One Piece Vol 16
Jul. 11th, 2012 12:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sara_tanaquilDrum Island; Chopper's flashback. T___T
(I really wish Oda would stop making it a competition as to whose flashback makes us CRY the most... except, I kind of don't. He's too good at it, damn him.)
These darn things keep getting longer. ^_^;;
VOLUME 16
137
Fleeing the avalanche the Lapin started, Luffy/Nami and Sanji end up riding the wave on a broken tree.
LOL, Sanji calls the Lapin a "kuso-pyon army" (is there even any way to translate that? pyon is the "sound" of a hop).
Only Oda could come up with SKIING carnivorous giant rabbit monsters.
When they're about to collide with a stump, Sanji tosses Luffy/Nami in the air and takes the full force of the collision himself.
Back in Bighorn village, the villagers scramble madly to escape, while Wapol, as usual, focuses on saving himself.
Strange wooly mammoth facts in the One Piece world: they can extend their legs in "honki mode."
(I was laughing so hard at this panel, I can't even. 豆知識！ This will not be funny unless you're a Trivia no Izumi addict (English, Japanese). Also, like master, like beast of burden: woolly mammoths are "omnivorous.")
Aw, Luffy giving the mostly unconscious Nami his hat to hold before diving into the snow to save Sanji. I'm not sure if he's thinking "Save my hat!" or "Here, my hat will keep you safe!" (With Luffy's mind, one never knows.)
ETA: One Piece RED says that the intended message was "I'll definitely be back," because Luffy would never abandon the hat. Although, surely, he'd never abandon his nakama either? Anyway, I am choosing "My hat will keep you safe" for my personal headcanon.
Wapol blames the Strawhats for starting the avalanche on purpose to get back at him. He vows to catch up with them and get revenge.
I am sure I would find Wapol's officers' hyper polite Japanese funnier if I could UNDERSTAND any of it.
D'aww, the baby Lapin that almost lost its daddy (mommy?). I love the offhand way Luffy saves them and trudges off, like he's not even paying attention.
138
Wapol and his officers catch up with Luffy.
Wapol says "kaba" (hippo) instead of "baka" (idiot) when he wants to insult someone. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out. I didn't know why he kept randomly talking about hippos.)
Love that Luffy remembers and obeys Sanji's order not to fight even after Sanji's passed out.
Yay, saved by the Lapin! (Aw, mommy/daddy Lapin with baby riding on its shoulder.)
Luffy climbs the sheer cliff-face. Oh jeez, he's carrying Sanji in his TEETH. (What would shounen manga be without at least one demonstration of blood-dripping, bone-cracking stamina?)
Aw, I forgot Chopper saved Luffy's life when he almost fell off the cliff.
139
Cover arc: LOL forever at Jango's heart-shaped eyes.
Chapter title: Chopper formally introduced.
Vivi has to pound Usopp's face to get him to stay awake when he's about to freeze to death (and then she's too embarrassed to tell him why his face is so swollen).
Zoro emerges from the snow half-frozen (he went for a swim, but ended up getting lost).
Hee, Vivi's reactions to the feuding nakama, hilarious as always: "I wonder if Nami collapsed from sheer mental exhaustion."
Vivi, Usopp and Zoro find themselves back in Bighorn, where Wapol's soldiers are trying to prevent the villagers from rescuing Dalton.
Zoro makes sure to check with Usopp that Wapol's soldiers are enemies before he beats the lead soldier up... for his COAT.
Back up on the mountain, Dr. Kureha and Chopper (offscreen) are discussing Nami's condition.
Is it just me, or is the decor in that castle seriously off?
... yeah, not just me. Wonder if that decor reflects Wapol's tastes, or Kureha's, or both.
Upon reflection: Kureha's, I think. LOL, the longer I look at it, the weirder it gets. The skull microscope! The axe holding a cold pack!
Note: in the present time line, Chopper has a metal band marking the place where his antler was once repaired. It always appears on his left antler, except in one panel (the first one with the bat-chair), where it mistakenly seems to have been drawn on his right.
LOL Chopper hiding backwards until Nami points it out. (Chopper always hides backwards. I know, somehow I never got that joke before? I'm slow?)
"Shut your trap, human! And, uh... how's your fever?"
Kureha ("Call me Doctorine") shows up to check on Nami when she hears Chopper making an almighty ruckus.
Kureha diagnoses Nami's illness: three days earlier, she was bitten by a poisonous Kesychia insect. Left untreated, Nami would have been dead in another two days. The Kesychia insect was supposed to be extinct, but luckily Kureha still had some antidote on hand.
"Please tell me you weren't wandering around in the middle of a tropical forest on a a prehistoric island with your belly exposed." Nami: "Er..."
Kureha insists on Nami remaining under her care for at least 3 days.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Sanji are awake... and hungry.
Flashback to Chopper and Doctorine discovering the half-dead Strawhats at the top of the mountain.
Aw, Chopper staring at Luffy in a daze when he hears him say "They're my nakama!"
Back to the present. Doctorine explains that Chopper is just an ordinary blue-nosed reindeer... who happens to have eaten the hito-hito fruit.
"I've taught him everything I know about medicine."
I know it's supposed to be funny that Luffy and Sanji look at Chopper and think "MEAT!", but it kind of breaks my heart every time. Leave Chopper alone, you brutes!
140
Luffy asks Kureha to be his ship's doctor, but she refuses. (Also, she objects to being called Baa-san. She's in the prime of her 130's! It cracks me up that she calls herself "atashi." There ought to be an age limit on that.)
