One Piece 34

Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 56+ volumes

I’ve got one more volume after this one, and then I promise I’ll be done.  For at least a week.  But I’m going to read new volumes as soon as I get them, because it’s impossible to put this series down when you’ve got this much to read.  I’ll talk about other things though, I promise.

The crew finishes up the Davy Back Fight, and I love that the outcome is not at all what you would expect.  For as goofy as Luffy is, I always love it when you see what makes other people follow him with such devotion.  It’s not just the end of the Davy Back Fight here, Luffy also gets to act like a hero in fromt of Aokiji, one of the three strongest men the Marine force can boast.  He’s got frightening powers and a vendetta against Robin, and Luffy fights him so that the others don’t have to.  The fight is very serious.  Aokiji… not so much.  I like him.  It’s a shame he has to be against the Straw Hats.  He also broaches the subject of Luffy’s grandpa, who will put in an appearance at the very end of Water 7.

After this, the Merry runs across a train that runs on tracks submerged in the sea and a frog that throws itself in front of it every day, and later, the city of Water 7 and the fantastic Galley-La company.  The Galley-La company boasts the best shipwrights on the entire Grand Line, and the Straw Hats go to the company with the hopes that the treasure they… absconded with in Skypiea will cover the extensive repairs necessary for the Merry.  We also meet the Franky Family and several of the Galley-La shipwrights, including the head of the company and the mayor of Water 7.

Water 7 is cool, and I love the idea of a town that is equal opportunity towards both pirates and marines.  I also like the design of the water-based town, which is like Venice save for the fact you ride around on mooing sea horses with saddles.  It’s not nearly as comedic and quirky as some of the other in-between parts, but then again, we did just have the whole quirky Davy Back Fight.  There are still some good jokes though, mostly at Luffy’s expense.  I love that he seems to take such genuine insult that the crew doesn’t trust him with simple things like money and getting necessities.

If I recall, there’s nothing nice about the next volume, and it broke my heart and made me stop reading the entire arc the first time through.  Let’s see.

Also, there’s a neat map in the back that lays out all the story arcs of the series.  For the curious: East Blue (1-12), Baroque Works (12-24), Skypiea (24-32), Water Seven (32-46), Thriller Bark (46-50), Sabaody (50-54), and Impel Down (54+).  Impel Down is scheduled to start running in July.  I’m a little surprised that Sabaody and Impel Down are separate since so many other smaller story arcs are included in some of the other sets, but they are very different stories.  And I’m similarly mystified by Thriller Bark, which is only four volumes long, but they are four volumes of solid gold, so my guess is that it just couldn’t be contained under another name.  And was also just thematically unrelated to anything else.

On to the next!

This was a review copy provided by Viz.