Chapter 418 discussion [spoilers]

[Animizzle]

Zoro's last attack finishes Kaku. Kaku and Zoro exchange a few sentences then Kaku smiles and gives Zoro the key. Meanwhile, the franky gang, the two giants and the frog are making their way farther into enies lobby.

Sanji meets with with Zoro and they too leave (probably to GOJ) Spandam is ordering for the gate to go open, Robin says something and Spandam continues to beat the shit out of her, appereantly Robin continues to anger him and Robin cries.

Back to Luffy and Lucci. Lucci has the upper hand and strikes Luffy with a rapid shigan. Enter Franky who Punches Lucci but the latter is unphased. Lucci makes quick work of Franky and remains his composure only to get Luffy's Jet punch in his face. Franky is and we see Luffy in complete Gear 2. Lucci is saying something along the lines of huhu this is interesting and goes leopard. Luffy seems to get the better of leopard Lucci (big Jet bazooka) and tells Franky to go ahead.

End chapter.

Thoughts:
Great chapter, cat's out the bag. Everybody should soon get together. With Franky getting past Lucci he shouldn't be that far away from Robin. Spandam is no match for Franky so that wuld be an easy rescue. Of course it won't go that simple. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen now.

[kari-no-sugata]

Er, the Franky gang aren't heading for the GoJ. (Actually, we don't know where they're heading. I don't think GoJ would be good for the giants or Soddom and Gomorrah)

Robin is in a pretty wretched state in this chapter. She doesn't want to die and believes the others will come to rescue her. She even bites onto the side of the bridge to prevent Spandam from dragging her. Ouch.

Nice to see Luffy finally go Gear 2 against Lucci. However, he says he can only do it for a limited period. Luffy can also keep up with Lucci in body speed too it seems. Luffy's Jet Bazooka is way stronger than Franky's Strong Hammer.

I guess Franky should catch up with Spandam in the next chapter. I guess we'll see just what the elephant-sword can do.

[Animizzle]

Yeah I had my doubts about that too but was in a hurry, thanks for clarifying!

[ShikaShika]

Awsome. Spandam is one of the most detestable character's I've ever seen in a manga, or is just that he's doing that to Robin who is one of my favourites.

[marvelB]

Yeah, awesome chapter indeed. Zoro told Kaku that Pauly told them that he was fired (figured that he would tell him that after the fight). Kaku mentions that being an assassin is a tough job to get fired from, and Zoro suggests that he work at a zoo instead (which interestingly enough, makes Kaku laugh).


Robin was trying ot jam the Bridge of Hesitation (looks like she'll just break her teeth doing that, though...), and Pauly, FF, and the giants were simply escaping from EL (remember, they said last chapter that they were confident that Franky and the SH's were more than capable of escaping on their own).


And as far as the Lucci fight went, when Franky punched him, he mentioned how the attack was effective on Fukurou, but it wouldn't work on Lucci since his Douriki was 5 times greater (so this DOES proves that the strength of Tekkai depends on how strong the Rokushiki user is!) Also, when Lucci went leopard, he was going to kill Franky first, but that's when Luffy stopped him with Jet Whip and Bazooka (heh, Tekkai wasn't to effective againstt hat attack, either...).


But now that Franky went through the door, Luffy's gonna be facing off against one pissed off leopard-human. Looks like he'll be switching to Gear 3 very soon....

[Chuixupu]

Yeeeahh, baby, now that's a chapter! ^o^ Awesome awesome. Luffy/Lucci action heating up. And it warms my heart to see Luffy and Franky helping each other. Franky is undoubtedly going to reach Robin first.

I thought it was cool that Kaku had a sense of humor even at his defeat and he honorably tossed Zoro the key. It even looked like he actually died, didn't it? But probably not, he'll probably appear in a cover story later. :P

I laughed when I realized that FF were riding on Oimo and Karsee and barking out orders XD

[Animizzle]

Originally Posted by Chuixupu

I thought it was cool that Kaku had a sense of humor even at his defeat and he honorably tossed Zoro the key. It even looked like he actually died, didn't it? But probably not, he'll probably appear in a cover story later. :P

Heh, yeah. Characters with names have a habit of not dying in OP

So yeah the doukiri also indicates defensive power. Which would kind of mean Luffy's Jet attacks are well above 4000 doukiri (and if Lucci's Tekkai is even stronger in leopard form, a figure far above 4000). Interesting, to say the least.