Chopper is surprised to hear that they're pirates. He flashes back on Hiluluk: "I love pirates!"
*NB: I prefer Hiruruk myself, but the One Piece Wiki seems to go with Hiluluk, so, whatever.
Luffy and Sanji are back to chasing Chopper (MEAT!), with Kureha hard on their heels waving a butcher knife. ("Let's see how you like it when I eat YOU!")
When Nami thanks Chopper for nursing her, he does his patented "I'm not happy at all! Bastards!" dance.
Nami: "Let me guess. You're the type that can't hide his emotions." (Hee!)
Nami invites Chopper to come to sea with them, but he refuses, saying a reindeer can't be with humans.
(I love that Nami gets to be the first to issue the invitation, for once. While Luffy is still running around being an idiot.)
Kureha: "You disappoint me, young lady. Trying to lure my reindeer away while I'm not looking?"
"Do I need your permission to seduce a man?" NAMI <3 <3 <3
Kureha talking about Chopper's childhood. T_T
His own reindeer kind persecuted him for having a blue nose, and kicked him out after he ate the devil fruit; the humans he tried to make contact with shot him.
"He's an abominable snowman!" (雪男) Flashback Chopper: "??" "??" T_T
Speculation: maybe we're not supposed to ask, but how on earth did little Chopper just stumble upon a devil fruit and eat it?
I suppose one could ask the same about Robin, except it's a little easier to imagine one showing up on Ohara.
Back to Luffy and Sanji chasing Chopper around for food. T_T
Luffy and Sanji had noticed that the whole castle was full of snow and ice, but when they try to shut the front door that's letting all the cold in, Chopper won't let them (because there is a nest of baby birds on the door).
Belatedly, Luffy and Sanji realize that Chopper can talk, and walk on two legs.
"HE'S A MONSTER!"
Chopper: *slumps, trudges off*
*beat*
Luffy: "SO COOL! Sanji, let's get him to join our crew!"
(This remains one of my favorite Luffy moments. EVER.)
Kureha tells Nami that Chopper has only ever opened his heart to one person.
Meanwhile, the chase begins again as Luffy and Sanji pursue a terrified Chopper. "HEY, MONSTER! Be our nakama!"
Chopper scents Wapol's approach.
Kureha: He was a quack doctor called Hiluluk, who gave Chopper his name and treated him as a son.
141
Cover arc: Jango, you were born to dance to the disco beat.
Zoro defeats the last of Wapol's men, and the villagers dig frantically to save Dalton.
Chopper is focused on getting the news of Wapol's approach to Doctorine.
The villagers manage to uncover Dalton from the snowbank. (Zoro: "Who's Dalton?")
Wapol arrives at his castle, and is shocked to see Hiluluk's pirate flag flying from its summit.
Whoa, flashback in the middle of Luffy's attack on Wapol. A long one, too. (Jeez, and poor Dalton left lying there in cardiac arrest until the flashback's over?)
Flashback: six years earlier.*
*Chopper is 15 when the series begins (this is revealed in an SBS in volume 19), so he was nine (whatever that means in reindeer years?) at the time of the flashback.
Hiluluk just wants to help, but his "patients" are terrified (and with good reason).
A younger Kureha mocks Hiluluk, saying nothing is more frightening than an untrained doctor. (Hiluluk, in turn, despises Kureha for taking money from her patients.)
Kureha and Hiluluk are the only survivors of the purge of the island's doctors.
Hiluluk discovers Chopper bleeding out after the humans shot him.
When Chopper freaks out at the sight of a gun, Hiluluk strips to prove he won't shoot. (Aw! Even if he is kind of a freakishly ugly naked dude.)
When Chopper wakes up in Hiluluk's cave, his antlers are undamaged (I think this is the first time we can see his antlers clearly in the flashback sequence).
142
Hiluluk gives Chopper his name: "Tony Tony Chopper" (because he's a reindeer [tonakai], and his antlers could chop down trees).
Wapol and Dalton at the "meeting of kings" (Reverie) [in flashback time, so, six years earlier].
TOTALLY did not realize that the "meeting of kings" was identified as a "Reverie" this early (the first time I ever learned the term was during the Otohime flashback).
The first appearance of Holy Land Mariejois! And, wow, I forgot they were meeting to discuss Dragon's revolutionary activities. I think this is the first time we learn more about Dragon than his name.
Dalton's meeting with young Vivi <3 (She would have been, what, ten? The same age as Nami when she joined Arlong... T_T)
And hey, this is the first time we meet Vivi's father Cobra, too.
So much love for little Vivi: nothing less than a queen at the age of 10. <3
(Love her sobbing in Igaram's arms after it's all over, and Dalton being amazed that she could be mature enough to know that a quarrel might cause an international incident.)
Hiluluk tells Chopper not to hate humans, because the heart of the country is sick.
Hiluluk tells Chopper the story of the "great thief from the far west country" whose fatal illness was cured when he beheld the beauty of the cherry blossoms.
Hiluluk's flag is the symbol of his belief that there is no such thing as an "incurable illness" in this world. It is a symbol of "conviction" (shinnen). (I think Viz translates this as "faith," which works well enough.) He tells Chopper he should go to sea as a pirate someday, to see how big the world is.
Chopper and Hiluluk overhear Wapol's soldiers talking about the hunt for the "mushroom" that can cure any disease. (LOL, one of the speech bubbles is mushroom-shaped.)
