User blog comment:Neowitch/707 - Much Ado About Nothing/@comment-7614831-20130423154206

Won't deny it was boring, but there is a slightly positive aspect: We've been subjected to wave upon wave of new characters in this tournament, most of whom possess arrogant levels of self-confidence. They're tedious, irritating...and we should've seen them coming. Crocodile warned us about the ton of loud mouth rookies on the grand line; but he's the bad guy, why listen to him? Same with Moria. Even in the scene between Whitebeard and Rockstar: 'I've been around for a while and I'm pretty sure I've made a name for myself' said the puny man. Sums up the majority of this tournament quite nicely. Certainly never thought we'd come to appreciate what those jaded old pirates were trying to get at.

Perhaps what Oda is giving us is the New World in a nutshell. This is, after all, the place every rookie has been flocking to for the past twenty two years or so; the place must be crawling with them! Where everyone's made a name to make it this far and let it go to their head. And as every former Shichibukai knows, that's not nearly enough.

Think that's why Bellamy appeals so much now. His bounty may not be too high, but he has the composure of a veteran. I'd very much like to see him win this round, but I have a nasty suspicion that Bartomeleo's apparently meagre bounty is either his first or second in recognition of something dangerous. And then there's this Ricky fellow. Who can say? Exciting isn't it.

Also, something else has been bothering me about this tournament, and it hasn't been until the sudden vomit of new names that I realised one or two of the old names are conspicuous by their absence. Namely: the former whitebeard pirates, who must surely have some kind of interest to regain the Mera Mera no mi?