One Piece - Chapter 621 [manga]

[xPresagio]

Felt that the pacing + order of events were a bit off.
But overall, really interesting chapter. Noticed a few things, not discussed yet:


*** Otohime sure inherited a lot of human features. (ancestors)
And it hit me:

She is not weak due to an illness. She is less strong than everyone, exactly because she is predominantly human! (would explain why she can physically move fast when using Observation haki, yet cannot even punch a simple thief without damaging herself).

Such a royal being, and at the same time being less powerful than every common folk. Not in Spirit, though. She literally aims for the stars!


*** Her "preaching" at the beginning may look a bit too forced. But Oda clearly intended it and made the story mock itself. That's why he made the "repented/converted" guy almost shine


*** Observation haki skills apparently cannot be recorded/transmitted.
Perhaps the same applies to all haki types?

That's a good restriction. Otherwise, any person with (Haoshoku) King's haki could really mess with the whole world if he/she ever controls the Government's media.


*** Did anyone notice the background of "Orphan village"?

Closer look:


Can't be a coincidence that it looks quite similar to the traditional rendition of Noah's arc.



Ah Oda, I see where are you going.. and applaud you for it.
._

[paradox13]

Can't be a coincidence that it looks quite similar to the traditional rendition of Noah's arc.

The place is called Noah for a reason.

[xPresagio]

Originally Posted by paradox13

The place is called Noah for a reason.

And surely it's possible to get a much deeper analysis out of it (the relation with Void Century, Ancestors, Rio Poneglyph, Pluton/Cataclysm), instead of just pointing such fact?


In any case, it was indeed odd to see our favorite sawshark distressed during the massacre. Specially since he apparently was already a trouble-maker.

But perhaps the author is trying to point out that the Arlong we knew was, in a sense, a product of the rashness and cruelty of the Sun pirates. Even if their war was aimed primarily to slavers and Marines.


It certainly puts the legend of Fisher Tiger in a different light.

._

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

no i do not think it is... the crime that Tom was convicted for was building the pirate king's ship and that is a crime that ANY citizen would have been taken away for... if you are referring more to the crime of attacking the judge's ship which he got absolved from the sea train, when it comes down to it he did not have hard proof that he did not commit the crime himself and there was evidence that he did... as such ANY person he his place would have been found guilty of the crime.

For the record, yes, I was referring to the attack on the judiciary ship. Now, I'll grant you that the sin of constructing the Oro Jackson was Tom's burden to bear, and that anyone in his shoes would have been quite likely to meet a similar fate, but there are certain things I'd like to point out concerning Tom's situation, which I'll get into in a sec......

Originally Posted by Slayerx

Thinking about it, that probably WOULD have been a good place for Oda to start showing some of a fishman discrimination...
as far as we saw Tom was treated pretty much the same as humans

Uh, there kinda WAS some discrimination going on during that scene in the flashback. After Spandam framed Tom, the townspeople of W7 were basically all like, "OMG, so he was in cahoots with Roger after all? He's just a vicious merman!" Even Spandam referred to Tom as something like "fat, crazy merman" after arresting him. Admittedly, it's not as strong an example as the way Hachi was treated at Sabaody, but I do believe we've seen some small vestiges of racial tension during that scene.......

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by xPresagio

*** Otohime sure inherited a lot of human features. (ancestors)
And it hit me:

She is not weak due to an illness. She is less strong than everyone, exactly because she is predominantly human! (would explain why she can physically move fast when using Observation haki, yet cannot even punch a simple thief without damaging herself).

First the reason she has so many human features is becuase she is a mermaid. By definition the top half of her body should appear to be 100% human while only from the waist down she will have fishlike features. MOST of the mermaids we have seen look completely human from the waist up... mermen such as the princes are more like an exception to the rule; the reason they have some fishlike features from the waist up is because Oda's just crazy when it comes to character design and often makes humans that look barely human and sometimes share strange features. Really how human merfolk appear to be is completely dependent on how attractive Oda thinks the character should be (the more human they look the more attractive they tend to be), or how far he wants to push the design in general

Second, being predominately human would only explain why she is weak compared to a fishman but it would not explain her early death... Furthermore it was only said that fishmen were 10x stronger than the average human; the same has never been said of the merfolk... so otohime being no stronger than a human makes perfect sense.

