Ron Does Stuff

I KNOW it’s been a week since I watched the previous episode , but work has been a lot, and there’s also the fact that maybe my brain chemistry isn’t the best or something. My brain just couldn’t the past few days. But I’m sitting down and doing this now!

We heard all about Chopper’s heartbreaking story in the previous episode, and I wanna reiterate that that’s a great creative decision because now we’re primed to hate on Wapol after all he put Chopper through. And what he’s now putting Dalton through, having captured him after his minions shot him with arrows.

And this is a new Wapol, who ate the devil fruit that Miss All Sunday offered him back in episode six. He can eat anything(?) and reconstitute it any way he wants. Wonder what the devil fruit he ate is called. Eat Eat Fruit? I could google but I’m afraid of falling into a research rabbit hole so let’s move forward. It turns out that Wapol isn’t the only one with abilities, as Dalton transforms into…a beast? I can’t figure out what kind of animal it is. I think it’s a bull? And then we get Wapol basically puking out his soldiers. Damn.

Elsewhere on the island, Vivi and Miss All Sunday finally face each other, and it looks like Miss All Sunday has an agenda of her own within Baroque Works. And can I just say, I don’t know whether the manga readers or the anime watchers liked this portrayal, but I do. I find her compelling. Kudos to the actress. And she kinda told me I’m write about the devil fruit because it’s called the Munch Munch Fruit.

The Munch Munch Fruit has helped Wapol puke out these misshapen soldiers that are like…conjoined cyborgs or something? I dunno, they only got shown from afar. Zoro and Usopp are staying behind to help the village face these soldiers, while Vivi is heading up the mountain to get Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats.

And what’s happening at the top of the mountain where Wapol’s castle is? Sanji is opening up to Nami about his childhood, talking about how he would cook for his mom because she was sick when he was growing up. It’s a great acting moment for Taz Skylar, especially when he’s basically doing this whole scene with just one eye. I love how understated this moment was.

That moment is cut short by Vivi’s arrival, who gets everyone updated on what’s happening down the mountain. Kureha and Chopper spilt up at this point, as Kureha isn’t risking her life to go up against Wapol, while Chopper believes it’s his duty as a doctor to stay and help out those who are going to be wounded by the coming battle.

While the Straw Hats in the castle are getting ready to go down the mountain, Kureha is already outside and headed away from the coming fight. However, she runs into Dalton, who is still alive after getting his ass kicked, and who is finally the one who breaks through Kureha’s cynicism and finally pushes her to act and help him out.

Dalton’s help is going to be needed, because Wapol’s already made his way up the mountain and is confronting Luffy and Vivi in his former castle. And leave it to Luffy to break the tension and make it comedic by starting stretching while Wapol’s delivering his evil monologue. Vivi also gets her moment when she stands up to Wapol and points out that “a king is just a man, and a crown is just a hat.”

Fighting is breaking out everywhere. Zoro and Usopp are fighting Wapol’s soldiers down the mountain, while Sanji, Nami, and Chopper are fighting Wapol’s hencmen elsewhere in the castle. I gotta say, because of the multiple fights in different terrains, the fight scenes aren’t as uniformly fun to watch as they were back in season one, or even during episode three. Not saying it’s bad, but the season has served better. I did like the Party Table Kick Course. The show really is committing, even if it might look silly.

The final fight scene between Wapol and Luffy is also entertaining to watch, and once again, props to the Wapol actor because it has got to be hard to act with all of those ~accoutrements~ on you. Also the Gum Gum Air Assault was funny. Sue me!

With Wapol defeated, Chopper now makes the choice to leave Drum Island and join the Straw Hats to be the crew doctor. There’s a scene where Kureha does the same thing Hiriluk did to Chopper, and then we finally find out what it was the Hiriluk made that would ~heal~ everyone. And while I get the metaphor of it, I kinda was expecting actual healing. As in those pink ~cherry blossoms~ would somehow heal everyone on the island. But it’s not a huge complaint.

We then get the set-up for the third season, which has already been revealed to be The Battle of Alabasta. Since the Straw Hats have thrown in their…uhm…hats into the ring to save Alabasta, she tells them who Mr. 0 actually — Mr. Crocodile, one of the Warlords of the Sea like Mihawk.

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