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Welcome to the first entry in my One Piece Blog. I have been interested in this show for a while, and I have occasionally watched a few episodes at random just to understand the vibe better, but really have very little overall knowledge about the show besides what I have seen in some TikToks. I also own some of the TCG cards but have never actually played. This blog will be written and produced by me & sometimes by my wife, and maybe our children in a few years. The goal is 1 episode per day.

Due to recent current events, such as multiple international revolutions & protests, we have hung a Straw Hat Jolly Roger on our front porch to show solidarity with freedom fighters around the globe. This symbol has become a recognizable and powerful symbol of hope beyond the anime, which is very inspiring, and a recent poll found that One Piece has had a deeper influence on young people’s personal politics than most other shows.

So let’s get into it: at the beginning of the first episode, we are given a narrative that the pirates are the “bad guys” raiding a party boat or cruiseliner of some sort. The captain of these pirates is shown as mean and ugly and their crew is just as rude and brutish. This sort of contradicts the understanding that I previously held of the pirates actually being heroes of the resistance opposing a tyrannical government, but I guess that changes as the plot progresses. Something that was striking to me was that the first spoken line of the entire series is the captain of this ship demonstrating hubris that his boat is much too mighty to be attacked by pirates, yet the crew immediately acts terrified as soon as they see the first pirate flag on a boat much smaller than their own.

What’s really surprising to me is how absolutely happy & positive Monkey D. Luffy is right from the get-go. Idk why I was expecting some sort of character development there, or that he would eat the devil fruit later in the series or something, but his entire vibe is such a refreshing experience. He is also so trusting of Koby, and supportive of his dream to be a Marine, even though Luffy is a fugitive from the Marines. However, it still made me laugh how direct and rude Luffy was to Koby, just being brutally honest about him being a coward while still trying to befriend him. 

Ultimately, I think the most politically relevant aspect of this first episode is that Luffy is intentionally seeking a very diverse crew for his future pirate ship. I suppose he did have his own boat by the end of the episode, so maybe that will serve as his initial vessel, but in any event, he at no point asks any of the traditional pirates on the other ship to join him, even after defeating their captain, because he is not looking for a traditional crew. He takes Koby with him, presumably because he recognizes the morality and integrity that he holds, or maybe he thinks he will be an obedient crew member or something, yet he sets his sights on recruiting Zoro, a bounty hunter who chases pirates to stop them, simply because he sounds like a valuable ally. 

Without having ever met him, or heard about him before this day, Luffy is again so trusting that this character would be an asset to his crew. Luffy has his sights set on becoming “king of the pirates” and finding the most valuable treasure and I think what will set him apart is assembling a crew of unique individuals who each offer valuable skills or traits to the team. Luffy is able to recognize that simply hiring basic mercenaries or regular pirates is not a suitable route to his goal, and is willing to put in the difficult work to create a harmonic and balanced crew before even attempting to navigate the Grand Line. While this certainly shows insight & perspective, I think the biggest takeaway from this first episode is, again, his commitment to diversity by trying to recruit a pirate hunter, someone with certain skills that no other pirate crew has likely ever had, because it takes a variety of types of people to do interesting & difficult things.

After this first episode, I am really excited to see how things progress. This show has been produced across 4 different decades (so far) and I think part of the magic will be the evolving art styles and content direction as the creators grow and evolve as artists and humans. I just checked the wiki and I am amazed that the very first episode originally aired on my own 10th birthday. I am literally crying as I type these words because this feels like such a serendipitous beginning of a wonderful adventure through this tale.

A shocking reveal at the start of this episode is that Luffy apparently has zero sailing skills and is fully relying on Koby to navigate their ship. This goes back to Luffy’s undying optimism in the face of difficulty, he wants to be a mighty pirate but has virtually no experience even being on a boat, it seems. The second theme that is quickly confronted is that Koby believes that any person who the Marines would put in prison is obviously an evil person, whereas Luffy just kind of ignores this sentiment towards the person he intends to add to his crew. This mirror between the 2 current protagonists is made even clearer when Koby states the infamous Star Wars line “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” in direct contradiction to Luffy’s optimism.

