#not going to Elbaf yet :D

[l-in-the-light]

One Piece Chapter 1126 commentary

Fresh spoilers under cut!

Yes, Luffy, you're right. Anyone would be curious after 100 years. I just can't with Luffy sometimes. I still wonder if this serves as foreshadowing that Luffy will become immortal smh.

Such cheerful idiots. They remind me so much of Zoro and Sanji, and they also served as parallel to them all the way back in Little Garden too.

Just look at them. They love each other so much, my god. I guess in One Piece, fighting each other constantly means you just love them so much you can't refuse any opportunity to interact, geez.

Also it's so sweet that Dory and Broggy still keep it a secret that their weapons broke down because they helped Strawhats leave the island. They will take that secret to their graves, won't they.

This is so wholesome. Kuma's consciousness might be barely there, he can't even speak, but Bonney knows it's still her dad and wants to just spend time with him together <3

I admit this hit me right in the feels. Bartolomeo knows that if he asked for help, Luffy would run miles to him, but he just won't because he doesn't want to be a burden.

I don't think I ever saw Shanks doing that expression before... I wonder if Bartolomeo's words just hit too close to home.

Also hi Shanks, finally I get to see you more often than once every 200 chapters, about the effing time. Don't spoil me too much or I might expect seeing you more often from now on, and I'm not ready for the disappointment if that's not the case!

"Softer than I expected", oh, Bartolomeo, you have NO IDEA. He's so right though.

Oh. My. God. When was the last time I saw you smile like that, Shanks?? Must be a thousand years ago! All the way back when Ace visited you and thanked you for saving Luffy's life. And before that? Must be in East Blue with Luffy. It was way too long. Please smile more often, you doofus! Bartolomeo, honestly thank you for exisiting. You made this man smile like this again <3 also you're a chad Barto, please, you're great.

Also Shanks, you have no idea how many people are doting on Luffy! Lots of very nice people. I wish you could have met Law as well...

And boom, another young pirate crew got eradicated. Seeing Shanks reactions in this chapter though makes me more convinced that Kid will be fine and alive too. Narrator in One Piece is so unreliable lol.

Speaking of narrator in One Piece... who is it actually? Who is commenting the events for us? Is it you, Morgans?? Admit it, you stupid bird!!

I don't believe you even for a second Kuzan. Not after that trick you pulled off with Saul. You clearly did everything you could to SAVE Garp's life there. He was in such a bad shape too, after all. Garp's rep is insane btw. And he looks a lot like Ace locked away forever ago in Impel Down...

Big bro and Big Sis? Caribou, do you mean Devon and Augur by that? LOL. Or does Caribou actually have a big sis??

Hello, new adventure of Strawhats in a Lego land! God, how much I envy them! I also want to explore a lego land!

Okay, so what happened here. Did they shrink and now they're dolls in a lego house? Because this is not Elbaf. It's not like I thought it will be Elbaf anyway, I read a good theory that Elbaf won't happen yet, we're entering floating storyline arc. It might be wrong, because it predicted Strawhats somehow landing in G-14 base (which is supposed to be somewhat near to Egghead, that's where the kids from Punk Hazard are kept, as well as many Sword members are part of it).

But let's explore the possible explanations that were given to us in this chapter alone:

Robin's idea is a funny one. But Robin's ideas and visions are always wrong, that's like the repeated gag in One Piece lol. So I'm not placing a bet on that (also what sort of fish has a lego mansion inside it's stomach).

"There's a chance it'll make you hallucinate". Interesting. And it's called Green Fairy huh. We see Sanji, Zoro, Nami and Usopp getting seriously drunk with it. Coincidentally, those are the Strawhats that are currently missing in action (+Luffy and possibly Chopper as well?). Actually, the whole Sunny is missing. What could make a whole ship just disappear? I mean, it was even tied up to the Giants ship, wasn't it?

Yep, seems it was. Probably using Sunny's anchor. Which means, if a fish actually swallowed them up, it would be dangling on that anchor. But anyway I didn't buy Robin's comment anyway, no one should lol.

So someone had to undo that anchor for the ship to leave... and here's my most logical conclusion to that: it was Luffy. Luffy doesn't like to drink. For some reason he abducted them somewhere? I mean it's not exactly something impossible for Luffy to do. The crew also somehow pins it down on Luffy, just look at this:

Or, it was someone else capable of stealing a whole ship. There's one problem with this idea though. We were just watching reactions from folks all around the world about Vegapunk's broadcast. We basically know where everyone is and what they're doing (which excludes possibility that it was for example a prank from Shanks), besides literally a few exceptions, like most of Luffy's grand fleet. I can't help but notice Law is still missing in action too.

Right before the environment is revealed to us, Nami comments this must be all alcohol's fault. And that's indeed my guess on what's happening: Nami is experiencing a hallucination from drinking too much of Green Fairy. Which means she isn't a reliable narrator right now and what we're seeing isn't 100% accurate. I still envy her though. I also want to be in a Legoland <3

There's also the chapter's title: 落とし前 (otoshimae) which means: payback, return of favour, taking responsibility, but the most known association is with the yakuza's custom of cutting off a finger as apology for making a blunder. We saw one of such examples happen in this chapter: Bartolomeo had to suck it up because he messed with Shanks and Shanks couldn't let it slide.

I admit I thought it's gonna be a red herring plotline, but Oda actually delivered on that promise! I'm glad I was wrong, ha! This was delicious. Bartolomeo drinking a fake poison to show his loyalty to Strawhats was absolutely fantastic. And Shanks testing him in such a way is so disgusting but also awesome. He cares so much to make sure people around Luffy are actually good people... Shanks and Bartolomeo's encounter is basically two biggest fanboys of Luffy meeting up and it's gotta make this my most favourite chapter for a while now <3

Next, we could probably see "taking responsibility" also in what happened at the very end of the chapter. Strawhats got literally drunk, yeah, so they're literally taking responsibility now for it. But it could also suggest someone kidnapped them to either 1. give them payback 2. repay a favour (despite the ominous line at the end of the chapter, I think it might be the latter actually. But we will see). Wouldn't be the first time Oda uses subtle hints like that to let us know what's actually going on.

There's probably a few more tie-ins to the title in this chapter. Dory and Broggy still gonna continue their duel (it's also taking responsibility, right? Once said words can't be taken back), Bonney and Kuma (she took him with her so she's now taking care of him instead of feasting with others), Blackbeard and Kuzan (Kuzan kinda took responsibility over what happened and made up for the losses when he took Garp hostage). I'm not sure how accurate it is though, because I though otoshimae is related to "making up for some wrongdoing or a mistake", not just taking responsibility for your own actions (or collectively for the whole group). But it might be both, I guess?

But then we can't ignore a tiny callback to that line Zoro says in Water 7 here: "we need to take responsibility for accepting Robin into the crew and that's why now we have to decide: is she a crewmate or an enemy?" The word he uses back then is also "otoshimae".

I'm so into this story's development right now, I literally can't wait for the next chapter! I liked the lore in Egghead, but futuristic islands are just not my type of thing in general. Whatever is happening now, I'm so into it already haha.

[wesleysniperking]

Usopp Rant 😡 TL:DR

It pains me…

“If Usopp doesn’t do anything in Elbaf, I’m giving up on him. I love Usopp. I do. But if he’s useless in Elbaf, I’m letting him go.”

Or better yet…

“Even if Oda were to throw Usopp a bone, it won’t make up for 10 years of uselessness.”

Heck, this takes the cake…

“When Usopp told Nami to lie that’s when I lost all respect for him. The crew should have left his lowsy a** back in Water 7. He became what he was so afraid of.”

Nah. I was wrong…

“If Van Augur loses to this useless bum, it’ll ruin all of One Piece for me. It’ll be a major a** pull.”

Regardless of wherever and whatever direction Oda goes in with Usopp, I’ll always stand behind Usopp. No doubt about it. It honestly gets my goat when people in snark threads or even official One Piece pages (*cough cough* Reddit, YouTube, Worstgen) continue to criticize Usopp for small things, like they just really want him to lose (nitpick the h*ll outta him). Like, no kidding. But there’s one thing that really bugged me about Wano….

And what that was—was in a famous scene when Nami’s about to get annihilated by Ulti, and Ulti tries to force Nami into denouncing Luffy’s dream, and Nami remains firm by opposing the villainess…and Usopp wants Nami to lie and say Luffy will not become pirate king. He thinks this and urges for this to happen. For her to do so.

Now, I do honestly understand why he said that, and why he did it. If people had good reading comprehension and knew how to pick up on context clues this wouldn’t have to be brought up in anything regarding “Usopp’s bum-a**”.

Point blank, Usopp didn’t want Nami to die.

Lying means nothing to him. They both know Luffy is going to become Pirate King. They’ve seen their captain make the impossible happen!

Ergo, my main gripe is that it seems what Oda did is that he had to paint Usopp in a bad light in order for another character to look good. Nami is awesome. Kudos to her for staying head-strong. But in the same breath I stand by Usopp’s actions and see nothing wrong in them. Luffy wouldn’t look at Usopp badly if he found out what he did, because as the strawhat himself said, there’s no such thing as playing fair in a pirate fight (I may have paraphrased this), and what’s important is Nami making it out alive.

A dead navigator? How else are they getting to Laughtale. F*ck winning the raid/battle when the Strawhats are down a member. It was already looking rough with Luffy…

So, the misconception that Luffy would be mad at Usopp for saying that to Nami is illogical. Besides, how can Usopp force his ideals onto others? Yes, if he’d been in Nami’s same exact situation, he would’ve done what she did. But the point in that scene FOR HIM was about wanting to protect a friend. He loves Luffy, and has already defended his dream (e.g. Arabasta). The first one to do so! But for Usopp, what’s important in that moment is Nami making it out alive. He CAN’T watch a friend die. He can’t watch a friend die in the hands of some b*tch with a power trip; trying to force Nami’s hand. And sure, Nami remained head strong, and she did the d@mn thing. But when other people and fans decide to commend Nami for that moment while also putting Usopp down, things get really ugly for me. Nami fans and Usopp fans should be allies. But it doesn’t happen because they praise Nami and kick Usopp down to the ground.

No, this doesn’t go for EVERY Nami fan, and I’m not saying Usopp fans aren’t guilty of this.

So, I don’t criticize Usopp for his actions. Nor do I criticize Nami for her actions. What I’m trying to come to terms with is how it seems like it’s the whole classic case of painting one character in a very bad light in order to paint another character in a very good light.

Very SEEMINGLY so, Usopp regresses (no he did not regress!), and Nami progresses (cheers! 🥳😕…haters ruin it).

It’s a bit disheartening to have to defend Usopp over such pettiness. But I’ll continue to trust in the process. It just seems like Usopp fans are running on switchblade faith. And sometimes that faith isn’t enough.

But there’s indeed a beauty in the whole concept of retrospect, and at this point, it really does appear that in the overall One Piece narrative, in the overall grand scheme of things, Usopp is the true underdog.

And if people are so certain that Usopp doesn’t a stand a chance against Van Augur then why even entertain the idea? People always maintain (and it STRONGLY appears) that outside of Luffy vs Blackbeard, Usopp vs Van Augur is the most anticipated duel in the Blackbeard Pirates vs Strawhats battle.

Again, why even insult Usopp, if y’all are associating this “sniper with the ice cold drip” with “bum Usopp”? And if Usopp winning would be such an a**pull, will that keep y’all from watching? Will y’all not stop and look? Y’all low key have some big expectations for Usopp (who y’all consider fodder).

The fight might not even happen, yet haters are still looking forward to it. The speculation is strong with this one.

I honestly don’t understand it when people say Usopp is holding the crew back. How??? If that was the case Usopp would be given more focus. The camera would stay on him a little longer.

It’s like Usopp can never win.

Like this BS…

“Yeah, but Luffy and Law wouldn’t have been turned into toys because Haki can counteract DF powers. So, they would’ve been able to successfully mitigate the situation without Usopp’s help.”

Why???

“No. Usopp is still useless. Perona could’ve been defeated by Robin if she were there. Strawhats can make it without Bum Usopp.”

