Christian Ashley and TJ Blackwell dive deep into the wild and whimsical world of Dressrosa in this episode of Systematic Geekology. They kick things off by tackling the arc's sprawling narrative and its labyrinthine plot twists, all while keeping it chill and engaging. With over 100 chapters and 118 anime episodes, the Dressrosa arc is not just a marathon; it's an emotional rollercoaster that showcases Luffy's epic battles, the complexities of Doflamingo's villainy, and the heart-wrenching backstories of its characters. Christian and TJ bring their A-game as they share their thoughts on character development, the introduction of Devil Fruit awakenings, and the sheer chaos that unfolds in the Coliseum. So buckle up and prepare for a lively discussion that’s equal parts insightful and entertaining, as they navigate the high seas of One Piece lore with their signature wit and camaraderie.
The Dressrosa arc of One Piece is a sprawling saga that intertwines the lives of pirates, toys, and a complex villain who plays puppet master to the chaos. Christian Ashley and TJ Blackwell dive deep into this narrative, exploring how Dressrosa serves not only as a battleground for Luffy and his crew but also as a mirror reflecting deeper themes of identity, memory, and the nature of power. They discuss the staggering length of the arc, which spans over 100 chapters and 118 episodes, and how it challenges viewers and readers alike with its dense storytelling and multitude of characters. From the introduction of fan-favorites like Rebecca and the enigmatic Fujitora to the tragic backstory of Law and the sinister machinations of Doflamingo, the duo examines how these elements come together to create a rich, albeit sometimes overwhelming, tapestry. Amidst the chaos, they highlight the moments of levity and humor that make One Piece a beloved series, reminding listeners that even in the darkest times, there's always room for laughter and camaraderie.
The episode doesn't shy away from critiquing the pacing and narrative structure that have led some fans to groan at the length of the arc. Yet, Christian and TJ also celebrate the character development and emotional stakes that unfold, particularly through the lens of Usopp and his surprising heroics. They discuss how Usopp's journey from a cowardly sharpshooter to a figure of hope and inspiration for the toys adds layers to his character and elevates the stakes of the plot. The hosts engage in light-hearted banter while dissecting the arc's most intense battles and emotional moments, creating an atmosphere that feels both engaging and approachable for listeners. Ultimately, they conclude that despite its flaws, Dressrosa is a pivotal arc that sets the stage for future storylines and character arcs, leaving fans eagerly anticipating what comes next in the One Piece universe.
Takeaways:
The Dressrosa arc is a sprawling tale with over 100 chapters, packed with intense character backstories and intricate plotlines that unfold like a well-crafted tapestry.
Christian and TJ dive deep into the complexities of Doflamingo as a villain, showcasing how his awakening fruit abilities redefine the stakes for the Straw Hat crew.
Luffy's journey in Dressrosa introduces new friends and foes, culminating in epic battles that test his limits and evolve his fighting style with the debut of Gear Fourth.
The emotional weight of familial bonds is illustrated through Kairos and Rebecca's storyline, making the arc resonate on a deeper level beyond mere action and adventure.
The podcast humorously critiques the pacing issues of Dressrosa, likening it to reading a dense literary classic, but ultimately appreciates its rich lore and character development.
The introduction of Devil Fruit awakenings adds a thrilling layer of complexity to the One Piece universe, setting the stage for future confrontations and power dynamics.
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Systematic Geekology
Our show focuses around our favorite fandoms that we discuss from a Christian perspective. We do not try to put Jesus into all our favorite stories, but rather we try to ask the questions the IPs are asking, then addressing those questions from our perspective. We are not all ordained, but we are the Priests to the Geeks, in the sense that we try to serve as mediators between the cultures around our favorite fandoms and our faith communities.
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Transcripts
Speaker A:
Foreign.
Speaker A:
How long is the Dressrosa arc?
Speaker A:
We're gonna be asking this question and a lot more in today's episode of Sismic Ecology.
Speaker A:
We are the priest of the geeks, continuing through our series on one piece, going art.
Speaker A:
By art, and I mean me.
Speaker A:
We.
Speaker A:
Not because I'm here Christian nationally, but also because I'm here with the man who created the God God Fruit, TJ Blackwell.
Speaker A:
How's it going, tj?
Speaker B:
Great.
Speaker A:
Yeah, perfect.
Speaker A:
TJ himself, of course, is the most op character in one piece.
Speaker A:
And we're going to continue there.
Speaker A:
But before we actually head that way, tj, what have you been geeking out on recently?
Speaker B:
Well, most recently, Dr. Pepper Tic Tacs.
Speaker A:
Dr. Pepper Tic Tacs.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
That was today.
Speaker B:
That was a revelation for me.
Speaker A:
Okay.
Speaker B:
But actually, generally Two things.
Speaker B:
Cyberpunk:
Speaker B:
Phenomenal.
Speaker B:
I don't know why it took me so long to get back to it.
Speaker B:
Might be a top 10 game of all time for me.
Speaker B:
Maybe it will probably end up there by the end of it.
Speaker B:
And Street Fighter 6.
Speaker B:
Just because one of my friends was like, hey, Street Fighter 6 is on sale.
Speaker B:
And I was like, okay, sure, we'll buy it.
Speaker B:
Yeah, he's not been enjoying it.
Speaker A:
Was he one of those.
Speaker A:
He likes fighting games, but he's just bad at him.
Speaker B:
He's getting better.
Speaker A:
Okay.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I've never been good at it.
Speaker A:
The button meshing isn't for me.
Speaker A:
I'm just not coordinated enough.
Speaker B:
Me.
Speaker A:
I'm well aware.
Speaker A:
I just picked up.
Speaker A:
I'd read it years ago, but I don't.
Speaker A:
Didn't actually own it until now.
Speaker A:
Tales from Jabba's palace, which is an anthology book of short stories of the different members of Jabba's palace, much like they did one for Mosazi Cantina back in the day.
Speaker A:
Bounty hunters and so on.
Speaker A:
So it was a good, nice, fun book.
Speaker A:
Really enjoyed it.
Speaker B:
I'm gonna show this off just to you all of our.
Speaker B:
Our audience is just gonna have to be jealous.
Speaker B:
But this is.
Speaker B:
This is my.
Speaker B:
My Snackbox micro leverless controller.
Speaker B:
And I've got Luffy on it.
Speaker A:
Perfect.
Speaker B:
Gangster Luffy.
Speaker A:
But very apropos for the episode we're having today.
Speaker A:
So you've heard us talk about it, maybe even dreaded it.
Speaker A:
But the day is here.
Speaker A:
We're going to be talking about all of Dressrosa in one episode, and we're going to do so in 40 to 50 minutes.
Speaker A:
Maybe.
Speaker A:
We'll see.
Speaker A:
So, TJ, would you like to help me go along and explain what the heck happens?
Speaker A:
And Dressrosa.
Speaker B:
I'll do what I can.
Speaker B:
I think there are easier questions.
Speaker B:
I think they're easier questions.
Speaker A:
What is the purpose of life?
Speaker A:
No.
Speaker A:
Why am I here?
