One Piece Volume 10

Episodes 230-252, may contain spoilers.

“Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.” – John le Carre.

This latest collection of One Piece episodes, which sees the true start of the “Water Seven” arc, is one of the best collections of this series so far. It contains dramatic twists, a great plot, and the introduction of a key figure to the show.

The Straw Hat Pirates have decided to cash their gold from Skypiea in order to use it to carry out repairs on the Going Merry. However, things soon start going wrong. First, Nico Robin suddenly disappears and no-one is sure where she is. The only clue is that it appears to be connected with something called “CP9”. 

Then Luffy, Nami and Usopp meet Iceberg, mayor of Water Seven and owner of Galley-La, the largest shipbuilding company in the city. He has his experts look over the Going Merry but their verdict is damning: the ship is in such a bad state that there is no way she will make it to the next port of call, even with repairs. The Going Merry is coming to the end of its life. Luffy decides to use the money to fund the making of a new ship, but then the money is stolen and Usopp is kidnapped.

His kidnappers are from a firm of ship demolishers working for someone called Franky. Luffy discovers how dangerous an enemy he is: he is not a Devil Fruit user, but is instead a cola-fuelled cyborg with a body full of weapons. But when Luffy and the crew rescue Usopp and tell him of Luffy’s plans, Usopp won’t accept them. This leads to the two falling out, with Usopp ultimately leaving the crew and taking the slowly crumbling Going Merry with him.

Then things go from bad to worse. Iceberg is shot, but survives and is able to report on his assailants. One was masked, but the second was not. The unmasked person was Nico Robin. With the Straw Hats all suspects, Luffy tries to prove their innocence and figure out why Robin could have committed such a crime, if at all. 

There are several reasons as to why this collection is better than many of the others. First is the introduction of Franky to the cast, one of the major characters in the series. He’s fun, loud and raucous. Plus, like Robin he’s antagonistic at first, but as you watch the series you see that he gets into trouble with the people who turn out to be the real enemy.

Second is the plot itself. You have several different plots weaving together: Robin’s disappearance and betrayal; Usopp leaving the Straw Hats and trying to protect the Going Merry; the rest of the group being framed for a crime they did not commit; and the development of Franky. There is relatively little filler. The only things that can be claimed to be filler are some flashback episodes covering the early lives of Franky and Iceberg when they both worked together for the same shipwright when they were kids. However, these episodes are decent enough and they provide background information to the series as a whole as well as the current storyline. 

This set also includes more extras than most One Piece collections released previously. There are the same episode commentaries and textless opening and closing, but there are also some behind-the-scenes features with Brina Palencia and Eric Vale, who provide the voices of Chopper and Sanji in the English dub. Also, this collection is not as long as many of the others. At just 23 episodes it does not seem to drag as long as some other releases.

Collection 10 has proven to be an entertaining watch. Hopefully, the quality of this story arc will be kept up in later releases.