#chapter 1161

Alright so we all get that the main theme from it is love. The love we carry and cherish. But, I want to take it a step further because it's also a clear display of how each Strawhat carries their love. Let's start with the obvious.

Luffy: From first glance, we see that he is holding so many plushies that they phisically do not fit into his arms, even while streching them. There's plushies flying around everywhere, but the ones the closest to him are also the ones whom he knew for the longest time. His brothers, Makino, Dadan, and even Woop Slap were by his side through his childhood and raised him. Ray and Shanks were his mentors, Whitebeard is someone he respects, and in a kinder world he could have also taken a parental role with. Garp... did not deserve to be here. But Luffy doesn't hold any grudges, so he gets a place too. It's fitting Dragon isn't here, due to having never met Luffy and thus not forming any connection with him. Its funny how close Gaimon is to him, but he is Oda's favourite character after all. And then you have his other allies. Boa, Carrot, Momo, Yamato, Kinemon and even Buggy (another of Oda's favourites) all the people he bonded with the most and some where almost on his crew. I would have absolutely added Bonney too since she didn't make an appearance in person. Its also weird how Koby is missing too, and there are no characters from Skypea. Kidd and Law aren't here either. Though it's probably because otherwise, Oda would have had to draw a separate spread that's just Luffy and his friends, lol. But I guess it proves my previouspoint too: Luffy does not hold back when it comes to loving others and showing that love, he is unpologetically a lover. (And a dreamer.) (And me)

Zoro: oh, he tells us the opposite story. There are only three plushies that potray characters he is close too: Mihawk (whom he is ignoring by sleeping) and Hiyori and Perona, but both were claimed but Sanji. But our Zoro is very loved. By Jhonny, Yosaku, Kiku, Kuina, and Koshirou. So what this rappresents, is that Zoro isn't vocal about hislove. Hecares, he gives a lot of fucks, but he has a hard outer shell that prevents him from being as emotional about it.

Nami: She only has a handful of plushies for herself, but holds them extremely close to her. Her sister, mother, father, old mentor, and lover Vivi. Nami has formed many connections, mostly with female characters, outside of the crew. Lola could have been there too if you ask me. Its interesting how Haredas is falling off from her arms, simbolizing how she isn't as close with him. But the way she loves is pretty similar to Luffy, even down to fighting for the same choppa plushie, just with less people.

Usopp: he is still in the process of getting plushies. Kaya and Heracles are both still in the claw machine, but it's implied that he won all the plushies for his friends, and now he is saving the real choppa. Usopp certainly loves those around him, but sometimes he questions deserving things, and believing in his abilities. So maybe, in an attempt to show love to his crewmates, he first won their plushies and is keeping his own for last. He did get the giants though, but they were most likely a diffeerent kind of prize.

Sanji: What can I say, he loves women. Pudding is the closest to him, because the two of them have the deepest connection. Rebecca is nearly invisible because he actually never met her, While Conis, Viola, Camie, Hiyori, Perona and Lilith take up an equal amount of space. It's interesting how Zeff is here but still inside the machine, while Reiju and Sora are completely missing. Likely because Sanji is the most vocal about his love for women, but his love towards Zeff is also there, even if he wont admitt it. Its the love for his family that, despite being also present, isn't shown at all since he pushed them away from him. The same reason why Zoro's plushies are also totally missing.

Chopper: Somebody help him T_T. In all seriousness, Kureha and theDoctor are both in the claw machine, with him. He is in peril, but also loved and getting helped. Choppa always had a hard time with being loved. From being rejected by his herd, to being villlanised by humans, and so on. But there were people in his corner. And this, in a cartoony slapstick way, shows his struggles with love during his life.

Robin: Similarly, she had struggles with love and being loved in her life. Clover is in the machine, Saul is already out but I can't see Olvia. Likely because, like with Luffy and Dragon, Robin never knew the real her that well. So she can't love her that well. She is so focused on Chopper and less about the plushies, because Robin certainly loves but since most of the people she loved were gone (or believed to be gone) she is more focused on present struggles.

Franky: similar pattern as Robin. Tom and Iceburg are in the machine, but he is more focused on chopper and having enough coins. No member of the franky family or Kokoro are here either. Franky felt guilty over his family for the longest time. Between endangering his first one and blaming himself for Tom's death, and getting the franky family in danger too. He, like usopp, probably felt less deserving of said love due to his mistakes. And like Robin, focuses more on the present.

Brook: he IS the claw machine lol. This is also a gag but since there are no plushies of Yorki, Laboon or his crewnates we can say he follows a similar logic to Robin, Usopp and Franky combined: he is more focused on the present love around his current crewmates than the lost love surrounding his old ones, and he wants to help them love.

Jimbei: He is kinda like Zoro. The only plushie of someone he is close to is Shirahoshi. No tiger, no koala, and no sun pirates. He is also asleep. When thinking about his love, there's a lot of heartbreak of loss he isn't fully over. The betrail from his brothers, the death of his queen, of his captain, and many others. He is more focused on his love for the current generation (rappresented by the strawhats + shirahoshi.) But he knows that they can deal with things themselves, so he is calm and allows himself to fall asleep.

So I guess we can divide the strawhats in three categories:

The unapologetic lovers who don't hide anything. (Nami and luffy)

The ones who aren't as open and vocal of their love and hide parts of all of it. (Zoro)

And the ones with pasts loves and heartbreaks who are more connected with the present. (Robin and Brook)

Usopp and Chopper I'll say are between groups one and three and Sanji is between groups one and two, Franky between groups two and three and Jimbei is kinda all three? But its hard to tell. Have a Veen diagram.

I still love every bit of God Valley being "Dragon's Marineford." I stand by what I said last time, it is the absolute coolest way to finally work him into the story proper to see him as the ant in the whirlwind. Imagine you saw this single panel in a flashback after Loguetown. Or even Enies Lobby. Think of how far into the story those are already.

This is the type of thing where One Piece's epic scope works in its favor. There's certain things you can start to do this deep into a massive series. Most authors lose their sense of tone or branch out in weird directions, but this is so cool. We finally get to really meet Dragon as this scrawny kid beneath the notice of titans like Linlin & Newgate. But even they're up-and-comers here! And it's all seeing Luffy's dad through the context of people his son has surpassed much later in life. The rich, nougaty reward for doing an arc like Wano where the "play" makes it really easy to lay the groundwork for more advanced narrative concepts. It's a major trope in slice of life series, this is what it looks like on a grander scale.

Sorry for laughing when I saw Shanks getting knock out when he was just a baby.

But this is cute.

While reading One Piece chapter 1161 I noticed Zeus was already part of Big Mum's arsenal, so, doesnt that mean he'd have a shit ton of important knowledge about all sorts of stuff?

BUT a Goku parallel was not at all what Oda was going for (even though we love how much he loves Dragon Ball).

The headbonk is the only reason why Shanks wasn't taken as well. The only reason he wasn't subjected to the same fate as Shamrock.

Why?

It's simple.

The god's knight St. Maffey didn't know there were two of them. And while Shamrock was obvious (he fell on the ground where she could see him and he was loudly crying from falling down), Shanks was not only protected from her sight by Dragons body, but he was also unconscious and couldn't scream.

St. Maffey may not have noticed Shanks falling down in a more visible place, if she was focused on Shamrock. But there is no way that she would have missed the sound of a second baby screaming and crying.