User:Angel Emfrbl/Storyline Notes

Okay here is my notebook for bits and tads of info on One Piece. Mostly random thoughts and garbage on the storyline and other issues...

Luffy's Family
Luffy's family: Ace, Garp, Dragon... Two females (Dragon and Garp's wife) were not named in the Grand Line Times but written as "?". May see them later, but doubt it due to the nature of this manga.

Ace and Luffy having Portgas and Monkey surnames... Les see, in real life, this signifies alternative marriages, bastard children (child takes mothers maiden name instead of father's) or adoption (though normally, adoption results in child loosing its last name for new one). Most people opt for the step brothers theory... There are other notes to add to this:


 * 1) When a child doesn't have a father sometimes they desire to have one and seek out an individual to become a father. Whitebeard calls his crew his "sons" and the call him "father" instead.
 * 2) There is a theory on whether or not Ace changed him name at sea, but that is in the air until Dragon confesses Ace is his son. Never once did Garo say Ace was Dragon's son, or that he was his Grandson. Ace is mentioned.
 * 3) If the Ace is an illegit child, this also would be an embarrassment for Luffy's family. Garp doesn't speak with disgust about Ace, which many would swallow hard about illegit children even mentioning the name. Then again, Garp was telling Luffy off at the time... So... Whatever on that note.
 * 4) Resemblance. Okay, most argue Luffy and Ace resemble each other, however there are certain things that don't click. Okay, Ace and Luffy have blackhair... So does Dragon so that supports Ace being Dragon's son, however most of the Ds seen so far (Garp is unknown due to grey hair from old age and Saul was a giant). No other D has freckles. Ace kinda resembles Shanks a lot, aside from the eyes, freckles and hair, they are the same basically (jawline as well).  Ace's body is closer to Dragon's but Luffy is very thin. Its hard to see Dragon, but at 17 years of age Luffy should have some muscle showing but all he has in on his stomach from time to time during fights. Luffy has the least resemblance to Gaor or Dragon, possibly due to resembling his mother (if ever introduced). Dragon has a nose that quite different from Garp or Luffy or Ace... Interestingly, Luffy in nightmare mode develops blackened eyes like Dragon has. I could write forever more on resemblances, but I'll stop here.

Interestingly, Ace calls Luffy "brother" specifically which means there must be a relationship in there somewhere. The other word for brother... "Aniki" (spelling) means brother as in "respect and extended family" grounds.

Willpower
Lets see... A lot of OP is about the strength of the human will as well as dreams. It seems to be the key in the difference between some reaching their dreams and others not.

Luffy's will... We have the Will of D going on which could possibly be linked to this. Luffy's main asset is this rather then his strength. He held 100 shadows inside himself in the Thriller Bark arc without being knocked out. Neither died fighting Crocodile, 3 times!

Lets see, Shanks also stats Blackbeard (Also a D) has the will power to get where he wants. Shanks has a strong will.

Fights
Looking back at the manga, we didn't really see a good fight from Luffy until Arlong. Buggy was a joke. Kuro I don't think Luffy took seriously due to Kuro's beliefs.

Shanks
From the storyline... He was born in the west blue... Joined Roger's crew at a young age (interestingly, he turned Luffy down on the basis of him being too young... How old was Shanks when he went to sea?). Roger travelled to Raftel, was Shanks there when he did? Shanks was there when Roger died, we saw a flashback of that day but it was just one scene. Had this been before W7, that usually meant an extended flashback at a later date. Now, with W7 gone passed... I would come to other decisive conclusions.

From what I can tell, Shanks is the missing key to half of the mysteries in OP. I don't think he automatically becomes the most important character in the Storyline, but he definitely is the second (Roger the first) most important secondary level character in OP. Possibly influenced on Luffy for a back-up plan due to his comment on the "I bet it on the next generation" comment regarding his arm.

One possibility is that Shanks (aware of Blackbeard) has become cautious, possibly knows he might die, so has brought Luffy in to replace him. Luffy has brought with him Zoro who is a rival to Mihawk as Shanks is too. Usopp, who is the son of Yasopp (Shanks' crewmembers). I have a theory Shanks has at his disposal most of what Luffy has in his crew - but - is unable to achieve his ends. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out Shanks knows about the poneglyphs and other world mysteries. However, all this is speculation and therefore I won't commit myself to saying this is what I believe will happen.

A note is that Shanks displays many "D" traits but hasn't had a full name linked. Others ask why... I know there is a theory on Shanks being the father of Ace, hence why there is no name for Shanks yet but I don't buy this. I loved supplying the pics for evidence, but this is one theory I don't buy, least not yet anyway.

Roger
Most important secondary character... We know nothing on him. I personally liken this to real life pirates, whose exploits are vaguely remembered and the details left out. If we look at Calico Jack, had it not been for the two females on his crew he'd have been left forgotten, authors even sometimes state this in a book.

