Chapter 422 Discusion (spoilers)

[kari-no-sugata]

Title: Rob Lucci

The chapter starts with one of the VAs giving some background info on Rob Lucci - about how 15 years ago (when he was 13), he was sent in by the World Gov to handle a hostage situation - a pirate gang had kidnapped 500 people from a kingdom and wanted the king to surrender the throne to him. Instead, Lucchi went in and killed all the hostages - and the pirate captain. And got a load of scars on his back for the trouble. He's basically the WG's "lethal weapon" for "underground justice". Because the strongest CP9 member of all time is handling the situation with Nico Robin on the bridge of hesitation, the VAs will let him deal with things while they concentrate on the Enies Lobby.

Everyone in the underground tunnel meets up - and gets run over by the water.

Lucchi himself is barely conscious after the Gigant Pistol and fears he'll fall into the water (ie game over). However, he lands on one of the Buster Call ships instead.

Luffy meanwhile keeps his body inflated - he basically shifts the "bone balloon" around his body. Kinda creepy at times. He "gomugomu rockets" after Lucci. The Marines try shooting him, but it doesn't work on Gear 3 Luffy, who gets things going with a Gigant Axe on the ship! (ouch) The Marines wonder if they're being attacked by a giant.

Lucci attacks Luffy again, including using his full beast form. Luffy responds with a Giagant Whip, which knocks down all the ship's masts. Lucci attacks and wounds Luffy again - Luffy has gained power, but lost speed. Between them, the ship is almost a wreck already.

One of the VAs on another ship finds out the situation and orders all ships to do a barrage on ship 4 (the one Luffy and Lucci are on), and shoots a Marine who objects (there's 1000 people on board the ship). The surrounding ships all fire on ship 4 and it becomes a fireball.

-- chapter end --


The ship battle is very nice. I wonder why Luffy hasn't gone "chibi" yet though. When he blasted the door, did he use Gear 2 + Gear 3 (speed + power) or something?

[Slayerx]

Seems like that Punch really did do a number on Lucchi... He really lucked out on that ship being there just in time to save him from drowning... and here most of us were saying he was just gonna air-kick his way back =P

So we get a little background on Lucchi, as well as see him use his full animal form... Luffy takes down half of a ship during his battle lauching giant attacks... And one of the VA's shows that how ruthless he is about getting the job done by taking out the ship Luffy is on; seems a bit like the VA from robin's flashback... Kinda wonder how Luffy and Lucchi took that blast, though it seems Lucchi may have jump out of the way to avoid it...

I kinda wonder why the first Vice Admril wears black instead of white... I'm still hoping that the VA's will be pretty badass when it comes to fighting... i mean, Luffy taking out a ship with those kinds of attacks is no surprise... but will things go that smoothly if he attacks a ship with a vice adrmil to protect... makes one wonder... Only thing that kinda makes me question the strength of the VA's is just how the VA at the end killed that one soldier... I mean, Strong characters tend to use much cooler methods when killing even peons =P

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata

The ship battle is very nice. I wonder why Luffy hasn't gone "chibi" yet though. When he blasted the door, did he use Gear 2 + Gear 3 (speed + power) or something?

Right now he's mainting the air inside his body so that he can continue the attack... My guess is that the chibi-form is a result of Luffy deflating from gear 3... When he knocked down that wall he just used one giant punch and then deflated...

I'm kinda wondering if using gear's 2 and 3 together is the next step from Luffy... combining The incredibl;e speed of gear 2 with the massive power of gear 3... if it's possible... though both gears are no doubt doing their sahre of damage to Luffy's body... don't want to imagine what using both at the same time will do...

[marvelB]

Man, the fight is just getting more and more wild. Ilove the fact that those two start fighting on the BC ships. Still, I think that it's kinda wierd that the helmeted VA says to blow up the ship, yet right before that he says to NOT kill Lucci. I guess he must be pretty confident in Lucci would be able to avoid the blasts or something...


And about Lucci's past, I do agree that it's pretty interesting to learn more about the pigeon guy (speaking of the pigeon, I haven't seem him this chapter...). Still, it only further proves that he's a sadistic bastard. But what's most interesting is the fact that Lucci's scars are shaped like the flag of the World Government...


But I'm worried about the rest of the cew now. They all got caught by the flooding water, and Zoro couldn't cut the tunnel walls. How they'll be able to get out of that situation will be something to see. And not to mention that the EL Marines can't get the Sea Train to run....


Man, does it suck that we've gotta wait 2 weeks for the next chapter...

[I love waffles!]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata

The ship battle is very nice. I wonder why Luffy hasn't gone "chibi" yet though. When he blasted the door, did he use Gear 2 + Gear 3 (speed + power) or something?

Luffy used it before for just 1 attack and didn't need to stay in gear 3. Now he is in a fight and and has to stay in gear 3 but I'm sure that the side effect will play its part later.

[kari-no-sugata]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

Right now he's mainting the air inside his body so that he can continue the attack... My guess is that the chibi-form is a result of Luffy deflating from gear 3... When he knocked down that wall he just used one giant punch and then deflated...

So basically, once he starts Gear 3, the only thing keeping his body from chibi-fying is the air-pressure from the "bone balloon". Makes sense...

I'm kinda wondering if using gear's 2 and 3 together is the next step from Luffy... combining The incredibl;e speed of gear 2 with the massive power of gear 3... if it's possible... though both gears are no doubt doing their sahre of damage to Luffy's body... don't want to imagine what using both at the same time will do...

