User blog comment:Neowitch/The right thing to do/@comment-89.139.165.112-20120301144523/@comment-4493594-20120301210536

You should really join the Wiki, Mr/Ms AWC. You may be a little aggressive but I think this is a rather good discussion.

Okay, so maybe they did not do everything for personal gain. But at least out of a certain selfishness. Look at Luffy's face: http://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/655/6 The comical sparkle is a sign that the fact "there is trouble" alone is reason enough for him to go. And the scenes afterwards, too, indicate that this is more of a fun trip rather than a rescue mission. They would have gone to that island even without the SOS call as Luffy wanted to go from the very beginning.

The themes of OP and the motive to initiate a certain chain of events that lead to the unfolding of said themes are two different things. Of course it's about friendship, conviction and your standard shonen manga themes. But more often than not it's some main cast character's selfishness (mostly Luffy's) that leads to events climaxing in epic tales of comradeship and whatnot.

Luffy only got mixed up with Buggy because Nami tricked him. And didn't they want to save Kaya so she can give them a ship at the beginning? Sure, there was more to it than just that but it is the initial motive I'm looking at. That is why I said they did things out of selfishness rather than selflessness.