Chopper learns to flee the scene of the crime with Hiluluk. Hiluluk teaches him the "decoy maneuver" (= Chopper is the decoy, Hiluluk runs for it).
After Chopper and Hiluluk fight over the "decoy maneuver," Chopper says he's never fought with anyone before. Hiluluk: "Sure! You need two to fight!" T_T
Hiluluk gives Chopper his first present: his hat.
"A year later" in flashback time -- so, five years before the beginning of the series.
I hate the part where Hiluluk tries to kick Chopper out "for his own good." hate hate hate hate hate. T_T
143
Cover arc: #18 (Jango) and #2 (Mystery Man??) face off for the gold in the dancing contest!
Kureha confirms Hiluluk's conclusion that he is dying and has only days to live.
Hiluluk says he's been working on his research for 30 years.
The man who was cured in the far west country was Hiluluk. (But, it seems he was born on Drum Island. Jeez, what did he do that was so bad? He seems to think that his old self was beyond the pale of salvation.)
His dream is to make the sakura bloom on Drum Island, even though it's a winter island.
Hiluluk appears to be reclining on a somewhat earlier version of the medieval torture couch. (That seems to confirm that the castle is decorated according to Kureha's taste.)
Note Chopper dangling in the window behind Dr Kureha (I didn't even see him until she pointed him out).
You wanted to save him pain, so you kicked him out? MORON.
Kureha comments that Hiluluk and Chopper really are peas in a pod, both the "awkward" type. Aw, I like thinking of Chopper as the bukiyou type. I don't think I ever classified him that way (more the sunao type).
Having overheard Kureha and Hiluluk, Chopper sets out on an expedition.
Bowing to the hiking bear, hee.
Chopper fights with his own kind (presumably, to reach the area where the mushroom grows?)
Chopper returns with his prize, the amiudake mushroom (the legendary cure-all mushroom).
D'aww, so he broke his antler in the fight with the other reindeer. (In originally reading through the series, I didn't notice the repaired antler until later, and at that point I assumed the injury dated back to his childhood, but I didn't remember where it happened.)
144
Chopper makes Hiluluk a soup with the amiudake mushroom to cure his illness.
Hiluluk's chemical formula to make the sakura bloom appears to be working at last.
Leaving Chopper to rest, Hiluluk meets with Kureha. He's heard that all the elite medical corps (the "Isshii 20") have fallen ill.
Hiluluk has two last requests for Kureha: carry on his work to produce more of the sakura powder, and teach Chopper the art of medicine.
Aw, I love that Kureha angrily throws Hiluluk out ("You should know by now what sort of person I am!") and Hiluluk thinks "Yeah, I know. I'm counting on you."
It finally dawns on Kureha that Hiluluk intends to sacrifice himself by going to the castle to help the Isshii 20.
Kureha goes to Hiluluk's cave looking for him. She tells Chopper that of course Hiluluk hasn't gotten better, he's going to die. When he shows her the mushroom, she tells him it's a deadly poison.
Chopper thinking that the mushroom had to be OK because it had a skull and crossbones in the book. T_T
Kureha tells Chopper that a kind heart won't save anyone. If he wants to save anyone, he needs medical knowledge.
(This is a great commentary on the difference between Hiluluk and Kureha. Hiluluk had a kind heart, but not the knowledge. Kureha has the knowledge (and basic kindness), but she's a sarcastic old witch. Chopper has both Hiluluk's loving heart and crazy idealism, and Kureha's knowledge and sternness with her patients -- he got the best parts of both his strange parents. ^_^)
Chopper wailing when he realizes Kureha's telling him the truth. T___T
The illness of the Isshii 20 is revealed to be a plot to lure Hiluluk to his execution.
Kureha tells Chopper Hiluluk has chosen the castle to be his grave (nice -- when Wapol showed up earlier and asked about the pirate flag, Kureha said "This is Hiluluk's grave").
Hiluluk will not be the last (or perhaps I should say, he's not the first?) to choose the place of his death rather than succumb to a fatal illness. Gold Roger made the same choice when he surrendered to the marines to be executed.
Chopper races off to catch up with Hiluluk at the castle.
145
Hiluluk discovers that he's walked into a trap and that the Isshii 20 are perfectly healthy.
"Thank goodness no one's sick." Aw!
Hiluluk's dying speech - a man dies only when he is forgotten.
"Even if I disappear, my dream will still come true."
Dalton, weeping: "Will this country ever be the same again?" Hiluluk: "If there is someone to inherit it -- yes." The theme of "inherited will", again.
Hiluluk toasts to a good life, and blows himself up. ("Don't worry, Chopper. Your mushroom won't kill me.")
Dalton (in bison-form) saves Chopper by convincing him not to take revenge, and allows him to escape.
Dalton declares that the only salvation for the country going forward is complete destruction: the government must fall. "No matter how advanced our medicine becomes -- there's no cure for a fool!"
Chopper begs Kureha to teach him to become a doctor.
"I will BECOME the medicine that cures all things" -- oh, nice. I knew Chopper wanted to become a great doctor, but I'd forgotten that he has his own version of the impossible dream to pursue.
Roger could have used a doctor like Chopper.
"Call me Doctorine."
Dalton in prison promising to inherit the will of the previous king.
And, the flashback ends with Luffy's attack. (Four chapters later, he finally got to finish the word "pistol".)
