Media One Piece (spoilers!)

[some hero]

The manga written by Eiichiro Oda. Arguably the greatest manga ever written. Anyways, this is a thread to talk about it. For those of you who have not read it(the manga is better than the anime... DO NOT WATCH THE 4KIDS VERSION) it is basically a very well written, very consistent(in pretty much every way), very deep manga. However you will have to get past it's sometimes silly looking art, though this only applies to the earlier chapters. The mangas been going on since 1997 and includes 600+ chapters. If you are interested in reading it but are not sure think about this. It is one of the few mangas that actually improve as it gets rolling. Even after 10 years the manga is slowly increasing in quality.

To start a conversation, two topics:


Current chapter and the power creep:

Is OP currently suffering from power creep sympton? No i don't think so. Oda has done a very good job of almost irradicating this phenomenom in his manga. He has done so by not showing us what the Tier 0 and 1 can do. This way he doesn't have to keep upping the ante. He focuses on the main characters growth and their climb through the power levels. He knows what the power level cap is. Which makes it quite easy to keep them under control. This is further aided by One Pieces' linear narrative(Luffy has had one goal since the start and is growing towards it) which is like a book. With the cap in mind and the linear progression he can easily calculate how much Luffy should grow after each opponent. Also, we have known years in advance who his opponents will be and their relative power levels. In order New World and final opponents: DonFlamingo, ?, Big Mom/Kaido, Akainu and then Blackbeard.

Also Caesar Clown beat Luffy through trickery. He is far weaker than Luffy.

Chapter: i'm really excited to see DonFlamingo(DD) back in the story as i have adamantly claimed that he would be the jumping off point toward stronger enemies. DD will be the first villain in the New World to humble and defeat Luffy. Same as how Crocodile "welcomed" Luffy to the Grand Line. DD also brings the slave trade which hopefully brings up the Celestial Dragons and then Bonney... However i am assuming the World Goverment still has her locked up.

Favorite Characters:

1. Edward Newgate (a.k.a Whitebeard): "The worlds strongest man" is my favorite character despite limited screen time. Epic, awesome, righteous. He could take damage like a boss. Was smart and knew his own mortality and his own limits. Appeared cocky, but hey he earned the right to be cocky. He went out like nobody else.... I just loved how simple his dream was.

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2. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki(a.k.a Akainu): Luffy's opposite representing power, anger, control and corruption. He is everything Luffy is not. Complete opposites and was included in the story to blur the lines between good and bad. He brings up the discussion of what actions are acceptable in the name of justice and how much is too much. This guy is a hardass, extreme, cunning, sadistic and downright frightening.

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3. Marshal D. Teach(a.k.a Blackbeard): Oda's greatest creation. The final villain of One Piece. "Dark Luffy" as i like to call him. Seriously, never have i read or ever heard of a final villain with this much thought placed into him. For non OP fans, this guy was introduced around chapters 200-300(too lazy to check) a couple of years after OP started. OP is currently starting Part 2, or halfway through the story(it will end at around 1000 chapters) and this guy has been in the story since the early years of OP. He started out as a nobody but slowly, through his dubious planning, has become the strongest man in the world(has not been stated, but it's obvious). He has developed alongside Luffy, gathering crew members and increasing his own strength. He has never been a main antagonist but is prime to end it all against Luffy in 5-7 years as his final opponent. The foreshowing that Oda placed on this guy is just insane.. He is the perfect final villain as he is a darker version of Luffy. Both love freedom and are carefree, love their crewmates and are D.s. He was placed into the manga to show what Luffy would have become if not for his brothers. To show the dark side of Luffys dream. This guy is just incredibably well written and developed.

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Also, no Hancock + Luffy or Robin + Zoro talks. Oda has clearly stated that romance has no part in this manga.

Parodies:


Fake Strawhats:

Haha I searched for them and heres some(will add these to the OP for the lulz):

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Other Random ones:

Just thought I'd share some funny OP stuff:

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Luffy draws his crewmates

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And if anyone has the Fake Strawhat parodies saved post them here since all my OP stuff got deleted and those were some of my favorites.

