One Piece Vol 19
Jul. 22nd, 2012 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sara_tanaquilI swear the Alabasta arc just gets better every time I read it.
Volume 19
167
Cover arc: I just do not have any words to describe how much I love this arc. There are sparkles in the courtroom. Sparkles!
Vivi and the Strawhats prepare to head north to Rainbase.
[OK, I thought from the discussion in the previous volume that they were going to split up, but apparently they've decided to stay together at least as far as Rainbase and concentrate on stopping Crocodile? I got a little confused about the strategy at this point.]
Another Alabasta geography lesson. (Go, Karoo!)
I feel that I should point out, for future reference, that Alubarna is located on top of a high plateau.
LOL, Luffy's "gomu-gomu no dame" technique for keeping Toto's water away from a thirsty Usopp.
When Luffy and Usopp get tired and cranky, their insults are even stupider than usual. (To Nami, who's riding on the camel: このラクダ女。ナミラクダ。"You camel-woman." "Nami-camel." "SHUT UP!!")
Luffy demands only one thing in return for beating Crocodile: "Feed me till I die!"
Switch to Kohza's headquarters in Katorea.
A little boy named Kappa wants to join the revolution, but Kohza won't let him. Kohza admits that Kappa reminds him too much of himself when he was about the same age.
The rebels are planning a general attack on Alubarna as soon as they finish gathering enough weapons.
Switch to Alubarna, where Cobra is arguing with his ministers Chaka and Pell.
Chaka wants to fight back against the attacks of the rebels, but Cobra is determined to prevent civil war at all costs. He wants to hold out until they know who is behind the unrest, so they can fight the real enemy.
Chaka and Pell, properly introduced at last! So much love.
Pell comments that the two of them are having a hard time keeping the king's soldiers in line. "If only Igararm-san were here..."
Chaka remembers the night they discovered Vivi and Igaram gone without a word of explanation, and only a brief note from Igaram saying "I'll be gone for a while."
Karoo arrives, bearing Vivi's letter with the news of Crocodile's plan, and Igaram's death.
Karoo freaking out and refusing to let Chaka touch the "bandage" on his leftarm wing, because he's remembering the oath of the nakama. There is not enough awww in the WORLD.
Cobra orders Chaka and Pell to prepare the army to march on Crocodile's headquarters in Rainbase.
Pell protests that they will only be leaving Alubarna open to attack by the rebel army, especially since the people have more love for Crocodile than they have for the king himself at this point.
Cobra doesn't care if the palace falls (and himself with it), because a kingdom is its "people." The only thing that matters is getting rid of Crocodile. (Cobra: BEST KING. <3)
*falls over laughing* OMG, in the middle of this deadly serious scene, I just realized that the reason that there's a pile of barrels lying around is because Karoo drank them all. Look at him guzzling a couple of pages back! I mean, I realized he was drinking a lot, but ten barrels? (Also, randomly, I love Karoo picking his teeth. Where did he learn that habit? Wait -- do ducks HAVE teeth?)
The army will set out for Rainbase first thing in the morning.
17 hours until Crocodile's "Operation Utopia" launches.
168
Cover arc: Jango acquitted, Fullbody demoted. Aw, the hug.
Sunrise: one hour until the plan goes into motion.
(LONGEST. DAY. EVER.)
Luffy & co arrive in Rainbase.
Usopp gives Nami the new weapon he designed for her, the "Clima-Tact."
Sanji says Nami doesn't need weapons because he'll protect her. "Just call me Prince!"
Zoro: "Prince." Sanji: "I'LL KILL YOU!" (That is total fangirl bait.)
Vivi says that Crocodile must be aware of their presence in Alabasta by now.
It seems Luffy has a habit of running into Smoker at lunch counters.
Tashigi asks Smoker why they're waiting in Rainbase, and Smoker says he just thinks something stinks in Alabasta, even if he can't see any connection between the secret organization, Crocodile, the Strawhats, and the princess. Nothing to do but wait... (LOL both of them slowly turning to stare at Luffy and Usopp while he's talking.)
Oh god, Luffy and Usopp are doing a Miss Merry Christmas (the repetitive speech pattern, the counter-banging, the shortened phrases). WHY.
The literal spit-take when Luffy and Usopp see Smoker and Tashigi sitting next to them. (Hey, that makes the second time Luffy spat either food or water in Smoker's face.)
Back in town, the others are wondering if it was a mistake to let Luffy and Usopp go to fetch water. (Nami must be too enthralled with her new toy to pay attention -- normally she'd know better than to send Luffy on an errand, of all people.)
Zoro is harassing the camel.
Chopper: "I'm gonna go pee." LOL, Oda, really? (This must be to explain why Chopper isn't with them later.)
At least Tashigi doesn't run out without paying... but she got stuck paying for Luffy, who did (run out without paying, that is).
Just like at Nanohana, Luffy leads the Marines right back to his crew.
Luffy figures if their cover is blown, they might as well attack Crocodile directly, so they split up and head for his headquarters at the casino.
"Catch me if you can, Kemurin!" The first appearance of Luffy's characteristic nickname for Smoker.
It is very rare for Luffy to give a nickname that doesn't involve the word Ossan (I think it might actually be a weird gesture of respect when he considers someone worthy of a unique name). Kemurin makes me laugh and laugh. The Kemuri part means "smoke"; the n is either to make it sound cutesy (especially since -rin is a super-cute ending), or to make it sound like Marine, possibly a little of both. Fan translations usually have "Smokey." (Viz has Smokeroo, at least in this volume -- that's a little TOO cutesy, Viz.)
Sanji sends Nami and Usopp on ahead while he holds off the Marines that are chasing their group.
On the other side, Zoro faces off with the Marines while Vivi runs on ahead. Until Tashigi shows up, at which point he turns tail and RUNS. He can't handle fighting her. Poor Zoro.
Zoro, Nami and Usopp all make it to the casino ahead of the rest.
Luffy shows up, with Smoker hot on his heels.
Crocodile is vastly amused to hear that the mice are running straight into the trap.
169
Cover arc: "A friendship that can never be." T__T (Fullbody's uniform reflects his demotion to non-com status.)
Luffy, Usopp, Nami and Zoro invade the casino. (Luffy: "CROCODILE! COME ON OUT!")
Smoker charges in after them a few minutes later. Apparently he got held up at the door because government officials aren't allowed in. I wonder if this is a common privilege for Shichibukai, being able to claim a sort of diplomatic immunity for their home turf?
The bouncers try to stop Luffy, and get bounced. (Luffy: "Did I just run into something?") Love the random customer hitting the jackpot when the bouncers go flying into his machine.
Miss All Sunday (in her role as casino manager) orders the intruders to be escorted to the VIP Room.
I love all their reactions to being invited into the VIP room, but especially Smoker's. ("Does this mean the Strawhats have some connection to Crocodile? With luck, maybe I can arrest them all at once." Always thinking, that man.)
Also, LOL Luffy: "What's a VEEP?" (This sounds funnier in Japanese, because since v=b, it sounds like he's saying "What's a BEEEEP?")
Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Zoro and Smoker end up in a cage.
I am never, ever going to be able to take this scene seriously again. *wipes away tears of laughter* Not after this call-back.
Crocodile's clever "trick" to capture the pirates involves having a collapsible floor under the corridor with the arrow that says PIRATES. (How does a trick that stupid work on anyone? Surely not all pirates are as dumb as Luffy?)
Luffy complains that he feels weak (he wonders if he's hungry).
Smoker pins Luffy down with his jutte (fighting staff).
LOL Usopp trying to be brave and challenge Smoker (kemuri-yarou) to a fight. "I took out a human bomb! Helped, anyway."
When Luffy says he feels as weak as when he falls into the ocean, Smoker says that's to be expected, because his staff is tipped with kairouseki.
Fun kairouseki facts:
-- The kanji (海楼石) literally read "sea-watchtower-stone." (Commonly translated seastone, although I tend to prefer the untranslated term.)
-- It is a "mysterious stone." (Fushigi na ishi, hee, sounds like something Luffy would say.)
-- It can only be found in "certain region(s)" of the sea (とある海域にのみ存在する). The location(s) are currently unknown to the reader.
-- The jail cells at Marine HQ are all made of this material, to prevent devil fruit users from escaping.
-- It is a mineral about which much is still not understood (謎の多い鉱物).
-- It emits the same "energy" as the sea (エネルギーを発してる).
-- It could be described as the sea in solid form.
Smoker says that if the cell weren't made of kairouseki, he would already have killed or crippled the Strawhats and escaped. (Specifically, he says "after making sure none of you could ever go to sea again" -- brrr.)
I feel like I have unanswered questions about how kairouseki works.
-- Does a devil fruit user have to be touching the substance for it to work? Smoker carries a staff tipped with kairouseki and is apparently unaffected (the handle is wrapped and he wears gloves). However, if only direct contact affects the ability-user, Smoker should able to change into smoke and pass through the portions of the cell bars he's not touching. He's not wearing handcuffs. So proximity must have an effect as well as contact. As far as his staff goes, maybe he's simply learned to compensate for the mild effect of proximity to a small quantity.
-- If proximity alone can affect a devil fruit user, what quantity is required to render a devil fruit user unable to use their ability? When inside the cage, Luffy says he feels "weak"; when held down by the staff, he is completely immobilized.
