SHIT YEAH

THIS IS WHAT I LIKE ABOUT OP

ADVENTURAN

BIZARRE PLACES EXPLORAN

HERE THAR BE DRAGONS!

Adventure, mystery, and dat Robin.

This is gonna be good.

>>Samurai are swordsmen so strong even the government won't mess with them!!

Eh...

Oho seems like they've stumbled across something special.

Also it was cool how Smoker knew his target so well haha.

>Robin in her underwear
>Dat Smoker
SO MANY LADYBONERS

That is a "JOIN MY CREW" face.

Calling first sentence next chapter:
Be my nakama!

Dat everything, these are my favourite types of chapters

holy shit

Holy Shit

HOLY SHIT

This is already my new favorite arc.

Oda you beautiful bastard.

YES

YES

YEEEEESSSSS ODA TAKES ON DRAGONS ALL MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE~~~

(Also, just in case anyone's a slowpoke, all of this is tying back to one of Oda's earlier oneshots, Monsters. http://manga.animea.net/wanted-oda-eiichiro-tanpenshu-chapter-4-page-1.html)

Calling 2 things: Aokiji is on this island, and/or this Island was built by doctor Vegapunk (thats why it doesnt respond to the logpose etc.)

So jelly. I wanna be fed by Robin.

I'm calling it now. That Dragon is actually a legendary Zoan user.

Zoro doesn't know what a samurai is?

But the theme song! He's JUST LIKE A SAMURAI!!

>>23806
He's only LIKE a samurai. See, he was fighting some bad guys, but accidentally got some samurai blood on him. So he transformed into Zosamurairo.

>>23793
The World Government is cheese cloth thin as it is, they have to be picking and choosing their battles right now.

This is FANTASTIC!

Great chapter.

I forget, did we already know Smoker's a Vice-Admiral now or not?

>>23811

Yes, as of like 2 or 3 chapters ago. Tashigi is captain now, too.

Little translation note: the Wa in Wa no Kuni is 和, a character which literally means Harmony, as the translation said, but is very often used as 'Japanese'. For example, 和服, Japanese clothes, or 和室, a Japanese-style room.

So while translating 和の国 as 'Country of Harmony' isn't wrong, it should be mentioned that the name suggests that the country is very much like Japan...without actually being Japan, since Japan is 日本.

>>23813 >>23793
It's gonna turn out the not-Japanese created the terrible weapons everyones freaking out about, as well as the space robots.
And that V-punk is not-japanese.

Another arc, another exploration team. I hope this one stays together for a while, I like it a lot. I think Franky would have been better than Usopp though, in order to balance out the group personalities.

>>23814

Vegapunk can't be from not-japan because we have already seen his hometown, Baljimoa. It's where Franky spent his 2 years.

Luffy thinks that dragon is his father. Calling it.

Dude. Wano Country. And Dragons.

Is Zoro gonna have to get with the decapitations? He's got a sword with a proven track record of being able of doing it.

I hope this arc gives Zoro a shit ton of focus.

I'm highly enjoying this. Smoker seems to look like that one resident evil dude. His name escapes me at the moment.

also, did bleach get canceled?

>>23821

Just on a three-week break between arc.

I'm really excited for this arc, or at least the next few chapters. I mean, I enjoy the drama in OP, it's just not the main reason I read it, I love the crazy whimsical stuff and Fishman Island while being good just didn't have that for me.

>>23821
Smoker's giving me a Serious Sam 3 vibe, personally (it might be the shades with the slicked back hair).

I love that Usopp may have gotten muscles, new fighting skills and a more eclectic sense of fashion, but is still kinda a wuss/scaredy-cat after two years of training. I love even more that Zoro is calling him on it and teasing him for it.

HO SHIT, DRAGON! I love you, Oda; you are a magnificent bastard of the highest order. Calling it now that the dragon isn't evil or anything, he just took over the island after somebody destroyed his original home. Also, he may be goofy as fuck, once he makes friends with Luffy (because you know that shit's gonna happen).

Why do so many people insist Zoro will replace one of his swords. I'm sick of people assuming "stronger zoro means new swords" Whats better, assuming Zoro is stronger because he has a better sword, or Zoro proving his strength and skill without having the best swords in the world.

But anyway, im still predicting that Zoro will have a face down against a swordsman using the other two cursed swords, that would be a dandy fight

-punk hazard
-former marine island

This is going to be a vegapunk focused arc.

>>23825
It's really unecessary now to have new swords. The one he had replaced was just a regular well made sword. Otherwise he has a demon sword, a sword used by a samurai to kill a dragon, and his dead friends sword.

