In the mangastream translation, Zoro says “So the con-artist became a captain, eh?”. I don’t know if that clears anything up for ya, because I can’t remember much about their initial encounter, and why he’d call her a con-artist 
Yeah, that makes no sense unless he’s saying the only way someone with her sucky skills can become a captain was to cheat perhaps(?) Or smoking Smokers pole… get it? It’s funny.
Just out of curiosity, did they ever reveal how Blackbeard absolutely knew that the gravity fruit was the right one?
My guess is that he’s referring to the fact that she’s a dead ringer for his dead childhood friend. Y’know, the girl he could never beat, who he gave his life-long promise to, etc. Originally he thought it WAS his childhood friend, which put them into a rivalry along the lines of Luffy and Smoker, but far less played out over the course of the manga.
Color of Observation maybe?
Plus he seemed to do a lot of research about it so maybe recognized it that way, but I’m thinking it’s the former.
Think he just researched it or saw it in a book.
I felt sorry for that one Marine in the helmet. The scenes reminds me of the Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt. <biblical ref/>
I’m starting to suspect that Monet may be a triple agent…
It’s definitely because she resembles Kuina. He called her a copycat when they first met.
There is a book that actually lists Devil Fruits, cataloging both their shapes and abilities. Whitebeard’s crew was in possession of it, but more probably exists. This also implies that these DF powers might be reoccurring once the user is deceased (as proven by Slimey’s fruit’s re-existence).
Makes sense. I thought it might shed some light on his true power like maybe being able to see and absorb devil fruit powers or something.
Those soldiers were bros. =’)
Watching the Luffy/Hordy fight in the anime, at first I thought that they were doing a better job of establishing him as a credible threat than the manga did. In reality, though, I’ve realized that they’re actually DISempowering Luffy.
The main beats of the fight are the same, but in the anime, there’s a hell of a lot more of Luffy and Bro-hoshi standing still and gritting their teeth while Hordy gloats… While, upon rereading the fight in the manga, everything moves far faster, with the talking happening while they’re chasing each other around.
Also, much like a lot of OP, the FI arc reads a lot better when taken in larger chunks.
The fruits are named Devil Fruits, and it was confirmed that “devils” literally inhabit the fruits. Blackbeard’s fruit is unique because he claims it comes from the “The Devil” himself, so it is clearly of a higher order than the standard DF.
I love how random Oda can get with match ups. Sanji is such a boss.
“Brownbeard bus” Ahahahahahaaaa! 
Sanji is about to flex hard. Sanji and Zoro need to be at least Vice Admiral level if Luffy hopes to take on Sakazuki.
- *I should have known Sanji would step in once Vergo did THAT.
Man, I hated Brownbeard when he was introduced way back, now I sort of want him to join the crew.
Vergo done fucked up now!
The tentative main event
[details=Spoiler] Didn’t see Smoker + Luffy vs CC coming, but it makes sense even with his ability to fuck up logia via Haki, gas vs smoke should allow for an interesting spectacle.
I am tired of seeing Tagashi get her ass kicked all over however. Come on, give the girl something to hang her hat on besides her rack. [/details]
Sigh… what is up with Tagashi? I was really, really, really hoping that she would have leveled up substantially. I always kind of hoped that she was indeed Zoro’s friend Kuina, but for some crazy Oda reason she was unaware of it until she “awakened” and turned into the bad ass sword master she was destined to be and that whole death by stairs thing was bullshit… I mean REALLY… stairs!!!:annoy:
After all these years, that to me remains the DUMBEST event to ever happen in One Piece.
I hope Coby fares better after the time skip. I predict that we’ll see a couple of more scars on him thanks to Garp’s sadistic training… unless he’s gone soft after Ace’s death…:bluu:
Tashigi got backhanded for buttoning up her shirt.
The Vergo/Sanji matchup makes sense when you think about it. Vergo looks to be a master of the same technique that the CP9 crew used, and that we saw some of again in the “War of the Best” arc. Could be he’s got other tricks up his sleeve, but could also be he’s Just That Good (plus, he enhances his blows with haki).
Now pair him up with Sanji, who’s just relying on his own body, and who learned some tricks from CP9, and you’ve got a fight that should be fun to watch.
Mind you, it’s not that long since he got blasted by CC. That could easily have him losing… Or the fight could get interrupted by another Run From The Evil Gas bit, if Monet follows CC’s orders.