aside — a conversation about one piece

I dream of making a good One Piece translation some day
I've acquired most of the raw pages lmao

JY: Hyperfixation going crazy

Truuue
I've not been able to think about anything else since I've started it lol
I've been watching EN read it
They just finished Alabasta
It's definitely entered my dreams a few times haha

JY: That's whack, I've enjoyed it for sure
I would be caught up by now if I had more time to read it but I only get to at night after work. I've been watching the live action while I work and it's interesting

It's the greatest story I've ever read and I don't think I'm exaggerating
I loved the live action too, super excited for season 2
Hype for Jamie Lee Curtis playing Dr. Kureha

JY: Yeah that's pretty cool
It's weird watching it being so much further in the story and knowing what's to come.

Also lol yeah I'd probably be caught up by now too if I kept reading at my pace but stuff's been happening here and I've had no quiet space to sit down and do reading for like, 5 days now
Where you at btw?

JY: 615
Maybe 616? Idk

Oh lol that's pretty much right where I am
Reading through Fish-Man Island

JY: Yeah exactly

Impel Down and Marineford were fucking crazy man, I could NOT put that down

JY: Cold Take, Marineford is the best arc so far

Warm? Take, Marineford is really great but Impel Down was better

JY: I enjoyed it but I feel like it was more buildup for Marineford and for me the payoff was so much better

I just love Mr. 2 Bon Kurei and Buggy lmao

JY: Yeah I get that

It was just this reverse prison break adventure that was super fast paced with fun characters and dialogue. I loved getting the little infographics about each of these characters' devil fruit powers we haven't seen in a while, and progressively adding people to their group while just, letting a bunch of prisoners go was just so fun to see happen, especially since such an event is UNPRECEDENTED. And absolutely it was build-up to Marineford and I did LOVE that conclusion, but I feel like Impel Down was more hype for me
Ivankov and the Prisoner's Paradise was also a lot of fun lmao

JY: Yeah I totally understand, it was super sick seeing all those old characters come back out of nowhere. Blackbeard breaking in while they broke out was also wild. I think I was just watching more attached to Ace so I was waiting and waiting to see what would happen to him so watching that had a lot more emotional gratification for me. All the characters and everything there was really good and felt important to me I just was way more hype with Whiteboard and all of that.

Oh yeah Blackbeard!! That was so cool because he was after Luffy last time they met but he had achieved his goal another way. It's been so cool to follow him and feel like he's such a powerful wild card, doing his own thing whatever the hell he's planning. I love Ace, but I feel like for me it was more through Luffy. I love Luffy and HE loves Ace (and he's got a cool design and power too), so it was emotional watching Luffy do the reckless and impossible to try to rescue his brother.
Whitebeard was SUPER HYPE. Don't get me wrong I absolutely loved Marineford too, I would say if Impel Down is my favorite so far, Marineford is a close second.

JY: Yeah, idk I just came to love Ace's presence. I'm sure Luffy s love for Ace gave me more love for Ace but his whole story and everything just caused me to fucking bawl as soon as he was killed. It was all fucking insane and if I hear one more motherfucker call him a donut I will lose it lmao

Oh yeah when he died it was tragic, but again I feel like the emotions I felt were largely through Luffy. He was DEVASTATED, perhaps at the lowest point emotionally he's ever been, and seeing such a hopeful and dedicated character like him that I've grown to love just lose the thing he's fought so hard to save right in front of him, watching that hope drain from him and he just loses it. THAT was what was so painful for me. Honestly either way this whole saga is goated haha, Impel Down and Marineford are linked together enough that whichever part is slightly more enjoyable for someone has practically no bearing

JY: Yeah that's very true, I'm excited to get through the post time skip stuff and see what all the changes in writing and stuff entail. Plus seeing what happened to all of the characters like Koby post time skip. I wanna see how he uses his haki and stuff.

Yeah for sure!
Who's your favorite post-time skip redesign out of the Straw Hats btw?

JY: I think seeing the scars on Luffy still hits me so from a story perspective probably Luffy. However, Nami aesthetically is probably my favorite. But also Zoro and his new one eyed design fascinates me. I just like Luffys because he's still definitely him but you can see how battleworn his body is starting to get

Mine's Usopp actually, I like his new look a lot and I think I'm most excited to see more of his growth post-time skip, he's definitely become one of my favorites on the crew
I love Brook though, and seeing him be the King of Soul was incredible haha

JY: Yeah that's very fair, I'm basic as hell with Luffy being my favorite strawhat so I'm sure we have different opinions on stuff like that. I love Usopp don't get me wrong but I feel somewhat more invested in the others in this point. Obviously I love all his character moments but idk

It's really hard for me to pick a favorite, but one of the reasons Usopp has stood out to me is because he's historically been less useful in combat, since his strengths lie outside of combat a lot of the time, and while I certainly enjoy the fights at this point in the story, I'm a sucker for the character interaction and the down time and Usopp just shines so brightly there a lot of the time, especially from Water 7 forwards. You can't tell me Usopp beating Perona because he's "always negative" isn't such an interesting side of his character.
That being said, I love all of the Straw Hats so much, so my "favorite" fluctuates from scene to scene

JY: Yeah that makes a ton of sense, I just relate so much to Luffy in so many ways. Obviously he's the main character so he's somewhat supposed to be relatable but he's helping me a lot. Obviously character moments are amazing. Robin has a special place for me with her "I WANT TO LIVE," moment, Nami in Arlong Park, Zoro at the end of Thriller Bark with "Nothing, nothing at all," all of that stuff hits me obviously but consistently everytime Luffy does anything I'm there equally invested.
God this is a lot of typing lmao

