Now, considering how OP luffy's team will be at the end, the only way BB can balance it is if he gets moria and him making zombie kaidou, that will be giant zombie dragon that the grand fleet will team up on.
Throughout this month, we will be testing new features (like search) so you may experience some hiccups from time to time. We'll try to not be too disruptive...
Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !
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(…) but we know for certain Oda is a Tarantino fan so The Gimp from Pulp Fiction (Croc and Robin's design origin) is a safe bet as to having informed some of the design (...) I always had that Feeling with X Drake (meaning I always thought Drake could be based on Gimp from PF).
About King, fans speculated he could be from ID with the "Demon-Wings", but those aren't demon wings. They're actually black feather-wings, like the sky-People have, but… black instead of white. And Urouge-type wings.
What do you guys think about Jack's line :"elder Brothers"? I personally don't think the calamities are blood-related. After all, Arlong called Tiger, Jinbe and his Crew "Brothers" as well.–- Update From New Post Merge ---
(…)
Speaking of Shiryu and invisibility fruit, it kinda sliped my mind that he can make just the objects he holds invisible. So he might fight with an invisible sword, like Arthur from Fate/Zero. It could be used as a shocking revelation when Shiryu reveals that he's holding Mihawk's Yoru instead of his regular katana, while fighting Zoro. Just a possibility.Do you mean he Ends up fighting with 2 swords (with only one sword being visible)? This would be really sneaky and also Fitting for a BB-member. My only concern with this whole invisibility is, that Zoro can sense such stuff since his fight with Mr. 1.
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I know I'm reaching there but she could easily be trying to eff with him. Since we know that DF powers may be (with great difficulty and) copied -albeit more often than not poorly- it's possibly that Absalom may be 'dead' in some other way and they simply 'stole' or 'copied' his ability.
puzzled puppy look
I don't recall a plot element where a Devil Fruit power was copied. When was this discussed?
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Until proven otherwise, I'm saying that is "he invented lasers, inspired by kizaru", as Franky also has something like that, without any piece of Kizaru on him, I hope.
But until we see a Logia awakening I can't be 100% sure.
3DS FC: 0516-7666-3837
SW-4128-8032-0729
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Can someone update me on this Red Hawk theory?
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I think it is an allusion to how the Pacifistas' laser beams are based on/copied from Kizaru by Vegapunk
I think he meant SMILE and Momo's fruit.
As far as Absalom goes, I'm gonna go with "killed with a fruit basket nearby" as top contender.
But since Absalom's body isn't actually shown, looking dead, you never know.
He's probably returning as a zombie, though, and probably stronger, since Hogback can tamper with his body more if he doesn't need to be bothering with keeping him alive.
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I think he meant SMILE and Momo's fruit.
Yup !
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Greg you should listen to the last one piece podcast episode when you have time.
I waxed poetically about missing moria (mainly as a gag) and ed, steve and alex ran with it marvelously
If you're crunched on time it starts at 1:53:45 and lasts about a 2 minutes
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Yup!
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Until proven otherwise, I'm saying that is "he invented lasers, inspired by kizaru", as Franky also has something like that, without any piece of Kizaru on him, I hope.
But until we see a Logia awakening I can't be 100% sure.
I'd also say so. CC was interested in Franky on PH because of this whole laser-Thing (he observed the door Franky has lasered).
If magnetism hasn't been discovered yet in the OP-verse, and if Kid was Close to Vegapunk, the latter could have studied the former to discover magnetism.
But the whole Navigation in OP relies on magnetism, so it's safe to assume it is discovered. I just tried to Show that there are DF-powers which are based on physics and can be "copied" with the right technology. -
So the vivre card information has floated online, and one thing that is annoying is Ace not having Armanent despite the novel bringing it up. It kind of one makes the novel look uncanon immediately but even worse than that it makes Ace look like a chump. Being around all these strong people but never learning haki also just makes him seem cocky. I don't know if this was the intention or just an oversight but a lot of people are upset about this as it seems like someone of his position should have this seeing as how Vice Admirals are required to have it.
