480: The Separate Paths they Chose - Luffy vs. Garp!
As Luffy runs up the ramp towards his grandfather, a hysteric Helmeppo cradles Coby’s beaten body, wailing that he’ll never forgive Straw Hat for so coldly pummeling his friend. Coby of course, is only unconscious, and he soon comes around, muttering that he has to become stronger.
Garp yells out again that it’ll be over his dead body if Luffy wants to pass. This invites a series of flashbacks from the time Garp was training Luffy as a child, pitting him against forest animals and the two getting into arguments over Luffy’s dream to become a pirate, as Garp wanted Luffy to become a marine and follow the right path.
In the present, Luffy yells that he can’t do it and implores for Garp to let him by, but his grandfather shouts that Ace will die if he can’t make it by him and that he’s not holding back for Luffy is now his enemy. With no choice left, Luffy activates Gear Second as Garp’s fist flies towards him, but at the last second, Garp balks, allowing Luffy to punch him off of the ramp, much to the shock of everyone. Gritting his teeth, Sengoku says that in the end, Garp was still a parent.
With no more obstacles standing in his way, Luffy leaps up the now-collapsing stone ramp and manages to set foot on the execution scaffold, finally managing to reach Ace.
Eyecatches: Luffy and Franky
As Luffy takes out the key he got from Hancock and tries to undo Ace’s shackles, Sengoku begins to glow a golden glow and grow in size as the marines declare that he’s using his Devil Fruit ability. Now resembling a giant Buddha statue, Sengoku declares that he’ll execute both Luffy and Ace himself, as Kizaru manages to shoot the key out of Luffy’s hand, spoiling his plan.
But despite Luffy and Ace’s predicament, there’s one last surprise to be had. One of the executioners lying on the stand wakes up, revealing himself to actually be Mr. 3, of all people. He wonders why he lost consciousness all of a sudden before seeing Sengoku’s massive fist and justifiably freaking out. Luffy yells for him to create a wax wall to protect Ace while he activates Gear Third and uses Gigant Fuusen (Gigant Balloon) to take the impact of Sengoku’s punch. The blow is too much for him though, not to mention that the scaffold begins to crumble under the pressure. Mr. 3 shouts that he’ll make a key himself as the three of them fall.
We then flashback to Mr. 3 hiding in Marineford’s underground tunnel, spying on an officer briefing the two executioners on the progress of the battle in the plaza. He remembers Mr. 2’s last words, that Luffy had to rescue his brother no matter what, and how he fought to save Luffy after he was defeated by Magellan. He never ran away, even in the end. With that thought, Mr. 3 did something very uncharacteristic of himself. He managed to ambush one of the executioners alone in a break room and assumed his identity.
Mr. 3 finishes his key and asks Luffy if he’d laugh if told that he was there to avenge his fallen comrade. Luffy declares that he would never as he takes the key. Sengoku, now back to normal, declares that this can’t be happening and leaps off of the scaffold just as a whole barrage of artillery hits it, creating a huge explosion. The marines think that no one could’ve survived such a conflagration, but then a burst of flame shoots out of the smoke. Ace emerges unharmed, with Luffy and Mr. 3 in tow. He says that Luffy never changes, never listening to anything he says and pulling stupid stunts like this. Luffy and the pirates are overjoyed; Ace is free at last!
Just like the clash with Coby, the clash with Garp was over in a spilt second after all that buildup. On the one hand it is a bit disappointing - who wouldn't be pumped up for such a fight? - while on the other it makes perfect sense. As Sengoku illustrated for us, in the end, Garp's a parent. The poor guy was clearly conflicted throughout this whole arc and finally throws the fight because he just couldn't go up against his loved ones. Now with that said, the image of his legs sticking up out of the ground like that afterwards totally killed the drama.
Sengoku also revealed his power. It hasn't been named in the series itself, but according to a recent SBS his Devil Fruit is called the Human Human Fruit Model Buddha. Now, Chopper's Fruit wasn't introduced as a model Zoan, so that's a bit of a retcon on Oda's part, but it does sort of fit with him saying that if a human ate the Human Human Fruit it would enlighten them, as Buddha's whole goal was enlightenment. Of course, I doubt he was thinking of the Kung-Fu Jesus applications back then. Maybe.
The transformation, however, highlighted a glaring flaw in this chapter, which voice-acting and animation only serve to exasterbate. Namely, Sengoku simply standing around doing nothing while Luffy's up there. Seriously, Luffy's not three feet away from him trying to undo Ace's shackles, and the Fleet Admiral of the Navy is just standing around watching. It's just really, really stupid-looking.
Bit with Mr. 3 was nice. The last couple of episodes had been building up to it, and if you paid attention you could see that that really was Mr. 3 up there two episodes back. Given his Smug Snake nature and how he debuted during Little Garden, you'd hardly expect something like that from him. Nice to see that even he was touched by Mr. 2's sacrifice.
Anyway, finally, finally Ace is free. Now, even though we should be wrapping this arc up, I do believe the saying goes "It's not over 'til the fat lady sings". The Whitebeards still need to get away, after all.
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