“Straw Hat Luffy! The Man Who Will Become the King of the Pirates!”

For us here at MyNakama one of the best episodes of all time!

We do like the idea of Momonosuke being told stories of the past in regards to Ace at this moment as a way to help him find his own way, understand some of the bigger picture elements, but also an inspiration to move forward himself. There’s so much tied there with Oden and the pirates he spent time with that provides a connection for the little guy, especially with the time that he’s spent with Luffy and the rest and the connections there. And we also love Ace stories but that’s partially because they did do the hard thing so long ago with him being killed off in one of those beautiful moments of television. We're hard-pressed to say that they’ve used him sparingly since, because they have when it comes to him as an adult but we had a lengthy storyline with him and Luffy as kids during the 500s that really dragged out. So it’s a mixed thing, which we revisit briefly here as well. That at least is presented in a really neat style, both in design and color, which is intriguing. It’s an interesting way to revisit the past here and for Yamato to kind of thrill with it as well, giving them more of a place.

Oh, did you mention the scene that shows the hands of Yamato when Ace's vivre card destoyed?? In our opinion seems pretty familiar with luffy hands when he cried about his brother too..

The show does, admittedly, give us more than that as we revisit Ace’s death in a different way as we see where Ace got the paper from that allowed him to connect to others, and for Luffy to use it, with Yamato giving it to him and holding the first scrap. With plans to meet again, having her chained up and seeing the paper burn in her hands, realizing what it means, is pretty intense and heartbreaking to watch. All of it come around to what Yamato is basically teaching Momonosuke here and it works well to help cement things and provides for an extended opening “half” of the episode. The eyecatch shifts is to the back “half” where it’s more with what’s going on in the present, which has an intensity built into it that doesn’t blend well with what came before. But seeing the calm, collected, and yet intense Trafalgar Law here doing his thing is definitely what keeps us interested. About Luffy's Red Roc and the scene with Kinemon all we have to say is ''goosebumps"!!! Can't wait for the battle to start!

In Summary:

Yamato tells Momonosuke and Shinobu about how Ace gave him hope for the future. Meanwhile, Luffy and the other allied pirates from the Worst Generation make it to the rooftop to finally face off against Kaido and Big Mom.

Thanks for reading! Leave your comments below! See you next week! 

乂⍱‿●乂