@Louis:
First going merry, that whole plot point was saved from being a horrible deus ex machina because it was be foreshadowed all the way from the previous arc. It was slightly odd but not inconsistent with what we had already learned.
Not really
Franky said that the Klabauterman was the spirit of the ship and that it helps it's crew. Franky pointed this out after he pointed out to Ussop how messed the keel was. Ussop remembered that back in Skypeia he thought that someone was working on the ship and realised it was what Franky was talking about.
The only thing you can gather from that is the fact that it was the ship's spirit that brought them so far, even thought it was badly damaged beyond repair. That wasn't foreshadowing the return of the GM, it was foreshadowing it's end because Franky pointed out the Iceberg was right about the GM not being able to go anymore. That it had gone as far as it could, and then Ussop wouldn't even be able to return home with it.
Then he dumped it in the river. How is that foreshadowing?
@Louis:
About gear 2, it is not the same as soru. Gear two allows Luffy's body to be able to preform soru but it isn't the same thing. All gear two does is make Luffy much stronger and faster, it pushes his body to it's most extreme limit.
Can't argue there. G2 isn't Soru, it just allows him to perform it. It's still an a$$pull power up though.
@Louis:
Gear three, well that's a bit silly but it's not much less silly than a lot of the crap in Naruto and Bleach
What does Bleach and Naruto have to with it, and how does that change the fact that G3 makes no sense?
Also, the powers in Naruto and Bleach make a lot more sense than the gears. They are derived from the single entity that is chakra/reiatsu. All ninjutsu uses chakra, all shinigami techs use reiatsu.
What's is G3? There's no explanation behind it, even less so than G2. That's why it doesn't make any sense.
@Louis:
The message was clearly explaned so I'm not sure what your problem with it is. Hell a lot of the people who were reading the manga guessed what it was.
It was contrived.
3DX2Y isn't like the armband thing that they used in Alabasta. That is something that was pre-determined. When Vivi was able to tell the real SH from Mr 2 it was shown that Zorro had come up with a back up plan that involves revealing the X under the armband when you come across an SH member.
On the other hand Luffy and co were seperated by Kuma, with the original plan of meeting in three days. Then Luffy comes out of nowhere and shows 3D2XY, and all of the Nakama come to the same conlcusion, even though nothing of the sort was mentioned prior to them being seperated.
That's why I call it a deus-ex-machina and a weak plot-twist to start the timeskip. It was rushed and came of nowhere and not really written well into the story.
@Louis:
Df's, well they aren't any less random than the powers in Bleach and Naruto, don't even try to pretend they are. They may be more silly and fun and Bleach and Naruto but they are not less random. Also we have no idea how they work yet or where they are from so saying they make less sense than Chakra or Raitsu doesn't work. Also the counterpart in OP for those isn't the DF's but rather haki. Oh and compared to the number of people who don't have DF's in the story the number who do is really quite small, it only seems bigger because they are more powerful and thus more important and thus have names and screentime.
- Yes the DFs are much, much more random than the powers in Naruto (Still not sure how do the powers in Naruto and Bleach make the DFs any less random)
2)The info that we have from Oda is enough to do a comparison with Reiatsu and Chakra.
-We know that once you eat a DF, you gain a mysterious power (At the start of OP)
-We know that the fruits emit frequencies, which in turn affects the user (When Chopper explained what the Rumble ball does to the Human Zoan's frequencies)
-We know the different categories of fruits (Zoan, Logia, Paramecia)
The thing is that Oda implies that they are rare, but uses them as a common powersource. He doesn't elaborate on how they work, yet he creates different cateogories and even says that they emit frequencies. He;s basially trying to have his cake and eat it too with the DFs, which make them all the more confusing.
Like EMS (Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan) in Naruto for example. Not much is known about it except for the fact that it requires the fusion of two Mangekyo Sharingans, and that it provides a third power.
What adds to this rarity is the fact that only one man since Sasuke has ever attained it–Uchiha Madara. So basically what Kishi implies about the rarity of the EMS and what is told in the story match up, because not only has only one man ever attained it in the entire manga, but not much is known about it.
Now imagine if not much was known about the EMS, but then before the massacre, the majority of the Uchihas had EMS. The third power is unknown, yet the Uchihas are able to spam MS techs without fear of going blind. That would be contradictory in a sense, because what the author implied as rare is commonly used, while at the same time no explanation is provided as to how they work.
The DFs are the same thing. Not only that, but the category of Paramecia sticks out like a sore thumb, in the sense that there are apparently no limits, seeing that a Soap Fruit and an explosion fruit can exist. At least with Zoan, you can narrow it down to any kind of animal (Although the mythical beast thing is a stretch, especially the phoenix), or Logia, to an extent you can narrow it down the the elements (Although magma and sand logias a kinda stick out like a sore thumb too).
So that's why the DFs are so random, they make sense, but at the same time don't make any sense. I'mnot even sure if Vegapunk is gonna be able to explain as to why there can be a soap fruit or a chew chew fruit.
@Louis:
Chopper's df is a zoan. Zoan always contribute to strength and speed and often to other characteristics.
Correction: Chopper's DF is a Human Zoan. Where does it say that all Zoans contribute strength and speed? Whatever strength and speed you get is based on what the zoan actually is.
A human is different. If anything, Choppers transformations, be it normally or via Rumble ball should be more humanlike. That;s why I can understand the brain point, it gives Chopper the IQ of a genius human to an extent so that he can analyse enemies attacks and come up with strategies.
Now explain how a human fruit zoan that is tampered with by Rumble ball give Chopper the ability to do Hoove Point, Defense point, and jump point, all of which are basically alterations of Chopper's reindeer abilities and not his human abilities.
@Louis:
As for the really silly fighting abilities, well ok there I have to agree with you, some of them are completely ridiculous but that is more than made up for by the rest of the story. Plus they are great for blending humor into the serious moments. OP is absolutely great at that. While OP can be serious at times it rarely ever loses it's humor completely. Just look at the war arc.
My overall problem with Oda is that he has a storyline, just like Bleach and Naruto do, but the support for said story line are weak, juts like Naruto has a good storyline, but Kishimoto underutilises the potential of several plot elements in the story, and Kubo just can't stick to his own damn rules for more than two chapters.
I think that Oda is good, but God? I don't think so.
@ PandaBear I understand what you're saying (Very well put too), but then I can imply the opposite and say that the heart of Naruto is the fights, and the heart of Bleach is the art. But does that take away from any of the faults they have? Not really.
The same goes for One Piece