But in all seriousness, I think most of the hate is honestly just bitterness and impatience. And overall, misguided expectations. But people just don’t know how to articulate stuff proficiently in a debate (the comment section) without hate.

If you’re going to like a character, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into. And if you don’t want to do the research, then just pick up on the fine details and know what you want (know who you are). Usopp has flaws, but to just straight up say “I wish he could f*ckin die” and some other hot mess? No dice! If you don’t like him, move on. If you like him, but can’t love him at his “lowest” then get to steppin’.

There are a lot of bitter fans who’ve been unimpressed with Usopp post time skip. But there are even some far more bitter enough to the point to say that whatever he accomplished pre-timeskip was his peak, and that the whole fight with Perona was Oda “just throwing him a bone”. Some aren’t even satisfied with Enies Lobby Usopp, because he didn’t get a decent 1 v 1. “He should’ve had Sanji’s fight”. Typical shonen fan, I guess.

Yet, this bitterness also stems from the upset of Water 7’s narrative working in favor of Luffy instead of Usopp (apparently Longnose was the bad guy here 😒).

Ugh…The Sniper King joke isn’t fun anymore…

“Yeah. I truly just separate Sniper King and Usopp now. Meme aside. They really are separate people, and Usopp is just a bum.” [Proceeds to show panel of when Usopp was on the ground, heavily injured after the Franky family “dealt with him”. And the crew found him. And other racial slurs follow…]

Final + Conclusion

Usopp is still my favorite One Piece character (unconditionally), and I hope he’s given the justice he deserves. I love Sniper King, but I don’t want him to comeback because of the haters.

Usopp needs to get the last laugh.

His fans deserve the last laugh.

We will get the last laugh.

Just wait and see, he’ll come in clutch again.

[1000sunnygo]

hello sunny

I’ve always liked your analysis and I’d like your opinion on this’s matter.

Im a firm believer that Kidd isn’t actually died, Oda barely kills anyone actually. But I’ve read some folks say Kidd coming back would considered a “bad writing”?

He doesn’t seem to have any relevance to the plot at the moment other than wanting to be the next PK, but again he cant be in the final race because lost his Poneglyph to shanks. (Only if Oda decides he is a D/ witch is a meh to me, i don’t imagine him hiding it and him having one is kind of out character(?) ).

there are many theories and speculations about the three captains forming an alliance again in Elbaf witch I dread haha, mainly because I feel like him forming an alliance again is unfair to his presence& development in the story and feels repetitive, that goes to Law too.

If this isn’t something you don’t want to discuss by all means ignore this message. Thank you.

I was contemplating about watching the last episode but decided to give it a go after receiving the ask...

God was it bone-chilling. Really felt like a farewell.

Have to admit that it was a great episode. Namikawa san (Kidd VA) posted a tweet on Sunday: "One Piece's sakuga is absurdly incredible. I remember wringing out my soul and pouring everything into my voice while recording. Shanks is too strong. Kidd deserves all the love." (x)

But, no, I don't think Kidd is dead. All three Captains were hyped until only few chapters prior to this. The Elbaf incident might've been in Oda's drafts when this came out.

Yet, we're supposed to believe that Luffy and Law will have plot relevance, while Kidd just dies? I wouldn't call it good writing, it's a cop-out. The series is reaching the final arc with packed developments, IMO it makes no sense to equip a character with advanced combative power like conqueror's haki just to kill him off in his next appearance.

The chance of Kidd being a D is very slim because the theme of inherited will isn't in his character thus far. And two major arcs with similar alliances is unlikely (Personally, I don't want Law anywhere near Elbaf). Kidd's character arc doesn't seem to have a strong motif in relation to the overarching plot progression.

If that's the case, I wonder what "importance" Oda had in mind for Kidd when he created him.

I've seen some theories floating online, my personal speculations pretty much reach a similar conclusion.

For some reason, Oda has been continuously shoving Kidd towards Shanks' direction since the timeskip. Shanks is a core character, his concept and conclusion has to be decided from the start. It's possible that Oda wanted (and still wants) to involve Kidd in Shanks's (very likely) demise.

Returning to the episode, this was the scene that felt like a farewell.

Unlike Heart pirates, Kidd pirates received an ominous end note implying that they're completely decimated. If Kidd's crews, particularly Killer - die from this, it would push Kidd to focus solely on avenging them. He may ally himself with Blackbeard. IIRC, Blackbeard pirates don't have an engineer onboard. Kidd's power and skills may come in handy in the handling of an ancient weapon or a similar power source if Blackbeard manages to nab one; there's been some convincing theories about Kidd and Vegapunk sharing some connection too. Oda has been writing Kidd as a sympathetic character, so if he's involved in Shanks's death in such scenario, his action will be somewhat understandable.

Even if it doesn't take a dark turn, Kidd can still aid in the final battle, there are many enemies to defeat. We haven't been disappointed by Luffy's choice of friends so it's possible that Kidd would eventually back track from the revenge plan and reflect on his own actions.

Many readers have a mindset that Kidd deserves a bad end because he's not a "fundamentally good person" as Luffy, or even Law. Arrogance sure, but I don't think Oda would punish Kidd for his violent track record. Oda's initial concept distinguished adventure loving pirates from regular ones, but he corrected it and blurred the boundaries. Luffy is a pirate and pirates aren't supposed to be nice people. He finds his allies from within.

[minniiaa]

⚡️ H E L L O ⚡️

welcome to my blog! i'm minniiaa (minniia on AO3) this is mostly a one piece blog but i love lots of anime, manga, book, and just funny things in general! (ok truth is i mostly just simp and write headcanons for lawlu but shh)

Below is a master list of my currently ongoing and completed fanfics. if you are interested in reading stories about some horny gay pirates, please check them out!

DMs, asks, and replies are always open. i love chatting, and shitposting, and venting about life and am always open to talk about life, anime, ships, writing, whatever!

O N G O I N G

For Better or Worse(One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Luffy never planned on falling in love with kidnapper, Law was just impossible to resist. LENGTH - 8 Chapters / 55,665 Words

A Reason to Stay (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Law lost everything—his family, friends, and dreams of being a doctor. Overwhelmed by grief, he turns to a life of drugs and sex. On the first anniversary of his only friends’ deaths, he decides to end his hopeless and lonely existence. However, fate has other plans, and Law wakes up in the hospital accompanied by Luffy, a handsome firefighter who recently moved in next door and discovered Law just in time.

Law had been searching for a reason to stay, and he finds that reason in the form of his sweet yet stubborn savior who selflessly decides he is going to be by his side while he overcomes his addiction and faces the ghosts of his past. LENGTH - 9 Chapters / 80.949 Words

a place to call home (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) During the fight with Blackbeard, Law loses his home and family, narrowly escaping with his life. Bepo takes him to Elbaf, hoping the Strawhats can save his grief-stricken captain from a new enemy—himself. Luffy comforts Law and vows to help him avenge his friends, inviting him to join his crew. Law eventually accepts and begins to realize his feelings go beyond that of friendship or allies.

Five years later, Luffy is King of the Pirates and also Law's husband. Though Law will never forget the home that Blackbeard stole, he has found a new one on the Island of Laugh Tale, in the arms of the man he loves.

LENGTH - 1 Chapter / 6,927 Words

Only You (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Law is a medical student who thinks he is too jaded and busy for romance. Until one day while napping in the library, he is awakened by a warm hand stroking his face. He meets Luffy who makes him realize that maybe love could be in his cards after all. LENGTH - 13 Chapters / 93,782 Words

C O M P L E T E D

when i come home (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Kneeling down next to the couch, Law brushed away some stray hairs from Luffy's face, admiring the beautiful man that had become his home, his love, and his entire world. Luffy stirred under his touch, dark eyes fluttering open, smiling lazily as he nuzzled into Law's palm. "Torao... you're finally home," he murmured sleepily.

or

After a grueling few days at the hospital, Law returns home to his beloved fiancé Luffy, ready to make up for their time apart.

LENGTH - 1 chapter / 7,658 words

the eye of the storm (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Law always thought love would be like rain.

When he met Luffy, it was like a warm front from the East clashing with a cold front from the North and he soon realized that love was not simply rain; it was a storm.

Luckily for him, he always loved storms.

LENGTH - 1 chapter / 13,289 words

it was always you (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) In his youth, Law was a devout follower of the Sun God Nika who also happened to be his first love. Law knew Nika would never reciprocate his feelings but he loved him nonetheless. That is, until everything was taken from him and no matter how much he pleaded for Nika to save him, he did not come. Law's faith came to an abrupt halt, feeling abandoned by his god whom he had put over everything else.

Law continued with his life as a godless man, never believing in anything or anyone until he met Monkey D. Luffy. Now, in the aftermath of Wano, Law has to come to terms with the fact that Luffy may have been the god he was looking for all along and what that means for their future. LENGTH - 4 chapters / 41,110 words

love you in the morning (One Piece, Zoro x Sanji, Explicit) Sanji had been hiding his feelings that had grown for Zoro after they returned from their two years apart. Feeling insignificant after the events of Wano, he decides to drink away his problems. Drunk, he gives in to his desires and seduces Zoro. When he wakes up, he remembers nothing. He tries to deny what happened but Zoro won't let him. He never lets go of what's his. LENGTH - 4 chapters / 28,840 words

a drop in your ocean (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Law could figure out anything if he tried hard enough. He could obsess over even the most difficult questions and eventually find an answer. Yet Strawhat Luffy was the one thing he couldn’t understand and that drove him crazy. He wanted to figure out what made him tick, what lay beneath that happy and carefree exterior. What happened to that shattered boy whom he saved in Marineford? How had he gotten from there to defeating Kaido in only a little over two years?

Fuck, he did want this. If only to finally lay to rest his unhealthy obsession with this man. It was absolutely stupid but Law had a feeling that if he could sleep with Luffy and find his answer, he could close the book on this chapter of his life where his eyes followed Strawhat Luffy wherever he went.

or

Luffy seduces Law the night before they depart from Wano and Law allows it because he has been "secretly" infatuated with him these past two years. What is there to lose, they'll go their separate ways in the morning and never see each other again... right?

LENGTH - 1 chapter / 11,053 words

one last time (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Six months ago Luffy broke up with Law to pursue his dreams of being an actor. One night, Law is at a bar when he sees Luffy for the first since since that fateful day. Luffy approaches him and asks if he will sleep with him again, one last time.

or

“Can you sleep with me just once more? Please? I promise I'll never ask again," Luffy asked and Law’s heart stopped. Time stopped. Everything stopped. Was he hearing things? Luffy wanted to be with him again but only for one last time?

LENGTH - 1 chapter / 6,961 words

Entropy (PERMANANT HIATUS) (One Piece, Law x Luffy, Explicit) Law spent ten years praying that his soulmate would never find him. He couldn't accept that his life would be decided by something as arbitrary as "fate." Even after he met his soulmate, Luffy, and everything felt right, Law still desired to break free from the chains that tried to bind him.

Luffy had been waiting for his soulmate for as long as he could remember. He is overjoyed when he finds him in the form of Law. He's everything Luffy ever dreamed his soulmate would be and more. He just can't understand why his Law won't simply love him as fate decided.

Together, they face a problem much bigger than their feelings for each other—soul bindings are absolute. If you reject your soulmate, you die. LENGTH - 7 Chapters / 63,938 Words

[mjrtaurus]

Lots of questions about Monkey D Momma plague me (What kind of person was she, how did she die canonically, how does one catch the eye of Garp of all people) but the most burning one by far is

How did she end up in the Blue Sea?

The Shandians, from what we've seen of them, have incredible amounts of pride in their people and insurmountable belief that they will one day reclaim what is rightfully theirs and finally go home.

How does one just…leave all of that?

I have two theories:

1. She left voluntarily and willingly. Maybe she dreamed of seeing the Blue Sea for years, neck craning down towards it any given opportunity. Maybe the stories of her ancestor and his Blue Sea dweller friend enamoured her beyond reason and she had to see it for herself, just once. (Maybe the war exhausted her, maybe she always knew deep down she is not the one meant to ring the bell and bring them home. Maybe the City of Gold were just like the clouds she laid on, deceptively within reach and yet impossible to truly hold.)

