Joshua Noel and Liz Clyde dive into the Whole Cake Island arc of *One Piece*, tackling the pivotal question: can one achieve true success without their crew? Right from the get-go, they explore the significance of friendship and loyalty against a backdrop of whimsical pastries and fierce battles. As they unpack Sanji’s complicated family history and the arc's broader themes, they highlight how this segment of the series showcases character growth and the weight of personal sacrifice. With clever banter and insightful commentary, they also reflect on Luffy's unwavering support for Sanji, illustrating the heart of camaraderie within the Straw Hat crew. Listeners are in for an engaging ride through culinary chaos, emotional revelations, and the enduring spirit of adventure that defines "One Piece".

The discussion kicks off with a thought-provoking question about success and friendship, setting the stage for a deep dive into the Cake Island arc of One Piece. Joshua and Liz, the dynamic duo behind the mic, share their personal connections to the series, revealing how they stumbled into the vibrant world of pirates and adventure. Liz's candid revelation about her pre-recording nausea adds a touch of humor, showcasing the laid-back vibe of their podcast. As they navigate through the arc, they highlight significant character developments, especially Sanji's backstory, which unveils the struggles of his upbringing in a family of warriors. Listeners are treated to an engaging analysis of the themes of loyalty and sacrifice, as the crew faces off against the formidable Big Mom and her crew. The conversation flows effortlessly, with clever banter and references to other anime and comics, making it relatable to both die-hard fans and newcomers alike. Joshua and Liz expertly dissect pivotal moments, such as Luffy's unwavering support for Sanji and the emotional weight of their friendship, underscoring the series' core message about the importance of chosen family. This summary encapsulates the essence of their discussion, inviting listeners to explore the rich narrative of One Piece while enjoying the lighthearted humor and heartfelt insights shared by the hosts.

The episode unfolds like a treasure map, leading listeners through the exhilarating twists and turns of the Whole Cake Island arc. Joshua and Liz embark on a quest to unpack the significance of this arc within the broader One Piece narrative, addressing crucial elements like character dynamics and plot twists. They engage in a lively debate about the role of family and the impact of Sanji's backstory on his character development. The hosts draw parallels between Sanji's tumultuous relationship with his family and the series' overarching theme of found family versus blood family. As they delve deeper, they share their thoughts on the arc's lighter moments, like Big Mom's insatiable craving for cake, juxtaposed with the darker undertones of betrayal and sacrifice. Listeners are treated to a rich tapestry of insights that highlight the duality of humor and seriousness in the storytelling. The hosts’ playful banter keeps the mood light while addressing profound themes, making the episode both entertaining and thought-provoking. As they wrap up their discussion, they encourage listeners to reflect on their own relationships and the importance of standing by friends during tough times, embodying the spirit of camaraderie that One Piece represents.

In a spirited exchange, Joshua and Liz tackle the intricacies of the Whole Cake Island arc, dissecting its narrative significance and character arcs. They explore how Sanji's tumultuous past shapes his identity and choices, emphasizing the interplay between personal struggle and loyalty. The arc serves as a backdrop for discussions about sacrifice, as Sanji grapples with his family's expectations versus his loyalty to the Straw Hat crew. Liz's insights into the culinary elements of the story add a unique flavor to the analysis, while Joshua's humorous commentary keeps the conversation lively. The hosts delve into the emotional core of the arc, examining moments like Luffy's steadfast support for Sanji, which resonates with themes of unconditional love and friendship. They cleverly connect the series' themes to broader life lessons, inviting listeners to reflect on their own journeys of self-discovery and the value of chosen family. With their witty repartee and insightful observations, Joshua and Liz create an engaging narrative that captures the essence of One Piece while providing a fresh perspective on its themes, ensuring that both seasoned fans and newcomers find something to enjoy.

Takeaways:

1. The Whole Cake Island arc reveals significant character development for Sanji, showcasing his backstory and family dynamics.
2. Luffy's unwavering support for Sanji during the arc highlights the importance of friendship and loyalty in the One Piece universe.
3. The blend of whimsical elements with serious themes in Whole Cake Island creates a unique narrative experience for viewers.
4. The arc emphasizes the concept of sacrifice, as Sanji grapples with his family's expectations and his commitment to the Straw Hat crew.

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Would you be willing to achieve success without your friends? Or become the pirate king without your whole crew by your side?

Today we're going to be discussing the whole Cake island arc in the wonderful anime manga One Piece. One of my favorite ips just of all times. I am Joshua Noll. I am here with the one, the only prego member of Systematic Ecology, Liz Klein.

How's it going? Hello. It's going well. I literally had to throw up right before this recording, but we got it done.

Yeah, I need trips, like. Yeah. So as far as, like, geeking out stuff, I've been doing a lot lately. I'm trying to think of the best one too. Okay.

So for something that's only on our website, we do. Me and Josh Patterson do something called Rethinking Comics, because, you know, his podcast is Rethinking Faith.

And then we just kind of do like this little crossover. I'll be going through some of my favorite comics with him because he's not really a comic book reader. He's like a theologian guy.

And right now we're doing my all time favorite because my birthday is coming up and I made him.

So I've been rereading Middle west, and for Christmas, my wife got me a new copy of it that has a little signature from Scotty Young, the author in it, and like, some little, like, things in it that I'm just geeking out on. And the, the back of the omnibus has all the different sketches and stuff that they didn't use. And I'm like, going through all of it.

I'm like, this is just. I'm eating it up. I love it. Liz, what's. What have you been geeking out on?

It's not really me, but I've been in the same room. My husband bought the video game Cyberpunk. And so then I was like, I think there's an anime about this. Let's start watching the anime together.

And it's. If you have small kids, because I have to think about this now, you cannot watch it with kids in the room.

