Buggy Arc- Part II

[we_are]

These chapters are where we see Nami’s core personality is fleshed out more, start to see more of Zoro’s soft side, as well as his badassery, and one of the biggest themes in One Piece is revealed and starting to become hammered in, tying intimately to one of the most important aspects of Luffy’s characterization.

But first, a look that Buggy is a real pirate.



Because real pirates know how to party~! We’ll see this kind of thing come up again and again. Almost every major arc has ended with a party of some sort, and some arcs even have parties in the middle! We’ll explore partying at a little later date, but suffice to say that in the One Piece world, partying hard is the sign of a true pirate…and even, perhaps, a pirate not entirely coded as ‘bad’.



I really love this. Not only is Nami a hardcore drinker, but I like how the men don’t assume she won’t be just based on her gender. Though, again, the gender policies of OP will be touched on later, this is such a strong little moment—and Nami herself is kickass! Able to hold her liquor with the best of them.



But here we see a big flaw she has. She is so assured of victory; she’s thinking nothing can go wrong. That these simple-minded guys are easily tricked. Maybe the subordinates are—but she’s taking the captain much too lightly. (And in a way, she’s been trained to do so—but we’ll touch on that later.)

And then we cut to Luffy , still trapped in the cage and trying to gnaw his way out of it.



Another interesting note to Lu’s character. They got lucky, they’re having a party to celebrate that luck—this is one of the main reasons Luffy wants to be a pirate. Not just to get lucky, but the chance of it happening. And of course the celebration of it all. But again, he’s not particularly angry with them for having him caged up. This is part of the consequence of him being a pirate.


Now Nami is sometimes, and often unfairly, labeled as a complete bitch. While she does have her moments, as all of them do, we see from the beginning that this description is hardly accurate.




Though she’s ribbing him, there’s nothing in her face or expression that suggests this is mocking. In fact it seems like gentle teasing from an older person to someone they view as a kid. But if that’s not enough, let’s look at the next few panels.



Yes, she is yelling at him…but the point is, he asked for food and she gave it to him. We also see (and will see again) that nearly anyone who gives Luffy food is automatically a nice person.



Here, though he’s a pirate, she’s kind of gently exasperated with him—like he’s a kid who doesn’t even know what he’s doing but just being foolish and reckless. Which, to be fair, she’s not too far off the mark.



And here it’s revealed that she has an escape plan for him. She got him into this mess and she’s going to get him out of it. Despite his pirate outlook, she has nothing against him. Again because he’s so unassuming and just like a kid brother. Look at her cutie smile. ~<3
Buggy shows up and mocks Luffy for being betrayed by a follower, Luffy claims she isn’t and then we have this panel:




This is just another example of Luffy’s straightforward nature. Any idiot would know that Buggy wouldn’t just let him go—but Luffy’s his own brand of idiot and the question is straightforward and honest.

Buggy has his men prepare a special ‘Buggy Ball’ and they watch astonished as it takes out a row of house. Nami looks horrified.



Granted, Buggy just took out a huge swath of houses in one go, showing that he’s not really someone to be trifled with, but I also wonder if it’s some shades of Arlong arc—seeing a village getting so easily decimated like that.



Interesting character note about Buggy here, and the notions of strength in One Piece in general. Buggy assumes such obvious strength will get him far in the Grand Line and bring him success. This is not the case and not even enough to succeed against Luffy, as we’ll see. But Buggy tends to value surface things without looking beyond them. In other words, treasure for the sake of money and power—power itself coming from purely physical means.




Now this is interesting to me for what it implies. What Buggy is doing is two-fold, first making sure that she has no loyalty to this guy who was her former boss, and secondly, to test her ruthlessness. I suspect that Buggy wants his men to be (almost but not quite) as ruthless as he is.
Also, I just love Nami’s body language in this. You don’t have to see her expression in succeeding panels to know that she’s not okay with this at all. She’s leaning and stepping back away from that thing with her palms turned outward. She wants nothing to do with it.



Nami’s ‘oh shit’ moment. This deal is going sour and she knows she’s as caught as a rat in a trap. I love Luffy’s waiting look, as well. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen, and is kind of concerned, but until it happens, he’s not going to freak out.



And here she’s backpedaling furiously. Trying a ploy that would work on any stupid pirate so she won’t have to hurt someone she views as an innocent but annoying kid.



