I've been thinking about them since I read the new chapter this thursday, it's giving that opla scene in episode 8 but with Jinbe instead of Zoro and Usopp lmao.
So I just read chapter 1155, and immediately recognized Xebec’s bounty poster. For reference, it looks like this:
Hand extended to grabbing the camera, tongue out, large smile, slanted eyes, it was eerily familiar to me until I looked up, and saw the Buggy wanted poster I have in my room.
Only real difference here is that it’s horizontally reversed. I know a bunch of people believe that Buggy is a son of Xebec, so I thought I’d give some food for thought. Also, if anyone was wondering, here’s Blackbeard(🤢)‘s wanted poster:
Clearly Buggy had more similarities to Xebec’s poster. They also share wild hair, and some tattoo, scar, or makeup over their eye. I’m not convinced their related, but then again I also didn’t believe Blackbeard(🤢) was his son either, so 🤷♀️.
Okay we gotta do it big with this stupid wonderful color spread taking precedence over our beloved cover serial. Rocks and Harald are continuing to be such intriguing characters and if you ask me, this chapter really cements this flashback as such an interesting foil to Oden's. Rather than tracking down the One Piece though Rocks goes straight for the Room of Flowers in Pangaea Castle. Since I skipped his reveal last week it's worth pointing out the gun after setting him up as a swordsman isn't the only duality we see out of the man. He's oozing it out of his hair follicles. Also, potential lefty? It's pretty consistent so far.
I see you there Gunko. The idea she was one of these attendants we've seen with Imu explains a lot actually. It would make sense to make a young princess of a vanquished nation into a slave like that. But overall, I think it's prudent to recall what we know about Blackbeard. Specifically that he's a very pragmatic, traditional type of pirate. Absolutely fascinated by this "Nothing more he could do in that moment" showing he's not reckless. Even smacking Loki so he'll cry and Harald will come back. It's a very savage pragmatism unlike what we see in this Katakuri/Kiku/Stussy thread. Which is very pertinent when well,
"A Davy Jonesian Pirate?" What, didn't like Morganeer after all these years? Trivia time, though if you saw the alternate pilot chapter we got animated during Bakura Town you might know what I'm talking about. There was an early idea for One Piece that was scrapped; breaking up pirates into two categories. Peace Mains and Morganeers. Good pirates and bad pirates. Weirdly enough, attacking government ships and poaching crewmates from other pirates would put Rocks squarely on the Peace Main side with Luffy. For what it's worth, glad it was dropped. It felt pretty hokey the way it was presented there. Cool thing is I have a mutual who told me he headcanons those still exist, but fell out of favor that like maybe Garp kinda remembers so...way to go with that one Crunchy. Close. Davy Jonesian here seems to have the same connotation as Morganeer, and honestly seeing that come up might just be one of the most surreal panels in Elbaf for totally meta reasons. Don't forget if this is an inversion of Oden's tale, that one had shit like an unreliable narrator. My whole jam is how One Piece has been wading into weirder waters in terms of writing style, especially with these big arc flashbacks, even more so when Egghead punctuates them with a literal alternate view on Luffy's story so far.
Same with seeing he made his crew off the Davy Back Fights. Doooope. I'm glad that came back around. It says a lot about him as a captain though and it's reinforced by the crew having no loyalty to him. Don't forget, Luffy turned down doing the same with Foxy's crew even when he needed a Shipwright. There's probably quite a few who weren't willingly there to begin with. But it isn't him. That's the core theme, what kind of pirate are you? The game is not a bad example of propriety, pride, honor. How they restrain powerful people. Speaking of.