It's very adult kids in the womb is that I'm even afraid with kids. My. My kid in my womb. Because you can hear now. But I was like, okay, yeah, definitely not good for kids, but it's an interesting concept.

So, yeah, if you are looking for a new video game or anime. Cyberpunk.

Yeah, I know the. I've heard a lot about the game. Some of the themes are like, really deep. And if I had the time to just sit down and play through another.

Game, Taylor got to design his Nether regions as his character.

Well, that's a.

It was very visual.

That's something. I don't know if I want to play that.

My problem is I didn't see it but like, until like the beginning. But he. When he told me that, I didn't believe him. And then he showed me.

See, my problem is, like, I have time to do games. Like, I've played whole, like, a lot of whole games last year.

It's just I end up being really selective because video games are just such a commitment because I have a hard time putting them down even if I hate them. Like, I feel like I have to finish it.

Yeah.

Like, I'm not about to commit 50 hours to something I might not like.

Yeah, that is true. That's kind of why I stopped playing, like, storyline games. And I just do some cod. You know, you jump on, you jump off, you're done.

Yeah. That's why I was scared to read Vinland Saga because it's a big book, but so good. My third. My third manga. Soon I'm going to be on Manga Mustard.

I'm getting there slowly. All right, so with that out of the way, we got to remind everyone to rate and review the show. You know, it helps people know that we exist.

And we like people knowing we exist because then we can do this whole thing where we're trying to engage with culture. Honestly, as Christians of different traditions, it's easier to do with people know we exist and are engaging in the conversations with us.

So rate and review helps a lot. If you're not driving, just go ahead and do it now while you're listening Spotify. It's like three clicks.

I don't know about Apple podcast because I don't have anything Apple. We also want to shout out one of our financial supporters, Annette Noel, my favorite aunt. Don't tell the others. I love you dearly. You're amazing.

Thank you so much for your support in this. Most of the stuff I geek out on I wouldn't know about without you.

And since I'm shouting out Annette, I'm go ahead and shout out my second cousin, I guess Nathan Noel, her grandson, because I found out at Christmas that he's also a one piece fan. Now we're raising them right. We're raising them right, guys. You can also get your own shout out like Annette.

Maybe not as detailed by becoming an official member of Systematic Ecology on our website in the show's description. Some other stuff you could do on that website, you can get some free extra content without becoming a member.

You can buy some of our T shirts and stuff without becoming a member or or leave a one time financial gift donation, whatever you want. A lot of stuff's available without becoming a member on the website, but we do really appreciate it if you do become a member.

There's also free memberships so you can do that with all that out of the way. Remember, if you want to hear the rest of our One Piece reviews, believe it or not, this isn't the beginning of One Piece.

Whole Cake island is like what, 900 chapters in or something crazy. You can hear the rest of our reviews by using the link down below in the description of this podcast.

We reviewed all the arcs up to Whole Cake now, which is kind of hard to believe because that's a lot.

So that out of the way if they haven't heard the other ones and for some reason are jumping in this because they just want to hear about Whole Cake Island. Liz, what's your relationship to One Piece? When did you first start reading or watching the series?

I was a wee last outside the womb though, but not far out if you think about it because of how long this anime has been going.

I remember when I can't remember if it came on Toonami or which channel it came on, but I remember catching glimpses of episodes like on cable and then once YouTube kind of got a little bit more prevalent when I was in high school and you can actually Google and like kind of before YouTube became super like protective of copyrights and all that stuff. Like you could watch these episodes on YouTube.

Yeah, darn YouTube. And it's caring about the law.

Dang, we fought the law in the Law one on this one. But yeah, it's fine.

My introduction actually has I'm gonna get some, some funny stuff that I don't think I've shared before just because you reminded me of something.

So full disclaimer Liz is why I'm watching it because she showed one of her exes who's also one of my best friends who basically made me watch it because I didn't watch anime. I don't, I don't know something about it. Just it was hard for me to get into a lot of the stuff. He was like the main character just is you, Josh.

He just goes around talking about meat and being goofy and is like I'm gonna be the pirate king and just has willpower. And I'm like, eh.

I think I dated him when I was like in the ninth grade. So that's when you started. If you want a timeline, then yeah, that's because what the scene.

I'm too old to think that far.

Yeah, so you were about 14. 14, 15.

Okay, so here's the funny thing about me at that age. When I started watching it, I caught up really, really quick to what was available legally.

But then, like, you know, you have those websites back in the day where, like, you could find shows and I would find like the sub on some website. And I was like, I'm pretty sure this is pirating. But then I was like, wait a minute.

Luffy would want me to pirate his show, obviously, because he's a pirate.

And I remember there was an episode where he got really, really angry about someone stealing from other people who are doing, like, honest work or something. And I'm like, maybe Luffy wouldn't like that I'm doing this. And then I started trying to find legal ways to watch it because I felt bad.

Luffy condemned me for pirating of all things.

Can't stop, Won't stop over here.

How important do you think this arc is to the overall narrative of One Piece? Because, like, some of the arcs, like, y' all just do like, Zo or something. And like, some of them, you're just like, that was cool, I guess.

But yeah. And then some of them, you're like, oh, that literally changes everything.

Like, what's about to happen in the live action when they get to, you know, they're about to meet Robin and Chopper. No. Anyway, I'm so excited for the next live action season, but how important do you think Whole Cake island is to the overall narrative?

This is, like, important because I didn't ever notice it until they kind of brought it up. Like, but on the Wanted posters, Sanji's always said, wanted Alive. And so that was a little clue I never figured out.

And so we kind of figure out Sanji's background and why he's wanted alive. So I would say this is a very big plot update for the One Piece crew. And this is like really the.

The longest the crew, besides, obviously the two year gap has been separated. However, the gap when they went off training. But like, literally the crew is split in half.

Half is in Whole cake right now, and the half is somewhere else that we'll talk about later.

