Since Skypiea is the most unpopluar arc among fans in Japan. Yet, Skypiea was interesting and good but so LONG it killed off many OP fans and it suffered in anime ratings. So my point is how did Oda react about this situation? How did it affect him and his work? In my view it seems he does care….
Skypiea Reaction
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Skypiea is Just One Big Writers Block
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How did Oda reacted? BTW I don't mind Skypiea, It's good and interesting to me, I kinda wished the Upperyard war is shorter
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I thought Skypiea was a fantastic arc.
My favorite stories make you see things going on in present times in a new way. Through metaphor, or through a new setting (such as in One Piece), these stories aid others to see the realities of today more clearly. Skypiea seems to be a direct criticism of the holy war in the Middle East.
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I thought Skypiea was fantastic; I couldn't help but relate it to the "holy war" that we're watching today, in the Middle East.
Very True
gomu gomu 20 chara gatling gun
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I was able to watch it all the way through without having to wait for chapters, I enjoyed it. But I doubt I would like it as much if I had to wait like you guys.
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I had mixed feelings about it myself. I hated chopper in skypeia i just thought he was a big coward (note this is my opinon and i know some of you might disagree with me). The first luffy fight with enel was awesome tho i was mad enel won (luffy shouldve won but enel wasnt finished off, or if enel won it shouldve been more awesome). Though i love zoros fights in skypeia that is probably the best thing about it.
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Whenever the Skypiea discussion comes up I always requote myself:
Out of all arcs Skypiea is the only one that is a classic pirate story. We have:
- Treasure seeking pirates
- A tropic jungle
- Ancient ruins with an interesting backstory
- Pissed off natives
- A large snake
- Plenty of gold
- The element of higher power
- An Skull shaped island
That is classic pirate story material. True there wasn´t character development as in the other arcs, but it was a awesome pirate story and I´m sure Oda had lots of fun doing it. It has all the classic stuff a pirate story needs and yet it is not some boring rehash but something awesome and creative that was never seen before. SKYPIEA OWNS!!!
…Skypiea seems to be a direct criticism of the holy war in the Middle East.
I rather see it as direct critisism of what happened to the natives of the entire American continent. Not that it doesn´t apply on the middle east problematic but I think that the visible references apply more to the natives of North and South America instead of people from the middle east.
Combine that with the bigger picture One Piece, the True History which has the "History is written by victors" component, I somehow just see it as a critisism to the crimes of the world powers. But then again that´s just me. :glare:
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ivotas when you put it that way its awesome, but i thought the way oda displayed it couldve been better
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Very True
gomu gomu 20 chara gatling gun
But you just… said... you hated it.
Skypiea's my least favorite because it got a little... I don't know, un-OP to me. It may have just been the part about me finding it really, really hard to suspend my disbelief about the concept of an island in the sky (as cool as it is), but the way-too-obvious allegories kind of made me scratch my head. I hate it whenever anything's trying to sell some kind of a political message to me and at that point that's what OP felt like - not a keen adventure story about pirates, but Doonesbury: Starring the Straw-Hats. You take that with it wasn't really developing the main characters and it just felt like a quiet fart. The room's the same, the people are the same, but… there's that smell that just ruins the mood. :laugh:
Now not to say I absolutely HATE Skypiea -- the action was great and the story itself was fantastic, but it was just too removed from what was going on in the One Piece world IMO. Didn't really connect.
Alabasta and Water Seven deal with the same kind of heavy situations but they are not totally obvious allegories and they do directly involve someone close to the Straw-Hats (Vivi, Robin)... so I feel those are much much tighter in the flow of the story. Skypiea's just... brr.
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ivotas when you put it that way its awesome, but i thought the way oda displayed it couldve been better
Well, on that I don´t disagree because that´s a problem I have myself with Skypiea. But I really think Oda just had fun doing an actual action packed pirate story and henceworth Skypiea felt as if it dragged on a bit.
But since it takes place in a completely different world then all the other One Piece stories (in other words the White White Sea instead of the Blue Sea) it is a real great story to read/watch and letting all the other problems from the Blue Sea remain unimportant for a short while.
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I loved Skypiea.. Oda focused on adventure in it more than story.. The pposite goes with Arabasta and W7.
