Buggy Arc- Part IV

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As the Buggy arc works through its climax and draws to a conclusion, we cement Buggy’s character, touch a little more on protecting treasure, as well as an interesting glimpse on how it used to be.

To begin, however, we have to rewind a little to the beginning of 17 when Luffy and Nami are watching Zoro fighting Cabaji.



Firstly, I just love the little pat on the shoulder. Why? Because it’s a touch and not one with the intent of physical violence. Aside from the high five of working together camaraderie we saw earlier, this is the first kind of touch we’ve seen between Luffy and Nami or Luffy and anyone really. Granted, Nami is just getting his attention—but she could have just said “hey!”. Instead she gives him a touch. Given how self possessed Nami is, this is really an indicator of how much she’s warming up to him. He’s no longer “a weird kid” or “a pirate wannabe”. He is starting to become a person to her and a person she can like and trust. Even so much as to tell him where the treasure is.

She explains that the Grand Line Map is probably still with Buggy and then states she’s going to take advantage of the situation to nip over, steal the treasure, and make her escape. In other words, going to abscond in the chaos they cause.



As you can see, Nami is distancing herself from them. Their fight is not her fight. She doesn’t really care if they should lose or not. One can assume she’s telling this to herself as well as Luffy. Also, note, going to the Grand Line is not her priority. Rather than doing things the hard way, casting her lot with Luffy in an attempt to help him gain the map—she is going the easier but quicker route of stealing what treasure there is and scooting.
I also love that Luffy is just watching her quietly, listening to what she says and paying attention to her words.




Yet she is fulfilling her part of the bargain. And it seems great at first when you realize she’d be entering into the Grand Line while using Luffy and Zoro to do most of the work of obtaining the map and relying on their strength otherwise. She’ll navigate for them but they get to do the dangerous stuff.




To which Luffy readily agrees and even thanks her. Does he even realize what kind of bargain he’s entering into? My bet is on, hell yes he does. And he doesn’t have a problem with it. If he’s not strong enough to beat the likes of Buggy and get the map from him, he’s definitely not strong enough to brave the Grand Line.

The chief question here really should be, does Nami understand what she’s getting into striking this kind of bargain. No. No she doesn’t. And it’s not the first time she’ll make careless deals like this either. While she’s aware that actions=consequences, she will always do her best to sneak around the consequences part.

Also briefly back to Cabaji during the fight to sort of frame this chapter and subsequent fight. The chapter is called, Difference in Level. So let’s see what that means for the preliminary fight of the chapter, that is Zoro v Cabaji.



This is the BEST trick he has. Spinning tops. Reading the fight, it’s quite obvious the tops are nothing more than a diversion so he can do a kind of ‘death from above’. It is not skill but trickery and cheating. Zoro is, of course, the skilled one and isn’t going to be stopped by that kind of thing. Buggy knows that which prompts him to cheat as we saw in the previous installment.

At the end of said fight, of course, Zoro says he is a pirate, cluing Buggy into the fact that they are pirates. Luffy tells him to turn the map over. Buggy doesn’t reply to that and instead:



So looking at this statement from where most of us stand, it’s like duh. Of course. The Grand Line is dangerous. But coming from it fresh in, we have no idea what the Grand Line is even like. Just that it exists. Here Buggy hints that it’s indeed dangerous because it’s not some place no-name pirates can just fart around in. But what that also says, and perhaps even hints, that Buggy knows of the Grand Line and perhaps has even been there. Which, as we will find out (though somewhat contextually based) is true.

And of course he asks Luffy’s intentions there and Luffy replies:



Because of course he does. And it’s said so casually straightforward here but without a boasting grin or any kind of grin. Just a simple answer to a simple question.



ROFL at Buggy’s expression here, because it’s really not a simple answer at all. He literally can’t believe what he’s hearing. Consider, too, he’s sailed under the man who became known as Pirate King. One of the phrases I can imagine running through his mind right now is: Kids these days.



Buggy knows the strength that Roger had. So of course he’s going to think Luffy is ridiculous. Luffy is also a little brat upstart who says something so ridiculous without knowing anything about the kind of man Roger was or how strong he was. Buggy has no confidence in Luffy’s ability to do this thing, and frankly, hasn’t had much evidence. If anything, you would think that Zoro was the stronger one.

At any rate, Luffy tells him to shut up and get fighting and Buggy tells him to not get smart impudent Gomu Gomu bastard, then goes on to say the straw hat reminds him of that impudent redhead he knew long ago.

As we move into chapter 18, titled Buggy: The Clown Pirate, let’s pause a moment to appreciate Zoro sleeping.



What thematic/characterization significance does it have? None whatsoever. It’s just purty. Also cheek squishes. I love cheek squishes.

Moving on.

Luffy asks Buggy if he knows Shanks. Buggy says he does and asks why Luffy wants to know. Luffy asks where he is right now. To which Buggy says:



Basically he’s saying maybe I do know and maybe I don’t. Basically he’s showing his capriciousness and child-like nature, trying to mess with Luffy’s head.



