Skip this post if you’re not interested in mangas, story-telling or One Piece at all. This is rambling about uninteresting things.
I’m a huge fan of the series One Piece by Eichiro Oda, which is also one of the world’s most read comics/mangas. It’s a brilliant series following the rubber-man and (a barking mad idiot and melee-savant) Captain Monkey D. Luffy. Along with his crew on a quest to become the Pirate King, fame and their search for the treasure One Piece, as they face up against tougher and tougher resistance, alongside some interesting ideological and political clashes, exciting discoveries and experiences.
As an addicted idiot I randomly loiter around on a fan-forum dedicated to this series, and today I came across this thread on APForums.net where they’re starting a debate on “How can the ShP [Ed: Strawhat Pirates] get stronger”. This thread’s incidentally the kind of thing that interests me. Oda’s kept the series fresh and fun so far with interesting meetings and brilliant fights, coupled with an interesting character-development.
There’re few, if any, copouts and shortcomings. Some of the fights are on an epic and massive scale that can’t really be compared to other comics, and the fights are all immensely entertaining. The problem’s this; Oda’s sort of presenting our heroes as “hitting a wall” right now – they’re facing tougher and tougher opponents, relying mostly on luck, random allies, and really close calls at the moment, or up to now. Luffy’s close to dying, the same’s the crew, and this time they were, as mentioned before, lucky in escaping death. That’s the last fight.
One of the reasons I find this whole line of thought so ensnaring is because as a reader it’s interesting to debate with your fellow fans and try to “see” what Oda’s going to come up with. Another aspect’s how you continue a story, empowering your protagonists and pushing them forward to new heights, without going too far and making everything seems completely idiotic in the eyes of your fans and critics. Where do you go, what do you do, and how do you balance things while still keeping it interesting and awesome for your readers?
So far Oda’s done an awesome job. Things have been believable and down to earth (for a manga?), showing things bit by bit and revealing it slowly, at a pace and in ways that the fans will embrace with little to no questions asked. Personally I think it’s rather amazing – the series has run for over 10 years already!
Anyways, within the (perceived) boundaries that Oda’s created in his epic tale so far there’re a number of ways that the crew can evolve to keep the pace and interest up, but they’re hard to spot, they really are. He has, after all, created certain perceived boundaries, and his foreshadowing shows that at their current pace they have no hope unless they do something drastic. Here’re my thoughts, which I’ve posted on the AP forums, and are probably of no interest unless you actually follow this series, or similar ones, and think this stuff’s even remotely exciting, but if you’ve gotten this far there’s definately hope for you.
While it’s arguable that they can, to an extent, rely on alliances in the coming world, I strongly believe that they need something new and powerful, like many have mentioned before. DF’s [Ed: Devil Fruits], external training, and Zoro’s perpetual conditioning (he’s badly wounded this time though, so he’ll need serious help) will be a great help, yeah, but what I think they need to do is take the oncoming threats a bit more seriously. By that I mean that up until now it’s all semed largely haphazard and random, with our heroes suddenly appearing with a new trick every second arc(?), and as we could see from Kuma and Aokiji (and the two emperors) that’s not going to cut it.
In Choppers case he’s hugely reliant on medical tech, which they have ample opportunity to see more of in the coming arcs, or have already; picking up a line of thought from Hogback’s research. Not the zombies, but something else. Or in the coming arc he’ll pick up something cool.
His weakness is execution. He’s incredibly poor in his execution, seemingly more reliant on random luck than actual usage. He needs hands-on training with the crew. Badly.
One of the crew-members that badly needs to work on his physique is Usopp. While you can laud his resilience (he seems to be able to take some immense hits after all), he needs to work on dodging and positioning. While he doesn’t lack ideas and gadgets, he sorely lacks planning and tactics. In the future the enemies will hopefully be smart enough to “go for the throat” immediately, which will require him to be more mobile to not be skewered like a pig within the first 5 minutes? At the same time I suspect he’s got a future in acting or illusions. Just a thought.
The weather-rod that Nami has makes her a rather frightening opponent, if my imagination’s not running wild, because the possibilities are endless. From conjuring winds for the ship, lightning to strike people and boats, illusions and fogs, I don’t see how she can’t continue to become truly immense, rivalled only by DF users in control of the weather, or elements. She just needs to train more, with things like aforementioned boat-winds.
The beloved and immensely cool hand-maid Nico’s probably the ultimate disruptor and tactical “deployment”/planner. She’s able to place hands and ears everywhere, break necks and twist wrists that creates huge opportunities, creating bridges/stairs/walls(?) for her teammates, and even getting some air-times. This is another one where the possibilities are seemingly endless, all we need is a modicum of imagination and cooperation.
Franky’s “easy” really. He’s an inventor, robotic/metallic/gun one at that, using cola as his fuel. He’s probably going to get some “Cola booster” from Chopper, and add some extra enhancements to his cyborg-body, maybe with some help from Usopp.
