Manga Review: One Piece Volume 36, 37 & 38

With the Straw Hat crew accused of the attempted assassination of Mr. Iceberg, Luffy is trying to do anything he can to clear their name. There is just one problem -  it was one of Luffy’s crew members who did it, and that person is Nico Robin. Although Iceberg did say that he saw her try to kill him, there is no proof that she was doing it of her own will. A mysterious group of the World Government called the Cipher Pol no. 9 (CP9) may be forcing Robin to do this horrible thing. The CP9 is a secret branch of Cipher Pol that does things that the public would find less than pleasant, like the assassination of Mr. Iceberg. Because CP9 don'tt want to resort to killing Mr. Iceberg, they first infiltrate the Galley-La Company as some of his workers. They aren’t just normal employees, two of them are his Forman, Kaku, and Rob Lucci & Hattori (Hattori is Rob’s pet pigeon who speaks for him). One more CP9 is also working for Mr. Iceberg, and this is the one person whom he trusts the most, his secretary Kalifa. The main intent of the CP9 is to locate a special set of ship blueprints that Mr. Iceberg has.

                                                                                                                  

The problem with trying to get the blueprint from Mr. Iceberg is that he doesn’t have it. See, when Iceberg was young, he and one other boy were the apprentices to Mr. Tom, a long-horned cowfish man. Mr. Tom was also a master ship builder, even better than Iceberg today. He was also the man who built the greatest ship ever made, the ship used by Gold Roger, The King of the Pirates. Mr. Tom’s other apprentice was Cutty Flam.  Believed dead when he was hit by Mr. Tom's second greatest creation, the Sea Train, Cutty Flan found an abandoned battleship.  He rebuilt his body from the scrap metal. This cyborg boy later changed his name to Franky and instead of being a great shipbuilder like Iceberg, he is the complete opposite, The World’s Best Ship Dismantler. Franky is the one with the blueprints that the CP9 want. 

Overall  

It may have taken five volumes but this story is starting to make sense. Much of this story was explained with the introduction of just one character, Mr. Tom. First off, you learn why Iceberg doesn’t mind working with pirates, then how old lady Kokoro knew Iceberg, and why Iceberg and Franky seem to dislike each other. Plus, you learn the true significance of the Sea-Train, and why that gosh dang frog doesn’t like the train very much. When I was reading this manga, I was like “Oh, I get it now”, and I just love it when a good story falls into place.

ComicsOnline gives One Piece Volumes, 36, 37, & 38 3.5 out of 5 CP9 members