General SBS discussion thread (manga)
 

As many of us who read the manga know, Oda has a little Q&A corner in the tankoubans known as the SBS. Most of the time he just answers a bunch of silly questions, but occasionally, he'll actually provide us with some pretty juicy info, some of which will eventually be relevent in the series' future. I thought I'd make a thread where we can talk about about anything SBS (mainly so we don't derail the chapter threads too much! :p). Of course, this includes info from past SBS corners, as well as speculating what seemingly useless info Oda will elaborate on in a future SBS! I thought I'd start off by talking about the recently released volume 58's SBS, which is a treasure trove of juicy info:




-We actually learn the ages and sizes for all of the Shichibukai! Credit goes to kaze1028 from Apforums for this info:





-MORE AWESOME STUFF! We learn the names and divisions of ALL the Whitebeard commanders:








-It's confirmed that Whitebeard's Gura Gura fruit is a Paramecia, not Logia. Also, his mustache is apparently a boomerang, which he uses to play fetch with his dog, Stefan. :p



-WE GET THE NAME OF TSURU'S DF!!! :D It's called the "Wash-Wash" fruit and is actually pretty effective against pirates! :p


-Apparently, Oda had originally intended for Robin to use a Face Fleur in the Skypiea arc, but felt it might look too scary. However, there's still a chance that we may see Robin use that technique in the future.....



-Now here's a really interesting one: A fan asks what's the difference between Ace and Marco's fruits. Oda says that Marco's flames aren't hot, neither does it spread out and burn stuff up. However, as we already guessed, the blue flames heal Marco and cancels out attacks. Still, there's a limit to his regeneration abilities. Apparently, Oda's still keeping the full nature of Marco's fruit under wraps since he obviously intends to bring the character back sometime in the future.....


-Oda talks about his inspiration for Iva and the Newkamas! I shall now quote Greg from Apforums about this info (BTW, credit goes to him for most of this SBS info, anyway):





So yep, looks like Iva's partially inspired from Rocky Horror Picture Show, after all! :)




Well, that's most of the juicy stuff volume 58 has to offer! Somehow, I'm not surprised that Moria's the oldest of the Shichibukai (however, I AM surprised about Blackbeard..... so this means he was 18 years old when he appeared in chapter 0, huh....?). It's also kinda funny to see how over half of them are practically giant (even Doflamingo is over 9 feet tall! :eyespin:) I especially love that we got to learn the names of the Whitebeard commanders and Tsuru's fruit (so chain chomp guy is Rakuyou, eh? Pretty cool name, right there!). It's also nice to learn the difference between Ace and Marco's fruits (funny how Oda doesn't talk about Akainu's, though.....). Man, this is truly one of the best SBS corners, EVER! Hopefully, Volume 59's will be just as awesome (we don't have to wait too much longer for it either, since it comes out in August!).



Anyway, discuss anything SBS here, guys!

Marco doesn't burn ? he wouldn't be able to melt Aokijis Ice ? hmm

^As I mentioned above, Oda doesn't fully explain how Marco's fruit works. Looks like we may have to wait a while before we find out how effective non-burning flames are in battle (though I'm personally guessing that Haki is part of the answer here).....


BTW, I'm really hoping that Oda does another of those age/size things for the marines, specifically the admirals and VAs. I've always wanted to know how old the veteran marines are.....

I already did conversions (feet and inches) for the shichibukai heights.

Hancock - 6'3"
Moria - 22'8"
Kuma - 22'7"
Blackbeard - 11'3"
Doflamingo - 10'0"
Jimbei - 9'10"
Crocodile - 8'3"
Mihawk - 6'6"

Yeah, I would also love to see heights and ages for the top marines and the emperors.

I have a strong feeling that Akainu is the oldest admiral, followed by Kizaru and then Aokiji.

Hancock's three sizes are just ridiculous man. S'like a walking hourglass.

I'm surprised that Blackbeard is the youngest Shichibukai next to Hancock though, I thought he'd be in his forties due to what Ace said in a previous chapter.

Good to see what all the Whitebeard commanders are/were.

Wash Wash fruit eh? If it's paticularily effective against pirates, does that mean it's only effective against people with certain qualities?

