I know the line isn't that deep or crazy but I love how Mihawk said he wanted to test the real difference between the man who seemed to be right in front of them. Of course, he seems right in front of you, physically he is close, but the 'real difference' is metaphorical, it's how close they are in skill. It doesn't matter if Whitebeard can be struck if he's too far away in skill for that to matter... And, Mihawk got his answer. Whitebeard didn't have to raise a single arm, his commander Diamond Jozu alone could stop the slash from the strongest swordsman in the world. I think it's notable that Mihawk put his sword away after that. Perhaps his eye contact with Jozu is foreshadowing that Jozu is Mihawk's real battle as he won't be able to contest Whitebeard's power...
If the case is Mihawk vs Jozu down the line it will be very similar to Zoro vs Mr. 1. Like Zoro's battle of deciding if the swordsman can cut steel, this time it may be if the swordsman can cut something even harder than steel, diamond.
Next, Marco showed himself as being something more rare than a logia user, a mythical creature zoan user. He literally can transform into a phoenix. His wounds are healed instantly. I bet he would would be reborn if he dies. He can fly and use the power of his flames. He certainly uses one of the most overpowered fruits we've seen! Like, up until this point Whitebeard didn't have to lift a defensive arm, his commanders could deal with warlords and admirals. Just, wow. It made me think this upcoming battle will probably be a strategic battle of matchups. Perhaps it will become a battle of whatever matchups Oda thinks would be fun to watch via organically having everyone fight, or perhaps it will be a strategic choice to send the people who best counter other people to fight them!
Then Jozu shows his raw strength as he throws an entire iceberg and Akainu gives us two pieces of new information. That quite clearly the way they are set up is important. The Admirals stay at the back to cover for everyone else when things get crazy like Akainu did here. And I bet the Warlords are supposed to stay behind the front lines and go in for specific battles and to turn the tides into their favour. Akainu also showed us his power.. He is a magma man, a volcano man. He had a giant volcanic fist which erupted into magma rocks and amazingly that caused the first defensive move on Whitebeard's part, where he caught one on his spear and BLEW IT OUT LIKE A BIRTHDAY CANDLE! HAHAHAHA. That was amazing.
To top it all off we ended with Little Oars Jr coming in. Nice one Oda.. WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN HAPPENING. Marineford is ridiculous, in a good way of course. I guess it makes sense Oars has descendants, and somehow Oars Jr is best friends with Ace. That's kind of adorable.
I presume Akainu will play a big role in this battle. It set him up to be the first one to challenge Whitebeard successfully. Plus, we got to understand Aokiji and Kizaru before this but Akainu has been a mystery up until now. Therefore, the way it's set up him and Whitebeard to directly laugh at and challenge each other and the meta-narrative way he's been held off until now makes me think he will be a major element in this upcoming war. A way to explore him as a character! Moria hinted at wanting to get Oars Jr as a corpse so we should be wary of that.. Also, Coby will meet Luffy again and this time they're on opposite sides. Is it time for a real Luffy vs Coby fight? D: OMG THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON I CAN'T EVEN FORMULATE CLEAR PREDICTIONS. I mean, what if Kaido and Shanks show up and crash the war with their emperor armies and further, WHAT THE HECK IS BLACKBEARD DOING!!!
There was no Luffy in this episode was there? This is epic enough to not even need him. I would have expected them to sail over there by now.. but I suppose he'll be getting there next episode. I'm starting to understand why this war is so dangerous, with people this strong in a world like this to have a war would mean some serious mass destruction on an insane level.
There's a part of me which wants to experience all of Marineford in one sitting. Maybe once I read the manga I will do just that!
Strawberrycake48 said:I feel so sorry for Ace since all he can really do is sit there in torture and watch everyone fighting because of him ;-;
I felt the same. The shot from his perspective looking down at the masses fighting for his sake made me realize how awful he must feel. He seemed to have wanted to be left to die instead of causing something like this... |