Hm. I’m starting to think shonen manga author, Eiichiro Oda, isn’t good at writing political drama.
Did Harald have to be portrayed so oblivious to the Five Elders and Celestial Dragons, in general? They own slaves! They consider anyone not a Celestial Dragon as inferior! They attack weak countries not affiliated with the World Government! This makes ZERO sense that Harald didn’t pick up on all of that and, instead, put HIS ENTIRE TRUST into the World Government and the mysterious guy you swore totally loyalty too!
I fear for the Void Century flashback if it contains political drama because it’s just not Oda’s strength. That’s fine, not many authors are good at writing every single genre of storytelling. But… I suspect none of Oda’s Editors told him this or he just doesn’t care.
As punishment, Imu’s gonna make Harald do that 6-7 meme. The monster!
But instead of heading for Laugh Tale, Shanks decides to take a different approach: Learning as much as he can about the true enemies of the world—Imu and the Celestial Dragons.
It’s safe to say Shanks inherited Roger’s will to learn the truth about the world, but how much did he know before going to the Holy Land? Roger didn’t want to tell him anything that happened on Laugh Tale, but there’s someone else who could’ve pointed Shanks in the Celestial Dragon’s direction…Blackbeard!
[Thanks to LunaPianArt for putting this Blackbeard idea in my head, by the way.]
“Well, everything except skateboarding. Where’s a guy gotta go up here to do a 720 kickflip?”
Here’s what I’m thinking: Shanks confronts Blackbeard who spills some beans about the Celestial Dragons being the final boss of the world and the ones behind, well, everything. After their battle, Shanks decides learning the truth for himself and feigns loyalty to Team Imu. Makes sense, right?
Does that mean Shanks intentionally attacked a World Government ship to steal the gum-gum fruit? Does it also mean Shanks purposely got his arm bitten off to remove the Holy Knight’s tattoo? Yeah, probably. This guy has been planning to take down the World Government, something Gol D. Roger couldn’t do, for a looong time.
Can anyone tell me the purpose of the God Valley Incident?
Answer: Setup.
The Rocks Pirates’ reason for going and their break-up, mostly meaningless. Just a means to an end. That end is, of course, being How To Take Down The World Government (and Imu).
Joyboy took his shot and missed. Rocks, a decendent of Davy D. Jones, never got to see his plans fully go to fruition before dying. BUT, in doing so, allowed his son, Blackbeard, to survive and give it the ole Davy try in the present. And while Blackbeard isn’t ready to destroy the World Government, he’s well on his way! He’s got the crew, the darkness-darkness fruit, and someone willing to spill the beans on Pluton’s hidden location beneath Wano.
What’s left for Blackbeard to do before giving the World Government the D. Clan boot? Finding the One Piece! Whatever’s on Laugh Tale may be the key to ultimately destroying the WG and Blackbeard needs it! That and some Eternal Flame to power Pluton. What? You think it’s gonna run on AA batteries? But that’s a discussion for another time.
If only Garling hadn’t brought that paper mache sword, he never would’ve beaten Rocks.
So, Rocks is dead, but we learned Imu’s Domi Reversi curse can be reversed with enough haki. I smell a Luffy and Loki team-up against Imu!
Oda skipped a scene showing Rayleigh and Gaban saving Roger and Garp from God’s Knights. Why? Heck if I know. Probably to hide Gaban’s knowledge that Supreme King haki infused attacks affects the Knights ability to regenerate. Absolutely unnecessary. Every fricking thing doesn’t need to be hidden up to the last second, Oda!
The Roger Pirates find Baby Shanks inside of a treasure chest. I guess his full name’s printed on his clothes somewhere. Hey, mom had to tell him and Shamrock apart someway.
It’s fitting Imu’s the One Piece devil because he’s boring as Hell.
And my lack of interest in this Super Duper Big Bag is one big reason why I’m not loving this part of the flashback.
Imu rules the world!
Imu’s evil to the core!
Imu’s uber-powerful!
Yeah…but what’s Imu’s motivation? What’s his endgame? He mentions wanting a perfect world. What does that mean? The total destruction of all sentient life? To flood the planet in order to have the largest swimming pool ever? Give me something, Oda.
I know. I know. All will be revealed later. Yeah, like in the final arcs of the damn story! That’s just not soon enough for me. Especially, with all we have to chew on until the final flashback is an overpowered monster with the personality of a packet of mayonnaise.
Forget Imu’s origin. The biggest mystery box is how Garp kept his job after punching his boss’s bosses’ boss.
Look, I’m just tired of all the mystery boxes. We’re getting the barebones minimum of the history of the One Piece world in a part of the series where the author himself has said it’s the story’s final saga. Nothing wrong with mystery boxes, but too much of a good thing can ruin a story for some readers. The constant teasing of future reveals, the slow IV drips of new lore, and the unnecessary and overblown use of silhouettes of characters that don’t have to be silhouetted just to drum up hype. Hey, Oda-sensei? GET ON WITH IT!
Other than everything that’s happening with Teen Dragon, Baby Shanks, Davy Rocks, Marshall Mathers D. Teech, and the poor innocents being hunted by rich authoritarians with unchecked power…I’m kinda uninterested.
