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uftakiThoughts as reading the latest release of the manga, chapter 598, "2 Years Later". I've been both greatly anticipating this, finally having caught myself up, reading chapters online (will still of COURSE be buying the official releases once they're out - I just couldn't wait!), and with the manga now back after a month-long hiatus. Wondering what order the crew will reuinte in. Who will be the first to come back? ... And partially dreading it. The characters will all be 2 years older, and just wondering what sort of CHANGES all have gone through. Will I like the changes? Will I hate them? Half of me is eager to see, the other half is tense and worried, hoping that certain characters won't be ruined for me, with the changes. Oda's a good storyteller, and I'll trust things will be good, and I'll get used to the changes in time (One Piece DEFINITELY is a series you DO have to give some time to, to get used to the art style, get into the story, let it grow on you, etc)... Just... y'know. Gut reactions. Hoping some of the changes won't be too extreme.
Comments will be random. Sporadic. Probably gibberish as I'm making these while reading. As my opening above clearly indicates. ^.^;; Err... warnings for some cursing within. c_c; And lots and LOTS of disjointed rambling.
*takes in a deep breath* Here we go...
*on reading the 1st few pages* Luffy has an 'X'-shaped scar smack-dab in the middle of his chest. It looks like he got shot by something. o.o Or one really strong blunt-force-trauma thing. [edit: oh, wait... was this from the Marineford battle, perhaps? [Akainu?] o.o; Can't quite remember, but read comments suggesting it could be from that.] Suits him, though. :) Just another scar for his collection. XD He looks the same otherwise. Hancock's all the same, with her 'loopy fangirling' over Luffy, and all... to which he just blunty shoots her down. xD
*gets to the opening colour spread. stops. BOGGLES* O______________O
Zoro has a scar over his right eye. Can he even open that, now? o.o Or is he just 'winking' in this picture? o.o Is he now completely blind in that one eye? D: I've got a bad feeling it's the latter. :( How will that affect his swordsmanship? Chopper looks the same. So does Robin. Nami has long hair! It's down to her waist! (looks pretty like that)
... Sanji's bangs are now FLIPPED! O.O His left eye is totally visible (and totally normal), and... ... his eyebrow still curls... but it's curling in the same direction as his other brow, and the curl's down by his nose, not his temple! @_x; *does NOT know what to MAKE of that!* .... If both eyes were visible at the same time, it'll look totally silly. x__x (the curl, while goofy, yes, still looked NORMAL up by his temple, at the 'end' of the brow. Having it right at the 'start'? I... don't know HOW it'll react with expressions. ^.^;; Will have to wait and see, I guess.) He'll look LOP-SIDED! o.o Sure, with the bangs always over one eye, it was an a-symmetrical design, but... that was just HAIR! (and looked cool) With the eyebrows like this, well... no matter what, now, his face'll look lopsided, with the curls both going in the same direction, and one at one end of the brow, and one at the other. o.o; (I liked the curl up 'top'. Don't know what to make of the curl at 'bottom'. It just... feels a little 'off'. *shrug*) Makes me wonder what prompted him to change his bangs from the left side, to right side. o.o; Well... the mystery of his left eye's been revealed, at least. ._.; His beard has grown out a bit, and he's got a bit of stubble over his lip, too. (edit: I've gotten so used to seeing him with his hair swept over to the left, and the curl up at the top. I just think it looks better like that. ^_^;; He's still smexy and all, but... ...it'll definitely take some GETTING USED to. ... There are a lot of other characters with the hair swept to the right, and I still think the curl looks better up top, but... ah well. ^_^; `Tis change! :/ I'll likely get used to it in time. ^.^; ... And to reiterate; I also hope Zoro's scar over his eye doesn't permanently blind him. ;__; I really hope he's just winking in that pic. ._. ... Looks COOL, though, regardless! XD) (edit edit: One more note... Sanji's had his hairstyle flipped over his left eye for at LEAST 9 years, that we know of. I wonder just what prompted him to change it over, in the last 2, other than Oda just teasing all the fans with what WAS under those bangs, with all the crazy speculations fans have made. ^^;)
Brook looks the same, as does Usopp. Can't quite see him too well in that shot to make any sort of judgements. And HOLY FUCK, FRANKY IS HUGE!!! O__O I mean... massive barrel chest and mecha-fist and no funky Ace Ventura swoop hairstyle, and... and.... what what why? @_x; YEEEEEEEEEEAH. Changes. Changes indeed! And this is just the color-spread. No ideas yet how far those changes go, how deep, or how many MORE there are. Um... wow. *is boggled by some of the changes* Yeah. o.o
....*coughs and clears throat* Oh, right. There's still more of the chapter to go through, isn't there? @__x;; *pulls herself away from the colour-spread, to continue on*
So the Strawhats are recruiting? Putting out flyers? o.o; That doesn't seem to FEEL like Luffy's standard MO. I wonder what's up with that? .... Brook is a travelling rock star? *lols* XD And apparantly very POPULAR, too... XD Swooning fangirls and everything. *LOLS*
*snrk* Sanji is really happy to be on Sabaody, with real women about, again. xD ... And he promptly freaks 'em all out by being overly enthusiastic, of course. ^.^;
AH. I see. The 'recruiting' is by a group of wanna-bes, posing as the Strawhats (badly!), to bank on the Strawhat's rep to get members. XD *ROFFLES* And Usopp, in one very cool entrance, gets Marshmallow Hell'd (warning: TV Tropes link!) by Nami. XD (I can hear Sanji wailing/yelling from here, if he managed to see that. XD) He's gotten buff, too! Wow! o.o And he's got a tiny little beard/stubble or something on his chin. XD
*lol* Zoro was the first to get to the ship. X3 No getting lost, this time, thankfully. xD Franky was next, then Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji to reunite at Shakky's place. Brook arrived the same time Sanji did, but he's got that concert to put on. X3 Haven't seen Chopper yet, though.