I mean now we're gonna have people thinking Ace and Caribou are equals.
RIP ace's online reputation
Ok now that I've played the upset fanboy that a ton of people are playing…
Greg is there any chance the info on the cards could change in a reprint?
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I think, I repeat, think, that the Vivre Card also gave Shilliew as Shiryu's spelling. Lo and behold, a month later the man shows up in the manga and Oda spells it as Shiryu… So don't be too confident on the Vivre Card data as definitive and official cannon. It's an incredible databook but it's not that precise when it comes to this kind of details.
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Some info on spellings and such.
So there is indeed a file that contains all of the "official" English spellings.
The majority of these are based on spellings provided by Viz.
However, sometimes Toei also has their own spelling which they will apply to products.
Toei is fairly confident in their spellings and rightfully so because sometimes they come from sketches or info from Oda.
Now, from time to time the official list isn't updated or the editors may not feel right second-guessing Oda when it comes to spelling. That's why sometimes we'll get questionable spellings.
But here's the key point even the development team aren't hung up on making sure names are perfectly matched. Let's face it, editors don't just work on one series. They have a great deal of responsibility and cross-checking a foreign language is nowhere near as important as making an 'interesting story'.
Enter Vivre Card, An excellent opportunity for the multiple development teams responsible for One Piece manga-merch to come to a concensus or realize some past errors.
It seems like a simple task but believe me, keeping track of a series in two languages at once is a job in and of itself (^o^)
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Greg, prediction on how Luffy and Kid will break out?
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@All:
Hahahahaha, wow you're so funny and clever.
/s
I mean, it's not like this is impel down, as long as people of their level are in good health and fed, who's going to stop them? some fodder smile users with a whip?
unless they are kept in those locked cages or the jail is surrounded by sea water, I don't see why not, who's going to stop luffy if he started running?
it also doesn't look like a closed community, they can climb out of there.
also, no need to be rude. -
He does kinda have a point. Even with seastone cuffs, it doesn't look like anyone there at Udon could honestly stop Luffy, unless Queen's already back there.
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Based on 926, right? That's the hippo one, yeah?
My thoughts after reading that chap were, if they inspire the other prisoners, they've already won like half the battle.
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Based on 926, right? That's the hippo one, yeah?
My thoughts after reading that chap were, if they inspire the other prisoners, they've already won like half the battle.
Well, since not all prisoners wear seastone cuffs and most of them were probably samurais or other Wano soldiers, they could actually gather a pretty powerful crowd. Maybe even someone (old men that the hippo ate) could unlock the cuffs or destroy them since they are master craftsmen of seastone.
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Hi Greg!
Do you know which video games Oda likes to play?
I know he likes the dragon quest series, i’m curious if he would like rdr2 since its a western or other big and epic games like witcher 3, zelda breath of the wild etc
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Does oda even have time to play games? I know that he watches western shows
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Do you know which video games Oda likes to play?
I know he likes the dragon quest series, i’m curious if he would like rdr2 since its a western or other big and epic games like witcher 3, zelda breath of the wild etc
Oda is a mega-gamer but that doesn't mean he spends lots of time gaming. He controls himself, he has to otherwise nothing would get done. There are some neat anecdotes about video game rules at his workplace but he keeps most of his gaming to short-burst mobile gaming. Although his staff are major gamers (we talk Dark Souls and such) Oda keeps well educated about the latest games but doesn't dedicate major time to them because of his work. Basically he likes to 'test drive' games. I imagine he plays many but I've never heard of him playing through a game during the modern production of OP. (doesn't mean he hasn't, I just haven't heard that he has)
I know for certain he used to be a big FF fan but I think he stopped being able to clear them around 8.
