One Piece 516 and 517 Preview - Let the 2 Years Begin!

The final episode of the Marineford Saga is out! And with it comes a lot of anticipated excitement for the upcoming episodes, which should show off all the Straw Hat's growth and new powers.

We've already seen all of them on their respective islands starting training and now we get back to Luffy on his way to start his own training with Rayleigh. So we start off with Luffy and Jinbei saying their farewells to each other, also promising to meet up in 2 years time on Fishman Island. Luffy is then dropped off with Rayleigh on Rusukaina; an island just off the coast of Amazon Lily which supposedly changes weather every week and is home to many pre-historic looking creatures.

Rayleigh asks Hancock not to visit Luffy during his 2 year training period because he expects to be only able to teach him the basics, plus he considers the harsh conditions of the island perfect for Luffy's training. Hancock though reluctant at first, agrees and leaves the island with the rest of the Kuja Pirates.

As they get on the island, Rayleigh begins to explain to Luffy the basics of Haki. He demonstrates them on what looks like a mammoth, not flinching once and leaving Luffy shocked (especially since he couldn't even injure the mammoth in Gear Second). Rayleigh also explains to Luffy that he possesses the Conquering King's Haki which can be used to overwhelm his opponents but instructs him not to practice it quite yet as he needs to train his other Haki's and body before he can proceed to master it.

The episode draws to an end with Luffy placing his straw hat on the one place on the island where it wouldn't get damaged. After doing so and reminiscing about his friends, Luffy runs back to Rayleigh in excitement and eagerness thus ending the saga and setting up the next arc ever so nicely.

The episode was a nice way to end the saga plus coupled with the preview of the next episodes it has reminded me of how much I love One Piece! Next episode we see the crew returning to Sabaondy two years later and this means they can finally start their voyage into the New World which from what we've seen is much harsher and more dangerous than "Paradise." By the looks of it the Straw Hat's have also changed aspects of their appearance such as Nami's hair being longer and Luffy now opting to wear a red cardigan and gold sash (the colours worn by the Pirate King).

The wait for the next episode as with the wait for any weekly episode or manga chapter sucks but could have been even worse if the animators decided to make a filler arc (luckily they didn't), so all I can offer to anyone interested is this preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch v=ke2D2nzUHJU