Huh…….. I don’t really have a lot to say up front, I guess. Like; I’m OFFICIALLY starting this post Thursday, September 21, 2023, at 8:06 pm, yeah? I made the title and wrote down some notes I had about this and the last chapter(one of which i came up with in the heat of the moment writing the recent “Dump Post”), but I don’t have much to open on. Ah………. The job hunt is going slow. Sucks. Just gotta swing at another ball, I guess. Ah……….. That “One Piece” post I’m working on is………. also slow moving; I haven’t even been able to get to it as of late. It’s a good one, I assure you; one I’ve been working on for months now. It’s kind of big and also encompasses several other theories from fans, but when you look at it- it all connects. As any good mystery should. Ah…….. I’m stalling. One Piece Chapter 1,093: “Luffy vs Kizaru.” So this is the Main fight, innit’? Works for me!!
Overview
Last Time: Kizaru makes his way into the control room to fulfill his mission. But Gear 5th Luffy goes Giganto and grabs him to the shock of everyone. He then winds up for the toss- and throws Kizaru off the island– laughing the whole time. So they decide to leave Kizaru to Luffy while they escape. But Atlas wants to override the PX Mark 3’s orders before they bring down the barrier. But Stellapunk tells her to wait because he wants to confirm something, getting in contact with Franky. Franky tells him that Kizaru knocked Bonney into the barrier and into the Fabriophase. He is then chewed out by Stellapunk, guilting him into going down to retrieve her. Sanji, too, because Sanji. He and Jinbe are on floor 2 of Building A. Jinbe takes this chance to inform Stellapunk that he’s packed up everything that was asked for. So the plan is to meet up at the back exit.
Fabriophase- Mini-Flashback: Kizaru’s attack last chapter got her fried by the barrier and sent to the Fabriophase. A charred Sentomaru catches her, and tells her to hide from the Marine Soldier’s closing in. Which she does– using her devil fruit to mess with their ages in secret. But she knows she can’t hide like this forever…………. Labophase: Luffy asks Zoro if he needs help dealing with Awakened Lucci, but Zoro knows he’s likely gonna have his hands full with Kizaru as is. Plus he doesn’t realy feel like Lucci is a threat. And with Kizaru; he’s ABOUT to fall in the ocean- but flies up and separates himself, sending those Light bullets back into the Labophase where they become Full On Light Clones. He summons a light sword- “Ame No Murakumo-” and Luffy tries fighting back. But in fighting the clones; the REAL Kizaru is in the Control room with his crew!
Fortunately Stellapunk and Atlas aren’t here– they’re making their way to the Fabriophase in the Vegatank to save Bonney. Sanji’s hanging on to the hatch. Kizaru tries to blast the tank, but Luffy eats the beam. Like; LITERALLY ate the attack- he’s glowing and everything. Franky is now holding on to the hatch where Sanji just was, and he yells to Lilith use the General Franky and get the Sunny out of there. Egghead Port: Edison brings down the barrier to let the tank pass and then puts it right the f*ck back up, and Atlas yells for the PX Mark 3’s their new command: “Eradicate Every Last Marine On The Island.” And then we see St Saturn getting annoyed. One Piece Chapter 1,093 END!!! 2 relics are about to start moving- and the world is about to see something RE~ALLY Nasty………..
REVIEW
There are a few things that I wanted to talk about, like I said. And the first thing I wanted to talk about actually pertains to last chapter: The Iron Giant has woken up. I’ve heard a lot of theories in the community– the one standing out MOST to me right now would have to be Tekking101’s idea that the Giant runs off of Nuclear Fusion- the nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy; the process by which stars continue to burn. The Sun is a star. And this thing only woke up in the presence of the Sun God. And Lilith says that they’re looking to use the power of an “undying flame.” Oda won’t use terms like “DNA,” “The Internet,” or “Nuclear Fusion-“ but that’s what he’s getting at with Vegapunk’s big ideas. That being said: I don’t think that that’s what this is; I don’t know if the Sun God gives off “solar energy” that can power this thing- this thing is in the scrapyard; a wee bit too far to be absorbing those solar rays, right? Then again, this is a Pirate manga where this sh!t can happen so………….. Don’t rule it out. I think Oda might have had an idea with that scene of Luffy eating Kizaru’s light attack.
