Triple week rundown because late is how I roll.
As the cover-arc continues to cover every single named character ever, we now turn to the ship-salvaging Monkey brothers and Montblanc Cricket, out and about on adventures. Not much to say here- I just like those guys.
The Strawhats score another victory point as Nico Robin sprouts enough limbs to set all of the slaves free, whereupon Hammond’s budget-tank gets several simultaneous flat tires. That’s what you get for buying them cheap, man. When the captured pirates ask her why she did what she did…
She responds as only Nico Robin can. (I did like Manga stream’s ”handsome man” translation better than ”ladies man” though…) Hammond tries to capture her using a netgun, only to find out that if you try to lay hands on a lady…
Make sure you got more hands than her. *dons shades*. As the slaves rebel Zeo blends in with the ground and goes in for a stealth attack, when something completely unexpected and utterly bizarre happens. He calls out the name of his stealth attack… AND BROOK INTERCEPTS IT BECAUSE HE HEARD ZEO CALL IT OUT. This doesn’t happen in manga. I am both afraid and aroused now.
Zeo remains the most adorable racist by acting completely undeterred. He takes another dive and manages to snag Brook’s neck with his flail, popping his head right off! But all is not lost, as Brook begins to reflect on how he’s figured out his fruits TRUE power.
… And this is the ONLY time in the WHOLE translation where they arbitrarily decide to use the Japanese word instead of the sufficient English word ”soul”. Goddammit they ruined the moment. ANYHOW- Brook is now the Highlander except better, BUT THAT’S NOT ALL. As he further explains, his soul-power will regenerate all wounds as long as the bones aren’t ”damaged” by which I suppose he means pulverized, and that if Zeo hopes to stand a chance…
… He's going to have to cool his head a little. *dons heart-shades*.
Meanwhile Daruma sets himself on fire in an attempt to chow down on Usopp. Points for originality, at least. But bite after bite goes wide, as does shot after shot from Usopp’s end. But when Daruma chews Usopp for being nothing but a weak little burden…
… Usopp shows him who’s the REAL big mouth around here. *Dons goggles* Moving on- the air tower contacts the Minister of the Left, informing him that Noah is falling and that he must warn the citizens with his special slugphone. He does so and the fleeing populace (including what I THINK is a cameo of Hachi’s old flame on page 14) are noticed by the warring pirates- but a voice cuts through on the slugphone that catches their attention even more. It is Luffy and Shirahoshi, telling the guards to hurry up and start the plan! The townspeople look up in confusion and disbelief that Luffy, the supposed kidnapper of Shirahoshi is suddenly helping them out when Fukaboshi hops in to finally reveal Hody’s true face…
… Namely that of a man who has no logical quarrel with humans whatsoever. Only mindless, shallow hate.
Cover-page: those darn cardinal direction birds. Ignoring them because they are boring and moving on.
First three pages- inconsequential filler. But we then go back in time to follow Hody as he grows up on a steady diet of hate towards humanity. The other fishpeople around him curse and spit on humans, bemoaning the age of pirates and the damage it’s done to their underwater kin. A funeral for a fishman who blew himself up to get at a freaking STORE full of humans turns into a celebration and we even get a cameo from Arlong who shows up to give a speech of how humanity fears the power of the fishmen, and how their judgment will surely come. And young, impressionable Hody takes it in with gusto.
He refuses to listen to any stories except those filled with hate, and even…
Oh golly goodness Oda, KKK-sucide bomber terrorists? Really? Subtle, this is not. Neither is their reaction to Fisher Tiger’s death: a simple shrug of the shoulder as he apparently wasn’t ”chosen”. Hody and his closest companions see Otohime’s mediation and Jimbe’s joining the Shichibukai as a betrayal of their species, leading to Hody’s wicked plot. The anger and dissent her death sows among the populace is celebrated by our motley crew of haters, and I don’t think Oda could cram any more topical references to real world terrorism if he tried. The energy steroids, who Hody acquired from an unknown source and who were massreproduced by Zeo, are simply a way to turn themselves into slowburning suicide bombers - they have poisoned themselves in exchange for power, all for the sake of burning and tearing down anything that stands in the way for their ”holy” cause.
