Amateur Amalgam

Part 1

Aug 29, 2024

My brother is bullying me to get back to watching this, so I figure adding it on here would help me get started again. Normally, in the interest of this blog and my own need to organize, I would restart the whole series and take notes as I go, but anyone who’s seen this show knows the first couple arcs are tough to get through, and I’m not all that far ahead considering there’s just over 1000 episodes. What with the manga coming to and this is a good time to take it back up.

So without further ado, welcome to another multi-part post! I’ll speed run my memories of the first few arc’s (I might rewatch the episode of east blue and a couple others) then for the others I’ll add them in as I go. I think it will go without saying that this is not gonna be spoiler free, so be warned. Given that there is sooo much content that’s been released, I’ll be posting the watch order for each saga as I get to it, along with my thoughts about watching it.

Saga List :

• East Blue Saga ……………………………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐
  • East Blue
    • Season 1 : Episode 1-61
      • 1-8
      • Pirate Ganzak
      • 9-18
      • One Piece the Movie
      • 19-53
      • Clockwork Island Adventure
      • Once Piece Special: Oceans Navel
      • Jango’s Dance Carnival
      • 54-61
      • Episode of East Blue: Big Adventure
• Alabasta Saga ……………………………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐
  • Entering the Grand Line
    • Season 2 : Episode 62-77
  • Introducing Chopper at the Winter Island
    • Season 3 (till penultimate episode) : Episode 78-91
  • Alabasta
    • Season 3 finale to Season 5 Episode 5 : Episode 92-135
      • Dream Soccer King
      • 92-130
      • Desert Princess and the Pirates
      • Choppers Kingdom
      • 131-135
• Sky Island Saga …………………………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Dreams! The Zenny Pirate Crew! Beyond the Rainbow
    • Season 5 Episode 6 to end : Episode 136-143
      • 136-138
      • Dead End Adventure
      • The Cursed Holy Sword
      • Open Upon the Great Sea: A Fathers Dream
      • Pirate Baseball King
      • 139-143
  • Sky Island
    • Season 6 to Season 7 Episode 11 : Episode 144 to 206
      • 144-195
      • Episode of Sky Island
      • 196-206
      • Baron Omatsuri
• Water Seven Saga
  • Marine Fortress
    • Season 7 Episode 12 to end : Episode 207-228
      • 207-219
      • The Last Great Stage
      • 220-228
      • Giant Mecha Soldier of Karakuri
  • Water Seven
    • Season 8 : Episode 229-263
      • 229-263
      • The Detective Memoirs of Chief Straw Hat Luffy
  • Enies Lobby
    • Season 9 to Episode 62* : Episode 264-325
      • 264-290, 293-302, 304-312
      • Boss Luffy Historical Specials
        • 291-292, 303, 406-407*
      • 313-325
      • Episode of Chopper: Bloom in the Winter
• Thriller Bark Saga
• Summit War Saga
• Fishman Island Saga
• Dressrosa Saga
• Whole Cake Island Saga
• Wano Country Saga
• Final Saga

Some people might say I’m making things harder on myself doing it this way, but I like to enjoy things completely when I take them on, so for me this is the perfect way to do it.

At the end of each saga/arc, I’ll put my rating of how much I personally enjoyed it. I’ll be starting my rewatch in September, so you can follow along if you want to!

Side note: I will be watching the live action as well, but after the anime since its only just started filming season two, and me going through all this will give them enough time to get through (hopefully) a few seasons.

Part 2

Aug 31, 2024

I lied. I started early.

It begins with the East Blue Saga!! Luckily for us, this Saga is made up of the first arc and first season of the show. This is our starting point for the series and while I would normally watch all the episodes including the specials in between, I have seen these episodes before and they drag on for quite a while – especially the first 50 – and the Episode of east blue is a recap episode so just watching that is good enough for me.

