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Title: Scramble
Series: One Piece #39
Arc: Water Seven #8
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 207
Words: 10K
From Wikipedia:
“Sea Train Battle Game”
“Ramen Kung Fu”
“You’re Not Alone”
“The Honorable Captain T-Bone”
“Plastic Surgery”
“Necessary Evil”
“Scramble”
“The Supermen of Enies Lobby”
“I Got It!!”
“The Big Showdown on the Judiciary Island”
As they move through the train looking for Robin, Sanji, Usopp, and Franky deal with the lesser members of Cipher Pol. Although they find her, Robin does not allow herself to be saved. CP9 captures Franky again, kicks Sanji and Usopp from the train, and continues on to Enies Lobby. Sanji and Usopp wait along the tracks, and reunite with Luffy and the others when they go by. They arrive at the judiciary island soon after CP9 does and engage the forces of the world government in order to get Robin back.
This was an absolute action packed volume. To the point where there were pages where I didn’t even bother trying to figure out the details of what was happening because all that mattered was that several characters were fighting. I have to admit, I am not a big fan of how Oda-san draws his action scenes. He might know exactly what he’s trying to convey and can see it himself, but for me, it is just a big swirly mess.
The crew keep increasing in power and I have to say, I really like Usopp becoming the Sniper King. And Luffy’s reaction to him is hilarious. Luffy thinks he’s a super hero because he wears a cape, hahahahaa. Good stuff.
With more info about the World Government, this world is really starting to remind me of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe, ie, there is no good side and power is all that matters. The CP9, the supposed arbiters of Justice, are as corrupt, ruthless and unprincipled as any pirate villain we’ve seen so far. At this point, I’d throw my hat into the pirate ring just to oppose them, they’re that bad. It doesn’t speak well of the WG that they employ and condone such characters.
This volume ends with the Straw Hats and Franky’s gang having broken into the Island where Robin is going to be judged. All of the CP9 are there as well as 10,000 WG marines. So I expect the fights will be continuous and non-stop in the next volume as well.
★★★✬☆
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
I’ve got to the point where there were whole volumes of this where I didn’t even bother trying to figure out the details of what was happening…
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You haven’t even read one volume of this, much less many.
Admit it!
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Those are some real Popeye forearms!
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That’s because they double up as some sort of arm rocket launchers. That guy’s a cyborg 😀
In a pirate fantasy manga.
I love the kind of mind that comes up with ridiculous things like that…
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Usopp becoming Sniper King is so iconic hahahah Your expectations regarding the following volumes are very likely to be met. 😀
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I feel like I’m finally beginning to get a handle on Oda-san’s pacing. Of course, by the time I’ve got it nailed down, I fully expect him to change things completely, hahahaa.
Sniper King is great. I think it’s the whole alter-ego thing. It speaks to me 😉
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Hope you appreciate me letting you sleep in this morning. I mean, I had a pot. I had a spoon.
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but did you have a gallon of maple syrup?
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Just boiling off a new batch.
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Thats why I’ve only been reading one piece online, I zoom in to understand what Oda-San has drawn! 👀
Water 7 is truly a brilliant arc though. I recommend watching the anime too, it’s pretty consistent, especially the old animation style.
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Thanks Careena. Someday I might get around to watching OP, but I’m not much of an anime fan any more. I barely watch even regular movies 😀
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. That is much appreciated.
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Hi there ^^
yeah, well, like I said earlier, I am also not a big fan of the action scenes in the manga… but I guess that’s something we need to be used to.
Ah, the super hero thing… yes, I remember that one ^^ Luffy has a pretty simple mind about who and who is a super hero and what and what not a super hero has to do. I like the simple way he thinks sometimes…
Hm, since I don’t know Warhammer I cannot say if it fits to this world, so I will just trust your opinion here.
And yes, the World Government is shown pretty bad here. The only thing I can say about this is: It will still getting worse.
I sympathize with some marines but I don’t remember one single character in the WG I liked.
~ Misaki
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I’ve accepted that the busy’ness is how he does the action, but I”m still going to complain about it 😀
I like Luffy’s mindset. It is one of those things that draws me to this manga.
Good to know the world government gets worse. I’ll adjust my expectations about them….
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