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This episode got some tears from me that’s for sure. Sorry for the essay this time but I have a lot I want to say. Due to me not wanting to clog up the entire page I'll put it in a spoiler button.
It’s super Luffy to store food for later like that, this meat coming from Nami’s stash she got for him before they boarded the train.
Did Franky just fart his way out of the building with Robin locked in his legs while threatening to be a bomb. That was not something I was expecting to see. Oh my gosh. Franky has done some bad things but those bad things have been balanced out by his acts of kindness starting with him paying for drinks for the whole bar, but also his concern of and request to take care of the Going Merry, and his self sacrificial display on the train, and now here with him trying to save Robin and defending her from the navy. I love how much he cares about making things right, I feel like he’ll act before even Luffy does when he sees unfairness and injustice. He’s attributed the Straw Hats as good and he knows Spanda is a class a scumbag so of course he’s going to try and shift the favours even by putting himself at risk. Franky is a colorful and great guy under his grimy criminal exterior. I do love how his fighting style relates to that exterior.
This arc has been so amazing for Robin’s character. I was somewhat upset with how little we knew about Robin after she joined us in Skypiea. I wanted more characterization. I wanted a flashback. I wanted words justifiable and true to describe her and her role to the Straw Hats, however, now that I realize this was fully intentional I wouldn’t have it any other way. We were supposed to be like Chopper and Sanji, appreciating and caring for her, while at the same time not knowing where to look for her apart from libraries and ruins or however that joke went. And finally we’re really understanding who she is and what her motivations are. Her expressions this episode showed us all we really needed to see, her conflicted emotions regarding the fact that this is the first time she’s been with a group close to a family since probably back when Ohara was burned to a crisp. This is the first time she’s not using people who are using her which she can easily escape or use as shields when things go wrong such as Crocodile. She said the line:
“I just want to.. die”
Because she believes that she's a sin, she’s an evil, a mistake that will bring the destruction of all she loves. Even if the Straw Hats beat CP9, and to her it’s probably a big if, then all that will happen is they’ll reach the same fate as her beloved island and people. It’s either she dies for their sake or they reach the same fate that has obviously haunted her since her childhood. Robin is an incredibly tragic character and the way we’ve slowly found out about her through the cracks in her mystery and from her relations to these other people made for something really great. We grew attached to her like she made friends with Chopper very naturally.
This made the scene where Luffy picked his nose in utter disregard to her plea for death and what followed so satisfying and almost cathartic. All of the Straw Hats show up one by one as if they’re letting Robin know that she’s one of them. That this is the very first time she’s had a family-like group since she was a child and, like with a family, neither are using each other, and the Straw Hats will not let anything happen to her, no matter what. They refuse to let her down. As they all got together and showed her that no matter how logical it is to run, no matter how dangerous the situation is, and no matter how much she wishes for otherwise, their love and friendship for her will not fade. She realized this and I think her crying with significant because it was akin to the first time Usopp felt as if he belonged on the crew and fought big lips. It was the first time she couldn't ignore the fact any longer that she belonged somewhere. “We’re still going to rescue you, and if you still want to die you can do it then while you’re at our side”. She’s always felt as if she deserved or wanted death, or at least to not be saved by others and I hope the Straw Hats and Franky’s words from Tom can finally show her that she is a valuable person and she is not a mistake or a sin.
Jabra foreshadowed something quite interesting regarding Kaku. The normally calm and collected Kaku was on the edge as he angrily kicked Franky in the head. Jabra poked fun at him asking if it’s him venting due to the devil fruit power he got. I’m unsure what power he did end up getting but I think we can be sure it’s something that he’s not happy with, possibly something that has no use or could even cripple him.
Finally all the easy battles we had our non Straw Hats fighting in are getting tough. The endurance is running out and even the likes of Yokozuna are collapsing. I liked this collection of scenes because I felt it made the non Straw Hat groups feel far more real and it made the stakes higher than before. Of course after taking on so many soldiers even their best are feeling exhausted and that’s where Sogeking and the giants came in.
It looks like Sogeking has a new weapon he’s recently made and is about ready to show off. He’s upgraded Nami’s weapons with dials so I think this one will be pretty dial’d up too.
I think I’m going to have to accept that strong, fast attacks create wind blasts in the One Piece universe. I didn’t like it when Zoro could do it in Skypiea, I felt it was abrupt and not well established, and I still don’t like it, but with tempest kicks and Zoro creating tornadoes and wind blasts to beat tsunami’s I think I ought to accept it for what it is already. Like I saw someone saying in a past thread, I feel that our characters got a strength increase that was unexpected. Perhaps not Sanji, or Nami, or Chopper so far, and I even think Luffy’s is fine… for now, so I’m more so strictly talking about Zoro. The level of his swordsmanship seems like it far exceeds Skypiea to a large degree and I’m all for it, but I seriously wish we got some more training sequences, even brief moments to foreshadow it. We know Zoro is the type to swim in ice cold water for training so it’s not like he couldn’t have done this off screen, it’s only that I’ve seen it better done and I wish it was to that same standard. Examples of it being better are
when Hiei trained for mastery of the dragon of the darkness flame. We got constant shots of him training by himself intensely
and likewise
in Dragon Ball we both had excellent training sequences of Kururin and Goku training with Roshi, or Goku training with Karin, or even Ten training to use the Mafuba.
In all these instances we had the characters get dedicated screen time to make the reveal of improvement feel genuine and satisfying and believable. In Luffy and Zoro’s case they make sense, they are not plot holes or asspulls, I just think some screen time of developing their improvements would go a long way.
Omfg! This is dope. Robin is so lucky she has those kinds of people in her crew, they aint fucking around i love how they marched toward CP9 you know they ready to get some.
Que gran episodio. Al fin llegaron con Robin para hacerla entrar en razón. El próximo será muy emocional, y lo he estado esperando por mucho tiempo. Hora de saber el pasado de Robin.
"We've already come this far, so we're gonna rescue you anyway. If you wanna die after that, you can die then."
LMAO god Luffy is wonderful
this arc is absurdly good especially now that it's coming to a head
That ending sequence with the arrival of the Strawhats was so good I watched it twice. Might even watch it again. What a damn vibe the strawhats are. I love it
Not sure what Robin is worried about when Spandex is planning on getting the Straw Hats killed even if she doesn't go with them. For someone who's known for being smart she isn't being too logical atm. Even if a past trauma is what's holding her back she should still be able to realize that the Straw Hats are screwed either way now that they've attacked a government facility.
@Avenger-senpai I mean, to be fair all her friends are telling her she's being dumb too.