Say what you will about Buggy, but if you’re weaker than him, he’s pretty terrifying. He’s also a captain who knows what he’s doing and how to control the situation. There is no doubt that he’s testing Nami here and won’t let her get out of it.



Actions=Consequences. Nami’s underestimated Buggy and now she’s paying for it. Also we see another shade to her. She doesn’t just not like pirates, she doesn’t want to be like them either. She can’t just straight up murder someone who is helpless.




And Luffy, who has been watching her quietly until now, sees the measure of her and the expression. Not just what she says but how she feels about it.



He is watching close enough to see that. I love this layout, too. Look at just how much drama silence can evoke. He says his line and then there is just this blank white space with nothing but Nami, the cannon and Luffy in a cage. Actions and consequences laid right out there.
I’ll just let the next few panels speak for themselves.







Now this isn’t anything new. We’ve heard this before when Luffy told similar to Coby. So why are we hearing it again and why to Nami?

Partly, of course, it cements this idea into our head. This is always Luffy’s conviction of what a pirate is and what it means to be a pirate. But here it is also a different connotation. Whereas Coby was afraid to risk his life, fearing death and foregoing his dream—Nami is doing something she has little conviction in and could result in her own death. She’s committed herself to this life that she doesn’t want to be committed to and so, if she dies, it will be with regrets.

All the while Luffy’s speaking, she’s listening to Buggy’s crew chanting to shoot! Shoot! Shoot!



So this guy snatches the fuse and wick from her hand and tries to light the cannon and



Bam! Right to the face! You do not take things out of Nami’s hands. It’s a startled reaction more than anything, as she goes on to be surprised at herself for doing such a thing, as if her hands acted on their own. But it shows another aspect of Nami’s nature.
She’s all about control. She makes the decisions about her own choices. Thief though she may be, Nami doesn’t allow others to steal from her, or take those choices away from her. She also doesn’t like being interrupted in the middle of a decision.

Either way, Buggy is understandably pissed at this. Knowing she’s overstepped her bounds, Nami moves in front of the cage as if to guard him, prompting Luffy to ask if she’s changed her mind and is saving him now.



Mangled English aside, this is Nami acting on her conviction. She didn’t intend to save him but she refuses to go as far as becoming an evil pirate. She’s putting her life on the line for this.



And she gives her reasoning. Of course we know the story behind this and the person she is referring to, and will know in the arcs ahead, but two things of note.

1) Despite pirates stealing the life of someone precious to her, and despite the fact that Luffy is a pirate, she will not exact revenge on anyone who believes to be innocent. Much like not stealing from them either. Despite the cruelty she suffered, she will not inflict it. Attached to this is judging people by what they do and how they act. Though Luffy is a self proclaimed pirate, he hasn’t hurt her nor said anything to the effect that he’d hurt anyone. Granted, she no doubt thinks he’s a kid, but the fact is, as far as she’s concerned, he’s innocent of this whole mess.

2) Remember how she really wanted to get to the Grand Line? Not enough to hurt someone innocent. She is putting her life on the line for this conviction. In other words, she is doing it the hard way—which is another theme:

Hard way vs Easy way: We’ve actually seen this before with Morgan. He takes the easy way. Rather than work for his men’s respect, he intimidates them and uses his rank against them. Nami, on the other hand, is ready to risk throwing away this chance at success so she can follow her conviction and fix her mistake.

But just how hard is she willing to fight for her conviction?

With the canon pointed at Luffy and the fuse lit, burning away, Nami has no choice but to fight of Buggy’s subordinates and dampen the fuse the only way she knows how.




That is some badassery right there. She even throws her staff away, making herself vulnerable, in order to do the right thing and follow her conviction. Though of course, this is not something that is preconceived—in other words, she is acting subconsciously both because of her conviction and because of her inner core of being a caring person.



And this is no easy feat. It obviously hurts like a bitch to do, not to mention she’s weaponless and right in the thick of things.

Something else interesting to mention. As the fuse is fizz, fizz, fizzing away, we have this shot of Luffy.



For someone not afraid to die, he’s sure freaking the hell out. But the key here is, not afraid to die for his dream. If this were on the open seas or some other time where he’s actively pursuing his dream, as we’ll see, he’s much more graceful in accepting this. However not when he’s trapped in a cage because he was tricked by someone.