-- Can Smoker use his ability to any limited extent in the cage (say, by converting part but not all of his body)? It appears not, but then why do the others tell Zoro that swords "won't work" on Smoker if they fight inside the cage?
-- Logically speaking, it seems like for the jail cell effect to work, it would have to prevent the devil fruit user from accessing even a small part of their ability, but I don't know how much kairouseki is required to ensure that effect.
Crocodile calls Smoker "Smoker-kun," which strikes me as creepily patronizing.
Crocodile tells them that they're all going to die together. He'll report to the government that Smoker died fighting the Strawhats, and he doubts that anyone will ask questions.
Love Nami and Usopp's reaction when they realize their captor is Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai. (Who did you think put you in the cage, guys?)
Crocodile says the guest of honor hasn't arrived yet; he just sent his "partner" out to meet her.
Pell rescues Vivi when she is cornered by the other BW agents, swooping in in falcon form and depositing her safely on a rooftop. (Pell! PELL!)
Pell ate the tori-tori (bird-bird) fruit, model "falcon." It (the fruit) is one of only five types (種) in the world confirmed to grant users the power of flight.
Quick, name all known flying devil fruit users! I can only think of two for sure: Pell (tori-tori no mi, model falcon), and Marco (Mythical Zoan, Phoenix). Gan Fall's mount Pierre, originally a bird, consumed the uma-uma no mi (thus becoming a bird-horse, or Pegasus), but he presumably had the ability to fly in the first place, so I don't know if he counts as one of the five. What about Miss Valentine, who can control her weight and thus become lighter than air? I'm not sure this counts as flying, more like gliding. Buggy's parts can fly around, but his feet have to remain on the ground and within a certain radius.
Miss All-Sunday arrives to take Vivi into custody.
170
Cover arc: all the marines crying as Jango prepares to hypnotize Fullbody, aw.
Miss All-Sunday mockingly insists on calling Vivi "Miss Wednesday," and reminding her of her history with BW. Brrr, creepy. I'm having a hard time even putting into words why I find her interaction with Vivi and Pell here so chilling -- the smarmy politeness on the surface, the mocking irony lurking just underneath.Apart from the obvious. Robin, ow, stop!
Vivi: "How dare you do that to Igaram!" Miss A-S: "Igaram...? Oh, Mr. 8."
Pell is shocked to realize that Miss A-S was the one who killed Igaram.
I just realized that the scene where Miss A-S "stabs" her hand through Vivi's body is a feint to lure Pell in. (Of course, all she had to do was make a hand grow out of Vivi's back.)
Miss A-S' devil fruit revealed. She ate the hana-hana (flower-flower) fruit, which enables her to make any part of her body bloom like a flower. (She almost always makes hands sprout, but it's been established she can make other body parts sprout as well, such as ears, eyes, feet, etc.)
"Clutch." OWWWW, Pell. T_T (Luckily Pell seems to have remarkable healing powers.)
Miss A-S prepares to escort Vivi back to the casino.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Usopp are killing time, until Nami puts a stop to it. (まじめに捕まれ, LOL. I think this translates literally to "Be arrested seriously!")
Luffy has a talent for impersonation (or, at least, he likes to do it a lot).
Poor Nami, no one takes being in a prison cell awaiting execution seriously enough. (Zoro, rubbing eyes: "Is it morning?" Nami: "It's BEEN morning!" Two panels later, Zoro's asleep again.)
Crocodile (commenting on the fact that Luffy's crew have great faith in him): "Trust... the most useless thing in this world."
This is one of several places where I wonder whether Crocodile has a backstory of some kind -- was he betrayed? Did he lose someone he trusted, or who trusted him?
Vivi comes charging in to confront Crocodile.
I love, but am kind of scared of, Angry Vivi. Did she know when she cut Crocodile's head off that it would grow right back? A sixteen year old girl should not be able to slash an enemy's head off without a moment's hesitation. ;_;
Crocodile is also very pointed about addressing Vivi as Miss Wednesday, but it doesn't bother me as much when he does it.
Crocodile's devil fruit power finally unveiled. He ate the suna-suna (sand-sand) fruit, which enables him to transform his whole body into sand, and to suck the moisture out of anything he touches.
It's past seven am: Crocodile's "Operation Utopia" is under way.
(LOL at "The long day has begun." Hope you don't have anywhere to be for the next four volumes, gentle reader.)
171
Cover arc: Jango and Fullbody (in mid-hypnotism!) are instantly smitten with an unnamed female Marine officer. (Hina! Wonder what her rank is at this point?)
At the palace in Alubarna, the king has disappeared out of his bedroom overnight. Chaka is afraid to mobilize the army to march on Rainbase in the king's absence without knowing what happened to him. Pell is away in Rainbasegetting his back broken doing enemy reconnaissance.
Chaka receives some shocking information about the king's whereabouts.
Kohza is seen riding at top speed to the place where the king has been spotted (from Katorea to Nanohana).
Mini-flashback (time frame unclear, maybe two years earlier?) to the time when Kohza became disillusioned with the king and joined the rebel army. He remembers arguing with Toto, and confronting the king in his audience chamber (just as he did when he was a child).
Cobra: "You haven't changed a bit."
Kohza: "I have changed. I can fight!"
Kohza is a hothead -- his plan of attacking the king and taking the Dance Powder from him by force is not exactly his finest moment -- but I can't help sympathizing with him.
The king appears in Nanohana and "confesses" to using the Dance Powder at the people's expense. He announces that he will burn Nanohana to the ground to erase the Dance Powder incident from memory. When Kappa (the little kid who wanted to join the rebel army) confronts the king, the king kicks him in the head.
Kohza looks on in shock. I kind of love the fact that he obviously had more trust in the king than he himself wanted to admit; he can still be disillusioned. ("We fought because we wanted to hear you say you were innocent. At least... I did." T_T)
Random note: some of Kohza's followers call him Kohza-san (or just Kohza), some call him "Leader." I wonder if the latter are followers who have known him since childhood, like Vivi?
For a moment, the king's face looks... odd. It's not noticeable in the English translation, but his speech pattern also changes, becoming more nasal and exaggerated.
An enormous ship crashes into the port of Nanohana.
Miss Doublefinger and Mr. 1 appear in the streets of Nanohana, complaining about the dull duty they've been assigned.
As the king runs off, he transforms back into Mr. 2. (Evidently, this was why Mr. 2 needed to have Cobra's face memorized.)
[General comment: I really love this scene. I remember how utterly shocked I was when I saw the anime and didn't know what was going on. "But Cobra wouldn't! He would never!" It gave me such a sense of identification with the shocked onlookers.]
172
Cover arc: hee, love "new recruits" Jango and Fullbody dancing up a storm while Coby, Helmeppo and Garp walk by in the back ground. (Coby and Helmeppo are both definitely looking more grown-up now.)
Mr. 2's favorite word is ayafuya ("vague, ambiguous"). Thank you, Bon Clay, for helping me with my JLPT vocabulary. I was having trouble remembering that word. (Also, LOL that he compares the floppy texture of raw octopus to the state of being "ambiguous." Great, now I'm never going to be able to get that image out of my head.)
Kappa (the little kid) sees Mr. 2 and realizes that the "king" was a fake. But before he can tell anyone, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger beat him to a pulp.
The people of Nanohana struggle to put out the flames consuming the city, but they can't keep up.
When Kohza's men find Kappa, they assume the king's men beat him up, and Kappa is too badly injured to explain.
Kohza vows to launch a full-scale battle on the king's forces immediately. They haven't finished gathering weapons yet, but luckily for them, the ship that crashed into the harbor is full of weapons they can use.
Mr. 2, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger are riding Banchi to Alubarna to execute the next stage of the plan. Their conversation reveals that Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas were tasked with kidnapping the real King Cobra.
In the ruins of Nanohana, Kohza declares all-out war on the government of Alabasta and prepares to march on Alubarna.
Back in Alubarna, Chaka and the royal soldiers don't know what to think of the reports coming from Nanohana.
With the rebel army in full fury and headed for Alubarna, the soldiers beg Chaka for a decision. Not knowing what to believe, Chaka feels he has no choice but to order the royal army to defend Alubarna. The stage is set for a full-scale confrontation between the royal army and the rebel army outside Alubarna.
In the cell back in Rainbase, the Strawhats are listening in horror as Crocodile explains the whole plan to Vivi. (Villains are always so eager to disclose their master plan.) The thing Crocodile finds most entertaining is that everyone involved thinks they are protecting the country they love. Their love for their country will destroy it.
Vivi still hopes that she can stop the war if she can get to Alubarna in time.
Crocodile offers Vivi three options. She can come with him and try to save her father; she can go to Alubarna on her own and try to stop the rebellion; or she can take the time to look for the key to the cage (which he just threw into the pit of the bananawani). Father, country or friends -- she can't save all three.
"It's your choice, Miss Wednesday."
Again, Crocodile's sadistic desire to debunk love of country and trust of comrade makes me suspect some traumatic backstory. It goes well beyond "I am evil look at me bwahahaha!" It's as if he needs to prove to the world that trust, loyalty and sentiment are illusory, useless and dangerous. The plan to bring down Alabasta is way more elaborate than it needs to be to accomplish his basic goal of obtaining the ultimate weapon. The choice he puts before Vivi is likewise unnecessarily sadistic, apparently designed to force her to betray someone that she loves.