Yeah, I. I was aggravated at that at first. So this is one of those arcs. If you love Sanji, if you love Luffy.

Both of them have incredible character arcs in this story that, like, their characters progress. I don't even know if Progress is the right word. They're revealed in a way that you just respect both of them a lot more at the end of this.

I think if you love Zorro, this arc sucks.

Yeah. You don't get any of him.

Yeah. So the crew split. Some of them had to go to Wano because they're starting this kind of like secret tunnel mission. They're starting this thing.

They have plans with some of the other, what's it called, Next gen new generation whatever pirates. Some of the other captains, they're wanting to start taking. Taking down the Pirate Emperors and kind of taking their place. Big Mama is one.

Kaido is the other Big Mama. Kaido.

Whitebeard was one, but you know, he went bye bye. Yeah, that was the four at the time.

Yeah. Shanks. I love shanks. So their goal is to take some of them down to kind of take their place as the Pirate Emperors.

Because while some of them just want the power, I think, and the status and Luffy is like, yeah, that'll get me closer to becoming Pirate King. Because that is his sole mission, you think? I think this arc kind of debunks that as his sole mission.

But remember, him and Big mom had beef anyway because at Fishman island, he ate her candy. So he. And he took over one of her territories.

So this was also big in that plot where it's coming full circle that, you know, he doesn't like Big Mama already.

Yeah. And I don't know if it's revealed in this arc or before this arc, but Jimbe and the Fisherman Pirates are under Big Mama.

So it's not till this arc that Jinbe finally joins the Straw Hats. Because, you know, he mentioned before that he wanted to but he had to take care of some things first because he's honor bound.

And Jim be just the absolute coolest character trying not to drop the F bomb. But Jim pays so cool. It's hard not to just. I get so excited about Jim bae Flipping cool, guys. You know, actually, he's so flipping cool.

Works because he's a fish man. Sorry. But no, I love Jim Bay.

I don't feel like he gets a ton of showtime in this, but just having him finally join and then at the end, him being like the. The shipwright of going Mary. It's not going mary. What's this?

1000 sunny.

Thank you. A thousand sunny. God, he is so just. He's so talented.

And then with Frankie's tech, like, you're starting to see this crew actually become like, how can anything be a challenge for These guys. I'm getting ahead of myself, but it's just. It's crazy. So, yeah, Zoro and them, they went ahead and went to Wano.

You guys mentioned last time, Sanji found out something. Sanji found out something that.

Requiring him to go to Whole Cake island, and he's leaving the crew behind, and Luffy's basically just having none of it. He's like, no, you're not.

Liz, could you unpack for us what happens in Whole Cake island if you were just to kind of summarize the arc to the best of your ability? Because it's.

Sanji pretty much gets summoned to Whole Cake island because he now has a fiance called Pudding. So we find out that Sanji's family is the Vin Smoke of the. I think the Vins I might be.

Yes, the Vince.

Okay. Vin Smoke is correct. So Sanji is the third son of the Vin Smoke. And it's actually a pretty much a weapons family. Pretty much very strong.

And all of his brothers and sisters, they have like these suits and they pretty much go to war.

Tony Stark's family.

Family, yeah. Or they help people go to war and sell weapons and stuff like that.

But we find out Sanji was the weakest of them all and was actually very mistreated and with the help of his mother, who was the only one who loved him, helped him escape. And so that's kind of where. When we learn about Sanji's past with him being young on like the. The pirate crew, cooks, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That's how he got there.

Yeah, I was going to say. Did that surprise you too?

So, like, for me, somehow, and I don't know if it's just because, like, I don't think enough because, you know, I'm a dumb man, or if this was like a common experience, but literally going into this, I didn't realize, but I never thought about Sanji's past other than, you know, when he was kid, he just ended up with these cooks somehow.

Yeah, I thought. Never thought that was it. Because, I mean, Joe we didn't get. Before he started training with his, you know, childhood friend.

That was kind of like really the only past we have with Zoro.

You get a little bit more of that in Wano, though.

Yeah. But like, you know, but at that time, we're like, okay, Nami, we got the sister, the adoption. So Usopp, you know, it was.

It was the same line of the background we kind of got with the other characters. So we wouldn't think there's more, but Sanji, like an onion has many layers.

Yeah. Or an ogre. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I just wanted to know if you had the same experience as me or not.

Yeah, no, I was like, what the frick? Yeah, it's crazy. So the Vinsmokes are trying to make an alliance with Big mom.

And so since they don't like Sanji, they're gonna use him as a sacrificial scapegoat, pretty much to marry Big Mom's daughter. And Sanji, which thankfully for Sanji, is the more attractive one of the group, you know, socially speaking, other than that eye. Okay.

I don't think the eye's crazy.

I don't think so either. I was like, it's fine.

Yeah. Which is great because she is also the one that's picked in the family when literally everyone is, you know, it's anime.

So everyone has so many shapes, sizes, like the deformations and all that stuff. Like there's only a guy with a tongue that's a yard long. But yeah, let's pick on Pudding with a third eye, right?

Yeah, but so pretty much Sanji was kind of like, if you own it anyway. But he has honor bound to his family. And of course, when he saw how pretty Pudding was, he was all for it because.

Yeah, Sanji. Sanji loves the ladies.

Yeah, right, right, right. Do you want me to keep going? I can keep going or.

Yeah, yeah, you got.

And we'll keep on going. So pretty much, Sanji was going to go surprise, putting in her rumors. Do something romantic, Jester.

And he overhears that Pudding is actually going to kill him on the wedding day. So he was kind of prepared for that to be betrayed. But as soon as Pudding opens her third eye, because that was going to be the trick.

She was going to open her third eye on the day of the wedding. He was going to be so flabbergasted and appalled she was going to be able to shoot him, no problem. Right.