He was able to read the poneglyphs... Was he? It does not specifically state this, only that he left a message on the bell of Shandora. Did someone else write that message for him? If Roger was like Luffy, that might be plausible.

I personally think too many jump to the conclusion on this. We aren't told though that Roger had any guests with him when he was a guest to the God of Skypiea, but if he had someone like Shanks with him, a low level crew member, they might not have even had their name taken. Do Lords speak to the servants of other Lords? Not formally, they treat you like furniture. It is possible a low-ranked member of his crew was there with him but Gunfall never mentally noted or caught the guy/woman's name, thinking of him as an insignificant person.

We had no flashback of Roger during that whole arc... Yet we had someone who met and spoke and was friends to the Pirate King. Also, he visited the Poneglyph without Gunfall knowing about it...

Buggy
Had a disappointing start. I put that down to Oda wanting to talk about him later and expand on him greatly... Buggy is Oda's fav (or was) villain. Buggy's past is unknown outside of being on Roger's crew and the Shanks + the Devil Fruit incident. Original sketches show Buggy as sinister... When did he get like he is now in the design? He seemed to have been lightened up greatly from primary to finish. I put this down to expansion of emotions, that original Buggy design hasn't much room to make him laugh or smile.

Buggy has been on Roger's crew... He speaks through fear on Whitebeard and experience. In the anime, they expanded on him and Shanks' in Whitebeard's flashback of seeing the pair. Unlike Shanks, I doubt Buggy has a lot of secrets to reveal, he seems to have gone through everything and very little. Since Buggy seems to be the opposite of Shanks...

Argument on North or South Pole. Shanks is correct. Buggy is wrong. Interesting this seemed to have put across the concept straight away of these two characters. Oda states Shanks was right but the pole he choose wasn't the coldest. I draw a line here back to Luffy... Oda's hint? I also put across the fact Shanks is close to the top of the rankings of Pirates whereas Buggy is close to the bottom. Note: the word "Close" used twice there.

Devil Fruit Vs Natural Skill. Interestingly, Buggy has a near invincible Devil Fruit, Shanks appears to have none yet when you compare the overall power and success Shanks is the one able to break things without the aid of such a fruit... While Buggy resorted to cannonballs to break a building. Accidentally, Luffy displays a combo of both relying on trained strength and Devil Fruit power.

Shanks hasn't shown to be greedy, Buggy has. He put himself on the line by going after Nami rather then finishing off Luffy. The only display of greed Luffy had was taking the gold in Skypiea, but that give give the compete "Greedy" vibes during that scene, more like "trouble making" kind.

Ace dead?
Don't know what to make of this... Ace appears to be dead and either event would help the storyline, not hinder it.

If alive, Ace can come back for revenge anytime, but also faces problems due to failure. Ace being a D would pursue Blackbeard to finish the job possibly due to will power, even if half dead. If dead, Ace is the catalyst to bring in a lot of characters. We have both Shanks and Whitebeard who are involved in this plot. Luffy is also there too. I also note on the subject of Ace... Whitebeard cares for his "sons" and yet shows no responsibility in their well being. When Shanks visited WB, Ace had already faced Blackbeard 2 days earlier. This event was played out by Oda AFTER the talks between the Yonkou happened.

So far I also note, only Blackbeard, Garp, Woop Slap, the first 6 members of the Straw Hats] seemed to be aware of Luffy and Ace. Ace uses the name "Firefist Ace". Buggy's crew speak his nickname, but not his full name upon sighting him. Luffy gets a combo of both. Ace never mentions to Buggy Luffy is his brother only that he can led him to him. How? Part of me wonders if the paper is a method of Ace finding Luffy again.

Now Whitebeard, having fought a D during his life, possibly knows about it, hence why two (Ace and Teach) were on the crew. Possibly came to the conclusion that they would make him Pirate King.

One Piece
Reoccurring theme in OP is what is a treasure? Interestingly, when Luffy and crew get money they loose it. If Roger and Luffy are alike then Roger may have never been rich. What would a Pirate King, who had everything, want as a treasure anyway? The trouble of gold and silver is the more you have them two things can happen: you become greedy and its never enough Gold and Silver or you become so rich that it looses its value to you.

Others point out to the Poneglyhs... But if my notes on that conclude, it may not be the history. We know he was seeking "the path" to Rathel, thats it. I imagine Robin will turn out to be the only one in the end who can get the crew to Raftel but I don't want to write notes on this. we see Shanks and Buggy in the past, Buggy stats Shanks is like the rest of the crew who fight for adventure and never wanting gold. Its also interesting to note how quickly Buggy dismisses them as pirates, considering whose crew that is most likely to be.

If it did turn out to be gold and silver, but would be the point of the storyline? Your now rich, good for you. What you do now. On the subject of OP being the poneglyphs, its basically saying "the truth is the most valuable thing of all" which is a paraphrase I picked up... Somewhere... Others say the crew will find each they seek there. Obviously some goals will be reached sooner then Raftel, like Zoro + Mihawk.

