Notions That Don't Deserve Their Own Threads

desa

I mean seriously, I've honestly never understood why Nami, Usopp, and Chopper keep being pegged down with this label even though they've proven numerous good qualities about themselves in a way which really doesn't warrant it. Including Nami's weather sorcery, Chopper's Monster Point, and even Usopp, despite being envisioned by Oda as the "most normal" regular human of the Straw Hats which may be dismissed as weak, still manages to hit hard where he really tries like his battle with Luffy at Water 7.

I want to cheer on Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji and their accomplishments they've earned over time, and I ultimately do, but even now, there's still a small inkling in my head which can't help but also see "Monster Trio" being used as if to talk down on others like Nami as inferior for not being alike to them, even when the one saying "Monster Trio" didn't intend to do so in the first place. It's just stuff like that which slightly sours "Monster Trio" as if it's a "superiority term", and I don't know if that makes sense to other people like monster trio fans, but it's what I felt like expressing.

I don't know. I guess what I'm really trying to focus on is good vibes, and emphasize if it hasn't already that a character doesn't need to be the same as someone like Zoro to get far and be genuinely worth complimenting for their own strengths. Heck, just recently, Law and Kid managed to get far in taking down Big Mom, and they didn't even need to be the same as Zoro to accomplish that either. I also admit that it's also down to how Oda chooses to portray the Straw Hats in the first place, and while Wano didn't necessarily build up excitement for all of them at least in terms of attacks, I still remain optimistic how things will play out for them going forward in the next arc. Hope to see a lot of exciting things.

Sounds like a every kid should get a participation trophy thing. And You didnt lose that 1v1 match you just got second place.

Is Usopp stronger than the average person in his universe? Yes. Is he the weakling of his crew? Yes.

electricmastro

@desa:

Sounds like a every kid should get a participation trophy thing. And You didnt lose that 1v1 match you just got second place.

Well, then again, not every kid gets to be alongside the future Pirate King. lol

FelRes

@electricmastro:

Which is also interesting, since Nami was positioned against Ulti, while Brook was positioned against a Number, and Brook isn't someone I don't really see be called a weakling either even though he's not the same as Zoro and the others. That said, I felt that Brook did well against that Number, for what that fight was in where he was backing Robin up.

At that point, I suppose "Underdog Trio" would be more fitting, now that you mention it.

I wouldn't put much thought behind Brook's fight. I think Oda just kinda ran out of match-ups and wanted to give any other potential opponents to Drake, etc. I think he'd be the most underdog after that trio though, not that it means much at this stage. They're all gonna be commander tier badasses by the time it comes to fight the BBs.

electricmastro

@FelRes:

I wouldn't put much thought behind Brook's fight. I think Oda just kinda ran out of match-ups and wanted to give any other potential opponents to Drake, etc. I think he'd be the most underdog after that trio though, not that it means much at this stage. They're all gonna be commander tier badasses by the time it comes to fight the BBs.

Also weird he ran out of matchups seeing as how the top numbers were also there, but yeah, I won't worry about it either. Brook does seem like he also be an underdog now that you mention it, despite his moment of facing off Big Mom and beating the chess soldiers. I'll vouch for that commander tier idea though. An "underdog commander" dynamic might be interesting. lol

Cockycent

@electricmastro:

Also weird he ran out of matchups seeing as how the top numbers were also there, but yeah, I won't worry about it either. Brook does seem like he also be an underdog now that you mention it, despite his moment of facing off Big Mom and beating the chess soldiers. I'll vouch for that commander tier idea though. An "underdog commander" dynamic might be interesting. lol

Arc isn't over, so there still can be fights for the 3 SHs that didn't get the typical fight. Inbi, Apoo, CP0

Even if they don't fight, what they've accomplished already has been great. Usopp helping Tama make the announcement is similar to Chopper attaining the Brulee express for travel and communication. Brook has protected are precious Robin and was the WCI MVP, so he's good. Chopper addressed the virus which was crucial.

electricmastro

@Cockycent:

Arc isn't over, so there still can be fights for the 3 SHs that didn't get the typical fight. Inbi, Apoo, CP0

Even if they don't fight, what they've accomplished already has been great. Usopp helping Tama make the announcement is similar to Chopper attaining the Brulee express for travel and communication. Brook has protected are precious Robin and was the WCI MVP, so he's good. Chopper addressed the virus which was crucial.

