One Piece Multi-Piece #17: Dressrosa (Final Piece)

Ship's Log by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. Master Of the Tickets,

Meister Of Anime.

Ahoy, Ticketholders!

It's the Final Piece of Dressrosa and the final day of August...and what a time it's been. The month has been huge on view traffic (final tally on Wednesday—that's a lot of finals for one paragraph already!), so thank you to everyone I didn't exile to the shame-grass last week.

The denouement of the Dressrosa Arc (I was looking for a fancy way to not say final again, and the definition of denouement mentioned strands, so I went with it because Doflamingo) Multi-Piece will mostly be a discussion of Luffy's new ability because much of the arc's wrap-up is fighting and waiting for the story to get back to the fight while the animation budget is saved by waggling and sliding character png files, reskinned scenery destruction, yapping, and run cycles (as you do when churning out over a hundred thirteen-minute episodes—plus OPs, recaps, bumpers, and previews—of an almost twelve-hundred-episode-and-counting anime on a weekly basis).

But first, let's talk about the two episodes I could barely nod my way through at the end of last week's binge. With Luffy having just dispatched Bellamy the Puppeteered Hyena in thematically resonant fashion and Law facing the morally reprehensible Doflamingo and the physically disgusting Trebol at the same time, everyone's favorite toon force-powered Pirate-doctor (or maybe doctor-Pirate would be the more clear and inclusive order?) finds himself down an arm (he can get better, I'm sure...) and at Doflamingo's mercy again, seemingly being shot to death before Luffy arrives to begin the fight proper. So yeah, Trafalgar D. WaterLaw is dead because the episode title said so, and One Piece episode titles have never lied to me before at least twice, right?

Right, because flashbacks exist.

See, Law set up a massive Room when no one was looking, Shambled himself with some Dressrosan rando who got shot in his place (John Dressrosa from Planet Dressrosa will get better later, I'm sure...), and then swapped back so he could set up a battle plan with Luffy.

Watching it, it can feel like another instance of Oda-sensei, One Piece, and specifically the Dressrosa Arc, pulling something out of ass-space with a flashback justification for the sake of one in a series of cool moments. However true that may be, the world-building saves this reveal from criticism. We've seen things in the past like number subversion with Bounties (with Luffy and Bellamy in the Skypeia material, appropriately enough), and we've seen in this very arc how reputation can get someone just as far as strength (with Buggy becoming a Warlord seemingly on social skills alone). But we also know from briefly shown or unseen clashes like Akainu vs Aokiji and Ace vs Blackbeard how impactful a meeting of equals can be and how devastating the fallout can be when a character punches above their weight. So because we've seen what Law and Doflamingo can do individually (and that Doflamingo is stronger despite them both being insanely powerful Warlords), the fact that Doflamingo's Birdcage can encircle an island does a lot to sell that, even wounded, Law can create a Room as inconspicuously massive as he does, setting the stage for the incredibly animated reveal as Luffy runs, jumps, and rolls to get in close quarters for Law to Shamble with him and send Doflamingo to Gamma Knife Of Spokane (Gamma Knife is basically Law combining his defibrillator Countershock attack with an energy scalpel and using molecular chemistry to make it radioactive, piercing Doflamingo's body without leaving an incision but giving him system-wide, catastrophic organ failure).

From this, we get Doflamingo (and Trebol, much as his snot-nosed hunchback John Lennon design and gratingly derpy voice make me want to remove my eyes and ears and stab him to death with them so I can keep my lunch down and watch One Piece without throwing my phone through the nearest wall) being a great subversion of what we've come to expect from Devil Fruit powers. What we've seen them do so far would lead one to believe that Doflamingo and Trebol are Logia types (that their bodies are elemental, fluid, and indestructible). DoflaStringo was a good red herring in this regard, too. But once hit by the Gamma Knife, Doflamingo's organs do begin to fail. And yet he stands up as if completely unharmed (and able to keep Luffy off-balance for a few episodes) by using his String-String powers to stitch his organs together, all the while still maintaining the Birdcage (which, the cutaways in these two episodes amount to background extras screaming and running because "Irma Gerd, the Birdcage is shrinking and we're all gonna die being selfish assholes because sick, old people are getting in our way!," and it doesn't stop because these cutaways, and cutaways of the Gladiators, samurai, other Straw Hats, Navy, and Tontatta pushing in vain against the encroaching cables, ensue for roughly the first fifteen episodes of this Piece). This guy's focus is insane. Also, Trebol is just an anorexic pervert who coats his body in explosive snot because he's almost as intelligent as my sarcasm.

