435: Magellan's Strength! Bon Clay Flees Before the Enemy
Seeing that their boss has just crashed down in front of them and is about to fight, the jailers begin to panic and back away in alarm, begging Magellan not to start until they get away, lest they get hit with his poison. Mr. 2 tells Luffy that he’s facing Impel Down’s warden, that he mustn’t fight him since he has the power of the Poison Poison Fruit, and begs him to run away and make a break for it. Magellan expresses his surprise that the infamous rookie Straw Hat Luffy would actually break into Impel Down in his quest to rescue Ace and how shameful it is for him as warden. Then he says that after Luffy’s been captured, he’ll take his time learning how he got in, but Luffy retorts that he’d rather die before telling him anything. Magellan comments that that’s what every prisoner here says at first, before telling him that all exits out of Level 4 are completely guarded.
After all this talk, Magellan coats himself completely in his poison and produces a poison Hydra dragon head to send after Luffy. Luffy tries to punch it, but Mr. 2 leaps in front of him and takes the blow! The snapback bowls them both over. Mr. 2 reiterates again that Luffy can’t fight him, for if he even touches the poison, he’s as good as gone. So he decides to distract Magellan in order for Luffy to get away by using his Clone Clone Fruit powers to shapeshift into Luffy!...despite the fact that he’s wearing different clothes, can’t stretch, and talks with a completely different way of speaking. Naturally, Magellan isn’t fooled, and produces two more Hydra heads to attack Luffy and Mr. 2 with. The jailers get caught up in this attack, and several are doused in the poison, left begging for the antidote as they writhe in pain, and Mr. 2 helpfully explains that the poison’s full of paralyzing toxins that leave its victims in extreme pain before killing them.
Luffy grabs onto a block of wood that’s suspended above the flames and swings up on to it in order to get away. In the process of following him, one of the Hydra heads burns off in the flame, just like its mythological namesake. Magellan, however, is unfazed and uses his Chloro Ball technique to spit a poison bubble at Luffy and release poison gas. Luffy jumps back onto solid ground, but the gas leaves him with watering eyes, a sneezing fit, and general irritation. Magellan then uses Venom Road to flow through one of his Hydra heads to cross the pit and reach Luffy again. Daring him to hit him, the warden punches the wall behind Luffy, melting part of it. He then drops down behind him, saying that the two brothers will share the same fate of death.
Eyecatches: Luffy (twice)
Buggy and Mr. 3 have been watching all of the commotion from a high-up vantage point. Mr. 3 says that now that Magellan is occupied with Luffy, now is their best chance to escape back up to the higher levels. Elsewhere, Mr. 2 cowers while watching Luffy’s fight lamenting his powerlessness to help his friend. After determining that any attempt at rescue would result in his own death, he tearfully flees.
Meanwhile, Buggy and Mr. 3 have found the exit to Level 3. Since Hannyabal doesn’t seem to have any Devil Fruit powers, they think they can take him on and escape. The two jump down, ready to fight, but Hannyabal is all too willing to let them pass, much to his men’s surprise. Naturally, the only thing on the Vice-Warden’s mind is getting his boss fired so that he can become the warden himself. Buggy and Mr. 3 naturally suspect a trap, and attack anyway, eliminating the jailers with Buggy’s Muggy Ball. Hannyabal emerges from the smoke, unscathed and twirling his trident, pissed at the fact that he’s now forced to fight them.
Moving back to Luffy’s fight, Magellan complements his opponent on his tenacity. Stating once again that he’s going to rescue Ace, Luffy activates Gear Second, saying that he doesn’t care what happens to himself as long as he can beat Magellan and reach his brother. He hits Magellan in the stomach with Jet Bazooka, bringing the warden to his knees, but at the same time coating his own hands with poison.
I thought that this episode was a little too drawn out for one that was just fighting. This whole fight should've been covered in only one episode, if you ask me.
As I mentioned before, this episode was handled by one of the weaker animation teams on board the show, so there wasn't really anything all that spectacular here. Though I did like the animation for Magellan's Hydra. I don't really have much else to say. Next time will be different, since that episode is much better than this one.