What else could he possibly need?

Three things could have happened to this island:

1 - My first thought when seeing the melted houses and fire was "Buster Call." We've always seen them getting started, but never the aftermath of one. This could very well be the "incident five years ago" and the reason they sealed it off; the fire keeps burning even now.

2 - The dragon would obviously be to blame. The fact half the island is ice could hint at what it originally was. All this heat and fire came from him.

3 - This could all be a self-contained experiment or used site from Dr. Vegapunk they walked into. The ties to the WG and the name of the place itself all hint to the much anticipated, mythological Vegapunk Arc we've been waiting for for years.

The whole "distress call" and the samurai stuff is anyone's guess at this point. All very mysterious and Oda-like right now. What we can count on, however, is this arc to be like Drum, Little Garden or Jaya. He always follows a big one with something small and easier to buffer. Can't forget we're now in the Big Mom Saga.

>island is half burning, half frozen

Gentlemen, we've found the battleground.

>>23825
With Zoro it's not a question of the sword being stronger, it's the personality of the the sword and how well they cooperate, what unique features they have and the way he plays to those strengths.

To Zoro they are characters on their own, he referred to Sandai Kitetsu as a problem child and Shusui as having a temper, so yeah, you are right, swords don't make the swordsman just like tool don't make a carpenter.

>>23826
I'm thinking the island is the One Piece equivalent of Bikini Atoll courtesy of Vegapunk trying to create and test ancient weapons or new inventions.

Sons Of The Pioneers - Old Man…

>>23830
That is a much more logical theory.

>>23830
Banjo-Tooie Music: Hailfire Peaks (Lava Side)

This is now the background music to punk hazard.

>>23830
I thought this doesn't work?

The battle took place less than two years ago.

The island has been locked and feared even by marines since 4 years ago.

>>23835
An abandoned island makes a pretty nice battleground, and there's nothing stating that the fire stems from the four year incident.

>new world
>certain burning island
>Akainu just arrived
>is still just admiral

>>23821
>>23822
Turns out it's both, one more arc and then it's shit canned.

>>23837

There's a possibly good chance that it might be the same island.
Blackbeard is clearly not the indicator of the disaster though.

Something that does hold that theory back though; the lack of a fence in THAT chapter and the lack of those statues that are prominent in the background in the current chapter.

Who knows though? I don't, that's for sure.

>>23838
Oh.
Is it not popular any more?

>>23841
Dunno about the reasoning, just that it's ending.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-02-01/tite-kubo-bleach-manga-to-enter-final-arc

>>23842
Huh.
I expected it to go a little further.

Maybe I'm just used to reading crazy long series.

>>23824
There's nothing pussy about having basic self-preservation instincts. It's not his fault he's stuck traveling with a bunch of clowns with a death wish

OH SHIT SON. This is fucking AWESOME. FUCK YEAH, DRAGON!

>>23837
I always assumed Blackbeard had been the one who set everything on fire. He pillaged and destroyed the country/town while capturing Bonney as a bonus; I don't understand where people get "AN ISLAND PERPETUALLY ON FIRE" from. Notice there's also snow on the pipes at the entrance of Punk Hazard, meaning it was ONCE fully a snow country before something set it on fire.

>>23833
That's a bit of a stretch. She has no reason to be on a deserted island waiting for Luffy. And there's .. nothing linking them. The dragon's saliva isn't melting the ground, that's smoke around its head from the fires.

Also
>Bleach ending
Better late than never, I guess. Now we just need to squash Naruto and we'll be golden.

>>23830
I think it's a little of column A and column B. The island was considered off limits 4 years ago right? Before Akainu and Aokiji's fight.

But it's clearly a marine base and the powers are too similar to be a coincidence.

I think this is where Vegapunk did his pacifista research. This is evident in the name. The pacifista have Kizaru's ability to shoot light beam lasers right? That has never been explained. My guess is that Vegapunk attempted to channel the powers of all three admirals into the pacifista, but lava and ice wouldn't work and or fit. A little crazy science later, and the island is forever transformed and only light fits into the pacifista and kuma.

As for the dragon and the samurai. I just KNOW this is going to connect to his one shot and ryuuma some how.

>>23847
>Now we just need to squash Naruto and we'll be golden.

Whoa whoa Jack, Naruto is still good sans eye cancer.

>>23847
maaaaybe, but it was called a 'burning island', not 'an island on fire'. They seem a little different, like one manifests flames and the other is set on fire.

