#while people shit on arcs like Wano because “there's too many characters” | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

robinchan-hananomi · 2 years

Text

So One Piece 1059…like holy shit!

One thing I love about post arc chapters is both the info dumps and the change of focus. We see what is going on in the rest of the world, not just the Strawhats.

So first we return Marco home and get the amusing scene of the Red Haired Pirates and Marco all teasing Shanks for being immature. One of the best things about the series is how many of the older characters emphasize the importance of the younger characters. Shanks, Marco, Whitebeard, Roger, Rayleigh, Shakky and the others have already set the stage and have, for the most part, had their adventures. The older characters aren’t going to be on the world stage much longer and they keep emphasizing the importance of the younger generation to change the way the world works.

Marco thinks about that moment when Green Bull leaves Wano. Yamato has decided to remain in Wano to protect it from invaders to Luffy and Sanji’s disappointment. Zoro points out that Yamato needs to be cautious of Mimi’s pride, which is why Yamato says he is staying to explore Wano first before setting out to sea. I do like the clarification here and it was honestly the outcome I had hoped for when Yamoto first teamed up with Luffy.

After we switch gears to Amazon Lily where we get another flashback to a series of events. Coby and Hancock continue to fight from what we saw a while back. However the conflict gets even more complicated when Blackbeard arrives.

Thanks to this three way stand off we learn a few interesting facts. The first is Hancocks’s Devil fruit is not transferable. As in the states that she leaves people in cannot be undone by anyone else. So first, it isn’t like An’s devil fruit where the moment Zoro knocked her unconscious it returned everyone back to their proper age, or like Moriah’s where his defeat allowed everyone’s shadow to return to them. Hancock has to be the one to release them of her own will.

We also learn a bit more about the Rocky Port incident. So Blackbeard was there and the aftermath allowed him to take over an island. Interesting.

We also learn the Navy has new pacifestas. These aren’t like the last set. These are new, looking like young Mihawk and young Hancock crossed with lumarian dna. Well then. We are told that the completion of these weapons are what probably allowed Issho to finally get rid of the warlords since they are meant to replace them. It also makes me even more sure that Vegapunk needs to be removed from the equation.

Thankfully Rayleigh is able to end the whole thing peacefully, at least on the Kuja pirates side. Shakky arrives and we get confirmation that she was the pirate empress who left for love (and since she is married to Rayleighhe is the man she left for). Hancock knows that as long as she remains there she will continue to draw the Navy’s attention.

Unfortunately it’s not a peaceful end for everyone though because as he left, Blackbeard decided to kidnap Coby which yeah, fuck him! I wonder where this is going to go. The Strawhats are bound to see it in the paper. Is Zoro and Luffy going to want to divert course to save their friend? And is Blackbeard going to keep the young Captain for whatever reason or turn him over to cross guild…which if he does the that reunion with Alvida will be something. Hell if Axe Hand Morgan joined then we would have Helmepoo’s goal of arresting there too. I wonder where that loser washed up two years ago? Think we’ll see Morgan again?

Anyway it was a fantastic chapter

#silvers rayleigh #shakky #boa hancock #one piece #one piece 1059 #marco #koby

36 notes · View notes

kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

Text

The Voyage So Far: Enies Lobby

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 still one of my very favorite nami panels. i think she’s really great through all of water 7 and enies lobby in general, actually, even though she isn’t really one of the characters in focus for a lot of it- like zoro and sanji, she stays pretty steadfast and very badass even though everything that happens, and never gives up on robin for a moment despite being one of the ‘weaker’ members of the crew. and it’s always fun to see her playing with lightning.

one of my favorite jokes from the first half or so of enies lobby is the strawhats both being completely unsurprised that luffy charges in ahead of them as soon as they arrive AND being able to find him immediately by following the explosions. they know him so well.

luffy’s never been scared of dying, going all the way back to when he told coby he was fine with dying for his dream back in chapter two or three. that conversation is what his exchange with blueno here reminds me of- blueno asks him how long he intends to keep fighting, and luffy says until he dies, like there’s nothing to it.

it’s always been a trait of his to face death unflinching with a grin, so long as it’s for the sake of something he cares about, be it his crew or his brother or his dream, and i just really like that about him.

i’ll go into it in the dressrosa post too, but i think it’s really impressive just how long oda held off on giving luffy any sort of significant power-up. he gets his first big power boost in the whole series here, forty volumes in. i’ve always liked that oda is very conservative with power boosts like this, because it both keeps the series’ powerscaling in check and makes the times it does happen much weightier. this is a monumental moment, and it feels like it.

also, i love the way gear two is drawn pre-timeskip, especially with the steam. it looks very cool and atmospheric.

i really like how united the strawhat crew feels throughout enies lobby, after all the internal turmoil and discord of water seven. even though the matter of usopp leaving the crew is still unresolved, they’ll all together once more, on the same page, and fully united in the goal of saving robin, whatever consequences it might bring.

