Bleach 424, One Piece 602

Naruto on hiatus, why is it that whenever one manga resumes, the other guys on hiatus? Not too long ago, it was Naruto/Bleach, then Naruto/One Piece, now its Bleach/One Piece.

Bleach 424

It would seem like we are treated to another time skip, this officially makes all long running, popular, shonen mangas that I know of take this route. We had Dragon Ball, we had Naruto, we just had One Piece, and now we have Bleach.

17 months have past since the event of the last chapter, and a new arc, Lost Shinigami Representative Badge, is beginning. Ichigo is now 17 years old and is in his final year. And he can no longer see ghosts. His duties and roles are taken by other characters. Karin, who has grown up, has a spiritual power level up. Potential Shinigami candidate? And Ishida is taking over hollow killing duties. Since Mr Afro is all but useless. His friends seems to know that he once had Shinigami powers and accepts it. Tatsuki has longer hair, and Tekken is referenced here. I wonder when Tekken 7 is coming out? Rukia has never been seen in Karakura Town since. Ichigo keeps the Substitute Shinigami skull thingie as a momento, and also still has his skills and reflexes. A mysterious man appears who strangely reminds me of Aizen, specifically in the last page.

It's not as exciting as One Piece's time skip, but at least it's decent. Though I find it weird there's no news of Sado and Inoue. I wonder where they are. Also, the spread page:

Is a definite nod to this:

Trying clicking to enlarge if it doesn't load...

Once again, it's really obvious that the mangaka has improved over the years. I mean, look at that Inoue. Urgh. And that Shinji...words can't describe.

One Piece 602

Finally...i said FINALLY...they are reunited abroad the Thousand Sunny. There's a lot of humor contained in this chapter. We see Luffy "admiring" Franky's body, we see Sanji nosebleed when seeing Nami and Robin, we see him going crazy over Perona, he must really be desperate, he was stuck in an Okama island after all. Yes, you heard  read that right. Perona, apparently she was the one that brought Zoro here. No wonder he was first. Perona aside, we also see a lot of other allies of the Straw Hats that help them when they were separated. Rayleigh, the Big Birds, the Big Beetles, the Big-headed Okamas, and the Big Men Weatheria. And of course there was Hancock, who gave Luffy a wink. Which in turn revealed to the crew that he knew the Shicibukai, which in turn made the mentioned of the Amazon Lily, which turned Sanji into this:

I actually had to stifle a laugh because I was reading this at night. Anyway, the crew are on their way to Fishman Island, finally. It has been a very long delay, almost a year maybe? I mean, they have been talking about Fishman Island since before they arrive at Sabaody. I am really excited about next week....