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I’ll freely admit not a whole lot happened in this chapter, and most of them are the usual scene-building and character introduction, which are only mildly interesting. I’m absolutely fine with that because such exposition are needed to move the story forward and clearly, the former pirate, Hyena Bellamy will play an important role in this arc. For all his bravado and unruliness, Bellamy is no fool – not as sharp as Doflamingo, but capable enough to figure out Lucy’s true identity. The revelation that he has paid a visit to Skypiea comes courtesy of another – that he will be promoted to a leadership position in the Donquixote Family should he come up on top of the competition. It’s still not completely clear how Bellamy’s trip to the sky island has changed him and now that the “New Age” has arrived, just what does he intend to achieve within the Donquixote ranks. The former God of Skypiea, Enel (now the ruler of the moon) probably wasn’t the one who wiped out his crew, but evidently, something fishy is going on in the sky island. It makes me wonder if this might give the Straw Hat crew a chance to revisit the “City of Gold” Shandora and no question, Skypiea, like many of Oda-sensei’s wondrous creation in the world of One Piece lends itself to further exploration. Presumably, that would be the first time Luffy and his team return to a key destination of a prior story arc and I won’t deny it would be highly amusing to see a brand new adventure set in a somewhat familiar setting.
It seems like the coliseum fights of remaining divisions will kick off in the next few chapter and needless to say, Lucy will almost certainly emerge as the winner of C-Block. Pitching Cavendish against Rebecca in D-Block should prove to be an interesting choice and you don’t even have to ask me which one of them I’m supporting. As for the larger focus of this chapter, the contestants to watch out for in B-Block would most definitely be Bellamy and the big-time rookie, Bartolomeo. The quick succession of gimmicks that Bartolomeo displayed revealed just what kind of person he is – vulgar, arrogant and cruel. His animal-like appearance also indicates he might be Zoan-type Devil Fruit user and that should make him the perfect match-up for Bellamy’s savageness in combat.
tl;dr: @SeishunRC – Bellamy has sharp eyes and those shoddy disguise can’t fool him. Rebecca vs Cavendish? Rooting for the former! #OnePiece #Manga
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What’s up with all these fodder character this week? What a waste of panel imo. :/
It’s only interesting if you’re a fan of Bellamy and I don’t think we have many of those out there XD
I’m a fan. I’m a fan of how easily Luffy curbstomped him. ^^
yeah he laughed at Luffy and the old man and got his kicked real bad. I hope he gets easily beaten this time around as well by Luffy since no matter how strong he got Luffy got a whole lot stronger since then lol
I have a feeling he’ll turned out as the winner of B-Block, but there’s no way he’s beating Luffy or Jesus Burgess, so rest assured he’ll get his ass kicked once again, soon enough 😛
isnt it interesting if bellamy will get owned by burgues or by someone in a dirty/gruesome way that will piss off luffy, redeeming bellamy as a character in the process and in the end bellamy will be a semi-friend for luffy.
Let’s just hope he’s not the Straw Hat’s new nakama 😡
Pretty sure he’s gonna get another curbstomp after he goes into detail about how stupid the Skypieans who were trying to live in peace after Enel was overthrown are.
“They’re so dumb to cling on to their dreams of peace yadda yadda..” *SMASH*
This is going to be a fun arc to get to in the anime. This arc’s setup is starting to feel a bit like the Whitebeard war setup. Lots of people, lots of strong badies, and the whole thing is a trap to begin with. Hazaah for colosseum battles!
And this time we have the entire Straw Hat crew assembled in one place 😉
I for one like the minor characters. Most shonen, once they get to big things, often leave non-big names in the dust, and suddenly rare individuals are commonplace. Sometimes you need lows and highs to get good contrast and mixing, when making music. Same I feel for here. Small timers and big timers going at it. For most though, this is probably boring aside from Bellamy getting to Skypeia.
I do enjoy the occasional focus on the minor characters, especially the mini-arcs (Buggy’s, Enel’s, Robin’s, Vivi’s). But Bellamy is just not a character that stands out in my book and I can’t say I’m too interested in what’s going on with him. Who knows, maybe this story arc will change my mind 😉
Umm, wait, so you didn’t read the chapter? I’m kinda confused.
