第184回：The Will of S

Judge joining forces with Caesar is something I was dreading throughout the side story and I am genuinely surprised to see that Oda followed through with what would be *the* most logical choice for these two desperate genius megalomaniacs. After his display of self-sacrifice by rescuing Sanji during the conclusion of Whole Cake Island, Judge has at very least been prepped for a softening but I never imagined he’d take 10 steps *backwards* and team up with Caesar. While I never imagined that a redemption character arc was in store for Judge, it’s undeniable that he risked his mobile kingdom in order to rescue Sanji.

However! All hope is not lost! Check out the reaction of Reiju and Ichiji:

There’s a reason these two are facing away from the reader with their body language clearly showing signs of conflict over this union since *every single other* mob character is facing Judge and Caesar, cheering them on.

Has Sanji planted a seed of humanity in the boys? And will his humanity be enough to finally flip Reiju’s left eyebrow?

I genuinely cannot wait to see how Neo MADS will fit into the impending world conflict and as much as I find Judge a despicable character, I can’t help but wanting to cheer for him in hopes that he won’t end up exactly like Caesar after showing signs (however small) of caring for Sanji’s wellbeing.

I can’t be as big as Nami and cheer on Caesar, but Judge, COME ON MAN! You might not be a good guy, but you *can* be better than this!

Vegapunk’s exchange with Jimbei here suggests he’s willing to make sacrifices to safety in order to progress science in pursuit of ‘the greater good’. This is a topic we find ourselves wrestling with right now in the real world but there’s something about this particular line from Jimbei questioning about the potential problems of the freedom of adding ‘thoughts’ to Punk Records and Vegapunk’s response that makes me curious about the genesis of the Seraphim and what their future holds.

For years we’ve seen evidence that cyborg Kuma was a man of few words even before his supposed ‘total’ transformation. After his full transformation, Kuma became even more silent with few, if any, spoken lines of self-reflection or monologue. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the Pacifistas follow that same pattern and don’t seem to retain even traces of Kuma’s personality before his total transformation.

But what about the Seraphim?

They appear to display traces of the personalities of their Warlord models. Now…it’s not exactly easy to say how much. After all, Mihawk, Hancock, Jimbei and of course Kuma are all pretty stoic from the get go, nor do they tend to mince their words, however, there are clearly traces of the personalities of their progenitors.

The Seraphim follow orders absolutely and without question. Even orders that contradict prior orders and alliances, so long as the priority level is high enough. But…are their hidden lines (that even Vegapunk isn’t aware of) that they cannot or will not cross due to their lineage factors?

Take this scene of S-Snake for example:

What’s going on with the ellipses here? It conveys a hint of reflection and indeed this scene follows a flashback where S-Snake is recalling her orders from York. But why on earth is a lineage factor ‘weapon’ spending time and resources reflecting, let alone even *thinking*, about an order?

Do the Seraphim have thoughts that they can really call their own? A will? And if they do, is there *somehow* they might be able to act on it?

Take for example this scene with S-Snake and Franky.

As an ‘ideal weapon’ S-Snake should have decidedly *eliminated* Franky, and yet it appears that he’s been left partially unstoned. She essentially left a remaining potential threat which an unthinking ‘weapon’ simply wouldn’t do.

While I’m not suggesting S-Snake’s actions suggest she has sympathy for Franky, it’s certainly a sign that the Seraphim may be capable of thoughts and emotions linked to their genes. If this is the case, the World Government had best hope they don’t find a way to outright act on those thoughts and emotions!

Dory and Brogy destroyed the pirate ship with their Hakoku Sovereignty attack, first seen all the way back in Chapter 129. I was surprised to see how there’s no sign of *anything* being spared in the line of the attack in Chapter 1079 whereas their use of the same attack on the Island Eater was able to not only spare, but propel the Going Merry.

Although it’s not akin to a confirmation from Odacchi, this strongly suggests that Hakoku attacks are imbued with Haki, thereby capable of both protecting *and* destroying. This concept would gel with Zoro’s awakening to Haki in Alabasta, the ‘flowing’ concept of Haki as described by Hyogoro to Luffy, *and* (last but not least) that the kanji for ‘ha’ in ‘haki’ is part of the attack name ‘Ha’koku.