Summary:
Commodore Nelson has finally seen through Eric’s ambitions, but he takes it too personally and now the mystical dragon’s life is in danger.
The Going Merry manages to dodge Nelson Royal’s cannonballs. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Hardy sees Nelson’s ships and decides to break free, knowing that the Going Merry will be captured. However, Eric, who wanted the Dragon’s Nest for himself, decides to chase the Going Merry alone with a rowboat.
After Luffy uses the Gum Gum Balloon to bounce one of the cannonballs back onto one of Nelson’s boats, Nelson orders the marines to use the Great Elimination Cannon. To combat this, Usopp fires a cannonball into the Great Elimination Cannon, causing it to explode.
Next, Luffy uses the Gum Gum Crossing Bridge move to create a bridge that allows Sanji and Zoro to board the marine ship and then lowers himself onto the marine ship. Luffy and Sanji attack the army of marines while Zoro cuts the chains connecting the naval ships.
Eric boards the raft with Ryu and Apis. He attaches the raft to his rowboat and sails away. However, he betrays Nelson Royale by refusing to hand over the dragon to him. Angered by his betrayal, Nelson orders the Marine ships to fire on Eric’s boat.
Eric fights Apis over Ryu and Eric drops her. However, Ryu gets up and knocks Eric off the rowboat and roars. Apis is happy that Ryu can move and fly, but to her dismay, Ryu flies towards Nelson’s ship, getting hit by several cannonballs along the way.
In the end, Ryu eventually succumbs to the cannonballs and falls into the water. Ryu tells Luffy to keep Apis safe from death.
There is a big continuity error in this episode as Zoro is seen able to cut through steel when he is not actually able to cut through steel until the Arabast arc.
Weaknesses (Optional): Limited Character Development Beyond the Straw Hat Trio: The episode typically makes a speciality of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji’s moves for the duration of the warfare, providing minimum development for other Straw Hat crewmates. Predictable Nature of Luffy’s Recklessness (for some visitors): For visitors acquainted with Luffy’s persona, his impulsive rate is probably fairly predictable. Overall: One Piece Episode fifty nine is a quick-paced and entertaining episode that maintains visitors engaged with its movement sequences and the advent of a probably foxy villain. While the episode offers limited development for some characters and can experience predictable with reference to Luffy’s recklessness, it efficaciously raises the stakes for the Straw Hats, introduces a layer of intrigue with Eric’s hidden motive, and leaves visitors eager to peer the subsequent bankruptcy in this Marine come across.