One Piece: Unlimited Retrospective - East Blue Pt. 3

Who wants some fish racism?

Need to catch up on the Unlimited Retrospective so far? Here are all of the previous parts to read!

Introduction
Romance Dawn
East Blue Part 1
East Blue Part 2

With Sanji now a crew member, Zolo near dead, and Nami turned traitor, the beginning of the Arlong Park Arc takes the crew to a new place, and not just geographically. The crew has become scattered and are trying to accomplish one goal, albeit in very different ways; get Nami back. This won't be the last time that the crew splits itself up to accomplish a task, but this was the first time there were legitimate stakes involved.

Up until this point in the manga, we've had a few enemies that gave the crew trouble, but they weren't really a legitimate threat. Oh sure, they may have throw a few good punches in and definitely may have caused some mayhem, but once Luffy got involved the war was pretty much over. Arlong, as we'll come to know, was the strongest person that lived in the East Blue. He had the highest bounty and could manipulate the Navy to ignore his actions. He had a formidable crew, a criminal empire that wasn't in rags, and for all intents and purposes went unchallenged in his reign of terror. Now it's still the early volumes of the series, so the threat level is still moderately low, but we'll come to know why this arc in particular has influenced the series for better and for worse.

So with Luffy and Sanji on their way to Arlong Park, they decide to ask Yosaku just who exactly is Arlong. Yosaku explains pretty clearly that Arlong is the strongest person in the East Blue and is a person that is definitely not someone Luffy should meet, but a curious thing about Arlong is the fact that he has a brother Jimbei... who is a Warlord of the Sea. So no matter how tough Arlong is, he's nowhere near as strong as his brother. Adding on to that, Yosaku tells them that he was pretty certain that Nami was heading to Arlong Park anyway based on how she was eyeing a wanted poster for Arlong right before she stole the Merry Go. Speaking off, she did indeed take the Merry Go to Arlong Park and waltzed right up to his door. A little boy was waiting outside, but Nami slaps the kid across the face before entering Arlong Park, reveling herself to be a crew member for the Arlong Pirates!

So yeah, Nami was a traitor. From the very beginning, she was planning on betraying the Straw Hats and sailing off to Arlong Park with their treasures and ship. That's pretty damned cold of her, especially given how sudden it was. I mean it is true that they haven't really been a crew for a long time (and I would argue the betrayal would have been better if it was executed later (which it will be)), but the twist is still a pretty damned good one. The bright, bubbly, sassy, and greedy Nami... is a bad guy.

As for Arlong and his crew, they're from a race of people known as Fishmen. Like the name implies, they've half fish and half human, embodying the best characteristics of both. A Merman can be of any oceanic species, like shark, octopus, starfish, manta ray, etc. and typically have incredible movement speed in water, super strength, and special abilities based on their species. They've incredibly powerful, and yet they are the subject of deep racism in the One Piece universe. They're seen literally as subhuman and are sold at auctions to be used as slaves or pets. The World Government itself doesn't even recognize Fishmen as actual people going so far as to allow these slave auctions to take place, just under the table. Fishmen go through same truly terrible things over the course of the series, but how does Arlong react to all of this? Well he's racist right back at the humans.

To talk about Arlong's past would be to spoil a lot of the series and the tragedy of Fishman Island, but his upbringing pretty much cemented that if humans treated him and other Fishmen like garbage, why should he treat them with any respect? It's one of the main reasons why he became a pirate and when he finally got a chance to become a captain of his own crew, he instilled plenty of anti human rhetoric in his empire. It's a bit tragic in a sense that Arlong became the monster that he was through how humans abused and subjugated him and you can kind of sympathize with him, but does his upbringing as a victim of racism justify his racist attitudes? He bases his racism off of physical capabilities and gladly uses his own abilities to demonstrate that. He'll kill any human that dares to oppose him, or at the very least destroy an entire village if even a single person tries to fight him. Plus with the local Navy branches being bought out by Arlong, any chances of rebellions will end in Arlong destroying everything you hold dear with no hope of help or justice. Arlong is the tyrant and all humans that oppose him will die. But then that raises an interesting question; if Arlong is so disgusted and intolerant of humans, why is Nami a crew member?

