One Piece 816 Review: Plot Twist

One Piece, Chapter 816: Cat and Dog

A bit of a shorter chapter, and a plot development that I am really, really glad happened. We don't get anything about Sanji or Big Mom, focusing more on the conflict of the Minks and the Samurai, but hey, we needed to get that out of the way. It's mostly a decent chapter, and we thought it was going to hinge on the Straw Hats stopping Kin'emon, Kanjurou and Momonosuke -- and Kin'emon being an idiot anyway and stepping in and asking everyone... but it turns out, the Minks had been enduring all that torture, all that limb chopping, to protect Raizou. And the Minks and the Kogetsu Clan of Zou have been comrades for years -- and every single fucking Mink knew that Raizou is safe, and have been protecting him.

There's also this bit where Inuarashi and Nekomamushi are like grr grr cat dog angry angry which went on for a bit too long -- though it did build up the illusion that the Minks might be distracted from the samurai thing by infighting, which was decent.

And, well, this is how you do a 'we will never betray our friends' scene, Fairy Tail. One Piece doesn't really shy from that kind of friendship speeches, but they save those sentences only when it really is dramatic and suitable, so it actually has a powerful impact. And, well, all those torture scenes that we thought were only to illustrate the brutality of Jack's men (well they still do) and the hatred that the Minks might understandably have for the Samurai aren't just wasted like that, since it shows just how hardcore and awesome the Minks are for enduring through all that.

Overall, a nice short-and-sweet chapter. Of course I really want to know more about Sanji and Germa 66 and Vinsmoke and Big Mom and all that, but if we're going to wrap up the Minks and Zou first, well, why not. Less distraction for us this way. Maybe once we get a Raizou chapter we can leave the samurai behind and go focus on the Yonkou? It's definitely surprising, a great twist and I love it when a plot twist is dropped on me and it makes sense yet it's something I never even considered before. 

Cover page's nearly all the characters of Water Seven reacting to a newspaper. Tyrannosaurus is there! Yay!