2. She was ousted from Skypiea, the so-called ‘God’ and priests deeming her crime of carrying Kalgara's blood condemning her to be nothing more than a dirty sinner who needed to be removed so true paradise could be achieved. All she could do was scoff, did they truly believe the undying flames of Shandora would die with her? That the seeds of rebellion that were planted hundreds of years ago would not bear the sweetest of fruits one day? What a rude awakening they were in for, her only regret is that she could not be there to witness it.

Hoo boy, this is gonna be a long one so bear with me

There had been a fungal blight in the crops, which then got into the soil through the rotting of the roots and plant matter that couldn’t be harvested. Blighted soil can’t be restored, and plants that would be hardy enough to grow despite it wouldn’t be edible. The fungus is toxic.

They had enough surplus to make it through to the next harvesting season, but that would be all. Sewing season was near. Very, very near, but when the soil was sick, it would be pointless to plant. She had been caught “stealing” vearth from Upper Yard by a couple of White Berets, who decided to throw her to the white sea- and the blue sea far below. It was only thanks to her wings which, while not nearly big enough to fly, could slow her descent to the point that the impact with the seawater wouldn’t have killed her.

She was found by a fishing vessel out of Mock Town. Her story was always laughed at, because at the time the people of this portion of Paradise were of the same mind as the North Blue in thinking that the sky islands weren’t real. Nobody would help her find her way back home, and she couldn’t do it all by herself. This understandably infuriated her, and pushed her even further out of her homeland. She planned to find her way to Elbaf as a stowaway.

From the oral traditions, Shandia was more widespread before the Void Century. One of the peoples of the blue seas who had been most accepting and respectful of their cultural presence were the giants. It wasn’t much to go on, and the sheer span of time could very easily have made the giants either resent them or not even recall their existence. It was all she had.

Until she found herself on a warship under the command of one Monkey D. Garp.

Now at the time of her disappearance, Gan Fall was God of Skypiea. He was unpopular at the time for wanting to make reparations with Shandia after centuries of war between the two peoples. He did not order what had been done to her. He had not even been informed of the “theft”. He didn’t even catch wind of it until there had been a particularly violent raid on Upper Yard, and a demand that she be returned along with the fresh vearth she had risked her life to bring them.

Only when these demands were made did ANYONE outside of the Shandia know that she was of Kalgara’s line. Distant, but honored. Gan Fall did what he could, having to fight pressuring from both sides. At the end of it, though, all the Shandia were given was fresh soil for their crops. They just… couldn’t find her, and Gan Fall had to do much of the looking himself for how poor a job the White Berets were doing.

This allotment of vearth Gan Fall gave to the Shandians was one of the major points in Enel’s eventual usurpation of the title of God. The animosity and hatred the Skypieans felt for the Shandians was easy to manipulate to his favor.

(Amaru!Dragon side tangent: Interestingly enough, Enel ascending to the title was even MORE offensive to Shandia because one of the great beasts they revered along with the giant serpents was the storm god Amaru, which… Enel had a logia transformation of a thunder deity lookalike he called Amaru…)

Meanwhile, her relationship with Garp was by no means one of these “love at first sight” types. At least it wasn’t for her. Garp was hopeless over her, but respectful of her desire for space.

She knew of Marines. Stories had passed down for generations of Seagull-men who would set fire to their settlements at the behest of their “Nobles”, or worse, take them from their homes and offer them up as “gifts”.

No, she did not like Garp at first. Not at all. Not even when he promised to get her safely to Elbaf.

But like all the Monkey D’s of the One Piece world, they kind of just happen to you. Garp was no exception to this. He treated her like he treated everyone he liked, as if she were a friend he had known all his life. It was a sort of honesty that she found herself drawn to. It was… comforting. He felt like home.

They didn’t marry by World Government standards for the sake of her safety. The Navy kept meticulous records of spouses and their backgrounds under the veneer that it was for informing family should anything happen to an officer. Garp was of a high enough rank to know it was mainly for spying. They did have an unofficial little ceremony just between the two of them, though. Finding ways to incorporate their respective wedding customs was a fascinating foray into cultural exchange.

Garp would have loved to know more of Shandia, but… she still wasn’t ready for it. It was still too painful, and so much of it was lost because of displacement, slavery, ethnic cleansing, and forced assimilation that there was precious little to tell.

Dragon’s birth had been a difficult one. It had been a wakeup call for her. Had she died, his father would not have been able to teach him of their culture, because she had not shared it with him. Had she died, another bit of Shandia’s dwindling history would have died with her.

Dragon wouldn’t have known how to take proper care of his wings. Dragon wouldn’t have known that Kalgara was not a fairy tale, but an ancestor. Dragon wouldn’t have known of the Golden Bell of Shandora and what it was meant for…

Dragon would have been another casualty of the monsters that pushed her people to the brink of extinction.

As far as how she died, nobody really knows if she is dead. She just… disappeared one day. Garp was off on Marine business, and Dragon was in his cadet years living in the barracks by then. Both of them wonder if someone in Goa tipped off the Nobles. Both of them wonder if she went on to Elbaf on her own.

Both of them wonder if they were at fault.

[tae-rambles]

OP ch 1124 SPOILERS

my reaction as i read:

first, disclaimer, i was spoiled that Kizaru cries this chapter and it's apparently very sad. honestly, unless it's revealed that Vegapunk told him he had a plan to die sometime during those two weeks before the incident, i don't think i'll feel much sympathy for Kizaru, but we'll see... i also wonder if that's what the title is referring to - the relationship between Kizaru and Vegapunk

the cover story is taking an interesting turn... will Yamato pursue the criminal? will he befriend the woman? maybe Yamato will gain a harem of female lovers like Oden? that would be fun

Morgans' reaction is v unsurprising; Vivi is a badass like always and the two sapphics in the background are still cute :D but sorry girls, Vivi's already taken (NamiVivi for life)

i mean... Wapol is kinda right but shut up

Vivi i love youuuu!!!!!! anyone who hates you is a red flag honestly

of course Morgans would pin it on Luffy - no surprises there

yay! Sentomaru got away! :D it seems like Kizaru let him? where will he go, i wonder... the closest safe place that we know of is Elbaf or one of the next islands the log pose points to? the net cover story will focus on him?

also impressive he didn't pass out from the haki blast! maybe it somehow knew Sentomaru was an ally? can a haki blast do that? i mean... it's a manifestation of it's user's will... but whose will? it was Joyboy's haki but Emet was the one to unleash it so which one of them decided whom to spare? however, Joyboy's dead so it must have been Emet who controlled it but is it possible to control another person's haki aka will? one can use observation haki to sense intent and emotion. could Joyboy implement that into the haki bomb to make sure it doesn't hurt friendly forces? i have so many thoughts...

hehe Akainu will not be happy

yep, the title refers to Kizaru and Vegapunk...

Vegapunk went straight to the point, huh? lol

wow, he shut Akainu up lol

but honestly, Kizaru did this to himself. he's strong enough to rebel but it's more comfortable to stay a cog in the machine... he chose comfort over his "best friend" - you can actually compare him to Vivi this chapter - it would be safer for her to stay silent yet she raises her voice against injustice while Kizaru is here crying and pitying himself while being physically completely safe. i understand it's hard for him and that if it wasn't Kizaru, it would be somebody else. but maybe if he had rebelled and used his strength to protect Vegapunk, there would be no "somebody else"... so what i'm saying is: he definitely did not "have to kill his best friend"

Luffy must be taking this hard... especially since he befriended Atlas... i feel so sad for him

Franky's right... but Zoro, c'mon... i know you're trying to play up the tough guy act to stay alert to keep everybody safe and expect the same from your captain but give him a breather

Lilith... :(

that's a good question, from whom did she hear about it? is maybe Edison still alive? maybe he just disconnected from the Punk Records to make it look like he's dead? i mean... i wouldn't be surprised, this is One Piece after all...

HUH??? ok, i have my theory about how the Vegapunks can still be technically alive - Punk Records is still functioning after all and the question of what it means for Vegapunk to die did come up a couple of times so it's not too out of left field but i'm gonna keep reading for now...

ah... so we're not getting the full explanation now... dammit

but now we can have the mandatory banquet at the end of the arc :D (i have a post that's a response to an ask in the works - that's already taking way too long sorry - that's gonna touch on this more so i'm not gonna dwell on it now)

and Robin's also feeling better :D

kampai! :D

"the fabled country of Elbaf" haha i see what you did there

and another mysterious silhouette to close the chapter...

it was a good chapter :D nothing groundbreaking but that's what's needed after all that craziness lol though i was hoping to see what's up w Stussy but oh well...

Egghead was the first arc a read weekly and it was a wonderful experience so i'm hyped to see what Elbaf will bring :D i already posted my thoughts and predictions here

[aviculor]

Engaging with the One Piece fandom has led me to realize that people don't generally like Thriller Bark even though it's one of my favorite arcs.

The aesthetics

The concept of the Strawhats getting lost in their world's version of the Bermuda Triangle and winding up on the doorstep of one of the Shichibukai who is now targeting them. It's a setup that's basically the perfect self-contained adventure.

Gecko Moria himself is a great villain who sets up Kaidou as this devastating, demoralizing threat looming in the background until that finally comes to fruition in Wano.

Moria's zombie army contains more call-forwards such as the legendary samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma, who also becomes relevant in Wano. Zoro defeating Ryuma is how he obtains Shusui, arguably his most iconic sword. I'm also pretty sure Oars is going to be relevant very soon when the Strawhats inevitably to go Elbaf. And there was Captain John, a member of the Rocks Pirates whose treasure map is what convinces Buggy to help Luffy's jailbreak from Impel Down.

A lot of minor zombies are memorable too, like Tararan the giant spider monkey. It's also been implied Hippo Gentleman is a subtle reference to Wapol becoming a toymaking mogul after his defeat, as all of the Wild Zombies are based on toys Perona owns.

The Kage Kage no Mi is cracked. The sheer creativity it took for Moria to use a shadow-manipulating power to raise an army of not even just zombies but Frankensteinian supersoldiers. Because it turns out shadows function as auxiliary souls and can be placed into new hosts to breathe life into them and it doesn't matter if those hosts are alive, dead, inanimate, or biologically impossible abominations that are literally stitched together. Moria basically has another Soru Soru no Mi that does even more. His own shadow is basically a second him that functions like a logia user. He can switch places with his shadow at any point, allowing this 30 foot tall man to functionally teleport. He can put his shadow into your shadow and control you like a puppet. He can absorb his entire stockpile of stolen souls shadows and turn into a kaijuu with the combined strength of thousands of people. He can just plain stab you with a shadow like Kyoraku Shunsui. Plus, as a kicker, the mere act of Moria removing your shadow means you will die in the sunlight like a vampire.

Dr. Hogback is another great villain. The sheer depravity it takes to steal the corpse of a woman who rejected you and reanimate her as a servant who you physically abuse. Chopper used to idolize this man. Few villains in the series are quite this reprehensible, especially pre-timeskip.

Perona is best girl

Sanji laying into Absalom for eating the fruit he wanted to eat is yet another call-forward to Wano due to Sanji's Raid Suit, Stealth Black.

Luffy asks no less than three undead creatures to join his crew. One of them actually says yes, and Brook remains an invaluable member of the Strawhat Pirates.

You know what? Just Brook himself.

Robin's outfit

Usopp's outfit

Nightmare Luffy, which is a powerup Luffy liked so much that he modeled Gear Fourth after it.

Another of Usopp's lies turned into an accidental truth, as there was a cerberus.

"NOTHING HAPPENED."

"I'M ALREADY NEGATIVE!"

"AN OLD MAN WITH A WOUND!?"

Lola turned out to be one of Big Mom's children and is actually the first Charlotte to appear in the series, tying Thriller Bark into Whole Cake Island as well.

Lola is also the first person to actually tell us what a vivre card is. The vivre card of Big Mom that she gave Nami became a whole-ass MacGuffin on Whole Cake Island.