But instead he was like, your eyes, all three of them are beautiful. And so actually, Puddin ends up falling heads over heels in love with Sanji, the only girl to actually love him back.

And I was rooting for this ship, even though I knew it was wrong. I was just like, you know what? Like, this is it. This is how we go. And so that all went crazy.

And so now at that one point, they tried loofing them, try to get Sanji to come back with him. He was like, no, I'm not. But now it's all like, Big mom betrayed the vin smokes. Sanji's not getting married.

And now it's like a big old free for all battle royale between the three parties. And Mama never did get her croquenbush, which I was very sad for her.

Croquembush is a French style wedding dessert of cream puffs stacked together in like a pyramid type deal coated in sugar. It is traditional for weddings because, remember, guys, I have a pastry background. So I really, really enjoyed this episode with all the kids.

It literally is a pastry chef.

Literally.

This was made chef.

So I just wanted Big mom to get her croquenbush and she did not. And I was very sad for her because there was no wedding.

And then the wedding cake got destroyed and she was very sad she couldn't eat the wedding cake. Wedding cake was beautiful, by the way. It was like some people have a five tier wedding cake.

Like, you know, and that's Big Tears is in four to six inches. They pretty much had a five story wedding cake.

Building wise, which was also partially Sanji's. Sanji shows off an emotional arc, his fighting skills and his cooking skills in this, like, it's just. It's his show.

And I just loved how all of like the themes of their devil fruit with Mama and her kids. I still want to see the dad we never got to see who reproduced with Lin Lyn. Big mom don't know. I want to know. I want to know.

These are the thoughts I have. Because she has a bunch of kids and they're all devil fruit power. So Big mom has the opportunities. She has the soul. Soul Fruit.

So she pretty much gets to give like years a soul to inanimate objects. So it's kind of like this cakey wonderland. So like cakes and pastries and stuffed animals and trees and stuff like that.

They are brought to life because Big mom is able to give them souls. But Big mom is also able to take years in life. So she's able to take years from someone and kind of like give it to other people. So very scary.

But then her kiddos, they have like. One has a mochi power, so he can make his body into mochi. And it was actually a lot cooler.

Than I thought it would be.

Yeah, I think they overdid it a little bit. I was like, all right. But I think that. Correct me if I'm wrong, is the. I forgot his name.

But is the fight between Luffy and Mochi Guy the longest recorded fight that we know of so far? It was like over 20 episodes. That one fight.

I know it. If it wasn't the longest, it was up there. Yeah. And it was so good.

But also, if I'm remembering right, in Japanese culture, like, mochi actually has, like, a lot of, like, spiritual properties and stuff, so. So it is the longest because it's supposed to be like a. I don't know.

They have a weird thing with, like, Shinto and everything where it's like, they don't separate religion from, like, daily life. So some stuff. This kind of blurs the line a little bit.

Well, they think, like, you know, like, trees and stuff has energy and whatnot. So it's kind of like everything has a spiritual.

Yeah.

And so mochi is more than likely what you think is used for, like, ceremonies and offerings and sacrifice. But, like, mochi itself is not sacred, if that makes sense. It's just used as an offering.

But like rice in the South.

Well, mochi is rice. It's rice powder and, like, gelatin and stuff like that. So to make it stretchy, I knew it was like.

Okay, okay. I'm thinking of. What is it they make their tea with?

Green tea. Matcha.

Matcha. That's what I was thinking of. Matcha. Yeah, yeah. Because I know they have that in a lot of ceremonies too. One day I'm gonna get to go to Japan.

It's gonna be awesome.

I'm gonna take the little one once. He's like, six months old.

Sweet. I'll go with him. All right, cool. So we haven't finished summarizing this yet. So they have a big fight.

So much to summarize. It's one of the longest arcs.

Yeah, it's. It's wild. I'm trying to remember. Right. So they try to have the wedding. They try to sabotage Sanji. Doesn't work. Whole fight happens.

Big Mama basically tries to catch them before they leave. And they get away because Jim Bae's with them now. So they end up getting away and kind of defeating Big mom, but she's not gone for good yet.

Mm. It was more like she went to, like, this hungry, ravenous phase of insanity, and that's how they were able to, like, kind of defeat her.

She kind of thinks, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuz another thing that happens to Big Mom a lot, and this one isn't really explained. It's just. We're just supposed to accept it.

She'll just get a random food craving. Super relevant for you.

Same.

It goes on rampage. Doesn't matter. Her own people, she might just eat them. If you don't get whatever food she decides she needs right at that moment.

I relate so much.

It's so funny. I'm like, it's. This is somehow one of the silliest and one of the most serious arcs at the same time, I feel like.

Because if you're going around and there's, like, cake people, entire towns built out of different kinds of desserts, each island has a different food theme, right?

Yeah. Because each kid gets to control, like, their own island or something like that.

And then at the same time, you have people making deals for their souls. And you have Sanji trying to literally sacrifice himself because he doesn't think that the straw hats can handle the Vinsmoke family yet.

And he's like, I don't want my family to ruin this for the rest of my crew. He doesn't tell them what's going on. Which I think that's his biggest mistake here. He doesn't tell the crew what's going on.

He's just like, I'm going to sacrifice myself because I don't think they can handle it. I don't want my crew to get hurt. Which. Incredible. He's the chef. He's not the captain.

He doesn't need to take that kind of responsibility on, and he just does. And for me, this is when. In the moment that my respect for Sanji went to, like, I guess he's okay to. Oh, no. I just. This guy's awesome.

Even if he's not my favorite still, you know.

Mm.

The other one. So you. There's just so much details here.

So much.

Yeah. When they first pull up, Luffy and Chopper. Just food, like, freaking out, having a great time. I love it.

Technically, they're, like, almost cannibalizing them because, like, he has souls, which is kind of, like, trippy.

