第25回：７６２話のスンゲーとこ１５連発！

*satisfied smirk* Lots of ground to cover! Here are 15 awesome things I noticed in the stunning Chapter 762!

The opening two-page spread is overflowing with details about the Donquixote Family. In order to write this article I spent a total of 17 minutes and 34 seconds just staring at it.*
Rereading Oda-sensei’s comment from the Volume 75 SBS about the Donquixote Family’s similarity to an actual family really hit home here. The Cleavers they ain’t, but it’s evident Mingo is using them to deal with some serious issues from his childhood.

Seated around a tastefully dressed table, they chide Law over seafood pizza. Even the seating order seems to have been carefully planned out as the supreme officers sit directly at Mingo’s sides. Trebol’s going to town on a sausage again. He seemed to be eating one in Chapter 761 but since he’s so huge I thought it might have been a baguette. I’d like to know more about the market for super-huge sausages in One Piece. Given the ginormity of so many character I’m guessing it’s quite a lucrative business.

That aside the sausage…fest… helps clear up some of the awkwardness from Chapter 756 when a Trebol Army underling asked Sugar if she wanted a sausage. Kind of a weird snack selection out of the blue, right? Well, not if that giant ball of snot, her direct superior by the way, happens to love ’em!

Overall this scene also leaves the reader with a subliminal emotional impact that may or may not have been intentional. The family is seated so that the reader can see all of their faces while Law is standing and only his face is obscured. This gives the reader a strong impression that Law is still an outsider to this twisted Brady Bunch. By design it helps the reader sympathize with Law’s current status.

…wow, that got deep really quick and there are still got 14 points left. Let’s get this moving!

Young(er) and super-ripped Lao G’s bunny cap might be a bit of Japanese wordplay.
You’ve heard his ’G’-based jokes, right? Well, ’rabbit’ in Japanese is ’usagi’. It’s probably a play on the ’gi’ from that; or as I’m sure he’d say, "Usagi no ’GI’!" The kanji on his back means ’fist’ by the way.

According to Diamante, children without ’powers’ won’t be of use to the family.
This probably means Buffalo, Baby 5 and even little Dellinger already have their powers. Wait…Dellinger!? Baby!? Devil Fruit-user!? That’s gotta be a handful.

When it comes to eating, Mingo seems to be ambidextrous.

Show of hands. Who *wasn’t* 120% in love with how Gladius, Lao G and Senor Pink related the story of Law’s ’white town’ to Baby 5 one after another during their mission?

All of you with your hands up, we can no longer be friends. It felt like something pulled straight from a Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez film; especially the panels of the team lined up shoulder to shoulder heading for a pirate ship. I know we’re supposed to hate them because ’they’re like evil and junk’ but come on! That’s so cool!

Also, the guy beat up at the storehouse (or possibly factory) seems to be wearing a pirate captain’s coat, as does the fellow onboard the ship.

Is the family taking out pirates? Stealing from pirates? Taking out the factory or storehouse? One thing for certain, they’re definitely stealing cash.

It wasn’t there in the previous panel! And check this out! Compare this Chapter 747 panel from its original Jump printing to the volume printing. It looks like a ’tail’ has been added! What’s the deal?

Lead bullets! Now Law’s comment regarding the bullets he removed from…uh..himself (!!!) that Mingo shot him with makes sense!

*Yes, I actually timed it. The things we do for love.

The corresponding section of the Japanese edition of this week’s column deciphers some of the English spread throughout the chapter. I was on the fence about whether or not to cover the same material but then I got a Twitter question regarding some of the text. I guess some of it is small or indecipherable enough to warrant a closer look or analysis even if language is your first.

Combine his shirt from Chapter 762 and the middle of Chapter 763 and you get ’DASYAN’, Buffalo’s Japanese speech quirk. His new shirt at the end of the chapter spells ’DASUYAN’ properly with a U. Does this mean there’s a shirt in Buffalo’s collection that just reads ’U’?

Woah! Books galore! Let’s go through ’em!

…PUV…: No clue
…TEGY: Probably ’STRATEGY’?
Outmaneuver
…bat: Probably ’Combat’?
The Struggle for Survival
Tactical Point
Grand Tactics
….AR: Something-’WAR’?
Ootgeneral: Your guess is as good as mine.
MMA: Probably ’Mixed Martial Arts’.

Last but not least, something you totally didn’t expect, an analysis of the Celestial Dragons’ ship.

Geez that thing is huge. Right, so about that figurehead on the ship, the lion, ever notice a similar design anywhere else? It’s the World Government symbol covered by a lion’s head. The World Government’s symbol represents the five seas (North Blue, East Blue, South Blue, West Blue and Grand Line) with the Grand Line in the center. It’s no coincidence that Mariejoa, from which the Celestial Dragons rule, is located in dead in the middle of the Grand Line. With the lion representing ’The King of Beasts’ it seems clear that the figurehead is pretty much the Celestial Dragons with their foot on the world. Lovely bunch, eh?

At the secret dock beneath Dressrosa, group of armed Donquixote underlings bawdily rush into the connecting lift. Their mission? To assist the team up above at the House of Toys dealing with a serious case of ’Franky’.

They crowd in rough and rowdy talking big and laughing about work, rumors and money, that is, until the lift starts moving. Sloooooowly. Before you know it you could hear a pin drop as they stare at the lift’s progress wishing it could go even just a little bit faster.

I don’t think this subtly hilarious scene has quite the same impact on young readers as it does anyone who’s ever worked in an office building. The final stage of the morning ’rush’ is ’The Trial of The Crowded Slow-Moving Elevator’. Survival Rate: 10%! And if someone had chili for dinner the night before? Survival Rate: 0%!

Two original scenes this week to look at. One with Acilia defending Rebecca against Suleiman and subsequently losing to him.

Rebecca and Acilia’s relationship was somewhat more fleshed out in the animation and it’s reassuring that at least she had one friend in there and not everyone is a total Rebecca-hater.

And poor widdle wost Zoro.

How in the world can you get lost running BETWEEN two people in giant obtrusive animal suits!? I’d love to know what’s going on inside his head!

Let’s talk about Corrida Colosseum’s magnificent MC, Gatz!

Working at the colosseum, which is all but rigged by the Donquixote Family, makes this guy a ’baddie’ by default. On the other hand, in the manga, when Gatz started making extreme face faults during Block C and occasionally putting in un-unkind words (i.e. kind words) for Rebecca during Block D, it’s easy to find yourself warming up to him. The anime nudged his likeability even a step farther when the talented voice actor Taketora made Gatz likeable from his first appearance.

If none of that did anything for you before, Episode 666 breaks down any apprehension you might have had about cheering for this animated MC by adding a poignant scene. When the crowd calls foul over Rebecca’s win of Block D, Gatz’s assistants ask whether or not they should inspect Rebecca, presumably for any dubious items (not like her outfit leaves much room for anything). Gatz’s decisive response? "That’s not necessary! We always check her more strictly than the regulations demand. Her equipment is the poorest among all the competitors. In the Corrida Colosseum, the winner is the winner no matter who it is. It’s not our job to manipulate the facts and spoil someone’s victory!" T^T GATZ FOR CREWMATE!!!*

*no

In the 24th installment of ’SUPER One Piece Course’ I talked about Senor Pink’s line from Episode 664, " Why did I show up in front of the enemy? The only thing a man does behind someone’s back is, undress a woman."

With that in mind, note how he GERMAN SUPLEXES Franky here! The basis of a German suplex is taking your opponent from behind! Men -_-;