Having seen this part already and being somewhat familiar with the characters, I started by watching the specials, then the Episode of East Blue:

• Defeat the Pirate Ganzak ………………….. ⭐⭐
• One Piece the Movie ……………………….. ⭐⭐⭐
• Clockwork Island Adventure ……………… ⭐⭐⭐
• Oceans Navel ………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐
• Jango’s Dance Carnival ……………………. ⭐⭐⭐
• Episode of East Blue ……………………….. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

East Blue Saga ⭐⭐⭐

Spoilers Ahead!

Pirate Ganzak – 30 min

This was very cute. A side story that happens after they add Nami to the crew. They end up on an island that has been taken over by (evil) pirates who are forcing the adults on the island to build their ship. They are attacked by a giant sea monster who takes Nami back to the island, while Zoro and Luffy wash up on the beach. They are found by a little girl who is trying to fight the pirates on her own to get her father back. She recognizes that Luffy’s main motivation is food and gets him to help her attack the pirates, unfortunately they jump the gun a little and she gets captured by Nami who has seemingly joined the other side. The islanders use the opportunity to start blowing things up, and the gang escapes. They make it out in time to help the islanders fight back, unfortunately this coincided with the completion of the ship. Luffy, Zoro, and the little girl jump on the ship and fight the pirates, as Nami and the islanders collect the dynamite left over on the island and blow up the ship. The crew is repaid in food and thanks as they once again set off to find the Grand Line

One Piece the Movie – 50 min

I really liked this one. It takes place after we’ve picked up Usopp, and have got the Going Mary. Once again we are in a predicament cause Luffy ate all the food. While the boys are arguing, Nami notices them being robbed by some pirates working for another Pirate captain – El Drago. When they get spotted they throw the boys some food, which successfully distracts them, but when Luffy asks for more and gets shot they fight back. Luffy destroy’s part of their boat and meets the little cabin boy Tobio, who was captured while looking for the great pirate Woonan. At this point El Drago shows up and with his sonic blast ability separates the group. Eventually they all make it back to the island where the treasure is berried – with Luffy and Zorro having met Tobio’s grandpa on the way. The main conflict between Tobio and his grandpa is that the boy doesn’t want to follow in his footsteps of making udon, and instead wants to join Woonans crew. After getting away from the El Drago pirates (by tricking them about where the treasure is hidden) the gang make their way to the top of the plateau and surprisingly meet the grandpa halfway up. He reveals that he and Woonan were childhood friends, and he actually had sacrificed his life for his – but got saved just before he actually died. When the group makes it to the top, they get ambushed by the El Drago pirates and after a fight scene showing off the abilities of both Luffy and Zorro, the gang defeat them and the remaining pirates run off the side of the cliff in fear. The gang continuous into the secret tunnel that is supposed to lead to the treasure or Woonan, but instead just find his skeleton. On the walls he has written that he gave back the treasure because he realized Ganzo (the grandpa) was right, and chasing gold was not what he wanted – but rather the adventure that the chasing brought, and his real treasure was the flag that had ripped when Ganzo chose to die for him. The crew gets ready to set sail and Nami manages to take whatever treasure used to belong to El Drago, much to her delight.

Clockwork Island Adventure – 55 min

We’ve picked up another crew member! Sanji has joined us for this trip. Our adventure begins with the ship being stolen, leading to the team meeting the thief brothers Borod and Akees. They make their way to Clockwork island where there is a giant diamond clock that Borod wants to steal. Zoro is suspicious of him the whole time, but they go along with it. The get attacked by who they think stole their ship – the Card Pirates, and they kidnap Nami as a bride for the Bear King (their leader). Nami stalls while waiting for the boys to come get her, and we find out the Akees is actually from the island; Borod found him as a baby and took care of him. Our team is missing their tools and so get taken down one at a time by the bad guys, till everyone makes it to the main lair where they get their stuff back and are in top form again. Borod reveals it was him that stole the ship, because he wanted them to defeat the pirates and free the island so he could return Akees to his parents. As Luffy observes their relationship he is reminded of his bond with Shanks. They crew defeats the Card Pirates, but at the cost of the island. Akees is retuned to his mom by choses to stay with Borod, and the crew continue their journey.