This seems wrong. Yeah. Wild. But then there's also that moment. So you mentioned, like, Luffy and them are going there to try and get Sanji back.

Sanji does says, I'm not coming back. One of the, like, this is one of the biggest moments in one piece for me probably is Luffy shows up, and he's not gonna drag Sanji away.

He's like, it's still your choice, but I'm not leaving until you choose to be with us, your crew. You're our family. You know, Found family kind of stuff. And what cheesy. One of my favorite fights in one piece might be just Sanji beating the.

Absolutely. Just beating the crap out of Luffy and Luffy just not fighting back. Do what you want. I'm not leaving, like, I am waiting here for you.

I'm not gonna make you come. It is your choice, which, you know, our open and relational theologian people will probably appreciate that.

But I appreciate that one way or the other, because I just think as Christians, as whatever, like, just as decent people, allowing people to have their own choice is important, but also being there and enabling them to, hey, if you want to be with your real family, we're here, and it doesn't matter what you do. And I know I've said this a lot on different podcasts, and people are probably tired of it.

That's, like, my favorite thing that I got from my papa is he used to say that to me. That's like his catchphrase. But he said he got it from his dad, and people hear me say it a lot now, so someone probably thinks it's more my thing.

But he used to always say that, I love you and ain't nothing you can do about it. And that's what this moment was. It was Luffy going, we're here, and there's literally nothing you could do about it. Sanji, we will be here for you.

And I don't know. It's just a big moment.

Yeah. If anything, I mean, they even came to the wedding. What?

Yeah. Crazy. And watched him get betrayed. And we're like, all right, game on. And reporters people were there because it's like, two big families.

So this is, like. Yeah, yeah.

And Luffy has, like, a big growth with him because he was losing bad with this mochi guy, and he goes back to his training with, like, Rayleigh Raleigh and pretty much how to, like, predict movements, like, into the future and stuff, because he was getting beat.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and this is when we first. What's it called? I can't remember what it's called.

When Luffy finally starts to realize that that ability where you can make the environment match your Devil Fruit. What's that called?

But, yeah, he had a lot because, I mean, it was his tough. I would say his toughest opponent to date, which is kind of like, you know, always. The next season will always be the toughest appointment opponent.

But, like, he did, like, a lot of, like, growing in this one, which is good. And then. Let's see.

And then with Sanji and the Vin Smoke, the sister of the Vin Smoke, you can kind of see she actually does care for Sanji, which was kind of nice. But the dad's a turd.

Yeah. Oh, I think it's the. It's like the awakening. Your Devil Fruit that's what it's called.

But it's like, people like, so Luffy eventually will get this where, like, he can make everything around him also becomes rubber. And so this Moki guy is able to do that where Luffy's at. And it's hard to fight that if you don't have the same ability.

So, yeah, you get another one of those. Like, Luffy wins because of willpower fights.

But you also see Luffy finally starting to learn some of the stuff that he probably should have known before going to Dressrosa, honestly. But, yeah, good stuff. I mean, I like the.

Just that he actually levels up his fighting skills and shows himself as a character like Luffy and Sanji really, really shine in this. So for you, how would you rate this whole arc? Whole cake island, 1 to 10? 0 to 10 something.

I'm gonna have to say a 9 because of all the. The cake and the. I love it when anime becomes. Is technically correct when it comes to, like, food and pastries and stuff. It just makes me happy.

Like, even though it's very Ichi, I love Food wars because it's so, like, cookingly correct, even though cookingly is a word I just made up. But. So I. I just appreciated, like, all the different pastries and stuff. But, man, I don't love the fight scene. So I thought the.

Even though it was great, that fight scene was way too long. I might have gotten higher to a 10.

Yeah. I mean, that's funny because I'd probably do, like, a seven or an eight. And that. That long fight scene is definitely part of it to me.

No, I have tried to reread it in the manga, and it is better because it's not as long, but it's just so long unnecessarily to me. And then, I don't know, for me, sometimes this arc got so silly. It took me out a little bit.

Mm.

But then you also have those moments of, like, Luffy being there for Sanji, you seeing Sanji's background. And, like, Sanji really shows his character willing to sacrifice for the straw hat.

So you have, like, some moments in here that I'm like, that's a 10 out of 10 scene. 10 out of 10 moment. And then you have stuff that I'm like, I just. I could do without the.

The weird dessert people or, like, some of the devil fruit powers of, like, her followers. I'm like, I didn't need that. I like the forest scene. That was cool. You know, it was. For me, this arc was all over the place.

There was like some really high moments and some really low that I'm.

And I bet you the people making this was a little high too, with some of these scenes.

True, true. So if you had to pick a favorite scene, a favorite character for this arc in a favorite fight, what would it be?

Let's see. I mean, favorite character would probably be. I like the Vin Smoke siblings. I like. I wouldn't say like the favorite characters in the book.

I enjoyed seeing them the most and like the dynamics that brought to the season. So because, I mean, this is also. Sanji powers up because now he gets his number three can, where he can be even more bad booty in the future.

So everyone like Sanji and Luffy leveled up. So probably like just watching the like dynamics of that and I thought it was cute because like sanji San is 3.

So like Niji and Ichi and stuff like that. So very name oriented. So those are probably like my favorite character introductions to it. The new characters. Favorite fight scene.

It's not really the fight scene. I liked seeing Mama go on the rampage, so she was like fighting with other people. So it wasn't like a legit fight scene.

But that was probably my favorite scene because she just kept on screaming croak and bush. And it made me laugh a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's fair. Yeah. For myself, Luffy would be my favorite character in the story.

But if we're just doing new characters, I actually really liked pudding. I liked how she was like, you know, playing her role with her family, even though she was being belittled.

And it's like, actually Sanji's great and like, she just. She has a little bit of a turnaround. I always like a good redemption story, so I like putting in this. What was the other two things I said?

