@Downloading:
It's funny how some of you went "wow, this arc got much better now because those useless gladiators on whom Oda wasted so much precious panel time actually get to be relevant in the story by being Luffy's allies", even though that was so obvious ever since Block B. Oda emphasized two themes in the NW and that is the new generation surpassing the old and pirate alliances. Oda basically told us through Law in chapter 698 that Luffy is going to get allies soon so I don't understand how so many people were surprised by this. Luffy can refuse or not, he can call their relationship whatever he wants, but the alliance was already presented as a basically done deal in this chapter. And I don't know where some of you get all these ideas, but no, they won't follow Luffy 24/7 and the next time Luffy gets his bounty increase it sure as hell won't be lower than 550-600m. Bounties are based on the "threat" level and Luffy just defeated Doflamingo, fought so casually against an Admiral and he just got 5600 allies which (should) increase his threat level a lot. Ace had a 550m bounty and he didn't have 5600 underlings.
Thank you! Exactly!
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@desa:
You're right. That roger was crazy enough to take on Shiki fleet with his single boat in the middle of the sea.
Well we saw Hakuba, the ruthlessness of BArto, the results of the Happou treasure hunt, Suileman reputation… They probably aren't all bad but they sure are far from good guys.
And Law was Mr Innocent? Luffy is a pirate. He knows and accepts that. Come on now…
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@.access:
16characters of nah.
That's the thing, he could acheive the same by simply set sail, without ever being a "pirate". It's not like in OP world there are laws regarding entering a country territorial waters or anything like that. One can simply take a ship and travel freely through the world having adventures and meeting people, there is no need to call himself a pirate.
If Luffy never said he was a pirate and decided he was just a guy traveling to know the world, he would have all the adventures he had, would do all the things he did, but would not be seen as a criminal and persecuted by the WG.
He wanted to be a pirate 'cause a pirate is free, but it seems being a pirate only meant he lost some freedom to do what he otherwise would be able to do more freely.
Sure, eventually he would be deemed a criminal anyways when he turned against the WG in Ennies Lobby, but still. Just rambling though…
I definitely agree with you there, actually. He wasn't truly doing anything that would make him be considered a criminal until Enis Lobby. Hell, he was a hero for Alabasta. Whether he wants to admit it or not, his actions in Albasta spoke for themselves.
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@desa:
They have a pirate flag and identify themselves as pirates..
And up until Enis Lobby, that's the only thing that made them seem like Pirates.