You can watch my next One Piece review (Punk Hazard) RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+): www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr To follow the readthroughs on stream, you can follow me on Twitch here: www.twitch.tv/Aleczandxr/ Link to AJ's Discord server: discord.gg/Ekhz7PNuJd CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE: Mondays @ 10am EST: A Blind Playthrough of Yakuza Kiwami Wednesdays @ 10am EST: Naruto Readthrough Fridays @ 10:30am EST: SOME FRIDAYS, I do full One Piece reading streams as well. Check Discord for updates/details. Sundays @ 11am EST: One Piece Chapter reads

Oda (2012): "Hody had baseless racism against humans. Maybe it is hard for little kids to understand, but I'm just happy if only they will understand it when they grow up."

I think a lot of the negative opinions on arcs, especially post timeskip arcs, tend to come from people who read or watched them as they released week to week. Some of the arcs feel rather drawn out on the week to week schedule, but not as bad when you can read batches of chapters at a time. For example, anecdotally I know some people who hated Skypeia when they experienced it week to week, but enjoyed it upon re-read. The negative arc opinions can also come from anime watchers, since post timeskip made the pacing even more drawn out than before. My first experience with the fishman island arc was week to week anime watcher, and while I did like it in the end, I remember feeling some fatigue with it at times due to the pacing and getting the week to week drip feed.

The main "villain" of Fishman Island wasn't Hody, it was the hatred and fear inside the people. This villain wasn't beaten, but it got a helping hand of hope and understanding. The blood transfusion symbolizes the new path and new chance to make it to the sun. I love this conclusion soo much! I'm glad that you liked this arc. The streams were great😊✌️

I love how this arc finally seems to get the love it deserves.

The reason why "post time-skip is bad" is a popular opinion is that a lot of people jumped into the series during Marineford. You can look at the sales figures and see this massive increase in readership, and that means that for a not insignificant number of people Marineford was the first arc they read weekly and everything before that they binged. Fishman Island when read weekly is not as fast-paced or exciting as Marineford, and as anyone knows the first arc you read weekly is always going to feel weaker (for me it was Thriller Bark) than the ones you binged. So we had a large, vocal part of the fanbase complaining about Fishman Island because of this, and this is the foundation of the hate for the time-skip. Anyone who reads whole arcs is not going to notice any difference. Fishman Island is great. It's lovely how you draw a comparison between Skypiea and Fishman Island, these really arcs do have a lot in common, not the least of which being the poneglyph on Skypiea talking about Poseidon and how there were arks in both arcs. And other long-term things you don't know about yet. Good stuff all around.

#AJPiece Something that isn't discussed enough to me is Sanji's reaction to Jinbe and his story I completely get how it could have been handled better(in the manga it passes as a half gag with the brusqueness, while the anime kinda blows it into a grave moment) What Sanji's doing is basically a response to his family being hurt, and I don't think that would be a bad thing, he's an emotional and reactionary character by nature. But the discourse around is just ignored because of the nosebleed gag earlier making his character less bearable. I think it's important to make a distinction between that and this moment. And this isn't the first time it happens either. When Usopp was captured in the Sea train, right after Sanji met him and Franky and he called Usopp an ''Ex Friend'', he kicked Franky for the pain he put Usopp through, calling him ''Our Long nose'' So it's not a 'woman' thing. He cares deeply about them and in this case He's aware of the help Jinbe gave to Luffy so he didn't go directly for the kick and let him explain himself. Jinbe was ready to pay for forgiveness and Sanji reacted with asking him to ''commit Seppuku''. Which is quite radical i agree, but knowing the meaning of that act, which is a sacrifice to restore one's honour, i think it fits in terms of honesty, especially from a japanese audience. And i'm certain Sanji wouldn't watch Jinbe commit to it and just wanted to be sure he was sincere. But the main target of such an apology being Nami, it's directly redirected to her and how SHE's the one having the word regarding Jinbe. And she,of course, forgives him. Which puts back everyone back in the same boat. It's like Oda was addressing two sides of the argument, the sincerity of Jinbe through such act and Nami's forgiveness and growth from her experience with Arlong and her newfound famiy. And i'm again convinced of that being the goal because Oda puts Sanji and Jinbe together to defeat Wadatsumi after that(even tho it wasn't necessary😂), showing there's no resentment and that Everything's fine now.

Honestly being able to binge read all these arcs creates a better experience imo. People become extremely impatient and nitpicky when they have to wait a week for a new chapter. They read the newest chapters over and over again and analyze every single detail in it. That's how they find all these "flaws". Having to wait a week gives you more time to theorize about how future events will play out. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it becomes a problem when people start to believe these theories as if they are facts. They get disappointed when things don't play out the way they imagined.

Fish man island and dressrosa is a great example that week to week vs binge reading make the experience totally different!

#AJPiece Fisher Tiger, despite being classified as a fish, showed so much human emotion. He might’ve been surprised when humans started to treat him like an animal. That might explain why he decided to save all the slaves and not just fishmen. I think he challenged himself to be different from celestial dragons. If he had saved only fishmen, he’d become more like his enemies. He wanted to be a better person; to let go of his hatred. And so, he tried. He saved Koala and gave himself a chance. When Koala’s parents sold him out, I don’t think Fisher Tiger was surprised at their betrayal, but shocked at himself for ever trusting a human. All long, he was probably looking for reasons to hate humans. Through Koala, he learned that kind humans existed and humans were cruel to themselves as well, and yet, his hatred was not gone. In his last moments, I think he finally realized it. He refused the blood transfusion, finally accepting his own hatred. He was neither better nor worse than humans, because he was one. Both humans and Fishmen have the same blood. Their outward appearance may be different, but they’re the same inside. Queen Otohime was aware of this cycle of hatred. That’s why she thought protecting children was the best option. She had never seen the cruelties caused by celestial dragons, but she empathized with the victims. Despite all of this, she still trusted a celestial dragon. I don’t think she was wrong to do so, but it was definitely risky. She took it anyway, because she had to be the hopeful person. She had always done things she hated to do. Hitting children and even grown ups to correct them; trusting a celestial dragon. In her last moments, she passed on the role to her sons, asking them to do a cruel job. The person who learned from both these figures was Jimbei. He’d been there with them. He’d seen their dreams, flaws and downfalls. “I can’t risk my life for your brother because you say so. I only protect people I put in high regard.” I feel like this line explains a lot. He does not judge people by their race or others’ opinions. He judges people by his own perception. Otohime wanted to trust humans and Fisher Tiger wanted to hate them, but Jimbei learned to do neither. “What is gone is gone, focus on what you have.” This might’ve been a connection to how Otohime wanted to protect children above all. Some fishmen like Fisher Tiger could never love humans. Otohime had to focus on what they had. If so, Jimbei learned this from her, I think. In a way, he’s the opposite of Luffy. His opinions are biased but he understands it. His wisdom comes from his experience. Luffy on the other hand is free of others’ opinions. He likes pirates and he doesn’t care what others think of pirates, which is why he had to be controlled in this arc. Like you mentioned, Luffy not listening to backstories is kinda disappointing. He’s not always ‘good’ as it is shown in this arc. He was only good because he beat up a fishman at the perfect timing. This is why Jimbei’s role is very important. He is the wisdom that the crew was lacking. I personally think Oda made Luffy to be a bit immature especially in this arc, because that’s the role Jimbei has to fill in. Otherwise, he’d feel like a passenger on the crew. There may have been better ways to do this though. As for Hody, he was a kid living in the abandoned district. He would have idolized anyone important. If there is no love, there will be hatred, I think. I feel like that’s how humans work. That’s why I love your content too. You always prioritize the stuff you like, instead of hating on things you don't like. Hody probably had nothing to love. That’s why he was filled with pure hatred. Otohime, Fisher Tiger, Hody, Arlong, Jimbei and the general masses of fishman island all represent some part of humanity in regards to racism. As someone who lives in a country where racism was never resolved, but buried through war, this arc is very important to me. It teaches me, despite how biased my opinions are, the other side is also as human and as flawed as I am. That might explain why most people dislike this arc. Especially those who watched the anime. When you’re reading, you have time to stop and think, which you don’t get to do while watching. Pausing the video kinda breaks the immersion. I am no fast thinker. It took me a long time to connect with the story. I too, only started to understand the pain of Fisher Tiger, after talking to a certain person in real life. Thanks for the awesome content and thanks for reading this long comment.