Dracule Vs Juraqulle
Whatever the spelling is! I support Dracule for one reason: The only Latin text we have is from 4Kids and Viz. The Japanese version only ever writes "Mihawk". Someone once argued in Japanese they are the same spelling, but another pointed out they are not (wikipedia page somewhere...). Dracule sounds more like "Dracula" and considering the recent Thriller Bark arc, I wouldn't put it past Oda to use vampiric stuff for character building. But Juraqulle is a fancy name, but not one I note fame for meaning anything. Obviously, Mihawk is a LONG way off in the storyline, so I don't expect it to be resolve, until then I amuse myself over the cries of woe if "Dracule" ever gets proved to be the correct name. Most on-line fans say Juraquille you see. I just say "Mihawk" to avoid the discussion.

Oz's name
I know what its suppose to be, but dismiss it until I see a latin name. There is so many theories, I'm sick of them and just use "Oz" to annoy now. What is there now... Oz, Odz, Odrz, Odin... Whatever. The last person I read confused me on the words "I don't know where the D in the name is coming from" after writing a long discussion on the correctness of "Odz".

Perona
Lets see... Oda isn't one to put a cute girl into a dire situation. Maybe have them loose a battle, but their never beaten too badly unlike the guys and always come out looking great. Perona was obviously teleported somewhere, I still maintain there is a good chance she'll join the crew, but maybe not now. Several supporting evidence:


 * 1) She is after Ussop for revenge so even if she doesn't join she will most likely be back and as far as everyone knows isn't dead.
 * 2) She was the only non-stitched up person on TB of any power.
 * 3) The crew now have her "Treasure" on the Thousand Sunny and Nami was seen wearing a top with her Jolly Roger on it. I note the sighting of a JR is significant alone. Vivi had one, but her only hold back was Alabasta. Sometimes I wonder if Oda wanted her to go, but exchanged her for Robin later on. I also wonder if even if she doesn't join, if Perona was going to join originally hence the sighting of the J.Roger.
 * 4) She has a dream, but its only carried out by being with Moria... Saying that, we have Gaimon back in the East Blue whose island wouldn't be too much of a near hit if she did join. Plus, he relies on the notion of the lie "spirits of the forest" saving the island animals.
 * 5) Brook is afraid of ghosts. What good is this plot point if he never sees one again? I could also see a small running gag forming where the two end up being afraid of each other (which is a point since she never knew about Brook) all the time.
 * 6) Kumacey was cute but didn't have a cute voice. on the Straw Hats side, Chopper is both Cute in appearance and voice.
 * 7) She is generally fun-loving, states she only went with Moria to have fun.
 * 8) Most fans point to her having an unoriginal design whereas all the other crewmember had original designs. Nami is pretty average if you ask me... In fact you can't get more ordinary then her. Next time I see someone say that phrase on any character I'd like them to expand on it, saying it is one thing explaining it is another. She wears goth/royal looking cloths... There isn't another character in OP like her. Maybe their comparing her to stereotyping and other shows, but in OP she is very original.
 * 9) Aside from Ussop and a few others, no one knows the ghosts were her doing on Thriller Bark. She never got Robin nor Nami with that ability and the most important thing for any female character on the crew to do is get on with the others. The only downer I note to that is Nami is currently wearing her clothes it seems...
 * 10) Too much detail given. Not only did we have large explanations on her powers but illustrations. You don't get that very often in OP.
 * 11) Luffy wanted to catch her ghosts and keep them as pets... She'd get on with Luffy despite her negative ghosts hitting him. This is the most important aspect of being on the crew. If Luffy doesn't like you, your not in. Even Robin and Franky both had to leap this building eventually.

Generally, when you look at her, aside from the obvious gap of current and unknown location, there is more evidence for her then for Paulie ever did. Downsides, Perona would have most of the crew to deal with if she joined. I wouldn't think she'd be too much of a problem if she joined due to the recent defeat of Oz because of the fear she built up around him. I wouldn't feel annoyed if she joined nor downed, but I wouldn't mind she if did.

The other thing to note is no two members join in the same arc, saying that, both Robin AND Ussop didn't officially join until Water 7. Robin was only hanging around them because she considered them responsible for her being alive and had no where else to go and Usopp was pretending to be what he was (still does, but not in the same way). Franky of course was the third.

The other argument is the lack of an appearance in a game before joinment. Brook has appeared in Gear Spirits, but not Perona. Now in the past Oda has left out characters to make them a surprise, an absence of Shanks in Romance Dawn V.2 is proof of this. Plus he could have asked them not to include her to avoid spoiling the fact she will join. On that note, Robin was introduction 3 in the anime before she joined, but on that I point out the manga had already revealed this and thus the note is insignificant as everyone knew she was coming. When Robin originally became part of the crew it took a lot of people by surprise.

End
End of my notes and jotted ideas for OP. May update in the future. I'll end this here for now because my fingers hurt. And I have a headache.