Beatdowns in a Desert Town

Yeah, that trick requires doves, and those aren't quite the same as pigeons.

Volume 21 of One Piece covers chapters 187 through 195. This is set during the climax of the Albasta arc, where the Straw Hats are trying to help a princess save her country from a Warlord (essentially a World Government-sanctioned pirate) and his criminal organization. The Warlord's had the nation under drought for years, stoking unrest against the king, and now there's a civil war going on outside the palace.

But these chapters are concerned with three of the battles between the main cast and Baroque Works. Sanji's up against Mr. 2, a ballerina martial artist with the ability to assume the appearance of any person he's met. This ends up being an issue because Sanji won't hit women, so Mr. 2 can impersonate Sanji's crewmate Nami, and Sanji won't fight back. He does figure out a way to fight back eventually, though.

(This is still a hang-up for Sanji over 900 chapters later. Even when they were trying to rescue a crewmate from the World Government's espionage and assassination branch, he wouldn't fight a woman in that group when he ran up against her. He irritates the hell out of me.)

Nami, who normally leaves the fighting to the rest of the crew, finds herself up against Miss Doublefinger, one of the strongest members of Baroque Works. But Nami's got a new weapon Usopp made for her! That she has no idea how to use. Sanji's fight finds humor in he and Mr. 2 both being kind of idiots, when they aren't kicking the hell out of each other.

Nami's is in her panicked reactions to her weapon, and frustration with the fact Usopp packed a bunch of party tricks in it. Then maybe she should have given him some actual money for materials to build the damn thing. The rest of the time she's running for her life from her opponent, who can sprout spikes from anywhere she pleases, and trying to find her resolve to win this fight.

But I was mostly interested in the third fight, between Zoro and Mr. 1. Mr. 1 has the power to turn any part of his body into a cutting edge, and his entire body is as hard as steel. Including his eyes I assume. Point being, Zoro can't hurt him unless he can cut steel. Which he can't do. So that attack up there? It didn't do shit.

Zoro seems largely OK with this. He figures he's going to win, so this fight will teach him how to cut steel. Meaning he'll grow stronger. For such a normally stoic character, he has an oddly positive outlook on life. At least for him. His gain will be Mr. 1's loss, since, you know, getting cut open is typically bad for your health. But how's it working for Zoro?

Oof. Well if pain is weakness leaving the body, Zoro oughta be the strongest guy in that world by now.