#ajpiece This arc felt really weird being a POC. The line “when you have so many kinds of people, you never know what your kid will look like. It’s kind of like a fun game!” Really stuck out to me. That and the blood literally being the same between both kinds of people is some of the best representation of “we’re all the same why do we hate each other for external things we can’t control” I’ve ever seen. Anyway I finally have caught up to you! So glad to be where you are and to go somg with these reviews with no spoilers. Have loved every video so far and your takes have been fantastic while also adding so much context and nuance I didn’t think about. Keep up the great work man and I hope everything is well!

The reveal that Hody had no motivation for hating humans other than hate itself was a sick reveal. Hody being such a hollow pathetic character is what makes him interesting in the first place. This arc met every check mark that the first arc post time skip needed to be. It was light and breezy adventure with some heavy undertones, it demonstrated the straw hats 2 years worth of training without looking like they were having the hardest time in the world. The arc sets up so much in terms of both world building and the upcoming arcs to follow this one while also paying off previous arcs in the story. In some ways I kind of look at fishman island as a spiritual successor to sky island. Hated initially but hopefully looked back fondly after some time has passed.

#AJPiece - 1:25:35 - To me, Shirahoshi's decision to keep that secret and bear the difficulty alone resembles Nami's decision to secretly work to buy Cocoyashi village from Arlong under the pretense of joining his crew for money. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, but both of them had to basically fight alone to bear something very difficult for about a decade because they were putting their people ahead of themselves. It's a very interesting and powerful similarity...

#AJPiece I think the aging of the fishmen at the end is a reference to the story that's heavily ingrained into a lot of this arc. Urashima Taro visits Ryugu Palace, gets the Tamatebako (name of the chest in One Piece too) as a gift, but when he goes back to the surface many many years have passed while he was down there, instead of the 3 years that passed for him. Then when he opens the chest, he himself became an old man instantly.

#AJPiece King Neptune keeps growing every time I reread FMI. What I love about the politics of One Piece is how it doesn't just idealistically say things will work out, but regularly gives these well thought out ideas to answer the very real darkness in its islands. It's optimistic without feeling naive in its handling of these difficult themes which brings me back to Neptune. When we start the flashback we have Otohime stopping a robbery, only to apologize for her own fault in the material conditions that led to this. It shows the already present problems in FMI's culture with how they ghettoize the Fishman district to make their kingdom more "presentable" to the tourists and forces that have to pass through. And King Neptune feels powerless in helping in Otohime's idealistic endeavors. We see how he feels impure and unable to have a role in it due to the blood on his hands. this idea that he cannot be a bridge between humans due to his war periods, but the series subtly shares his role. At the end both him and the princes realize how the material conditions of the Fishman District and their culture's pushing away of "undesirable" elements has led to this new fascist movement in Hody, people without hope needing an enemy to put under them. So in the end rather than turning away or punishing them, Neptune realizes what he needs to do and gives government housing and work programs. What Otohime felt powerless about he finally fixes by giving them the resources and ability to build up their lives and be a part of society, Neptune not realizing he's fulfilling one of his wife's dreams and that's beautiful. Even if Luffy himself doesn't have his own strong political vision, the islands constantly have people who believe in the ability to make things better. Dalton replacing the monarchy, Vivi and Cobra's forgiveness and rebuilding efforts. Gan Fall and Wyper's attempts to meet in the middle and find a way to deal with generations of colonialism and injustice. And FMI is so hopeful without ever giving into a belief that such obvious evil is impossible to overcome. So many series treat structural change as either impossible or something only villains do in the writing and the way One Piece believes in the ability to change will always have a special place in my heart in these times where nihilism and pessimism are everywhere. FMI is an encapsulation of why I love One Piece and I'm so glad you loved it too.

My theory is that peoole really like to pretend that one piece has no political themes and fishman island soundly disprooves that so they call it bad so the dont have to think about the inherant contradiction

At first, I did agree with what you said when Luffy falling asleep during the tragic backstory flashback felt a little mean spirited and I think at face value it is. Where I think this does fit Luffy is if you take it as him not falling asleep because he felt it was boring or anything but as him simply not caring what the full context was. Luffy is someone who can, at a glance, get a good read of a person. He knew what was going on was messed up and he didn’t need to know anything more then that. He knew he was going to help.

These are some the most thorough and well articulated analyses of One Piece on the internet dude keep up the great work! Been sick all day so this is couldn’t have come at a better time

I think the reason is due to how long people waited for it and people felt like it wasn’t worth the wait. Going back to it or watching/reading it all at once is a much different experience and is actually a great watch.

Pre time skip is like childhood and nostalgia. It’s the time of “not caring” and “chilling” for both the people and the characters. If you ask most pre ts enjoyers they will tell you how much they miss the strawhats just chilling on the ship and interacting and doing other weird stuff. Post is completely different. Post is the time to grow up for for the characters and fanbase. You miss the old days. That is why I think people have such love for pre ts One Piece. I used to be the same and it’s been few years I realised that I love post ts so much more than pre ts. I used to not like post arcs that much and now 3 of those arcs are in my top 5.

