As badass as the last page is, this story becomes too complicated with the addition of new characters. Now we have to keep track of the samurai as well.
I've pretty much decided a long time ago to just accept One Piece as it is.
Oda sacrifice flow in order to create a larger narrative. This really help his story take this aspect of a grand adventure at the cost of character growth and development. I usually find myself rereading every arc after it finished because i have a hard time remembering and connecting all the details that get shown every week.
The payoff for this type of story telling is an epic arc like Whitebeard where all the dots connect and loose strands of the story starts to come together.
I would say that it helps to treat this like the start of a new story rather than the continuation of an old one, because it'll be a while before Oda starts to answer all the questions he presents.
I think that has to do with One Piece being a victim of its own success.
I don't think Oda is aware of how truly bloated his story has become. This might not even be a popular among the One Piece fan base so it's probably not brought up. Oda probably just sees every new volume breaking the sales record previously made by his older volumes and just assume that all the fans are loving his story, so he should continue doing what he's doing.
Speaking of details, has anyone else notice that since the time skip and especially this arc that franky's hair changes like every other week?
In regards to the chapter, I'm blown away! As usual
Nah, just always introduction of new characters that it could have been someone else. I can see him watching over Luffy.
Yeah, I figured it was Aokiji or Mihawk. Too bad there's no chapter next week. Would really like to see an epic fight between Donflamingo and Aokiji.
Poor Smoker doesn't get a break, guy needs a vacation after all this.
I'm looking forward to a Aokiji vs Donflamingo fight!
Doflamingo isn't going to fight Aokiji. He will concede, and leave the island with his typical shit-eating grin.
10/4/04 - 8/20/07