Unfortunately he’s overestimated Luffy’s capacity at word games.
At any rate, Buggy explains himself and tells Luffy that he’s not a nice enough guy to tell Luffy what he wants to know. Luffy says then he’ll have to beat it out of him. Buggy is essentially: Whatever, loser. You’ll be dead. And then this:



Now it may seem dumb for Luffy to be so straightforward in admitting his weakness and maybe on some level it is… but when you think about it, whether Luffy admits it or not makes no difference. Buggy is going to use the attack regardless. Luffy is going to have to find ways around it regardless. Luffy is a straightforward person anyway but it saves considerable amounts of energy just telling the truth. Of course he is still a dumbass since he didn’t have to say anything but—eh—details.

The fight commences and it’s actually a pretty fun one, highlighting their unique abilities. Luffy basically spends most of it hopping around and gleefully dodging attacks. Then tries to get a hit in. Buggy shows that he’s clever in reading Luffy’s weaknesses.



But what he underestimates, and subtly we’ve been clued in not a few panels ago is that Luffy knows his own weaknesses. Moreover, he knows what he has to do to get around them/prevent them from being exploited/makes it so it doesn’t matter.




How he counteracts his weakness at this point is to move faster than Buggy can cut him and tries to coat hanger him to the ground, which fails due to Buggy’s ability as we see. Buggy says that Luffy isn’t much of a threat.



Now this panel seems to be just a statement of the obvious—but Luffy has seen this ability twice before and look at how he’s repeating it. It’s not “separating into sections!” or “?!” or “I forgot he could do that” it’s “. . .” which is trailing off, as if he’s thinking about it. And we can see it proved here.




Luffy is prepared for it. He’s not shocked. Not freaking out. His stance is open. He knows that Buggy separates and is ready to move.
(And as an aside, Nami and some of the Buggy Boys are watching the fight, though in the latter case pretending to be unconscious so they won’t die. Not a great attitude to take into the Grand Line.)



Luffy manages to intercept! But here he underestimate Buggy’s ability, because as we see, Buggy separates again and hits Luffy at his most vulnerable.



It is, of course, the hat. And it’s a little knick but enough to make him mad. (also, angry Luffy, hnggh)
There’s actually a couple of things going on here. In the first panel, (that is the far right one) he is inspecting the hat, despite the fact he just got his face cut. The hat is far more precious to him than his face. It’s just a knick, but that’s enough.
Buggy, of course, underestimates this. The hat does not seem like a treasure to him, but a face (and representation) is super important.



Buggy’s expression. Rofl. He has the best expressions I don’t even care. He’s like what the hell is up with this kid? /squint.
Regardless, Nami, who is watching, is surprised by his ferocity.



Of course this serves to underscore the point of how serious it is. But also remember he was exactly this way about Shushu’s treasure.



This is part of what makes Buggy a villain. He’s going to deliberately attack the hat, not even necessarily because it’s a weak spot. I doubt he thinks he needs to cheat too much against Luffy. No, he’s attacking it just to be a dick. He’s little better than a schoolyard bully.
So as expected Buggy attacks the hat. This is a typical villain thing to do and we knew he was going to. But what is key here is that he expresses a theme that underlines most of the major arcs of the manga.



The idea of being strong enough to protect something precious to you. We’ve seen this with Shushu and Mayor Boodle. They were not strong enough to protect what was precious to them which is why Luffy had to step in. Now Luffy has to be strong enough to protect what is precious to him. The hat.

Also interesting to note as an aside… If we are saying that Zoro’s treasure is the Wado Ichimonji—If we look back to the Morgan arc, we can see that it had been taken from him. As established, it’s likely possible he gave it up willingly in order to protect Rika. So following that logic, it’s easy to think that Zoro puts a higher priority on the safety of others rather than his treasure—which certainly ties into his self sacrificing nature. But remember, too, that he was confident that if he could hold out, they would let him go. Therefore, he already believed he was more than strong enough to protect his own treasure AND the life of someone else. We will explore this more as it comes up, suffice to say it’s an interesting note for now.
Back to the situation at hand. Buggy goes to attack the hat and…



Succeeds.



Just everything about this page. From the violence of the hat getting speared, to Luffy’s expression of shock and panic, to the hat flying out of his reach and the memory of him receiving it. It’s not the last time we’ll see something Luffy cares about go flying out of his reach. The point is, it has such a huge impact with so little dialogue.



A bit to look at here.

First of all a reassertion of Buggy’s view of treasure. There is no way a stupid had can mean anything. He’s obviously busting a gut over this. Luffy is pissed obviously and even more so, grinding his teeth. He’s still not entirely beyond people insulting what is precious to him and what he holds of value. Also Nami’s concerned look in the corner there. She has no idea what’s going on but she’s not happy with it.

But back to the point, just why is this treasure so important to Luffy anyway?



Yes, it’s something Shanks gave him. But let’s look a little deeper, shall we?