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It's good to know that he's at least able to dabble in other delights and hobbies given the massive time dedication it must take to create One Piece. I imagine consuming media in general, no matter how briefly, is a large part of his inspiration for stories. Besides the obvious stuff, of course. I'm really enjoying the Japanese film vibes i'm getting from Wano.
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Oda also plays Tekken, wonder if he a purist and doesn't like the crossover fighters.
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Hey, Greg. Has Oda recently shifted completely to drawing digitally now?
I ask because of this Twitter video of the cover process for Vol. 91. You've might have already seen it.
https://twitter.com/Eiichiro_Staff/status/1069520128943972352
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Hey, Greg. Has Oda recently shifted completely to drawing digitally now?
I ask because of this Twitter video of the cover process for Vol. 91. You've might have already seen it.
https://twitter.com/Eiichiro_Staff/status/1069520128943972352Oda's art still has varying line widths and little ink dab pools at the end of lines that you only get from physical inking. It's lacking a lot of the telltale signs of digital inking like super consistent line widths and a built in whispy quality to the line. However much he's doing digitially, it's not 100%.
At a guess, I'd say he's probably switched to digital for doing layouts, especially for complicated group cover shots like that, because it's way easier to resize and adjust things… but he then probably prints that layout and then inks over it traditionally. Hence the reason that video stopped at the layout stage instead of going on to show more refined line art.
And his coloring is definitely still traditional, you can't get that particular quality in photoshop without crazy amounts of extra work ad texture drops.
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That makes sense, Robby. I know he's done digital drawings occasionally for the Eiichiro Staff twitter and the official site. I've always assumed Oda was pretty old school and I don't think he'll ever go 100% digital in the future.
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@All:
Greg, prediction on how Luffy and Kid will break out?
Well, you gotta wonder: that Hippo guy was the deputy warden. If Shonen-rules aren't broken here, the actual warden has to be stronger than him. Like the difference between Hannyabal and Magellan (or even greater difference if Queen is the warden). But like Greg has put it: If Luffy and Kidd inspired other prisoners, they might cause a huge ruckus in that prison mine and the break-out will be a team-effort.
I am really curious about the fishbone-guy. the 2 Samurais next to ashura douji might have been brought up at the beginning of ch. 926 (the manslayer and that robinhood-esque Boy).–- Update From New Post Merge ---
That makes sense, Robby. I know he's done digital drawings occasionally for the Eiichiro Staff twitter and the official site. I've always assumed Oda was pretty old school and I don't think he'll ever go 100% digital in the future.
Iwonder how many assistants Oda has. That one Panel with the People in line t buy Sanji's Food, it doesn't look like much in thefirst place, but all those houses are really accurate and detailled. That one Panel alone would take me a week (I only draw in free-time, though).
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A sizeable team works on the series.
As for Oda going digital, you'll note that he does a lot of that kind of work for side projects.
Messages to other authors, online promotional material, and the like. He likes the convenience of digital artwork, but I don't think it's changed his mind regarding how to 'best enjoy' comics.
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A sizeable team works on the series.
As for Oda going digital, you'll note that he does a lot of that kind of work for side projects.
Messages to other authors, online promotional material, and the like. He likes the convenience of digital artwork, but I don't think it's changed his mind regarding how to 'best enjoy' comics.
I heard he had to get used to the drawing tablet. I'm glad now that I had the same issues with my first drawing tablet: the pen's thicker, the drawing's surface' texture feels different. I can understand him doing the main work "traditionally", although digital supplies a lot of possibilities.
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So Sabo was very close to Enel than I guess going by that logic?
He's close to Dragon, though, whose storm fruit might be able to impart it, were this conjecture to be true.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
It seems like a simple task but believe me, keeping track of a series in two languages at once is a job in and of itself (^o^)
Were it to be made a job, you would be a shoe-in.
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A sizeable team works on the series.
As for Oda going digital, you'll note that he does a lot of that kind of work for side projects.
