4.3 KiB
+++ title = "a thematic breakdown of one piece" summary = "east blue = dreams. paradise = family. new world = liberation." date = 2024-09-30T11:22:54-06:00 source = "original" +++
i was idly thinking about one piece this morning, as one does. mainly thinking about how east blue was peak one piece for me, and those first 100 chapters could honestly stand as their own self-contained story. one piece could have ended right there and i would have come away satisfied with what i read. but of course, it didn't end there, and i'm also glad it didn't end there. but it got me thinking about the overall theme of one piece, and specifically the overall theme of east blue as a self-contained saga.
from "romance dawn" onward to the "grand line"
honestly, we could go further and say that the first chapter of one piece is also a self-contained story, and in fact, it actually was a self-contained story. romance dawn was of course released in various forms as one-shots, before it eventually became the first chapter of one piece.
the story of that first chapter is very simple: it's about a boy with a dream. but it's everything else about the story that grips you, like the reason for that dream, and the magnitude of that dream, and what that dream involves.
for the time spent in east blue, the story mainly covers a great adventure filled with romanticism. the character arcs in this part of the story are mainly centered around following your dreams. as you meet new characters, you learn about their dreams, and in learning about their dreams, you get to know them as people. everyone has a reason to keep going. everyone has drive and motivation. it's honestly a dynamic world that feels alive, even though it's pretty small at this point in the series.
throughout it all, there is the end goal of entering the grand line, which is portrayed as a paradise for pirates, where wacky things happen all the time, and the adventure never ends. everyone has their reasons for seeking it out. luffy wants to become the pirate king, and to do that he needs to find the great treasure "one piece" at the end of the grand line. zoro wants to become the world's greatest swordsman, and to do that he needs to challenge the current world's greatest swordsman who lives in the grand line. nami wants to draw a map of the world, and that means she'll need to enter the grand line at some point. usopp wants to be a brave warrior of the sea, and the grand line is just the thing to toughen him up. sanji wants to find the all blue, which might exist somewhere in the grand line.
i still have my nakama
once things go into the grand line, the theme of adventure is still there, but the focus of each arc is better summarized by the theme of "family". chopper is abandoned by his reindeer family, but finds new family in dr. hiruluk and later dr. kureha before eventually joining the crew. vivi knows that the straw hats will always be her family because of the whole x thing. robin finds family in the ohara researchers and in saul, only for the buster call to take it all. franky has tom and iceberg and later the franky family. brook's entire crew dies and his dream is to reunite with laboon. luffy's entire crew gets sent flying by kuma and he despairs over this because he lost his family. then he finds out his sworn brother is set to be executed, and he goes to save him. when he loses his brother he feels like he has no family left. until he is reminded that he still has his crew.
power, authority, and liberation
by the time we enter the new world, it's endgame territory. this is the realm of the emperors. luffy has always been a liberator, but this part of the story is where it takes center stage. every arc has luffy liberating people and islands. and then you find out he's literally the warrior of liberation.
it's all about the power struggle, the emperors who rule their territories, the world government who controls everything, and the warrior of liberation who is being set up to set the whole world free.
wealth. fame. power. he had it all
in that order.
so what's the conclusion here
idk i don't have a conclusion i'm just rambling