Ocean’s Navel – 50 min

This is another predicament that we get into cause Luffy is looking for something to eat. We haven’t added any crew members yet so its still just the original 4 from the sat one. In this one Captain Joke attempts to steal a treasure that makes you dreams come true from the Ocean’s Navel – a hole in the ocean kinda like the one in How to Train Your Dragon 3 – and is betrayed by his crew at the last second. This creates a curse scenario as they cut him into bits and each one is represented by a giant version of a sea creature. The creatures wreak havoc on the village there for 10 years till our team shows up. Zoro spent most of this asleep but he did wake up long enough to defeat one of them. Hamu, the son of the village leader, has been looking for nakama to help him fight Captain Joke, who can regenerate if you defeat each of the monsters. Since the gang did this, he has slowly been regaining his body. By the time they make it into where the treasure is, Joke is back and shoots Nami and Usopp in the back, while Luffy is exhausted from fighting the last monster. Hamu faces off against him and wins (thanks to a flash of light from the treasure, and his new nakama).

Jango’s Dance Carnival – 5 min

Supper cute, short, scooby-doo chase/music video adventure. Jango hypnotizes everybody to dance till they drop while running from the Marines, which they do till the islands sky/mirror breaks and the giant discoball falls.

Episode of East Blue – 106 min

This one was an overview of the East Blue Arc (episodes 1-61). It shows how each of our team came to join the crew and highlights each of their motivations for doing so. For each of them, Luffy proves himself a worthy captain and earns their loyalty. Luffy himself is a really good judge of character, and despite his laid back attitude (which he gets from his own mentor) he is able to see the path forward clearly for each situation they are in.

• Zoro: helps him escape from the Marines, but still trusts that he is strong enough to fight his own battles, and Zoro extends the same curtesy
• Sanji: helps him defend his home and gives him an example of fighting without hesitation; faith in one’s abilities and living as repayment for a life debt instead of death
• Usopp: helps him defend his home and recognizes his bravery; he fights to protect the people he cares about even though he is visibly scared
• Nami: helps her free her island from the Arlong Pirates, and proves to her that even though she betrayed them (for a good cause) he still considers her a friend and will do what he can to help her

In Luffy’s backstory we get to see (just a little) who inspired him to become a pirate, and how he developed his current ideals by emulating Shanks, and honestly Shanks has gotta be some kind of magic cause I also wanna be like him.

Watching each of the episodes would have been too painful I think, cause there is sooooo much filler; which is why I decided to just do the specials and the episode. Overall I liked this arc. It’s our introduction to the world and how the various systems within it work, as well as being an excellent introduction to our main characters and their different but connected motivations.

Next up is the Alabasta Saga! I’ll try to keep consistent with it and watch at least 3 episodes a day so it will take about a month to get through this Saga.

Part 3

Oct 9, 2024

I’m back!! I know it’s been more than a month but in that time I finished 2 (two!!) more sagas, and I’ve caught up to where I stopped before. First up, Alabasta!

• Entering the Grand Line ………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Introducing Chopper at the Winter Island …………. ⭐⭐⭐
• Alabasta
  • Dream Soccer King ……………………………….. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • 92-130 ………………………………………………. ⭐⭐⭐
  • Desert Princess and the Pirates ……………….. ⭐⭐⭐
  • Choppers Kingdom ………………………………. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • 131-135 …………………………………………….. ⭐⭐⭐

Alabasta Saga ⭐⭐⭐

Saga Notes

Overall this was an ok saga. It’s definitely my least favourite so far, just because the issue is so urgent but every episode takes us on what feels like a 3 day detour but what is probably only 30min of in universe time.

Spoilers Ahead!

Entering the Grand Line – ep 62-77 (20 mins)

Our team finally makes it over to the grand line, and we are introduced to one of the big bads of the show – Baroque Works. After befriending the giant whale that waits at the start of the grand line, we make our way to Whisky Island where our team gets to show off the first version of their upgraded skills/powers from all the adventures they had in the East Blue.

The princess is revealed and we begin our journey to return her to her home. On the way we meet giant warriors and we make contact with the top 10 of Baroque works. We also get to see what Koby is up to and we meet a new character (who is important for later) Vice Admiral Garp aka Garp the Fist!