Upon meeting Zoro, he also seems to mirror Luffy but in a much different way. While they are both very tough characters with a strong sense of morality & virtue, Zoro tries to act rough & mean & independent while, as we know, Luffy is more fun & friendly & open to teamwork. Zoro hides his hunger until the Marines & little girl leave, he doesn’t want to be thanked or appreciated for saving anyone, and often thinks about a childhood event (that we hopefully will get more information about in future episodes) while stating he has no regrets in life even though he is currently tied to a post in a prison yard facing almost certain death.

I think what really makes this a powerful episode is that we are given a deeper look into the Marines culture & such, demonstrating that they are certainly the true evil characters in this tale, sowing chaos with no concern for the people they are meant to be protecting. People think that Captain Morgan’s son is a little nepo baby but his father doesn’t actually listen to him. However, because the Marines are regularly enacting violence against the locals, the locals assume that the son does have the influence to bring about more violence. This chaos is advantageous for the Marines to keep up the illusion that they are unstoppable, but then their own hubris causes them to leave their fortress more or less unguarded while Luffy waltzes in to try to rescue Zoro & his swords.

Koby continues to have an attitude that the Marines are moral & righteous & just, even as he sees the way they act and treat people. Propaganda is very strong and effective, and part of the Marine culture we see is Captain Morgan repeatedly calling any crime, any disobedience, any failure, etc all to be traitorous treason. By consistently referring to any who oppose him as treasonous traitors, it contributes to convincing people less familiar with the situation that his violent tendencies are necessary to maintain order and preserve the status quo. I think we see a lot of the same attitude from the current American federal government administration.

My last note is just noticing the young woman who makes a brief appearance in this episode and also had a brief appearance in the last episode. I have no idea who she is and hope I didn’t miss some exposition about her, but I am excited to see how she fits into the story in the future.

This episode opens with another great look into the hubris of the Marines. Captain Morgan quickly identifies the source of Luffy’s power, a devil fruit, and is almost in awe of the strength that such a thing is capable of delivering, seemingly jealously coveting to eat a devil fruit himself, and yet he still rushes headstrong to attack Luffy with supreme confidence that he can defeat a superior rival with his team of Marines. Luffy obviously kills him.

At first, the Marines actually seem embarrassed watching their leader be smacked around, but as the dust settles, they in fact celebrate his defeat, as they are not loyal ideological Marines but actually just local conscripts who have been following orders out of fear of violence or retribution against themselves and their friends and families on the island. Even still, they are real Marines and continue to insist that Luffy and his crew leave as soon as possible, although they grant him some leeway as thanks for getting rid of Captain Morgan. This type of awkward and complicated relationship is truly a deep look into real-world political negotiations and dynamics.

We get a much better look at the person Zoro is in this episode. He has his own high-sighted goal, to be the greatest swordsman in the world, and it is clear that Luffy recognizes this passion and ambition with great respect and is even more excited to add such a passionate member to his crew. There is a very wonderful mutual trust & understanding as both of them want to be the best in the world at something, and they know they have a better chance with each other helping them. What is interesting to me is that Zoro is sort of set up as a pirate hunter, but that actually has very little to do with his true character, and seems to just be his method of learning to be a better swordsman: defeating feared pirates.

Another fantastic parallel between Zoro & Luffy is how ridiculous Zoro’s 3-sword fighting technique looks at first glance, much like how weak & silly Luffy seems at first glance, but both are obviously very effective in battle.