We'll get back to that in a minute, but for now we have more pressing issues; Usopp being a coward! Him, Zolo, and Johnny arrive at Arlong Park, but after encountering a two Fishmen, Usopp and Johnny abandon ship and leave Zolo to deal with the Fishmen alone. The only problem is that Zolo just got out of a massive battle against Mihawk and can barely hold himself, so he gets captured by the Arlong Pirates. Good job Usopp. Really pulling your weight so far...

Usopp and Johnny arrive at a tiny little village named Gosa Village only to find out that every house in the village has been smashed upside down. The town is uninhabitable and is a complete wreck. One of the Fishmen from earlier chases down Usopp and just as when Usopp is ready to fight them, a woman suddenly appears and knocks him out. Usopp wakes up a few hours later in a nice house owned by the woman who kicked him. When Usopp asks who she is, she tells him that her name's Nojiko and she's Nami's sister and tells Usopp about Nami's position in Arlong's crew.

Back at Arlong Park, Zolo is brought in by the Fishmen to Arlong and he discovers right there that Nami was a traitor. Zolo doesn't really seem all that effected by it, but Arlong relishes in pointing out that Nami was a traitor and that she would be willing to betray anyone and anything to get what she wants. Nami doesn't even try to deny what he says, she just goes with it. Zolo, being the man that he is, tests Nami's commitment to the Straw Hats by throwing himself into the ocean (Arlong tied him up so that he couldn't escape or swim away). As soon as that happens, Nami instinctively jumps into the water to save Zolo. As soon as she does, Zolo correctly points out that if she didn't care about the Straw Hats, he would have let him drown. He's a no name bounty hunter that just appeared at Arlong Park. Arlong wouldn't care if he lived or died there, he probably would have tortured him for fun and killed him later. As soon as she realizes what she did, Nami beats Zolo to prove to Arlong that she's still dedicated to the Fishmen and not the Straw Hats.

I'm just going to bring this up now because it's going to be a common trope in these big arcs, but there's going to be a lot of splitting up in One Piece. Several characters will run off and accomplish a few tasks, or meet a new character, then everyone comes together for the big fight at the end. It's not bad per se, but it's mileage comes from the other characters of the arc. If the characters that the Straw Hat crew interacts with are memorable and can pose a threat, then it's fine. In other arcs, it just comes across as padding. Some future arcs will introduce so many villains and heroes that the series thinks its interesting because of all of the new faces, but we can't connect or acknowledge the importance of them. It's like eating at a buffet; sure, there are a lot of options available, but you're only going to gravitate to the food that you're familiar with or know that you're going to like.

Oh yeah, Luffy, Sanji, and Yosaku encounter a giant sea cow and beat the crap out of him. I wished that it wasn't important, but it will be later on.

Arlong travels to a small village near Arlong Park called Coco Village in order to take care of a few errands. Arlong tyrannical rule has allowed him to put several laws into effect, two of which being that no villager is allowed to carry a weapon and that every village under his control needs to pay a fee to survive. If a village doesn't pay a fee, they end up like Gosa Village; annihilated. Arlong meets up with the sheriff of Coco Village, Genzo, to take his new sword. Genzo resists Arlong as Nojiko and Usopp watch. Usopp, unable to keep watching as Arlong is about to kill Genzo for disobeying his rule, takes a slingshot and shoots it right at Arlong. Arlong sees this, Usopp flees, and Arlong goes berserk to try and kill Usopp and destroy Coco Village. Arlong's crew try to restrain him, saying that Arlong can't go and destroy another village or else they'll lose even more money from the monthly tax. Arlong retreats, but just as he leaves, Nami appears. Every in Coco Village gives her the cold shoulder except for Genzo and Nojiko. The three of them then meets in private at a grave site as Nami tells them that she only needs a little more money to buy Coco Village from Arlong.