In that case, then I prob would have preferred that Chopper dedicate himself more to his doctor work instead of what we ended up seeing, because it felt like a weird half½ hodgepodge of him not really being an accomplished fighter in favor of being a great doctor.

Cockycent

@electricmastro:

In that case, then I prob would have preferred that Chopper dedicate himself more to his doctor work instead of what we ended up seeing, because it felt like a weird half½ hodgepodge of him not really being an accomplished fighter in favor of being a great doctor.

It was more of a build up to me. Dealing with Caesar's gas with the man himself for the Minks, followed by the Mummy in Udon, then the Ice Oni under those circumstance. I value that as high as a fight. Similar to Sanji baking the cake.

Slapping and tussling with Queen was half assed, but nothing on the virus and toxins side fits the criteria of being half baked.

electricmastro

@Cockycent:

Slapping and tussling with Queen was half assed

And it's why I'd rather that be left out, since I'd personally rather see things fully baked rather than half assed, as you said.

Cockycent

@electricmastro:

And it's why I'd rather that be left out, since personally rather see things fully baked rather than half assed, as you said.

I'm a fan of the humorous payoff where Chopper talks like an old fart and before that, scares everyone who called him racoon dog. So, I definitely can't wish that away. I do see the the fighting portion as a whole for its obvious flaws.

I have to be mindful that the arc isn't over tho.

electricmastro

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electricmastro

Didn't realize how Impel Down allowed 13 and 16 year olds on their staff.

flandrian15

@electricmastro:

Didn't realize how Impel Down allowed 13 and 16 year olds on their staff.

https://i.imgur.com/Bxv2Ndq.jpg

Wasn't that little guy also an underling of some sort of SM-mistress?

desa

I wonder if Shanks would have proposed the strawhat to Ace since it was a gift from his father.

Dany

Well, the reason he was in East Blue to begin with was probably Ace, so yeah. That would have been an interesting interaction considering Ace hated Roger.

electricmastro

This really makes me wonder how often Oda has used clothing to foreshadow things in general.

Coookie

Dany

Nika was even right above Luffy in the cover of volume 62. Obvious foreshadowing. :ninja:

Johnny B. Decent

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Johnny B. Decent

Had a thought about Luffy's awakening: When the news gets out, could this be the start of Vegapunk finally making his way into the story? As in, he's interested in such a DF, and goes to the Gorosei about having his SSR accompany him to find Luffy or something.

Krillin

Elbaf will be an arc for Luffy to discover more about his new powers, the Sun festival will be during the arc and they will tell Luffy about the Sun God Nika.

electricmastro

Just heard sanji described as being badly written at thriller bark, reasoning that that was his "lowest point" for being like absalom. which is weird to me, since sanji respects women enough not to force himself on them and is always at a low point then since he's constantly beaten up for his perversion stupidity. lol

GanonBR

While the talk this past week is mostly about the reveal on Luffy’s power and all, I’m still upset at all the signs pointing to Luffy being the “chosen one” and that it’s his destiny to save the world. So I came up with a few ways that I think would alleviate this problem (at least for me) and decided to share.

1 – Right now isn’t the only possible moment to change the world:
A lot of things (Toki’s prophecy, the fact that Oden needed to open Wano at this moment and Roger being “too early” and not being able to wait 20 years) seem to indicate that this point in the story is the “moment of destiny” when the chosen one can save the world.

