BLADE Pathfinders
At the same time, Kavner's been voicing Marge for 3 decades. That's enough time for voices to change naturally
Silence is golden, noise is platinum. Keelah se'lai
Oh yeah, since its still November, that means that this month was a double release. If I'm remembering right, Volume 8 came out right at the start. (I believe the same weekend Film Red released). Though I wonder if this counts as the December release? I guess we'll see later.
The physical releases have unfortunately slowed down a bit. Last one was in October (if I remember right) and the next won't be until January. And those are still on Zou. (Though that "season" is only 3 volumes long anyway)
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
By the way, Diana, did you notice that Luffy stopped smiling after his fight with Usopp?
...fuck, I didn't notice.
Formerly Hail Muffins (He/Him)
Yeah, I needed to have that pointed out to me as well.
El sexo es temporal. LA PENITENCIA ES ETERNA!
Surrounded by weirdoes
It really was one thing after another in Water 7, wasn't it? Robin left, Usopp left, they lost their ship and got hunted down. Even his smile while talking about a new ship felt kinda forced, or at least back to the denial stage.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Sorry for the wall of spoiler text. I just had thoughts about this area of the Water 7 arc that I wanted to type before I forgot them. But its still spoiler stuff through the next two manga volumes, so....
I don't think people talk enough about how important the scene with Luffy stuck between the buildings and Nami shouting to him to pull himself together to so they can save Robin is. With the Merry being unfixable and Usopp & now Robin leaving the crew, for the first time Luffy feels defeated and unsure of himself. Learning from Nami that "No, this isn't what Robin really wants, she was trying to protect us and now we need to protect her!" sparks hope in him again and let's him pull it together. But I think a lot of people just kind of think "Great, another dumb reason for Luffy to be held up. Let's just get to Enies Lobby already." But its a good reminder that sometimes Luffy is the one who needs emotional help.
The Power of Toons and Anime
Once you relize that Luffy stopped smiling that ![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
moment becomes even more powerfull since it is the first time he smiles again since the fight with Usopp, its just a bit hard to see because of his squished face.
Volume 37, Chapters 347-357.
Luffy yoinks Iceberg and calls out Lucci and the rest of CP 9 as traitors, while saying his main business is with Robin. The rest of the Straw Hats confront Robin on her working with these goons, and she claims that if she stayed with the Straw Hats, she never would've accomplished her goals...big Sasuke vibes here. Lucci announces that they're bidding adieu to deal with someone else (Franky, of course) and says the mansion is set to blow in two minutes to erase all evidence. He tells the Straw Hats that they should hurry and leave...if they can get past them. The team prepare for another fight, and Zoro tries to tell Luffy that Robin has chosen her side, but Luffy doesn't buy it.
Zoro does battle with Kaku while Luffy continues calling out to Robin. Zoro encourages Luffy to hurry up and grab her, but he takes his eye off Kaku for just a minute, allowing him to jab Zoro with his finger just like Lucci did earlier. Sidenote but it's noticeable that Kaku only refers to Zoro as "Roronoa" here, interesting detail. Luffy gets blocked again, this time by Lucci, who just holds his hand to Luffy's face while our boy tries to keep moving. Luffy gets thrown away like a bowling ball and Lucci goes into another monologue about the strength of CP 9, thanks to their Six Powers style...which is called that because it's literally six superhuman fighting skills. The full extent is classified, but with the detonation about to occur, Lucci can't help himself to show one more surprise...and we see a silhouette of him transforming...
Luffy and Zoro try to attack, but Lucci continues to overpower them. He literally tosses BOTH OF THEM out of the fucking building. Nami is tossed out as well and the denizens of Water 7 find her and prepare to arrest her. One of the Straw Hats (it looks like maybe Zoro?) is thrown out into the ocean as the tide comes in. Paulie and Iceberg are tied up as the building burns. CP 9 escape and watch the fire, while Lucci declares that Franky is next.