While Arlong is out, Zolo breaks free from Arlong's crew and beats all of them within an inch of their lives. One of Arlong's lieutenants, Hachi, is outside the gate to Arlong Park and doesn't see the massacre. Zolo asks Hachi if he can give him a ride to the nearest village. Because Hachi is a good natured idiot who thinks that Zolo is a part of the corrupt Navy branch that oversees Arlong Park, decides to take Zolo to Coco Village. Arlong returns to Arlong Park to see that a ton of his crew mates are dead... and he is pissed. With Usopp captured by the Fishmen after he ran away, Arlong is ready to kill Usopp, but Nami returns and opts to kill Usopp herself. She says that she wants to prove her loyalty to Arlong after everything that's happened so far, to which Arlong says "Eh, do what you want." Usopp tries to flee with a smoke bomb, but Nami runs up to him and stabs him in the stomach, saying that it was nothing personal. She pushes him into the sea to drown and is welcomed back by the Arlong Pirates as one of their crew members, all while Johnny watches in horror.

Luffy, Sanji, and Yosaku finally arrive at Coco Village and meet up with Zolo as Johnny runs up and tells about Usopp's death. They're a bit taken back by Usopp's murder, but Luffy isn't buying it. Nami shows up yet again (seriously, she gets around a ton in this arc) and tells Luffy that she quits the crew. Luffy says screw that and says that Nami's still a Straw Hat. Nami tells Luffy to get off of the island and to leave her alone, but Luffy still won't do that. She storms off and Johnny and Yosaku head off too, not wanting to be included in this Fishman situation. As soon as they leave though, we cut to Usopp walking around, alive and well. When he was stabbed by Nami, she actually stabbed her own hand and pushed him into the ocean to escape. No matter what, she's still loyal to Luffy, or at the very least wants them to get as far away from Arlong as possible. Usopp meets up with the crew afterwards and tells them about how Nami saved his life since he almost certainly would have been killed by Arlong if he lived. It's at that point that Nojiko comes and decides to tell them about Nami's past and why she works for Arlong.

Nami and Nojiko were adopted by a former sailor named Bell-Mere. Bell-Mere rescued them while she was out at see and raised them as her own daughters. She was rough and coarse, but she always looked out for them, same as everyone in the village. Genzo in particular was very friendly to Bell-Mere and her family, going so far as to put a pinwheel on his hat to make Nami not afraid of him when she was a baby that he still keeps on to this day. A few years later, Arlong invades to island and puts up his tax. 100,000 berries per adult, 50,000 per child. The members of Arlong's pirates round up the birth records of the town and forces everyone to pay. Unfortunately, Bell-Mere only has 100,000 berries and needs double that in order to keep her family alive. She tells Nami and Nojiko to hide when Arlong comes to their house since there are no official birth or adoption records for them, so for all that Arlong knows, Bell-Mere lives alone. However, Bell-Mere can't bear to say that she has no family, so when Arlong asks if the money is for her, she says that it's actually for her two daughters. Nami and Nojiko come running out to her in tears. Arlong, being the fair and reasonable guy that he is, kills Bell-Mere for not being able to pay the 100,000 for herself and takes Nami away.

While growing up, Nami was an fantastic cartographer, someone who could draw sea charts. Her skills were readily apparent and Hachi found plethora of drawings in her house that she drew for fun. Arlong decides to make a deal with Nami. If Nami joined her crew and drew sea charts for him, he would allow Nami to buy back Coco Village for 100,000,000 berries. Just to put that in perspective, Nami has been working for Arlong for about a decade and she is just now getting close to the 100,000,000 mark. She tells Nojiko about this immediately, and Nojiko feels betrayed at first, but understands that Nami did what she thinks was right.

