By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

It’s hard to review volumes like this. The plot is essentially ‘Luffy & co. go from one point to another’, but it’s done with lots of cool fights, wacky schtick, and surprises. This is Oda, after all. He does in 11 chapters what would take Tite Kubo 11 years.

Therefore, I will simply note random thoughts as I read it:

—I really have to wonder if the whole ‘power level’ joke was Oda’s riffing on Dragon Ball Z. Yes, I know that ‘It’s OVER 9000!!!’ is a North American meme, but I’m sure it’s been heard in Japan by now.
—Baskerville is one of Oda’s best truly silly characters – he’s never afraid to include villains who are there simply for laughs.
—Regarding the sea train flying over the gate, my thought was: for all his stoicness, Zoro is easily just as insane as Luffy is.
—Ooooh. Poor Pirate A, he never gets any love. Or is it B?
—Nice cameo by Usopp, when Sniper King’s mask gets knocked off.
—As helpfully notes by an Exposition-class marine, Nami has leveled up, and is now a powerful fighter. She really should not be surprised by her thunderbolts taking out the good guys too – that’s what weather does, after all.
—Love the exchange between Paulie and Zoro. “Tell them… they’re fired.” Just beautiful.
—In case you didn’t hate Spandam quite enough yet, he’s now belting Robin across the jaw, and kicking her while she’s down repeatedly. Oh, and twisting the “agreement” he had with Robin so that he can kill the Straw Hats. Robin was really being incredibly naive here, thinking that they’d keep their word, but then, that does help to establish that she’s not perfect.
—We also see not only that CP9 have little to no regard for Spandam, but also that Lucci is very much a mad dog. His face when stating they want “BLOOD.” is chilling.
—Great exchange between Blueno and Luffy. “How long do you plan to keep fighting?” “Until I die.”
—And poor Sniper King, getting left behind. Nami notes that he’s not Luffy, which is true enough. But Zoro notes he’s gotten that far and hasn’t died, which is significant.
—And Sniper King (who takes off his mask here, so OK, Usopp) gets a fantastic moment when he manages to turn the giants to their side. Featuring a callback to events that happened a good 27 volumes ago, and it’s highly important that of all the Straw Hats, only Usopp, with his ability to spin a tale and love of warrior giants, could pull this off. It’s not just about hitting hard. More on that in Volume 43.
—Nice little breakdown of the Devil Fruit powers, for once given in the story rather than in Oda’s Question Corner comments. Kaku and Kalifa’s faces as they chow down indicate it’s not exactly a pleasant experience.
—When Sanji isn’t trying to be impressive in front of a woman, he’s really fantastic.
—And Luffy levels up as well, finally showing us Gear Two, which apparently involves pumping blood through his muscles. He’s also managed to learn one of CP9’s 6 superhuman techniques just by watching it a bit. Exit Blueno.

And so, by the end of the volume, Luffy at least has almost caught up to Robin and Franky. What will happen next? (Note if Viz hadn’t sped up One Piece releases, I would have been reading this volume in 2014. I really appreciate them taking the risk of mediocre sales and putting this out.)