Right now the mugiwara crew is devided in two, Heading toward Enias Lobby to save the dear nakama, Robin-Chwaaaan~~.
Hmm hmm.. Anyways,
We got Luffy,zorro,nami,chopper, The franky family, The Galley-la company workers and Kokoro and her daughter on the 2nd Sea Train Rocket man.
And on the first Sea Train we have Nico Robin captured, with the whole CP9 crew, along with a slew of marines and a few other goverment higher ups,
And ofcourse on board are Sanji, The "mysterious" Sugeking and Frank the dismantler to the rescure.

Clearly it's either got to be Franky or Pauli.... Although at the moment, I'm thinking Franky is more likely, even though he's still got his own crew at the moment. My guess is that the Franky Crew will probably be no longer considered as criminals by the Iceberg and the Authorities of Water 7 after their feats at Enies Lobby [specifically protecting the ship/weapon plans from being handed over to the government], and so they'll become new shipwrights in working in Water Seven, while Franky gives them a teary and emtion-filled goodbye, promising to come back, blah blah.

Yeah, so to me Franky seems to be who the manga-ka is leaning towards...

However, personally I'd prefer Pauli. Why? Because I believe his character is a good contrast to Sanji (Sanji is ultra-liberal always trying to pull the ladies, while Pauli is always ultra-conservative telling the ladies to cover up and not act shamefully :p ). Although, I must admit that Pauli's rope ability is a bit boring compared to Franky, and reminds me too much of Omega Red from X-men... but then again, the artist has proven he can take a seemingly mundane idea (i.e. stretchy-body --> Similar to Mr. Fantastic, except that Luffy >> Mr Fantastic ;) ), and actually be really creative with it. On the other hand, Pauli's fighting-face is too similar to Zoro and Sanji (and Luffy when he gets pissed)...

Oh the dilemma :p

Spike dies

Robin is being taken to the tower of justice, and the only way for the strawhats to save her is by getting the right key from the CP9. Right now the strawhats (minus chopper & luffy) + franky are in fights with members of the CP9. The last chapter that came out was unusually funny. I'll say this, wait until you see kaku's devil fruit

Usopp and luffy fight was realy emotional, and everything that followed (Robin saying a distant goodbye, usopp's battle to fix merry, Aqua Laguna preperations) was so well done and sensitive, I was realy emotionally invested.. And the part where the mysterious assassins attack the mansion.. Man I was on the edge of my seat..

gear 3 midget luffy !!

The whole Kaku giraffe thing was disgusting. But anyway, I'm not a fan of giraffes to begin with, haha. Also, Sanji not being able to kick women really sets him back with Kalifa... her power to turn things to glass is pretty trippy too. I wonder if eating a devil's fruit is actually useful, especially if it's a mixed bag. I'm sure Nami will figure out a way to destroy those power sucking bubbles.

I'm just concerned about Chopper now, that sweet animal! It's a shame he had to use rumble three times...

I also really enjoyed both flashbacks, those of Tom's crew and Robin's past. I admit that Robin's past had tears starting from my eyes, but that's why I love One Piece to begin with; it just sucks you in like that!

Luffy's "gear" changes are pretty weird... I just hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those "power up" mangas like DBZ or Naruto. But with Oda's style, it doesn't seem like it'll fall into that trap. The characterization is just ingenious; I feel more connection with the haphazard Luffy than the haphazard Naruto.

That was really touching... I loved the fight between Usopp and Luffy, and how Luffy knew Usopp was no match for him. It was really sad.

its really a shame that i didn't get into One piece like that. Its too late to go way back cause i already know what sanji and the rest can do. But to see them with different powers in this arc was just amazing. I always liked Usopp so powers or nothing does not apply ;p. His Soge King style was interesting at least ^^;. I have alot more respect for Nami when i saw those different versions of her and when she took out that blonde chick from CP9.
Im not sure about Chopper, but i did see that evil side of him in the recent opening of OP.. Im sure he'll kick ass.

From what i saw in that opening, It doesn't look that much like DBZ,however, His aura kinda reminds me of Cell's Aura when he first fought against Goku in his perfert form. He also had that purple aura light around his body. Judging from the anime version (opening). He's not going to have any energy around his whole body like Goku's power up or Naruto's Kyuubi Chakra.
But showing the way he blew away Bruno with just the wind can remind you of good ol days of DBZ. In the end, OP is with SJ..

Nami beats that bubble lady. But I already sort of expected that since OP doesn't really have "bad" outcomes, which I like.

Haha, I liked the fight against the ramen dude. Him pulling out kitchen knives was classic.

Sogeking... when I first saw him like that I burst out laughing. It's just too funny. And that Chopper and Luffy were both like cool, Sogeking! when everyone else knew it was Usopp. -.- Well, I love how Chopper takes in all of Usopp's tall tales, that innocent reindeer!