#ch 1081

[sereinreality]

i feel like we need to start having a discussion about law and being dehumanized throughout his entire life

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

Hello! I wanted to ask about chapter 1131. In the official English translation, Loki calls Shanks “coward”—which is the same name Higuma called Shanks in chapter 1 (page 43) that set Luffy off, back then. The early spoilers I saw for 1131 used the word “chicken” tho. Is the same word used in the original Japanese in both chapters?—And if so, is “coward” the most accurate translation for it, in your eyes? Thank you so much, I love your blog!

yup, same word! it's 腰ぬけ/koshinuke, which does mean 'coward.' notably (at least to me), it's also the same word buggy called shanks when shanks refused to go to laugh tale to claim the one piece after roger's execution.

[ninhaoma-ya]

Chapter 1081 — Kuzan, the tenth Blackbeard captain

And thus the prophesies became true and Kuzan, protégé of Garp and admiral of the navy, was confirmed as the tenth titanic captain of the Blackbeard pirates. And lo, he is firm in his conviction and supports his new master and doubt does not plague him.

The chapter is gorgeous. Although I’m still miffed about the quality of the line work, the panelling is beautiful.

a) Great timing and teamwork! These people have been doing this before.

b) How does it feel for Pizarro to get his body modified like that? Can he override Prince Grus’s powers or do their powers cancel each other out?

c) Confirmation of Garp’s Conqueror’s Haki

d) GIVE US GOD VALLEY, ODA, I NEED TO SEE WHAT GARP AT PEAK POWER WAS LIKE (if he’s losing his touch here)

So Garp will obviously lose here and get captured (I don’t think Oda is going to kill him) together with Koby and the rest of the marines. I can’t think of a narrative that would let them escape here (will come back to this later) and we need something to kick off the final battle — why not Blackbeard kidnapping Luffy’s family and oldest friends?

I just want to point out the beautiful little foreshadowing of Garp’s grey focus and the very pretty panel of Hibari-san freezing over.

I wonder why Kuzan didn’t freeze Koby?

I wonder if it's less ambiguous in the original, but "It's be a bad look if Koby escapes" does scream FORESHADOWING FOR TURNCOAT-KUZAN with big, neon letters.

So at least Vasco Shot, Doc Q and Juan Wolf picked a fight with Kuzan and got popsicled. Why were they there in the first place? What is Blackbeard’s plan?

Nice to see how they met, as well! What a meet-cute. "You froze all my friends, let's be pals!" And confirmation for the rumours(?) about Kuzan losing a leg to Akainu. That's got to hurt.

And of course, his temper is quite something.

This is actually quite interesting: Kuzan seems much more on edge now, which might be understandable since he’s now missing the Marine safety net. He wasn’t quite as quick to the draw before the time skip. Of course, here he was just (indirectly) threatened with horrible death and dismemberment, and great reactions to freeze his opponents in a heartbeat, but still.

However: the Blackbeard captains seem to lack haki since they all got frozen over and Garp bursts out quite easily (as did Whitebeard at Marineford).

And iiiinteresting — I didn’t realise that Kuzan was Garp’s previous protégé. I knew Garp favoured him over Akainu, but this confirmation is new, yes?

Garp will probably lose, but Hachinosu is keeping me on tenterhooks!

And then.

And then my poor heart broke.

Into a thousand little pieces.

Like the Polar Tang.

Sinking into the sea.

Please Franky; please fix it.

Not even SULONG-BEPO (!!!) is enough for this heartbreak.

(SULONG-BEPO! AMAZING JOB, CHOPPER! Guessing it’s the Rumble Ball.)

I wonder why Oda saved Law. Is he such a fan favourite that he couldn’t have the same sound defeat as Kid (who didn’t escape)? Is there a deeper meaning to the ‘picking fights’ and ‘defending yourself’? Is there something to the ‘trust you crew’ mentality Oda wants to point out?

(And silly Bepo: the Hearts will be captured and then you and Law are going on a suicide-rescue mission.)

Great (although heart rendering) chapter! I give it my sanity and pieces of my broken heart.

[larkreadsop]

Ugh, this hurts so much… I don’t think I’ve been this emotional about a ship since the Merry, and it would be bad enough regardless since I’ve always loved the fact that Law’s crew all lived in a yellow submarine but knowing the whole backstory…that Wolf gave Law and Bepo and Penguin and Shachi the Polar Tang as a gift for helping save the town…that it was the same vessel they first set out as a named pirate crew in and has been with them since the beginning…that makes it even more sad.

Though that little sub did some pretty incredible things… It saved Luffy’s life at Marineford, helped the Scabbards sneak into the raid, saved Luffy’s life again at Wano… It put in work and I’m proud of it.

[curapicas]

Sanji is one of us girlies that uses bedtime to read porn on ao3

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

after joining the blackbeard pirates, kuzan still addresses garp respectfully as garp-san

[larkreadsop]

This was the part that hurt the most reading through the raws because Law literally cannot do anything at this point and that he’s conscious at all is probably a miracle but his first concern is that he doesn’t want to abandon his crew. I remember way back during Dressrosa people were so adamant that Law didn’t really care about his crew so I hope that argument can go away entirely now because he cares so much, all he’s ever wanted to do is protect them and not get them involved in what he considers his personal issues.

But I’m going to trust Bepo here, because we know at least that Penguin and Shachi are unmatched in the water and if Bepo says they’ll be okay, I have to believe they will be (this also brings back Law’s words to Blackbeard at the start of the fight where he said that Blackbeard’s whole crew is at a disadvantage since they all have fruit powers and now the only reason Law and hopefully the rest of them got away is because Blackbeard has no way of chasing them underwater).

[larkreadsop]

So if Kuzan is so concerned about Coby getting away, why didn’t he just…freeze Coby instead…unless of course Hibari is actually related to Akainu in some way and this was entirely personal…