We say goodbye-for-now to Koby in this episode, but, ultimately, his passion to follow his dream also mimics the other 2 characters. Although it seems a tad absurd that a small weak inexperienced individual who spent years serving pirates could rise up and be a mighty Marine, he is still exceptionally committed to trying his best to prove how capable he is. He also repeatedly demonstrates his compassion for others, particularly his friends, which seems to contradict the Marine culture we have seen thus far. Even more interesting is that having seen the corruption and toxicity of the Marines with his own 2 eyes at this point, he still not only wishes to join their ranks but also truly believes that the Marines are a noble & altruistic organization and that Captain Morgan is just a minor exception. I think the final interaction between Luffy & Koby before Luffy & Zoro depart is a fantastic look at the type of people both of them are, with Luffy being able to set aside his own philosophy to help his friend achieve a goal that Luffy thinks is weird & bad, and Koby being willing to do anything to join the Marines, including being assaulted & humiliated by someone he considers a friend.

Final thought, we get some very minor exposition about the Grand Line throughout this episode. Luffy discusses it with the mom who runs the island cafe, but this feels more like folklore than facts, just some things both of them have heard, or are considered sort of common knowledge, but as everyone who has tried to go there has died, I think there is not a realistic way that the average person would have any deep insight into the real truth of the location. However, at the end of the episode, the mysterious eponymous girl who we still haven’t really met is trying to steal a map to the Grand Line from the Marines, finding that some pirates beat her to it, and this seems much more revealing about what it may take to achieve Luffy’s goal: uncommon knowledge and rare information.

Luffy & the mystery woman finally meet at the end of this episode, and it seems it is almost nothing but pure fate that brings them together. Of course, we can also assume that they are just 2 people chasing the same or a similar goal and it is obvious that their paths would eventually cross on their separate adventures. Both of these interpretations are equally valid, just as the dual belief one can hold about free will and predestination both being important parts of the human experience. Everything is already decided, we are just bits of energy & chemicals acting out a mathematically calculatable reaction that has been unfolding since the big bang, or even earlier, but we all still have to wake up each day and make the choices presented to us, both are true.

She is portrayed with a classic trope of faking being a damsel in distress to manipulate her enemies into underestimating her so that she may take advantage of them to steal their stuff. My personal favorite example of this is the episode of the show Firefly (Our Mrs. Reynolds) with a redheaded woman who traverses the galaxy marrying lustful men to steal their stuff. Within this trope, the woman is always shown to be exceedingly intelligent, just as our mystery woman is able to predict the weather based on cloud patterns, and outsmart both the Marines & Captain Buggy to steal the map she wants.

As a ginger myself, I truly appreciate how often these crafty and intelligent characters are also portrayed as redheads. Even the redheaded member of the evil pirate trio seems to be calmer and more collected than his 2 comrades, having a more observant energy while the other two seem a tad unhinged. And then again, we see that Luffy’s father-figure/hero is also a redhead, and he is cool, intelligent, & fantastic in combat, all traits of most redheads. A direct example of Shanks’ awesomeness is when some sort of legendary beast monster sea dragon serpent thing emerges from the water and is intimidated by a single look from Shanks to swim away.

An interesting duality of Shanks is how is so absolutely calm & unfazed when he loses his own arm, even though earlier he absolutely freaked out when Luffy ate the devil fruit. It is unclear to me if he is upset because of the value of the fruit or because of the danger to Luffy, but it is one of the only times we see him lose his cool at all. The other time we see him become angry is when Luffy is in danger because Shanks is loyal to anyone he considers a friend, and this is obviously where Luffy gains his sense of loyal friendship from. In this flashback, Luffy is noticeably more angry & hyper, immature & reactive, but he assuredly grows to become more akin to Shanks stoic energy.

The serenity upon losing his arm is a solid example of stoicism, my personal favorite school of philosophy. It reminds me of an anecdote I learned in my first yoga class about a person running through the forest from a Tiger, running as fast as they can, unable to see what is in front of them, until they fall off a cliff. They grab a rock & a vine a few feet below the edge, but the tiger is just above them, roaring ferociously. The person then notices a single strawberry on the vine in front of them, which they eat, and it is the most delicious fruit they have ever eaten in their entire life. Then they fall down & die.

