One Piece: Gear Second

[Vaspinne]

Looking up the chapter on twitter is great. Lots of people showing examples of similarities from way earlier in the manga. Not necessarily conclusive hints but Oda is Oda, and with how excessively meticulous he is, maybe he did in fact have this all planned out from the get go.

Also, this little comparison was pretty fucking awesome

Spoiler: show

Edit: The fucker definitely had this all planned from the start lol



Edit2: Pretty interesting theory from Reddit

Spoiler: show

This explains the SMILEs. Kaido wanted to be joyboy and probably realized it had something to do with zoan devil fruits, hence specializing on creating them. Also probably why SMILEs make their users laugh uncontrollably despite being upset. They're enslaved to the aesthetics of joy while the nika fruit is the real deal and Luffy is actually having fun

edit: from the spoiler thread comment by Idoma_Sas_Ptolemy

"Okay, after some deliberation I realized something.

The confirmation that Zoan fruits have a mind of their own is even bigger news than the true nature of luffys df.

Just from the top of my hat:

So far the only objects imbedded with devil fruits were zoans. Never paramecia or even logia.

And that makes complete sense now. A person eating a zoan might be subtly influenced by it, like becoming more aggressive in case of a predator for example but largely remain the same person.

If an object however is infused with a zoan fruit, there is no personality to hold the fruits inhibitions and will in check. That's why these items seem to have a mind and personality of their own. It's part of the fruits ability.

Maybe this is also the secret to vegapunk deeming momos dragon fruit a failure. Maybe he was able to replicate the fruits abilities, but could not inherit the will of the original into the copy."

Moreover, this synergizes with the fact that SMILEs were failed zoans that led to people having an obsessive fake-laughing trait. Kaido was trying to infuse the "laugh" nature or the personality of the last joyboys fruit with the dragon fruit in order to become the new joyboy. The SMILE recipients can't handle the nature of the Nika fruit so they get overwhelmed by it and become unable to show sorrow. "Joyboy" might actually refer to the personality of the fruit and Kaido was disappointed that Luffy couldn't awaken that personality either

[Zealot]

This would have been more impactful for me if I was able to keep Oda's 800 concurrent plot lines straight in my head.

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[BWYuko]

Finally, the ...

Spoiler: show

Zoan fruit Teach will steal to make his trifecta!

I really thought Luffy's big breakthrough in this fight would be haki related, but I'm not disappointed this happened. It does somewhat shoehorn in the "chosen one" shonen protag narrative suggesting that all Zoan fruit have wills, and this one finds its way to an appropriate master time and again. It's not as egregious as other stories', but it's a lil disappointing. Folks have quickly pieced together ample evidence/foreshadowing we were provided for this moment over the years, so it fits I guess. I just maybe thought mastery of his DF would come in the final arc, but that just leaves room for further growth I suppose (if we have 1-3 more stops before Laugh Tale after Wano). I still can't believe they kept up the lie for so long, though. The one canon I chose to believe said YO HO HO HE TOOK A BITE OF GUM GUM... perhaps I was a fool for taking it to heart...

But I mean, I posed this concern two weeks ago. If this is SSJ, and (after letting him power up to 100% over 3 episodes while the planet is exploding) he rolls Kaido here, it does beg the question of how anyone will be able to stop Luffy after this. Sakazuki ain't that strong. Teach is a crafty mf, but won't have the firepower in his crew to match the likes of what Zoro/Sanji/Yamato/Jinbe will muster in 1v1 fights. I think those factions would need to team up to try to take Luffy's crew and extended grand fleet in the end. A finale to look forward to I suppose.

Glad we get another two chapters right away.

[Vaspinne]

Finally, the ...

Spoiler: show

Zoan fruit Teach will steal to make his trifecta!

