One Piece 773 Review: Bartolomeo's Spotlight

One Piece, Chapter 773: Half and Half

Finally! It's been quite a while since we have had a new chapter of One Piece (and Bleach, and Toriko, and Magi...) but it's finally back. We open with a cover story, and apparently Wadatsumi, who has been revealed as the one behind all the missing buildings and whatnot, is doing so in return for the offerings on a shrine because, uh, uh... shit, I don't even know what's going on. Maybe Wadatsumi is just being dumb and shit? Once all this is over I'll have to read everything in one sitting to make sense of it.

We start off picking up where we left off last year, with Cavendish-Hakuba having taken down Dellinger in one slash. And indeed Dellinger is basically just out. Bartolomeo is freaking out over the weirdness of Cavendish's transformation, noting how his face has changed and how that was what happened during the Coliseum match. Then we have Bartolomeo just being an idiot and going all 'he's not Cavendish, he's some other dish! I wonder what dish that is!' Hakuba then slashes at Bartolomeo's barrier and freaks him out, but the barrier holds fast. Hakuba then catches sight of Robin and goes after her, but Robin, after being in a passive role for quite a while, manages to finally show some of her original badassery by summoning a shit-ton of hands to hold Hakuba in place.

And Bartolomeo, naturally, is just fangasming in place going all 'how impertinent I was to think that she needed protecting!'

Cavendish and Hakuba reveal themselves to be actual split personalities, and since this is One Piece they come into conflict in the most hilarious way ever. Cavendish apparently is aware of Hakuba existing within him, and for a moment Cavendish takes over and apologizes, before Hakuba takes over again and goes 'I WILL CUT YOU UP!' And then they just argue with each other while Robin and Bartolomeo just watch and go '......' It comes to a head when Cavendish and Hakuba pulls off a Two-Face, spouts Rinnegans and just, y'know, be like that.

Also, is Hakuba equipped with Armament Haki? His skin seems to be done in that same sheen effect done for Armament Haki. Just a random observation.

Cavendish asks Robin to release him since he's okay now, but Robin isn't an idiot. The comedy moment is cut short because Gladius finally makes his move, implanting a gigantic explosion onto the rock wall that Robin was creating arm-stairs on. It's a super gigantic explosion that will engulf Robin and Cavendish if it blows off, and Bartolomeo charges in towards Gladius with his fist engulfed in a barrier bubble. Gladius confirms that if he gets taken out, the explosion will be cancelled (which is kind of a stupid thing to happen in any kind of fiction, but hey, this is manga.

Gladius then launches his hair like a freaking dart machinegun at Bartolomeo, and apparently his hairs contains some numbing poison. Because freaking why not? Also he gets bald in one section of his head which I thought was hilarious.

Gladius then proves to be even more hilarious by transforming into a gigantic balloon, which is absolutely freaking ridiculous. He gives Bartolomeo an ultimatum. If Bartolomeo defeats him in time, the wall bomb gets defused, but his body will launch super-poisonous hair needles up at Robin. And if he doesn't defeat Gladius, the wall will explode anyway. Bartolmeo gets a generic recap panel, before going 'oh right, that guy I don't care about is up there with her!' and then calls out for Cabbage to shield Robin with his body. Of course! But the abrupt transformation makes him unreliable, so Bartolomeo takes a third option.

He tries to do a kamikaze attack and creates a giant 'Barrier Ball' bubble around himself and the hilarious balloon Gladius. Bartolomeo pulls out a dagger and slits Gladius' throat, and Gladius apparently explodes in a gigantic 'Fashion Punk' and the explosion kind of rips Bartolomeo up a bit since this is a manga and explosions don't unleash a storm of heat waves and death. Robin goes all 'no!' and stuff. But Gladius reveals that Bartolomeo has mistakenly stabbed his shoulder instead. Also, Gladius is all bald now, which is hilarious.

As the stone wall is about to explode, Cavendish-Hakuba has kind of became split and promises to bring Robin up with his speed, and as Gladius rips up the wall with 'Punk Rock: Super Arena' and kind of mocks Bartolomeo since he's protected from the giant explosion by being inside Bartolomeo's little bubble. But of course Cavendish-Hakuba has saved Robin, even though the Cavendish half has to stop the Hakuba half's sword, and they make it up before Cavendish falls asleep.

Gladius is all surprised, but Bartolomeo gets all serious and his coat has apparently gotten ripped up in the explosion. He leaps into the air with some cool monologue about how he's lacking power and will some time be a man Luffy-sempai can rely on. He covers his fist in a barrier bubble, which is apparently 'Homage: God Fist', before jumping into the air and fucking punches Gladius's face into the rocks. Bartlomeo unleashes an absolutely awesome Bari Bari no Pistol, which is obviously an attack he tries to emulate his beloved Luffy-sempai, and, well, what can I say? Bartolomeo's freaking awesome. I mean, Cavendish, too, but he's kind of overshadowed by Bartolomeo.

That's Gladius out, and other than Senor Pink and Bellamy, who are fighting Franky and Luffy respectively, we only have the executives left. Zoro versus Pica, Luffy and Law versus Doflamingo and Trebol... and Rebecca and Kyros versus Diamante. Which we see again.

Diamante's ability to screw up the ground has apparently made it unstable enough for Rebecca and Kyros to retain their footing, and Diamante sends his sword snaking towards Rebecca, and for whatever reason Kyros doesn't jump in the way and tells Rebecca to run for it instead. Robin, however, arrives and does a 'Mil Fleur: Moth Orchid', which... does something. There are arms sprouting out from Diamante's sword like a pinwheel and a shit ton of hands arranged together like butterflies or whatever just sprouting out from the air. What does it do, and how does that stop Diamante's sword? I have no fucking idea, but I am extremely pumped at the idea of Nico Robin being awesome.

Robin promises to protect Rebecca, and while part of me wants Rebecca and Kyros to bring down Diamante, the man who has fucked up their lives... it has been forever since Nico Robin has been a badass and actually brought down someone, and I am super-pumped about Robin possibly bringing down a main villain like Diamante. Maybe they can all have a shot at Diamante? Robin is awesome and she's been criminally underused since the timeskip.