 

[PK Gaming]

It would take me 3 moons & 3 nights to write about why I love One Piece, but i'll just keep it simple for now and say that its the most consistent shonen in terms of quality. You're right, OP has successfully avoided the standard shounen "power creep" trap that many authors fall into since a good portion of the fights in OP are won with careful thinking & planning, not just brute strength. It doesn't really have any 11th hour power ups either (usually). Luffy's lost his fair of fights he couldn't possibly win at the time, but he's also won against strong characters with sheer guts & determination instead of SSJ-esque powerup. (Luffy vs Rob Lucci). God, why is this manga so good?!?

Nice top 3 character pics btw, I 100% agree with your Blackbeard write up. My top 3 characters are

Luffy, Sanji & Blackbeard (i'll probably make write ups for them later)

If you aren't reading One Piece and you like manga, do it nowwww

 

[His Eminence Lord Poppington II]

anyone apart from me reaaaaaaaaaaaally want to see enel again?

 

[PK Gaming]

Enel?

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[Flashstorm1]

I know you say that the manga is better than the anime, but is the latter - the original sub, mind you - still worth watching if I don't particularly like reading the manga version of any new series I am being introduced to?

 

[popemobile]

the anime is funny as shit, everyone should watch it

 

[franky]

I know you say that the manga is better than the anime, but is the latter - the original sub, mind you - still worth watching if I don't particularly like reading the manga version of any new series I am being introduced to?

Watching it is worthwhile in my opinion if you invest enough time in watching a shit ton of episodes. I personally started watching it just to see the improvement of the quality over the many years the show was aired. Take it slow though and enjoy the ride if you decide to watch it.

 

[Aldaron]

Thank you for this thread. One Piece is the greatest of all time.

I will add more but I have to take a negative spin for the moment...fucking Oda.

Genius story teller. His long term thinking for setting up plots / references is literally unparalleled...as is his need for frequent breaks -____-

No chapter next week ;_;

My top 3 characters change a lot but for now I'd have to say

1.) Zoro - nearly every battle he has some ridiculous handicap and he still manages to look so bad ass.
2.) Aokiji - lazy brilliance, a symbol of our generation (well the lazy part anyway...)
3.) Law - totally a law fanboy.

I would like to give Shanks / Marco and co a better shake, but we just haven't seen enough to really make judgments.

 

[yond]

We'll see how this manga finishes out, but I doubt Oda could screw it up enough to ruin it. This manga was able to unseat Dragon Ball as the most sold shonen ALL-TIME before it was even finished (around likely the half-way point of the manga) in 2009. Seriously, this manga is great loooooooooooooooooooooooooooveeee it.

I hope Oda decides to make it 1000 chapters like Hajime No Ippo is going for :ooo

 

[Lemonade]

One Piece so gr8. I LOVE Chopper, especially his hiding the wrong way. Do that in public and the friends who get it crack up while everyone else is completely ?_? You can tell Oda really loves his series because so many of his scenes have a ton of detail (of course there are assistants to draw it and all, but still) (maybe it's just a ton of action lines but it looks really detailed).

Though I am a bit joke-worried since they're little over half way done technically speaking and already at 674 chapters. If Oda plans to spend the same amount of time finishing it out, I hope he doesn't get sick and go on hiatus for like 5 years and then write bs (like HunterXHunter oh god). Whatever. This series is gr8. I just want to see Luffy use /all/ his new powers in an even fight, and more Shanks because one arm and still a badass is awesome.

 

[Chou Toshio]

I wanted to post something intelligent and thought provoking... but meh... I've said everything I've wanted to say about one piece on IRC.

in any case,

Boss Jinbe >:D

That is all.

more on Jinbe

Going on more about how great Oda is at handling his characters would be a bit pointless, but what he did with Jinbe at the end of the fishman island arch was really great I think. Jinbe has fantastic chemistry with the Straw Hat crew-- to the point that there really is no reason why he shouldn't be on the crew (putting outside circumstances aside).