Franky talks to Usopp about the tide and explains that Water 7 used to be different. The island's gradual sinking caused the old buildings to be hidden away by the water, and eventually, the island may well vanish altogether. He begins to wax nostalgic about the Puffing Tom and the creation of the Sea Train, while explaining that the creator of the Puffing Tom was, well, Tom, his mentor.
Cut back to Lucci, who's just gotten done beating the shit out of the Franky Family and announces they have Franky's location. And finally cut back to Franky, who asks Usopp what he's gonna do with the ship. Usopp says he's gonna sail it back to the East Blue, which sparks a rebuke from Franky. He says he agrees with Galley-La's assessment of the Going Merry, which gets Usopp angry.
Turns out, uh, he KNEW the Going Merry was done for, but, y'know, denial and all. What's more, Usopp claims he saw something he believed to be an "incarnation" of the Going Merry making repairs somewhere during the Skypiea Arc, and he believed the ship could still be salvaged if that were the case. The "incarnation" said something about carrying everyone a bit farther. Turns out the "incarnation", according to Franky, is a Klabautermann, a genuine incarnation of a ship...namely a ship that's well-loved and well-treated by its crew. This reassures Usopp a little bit, though he admits he wasn't rational about all of the previous events during the split. But we end on a menacing shot of CP 9 arriving at their door...ah jeez...
Amidst some brief flashes of Franky's past, our cyborg bro begins to panic as he tries to attack, only for Lucci to, again, monstrously overpower him and punch him straight into the wall. Usopp panics as well, while Lucci orders a search for the blueprints. Blueno finds some name plates saying "Cutty Flam", "Iceberg", and "Tom", and Franky springs back up and yells to not touch them. Turns out, the hideout is the old warehouse Tom's Workers operated in, and we end on a picture of Franky and Iceberg as kids, with Tom standing over them...and Kokoro in the photo too.
And not the flashback begins. A 12-year old Franky flees from a giant sea monster on a small battle ship he made (a "Battle Franky") and is scolded by a 16-year old Iceberg for his antics. Franky declares that he'll make a ship one day that can take out a Neptunian. We're introduced to Tom, who is a long-horned cowfish fish-man, and uh, turns out Yokozuna the sumo frog is his pet. Also, Tom is strong enough to flip an entire ship over with one hand, and that's just to launch it. Later, the crew are eating, when Kokoro comes in and they discuss the incoming tides and the rise of more pirates after Gol D. Roger's execution. Kokoro thinks Water 7 is going downhill with current ongoing struggles, and it's clear that Water 7 ain't what it used to be as a shipbuilding haven.
Franky brings up how Tom built an awesome pirate ship and asks for the blueprints, but Tom laughs it off. He declares that there are no blueprints: anything can be a pirate ship as long as it has the right flag. Real men, says Tom, puff out their chests with pride over the ships they build, and tells Franky to build whatever he wants. Later, Franky catches Tom drawing something up, which Tom calls "the island's last hope". He hopes Water 7 can use it to get a new lease on life. The next day, a judicial ship shows up, and declares Tom a criminal for having built the ship Oro Jackson, used by the recently executed Gol D. Roger. Tom will be taken to Ennies Lobby to be executed...fuck.
The next day, Iceberg questions why Franky is even part of their team. Tom briefly explains how Franky landed on Scrap Heap Island and built a cannon all by himself, claiming his parents kicked him out...like, actually threw him overboard because they were bumfuck pirates...ouch, poor kid. He admires Franky's fighting spirit and tells Iceberg to get along with him. We get a montage of the ten arduous years the crew spent to build the Sea Train. After several years, in the bleakest moments of Water 7's history, the Puffing Tom finally pulls in, and the city is happy once again. Happy ending! OR IS IT??