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Skypiea was my favourite arc of all. Any notion of "holy war" allegories outside of the obvious biblical references and the role destiny played are utterly unintentional. Skypiea was a breakaway from the regular OP world, which is what made it a fun romp to read through.
People will like Skypiea, provided the reduced Viz translation does not deem "priests" and "God" to be too relegious for audiences (meh), until we get to the Shandorian invasion of Upper Yard. In that invasion, Oda DID lengthen the arc more than he should of; I think most of the Strawhat v. Shandorian fights were utterly worthless, as those guys were 'allies' and ended up on good terms (sort of) after Eneru's defeat. I mean, the God's Militia were just fodder (as in, why focus on them), and the "major" battles, which pleased me greatly because there were only four (as opposed to ten for BW) and two were beaten fairly quickly.
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It may be long, but I have to admit, Bellamy's owning (Jaya) and the bell ringing were just awesome. I also liked the flashback, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I would Alabasta or Water Seven/Enies Lobby.
Still, Ivotas makes sense here; I agree that Oda may have just wanted his pirate story to, for a moment, be a pirate story. The whole deal with Poseidon and the history between the ancient society also seems to have been a point at the end.
Either way, I liked it, so that's really all that matters for me, right?
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Whenever the Skypiea discussion comes up I always requote myself:
Out of all arcs Skypiea is the only one that is a classic pirate story. We have:
- Treasure seeking pirates
- A tropic jungle
- Ancient ruins with an interesting backstory
- Pissed off natives
- A large snake
- Plenty of gold
- The element of higher power
- An Skull shaped island
That is classic pirate story material. True there wasn´t character development as in the other arcs, but it was a awesome pirate story and I´m sure Oda had lots of fun doing it. It has all the classic stuff a pirate story needs and yet it is not some boring rehash but something awesome and creative that was never seen before. SKYPIEA OWNS!!!
….my thoughts exactly. while its not my favorite arc, i still thought it was pretty darn cool. mainly the sky island thing and how they got there, actually i really loved the Jaya arc for this reason.... also, I was watching Laputa and I noticed how similar it was to Skypiea! also, Mayumi Tanaka (is that her name?) who did the voice of Luffy did Pazu in that movie... it took me a while, but it hit me! i thought that was pretty cool... she sounds so much younger.... but i can still tell it was Luffy X3 that and i love the sky pirates in that movie <3
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Oda's reaction to the readers' reaction?
The Davy Back Fight, which was an action packed arc that had a limited scope and was wrapped up fairly quickly. We then get introduced to Aokiji and have him hand the entire crew's asses to them in short order.
It's a tossup between Skypiea and Alabasta as to which is my favorite arc. Alabasta has the slight edge as to the cast of secondary characters (especially the villains; Baroque Works is far and away more interesting than Ener and his Priests), but, in spite of that, there are more meaningful moments in Skypiea. The Norland flashback is one of my favorite stories in any comic that I've ever read.
Skypiea also has a heaping helping of fantasy tossed into the usual adventure mix and that's always welcome when it's done as well as Oda did it here. I loved the concept of the Knockup Stream.
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I rather see it as direct critisism of what happened to the natives of the entire American continent. Not that it doesn´t apply on the middle east problematic but I think that the visible references apply more to the natives of North and South America instead of people from the middle east.
The war in the middle east is over the "true ownership" of the land there, which is sacred in several different religions. I find that there's similarities between the Middle East and Skypiea than in Early America and Skypiea.
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So Oda does not care when many OP fans quitted One Piece because of this arc?
Assissient: Sir! The popluarly of this series is going down due to this arc, you'er losing hundreds of fans!
Oda: Not now! I'm drawing chapter 269!
Assissient: But sir, how do you feel about this?
Oda: Whhheeeee…..This is fun...Sky Island...Treasure...Ruins...GOLD!! YE SHALL BE HAPPY!!!
"Toei One Piece Staff memeber walked"
TOPSM: Mr. Oda-sensei, the One Piece anime ratings is stuffing because of this arc!
Oda: So?
TOPSM: What!!?? DO YOU WANT THE ANIME ON YOUR SERIES TO COUNTIUE!?
Oda: You can relax, pal. I'm going to end this arc in chapter 302
"TOPSM runs off crying"
Oda: Oh, a fan mail
Fan Mail: Dear Eiichiro Oda-sensei... YOUR SKYPIEA ARC SUCKED!! END THIS FUCKEN ARC NOW!!! OR I'll JUMP OFF THE BRIDGE!!!!
