I smell a time skip...and it stinks

>>10937
Naruto really has colored the general opinion of timeskips, hasn't it?

Theory: instead of a time skip or actually showing us all of the training, it will be like a montage. Every issue we see a week's worth of powering up until everybody's ready to meet again.

...actually, I would prefer a short timeskip to that. It'd get pretty tedious.

haha Robin's powerup is

a meeting with Dragon

>>10937
>I smell a time skip...and I'm ok with that

Fix'd

>>10937

I agree with
>>10938

It's called a transition. Look it up. You had to do them at some point in english class, and you know it. Stories need a transition at some point between events so that it will go smoothly. If there was no transition, they wouldn't get to the New World.

>I smell a time skip

What you're saying there is just ridiculous. This is clearly bridging a gap, as will the next couple chapters. Would you just prefer the gap to be even BIGGER and have the next chapter show them all already at the New World and powered up?

>>10938
I remember when it happened with Dragon Ball about seven times, spanning months or years...and they were just fine! If it happens in One Piece, it'll be a few weeks, at most months. But it won't be anything horrible.

I actually don't mind timeskips at all.

It's gonna be awesome once they all get back together. Jeez, how much more over-the-top can this series get?

It was great seeing the crew beginning to strive to master their own jobs. Im hoping Usopp becomes a stealthy survivalist kind of sniper, maybe even take up botany to create new forms of the seeds. I always wondered how the crew would improve on their jobs, I thought maybe they would gradually skill up, but im glad to see an actual attempt at them improving.

>>10949
I also love that their motivation for it is to BE THERE for Luffy. (As opposed to 'ohlol I need to be stronger for my personal gain') That's something that has been needed for quite a while now. To make Luffy realize that they can take care of him when he needs it. And he damn well needs it right now, so I don't imagine it will be long until they meet again.

I can't stop laughing at Brook and Franky. Goddamn, we haven't seen enough of them for me to figure out all their hilarious quirks, and they're only solitary, imagine how they'll be when they're back with the group.

Anyone notice Usopp's stuff is all sorta nature themed? Magic Conch shells, Flower power and his Kubuto launcher, his stuff is more practical applications of nature factors, or at least it seems that way to me.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-11/one-piece-59-sells-1.85-million-to-set-1st-week-record

In other news

  >>10949
>>10941
I find it interesting that, at this point, most of the "powerups" seem to be related to their roles in the crew rather than fighting. For instance, everyone thought Nami would be getting Clima-Tact upgrades from Weatheria. I don't think ANYONE predicted that her "powerup" would be simply becoming a better navigator.

>>10950
It's really showing how the crew has come together so much. This first came out when Zoro and Sanji both offered themselves to Kuma for Luffy. I feel if that situation was near the beginning of the series I don't think Zoro would have given up his dream that easy for Luffy. But now it shows that the whole crew is doing this for him, and he's probably training on something to protect them.

>>10956
You don't THINK? Zoro's stipulation for joining the crew was that Luffy put the importance of Zoro's dream above his own, and commit suicide if he infringed on that!

>>10955

Well, Nami becoming JUST a better navigator is debatable. We have no idea how that weather ball works, nor if it's technology can be replicated or miniaturized for her clima-tact. But she's certainly taking PRIORITY over just her natural skills as their weather expert and top shelf navigator, just as Usopp's taking priority as a survivalist and hunter rather than just becoming a warrior.

Yeah, seriously, Naruto's just timeskips done wrong. One Piece'll be fine.

>>10950
It's an interesting evolving theme. Luffy's always fought for his friends, but in Enies Lobby and Thriller Bark in particular he became more and more fixated on becoming stronger in order to protect them. However, he really let himself get beat up in the process, and everything fell apart when Kuma intervened. Now the "supporting characters" realize that they need to protect Luffy or else he'll get himself killed. You don't see a whole lot of that.

>>10944
Yeah, Dragon Ball did time skips on a regular basis and it never really hindered the story.

Man, Ussop gets more upgrades than any other strawhat. Keeping track of his fighting style is getting confusing. He's a sniper, but he also uses dials? And hammers? And he 'lies' people into submission? Plus he's a tank? And now he's using seeds?

I just hope the seeds don't replace cool things like shuriken shot and firebird star.

>>10960
Especially since at the beginning, things went down in the standard "fight the guy who has a similar rank as you, Luffy knocks the shit out of the Captain" way. But nowadays, Oda's been focusing more on team fights and "combo attacks!" and the importance of the whole crew acting as one (Thriller Bark, Strong World, even as early as Enies Lobby really). Luffy's still the captain of the bunch, but his crewmates aren't just supporting characters that'll take a step back in all of this.

-Franky continues being ridiculously awesome
-Usopp is becoming a real man!
-Robin playing the revolutionaries like a kettledrum, hell yeah

I for one welcome our new timeskip overlords.

Hell, I even like the Naruto timeskip on its own merits. It just had the rotten luck to come at a time when Kishimoto was going totally off the rails.

So I'm guessing the lightning rain was what the umbrellas were for.

>>10955
The thing is though is that since all of their fighting abilities tend to be closely related to what their jobs are, by improving their skills in those areas they're going to improve in the fighting abilities.

For example, Nami learning more about the weather, while definitely contributing to her navigation skills, will also probably allow her to further fine tune and create new techniques for the climatact. (This also helps keep her mage job going well, as she will finally learn some spells other than thunder and blink).

For Franky, its obvious that by learning vegapunk's tech, he'll be able to be a better shipwright since he'll use all the junk to upgrade Sunny, but since Franky is also all about technological weaponry he'll also be powered up.

I'm glad we're going to see more wacky weather in the New World, I'm just a sucker for that stuff because, fuck it, it's fantasy make cool shit happen.

If Usopp becomes an insane survivalist sniper, I can't shake the feeling that he'll end up as some sort of One Piece version of The End.

>>10965
He's a tool user-sniper, what exactly is so confusing for you?

>>10974
I want her to finally get a wizard hat. She's needed one ever since the climatact made her "weather witch" role so prominent.

>>10977
Yes.

>>10979
Plus chicks in witch hats are HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT.

There is NO good fanart of Witch Nami.

>>10983
This is a transgression most foul against all that is good in the world,
SOMEONE MUST RECTIFY THIS! SOON AS POSSIBLE!

>>10983
Please, someone prove this wrong. Think of the children!

>>10965
Usopp will always be the weakest of the Straw Hats when it comes to physical strength since otherwise it might upset the balance of the story. Oda also states that this is because Usopp is the closest in strength to a regular human compared to the others and thus this portrayal can be easily related by the reader's own strength.

Usopp and Nami, are, at least I find, the defining characters of how regular people would compete with a world of Monsters.

>>10962
There. . .really wasn't much to hinder.
>>10965
Sniper with Batman-style equipment.

>>10977
DO WANT

>>10965

Franky is pretty much the "Heavy" of the crew. Usopp should become more of a "Desert Punk" kind of fighter.

Anyone else wondering when the next mini-arc will start? Oda's really been stretching the "animal friends" covers.

>>10974
yeah I hope will be able to use New World weather as attacks eventually.
LIGHTING RAIN TEMPO!

also, my face when I realized that Brook's 45 degrees is actually his training and 40 degrees is the next step.

>>11020
Usopp already IS the Dessert Punk type fighter of the group.

>>11113
>Dessert Punk

I see what you did there.