One Piece 23

Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2009 – 56+ volumes

While I sometimes grow impatient with the final stages of a One Piece storyline, Luffy’s real final fight and the conclusions always more than make up for it.  We get all the good parts of the Alabasta storyline in this volume.

Of course, Luffy fights Crocodile and is very near death.  Most of the fighting took place last volume, and what happens here is mostly an exchange of words.  These types of conclusions are always a little ridiculous, but I always forgive them in One Piece since I appreciate the perspective at the end of the storyline.

The majority of the final fight takes place with the rest of the Straw Hat crew and the Miss Father’s Day/Mr. 7 team.  Admittedly, this was pretty epic, and while the final outcome was never in question, it was kind of hard to see how it was going to make its way there.

The Marines showed up last volume, so the conclusion of the storyline involves getting the Straw Hats safely off the island and whether or not Vivi will join up as a member of the crew.  The final scene in the volume, the last two-page spread, is still one of my favorite moments of the series.  That scene sums up almost everything I love about the series.  It’s got sincere friendship themes, a wordless and powerful exchange, brings the storyline to an emotional close, and was cleverly set up several volumes ago.  I read it six or seven years ago, and have read it a few times since, and it’s still quite touching.

Speaking of cleverly set up several volumes ago, I still love seeing Camie in “Hachi’s Walk on the Sea Floor.”

Also, I had forgotten how creepy King Cobra was in the recouperation parts.  He offers a way for the boys to spy on the women’s bath, which also contains his daughter.  One Piece rarely goes for sexual humor (one of the things I like about it), and the boys bait at this part rather than oogle, but still.  Creepy.

I also always like the recouperation parts after the major storylines.  They almost always contain some pretty priceless and much-needed levity, and this volume was no exception.

In short, the conclusion to the Alabasta storyline was the best part, as you would expect.  On to Skypeia!