Oh, and Doflamingo has The Haki Of the Supreme King (and so does Luffy) that he almost uses to curb-stomp Law for appropriating Corazon's legacy as his crew name and unauthorized merchandise licensing (Law's jacket says Corazon on the back, he has a heart tattoo on his chest, and his crew are the Heart Pirates). I don't know if this is a case of more accurate dubbing changing the name of Conqueror's Haki (apparently also called Emperor's Haki) or if it's a different, more special kind of Haki, but it's treated like a big deal here even though we've known for hundreds of episodes (since Sabaody, at least) that Luffy has it, and the color and usage here is different (black with a red outline, and it's an offensive energy rather than the overwhelming passive aura we've seen before, though it can be that, too).

Which brings me to the words that probably had One Piece fans losing their minds at the end of episode 725 (the 97th episode of Dressrosa): Fourth Gear. I love the story influence on this form, I love its design, and I love the power set that comes with it. Gear Four has the same kind of drawback and the same motivation as Gear Two, the inflation properties of the Gum-Gum Balloon and Third Gear, the durability of infusing Armament Haki into his elastic skin, a kind of pseudo-flight inspired by Sanji and CP-9's Air Walk Haki, and a bounciness and storage of potential energy for stronger attacks that seem to be inspired by Bellamy's Devil Fruit powers. It makes Luffy look sillier, but also more serious, like someone you don't want to mess with on unpredictability alone, but also like a balloon filled almost to bursting. It outclasses Doflamingo in speed, power, and mobility, but pushes Luffy's Haki to the limit in exchange, and it's so satisfying to watch, both in the first round of their fight (when you could almost picture Doflamingo quoting Nelson Muntz after Luffy punches him across the city)

and for the final hit after Luffy survives a "ten minute" race against time (and Jesus—the luchador from Blackbeard's crew, not our Lord and savior) to recover his Haki before the Birdcage turns everyone into employees of Ketchup Entertainment (or slices of a Terry's Chocolate Blood Orange; choose your metaphor-pun) so he can turn Gear Four back on and finish Doflamingo with one punch.

And pardon my faux Hispanic Italian (because Señor Pink, Riku, Kyros, Rebecca, and Violet/Viola all speak with stereotypical Spanish accents in the dub and Dressrosa is clearly inspired by ancient Rome), but it's a really fucking cool attack because Luffy transfers one of his massive arms into the other (using a Third Gear ability on Fourth Gear, basically) for a double-sized King Kong Punch that knocks Doflamingo through Dressrosa with enough force to render him unconscious (making the Birdcage vanish) and almost split the island in half.

So although I like everything else about the form (the design, the narrative influence, the kaiju-inspired attack names, the transformation sequence, Luffy's Super-Saiyan-esque change in attitude, the stamina drawback, and Doflamingo getting his ass kicked, among other things), the flashback reveal of how he attained the form (and how long he's been sitting on it) has serious, "Super-Saiyan 3 makes Goku a liar and a fraud" energy to it. Like, the real-world explanation is that the author probably hadn't thought of the transformation yet, but finding out after two arcs that Luffy's been hiding a whole other level of power

since his offscreen training with Rayleigh, wherein he fought giant animals (a callback to the three brothers' encounter with Naguri and the giant tiger in Grey Terminal) to develop new attacks and hone his Haki so he can have the only things he loves more than kicking the asses of bastards who suck: a reunion with his friends, and of course, meat. I get that breaking out your strongest form for every conflict annihilates dramatic tension (and flies in the face of the first lesson Mihawk ever taught Zoro—something Art Of War-like about cannons and mosquitoes?). But yeah, there's a statute of limitations and an "acceptable" loss limit to consider when people realize you had something that could have prevented those losses and chose not to use it because a Fishman terrorist on steroids and a walking gas chamber were weaker than the gorilla you ate two years ago.

But while we're on the subject of new transformations, there are five things I'd like to address before getting to the wind-down (it started as two, but I kept finding stuff). First and most important is Doflamingo introducing the concept of Devil Fruit Awakening. Is this foreshadowing of when Luffy gets to Gear Five in...(Googling now...) three hundred forty-four fucking episodes‽ Jesus D. Burgess, that's a lot! Anyway, Awakening is either that, or a narrative excuse to have Doflamingo reveal just how much he's been holding back so Luffy doesn't immediately stomp his ass and walk it dry (which he could have anyway). Whatever the case, it's probably the inspiration for how Quirks work in My Hero Academia, and it puts in work because Doflamingo has Awakened his Devil Fruit powers such that he can turn anything he touches into String like he has a mix of Shigaraki's Quirk and Byakuya's Bankai. I'm not totally sure what the purpose or explanation is for his colored String attacks, but it ultimately doesn't matter because Luffy punches him into Dressrosa's bedrock (the best rock to be unconscious in).

Next is that Jesus Burgess is hunting Devil Fruits and their holders on behalf of Blackbeard, either to strengthen his crew (which, given the aquatic nature of the Pirate and Naval lifestyle, giving everyone Devil Fruit powers is like trying to get your designated driver blackout drunk) or because Blackbeard somehow figured out how to hold even more Devil Fruit powers and wants to turn himself into a walking Infinity Gauntlet. We'll see.

