One Piece: Is the fight between Luffy and Doflamingo already the best in the series?

If the One Punch man series has recently been talked about massively, by the originality of the hero, but also the quality of the animation, there is one that continues to make us shiver for more than a good decade already, namely One Piece. 726 is the number of episodes already published of the cult animated series of the author Eiichiro Oda. Impressive! No need to present the flagship series of recent years straight out of Japan. The latter has made an unprecedented reputation, thanks to a slew of incredibly varied characters, a gigantic universe, and an overflowing imagination. Since then, everyone has had time to make up their own mind about One Piece, and it is by no means this article that will change everyone's position, whether we like this pirate story or not.

So why dwell on One Piece again?

After episode 726 aired last weekend, it seemed obvious to write a few words for what seems to be a turning point for Luffy's character. If the battle against the world government to save his brother Ace had upset things in the series, this arc where Luffy's crew confronts that of the famous Doflamingo is not to be outdone. On the contrary, the latter being one of the most charismatic villains created by Oda, the confrontation between the two crews, and various other stakeholders, even if it will have taken its time, is one of the most important fights of One Piece. Already, because they face a Shichibukai, a pirate set up by the government, or rather tolerated, but also by the dimension that Luffy takes in this final fight. Some will indeed have been afraid (those who do not follow the paper manga) that Luffy has barely progressed after all these years of training. It must be said, this passage in "Gear Fourth" was expected, but at the same time unexpected. Two weeks ago, listening to this famous "Gear Foourth", for an end of episode in cliffhanger, as Toei Animation studios know how to handle it to perfection, we were all, whoever we were, with a smile on our lips big up to our ears, speechless, or laughing as if we had just been shown the most incredible thing that the "We've seen for weeks. In any case, a shiver ran through everyone's body, during the few seconds that followed this end of the episode, during which regaining our senses seemed to take us an eternity. That famous thrill, the same one we felt when San Goku transformed into a super warrior for the first time, or during the final fight between Saitama and the leader of the alien invaders in One Punch Man. After all, isn't that what we recognize a great manga, this ability that the author can have to make us feel strong and uncontrolled emotions in front of what is, in the end, only a "simple" character drawn on a piece of paper, animated for the occasion? The most difficult, and what goes through the minds of all of us at this moment, is the considerable wait that seems a whole week before seeing the rest. It finally arrived last Sunday, for the happiness of all. An episode like we had not seen for a long time, which then demoted the previous week's episode to a simple sympathetic episode, no more and no less. Because in this episode 726, it is 20 minutes of thrills and laughter that were offered to us. Laughing because it must be said, Luffy's transformation impresses as much as it surprises us. Once again, Eiichiro Oda will have done very well, making our dear pirate with the straw hat a character as powerful as completely crazy. If the transformation surprises, even disappoints perhaps for some, we can only agree on the fact that the result is absolutely great, because unexpected precisely. The latter is simply an almost perfect representation of Luffy. It combines the power, the comic and the inventiveness of the character. A tour de force that only Oda is able to offer us.

What does episode 727 of One Piece have in store for us?

If in this episode, Luffy seems to have largely gained the upper hand over Doflamingo, it would be naïve to believe that the latter has exploited the full power of his power. Although resistant, this ability to take blows is certainly not the only thing that has brought him to this position of opponent feared and respected throughout the ocean. Thus, not to change, the preview of episode 727 lets us glimpse some fragments of the evolution of the fight, revealing a character of Doflamingo particularly uplifted, using a power that we had not yet seen before. And this is certainly where the real fight between the two captains will begin, exploiting their abilities to their peak, for what should be, as we pointed out above, one of the new turning points of One Piece. Definitely Sunday!