#ajpiece I think the perception that this arc is slow or meandering is because this is largely the point where the anime started to slow down. Pre-timeskip arcs, on average, covered 1.5 - 2 chapters per episode until around Sabaody, but that and the following arcs have so much payoff I think it isn't noriced as much. Every arc after the timeskip adapts 1 chapter on average per episode or less. With more people (I assume) digesting One Piece through the anime in the West than the manga, a manga reader like yourself will likely have a much different perception of at least the pacing of up coming arcs. Love the content King, thanks for all the digression on theme and character. You da best

#AJPiece I think there's an aspect about Arlong's relationship with Sabaody that you're missing. As children, it was common for Fishmen to sneak out and reach the surface at night and watch the lights of the Sadaody Archipelago from a distance. They yearned to reach this wonderland full of theme parks and human culture, but couldn't due to the potential dangers of racism and slavery. This was Arlong's "sun", and was why he designed Arlong Park as a replica of his childhood dream land. This also further emphasizes the distinction between Arlong and Hody as while Arlong's hopeful dream became tainted by his hatred of humans on the surface, Hody had no dream at all. This is why he relies on fake power with the steroid drugs, as he never inherited the dreams of his idols and thus, has no will to make any dream come true.

Another banger review AJ! Also really like the answer you gave for my AJPiece comment about Akainu & Blackbeard. Fishman Island arc is certainly a misunderstood arc by a pretty big part of the fandom. Funny thing is the same goes for Skypiea, and Fishman Island is really similar to it in many ways. So I completely understand why someone who gets & loves Skypiea would really like Fishman Island too, despite its flaws.

1:22:04 "Sharly is Arlong's brother" this made me crack up 😂

Just going off the title I really have always thought people are out of their minds with this arc it's so good and easily one of my top 5.

#AJPiece I must admit, I am very gratefull for this videos and your perspective on One Piece because, when I started watching One Piece more than 10 years ago, I was a kid who only cared about the fighting and the cool stuff, I knew abot Ennies Lobby and the gears and that was cool, so I just watched the fights, I didn't care about the merry because I knew about the Sunny and though "that's a cooler ship". So I didn't understand or cared about any of the layers and themes of arcs or characters. But trough your journey of One Piece I have been completly amazed of it all, I cried my eyes out with the death of the Merry and now, I see a new perspective of Fishman Island and how Hody, while not being the best villian or better than arlong, is a really good representation of just unjustified or generational hatred, when you read the "nothing" i was in shocked even tho i kinda remember that. You have helped me love this series even more now, even if I don't always agree with some of your takes or interpretations of characters. Keep it the good work.

Very heart warming breakdown of fishman island Sir! Keep up the good work and looking forward to next few arc breakdowns.

1:17:05 Luffy never listens to the backstory of his crew. This is just another example of that. Luffy doesn’t need to listen to his story for he is already the embodiment of what both Fisher Tiger and Otohime envisioned, making Luffy perfect to be Jimbei’s Captain.

FMI is the best take on racism i have seen in fiction. To add something that i have not seen mention, is that people expected more of a struggle and a big fight. But FMI needed „weak“ antagonist, if not the TS would have been usless imo.

#AJPiece the "voice of all things" was first mention by Rayleigh in sabadoy, when he was talking to robin and the crew about what they found about the history of the world just we didn't notice at the time what he was refering to about exactly

I'm a character and themes type person, so I loved it like you and Merphy.

#AJPiece There are two specific things I love about this arc. What I love about this arc is how it plays with one of One Piece’s biggest themes, that being inherited will. The reason for the new Fishman pirates' failings was that their will was not one of their own but instead a mischaracterization of their idols. They directly mispresent both Fisher Tiger and Arlong because they never understood either of them. While Fisher Tiger could never forgive humans, that didn't mean he would show blind hatred toward all humans. He saved Koala and freed all slaves without discrimination because ultimately everyone deserves to be free. Meanwhile, Hody Jones had no problem condemning all humans to slavery because he never learned of that aspect of Fisher Tiger, only knowing the Fisher Tiger who hated humans to the day he died. As for Arlong while he may have hated humans, he would never harm his own fellow Fishman. So rather than risk everyone he cared for, Arlong instead created a microcosm of the system that oppressed him which would allow him to rule over weaker humans. By contrast, all Hody saw was Arlong’s hatred thus Hody had no qualms with the death of his fellow fishman; not only having it be a direct part of his master plan but also destroying one of the candy factories that was supposed to supply Big Mom which would have destroyed Fishman island had it not been for Luffy’s interference. All of the new Fishman pirates merely took the most surface-level aspects of those who they idolized, whereas the Straw Hats were so much more than the will of those who they cared for. Zeo shows this perceived perfectionism of the new Fishman Pirates with him unable to take a loss in any way he would instead bend over backward to justify anything that happened to him. The new Fishman pirates assume they are perfect and know everything while being so ignorant to the point where they’d bring about their own destruction. The Straw Hats however never had perceptions of perfection behind them, they kept growing and learning as they explored so much more of the world, not just the will they inherited but also the manifestation of their own experiences. Zoro had left the well that was the East Blue and humbly searched for new strength which allows him to so easily cut down Hyouzou who while being the best swordsman in Fishman Island, never sought out any greater power that would require him to leave his own well. Dosun blamed humans for their madness while Chopper faced similar discrimination but learned to take the title of monster happily. Icarus feared the sun and thus innovation, similarly, Franky had feared what it was his skills could do after Tom's death. But in the end, Franky forgave himself and could keep growing both in skill and knowledge as he used light to defeat Icarus. Zeo when facing failure would rather everyone including his crew die, which fundamentally goes against the value in life Brook learned throughout his second life. Robin learned to have hope in order to trust Jinbe and the New Fishman pirates' slaves, helping to move the battle in their favor Usopp had learned how strength for the sake of strength was meaningless as he reflects the baseless strength of Daruma back onto him. Even beyond fights, we have someone like Nami who learned from Bellmere’s sacrifice how little blood mattered. But that wouldn’t be enough for Nami to one day forgive Fishman, but rather through being able to find new happiness and live a good life now through her own hard work, Nami can easily forgive Jinbe who struggled with what to do about the situation on Fishman’s future. Nami validated Otohime’s thinking and embodied her will despite having never met her. Whereas Otohime engaged Fishman to go up to the land of the humans in the sun, she was completely ignorant to the darkness that lurked within Fishman Island which limited how far that dream could go with just her alone. But Nami was a human who saw both the darkness of Fishman and humanity, so she could freely descend into Fishman Island without discrimination in her heart. The other thing I love about this arc is Hody Jones as an antagonist. I do somewhat understand the concern some have that he could be seen as a racist depiction but as a person of color myself I don’t see it as such. For one he isn’t the only Fishman working towards a dream of equality. And two, he isn’t the problem. Hody Jones isn’t the route of Fishman Islands plights but instead just a symptom of it all. Everything the humans had done; blood transfusion laws, slavery, and discrimination, all created people like Hody Jones. That is why Shirahoshi’s secret holds so much value, her not telling anyone that secret in order to respect her mother's wish, is what saved Fishman Island. Because ultimately Hody Jones's shallowness meant there would always be another like him in time as Hody merely becomes a martyr. Hody only fed into Fishman Islands' destruction, his misinterpretation of his hero’s will made him not act in service of what they would have wanted, but instead tragically what the humans would have wanted. Hody was no hero for his people's plights and instead was a villain of their destruction. Even though he wasn’t a hero, Luffy saved Fishman island where Hody failed too. Despite knowing nothing of their story which he ignored, he only cared that they were suffering and put an end to that suffering as best he could. However, it was something Luffy couldn’t do alone. Much like in Marineford Luffy is not strong enough to save everything on his own and has to learn to accept the help of others. In Fishman Island, Hody would destroy the Fishman people and their history with the destruction of Noah. On the other hand, Luffy could only save the people with the destruction of their history in the form of Noah. But while Luffy had the strength to save the people, in accepting help he allowed Shirahoshi to save Noah. In the end, it was the bond of both a human and Fishman that saved the day and paved the path towards the sun. Glad you ended up liking this arc and you made me see a lot I didn’t originally think about with this arc. Really love your videos as always, keep up the good work!

