Join Monkey D. Luffy and his swashbuckling crew in their search for the ultimate treasure, One Piece After finding out the real reason for Robin's betrayal, the Straw Hats are in a madcap race to rescue her from CP9, the Navy's elite assassin group. But first they'll have to find a way to sail through the tidal wave known as Aqua Laguna. Will the Rocketman be seaworthy for the task at hand, or will it be a runaway train to catastrophe? After finding out the real reason for Robin's betrayal, the Straw Hats are in a madcap race to rescue her from CP9, the Navy's elite assassin group. But first they'll have to find a way to sail through the tidal wave known as Aqua Laguna. Will the Rocketman be seaworthy for the task at hand, or will it be a runaway train to catastrophe?
CP9 has been revealed and Galley-La is in flames. The Straw Hat Pirates, already reeling from the loss of two crew members, have been beaten and scattered across the island. Franky, the dismantler boss of Water 7 has been exposed as the shipwright Cutty Flam and the blueprints to the ancient weapon Pluton are now at risk. The chips are down, and all seems lost. It's time to fight back. One Piece Vol. 38 sees Luffy and the gang regroup and chase after Robin, setting up the next phase of the Water 7 story that will take place on the judicial island Enies Lobby. In that regard this volume is mostly transition and setup, though it still moves at a good pace and contains a few surprises along the way. Unfortunately the best surprise from the last page of the volume, Usopp's new alter ego Sniper King, has been revealed on the cover. Not sure why Oda did this as the next volume is more Sanji and Sniper King-focused, but there it is. Otherwise it's fun to see Sanji once again in a covert role and there's some great usage of supporting characters like Kokoro that really tie the story together. I should also mention I'm quite liking Viz's translation efforts during this whole accelerated publishing program. While there's still room for debate on what some character names and attacks should be called, the actual scripts have been fairly strong. In particular, the characters seem to be coming into their own voice such as Nami's "This is so not the time!" to Luffy and Zoro referring to Chopper as a "little jerk" for passing out while clinging to his head. The characters have grown substantially since the early volumes and its nice to see the translations evolve from the flatter readings of the past. Keep on reading, One Piece isn't slowing down any time soon.
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