One Piece restores a shred of credibility
PostPosted:Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:08 pm
This week, with Mihawk saying Luffy might be the chosen one, but he's still got to kill him, finally acknowledges one of the stupidest themes going on in One Piece. OP looks like your standard manga where friendship and whatever triumphs over injustice, but similar to Naruto, this theme is basically a sad caricature of what actually happens. Just as Naruto actually had more talent than anyone in the world while saying 'hard work trumps talent', Luffy didn't get to where he is through any of the stuff he says. He is who he is because he is quite literally, the chosen one. If he died, there will be another world war because he's the son of Dragon, head of the Revolution.
When the Celestial Dragons guys got punched by Luffy that triggered roughly a Buster Call with Admirals arriving to help. So Celestial Dragons are the bad guys who abuse their power. But what happens when Luffy gets beaten up? Revolution elite and legendary figure appear from literally nowhere to bail him out. It is pretty clear in the world of OP, the Revolution is by far the strongest faction. Luffy also has insane political pull, since he's like friends with one of the four emperors, and his grandfather is a legendary marine, and of course he's not a bad fighter by himself for someone who doesn't have an invinicible fruit.
When you consider the Celestial Dragons only have political pull (clearly these guys aren't good at fighting), really the question should be asked the other way around. It's not who does Luffy think he is to mess with the Celestial Dragons. It's who does the Celestial Dragons think they are to mess with perhaps the most politically important person in the world of One Piece? If the Marines can torch an entire island at the command of a Celestial Dragons, then I think you'd be looking an entire nation being destroyed by the Revolution (who are stronger than the Marines) if anything was to happen to the son of their leader.
Of course, looking backwards, it makes total sense why Luffy and crew always brush off encounter with seemingly impossible odds and survive. Nobody in the know was going to risk having an all out war with the Revolution over a guy who really is just like some annoying kid that beats up guys for no reason. Indeed, as the story puts it, most of what Luffy does is harmless. Sure he burned down the flag of the World Government but that's just an embarssment and not physically damaging. Even the Marine Supreme Commander did not order to kill Luffy until it's obvious that the Revolution is clearly involved so a world war was no longer avoidable.
So now, Mihawk, probably one of the few good characters in OP, has finally put an end to this facade by acknowledging Luffy as the chosen one. Maybe this means the series no longer has to bear the weight of pretending Luffy isn't the chosen one. I always thought OP was a story of a kid touring around the world in essentially god mode. The background politics/factions in OP is rather complicated, but Luffy isn't concerned about that. All he wants to do is sail around the world and beat up whoever he feels like, and that's perfectly fine.
The Straw Hats really shouldn't get involved with world politics, because it's clearly not fair for their opponents when you've to fight a guy whose death can trigger a world war. For something like 80% of the series, this is exactly what happens, but lately Straw Hats have been getting way too involved in politics. Hopefully after this arc, the Straw Hats will go back to sailing instead of starting world wars, and leave the world wars to the people who are supposed to do these kinds of things.
When the Celestial Dragons guys got punched by Luffy that triggered roughly a Buster Call with Admirals arriving to help. So Celestial Dragons are the bad guys who abuse their power. But what happens when Luffy gets beaten up? Revolution elite and legendary figure appear from literally nowhere to bail him out. It is pretty clear in the world of OP, the Revolution is by far the strongest faction. Luffy also has insane political pull, since he's like friends with one of the four emperors, and his grandfather is a legendary marine, and of course he's not a bad fighter by himself for someone who doesn't have an invinicible fruit.
When you consider the Celestial Dragons only have political pull (clearly these guys aren't good at fighting), really the question should be asked the other way around. It's not who does Luffy think he is to mess with the Celestial Dragons. It's who does the Celestial Dragons think they are to mess with perhaps the most politically important person in the world of One Piece? If the Marines can torch an entire island at the command of a Celestial Dragons, then I think you'd be looking an entire nation being destroyed by the Revolution (who are stronger than the Marines) if anything was to happen to the son of their leader.
Of course, looking backwards, it makes total sense why Luffy and crew always brush off encounter with seemingly impossible odds and survive. Nobody in the know was going to risk having an all out war with the Revolution over a guy who really is just like some annoying kid that beats up guys for no reason. Indeed, as the story puts it, most of what Luffy does is harmless. Sure he burned down the flag of the World Government but that's just an embarssment and not physically damaging. Even the Marine Supreme Commander did not order to kill Luffy until it's obvious that the Revolution is clearly involved so a world war was no longer avoidable.
So now, Mihawk, probably one of the few good characters in OP, has finally put an end to this facade by acknowledging Luffy as the chosen one. Maybe this means the series no longer has to bear the weight of pretending Luffy isn't the chosen one. I always thought OP was a story of a kid touring around the world in essentially god mode. The background politics/factions in OP is rather complicated, but Luffy isn't concerned about that. All he wants to do is sail around the world and beat up whoever he feels like, and that's perfectly fine.
The Straw Hats really shouldn't get involved with world politics, because it's clearly not fair for their opponents when you've to fight a guy whose death can trigger a world war. For something like 80% of the series, this is exactly what happens, but lately Straw Hats have been getting way too involved in politics. Hopefully after this arc, the Straw Hats will go back to sailing instead of starting world wars, and leave the world wars to the people who are supposed to do these kinds of things.
