One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

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Today, One Piece returns to its usual forte. Basically, a whole chapter that’s a long action sequence. (In fact, this and the next chapter seem to form a contiguous single action sequence. That in mind, it’s really more like half of one.)

We open on an unenviable situation; Usopp and Nami, easily the least combat-capable of our protagonists, are forced to stand alone against the Black Cat Pirates, who, after some banter, promptly charge.

Surprisingly though, they manage to fend the pirates off, at least for a little while, with a combination of caltrops(!) and Usopp’s slingshot(?!?!). Also, hijinks continue to occur.

^{“My work here is done.” “But you didn’t do anything!”}

And I’d be remiss to not at least briefly touch on Luffy being lost for about half the chapter.

The real centerpiece of the chapter though comes when Usopp gets his head knocked in. He’s clearly hurt pretty bad, but he still doesn’t just let Captain Kuro’s crew walk all over him. It’s a bit of the old burning justice that keeps him hanging on, and it’s nice to see him trying an honest stab at being genuinely heroic.

But, of course, the real capable hands arrive just as Django’s lot push their way past Usopp and Nami. Meaning that the conclusion of this particular fight is a concern for tomorrow.

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