#rewatching whole cake island arc

[iaxsl]

me yelling "SHE'S 16!!! STAY AWAY FROM HER" everytime pudding comes on screen and someone tries to make a pass at her 🥴

[elles-home]

sanji’s been suicidal from day one yall, why didn’t i catch this before. like we talk a lot about him offering to take zoro’s place in thriller bark because he sees himself as replaceable. “you guys will have to find another cook” dialogue really showed us this. i’m watching episode 26 right now and this asshole just said “point that gun at me,” when gin had the gun pointed at zeff

he’s always had suicidal tendencies oh my goodness

[evilishei]

Okay so this just randomly occurred to me while watching Thriller Bark arc again:

- Nami made a connection to Lola. This for Whole Cake Island Arc

- Zoro made a connection to Ryuma/Shusui. This for Wano Arc.

That’s all.

[69demonicfarmers]

bob.png

[strawhatsoraya]

Yonji Vinsmoke.

[ariessential]

ngl everytime i see one piece on my dash and fandom discussing plotpoints i wanna catch up and get back into it.

and then i watch/read it and cant get past the humongous boobage of awfully written female characters

[amuseoffyre]

While poorly, I've been rewatching Deadloch again.

I've watched the show so many times and yet every single time I notice something new. Like the prevalence of snakes and snake imagery all the way through the whole thing from the opening scene. Even the cakes Ray is putting out are snakes.

Especially in Margaret's arc - she's always pointing out other people as the enemy and the threat and using snakes as an implicit threat, when it turns out she - the colonising white lady - is actually one of the dangers.

Something about Margaret - the living incarnation of entitled white colonial power - being bitten by a tiger snake on stolen land that she killed to keep, then dying on the grave of her ancestor who colonised the area, ending her family line just... perfect poetry.

It also delights me that for all that Margaret goes on about snakes as the unseen danger, Tammy wears a hoodie with snakes all over it and Faye redecorates the exterior wall of the community centre with a beautiful mural of a tiger snake.

Also reading about tiger snakes in Tasmanian lore - the snake recognised as a protector of the land & also tied with the flow of rivers. Interesting then that the murderers in the show meet their ends a) on an island denied to its rightful people and b) in a powerfully flowing river.

Bonus aaaaaa about the symbolism of a snake shedding its skin - renewal and rebirth and the way the show ends with a new sense of community for all the people finally able to be and live as themselves in Deadloch. Especially Tammy and Miranda both adorned in ochre, something they've been denied for years because of the Carruthers family.

I love the layers and layers that the writers have built into the storytelling. The more you watch, the more you see in it. A multi-textured tapestry which makes such a fantastic complete image that at first you might overlook the little details all the way through it.

In conclusion I love Deadloch with a fiery passion and can't wait to see what shenanigans they get up to in Darwin in S2

[wavytam]

SaNami in Thriller Bark and Whole Cake: How one arc was used to foreshadow the other

In this post I will talk about how Sanji's and Nami's storylines in Thriller Bark were used to foreshadow a lof of elements that played out in Whole Cake Island...

... and might as well foreshadow their dynamic in future arcs.

I decided to write this post after I rewatched Thriller Bark. 

As the episodes went by, having in mind that I had already caught up on Wano in the anime, I noticed some odd… similarities left in Thriller Bark that made me realize how much it foreshadowed future arcs (like Marine Ford and Fishman Island), but especially Whole Cake Island (and Egghead, but this is an analysis for the next post) especially the moments relating to Sanji and Nami.

I also remembered something that was speculation at the time and if anyone has a source for this information, please share, since it's been a while I've read about it and I don't remember where I got it from: apparently, during the time Marine Ford was being animated (and the manga was in Fishman Island) one of Oda's employees lost some type of sketchbook containing concepts and plans about Whole Cake Arc.

