#shirtless luffy

Luffy continues to give me so much joy. I love his blase attitude and because of it, he only hears what he wants to hear.  I also love his optimism. It takes a lot to drag Luffy down, and clearly these small time pirates aren’t going to do the job. 

I think for me, the  most “huh” moment of Luffy’s interactions this chapter was his immediate connection of the collars to what the celestial dragons used. I certainly hadn’t thought of that, but Luffy did. Even after so much time has passed he remembers the suffering his friends went through. That speaks a lot to his character, and why he’s such a great captain. 

This was such a fun chapter! I think it’s awesome how Luffy is able to use his Observation Haki since he worked so hard to gain the ability to see a little into the future. Obviously these are not strong opponents, and Luffy could beat them at any time, but it’s way more important to use this time for training. 

I’m all about the training.

And look at that smile. He’s having so much fun. I’ve said it before but, when Luffy has fun, I have fun. I’m also loving the continued development between Luffy and “the old man.” He hops onto Luffy’s back Yoda style for a bit there as our protagonist runs around trying to unlock how to use the next level of Armament Haki. We all suspected the old man was strong and important, so it’s a nice payoff to see Luffy get another teacher. And because Luffy will have someone teach the ability to him, it shouldn’t be as hard as him trying to figure it out while getting pummeled to death. 

These are skills Luffy needs to learn if he’s going to become the Pirate King, and I like that he’s learning them one at a time. The upgrade to Conqueror’s Haki should also be fun, and from where I’m sitting, I think it would be cool if Shanks were the one to teach him. 

We got a lot of Luffy this chapter and I am so happy. Oda’s dropped some hints as to who this old man is (someone rather important) but frankly, I’m more interested in their relationship as a whole. This arc-only character feels fresh to me, and I’m starting to fall in love with his and Luffy’s dynamic. 

A couple months ago when Luffy first got himself into prison I wondered if his time there would equate to some type of training, since he was doing a lot of manual labor. It’s looking like my instincts were right about that, with Luffy saying wearing the sea stone cuffs was a type of training. Knowing Oda, we can expect this to payoff at a later date. 

I also love how calm Luffy is when sitting in front of Queen. This is nothing new for Luffy as he’s faced death before, but in this case, he knows Raizo is around somewhere with the keys to his freedom. It just speaks to his trust and faith in others, which is one of my favorite Luffy traits. He has never believed he can succeed on his own, and that sets him apart from many of his shonen hero counterparts. 

We only got to see what Luffy is up to for a couple of panels, but what we did see progresses his plot forward. On Whole Cake island, Luffy worked hard in the midst of his battle with Katakuri to improve his Observation Haki. Here, it seems, Luffy is actively working to improve his Armament Haki. I like how the prison stuff is more lighthearted than WCI, and it gives the idea Luffy can improve while fighting AND having fun. After all, when Luffy smiles, I smile.

If Luffy can tap into whatever Rayleigh showed him, that’s going to give him a huge boost for fighting Kaido and his subordinates later. I don’t think Oda’s going to have Luffy win by simply punching Kaido super hard (he said the fans deserved better) but Luffy will definitely be having a rematch with Kaido regardless of how Kaido eventually falls.