An interesting question I am left with after this episode is if Shanks lied to Luffy about the importance of his straw hat. He first states how important it is to him, and how important the person who gave him the hat was to him, stating clearly that he could never give up the hat, but then later casually gives it to Luffy. It is perhaps a manipulative action, but I think it also cements the relationship between the two and instills a strong sense of morality into the young Luffy that he carries for the rest of his life, and for Luffy, the hat truly is something he could never part with, mostly because it reminds him of the mentor who gave it to him long ago. It seems a situation in which reality mimics art.

We also see more mirrors & parallels between Luffy & Zoro in this episode. Zoro doesn’t go into too much detail, but he insinuates that his reputation as a pirate hunter is not as genuine as people believe. He only wanted to go home, and hunts 1 pirate to help his mission, but just keeps going and never makes it home. However, he lets people make those assumptions because, as we see at the end of the episode, his reputation is strong enough to often avoid conflict altogether. This is yet another example of valuable manipulation in this episode.

Another curious aspect of this episode is a small detail comparing the bandits & pirates. While many would, and probably do, simply consider them both to be criminals, we are shown that there is in fact a clear distinction, at least between the 2 groups in this episode, in which pirates are more positive characters with a sense of morality & justice, while bandits are colder, evil characters creating conflict for their own entertainment & ego, willing to attack children, and just acting selfish. Now, perhaps Shanks’ crew is simply an exception to pirates being real bad guys, and that’s where Luffy learns his sense of piracy from, because other pirates we have seen thus far have all been pretty rough characters, but even they seem to have more fun vibes than the bandit character in this episode.

Final note, I think this is the first episode with actual curse words, at least in the English dub I watched, anyway. Both the words ‘dumbass’ & ‘bitch’ were used throughout the episode, and I find that an interesting choice, even just as a translation, because it really does identify the content as made for adults, or at least as a more serious & genuine content, than as a silly kids show trying to shelter the viewer from a more realistic story. Including those words is a choice, and while the animation & tone of the show can definitely feel like a children’s show, this seems, to me, to be the first indication that is certainly isn’t JUST for kids, even though I do believe it is a valuable thing for children to watch based on my experience thus far.

I first want to talk about the burger, or maybe just a sandwich, that Luffy eats. Throughout the beginning of the episode, he repeatedly complains of hunger, even when his physical well-being is in danger, and finally satiates this hunger with some sort of sandwich that looked like a delicious hamburger to my western eyes. I love burgers, including some novel ones I enjoyed while living in Asia, and I think the concept of any sandwich is a very culturally significant entree. Not only does it hit different food groups, and thus macro/micro nutrient profiles, but it is a food that can be easily packaged, eaten while moving or without proper furniture or dishware, a symbol of the working class, and it appears to me that they broke into the home of a stranger to eat this meal. I think this makes a strong statement about the type of people in this island village we find ourselves watching. 

Later in the episode, when Buggy uses a buggy-ball to level a city block, I think it is especially emotionally impactful because those are homes & businesses belonging to regular working class people. These are decidedly not rival pirate crews or Marine outposts or something cold & neutral, which I think contributes to the emotional state of Nami after witnessing such a horror. She has certainly seen death & murder before, but seeing this pirate destroy a mass of ordinary people is even more horrifying.

We continue to see Nami use her clever manipulations to lie & steal to get her way, such as setting up Luffy as her boss to distract the pirates chasing her, but we also see Luffy display some cold selfishness when he openly insults Nami (a thief is a thief) until he realizes she has a map to the Grand Line and then tries to recruit her to his crew. As a pirate with morality, he is not impressed by her stealing from anyone, but even as a bold thief, she considers herself morally superior to any pirate. This truly shines a light on a crucial element of the human condition in which we often justify our own actions while judging others more harshly for the same choices. I don’t think this particular quality makes a person bad or evil, and I think it absolutely has socially-culturally-mentally advantageous benefits for the individual, but it is certainly a concept deserving of reflection & discussion due to its prevalence & impact in society on macro/micro scales.