But because life is cruel and unfair, as soon as Nojiko tells this story, the Navy arrives and requests to see Nami. Nami, who went to Bell-Mere's house to rest, is told by the head captain, Nezumi, that she has been accused of stealing illegal money from across the East Blue. Genzo denies this claim for Nami and tells the Navy that the money that Nami has been saving up is meant to buy the town back from Arlong, confirming to Nami that everyone in the town knew what Nami was trying to do for them. Nezumi doesn't care and orders his sailors to enter Bell-Mere's tangerine grove to find the money. The Navy gets the money and shoot Nojiko in the arm for interfering when Nami suddenly has a thought. How did the Navy know about the money? Not only that, but why would the Navy show up now when Arlong has been paying them off for years? Nami rushes to Arlong and accuses him of breaking their deal and that Arlong stole all of the money that Nami has been saving up. Arlong counters that by saying that he never broke the deal. The Navy just so happened to hear about someone stealing from others and just so happened to get an anonymous tip about it. Arlong tells her that if all of her money is gone, then she'll just have to start saving up again from scratch. Nami is broken by this and runs away.

Back in the village, Genzo rallies the villagers and tells them that Arlong's tyranny has come to an end and they're going to fight him. Nami reaches the village and tries to convince them as badly as possible that everything is okay and she'll just start saving up again, but everyone's mind is made up. If Genzo and the villagers have been barely clinging to life up until this point, they'd rather die than live another day under Arlong's rule. They charge off to Arlong Park as Nami stabs the Arlong Pirate tattoo on her arm repeatedly. As she does so, Luffy grabs her hand and all Nami can do is ask him for help as tears stream down her face. Luffy agrees, and the rest of the Straw Hats walk off to Arlong Park like badasses.

So you may have noticed that most of this arc isn't really about the Straw Hats. So far, most of the story has centered around Arlong and Nami's backstory. That's because there are usually two types of arcs in One Piece. You have these big, character focused arcs where everything is centered on developing a character's backstory, or you have the arc where a lot of things explode and Devil Fruit powers are on full display. There are a few instances where these two styles mix, but they're usually pretty separated. For my money, the backstory arcs are almost always the best arcs in the series.

Nami's backstory is tragic and by the time we get to the fight at Arlong Park, we don't need a reason to hate Arlong. He's done enough evil and reprehensible things already for us to want to see him get taken down. Murder, bribery, extortion, destruction, lying, racism, Arlong has everything you could want in a villain and he's probably one of the best villains that the series has ever produced. Plus there are extra props for taken Nami, a character that we've gotten to know over several arcs, and changing her character completely in a natural way. Oh sure, she's going to go back to normal after this, but it's still shocking to see for the first time Nami betray the crew and pretend to stab Usopp.

So let's talk about how 4Kids ruined this, shall we?

I love to talk about the first dub changes because some of them are just so baffling to the point where it ruins the original purpose of the manga. Cramming two episodes into one isn't a major change for the dub as well as calling the Fishmen "Mermen", but the biggest changes just ruin some of the best character moments. For example, the scene where Bell-Mere is murdered right in front of Nami and Nojiko's eyes? Yeah, she was taken away and never seen again in the dub. No death, just... poof! She's gone. Even as a kid I knew that she was dead, but we can't have death happen in a kids show! Arlong's racism still exists, but instead of talking about humans are inferior to Fishmen genetically, he hates humans because they stink. Like, he literally calls them "P.U.mans". Way to lose all of the seriousness of the show 4Kids. Oh, and all of the Fishmen have a weird gurgling sound effect whenever they speak. These changes aren't as laughable as the Don Krieg stuff, but this is just ridiculous. I can get wanting to shorten stuff and reduce filler, but making it harder to understand what characters are saying is not a good edit to make!

So here we are. Arlong Park. The Straw Hats versus the Arlong Pirates. The stakes have never been as high as this before, and the actually fight is... okay. I mean, the fight against Luffy and Arlong is pretty spectacular, but the stuff prior to it, like Zolo, Sanji, and Usopp fighting the grunts is pretty unremarkable. It's at least somewhat interesting for Usopp, since his fight against one of Arlong's lieutenants is the first time he actually won in a one-on-one fight, but even then, the fights are okay. The only important moment of the fight is that Luffy gets taken out of commission by Arlong after Luffy smashes his feet into the ground and gets stuck, letting Arlong throw him into the sea. Sanji and Genzo try to revive him while Zolo holds off Arlong, but Arlong makes short work of him and is frankly horrified at the massive, bleeding, and festering wound from Mihawk that Zolo ripped open during their fight. If Arlong takes a step back by how ugly a wound is, that's saying something. I wish I could provide more details about the fights, and I will once we get further into the series, but for now, the only really important moments are that Johnny and Yosaku stop the villagers from fighting Arlong and Luffy and Arlong really go at it.