Favorite scene. I still. I just love when Luffy and Luffy and Chopper, their dynamic, it just brings me joy.

So when they first get here, they're like food and they're just like eating people's houses and stuff and like terrorizing the place because they're excited for food. I'm like, I don't know. That whole scene, classic animation, cartoon gags. And I just. I got so much joy out of it.

Favorite fight I'm actually torn onto because I want to cheat and say Luffy versus Sanji. Because just like, I think this is one of the. I could probably count on one or two hands how many times I cried during tv.

At least three of them have been one piece. And just watching Luffy just Let Sanji beat the ever living crap out of him because he's like, I'm here for you and I'm not leaving. I don't know.

It just. I teared up, so that's kind of cheating, but I really think that's up there.

The other fight, though, the Seducing Forest, they're literally fighting of the forest that's like, changing as they walk through it and stuff. And like, that was cool. I like stuff like that. That's a little bit. A little bit trippy, but makes sense at least.

Like, there's a canonized reason for why it's happening. And I'm like, ah, that was great. Well done. You know, Mochi fight. I know that a lot of people think that's like, the best fight in one piece.

I'm with Liz. It was way too long. I would have loved it if it was like a fourth of what it was.

Yeah. Give us a couple episodes.

I'm gonna go three birds. I don't need to see.

I was trying to, like, compromise. I was being compromising.

Yeah, yeah. Just. It's not for me, but that's fine. Some people love that that's their favorite parts and for them. Cool. Glad you liked it. Go in peace.

So this year on systematic ecology, our annual theme is the faces behind us. Right. So we've been talking about the characters behind some of our favorite main characters. So later we'll be talking about Garp for Luffy.

We've already done Uncle Iroh and Fire Lord Ozai for Zuko and Avatar. The last Airbender in this arc we've already talked about a little bit.

But we see Sanji's family, and these are, like, the faces behind Sanji is this Vinsmoke family and, you know, also the cooks that he learned from. But I think it was interesting that we kind of see this here and worth talking about since that's our theme of the year.

How do you think Sanji would have been different if he was raised in, like, a normal family or, like, you know what I mean? Like, how did they change who he is? And is it a good thing that he was brought up with, like, terrible people?

Well, I mean, because Sanji was picked on, he was more physically weak, but he was always more gentle than his brothers and sisters. So once again, they kind of got trained at a. Well, as I said before, Sanji was always the weak one. So he got bullied for that.

But he was mainly bullied because he was gentle and kind. So his siblings were raised to be weapons of war. So they were very crude. They would like, you know, like beat up animals and stuff like that.

Sanji would get sad. He was very tender hearted. So that I think in any dynamic who he is at the core, that was already Sanji.

And so since he was with a bad family, that's why he was, you know, extra picked on. But his mom loved him and helped him escape.

So I think with Sanji, I mean I, I would never say it's always, it's great that you got tortured and tormented as a child, but I think with Sanji at least he has learned to be true to himself because that's a way of honoring his mother who sacrificed with him as well. And so, I mean he knows the horrors of the world. And so maybe that's why he just wants to love, you know, because he wasn't loved.

So he's trying to find that love that he's been missing. So everyone who hates him, Sanji be next.

Yeah, I'm, I'm of a few.

I'm a different mind here because it's the nature verse nurture question is not something humans have answered and it's not something we'll be able to answer today. Probably, probably. But I do think in the show at least they kind of show you Sanji's nature. He's just always been kind of gentle and kind and good.

I think who Sanji is was always going to be someone determined and he's skilled. Like even his fighting style, like he doesn't need devil fruit. He's the devil.

Like he's got the firefoot stuff going on just because he learned it, you know. So I think even without this family, I don't think he would have ended up becoming a fighter or been with the straw hats.

But I think he might have been a really kind and skilled individual at.

Something we did learn. He was experimented on a little as a child too.

Oh yeah.

So this is, so this is more than likely that that helped in his fights like down the road where we were like that should have killed you. And he was able to like walk, walk away or brush some things off.

So his body was a little modified, not in like a cyborg type deal, but to like kind of be more resistant.

And Odo's are so talented that like when that kind of stuff happens in normal shows, I'd be like, oh, they just retconned that because they realized it didn't make sense. But I'm like, no, there's always little hints here and there and you're like, no, Oda always knew this was Sanji's background.

This was just always a thing. And we didn't know it because even, like I think you mentioned it before, the.

The Wanted posters, like if you pay attention because he's got such a powerful and important family. All the straw hat pirates up until now, every time you see the Wanted posters, it says wanted dead or alive. Except for Sanji, just as wanted.

I think it says alive maybe, but it does not say or dead. You know, so it's just one of those like little details that you miss.

Like I missed it the first time I went through until I started watching a second. I'm like, oh, wait, it literally did this from the beginning. Because Oda, he's thought about this stuff.

It's so smart. Because we were so distracted by. By his bad drawing, we didn't think to look at the actual Bounty number or anything like that.

So it's all just brilliantly done.

And it's probably also why he had a bad drawing. His family didn't want him to get caught.

Yeah, more than likely they didn't want him to.

So funny. Have actually we just laughing at the gak and it was like, oh no, there was a reason for that. And 800 episodes in or something.

We find out why they're like, it's crazy.

Now you can be wanted dead.

But the. Yeah, so that's my one thing I think without the family probably went there. What I do think though, that this family does for him.

Again, not positively. You shouldn't want to have this kind of family or to be this kind of family to someone.

But like, I think compassionate people become strong in their compassion when they have to endure these hardships. So I think a lot of times we find it hard to think of kindness or compassion or hospitality because like, Sanji is the most hospitable person.

We don't think of those things as strong traits. When we think of strength, we don't think of that kind of stuff. But he is strong in those traits. Like, he doesn't matter what you do.