But, Oda couldn't just drop Jinbe into the crew, and the reason isn't power-- it's experience. Jinbe's a 43 year old veteran of the New World. He basically knows all the big players, and all the big dangers. In other words, he'd end up fucking the straw hat's adventures by providing massive spoilers. So, Oda had to put up spoiler tags by preventing Jinbe from immediately entering the crew. So Luffy gains more power to his crew long-term, but without having a problematic character that knows too much and would spoil the adventure. I'm thinking Jinbe will be brought into the crew at the point where Luffy and everyone basically know everything that's going to go down-- probably the climax of the story.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

One Piece is awesome. My favourite part is still the CP9 saga, mainly because both Robin and Franky had a very moving backstory (I cried).

 

[Z-rex]

I love one piece , but that fisherman island part was the worst one ever created , sure the drawing was spectacular but shirahoshi was like a vivi 2 , annoying useless princess that does nothing but crying .. and the whole story was a bit too .. annoying , the finish was nice though .

hopefully the current arc will make up for it , i'v been following one piece for 8 years now and it rarely disapointed me .

 

[some hero]

anyone apart from me reaaaaaaaaaaaally want to see enel again?

Yep. My theory is that he will appear as an ally, like Croc. Mostly because Luffy has just surpassed him completely and he shouldn't be a threat to them anymore. However he can still beat 80% of OP world and will come in extremely handy with his island-wide CoO.

I know you say that the manga is better than the anime, but is the latter - the original sub, mind you - still worth watching if I don't particularly like reading the manga version of any new series I am being introduced to?

Eh i just don't like anime in general. With the manga i can read at my own pace. If you don't mind that, the anime is pretty good. You should definitley grind through the early episodes to get to the good stuff. Also, skip the filler.



@Chou, Robin was pretty experienced when she joined(even more so now) but she doesn't really ruin much. Though i'll agree that seeing it is better than hearing about it. I think Jinbei didn't join after FI because he was too freaking strong. I'd say a litle stronger than Zoro but weaker than Luffy. This would throw the Monster Trio out of wack. He will join when they defeat an Emperor(Big Mom) at which point Sanji should be stronger than Jinbei and the Monster Trio remains the same.

Now don't get me wrong, don't mean to call Jinbei weak. But he is a 43 year old who has done it all. So he shouldn't improve anymore. The Strawhats still have a long way to go to reach an Emperor level crew, at which point Jinbei(the 4th strongest) fits right in.

And i think Franky and Chopper are next in that order. Then Brook and Robin. Don't want to get into a Ussop debate though.

 

[Chou Toshio]

@anti-fishman island arc: :|

Fishman arc is awesome if only because:

a) Boss Jinbe

b) epic, epic, EPIC battle, show-cases the post-training awesomeness of ALL of Luffy's crew (but still leaving a lot of their abilities hidden for later :D)

c) Really great scenes-- I think the Sea Forest and Fishman Island (and underwater tree of Eve) are probably the most beautiful scenery illustrated from the entire series (and that's saying something!).

d) I really like Fishmen/Mermaids-- both their story/history as a people, and biologically they're sooooo cool. Maybe it's because I'm a fish nerd, and all the characters are based on real aquatic creatures. I even like Arlong (except his anime voice... god, so awful... ruined arlong for me...).

e) Biggest boobs yet in the world of One Piece (they're literally 10 times+ bigger than Luffy is).

f) Boss Jinbe


did I mention boss Jinbe?

@Some Hero-- I really don't think power means much at all frankly; the order of strength inside Luffy's crew is probably one of the least interesting things we could talk about-- wtf would it matter if Jinbe was stronger than Zoro or Sanji? Also, one of the great things about One Piece is that there is no "power levels" bullshit-- all the characters have very different skills for different situations, and there is such a thing as having a "bad match up." Sanji could probably put up a fight against Smoker (Haki + don't give a fuck about sea stone), but would lose instantly to Tashigi for instance.