First, it’s Shanks’ favorite hat. And, given we know who it belonged to before Shanks, we can easily say it’s a momento and a treasure to him just as much as the pet store was to Shushu.

Second, he gave the hat to Luffy because he was placing trust in Luffy’s ability to get stronger and do what he said he would –even as a kid. The hat was a promise that he believed in the man Luffy would become. Or, to quote Gurren Lagaan, he was asking Luffy to believe in the Shanks that believed in Luffy.

In other words, Luffy protects the hat because it is Shanks’ treasure, but also, his treasure because it’s a physical symbol of his own promise to become the man that Shanks believed he could be. The hat can be said to carry the weight of twin ambitions: Luffy’s own and Shanks for Luffy. This is very similar to the Wado Ichimonji, though in that case the ambitions are Zoro’s own and Kuina’s lost ambition.

Upon finding out that the hat belonged to Shanks…



We find out that Buggy really doesn’t like him. Worse than that, seems to even detest him a little if spitting on the hat is any indication. Luffy just can’t take this kind of disrespect on a man he so admires but first, let’s bring this to a deeper level.

Again, while the new reader doesn’t know, those who have read a while know that Buggy and Shanks served in Roger’s crew. Moreover that this hat belonged to Roger before being passed on to Shanks. So there are several key questions here that, as of yet, have no answers.

A) Does Buggy have any sort of contempt for Roger? How does he feel about Roger anyway?

B) Since Buggy only counts treasure in terms of gold, jewels, etc. Does he not count the hat as a treasure and/or momento regardless of who wore it?

C) Was the hat passed to Shanks before Buggy arrived or had Roger not worn it before Buggy arrived and so he didn’t get the significance of the gesture?

749 chapters at this point in time and there are still a lot of questions that need answers.
Anyway, Luffy is pissed.




But let’s look at why Luffy is pissed. Yes, Buggy was disrespecting Shanks, but the main source of Luffy’s anger aside from hat abuse is the above. Let’s look at the full statement:
Shanks is a great man. You say that you’re his comrade (nakama)? Don’t compare yourself to him.
Most immediately, it’s obvious Luffy has compared Buggy to Shanks and has found Buggy wanting, but let’s look deeper. Nakama, as we know and will know, is a very important word to Luffy. He finds it insulting that Buggy be nakama with Shanks because Buggy is not a great man and also somewhat a terrible person. Following this, if Shanks is a great man his nakama will also be great men.

To put it directly, Luffy wants nakama that he can be proud of. That have the same ideals, vision, determination and a sort of conscientiousness like him. He won’t be content with anything else. While it’s likely all subconscious, it’s nevertheless present.
Also to note, prior to the gut punch, Buggy popped off his head, assuming Luffy would use the same attack twice. Protip: Luffy rarely uses the same attack twice on the same opponent in the same battle.




This just made me laugh. They are both such kids despite the fact that Buggy is twice Luffy’s age. Also it’s hilarious. I love the way Odacchi uses motion and perspective.
As case in point from above, Luffy tells Buggy never to speak those words (of Shanks being his nakama) again.



Say what you will about Buggy. Unlike Mohji who saw Luffy as a threat and apologized, Buggy ain’t apologizing for shit. It’s his right to hate Shanks and he’s not going to let some no account brat make him say otherwise. He definitely has a certain pride to him.
Moving on the Buggy Pirates worry that their captain might get beat, while Nami, distracted by the fight, realizes that she still has to go steal treasure. Then we cut to the villagers who had been worried about the mayor unitl one of them has enough and says he will go into town. The man says the Buggy crew is known for being low down and dirty so the others must stay behind.



Yeah, no, screw that. Note, the villagers are galvanizing themselves into action for the purpose of someone else. That is to say, the mayor treasures them and the village and the villagers treasure him in kind and are going to risk their lives to protect what they treasure.
After that we dive a bit into Buggy’s past with Shanks and while we’ll get to that in quite a bit more depth a bit later, to sum up—Shanks inadvertently caused Buggy to eat a Devil Fruit which prevented Buggy from getting any treasures under the sea and so:




Yep. This is Buggy’s desire and as ludicrous as it seems to be (and it’s not much worse than wanting to be Pirate King, let’s be honest). He is passionate about his treasure and in protecting his treasure from sneak thieves. Like this one:




Oops. Nami has been caught. Bad timing on her part. Also perhaps she overestimated Buggy’s interest beating the tar out of Luffy vs his much more vested interest in his treasure. Determined to stop her from taking the treasure, Buggy flies over to do her in.



Nami knows she’s in some deep shit and Buggy knows that he can eviscerate her easily and Luffy… Well in the previous page (not shown) he looked startled when Buggy spotted Nami…and now it seems he has an idea. Beware of Luffy with an idea. Because while Luffy is aware of his own weaknesses, Buggy, much in the same way as the cannon with the special Buggy ball, leaves parts of himself behind despite Luffy being close enough to do this:



It’s a somewhat dirty way to fight, kicking a man in the buggy balls like that. But Luffy is the kind of guy to take advantage of a situation like this. He’s a pirate so he doesn’t have to fight fair and if Buggy isn’t going to anyway, why should he? He reminds Buggy that he is Buggy’s opponent. Luffy then tells Nami to put the treasure down and run or she’ll just get chased again. Nami asks why she should abandon her treasure and run and Buggy asks why she thinks it’s her treasure to begin with.