173
LOL, Luffy and the others arguing over whether a bananawani is a crocodile growing from a banana (Luffy) or a banana growing on a crocodile (everybody else).
One of the crocodiles swallows the key, meaning Vivi will have to kill it to get the key back -- if she can figure out which one ate the key, that is.
On his way out, Crocodile drops one more piece of information: in one hour, the room will automatically fill with water, killing everyone in it.
He also reveals that he was responsible for the sandstorms that kept hitting the oasis of Yuba, where "the old man" lived.
Vivi knows in her heart that Crocodile has no intention of letting her save anyone; if she chose to go to Alubarna, he would most likely assassinate her before she arrived.
Luffy to Vivi: "If we die here, who's going to KICK HIS ASS?" <3
LOL Usopp and Nami freaking out because Luffy called a shichibukai "small fry."
An enormous bananawani approaches, clearly intending to make a meal of Vivi. (Crocodile: "If you're going to abandon your friends, better do it quick.")
Vivi prepares to do battle with an entire line of hungry bananawani.
Miss All-Sunday's "portable" den-den mushi rings.
"Shitty restaurant, at your service."
174
Crocodile recognizes the voice on the other end of the line, but is very confused, because he thinks he has all four members of the Strawhats (that he knows about) in jail already.
"Call me 'Mr Prince.'" (LOL, and of course Crocodile does.)
The Strawhats start yelling for help.
There is a loud noise on the other end of the line, and then a voice comes on saying that the "strange man" has been captured. The new voice reports that they're outside the main entrance of the casino.
Vivi makes a dash for the entrance, saying that she's going for help.
Crocodile knocks Vivi unconscious before leaving. "If you love your nakama that much, die in good company." (A pun on nakama and nakayoku.)
Crocodile makes a public appearance in the casino as "the hero of the people," to great acclaim. (Miss A-S: "Popular as always, I see.")
Vivi recovers consciousness and escapes, promising to return with help.
Crocodile emerges from the building, only to find every last one of his agents beaten to a pulp. One of them reports that "Mr Prince" attacked them and fled to the south.
Seeing a figure fleeing, Crocodile goes after him (ignoring Miss A-S's suggestion to forget about him).
The bridge across the water to the casino collapses, leaving the casino completely isolated by water.
Miss A-S seems... unusually stoic about this development.
Vivi is dismayed, thinking that she can't get out, but behind her, Sanji says, "More importantly, they can't get back in."
The fleeing figure was Chopper in disguise. (Acting as a "decoy", AW. The word otori recalls the "decoy maneuver" Hiluluk taught Chopper.)
"Lead on, princess."
175
A mini-flashback shows how Sanji beat up one of the BW agents and forced him to report "capturing" him.
Oooh, Sanji, lookin' kinda hot in those glasses. (He should wear them more often.)
Awww, Chopper thinking *Do what I can do! Do what I can do!* before he yells "MY NAME IS MR PRINCE!" and takes off.
LOL forever at Chopper in Heavy-Disguised-as-Sanji-Point hiding backwards, oh god Chopper whyareyousocute.
Miss A-S notices Sanji strolling into the casino right after the bridge collapses, but doesn't do anything to stop him or alert Crocodile (who already took off after the decoy).
Crocodile can't find "Mr Prince" because Chopper has shrunk back down to Brain-I'm-a-cute-little-reindeer-Point (with Sanji's long coat dragging on the ground, hee). Told ya not to underestimate the pets, Crocodile.
Back in the underground lair, the room is rapidly filling with water.
Nami tries to get the bananawani to attack them, hoping it'll bite through the cage.
Nami calls the crocs "Baka-wani"; Luffy calls them "Baka-Banana." Then he and Usopp start arguing again about whether it's a banana or a crocodile. (Their "logical" -- if you can call them that -- arguments KILL me. Usopp's argument at least makes some sense, which is more than I can say for Luffy's. "They're both food, right?")
The bananawani attacks the cage, but can't bite through it.
Smoker, who has been unnaturally calm all this time, tells them that the woman with Crocodile has been wanted by the World Government for 20 years. Her bounty is worth over 70 million, almost as much as Crocodile himself.
If she and Crocodile have teamed up, their ultimate goal must go well beyond the takeover of a single country. They pose a threat to the entire world.
Luffy is just annoyed by the whole conversation, because he doesn't need any more reason to kick Crocodile's ass than he already has.
Zoro is furious with himself, thinking that if he had more skill, he could cut through the bars of the cell.
Sanji kicks the hell out of the bananawani for "making too much noise when he eats." (On a mission to teach the universe proper table manners.)
Oda, why can't you let Sanji be Super Cool Sanji more often?
Vivi and Luffy trading thumbs-up gestures. <3
Sanji calls the bananawani "kuso-banana," hee.
Whoa, Smoker can tell exactly which bananawani ate the key from the sound of its growl. (The hell, Smoker?)
Headed back toward the underground lair, Crocodile smugly reveals to Miss A-S that the key he fed to the crocodiles was a fake. He still has the real key.
He is shocked to discover, on arriving, that the cage is open, all the bananawani are knocked out, and there's a note pinned to the chest of Mr. 3's unconscious body.
"See ya, kuso-wani. ~ Mr. Prince."
176
Flashback: Sanji makes the bananawani spit up a big ball of wax, which turns out to be Mr. 3's hiding place.
Mr. 3 used the last of his strength to seal himself in a ball when the bananawani swallowed him.
Mr. 3 throws away the key from inside the bananawani, but Usopp points out that Mr. 3 should be able to create a master key out of wax. (Whoa, Usopp. Has he seen Mr. 3 do that before? Because that's quick thinking, if he hasn't.)
Sanji forces Mr 3 to open the cage, and then knocks him out.
Luffy and Zoro take out the rest of the bananawani in the blink of an eye. (Luffy is whining that he can't do his best in sea water - Zoro must have taken out more than his share.)
(LOL at poor Vivi lamenting the fact that she couldn't take out even one crocodile, and Usopp consoling her.)
The walls of the underground lair collapse, engulfing them all in water.
Sanji saves Luffy; Vivi and Nami save Usopp (who was knocked out by a blow to the head); Zoro saves Smoker.
When Smoker demands to know why Zoro saved him, Zoro says it was captain's orders. He tells Smoker not to bother being grateful; there's no accounting for Luffy's bizarre whims.
Smoker: "Then I take it you won't have any complaints if I do my duty here."
Usopp and Luffy regain consciousness and immediately start yelling. (Nami: "Oh, they're awake.")
Smoker agrees to let the Strawhats escape, just this once. If they meet again, Luffy will be a dead man.
Hee, Luffy's "You're not a bad guy" (literally, "I don't hate you") before Smoker smacks him and tells him to run already.
Smoker tells the marines to give up on chasing the Strawhats, and contact HQ to ask them to send reinforcements.
When the flunky says the higher-ups won't want to mobilize to deal with a few pesky pirates, Smoker says "When did I ever ask the higher-ups for their opinion?"
Chopper is able to join up with the Strawhats by following the smell of Nami's perfume (which Sanji asked her to wear).
Chopper shows up with Eyelashes and a giant crab for them to ride on. (Luffy's reaction to the crab: "Oooh, looks yummy!")
Chopper says the Crab is a friend of Eyelashes (and, as might be expected, he's a perv just like the camel).
As they're about to set out, a hook comes swooping in and grabs Vivi.
Luffy does a quick switch with Vivi and yells at the others to go on ahead -- he'll handle this.
(LOL the map at the back of the volume. So many hilarious little details)
Volume 19
167
Cover arc: I just do not have any words to describe how much I love this arc. There are sparkles in the courtroom. Sparkles!
Vivi and the Strawhats prepare to head north to Rainbase.
[OK, I thought from the discussion in the previous volume that they were going to split up, but apparently they've decided to stay together at least as far as Rainbase and concentrate on stopping Crocodile? I got a little confused about the strategy at this point.]
Another Alabasta geography lesson. (Go, Karoo!)
I feel that I should point out, for future reference, that Alubarna is located on top of a high plateau.
LOL, Luffy's "gomu-gomu no dame" technique for keeping Toto's water away from a thirsty Usopp.
When Luffy and Usopp get tired and cranky, their insults are even stupider than usual. (To Nami, who's riding on the camel: このラクダ女。ナミラクダ。"You camel-woman." "Nami-camel." "SHUT UP!!")
Luffy demands only one thing in return for beating Crocodile: "Feed me till I die!"
Switch to Kohza's headquarters in Katorea.
A little boy named Kappa wants to join the revolution, but Kohza won't let him. Kohza admits that Kappa reminds him too much of himself when he was about the same age.
The rebels are planning a general attack on Alubarna as soon as they finish gathering enough weapons.
Switch to Alubarna, where Cobra is arguing with his ministers Chaka and Pell.
Chaka wants to fight back against the attacks of the rebels, but Cobra is determined to prevent civil war at all costs. He wants to hold out until they know who is behind the unrest, so they can fight the real enemy.
Chaka and Pell, properly introduced at last! So much love.
Pell comments that the two of them are having a hard time keeping the king's soldiers in line. "If only Igararm-san were here..."