If this is true, it means that Oda had a lot of things figured out way ahead of the current storyline of One Piece - which is not exactly a surprise. But after rewatching Thriller Bark, I dare to speculate that Oda already had a lot of things planned for Whole Cake even before Fishman Island and even Marineford, and he actually used Thriller Bark itself to foreshadow it.

Obviously, every arc of One Piece usually leaves hints to future arcs (especially when it comes to Wano and Elbaf - Oda foreshadows both in almost every arc), but I'd like to take a moment to talk about the ones (on top of my head) that Thriller Bark left hints of.

Wano: Zoro's encounter with Ryuma's Zombie and Moria mentions Kaido.

Marineford: By the very end of the Thriller Bark arc, Boa Hancock's name is mentioned, and we also have a scene of Lola warning Luffy about Ace's vivre card.

These are just some of the elements I remember and won't get into much detail, otherwise this post would need two parts lol.

Anyway, with what I said in mind, there's one arc that Thriller Bark strangely foreshadows more than any other and, not only that, but also introduces elements that will later be essential in said arc: which is Whole Cake Island. There are so many moments thrown here and there, especially during Sanji and Nami's moments, that it got me curious to know for how long Oda:

Had planned to write Whole Cake

Had the entirety of Sanji's storyline figured out

Had planned some specific interactions between certain characters

As you can already guess by the title of this analysis, my assumption is that Sanji and Nami's roles and interactions in Whole Cake Island were something that Oda had planned ever since Thriller Bark… and maybe even before.

In this next part, I will show you the reasons why and also why I think that some of their moments in Thriller Bark still weren't mirrored in Whole Cake but might be in Egghead or maybe Elbaf.

Nami and Sanji’s roles in Thriller Bark

First, let's remember what happens to Nami and Sanji separately and how both their storylines intersect throughout Thriller Bark.

Nami starts off by getting lost from the Straw Hats along with Usopp and Chopper (the infamous Weak Trio) inside Thriller Bark. Through their perspective we see how weird and macabre the setting is and how there is something wrong with its inhabitants - specifically Doctor Hogback.

Meanwhile, Luffy, Sanji and the rest of the Straw Hats follow the trio's tracks and have an entirely different perception of the place. Through their perspective, everything that scared Usopp, Nami and Chopper is… kinda pathetic and weak? Lol, I loved how Oda planned this.

Once the Weak Trio arrives at Dr. Hogback's Manor, Nami is assaulted (ugh) by an invisible Absalom (mind you, a guy who has lion parts - a symbol that usually is connected to her throughout One Piece) and he decides to take her as his wife. Meanwhile, as the trio tries to escape, and the rest of the Straw Hats are looking for them, Sanji's and Zoro's shadows are taken by Gecko Moria and put inside Zombies. Something interesting happens: because Sanji is not well known like Zoro, Moria underestimates him and puts his shadow inside the body of a weaker Zombie (keep that in mind for later).

Sanji's zombie finds Usopp, Chopper and Nami, and rebels against his "programming" to protect Nami specifically.

That's when Moria's minions realize that Sanji is much stronger than they anticipated.

Later, Chopper and Usopp escape, but Nami is taken by Absalom. She also meets a Zombie named Lola whom she ends up befriending. Through Usopp, (original) Sanji finds out Nami was harassed by Absalom and was planning to force her into a marriage.

He gets so mad, he lights himself on fire and we have these interesting exchanges.

(Posting two translations of the same panel because both translations are so interesting: one of them Zoro says that he might “transform” into something, but the other says he might “mutate” - and considering the things we know now of Sanji’s past once again shows how Oda gives a lot of thought to Sanji’s characterization.

Anyway, if anyone knows which phrase is the closest to the original japanese and what else it could be talking about, feel free to comment or DM! I have zero knowledge of Japanese and I just know how many hints we might be missing because of it). 

Meanwhile, Nami is (probably) drugged by Absalom and is carried to the altar to get married.