Sorry for the confusion, I was referring to the latest story arc. Have edited the text accordingly 😉
i have to disagree. bellamy is a character who has seen some shit. he had to kill his own first mate in a forced fight to the death, gone to the skypeia at the cost of probably a lot of other crewmates, and ripped apart from the jaws of skypeia a massive golden fucking pillar. dude has some decent backstory now and it’s apparent that he’s a changed man who actually believes in something now. having a background character present a dynamic change of character is amazing and i love oda for being able to pull it off successfully. i want to see some cool bane bane no mi shit and hopefully a different perspective from the new man that is bellamy.
if there’s one thing that i hope he still has, though, it’s his total scumbag mannerisms and cruel demeanor. he still needs to be able to light a guy on fire after losing a poker game
I hope you’re right. I’m still not convinced he’s a changed man, to be honest 😡
As usual OP is impossible to predict. I was sure Cavendish and Rebecca would be in separate blocks. Now I’m not even sure any of the characters we think are going to win are going to win. (including Cavendish and Rebecca)
Rebecca’s gonna kick some pretty boy’s ass, at least I hope she does 😉
I really wonder how Bellamy managed to obtain the golden pillar. I doubt he would be able to defeat Wiper and the others so easily, who we have all seen doing well post-time skip.
Maybe he just asked for it, since the people of Skypiea have place no value in gold, and a giant detached pillar would just take up space.
Good point. When did Bellamy visit Skypiea? That has not been made apparent in this chapter. But clearly there are some strong foes on the island and that’s something I’m very interested in.
I think that Luffy is going to get that mera mera fruit and when he does, he’ll find a way to gain it’s powers and have two devil’s friut abilities like black beard.
I am still doubtful that Luffy will eat his brother’s fruit. He is aware, I don’t know how, that it was impossible to eat two fruits. So it is more likely that he will give someone his brother’s fruit. At best either Cavendish and Rebecca will eat the Mera Mera no ni.
I am more curious at how Bellamy got a giant golden pillar of all things. I checked and the shandorian golden belfry was in good condition in that one manga page, unless Bellamy actually went during either the Fishman and Punk Hazard arc and got that golden pillar. Either way, at least Bellamy isn’t laughing about Luffy’s dream, I think, but I do wonder how much he knows about Luffy since it doesn’t looks like he is aware that Luffy kidnapped Caesar.
That is highly unlikely from a story telling standpoint.
Since the beginning of One Piece in 1997, Luffy has been portrayed as the carefree idiot captain, most notable for his straw hat and Gomu-Gomu no Mi. He has gotten this far in the story with nothing but that, his crew, and sheer determination. To drastically change the character that has been establish for 16 years would be bad writing and would alienate a lot of readers. Power-ups have to be done sensibly and in moderation. If Luffy acquires the power of a Logia, it would severely diminish any possible threat and leave the rest of the crew behind.
If Luffy does obtain the Mera-Mera no Mi, my guess is that he would offer it up to Ace’s grave. The remaining Whitebeard pirates would see to it that both the fruit and the grave stay undisturbed.
To offer it to Ace’s grave would be too big of a risk. I think Luffy is smart enough to understand how anyone can just grave rob Ace’s grave to get the Mera Mera no ni. That’s why he asked Franky if he could eat it.
@MasterDragonKnight— I’m sorely reminded of Naruto when you described power inflation. There was a similar beginning but so many powerups that the old “effort and tactics” stuff didn’t apply anymore. But I’m sure Oda’s above that kind of inconsistency when it comes to power levels and abilities, so you’re right, we most likely won’t see Luffy get another fruit.
Doubt it. Oda already stated that the reason he gave Luffy rubber was because he didn’t want to give him something too “cool”. He wanted a character that could be goofy and make you laugh. Then in another SBS he said he’s never even considered giving Luffy a different power since the series began, with the exception of a Love Love fruit for shits and giggles.
I also thought that not much happened in this chapter then I read bleach’s chapter and I changed my mind. I find the change in bellamy’s attitude and his “I won’t laugh at you anymore” very interesting and intriguing especially in relation to his trip to skypea. what is fascinating about one piece is how every little, apparently insignificant detail turns out to be very significant and leads to a greater storyline, this chapter gives me the same feeling as ace and black beard’s fight,I get the feeling that there is something momentous related to all these details we learned from bellamy.
