@The:

Man that really sucks the big one, darth was always my favorite poster to read. Hope it's just a prank.

hey, you still have cyan d funk's marvellous one liner posts to read, how awesome is that?

@lokilasher:

I highly doubt he's banned, the timing with April 1st is just too coincidental.

heh, pretty sure he's banned, unfortunately. They just want people to believe that it's an april fool joke while it's not. Every year they plan something and it seems this year they ran out of ideas so they ended up banning him to have something "cool and exciting to discuss".

well I guess chapter threads will just be boring again. yawn

@King:

You didn't read Coruscation's post at all then. He pretty much tells the difference between arcs like PH and LG with arcs like W7 and ID.

Really, you're just blindly agreeing with arguments that you think are in your favor. That's stupid.

One could tell that Punk hazard is a setup arc for dressrosa. Law and Luffy being together, Vergo foreshadowing Law past, Doflamingo being introduced as the joker, and the whole point anyway, has always been to destroy Dofla business with the smiles. Story started at Punk hazard.

@King:

But in the end, Dressrosa still ends up being a shorterstory than Water 7/Enies Lobby anyway, regardless of whether you think they're the same arc or not.

story started at Punk hazard, so nope.

@Coruscation:

Water Seven had more or less as much of a resolution as Impel Down. It resolved internal plots but left the resolution of overarching ones for later. In both cases the main plot running through both is simply transferred to the next area. It's about saving Robin - it's about saving Ace. Impel Down's internal plot was simply to get through all its traps and obstacles to save Ace. Water 7's internal plot was to find out what Robin was up to and get her back. In both cases Luffy failed and had to move on to a new location with some new allies on his side. The only difference is that Impel Down had different people under the WG trying to stop Luffy. Otherwise the main character, his objective and (nearly) his allies all carried over and it's still the WG as the main villain. There was no "internal main plot", for the lack of a better term, of Impel Down such as the giants' fight in Little Garden, or Caesar's experiments on Punk Hazard. It was the same exact plot as Marineford - save Ace from WG - in a different location. The antagonist is the same entity, merely wearing a different face. So the only real difference between ID and W7 is that between ID and MF all the individuals among the antagonists were replaced by others (while still coming from the same overall entity) while from W7 to EL some new individuals among the antagonists were added (while still coming from the same overall entity). That can not possibly be the deciding factor as to whether one is a real arc and the other is somehow not. I understand the notion that Magellan was the antagonist and he was defeated in that he failed to stop the prison break, but he's merely one limb of the body of the main antagonist of the save Ace plot, the World Government.

And Water 7 did resolve its own internal plot points, much like ID. It resolved the friction between the Straw Hats, Iceberg/Galley-La and the whole city. Solved the attempted murder mystery. It answered what Robin was up to and got rid of the SHs' doubts. It set them free from the chains that had bound them so they could next move on and save their friend. These were all internal parts of W7 much like Mr. 2's resolve and actions and escaping Magellan were internal parts of Impel Down. But neither arc resolved any overarching plot points. They wouldn't, because they're both set-up arcs for the climax and post-fighting calm that will eventually resolve them.

It's helpful to look toward Amazon Lily to clarify the distinction. AL did have its own internal main plot, which was cleanly resolved and progressed us a step further in the saga's plot. Both arcs and sagas have main plots, but sometimes the main plot of the saga is put aside for an arc to have its own main plot. Little Garden is an example, Drum is another. So too with AL and PH but not with Impel Down, Water 7 and Whiskey Peak (last one being the most arguable). For me that makes the latter three set-up arcs. Their purpose is to set up the coming arc, but they are still arcs of their own. When you make the argument about vital plot points not being resolved, this is basically the core of that. An internal main plot will always be resolved. That in a sense is what a story arc is. But some "arcs" don't have internal main plots; the main plot of the overarching saga is inserted as their main plot directly. ID and W7 are both such arcs. The same exact plot ran through them, merely changing locations because Luffy failed to get the job done in the first location. Either that should mean that neither is an arc of their own, or both ought to be considered set-up arcs.

Great post. Now we can all agree that Water Seven and Enies lobby are different arcs.

@Darth:

Ironicaly, Maynard has the best track record of VAs that are not up there with Admirals.

And Onigumo probably has the best track record at killing marines. Or was it Dobberman? I think it was both anyway, not sure.

@Darth:

Hey, let's be honest here, as far a choreography and art are concerned, Enies Lobby was pretty awesome. It dragged a bit, but it was well made.

And the stakes were high andpersonal, something a lot of people related to.

It is by no means perfect arc (none of them are), but it enjoyable. And different, something many people crave when it comes to One Piece.

It also had incompetent vice admirals :ninja:

@Jazo:

I too can make up criteria for the definition of arcs.

Heh, don't worry, Robby isn't the "voice of truth" (even if he acts like it), not so long ago he said that Oda wasn't going to draw a tournament because "One Piece in itself is a tournament". Then we got the Colosseum tournament.

@Monquito:

Yeah, Long ring long land is that boring, sales dropped((introduces admiral to save the series)) sales rising again, then pure epicness with Water7/Ennies Lobby.

Long ring long land was pretty cool. It's a fun arc and short.