#ch229

[abybweisse]

Tags for ch211 through ch240

Just click the tags 😊

Of course, the tag won't do much of anything until I have posts on my blog about that chapter.

[opbackgrounds]

This is a pretty clear call back to when Zoro suggested they kidnap Vivi, but I think my favorite thing about this panel is the return of the absolute best Chopper face

[every-sanji]

He missed all that exposition to make food for everyone

[iiloffy]

[opbackgrounds]

tag yourself, I’m Zoro

[opbackgrounds]

Goddamn it, Oda

[opbackgrounds]

Usopp isn’t necessarily wrong to doubt Cricket here. The series of coincidences needed for the trip to Sky island to work out are pretty astronomical, but he is showing off the flaw that will get him into trouble during Water 7/Enies Lobby. 

Firstly, it’s obvious Usopp is terrified. Cricket’s laid out everything that needs to happen for them to make it to Skypiea, and said flat out that they’re probably going to die trying. And despite Usopp’s protests, it’s equally clear that Luffy’s going to go for it. Because he’s Luffy, and as far as Usopp knows, Luffy isn’t afraid of anything. 

(which isn’t true, but that’s what he thinks, and in this situation that’s what’s important)

So instead of asking questions or appealing to his captain or even saying that with the risk he’s decided not to go, Usopp jumps immediately to making accusations and attacking Cricket’s character. This same Cricket who he was crying over last chapter because of his “manly convictions”. 

This entire scene reads like a lighter version of the argument he starts with Luffy over the fate of the Going Merry.  Usopp is projecting his fear and insecurity on a convenient target, ironically spouting baseless slander that makes himself feel better while accusing Cricket of being a liar. He even goes so far as to challenge Cricket to a fight, and is lucky Cricket decided to be the bigger man and let the insults against his character slide. 

And, as with the instance at Water 7/Enies Lobby, the solution is to admit his own shortcomings and apologize

All in all, it’s a really good way of showing off a serious character flaw in a “safe” setting, establishing it as a problem Usopp has before it agitates to the point of eruption at Water 7. Really, the amount of foreshadowing Jaya has for the Usopp/Merry storyline is incredible 

[opbackgrounds]

I think a common mistake new writers make in world building is trying to have an explanation for everything, and than forcing that explanation into the story whether it fits in or not. In this scene Cricket posits a possible theory for the Knockup Stream that’s good enough as far as One Piece logic goes to explain the properties of the current. 

But that’s just it. It’s a theory. No one knows for sure. You could write a fanfic right now with a different reason for the Knockup Stream to exist and it would be just as credible as anything Cricket says here, because in-universe it’s too dangerous to find out for sure.

Which makes sense. We have a better understanding of space than certain areas of our ocean floor if only because we have no way of getting there, and I think it’s only natural for fictional worlds to have at least as much ambiguity as our own