The post vs pre time skip debate is nearly as old as the time skip itself. Personally, I think there are few reasons as to wie people may have mixed opinions about some post time skip arcs or the whole post time skip as a whole. - Nostalgia: there is always debate as soon as there is a time skip with new designs, characters and so on and we tend to look upon stuff differently with some time passed. Skypia was very controversial when it came out, now it's hold in pretty high regard. - Both Fishman Island and Punk Hazard, while tackling important themes and self-contained stories, are essentially set up arcs like Little Garden and Drum Island. Coming off a very strong streak of arcs with Water 7, Ennies Lobby, Sabaodi Archipelago, Impel Down and Marineford and with tons of hype for a new era of One Piece, I can see why they may not have been exactly what some people expected/were looking forward to. - There is a huge difference between being able to binge an arc at your own pace or being stuck with a 3 chapters per months at best schedule. There are times when it really does feel like a slug fest to get through the weekly chapters. The anime taking a huge dip in quality and changing from adapting 1.5-2 chapters to less than one in one episode around that time certainly didn't help. Dressrosa is a great example of this. Upon rereading it in one go recently, I found a lot of new appreciation for it. But sitting through it weekly for like 3 years was an absolute pain in the ass. - I won't go into details here cause spoilers, but there is a certain tone shift post time skip and the arcs get larger and larger in scale and ambition and longer, and the focus isn't always on the straw hats anymore. The adventures and spontaneous island hopping from pre time skip gets lost somewhat, which I get why some people don't like it. All that being said, One Piece by no means falls of a cliff and still has absolutely brilliant moments. The current timeline is probably the greatest we ever had.

I agree with you, I seriously dont get the hate for this arc when its one of the best in the series, definitely in the top 10 arcs

Ok here's my take on the difference in pre vs post timeskip. I think the easy answer I can give is that the post timeskip story isnt about the strawhats as much, its about the world. during climaxes of enies lobby and sabaody, lots of people say stuff like "this is where we see the REAL story of one piece begin" and I dont want to elaborate on that bc of spoilers, but the thing that they meant is explored post timeskip. The greater lore and politics and power struggle of the world are now more important, so the individual arcs are longer, more meandering, have more side characters, and the strawhats themselves who aren't immediately relevant are present more in gags than side plots. Especially since the crew is bigger, not everyone gets focus. The obvious worst case of this is Sanji. So I think each person in my experience has one post timeskip arc they really love, but if one of them decides to focus on a part of one piece you aren't interested in? Guess what, it's gonna be about 200 chapters. Skypeia is the most similar to this, and it gets similar criticisms for it. And just like skypeia, the anime gets much worse post timeskip. So someone like Hody Jones is intersting in a thematic cycle of violence way, but someone less involved in the sociocultural intrigue of the world would probably be very disappointed with him. Similary, characters that you dont like are just around longer. Vander Dekkan for example is like if Absolom is around for 50 more chapters. And the last point I wanna make is just that posttimeskip, particularly dressrosa (aj at this moment is deep into this arc) started when social media and one piece in the west kind of blew up, and that shift public opinion the way youd think. Marineford and prior have this mysticism "classic" feeling to them now. Even the least popular arcs like little garden or long ring long land arent getting DRAGGED online like modern arcs. There is always a critical crowd for the arcs that currently happen, and unfortunately the OP community on twitter and youtube has displayed some very very toxic tendencies, particularly with the power scaling or "agenda piece" side of things. iykyk if you dont please keep it that way. I like post timeskip tho, but I think its still common for enies lobby or marineford to be someones most favorite arc since it blends nearly every aspect of one piece into a neat package

been waiting for the next one of these reviews!

Finally caught up to your one piece vids( only took a week lol) but I loved your insight and reviews, definitely in the best I’ve seen. When you get caught up you’re going to love it. For those that say they don’t enjoy fishman island. I find that the fans have opinions based on the stereotypes. I was reading one piece weekly since water 7 and for arcs like fishman island it felt slower weekly. I find that Carrie’s over to the present opinions and people say they don’t like it but have never really have it a full chance

I'm in love seeing you enojy this series I love so much, keep the good work AJ

I personally love this arc so much because of the deep behind it.

