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. "
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Date: 2014-06-03 10:23 am (UTC)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. "