One Piece - Chapter 616 [manga]

[marvelB]

Welcome to the weekly manga discussion thread for One Piece.

Thread Guidelines

• One Piece is licensed by Viz, please don't ask for or mention where to find or download the manga.
• Please do not discuss scanlations, translation groups, etc., etc.
• Raw requests and offers are not permitted anywhere on this forum.
• Discuss your expectations of the chapter if it has not been published yet.
• Posting a synopses or summary is fine (and welcome).
• Be polite to your fellow forum members.
• Please try to keep the discussion on topic.
• Spoilers will not be policed in this thread, so if you haven't read the chapter yet, just stay out if you don't want to read spoilers.

Remember that the manga is licensed, do not post significant parts of the chapter. This includes images, scripts and direct translations of the manga. Summaries are OK, crops of pictures are OK (only if you need to illustrate your point) but this is it.




Time to get this show on the road (as always, credit goes to aohige for translation):



-Chapter title is "Memorial Day of Revenge" The ministory now shows the Shells Town marine base, which was where we were first introduced to Zoro. We see Rika (the girl who tried to feed Zoro during his sentence), who is now a waitress. Near her feet is Luffy's 400 million bounty poster.




-Throughout the island a warning is issued concerning the invading merman pirates. The border patrol seems to be missing, and the fish-pirates have brought along many of their sea king friends to join the party. They conclude that destroying the kingdom will be a piece of cake once they take down king Neptune and his 3 sons......



-We finally see Robin, who's heading towards the sea forest on the fish bus. At the Ryuuguu palace, Zoro has already beaten the human pirate invaders. We then switch to Franky, who already arrived at the sea forest with the 1000 Sunny. We're then introduced to Tom's younger brother Den (bering wolffish merman), who Franky asks to coat the ship. Den was already aware of the death of his brother, as Kokoro had sent him a letter. Franky then encounters Jinbei......



-Back at the palace, the entrance is now open, and Hody and Decken's crews storm the place. It turns out that Jones was once a formidable soldier in the Neptune army. Both captains talk with Zoro, then discover that the princess is missing. At first Hody thinks that Decken's responsible for the kidnapping, but the other captain uses a coral to hunt down the princess himself. He then says that death will await the princess if she belongs to someone other than him......





Well now, well now! Looks like we've got some preemptive battles underway, don't we? At least Jones being a former soldier seems to indicate that he's still a formidable opponent, even without the pills. Still, I guess both captains getting into action so soon means that there probably IS a bigger, meaner enemy lurking in the shadows who will serve as the true final boss of the storyline......



I'm definitely looking forward to checking out Tom's brother. Interesting that Luffy, Franky and Robin are all going to meet at the same destination (and with Jinbei there, at that....). Perhaps this means that Luffy won't face Decken alone, after all....? Well, I'm certainly stoked for the full chapter now!



UPDATE (3/1/11):Unfortunate news, guys. Looks like it's been confirmed that there's no chapter this week, after all. I repeat: THERE IS NO NEW OP CHAPTER THIS WEEK.

[SilverSyko]

Good to see Robin and Franky. I'm sure a lot of readers were anxious to see what they've been doing.

Tom's brother Den eh? I wonder what he looks like?

Hody was once a powerful soldier in the Neptune Army huh? Guess we know why he defected.

No screen-time for Luffy and Shirahoshi this chapter.

[Nvis]

Originally Posted by marvelB

...probably IS a bigger, meaner enemy lurking in the shadows who will serve as the true final boss of the storyline......

Yonkou maybe?

[james0246]

Yeah, info on Tom and on his family. Hopefully the brother's design will be as equally pleasing...

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Nvis

Yonkou maybe?

Not necessarily. Honestly, I still feel it's a little early for Luffy to directly challenge an emperor, regardless of his newfound growth (though an emperor's lower-tier subordinate may be another story).....




If there really is a puppet master though, I'm guessing it might be whoever it was that killed the queen (that is, if Decken wasn't responsible for the deed)......

[SOGESNAKE]

Y'know, I'm actually really looking forward to seeing Tom's brother and how Franky treats him~

[marvelB]

^Actually, I'm pretty sure that Luffy and the princess were responsible for leaving the entrance open.......



Edit: Some pics came out. Den looks really cool! We also get an explanation of why the mer/fish relatives look so different from each other (additional thanks to bluebeard for translation):

Franky: Mr Den, you don't look anythign like him... I mean, you're a merman. Not even a blow fish.
I heard you're the brother of Tom, so I figured you'd look somewhat like him...
Den: Hahaha, that's the human way of thinking.
The races living on the surface do often look like their family members.

Den: Fishman is a little different.
Every fishman has ancient fishman genes, and merfolks have ancient merfolk genes in them.
If a shark merman was born from Octopus merfolk parent, then that means someone in the ancestry of the parents was a shark merman.

Here in Fishman Island, it's not unusual for anyone to birth any type of child.
That's why the way you humans think, the way you differentiate people depending on their looks, is hard for us to understand.

BTW, the island has a poneglyph, as well. Quite fascinating, if I do say so myself.

[Paraden1989]

or that big thing that is looming could be the shadow that we saw at the end of Thriller Bark. The shadow that can be seen when the straw hats leave Lola behind with.

