User blog comment:Videogamep/Why is Sabo Such a Big Deal?/@comment-972068-20131213072410/@comment-1595565-20131213222553

That's exactly what I've been trying to say. All that character building was worthless. That's why people die in the series, so the characters are forced to become stronger individuals. Then again, you could also argue that the flashback was necessary to introduce the sake cups, because if there wasn't the flashback, and the only mention of this Sabo person was Ace saying "The Sabo incident", then the cups on ace's grave and luffy thinking about them would only serve to confuse people more. It's a bit paradoxical if you think about it.