the tree of knowledge has such a cool design- it looks massive, and even more than that, it looks old. you look at that tree and you know its been there for easily thousands of years. its seen entire eras of history, and it would be priceless even without the countless books stored inside it.

and then it burns.

i’m so endlessly sad about the tragedy that is robin’s relationship with her mother. they never even got to see each other until their world was ending, and even then only for a couple minutes.

olvia is a very interesting character, because she’s someone who chose her dream over the people she loved. that’s not an inherently good or bad choice, but it is a choice she made, and it’s what led to the ending she and robin had to have. i’ve wondered a lot what might have happened if she chose the other way, if she never left or if she came back sooner or if she chose to flee the buster call with robin, and how different (and almost certainly better) robin’s life would have been if she had.

in a way, olvia reminds me a lot of kouzuki toki. they both die in order to fling a light of knowledge and hope into the future, and they both send their children away and choose to stay behind to choke on ash for the sake of a better tomorrow.

i didn’t really notice until putting these panels together, but a lot of things burn in enies lobby. ohara burns, and the pluton plans and the world government flag, and enies lobby itself, and at the end, the going merry burns, too. if you extend it back to water seven, there’s the galley-la headquarters, too. in an arc that deals so much with the preservation and destruction of history and knowledge, it’s a fitting motif.

the world government flag burning is still to this day one of the most striking panels out of a series full of them, in my opinion. in one act, the strawhats proclaim their absolute defiance against the world government, and their willingness to make enemies of the greatest power in the world for the sake of their friend.

it’s also another one of those moments that’s interesting to think about in the context of luffy’s past. it was a ship flying that same flag that shot sabo down, and while luffy wasn’t there to see it, i don’t think he’s oblivious to that fact, especially given how he says just before this he understands robin’s enemies perfectly.

dadan told him and ace that there was nothing they could do against the whole world, and luffy went and did it anyways.

sometimes i just think about how scary it must have been for robin, someone who’s been weighed down by the shackles of her past with no escape in sight for so very long, to open herself up and let herself hope, for life and freedom and a dream that’s always been out of reach.

franky has a lot of really great moments between this arc and water seven- his conversation with usopp as usopp is working on merry and his talk with robin on the sea train are two others. it’s almost impressive how quickly he becomes an immensely likable character once we start getting to know him, given how he’s first introduced as an absolute piece of shit.

his burning of the pluton plans is a favorite of mine, and i think it might be because, like so many people before and after him, he’s choosing here to stake all his hopes on the strawhats, on luffy’s ability to pull off the impossible and on robin’s goodness. when robin’s only ever been chased and hated and called a demon by the world, franky chooses to trust her and luffy with the legacy his dad died for, and neither of them let him down.

monster point looks SO FUCKING TERRIFYING in enies lobby, and i LOVE it. look at that. franky is seven and half feet tall, and in front of monster point he’s tiny. monster point is huge, and dead-eyed, and a force of absolute destruction. i do kind of wish we got to see chopper go completely feral like this more often. he deserves to be terrifying!

i love how much FAITH all the rest of the strawhats continue to have in usopp throughout enies lobby. he left the crew and they really would have a right to be angry at him if they chose to, but it doesn’t even seem to cross any of their minds. they’re just happy he’s okay, and they include him again without missing a beat, because he’s still their friend and they know down to their bones they can trust him, even after everything.

i’ve always really loved zoro and kaku’s little moment of post-battle banter here- zoro relays paulie’s message about cp9 being fired, kaku says he’s out of a job, zoro tells him to try the zoo, and kaku cracks up.

it feels very real to me for whatever reason, and i think part of it ties back into how well one piece handles morality with its characters- zoro and kaku are genuinely pretty similar people who get along decently, it just happens that they wound up on opposite sides. there are series where you’d never see moments like this due to the lines between good and bad being so firmly drawn, and i love how one piece blurs those lines so much they may as well not exist a lot of the time.

this is the other sequence, along with luffy climbing the drum rockies barehanded, that always makes me physically cringe to look at. it looks so painful. robin is so nearly powerless here, but not quite- she can still buy time for her crew to catch up, even if it’s only seconds, even if she risks shattering her teeth or even her jaw in the process. she’s spent so long giving up and has only just started daring to hope- she’s not about to go gentle.

there aren’t many panels that give me catharsis like this one. there really aren’t.

oda’s villains are usually complicated and awful and often a little admirable, if only for how clever or how terrifyingly powerful they are, but every now and then he comes up with someone who’s just pathetic and cowardly and pointlessly cruel. spandam is like this, obviously, and so is orochi, and the celestial dragons, and i’d argue flampe from whole cake island as well. and there’s nothing like seeing characters like them- weak, cruel people so assured in their own power and rightness- get obliterated.

one of the things i really like about enies lobby is that nobody really gets sidelined- everybody gets multiple chances to shine. luffy, usopp, and obviously robin are the most in focus, obviously, but zoro, sanji, nami, chopper, and even franky all get a bunch of individual awesome moments. oda’s ability to handle his cast satisfyingly is consistently really impressive (if sometimes strained in huge ensemble arcs like dressrosa or wano) and it really shows here, i think.