Again, cementing Nami’s character and ideals. She’s a thief who only steals from pirates and doesn’t let any pirate call her out for it. It’s part squirreling away money for her own ends, but part retribution for all those pirates who steal from others. Also when Buggy says that’s ridiculous, Nami says that she’s not done anything so bad to be lectured by a pirate. In other words, she’s fully convinced she’s in the right for this. Essentially telling Buggy too bad, suck it up.

However, Buggy’s a pirate and doesn’t have to suck it up. He does a bara bara festival, splitting his body into many parts and chases after Nami.



Firstly, it shows how important this treasure is to Nami. She’s once again actively risking her life for it. She doesn’t know if Luffy can save her at this point but she’s going to run with the treasure and try to escape as long as she can.

Secondly, Buggy keeps forgetting about the stuff he leaves behind and his own weaknesses, which Luffy spots because Luffy may not be the smartest apple in the barrel intellectually, but he knows how to read a fight, spot weaknesses and take advantage of them. He tickle and pinches and jams the toes of the foot into the ground, half playing, half trying to get Buggy’s attention and Buggy yells at him to knock it the hell off. Nami says the one who should knock it the hell off:



You do not get between this woman and her treasure. She will run away if she can but if cornered, she will fight for it. Though it strikes me that this is another example of her temper getting the better of her. Much like she whacked the guy who had taken the matches from her without thinking about it, she’s whacking Buggy with the treasure bag.



Which, as it turns out, is not the best idea. Nami makes a dumb mistake, realizes she has, but keeps going despite this, trying to tug the bag back. Once she’s started charging forward, she has no other alternative than to keep going, despite the fact that she may be terrified and out of her depth. She’ll make it work somehow. It’s like deciding to run down a steep hill, and realizing it was a really bad decision, but having a choice to either keep going or falling, deciding to keep going and hoping you don’t break your neck.

Fortunately, Buggy is distracted by getting his treasure back and forgets he’s fighting Luffy for a third time.



And pays for it. This kick knocks him the hell out, leaving his treasure free for the taking—which displays the biggest problem with his ambition and dream. Even if he acquires all the land based treasure in the world, he is going to spend his whole life fighting to keep it. But, ironically, as he said earlier in this chapter: If he values this treasure so much, he’s going to have to be strong enough to keep it. Which he obviously isn’t.



I love this shot first of all. Just the expression and the pose and the way his hand is drawn. Say what you will about Oda’s drawing ability, but it’s chock full of character. You can even take away the word balloons and while you’d lose the context, you’d still get the overall feel of success.

Though of course the text is important. As we saw earlier, Buggy wasn’t even going to fight Boodle, denying him the ability to defend what he valued and Boodle wasn’t strong enough to drag him into a fight. This doesn’t save Buggy from getting a kick to the face since, though Luffy fought Buggy for his own reasons, he didn’t forget Boodle or his will/resolve. In other words, this is Buggy’s consequence for not taking Boodle seriously and not taking Luffy seriously enough.



Nami shows gratitude. A small thing and a kind of a ‘duh, why wouldn’t you’ moment, but we’ve seen and we definitely will see how big a role gratitude plays. But of course it’s nbd because kicking guy’s butts is what Luffy does.
They gather the treasure, Luffy acquires the Grand Line map. (Insert Zelda Music Sting here). Buggy comes to, tries to fight Luffy again and attempts to gather up his parts which fails spectacularly. Let’s just indulge in the page here.



One Piece has the best visual comedy, I swear. Anyway, in terms of limbs, Buggy seems to be coming up a little short (Ha!) and I love the middle panel where you can literally mentally insert the comically timed wind. Nami proves her theify skills are great for more than just treasure stealing.

But more importantly, Luffy is so damn amused by this and, really, I just love how much Luffy thinks his nakama are the funniest, most amusing cool people on earth. Who wouldn’t want a friend like that or a captain like that?

At any rate, Luffy sends Buggy flying with a Gum Gum Bazooka and Buggy flies and I’m sure we’ll never see him again. (ha!)



Victory with a DON! Also, once again, Nami tries to completely control the situation by getting what only she wants out of it. Though to her credit, she’s honest enough to be up front about it. Compare to the first time she talked with Luffy way back at the beginning of the arc where she agreed to cooperate with him just so she could use him as bait. There she was manipulating. Here, understanding what kind of person he is and maybe even admiring him a little, she tells him this is as far as I’m going to go. In other words, Nami is all about:
Actions without consequences.

It’s not that she doesn’t know they are there. She’s keenly aware of the surface consequences and so will do her level best to only get what she wants. But of course, as we know, she underestimates Luffy’s tenacity- - Though we will certainly analyze that part when we come to it.

