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Ask Me One Piece - November 2021

Hello everyone! I hope you've been keeping well.

Over the next weeks I hope (if everything should go well) to finally start rolling out my True History project! With that, I'm also hoping to add a few things more to Patreon to tie in with the True History and my channel going forward, but all of it will be additional on top of the already available rewards, so don't worry about it!

In the meantime though, feel free once again to ask me anything you might be interested in about One Piece, particularly during this time where it's harder for me to share my impressions and observations on chapters.

I hope you all have a pleasant conclusion to this year in these final months

Comments

Good eye! Those three hints for what the One Piece is will be addressed in the very final episode, as they are the very few pieces of direct evidence Oda has left us about the treasure. If you’re curious, I can tell them now, since they’re not particularly spoilery on their own when left unexplained: - 1) At the start of the series, Roger said that he left “everything in this world” at that place, the final island - 2) In Japanese, One Piece is written in kanji as “the great hidden treasure that connects all” (“hitotsunagi no daihihou”) - 3) As you guessed, the Roger pirates laughed at Laugh Tale Those pieces of evidence will all come together! I should show the full board as well once I’m done with the final episode

Hi Artur. I've been analysing your billboard regarding the Void century, you know the one you put spoiler tag all over it. xD I have seen according to your there are 3 hints for the One Piece one being ''laughing''. Is there are certain episode in the future that we can expect answers to this?

Long Ring Long Land may seem rather redundant at first, but that’s only because of its lower stakes. I think the answer is quite simple once you consider the narrative pace, and it’s the fact that Long Ring Long Land came right after one of the longest journeys to date, being the massive tale of Skypiea, and right at the start of the longest saga in the series, so quite simply, it was a much needed break for the story. Much like how Zou came after Dressrosa to serve as a breather, or Reverie after Whole Cake, shorter arcs like these help avoid burnout when it comes to very long storylines. Long Ring Long Land may not have the incredible lore dumps of something like Zou or Reverie, but it makes up for a lot of fun scenarios that Oda clearly had a blast drawing. Some of them may be silly, but it was a way for Oda to explore some really fun ideas he likely would not have had the chance to explore in different circumstances. On the other hand though, beyond that, Long Ring Long Land does actually serve an important narrative purpose: introducing the danger of Luffy losing his crewmates. This is done through a slow but gradual escalation: at first there’s the Davy Back Fight, where Luffy just wants to mess around but realizes that this game he so casually took may result in him losing treasured crewmates. And so, in the fight against Foxy, when he’s legitimately injured, he still pushes himself in order to ensure that he doesn’t lose any of his friends. Then, this is further increased when they meet Aokiji, as Luffy suddenly realizes he’s before a foe he has zero chance of surpassing. This time he can’t bounce back like he did with Crocodile and Enel, he literally has no choice but to run away, and weren’t it for Aokiji’s mercy, Luffy would’ve lost some of his crewmates, particularly Robin. This makes Luffy realize that there is a very real chance for him to lose his crew. And that becomes a reality in Water 7. The arc shows a fallout among the Straw Hats: Merry is doomed to break apart and die, Usopp leaves the crew, Robin disappears from sight, Sanji goes missing, everything begins to fall apart until only the original trio and Chopper are left. The arc gives this legitimately frightening sensation that the crew really could fall apart. And it’s specifically that which makes the following efforts across Enies Lobby hit that much harder, because we get to see Luffy manage to keep that crew together even in the most dire of circumstances. So while at first glance it may not seem like it, Long Ring Long Land was incredibly essential in planting the seeds for this narrative tree to sprout! That’s always been one of Oda’s most brilliant points, where absolutely everything serves a grander purpose in the story, even when it may not seem like it at first

Hi Artur! One thing that has always confused me is the Long Ring Long Land Arc. Which Purpose does the Arc serve to the story in general? Do you think it is a kinda unnecassary or not so meaningful arc? Cheers!

Hi! I think it's quite simply because Roger represents the end of an era and the start of a new one. So in that regard, his birthday being the day the year comes to an end and ushers in a new one is perfectly fitting! Similarly, Ace's birthday is on January 1st, as he stands opposite to Roger

Hi again Artur. Do you think theres a particular reason for Roger's birthday being at 31st December?

I can indeed confirm it is referred to as a map to a treasure in Japanese as well. However, I’m sorry to say that I don’t really think there’s much bigger meaning behind it. I think it’s main fundamental point is to serve as a narrative tool to show that Nami views all pirates as the same, so she automatically views Luffy as someone who’d only care about treasure and wealth. So when Luffy brings up that this hat is something he inherited, Nami is perplexed by the answer, and it serves as one of the very first moments when Nami slowly begins to value Luffy more than just as a random pirate. Whether the hat has a bigger purpose in the story that Oda has been teasing around is yet to be seen, but I personally stand by the idea that the hat is meant mostly for narrative symbolism. In that scene Luffy claims he “inherited” that hat, so I think it’s something that ties a lot with the concept of inherited will. I want to go more in depth in one of the True History episodes, but to put it simply, I think the hat itself symbolizes Shanks passing down Roger’s will onto Luffy!

Good evening Sir Artur! I am looking through all the chapters again for a little project and in chapter 9 Nami said in a talk with Ruffy about the Strawhat "Ah! Maybe it's a treasure map!?" My question would be, if you think this has any bigger meaning, or is it just random talk? (To spice it up a little, lets say "vivre card" counts as well? =P) And in regards to this, is it actually written the same in japanese? Thank you so much in advance! =)


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