(I really wish Oda would stop making it a competition as to whose flashback makes us CRY the most... except, I kind of don't. He's too good at it, damn him.)
These darn things keep getting longer. ^_^;;
VOLUME 16
137
Fleeing the avalanche the Lapin started, Luffy/Nami and Sanji end up riding the wave on a broken tree.
LOL, Sanji calls the Lapin a "kuso-pyon army" (is there even any way to translate that? pyon is the "sound" of a hop).
Only Oda could come up with SKIING carnivorous giant rabbit monsters.
When they're about to collide with a stump, Sanji tosses Luffy/Nami in the air and takes the full force of the collision himself.
Back in Bighorn village, the villagers scramble madly to escape, while Wapol, as usual, focuses on saving himself.
Strange wooly mammoth facts in the One Piece world: they can extend their legs in "honki mode."
(I was laughing so hard at this panel, I can't even. 豆知識！ This will not be funny unless you're a Trivia no Izumi addict (English, Japanese). Also, like master, like beast of burden: woolly mammoths are "omnivorous.")
Aw, Luffy giving the mostly unconscious Nami his hat to hold before diving into the snow to save Sanji. I'm not sure if he's thinking "Save my hat!" or "Here, my hat will keep you safe!" (With Luffy's mind, one never knows.)
ETA: One Piece RED says that the intended message was "I'll definitely be back," because Luffy would never abandon the hat. Although, surely, he'd never abandon his nakama either? Anyway, I am choosing "My hat will keep you safe" for my personal headcanon.
Wapol blames the Strawhats for starting the avalanche on purpose to get back at him. He vows to catch up with them and get revenge.
I am sure I would find Wapol's officers' hyper polite Japanese funnier if I could UNDERSTAND any of it.
D'aww, the baby Lapin that almost lost its daddy (mommy?). I love the offhand way Luffy saves them and trudges off, like he's not even paying attention.
138
Wapol and his officers catch up with Luffy.
Wapol says "kaba" (hippo) instead of "baka" (idiot) when he wants to insult someone. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out. I didn't know why he kept randomly talking about hippos.)
Love that Luffy remembers and obeys Sanji's order not to fight even after Sanji's passed out.
Yay, saved by the Lapin! (Aw, mommy/daddy Lapin with baby riding on its shoulder.)
Luffy climbs the sheer cliff-face. Oh jeez, he's carrying Sanji in his TEETH. (What would shounen manga be without at least one demonstration of blood-dripping, bone-cracking stamina?)
Aw, I forgot Chopper saved Luffy's life when he almost fell off the cliff.
139
Cover arc: LOL forever at Jango's heart-shaped eyes.
Chapter title: Chopper formally introduced.
Vivi has to pound Usopp's face to get him to stay awake when he's about to freeze to death (and then she's too embarrassed to tell him why his face is so swollen).
Zoro emerges from the snow half-frozen (he went for a swim, but ended up getting lost).
Hee, Vivi's reactions to the feuding nakama, hilarious as always: "I wonder if Nami collapsed from sheer mental exhaustion."
Vivi, Usopp and Zoro find themselves back in Bighorn, where Wapol's soldiers are trying to prevent the villagers from rescuing Dalton.
Zoro makes sure to check with Usopp that Wapol's soldiers are enemies before he beats the lead soldier up... for his COAT.
Back up on the mountain, Dr. Kureha and Chopper (offscreen) are discussing Nami's condition.
Is it just me, or is the decor in that castle seriously off?
... yeah, not just me. Wonder if that decor reflects Wapol's tastes, or Kureha's, or both.
Upon reflection: Kureha's, I think. LOL, the longer I look at it, the weirder it gets. The skull microscope! The axe holding a cold pack!
Note: in the present time line, Chopper has a metal band marking the place where his antler was once repaired. It always appears on his left antler, except in one panel (the first one with the bat-chair), where it mistakenly seems to have been drawn on his right.
LOL Chopper hiding backwards until Nami points it out. (Chopper always hides backwards. I know, somehow I never got that joke before? I'm slow?)
"Shut your trap, human! And, uh... how's your fever?"
Kureha ("Call me Doctorine") shows up to check on Nami when she hears Chopper making an almighty ruckus.
Kureha diagnoses Nami's illness: three days earlier, she was bitten by a poisonous Kesychia insect. Left untreated, Nami would have been dead in another two days. The Kesychia insect was supposed to be extinct, but luckily Kureha still had some antidote on hand.
"Please tell me you weren't wandering around in the middle of a tropical forest on a a prehistoric island with your belly exposed." Nami: "Er..."
Kureha insists on Nami remaining under her care for at least 3 days.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Sanji are awake... and hungry.
Flashback to Chopper and Doctorine discovering the half-dead Strawhats at the top of the mountain.
Aw, Chopper staring at Luffy in a daze when he hears him say "They're my nakama!"
Back to the present. Doctorine explains that Chopper is just an ordinary blue-nosed reindeer... who happens to have eaten the hito-hito fruit.
"I've taught him everything I know about medicine."
I know it's supposed to be funny that Luffy and Sanji look at Chopper and think "MEAT!", but it kind of breaks my heart every time. Leave Chopper alone, you brutes!
140
Luffy asks Kureha to be his ship's doctor, but she refuses. (Also, she objects to being called Baa-san. She's in the prime of her 130's! It cracks me up that she calls herself "atashi." There ought to be an age limit on that.)
Chopper is surprised to hear that they're pirates. He flashes back on Hiluluk: "I love pirates!"