Chopper at the Winter Island – ep 78-91 (20 mins)

Our crew finally adds a doctor to the roster. As we make way to Alabasta, Nami gets sick from a bite she got on Little Island. The team stops at Drum Kingdom after a run in at sea with its King, and there we find out that he had kicked out all the doctors and kept a team of 20 just for him as a way to control the people. The only one left id the crazy lady that took up residence in his castle. Luffy and Sanji carry Nami up the mountain to get to her, but the others find out the doctor is actually in town! Hijinks ensue as each group tries to get to where they are going, made more difficult by the avalanche (set off by carnivorous giant rabbits) and the return of the evil king Wample.

Eventually the team makes it to the castle where the doctor is and there is also where we meet Tony Tony Chopper, a reindeer that ate a zoan type devil fruit and is now part man. He has 3 forms that he can transform into thanks to the fruit, just like Duncan the captain of the guard (who can become an ox) thats been helping our team. We learn that chopper was an outcast, even from his herd, because of his blue nose and because of his strange half forms. The doctor who took him in taught him medicine and passed on his dream to see a cherry blossom bloom on the island (which is a winter island) and help people heal the way seeing them helped him. Unfortunately Wample killed him before he could do this.

Technically, he was already dying, then chopper mistakenly gave him poison mushroom soup instead of healing mushroom soup, and then he blew himself up in front of Wample when he found out that coming to the castle was a trap (intended to kill him). Eventually Wample (who ate the munch munch fruit) makes it to the castle too and, of course, loses to Luffy. Chopper decides to join the team and the crew gets its much needed doctor. This one was long, but we had multiple pov’s to follow so it makes sense. Also chopper is very much a cry baby, but he is also an actual baby soo. I’m not sure how young he’s supposed to be, but he’s definitely still a teen at most.

Both the doctors are mean to him in a ‘I’m gonna say hurtful things to push you away so you can meet your full potential without worrying about me to hold you back’ kind of way, and I don’t particularly appreciate that approach to things, but oh well. Also, in this arc we get to see Vivi’s indignation over Wample being a bad king, and an example of good leadership in Duncan, demonstrating her desire to want to be the best for her people (it also exposes her identity to Duncan who met her at a previous summit when she was small).

I will say that I very much liked that when asked ‘what’s a rubber man?’ by chopper, Sanji said ‘It’s a monster’ to help him realize that he wouldn’t be so out of place among them; both he and Luffy had referred to Chopper as such when they first saw him (after they got over trying to eat him when they thought he was a normal deer), and I think this helped him realize that they didn’t mean it in any sort of negative or hurtful way.

As our team is heading out Doctoreen sets off the castle canons with a mix of special powder made by the doctor (essentially a pink dye) which with the shape of the mountains made the island look like there was a giant cherry blossom in the middle of it raining petals. A fitting farewell.

Alabasta

Dream Soccer King – 5 mins

Supper short, 5 min sequence of the Straw Hat’s vs the baddies we’ve met so far in a World Cup style soccer match with Koby as the goalie. The straw hats win of course and then it’s revealed that this was just Luffy dreaming. Upon waking on the ship he sees what the thinks is a ball and goes to kick it, but unfortunately it turns out to be Usopp’s but.

Ep 92-130 (20 mins)

We’ve made it To Alabasta! We met Ace (love of my life #2) and Smoker is back. The plot with crocodile thickens.

Imma be real with you, I really did try, but I couldn’t do it (again). I made it all the way to episode 102 before I skipped on ahead to the Movie. I did go back and then start watching again from 127 to 130, just to I could get caught up on the details, but the middle part with the actual fighting was too much. Everything was just taking way too long.

Episode of Alabasta – 90 min

This is an abridged version of events of the Alabasta arc. It covers the actual battle’s really well and shortens all the drawn out bits in the middle (that I skipped in the show) however you do loose a lot of the nuance of the characters choices and we miss out on all the extra people that we meet on the way. Namely meeting and temporarily travelling with Luffy’s brother, Ace and the fact that Smoker is trailing after them and was slowly unravelling Crocodile’s plot as well. You also lose finding out Igaram and the Bird guy are alive. I have seen all this already so I’m not so upset about it.

