One piece vol 5 by eiichiro oda

Luffy and his crew finish their fight with the Black Cat pirates, and their reward is a new ship: the Merry Go. Usopp decides that his time being a villager is done, and that he must finally be a pirate sailing the seven seas. Initially content to sail on his own, Luffy invites Usopp to join the crew even thought they disagree on who should be captain. The crew find a few more folks who know Zolo during a cannon practice “accident”, and Nami saves the day with her advanced sea knowledge and knowing the signs of scurvy. The group agrees that they need a cook to do something with all the wonderful stores they have in the hold. One of the new folks help steer the Merry Go towards a floating restaurant that might have a cook Luffy could persuade to join the crew, but a skirmish between a naval officer gets Luffy in hot water immediately upon arrival at the restaurant.

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Something I like about the overall pace of this story is that each character gets a chance to endear themselves on the reader before they join the main crew. If Usopp had joined the crew after one volume instead of the two volume adventure to save his island, I probably would have thought he was annoying and it would have taken time during the next adventure for him to grow on me. Instead, Oda takes time to develop the characters' backstory while advancing the main story. We have a deeper understanding of who Usopp is as a character, AND the crew has an actual ship now!

Sara's Rating: 8/10
​Suitability Level: Grades 7-12

Publisher: VIZ Media
Publication Date: October 4, 2004​
ISBN: 9781591166153 (Paperback)

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Humor, ​VIZ Media