Oda: "Yawn"
"Throws letter in wastebasket"
Oda: This is classic......
"A Fan walked dressed in stackcloth. He sports a watery puppy-like eyes with a morbid frown "
Fan: Oda...(pity song play) I've read your since 1997....
Oda: Oh good
Fan: Don't interupt. Anyway your current is killing me off of this series....please Mr. Oda for the sake of an long-time fan...End this arc....
Oda: No
Fan: Gasps "dies"
"Someone rushed in and took the fan away"
Oda: Ok. Time for chapter 270
Assissient: Sir, guess what? you lost hundreds of fans...
Oda: "still constrating on his work"
Assissient: Sir?
Oda: "Still working"
Assissient: Sir? Sir?
Oda: "Still working"
Assissient: SIR!!!!!
Oda: This is fun! I made Luffy happy!
Assissient: Oooohhh.. My head... "flints"
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Well Selphish, your point there is valid, it's really two-fold.
During the Norland flashback, it definitely resembled european presence in south america/mexico. The modern conflict in skypeia with the jayans and the skypeians definitely resembed the modern israeli conflict.
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@joekido:
So Oda does not care when many OP fans quitted One Piece because of this arc?
Frankly, I'd prefer that to be Oda's reaction. If he doesn't sometimes plow ahead and do what he wants rather than what a certain percentage of what the fans want, he's going to get bored with One Piece or either start phoning it in and quit completely regardless of whether or not he's finished the whole series.
It's his series and not the fans'. If the price of his happiness is that One Piece is moderately successful rather than spectacularly so, then it's a small price to pay.
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The war in the middle east is over the "true ownership" of the land there, which is sacred in several different religions. I find that there's similarities between the Middle East and Skypiea than in Early America and Skypiea.
Well as I said it´s not that different actually. To the native american cultures their land was also sacred and it was taken away by european colonialists. It´s actually the same problem of "true ownership". It´s just the "history is written by winners" thing that makes it seems as if what happened back then on the american continent is a fight between the good freedom seeking colonialists and the evil uncivilized savages. That´s why the question of true ownership doesn´t get brought up here, because it´s sold as if it is how it should be.
Sounds very much like that entire Ancient Kindom vs. World Government thing actually.
@joekido:
So Oda does not care when many OP fans quitted One Piece because of this arc?
An artists tells his story. It´s his thought´s, opinions and feelings that he brings to paper. That is an artists main goal.
If what he does is admired and loved by fans then this means a lot for him. There´s nothing better for an artists then to see that his work is admired by people.
BUT this however doesn´t mean that he will change his story to please those that admire it. It is his/hers actually and no one elses. If he has the entire creative freedom then his main concern is to tell what he/she wants. Otherwise it wouldn´t be his/hers anymore.
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Frankly, I'd prefer that to be Oda's reaction. If he doesn't sometimes plow ahead and do what he wants rather than what a certain percentage of what the fans want, he's going to get bored with One Piece or either start phoning it in and quit completely regardless of whether or not he's finished the whole series.
It's his series and not the fans'. If the price of his happiness is that One Piece is moderately successful rather than spectacularly so, then it's a small price to pay.
OP=Japanese Cerebus
Oda does not care for fan reactions he telling OP his way in his style -
Frankly, I'd prefer that to be Oda's reaction. If he doesn't sometimes plow ahead and do what he wants rather than what a certain percentage of what the fans want, he's going to get bored with One Piece or either start phoning it in and quit completely regardless of whether or not he's finished the whole series.
It's his series and not the fans'. If the price of his happiness is that One Piece is moderately successful rather than spectacularly so, then it's a small price to pay.
Just like Akira Toriyama.
I mean after he did the Freezia arc, he wanted to end his series there but FANS have been pushing him to countiue the series which he did. Theorfore DBZ was no longer his series. It's now the fan's and editor's series….
BTW Oda really did a good job with his work, I'm glad he did not listen to fan's comment
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Then he wanted to end it at cell right then boo happened…. and finally being able to end it.
Off topic: just curious how much do you think oda makes a year
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@joekido:
Just like Akira Toriyama.