Although they see each other as very different from each other, and in a rather condescending manner for both of them, we, the audience, can easily tell how many similarities they share, even beyond just trying to use each other to achieve their own goals. Both Luffy & Nami are very self-confident in their own ability to complete their goals, and they both set very ambitious goals to be confident about completing. Even more, they both have very strict personal moral codes that they are unwilling to compromise on, regardless of context or the actions of others. While the two practice stoicism using vastly different methods, the parallels between both of their survival skills providing them with invaluable, and oft intangible, benefits in a difficult world full of interactions with difficult people cannot be ignored.

Zoro’s reputation now has the opposite effect as in the previous episode: Buggy specifically wants to kill the pirate hunter to boost his own reputation as being a pirate killer killer. Buggy is very much a more competent nemesis than some previous antagonists, and is shown as pretty clearly evil by his choice to stab Zoro in the back while he is distracted rather than engage in anything resembling a fair fight, even ignoring the advantage of the devil fruit. I personally detest this type of evil clown trope, but I understand the entertainment & proverbial value the choice brings to the show. I believe we will see a lot more Buggy in the future and I look forward to hopefully witnessing his character develop more nuance.

During the climactic battle, we are shown that Luffy & Zoro have already developed a trusting affinity for each other and the ability to quickly & subtly communicate. While Zoro is bleeding out profusely, Luffy still knows he still has strength left in him, and with nothing but a glance, is able to communicate a plan to Zoro, which seems to work quite well. All in all, it seems a crew is coming together, slowly but surely, and while Luffy doesn’t have much of a plan, his optimism and willingness to go with the flow and try hard is a lesson we can all use more of.

I meant to discuss this yesterday, but I enjoy the fact that Buggy’s devil fruit power is a clear nod to traditional pirates who are missing an arm & leg which are replaced with a hook & a peg. It seems to be an especially fitting devil fruit for pirates based on that symbolism alone. I think that is at least partially what makes Buggy a particularly skilled & competent pirate above & beyond just being a clown, and that awesomeness does make-up for him being a victim of the evil clown trope in my personal opinion.

Another interesting thing in this episode is how reputation is mildly subverted a bit. First, Nami has no idea about Zoro or who he is or his reputation for killing the pirates that she so distastes, yet is immediately deeply impressed & almost smitten with him. A high-quality genuine first impression can often be more powerful than a theoretical second-hand reputation. Still more interesting to me is that near the end of the episode, Zoro makes a comment about wanting to uphold his reputation, and I feel like he does not mean it literally but is only seeking an excuse to uphold justice and slay an evil pirate, but then yet again, that attitude is likely exactly what earned him his reputation in the first place.

The mayor is certainly a very cool character, and his speech about the dog staying where it is comfortable to guard its treasure greatly foreshadows the mayor’s own desire to stay in the town where he is comfortable to guard it. I think this attitude applies to many many people who downright refuse to leave their comfort zones or try new experiences or do anything difficult. I do think the first scene with the mayor & the dog is a valid critique of most dog owners, as he yells at a person in a cage being attacked by the dog to leave his precious dog alone.

Lastly, I find the opposing attitudes of Luffy & Mohji towards animals to be reminiscent of how many people feel about animal agriculture. Mohji sees animals as beasts to be tamed to follow his will and does not have any concern for animals that do not serve him, much like people in today’s world who think their pets are cute and should be safe while they never hesitate to eat a cheeseburger or pepperoni pizza, or even dairy farmers & the like who believe they are being kind to animals while simply exploiting them for profit. Conversely, Luffy applies the same caring morality to an animal as he does to a person, being willing to defend and help the dog even after the dog attacked him when they first met.

People use the word “treasure” to mean a lot of different things. The mayor uses it to refer to the island town he has helped build & now leads, it is what he most cares about in this world, and he also discusses how the dog’s treasure is the pet shop where his old owner used to work before dying. Luffy demonstrates that he has serious attachment issues with the straw hat that Shanks gave him, even though he is otherwise very stoic in his thoughts & actions.

