Nico Robin vs Black Maria was really well executed, the whole fight kept my attention and this is Robin’s first major fight I think. Before this Robin was normally fighting with fodder, but Robin vs Maria was entirely different! It was kinda brutal and hard for Robin, the way Maria trapped her in web and pulled out her brass knuckles and even started punching Robin’s original body! Man it was so good! Over all really happy with the fight!
Nico Robin uses a new technique, Gigante Fleur, to create a massive clone of herself with many arms. She is shown to be able to extend and twist her arms similar to Luffy’s usage of the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
Robin and Black Maria treat us to a very creative fight given the versatility of their powers. Robin summons snake arms and a giant corpse from the floor. Even if Maria sets it on fire, Robin could have just sprouted limbs on the roof, walls or directly on Maria’s back. Too broken. Oda doesn’t protect his girl like Nami and shows us Robin getting sliced, beaten, spitting blood and collapsing to add to the tension and struggle. Nice bit of smarts and technique at play too as Robin palms the roof like Sabo would a colosseum to bring down rubble, leading to a mid-battle flashback on what Robin picked up from the Revolutionary Army.
Robin using palm heel thrusts like a martial artist the entire time. Her training with Sabo and Koala was right under our noses.
Then Robin unleashes her inner Devil Child all grown up. In a battle where she was labeled a burden to her own crew, a mere tool to be sacrificed by other Straw Hats like Sanji, reminded of her cursed existence through Ohara illusions, it’s very fitting that Robin becomes the demon Black Maria was mocking. The menacing Hakuba-like shading, horns and bat wings look like the Hana Hana no Mi made a dark “Bat Flower” bloom this time. Robin then grabs Black Maria’s entire body and uses Grand Jacuzzi Clutch to knock her unconscious. Black Maria’s subordinates, who hear her screams, peek out from the wall of ice Brook made and are horrified to see her defeated with the demonic looking Robin standing over her, scaring all of them as well. Robin may have picked up new martial arts recently, but she’s first and foremost an expert grappler.
Out of the Tobiroppo who clashed with the Straw Hats, I think Black Maria is defeated in most brutal way. Robin literally became a devil for the sake of her friends. She was given the Devil Child epithet all throughout her life. One of the best thing she does is embodying that! She was saved, and now she shows no mercy, she is devil herself.
