one piece: dressrosa saga

2024-9-12

(archival, 2024-8-27—>9-5)

and here's where i started going batshit with my comments! there's definitely a novelette here on this page.

punk hazard

ch. 654–699

(655)
Only 2 chapters in so far, but I had to say some stuff! It's great to be reading this again, I love these characters and I really missed their shenanigans!

I love that on their ascent they're trying to catch a fish for Sanji to cook...and then a fish eats that fish, and then another fish eats that fish, and then that's the fish they kill and bring with them! And then I love that there's this dangerous underwater whirlwind thing that sends ships to faraway places, devoid of their crew and Luffy's first thought was "Like a Warp Zone!" which is wonderful.
Anyway, Punk Hazard huh? A burning island (that may in parts also be arctic) that has been sealed and bears the insignias of both the marines and the world government. A mysterious distress signal apparently came from here though, so Luffy's going to check it out even though it apparently doesn't give off a magnetic field that interacts with their Log Pose.
And then there's a fUCKING DRAGON? That was NOT something I was expecting in the slightest, and the characters certainly weren't either. They all believed dragons were only myths (other than Luffy's dad of course lol)!

Just had to say that before I continue
One chapter later and the dragon's been beheaded. It tried to talk to them and they completely ignored it! I feel like that might bite them in the ass later

(658) Wtf is this thing???

What the fuck is going on?

AA: Oh, you know

This arc has grabbed my attention

AA: Excellent

So far we've got the animated severed head of a Wano Country samurai who was locked up with the Straw Hats that stayed on the ship, a bunch of various sized children who are being held against their will, goons in hazmat suits answering to fucking floating red goop! Completely ignoring the fucking dragon that Luffy and co. found and killed earlier, and that this island is half volcanos and fire and half snow and icy mountains...

AA: Sounds about right

AG: ariah do you remember wano?
cus i wouldnt blame you if you didnt

I mean I've heard the name of it in the context of story arc names that are later, but I don't believe I remember if it came up earlier in the story

GA: iirc, the most notable mention of wano in the story so far (where you're at) was as the place from which the corpse of ryuma and his sword shusui(?) were procured by moria

AA: wasn't it also mentioned on the ponegliff in alabasta

GA: maybe
in the part robin made up?

JY: The first mention was in Thriller Bark for sure

I stopped reading briefly because I've been spending too much time on my One Piece media spreadsheet

But I'm back and I just finished Chapter 658
Punk Hazard being all funky is a result of it being the site of Akainu and Aokiji's duel!!!! That makes so much sense! Ice boy and Magma bro really fucked this place up!
Man I'm excited to see what Aokiji's up to, and I'm also excited to see Akainu die

662
My goodness, Law is apparently the one who's been cutting people up and leaving them alive, Smoker, Tashigi, and their crew currently battling it out with Law, and it looks like Law has a pretty significant upper hand...
What is Law up to? It seems like he's working with the red gooey guy...

Also this haunts me

663
I really, really hate Sanji. They've all been body swapped and Sanji is in Nami's body and not respecting her in the slightest. Gone are the days of Sanji just idolizing girls and treating them overly nice. He has crossed into the territory of sexual assault and I have no more patience for him
He can die for all I care
I don't care what kind of arc he may get, I will never forgive him for this

667
Oh boy, Law asked Luffy to ally with him to take down one of the Yonkou, that's exciting! I wasn't really sure what Law's role would be here since he seemed somewhat antagonistic and like he teamed up with that clown guy (ik his name is Caesar, but his last name being clown is too funny to pass up). But really Law just didn't care what clownface was doing, he instead is here doing his own thing. I'm kinda glad he and Luffy are gonna work together again, I'm super curious how it goes! Down with the Yonkou! (Except Shanks of course)

668 (cover)
man seeing the graves of Whitebeard and Ace to end the "From Shipdecks Around the World" covers...
I think that's a good stopping point for now
I'll probably not be binging this as much as I was back when I started, but I'll try to make up for that by reading some almost every day

I've realized I stopped reading at the end of a volume, so I'm gonna try to see if reading a volume at a time is a good idea

GAS

JY: ?

(I've been reading Punk Hazard lol)

AA: True
https://youtu.be/atuFSv2bLa8?si=F2d8Z2jvx_8hcyzc

I decided to read a volume's worth of chapters at a time and write down my notes about them
I also decided to take mushrooms and read one piece
Here's what I've written so far:

Vol. 68 (Ch. 668-678)(668) Come on man they don't even tell me which Yonkou!? Everyone else gets to know…

(670) Oh my gosh when the marines lit the slime on fire and they exploded? So many people definitely died. I think as they are, Smoker, Tashigi, and the marines are outmatched here, and it's gonna be up to the Straw Hats to save them. I imagine Smoker and Tashigi will get out of this, they seem like they haven't fulfilled their purpose in the story yet. I guess we'll see!

(671) WDYM POISON DOESN'T AFFECT LUFFY ANYMORE!?!? He just is immune now (or at least very resistant) because of his multi-day suffering in Impel Down where he overcame his assured death at the hands of the warden's poison... crazy, I wasn't expecting it but it has sense to it so I can't complain!

(672) Okay, Vergo. That's a new person. I guess his power is just to cause people near him great pain? He seems to be in cahoots with Mone and not trusting of gas clown... Also I guess the Samurai guy can slice through the fires of explosions, who knew?

(673) Alright, we're hearing more about Joker, that's interesting. He's a pirate who is a major broker in the black markets, and Vergo is apparently a member of his crew who has infiltrated the marines... that's pretty cool honestly! OH HOLY SHIT JOKER IS DOFLAMINGO???? THAT'S CRAZY MY GOODNESS

And then the gas

AA: Lmao nice

Through 679:
Man I didn't know gas horror was a thing I needed, let alone while I was on mushrooms, but that was both so funny and so horrifying.

