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

There’s a whole pile of stuff going on in this volume. As always, Oda makes things so fun that you don’t realize till later how much you learned bout the world of One Piece. And it’s the start of a new arc, albeit a much shorter one than usual. Why shorter? We shall see…

First, though, we have to deal with the gang attempting to kidnap Camie, along with their leader, the Masked Rider. His name is Duval, and for some reason he hates the Straw Hats. I remember with amusement the days when this chapter first came out in Japan. People on forums were speculating endlessly about who Duval could be. A lot of people suggested Don Krieg, from Sanji’s debut. But no, the truth is far, far… funnier. One of the best visual gags in the series, and it just goes to prove that nothing is throwaway when it comes to Oda.

With that resolved, we’re off to Sabaody, which is a new world filled with all the usual new world delights we’ve come to expect from Oda. Bubble cars! Amusement parks! And Hachi and Camie disguising themselves, for some reason. Yes, we discover one reason why the Fish-Men are so organized in the One Piece world – they’re persecuted in many parts of the world, and Mermaids in particular fetch a high price as slaves. Now, this doesn’t excuse Arlong, but it is a little extra added depth to this backstory. And it makes you root for the destruction of the World Government even more.

If there’s a weakness to this volume, it’s that perhaps too many characters all get introduced at once. And while you’d like to say that you can forget about some of them as they aren’t important, it’s just not true. All 11 Supernovas get big roles to play in this volume and the next, and Rayleigh and Shakky are necessary to remember as well. It can be a lot to take in, but just having everything tossed at you does help contribute to the breakneck chaos that defines this arc.

We also see some new Devil Fruit powers, although not all of them. Jewelry Bonney’s is possibly the most fun, as she can age or youthen anyone at will, including herself. She also stops Zoro from starting a huge fight, and I suspect the two of them will definitely meet again. On the other hand, given her appetite, maybe it’s Sanji she’ll be meeting again.

However, Camie is finally captured, and everyone goes off to the auction house to try to free her. This goes about as well as you’d expect. I must note again that while Oda does a good job of making former villains sympathetic (see Hachi for a good example), he’s equally good at painting scummy losers as such with just a few broad strokes. The Celestial Dragon teenager who waddles around here behaves like such a spoiled baby you long for the days of Helmeppo. His behavior if the last straw for Luffy, who ends the volume by delivering what may be the most satisfying punch in the entire series to date.

There’s more I could talk about, including my surprise at the next ‘redemption’ cover arc dealing with CP9, but I think you get the picture. Even for One Piece, this volume is a breathless roller coaster. Fans should love it. Non-fans… should start with Volume 1, really.

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

And so at last we come to the end of Thriller Bark, and the fiftieth volume of One Piece. That’s quite a lot. I think it’s now the manga with the most volumes released in North America, though I may be wrong. There’s no special anniversary aspect to it, though, it’s just taking care of business as always.

But first, we have to take care of Moria. Luckily, Moria seems to have sown the seeds of his own destruction by trying to take in just a little too much power, which means that all that needs to happen is Luffy kicking his ass a bit. Seeing everyone’s shadows return is a lovely montage, especially coming right after the nightmarish image of Zoro, Robin and Sanji’s bodies burning to ash. I particularly liked seeing Margarita (who’s “gotten over” her hatred of plates) – Cindry may be genuinely dead now, but at least the shadow attached to her was saved.

Unfortunately, before anyone can celebrate, Kuma shows up. Now this is really unfair. Luffy’s knocked out after dealing with Moria, and everyone’s exhausted. Doesn’t Kuma know the most basic rules of shonen battles? He basically tells the crew that they can all live if they let Luffy die. This goes about as well as you’d expect. And then Kuma basically takes out everyone. Well, almost everyone.

I have to say, the chapter with Kuma and Zoro is possibly one of Zoro’s finest moments, and it’s not for his swordsmanship. Zoro’s unswerving loyalty to Luffy has always been one of his best qualities, and here we see him literally sacrificing his life for Luffy’s. Of course, as he’s hella tough, he does not in fact die, but I think the intent was there. Some nice interaction with him and Sanji as well.

