#Inherited Will

[opbackgrounds]

The ending of Water 7 is one of my favorites in the series, just a wonderful capstone to an amazing arc, but I especially love that Franky listened to all the stories about the Going Merry and used that as inspiration for the Sunny. If people can have inherited wills, ships can, too.

[bobauthorman]

One Piece of the New Era

Occasionally in One Piece, the phrase "New Era" is tossed about by various characters. When the story starts, it has been 22 years since Gold Roger's legendary execution, when his final words spurred countless pirate crews to form in search of his treasure, the One Piece. This is called the "Great Pirate Era". But in the two decades since it began, no one has claimed the treasure, and the world has entered a status quo, upheld by the three Great Powers; The Navy of the World Government, the Seven Warlords of the Sea who work with them, and the Four Emperors of pirates. So, what is the New Era supposed to entail?

The first time we hear of a "new" era is in Jaya, where Bellamy tosses this out;

As far as Bellamy is concerned, the New Era is where pirates give up on immaterial goals like becoming Pirate King or pursuing dreams. Instead, they focus on regular treasures, like what pirates normally do. As the arc goes on, it becomes apparent that Bellamy is just a bully looking for a fancy rhetoric to hide behind, to the point that even Blackbeard calls him out indirectly. Luffy easily driving Bellamy's head into the boardwalk later shows just how weak this "new era" talk is.

The next time we hear of a new era, it's from Bellamy's boss, Don Quixote Doflamingo;

This is very vague, and hard to figure out, but essentially Doflamingo's version of the New Era is where the relative 'peace' established by the Three Great Powers will come crashing down, and only the truly strong and ruthless will be able to make their way. As we learn, Doflamingo has ties to both the World Government and Four Emperors as a Warlord and black market dealer, so he's in the perfect position to let the chaos unfold, safe and secure. No matter who wins, he comes out on top.

Except, he's not as safe as he thinks, which Trafalgar Law proves when he pulls the Straw Hats into his vendetta;

As Law points out, just because Doflamingo has had a good run doesn't mean he can hold onto it forever. If only the truly "daring and mighty" can survive, where does that leave the puppet-master who hid in the shadows? Nowhere. In this moment, Law trumps Doflamingo's rhetoric, and later on Luffy, who embodies the true freedom the series preaches, takes down the Celestial Demon.

And speaking of Luffy, what about his idol, Shanks?

Shanks also speaks of the New Era. From what I gather, he sees it as a changing of the guard, with new blood coming in to replace the old. He clearly sees Luffy as the bastion of the New Era, the positive aspects of it. However, he also sees the New Era being developed by Blackbeard, and tries to warn Whitebeard of the danger Teach poses. But Whitebeard was already aware of Blackbeard's threat, and his inability is a sign the old pirate is losing his place in the world...

And when Luffy's group does prevail in Wano, defeating both Kaido and Big Mom, who is there as an 'attaboy?'

You guessed it.

With all this in mind, it says a lot that in a series of inherited will, the greatest enemy is Imu, a being who is apparently immortal.

[l-in-the-light]

En, on, giri and inherited will

Inspired by @mochiajclayne absolutely fantastic post about akuen, I decided to share my thoughts about how Japanese culture concepts are everywhere in One Piece. Might be unexpected for many, because One Piece feels like such a western type of story on the surface, it's not even set in Japan. But like always with Japanese popculture, no matter if it's Death Note, Silent Hill (especially Silent Hill since it's set in America, and yet it's so Japanese at it's core) or anything else (yes, that includes all the isekais), it's always heavily rooted in Japanese culture.

Let's start with "en", it's mostly referring to relationships between people, understood in a very broad sense of the word, like the environment you live in or the whole society/community, but also relations between things. It's often connected to reincarnation, en is the connection that accumulates through many past lives. I don't have a good link in english about the Japanese concept, but it's mostly the same in China and Korea, so here you go for the last one: Inyeon (Korean equivalement of en) in Korean culture. Like yeah, it will have some differences here and there, but the core concept is exactly the same.

Law described his connection to Luffy all the way back in Marineford as "akuen". Akuen is basically "en" + "aku" (evil), a connection to someone that is ill or negative in nature. Like your experiences with that person were negative and it might be the complex result of different connections and events leading up to that. It can be because two people are on two different ends of a conflict or because the communites they both lived in or important events in their lives lead them on the path to oppose each other, or it might be because of past lives. The only way to break akuen is dying in such a way that eliminates your life from the reincarnation cycle alltogether. Ouch. But I'm pretty sure One Piece will show us an alternative way of severing akuen connection. One of the greatest things about One Piece is how it takes traditional Japanese concepts and turns them upside down, but in a subtle way.