AA: thats why the gas fruit is one of my favorites

The clown guy's smile while the entire island is slowly being covered by this unstoppable tsunami of poison gas, that freezes people forever preserving their horrified faces! The straw hats and co. tied up in a cage looking entirely powerless at the hands of this mass-murderous scientist clown! DEATH IS CERTAIN FOR EVERYONE OUTSIDE OF THE FACILITY ANd the facility is sealed shut, the evil guy is there, and it's the only safe place but it's hopelessly out of reach MAN that's my kind of horror
AND THEN FUCKING LAW COMES IN WITH A "I've been on this island for months" WITH HAVING SWITCHED THE CHAINS, AND FREES EVERYONE! I LOVE TASHIGI SO GODDAMN MUCH SHE FUCKING TOLD SMOKER THAT THE LIVES OF THEIR MARINES ARE SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW AND AGSGSHDHSJJAHDHSHSHSHDHDHSHDHDHDHDHDSHHS

AA: :)

Then they break into the facility, get everyone inside and work to seal it shut. Clownass notices they've survived, goes to seal off the first section of the facility, and orders the outer walls destroyed!! I fucking love how Oda drew him doing that btw, using his finger to draw a line in a diagram, sealing the entrance! We have an amazing scene where the marines try to stop the Straw Hats, and Zoro comes in slashing when Tashigi stops his attack, Zoro says a cool thing to her, and she dismantles the conflict, EVERYONE RUN TO SAFETY, NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO FIGHT
Man the panel where they showed frozen marines with their thumbs up having thrown their captain to safety, as the doors finally shut completely as a crying Tashigi is being held back from going after them
Ahshshshshhdhdjsjagafafa one piece is peak

AA: So true

That's where I'm at
Although also:
The new cover story about caribou seems like it could be interesting, I thought he was disgusting but Jinbe immediately captured him and they're off somewhere so I'm very curious how that goes

I forgot to mention but I have to say something about when Sanji (in Nami's body) was running from the gas and was all "nami's body has reached its limit" and then fucking gropes her boob and immediately sprints ahead and catches the dragon....now on one hand I hate it, so, so much. Sanji is my least favorite straw hat, has been for a while, and is only further cemented as such in this arc. I fucking HATE how he treats Nami in this, and Nami hates it too. I cannot in any way forgive him for this behavior... all that being said. That was a little bit really fucking funny, especially with Zoro's "What kinda power source is that!?"

I finished the rest of Punk Hazard last night so now I’m gonna talk about it.

Through 699:
I LOVED this arc! I'm so excited to try to make a tier list of these arcs honestly, but right now I'm thinking this one's probably top 5. I enjoyed Fish-Man Island well enough, but I still had to like, set aside time to read One Piece, getting through some chapters and taking a break. But now, I'm fully back in the hype and the feelings about One Piece being the greatest story ever told. I'm not gonna pretend Punk Hazard is better than Marineford (it's not), and I have my issues with it still, but there were some incredible moments and it very much so reminds me of the highs of this story, and I feel like I did back when I was reading Marineford! Apologies, I won't be able to talk about everything—I'm going off memory here—but here are the highlights: (posted as I finish typing them, but I'm also in a bit of pain today so it may take a while to get it all down)
The way the marines encourage Tashigi to continue on even though they've lost members of their unit AGSGSGDAHSHD I really love G-5 in this!!

The sinking feeling I got when the marines rejoiced that Vice Admiral Vergo had come to save them! ...but Tashigi knew better and screamed at them to RUN AWAY and then he attacks them. This guy they had all held up as a role model, a caring symbol of justice, attacks them. They can't even believe that that's what happened so they're convinced that this Vergo was an imposter. So heartbreaking

The way that Oda drew Law after Vergo was all like "that brat intends to throw the entire new world into chaos!" was more menacing than it had been, almost as if they were trying to be like "oh maybe Law is up to something bad actually and Luffy was too quick to trust him," but I felt like throwing the new world into chaos, aka breaking up the established concentrations of power, is EXACTLY what Luffy wants to do (and I want to see).

Sanji's antics with G-5 is a lot of fun, however I can't help but be irked each time he's all "cute girl Tashigi-san ♥︎." The "let's all make faces and mock Zoro as we pass" was fire though

CC: punk hazard sanji swings wildly between "best character" and "actually the worst"

The scenes with Doflamingo/Joker on Dressrosa are obtuse enough that I have more questions than answers, but it's really clear that bird boy is really intense and scary for our protagonists, and I'm super excited to see how Dressrosa goes when we get there!

it's really hard for me to look past the worst moments and appreciate the good from his character at this point. I think I'd rather him not exist at all than have this kind of bad come with his good. But that's just me. For me to appreciate him as a part of the straw hats, I have to consciously decide to pretend some of Sanji's actions never happened at all
Alright pain break

Pain sucks, anyways

JY: Sanji is a really great character overall but there are moments where I wish he was written differently

I've yet to see any evidence of his greatness

JY: Agree to disagree

When I heard the girl say Momonosuke was turned into a little dragon, I definitely assumed he was the green one they had fought, just like Kin'emon did, and then was a little caught off guard by the little dragon Luffy found in the trash can.
That being said the artifical devil fruit thing? Wild! I'm really curious to see more about the implications these artifical devil fruits have on the world, and I'm curious to learn more about their production process. I also wonder if the "failed prototype" one that Momonosuke ate will have any consequences. At first I thought maybe Momonosuke was stuck as a dragon, and that's why the fruit failed, but then eventually he turned back into a human...
Gosh, Mocha taking the candy and running from the other kids so that they don't take more of the drug and so they can all escape and see their families again...wow... super powerful, and when it looked hopeless, she ate all of the candy to save her friends! I'm tearing up again just thinking about it, but that was an amazing moment!
Also, I really really enjoy Law's devil fruit ability! The idea that he can cut people without killing them, having their parts be still magically linked can lead to so many interesting situations! I LOVE the heart standoff he had with Clownbag, Law having Monet's heart while Law's own heart was in the clown's possession! I also really enjoy how he can do surgery with people by cutting them apart safely but also wildly, to remove bad things from his patients' bodies like what he did with the kids who were addicted to the candy, it's really really cool!

