One Piece, 792-794

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Thank you very much to Florian for commissioning this episode! 
These three eps are seriously so much fun and so compelling. I cannot wait to see more, and I hope we never leave this wonderful haunted candy place. 
Thanks so much to you all for listening, and I will see you soon with a new episode!
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is an Unspoiled Network podcast. This is spoil Me,
covering one Piece episodes seven ninety two and through seven
ninety four, Mom's assassin Loofy and the Seducing Woods, a
seafaring Kingdom, German's King Judge, and a battle between father

(00:27):
and son Judge versus Soanjy in these episodes, I don't know, guys,
I kind of feel like this might be my favorite
arc so far. And I've been saying that a lot,
which I think is a really great sign. But like
I'm serious, though, I think this might be my favorite

(00:49):
arc so far. Welcome to spoil Me, Welcome to the

(01:12):
show everyone. I am Natasha. Thank you very much to
Florian for commissioning this episode, and thank you to Saraphim,
who is in the chat. You guys, I you know
the thing that I often bring up in terms of

(01:32):
how I decide my level of interest. It's not even
exactly like I when I say I decide my level
of interest. That makes it sound like it's more of
a conscious thing. What I actually mean is when I
am looking in my rear view mirror and trying to

(01:55):
gauge how much I was into something at the time,
I often will go by how many times did I
look at my phone or how much attention was I paying,
And like, you know, this being my job, I would love,

(02:16):
I would love to be able to say I always
pay full attention, I'm always on it, I'm always interested,
and even if I don't enjoy it, my whole self
is fully attentive and involved. But like, let's all be

(02:38):
very real, that's just not true. There are times where
the pacing or the story or a million other details
will lead to me either spacing out without realizing that
I'm spacing out, or disengaging purpose because something is like

(03:01):
really kind of ichy and I don't like it. This
is one of those times where I was just genuinely
found this whole trio of episode so compelling that I
was like on my shit the whole time as I
was watching, I just kept being like, oh shit, oh shit,

(03:22):
And each new development was very fun and made sense
and was like in keeping with the you know, vibe
and esthetic that has been working for me this whole time.
And I've got to say, guys, like you know I
have and I stand by it. I have talked some

(03:44):
shit about Big Mom's overall character design which again I
think is completely fair. But what it's beginning to look
like is going on with her power is wild and
I am really really interested because I thought that I

(04:10):
kind of had an idea what she was going to
be like. And the more that I'm looking around, getting
to see the characters surrounding her, the people working for her,
and some of the weirdness about the setting, the more
I'm realizing, like, oh, I wasn't fully understanding her deal,

(04:32):
And there is something wonderful about the upbeat, exciting, happy
aesthetic with the sinister undertones that can be This isn't
an unusual approach, right, having that kind of aesthetic matched

(04:56):
with a villain. We've seen it done. But what I
argue is that oftentimes when we see it done, that happy,
cheery esthetic actually is creepy. We pretend that it's happy
cheery because we're playing into clearly what's supposed to be

(05:19):
the camouflage for the purpose of the plot. But usually
as an outside viewer, you'll look at an item that's
supposed to be cutesy and it will have an edge
to it that you're like, no, no, you should be
able to see that that's creepy. That's not cute, that's upsetting,
and it makes it difficult because I know, were I

(05:41):
in the shoes of the character, I would be put
off by it. I would be I would feel like
it's foreshadowing. But in this everything does genuinely look cheery
and happy. It doesn't have that like Tim Burton kind
of twisted edge to it where things are a little distorted,

(06:04):
not until stuff starts like moving around and revealing itself,
and even then even then not really, it's still very
wholesome looking, and it's just the music and the lyrics
that give away, no, this is very bad, you know.
It's just there is a certain commitment to the bit

(06:25):
that I really like, and I feel like we don't
get enough because a lot of the whole like, oh,
it's a cutesy aesthetic but actually evil. It's done by
people who are being like a little hot topic with it,
like there's almost like an edge loordy vibe. And this,

(06:45):
for me, is what I have wanted for a while
is do it sincerely, do it genuinely really cutesy, without
any nods or winks or anything. And it's so much
creepier to me. It makes it so much more unnerving

(07:07):
when this place that looks like heaven turns around and
starts singing about playing murder games, like, I mean, this
is hitting. I love this so much. Seraphim's in the
chat and says, yeah, big Mom really does just like
things to be bright and happy and cheery. She's just
also a merciless, psychopathic will murder your entire family for

(07:29):
the slightest reason. Yeah, and you know what, This is
how I imagine where I had to go supervillain. This is
how I would be. I would also want things to
have a certain look. It would be beautiful. It would
not be I'm giving away my bits of madness in
my no, no, no, because then how do you lure

(07:50):
people in. Again, there's a suspension of disbelief as you're
watching a character in something be like, oh, that's cute
about a flower with a face on it that clearly
wants to bite them in the neck and suck their blood.
You just have to be like, Okay, I guess in
their universe that isn't utterly freaky looking. I guess here,

