One Piece 1088 Review: Ethical Dilemma

One Piece, Chapter 1088: Final Lesson

Well, that was a fun conclusion to the Hachinosu mini-arc, huh? And one that, I feel, satisfies everyone. I don't think this whole sequence of Koby being kidnapped by Blackbeard (which kinda came out of nowhere) would really give the readers anything beyond 'hey, Garp saved Koby, everything is successful' without some kind of huge plot development. And that plot development is either a failure of some kind, or Kuzan betraying the Blackbeard Pirates, revealing his SWORD allegiance or something... and I don't think that's a reveal they would do now because Kuzan's barely done anything as part of the Blackbeard Pirates either. 

So yeah, I'm actually pretty happy with the events of this chapter -- Koby shows that after his minor fuck-up in 1087, he's actually fitting for the 'future of the Marines' title. Meanwhile, Garp manages to eke out a victory and do a great showing for himself despite technically being defeated... which, incidentally, might lead to a Garp rescue arc sometime in the future!

But yeah, when we see the little flashback of Garp teaching Koby, we get a very interesting parable that Garp gets called out on by one of the other instructors. Garp gives a dilemma to the students -- a Marine, a baby and an old man is on an island full of fierce beasts, and the escape boat can only fit two. Koby gives the altruistic answer, telling the two civilians to go on the boat while he fends off the animals, something that he definitely shows he's willing and capable of doing when confronted with Blackbeard. 

Garp, meanwhile, yells at them to leave the old man, since Marines should protect the future and both the younger Marine in the parable and the baby have a much longer future ahead of them as opposed to the old man. Obviously this gets Garp a yelling from one of the other instructors (do we know that character?) because Marines are supposed to value all lives equally... but clearly Garp has some unique beliefs. 

And then we cut to slightly earlier before all of these flashbacks, showing Koby surrendering to Blackbeard in exchange for a large number of Marines that were held hostage in the attack on Amazon Lily. The Vice Admiral there (Yamakaji?) allows Koby to act on his own because he's SWORD, while the rest of the Marines are literally unable to do anything thanks to the whole 'Marines can't engage Yonko' law. And just like his answer to Garp's lesson, Koby is willing to sacrifice himself for everyone there. 

And we flash to the 'present' day (technically all this Hachinosu stuff takes place before the Egghead stuff, right?) and we've got the big cliffhanger from the previous episode of Avalo Pizarro's gigantic kaiju island hand about to crush the Marine ship. Garp gives out orders, telling Koby, Helmeppo and Prince Grus to move and act the moment he creates them an opening, and Garp yells at them to not second-guess themselves in the heat of the moment. We get to see them to dash and Koby just has to think up of a plan on the spot. Even Helmeppo gets a good showing of himself, as much as he's just a supporting role in this case, stabbing a cannonball and preventing it from reaching Koby and Grus. 

Garp meanwhile rampages, slamming onto Kuzan and knocking him down again, before leaping up to the gigantic skull-mountain head of Avalo Pizarro... and unleashing the mother of all punches, Galaxy Divide, which splits the skull in half. That's one hell of a 'distraction'!

And then we get a beautiful follow-up to the 'battleship bags' from the previous episode. We get to see pre-Alabasta Helmeppo talking to Garp, who notes how Koby has wrapped-up bandages around his hands all the time. Koby has been putting even more effort because he knows he's coming from a much weaker 'baseline' than most people, and he has to put it not double the effort, but a hundredfold or two hundredfold. And as thus he's been quietly doing the battleship bags training at night on top of everything he's already doing. 

And as everyone mocks him, Koby gathers Haki in his fist and unleashes one hell of an attack, 'Honesty Impact'. Much less catchy than Galaxy Impact for sure, but it does split Avalo's giant island hand in half! It's a pretty badass two-page spread! Or, well, semi-spread. You get what I mean. 

Avalo seems to fall, Prince Grus uses the net to hold onto the debris and Helmeppo zips in with Soru/Geppo to rescue Koby. Pretty badass! And, of course, they're forced to escape while Garp stands surrounded by all the Titanic Commanders being frozen by Garp. Now I'm sure Garp isn't dead (yet), and this is more like the 'Ice Time Capsule' attack Garp used towards Saul or whatever, but it's still an interesting situation and a definite loss for the Marines while not making them look bad.

Overall, these two chapters have been pretty fun! It's a nice showcase to see what certain characters that has been in the background for decades can do, and it's a nice little development for the plot as a whole. Some really great character moments for Koby, Garp and Kuzan, too!

Random Notes:

• Garp's parable is absolute nonsense, because boats aren't like inventory slots in a video game. A baby is much lighter than the old man or the adult Marine; so they can probably either fit all three or just one adult and the baby. 
• Nope, no Smoker! What is Smoker doing? 
• So I guess that while damage done by Koby and Garp to Pirate Island still gets felt by Avalo Pizarro, he's not receiving the full brunt of the impact like a JoJo Stand. 
• With Garp unleashing his Galaxy Divide attack, it really does mean that he could've dealt with the giant fist himself, but he just wants Koby to gain some confidence, while also making himself the target that the Blackbeard captains will gun for. 
• How the hell did they dredge up San Juan from the floor of the ocean so quickly