To escape that, we could have something like a natural phenomenon (something like a knock up stream, or an eclipse or whatever) that happens every 50 years or so, and only when that event happens the thing that needs to be done to save the world can be done. That way, Roger was early indeed, but upon reading in Laugh Tale about this, he decided to set the table so that someone as strong and capable as him would be ready during the next window of opportunity.

2 – Luffy is not a big Joyboy fan:
This one would go a long way into making me feel that the story we read was the SHs adventure, instead of Joyboy`s masterplan.

In short, when they reach Laugh Tale and discover everything, Robin reads to them what Joyboy wanted/wants to do to turn the world upside down. And then Luffy goes “that’s dumb, let’s do X instead”, and Luffy’s idea ends up making the world a much better place than Joyboy hoped.

I wanted to do one about the SH and the Nika Fruit, but I can’t come up with something I would be satisfied with.

electricmastro

@GanonBR:

A lot of things (Toki’s prophecy, the fact that Oden needed to open Wano at this moment and Roger being “too early” and not being able to wait 20 years) seem to indicate that this point in the story is the “moment of destiny” when the chosen one can save the world.

Well, ya get what ya read.

electricmastro

Is it possible that Kid might be set up to die so that someone else can get his fruit and be more creative with it? It seems a little too weird he seemed to mostly rely on big metallic creations while being criticized by Law for his repetitive fruit usage.

desa

@electricmastro:

Is it possible that Kid might be set up to die so that someone else can get his fruit and be more creative with it? It seems a little too weird he seemed to mostly rely on big metallic creations while being criticized by Law for his repetitive fruit usage.

I think if he was going to die it would have happen during the timeskip and shock us with an antagonist having his fruit. He isnt going to kill him now that he is exploring him and his crew.

Tangaroa

Has there been much speculation about the unrevealed parents of the Straw Hats recently? Sanji, Luffy, Usopp & Zoro's parents have all turned out to be important characters so does that mean the likelihood of others being so has risen?
Many believe Vegapunk could be his father, but Gloriana could be his mother. They both have the rare triple-butt chin.

And was looking at the picture of living Brook. His height, swagger and love of shades reminds me a lot of Dr. Kureha.

Chams

@Tangaroa:

Has there been much speculation about the unrevealed parents of the Straw Hats recently? Sanji, Luffy, Usopp & Zoro's parents have all turned out to be important characters so does that mean the likelihood of others being so has risen?
Many believe Vegapunk could be his father, but Gloriana could be his mother. They both have the rare triple-butt chin.

And was looking at the picture of living Brook. His height, swagger and love of shades reminds me a lot of Dr. Kureha.

These are both cool theories! And Dr. Kureha beeing very old seems to fit.
My theory is that Nami's parents will end up being important someday. Maybe she will be a princess of some country, or even a Celestial Dragon, I don't know.

desa

I feel nami parents are bound to be something.

electricmastro

@Tangaroa:

Has there been much speculation about the unrevealed parents of the Straw Hats recently? Sanji, Luffy, Usopp & Zoro's parents have all turned out to be important characters so does that mean the likelihood of others being so has risen?
Many believe Vegapunk could be his father, but Gloriana could be his mother. They both have the rare triple-butt chin.

And was looking at the picture of living Brook. His height, swagger and love of shades reminds me a lot of Dr. Kureha.

Heh, when did someone say Zoro's mom and dad?

But that aside, I suppose the biggest discussion, if anything, are Nami's biological parents, in light of her vivre card describing her as having been found at a kingdom. I still don't know if her parents were nobles or anything, or if she was even born there though.

Tangaroa

@electricmastro:

Heh, when did someone say we say Zoro's mom and dad?

But that aside, I suppose the biggest discussion, if anything, are Nami's biological parents, in light of her vivre card describing her as having been found at a kingdom. I still don't know if her parents were nobles or anything, or if she was even born there though.

