Once again Oda proves us he’s a great story teller, and his amazing ability to convey emotions through his panels is particularly strong this chapter. Seriously, it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a chapter as much as I did this week. It’s was a nostalgic but so well executed that feels refreshing and exciting. I know Oda isn’t very fond of taking Luffy away of the spotlight but as I already mentioned I’m really enjoying this Arc, and I think that after the past two prolonged arcs that Dressrosa and Whole Cake ended up being, he’s enjoying changing the pace too.
Now, to the fun part, my favourite parts of the chapter—
1)Contrasts
Look at this, what a magnificent panel, we can see and feel the magnificence of Marie Geoise (still getting used to the change).
And then…
We have this heartbreaking panel, full of emotion. This particular panel is a reminder of the cruelty of the world government, and of the World Nobles, it’s a reminder of how much he hate these institutions, but even more importantly of why we hate them. And it’s amazing, because we’ve been so excited about seeing Marie Geoise and the Reverie and old beloved characters that we might have overseen or forgotten that slavery happens in Marie Geoise. That this so proclaimed Holy Land is a glorified portion of earth filled with self-entitled people who are under the protection of an institution as corrupt and old fashioned as themselves.
So Oda throwing this panel feels like a bucket of cold water waking us up. “Like, yeah cool, you’re excited about finally getting here, but this is basically the origin of the evil on this world, have a suffering slave…”
2) Luffy’s Fanclub [Not a Bartolomeo’s associated]
In spite that I’m not really fond of Rebecca and that I’m actually quite fed up with her after the prolonged drama of Dressrosa, I actually liked the interaction between the Rescued Princess® gang. It was a pure and funny interaction.
Just look at those faces, they’re so proud of being #TeamLuffy. Dalton was the cherry on top tho:
3)The foreshadowing
Besides of providing a funny scene, I can’t help but think this will be a problem in the future, not only with Shirahoshi, but with the rest of #TeamLuffy. The Strawhats and particularly Luffy will offuckingcourse be a topic of discussion during the Reverie, and I can’t help but feel that perhaps someone won’t be able to keep their mouths shuts if people start attacking Luffy. Somehow I feel that Shirahoshi will be the chosen one to break the silence tho, she’s much more less diplomatic that her fellows royalties and damn, maybe I’m reading too much into it, but this also goes hand in hand with the bad feeling I have about the Gyojins and a sad outcome for their participation in the Reverie.
And panels like these don’t do much to calm my fear. Just like I said last week, Shirahoshi and the Gyojins are endangered and I swear if something bad happens to them I will riot. They have suffered enough and deserve happiness, not being chased like an animal zoo by scumbag like Charloss.
About that ending tho, I really don’t know what to think or say. Why the heck would a Straw Hat be the oh so precious treasure of the Holy Land? Is it perhaps related to the Will of D? And if it is, could it be it is related to like their old lider ir something of the sorts? But even if it did it still doesn’t make sense, cause let’s say that okay, the D. Family or tribe or whatever the hell they were, were the original rulers of the world and also lived atop the Red Line, that doesn’t make and old hat (no matter who it belonged to) a treasure, going by this long line of assumption and ‘if’ the Strawhats would be more like a trophy not a treasure.
I almost forgot about the absolute best part of the chapter: Dr. Kureha proudly wearing her son’s bounty on a T-Shirt while in a formal even hosted by the World Goverment. How cool is that?!If that ain’t love, then I don’t know what love is.
Cheloneuniverse 