Chaka remembers the night they discovered Vivi and Igaram gone without a word of explanation, and only a brief note from Igaram saying "I'll be gone for a while."
Karoo arrives, bearing Vivi's letter with the news of Crocodile's plan, and Igaram's death.
Karoo freaking out and refusing to let Chaka touch the "bandage" on his left
Cobra orders Chaka and Pell to prepare the army to march on Crocodile's headquarters in Rainbase.
Pell protests that they will only be leaving Alubarna open to attack by the rebel army, especially since the people have more love for Crocodile than they have for the king himself at this point.
Cobra doesn't care if the palace falls (and himself with it), because a kingdom is its "people." The only thing that matters is getting rid of Crocodile. (Cobra: BEST KING. <3)
*falls over laughing* OMG, in the middle of this deadly serious scene, I just realized that the reason that there's a pile of barrels lying around is because Karoo drank them all. Look at him guzzling a couple of pages back! I mean, I realized he was drinking a lot, but ten barrels? (Also, randomly, I love Karoo picking his teeth. Where did he learn that habit? Wait -- do ducks HAVE teeth?)
The army will set out for Rainbase first thing in the morning.
17 hours until Crocodile's "Operation Utopia" launches.
168
Cover arc: Jango acquitted, Fullbody demoted. Aw, the hug.
Sunrise: one hour until the plan goes into motion.
(LONGEST. DAY. EVER.)
Luffy & co arrive in Rainbase.
Usopp gives Nami the new weapon he designed for her, the "Clima-Tact."
Sanji says Nami doesn't need weapons because he'll protect her. "Just call me Prince!"
Zoro: "Prince." Sanji: "I'LL KILL YOU!" (That is total fangirl bait.)
Vivi says that Crocodile must be aware of their presence in Alabasta by now.
It seems Luffy has a habit of running into Smoker at lunch counters.
Tashigi asks Smoker why they're waiting in Rainbase, and Smoker says he just thinks something stinks in Alabasta, even if he can't see any connection between the secret organization, Crocodile, the Strawhats, and the princess. Nothing to do but wait... (LOL both of them slowly turning to stare at Luffy and Usopp while he's talking.)
Oh god, Luffy and Usopp are doing a Miss Merry Christmas (the repetitive speech pattern, the counter-banging, the shortened phrases). WHY.
The literal spit-take when Luffy and Usopp see Smoker and Tashigi sitting next to them. (Hey, that makes the second time Luffy spat either food or water in Smoker's face.)
Back in town, the others are wondering if it was a mistake to let Luffy and Usopp go to fetch water. (Nami must be too enthralled with her new toy to pay attention -- normally she'd know better than to send Luffy on an errand, of all people.)
Zoro is harassing the camel.
Chopper: "I'm gonna go pee." LOL, Oda, really? (This must be to explain why Chopper isn't with them later.)
At least Tashigi doesn't run out without paying... but she got stuck paying for Luffy, who did (run out without paying, that is).
Just like at Nanohana, Luffy leads the Marines right back to his crew.
Luffy figures if their cover is blown, they might as well attack Crocodile directly, so they split up and head for his headquarters at the casino.
"Catch me if you can, Kemurin!" The first appearance of Luffy's characteristic nickname for Smoker.
It is very rare for Luffy to give a nickname that doesn't involve the word Ossan (I think it might actually be a weird gesture of respect when he considers someone worthy of a unique name). Kemurin makes me laugh and laugh. The Kemuri part means "smoke"; the n is either to make it sound cutesy (especially since -rin is a super-cute ending), or to make it sound like Marine, possibly a little of both. Fan translations usually have "Smokey." (Viz has Smokeroo, at least in this volume -- that's a little TOO cutesy, Viz.)
Sanji sends Nami and Usopp on ahead while he holds off the Marines that are chasing their group.
On the other side, Zoro faces off with the Marines while Vivi runs on ahead. Until Tashigi shows up, at which point he turns tail and RUNS. He can't handle fighting her. Poor Zoro.
Zoro, Nami and Usopp all make it to the casino ahead of the rest.
Luffy shows up, with Smoker hot on his heels.
Crocodile is vastly amused to hear that the mice are running straight into the trap.
169
Cover arc: "A friendship that can never be." T__T (Fullbody's uniform reflects his demotion to non-com status.)
Luffy, Usopp, Nami and Zoro invade the casino. (Luffy: "CROCODILE! COME ON OUT!")
Smoker charges in after them a few minutes later. Apparently he got held up at the door because government officials aren't allowed in. I wonder if this is a common privilege for Shichibukai, being able to claim a sort of diplomatic immunity for their home turf?
The bouncers try to stop Luffy, and get bounced. (Luffy: "Did I just run into something?") Love the random customer hitting the jackpot when the bouncers go flying into his machine.
Miss All Sunday (in her role as casino manager) orders the intruders to be escorted to the VIP Room.
I love all their reactions to being invited into the VIP room, but especially Smoker's. ("Does this mean the Strawhats have some connection to Crocodile? With luck, maybe I can arrest them all at once." Always thinking, that man.)
Also, LOL Luffy: "What's a VEEP?" (This sounds funnier in Japanese, because since v=b, it sounds like he's saying "What's a BEEEEP?")
Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Zoro and Smoker end up in a cage.
Crocodile's clever "trick" to capture the pirates involves having a collapsible floor under the corridor with the arrow that says PIRATES. (How does a trick that stupid work on anyone? Surely not all pirates are as dumb as Luffy?)
Luffy complains that he feels weak (he wonders if he's hungry).
Smoker pins Luffy down with his jutte (fighting staff).
LOL Usopp trying to be brave and challenge Smoker (kemuri-yarou) to a fight. "I took out a human bomb! Helped, anyway."
When Luffy says he feels as weak as when he falls into the ocean, Smoker says that's to be expected, because his staff is tipped with kairouseki.
Fun kairouseki facts:
-- The kanji (海楼石) literally read "sea-watchtower-stone." (Commonly translated seastone, although I tend to prefer the untranslated term.)
-- It is a "mysterious stone." (Fushigi na ishi, hee, sounds like something Luffy would say.)
-- It can only be found in "certain region(s)" of the sea (とある海域にのみ存在する). The location(s) are currently unknown to the reader.
-- The jail cells at Marine HQ are all made of this material, to prevent devil fruit users from escaping.
-- It is a mineral about which much is still not understood (謎の多い鉱物).
-- It emits the same "energy" as the sea (エネルギーを発してる).
-- It could be described as the sea in solid form.
Smoker says that if the cell weren't made of kairouseki, he would already have killed or crippled the Strawhats and escaped. (Specifically, he says "after making sure none of you could ever go to sea again" -- brrr.)
I feel like I have unanswered questions about how kairouseki works.
-- Does a devil fruit user have to be touching the substance for it to work? Smoker carries a staff tipped with kairouseki and is apparently unaffected (the handle is wrapped and he wears gloves). However, if only direct contact affects the ability-user, Smoker should able to change into smoke and pass through the portions of the cell bars he's not touching. He's not wearing handcuffs. So proximity must have an effect as well as contact. As far as his staff goes, maybe he's simply learned to compensate for the mild effect of proximity to a small quantity.
-- If proximity alone can affect a devil fruit user, what quantity is required to render a devil fruit user unable to use their ability? When inside the cage, Luffy says he feels "weak"; when held down by the staff, he is completely immobilized.
-- Can Smoker use his ability to any limited extent in the cage (say, by converting part but not all of his body)? It appears not, but then why do the others tell Zoro that swords "won't work" on Smoker if they fight inside the cage?
-- Logically speaking, it seems like for the jail cell effect to work, it would have to prevent the devil fruit user from accessing even a small part of their ability, but I don't know how much kairouseki is required to ensure that effect.
Crocodile calls Smoker "Smoker-kun," which strikes me as creepily patronizing.
Crocodile tells them that they're all going to die together. He'll report to the government that Smoker died fighting the Strawhats, and he doubts that anyone will ask questions.
Love Nami and Usopp's reaction when they realize their captor is Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai. (Who did you think put you in the cage, guys?)
Crocodile says the guest of honor hasn't arrived yet; he just sent his "partner" out to meet her.
Pell rescues Vivi when she is cornered by the other BW agents, swooping in in falcon form and depositing her safely on a rooftop. (Pell! PELL!)
Pell ate the tori-tori (bird-bird) fruit, model "falcon." It (the fruit) is one of only five types (種) in the world confirmed to grant users the power of flight.
Miss All-Sunday arrives to take Vivi into custody.
170
Cover arc: all the marines crying as Jango prepares to hypnotize Fullbody, aw.
Miss All-Sunday mockingly insists on calling Vivi "Miss Wednesday," and reminding her of her history with BW. Brrr, creepy. I'm having a hard time even putting into words why I find her interaction with Vivi and Pell here so chilling -- the smarmy politeness on the surface, the mocking irony lurking just underneath.
Vivi: "How dare you do that to Igaram!" Miss A-S: "Igaram...? Oh, Mr. 8."
Pell is shocked to realize that Miss A-S was the one who killed Igaram.
I just realized that the scene where Miss A-S "stabs" her hand through Vivi's body is a feint to lure Pell in. (Of course, all she had to do was make a hand grow out of Vivi's back.)
