Yamato and Tama take a nap and "that person" steals Yasuie's katana. OK. I don't think anyone is the least interested in this cover story by now, and even though I think it's completely fine for Yamato to take a nap in the middle of the day and the forest with her sleep-haki deactivated and completely exposed to her or Tama being kidnapped as she nows may very well happen; I will, in fact, point out that Shinobu should be around.
It could be a good thing, though, if next chapter (who-knows-when is that going to be) cover story has Yamato aprehending the thief and turns out it was a clever trap to catch a criminal and from that, maybe use that person to lead Yamato to the actual kidnapper.
If not... well, who cares? Let's go already with the first page of the main story.
So, I'll be very upfront from the start: This chapter is quite correct storywise. Not a wonder by any means, but not the absolute nonsense of the other chapters of the arc. However, it looks like the One Piece quality these days is a zero-sum game, so the better the story gets, the worse the illustration becomes. Hence this review's title.
As you can already see in this page, there are some parts of each panel that were given no love or care whatsoever. That part is the characters and other things that "move" like sea water and the likes. The rest was done by the assistant(s) and the two stand out in front of each other because of the huge contrast in technical quality.
It's easy to see how the ropes of the ship in the background of the middle panel were given much more attention than all the giants in the top panel together.
This chapter is not as bad in this regard as ch. 1098, which was so so bad that Oda had to write a public apology in the cover, but it is worse than, for example, ch. 1082 which also was a chapter with very poor illustration. Any way...
"We're calling off the search!"
Apparently, aboard the Great Eirik everyone has been searching for the disappeared Mugiwara pirates. Jinbē had sharks searching the ocean like crazy and found nothing (Thank god, because after that amount of time underwater, they'd have likely found them dead).
But what exactly have the others been doing?? Looking... in the ship? Have they been turning stones all over the ship as though that were a whole town looking for someone lost in the woods or something? I mean, it's a big ship, but it's still just one ship. After toying with the gorosei, I expect someone among them to have the faintest of observation haki to at least be able to tell whether Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji and Chopper are all playing hide & seek as a prank or they're simply not there, in which case, no one would be searching anything else because there is nowhere to search.
But the worst of all is that none of them, NONE, has looked in their pockets to take Luffy's vivre card and immediately know where to go. That was all that was needed. Take a look at a piece of the vivre card! Surely, Luffy might not have his vivre card with him because Rodo changed his clothes, but still, the vivre card would surely be at least somewhere very close to Rodo's workshop and that would be more than enough.
In any case, this first page was just a means to close for good the horrible way the arc started.
A couple of good things in this page are Kranfy's outfit for the arc. Easily the best one post-time skip just because there is no over-the-top haircut involved, and Boork's joke.
Back at the detention center, Fulfy really made it outside with his punch. They're outside a castle atop a mountain and there's a rope bridge that goes up to the canopy of a humongous tree. It's snowing heavily and two giants come down from the rope bridge.
Well, I really wonder now what was all that Rodo said about the Mugiwara not knowing what they were doing and about the map of his block world not being enough to determine how to escape because it had no information beyond the walls of that room. A simple hole in the wall took them outside and that's it. Now Rodo not making any actual effort to stop them really is confirmed nonsense.
Oh! And, of course, since the drawing is so so poor, the mistakes that are already a staple of this arc are present too. Fulfy doesn't have neither the Straw hat, nor the axe (again). And I think everyone will agree, at least by now, that there was no hallucination involved to justify those mistakes. It's crystal clear now, isn't it?
About the setting, it looks like everything alive is giant: people, the cat and other animals, the trees; but not the land itself. Mountains and terrain in general are "regular" size. Compare the giant trees on the hillsides.
As I predicted, Hajrudin's crew is being introduced quickly because they'll have some sort of central role in the arc. And because we're not Fulfy and likely hold a grudge against Rodo for being a psycopath, a kidnapper and a slaver, the crew's whitewashing also comes pretty soon. For starters, Gerd makes it look like they're not really friends with Rodo and don't like him too much despite being a crew member in a crew of only 5 people. She already takes distance.
On the other hand, Goldberg laughs, diminishing the impportance of the kidnappings and slavery going on with Rodo and his crow.
I find it interesting how, most like unintentionally, the extreme hypocrisy shows in this (and past chapters) given there are actually two kidnapping plotlines being developed and each gets very different treatment.
- When it comes to "someone" kidnapping people in Kuri, there is concern and worry and a protagonist to solve the case and free the victims, etc.
- When it comes to Rodo running his dollhouse, Fulfy and the others couldn't care less and his crewmates brush it off with laughter. Just because they're meant to be friends of the protagonists, so at most, Rodo is painted somewhat as a black sheep, but that's all.
Look at them! Fulfy, Orzo, Mani, Osupp, Nasji & Pocher! Barely recognizable. Thank the assistant really giving his best drawing the bridge's posts and rope. It's the only thing that tells us this wasn't drawn by ONE.
Oh! Fulfy's hat and axe came back! Mani's sword didn't, though.
