第26回：Sabo's Goal

Reading Chapter 764 put me right in the shoes of sobbing Franky from Chapter 728.

He calls his own brother a ’monster’ but refrains from using deadly force to bring him down.

AND HE’S A MARINE!? Well, he ’says’ he isn’t a Marine but we know where his heart lies. On the other hand, Mingo has his *own* man infiltrating the Marines, Vergo!

Rocinante says that old-wives’ tales refer to D as the natural born enemy of the gods.

Come on now, we’ve known that for a long time ^_^

Also, here’s the origin of that famous line!

I’m a little bit bummed that Rocinante only knows old wives’ tales and rumors about ’The Will of D’ but I suppose we shouldn’t have expected too much right? It’s no fun without the mystery!

Hrm? Wasn’t Sengoku’s motto ’Absolute Justice’? Did he change his motto or is there some rule that states all Admirals must uphold the motto ’Absolute Justice’?

We’ll have to wait and see Sakazuki’s current office to confirm whether or not that’s the case! Speaking of Sengoku, the kanji written on the back of his chair seems to be 仏 or ’hotoke’ which means Buddha.

One last note before we leave the Marine discussion.Did you know that Rocinante can be seen on the awesome color spread from Chapter 691?

This is all the way back from Film Z! He was right in front of us this entire time!

Recently (Greg-Sensei’s SUPER One Piece Course: #23) we were talking about the numbers on transponder snails and here the answer presents itself!

Crazy castle design right? QUICK! Where have you seen it before?? It’s flying the same flags, it’s just as grotesquely striped and it’s even in North Blue! Could this be explorer Noland’s birthplace, the Lvneel Kingdom?

What’s more, do you think Lvneel might be the barely discernable location glimpsed in the newspaper from Chapter 762!?

Hey, looks like that gigantor tea cup from Chapter 723 was Pica’s after all!

Ah yes, tea time for evil. Mayhap all Mingo really needs is a decent cup of Earl Grey to settle that pesky childhood trauma.

Say what? They called him ’X’(pronounced ’Diez’), didn’t they? A former ’commissioned Marine officer’ turned ’pirate’ called ’X’? Could this possibly sound any more like the supernova pirate X.

Drake? Except that X. Barrels definitely isn’t Drake. So what does ’X’ stand for? Is it a last name? If so, does that make Barrels somehow related to Drake? Could be! At the very least their muttonchops are almost identical.

Dellinger’s popularity in Dressrosa knows no bounds!

Meanwhile, at the House of Toys, Franky VS Senor Pink continues to be a source of well-earned laughs. You can’t blame Doflamingo’s thugs for thinking Franky’s hair could fire rockets.

While his hair might not fire explosive projectiles (at least not yet) his work-in-progress Banana Bazooka from the One Piece movie "Strong World" *was* intended to be a wearable weapon. Guess he doesn’t need that hat now that he can mount bazookas on his shoulders.

Senor continues to deliver side-splitting comedy gold with his hardboiled lines continuing to clash violently with his outward appearance. Brandy in a baby bottle!?

Also, from the Diamante Army, the equally ’unique’ Machvice has joined the fray. Like Senor and Machvice, it’s worth noting that the Donquixote goons all seem to be from the Diamante Army as well. What gives them away is the diamond design that may be seen on an underling’s cap.

It was also a surprise to see the giant Marine HQ Vice-Admiral Bastille showing up out of the blue.

Bastille is said to be a giant but he’s clearly not as large as the Elbaf giants or whatever Saul was. Is he yet *another* kind of giant or perhaps a hybrid? Bastille is also accompanied by a bevy of meticulously animated Marines! Awesome job by Animation Director Atsuko Kawamura!

While Episode 667 had plenty of light-hearted elements it also included a poignant scene that helps viewers better understand Sabo’s ’goal’.

With so much going on in the story, this is an easy line to miss in the comic. The animation helped slow things down and make a very clear connection between Goa Kingdom and Dressrosa.

In Goa, citizens’ social statuses are determined by birth; the lowest rung of the hierarchy being treated the same as garbage. In Dressrosa, the people are ruled by a corrupt monarchy that literally has them tied up in strings. All around the world the Revolutionaries are helping to return different ’freedoms’ to people from whom it’s being denied.

By now you may have gathered that I’m a Gatz fan.

This lovable rapscallion is almost endearing as the Tenkaichi Budoukai MC. In this episode we see that the hours of doing double-duty as play-by-play announcer *and* color commentator have taken their toll on poor Gatz. After finishing Rebecca’s heated introduction to Block D, Gatz chokes over the live microphone and asks his assistants for some water. Good luck Gatz! Take us through the end of this exciting match!

In the second half of Episode 668 Sabo started the match with a plan we didn’t see him try in the manga.

Dodging a blow from Burgess (and not even attempting a counterattack) Sabo starts running around the perimeter of the ring. Sabo keenly observed that the alpha fighting fish are hungry for blood and his plan seems to be to lure the fish out of the water one by one until he finds the one with the Flame Flame Fruit. Not a bad idea and his opponents in the ring seem to agree.