Manga: Chapter 726 (SPOILERS)

SPOILERS

We can live to read One Piece on Weekly Shonen Jump!

Summary
Ricky reveals that he was the former King of Dressrosa to the underground captives.

One of the captives becomes a toy.

Luffy is found by Bartolomeo.

The Tontatta King tells the history of the Tontatta on Dressrosa.

The Lightning Solider reveals that he is Rebecca's father.

Thoughts

Before we begin the review proper, I would like to talk about the coverspread. This one looks especially nice and reminds us of where they came from. This colorspread is in celebration of One Piece having over three hundred million copies in publication. That means that there has been a need to print out that many copies of One Piece with a fanbase that is growing even right now. One Piece has been in publication for fifteen years and still going strong.

What this means for our characters? It means that their story of struggle and happiness has been shared with so many people. Of course, three hundred million people haven't read the series but that means that one day it will be done. This colorspread is just a reminder that our characters have grown from a harsh childhood to happy adults. Just look at Little Robin who looks unhappy compare to her future happier self. That is proof enough of the changes that will be shared to with the growing fanbase. Now they can live how they want.

To the chapter proper...

It looks like all our predictions are coming true. Is this a disappointment? Not at all as we still have many other unanswered questions. It is nice to know that Ricky is King Riku and that Lightning Solider is Rebecca's father but does it really solves anything in the arc? All this does is just get the set pieces together for the final act of the arc. All the struggles between these characters all makes sense and weave together to make a beautiful story. The evils of Doflamingo runs deep within this chapter and this is becoming sweeter to read.

We did get a hint on who is turning people into toys. There isn't much going on there but it confirmed that people are being turned into toys and that they lack control of their actions. We can say it is Trebol but it looks like there is another party involve in this. Just another thing for us to wait for an answer. 

What is really exciting is how Oda is using callbacks to past events to make this really personal for us and Luffy.

First, Oda remind us of what Doflamingo said about who writes the history back during the Marineford Arc. He then lead us into saying that the losers are simply discarded like trash in order to hide the ugliness of the kingdom. That last part really touch a nerve with Luffy as that was the practice of where he came from. It is almost frightening at how similar these two kingdoms are. Then again, you have to remember that the Goa Kingdom is striving to be recognized by the World Nobels so it shouldn't be a surprise if Doflamingo does this as well.

Then you have the "Winners write history" that Doflamingo mention before. That looks to be the case here as Doflamingo has made everybody forget about the kindness that King Riku has done and replace it with vile and discontent. Surprising though, we also see the good of this rule as well where King Riku from nine hundred years ago has many everybody forget about the Tontatta and replace them with the Legend of the Fairies. He isn't be honest with his people but he is at least saving the Tontatta from capture.

I wonder who Hack is talking to.

This was a pretty good chapter. The callbacks to previous events really made this chapter stand out as everything is coming full circle. Luffy has a reason to despise Doflamingo as I am sure he doesn't like what was going on back in Goa. The stakes have been raised for the Tontatta and the Riku family. The arc is getting better and better. We just need to finally hit that peak which will hopefully be before the year ends. How can this get any better?

I don't have much to say. Back to playing Pokemon Y. Until next time true believers. 

Dance, Monkey! Dance!