The ‘One Piece’ anime surpasses the manga once again. The fight between Luffy Gear 5 and Rob Lucci was one of the best chapters of the whole series

Water 7 (including  Ennies Lobby) will always be one of our favorite arcs in manga history. For the fight between Usopp and Luffy, for Robin’s “I want to live!” and for Merry’s tearful farewell. It was the arc where the Straw Hats got their first beating and turned into power-ups. It was where Luffy’s Gear Second and Third, Chopper’s Monster Point or Nami’s Clima Tact were born. It was also used to discover the past of Franky, Sogeking and Ohara’s girl. And, of course, it was the Cipher Pol arc and the challenge to the world government. It was the arc of Rob Lucci, one of the greatest villains of One Piece.

It has been 17 years since episode 309 of the anime when Luffy managed to defeat Rob Lucci. Even more, if we talk about the manga, where it happened in chapter 427, published on September 16th, 2006. The second one was called “It’s Not Like it’s Hell Here” and the first one was called “Feelings Put Into Fists! Luffy’s Full-Power Gatling”.

A lot has happened since then. Six hundred more chapters and villains like Blackbeard, Akainu, Doflamingo, Katakuri, Big Mom, and Kaido. The Mugiwara have faced far greater threats than Cipher Pol, and their captain has gone from just another member of the Worst Generation to one of the four Emperors of the Sea. His reward has increased from 300 million to 3 billion. After such progress and evolution, you can imagine how upset many people were to see Lucci’s return at this point.

When the cheetah arrived on Future Island, fans of power scales and character comparisons were shaking in their boots. Was Oda trying to make us believe that Lucci had improved enough to compete with today’s Straw Shadow? He wouldn’t be able to, would he? After all, Luffy comes from defeating Kaido, the strongest pirate in the world, the Yonko who never lost a one-on-one fight. And Lucci... well, he is Lucci.

As much as he was trained and promoted within the Cipher Pol, he is still below the rank of admiral of the Marines, and those who are, admirals like Ryoukugyu, got out of Wano and could not even with Momo. In everyone’s eyes, the organization was damaged and it was difficult to gain respect for it. If their own bosses had fallen so far behind the Mugis, with what arguments would Lucci be able to stand up to them?

Did we underestimate Lucci? Haven’t we talked about him before as one of the best villains in the series? Maybe we did. Maybe we lost perspective. How many people have we seen awaken their devil fruit like he did in this episode? Even more when we’re talking about a zoan. Even Kaido himself couldn’t do it. And how strong do you have to be for the Marines to give you a mission with the difficulty of killing Vegapunk? On the other hand, didn’t Luffy defeat the King of Beasts after dozens of rounds and with the support of Zoro, Yamato, and the Nine Red Scabbards? Maybe some not so much, others not so little.

Throughout Ennies Lobby, we kept repeating that Lucci was a prodigy, one of the best fighters under the orders of the World Government. If he had not stopped practicing and improving, would he not have been able to match his rival? And looking at it from another point of view, having such a character return to the scene is only good for the consistency of a world like ‘One Piece.’ It means that the others are not standing around waiting to see what the Straw Hats do, but that they too are training, having their own adventures and developing their respective powers. Having Lucci come back with a level like that gives us faith in other returns, like Crocodile coming back with Cross Guild. It gives a second life to fan favorites, encourages debate on the net, and allows Oda to not pull unbeatable monsters out of his hat.

Anyway, none of that mattered once we saw the level of animation Toei had in store for this 1,100th chapter. Far from taking their foot off the gas after the Onigashima War, the company kept the Wano team in place and made a series of hires that allowed this arc to achieve the impossible and look even better than the previous one. On the one hand, there is the director of this episode, Nozomu Shishido, who was already in charge of the 1,089th episode (the highest rated of the entire series on IMDb). On the other hand, Vincent Chansard, who is responsible for making ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ the most famous anime in the world. Between the two of them, they have just delivered a show that will be long forgotten and will surely be among the nominees for Best Episode of the Year in a few months.

The amount of effects shown, the color palette, the quality of the animations and the homages to the classic Tom and Jerry style, the direction, the new soundtrack... A waste that created countless memes and iconic images (Luffy slapping his ass becomes the official answer to every ‘One Piece’ hater). We should not forget this chapter when we talk about the cutest series and our minds go to ‘Kimetsu no Yaiba’, ‘Shingeki no Kyojin’, and the like. But best of all, Toei has pulled out most of the stops and made real cinema out of just a handful of panels. Another proof that the ‘One Piece’ anime surpasses the manga.

Seeing the level shown in this “little fight” and knowing everything that awaits us in the next chapters (the villain who makes heads explode or the true appearance of the Five Elders), it is hard not to rub your hands together. Long live One Piece.