And what happens? Fulfy wants to talk to Gerd and Goldberg, but Mani stops him. She looks like the only one afraid of the giants, despite being the only one who actually attacked Rodo. ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯
Nasji made quite the yell too, but for some reason it's not enough to get the giants attention.
"Probably
imagination"
YES Gerd, you must be right, that thing you heard was probably all in your SHARED imagination with Goldberg. It has to, right??
And here something I thought it would never happen in One Piece! See to what extent is Nasji unrecognizable that he's forgetting "babes" now! He never thought he'd see such a giant babe, like... Shirahoshi, maybe?
In the end, both giants knock at the castle's door directly asking for Rodo as though their crewmate were the only one there to open the doors. Maybe he is. But the more we see, the less it looks like a "detention center for giants". Also, how much would you bet that the fact the castle should be in flames, at least in the inside by now, is going to be completely forgotten?
Oh, I almost forgot. It's something Rodo already spoke about and it's going to be mentioned later too. The "New" Giant Warrior pirates (Hajrudin's crew) founded the Grand Fleet and sworn to serve Fulfy. But... how did that actually play out? Like... Hajrudin comes back from Dressrosa and tells his crewmates they're not working for Buggy anymore. They'll now sail under Fulfy's flag. They agree. That's a fact because they all left Buggy and stayed with Hajrudin. And what do they do? They go back to Elbaf and stay there. So they do not actually sail as Fulfy's vassals. They retired.
Like...
So, for some reason, rather than going down the mountain and towards the sea, they choose to go up the ladder. They don't even discuss it. They just go. What reason do they have to think it's more likely to find the rest of the crew or the Sunny up there? Shouldn't we be told why they're doing what they're doing??
Message for the executives at Shueisha, give Oda's assistant a raise. Or better yet, put him in charge of drawing the whole manga. Do you see this absolute beauty of a bridge?? There's a lot of work in it. And it shows.
Just as the characters show they were done in under a minute. There are some doodles there supposed to be wolves (and they're faaaaar closer to the bridge than the other panels suggest they be. All the panels show the bridge to be very high with respect to the ground. And what about those Gumiwaras? There's Fulfy, okay. But the rest?? Ink stains. Look what's supposed to be Usopp. It's impossible to know whether it's him, a giant cockroach or... just something on the bridge. That a big panel such as the center one has the 6 main protagonists of the manga and your eyes are drawn to the railing of a brdige part of the background rather than the characters because of the difference in drawing quality says A LOT.
Fulfy is getting goosebumps. He's genuinely concerned, One might say even slightly intimidated. And I'd be all for this development. This has never happened in One Piece because Luffy is extraordinarily confident in himself, but it'd be great if he could encounter such a terrifying thing. Now... he's been recently in front of Kaidō (who got to kill him) and the gorōsei and nothing ever gave him goosebumps before. That sets the bar SO HIGH. I hope this hype is justified.
What's going on in the first panel? I don't know if it's the translation, the original, or maybe I'm too dumb or it's this cold I have right now that doesn't let me think straight, but I don't understand what's supposed to be happening in this page's first panel. If you do, please enlighten me in the comments.
Fulfy goes ahead on his own because he's too eager to wait for the others. This behavior is half well established and half plot convenience. In one hand, yes, Fulfy has always had a tendency to act recklessly on impulse, so it's no wonder that he suddenly decides to go see this "roar" he felt. But on the other hand, there is no reason for him to abandon his friends like that. In other similar situations he took themm all in his stretching arms and carried them.
So, despite this looks very Luffy-esque in a way, it's just an excuse to separate him from the rest for no actual good reason. It's no surprise to us though at this point. Wano and Egghead had every character traveling be exactly like this.
And what happens now to the rest? That they're left there not knowing what to do at all. Why? Because they had no purpose to begin with. The captain abandons them and they don't even have a goal, a guideline or anything. The stillness of last panel reflects it quite well. Fulfy's five friends stranded in the unknown with no idea of what they should do because the author didn't know what to do with them.
The whole point of this page is to update Rodry & Groby's bounties. Something I imagine most of you will agree is absolutely irrelevant. But Oda thought they need more hype for some reason and since he turned One Piece into a power-leveled manga a while ago and is using bounties to that end, he did this. Okay. Then... If that's the sole purpose of this page, why, I mean WHY cannot we see the amounts, which are the only relevant thing right now, written in the posters??? 2/3 of a page to show us the WANTED posters and still they're blocked by sfx where it matters!
Is there someone at the wheel???
You may think Groby & Rodry make those faces because of the rise in price for their heads. No. They're proud warriors of Elbaf. At most they would laugh at it. What they're actually concerned with is how panel after panel they're worse and worse drawn to the point Rodry's head already has open lines and he's fusing with the air around him.
Fulfy's blamed for what happened at Egghead. Well... what did you expect?
Boork is so badly drawn he looks old. He's just bones. But he looks like alive-old. And what to say about Borin and the papers or Benji... I'm speechless.
More and more and more disdain an lack of love for the work in this page as well. Rodry is so pale already he looks like a force manifestation like the dead Yoda, Quigon and Anakin at the end of the Return of the Jedi. I won't comment further on the Gumiwara pirates because it's scandalous already.
