I really like this line here, where Nami says they have to « respect » the sea. Above all I think she’s totally right, and this point she brings up really makes you wonder about her history with sailing and how she’s become so knowledgeable on the subject. Also, I think it creates a nice line of thought re:the devil fruits’ curse. The more the story goes on the less we are reminded of this curse, but it’s brought up almost every time someone meets Luffy in the first few chapters. Respect for the sea VS cursed by the sea? Surely someone like Luffy, who’s eaten a devil fruit, can’t count on respect to make his sailing experience any better! Also, look at Zoro eating that bread…he’s just so cute<33
Another concept that’s stopped being brought up as the story unfurls but remains as important (and almost yet to be revealed) as the Devil Fruits’ nature and their curse: sailing around the world. This also mirrors Shanks’ dream, and he had no other motivation such as finding the One Piece!
We’ve seen this kind of twisted, generous act of kindness from Luffy quite a few times now (in beating Koby up to sever his ties to their pirate crew as well as in rendering the mayor unconscious for his safety, or leaving before he wakes up). It goes to set the tone for what kind of main character Luffy is, and how he goes around treating the people he’s taken a liking to. There will be many more examples of this later, but this one serves as the first strong one imo.
One of the first people to believe in Luffy’s dream besides Koby! This is also gonna be an important theme in upcoming chapters, and it’ll be easy to separate the people Luffy meets into 2 categories: the ones who believe in him and the ones who don’t. Also, I just can’t believe Zoro slept through this whole ordeal…