No, no; an idea that I came up with is that the Iron Giant was made by a Previous Nika Fruit holder- that the Giant was made through the “Power Of Imagination.” Because the Awakening allows the user to “fight in whatever way he fancies;” perhaps a previous holder decided to build something that could topple the World Government. And when the Iron Giant attacked the Holy Land 200 years ago; the pilot was the Awakened Nika holder!! POINT OF CONTENTION: The Gorosei said that the last time this fruit was awakened was 200 years ago. COUNTERPOINT: They don’t know everything. We don’t even know if these guys are the first iteration of the Gorosei under Imu’s thumb. That guy’s been the Secret Ruler of the World for 800 YEARS- he’s likely gone through a few Gorosei in his time. Heck, for all we know; this Giant’s rampage could have been the thing that killed the Gorosei of that era!! And just because they can last confirm that it was 800 years ago that someone became an incarnation of the Sun God- does not mean that they know about all the Holders of the fruit and their exploits.
In my mind: The Nika holder of that era used his “Imagination” to build an Iron Giant to storm Marijoa and liberate the world- and that alone. So he made the power source a specific vibrational pattern– The “Drums of Liberation.” Because once he was done took down the Celestial Dragons- he’d no longer have use for the machine. It could no longer be used when the “drums” stop. This is ALL just speculation on my part- born from just a random thought I had when making a post I was trying to finish quickly. There are still several things to consider, like how close the drums have to be for the Giant to get moving; it’s primary directive; and why it appeared when Fishmen Discrimination became such a big topic. But I try never to throw out a “One Piece” theory when I hear it; you never know with this story!
Other points: Kizaru’s Mentality in this situation. Because he keeps telling us how much he doesn’t want to do this- that he actually cares about Vegapunk and Sentomaru. And I bring this up because of the way that he’s fighting Luffy. Look, man: Kizaru IS light, alright? It’s one of the best things about him: The fact that there’s no debate in his speed!! He could have killed every Vegapunk but York in seconds, taken York, and be on his marry fr!ggin’ way back to HQ without this x10 Buster Call(a Standard Buster Call is 10 Ships- this is 100 all for a Newbie Emperor). He certainly possesses enough authority to take on a Yonko by himself, you would think. But………… that’s not what’s happening now, is it? He’s got to be back and forth protecting St Saturn AND deal with the Rubber brat. And if he had it HIS way– he’d be the only one who kills Vegapunk. Because he’s the only one who’ll make sure that no pain is felt in the last moments.
I think that he’s choosing to stay and fight with Luffy because he wants to lose- to save face and let Vegapunk escape all at once. Because he still has a duty as a Marine to follow orders, but also cares a great deal about Vegapunk. So he’s choosing to fight the only person here at present that has any chance of stopping him. If Luffy wins, then Vegapunk gets away and he can say that he tried to fulfill his mission. Luffy loses, then………. “Such is fate;” he has to do his job. I said a few reviews ago that Kizaru’s “Unclear Justice” is him pitting his own sense of Right and Wrong against someone else, and the winner being the one who’s “Right” in the end. And I said that ignoring Sentomaru would be the equivalent of Akainu’s “Absolute” mentality. That’s the case here; ignoring Luffy- the side that wants Vegapunk to live- would veer too close to Akainu and his Absolute Justice. That, and- in his heart of hearts- he WANTS Vegapunk to live.
Seriously, Kizaru’s powerset is a wee bit “overpowered” right now; if he can make Light Clones of himself now, then he DEFINITELY could have zipped over here, killed all the Vegapunk’s but York, and been back at HQ WITH York in under 30 minutes if he wanted to. He KNOWS this. But he’s fighting Luffy in hopes of getting defeated so that his friend can escape. He’s……… He’s smarter than he portrays himself. And becomes more and more dangerous the more you think about him.