And precisely about this, I find this page has a very twisted sense of humor. I mean, the way Borin makes a point about Fulfy's image not being clear. And they wonder why the cross on his arm is clear...
There's no mystery in that! It's quite easy. Oda drew Fulfy while the assistant drew the cross. Same as with the giants at the bottom and the background.
And that's not just why there's a twisted sense of humor here. You see, Borin starts asking about Fulfy's "freedome form". No one really knows about it so they can't get a conclusion. And this is very very uncomfortable for me. It amaes me how Oda keeps cornerinr himself this way and he keeps going forward as though nothing happened.
This should have never happened. The whole crew should have discussed a hundred times already about Fulfy's "freedom form". That, Sanji's "genes" all that stuff. They should have talked about it. They never did and now we get to a point where the Gumiwara realize they've become strangers. They don't know each other. They don't talk to each other any more. It's really sad.
But there's more because las panel has some things to discuss.
Hajrudin turns out to be the king's son. So, the prince of Elbaf. He really didn't look like it in Linlin's flashback. But... okay. It could be. In Elbaf the son of the king passes the day playing with a wooden sword in the streets of a small village of the country. Fine by me.
But what about Hajrudin's job at Buggy's? We've seen the disdain the giants feel towards the humans. Rodo enslaves them for fun and even the giants who don't sypathize with him think it's just some minor thing. Like people who don't like others keeping birds in cages because they think is wrong, but still they don't make a big deal of it because... you know, it's birds.
This giants might not like other giants keeping little humans in cages but... whatever. Then for some reason, the proud son of the KING of Elbaf, gets a job as Buggy's hitman.
What is he? Prince of Zamunda?
Also, giants say Hajrudin wanted to go fetch the Gumiwara pirates to Egghead himself but Rodry and Groby's crew had "seniority". Okay. I can respect that as well. In Elbaf the prince can't trample over other citizens as he pleases. That's great. But why wouldn't he be able to go AS WELL?? Like. You go, but I go too because it's my pride as his vassal and you don't get to tell me to stay home the same way I don't do to you.
So, in the end, the "Giant Warrior pirates" make a come back and so, the "NEW Giant Warrior pirates" become the "OLD Giant Warrior pirates" now they're retired from piracy. How ironic.
Hmm... Finally we're introduced to the story of Loki. He's evil just because he is. He was sentenced to crucifixion and it took all warriors in Elbaf, minus Rodry and Groby because they were in Little Garden, to capture him to that end. He also has some devil fruit that makes him especially fearsome, for some reason. So much that this giant says that letting him loose would be "the end of everything".
So, all the fodder in Elbaf could overpower Loki and his legendary devil fruit. If the intention was to hype him, that actually felt underwhelming. It doesn't sound like it would be "the end of everything". It sounds like, it would simply take some giants to put him in line again if he managed to get free. Surely, being crucified for years has weakened him, right?
By the way, before being crucified... he was free and "everything" didn't end, so...
According to this giant, Loki is also prince of Elbaf. This leaves only two possibilities:
- (Not likely for obvious reasons) There were two kings of Elbaf. Each one had a son: Hajrudin and Loki. Pretty much like Inuarashi and Nekomamushi both being rulers of Mokomo. I don't see how that would make any sense given Elbaf has been always treated (this chapter too) as a single country not two. Therefore, two monarchs make no sense.
- (most likely) Hajrudin and Loki are both sons of the late King Harold.
Why would this giant call Hajrudin "son of the king"? Is like someone calling King Charles Ⅲ, "son of Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ" instead. WTF?
So not just a prince, THE KING OF ELBAF WORKED FOR BUGGY!
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry any more.
Fulfy finally finds the "roar" he was "feeling" and that gave him goosebumps. Well, the goosebumps were very short-lived as Fulfy is now fearless and smiley as usual.
And you can see that every ounce of effort Oda spent in this chapter went to this double page. It's also nothing too impressive compared to other hundreds of old One Piece pages, but it does look nice, that's true.
And who might this giant be? He'll reveal next page to be Loki. But that's strange to me because:
- That's not what I call "crucifixion". Not at all.
- Judging by his beard, he hasn't been there for long.
- Someone decided to tigh him but not take his weapon and shield.
- That would be more kairoseki than there has ever appeared in the rest of the manga combined.
Nnoitra Gilga for reference
For the end of the chapter we get this other big panel of the Warland island, with four things I quickly notice:
- It's clearly stated that Elbaf is "the" kingdom that rules the Warland island, making it even more unreasonable for Elbaf to have 2 kings.
- The island's design is beautiful. But the "detention center" is too big. If those sizes are right, Warland should be renamed to "Medium-sized Garden" following the "Little Garden" logic. Because, at the size, the island isn't big enough to even have a couple of villages.
- ELBAPH. I guess this chapter couldn't end without makins as many different types of mistake as possible, so this PH romanization will likely be the new "Arabasta/Alabasta".
- There's a certain height below the lower canopy where water exists in the three physical states:
- Gas: in clouds.
- Liquid: in waterfall.
- Solid: in snow.