This is the first time we actually get to know Bartholomew Kuma after his introduction which was a glorified cameo. He shows up out of nowhere (literally) and what news does he bring? Blackbeard has become a Shichibukai, having bribed the World Government for the position by capturing one Portgas D. "Fire Fist" Ace.

Between the above point and Sabaody Archipelago introducing us to the Celestial Dragons and ending with the Strawhats getting absolutely destroyed, you could argue that Thriller Bark was the last relatively low-stakes and "fun" arc. Sure, they were fighting for their lives, but there weren't any like...global-scale consequences or repercussions.

Zombie dance party

[khepiari]

One Piece Chapter 1081 [Spoilers] Reminder-Law has cheated Death and Lost his home: Thrice!

I knew it was coming; I was hoping for a miracle. But this is the finale, we are going to lose more people! The stakes are high, our final contenders to One Piece are moving closer to their goal! But as Trafalgar Law fan, I was not ready to see him lose!

Paulo Coelho had warned me, Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time, yet I was not ready!

True, “The weak don’t get to choose how they die”! And Bepo made sure that Law didn’t get to die today. Bepo bet his life and went on to challenge Blackbeard! I respect him and again it set’s another example how each and every first mate has been loyal and that’s how they saved their captains! Zoro on Thriller Bark, Killer on Elbaf, and Bepo on Winner Island! A captain will survive when it’s crew will sacrifice itself!

Law will hate this; he has the captain’s burden to bare, pride of his crew on his shoulders and honour of the dead to carry! And yes, weak as he may be right now, he really didn’t get to choose his death. Trafalgar D Water Law will not die today, but for now he has been eliminated like Kid from the final race to One Piece.

Law lost his home! For the third time! His island and family are gone, Corazon and foster Doffy family is gone. His crew and ship was a family and home he built over 13 years! A ship which was a gift to him from a friend. He lost it all!

Losing a ship means you have been defeated and your spine cracked! What’s a pirate without a ship? After Merry Go and Thousand Sunny, Polar Tang was my favourite ship. I loved it for it’s cool design, utility, and absolutely fun colour. Law has a career ending blow, but he will survive.

Law will survive, he will be depressed again, he will hate himself again, but he will come back, he might not get the opportunity to avenge his crew the way he will want too! But he will survive, and he will get his answers to the questions he carries!

There is a purpose he has to serve, and my fears for his future is worse. That devil fruit he carries; it definitely offers something more than eternal youth. If it can cure an incurable disease like Amber Lead Syndrome, that means it can cure other things too. And a certain someone has already lost twenty years to a drug when he tried to save his brother.

I just can’t help but notice how Law has cheated Death thrice! If Law was a cat; he would have six more lives to spend! And out of which their is a high possibility the last life might get spent on saving the only D that matters in this universe. But for now that’s a thought I hope doesn’t come to fruition!

Why am I so sympathetic to Law but not Kid?

I think why my reaction to Kid getting pulverised and Law getting butchered are so different, is because it’s very simple!

Rule of familiarity.

We have known Shanks since day one of One Piece! Shanks has always been the reliable guy and Kid was introduced to us as being reckless killer. Blackbeard too has been the bad guy since his introduction while we as readers have spent a decade with Law!

I am more invested in Law! I have seen his struggles, ups and downs and what he is capable off!

With Kid it has always been a distanced and tinted pov. Shakky introduced him to Strawhat as a worst generation who killed people to have higher bounty than Luffy. Then when three of them met, Kid picked fight with Law and Lu!

It was fun watching Kid get beaten up by Shanks! But obviously with Law it was different emotions; because we know him better!

Let it be a reminder!

Defeating Blackbeard and Shanks is not going to be easy! Kaido was the trial round for Luffy, and it took him 5 battles! And the biggest issue with Luffy’s future opponents Blackboard and Shanks is not the difference of power but the difference of planning. Luffy though he has matured a bit; is still a punch first talk later boy. As for Blackbeard and Shanks, they have been playing chess of survival for all these years!

Kaido, Big Mom, Doffy, or anyone Luffy has fought previously has always underestimated him; until Charlotte Katkuri! Luffy is an Emperor of the Sea! Neither Blackbeard or Shanks will give him the half-hearted treatment of toying with a rookie!

Yes Lu is a God, but still a rookie! And next two opponents are people who don’t always rely on strength but brains all the time! They both have planned and plotted to reach this far! It will not be easy!

I think chapter 1081 establishes the final journey to One Piece for Luffy has begun.

[writesailingdreams]

One Piece episode 1109

general episode spoilers and spoilers for manga chapter 1083 reference but not detailed; spoilers for recent chapters

the episodes are starting to drag a smidge, but at least it's done with pretty visual sometimes...

I enjoyed the first half a little more. Animation was stellar, amazing, though I got a little bored with the fighting by the end.

Elbaf was pretty! It was surprising to see it, as I don't recall we've seen a lot of it so far. But I can see how it would be a convenient way to take up run-time.

There were details in the episode I wasn't expecting or didn't remember. I will go check that out. (Mostly to do with Brogy and Dorry and Kid's arm.)

Well, yep, that happened. I think I just remembered there being surprise over the pair's arrival on Egghead recently, so my brain thought that was their first appearance in awhile and forget they had already shown up this arc. >D

Next episode looks like it's going to be more fighting...

(I'm still waiting on Cobra's interview with the Five Elders; I swear Sabo hasn't shown up yet and told about what happened to him.)

[yamatossideboob]

One Piece 1117 spoilers!

This week's philosophisings:

I fucking love Yamato hugging Daddy Cat, happy father's day son

So I did not cop this until I saw people raving about it but. Gin lives babes.

And he made it back to the New World with Dong Krieg and Pearl...

I'm genuinely stunned by this, I can't lie. Oda is stuffing in cameos from E V E R Y O N E.

This is so strange. On one hand I feel like I should be cross that Oda has not only cowarded out of ANOTHER character death, but the fact that 1) it's after 20 literal fucking years after we saw him last, which is genuinely just hilarious, and 2) its fucking GIN!!!!! OUR GUY FUCKING MADE IT!!! HE DEFIED THE GRIM REAPER BEFORE ZORO!!!!! DON GIN FOR LIFE BAYBEEEEEEEEE

also nice callback to the City of Gold myth from Skypiea

oh hi Saruyama lads

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Kujaku...

DRAKE??????????? glad you're alive I guess now you can do something interesting

SMOKER ON THE FUCKIN DUNE BUGGY ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN

This fella channeling the entire readership for what feels like months now

One inch closer to gtfo Egghead, real den den mushi pace to this escape manouvre lmao

Nusjuro is easily the scariest-looking of the Elders, the fucked up skeletaur form is just peak nightmare fuel. fuckin SMT shit

'Fishman Jiu-jutsu Piggyback' doesn't quite hit the same as 'Fastball Special' but FUCK if it doesn't otherwise tick those Hype Shit boxes, gwan Jimbei and Mosshead

Zoro stanboys creaming themselves reading this, power scalers succing themselves thru their jorts at this display

Fr though good on swordsman repelling a fucking Elder to let the crew have more time to flee, ditto Jimbei on the slick catch

also Zoro sword deemed significant somehow woowee

shit, what are the chances we get another crew split a la Whole Cake? Doubt it at this late stage buttttttttt

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (thats Luffy yellin)

the Giants delight in their carnage yay yippee

I cannot help but read Bluegrass in a Cork accent.

VICE ADMIRAL DOLL ILYSM PLEASE BETRAY THE WORLD GOVERNMENT MWAH MWAH

I guess some VAs being not useless is good for stakes. On the Giants tho.

LOTSA D'S HERE HI DRAGON HI BLACKBEARD HI IMPLIED TRAFALGAR LAW

AND VIVI EVEN IF SHE DOESNT KNOW YET

go Giant Robo... you gave us nothing.. lol I'm not yet convinced that the Iron Giant is kaput yet, it just seems too hardy for that even with the Elder assault going on. but that signal is banjaxed now, probably for good. Which suits me fine, Robin can still have her big moment in due time this way.

What's the deal with the D though... I can't wait til we finally find out... mamma mia

Thankfully another chapter is due next Sunday. This is likely the end of this colossal lore drip feed by Vegapunk, but next time will surely be immensely exciting now that we can finally get off the island and off to Elbaf! I'll meet ye there nakama!

💪✖️

[immernichts]

Screw it, here’s my One Piece theories/speculations. They’re messy and scrambled together, as I was tired when I wrote most of this.

•Elbaf arc will have Luffy discovering some plot twist related to Shanks. (Since the Red-Haired pirates were recently there and the locals are familiar with Shanks, it seems like a good opportunity for the story to reveal more about him. Possibly something darker. The way all the people there were basically worshipping Shanks and his crew was… actually a little suspicious to me?) (I have this horrible idea of them finding out the Ohara books in Elbaf’s library were burned before they arrived.)

•I go back and forth on whether or not Kid is alive (admittedly I’m leaning towards ‘doubtful’ right now) but I could see Killer possibly having survived?

•I’m fairly certain Barto and co are fine though lol.

•We’ll get a flashback to when Shanks first arrived at Foosha. (I just really want it. Also it’s odd that we haven’t actually seen it yet, outside of a filler arc. Perhaps Oda’s hiding something?)

•Enel returns. For some reason I could see him doing a heel-face turn? Maybe he’ll drop some valuable information.

•Shanks and Blackbeard are working together. (This is soooo out of pocket, and I don’t really want this to happen, but hear me out–We haven’t seen their confrontation yet, and I feel like there’s going to be more to it than just showing how Shanks got his scar. The emphasis on Shanks and Blackbeard being enemies, while currently not showing much actual interaction between them just seems really suspicious to me. I don’t think Shanks would work with Blackbeard because he likes him, but maybe he’s doing it as part of his end goal. My mind keeps drawing something between Shanks being a Celestial Dragon baby at God Valley, and Blackbeard possibly having some kind of connection to Rocks D. Xebec.) (Shanks is probably not evil, but definitely morally ambiguous. We don’t know a lot about Shanks but there’s no way he could be pure evil. Film Red booklet saying he ‘has his own plan for the new era’ seems to hint at him being somewhere on the anti-hero to sympathetic villain scale.)

•Makino’s baby is a boy. (It’s popular in fanfic but I really don’t want him to be named Ace, I just would find it really cliche.) Also Shanks is Makino’s baby daddy. (There’s… really no other candidate? We know it’s not some rando because Oda was all ‘it’s probably that person 😏’. Anyways, I think Shanks probably returned to Foosha sometime after Ace died.) Makino will become plot relevant because of the above, maybe? (Shanks is an Emperor and (ex?)-Celestial Dragon, so it’d probably not be good if that was made public.)

•Woop Slap and Makino knew Dragon before he became a revolutionary, and presumably also had a close relationship with Garp. (Woop Slap had a conversation with Makino where he seemed to imply he was familiar with Dragon, and Dragon was apparently from Dawn.) Also, I have this headcanon that Makino is an orphan. (Owned and ran a bar alone at *at least* 18 years old, and possibly younger. No parents seen or alluded to, which seems especially odd for a small village.)

•We’re gonna get a flashback arc centered on either Garp or Dragon, preferably the latter. (We’re so overdue on learning more about Dragon. Presumably we’ll see his falling out with the Marines, I think it’ll be revealed he and Akainu were buddies/enemies, we’ll see Luffy’s mom, the significance of Dragon’s tattoo will be explained, and we’ll see him leaving Luffy with Garp.)

•Dragon and Shanks encounter each other at some point and have a conversation about Luffy. They have an interesting contrast in Dragon being the dad Luffy never met and Shanks being an older brother/father figure to Luffy. Maybe they’ll have a fight, since they possibly/probably have different ideologies.

•Maybe Dragon and Roger met at some point in the past? Thought it was interesting that Dragon was shown walking away dramatically frowning after Roger’s execution, plus the two of them were considered the biggest threats by the world government.

•Portgas D. Rouge shows up in a flashback, we’ll see how she and Roger met. Maybe we’ll learn more about the ‘D.’ initial through this.