(08:13):
everybody who falls for it, it's understandable, I get it.
It makes sense. Everybody is being fooled because it's actual,
real camouflage, and so I can respect all of my
characters getting tricked, you know. And that's really part of
it as well, is that you don't want to feel

(08:34):
like you have to suspend your disbelief on the intelligence
of the characters you're watching, and sometimes you do kind
of feel like you have to do that if they
get tricked by a thing. So, all right, we're gonna
start off with episode seven ninety two, Mom's Assassin, and Guys,
I'll be real. When I first began this trio of episodes,

(08:56):
this one started and I did the you know, skip
the intro no this episode, I listened to the whole
intro song because I really like yes we can as
an intro song, even though it does sound like they're
saying yes we go at the end. But when it
starts up the uh the title card and it says

(09:19):
Mom's Assassin, I was a little annoyed because you guys
have warned me about the title cards before, and I've
been mostly really good about not reading them or listening,
but I was caught off guard this time and when
it said Mom's Assassin, when I tell you, I was like, oh,

(09:42):
oh my god, duh, I didn't even think of that.
I felt so silly, like I knew something was up.
And we even have in a previous episode when she's
doing her whole evil villain song, Big Mom says like
lufy and coming for you, or Loofy, I've got my
eye on you know, I'm ready for you, something like that.

(10:04):
She knows he's coming their way, She's ready and she
says so. But it still didn't occur to me that
whatever was going on here with him having a double
was part of a plan. I was thinking, this is
Loofy wandering into an area that has a naturally occurring

(10:25):
like trickster creature. I didn't think it was going to
be something that was related directly to Big Mom. So yeah,
it was just sort of it was surprising because I
just really was I felt very silly for not clocking that,
and so the title card, it was simultaneously me being

(10:48):
annoyed at getting spoiled, like allowing that to happen, but
then you know, also being like, oh, that really shouldn't
even be a spoiler. I should have known that. So anyway,
the main thing that we're getting in terms of this

(11:09):
episode's like when we're with Loofy. When we're with Loofy's group,
I'll say not specifically just Loofy, because they've gotten split
up here. But what we find out is that all
of the trees and flowers, baked goods that are also landmarks,

(11:32):
all of them can move. And so the crew other
than Lufy is out here chasing after what they thought
was Sanjy and they get lost, and they cannot figure out,
for the life of them how they could have gotten lost,
because this does not seem like a difficult route to navigate.

(11:54):
And Nami is looking at her log pose and it's
that bracelet that's got three of them on there, so
she's like, well, you know, I'll be able to find
my way back with this. But when she looks at it,
it's going bonkers. All of the little, you know, compass
needles so to speak, are all over the place, and
she's sort of like, that's weird, but also I don't

(12:19):
really need this, because it's like, you know, we just
went down a path. It's fine. So she doesn't let
that serve as any sort of warning, and I'm not
blaming her. I wouldn't either, I don't think. But as
we see a bit later, it's a symptom of a
larger problem, because the reason it's going bonkers is due

(12:43):
to the fact that they are being purposely misled here,
and so any method of navigation is cut off. And
I really want to know how they are able to
do this with a log post. If it's just, you know,
as simple as magic. You know it may be, but

(13:06):
suffice to say, I'm just the whole thing where they're
running after. Soanjy. Eventually Nam kind of comes to her
senses and it is like, guys, look, this doesn't really
make any sense when you stop and think about it.
Why would Sonji be running away? And if he saw us,

(13:31):
why wouldn't he say a word? Why would he just
stand there and look at us? It just doesn't seem
like this is probably Actually Sonjy doesn't and they don't
really argue with her. I kind of thought this might
go on longer than it does, and I'm relieved that

(13:52):
it doesn't. They, like both Carrot and Chopper kind of
stop and go yeah, oh, okay, no, I guess you're right.
It doesn't make a lot of sense, and they decide
that they're going to turn back and see Loofy, who
is still fighting the copy of himself. Now there comes

(14:14):
a point where this copy decides that it is going
to step in and mislead Nami and the rest, and
Lufy tries to yell out and warn them because they're,
you know, walking away with it. But so this thing
is able to talk, and this was something that confused

(14:34):
me a little bit. Guys, If this fake Lufy is
able to talk, why didn't the Sanji talk? Because that
would make it a lot more convincing if you're trying
to lead them into a trap. Just have soany actually
speak to them and tell them, hey, guys, you know,

(14:55):
come with me. It imitates Lufy's voice, really can incingly.
It sounds exactly like him. So I don't know if
it's like those copies are projections and illusions. And then
this loofy copy is the actual witch herself, and I'm
calling her a witch for the record. I it's so funny, guys,

(15:18):
because like I'm clocking some things, like a little bit.
Clocking is the wrong word. When I use that word.
What I mean is that I suspect consciously what's coming.
And that's not true at all. I am making certain
connections mentally that I don't realize as I'm making them.

