Summary:
Shanks meets Whitebeard despite the World Government’s best efforts to avoid it. His main reason for the meeting: a request to stop Ace from pursuing his former crewmate Blackbeard. When Shanks’ request is denied, the two clash, resulting in a huge blow across the sky. Meanwhile, in Water 7, Franky’s family is shocked to find that they have been completely removed from the report of events at Enies Lobby, while Galley-La helps Franky build a new Straw Hat ship.
The episode opens with everyone at Water 7 having fun. Sogeking singing, Franky Family dancing, etc. The scene changes to a fleet of destroyed naval ships. An unscathed pirate ship sails past them. Meanwhile, the Five Elders are informed that the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red Haired Pirates have breached the marines’ defenses and that the two crews have agreed to meet.
On Whitebeard’s ship, Whitebeard is informed of Shanks’ arrival. At Navy headquarters, Marines are on alert after hearing news of the meeting. Shanks boards Whitebeard’s ship while Marco orders the rookies to go inside the ship. But the news comes too late. The members of the Whitebeard Pirates pass out as Shanks walks past them with his Haoshoku Haki. Shanks apologizes because it’s hard to stay calm on an enemy ship. Whitebeard orders his men to leave. With the crew out of sight, Shanks prepared alcoholic beverages for the two captains.
After taking a sip of his drink, Whitebeard said that Shanks had made a big leap as a pirate since Gol D. Roger’s death, and asked about Buggy. Shanks replied that he hadn’t heard from him since they parted ways in Loguetown after Roger’s execution. Whitebeard was curious and asked why Shanks was missing an arm. He replied that he bet it on a new time. Shanks changed the subject to his scars and pointed to one scar across his face. A member of Whitebeard’s crew declared; Marshall D. Teach. He then asked Whitebeard to stop Ace’s search for Teach. Whitebeard becomes enraged and says that Blackbeard needs to learn a lesson. He then throws his bottle at Shanks. Shanks drew his sword and said the world would be thrown into chaos. The two swords clash and the sky splits apart on impact.
The next day, the Franky Family read the newspaper at Enies Lobby, relieved that they were not mentioned. At the Galley-La Company, the Straw Hat Pirates react to the news and wonder why Franky’s family was not in the article. Sanji and Chopper are excited as they can’t wait for their new rewards. Meanwhile, Franky prepares a new ship for the straw pirates. Iceburg arrives and offers to help, then Paulie, Tilestone and Peepley Lulu appear and offer to help as well. Back at Galley-La, Luffy learns that Franky is building a ship for them. Nami informs everyone that they still have money to spend and recommends buying furniture for the ship. However, Nami only finds a small pile of money in the safe. Luffy told Nami that he spent the money on the party last night. After Luffy is defeated by Nami, the crew goes shopping.
You know what, you were right again. I enjoyed the fillers! ^_^ The anime team managed to cram in a lot of comedy, which I always hope for in filler, but there were always tiny, tiny moments of pathos that reminded the audience that these characters are people with lives and loves and problems outside of the twenty minutes allotted to tell their stories . That’s what I like about One Piece. Character development is excellent: even in fillers. (Except for Eric the Filler Villain. They really bled the guy out. He wouldn’t die. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they brought him back as a zombie in a later filler arc).
Speaking of Eric the Filler Villain, the arc he followed to his bitter end, (the thousand year old dragon) is strikingly similar to the plot of episode 317. In the thousand year dragon arc, there is an old dragon who needs help finding a mythical final resting place, where old dragons die and little dragons are born (or are they reincarnated? I forget). At least this time they didn’t drag out the plot over the entire arc.
In episode 317, there is an old blind jaguar who is supposed to visit the “last nesting place” at the end of his days (I see what you were doing there, subtitlers). During the Aqua Laguna commotion, he heard the distant cries of a small newborn yagura and burst out of his home to save her.
This episode was actually kind of sad. It was sad to watch the little girl who was searching for Aobire, her old yagura, come to terms with his impending death. One in particular was a scene that was too real for filler when her parents were having a serious conversation over the kitchen table about explaining to her that Aobire was probably going to die soon, but she was hiding outside. stairs listened to every word they said with angry tear clouded eyes.
If you’ve ever lost a pet, you’ve probably been there, either in Abi’s shoes or her parents’ shoes. Sad times.
Honestly, people probably just got over Merry and then the anime team pulled this shit? I’m asking you…
The ending was bittersweet: Aobire’s ghost appeared, told Abi he had a wonderful life, and disappeared. All those yagura from Water 7 howled in tribute (which I just couldn’t deal with. Animals again). Then Abi heard the faint meowing cries of a small yagur trying to save Aobire. She ended up with a new yagura, but her beautiful old grandpa yagura never came back. Swings and roundabouts I guess, but it’s still sad.
There was even a little “hey wait, all is not right in paradise” bit in Zoro’s episode. The lady who took in Michael and Hoichael and all the other kids who had nowhere to go was harassed by debt collectors, probably because she spent all her money on childcare.
Zoro was basically kidnapped and beaten to do menial chores. He spent half the time trying to leave, caught between terror, embarrassment, plain confusion, and being pissed off by the kids.
But what he is really good at is catching falling children. It’s always nice to find out you have a hidden talent, huh?
I laughed at the scene when he tried to hawk it in the marketplace and ran into everyone he knew in Water 7. First Sanji, then Kokoro-san, Franky Family, Luffy, Chopper, Usopp and finally Robin who was the only one who noticed him. However, she is nice and has promised to keep his strange secret.
I’ll never get that image of Zoro in that tiny, ridiculous t-shirt out of my head. I think it’s firmly planted in the part of my brain that remembers funny things and causes me to snort out laughs at inopportune times, like when I’m on the train, walking down the street, or trying to teach someone.
Sanji’s episode was also okay, even if it was weak in terms of plot. I could probably sum it up in three lines:
Sanji meets an old drunk cook who makes the tastiest fried rice ever and goes on a hunt for a secret ingredient. It turned out to be roofing salt. Who knows?
It sounds like I didn’t enjoy it. I did! It was more the little things that made it possible for me. Photographers pestered Nami and Robin, asking if they would take a swimsuit calendar picture, and Nami tried to negotiate a deal (lol). The guy from Bang Bang Grandpa knew Zeff from before. Sanji made my jaw drop in horror when he dipped his fingers into the spice jars at the spice shop (hygiene, Sanji?) The Galley La guys fix up the town and go to lunch and Sanji catches Usopp running through the ideal scenario. to ensure his return to the Strawhat crew: (“Pretend nothing happened.”)
Really, it was just nice to see the people in Water 7 going about their daily lives, fixing up the place, running their businesses, and cooking the best damn fried rice in the OPverse. It was nice that the anime team used Aqua Laguna to come up with a clever plot related to cooking. Kudos to them for that.