One Piece - Chapter 498 [Manga]

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

PS: Did you get my last pm I sent you?

Why do you think I have my current avatar .

Originally Posted by seiji_kun

just a quick question, cause if you have this crazy standards for the villains then did you also write off Luffy after Ao Kiji learned him the difference between him and a vice-admiral. Or Zoro after offering his life to Kuma cause he knew he couldn't have won the battle. Or Ace cause he lost to a no-bounty.

I was waiting for Blackbeard to ask me this . Luffy, of course since he is a "main" character, is set-up to rise and fall - it is literally part of his character definition. He will always get stronger after a defeat, etc. (all the Strawhats have this characteristic), but the secondary characters he encounters have a finite lifespan, they will only really be relevent until they are defeated - that is part of their character definition. Again, that is not to say that they can not lead a long and happy life after their encounter with Luffy, but I simply do not have the same awe for them as I did before they were defeated (to put it another way, one of the first thoughts that many fans had when they say that there were exactly 9 new bounties presented in this one chapter was to assume that the Strawhats would fight them, and that the Strawhats would win.)

In other words, to give a pseudo-real life scenario, if a bully on the playground is beat up (either by another bully or by a bullied kid) they can never use fear to intimidate others again. That is kind of how I view the Shichibukai and a great deal of the secondary "villian" characters in One Piece.

Again, this is all personal opinion, I am not trying to sway anyone to my side, I just keep answering questions that others send my way .

[marvelB]

Oh, and about Law: I know how a whole bunch of people mentioned him having a similar flag to Bellamy's.... well, according to his intro, he came from North Blue, which is also where Doflamingo and Bellamy's crew came from, so there's indeed a good chance that he's connected to those guys....


And I think that Apoo may just be my second favorite of the supernovas after all. He definitely has a DJ-based theme, considering the headphones he's wearing, his piano key teeth, and his crew being called the "On Air" pirates. Methinks he may be a good opponent for Brooke....

[james0246]

I loved the fact that one of the rookies (Urouge) was from Sky Island (not neccessarily Skypiea). It would be interesting, though, if he had heard of the Strawhats fight with Enel (who seems to have moved around during his pre-Skypiea days).

Additionally, Eustass...I am sorry but his name is great, just superb. When someone thinks of a person named Eustass (or its European version Eustace), they certainly do not think of homicidal battle crazed maniac (as Oda portrays him), rather they think of a prim little nancy boy. Just perfect.

[cheese4u]

9 strawhats, 9 rookie giants...hmm. I hope Oda isn't planning on pitting all of the strawhats against each individual guy. Otherwise, realistically they will be royally PWND! I mean never mind 100 million, more than half of the strawhats bounties are below fifty million berries.

[james0246]

Personally, I want Chopper to beat up ol'Eustass. That would that completely destroy any notion that bounty matters as a means of detailing strength (as if Blackbeard's 0 berry was not a good indicator). Then Zoro could defeat the two or so other swordsman (leave the possible third or fourth to Brook) and the rest can be taken out by Sanji and the gang.

Not that I actually think any of them will fight each other. But, if they do, it should fast and show a clear dominator between the various pirates.

[Boduar]

If not regular chopper I bet insane chopper could take out at least 1 of the 100+ million ones. Anyone else hoping zoro runs into a 200+ million bounty person gets a fight picked and then whips their a$$?

[iKumdo]

I think the fact that the Straw Hat's crew having lower bounties have less to do with power and more with conditions and situation. First of all, it seems apparent that the captains are typically the most likely to get a bounty, and not so much the crew members. Second, you should remember that the Straw Hats from the very beginning have killed zero people. ZERO kills. Many of these pirates probably killed innocents, marines, and etc.

I also love how you guys all take the "100 times stronger than all of you" so literally. It doesn't have to be an exact calculation! You people act like you've never heard that overused phrase before.

[Thursaz]

xD I agree with iKumdo. Besides, Shakky doesn't know about Moria! Now does she know Luffy well enough to gauge his strength properly.

...What was Shakky's former bounty, I wonder?

[airsBlue]

could Shakky and Rayleigh be connected to Roger somehow !?

i think both of them met roger and most likely they are connected to the D. Will, but since Shakky said she gave up being pirate 40 years ago, most likely she wasn't part of roger group, but what about if Rayleigh was one of roger's nakama.

[Trax]

Very interesting chapter, things are going to get wild. They'll probably have a runin with a couple of these big bounties. None of them really seem like they would get along with the Strawhats, but you never know since we don't know much about them yet. I'm thinking that this Drake guy could be the next hurdle for Zoro to take on his path to becoming the best swordsman in the world.

As for Shakky and Rayleigh, even if they weren't in his crew, there's a decent chance they knew him since they lived when Roger was active. So far, several older characters like the bartender in Logue Town, Crocus, dr. Kureha, all knew Roger back then.

All these big bounties have me wondering what they could have done to get them to this level. Well, Kid apparently causes a lot of damage to civilians. But even so, that doesn't seem nearly as bad as declaring war on the World Government and toppling Enies Lobby.

Oh, and how about an eating contest between Luffy and Bonney?

[chitgoks]

wow! lots of captains at one time. luffy's still the strongest. shakky doesnt know about the moria incident

[UserName]

Originally Posted by iKumdo

I think the fact that the Straw Hat's crew having lower bounties have less to do with power and more with conditions and situation. First of all, it seems apparent that the captains are typically the most likely to get a bounty, and not so much the crew members. Second, you should remember that the Straw Hats from the very beginning have killed zero people. ZERO kills. Many of these pirates probably killed innocents, marines, and etc.