•Charlotte Pudding gets a major role in final arc. Maybe gets to rescue herself from Blackbeard.

•Bonney’s bio dad makes an appearance. Maybe just a brief cameo.

•Going to die:

-Bonney’s bio dad if he shows up pls?

-Sengoku, Fujitora, actually a lot of the older marines really. (They just scream ‘going to die’ idk.)

-Garp (Can easily see him performing a heroic sacrifice. Although I think him living would be a nice counter to him telling Koby about how the old aren’t worth saving.)

-Dragon (I think Luffy’s lack of emotional attachment to him makes this less likely [the real reason he abandoned Luffy lmao] but I can picture it. Maybe sacrificing himself to save Sabo or something.)

-Shanks (I don’t want it but it’s absolutely a possibility.)

•Finale/Epilogue:

-The seas merge together, islands possible form together as a single continent. (Unoriginal since everyone else seems to be speculating this, but I definitely feel like the story’s been hinting at it.)

-I could see the series ending with no romantic partners for any of the Strawhats.

-Luffy gives his hat to Makino’s kid as a call back to the first chapter.

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Alabasta (Part One)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

(this is a repost, i deleted the first version of it by accident cause im Idiot)

the entry into the grand line is such a great sequence. it feels like such an ending- a triumph after they’ve spent pretty much all of east blue struggling to make it here, and at the same time the beginning of a new adventure, the biggest yet, one that has yet to end a solid two decades later. they all look so happy to have made it here- it makes me smile.

whiskey peak is one of my very favorite short arcs, and i think of the whole first half of the baroque works saga its the one that hits and maintains a tone best (almost certainly because its so short, admittedly, but still). i love the repeated shots of the moon, the reveal that the cactuses are actually covered in graves, the way everything seems far too good to be true at the start and the sense of suspense that creates.

zoro’s extended fight scene in whiskey peak is so great- it’s so creative and so dynamic and the odds are stacked so high against him and yet he’s clearly having so much fun. i do miss this sort of scrappy, improvised fight, cause its largely absent from later one piece but its SO much fun to read- zoro cutting holes in rooftops for people to fall through or shoving ladders to the ground as bounty hunters try to climb them.

i’m a huge fan of fight scenes that use the environment to their fullest, and this is such a perfect example of it. it makes the fight feel a lot more real and exciting, in my opinion.

i’ve never liked zoro and luffy fighting at whiskey peak, its always struck me as frustrating and contrived and kind of out of character for both of them, but i will say that i do like how on the same page they are even when they’re trying to kill each other.

the entire first half of the baroque works saga basically serves to introduce and endear us to vivi so we’ll be invested in the alabasta conflict, and that starts here in whiskey peak, when we get our first glimpse of her actual personality rather than the act she was putting on as miss wednesday, when she bites her lip hard enough to bleed in order not to break down at igaram’s apparent death.

watching robin’s actions with the added context of later one piece is one of the great joys of rereading alabasta. she does a fantastic job of appearing to be crocodile’s most dedicated and capable and dangerous employee while quietly but consistently sabotaging his efforts; saving luffy, sparing pell, sparing igaram, not telling crocodile anything about the strawhats despite meeting them here at the very start of the saga.

little garden has some really cool and striking panels that really put the scale of things on the island, the dinosaurs and giants alike, into perspective, and i love it.

i’m a huge fan of the depth of in-universe lore one piece has. just having little details like this, quotes from books written in-universe, go so far towards making the world feel like a real and wondrous place with mysteries to be solved and details to be uncovered.

i still think sanji is firmly at his best when he’s being a sneaky bastard, and i will never cease to be delighted by how thoroughly he manages to fuck crocodile over with nothing but a phone and some quick thinking not once but twice.

i really like dorry and brogy! for minor characters who’ve only appeared in one relatively minor and inconsequential arc so far, they’re not only very fun and memorable but also leave a hell of an impact on the story, not only in usopp’s new dream of eventually visiting elbaf but also in how they and their crew just keep coming up, first in enies lobby and then even further down the line in dressrosa and whole cake island.

i’m really excited for when we eventually get to reach elbaf, because this plot thread has been so thoroughly and subtly built up over such a long time that i can’t wait to see how it ends.

this is one of my favorite little moments to really drive home how much the strawhats care about each other. they all fell asleep on the floor rather than leave nami alone.

the whole introductory scene to drum is a really good summary of who vivi is as a person and how she contrasts with luffy, and it’s something i’ve written extensively about in a past meta. here ill just settle for saying, vivi is chronically selfless, and always the sort of person to sacrifice herself for others, and these traits which save the strawhats here are the exact same ones that bring her and luffy to blows later on in alabasta.

a good thing to remember when writing characters is that traits aren’t really inherently good or bad, they’re just traits and can have positive or negative consequences depending on the situation, and i think oda is really good at this. vivi’s selflessness, usually a positive thing, becomes reckless self-sacrifice when she’s pushed to her breaking point.

‘kindness begets kindness’ is a pretty consistent theme throughout one piece, though luffy is most often on the other side of it. someone (rebecca, law, tama, etc.) does something for him without really expecting anything in return, and gets paid back a hundred times over. this is a case of the opposite- luffy helps someone offhandedly, and is later saved by their gratitude.

i think luffy wearing his fingers bloody as he climbs the drum rockies is the only time one piece has ever made me cringe back from the page. this sequence is absolutely brutal, and it’s so well-done.

the way luffy decides chopper should be his crewmate is precious, and also reminds me a little of his recruitment of sanji (ironically, given he’s talking to sanji about chopper here). in both cases he sees someone do something good without even really knowing the full extent of their abilities and makes a snap decision that they are awesome and are gonna be part of his crew, no matter what they have to say about it.

i really, really enjoy the way the drum island flashback is set up, with the cutaway right as luffy is about to punch wapol’s lights out. the cut back to that punch finally hitting when the flashback ends is by that point infinitely more satisfying, since you’ve just read chopper’s backstory and therefore have a deep and abiding desire to see wapol eat shit.

hiriluk’s final speech is definitely one of the best and most memorable quotes from one piece, and effectively the crux of one of its biggest themes. one piece is all about inherited will. all of our main cast and a solid percentage of the supporting cast bear the legacy of at least one forebear on their shoulders, from kuina to corazon to otohime. the entire setting of the story is defined by roger’s legacy.

all those people are dead, but they’re sure as hell not forgotten- how can they be, when their legacies are actively shaping the world as a direct result of their lives and influences?

i really, really like the use of flags in one piece. flags are how you declare loyalty or war in equal measure, and flying a pirate flag is a declaration that you’re choosing freedom, come what may, over the laws of the world government. it’s just a really excellent running motif, and a great symbol of what one piece’s definition of piracy means.

this scene is also one of the ones that gets even more extra weight behind it when you know luffy’s full backstory with sabo, which i love.

chopper’s recruitment scene sums up one of the reasons luffy is really great. he just doesn’t care about a lot of things other people would normally take notice of. occasionally that gets him in trouble, but other times it leads to him responding to a situation exactly right, like here. chopper is listing off all his insecurities and reasons he can’t go with the strawhats, and luffy just flat doesn’t care. he wants chopper on his crew and he knows chopper wants to be on his crew, so as far as he’s concerned, there’s no issue at all.

it really is wild that the will of D is named this far back in the story, and has consistently been referenced and built up ever since in very slight ways, through comments by characters like robin and corazon, and yet we still know basically nothing about it.

and a toast to a new crewmate!!

continued in the next post, which covers alabasta arc proper.

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece - Void Century Theory Dump

So as promised I am ready to do a dump of theories that mainly involve the Void Century, so that’s the stuff involving the Great Kingdom, the Initial D, the ancient weapons etc. They will be like my other Theory dumps I’ve done on this page but possibly in more detail. Spoilers for Chapters leading up to Chapter 968

Right so the Void Century happened 900 years ago, it’s a Century which led to the World Government being formed of the 20 Kingdoms, the fall of Shandora and the Great Kingdom, Joy Boy failing to keep his promise to Fishman Island and leaving something of his in Laugh Tale, the Tontattas being oppressed in Dressrosa and the overall forbidding of reading Poneglyphs. There’s a lot there that can be digested and there are a lot of theories about it already, so sorry if some may sound familiar. Im the Immortal

We’ll start with the one who sits in the empty throne, Im or Imu, is a mysterious individual. Gentle to butterflies but knifey to sweet princesses who did nothing wrong. It is a common theory that Imu is an immortal being, someone who has lived since the Void Century, but I believe it goes a little deeper. Imu isn’t immortal ‘just because’, Imu is immortal because he has had the Perennial Youth Operation, what makes the Ope Ope no Mi one of Marejois’ most beloved treasure. It’d explain why the Gorosei answer to them despite being pretty old themselves and how they could keep to themselves so much that nobody really knows that they exist.

Eight Moons

It’s a combination of many theories I’ve seen, but I do believe that the One Piece world has 8 Satellites orbiting it. Of course there’s the standard moon otherwise known as Fairy Vearth, but Ohara’s globe showed at least 5 other satellites, including one with a satellite of its own, but we always see this kind of globe from the front, as if there’s a missing moon behind the planet. The idea that there are eight moons go beyond just the globes of Ohara, the Kozuki Crest and the Alabasta flag also have a symbol of a circle with eight dots around it. Right now I do believe that at one point Wano’s borders were very open, it’d explain why Toki was born in Wano yet never saw it - since her time jumps do not affect her geographical position. It’s also unusual how often the moon is a focal point around the planet, from the Minks’ ability to perform Su Long, the ancient city of Birka and the Wano Daimyo names all relating to moons. A Spaceman Came Travelling...

We already know that the Shandorians, Birkans and Skypeians all once inhabited the moon thanks to Enel’s cover story arc of him going to Fairy Vearth, whereby he entered the advanced and abandoned city of Birka. Given that there is potentially 8 Moons, why could there not be life on those moons. I speculate that this story runs much deeper, we know there are even Space Pirates from the cover story, but what if most of the races from these 8 moons all came down to the planet and they comprise of the 20 Kingdoms. Not only that but this could explain how some races could’ve come to be, the technological advancement of Birka and the fact that their automata match the invention of other automata Enel meets is proof of that but the Minks’ ancestral race may’ve also come from the moon, since they seem to react to a full moon’s radiation. This could also be why there are races such as longarms, longlegs, fishmen and merfolk. The Creator Race

So, through Enel’s cover story we can prove that there was a dude that happened to create 4 Automata that almost exactly matched the design of Automata in the Moon City of Birka, this robotist happened to live on one Karakuri Island as well, the birthplace of Dr. Vegapunk. Vegapunk has been a heavy mystery himself almost as much as Im, what we know of Vegapunk is mainly through their creations; Seastone manipulation, Cybrogs, Artificial DF, Lineage Factor, Artificial life etc. It seems that there’s only certain things that Vegapunk has failed to achieve; Climate Control and Gigantification which could be key to other parts of these theories. Now Vegapunk could simply be a born genius, or maybe he’s from a race that was the most advanced race out of the 8 moons, Oda did say in an SBS that Vegapunk may already know what Devil Fruits really are and thus how they work, and the World Government have him locked up so much that even the threat of Kaido has made CP0 only hesitate about handing Vegapunk over to Orochi - how Orochi would know of Vegapunk is another question, was Vegapunk from Wano? Digging deeper this could also explain how the races of moon people integrated themselves into the ‘Blue Star’ and even created some of the aforementioned races like Minks, Longarms and Longlegs, even maybe the Kuja and the Three-Eyed Tribes, all a product of Lineage Factor tampering or natural selection not unlike how humans created dogs out of wolves or oranges out of citron. A key point could also be the theme of Electricity, Enel was able to call himself God by virtue of having a lightning Devil Fruit, all Minks naturally have the ability of Electro, the city of Birka ran on electricity and like in the modern world electricity had been key to many advancements. Of Dwarves and Giants

