User blog comment:Fliu/New Thoughts on the Whole Cake Island Arc/@comment-24850639-20171114223332

Man this is a lot to address, but thanks for the blog. I always enjoy talking about this series, and this wiki has BY FAR been my favorite place to do it. It's truly a pleasure to talk with other people who love and are as knowledgable about a series as you, gives me a chance to really geek out. Alrighty lets get started here:

While I agree that Usopp's cowardice during that portion of Dressrosa was pretty shameful, I have to say that I believe he made up for it in pretty epic fashion with his speech to the Tontatta, and coming back to take on Trebol and Sugar by himself. It confirmed that Usopp becoming a "brave warrior of the sea" is very much alive as his dream, and he is indeed making progress. At the same time though, it's been nice having an arc entirely devoid of his antics. Nami has been almost uncharacteristically fearless this arc, and Brook still has my vote as arc MVP. He took on a Yonko by himself, and did something that no pirate that ever has faced Big Mom has been able to do, hurt Zeus and Prometheus. The volumes that speaks is astronomical, on top of him the poneglyph copies like it was light work. Chopper earned his money too, though he's actually been showing quite a lot of bravery since the New World portion of the story started.

You make a good point about Whitebeard's body compared to Big Mom/Kaido's, being dubbed the "Strongest Man in The World". Katakuri revealed that there are apparently different tiers of Busoshoku haki, but we can't confirm that as an explanation quite yet, given that she still employed Buso Koka to match fists with Luffy in G4. I would have to imagine that Kaido's haki is even stronger, assuming that Big Mom can't emerge from a fall that height without a single scratch like he did. Hell, it was implied that people would have died from the cake falling without Streusen's intervention.

As far as Sora goes, I would have to assume that we're not done hearing about her. It can't be coincidence that protagonist of the Germa 66 comic strip is named Sora, especially with the likenesses of the actual Vinsmokes appearing in the strip. I'm still in the camp that Judge's relationship with Vegapunk is flashback-worthy, so I would assume that more insight into her would be a part of that. Just not sure when exactly to expect that story.

I mostly agree with your thoughts on Pudding. I never trusted her from the start. but I also never expected her character to be this complex. I'm fully intrigued about the Three-Eye race, and am curious as to whether her split personality is a product of this heritage or something completely separate. Because of how much attention Oda has given to it, it's hard to think of it as a simple gag, and not something that he will eventually expand upon. Especially if this race could read poneplyphs. They definitely have future relevance to the story, which most likely means that what we've seen of Pudding will come to mean something more. As far as the mean kids in her past, Big Mom made fun of her too, so I'd imagine that Pudding probably wouldn't feel comfortable coming to her when she's no better. I've got nothing on why they felt no fear making fun of one of Big Mom's children though.

I also agree on the plot armor this arc being a tad excessive. Plot armor is to be expected when you're talking this many protagonists that are central to story, the deeper problem is Oda writing himself into so many situations that required plot armor to escape. I suppose it's to be expected when entering a Yonko's territory with half the crew, and lot of times he saved himself by foreshadowing the plot armor before it happened (Lola's vivre card, Brook's superiority over homies, the Tamatebako, Jinbe busting Luffy out, etc). Sometimes the plot armor also made a ton of sense for that specific situation (Jinbe's knowledge of waves & the green room, Luffy eating Cracker's biscuit soldier's to maintain his stamina) but people can only stomach so much of it in one arc. Certain examples like the one you mentioned, the first two sons of the Charlotte Family twiddling their thumbs on the Sunny while their soldiers get fodderized, was unforgivable.

As far as Luffy's current power state goes, I agree and disagree on certain aspects. I didn't expect him to come out ready to take on a Yonko either, and him struggling like THIS against a Yonko commander was a little unexpected. I give him a pass on the Enraged Army though, he had just fought Cracker and gotten whooped by Sanji, and the people in the Army definitely weren't pushovers. Oda made it seem as if G4 is the best he's got given how he's run away from Cracker & Katakuri, and I was expecting G4 to be the tip of the iceberg with Dressrosa being only the third arc since the timeskip. Since Whole Cake is only happening because of the Sanji situation, you're telling me Luffy was about to go fight Kaido with this level of power? And still is, within a matter of days after all this? Training and another timeskip is not an option with his crew currently waiting for him on Wano, and he doesn't appear to have alternate forms of Gear 4th, so the only thing that really seems to make sense is Awakening. But even Awakening seems unlikely without someone to actually coach Luffy through it, or at least explain to him how one goes about beginning the process. This running away/being saved so he can recharge his haki is not going to cut it.

I understand that the "Year of Sanji" wasn't going to be all about him kicking ass and cooking amazing food, but the amount of Ls he continues to take was definitely not something I saw coming. Him writing Luffy off as someone he could count on and his constant sulking about not having a way out was one of the most disheartening things I've ever read in this series. As you pointed out, he was personally there through all that Luffy has done for Nami and Robin. Furthermore, he somehow still managed to have faith that Luffy would be at their spot despite knowing that he got captured, so it doesn't add up. You have faith that he'll escape the clutches of a frickin Yonko to uphold a promise to you, but you don't think he's a viable option for getting you out of this alive? Doesn't add up. I can give Nami a pass for her perception of it: Sanji's behavior was COMPLETELY uncharacteristic, and not something that she could have seen through. Zoro was able to test her by trying to drown himself, knowing that Nami cared enough to still save him. She also eventually released him. Robin attempted to disown the Straw Hats, but it was made clear before Enies Lobby that she truly loved the crew more than anything else, and wasn't acting out of any kind of malice to them. Sanji didn't HAVE to much such degrading insults to Luffy to get his point accross, nor glare at a woman the way he did. It actually made me excited to see how Sanji was going to flip all this around, or see how he would deliver some sign to the crew that he still loved them, but all we got were his tears. After that he practically wrote them off as if they didn't exist.

= I have more to say, but it will take a lot more time to fully go through everything you've said. Will probably edit again later =