The Zoro/Tashigi interactions are generally really cool, and I enjoy them a lot, although I wish Zoro was less hesitant about fighting girls who are trying to kill them. This idea that Sanji has of "I'll never hit a lady, I'd rather die," is fucking stupid and is one aspect of why he's the worst straw hat, and having Zoro share some of that sentiment only serves to bring down Zoro's character in my mind too (although Zoro has never SA'd someone, but that's such a low bar to set)
Gosh the talk about the war in Marineford being just the prologue...that sets some high expectations, but it makes sense! How else will this end than Luffy toppling the Yonkou and starting a huge war between the pirates and the government, and we're only gonna be building to it from here.
The slow realization that Clowndick's subordinates have that they've always been nothing more than guinea pigs and inherently disposable...it's just heartbreaking, but it's great to see them being helped through it by Usopp and the straw hats
I did NOT see the heart switcheroo coming at all, the fact that Clownnose caused his own failure by desiring to crush Smoker's heart, not realizing he actually just put the last nail in the coffin of his own plan by killing Monet before she could blow up the place...really cool storytelling!

I do not yet care about Doflamingo's subordinates who came for Clowndildo at all yet, but the fight was fun. I'm curious how they'll turn out as characters down the road.
I was already crying a bit before this, but when Nami is talking about saving the kids and letting the marines take them back home, and she says that no matter how much she'd like to save them, a pirate doing so would only cause more trouble. Also, Tashigi reminded her of her own mom Bell-mère, a marine woman who saved her as a child and raised her as her own, when she begged Nami to allow her to take care of them. I didn't totally get that before she said it explicitly, so when I scrolled down after Nami said "I'm just no match when facing down a marine woman" and saw a picture of Bell-mère, just full on ugly crying. I had to stop reading for a bit and just sob (I bet En thought I was crazy lol, they knew I was reading One Piece). And then when I picked myself back together and kept going, the tears just kept coming...

The scene where Momonosuke refuses to be fed and taken care of, but then his dad immediately bows and accepts the charity, showing his son that they are safe and in the care of kind people agsvdgagafsfegahagdhahahdgwg
We get a flashback to Luffy and Law's earlier interaction, and we find out the Yonkou Law wants to take down is Kaidou of the Hundred Beasts, and Luffy's like "yeah as long as the first one isn't Shanks! But I'm planning to take them all down!!" At this point in the New World so far, Luffy has managed to piss off Big Mom, Doflamingo, and shortly, Kaidou. Obviously Shanks is one of the other yonkou, but I do wonder who the fourth one is currently. I don't believe I was told that.
I really love the interactions with G-5 and the pirates after the battles are all over. I love how when the kids are leaving and want to say goodbye to Nami and were talking about how these strangers came and helped them because they asked them to, and the marines keep saying that they are scum and Tashigi's like STOP!! And the marines say they've gotta keep insulting them or they're gonna have to admit that they like them!!! Agasgsgshshahagd
Then Doflamingo attacked G-5! He would have definitely killed Smoker if Aokiji (or Kuzan now?) didn't show up to shoo Doflamingo off and save Smoker. I knew I'd enjoy whatever relevance he's gonna have to the story. After hearing he left the marines I've been excited for him to show up, and I'm still excited to see him again!
And wow they really put Doflamingo between a rock and a hard place! By capturing Clownshit he really forced Doflamingo to resign from his 10 year position as Shichibukai, crazy
Wow I didn't realize I had that much to say when I started typing

GA: just to be clear, aokiji has always been kuzan
kuzan is his given name, aokiji is his nickname as an admiral

Gotcha

dressrosa

ch. 700–801

(700)
I'm honestly quite excited that it seems Law and Kin'emon will be with us a while. It's a neat coincidence that Law and Kin'emon have the same places as destinations, and of course Luffy is down to see everything!
Okay we're hearing about the current state of the Shichibukai: we have Dracule Mihawk, Donquixote Doflamingo, Bartholomew Kuma (the weapon), and Boa Hancock which were Shichibukai from the beginning of our story, then we also have Law and Buggy too!! It's so funny Buggy managed to become a Shichibukai during the timeskip, and I'm so curious to see him again eventually! Anyways, the seventh one isn't named, it's a vague "along with the man I mentioned earlier, that's seven." I'm definitely gonna keep an eye out for who this seventh one could be! Of course, Doflamingo has since resigned, and they have no choice but to expel Law too, which leaves them with only 5, which offsets the balance of power. I imagine they'll be wanting to recruit two more soon.
Okay I'm not at all clear about how devil fruits work when their user dies. Somehow, Doflamingo has Ace's fruit. He's absolutely right that if Luffy knew about it he'd come for it. I wonder how he'll find out and if he'll get it!
And then we arrive at Dressrosa!

