Roger’s, but it wouldn’t be impossible since Shanks was part of Roger’s crew. Personally, I have a problem with this. They’ve been playing destiny out the ass since the beginning of the Archipelago arc, and I’m like, that’s cool, this is natural for shounen storylines. There was especially a focus on Luffy having the many traits of Roger: King’s Haki, Will of D, charismatic, and overall personality, practically making him into a reincarnation of Roger himself. While a bit nonsensical, I can accept that too. But the Strawhat also being Roger’s? It’s not really ridiculous in any sense, but it’s not like it was necessary either. The Strawhat has always been the bond between him and Shanks, his own unique treasure, but now it’s part of his “destiny.” That’s great and all, but let’s not destroy all of Luffy’s persona, huh Oda?
For the rest of the chapter, you get your familiar “boat dialogues”, where the members just interact with each other, inevitably resulting in me laughing. After being with men for so long, Sanji dies from nosebleeds just from Nami moving. That’s a pretty incredible way to be stimulated, and I imagine he’ll be quite screwed at Fishman Island. The crew also learn of Bartholomew Kuma’s real intentions from two years ago, and realize Kuma was a pretty amazing guy. Robin is also keeping her mouth shut, even though I know she knows a whole lot more about this situation than everyone else. Why she chose to stay quiet, we’ll probably know in the future. As for meeting Kuma again, I bet that would make quite the exciting battle, with conflicting emotions on whether or not to beat him down. Who knows, maybe there’ll be tears. Meanwhile, a psycho pirate from previous chapters is made out to be important enough to be the cliffhanger. The guy has some logia power, and I’ve got really no guesses as to what it is. It’s definitely some kind of liquid substance, but I’m hesitant to say it’s water. Will this guy become the next arc’s enemy? Who knows. Maybe he’ll just be another excuse for more display of the Strawhat’s power levels. I’d definitely like to see Luffy against a Logia again. Should be cake against Haki now. Delicious, ice cream, cake.
I’m just happy that the crew is together and they got underway again. I think the next fight would be more complicated by the dangers of the bubble coating breaking. I’m thinking Franky would break out some new Sunny mods to get them through.
At this point the hat belonging to rodger isent all that surprising to me. Just the Haki, personality, charisma etc all manifesting itself in luffy is like 1 in a trillion chance. Saying a hat is passed on from one pirate generation to the next to people who have potential to be great isent that far of a stretch and in fact it would be the absolute perfect ending to One Piece. Strawhat Luffy giving his strawhat to a new generation?… epic.
Or maybe the straw hat will be destroy in the finale and everyone will go, oh wellz.
Well this is Shounen so most likely they will have a long memory sequence for the hat then resurrect it in some convoluted way. lol
ice cream cake indeed, hell yeah!
I’m fairly sure that when Luffy first asked for the Straw hat from Shanks, when he was still young, Shanks had told him that it was given to him from someone important. So, the hat having had originally belonged to Roger, is the only thing to make sense; unless there is some other character yet to be introduced.
Regarding Rayleigh’s talk about “destiny”, I’d put it down to nothing more than his own personal postulations. Especially since Shanks also wore the hat and hasn’t yet succeeded in becoming Pirate King.
Did someone said detour???
Just beat the crap out of that Caribou guy already Luffy!
“But the Strawhat also being Roger’s? It’s not really ridiculous in any sense, but it’s not like it was necessary either. The Strawhat has always been the bond between him and Shanks, his own unique treasure, but now it’s part of his “destiny.” That’s great and all, but let’s not destroy all of Luffy’s persona, huh Oda?”
I’m happy I’m not the only one seeing this a pretty derp developement.
I’m all in for a new One Piece Logo:
http://img5.imagebanana.com/img/w19sjl0h/newOnePieceLogo.png
I actually don’t see why all the complains, I think the strawhat also belonging to Roger then to Shanks who gave it to Luffy is a nice touch to the story, I am pretty sure Oda planned this a long time ago. Also, both Roger and Luffy have the D in their name, so I don’t think it’s weird or surprising that there are many similarities between them. You are way to harsh.
And really? You did not even mention the breathtaking underwater scenes, I was quite mesmerized by Oda’s imagination.
You have your opinions, I have mine. Personally, I liked it better when the Strawhat deal just his and Shanks, but it’s not really a huge deal to me. Harsh? More like appreciative enough to critique. I say the harder I critique, the more I care, at least for OP.
And about the underwater scenes, I just don’t point out the obvious 😛
I keep reading how people complain about the backgrounds in Bleach(or the lack of) and then we have the backgrounds in OP, that for a weekly shonen look quite amazing and yet I see no praises for that, so I am quite sad 🙁 Oda keeps getting praised for his characters and their unique design, for the story and so on but rarely for the artwork…oh well.
Also, I don’t like to critique what is not broken, I am actually enjoying OP more and more(if that is actually possible), but as you said, each with their own opinions and each shows their love for their favorites in different ways.
In many cases, the backgrounds are done by the assistants anyway ;P
Dragon and Roger are step-brothers.
I prefer chocolate cake.
The link to Roger’s a nice touch. Aside from his Goku-like attitude and plot armor, Luffy didn’t have that much to make him really stand out, especially in the OP world. It never really made that much sense that people like Shanks or Whitebeard would be willing to bet so much on a relatively weak newbie with a loud mouth. I guess they saw a bit of Roger in Luffy.
Loved this chapter!! I’m really enjoying One Piece a lot these days 🙂
It’s just a hat.It doesn’t really matter.I doubt Luffy will find out anytime soon that his hat belonged to Gold Roger.
Another fother to show the awesomeness of the mugiwara’s new powers.
I am ok with the hat being Roger’s, but I also don’t care for this new development. Let’s see where Oda takes this thing.
As for the psycho brother, I’d say he turns into delicious cake batter. Yes, cake batter logia.
Hahaha, it’s fun to read this post. Loving your blogging style! :D<3 Wouldn't have ever read One Piece if I first didn't see it covered on RC.
Did you start from chapter 1?
I’m pretty sure this has been the case since the start. Obviously, for Shanks to call it his treasure, there had to be some larger meaning behind it – and now we know what it is. Also, when speaking to Whitebeard, Shanks addresses his missing hat and arm, and how he’s entrusted them to the future. Roger likely believed Shanks was the future of piracy. Shanks in turn passes them along just the same.