Things I can see happening in the One Piece ‘finale’ / final saga
Usopp having an army/crew/fleet of 8000
Either this time he'll be 100% telling the truth or he’ll be lying and it’ll just so happen to be the truth; I would personally love it if his army was made of 8000 giants.
Luffy climbing the Red Line to get to Mary Geoise to free his friends and allies
I just think that would be a great full circle moment -
From Luffy climbing the summit on Drum Island to save his friends, showing us once again how far Luffy will go for his crew and what it means to be a great leader as well as paralleling Fisher Tiger climbing the Red Line to free the slaves from the Celestial Dragons.
An interesting connection between those two climbs - is that Granny Nyon was surprised to see Luffy, who has the conqueror’s haki, bow with zero hesitation to Boa Hancock in gratitude for her agreeing to unpetrify Marguerite, Sweet Pea, and Aphelandra.
The connection being that Luffy learned that from Vivi during the Drum Island Arc and we learn about Fisher Tiger in the Amazon Lily Arc.
Now, the reason Luffy would have to climb the Red Line as oppose to using his powers would likely be because of something made out of Seastone being on or in him, thus nullifying his powers.
i touch upon dark topics in this post, including sa and slavery.
okay, now that i have officially seen the amazon lily arc i cannot believe that people have the balls to characterize boa hancock as satan reincarnate. i'm sure more gets added on later to her character, but it is such a short arc and already so much is understood about her. she is first seen as a cold-hearted, spoiled woman but it is later revealed that she puts on this facade to keep everyone out as much as she can because she is scared she is going to be looked down upon for being a former slave to the celestial dragons.
people drawing the conclusion of her being fearful of everyone knowing her past to the general viewings of amazon lily being negative or othering just... have no reading or viewing comprehension im afraid.
victims of abuse, especially the more extreme and complex their trauma is, have a harder time accepting and viewing what happened to them as something that isn't their fault. they see it as a character flaw, as something that makes them seem weaker; they could have done xyz to prevent it, they wish they tried harder, they wish they did xyz thing to change their situation, it goes on. hancock is adored by the citizens of amazon lily. she doesn't want to let anyone in the country feel unsafe and she doesn't want to appear as someone who was a penetrable force. she goes as far as to put up literal and metaphorical walls when she is in a vulnerable state, such as partaking in an action like taking a bath, and making up stories as to what's on her back.
luffy, with his almost child-like sincerity, changes her view and scope of the outside world by being one of the first (if not THE first) man to ever personally view her as a person and not an asset, whether that deals with physical attraction, her power, or her strength and feats. gloriosa even points out how it was finally time for hancock to let someone in when she started to feel fear or shame for crying and showing luffy the CD's branding on her back. this is so much more than hancock being emotionally open; it's about asking for help, allowing herself to feel trust in others, allowing herself to see that her past is nothing to be ashamed of, that nothing that happened to her is her fault, and most of all, that she is more than what happened to her. she is a strong woman, and she would rather get labeled as a bitch and a cold-hearted but fair leader than anything else, because it grants safety to her people and country. this is a sacrifice she's willing to make. she would rather make herself look like an impenetrable force than nuanced, because that is exactly how her abusers took advantage of her; they literally kidnapped and bought her and her sisters as children, stripped them away of a beautiful childhood, and forced them into slavery. there is something to be said here about how luffy's child-like honesty and one-track mind comforted the child in her that was taken advantage of, and she is experiencing what could be comphet, but that could be a different, long post entirely.
i think this also makes commentary about the general system of patriarchy and misogyny. if women cry, they're too emotional and aren't taken seriously. if women are confident and assertive, and have boundaries, they're bitches. women can't win no matter what they do, which is why amazon lily is like a paradise; men uphold patriarchy because it benefits them socially, materially, and systemically. since amazon lily is devoid of that, their system works beautifully and like a well-oiled machine. there are women of all shapes and sizes, different states of outfits, and strengths, each contributing to society in their own way. even if gloriosa was othered, she was still able to walk about the town freely and was advising hancock and the other women of the island.
on top of that, hancock's devil fruit, force-fed to her by the celestial dragons, makes an even stronger point as to why she is so fiercely protective of her country. patriarchy tells women that they have to be conventionally attractive to exist in society, and since men uphold these systems, assigning beauty standards to women is another power dynamic that can oppress women. when women choose to opt out of this system or don't fit into the current beauty standard, they lose a lot of privileges and can easily lose opportunities and credibility (there are so many real-life examples of this that i won't even start to name them). even though the story may have framed hancock saying "because i am beautiful" as a bit, i think it actually goes to show how much importance was placed on her appearance; this is very huge for abuse and sexual trauma survivors, because of rape culture. before i go on, i will use only one of the factors of rape culture here (also, even if it isn't spelled out in the story, it is really obvious why a grown adult man would want to buy three young girls): you can't get sexually assaulted if you're ugly or pretty; people won't believe you either way. hancock using her beauty to get her way could also be a way of counteracting her trauma, because if she is beautiful and has a high self-esteem, of course it shouldn't hurt that bad, because pretty people can't get taken advantage of. so much value was placed in her beauty and appearance, especially as a slave, that it was instilled in her that her beauty could both be a weapon and a curse, and is her value. she uses it as a shield, because it's her literal power. even when she was ill with lovesickness, she was concerned about her appearance and looking beautiful. but most of all, she uses it against patriarchy, which is the very thing that kept her in chains (both literally and figuratively).
this video is an EXCELLENT read on hancock and her powers; i cried the first time i heard it. "boa hancock doesn't weaponize beauty. she weaponizes patriarchy against itself." : instagram ; tiktok
there is so much to say about the dynamics of the island, but it is so beautiful and inspiring to me. i also see that oda has the capability of making so many visually varied women within the story; i wish he continued to do this tastefully, but at least it exists in this arc. i can only hope this post does some justice to how i feel, because i could go on.