And so now with Kuma gone (for the moment), we actually do get a celebration, and we finally hear Brook’s backstory. And it’s very sad, if only as it’s not nearly as spectacular as Robin’s or Franky’s. This is not the story of some pirates up against formidable enemies, or the World Government. This is a pirate ship, filled with enthusiastic crewmates, brought down by sickness and plague. This is the sort of thing that happens to pirates on the Grand Line *all the time*. The ones we never see. Only now we have Brook, with his revive fruit, who can show us. And his reward is to be alone, on a ship with his dead crew, for 50 years.

But now he has the Straw Hats! And yes, Brook joins the crew, which should surprise no one. And off we go again on more adventure! … except that Ace’s life is apparently in danger. Um, yikes? This must be why Kuma asked about Ace in the previous volume. Oh well, Luffy thinks Ace can take care of himself. So yes! More adventure! And they reach the other side of the Red Line, showing they’ve sailed halfway around the world. (Oda has said that this is about the halfway point of the manga, so that makes sense).

Unfortunately, they’re having a little bit of trouble getting to Fish-Man Island. Luckily, they manage to rescue a pretty mermaid to help them! And this time she genuinely is a pretty mermaid. In fact, she seems a little familiar… I’m sure we’ve seen her before, perhaps in one of the cover arcs. But anyway, she’s cute! And a bit of a ditz. And her friend Hachi is in danger! Hachi… hrm, that seems familiar too.

This volume wraps up an arc which proved more solid than I recall, probably as it read much better in volume format. In Volume 51, we deal with the masked man we see at the end of this volume. Who is he, and why does he hate the Straw Hats?

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

For a volume that is, once again, an entire volume of fights, there’s a lot going on here. Let’s bullet point (or at least emdash) this volume:

— At last, Nami is awake and doing things again. Thankfully, once she wakes up, the whole distressed damsel plot gets kicked in the teeth, and she and the Zombie Lola end up kicking Absalom’s ass. One Piece may not be a feminist manga by any stretch, but it’s a damn sight better than 99% of what’s out there.
— And then, my friends… we get what may be my favorite funny One Piece moment ever. In the anime it’s even better, with the full blown music and effects, but Pirates Docking Six Giant Robot Warrior Big Emperor is damn near perfect. From Zoro and Sanji’s blank stares to Franky, Chopper and Usopp’s looks of betrayal, topped off by Robin’s “I find it embarrassing as a human being”, this is Oda at his best, using the personality of the crew perfectly.
— Speaking of which, it’s nice to see the entire Straw Hat crew on the cover again. I’d missed Robin at first, but there she is, down by the number 49, wishing with all her heart that she was somewhere else.
— Perona tries to escape on the Sunny, figuring out that things are going to hell. Unfortunately, this is stopped by the arrival of ANOTHER Warlord of the Sea, Bartholomew Kuma. Who proves to almost be a game breaker with his powers, as he sends Perona vanishing off to who knows where, and then proceeds to track down Moria and let him know that failure will be unacceptable. Also, intriguingly, he asks about Ace.
— The main thrust of this volume is seeing how well the Straw Hats work as a team. Most of the previous arcs have featured them either in one-on-one battles, or teaming into small groups. Here, especially once Nami joins them again, they show off their strength, brains and courage. Their plans are really quite clever! It’s just that they’re up against a nigh-immortal Zombie controlled by a Warlord with shadow powers.
— So, inevitably, they get to be strong-willed and clever, then go down. We see them reason about Oars’ weak point, and then peck away at it till it does some good. And, having been knocked down, they keep getting up again (sadly, no one drinks a whiskey drink here). I’m reminded again how tough this crew is. Usually it’s Usopp who gets to show off the endurance, but all of them are knocked out multiple times in this volume and get back up and fighting.
— And here comes Luffy, and thanks to some allies, he is essentially SUPERLUFFY, with 100 shadows inside him, making him look akin to The Incredible Hulk. (He’s colored blue on the cover, likely for very good legal reasons.) And Superluffy is not going to let some huge invincible zombie stop him! Oars gets his ass kicked from hell to back.
— Sadly, Oars is not the final boss of this arc, Moria is. And Moria pulls out all the stops, drawing in every single shadow of all his zombies, including Cindry and Lola, who we briefly see fall over dead (well, they were already dead), and becoming his own superhuman. Everyone flees in sheer terror… except the Straw Hats, that is, who are ready to stand up to anything! (I do love Usopp’s scream even as he stands with his comrades. Almost pure Don Martin…)

And so, as the volume ends, Luffy is ready to bust out his final moves. Can we possibly stand the suspense? Well, no, but luckily Vol. 50 is already out.