You can watch my next One Piece review (Impel Down) 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 THINGS I’VE BEEN CORRECTED ON - That Hancock isn’t the only one who can use Haki, and that Luffy was transported in a bear paw bubble rather than landing on a pawprint. That wasn’t super clear to me in the manga. CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE: Mondays @ 10am EST: A Blind Playthrough of Disco Elysium Wednesdays @ 10am EST: Top 100 Ranking Streams Fridays @ 10:30am EST: SOME FRIDAYS, I do full One Piece reading streams as well. Check Discord for updates/details. Sundays @ 11am EST: Vinland Saga S2 anime reactions & One Piece Chapter reads

Him saying luffy embodying the sun gives me the feels for so many reasons

I love how boa says to luffy "no matter what i do, you'll forgive me because i'm beautiful" expecting him to react like every other person she confronted before, but he just goes "you make me sick." Awesome scene

AJ really harnessing all of Boa's energy for this title

#AJPIECE Knowing that you’ve read past ch. 588, Boa’s habit of kicking everything in her way seems familiar, doesn’t it? While not completely an oppressor, Boa displays the “from oppressed to oppressor” by mimicking the Celestial Dragons to whom she was enslaved to. By doing this and saying that she’s beautiful, while in Amazon Lily strength is considered to be beauty, she creates a persona of a woman of power that is untouchable as are the Celestial Dragons. Luffy being Luffy made Boa open up about her trauma, which is a good starting point for healing, and she also becomes mellow mellow as she spends more time with him 😛

Luffy shielding himself from pain with the laughing mushrooms is.. a lot. So painful.

Luffy’s the luckiest man alive, no other man would be as bold.

A lot of first time readers seem to make this mistake, but the bear paw print wasn't there before Luffy landed. Luffy was kind of surrounded by Kuma's power while he was flying through the air, which is what protected him from the impact of landing. It left the shape of a paw print because that's the shape that Kuma's power takes. Loving your reviews!

#AJPIECE I don’t know if you missed out on this but fisher tiger didn’t have a crew with him he actually scaled the red line alone to free all of the slaves, which I think just adds to the grandiose nature of his story.

#AJPiece What I find really interesting about Boa is her insecurities. Boa having to suffer as a child at the hands of the Celestial Dragons shaped her in a lot of ways. I believe her way of making up for that is by putting on some type of mask. She acts spoiled, as if the world owes her everything, and that nothing is ever good enough for her. She kicks small animals, rejects a some children's artwork and refuses to listen to the government. But inside, she clearly has a lot of trauma, and decides to make up for that by being strong and powerful. And who does she consider to be the most powerful people? The Celestials. She hides her trauma and insecurities behind an attitude she considers powerful, which she backs up with by her beauty, because she can't show herself as weak or lesser to anyone. But she's not evil, and Luffy sees this. When Luffy doesn't react to her the same way everyone else does, and actually immediately accepts her no matter what her past is and understands her emotions, she finally finds someone who sees her for her. He doesn't respect or lust over her like everyone else, but he simply likes her as an individual. This is why she falls for Luffy. Thanks for reading my comment, hope you continue enjoying One Piece. Keep it up with your incredible videos!

24:10 The paw print is created when he lands. The bubble he was travelling in is paw shaped, and it created the print upon hitting the ground. It's more noticeable in the anime than in the manga

I get chills every time Garp says "We've angered the King of the Sea"

So one thing to point out... Okama are not meant to be trans people. The closest thing we have in the West is the drag subculture. They're most commonly gay men who dress like women, who portray themselves as men dressed as women instead of as being women themselves. While similar to drag culture in some aspects, they're noticeably pretty different. Anyway the okama in one piece are a reference to the real life culture which is associated with the idea of freedom within an opressive culture. There also embrace it when people find them uncomfortable, using their discomfort to point out the silent oppression within Japanese culture, and to eventually free people from it. While some of them are designed to look comical, especially when paired with Sanji. We do see some which are more conventionally attractive in later on in Impel down. Also they tend to be loud, expressive, and over the top with big vibrant personlities. Long story short....think Japanese drag queens and not trans people. Not meant to be predatory but to reference the teasing aspect of the okama subculture against the surprisingly conservative Japan.

