446: An Unbreakable Spirit! Hannyabal Goes All Out
Luffy asks who this guy bursting in on them is, and Inazuma informs him that it's the vice-warden, Hannyabal, who tells them that there's no escape, since there are a thousand guards in the stairwell behind him waiting for them. Luffy steps forward to confront him, and Hannyabal says that he'll handle the world-famous Straw Hat Luffy himself. The sight of the vice-warden actually taking his job seriously puts the wind back into the battered guards' sails, and they begin cheering their support. The blades of Hannyabal's halberd burst into flames and he attacks Luffy, who continues to demand the vice-warden to clear the way. After having enough of it, Luffy activates Gear Second and pummels Hannyabal with Jet Gatling.
As he hits the ground, battered and bloodied, Hannyabal laments his quick defeat, and flashes back twenty years ago to his first day on the job as a prison guard, where he was partnered up with Magellan. He was soon put to work inspecting the new Level 1 inmates, a job which he didn't care for. He was even tricked a few times, but each time Magellan would reprimand him, saying that his job was still very important no matter what Level he was assigned to. With renewed resolve, Hannyabal manages to pick himself up off of the floor, again saying that he won't allow Luffy to pass. The guards let out a huge rallying cry and renew their attack on the escapees with renewed vigor. Luffy activates Gear Second again, and after a brief exchange of blows, knocks Hannyabal to the ground again with Jet Stamp.
Meanwhile, on Level 2, Buggy is still hurling insults at the wall of poison. But he's run out of insults, and decides to take a break and relieve himself...and the other prisoners decide to join in as well. During this extended bathroom break, one of the prisoners reports that the wall of poison has mysteriously vanished, and everyone assumes that the insults were finally too much for it. The reality, however, was that it was Blackbeard and his crew who removed it.
Eyecatches: Robin and Nami
After being knocked down again for the third or fourth time, the guards start pleading for Hannyabal to not get back up again, for he'll just get pummeled again. Hannyabal is still defiant, and tells Luffy that he has no right to go on about saving his brother. What he's doing is releasing criminals back upon the seas, criminals who the citizenry of the world live in fear of. Impel Down exists to keep them locked away and to reassure the world that yes, they are being protected and can have peace of mind. All he gets, however, is a stomp to the face courtesy of Blackbeard, who calls his ideals ridiculous.
Jimbei, fists clenched, demands to know what he's doing here. Blackbeard tells him that he shouldn't be blaming him for his friend Ace's capture. Luffy recognizes him as the man he met on Jaya, and connects the dots on his own, Ace telling the Straw Hats that he was chasing after a criminal named Blackbeard in Alabasta, and Nyon's telling him about Blackbeard becoming a new Warlord thanks to Ace's capture on Amazon Lily. Blackbeard recognizes him as well, and says that he was surprised to learn that he was Ace's brother. He goes on to explain that his original plan to become a Warlord was to kill Luffy, the one who defeated the previous Warlord Crocodile. Ace couldn't just let that by, so he had to try and stop him. In fact, Luffy should be thanking Ace, for otherwise, it would be Luffy up on that execution scaffold today.
And with that, Luffy flies into a rage and attacks Blackbeard.
All right, this episode was better than the previous one, despite the inferior animation team. There were of course some low points, such as the really pathetic, low detail still shots (seriously, they really need to find a way to make those more dynamic or something), and the really obvious cost-saving technique where they just showed the faces of everyone spectating the fight. The Buggy filler wasn't as long and drawn out as before, and does fit is "accidental savior theme" that shows up later, and while the image of fifty-odd guys urinating next to each other liek that was amusing in a "what am I watching" kind of way, it must have been a really slow day at Toei for them to come up with something like that.
Anyway, some good key animation during the Hannyabal fight, and it's nice to see that Hannyabal isn't a wackjob like some of his cohorts and has genuinely noble motivations. It makes to realize that he does have a point. While Luffy may be content to simple sail the seas and go adventuring, not all pirates are like that, and many of the criminals that his group are releasing probably do deserve to be there. Heck, Crocodile tried to reserect Pluton and tried to conquer a country after driving it to civil war. I do hope that Luffy does get called out on some of this stuff later on, especially since it all turns out to be in vain.
I did like the flashback, and how it showed the working relationship between Magellan and Hannyabal and how they've been together for years. I think Toei could've been a little braver and connected it to Shiki's jailbreak since chapter 0 hinted that Hannyabal played an unwitting role in it, but I guess that'll just have to wait for the elusive OVA.
As for Blackbeard's arrival, his voice acting has improved to me, as his seiyuu's hit upon the right mix of loud blowhard and smarmy arrogance. Also nice how they showed Luffy getting angrier and angrier as he talked, as opposed to just cutting to him throwing the punch, like in the manga.
I guess this just goes to show, and artwork doesn't need to be top class as long as the directing pulls through.