i just really love the entire climax of enies lobby. much like the arc as a whole, it just feels triumphant, even though the situation is extremely dire. luffy unlocking gear three, robin’s cuffs getting unlocked, usopp shooting spandam and the marines all the way from the tower of justice- it’s all just good, a long chain of much-needed victories and catharses, and it feels very good to read.

i’ll always be impressed by just how much characterization oda manages to give merry, a boat. she’s only really a character in water seven and the end of enies lobby, only about two chapters of which she actually speaks in. and yet i don’t think you’d find a single one piece fan who disagrees that merry’s death is easily one of the most heartwrenching in the entire series.

i love the reactions of the strawhats to robin’s thanks. they’ve just gone through hell to save her, most of them are beat to shit and they all risked their lives, and yet they all just smile, or brush it off, because to them there’s nothing else they could have done. it’s all worth it, so long as they got her back, so long as she’s safe and happy.

merry’s funeral just hits me in the chest every single time i read it. it’s tragic, of course, but there’s also something almost lovely about it, something peaceful about her getting to go out on her own terms, carrying her crew to safety one last time, defying every rule of the universe to do it. just like a strawhat pirate.

oda’s ability to communicate emotion through expressions really comes through here, too. merry has the only lines in this scene, fitting for her death in the limelight, but the shots of every other crewmate’s face let us know at a glance just what they’re all feeling and just how strongly they’re feeling it.

you know, i’d forgotten we only learn the name of the new world after enies lobby. we only get proper exposition about the revolutionary army and the yonkou here, too, despite them being set up since loguetown and jaya (or alabasta, or even chapter one if you count from shanks’s introduction) respectively. oda��s ability to parse out exposition and explanation so we always have just the right amount of information is really impressive- we always have more questions, but we also always have the feeling that those questions have answers, and that sooner or later they’ll be revealed.

points at shanks. i just think he’s neat.

it’s my opinion that one of the great joys of one piece is seeing luffy and the crew rise up in the world, and seeing them gain more and more notoriety. i love nothing they do ever happens in a vacuum- everything has impacts, and there are always outside eyes watching, and often those impacts are things that they never could have predicted.

ace and blackbeard is still, i think, definitely one of the coolest looking fights in the whole series. it’s not all that often we get to see two people with extremely flashy and showy abilities go all-out against each other, and the resulting fireworks are still really something to behold, despite how badly it all ends.

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #long post #arc: enies lobby #arc: post enies lobby #not japanese

201 notes · View notes

rodeoxqueen · 3 years

Text

Dante, Vergil, and V Watching One Piece With Their Male S/O

Howdy,

This is a surprise gift-fic for @mooshs-crack-headcanons. Paul, if you are reading this, *socially-distanced cowboy kisses*. For my lone rangers who don’t watch One Piece, get on that horse because this show is fantastic.

-Rodeo

Dante

“Alright, I’ll watch it with you.” He says, coming over to your place on Cavaliere. He doesn’t really watch that much TV. Mind you, he doesn’t pay the internet and cable bill anyway.

Dante has a really bad attention span for keeping up with shows. However, One Piece always has flashbacks to the previous scenes and he can always catch back up after spacing out.

He never remembers the names. He just calls them by their hair color or powers.

He likes Shanks and Ace a lot. He relates to the older and carefree Shanks and of course he loves that fiery cowboy. (When you-know-what happens, he actually starts sobbing. )

“I can tell why you like this show’s characters so much.”

“Why’s that?” He gestures to his own chest and Zoro’s bare torso.

“You like man boobs, don’t you babe?” He teases. You smack him on the left tit.

He really loves the zany chaotic scenes in the show, such as Luffy just grabbing his friends and catapulting them somewhere. The absurd humor really gets him laughing, such as when Zoro, Nami, Brook, and Kinomon are running around in Punk Hazard.

“Wow, that was a lot for one arc.”

“Wait till we get to the 900th episode-”

“W H A T.”

His brain explodes at the Wano arc.

“I connected the lines-”

“You didn’t connect shit.”

He will make up his own attack names.

“Gomu gomu no…...getting a beer.” He laughs as he pops open a Bud Light.

“Gomu gomu no….smacking my boyfriend on the ass!” You hate that one.

All in all, he loves the show and watching it with you.

Vergil

Vergil doesn’t know why you agreed to sit down and watch so many hours of One Piece. However, it gives him an opportunity to hold you as he reads his poetry book.

Eventually, the crackhead nature of the show distracts him and he ends up watching it with you.

He actually gets really into the lore of the show. The poneglyphs and the origin of the devil fruits are fascinating concepts to him.

“Of course you’d be into the devil fruits, Vergil.” You scoff as he gently traces your neck.

“Don’t forget who’s your king.” He snarks back, smirk dropping as Luffy shouts another ridiculous attack name.

“He sounds like my idiot brother.” Vergil gripes as you refill your glass.

There’s a lot going on in this show, a lot of action and a lot of slapstick humor. He has a blank stare but it’s because he’s trying to read into everything.