#AJPIECE Boa's catchphrase about beauty isn't that simple. In Amazon Lily STRENGTH is beauty. So it could still be about looks but also show Boa's absolute confidence in her abilities. This connection is also present in the fact that, due to her devil fruit power, her beauty also plays back into her strength. She is strong because she is beautiful and she is beautiful because she is strong. One more thing: All of the Kuja seem to be able to use Haki. They use it to power up their arrows. Boa is just the only one of them who's able to use the same Haki as Luffy.

Luffy laughing with the mushrooms reminds me of the time he made fun of himself with usopp and chopper for being frozen with flour. It's like he needs laughter to cancel out the pain, loss, / frustration.

Luffy (and everyone that Kuma teleports) was sent in a Paw Bubble that's why when he landed there was a paw print.

Man you have no idea how much I appreciate these videos helping me through my shifts at my shit job

I have that shirt! one of the hardest manga panels of all time. Been loving your breakdowns. It's refreshing to watching an extremely thoughtful and analytical brain experiencing and breaking down my favorite story. You really don't miss the proper themes and small details which is super impressive for a first read. So glad you're finally caught up!

I'm sure someone else mentioned this already, but fun fact! Momonga was one of the Vice Admirals who led the Buster Call on Enies Lobby

#AJPiece Fishmen were branded and turned to slaves by Celestial Dragons. Through Fisher Tiger, they turned the slave mark into a mark that represents freedom and hope. They didn’t allow others to define who they were anymore. Interestingly, Nami shared a similar past. She was marked by Arlong pirates. They defined her status by giving her a tattoo. She despised it, and through Luffy, she gained a new purpose. So, instead of letting someone else (her oppressor) define her, she earned her freedom by defining herself. She got herself a new tattoo to mark the beginning of her new self. It is already interesting how both fishmen and humans found hope in similar ways within despair. However, Hancock seemed to have taken a different route. Instead of accepting her past, she tried to change how others viewed her. She was still shackled by trauma. Fisher Tiger only saved her physical body and not her soul (still based though). When Fisher Tiger saved the fishmen, he also helped them hope and find purpose. Unfortunately, there was no one to help Hancock like that. So when Hancock said, “So there are still men like you in this world.” she must have been relieved as hell. She must have been waiting for someone like Fisher Tiger to appear; someone that could brighten her life by helping her accept the past. She became free through Luffy. For Hancock, Luffy must’ve been like a sun. As Granny mentioned, Luffy was what moved this mountain. Additionally, she survived because she entertained the celestial dragons. If something took her place, she’d get worried. After all, celestial dragons seem to discard their slaves when they are broken or outshined by other people. This could explain why she keeps kicking cute animals. She could be internally worrying that they’d take her place, though for her to compare herself to animals is really depressing. We did see a dog owned by a celestial dragon pissing on a corpse. The dog did seem to have a better status than a human. Therefore I think it might take a while for her to be less cruel. Also, her iconic move is named, Slave Arrows. It only works for people who look at her in sexual ways. It is as if she created a move to defend against her worst enemies; celestial dragons. Thanks for your content AJ. They really help me a lot.

There are a surprising number of people who refuse to even entertain the idea that Luffy might be asexual, confidently stating that he's simply too focused on adventure and will definitely get interested in women once he's finished his journey. Like, people get offended by the idea that Luffy might be anything other than straight, but I suppose that's nothing new for LGBTQA+ people.

Ive always viewed luffy hitting mr 3 by “instinct” as luffy unknowingly using mantra/haki for the first time. Idk if thats a hot take or not

Fantastic as always! I didn’t see anyone mention, but Hancock and her siblings still have the Dragon Hoof on their backs, while Hachi’s was altered to the shape of a sun. It’ll be a while but keep your eyes peeled in the future