For example, it takes the concepts of on and giri and instead twists them into a new idea altogether: that of inherited will. Both on and giri are debts you have collected in your life. On by definition is the debt you can't ever truly repay and you're always bound by it, it's the debt to your ancestors, family, also emperor (who was believed to be set on his throne by gods). It's basically the debt you gain simply by being born into a family, cared for when you were a child incapable of doing it yet by yourself. You return it by always taking care of your parents, especially when they grow older, but you can never repay it in full, you will be always bound by it until the day they die. And sometimes, if your parents die before you even are able to start repaying the favour, you will be in a very unfortunate/disgraceful position, because you couldn't fullfill your duty.

Sometimes that debt can be more sinister and as a result of "on" obligation you will be forced to do in your life whatever your parents want you to do. If you dream to become a veterinarian because you love animals, but your parents own a huge company and want you to inherit it as the heir, you're basically morally obliged to fullfill their wish and that's also a form of debt of on. It's really heavy.

In One Piece, Law calls Cora-san his "onjin", using the very word of "on" + "person", signaling his debt to Cora has the nature of on. It's not because Cora-san was his parent or a religious figure akin to an emperor in his mind. It's because he gave Law his life, prolonged it, that's why this debt is an "on". It's very heavy and Law will never be able to repay it in full.

And then we have "giri" which is also a form of moral obligation. It's a debt of gratitude, kinda a favour for a favour, this one definitely can be repaid.

That's one example of it. Another good one is Chiffon's debt to the Strawhats because of Lola. She tells Bege they need to do everything in their might to repay that debt. It's so important she puts her own safety in the second place. In short, it's when someone does something for you, you gain "giri" that will be expected to be repaid. You might have heard that strangers in Japan are reluctant to impose their help on others, that's because they don't want to impose "giri" debt on them, because forcing someone into a "giri" is considered rude/unwelcome. There's one notable exception though: they don't have that problem with foreigners, because foreigners by definition aren't expected to follow the rules of Japanese culture to that extent. Since they're outsiders, it's fine, the giri doesn't apply to them, so it's safe to help them. That's why many foreigners are often offered helped and Japan has such a friendly image in their eyes as the result. If you're interested to know more about on and giri I reccommend Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. This book gained a bad rep because of the part it played in World War II, but it's still an excellent anthropological study and stays true even today.

And then we have inherited will in One Piece. It's a debt you take over yourself to repay, a debt of gratitude. Sometimes to repay it you will have to make someone's wish or dream come true (Chopper inheriting Hiluluk's dream), to avenge them (Akazaya Nine for Oden), to do things in their stead (Luffy saving Wano in place of Ace). It's basically the same concept as on and giri, but I think it does one revolutionary thing: anyone can inherit the will. It doesn't have to be kids that take it over from their parents, especially when it's a debt that's been carried over many generations (debts like that also exist in Japanese culture). No, anyone feeling like the wish and the passion of it moved their heart can take it on themselves and carry it. That's why we have Coby taking over for Garp instead of Luffy, for example, or Yamato taking over for Oden, despite the two of them having no "on" or "giri" debts that bind them to do that. They do it instead out of their own free will.

That's why I find "inherited will" a greater concept than on and giri, despite it being almost the same. There's just one important difference here: freedom of choice. Despite sometimes being extremely heavy, on and giri are beautiful concepts, and "inherited will" brings out the best of them while saying goodbye to the most limiting part: it sets you free from the cage of on. It replaces it with unconditional love instead that doesn't imprison you. You have no idea how big such a simple change like this can be.

That makes Law's ultimate quest to find out what Cora-san meant when he wanted him to find freedom even more important.

[writesailingdreams]

thinking how Ace constantly popping up in flashbacks is exactly what Hiriluk was talking about; you don't die until you're forgotten

[nautical-noots]

I would accept the rats and thank the server because I don’t want to cause a scene! I would then ask politely to get the rats in a take out box and then I would train them to start their own restaurant in hopes of finding an heir to my rat chef empire. When my heir is found I will pass down the eternal rat bowl so that they may start their own establishment, many generations from now every restaurant in the tri-state area will be run by my rat bowl dynasty

[chiptrillino-art]

(ID in ALT Text) Happy very, very late Mother's Day!

I am not saying that zuko is sokkas substitute for kya. or they look in any way similar! The whole concept here is that something was happening at the moment, be it how they were laying in bed, how the hair pooled over the pillow, or how sokka was able to hold onto it. It just brought sokka back. It triggered a memory, and suddenly he relived a brief memory. Making him suddenly miss his mother again. hope you enjoy!

