One Piece 603

The Straw Hats start their adventure under the sea.

In the oceans of One Piece, the probability of becoming fish food is quite high.

Summary:
Somewhere on Saobody, the Caribou pirates have escaped from the Marines and Caribou plans to bury all the remaining Fake Straw Hats (except for fake Luffy who was captured by the Marines) alive and reveals that he actually has a Logia power. At the pirate meeting place, Sentoumaru calls in to HQ to warn them about the newly reformed and stronger Straw Hat. Elsewhere, Shakky and Rayleigh are looking out into the ocean and Rayleigh looks forward to the Straw Hats can accomplish.

Underneath the ocean surface, the Thousand Sunny rides the currents forwards and downwards. The crew receives a briefing on how the bubble coating from Nami, and Franky reveals to the crew that it was Kuma who protected the Thousand Sunny over the last two years. Kuma was turned into a cyborg and lost his personality, but he had Dr. Vegapunk program one mission in himself which was to protect the ship until a member of the Straw Hats showed up. As the Straw Hat crew wonders about Kuma's true intentions, the Caribou Pirates are catching up to them from behind.

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The Weekly Shounen Jump series came out really early this week. Back on topic, this chapter had a bit of everything, from the aftermath of the brief battle at the pirate gathering to an explanation about how the coating works, but the most interesting bit was Franky revealing that Kuma had protected the ship. Kuma appeared near the Thousand Sunny in a scene just before the time skip and I've been wondering about what he was up to, and now we finally have an explanation and it makes sense. There was no way Duval of Hachi could hold out against Kuma or a Pacifista, and Kuma should be enough deter most Marines and or pirates who were after the Thousand Sunny.

Back to the present, the Straw Hats are off on their first adventure after the time skip, and it looks like the Caribou Pirates will be the first bump along the way. Caribou has a Logia type power which can never be taken lightly, and maybe he'll actually pose enough of a challenge for the Straw Hats to demonstrate their new powers. Hopefully this will happen before Sanji dies from nosebleeds.