[Predictions] One Piece Manga Chapter 734 Discussion and 735 Predictions

[TheHokage]

What's up with the random plot-device power up?

I don't like the fact Doflamingo is oblivious to so many things going on, and is underestimating the straw hats.

I really hope Oda does not skip the finale fights just because he doesn't want to show Sabo and Burgess. Also, please show us Frank vs Senor pink...

Actually it seemed more of a way to have Rebecca win to be honest however I'm certain Oda will use Cavendish somewhere in the future.

Anyway I don't think Doflamingo is oblivious I mean to Doflamingo's knowledge Luffy is still in the tournament and even if Luffy did win Doflamingo was expecting him to be injured to the point he wouldn't be able to fight. When he see's both Luffy and Zoro fresh and ready to fight he'll take them seriously.

I agree I hope he doesn't skip the fights either but I get the feeling we'll see it sort of how Luffy's fight against Chinjao was through the screen monitors around Dressrosa.

 

[Lili-Chwan]

What's up with the random plot-device power up?

I don't like the fact Doflamingo is oblivious to so many things going on, and is underestimating the straw hats.

I really hope Oda does not skip the finale fights just because he doesn't want to show Sabo and Burgess. Also, please show us Frank vs Senor pink...

Well, to be honest, Doflaming seems the time of guy to be used to have everything under controlled. Not actively working for it, more like having it come to him easily, with his String Powers and whatnot. When you introduce so much chaos, as everything Straw Hats get involved with, he's just getting slowly but surely overwhelmed...

 

[Scorps]

Actually, Cavendish is the alter ego that surfaced to protect the real one.

Still, I think Cavendish though he would be able to knockout them all and still be alive in the end, thus winning. Rebbeca just happened to dodge the letal part of the attack in the nick of time. Its still weird though. I mean, if he is awake the other guy is dormant, if he sleeps, the other guy surfaces... but then he is seen falling to the ground sleeping. I mean, does using the alter ego consume him to the extent of only lasting a minor move? A momentary "flash"? Weird...

Well, to be honest, Doflaming seems the time of guy to be used to have everything under controlled. Not actively working for it, more like having it come to him easily, with his String Powers and whatnot. When you introduce so much chaos, as everything Straw Hats get involved with, he's just getting slowly but surely overwhelmed...

*type

And so far I don't think he's overwhelmed as he clearly showed a clear and overall understanding of everything that is happening all around him in his domain. The issue is that he is being fooled, something that is all on Law's credits. He isn't overwhelmed, he's simply being fooled right under his nose by underestimating the ingenuity of the strawhats. He values their power and their role in the events of the last years but he is underestimating what they can do to him.

 

[Lili-Chwan]

Actually, Cavendish is the alter ego that surfaced to protect the real one.

Still, I think Cavendish though he would be able to knockout them all and still be alive in the end, thus winning. Rebbeca just happened to dodge the letal part of the attack in the nick of time. Its still weird though. I mean, if he is awake the other guy is dormant, if he sleeps, the other guy surfaces... but then he is seen falling to the ground sleeping. I mean, does using the alter ego consume him to the extent of only lasting a minor move? A momentary "flash"? Weird...



*type

And so far I don't think he's overwhelmed as he clearly showed a clear and overall understanding of everything that is happening all around him in his domain. The issue is that he is being fooled, something that is all on Law's credits. He isn't overwhelmed, he's simply being fooled right under his nose by underestimating the ingenuity of the strawhats. He values their power and their role in the events of the last years but he is underestimating what they can do to him.

Well, his body has to sleep sometime. I think Cavendish's alter ego and the kamaitachi move is so tiring that they both pass out.

 

[Scorps]

Well, his body has to sleep sometime. I think Cavendish's alter ego and the kamaitachi move is so tiring that they both pass out.

Still, not the best introduction Oda has made. Seems a bit forced though I suspect it will, like always, have some use in the future that we aren't valuing now.

 

[Mephew D Kensei]

I just remembered were I just saw a similar Hakuba and Cavendish it was in NBC's fastest cancelation "Do No Harm" with Ian Price and Jason Cole, does Oda have American TV in his home? jus jokin though I do love me a good Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story so yay more of this Oda pliz.

 

[Lili-Chwan]

Still, not the best introduction Oda has made. Seems a bit forced though I suspect it will, like always, have some use in the future that we aren't valuing now.

Yeah, unfortunately, I can't disagree with you. I mean, I liked the background story, the name, the ability, and it was the perfect character to have it introduced (as Caliburn pointed out, the dichotomy between obsession with popularity and beauty / powerful attack so fast no one sees him ), but the introduction was quite rushed.

 

[SAHAN1993]

I really, REALLY hope that doesn't happen

just kidding :bouncy::snick:

 

[Caliburn]

What's up with the random plot-device power up?

I don't like the fact Doflamingo is oblivious to so many things going on, and is underestimating the straw hats.