There’s 2 more things I wanted to mention– 1 as it pertains to the chapter and the arc at current, and the other just kind of a gripe that I have with………. really the post time skip. And that complaint is Franky. I’m not gonna pretend like he’s my favorite Straw hat because he’s not. But I WILL say that I’ve always been kind of disappointed with his post time skip design. I kind of get the joke; Nami and Robin don’t really react whenever he does his usual thing, but Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper do because- they’re children. Zoro and Sanji are mostly arguing with each other, and I don’t think Brook fully understands it. Neither does Jinbe. It’s a gag on how people see Cyborgs like Franky: Young boys like the “cool factor” like the lasers and the massive arms that can hit you really hard; girls and older folks don’t fully understand the appeal; and at some point boys just grow out of the phase where they would be interested in that- be it because they’re in their “Edgey” phase or because they’re starting to notice girls. And that wasn’t bad. But I think Oda just doesn’t enjoy drawing him all that much- probably why he’s had the least to do in the post time skip era.
I won’t pretend like he did a whole lot before; he was only present for 2 arcs before they all got split up in Sabaody. But I definitely feel like we saw him more Pre Time Skip. I think Oda- getting up there in age- doesn’t want to draw this……… Clunky, top heavy design anymore. So I felt like, with Vegapunk now about to become a travelling companion of the Straw Hats- this was Oda’s chance to change his design- take him back a little bit to…….. well; maybe not “Cutty Flam,” but definitely “Franky-” something that’s easier to draw and work out fights for.
And Yet I Know In My Heart Of Hearts That This Will Never Happen In Any Reality.
One of “One Piece’s” greatest strengths(and a lot of the times; it’s Greatest Weakness) is the Consistency of its characters; every character in this story will always act in the way most true to themselves, and the story either bends so that this character trait can continue to work- or fight it and force them to fight back. Sanji will never kick a woman; Zoro will always act in the best interest of the crew; Luffy will never follow any plan you make; Nami will always value money over most things; Usopp will always try to get out of conflict; they’re just them and nothing this story can do to them is going to change that aspect of them. And Franky- as much as I would love for him to become more “streamlined-” probably won’t take that advancement. Because he is- at the end of the day- a boy. And boys find these Giant Robots cool. So even though Vegapunk could alter him to be less clunky but also higher functioning- Franky likely won’t take a visual downgrade for it. Neither will Luffy, Usopp, or Chopper.
All of this is to say, however, that I’m honestly surprised with Franky’s lack of focus in this arc. I know we got all of that other stuff with Shanks and Garp, and I wouldn’t trade any of it just for more time on Egghead(even though I’m curious what happened last night). But I kind of would have liked to see Franky bring up that he spent a lot of time in Vegapunk’s old lab on Baldimore; see Vegapunk examining Franky to see what he came up with on his own; them talking about potential upgrades even if they won’t change Franky’s design. That’s one of my complaints with this arc. Really my only one thinking about it. Other than that, this is Easily the Best Post Time Skip Arc.
And then you have the scenes with the Tank. Sanji was holding on to it- and then we see Franky there instead. They were both in Building A at different levels, but I think Stellapunk needed to go down to get the Tank. So it makes sense that Sanji would be able to latch on as it busted out of the building. But then Franky’s there instead. So unless Sanji crawled in the tank in sometime between then and now- somethin’ ain’t adding up. I’ll admit, looking into the layout of the lab; the Catarina Devon thing doesn’t have much to do with what’s going on right now. But it’s something people have noticed…………
Conclusion
I kind of wanted to title this review in a way that references the fact that they’re both based on Monkeys; Monkey D Luffy vs Admiral Kizaru(Literal Translation: “Yellow Monkey“). But even struggling to get out THAT sentence showed me exactly why that was a bad idea; just trying to say it felt like I was channeling too much Frieza for anyone’s liking. You know what I mean? I now want to end this post before I did too big a hole for myself. Ah……… Let me know what you guys are thinking in the comments. I had a lot of images prepared, but this is all I could get. But I’ll put one down here as a bonus. Til next time, folks; Keep it tight.