(701)
Oh. The cover story. Caribou finds himself in a weapons factory..... that's absolutely the factory that Law and the straw hats are trying to get to. Man I fucking love the cover stories, such an amazing part of the manga
Man, I really like One Piece but even then it'd be so much better if Oda wasn't dead set on his characters being so fucking perverted, like every time I see this kind of humor I die a little inside. It's not clever, it's not interesting, and it's not useful.
The living toy thing is interesting, I'm curious about why and how that is, as well as what relevance it will have

(702)
And Luffy finds out about the devil fruit. He's definitely going to participate in the tournament for it, which will in turn distract them from fulfilling their goal of destroying the factory.

(703)
Ah interesting, when a fruit user dies, their fruit is reborn into the world "somewhere." What does that mean then...? Where do they go? Do they just appear? Are there specific places they appear? What are they made of? I hope I get some sort of answers about them and not just "yeah they exist and we don't know why"
Yeah! Let's go Lucy! You got this Lucy!

GA: at the part you're reading, you should have already seen a devil fruit reincarnate in real time. When Smiley blows the hell up or whatever, we see a nearby apple morph, presumably into the axolotl fruit

ahhh, I thought about mentioning that but I couldn't make heads or tales of what that meant, I did think maybe it was a fruit reincarnating retrospectively when the idea of that was explained a moment ago, but I didn't put together that Smiley died to produce the Shinokuni, and it's axolotl fruit was reborn. And as a random apple too...I wonder what the rules are for which fruit turns into the devil fruit. This time it was an apple.

I really like giving One Piece updates, but I've been in pain all day and still am and I kinda just wanna take my mind off it to the best of my ability. I'm gonna read some One Piece and hopefully I'll remember to talk about everything I want to later

GA: it's been fun reading your updates, get well soon

aside — about sanji

AG: god i have so many toughts about this...
as someone who sanji is my favorite strawhat and favorite one piece character over all is so tough to see him being flanderized and reduced to his worse qualities post timeskip.the only case of it being really bad pre timeskip was imo Thriller Bark with the whole absalom deal, besides that in pre timeskip he is characterized as a romantic gentleman, someone who would 1 million times sacrifice himself if it means to help others(REGARDLESS OF GENDER) his joy is at least to me contagious he was such a great character...post timeskip he is a misogynist transphobic homophobic boundary breaking pervert! it does get better but feel insincere when half of the manga at this point is this dogshit version of him

some of my favorite sanji moments but really theres lots of em pre timeskip
pre timeskip sanji was so emotionally smart too...oda when i fucking get you!!!

JY: I was gonna defend Sanji but I knew that you'd do it for me AG

AG: Idk if this counts as defending him
More like "yeah he sucks but with nuance"

JY: Yeah I just thought you'd jump at this comment

Sanji has good character moments, I'm not saying that he doesn't. Also, I'm enjoying his character in Dressrosa so far. I'm glad you two like him so much, but it's really really really difficult for me to look past the really really bad character moments. I can't read Sanji's antics without remembering that he had full intention of violating Nami's body, that his ideal devil fruit was the one that would let him peep on women, or that he actually did GROPE Nami. This is not to say I can't enjoy scenes with Sanji in them—I absolutely can and do—but that is to say I don't like him as a person and have a hard time appreciating him to the degree I appreciate every other straw hat. And yeah, maybe that's because I'm in the minority of people who can't get over these bad moments, but it's how I feel about it.

AG: But thats what im saying
He wasnt written like this before outside the one moment
And it kinda sucks

Anyways, I've read through chapter 732:
I'm really really enjoying Dressrosa so far! It's been a lot of fun and it's exciting to me that I've still got another 69 chapters to go in this arc, I'm so curious where Oda is gonna take us! I've really enjoyed the fights for the Mera Mera no Mi, and I'm honestly a little disappointed it doesn't seem like Lucy is gonna get a chance at participating in the finals. Bartolomeo is so good btw! I thought he was being built up as an opponent of some kind but then it turns out he's an avid fan of Luffy and the straw hats!! That's so good! I love that he was like "don't worry, I'm gonna win that fruit for you! It's your bro's legacy after all!"

The dwarves are so cute! I love them and I want nothing but good things for them! I love love love that they have a statue of Montblanc Noland and tell of his visit long ago, since I remember him mentioning an island of dwarves way back in Slypiea (likely a flashback? I don't remember precisely when it was mentioned)!

The toy storyline is so heartbreaking! In a series we've heard that people only really die when they are forgotten, we have a whole country full of folks who haven't died but were forgotten, forced to exist as toys—second class citizens by day and slaves for Donquixote and his crew by night. I really hope the S.O.P. plan succeeds cuz I'm so curious how the country would react to the toys returning to human form all at once like that.

Fujitora is a super interesting character! All the admirals have been so far, but I like that he's super capable despite being blind, and I like his ability! I'm excited to see more from him!

Birdbrain on the other hand, FUCK that guy. He's a super well written character and because of that I hate him so, so, much. The fact that he was a Tenryuubito is CRAZY! And the backstory about him making a fool and a villain of the former king of Dressrosa, who despite being a monarch seemed to be benevolent and much loved by his people, was so fucking sad and tragic! I was totally with Franky and Robin! No forgiveness! We're taking this bitch down!

The segment with that Jora/Giolla lady was pretty fucking cool! Even though it was looking pretty bad for the Sunny and our straw hats, the way she could manipulate her surroundings into works of art is a really cool power, and I love the way Brook bested her in the end!

Law's ominous line "D WILL BRING FORTH A STORM ONCE MORE" (fan translation) was suuper intriguing! Obviously this is a reference to the "Will of D" we've heard about, which is connected or indicated by the "D." middle initial Luffy, his family, and Blackbeard seems to have (and of course Gol D. Roger too). I wanna know what Law knows about the will of D.