I really hope Oda does not skip the finale fights just because he doesn't want to show Sabo and Burgess. Also, please show us Frank vs Senor pink...

I don't really understand how you can consider this a random plot-device power up. I assume you are talking about Cavendish, a character with quite a high bounty and whose strength had barely elaborated on, so I really don't get why you call that a random power up as even though it hadn't been shown yet, he already had that power since he was first introduced. Also Oda has been introducing countless of characters in block B, C and D and gave for several of them some background info. What he just did in block D is pretty much the same things he has been doing in the previous ones.

He isn't underestimating the Strawhats, he went even so far as using the WG to counter them. I mean people like Moria, Crocodile and Enel just plainly looked down upon them the Strawhats like they were a bunch of worms. Even though Doflamingo considers himself superior, he at least anticipated Law & Luffy and he was actually quite efficient in breaking the alliance. The problem for Doflamingo is that the situation escalated into something that was impossible to predict due to the amount of unexpected variables. I mean how was Doflamingo supposed to anticipate an admiral + a vice admiral, the Revolutionary Army, Big Mum, King Riku, Rebecca, Violet and the fairies? How was he supposed to know that Luffy had a supposedly deceased elder brother that appears to be in fact alive, is part of the RA and has the same feelings about Ace's fruit as him? How was he supposed to know that the fairies, who hadn't done anything since he took over the country and didn't even react when he kidnapped their kin, would use this exact moment to not only rebel, but join likewise into an alliance with the Strawhats and that they even had made a secret passage? How was he supposed to know that Bartolomeo is a fan of Luffy and would even protect Bellamy, who would then lead Luffy out of the Colosseum?

Doflamingo had anticipated the Luffy & Law alliance and anticipated their actions based on Luffy & Law's personalities and histories and he did quite a good job at that as Luffy took the bait and Law got beaten and captured, but how could he have anticipated all those situations and variables which had no visible connection with Luffy or originally didn't even had any connection at all and just happened as they went? As Mihawk said during the war: Luffy has the ability to rally everyone around him wherever he goes, but try to predict how something like that will unfold in practice.

The only part where Doflamingo seems to truly underestimate the Strawhats, is their individual combat ability as he seems pretty confident that they can't win from his family executives in one on one fights.

 

[Shinichi Izumi]

I don't really understand how you can consider this a random plot-device power up. I assume you are talking about Cavendish, a character with quite a high bounty and whose strength had barely elaborated on, so I really don't get why you call that a random power up as even though it hadn't been shown yet, he already had that power since he was first introduced. Also Oda has been introducing countless of characters in block B, C and D and gave for several of them some background info. What he just did in block D is pretty much the same things he has been doing in the previous ones.

He isn't underestimating the Strawhats, he went even so far as using the WG to counter them. I mean people like Moria, Crocodile and Enel just plainly looked down upon them the Strawhats like they were a bunch of worms. Even though Doflamingo considers himself superior, he at least anticipated Law & Luffy and he was actually quite efficient in breaking the alliance. The problem for Doflamingo is that the situation escalated into something that was impossible to predict due to the amount of unexpected variables. I mean how was Doflamingo supposed to anticipate an admiral + a vice admiral, the Revolutionary Army, Big Mum, King Riku, Rebecca, Violet and the fairies? How was he supposed to know that Luffy had a supposedly deceased elder brother that appears to be in fact alive, is part of the RA and has the same feelings about Ace's fruit as him? How was he supposed to know that the fairies, who hadn't done anything since he took over the country and didn't even react when he kidnapped their kin, would use this exact moment to not only rebel, but join likewise into an alliance with the Strawhats and that they even had made a secret passage? How was he supposed to know that Bartolomeo is a fan of Luffy and would even protect Bellamy, who would then lead Luffy out of the Colosseum?

Doflamingo had anticipated the Luffy & Law alliance and anticipated their actions based on Luffy & Law's personalities and histories and he did quite a good job at that as Luffy took the bait and Law got beaten and captured, but how could he have anticipated all those situations and variables which had no visible connection with Luffy or originally didn't even had any connection at all and just happened as they went? As Mihawk said during the war: Luffy has the ability to rally everyone around him wherever he goes, but try to predict how something like that will unfold in practice.

The only part where Doflamingo seems to truly underestimate the Strawhats, is their individual combat ability as he seems pretty confident that they can't win from his family executives in one on one fights.

Well I can't argue against any of that :|

I don't know it just feels like, to me, this chapter showed some signs of the cliche overconfident villain. Just what I felt while reading this chapter.

I guess you are right when it comes to the Cavendish's "random power up". Maybe it would have been better to say it was a plot-device to allow Rebecca to win, which I didn't mind at all.

 

[Avani]

I don't think he has any real control over it. I mean Luffy, Ace and Garp all have the weird ability too to just start sleeping in an instant, regardless of where they are.

Something seems odd. Why would Cavendish use a "technique" that would incapacitate him. I think he did it to protect Rebecca... I don't know how he knew he wouldn't kill her, but hey...