I’m waiting…
I’m waiting to see Kuma, Ivankov, and Ginny escape God Valley.
I’m waiting for Dragon to hide Baby Shanks in a treasure cheat so a pirate crew can take him away.
I’m waiting to see Dragon confronting a Garp who seems completely uninterested in acknowledging the Celestial Dragons MASS MURDERING the residents of an entire island!
I’m waiting for Rocks to— Hold up! Let’s talk about Monkey D. Garp for a second.
Garp! Garp! He’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can! Except for the Admirals, Holy Knights, Five Elders…
You know what? Let just go through the chapter and talk about everything that comes to mind, okay?
Shakky. She’s just there to be the ultimate damsel-in-distress. That’s her role in the story: To get the Roger Pirates to God Valley. …Ow! I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out of my skull. Next!
Looks like Wang Zhi was the government narc all along. That slimeball really set himself up good, considering he controls Pirate Island for decades until Blackbeard’s takeover. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, kids. Let me know when you find it.
Garling is such a bastard! He found his God Valley hookup just to kill her. What a great villain to hate. It’s no wonder Shamrock’s a total dickhead too. I can’t wait for both of their downfalls.
I’m sure you’ve heard of my mother, Catherine Zeta-D. Jones.
Monkey D. Dragon. I’d figure it’d take a while, but it seems like Dragon learned just how disgusting the Celestial Dragons are early in his Navy career. The God Valley incident was plenty enough to send Dragon down the revolutionary path.
So…why is Garp still apart of the organization? What’s going on here? Is Garp somehow playing some sort of long game against the World Government, or does he truly believe he can change things from within the system? I’m looking forward to Daddy Garp and Dragon’s final conversation before Lil’ D quits the Navy.
Is this how the Rocks Pirates/Roger Pirates rivalry starts?
Both legendary pirate crews fighting over Shakky like she’s an object to be won? Yeah. It’s Oda we’re talking about. No doubt it’s how it all starts.
If Gloriosa’s in love with Gol D. Roger, why is she apart of Rocks D. Xebec’s crew? Did she just join them because she can’t hang out on Amazon Lily and they’ll eventually run into Roger? Is Gloriosa the eventual mother of Marshall D. Teech? No, wait. Gloriosa’s last name isn’t Teech, it’s… Ooooh! We don’t know yet. Hmm…
Interesting how we see the Rocks Pirates robbing a corrupt charity organization. Did Oda do that to make Rocks a more complicated character? Or, did he do so to keep Edward Newgate (Whitebeard)’s deeds relatively clean?
Maybe both.
All hail Nami w/ Lip Injections!
I find both the how and why Rocks’ trying to takeover the world interesting. How do you defeat such a powerful group as the World Government? And is Rocks doing all of it because he thinks the Celestial Dragons deserve to be dethroned or is he simply doing all of this because he’s a megalomanic?
Maybe both.
How does Rocks know about Monkey D. Garp’s hatred of the top brass? Is it widely known or is there more going on here? Could Rocks have his own double agent working for the Navy? Hmm…
You don’t get much lower than the bottom of a cliff!
Nico Robin wanted to die when at her lowest point. Loki just straight-up tried to commit suicide. This is some serious self-loathing here. It’s no wonder when your own mother called you a monster and wanted you dead. I don’t think Queen Estrid called Loki by his name once before she died! Strike One!
Abandonment issues. Loki’s father, King Harald, constantly leaving on diplomatic missions and repairing relations between Elbaph villages didn’t help either. Did he ever play with Loki? Did they ever do anything together as a family? Sometimes a parent is just a dick and sometimes they’re well-meaning but grossly negligent. In Loki’s case, he got both. Strike Two!
Loki being the curse of Elbaph. Let me go on record saying I think that whole “curse” talk is eight-legged horseshit!
You think that’s bad? You should hear what Estrid thinks about the new Superman movie!
Yeah, I know One Piece is a world where dreams turned into magical fruits that give you superpowers and giant kids drew a mural of someone’s prediction of the final arc of the series. Guess what? I don’t care! I still think it was nonsense drummed up by some gold digging Miss Cleo (Remember her?) inflating her self-importance.
Because you’re getting a flashback within a flashback. A three-minute explanation? Yeah, right.
You know… Thanks to One Piece Live Action, I miss the simpler arcs of One Piece. Where arcs didn’t have the main duty of expositing world and character lore while constantly setting up the final war arc of the series.
Weird, right? I’m all about the One Piece lore, yet here I am complaining about it. But I don’t hate it, not at all! I just want more of the fun stuff that made me fall in love with One Piece too. The Straw Hats interacting with each other, the zany villains, the feeling of a grand adventure instead of constant melodrama p0rn. This is a different manga than what began.
Here we are at the flashback portion of the arc and I’m just going through the motions. Sure, I’m excited about the coming lore dumps, but then it’s back to Basic Bro Imu the Evil and his boring henchmen. The only thing interesting about Imu is the mystery boxes surrounding him. I need more than that for a character to interest me.
Worst part is Loki spent the morning tap dancing inside a barn.
Mammoth Base Opera Castle 