49:14 Same as in Skypiea when she finds the city, the panels of Robin "robinning" are peaceful, silent, almost enthralling

By far the biggest reason many ppl say what they say about post time skip is that it was around the beginning of time skip (and a bit after) when most people started OP, especially when Naruto ended there was a massive influx of fans This means many if not most of todays fans have binged the entire pre time skip and than crashed into the cold hard reality of 3 chapters per month at some point post TS. Pre TS was one full delicious meal for them and now they were being fed one spoon per week, it's not a comparable experience. Another reason is that the anime nosedives in quality after the timeakip, so not only will most fans have binged pre ts but have also experienced it in a completely different form (wonderful animated, colored, emotionally charged, voice acted anime) And ofc there is always nostalgia, the skypiea effect if you will (skypiea was very disliked for a long time but has become more and more liked with the years), we all fall victim to it and we all have a favorite generation of pokemon and it's never the newest one My honest (one person's humble) opinion as a fan of 20 years is that post TS falls short in comparison on some counts like arcs dedicated to individual crew members but does some other things better. It's a natural shift as the story enters new stages But as someone who has been reading weekly since water 7 imo post timeskip is on average better and people simply forget that most flaws post TS are flaws present throughout one piece it's just that binging or watching the anime in one go clouded those for many ppl But most importantly, Oda did NOT one day wake up and decide post time skip is an entirely new thing, it's the same it always was, it's just One Piece an it has different arcs and Fishman Island is not a part of a different whole than Alabasta was. He simply woke up and started writing the next arc.

43:12 To add to this, since i don't see a lot of people mentioning it, is that Vander Decken is (I think) the only fishman that has eaten a devil fruit, with it being directly pointed out that since they are an undersea people, the kids of being able to swim is a huge detriment, and most don't see it as worth the cost; but not Vander Decken. He was willing to give up basically part of his identity in order to achieve his goals. Just thought it was interesting, love these reviews, can't wait till you get caught up ❤

#AJPiece My favorite thing about Hody as a villain is how realistic Oda makes his motivations. He does not have a compelling backstory providing justification for his hatred, much like how in the real world there is no logical basis for racism.

Ohh it's here. More excited for this than I was for episode 1070. I really enjoyed fishman island although there was definitely some jetlag from Marineford as the scope was suddenly way down.

This journey has been awesome man! Love OP!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

been waiting so long for this

for me the biggest problem with this arc resulted fro reading it weekly.the plot was great, all the stuff with the queen and hody was amazing honestly-but after the timeskip we were rearing for some tough strawhat action after such a long time. sabaody was literal years ago. And it was apparent quickly that actionwise this arc was gonna have the crew dominate in the fights to show off their powerups after the timeskip. but because of that for like 50 chapters there was not much tension for the actionscenes, no real threat. atleast not for the wellbeing of the crew. I loved the flashback especially, and the designs of fishman island were incredible. but I definitely was hoping to move past this arc into the new world proper back then. (sanjis antics didn't help :D)

I was caught up with the manga as fishman island was going and a lot of the reason people didn’t like the arc at the time was that they were upset it wasn’t as hype and big as marineford. The hody complaints specifically were very focused on power levels and how threatening he was and comparing him to other villains from other series to try to make him look bad. That kinda discussion totally poisoned the community on the arc for a very long time. Luckily now people are a lot more aware of how good the arc really is.

my biggest gripe with the arc was sanji, i watched it around when it was airing on the anime so it's definitely been a while but i remember the sanji stuff being way more intrusive and annoying than you mentioned. i'm probably wrong of course but its interesting how something like that can ruin your experience

Great review.

Im at the start of the video so i dont know if you mention it but something cool in the background in this arc, way back when they were first talking about fishman island (water 7 or thriller bark I believe) luffy drew what he thought a mermaid looked like, and in the backround of fishman island there is a mermaid/fishman that looks just like his drawing lol. Also im the same vain the drawing luffy made when talking about what his shipwright should look like actually looks like and foreshadows franky lol

oh my god i've been waiting since AJ picked up one piece to get to this arc for the specific reason that since I saw his Arcane discussions I knew he'd like this one

When I was watching fishman island i had it as a mid trot arc but the more reviews I watch and the more I look back the more and more I like it

19:50 oh its gonna be fun to see you take this back later, in terms of story, not for what happens to luffy.

@AJPiece Something I love about this series is the recurring theme of the greatest strength coming from the most unexpected places and the great power of influence it has, and that this inspiration is a cycle. We see in Fishman Island from the beginning, not the big and serious leader of the three princes, but the two goofballs being the ones who respond first to the death of their mother to Shirahoshi, which quite literally saves their entire kingdom from the destruction of the sea kings. We see Usopp growing stronger all the way through our adventure because of Luffy and the others that are stronger than him. We see Coby also grow stronger from Luffy's influence. And we see Luffy grow stronger from the growing strength and great hearts of people and friends like Usopp. And a great figure like Whitebeard, though physically gifted, gained his true strength through his desire to have and protect a family - he was only as strong as his family made him, and his family was strong for him. This is probably the simplest of the overall themes in One Piece, but it really is one of the things that makes it both cliché on the surface level and deeply resonant on the level just below surface, and I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. P.S. I am not caught up in manga or anime either, so I wonder if you think what I do about the sea kings: they seem to talk amongst themselves about JoyBoy *as if they remember him personally.* Do you think the sea kings and the secret of the devil fruits are connected? Love and appreciate you for this content.

#AJPiece The Reverie was first mentioned in the Drumm island arc with Dalton & Vivi. It's a regular conference of Kings & Queens around the Grandline happening in Mary Joa. Vivi attended one as a child and Dalton remembers seeing her there^^

#AJPiece I think the main reason people dislike fishman island is because Hody Jones is not an antagonist that poses a threat to Luffy and the gang. but I think that misses the point of him as a villain. Of course Hody wouldn't be threatening to Luffy and crew, one piece is a story about force of will and his ideology holds no force of will behind it, just pure hatred that isnt even his own hatred. Hody can't be strong within the laws of one piece for the same reasons bellamy cant be strong. Hody is just imitating the far more justified hatred (and unjustified cruelty) of Arlong, but Arlong himself took up this ideology as a coping mechanism and whether he realizes it or not, became just like the humans who killed his beloved captain. Hody's ideology is an imitation of an imitation. he is completely empty and that's why he could never stand up to luffy. that part is also adressed within the body of the arc by the new fishmen pirates using that drug from the ryugu palace. their own force of will and conviction would've never been anywhere near enough to defeat even jinbei on his own. they had to resort to cheap imitations of strength, just like their own ideology is a cheap imitation of conviction.

Lmao, Doffy in honorable mentions. I have a feeling he’ll be rising soon.

#AJPiece For me, it's important that Luffy didn't hear the Otohime backstory cuz then he can decide for himself what he wanted to do without any past context just like Otohime wanted the fishmen children to. The "starting from zero" theme coming into play here. Luffy doing this not because he wants to improve the relationship between humans and fishmen, but just because he wants to help out a friend speaks to the fishmen and mermen that not all humans are bad. The fishmen in the plaza were watching after Luffy told them to decide for themselves whether he was their friend or foe. Cuz for him, it really doesn't matter, he will do what he wants. But I understand your point.

