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One Piece Chapter 1188 Review/Recap

This is it, the moment we’ve been waiting for: Luffy vs Imu! The second coming of Joy Boy vs the Devil who rules the world from the shadows! Ever since we learned about his existence, I have been waiting for the day where Luffy beats the monster responsible for much of the suffering in the world into the ground. However, I’m not an idiot. I know how things tend to play out in Shonen manga, and that Luffy is fighting an uphill battle against an opponent that’s far stronger than him. What that means is that this chapter is basically a repeat of Luffy’s infamous first bout against Crocodile all the way back in Alabasta, complete with the same outcome.

Recap

As Imu seems to remember the day that he first met Joy Boy, he acknowledges that that man is long dead. However, he still insists that Luffy is stirring up those old memories of his as the two begin their battle. The two begin to trade blows as they unleash the full extent of their powers, with Imu blocking all of Luffy’s hits, while Luffy dodges Imu’s in the most comedic fashion possible. Then, Luffy turns into a giant Genie and says he’s not going to let Loki die for nothing!

FYI, Loki is still alive, and while Brook and the others are looking after Shuri, Jinbei is protecting him and Ragnir, much to the squirrel’s joy. As the king of the world and embodiment of freedom continue to clash, Imu unleashes a technique called the Wailing Sword. This weapon apparently drains the life out of the trees, robbing Luffy of his ability to hide while also powering up Imu. As a result, Imu is able to gain the upper hand on Luffy, who he says that Joy Boy would be nowhere near as weak as him as he proceeds to impale him on his sword!!

Review

Oh, crud. This is bad, you guys. Really, really bad. The last time I saw Luffy in this rough a shape was in the fight with Kaido. But I think that a more appropriate comparison might be to Luffy’s first fight with Crocodile back in Alabasta. As someone on YouTube pointed out, this fight pretty much mirrors how that battle went down. Luffy was going all out on the silliness in an attempt to gain the upper hand, only to get absolutely pulverized by his opponent. The impalement only makes things worse.

Now, I knew that Luffy was going to be fighting an uphill battle against Imu, and he was probably going to get his ass beaten pretty badly at first. However, I didn’t think that the gap between them would be this wide! What makes things worse is that Luffy doesn’t have the time he needs to come up with a clever plan to one-up Imu. If he’s going to want to win, then he needs to push himself harder than ever. He’s strong, but by Imu’s own admission, he’s not yet at the same level as Joy Boy. That has led many fans to speculate that Luffy will get another power-up in the near future in the form of another Gear, or he will perfect Gear Five even further in order to win.

Now, I know a lot of people are freaking out and worrying that all hope is lost. However, I am not too worried. Do you know how many times we’ve seen Luffy get his ass handed to him over the course of the series? A lot. He’s not going to die that easily, and we all know it. So until I see his heart stop beating, I won’t even entertain the idea that Luffy might be dead, and neither should anyone else. We may have to wait two weeks to see how things turn out, but Luffy isn’t going to die that easily. Have some faith, people!

I Give “Wailing Void” a 4/5

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