Vergil remembers all the characters’ names, but forgets their faces. The opposite of his brother.

The fight scenes are very interesting. He always gazes at the sword fights with this intensity, scrutinizing what the characters can do.

He probably tries a couple moves like Law’s Room and Zoro’s One Sword Style. He doesn’t know what a weab is but still assaults Dante when he calls him that.

One time you caught his doppelganger doing Franky’s “Super” pose and you laughed so hard you cried and slid down a wall, unable to stand up. He tries to convince you it never happened. It definitely happened.

He tries not to be emotional when he learns about the Donquixote brothers’ backstory. One brother giving everything for power, the other brother fighting against him? Where has he heard this before?

He likes how One Piece gives these powerful, top dog characters such riveting although sometimes strange backstories. It’s humanizing and validating.

Vergil attempts not to show that Mihawk is his favorite.

“He’s the most reasonable one here. It is relatable.” He argues.

“Yeah, just like you, he also has a punk goth child with an attitude.” You point to Perona on the screen.

“Foolishness.” He says endearingly.

It’s a decent show. He always knows where you guys left off, no matter what.

V loves hearing about what makes you passionate. So when you talk about this pirate show, he offers to watch it with you.

Next thing you know, he’s just blown away at how this show is about pirates but strays so far from that historical period.

“My love, there is a pink birdman-”

“Yeah, that’s just the tip of this iceberg.”

Griffon joins you in your escapades, Shadow not caring to do anything but cuddle the two of you.

V appreciates a good backstory and inner monologue. Connecting the plot points and character motive allows him to tolerate the moments of excessive fanservice.

“I would ponder why anyone would consider this appropriate. This does not move the plot in any way.”

“Yeah, straight people are crazy.”

“Agreed.”

Griffon loves Doflamingo. So, so much. V, on the other hand, prefers Basil Hawkins and Law.

“Gee, I wonder why.”

Law’s tattooed and sarcastic, Basil mysterious and poetic. Those two are literally your boyfriend’s fusion. He’s also white-blonde and black-haired too. What a coincidence.

Law’s backstory gets V a little bit under the weather. It’s a bit too relatable for him. Luckily, you’re there to comfort him.

“But look! After everything, Law got a lot of friends and crewmates who would do anything for him, and a giant polar bear.”

“Yes, you’re right. I have my family and darling muse right by my side.” Griffon squawks as Shadow raises her head and grumbles with disapproval.

“Hey, asshole-”

“And yes, my panther familiar and pestering chicken,” V smirks.

V appreciates the show and once in a while, he will laugh at a well-placed joke.

All in all, the boys have fun watching One Piece. It’s slapstick but handles social topics and tragic backstories with such grace. Although some points are oddly too relatable or hit a soft spot for these Spardas, it makes them feel like Oda actually understands them in a distant way.

#vergil x reader #vergil headcanons #vergil sparda #Vergil x male reader #male reader #dante x reader #dante x male reader #dante headcanons #v headcanons #dmc headcanons #dmc5 v headcanons #devil may cry imagines #gift fic #love you moosh #v x male reader #one piece

204 notes · View notes

whirlybirdwhat · 5 years

Text

LETS TALK ABOUT ZORO. Again.

More specifically this time, his ‘loner’ type. This particular post was inspired by the filler episode where Zoro gets unwillingly adopted into the family at Water 7. You know the one.

Anyway, family plays a big part in One Piece, whether it is the absence of one, the loss/gain of one, or the treatment of one, its there.

Luffy has his brothers, Nami has her village, Nojiko and Bell-mere in particular, Usopp has his father to aspire towards and no mother, Sanji has Zeff (And the abuse by the V*nsmokes...) Chopper has the two doctors and the rejection by his herd, Robin lost Ohara, Franky has Tom, Icebarg, and the Franky Family, and Brook has his former crew Laboon (And Who Else Oda what has this man done where has he come from).

All of these people feature heavily in flashbacks, arcs and more.

In comparison... Zoro appears to only have his sensei, Koushirou, who, in canon, is very sexist, traditional, and absent of many emotions. And, to my knowledge, he only features heavily in One episode very early on in the series.

Kuina’s dead. He met Johnny and Yosaku later on, after he had set off, and as much as I like the Goth Family (Mihawk, Zoro, Perona) they came far later. Zoro has never even been shown to have any friends in the dojo.

Zoro has always been alone. He came into the dojo alone, dressed in rags and eating straw, and left alone, lost and with a goal.

Its very odd in comparison with the rest of the Straw Hats, who always seemed to come from backgrounds with a lot of companionship. Zoro never even seems to be at odds with it, even though knowledge of how people work (in regards to him being first mate and helping the crew go through emotional distress) technically shouldn't be in his nature, because he has not experience with it.

This is extremely interesting to look at in terms of his character development... and Luffy.

At first - Zoro only cared about himself, his next meal, and his goal, as evidenced by 1) the Shells Town Arc and 2) the episode of how Johnny, Yosaku, and Zoro met.