*NB: I prefer Hiruruk myself, but the One Piece Wiki seems to go with Hiluluk, so, whatever.
Luffy and Sanji are back to chasing Chopper (MEAT!), with Kureha hard on their heels waving a butcher knife. ("Let's see how you like it when I eat YOU!")
When Nami thanks Chopper for nursing her, he does his patented "I'm not happy at all! Bastards!" dance.
Nami: "Let me guess. You're the type that can't hide his emotions." (Hee!)
Nami invites Chopper to come to sea with them, but he refuses, saying a reindeer can't be with humans.
(I love that Nami gets to be the first to issue the invitation, for once. While Luffy is still running around being an idiot.)
Kureha: "You disappoint me, young lady. Trying to lure my reindeer away while I'm not looking?"
"Do I need your permission to seduce a man?" NAMI <3 <3 <3
Kureha talking about Chopper's childhood. T_T
His own reindeer kind persecuted him for having a blue nose, and kicked him out after he ate the devil fruit; the humans he tried to make contact with shot him.
"He's an abominable snowman!" (雪男) Flashback Chopper: "??" "??" T_T
Speculation: maybe we're not supposed to ask, but how on earth did little Chopper just stumble upon a devil fruit and eat it?
Back to Luffy and Sanji chasing Chopper around for food. T_T
Luffy and Sanji had noticed that the whole castle was full of snow and ice, but when they try to shut the front door that's letting all the cold in, Chopper won't let them (because there is a nest of baby birds on the door).
Belatedly, Luffy and Sanji realize that Chopper can talk, and walk on two legs.
"HE'S A MONSTER!"
Chopper: *slumps, trudges off*
*beat*
Luffy: "SO COOL! Sanji, let's get him to join our crew!"
(This remains one of my favorite Luffy moments. EVER.)
Kureha tells Nami that Chopper has only ever opened his heart to one person.
Meanwhile, the chase begins again as Luffy and Sanji pursue a terrified Chopper. "HEY, MONSTER! Be our nakama!"
Chopper scents Wapol's approach.
Kureha: He was a quack doctor called Hiluluk, who gave Chopper his name and treated him as a son.
141
Cover arc: Jango, you were born to dance to the disco beat.
Zoro defeats the last of Wapol's men, and the villagers dig frantically to save Dalton.
Chopper is focused on getting the news of Wapol's approach to Doctorine.
The villagers manage to uncover Dalton from the snowbank. (Zoro: "Who's Dalton?")
Wapol arrives at his castle, and is shocked to see Hiluluk's pirate flag flying from its summit.
Whoa, flashback in the middle of Luffy's attack on Wapol. A long one, too. (Jeez, and poor Dalton left lying there in cardiac arrest until the flashback's over?)
Flashback: six years earlier.*
*Chopper is 15 when the series begins (this is revealed in an SBS in volume 19), so he was nine (whatever that means in reindeer years?) at the time of the flashback.
Hiluluk just wants to help, but his "patients" are terrified (and with good reason).
A younger Kureha mocks Hiluluk, saying nothing is more frightening than an untrained doctor. (Hiluluk, in turn, despises Kureha for taking money from her patients.)
Kureha and Hiluluk are the only survivors of the purge of the island's doctors.
Hiluluk discovers Chopper bleeding out after the humans shot him.
When Chopper freaks out at the sight of a gun, Hiluluk strips to prove he won't shoot. (Aw! Even if he is kind of a freakishly ugly naked dude.)
When Chopper wakes up in Hiluluk's cave, his antlers are undamaged (I think this is the first time we can see his antlers clearly in the flashback sequence).
142
Hiluluk gives Chopper his name: "Tony Tony Chopper" (because he's a reindeer [tonakai], and his antlers could chop down trees).
Wapol and Dalton at the "meeting of kings" (Reverie) [in flashback time, so, six years earlier].
The first appearance of Holy Land Mariejois! And, wow, I forgot they were meeting to discuss Dragon's revolutionary activities. I think this is the first time we learn more about Dragon than his name.
Dalton's meeting with young Vivi <3 (She would have been, what, ten? The same age as Nami when she joined Arlong... T_T)
And hey, this is the first time we meet Vivi's father Cobra, too.
So much love for little Vivi: nothing less than a queen at the age of 10. <3
(Love her sobbing in Igaram's arms after it's all over, and Dalton being amazed that she could be mature enough to know that a quarrel might cause an international incident.)
Hiluluk tells Chopper not to hate humans, because the heart of the country is sick.
Hiluluk tells Chopper the story of the "great thief from the far west country" whose fatal illness was cured when he beheld the beauty of the cherry blossoms.
Hiluluk's flag is the symbol of his belief that there is no such thing as an "incurable illness" in this world. It is a symbol of "conviction" (shinnen). (I think Viz translates this as "faith," which works well enough.) He tells Chopper he should go to sea as a pirate someday, to see how big the world is.
Chopper and Hiluluk overhear Wapol's soldiers talking about the hunt for the "mushroom" that can cure any disease. (LOL, one of the speech bubbles is mushroom-shaped.)
Chopper learns to flee the scene of the crime with Hiluluk. Hiluluk teaches him the "decoy maneuver" (= Chopper is the decoy, Hiluluk runs for it).
After Chopper and Hiluluk fight over the "decoy maneuver," Chopper says he's never fought with anyone before. Hiluluk: "Sure! You need two to fight!" T_T
Hiluluk gives Chopper his first present: his hat.
