Okay but. Whether he can do it due to special Leo privileges or just because Lucy’s grown stronger, the One Magic is Love so either way, he’s actually right.
Mashima has thrown the One Magic’s identity at us so many times pretending it’s a joke that after the confirmation, I wonder why anyone ever doubted. As cheesy as it is, it’s perfect for this show and what it values.
Let’s talk a little bit more about what Robin’s actually trying to accomplish here and how Oda presents this information. Robin’s ultimate goal is to read the Alabastian poneglyph without giving Crocodile access to Pluton. She needs Crocodile to fail his plan at the last possible moment, after she gets down to the Royal Tombs. She knows screwing up will likely result in her own death, and the death of millions more if Crocodile succeeds at becoming king.
What she doesn’t know is Luffy, and how he’ll react to her presence on his ship.
Buckle up kiddos, this is gonna be a long one.
We don’t know how Vivi initially heard of Baroque Work’s machinations. Maybe it was Robin, or perhaps she learned it somewhere else. Either way, because of Crocodile’s need for absolute secrecy, it’s Robin who ends up doing a lot of the day to day minutiae within the company (remember that Crocodile wasn’t able to tell the difference between Mr. 3′s voice and Sanji in Little Garden. Likely he’d never even spoken to him before).
Knowing Baroque Works has been infiltrated by the monarchy, Robin leaks Crocodile’s identity. We don’t know why she then tells Crocodile about the leak, but there are a couple possible reasons: Robin can’t have the crown disrupting their plans too soon, Crocodile became suspicious, Robin didn’t want the possibility of her own identity being compromised, etc. She sends 5 and Valentine to Whiskey Peak, but unofficially follows them, because either Vivi or Igaram have to survive. They’re her wild cards, the only people able to spoil Crocodile’s plans now that they’ve been set in motion.
I fully believe that Robin saved Igaram’s life and spirited him away to Alabasta. Now she’s trying to do the same for the Straw Hats, because while one ace in the hole is good, two is better. Unlike Igaram, she knows the log pose to Little Garden takes years to reset, and if Luffy had accepted her eternal pose to Goldfish Poop Island they would have circumvented the entirety of Baroque Works and likely would have ended the civil war before it got a chance to start.
But Robin can’t tell Straw Hats any of this. Remember what I said about friendship being a major theme of the Baroque Works saga? Robin doesn’t have any of those those. She can’t trust Crocodile, she can’t trust Luffy, and she certainly can’t trust the monarchy of Alabasta. Not when they’re a part of the World Government.
What does all this have to do with what anything? Well, read this chapter and notice the angles Oda uses. Robin is constantly shown in a position of power, either looking down at the Straw Hats or the Straw Hats looking up at her. She is literally lording herself above them as she speaks in riddles, trying to manipulate them into doing what she wants.
That changes about 3/4 of the way through the chapter when Robin actually brings up how dangerous their route is and offers them an alternative. We get this panel, which I have been dying to get to forever.
We are at chapter 114, and this is the first time in the entire series Oda uses this perspective. I can’t think of anything else that comes even remotely close. The railing of the staircase frames Robin like the bars of a jail cell while the Straw Hats remain free. Because while Robin may have stolen Luffy’s hat, while she has an eternal pose and a Devil Fruit power that completely outclasses the Straw Hat Pirates, she’s trapped and they’re not.
This isn’t something the audience would typically catch on an initial read. I don’t know how many times I’ve gone over this chapter before I noticed, and even then I was hesitant to assign meaning when I wasn’t sure of Oda’s intention.
Well I’m assigning meaning now, and it’s this sort of craftsmanship that I wish were celebrated more. Oda and his assistants work on a grueling weekly schedule and are still able to deliver this level of subtly. I’m sure there are tons of other moments like this that I’ve missed even going through the series as slowly as I have, and it makes me excited to find more in the future.