Obviously (and under Luffy's orders) Sanji goes to look for Nami and we know how things go after this. He

crashes Nami's "wedding",

fights Absalom as he protects her body against any minor harm,

and ends up talking about his dream to become invisible and how he studied devil fruits when he was a kid (that moment for me is enough to prove that Oda had already planned Sanji's entire storyline with Germa, his siblings and his metal mask - I will talk about it in more detail later)

All of that effort seemed to go nowhere since Sanji was unable to free Nami. Absalom escapes with her and tries to marry her again, only for her to (finally) wake up and defeat him.

That's when we realise that it was thanks to Sanji, who weakened Absalom in their previous fight, that Nami was able to (in a sense) oneshot Absalom so easily.

So, unbeknown to himself and Nami, Sanji did end up saving Nami - this is an interesting motif in their relationship, and something I plan to talk about more in future posts.

Later, after everything is resolved, Nami befriends the real Lola. Lola not only talks about her mother Linlin (the Big Mom, one of the Four powerful Yonkos) but also gives Nami Linlin's vivre card. Only later in Whole Cake we find out Lola ran away from home and Chiffon mentions how she rejected the advances of a prince (Loki - Elbaf foreshadow) whom Nami takes interest upon for being… well, a prince.

Obviously a bunch of other things happen, but I only talked about the points I wanted to explore in this analysis. I'm sure you noticed there's a lot of them to talk about already.

Also, if you watched/read WCI I'm sure that, as I listed what happened in Thriller Bark, you already noticed how there are some interesting elements in it that later become crucial for While Cake to play out the way it did.

As I mentioned, one of the most important things that I think Oda had been planning to write ever since Thriller Bark (or before) was for Nami specifically to participate in Whole Cake.

This part I will leave for last, since the next topics will serve as a way to explain it.

TB Absalom's Invisibility and Sanji's Dream mirror WCI Stealth Black and the Rejected Germa Prince Storyline

Well, this topic is kinda controversial because of the sexual undertones it has and because of how Oda portrays Sanji's perviness. I won't talk about this part here since it's not the focus of this analysis, but I will link you to an amazing post that explores exactly that part of Sanji's character.

Here I will focus on the other part that Oda left implicit: which is the fact that Sanji had the dream to be invisible ever since he was a kid (when he still didn't have his hyperfixation on women) and how, at the same time, it was the exact power he was "supposed" to have as a Germa soldier and prince.

To me Oda not only used Absalom's powers as a way to leave open the possibility of Sanji having invisibility related powers in the future (which he kinda did in Wano), but also to tie it to his past with Germa. 

Only now do we know that the power Sanji was originally supposed to have was invisibility and the fact that Oda put Absalom with that exact power might show how ahead he was on the story (or how good he is with improvising hehe).

Now, this raises the question: if Sanji's mutation was supposed to be invisibility, where exactly did those fire powers come from? (This is something for a future post ;))

TB Nami and Lola mirrors WCI Nami and Chiffon

Through the bond Oda developed between Lola and Nami, the Straw Hats (and we, readers) gathered a lot of important information that would later be used by Nami herself to survive their adventure through Whole Cake.

First, Lola had a twin sister, Chiffon, who, because of the bond already established between Lola and Nami, ended up taking a liking to Nami in Whole Cake (and vice versa).

Big Mom's Family and Political Marriages

Second, as we get to know Lola in Thriller Bark we see that the idea of finding the man she loves and marrying him is an important concept for her. This is later on explained in Whole Cake, where we realize that Big Mom uses political marriages to gain more power and wanted to force Lola to marry prince Loki. That’s the sole reason for Lola to leave Big Mom and, once again, it seems like something Oda had already planned in Thriller Bark.

Big Mom's Vivre Card

Third, the Vivre Card Lola gave Nami was crucial for Nami, Luffy and the rest of the crew to navigate through Whole Cake and control Big Mom's henchmen. A lot of the problems that they were going through in Whole Cake were resolved because of that simple vivre card given around six arcs earlier, Thriller Bark.

