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Prestige · 2011-01-20, 14:05

Chapters out and damn it all I love those designs

....

Hodi Jones designs is superb... he really looks intimidating and I loved how he rampaged through those pirates with handcuffs biting off arms and masts...

Excellent chapter filled with savagery, information, revelations and funny crew interactions... though it did feel short... I can't wait for next chapter, Oda is doing awesome job building up this long awaited arc.

SilverSyko · 2011-01-20, 14:16

Hodi Jones looks almost exactly like Arlong except a shorter nose and overweight. =p

Crab Hand Gyro's crew didn't stand a chance.

I wonder what Luffy and co. are going to get from King Neptune?

And Nami's quite the shopaholic and haggler. xD;

marvelB · 2011-01-20, 14:56

Oh snap..... Jones' crew looks freaking awesome. Hell, Jones himself almost looks like he could even pass for a Jojo villain (too bad he doesn't have two "Jos" in his name......). Actually, just about all the characters introduced this chapter have great designs, including the fodder pirate that Jones destroyed, Gyro (who is not a Zeppeli.....). As far as Jones' officers go, I definitely like Dosun's design the most (him actually carrying a hammer is an awesome touch), while Zeo comes second (Dr. Zoidberg's gone gangsta!

).

Heh, King Neptune kinda looks like a mermaid version of Santa Claus, IMO. Still, I guess he must be the biggest pimp in the sea if his beloved "Hoe" travels everywhere with him.

I also found it pretty cool that Pappag is considering making a business deal with Doskoi Panda. Well, I suppose that we'll finally be introduced to the long-awaited Princess next chapter.....

BTW, I've got a new theory about those energy steroids: Could it be that they're being secretly produced in Big Mom's candy factory? It would certainly explain why she wants large monthly supplies of confections if they're used to smuggle illegal drugs. After all, we saw that Doflamingo was secretly dabbling in slave trade despite him being a Shichibukai, so who's to say whether or not one of the emperors is trafficking drugs as a side business.....?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animizzle

^ Agreed. The last battle where we as readers knew Luffy had a decent chance (read: inevitable win because he's the hero) in a straightforward fight was against Lucci. In all other fights it was pretty much clear that it wouldn't be a normal battle. Especially because of his new powerup, I too long to see an epic brawl with no fancy stuff.

Mmm-hmm. I'd just like to see Luffy have a non-gimmicky fight every once in a while. While Lucci may be one of the more popular examples of such an exchange, my personal favorite would be his matchup against Blueno. Before Luffy destroyed him with Gear 2, the two of them fought completely evenly (and that's despite Blueno's creative use of his door powers). I just feel it would be great for the new and improved Luffy's first major battle after the skip to be a real test of his strength, and Hody Jones looks to be a more than adequate guinea pig who will push the rookie to his newfound limits......

james0246 · 2011-01-20, 15:33

Damn Neptune is hairy. Someone's been watching too much Disney...

That being said, I wasn't a big fan of Hodi's design, nor his gangs designs. Zeo and Daruma were okay (I did like the Dosun's eyes, but that was it), but all the other designs were very simplistic and lacking any real flavour, especially Hodi, who is basically a fat Arlong...

That being said, I am interested as to why Dosun was the only Fishmen Pirate with his tattoo on the left of his body, unlike Hodi and the rest who had their tattoo on the right side of their body.

Additionally, now that we have Nami back in the crew, the Strawhats now have 5 crew members (Sanji is still probably disabled) to fight Hodi and his top 4. So a battle between the groups could be sooner rather than later. (And, Sanji and Hyouzou make 6 each (Brook can take on Hyouzou).)

janipani · 2011-01-20, 16:10

I loved the character designs.. they look nasty, freaky and the most important formidable.

Oda simply rules, chapters are always good and actually quite full stuffed. I wish there were more long running series like this. But nah.. there are no competition right now.

Kanon · 2011-01-20, 16:59

Am I the only one completely unimpressed by Jones? That guy is just a poser. He had to take four pills just to destroy a low tier pirate crew. Being cuffed hardly makes it a feat. Jinbei would have destroyed the entire ship with a sneeze. I don't hink his design is that great, either. He's basically Arlong without the awesome nose. And the nose was like 90% of Arlong's appeal.

Neptune looks badass though.