In any case, Nami is in a sticky situation with her back to the enemy as she’s risking her own life to save Luffy’s when: Bam!



Entré, Zoro. And here the focus shifts away from Nami, and more onto Zoro as Nami begins to understand (sort of) just what kind of guys these are. Also to note, Zoro doesn’t appreciate fights where stronger opponents swarm on much vulnerable weaker ones who are obviously not there to fight.



Also, n’aww, Luffy grin. How could you resist that face? –chinhands-


Zoro shows his caring side as he asks Nami if she’s okay, but more importantly. This expression directed at Luffy.



They are still so new in knowing each other, Zoro can’t help but be tell him, what the hell is wrong with you. You were attacked by a bird and now you’re in a cage? Is this your idea of fun? You have no idea, Zoro. No idea.


In any case, both Buggy’s subordinates and Nami wonder what the hell is going on with Roronoa Zoro, pirate hunter, hanging out with a pirate. Buggy asks whether Zoro has come for his head. Zoro says no because he is no longer a bounty hunter. But Buggy refuses this answer, and why?




Here we see Buggy trying to cut corners and use someone else in order to get ahead (aheh) Which is actually an interesting counterpoint to Shanks, but we’ll get to that later. For right now, we see just how harsh, but fair, Zoro can be. He gives Buggy fair warning that he’s not just going to dick around with this.

But Buggy asks for it …


And so Buggy gets it.



Now, at this point, it’s easy just to take this sort of thing in stride. For one thing, come on, it’s a shonen manga, no one really dies in a shonen manga except in flashbacks or epic finales. For the other, of course we know he’s a Bara Bara Man and so this is a trap.

But Zoro doesn’t know that. He brutally cut the guy into three pieces. It’s so brutal and sudden that Nami is shocked by this.



Though Luffy, is not.



Or at the very least, not in the same way.

Though admittedly, Oda is constrained by what he can do given the age of the people One Piece was intended for, this suggests a pretty harsh and sometimes dark world, especially for pirates that mean business. The fact that Luffy’s not really shocked by the violence of the act suggests some things about his past that we’ll discover much later.
The key here is to think about what is the backdrop of the world. What is behind the scenes and being intimated through actions and reactions. It’s as if what is being told directly is like the picture of a vase, and what is being said indirectly is the blank space surrounding the vase. You need to see and understand both in order to see the full picture.

As we move into Chapter 11, the clown pirates are cackling over their captain’s demise, and though Luffy, Zoro and Nami notice and are weirded out by it, they don’t really get it, they don’t look for the negative space to try and get the full picture either. Instead, they seem to dismiss it as Luffy asks for Zoro to get him out of the cage.
But that leads to another lesson of the sea:



Never let your guard down.
What’s more Zoro knew that Buggy had some sort of Devil Fruit power and calls himself careless for it.



I also like the contrast here, with Nami being the sensible one but also frozen with the indecision of the moment, both: What do? And OMFG I have to do something or we’ll all (and most importantly me) die. Luffy is just mad. The quiet kind of mad. He sees something he really doesn’t like. Of course he later yells it out that stabbing someone in the back like that is dirty. And it’s not the first time and not the last pirates will fight dirty. But it is setting the stage for this is how real pirates fight. They are tricksy. They are false.
At any rate, Luffy calls Buggy a big nose. Everyone freaks out. Nami is like oshit why did you have to say that. Buggy is PISSED and throws the knife at him which seems to hit… and we have this nice shot here.



Hmm? What? What are the implications behind it other than worry? Nothin’. Just a pic of Zoro being worried about his captain. Plus, he hasn’t known Luffy for very long at all, and already it’s twice he’s proven he’s loyal as hell.




But of course Luffy catches it with his teeth and we know he’s going to kick Buggy’s butt as soon as he says it because, even pretending we know nothing about One Piece, this is a shonen and that’s how shonen do. Also, you go, Luffy. Make your promises with a “Don!”
In any case, Buggy is like pbbt whatever brat. Zoro and Nami show concern (with Zoro looking rather fine while bleeding) and Buggy tells everyone else to laugh at Luffy with him. And what is Luffy’s reaction to being laughed at?