I mean after he did the Freezia arc, he wanted to end his series there but FANS have been pushing him to countiue the series which he did. Theorfore DBZ was no longer his series. It's now the fan's and editor's series….
Maybe I´m really misinformed on this but I always thought that his bosses told him to keep doing more chapters.
I don´t see fans nowhere to be able to force an artist to keep producing more stuff unless of course they hold someone from his family hostage.
Off topic: just curious how much do you think oda makes a year
I don´t have the slightest idea but I surely hope that he gets a big part of what I´m paying when I purchase for One Piece products. At least I would want that a not to little percentage of my money goes to the man himself. That genius deserves it.
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Then he wanted to end it at cell right then boo happened…. and finally being able to end it.
Off topic: just curious how much do you think oda makes a year
Oda makes 40+ chapters a year (he did 17 chapters in 1997). And he did work on his series for 9 years He makes 19(more or less) pages and he would put 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 in each volumes. Toriyama worked in his series for 11 years and did it almost every week with little breaks. He makes 15 pages and puts 15 chapters in each volumes.
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not pages, money. Though i heard he didnt get money from weekly jump being bought only tankoubans and when 3-4 come out a year…
(I'd be a little worried if my series wasnt that popular)
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Skypiea was not my favorite arcs but somehow I felt it's really necessary or else Usopp wont get his dials to upgrade Clima Tact.
The part where Usopp saying 'Sky Island Scary' was great, Usopp trying to hear Sanji's heartbeat was also funny
The battles are okay, Robin vs Yama wasnt really good to read but Zoro vs Ohm makes up for it.
I just wonder what happened to the dog Ohm trained after it was ordered by Zoro to hit itself unconscious, it didnt appear with the snake during the party -
skypiea was full of kickass moments, that's what made it fun.
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i just hoped that luffy wouldn't fight too soon against a lightning typ DF.
kinda hoped for a marine admiral to have that kind of DF power.
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The first time I read through Skypiea, I had the same reaction as many One Piece fans, however, after rereading it I now consider Skypiea to be my favorite completed arc (Water 7/Enies Lobby is shaping up to be my favorite, but it's not done yet so I reserve judgement there).
I think this "wtf is Oda doing with One Piece" reaction which many fans experienced during Skypiea, came mostly from where the story was and what the implications were of the crew then heading to an island in the sky. Essentially, Luffy has just defeated a Shichibukai, he now has a serious bounty on his head. Oda goes on to introduce to us the Gorosei, the men who rule the world and they are talking about our protagonist. We then meet some of the other Shichibukai as well as the head of the Marines and here Mihawk shows that he too is interested in our protagonist's development. We also meet Whitebeard, the strongest pirate in the world, and learn that, of all people, Shanks is interested in talking with him. Then, to top it off, we meet Blackbeard and his crew, learn that he is trying to become a Shichibukai, and that he is going to try and capture Luffy in order to secure his seat.
Then, while all this is happening, Luffy and crew ride the Knockup Stream up to sky island, where none of what I mentioned before means squat. I think this is what initially struck me as boring about Skypiea. It wasn't the story itself, it was more the fact that after building up the story on the Blue Seas, Oda goes and spends the next year telling a story that has nothing to do with everything he's built up in the main story.
Upon a rereading of this story arc though I really enjoyed it for being a true pirate adventure. Ivotas has already done an excellent job of explaining why it is a true pirate adventure, and I agree with everything he said. I mean we finally have a treasure hunt for the first time since way back on Gaimon's empty treasure chest island. Also, the Dials were an excellent way to upgrade the power of two of the weaker crewmembers, and the haul of treasure was important for fixing the Going Merry as it had been rather beat up before they even went to the sky. These items, along with Robin's reading of the Poneglyph were the only things which conected the sky story to the ground story, but I don't mind that since as a standalone story, Skypiea was pretty damn cool.
i just hoped that luffy wouldn't fight too soon against a lightning typ DF.
kinda hoped for a marine admiral to have that kind of DF power.
As powerful as a lightning DF is, against Luffy, the power becomes fairly useless. When you think about it, Luffy really had a much harder time defeating Crocodile than he had with Ener, so I definatly think the lightning fruit was introduced at the right time.
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skypiea was full of kickass moments, that's what made it fun.
