#chapter 550

[algumaideia]

He is the son of Gol D Roger???????

I really did not expect that

NO 😭

[calekinnieplus]

Would you look at that? I've read 5 hours today. Not too shabby. Also reached chapter 550, noice

Anyway, Klein just Loves involving himself in matters concerning gods, huh? Not that I'm complaining, it's very entertaining

This time it was a goddamn Sea God, Kalvetua (I had to double check how to spell that name).

Poor Danitz, he is now tied to Gehrman Sparrow for a while. He is definitely fine with that hahaha. (He kinda reminds me of Emlyn, with his reluctant cooperation with Klein lmao)

Edwina Edwards is so cool tho. Imagine havimg the authority to convince a bunch of pirates to attend classes. Badass.

Just Elland is a cool guy, too. I appreciate his fairness. He is great for that (He's like Detective Isengard Stanton: the Sea version heh)

Alger is such a crafty fox lmao. His eye for the perfect opportunity is impeccable, very admirable. o7 to you, Mr Hanged Man. Here's to your future advancement to Sequence 6 🥂 love seeing you more in this volume, Mr Wilson

Audrey and Fors advanced to Sequence 7 and 8 respectively! Good for them! They're so lovely, but they have less of a focus this arc, it seems. That's alright, each character brings something interesting to the table when it's time.

And of course! I can't go to sleep before I mention how much of an absolute BADASS Klein - or should I say, Gehrman Sparrow - has been in these chapters!! HE'S SO EPIC AND SMART AND RESOURCEFUL AND CAREFUL AND STRATEGIC AND RUTHLESS AND- kind. At his core, it's still Klein Moretti. And Klein Moretti is kind. Even in this world, which seems to desire madness and chaos. Kudos to Klein. Keep it up, dear boy

Until next time :)

[everykillerbee]

[everykabuto]

[fun-size-sunshine]

It’s so crazy to me how one of my fanfic/fandom involved friends willingly read all of tgcf knowing it was longer than the Bible yet flat-out refuses to read orv

[drowning-moonlight]

Public Executions in One Piece, Inherited Will, and how Gol D Roger Haunts the Narrative

Since I've gotten caught up in the manga, I am struck by how executions - especially public ones - are used as a narrative device and are even used for character development in some ways as well. Specifically in how the characters that are executed may die physically but their Wills and spirit lives on. There are the obvious ones like Ace and Roger but I also see this with character such as Mont Blanc Noland and Kozuki Oden. I see certain parallels between these government sanctioned killings that I'm sure Oda wrote the story that way on purpose.

Historically and in media like One Piece, public executions serve the purpose of not only punishing the person being killed for crimes they committed - real or perceived - but also to discourage others from committing similar crimes. The thing with One Piece though is that most of these public executions backfire on the ones in charge.

Ace and Roger's executions mirror each other in that the Marines and World Government wanted to end piracy but instead both of them being killed actually ushered in new ages of piracy.

Roger turned himself in and the Marines used his public execution as an opportunity to basically say something like, "Hey, we have the King of Pirates here and we're going to kill him in front of the whole world. This will happen to every pirate we can get our hands on. We are able to kill the King himself, we can definitely get you small time pirates too so you might as well give up being pirate!" But Roger's last words of course completely flipped this around declaring, "If you can find my treasure, the One Piece, then you too can be the next Pirate King!" He destroyed the Navy's plans with his final words and kicked off an era of far more piracy than there ever was before. He dies in body but not in spirit. His spirit and Will lives on for literal decades after his death in every single person who goes searching for the One Piece. The Marines may have succeeded in killing the man but they failed so spectacularly with killing his spirit.

Likewise with Ace's execution, the Navy wanted to end Roger's bloodline and pick a fight with Whitebeard, the strongest pirate in the world at that time. By doing this, they wanted to end this New Age of Piracy. If they could kill the son of the previous Pirate King and also kill the pirate closest to becoming the next Pirate King in one fell swoop then surely this would discourage pirates the world over and prevent people from wanting to become pirates in the future. But again it backfired. The Marines may have succeeded in killing Ace and Whitebeard but their deaths - just as Roger's - ushered in another New Age of Piracy. Whitebeard's last words especially kicked off more people becoming pirates, "The One Piece is real!" Throughout the story we see a few times when characters don't believe that the One Piece is even real, and the Navy probably wants people to think that because if there's no big treasure to find, then there's less of a reason for people to be pirates. But Whitebeard stomps on that notion with his last words:

Ace's execution, which was meant to discourage piracy and get revenge on Roger for starting the New Pirate Age, actually sets off more piracy and changes the story from here on out. Though they both die, just like Roger before them, Ace and Whitebeard's death's carry on meaning and inspiration for future pirates. The world of One Piece is forever changed from this one moment. The story and main character is never the same again after this. Again, the Marine's may have succeeded in killing their physical bodies but the inherited Will of Ace and Roger and Whitebeard lives on in the next generation of pirates.

