One Piece : The Dog

Chapter 12

Zoro helped Luffy escape from the "Buggy Ball" and Captain Buggy but Luffy is still caged and Zoro is seriously injured.

How the heck can they escape?

***SPOILERS***

So Buggy isn't happy to be beaten in any way shape or form so he sends out the vice-captain.

Beast Trainer Mohji.

Some strange man sitting on top of a lion.

At least it kept the circus theme going.

We then get introduced to a dog.

Nami comes back to repay them for their help and throws Luffy the key, which the dog goes right ahead and eats. The Chief of the village, Boodle, comes and tells them off for shouting at Chouchou (the dog.) The Chief puts Zoro in his own home to recover, turns out the dog is standing guard of the pet food store that his owner owns. His owner went to hospital and died and Chouchou has been protecting the store ever since.

He's protecting his treasure.

They hear the roar of the lion and run off leaving Luffy in his cage. The lion eats the steel cage, but all it does is free Luffy. The lion does then throw him into a building...

Ohh and the lion is called Richie.

And being knocked through a building doesn't phase Luffy at all.

I really enjoyed the story of Chouchou. It is a old and tired story but for some reason it always touches my heart. And yes no matter how old the source is the dog waiting for its owner or protecting something belonging to its owner is as old as time. Nearly as old as love stories if you believe Mrs Potts.

So yes right off the bat they've made me fall in love with a doggy! How I adore the doggy!

So Luffy is free and Zoro is down. Now we can get into Luffy fighting back but I can't pretend I'm not upset that Zoro is basically useless now. Yeah I love Zoro so what?!

I really think Mohji is funny looking. I'm not a fan of the look. I like Richie though.

Only thing is that Chouchou is in the way of Richie and Mohji. They better leave that poor defenseless little doggie alone!

I like the repeated theme of different types of treasure, Luffy has his hat and this dog has his memories and pet store that he was happy at. It isn't a unique thing to One Piece, it again is something that is echo'd in a lot of media, but it is one that I always love when it is done right. Treasure, love... Whatever is what you make of it. One of my bug bears are Valentine Day haters, I always use it as a day to tell anyone that I love how much I love them, to me my treasure probably is my friends and I love being there for them. It is a message I think a lot of people I've come across over time should really learn.

Your treasure is whatever means most to you.

All treasure doesn't sparkle...

It is also something I guess Nami will learn. She's way too quick to judge that girl is.

I fell right in love with Chouchou and Boodle. It is something this manga does well, making me fall in love with characters.