…yes. yes it was. there were a lot of kickass moments in that arc, especially where Zoro was concerned... not just because I'm biased either. Also, there were lots of funny moments, like Usopp's rope..thing. and Zoro's tarzan yell... ah, classic. but honestly, they kinda dragged that joke on in the anime, got a little annoying. it was cute that first time...
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The reason Skypeia lost fans has nothing to do with the quality of the arc, but rather the way it's formatted and the fact that it's insurmountable length is extreme for someone reading one chapter a week, waiting for the next release.
Now that the entire Sypeia arc can be read in one sitting, it's a great piece of work.
That's my take on it anyway.
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The reason Skypeia lost fans has nothing to do with the quality of the arc, but rather the way it's formatted and the fact that it's insurmountable length is extreme for someone reading one chapter a week, waiting for the next release.
Now that the entire Sypeia arc can be read in one sitting, it's a great piece of work.
That's my take on it anyway.
**I think this would probaley be it. I wouldn't really know since I started OP last summer. So I was able to read all the way through it with no inntereptions.
I found skypeia to be one of my favorite arcs. And the strawhats finaly got rich.**
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I loved Skypiea. Everyone calls it boring, but I found Alabasta to be a lot more boring and more "un-OP" (even though it was still a good arc).
Maybe I´m really misinformed on this but I always thought that his bosses told him to keep doing more chapters.
I don´t see fans nowhere to be able to force an artist to keep producing more stuff unless of course they hold someone from his family hostage.
Ah, but you're wrong about that. Who buys the series? The fans! If the fans want more, and the bosses want to make more money, then they can make the author do more work to make more so the fans will give more money. REAGANOMICS!
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Skypeia was decent. It had its good and bad moments, but I think it was more to establish a few truths in One Piece:
1. Even "Gods" can be defeated or disposed (Meaning that Pluto and Poseidon possibly were, just like Gan Forr and Eneru)
2. All the D's are not related (Blackbeard and Luffy not knowing each other)
3. There are sky islands as well as land islands (Does this mean there are underwater islands, too?)
4. It showed that Paramecium fruits CAN beat Logia fruits without having to resort to alternative methods (Water hardening Crocodile's sand, for example)
5. Futuristic technology DID exist and has been lost (Dials, etc.)
6. Proof that Roger sailed the Grand Line Several times (Until then, they had no evidence Roger had come the route they had. Perhaps he had messages on other routes, too?)
In my opinion, I disliked Drum the most, because of Wapol, Chess, and Marimo. They were crappy villians, really. The story was excellent; Chopper's abandonment because of his consumption of the Akuma no Mi, his disocovery by Dr. Hiluluk and Hiluluk's sacrifice… that all was great. But Wapol was simply not a good Villian. He was defeated too easily, he didn't use the Baku Baku fruit as he could have, and he had the annoying habit of misquiping "Baka" and instead saying the japanese word for "Hippo" (Which doesn't make sense, they don't speak Japanese in the One Piece world, but whatever). It really brought down my opinion of the Arc as a whole.
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I started reading One Piece because I wanted to know Skypiea arc… but when I started reading it Shonen Jump was already in Water 7…
I enjoyed a lot, I could read everything without having to wait for weeks… I’m sure that most of the fans just couldn’t take such an extended arc, sometimes I had the feeling that the story would never ‘move’…xP I just could continue reading because I knew it had an end and it could be in the ‘next chapter’.
In the end, I loved Skypiea and now it's one of my favorites arcs… lots of action, ‘drama’, and it showed more about One Piece's world and history...
Anyway, as it was already said, Oda isn’t the kind of person that cares about what other people think (though he likes to receive ‘thank you’ letters) he just want to have fun, just want to enjoy writing and receiving fan’s compliments is just a consequence.. -
@Fire Fist:
2. All the D's are not related (Blackbeard and Luffy not knowing each other)
Not only is that not proven (Teach doesn't say one way or the other), but it is completely and totally contradicted by what Sauro tells us later on. All D. are related to some extent by virtue of being in the same clan.
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I agree with Ubiq here, Sauro states that everyone in his family line has the name D, and while this doesn't rule out the possibility that people outside his family line ALSO have the D, it does bring it to question.
Ubiq what part are you talking about where Teach says anything about being a D at all? I only remember Laffite naming him as a D to the gourosei? Or is that what you're talking about?
