Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this One Piece Thought Piece. Please read with caution.

November 3, 2020 to November 10, 2020

2 Sagas

3 Anime Filler Arcs

7 Manga Story Arcs

8 Days

202 Chapters

(Chapters 101 through 302)

Hello everyone,

I have concluded my second week with Big Daddy One Piece manga, and somehow doubled my speed—going from reading 100 chapters during week 1 to reading 202 chapters during week 2. In my previous One Piece thought piece—the link is here—I wasn’t sure if I’d continue doing these weekly “The Reading Journey – So Far” nor did I think I’d hit two Sagas in one week. So, here I am writing to y’all again about my general thoughts—non-spoiler to the best of my ability—on the Alabasta and Sky Island Sagas.

One sentence summary: Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, the series follows Monkey D. Luffy traveling to the Grand Line—with his pirate crew—in search of the world’s ultimate treasure called “One Piece” in order to become the King of Pirates.

Alabasta Saga

The Alabasta Saga follows Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates helping Princess Vivi reach her homeland of Alabasta to prevent an all-out war from breaking out. The Baroque Works Organization—the main antagonists—are doing whatever they can though to ensure the pirates don’t make it there in time. Overall, I had an amazing time with this Saga, finding its amazing world-building, great humor, stellar character development, and the dynamics between heroes and villains being quite terrific.

The themes on war, corruption, fighting for your country, what it means to have a country, and the relevance those themes still has on today’s times made the reading experience feel essential. Riots and rebellions were also used in this Saga to create distractions. Based on the dates I listed, you could figure I read this arc during the stressful 2020 Presidential Election—sorry for getting political here, but it’ll connect to how I felt about the 20-year-old story. This arc came out in 1999 and ended in 2002.

Those relevant themes were tied nicely together through the significant characters involved in this arc: Vivi, her father, her childhood friend, and Crocodile—the main antagonist of the Alabasta Saga.

Vivi is a Princess and the most caring person in this arc—someone who’d rather die to save her country if it meant nobody else had to. Her naïve idealism is challenged throughout this Saga by both allies and enemies alike. While Crocodile called her foolish and naïve for holding onto such silly notions, Luffy gave her a wake-up call—saying it was offensive to not ask for help from the crew or anyone else because they’re also willing to risk their lives to help a friend out. It’s selfish that she’s the only one risking her life.

I found the Alabasta Saga very inspiring for what it taught me from those emotional character interactions, how Alabasta became corrupted through manipulation of the common people and making them turn on each other, and how Luffy and the crew were willing to risk it all to save Vivi’s country simply because they’re friends and helping each other out—asking them to risk their lives—is the least Vivi can do.

Some things are just worth fighting for, and the fight doesn’t end if the corruption is seemingly defeated—the fight will always continue to save one’s country, and how one must always remember that the country is not a place but it’s the people living there. Think Thor: Ragnarök if you need another example. Do what’s best for the people of your country, not what your country can do for you. My own version of the famous JFK quote.

The one major downside to One Piece right now though, is the sexualized female characters and their same hour-glass, big boobed figures. Well, at least the “beautiful” characters have this specific design. While I understand this is just something anime and manga will always do no matter what I say, but how Oda does female character design—three circles and an “x”—is lazy and formulaic. Like having a template emphasizes how much he doesn’t care enough about making unique designs for his female characters.

Nami is the biggest victim of this approach, with her design going from average “not hyper sexualized” in the beginning of One Piece to following the hyper sexualized formula the most out of all the female characters especially during the “Alabasta Arc”. I loved Nami in the beginning, and seeing her get fan-serviced on a regular basis hurts—her backstory is still honestly one of my favorites, and I hate that her sex appeal is being prioritized more than her actual character development.

The hyper sexualization doesn’t change going into the Sky Island Saga either—it’s a lot less in my opinion—but let’s talk about that story in general first. I know my words technically “don’t matter” given it’s been 20ish years—give or take—since One Piece came out with the arcs I’m on, but I wanted to call it out anyway. Saying something is always better than staying quiet, even if it doesn’t change anything in the moment.