(15:41):
That's the point, and that's what Oda's doing. So, like,
you know, when we're looking at all of this candy
and chocolate out and we're talking about how like that
wouldn't be so great in the real world, I'm thinking
to myself, that's how you get ants, and then we
have like the battalion of ants coming at them. Well,
last episode, I'm looking at this like whole forest full
of candy and thinking this is reminding me of Hansel

(16:04):
and Gretel and how it's all allure to get these
little children. Hello, it's a fucking lure. Like, does that
occur to me that this is what's happening here? It doesn't,
But you know why because we already went to the
other island that's made of chocolate, and it wasn't allure,
that was just what the town was like. So it's
set up quite well. I think if they had come

(16:27):
across this place before we had gone to the chocolate island,
I would have very much been like, don't eating these things, guys,
don't touch it. It's obviously some kind of trap, some
kind of trick. I would have been much more on
my guard. But because we already had a place where
they were able to literally eat a cafe and it

(16:47):
was fine. Well it wasn't fine, but it wound up
being fine. I have been like lulled into a false
sense of security that like anywhere you go everything is
fine to eat, everybody's got the same attitude about it, which,
like we know is unlikely due to how many different

(17:08):
islands there are and the people like each of them
has their own like minister and their own uh product
that they produce apparently, so like I shouldn't know that
not everything functions the same way, but uh yeah, this
is like once we see this lady her name is Breulay,

(17:34):
which is so great. You guys like crembrewlay. Crembrewlay for
those who don't know, and most of you are going
to know. But it's a kremonglaze based custard and you
sprinkle a layer of sugar over the top, oftentimes a
kind of like raw sugar that's got a bit more

(17:55):
of a brown tint to it, just for the look,
and then you go over it with either a torch
or you can put it under the broiler. I prefer
a torch just because a broiler often will heat the
custard as well as like because you have to leave
it in there a little bit longer, and so it
winds up kind of messing up the temperature, and I

(18:17):
don't like warm custard. But it creates this like glass
like kind of coating on the surface of the custard
from the melted sugar that you break through with a spoon,
And so as you eat the custard, you're getting this
wonderful caramelized, almost burnt sometimes flavor of sugar and the

(18:41):
crisp texture of like the breaking sugar pieces mixed in
with the smooth, vanilla cold of the custard. It's like
one of the most perfect desserts. It's so good when
it's done well. And the fact that this witch is
called Brulet, it just feels like a really great name
for her, specifically because it's something that's like it's lovely underneath,

(19:09):
but then you put this veneer over it of something
that's like hard and blow torched and kind of intense,
and it sort of feels almost like the inverse of
what her whole deal is with her illusions. You know,
I don't know how much thought you put into these names,
so it may just be that I'm very much projecting,
but whatever, it's fine. And yeah, she looks like a

(19:31):
classic scary witch in the woods. You know, she's got
the really long curved, hooked nose with like the mole
on it. She's got real long fingernails and fingers and
it's sort of hunched over. And granted, we don't see
her until a little bit later, so I am getting
ahead of myself, but like this whole thing being so

(19:55):
that she can kill and eat them, because she's talking
about like cutting out their eyes and stuff. It's I
should have seen it coming, I really should. I'm very
excited about Bruleet. I cannot wait to see more of her.
I was so bummed when like we kind of double
back away from her back to Lufy, and we don't

(20:16):
really see her again after that big reveal in these
three episodes. So when we go back to Lufy, you know,
he has just watched his friends run off with the
fake version of him, and you know, he's not really
putting two and two together, which isn't too surprising because

(20:38):
it's loofy, but you know, he's seen a double of himself.
He's seen that his friends got tricked, and he's not
stopping to think about the fact that this may mean
I need to consider that I could be getting tricked
by a fake version of somebody, And so he just
runs after a Chopper. Later we will get to that. First,

(21:03):
we need to deal with this giant who has been
buried up to his neck. This is so odd. This
giant is buried in the woods in a spot that's
sort of out of the way a little, it feels like,
and is unwilling to really explain to anybody what's fucking

(21:30):
going on here, and it's odd. Like at one point,
Chopper's just trying to be like, do you need help?
And he's not giving Chopper a straight answer. And when
Chopper says, well, you're in the ground, that's very bad,
his response is is it? Though? I don't know what

(21:50):
to do with that. Chopper just keeps insisting, like, I'm
trying to do you a favor, Why are you being
so difficult? And he isn't. He never really answers Chopper.
He just keeps asking for juice. He really likes apple juice,
and there is an apple juice waterfall not too far away,

(22:14):
and he asks Chopper and Nami and carrot to get
him some juice. They are pretty frustrated with the fact
that he's like not answering their questions, and so they
like to finally just ignore him, which I really you know,
I've read a lot of fairy tales. I grew up
on them as a kid. And when you meet some
random in the woods who's in trouble and is asking

