第27回：I'm Gonna Be King of the Pirates, Believe It!

This chapter of One Piece coincides with the final chapter of the internationally popular ninja comic Naruto; putting the cap on 15 years of serialized publication in Weekly Shonen Jump! Just like their respective creators, Luffy and Naruto have been friendly rivals for a long time and looking at this illustration (where Naruto’s face has been modestly obscured) one can almost hear Oda-sensei congratulating Kishimoto-sensei on reaching the end of a *very* long journey.

At least this answers the age-old question of what would happen when you pit ninjas against pirates: they eat the other’s favorite food!

You also might be surprised to know this isn’t the first time there’s been an artistic collaboration between Oda-sensei and Kishimoto-sensei. Let’s look at just a few of them!

If you have some Japanese skills you might be able to find the hidden message among the menu items on Chapter 766’s cover page! ’Na-ru-to-o-tsu-kare-san-de-shi-ta’ ’Naruto otukaresan deshita’ or ’Here’s to all your hard work Naruto!’

Kishimoto-sensei, thank you for entertaining so many fans around the world all these years!

As for the chapter this week, there was a lot going on but among all of that, did you notice what appears to be Vice Admiral Momousagi among Tsuru’s unit?

At first, Jimbei’s cover page mini-arc seemed like it was going to be Hacchan’s RPG Adventure: Part Deux but now it’s starting to play out like a Scooby Doo mystery. Strange events that seems to be related are occurring above and below the sea with an underwater town vanishing, ancient sunken ruins appearing on land and offerings to sea gods disappearing. We can only hope that it wasn’t all the work of old Mr. McInerny from the petting zoo. This unexpected mystery-style twist is a welcome surprise!

I’m especially interested in the offerings to the sea gods. The torii gates with 海神 or ’sea gods’ written on them first appeared in Chapter 762.

This isn’t the first time mention of offerings for sea gods have appeared in the series either. Gekkoh Moria’s pirate crew used fake offerings to sea gods as a trap to catch anxious treasure hunters. However, according to Nami, there are *real* offerings to sea gods which usually contain preserved food and or sake in hopes of ensuring safe passage in nautical journeys.

It seems logical that a port town would have a place to make offerings, but what could have taken such a large quantity of (I’m guessing) fish? And how could undersea ruins be unceremoniously dumped on land? I smell something fishy.

Is that safe for its 9:30 AM timeslot?? Just how many bikinis do Senor’s fangirls have??

Things heat up a bit too much when the Marines use fire rounds in an attempt to immolate the mecha-wannabe shipwright but the rounds aren’t even a contest for his Wapometal body! SUPER invincible! By the way, Franky playing guitar FTW!

I’ve been dying for a hint of that since as far back as Thriller Bark!

And of course, ’Cyborg Steel Traveler Blues’. Here’s hoping Oda-sensei will treat us to some more of Franky’s serenading in the future!


Far above in the palace, Supreme Officer Pica finally shows his abilities while remaining ominously silent. Wonder why…

One for the animation-only crowd! Did you know that Episode 670 is overflowing with scenes only found in the animation? It seemed like a no-brainer that we’d hit original material during Operation S.O.P. but did anyone expect it to flow into the main storyline this well? When story-driven action puts its foot on the gas, like in Dressrosa right now, constructing original plot hole-free scenes for the anime is significantly more difficult than, for example: when the crew explores a town, after a big battle and of course between arcs. The results of original material during action segments usually divide fans pretty harshly but Episode 670’s original material was highly entertaining! Here are my top five scenes that you won’t find in the manga!

The simultaneous fighting fish assault on the colosseum contestants was an interesting idea but the face of the fighting fish that tried to make Bartolomeo his lunch killed me.

The animation gave him a full-fledged intro along with some quality Senor Pink hard-boiledness.

If Senor and the rest of Mingo’s crew rejoin the battle Franky is gonna find himself in a SUPER pinch!

Sabo’s Color of Arms(CoA)-infused Dragon Claw was a sight to behold.

In the comic, Sabo initiated CoA only as his attack connected with Burgess but the animation clearly sees him striking his attack pose with CoA already in place.

Can any fans recreate that pose with their hands? I tried and it’s possible but it feels really awkward, not to mention I couldn’t imagine *attacking* anyone that way. Ouch! Does Oda-sensei make the same gesture when he draws it??

Kinnemon’s eagerness to make a bee line for Kanjuro in the scrap heap has led to a most grievous error! He’s been heading in the complete opposite direction and he didn’t even need to separate from Luffy in the first place! Wondering if there was some sort of hint at this development in the previous episode I went back and rewatched Episode 669. Sure enough Wicca started to tell Kinnemon how his plan was counterproductive but before she could blurt out his error in judgement, he shoved her down into his clothing. Kinnemon, thou art but a beetle-headed buffoon! Now they’ve got themselves in a pickle. How do they get themselves to the lift?

Heh heh heh… Kinnemon seems to have used his ’sorcery’ for an idea. Splendid!

BALLOON! In the comic Pica viciously attempted to crush Luffy, Violet and Zoro (LVZ) between the palace walls and the aftermath of that attack was left up to the reader’s imagination. Episode 669 ended with a similar cliffhanger where LVZ’s fates were uncertain but Episode 670 showed us the immediate aftermath! How did the three intruders make it out alive without becoming the world’s most gruesome wall art? Should have known, an old favorite, Gomu Gomu Balloon! Nice save Luffy!