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So those are good examples.
Speaker B:
Those are good examples.
Speaker B:
Dressrosa is longer than some series in Shonen Jump, but manga and especially anime.
Speaker B:
The anime is longer than a lot of Shonen Jump series.
Speaker B:
Probably most of them, mathematically.
Speaker B:
So 102 chapters.
Speaker B:
108.
Speaker C:
18.
Speaker A:
18.
Speaker B:
118 episodes.
Speaker C:
Yep.
Speaker B:
So let's get into it.
Speaker B:
Yeah, let's get into it.
Speaker B:
So Dressrosa starts.
Speaker B:
And it starts.
Speaker B:
Are we already with Law and Luffy and they're, like, already considering their alliance?
Speaker A:
They've already done that.
Speaker A:
And now Doflamingo's kind of contacted them about meeting up.
Speaker A:
He says, I got something special for you.
Speaker A:
Bring Caesar with you.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Doflamingo wants Caesar Clown.
Speaker B:
He knows Luffy and Law have him.
Speaker B:
So he arranges a little.
Speaker B:
A little deal.
Speaker B:
And this is after, you know, the warlords start to disband.
Speaker B:
Doflamingo withdraws Laws stripped of his title.
Speaker B:
Pretty sure, technically.
Speaker A:
Because of the alliance.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I think.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So we're dealing with that.
Speaker B:
Luffy and Law form their alliance and get invited to Dressrosa.
Speaker B:
I can't believe I almost forgot.
Speaker B:
They invited Dressrosa.
Speaker B:
And the Navy, of course, is like, wow.
Speaker B:
Luffy and Law, I want them to work together.
Speaker B:
So they send Fujitora that same way to deal with that.
Speaker B:
And we end up in Dressrosa.
Speaker B:
Do you want to go like, one at a time, mini arc for mini arc?
Speaker A:
Yeah, sure.
Speaker A:
Whenever we feel like a natural stopping point, because it's at this point the crew kind of, you know, this split up gang.
Speaker A:
And I think it's.
Speaker A:
Yeah, it's Law, Usopp and Robin.
Speaker A:
They're gonna go take Caesar to go to the meeting place.
Speaker A:
And I think this is also when Law gives them the Viva card so that they can find their way to Zo.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Then we have another team of Nami, Sanji, Brooke, Chopper, and I think Momonosuke comes with them.
Speaker A:
They're going to be like the.
Speaker A:
The rescue team or something like that.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And they find Samurai Rescue team.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker A:
Because they're looking for Conjuro.
Speaker A:
Because.
Speaker A:
Yeah, Kinemon had mentioned that his friend had been captured by Doflamingo.
Speaker A:
So I'm gonna go find him.
Speaker A:
And I discovered that Dressrosa is kind of this place where humans and these, like, living toys kind of like live together.
Speaker A:
So, like, oh, that is kind of interesting.
Speaker B:
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker B:
Yeah, it's a really cool island.
Speaker B:
And it not just overstay its welcome.
Speaker A:
It's like Luffy and the rest are going to be doing their own thing.
Speaker A:
And of course, like five seconds in, Luffy gets into a fight where he's attacked by some pirates, and there's some shenanigans going on with there.
Speaker A:
And it's through the process of all this that they learn that the smile factory there, you know, is making more, you know, the artificial devil fruits.
Speaker A:
But there's also going to be the grand prize that Doflamingo was talking about.
Speaker A:
Is that the Metamera no Mi, which was Ace's devil fruit, has kind of been found after it reincarnated and now is like the top prize at the Coliseum there.
Speaker A:
So Luffy, of course, Ace is his brother.
Speaker A:
He loves him that much.
Speaker A:
He goes and volunteers to head to the Coliseum so that he can win that fruit.
Speaker A:
Because it's like the grand prize.
Speaker C:
Yep.
Speaker B:
And that's also where Fujitora shows up for the first time.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
And like, right off the bat, we get.
Speaker B:
Because he's one of my favorite marines.
Speaker B:
And we get a little piece of that because, you know, Fujitora solves the problem with these pirates.
Speaker B:
He's, you know, uses his.
Speaker B:
Oh, I don't remember what his fruit is called, but it's gravity.
Speaker B:
Yes, he controls gravity.
Speaker B:
And Luffy's like, hey, what's your name, man?
Speaker B:
And he's like, better for both of us, but don't answer that.
Speaker B:
See ya.
Speaker A:
It's a really cool intro to the character, especially to the crew.
Speaker A:
Like, okay, I can help you, but I'm also kind of against you at the same time.
Speaker A:
So let's part like this for right now.
Speaker A:
And so this is when Luffy signs up for the Coliseum, going by the name Lucy, because not really the most original of guys, our lad.
Speaker A:
And he ends up discovering that all the different blocks that are there and how he needs to fight to the top, and he ends up meeting two people.
Speaker A:
There's more than that.
Speaker A:
But two of the most important ones are this kind of.
Speaker A:
Wait, no.
Speaker A:
I may get things out of sequence.
Speaker A:
Does he meet the toy soldier yet?
Speaker A:
Or is that someone else?
Speaker B:
He doesn't mean toy soldier yet.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker A:
He meets Rebecca, who is kind of for all our comics fans out there.
Speaker A:
She's pretty much red Sonja with pink hair and a helmet, as opposed to everything else.
Speaker A:
She got the chainmail bikini down.
Speaker A:
Pep.
Speaker A:
She's like one of the top fighters there.
Speaker A:
And she's known as someone doesn't really kill her opponents.
Speaker A:
Just kind of like beats them until they kind of admit defeat or she knocks him out.
Speaker A:
Let's see then.
Speaker A:
You have something?
Speaker C:
No.
Speaker B:
He does meet the soldier.
Speaker B:
He meets.
Speaker B:
He meets the soldier here before he meets Rebecca on his way to the Coliseum.
Speaker A:
Okay.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker A:
So yeah.
Speaker A:
100 chapter plus 102 getting all this straight.
Speaker A:
Show some grace.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
So as again, it's also when Cavenus shows up and.
Speaker A:
And we find out that.
Speaker A:
Oh yeah.
Speaker A:
Luffy's identity gets exposed in the midst of all this fighting and Cavendish just has this huge thing against Garp.
Speaker A:
So he's also going to try and go against Luffy.
Speaker B:
Burgess is there?
Speaker A:
Yes, Burgess is there.
Speaker B:
Oh my goodness.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
It's insane.
Speaker B:
They introduce more characters or reintroduce more characters in Dressrosa than most mangas get a chance to introduced.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I mean this is one of those things like that there's always been a sort of bloat.
Speaker A:
And I don't mean that in the negative sense to one piece.
Speaker A:
And the fact that there's a lot of proper nouns you have to learn as far as places and people.
Speaker A:
And it becomes a little more evident now that we're gonna have to remember more of those names as time goes on.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
It's rough.
Speaker B:
The one piece theory.
Speaker B:
Crafters deserve a doctorate.
Speaker A:
Oh.
Speaker B:
I guess just for containing all of this information in a way that makes sense.
