User blog:Plainblack/720 Review

I've never done one of these before, but I feel there is a lot to talk about in this chapter so I'm going to give it a whirl :) I read the chapter on mangareader this morning (cos mangastream took it's sweet time) but I'm going to be rereading while I type, cos they're the type of reviews I always enjoy reading most.

Front Cover, and it's Caribou and co. to the rescue! I knew he was a big softee at heart... apart from the ruthlessly murdering people thing, but if we can forgive Kidd, then...

(A.N, mangastream has some awesome color pages of Drake and the ultimate post-timeskip moment, "I got on... the wrong ship!" XD love it!) Anyway...

At the Coloseum. We get a run down of our three winners all looking very impressive, and then loads of people running around trying to find the ''spare ring! ''Y'know, that big concrete thing that's supposed to be keeping a lid on DD's super secret SMILE factory? Yeah, well, it's like that, only it gets lowered down from the sky by Buffa- Oh!

Cavendish has apparently had enough of 'Lucy' being awesome and getting the crowd to love him and isn't deterred by his kicking the shit into Chinjao as he tries to run him through! Luffy spits to be sure and catches that badboy meito casual as you please. Then some losers from one of the first three blocks (I'm not being derogatory, they're all beat up. Also, what knobjockeys!) start mouthing off about how they could have failed to save Ace too, and you just know by the look in Barty's eyes that something awesome is beginning! Barty squishes them like gnats, heedless of their claims of royalty and shows them his scary side! We thought this guy was a joke when he threw the fake bomb, but apparantly Luffy is his berzerker button! He calls Luffy sempai and Pirate King and universal pack mule and other grandiose thigs that pave the way for the unbelievable cuteness of his fanboy squeeing, but first reveals that he was in Roguetown at the same time as Luffy and saw his almost execution! Hands up who busted out their old volume 11 to see if they could find him? If anybody does give me a shout cos I can't! While this is happening, Luffy and Cabbage squabble in the background (Something about how Cabbage had it first and now Luffy won't give it back and he's a dodo-butt or something) and then Barty cries cos he thinks Luffy was saved by a god... thaaaat could-be-awkward! Dragons are sorta gods, right? Anywho...

Barty was the Mafia boss of 150 towns for a while and probably kept an uber-creepy Luffy shrine on the other side of his Strawhat pirate wall (which is missing Brook, some fucking fan!) but he gave up his life of organised crime to become a pirate and follow in Luffy-sempai's footsteps, sorta. Back in real time, and Bartolomeo's let them out in order to cut of some body parts they don't need anymore...

Luffy throws Cavendish into a wall with his own sword (I think, it's kinda hard to see) and then we're back to Barty jizzing over Luffy's scar(s). It's understandible though, cos "he's so fucking badass and awesome..." He cries a little cos he can't move any nearer Luffy's awesomeness without risking spontaneously melting into drool but he wants to smack Cavenbitch a bit for messing with his idol and then we're done with him, and I'm kinda glad, cos he was getting too emotional about everything, it's weird to see a guy with fangs cry! Don Chinjao appears and nearly kills everyone with his 'gratitude' yeesh! Luffy uses it as a distraction and legs it from crazy fanboys, murderous ladyboys and seriously grateful people who can apparently decide who controls their countries navy even though they're retired! Barty has another aneurysm when Luffy gets too close to him and they all apparantly give chase.

Finally! I've been praying for a bit o' Jesus for weeks! And Teach too! (Hey, I was just talkin' 'bout him!) Shiryu (AKA scary motherfucker) is mentioned along with a warning from Burgess that they can't just trust Aokiji! I could speculate all day about that, but I'll just say that I think it's got to be considered that maybe Aokiji has decided to become a pirate and try and keep order on his own terms in a Yonko's territory. There's got to be some strong moral reason he was a marine beyond how cool Garp was, but I don't think he would totally dismiss piracy on principle, so... Luffy and BB squabble over who Ace loved best and then Rebecca drags Luffy away (to his doom!) Luffy gets distracted (needlessly) by a food vender and Rebecca buys him some so that the enraged saleswoman doesn't kill him for eating all the samples. This saves her life (needlessly)

She's planned this out, though. The way she takes off that helmet, in the subtext she's stripped and gave him a lap dance all to get his gaurd down, and then she waits till her mates grab him with his mouth full and his pants down (NOT!! Luffy is invulnerable to all charm!) and even though she tries to act all suprised so you can make out she's actually nice, she still tries to run him through! For no reason at all! Really! I'm mean, if we're comparing, Nami, given all the reason in the world to do it, stabs herself rather than kill Usopp, and this bitch can't ask her mates to put him down? No way, Rebecca, you better dies slow this arc or I'm gonna... never ever like you no matter what! :p Luffy kicks the shit out of everyone ('cept the pretty girl cos Oda doesn't like his heroes doing that) and eats his lunch while he goes. Luffy forgives and forgets basically cause she's too weak to hurt him and she bought him food, and I can respect that, just cause you can, doesn't mean you should and all that jazz.

We're introduced to the prisoner gladiators, and I've already said my piece about that elsewhere, and then Rebecca reveals that she wants the fruit so she can protect the toy soldier who's protected her since she was a child. She already knows about his plans to lead an army to attack the coloseum (a security risk as she seems willing to tell just about anyone about it! I will blame you entirely if DD is waiting for them when they arrive!) and has another cry about how she really wants to be strong for her little protector. PB, not moved.

All in all, Barty was brilliant, BB was long overdue and all the sweeter for the brevity and the wait, and the insights to Dressrosa's history were intriguing. I give the chapter and 8/10, and a high 8 at that!