solitaire or patience?
I know that child Luffy seems to think that getting beaten up, ignored and abused is okay so long as he isn’t lonely. However, it doesn’t ring true as a healthy life philosophy if it’s adopted into adulthood. More like Battered-Wives-Valiantly-Staying-With-Abusive-Partners 101 (or significant other of whichever gender). [I know there’s often no choice].
I feel that some of the lines that get quoted in fandom as the heart and soul of the series shouldn’t be accepted at face value. Small animals and kids and living beings do need company, but not at any cost.
True, Ace was an angry young boy, and so closer to Luffy’s age and far less of a threat, (except that nearly everyone in the series is freakishly strong), than Luffy accepting this kind of treatment from an adult. And sibling punch-ups are a thing for sure. And it was also a huge reveal of Ace contemplating that others might accept him for who he is.
That line about
being hurt is better than being alone
is best viewed from the vulnerability of childhood.
However—and I might be misconstruing—I see it expressed generally at times as one of the main philosophies of One Piece, and I feel that the philosophy of putting up with anything so long as one is not lonely, especially into adulthood, is codependence and it’s unhealthy. It’s not endorsed, say, in the case of Robin or Sabo and their home situations, so I guess it’s a subtle way of showing that Luffy can see the good in Ace.
At the same time, I think that’s about where it should stop, especially as ASL did bond, rather than it being a philosophy that carries over into other aspects of life, like relationships in adulthood.
Anyway, I love Ace, Luff, the whole series. But this particular outlook troubles me if it’s not contained within the particular ages and circumstances of these characters.