I really thought Luffy's big breakthrough in this fight would be haki related, but I'm not disappointed this happened. It does somewhat shoehorn in the "chosen one" shonen protag narrative suggesting that all Zoan fruit have wills, and this one finds its way to an appropriate master time and again. It's not as egregious as other stories', but it's a lil disappointing. Folks have quickly pieced together ample evidence/foreshadowing we were provided for this moment over the years, so it fits I guess. I just maybe thought mastery of his DF would come in the final arc, but that just leaves room for further growth I suppose (if we have 1-3 more stops before Laugh Tale after Wano). I still can't believe they kept up the lie for so long, though. The one canon I chose to believe said YO HO HO HE TOOK A BITE OF GUM GUM... perhaps I was a fool for taking it to heart...

But I mean, I posed this concern two weeks ago. If this is SSJ, and (after letting him power up to 100% over 3 episodes while the planet is exploding) he rolls Kaido here, it does beg the question of how anyone will be able to stop Luffy after this. Sakazuki ain't that strong. Teach is a crafty mf, but won't have the firepower in his crew to match the likes of what Zoro/Sanji/Yamato/Jinbe will muster in 1v1 fights. I think those factions would need to team up to try to take Luffy's crew and extended grand fleet in the end. A finale to look forward to I suppose.

Glad we get another two chapters right away.

Spoiler: show

It does seem like a huge Haki breakthrough too. His conqueror's Haki was going wild, fucking up a lot of people with him not in the immediate vicinity

[detlef]

Spoiler: show

I'm not crazy about the character design or the weird toon effects. Also, I always liked that Luffy's best trait was his determination and that he could overcome a subpar fruit through sheer will. So this has definitely taken a shine off it for me.
With that said, it's still exciting as hell and I'm happy we got to this point.

[Bweigelt]

Spoiler: show

I mean I get that some people don't like the fact that he's like the chosen one now, but lets not pretend he wasn't like that before too. His Grandfather was considered equal to Roger and Whitebeard, while his Father is the leader of revolutionaries and he has been mentored by a current yonkou and rogers first mate, he was never some nobody that just got by on pure will. Also this helps explain some weird things he could do that had nothing to do with rubber, like the red hawk attack and even just the super weird appearance and attakcs of gear fourth

[Kanriel]

Spoiler: show

I mean I get that some people don't like the fact that he's like the chosen one now, but lets not pretend he wasn't like that before too. His Grandfather was considered equal to Roger and Whitebeard, while his Father is the leader of revolutionaries and he has been mentored by a current yonkou and rogers first mate, he was never some nobody that just got by on pure will. Also this helps explain some weird things he could do that had nothing to do with rubber, like the red hawk attack and even just the super weird appearance and attakcs of gear fourth

Spoiler: show

This so much. I don't get the discourse of people thinking this ruins Luffy being some unknown underdog, he was always a guy with crazy connections across the world

[Lucavi]

He's the same as Naruto: he always was the chosen one. There are rare few shounen that don't have the protag as the chosen one. Yusuke had Raizen, Goku had the legendary Super Sayian, Naruto had... Jesus Christ, what DIDN'T he have?

It is what it is. I'm just interested to see what it'll be like when you introduce The Mask into an anime, and here we are.

[Zeb]

Spoiler: show

This scene better have a new remix of Overtaken

[Qalbert]

https://www.bandainamcoent.com/games/one-piece-odyssey

ONE PIECE ODYSSEY is an RPG project filled with the unique elements of adventure from ONE PIECE that has been highly desired by fans. This project has been in the works for many years so that fans can truly touch the world of ONE PIECE and now is ready to be unveiled!

Join this brand-new RPG featuring new character and monster designs produced by Eiichiro Oda, the author of ONE PIECE. The game is also complemented by the beautiful music of Motoi Sakuraba, a composer well known for his various contributions to video games such as the Dark Souls and Tales of series.

A broken Thousand Sunny… Scattered crew members… Luffy’s missing straw hat…

During their voyage, the Straw Hats, led by Monkey D. Luffy are swallowed by a huge storm at sea. They end up on a mysterious island full of nature amidst the storm and become separated from each other. The crew sets out on a new adventurous journey filled with wonders of a raging nature, powerful enemies, and strange encounters with island locals. Work together with Luffy and his crew to set sail once again!

