#final saga

I genuinely wonder how comfortable people would be with the idea that Yasopp left Banchina and Usopp not just for a dream, but because of obligation, discretion, or a larger cause. Because the way the fandom frames Yasopp feels off compared to what Oda actually shows us. I’ll admit, I used to be on the hate train too, fully believing Yasopp was just a deadbeat But the more I look at it, the less that explanation holds up.

When you compare him to other parents in One Piece like Olvia Robin or Monkey D. Dragon, it starts to feel inconsistent. Those characters are framed as tragic, complex figures who made painful sacrifices, not villains. Dragon literally states that a parent’s weakness is their child. So why is Yasopp automatically treated as uniquely irredeemable when (possibly) he fits into the same narrative category of absence tied to danger secrecy, or responsibility?

People often argue that Usopp’s backstory is fully contained within Syrup Village and that there’s nothing more to uncover. But that doesn’t sit right with me. The fact that a Yasopp related scene involving Garp telling Usopp about him was cut from Water 7 feels deliberate. That doesn’t read as something trimmed for time or awkward pacing. If Yasopp had been mentioned more explicitly before the Final Saga, it would have raised questions about Shanks far too early. And that matters.

Dragon treasures the earliest wanted posters of his son.

Luffy holds great importance to him.

Dragon yearns for his son.

Oh, the depth of his love for him.

DAY 01 - CRYPTID

back at it again at krispy kreme... didn't care about him until I found out that he's a WORM

Vivi will be the new head of the World Government

Akainu and the Marines will clash with the Celestial Dragons

Koby will fight Luffy one more time before siding with him and clashing with Akainu and the rest of the Marines

Koby, Smoker, Tashigi and the rest of SWORD will end up heading the New Marines

Buggy will reach Laugh Tale first and be the new Pirate King for about 5 minutes

Shanks will get the title from Buggy before passing it on to Luffy like he did with the Straw Hat

I wish I was able to draw because I've just listened to the final saga in EPIC the musical and I NEED someone to animate the transition from Hold them Down to the first few scenes in the song Odysseus.

I need to see Ody stringing the bow to "I will not let any part go to waste", and see Antonius getting up on a table to rile up the suitors. They're knocking candles over and picking up the torches from the walls in good-ol mob fashion.

"Here and now, there's a chance for action!" And Ody is lining up his shot with the axes, his back to the target so he's shooting towards the suitors. The suitors get all riled up, and Antonius steps into the shot. With the final line: "Channel the fire inside of your soul", we see Odysseus' eyes go red and BOOM.

SHOT FIRED

Antonius falls on the table, and everyone looks to the cloaked man who strung the bow AND shot through the axes AND just killed Antonius. Man is the epitome of a final boss.

I need a look of horror as the song Odysseus begins, I need the suitors frozen in fear as Ody calmly starts approaching singing about what he's suffered.

I need him to walk through the suitors who move out of his way: they're scared of him. They feel the aura. He grabs a pitcher of liquid off one of the messy tables- not something flammable, this is important. He keeps walking, bow slung over his shoulder and arrows at his side.

At the line: "Desecrated, sacked like Troy," Ody reaches a marred family portrait over the fireplace. It's him, Penelope, and baby Telemachus. His portrait's face has been scratched out and it's clear the suitors have destroyed it (you can even have them destroying it in Hold them Down for the drama). The younger Ody has his bow slung over his shoulder and a fancy cloak around his shoulders.

Then I need the camera angle to shift so Final Boss Ody aligns with the younger him, bow strung but his cloak ragged. He removes his hood to the line: "Dare to touch my wife and hurt my boy!"

And even though he looks so different from his younger self, it aligns perfectly with his position in the portrait.

The suitors all realize who it is, and man, I want Ody to look MENACING. I want to be AFRAID.

"I have had... enough". This is said as Ody pours the pitcher over the fireplace and plunges his side of the room into darkness, his eyes glowing in the ember's dying light. The only sources of light are from the suitors holding torches.