Robin looks as pretty as ever. And wondering just what's going on, looking at the various posters. *snicker*
*blinks* Chopper, you're cute an' all, and you believed Usopp's stories a little too easily... but how in the WORLD do you mistake those Strawhat imposters for the real thing? x___X;; *facepalms* Then again, it seems EVERYONE there (or nearly everyone, outside of the Strawhats and their friends themselves) are mistaking these imposters for 'em, so... oy. ^_^;
... and we end up with a very-heavily laden and bundled-up Luffy bumping into the imposter Luffy. *snicker* There will be fireworks ahead. XD (not immediately, though. I can see Luffy growing enough that he doesn't need to kick fake!Luffy's ass immediately... at least not until he/they REALLY hurt some innocents, or his nakama, or something. He's strong and confident enough that he doesn't need to smack him down instantly [similar to the fight with Bellamy, I'm thinking])
So... um. WOW. What to say to this all? Definitely cool to see everyone gathering together again; a little stronger, a little older... Still a little boggled and overwhelmed by the character designs. Sanji's really odd eyebrow (you get USED to the right one, I guess I'll get used to the left one -- EVENTUALLY) still makes me go 'bwah'? Guess he's still trying to make himself look older with growing out his beard and mustache a lil'. (semi-Indiana Jones-ish stubble look? Maybe? *shrug*) Haven't seen Zoro or Franky outside of the colour-spread, so I can't REALLY comment on 'em. Not much really 'happened', in terms of action in this chapter, but that's fine. :3 There had been TONS upon TONS of action before, and this is getting everyone re-introduced to the characters, a re-gathering... There'll be LOTS of time for action later. X3 We're finally getting the team back together. :3
Good chapter, it's nice to see them all together after having been apart for so long. ^___^ Looking forward to seeing more reunions, and more character interactions (Nami and Usopp were really the only two interactions between crewmates that we got).
Gotta add... KUDOS to Duval for keeping the Sunny safe those 2 years. ^__^
Comments will be random. Sporadic. Probably gibberish as I'm making these while reading. As my opening above clearly indicates. ^.^;; Err... warnings for some cursing within. c_c; And lots and LOTS of disjointed rambling.
*takes in a deep breath* Here we go...
*on reading the 1st few pages* Luffy has an 'X'-shaped scar smack-dab in the middle of his chest. It looks like he got shot by something. o.o Or one really strong blunt-force-trauma thing. [edit: oh, wait... was this from the Marineford battle, perhaps? [Akainu?] o.o; Can't quite remember, but read comments suggesting it could be from that.] Suits him, though. :) Just another scar for his collection. XD He looks the same otherwise. Hancock's all the same, with her 'loopy fangirling' over Luffy, and all... to which he just blunty shoots her down. xD
*gets to the opening colour spread. stops. BOGGLES* O______________O
Zoro has a scar over his right eye. Can he even open that, now? o.o Or is he just 'winking' in this picture? o.o Is he now completely blind in that one eye? D: I've got a bad feeling it's the latter. :( How will that affect his swordsmanship? Chopper looks the same. So does Robin. Nami has long hair! It's down to her waist! (looks pretty like that)
... Sanji's bangs are now FLIPPED! O.O His left eye is totally visible (and totally normal), and... ... his eyebrow still curls... but it's curling in the same direction as his other brow, and the curl's down by his nose, not his temple! @_x; *does NOT know what to MAKE of that!* .... If both eyes were visible at the same time, it'll look totally silly. x__x (the curl, while goofy, yes, still looked NORMAL up by his temple, at the 'end' of the brow. Having it right at the 'start'? I... don't know HOW it'll react with expressions. ^.^;; Will have to wait and see, I guess.) He'll look LOP-SIDED! o.o Sure, with the bangs always over one eye, it was an a-symmetrical design, but... that was just HAIR! (and looked cool) With the eyebrows like this, well... no matter what, now, his face'll look lopsided, with the curls both going in the same direction, and one at one end of the brow, and one at the other. o.o; (I liked the curl up 'top'. Don't know what to make of the curl at 'bottom'. It just... feels a little 'off'. *shrug*) Makes me wonder what prompted him to change his bangs from the left side, to right side. o.o; Well... the mystery of his left eye's been revealed, at least. ._.; His beard has grown out a bit, and he's got a bit of stubble over his lip, too. (edit: I've gotten so used to seeing him with his hair swept over to the left, and the curl up at the top. I just think it looks better like that. ^_^;; He's still smexy and all, but... ...it'll definitely take some GETTING USED to. ... There are a lot of other characters with the hair swept to the right, and I still think the curl looks better up top, but... ah well. ^_^; `Tis change! :/ I'll likely get used to it in time. ^.