Laughing with them! Which is a far cry from his reaction the last time we saw this kind of situation. Though it’s likely also partly due to the fact also that they are laughing and so he is laughing because he is an easily led idiot when it comes to this sort of thing as we’ll see frequently later, but the determination never leaves his eyes.
So after this laughter and determination, of course the next step is going to be



To quote Zoro the next panel over: Le what?


He just got through saying he was going to kick Buggy’s ass and now he’s saying this. What’s the deal? Does he have some sort of plan? Now, it may be obvious to you, but took me a long time to figure out what the heck Luffy was trying to say. Even Nami has no idea…



Yeah, what about him? How is he going to defeat Buggy if he’s stuck in a cage? And what good is Zoro gonna do if he runs away?

But really, Luffy means exactly what he says. That Zoro should run away. The next few panels are some great non verbal communication and because it’s non-verbal, anyone can interpret as they like, but this is my take.
Firstly, there’s this:



Zoro doesn’t know what he’s trying to say either, but this is something unusual even given what little Zoro knows of Luffy, so he’s taking the time to figure out just what he means, looking at his expression, this expression:



Luffy is smiling and his eyes are determined. You can tell because his brows are in the same position as when he said he was gonna kick Buggy’s ass. So he’s basically saying here,”It’s okay, I haven’t given up. But this is my fight and I chose it. You don’t have to get involved if you don’t want to and you should get away so you don’t get more hurt. I’ll be fine. Even if I die it’s because I’ve decided to fight.”


To which Zoro says:



It’s easy to think he’s agreeing. And he is! But keep in mind Zoro is loyal as hell even now, but also that he’s smart on his feet (so long as he isn’t trying to get someplace). We also know from experience that this is a guy who does not give up so readily.
At any rate, the situation explodes, Nami has no idea what’s going on with these crazy pirates and reminds herself she has to bail, Zoro is fighting off Buggy who is convinced Zoro is running away, but Zoro is really aiming for something bigger.



Unf. Also he’s incredibly strong, and Nami is clever enough to see what it is that Zoro is up to. He knows he has to clear these guys out in order for all of them to get away. So this is really an example of Zoro thinking on his feet in battle situations, Nami understanding and reading the consequences of what’s going to happen and a variation of Actions=Consequences
What you set up and lose control of/track of, can end up coming back and biting you in the ass.
Buggy and his men freak out as it still has a Buggy Ball in it. Zoro asks Nami for something to light it with. Everyone is tense and worried except for this guy:



Who likely thinks it’s as cool as shit and Zoro is a genius for having thought something like that up in the spur of the moment…

Buggy doesn’t like it when the tables are turned. Yelling at them to "stop it!" It’s not so much a ‘dirty trick’, rather it’s ‘not fighting fair’. But if you start an unfair fight, these guys and Zoro , specifically at this moment, isn’t afraid to fight unfairly right back. These are definitely not heroes.
Back a bit into Nami as Zoro says it’s a good time to go and asks who she is. To which Luffy replies:



Give it up Nami. Luffy has you in his sights. I don’t care if I’ve spammed a million Luffy grins, I’ll spam a million more.



I love how furious she is and how it only occurs to Luffy to think of how to get out of the cage when Nami yells it. You’d think Lu’d have some common sense. Nami is just like: What kind of idiot is this? I don’t get this kid at all! She looks like he’s just about to give her a headache.
And then we have Zoro. Oh Zoro.



Saving Luffy in this situation is something he’s going to do. He’s basically telling Luffy to relax and he’ll take care of it. Moreover that he’s strong enough to take care of it. I can even buy he’s showing Luffy his strength, which means even now Luffy is someone he believes in.

And then just this



So much deliciousness here. Firstly, Luffy showing his concern for Zoro’s safety rather than his own—and also Zoro’s tough guy response, though given what we know he thinks of how bodies work, he’s probably reasonably sure he can pop it back in again. And Nami’s like what? He’s insane!
But Zoro lifts that damn cage anyway. Which looks like the stupidest thing to do. He’s partly doing it because he can, this is the way he wants it and—what’s the alternative? They’ve already established he can’t cut iron, they don’t really have time to sit down and figure out how to do it. So, this right now, is the most straightforward solution.



Nami is clearly troubled by this. Her unshakeable foundation of belief is being severely shaken. These are definitely not like any pirates she knows.
At any rate, they escape, Buggy sends out some men to look for them, they discover a key has been stolen and this important bit right here:



What’s been started must be finished. If they set a course, they’ve just gotta sail it. Also I just love Luffy rattling the cage bars. XD He's such a monkey.