[Chuixupu]

I don't care about douriki, honestly. I think Luffy just pushes everything off the map. No measurements.

So who will Spandam find beyond the gate? I get the feeling it won't be the glorious greeting he wants. Maybe Usopp and Nami will have gotten there before him somehow. Or maybe he will discover that he was a pawn of someone else all along.

[Tsukishirou]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! One Piece is back to being One Piece! What the **** happened in that CP9 fights...

[Animizzle]

Originally Posted by Chuixupu

I don't care about douriki, honestly. I think Luffy just pushes everything off the map. No measurements.

So who will Spandam find beyond the gate? I get the feeling it won't be the glorious greeting he wants. Maybe Usopp and Nami will have gotten there before him somehow. Or maybe he will discover that he was a pawn of someone else all along.

I suspect the same. The marine top is too smart to let a power hungry madman like Spandam gain too much power or do ridiculous stuff. The way this looks now it's all been planned out by Ao Kiji who after all, was the first to track the straw hats down. He gave Spandam the buster call and has been involved with Nico Robin before.

Whatever happends, this arc will probably be the last where we see Spandam in current position.

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Chuixupu

I don't care about douriki, honestly. I think Luffy just pushes everything off the map. No measurements.

Yeah, I'm not really into the whole Douriki thing either, since it was obvious since W7 that Lucci was the strongest guy. Still, I always kinda had the impression that the strength of Tekkai was equal for everyone in CP9...


Oh, and speaking of W7, I found it quite amusing that after Lucci reminded Luffy about the Shigan he gave him at the Galley La building, Luffy simply replied that he ate meat and got all better (meat must be a magic healing food to rubber men or something, considering that it helped Luffy heal after his fight with Croc...).


And about Spandam, I'm also gonna have to agree that there might be a surprise waiting for him behind the Gate as well (Buster Call? Aokiji? Maybe both?!). The fact that the gate guards didn't salute him was sort of a hint of this if you ask me...

[Chuixupu]

Yeah, that's why I'm thinking that it might be Usopp...the guard who answered Spandam sounded kind of hesitant and suspicous.

Hehe, Luffy and his magical meat. It's the answer to everything! I'm sure he'll say that meat allowed him to discover Gears. XD

[MihawkXGP]

Sounds like an awesome chapter. It was good to read that Kaku smiled and gave him the Key.
Luffy vs Lucci is finally getting serious. Both are taking it up a notch.

[striderm]

Seems to me that Luffy in Gear 2 will be able to withstand being frozen by Aokiji.

[DrFuko]

You still need an elemental advantage to beat Aokiji. Strong punches wont do anything to him. If Luffy can withstand being frozen, and Aokiji can withstand his punches....

It will be a stalemate.

Unless Luffy´s brother decides to stop by.

[Illuyankas]

Aren't Gear 2 attacks the air being fired from Luffy's blows? He's not even touching Aokiji. And he'll be able to avoid his ice attacks with his speed, and wait to surprise Aokiji while he's in human form, not ice...

Maybe Luffy should find a pair of seastone-tipped knuckle dusters.

[Animizzle]

Originally Posted by Illuyankas

Aren't Gear 2 attacks the air being fired from Luffy's blows? He's not even touching Aokiji. And he'll be able to avoid his ice attacks with his speed, and wait to surprise Aokiji while he's in human form, not ice...

Maybe Luffy should find a pair of seastone-tipped knuckle dusters.

Actually the way I understood is that the jet-attacks are so fast that you don't see it. But there's definitly contact. Then again, the gears haven't been specified or anything so it's basically just a theory.

[kari-no-sugata]

Originally Posted by DrFuko

You still need an elemental advantage to beat Aokiji. Strong punches wont do anything to him. If Luffy can withstand being frozen, and Aokiji can withstand his punches....

It will be a stalemate.

Yeah, probably. On the other hand, since Luffy gets hot (it seems) when using Gear 2 , maybe that'd help him hurt Aokiji - ie a "hot" punch would be a bit like punching Croc with water on hands.

[Chuixupu]

I think he's only heating up during the process to get to gear 2, not the whole time while he's in it.

[kari-no-sugata]

Originally Posted by Chuixupu

I think he's only heating up during the process to get to gear 2, not the whole time while he's in it.

He's smoking constantly...