#op ch69

[salteytakesonmanga]

I fucking SCREAMED with laughter at this. I’d totally forgotten this was where we first hear this name! Now we know why it’s called “Paradise.”

It does make me wonder how far Zeff got in his year on the Grand Line. Did he make it all the way to the New World?

[salteytakesonmanga]

HI HACHI! I’ve always really liked him, he’s such a weirdly sweet character to be mixed up with someone as vicious as Arlong. Plus his design is so fun.

Dishonorable mention for cutting out the information about each of the Fishmen! In Japanese we get what type of Fishmen they are in the little box with their name but the English omitted it.

[salteytakesonmanga]

Yeah, seriously, who do these silhouettes belong to? Obviously they’re just meant to hint at the existence of these entities, but it’s a funny contrast with what all of them actually look like.

I read somewhere that Oda’s original plan for One Piece didn’t include the Shichibukai at all. The antagonists were just supposed to be the Emperors. Oda said the introduction of the Shichibukai is what turned One Piece into such a long series. I really can’t imagine what it would be like without them, their influence, and all of the adventures the Straw Hats had because of them.

It was a pretty big gamble on Oda’s part to introduce them, considering plenty of series flop in their second year and leave tons of unresolved plotlines dangling (RIP Samon.) This paid off in a big way, but I have to admire the chutzpah of Oda to introduce a plot point a full year before it’s mentioned again, and almost a further year before that plot actually enters the main story.

I wonder if that’s part of what makes Oda’s pacing so good. He gives you barely any information when he’s doing his foreshadowing so you don’t have too much to keep in mind that would make you want to rush through whatever is happening at the time. Then when he’s ready to bring it back it’s either a huge twist (if you weren’t following his hints) or a cleverly telegraphed reveal (if you were.)

The silhouettes and still hella misleading though. I wonder what the characters he originally envisioned were like.

[salteytakesonmanga]

The first time I read this arc I was DEVASTATED by this betrayal. I remember feeling so hurt not just that Nami would leave them, that she would be a pirate herself and working for someone like this. But I also remember being disappointed at the “conniving woman betrays the heroes” trope appearing. It felt like a way of saying “girls don’t belong here, they’re not to be trusted, you can’t be real friends with a girl, and girls can’t have adventures.” (Please go easy on bby Saltey, she was like 13.) I felt so lied to, both by Nami and also by Oda, who gave us all these hints that Nami was actually a good person only to drop this reveal.

It occurred to me for the first time that one of the reasons Nami always chooses to dress to skimpy might be because she couldn’t let Arlong’s mark be seen before. Plus now her tattoo is something she loves and is proud of instead of a reminder of the worst day of her life.

[salteytakesonmanga]

They cannot

[salteytakesonmanga]

It’s flawless. Especially the way it’s interspersed throughout the chapter.

[salteytakesonmanga]

YEAH I BET YOU FEEL AN EMPTINESS IN YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW. Poor Nami. After betraying and abandoning Luffy, beating up a kid, and having to be back here, of all places. It didn’t occur to me until just now that she’s not actually lying here. She’s just covering it with a sardonic smile and a tough attitude.

Look at her smiles here. It’s so different from how freely she laughed with the crew. She’s playing a role - the heartless thief, loyal member of Arlong’s crew, etc - but she can’t muster a convincing smile.

[salteytakesonmanga]

First mention of Jinbe! See you again in 450 chapters. Man, we really had no idea what was coming. I don’t think Oda did either, at this point…

[salteytakesonmanga]

This must have really pained Nami, in a lot of ways. She and Chabo have a lot of similarities, of course, so not being able to comfort him would have been hard. But worst of all is obviously that she had to beat him up and rub salt in his wounds. Nami loves kids, so this would have been awful. She is trying, within the constraints of her situation, to help him as much as she can.

[salteytakesonmanga]

It’s SO WEIRD reading this now after we’ve learned Arlong’s whole backstory. How did he land on money as his fixation after getting released on the amnesty? Why is he being so chummy with Nezumi, even going so far as to invite him for a drink? How did he wind up like this after being such a staunch believer in Tiger?

I don’t even think this is an inconsistency in Oda’s characterization, or him changing his mind about the role he wanted Arlong to have once he got to the Fishman Island flashback. They say truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense, but sometimes (often) the decisions people make DON’T make sense. And giving Arlong these conflicting traits makes him a surprisingly rich character.

[salteytakesonmanga]

Friend R is probably feeling pretty satisfied with themself these days. Buggy’s fans are real ones.

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This entire sequence is one of my favorite jokes in the entire series.

[salteytakesonmanga]

The history lesson will resume in 13 years.

It’s no surprise Oda broke this up with the gag about Luffy trying to draw a mermaid. Yosaku is dumping a lot of exposition here.

[salteytakesonmanga]

He would not.

[salteytakesonmanga]

This is just because I'm excited Zoro's back

[salteytakesonmanga]

The theological implications of there being a “christmas” in the world of One Piece are a little alarming.