I picked up several of those 3-in-1 manga volumes for One Piece last year, so expect the Monday manga reviews to be focused on that for a while, starting now. Volume 34 is a transition volume, as Eiichiro Oda concludes the Davy Back Fight Arc with the tail end of Luffy's fight with the rival captain of the Foxy Pirates. At stake is the freedom of Luffy's crew. If he loses, they're absorbed into the Foxy Pirates and the manga's probably over.
He doesn't lose, naturally, and the Foxy Pirates are sent off with no loss in crew, only pride. Luffy takes their flag, and replaces the Jolly Roger on the main sail with his own design. (P.S. Luffy is a terrible artist.)
Before departing the island, the Straw Hats run afoul of the asshole in the panel at the top. Aokiji first claims he's not planning to bother the pirates, then, after helping out a friend they'd made, changes his mind. Specifically, he targets Nico Robin, the most recent addition to the crew, and the one whose past Oda had only hinted at. Luffy challenges Aokiji (who has power over ice, versus Luffy being rubber) and loses. The admiral lets the crew live because he agreed to settle it between just the two of them, but also declines to take Luffy's life.
I really can't figure Aokiji out. I know the backstory about him letting Robin live 20 years earlier, but it's not like the guy brought a division with him. He's there alone; no one to say anything if he just let them leave like he originally planned. So why change his mind and hassle them, defeat the captain, then let them go anyway? (Answer: presumably to test Robin, whether this is just another bunch of suckers she's manipulating, but it's a stupid way to go about it. But even the generally competent Navy characters are either nuts or stupid.)
That concluded for now, Oda moves along to the next locale, Water Seven. A city that looks like a giant fountain, and is apparently based on Venice. The remainder of the volume is mostly setting the table, introducing setting, character, and concepts that will become relevant later. There's a "Sea Train", which is literally a locomotive that runs on rails through the ocean. There's a big shipbuilding company, Galley-La, run by the mayor of the city. No emoluments clause in Water Seven, apparently. The shipwrights are tough customers in their own right, and there's a crew of goofballs called the Franky Family, that seem to commit all sorts of crimes, from robbery to bounty hunting. Pity they tried to start with Zoro.
The two primary threads started are, first, the Straw Hats want to get their ship repaired, but it's too late. This is meant to be a sad affair, but given Luffy's consistent reckless disregard for the Going Merry's well-being, it's difficult for me to read it as anything other than a child breaking their favorite toy, then pitching a fit about it. That's me as a person who tries damn hard to take care of his stuff. Second, only barely hinted, is some mysterious group that approaches Robin on the streets of Water Seven. What a "CP9" is, won't be revealed for a while yet.
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