The pace has been frantic and the artwork of a consistently high standard, especially when you consider how detailed each cell of the One Piece manga has been as each cell seems crammed full of, not new weird and wonderful characters but also, some of the most important characters in the whole of the One Piece universe! If you’ve been following the manga, you’ll know what I mean.  

Cross Epoch (Fan Art)

In honour/respect of Oda taking a break, I thought I would do a quick review of one of his collaborative efforts with Akira Toriyama, on a one-shot/one-off manga called ‘Cross Epoch’.

Now who is Akira Toriyama? You may not recognise his name, but if I were to mention ‘Dragon Ball’, I would guess you would know exactly what I was talking about and Toriyama is the brain behind it all. Taking a look at his bibliography on Wikipedia, it’s clear that aside from Dragon Ball, there is very little else that he has done aside from a number of one-shot manga pieces.

Cross Epoch, is a fusion of both Oda and Toriyama best known works, namely, One Piece and Dragon Ball, respectively. It’s sees a cross over escapade involving all the main characters of each manga, teaming up to defeat a common foe, which happens to be none other than the complete nuisance, Buggy the Clown and Emperor Pilaf, who together form a gang called the “Pilappaggy Villains Union”.

The Whole Gang! (Fan Art)

You’ll find all the characters involved and in true anime/manga fashion they all have their perfect counterparts that would be their equivalent character in the other manga, as  each  One Piece character teams  up with a character from Dragon Ball.

As it is a one-shot manga there is not much that can be accomplished  in 20 pages, so the storyline in weak and a bit on the wacky side as so made little sense to me, but then again it could be said it’s not really about the storyline as it is more about having a bit of fun and seeing the characters in completely different context. Something particularly for the fans that would get a kick out of seeing these two very successful manga in their own right join together.

The drawing and artwork is very similar to One Piece in style and layout and the characters are all that you would expect from an Oda piece. I’m not exactly clear on how or what Toriyama contributed in terms of style aside from maybe assisting in the storyline.

Overall, if your a One Piece fan or a Dragon Ball fan (if they still exist), it’s worth a look but not much more. Enjoy it for what it is, a bit of light hearted fun by some seriously talented mangaka.

Have you read Cross Epoch? What were your thoughts? Tell us in the comments below.

A DrangonBall Z fan? Read our review of the anime TV series.

The chapter starts just before we see Luffy and his band come crashing into the fray as we see them, quite fortuitously, stuck atop a massive frozen Tsunami in their stolen Marine Battleship overlooking all the goings on below.

An Unexpected Team (Fan Art)

As they work out how to best get down from their perch way up in the Sky, and as always, Luffy comes up with the least convincing idea, the Den Den Mushi goes off and the group discover the Marines change of strategy. Due to the all out war that has commenced in an effort to save Fire Fist Ace, they have decided to bring his execution forward ahead of it’s planned schedule!

Luffy and his group realise things need to happen fast at which point the frozen tsunami on which they were lodged begins to crumble sending them hurtling toward the war zone below, crash landing in quite possibly the only unfrozen section of the sea. The result is that the team members with Devils Fruit abilities sink like lead in the sea leaving Jinbei to save them from drowning.

As Luffy surfaces Ace spots him and their exchange is somewhat contrasting. Luffy is delighted to see his big brother is still alive and greets him seemingly heartily while Ace’s greeting is more to the effect of ‘Luffy! What the heck are you doing here!’.

As the rest of the warring factions realise the personalities that have joined the battle there is some surprises, especially for Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp, the father of Monkey D. Dragon, the grandfather of Monkey D. Luffy, and the adoptive grandfather of Portgas D. Ace. With now TWO of his close family members embroiled in this war, what is he going to do?

The kaleidoscopic mix of reactions from the rest of the Shichibukai on seeing our hero arrive is also comedic with Juracule Mihawk’s amazement, Gecko Moria’s fury or frustration and Boa Hancock’s relief at seeing her love return safely from Impel Down.

Notably, the Marine Admirals, Aokiji and Kizaru are suitably impressed to see Monkey D. Luffy again.

After the grand entrance, we see  Crocodile wasting no time in initiating a sneak attack on Whitebeard only to be stopped by Luffy who explains that Crocodile will not lay a hand on a Whitebeard because this is the one guy Ace cares about.

Luffy and Whitebeard vs World! (Fan Art)

Whitebeard then spots Luffy’s straw hat noticing that it belonged to Red-Haired Shanks and which Luffy confirms saying that he is just looking after it for him.

The final few scenes consist of just of Luffy — our hero and Pirate Rookie conversing with the worlds greatest and quite possibly longest standing Pirate Captain, second only to Gol D. Roger and one of The Yonkou or Four Emporers/great pirates who rule the second half of the Grand Line (also known as the “New World”).

While quite clear in the manga, their comparative stature is as much of a contrast as their respective achievements and reputations in the whole Pirate world. With Whitebeard towering above Luffy looking like a vertible collassus we see potentiall a sneak peak at things to come as Luffy exclaims to the ”The Strongest Man in the World” that HE will be the Pirate King!

While everyone in earshot was shocked to hear Luffy say what he said and to Whitebeard of all people, they are shocked but not Whitebeard who appreciates Luffy’s determination and zeal, commending him without saying a word.

Next? Well it’s going to be Luffy and Whitebeard taking on the Marines, Admirals and Shichibukai — with a little help from their friends no doubt. The next few chapters are going to be nothing short of memorable.