Tommy · 2011-01-20, 17:10

^^ I'm with you Kanon.

I think Hodi's crew looks badass, but Hodi is just Arlong 2.0.
And I still stand by what I said a ways back, that to make this conquest truly awesome for the Strawhats, they need to beat the fishmen in water.

Wolcik · 2011-01-20, 20:11

We still have to see whenever Arlong 2.0 uses Merimaid Karate

cause that would destroy that ship in one punch - punch, right? That explains the handcuffs - he probably kicks ass with Mermaid Karate after taking drugs. Even if Jinbei were the strongest fisherman then still strong ones on drugs can be stronger than hin

Arkard · 2011-01-20, 20:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

And Nami's quite the shopaholic and haggler. xD;

The best scene was when they cleaned out the store and the starfish nearly had a stroke and was screaming at them to at least show a bit of restraint.

raziel16 · 2011-01-20, 22:42

Arlong design was waay better than Hodi, even Zeo is cooler than Hody. And I agree with kanon, it's really lame to shorten your lifespan just to destroy a 79million bounty pirate. Or it might be just Oda's way to introduce the dopping pills.

Then again, they didn't kill the beaten pirates and they primary objective is just to free fishmens from human oppresor. Maybe they will be enemies-first-then-become-friends-later ala Franky's family back then? The true (strong) villains maybe show up later the way Luci and co used to do it.

Anyway, this is just another introductory chapter. Maybe we'll get a few more chapters like this before all the players have been introduced and the story start to roll

Hisoka?? · 2011-01-20, 22:56

Am I the only one that finds it ridiculous Jones took a temporary booster, then hand cuffed himself? It's like casting both status up and status down on your character.

It serves no purpose. Using just 2 pills would have been more impressive and less damaging on his health than eating 4 then cuffing himself to reduce his level to that of 2 pills

My guess is he will fight luffy and lose due to his body expiring/being unable to take the power. Therefore teaching luffy about the real consequences of pushing himself beyond limits with such boosters without increasing his own base strength. Steriod use has been a re-curring theme for luffy since the fight with CP9.

SOGESNAKE · 2011-01-20, 23:32

I dunno, I'm still behind my original idea.

Jones and Luffy fight, Jones starts losing, so he absolutely overdoses on these drugs becoming overwhelming. Luffy might or might not have trouble with the newer him, but he eventually can't take the strain, and just either collapse, or implode~

Much like at the rate Luffy uses Gear 3rd and such, he'll die as soon as he become Pirate King.

marvelB · 2011-01-20, 23:48

Well, to be fair, remember it took all 3 of Arlong's officers (well, more like two of them) to sink a single marine battleship way back when, and that was them taking advantage of Nami's surveying skills, at that. At least Jones wrecked this pirate ship solo, even if he resorted to using his Devil Trigger suicide pills to do the job. Personally, I think he could have easily destroyed the ship without the use of ES (and without handicapping himself), but he used them anyway to leave more of an impression on his victims (or using them as an "example", to put in his own words). And furthermore, as already mentioned, we don't know what he's capable of when his hands are uncuffed in battle. Recall that Arlong was able to throw tiny droplets of water with the force of a bullet..... by comparison, "Arlong 2.0"'s water drops should feel like a bazooka blast!

But yeah, I think it's best to wait a bit before we chalk up Jones as a total rip-off of Arlong.......

Anyway, out of the NMP officers, I'm definitely most interested in checking out Zeo's fighting style. Sure, Dosun's design is my favorite of the bunch, but Zeo looks like he's capable of just about anything and I totally wanna see what he's all about! And while it may be a bit early to make matchups, I still see Zoro being the one to take on Hyouzou (a guy who's strong enough to block Luffy is good enough for the monster trio, IMO), and I kinda wanna see Chopper take on that freaky little imp Daruma (wonder how HE'LL look when Devil Triggered.....).

BTW, seeing as Neptune is a coelacanth mermaid, I think it would have been really, really awesome if, during his intro, Oda splashed the text "WARNING! A HUGE SEA GOD NEPTUNE IS APPROACHING FAST" across the page (cookies for anyone who gets the reference!).