I hope you’re right. The Dressrosa Arc is shaping up to be a very interesting one but I doubt it’ll have as many epic moments as the Whitebeard War Saga. And who knows, Bellamy might have his ass handed to Bartolomeo next week 😛
I’m really finding Bellamy’s progression fascinating, not because I like him—I dislike his old personality as much as anyone else—but bringing up/changing an old character is great for making the world feel continuous. Other series have failed to dig up old characters from old arcs, and I’m specifically referencing series like Bleach, where characters come and go waaay too many times.
So that’s where Oda’s strengths are this chapter. I feel almost like Bellamy is a totally changed man, since he’s totally different from before. Remember, during his first appearance, he didn’t recognize Luffy and co. and later thought their wanted posters were fake? This is totally opposite since he recognized him immediately. Remember when he chided Luffy for his dreams, saying that the age of dreams is over? He now isn’t laughing at Luffy, and even has a dream of his own now: to become a leader in the Dofla family.
He’s a changed man, I tell you. My respect for Bellamy went from 0 to… something higher. Now that’s what I like to see from my One Piece. \(^o^)/
I couldn’t agree more ! and this is part of what makes one piece so special and fascinating
I’m not sure if he’s a complete changed man. Didn’t he just crush someone’s face two chapters ago? XD
it could be similar to Ace’s reaction when someone badmouths Whitebeard. Anyway, I do agree, Bellamy’s personality seems to made some improvement as he says he won’t laugh at Luffy. Of course, I would measure how much this “change” is once I know the condition of the people of Sky Island, especially our cute Conis-chan; the old Bellamy would do a lot of unspeakable things to her, but the new Bellamy well who knows but it is seems many female spectators of the Colosseum like Bellamy so it can be assumed he is a ladies’ man.
Someone punched Bellamy hard enough to send him flying straight to Skypiea.
I always imagine that these other characters could make for some interesting filler material in the anime series to hold off catching up with the manga and prevent the anime from having to resort to anime only story arcs. Imagine how many episodes that could be squeezed out of the “A” fight alone, when it wasn’t even covered in the manga.
Unfortunately, the anime creators are never that thoughtful. Imagine how many episodes of the anime could have been spent, for example, telling the story of what happened to the Strawhats after Marineford and before they regrouped at Shabondy.
Understatement. The OP anime is an abomination.
I found this chapter thrilling simply because it brought us back to the meeting between the crew, bellamy and blackbeard, the dialogues in those chapters are some of the most central to the story of one piece. doflamingo is undoubtedly one of the most inetresting characters in one piece and given what bellamy says about wanting to be on his side whan it’s time to face the tidal waves that are to come makes there is gonna be alot more than just fighting in this chapter
Doflamingo’s the final boss so we probably won’t get to see him in action until much later. Maybe Adminal Kuzan will join the fun too 😉
I dont even freaking remember Bellamy at all. Like, zero recollection, literally. Lol…
lol @ random butthurt people downvoting me for no reason.
Not my fault he’s such a forgettable character.
Still dont know who he is or where he’s from, and dont care enough to check.
Where did that colored manga scan of the Straw Hats pirates come from? I didn’t see it when I read this chapter.
I recalled Bellamy giving Luffy a hard time before with his “spring” attacks and it would be interesting to see how he will fight.
I laughed when they introduced “Lucy” as a swordsman.
It’s from chapter 699. One Piece provides color pictures pretty often, so I intend to use those for the front page and banner 😉
Pandaman has been spotted on the 5th page, among the audience who are fleeing from the Bartolomeo’s bomb. I thank Luxor for his keen observation :3
And here I am thinking Pandaman is on the 13th page on the right of the massive dude with an axe. -.-”
My bet is on Gladiator Ricky being the victor.
It’s amazing how Oda gives distinct characteristics to all his minor characters and keep track of them. Chances are we’ll probably see at least one or more of the named gladiators again later in the story just when we forget.
(Also, chances are that one or more of them have already appeared before without us noticing.)
Oda certainly has better memories than I do. I find it hard to keep track of so many characters at times XD
Bellamy as next nakama
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Oh gosh, I hope not 😡
AHHH One Piece is back on RC! Happy day.
For three weeks now and I’m blogging One Piece Film Z here as well 😉
Just a random thought. I cant wait for an epic One piece RPG once this all ends to celebrate one of the best adventure manga ever. the rpg will be epic too!