This seems to be the volume with the main battle for the island, after Chopper's backstory. By the end it's introducing the desert isle main arc. Battles are always fun, especially with the high after a sad backstory redeeming itself. ( )

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Title: Hiruluk's Cherry Blossoms
Series: One Piece #17
Arc: Baroque Works #6
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 207
Words: 9K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_chapters_(1_186)

"Battle to Defend the Kingdom"

"Frauds"

"Unbreakable"

"Rumble!!"

"Royal Drum Crown 7-Shot Tin Tyrant Cannon"

"The Skies of Drum"

"Full Moon"

"Hiruluk's Cherry Blossoms"

"To Alabasta"

"Sir Crocodile, the Pirate"

Luffy, Sanji and Chopper fight Wapol and his henchmen, Chess and Kuromarimo. Wapol uses his devil-fruit power to become a cannon-armed house and fuses his men into the two-headed, four-armed Chessmarimo. Sanji's back aches, keeping him from fighting. Chopper takes a drug he calls Rumble Ball, and defeats Chessmarimo. Wapol sneaks into the castle and chases Nami. Luffy catches up to them as Wapol attempts to open the weapon storage. Unable to do so because Nami has taken his key, Wapol retreats to his cannon at the top of the castle. The cannon does not work, and Luffy sends him flying off the island. Luffy tries to persuade Chopper to join the crew, and the reindeer finally agrees. With a doctor aboard, the crew continues its journey to Alabasta.

My Thoughts:

Another solid entry in this manga series. I feel like I've really made the right choice in making One Piece my #MangaMonday destination.

Part of my enjoyment is that the manga-ka believes in his characters and as such, not only invites us the readers to believe in them, but drags us along kicking and screaming, MAKING us believe in them. Which is completely necessary, for if you read these with a jaundiced and jaded view, you'll see nothing but manipulative emotional panels, pointless powerups and insane craziness. Oda realizes that for this to work, the reader must be involved willingly in the suspension of belief. He also realizes that he has to give his readers a good story to grease the wheels of unbelief, so to speak. It's a bit of give and take and I think you have to come to this series expecting to do some “giving”. If you can't do that, I am not sure this series would work for you.

This volume wraps up the Snow Island story arc and the Alabasta arc can begin in earnest. I am hoping Princess Vivi can start being a contributing member now, as so far she's really pretty useless in terms of skill set. I don't necessarily want her to be an overpowered fighting machine, but Nami isn't but her skill as a thief and navigator offset that completely. As a character, Vivi has some growth to do if she's going to be interesting in the long term.

★★★★☆ ( )

Absolute awesome conclusion to the Drum Island story arc. Next stop: Alabasta! ( )