Miss A-S' devil fruit revealed. She ate the hana-hana (flower-flower) fruit, which enables her to make any part of her body bloom like a flower. (She almost always makes hands sprout, but it's been established she can make other body parts sprout as well, such as ears, eyes, feet, etc.)
"Clutch." OWWWW, Pell. T_T (Luckily Pell seems to have remarkable healing powers.)
Miss A-S prepares to escort Vivi back to the casino.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Usopp are killing time, until Nami puts a stop to it. (まじめに捕まれ, LOL. I think this translates literally to "Be arrested seriously!")
Luffy has a talent for impersonation (or, at least, he likes to do it a lot).
Poor Nami, no one takes being in a prison cell awaiting execution seriously enough. (Zoro, rubbing eyes: "Is it morning?" Nami: "It's BEEN morning!" Two panels later, Zoro's asleep again.)
Crocodile (commenting on the fact that Luffy's crew have great faith in him): "Trust... the most useless thing in this world."
Vivi comes charging in to confront Crocodile.
I love, but am kind of scared of, Angry Vivi. Did she know when she cut Crocodile's head off that it would grow right back? A sixteen year old girl should not be able to slash an enemy's head off without a moment's hesitation. ;_;
Crocodile is also very pointed about addressing Vivi as Miss Wednesday, but it doesn't bother me as much when he does it.
Crocodile's devil fruit power finally unveiled. He ate the suna-suna (sand-sand) fruit, which enables him to transform his whole body into sand, and to suck the moisture out of anything he touches.
It's past seven am: Crocodile's "Operation Utopia" is under way.
(LOL at "The long day has begun." Hope you don't have anywhere to be for the next four volumes, gentle reader.)
171
Cover arc: Jango and Fullbody (in mid-hypnotism!) are instantly smitten with an unnamed female Marine officer. (Hina! Wonder what her rank is at this point?)
At the palace in Alubarna, the king has disappeared out of his bedroom overnight. Chaka is afraid to mobilize the army to march on Rainbase in the king's absence without knowing what happened to him. Pell is away in Rainbase
Chaka receives some shocking information about the king's whereabouts.
Kohza is seen riding at top speed to the place where the king has been spotted (from Katorea to Nanohana).
Mini-flashback (time frame unclear, maybe two years earlier?) to the time when Kohza became disillusioned with the king and joined the rebel army. He remembers arguing with Toto, and confronting the king in his audience chamber (just as he did when he was a child).
Cobra: "You haven't changed a bit."
Kohza: "I have changed. I can fight!"
Kohza is a hothead -- his plan of attacking the king and taking the Dance Powder from him by force is not exactly his finest moment -- but I can't help sympathizing with him.
The king appears in Nanohana and "confesses" to using the Dance Powder at the people's expense. He announces that he will burn Nanohana to the ground to erase the Dance Powder incident from memory. When Kappa (the little kid who wanted to join the rebel army) confronts the king, the king kicks him in the head.
Kohza looks on in shock. I kind of love the fact that he obviously had more trust in the king than he himself wanted to admit; he can still be disillusioned. ("We fought because we wanted to hear you say you were innocent. At least... I did." T_T)
Random note: some of Kohza's followers call him Kohza-san (or just Kohza), some call him "Leader." I wonder if the latter are followers who have known him since childhood, like Vivi?
For a moment, the king's face looks... odd. It's not noticeable in the English translation, but his speech pattern also changes, becoming more nasal and exaggerated.
An enormous ship crashes into the port of Nanohana.
Miss Doublefinger and Mr. 1 appear in the streets of Nanohana, complaining about the dull duty they've been assigned.
As the king runs off, he transforms back into Mr. 2. (Evidently, this was why Mr. 2 needed to have Cobra's face memorized.)
[General comment: I really love this scene. I remember how utterly shocked I was when I saw the anime and didn't know what was going on. "But Cobra wouldn't! He would never!" It gave me such a sense of identification with the shocked onlookers.]
172
Cover arc: hee, love "new recruits" Jango and Fullbody dancing up a storm while Coby, Helmeppo and Garp walk by in the back ground. (Coby and Helmeppo are both definitely looking more grown-up now.)
Mr. 2's favorite word is ayafuya ("vague, ambiguous"). Thank you, Bon Clay, for helping me with my JLPT vocabulary. I was having trouble remembering that word. (Also, LOL that he compares the floppy texture of raw octopus to the state of being "ambiguous." Great, now I'm never going to be able to get that image out of my head.)
Kappa (the little kid) sees Mr. 2 and realizes that the "king" was a fake. But before he can tell anyone, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger beat him to a pulp.
The people of Nanohana struggle to put out the flames consuming the city, but they can't keep up.
When Kohza's men find Kappa, they assume the king's men beat him up, and Kappa is too badly injured to explain.
Kohza vows to launch a full-scale battle on the king's forces immediately. They haven't finished gathering weapons yet, but luckily for them, the ship that crashed into the harbor is full of weapons they can use.
Mr. 2, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger are riding Banchi to Alubarna to execute the next stage of the plan. Their conversation reveals that Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas were tasked with kidnapping the real King Cobra.
In the ruins of Nanohana, Kohza declares all-out war on the government of Alabasta and prepares to march on Alubarna.
Back in Alubarna, Chaka and the royal soldiers don't know what to think of the reports coming from Nanohana.
With the rebel army in full fury and headed for Alubarna, the soldiers beg Chaka for a decision. Not knowing what to believe, Chaka feels he has no choice but to order the royal army to defend Alubarna. The stage is set for a full-scale confrontation between the royal army and the rebel army outside Alubarna.
In the cell back in Rainbase, the Strawhats are listening in horror as Crocodile explains the whole plan to Vivi. (Villains are always so eager to disclose their master plan.) The thing Crocodile finds most entertaining is that everyone involved thinks they are protecting the country they love. Their love for their country will destroy it.
Vivi still hopes that she can stop the war if she can get to Alubarna in time.
Crocodile offers Vivi three options. She can come with him and try to save her father; she can go to Alubarna on her own and try to stop the rebellion; or she can take the time to look for the key to the cage (which he just threw into the pit of the bananawani). Father, country or friends -- she can't save all three.
"It's your choice, Miss Wednesday."
173
LOL, Luffy and the others arguing over whether a bananawani is a crocodile growing from a banana (Luffy) or a banana growing on a crocodile (everybody else).
One of the crocodiles swallows the key, meaning Vivi will have to kill it to get the key back -- if she can figure out which one ate the key, that is.
On his way out, Crocodile drops one more piece of information: in one hour, the room will automatically fill with water, killing everyone in it.
He also reveals that he was responsible for the sandstorms that kept hitting the oasis of Yuba, where "the old man" lived.
Vivi knows in her heart that Crocodile has no intention of letting her save anyone; if she chose to go to Alubarna, he would most likely assassinate her before she arrived.
Luffy to Vivi: "If we die here, who's going to KICK HIS ASS?" <3
LOL Usopp and Nami freaking out because Luffy called a shichibukai "small fry."
An enormous bananawani approaches, clearly intending to make a meal of Vivi. (Crocodile: "If you're going to abandon your friends, better do it quick.")
Vivi prepares to do battle with an entire line of hungry bananawani.
Miss All-Sunday's "portable" den-den mushi rings.
"Shitty restaurant, at your service."
174
Crocodile recognizes the voice on the other end of the line, but is very confused, because he thinks he has all four members of the Strawhats (that he knows about) in jail already.
"Call me 'Mr Prince.'" (LOL, and of course Crocodile does.)
The Strawhats start yelling for help.
There is a loud noise on the other end of the line, and then a voice comes on saying that the "strange man" has been captured. The new voice reports that they're outside the main entrance of the casino.
Vivi makes a dash for the entrance, saying that she's going for help.
Crocodile knocks Vivi unconscious before leaving. "If you love your nakama that much, die in good company." (A pun on nakama and nakayoku.)
Crocodile makes a public appearance in the casino as "the hero of the people," to great acclaim. (Miss A-S: "Popular as always, I see.")
Vivi recovers consciousness and escapes, promising to return with help.
Crocodile emerges from the building, only to find every last one of his agents beaten to a pulp. One of them reports that "Mr Prince" attacked them and fled to the south.
Seeing a figure fleeing, Crocodile goes after him (ignoring Miss A-S's suggestion to forget about him).
The bridge across the water to the casino collapses, leaving the casino completely isolated by water.
Miss A-S seems... unusually stoic about this development.
Vivi is dismayed, thinking that she can't get out, but behind her, Sanji says, "More importantly, they can't get back in."
The fleeing figure was Chopper in disguise. (Acting as a "decoy", AW. The word otori recalls the "decoy maneuver" Hiluluk taught Chopper.)
"Lead on, princess."
175
A mini-flashback shows how Sanji beat up one of the BW agents and forced him to report "capturing" him.
Oooh, Sanji, lookin' kinda hot in those glasses. (He should wear them more often.)
Awww, Chopper thinking *Do what I can do! Do what I can do!* before he yells "MY NAME IS MR PRINCE!" and takes off.
LOL forever at Chopper in Heavy-Disguised-as-Sanji-Point hiding backwards, oh god Chopper whyareyousocute.
Miss A-S notices Sanji strolling into the casino right after the bridge collapses, but doesn't do anything to stop him or alert Crocodile (who already took off after the decoy).