She divides the treasure in half so Luffy can carry half of it since it’s heavy. Partly because she thinks that naturally Luffy isn’t going to do anything weird with it and, as she’s said, she’s entering this alliance under her own terms, taking for granted Luffy is a normal guy.



Nami’s words are significant here because she asks this without mocking, her face even sympathetic. Remember when we first met her she, like Buggy, couldn’t imagine how a simple hat could be precious. Though in her case she assumed there was something valuable hidden in that.
Also important, Luffy is obviously upset that the hat has been damaged. But he fought hard and was able to get retribution for the damage that Buggy inflicted. And since he still has the hat, there’s nothing he can do about the damage so he accepts what happened. Much like Shushu who has only a box of dog food left of his memories but seems to accept them.
At any rate, fight done, Luffy wakes Zoro up.



This panel just because it’s cute. I love them interacting. I love that he’s just sort of gently patting Zoro’s head to get him up and is crouched there grinning at him, glad to see Zoro awake and just you know glad to see him. Luffy adores his nakama completely even from this early stage.
At any rate, at this point, the villagers come in and ask what happened. Nami says that she can’t really explain what happened, because, really, who can? But just look at her expression here:



Open. Sympathetic. Kind of a sigh of, it’s pretty messed up, huh, but what can you do. Given what we know, you can feel just from this that she feels a sort of camaraderie with them. She knows how it is to have a village trashed by pirates but it is what it is.

The villagers discover Mayor Boodle passed out and ask what the hell happened.



Luffy doesn’t regret what he did, but he’s still going to apologize for doing it—regardless of whether it was to help Boodle out or not. We’ll get back to this in just a second.
Nami yells at him for not explaining that he did it for a good reason. The villagers get all uppity because they believe these guys could be pirates. Nami freaks out, thinking, it’d be instant death if villagers found out they were pirates. Which of course Luffy says:



Luffy can’t lie to save his life, nor does he try at this juncture. This bluntness very much ties in with the apology which we’ll get to in just a little, tying everything together. But for now just note Zoro laughing at Luffy’s bluntness. He’s probably never met a guy so dumb in his life. And Luffy not understanding why Nami is yelling at him.



There are a few interesting things to look at here. Firstly, Luffy deciding to run so he won’t have to fight the villagers.(and carrying Zoro + treasure. He is a beast) Part of the reason why he can afford to be honest and is anyway is because he’s not afraid of them like Nami is. He’s much stronger than him and so avoids a fight. Also, loves the chase. You’re not a pirate unless you’re running from an angry mob.

Note, too, men and at least one woman are fighting for their village and ready to beat the tar out of these pirates.

Also the last guy in the lower left panel. He’s been the voice of the villagers and was the one that suggested they go rescue Boodle, he’s not swayed by his angry emotions and takes stock of the situation by not chasing, jus t realizing that everything doesn’t add up.
Now going back and a little out of order and tying into Luffy’s bluntness in the two panels before this… Nami demands to know why Luffy makes the situation more complicated and Luffy says:



Which is true. I mean even if they sat down and explained everything, it was their interference that wiped out buildings and he did knock Boodle out. Nami already said before that she can’t really explain what’s going on and, moreover, even if she did, it’s not as if they have any evidence to prove their situation.

And why tell the truth? Why not just not say anything? Well firstly that’s really damn suspicious and the villagers would have drawn their own conclusions anyway but also:
Firstly, Luffy apologized for hurting the villagers’ leader and someone precious to them—and also because Boodle is a good guy. Secondly because he is a pirate and really freaking proud to be one.

And also this. Luffy says that this is a good village because:




Now contrast that to the Buggy Pirates who have feigned unconsciousness this whole time.



The whole time that Buggy interacted with his crew, the only one he showed concern for was Cabaji. Everyone else listened to him or was occasionally used as cannon fodder. This is a slight contrast to Kuro who we will see next arc, but suffice to say for the moment: Buggy shows no concern for them and though they follow Buggy, they were relying almost entirely on his strength. Putting himself so high above them and pushing them around, they don’t feel like they can fight these villagers. Also, Buggy is definitely not that much of a treasure to them. Whyever they’ve joined, he’s not worth risking their lives for.

In contrast, we can see how much Boodle is a treasure even though we haven’t seen him interact with the villagers at this point, by how the villagers perceive him and act around him—and what they do. They built this village together. He goes above and beyond to try and protect even one person, a dog no less, and so is in turn treasured and protected. They are villagers but they are also nakama…at least in this sense.


Anyway, Luffy and co dart down an alley and the villagers go to follow them but are stopped in their tracks by Shushu who guards the alleyway from them and is a vicious enough terrier to stop the villagers in their tracks. At first it seems sort of dumb because, he’s just a little dog. But on the other hand, he bit a lion on the ankle so he likely has no problems biting their ankles and defending this alleyway with his life. They no doubt know that, too.

