455: The Crew's Whereabouts - The Revolutionary Army and the Forest of Gluttony's Trap
Within the prison tower on the frozen labor camp Tequila Wolf Robin, now in a prison jumpsuit and cuffed, is being interrogated by the guard whose nose she previously broke, who demands to know where the other Straw Hats are. She takes this in stride, commenting that this is a horrible setting for romance, which only serves to infuriate the guard even further.
As the camp warden eats his dinner within his office, he mutters that it’s going to be hard to deal with Robin. It would be disastrous if she were to attempt to escape, so he decides to hide her real identity from the rest of populace. Another guard comes in to give a report about delays in the construction of the bridge, and that there have been some encounters with rebels. The warden dismisses both of these reports. All they need to do, he says, is make sure that the slaves work harder.
As the slaves toil away, the girl Soran witnesses one unfortunate soul collapse and runs over to him, and a tipsy guard tells her to get back to work, as he’s done for. He then realizes that he’s surrounded by resentful slaves, but another group of guards scare them off by firing in the air and threatening to send them to the prison tower. Inside the tower the guards continue to rough-up Robin and laugh about it, and she still remains blasé over the whole affair.
Later on in the women’s barracks a guard gives the old woman who tipped them off about Robin a chocolate bar as a reward. The other women grumble and she declares that she’s not giving any of it away and flees the barrack. Soran, though, believes that Robin would forgive her, and finds the old woman sitting on the ground nearby. Seeing her, the old woman surrenders her chocolate bar. Soran says that she’s really a kind person, causing the old woman to tear up, saying that she just wants to be free from this place. Soran decides to give the chocolate to Robin as thanks for saving everyone earlier.
As another work shift begins, the guard with the broken nose locks Robin in a cell before leaving, saying that he’ll be back to question her some more. Robin comments that she’ll look forward to it, but as soon as he’s out of sight she collapses from exhaustion. She hears someone laughing nearby and discovers that there’s a spry old man in the neighboring cell. He says that he just arrived that day, but since there’s no use for old people, he was locked up instead. Robin then has a flashback of Kuma vanishing the Straw Hats, takes out her Vivre Card, and says that she has to escape as soon as possible, even if she has to cut off her hands. The old man chuckles and tells her not to be so hasty.
After finishing her job of dumping culm into the sea, Soran manages to sneak by the guards and gets to the prison tower. There are some more guards posted outside, but the sound of an explosion in the distance sends them running in that direction, away from their posts, as it’s reported that rebels are engaged in a firefight in the residential district. With them gone, Soran manages to find the window of Robin’s cell, but another guard finds her…
Meanwhile the guard with the broken nose wakes the warden from his slumber to inform him that, as ordered, all guards have been sent to fight the rebels. The warden shouts back that he never issued such an order. It turns out that the guard who found Soran was actually one of the rebels all along. He introduces himself as a member of the Revolutionary Army and unlocks the old man’s cell, saying that his leadership will help them win this fight. The old man requests that he free Robin too and they begin to head out, only to find a whole battalion of guards waiting for them. Just as they’re about to fire, however, hands sprout from their bodies and Robin uses her Devil Fruit power to snap all of their necks, felling the whole group. Upon hearing this, the warden hides under his desk, wailing in terror that Robin is coming this way.
Back outside, Robin bids farewell to Soran, for she plans to help the revolutionaries for saving her. Upon hearing the name Nico Robin for the first time, Soran thinks that it is a wonderful name.
Eyecatches: Robin and Usopp
On the Bowin Islands Usopp is being chased by a giant, carnivorous sunflower while his companion Heracles poses. Usopp finally gets him to help him through flattery, and Heracles declares that he is the champion of the forest and springs into action! …and accidentally punches Usopp in the face…which sends him flying into the sunflower, knocking it out…which also takes out Heracles in the process. After recovering, Usopp wonders why all the island’s flora and fauna keep coming after him, and Heracles explains that it’s because he is the weakest creature on the island. Even the ants and earthworms are stronger (especially since they’re gigantic)! He’ll have to eat and bulk up to grow stronger. Usopp points out that there’s nothing edible, so Heracles decides to take him elsewhere.
They arrive in a new part of the forest, one where the woods are made up of food. There are waterfalls of ramen, spaghetti grass, meat fruits, and even chocolate rocks. As Heracles explains to the agog Usopp, if he eats lots of food and trains, he’ll become a powerful champion of the forest as well. While Heracles is fantasizing over the both of them being champions of the forest, Usopp wanders off.
When Heracles finds him again he’s too late, for Usopp is now grossly overweight from eating so much. As Heracles yells that he needs to lose the weight fast, the island starts shaking, and the “branches” of the island rise into the air, sending other overweight animals plunging towards a gaping maw. Heracles manages to grab a vine and Usopp’s hand, but he’s too heavy and drops him anyway. Luckily though, Usopp is able to eat his way up a ramenfall past Heracles to safety. The island lets out a satisfied belch, and everything goes back to normal.
Except now that Usopp’s basically a sentient, immobile blob. Heracles sighs deeply and, much to Usopp’s alarm, mentions how fat creatures are the first to go in the jungle. He also says that they are on the inescapable Bowin Islands, and that he is the champion of the forest, Hera-
Well, Robin's story didn't completely dominate the episode like last time, but it still had the majority of it. Like before, it had a very grim, somber atmosphere to it, helped along by the music, lighting, and camera angles. As before, the directing and storyboarding were top-notch. I'm very glad that they got Tate to work on the second part of Robin's story, since I don't think anyone else could've replicated the same mood he set in the first one.
Story-wise, seeing Robin going with the revolutionaries is yet another unexpected development. From there, we can learn quite a bit about the state of the One Piece world, and also provides her with an easy method to get back to the other Straw Hats. I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get any sort of answer as to what the true purpose of that gigantic bridge is, or why it's taken six-hundred years to build it, but this episode was quite an improvement over the disjointed nature of Robin's coverstory, and a feather in the cap of the directors. I'm never really going to understand what the point of having Robin's cleavage on full display was though (aside from obvious Fan Service). Thats' just asking for, as one of my old teachers would put it, a chest cold.
And Usopp's half was full-on Mood Whiplash, with colorful visuals, energetic music, and lots of humor. Heracles was pretty hilarious in this episode, from accidentally punching Usopp in the face after much fanfare and buildup to having his name be cut off by the To Be Continued screen again. Bit creepy to see that the entire island is really one huge Sarlacc, basically.
Next episode will be the last of these Where Are They Now episodes, covering Zoro and Brook.
Oh, and there was another scene with Luffy and Jimbei on the boat, but since it just consisted of both of them being broken records, it wasn't worth mentioning.