There is some Fun Japanese trivia that I'm paraphrasing/butchering, having to do with Fisher-Tiger and the celestial dragons. There's a story/folk tale of a tiger living at the bottom of a mountain, at the top of which is the home of a dragon. The dragon, having always looked down at the tiger as it lives on the ground, became arrogant thinking itself to be born better. That no matter what the tiger did or how much pride and will it gained the dragon was the ruler of this place. While the tiger just lived its life the dragon started to taunt it, saying it would never be as free as the dragon in the sky's (I'm not sure on what exactly the dragon was doing i could of been reading about a kid friendly version of it) but eventually as the tiger was growing older and knew it was nearing its primes of lifes end, he climbed up the mountain, found the dragons den where it could not run and challenged it. Its a short poem or story id suggest checking out if you are interested in the ending. Obviously the original is way better then anything I could write. Essentially the tiger uses his life and will to kill the dragon, dying along with it. just a fun bit of info that Oda added for his Japanese and literature fans.

#AJPIECE What I really appreciate from Oda's writing is that he can write such dark subjects but without all those dark imagery. I remember reading Amazon Lily the first time when I was 12, Boa said "The Celestial Dragons fed her and her sisters these fruit for their entertainment" You know what I think of back then? Entertainment being Boa and her sisters was put on a show dancing like in a circus or something. But reading it now (I'm 25 at the moment), the terms "entertainment" bears so much darker indecent activities.

Missed the last couple of videos so now I have 3 hours to catch up on during work today. Bliss.

#AJPiece I think it's worth noting that Hancock's backstory is the only one that Luffy has actually listened to. Normally whenever a backstory comes up Luffy will completely ignore it, remember how he just wandered off when they were getting Nami's story or how he didn't even know Chopper was a doctor... Maybe I'm reading too much into it since Hancock didn't really give him a choice about hearing the story, but it seems important. Also, it might not be canon but I always assumed Hancock's devil fruit had a side effect of making her supernaturally attractive. It would help explain why everyone immediately falls in love with her, regardless of their own gender or orientation. We already saw Alvida become beautiful after eating a devil fruit, so it makes sense that the literal love-love fruit would have that sort of effect.

An interesting thing for Impel Down is that the Kuja are all named after flowers. There's a flower called Crocoideae.

Boa Hancock, the Queen and Empress of Waifus in OP, has arrived and the way she looks so down on people she looks up is amazing to me 😂 also her with sisters pretty interesting to me plus the other Amazon's are fun especially when they stretch Luffy's family jewels lmao

Hi AJ, I am not entirely sure what video to comment this under but just a little crumb of thought as a huge huge Luffy fan (actually my top 1 through ALL media) I think what makes him so special aside all the obvious loveable things about him is that he's very innocent like a child when it comes to perceiving people around him. It's almost like he walks around with 0 stigma or prejudice of all the different people he encounters. I think that's what sets him apart from other protagonists. It's when he punches Vivi back without hesitation or when he sees Boa naked and doesn't bat an eye, when he encounters fishmen and never once cares about how they look, it's about how he befriends just about anyone when he finds out that they are good people. Even if that quality could never work in real life I think it's highly inspiring and loveable. Especially as a woman I never felt such a connection to a male character lead in a genre that is very much fanservice-esque and filled with love interests for the male protagonists. Luffy is like a force of pure genuine heart that I've never felt in any character before ever and Oda somehow manages to write him so idealistic without it feeling too much or fall flat. In setting so dreamy and vast as One Piece he fits like the first and last puzzle piece, he's somehow the heart that beats the loudest among a cast that is so thunderous

Gotta quote my man Briggs on this one: "At first I was like 'How could she do that to the poor puppy?' And by the end I was like 'yeah, f*** that puppy its standing in the way of my Queen"

Spoilers for current arc It's interesting to see him picking up on the theme of Luffy being the sun that brings the dawn, considering what we know now in Wano

55:18 Some more of Viz religious censorship there. Same way they refused to call Enel and Gan Fall in Spypiea "God" and they kept the Japanese term Kami, and used vessels instead of Priests for Enel's underlings, here they translate what they call Brook as "Demon Lord" when they are actually saying "Satan-sama" or "Lord Satan" if you want it translated

Can't wait to hear your opinion on this arc because personally I've liked this arc since the first time i read it during my first read that i finished just a few weeks back but I've seen that apparently the community doesn't really care for it which i think it's sad because Boa is an amazing new character and (i think??) contrary to general opinion i like the individualistic direction Luffy's character takes this arc i onwards until the end of this saga

about what you said about one of the AJPiece comments. About the mr 1 fight. Zoro was throughout the fight simply pushing and pushing, saying swordsmanship is nothing more than that, but as he was almost dying he instead thought of the others, and if they were alright. After that he cuts steel.

