第62回：Shipping With Luffy Sempai

Twenty years ago One Piece was unleashed on the public in the form of ‘Romance Dawn’. There are two versions of ‘Romance Dawn’ and while one was published in Weekly Shonen Jump in September 1996, the very first version was released almost *exactly* twenty years ago from in a July 1996 ‘Summer Special’ edition of Jump. Twenty years is a landmark anniversary and it coincides almost exactly with the release of One Piece Film: GOLD, the series’ very first summer movie release. But wait, have a look at Oda-sensei’s entry from the authors’ comments page twenty years ago:

“Well, it’s summer… And of course that means, uh. Well, you know what it means, doncha. PIRATES. Pirates, they’re the best.”
-Eiichiro Oda, July 1996

Anyone else have goosebumps?

Even after this arc the secret of Fujitora’s powers are still largely unexplained but we can probably assume that he somehow influences gravity affecting specific objects.

While he has a budding career in disaster relief the big question is, how will Fujitora’s abilities be woven into an arc where he finds himself at the *forefront* of a battle that involves Luffy?

Through their encounters in Dressrosa, Luffy and Fujitora have established a mutual fondness for each despite their conflicting interests and I can easily see Fujitora coming to Luffy’s aid in an end-game conflict, specifically one with Blackbeard!

If Fujitora has a means of controlling gravity does that mean he stands a chance of controlling objects that Blackbeard has absorbed? This could be crucial if Luffy ever finds himself sucked into Blackbeard’s Black Hole! On the other hand, what if Fujitora’s powers are the result of a Devil Fruit which is considered weaker than Blackbeard’s e.g. Monet’s Snow-Snow Fruit to Kuzan’s Chilly-Chilly Fruit. This would mean Blackbeard could potentially control all of Fujitora’s abilities if not the man himself!

I’m curious as to why the forms of the villagers Fujitora glimpsed were multicolored. It’s possible that the villagers’ emotions might betray themselves to Fujitora via unique colors but then why was there such a variety of emotions? Since most of the villagers were feeling ‘grateful’ towards Luffy their emotions should have been somewhat uniform.

Well then, let’s just assume that since Fujitora has no way of ‘seeing’ these people by normal means what he’s doing is Color of Observation Haki-related.

When Usopp viewed Luffy, Law and Sugar, the figures he ‘saw’ were blueish white so how Fujitora differentiates between people might be an advanced or slightly different form of Color of Observation Haki. As for what the colors mean, that remains to be…seen.

Remember the name of the sake which Luffy, Sabo and Ace made their pledge of brotherhood on? It was ‘Sanzoku Sakazuki’ or Mountain Bandit Sake, stolen from Dadan’s storage. The name was barely legible in the comic and wasn’t widely known until it was boldly animated in the TV Special, 3D2Y.

The anime continues the tradition of adding sake names to the series by showing us the oh-so-humbly-named ‘Dai Oyabun’ or ‘The Grand Kingpin’ sake bottle which Bartolomeo pours for those committing themselves as sub-crews in Luffy’s (unwilling) ‘Straw Hat Grand Fleet’.

And while the original animated antics of Luffy and his friends during the celebration were a pleasant distraction but I took a shot in the heart hole when we got that Bellamy scene. Was it just me hearing Eric Carmen in my head?

Since he’s not joining the Straw Hat Grand Fleet he has his own bottle of sake aptly named, ‘Kandou’ meaning ‘a path leading to a breakthrough’, exactly what lies before this former Doflamingo lackey. Perhaps this path will lead him back to his old crew members?

Back in 2003 I rode the Going Merry in Tokyo Bay. Last year I journeyed to Laguna Sea in Aichi and rode the Thousand Sunny. Toei Animation, I beseech you, please make real-life Going Luffy-Sempai!

Meanwhile, somewhere at sea, we were introduced to the character, Jack!

He’s voiced by Kenji Nomura!