And why is he defending it so hard? Simple. Gratitude. Luffy fought for Shushu, even though he couldn’t save much, he did his best. Most importantly, he understood the value of Shushu’s treasure and didn’t degrade it because it was just a pet food store or Shushu was just a dog. Also keep in mind, Luffy really has no idea why Shushu values the pet food store but it doesn’t matter. A treasure is a treasure, whatever the reason, and respecting the treasures of others is super important.



Also this, his expression as Shushu is guarding them. I love this. You can almost hear him saying, thank you, Shushu. Shushu is showing that he is treasuring them by guarding them and protecting their way.
Luffy and co get to the boats and there some of Buggy’s Pirates are waiting. Remember these guys? Bet you forgot about them, didn’t you. But Oda didn’t. Key to One Piece: Oda never forgets.



They’re not particularly important except to show three things. One, actions=consequences. Nami stole the boat and now it’s coming back to bite her in the ass. She thought she could get away from her fate, but not so much.
Secondly:





Firstly, hypocritical much?

Secondly: Hnn Zoro

Thirdly: Difference. In. Level. The Buggy Pirates are so great? Maybe, but Zoro just glaring at them is enough to send them swimming for their lives. Not only that but he routinely kicked their asses even while wounded. There is little doubt that Zoro is probably the one of the strongest guys in the East Blue, physically anyway.

Fourthly: Much like Buggy, they demand respect through fear. Doesn’t quite work that way though.

Mayor Boodle wakes up, pissed that Luffy knocked him out. The villagers say they ran those idiots out of town, pissed at the damage they did to the place and one guy even suggests going after them. (which, I can imagine would definitely be crossing a line. Just a thought here but if you come after Luffy like that, you’re looking to get your ass kicked). However Boodle yells at them. He’s the only one who can say anything bad about them and refuses to let others disrespect those kids. He was there and saw it all. Then he races to the harbor and important here:



Text aside, the important thing here is this. He is shedding his armor. Well duh, he has to run, but look at the negative space. What this implies.

Boodle is a villager and a Mayor. He is not a fighter. He is not a warrior. The village is saved and so he no longer has need of this armor. He is free to be just Boodle again, just who he is again, without having to worry about defending himself from overwhelming forces.
Boodle makes it to the harbor just as they are leaving and tells them to: Stop right there, you morons!



Firstly, Boodle had been ready to die. He had put his life on the line for the village and that was okay by him. Death should definitely have been a thing.
Secondly, rather than reacting, all three of them are waiting to see what Boodle is going to say. They don’t know what he’s going to say. They’re not assuming what he’s going to say. They’re waiting for him to do it. Listening. Watching.



Awww. Boodle~! So cute. Not only is it gratitude, it’s debt. He understands how much they did for him and how screwed he would have been had they not come along.



That grin. X3 Luffy grins are the absolute best. Because this? This is really all he needs. He’s just happy that Boodle is happy~! Which we’ll see but for now he’s just so glad that the weird poodle guy came to see them off and is crying he’s so happy.

Zoro’s expression is nice, too. You can almost see him subconsciously recognizing Boodle as a good guy.

Nami’s is a little more complex I think. She’s certainly happy that he’s happy, but it’s not really an open grin, there’s something almost tense about her face, mostly in her eyes. Because if you think about it, this is something she wants so bad. Not gratitude, but a village being free, relieved, happy. It’s probably the first time she’s seen something like this and she’s happy and hopeful but at the same time, I think, thinking of her own village and how much more work she still has to do.

But to bring it back, Boodle says that he owes them. He is in their debt. So how does Luffy reply?



He frees Boodle from this debt. If Boodle wants to help them out in the future, that’s fine, if not, that’s fine, too. Luffy helped them because he wanted to and he wants nothing in return except for them to be happy. Because happiness is such a precious thing when you think about it and so fleeting. And Boodle recognizes this, too. Tears of joy, my friends.

Anyway all is well and good until Nami finds out that the treasure bag she gave to Luffy got left behind on purpose. And you can even see it in the far left corner of the first panel in front of the docks.



Luffy is surprisingly conscientious about the needs of others. Also to note, in a way, you could say that Luffy sort of stole the treasure that Nami stole from Buggy who probably stole at least in part from the villagers and gave some of it back. Treasure is an easily lost thing.



Zoro busting a gut. Gosh, it’s so good to see him laugh like this. You learn to appreciate this spontaneous cheer of his. Luffy is so dumb, he’s thinking. Nami’s anger is hilarious. But really, Nami has a sort of flash bang temper and really here is laying down the future law. But really:



She minds but since it’s for the village, it’s okay. She can forgive him and even sort of laugh about it herself. Though she doesn’t like other people calling her out on this. Specifically Luffy.
Also forest of judgment, huh? We’ll remember that.


But first, to backtrack just a little… Though Buggy is going to get his own Flashback Special, I want to address two panels of the flashback so we can look at the arc as a whole.



Simple as it looks, this actually says several things at once.

