Anime: Straw Hat Reunion Arc- Episode 521

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First Thoughts

One of the most enjoyable parts of the episode is the Marines. Though they brought Pacifistas, which I do not support; this was one of the few times the Marines fight truly “bad” pirates. Another memorable scene I enjoyed was of Sentomaru’s speech about Luffy. I didn’t expect that he would defend Luffy’s honor as he did, because he is Luffy’s foe. Because of this action, Sentomaru reminds me of Smoker.

The idiocy of the fake Straw Hats is frustrating, and I am certainly glad to be rid of them. Another excellent scene of the episode was when Sentomaru called out the imposter, and everyone was shocked. Sentomaru is no fool, and I should have expected no less from his sharp mind. He has fought Luffy before.

Summary

Once given Rayleigh’s vivre card, the crew decides to rendezvous with Brook at Grove 47 so that they can leave Sabaody as soon as Luffy arrives. With the captain still absent, Chopper thinks of a way to find the rubber man.

Meanwhile at Grove 46, the fake Straw Hats and their new crew are waiting for Luffy’s execution, when the Marines arrive.

One furious imposter, a psychotic Caribou, and a dead Marine later, and evil pirates battle good Marines.  Meanwhile Luffy watches on in confusion, offering occasional comments which Sanji’s imposter cannot understand.

Pacifistas arrive on the scene and turn the tide of battle to the Marine’s favor, quickly decimating the pirates’ ranks as the captains go down one-by-one.

Terrified for his own life, the fake Luffy flees with his crew trailing behind, leaving his assembled team of vicious pirates to deal with the Marines. However, he runs into Sentomaru, who is not susceptible to the ruse. Keeping up the lie, fake Luffy goes down for the count with a one hit K-O from the blunt side of Sentomaru’s battle axe, ending his tirade of empty threats.

Thoughts

The picture chosen as backdrop for the episode’s title compares Luffy’s emotional states. This creates an atmosphere of tension as the viewers wonder what causes Luffy to transition so drastically. On another thought the dual comparison could be between himself as he was and as he is now. None of his crew has seen the change in him, and their reactions could be mixed.  

Planning and Thinking

I would like to see the Marines try and arrest every devoted fan at Brook’s farewell concert.  Those Marines are in for it now. A riot has broken out, and this angry mob of fans is very intent on keeping their favorite superstar from being locked up.

I am pleased Brook has received recognition as a musician and a pirate. I knew he would become a rock star, but the Marines connecting the dots on Brook’s true identity took me by surprise.

There are no better insults than “third-class swordsman” and “worsened cooking skills” to be thrown at your old crewmate. These new jabs are refreshing as alternatives to “dartboard brow” or “moss head”.

Oh no, you did not just say that.

Sanji is insulting Zoro’s meager intelligence by speaking in monosyllable. Zoro retorts with his own attempt. The faces they are each making are very comical.

This is not an attractive pose. Sanji looks like a drug addict.

Zoro pauses and contemplates the ruckus coming from Grove 46. His contemplation shows maturity.

Rousing the Rabble

As long as Luffy does not make a scene, he ought to get out of this fight relatively unscathed. Then again, this is Luffy, and I do not believe I have heard of a time in which he has not been pulled into the conflict in one way or another.

I don’t think it is going to work out. Luckily, Luffy has not exposed himself yet; he is following Hancock’s advice and staying out of conflict so he will not be recognized. He is not impulsive as he was 2 years ago.

Caribou is a psychopath. I also believe he is more intelligent than the other pirates, as he remains undisturbed by the Marines and doesn’t care about talking back to “Luffy.” Though it looks like all he enjoys is killing.

The Marines fighting pirates who are actually bad is a good change. They are supposed to be heroes now and again.

I am intrigued that Caribou describes how the Marines are hypocrites after they announce their battle cry, “Fight for justice!” On another note, I cannot tell if Lip “Service” Doughty is a woman or a man.

Now a pirate who resembles a mummy has joined the fray, “Gashed” Albion. I can’t say that I am impressed by him or any of these pirates really. I haven’t found a single pirate in this fight that I like, so I am hoping the Marines win this round.

