Manga: Chapter 597 (SPOILERS!)

As the new era approaches, buy One Piece from Viz here!

For the last couple of chapters, we have been following the Straw Hats as they intend to gain strength in preparation for meeting up with each other at the Sabaody Archipelago in order to continue their adventures in the New World. How long will it take for them to meet up with each other? We will find out during this epic chapter. 

The cover page contains both Whitebeard and Gold Roger standing side by side with both of their respectable flags in  the background. The cover has a sense of symbolism about it as it is the end of both the eras of the two big pirates and we move onto a new era where nobody knows what to expect. It also marks the end of something else but we'll get back to that in a second.

We start out at Kuragana Island where we see Zoro do one of the most unexpected things we'd ever see him do: he begs Mihawk to teach him more powerful sword techniques. Now, lets go back all the way back to chapter 52 of this series. That was when Mihawk gave Zoro the motivation to become even stronger enough to beat him someday, and now Zoro is asking for guidance from the very man he wishes to defeat? Of course Mihawk isn't willing to acquiesce his request, until Zoro mentions that he has defeated the baboons and he states that he wants to overcome Mihawk. Mihawk just laughs at this, but even though he says that this is still a disgraceful request he asks Perona to heal Zoro's wounds and that they will begin training once he has healed....wow...just wow. This is just awesome. 

Now here comes another revelation, you know how in the past few chapters  the Straw Hats managed to have caught a message Luffy sent out to them during his brief return to Marineford? We finally get an answer to this. The tattoo on Luffy's right arm states "3D 2Y" (although the "3D" is crossed out. Now what this means is the Straw Hats originally agreed at Sabaody to meet up at the Thousand Sunny after its coating in 3 days, but of course its been way longer than 3 days since the Straw Hats were separated. Now the "2Y" means that they will meet up again at the Sabaody Archipelago in 2 years instead. This explains why the Straw Hats are willing to hone their skills and get stronger than before, since it would be too dangerous as they are now. So thats right people, One Piece shall be getting a 2 year time skip. I can't wait to see how they'll look and how improved their strength is in 2 years, but for now the rest of the chapter focuses on Luffy.

We go back a few days somewhere on the Calm Belt. Jinbei is leaving Luffy and the others for Fishman Island and they both thank each other for all the help they've given each other recently. We go to an island called Rusukana where the climate changes once a week. While Hancock is willing to help out Luffy by feeding him during his training, Rayleigh forbids him as apparently women aren't allowed to interfere with his training (geez he's such a sexist) and Hancock accepts only for Luffy's sake but shes still worried since its so dangerous. The island itself is HUGE and is full of nature, but no humans (Luffy and Rayleigh are the only ones there apparently). Supposedly a country did use to exist here, but its people died out as they couldn't survive as the island's natural defense is stronger. Of course Luffy just sees this as another adventure, but Rayleigh explains that the animals that inhabit here are REALLY strong and Luffy isn't strong enough to fight them all of yet? But how is Luffy going to get stronger? With Haki of course!

A giant elephant appears and Rayleigh explains Haki to Luffy that its a power that lies in all dormant creatures. It contains presence, fighting spirit and intimidation. Haki can be split into 2 categories: "The color of observation" which detects an enemy's presence. If this becomes stronger within you, you can detect enemy movements invisible to the naked eye no matter how many there are or what they will do.

Interestingly enough, this is the explanation for "Mantra", the ability that a lot of people on Skypiea used to detect movements no matter how far someone is. 

The other category is "color of armaments", which allows you to block attacks easily and attack enemies even if you just flicked them (as Rayleigh demonstrates). Besides the ability to attack weak points of Devil Fruit users, its the only way to oppose powerful Devil Fruit users such as Logia users. This can also be imbued into weapons just like the bows and arrows the Kuja Pirates used. There is also another type of Haki that only a few people in the entire world can use. This is "the colour of the conqueror" however this type cannot be trained and strengthened as it is only powered by the user's spirit and personal growth. We've seen Rayleigh use this at the auction house in Saobody and Luffy at Amazon Lily (there are more examples but I'll leave it at that). Rayleigh says not to use it until Luffy can control it, otherwise it will intimidate innocent people. 2 years usually isn't enough time to train the 3 types but because Luffy's disposition is so strong, Rayleigh is willing to help him out in that amount of time. But apparently each user has a particular "color" that they are the most skilled in. This will only be figured out once Luffy can control the 3 types. The next day Luffy takes off his straw hat and places the vivre card in the ribbon. He puts the straw hat on a rock and runs off to Rayleigh to start training. The chapter ends with a shot of the straw hat and Rayleigh asking to call him "san" or "sensei" (Luffy has been calling him "uncle" for a while) but Luffy just settles on "Rayleigh". 

Now we've got a lot to take in. First of all, as I mentioned the series will be getting a timeskip in order for the crew to prepare themselves for the New World. Hopefully their appearances may not change too much (although it would be cool to see Luffy with a goatee) but I REALLY can't wait to see their new powers and how the world itself as well as the other pirates and the marines will change over the course of 2 years. Unfortunetly though One Piece is getting a 4 week break, which is great for Oda but not so great for the fans. I just hope that he gets some relaxation and plans out this timeskip very well (which is most likely to happen knowing Oda).

So again, there will be no new chapter for 4 weeks, but don't worry as we will try to fill the void until then. So heres to the New Age and heres to the Straw Hats.