Manga: Chapter 712 (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS!

But make sure to read One Piece each week on Weekly Shonen Jump!

Summary
Caribou escapes as the old lady stands off against Kaidou's minion.

Sanji finds out from Violet that Doflamingo never quit the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Robin informs Law of what happened to her and Usopp and warns him to escape.

Doflamingo and Fujitora corners Law and Caesar.

Round Three has started with Luffy in the ring.

Thoughts

It has been a long time since I have felt this excited while reading and after reading a One Piece chapter. It is one thing if a One Piece chapter leaves me feeling excited for the next chapter but it is another thing if I feel excited while reading a chapter. That means that chapter was beyond good and I have something to pump me up for the next chapter besides the usual blind predictions. I want to know for a reason that is fueled with passion! I have a fire in me that was sparked from the chapter and its contents!

My only complaint about this chapter was that we had to spend two pages focus on the tournament. It was nice to know that the round has started but could this have been pushed to the next chapter or one that would focus more on the tournament? These two pages could have been spent on something else such as expanding what had happen with Sanji. Maybe to show more of Violet's fighting technique or how Sanji got beat up or why he refuse to fight Violet's goons.

The comedy aspect of the chapter with Sanji and Violet was excellent! The set up was serious as Violet tried to probe into Sanji's mind for the answers that she wanted only to hit the climax where when she did, all Violet found was Sanji's perverted thoughts. Then we hear Sanji's speech of how much he believes in the the truth that she once saw in Violet's eyes. There is the perfect balance of comedy and seriousness that One Piece is famous for. When that happen, I knew I was going to love this chapter. I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what will happen next.

Then we had the big reveal that Doflamingo had orchestrated this whole ploy where he had quit the Seven Warlords simply to entrap the Straw Hats and Law. I really liked that this was reveal during midchapter which left the rest of the chapter to explain and expand on what we had just learn. This was no end of chapter reveal simply used a technique to make us return next week. Just this fact alone help explain why CP-0 was at Dressrosa. Things are coming together.

So now that we have no end of chapter reveal, we instead have a bigger end of chapter review. It was only a lead-in but if Law's train of thought is correct then it would turn out that Doflamingo is much more then what he appears! Could he actually be a Celestial Dragon? A person who has control over the World Government to do whatever he wants that had turned pirate.

The idea sounds crazy but it fits perfectly. It even explains Doflamingo's epithet as "Heavenly Demon". Celestial means "relating to the sky or heavens" which is a good translation of the Japanese term used for the Celestial Dragons, Tenryubito. If we are going based on the literal Japanese translation of Tenryubito (Heavenly Dragon) then the epithet of Heavenly Demon makes sense for Doflamingo. He is a being from heaven that had turn evil or impure. Demons are seen as impure beings compare to the grandiose and might of dragons tend to give off. The thing is that both beings still hold a strong pull.

I had always found the epithet for Doflamingo to be strange ever since it was revealed back in Chapter 700. Based on everything we knew about Doflamingo's power, why is he called Heavenly Demon over something like "Puppeteer" or Puppet Master"? Both of which reflects his abilities better then Heavenly Demon. If Doflamingo ends up being related to the Celestial Dragons then it would explain why Oda had waited so long to reveal this piece of information to the readers. It could have allow us the chance to piece together the two titles instead of discover this at the same time as Law.

Props to the people at Shonen Jump for pointing out the sash.

Doflamingo and Oda really pulled the sheets on us this time with this revelation. Maybe Doflamingo isn't a full Celestial Dragon which would explain why he looked grungy when Oda drew him as a child. Either way, it is just enough to give Doflamingo enough pull over the World Government to trick the newspapers, the people of the world and the Marines just to trap the Straw Hats and Law. It would explain why the World Government had allow Doflamingo to take over a whole kingdom compare to Crocodile who had to sneak around when he attempted to take over Alabasta.

The question as always is: What will everybody do? Fujitora sounds just as baffled as everybody else to discover what is going on. If Saka is a nickname for Fleet Admiral Sazaki then it sounds as if even the highest power in the Marines was fooled if he is going to speak with the Five Elder Stars. This is an interesting development.

Will Law be able to escape from this spot? Does his "operation table" expand to the underground as well? If so then maybe he found his little escape. Law was keen enough to know that the Robin he saw was not the real one. Maybe he will be clever enough to escape from this little trap.

This was a huge chapter and things are getting exciting. Hopefully this will all be for a grand chapter in color on July 15th.

Until next time true believers!

Attacks just keep getting cooler and cooler with this series.