sailing along

my weird thoughts on the things i like :D

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I was curious to see some people's initial reactions to Doflamingo and Luffy’s phone call in Chapter 700, so I looked through r/OnePiece's archived posts. Mostly to see what most people thought Doffy's bargaining chip to Luffy would be, but I came back from the thread with a different observation.

Alot of people just didn't seem to think Luffy would care about the Mera Mera no Mi at all.

It surprised me. I think it comes mostly from people believing Luffy would recognize that the fruit didn't "belong" to Ace, but I feel it ignores just how integral a Devil Fruit is to its user's identity. Luffy wouldn't be the same Luffy without the Gomu Gomu no Mi, especially since he's had its powers most of his life. I feel as though Luffy would fight for possession over any of his friend's DF if it came down to it.

Ace didn't have DF powers nearly as long as his little brother, but I think Luffy would understand better than anyone how it changes and shapes its users. I get how some readers would expect Luffy to be above this sort of possessiveness; it seems irrationally sentimental, to be manipulated by Doffy for something that didn't have a permanent link to Ace. Or, to just fight on behalf of the dead at all. But I think... this overestimates Luffy's benevolence and underestimates his mourning of Ace.

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ace appearing in these recent chapter’s flashbacks is seriously hurting me. ace has so much faith in luffy and his dream. ace’s belief in his brother has been made clear from their first in-scene interactions over 800 chapters ago.

ace is challenging luffy here, and even without knowing the scope of whitebeard’s strength, it’s not something to be taken lightly. they both know they’ll have to clash at some point, because as long as whitebeard is (supposedly) seeking the one piece, then he’s someone luffy will have to surpass. and that mean he’ll have to surpass ace, too.

luffy doesn’t back down from the challenge at all. it’s not a matter of if, just when, to him. you’d think this would warrant the same kind of brotherly, overconfident jesting that we saw a few panels prior (You can take on who now?!). the last thing i was expecting was for the next panel to be ace just grinning at luffy. 

if oda wanted to show ace’s doubt, apprehension, or cockiness, he would have made it clear. but ace is just smiling, silent. he doesn’t contest luffy or question him in any way. it doesn’t even surprise him! for ace, it’s also not about if, just when.

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he’s always been like this

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alright so... after reading chapter 999, those ace flashbacks really cemented to me that he has to be my 2nd favorite anime character... like he just has to be. i don’t even get a choice in the matter. might write more about that later BUT aside from that... momo and tama both learned more about how ace connects to wano/luffy, and it makes me wonder how luffy will fit into these revelations. will someone fill him in on why exactly ace was there, and that he also wanted to defeat kaido? i don’t think that’ll happen, mostly because luffy probably already knows all that without needing any more information than what tama had given him at the beginning of the arc. luffy knew ace better than anyone, for that reason i don’t think yamato filling him in on the details of ace’s arrival would bear much of a reaction. 

but i so badly want to see the parallel cemented... luffy acknowledging that he’s done something that ace couldn’t... i don’t know if it’ll happen but i know if it does it will send me to high hell

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i can’t be the only one whose super excited for the ace flashback... right??? i can understand not wanting it to bleed into chapter 1000 since its such a huge benchmark for the series, but im so excited to see how this will parallel luffy’s fight with kaido. he’s finally going to surpass his brother... not to mention im always ready to soak up any inkling of ace content like the sponge i am

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destruction in op

something i like about one piece is how the destruction that results from the strawhat’s shenanigans is usually quantified by bounty increases. i think a lot of action oriented shows/movies are well-known for, and suffer somewhat, from having tons of inconsequential environmental destruction. a good example might be dragon ball, in particular the majin buu saga where buu just casually levels a city (ch 471,472) - the function of which being to show just how devastatingly powerful he is, as well as his heartlessness as a villain. i can give it credit for its effectiveness in that regard, but it definitely made me a bit desensitized to carnage of that degree.

comparatively, when i saw how luffy was absolutely raising hell in big mom’s territory during wci, i was living. although “strawhats” and “destruction” are synonymous, i think that the series was effective in using the bounty system to make me... excited to see more chaos? for there to be a quantitive measure to destruction is satisfying. it’s like, the more hell luffy raises, the closer he becomes to the legends he’s been chasing after (roger, whitebeard, shanks). we readers pretty much know by now that luffy is as rich in character, power, and capability as the most notorious pirates, but his raising bounty is probably the clearest indication we have that the world is coming to acknowledge that as well.

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im biting the bullet...