454: The Crew's Whereabouts - A Giant Bird Chick and a Pink Showdown
As the ship continues to sail onward, Jimbei briefs Luffy on what they're going to be up against, and Luffy says that it sounds even worse than Impel Down. An all-out war is inevitable.
On the shore of Momoiro Island a disheveled Sanji sits among the rocks, wondering what is up with the inhabitants here. Dressing up in women's clothing, chasing him all day, even destroying a massive boulder that he had kicked at them. He looks at his Vivre Card and turns to the sky, wailing when is he ever going to see Nami and Robin again. Meanwhile at the Kamabakka palace, the ruler receives the report that there's someone on the island who is having difficulty excepting his "true nature", so they'll use the "traditional method", which hasnt been used in quite a while...
So the next day Sanji finds himself once again being chased by a horde of Kamabakkans. He's pursued into the palace and dropped down a trapdoor and finds himself in the throne room. There, he finds himself before a large-headed man wearing a crown, who introduces himself as Caroline, the substitute queen while Emporio Ivankov is away. The Kamabakkans squeal in unison. Sanji, of course, is rather beside himself, and retorts that he just wants to leave here as soon as possible. Caroline tells him that if he can defeat the strongest fighter on the island, he's free to go. Sanji eagerly excepts. The Kamabakkans leer in unison.
At the outdoor battle field Sanji is subjected to the indignity of having to wear makeup, a dress, and high heels, the "traditional battle uniform". He yells at the squeeing Kamabakkans to shut up, and then declares that he's going to settle this fight in a single blow and say fairwell to this island. His opponent is none other than Caroline, also filling in for the island's strongest fighter.
Sanji opens the fight with his Concasser, but Caroline vanishes and reappears right next to him, throwing him off balance with a single strike of the hand. Sanji retaliates with a volley of kicks, but not one of them manage to hit. Sanji wonders how this could be, and then discovers the horrifying truth: the reason he's missing is because Caroline is constantly angling for a better view of the bloomers he has on. He quickly tries covering up, which Caroline claims is proof of his "maiden's heart". Sanji shouts that that's ridiculous, but Caroline points out that his kicks aren't as high now.
Caroline attacks with the secret art of New Kama Kenpo, Otome no Mezame (Awakening of a Maiden), which consists of a big ol' bear hug. As he blushes furiously, Sanji wonders why he's getting so embarrassed about this. Does it mean that maybe, just maybe, he's losing sight of himself!
As the Kamabakkans frolick across the beach there is a newcomer who thinks to himself that maybe the next time he meets the girls Nami and Robin, that they'll be great friends.
...
Eyecatches: Sanji and Chopper
On the layered island of Torino Chopper trudges uphill, carrying a huge platter of fruit. He thinks to himself how he hates this island. The giant birds view him as a plaything, the human natives try to eat him, and the birds and natives are always fighting each other. Once inside the cave that he's made his home, he offers the giant platter of food to a baby giant bird that he'd been nursing back to health after it fell out if its nest. Looking at his Vivre Card, Chopper hits upon an idea, and asks the bird to fly him back to Sabaody after it learns how to fly. The chick promises to, and promptly knocks him around like a toy.
The next day Chopper wakes up to find th chick gone. He finds it playing not far from the cave, but the two are forced to hide from a group of natives hunting them. Instead of keeping quiet though, the chick just gets louder, and the two are forced to flee from the ravenous natives. Just when the two are cornered, however, they're saving by a flock of giant birds distracting the natives. One of them carries the chick away, but not before the two reaffirm their promise.
Of course it is only afterwards that Chopper realizes that it's going to take time for the chick to grow up and learn how to fly, and he shouts how he wants to leave the island and how much he hates it here. And the birds and humans continue to fight...
Oh boy, where should I begin? I guess I should say that this episode was hilarious. In a deeply disturbing, awkward, "Wha tthe hell am I watching?" kind of way.
Sanji's side was..well... Well, this change of his obviously isn't going tyo be permanent. As soon as he gets a glimpse of some genuine femininity or learns from Ivankov what's been going on, he'll be back to his old self. I wouldn't put it past Oda to pull something like him in drag somehow making it on to his bounty poster or something. Watching this, I definitely get the impression that everyone involved in the production had oodles of fun working on it, especially wit hthe designs (though Caroline's breasts were rather alarming). The whole part at the end with the blushing, the sparkles, the flower become, eh, erect, just killed me while being incredibly cringe-worthy. And we have another set of this to go through too. It's not going to be pretty...
Chopper's half was, as a fellow forumgoer put it, straight sugar. An incredibly sweet finisher following a disgustingly sour aftertaste left by the previous half. I don't think Chopper should worry too much, since I've heard that it doesn't take baby birds very long to grow big enough to fly. That bird was pretty cute, speaking of which. I have to wonder where those natives got their hands on rocket-propelled spears though. Knowing One Piece, we might never find out.
So next episode will cover more of Robin and Usopp's stories. I'm really looking forward to it, for it's being handled by Naoki Tate, who also did part one of their story. That's good, because he probably the only one who can make that really gloomy, somber atmosphere on Tequila Wolf work. It'll be pretty funny if Robin's half dominates the episode again, though I personally wouldn't mind, since her story's much more interesting than Usopp's.