Food for thought: I don't think that any One Piece character has appeared that could defeat Jinbe in the water-- and this is the pirate age... on boats... Just Jinbe's ability to attack from the water is stupidly broken in a world where all the strongest characters lose instantly in the water. Jinbe himself says, "I'm no good outside the water," even though he basically fights evenly with Luffy (or close) on dry land. Hody was no match at all for Luffy on land, but fucked with Luffy pretty hard in the ocean. We've only seen the tip of the ice-berg of Jinbe's real power, which is probably much more terrifying in ship v. ship battles on the open ocean, instead of a basically land-based battle like marine forde was. As strong as the characters in one piece are, they all still ride on wooden boats with very limited manuverability. Just think about what a master of fishman karate and fishman jujutsu can do to an enemy vessel...

You're right in that he probably won't get any stronger than he is now (though his bounty now userps Luffy's).


Yes, Robin is a character that knows a lot-- and we have no idea about what she's learned from the Revolutionary Army too. Her knowledge was even a key to developing the sky island arc; but Oda has been careful about how he uses Robin's knowledge. She always knows just enough to develop he story and help the crew, but not enough to upset the "youthful adventure" direction the crew is taking. Also she's not a big talker, and ultimately is someone who embraces "thrills".

Jinbe, on the other hand, is an old hand veteran who's seen everything, and worse-- always looks for the "wisest route," and worse still-- sees Luffy as his "kin" by giri (duty), like his own nephew, or son, and tries to steer Luffy away from the reckless and dangerous course. He even gives Luffy's crew a bunch of spoilers before they go into the new world. I think if he was a part of the crew, he would be a constant problem in story telling because he'd always be spoiling crap.

 

[some hero]

Yeh, i stay away from the SH rankings because Ussop turns the debate ugly fast.

You are correct in that Jinbei has a ridiculous advantage over a lot of characters but i disagree on his supposed invincibility on water. Shanks, Garp and Raileigh are three non DF users who i would bet my house on to whoop Jinbei in the water. He may have speed, but these guys have power. I could see Shanks KOing Jinbei in one strike. Though again, his speed is his greatest advantage... Until you realize how insanely powerful these guys CoO must be.

There is one DF user who could beat Jinbei even on water: Aokiji. Other than him Kizaru and Akainu also could beat him, depending on a couple of factors. In Kizarus case wether or not he can use the CP9 techniques(highly likely). He could just float in the air and blast the sea below. Jinbeis only option would be to flee. Akainu on the other hand could theoretically create entire islands with his DF. So he would't mind fighting in the ocean.


You probably won't agree, but i think there are clear Tiers in OP. You are right that match ups have some saying on the outcome(or in some cases most of the saying; Luffy vs Enel). However these match ups only tip the scale when two of relative strengh are fighting. Like Enel and Luffy. Enel was clearly stronger, however not by that much as if he was he would have dominated Luffy DF advantage or not. The perfect example would be Mr. 3 vs Magellan. Mr.3 has a DF advantage over Magellan but his clear inferiority stopped any chance of taking advantage over it.

Sanji is more of comic relief.. Even if it is sometimes used as a plot device to drive the story.

 

[Z-rex]

jimbei was much more epic in the impel down arc imo , I found him underwhelming in the fishing island arc , too reliant on luffy and crew and a bit too soft for a freaking pirate /shishibukai , so there goes two of your arguments .

there was no epic finish and no epic battle , because the level of the crew was so much higher than that lame fisherman who ressorted to drugs to actually do something lol .

Oh and did I mention how i was completly disapointed by neptune , oh my god it's the freaking king of the sea and he just gets his ass kicked everytime in the whole arc .

Nah seriously , the arc was a joke really , only good things were sexy mermaids , good artwork , and the revelations about big mom and the admirals at the end .

 

[Vein]

Woah, a One Piece thread! Some months ago, I was about to revive the old thread...

I agree this is one of the best manga ever (on par with Naruto), but I love the anime even more. I've watched other great animes since I stayed here in Asia, but this one is the best. Humour, great and deep writing, fighters have some sort of weakness chart which is Pokemon-like, and yeah battles are breathtaking and overwhelming but not really outright brutish.