Thanks, my mistake, Zoro's Sensei, not his parents, is a big name from Wano. So his parentage is open as well.

Being a foundling in a war zone Nami always struck me as having important parents. My thought was maybe a World Noble? They wear the bubble suits to keep separate from the atmosphere & Nami has a high affinity with the weather, could be the two things are related (but this is just a notion, of course).

electricmastro

@Tangaroa:

Thanks, my mistake, Zoro's Sensei, not his parents, is a big name from Wano. So his parentage is open as well.

Being a foundling in a war zone Nami always struck me as having important parents. My thought was maybe a World Noble? They wear the bubble suits to keep separate from the atmosphere & Nami has a high affinity with the weather, could be the two things are related (but this is just a notion, of course).

Well, on a serious note, her and Nojiko were found at a kingdom. Never did figure out if they were born there though.

Cockycent

Lunarians, Giants, and ?????? I need Oda to go in here with this last one if it's a new race. I'd prefer it's not another race that can utilize or generate fire, water, electricity, etc. Has he run out of body parts to extend? Neck, arms, legs. Yeah, i'd prefer it's not more body parts.

If its something already shown, most likely Oars and his race.

Johnny B. Decent

@Cockycent Oars is an Ancient Giant, as per the vivre cards.

Cockycent

@Johnny-B-Decent Yup, you're correct.

desa

I tend to find zoans very limited in their abillities. So Kaido crew having no (proven) awakening bothers me extra more because I feel they are the ones that need it most.

Deicide

The Beast Pirates were a disappointment in general, really.
I felt more threat from the Big Mom Pirates.

Cockycent

I would like for Oda to set up another ridiculous feat for himself in the next arc. Something like how he had to name all of BM's children.

The SMILE users in Wano were wild and fun, but I feel like he backpedaled to an extent. Sheepshead could morph, but every other SMILE user in Wano just had a protuberance of some sort. I think he had ideas for them, but seen what a headache they could be and dialed it down.

desa

Its insane to me that with their family obsessions and Mom pattern that him and Whitebeard never made a kid.

Also I think I think Kaido should have just been in Mom crew. Like Blackbeard was in Whitebeard crew and Shanks was in Roger crew.

Cockycent

WB's family seem wholesome and natural despite not being blood. BM comes off as striving to gain power. Just more perverse and anti WB.

Ivotas

I was sure there was a "questions that don't deserve their own threads" thread but I couldn't find it, so apologies if asking here is off topic. With that out of the way, I was wondering what everyone's take on the Seakings is. To be more specific, do you think we've seen the same Seakings all the time or are there more Seakings that look alike? Personally I've lately started to lean more towards the latter since what with Zunisha covering a lot of ground by itself and the Seakings developing some sort of personality over years. Not that they can't have personalities if they is more each single Seaking type. But then again, we've seen any of the famous group have more than one on screen at the same time. If anything, they seem like a mixed group (kinda like our Strawhats) rather than a flock of one specific type. Just curious how anybody else actually sees those guys.

Ghost of Laugh Tale

@Ivotas
My take was always that they're akin to the "famous rulers" of areas of water. Weird mutations that managed to live old and grow big, but taken to OP levels of exaggeration. I don't think much of anything in the text supports this, so it's just a place holder theory based on their unique designs. Oh and the Lord of the Coast!

Sea Kings - your local fishy Emperors!

Waiting to get a juicy explanation for them, but honestly I'd prefer no explanation to a convoluted way to tie everything neatly together. Keep the world big and mysterious.

Ivotas

@Ghost-of-Laugh-Tale
I like that take. So since they are kings I take you also think that every single one does exist only one's and there's no other Seaking that looks just the same?

desa

@Ivotas

I imagine them as intelligent creatures that know each other and functioning like a clan where they share culture and knowledge between each other that they consider sacred.

