Current location:	living room
Current mood:	lazy
Current music:	'Share the World' (One Piece OP 11)
Entry tags:	one piece, samurai champloo

One Piece #423; Samurai Champloo #18 - #23
One Piece #423:

Hancock turned the CCTV snail and the inspector into stone so that Luffy could sneak into hiding before she reverted them back to normal. As she exchanged glances with Luffy before she left with the jailers, she mistook him for saying 'I love you' instead of 'Thank you'.

Within the elevator, the jailers explained to her that the prison was made up of level 1 - 4, the higher the number, the lower it was located and the more terrible it was for prisoners. Within the prison level 4, Buggy managed to sneak out of his cell and escaped to level 1 but was detected and pursued by the jailers. He ran into Luffy and together, both of them fought the jailers.

Samurai Champloo #18: War of the Words

Mugen, Jin and Fuu were having dinner at an open air stall when Fuu realised Mugen could not read words. She and Jin joked about it. Mugen was protesting when a drunken man dragged Mugen aside, lecturing him for the importance of languages and downed him with sake. He collapsed drunk. With insufficient money, Jin, Fuu and Mugen left the remaining debt for the drunken man to clear. Along the way, Jin told the other two that he was planning to visit someone and parted for a short while. Fuu tried to teach Mugen how to read some graffi on the wall when the earlier drunken man turned up and dragged Mugen away. Fuu was left all alone. In a hut, the man forced Mugen to learn words from him. On the street, two young men quarrelled over something and seemed attracted to Fuu, trying to compete each other over her. Jin turned up and Fuu was surprised to learn that he was looking for them both. It turned out that he had promised a kudo master to take care of his sons after his death and the two young men were the sons. Fuu suggested them competing by writing graffi on the most dangerous places. That night, Mugen returned to the inn where he told Fuu that he was learning to write. She told him of the graffi competition and he was interested. Since that night, many guards were rushing around in panic as graffi appeared in the most secured part of walls. The two brothers tried to write graffi on the top of a castle but Mugen got there before them. Before they parted, the brothers turned out to like the squrrel on Fuu and not Fuu herself. Jin told her that their father died when he committed suicide to secure his dojo.

Samurai Champloo #19: Unholy Union

Fuu was resting in an abandoned hut, waiting for Jin and Mugen when a woman rushed into it, pleading for refuge. She agreed and took her in. Shortly, two men stormed in, demanding for the woman. Fuu managed to persuade them to leave. Other place, Jin and Mugen were walking when they noticed an old woman who drew a cross against her chest being dragged away by officers and then a man with foreign accent who addressed himself as Xavier III and a messager for God turning up on a horse, interrupting Mugen's fight with the officers. He shot the officers with his rifle and rode away. Meanwhile in the hut, the woman got out of her hiding, she introduced herself as Yuri. Fuu told her of her plan to find a samurai with sunflower aroma and showed her the little skull. Yuri asked her to look into the eye of the skull and she saw a cross. As Yuri told her that the samurai with sunflower aroma was probably a man who had worked with her and her father on an island devoted to Christianity, Fuu told her that the samurai with sunflower aroma was actually her father who abandoned her mother. Suddenly, the two men returned and dragged her away. Fuu woke to find Mugen and Jin looking down at her and she told them everything. They continued their journey into a heavily guarded village where they were allowed to stay for a night.

That night, Fuu woke with a start to see a long row of people moving in the dark. She followed them to a hall to see Xavier III trying to brainwash people with using guns to reach God. She was caught and imprisoned where she met Yuri again. Yuri had been forced by Xavier III to become his wife. He also threatened to kill her like what he had done to her father. Fuu sent a help message using her squirrel. Jin and Mugen received the message shortly. When Fuu and Yuri were taken to the hall, Jin and Mugen stormed into the place, defeating Xavier III and disclosing him as a liar. The crowd were also shocked to see that Xavier III was actually a Japanese.

Next day, when everything was over, Yuri parted with others. Fuu told Jin and Mugen that the samurai with sunflower aroma was her father and she could not forgive him.