Then there's the flashback reveal that the Donquixote Family weren't always the Donquixote Family, and Trebol was once in charge. He's the one who recruited Doflamingo as a child (a Celestial Dragon with Supreme King Haki who knows some of the secrets of Marie Geoise), and served as Sugar's bodyguard in this arc (a woman of childish appearance who can transform, enslave, and erase from memory anyone she touches). So as disgusting and annoying as he is, Trebol is probably going to be important when things get to a higher level much, much later.

Speaking of things that are going to be important later, I forgot to mention them, but there have been members of the World Government's Cipher Pol Zero (the elite version of CP-9 from Water Seven and Enies Lobby) kicking around...somewhere. They've been introduced, they've been referenced twice, and nothing has been done with them since. But I still have twelve episodes to watch now that Doflamingo has been left without a leg to stand on, so maybe they'll actually have a point in being...wherever they are now?

And least important (but it's on the poster and I keep forgetting to mention it), Franky with his JK pigtails and disguise beard looks like Willie Nelson. Thank you for your time.

Now, as Oda often does (but I've skipped over the intricacies when talking about past arcs because it's just too much to remember, and I can't believe I'm even attempting it now), the end of a major fight is followed by showing its local and global consequences.

Sabo incinerates Jesus (which is biblically inaccurate, but this is One Piece), the Dressrosans are grateful for their freedom (the Birdcage being yet another case of Oda using unambiguous imagery as metaphor) and accept their "failed" king with open arms because Doflamingo's era of war and false peace was worse than living a flawed ideal of actual peace under Riku (though I thought Rebecca inheriting the throne as a "live in peace but prepare for war" ruler would have been more fitting to her presence in the story), Fujitora and the Navy kowtow in apology to King Riku on a live broadcast (though he has to answer to Akainu and the Five Elders by fighting and apprehending Luffy, which...goes according to chance because Fujitora is awesome and Luffy has a way with people), Law and the Straw Hats get public credit for defeating the Donquixote Family (unlike the arrangement they made with Smoker back in Alabasta—autocorrect tried to suggest Alabama, by the way—regarding Crocodile's defeat), the Supernova Alliance reveal that they're targeting Shanks (good fucking luck, especially if Luffy finds out), Emperor Kaidou the Beast King travels to Skypeia so he can jump off and die (it's said he is impossible to execute, suggesting that a previous Op-Op holder performed the immortality surgery on him, but maybe he's just too strong to be killed), the kid who escaped from the first Birdcage is revealed to be the "Worst Generation"/Supernova Rookie known as Diez "Red Flag" X. Drake (but given there's only one important initial in One Piece, I wouldn't be surprised if his real name turns out to be Diez D. Rake or something),

it's good to see Tashigi really has custody of the Punk Hazard children (but they're still headed to Dr. Vegapunk on Egghead Island, so it's a mixed bag of news at best).

Then comes a flashback as Sabo visits the Straw Hats and convalescing Kyros and Law to share how he came in contact with Dragon and the Revolutionary Army, his amnesia from the Celestial Dragon attacking him for being a filthy mortal Pirate within his line of sight and travel, his ascendance through the Revolution ranks, regaining his memories upon Ace's death, and ultimately some belated context for Sabo and Luffy reuniting in the Coliseum.

While Luffy is reuniting Rebecca with Kyros (again, and with more running and reused clips and voiceover from flashbacks we've already seen at least three times each) because he doesn't agree with lying to preserve the reputation of royalty, and the rest of the Straw Hats, samurai, and Coliseum combatants are running to escape the Navy (with more running, because of that thing with Fujitora), we get new developments with Sanji, Brook, Momonosuke, Chopper, and Nami that make me feel like I missed a few episodes because they're on a squishy island with a water volcano, talking about some girl we barely get to see while fighting off a duo of samurai hunters dressed similarly to Kaidou. And Caesar is still there, too, I guess.

The last thing that's important and cool is the answer to how the Straw Hats get off Dressrosa without the Thousand Sunny: Luffy gets his own fleet!

Everyone who contributed to Doflamingo's defeat teams up and tricks Luffy into being their boss with a sake ritual...which he turns down because he doesn't do sake with anyone but family, his crew is all he really needs, and he doesn't want to be anyone important besides King Of the Pirates. It's kind of a "Goku turns down being Kami" moment, but it all works out because the other Straw Hats and the two samurai finish off Luffy's cup, so they technically run the Straw Hat Fleet now. It's symbolic and hilarious and heartwarming, and I couldn't be happier to end off on such a fun note.

It's almost 7pm as I'm finishing this on Monday, so Stay Tuned, and as always, please continue to support me and what I do by Becoming A Ticketholder (you haven't yet), leaving a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, helping out my ad revenue as you read because it costs a lot of money to look this cheap, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

16

Master Of Tickets,

Piece,

Out!