第117回：Gear Fourth ____Man?

Check out Kinnemon’s pamphlet. It may be representing the day, time, place and people but that…that’s Luffy! In fact it looks almost like a Gear Fourth Luffy! But none of Luffy’s Gear Fourth forms have shown fiery eye patterns. Hmmm…I wonder if this might give Luffy another idea for a new Gear!

It might very well be a running gag that Oda-sensei is refraining from drawing ‘cool’ ninjas and although I can’t help but wonder if he’ll draw a few cool ones, -if he doesn’t- I think I might know why. It could be because his friend and rival Kishimoto-sensei drew so many cool ninja in Naruto, that Oda-sensei wants to refrain from relying too much on resorting to cool ninjas himself.

Was anyone else shocked by Luffy in this panel?

I didn’t know how to interpret that face! Was he awestruck? Was he…impressed? No, wait, he couldn’t be…is he…scared??? Just a few panels later I had my answer:

HE ANGRY!!!

Luffy was deeply interested in the life of Oden and seems to feel a kindred spirit with him. So Luffy seeing even the remains of Oden Castle destroyed is like Kaido stepping on the memory of Oden which Luffy cannot forgive.

There have been plenty of Japanese film and legend cameos in this arc but sadly, even as a 90’s Japanese film buff, many of them go way over my head. This one though, I think I got! This fellow here! I think this might be Oda-sensei’s interpretation of Hideki Takahashi portraying one of his most recognizable roles from his late 70’s television drama, ‘Samurai Momotarou’! In the series, Takahashi-san portrayed the titular ronin who aided the helpless in Edo Japan. This character running away from Kaido is a dead ringer for him!

Is this Oda-sensei happily trolling us or is this an epic callback to Vegapunk’s shadow from Chapter 684? If that’s him, considering the fish and poison connection, could Vegapunk possibly be a fishman or….something else!?