Messages to other authors, online promotional material, and the like. He likes the convenience of digital artwork, but I don't think it's changed his mind regarding how to 'best enjoy' comics.
Hi Greg
Do you think Zoro fans will be happy this arc? I mean ever since time skip started Zoro has kinda been on the backburner….just getting his solo fight and then disappearing from the plot.
Now of course I'm not expecting his own arc like Sanji just had considering how many WG members and other major players are on the island...but do you think he will at least participate in the plot this time?
Seems like we barely saw him for a chapter or two and he once again went MIA... really hope Oda delivers since Zoro feels way underused post skip
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At a guess, I'd say he's probably switched to digital for doing layouts, especially for complicated group cover shots like that, because it's way easier to resize and adjust things… but he then probably prints that layout and then inks over it traditionally. Hence the reason that video stopped at the layout stage instead of going on to show more refined line art.
And his coloring is definitely still traditional, you can't get that particular quality in photoshop without crazy amounts of extra work ad texture drops.
I have absolutely no idea how Oda does things naturally, but Photoshop is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to digitally emulating traditional inks and paints. Software has been making leaps and bounds, so if a talented artist such as him wants to go digital through and through while keeping a traditional touch, the tools are definitely out there.
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I have absolutely no idea how Oda does things naturally, but Photoshop is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to digitally emulating traditional inks and paints. Software has been making leaps and bounds, so if a talented artist such as him wants to go digital through and through while keeping a traditional touch, the tools are definitely out there.
Yes, there's other programs out there. Painter, illustrator, clip, gimp, artweaver, krita, and a dozen others, not to mention 3D programs for making backgrounds and objects, and they all do different things. For lineart specifically he'd probably use Illustrator.
"Photoshop" is just shorthand to encompass all digital art programs since its the universal one that does almost everything you need.
And again, his art has all the telltale signs of still being inked traditionally. Line waverings and little ink blobs and the consistent blacks you just don't get out of digitial. Like Greg noted, you look at some of his outside project work, that stuff is often digital, but the main series in still done by hand.
You can tell when its done digitally. You go look at Berserk and you can tell when he shifted to digital art, and Ken Akamatsu has been doing digital for a while, and you compare it to his earlier work and it shows.
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:blink::blink::blink:
I mean Jinbe's obvious, but Vivi?
Carrot's still never gonna join the crew. 
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@Big:
:blink::blink::blink:
I mean Jinbe's obvious, but Vivi?
She kept appearing in the "playing with animals" cover shorts for years and years along with the other strawhats. Oda definitely kept her in mind and separate as an unnofficial/official member of the crew we should keep remembering (and then later he started expanding Carue as well.)
Right around the time skip he just started making the covers completely random any character per fan request, so that means nothing now, but for about a 10 year stretch he went out of his way to showcase Vivi about once a year.
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Greg so Ive been wondering lately
Is Enies Lobby put on a pedestal in the west compared to how its received in Japan? Over here its the consensus pick for favorite arc amongst western fans but could it be more middle of the road in japan with a lot more people arguing dressrosa/alabasta/thriller bark over it?
Ive looked around for any official arc ranking lists and couldnt find any but what I did find was 2 things which may mean nothing but piqued my interests.
The first was none of the top 10 voted covers from jumps OP cover ranking where from the Saga.
There's probably some recency bias since all except 2 are post-timeskip but alabasta was there and it's even older than Enies Lobby.
There's also the fact when the saga was really moving in 2005 and 2006, one piece wasnt first in either year in terms of popularity (and sales?, Im less sure of that though)
Its just intriguing to me ans Ive never seen anyone bring it up because, aa americans we usually dont question if others think differently because "of course theyd think like us" lol.
If there isnt a list based on any signifcance on how the arcs are ranked could you give a general idea of how people in japan's tastes in favorite arc differ, is there more of a recency bias, certain arcs that are more/less loved compared to the average one piece arc.