He's like, no, if you're on my ship, I'm going to give you a meal. If you're his captain, he's going to treat you like a captain, even if you're not being a very good captain. You know, he's going to be.

He's dedicated to his kindness, to his hospitality and all that in a way that shows real strength in traits that we don't typically think of as strong or masculine or whatever, you know, yeah. So I think that's probably what growing up with his family did for him. Still wish he didn't have to go through it, but I think that's what happened.

Yeah. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. There you go.

Speaking of strength, how does Luffy's willingness to sacrifice.

So we talked about this a few times, his willingness to sacrifice, his willingness to wait on Sanji, how does that compare to how we think of the way that others have waited on us? Whether it be, you know, God or, you know, our spouses, friends, whatever? Do we like?

Does that compare in any way that we're like, oh, yeah, people waited on me, have made me feel similar ways.

Or I think the. The bigger thing than waiting, because, I mean, people that that's gonna happen is he didn't push while waiting.

So, like, the how he waited speaks more volumes than waiting. Because people can wait and be complete turds about it, right?

Yeah.

But he did it where it was respecting Sanji's space and letting Sanji come to the decision and making his own choice. Kind of like how. Same thing with pastoring. Like, I can give advice. I can't make people take the advice.

I just wait, you know, Like, I'll be like, hey, well, like, if we do counseling, you know, listen and advise and counsel as you should, and I wait on them to do with that information what they will. And there's been seasons where, like, obviously when my little sister passed away, I was not in the right mental space whatsoever.

I was in a very, very dark place. And Taylor and the people around me, they weren't pushy.

There was at a time I was so angry with God, and I. I didn't turn my back on him, but I wanted nothing to do with God. I was like, I don't. Like, I know he's good, but I don't believe he's good right now. And I had to go through that process, and he was just there.

I knew he was there, but, I mean, he didn't push. And when I was ready to talk and open up, therapy helped a lot. And, yeah, it's how you wait.

Yeah. Yeah, I like that. I think I will go to with a God example, too, because, you know, we are a Christian podcast, so, like, we could do this sometimes.

Yeah, we can talk about God all we want.

Deal with it.

No, I think even those of us who, you know, in our group is we have a lot of different beliefs and traditions and all this stuff, but I think even those of us on systemicology who are more in this, like, you know, predestination as opposed to free will, you know, whatever. I think all of us here would probably still say, God doesn't make you choose him. You know, he is there.

You can choose salvation, you can accept it, whether you think it's because Jesus died for your sins or because Jesus conquered the grave and conquered sin. And you can be part of that victory however you believe it.

We probably, I think everyone on the show would say, God's not gonna force himself on you, so he's waiting for you in that way. So I think that's a good comparison that I have to kind of bring out. But as far as, like, personally, I suck at this. Like, it's hard for me.

Like, I'm the person who wants to go in and solve it, right? Like, if my wife or my friends are going through something, I'm like, okay, how can we fix this thing now?

And one, I need to recognize sometimes that people need their space and work through stuff on their own. I struggle with it. Like, I've been working on it and I think I can do it sometimes, but it doesn't come natural for me naturally.

I just want to fix it. And then sometimes I'm like, oh, sometimes I gotta wait and let people work through this on their own a little bit.

Maybe come to the point where they realize they need help and let them ask for help first. And I don't know, to me that's a lot harder than just, alright, how do we fix this? And thinking through it, you know, so.

But I know other people have done that for me in really helpful ways.

Lots of people have probably watched me believe terrible things and come around and they had to let me work through some of my theology on my own and go, glad you got there, because some of that stuff you were saying was wrong, you know.

So.

Other part of this question though, because I thought about it and I think you were already touching on this, is there's also a bad side of this. Like, I don't want it to be like, oh, hey, this was good, let's do good things. Challenging the idea a little bit. Sometimes this can be toxic.

So I'm gonna go to a C.S. lewis example. So in the Four Loves, he writes about family love and he writes about when all the loves he talks about when the.

When it becomes a God, it becomes a demon. That's kind of his catchphrase for the Four Loves. He's like, when you allow it to become the thing that's most ultimate, if it's not God's, love.

Eventually it goes sour. And he kind of shows how that happens with all the different love loves. And he's talking about family love.

He gives this example of a mom who waits up all night for people to come home for her husband or kids, whatever, and doesn't matter what the reason is, she's going to stay there. She's going to be waiting. And in her mind, she's doing it for whatever reason for them. It's like, oh, you made us feel guilty.

We know you shouldn't be up this late. You should be this. And it's actually making people miserable because she's guilt tripping them. And that's what family love can become.

And I can see where something like this, whether it's family, friends, whatever, someone's like, oh, well, I'll wait on you to make the right decision, can be really toxic. Like, you know, if they're like, I'm not letting go of you. I'm going to wait till you choose whatever.

You know, even waiting can be pushy and can be toxic in some way as opposed to, you know, there is a world where I could imagine that Sanji needed to leave the Straw Hat Pirates and it actually was what's best for him. And this situation, it wasn't. But there probably is a situation where it was what's best.

And knowing that Luffy was always there would have just guilt trip and kept him from ever doing what he needed to do.

So how do we distinguish when this kind of waiting and, you know, being there for someone is helpful and good, or when it's toxic and holding people back?

Like I said, I think it's the heart behind it, like who? Why? What is your purpose?

So if someone is waiting on me, and thankfully, I haven't had too many scenarios where someone like, was toxic to me about it just because I'm very protective of who I surround in my life since I've had a traumatic childhood. So I've distanced myself away from a lot of family who would do this to me. Which, you know, just a little.

PSA announcer listeners, you get to choose where you're planted. So don't plant yourself among garbage. Okay.

Or weeds.

Oh, weeds. So I wouldn't.

When I was a teacher, I would tell my future, my students, I'm like, well, you know, if you look in the garbage, you're going to find garbage when it comes to dating. So maybe you should change where you're looking, just kind of letting them know. So, yeah. So I think you have to think of the Heart, intention.