That's fair, Luffy is definitely the perfect protagonist for this story, and I'm always excited to follow him. He is definitely sometimes my favorite and is no exception from "I love all of the Straw Hats." Oda's characters are all so well written and it's really hard for me to not enjoy whenever any of them do anything

Average text conversation with me lmao
If I'm not typing paragraphs back and forth with someone, I'm not invested enough in the conversation haha

JY: Yeah for sure, I love all the stawhats so much for so many different reasons. I just have been like I guess regaining my motivation the more the story goes on, taking some things from his character to put into my own life. Relighting a flame for my creative efforts and such through the story. I've been writing tons since I picked it back up, filming tons. Been being more outgoing and pushing myself more and more everytime I get on stage. Been meeting tons of people, working on perfecting my craft. Learning more and more about the kind of person that I need to and want to be idk. Everytime I intake media something like this happens but with this it's great with how long that it is. There's a million different lessons to be learned or relearned through this story. It's amazing man. I'm glad you started to catch up to me because keeping up with you and staying at least a bit ahead has gotten me to keep reading and I'm so glad that I have.

That's awesome! Yeah One Piece is such an uplifting story all in all, and I'm so glad that's helping you! It's definitely also helping me too in a lot of ways, and I've heard from other people that they watched/read it when they were in a particularly dark time in their life and it really helped them through it and to get out of it. It's already become such a comfort thing for me, like yesterday I was feeling kind of weird and just down but En started reading One Piece from where they were (we got through Jaya and into the sky yesterday) and I pretty quickly just felt comforted by the familiar story and characters, and the excitement of seeing what En will think about certain things. Idk I feel like for me One Piece has already earned a place in my list of media that mean a lot to me, and that I'll always carry with me through the rest of my life, and I truly think I'm better for it

JY: For sure, we're gonna make it. If Luffy can be King of the Pirates then the rest of us can be whoever and whatever we wanna be

Imagine the ending comes out and Luffy fails and dies or something lmao
"Welp, guess that's it for us"

JY: Nah then he's just a martyr like Gol D Roger lol

fair haha

JY: Honestly when he finds the One Piece I wouldn't mind if he just decided to let the cycle continue and the story end the way it started

Yeah that part of it honestly maybe, what I'm really curious about is what's going to happen with the World Government. We know they are suppressing history and that they want nothing more to stay in power and keep their reputation good, and we know that Roger knew at least something about history and presumably the current government's place in it. But I love that line Rayleigh said about "maybe you'll find a different answer." I'm just so curious if the government will be fully overthrown or what. I feel like there definitely needs to be systematic change and I trust Oda to do that. I wonder what the connection between the One Piece and this "true history" is. I love that One Piece has a million different objectives and sub-plots happening at the same time and while I'm invested in all of them my favorite part is the world politics and the poneglyph stuff. I just feel like it can't exactly end the way it started but I'd love it to in some way. Like Luffy inspiring another era of pirates should happen for sure, but what will that world look like? I'm so curious

JY: I'm not entirely sure honestly. I'm sure he'll find the best way to end it though. There's a million different ways to spin it and the best part about Oda is it'll have a huge amount of significance no matter what.

Absolutely

JY: God I'm getting so distracted from work with this conversation lmao
Sorry haha you should focus on work
One Piece podcast episode eventually??
Half-joking but totally serious, just like, an episode once we both catch up where we just discuss it

JY: I'd be down, but all my thoughts could not be contained in one podcast lmao

Haha yeah me neither
I don't feel a need to do more than one since we aren't trying to like, be One Piece podcasters, but we could theoretically do a pre-timeskip episode sooner and another when we've caught up

JY: Sure yeah that'd be fun
I still can't believe someone can make a story this long and so many people will read it and get into it to this day it's mind boggling

Yeah it's definitely daunting how long it is but I quickly saw how with it's scope and the way it builds its world, it needs every chapter it has, and I hope it gets as many more chapters as Oda feels is needed to tell his story
I really love long-form stories that successfully do that, and it feels like One Piece is the platonic long-form story

JY: It definitely will, the way he writes is if he thinks of something interesting to put in he does, that's why it's so long is that he feels he owes the readers the best story it can be so he adds so many things.

I'd love to make a story half as cool as One Piece haha

JY: "I'm gonna be King of the mangaka!"

haha

CC: fun fact: brook grew 2 inches taller during the time-skip

Fascinating

AA: maybe he just wears heels now lol

aside — a dream about the ending

In my dream last night One Piece finished and came out with a last chapter and for some reason I read it
It was weird lmao

JY: The Two Piece is real

I think it ended with an epic shot of the Straw Hat Pirates with very strong implications that the next thing they were going to do is explore outer space
Two Piece will be about them as space pirates confirmed

AG: this is unironically possible lmao
space pirates are canon after all

aside — an awesome pin

I got this pin a while ago, just found it again and finally put it on my purse

AG: Hana hana no mi 💖

aside — why i haven't been reading (& hope!)

To be honest, I think the reason I’ve not wanted to get back to reading One Piece is because my laptop hasn’t been fixed yet

AA: Darn

My phone is too small for me to engage with it, since it’s got a lot more detail than say, a webtoon that was made for phones, and I’d have to zoom into it all the time which is time consuming
My desktop isn’t a good option because either EN is in the room or they are at work, and if it’s the latter, I should probably be working on my channel

AA: Makes sense

I’ve stumbled across a free, old, shitty Chromebook so I might actually read more of this

AA: Groovy

JY: You gotta catch up because we know what the One Piece is, it’s the friends we made along the way

AD: Tf it is put the fries in the bag little bro

JY: You remind me a lot of Buggy you fucking clown