Arlong uses his shark powers to fight Luffy in a variety of ways, like ripping his teeth out to crush Luffy, using his sharp nose as a sword, taking out a literal sword to smash Luffy, and going manic and gaining super strength. The fight eventually goes up to the top of Arlong Park where Nami's cartography room is. Arlong brags to Luffy about how Nami is a tool that he will use forever and that she'll never be free. Luffy just asks if Nami was stuck in this room to draw maps. When Arlong gloats and says yes, Luffy destroys all of the maps and throws everything out the window. Nami watches in awe at how Luffy is destroying everything that ever made her miserable while working for Arlong. Arlong becomes even more furious and attempts to land the killing blow to Luffy, but Luffy hits him so hard that Arlong levels the entire six story building in his fall, bending Arlong's proud nose, defeating him. Everyone thinks that Luffy died in the impact, only for him to rise out of the wreckage and yells that Nami is is friend. Arlong has been beaten and Coco Village has been saved. The villagers run off to tell the island that Arlong has been beaten and that they can live in peace. Or they could have until Nezumi reappears.

See, now that Arlong is gone and that he's been paying off the Navy, now it's time for him to collect the bounty on Arlong and take all of the Arlong Pirate's treasure for himself. The Straw Hats beat him up pretty effortlessly, with Nezumi escaping to inform the world that Straw Hat Luffy defeated Arlong and that now Luffy is a wanted man. The rest of the arc plays out like a big celebration. Coco Village is saved, Nami and Nojiko visit Bell-Mere's grave and pay their respects, Genzo leaves his pinwheel hat at Bell-Mere's grave saying that Nami has become a fine woman and that she now has a reason to smile and laugh. Luffy promises Genzo that he'll protect Nami, Nami replaces her Arlong tattoo with a tangerine and pinwheel tattoo as the crew sail off to the Grand Line.

Are we done with the East Blue yet? Hell no! Now we have Loguetown to deal with! Thankfully it's one of the shortest arcs in the series, so I'm going to blaze through it since not much really occurs, but there's a lot of set up.

Before the crew makes it to the Grand Line, they decide to stock up at a town called Loguetown for supplies. In order for them to actually sail into the Grand Line, they need to sail up a mountain that leads to the Grand Line because sailing directly into it will cause a bunch of seas monsters called Neptunians to attack. Think of the Grand Line as being the Equator. It runs along the middle of the planet horizontally with a giant mountain running across the planet vertically. If you try and go into the Grand Line from anywhere others than the mountain, called Reverse Mountain, you're going to have to deal with the Neptunians. So stocking up it is so that they can sail up Reverse Mountain.

Everyone goes their separate ways while shopping with Sanji getting food, Nami getting close, Usopp getting gear, and Zolo and Luffy having their own adventures. During the fights against Mihawk, Zolo lost two of his swords and is in need of replacements. He has no money, but he still goes into a blacksmith's shop to buy swords. The shopkeeper directs him to the cheapest swords. Zolo runs into a woman named Tashigi, who is a sword fanatic, and exclaims that the sword that Zolo found is one of the rarest swords in existence. She's shocked that it's on sale for 50,000 berries and when she asks the shopkeeper why the sword is so cheap, Zolo tells her that it's cursed. The shopkeeper confirms this and that the sword has caused the death of anyone who's ever owned it. One would think tat it probably wouldn't be the best idea to sell a cursed sword for such a low price, but that's why I'm not in business. Zolo tests the sword's legacy out by throwing it in the air and sticking his arm out. If it cuts his arm off, he wasn't meant to have it. If it doesn't, he'll take it. He survives, so the shopkeeper gives him the shop's rarest sword for free since he never saw a man do something as reckless and shocking as what Zolo did. He takes the sword and walks out leaving Tashigi behind.

