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Episode 187 (WJ #29, 2001)
Dead Even
Kohza fights valiantly, covering for his bullet wound that he received back in Nanohana. He is planning to abduct a horse to get through the central section of town to get to the palace, and ask Cobra to surrender. Without listening to his friends who are trying to talk sense into him, Kohza runs off. Meanwhile, Vivi has arrived at the northern sector and is momentarily stopped by the Imperial guards. When the guards realize that it's Vivi, she demands to see Chaka. Now, going to Polka Street in the southern sector, we have Mr.2 Bon Clay versus Sanji going on. Both Mr.2 and Sanji's kicking skills are even with one another: they block the other's attacks or fight back with the same level attack. Mr.2 tries a "montage of funny body parts" to make Sanji laugh and get off guard, but Sanji replies that over 90% of the montage was his own (strangely enough, the nose was Usopp's)... Sanji says that he doesn't fall for whatever person Mr.2 shapeshifts into, but he's rather obviously taken when Mr.2 shapeshifts into Nami... Back at Alubarna Palace, Chaka is asking if Vivi has gone insane -- because she is saying that the kingdom is made of the people, and to catch all of their attention, she will have the palace BLOWN UP...
Episode 188 (WJ #30, 2001)
Gay Martial Arts
While the army thinks Vivi is nuts, Chaka remember's Cobra's words -- "Listen up, people are their kingdoms" -- and agrees to Vivi's plan. Mr.2 laughs as Sanji falls to his tactics of shapeshifting into Nami. Just as our queer man is about to deliver the final blow, Sanji sees a way out: right when Mr.2 attacks, he needs to revert to his own face! Mr.2 says that it won't help Sanji any and continues his barrage of quick-but-deadly kick attacks; Sanji evades the blow in a way that Mr.2's foot gets stuck in a wall, then proceeds to kick. Mr.2 shapeshifts into Nami, but Sanji tricks him into reverting to his face, and lands a nice big kick.
Episode 189 (WJ #31, 2001)
2
Sanji's barrage of kicks continue to attack and knock out Mr.2. Mr.2, now unable to move, declares Sanji the winner and asks him to finish him off. Sanji holds out a hand, saying that it was a good match and there were no more words needed than that; while Mr.2 is basking in the glory of a new friendship with a rival, Sanji delivers the final blow and takes Usopp's goggles back from Mr.2.
WINNER - Sanji / REWARD - a small friendship.
Back at the palace, the army is getting all the gunpowder they can find. Vivi apologizes to Chaka for everything she's done, including running away from the country to be an undercover agent. She holds back tears for her new friends in the Luffy fleet; Chaka says that Vivi has matured much in her 2 years away from home and that when the war is over he would like to greet Luffy and company for a big feast. Just then, Crocodile appears at the scene, saying that since the palace was going to be HIS home, he didn't want it destroyed... Meanwhile, at Medi Conference Hall in the northern sector, Zoro is looking around for Nammi, who is being chased by Mr.1 and Miss Doublefinger, who are saying "attack the weak first"...
Episode 190 (WJ #32, 2001)
Clima-Tact
Nami realizes that she has to fight... but thinks it impossible and continues to make a run for it. However, Mr.1 manages to grab a hold of her -- the only way she escaped that one was thanks to Zoro. The large pillar behind them crumbles; Nami wonders when it broke, but Zoro replies that he heard a cutting noise and attacks Mr.1 -- Mr.1 has eaten the SliceSlice (spa-spa) Fruit, and basically is the Gilette Man(tm) with razors all over his body. Mr.1 realizes that Zoro is the one that slew the 100 agents at Whiskey Peak, and was also the one that defeated Mr.7 a few years ago when they recruited him. Zoro replies that he said then and still says now, "I'll join you guys as long as you make me the boss." As Zoro gets ready to fight Mr.1, Nami runs away.... and Miss Doublefinger is on the sexy walk after her. Nami in hiding remembers that she got her weapon "upgraded" by Usopp. As she pulls them out, Miss Doublefinger stabs her with thorns. Miss Doublefinger has eaten the ThornThorn (toge-toge) Fruit, and can create her own set of spikes. Nami uses the new weapon, called the Clima-Tact, but all she can do are magic tricks.....