Really enjoyed this arc, specially boa and her sisters part

"Luffy embodies the sun." AJ has finally recently witnessed THAT moment.

Boa and her sisters all have the Hoof. Only Fisher Tiger and his Crew have The Sun. Also Fisher Tiger saved the slaves all by himself. Luffy flew through the air in a Paw shaped bubble which impacted the ground leaving a Pawprint. Everyone on Amazon Lily uses A Form Of Haki, their arrows break rocks!

Small correction: Fisher Tiger freed the slaves on his own. The Sun Pirates came after that.

Missed these! Glad you're back.

every day with a new Aleczandxr One Piece video is a good day.

I dont normally comment on videos but I've been a long time viewer of AJ and i just feel the need to say this but one thing I'm noticing now that I never noticed before is how great his intuition is, the reviews are putting into sharp focus how good he is at picking up on certain plot threads that pay dividends in the future for eg, he wanted conflict within the crew previously which came to fruition in water 7, and now he describes luffy as the sun due to one of the AJ piece comments and anyone who's caught up to the series knows what that's all about, no spoilers from me though obviously. I'm not finished watching but ik this review is gonna be awesome, thanks AJ for the content

Catching up on these videos after taking a break when you started W7, just gotta say the Empress is finally here. Stan Boa Supremacy.

Thank you for highlighting Luffy’s coping mechanisms bc no one in the series seems to ever touch on this.

"love not lust" really hit so hard for me. great video

"One piece king of the pirates grindset" IM DEAD 😂!! HAHAHA

You say words that get me excited as a future reader because yup keep thinking those thoughts you’re doing great

haki is common on amazon lily, and hancock also has the conquerors haki.

love how it took me 17 entire minutes to realise you are wearing a shirt with a chainsaw man MANGA panel on it i am in love with that series and it's my favourite series in any medium ever and it took me this long to register it 😭

aleczandxr, you're one of the most insightful, analytical youtubers right now! genius work as always. you should get a degree for your media literacy, maybe in english lit? looking forward to your next one.

Back at it again. Thank you, can't wait for Impel Down.

I look forward to these for sure

Just a random unprocessed initial thought. The cross dressers were great. The people that think the tone is off can't see the beauty of what it means to be yourself against the social norms and call it bad because it doesn't fit their ideal.

My man wyper hanging on 💪💪

the talk about luffy and the sun in the beginning is so funny

Luffy is like a shining sun.. hold onto that motif that's all I'm gonna say! 😊

#AJPIECE Bet ya never thought luffy would overdose on mushrooms when you started one piece. But seriously, one of the things one piece does best is putting a light tone on some truly dark material. It’s just such an incredible asset for a story to be able to go wherever it needs to go while maintaining a consistent and fun tone.

He do be sun-like

Man, those favorite characters include everyone but Woop Slap

Well this is a very late comment, but I feel the need to comment that Boa is the only one known to use Haki of the Supreme King, but many other inhabitants of Amazon Lily(like the sisters) are capable of using less rare forms of haki

Next the Handsomeness of Zoro

I was waiting for the next Video ngl. thank ya

#AJPIECE this is one of my personal favourite arcs in one piece because it shows you the strength and weakness of luffy. Luffy can't navigate, build a ship amddoes not what is safe to digest or not. But luffy is incredibly charasmatic and very emotionally intelligemt which is why he was able to gather all these different people together as a pirate crew as their captain.