Sky Island Saga

The Sky Island Saga follows Luffy and the crew—with newcomer Nico Robin—from Jaya Island to Skypiea Island in a two-part arc to the skies! Similar to the Alabasta Saga, the characters get involved in a massive war that could spell the end of the country.

This Saga also had plot developments with the World Government trying to fill Crocodile’s Warlord of the Sea position in the aftermath of the Alabasta Saga, Ace—Luffy’s older brother—meeting Buggy, and Shanks contacting Whitebeard. There were also plot developments for the overarching story towards the end of the “Skypiea Arc” as well, but I won’t get into that just yet. Either read the manga or wait for my manga arc reviews coming in 2021.

There were many things that I didn’t like about this arc, but the theme about the ancestors and fulfilling promises on their behalf hit it home for me. The reason I also called this Saga a two-part arc is because the “Jaya Arc” does set-up the “Skypiea Arc” with astounding payoffs involving Noland the Liar and his history with the Golden City that affected his descendant in present day. Noland’s character being truly known as the “God-Slayer” blew my mind, and his relationship with Calgara is one of the best bromances I have ever seen in anime and manga.

The misunderstanding between Noland and Calgara was also thought-provoking and filled with uncertainty. During the days leading to Noland’s departure from Skypiea, Noland and his crew had cut down trees filled with some poison that could kill all of Calgara’s people if left alone. What they didn’t know when they cut the trees was that it was where the souls of Calgara’s ancestors lived.

This action caused Calgara to shun Noland and his crew until they left the island out of the little respect Calgara had left for Noland. However, Calgara forgrave Noland before he left and made the promise to ring the golden bell for him someday—a promise left unfulfilled until the end of the arc. This was my favorite part of the “Skypiea Arc”.

The “Skypiea Arc” did drag during certain parts while getting to those payoffs, but I believed the wait was seriously worth it for those life lessons about keeping the fight going for your ancestors.

Let’s go back to the hyper sexualization for a second, and how that also goes hand-in-hand with Nami’s damsel-in-distress issue too. Nami has been playing damsel-in-distress for most of One Piece so far—often being paired up with Usopp as a result, so the trope is more obvious when she’s placed nearby him—and I really don’t like how she’s been utilized in that stereotypical manner.

Nami’s primary role in the Sky Island Saga was go somewhere she shouldn’t have, draw trouble for the others, lose her shirt, get kidnapped, and then finally she’s rescued by Luffy from the bad guy. She has the potential for so much more, and it’s just such a shame that her character gets fan-serviced on a grotesque level. I’m honestly trying to adjust because there’s nothing I can do about it right now, but it’s still really sad.

Anime Filler Arcs

I watched a few anime filler arcs to get a feel of what the anime is like, but I decided to stop watching them because One Piece is about to hit 1,000 chapters before 2020 ends. So, similar to SIU making a comeback with new Tower of God Webtoon episodes in mid-November 2020, I’m trying to catch up by the end of 2020 to read One Piece’s 1,000 chapter. I’m calling it my transition into “Ngo Dokja”. Dokja means Reader in Korean—I’m not Korean—but I have been channeling Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint lately because I read the newest episode when I wrote this thought piece up from start to finish.

Anyway, I didn’t care for the anime filler arcs except the “Warship Island Arc” and the “Ruluka Island Arc”. Those arcs were fun for a filler one—there were dragons in the “Warship Island Arc” and the “Ruluka Island Arc” had a Neverland-type story that I resonated with. Other than that, I don’t have much to say about filler arcs other than if you enjoy extra content, feel free to go and watch them—it’s not a total waste of time—but I personally have a big goal to reach.

Overall, this was a productive week #2 of reading One Piece manga. Since I’m on chapter 302 at time of writing, I have 698 chapters to go before catching up with the most recent chapter. Hopefully, the most recent chapter is 1,000 by the time I get over there. If not, I’m truly a demonic speed reader that has no idea how to quit. Thanks for taking the time to read this thought piece, everyone! Until we meet again next week, I’m off to sail the “Water 7 Saga” now! Where will week #3 take me? I do wonder sometimes. 😊

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