I dunno, how big an asshole IS teach? He is a man who believes in adventure and dreams. He liberated drum country from a dictator. He killed a pirate that wasn't a particular saint himself (newgate) and brought in Ace. He does what a pirate does, but he hasn't been shown to rape and pillage. He bounty hunts, adventures and does whatever is good for teach. The most collateral I've seen him do is destroy a town in his fight with Ace, which all high level pirates do in a fight.

So I doubt he would just SET a town on fire for kicks.

>>23834

FUCK

This whole arc better just be

A fire and an ice dragon fighting each other.

The other crew members go around to the other side of the island to investigate, get caught in an ice-sheet, and wind up meeting the ice dragon.

Luffy, Zorro, Robin and Ussop befriend the fire dragon and from there on out WACKYNESS!

Also: If you paid me to localize this series I'd probably translate not-japan to "Land of the Harmonious Sun" or something like that.

>>23850
>>23847
Guys, it says right there on the page that there isn't a town on Blackbeard's burning island. How many islands on fire do you think there are right at the beginning of the New World, anyway?

>>23853
>How many islands on fire do you think there are right at the beginning of the New World, anyway?

Given that of like, 5 islands in that stretch 2 so far are on fire, so I'll say a lot.

>>23849
>Naruto is still good

>>23850

We know for a fact he pillaged Drum, that's why Wapol left in the first place: he didn't want any dirty nasty pirates touching him, so he left the country to fend for itself, and would return to rule over whoever was left.

>>23855
YOU HEARD ME.

>>23856
I would REALLY like to know blackbeards motive. Drum kingdom was better off after the pillaging and it doesn't look like the town had much wealth to give really. Maybe he just pillaged the castle?

>>23858
>blackbeards motive

He's following his dream!

So, Zoro doesn't know what a samurai is, but he's still curious despite the fact that he's never curious about anything. It's probably because he remembered that Ryuma had something to do with samurai, whatever they were. He asks Brook, who is the most likely to know because he dedicated part of his life to fighting him. Logically, he would have tried to find out as much information about Ryuma as possible.

If this were a worse manga it would have been Usopp (because he's a "normal" guy) asking Robin (because she's a "smart" lady). The fact that the exposition role (and many others) gets passed around to appropriate people depending on the situation helps to keep the characters from degenerating into caricatures of themselves. Yeah, nothing would have changed if it was Usopp and Robin, but I think subtle touches like this really do make a difference to the overall quality of the story.

>>23849

It's really cute how you not only believe this, but don't realize you're basically saying the equivalent of "Whoa, this sandwich is pretty good aside from the bread, which is literally shit." Except that it's actually a club sandwich, so now the center is smeared too. The entire world is fighting to protect a descendant/reincarnation of the original eye person from a different descendant/successor of the eye person, who stole his current eyes from another descendant/successor of the eye person (who was the main villain of the last arc!) and is using them to collect the creations of the original eye person in order to put an eye on the moon.

>>23858
He wants the same thing Luffy does, he's just taking a different route there.
Blackbeard is a man who believes in absolute freedom and power. In many ways he's just like Luffy: they both value dreams above all else, he seems to have a fairly loyal crew of "friends", and they generally do whatever they want. But unlike Luffy, he's very calculating and heartless. That >>23850 has doubts about his morality still is just baffling. He betrayed his nakama, made prisoners fight to the death for their freedom, and was ready to sink Marineford with everyone on it if he hadn't been stopped by Sengoku and Shanks.

>>23862
I think it's less "Doubt he's immoral" and less "Do we really have any indication he's sadistic?" There's a difference between being willing to go to any lengths to attain your personal goals even if other people suffer because of it, and taking pleasure in other people's suffering.

The first will set a city on fire because they're the sole producers of the one thing that can stop them. The second one will set a city on fire because it's funny.

>>23863
mostly this, thank you.

I just want to stress that it's important to keep a moral spectrum here in one piece, where the good guys are buy definition 'bad guys'.

People always say 'aokiji 4 nakama', but keep in mind the guy took part in a genocide of scholars and iced saul in front of a little girl.

And sengoku, a guy who quit the marines because of cover ups, still chided saul for not blindly following orders.

And crocodile. The guy is a mass murderer, he's not an 'ally'. Hell, even zoro ain't innocent.

There's good and bad parts on both sides of power, and we can't forget who the bad people are just because of their popularity or how nice they are to the main characters.

So is there any doubt at all that Blackbeard will be the final boss of One Piece. Or at very least, the penultimate one?