Good stuff though, can't wait for the next SBS.~

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Kizaru turned out to be the oldest. Oda has a thing for making the goofier-looking characters older than they actually seem (case in point: Moria, the oldest Shichibukai ;)).




According to Greg's summary, Tsuru washes pirates down to their black hearts. So, uh... I guess she really knows how to clean up evil? :p

Yeah, Blackbeard's age is the only thing I was surprised about from the shichibukai info. I, too, figured he would at least be in his 40's, since he certainly looks older than 38. This means that he's only 1 year older than Shanks!

I knew most of the Shichibukai were tall, but I didn't think they were THAT tall. And he even gave Hancock's three sizes, which are pretty amazing as always.
Blackbeard's age is indeed surprising. I also thought he was in his forties.

:heh: :heh: :heh:

Interesting informations about Marco's fruit, it really is completely different from Ace's. It looks like his flames are purely a defensive ability.

Forgot to mention that I always thought Whitebeard's mustache looked a little awkward, so it WAS phony after all.~

Wonder if this means if Whitebeard lived in the real world he'd be of Australian nationality. =p

I'm honestly not surprised by Blackbeard's age. I've always figured he was a contemporary of Shanks (and Mihawk), without necessarily having the background. So, 38 is a good age for our glandular friend.

Honestly it was the heights that surprised me. I mean we knew they were all tall, but having the actual measurements makes them all the taller.

I'm pretty sure Oda meant that as more of a joke than anything. Case in point: Someone else asks him if Whitebeard's stache can hold bananas. His response is that it can hold up to 6 if the fasteners in the back are removed. :p




BTW, since we got the names of all the commanders, I'm also hoping that Oda will do the same for the New World captains. It's true we got the names for a good few of them already (Oars Jr., Doma, Makugai, Squado, etc.), but we've seen quite a few more who still remain nameless. I'm especially interested in learning the name of the walrus captain. :)



And going back to the Shichibukais' ages, I have to say that I'm slightly surprised about Crocodile's age, as well. He's actually a few years older than I expected him to be (I figured he would be around the same age as Dofla!). I also think it would be pretty awesome if Oda drew all those guys as kids like he did with CP9 (yes, I know we saw younger versions of them in chapter 0, but most of them were still teenagers/young adults at that time.I want to see them all as cute lil' tykes, y'see ;)).

Wasn't it Paul? Or was it John?...

I'm only really surprised at Doflamingo's age. I mean he seems a lot younger. As for their heights i'm not too surprised since i always got the impression that they were very tall.

You know it's stuff like this that reminds me why the OP verse is just amazing, I will always be stand by the fact that the OP verse is the most creative, colourful and amazing world around.
Oda puts alot of thought into everything which makes it all the more better on the whole compared to any other series.

Thing I find surprising is Mihawk and Hancock's height, I thought Hancock was taller there.

Why are the Shichibukai so inhumanly tall?

Kuma and jimbei..I can understand, but what about the rest of them?

^Yeah the heights are almost surreal they are so otherworldly. I mean Crocodile is almost 3 meters tall. 3 freaking meters tall. It's just crazy.

Can't wait to find out just how large Ivankov's head is...

One Piece water is spiked with growth hormones. Clearly.

I think both Garp and Dragon are both too around 2,5 meters tall and I think Luffy might grow up past his 18's.

I guess some people at One Piece world just grow up beoynd our world standards.

Funny, I don't remember the walrus guy's name being mentioned at all.... I'll have to look back at the chapters to make sure, I suppose.



Anyway, the height thing actually doesn't bother me because Oda ALWAYS draws huge characters throughout the series, whether they're giants, half-giants, or just plain larger-than-average humans. Heck, I'm pretty sure that Whitebeard alone is around the same height as Kuma/Moria (maybe even taller!). I guess Oda just believes that bigger is better, that's all. ;)




BTW, I guess I'm the only one who's interested in Oda's inspiration for Iva.....? I find it highly amusing that the character is partially based off a real life okama! :p Makes me wonder who Bon Clay may be based on......

Nah I don't think so.

Both Roger and Shanks are normal sized so I don't see anything wrong with that.