Do you truly care what's best for the person? Right. And sometimes what's best for the person is letting them fall on their face.

And that's one thing I'm going to have to learn going into, like, being a mom. I'm not going to be able to protect my future son from everything. I'm not sure you can.

Haven't you seen Finding Nemo?

Yeah. No.

So.

And I think that's the thing. Like, I'm going to have to let him make mistakes and let him even maybe walk away from me or the faith or, you know, his dad.

But he will always know that we are there. And we. He has a place to return home to so you don't have to wait up someone's butt because that's not comfy.

But, like, just kind of, like, letting them know, like, hey, I don't agree with. And going back into, like, maybe it's a friend who's doing something stupid. It's like, I don't agree with what you're doing.

I don't agree with your lifestyle. But what is true is I freaking love you a lot and I freaking care about you. But.

But I can't be a part of your life while you're doing this, and I can't watch you hurt yourself. But no, I'm right here when you need someone.

So I think that's kind of like the difference between being helpful versus being that toxic friend who tries to control every aspect of the life, and then that friend ends up distancing themselves and want nothing to do with you and doesn't care what you say.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with all that. I'm going to affirm that and then sound a little Pentecostal and add something.

Go for it.

Discernment. Discernment. That. That good spiritual word also plays.

Discernment's my very lowest. When I did the spiritual gifting test, I'm just going to trust everyone. I trust no one. That's my. My two things.

So I never go in the air of discernment.

Well, I think discernment is helpful, especially in these kind of situations. So, again, this anime is obviously not Christian. It's not trying to be spiritual, but I think it does play a pretty good example.

Maybe a wee bit. A wee?

Yeah. I mean, you do got joy. Boy. When you go back to Alabasta, you do see where Luffy had someone that they got really close with Vivi, right?

And she decided she actually needs to stay there to rule her kingdom, to be there for her People. And Luffy knew that actually was the right thing for her, and he let her go here.

I think what's happening is he knows that Sanji doesn't want to do this. He knows that there's more that he than what's being told to him and that Sanji doesn't want this. He can't make Sanji tell him everything.

He can't force Sanji to give him the whole story. But what he says, what I think Luffy does is he has discernment. And he goes, nope. Sanji doesn't want to leave us.

We're his family, so we're not gonna leave him. So he waited. He gave him his space, but he waited in like a healthy way. So I thought that was like. I think that's kind of what's going on here.

Again, a lot of respect for Luffy. Like people, Luffy is a goofball. But I think some people interpret goofiness as unintelligent.

I've experienced that a lot in my life because I'm goofy. But it's not the same thing. You could be goofy and have a lot of, you know, head knowledge, spiritual knowledge, etc.

And I think what that's what Luffy shows here is he's like, no, I know there's more here. I'm not leaving. And I just think that discernment is really important.

Like, you got to know when somebody needs their space and to go away or when they're lashing out. But they actually do want you there. And discernment's hard. So pray and work on that. Spiritual exercises, whatever you got to do.

Do some spiritual pull ups, maybe. Anything else you want to add or anything before we start to wrap this up?

Nope, but go. I mean, guys, if you haven't watched any one piece but have listened to this, which is crazy.

The great thing is season one just ended, so it's only one season, guys.

God, that's just so funny. Yeah, they just decided to make it a seasonal anime. So it's like a thousand some episodes in season one.

You can easily watch season one before season two starts in a couple months.

I saw somebody say if you watched like 12 episodes a day, and this was probably was like a week or two ago, but if you watch 12 episodes a day, you could get there.

It's like three to four hours of anime every day.

Yeah, that's.

I don't have time for that.

Don't do that to yourselves, guys.

Unless you do it while cooking dinner or folding laundry or doing your adult things.

It's crazy. But you can watch the live action show. It's been pretty good. And soon they're going to be doing like a summarized version of the show too.

And that'll be.

Yeah, I don't know how soon. As soon. I've been hearing that forever.

Yeah. Eventually. We should say eventually. Yeah. And Oda time, it's like God time different from our time. Oda's time is also different from our time.

And Oda's time is always own time, if you think about it.

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens. I do think there's some arcs you can watch on their own. I don't think this is one.

I wouldn't recommend watching this without some of what happened before.

Same.

Yeah, but. All right, let's go and start wrapping this up. We are going to do a bonus question for our official members on our website.

We're just going to ask how this arc might have been different if Zorro was here. So it'll be fun. A little bit of a what if. For now, though, we're just giving recommendations. Liz, you want to recommend anything to our audience?

Today I've been enjoying re watching the west rain. Oh, my gosh. West Wing for like the third or fourth time now. Just kind of as my.

Like, this makes me happy and I know exactly what's going to go on, so nothing's going to surprise me or make me sad. So if you kind of like politics and drama and comedy, watch it.

Yeah, I'm gonna recommend something super cheesy. And it's like. Like one of those, like, super cheesy Christian devotional kind of things almost.

Guys, this is like a guilty pleasure of mine because, like, I know that it's probably not actually good, but it makes it just. I don't know, it brings me joy. So for anyone who's willing to try something cheesy that brings Josh joy. And I don't usually like devotionals.

It's called the myth made fact, and it's just going over some of these old Greek myths and then kind of going, here's where we could see some Christian values here and a little bit of doing the Jesus juke and plugging some stuff at the end, and I'm like, you know, that was really cheesy, but it just makes me smile. I don't know, it's like a nice light reading that just sometimes you need something fluffy, you know, fluffy and sweet, like whole cake island.

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Show Description if you haven't listened to any of our other one piece reviews, we've reviewed all the way up and through Whole Cake island now. So check out that playlist if you want some more One piece content from us. And remember, we are all a chosen people. A Geekdom of Priest. Sam.