User blog comment:Roranoa Drake II/Chapter 790: One Punch/@comment-24850639-20150618173236

Solid chapter, but I was overall disappointed with it. After a break my expectations are always through the ceiling though, so that's probably on me more than anything. Had its highs and lows, and its hard for me not to be satisfied with action. But I wanted more story progression.

HIGHS:

- Nami and Robin's outfits on the cover. Good God.

- Doffy's awakening. Just gets more awesome every time I think about it conceptually. The blackness at the tips of the strings, he coated them in buso? BADASS. Was anyone else also reminded of Byakuya's bankai from bleach? Lol

- Battle theatrics. I'm glad this was still a fight, and didn't literally end with just one punch. I was happy to see Doffy smack Luffy around a bit and talk his shit (which he does better than any OP villain I've seen so far). Luffy and Doffy had a battle of words/wills all the way up to the final clash, and it had me at the edge of my seat. If the setup is good enough, even a horrible punchline can sound amazing.

- The punchline. Crocodile was punched REPEATEDLY into the ceiling, then through it. Rob Lucci was punched REPEATEDLY into the wall, and then through it. Hordy was punched REPEATEDLY into Noah, then through it. Caesar was punched/pushed REPEATEDLY into the wall, and then through. With 1 PUNCH, Luffy sent Doffy from midair, through the fucking GROUND. Not a wall.

- Law's recollection. More of an expectation than anything, but I think next chapter we'll get some more background on the "D" hopefully. Everything seemed very symbolic to me. Doffy thinking he was a God (and voicing it quite a few times), takes to the sky saying he doesn't like people thinking they're above him etc etc, just to be knocked back down to earth with those damn glasses finally shattered. I don't think Doffy is down either, and he's going to have some VERY interesting things to say about the D clan/Mariejois treasure/Kaido.

LOWS:

- After a 2 week break, where you had spent the last 3 chapters setting up "One Punch", you actually end the chapter at said punch, and no other portion of the story progresses AT ALL. We receive no closure on if the man is actually done for, or if the birdcage is still going. We are SO tired of seeing everyone push, please end the shit. Assuming the fight is over now and the cage actually is done, a little foreshadowing (someone saying something about the birdcage) wouldn't hurt. I feel like the next chapter is going to be purely dedicated to the cage being over with and cleanup.

- Repetitive plot devices. C'mon now. Overcoming impossible odds is one thing, but ANOTHER villain falls due to underestimating Luffy? After the speeches that he wouldn't make the same mistake of underestimating Luffy like EVERYONE  ELSE? After all the warnings from Law that Luffy has done the impossible? After literally SEEING Luffy break through his strings with Gear 4 before with the 1ST Kong Gun? And then again with parasite? Doffy was still overconfident to the end, as if Luffy HADN'T bested him in the sky before, broken through his strings, or proven that Gear 4 will seriously wreck him if he isn't careful. Doffy is probably the smartest, most experienced, combat savvy antagonist Luffy has taken on so far, yet he still has to go down as the typical over-cocky snob that doesn't count his eggs before they hatch.

- Rayleigh flashback. Even though we knew it already, we finally get solid confirmation from Rayleigh himself that Gear 4 is putting too much stress on Luffy's body/haki. He implores Luffy to find an alternative way to get the job done if it ever doesn't work, after Luffy himself admits that it doesn't always work. We're set up to expect Luffy to use some kind of new ability/technique that we haven't seen before to really turn the tide in his favor.......................................................................................................................................................and then he activates Gear 4. Hey Rayleigh, you know that haki stuff that I was overusing and putting all that strain on my body with? I'm gonna spread it over an even larger surface area to counteract overusing it, sound cool? Perhaps you can argue that this is classic Luffy being hardheaded and not listening, but at the very least I was expecting to see a technique other than "Kong Gun" end this, when everyone was already thinking Kong Gun anyway when he said "one punch".