(22:35):
you to go on a little quest, you go on
your little quest. You do it, you know, like it
just it just seemed to me, like just just do
it already. It's fine, But but I get it later
on after they run off, it's like they're talking to
him because they have tried to find their way back
to Lufy several times, and they keep turning around and

(22:58):
being right by this fucking giant again, and they eventually,
when Nami is like talking to him, she looks over
her shoulder real quick and actually catches the trees and
bushes and baked goods and whatnot in the process of

(23:19):
like stepping forward. And they're saying to each other something
like like slowly slow, like they're trying to talk each
other through, being really careful about it. But they get
caught as they're doing it. It's kind of a funny joke.
So this dude remains after they again take off, still

(23:42):
haven't helped him. And then when Lufy is trying to
chase after them, he runs into this guy as well,
and the dude has like a spear stuck in him
that the others weren't helping him take out. I don't
recall if he had the spear stuck in him when
they first find him, but he does have it at

(24:03):
least the second or third time, and they don't help him.
And even here he has to really convince Lufy to
help him. He's just kind of like, dude, you know,
it's very uncomfortable. Can you please just give me a
second of your time and pull this fucking thing out?
And he brings up the apple Juice waterfall to Lufy

(24:26):
as well. And I don't remember actually if Lufy like
agrees to go on this little quest or if he
puts this guy off, I don't remember. But the one
thing that I wanted to mention was like, you know,
when we first find out that this place is going

(24:48):
to be not this island specifically, but the you know,
Big Man's domain. I guess when we find out that
it's going to be all like candy and baked goods
based architecture for lack of a better way of putting it.
And I was trying to think what else could make rivers.

(25:13):
I was thinking like a chocolate river like Willy Wonka,
but that's all I could think of. Juice never occurred
to me, and I just I know that this isn't
like probably interesting to anybody but me. But like, juice
is something that I appreciate the show treating like it

(25:34):
is kind of a big treat because it's really when
you think about what juice is, it's kind of bananas,
like how wasteful it can be sometimes granted, the way
that we tend to make juice is with the fruit
that isn't good enough for sale as is, but also

(25:57):
it's like, you know, a hit of pure sugar with
there's no fiber or anything to it. It is a
huge treat and should be treated as such. But it's
weirdly can be talked about, especially in the US, as
if it's like a health food thing and juice is

(26:19):
just not really very good for you, Like it's one
of those marketing things. I feel like, so juice being
the bodies of water in like a candy forest. Makes
total sense, and I really enjoy that. It's like different
types of juices and whatnot as well. My personal favorite

(26:42):
juice is grape juice. I love grape juice. It is
such a treat. It's just a real punch of flavor,
especially if you get like some nice concord. You know.
I love also apple cider, but not apple juice as much.
So anyway, this giant, we don't know why he's here,

(27:08):
what he wants other than juice obviously, And I don't
really know what to make of this guy. Like it
doesn't seem like he's trying to help trick them. It
feels like he just happens to be here while they're
struggling with a thing. And I can't tell if this

(27:28):
is like partially a curse or if he maybe he's
not buried, maybe there's like the bottom half of him
has been taken away for some reason. I don't really
know how that would even work. Is he something that
has been brought to life that didn't you know, he's not.

(27:52):
I don't think that he's an illusion, but he could be,
I suppose, But why, like to what end? So yeah,
I don't know what to make it this guy at all,
So I'm going to like you, guys, I really just
want to talk to or talk about the murder song

(28:12):
with these friggin' spooky trees and flowers and everything. I
love this so much, and I am a person who
you've really got to like win me over. With the
necessity of a sequence where people or things are breaking

(28:33):
into song, a lot of the time, I can get
very like, all right, Jesus, we get it kind of
you know, this was the per like pitch perfect pun
intended to me in terms of a decision to have
these things behave this way. It wouldn't have been as

(28:57):
creepy if you just turn the camera and you see
shrubs and trees and whatnot moving around with their little
animated faces looking furtive. That would have gotten the thrust
of the point across, but it wouldn't have been adequate
to like capture the glee that they're feeling at doing this,

(29:22):
how excited they seem to be at it about it. Like.
That's the thing that I'm finding sort of compelling, is
that something about being mom brings creatures around her awake.
And that's why I guess her ship is just talking
ship ship shippy, shippy shippy, and the door is just
saying dory, dory, dory. Apparently this is something that happens

(29:45):
with her, and I don't know why, and so I
think it's a really important distinction to see that, like,
she can bring things to life, and they do things
that she orders them to do, but it's not like
they're doing them against their will, or if they are,
it's not a parent that it's against their will, And
it's not like they just become these sort of soulless

(30:06):
automatons that just do a thing because they were told
without any real like energy or emotion behind it. It
appears that when she gives them an order on a
way to handle things, they get very excited to do
exactly what she asks them to do, and that for
me makes them much more dangerous. It makes it feel