By the time of the Time Skip he is 1) willing to throw away his entire future for Luffy (Thriller Bark) 2) Throw away his pride as a swordsman for Luffy (Training with Mihawk) 3) Get irrationally angry to the point of summoning extra limbs and an entire demon (Enies Lobby, Battle with Kaku) 4) Be extremely tactile with the Strawhats (.... have you seen the Straw hats) and lastly, 5) Do anything and everything he can to protect what’s his captain’s and the safety of the crew (Usopp situation.)

Zoro has come a long way from the ‘loner’ type he started out to be.

What brought this change? I’d say Luffy, (With Johnny and Yosaku helping him open up to the process of hey, people aren’t so bad, of course.)

Zoro would fight for any member of the crew. He would live for them. But the only person I’d say that he die for, give up his dream for, like he has in canon is Luffy.

Luffy, who saved him from execution.

Luffy, who gave him a family that wasn’t a cold sensei with a dead daughter.

Luffy, whose dream he values more than his own.

My favorite thing about all of this is that Zoro appears not to have changed. He still seems to be a loner, always sleeping instead of joining the crew’s fun, typically fighting his battles on his own, etc. etc. Even opponents sometimes comment upon this! The consensus in the OP world seems to be that Zoro’s a big grouchy swordsman who doesn’t like people and will kill you if you look at. him wrong.

Even too the viewers we don’t see how far he’s come.

But he has! His life now is in total opposition to his life before. His character has developed so much, and I want to see it develop more.

Which brings me to my next point.

Wano.

You have all seen the theories. I agree with them - this is going to be Zoro’s past arc, because 1) similarities between Zoro and Wano and 2) Zoro has had one episode about his past. One. One canon one. To develop his character further away from the basis ‘loner’ type, something needs to happen. And 3) We haven’t had a character with this kind of ‘I don’t know what my past is’ storyline and it would be cool to see play out.

I think this is it.

In One Piece: Strong World, Zoro states while fighting the clown scientist that He was born and raised in the East Blue. Now if this was any other movie I’d take that with a grain of salt... but Oda wrote this movie himself. So. Moving on.

Zoro believes he was born in the East Blue.

I think (jokes about him getting lost from his parents and winding up in the East Blue aside) that he doesn’t know his parents. That its going to be a big reveal, his family may be dead, whatever. I don’t particularly care who his family is, only what his reaction will be.

I can see it going two ways, both of which would have never happened without his character development.

1) He doesn’t give a shit in typical Zoro fashion, but this time because he has his crew, and the past doesn’t matter on the Thousand Sunny.

or..

2) He does care. He wants to learn more of his family, because he has learned to value other people he cares about, and not just about himself .

tl;dr Zoro was a loner (due to his upbringing by Koushirou) in the beginning of the series, and while he may still appear to follow that line of character, he is not as his character has developed to be more open and accepting to other people, specifically his friends and crew. That is, in part, thanks to Luffy introducing him to the Straw Hat Pirate crew and his growing understanding of how people work. This will effect how his probably family/past arc in Wano plays out, though I am betting that he doesn't particularly care nor know who his parents are, and is completely content with just having the Straw Hat Pirates as a crew.

Thoughts

146 notes · View notes

bepph · 6 years

Text

One Piece: Wano and Reverie

Since the Whole Cake Island is now finished or is going to be finished very soon, there is the looming and long awaited Wano Arc.

This arc is going to be massive and its going to have a lot of content story wise because I believe that Oda is going to be closing up the story soon. I’m not sure how soon, but I do believe its going to be soon. He stated that the story was more than half way a few years ago.

There are many things that are going to have to be solved due to the lead up or the tension throughout the manga. As well as new things in the most recent chapters that was introduced:

This is a big ass post about what I think is going to happen during Wano, Reverie and the arc after. Basically a post on how I believe One Piece will end.

Shanks and Luffy:

The most obvious one, Luffy wants to see Shanks again, and show how much he went through in the 12 years he last saw Shanks. He promised Shanks he will become the King of the Pirates, so it’s very likely that Luffy will meet Shanks at the very end or when he becomes the King of the Pirates, to keep true to Luffy’s promise. There is also the fact of Luffy wanting to defeat Shanks, which will probably the last Yonko Luffy defeats to become the King of the Pirates.

Blackbeard

The asshole. The man who killed Thatch and led Ace to his death. The man who is the villain of the manga, or at least one of the MAIN villains of the manga. We met him in Skypeia and we liked him at first because of what he said to Luffy and the others. We KNEW that Ace was after Blackbeard, we had no idea that Blackbeard was the guy who likes pies. He is the one Luffy will defeat in order to avenge his brother.

Big Mom and Kaido

Big Mom and Kaido seemingly have a connection and have yet to be defeated by Luffy. Luffy wasn’t strong enough or didn’t have enough power to defeat Big Mom. They will eventually be defeated by Luffy because in order for Luffy to be the King of the Pirates, he must defeat ALL of the Emperors.