Both of these attitudes are ultimately very similar, particularly in contrast to the attitudes around treasure we see from Buggy & Nami who really only care about gold & jewels & material wealth, so even though Nami is being shown as a protagonist member of the straw hat crew, we also see that her morals do not necessarily align with Luffy in that category. Nami is also very similar to Buggy in the way that she uses other people to protect herself without concern for the risks it poses to those people, as we saw with her lying about Luffy to distract the pirates chasing her in a previous episode, yet she still criticizes Buggy for using members of his own crew as human shields to protect himself. While I don’t think these traits make her evil or an antagonist, I do think they help expose the truth of the nuance of people and how many of us have more in common with one another than we are often quick to admit, and also that we regularly judge themselves much less harshly than we judge others.

Another theme in this episode is pride. The mayor does not want help when he goes to fight Buggy because he believes that it is his fight and his fight alone to defend his town from the pirates. Interestingly, we do not see a single other person from the town join him to defend it from the pirates, and I hope this detail is addressed in future episodes. Do the other islanders not help because the mayor has this prideful attitude, or does the mayor have this prideful attitude because the other islanders never help him with anything? We also see a similar prideful attitude from Zoro in that he tries to fight even when he is gravely injured and very weak from blood loss. Of course, Zoro is a master swordsman and pretty easily dispatches Cabaji, but that doesn’t mean Zoro doesn’t have a huge ego.

Last note, I really appreciate that Cabaji is on a unicycle to stick with the circus/clown theme of Buggy’s crew, and Zoro using “sideshow” as a pejorative was very funny.

Very curious to see Buggy’s flashback with Shanks and how they were basically friends. Even in the flashback, Buggy was pretty evil & Shanks was pretty kindhearted, so it is interesting that they would still gravitate towards each other. I think there are a few factors that could contribute to this and I hope it gets developed more in future episodes. We see that Buggy immediately becomes obsessed with the map upon finding it, when we don’t even know if it is reliable or actually leads to good treasure. Buggy does not seem to be one to think ahead much but his cleverness & stoicism help him get through, somewhat similar to Shanks. However, when things go very poorly for Buggy, he is quick to blame it all on Shanks and never let the grudge die, even when Shanks had no ill intention & didn’t really do anything wrong.

We see more of the Nami & Buggy similarity in this episode, where Nami hates pirates for stealing but steals from them while Buggy is upset that Nami would steal what he already stole. I think that Nami certainly has a more moral attitude about life, the universe, & everything, but she also makes choices based on self-interest. However, I think this applies to most of the protagonists & is part of what makes One Piece such a powerful show: these characters are very human, they have flaws, and they have grey morality, like most real people. Nami joins Luffy’s crew for her own purposes & goals, but this will also provide benefits to Luffy & the rest of the crew. Luffy has also shown this inclination, as has Zoro when he discusses his backstory, & ultimately, Buggy & Shanks are no different.

I like that Luffy becomes chill & happy & optimistic again after defeating Buggy and getting his hat back. He lost his cool over the hat, just like we saw Shanks do, and then calmed down, again just like Shanks, and I think that is just some good character development & world building. We see that Luffy does feel better when he gets his revenge & I think this demonstrates a strong sense of justice. Luffy is also honest to a fault, sharing details with the townspeople he did not need to share, resulting in them chasing the crew out of town. My interpretation was that Luffy both found this funny and also found it to be useful in helping unite the town against a common enemy after they had been suffering and wanted to defeat the pirates but were too late. Luffy always has positive intentions.

Last note, Luffy keeps just falling into new ships, bigger & better each time. The first ship was the one he & Koby stole from the Marines and now this one that Nami stole from Buggy’s crew. This is a fun dynamic & I hope it continues until he just accidentally winds up with a wholeass bi sailing ship with 3 masts and everything.

This episode seemed to go very quick and end on yet another new character cliffhanger. Lots of characters all the time, I wonder how this is sustainable, and how many of these characters are recurring versus being single or double episodes only. I know Koby will come back eventually, and Buggy, but there are just so many people to keep up with. It’s a very diverse and well constructed world, to be fair, they all make sense and add depth to the show. There is also a lot of background world building, like are witch hags a real thing? I also am more and more curious about Shanks, is he still around, why is he so famous?

