@Md-Martin:
The movie was going to be released spring of '09 with it being pushed back, presumably due to Oda's involvement with the film. This would have been during Impel Down going into Marineford.
Which is pretty far from Ennias Lobby. And considering the scrpit was fixed it makes the long plan even less likely. Even Shiki the villain of the movie was dropped during ID. And finally the movie itself wasn't using Ace lineage. Only chapter 0 that was release during marineford did that in a brief moment.
I'm just saying the "quick decision" comment in general has many people taking this away as Oda deciding late into the Ace stuff as him ditching a plot with Dragon in favor of shocking the readers, when it seems like he left Ace's different name as an open topic to explore at his introduction.
The different names was indeed something that could go many way.
Only to decide around 2006 or 2007 to shock the readers by having that father be Roger, and then set up the red herring of Dragon being revealed as Luffy's dad and beginning to set up Ace's capture and execution.
The evidence you cite is simply Luffy being Dragon son. Which doesn't change anything. Luffy and Ace names had been different from the begenning so the dad having a diferrent was normal. It's not like he could be Portgas and Monkey.
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@MiyamotoMusashi:
You are basically making an absolute statement out of the context of the story, even though it does neither fit the story nor is it absolutely so…
Considering I am talking about Shanks in the context of Luffy's story I am not. You can think I am wrong but that would be because my argument is bad not becasue I am making it absolute.
Why should Luffy be inspired by a normal person? Heck, the most important thing a person can have in this story is willpower, this is what makes him strong, and Shanks is already shown to have such a degree of willpower to sacrifice his arm without any problems and to scare back a huge sea king.
It would be better because it shows it is not about strength or status but about determination and what you stand for. It's not be like this and you will achieve great power or status but rather be like this and you will be a good/great pirate.
Nah, being Roger´s son is the only solution to tie anything up neatly.
I once again disagree.