Marines and their system

The Marines have been a villain and sometimes friendly throughout the story. There has been many corrupt Marines and many Marines we’ve enjoyed having as characters. I think that once the manga is over, the Marines would of re-worked their system so corrupt people wouldn’t be in power and stop using the Seven Warlords system. That their will be a good person in power that takes the interests of the people and not of themselves. I honestly don’t want the Marines to fail because there is no reason to being pirates if they do

The World Government

The World Government is more than corrupt, they have done really shady shit throughout the entire manga and will continue to do shady shit. The Five Elders are doing shady shit as well and know about the Void History. Its possible that the Void History puts the World government in an unsavory position, that being the reason they decided to destroy everyone figuring out the Void History. Honestly, the World Government is going to be completely destroyed or reworked by the end of this manga

Void Century

The Void Century is something that was completely wiped away from records 800 years ago. 100 years of history is completely erased from history. That’s a lot of time. Which makes me believe that the Celestial Dragons are not who they say they are. The creators of the World Government probably didn’t do the best things during the century. Which would make the World Government and Celestial Dragons cover it up because they want to hold power over the people.

the Void Century, World Government and the Celestial Dragons are technically the same thing or at least connected with each other.

Revolutionaries

Last but not least, the Revolutionaries are going to be big in the last few upcoming arcs. We know that they are fighting against the corrupt World Government and Celestial Dragons. Taking territories and liberating people from the World Government’s rule. We are probably going to figure out what made Dragon start the Revolutionary Army, why he wants to liberate the world from the World Government.

I believe Wano is one of the last arcs, if not last arc. I do believe that this will contain, the defeat of the 3 Emperors: Kaido, Big Mom and Blackbeard as well as a confrontation with Shanks, since the build up to Luffy and Shanks meeting has started since the very beginning. They haven’t physically seen each other for about 12 years now.

The Strawhats and Heart Pirates formed an alliance to defeat Kaido. They got a little off track by defeating Doflammingo, saving Dressrosa and saving Sanji from Big Mom. Which they completed all three tasks, as well as succesfully destroying the SMILES factory Doffy had.

Now Law and the rest of the Strawhats are waiting at Wano or going towards Wano to face the biggest threat. While Luffy and the others head over to Wano.

NOW ABOUT REVERIE

Now we are going towards the Reverie Arc, which will probably not involve ANY of the Strawhats and Heart Pirates due to the fact they are probably nowhere near where this is happening. SO we will have our first arc without the main characters. Its what I believe anyways.

The players of Reverie:

The Royals: Vivi, Rebecca, Shirahoshi, etc.

Marines: Garp, Akainu, Coby, Helmeppo, Issho, etc.

Five Elders

Celestial Dragons (unfortunately)

Jewelry Bonnie and her crew

Revolutionary Army: Sabo, Dragon, etc.

I doubt that the Strawhats and the Heart Pirates will be involved with this arc due to them dealing with Big Mom and Kaido. I’m going to assume that Reverie will happen at the same time Wano is going to happen, but we will see the Reverie arc and then the Wano arc, just to build up tension for the Strawhats and the end of the manga.

The revolutionary army is going to plan their attack on the World Government and Celestial Dragons during this time in order to cause maximum chaos among both groups and have everyone in the same spot at the same time.

But there is going to be a great part of it being the Royals meeting, or at least one chapter before mass chaos breaks loose when the revolutionaries attack.

It’s likely we will get the POV of VIvi or Rebecca during the actual meeting parts, then get the POV of Coby and Sabo during the attack of revolutionaries. Which would be really cool and very interesting, seeing what the Marines and Revolutionaries really are and how it feels like to be in the shoes of those we don’t know much about. So hopefully Oda does that.

The Revolutionaries will most likely cause mass panic for the people in One Piece, probably getting themselves and the Marines in a mess they can’t back out of. Most likely a war between the two and the World Government watching from above.

NOW ABOUT WANO

Then we will switch back to the Strawhats and Law. Before everything happened, since Wano and Reverie will most likely happen side by side (like I said before). We will see the planning and defeat of Kaido and most likely rescuing Kid and Wano from Kaido’s rule. But ultimately, it’s going to be a long and hard fight for everyone involved.

There will also be a part about Kaido and Big Mom’s relationship and what crew they were on together. Why they owe each other anything and what the nature of their relationship was.

Eustass Captain Kid, Scratchmen Apoo and Basil Hawkins will play a part in the Wano arc as well since they were the last people since to be defeated by Kaido. Eustass, defeated and beaten in jail. Scratchmen, a captain under Kaido’s command and we have no idea what happened to Basil Hawkins.

We will also find out more about Wano as a country and will most likely get allies in Wano that will help out with the fight.

Ultimately, I do believe that Luffy will defeat Kaido. I also think that he will also face Big Mom because he was forced to. Since Kaido and Big Mom had an argument about who was going to kill Luffy, I think she will go over to Wano and try to deal with either Luffy or Kaido. Probably once Kaido is gone, Big Mom will face off against Luffy against his will because she is forcing him to.