Blitzer · 2011-01-21, 00:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arkard

The best scene was when they cleaned out the store and the starfish nearly had a stroke and was screaming at them to at least show a bit of restraint.

yeah that scene made me laugh so hard

so hilarious

SOGESNAKE · 2011-01-21, 00:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvelB

BTW, seeing as Neptune is a coelacanth mermaid, I think it would have been really, really awesome if, during his intro, Oda splashed the text "WARNING! A HUGE SEA GOD NEPTUNE IS APPROACHING FAST" across the page (cookies for anyone who gets the reference!).

WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP QUEEN FOSSIL IS APPROACHING FAST

Yes, I my awesome knows no bounds, for I have played Darius~

james0246 · 2011-01-21, 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by SOGESNAKE

Jones and Luffy fight, Jones starts losing, so he absolutely overdoses on these drugs becoming overwhelming. Luffy might or might not have trouble with the newer him, but he eventually can't take the strain, and just either collapse, or implode~

Yeah, Oda already did that with Moria, so I have no real desire to see the same type of fight...

marvelB · 2011-01-21, 00:56

^Yeah, I'd also prefer if Oda didn't simply rehash Shadows Asgard for Jones (especially since so many people accuse the character of being an Arlong rehash already....). Personally, I think it would be cool if he completely tripped out when he inevitably ODs on his pills, which would force Luffy to go all out against him (which, in turn, may lead to Shirley's dark prophecy being fulfilled)......

Quote:

Originally Posted by SOGESNAKE

WARNING! A HUGE BATTLESHIP QUEEN FOSSIL IS APPROACHING FAST

Yes, I my awesome knows no bounds, for I have played Darius~

Yes, Darius is indeed the answer! Well, enjoy your e-cookies!

Spoiler:

Lightmgl · 2011-01-21, 04:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvelB

^Yeah, I'd also prefer if Oda didn't simply rehash Shadows Asgard for Jones (especially since so many people accuse the character of being an Arlong rehash already....). Personally, I think it would be cool if he completely tripped out when he inevitably ODs on his pills, which would force Luffy to go all out against him (which, in turn, may lead to Shirley's dark prophecy being fulfilled)......

I'm hoping Jones has some knowledge of fishman karate too as binding his hands would be a good way of keeping that hidden from us or possibly from him doing something too dangerous while taking those pills. Though that also leaves us with the question of can a merman learn fishman karate? I'll be horribly disappointed if this arc doesn't give us a true taste of underwater combat since we've only really been teased with Jimbei's underwater prowess and Arlong never fought underwater.

I'm fully expecting an overdose on those pills either way. If he takes a dozen of them he would have the strength of a few thousand humans.

Theres also the question of where did those pills come from? I'm intrigued like you by the fact that we were shown a candy factory just a little while ago and then a bunch of pirates who were "lucky" to acquire pills.... Maybe we'll get a complete turn around and there will be a larger opponent who forces Luffy to take those pills instead. Van Der Dekken has to play into all of this somehow too.

Kanon · 2011-01-21, 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolcik

We still have to see whenever Arlong 2.0 uses Merimaid Karate

cause that would destroy that ship in one punch - punch, right? That explains the handcuffs - he probably kicks ass with Mermaid Karate after taking drugs. Even if Jinbei were the strongest fisherman then still strong ones on drugs can be stronger than hin

That's assuming he can use it. Somehow, Jones doesn't strike me as the type of guy dilligent enough to learn a martial art

(Arlong didn't know fishman karate either, did he?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvelB

Well, to be fair, remember it took all 3 of Arlong's officers (well, more like two of them) to sink a single marine battleship way back when, and that was them taking advantage of Nami's surveying skills, at that. At least Jones wrecked this pirate ship solo, even if he resorted to using his Devil Trigger suicide pills to do the job. Personally, I think he could have easily destroyed the ship without the use of ES (and without handicapping himself), but he used them anyway to leave more of an impression on his victims (or using them as an "example", to put in his own words). And furthermore, as already mentioned, we don't know what he's capable of when his hands are uncuffed in battle. Recall that Arlong was able to throw tiny droplets of water with the force of a bullet..... by comparison, "Arlong 2.0"'s water drops should feel like a bazooka blast!

But yeah, I think it's best to wait a bit before we chalk up Jones as a total rip-off of Arlong.......