Sanji and Nami Wedding Crashing Each Other's Weddings and Bridal Carries

Well, this is the part the SaNami Fandom has already talked about the most and for obvious reasons. It's not everyday a ship has so many wedding motifs, and the fact that Oda chose to parallel a lot of things that happened during the wedding in Thriller Bark at Whole Cake with Sanji and Nami, obviously adds more fuel to the fire.

This topic, along with Lola, is actually the reason for me to write this analysis, since, in my opinion, there are a lot of details that seem too coincidental to be considered unplanned.

First detail: we have the fact that Nami was the main reason for Luffy to ever decide to invade Big Mom's territory and go after Sanji, whilst in Thriller Bark it was Sanji himself who was determined to stop Nami's wedding at all costs and Luffy… well, he just gave Sanji permission to do his thing lmao.

Second: during both wedding ceremonies, Sanji carried Nami bridal style; something that the groom was supposed to do with the bride.

Third detail: both Nami and Sanji were being forced to get married and it was always the other side that would try to save the forced groom/bride. The best part about this is the fact that neither Sanji nor Nami knew about the amount of difficulties the other went to save one another. Which brings me to the next topic:

Nami's Obliviousness to Sanji's efforts mirrors Sanji's obliviousness to Nami's efforts

Okay, this is more of a fact for the entirety of One Piece, but I think it's more evident in both Thriller Bark and Whole Cake. Again, although this is a topic that I want to talk about in more detail in another post, I do think it's worth mentioning a bit in here.

In Thriller Bark, Nami does not realize how important she is for Sanji and the extent of the things he is willing to do for her safety. Not only that, but Nami is also not aware of the things Sanji already did for her ever since Arlong Park.

In Whole Cake, it's more subtle, but the fact that only Luffy truly saw Sanji's breakdown and how much he was sacrificing himself for his crew, shows that Nami still does not know the true extent of Sanji's care and selflessness. 

And it raises the question: why? Why is it that Oda does not let Nami (until this day) know how much Sanji did to his crew and especially to her? To me, it's because, if Nami knew, she would treat Sanji differently. If she knew that Sanji does have a preference for her, that he defended her in Arlong Park, that he tried everything he could to protect her in Thriller Bark, and that he did a lot of things he wouldn't do for any other woman, maybe her view on him would change.

Consequently some type of tension between the two could eventually build up and what Oda has been trying to avoid for years (which was a romance between the crew) would eventually happen, and the entire dynamic of the crew would shift (but this is speculation ofc, it might be nothing and even if Nami knew, nothing could change).

And let's also consider that, although Sanji looks for Nami's validation when she witnesses him fighting, he never tries to brag or tell her about the times he defended her when she wasn't looking.

Obviously, in Whole Cake, Sanji is thinking about the entire crew when he sacrificed his happiness, not only her, but as I said, it's more about the fact that Nami does not know how much Sanji truly works under wraps to make sure the people he loves are safe - and how selfless he truly is for her when she only sees his perverted side.

Now, the same can be said about Sanji, to some extent. It's clear in the manga that Sanji does have strong feelings for Nami, if it's reciprocated, it's up to debate. But no one can deny that Nami does care about Sanji and sometimes, she cares more than anyone else in her crew.

We all noticed how Nami was the most eager to rescue Sanji, always trying to bring the seriousness of the situation to the rest of the crew and dragging Chopper, Luffy and Brook to the right path whenever they got distracted by something else. 

However, when it came to truly knock some sense into Sanji to accept help, Nami was conveniently taken out of the picture in favor of Luffy. 

Keep in mind that I am in no way complaining, the moments Sanji had with Luffy were beautiful, and he obviously would have the focus: Luffy is the main character and Sanji's captain.

But the fact that Oda kept Nami away in one of Sanji's moments of fragility, when he exposed his true nature and showed how caring he really is, can come off as suspicious. As if Oda does not really want Nami to see those moments… yet.