Usopp is kind of a lackluster character but I think that is another example of how great this world building is, he is a very realistic character and I have encountered similar people before. He is immature and hangs out with much younger people because they are too inexperienced to understand better and they are impressed by him. The children are even sort of skeptical of Usopp but they still go along with his ideas because they feel cool hanging out with an older kid or young adult or whatever Usopp is. Of course, some of his lack of development is because he has been missing his father since childhood and I think this is another valid issue for the show to explore.

I enjoy that Luffy & crew keep fruit on the ship to avoid scurvy, and again Luffy is always hungry, looking for meat this time because he is protein deficient after being on the sea with nothing but fruit for so long. This demonstrates that the show is pretty well thought out and not just handwaving a lot of the gritty realism of pirate life.

My last thought is just how did this mansion get built on this island? There aren’t that many people, but someone had to harvest all these resources and have engineers & architects and such to build such a high quality house, so did they bring a construction crew on a huge ship full of building materials? There is also a full staff which is ultimately the sign of real money because a one-time cost to hire a crew is one thing, but to be able to afford an on-going staff of security & probably butlers & chefs and more, presumably without bringing in any new income after the death of the parents, is truly a giant fortune.

Labour is not cheap, even if they are paying cheap wages, but these employees seem competent which means they could likely find well paying work off the island but still they stay. I wonder how much of their wages get put back into the small local economy on the island or if they are taking leaves to visit other destinations to regularly spend their savings. Do they all live in the big house or what? Another note to think about later after seeing more episodes, I do hope this type of stuff gets revealed on the show and it isn’t just handwaved.

This episode really shows us more of Usopp being honorable than the previous one. In the end, his inner monologue is so full of integrity as he strives to do whatever he can to save the people in the village where he grew up. He isn’t focused on his own success or fortune or anything but truly wants to help the people he knows to survive the impending pirate attack. It seems that he clings to these people who helped raise him because his father abandoned him and we don’t know anything about his mother. The other villagers likely have a bad attitude towards him but still see him as one of their own. Usopp is very proud of his heritage and his father and shows that he is not just a lying bad guy but a troubled youth with a good heart who.

When I started taking notes for this episode, I googled how to spell Klahadore & got spoilers which I thought would be for much later but it was just for the end of the episode lol. I was pretty sure he was a manipulative bastard before seeing those spoilers and that he killed Kaya’s family, which was mostly true, just because of his cold emotionless responses to Kaya while being intentionally overly emotional to ward off Usopp & Luffy & their crews. He is also very condescending about Usopp’s heritage & ancestry which is almost always the sign of a villain.

I like that throughout the last half of the episode, we are shown a crab who keeps trying to climb up the cliff above the water and keeps falling. I think at first glance, this seems like some comedic relief, but the timing and persistence of the scenes is very metaphorical or allegorical or whatever. We first see it during the speech where Klahadore is revealing his past as Captain Kuro & how he wasn’t executed, in which he failed and was caught but escaped justice to try again, much like the crab that keeps trying. Then, as Luffy reveals himself having overheard their plans, the crab begins climbing again. After Luffy is put to sleep & Klahadore tells Usopp how no one will believe him, the crab climbs again, and so it seems obvious that the crab represents Kuro who is persistent with his 1000 plans to attain eventual victory as a wealthy villain with fortune and power, but at the last scene, the crab falls one more time, hopefully foreshadowing that this butler will fall once again.

The crab clearly symbolizes the plight of Sisyphus, forever pushing a boulder up the mountain only for the boulder to roll back down again. I think this is a stoic attitude presented clearly throughout many One Piece characters, continuing to try despite repeated failure, and I appreciate that we also see this cultural element from the antagonists such as Captain Kuro. I think this is something sorely lacking in contemporary society where people expect things to be handed to them easily without any effort.

Last note, I think the creepiest thing about Jango is just his voice. He is otherwise pretty unremarkable for a pirate on this show & not that weird compared to many other characters.