Big shot of the gang! This version of Stussy...perfection. Tech bandit is cool too. Not as cool as "Pirate Prophet" Ochoku. Can't ignore that's an interesting name given where we are in the covers, even more so when there was that weird way Hawkins fit in and how his design is reminding people of Caribou/Coribou. Shiki! Love seeing him here, that's just cool. Since we're breaking the seal on some of these noncanon characters...give us a shot of Jonathan in a group marine panel dude. That's the one place the anime made your story truly better. And Marlon the gangster is neat, guessing the name is a nod to Marlon Brando who I at least know played the gangster Skye Masterson in Guys & Dolls. Certainly helps the thread of reminding us of past arcs given how much he makes you wanna think of Bege.
But Rocks can't seem to keep the party polite. This is the big inversion compared to Whitebeard and Oden. Rocks is trying to recruit Harald but cannot convince him, Harald is living what Oden should have done if he were smarter. Rocks shows a lot about how he sees the world through trying to convince him. That's his tragedy and Yasu spells it out. The dumbass could have become a proper shogun and gone on all the diplomacy missions he wanted with the capable retainers he cultivated. Much like Roger was too early, this chance encounter between Rocks and Harald really didn't amount to anything for Rocks.
This is one I really had to debate which panel to clip. I love the use of "prologue" here and Loki peeking in, but the big statement line of "nothing in this world lasts forever." Impermanence is such a big theme in Asian writing. We've seen a huge allusion in Wano with 1030's title and Orochi's speech within making nods to the famous opening lines of Heike Monogatari. If you're an Utena fan you know the theme well too. There is nothing eternal except the reality that things change. Philosophically...this is probably the biggest stumbling block in human history. We really, really wish the world worked according to simple axioms. Dark/light, good/bad, you know...kinda does help reminding you of the pair that show even male/female isn't that easy on the cover while this is going on. It is never that simple, and honestly? The desire for simplicity is probably the best answer you can give to why the bulk of "regular" people will put up with atrocities.
All this to say I'm starting to like Rocks too. He is the ruthless realist. Even more than Blackbeard who has been shown to be kinda stupid at times. Rocks is actually quite the quick thinker in several of these scenes. Capable with sword and pistol. But he doesn't really seem to have a lot of heart. Like, he gave Loki a chance to lie then instantly wounded a small child. But it wasn't just some random whim. If that makes him such a hellion I'll remind you Luffy frequently stooped down to Momonosuke's level and got in brawls with him. Luffy had that chance with Foxy to poach a shipwright when he could have used one, but was fine stealing the flag because the symbolic victory meant more to him. Rocks didn't even seem to care much about his flag.
This is all really cool stuff. It's getting to the territory I thought we were opening up with Wano but in true One Piece fashion it just took longer. I don't normally say this about flashbacks week-to-week but I'm fine sitting here for a little while longer. But of course...Rocks and all this lore shit will have to once again step aside for our ongoing Solidarity Power Hour. Crazy that's lining up so well with 100 chapters since Wano's end.
Okay personal confession for One Piece chapter 1154/1155
I hate that Rocks is Blackbeards dad.
It may be great down the line story wise but currently? Just pokes so many holes as to how this hasn’t come up sooner
I get it’s a new development
But NO ONE PICKED IP ON THIS?!
Sengoku? Garp? Hell even Imu themselves never put two and two together?
In canon it makes no sense
They are identical
You’re telling me the gov connected Ace to Roger w very little in common physically but NOT Blackbeard to Rocks?
As a gov official you wouldn’t freak out seeing literal Rocks 2.0 on his ex crew mates ship?
Also that same Rocks 2.0 killing whitebeard and taking his devil fruit to be the first person in history to use two fruits?
Also he looks just like rocks
Oh now he’s a Yonko and taking over pirate island
AND HE LOOKS JUST LIKES ROCKS
Oh now he took out Law, an ex warlord and Aokiji An ex freaking admiral who was one of two choices for Fleet Admiral (or whatever the in universe rank is, I don’t care about the Navy/Marines) is now on his crew
AND HE LOOKS JUST LIKE ROCKS
Like….the more I think about it the more I can poke holes. Let’s hope Oda has some stuff to fill them with to explain why they ran a witch hunt for Ace but just kinda left Blackbeard alone for even longer
