Episode 1100 of the ONE PIECE anime was released on Sunday, and we got another incredible treat for Luffy’s rematch against Rob Lucci. The episode started right where we left off, with Akainu being surprised that the Straw Hats are on Egghead and their plan to assassinate Vegapunk having failed before it even started. He decides to order Cipher Poll not to engage Straw Hat, but we all knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Shifting back to Egghead, Luffy is mad about Atlas and already about to start fighting Lucci. Despite both of them knowing they ‘shouldn’t’ fight each other there and then, they are also both fully aware it’s happening, and we quickly get treated to their rematch. Right at the start, we get a fun throwback to the iconic fist exchange from their first fight back in Enies Lobby.
Shortly after, Lucci asks Luffy about his wanted poster. Luffy answers his curiosity in what turns out to be an incredible Gear 5 transformation. Both the soundtrack and visuals were particularly amazing for this scene, and the way the theme song stopped playing as Luffy lunged at Lucci had me chilled.
ONE PIECE episode 1100 had Nozomu Shishido in charge of the storyboard and direction, Keita Saito, Hirotaka Ito and Hiroyasu Oda as animation directors, with Tanaka Midori as the art director. In addition, it had several of the big name animators whose work most ONE PIECE fans know and love, such as Akihiro Ota and Vincent Chansard. The below is one of the sequences animated by Akihiro Ota:
We get a lot more eye fan-service for Luffy’s messing around in Gear 5, but Rob Lucci also gets some love. We learn that he also awakened his fruit, and he makes for a cool fight against the Straw Hat captain. Vegapunk learns that Luffy is Nika/Joyboy and again talks about destiny. The rest of the Straw Hats also hear his speech about it, and he tells them there is no such fruit as the Gum-Gum Fruit in the old records. If there is one thing that has consistently bothered me a bit in this arc, it’s the reactions the Straw Hats have to every piece of information they get. I feel like they over-react and are overly surprised by things, as well as that they over explain things in other instances.
It’s not too major, just something that seems to be the norm recently. I can understand the anime is close to the manga and that they can’t just add time with big animation for fights, but I still feel like additions like these make the other Straw Hats seem kind of childified to the point where they need everything drawn to them. These are additions to the anime, and you can read chapter 1069 of the manga to see the differences (they are still surprised there, I just found it way less highlighted).
Going back, Vegapunk explains that the name Nika has been erased from history, and there was no way they could have heard it before as we see more of Luffy’s goofy transformations. He seems to be messing around as usual in this form, and it’s clear Lucci doesn’t have a real chance of winning. Sentomaru also joins the fight and is told by Vegapunk that the Straw Hats are their allies now. Meanwhile, the rest of the CP0 realizes their authority is below Sentomaru’s and are stumped about how to deal with the new Seraphims. Luckily for them, Lucci seems to have solved that problem.
ONE PIECE anime will have a recap episode recounting the first clash between the Straw Hats and CP this Sunday, with episode 1101 set to premiere on April 21. The ONE PIECE manga will return from its 3-week hiatus and release chapter 1112 on the same day. You can watch the anime on Crunchyroll, while you can catch up to the latest manga chapter for free on either the VIZ website or the MANGA Plus website.
ONE PIECE episode 1100 is now streaming on Crunchyroll, with Netflix set to stream the episode from April 14. You can vote for the anime in our Spring 2024 weekly polls.
Images via Crunchyroll
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha / Toei Animation