One Piece Vol 9
Better late than never! Arlong Park, so awesome.
(N.B.: The anime parallel to this volume is episodes 31-37. For anyone who may have forgotten this part of the story, it is well worth experiencing directly rather than just reading a summary -- especially episode 37.)
VOLUME 9
72
Arlong threatens to execute Genzou for rebellion, as an example to the others.
[Amazon Lily, Fishman Island]I just noticed Arlong still has the sun tattoo as well as the shark tattoo. After that, I paid more attention, and realized that many of his crew members apparently bear only the sun tattoo, which makes perfect sense. It's not like he needed to force his old friends to take a new mark to prove their loyalty.
Gen-san's warning to the villagers (not to abandon their policy of passive resistance) is more powerful later when you find out exactly what he's talking about.
Usopp saves Gen-san and challenges Arlong! He discovers his bravery at the oddest times.
Nami shows up after Arlong and his men leave to chase after Usopp.
Aw, everyone turning their backs on Nami. :-(
Love Nojiko and Nami chatting while Nami lays flowers for the grave, but there's no reference to the grave itself -- only to Nami's plan to buy back the village once she saves up the 100 million beli. "Only seven million more..."
Zoro lounging around on Arlong's throne after beating everyone up, heh.
73
Hachi and Mohmoo <3
Mohmoo: second best sea king ever!
[Fishman Island]
Of course, the first best is Surume. I guess Surume counts as a sea king, unless a legendary kraken outranks a sea king.
It kind of breaks my heart when Mohmoo meets Nami again during the Fishman arc, and doesn't recognize her at first because she doesn't look at all like the scowling bitch she used to be when she was with Arlong. Oh, Nami. ;__; (And then he sees Luffy and Sanji and runs like hell!)
Hachi mistakes Zoro for a visitor, and offers to take him to Cocoyashi (because Hachi is just that dumb, and amiable).
Totally random, but it just occurred to me -- is it a running joke that he keeps saying "My name is Hatcchan! Please call me Hachi!", because that's the reverse of what one would expect (Hatcchan should be a nickname for Hachi)? I always think of him as Hachi, so I just glossed over that.
Mohmoo shows up at the wrong feeding-spot. (Not the smartest sea-cow in the herd.)
Yosaku recognizes Mohmoo as a monster from the Grand Line. (I like Yosaku-as-omniscent-narrator.)
LOL, Sanji wants to feed Mohmoo (all hungry creatures deserve food!), until he figures out Mohmoo is about to eat HIM. Between Luffy and Sanji, poor cow never had a chance.
Arlong arrives back to find Arlong Park in shambles and his men unconscious. His one likable characteristic is what seems to be a genuine loyalty to his fishman brothers.
Arlong's officers show up with Usopp (they finally caught him). Nami has to defend herself against accusations of treachery from the other fishmen when they realize their captive was Roronoa Zoro, and somehow he got away after Nami said she'd "take care" of him.
Poor, poor exploited Mohmoo. (Luffy and Sanji harnessed him to the ship.)
74
I think I missed the comment about Arlong's bounty (20,000,000) being the highest in the East Blue, before. (Not for long, Arlong-baby.)
Really love how the fake-out stabbing (Nami pretending to kill Usopp) is handled, especially with Johnny as witness. It's classic ancient novel melodrama. (There is actually an ancient novel where someone witnesses a person apparently being cut into as a human sacrifice, only to learn later that it was a stage-show, with a retractable knife, no less. And then the same heroine later apparently gets beheaded and thrown off a ship.)
Nami's "treasure" map. ;__; (Kuroubi accuses her of wanting to buy Cocoyashi because of some treasure that's buried there, marked on Nami's map.)
"Watashi no mono yo" (That's mine!) with mono (thing) glossed takara (treasure), aw.
75
Mohmoo, towing the boat with Luffy et al, crashes into the shore and sends the boat flying -- right into Zoro. Johnny shows up to report that he saw Nami kill Usopp.
Commodore Pudding (Purin-Purin): shortest navy cameo ever. (He shows up to rescue the people of Gosa, and gets himself sucked into a giant whirlpool in less than five minutes.)