Episode 191 (WJ #33, 2001)
The Woman that Controls the Weather
All Nami can do is to evade all of Miss Doublefinger's attacks while she looks for an effective attack via Usopp's instruction manual. She barely manages to hide in a building by throwing the thorn-woman via her cape. As Nami continues to read the directions, she is getting closer and closer to being stabbed.... The three parts can blow hot air, cold air, and a miniature thunderbolt (Heat Ball, Cool Ball, and Thunder Ball); what Usopp didn't realize was that the (hot air + cold air = miniature cyclone) equation is more powerful than meets the eye. Nami uses this cyclone to blow away Miss Doublefinger to buy more time. While reading the instructions for "tordano tempo", the last attack, Nami is stabbed in the head and heart -- but wait, it's an illusion created from extremely cold air. Nami announces that she has finally understood how to use the Clima-Tact...
Episode 192 (WJ #34, 2001)
Cyclone Warning
At the southeast gate of Alubarna, Sanji rejoins Usopp and Chopper. He sees the second wave of the rebel army approaching the city, and with the appearance of the camel, the foursome heads over to the palace to attempt to come to Vivi's aid. The Imperial army realizes that Crocodile really was trying to take over Alabasta, and tries to storm the palace... but gets easily tossed back by Miss All-Sunday (and her 16 arms that grow out of the gate door). At the palace, Cobra apologizes to his daughter for not being able to fully utilize the opportunity to save the country that she had created. Crocodile tells Vivi that Luffy is dead, but she refuses to believe him. Crocodile continues that he has no intent to spare the lives of Cobra or Vivi ("When a kingdom falls to ruin, it's the course of nature that the royal family falls to ruin along with it.").... and demands one question from Cobra. The question, "Where is <PLUTON>?" supposedly is the biggest reason why Crocodile was taking over the country. Vivi stands clueless, Miss All-Sunday stands quietly, Chaka is startled, and Cobra asks where Crocodile heard of it. Back to the battle at hand, Nami narrowly escapes yet another pinning from Miss Doublefinger. Miss Doublefinger gets a hold of the Thunder Tact, and claims that such a toy can't kill her. Nami slaps the Thunder Tact back in her hands, and thinks of a way to use the arid conditions of Alabasta. Wishing for a little humidity, she thinks of someting and uses Rain Tempo: Sprinkler to spray water about. Miss Doublefinger, seeing this, gets "sick" of it all and proceeds to attempt to stab Nami to death. While Miss Doublefinger missed and ran through the wall, Nami blows many small pockets of hot air with the Heat Ball -- and the hot air takes the sprinkled water up to the atmosphere. Miss Doublefinger pokes herself to get macho (ThornThorn Doping) and then uses her arms as flails. Nami sees a small cloud in the air as a result of her hard work, but has sacrificed her legs which got slightly crushed under the falling rubble of the attack. As Miss Doublefinger gets ready for the final blow, Nami sends over one Thunder Ball to the cloud she created -- the resulting Thunderball Tempo strikes Miss Doublefinger. The irate Miss Doublefinger stabs Nami on her head, neck, and heart -- but once again, it was just a mirage... and Nami warns her opponent of tornadoes.
Episode 193 (WJ #35, 2001)
Eutopia
Miss Doublefinger sees through Nami's lack of mobility and strikes with a Sea Urchin Stinger. Nami stops the blow... with her injured left foot, claiming that compared to HER pain, "one or two or three legs is NOTHING!" Using this as her moment to strike, Nami unleashes Tornado Tempo... where two little mechanical pigeons pop out of the Clima-Tact. But, the little pigeons quickly get entwined around Miss Doublefinger, and the force of the building tornado blows her away. After running through a few walls, Miss Doublefinger is knocked out (as well as the mechanical pigeons).
WINNER - Nami.
Back at the palace, Crocodile explains us what we've been wanting to hear the entire week.
<Pluton> is the worst of ancient weapons, dubbed God, that can blow away an entire island with one shot. Crocodile continues that the entire purpose he came to Alabasta was for the Pluton -- with it, he can create a kingdom of martial law, then pull in pirates from the surrounding area to grow in number then wage war against the government (remember that he currently works for the government as a member of the Seven Armed Seas), and Pluton is necessary to go against the government forces. Cobra replies that he has no idea where Pluton is, nor even whether or not it really exists. Crocodile replies that in either case, the palace courtyard was going to get blown up at 4:00pm ("30 minutes from now") with a bomb that can clear away anything in its 5km (~3mi) blast diameter... but in about 20 minutes, the rebel army was going to reach the palace! Crocodile asks Cobra another question: "Where is the location in which the Poneglyph ('Actual Text of History') is marked on?" Sensing what Crocodile was up to, Cobra decides to guide Crocodile there. However, Chaka can't hold back his anger anymore... And back in the northern sector, on the street in front of the Medi Conference Hall, Zoro's battle against Mr.1 continues... and Zoro's "Bull Needles (ushi-bari) does no good. Because Mr.1's body is as hard as steel, Zoro can't win unless he can cut slteel. Zoro muses that while he can't win now because he can't cut steel, he is thankful for this opportunity. Mr.1 is confused; Zoro explains that he was waiting to be in such a crisis so that he can become stronger... and smiles, saying that he will be able to slice through metal when he wins.