It's really interesting. I've been watching One Piece with my mom, and we're actually moving at pretty much the same pace as you, so I'm kinda seeing three different opinions forming on each arc in real-time. I think the biggest difference between each opinion was actually on the fight scenes. Maybe it's because the pacing in the anime is slower than in the manga since they're different mediums, but they felt like a slog for us!

Luffy not listening was weird and meanspirited and it's crazy the lengths people go to try to justify this sweet, kindhearted boy (to his crewmates at least) being borderline sociopathic

At the time, this is the arc where I fell off of One Piece for a number of years. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying it, rather I was starting my first real job and as things tend to go, certain hobbies needed trimming and this was one of the casualties. However, I felt at the time that Hody was extremely lacking as a villain, especially compared to his direct parallel in Arlong, which was the arc that hooked me in as a permanent fan. When I jumped back in a couple years ago, however, I was able binge the entire arc in a few sittings and got to see the big picture. And boy does it benefits greatly from doing so. Hody is lacking as a villain... because he's intended to be. He's shallow and riding the coattails of people that actually faced discrimination for the sake of his own ambition and power. I won't delve into the social commentary at this time but I found the message to be more cohesive thanks to being able to absorb it all at once compared to the slow week-to-week grind of waiting for new chapters at the time. Additionally, the pace was otherwise slower in comparison to the pre-timeskip arcs.... but that's because everything from Shabaody to Marineford was a succession of massive narrative payoffs! Obviously after you get off the rollercoaster at the bottom of the hill, the author is going to need time to help the audience climb back up to the top. Return to Shabaody and Fishman are the narrative equivalent of climbing the hill from the bottom again. They lay the groundwork for TONS of future arcs and payoffs. It's a little unfair to compare such a necessary element of a narrative for NOT being the payoffs. Frankly, we were spoiled for juicy narrative drama for multiple years at that point and Fishman Island paid the price for our inflated expectations at the time.

There are good things about the post-timeskip era, and I think some of the things people don't like were kind of inevitable. There are other things I don't like. Haki is something Oda did spend a bit of time building up to, but Armament/Busoshoku specifically as a universally accessible counter to Logia and other devil fruits was introduced more suddenly than Observation/Kenbunshoku and even more than Haoshoku. It makes the fights less creative, but Logia needed the nerf. Oda couldn't continue to force every character to bring water to throw at Logia-types or give them all Kairoseki weapons. On the other hand, the plot is a little less loose and adventure-y for the most part. Even in the Alabasta saga where there was an end goal, they still used the log pose and made several random stops at new unexpected places. There is a bit too much Eternal-Pose usage post-timeskip after Punk Hazard due to the nature of the next saga. Also Franky's design. Still don't like it 6 arcs later. Also the pacing is a bit slow; maybe as a result of too many moving pieces. On the positive, there's a lot of good worldbuilding going on and pay-offs for things that were a long time in the making or the subject of much prior discussion.

The biggest issue with the arc is a lack of any sense of threat imo. Its good but at no point did I ever feel like the straw hats were ever in legit danger. This was the post time skip show how strong the got arc so pretty much every fight feels like a legit stomp. The next arc also kinda falls into this boat but at least gets around it a bit through other means.

1:16:25 I definitely get what you’re saying, but to me Luffy wasn’t being facetious when he said he didn’t wanna be a hero. At that point he really hadn’t had the chance to interact with that many of the fish men and so the way I interpreted it was that the rest of the context was inconsequential. His friend’s country was in danger and that’s all he’s ever cared about. Any extra context adds nuance and complication. He came here to meet his friend and he see that they’re in need. That’s it.

I remember being so frustrated by Fishmen Island and Thriller Bark when I was reading week to week, because at that time we were all focused on the new world and what happens at a larger scale and those arcs delayed story progression by months or even years, but re-reading it later it became one of my favorite arcs for sure. I think that's why Fishmen Island, Thriller Bark and even Skypea are frown upon. Those are great stories but they are side-steps from THE story of One Piece if that makes sense.

I always enjoyed Fishman Island, but thanks to your streams and videos, I'm proud to say I strongly like it! Thank you AJ for all your content, I know you burned out a little bit recently so take your time !

This is arc is freaking awesome.. up there with Skypiea, Ancient Japan arc etc

When I read One Piece, I did so without exposing myself to any opinion about it until I catch up to it, I did so to make sure I have my own opinions and I won't be bothered by any preconceptions After Finished and saw what other people thinks about all sort of stuff about the series, I was shocked to learn about the general agreement about fishman Island as a "Bad Arc", because it was in my personal top 3. I've tried to read why was this the common opinion, and apart of the criticism about the pacing (this was probably harsh for week to week readers, it didn't effect me because I binged it), I really couldn't understand the reason I am so glad to hear some possible thoughts about this amazing arc STOP THE FISHMAN ISLAND ARC HATE!

yoo i didnt see the shirt bro its looks so good

Post-ts criticism comes from 3 main points in my opinion 1) Nostalgia, New designs and all that that people may not like 2) Longer arcs, the arc lengths really get stretched out here and for people that were reading it weekly you could be stuck at a setting for up to 3 irl years with a villain you might not care about. 3) the early arcs, namely Fishman Island and Punk Hazard are really set-up heavy for things that pay off in various time frames. And not really in lore-bomb kind of ways, although that happens too, but more so like putting chess pieces in place and explaining some simple moves. I definitely have nostalgia for pre-ts One Piece since I've been current since Drum Island, but the more modern consensus is that One Piece gets better and better and that carries into the modern arcs as well.

Zoro saying nothing happened: everyone cheers Hody says nothing happens: everyone boos

Whenn aj referenced the IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME i laughed soo hard

i always thought that one piece had a huge fandom boom during marine ford arc, which means that a shitton of people were binging the series at a hundreds of chapters/eps pace around that time. then that mass caught up and by the time fishman island was running they had to get used to a weekly chapter pace which is a huge difference in experience and perception compared to being able to experience a story in one binge go. bc honestly when you can binge read the whole arc in one sitting it isn't at all the huge dragfest most people make it out to be. weekly releases affect perception a shitton of times. (this is why i personally prefer to let chapters pile up and binge arcs when there's more material to cover). anyways, i love that you loved all the thematical themes, it was a joy to listen to all the insightful appreciation in this vid. but yo. i don't know who the hell told you one piece was a cliff-dive in quality post-timeskip. jesus christ, the mislead!

The main problem with arc isn't the story or themes that are handled quite well, but the fights. We waited long to see the crew back in action after the time skip, see them challenged so that we could get a taste of how strong they got, but nope. Every opponent was a pushover. Even Hodi roided up to the max got clapped by Zorro, *in water*.

