@RobbyBevard:
That complaint flies in 2003. But Water 7 had come and gone and that was almost entirely about her for nearly three years straight. And you yourself listed a whole mess of things that carried directly from the arc into the next that concerned the crew.
Water 7 never would have worked if it had come directly after Alabasta. There HAD to be an arc or two where Robin was a part of the crew but not really for her leaving them to have any impact or mystery or sacrifice behind it. The entire POINT was they DIDN'T know why Robin was doing what she was doing, of course she didn't bond that strongly with the crew immediately.
Exactly. She was an assassin who tried to kill them or people they knew (at least as far as they could tell). Shouldn't they, you know, talk about this a bit more? You're correct in that I shouldn't expect Oda to immediately fill in her backstory, but the fact that she didn't have one probably should have concerned the crew a bit more. Counterpoint, of course, is that it's still unclear how much anyone in the crew knows about other members of the crew, save for Nami.
Arlong isn't going to do anything ever in the mains story again either, but his presence and legacy as being felt strongly in the very arc we're on right now.
And he's mentioned several times. Has ANYONE from Skypiea (save Klabautermann) been mentioned by name since the arc first appeared?
Wyper was hardly even in the flashback. It was only about him for like 2 pages out of the entire volume. If you think it was about Wyper, you missed the entire point.
Can see why you read it that way, but was not my intended point. As far as we know, at the end of the flashback, the only people who know about it are Wyper and the Chief, with Gan Fall as a likely third candidate. The flashback gives context to the reader for the origins of the war, but it really only gives meaning to Wyper. And Wyper doesn't seem to do much with that.
You do realize that "Acorn Guy and the Monkeys" are as directly tied to that flashback as anything else? And that it holds vast significance to them as well? Not just Wyper?
Cricket at least stated–though he may not have believed--that he didn't care if Norland was a liar or not. It was simply a man's battle with his family's curse. In the end, the bell's existence as proof of the City of Gold was all he needed, and, as far as we know, all he got. It gives some lovely resonance to the Jaya/Skypiea maxi-arc as a whole, sure.
You are. Very much so.
Well, thanks for being nice about it, at least.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
@Demonicpoodle:
You are completely right about it doing little for the characters. That's why I like this arc. It's just an "aside," if you want to call it that, but I still very much consider it a main arc. It's just something to sit back and enjoy. The characters aren't developing, no, but they're being entertaining as always, perhaps the most ever in this arc.
Very fair point. One of the key points to Skypiea, and one that I personally dislike, is that the island is self-contained. It has no contact with the Blue Sea, it has no connection to the World Government, it is its own floating world to itself. Logically, it makes sense that Skypiea doesn't connect with the rest of the One Piece world in ways that other arcs do.
It just happens to drive me bonkers. See Wall of Text for details.