Tom later shows the blueprints to Franky and Iceberg, telling them it's too dangerous for him to keep it anymore. He tells them it's their responsibility to do whatever with it, and then shows them a wanted poster of Robin. Three days later and the judicial ship arrives, with the judge saying he fully believes Tom will be pardoned. Franky is out shopping, but then BOOM, an entire fleet of his Battle Frankies attack. Tom and Iceberg spring into action, suspecting this to be the work of either pirates or the World Government...and Spandam sits back and laughs.
Tom is pierced by a whole harpoon but he tells Iceberg not to blame Franky and tries shrugging off his injury. Spandam comes in to bring all three of them before the judge, who has now changed his mind about pardoning Tom. Franky protests and blames Spandam for the attack, but nobody believes him. When Franky is told that the ships were his, Franky rejects it, saying he no longer sees them as his own. Tom then rips his handcuffs apart and punches Franky, telling him to NEVER say such a thing about a ship he's built. He reminds Franky that there's no such thing as a good or bad ship, and to love a ship, because he gives the ship life. Don't blame the ship. Have pride in the ship. He turns to the firing squad and tells Franky and Iceberg to not interfere...
Of course, with the crime changing, that means Franky and Iceberg are off the hook. This was a ploy to spare them from being executed. But Franky ain't having it. He doesn't want Tom to go down like this. He busts Spandam's head again and, as the Sea Train takes off with Tom, gets on the fucking rails with a bazooka. When that doesn't work to stop the train, he tries to prevent it from moving with sheer strength...but it doesn't work either. The train keeps going, Franky is nowhere to be seen...and his last thoughts are that he wants to build a ship that can sail to the ends of the world...
...so that's how Franky became a cyborg, I'm assuming.
Also, one detail I noticed...Paulie's reaction to Lucci's reveal as a government agent is meant to be a parallel to Luffy's reaction to Robin, right?
I love Tom. In this entire flashback, he's never cared about what happens to him, its all about helping others. Saving Water 7 with the Sea Train, there was no guarantee the Government was gonna cancel his execution at the end of it. He just wanted to make sure the town could survive. When Spandam framed them for attacking the Government, Tom took all the heat onto himself while doing his best to convince Franky not to let this destroy his dreams of building ships. And openly declares that he's PROUD of his work on the Oro Jackson, even if its lead to all this trouble.
To your question about Paulie and Luffy, its actually kind of a theme in this section. Paulie is in denial about Lucci and Kaku having lied to him for years and being assassins. Usopp is in denial about dismantling the Going Merry being the correct thing to do for it, and Luffy is in denial about Robin leaving them being what she really wants.
Doesn't mean the pressure from all these tragic events with his crew one after another isn't starting to get to Luffy, though...
Also want to take a second talking about Tom's judge, because I think he brings an interesting dynamic. He tried to be fair to Tom where he can - Granting the work release, nearly calling off the execution when he delivers on the Sea Train, and honoring his request to have the Battle Franky incident be pardoned instead. Buuut, this whole situaion started because Tom was being prosecuted just for having a connection to the guy who happened to go on to become Pirate King is ridiculous. I think it shows there ARE people in the World Goverment who want to do right, but since its an inherently flawed, fascist system, they never can do right, even if they try.
Edited by diddyknux on Dec 2nd 2022 at 6:01:42 AM
The Power of Toons and Anime
The use of the Klabautermann is something I really appreciate since he is actually a figure from German folklore that I've heard stories about since I was little.
There are stories about him helping repair the ship he is on, sometimes rescuing sailors and sometimes playing pranks on them, always while staying invisible.
It is said that if he ever actually shows himself to a member of the crew its a clear omen that the ship is about to be doomed.
If ever there appears a sailor in a German story there is a high chance he will invoke the Klabautermann at some point.
Edited by uncertanSearcher on Dec 2nd 2022 at 1:37:51 PM
That's the opposite of fucking things up. Last times Sanji went around alone away from the reader's attention, he set up the Mr. Prince subplot and dismantled Enel's ark's engine. Sanji is always at his most valuable when he's the team brain acting independently.