Arlong's officers (Chuu and Kuroubi) formally introduced (i.e. they get their Oda-boxes).
LOL!! OK, I never realized that the reason that Chuu's characteristic sentence-ending particle is "chuu" (the sound of a kiss) is because he's a kisu (sillago, Japanese whiting; sounds like "kiss") fishman.
76
Poor Nami, trying to preserve her deal for Cocoyashi, put up a nasty front in front of everyone, and stop the Strawhats from getting killed -- all at the same time. ;_;
Sanji kicking Zoro's ass for drawing his sword on Nami is the first time we see them having one of their ridiculous fights, and it's only like the third word of conversation they've ever exchanged (Zoro was taken out by Mihawk so early in the Baratie arc).
Luffy doesn't want to leave no matter what Nami says, so he decides to take a nap in the middle of the road.
Johnny and Yosaku decide to take off, having reasonably decided that all the Strawhats are insane.
And the fake-out is revealed: Nami stabbed herself in the hand and shoved Usopp into the sea, saving his life.
Usopp shows up and gets kicked in the head because he got in between Zoro and Sanji by accident. (LOL, in Japanese, Zoro says maybe Nami killed Usopp to prove she wasn't "small fry", and Sanji screams "WHAT PART OF NAMI'S CHEST IS SMALL??" The English changes it to Zoro calling her a witch, to protect children's tender sensibilities, I suppose.)
"Usopp, you're alive!" "I think he's dead now."
Nojiko comes home to find the house trashed and Nami in a foul mood.
I adore everything about Nami's and Nojiko's interactions. Nojiko calmly taking Nami's tantrums in stride. Knowing exactly what it means that she's staring at her "treasure map." Coaxing the whole story out of her, watching over her after she finally falls asleep. "Nakama, huh? No wonder she destroyed the house."
Nojiko tries to protect Nami by persuading Luffy and the others to leave. I really wish Nojiko had a bigger part outside this arc, she is just so awesome.
Captain Nezumi shows up, demanding to be led to Nami's house.
77
Love Luffy refusing to listen to the story of Nami's past (he decides to go for a walk instead).
[Fishman Island]I wonder if, to this day, he knows the details. Luffy's mind is an eternal mystery. Sanji and Usopp might be the only ones who actually know the whole story. It's revealing that on Fishman Island, Sanji is the one who goes for Jinbei's throat.
And then Zoro goes to sleep! Again, a sign of his trust in Luffy's judgment.
Nami's flashback begins ("8 years ago" -- Nami was 10).
So, so much love for Bellemere.
The treasure-map was Nami's first map, the first step on her journey to draw a map of the entire world.
If Bellemere is 30 in this story, she was only about 20 when she adopted the girls, four years after Roger's execution.
Apropros of flashbacks and chronology: I really love this timeline which attempts to correlate all the past events we've been told about (spoiler-filled, of course). It's interesting that with all the trouble Oda has gone to create this world, and the elaborate history he's given it, we still can't pinpoint the exact date of the present day on the calendar, so everything has to be measured in terms of "X years ago."
Nami storms out after their fight, and Bellemere sends Nojiko to go pick her up. (Aw, Nojiko, the peacemaker of the family at age 12.)
Gen-san tells Nami the story of how Bellemere found her and Nojiko on the battlefield. Are we really supposed to think that Nojiko was just taking care of some random baby she found because she was such a steady-headed, mature little three-year-old? Seriously, there's got to be more to that story.
[Speculation: Bellemere's marine career]I would really love to see more of a backstory on Bellemere at some point. What was her marine career like before she adopted Nami and Nojiko? What was she doing at that battle where she almost died? I suppose it must have been in the East Blue, since she made it back to Cocoyashi afterward. I like to think that Luffy's crew might run into some marines who knew Bellemere back when, someday, which would be a good excuse for more backstory.
The Arlong pirates show up on Nami's island, ready to wreak some havoc, and Gen-san tells Nami and Nojiko to hide in the woods.
[Fishman Island]"The fish-man pirates of the Grand Line have split up" -- Oda already had that whole backstory worked out? Damn.
