REVIEW: One Piece : Warrior Of Science \

“Warrior of Science” comes out the gate very Luffy-lite for an issue this deep within the climax of a major manga arc, but this is “One Piece”, and the Straw Hat crew is more than willing to carry the issue while their leader is off somewhere riding a pink dragon embroidered in battle with a completely different dragon.

Oda this far into the series is still dragging characters from previous arcs that were as far back as when I was starting high school (CP9) to as recent as a few years ago (How in the hell is Big Mom still kicking ?). Oda’s art style is still based off the concept of waste-not / have-not, so there is barely a panel that isn’t moving out a crowded and frantic pace, although readers are given slight reprieve’s with some nice asides featuring Zoro towards the end of the chapter, and some shots of two of the most overlooked of the Straw Hats in Robin & Law.

Big Mom towers in this issue and through that creates the most memorable image in the chapter, but also serves as an illusion of Germa’s influence all over this side of the story as Sanji takes center stage and has to deal with the chance of losing his humanity for the opportunity to become a stronger fighter. This far in, and though Oda has seemingly not had enough of his bread & butter , these character’s are still progressing, and even the staples of something as core as a new Devil Fruit reveal still ring as true as they did when the effects of feasting on Gum Gum was first explained.

Many other stories with this high of an issue count would already be running on fumes, but somehow Oda is still finding a way to fuel this high-seas adventure with all heart, as evidenced here in “Warrior of Science”. Two weeks until the next issue? Hell, Oda earned his time off with the work he put in on this latest chapter of “One Piece”.

Score : 3/5

by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media