Speaker A:
So then we go over to Robin and the rest and they.
Speaker A:
She actually kind of notices that there's agents of CP0 which is far superior to CP9 kind of wandering around.
Speaker A:
So she's kind of curious about what that is.
Speaker A:
Sanji ends up meeting this woman called Violet.
Speaker A:
Actually Viola, who he ends up of course falling in love with because attractive woman.
Speaker A:
And she tricks him because she's actually working with the Don Quixote pirates as an assassin and tries to take him out of the equation.
Speaker A:
And in the middle of all this Robin and everyone else kind of gets separated and she finds this like village of dwarves and there's a very funny little Gulliver's Travel kind of moment with her.
Speaker A:
She's kind of.
Speaker A:
You.
Speaker A:
You all know the scene.
Speaker A:
Let's see.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
It's.
Speaker B:
It's kind of at this point it.
Speaker B:
It's almost like reading the Bible reading dress Rosa.
Speaker B:
Like you.
Speaker B:
You get really into Genesis and then it's different.
Speaker B:
Like oh, Exodus.
Speaker B:
Cool.
Speaker B:
Oh, Leviticus.
Speaker C:
All right.
Speaker B:
We're going all over the place.
Speaker B:
All These different plot points are getting a bunch of time.
Speaker B:
And after finding the Tin Tatens, you know, the dwarves and stuff, we go to or around that same time a little bit before that.
Speaker B:
They're going to hand Caesar Clown over to Doflamingo.
Speaker B:
Right?
Speaker B:
And they trick him.
Speaker B:
Yes, of course they trick him.
Speaker B:
Law hands over a fake Caesar's heart to Doflamingo with shambles.
Speaker B:
And, you know, they get away with it.
Speaker B:
Which leads to Doflamingo not.
Speaker B:
Not really liking them very much, which is a bad person to make angry here.
Speaker B:
But then we go back to Dwarves and the Colosseum again.
Speaker B:
So we go back to the Colosseum.
Speaker B:
We go through Luffy going through the ranks.
Speaker B:
He tames a bull, names it Usi because he is super creative.
Speaker B:
Bellamy is here also.
Speaker A:
Mm.
Speaker B:
As a reminder, Bellamy's back.
Speaker B:
He gets offered a position in the Don Quixote Pirates if he kills Luffy.
Speaker B:
Which missed his chance.
Speaker B:
Maybe.
Speaker B:
Maybe back in the day, but not anymore.
Speaker B:
Not anymore.
Speaker B:
Sure, sure.
Speaker B:
Cannot do it anymore.
Speaker B:
But going through that fight.
Speaker B:
Qin Zhao has his problems with Luffy and Law because they're part of the worst generation.
Speaker B:
Cavendish, you know, thinks they all stole his thunder.
Speaker B:
You know, Cavendish was supposed to be the big pirate.
Speaker B:
And then here comes the worst generation.
Speaker B:
That's his motivation.
Speaker B:
Good grief.
Speaker A:
We also get the flashbacks with the Rebecca.
Speaker A:
Her being cared for by what?
Speaker A:
What she just.
Speaker A:
Who she just knows is like, the Thunder Soldier.
Speaker A:
How he, like, kind of protected her as a kid.
Speaker A:
And now they've been kind of separated, and we're not entirely sure why just yet.
Speaker A:
And at that same time, this is when I think Frankie is talking with them and he kind of learns, like, who the toys actually are.
Speaker C:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
Which is like the first major plot twist we get in Dressrosa.
Speaker B:
And there are quite a few.
Speaker B:
But we find out that the toys are all people.
Speaker B:
Former residents of Dressrosa.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
And they're being converted by a devil fruit when they, you know, aren't the perfect citizen.
Speaker A:
And like, part of that process of them being transferred in the toys is like, people kind of forgetting who they are.
Speaker A:
So it could be your husband, it could be your brother or whatever.
Speaker A:
And they get implanted in a toy, and suddenly there's always been this toy.
Speaker A:
You forget about the person.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And it really is tragic because when they're able to, like, overcome, you know, being a toy and being forgotten, they call that human sickness, where toys think they're people and they throw them away.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
It's very brutal.
Speaker A:
Very effective, too.
Speaker A:
It's like, just the way these.
Speaker A:
These toys used to be human beings and no one believes them and they're discarded if they don't fit into society anymore.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And it's, you know, there where you really start to understand how Doflamingo is kind of pulling the strings here.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
And then speaking of the man himself, he kind of starts going after Law and the crew.
Speaker A:
And it's revealed that Law and his family and Doflamingo's family used to be part of the 20 families who created the world government.
Speaker A:
Until it's Coyote's family that kind of decides we're going to do our own thing.
Speaker B:
No, it's the other family that stayed on Dressrosa.
Speaker B:
Coyote's family went to Mary Geoise.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker B:
And then him and Corazon and in Law.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:
All that sad stuff.
Speaker A:
So we find one of the things is that Law just really hates, you know, Doflamingo because of all that he's done.
Speaker A:
And he starts fighting against him, but he just can't, like, get the edge against him.
Speaker B:
Doflamingo at this point was, like, easily the most powerful antagonist we've had because he's the first character that we meet with.
Speaker B:
An awakened fruit.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
Which is where we learn about that.
Speaker B:
Horrifying.
Speaker A:
Because one of the things we do learn is that Devil Fruits, you start with the initial power, but, like, if you're more in tune with, like, the.
Speaker A:
The spirit or soul of the fruit itself, you can kind of awaken it.
Speaker A:
As in, like, gain extra abilities.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And we find out Don Quixote do Flamingo is one of them.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
And that's why he's such a huge powerhouse that barely anyone can, like, give him any kind of thing that would resemble damage.
Speaker C:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
He's tough.
Speaker B:
He's tough.
Speaker B:
Also work, I guess we sort of glossed over it.
Speaker B:
Doflamingo, Great design.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:
Absolute classic.
Speaker A:
Oh.
Speaker A:
Peak one piece design.
Speaker A:
It's like one of those.
Speaker A:
If any of the series, he'd be like some joke character looking like he does.
Speaker A:
But in this one, you kind of notice all the more goofy someone looks, probably the more I should take him seriously.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Super evil.
Speaker B:
He looks like.
Speaker B:
I'm going to describe him as best as I can, a Rocky Horror Picture show character that is 19ft tall and walks like John Lennon.
Speaker A:
I mean, you're not wrong.
Speaker C:
Mm.
Speaker B:
So one of the best antagonists in the series, but we can move on.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
So it's at this point in the kind of.
Speaker A:
The different crews are, like, being attacked by Members of people associated with Doflamingo.
Speaker A:
And we find out that the Sunny itself is now being pursued by the Big mom pirate ship because Caesar owes Big mom money.
Speaker A:
And we haven't met Big mom yet, but this is kind of setting up to for that down the way.
Speaker A:
And Bellamy kind of comes to Luffy, and he's thinking about carrying it out, but he decides ultimately not to.
Speaker A:
And he's going to say, okay, you know what?
Speaker A:
You're a better man than me.