#AJPIECE So hopefully this arc is the last time I have to talk about how one piece addresses SA as a SA survivor for awhile because while it doesn’t bother me to talk about such a thing, I feel bad leaving such a kinda downer comment? Either way, last time i talked about thriller bark and how it as an arc deals a lot with autonomy as well as some of its failings in doing so with the tactfulness needed for such a topic but I haven’t talked about Amazon Lily yet. The first time I ever saw the scene of boa describing her backstory I am not ashamed to say I teared up out of the amount of sympathy I felt for her and her sisters. I can’t remember if it’s different in the manga but in the anime one of boa’s sisters very clear has a trauma response and begins sobbing as boa starts telling luffy her story and that was immediately what started pulling at my heartstrings. And then luffy, bless him, says that boa doesn’t have to do this if she doesn’t want to bc he can very clearly see that it’s a painful thing for her to talk about. This is when I knew that oda was going to treat this topic the way it deserved to be treated. Think about it. How often do we see characters in shows say “hey you don’t have to tell me you backstory bc I can tell it was traumatic for you?” Hell we don’t even see it that often in one piece. Yeah luffy will sleep through some or will chose not to listen but it’s not until this episode that he straight up says that they don’t have to explain anything. Continuing on, what started to really make me realize how well oda was going to portray the affects of SA was boa talking about everything after escaping slavery. The struggle with being vulnerable, wanting to always be in control and not wanting anyone to treat you differently. I saw myself reflected in boa in perfect clarity for a moment even if the way we express those things is very different. If someone had told me a year ago that the most accurate depiction of the effects of being SA’d (according to my own experiences) would be in one piece of all things I would not have believed you. Honestly I still kinda don’t believe it because it so baffling to me that oda would understand such a thing so well to be able to depict it accurately. Not that I’m unappreciative of such a thing in any regard but still it’s kinda crazy. Anyways my last couple thoughts i wanna get out here is how those experiences must be multiplied by Boa tenfold by her position as a warlord and empress of the Kuja, being raised on Amazon lily and her devil fruit. Being in position of power plays into that fear of vulnerability because it means showing that boa hasn’t always been powerful which ties into being raised on Amazon Lily and how strength is beauty for these women. To boa after experiencing such a horrible thing, it must have been a massive blow to her self confidence. And then theirs her devil fruit which quite literally causes everyone to only see her for her looks instead of her personhood. Again my heart aches for this woman and all that she’s been through because having to deal with that on top of all that other trauma must have been really rough. Though it does explain why she so readily falls in love with luffy. And while I’m by no means defending her because their is quite a large age gap between the two, I can understand why she feels such strong emotions towards not only the first person outside of family/those who helped her become free to hear her story and see her past her looks and not look down on her for something she could very well perceive as being her own fault, but also the first MAN to do so. While oda can really struggle with writing somethings without coming off as being a product of time and feeling weird and gross. This whole arc and backstory is certainly not one of them and gives me hope that oda can do better on those things in the future.

Cheers, love the videos. They help long drives feel shorter.

My man called her hammock. No words.

#AJPiece Personally I've always found Boa's infatuation with Luffy interesting considering its one-sided nature. Some consider it problematic in some ways, but how do you feel about it?

HEy hey any chance you can make the One Piece videos into a playlist on youtube just started them a few days ago amazing to see you going thru it .... and so good to relive these chapters with you as a "narrator" of sorts .. its like im reading it all over again ... amazing stuff cant wait till you make it all the way till current ... All the best!!

Once next arc drops ima be a pateron

Luffy is one of those people that naturally exude love as naturally as the sun gives out heat

#AJPIECE amazon lily is such a short story but I find it to be amazing for how small it is. so much happens, it's insane.

Can't wait for the Impel Down and Marineford videos!!!

Your voice is majestic.

That darkness devil shirt is fire🔥🔥🔥

Now that is a clever title!

The Ballad of " she has one more mushroom between her legs"

#ajpiece Hope you enjoyed your break, good to have you back

I don't like the ship between Luffy and Boa (don't mind ships in general) but I don't like when people call Boa a predator/pedophile when its CLEAR that age or physical attraction has nothing to do with why she falls in love with him. Also, without her (kind of SPOILER Next) he does not make through the next couple of arcs.

8:04 oh boy Im gonna come back to this comment when he get caught up with the manga, well at wano to be exact

you should really do a video on Vinland Saga, it’s legit one of the best things out there yet hardly anybody is talking about it

Marineford is finally coming Zehahahaha

27:56 bro felt the pain in his own body and soul

"he felt like a thematic sun." 😁 Does he now?

