One of the opening lines about friends being synonymous with pain hints at a pessimistic mentality about an otherwise beautiful concept. When we form close bonds with others, we are being vulnerable and sacrificing emotional safety to feel deep connection with those other people. Whenever we become close to someone, there is always a risk of hurt or regret, but it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all (Tennyson). A person unwilling to take a chance on friendship because it may make them sad in the future will never experience an intimate relationship, missing out on a fundamental element of life. A yoga mantra I am fond of is “I am vulnerable. I am strong. I can be vulnerable because I am strong,” and I believe this applies to so much in our lives, including friendship.
Bellemere is a fascinating & compelling character, the likes of which we have not encountered on this One Piece adventure thus far. Her “tank girl” esque hairstyle sets the tone for a reckless & emotionally driven soul without fear but full of compassion for the world around her. The visual metaphor for her anger being the rainstorm which subsides to sunshine when she calms down really drives home the type of living situation her adopted daughters face each day, but sometimes we must ride our bicycle through the rain to remember how the sun shines (me). Her powerful emotions, potentially related to bipolar manic states, are highly relatable to me as I have known similar women & admittedly act that way myself on occasion.
I, too, completely left my old life behind when I had children, two daughters, who made me want to live again, even if everyone around me expected me to fail as a father and fall back into my old habits. I never enlisted in the military but I spent much of my life making dangerous choices without regard for the future, but also put effort & energy into improving the world around me in the small ways that I could. I learned many lessons firsthand and suffered in all types of novel ways for decades, considerably longer than Bellemere, before discovering a better way to live. When my daughters came into my life, it was easy to shift my entire personality & lifestyle to become a full-time parent without feeling a sense of loss for the person I left behind. Other’s perception of me had little bearing on my new choices or my dedication to give these 2 girls the best life I possibly can. All that to say, this episode really hit home & left me in tears. The villagers discussing how impressed with Bellemere was especially impactful as I navigate repairing relationships I never thought would return, but love & friendship often involve some pain we must overcome, as noted earlier.
Last note, watching the tangerines reminded me of the stark contrast between the term “berry” for currency & the literal paper cash we have seen used in the One Piece world, particularly lately by Arlong. He collects bundles of traditional money from the villagers as tribute and uses the same type of money to pay his bribes to corrupt Marines, yet he uses the term “berry” when discussing his deal with Nami. Is that just a slang term for paper currency that has developed or is a berry an official term for some sort of regulated money backed by a fruit bank or something?