Speaker A:
You know?
Speaker A:
And that's when it started.
Speaker A:
Kind of develop their rapport between them, and some guy just shows up, and it takes Luffy a minute.
Speaker A:
Wait.
Speaker A:
Wait a minute.
Speaker A:
Oh, that's Sabo.
Speaker A:
Sabo's still alive.
Speaker C:
Yep, Yep.
Speaker B:
So we get Luffy and Sabo reuniting after Ace dies, you know.
Speaker B:
So, like, this is huge for Luffy.
Speaker B:
Savage shows up the Coliseum, and Sabo already has the Maramora no mi.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
Which is odd.
Speaker B:
Which is suspicious of, you know.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Them.
Speaker B:
But we learn a little bit about Sabo.
Speaker B:
Do we learn at this point that he's part of the revolutionary army?
Speaker A:
I think that's later on.
Speaker A:
Okay, let's see.
Speaker A:
Because this is when, like, Senor Pink and all them start showing up fighting against Frankie.
Speaker B:
Another one of those characters that in any other series would just be a joke ride off.
Speaker B:
And in one piece, Oda is like, here, I'm gonna introduce this grown man that wears a bib and a diaper and a bonnet and has his pacifier.
Speaker B:
And then I'm going to turn him into the biggest sympathy point in the ark.
Speaker A:
So.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker B:
You're welcome.
Speaker A:
And it's also around this point that the Thunder Soldier is, like, making the plans for, like, okay, here's where and how we're going to take down Doflamingo.
Speaker A:
And this is when we get into his backstory, where we learn that this whole time, they've been talking about this legendary gladiator who everyone looked up to.
Speaker A:
His name was Kairos.
Speaker A:
And this is him.
Speaker A:
And not only that, but he is Rebecca's dad.
Speaker A:
And as a result of Doflamingo coming in and taking over the kingdom, he got turned into a toy soldier.
Speaker A:
She forgot about her dad.
Speaker A:
He's been looking out for her the whole time because there's that little bit of him that did remember.
Speaker A:
And not to be outed by anything, he tried not to let the association be too well known so that he could still look over her.
Speaker A:
And that's why he's trying to overthrow Doflamingo because of everything that happened there.
Speaker A:
And is this.
Speaker A:
Is this when Usopp has figured out everything and.
Speaker A:
Yeah, this is when he starts freeing the toys because he's heard the backstory and he's figured out how to reverse everything.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So this is where Usopp kind of gets a moment to shine because he's, like, sympathetic to the Tin Titans, and they start to follow him, worship him.
Speaker B:
And then you get, like, the same thing with the toys, and all the toys love Usopp, and we get God.
Speaker B:
Usopp, That's a different character, but, you know, related.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So good for him.
Speaker B:
Good for him.
Speaker A:
And this is when we find out that they haven't actually been fighting Doflamingo this whole time.
Speaker A:
It's been a clone made out of string, which has pretty much all the same power as him, but the real Doflamingo has not taken a single bit of damage this entire fight.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Doflamingo is awesome.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
He's gonna be using this thing that he calls the birdcage to, like, keep the people inside of the island and cut off the island from the entire rest of the world so he can have, like, his own personal little fiefdom that nobody really bothers with.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So I guess we should explain it.
Speaker B:
His.
Speaker B:
His Devil Fruit.
Speaker B:
I don't remember the Japanese name.
Speaker B:
String.
Speaker B:
String fruit.
Speaker B:
He can control strings, and after it awakens, that turns him into the strongest person in this ocean, naturally.
Speaker B:
So he can do pretty much whatever he wants with his strings.
Speaker B:
It's like an old timey movie.
Speaker A:
It's one of those, like, kind of, you know, similar JoJo Part 6.
Speaker A:
We think Julian gets the.
Speaker A:
The string stand.
Speaker A:
You're kind of like, well, how the heck is that supposed to do anything?
Speaker A:
But, like, Araki being a Rocky, Oda being Oda.
Speaker A:
They said, no, you're not.
Speaker A:
You're thinking too small.
Speaker A:
This is how someone with that power could actually work.
Speaker A:
They can create these string clones of themselves.
Speaker A:
They can use the ability to whip people from far distances or attack people in ways that you wouldn't expect because they're using string.
Speaker A:
And it's really well thought out.
Speaker C:
Yep.
Speaker B:
It's like when you're a kid and arguing with your friends about Avatar the Last Airbender, which element you would use.
Speaker B:
And you say air, because you can just make a little air tunnel and use everything else, too.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
They're cheating.
Speaker B:
Jolene and Doflamingo, but especially Doflamingo.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I'd say he looks a little better overall in how he adapts.
Speaker A:
I mean, Jolene has some great feats.
Speaker A:
Don't get me wrong.
Speaker A:
But I think Doflamingo's got her as far as, like, application.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
I've never seen Jolene dominate an island.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
True.
Speaker A:
Then this is when everyone in the coliseum start, you know, rebelling against Doflamingo.
Speaker A:
Nickiros has come back.
Speaker A:
They figured out who he is.
Speaker A:
They want to join him with this.
Speaker A:
This is when we get all our individual battles and the Marines come in with Fujitora to try and quell this rebellion, but also try and capture the pirates.
Speaker A:
So we've got this essentially three way battle occurring right now.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And Treble.
Speaker B:
One of my least favorite characters.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Just ugly.
Speaker A:
It's at this point we find.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Kinemon has been able to locate Kanjiro.
Speaker A:
Find out.
Speaker A:
He's got the ability to draw things, but his drawings all look terrible.
Speaker A:
So like you can get stuff done.
Speaker A:
He can create these images into being, but they don't perform as well as if he could draw well.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Once again, more.
Speaker A:
More individual fights.
Speaker A:
Usopp gets some nice opportunities again to show how awesome he is taking down some people.
Speaker A:
And this is when he actually unlocks.
Speaker A:
Which hockey is it?
Speaker A:
Observation hockey.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yep.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker A:
Without realizing it.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And with this, it kind of.
Speaker B:
I wouldn't say kick starts because, you know, Zora's kind of been able to whatever.
Speaker B:
But it becomes more common after this.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
It's kind of necessary to be active after this.
Speaker A:
When your villains start leveling up, you kind of have to level up too to fight against them.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And at this time, Luffy is also like winning the hearts of the people in the Coliseum slowly.
Speaker B:
And, you know, we're getting some hints about what might happen after Dressrosa and the.
Speaker B:
The Grand Straw Hat fleet.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
So that's pretty cool.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
So with everyone else fighting against Doflamingo, we kind of go into laws flashback where I think it's 16 years ago.
Speaker A:
15.
Speaker A:
16.
Speaker A:
He, Buffalo and Baby 5 is another character introduced here.
Speaker A:
Were just kids and they joined the Don Quixote Pirates.
Speaker A:
And what is it?
Speaker A:
He.
Speaker A:
When he was younger, there was this infection that came through his town and he hid from being killed by just hiding under some corpses.
Speaker A:
Do you remember that better to me?
Speaker B:
No, that sounds right.