Im really just waiting for you to do some well edited essay vids about one piece

While never officially confirmed, Luffy has got to be asexual. He shows no interest in people outside of comradery, and the times he reacts to something explocit, Oda later says in an SBS Luffy was simply imitating other people's reactions.

#ajpiece I think it's important to note that the women of Amazon Lily view beauty as equivalent to ones strength of will and strength in general. Boa is both the most beautiful woman in a typical sense as well as a strong individual and this is why her views on her own beauty are the way they are, she can do anything not because she's aesthetically beautiful but because she believes in her own strength and willpower. She has a veneer of self righteousness but it's one she's earned and was built off of overcoming trauma. Boa is a fascinating character and I really appreciate the layers that go into the idea of beauty that come from Amazon Lily. This also plays into Boa falling in love with Luffy, she only saw his beauty after he displayed his strength of character and that was when she fell head over heels for him. In her eyes Luffy is the most beautiful person she's ever met because his strength of heart his strength of will and his strength of conviction burn brighter than anyone else's while also being bright enough to be shared with others and be kind. Hope you're doing well and hope you keep enjoying each coming chapter, this saga is one of my favorites and carries so much memory for me so I hope you enjoy it!

This might be the best review on Amazon lily

Great title

When you're lost in the dark, look for the light

#AJPiece Do you think Buggy is genuinely underrated?

I appreciate the usopp venting section

We really got to see Luffy on his own for 3 whole arcs, One Piece will never be the same

#AJPIECE 38:32 One thing that I've seen get brought up a lot is whether or not Luffy is asexual (the lack of sexual attraction or lack of desire for sexual activity). While I could see Luffy showing traits of being ace (no pun intended) I could also see him just being pure of heart, or even both. But what do you think?

Based

50:10 10$ says he's holding off on love for after he finds the One Piece. Just you watch, in 5 years Oda will publish his sequel manga starring Luffy and Hancock's son.

Thank you for this.

#AJPIECE *Edit: oh pfft forgot this was an old video, maybe it won't count anymore* Regarding Luffy's little mushroom moment, I guess that's one benefit to reading the manga, it makes it easier to imprint your own tone on the page - 'cus I barely remembered that moment. "Maybe you are thinking too deep about it" I thought. Luffy was just beeing goofy like he usually is... or maybe I'm not thinking deeply enough! I went back and checked the anime ver. and it's far from being coded in a sad way whatsoever imo, due to the jolly piano background music lol Anime ver: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qqxdipSf1KnSlWQ.html While a lot of things can be gained from the animated medium, have you ever thought about how the tone of a scene can change in an adaptation? Even if One Piece is generally pretty 1-1. Just cool to think about the difference in perception between multiple versions or mediums! Slightly off-topic, but it reminds me of how Shueisha's coloured JoJo manga can sometimes maybe take away from the scene a bit due to its very standard feel. Since in a B/W manga, colours and lighting are a lot more implied. (I'm thinking of a certain mean crimson coloured fella from Part 5 dealing a lethal blow to someone indoors, the anime adapted that splendidly with its darker lighting)

Lgbtq+ representation does get better imo. Kamabaka island is probably the lowest point in that regard by making ugly caricatures basically. I choose to believe that it's mostly because of the time it was written and it is just some dated humor. Already in impel down I feel like Oda shows a much more positive view on the okama and the fluidity of sexuality and gender, tho still with some exaggerations

It's a bit confusing when you call a character by their surname when they have a family

#AJPiece Luffy and Boa to me is the most beautiful relationship in the series. And thats because its based on pure , unconditioned platonic love. Luffy is the first man to see her for her troubled person that she is and does what he always does. He calls out her flaws and challenges her. And him being a teenage male (an age where hormones really kick in) just adds up so much more. and boa loves him because despite his childish antics and sees the values in him. and its not because of some crush or 'love sickness' but by testing him over and over again. she has seen the cruel reality women suffer and of course isnt going to let some stranger change her mind that easily.and whenever they help each other is done for their benefit as much as for the other. boa helping luffy also helps her on overcoming her trauma and becoming a better leader while luffy gains her favor by showing to her that 'foolish' things such as kindness aren't a hopeless endeavor