Episode 194 (WJ #36/37, 2001)
Cutting Steel
Mr.1 boasts that he has not gotten one scratch since he has eaten his devil fruit, but Zoro replies that was because they have never met. Each wonders how many minutes the other swordsman will last, and promptly enters a mad flurry of blades against blades. Zoro's Oni-giri and Tora-gari leave no marks, which slightly shocks him a a bit. Upon Zoro commenting that he's never experienced someone getting up after such a barrage, Mr.1 returns Zoro's previous words -- saying that it's because they have never met. The swordfight continues on. Zoro manages to avoid a direct hit of Mr.1's Sparkling Daisy, but the force of the attack sliced through the building behind them, and the force sent Zoro flying into the building and therefore under a heap of rubble. Under the rubble, Zoro wonders what he is lacking to become stronger, and remembers his old master(Kuina's father)'s words....
Listen up. There are swordsmen that can manage to not cut a single thing....
But, that swordsman can cut even steel..... with the same sword.
The strongest sword... is the sword that protects what he wants to protect, and cuts what he
wants to cut.
I don't think that a sword that harms everything it touches.... is a sword.
As Mr.1 tells Zoro to hurry up and put even a small cut on him, Zoro comes out of the rubble (hoisting a huge portion of the building), saying that the time that he cuts steel is when Mr.1 bites the dust. Mr.1 poises to hack though everything to little bits, while Zoro contemplates on the sword that doesn't cut through anything...
Episode 195 (WJ #38, 2001)
Mr. Bushido
Zoro still doesn't understand the concept of not cutting anything yet being able to slice through steel. Zoro and Mr.1's furious swordfight continues in the meanwhile... with little success on Zoro's end. Mr.1 muses that Zoro shouldn't think of him as a swordsman because he has many weapons to slice our green-headed guy to bits. Zoro asks Mr.1 what he is if he isn't a swordsman; the reply: "An assassin." Zoro, in countering the drill-bit arms of Mr.1's Spiral Hollow, he sees sparks; and just when he's about to pull back, Mr.1 lands the spiral arm into Zoro's front end. The second spiral arm lands into Zoro's gut, and he is thrown back to a pillar in the center of the street (which is holding up a walkway) -- saying that misreading t he situation for even an instant results in death. Walking over to the fallen Zoro, Mr.1 notices he is still alive -- while Zoro is trying to get up, not wanting to show his back to his opponent. Mr.1's next attack, Spur Break, lands over the last wound, anthe pillar starts to fall. While zoro muses that he is having bad luck with stones today, the huge stone rubble falls atop him. Mr.1 starts to walk away, but turns around after a while -- to see Zoro standing. Mr.1 asks Zoro how he can stand after all the damage, and moreover how he evaded all those falling rocks. Zoro thinks -- he didn't evade the rocks, but he knew where the rocks would fall. He could also sense exactly which rock where one of his swords was buried under. Mr.1 has no idea what is going on... Zoro continues to think: he's felt this calmness before where he hears his heartbeat tremendously loudly, and that it may be because he is so close to death.
I felt something like... a living thing from those falling rocks...
No, not a feeling.... it was clearer than that... it was just like it was....
"breathing"....
A stone's breath....
Trees have their own breath...
And dirt has its own as well...
!
Can this be what he meant...?
Zoro comes to the concluding question: is the power to cut steel to know the "breaths" of the steel to cut? ... Meanwhile, Mr.1 demands an explanation from Zoro of what he did. Zoro can now hear Mr.1's steel body "breathing", and feels his will flowing into his sword. As a result, he is able to leave trees unharmed yet can slice easily through a rock. Now the only question is: is Zoro skilled enough to slice through steel? Mr.1 slides in on something like ice skates to deliver his final blow, but is instead delivered a blow by Zoro's new quick-draw attack. Zoro thanks Mr.1 for showing him the way to become a stronger swordsman.
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