Speaker A:
Okay.
Speaker B:
That sounds right.
Speaker A:
And found out that I think Corazon was behind it.
Speaker B:
Not behind it.
Speaker B:
He was.
Speaker A:
Or associated.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Could have stopped it.
Speaker B:
I think it would be better.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
And like swears vengeance there and goes to the Don Quixote Pirates as well.
Speaker A:
Swearing vengeance because they're associated with him.
Speaker A:
Let's see.
Speaker A:
And see.
Speaker A:
The Doflamingo family was at some point persecuted for being world nobles.
Speaker A:
And so we also go into Doflamingo's flashback.
Speaker A:
That's what it is.
Speaker A:
So it's kind of.
Speaker A:
Kind of dual flashbacks, which, of course, adds more chapters and adds more, like, understanding to the background of what's happening here, but also kind of takes you away from everything else that was happening.
Speaker A:
So keeping everything straight, not the best thing to do in this arc.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
This is like reading Anna Karenina, but in a manga, right?
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
And it's also through this that we learn that Law is a D. Yeah.
Speaker A:
Is that possessing the will of D?
Speaker A:
And this is where I think we first hear the term that they were rumored to be natural enemies of God, which, I mean, this series, pretty dang cool.
Speaker A:
Real life, not so much.
Speaker A:
But I'll take it here.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Kind of awesome.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
So.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
One of the things is that Law had an illness as well that he had contracted, thinking he wouldn't have too much to live.
Speaker A:
And I think it's Corazon gives him the OPAP fruit to help heal the illness and also give him the abilities that he currently has today.
Speaker B:
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker A:
And this is also.
Speaker A:
Let's see.
Speaker A:
Because he found out that he was going to try and take down a Doflamingo at some point.
Speaker A:
It was trying to stop him from doing that.
Speaker A:
And then Doflamingo actually murders Corazon.
Speaker C:
Yep.
Speaker B:
And one of the.
Speaker B:
Well, Coco Razon's Devil Fruit was like the Silence Fruit, something like that.
Speaker B:
And the last time he used it was to make sure Law couldn't hear him die.
Speaker B:
Like, that's rough.
Speaker A:
Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:
So you get a lot more fights after that, individual ones.
Speaker A:
But really the main focus is Luffy Law V Doflamingo.
Speaker A:
And this is when Luffy has kind of figured out that Gear two is not working.
Speaker A:
Gear three is not working.
Speaker A:
Well, what if I try out this new thing I just got as we're introduced to gear 4?
Speaker A:
Mm.
Speaker B:
He's not creative when it comes to names, but when it comes to his body.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker A:
So he's able to, you know, get a little bit of more of an edge in the fight against Doflamingo, and.
Speaker A:
But Doflamingo is just still so powerful that even with this new edge, it's not enough.
Speaker A:
Until eventually, what does he do?
Speaker A:
He activates Gear four again and kind of breaks all the strings that Doflamingo is using.
Speaker A:
And just one Punches him.
Speaker B:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
This is very satisfying.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:
It's hard to say peak one piece, but there's a lot of phenomenal moments in Dressrosa, and that's for sure one of them.
Speaker A:
That's one trope I never get tired of.
Speaker A:
It's like the one punch to the face that takes out a villain after.
Speaker A:
Especially after all that they've done.
Speaker A:
And speaking of someone who deserves it, Doflamingo deserves that one punch.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:
Like do.
Speaker B:
Flamingo has zero redeemable qualities.
Speaker B:
Zero his outfits.
Speaker C:
Cool.
Speaker C:
Yep.
Speaker B:
That's not redeemable quality.
Speaker A:
He is pure villain through and through.
Speaker A:
So this is kind of where the arc itself kind of ends.
Speaker A:
We do get a little bit of a denouement where we're seeing, like, the Marines making alliances.
Speaker A:
Here we see other pirates like X Drake making their plans.
Speaker A:
Sabo leaves in, like, the middle of the night.
Speaker A:
And this is when we learned that he's with the revolutionaries.
Speaker B:
That's right.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Because he was warning them about CP0.
Speaker A:
And this is where we learned Rebecca.
Speaker A:
I don't think I mentioned they were monarchs back in the day.
Speaker A:
Kairos and them.
Speaker A:
But she is actually the princess of this nation.
Speaker A:
So she becomes the leader of Dressrosa again.
Speaker A:
And let's see.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah, this is what we find.
Speaker A:
The other group is heading towards this island.
Speaker A:
And oh, yeah, they're heading towards Zo.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker A:
And this is when they encounter.
Speaker A:
Goodness gracious this.
Speaker A:
Did they encounter Kaido or someone else who encountered it?
Speaker A:
He's trying to kill himself.
Speaker B:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Or they at least show us him trying to kill himself.
Speaker A:
Pirates.
Speaker A:
That's what it was.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
And yeah.
Speaker A:
So, yeah, Rebecca and Kairos reunite.
Speaker A:
After that, Luffy fights with Fujitora for a bit.
Speaker A:
And we have the creation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, where once again, Luffy, Law Bellamy, and a couple of the other pirates there just create their own alliance.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And we also.
Speaker B:
This is where Fujitora explained to us that, like, you know, Fujito is like, the third or fourth Marine to have come into contact with Luffy and then come out of the other side like this.
Speaker B:
This guy's not.
Speaker B:
Not a bad guy.
Speaker B:
I like this kid.
Speaker B:
This kid rocks.
Speaker B:
I'm not gonna kill this guy.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
And the final thing we kind of learned in this arc is that this whole time for everyone's wanted poster, it's been dead or alive, except for one person throughout the entire manga, and that's Sanji, who is wanted only alive.
Speaker A:
And that's where it kind of leaves us off with that.
Speaker B:
Yeah, it's good setup.
Speaker C:
It's a great setup.
Speaker A:
Tremendous for what's about to happen.
Speaker B:
So that's pretty much it.
Speaker B:
There's literally no way for us to cover actually everything that happens in Dressrosa.
Speaker A:
No, it's.
Speaker B:
It's 102 very dense chapters.
Speaker B:
That's why it's 118 of the slowest paced anime episodes of all time.
Speaker A:
So I have to ask you, like, now that we've gone through, like, not everything, but enough to sound somewhat competent, what was your initial, like, reaction to this art dress?
Speaker B:
Rose is awesome.
Speaker B:
As someone who was able to binge it all at once, Dressrose is awesome.
Speaker B:
Really phenomenal.
Speaker B:
There's so much that goes on.
Speaker B:
It's so deep.
Speaker B:
It's complex, it's exciting.
Speaker C:
It's.
Speaker B:
Every time you turn the page, something new is happening.
Speaker B:
There's actually so much going for it.
Speaker B:
It's kind of hard to believe that this is just.
Speaker B:
This is just a pit stop, you know, and you just.
Speaker B:
You can get so deep into it and how evil Doflamingo is.
Speaker B:
Just Rose was good.
Speaker B:
Just Rose is really good.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I will say I was a lot harsher to this one as I was reading it, being like, oh my gosh, can we please progress?
Speaker A:
Can we please progress?
