Manga: Chapter 626 (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

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Summary
Patty opens a Baratie Desert under the sea (Cover Story).

(Flashback)
Vander Decken plots to use the Urashima's Casket to age Shirahoshi which is said to be in Ryuuguu Palace.

Queen Otohime gained a surge of signatures for her petition due to the support from the Celestial Dragons.

A random fire lead to Queen Otohime being shot and possible lost of signatures. The Neptune Brothers vow to protect Princess Shirahoshi.

Thoughts
What was Oda smoking when he created the cover of this week's Weekly Jump? Indigo flower fro for Brook?

In other news....Patty's underwater restaurant thing looks pretty nice.

Side Note: It seems like Oda has a good memory as it seems like he drew something we haven't seen in a long while during this chapter right here. If you don't get it then see here for details. (Special thanks to ZeroXOmega for pointing this out.)

You know...Decken has problems. He has serious problems that maybe Urashima's Casket can't fix. Of course it may fix the whole 'marrying a little girl' problem but apparently he has not so smart henchmen. Then again we are seeing that Decken is not as sharp as we are hoping him to be. The guy has a good idea here with using Urashima's Casket to age Shira to be the proper age of marriage. Still I am not sure if that makes this whole thing any less creepy and lollicon as it is already.

Speaking of Urashima's Casket, I wonder what it really is. This item sounds pretty magical which is something that doesn't mix with One Piece. The only thing that sounds familiar to Urashima's Casket is Bonny's aging ability. Maybe it is tied to that? Surely this item can't be magical and must have a science explanation behind it. Then again I wonder if we are going to see it anytime soon. It seems like Decken has taken his eyes off Urashima's Casket seeing that he didn't raid Ryuuguu Palace while he was there earlier with Hodi.

Also...nice to know that Decken as no friends. He will save money on printing invitations.

The moment where Otohime is embraced by her children and the talk with her sons really made me feel good about this chapter. From this moment forward I knew that this chapter was going to be great. Finally things were turning out good for Otohime as she was getting signatures from what seems like everybody on Fishman Island.

I could literally feel the happiness that was being radiated from Otohime and her family. All her hard work was finally baring fruit. It felt long overdue since thoughout this flashback we been seeing the queen struggle. Everybody was doubting her in some form or way her goal but slowly people were supporting her. May it be Jimbei's acceptation of becoming a Warlord or Tiger's request to keep the full events of his death a secret.

This build up is just going to be used against us later in this chapter once the bad thing happens. Oda is clearly taking advantage of our knowledge of knowing how this flashback will end by building our connection with Otohime. Then once the key event happens, it just going to hurt us harder. Still for just this brief moment during this chapter I was able to forget about all of that and enjoy this happy moment between a mother's victory and her sons.

Now time to talk about the controversy that came with this chapter. The potential that Shira would join Luffy's crew due to her ability to talk to sea kings and the legend stating that 'someone will appear to guide the mermaid'. Personally I can see how Shira will and will not join the StrawHats which I will explain.

Luffy could be the person that the legend is referring to. So far on his journey he has 'changed' the world of the people and places he has been to such as Cocoyashi Village, Alabasta, and Skypeia. So doing something similar at Fishman Island won't be surprising at all. If Shira joining the StrawHats in order to be guided by Luffy because he will or is 'going to change the world', even if that means changing the world of the fishman, then it is possible. They will just have to take care of the whole Shira's size thing which could be taken care of via Urashima's Casket depending on what it does. As in fighting....Not everybody who joins the crew had super kick butt fighting skills as seen with Nami. So eventually Shira may develop some sort of combat skills. The later part of this paragraph is mostly said in faith of Oda since he surely planned out who will join the crew since the beginning of this series.

Respect rose so much but not to super level just yet

On the other hand....Being guided by someone who may end up being Luffy doesn't mean Shira will join Luffy's crew. Luffy may end up doing something that will help guide Shira in the direction of being a fine and compassionate ruler. Luffy will be her 'eyeopener' that will make Shira more confident in her abilities and less of a crybaby.

Another thing to consider is that maybe it won't be Luffy who will 'guide' Shira. Another person that could guide Shira is Jimbei. If one remembers, Jimbei is a special fishman that has the unique ability to talk to fish. Remember that Crocodile said that the ability to talk to fish was one that only mermaids have. Jimbei could be somebody who can guide Shira in learning how to control her ability to talk to sea kings and at the same time raise her become not only a fine ruler but a respectable person. It does seems like Otohime's ideals have rubbed off Jimbei and he seems like a person that kept her in mind even up to Marineford.

Another option could be Vander Decken....Yeah.....

And then it happens. You 'turn' the page and see Otohime bleeding following a bang sound on the previous page. The sound effect could easily be missed thus making this an even bigger surprise. Panic happen everywhere as the citizens and guards are busy trying to subdue the fire while at the same time save as many signatures. While all of this was happening we surely knew that Otohime's death was surely to follow soon.

This part also had something that I been upset with the current state of the manga. It seems like Oda is skimming over details that could either enhance or explain moments which is leading to the feeling of rushing. I went into detail about how I felt during the discussion of Chapter 624 and it creep up in this chapter as well. If Decken is going to be consider as a serious threat or a threat at all then it would have really helped him a bit if Oda showed Decken doing a bit of planning or at least him holding the gun panels before we hear the bang.

At least we know how Decken was about to touch Shira to add her to his 'target database'. Apparently Oda wanted to show how he got that. It was good to see since it seems like he planned this whole situation just for the moment to touch Shira for a later plan. Still it would seems like Oda wants to make Decken a more comedic villain similar to what Buggy was a bit and thus another throwback to the earlier days of One Piece.

Is it just me or does it seems like Decken's stalkerish behavoir was something that grew over time. It doesn't seem like he was 'lovesick' with Shira at first. When we saw him earlier in the flashback it looked like he wanted to marry her just out of necessity. Then he just easily went crazy like a stalker once Shira turned him down.

The final moment of Otohime with her children was the icing on the cake. Seeing Otohime talking to her sons about not holding anger on her behalf is something that she been doing even till the very end.

Then we see the two 'sillier' brothers singing to Shira in order to calm her down to prevent her from summoning potentially destructive sea kings. That moment just flashed me back to when we first see the princes where they were singing. It so explained while they were singing since it was their way to help make Shira happy while at the same time it helps them cope in a way.

Personally the death of Otohime was much deeper then the Tiger's. I didn't really felt much when Tiger die since his involvement didn't seem much as compared to Otohime. During this flashback we kept seeing Otohime working hard for something that was in no way was going to bare fruit anytime soon. Then we see that she finally reached a milestone only to be killed. The investment for me was much deeper.

This flashback surely will be coming to a close soon. I expect maybe one more chapter to wrap things up and show the aftermath. Maybe something to show a bit of what Decken and Hodi is planning then we will go back to the present. Hopefully once we are there we can see a bit better pacing and less of this whole 'off screen action' thing that we been seeing. Also maybe a climax.

Overall I loved this chapter and thought it was the best one we have had in a while. Everything just felt almost perfect with the build up to how Otohime died. There were of course a small moment of unhappiness but it was easily negated by how well this chapter was layout.

Stay strong true believers.