(30:30):
to me like, well, if they're enjoying this, that's way worse.
Like if somebody doesn't really want to follow orders and
they're being made to do it, it's possible to dissuade
them or make it so difficult that they eventually just
give up. But if these things are like enjoying themselves,

(30:50):
that sucks. Now, they just they're motivated by something other
than the orders. They're motivated for the fun and like,
to be real, what else to trees and flowers have
to do just sit around? You know? They're probably like
getting to explore the island, move from place to place

(31:10):
when they don't normally get to do that. It's probably
great for them. So this whole song, like, as soon
as it begins, it's got this sort of very like
haunting minor key. It was really making me think of
like the vibes that I was getting during the Thriller
Bark arc and yet it's much more upsetting. Thriller Bark

(31:37):
was super fun, especially because I started it was a
similar time of year. I think I believe that Thriller
Bark was begun in like September. It was right around
the start of spooky season, and so there was a
feeling sort of or maybe I was just wishing it
was I can't remember now Diyes, maybe I'm wrong about that,
but regardless, I very much felt like this is all

(32:00):
of the Halloween like classic monsters, and so the creepy
energy of it was very purposeful and kind of I
don't want to say generic, because that's not the right
word at all, but it felt very much like if
you are going to just do a Paine by numbers,

(32:22):
scary things are in the forest. Here's a list of
creatures that would be at the top of any like,
you know, eight year old's choice of creatures. And now
we're in another spooky forest and it's spooky for real
different reasons. And it feels a little bit more grown
up somehow, even though it looks more childlike, and that's

(32:45):
part of what makes it feel so much more grown up,
you know. So I am really into it. And these
trees when they like reach out later for Loofy because
they start to attack him, the branch has become these
like weird vine I mean looking tendrils, and you guys,
it is so funny. It is so funny because they're

(33:08):
stalking Loofy and eventually he turns around in spots that
they're moving and they're like all like whispering and talking,
and he actually says, Okay, trees, I get it. It's
really cool that you can talk, but can you just
be quiet for a minute. I need to find my friends.
And the way that it's just so matter of fact

(33:31):
with him like, yeah, you can talk, oh my god, whatever.
And then if that weren't already very funny, which it is,
the first thing that one of the trees does. They
look at him in shock that he's reacting is such
a completely unbothered manner. And then one of the trees
just goes, hey, you suck, and I fell the fuck out.

(33:55):
That tree is just so irritated that Loufy isn't more impressed.
And honestly, I feel that you're used to everybody who
gets snuck up on having a complete fit at the
sight of you, and that you are, you know, you
assume that you are very impressive. And then here comes
this little shit who could give a fuck, and he's

(34:20):
the main person that you're supposed to be like trapping
and catching, and he's the one who's the least interested
and least frightened. That is extremely fucking funny to me.
I just love that so much. So they like keep
coming at him, and this is what eventually like drives
him toward the giant who is buried. Luserfrem says Oda

(34:43):
puts a lot of thought into names. It's just a
lot of that is in the forms of wordplay that
doesn't translate. Well, I wonder what the translations are for
these dessert names, because, like you know, some of these
desserts might also be in Japan. I you know, obviously

(35:03):
they might not be called like crembru lat is French.
They might be called something else, but I don't know,
maybe they're called the same thing. Sometimes even when something
gets like brought to a different country, you just keep
calling it by the same name. So I wonder how
many are translated and how many are just you know,
using the name that of origin. You know, Lufy is

(35:25):
serious right now because he meant something weird that can
talk and didn't immediately ask it to join his crew.
That's funny. And Seraphim says archetypal spookin is, and I
think that's the good like the arc types of monsters that. Yeah,
I think you're right. The dessert names are just straight
up those names. This is one of the cases of
it not needing translation. Okay, that's what I thought, because

(35:49):
like you know, like I said, there are certain things
that we just wind up not translating, because you know,
it's not like there are times where we do. But
it feels like with a lot of food stuffs, we
keep the original name. We don't usually you know what
I'm saying, which makes sense, I think in terms of

(36:13):
the way that cooking has learned and passed down and everything.
So okay, okay, thirty seven minutes in here, it's time
to talk about Soanjy and Sonji's whole deal is pretty
much what I was expecting it to be. But I
am not saying this in a owing bored kind of way.

(36:37):
It's more that I am really sad and hate watching
this for his sake. So what we get to see
is that he was because he has like an encounter
with one of his brothers and his sister and then
eventually his father, and he is everybody is expressing great

(37:06):
surprise at the fact that he is actually like out
there alive in the world, making a name for himself.
And so this is what really got me feeling like, Okay,
I think I know where this is going. And yeah,
eventually we get to see that, like the then Smokes have,

(37:32):
they don't have an actual island of their own. They
have a series of huge ships that connect to one
another to create a country, which I think is actually
like such a dope idea, And so like that's their

(37:57):
domain and due to this, they are I'm trying to
think of the way to describe this, because it feels
like they focus so much more on being fighters in
part due to the fact that they don't have their

(38:18):
own country, and it's like they want a kind of
stability for themselves and to take down all of these
other nations, but they themselves don't really want to settle.
It's kind of giving Viking a little bit in like
a very vague broad strokes sort of sense. And I

(38:41):
say it like broad stroke because like it's not like
Vikings didn't have villages. You know, they had a home
base that they were working from, but their like main
hobby and source of supplies and whatnot that they were
trading with was pill It was due to pillaging and

(39:04):
taking down the people around them. And so that's sort
of the vibe that I'm getting from the Vince smokes.
I can't remember because I know that I don't remember
if it was you, Saraphim that there is a uh God,
I'm trying to think how exactly to even phrase this.