Speaker A:
But it was actually progressing the whole time.
Speaker A:
It was just exhausting doing that.
Speaker A:
Waiting a week for the next chapter or sometimes two weeks.
Speaker A:
Because Odo is taking more time off for his health.
Speaker A:
Thank God.
Speaker A:
I'm glad he did so.
Speaker A:
Because being a mangaka is one of the worst jobs in the world as far as, like, keeping yourself healthy.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
And Shonen Jump has actually learned that to where once you become successful, they give you more time off.
Speaker B:
I had.
Speaker B:
If I had caught up to the manga before Dressrosa ended, I probably would have been miserable.
Speaker B:
I mean, I probably would have been miserable.
Speaker A:
I mean, it's a lot.
Speaker A:
It's a lot of really good stuff, but it's like waiting week to week.
Speaker A:
It was just a slog.
Speaker A:
But like rereading it, so much better.
Speaker C:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:
Being able to just go straight through it all just feels like it never ends.
Speaker B:
It's so good.
Speaker A:
So, like, do you have a favorite moment from this arc?
Speaker B:
For me personally, yeah.
Speaker B:
The Pika and Zorro fight I just always thought was so cool.
Speaker B:
Pika's really interesting character.
Speaker B:
We didn't really talk about him in the summary, but he is one of Don Quixote's like, Captains Generals, whatever he calls them.
Speaker B:
He has the Stone Stone fruit.
Speaker B:
The Ishii.
Speaker B:
Ishi no mi.
Speaker B:
And his name means light.
Speaker B:
That's funny.
Speaker B:
That's really funny.
Speaker B:
But also, I think the reason it's my favorite is because it's so ridiculous in the anime.
Speaker B:
It's like you watch Pika punch for, like, two minutes at a time because he becomes this giant stone man.
Speaker B:
It's actually two minutes of Pika trying to punch Zoro and Zorro, of course, cutting him to pieces.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
I love that fight.
Speaker B:
And that fight is awesome.
Speaker B:
Sabo showing up.
Speaker B:
That's awesome.
Speaker B:
That's really cool.
Speaker B:
There's a lot of great moments.
Speaker B:
I'm gonna mention one more.
Speaker A:
Go for it.
Speaker B:
I'm gonna stay firm in my answer.
Speaker B:
But when Luffy stops Doflamingo from killing, who was it on the ground?
Speaker A:
Was it Law?
Speaker A:
No.
Speaker B:
Law wouldn't let that happen.
Speaker A:
No.
Speaker A:
Gosh.
Speaker B:
I don't remember either way.
Speaker A:
Bellamy.
Speaker B:
Was it Bellamy?
Speaker B:
Might have been Bellamy.
Speaker B:
But yeah, it was definitely Bellamy.
Speaker B:
Because Bellamy's like, oh, yeah, I'm not gonna kill him.
Speaker B:
And Luffy.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker B:
And it's so cool.
Speaker B:
It just shows, like, hey, Doflamingo might be super strong, but Luffy's right there.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
He's rising up through the ranks for a reason.
Speaker A:
He's not a pushover.
Speaker B:
I love that.
Speaker B:
That's a beautiful moment.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I think I'm going to go with the exploration of Kairos backstory.
Speaker A:
He was a good leader.
Speaker A:
Look after his people.
Speaker A:
But then Doflamingo comes in, and he's forcibly implanted into this toy.
Speaker A:
And yet he retains enough of who he is to have this protective desire to look after Rebecca and, like, be with her this whole time.
Speaker A:
And like, that.
Speaker A:
I forget how much he remembers and how much is just like that drive to just protect her and then along the way, them reuniting again.
Speaker A:
It's just one of those great stories of family coming back together that I'm a sucker for.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
I have to agree.
Speaker A:
So, character.
Speaker A:
Your.
Speaker A:
What's the character?
Speaker A:
Who's.
Speaker A:
Who is the character?
Speaker A:
I should ask who, like, stood out the most for you in these arcs, past or new?
Speaker B:
That's hard.
Speaker B:
A lot of growth happens in Dressrosa.
Speaker A:
How are we supposed to narrow that down to one who's asking these questions?
Speaker B:
It was ridiculous.
Speaker B:
Whoever wrote this needs a lashing.
Speaker B:
But honestly, I think probably Bellamy.
Speaker B:
Just because it shows that Oda isn't afraid to have the kind of growth normally reserved for a main cast member.
Speaker B:
Happened to a villain.
Speaker A:
Mad respect for that answer.
Speaker A:
Bellamy.
Speaker A:
You know, when he first shows up, he's like, this punk.
Speaker A:
Luffy takes out fairly easily, considering who he's gone up against.
Speaker A:
And then he goes to this arc of, okay, I've been told if I could do this, if I kill Luffy, I can be part of this pristine, prestige pirate group.
Speaker A:
But kind of like him, and he's kind of a good guy, and he refuses to do it in that moment of refusal against someone that he knows far outclasses him.
Speaker A:
Like.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker A:
That's a great choice.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
There's a lot of great choices, though.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I'm gonna have to throw mine Usopp's way just for how he destabilizes, like, a ton of Doflamingo's plans without even being right next to Doflamingo.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
You know, learning the dwarves about who they are, how they're interacting with everything, shutting down the living toys and returning people back to their bodies.
Speaker A:
And who is responsible for this.
Speaker A:
I'm, like, in the background.
Speaker A:
Thank God he's not around.
Speaker A:
Let's see.
Speaker A:
Destroy him easily.
Speaker A:
It's just Usopp being Usopp.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And this is the arc where, like, Usopp kind of starts living up to that version of himself that he pretends to be.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker B:
It's great.
Speaker B:
It's really good.
Speaker B:
Like, we love to talk.
Speaker B:
Talk, you know, trash about Dressrosa, but it's phenomenal.
Speaker A:
It's just an easy joke to make.
Speaker B:
It's a really easy joke to make.
Speaker B:
The pacing is really bad in the anime.
Speaker A:
Oh.
Speaker A:
Especially in the manga I couldn't imagine watching.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Watching that weekly.
Speaker B:
I wouldn't have.
Speaker A:
Oh, no, no, no, no.
Speaker B:
I wouldn't have.
Speaker A:
There's a reason I stopped.
Speaker A:
I just read the manga.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
And every now and then, I'll watch an anime, you know?
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Spoilers for a certain other gear that shows up along the way.
Speaker A:
Had to see that.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
All right.
Speaker A:
So also introduced in this arc is Rebecca, and I saw a lot of hate for her character, especially reading a manga weekly.
Speaker A:
And I don't think it's.
Speaker A:
I think it's died down a little bit, but there's still a very vocal part of the fandom that just does not like her.
Speaker A:
And they just call her, like, this generic female character who's just there.
Speaker A:
She's just there to look, you know, in her chainmail bikini.
Speaker A:
And she's not a real fighter because she doesn't actually want to draw blood or anything like that or hurt anyone.
Speaker A:
She just wants to knock people out.
Speaker A:
Like, what are your thoughts on that criticism.