The Head of the Hydra
Its weird looking back and remembering how capable Sanji was as a lone-agent in those arcs
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
He still comes back to it sometimes.
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
The Franky flashback is great, and severely underrated. I love that you can spot a bunch of the modern Water Seven characters as kids in it, I love Tom's message about having pride in your creations, even if they're used for evil, and I love how much it recontextualizes so much of the earlier Water Seven.
Remember how Kokoro gave the Straw Hats a letter of recommendation to Iceberg, and he mentioned that he and Kokoro are "old drinking buddies"? That hits different when you learn she's basically his mom. As does the scene between Franky and Kokoro in Blueno's bar.
This is one of the only AMVs out there for the Franky flashback, and I love it:
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 2nd 2022 at 6:02:05 AM
The One with Knowledge of Things
Aah, Rokushiki(Six Styles)... A fighting style that caught my attention the first time I went through this arc.
As the name says, there are six different superhuman techniques with different effects:
- Three with legs: Soru(Shave)note , Rankyaku(Storm Leg)note and Geppō(Moon Step)note
- Two with whole body: Tekkai(Iron Mass)note and Kamie(Paper Drawing)note
- One with hands: Shigan(Finger Gun)note
Out of all six, I personally would like to learn Geppō, since that would simplify travelling through city a lot.
I assure you, I'm a completely trustworthy person.
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
I think a better way to categorize them is like this:
- Two movement options: Moonwalk and Shave
- Two offensive options: Tempest Kick and Finger Pistol
- Two defensive options: Iron Body and Paper Arts
And the official English names are perfectly accurate translations, I never got why some people insist on using the Japanese terms for them.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 2nd 2022 at 6:17:20 AM
The Head of the Hydra
Wait I forgot Kamie was a thing.
I don't recall much of its use.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Tom’s trial is an often forgotten but IMO important bit of WG dickishness. I mean, the presiding judge admits DURING THE TRIAL that the whole thing is completely illegal, since under World Government law someone who makes something (a ship, for instance) is not legally responsible for something someone ELSE does with that thing (piracy, for instance)… but they need to flex their muscles after Roger turned his own execution into a victory so, sucks to be you, cowfish-man.
Because it sounds cooler in Japanese! (also because it's what we're used to)
You're right, because I didn't remember that til you brought it up.
The answer is still yes btw.
This arc is about pushing the Straw Hats to their absolute lowest point so far. Going Merry is in hospice, Usopp has left, Robin has betrayed them, and CP9 has beaten their asses.
But when you have reached rock bottom, the only direction to go is up. Especially since a King is about to appear.
Which is cooler is highly subjective and not specific to each name instead of the whole group. My answer, for example, is that the cooler names are Shave, Geppou, Tempest Kick, Shigan, Iron Body, and then Kamie sounds kinda lame in all versions but Paper Arts is the most ok among them.
The more fair and more general answer is that not everyone reads One Piece through the official English version. This is especially true for a 2005 arc like Water 7. I personally read it in 2009 through Brazilian Portuguese scans and revisited parts of it only in the official Brazilian tankobon release.
Though the question was in response to jouXIII's post, so the specific answer here is that Jou is pretty averse to translations in general, preferring original Japanese names even for Pokémon moves.
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
Remember how I was talking about the Queen Mama Chanter's ridiculous size? Well, Orlumbus's Yonta Maria is comparable:
I think the four biggest ships we've seen so far in One Piece are Thriller Bark, Noah, the Queen Mama Chanter, and the Yonta Maria.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Dude does have thousands of men under his command, after all.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Speaking of strain, I was just watching some newer Simpsons episodes a couple days ago and noticed how different Marge (Julie Kavner) sounds. Yes, Marge is mostly Julie's regular voice, but it got me thinking about how some voices can strain an actor even if they provide steady work.
The sad, REAL American dichotomy