[transassdemon]

[My art, don't steal, tag if reposting]

[lemon-lime-behavior]

Choo choo I boarded the fankids train

[kotias]

[message from after I typed the entire thing: my deepest apologies, I got carried away here and wrote far more than I intended 😬]

Yes. YES YES YES YES.

Retcons are, honestly, not a sin. What counts is for them to be done successfully, for the reader to be able to reread and go "oh waw, this really does fit!"

And I know a lot of people think that Sabo's an asspull. I don't agree with that: yes, he was thrown in a little too late for the effect to properly land, but I think Oda did a great job with him, to utilise him on several aspects.

1) The theme of inherited will

Sabo's the PUREST example of that: he carries the memory of Ace, he carries his devil fruit (which are slowly shown to be digestible inherited wills), and he carries the memory of the loss that his brother felt as he himself disappeared.

He knows, he understands what it means to lose someone, and he knows what it means to be lost.

That brings us to the second point.

2) The sanctity of memories

Sabo loses his memories. Lots of people hate it, it's seen as a lazy trope and... well I don't fully disagree, I'm not particularly satisfied with that myself.

HOWEVER, there is a story to be told here:

Sabo lost his memories and was welcomed into a world that he is NOT part of. He might not have felt like one, but he is still of noble blood; landing amongst the Revolutionaries when he intended to become a pirate was an unexpected direction for him.

In other words: he lost his path and carved a new one, and when his memories came back, he pressed on with newfound determination.

Here is the important part:

With old information coming back to him, his determination was only greater.

Sound familiar?

Each person delving into the ancient history will only fight with more determination to discover more of it, to protect it more fiercely, and to get through the great plan that was left behind.

After all, you cannot carry through a promise that you do not remember.

This brings me to the third point:

3) The weight of promises

That is essentially what Sabo is doing: he is carrying the weight of a promise with two brothers that he needed to be reminded of, and that loss of memory was felt like a break of the promise- "I'm sorry I wasn't there, Luffy."

Again, sound familiar?

Upon losing Ace, regaining his memories and finding Luffy again, Sabo has been able to recover the missing piece to the puzzle of his being.

Sabo is the goddamn embodiment of the entire story of One Piece and of what the present world has lost and needs to recover.

And the cycle is perfect: Ace carries Sabo's will for exactly AS LONG as Sabo cannot carry it for himself. But the moment Ace dies, this will returns to Sabo, with the stark reminder of the promise they made together.

"Death is not an apology."

I know Sabo was a retcon and Ace's tattoo was originally just a misspelling of his name but retroactively turning it into a memorial tattoo for his brother actually hits so much harder specifically because it looks like an incorrect version of Ace's own name.

Ace's name, Ace's identity, the very essence of who Ace is, and he not only chose to physically insert Sabo's initial into that name in the first place -- thus representing just how much he viewed Sabo as a fundamental part of himself -- he then chose to cross that initial out, creating the illusion that Ace's own name was spelled wrong. It re-frames Sabo's death as a sort of amputation; that the removal of Sabo from Ace permanently mangled what was left behind into a clumsy and misshapen facsimile of itself.

There's also the fact that the crossed-out S looks like Sabo's Jolly Roger; an S with crossbones. The flag Sabo died trying to sail under. With that context, it almost turns the tattoo into a sort of skin graft; Ace marking himself with Sabo's dream, implanting it deep under his skin where he can carry it with him and keep it safe.

[eaissilyy]

A kinder mother would sure seek her sons, even if it was her who abandoned them.

(Just a Thought of Marika in ragged clothes and covered in veil, unfortunately didn’t hide her grace, descending down to the shunning ground she made to cage her rage and grief from the time long past, just to see her sons who she refused to hold and look at their births. SADLY THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED AHUGHGAHHHHH)

[inkpotsprite]

DAMIAN

[opbackgrounds]

I do find it really endearing that Chopper inherited his dad’s mad scientist tendencies

[chloesimaginationthings]

IDK what William Afton expected to happen in FNAF..

[shinesurge]

did yall know cricut put a metal strip in the back of their newer Maker 3 that doesn't do anything except pop out after like six months of regular use and force you to call customer service so they can tell you to replace the machine

well they did and instead of calling them and replacing an entire functional fucking machine you can just cut the bar out and put tape over what's left

fuck offfff,

[writesailingdreams]

Thinking it's wild that the Hito Hito no Mi (Human-Human fruit) was introduced in the same arc that introduced:

Ace

Gol D. Roger

the Will of D

inherited will