Meanwhile, Luffy explores Loguetown and makes a beeline for the town square. Why? Because Loguetown was actually the town where Gold Roger was executed and his scaffold still stands there. Luffy wants to pay his respects to Roger before leaving. And by paying respects, I mean standing on top of the scaffold and admiring the view from up there. As he stands there, we have a surprise guest appear; Buggy the Clown! And completely reformed no less!

So here's where things get a bit different between the manga and the anime. In the manga, for the title page of certain chapters, we would get little short stories that detailed what a few characters were up to while we weren't following the main crew. For example, we got a short series where we followed Coby and Helmeppo after they joined the Navy and became chore boys under a Vice-Admiral. In the case of Buggy, we saw him try and survive on his own, reform his body and crew, and meet up with a beautiful woman that joined his crew. It turns out that the woman was Alvida from the second chapter, who at the Slip-Slip fruit and made her body slippery. I don't know how that equates to losing 300 pounds, but kudos for getting in shape Alivda!

So Buggy is able to restrain Luffy and execute him the exact same way that Roger was executed. As Buggy gets ready to land the killing blow, all Luffy can do is give out a dumb smile and say that at least he had a fun time on his adventure. As Buggy is ready to slash, a bolt of lightning comes from the sky and hits Buggy directly, stopping the execution. All of the bystanders watching think that it has to be some intervention from God, but one person is not impressed by it. This man is Captain Smoker of the Navy.

Smoker is a unique character in the Navy. While Smoker definitely isn't a nice guy, he's more or less Luffy's rival. He's very strong and wields the Smoke-Smoke fruit, a devil fruit that can turn him into smoke, and he has a habit of chomping cigars and being incredibly disciplined with his subordinates, his primary assistant being Tashigi. Tashigi is a fully capable swordswoman and has earned the respect of her subordinates for her skills. I'd like to stress that Smoker is not a villain in the traditional sense and is more in line with how the Navy should be portrayed after seeing the corrupt Nezumi and the megalomaniacal Morgan. He doesn't look like a nice guy, but he's actually pretty caring. A little girl is walking past him with an ice cream cone and trips, getting it all over his pants. How does Smoker respond? He apologizes that his pants ate her ice cream and gives her enough money to get an extra scoop on her ice cream cone. That shows way more about his character than him fighting against Luffy or letting his power go to his head.

Because Luffy had so much attention draw to him, the crew tries to make a hasty escape as a storm suddenly hits Lougetown. Zolo ends up fighting Tashigi, which creates an awkward tension with Zolo and causes him to hold back against Tashigi. Why? Well... it's complicated.

I never really got into Zolo's backstory before because the placement of it never really seemed that relevant to what was happening. When we had flashbacks to Nami and Sanji, they directly related to what was going on and while Zolo's backstory made sense, I just preferred to talk about it here where there was a direct correlation between his past and his present.

Anyway, when Zolo was a child, he studied at a dojo and frequently challenged the sensei's daughter Kuina to a duel. Kuina always beat him (2,000 times to be specific) and Zolo became disheartened that he couldn't beat her. He eventually convinced himself that he couldn't beat her because he was using practice swords and not real swords, so he challenged her again with real swords this time. He loses again an is again despondent, but Kuina tells him that he shouldn't be upset. She's convinced herself that Zolo will eventually get stronger than he because she's a girl. She thinks that girl's can't possibly be better than guys and it breaks her heart that she thinks that. Her father convinced her of that and her one dream is to be the greatest swordsman in the world, regardless of gender. So she puts up a cocky attitude to hide her own insecurities. Zolo convinces her that it's not about strength that makes a strong swordsman, but willpower. Kuina takes his words to heart, but she unfortunately trips down a flight of stairs the next day and dies. The worst part? She was going upstairs to get a sharpening stone in order to sharpen her blade from the fight against Zolo. Zolo vows to fight for Kuina from now on and takes her sword with him as a memory of her.

