Before I go onto this episode, someone last episode or so was saying that blood loss being used is somewhat a plot device. That Luffy lost more blood in Alabasta and this never occurred, rather the blood is being used to bridge a new age of fishman and human. Yet, I sincerely love realistic ramifications to danger in One Piece. I remember getting chills when we had Robin completely frozen and everyone rushed her to save her, they had to dethaw her slowly and carefully but fast enough that she wouldn't have intense frostbite. It was horrifying. Then Akainu literally fried Ace's internal organs from the inside, in him was just mush. Moments like those add a new layer to the danger of One Piece, and normally I admit it's mostly Zoro who holds pain consistently through arcs. Mihawk slash impacted Arlong, he will lose swords and have to get more, he will take on Luffy's pain from Kuma and then be a shell of his former skill going forward due to how he can barely hang on. Zoro embodies carrying past pain along with him, but normally this kind of thing is somewhat rare. Yet, in this arc we had Sanji need a blood transfusion as did we see Luffy needed one, so maybe this could be an indicator that those realistic and scary ramifications of violence will continue. Or it could just be used when it's narratively useful, not that it's necessarily a bad thing to do it that way!
Jimbei is in a Vivi situation. He has responsibilities that hold him back, he's not free like the Straw Hats. But, one day when he is, he will join up with the Straw Hats and that's a promise! Very cool.. Imagine if the final two Straw Hats are Jimbei and Vivi, assuming that the Sunny doesn't count although seeing how we had a large part of Water 7 dedicated to the Merry being a crew member a part of me thinks Jimbei is the final Straw Hat and the Sunny counts. Jimbei put it good, and I love how everyone was all for it. They saw the kind of man Jimbei is, the regret he felt over Arlong, how he fought alongside them, and how he saved Luffy's life without hesitation. But most of all, they saw how much Luffy loves Jimbei!! It was so nice to see everyone standing by Luffy's decision. Franky put it well, they know how much Luffy likes him so they'll wait for him too!
I loved seeing Zoro say near verbatim Luffy's logic on not wanting to be a hero when he wasn't there to hear it. These two are made for each other!!!
So, the slave humans were set free by Neptune and the fishman district criminals are now forced to serve time under the Neptune army and live in the public. Fishman district is closed. Neptune single handedly solved the problem of retributive justice, lol! I hope we see Wadatsumi again one day, assuming he doesn't go back to save Decken which he'd probably fail at, he now is a rogue with no leader. Seeing what comes of him should be great. I also wonder if Neptune will successfully reform Hordy and his officers.
The celebration went on a bit long, I admit, but it was fun and the crew deserves some celebration time. It seems the part of being a hero Luffy doesn't like is being treated so highly, as long as the end of it is having a big banquet all is well. Nami out drinking Fukuboshi, Zoro got all the sake in the world, Brook and Sanji got to celebrate with pretty mermaids, Luffy got to eat lots of meat, Chopper got tons of treats like the kid he is, they deserved this! But more interestingly it lead to more talk about Joy Boy. Honestly, as interesting as this ancient weapon story is, and as cool as it is to be spread across the tangible world we experience, it's so spread apart I forget everything about it constantly excluding the blank century. At some point I need to compile all I know about it to keep track of it and build on it as I learn more.
For now, Joy Boy was an above-ground person living during the blank century 800 years ago, he left an apology to the last mermaid princess who could control sea kings as he didn't fulfil a promise, a promise Neptune doesn't know. Still, someone will come and fulfil the promise on behalf of Joy Boy one day. This man coming to fulfil the promise needs the Noah so the royal family has taken care of it since. On Skypiea apparently the Poneglyph that Roger was involved with stated that one of the ancient weapons was on this island, and Robin deducted that the ancient weapon was the mermaid princess from the blank century. However, now that she was been reborn in the form of Shirahoshi, Shirahoshi will take over the name.. The name of Posiedon. We can presume the person coming to fulfil the promise would need Shirahoshi so I'd say it'll come sooner than later. Now, if only I could remember all the other information we got on the ancient weapons. If anything it definitely feels like the most coherent narrative being told throughout the entirety of One Piece, probably as the thing that will all come together to finish the series off.. |