Crocodile can't find "Mr Prince" because Chopper has shrunk back down to Brain-I'm-a-cute-little-reindeer-Point (with Sanji's long coat dragging on the ground, hee). Told ya not to underestimate the pets, Crocodile.
Back in the underground lair, the room is rapidly filling with water.
Nami tries to get the bananawani to attack them, hoping it'll bite through the cage.
Nami calls the crocs "Baka-wani"; Luffy calls them "Baka-Banana." Then he and Usopp start arguing again about whether it's a banana or a crocodile. (Their "logical" -- if you can call them that -- arguments KILL me. Usopp's argument at least makes some sense, which is more than I can say for Luffy's. "They're both food, right?")
The bananawani attacks the cage, but can't bite through it.
Smoker, who has been unnaturally calm all this time, tells them that the woman with Crocodile has been wanted by the World Government for 20 years. Her bounty is worth over 70 million, almost as much as Crocodile himself.
If she and Crocodile have teamed up, their ultimate goal must go well beyond the takeover of a single country. They pose a threat to the entire world.
Luffy is just annoyed by the whole conversation, because he doesn't need any more reason to kick Crocodile's ass than he already has.
Zoro is furious with himself, thinking that if he had more skill, he could cut through the bars of the cell.
Sanji kicks the hell out of the bananawani for "making too much noise when he eats." (On a mission to teach the universe proper table manners.)
Oda, why can't you let Sanji be Super Cool Sanji more often?
Vivi and Luffy trading thumbs-up gestures. <3
Sanji calls the bananawani "kuso-banana," hee.
Whoa, Smoker can tell exactly which bananawani ate the key from the sound of its growl. (The hell, Smoker?)
Headed back toward the underground lair, Crocodile smugly reveals to Miss A-S that the key he fed to the crocodiles was a fake. He still has the real key.
He is shocked to discover, on arriving, that the cage is open, all the bananawani are knocked out, and there's a note pinned to the chest of Mr. 3's unconscious body.
"See ya, kuso-wani. ~ Mr. Prince."
176
Flashback: Sanji makes the bananawani spit up a big ball of wax, which turns out to be Mr. 3's hiding place.
Mr. 3 used the last of his strength to seal himself in a ball when the bananawani swallowed him.
Mr. 3 throws away the key from inside the bananawani, but Usopp points out that Mr. 3 should be able to create a master key out of wax. (Whoa, Usopp. Has he seen Mr. 3 do that before? Because that's quick thinking, if he hasn't.)
Sanji forces Mr 3 to open the cage, and then knocks him out.
Luffy and Zoro take out the rest of the bananawani in the blink of an eye. (Luffy is whining that he can't do his best in sea water - Zoro must have taken out more than his share.)
(LOL at poor Vivi lamenting the fact that she couldn't take out even one crocodile, and Usopp consoling her.)
The walls of the underground lair collapse, engulfing them all in water.
Sanji saves Luffy; Vivi and Nami save Usopp (who was knocked out by a blow to the head); Zoro saves Smoker.
When Smoker demands to know why Zoro saved him, Zoro says it was captain's orders. He tells Smoker not to bother being grateful; there's no accounting for Luffy's bizarre whims.
Smoker: "Then I take it you won't have any complaints if I do my duty here."
Usopp and Luffy regain consciousness and immediately start yelling. (Nami: "Oh, they're awake.")
Smoker agrees to let the Strawhats escape, just this once. If they meet again, Luffy will be a dead man.
Hee, Luffy's "You're not a bad guy" (literally, "I don't hate you") before Smoker smacks him and tells him to run already.
Smoker tells the marines to give up on chasing the Strawhats, and contact HQ to ask them to send reinforcements.
When the flunky says the higher-ups won't want to mobilize to deal with a few pesky pirates, Smoker says "When did I ever ask the higher-ups for their opinion?"
Chopper is able to join up with the Strawhats by following the smell of Nami's perfume (which Sanji asked her to wear).
Chopper shows up with Eyelashes and a giant crab for them to ride on. (Luffy's reaction to the crab: "Oooh, looks yummy!")
Chopper says the Crab is a friend of Eyelashes (and, as might be expected, he's a perv just like the camel).
As they're about to set out, a hook comes swooping in and grabs Vivi.
Luffy does a quick switch with Vivi and yells at the others to go on ahead -- he'll handle this.
(LOL the map at the back of the volume. So many hilarious little details)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 05:08 am (UTC)I think that Crocodile probably faced a similar situation to Moria - having his Pirate King dream destroyed at the hands of a Yonkou. Though, in his case, it was probably Whitebeard. But yeah, I think he was probably sold out by someone he trusted, leaving him a little emotionally broken
Though, in the anime especially, I want to pound his face in during his speech SO. BAD. (seriously, the first time I watched that episode, and he gets to the "We will protect Arabasta..." part, I was literally shaking with rage)
Which I guess is why I feel such glee when he walks back in to Sanji's note :p
<3 Mr. Prince forever! (will Sanji ever get the recognition he desires though? Haha, no.)
And, Smoker rules; that is all I have to say about that.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 02:11 pm (UTC)Poor Sanji! He could be so awesome if Oda would let him. (And there were no women in the world... and no okama.)
SMOKER <3 <3 <3
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 01:56 pm (UTC)Haha, I totally missed that.
Wait -- do ducks HAVE teeth?
No, normal ducks don't. But 超カルガモ do. (I know this is explained somewhere, but I can't remember where. If nothing else, there's some other chou-bird that shows up later, and in the SBS explanation, there's some comment about how they have teeth like the chou-karugamo.)
(argh, One Piece information overload)
It is very rare for Luffy to give a nickname that doesn't involve the word Ossan (I think it might actually be a weird gesture of respect when he considers someone worthy of a unique name).
Hmm, interesting. I just figured Smoker wasn't old enough to warrant "ossan." I mean, he gives (non-ossan) nicknames to a lot of the enemies he fights, too, doesn't he?
When inside the cage, Luffy says he feels "weak"
Isn't that when he's standing with his arms through the bars of the cage (that is, actually touching the kairouseki)?
Random note: some of Kohza's followers call him Kohza-san (or just Kohza), some call him "Leader." I wonder if the latter are followers who have known him since childhood, like Vivi?He is shocked to discover, on arriving, that the cage is open, all the bananawani are knocked out, and there's a note pinned to the chest of Mr. 3's unconscious body.
I love this moment, but yet another SBS points out that Mr. 3 shouldn't be able to float. Oda handwaves this off by saying that he's floating on a "super buoyant" plank of wood. XD
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 02:03 pm (UTC)You could be right about Smoker not being old enough, although Iceburg is hardly any older than Smoker is (and Smoker has the grey hair that makes him look older than he really is). A classic teenager, Luffy sometimes seems to consider everyone over the age of 30 an ossan.
Now I want to create a complete list of Luffy's wacko nicknames. ^_^ I am thinking of one other example of a nickname that doesn't involve ossan, but that does apply to a younger person who probably couldn't be called an ossan by any stretch of the imagination.
I am so glad you are reading all the SBS corners. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 02:23 pm (UTC)Ha, I was just thinking this would be useful.
Good point about Iceburg...he's only four years older than Smoker. (But maybe being CEO/mayor puts him in a position of authority that makes him more ossan-like?)
I am so glad you are reading all the SBS corners.
It's going to get harder when I get to stuff I'm reading for the first time. Maybe I should plan on reading the volume through for the first time, and then going back to the SBS corners, or something.
PS - did you know this existed??
no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 07:12 pm (UTC)I am so going to have to make that master list of Luffy Nicknames for the World.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 09:15 pm (UTC)I think I'm too emotional or something to handle the hints you point out about Crocodile's complexity. I'll probably just always hate him - something about the slow strangling of the whole country, and the way he goes out of his way to torment someone like poor old Toto in particular just really gets to me, along with the other sadistic things he does like in this volume, with Vivi. And he's so damned smug about it. Grr.
I love so much about the seastone cage scene with all the various Strawhat interactions (especially the Sanji impersonating and the bananadile discussion), and with Smoker. You know, I wonder about Smoker not being able to escape through the bars... could it be that he knows he wouldn't be able to get out without some part of his smoke-self touching the bars so he'd turn back again? Or... does he voluntarily stay in the cage to find out more about what Crocodile, Strawhats and Vivi are all up to, exactly?
Miss Allsunday's scene at the roof with Vivi and Pell is pretty disturbing, I agree. I could be wrong, but I think it's mostly this scene (and the one with Tashigi later on) that made it quite hard for some fans to accept Robin as a Strawhat initially and for some time. She never seriously tries to kill or even badly hurt anyone of the Strawhats, and actually saved Luffy's life twice. But she definitely doesn't look very sympathetic here!
(Whoa, Usopp. Has he seen Mr. 3 do that before? Because that's quick thinking, if he hasn't.)
Don't think so, no. He only saw Mr 3 in action before in the big fight on Little Garden, and I don't think there were any wax keys around then.
(Sudden thought: isn't making prison key copies from impressions of wax one of those tropes in old adventure stories? Which is exactly the type of stories Usopp is likely to have sought out if he could.)
About Kohza's followers: Oda did confirm in an SBS in a later volume that those who call him "Leader" are old childhood friends who were part of the same gang, like Vivi.
