“Afro power!”

While Luffy and his crew are looking for a carpenter to fix their ship, The Merry Go, they run into an interesting group of pirates. These pirates are known as the Foxy Pirates. These pirates specialize is participating in three coin games. In the games, each pirate crew participates in three events, and the winner of each event can take a member of the opposing team’s crew. If there are two or less crew members and the other crew wins all three games, then the losing crew’s flag is taken and can never be flown again. 

The first game is the the Donut Race, where each crew selects three people to sail around an island. There is one twist – the boat that will be used in the race must be made of three barrels. First up, representing the Straw Hat crew, are Usopp, Nami and Nico Robin. 

The second game is Groggy Ring. This is rather a simple game; all there is to it is to get the opponent's ball in their goal, but it’s no ordinary ball. Each team must select one player to act as their ball. This time playing for the Straw hat crew are Zolo, Sanji, and Tony Tony Chopper.

The final game is one on one combat. Before the game starts, a large metal cannon is spun around and fired. Wherever the cannonball lands is where the battle will commence, but if it is pointed at someone's ship, it will not be fired and the battle will just be aboard the ship. Luffy will be the one to fight in this round, but he will be wearing an afro, for no real reason. Of course, the person who is representing the Foxy Pirates is none other than their captain, Foxy the Slicer Fox.

Overall

This is an epic volume of One Piece, it’s funny and action-packed. Each of the events (except the last one)  is a special twist on a regular game. Although each has its high points, the best is the one on one combat. The game takes place on the Sexy Fox, the Foxy Pirates’ ship, which is full of traps, explosions, and other deadly contraptions. The best part about the traps and other dangerous things is that Luffy is too clueless to really fall for them. For instance, instead of following  Foxy through a door that leads to a pit of spikes, Luffy just fired a cannon at the door causing Foxy to fall into the spikes. Since being severely impaled didn’t seem to kill Foxy, the battle will continue into the next volume,  and I will be waiting excitedly to see the conclusion.

I think that  this story is a great way to start a new arc. It’s fun, light hearted, and enjoyable to read. Unlike previous beginnings, this time it is filled with more action and fighting. The extra action isn’t bad, it’s different, and this time different is a good thing. It’s nice having battles that aren’t life or death. Once again,  One Piece starts off strong, and I have high hopes for the rest of this epic adventure.

ComicsOnline gives One Piece Volume 33, 3.5 out of 5 cheating pirates