Firstly, keep in mind this is not only the ship Buggy sailed on and learned on, it is the ship that Shanks sailed on and learned on. Moreover, it is the ship that Roger captained. Roger, who was so much a pirates pirate that he became known as the Pirate King.

What do we see? A ship coming out of the north west. Is it a pirate ship? A merchant ship? A civilian ship? We don’t know and we never find out. Regardless, they are set to, and do attack without any provocation that we can see. Because this is what pirates do. This is what piracy looks like. Roger undoubtedly did this kind of thing all the time. His world was free, yes, but harsh as the sea and though he was a great pirate without a doubt, no one is saying he was ever a nice one. Of course judging without knowing circumstances isn’t advisable, but on the other hand, actions indicate that this is something that happens on a regular basis.
It’s very much filed under: the World is Brutal.


So heading into themes, then and looking at that first for the Buggy Arc as a whole:

Themes

The World Is Brutal: Much like Roger’s ship attacked that other ship without seeming provocation, so Buggy attacked the village without seeming provocation. There was nothing the village could have done to prevent it. He just comes in and takes over, blowing up what he likes, taking what he likes and doing what he likes. You could say this is the old world of piracy but as we’ll see, no. This is the old world and the world Roger has brought about by his influence and actions.

You can see this in Zoro, who while not a pirate, hunts them down, so is entrenched in the cruelty and brutality of the world. He doesn’t fight with cruelty, but when he does attack and intends to kill, he seriously intends to kill. If Buggy was not a bara bara man, he would have not walked away from it.

You can see this in Nami who takes advantage of the situation of the abandoned village. Yes she tracked Buggy down to see him suffer by stealing his treasure. She identified him as a bad guy and thus okay to steal treasure from. But she made no move to help the village or their situation. Even in the end she’s momentarily upset with Luffy leaving the treasure behind. Yes she’s a caring person, but to her, her own village is more important and she is definitely entrenched in the cruelty of the world. Though in her case (and maybe in Zoro’s too, who knows) the cruelty she suffers has a longer reach outside of Roger. Because Roger, however he acts, is a product of his own cruel time.

We’ve even seen this brutality in Shanks. Going back to the first chapter, he’s a good guy and everything but there is a line you don’t cross. By pointing a gun to his head, the bandit crossed that line and was killed for it. Quickly, yes, he didn’t suffer, but it was definitely brutal.

We definitely see this brutality in Alvida as well.

And not even Marines are safe as we see this brutality in Morgan who is more Buggy style pirate than Marine. And in Helmeppo who was raised in this atmosphere of oppression and might = right.
And so the cycle of brutality continues—

But…wait…

No it doesn’t.

It doesn’t because by all rights, the village should have been completely destroyed. It wasn’t because the villagers lived on and they did because Luffy entered the scene and sent people flying. It doesn’t because from Alvida to Morgan to Buggy, Luffy is already changing the world and upsetting the status quo of violence and oppression. He is strong enough to beat up the bullies and so he does. As for why, it’s something we’ll have to pull through as we go.
Suffice to say that Luffy represents the dawn of a new age.

The importance of treasure/putting your life on the line: We’ve already covered much of this in previous installments. What is important here lie in two aspects.

First what Buggy said:

You have to be strong enough to protect your treasure.

But, yeah, nobody is. Not even Zoro or Luffy are strong enough to protect their treasure on their own. Luffy got lucky that Buggy only put holes in the hat but it was definitely a case of not being strong enough. However, he is more than strong enough to protect the treasure of others or get retribution even if he can’t.
He protected a piece of Shushu’s treasure in the dog food box and got gave Mohji a hell of a consequence for the action of destroying the store casually.

He protected Boodles’ treasure of the village and villagers. Though importantly here, he did it by protecting Boodle himself. Boodle who went alone to do what was right and help Shushu protect his treasure by feeding him. Boodle who was willing to fight alone against odds that were definitely stacked against him. One person standing up against a raging bully. But because of his caring nature, the villagers protected him.

He protected Zoro’s treasure in the sense that he protected his life and ambition for the sake of a clean fight since Zoro was trying to prove himself as a swordsman. Not that Cabaji was much of a fight.

He protected Nami, but not so much her treasure as he gave half of it away. But largely because treasure was not her treasure. It’s something far different.

Even before this he protected Coby’s treasure in the sense of his ambition to be a Marine.
But before he does any of that, the people fight for themselves first. They stand up. Luffy is not the cavalry that charges in when the battle starts. He’s the final blow that ends the battle decisively. Before he works, other people have to fight for what it is they want. It’s empowering a fight rather than just saving a damsel in distress.

And of course, here, the traditional view of treasure isn’t something anyone can hang on to. Buggy wants gold and jewels and shiny things. Partly because it’ll give him power and respect and will make him a great pirate, or so he thinks. But it’s a case of what he thinks he wants isn’t really what he wants, and because he’s trapped in the surface veneer of treasure=might and might=right, he is always on the hunt for treasure and can never let it go, even when pursuing it distracts him from bigger things.

