471: The Elimination Plan Begins - The Pacifista Army's Power
The pirates are confused at the arrival of the Pacifistas since they all look exactly like Kuma. Sentomaru angrily speaks into a telesnail, complaining about how the pirates are scattered all over the place instead of being cornered within the bay as originally planned. Thanks to Whitebeard ordering the New World fleet to attack the Navy ships, they avoided the trap. Sentomaru says that some of the Navy vessels will get caught in the crossfire, and Kizaru responds by telling him to keep the friendly fire to a minimum.
And so the Pacifistas begin their attack, firing volleys of lasers into the battlefield and advancing forward with surprising speed, invulnerable to the gunfire turned on them. With this new assault, Whitebeard yells for his men to stay firm and rush towards the plaza. As this unfolds, all but one of the viewscreens transmitting the battle to Sabaody are suddenly cut off. Sengoku issues orders to have the encircling walls mobilized once the feed is cut, after which they shall destroy the pirates and execute Ace.
Luffy, meanwhile, runs into Kizaru, who casually punts him back across the ice field into Jimbei's arms. Luckily for them though, the division commanders step up to the plate, offerring to distract the Admiral so that Luffy can move ahead.
Eyecatches: Luffy and Nami
As his impatiently tapping foot suggests, Sengoku's plan has hit a bit of a snag, since as you may recall, Buggy and the prisoners managed to snatch one of the broadcasting telesnails. The reason for their hijacking of the airwaves is to promote the legendary pirate, member of Gold Roger's crew, friend of the Emperor Shanks, duelist with Mihawk, Buggy the Clown to the world. Sengoku yells for them to be stopped while the viewers yell for the battle footage to be restored.
As Whitebeard watches all of this from the prow of the Moby Dick someone approaches him from behind. It's Squardo, the New World captain who had gone MIA not long before. He reports that many of the allies are starting to fall from the Navy's assault, and asks how Whitebeard knew about the manuever. Whitebeard responds with that he's known Sengoku for a long time, and then declares that he's going to take to the battlefield himself to lead the charge. As he steps forward, Squardo unsheathes an over-sized sword he had been carrying and says that all of the New World crews owe a great debt to him. Whitebeard starts to apologize for bringing all of this upon them but Squardo says that he knows that the great pirate Whitebeard would never abandon his crew, his family. But, if only there was a place in that family for them too...
What follows next is something that no one could have foreseen: Squardo impaling Whitebeard through the stomach.
I wouldn't say that there was a huge amount of substance in this episode. The Pacifistas pretty much start steamrolling over the mooks, Sengoku has a plan in the works, and we have about twenty minutes of people running around getting blown up. Not much to write about.
Until the end, where the mini subplot involving Squardo's disappearance a few episodes ago is solved. He shows up at the end and does the unthinkable. I'm not sure at the moment whether the anime or the manga had more shock value. In the manga Squardo only appeared in the background of two spreads before this, so this guy everyone had pegged as background fodder coming out of nowhere and doing something like this is rather surprising. In the anime, when first jumping into the battle he proclaims that he'll give his life for Whitebeard, and Marco says that he tries too hard to impress, then he shows up with dialogue that gives the impression of someone who is deeply betrayed, and turns his blade on the man he was willing to die for. What could bring about such a change? And I think this was the moment that the fandom decided or came to realize that no matter what the ultimate outcome of this battle will be, Whitebeard is not going to be around to see it.
What else... Well, Buggy's segment was kinda "Eh". He's trying to sell himself to the world to boost his infamy, and Oda's using him as a device so that the world learns whatever it is that Sengoku's trying to hide. By now I'm all tuckered out on Buggy jokes. I think I've heard more than a lifetime's worth of "Stealthy Night Shadow" by now.
Luffy took that infinite mass kick surprisingly well. I know physical blows are cushioned, but I'd expect a (sorta) lightspeed kick to hurt a lot and be much more damaging, even if you're rubber.