(39:27):
There's a way to say that sixty six that's painted
on them that is different than what I was thinking
it was I feel like you guys told me the
way that it's talked of, and I don't recall Seraphim
says double six Okay, that's it. I thought it was

(39:48):
something more than that. Okay, that'll be easy. The double
sixes are just his siblings, Is that right? Like all
of the and smokes aren't double sixes, are they? Or
is that the way that they're all referred to. I

(40:10):
don't know where the six to six comes from yet.
I don't think that we've talked about that yet, but regardless,
this is part of what was like kind of difficult
for me when we first meet, Like hear about his family,
and I was misunderstanding about the way that. I think
it was Vito who was telling him, Hey, I you know,

(40:34):
these people who are in this comic strip are always
up against the Marines and they're supposed to be the
bad guys. But I really love them and find them inspiring.
And I was sort of surprised because it seemed like, wait,
that's like that sounds like they're pirates, with which if
they are pirates, I would have expected that Soanji would

(40:58):
have stayed with them and they would already be doing
the thing, you know, But it turns out that it's
like just got a very different sort of colonizing type
of energy to it. Not even colonizing, it's more just
conquering and subject subjugating, and he wanted no part of that.

(41:23):
So the name of the kingdom is Germa double six. Okay,
that is a really odd name. Okay, weird. So anyway,
the flashbacks that we get this they happen sort of
after he winds up seeing his father again. At first,

(41:46):
his brother comes to see him, and it's he's weirdly
cordial to Sanji and it's just like, hey, it's good
to see you again. I can't believe that you're like
still out there. And then there's a fight that happens
off screen, and later on we get to see his
brother being patched up, and he is just very resentful
of the fact that he got his ass handed to

(42:08):
him by a little brother that he used to bully horrifically.
So then when we see him with his sister, she
is approaching things in a really different way. The brothers
seem much more brute force, and she is trying to
persuade and be like, hey, you know, is it so wrong?

(42:31):
That weaven smokes have like earned our way into ruling
other people because we are just very good at this.
This is your lineage, this isn't your blood too, and
this is the way that it should be, and then
presents him with this like bevy of handmaidens all just

(42:53):
like waiting for him to give them orders, and you know,
it does definitely make him a woga, but it doesn't
actually convince him of anything. And then while he is
talking to her is when his father shows up, and
he doesn't even want to call Judge his father, which
I think is completely fair, and says something about how like,

(43:17):
you know the you keep saying I'm your son, but
you've never been anything like family to me. And that
is when we finally get to see in this extremely
military people who take physical prowess and fighting and like

(43:38):
any kind of martial art really seriously. When he growing
up wasn't talented in that way or inclined to train
in that way, and showed much more interest in cooking.
Everybody thought it was a joke. He just we get

(44:04):
this very cute scene of him like making us a
what looked like a souflet, but I think is meant
to eventually be a cake actually because he like winds
up putting frosting on it, and how excited he is
like making this thing for the first time maybe, and
like getting peeking through the window of the oven and
watching it rise, and how this obviously very much like

(44:28):
speaks to something in him. And then his siblings find
him and mock him and beat the hell out of him,
and then his father comes around, and I, you know,
is no surprise to anybody after having seen them in
the present day. His father is basically like, oh, you're

(44:49):
picking on your brother again, And when Sanji's like, yeah,
they are, can you tell them to stop, his dad
is like, why should I fucking tell them to stop?
If you can't get them to stop, then what good
are you to me. You need to be able to
put like stand up for yourself, and if you're too
pathetic to do that, then you're not even a son
of mine. So it's extra funny that in the present

(45:13):
he's trying to be like, but you're my son, though,
and I'm like, it sounds like he wasn't, and that
you didn't even like consider him to be that, And
then you kind of get the full intent of what's
happening here, which is that Judge wants to get this
alliance with Big Mom in order to further their own empire,

(45:35):
but he also recognizes that Big Mom is fucking crazy
town banana pants and so wouldn't want to offer up
one of his prized children to this psychopath. And so Soanji,
who is technically his son but not somebody that he

(45:55):
actually fucking cares about, is who comes to mind. And
he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I'll do.
And I it's you know, I'm of two minds about this.
On the one hand, I'm like, oh, okay, no, I
kind of get it. But on the other hand, when
they wind up fighting and this dude like, you know,