Our three brute force boys, Zoro, Luffy and Sanji are the tricky ones. They’re “limited” in the sense that they’re dead on physical melee/havoc engines. The important thing is that Zoro’s a staunch believer in “getting there by his own engine”, and I suspect Sanji’s pretty much the same. For Z and S I think they’re lagging behind, with a bad need to train really hard and develop more efficient techniques/just getting brutally stronger. After all, I can’t see the emperors with any apparent DF’s, and they’re… well.. emperors, so why can’t Sanji and Zoro?
Luffy’s creative as hell too, but he’s already a DF user that’s getting perilously close to getting himself killed repeatedly through his techniques, so I think he’s hitting a wall, and needs to take the route that Sanji and Zoro are taking/needs to take. Though I can imagine that Luffy’s willing to pick up some “DF enhancer” or something unique to him that permits him to go “NUTZ MOAD!” or something (probably gotten from some mad scientist in the future, or Chopper).
As for Brooke… I just don’t know. He’s a skeleton, but if I’m to make wild and uneducated guesses I’ll hope for something ninjaish. Pirates and a ninja, that’d be so awesome <3
... but I doubt that. I just don't have a friggin' clue. Perhaps he's indestructible or something? Maybe he'll use "THE FORCE OF THE DOO!" (his hair :P).
Vegapunk's probably going to be a crucial character as well, and I can't even begin at the possibilities that he can open without spending hours listing them all :p
Imagine the possibilities if Nami ate a DF, plus using her Clima Tact. Usopp just needs to get himself some heavy-equipped long-range sniper gun of some sort, and then he should be fine.
The main problem is, as you said, Luffy+Zoro+Sanji. Maybe they should start thinking about other weapons in addition to the ones they already have? In any case, they must work out even more (although I can’t really see how that is possible for Zoro, with all his weights and all).
Oh, I definately have. Did you have any fruits in mind, in particular, that would be of the greatest advantage to her?
I can’t imagine that Oda would let her settle for anything but the most amazing fruits, where I’m leaning along the lines of mind or sight. If he intends to give her one at all, or being in need of one.
I still think she’s the character with the most potential, with the imagination being the limit. Just look at what she did to all those people in Enies Lobby! (and her own crew… haha)
(needed to do some research and thinking here, so late second comment)
Maybe, in the case of Usopp, you’ll see him take a step into “manhood” where he has to acknowledge that using a slingshot, however fancy, can’t compete with a real sniper rifle.
On the other hand I’m in doubt, because you can see, from the case of Enies Lobby, that he was able to make an impossible shot with that thing of his, effectively being Oda telling us that “His sling is awesome, now shut it :P”?
The three melee/havoc-engines, now there’s a difficult one.
I wasn’t thinking of any particular Devil Fruit for Nami, but I will accept the challenge and try to think of something.
I am quite sure it would have to be some sort of Logia DF (element connection), sort of like what Hiken no Ace (Firefist Ace), Sir Crocodile in Alabasta or Eneru/Enel in Skypiea. A DF that could control the ocean’s water to your own liking would be the best. I hereby invent the Umi Umi no Mi (the Sea-Sea Fruit).
As an alternative, since she is quite a skilled thief with all the skills to folllow from such, she must be good with stealth. So how about a DF which increases that skill? Like make her invisible at will? That way she could sneak up on enemies, use the combat brutes as distraction and prepare some awesome Clima Tact actions. Henceforth, I present to you the Koso Koso no Mi (the Sneak-Sneak Fruit).
Personally, I would favour the first one. But I do not think Oda would allow such a fruit. A person with Umi Umi no Mi would just be too powerful a pirate that it would not even be fun.
I must confess something. I haven’t watched One Piece for almost a year now, and am still stuck in Water 7 before the great storm (episode 240, before the Enies Lobby). However, sitting like this make me realise how much I miss One Piece, one of the greatest shows ever.
Personally I’ve been following the manga since I lack the patience for the slow anime-releases, and KF-subs are HQ, but too far behind for my liking. Now I’m wishing I could see into the future too, to catch what’s coming.
A Sea-Sea fruit would be beyond powerful for her. Being able to bring to bear the sea (which renders any DF user unable to use their powers) on opponents would be immense. A sneaky fruit on the other hand sounds very likely, with the exception that it seems a bit superfluous with the way she was able to handle mirages and illusions in the fight against Calipha, so what stops her from using that to sneak around?
….errr…. you haven’t gotten that far, have you. Damn…
Go read, watch, and enjoy!
I think you’re missing out on alot of fun.
OPHQ has a pretty decent listing of high quality manga. If you use DC++ you can drop by stoptazmo.com’s place I think.
I suppose I could always read the manga, but I actually prefer the anime. Something about hearing the Japanese language and the mood and the like.
I could always watch the anime unsubbed and just read the manga for the little parts and words I don’t get. Knowing Japanese does have some advantages after all:-)
What’s the word for bastard in Japanese, konnojaro or something? Atleast there’s quite a bit of envy rolling around here now ;P
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