You can say that Oda also kept Chopper and Brook out of the picture, but even when Nami is with them, Oda kind of separates Nami's behavior from theirs. He emphasizes Nami's reactions and gives her serious expressions while the rest are put in more comical situations.

Also, during the Luffy vs. Sanji fight, one of the most emotional moments of WCI, Nami didn't need to be there if Oda only wanted to emphasize the importance of Luffy to Sanji.

In my opinion, he put Nami there, because Sanji cares about her and her opinion more than any other woman’s, even more than Robin’s. Which makes the following moment even more hurtful, especially because that was the only time Nami didn't use the "kun" honorific - showing how she lost respect for him.

Conclusion: the importance of Sanji and Nami in each other’s stories

By looking at these topics, I think it's very interesting how Oda made sure to use parts of Nami's plot in Thriller Bark to gather information that would help her, Luffy, Brook and Chopper to save Sanji in Whole Cake.

To me, the fact that so many of these things seemed to point out something: the interactions that both Nami and Sanji have is something that Oda thinks about carefully. Not only that, but everytime they are having a major moment/development, most of the times one is there to support the other.

Examples:

In Arlong Park Sanji defended Nami's actions

In Ennies Lobby Nami had a major fight against Khalifa because she knew Sanji wouldn't fight a woman

Until Nami decided to forgive Jimbei, Sanji was there to defend her

Again, the only exception is during Sanji's and Nami’s arcs in Wano -  but in my opinion it's because Oda’s intentional hiding of Sanji’s story from the other Strawhats will pay off in the future and will be a major factor in the One Piece story.

Well, this is it.

Okay, with all of those topics in mind, there are two main events in Thriller Bark that happened in relation to Nami and Sanji that still don't seem to have been mirrored:

Sanji's Zombie fought his own programming to protect Nami in Thriller Bark mirrors (?)

The underestimation of Sanji's True Power, what it truly is and how will it be activated

I plan to write that part for my analysis of SaNami in Egghead. If anyone is interested, stay tuned!

For everyone who stayed until the end, thanks for reading!! See you in the next post.

[shima-draws]

i LOVE the sunny in a bottle you posted, where do I get it?

Also favorite arcs for OP?

(also also thoughts on the LA and LA season two??)

Oooh idk for sure bc my friend got it for me as a gift! I can ask him where he bought it tho c:

Favorite arcs...top three are probably Whole Cake Island, Dressrosa and Zou! I'm still in the middle of Wano right now so my favorites may shift after I finish it and also watch Egghead 👀

I ADORE the live action it's so good 😭 I actually started rewatching it a couple days ago. Just the amount of love and passion that was put into it, you can really tell that everyone involved just loves One Piece so much and were determined to bring it to life! I'm VERY excited for season 2 I follow a lot of the actors and the official live action account on Instagram so I get updates all the time. Super excited to see who's playing Vivi, Croc, Chopper and Ace (if they do decide to put him in this season)!

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

alright we're at the zou part of the rewatch and because it's so short, it's gonna be light work finishing it and getting back to whole cake island. tbh i wanna get wci done this month too so then the rest of november and december can be dedicated to getting through wano and egghead again

the funnest part of the rewatch is just seeing all the stuff i forgot. it's like saying hi to an old friend. plus i been rewatching the movies too

i was watching one piece back when it was airing on 4kids and then i had to rewatch the east blue and alabasta sagas because of how much 4kids fucking took out or changed. y'all they even took out all of the little garden arc and had to come up with a new introduction for mr 3 jfdsnkfjdsnf

i was there going 'who tf is laboon? why is chaser called smoker???' 'trace = ace?' actually why did they even change ace's name? it was on his arm fjsdnfkjsdnfkjn. so at that point, i just decided to watch it all over again on youtube because back then you could just watch shit like tokyo mew mew ep 13 pt 1/3 (and then pt 2 would almost always be missing). oh the nostalgia, youtube was how i was watching princess tutu, NANA, naruto etc

but yeah it's been fun rewatching and going 'heyoooo! it's been forever, how you've been east blue? it's been a minute since i've been here, let's sit down a while and talk'

[jessnjessie-blog]

Guys, I’ve been in a One Piece mood since summer. I have watched up to the the Whole Cake Island arc with my brother.

