166: "Festival on the Night Before Gold-Hunting! Feelings for "Vearth!"
Nothing earth-shattering happened this episode, but you know what? I'm happy with that. The Strawhats deserve a break after all the shit they've been through trying to reach the sacrificial altar. A raucous, fucked up wolf-juice party is just what they needed to blow off some steam.
The Shandians, however, are another story. They can't seem to catch a break.
Episode 195 opened right smack bang in the middle of the battle between Ohm and the Shandian warriors. The Shandians were giving it their all, but Ohm and Holy were proving too strong a team. Laki, the female warrior who was holding onto Aisa's bag of soil, screwed up and almost cost Wiper his best fighter. Ohm had caught her on his sword and the only thing supporting her were the soil bag straps. She did attempt to shoot him in the face, but when he deflected the gun barrel, she freaked, noticed the bag was in danger, and tried to save it. Ohm, of course, spotted he had an in and took advantage. Kamakiri leapt in front of her and dragged her to safety, but he was injured in the process.
With Kamakiri down, Wiper called a retreat. The Shandians fled the forest and regrouped on another island.
That said, however, the battle didn't go too well from Ohm's point of view, either. He wanted to stay and finish off the Shandian invaders, but another priest (I cannot remember his name. The one who is not Shura. Gedatsu?) appeared and said that he'd to chill with the fighting because Enel had summoned them.
I seriously hope that moment will not be off-panelled. After all the hype, I am desperate to see Slim Shady god Enel in action.
Back at rendezvous camp Shandia, morale was low. Laki was frustrated. She blamed herself for Kamakiri's injuries. Wiper revealed himself to be short on empathy. He basically told Laki, straight up, that yes, it was her fault, and if she hadn't been so concerned about that damned bag of soil, Kamakiri wouldn't have needed to jump in and save her. Kamakiri insisted that he was alright, that he could fight, but with those wounds, I'm not sure it'd be the greatest idea to push through.
The most interesting thing revealed about the Shandians in this episode is that the Vearth itself is holy to them and that they yearn to return to their home of four-hundred years ago. That was roughly when Noland last saw the city of gold. Were the Shandians originally inhabitants of Jaya who had been blasted up into the sky along with the island? That would be awesome.
While the Shandians were licking their wounds at their dark and dismal camp, the Strawhats were having a great time at theirs! Honestly, I know I keep saying this, but the Strawhats during downtime are the best. Luffy getting bored literally watching a pot boil, Sanji keeping a close eye on him in case he eats everything, Chopper and Zoro out collecting plants, Usopp collecting wood to fix the Merry, Robin hauling home a massive salt crystal (well done, Robin!), and Nami strategising. They work so well together. I don't want them to split up again!
Sat around the campfire, Nami chaired a revision session. The Strawhats chipped in everything they knew about the island. They knew that Upper Yard was once a part of Jaya that had been blown into the sky by Knock Up Stream around four hundred years ago. The big trees and animals are an effect of the composition of island and sea cloud, which explains the massive southbirds that arrived to save Chopper, Gan Fall and Pierre in the nick of time.
Once again, Sanji, however, asked an important question: why did the southbirds save Chopper?
Chopper said he wasn't sure, but that the southbirds kept calling the weird ossan "god". The Strawhats now know there are two gods in Skypiea, though there wasn't much fuss made about it, for some reason. The most important thing to them was the gold.
Nami, being the resident genuis cartographer, spliced together the old map of Skypiea and a map of Jaya to reveal that 'the skull's right eye' where Noland saw the gold referred to the skull shape both islands made when they were still of one piece.
Now they know where the gold is, I cannot see anything stopping them going for it.
Except Enel, maybe. He might like shinies.
After that, the episode turned a bit crazy, though in a totally wonderful, "damn, I wish I was there" way. Some wolves turned up, told the Strawhats to quiet the fuck down and Nami ended up punching one. For some reason, this endeared her to the head wolf and they all got together and had a massive party! I cannot even.
Robin's chilling because she's just danced for four hours straight. She's wondering if it's okay to be still buzzing from that wolf-juice.