Then you can have some cool shots in the darkness as he starts his massacre aiming for those with torches but THOSE SCENES ARE STUCK IN MY HEAD AND I DO NOT POSSESS THE TALENT TO ANIMATE -

So I've heard a fair amount of speculation about what Luffy's dream is after he becomes Pirate King, and by extension, what Roger's dream was (recall Yamato's flashback confirming that Luffy's dream–which Ace shared with him in their long tipsy conversation/totally not a night of passion–is "the same thing the Pirate King" said.) Fan speculation about Luffy's real dream ranges from things like "host the biggest party in the world", to "go to the moon", "make a country of pirates" etc but I've always found something fundamentally unsatisfactory about these, and I'll throw my hat in the ring to narrow down the possibilities.

To recap, the information we have about Luffy's dream is as follows: -Both times the dream is alluded to, it's at the end of what I and probably a bunch of other people personally conceive of as major sagas pre and post TS that both culminate in a major battle featuring EVERYONE WE'VE SEEN AND MORE –It's something that Roger, battle-hardened and well into his 40s or 50s–shared with Oden, that was documented in Oden's journal and partially inspired Yamato's unshakeable faith in Luffy –The Straw Hats, Ace, and Sabo are all shocked to hear it and ask if he's fully serious, but several of them support it immediately and the others remain protective over it and swear they'll see Luffy's ambition through. Jinbe, Nami, and Usopp are in disbelief, Chopper and Franky are excited, Robin is stunned, but looks hopeful or contemplative rather than derisive or amused, etc. –Ace and Sabo laugh as children, but swear to themselves that they'll protect Luffy's dream and won't let anyone mock it. As he's dying, Ace tells Luffy that he truly, truly believes Luffy will pull it off, and he's only sorry he couldn't see him make that dream a reality. –Shanks found it really funny, but is repeatedly shown stating he thinks that this ridiculous fucking child he met is going to be the future of the next pirate era, implying that he has some degree of faith in this child he (likely) recognizes as the inheritor of Roger's will Luffy's dream is repeatedly referred to as "crazy", or in some cases, "a child's fantasy", but also implied to be something really pure, ambitious, and highly unlikely but theoretically possible.

When I come up with fan theories, I tend to approach them less from a "textual evidence" standpoint than a "what would pack the biggest emotional punch and tie into the message/arc/etc that we've been shown thus far" one, and that tends to inform which popular ones I buy into (e.g. I am about 50-60% convinced that Law death will be a thing because, Chekhov's gun aside, Law's been in fucking crisis and unsure of what he'll do as his own man free of Cora's legacy and tries to emulate him in Wano. And while I think there's still a good chance he'll survive to the end for other reasons, there's also potential for a LOT of bittersweet beauty in him repeating what happened to him in childhood by quite literally passing on his heart and life to someone else). Considering what would be emotionally resonant and feel anywhere near as earned as what it's been built up to over two whole fucking sagas, Luffy's dream has to be something absurdly ambitious and thematically resonant. I do not think, if Luffy's dream were something like "I want to go to the moon", that Yamato would hold faith in him through impossibly oppressive circumstances, or that the audience would care like, at all. So if the dream is tied to something at the core of Luffy's character and the underlying themes of the entire series, what does Luffy represent, and what's the point of One Piece? Luffy is, at this point in the story and honestly long before, the embodiment of this sort of radical, almost anarchic humanism pervading the entire series that seeks to bring genuine freedom, joy, and peace to people everywhere he goes. Even before any divine or joy boy associations, he's a bringer of dawn, a warrior of liberation, and a worker of miracles because he sees injustice happening around him and instantly rejects it. He tears down oppressors everywhere he goes, and he's eventually going to bring that reckoning to the World Government and Blackbeard and every other might-makes-right, brutal, thoughtless hierarchical oppressor stopping their helpless victims from living free, full, happy lives. And critically, he's the inheritor of a crazy, radical dream that'll shake the world because god knows One Piece loves to talk about inherited will/dreams/legacy.