Speaker C:
I don't know.
Speaker B:
I feel like that's kind of a side effect of Oda's writing style.
Speaker B:
We know Oda struggles to write good women.
Speaker B:
He does, he does.
Speaker B:
Can't deny that he's done it a few times.
Speaker B:
He's knocked it out of the park with, you know, at least our main cast.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
At the very least.
Speaker B:
I don't think she's offensively bad.
Speaker B:
I don't think she's, like, phenomenal.
Speaker B:
Like, she's not a.
Speaker B:
Not a great standout character to me, but, like, she's still engaging.
Speaker B:
She's interesting.
Speaker B:
She has her own thing going on.
Speaker B:
She's connected to this island that is under duress.
Speaker A:
What's wrong?
Speaker B:
What's wrong with the character?
Speaker A:
Yeah, look, Oda gets criticism on how he designs his women.
Speaker A:
There's either.
Speaker A:
There's three forms.
Speaker A:
There's child, there's extremely attractive woman, and there's Gonk.
Speaker A:
You know what?
Speaker A:
That is a fair criticism.
Speaker A:
And, you know, there's a lot of same face being thrown around, too.
Speaker A:
It's like, you know, if you took off the hair of someone, maybe Nami and Robin look the same, and yet.
Speaker A:
Oh, Rebecca, too.
Speaker A:
Or Vivi.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I can see that.
Speaker A:
But it.
Speaker A:
It's.
Speaker A:
It's part of the genre to draw attractive women.
Speaker A:
Because who is this being primarily written for?
Speaker A:
Teenage boys?
Speaker A:
What's the number one thing most teenage boys are interested in?
Speaker A:
Beautiful women.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And you gotta think about the time that one piece started, especially, like, in the 90s, you know?
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker A:
So.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Do I want that to be every woman?
Speaker A:
No.
Speaker A:
But, like, you can have it show up.
Speaker A:
It's not offensive for that to be a thing.
Speaker A:
Now, if that was all that was to her character.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I think they'd have a lot more.
Speaker A:
But I think they're denying the fact that, yeah, she's not a regular fighter like everyone else.
Speaker A:
She's not out for blood.
Speaker A:
But, like, she cares about these people.
Speaker A:
She's trying to do something better for them.
Speaker A:
And she's using the Coliseum in the only way that she knows how, because she has no political power, she has no allies.
Speaker A:
This is like, the only way for her to do is become, like, the champion of the arena and, like, inspire people that way.
Speaker A:
So why not do it in a way that makes people good?
Speaker A:
There's something different about her.
Speaker A:
Why is she not kill people?
Speaker A:
Why does she do things this way?
Speaker A:
And I respect that.
Speaker A:
Now, she's not top 50 characters, maybe, but she's.
Speaker A:
She's on the list at some point.
Speaker B:
Could be top 75, maybe.
Speaker B:
Probably not.
Speaker A:
I haven't assembled my one piece character, you know, tier list.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And when I do, I don't know if I'm gonna make it to 75.
Speaker A:
There's a lot.
Speaker B:
There's a lot.
Speaker B:
So there's 75 in Dressrosa.
Speaker A:
Oh, gosh.
Speaker A:
And then some.
Speaker A:
So, yeah, like, I understand where the criticism comes from.
Speaker A:
I also think a lot of it isn't very charitable.
Speaker B:
Right.
Speaker B:
Which at this point, Oda has given you 700 chapters.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
Of Peak Shonen 800.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Like, come on, have some grace.
Speaker A:
All right, so moving on from there, like we mentioned earlier, we find out that Sabo survived.
Speaker A:
So, like, what are the implications of this?
Speaker A:
And you would think the ramifications are for the story.
Speaker B:
Sabo being alive changes not everything, but it changes a lot.
Speaker B:
It adds another goal for Luffy, something that, you know, Luffy might be, you know, changing to, you know, searching for reuniting with Sabo, and then, you know, a little bit, a little bit further down the line, finding out that his dad is Dragon, and Dragon started the revolutionary army, and, you know, now his brother's in the revolutionary army.
Speaker B:
We still don't know.
Speaker B:
Isn't that awesome?
Speaker A:
Right?
Speaker A:
We are 300 plus chapters removed from the events of this arc, and we still don't know.
Speaker B:
We still don't know.
Speaker A:
We've gotten some movement in certain areas.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
The Dragon becoming a little more active compared to the nothing that we were seeing on screen.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
We still learned nothing.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
We know nothing about motivations, what his actual plan is, what he's intending to do.
Speaker A:
So we're also in a flashback arc right now, so maybe we might learn something.
Speaker B:
Maybe.
Speaker A:
Considering, you know, the time period we're.
Speaker B:
In would be cool.
Speaker B:
Yeah, I doubt it.
Speaker A:
Oda is kind of the definition of we get there when we get there.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
At this point, I think he is just, you know, Brian Johnson, that guy who's.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
I think we might need to, like, connect them.
Speaker B:
I think they might need to start sharing longevity ideas because he clearly doesn't plan to stop anytime soon.
Speaker B:
I severely doubt he plans to not answer most of these questions.
Speaker A:
Oh, yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker A:
We're gonna get an answer.
Speaker A:
I mean, because I don't think there's anything that, like, he doesn't want to answer.
Speaker A:
I think it's a question of when he wants to answer the question.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And I do believe he has a plan.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Unlike most mangaka, I do actually think that he's written a lot of stuff down especially.
Speaker A:
I know, like, he's given editors and artists he's worked with, like, ideas for if something were to happen to him.
Speaker A:
Here's how you could finish things out.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
I choose to believe he has actually arranged like, a real life treasure hunt for like, his roadmap of the finale, like, from here on out.
Speaker B:
And when he dies, that will be bequeathed to somebody.
Speaker C:
If.
Speaker B:
If he dies.
Speaker C:
Yes.
Speaker A:
Which doesn't sound like it's going to happen anytime soon.
Speaker A:
Thank God.
Speaker A:
But yeah.
Speaker A:
Also, knowing the nature of the manga industry, I think it's wise to have a plan just in case.
Speaker C:
Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker C:
All right.
Speaker A:
So like, we also mentioned, I think for our final question on this part, like, we discover the concept of Devil Fruit Awakenings.
Speaker A:
We learned more about what devil fruits were.
Speaker A:
Punk hazard.
Speaker A:
Now we learned that not only that, you can likely ascend with them.
Speaker A:
So, like, how does this play out and what do we think about it?
Speaker B:
Super interesting.
Speaker B:
It adds a whole new level to one piece.
Speaker B:
You know, we've went from nothing to devil fruits to hockey to awaken devil fruits.
Speaker B:
And it's crazy.
Speaker B:
We're doing crazy stuff.
Speaker B:
So that just kind of blew the whole thing wide open at this point.
Speaker B:
People were like, okay, here's what's gonna happen when Luffy awakens this fruit.
Speaker B:
Here's how, you know.
Speaker B:
You know, the string fruit turns into an island dominator.
Speaker B:
Who knows what the rubber fruit can do?