^; ... And to reiterate; I also hope Zoro's scar over his eye doesn't permanently blind him. ;__; I really hope he's just winking in that pic. ._. ... Looks COOL, though, regardless! XD) (edit edit: One more note... Sanji's had his hairstyle flipped over his left eye for at LEAST 9 years, that we know of. I wonder just what prompted him to change it over, in the last 2, other than Oda just teasing all the fans with what WAS under those bangs, with all the crazy speculations fans have made. ^^;)
Brook looks the same, as does Usopp. Can't quite see him too well in that shot to make any sort of judgements. And HOLY FUCK, FRANKY IS HUGE!!! O__O I mean... massive barrel chest and mecha-fist and no funky Ace Ventura swoop hairstyle, and... and.... what what why? @_x; YEEEEEEEEEEAH. Changes. Changes indeed! And this is just the color-spread. No ideas yet how far those changes go, how deep, or how many MORE there are. Um... wow. *is boggled by some of the changes* Yeah. o.o
....*coughs and clears throat* Oh, right. There's still more of the chapter to go through, isn't there? @__x;; *pulls herself away from the colour-spread, to continue on*
So the Strawhats are recruiting? Putting out flyers? o.o; That doesn't seem to FEEL like Luffy's standard MO. I wonder what's up with that? .... Brook is a travelling rock star? *lols* XD And apparantly very POPULAR, too... XD Swooning fangirls and everything. *LOLS*
*snrk* Sanji is really happy to be on Sabaody, with real women about, again. xD ... And he promptly freaks 'em all out by being overly enthusiastic, of course. ^.^;
AH. I see. The 'recruiting' is by a group of wanna-bes, posing as the Strawhats (badly!), to bank on the Strawhat's rep to get members. XD *ROFFLES* And Usopp, in one very cool entrance, gets Marshmallow Hell'd (warning: TV Tropes link!) by Nami. XD (I can hear Sanji wailing/yelling from here, if he managed to see that. XD) He's gotten buff, too! Wow! o.o And he's got a tiny little beard/stubble or something on his chin. XD
*lol* Zoro was the first to get to the ship. X3 No getting lost, this time, thankfully. xD Franky was next, then Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji to reunite at Shakky's place. Brook arrived the same time Sanji did, but he's got that concert to put on. X3 Haven't seen Chopper yet, though.
Robin looks as pretty as ever. And wondering just what's going on, looking at the various posters. *snicker*
*blinks* Chopper, you're cute an' all, and you believed Usopp's stories a little too easily... but how in the WORLD do you mistake those Strawhat imposters for the real thing? x___X;; *facepalms* Then again, it seems EVERYONE there (or nearly everyone, outside of the Strawhats and their friends themselves) are mistaking these imposters for 'em, so... oy. ^_^;
... and we end up with a very-heavily laden and bundled-up Luffy bumping into the imposter Luffy. *snicker* There will be fireworks ahead. XD (not immediately, though. I can see Luffy growing enough that he doesn't need to kick fake!Luffy's ass immediately... at least not until he/they REALLY hurt some innocents, or his nakama, or something. He's strong and confident enough that he doesn't need to smack him down instantly [similar to the fight with Bellamy, I'm thinking])
So... um. WOW. What to say to this all? Definitely cool to see everyone gathering together again; a little stronger, a little older... Still a little boggled and overwhelmed by the character designs. Sanji's really odd eyebrow (you get USED to the right one, I guess I'll get used to the left one -- EVENTUALLY) still makes me go 'bwah'? Guess he's still trying to make himself look older with growing out his beard and mustache a lil'. (semi-Indiana Jones-ish stubble look? Maybe? *shrug*) Haven't seen Zoro or Franky outside of the colour-spread, so I can't REALLY comment on 'em. Not much really 'happened', in terms of action in this chapter, but that's fine. :3 There had been TONS upon TONS of action before, and this is getting everyone re-introduced to the characters, a re-gathering... There'll be LOTS of time for action later. X3 We're finally getting the team back together. :3
Good chapter, it's nice to see them all together after having been apart for so long. ^___^ Looking forward to seeing more reunions, and more character interactions (Nami and Usopp were really the only two interactions between crewmates that we got).
Gotta add... KUDOS to Duval for keeping the Sunny safe those 2 years. ^__^