I also believe the reason Luffy couldn’t defeat Big Mom or the reason Oda decided for Luffy not to defeat Big Mom was because the Strawhats were separated and I would think that in order to defeat Kaido and her, the entire crew would need to work together. (I REALIZE THIS IS A BIG MESS, SORRY)

THEN once that complete mess is over, Luffy and the rest realize what happened during Reverie. Which would make Luffy want to go over and fix what was happening over there, since Sabo and his other friends are over there. As well as Shanks, Blackbeard and the royals (Vivi, Shirahoshi, Rebecca, etc.).

He will ultimately face off against Blackbeard before Shanks, I think that defeating Shanks would be a good way for Luffy to provide his strength and become the King of the Pirates (Pirate King).

Before that, I think the big fight between the Revolutionary army and the Marines will have to stop before the fight with the other two Emperors. It would be a big war, probably just as big as the War of the Best was.

Then as the arc continues on and the world is thrown into more chaos, the war will end most likely with the World Government crumbling, the Marines not doing too well (due to corrupt leadership and the Warlords) and the Revolutionary army most likely either successful or completely obliterated. With the Void Century revealed to the world, most likely discrediting the Celestial Dragons and World Government. Which will eventually lead to someone creating a better government system to lead the world (theres a chance the revolutionaries will do that.) As well as the Marines re-working their system, kicking corrupt Marines out, as well as getting rid of the Warlord system. All those looking towards a better world and hold important values for the Marines, those like Smoker and Coby and Garp would be creating a better system for the Marines, a less corrupt one.

During all of this, Luffy and the Strawhats will face off against Blackbeard, finally getting revenge for Ace. Then meeting Shanks and his crew for the final battle of the manga and ultimately is what will make Luffy the Pirate King.

There is a lot more to the World Government then we know. Even during the Reverie arc, we’ve learned so much within this arc alone. So I don’t think I will be able to theorize with the big strawhat (or normal size for all we know) as well as the figure the Five Elders were talking to. I’m not even sure what to make sure of with that information. So some shit will not be included in this until we know more. So this may seem like a very holey theory. But whatever.

I’m trying to take everything we know into consideration for the next few arcs. For all we know, this could lead to 5 more arcs or 10 more arcs. I can never be sure. But to me, it seems like this is ending soon, in arc terms. But I believe these arcs will take years to finish. Around 5 for Wano and Reverie and then the final arc will take 3 to 4 years. So we’ll see. :)

Ultimately, this was a product of me avoiding registering for SAT and doing my College Apps. Hopefully y’all enjoy this, or at least enjoy reading this.

6 notes · View notes

kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

Text

The Voyage So Far: Dressrosa (Part Two)

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)

wild how this is upwards of 750 chapters in and yet i still get a big dumb smile whenever luffy declares he’s going to be king of the pirates. one piece is a series very much driven by its main characters and their goals and dreams- i don’t think it would be nearly as good if the main character was anyone but monkey d. luffy.

personally, i always just feel kind of proud whenever he says this, because- yeah!! he is!! that’s luffy, he’s going to be king of the pirates, and we’ve known that since day fucking one.

i really think there’s something to be said about usopp never taking credit for saving luffy and law from sugar. it’s arguably his greatest feat in the entire series thus far- an impossible, perfect shot across an entire country, with an angry mob inches from his back- and he never even tells anybody he did it. he’s come a long way from someone who tells tall tales about heroic acts he never did to someone who doesn’t even feel the need to take credit for ones he really did, so long as his friends are safe.

i really like how corazon’s introduction and characterization throughout the flashback is handled. at the start of law’s flashback, we know a few things about him already: that he’s someone law loved very much, and that he was killed by doflamingo. we know how this ends.

but then cora is introduced as a clumsy mute weirdo who nearly kills law as one of the very first things he does, and we as the audience aren’t really sure how to reconcile that- and then the rest of the flashback is us, along with law, slowly discovering what a complicated and contradictory but ultimately good person he is. something very similar happens with the asl flashback- we know the endpoint of luffy and ace’s relationship, but the flashback is all about how they got there, from attempted murder to willing self-sacrifice.

i think it’s really cool the way law and doflamingo’s backstories are layered together. they’re characters who exist with a lot of parallels and similarities between them already, which is something they’re both clearly aware of- i’ve mentioned before i think the only real difference between them is that law got corazon where doflamingo got the executives- and presenting their backstories simultaneously only makes that more obvious.

i’ve always found it so interesting that we get what’s pretty much our only substantial exposition about the will of d direct from a former celestial dragon. it makes sense- cora’s basically the only character we’ve met who both has this information and is willing to share it- but i don’t know, there’s something that feels very poetic to me about him having this information that’s clearly been suppressed and hidden by the dragons and willingly choosing to share it in order to help protect law, a D, who should technically be the very enemy he was once taught to hate and fear.

i really like corazon.

it fucks me up that we can tell the exact moment cora dies from the moment law starts making noise again.