[Vaspinne]

As much as I love the OP manga, World Seeker was a trash game and I have little to no expectations on this being much better.

Something about it having an original story immediately loses points for me given how good the actual story is

[Tymon]

Yeah this is going to suck. I guarantee you it will.

None of these games ever end up getting good scenario designers anymore. The Budokai and Ninja Storm era is dead. The recent Demon Slayer game is proof of concept.

[Lokus]

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LMAO I love this manga.

[BWYuko]

Spoiler: show

Law and Kid making the face is too much...this is incredible. Luffy's going to Bugs Bunny Kaido to death.

[Lucavi]

There is nothing stronger than toon force. The Mask proved that. The power to just shit on reality cannot be matched.

[Petitssk]

I'm sure a lot of it is just the horrendous pacing, but with Wano, it feels like I'm ready to just start skipping through episodes and just watching the actual good stuff.

Every arc so far has had a few great moments, but overall, even when disregarding the blatant padding, One Piece as a whole feels like it's just average, though I imagine many of the problems are exacerbated by the Anime's padding. Most of the humor is lost on me and when they start stretching out fights, it's hard to enjoy them either since they obviously don't have the budget to actually make them look good, which leaves each arc with a few select fight sequences that are fun to watch and also some parts where the story picks up enough pace or gets to the parts that really get the emotions going.

Overall, I probably enjoyed Fishman Island and Zou the most. Zou was top-tier thanks to lack of fights, great world building and introducing interesting characters, whereas Fishman Island massively suffered from horrible antagonists, but made up for it with an absolutely great conclusion. Dressrosa was just too much and the villains felt too bizarre, not to mention the usual pattern of the general population being asshats whom you need to be grateful to when they stop wanting to murder you or cheering for slaves fighting each other to the death, next to other issues such as hating Rebecca for being born (I think only Naruto was worse in that regard).

Whole Cake Island, on the other hand, did not feel as overloaded as Dressrosa, but was similarly bizarre; it was at this point that the gimmick of Ruffy going Gear 4 too early into the fight and then having to spend a few episodes in the middle of the fight recovering got really old, however. Sanji's backstory also suffered from everyone seeming like villains from a Saturday morning cartoon and it was almost hard to take it seriously. Again, a few great moments in between, but overall just average to decent.

I really, really, hope Wano becomes more enjoyable, but again, too much padding. Would honestly prefer fillers at this point so I could just skip them entirely and enjoy a decently paced Anime.

[Kanriel]

Yeah the issue is there's no room for fillers with OP being constant long arc/sagas, so they either do what they're doing or they stop making the anime for a bit. But OP is way too fucking popular to stop with the anime for a season or two, so it just...ends up sucking instead. I've got no interest in watching the anime for this reason.

[Petitssk]

Yeah the issue is there's no room for fillers with OP being constant long arc/sagas, so they either do what they're doing or they stop making the anime for a bit. But OP is way too fucking popular to stop with the anime for a season or two, so it just...ends up sucking instead. I've got no interest in watching the anime for this reason.

Don't say that! Didn't Bleach have what, three fillers in the middle of the Karakura War? Anime did just fine, I guess.

That being said, after the initial setup, the OP Anime really hit a stride in Wano where the padding becomes less annoying and it's fun to just watch through it all. Of course, a lot of it hinges on the story being sufficiently good, but so far, Wano really is shaping up to be among the best arcs so far.

Edit: Finally done. Wano's still rather nice, but the raid is taking way too long again with way too much going on at once. Not to mention downright bizarre cases of padding such as two separate characters having the same two-minute flashback to the battle with Oz, of all fights, in separate episodes, upon encountering the Numbers. Aside from Ace having a flashback of his own past within a flashback of Yamato's past at least. Seriously, though, is there anyone whose life he did not change upon a chance-encounter?

[Zeb]

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[BWYuko]