Chapter 437 Discussion after franky decides to join the Strawhats:
So who think Usopp is inside that duffelbag?
H x H Chimera Ant Arc / OP Manga Spoiler
Spoiler:
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Its just intriguing to me ans Ive never seen anyone bring it up because, aa americans we usually dont question if others think differently because "of course theyd think like us" lol.
With anime and manga, I think it's more the case that different regions have very different tastes, namely the west, latin America, and Japan. Anyone with a brain is aware they have different tastes, but I don't think we really respect each others' tastes much judging by popularity poll commentary lol, so it's easy to dismiss Japanese readers. I'm curious about how a volume cover ranking would go with the English speaking audience though. I doubt too much W7/EL would get in our top 10. I feel like it would have a lot of Marineford era, especially since that's when a ton of new fans came in.
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I recall volume sales going drastically down during Gyojin island, so that we all worldwide could agree to give it the very bottom position.
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I recall volume sales going drastically down during Gyojin island, so that we all worldwide could agree to give it the very bottom position.
Sales would have gone down regardless because most of it during that time was backlog volume sales.
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Is Enies Lobby put on a pedestal in the west compared to how its received in Japan?
Is it really put on a pedestal in the west? Sure, the "ooh so dark wearing all black assassins" things appeals to the casual Bleach crowd and drew in some fans that didn't like the series before, but those villains and that arc in general are so different from what OP is usually about, it's hard to reconcile it with everything else.
The entire arc is a dreary and sad "the strawhats are falling apart" followed by an extended battle sequence that took a solid year and was kind of boring. It's probably not a coincidence that Oda hasn't given the entire crew extended 1 on 1 fights in a single arc since.
I think if you poll this site at least, you'll see it pretty low on the lists here too. (I think Foxy arc is consistently the lowest.)
@Monquito:I recall volume sales going drastically down during Gyojin island, so that we all worldwide could agree to give it the very bottom position.
That had less to do with the arc and more with sales being inflated during the war due to the perfect storm of war/timeskip/strong world encouraging a huge swatch of backlog. Numbers were always going to drop after that, no matter how good the quality of the follow up.
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Is it really put on a pedestal in the west? Sure, the "ooh so dark wearing all black assassins" things appeals to the casual Bleach crowd and drew in some fans that didn't like the series before, but those villains and that arc in general are so different from what OP is usually about, it's hard to reconcile it with everything else.
The entire arc is a dreary and sad "the strawhats are falling apart" followed by an extended battle sequence that took a solid year and was kind of boring. It's probably not a coincidence that Oda hasn't given the entire crew extended 1 on 1 fights in a single arc since.
I think if you poll this site at least, you'll see it pretty low on the lists here too. (I think Foxy arc is consistently the lowest.)
That had less to do with the arc and more with sales being inflated during the war due to the perfect storm of war/timeskip/strong world encouraging a huge swatch of backlog. Numbers were always going to drop after that, no matter how good the quality of the follow up.
In any search for best arcs I always either find it or marineford as the best arc,
here was a 1500 person reddit survey result from 2014 https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/2ok02z/one_piece_arc_poll_results/
That and a ton of other threads I have seen where enies lobby or water 7+enies lobby is either the favorite or 2nd favorite arc
I honestly would expect to see the opinion that "Enies Lobby is mid-tier or worse" on an unpopular opinion thread
That would be interesting if we had a poll from google forms to see where enies lobby would be ranked here because ive always honestly figured its either 1 or 2 in the west without how many youtubers, the unofficial one piece podcast, forum posters, and general fans ive met lead me to the the conclusion this forum might be an aberration. At the very least I would expect it to be in the top 5 and at the lowest top 10.
Chapter 437 Discussion after franky decides to join the Strawhats:
So who think Usopp is inside that duffelbag?