But then I stated to rewatch the anime on my own after the live action came out. It’s the live action’s fault for making me obsessed again. I’m now on the War Summit arc.

I love all the Straw Hats so much. Usopp is probably one of my top favorites tho. Luffy, Sanji and Robin are also favorites.

As an aroace person I love that there is no relationships, but I can’t help it, and I have some ships for characters. 🫣

Some Ships:

Luffy and Hancock. Luffy is my aroace king, but I love Hancock’s love for him. He doesn’t have attraction to her and no clue, but it’s still so cute. I could see something platonic at least on his end. Maybe someday when Luffy is the King of Pirates he will go back to her. Love doesn’t have to mean sexual attraction or romance. Aroace people can have relationships with allo people too. They can still love their partners deeply. As long as the allo person is understanding. 😊 Of course Boa Hancock is just a friend to him right now and probably forever. 😂

Kaya and Usopp, of course.

Zoro and Sanji. Hear me out. I love that Sanji and Zoro fight a lot, but when Zoro was in trouble, Sanji left Nami’s side to try, and save him. Sanji is obsessed with protecting Nami, but he left her to help Zoro. 😭

Nami and Vivi. They both worried over each other more then anyone else did and it was precious.

Anyway, please don’t hate me for my own likes. You don’t have to like them or agree with them.

I love the adventure and friendships they all have more, but sometimes it’s fun to imagine something else 🫢

[leafteaposts]

I forget EVERY time just how much I hate Judge. Then I rewatched the whole cake island arc and yeah. Oda, don't you dare give him any kind of redemption. I wish Big Mom squished him like a bug. Both are great villains, but god damn Judge please expire.

[flmnhotguido]

Rewatching Whole Cake Island and have a new found love and respect for a lot of the supporting characters/Straw Hats but the most definitely has to go to Jinbe. Since we were introduced to him I have been waiting for the moment he could actually join the crew. Even better that it happens on the cusp of wedding crashing. Brooke is even growing on me. I love revisiting old arcs and relighting the flame of enjoyment (and often times anxiety lol) they bring.

[silverdragon-imagines-blog]

I'm just gonna warn for spoilers for Whole Cake Island cuz that arc lives in my head rent free and is all I'll be talking about until we get another more painful arc that focuses on another favorite strawhat

This is probably a pretty common headcanon for the vinsmokes, but the more I keep rewatching the Whole Cake Island Arc, the more I start to think it's canon so

I firmly believe that Sora was a bit more successful in messing up Judge's plans than they both thought. Like, you look at Yonji and you can't tell me that he's completely emotionless and has no feelings or empathy. Next to Sanji, he's one of the most outwardly expressive. I think that the toxin Sora took influenced all the brothers at least somewhat. They're on like a spectrum of who actually experiences emotions with Sanji obviously being the most human and Ichiji having the least amount of feelings/emotions.

What I'm saying is, I really hope these siblings return if only to see them all actually having emotions or feelings. I so badly want them to be more than that bastard Judge's soldiers.

[count-alucard-tepes]

I’m rewatching the Whole cake island arc and I’m trying so fucking hard to concentrate on Katakuri and Luffy’s fight but Katakuri’s body is distracting me wayyyy too much omg

Just take off all your clothes, Katakuri omg I can’t fucking deal rn

[cynthiaandsamus]

(Ayyy, Calli posted a tweet talking about how she's gonna rewatch all of One Piece and asking peoples' favorite arcs, I shot mine in (Enies Lobby and Whole Cake Island) and she liked the reply, whoo~ parasocial acknowledgment~)