It is still one of my favourite arcs, and I'm caught up to the latest arc

Zoro's lines are not kinda random 😅 Don Krieg pirates: Why are you hell-bent on chasing us? Mihawk: just killing time Zoro to Hyouzou: youre not even worth the time - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hyouzou: "I'm not a frog" Zoro: youre a frog at a bottom of a well Mihawk: why do you challenge me when you have only seen this small east sea weakest of all Zoro: What?

#AjPiece I believe the reason why people don’t like Fishmen Island is because it is a 10/10 arc that didnt fit in this spot of the series. Coming out of the timeskip the 3 things people wanted to see was 1.The Crew kicking ass with their new powers, 2.See the New World, and 3.Just have fun after such a heavy storyline. And Fishmen Island did not fit any of it, it is a slower arc, that is deep and nuanced. The flashback for Fisher Tiger is many chapters long where the characters just sit in a circle and listen. But the mass audience at this moment wanted action and adventure. The action that fishman island had was a little too easy for the Straw Hats as well to the point where it isn’t satisfying. It is such a cakewalk that it makes the villians feel weak rather than the Strawhats feeling strong after the timeskip. The Strawhats feeling strong is important because why else did they train for two years? The audience wanted to see the benefit of it, and now that you’ve read Punk Hazard too you know that after that arc too we still don’t see the crews full benefit of their timeskip training and a lot of people felt let down by the “promise” of fights. I personally disagree with all these points because I feel the fights were never the main focus of One Piece, but I’m curious to how you, and the future you who has read the arc after feel about these complaints from mainatream audience

great video , I agree this arc as well as skypeia are top tier, however I ask you to think about luffys character so far when dealing with backstories and even his own tragic backstory. He never acknowledges or brings to his crews attention how much his past has effected him or his tragedies, he simply moves forward based on what he believes. He's also been shown to be a rude straightforward character as well, jimbei was speaking more to nami in that situation anyways, because of the effect those fisher tiger situations eventually had on her. at the very beginning luffy roasts Kobe for how much of a coward he thinks he is when he pours his heart out to him. I haven't seen it in awhile but I'm pretty sure he sleeps through or ignores nami's backstory as well. if luffys sentiments are to save or help his friends no matter what, then him listening to a story about people he doesn't know ,that are dead is essentially meaningless to what is currently at stake. that's the point Oda is trying to hammer home more than humbling a bad friend who wouldn't acknowledge his friends tragic past. if anything the flashback was more about everyone around jimbei, such as fisher tiger, Neptune , shirahoshi, the celestial dragons and otohime. awesome video tho I'm not hating just offering what I think happened there based on how I view luffy.

I think why people like post time skip is because they like the seeing luffy at hid lowest point stuff as its really tense and engaging. And they like ennies lobby as its this small crew vibe going against the world. You cant get this same things. Its different vibes. Now luffy crew is powerful and with that comes different types of stories

#ajpiece Concerning Shirohimes decision to not tell anyone that Hody killed her mother, I agree that it was phenomenal character building for her. It really gave weight to her "wekaness". Everything we had seen until then was only her being a crybaby and being unable to do anything due to Vander Decken, so it very much felt like she just couldn't take control of her own life at all and like she was constantly only lead around by what other people decided for her. Luffy really had to press to get her to even admit that she wanted to see the sea forest. You also mentioned the way she turned down Vander Decken. Basically, we had seen an inept, ignorant child where we, as she's 16, feel like we should have seen a young adult beginning to find her own way. But with this revelation, we're shown that she possesses a completely different type of strength and her strength is quite a lot more than what any one of us have. I think a lot of people's hatred for this, though, is that as an outsider, you understand that even if you don't want to perpetuate the hatred, Hody was and is a very dangerous person and if she had said something, he couldn't have done any of the things that he did in this arc. However! I do think that she had a much better understanding of this than you'd think from someone so young. King Neptune already had issues holding back when he thought the perpetrator was dead, what would have happened if he realised the perpetrator was alive? How about her brothers? I think she understood that the hatred she would have seeded in her own family for giving them a target of revenge would have perpetuated the cycle at least as bad as simply " a random human killed the queen".

THE GOATTTTTTTTTT DROPPED

Does anyone know the background soundtrack(s) AJ uses in these videos?

Sometimes arcs are carried by or lessened in quality by their villains. I feel like this arc had a narrative villain who was a lot stronger strucutred to be a film villain. On the fence on whether the villain is good but the real question is if he fits. And that one is easier to answer with a no. As a stand alone villain he might work, but in the OP story he's an afterthought. So his impact is substantially lessened because he is a stepping stone with zero personality. (The absence of personality is in order for the narrative role of the character to shine more). A ton of fans can't wait to see if Crocdile shows up again, Enel, Buggy. And then you get the villains from this arc. "Can't wait to see Hordy!" is a very rare sentiment. He fulfilled his role well enough, but left little impact. Perhaps comparable to Foxy in some ways. I would've put him at the same impact as Wapol, except that Oda did give Wapol more of a role than a singular arc villain.

#ajpiece What do you think about Luffy repeatedly ignoring what’s going on in the world? Jimbe tries to inform Luffy at the end of the arc and he brushes him off very casually. Shouldn’t a good captain know want to know what’s going on in the super dangerous stretch of ocean they just entered considering he lost the crew and Ace like 2 seconds ago?

nice vid bro you're really cool

I think the writing isn't as concise sometimes post time skip, but if that's for the sake of the constant loregasms and crossovers I don't have an issue at all. I think pre and post are of very similar quality; that being incredible of course.

This arc is definitely got it's haters and whatnot but personally think it's really good like from Fisher Tiger and Queen Otohime's backstories explored to Jinbei being here of course being forgiven by Nami, all the strawhats their new powers and growth and the blood transfusion was really great also hody with his crew not the best by any means still I'm glad what this arc builds upon for future arcs for sure

This is one of my favorite arcs.

One of the things I like is that you can see how far the straw hats have grown through example. This arc would have pushed the pre time skip straw hats to their very limits but now? I mean it's an inconvenience, they need to take it seriously, but they were never in true mortal peril. Caribou is the epitome of someone just coasting by off a strong devil fruit and before haki he'd have been a struggle to fight against if they even could. Now? pretty much a joke. That army would have worn them down but Luffy can just scowl half of them into submission. It shows better than Rayleigh could have said how woefully unprepared the straw hats were 2 years ago for the second half of the grand line.

Jinbe and robins dynamic is super understated, they’re the two most rational of luffys Allies and as a result are able to joke around with each other and connect on a different level

FishMan island is strangely divisive. It’s so good.