Another possibility would be an all-body bone-balloon - ie Luffy would literally become a giant.

[kari-no-sugata]

Originally Posted by marvelB

Man, the fight is just getting more and more wild. Ilove the fact that those two start fighting on the BC ships.

I wonder if Zoro and Sanji will get involved in attacking the ships. (Attack them from underwater - I'm sure Sanji and Zoro could take out a ship that way)

Will be interesting to see if Luffy does some mega-attack with either Gear 2 or Gear 3 - ie Gear'd version of Gattling or similar. That could decimate a whole ship in seconds

Still, I think that it's kinda wierd that the helmeted VA says to blow up the ship, yet right before that he says to NOT kill Lucci. I guess he must be pretty confident in Lucci would be able to avoid the blasts or something...

Actually, what the VA says is more like: Rob Lucci wouldn't die [from such an attack so it's okay to fire].

Man, does it suck that we've gotta wait 2 weeks for the next chapter...

Yeah. Double issue of Shounen Jump, so all stories running in there have to wait 2 weeks...

[marvelB]

Oh, and something else wasn't mentioned in the summary: Lucci discovered that Gear 3 increases power, but decreases speed (but I guess that was kinda obvious, anyway). I agree that Luffy is gonna have to do some kind of Gear 2/3 combo to take down Lucci for good, but will he be able to handle it....?


Still, considering how the scarred VA talked so highly of Lucci like that, it looks like it'll be yet ANOTHER crushing blow to the WG when they discover that their greatest assassin in history is beaten by the future Pirate King...

[Chuixupu]

This chaper renewed my love for Lucci *swoons*

It was cool to see his full leopard form finally, too.

[Tommy]

Another good chapter I must say and not one bit surprised that the fight will continue either, although I was surprised that he was knocked out by the punch and got lucky by landing on a ship since I just expected Lucci to geppou his way outta trouble.

[fujisawa]

Hmmm... Backstory to lucci? Maybe its just me, but the possibility of him either turning his back on the WG, or helping the Strawhats seems possible. Just speculation.

[Dual247]

Originally Posted by fujisawa

Hmmm... Backstory to lucci? Maybe its just me, but the possibility of him either turning his back on the WG, or helping the Strawhats seems possible. Just speculation.

it is possible i guess, but highly unlikely. however, the way i percieve the backstory on lucchi is to show how strong of an opponent lucchi is like marvelB said. this makes luffy's eventually victory over lucchi all that much better. making luffy a true badass in the likes of the WG.

[strategos]

If you think about it, we had backstory from every main oponent luffy has faced.
From Arlong, The guy he fought @ Sanji's arc, Crocodile, Enel, Aokiji, Lucci and many others =). This might mean, that after Luffy defeats him, this might not be the last time we will see him .

[chucky]

This part imo is getting better and better -- it keeps me interested and well just want the pace can be slightly faster and stop the 2-page scenes as such.

[neodrag38]

Man, this fight is guaranteed to get better and better. Enjoying the Gigant moves even though using this form slows down Luffy and Lucci continues to be shown as a real badass. The destruction that should result in the end from this fight and the BC makes me look forward to more so badly. Hell, the very notion of combining the usage of gear 2 and 3 for one final attack in itself seems a bit more much than I'm used to from One Piece, but will welcome with open arms.

[Sazelyt]

If Lucci is that much important, I am afraid their fight might be interrupted and postponed to a later arc. Still, if Luffy is supposed to beat him, I wonder this time whether he is going to receive some kind of help in his fight. Cause the possibility of using his speed at gear 3 does not seem likely, in his current conditions. And Lucci seems able to avoid the final blows with his speed advantage. Anyways, interesting conclusions are always welcome and I do hope for one here.

[cheese4u]

Originally Posted by Sazelyt

If Lucci is that much important, I am afraid their fight might be interrupted and postponed to a later arc. Still, if Luffy is supposed to beat him, I wonder this time whether he is going to receive some kind of help in his fight. Cause the possibility of using his speed at gear 3 does not seem likely, in his current conditions. And Lucci seems able to avoid the final blows with his speed advantage. Anyways, interesting conclusions are always welcome and I do hope for one here.

Don't forget captain Kuro also had an extreme speed advantage over Luffy, Luffy was able to beat him because he had a reach advantage with his gum gum powers. Now that Luffy is in gear three he has even more of a reach advantage. Aside from that Luffy may be an idiot but he's a battle genius (much like Goku from DBZ). He will find a way to beat him, the gears themselves are pure genius for someone like Luffy to come up with.

[tolan]

I really didn't expect the fight to explode onto the VA's ships and such. Oda really never fails to amaze and keep me salivating for the next installment. Bravo!

If Luffy can alternate between gear 2 & 3 in the midst of battle I'll squeel like a fangirl :>

[Sazelyt]

Originally Posted by tolan

If Luffy can alternate between gear 2 & 3 in the midst of battle I'll squeel like a fangirl :>

Alternating is a less probability, at least for now. Since, currently if he switches off gear 3, he will become shrinked. I am not sure how much strength he can preserve in that condition even in Gear 2, compared to his non-shrinked version. But, in my opinion, it has to be lower.

[Tommy]

No doubt about it, chibi Luffy will put Lucci down for the count.

[chitgoks]

we all were surprised that lucci got saved by a ship. he was lucky...