(46:17):
it's it's not like Sonji wins exactly, it's just more
that Sanji is able to withstand the punishment this guy
is laying out. I would just kind of realize at
this point, Oh, I guess my son has reached like

(46:37):
a pinnacle of fighting that is so much more impressive
than my other sons because the way he's I don't
I say more impressive because of the fact that Sanji
is able to beat his brother pretty handily. But like
if you are going to hand over a son to

(46:58):
this lady, You're gonna wanna pick the one that's a
little bit more pliant. And obviously Sanji is proving to
not be that guy. So probably after this encounter and
seeing what he can do, it's time to step back
and regroup and rethink your strategy here. But no, so

(47:25):
there's a very funny moment where Judge throws Sanji a
sword and I this is one of those moments where
he throws Sanji the sword and I literally outlawed, just went,
what's he gonna do with that? It's just like such
a given to me. He doesn't fight with swords? What

(47:47):
why'd you give him a What did you do that for?
Like it just felt ridiculous. And then yeah, Sonji is
just like I don't want this. I don't use this
kind of shit. And then he said, my hands are
only for cooking, and we do eventually get a flashback
between him and what is his name? Guys, I know

(48:11):
it starts with a Z. I always forget it. But
he said to Sanji, never fight with your hands like
you need your hands, and I didn't recall him saying
this is this the first time we've actually heard this
out loud, or have I just forgotten that this was
something he had said to Sanji. Seraphim says, it's not

(48:36):
like Sanji would ever be an asset to Judge. He'd
just tell the old man to go fuck himself anytime
he tries to order him into a fight, while his
brothers would obey. Yeah, I guess, but like this sounds
like a pretty important alliance. So you want somebody who's
going to obey here, I would think, Zef, thank you.

(48:56):
I always forget just Jeff with a Z, so I
just I if he if that had said this, and
we have seen it before, I pure forgot it and
did not remember this being part of the thesis behind

(49:16):
just fighting with your feet and your legs. And I
really enjoy it as an idea. It is something that
I often had thought about regarding like boxing and stuff.
If you injure your hands, like you really can screw
yourself in a number of different parts of your life

(49:38):
and not just continuing to fight, but just like getting
things done. And it can be pretty easy to do that.
If you are not well trained and you hit somebody
coming from the wrong place, you can break your hand.
You know, and as somebody who is myself really creative

(50:00):
and I love making things and cooking and painting and
playing with clay and whatever, I have nightmares about not
having my hands either. It's never really like I lose
my hands, but it's like I lose control over them,
which is probably coming. You know. I'm starting to get arthritis,

(50:21):
and I'm getting older and it's probably only going to
get worse. And I think about it a lot that
I need to enjoy being able to have the dexterity
and everything that I do now because it may not
be there always. And I understand his feelings of protectiveness
around his hands, which is why it's diabolical what his

(50:43):
father decides to do. He gets these cuffs that are
basically operating on the same principles as the callers that
the celestial dragons use on their slaves, so they can
be technically removed without a key, but they will blow

(51:09):
up and blow your hands off. Now, I will say,
when he tries to take it off and his sister
stops him, there's enough of a beat as it makes
this sort of arming sound. I'm trying to think what
that sound would be called, because we all know it
It's one of those sound effects that's in anything where

(51:30):
there's like a technical, like more advanced type of weapon,
and it's like this boom, but like much more high pitched.
The Iron Man movies use it a ton, But there's
enough of a gap between when he undoes the cuff,
when you hear that sound, and when his sister comes

(51:52):
over and puts her hand on it and restores it
where I couldn't help but think, just fling it. If
you undo it, just fling it and you'll be out
and it'll explode like across the room and you will
be fine. But maybe if you open the one, it
triggers both and you won't be able to get the
second one oftentime, or you know. I don't know, but

(52:18):
in any case, it's just a really awful thing that
his dad is doing to him. It's so sick and
holding his own hands against him. It's a pretty smart tactic, actually,
I just really this guy is so in the fight
between him and sangy I should you know mention this

(52:39):
part as well, because you guys know that there was
that scene I think two podcast episodes ago where you're
seeing the double sixes on some island securing ingredients for
Big Ma, or maybe it's not even securing ingredients. I
can't even remember why they were there. I think it
had nothing to do. I think she had other troops

(52:59):
getting ingredients, but they were doing something unrelated. But they
wind up on this island and they're facing off against
these rebels and one of the guys is like, you
killed my wife and child and comes at one of
the double sixes, who says Wall, and a dude steps
in front of him, and I was like, I can't

(53:23):
tell if this is an ability he has to pull
people in front of him by compulsion, or if this
person did it voluntarily. And I think that I wasn't
meant to totally know, because the guy had a sort
of like he had an expression on his face when
he got shot that was a little bit what's the word,