H x H Chimera Ant Arc / OP Manga Spoiler
Spoiler:
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Watchmojo even had water seven as the second best anime arc of all time in there top ten anime arcs
but they also had the pain arc from Naruto in there, which was crap, and far inferior to the chunin exam (by far Ksihimoto's best work) so take there list with a grain of salt
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In any search for best arcs I always either find it or marineford as the best arc,
here was a 1500 person reddit survey result from 2014 https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/2ok02z/one_piece_arc_poll_results/
That and a ton of other threads I have seen where enies lobby or water 7+enies lobby is either the favorite or 2nd favorite arc
I honestly would expect to see the opinion that "Enies Lobby is mid-tier or worse" on an unpopular opinion thread
These are the same sort of things that brush Skypeia off as worst arc and filler. So. And they rated Sabaody as the number 4 arc? It wasn't even an arc! It introduced the supernovas and then… the strawhats got kumaed. Yes it was 20 chapters long so it deserves the classification but... that's not an arc.
Two different audiences looking for two different things. If you're looking for adventure and comedy and worldbuilding and character moments, W7 isn't the place. If you're just looking for badass action sequences, then... Enies Lobby and the War, and apparently Sabaody, are for you.
The same thing happens in Dragonball where the Android/Cell saga is some people's favorite for some reason even though it's the worst arc of the series in terms of adventure and fun, and its just an endless series of powerups and fights and nothing happening. (And yes, Dragonball has always been an endless series of fights. Cell took it to the extreme.) It has the great ending with Gohan but then that's squandered by the series continuing, so...
As a whole, Water 7 arc has some of the best highlights. The starting intrigue, Usopp and Luffy's fight with him leaving, the flashbacks, Robins "I wanna live" , all the drama with Merry and Merry's death scene, the first reveals of the gears... and then the aftermath reveals with Garp and such. The Water 7 portions of the arc was great! But the sea train/Enies Lobby stuff that lasted for a solid year, against the most boring lacking in personality lead villain in the series, just killed it. That was one of the slowest and dullest years in the series. Even on reread all at once its not much better.
I mean cripes, if you watch the Luffy/Lucchi fight on youtube, with all the other fights and filler cut out, it still takes over an hour. I'm all for big epic lengthy fights, and I expect them the end the series with, but cripes.
That would be interesting if we had a poll from google forms to see where enies lobby would be ranked here because ive always honestly figured its either 1 or 2 in the west without how many youtubers, the unofficial one piece podcast, forum posters, and general fans ive met lead me to the the conclusion this forum might be an aberration. At the very least I would expect it to be in the top 5 and at the lowest top 10.
Pretty sure we've had such polls here but I can't find them from a cursory search. They must have had weird titles without obvious keywords. Maybe it was character tournament material?
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How many arcs would you say One piece has?
Depends on who you ask. Some people break up every little thing, and even have Water Seven, Sea Train, Enies Lobby, and Return to Water Seven as seperate arcs… even though its the same locations and characters and plot and villains the entire time.... but they don't then break up ALabasta or Dresserossa or Skypeia the same way. Plus there's combining all of East Blue... which makes some sense since some of those stories were 1-5 chapters long, but the lengthier Syrup, Baratie and Arlong Park stories deserve to be on their own.
There's tougher calls like Jaya/Skypeia, where Jaya's plot isn't resolved until the end of Skypeia, so I personally would consider them the same, but Jaya does at least have something of its own conclusions
Personally, I'd go
Introductory
Syrup Village
Baratie
Arlong
Loguetown/Reverse Mountain/Whiskey Peak
Little Garden
Drum
Alabasta
Jaya/Skypeia
Long Ring/Davy Back
Water 7
Thriller Bark
Sabody
Amazon Lilly
Impel Down
War and aftermath
Fishman Island
Punk Hazard
Dresserossa
Zou
Big Mom
WanoSo about 22, with some room for debate up to 25 or 26.
Remains to be seen if Reverie is enough to count as its own thing, or if its just intermission.
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How many arcs would you say One piece has?