... You agree with the hostile audience that it can't be a fair win for Rebecca?

It's a very little win among such big players and OP characters all around. I want her to have it. Otherwise Rebecca's is just another pitiful girl jumping in something way out of her league and needing too much saving. T_T

 

[Caliburn]

Well I can't argue against any of that :|

I don't know it just feels like, to me, this chapter showed some signs of the cliche overconfident villain. Just what I felt while reading this chapter.

I guess you are right when it comes to the Cavendish's "random power up". Maybe it would have been better to say it was a plot-device to allow Rebecca to win, which I didn't mind at all.

Well villains that lack confidence, overall don't really work well. Doflamingo by default is, as they said in the manga, very charismatic. People that don't show confidence, can't easily be considered charismatic. He's a very confident person and for him there is currently no reason anymore to be overly cautious. He has got Law and there is no reason to assume for him that Luffy is not anymore in the Colosseum, that's guarded by his own executives, so it's only a matter of time before they capture Luffy, so he doesn't really have much reason anymore to be on guard. He is after all a Shichibukai. You could say that he is in that regard a cliché villain, however having him all stressed out running around in his palace just for the formality of 'we have not yet captured all the Strawhats', doesn't really work well.

I seriously wonder which kind of face Doflamingo will make when he realizes how much the situation actually has escalated.

... You agree with the hostile audience that it can't be a fair win for Rebecca?

It's a very little win among such big players and OP characters all around. I want her to have it. Otherwise Rebecca's is just another pitiful girl jumping in something way out of her league and needing too much saving. T_T

I never said it wasn't fair for her to win >.> I just explained Cavendish' ability. Personally I didn't really care who won this round as I don't expect that the end of the tournament will go as planned either way.

 

[System001]

Hated this chapter. ._.

 

[Scorps]

She did defend from cavendishs tech otherwise she wouldn't be alive. Problem was that he wasn't expecting it. Fact remains she was the only one to defend from it by using her evasion skills and dodging in the last minute.

Dodging and evading attacks is a form of combat as worthy as all others. It's the smartest one too. I don't think it diminishes rebbecas win.

 

[Lili-Chwan]

I think Oda has always struggled in making female characters. Look at them wrong and it's really easy to lose them.

A random character revealed it's potential, as it happened in other rounds, and is bound to happen when you introduce all these new characters. Problem is, the potential was so big it knocked out everyone, except Rebecca. I mean, it's her style, she endures and counters defensively. On one hand, that's amazing, badass to see her standing at the edge of the pit with a pile of unconscious people behind her, and finally the only person to have dodged the Kamaitachi of Rommel. On the other hand, her worth is measured in how much she can counter other people. It's almost as if we remove her from the equation and simply measure other's, and then slam them into Rebecca, it's really easy to lose her inherit worth.

 

[Wiseman108]

Interesting how Donflamingo referred to Kinemon as a straw hat.

 

[Scorps]

I think Oda has always struggled in making female characters. Look at them wrong and it's really easy to lose them.

A random character revealed it's potential, as it happened in other rounds, and is bound to happen when you introduce all these new characters. Problem is, the potential was so big it knocked out everyone, except Rebecca. I mean, it's her style, she endures and counters defensively. On one hand, that's amazing, badass to see her standing at the edge of the pit with a pile of unconscious people behind her, and finally the only person to have dodged the Kamaitachi of Rommel. On the other hand, her worth is measured in how much she can counter other people. It's almost as if we remove her from the equation and simply measure other's, and then slam them into Rebecca, it's really easy to lose her inherit worth.

Agreed. Female characters in OP though are much better than in most similar mangas. In naruto, only one really noticeable female character was developed and introduced and sustained: Tsunade. In bleach you had 2 epic options, one by being one of the main characters (which in the begining was indeed quite epic) and the other with what we then found out to be an amazing background and and endless power: Rukya and Onohana. But neither were developed enough to be of interest. In OP however, you have Robin and Nami as, for me, epic female characters. Their stories and worth were developed and they are needed in the story, not simply sidelines. Others exist as well. But the point is that in OP female characters are important and developed. In the case of Rebecca, he simply made her smarter than all the rest, which at times is lost in the whole explosions and ubber power and physical attacks and what not we see from the male characters.

 

[Olorin]

Interesting how Donflamingo referred to Kinemon as a straw hat.

Please tell me ppl aren't gonna make a thing out of that

 

[Caliburn]

Interesting how Donflamingo referred to Kinemon as a straw hat.

I don't really see how that's interesting as Kinemon is with the Strawhats. Whether Doflamingo considers that him being part of the crew or just is tagging alone, doesn't really matter as he's still against him.

 

[Scorps]

Kinemon has no reason to join the strawhats. He already got what he wanted: to save his kid. He has purpose now. He has a goal, a place to return to, home. All strawhats are, in one way or another, misfits that don't have a home or friends or bonds except within the strawhat crew themselves.

Once this arc is over he'll return to wano with monosuke.