And Sabo appears! I've been following Murphy Napier's reviews as I read the arcs, and she wasn't convinced Sabo had actually died in the flashback, as it wouldn't make sense to introduce this third brother right after Ace dies, and then have him die too, especially when it doesn't seem at all relevant to the present, so I thought he might show up one day, after having been saved by Dragon or something and now maybe he works under him? Luffy's face seeing him though....man. Although I was more surprised by Koala! I honestly didn't expect her to play a role beyond the Fisher Tiger backstory but it's so fucking cool that she does!!! I'm super excited to pick back up with Luffy and them!

I read through chapter 767 last night, and I'll type up thoughts at some point today, but just wow
Crazy
I read 57 chapters yesterday haha
I love this arc, and it's hard to believe there's another third of it left

GA: i love isho (fujitora)
his introduction is so baller

Man I don't know where to start (through chapter 767)
There's so much chaos in this arc and I love it all so much, but how can I hope to capture all of that here in my written thoughts? I suppose I'll start with the S.O.P. plan! Usopp the whole time being like "Don't worry, I'll save you if things go wrong!" but in his head hoping he doesn't have to do anything, and then things go very very wrong! The scene where the Tontatta folks were lying helpless on the ground, getting squished, and chanting "Usoland" hoping and believing that their hero will come to save him...but Usopp is running. He's running as fast as he can trying to get away and save himself, but the cries for help gets to him! He couldn't live with himself if he just abandons his new friends to certain slavery or death, even though he KNOWS he has no hope of winning, especially with no crew members anywhere nearby to back him up (Robin has been turned into a toy and Usopp doesn't remember her). He exclaims that he was lying the whole time and is powerless, but that he's gonna try and if all else fails he'll die right there with his new friends who believes in him. And he fails. He's beaten up, no more fighting power. He loses. AND THEN SUGAR TAKES THE "POISONED" GRAPE THEY'VE BEEN TRYING TO FEED HER AND GIVES IT TO USOPP, COMPLETELY NOT EXPECTING THAT MAYBE IT'S NOT POISON BUT SOMETHING ELSE, USOPP FREAKS OUT DUE TO THE HEAT, AND SUGAR GETS SHOCKED AND PASSES OUT AND ALL THE TOYS RETURN TO THEIR ORIGINAL FORM AND EVERYONE'S MEMORIES RETURN!!!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I'm so glad that happened, and the way it happened was so perfect and heartbreaking and desperate and heroic and funny and agsagfsfsggaagsg

I said before I was a little disappointed Luffy wasn't going to participate in the final fight, but actually what I really wanted was for Lucy to participate, and that did happen! I love love loved that Sabo stepped in for Luffy as Lucy and won that fucking fruit! I was wondering what Luffy would have done with that fruit if he did get it, so I somewhat doubted he would, as it may make for more powerful motivation and vendetta if an enemy were to walk away with his brother's power. But Sabo getting the fruit was perfect! What better candidate to get Luffy's brother Ace's powerful ability than Luffy and Ace's other brother Sabo? Luffy already has a devil fruit power, and Sabo apparently didn't. It's awesome that Sabo gets to keep Ace's legacy alive in this way! And then Sabo fucking crushes the arena floor while fighting right when Usopp had saved everyone underground and beams of light shone on him his barely audible words sounded like he was saying he was a savior and everyone kept calling him "God Usopp" man that's so good

And then Kyros (aka the toy soldier) jumps in and slices birdshit's head off!!! I never believed this, but I wasn't sure what actually happened! "There's no way he's actually dead, but what's up his sleave that would allow him to not be???? His power being "string" is so fucking clever, I swear Oda is a genius at these devil fruit powers (and many, many other things). It's so good when a villain reveals a new thing they can do, and it ties in neatly with their already known power while still being a surprise! It doesn't feel forced like in a lesser story "mwahahaha you had no idea about my OTHER power, now you will suffer the consequences." The power to control other people like puppets on a STRING? Are you kidding me? That's such a cool interpretation! It makes so much sense that someone with that power would control a puppet of themselves for an added layer of protection!

The story of Kyros, Scarlett, and Rebecca is really really sad! Being turned into a toy, fail to save your wife, have her die in your metal arms without her remembering you even exist, and you can't even feel her warmth...then having to carry her body back to your child who also doesn't remember you exist, watching her grieve and helping to the best of your ability from a distance...so fucking tragic

The fucking birdcage!??? Such a crazy horrible scary insane power! Lock everyone in an area, intending to kill everyone inside with no hope of escape.... I'm so glad most people didn't fight against the straw hats. I really loved the rush for the palace, with all sorts of people from the coliseum helping out! Having Law, who is still a mysterious and powerful character, with Luffy but tied up and unable to help out was funny, but I was excited for him to be able to help out, since I LOVE his devil fruit power. And him, I LOVE him in general.

Usopp fucking trying to take out Sugar from so, so far away with the help of Violet's ability to see anywhere including the palace? That was an AMAZING sequence. The detail of which window to aim for, how spaced out the bars in the window are, the approximate size of the window pane...so cool! And then Usopp probably wouldn't have made it if he didn't unlock what I'm guessing is observation haki just in time!!! Usopp absolutely deserves observation haki, that's so perfect for him! Super excited to see him further hone this!

Oh yeah! Pica's ability is fucking awesome too! His fights with Zoro were super cool and interesting to me, I LOVE the idea of a stone building literally moving freely as it pleases is so fucking cool, and when he later moves the while fucking terrain and forms a giant stone version of himself??? Badass as hell!