EDA: I have a question - doesn't Usopp also use some kind of nickname for Smoker right at the start of the cage scene, when he (Usopp) mentions having defeated "the bombman"? He does in the Swedish translation.
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Date: 2012-07-23 09:25 pm (UTC)Which is exactly the type of stories Usopp is likely to have sought out if he could.
Personal headcanon! It's a perfect explanation.
Oh, that's neat that the Leader thing was confirmed.
Hmm, interesting point about Smoker maybe wanting to hang around to gather intel (not only about the Strawhats, but about Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday -- did he previously know that Miss A-S and Crocodile were working together?). But he himself says he would have escaped if he could, and he doesn't generally lie.
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Date: 2012-07-23 09:30 pm (UTC)Oh yeah, right. Hmm. Well, either you're right that the seastone affects him to some extent even when he's not touching it, or he can't make himself into thin enough smoke that he wouldn't touch any of the bars and thus revert.
[edit: deleted the doubled question]
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Date: 2012-07-23 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-23 09:32 pm (UTC)...and sorry for double-posting that question, btw. LJ made me think the edit hadn't gone through.
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Date: 2012-07-23 09:39 pm (UTC)I'll have to look and see if Usopp ever uses that nickname again. I haven't seen him interact with Smoker often enough to notice if there's a pattern.
I noticed the "Kemurin" thing right away because I didn't actually realize Luffy called him that until I saw it recently in *spoiler*. One of the reasons I'm trying to read through the entire thing in Japanese is that I burned through most of the series in English, and I'm frequently surprised to notice what Japanese-only quirks I've been missing (nicknames, speech patterns, that sort of thing).
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Date: 2012-07-23 10:07 pm (UTC)I get the feeling that the Swedish translation might be more into including nicknames and speech patterns than the Viz one, but frankly it doesn't always choose the most natural-sounding way of conveying things and tends to be particularly bad at style variety.
Fan translator Stephen was pretty decent at conveying the quirks and stuff, I think. (As far as making it flow, at least. Faithfulness is hard for me to judge.)
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Date: 2012-07-23 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-27 05:50 pm (UTC)To Nami, who's riding on the camel: このラクダ女。ナミラクダ。"You camel-woman." "Nami-camel." "SHUT UP!!"
It will not surprise you that I prefer your translation to Viz's, which is "camel hog" and "Namihog." I guess they don't get the joke in the meaningless insult, so they had to make it mean.
It's interesting that only Nami rides the camel, while Vivi walks. Vivi is a princess of the people.
Aw, Zoro encourages Chopper. You go, little man-reindeer.
Karoo freaking out and refusing to let Chaka touch the "bandage" on his left
armwing, because he's remembering the oath of the nakama.It's very sweet, but I feel kinda bad for Chaka, who just wants to help. It would be nice if Karoo could communicate the concept. Or if Chaka sees the armbands in action, later.
I don't know why, but I love Oda's maps of everyone's mobilization plans. At this point, I feel every middleschooler in Japan could take a test on Alabasta's geography.
That is total fangirl bait.
Aw, it's less baity in English, 'cause Zoro says "Move it, Prince." (Does he really just echo "Prince" in the Japanese?)
(the repetitive speech pattern, the counter-banging, the shortened phrases). WHY.
To convey their thirst? I mean, Ms Merry Xmas is doing it for no reason. These guys have trudged a day in the desert.
Zoro is harassing the camel.
I missed that! Thanks for pointing it out.
Viz has Smokeroo, at least in this volume -- that's a little TOO cutesy, Viz.
You are confused. All nicknames ending in -roo are golden. Yay, Viz!
Aw…maybe I would fins Zoro's weakness to Tashigi's appearance more touching if the death of his childhood girlfriend weren't the only flashback in the history of One Piece that didn't make me cry? Stupidest. Death. EVER.
Aww, Fullbody looks cuter in that uniform. Here's what fascinates me: in this (169) cover, it looks like he is the one rejecting Django's friendship, but in the cover for 170, Django is hypnotizing him into forgetting their forbidden
lovefriendship. Oda puts a lot of faith in the reader to fill in what's really going on in Fullbody's heart. And to remember one cover to the next.*sigh* I miss slots where coins would actually come out. Technology did not improve gambling. Which is probably good for me, but…whine.
The <- V.I.P | Pirates -> sign? Slays me.
OMG. I just noticed Smoker's jacket is covered in cigars where soldiers would normally carry rounds of ammo.
He'll report to the government that Smoker died fighting the Strawhats, and he doubts that anyone will ask questions.
Even though the implication (at least in English, where Croc calls them "puny Strawhats") is that it would be an ignoble defeat for Smoker.
It (the fruit) is one of only five types (種) in the world confirmed to grant users the power of flight.
It's so important to deliver random factoids in the middle of a battle.
Miss A-S's power is creepy.
Luffy has a talent for impersonation (or, at least, he likes to do it a lot).
Since the word "crap" is not in his dialogue here, I have to go with the latter.
LOL at "The long day has begun." Hope you don't have anywhere to be for the next four volumes, gentle reader.
Noooooo. Four volumes of fighting? I just want Vivi and Kohza to hug and make up.
Kohza is a hothead -- his plan of attacking the king and taking the Dance Powder from him by force is not exactly his finest moment
It sounds really romantic in English, when Kohza declares, "I'll be back for the rain!!!"
OMG, Kohza wanting to be reassured of the king's innocence. His rebellion is somehow like a child's tantrum: tell me everything is going to be okay. My heart is breaking. I cannot wait three volumes for him to learn the truth.
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Date: 2012-07-27 06:57 pm (UTC)Yes! I can totally imagine her in the Alexander the Great role. (There is an anecdote that while marching through the desert, his soldiers pooled all the water they could find and offered it to him in a helmet. He poured it out on the ground, refusing to drink if his men couldn't. Personally, I always thought it sounded like an awful waste of water, but his men loved him for it.)
Aw, Zoro encourages Chopper. You go, little man-reindeer.
Zoro-Chopper interaction is the best thing ever, always. I especially love that Zoro not only coddles Chopper like a baby brother when he needs it, but pushes him to stand up and be a man when he needs it, too.
At this point, I feel every middleschooler in Japan could take a test on Alabasta's geography.
I certainly could!
There seems to be some variation on these maps in every arc, which is really hilarious, especially when the tiny animations of who is where at what point get really elaborate. In the anime, the little maps tend to show up at the start of every episode.
Does he really just echo "Prince" in the Japanese?
Yes! So hysterical, especially with that deadpan expression.
These guys have trudged a day in the desert.
Yeah, the demanding behavior didn't puzzle me as much as the quirky speech pattern (which of course is much clearer in Japanese). I have to assume it's some sort of cultural reference I'm not getting -- probably a well known stand-up comedy routine.
All nicknames ending in -roo are golden. Yay, Viz!
LOL, I stand corrected. Now I'm going to have to call my little Smoker "Smokeroo". Kemurin is kinda hard to say.
Here's what fascinates me: in this (169) cover, it looks like he is the one rejecting Django's friendship, but in the cover for 170, Django is hypnotizing him into forgetting their forbidden love friendship. Oda puts a lot of faith in the reader to fill in what's really going on in Fullbody's heart. And to remember one cover to the next.
The having-to-fill-in stuff is what I love about the cover arcs. Also, that he knows his fans are actually obsessive enough to remember all that stuff -- why else have all the elaborate call-backs he throws in?
My personal headcanon on Fullbody-Jango: Fullbody really wanted to be friends, but his sense of duty wouldn't allow it (from what we've seen of him, he is kind of a prat, but is very good at his job and devoted to Duty and Honor and all that capitalized stuff). Jango hypnotizes him so he won't have to suffer from the pain of
unrequited loveThe Friendship That Could Not Be. (I wonder if Jango would have accidentally hypnotized himself as well, like he so often does? It would be sad if he was the only one who remembered.)Why don't people write more fanfic for these two? :-(
it would be an ignoble defeat for Smoker
I'm guessing there are not a few (of the less admirable sort) at Marine HQ who would be glad to see Smoker go down, and the more humiliating the circumstances, the better.
Miss A-S's power is creepy.
Indeed!
Since the word "crap" is not in his dialogue here, I have to go with the latter.
LOL, excellent point. Usopp thinks he's funny, anyway.
I just want Vivi and Kohza to hug and make up.
I know!
If it's any comfort, although some of the actual fighting is tedious, there's quite a lot of good character development mixed in, and some excellent action/suspense/adventure stuff. As long as it is, the Alabasta arc is not one of the dull ones.
It sounds really romantic in English, when Kohza declares, "I'll be back for the rain!!!"
Oh, I do like that. Kohza definitely has the Lawrence-of-Arabia vibe going on.
His rebellion is somehow like a child's tantrum: tell me everything is going to be okay.
This is actually a really lovely description of Kohza. I adore him, but I think Vivi is the more mature of the two. They balance each other well, in that sense. He's all id; she's all superego. Together they might make one reasonably well adjusted person. ^_^
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Date: 2012-07-28 07:00 am (UTC)unrequited loveThe Friendship That Could Not Be.Oh, definitely this. But how long is it between chapters? A week? I would have spent a whole week thinking "What?? Fullbody's angry at Django now that he's been demoted? Sadness!"