So what do you think? Where will it all end? Will Luffy surpass Whitebeard? Tell us your thoughts below:

Over the past few weeks One piece has not let up with the action and gripping story, the chapter this week was not a disappointment.

So oars (formerly Oz – big as a country) had offspring – Oars Jnr! But alas his rampaging was put to a swift end by Shichibukai Dom Flamingo’s sword slash , who’s ‘puppeteer’ fruit powers had been revealed earlier. It is now safe to assume the Shichibukai are not one trick ponies.  Oars’ adventuring came to an end, with the tiniest bit of background thrown in to allow us to feel a bit sorry at his demise.When the mighty Whitebeard’s ability was revealed, I was a bit perplexed as to how it would be used in close range, but seeing him take out a vice admiral in one strike close distance put all my doubts to rest.

Whitebeard Fan Art by Gandaresh

At the end the chapter, our beloved bouncy protagonist was re-introduced, along with two former Shichibukai and that dodgy ‘okama queen’. It should be interesting, as both crocodile and buggy want Ed’s (Edward Newgate aka Whitebeard) head, but any infighting between the pirates will have to wait till Ace is safe.

Against the current opposition, it would be difficult to see Luffy taking out any of the marines or the Shichibukai, considering all the effort and help he has needed when up against Crocodile and Gecko Moria. Garp probably will do something silly when faced with the annihilation of both his grandsons.

Ace Fan Art by wyv1

My guesses for the next couple of chapters – Hancock will make a move, but I don’t see her being capable of taking any of the other Shichibukai out, also I don’t trust Mr Kuma, why did he save Luffy and his crew from Admiral Kizaru and what did he say to Rayleigh?

Luffy needs to master a new gear, or learn Haki. He needs to get stronger fast! And those seem to be the only viable options for him.

Next week should be even better !

What do you think? What will Luffy do once he lands? Speak your mind below.

Background
So by means of a quick catch up. Where are we up to now? Well Luffy and his crew are already half way through the Grand Line, whether or not this signals that we are halfway through the One Piece epic remains to be seen, in a way we hope yes but at the same time why would we want it to end when it seems to just be getting good!

Well, as they hopped from island to island in the Grand Line using the Log Pose, all routes converge at a single point which is The Sabaody Archipelago, which is the route all must go in order to continue on to Fish-man Island. While the crew where in the Sabaody Archipelago, they needed to get their ship ready to make the journey and needed to seek the assistance of the only person who can prepare their ship for the next leg of their journey. In searching the area, they encounter many of the other ‘Rookies’ and their pirate crews, some of which have bounties higher than Luffy himself, which means we can only assume they are either significantly stronger than he or have been significantly more ruthless and nefarious in their travels.

One of the other significant events is that Keimi is kidnapped and is sent off for auction to be sold into slavery, with her being a Mermaid, she would have received a high price and the Royalty of the Sabaody Archipelago, the Dragons — who effectively are the untouchables in this region have full reign without any fear of reprisal feed a growing industry in human slave trade. It is during this auction that a massive chain of effects is set in motion which not only allows to catch glimpse of the other ‘Rookies’ and their abilities but also sees the calling out of the an Admiral to the scene, followed by the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma, who — to cut a long story short — makes each and everyone of the Strawhat crew disappear into thin air. Leaving absolutely no one left and the Strawhat crew defeated.

Luffy Fighting the Gorgon Sisters

In subsequent episodes we see Luffy flying through the air and can only concluded they have been sent flying in different directions by Kuma, it would seem as an act of mercy, to avoid them being slaughtered by Admiral Kizaru and the Kuma Robots/Pacifista’s.

Luffy eventually arrives on a strange island which turns out is inhabitated by a Woman Warrior Race. Skip forward a few episodes and see discover the for men to trespass on their land is punishable my death. In This episode, we are amidst a battle between the nations two strongest warriors and Luffy as he defends the lives of those that attempted to save him.

Still with me? You’ll appreciate I’ve left a lot out, but I’ve just tried to cover about 20+ episodes in as few a lines as possible. On to today’s episode.

The Kings Disposition

Episode #414
As I’ve said already, Luffy is amidst a fight with some formidable foes that use techniques he has never heard of. They refer to this new technique as Haki. For those paying close attention, Luffy had encountered this before, in fact twice and both at Sabaody Archipelago. The first was when Rayleigh came out and then second was at the arrival of a strange guy with a massive weapon who travelled with another Pacifista and claimed to have no Devils Fruit ability. Last weeks episode ended and this one begins where Luffy has some how tapped into his own Haki (AKA Willpower) which stuns everyone in the vicinity to the extent of making some of the Amazonian warriors faint. I can’t help but make a connection to the Bleach equivalent, which must be ‘Reiatsu’ or Spiritual Force/Power.

Second Gear

Either way, it is revealed that Luffys massive Haki is known as the Kings Disposition and is rare. We begin to get hints that Luffy is different from all but a handful of people ever to have such Haki. In any case the fight continues, with Luffy eventually stepping up into Second Gear. I am yet to tire of seeing this. The foes are surprised by his strength which inevitably overwhelms them causing them to concede defeat but not before Luffy once more displays his compassion at the very moment before absolute defeat. Despite the heat of battle protects the secret of the Gorgon Sisters even though he knows not why, he simply knows that it is because they would rather die than have it revealed.

These past 2/3 episodes have been leading up to this. We due to find the out the back story of this mysterious mark. For those in the manga there are little surprises for you but the way the fight scenes are portrayed will, in my opinion, always win out over the manga.

Let me know what you thought of the most recent episode. If your not following the manga too. Feel free to speculate below.