Ah, Birdface and Law's backstory... wow. Law's backstory may be my favorite backstory in One Piece so far? Don't quote me on that, but it seriously feels that way. What do I even say about it? Rocinante is an awesome character, I really wish I got more of him, but what I got of him I adored so, so, so fucking much. Law's whole country dying from white lead poisoning....so fucking horrific. Law not only had no family, but no friends and no country. He had nobody at all, and he was dying. What a horrible situation for a kid! No wonder he was the way he was, trying to join Doflamingo's crew. Everything about Law and Rocinante's relationship was so, so amazing to me. Rocinante truly gave up EVERYTHING so that Law could have a chance at a life. I don't know what else to say about this flashback. It made me cry a lot and I've fallen in love with Law so much more because of it. I love that even knowing this backstory, there's still a ton of mystery behind his character!

That's where I stopped. I didn't read any today though. I'll read more tomorrow
I've been watching EN read more One Piece. They've just finished Skypiea!

AA: Hell yea

Here we go, Dressrosa part 3/3 (through chapter 801):

Man, Law and Doflamingo's conversation (while fighting, naturally) about the "Heart" and Law being what Cora had achieved!!! (I know that's his codename, but I can't remember how to spell his real name off of the top of my head, and I'm typing this with one hand in the ER so give me a break!) And then immediately after Law gets his FUCKING HAND CHOPPED OFF!?!? I fucking love Law, and I hope whatever else happens, he gets the finishing blow! I know people rarely die in One Piece, and previous villains not dying has enabled some pretty cool comebacks, but Birdfuck needs to die. Either this arc by Law's hand, or eventually during the story in the name of Law. Fuck that dude

Poor Bellamy! That dude has lost absolutely everything, and he's just using the last of his strength to fight Luffy in the hopes of redeeming himself in Birdass's eyes, even though he knows that won't actually happen…

Baby 5's misinterpretation of the fight dialogue as love was so funny, and then immediately after it got funnier when HER AND SAI ACTUALLY SEEM TO BE GETTING MARRIED AT SOME POINT? Baby 5 is now totally out of the fight, and I guess out of Doflamingo's crew due to this crazy turn of events. And then Oda has the AUDACITY to hit me with Baby 5's tragic backstory in a couple panels over only half a page…

^^I apparently wrote those before having read the whole arc, so I'm just gonna leave them here, separate from the rest of this

The Franky and Señor Pink fight was just so much fun. This fight between a cyborg and a man who wears a baby bonnet and uses a pacifier, where one of them just slams the other really really hard into ground is, truly and genuinely, the most manly fight I've ever seen o7

I'm SO FUCKING GLAD Kyros got to be the one to fucking take down Diamante! I don't have much else to say other than that but yeah, it's always so satisfying to see someone as thoroughly wronged by someone else as Kyros and Rebecca were be the one to finally enact vengeance in order to protect each other and everyone else

Zoro having himself get thrown towards Pica in order to slice through his gigantic stone body clean in half! And then immediately half again, and again, trapping him in a smaller and smaller piece of himself in the air to trap him!?? Are you kidding me?? SUCH a cool fucking way to solve a problem like "guy who can literally bend the earth around him to his will." I absolutely loved that. Oda is SO fucking good at his clever solutions to unwinnable battles. Oh yeah, and then the fucking King Punch happens to break up the giant falling Pica-shaped rock so that everyone around them doesn't die. After all the buildup about who he was going to use it on and when, this was a very amusing way to use it! I love that the Fighting King's a little bit salty about it

The BIRDCAGE? Again, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I know I already praised it last set of comments, but when we first saw it, I thought about battle royale games (mostly survival games, but fortnite's a good reference because it all battle royale games stem from minecraft survival games), and how the worldborder shrinks throughout the game, forcing the survivors together by the end of it. And fucking Oda actually did it! The birdcage began shrinking, and of course it's not shrinking to the middle of the city, why would it? It's shrinking onto Birdbitch because why wouldn't it? More on the birdcage later.

The bit of backstory about Trebol, Pica, and Diamante finding a young Birdbrat and further enlisting him into the evil path he already was set on...so menacing and creepy... Also Trebol actually being super skinny and actually just wearing a suit of goop he could control was very funny

By the way the Luffy/Birdshit fight was masterful through and through. Every single element of it. Luffy's up against a really tough guy, and he takes a LOT of hits and still seems relatively unharmed. It takes a LOT to take this man down. With everything we've seen thus far, and what Law's powers and his cunning has done for us, we would have lost if it wasn't for Luffy's new ultimate ability he'd learned during the timeskip: Gear 4! Pretty damn cool honestly. To be honest at this point I've forgotten what the exact distinction between gears 1 through 3 are, I remember Luffy like, pumping his blood up in his body with his rubber power for extra power, and I think that's gear 1? I don't know I'll look it up eventually. I know there's a Gear 5 at some point, I've heard it mentioned but I don't know what it looks like or how it works. Gotta say, it's a pretty cool "ultimate ability" tech-tree for a main character to have. Also, I've come to appreciate haki a lot more than I did when it was first introduced. It's really this manifested form of a character's will. You can use it better the stronger your will is. Luffy uses up all his haki temporarily before he can deliver the final blow to Mingoman and because of that, can't get up at all because he literally has no willpower left (in this case not a literal measure of his will, but like, in this moment he is SO exhausted he has no ability to even force himself to do anything but wait and recover. He knows from previous training though, he can regain enough strength in 10 minutes to finish this off...