I also love how you guys all take the "100 times stronger than all of you" so literally. It doesn't have to be an exact calculation! You people act like you've never heard that overused phrase before.

I'd say the complete opposite. Especially in regards to Luffy. The fact that he has such a high bounty is due to circumstance. There are probably plenty of other pirates who could've destroyed Eneis Lobby (granted the Strawhats would've failed had it not been for the Franky Family and Galley-La helping) but never had a chance. Same with running into that much Shichibukai (though it's possible others have run into them and maybe even beaten them.)

And yes the Strawhats have killed people. I recall Smoker stating that Zoro got his 60 million bounty due to defeating Daz Bones and killing over 100 bounty hunters at Whiskey Peak.

The Strawhats simply aren't the best. Oda has emphasized time and time again that they're plenty of incrediby strong people in the One Piece world. THey likely won't reach the "pirate's summit" till they're nearing the end of their journey.

[cheese4u]

Originally Posted by The Small One

And? Maybe they are just seriously underrated.
I think nothing is more funny, than the WTF moment of villains, who are seen as extremely powerful and "undefeatable", after they got easily owned by a main character, they thought to be much weaker.
I really hope the Strawhats will reach such a level soon.

So you're saying Nami and Usopp can beat pirates with bounties higher than crocodiles? Cause that's what we're looking at here. 9 strawhats v. 9 kings, and the match ups are not looking favorable for the main characters:

Luffy vs. Eustace (highest v. second highest bounty) Luffy could definitely win this one, and probably will.

Zoro vs. Hawkins (Swordsman vs. Swordsman): Realistically, Zoro's strength is closer to 200 million berries but not quite there yet. If he fights Basil than it'll be quite a mountain for him to climb. I'd say it'll be his toughest fight since Mr. 1, he'll probably have about as a tough a time beating him as Luffy did Lucci.

Sanji vs. Apoo (Martial artist vs. martial artist): Sanji's strength is probably in the 100 million berry range, but his potential opponent has a bounty almost three times his. Since Sanji is one of the big three of the strawhats I think he can pull it off, but it's not going to be easy.

Jewelry vs. Nami or Robin (Woman vs. Woman): Robin might have a chance Nami however does not.

Brook vs. Law (other swordsman vs. swordsman): owned

As for the others I'm not quite sure who they would match up with, but it doesn't really matter because they're boned regardless.

I'm not saying this is what will happen, especially since Oda is a master of surprises and things probably won't go that way, but if it does, based on their current strength, that's gonna be the outcome.

[Monkey D. Luffy]

Now that Brooke is a crew member its nice to know that Zoro won't be the only one fighting the swordsmen, they'll probably meet up with Hawkins, Drake, Law. All of the introduced characters all seem powerful and cool enough, but I'm especially a fan of the character designs of Killer, Law and Kidd.

[kache]

Originally Posted by james3wk

Sorry for the double post:

Further detail -

It seems that all of these high-level "rookies" are gathered together in one place to get the resin coating from a special "mechanic", but the mechanic is missing, so there is a block-up for all these high bounty individuals (i.e. they can not get through until this Resin Mechanic comes back).

So, it is possible that this current arc could be reminiscent of the Celstrial Tower Story Arc from the manga Hunter x Hunter, when Gon and Killua are forced to learn Nen-abilities in order to advance to the next stage of the arc. So, maybe this Resin Mechanic will force the Strawhats to "level-up" or he will not let them pass.

Agree.
And I hope that for power-upping the thing to train on will be the Rokushiki. It would be the perfect complement of their fighting stile( just thinking about Luffy&Rankyaku( whose power is influenced by the rotating speed and the lenght of the user's leg[ and the luffy's legs can stretch almost infinitely]).

[marvelB]

Well, I suppose I should start speculating which of these guys have a DF power now.... I definitely think that Capone has a DF ability, along with Apoo (maybe a sound-based ability?), Hawkins (what with his moniker being "magician"), Bonney (maybe her power has to do with her huge appetite?) and Kid (he's GOTTA have some extremely dangerous DF power if he's known for being a mass murderer.).


And considering that Urouge is from a sky island, he probably uses Dial weapons. Heck, he even may have a Reject Dial at his disposal...

[Trax]

Originally Posted by james3wk

It seems that all of these high-level "rookies" are gathered together in one place to get the resin coating from a special "mechanic", but the mechanic is missing, so there is a block-up for all these high bounty individuals (i.e. they can not get through until this Resin Mechanic comes back).

I don't think this is the case, there are more resin mechanics on the archipelago besides Rayleigh. Rayleigh just happens to be a reliable one that Hacchi knows.

[chitgoks]

i agree with trax

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Trax

I don't think this is the case, there are more resin mechanics on the archipelago besides Rayleigh. Rayleigh just happens to be a reliable one that Hacchi knows.

I don't know. The Strawhats are taking the illegal route, so I do not expect there to be a great deal of mechanics who are willing to tempt the government by assisting pirates in their travels under the Red Line. But, you are probably correct that there is more than one resin engineer.

[ashez2ashes]

Originally Posted by marvelB

Bonney (maybe her power has to do with her huge appetite?)

It's Jewerly Bonney though so maybe she can turn things into gold/jewels? Nami would have a really tough time focusing on the fight if she was getting gold bolders thrown at her. LOL