Good Whale Hunting
Episode 2 of One Piece season 2 starts right at the foot of Reverse Mountain. This waterway is the best option for the crew to make it onto the Grand Line. However, if they don't hit it at the right angle, they could actually crash completely and potentially die. No pressure then!
The group travel through, and there are a ton of shipwrecks to navigate around. Thankfully, Luffy's Gum Gum Powers helps to steer them while Usopp does what he can too. It's touch and go for a while but they make it through the most perilous part… and start into a whale's mouth.
When Luffy awakens, he finds himself on a strange island with the whale smashing its head against the cliffside nearby. Sporting nasty scars all over its skull, it seems entranced in its job here. Luffy is soon joined by a man called Crocus though, who helps Luffy. He tranquillises the whale, Laboon, but Luffy isn't going anywhere until he gets his crew back.
The rest of the Straw Hats find themselves inside Laboon's belly but they're confident that Luffy will help get them out. Still, it doesn't stop them from scouting the area first. In their search, Sanji and Usopp run into a strange guy with a crown. It's Mr 9! It seems he's not alone and it doesn't take long for the companion to show, Miss Wednesday.
Over in Loguetown, Tashigi and Captain Smoker report to Garp. He's actually en-route to Marineford Headquarters but he stopped by to check up on them.
He speaks to Smoker about the current situation in Alabasta, which is on the verge of being plunged into a civil war. The princess has disappeared too and it could (spoiler: it does) have something to do with Baroque Works.
For now though, Shells Town has been left a massacre, and Garp wants Smoker to capture the Baroque Works operatives alive so they can question them about this. The group obviously all use codenames, as we know, but their leader is the secretive Mr Zero – Sir Crocodile.
Smoker wants to go after Luffy into the Grand Line, but Garp thinks they won't survive the voyage in. Instead, Smoker is being redirected to Alabasta, in a bid to stop the Revolutionary Army from gaining supporters and overthrowing the World Government.
Back outside Reverse Mountain, Crocus agrees to help Luffy and explains more about Laboon's past. He was friends with a pirate crew called the Rumbar pirates. When they set off for the Grand Line initially, they had to leave Laboon behind but vowed to come back for him.
All this time, Laboon has been waiting for them. He bashes his skull against the rock repeatedly in a bid to try and break through the Red Line, but it's obviously futile. If he keeps at it, Laboon could kill himself.
Since that time, Crocus has remained behind as a caretaker to try and help Laboon and any fellow pirate crews that pop up. Luffy knows that Crocus is a good guy and sets out to help them.
While Luffy and Crocus work together to help, the Straw Hats begrudgingly agree to work with Miss Wednesday and Mr 9 to find a way out.
Luffy heads over to speak to Laboon personally while this is happening. He sings to the big whale and offers him a new piece of hope to cling to. It works, and Luffy paints a big jolly roger logo on Laboon's skull, telling the whale not to bash his head anymore and wait for them to return.
Meanwhile, Nami is starting to lose faith, especially after Miss Wednesday earlier mentioned needing a Log Pose to navigate the Grand Line. Crocus explains to her though that a Log Pose is quite simple in theory. It measures the magnetic field between islands and after spending some time there, it'll reset and allow them to move on to the next.
However, the timing can differ depending on the island they step on. For now though, Crocus agrees to help them out, while Tashigi decides to tag along with Captain Smoker too.
The Episode Review
Laboon's chapter is one of the better elements of the early parts of the manga, and the show does a really good job of capturing that, although both the manga and anime are way better at expressing the emotion around this storyline. Whether it be by pacing or the general worldbuilding around the inside of Laboon, the live action story is the weakest of the trio.
Now that the group have made it into the Grand Line, it'll be interesting to see what islands they end up to next – and whether it follows the source material entirely. One Piece fans though will obviously know precisely where this one's going!
The story is progressing nicely now, although I do have to question the inclusion of the Rumbar Pirate flashback this early. It's obviously a big spoiler toward the emotional pay-off with this later in the manga so hopefully the show doesn't spoil that too much going forward.
Episode Rating
3
Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
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