(The best one for me is when Luffy imitates his crewmates. They're just classic)

My favorite characters are the following (in that order):
+ Ussopp (liers in manga/anime are few and has the best humours. I also like the fact that he's the Batman of the Straw Hats)
+ Luffy (duh. What's not to love about this guy)
+ Aokiji (Coolest. He would be my instant favorite if he joins the Straw Hats)
+ Marco (great lazy eyes. They look like mine)
+ Nico Robin (she's mine)

I know I have more but I forgot their names (the zombie girl? She's cute).

And yeah, I'm one of those guys who can talk about OP all day...

 

[some hero]

+ Marco (great lazy eyes. They look like mine)

Marco looks like a white Dwayne Wade.

Well i read the newest chapter and anyone have any idea who that guy with the cigar is? The other guys are Big Moms crew and Kidd.

 

[Vein]

Marco looks like a white Dwayne Wade.

No, he's more like Tracy McGrady to me.

 

[FearZeCrawdaunt]

Watched the show through 4 times (first time when it had about 200 episodes, last time when it was at about 500) and read the manga twice. One Piece is engrained in my very being.

And I love the comment about how the show gets better as it goes on. I have literally pitched the show to friends where I draw a One Piece graph of awesomeness by episode number. It starts out around a 5 out of 10, heads up to about a 7 or 8 around Alabasta, goes back down for a bit before re-upping at Skypeia. Then heads down during Foxy before shooting through the roof at CP9. And has since maintained about a 10 throughout (maybe just a 9 through Thriller Bark).

But yeah, the Manga is just more concise, and therefore a less arduous task to read through. But the show has some things going for it you can't knock. Still, sometimes the in-episode filler (like when an episode side-tracks for a moment and wastes a couple minutes) does detract. I'm glad they're doing that though, rather than coming up with flat out filler arcs. Anyone remember Rainbow Mist? That's right, you blocked it from your memory, but it's there. NO MORE.

Not here to squee like a fanboy though, One Piece is just wonderfully written. Any manga that can hit 500+ chapters obviously has something going for it, and One Piece has an undeniable seat amongst the Four Emperors of Shounen. Hajime No Ippo actually does deserve a mention up there ;) Almost 1000 chapters and no signs of slowing. That's pretty good.

 

[prem]

this is the greatest thread around. one piece for life nigga! oda is such an amazing story teller, and ive literally loved every arc written, even skypiea. my favorite characters are probably just nami and luffy cause they are just fucking hilarous.

ive read this series a good 10 times and i can still do it again.

I agree this is one of the best manga ever (on par with Naruto),

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww how do you even compare one piece to naruto. thats just unacceptable. kishi has shit writing, and has deus exed everything, while one piece is just god of story telling and uniqueness

edit: i was commenting on vein's comment lol

 

[some hero]

No, he's more like Tracy McGrady to me.

Eh i can see it, but Wade looks sleepier. Plus the eyebrows.

@prem, let us not disgrace Oda by comparing this to Naruto. I think it's like comparing Pulp Fiction to Jersey Shore. Both are fun to watch but for very different reasons.


@FearZeCrawdaunt i actually liked Thriller Bark more than Skypia or Fishman Island. Though i may be in the minority there. Though i think all OP fans agree the Water 7 and Ennies Lobby arc were the best arcs in the series so far. Only rivaled by the Whitebeard war(which includes Impel Down). And heck you could make a good enough argument that the WB war was better and i wouldn't mind.

 

[asianaussie]

enies lobby
whitebeard war
impel down
sabaody/kuja isle
baratie
alabasta
the rest

manga is always more 'concise' than anime, because you take half the time to go through the same amount of plot, even if you skip credits and stuff

 

[Vein]

Comparing OP with Naruto is more on personal preference rather than going for poppy preference.

And yeah, Water 7 is the best arc as a whole. In terms of wars, Whitebeard war goes on par with battle vs CP9.