[ZeroForever]

guess that explains the fishmen, pretty much what i was expecting given the variance we have seen.

sounds like a informational setup chapter so far, which is what i was hoping for. Still wondering when we'll get the flash back, personally guessing when the princess reachs the shrine.

[Battler-kun]

Zoro better show something before being beaten by Hodi, which is destined to happen.

[j0x]

Zoro versus drug addict mermans next week

[tsunade666]

who is the girl in the cover? her name is rika but I can't remember her at all.

Luffy will be kicking some fishmen butt next weak.

[Slayerx]

nice chapter and some interesting developments... namely that it looks like things are workign to a showdown between Luffy and Decken...
which leaves me to wonder who will be fighting Hodi
And the question on my mind is, where are the three princes?

Also neptune manages to guess what happened to the his daughter... yup Luffy WOULD be so stupid to come up with that kind of plan

Originally Posted by tsunade666

who is the girl in the cover? her name is rika but I can't remember her at all..

I think she's the girl from way back with coby and the whole Axe-hand morgan situation

[Knight Hawk]

So Luffy vs 2 Captains is out of the question. Zoro to take on Hodi, and we'll get to see the others fight as well, pretty badass right there. Sweet treat to see Rika again.

[Dem0n_Sl@sHeR]

@tsunade666 The girl who tried to feed Zoro when he was captured by Helmeppo.

Btw i really loved Den-san's appearance. He seems cool and funny character.

[Ryuuchi]

Let the "DEN FOR NEXT CREWMATE!" fangasms begin and the "JINBE FOR NEXT CREWMATE" die down a bit (since we know there's a Sunny Crew somewhere).

Just kidding xD

But seriously I really like the fact that Zoro will probably be taking down Hodi while Luffy gets VDD. Sanji and Chopper should be taking out the other Vice-Captains. You know people have been saying that Zoro should be the one to handle the assassin swordsman guy but I think Sanji would be a nice fit as a replacement.

I really liked the little piece of information about Jinbe and the old Sunny pirates not being allies of the New Fishman Pirates. Though I don't get the fact that Jinbe can't enter fishman island but it's probably due to the marine's threatening to invade if he goes in or something cause he seems to be highly respected in FI.

Anyway I really loved the chapter as a whole, I dunno why allot of people complain about info dump chapters, it's always interesting to know more about the world of OP. People seem to still be used to the whole ID and War arcs where there was fighting nearly every chapter, that's not One Piece, One Piece is exploring the world, adventure!

PS: Nice treat seeing Rika all grown up. Shell Island is to me a sacred place where the Strawhat Crew trully started.

[Kallen4life]

Luffy (& Shirahoshi ^^) vs Decken, Zoro vs the drunk mercenary swordsman guy, Sanji vs Hodi ? (both brawler melee type) .. hmm


unless someone else shows up (like from Yonkou's crew) only Caribou is left .. could be the final boss, those logias need to hold up their reputations of being the strongest fruit family

he could make the fight harder for them by having hostages



not so easy to pair up everyone for fights like it was with CP9

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Ryuuchi

But seriously I really like the fact that Zoro will probably be taking down Hodi while Luffy gets VDD. Sanji and Chopper should be taking out the other Vice-Captains. You know people have been saying that Zoro should be the one to handle the assassin swordsman guy but I think Sanji would be a nice fit as a replacement.

Oh i rather doubt it... People seem to be so quick to think that this is the FINAL showdown right here and now, but thinking about it isn't it a little early for a final showdown. No i think this is more like the part of the arc where the strawhats get a chance to know their enemies, take a loss to help hype up the badguys and THEN make their way to the final showdown.

Right now the fishman pirates have spread out all over the place. more than likely things will go down that will result in the strawhats splitting up to take down the different groups. Zoro following the destined path of taking on the swordsman... With Decken, i might expect him to find a way to get a one-up Luffy and managing to capture the princess; at that point Luffy will have to go play hero and rescue her... As for Hodi i'm not sure where that leaves him. Could be that he'll start off by taking down the princes and then perhaps he'll meet up with Decken at which point we might get our double captain duel... or Maybe Jimbei will end up lending a hand and be the one to take down hodi... or who knows maybe to hype up hodi, jinbei will loose... All in all, i think this arc is far from close to over and we have yet to reach the final showdown of the arc

Originally Posted by Kallen4life

unless someone else shows up (like from Yonkou's crew) only Caribou is left .. could be the final boss, those logias need to hold up their reputations of being the strongest fruit family

he could make the fight harder for them by having hostages

Actually it kind of makes me want to see Sanji take him on...
by training with the okama, Sanji could have trained in the way of Haki, and who better to save mermaids than the lover of women?




random thought crossed my mind about Shirahoshi's possibilities of becoming a crew member...
One thing that really troubled me was her size. It seems to cumbersome for the crew and makes it hard to work with her... it makes me wonder of the possibilities that she might get a way to shrink herself to an adorable chibi size... kind of like that chick from macross

[tsunade666]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

I think she's the girl from way back with coby and the whole Axe-hand morgan situation

So she's the girl from the beginning. No wonder I can't remember it anymore.

[Kallen4life]

So she's the girl from the beginning. No wonder I can't remember it anymore.

but Oda never forgets .. Checkov's gunman

Actually it kind of makes me want to see Sanji take him on...
by training with the okama, Sanji could have trained in the way of Haki, and who better to save mermaids than the lover of women?

good point