One Piece 848 Review: Brook's Guitar Storage System

One Piece, Chapter 848: Good-bye

Well, this chapter was absolutely awesome for a long, long overdue badass Brook moment. The last time Brook was allowed to like, seriously fight and not just clash swords with a random non-entity was, what, freeze-iai-ing that one wobbegong Fishman? And that's a very minor character in a series of 'Straw Hat pirates one shots Fishman assholes' fights. Like, yeah, Brook took out Jola, but that's more of a sucker punch than him actually being a real badass. And I feel like since his inclusion into the Straw Hat crew Brook has never really been allowed to do much. Like, Nami and Chopper haven't done much too, having sat out the Dressrosa arc, the two of them had a fair amount of screentime during the pre-timeskip stories so it's not as noticeable as Brook. Robin didn't actually take down anyone, and her role was decidedly minor compared to the many other characters in the Dressrosa arc, but she did help out in the fights against Diamante and whatever. Brook? His last serious fight was, well, during his introduction arc where he fought his own salt clone meta-easter-egg samurai dude, and after that, well, Kuma happened and the entire Straw Hats got hit with the nerf hammer. Post-timeskip, Brook never really ended up doing much as far as fights go. Again, he took out that one Fishman, and maybe one or two mook squadrons, but other than that...

Yeah, he took out only a bunch of chess soldiers here, but holy shit does he look badass while doing it, and Brook might just be the Straw Hats' secret weapon against Big Mom.

But before I wax lyrical about Brook (I love Brook as a character -- everything from his visual design to his powers to his anime voice just works out so well for me) let's talk about the rest of the chapter. We don't actually get much from the Luffy side of things. Big Mom hangs up, and this little midget, named Anglais, comes in riding a giant caterpillar with chopper handles attached to it, and he's like talking like a gangsta wannabe. Anglais also isn't brushing his teeth tonight. Ooookay then? He's there to inform the other children of Big Mom that the treasury room is under attack.

Big Mom, meanwhile, after hanging up to Luffy, is still very happy and she doesn't let the meeting provoke her, which is pretty cool. She notes how much of a nice mood she's in because of the wedding, and how she's about to gain control of Germa 66 and the Tametebako. She notes how she's not going to be angry... until she gets information about the intruder upon which she goes absolutely furious at the thought of someone going after her Tametebako.

Sanji, meanwhile, is trying to get himself psyched up, trying to channel, well, his inner Sanji going all "Pudding chuwaaan" and shit, and while his scene ends with him embracing his usual self, it's clear from the scenes immediately prior to this that his heart is still with his crew.

Pudding, meanwhile, in her room is considering a bunch of information she got. Big Mom is a bit of a control freak of a mother, because not only is the marriage forced upon her (granted Sanji would be a nice husband to Pudding) everything else like Pudding's wedding dress is even being controlled by Big Mom. She knows all about Lola's vivre card, having been informed, and she flashes back to how Lola, before running away, tells Pudding how Big Mom won't kill her because they're family.

Meanwhile Pedro is being an absolute badass, just slashing and slashing through a giant Man Snow White in a pretty slick-looking panel, just slicing through soldiers, running up walls and avoiding gunfire, while dropping dynamite sticks and whatnot. Pedro's just cool. He's been a bit 'whatever, this jaguar warrior dude' before in most of the previous chapters, but man, seeing him in action is just awesome. Tamago is hunting Pedro down, alongside a crapton of other soldiers, while Smoothie... is locked out of the treasure room by Brook!

There is no real scene that shows us how Brook managed to fool Smoothie except by maybe tricking her (and let's be honest, Smoothie seems mostly indifferent to everything that's happening). Smoothie stands guard outside the sole entrance and exit, and tells Tamago that she's going to kill Brook the moment he steps outside, but Tamago tells her that, no, killing Brook is a big no-no because of how this weird bony thing is going to be the perfect thing to add to Mama's collection. I mean, gotta admire Tamago's dedication to his work, but honestly Big Mom doesn't even know there's a walking skeleton running around, so why bother?

Brook, meanwhile, is facing a large group of soldiers, and he gives us a brief introdump about the heirarchy of the chess soldiers, which are basically elite homies. He pulls out his fancy-ass fish guitar... from inside his chest! Anime and comic book characters like to pull out huge items out of nowhere, but in Brook's case it's actually very much justifiable since he's, y'know, made almost entirely out of bones. The chess soldiers overwhelm Brook, but then they suddenly stop and all collapse, before we get a badass panel of Brook going. "Do you know what I go by in the industry? They all call me THE SOUL KING!" And apparently, yeah, Brook's screaming soul -- his musical powers and his inherent resurrection fruit powers (that cool Brook-wraith in the background is awesome) would allow him some degree of control, and, well, Homies at least can't do shit to Brook. Maybe Brook can take down Smoothie? Together with Pedro, maybe? I would be absolutely down for that. I mean, it's not like Smoothie can squeeze any water out of Brook.

Pudding shows up, meanwhile, into the prison to talk a bit with Luffy and Nami. I mean, they are trying to whisper but I'm pretty sure the other kids are aware that Pudding is working together with the Straw Hats and just don't care. Pudding reveals the fact that Sanji proposed to her, and how she's happy... which gets a very shocked reaction from Nami for all you shippers out there. But Pudding says she's not going to marry Sanji, before bidding a tearful 'goodbye' to a very shocked Luffy and Nami after some suspicious whisperings.

Yeah, it's cool and all, but go back to Brook and his soul king powers! And badass tiger-man Pedro!

In all seriousness... is Pudding going to try to kill herself and defy Big Mom? Or just defy Big Mom and possibly get herself killed in the process? Only time will tell. It's a fair bit more interesting than Rebecca from Dressrosa, that's for sure.