Author: admin

Attachment to belief is always a difficult concept to broach. Cognitive dissonance is a mental discomfort that happens when 2 of our own ideas conflict with one another. We see this happen to Kaya in this episode when Merry tells her that Klahadore attacked him, and Kaya does not believe him at first because of how strong her belief that Klahadore is a good guy is. Especially after pushing Usopp away for saying the same thing, and now seeing Merry covered in blood trying to warn her, she hesitates to accept this new belief that contradicts a previously held one. This is a very important topic for young minds to become familiar with because an inability to overcome cognitive dissonance is synonymous with an inability to grow and develop as a human being.

In his dying moments, we see a new side of Merry than was previously portrayed, full of deep wisdom and compassion. He urges Kaya to stay calm and think through her options with pragmatism, insisting she give her family fortune to Captain Kuro without a fight in order to ensure her own survival. My immediate thought here is how did he not sooner identify Klahadore to be an evildoer before this when he is apparently such an intelligent and well-adjusted character. I suppose that it simply goes to show the depth of Klahadore’s scheme and his great ability to deceive.

Last note, we get another new twist on the concept of reputation in this episode in which the Meowban brothers pretend to be weak & afraid in order to lull their opponents into a false sense of security. By playing the part of scaredy-cats who don’t want to do battle with Zoro, they are able to get the jump on him and gain the upper hand in the battle. A false reputation can be advantageous if properly curated.

Kalhadore mentioned the crescent moon, so I guess that answers that. I really should have guessed he was some sort of cat or had a cat ability or weapon or whatever those sword claws are, based on the name of his crew, and I guess I will continue to watch out for that type of nomenclature. I find it very strange that he is so focused on inheriting Kaya’s fortune in a legal manner versus just killing her and the staff & looting anything of value to set sail on the East Blue sea. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, where does this wealth & power draw from? Who was Kaya’s father? Is there some sort of deed or noble rite involved that would grant Captain Kuro more than just money by legally inheriting the estate? I imagine we will explore this topic in future episodes.

We do learn that the other staff of the house are not in on Kalhadore’s secret identity & plans. The servant that shot Usopp in the back is not a pirate or villain in any particular manner, just an employee who really hates Usopp & takes his own job very seriously.

I like that Usopp seems to have a firm grasp on the theories of The Art of War, a favorite book of mine. His ideas to use oil & caltrops to ”cheat” on the battlefield are exactly the type of thing Sun Tzu would say about controlling the field & imposing his own will on his enemies. At one point, Usopp makes a joke about hiding during the battle, something Sun Tzu would suggest if the day called for it, and we see the otherwise jolly & lighthearted straw hat crew become irate & furious at even the suggestion. While Luffy is a very fun, silly, & optimistic captain, this scene makes it clear that part of the reason he is so adept in battle is because it is something he in fact takes very seriously.

Something Luffy does not seem to take seriously is navigation skills. He was previously very excited & impressed that Koby could navigate the water so well, and then pretty desperate to get Nami to join his crew as a full-time navigator, because he is self-aware enough to recognize his own lack of navigational ability. He is very easily lost when left to his own devices, Luffy can’t even find North on his own, but this is also why he is so focused on assembling a highly qualified crew of individuals that can each specialize in their own roles, making the entire crew stronger than the sum of their parts.

Last note, I thought this was just a Nami idiosyncrasy, but apparently a ”berry” is a commonly recognized unit of value or currency. This is an interesting fact because they still have gold & treasure in this society, and there is plenty of commerce & business happening, but there has not been any real currency shown or mentioned, in my memory at least. It is not unusual to use a consumable resource with intrinsic value as a form of currency, real world examples include eggs, tulips, bread, & fish, but the One Piece universe’s fascination with berries extends from currency to also the Devil Fruits themselves, and I am left wondering if the impact of the Devil Fruit, either contemporaneously or historically, is why the modern culture puts such a specific value on the more common varietals of the same fruit.

I must say, I do not find Kaya to be a very interesting or compelling character, but I think part of this is intentional & meant to portray her as a very sheltered character without much life experience or depth of character. She more or less believes anything she is told by anyone she perceives as an authority figure, namely her butler Klahadore. Even though she does argue with him, this is mostly shown as her being naive & immature even though he is in fact an evil character. Despite him being somewhat antagonistic towards her goals, she still believes him to be a positive influence on her life, shown by her obtaining a rare & difficult to obtain gift to give to him as a thank you.

However, she is smart enough to recognize that Usopp is a liar. While she typically has a very kind outlook on him, when he tries to warn her of the danger, she is quick to doubt him and even become angry that he thinks she is dumb enough to believe more of his lies. She makes it clear that she has always known that his stories are false but that they made her happy to hear, but now that he is telling the truth, it makes her uncomfortable and she pushes him away. This is a very complicated & nuanced dynamic that often happens in reality and I appreciate how it is shown on the show.

Usopp is clearly meant to be an analogue for the allegory of the boy who cried wolf. As he has repeatedly made false warnings of pirates invading the village, the other villagers simply do not believe him the one time he is telling the truth. This is another look at how reputation affects our lives and the way we interact with others is directly influenced by how they think about us based on previous experiences & knowledge. Even Kaya doubts him & one of her house servants is so angry with him that he shoot Usopp in the back while he is running away, typically a cowardly or evil move but no one really questions it when it comes to shooting a known liar.

I think we are again getting a glimpse of how truly immature & emotionally undeveloped Usopp is when he seems confused about why people don’t believe him. Even after Captain Kuro made a clear statement about how & why the villagers won’t believe him, and then he experiences it firsthand, Usopp still wonders to himself about the reason, which is very clear to the audience. Of course, despite this immature and unreflected personality, he is an honorable soul full of integrity as he desires to singlehandedly fight & defeat the pirate invasion, regardless of how the villagers feel about him. Luffy & his crew are able to pretty easily recognize Usopp’s pure heart and vow to help him defend his village. I think they would probably still try to defend it anyway, but they have a positive attitude towards Usopp nonetheless.

Last note, I noticed that there is a heavenly body in the background sky during this episode that sort of resembles a crescent moon, but it almost more resembles a sun being eclipsed by a moon or other object. I am not sure if this is meant to be an exaggerated moon shape, as the scene takes place around sunset and the object is still very high in the sky, or if in the One Piece world, the dark of night is formed by a daily partial eclipse of their sun, but it is very pretty to look at and adds a fun fantasy vibe to the overall setting.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.