Choppers Animal Kingdom – 60 mins

This is technically a non canon story of a stop the crew makes after the Alabasta trip (because Vivi isn’t with them). It’s like a mix of the Jungle Book and Tarzan in terms of who they meet. It’s a very cute story where Chopper gets to grow a bit and make a new friend.

Ep 131-135 (20 mins)

Once our crew escapes from the Marines chasing them, we find out that their bounties have gone up and also that Robin (formerly Miss All Sunday of Baroque Works) has decided to join up. Since Luffy saved her from Crocodile and the collapsing chamber they were in, she decided to follow along. At first the crew is obviously not about it, but she makes nice with each of them slowly. We also get to have little flashbacks of each character and their reason for being on the crew in the form of interactions with others we meet as move on to the next island.

Next up: Sky Island Saga!!

• Dreams! The Zenny Pirate Crew! Beyond the Rainbow
  • 136-138 ………………………………………………………. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Dead End Adventure ………………………………………. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Cursed Holy Sword …………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Open Upon the Great Sea: A Fathers Dream …………. ⭐⭐⭐
  • Pirate Baseball King ……………………………………….. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • 139-143 ……………………………………………………….. ⭐⭐⭐
• Sky Island
  • 144-195 ……………………………………………………….. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Episode of Sky Island ………………………………………. ⭐⭐
  • 196-206 ……………………………………………………….. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Baron Omatsuri ……………………………………………… ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sky Island Saga ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Saga notes

I think so far this has been my favourite Saga. The filler episodes were entertaining to watch and didn’t feel too long. The actual plot episodes did stretch on at some points, but it was overall very entertaining. Also I’m a sucker for lore so as soon as they started dropping the ancient kingdom info I was like

Spoilers Ahead!

Dreams! The Zenny Pirate Crew

Ep 136-138 (20 mins)

A short stop at an island, where we meet a man who was shipwrecked there 20 years ago. Luffy manages to rekindle his desire to fulfill his dream of becoming a pirate, and the crew help him finish his ship. We also get involved with a shady Marine (because we’re still being chased by them) and he tries to steal the old man’s treasure ant take credit for capturing the crew. Unfortunately for him, he was seen and is promptly defeated and returned to his captain disgraced.

Dead End Adventure – 95 min

This was a nice little detour on out main trip. The story revolves around the gang entering a race where the prize is 300 mill berries – which they desperately need – and finding out that the race is rigged by one of the contestants, a former marine turned pirate, Gasparday. We also run into a bounty hunter out to kill him called Shryer, as revenge for the death of his sister 8 years ago. In a stunning turn of events, his sister is actually on Gasparday’s ship as the assistant to the boiler master, who saved her 8 years ago. Our crew of course wins the day – after a very intense fight – and make their way to the finish line only to be stoped by marines blocking their path just as they see the finish line, so they turn around and continue on their journey. We get to see more of the philosophy of each of the crew members in their interactions with the other characters, and we also get to see more of how they work together. Overall I quite liked this one. I hope we get to see Shryer again cause his fight style was so interesting.

The Cursed Holy Sword – 95 min

Also called curse of the sacred sword, this one more heavily focuses on the abilities of Zoro as a swordsman. The story takes place on an island with a story about an ancient evil sword that comes to power every 100 years. The (possessed) bad guy is an old friend of Zoro’s who convinces him to help steal and get rid of 3 sacred gems. Turns out the gems are part of the ritual to get rid of the sword and Saga’s fiancé Maya is the priestess meant to do the ceremony. Our team is scattered at the start and each group gets a part of the story till we meet at the end and put it all together.