Resisting urge to compare Fullbody to Muroi. Muroi's cuter!no subject
Date: 2012-07-28 01:15 pm (UTC)LOL Fullbody = Muroi. I can't make that equation work in my head.
Cover arcs aside, there are certain sections of the manga that would have KILLED me to read in weekly format. Much as I'm enjoying the current manga arc, I haven't really experienced that yet, since I've only been reading weekly for about a year. I'm sure that joy awaits at some future point.
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Date: 2012-07-27 05:52 pm (UTC)172 - Jango becomes a marine? Oh, Oda, you win at stories.
Miss Doublefinger's swish walk is the most eye-jarring thing ever. Did she eat the hip delocation fruit?
I hope Kappa will get to help in some way by revealing 2 Bon Kurei's deception. I mean, he's been so brave, it would be nice if it was all for more than driving up the misunderstanding among the villagers.
After revealing his careful scheming, Crocodile asks Vivi, "Do you know why I want Alabasta this bad, Ms Wednesday?" and then he says he's on his way to Alubarna because "I need to ask your father a certain question!" -- does Croc have a grudge against Cobra? Secret thwarted love!
Father, country or friends -- she can't save all three.
Awesomely awful predicament, except the "come with me" part is just…she would trust you, why, exactly?
Aww, Zoro's concerned about Sanji ("That useless idiot! He better not have gotten himself killed!")
Oooh, Sanji, lookin' kinda hot in those glasses.
Where did they come from? Hee, Sanji's playing the slot machine.
*Do what I can do! Do what I can do!*
Oh, foo. Did you see what Viz did to this? "I'm finally helping out!!" Didn't you get the callback to Usopp's advice, Viz? GAH!
Hee…bananagator debate. There's something so telling about Luffy focusing on the smaller part as the "dominant" species.
the woman with Crocodile has been wanted by the World Government for 20 years.
Whoa. Miss A-S was either a very wicked child or she's older than I thought.
Zoro is furious with himself, thinking that if he had more skill, he could cut through the bars of the cell.
Zoro needs a hug.
Okay…Sanji's stupid love dance and Nami's response is, umm, kind of hilarious.
Sanji calls the bananawani "kuso-banana," hee.
I feel that Sanji has weighed in on the banana vs gator debate.
I swoon over the coolness that is Smoker's hearing.
I don't get it. If Croc didn't toss away the real key, what was the key that…so really, they wouldn't have been able to use the key the
gatorbanana ate to escape and if Croc hadn't tossed Mr 3 to thegatorsbananas, they would have been doomed. Ha! In your FACE, Croc.No, Zoro. I will not let you steal Smoker from Ace. You neither, Luffy.
I think all maps of Alabasta should show where Karoo is at any given moment.
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Date: 2012-07-27 07:17 pm (UTC)Is it not the best thing ever?? ^___^
In the anime, we see them again later on Hina's ship, and my immediate reaction was "Wait, what?" (The cover arc itself was never animated.) I must have been watching with
Secret thwarted love!
I am laughing SO HARD right now. (Also, EW.)
But, yes, Crocodile has an ulterior motive.
Where did they come from?
Good question. Maybe he stole them from one of the guys he beat up?
Aw, I'm sorry Viz messed up Chopper's moment, because I really love that scene.
Miss A-S was either a very wicked child or she's older than I thought.
Um. No comment? ^_^;;
Ha! In your FACE, Croc.
Oh, that is such a great point! I didn't think about the fact that Crocodile tossing his underling to the gators is what enabled them to escape.
No, Zoro. I will not let you steal Smoker from Ace. You neither, Luffy.
Hey, Smoker is hot! It's not surprising that there's just not enough of him to go around.
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Date: 2012-07-28 03:02 pm (UTC)Um, hi, do you mind randoms popping in to join the conversation? I'm a newb to the fandom who only recently finished mainlining the whole anime, so I was still in new-fandom-honeymoon squee mode when I found your volume reviews link-hopping. :3
One of the advantages of going through the series so fast as I did is that when I hit that scene in Punk Hazard where Luffy and Smoker have gotten themselves captured by the bad guy, for me Alabasta had only been a month or two ago, so I was seriously going "OMG, they're stuck in a cage together again?" even before we got that callback. It was such a beautiful moment.
On the subject of the seastone cage: Y'know, it never seemed too illogical to me that Smoker couldn't get out of the cage. He could've turned to smoke inside it, but even if we assume you do need direct contact for seastone to have effect, his smoke would still have to touch the seastone bars on its way out, and it seems safe to assume that would be enough to revert him to human. Getting out through bars that close together without touching them would require minutely fine control over an element that always wants to spread, times his entire body mass. Alternately, if we assume that, say, there is a limited proximity effect that starts at a couple of centimetres away from a piece of seastone, then even if Smoker did have control that fine there's no way he'd be able to get out through bars so close together.
Which is all to say of course that when I first ran into this scene I had all the same questions you do and had to stop and think about it for a while before I came up with a way to make the internal logic work. ^^;;
Five types of fruit which allow flight: I'd speculate that since Marco's Phoenix and Pell's Falcon are both birds, they might both be subtypes of the Tori Tori no mi (in the same way Chopper's and Sengoku's are apparently subtypes of the Ningen Ningen no mi) and thus count as only a single one of the five. I'd like to think so anyway since otherwise all five might well be different birds, which doesn't seem nearly as much fun as five different kinds of flight. As for other possibilities, I'd say Shiki from the Strong World movie has to count, since he's been name-dropped so many times in anime canon and he can definitely fly. I wonder if the way low-density logias like Smoker can 'fly' would count too? Though I think half the fun of the subject is just going through all the characters like Buggy who can almost fly but probably don't count: Perona can fly in her astral form, Robin can manage a minute or two of flight with her hand-wings, Kuma can send other people flying, Law can levitate other objects within a limited radius (maybe including himself?), Enel powered his own flying ark - there's so many of them!
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Date: 2012-07-29 12:42 am (UTC)I'm not sure what to think about Smoker not being able to control where smoke goes, since he can turn it into a weapon at will... but it makes as much sense as anything, until we get a better explanation.
I'm pretty sure Marco's fruit is characterized as Mythical Zoan rather than Tori-Tori no Mi? For whatever difference that makes. (Randomly, thank you for pointing out that Sengoku ate a variety of the hito-hito fruit; I totally didn't catch that.)
Shiki, that's a good point, I forgot about him (I found Strong World kind of forgettable, all but the Episode 0 parts). I agree that the others are fun to think about but probably don't count.
(Is Shiki still alive, BTW?)
Oda makes me laugh. I know he put that thing about the five fruits that grant the power of flight just to keep the fans happy speculating for at least a month. Which is not to say that he won't show us all five... someday.
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Date: 2012-07-29 06:20 am (UTC)And only better when you remember that Robin was on the side of the guy who'd put them in the cage last time, and here she is happily reminiscing with Luffy about the last time he and Smoker got thrown in a cage together. XDXD I love those crazy Straw Hats.
I'm not sure what to think about Smoker not being able to control where smoke goes, since he can turn it into a weapon at will... but it makes as much sense as anything, until we get a better explanation.
Oh he can definitely control it, but I'd guess there's a level of difficulty between 'controlling where smoke goes' and 'controlling a long pillar of smoke through a hole a couple of inches wide without once touching the sides'. I'd imagine it being something like how one can be a good marksman without necessarily being able to hit a moving target an inch wide in thick fog at two hundred paces on horseback - there are lots of degrees of control.
As yet another possibility, I've seen some speculation that there are different kinds of seastone, so you can put a prisoner in cuffs without weakening them so much they can't walk, but make cages out of stuff so pure a prisoner can't even touch it without being completely disabled. Maybe if we're lucky Dr Vegapunk will explain it all to us in detail when we finally meet him. ^^;
I'm pretty sure Marco's fruit is characterized as Mythical Zoan rather than Tori-Tori no Mi? For whatever difference that makes. (Randomly, thank you for pointing out that Sengoku ate a variety of the hito-hito fruit; I totally didn't catch that.)
argh hito-hito no mi, damnit I knew that one Actually I mentioned Sengoku's because apparently he's classed as a Mythical Zoan too, despite being a subclass of the Hito-Hito no mi. (Can't blame you for not catching it, I had to look it up myself and it sounds like it was only clarified in an SBS somewhere. The One Piece wikia has been really handy for all this stuff.) Seems the categories don't necessarily work in neat hierarchical fashion.
Either way we can only speculate as to whether Marco counts as a 'different' kind of flying ability to Pell until Oda clarifies it one way or the other. Since I can't think of any time 'five kinds of flight' has been mentioned since, for all we know he hadn't even decided what they were going to be at the time, and even then it's possible there could be some Pell hadn't heard of. None of which makes it any less enjoyable to speculate. *g*
I found Strong World kind of forgettable, all but the Episode 0 parts
Agreed, actually, despite very pretty animation and a lot of friends who loved it. Still have to track down the episode 0 parts, now that you mention it - they did sound interesting.
(Is Shiki still alive, BTW?)
I don't think it was clarified for certain, but it was implied the marines captured him again and presumably threw him back into Impel Down.
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Date: 2012-08-01 05:42 pm (UTC)Marco (Mythical Zoan, Phoenix)
Can Marco fly? (I honestly don't remember.) I thought his power was just healing any wounds he received?