Now I see why Caribou has such an uncaring attitude: he doesn’t need to worry about being killed or hurt because he is a fruit user. He feels invincible, so his psychotic tendencies can run rampant. He can turn into a viscous liquid, so perhaps he has a Logia-based ability? That could be very deadly.

The arrival of the Pacifistas, though good for the Marines, is not a good thing in my eyes. Not only because Sentomaru is with them and he knows the real Luffy, but because the Pacifistas are also inhumane and destructive. I dislike them severely for this reason, and it certainly does not help that they are just robotic copies of Kuma.

I like how Sanji’s imposter keeps yelling at Luffy whenever the boy makes remarks about the fight, and how Zoro’s imposter panics behind them. It adds a nice sense of comic relief seeing how well these two work together. They are both such cowards, it is unbelievable.

It is disturbing to hear Kuma’s voice coming from those things. On a side note, this is a stroke of mixed luck for the charlatan, as he has, by bringing the real Straw Hat Luffy on the platform with him, unknowingly fooled the robots into verifying that he is the “real” Luffy.

I know I hoped that the Marines would win today, but not like this. Now I just want the pirates to get arrested, not to have such awful killing machines sick upon them. What the Marines are doing to Kuma’s image is despicable. I just cannot be happy that anyone should win in such a violent, unsympathetic way.

I agree with Albion that this is a very interesting situation, but I probably think this for different reasons than he does. The followers want to see “Straw Hat Luffy” take on a high-ranking Marine official, and I want to see Sentomaru call-out the imposter’s bluff. Sentomaru isn’t stupid enough to fall for the trick, as he fought Luffy. Unfortunately, the real Luffy is there on the stone platform, and is sure to be recognized.

The Shocking Truth Comes To Light (Finally)

This is the first time I can and say that I like Sentomaru. He finally got this loser to shut up. Sentomaru is no fool; he knows Luffy. The situation is odd, but in his own way, Sentomaru is sticking up for Luffy’s honor. That is impressive, even if he is about to go arrest the real Luffy, which is bad.

The overall reaction of everyone’s upon Sentomaru’s announcement was priceless. This was easily my favorite part of the episode so far.

I was curious about the imposter’s true identity, but he is just a small-time con artist, so I am rather disappointed. It is amusing so many of these high-bounty captains fell for the act so easily. They aren’t taking it well either. Not showing Caribou’s reaction worries me, as I believe he had either suspected the fact already, or just didn’t care whether he was working under the real Straw Hat Luffy or not.

Luffy’s patience is rewarded in the form of a chance to quietly slip away in the ruckus. Of course, things are never that easy when Luffy is involved.

Luffy’s disguise is gone now, so chaos is sure to ensue. I like now l casually Luffy is acting about this whole thing. The horrified look of realization that the fake Sanji and the other imposters have on their faces is hilarious. Sanji’s imposter just realized that he had been yelling at the real Straw Hat Luffy.

Return of the True Straw Hat Luffy

The opening theme song playing in the background accentuates Luffy’s power difference in two years, as the music is exciting and Sentomaru begins to lose his composure.

The change in tone is obvious as Luffy dodged the laser beams. This was a good display of his improvement, setting him against his foe on the Archipelago two years ago.

This is the first time I have ever seen a look of fear on Sentomaru’s face.

I didn’t realize Luffy had gained that much of an increase in power.

The other pirate’s eyes just pop out more and more, much to my enjoyment.

The ability to tell that Luffy can control his use of Haki is impressive on Sentomaru’s part. The man can accurately rate his opponent’s strength level, which is a good test-run for Luffy to showcase his progress and improvements.

I am glad that Zoro is the first voice he heard from his crew, and that Sanji was with him to pick up Luffy. This is a good reunion, a collection of the original three superhuman Straw Hats.

 I love how well Sanji and Zoro’s combinations work after all this time. They even remembered to fight over who performed the better attack!

Final Thoughts

A final appearance by Rayleigh is appropriate.. I’m glad to see things come together at long last. The quick reunion of the three fighters was really sweet; I saw what I wanted to see in this episode, especially the look on the Marine’s faces when they see “Dark King” Rayleigh.

This was a very good episode because it set a course for the New World at long last.

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Author: Sora
Editor: Dsaftler
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