Open Upon the Great Sea: A Fathers Dream – 46 min

This one was more like a mini episode. The adventure sees our crew happen upon an island where some people are and then one of the kids is kidnapped by pirates. Luffy (who is asleep cause Sanji drugged his food) also gets captured. The pirate leader has the ability to make people do what he wants by having his choir sing a particular song, which is a really cool ability. The girl as it turns out has a treasure map on her back that the pirate is trying to get. Once Luffy actually wakes up, the pirate uses the song to get him to attack the rest of the crew, but Usopp manages to put the choir to sleep and once he’s free Luffy and the gang stop the pirates. They help the kids find the treasure their dad left them and it turns out that the island isn’t an island, it’s a giant oyster with a giant pearl inside.

Pirate Baseball King – 5 min

This was another little short like the soccer one and it was actually so funny. None of our crew knows how to play and it was rough for them all the way to the end of the match (where they hadn’t even scored yet) till Luffy was able to get a home run!

Ep 139-143 (20 min)

Filler before we get to the main event, but it leads us in nicely. We get to an island with the Rainbow Mist, which introduces the concept of time travel to our universe, but only under very specific circumstances. A nice work around

Sky Island

Ep 144-195

And so it begins! We see Ace again (who definitely has narcolepsy, it’s hilarious) on Buggy’s ship (both characters you would only know from watching the episodes and not the recap movies cause they don’t feature).

This is the point at which I was before, so everything after this I’m seeing for the first time. Our crew has arrived on Jaya looking for a way to make it to Sky Island and we run into Bellamy – some guy who thinks he’s the baddest pirate in town – and I hate him. He’s actually just a bully and a coward.

Luffy deals with him the same way Shanks did when that mountain bandit poured his drink on him; by not engaging with him in a fight at all cause he isn’t worth the effort. Robin comes back with info about a guy on the other side of the island, who it turns out is friends with the salvage pirates we met at sea earlier. They help him recover from this worlds version of the bends and in exchange they agree to help our crew get to sky Island. I love all the lore that is included in this show.

All the places, even the filler places, have such an interesting history, and the past of lots of places is also really interesting to learn about. For every place our crew go there is a ruin with a really cool history attached. Anyways, Bellamy shows up again 🙄 and fights our new friends to steal the gold they had salvaged (that hints at an El Dorado type place sunken under the sea) so Luffy gets rightfully pissed and goes to town to beat his ass.

Previous to this only the old wanted posters were available so the other pirates didn’t think much of him, but his new bounty is 100 mill so they all got real scared, real quick – the new posters had been delivered just before Luffy showed up.

After Luffy wins (with one shot) he gets the gold back and they are on their way to Sky Island! At this point we get several key pieces of information:

• We meet the world government
  • They aim to get rid of my boy cause he messed with their pirate lord system by defeating crocodile
• We meet 2 more of the pirate lords (3 if you include Mihawk, but we already saw him in the east blue)
  • They are looking for a new seventh and Blackbeard is nominated by one of his crew who snuck in to the meeting
• That guy we met just before Belamy is Blackbeard, the very same Blackbeard that was once a member of the White beard Pirates whom ace is after for killing a crew member
• Shanks (love of my life #1) sends a letter to Whitebeard (who takes offence) and decided to go see him in person
  • This is decidedly something that the World Government is against and wants to stop

We, of course, ignore this rush of new information and get back to the crew on their way to catch the knockup stream to get flown to Skypiea. Blackbeard sees the bounty on Luffy and decides to try and collect at the same time, however he gets there just as the knockup stream goes off so his ship is destroyed. Our crew meanwhile get up to Skypiea and notice that everything is both larger and lighter as an adaptation of living in the clouds.

They meet a couple of Skypieans who help them out. Nami goes for a ride on whats basically a scooter while the rest get an explanation of how dials work and learn that they power everything here. Nami makes it all the way to the sacred land (where there is real earth) and sees their God smite someone – which rightfully freaks her out – and she goes back. Meanwhile the crew are accused of not paying the fee to enter (they didn’t) and are asked to pay an even higher fine. Through various mishaps the seriousness of their charge keeps going up till they get almost to the most severe and the team decide its time to leave.

