第114回：ReD Hawk

Here’s Luffy’s Red Hawk again and…*again* we see that it’s clearly on fire.

Is there a scientific explanation for why Luffy can achieve this or is this something deeply rooted in Devil Fruit lore? Is it possible that a small part of Ace’s spirit passed on to Luffy? It’s said that eating two Devil Fruits will make a person explode but we know that Teach has two fully operational Devil Fruit abilities because of his ‘strange body’. If Luffy is indeed somehow using Ace’s former ability, we should consider a similarity between Luffy and Teach. As there doesn’t seem to be a familial relation the only thing we can say for certain is ‘D’. Is ‘D’ somehow responsible for the anomaly of Red Hawk!?

D’oh! How did I miss this! I never noticed that Carrot’s claw-like gloves were…well…gloves! Her initial use of them left such a big impression on me that I mentally interpreted them as her own hands this entire time! How about you?

Some bold choices by the animation staff in this anime-original scene where Nami relates the events of Pedro’s death to Chopper and Brook.

はい、ナミがブルックとチョッパーにペドロの〝決断〟を語り伝えた時だ。ナミがブルックとチョッパーにリアルタイムで話してるけど、その話は雨の音で視聴者の皆さんの耳まで届かない。約一分半でナミの言葉が全て雨音の中で再現されてる。その間、声優さんのセリフは一切ありません。けどある意味、より深く印象的な名シーンになった。

We’ve noted in the past how taking cutting dialogue from an animation is a risky move and here it’s cut for over a minute and a half as Nami relates the tale to us depicted through droplets in the rain, almost as if Sunny itself is mourning Pedro.

What’s more, there’s an original and deliberate choice in showing frustration in Brook via physical violence -punching the ground mind you- which is a heartbreaking rendition of our cornerstone gentleman skeleton infuriated by his own weakness.

Cold openings in One Piece aren’t unheard of, but isn’t it surprising what a touch of quality they add to the series. An immediate following up of last week’s cliff-hanger brings the viewer RIGHT into the middle of the action. Yes, Toei, more of this please!!!