Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this thought piece. Please read with caution.

November 18, 2020 to November 24, 2020

1 Saga

5 Manga Story Arcs

7 Days

108 Chapters

(Chapters 490 to 597)

Hello everyone,

I survived Week #4 with Big Daddy One Piece. While I wasn’t as fast as Week #2 or Week #3—back on Week #1’s pace due to more than half the arcs dragging out—I believe this was the Saga I needed to take my time on anyway. The Summit War Saga is probably my favorite Saga yet with everything that went down from the world-changing plot developments with an Era truly ending and Luffy’s character development. Also, I have made it close to 600 chapters, so I will be buying two One Piece figures as my reward.

Since I started reading One Piece on October 28, 2020, I set-up a reward system—milestones—every time I read 200 chapters. For reaching 200 chapters, I got a Luffy figure. Reaching 400 chapters was a Nami figure. Reaching 600 chapters is upgraded to getting two reasonable priced figures, and one of them will definitely be Portgas D. Ace.

Anyway, here are my general thoughts—non-spoiler to the best of my ability—on the Summit War Saga.

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.

The Summit War Saga kicked off with the first arc separating Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates from each other, sending them off on their own mini-adventures that were likely covered in an anime filler arc(s). This was a downside to the Summit War Saga—having the Straw Hat Pirates separated—but it was honestly necessary for the story.

As a result, the Saga mainly focused on main protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his valiant efforts to save his older foster brother Ace from being executed by the World Government. The public execution also forced Whitebeard and his pirate crew to enter an Era-ending war with the World Government to save Ace, which was orchestrated by Marshall D. Teach—more commonly known as Blackbeard—when he defeated Ace at the end of the Water 7 Saga.

Honestly, the first two arcs—“Sabaody Archipelago Arc” and “Amazon Lily Arc” and parts of the third arc, “Impel Down”—dragged the plot momentum in regards to saving Ace from being executed. The “Marineford Arc” and “Post-War Arc” are my most favorite arcs out of the Summit War Saga for eventually delivering the payoffs that were set-up in the literal beginning of the story. Those last two arcs made “The Reading Journey So Far” worthwhile and worth sharing with y’all One Piece fans or those wanting to give the series a chance.

I was also inspired by Luffy trying to save Ace and his childhood history with both Ace and other “eldest” brother Sabo. I wasn’t ready for Sabo’s introduction, and how Luffy and Ace were originally a trio with their other brother. I immediately wanted figures where all three of them posed together.

Reading how Luffy met Ace, how they formed the brother bond with Sabo, and how Sabo’s death influenced Ace and Luffy in present day was truly astounding—a full circled vibe. However, I also noticed toxic masculine traits expressed in Ace and Luffy.

As a child, Luffy cried a lot over everything. Reading Kid Luffy cry 24/7 made it very clear where Kohei Horikoshi found his inspiration when writing Izuku Midoriya for My Hero Academia. Deku’s physical design was clearly more drawn from Hunter x Hunter’s Gon, but certain personality traits were mixed of Gon and Luffy with added intelligence. The flashback story also made it very clear though, why present-day Luffy stopped crying all the time as he grew up until his older brother Ace died right in front of him.

Throughout their childhood, Kid Ace would berate Kid Luffy for crying and later for worrying about Sabo when he was forced back to his Noble family, saying they needed to forget him and suppress their emotions. The scenes also showed Ace doing the same thing—trying not to worry about Sabo when he was taken back to his Noble home by acting “like a man”. The toxic male behavior was very subtle, but it was definitely there.

The Summit War Saga was also structured interestingly, with the Saga starting out with an arc that explored Nobles embracing the human slave trade and ending with the flashback arc involving the world of Nobles and their privilege through Sabo’s amazing character. The themes of the Nobles abusing their power also came full-circled.

Exploring Sabo’s character, background, and history with Ace and Luffy was my absolute favorite part of the “Post-War Arc”. How he ran away from his Noble family because he didn’t believe in being used for political gain or their treatment of the common people, how he was abused whenever he went against his parents’ best interests, and then finally, the annoying adopted sibling who was everything the parents wanted forced me to see why Sabo clung onto Ace and Luffy as brothers.

Reading how Sabo died because his small boat, on route to escaping the Noble life and living freely as a pirate, was in the way of the Noble’s ship—a minor inconvenience—made me sadder than I already was, given that Ace died not that long ago in present day. Sabo never earned his freedom, according to Luffy and Ace, so they had to become pirates and live his dream of being free on his behalf.

While One Piece has clear storytelling issues on hyper sexualized female characters, toxic masculinity, transphobia—there are instances of that throughout this Saga with Luffy and Sanji, but it’s not worth going deeper yet—and homophobia with the Okama character returning in this Saga to fill the “bury the gays” trope, there are moments where Oda does deliver awesome payoffs and character development. Although, these story arcs dragging on-and-off are getting on my nerves, but I felt that way when reading Tower of God Webtoon too, so it should be okay…

Of course, great storytelling isn’t an excuse to sweep those ignorant issues I just listed away, but… maybe this is why people skip around One Piece instead of reading or watching it all the way through. I’m starting to understand why a lot of fans are reluctant to keep going or join onboard the massive, ongoing One Piece train. I get it now.

Thanks y’all for reading my Big Daddy One Piece thought piece, “The Reading Journey – So Far”. I really needed to read the Summit War Saga that week because personally, an era in my life is coming to an end in favor of the “Ngo Dokja Era” planting its roots.

I’m currently making space for some changes in my life, gradually getting closer to putting my “Straw Hat”—my novel treasure—away for a bit like Luffy did at the end of the Summit War Saga. Anyway, I’ll see y’all next—Week #5—with my thoughts on the Fish-Man Island Saga. I’m heading into the post time skip arcs!

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