78
Arlong assesses a tribute on every man, woman and child on the island.
Love Bellemere taking Arlong down... even if it's just for a moment. We really need to see more marine action from her past.
No words, just T___T.
79
More flashback moments (Bellemere adopting the babies and raising them to be strong women).
The flashback to baby Nami trying to imitate Bellemere's flirty ways ("I'll pay you back... with my body!") is just about the cutest thing ever.
Genzou trying to stop them from taking Nami and getting all cut up. T_T
Little tattooed Nami... it's unbearable. But, so much love for the fact that Nojiko was the only one she could confide in.
80
Cut back to Nojiko explaining how Nami made the decision to fight for the village alone, and begging Usopp and Sanji to leave before they ruin everything she's worked for.
Ten-year-old Nami's thieving career boggles the mind. (Also, T_T at the "clumsy" line, because that was what Nojiko jokingly said when Nami got caught for stealing the book -- "I wouldn't have been clumsy enough to get caught!")
Nezumi and the marines show up to demand Nami's ill-gotten gains.
Gen-san and the villagers knew all along what Nami was trying to do. "We didn't want you to feel you couldn't give up and flee." T_T
Nami starts to realize that Arlong was the one who tipped off the marines.
Luffy shows up (he was still out walking). Poor Nami, lashing out at Luffy when everything is falling apart around her.
Nami confronts Arlong, and realizes he intended all along to betray her.
81
Nami's blood-and-mud-smeared hoard of beli. T_T
The villagers make up their minds to fight, despite Nami's pleas. (Aw, Gen-san hugging Nami and telling her she's fought long enough.)
The scene with Nami cutting out the tattoo is one of the few that is perhaps more powerful in the anime -- though, maybe I only think that because I saw it there first.
Serious Luffy is almost as compelling as Angry Luffy -- we see both so rarely.
Off to beat up the bad guys -- straight out of the best kind of western.
Johnny and Yosaku, trying to challenge Arlong (they overheard the whole story from Nojiko) and getting beat up. ("Lost by a hair!") Kind of love that they're just sitting there guarding the door waiting for Luffy and the others to show up, because they know he'll come.
(N.B.: The anime parallel to this volume is episodes 31-37. For anyone who may have forgotten this part of the story, it is well worth experiencing directly rather than just reading a summary -- especially episode 37.)
VOLUME 9
72
Arlong threatens to execute Genzou for rebellion, as an example to the others.
[Amazon Lily, Fishman Island]I just noticed Arlong still has the sun tattoo as well as the shark tattoo. After that, I paid more attention, and realized that many of his crew members apparently bear only the sun tattoo, which makes perfect sense. It's not like he needed to force his old friends to take a new mark to prove their loyalty.
Gen-san's warning to the villagers (not to abandon their policy of passive resistance) is more powerful later when you find out exactly what he's talking about.
Usopp saves Gen-san and challenges Arlong! He discovers his bravery at the oddest times.
Nami shows up after Arlong and his men leave to chase after Usopp.
Aw, everyone turning their backs on Nami. :-(
Love Nojiko and Nami chatting while Nami lays flowers for the grave, but there's no reference to the grave itself -- only to Nami's plan to buy back the village once she saves up the 100 million beli. "Only seven million more..."
Zoro lounging around on Arlong's throne after beating everyone up, heh.
73
Hachi and Mohmoo <3
Mohmoo: second best sea king ever!
[Fishman Island]
Of course, the first best is Surume. I guess Surume counts as a sea king, unless a legendary kraken outranks a sea king.
It kind of breaks my heart when Mohmoo meets Nami again during the Fishman arc, and doesn't recognize her at first because she doesn't look at all like the scowling bitch she used to be when she was with Arlong. Oh, Nami. ;__; (And then he sees Luffy and Sanji and runs like hell!)
Hachi mistakes Zoro for a visitor, and offers to take him to Cocoyashi (because Hachi is just that dumb, and amiable).
Totally random, but it just occurred to me -- is it a running joke that he keeps saying "My name is Hatcchan! Please call me Hachi!", because that's the reverse of what one would expect (Hatcchan should be a nickname for Hachi)? I always think of him as Hachi, so I just glossed over that.
