Attack of the blobs: One Piece style.

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Luffy, Franky, and Robin clash with the Marines just in time for Caesar Clown’s pet poison blob monster to start attacking the G-5 ships. As we discover from where Zoro, Sanji, and Brook are standing, Slime is transporting itself to the main laboratory, one miniature blob at a time. The Marines try to get rid of these blobs with a flamethrower and are seemingly incinerated by an explosion. Caesar Clown then appears amid the wreckage in a typical bad guy entrance, only to be tackled by Luffy, who really needs a lesson on proper kidnapping etiquette.

Slime is an excellent addition to the villain’s side because even though we now have quite a bit of information about it, there doesn’t seem like any way to kill it. Brute force and fire are definitely a no go, and even getting close to it is a bad idea. It’s weak against water, but getting to submerge that gigantic blob would be a difficult task, especially since the mini blobs are explosive enough to wipe out a ship and its crew. I’m really anticipating how the Straw Hats and their allies are going to take down this monstrous foe.

The assumed decimation of the Marines was a very shocking moment and their survival is debatable. As we well know, no one dies in One Piece (minus the very clear exceptions, Ace and Whitebeard…hold on, now I need a moment to stop crying), but it’s actually a pretty good plot twist. With the Marines out of the way, and hopefully alive, I would think Smoker and Tashigi would have no choice but to team up with the pirates against Caesar Clown now that they have no military force behind them. This arc is just teeming with epic alliances.

Now that all the groups are starting to consolidate, the pacing and focus is settling into a much nicer flow. The blob monster was the focus of the chapter, but Oda still managed to have a nice framework around it with the Marines and the Straw Hats. I liked how he pointedly showed us that Luffy can grab anyone with logia powers now, including Smoker and Caesar. It was a nice reminder of how much he’s grown since the battle at Marineford. All in all, this chapter covered some ground, but not as much as I would’ve liked.

GO Rating: 3.5/5

[kissmanga]