I've been thinking a lot about a lot about Buggy's dream of being the Pirate King for a Buggy origin fic I am writing. Also I was watching @melonteee videos and I got my thinking cap turned on.
This is basically my explination for how Luffy can become King of the Pirates and Buggy will still be able to fulfill his dream.
Many Egghead spoilers under the cut.
With the latest One Piece manga chapters it showed us the closest people to getting to the One Piece/ The major players for the final part of the story. Buggy, Blackbeard, Luffy, Shanks, Sabo, Koby, Figarland, Aokiji, Imu, Dragon, ?Mystery swordsman?, and Akainu.
It is made clear that whatever is on Laugh tale is going to be the thing that can turn the tide of battle between the Celestial Dragons and inheritors of Joyboy's will (pirates and revolutionaries). A battle that 99.9% of the world did not know was going on until Vegapunk whacks everyone over the head with a few chapters of exposition. (I think it is really only the top of the top or the celestial dragons)
And Vegapunk points the finger at the Roger Pirates, asking why didn't they tell anyone?
Well, despite Vegapunk's ability to transmit a message to the entire world, no one else in the world could do that! We've assumed up until this point that Roger handed himself over to get executed to be flashy and go out with a bang, ultimately inspiring a new generation of pirates. But now I believe that Roger was probably used his notoriety and his last words at the execution to spread the message that the next generation needs to get their butt to Laugh tale. Because of how many people were there and there was no way for the military to suppress the message. The same thing happens when Whitebeard and Ace die, their will is passed on by word of mouth from all the people that were there and it re-ignites the message to go to Laugh tale.
Honestly, despite Marineford being devastating to read, the World Government ultimately lost the battle over all. Their impenetrable prison was completely put to shame, and they got majorly manipulated into doing Blackbeards dirty work. If the 5 elders were being strategic they would have never fought that war or announced to the world that Roger had a son (something that no one knew at that point).
Anyway... Back to Buggy, when Buggy finally admits at the Cross guild that he wants to be King of the Pirates, at first I thought it was a little sad. Because based on everything that One Piece is about, it feels like a certainty that Luffy is going to be the next pirate king. And that must mean that Buggy can give it his all but will ultimately fail... right?
Wrong. Because Buggy and Luffy's dreams are fundamentally different even though they are both inspired by the same person. Luffy's believes being Pirate King is the person who is the most free, according to what he says to Rayleigh in Sabaody. But Buggy's dream is ultimately to be respected and loved like Roger was. Which is why when he is a kid he things that Shanks is destined to carry on Roger's will for their generation. Buggy percieves that everyone respects Shanks in a way that he feels he could never achieve. So why even try?
By the time we get to Chapter 1121, Buggy has a huge following of people who admire and adore him, but its not worth it to Buggy because he doesn't see himself as worthy of that admiration. Because mostly of how he got into that place was through a series of hilarious self- serving accidents and misinterpretations of what really happened. In actuality, he keeps "failing upwards" because of unintended but reasonable predictable consequences of his actions.
ie. Buggy lets the prisoners out to cause a distraction because he is trying to cause as much chaos as possible to get himself out of Impel Down. The result is most of those prisoners getting out and being really grateful.
Then he tries to placate Crocodile by advertising for the Cross Guild, but because he is so admired by his men that they assume he is the head of the new organization.
And by the time he admits he wants to be King of the Pirates, he has inadvertently built himself up so much by "faking it until you make it" that he is able to strong arm Mihawk and Crocodile by telling the entire island that they are going after the one piece. It is no coincidence that this is a turning point for Buggy because he is courageous in his vulnerability and admitting to himself and the world what he really wants.
In One Piece, being brave isn't the absence of fear, in @melonteee's videos about Luffy and Liberty she reviews how Luffy hates cowards. At the very beginning of the series Luffy tells Koby, to his face, that Koby is gutless and worthless because he is not trying to get away from Alvida even though he has a legit dream. This sort of sets the stage for how the reader is supposed to view people in the story who don't go after their dreams. Because not going for your dreams is the true cowardice, not running away from battles because that is more for laughs.
In that context it make total sense that Buggy is introduced as a villian. Because at the point he meets Luffy, he has been practically paralyzed by the death of Roger for 20 years. In Buggy's introduction (even though we didn't know it at the time), we were being introduced to one of the biggest themes of the show; you can't just stop living because you've experience loss. You don't give up on your dreams because they are hard. Keep pushing no matter what.
Even though Roger (and Luffy/Shanks/Ace) get all this respect because he is adventurous and courageous, what we learn from Garp after Marineford, is that courageousness came from a place of vulnerability because Roger could never run from a fight when someone he loved needed to be protected. Buggy fundamental fear is that he is not worthy of respect; so admitting his real dream is a form of courage, and what is going to continue to catalyze him forward in the story.
I think Buggy's dream can still come to fruition even if Luffy becomes King of Pirates, because to Luffy's dream is something big and world changing. All Buggy wants is to be just like his daddy >.<
So I’ve spent the past week listening to MelonTeee on YouTube and she may be my FAVORITE OP youtuber next to DaksSake!! I listened to her on the way and from work and she is WORTH a listen!!!! 🔥