Mohmoo shows up at the wrong feeding-spot. (Not the smartest sea-cow in the herd.)
Yosaku recognizes Mohmoo as a monster from the Grand Line. (I like Yosaku-as-omniscent-narrator.)
LOL, Sanji wants to feed Mohmoo (all hungry creatures deserve food!), until he figures out Mohmoo is about to eat HIM. Between Luffy and Sanji, poor cow never had a chance.
Arlong arrives back to find Arlong Park in shambles and his men unconscious. His one likable characteristic is what seems to be a genuine loyalty to his fishman brothers.
Arlong's officers show up with Usopp (they finally caught him). Nami has to defend herself against accusations of treachery from the other fishmen when they realize their captive was Roronoa Zoro, and somehow he got away after Nami said she'd "take care" of him.
Poor, poor exploited Mohmoo. (Luffy and Sanji harnessed him to the ship.)
74
I think I missed the comment about Arlong's bounty (20,000,000) being the highest in the East Blue, before. (Not for long, Arlong-baby.)
Really love how the fake-out stabbing (Nami pretending to kill Usopp) is handled, especially with Johnny as witness. It's classic ancient novel melodrama. (There is actually an ancient novel where someone witnesses a person apparently being cut into as a human sacrifice, only to learn later that it was a stage-show, with a retractable knife, no less. And then the same heroine later apparently gets beheaded and thrown off a ship.)
Nami's "treasure" map. ;__; (Kuroubi accuses her of wanting to buy Cocoyashi because of some treasure that's buried there, marked on Nami's map.)
"Watashi no mono yo" (That's mine!) with mono (thing) glossed takara (treasure), aw.
75
Mohmoo, towing the boat with Luffy et al, crashes into the shore and sends the boat flying -- right into Zoro. Johnny shows up to report that he saw Nami kill Usopp.
Commodore Pudding (Purin-Purin): shortest navy cameo ever. (He shows up to rescue the people of Gosa, and gets himself sucked into a giant whirlpool in less than five minutes.)
Arlong's officers (Chuu and Kuroubi) formally introduced (i.e. they get their Oda-boxes).
LOL!! OK, I never realized that the reason that Chuu's characteristic sentence-ending particle is "chuu" (the sound of a kiss) is because he's a kisu (sillago, Japanese whiting; sounds like "kiss") fishman.
76
Poor Nami, trying to preserve her deal for Cocoyashi, put up a nasty front in front of everyone, and stop the Strawhats from getting killed -- all at the same time. ;_;
Sanji kicking Zoro's ass for drawing his sword on Nami is the first time we see them having one of their ridiculous fights, and it's only like the third word of conversation they've ever exchanged (Zoro was taken out by Mihawk so early in the Baratie arc).
Luffy doesn't want to leave no matter what Nami says, so he decides to take a nap in the middle of the road.
Johnny and Yosaku decide to take off, having reasonably decided that all the Strawhats are insane.
And the fake-out is revealed: Nami stabbed herself in the hand and shoved Usopp into the sea, saving his life.
Usopp shows up and gets kicked in the head because he got in between Zoro and Sanji by accident. (LOL, in Japanese, Zoro says maybe Nami killed Usopp to prove she wasn't "small fry", and Sanji screams "WHAT PART OF NAMI'S CHEST IS SMALL??" The English changes it to Zoro calling her a witch, to protect children's tender sensibilities, I suppose.)
"Usopp, you're alive!" "I think he's dead now."
Nojiko comes home to find the house trashed and Nami in a foul mood.
I adore everything about Nami's and Nojiko's interactions. Nojiko calmly taking Nami's tantrums in stride. Knowing exactly what it means that she's staring at her "treasure map." Coaxing the whole story out of her, watching over her after she finally falls asleep. "Nakama, huh? No wonder she destroyed the house."
Nojiko tries to protect Nami by persuading Luffy and the others to leave. I really wish Nojiko had a bigger part outside this arc, she is just so awesome.
Captain Nezumi shows up, demanding to be led to Nami's house.
77
Love Luffy refusing to listen to the story of Nami's past (he decides to go for a walk instead).
