Pro: Brook's new ability is a faceplant. Con: It only works on himself.

First things first. Title page shows Luffy with Ace, whose tattoo is now correct, and a grown-up Sabo. Probably a ‘what if’ scenario, so please don’t look too deep into it. Anyway, on Weatheria, its inhabitants are discussing what to do with a now-captured Nami, since she stole stuff and kept Haredas hostage. Nami however pretends to cry, saying that she will jump into the ocean, and that she hopes they can forgive her. This leads the Weatherians (what I’m assuming they’re called when in a group) to overreact and say that she isn’t in trouble, apologising. She then accepts their apologies and says that she might as well study whilst she’s there, asking for a house to live in. Cue comic overreaction. Later, Haredas tells her all about Weatheria, and all about the New World’s weather, and how it can’t be anticipated. He says that Weatheria has records of the weather in the New World, and Nami, wanting to better herself as a navigator, asks for him to teach her. She then reminisces about Luffy helping her against Arlong, giving her reasons for wanting to learn about the New World. She then asks about the Weather Ball, and Haredas gladly talks about it, but when she asks if it could be used as a weapon, he comically overreacts. Figures.

On Kenzan Island in the Grand Line, Brook is held captive as a freak show exhibit, however, he is just sitting reading the paper. The crowd start to get restless, but Brook still thinks to himself that since Luffy has made his move, he should too. He then reminisces about Luffy, and how he didn’t discriminate by his appearance. His captors get more and more restless. He then finally moves, attempting to see how much of an angle he get to before slipping. When he realises that’s a terrible thing to work at, he brings out a guitar and, to the crowd, plays his new song – ‘Bone to be Wild’. Ah, bad puns, how I missed you. We then cut to the giant bridge in Tequila Wolf, where Robin has taken the Revolutionaries’ offer and boarded a ship to go to Baltigo. She says that if she knew there were people as benevolent, she would have come to them sooner. She says she is glad things worked out this way anyway, and reminisces about her childhood on Ohara, and then Luffy coming to save her at Enies Lobby. When the Revolutionaries ask her to go inside, as its cold outside, she refuses, saying she is a pirate and cannot trust them. She then toys with the idea of becoming stronger by meeting with Dragon, stating that she’s never thought of getting stronger for someone else before.

On Karakuri Island, the islanders are discussing the self-destruction of Vegapunk’s lab with Marines, and some say that a large cyborg gorilla was seen in the lab, but the claims are ridiculed as someone would need an Icebreaker ship to get to Barujimoa, and no Icebreakers were seen. The Marines say Franky has been sighted on the island, but people may have mistaken him for one of the many cyborg gorillas. The Marines search the mountains, and a new laboratory entrance has been opened by the explosion. Inside that laboratory, Franky, now with no skin thanks to the explosion, is reading some of Vegapunk’s documents. He says that he’ll live here, and that if the two villagers he’s with don’t say anything, he won’t cause trouble. However, they are scared of his metal face, so he wears a tiger rug to hide it, making them calm down. He lights a fire, and whilst he reminisces about Luffy and joining the Straw Hats, he catches on fire. When the Marines investigate the new laboratory, a burning Franky runs out, complete with tiger rug, and scares them away, making an infamous legend of “The Sacred Burning Beast of Barujimoa”. In the Boin Archipelago, Ussopp, roused by Luffy’s message, decides to lose the weight he had put on by running, saying that he’ll get stronger and stronger. Heracles asks what was in the newspaper, and Ussopp tells him, whilst reminiscing about Luffy, that he thought all he had to do was watch Luffy become Pirate King, but he now realises there are some people that even Luffy cannot beat, so he has to get stronger for him. He then asks Heracles about his weapons, and asks him to teach him to become stronger.

Well, this chapter was fairly packed. So much so that I couldn’t shorten the review that much. Anyway, as I suspected, it seems each Straw Hat is trying to get stronger, and will probably come out of this with some new techniques or weapons. It was Chopper and Sanji last time, and now we got the rest of the crew bar Zoro. I’m still thinking he’ll be taught something awesome by Mihawk. Probably next chapter. Which is why he was left until last. Anyway, whilst this is a slow part of the story, at least it’s getting somewhere. I can’t really put any thoughts towards it, as nothing really happened… So I’ll just say that the current plot is interesting, and I’m intrigued at where this is going. Please make Zoro’s part actiony Oda, otherwise it won’t be fun…

NOTE: I apologise about these manga blogs coming late, but my laptop died on thursday, and I only just got a new one yesterday, so I had to register and install things. Anyway, I’m back, and Naruto and Bakuman should be up later.