"A year later" in flashback time -- so, five years before the beginning of the series.
I hate the part where Hiluluk tries to kick Chopper out "for his own good." hate hate hate hate hate. T_T
143
Cover arc: #18 (Jango) and #2 (Mystery Man??) face off for the gold in the dancing contest!
Kureha confirms Hiluluk's conclusion that he is dying and has only days to live.
Hiluluk says he's been working on his research for 30 years.
The man who was cured in the far west country was Hiluluk. (But, it seems he was born on Drum Island. Jeez, what did he do that was so bad? He seems to think that his old self was beyond the pale of salvation.)
His dream is to make the sakura bloom on Drum Island, even though it's a winter island.
Hiluluk appears to be reclining on a somewhat earlier version of the medieval torture couch. (That seems to confirm that the castle is decorated according to Kureha's taste.)
Note Chopper dangling in the window behind Dr Kureha (I didn't even see him until she pointed him out).
You wanted to save him pain, so you kicked him out? MORON.
Kureha comments that Hiluluk and Chopper really are peas in a pod, both the "awkward" type. Aw, I like thinking of Chopper as the bukiyou type. I don't think I ever classified him that way (more the sunao type).
Having overheard Kureha and Hiluluk, Chopper sets out on an expedition.
Bowing to the hiking bear, hee.
Chopper fights with his own kind (presumably, to reach the area where the mushroom grows?)
Chopper returns with his prize, the amiudake mushroom (the legendary cure-all mushroom).
D'aww, so he broke his antler in the fight with the other reindeer. (In originally reading through the series, I didn't notice the repaired antler until later, and at that point I assumed the injury dated back to his childhood, but I didn't remember where it happened.)
144
Chopper makes Hiluluk a soup with the amiudake mushroom to cure his illness.
Hiluluk's chemical formula to make the sakura bloom appears to be working at last.
Leaving Chopper to rest, Hiluluk meets with Kureha. He's heard that all the elite medical corps (the "Isshii 20") have fallen ill.
Hiluluk has two last requests for Kureha: carry on his work to produce more of the sakura powder, and teach Chopper the art of medicine.
Aw, I love that Kureha angrily throws Hiluluk out ("You should know by now what sort of person I am!") and Hiluluk thinks "Yeah, I know. I'm counting on you."
It finally dawns on Kureha that Hiluluk intends to sacrifice himself by going to the castle to help the Isshii 20.
Kureha goes to Hiluluk's cave looking for him. She tells Chopper that of course Hiluluk hasn't gotten better, he's going to die. When he shows her the mushroom, she tells him it's a deadly poison.
Chopper thinking that the mushroom had to be OK because it had a skull and crossbones in the book. T_T
Kureha tells Chopper that a kind heart won't save anyone. If he wants to save anyone, he needs medical knowledge.
(This is a great commentary on the difference between Hiluluk and Kureha. Hiluluk had a kind heart, but not the knowledge. Kureha has the knowledge (and basic kindness), but she's a sarcastic old witch. Chopper has both Hiluluk's loving heart and crazy idealism, and Kureha's knowledge and sternness with her patients -- he got the best parts of both his strange parents. ^_^)
Chopper wailing when he realizes Kureha's telling him the truth. T___T
The illness of the Isshii 20 is revealed to be a plot to lure Hiluluk to his execution.
Kureha tells Chopper Hiluluk has chosen the castle to be his grave (nice -- when Wapol showed up earlier and asked about the pirate flag, Kureha said "This is Hiluluk's grave").
Chopper races off to catch up with Hiluluk at the castle.
145
Hiluluk discovers that he's walked into a trap and that the Isshii 20 are perfectly healthy.
"Thank goodness no one's sick." Aw!
Hiluluk's dying speech - a man dies only when he is forgotten.
"Even if I disappear, my dream will still come true."
Dalton, weeping: "Will this country ever be the same again?" Hiluluk: "If there is someone to inherit it -- yes." The theme of "inherited will", again.
Hiluluk toasts to a good life, and blows himself up. ("Don't worry, Chopper. Your mushroom won't kill me.")
Dalton (in bison-form) saves Chopper by convincing him not to take revenge, and allows him to escape.
Dalton declares that the only salvation for the country going forward is complete destruction: the government must fall. "No matter how advanced our medicine becomes -- there's no cure for a fool!"
Chopper begs Kureha to teach him to become a doctor.
"I will BECOME the medicine that cures all things" -- oh, nice. I knew Chopper wanted to become a great doctor, but I'd forgotten that he has his own version of the impossible dream to pursue.
"Call me Doctorine."
Dalton in prison promising to inherit the will of the previous king.
And, the flashback ends with Luffy's attack. (Four chapters later, he finally got to finish the word "pistol".)
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 07:09 pm (UTC)All the Chopper flashbacks in this make me ugly-cry, which is only appropriate I guess (Oda would approve :D).
I think for me, Robin's backstory is on par with Chopper's in how much just THINKING about it will make me cry. I mean, not that every Strawhat doesn't have a backstory that would easily necessitate trauma-therapy, but I guess seeing Robin and Chopper's tiny selves just makes me cry, don't hurt the innocent children dammit ;_;. Also the 'Are you my mother' line breaks me every time because ughhhhh Oda, why must you do this to me.