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@Cap'n:
Ah, but you're wrong about that. Who buys the series? The fans! If the fans want more, and the bosses want to make more money, then they can make the author do more work to make more so the fans will give more money. REAGANOMICS!
That´s not what I meant. It´s clear that the fans determine the demand. But the fans themselves can´t force the author to produce more stuff.
If the bosses to it because it is a reaction to the fans demand then the author still is obeying the bosses order because he´s legally bound through a contract with them. The fans don´t have a contract with the author and therefore they can´t force him if he doesn´t want.
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Skypiea is Just One Big Writers Block
As to quote Konis: "Either try posting your opinion in a less bastardly way, or don't post it at all."
Edit: Forget I said that.
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I thought skypiea was the best arc in Op besides Alabaster. I always loved Enru because he claimed to be god and villains with huge egos are the best villains ever ex: Crocodile. And the story wasn't that bad the flash back was good.
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What Saul or Sauro says is: "I dunno… Everyone in my family has that in their name."
This means if you're related to Sauro, you're a D.
Ever do those math problems in high school? It's simple.
Everyone Related to Sauro is a D.
Every D is NOT related to Sauro.
Therefore, Every D is not related.While, we can't prove the last part, you have to be very careful when reading the way people say things. That's a big plot element in any story. And Sauro did not say that all D's are related to him, just that everyone he's related to is a D.
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I liked Skypiea as much as any other arcs that Oda have given us. He has never let us down. Although I must say that at times it can be draggy especially with the gold ball thingy and all…but that story to me has the most value from the moment the Galleon fell from the sky-shadows of giants-to Masira, Shoujo, Cricket-Bellamy ownage-knockup stream-white beach-Konis-sacred jungle-the 4 trials-ENEL-and everything else...cant remember them and all the way to the end...how issit bad anyway? its a damn good story!!!
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Personally, I enjoyed the Skypeia arc. If it did drag on a bit (and I'll admit, there were points) the end payoff made it worthwhile to me. I've always loved how everything comes full circle towards the end. My favorite scene in the arc, if not my favorite scene in One Piece, is just after Luffy rings the bell, Cricket explains the theory about giant monsters just being sky shadows, and up in the sky what do we see but Luffy' gigantic shadow cast downf rom Skypeia.
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Skypiea was like a long, thick novel to me. i LOVE long thick novels. Rich in detail, albeit dragged out at parts, but I don't mind those, cause they add on to the detail, and expressing the morals and philosophy of the author. There are many other ways that I could've described the arc, but I like describing it like that. Here, like Ivotas mentioned earlier, is a classic pirate story, which shows Oda's great influence by Pirates.
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I was able to watch it all the way through without having to wait for chapters, I enjoyed it. But I doubt I would like it as much if I had to wait like you guys.
Ditto. I went from Rainbow Mist/Goatdude to the end of G8 in eight days. TO be honest, some of the "wander through the jungle" scenes were a bit tiring (though I assume they werent as bad in the manga), but I have to say I loved the Norland flashback. It's one of the most heartwrenching scenes in any story I've ever come into contact with.
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Ubiq what part are you talking about where Teach says anything about being a D at all? I only remember Laffite naming him as a D to the gourosei? Or is that what you're talking about?
No, I was saying that Teach doesn't say one way or another as to whether or not he knows Luffy. It's odd that he would take such an interest in offering words of comfort to somebody that he doesn't know and doesn't have any connection to.
I think he knows Luffy, but Luffy doesn't know him.
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I agree that this is possible.
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I doubt that Teach knows Luffy. If he would know who he is then he would know that he is the younger brother of his former leader who is chasing him through the Grand Line now.
If he would know that he would treat Luffy completely different at their first encounter in the MockTown bar.
And furthermore I doubt that Teach actually even knows something about the D. itself. When he sees Luffy´s wanted poster for the first time he´s not like "D., now that´s interesting" but he actually says "Hundred million…I thought thirty was odd for a kid with such ambition, but THIS...!!"
He doesn´t even bother to say anything about the D. which would be odd for a person that cares for it. Plus the statement I just quoted (from this chapter) also shows that Teach was confronted to Luffy for the first time in MockTown. He says "…for a kid with such ambition...". That is somehow unproper syntax for somebody who knew Luffy before already. So its rather more plausible that before Jaya he never knew anything about him.