The times are about to become as rough as these seas.
One Piece, Summit War Saga
by Eiichiro Oda
Genre: Fantasy
About: The world government has made its move: Ace is being held in their strongest prison, awaiting public execution. Luffy doesn't have much time. Instead of re-joining with his crew, he embarks on a prison heist to save his brother. Meanwhile pirates from the New World counteract the government and prepare for all out war.
The Good
This is an emotional one. Ace hasn't been in the series all that much up until this point, but you really feel the bond between him and Luffy and are fully invested in Luffy's determination to save him. The epicness of the prison heist is pure chaos and pure excitement and I loved all the familiar faces that kept cropping up as well as the cool new characters like Hancock, Jimbei and Iva.
Whitebeard is another character that has been talked about but not really present in the story as yet, but man, he gets his spotlight in this arc. The war showcased a lot of crazy powers, but by far Whitebeard was the main man here. I loved the glimpses of his flashbacks and what drives him as a pirate, I loved his crew dynamic, I thought he was awesome in battle and I totally get why he's such a big deal now.
The Bad
It's hard not to miss the crew. We get glimpses of them on their islands and a sense of what they're up to, but it's strange not to have them fighting side by side with Luffy. Especially when he needs them the most.
The Somewhat Iffy
The powers are really hard to grasp. We've seen how powerful some of these players are as they've gone up against Luffy's crew, and either won or lost. But in a war setting, the powers get jumbled. Crocodile's been defeated by Luffy but now he seems super powerful again. The Kuma replicas have been shown as massively destructive but Hancock is able to destroy an army of them? And Doflamingo? I don't know what to think of his powers at all. Just seeing all these crazy powerful people in one place, it's hard to rank them. Oda does a great job and there are some amazing battles, but I still don't have a good sense of where some characters rank and it gets more confusing with the new pirates like Kid, Law etc.
Overall
This is probably the saga that hits the hardest. It's so action packed and the stakes are so high. Luffy is without his crew and he goes through his greatest challenge yet. Hard to read at times but brilliant.
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