Lark Reads One Piece

Liveblogging my first full read-through of the One Piece manga. There will be spoilers, but thoughts on new chapters won't be posted until after the official release! My main One Piece blog can be found at kikokus

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with the newest chapter being leaked and released, it looks like the Egghead arc is predominately over. When do you think you'll start posting the live blog again?

It might be a while since I'll be away for the next few weeks and then September is always busy with my job, but I'll try my best to get back to it at some point next month!

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Since we seem to be getting into some lore-heavy chapters I'm going to hold off on the liveblog for a few weeks so I can cover more of that at once!

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Looking back, this also maybe isn’t completely surprising since there’s been hints throughout the entire series about the sea levels rising and the top brass of the government and various countries have always built their homes at the highest possible point. I saw a comparison of all of the castles/palaces in various countries and they’re always way up on a hill or a plateau, the Celestial Dragons are living at the very top of the Red Line, etc.

So this certainly seems like something the higher-ups knew or at least suspected, but for everyone in the world to know would have a much more significant impact.

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This sequence is so good; I love that they all just jump into action to protect Robin, and it’s even more noteworthy that all of their top fighters are elsewhere but none of them hesitate to throw themselves at this literal monster to make sure Robin stays safe.

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Two different circumstances here but also plans are being foiled in both instances just the same.

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Bonney actually looks even larger than the giants there but this seems like an appropriate use of her power at the moment…

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The crunching noise concerns me but I assume Sanji’s now durable enough to withstand that even if it doesn't look great.

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Sanji doing this in base form and with apparently just a normal kick is pretty impressive, especially considering from the drawn impact he also deflected the sword in the same motion.

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Ah, it’s nice to see Kaya and the kids and Merry again. Glad they’re doing well.

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I feel like the idea of Vegapunk’s brain or head or consciousness being stored in a tank is something that’s been theorized a lot so this isn’t particularly surprising, all things considered…

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There are many good things happening here but I’m particularly fond of the multiple Chopper-pawns.

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And again, the spoilers talk about how Mars is ‘obviously looking up at something’ but I…don’t see it? Yes, there’s that weird bubbling sound and I’m sure something else is going to interrupt, but it doesn’t read to me as if there’s one ‘thing’ that Mars has noticed and it seems more that he’s just looking at the snail. I guess we’ll see…

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I stand by what I said before: this is the coolest transformation design out of all the Gorosei.

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So the spoilers made it sound as if this was some sort of miracle food but it’s literally just food that will last a long time so it makes sense the giants would take it along on a sea voyage, and I like that better than Luffy suddenly having a way to completely counter the effects of Gear 5.

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Edison I’m concerned you’re not exactly in the best shape… But yet again, whether the barrier is an issue or not seems to change very frequently and along with the Seraphim hierarchy it’s been one of the…most inconsistent things about this arc…

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This is…curious to me, because the panel directly after implies that Stussy’s staying behind to lower the barrier but that in and of itself isn’t inherently dangerous since that barrier’s been going on and off for the entire arc, so the gravity with which she’s saying this seems to imply that either she’s more wounded than she’s letting on or else there’s something else she’s planning to do.

It’s not entirely surprising since Kuma’s flashback showed us that Stussy sees herself as not fully human despite Vegapunk denying it, but I’m concerned for her either way... Also, I’ve been thinking about this, but I feel like Kaku’s coping more than a little here because while we know that Lucci’s actions over the past several chapters have been an attempt to keep him safe, from Kaku’s point of view Lucci’s been making life difficult for him all arc, he’s been keeping secrets and not telling Kaku his plans, and then he seemingly goes rogue to the point that even Sanji’s like ‘yeah, he just kinda left you behind,’ and Kaku really has no argument against that right now…

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Kaku: *sees the final form of a guy that’s technically one of his bosses*

Kaku: ew. gross.

Apart from that, I really like this scene because they’re just kind of…gossiping, and it’s very chill until Kaku remembers he’s actually supposed to be mad at Stussy. The stark contrast between Lucci’s whole ‘he’s on the verge of death’ last chapter and Kaku being…fine here is sure something, though. Like yes, he’s still living in his bubble, but he looks pretty relaxed.