Additionally, this is a treasure that relies on the misery of others. He steals it and people suffer undoubtedly. In the end, the treasure that relies on the misery of others can sustain itself forever as we’ll see again and again.



Characters

Since we’ve already covered Zoro extensively and Luffy in depth through what he does, let’s take a different tack and compare and contrast the two most important people in this arc,

Nami and Buggy

Similarities:
Both are cheaters and sneak thieves, taking advantage of what they can, taking money where they can. Nami didn’t take over the village, no, but she’s got no compunction on stealing already stolen money regardless of where it came from.

Both try to weasel their way out of consequences. With Buggy not so much in the fight against Luffy because that fight was more of a pride thing and I don’t think that he at any point doubted he could kick Luffy’s ass—but he tried to get out of the consequences of engaging Zoro in a fight, even though he wasn’t the one fighting, by coming at him from the side. While I concede that part of it was an attempt to help Cabaji, there’s no doubt that most of it was to prevent Zoro from kicking Cabaji’s ass and causing an even greater problem for Buggy later on. He recognizes that Zoro is a force to be reckoned with.

Nami, not having the physical strength necessary, tries to weasel her way out of consequences as a matter both of survival and manipulation. While it isn’t necessarily a bad thing when she’s in trouble putting her life on the line for her treasure, is when she involves and manipulates people who haven’t acted against her based on a preconceived notion of guilt. Read: Luffy. She tries to weasel out of a closer connection with him constantly. But she’ll come to learn you can’t both rely on someone’s strength and then leave them when you feel like it.
Both Buggy and Nami value money above most other things, though we’ll get to that in more detail in the contrasting section.

And finally, both Nami and Buggy get annoyed when people mention an obvious aspect of themselves. For Buggy it’s the nose. It’s hard to say whether he was teased a lot about it or assumes that people will tease him a lot about it and so jumps down their throats at even the most imaginary of slights. In Nami’s case, she doesn’t like when people see past the mask she put up. Though it was just something seemingly thrown away at the last two panels of the last chapter where she hits Luffy for commenting on her laughing. She doesn’t want people to recognize the relaxed side of herself because being relaxed=letting her guard down.

Contrast:
Buggy is a cheater, by and large, just to be a dick. He could have fought Boodle, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t have to attack Luffy’s treasure, but he did. He likes to show off that he’s so much stronger than others. It’s how he feels he has respect for himself as a badass pirate. You can tell that he is far stronger than most of his crew. Partly perhaps because they are new and partly perhaps because being stronger or at least having the veneer of it, makes them respect him and fear him and for Buggy those two are intertwined.

Nami is a cheater because this is how she survives. Though she does cheat and manipulate Luffy, the fact was that he wasn’t some villager but a pirate. This is a consequence of being a pirate. Nami won’t cheat villagers. She won’t hurt someone innocent just trying to survive. But since she doesn’t have the physical strength needed, she has very little choice in how she goes about accomplishing her goals. Cheating like this is a consequence for wanting to get money quickly and only from pirates. Buggy is not the only pirate ready to kill a thief.

Money is of course important to both but for Nami it’s a means to a greater end and for Buggy it is an end which means that his task is endless and I don’t think it’ll ultimately satisfy him. Nami on the other hand sees money not as power or strength but as security. If she has it she can do what needs to be done.

But of course the biggest difference between them is that Buggy is a dick. An old school pirate who thinks that power and respect comes from throwing his weight around. He is how he is because, for the most part, he doesn’t care about people other than himself. Much like Morgan. Much like Alvida. But he does care a little.

Nami is how she is because she’s trying her hardest and fighting insurmountable odds all by herself. She has no where else to turn. No one to rely on. In order to protect everyone she cares about she is alone against the world. She is strong, yes, but right now she is strong only because she’s armored herself against the world and anything it might bring. But we will get to that later.

For now, the Buggy arc is finished.

Comments

[rainsometimes]

Most excellent! There are so many little parallels and foreshadowings I never got before. It's a joy to realise how much work and nuance Oda put into the story already at this point - how much he, for instance, already had Nami and Luffy defined.

I'd never noticed before how many panels in this story that are just Luffy being quiet and listening. Especially with regards to Nami. (And yet he forgets some things, like her saying she's saving up to buy a village - well, so did I as a reader, so can't fault him there!)

Thanks for listening to me on Plurk and clarify what I was confused about re Zoro vs Cabaji and that!

Utterly love the way you sum it all up here regarding the world's brutality (and noting the part that Roger played there!).

"And so the cycle of brutality continues—

But…wait…

No it doesn’t.

It doesn’t because by all rights, the village should have been completely destroyed. It wasn’t because the villagers lived on and they did because Luffy entered the scene and sent people flying. It doesn’t because from Alvida to Morgan to Buggy, Luffy is already changing the world and upsetting the status quo of violence and oppression. He is strong enough to beat up the bullies and so he does. As for why, it’s something we’ll have to pull through as we go.
Suffice to say that Luffy represents the dawn of a new age. "