Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.

On October 28, 2020, I started and finished One Piece’s “Orange Town” Arc. After reading the first two story arcs in one day, I decided to keep it reading to catch up with whatever the latest chapter will be in addition to watching only the anime’s exclusive filler arcs—of course, in chronological order—for that “extra content”. Based on my efforts with Tower of God—38 days to read 485 episodes—I should ideally be caught up with One Piece by the end of 2020 or January 2021 at the latest. Now that you have a clear idea on how far I’ll go with this ongoing manga entourage, let’s get started!

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.

Unlike the first story arc where the stakes didn’t feel imminent—no offense Alvido or Morgan, but y’all weren’t exactly scary—the “Orange Town” arc upped the terror with Clown Pirates, also known as Buggy’s Pirates. The arc kicked off with Luffy and Zoro lost at sea without proper navigation or food essentials, showing us comedically how inefficient they are as pirates. After Luffy tries to knock down a bird and crash lands in Orange Town, he meets Nami—a pirate-hating thief who only steals from pirates—who is after Buggy’s precious treasure and a map to the Grand Line. Nami is an interesting character—the third member and second recruit—of Luffy’s growing pirate crew. She is the much-needed “brains” the crew was lacking.

The “Orange Town” Arc also delivers on great action, with Zoro having a swordfight and Luffy facing off against Captain Buggy. Zoro cutting himself where he was already wounded was such a badass moment. I also enjoyed how Luffy and Buggy didn’t “power-up” to see who would win the fight, and there was strategy involved. I just assumed “powering up” was going to be a thing since this is an OG manga that came out around the same as Dragon Ball Z.

Maybe I’m not giving One Piece enough credit? It’s too soon to tell.

The Clown Pirates aspect definitely leaned into the self-awareness of how bizarre and weird everything is—to the point Luffy and Nami pointed out how weird that pirate crew was; Mohji the Beast Trainer, Cabaji the Acrobat, and Captain Buggy himself were memorable characters based on their names alone. The bar scene where the Clown Pirates and Nami were drinking to their heart’s content was pure pirate nonsense. I loved every second of that scene until it came time to execute Luffy.

In an interesting way, Cabaji and Buggy were used as great character foils for Zoro and Buggy in terms of their abilities and goals. Cabaji’s sword skills are great but clearly not refined like Zoro’s, and Buggy’s Devil Fruit abilities—breaking his body apart into moveable pieces—are only being used to pursue riches as opposed to Luffy’s sense for adventure.

Wait a hot minute. Am I seriously being thought-provoked by One Piece?

The flashback with Buggy and Shanks—Luffy’s source of inspiration—added great depth to the fight scene, and the constant belief clash regarding what it means to be a pirate in this day and age. I’m understanding why Kohei Horikoshi loves One Piece, and how he heavily drew from the manga while writing and drawing My Hero Academia.

Honestly, I’m seeing more potential than actually getting my mind-blown. Adding Nami to the team—bringing the pirate crew to the standard trio quota—will likely speed things along for the long game. With almost 1,000 chapters currently out with no sign of stopping—anytime soon, anyway—I’m sure the “wow” moment will hit soon enough. Then it’ll likely drag sometime after that. I’m setting myself up for realistic expectations.

Thanks for reading this manga review, everyone! I appreciate y’all reading along with me on this epic journey! Let’s keep it sailing for the Big Daddy “One Piece” treasure!

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