473: The Walls Mobilize! The Whitebeard Pirates' Desperate Plight!!
Whitebeard crashes down onto the battlefield in front of his vessel, and the first thing he does is point his weapon in the direction of the execution scaffold, and his men eagerly charge forward to clear a path. Inside a control room within Marineford, the marines activate the enclosure walls, which slowly begin to rise up from the seabed, only for their ascent to be blocked by the frozen ice. Meanwhile, Squardo's still beating himself up over what he's done, until Marco walks over to him and asks if he's just going to sit there and cry, or give the Navy some payback.
Jimbei and Ivankov manage to meet up on the battlefield, Ivankov telling the Fishman that while everyone's been distracted, all of the marines have left the battlefield and retreated to the plaza. Jimbei admits that he has a bad feeling about this turn of events, but says that there's no time to be second-guessing.
With the walls still not raised, a voice bellows out that he'll buy some time, as the Giant Vice-Admiral John Giant bounds onto the battlefield and begins tearing through the enemy. He reaches Whitebeard himself and attacks, yet Whitebeard easily deflects the Giant's weapon with his own, before grabbing the very air itself and heaving, sending John Giant to the ground and causing the entire island to shake. As everyone, pirate and marine alike, desperately try to maintain their footing, they witness something astounding: the sea rising up around them, for Whitebeard has managed to tilt the entire island, sea and all.
Eyecatches: Zoro and Luffy
As things settle down Luffy complains to Jimbei about the collateral damage, and he responds by saying that his crew know to stay away. On the Navy's side, Helmeppo and Coby get to their feet, and Coby is left awe-struck at the sight of the destroyed Marineford city. John Giant gets back to his feetand tries to attack Whitebeard again, but this time Whitebeard hits him right in the stomach with a seismic punch. The Giant goes down, and a shockwave continues onward, straight for the execution scaffold, but before it can hit, the wave is mysteriously deflected by the Admirals.
Finally getting close enough to the plaza, Luffy stretches out to slingshot himself into the plaza, just as the walls finally manage to break through the ice and knock him off. The risen walls encircle the bay, blocking the plaza and scaffold from sight. The pirates try attacking it, but their weapons are powerless against the thick steel plating, and what's more, dozens of cannons pointing through slits in the steel train their sights on them. There appears to be nowhere to run.
But there is one place still open. One of the walls could not be raised thanks to Oars Jr.'s body being stuck on top of it. Sengoku says that even if the pirates aren't fully enclosed, they'll proceed anyway, and orders Akainu to begin. The Admiral steps forward and begins shooting lava high into the air. The pirates at first wonder what he's doing, until it all becomes clear. Giant fists of lava begin to fall out of the sky, devestating the battlefield and those on it.
Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, finally takes to the field...and doesn't do all that much. Well, okay, he did take out John Giant (where the heck was that guy hiding during the previous episodes?), and did mess up the island a bit (how the heck does that work, grabbing the air, anyway?). I guess I'm just a bit let down at how the proclaimed strongest pirate crew in the world is basically just another Red Shirt Army with around four or five standouts.
Sengoku's plan is also something that I'm a bit let down at. Yeah, I guess the wall's efficent, but I'm imagine someone who is famed for his tactical mind would come up with something a little...grander than a giant wall.
Also, the map at the start of each episode is starting to get a bit silly. It was all right during Skypiea, for instance, where stuff was happening with each episode, but here it's basically "Yeah, the pirates are still in the bay, and Ace is still on the scaffold...yep."
The Admirals were obviously using Ambition there to deflect the shockwave. That bit sort of reminded me of something you'd see in a Magical Girl series, which is funny when you consider Toei's Pretty Cure franchise. But I have to say, the Whitebeard Pirates don't really seem to be all that concerned with Ace's safety, as this is the third time they've endangered him like this. First Whitebeard tried dumping two huge tidal waves on top of him, then Jozu threw that huge iceberg at the scaffold, and now the shockwave. They should really be more careful with how they handle themselves.
Ah well, this episode did have some pretty good production values, and the next one does too, as it marks the return of animation director Eisaku Inoue after an absence of nearly two years. To give you an idea of what that means, some of his previous episodes include Zoro vs. Kuma and the Going Merry's funeral.