Samurai Champloo #20: Elegy of Entrapment (Verse 1)

It was a raining when Fuu sought refuge from the rain outside a restaurant. The owner invited her to enter for food and shelter even though she had no money. Jin and Mugen immediately accepted the offer. In the restaurant, a blind singer was playing her instrument and singing sad songs about missing her child. Later, she sat with Jin, Fuu and Mugen where she was harrassed by two thugs. Mugen and Jin hit them away. When knowing their intention to travel to Nagasaki, she tagged along to thank them with her singing. With her street performance along the way, the group was able to get more money for decent meals and shelter. At an inn where Mugen intentionally popped into the hot spring with the blind singer - Sara, he later told Jin that Sara was a cautious woman. Sara asked Fuu to allow either Jin or Mugen to accompany her in the rest of her journey after they were to part. Fuu felt it hard to decide. At a Matsuri fair, Sara told the others that she had a child who was a boy but not with her because of her blindness causing her unable to take care of him. On the day of parting, Fuu asked Jin to take care of Sara and wept when they parted with Jin agreeing without hesitation. On a bridge, Sara suddenly attacked Jin.

Samurai Champloo #21: Elegy of Entrapment (Verse 2)

Jin and Sara fought and he was shocked of how skilled she was. To save himself, he was forced to slash the bridge into half, letting him and Sara fall into the river below.

Next morning, Mugen and Fuu learned of the broken bridge from the locals. Concerned as it was along Jin and Sara's route, they went to investigate and found Sara unconscious. Mugen found Jin's glasses. In a hut, Sara regained back to conscious while Mugen searched for Jin but no success. He found Sara's weapon instead and returned to the hut. Fuu took over. When Mugen and Sara were alone, Mugen made known his awareness of her possible in hand for Jin's disappearance. They went to a riverside and fought. Mugen was shocked to see her being a difficult opponent. She told him that she was doing this to save her child. Fuu arrived to see their fight and shielded Mugen with her body before Sara could kill him. Sara could not bring herself to kill them and left.

Other place, Jin woke and his saviour guided him with hidden phrases. He thanked him and left to reunite with Mugen and Fuu. Mugen and Jin agreed that someone powerful must have sent Sara as an assassin after them and were sure that she would come again. Mugen went out of the hut and faced off Sara again. Even though she gained advantage edge, she allowed herself to be killed under Mugen's katana as she was certain that her boy was already dead. Before she died, she told Mugen that the government had sent her to assassin them. Mugen screamed into the night air.

COMMENT: I think I'm liking the style of this anime with mixture of raps, traditional Japanese songs, music, humor and seriousness, plus lots of battles.

Samurai Champloo #22:

This episode is more like a ghost story than a samurai one. Narrator talked about shooting stars. Back to story, Fuu saw a shooting star in the sky and wished for finding samurai with sunflower aroma quickly. Mugen noticed a mushroom on the ground and devoured it instantly. He and Jin began to pluck the mushrooms around them despite Fuu's protest. After they finished their mushrooms, Fuu told them that fortune book stated the day was not suitable to eat mushrooms. As Mugen protested, all of them fell into a hole. When they came to, they were led out of the place by two men who felt like corpses to Fuu. Outside, they saw a few men digging the ground under instruction from a man who claimed he was the inheritor of the gold buried within the soil and made the trio digging for gold. Fuu found the incident suspicious and witnessed the man summoning all helpers from the soil. Apparently, all people were already dead. Same time, Jin discovered that the man was not the descendent of the clan he had claimed to be. Mugen tried to fight off the zombie attackers but in vain while Jin disclosed the man's no relation to the clan. The man was disappointed but insisted on continuing the work but he agreed not to attack them anymore. Meanwhile, a shooting star fell to earth, causing a giant explosion with mushroom like smoke from afar.

Samurai Champloo #23:

The narrator introduced baseball - a game from America. Back to story, a man - Manzou was looking out to sea from a cliff. Meanwhile, Fuu, Jin and Mugen were waiting for their food when plates of food not ordered from them came to their table. Mugen, ignoring Fuu's protest, began to eat the food. Fuu followed suit. Knowing they had not enough money for the food, Mugen ran away but was hit back by a baseball tossed by a man. Mugen was tied together with Fuu and Jin. All three of them were forced to play a game of baseball with the man who told them that it concerned the fate of the country.

Flashback, an American ship reached the Japanese shore, forcing the settlement to open up trade with them. The man interfered with challenge of baseball. If they won, the American had to leave, if they lost, they would agree to the American's terms. After some times of training, the trio together with the man, Manzou and the settlement head (an old man) plus a dog and Fuu's squirrel, they played the game against the American team. After times of victory from Japanese side, the American team began to play dirty, forcing Jin and others out of the game. Mugen played dirty back at them and won the competition. As a result, the American left.