“Eliminate the Ice Oni! Chopper’s Fire Trick!”

This installment actually gives us some interesting material in the opening minutes as it focuses on Law’s past and his quest to deal with the Four Emperors, with it framed by time with Robin in talking about the red stones and the quest that they’ve both been on since forever. It’s a really good moment to remind us of the larger goals that Law has in all of this and just how important those pieces are as we’ve come across them over the years. That helps to mitigate some of the feeling toward the familiar battles we’re facing because we know the key moments are getting closer and closer because that’s how One Piece works in telling its tale. Those few minutes make it easier to go through some extended fight material with Queen as he ices up lots of people and causes problems, making it difficult for Franky and Chopper to get a really good win here.

Naturally, a good chunk of the episode is given over to a more straightforward fight throughout it. The Akazaya gang has been putting up a decent fight against Kaido but he really is just that overpowered, as we expected, and Kin’emon is getting his ass handed to him. Part of that is that they’re not really fighting as a group, which is what’s starting to change here even if it is done as a defense of Kin’emon. And this does work well with a good sense of power to it. Unfortunately, we also get more time with Queen in the later half as he gets to singing a bit and that just leaves me tuning out the show because of how bad it is. It is fun to see Brook helping out Chopper a bit while they face off against what’s coming as Chopper’s perseverance has always been a great trait to watch unfold. That plays out nicely and getting some time with Zoro as well to help close out the episode delivers a nice little reconnect with most of the Straw Hats in this episode.

In Summary:

Zoro and Drake continue to chase Apoo to get the antibody against Ice Oni, while Chopper is trying to figure out how to fight the virus. In the castle, Luffy, Jimbei, and Sanji are climbing up the stairs to reach the rooftop where the Akazaya members’ tough battle against Kaido rages on.

Thanks for reading! See you next week! 

乂⍱‿●乂