Oh! Another thing I realised that Robin and Chopper share as a backstory (next to seeing the old men that practically raised them die right in front of them D:): they were both called Monster for having Devil's Fruit powers, and basically lived in isolation (more literal in Chopper's sense) until they found that place were they could be themselves, with a crazy-haired old man as a mentor.
Enough about Robin for now. I loooooooove Doctorine btw, most badass Grandma around, and tbh Nami will basically be her in about 100 years.
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Date: 2012-07-11 07:17 pm (UTC)LOL FOREVER
OMG, this is so true. No wonder they bonded right away!
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Date: 2012-07-11 07:33 pm (UTC)Uh, I do not remember this being the line in English. SO SAD NOW. :( :( :(
I'm not sure if he's thinking "Save my hat!" or "Here, my hat will keep you safe!"
I always take these kinds of gestures as a "I WILL return" thing to reassure a loved one from that whole thing wherein a soldier/warrior/whatever would give a lover or friend a token of theirs to keep safe until they return for it.
I might have to come back after I've read the rest more closely and/or make other specific comments, but in general, as you know, Chopper's backstory just killed me dead. I was weeping constantly. GUH.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 10:17 pm (UTC)Uh, I do not remember this being the line in English.
This is the Viz translation of the exchange:
K. You disappoint me, girly. I turn my back on you for a minute and you try to seduce my reindeer without permission?
N. Oh? Do I need permission to seduce him?
(The Japanese, if anyone wants to compare:)
K. 感心しないねェ、小娘。あたしの居ない間に許可なくトナカイを誘惑かい？
N. あら、男をくどくのに許可が必要なの？
I don't have any beef with their translation. The only thing I regret not seeing in the Viz version is that Nami specifically uses the word "otoko" (man), which... so much love!
(It's funny that I love the exchange so much, because I don't ship anyone on the crew, let alone Nami and Chopper. I just adore that she immediately puts him in same category as any other "man." Chopper wants that so much.)
from that whole thing wherein a soldier/warrior/whatever would give a lover or friend a token of theirs to keep safe until they return for it
Ah, I didn't think of it in those terms. That certainly makes sense.
Chopper's backstory
I know, poor Chopper. T_T He's just so innocent and defenseless against the cruelty of the world.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 02:16 am (UTC)No, me either, with what you quoted. Sorry, I just didn't remember her saying that at all. It *was* a long time ago though. ;)
Yay, you're commenting!
It was Chopper's story! I couldn't not! (Also, that was around the last thing I read in the manga, too, so.... I remembered it better. ;) )
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Date: 2012-07-12 02:22 am (UTC)I forgot to say this earlier, but remember how I said Freya was my favorite character in FF9? (She was the girl I pointed out in that book we saw at Book-Off...) Her character's, er, tag line (?) is something like "To be forgotten is worse than death." That really struck a chord with me at the time (and still does); seriously, the whole Hiluluk thing KILLS ME.
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Date: 2012-07-17 08:27 pm (UTC)re: the difference between Hiluluk and Kureha - I also find it interesting that in spite of his kindness, Hiluluk doesn't really understand people very well, while Kureha has probably the sharpest insight into human behavior in the series. That's why as rage-inducing as Hiluluk pushing Chopper away is, I think it's one more example of "kindness without understanding isn't enough". And I think Kureha is smart enough to know that her "understanding without kindness" isn't enough for Chopper either, which is why, in spite of the time Chopper spends with her, she doesn't teach him her knowledge of people. In fact, I suspect that Nami and Luffy (especially Luffy) impressed her for exactly that reason - their understanding of the heart without the cynicism. It's that last step he needs to fully combine the things he learned from both parents.
Contrast his two parents, especially Hiluluk, with Hogback and it's not hard to see why Chopper becomes so enraged when he sees the truth. But I'll have more to say about that when we get there
no subject
Date: 2012-07-20 04:48 pm (UTC)I didn't get a chance to comment on this before, but I like this analysis. It fits well into Kureha's assessment of Hiluluk as "bukiyou" -- he means well, he just doesn't know how to do the right thing at the right time to avoid hurting people.
Drinking the soup and thanking Chopper for saving him instead of gently telling him the truth is another example of this "awkwardness." Losing Hiluluk the way he did must have cost Chopper far more grief in the long run, even if Chopper eventually understood that he wasn't to blame.
I like the idea of Luffy teaching Chopper to understand the human heart, though I doubt anyone (least of all Luffy) will ever succeed in teaching Chopper not to take everything at face value. ^_~
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Date: 2012-07-23 06:03 am (UTC)Strangely, I choose "I'll definitely be back." Not as a sign to the reader, because we know he wouldn't abandon a nakama, but if Nami should awaken alone, I think she would find the hat a comfort. Luffy's nearby, and he's coming back for me.
I love the offhand way Luffy saves them and trudges off, like he's not even paying attention.
That's a weird moment. I guess Luffy wouldn't leave anyone in trouble if helping was on his way, but the bad bunnies did cause the avalanche. And fought him all the way up the mountain. And are meat.
he beats the lead soldier up... for his COAT.
Stop making me love Zoro more, Oda. It's enough already.
I know it's supposed to be funny that Luffy and Sanji look at Chopper and think "MEAT!", but it kind of breaks my heart every time. Leave Chopper alone, you brutes!
Twins, twins, twins. Also, twins. And it just gets worse when they hear him talk and call him "monster."
"Do I need your permission to seduce a man?"
Oh, this is much more awesome than the translated version.
how on earth did little Chopper just stumble upon a devil fruit and eat it?
