Don Krieg using manipulation tactics to make his opponents think he is weak before attacking them is in his core as a human being, much less a pirate. His first foray into pirating by stealing a marine ship, using the white flag, showing up to the restaurant very hungry, wanting to sail the grand line in a restaurant ship, and probably more examples I’m forgetting or haven’t seen yet. While this is considered an admirable approach by Sun Tzu in the Art of War, it is typically colloquially seen as cowardly or even evil & cruel. However, we often see protagonists using similar methods and typically align ourselves with them, seeing their deceit as justified. This is an example of the victors defining justice, in which we assign favorable morality to the people we support & agree with, while assigning negative intention to people we don’t like as much.
A starker contrast, however, is the apparent rush that many pirates are in to head directly to the Grand Line to find the One Piece. Don Krieg seems to be under the impression that if he steals Zeph’s logbook & ship, it’s an easy trip to become king of the pirates, never considering that if it were that easy, Zeph would have done it himself. Luffy, on the other hand, never seems rushed to actually do the task, instead focusing on building a proper crew and preparing themselves for a difficult adventure. Hubris vs humility.
Sanji has a lot of great lines, he is essentially the toothpick guy, I guess, dispensing clever insight with witty quotes and quick one-liners. He currently smokes, of course, but I have always assumed most toothpick guys used to smoke, anyway, so maybe he will quit and become a true toothpick guy. I really enjoyed the line “if I was scared of fire, I wouldn’t be a very good cook,” which is a playful twist on “if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.” However, “a knife is a cook’s soul” really sent me because I do think that any artisan is very reliant on quality tools, even though it is true that a great craftsman never blames their tools for a job poorly done. The knife isn’t doing the cooking, and a chef could make a poor meal with good tools, or a good meal with poor tools, but a great chef has their preferred tools that they are accustomed to and allow them to excel at their art beyond most others. They should still be able to perform with any tools, but not as well, or as easily, or as stylishly, as with their best equipment.
Zeph is yet another character demonstrating wonderful stoic ideals. He has much faith and confidence in himself, his abilities, his crew, and the future, as well as a stern acceptance of potential disasters. He is pragmatic and steady in his approaches to problems, and doesn’t seem to waver with fear or insecurity. Much of this comes with age and experience, of course, but Zeph shows a stoicism far beyond many of his peers, and this is symbolized by the long braided mustache. A typical mustache would never grow that long, but it represents Zeph having more experience than would even be possible for most people, regardless of the progression of time and their personal age. This is very clearly demonstrated by his ability to still do his magic kicks even though he is missing his foot. He is simply comfortable with himself and his energy and, even missing his “tool” of his actual foot, he is still able to deliver powerful kicks more advanced than others who do have their feet.