And we also get lore about "Awakening"! Apparently, devil fruit users can awaken their power to allow them affect things outside of themself too! I wonder if this is something all devil fruit users can do or if like, zoan users can't? He does say "It's very rare, but some powers can awaken and affect objects aside from the wielder!" so maybe it is only specific devil fruit powers that can. Anyways, Birdpiss can turn (presumably temporarily) objects/terrain/whatever-the-fuck-he-wants into string and bend it to his will (i.e. to trap or attack an opponent). That's pretty fucking cool honestly. This is One Piece though, the fact that we're hearing about this now means Luffy is absolutely going to awaken his power someday. I guess when that happens he'll just like, be able to make other things rubber? I'm sure Oda could find really clever ways to utilize that. Maybe awakening is what will lead to the discovery of gear 5?

King Riku's speech.... my goodness. It made me cry, 'cuz of course it did. I fucking bawled my eyes out staring at this panel. He fucking inspired all of his citizens to keep going, just a little bit longer, because THERE IS STILL HOPE!!!!!! (I'm tearing up again just typing this)

Oh also on a completely different note, during some of that chaos, in the cover story, people found a poneglyph in some underwater ruins!!! Jinbe sees it, so I hope he'll be able to somehow get a transcription to Robin or get her to come see it in person some day, because I'm super curious as to what it could say.

I'm so glad Sabo could handle his own against Jesus. It's not that I'm afraid he'd die immediately after being introduced or anything, it's just good to know that we have close allies who are a match for Blackbeard's crew, and that he's not too, too far beyond us quite yet.

Everyone coming together to help push the birdcage....man....so fucking good. Even Fujitora and the marines are helping. Right now it's a "give it your all and work together, so that we can take this bastard down and live to see another day" moment. Super similar to Punk Hazard actually. I love that it does help, but it's not painted as easy or anything close to easy. I really feel the struggle and how close this came, just to slow it down JUST ENOUGH to buy time for Luffy to recover.

And then Birdbastard puppets Rebecca and Viola and is gonna force Rebecca to kill her sister holy fuck. That's so sick and genius for the story these characters are telling...

The fucking colisseum announcer hyping up Lucy and counting him in as everyone else keeps giving it their absolute all and then some for the final few seconds before they can rest, whether they survived or not... And then RIGHT AS REBECCA SWINGS HER SWORD TOWARDS HER SISTER, LUFFY JUMPS IN FRONT OF HER ATTACK, SHATTERING HER SWORD WITH ARMAMENT HAKI, AS REBECCA IS CRYING HER EYES OUT, HORRIFIED FROM WHAT WAS HAPPENING, BUT SO INCREDIBLY RELIEVED AND GRATEFUL TO HIM. Luffy turns around, and then gets blown back by string and captured! His haki may have returned, but he's still badly beaten up, and doesn't have much strength left. But regardless, Luffy BLOWS UP TO GEAR 4. HE TELLS BIRDCLOACA THAT HIS HABIT OF TRAPPING EVERYONE AND CONTROLLING THIM IS SUFFOCATING HIM, AND THAT HE'S GONNA FUCKING KICK HIS ASS AND BE FREE! HE GOES ALL OUT, PROBABLY NEARLY KILLING HIMSELF, AND WITH ONE ATTACK Donquixote Doflamingo's shades fall to the ground, shattered, and the strings of the birdcage slowly retract. And then, it's done. It's over. We've won. Dressrosa, a country that has been completely destroyed, has been saved. Everything is lost but their lives, and yet the citizens cheer and celebrate their victory. They've won their freedom! I literally am proper crying just typing this message. Not getting a little teary eyed but full on sobbing. Holy fucking shit

AA: :)

And the the goat, Fujitora approaches former (and future) king Riku, and prostrates himself with his entire squadron of marines, humbly apologizing on behalf of the government for overlooking Doflamingo's heinous crimes because of his Shichibukai title. Something that very clearly he wasn't "supposed" to do. A nearby video den den mushi captures it of course (intentionally), and word breaks out of the truth behind the incident before the marines can cover it up like they did in Alabasta with Smoker. I'm so fucking glad we got a scene with Smoker and Tashigi seeing this by the way. There's no end to the praise I'm giving this arc haha

Then we find out the reason Sabo didn't try to contact Luffy or Ace before any of this, and it's because he lost his memory! Usually I think memory loss plots are cheap and I'm generally not a fan of them (although good ones have existed and can be really good), but in this case I give it a pass because it made me cry again (of course it does, who do you think I am?). Apparently, Sabo seeing Luffy and Ace's pictures in the newspaper after the battle at Marineford with Ace's death triggered his memories and it all came back. Man his pain there, his face, his tears, the way he shakes... fucking hell! You can't do this to me Oda! I also appreciate going back and showing me the full reaction Luffy had to seeing Sabo again for the first time. Not recognizing him at first, even after he was called 'brother' and then the realization... Luffy just bursts into tears, screams his name, and jumps onto him. Dammit I'm crying again. And then he let's himself weep in his brother's arms. He tells Sabo he watched Ace die right in front of him. And then immediately when he asks, Luffy is like "yeah of course you can eat the Mera Mera no Mi". Fuck man I'm full bawling my eyes out again...