Roger's execution is also heavily paralleled by the execution of Mont Blanc Noland in the flashbacks of Skypeia. This execution wasn't as grand or far reaching as the Marines killing Roger but the parallel is there. Noland was executed by a king for the perceived crime of lying to said king. He wasn't a wanted criminal the way Roger was but their ends are the same.

The framing of his execution is so similar to Roger's. And later in the series, Ace's execution mirrors them both as well.

The visual parallels are so striking that I doubt it was done accidentally. And just as with Roger, Noland's execution spurred on others to look for the lost city of gold that Noland had found, not knowing that it was in the sky instead of in the ocean. Nolan's death didn't necessarily start a new age of piracy but it did inspire people to go looking for treasure. Which is exactly what Roger's death caused. This search for treasure trickled all the way down to his descendant Cricket and also Luffy, furthering the theme of Inherited Will.

Then there is Kozuki Oden's execution by Kaido in the Wano flashbacks. Kaido wanted to kill Oden for the danger he posed and so that Kaido could further take over Wano without the head of the Kozuki clan stopping him. Oden also wanted to open Wano to the rest of the world and Kaido wanted to stop that. But Oden's death had basically the same affect that Roger's death did: inspiring others and carrying on his will. Even Oden and Kaido himself say as much right before Oden dies:

Is this not metaphorically exactly how Roger died too? The circumstances of their deaths are different but they both still die knowing that their Wills will live on after they are gone. They know that they will not be forgotten. "My soul will live on!! For I am a story to accompany you drinks..." Roger lives on in this way as well, especially through Silvers Rayleigh.

Again, Kaido may have succeeded in killing Oden's body but his spirit lives on to inspire others in the future and thus doesn't really die. His execution backfires and Kaido is eventually taken down by those who carried on Oden's Will.

What's more interesting about this than the other public executions in the series is that Kaido seems to be aware that the death of Oden - and later Luffy - will be remembered. "They will speak of you for years to come," he says to a dying Oden. I find that fascinating. And when Luffy "died," Kaido again mentions that he will be remembered:

It's interesting to me that Kaido is aware that their death's won't really be the end for Oden and Luffy, whereas the Marines and WG definitely didn't seem to understand that publicly killing Roger, Ace, and Whitebeard would mean that they would essentially be martyred and live on in spirit. Kaido seems to have more understanding of what their deaths will cause than the Marines do, which I find... odd... and I'm not sure where to go with that thought.

I also find it interesting that Luffy doesn't care or even want to be remembered once he dies. It's just like Oden saying, "They can forget me, for all I care," but he does go on to say he's a story to accompany people's drinks. Luffy, on the other hand, doesn't seem to see his death that way. He says he doesn't need people to tell tales of his great battle and that once you're dead there's nothing left but bones. It honestly feels like sort of a hopeless statement from Luffy and I'm not sure how to interpret it. Roger seemed to know that his last words would insure that he would not be forgotten, so this difference with Luffy is interesting.

Now what Kaido did to Luffy wasn't a public execution like all the other deaths mentioned before but I think this interaction between them still sheds light on the theme of remembering people after they die. Even though Luffy seems to be saying that he doesn't want to be remembered after he dies, I think we can all agree that he will be remembered when and if that time comes.

And it all goes back to quite literally the very start of the series. Roger's execution is the very first thing we learn about in One Piece. It's the very first scene ever shown, the preamble, the prelude, whatever you want to call it. He's the first named character in the entire series. We learn about Roger's death and his impact on the story before we learn anything at all about Luffy himself.

Roger truly does Haunt the Narrative of One Piece so much and his execution is mirrored by multiple other characters throughout the series that it can't be a coincidence.

it's just... the public executions in One Piece truly do hit different than in other media, don't they?