I don't know... Rather than leaving a strong impression, it had the opposite effect on me. If he could have destroyed that ship without taking drugs, there was absolutely not point in taking them (especially since it shortens his lifespan). Furthermore, taking those drugs kind of renders his point moot:

"I'm going to show the world that fishman are the superior race!!!" *takes pills to increase his strength a hundredfold* "SEE?! We're stronger than ya!"

What's more, he even went through the trouble of explaining to his victims that he took drugs to increase his strength before coming here. Seems kind of dumb. I might be underestimating him big time, but I think that without drugs, Jones is weaker than Arlong. It's likely he used to be his subbordinate, since he talks about "Arlong's will" and he even sports his tattoo on his arm.

I just can't see Jones being the major opponent of this arc. My money is on Van Der Decken.

Animizzle · 2011-01-21, 10:23

^Naw. Hodi & crew have a clear ambition, which pretty much means they will be the main villians of this arc. Since the ambition has to do with righting the racism wrong, that neatly fits with all the merman racism we've seen so far through the series. It's definitly a theme that Oda want to explore. In addition to that, they want to overthrow a king, so yeah. That's big.

I don't expect that much from Van der Decken actually. He's probably a side-villian which somehow will be connected to the final outcome of this arc. Once his identity has been revealed (which I think won't take that long) I expect more comic/awkward action coming from him then serious threat.

2011-01-20, 14:16	Link #22
SilverSyko Okuyasu the Bird Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Age: 32	Hodi Jones looks almost exactly like Arlong except a shorter nose and overweight. =p Crab Hand Gyro's crew didn't stand a chance. I wonder what Luffy and co. are going to get from King Neptune? And Nami's quite the shopaholic and haggler. xD; __________________

2011-01-20, 15:33	Link #24
james0246 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: East Cupcake	Damn Neptune is hairy. Someone's been watching too much Disney... That being said, I wasn't a big fan of Hodi's design, nor his gangs designs. Zeo and Daruma were okay (I did like the Dosun's eyes, but that was it), but all the other designs were very simplistic and lacking any real flavour, especially Hodi, who is basically a fat Arlong... That being said, I am interested as to why Dosun was the only Fishmen Pirate with his tattoo on the left of his body, unlike Hodi and the rest who had their tattoo on the right side of their body. Additionally, now that we have Nami back in the crew, the Strawhats now have 5 crew members (Sanji is still probably disabled) to fight Hodi and his top 4. So a battle between the groups could be sooner rather than later. (And, Sanji and Hyouzou make 6 each (Brook can take on Hyouzou).) Last edited by james0246; 2011-01-20 at 16:12.

2011-01-20, 16:10	Link #25
janipani Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Europe	I loved the character designs.. they look nasty, freaky and the most important formidable. Oda simply rules, chapters are always good and actually quite full stuffed. I wish there were more long running series like this. But nah.. there are no competition right now. __________________ The man of million typos The master of confusing sentence structure -Best anime was made in 80s-

2011-01-20, 16:59	Link #26
Kanon Kana Hanazawa ♥ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: France Age: 37	Am I the only one completely unimpressed by Jones? That guy is just a poser. He had to take four pills just to destroy a low tier pirate crew. Being cuffed hardly makes it a feat. Jinbei would have destroyed the entire ship with a sneeze. I don't hink his design is that great, either. He's basically Arlong without the awesome nose. And the nose was like 90% of Arlong's appeal. Neptune looks badass though. __________________

2011-01-20, 20:11	Link #28
Wolcik Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Poland Age: 37	We still have to see whenever Arlong 2.0 uses Merimaid Karate cause that would destroy that ship in one punch - punch, right? That explains the handcuffs - he probably kicks ass with Mermaid Karate after taking drugs. Even if Jinbei were the strongest fisherman then still strong ones on drugs can be stronger than hin __________________

2011-01-20, 14:05	Link #21
Prestige Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Grand Line	Chapters out and damn it all I love those designs .... Hodi Jones designs is superb... he really looks intimidating and I loved how he rampaged through those pirates with handcuffs biting off arms and masts... Excellent chapter filled with savagery, information, revelations and funny crew interactions... though it did feel short... I can't wait for next chapter, Oda is doing awesome job building up this long awaited arc.