(53:48):
not ambivalent, but like difficult to decipher. And here we
get to see it again, and it turns out there
is no superpower beyond just like the brainwashing of a
military force that happens this dude, says Wall, and these
guys are trained to give up their lives in the

(54:11):
most literal way possible to let him do what he
needs to do, and so it's like a really awful
you know. I look, I am not trying to shit
on anybody who gets into the military. I think that

(54:32):
the tendency to do that by a lot of people
is really classiest and doesn't really like fully reckon with
the reality of the limited options to lower income people,
or the pressures of family tradition, YadA YadA, or you know,
just like there's a number of So I am not

(54:54):
somebody who just like shits on the military as individual
as a network of control and lies. Yes, yes, absolutely,
but not the individual people. However, I will say that
the way that we do have to condition people not

(55:14):
to value their own lives is extremely troubling and it's
something that's On the one hand, I can see how
it's kind of inspirational sometimes that a person values a
larger goal and a larger value more than their own

(55:37):
little individual experience, and so they're willing to sacrifice on
behalf of a future they won't get to see, and
how that is noble if the thing they're actually fighting
for is what they're actually fighting for, which oftentimes unfortunately
is not what is going on. But this like watching

(55:57):
these guys who are just so willing. This is. It's
just a fucking dick measuring contest between a father and
a son. That's all it is. There is nothing here
really that's like that, you know. And and the fact
that this guy had to die because Judge just wanted
to slap his son around, which is essentially what this

(56:20):
boils down to, is so pathetic. It's just like pathetic.
It just really really is. And sorry, saraph him. This
is why he's putting Sonji as the groom. He only
needs to control Sonjie long enough to get through the
wedding and then he's big Mom's problem. Fair. They were

(56:41):
just hired as a mercenary force by some random kingdom. Okay, cool.
And this isn't quote military training. This is straight cult
level brainwashing. The military doesn't want you sacrificing yourself stupidly,
if only because of the time and money they put
into training you being wasted at that point. Ah, I
know what you mean, Seraphem, but I really think cult

(57:03):
level brainwashing is like a part of the military and
it just has to be. I understand what you're saying
about differentiating, but I and I don't think that this
kind of cult level brainwashing always works. You know, there
are plenty of people who but I think that is
their goal. I think they would like this. I think

(57:26):
that's what they're attempting. So you know that at least
for our country. But uh, it's just I don't know.
Seraphim says, no, it really isn't and an asterisk ex
navy here. Okay, if you say so if you like,

(57:48):
and I do mean that. I'm not saying that as
as a dismissive sort of like whatever. If you didn't
experience that, that is a relief to hear, to be honest,
it's just some of the things that friends of mine
have told me that they have gone through have felt
like that was the goal. But you know, everybody has

(58:11):
their their own experience as well, so there could be
it depends where what happens to you and where you
go and all that. But but yeah, so this is
just a really the training level of all these people,
and I just I also I have to acknowledge this, guys,
you know, I have to. When we're introduced to this
kingdom and how everybody trains every day all the time,

(58:35):
it says something about how like every citizen trains all
day and then it's just nothing but men as far
as the eye can see. The only women we see
are Sanji's sister and the handmaids that are offered to
him as like a toy to play with, and that's it.
And I don't recall seeing a single woman in any

(58:56):
of this group of fighters, and I am just like,
can we can we ever? Can we ever have women
in this show like represented reasonably. It's just just a
little annoying, that's all. It's not a big deal. It's

(59:17):
just I couldn't help but notice it, because again, if
the place doesn't have like it's it's whatever. But all
that said, even though I'm ending on a downer note there,
the rest of these episodes like were really really fun
to watch. And there's one other thing that we touch

(59:38):
base with real quick, and that is seeing Brooke and
Pedro parking the submarine somewhere and going into the city.
And Brooke is really impressed with the whole way that
the place like he says, he calls it really lively,

(59:59):
I think, and I'm trying to remember, because like they park,
they have to put the submarine someplace that nobody is
going to find it, so they leave it sort of
far out and away from where all of the docs
are and everything, and I don't know if it's going
to be found or if it were, what would happen here.

(01:00:21):
But they're wandering through the town and somebody is yelling about, like,
you know, there's news that you've got to read to
believe something like this, And eventually they go up to
a guy and grab a newspaper and it's a picture
of Jimbei on the front of it, the Total Land News.

(01:00:46):
And I don't know if it like you. No, it's nothing,
it's not even in other characters. It's just a sort
of scribble. But we just see jimbe on the front page,
and so since the last time we had seen him
he spun that thing and then we cut. It's definitely
sort of like setting up that maybe Jim Bay is dead.
We found out he's dead, and so we're telling everybody

(01:01:07):
about it. But uh, I feel like that's not it,
So we'll have to wait and see. I suppose, all right, guys,
I appreciate you all so much, thank you for listening,
and I hope that, uh, the new feed is working
out for y'all. Let me know until next time to

(01:01:29):
the Loom motherfuckers. That was an unspoiled network podcast.