第97回：It Takes a Man to Forgive a Man’s Lies

Interesting to note how Oda-sensei is handling the chefs here. As the cake approaches and Mom’s family has a chance to survey the situation on the ship, they’ll surely notice that the chefs have all passed out.

While we know they’ve passed out due to exhaustion/euphoria and this creates a cute scene to comedic effect, it also explains how the cake can easily be suspected as a deadly trap for Mom! If the chefs themselves are all passed out, there’s nobody onboard that entire ship besides Pudding who can be trusted to speak for the validity of the cake! How will Oda-sensei deal with Pudding?

The simple but loaded line from Brook to Sanji regarding Carrot *and Pedro* sleeping inside Sunny is a casual lie for what I can only perceive as the most noble of reasons.

Oda-sensei promised that 2016 would be the ‘Year of Sanji’ and although some bicker over the validity of that statement, the fact remains that the events of 2016 were a direct result of Sanji’s relationship to the crew. In so few words, the story, as we know, took place because of Sanji, his actions and his past catching up with him. That is to say, one could place the blame for Pedro’s mortality squarely on Sanji’s shoulders.

Would I hold it over his head? Of course not! I don’t think any of us would, however, Brook -displaying an uncanny understanding of his crewmate- realizes that Sanji *would blame himself* for Pedro’s sacrifice and at this particular moment in time, Sanji doesn’t need that weighing on his heart until they’ve escaped their current predicament.

Clever use of free time helped tie up a hanging thread from the manga which was, “How did Reiju allow herself to be so violently assaulted!?” While sneaking about the castle garden, Reiju was actually ambushed by the mysterious assailant *and* we’re given the benefit of a hint that she knows her attacker!

What amounted to only a few panels in the manga of Pedro and Zepo turned into a meaningful chunk of this expertly executed episode! Is Zepo somehow related to Bepo? Seems like a good chance of that but we can’t say for sure yet even though the casting of Yasuhiro Takato can’t just be coincidence!

Intentional or not, you may have noticed that Pekom’s encounter with Pedro and Zepo in the city streets is almost identical to Pedro’s encounter with his former crewmate from Chapter 827! Talk about déjà vu!