One of the things I mentioned that Vegapunk failed at was Gigantification, it seems a little odd that he would need to research that. But imagine that normal humans were from the moon, a much smaller land space, and they come to the Blue Star where everything is either Huge or Tiny. We know that Giants can live for at least twice as long as a One Piece human would and that they have always been a sought after force, even Big Mom believes that with the Giants she would be unstoppable. So perhaps the Giants are the native race of the Blue Star, alongside the Tontotta dwarves. There is some evidence to this as well, Oda seems to lean on a lot of Norse myth (even Im’s name is based off of a Jotunn) and if Giant Jack is a part of Elbaf’s Yggdrasil tree that could further fan the flames. The interesting thing is that the Giants and the Dwarves seem to live in areas where flora thrive, often a sign that they are symbiotic with the ecosystem, there’s also the matter that there are various giants; Oars, Saul and the Yeti Cool brothers being different kinds and sizes of giants, even Kaido and his Numbers could be a form of Oni giant and attempting to obtain gigantification the ways they influenced other races led to smaller scale creatures like Ceasar and outliers like Magellan, Big Mom and Whitebeard, people who seem like they could be like giants. The Kingdom of the Dawn

This then leads to the ‘Great Kingdom’ that Clover was talking about in Ohara, a kingdom whose name Clover couldn’t even speak of before being shot. When you hear Kingdom though you think of one country or one island, but what if the Great Kingdom was actually an empire. I mean you’d think it excessive for 20 Kingdoms to need to take on one right? But what if the Great Kingdom was a combination of kingdoms that included Shandora and Wano, two countries who have been called the ‘City/Country of Gold’. It’s worth reminding that neither of these lands had a ‘King’, Shandora may’ve had a God and Wano has a Shogun (sans an Emperor) but not a king nor a queen. I definitely believe that Wano had ties with the Great Kingdom, the main reason being Poneglyphs: Wano is where the texts were made, where the language was written and taught how to translate, if the Kingdom ‘disappeared’ leaving their story on Pongelyphs then that implies a Wano connection, potentially from the Amatsuki clan - as demonstrated with Toki not being in Wano when we meet her properly - or the Kozuki clan given their blood bond with the Minks on Zou, their crest being placed under a Rio Poneglyph of a millenia-old City. A common thing is also the term of the ‘Dawn’, a symbol of an event in the future where dreams will come true and I believe like others that this is the core belief of the Great Kingdom, a kingdom of many races and cultures living freely and prosperously, the Kingdom of the Dawn. Though whether that was its actual name I’m not sure of, I feel like it’d have another name since Luffy was born on ‘Dawn Island’, so I feel like if the WG didn’t want that name out there so badly they wouldn’t allow one of their Affiliated Kingdoms to have that kind of name. I think it’d have a name similar to the pirate havens like Tortuga, Port Royal, Libertatia and New Providence. This Kingdom however was clearly something threatening to the other leaders of the world to the point that they were terrified of their skills and the creation of what they deemed ‘(Ancient) Weapons’, which led to a war that caused the fall of Shandora (but didn’t ravage their gold) and possibly the closing off of Wano. The Great Kingdom ‘Disappears’

Defeat is feasible yes, but it was rare even for the WG to eradicate even a single island, would they really be able to do that 900 years ago? Part of the reason CP9 wanted Pluton was for its destructive power. So how did the Great Kingdom ‘disappear’? The wording makes it out like it just vanished rather than dissolved. So what if the main country of the Great Kingdom did really disappear, just not in the way that the WG thought. Remember that the Pluton was said to be able to destroy an entire island and we know that Poseidon could command Sea Kings that were capable of carrying the Noah, so what if the Country itself was ‘blown up’ by the Pluton itself but secretly, the island was scattered across the world with the help of the Kingdom’s allies; the Sea Kings and the Giants. Oars is known as a ‘Continent Puller’ so it’s possible to have that strength, and if that is true then maybe islands such as Zou, Ohara and possibly even Dawn Island and more could actually be remnants of the Great Kingdom, hidden or assimilated into the world. The Nefertari Redemption

Alabasta is noted as being one of the 20 Kingdoms that made up the World Government, but the only ones that didn’t go to Marejois after the Void Century. Why seems to be the appropriate question and the appropriate answer could be because they regretted the outcome of the war. It’s possible that the Alabasta Kingdom was the Garp to the Great Kingdom’s Roger, there was emnity but also understanding, which could explain why Alabasta then held not only a Poneglyph but also the entire Pluton hidden within their kingdom. Perhaps Alabasta regretted the side they chose and instead decided to withhold the Ancient Weapon (remember Robin scoffed when Cobra said that the country was charged to ‘protect’ Pluton) from the newly established World Government, and sometime down the line after holding the Poneglyph explaining where. An answer Robin never found because she never read the First Poneglyph the Straw Hats first came across. There are other ‘Ancient Weapons’

As said in a Sherlock Episode “There’s always something so comforting about the number 3″, so far we are told of 3 Ancient Weapons; the ship Pluton that can destroy an Island, the Mermaid Poseidon who can command the Sea Kings and Uranus. Each of these weapons were named after Gods because of their incredible power, but what if there are other ‘weapons’. People speculate that Momonosuke is Uranus or Zunesha was Pluton, but do we consider that there are other things that could be tools of destruction? Take a Dragon for example, Kaido is considered the strongest creature but the WG doesn’t call him a Weapon, it’s gotta be odd as well that Oda mixed the namings up to have the common trifecta of Sea, Sky and the Underworld but gave two of them names of Roman Gods and one the name of a Greek God. It’s possible that there are other weapons out there but they’re not deemed weapons because the World Government have them, and thus don’t fear it being used against them. The Tequila Wolf Project

Tequila Wolf has been a World Government project for at least 700 years, a massive bridge with an unknown stopping point starting in the East Blue. We saw it with Robin and recently Oden so the question is why is Tequila Wolf important? If Kuma wanted Robin to meet the Revolutionary Army why not send her to Baltigo, the army’s HQ? There was something here that Kuma wanted Robin to see, something she needed to learn about it to better prepare herself for the New World. Its name may be a hint, Tequila is named after Santiago de Tequila (much like how Champagne is after the French Province or Stilton after the English Village), the village translating to ‘Place of Tribute’ so it’s possible that this bridge is a Tribute - though wolf does imply deception, like the Crane and the Wolf fable. I personally think this was the WG’s plan to lock in all the islands they deemed important and like most nobles we have seen, leave the outside to suffer, thus the trickery of the wolf, while in Japan once worshipped for protection the rest know it to be a trickster that deems itself superior. Joy Boy and the Initial D.

Recently, the name “Joy Boy” returned to the limelight having been the writer of the Poneglyph in Fishman Island, then we discovered that Joy Boy was a key part of what lived in Laugh Tale, a gift he left behind being able to bring the Roger Pirates to tears of laughter as Roger muses that he wished he lived in his era. So who was Joy Boy? What was Joy Boy?  I think the answer lies in the giant Straw Hat, Joy Boy was a giant, or at least partly giant, a leader of the Great Kingdom who constantly smiled and brought joy to people around him, was able to turn even his enemies to friends, someone of deadly strength that his allies are called ‘Ancient Weapons’. Joy Boy is the person I believe is the reason the World Government outlawed the use of D. the D stands for something that Joy Boy’s real name had, whether the D is his smile, Dawn, Dragon, Devil or something else, the D likely comes from Joy Boy and the people and friends that rode with him as Nakama thus adopted the name D to carry on his will. A small thing I want to note as well, I feel like each of these D holders initially named themselves after animals or parts of an island; Monkey, Jaguar, Rocks, Water, it’s possible other D holders over time married into other families or corrupted their names (imagine if Roger’s family were Gull then changed to Gol) while keeping the D a secret note to the will they carry. Inherited Will

Joy Boy may’ve been this charismatic figure, but there’s still the matter of Fishman Island, his failure to bring the Fishmen and Merfolk to the surface via Poseidon being a deep regret for the character. This could’ve been a human trait had it not been for Chapter 968 alluding to the fact that Joy Boy can ‘reappear’. I don’t think this is Joy Boy pulling a jesus though, I think Joy Boy’s particular race is capable of reincarnation the same way Poseidon is. Poseidon is reborn over time in a Mermaid Princess so maybe the timelines of reincarnation are iffy and the Poseidon of Joy Boy’s time died (or Joy Boy themselves were dying) thus rendering them unable to carry the Noah. If certain characters are able to reincarnate this can give a whole new dimension not only to the Will of D but Inherited Will as a whole. Luffy may’ve inherited Roger’s Will but what if Roger inherited Joy Boy’s Will first and thus Luffy is the reincarnation of Joy Boy that Roger was hoping his ‘son’ would be. This can be further evidenced by the fact that Luffy does intend to reopen Wano’s borders for Momonosuke, thus the point where Joy Boy has returned to Wano. The Devil Tree

Which leads to our finale part of the theory dump. It’s often considered that Devil Fruits were born from a moon, since as Enel noted the moon has no Water. However it cannot be Fairy Vearth, since Enel found a dried canal. So the Birkans, Shandorians and Skypeians did not have the Devil Fruits, instead I believe that the Devil Tree came from the same moon that brought Im and/or the founders of the Great Kingdom and with them they brought a seed for the Devil Tree. From what we know of SMILE, a Devil Fruit seems to take away a key property of its eater, usually their ability to swim, so it’s possible that the Devil Tree’s fruits were initially normal, but when eaten or exposed to a property reincarnated itself into the Devil Fruit we know today, leading to an endless cycle of gestation within a host and reincarnation through the lineage factor. The tree was likely also called the ‘Devil Tree’ not because of its properties but because the ones who planted it sported horns, which can explain why SMILE Gifters and Pleasures grow horns after consumption. I also believe that the Devil Tree isn’t the only tree brought by this race, like many things Trees seem to have properties unlike the simple tree would, there’s the Sabaody mangrove with its bubbles, the Boin Archipelago Venus Fly Trap islands, the Tree of Knowledge, Treasure Tree Adam sporting strong wood durability, Sunlight Tree Eve which can emit light (Like Dressrosa’s sunflowers), Hiriluk’s fabled healing Cherry Blossoms, Weather balls and Shandora’s trees of cultural significance. The Key note of the Devil Tree was its further cultivation, something I believe was the role of the Donquixote family. Doflamingo was key to the production of SMILE and he seemed to want to follow in the footsteps of his ancestor. So it’s possible that back in the Void Century, the dwarves were enslaved to use their botany skills to cultivate multiple Devil Fruits, a fate they’d then repeat with SMILE. Phew! That took a lot out of me, but that’s my Piece, whether it’s key to One Piece we’ll have to wait and see, but I’ll just wait by the phone, see if Oda gives it a ring.

[neverwatchedonepiece]

638-639: "A Deadly Blow! The Astonishing King Punch!" and "The Fighting Fish Strike! Across the Deadly Iron Bridge!"

Franky offers to wipe Sol’s internet history.

I knew there was something up with that toy.

Never thought he’d be part of the Resistance, though. (May the force be with you, Sol.)

Once Block B’s Battle Royale concluded (more on that later), the action cut to Franky and Sol the Toy. Sol was suspicious and alarmed by Franky’s willingness to ask any random person he met about destroying a top secret local weapons factory. But Franky was unmoved. He needed intel. He followed Sol out into the stairwell.

At first, it seemed Sol wouldn’t talk. Franky threatened to leave and find someone else. “I said I need to beat up a Donquixote Family member and find out how to destroy the Smile factory!”

But Sol’s caginess stemmed from the fact that he was already involved in a similar plot! (Very cool.) “You keep talking about this radical plan, but why do you want to do such a thing? It seems like you know things ordinary people don’t. What is your true purpose?”

Franky kept his mouth shut. He’s streetwise enough to know not to let any old random in on the Strawheart Alliance’s Yonkou Stompin Plan.

But he was also smart enough to spot a potential ally. “Then you too!” he said. “Where is the factory? Tell me right now and I’ll destroy it.”

Sol refused. He was not against destroying the factory but first, “we want to save the workers.” The use of ‘we’ was a definite giveaway. Sol is not acting alone. He mentioned Rebecca earlier. Maybe she’s part of the Resistance too? I am also suspicious about this Ricky character. He also hates Doflamingo. I have a funny feeling he might be connected to Kyros too (maybe he is Kyros). After all, no one remembers seeing him fight, he just disappeared and it was only twenty years ago this happened.