Frankly, I still don't get where devil fruit come from. My utterly random head canon on this would be that a certain notorious robber brought it back to the island with him and lost it while running through the forest. But you would think he would mention it.
"HEY, MONSTER! Be our nakama!"
Nope. It's still not okay to call Chopper a monster.
Whoa, flashback in the middle of Luffy's attack on Wapol.
I find this insanely awesome, especially when Oda picks it back up.
So much love for little Vivi: nothing less than a queen at the age of 10.
Decidedly.
He tells Chopper he should go to sea as a pirate someday, to see how big the world is.
Now that's a little randomly clairvoyant.
You wanted to save him pain, so you kicked him out? MORON.
Yeah. The logic, it is non-existent.
Chopper thinking that the mushroom had to be OK because it had a skull and crossbones in the book.
OMG, there is nothing about this that doesn't make me cry. So I got to the Chopper arc in the broadcast version of the anime, but I have NO memory of Chopper innocently poisoning Hiluluk. I either have a sieve-mind or 4Kids decided that this plot point was not for kids. Or both.
he got the best parts of both his strange parents
Aww, what a sweet way to look at that crazy pair.
Hiluluk toasts to a good life, and blows himself up.
Why? Was it only to die before Chopper's poison could do him in, or to die before Walpol could have the victory, or was there some other strategic point to the suicide?
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 01:12 pm (UTC)Aw! I like your headcanon.
Stop making me love Zoro more, Oda. It's enough already.
So many reasons to love Zoro, so little time.
And fought him all the way up the mountain. And are meat.
LOL at the last. I could point out the baby's obvious distress (Oda's not manipulative AT ALL), but actually it's an interesting example of a larger trend. This isn't the last time that Luffy chooses to save someone and everyone else is looking at him like WTF LUFFY.
The other members often comment on (complain about) Luffy's capriciousness (気まぐれさ) and his tendency to be わがまま, and Luffy never denies it (in fact, he kind of embraces it). They go with the flow not only because they trust him, but because his bizarre instincts so often turn out to be right.
It's still not okay to call Chopper a monster.
Agreed. Although, in Luffy's (slight) defense, I think he considers bakemono a compliment. (He himself has been a monster since the age of 7, after all.) But Chopper is definitely too traumatized to be able to deal with being called a bakemono at this point.
Much later on in the series, he really starts to embrace the monster within, and it's awesome and adorable. There is one particular moment I'm thinking of where he demonstrates a new trick he's learned and beams proudly at Usopp: "Now I can be a REAL monster!" So much Chopper love.
Now that's a little randomly clairvoyant.
It wasn't super-emphasized in the flashback, but I think Hiluluk either considered himself to be a pirate or identified with that way of life (he was a former villain who had traveled the seas, after all) -- hence the pirate flag. So really I think he was telling Chopper "You should go to sea and be a pirate, like I was/wish I could have been!"
OMG, there is nothing about this that doesn't make me cry. So I got to the Chopper arc in the broadcast version of the anime, but I have NO memory of Chopper innocently poisoning Hiluluk. I either have a sieve-mind or 4Kids decided that this plot point was not for kids. Or both.
So true. T_T どくろ＊ちゃんと＊がある, oh, Chopper.
Nothing would surprise me when it comes to 4Kids, at all. I could just see them deciding that it's too dangerous to give little kids mixed messages about the poison symbol on bottles. /facepalm
Why? Was it only to die before Chopper's poison could do him in [...]
There is an ongoing theme in the series that one aspect of freedom is the freedom to choose the time and place of one's own death (even if some external factor like an illness is in play). I honestly don't know whether Hiluluk had already planned the time and place of his suicide when he drank the soup, or if it was at the moment that he drank the soup (knowing that it would kill him within a few hours) that he embraced the idea of the suicide plan. Either way, the suicide-bomb is his way of making sure everyone knows that the moment of his death was his choice.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 01:19 pm (UTC)Whoops, I forgot to comment on this!
Wow, I love your suggestion that it somehow came back with Hiluluk, but I agree, you'd think Hiluluk would tell him. Kureha knows that Chopper ate the hito-hito fruit, so Hiluluk must have known as well.
We get bits and pieces of hints about the origin of devil fruits as the series goes along, and I suspect that Oda is holding back quite a few revelations relating to particular fruits for the moment when they'll have the most impact.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 01:35 pm (UTC)I don't know, I have mixed feelings on this. It's sad here, because Chopper is obviously hurt by it. But in the long run, I think it's better for Chopper to get over this trauma not by realizing "I'm not a monster," but by realizing, "It's OK to be a monster because my friends love me the way I am." The latter is a more powerful message, I think. It's OK to be whatever you are, because eventually you will find people who will embrace those qualities, rather than make fun of you for them.
(This comes up with a later character, too, and is spelled out much more clearly, I think.)
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Date: 2012-07-23 01:55 pm (UTC)Oooh, now I'm wondering which character you have in mind. It could apply to so many of them, really. They're all, in their own way, outcasts and freaks until they find the one place where they'll be loved and accepted for who they are.
<3
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Date: 2012-07-23 02:15 pm (UTC)You're right that it could apply to most of the crew, but I'm specifically thinking of Robin. She's also called a "monster" by the other kids on Ohara, and...crap, what was the giant's name? Anyway, in their farewell scene, he tells Robin that one day she'll find people who will accept her.
I wish I could quote Chopper's speech to Hogback in Thriller Bark, too--it seems closely related to this discussion.