[lloydfrontera]

sick and twisted that if i ever find official merch for tg/ed it's gonna be for the manhwa and its lame jokes instead of mangi's beautiful novel art. like. what's the point of living at this point.

[obstinaterixatrix]

the thing about orv that sticks is like. by sacrificing yourself for the people you love you hurt the people you love. there are two ways to break the cycle, either you stop hurting them or they stop loving you. but they won’t stop loving you so it’s up to you to stop hurting them.

[onejellyfishplease]

finally feeling to mojo to write more Open Your Shell!!

[pttucker]

Yoo Joonghyuk thought about something related to that for a moment or two. If it was impossible to restore the complete 'Kim Dokja' no matter which story you wrote, then just what was the existence called 'Kim Dokja', in the first place?

[Shall we get going, then?] "Alright." All they could do for now was to complete this lengthy journey, and also, to find the suitable intermediary who could deliver their story. "This time, the married couple writers over there look to be good candidates."

You ever feel like a Skyrim NPC who just got attacked but then five seconds later goes right back to doing what you were doing with an absurd "must have been the wind" while there's literally an arrow sticking out of your knee?

Because that's how I feel right now.

HOW COULD I HAVE GOTTEN SO MANY THINGS RIGHT IN MY GUESSES BASED ON THE MOST OBSCURE EVIDENCE AND SYMBOLISM BUT THEN COMPLETELY IGNORED WHAT WAS LITERALLY BEING SAID ON THE PAGE IN RIGHT FRONT OF MY FACE!?

Okay, so, yeah, I just now realized after combining these two things above that the novel has literally been stating outright that Kim Dokja's soul has been scattered all through the various universes, our universe being one of them, and that he has been reborn as many different people all over the place, many different people who don't remember being Kim Dokja, who don't look or act like he did, who maybe aren't even a "he," who are maintaining the worldlines by subconsciously dreaming of them, who are supposed to read ORV so that a new conclusion can be imagined...

WE ARE LITERALLY KIM DOKJA!

HOW DID IT TAKE ME THIS LONG???

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Or, at least, any one of us could be Kim Dokja without realizing it. Though, at the same time, we really are all Dokja ("reader") in a way even if we maybe aren't the Kim Dokja...the Kim Dokja not technically existing anymore because he scattered into too many tiny pieces...unless of course we imagine him back into the story.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I just wanna bang my head against the desk because of all things to not get...it was literally right there! I even theorized that we could could maintain the wordlines for Dokja since we are reading ORV. Even waaaaay back many many chapters ago when I pointed out that we are actually the omniscient readers because there are scenes in ORV that we see that technically Dokja in the novel does not see. So he's not actually omniscient...unless he's also one of us...

Just...ahhhhhhhh!

I really wondered if it was going to circle back to us being the readers since it's literally mentioned things like "what if somebody is reading my story" but I just now put all these pieces together and it wasn't even that hard of a puzzle.

I love how everything just flows together so perfectly, of course I love it, but I do feel a bit silly now. 😅

...If anybody asks, I'm going to say it's because Kim Dokja is notoriously oblivious about the most obvious things and, apparently, Kim Dokja could very well be me.

So there.

[elles-home]

that saying about insanity where you do the same thing over and over again hoping for different results is me with marineford rn. like what if this time he lives you know? what if this time it’s different? maybe if i believe hard enough

[daily-linkclick]

OMG ANOTHER LINK CLICK AND ORV FAN HIHI, I JUST GOT INTO LINK CLICK AND BINGED THE WHOLE SERIES SO FAR AND HOLY SHIT ITS A ROLLERCOASTER

ALSO YOUR DRAWINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL AND AMAZING

YESSS ANOTHER ORV AND LINK CLICK TRUTHER!! im glad you like my drawings op AND YESSS TALK TO ME ANYTIME ABOUT EITHER!!

[everykillerbee]

[everykabuto]

[whisperofthewaves]

36 pages of short story just brought up all of my buried and forgotten feelings and memories of growing up and needing magic to be real, tasting like an andrew wyeth painting sprinkled with brian froud artwork even though it was supposedly set an hour away from downtown LA in summer

[lialox]

Out of SHEER CURIOSITY.

Is there an ORV fic out there that was made by AI??