And we leave the chapter, and this section off with Buggy swearing to hunt them down and kill them.



Overall

Having the courage of your convictions: Where, with Coby, it was important for him to said what he believed, for Nami, it’s important she believes and can follow through what she says. If her convictions lie in getting to the Grand Line no matter the cost, a strong conviction means that she will no matter the cost, even if it involves killing Luffy, an innocent. In other words, you can’t just say something. You have to mean it and you have to do it. If you can’t do either, then perhaps your conviction or oath wasn’t strong enough to begin with and you want something else instead.


Actions=Consequences: Both in terms of, lying can only get you so far, and if you leave things lying around carelessly, they will come back to bite you in the ass.
The first applies, of course, to Nami, who got them in this situation because she wanted to use Luffy to steal the map. Rather than risking her own life for it, she risked Luffy’s and then couldn’t take it. But she was still stuck in the lie with no way out except a fight.

As for the second, the first time we see it is when Zoro, Luffy and Nami are sure that Buggy is dead despite everyone laughing. Granted they may have been a little uncertain, but they were careless and paid for it.

Likewise with the cannon. Forgotten about as it was it could be used by anyone and turned against them-and so it happened.


It’s a brutal world: Looking at what’s behind the scenes, we understand that despite not being able to show all the violence, the world of One Piece is not just light and happy fun times unless thematically convenient. If you’re going to live in a world with pirates, and moreover, fight pirates. Life will be hard and brutal. We saw shades of that when the mountan bandit put a pistol to Shanks’ head and got shot.



Characters

Nami: Now that the outward appearance of Nami has been laid out in the previous part, here we find a little more about her core and inner self. What she believes in, what she doesn’t, what she just can’t bring herself to do. She shows herself as willing to fix her mistakes as well as risk her own well being against overwhelming odds to help someone she considers innocent. But she very much still pre-judges, makes assumptions and sticks to them. Both about her ability to win and about who she is up against and relates to.

She sees Luffy as a kid, but he’s not. She sees pirates as a certain type of people, but Luffy and Zoro are like no other pirates she’s met. She has trust issues quite obviously, and though what she believes she knows is strong, she is not completely unchangeable. She’s also a kind, warm hearted girl when she wants to be and feels she can be.


Luffy: The two most significant things we’ve learned from this section are:

A) As long as he’s decided, it’s alright. In other words, he didn’t decide to be trapped and killed in a cage because he was tricked by someone. He can’t die because he hadn’t decided to! But once he made it a goal to kick Buggy’s ass, and why? Because Buggy hurt Zoro. Then no matter what happened it was alright because he was doing something that was following his own convictions.

B) Once Luffy cares for someone, he prioritizes their safety over his own. Zoro is his nakama, so he wants him to get out and be safe. But on the same token, he still doesn’t stop anyone from doing what they want to do (so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else) so he makes no initial complaint after Zoro tells him to shut up and that he does what he wants (essentially).



Zoro: Is loyal as hell even this early. He went in there to save Luffy and, damnit, that’s what he’s going to do. But there’s a definite sense that he’s saving Luffy because he wants to save him as a person and not out of any sense of duty. He genuinely likes Luffy a lot and you can see it in his face. He again shows his compassionate, protective side as he protects Nami initially, even knowing nothing about her, just that it was five on one—even asking if she’s alright.

We also see that he can think on his feet in a battle situation, seeing advantages where he can and isn’t after fighting honorably if the main priority is to get away. Still his thoughts are rather straightforward and plow through everything like a rhino on charge. He doesn’t know how to fix the situation other than to pick up the cage, Luffy and all, despite a serious wound, and charge ahead. He’s also strong enough to be able to think this way.


Buggy: Is determined to have respect, and this means he makes damn sure that everyone thinks like him and is (almost) just as nasty as him. Aside from likely testing Nami to see if she would kill Luffy, he makes the others laugh when he says so and again, refuses any disrespect, even the slightest made up ones in his own head, about his nose.

Despite his comedic timing, again, he’s a pirate and a pirate’s pirate. He will cheat his way through fights if he has to and enjoys tricking people because in a way, I believe, it makes him feel superior. Which reminds me of someone else we’ll meet much further down the line.


Though for now, that is all for this part! See you next time!