I don't have many things to say about the several wrap chapters of this arc, so here are some rapidfire highlights: Fujitora rolling a die to in Luffy's favor two days in a row is wild. Whatever the fuck is going on with the rest of the crew in Zou I can't even tell, we'll just have to see when the rest of the crew gets there. We meet fucking Kaido the emperor, a guy so fucking powerful he can't even end his own life if he tried (and he has, many many times), that certainly doesn't bode well at all. Luffy being like "wait I gotta do something" when the marines led by an admiral are full force going after him and they have a clear path of escape, they just have to go do it, but Luffy's like "nah I gotta make sure Rebecca's happy" is so good. Rebecca telling her dad that she's not the daughter of some prince somewhere she doesn't know! She wants to be with him, and goddammit Oda it's happening again. Sengoku and Law's conversation was amazing, I really want those two to interact more, they both share love for Rocinante and they respect each other more than they otherwise would because of it. Luffy of course is too stubborn to run away and wants to face Fujitora, so Hajrudin comes and picks him up and takes him away, Fujitora sends floating debris over towards them, but the townsfolk all chase after them, demanding Luffy "returns their princess" even though they know he didn't actually kidnap her, they're just helping them escape by not allowing Fujitora to attack them if civilians will be caught in the crossfire. Absolutely brilliant.

I will dedicate a section here talking about the Straw Hat Fleet! I love that in the two days Luffy was out, everyone who previously were enemies now all get along and have incredible respect for Luffy to the point that they are ready and willing to pledge themselves to Luffy as his fleet 5,600 strong! And then Luffy's like "nah! that's dumb! I don't wanna be a big shot or anything, I just wanna be the king of the pirates!" This fucking man values his freedom and always has. He just wants to adventure with his friends and go where he wants, not command a fleet and participate in conquest. And this makes them all respect him even more and go "Oh yeah, we're all free, right? Well we're gonna pledge ourselves to you anyways! And you can't do anything about it." So the Straw Hat Fleet has been officially formed, with the freedom to do as they please, separate from Luffy, but what they please is to protect and aid Luffy in his goals to become the king of the pirates... oh yeah and then Fujitora drops the rubbles on the enemy pirates coming to attack the Straw Hats. What a fucking goat.

And nearly finally, a conversation between Tsuru and Mingo as he's locked up in his cell. He says the world IS changing, so get the fuck ready. The downfall of Joker is going to topple the world as it stands. He lays out who the players are, which is quite nice to see laid out in front of me like that. Currently in play, there is: the four emperors, (what's left of) the shichibukai, the worst generation, the marines, and the revolutionary army. What a line up. I still haven't gotten down all of the worst generation's names and faces yet, but other than Law and Blackbeard, they haven't been around much so I'm sure that'll come with time. The conversation then moves to "D". "THIS IS GOING TO KICK OFF THE GREATEST BATTLE FOR POWER IN THE HISTORY OF PIRATE-KIND!!!!" man that's fucking crazy but absolutely true. There's no way the world is headed towards peace. A war is coming. A bigger war than Marineford. FUUUCKKK MAN THIS IS SOO FUCKING GOOOODDDDDD (Also apparently there are people who are gonna try and free rotten Mango from the fucking FOUR battleships escorting him to prison (presumably Impel Down). I fucking hope they don't break him out, at least not yet. They probably will and I'm not going to be that mad about it, just frustrated. But I suppose it'll make his inevitable second defeat all the juicier!

And we're ending strong with the GOING MISTER LUFFY! What a fucking amazing ship design lmao. The crew get to see their most up to date wanted posters (although it's unclear if these were issued before or after the battle at Dressrosa, it certainly could be after, 2 days have passed, but also that isn't a WHOLE lot of time. Anyways I think it's hilarious that the best photo they could get of Brook was literally just his concert poster, fucking priceless. I really like the joke that Chopper's bounty is WAAAAY lower than everyone else, but I hope that some day he'll get his fair bounty! God Usopp's bounty jumping up higher than Franky's is so fucking funny. Usopp stumbled his way into that, of course, and Franky's a little salty!! Lastly, Sanji needs to be only taken alive...interesting! I'm sure that's gonna come up, maybe soon, maybe later! This does lead me to believe someone wants Sanji alive that knows his face, but maybe wasn't certain from just the name, because I believe his previous poster (the one with the other guy's face on it instead by mistake) did say dead or alive... mysterious mysteries!!!

And that's where I stopped!

AA: Lol nice

Btw top 3 arcs
So far
I fucking loved that

AA: Yea I’m sure it’s a lot better in the manga
I enjoyed it but probably not top 3 for me
The next arc is also pretty good but I can’t wait to see you get to the one after

The one after I hear is the longest one
Oh wait nevermind I’m thinking Saga
There’s two arcs in the saga I’m starting

AA: I c

I know nothing other than arc titles and chapter counts

AA: As far as the anime goes I felt like wano and dressrosa were both longer than WCI but I could be wrong

Yeah I meant wano for the longest

AA: I c
Yea wano was the only arc in the anime that got split into 3 separate sub-arcs lmao

Oh wow, do those sub-arcs carry over nicely to chapters? It’d be nice to have two mid-arc goals to break it up a bit

AA: Yea I think so
They should be noticeable in the manga I’m pretty sure
They call them acts in the manga lol

Acts lol that’s cool

AA: But luckily there’s no act acts, nor act act acts

The final Saga should be the length of all the other sagas put together. BRING ON THE ACT ACTS /hj
I don’t want it to end, but also I do want it to end before Oda dies, so maybe not…but I can dream!
I know it won’t end for a while still, I’m just nearing catching up so 🤷‍♀️

AA: Yea lol

AG: Funny You Say that cus marineford is one of the shortest arcs

By final saga I mean the saga that's currently being released, starting with the arc that's after wano, not just the final war (although I suppose the whole saga could be the final war, don't comment on this so I have no spoilers thanks!)

JY: Yeah they are acts and get split into three in that arc

this post discusses 'One Piece', which is intellectual property of Eiichiro Oda.

the screenshots used in this post are not mine, but are used under fair use for the purpose of commentary and review.