[Fishman Island]I wonder if, to this day, he knows the details. Luffy's mind is an eternal mystery. Sanji and Usopp might be the only ones who actually know the whole story. It's revealing that on Fishman Island, Sanji is the one who goes for Jinbei's throat.
And then Zoro goes to sleep! Again, a sign of his trust in Luffy's judgment.
Nami's flashback begins ("8 years ago" -- Nami was 10).
So, so much love for Bellemere.
The treasure-map was Nami's first map, the first step on her journey to draw a map of the entire world.
If Bellemere is 30 in this story, she was only about 20 when she adopted the girls, four years after Roger's execution.
Apropros of flashbacks and chronology: I really love this timeline which attempts to correlate all the past events we've been told about (spoiler-filled, of course). It's interesting that with all the trouble Oda has gone to create this world, and the elaborate history he's given it, we still can't pinpoint the exact date of the present day on the calendar, so everything has to be measured in terms of "X years ago."
Nami storms out after their fight, and Bellemere sends Nojiko to go pick her up. (Aw, Nojiko, the peacemaker of the family at age 12.)
Gen-san tells Nami the story of how Bellemere found her and Nojiko on the battlefield. Are we really supposed to think that Nojiko was just taking care of some random baby she found because she was such a steady-headed, mature little three-year-old? Seriously, there's got to be more to that story.
[Speculation: Bellemere's marine career]I would really love to see more of a backstory on Bellemere at some point. What was her marine career like before she adopted Nami and Nojiko? What was she doing at that battle where she almost died? I suppose it must have been in the East Blue, since she made it back to Cocoyashi afterward. I like to think that Luffy's crew might run into some marines who knew Bellemere back when, someday, which would be a good excuse for more backstory.
The Arlong pirates show up on Nami's island, ready to wreak some havoc, and Gen-san tells Nami and Nojiko to hide in the woods.
[Fishman Island]"The fish-man pirates of the Grand Line have split up" -- Oda already had that whole backstory worked out? Damn.
78
Arlong assesses a tribute on every man, woman and child on the island.
Love Bellemere taking Arlong down... even if it's just for a moment. We really need to see more marine action from her past.
No words, just T___T.
79
More flashback moments (Bellemere adopting the babies and raising them to be strong women).
The flashback to baby Nami trying to imitate Bellemere's flirty ways ("I'll pay you back... with my body!") is just about the cutest thing ever.
Genzou trying to stop them from taking Nami and getting all cut up. T_T
Little tattooed Nami... it's unbearable. But, so much love for the fact that Nojiko was the only one she could confide in.
80
Cut back to Nojiko explaining how Nami made the decision to fight for the village alone, and begging Usopp and Sanji to leave before they ruin everything she's worked for.
Ten-year-old Nami's thieving career boggles the mind. (Also, T_T at the "clumsy" line, because that was what Nojiko jokingly said when Nami got caught for stealing the book -- "I wouldn't have been clumsy enough to get caught!")
Nezumi and the marines show up to demand Nami's ill-gotten gains.
Gen-san and the villagers knew all along what Nami was trying to do. "We didn't want you to feel you couldn't give up and flee." T_T
Nami starts to realize that Arlong was the one who tipped off the marines.
Luffy shows up (he was still out walking). Poor Nami, lashing out at Luffy when everything is falling apart around her.
Nami confronts Arlong, and realizes he intended all along to betray her.
81
Nami's blood-and-mud-smeared hoard of beli. T_T
The villagers make up their minds to fight, despite Nami's pleas. (Aw, Gen-san hugging Nami and telling her she's fought long enough.)
The scene with Nami cutting out the tattoo is one of the few that is perhaps more powerful in the anime -- though, maybe I only think that because I saw it there first.
Serious Luffy is almost as compelling as Angry Luffy -- we see both so rarely.
Off to beat up the bad guys -- straight out of the best kind of western.
Johnny and Yosaku, trying to challenge Arlong (they overheard the whole story from Nojiko) and getting beat up. ("Lost by a hair!") Kind of love that they're just sitting there guarding the door waiting for Luffy and the others to show up, because they know he'll come.