SPOILERS
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Summary
Coribou ends up abandoning his ship due to a storm. (Cover Story)
Zoro and Tashigi run away from Land of the Dead.
Mocha eats the Candy in order to keep it away from the other kids.
Sanji and the G5 Marines join up with Chopper, Nami and Robin's group. Together they began to subdue the children.
Luffy and Momonosuke escape from the
Thoughts
This Coribou cover story has been enjoyable to follow. This must be retribution for his lackluster performance during the Fishman Island arc. It is good to see that Coribou is getting his just deserts after leaving his crew behind back at G5. Still, I am interested to see where he will end up at the end of this story.
Another thing that I am liking is that we are sticking to a single scene and letting it play out before moving on to the next. I have always dislike only seeing a glimpse of a scene then quickly moving to another. Oda was doing a lot of that prior to the Zoro and Tashigi verses Momet battle. When Oda does that, nothing gets done and it feels as if the story didn't move at all.
Now to the chapter.
It is rare that we get Chopper heavy moments but when we do, they hit hard. The build up to this moment has been nicely done It should have been obvious that Mocha was going to swallow the Candy but still a surprise to see. You could have felt the sense of dread as everybody watched Mocha put the candy in her mouth. You knew she was going to do something but couldn't be sure if it will end well for her.
The flashback to the promise the children made added more depth to the moment. It gave meaning to Mocha's actions while also added an emotional element to it. Prior to the Candy, all of these kids were normal and happy. Now they are ravage addicts waiting for their next fix. It is great way to reminds us of how different the children were prior their introduction in the story.
I am unsure how I want this Mocha situation to play out. If she dies, then that will make this moment even more meaningful. This holds true especially to Chopper who hasn't have a powerful moment since Thriller Bark. Still, if this does happen then it would blow that moment out of the water. On the other hands, Oda wouldn't kill a child. Would he? That is pretty extreme thing to do.
Also, it looks like Oda is trying to reserve his deaths for big moments seeing that he hasn't killed off anybody in the current timeline since the Marineford Arc. He had his chances to kill off characters such as Coribou's crew and the New Fishman Pirates but hasn't. This type of behavior is something Oda has done since the beginning of One Piece. Still, the thought of killing off Mocha is always there in our minds.
Finally, we have Luffy. I am glad that we didn't waste precious panels in the last few chapters with Momonosuke and him escaping the Dust Box. That would have felt too similar to his time in the snake back in Skypeia or any other similar moments. Now that the rest of the character's scenes have played though, we can see some Luffy action.
Or find out what Franky is doing. There is also a fight between Law and Smoker against Vergo. I wouldn't mind getting back to that.
Still, until next time true believers!
Yeah. I wouldn't trust anybody looking like this with a needle.
You do make a point that Oda seems very stingy about killing his characters off. Every single time they make it seems like someone is going to pass away, they somehow miraculously (and often illogically) survive.
ReplyDeleteThe first instance was during the Alabasta Arc, when Pell carried the bomb into the sky to protect the kingdom from the blast, then (I suppose) he dropped it just a milasecond before it went off and accelerated his flight speed at a breakneck pace to out fly the explosion. Keep in mind, this also happened after he had already had his back bended completely over by Robin, AND was shot out of the sky by Mr.12 and Mrs. girl-in-the-stupid-frog-outfit. How he had the inertia left to pull off such a feat, we will never know.
The second instance was in Skypeia. Wiper used the Reject Dial, a weapon that was clearly stated to kill the user after 2 uses, 3 times (once against the Ordeal of Strings, once against Eneru, and once against the Giant Jack), and was perfectly fine when the battle was over.
The third miraculous survival was when the Buster Call was summoned at Enies Lobbiy and we see a good 50 members of the Gallery-La workers and the Franky Gang, as well as 2 Giants and 2 giant seahoarses, ALL go completely unhinged from a full frontal assault by about a dozen Marine battleships because SOMEHOW, Pauly, was able to create a giant rope net strong enough to hold all of them over a cazim in less than a second.
Wow Oda! Are you just afraid of your precious characters having to experience a consequence or two? I mean this is Writing 101 were talking here. This is one of the huge defining criticisms of the Twilight Books: No consequences. All the main characters live in this little bubble where they are completely safe and nothing bad can happen to them.
Or...is it just that you're biding your time for the final battle at the end of the Grand Line, so that you can have all your characters come back for one giant battle and THEN they start dropping like flies? Like the J.K. Rowling effect?
I'm just...Sayian.
...
I know, I know, that jokes about a decade old.
Damn. I so hate Pell. That makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you forgot one in Skypeia. There was Pagaya, Conis's father. He got hit with Eneru's Judgement with that one member of the Royal Guard at Upper Yard. Then somehow, he was able to live.
Yeah. I felt like I have to remind people of Oda's killing rule. I been feeling that a lot of fans are wanting Oda to kill more people ever since the start of the Time Skip.
I do like it that Oda reserves deaths for big moments. It makes it even more meaningful when they happen. I just wish he would stop it with these crazy saves.