And it just so happens that Tashigi looks exactly like his dead childhood friend! What a coinky dink!

So yeah, Zolo argues with Tashigi in the present that he looks like his dead friend, which is never awkward at all. They get into a fight and Zolo easily beats her. Tashigi asks why Zolo spared her and Zolo again tells her that he's not gonna go and kill a woman that looks like his dead friend. Tashigi says that it's not honorable and she deserves to be treated as an equal, but Zolo runs away before they can settle it out.

Meanwhile, Luffy runs into Smoker, who is able to lay him down damned well. Smoker got word from Navy headquarters that Luffy has a bounty of 30,000,000 berries for his beating Buggy, Kuro, Krieg, and Arlong, and Smoker wants to take him down. Luffy tries to fight him, but Luffy just can't seem to hit Smoker because he can turn to smoke. I forget if I've ever talked about the three kinds of Devil Fruits, but I'll do it here. In the world of One Piece, if you eat a Devil Fruit, you can get one of three different powers. You can have a Zoan power, which allow you to change into an animal like an ox or a bird, a Paramecia power, which allows you to modify your body in some way like being able to stretch it or cut it up, or you could get a Logia power, the deadliest of all. Being a Logia user means that you can literally transform you body into incorporeal energy as reform whenever you want. You can become living fire, or in the case of Smoker, turn yourself into smoke. So Smoke beats Luffy down pretty easily since Luffy can't even hit the guy, but before Luffy is dealt the killing blow again, Smoker is stopped by a mysterious man in a coat; Dragon.

Dragon is an enigma to say the least. It's been nearly 20 years of the manga and we know next to nothing about him. Smoker refers to him here as the most dangerous man in the world and Dragon is able to use a gust of wind to send Luffy back to his ship. Does that mean that Dragon can control the wind? No idea! Smoker just questions Dragon why he saved Luffy and Dragon just says cryptically that he needs to follow his own path.

So Luffy is able to return to the Merry Go and the Straw Hat Pirates begin to sail to Reverse Mountain, each of which claiming their goals. Nami wants to draw a map of the world, Sanji wants to find the All Blue, Usopp wants to stop being the worst character in the series, Zolo wants to be the world's greatest swordsman, and Luffy wants to be King of the Pirates. And with that, they sail up Reverse Mountain and enter the Grand Line.

So... yeah, that was about a solid 35 paragraphs just to talk about fish racism and a guy made of smoke. Yeesh. In all seriousness, the entirety of the East Blue Saga is dedicated just to establishing our main crew and getting to know them. Each of the major arcs, Orange Town, Syrup Village, the Baratie, and Arlong Park, are all focused on a different crew member and what makes them tick. Nami has the best introduction out of all of the crew with how emotional and sad it can get. Sanji comes in a close second for most tragic backstory, but we didn't get to spend as much time with him as we did with Nami before her betrayal. Usopp is just along for the ride and will just get slow, incremental improvements to his character, while Zolo and Luffy really don't change much over the course of the series. They're pretty much the same characters from the beginning of the series until the right now. That's not really a bad thing mind you because their characterization is just so damn enjoyable.

The villains, for the most part, are pretty meh. Buggy is a decent comic relief villain, but he won't be all that important until much later on in the series, while Krieg and Kuro had interesting premises, they both are forgotten as quickly as they appeared. The only villain that truly excelled in the first arc was Arlong, and I've already spent a small eternity detailing why his brand of evil was so complex and fascinating. I don't know whether or not it's a good thing that we got a villain as good as him as early as we did. Truth be told, it's going to be a little bit before we get another villain like Arlong.

So with the East Blue Saga concluded, now we can finally reach the Grand Line and the adventures that lie in store for the Straw Hat Crew. Coming up next in the Baroque Works Saga, we'll have talking reindeer, a living candle, a doctor that lives in a whale, a civil war for a super weapon, and the crew's war against one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.