User blog:DancePowderer/What's the Deal with Cactus?

Given the nature of this topic, I feel like I should start out light with a joke. At least as a good segue into the actual topic.

What do a minefield, whac-a-mole, Sabo, and Riverdance have in common?

Given the volatility of Sabo blogs, trying to write about him is about as easy as riverdancing through a minefield while swinging at the ground with a hammer.

One reason I chose sociology and anthropology as my major is my ability to observe social trends and phenomena, and it has been especially interesting extending that to One Piece. And, from my scholarly perspective, Sabo has to be one of the bigger societal phenomena to come out of One Piece. This blog is not about whether or not he's alive, and I'll say right now that I'll delete any comment that tries to argue it because I don't give two fucks and a toaster about what you think he is, it's about why people are so desperate for him to be alive.

Which brings me to my question, why are you people so desperate for him to be alive? He is just one of a common trend of a Straw Hat learning or being affected by a death in their past. We didn't see Tom die completely, and even Kuina got some attention when Tashigi first appeared, so why aren't people obsessing over them? Why is Sabo special? Why are people blind to the fact that he fulfilled his role by dying? No one understands how the idea of closure plays into this. Ok, imagine for a second he didn't die and Luffy eventually met him again, what would that accomplish? Luffy's life up until then would have a huge hole in it because it turns out he didn't have to carry on for one of the people he was supposed to be living for. Do you realize what that implies? It would cause Luffy to question the main reason he and Ace set out on their adventures when they did. Sabo being alive would actually be the worst thing imaginable in that regard, and no one seems to think about that. It seems like just because Dragon was involved, people decide they have to ignore the pattern present in all major flashbacks, not just for the Straw Hats, but for other characters like Jinbe and Shirahoshi too.

Why are people so desperate for Sabo to be alive? Are you so afraid of death that you cling to the smallest blip of hope you can scrounge up? The only reason I can see people wanting Sabo to be alive is because Dragon was involved. Is it safe to say that if it were anyone other than Dragon, people wouldn't give a fuck? Personally I think it is. Imagine for a second, if you will, that it was not Dragon who spoke with Sabo in chapter 586, but rather the blind guy from Dressrosa, more specifically the blind guy from Dressrosa, chapter 701, page 16, before we knew anything about him, and just for fun let's say Dragon appeared at the roulette table instead. Would you give a crap about Sabo if it were some (at that time) random blind guy (or any random character really, Haritsu Kendiyo, Baby 5, Jango, Steve McQueen, I don't give a fuck) who appeared instead of Dragon? My guess is no.

This blog isn't asking much of you, the reader (and/or)/Sabo fanatic. All I ask is that you pause for a moment and ask yourself "Why do I want Sabo to be alive?" Not why you think it, why you want it. What's so important about him that he must live. Ignore everything else you've seen or heard about him that came after Jalmack's second shot. Ignore the "what if" drawing on the cover of chapter 596, ignore the obituary in OP Green: Secret Pieces, ignore what's come up in SBS, and ponder this question, "Why do I want Sabo to be alive?"