While some of them are on the boat, they lift anchor and thats the signal to start their trial. The boat gets express sent to the sacrificial altar on the sacred land and the rest have to after them (thats also part of the test). The girl they met however breaks down and spills the beans which leads to the God trying to smite her too. The Sky Knight (aka. previous God) saves her and her dad and the crew get on their way to save the others from sacrifice.

They meet the first of the 4 priests who will get in their way and get beat up for a few episodes before triumphantly finding the rest of the crew. Chopper has a run in with another of the priests, who is temporarily defeated by the Sky Knight before making a comeback and wining (or so he thinks). The others that were on the boat (Zoro, Nami, and Robin) decided to explore before chopper was attached so don’t know what happened till they get back.

When the crew is all together again Nami figures out that the ancient treasure Mont-Blanc is looking for didn’t sink, it got knocked up into Skypeia. They decide to get the treasure and get out. Plans go awry however when they gut stuck in what is essentially a civil war:

• Shandorans, who are the original inhabitants were kicked off their island by Skypieans
  • They are the equivalent of Native Americans, with the Skypieans being the European colonizers
  • They’ve been fighting for 400 years
    • 400 years ago Noland Mont-Blanc made contact and became friends with them, and was allowed to come to their golden city (picture El-Dorado) and hear the great bell (the fire of Shandora)
    • The island got blasted up so when he came back it was gone and was re-branded a liar
    • The descendent of Mont-Blanc is looking in the sea, while the descendent of the Shandoran’s great warrior is trying to ring the bell again to let Noland know they were here
• Skypieans are being terrorized by the new God
  • Gon Thal (now the Sky Knight) was deposed six years ago on the verge of peace with the Shandoran’s
  • He’s been doing his best to protect people from Enel
• The new God (Enel) just wanted to collect all the gold then sink the whole thing and then go to the moon?? of all places?? (a crazy man if you ask me)
  • He ate a devil fruit with the ability to control lightning, which makes him invincible – till Luffy shows up

After many (many) battles our crew emerges victorious and all is set right. But wait! Turns out that the original city of Shandora fell defending a Pontigliph (the big squares with ancient text Robin is after and we first saw in Alabasta). Turns out, the last pirate to visit and see it was Gold D. Roger himself (He was Gon Thal’s homie). Now that thats all done, our crew set sail and head off to the next island as the fire of Shandora is lit (the bell rings)

Episode of Sky Island – 90 min

This is a very, and I mean very condensed version of the last however many episodes. They take out a lot and skip over a bunch of characters. They also fast forward so many events that it takes away the intensity of the interactions. Unlike with the other two episodes, alot more of the nuance and lore is skipped over so it’s better to watch the episodes. I will say that the end credits included a bit of the fight scene between Ace and Blackbeard (which I was not expecting) so that was nice.

Ep 196-206 (20 min)

This section is filler, as after they fell from the sky they just so happen to land inside a marine base. The marines confiscate their boat and their gold so the crew (through various hijinx and shenanigans) have to fight their way through the base to get back their stuff and escape; which they manage to do via an impact dial and reinflating the octopus balloon.

Baron Omatsuri – 91 min

As with most of the movies and specials so far, this is done in a slightly different art style than the anime, but not so much that it’s unrecognizable. The premise of this one is that the team get an invite to a secret resort island and when they get there the guy in charge (Baron Omatsuri) issues them a ‘trial of hell’. They win and my guy keeps challenging them. As the games progress however the team is more antagonistic towards each other, which we learn is the point. See there is a special flower that only grows on this island and it’s the flower of life and death. Turns out that the baron has been on this island for the better part of 20 years, alone because his crew died in the storm that shipwrecked him there. So he tricks pirates into coming and destroys their bonds with each other, then feeds them to the flower which keeps constructs of his friends alive. It started out with the usual silliness of one piece, then got actually scary, and then sad. He was just grieving his friends the whole time 😔

Next up is the Water 7 Saga (where I am currently at) so I’ll see you guys in another month!

Part 4

Dec 11, 2024

So. It’s been a while. Unfortunately for me, the depression got me, so I haven’t been up to watching anything lately. However I am starting to feel better so I’ll be back to it soon!! I’ll see you in the new year! 🎆