One Piece - Marineford Arc!

Marineford Arc has ended and this means the end of the war between the Whitebeard Pirates and Marine. Both Impel Down and Marineford Arcs are about saving Ace and it was an emotional roller-coaster ride watching both arcs. There were times I was thrilled, there were times I laughed and there were many times I cried. One Piece has many heart-wrenching scenes so far (Chopper's past, Robin's past, Going Merry's funeral and etc) and Impel Down and Marineford Arcs have added more to the list.

In the earlier arcs of One Piece, no matter what happened or how strong the final enemy was, Luffy could win. However, starting from the Water 7 Arc, things started to change. Luffy began to face enemies who he could not defeat, no matter how hard he tried. For example, in the Thriller Bark Arc, Luffy needed the powers of the shadows to fight on equal level with Oars and Moria. However, even that was not enough and at the very end, the entire Strawhat crew had to combine their powers, and only with that, Luffy finally and barely defeated Moria. At Sabaody Archipelago, Luffy and his nakama finally learned about the limits to their powers and were utterly defeated.

Things didn't really change much for Luffy in the Impel Down and Marineford Arcs. In Impel Down Arc, Luffy was defeated by Magellan and he survived only because of Bon-chan's determination to save him and his own will to live. In Marineford Arc, among all the big shots in the pirate and marine world, Luffy was only a rookie and his powers was nothing compared to the others. However, his determination to save Ace was greater than anyone else's and that itself kept Luffy going. He tried all he could to save Ace and finally, he did it! The reunion was a touching, but sadly a short one. Luffy risked his life to save Ace but in the end, it was Ace who saved Luffy from Akainu's magma fist. It was a very emotional scene and my tears couldn't stop. This scene also marked the lowest point in Luffy's life and he completely broke down!

It may seem like a waste of Luffy's effort to save Ace as in the end, Ace died. However, that's certainly not the case. Though Ace's no longer around, Luffy, Whitebeard and Ace's nakama did manage to answer the one question Ace had in his heart for a very long time. That itself save Ace.

The anime did a pretty good job with the Marineford Arc. However, I think there were a little too many Buggy, Boa Hancock and Iva-chan's filler scenes. Some of the filler scenes were quite funny but most of it (especially Boa Hancock's) were irritating and disruptive to the flow.

The Marineford war was a very chaotic one and many people died. I was crying buckets throughout the entire arc. Everything from Ace's birth story to Whitebeard's death was just too sad. Though Ace's death will definitely be a push for Luffy's growth, I still hope for him to be alive. RIP Ace! RIP Oars Junior! RIP Whitebeard! Whitebeard's death scene was especially epic and his death was definitely one of the most manly ones I've seen so far in any anime. Whitebeard is really a very admirable character! I really hate Blackbeard for not only killing Whitebeard in such a cowardly way, but also for stealing Whitebeard's devil fruit power. I hope Luffy can kick Blackbeard's a** one day!!

Anyway, I think everyone's wondering why Blackbeard can have 2 devil fruit powers since it had been clearly mentioned before that every one can only have 1 devil fruit power. Though this has not been explained yet, some clues were given. First, in the Jaya Arc, when Luffy and Zoro first met Blackbeard, they said "it's not he, it's they" about Blackbeard. Also, in the Marineford Arc, Marco said "Blackbeard's body is fundamentally different from ordinary people's". From these 2 clues, my guess is that Blackbeard is made up of 2 or more persons and hence he can take in 2 devil fruit powers. This is just my guess and I hope that Oda sensei can reveal the reason soon.

Shank's very cool entrance marked the end of the Marineford war. Frankly, when I first read it in the manga, my first thought was... Why didn't he arrive earlier? But well, even if he did arrive earlier, I doubt he could do much to prevent Ace and Whitebeard's deaths. His reunion with Buggy was funny and I also like the scene when Shanks picked up the strawhat.

I personally really like the Marineford arc even though it made me cry a lot. I have nothing but praise for Oda sensei's storytelling. I also love the way he has developed Luffy's character so far. I'm glad he did not just give Luffy some random power-up to defeat the enemies just because Luffy's the main character. In the past few arcs, Luffy has more losses than wins, but I'm sure the losses will help to strengthen Luffy more. The next arc will be about Luffy and Ace's past. I can't wait for it! I need to prepare tissues for it too.