Speaker B:
And then people sing all kinds of absurd stuff about everybody.
Speaker B:
Everybody.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
I want to know what it would look like when the jacket Jacket know me awakens.
Speaker B:
I need to know.
Speaker B:
Actually.
Speaker A:
We see a cocky become an even bigger giraffe or something like that.
Speaker A:
Giraffe Source.
Speaker A:
Rex.
Speaker C:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
Like, when Zoan's awakened goes out.
Speaker B:
You still haven't seen that?
Speaker A:
I don't think I looked at the list, and I think we only have Paramecia and Zoan and actually, wait, has.
Speaker A:
Hold on.
Speaker A:
This one is saying that Kaku has actually done that.
Speaker A:
Has he?
Speaker A:
Am I forgetting things?
Speaker A:
Okay, so.
Speaker B:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:
It just didn't matter.
Speaker B:
Oh, because he wasn't strong enough anyway.
Speaker A:
That's right.
Speaker A:
Okay.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Because, like, officially Luffy has, and then Lucci has, and we'll get to more because that's going to be our special bonus question.
Speaker A:
But yeah, okay.
Speaker C:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:
Okay.
Speaker B:
It's awesome.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
Maybe a little underwhelming.
Speaker A:
Because you go on a Shonen series for so long, you have to find a way to make things fresh.
Speaker A:
You know, Luffy's gear Gears are ways of Doing that because he's been Rubberman since forever.
Speaker A:
But it's a new way to utilize that.
Speaker A:
But then go beyond that.
Speaker A:
Here's how he can ascend even more, get even more power in a series where he's going to have to have more power to go against the threats that he's going up against.
Speaker A:
Like, that's a good way of introducing it.
Speaker A:
Starting with a villain first and going, oh, well, that's where they're at.
Speaker A:
That's where I need to be.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And it, you know, just because of the way that Luffy is, people are thinking like, oh, is he already awakened because he has gear two and three and four and both forms of four?
Speaker C:
No.
Speaker B:
No, it wasn't.
Speaker A:
I mean, to be fair, that'd be perfectly in character for Luffy to have done something that no one else has really, outside of a very select few done just because he's just that free spirited or he's just that dumb.
Speaker A:
It just kind of happened.
Speaker B:
But in fact, the opposite was true.
Speaker A:
And we will find out later on.
Speaker A:
But yeah, I think this is great.
Speaker A:
Introducing this too, as a concept to the audience of raising the stakes.
Speaker A:
Like when the introduction of the real introduction of hockey came of like leveling the playing field a little bit.
Speaker A:
Because you've got these insane Logia users who can literally control light or fire or ice or whatever.
Speaker A:
And it's like, well, how am I supposed to beat that?
Speaker A:
Well, hockey comes in, but also, well, how are they supposed to go up against people with hockey?
Speaker A:
Now you can introduce new ways of using your devil fruit that people weren't expecting.
Speaker A:
It's a really fun concept and I'm glad ODA did it.
Speaker C:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
It really is something I think only ODA can do.
Speaker A:
All right, so guys, for hanging out with us here, you've enjoyed all these questions.
Speaker A:
You want to have another one?
Speaker A:
Well, you can just throw us a little more money.
Speaker A:
Patreon Captivate.
Speaker A:
And we're gonna have the special bonus question for this episode, and that's gonna be, who would we like to see have a devil fruit awakening next?
Speaker A:
So take your time to think about that one, tj.
Speaker A:
But in the midst of that, do you have anything else you'd like to bring up about Dressrosa?
Speaker B:
No.
Speaker A:
Okay, good, because we're over the time limit, I said.
Speaker A:
And that's fine because I figured it would happen this way.
Speaker A:
Actually, I figured it'd be worse, but we're fine.
Speaker A:
So, like, rating and reviewing wise, like, what do you think?
Speaker A:
Out of 10 dressrosa art, nine solid.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I think if you would ask me, as I was reading it, I probably would have said 7 5.
Speaker A:
But looking back, this is definitely a 9.
Speaker A:
Maybe even a 9.
Speaker A:
5, depending on my mood.
Speaker A:
Because great lore dumps again, great fights.
Speaker A:
I know we glossed over a lot of them.
Speaker A:
That's because there's a lot.
Speaker A:
But good motivations for our villain.
Speaker A:
Terrifying, effective, great character moments for our crew for them to participate in various ways.
Speaker A:
It's a very, very solid arc.
Speaker A:
Tj, do you have any recommendations for the audience to check out?
Speaker B:
Jeff Vandermeer wrote a fourth book in the Southern Reach trilogy.
Speaker B:
The movie Annihilation, if you've seen, was based off of that first book, which is called Annihilation.
Speaker B:
The Other Three.
Speaker B:
Well, yeah, the Other three.
Speaker B:
Now, that series was a great read.
Speaker B:
And I'm currently reading through, you know, this new fourth book.
Speaker B:
And it's really good.
Speaker B:
I love the story.
Speaker B:
I think it's.
Speaker B:
I think it's great.
Speaker B:
Check it out.
Speaker B:
They're cheap, they're short, they're good.
Speaker A:
Yeah, Great choice.
Speaker A:
I forgot that this were based off books.
Speaker A:
I knew that.
Speaker A:
But, like, being reminded, it's like, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
Well, it's because when they were made, only the first book was out and the company was just like, this rocks.
Speaker B:
We're gonna turn this into a movie.
Speaker B:
You're writing more.
Speaker B:
We don't care.
Speaker A:
And it's a good movie.
Speaker A:
I'm also gonna go literature.
Speaker A:
And while I was out and about thrifting with my dad, he's going out to buy stuff to sell.
Speaker A:
I'm going to buy more books because, of course, the thousands that I have here.
Speaker A:
And that's not an exaggeration, it's just not enough.
Speaker A:
And I found the novelization of Final Fantasy, the Spirits within, and I'm currently reading that.
Speaker B:
I used to love that movie.
Speaker A:
Like, I think it's an underrated movie.
Speaker A:
I watched it way later.
Speaker A:
I didn't watch it when it came out because I heard people didn't like, like it.
Speaker A:
I say, oh, okay, I'll check it out.
Speaker A:
It's like, this is fine.
Speaker A:
It's nothing offensive.
Speaker A:
It's not the greatest thing in the world.
Speaker A:
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker B:
I know.
Speaker B:
I got it from a Dollar General.
Speaker B:
It's a dvd.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
I think I got the book at some thrift store in Tennessee for, like, 50 cents.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I'd call that a good purchase.
Speaker B:
That's worth it.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
All right, so now that you've gone through that, thank you guys for everything you do.
Speaker A:
Please, if you get a chance.
Speaker A:
Leave a five star review in your podcasting platform of choice.
Speaker A:
You have helped with the ratings there and once again, if you do want to help us out and support us financially if you can, don't feel pressured to, and you want to hear your name being thrown out at the $3 tier and above, please do so.
Speaker A:
And here are a couple of people who do and we thank them very much for all they do.
Speaker A:
Thank you Russell Gentry, Justin Vaughn, Annette Noel and Jeannie Mattingly.
