Even though this arc is far from over, there are some thoughts I would like to share.
First of all, it was kind of painful for me to see Usopp got beaten badly after he mustered up his courage to fight. Well, I guess I shouldn’t expect much from someone who was spending his time thinking of an escape plan instead of a battle plan. Why was Usopp so afraid to fight against the Donquixote Family? He wasn’t chicken during the battle against the New Fishman Pirates. Was Usopp afraid because of Doflamingo’s fearsome reputation? So if the Donquixote Pirates is just another pirate crew, then Usopp wouldn’t act like a whimp, would he? Honestly, Usopp being a coward has to stop now. He’s in the New World and there will be a lot of gruesome battles ahead especially since it is only a matter of time before his reckless captain battles against a Yonko.
I wish Usopp did manage to defeat Trebol. That would help decrease Usopp’s cowardice. Operation SOP could have gone more smoothly than it did. Usopp should have sniped at Sugar the moment the dwarves’ plan went south, but he wasn’t prepared to take any initiative and counted on the dwarves to do all the work. Even though Sugar’s downfall was just a fluke, it was hilarious. Usopp was just fortunate that he wasn’t turned into a toy instead. Needless to say is that all that matters are that things turned out alright. Hopefully, Usopp’s cowardice will decrease after he saw how rewarding his bravery was. But then again, since this is Usopp we’re talking about, he will likely become very reliant on his newfound followers, assuming that they will remain loyal to Usopp indefinitely.
Because of Issho’s presence, I still worry about the pirates and criminals that were just transformed back into their original forms. It would totally suck that they were freed from Sugar’s curse only to be captured by the admiral just like some of Hody’s former slaves that were liberated just to be captured by G-5 the moment they stepped into the New World. That is unless the Straw Hats force the Marines to withdraw from Dressrosa.
If I had the power of the Hobi Hobi no mi, I would turn all the World Nobles into toys. That way, everyone can just step on them and the admirals wouldn’t even care. That would be a dream come true for all those who suffered from their hands though they would not remember who their oppressors were.
Speaking of admirals, even though Issho would naturally be Luffy’s enemy, I do like his way of thinking, which was abolishing the Shichibukai system. The World Government is pretty stupid to give the Shichibukai too much freedom. Don’t they ever implement any safety measures to ensure the Shichibukai doesn’t go against their best interests especially after Blackbeard’s betrayal? However, if Issho does manage to have the Shichibukai system abolished, it will spell trouble for Hancock.
At first, I thought Bartolomeo would be trouble, but it turned out that he’s not so bad after all. It did work in Sabo’s favor.
It’s a pity that the hundreds of fighters who were competing over the Mera Mera no mi will have to leave empty handed. But for Chinjao, I suppose getting his old pointy head back is a nice consolation prize. So Luffy did atone for what Garp did, just not in the way Chinjao expected. But there’s still one problem. When Chinjao dies of old age, who will be able to open the Ice Continent? So it would be the Chinjao Family’s best interest to move their treasure somewhere else.
The one person I really feel sorry for is Bellamy. Honestly, what did he see in Doflamingo? Was he deceived into thinking that Doflamingo is a great man just like the Dressrosa citizens?
Considering her nonaggression, Rebecca was very lucky to be in the same block with Cavendish and not with Burgess, Bartolomeo, nor Luffy. She would be utterly crushed if she was in Block A, B, or C. Even though Luffy is nice, he is not afraid to hit a woman. He did punch an ugly fat woman back in the East Blue. He also once hit Vivi and he did hit Hancock’s sisters at Amazon Lily. It is apparent that Cavendish’s whole role in the tournament was to unknowingly help Rebecca move on to the finals.
It did not matter to me if either Rebecca or Sabo get the Mera Mera no mi as long as Ace’s former Devil Fruit is in good hands. But I suppose Sabo would put the fruit’s power to better use. Though Rebecca didn’t do much in the finals, I guess the whole point of her going to the final round in the first place was so Sabo would have one less opponent to worry about. I don’t care what others think about Rebecca. At least she’s a hundred times better than a certain gigantic crybaby back at Fishman Island. It was nice of Kyros to teach Rebecca how to fight. I guess Neptune should have done the same for Shirahoshi.
By the way, Jinbe once mentioned that the Blackbeard Pirates were hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users. Let’s hope that Blackbeard won’t decide to go after Sabo. If Sabo’s lucky, maybe Blackbeard will just laugh off that little setback at the Corrida Colosseum.
So Sabo is the Revolutionaries’ second in command. Congrats for him. If only his parents could see him now. I would love to see Sabo going back to his old home and beat the crap out of Stelly.
And concerning the Thousand Sunny group’s problem with the Big Mom Pirates, since Sanji is not a Devil Fruit user, could he just jump into the sea and attack Big Mom’s ship from underneath. He can use Diable Jambe underwater as shown during the battle against the Kraken.
And so Doflamingo is still alive even after getting his head cut off. Does that remind you of Wapol during the manga version of the Drum Island arc, chapter 136. In any case, it doesn’t matter what Doflamingo is going to do next. Usopp successfully completed the primary objective of Operation SOP and it will only get worse for Doflamingo. Whatever this “bird cage” plan might be, Doflamingo is still going to lose.
And one more thing, I’m definitely looking forward to see Luffy and Akainu fight for real. Since Luffy has been introducing himself as “the man who’s going to become the Pirate King”, then he must, MUST, be strong enough to fight Akainu by the time of their next confrontation (at least strong enough to make Akainu bleed). I don’t care how powerful Akainu is. Luffy has Haki and you all know the whole reason why Haki exists, right? If Luffy is still incapable of giving Akainu a good fight, then he’ll be disappointing Ace, Sabo, Rayleigh, Bartolomeo, and most of all, Shanks.
Since this is One Piece, anything can happen, anything except Luffy dying. I hope Kyros won’t die before having a tearful reunion with Rebecca. It was tragic enough that his wife died without any memory of him. If Chopper and the dwarves ever meet, I'm pretty sure they'll become great friends.