And surely it's possible to get a much deeper analysis out of it (the relation with Void Century, Ancestors, Rio Poneglyph, Pluton/Cataclysm), instead of just pointing such fact?

Based on the panels during the chapter as Neptune explains otohime's desires, it seems that noah's arc likely is the centerpiece to the last great attempt that was made to create peace and union between the people of fishmen island and humanity

Originally Posted by marvelB

Uh, there kinda WAS some discrimination going on during that scene in the flashback. After Spandam framed Tom, the townspeople of W7 were basically all like, "OMG, so he was in cahoots with Roger after all? He's just a vicious merman!" Even Spandam referred to Tom as something like "fat, crazy merman" after arresting him. Admittedly, it's not as strong an example as the way Hachi was treated at Sabaody, but I do believe we've seen some small vestiges of racial tension during that scene.......

eh find that to be much too sutble when you consider that "fat crazy merman" can be similar to "Fat crazy italian/redhead/martian or so forth"... "merman" being a term used just to describe what he is and not really evidence of what humans thought of mermen commonly

[paradox13]

eh find that to be much too sutble when you consider that "fat crazy merman" can be similar to "Fat crazy italian/redhead/martian or so forth

When you bring race into account, you are already being racist.

[Paraden1989]

I also noticed John's Candies Shop in the second pannel of page 7, I'm looking forward to see if it is the same company that Big Mam takes over!

[marvelB]

^Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it actually WOULD make for a neat lil' detail for Oda to show us the candy company that Big Mom eventually claims as her own in this flashback.....




BTW, something interesting I noticed after re-reading the more recent chapters: While Hody and his crew constantly talk about assassinating Neptune and his sons, they never mention what they would do to Shirahoshi. Of course, this most likely has something to do with honoring Decken's end of the deal, but...... what if there's something more to that? Perhaps it will turn out that Jones has his eyes on the princess, as well? Maybe he secretly plans to betray Decken and make the princess his bride after dealing with Neptune and his sons? I mean, Jones is even in a perfect position to take care of Decken as well, now that he knows the ins and outs of his ability (and, y'know, the steroids and all that). Nope, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the NMP were to backstab the Flying pirates.....




....Of course, this all hypothetical. However, if this flashback DOES show signs of Hody falling for Shira (which could happen if Oda decides to show us his stint as a soldier in Neptune's army), well...... just remember I called it.

[Hisoka??]

Originally Posted by marvelB

^Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it actually WOULD make for a neat lil' detail for Oda to show us the candy company that Big Mom eventually claims as her own in this flashback.....




BTW, something interesting I noticed after re-reading the more recent chapters: While Hody and his crew constantly talk about assassinating Neptune and his sons, they never mention what they would do to Shirahoshi. Of course, this most likely has something to do with honoring Decken's end of the deal, but...... what if there's something more to that? Perhaps it will turn out that Jones has his eyes on the princess, as well? Maybe he secretly plans to betray Decken and make the princess his bride after dealing with Neptune and his sons? I mean, Jones is even in a perfect position to take care of Decken as well, now that he knows the ins and outs of his ability (and, y'know, the steroids and all that). Nope, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the NMP were to backstab the Flying pirates.....




....Of course, this all hypothetical. However, if this flashback DOES show signs of Hody falling for Shira (which could happen if Oda decides to show us his stint as a soldier in Neptune's army), well...... just remember I called it.

I'll remember you called it if it does happen, but given all that has been depicted, doesn't seem likely.

Hodi and pirates seem to be very focused on fishmen superiority and not the typical evil villain stuff. The fact that he goes to lengths fighting himself and doping himself seems to indicate so too.

The reason Shirahoshi hasn't been mentioned is likely that
1) she is imprisoned in the tower and therefore is no obstacle for them. Unlike her father and brothers, she hasn't been active in opposing them.
2) she is weak.
3) Female bias

But I do see a possibility of Hodi wanting to marry her, not because he likes her, but to gain legitimacy for his leadership role.

[marvelB]

Originally Posted by Hisoka??

But I do see a possibility of Hodi wanting to marry her, not because he likes her, but to gain legitimacy for his leadership role.

Heh, that sure sounds like something a Disney villain would do, all right.




Anyway, new thread is up for grabs!