“I have my own challenge, A LOVE CHALLENGE!!”

After the Straw Hat crew’s ship was taken by a giant lobster, while Nami, Zolo, Robin, and Chopper were abroad, Luffy and his remaining crew, Usopp and Sanji, decided to go rescue them. With a small boat Luffy and his remaining crew sailed through God’s Land to the sacrificial alter, where the ship with the rest of the crew was. While sailing through God’s Land the river separates in to four directions. Each direction had a challenge written on it, “The Challenge of Iron”, “The Challenge of String”, “The Challenge of Swamp”, and “The Challenge of Ball”. Luffy chose “the Challenge of Ball”, where they met one of Kami Eneru’s Skypiea Vessels, Satori of the Forest. Besides throwing cloud balls filled with explosions, snakes, so on and so fourth, Satori can also channel his energy through his hand and cause a devastating impact on the victim. Luffy, Sanji and Usopp will have a challenge ahead of them.

Highlights

Kami Eneru has four Skypiea Vessels, each has his own domain, where they deal with intruders. Of course the areas where the challenges take place only take up a small part of God’s Land, every where else in God’s Land is free game for the Skypiea Vessels.  You already know about the Vessel of “The Challenge of Ball”, so the next one would be “The Challenge of Iron”. The Vessel of “The Challenge of Iron” name is “Sky Breeder Ohm”, all that is know about him is that he fights with a large Katana and he has a partner, who is a dog. The Vessel for “The Challenge of String” is “Sky Rider Shura”, he rides a large bird, and like the Sky Knight, Shura fights with a lance, but unlike the Sky Knight, his lance will burn anything it penetrates. The last Vessel is for “The Challenge of Swamp”, he is “Sky Boss Gedatsu”, the least is known about him, and even his fighting technique is a mystery.

Overall

Although, the Sky Island is my favorite arc of One piece, I find that I preferred the beginning of the this arc more than the middle. The beginning was more fun, and new, but as the battles begun, it just turned in to the same as what One Piece normally is. Although I liked the beginning more, but the middle does play a big role in how the story flows. This arc is more fluent, as where others are more choppy, because in others you might learn something really important and it won’t come up again for a long time in a different arc, but here every thing you learn in relevant to this plot line. This arc would also be very easily watched by a newcomer, because only the basics of the entire story line would need to be explained. All in all this is an excellent book, and is perfect for the One Piece saga.      

ComicsOnline gives One Piece, Volume 27, 4.5 out of 5 sky sharks