Fukaboshi can do little bit lament the way things turned out- lament how the ruling class turned a blind eye towards the hatred festering among their lower classes, how he saw humans as an opponent to overcome and refused to see the real enemy, the hatred growing among his people, until it had grown out of control. And so he pleads with Luffy to help them undo it all- the hate, the hurt and the history that’s lead them to this point. Luffy’s response?
A response worthy of our captain. Fishfolk all over the island stop to witness the battle, some so moved that they don’t even care that Noah is tumbling down. And while Hody charges into the now air-covered ship to engage in the final battle…
Luffy demonstrates why he’s too hot to handle. *dons strawhat*
Okay seriously that’s the last CSI-joke.
The cover image THIS time around is far more interesting- remember that old lady who ran the tollbooth in Skypiea? She has not only opened a ”Rubber Band Land”, but is also decorating it with a most impressive statue of mighty and manly Usopp. Let the horrible shipping begin.
Red Hawk sends Hody soaring right into the bubble, even if it took me a while to figure that one out, and Luffy takes the battle onto the ship upon his trusty steed Shirahoshi! Hody then either seems to be barfing UP undigested steroids or swallowing new ones down, it’s once again kind of hard to tell, and just as Luffy goes Gear Third we cut away to the panicking sheep of Fishman Island again! I can’t wait to see them try and fail to be important to the plot… ah, but what is this? One of them has a flashback of that fateful day twenty years ago when Whitebeard stomped in and declared Fishman Island was under HIS protection, and anyone who wanted to exploit the mer and fish-people had to go through HIM first. Some citizens even seem to consider the possibility that Luffy might be the second coming of Whitebeard and woah HEY NOW-
Hello there Blackbeard and the weapon Blackbeard used to give Shanks his scars. Suddenly, his hardiness makes sense- BLACKBEARD IS AN AU WOLVERINE.
Anyhow- we get a brief shot of Shirley pondering her own prophecy before cutting back to Hody attempting to take Luffy down with a barrage of water-sharks!
Luffy is not amused. But despite Hody being soundly and utterly defeated with this final attack, Noah keeps on falling prompting Luffy to try what he does best- hands-on solutions!
But even THIS impressive attack is not enough, as all it manages to break open are his unhealed wounds. Noah is still falling, but with Hody defeated surely his henchmen will see reason and flee oh who am I even trying to fool.
They’re ALL insane fanatics after all, and every single one of them intends to go down with the ship, so to speak. Their fanaticism prompts some children onlookers to ask why they’re doing all this: are humans truly worth so much hate and fear? But when one fishman tries explaining the situation by telling them how fishmen and human have always fought and hated each other, Shirley tells him to sit down and make her a sandwhich while she lays out the REAL truth for the kids.
A somber and dramatic moment ruined by Brook simply EXISTING. I’m loving it. And it just gets better- for as Zeo goes on a rampage against his own men, Brook throws himself into the path of his bolas!
Daww, master Franky is so generous with his praise~. While Zeo admires Brook’s calm he asks him how that calm is going to help them when Noa falls (and makes yet another dig at Brook not being human- it’s lifeism at it’s ugliest here, people), and Brook has a quick-witted answer…
… despite having no tongue at all! While Brook gets his badass shonen grandpa on, all around the battlefield fights are drawing to a close: Franky prepares to finish Icaros while Sanji has fooled Wadatsumi into inflating himself to the proper size for his and Jinbe’s plan, while Hyozou prepares his poison to counter Zoro’s swords…
While our little man is about to open a monster-sized can of whoop-ass on mister Hammer-time.
Man. Despite the filler and the fights being less than epic, I gotta say these chapters left an impact. I finally BUY Hody as an antagonist now- he isn’t interesting, doesn’t have any funny quirks or even grand plans because that’s not what his sort of villain is about. He and his crew are all so blinded by hate and the past to the point where they only want to selfdestruct and take as many as possible with them, like so many terrorists of our world. No grand plan, no big statement- just a lot of stupid, blind hate.
Hope we’re finally at the climax now. Fishman Island didn’t turn out the way I thought it would but what it’s done so far has been interesting. Looking forward to the next chapter, y’all! Even if it will take a week.