#AJPiece So when I first went through Fishman Island I wasn't the biggest fan of it. Part of it was me as a teenager being more focused on the high octane action as opposed to the heavy character moments. Looking at it through the manga helped me appreciate it more. Post time skip in the anime had abysmal pacing and it suffered for it. Seeing Hody as a very one dimensional villain kind of rubbed me the wrong way on the first viewing. On the rewatch I started to realize an arc like this illustrated something I was negligent to, which was the evolution of the crew seeing them finally capable to take on the New World with new found skill after everything that happened between Sabaody Archipelago, Impel Down, and Marineford. And seeing Hody using drugs which showed more of a short term gain as opposed to the Straw Hats taking the longer, tougher, but ultimately more rewarding path by taking the detour to train and refine their skills. And in the end, the long term dedication won out in the end. Sorry for the long comment, looking forward to seeing the reactions with the later arcs.

The difference between Boa and Jimbe's backstories is that Luffy wants Jimbe to be a part of his crew. He never listens to the backstories of his crew. It's pretty in character. Luffy just isn't someone who's fixated on the past. The past is fixed and cannot be changed, while the present can wildly change the future. Again Luffy is pure freedom and is more focused on what he can do rather than what he can't. And part of that applies to the strawhats as a whole because of who their captain is.

It's weird to come from an equatorial region and think of the Sun as anything a leeching prison - as long as the sun is up, you're not supposed to come out of the house unless you want to get drained of your energy for the day.

Wish I had a significant other just to yell HEY BABE A NEW ALECZANDXR VIDEO JUST DROPPED.

#ajpiece While reading the series when the flashback ended and it was revealed Luffy slept through it all I just laughed cause that's exactly what he would do in my eyes, from past experiences with his character and my understanding of him. So while watching you read FMI and eventually getting to the chapter in which it's revealed Luffy fell asleep very early on I was shocked by how upset it made you. Not in why you were upset but in that you were upset at all as you're the first person I've seen be upset at this. I've watched a good number of videos on people's journey through OP, their analysis or reaction videos and I havent seen a single person who either didnt mention that Luffy didn't paid attention, or if they did they also just laughed at it and also saw it as something very in character for him. So your reaction to this was a first for me. And I do understand why him not listening upset you, the story of the oppression the fishman faced, of what Jimbe went through is very heavy and vital stuff to the current situation and what an entire race has gone through. That listening to the past of people who have faced such oppression and hardships is important. But that's just not Luffy to me. Luffy is like a force of nature, he doesnt care about anyones past nor does he care to share his own. He isnt a hero seeking glory nor is he a villain seeking infamy. He's a wild thing that sweeps through an area uncaring of the history of it, coming in and changing it in whatever way he does before moving on. Like a tornado ripping through an area uncaring of the history of the houses it passes over. This is even seen again in a different way in this arc, when he tells the people of FMI to decide if he is a hero or not, because Luffy wont tell them what to think of him based on his past, Luffy bases his opinion on the here and now and he is in turn telling these people to do the same. Luffy just tends to do more greater good than harm because Luffy is very focused on himself and that which is his. If someone he cares for is suffering currently in the here and now and he learns of it he will work to change that. Be it Nami asking for help, Vivi asking to save her country, or Robin saying she wants to live, that she wants to go out to sea with the others. But Luffy will also cause a mass prison break in an attempt to free his brother, unleashing countless dangerous pirates onto the world. He will eat out resturants and run away without paying the tab, he causes a lot of damage to the structures around him with no care for repairs that would need to come afterwards, he steals a butch of gold from people who they just helped. Luffy did listen to the history of Boa, but I dont take that to be because he now cared since it was about a heavier topic than other situations. After all the tale of Nami's story, of the oppression of her own people, the distruction of towns, the death of her mother in front of her and her sister's eyes, of Nami's own enslavement, was not one he cared to listen to. And that's a crewmate of his, someone he has already traveled with and that he sees as one of his own. With Boa instead Luffy was in a different situation than normal. He was on his own without his crew, and desperate to get back to them. He charged into Boa's bath due to him trying to get aid to get back to Sabaody, and thinking "hey thats a tall building someone important probably lives there" so charged in with the intent of wanting a way back to his family. Then suddenly he's faced with a fight because he saw the mark on her back, friends he met where turned to stone and had their lives threatened over trying to defend him and take blame for him. Luffy was alone, and then suddenly he had allys and then they were gone again, turned to stone right in front of him, nearly smashed as people cheered. So when the fight is over and he is given the choice, a boat or the lives of Margurite and the others, he chose them. But this left him back at square one, no ship, no way to sabaody, no way back to his crew. He gets led back into the castle and is expecting a victory feast, already uncaring about what he was just put through as long as he can get food, and the thought of the mark on Boa's back out of his mind. Then Boa starts talking to Luffy asking him questions and this leads into the talk about the mark and what it means. I personally think the reason Luffy listened here versus the various times he hasnt in the past is due to multiple factors. One he is alone without his crew, typically when he passes out in these situations it's not a one on one it's a group talk with other crew mates beside him which could be taken as a, they get the info instead, or a Luffy feels safe enough with them there to sleep and not mind the others around him. Two he is wanting something from Boa, he desperately wants to get back to his crew and she is his best, if legit only way off this island. He cant build a boat and even if he could he couldn't navigate it, so he needs help. And he has learned some manners from Vivi. Luffy knows that if he wants to ask something from someone he kinda needs to act more in line. But even then Luffy says they dont need to tell him their past, which yes is a respecting their boundries and not forcing them to relive a horrific memory but also is because Luffy just wouldnt care either way. Also the story Boa tells is a lot shorter than say the fishman flash back, also the story demanded it, Boa wouldnt keep up her tale if Luffy started snoring during her retelling of the past and Oda wanted to give us this info. Afterward Luffy doesnt ponder on the story Boa tell him, he goes off and parties. I took Luffy listening to Boa's story as being an outlier not due to the context of her story but the situation Luffy was in.

Fishman Island is the arc that I caught up to One Piece back in 2011. I think it's definitely an arc that's better to binge than to read week to week especially back in 2011. The hype of the New World was immense back then and I think that really limited this arc. I know I was a bit impatient because I wanted to see the New World. #AJPIECE

While, I think there are less iconic moments in the post time skip as opposed to the pre-time skip, I personal opinion most of peoples opinions about pre-time skip One Piece being better is mainly because of nostalgia. And the differences between reading an arc week to week versus reading it in bulk. your opinion about this arc is not new to me in fact, many KZfaqrs that I’ve seen doing video series as they play catch up with one piece seem to share this opinion.

Predictions going crazy