Post — Aaron Ngo

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

November 25, 2020 to December 1, 2020

1 SAGA

2 MANGA STORY ARCS

7 DAYS

56 CHAPTERS

(CHAPTERS 598 to 653)

Hello everyone,

I finished Week #5 with Big Daddy One Piece on December 1, 2020. This means I have 30 days left to catch up with the latest chapter—which is Chapter 997 at time of this thought piece’s publication. I have been hearing Chapter 1,000 might be delayed to January 2021, so “failing” the goal of reaching 1,000 chapters is Oda’s fault. That’s why the goal has slightly changed to “latest chapter”. Reaching the latest One Piece chapter was technically always the main reading goal, but I had to make it official to make things clear with myself. I have an overthinking issue that I’m currently working on right now.

By the end of Week #5, I have read a total of 664 chapters; 664 chapters since I started reading Big Daddy One Piece on October 28, 2020 (Week #1). I’m currently on the “Punk Hazard Arc” of the Dressrosa Saga, but since I’m in the middle of reading a Saga right now, I’ll mainly focus on the Fish-Man Island Saga and my general thoughts—non-spoiler to the best of my ability—on how I’m feeling about One Piece’s time jump Era. My other Big Daddy One Piece thought pieces are listed below if y’all want to check out “The Reading Journey So Far”.

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.

Fish-Man Island Saga takes place two years after the Straw Hat Pirates are separated in the aftermath of the Marineford battle, which resulted in Whitebeard and Ace’s deaths. After reuniting at Sabaody Archipelago, Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates finally set sail to Fish-Man Island in order to enter the New World. I found this Saga troublesome for how Oda approached the Straw Hats reunion and their journey toward Fish-Man Island.

I found there was little payoff to the time skip happening, aside from mostly everyone’s negative traits blown out of proportion. Luffy acted more toxic masculine, Sanji’s transphobia was tied to literally everything about him now, Nami’s new character design is more annoying, and characters like Franky and Brook aren’t clicking with me as much. Brook is my least favorite character. Aside from Luffy sometimes, Chopper, Zoro, Usopp, and Nico Robin are the only characters I tolerate on the crew now.

The Fish-Man Island Saga did have a “save the country” plot that conveyed a certain life lesson message, which is similar to previous arcs like the Alabasta Saga and Sky Island Saga. The theme of this “save the country” plot was racism, the cycle of hatred, slavery, and oppression. There was also payoff from the “Arlong Park Arc” with Arlong and what he did to Nami was readdressed.

Let’s talk about how this significant moment from One Piece came into play, but Nami wasn’t given a huge role. The “Arlong Park Arc” covered Nami’s background, and what Fish-Man Arlong had done to her mother, sister, and village. Arlong executing Nami’s mother with a headshot is still considered one of the darkest moments from One Piece.

I’m disappointed Nami didn’t have a huge role in this arc. She deserved to do more in this Saga. Also, Nami’s sexualization is more apparent now with her bikini top and breasts being drawn bigger. The fan-service has been amplified on all female characters.

The Humans versus Fish-Man debate was thought-provoking especially with today’s times—2020—and the ongoing Black Lives Matter Movement. How the World Nobles were responsible for the slave trade was interesting because it made the Fish-Man afraid of all the humans. Reading these chapters made me understand better how stereotypes are formed, and how races are pitted against each other because of how the rich upper class treat the common class of all races. The World Nobles enslaved and oppressed the lower class humans too.

As a result of this lack of understanding, Fish-Man people blamed all humans for their racial problems, which is where cycle of hatred comes into play and both sides hating each other. I did enjoy the real-world lesson, and how it was conveyed well with the flashback story. One Piece is always consistent with its flashback stories.

Arlong’s character in the flashback story peeled back the layers on why he did what he did to Nami and her village during the “Arlong Park Arc”, and how that also formed the main antagonist Hordy Jones, who considered himself Arlong’s successor. Hordy Jones was a great villain, but it took a while for his character to build up.

Overall, I’m feeling less hopeful going into the post time-skip arcs. One Piece usually gets better after a bad arc or two—a consistency for Oda—so it does feel good knowing a good arc will eventually come around. Oda seems to follow a story formula with One Piece’s story arcs, and I’m not sure how to feel about that yet. I do love the consistency, but it does get repetitive at times.

I’m hoping future arcs will cover more backstory on what the other Straw Hat Pirates were up during the two years of training because I really do want to know what they actually did to get stronger. Zoro’s swordsman training with MiHawk and Nico Robin’s travels with Monkey D. Dragon are the ones I want to read the most. Zoro and Nico Robin are definitely on my favorite One Piece character list. I’ll rank my favorite One Piece characters after I catch up with the manga series.

Thanks for reading this One Piece Thought Piece, everyone! I really appreciate the time y’all took to read what I think about One Piece so far. 2020 has been a tough opponent, but I will succeed in reaching the latest chapter by New Year’s Eve!

BELIEVE IT!

I’ll see y’all next week for One Piece Thought Piece Week #6. I’m off to finish the Dressrosa Saga!

back to blog