this might be a controversial take? i’m not sure. but i like baby five. i think her and sai’s relationship is really sweet, and people might complain about her getting off easy or whatever but i’m honestly glad she gets a happy ending after being thoroughly emotionally abused and broken her entire life. and on a lighter note, she’s also just a fun character to watch through the whole arc- the running gag with her crying whenever law glares at her is still one of my favorites in the whole series.

the shot of robin’s bloody back is a favorite of mine, because it’s a reveal that doesn’t get lingered on at all, and yet at once it gives the entire proceeding scene a lot more weight when we understand just how much pain she must’ve been in the entire time. and yet she never even flinched or faltered while protecting rebecca. nico robin is very, very strong.

there’s something so deliciously fitting about diamante’s final fall ending with him cracking his head on scarlett’s grave, and something so lovely about kyros and rebecca finally getting their proper reunion there, when neither of them ever really got a chance to mourn.

law’s line about the strawhats trailing nothing but miracles in their wake is one of the first ones i always think of when i think about the strawhats in general and luffy in particular, mostly because it’s so true. from the very beginning, the strawhats have been doing the impossible, from sailing to the sky to breaking in and out of the world’s greatest prison, and law saw that and staked all his hopes on it and they did not let him down.

also i think it’s very cool of law to, when held at gunpoint and down an arm, grin, flip doflamingo off, and tell him to eat shit and that luffy is going to kick his ass. love that for him.

i think dressrosa does a very good job of making the victory against doflamingo equally law’s and luffy’s. they cooperate and trade off fighting him throughout the arc to great effect, and i think it’s pretty clear that neither of them could have tackled the massive challenge of dressrosa alone.

while the final fight is luffy’s, it’s made clear that that’s only after law’s done absolutely everything he could and spent the majority of the arc distracting doflamingo, keeping him occupied, and even fucking shredding his insides with pure radiation before finally needing to tap out. i think it’s a good balance, given that luffy is the protagonist but law’s grudge against doflamingo is the driving force behind the entire arc.

conqueror’s haki clashes are always very cool, pretty much regardless of who or where or why, but the one between luffy and doflamingo is a favorite.

one of the things that’s always impressed me about one piece in comparison to other shounen series is how it handles its powerscaling- in that it does it well with a gradual increase and villains who vary widely in strength instead of every arc necessarily needing to be bigger and better than the last- and i think the way it handles powering up the main characters is a big part of that.

through the entirety of one piece thus far, i’d say luffy has had three major power-ups- second and third gear in enies lobby, haki at the timeskip, and gear four here in dressrosa (an argument could also be made for ryuuou in wano, but i think that’s less major than these others). this helps prevent runaway powerscaling and also makes new power-ups feel like a genuine event, which i really like.

i once referred to luffy as ‘hopebringer’ in a conversation with friends, and it’s a descriptor for him i think sums up really well how he manages to save so many people while insistently not being a hero. luffy inspires people, inspires whole countries, starting all the way back with coby in romance dawn. it’s one of the reasons i think it’s fitting how thoroughly he’s associated with the dawn.

doflamingo is very, very scary. which is interesting, because he’s indisputably less powerful someone like kaidou, but at the same time i find him a much scarier villain, and i think it comes down to doflamingo’s gleeful, wanton cruelty. not that kaidou is in any way shape or form a nice person, but our first introduction to doflamingo is him forcing marines to attack each other just because he’s a little bored. he hurts people just because he can, and finds it funny.

relating to my earlier comment about hope, i really like how the whole country comes together at the end to cheer luffy on and count down to his return. it makes it feel all the more triumphant when it does, especially for the citizens of dressrosa who’ve been suffocating under doflamingo’s rule for years and can finally, finally see freedom.

other people have put a lot more thought of the symbolism of doflamingo’s eyes and glasses than i intend to, but i’ll settle for saying that it’s the breaking of the glasses, before anything else, before the birdcage even vanishes from the sky and everyone is safe, that shows us that, at long last, doflamingo is well and truly defeated. his glasses break, and so does his power.

i’ve written a longer post about it before (here) but it’s a recurring motif that one piece’s worst villains are those that steal people’s freedom, including, in the cruelest cases, the freedom to express their emotions openly. we see it with koala and the celestial dragons, with the failed smile fruits in wano, and here, too, with kyros. and, much like koala, triumph for him means finally being able to cry.

i mentioned it back in the first post, but i’m so, so happy rebecca and kyros get the happy ending they deserve. they’ve both been fighting a war that they never should have had to for years and years, and they both deserve to get to just live, now, peaceful and quiet and together and surrounded by flowers.

i really dig the note dressrosa ends on. it’s happy, of course, obviously, with the liberation of the country, kyros and rebecca’s happy ending, the creation of the grand fleet, even law getting some degree of closure through his talk with sengoku, but it also leaves this massive, gaping question- what now?

in a way, doflamingo’s speech here follows up on law’s new era speech from punk hazard. luffy and law have just thrown a major wrench into the delicate power equilibrium of the entire new world, and we have all these characters out there who might be affected, who might want to take advantage, who might try to seize the throne.

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #arc: dressrosa #long post #not japanese

188 notes · View notes