As low as 23 and as high as 31 if you're really stretching it I consider these as arcs when making my lists
Romance Dawn
Orange Town
Syrup Village
Baratie
Arlong Park
Loguetown
Twin Capes
Whiskey Peak (this and twin capes could honestly probably be put together )
Little Garden
Drum Island
Alabasta
Jaya
Skypiea
Davy Back
Water 7 (I used to say these were 2 different arcs until last year)
Thriller Bark
Sabaody
Amazon Lily
Impel Down
Marineford
Post-War (This seems like more of an arc than post enies lobby )
Fishman Island (some people count return to sabaody but I dont)
Punk Hazard
Dressrosa
Zou
Whole Cake Island
WanoSo by my count 27
Im not counting reverie since the event only lasted 1 chapter, really calling it post-whole cake seems like it'd make more sense but then again its not a complete narrative so calling it its own arc is weird, and its not a part of big moms either, so maybe it should be grouped with wano. Thats what the english of viz's volume 90 did after all
I just cant see enies lobby below 13 other arcs, I mean its almost like hearing a one piece fan say I love the series but I really dont like luffy. Im just shocked as it had so many good moments, the battles werent just battles they had purpose behind them.
Gear 2. Robin's flashback, I want to live, franky burned the blueprints, the best choreographed fight in the manga, franky's entertaining as hell fight, chopper being an actual badass, nami's best fight, sanji motivating usopp and kicking jyabura's ass to redeem himself, zoro vs kaku, you're fired, usopp's best moment in the series, robin is saved, gear 3. Kokoro as a mermaid, the bridge of hesitation, usopp's speech, the best final attack in the series, the merry returns one last time. A boat load of reveals with luffy's family, koby and helmeppo come back, new world hype, the sunny is built, franky joins the crew, and finally usopp who left in the beginning rejoins.
Thats all in 50 chapters and it doesnt count the "best writing oda has ever done" water 7 segments with usopp and franky where things started off calm and n entire storm rocked the entire crew. Yeah maybe chapters 360-380 were a cool down period and dragged in the middle but with how it ended it s completely forgiveable to me, oda had to lay off the gas a little somewhere.
Water 7 (the entire arc) being called slow and dull is like saying marineford was just a bunch of clashes with big moments in between. Or someone saying alabasta was mostly wandering through the desert and some random war in the background. Or that drum island was just a boring trek through the slow besides the one flashback. Skypiea being a huge fight between a bunch of people we didnt care about and the strawhats just there until the end ties it up.
Anything can be reduced to ehhh not a lot happened.
But I would totally be interested in hosting a poll and linking it here, I just dont know if that justifies a thread. I was thinking of repeating said poll I linked, except ranking each arc out of 10 and seeing how opinions have changed.
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It was kinda cool having so many 1v1's in EL, but it also sucked because so many of them relied on asspulls. The drama was the best part of that arc, along with the marines showing they mean business. Water 7 half of the arc is better though. There's a different pace and mood that makes for good build up to the EL showdown. And overall you really get a better look at how shady the world government is, helping shape them up as this oppressive force. Like they were always sketchy with shichibukai and some dick marines, but here they're more straight up sinister. Secret agents, killing civilians, extreme marines, ancient weapons, void century stuff. Spandam was a solid main villain, showing government power is all you need to be a legit threat. Guy was the most despicable person in one piece til the world nobles came along. Amazing storyline in the end. And while it's not really story related, I think Oda's character art peaked here, and after this is when the tendency to cram too much in each panel began. I woulda liked to see that style stick around for a while longer.
And it's obviously one of the top fav arcs, there's been more than enough ranking threads here and elsewhere to know that. Other popular ones are marineford, arlong park, skypiea, impel down (this one has grown on me recently).and wci has already made its way to a lot of people's lists. Dressrosa/FI/PH didn't have that much praise. And I can see Alabasta moving back up since Vivi has become prominent again. I know I definitely feel like revisiting it.
