#flashback shenanigans

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I mean, if I spent the day getting tortured I think I'd cry for a bit, too

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Sabo slapping Dadan's hand is the little cherry on top

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When we first see this scene in chapter 525 it's from Ace's point of view. Whitebeard is massive and looming. He feels more like a god extending a benevolent hand than a person

The retelling in chapter 552 is focused more on Whitebeard and is framed like a father reaching down to pick up his toddler after they've fallen down.

It's an excellent example of how the whole vibe of a scene can shift based on a few small changes in shading and perspective.

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I think it's cute how hard Luffy has to work to get any use out of his Devil Fruit, and it justifies how comparitively strong he is early in the series

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There's something so painfully childlike about Sabo and Ace arguing about killing Luffy. They're trying so hard to be big, bad grownups, but at the end of the day they're all just kids

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Oda makes some interesting commentary over the course of this flashback. All indications point to Sabo's family being ridiculously wealthy and powerful--they're not pushing Sabo to marry into the royal family because they're an impoverished family with a noble name, for example. Even after Sabo's family succeeds in making Stelly king, the first thing he tries to do at the Reverie is sit on the Empty Throne. They have everything they could ever want, but it's not enough.

Bluejam is the same. He's a successful pirate captain with a loyal crew, but sells himself to the royal house on the promise of being made an aristocrat.

Then there's the king himself, the leader of a prosperous and apparently peaceful nation, who sets an enormous fire in order to clean up the mess he made and hopefully kill a few undesirables along the way, all in order to cozy up to the Celestial Dragons.

Next chapter Sabo will link this "stench" of the Goa Kingdom to his own lack of freedom. One Piece is a series that prizes ambition, but this flashback shows the dark side of this sort of social ladder climbing. It argues that true freedom doesn't come from stomping other people down while you try to climb your way up toward reaching your dreams.

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It's interesting to look at Luffy's actions during Arlong Park, Water 7, and Whole Cake Island through the lens of his flashback, because Sabo is essentially pulling a Robin in order to protect his brothers, and for the next decade-plus Luffy thought he ended up dead because of it.

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One Piece has always linked piracy, freedom, and the sea, but this speech by Sabo is one of the clearest examples that really lays out the philosophy of the manga. I think it's really important that after this all three boys say their dreams aloud to one another (perhaps for the first time) which then leads to them becoming brothers. Oda goes from general ideas of freedom, to each character's specific example, and it's only after showing that they're united in these ideas do they forge that ultimate bond.

It's kind of how Luffy ends out picking his crew. Each Straw Hat already had a dream and freedom they're chasing after, them coming together as pirates almost feels inevitable