>new island is Hailfire Peaks

>>23865
Chances are he is the final one. He predates Akainu by a lot, and I get the feeling Luffy won't even be the one to kill Akainu.

akainu will be offed by either Marco or Aokiji. Or fucking COBY, god I fucking hope so. If not offed, then completely beaten.

So: How fucking boss is it that Smoker, having met Luffy all of three times, knows that he's such a lunatic that he'd beeline directly towards the most dangerous of all possible islands?

>>23869
Smoker smells like piss and is most likely a virgin.

>>23870
Incorrect, he smells like cigars and justice took his virginity.

>>23869
It only takes meeting Luffy once to know that, really.

>>23872
Dumb as a sack of hammers, thrill seeker, bull stubborn and bold as frenchmen with a 40.

Yup, you are right.

>>23869
Maybe because the first time he saw Luffy he was the lunatic who was laughing about being executed, the second time he saw him he was the lunatic who thought he could take down a shichibukai, and the third time he saw him he was the lunatic taking on all of Marineford?

As far as pattern recognition goes, Luffy's not that hard.

>>23874
When you put it that way....yeah, it doesn't take a Master Profiler to think "Would Straw Hat really do something so pointlessly dangero--what am I saying, of course he would."

Keep in mind, Smoker is also hellbent on catching Luffy, so he'd be keeping tabs on him throughout the marines' intel. Meeting him three times would really just solidify character observations at this point.

Funnily enough, this chapter actually contradicts the last East Blue filler arc of the anime. There was a dragon and a little girl and Nami kills a guy named Eric at the end. It was kind of stupid.

pic related

>>23877

Weren't they bizarrely specific that the Millenium Dragons or what the fuck ever they were called were not actually dragons, just something that looks like a dragon?

Anyway that filler sucked shit so I don't much care.

>>23877
I'm glad Oda does not give two shits about filler.

I dont get it. What's the story behind the cover page? I don't remember any lolis with galley-la.

>>23880

In one of the previous cover arcs, they showed Iceberg interviewing a shitload of women for the position Kalifa vacated. There was a lineup right out the door. And this little girl was one of them.

>>23879
Actually, he does. Every filler Toei pitches has to go through him, and he personally oversees that none of the material clashes with his. If they had dragons, or something that looked like dragons in filler, Oda is aware and okay with it. Hell, he sometimes designs some of the filler characters himself.

>>23883
You're talking bullshit. The only involvement he ever had with the anime was designing a single filler character. Earlier fillers were riddled with continuity mistakes up the bum. It's just that they're more careful now.

>>23883
>>23884
Well, we at least know they consult him about devil fruit powers.

http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/SBS_Volume_37

>R: Odacchi! I have a question. Do you come up with the Devil Fruit Powers that are original to the Anime show? Let me know.

O: Basically, all that happens is that the anime's scriptwriters come up with powers that they want to use in the story, and I say "Yeah, that sounds good," or "No, sorry, I want to use that one in the future." That's all.

>>23879
>>23883
>>23884
I thought it was more that Oda didn't care about filler, and then Toei started doing crappy filler that actively went against his canon, so he started making them bring stuff to him for approval.

>>23886

Nope. Oda actively doesn't give a shit besides devil fruits. Maybe what confused you is that as time went on Oda got more and more involved with the MOVIES, and started doing character designs and scenarios for them. Eventually he took (read: was shoehorned into) direct control for Strong World.

>>23851

Little Garden 2: Dragon Boogaloo

Hopefully Nami gets cancer this time.

>>23851

Little Garden 2: Dragon Boogaloo

Hopefully Nami gets cancer this time.

>>23894
Do...I want to know why you want Nami to get cancer?

>>23891
>(read: was shoehorned into)
He seems to have done it with a lot of gusto for someone who was "forced" into it..

>>23898

Well why not? Even I've been forced into ridiculous situations that ended up being a lot of fun. At the very least it allowed Oda to get paid to draw a shitload of weird animals, which I'm pretty sure is the Oda equivalent of being paid to eat delicious dinners. At the same time, it was obviously extremely stressful, but he managed to hide it pretty well all things considered. Remember that during that period of time OP went on break every three weeks, and that when it was over he went on a month long Hawaiian vacation.

Oh man it's like Thriller Bark all over again.

>>23905
How so?

>>23908

>Mysterious island
>HOLY SHIT AN AWESOME CREATURE
>Hey wanna be my nakama?
>lol no
>pleeeeeeaaasseee?
>*sigh* ok.

>>23909
GIANTTALKINGDRAGON4NAKAMAXDLOL