2011-01-20, 17:10	Link #27
Tommy Mr. Prince Join Date: May 2003 Location: Scottsdale, Arizona Age: 41	^^ I'm with you Kanon. I think Hodi's crew looks badass, but Hodi is just Arlong 2.0. And I still stand by what I said a ways back, that to make this conquest truly awesome for the Strawhats, they need to beat the fishmen in water.

2011-01-20, 22:42	Link #30
raziel16 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2010	Arlong design was waay better than Hodi, even Zeo is cooler than Hody. And I agree with kanon, it's really lame to shorten your lifespan just to destroy a 79million bounty pirate. Or it might be just Oda's way to introduce the dopping pills. Then again, they didn't kill the beaten pirates and they primary objective is just to free fishmens from human oppresor. Maybe they will be enemies-first-then-become-friends-later ala Franky's family back then? The true (strong) villains maybe show up later the way Luci and co used to do it. Anyway, this is just another introductory chapter. Maybe we'll get a few more chapters like this before all the players have been introduced and the story start to roll

2011-01-20, 22:56	Link #31
Hisoka?? Ultra noob Join Date: Dec 2004	Am I the only one that finds it ridiculous Jones took a temporary booster, then hand cuffed himself? It's like casting both status up and status down on your character. It serves no purpose. Using just 2 pills would have been more impressive and less damaging on his health than eating 4 then cuffing himself to reduce his level to that of 2 pills My guess is he will fight luffy and lose due to his body expiring/being unable to take the power. Therefore teaching luffy about the real consequences of pushing himself beyond limits with such boosters without increasing his own base strength. Steriod use has been a re-curring theme for luffy since the fight with CP9.

2011-01-20, 23:32	Link #32
SOGESNAKE NEW WORLD BABY~! Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Raftel Age: 32	I dunno, I'm still behind my original idea. Jones and Luffy fight, Jones starts losing, so he absolutely overdoses on these drugs becoming overwhelming. Luffy might or might not have trouble with the newer him, but he eventually can't take the strain, and just either collapse, or implode~ Much like at the rate Luffy uses Gear 3rd and such, he'll die as soon as he become Pirate King. __________________

2011-01-20, 23:48	Link #33
marvelB Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005	Well, to be fair, remember it took all 3 of Arlong's officers (well, more like two of them) to sink a single marine battleship way back when, and that was them taking advantage of Nami's surveying skills, at that. At least Jones wrecked this pirate ship solo, even if he resorted to using his Devil Trigger suicide pills to do the job. Personally, I think he could have easily destroyed the ship without the use of ES (and without handicapping himself), but he used them anyway to leave more of an impression on his victims (or using them as an "example", to put in his own words). And furthermore, as already mentioned, we don't know what he's capable of when his hands are uncuffed in battle. Recall that Arlong was able to throw tiny droplets of water with the force of a bullet..... by comparison, "Arlong 2.0"'s water drops should feel like a bazooka blast! But yeah, I think it's best to wait a bit before we chalk up Jones as a total rip-off of Arlong....... Anyway, out of the NMP officers, I'm definitely most interested in checking out Zeo's fighting style. Sure, Dosun's design is my favorite of the bunch, but Zeo looks like he's capable of just about anything and I totally wanna see what he's all about! And while it may be a bit early to make matchups, I still see Zoro being the one to take on Hyouzou (a guy who's strong enough to block Luffy is good enough for the monster trio, IMO), and I kinda wanna see Chopper take on that freaky little imp Daruma (wonder how HE'LL look when Devil Triggered.....). BTW, seeing as Neptune is a coelacanth mermaid, I think it would have been really, really awesome if, during his intro, Oda splashed the text "WARNING! A HUGE SEA GOD NEPTUNE IS APPROACHING FAST" across the page (cookies for anyone who gets the reference!).

2011-01-21, 10:23	Link #40
Animizzle Cool as a Cucumber Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Holland	^Naw. Hodi & crew have a clear ambition, which pretty much means they will be the main villians of this arc. Since the ambition has to do with righting the racism wrong, that neatly fits with all the merman racism we've seen so far through the series. It's definitly a theme that Oda want to explore. In addition to that, they want to overthrow a king, so yeah. That's big. I don't expect that much from Van der Decken actually. He's probably a side-villian which somehow will be connected to the final outcome of this arc. Once his identity has been revealed (which I think won't take that long) I expect more comic/awkward action coming from him then serious threat. __________________ hm....