Another issue Sol raised was that the fall of the factory could lead to the downfall of Dressrosa itself. (Hence Franky shouting about the factory in public not being a good idea.) Okay, I thought. That makes sense. It’d trash the local economy and bring upon the island the wrath of Kaidou. But in that case, why would Sol want that to happen? Well, maybe not *want* it to happen. It’s more like, why would Sol rather have Kaidou wreck the place rather than let the status quo run its course?

I felt like Sol almost gave it away when he said to Franky, “If you have the nerve and are determined to go against Doflamingo, I’m going to tell you everything about this tragic kingdom of Dressrosa!”

Yes, please! Please do tell us all about the tragic kingdom of Dressrosa!

But I was blueballed. The credits rolled and the plot hasn’t circled back to Sol and Franky.

I’ll make a mad prediction while I wait. I’m thinking all these invisible fairies hanging about might be the original inhabitants of Dressrosa and the Donquixote Family have enslaved them or are forcing them to work in the factory for practically nothing. 

And the Winner Is...?

Meanwhile, in the Colosseum, Block B’s battle was about to conclude.

The twists and turns here were great. I guessed Bartolomeo would emerge the victor (laws of shounen: the fighter who is totally relaxed and barely lifts a finger always ends up winning (this only applies to battles that aren’t vital to the plot)). But how the fight played out was really entertaining and I never imagined it ending that way.

The mystery of Bartolomeo’s Devil Fruit power was kept until the very end of the fight. Even Bellamy’s speed and power couldn’t break Bartolomeo’s strange, deflective powers. At first I thought it was a rebound power. This was only because Bartolomeo seemed surprised by one of Bellamy’s attacks (like the power seemed to happen automatically - not controlled by Bartolomeo). Now I know Bartolomeo must have had his fingers crossed while Bellamy was attacking. The only thing that planted a seed of doubt? Bellamy did manage to grab Bartolomeo. How had that worked?

The scene of multiple betrayals was fun. Dagama urged the fodder fighters to regroup, muster their strength and focus attacks on Blue Gilly - only for Dagama to cut them down when their backs were turned and reveal he had really teamed up with Blue Gilly all along! That was a fun twist in itself. Then, when Gilly double-crossed Dagama.... ooooh, the intrigue! The fact the fodders were probably coerced into fighting because Dagama had poisoned them only upped the scumbag stakes.

I love that Dagama had the cheek to complain Blue Gilly double-crossed him. It’s like Gilly said, “Can’t believe people would trust a dubious guy like him in the first place!”

While everyone was double-crossing each other, Elizabello shadow-boxed and sweat-dropped. A bunch of chuckling, vengeful thugs surrounded him. Gilly decided to gloat. Called him a “helpless king without a court” who couldn’t do anything without Dagama.

When Liz ceased so shadow box... that should have been everyone’s clue to take him out. Instead, the other idiots in the ring let Liz power up. The guy stood there red-faced, yelling and popping veins like he was locked in the bathroom suffering through a difficult poop.

Even the audience knew something was wrong before they did. A group of worried randoms figured out their section of the Colosseum would be wrecked if they didn’t scarper.

By the time Gilly and the other fighters noticed something was seriously wrong, Gilly’s attempt to take Liz out was too late. KABOOM! Liz threw the King Punch. It was pretty spectacular. A golden-tinged impact that would have done Caesar proud. It took out almost everyone. Bellamy, Gilly, everyone who had been knocked out, was blown away into the moat.

Only a single-person remained in the ring.

IT WAS ME, DIO BARTOLOMEO!

Yes, it was Bartolomeo! And the trick he had been using to job the entire fight was revealed by Liz’s King Punch. 

Bellamy was right: Bartolomeo was a Devil Fruit user. He has eaten the Barrier Barrier Fruit, which enables him to protect himself from (any?) attacks if he crosses his fingers. He also unwittingly used his powers to save a large section of the Colosseum and the crowd who would have been obliterated by the blast. Not sure if he’d like that. But a win was a win, right?

Interestingly, Bartolomeo also has a reason for fighting. After he told the audience to go to hell, he declared he would win the Mera Mera Fruit and dedicate it to “That Person.”

As yet, I have absolutely no clue who it could be. 

But Bartolomeo’s reaction to finding out Strawhat Luffy was in the mix was intriguing. Was that fear I saw on his face? I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen Bartolomeo before but am drawing a complete blank. The weirdest thing was that there was no confrontation between Luffy and Bartolomeo. Looking forward to seeing what is up with this guy later on.

Luffy cheering on Bellamy was a good twist too. Actually, it’s not really a twist. When it comes to most people Luffy doesn’t care much about the past (Teach and Akainu are probably on the shit list for good). If he can forgive you, then all is forgotten. Of course, Bellamy felt embarrassed being cheered on by the old enemy who gave him a pasting. Doubly so, since he has failed again and Luffy has become so much stronger (able to use Conqueror’s haki - like Doflamingo, I guess).

Now the focus is on Block C. The competitors here seem a bit fodderish, with the exception of Don Chinjao. We have Sai, Boo, Brutal Bull (lmao), Hajrudin a Giant pirate mercenary from Elbaf, some fighting champ called Ideo, the Funk Brothers (lmao) and some guy called Jean the Bandit. Rebecca should clean up here. Then, when Block D comes around, it’ll be Luffy vs Cabbage.

Unpopular Opinion Time

I am beginning to like Caesar.

There must be something wrong with me.

Oda, I can’t believe you’ve done this. It is entirely your fault.

The action cut from Bartolomeo’s horrified Luffy realisation to the Caesar Handover Team out on the bridge.

My prediction that it would take them ages to cross the bridge was shot down in glorious flames. Thanks to Caesar, it didn’t even take them half an episode! Thank you, Oda.

It turned out the solid-looking iron bridge praised by Usopp was not especially robust. I think Caesar jinxed it, though. He was the one who said, “We’ll be fine if the fish don’t strike.”

Then a bubbling rumble in the depths announced itself. I lol’d heartily when a Vast Horned Abomination slammed itself into the barrier and stared at them with a grin stretched across its face and a look of murder in its mad, red eyes that said, “There will not be a second smash.” (I liked their design, by the way. The fighting fish look awesome.)

As Law wanted to reserve most of his strength for the return journey, he left Robin and Usopp to smack down the fighting fish (literally in Robin’s case). They were doing a fine job, but when Law asked Usopp to uncuff Caesar so he could fight...

Holy moly, Caesar is actually pretty strong. I keep forgetting, since he acts like such a highly-strung goofball diva a lot of the time, but damn... those Gastille beams fried those fish like it was cookout season!

Still, there were a lot of fish. And the bridge had collapsed in the middle. With nowhere to run, Law almost used Room, but the offending fish was speared, netted and dragged away along the other half of the bridge by freaked out, invisible people. (Interesting.)

Once Caesar was convinced to fly them all over the broken bridge (Caesar is basically Law’s bitch now his heart’s in a box. He is hilariously bitter about it,) they discovered the netted fish drag marks led straight to Green Bit.

It’s a strange place, is Green Bit. It is supposedly deserted and is therefore overgrown, wild, full of animal life. Ships lie wrecked all round the coast. A single, huge rose towers over everything else (hence the name Dressrosa?) Usopp should be fine here. He’s used to hostile wilderness terrain. Unless the invisible fairy people attack them. Then all bets are off.

KNEW IT.

I totally knew Sanji was being played.

Still, I’m glad the dumb charade has finally run its course. At least it only lasted for a couple of minutes each episode. I was getting tired of Sanji dropping all his Strawhat responsibilities for a random.

Got to admit, though, the brief skirmish with the thugs in the warehouse was cool. Sanji was so fast, the guy never knew what hit him. Sanji is always so stylish when he fights.

And look at what it’s got him into. Cuffed and likely hauled off to who-knows-what fate. Sanji’s reaction to Violet was interesting. It was almost like he recognised her face. (Either that or realisation hit that he was being played the entire time.) Whatever the case, this plot line has just become ten times more interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing where it leads.

If I can make another mad prediction? Violet is a member of CP0. Absolutely no basis for this other than she looks pretty dead behind the eyes, is kinda scary and her working with CP0 would tie them into the main plot nicely.

“Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour, Donquixote Doflamingo?”

[swans-anime-ramblings]

“Luffy had no reaction to Boa...doesn’t that mean he won’t have romance?”

I’ve been debating about posting this blog because I was hesitant about the kind of reaction it would receive. But I think this topic is worth discussing logically.

Alright, so let’s dig into this thing.

If we’re going to understand Luffy and his actions (or not actions) towards Boa, then we have to first understand him as being a character that fits the Battle Shonen archetype. The genre, despite people’s complaints about it, is the most popular type of manga/anime genre there is. And One Piece, for all its glorious writing, world building and character development, is perfectly happy to sit in its genre, with Luffy fitting right into the hero archetype.

Where did this archetype even come from? It may surprise you to learn that Dragon Ball is in fact the grandfather of modern Shonen. You know what kind of stories were running in WSJ as DB’s contemporaries? Big burley manly men who never changed or progressed like Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.

 And the antithesis of this is Goku, little innocent Goku who takes this character type and flip it on its head.  (Kid Goku is so cute guys! *cries*)

Toriyama’s writing absolutely can’t be understated here. Nobody had ever seen anything like Dragon Ball. It became a cultural phenomenon. It became a blueprint for success. 

The classic Shonen Hero archetype has evolved into the following:

innocent

clueless when it comes to love

loves to fight/ get stronger

has a catch phrase

wants to protect their “Nakama”

thinks before they act

often stupid or a simpleton

gains power ups through training and other means

cute

Within the archetype you’ve got big hitters such as:

Goku— the OG who was so clueless, he couldn’t tell someone’s gender without slapping them in the crotch. Also obsessed with getting stronger to the detriment of, well, everything

Luffy— the uber innocent muffin who will do anything for his crew, and will go out of his way for people if it concerns their dreams. Aware of his weaknesses more than the others, Also really dumb at first

Naruto--- the misfit who starts out peeping at girls but then ends up taking on the burden of the entire world, because he’s THAT concerned about everyone and everything. Definitely the most selfless, has dumb moments, but smarter than the others

Ichigo--- the lovable grump who literally doesn’t give a shit. Coolest one of the bunch

Natsu--- loves his friends so much he gains power ups in the middle of the battle to win through the power of friendship. Probably the funniest one, takes life one job request at a time

Asta— the new kid on the block. Constantly yells to the point of irritation, believes working hard will solve all problems, doesn’t understand how relationships work and that nuns don’t get married

Deku— I know people will ask. Yes, he is a Shonen Hero, But doesn’t fit into the archetype so be will be left out of the discussion (the kid actually suffers from overthinking...complete opposite than these lovable idiots)

So, for fun, let’s throw all these Shonen Heroes into the same situation Luffy found himself in

All of these heroes fall through the ceiling and into Boa Hancock’s bath where they come face to face with the most beautiful woman on the planet who is naked.

Goku: completely unphased by Boa’s beauty. Asks who Boa is, and when she gets pissed, stands there with a “huh?” Look on his face when she shoots the love beam at him. After it has no effect, Goku puts his hand up with a smile and then says, “see ya!” Before flying off. Probably more concerned with where Vegeta went and if he managed to find a new level of Super Saiyan

Naruto: definitely phased by Boa. Would probably turn to stone ahahahaha

Ichigo: after being annoyed because he fell through the roof, would take one look at Boa, and get flustered out of embarrassment. By the time Boa tries to question him, he’s already left and found the exit.

Natsu: upon falling into the bath, he’d also be completely unphased by Boa. Would most likely take note of her earrings and ask about them. He’d probably also end up saying something Boa would find unbelievably rude, but something I would laugh hysterically at. “Woah?! Is that your guild mark?! Cool!!!” 

