One Piece Episode 713 REVIEW - Barrier-Barrier! Homage God Fist Strikes!

NOTE: I do not own this image.

This week, Cavendish and Bartolomeo inadvertently teamed up to take down Gladius of the Donquixote Family and get Nico Robin to the sunflower field at the top of the cliff where Kyros and Rebecca are in at in what looks like a stalemate situation with Diamante.

Progression seems to have been made, as a foe has fallen but let's face it, the storyline isn't picking up quick enough and we have all long been getting quite tired of this.

But all in all, I did enjoy this episode. To start off with, the way Cabbage tries to fend off Hakuba and the producers put a little comedy into the situation as Bartolomeo is stunned at the direct half body possession of Hakuba.

Bartolomeo has a convincing attempt to save Nico Robin from an oncoming Gladius attack but fails in the end. This puts Robin in a position where she must put trust in Cavendish to survive. This displayed a softer side of Cavendish as he apologises to Nico Robin for the actions of his alter-ego. We also get to see Cavendish using Hakuba to enhance his own capabilities as the speed of Hakuba is used to flee the scene.

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I think this episode became the episode where Bartolomeo finally attempted to go all out and showed signs of genuine balls. After realising his lack of wit and strength in his first attempt to contain Gladius, he questions his competence and ambitions and then executes an all out attack to finish Gladius in a manner that much resembles Luffy, with his obvious copy of Luffy's Gomu Gomu No Pistol called the Barrier Barrier No Pistol.

NOTE: I do not own this image.

NOTE: I do not own this image.

NOTE I do not own this image.

One of the things I like doing with One Piece is discussing potential new members to the Mugiwala crew. I think the author once again indicates Bartolomeo as a future member of the pirate crew as Bartolomeo says that one day he will be good enough to help Luffy. In my opinion, Bartolomeo's loyalty to the Straw Hats makes him an ideal candidate and he also has much room for improvement.

The partnering of Cavendish and Bartolomeo and their relationship in general makes them both stand out as candidates. Much like the duo of Shanks and Buggy on the Pirate Kings crew who had a lot of petty conflict between them. Of course, this is all speculation. Feel free to comment what you think at the bottom.

I would give this episode an 8/10 because I feel that progress was made and there is one less Donquixote Family member to deal with and one more fight completed. Talking about family members, it appears that most of the fallen family members will rise again next week, with Jora (the fancily dressed fat lady) bringing them back.