One Piece

So on a whim I've been going back over the fight scenes in older arcs and among other things, i've noticed that Zoro usually has some sort of handicap:

• Cabaji: Previously wounded
• Meowban Brothers: Short two swords
• Hachi: Sick and wounded
• Mr. 1: Couldn't actually hit him
• Ryuma: Short one sword.

Once he overcomes the handicap, I've also noticed he pretty much wins instantly, and so too does he in battles where there's no handicap. The only fight that was both a.) even, and b.) had no handicap was Kaku, and because of that I think that was his best fight (though Mr. 1 was cool too). We'll see where Pica falls on the pendulum; he seems to be at least keeping up, though not exactly "even."

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

It's not going to be a curbstomp, so unless Pica literally curb stomps Zoro and breaks all of his bones, this could be a Kaku type situation.

I wouldn't call Mr 1 a handicap, though.

oh yeah,how come the Headcrackers are immortal?

Secret Signature

This chapter was all about the Sniper of Awesome. And he knows how to Haki now. Sniping just got deadlier.

Brilliant, using Kanjuro's bad art as a part of the sniping. And he and Viola make a good team. All around, a good team effort.

Sugar will be scarred for life. Forever. ...Perona-level fear, or...

Will Trebol's icky-gooeyness be effective, or will he told to move?

edited 29th Aug '14 4:54:26 PM by Diamite

I thought Ussop drew it (he's a decent/good artist, remember?) and the samurai guy brought it to life.

The sad, REAL American dichotomy

Probably just a different technique. The normal toys can apparently be killed since Gladius was going to 'splode Kyros's head.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

@HT: You never noticed the way Oda keeps forcing handicaps on Zoro before?

"Canada Day is over, and now begins the endless dark of the Canada Night."

I knew he'd done it, I just never realized how consistent he was.

Also, rereading Zoro vs. Hachi cured me of much of my dissatisfaction with Zoro vs. Hyouzou. Badly-wounded!East Blue!Zoro gave Hachi only slightly more effort, and whatever the gap between Hachi and Hyouzou is, I find it... doubtful it's bigger than the gap between East Blue!Zoro and New World!Zoro.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

Or fishmen are just bad swordsmen. Fishmen are also pretty isolated from the world, so, there's that too.

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

Racist. Yeah, the sushi's too dumb to learn proper swordfighting, is that it?

You're the one using slurs. I prefer to think of Hyouzou as a big Fishman in a small pond.

The sad, REAL American dichotomy

Well when you think about it, swords are just not a good weapon to use underwater. That and fishmen are naturally huge brutes, they're better at hand-to-hand combat (hence fishman karate) than using weapons.

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

This weeks comments!◊ Everyone but Komi and Kubo are promoting stuff.

Ohh, so fish-people, by dint of being fish-people are less disciplined than non-fish-people?

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

Or, seeing how they've been banished to under the sea for the last hundred years, swordmanship hasn't really developed at all. A lot of the infrastructure on Fishman Island is coral and other ocean-y materials. It doesn't look like there's a lot of mining or metal working in general, making it difficult to make swords, let alone master the art. Instead, they've developed fishman karate, which is not only more practical considering their environment, also sets their culture apart from what's on the surface.

Common sense is a flower that doesn't grow in every garden

Reread some of Skypiea last night. I forgot how hardcore Wyper was. He fights evenly with Luffy, Zoro, and Ener himself, gets up from severe punishment more than any of the Straw Hats do, and was apparently the first person in recorded history to use a Reject Dial more than twice without keeling over stone dead. If he weren't so devoted to his people he wouldn't make a bad Straw Hat himself.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

Makes me wonder all the people that were considered possible Straw Hats by the fandom. I know Dalton was apparently heavily considered way back in the day. I feel like Wyper would have, too. Kaku especially was considered since he was so... quirky.

Of course everyone wanted Shirahoshi to join. Incredibly left-field that she didn't.

I'm pretty sure the concept of Law having limits was a translation error. -Wanderlustwarrior

Paulie was a big one; Franky vs. Paulie was a Flame War inducing topic for a while. I think this was probably down to him having an extremely well-developed fighting style for a side character.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

And then Franky was a Cyborg.

One Strip! One Strip!

Interestingly enough, I remember Arlong Park did a Franky vs. Paulie poll shortly after Franky's powers were revealed and Paulie was still winning.

Then there was another during Enies Lobby, though, where Franky was overwhelmingly chosen.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

Yea, the time Franky is captured and when Enies Lobby started, it was pretty clear he was going to join.

huh, I think this is the longest period we've gone without any actual new crew members; Brook joined years ago, and since then we've only had Guest Star Party Members, though I guess that's Oda's way of adding more people on the ship, without them actually joining.

Kinemon, Law, and Monenoske are pretty much serving the same purpose as Vivi.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.

The current favorite at Arlong Park is Bartolomeo, which I'm just not really seeing. He's a Captain himself, after all.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

I see him as becoming one of the Straw Hat's many allies in the New World. In fact, this arc seems to be establishing many possible allies.

Oh yeah. That's a major running theme thus far in the New World, getting other pirates in their debt, I've noticed.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

Luffy has turned the power Mihawk described on overdrive for the New World, he's gonna have an army big enough to take on Big Mom at this rate.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.