But there's a bunch of sea kings in the world and we see different ones living in different corners of the world. I dont think the one that had the sunny on its head was at fishman island. But it might have met those like 200 years ago before moving to the grandline. And I do think there are sea kings that look alike rather then each design being unique.

I also dont think there are famous sea kings. I think they are just a species with no hiarchy among them.

Ghost of Laugh Tale

@Ivotas
I think with Oda's wild variety of designs we'll never see two that are the same, unless it's somehow plot relevant. Like with fishmen and merpeople. But I also think there's no reason there wouldn't be two of a kind, just most likely off screen. Or heck, maybe in a cover story segment.

I also mostly agree with desa's take. But thinking of how we've -if memory serves- had next to no SBS info on the matter it might be something intentionally left for later...

Ivotas

@desa
That's what I believed for the longest time too. But lately I've thinking more about the endgame and how the Seakings fit into this. And I keep coming back to Fishman Island.

For one that's the second time after Going Merry entering the Calm Belt that we see the large kind of Seakings appear in a group. And while it's not exactly the same cast, it does seem like a weird coincidence that we have two different groups of Seakings around partly consisting of the similar types of Seakings. But even if those are really are not the same guys, then I would say it says a lot about them as a species as animals/sea creatures usually stay with their own kind.

Another thing that got me wondering is their supposed threat level. Except for the frog we actually never saw one of those large types ever attack anybody. Sure they appeared and looked imposing but that's about it. The ones that attack and get slain are always different types of Seakings. Why didn't any of them show up after what just happened at Amazon Lily? I'm sure a seaquake is something they would notice. Where they perhaps not there? It's been more than two years since they met the Strawhats in the Calm Belt around Reverse Mountain. That's enough time to move back and forth within the Calm Belt. And then occassionally get out of it. After all Fishman Island isn't that far away from the Calm Belt.

Again not saying that what you guys saying is lesser likely. It's just lately that some aspecta about them strike as weird which made me look at them from a different angle. I mean Ghost if Laugh Tale brings an interesting point about them being completely left out in the SBS. They are not even in the Vivrecard yet, and that compendium has a lot of weird entries. I don't take this omission to be an accident.

Cockycent

Gryphon, formerly named "kanabo- sama" by me - Hassaikai, the Homies, Murakumogiri, Muggy balls, and Nika man is too lame to have a weapon. I want to know the name of Teach's weapon. I hope Oda didn't get rid of them because he has 2 DF. Those claws look like they can be vicious in battle.

electricmastro

I get the feeling that Yamato didn’t stay in Wano just because of what that treebranch of an admiral did or wanting to fix Oden’s mistakes, but also because she’s worried about not living up to Oden’s name.

After she told Kaido how she could possibly call herself Oden after abandoning the Wano people on the roof, I’m lead to suspect her staying isn’t just out of defending people, but fears of not living up to a name she had held onto for years.

Johnny B. Decent

@Cockycent He calls his claws "Shame and Blame".

Let's see anyone get that reference.

Cockycent

There was a time when i'd bring up the Rocky Port Incident and most would think it's just some random mention to speak to Law's timeskip endeavors.

Even when it was revealed that Koby was involved, many didn't care.

This has been shaping up to be big. A Rocks Pirate was taken down by Teach, as Koby is deem a hero and Law a mastermind.

Teach not only took some of WB's territories, he also secured Ochoku's "HQ". It speaks to the WG, and the Yonko not being the only formidable participants as I always believed to be possible. There are newer individuals and remnants of the past lurking around. Even Teach said that Koby helped him in a way to secure the spot. I can tell Oda will have to make use of his discipline here. He's trying to finish up. Just gotta use these things to rope in the remaining figures. Can't continue to every opportunity because it can lead to something that will disrupt that 2025 wish.

onemoment

This is months old now, but remember that giant robot that lady Vegapunk piloted? Well, Franky needs to build a robot bigger and better than that now. The bar has been raised, and I expect him to meet it before the series ends. Giant robots are coming.