Asta: I imagine Asta would most likely cover his eyes out of courtesy, and ask for the way out. When Boa gets mad and asks why he’s not head over heals for her, nor why he’s looking at her body, he’d say something like, “sister Lilly is waiting for me” and then leave. *sigh*

So here’s my point. Three of our boys would have the same exact reaction as Luffy. When it comes to the archetype, lusting after girls simply isn’t in their nature. Natsu’s reaction to a naked Lucy was to cover her boobs with his hands “fine I’ll cover them” he sighs in the dub. No lustful reaction whatsoever. I’m pretty sure any normal guy would, um, not react that way. He looks so bored.

Asta refused to peep at a girls bath (way to shut that down buddy), and Goku’s seen plenty of naked people and he doesn’t care. He even has the same reaction in Dragon Ball Super, after he’s married, when he accidentally sees another woman naked (who is very beautiful).

(Harsh reaction there Goku, lmao)

Luffy’s reaction to Boa is completely in line with the archetype. The innocent nature of the main character is extremely important. Oda even says in the SBS that it would just be plain weird for Luffy to get a nose bleed. I agree.

So, do our boys reactions to Boa mean romance isn’t possible for them? Of course not. Goku got married and had 2 kids. Naruto, who is the most interested in women, got married. Ichigo ended up with someone and had a kid. Natsu’s relationship with Lucy isn’t “canon” yet, buuuttt with this sequel coming and all the art Mashima’s been posting, I think we can all just call it and it’ll be happening. As for Asta, the manga is still young so it’s hard to say, but judging how Tabata is treating romance in his manga, I’d say It’s a distinct possibility. Asta does have a low-key herem going on 🤷‍♀️

When Goku was a kid, he came across a foe who could turn evil (ie bad thoughts) into a weapon and kill you. Goku was the only person to ever survive because he has no impure thoughts. It basically works the same way as Boa’s love-love beam.

This innocence is why Goku can ride his magical flying cloud the Kinto-Un, aka the Flying Nimbus. That innocence in Goku stays with him forever, too. Goku can ride the cloud after he’s gotten married and created spawns. The idea is, sex isn’t dirty. It’s just how you treat it may or may not make it dirty (ie unwarranted advances). Master Roshi, Goku’s perverted teacher, can’t ride the Kinto-Un. Using Goku as an example, our innocent muffins can still have romance/make babies. Their highly innocent nature doesn’t stop them, but normally with these types, they will only have romance/make babies if it’s with one very special person.

This is important to remember; for this genre, romance is a part of maturing and growing up. Most of these shonen heroes end up with someone once they’ve passed a certain point. 

In One Piece Specifically 

When it comes to Oda’s writing specifically, romance between characters doesn’t really play a huge role in One Piece like the way it does in Naruto and Fairy Tail. Everyone who reads OP should recognize this. Whatever ends up happening at the end of One Piece, there aren’t going to be a zillion pairings and those pairings staring off into the sunset. 

There’s that famous line from Oda where he answered a question in the SBS (from chapter 317)

D: Doesn't anyone on Luffy's crew fall in love? Will there never be a tale of on-board romance? (Sanji is an exception in this case) I'm just wondering.

O: OF COURSE THEY'RE IN LOVE... WITH ADVENTURE! (← good one)

The SBS is a place where Oda jokes around with his readers. I think his answer is a good answer because it’s true, and when it comes down to it, a deflective answer.  And whatever else Oda has said or hasn’t said in magazines or interviews, Oda can change his mind about what he wants to include or not include in his manga.

The reason I think this is worth bringing up is because I can see a storytelling shift which has changed in his manga. Romance in any capacity used to play almost no role in the early story. Just think about the type of characters he was creating. You’ve got Nolan’s descendant who hangs out with guys that look like monkeys. You’ve got the giants of Elbaf, you’ve got the Galley-Law company guys. There’s hardly any blood families in the first half either. Vivi and her Dad are a notable example, but they are the minority, not the majority. The first half of the story was mostly focused on people who were not blood related and were making their own families, like the Franky family. Like the Strawhats. 

Post time-skip and New World, we’ve got a very different story being told. With Kyros and his wife Scarlet, Oda actually gave us the backstory to their romance! Dressrosa was set up a bit for that type of story, but I still find it notable. It wasn’t necessary for character motivations for Kyros. It felt like Oda wrote it because he wanted to.

You’ve got romance playing a big role in Whole Cake Island, even with Chiffon and Bege. This is a married couple with a young son, and not the type of characters we’d see in the early story. Sanji and Pudding were more of a serious type of relationship, even with Sanji “choosing to feel love” for Pudding. Guys, that’s...mature. We’ve seen a lot more blood ties in the New World, even to the point of the Big Mom pirates, dysfunctional as they are. 

In the end, you write what you know. When One Piece started, Oda was a single guy, now he’s in his early 40′s with a daughter. The types of stories he’s telling now are based on more mature aspects of his own life. 

Does this mean Luffy will most definitely end up with someone? Of course not. There’s a distinct possibility OP will end with Luffy as he is and there be no pairings of any sort.

But to dismiss the possibility of parings based on Luffy’s reaction to women or something Oda said back in some interview, is also too dismissive of a stance to take. Like his Shonen counterparts, romance for Luffy is a possibility. Remember what I said about the genre; romance is sign of growing up and maturing. Luffy is still growing and maturing, so it isn’t out of the cards.

In the end, Only Oda knows. Until One Piece has concluded, we’ll have to wait and see. 

[monkeydluffy19920]

Chapter 858

Tick tock, clock running and only 3 hours and 30 minutes to the ‘Tea Party’ !

First we see how they are baking the wedding cake and I assume this will be important part of the wedding since BM has dreamed about the cake for a while. Also I doubt Oda would spend the valuable panels for nothing so yes, a importan cake. Then we have Pekoms who is accompanied by Sun Pirates and they tell him to rest but he doesn’t want and mentions seeing shadows (wonder if he meant the same shadows that we saw shooting Bobbin)

So Luffy and others are on their way to see Capone and they are sent to the bath by Vito who explains that the “mafia boss” doesn’t want any dirty guests around. Now that Vito and others is back on game we MIGHT get to finally know what he whispered to Sanji back in chapter. Luffy is taking things surprisingly serious, almost scolding Chopper being so relaxed in times like this and so on but that might be also a gag, who knows : D   (By the way, Chopper is way too adorable without the hat :> )

Then the scenery switches from the outside of castle to the inside and in women’s bath  Nami finally gets the shower shes been craving since they were thrown into the jail. More importanly they’ll meet Lola’s twin sister Chiffone who opens up more about the past of Charlotte family and especially about Lola’s case and explains why she isn’t welcomed to Whole Cake Island anymore. 

Whoever wrote the theory about Lola’s proposer to be a giant and has something to do with Elbaf nailed it ! So BM tried to arrange another political marriage in order to get involved with a famed army of Elbaf and this could’ve offered her the keys to get closer to One Piece. So I assume  that now her plan with Vinsmokes and this marriage of Pudding and Sanji was to get get the gadgets to make her own clone army of Giants , sort of as a “revenge”. 

(hmmm Nami seems to be interested in princes *whistles and smirks*)

It’s actually really sad to see how similar Judge and BM actually are. Both have crazy ambitions and questionable methods to achieve them and on top of that they are horrible parents. I mean they favor some of the children meanwhile despising the others and there is no wonder why Sanji and Lola both ran away.  Back in Thriller Bark Nami and Lola became close friends and seeing how badly Big Mom treats her own children is enough to give Nami  another reason to kick some Charlotte butt, in my opinion. I doubt her kind and emphatic nature will let her just “forget” this all, especially now that BM has not only caused trouble for her crew mate but also to her sworn sister. I really do hope Oda has prepared Nami some badass fight or other badass moment because she is a badass whose skills deserve to be seen ! 

Well Brulee and the other guy whose name I already forgot are still kept tied (probably so they won’t be able to squeal) and they seem to question Capone’s and Chiffon’s desicion but as said, I think there are way too many reasons why BM should be on her toes. I just hope Brulee doesn’t ruin it all by telling Mama before the big moment although it would bring more drama and tension :d

Also elsewhere Luffy and others are finishing their baths as well and for the comical part of the chapter they are some silly dummies. Well all I can say now is that DAMN YOU ODA, MASTER OF TROLLS XD also, never underestimate the power of milk, it can heal anything ! and to be honest I was already getting used to Luffy’s missing tooth but can’t deny that I’m glad it’s back, although he looks adorable with or without the tooth so doesn’t really matter :> yeah that missing tooth could have offered lots of dramatic sceneries in their future reunion in Wano because well it would’ve been interesting to see how the rest of the crew reacts seeing him with a gap in his mouth but I bet there might be tension anyways if they hear what has happened in WCI but at least now Luffy can smile with the whole row of white and shiny teeth and great to see Brook healed as well :D 

Then to the big meeting ! Straw hats meet the Capone’s gang and damn I already love the outfits of this arc so much :> (and it’s so hilariously cute that Luffy won’t give up on his treasure at any cost so he puts 2 hats on xD).  

I know this is a bit overthinking but if we think a little about the shipping perspective you can see that Sanji and Nami are sitting in different couches, maybe this could indicate that they  don’t feel yet comfy to sit next to each other and therefore there is a chance for bigger reconciliation. I know Nami practically already forgive him  but it was via Den den mushi, so maybe there will be something shippy awaiting :> at least I hope Oda would make them have a proper time to talk with each other but let’s see. 

My mate @eleamaya​ dropped some really promising shippish-notes in her post here.  Not only that prince comment few shippers have already pointed out but also this really interesting detail:

Yup as you can see Nami is now having very similar haircut/hairstyle   than in that panel where Pudding is portayed as bride and where she explains how she shoots Sanji after the veil is lifted. Coincidence or not but this arc is full of surprises and I wish we could already see what the plan is and how they fullfill it.

Also on the other hand we shall keep our feet on the ground and not raise our hopes too high since OP is mainly focusig on chasing dreams and valuing friendships rather than romance even though it feels like there is more romantical aspects in general compared for the early arcs(hehheh, I need to remind myself about this often since I tend to carry away with shipping goggles xD).

(maybe the color spread of chapter 464 was kinda foreshadowing to this arc. Anyways they look great there :p)

Then we also find out tht Ceasar has been with Capone... as Gangster Gastino xD he looks badass by the way ! Luffy almost gets fooled by the “disguise”. Capone seems not to be interested in their links to each others, he just wants a confirmation to the alliance. Like always negotiations don’t go with the easiest route since Luffy starts to use his gomu gomu powers because he is mad at Capone shooting Pekoms and like Jinbe’s face says it all, he was expecting this to go this way so he stops their fight telling that if they all hate Big Mom then she’ll be the target and they can call it as a alliance.  From now on it seems like Pudding is not having any alliance with Capone’s gang but nothing is for sure. However Capone seems to have a plan and I wonder what that’ll be. Here are some that crossed my mind instantly:  

1) “bride swap” Based on this post and few fan arts but I don’t see this as a impossibility, even though Lola is out of game (which means Nami isn’t going to bargain like we originally speculated with my mate @ecassandrae.) I know I’ve been talking about her nickname thousands of times but I still claim this would be a perfect opportunity for her to  be “the husband stealer”, literally. Also like my mate @pernanegra​ reminds us, Chiffon has already took part in brideswap earlier so arranging another “scheme” sounds even more plausible don’t it?  Practically this would mean they need to capture Pudding and make Nami as the bride who steps to the altar. Like said this isn’t impossible but there are indeed pros and cons in this plan  + Sanji would love this plan and he wouldn’t have to be afraid of getting shot + This would give them time to react and ambush + We know Pudding has 2 wedding dresses which could partly support this idea  - could they capture Pudding without problems ?  -+ is Nami willing to do this? (well of course she’d be in the end because it’s for the sake of her nakama but I can already imagine how blushed she’d become if she heard this for real :D) 

2) full chaos  Well this doesn’t require much explanation, the fire is opened before the tea ceremony even starts  + unpredictable since BM seems to trust her son in law -  chaos 

There is probably much much more choices but I’m so stubbornly looking forward on the number one since there are so many nice hints around but but, master Oda will show us the right path !