#sarc talks

redemption, at its core, is transactional. If you redeem a coupon, someone is paying the price of that cost, even if you get it for free. In a Christian worldview—which is where a lot of Western ideas of redemption comes from—freedom has a blood price. It’s why you see a lot of bad guys finish their transition into good guys by dying. They are making the ultimate sacrifice to make up for the wrong they’ve done before. This is slightly different than atonement, but I won’t dive too deeply into that here.

One Piece on the whole does not concern itself with that kind of morality. Instead it argues that every person has a place where they belong, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done. People are not born to be alone and should have the freedom to exist as they please. Robin didn’t have to make up for her time with Crocodile before joining the Straw Hats. They didn’t demand an explanation from her or pressure her to change. The friendship they offered came free of charge.

The story also frequently allows villainous characters to play heroic roles without changing their villainous natures. Luffy will work with guys like Crocodile and Bege if it suits his goals. Fishman Island makes this pretty clear—while Luffy is often heroic, he doesn’t care at all the be a hero, nor demand that the people think of him as one. Whether he’s lionized or villainized, he’s going to do what he wants.

Sure. The sharing of food—particularly sacrificial sharing of food—is a key part of making and maintaining relationships in the series. This is obvious in Sanji’s case, both during the Baratie arc and WCI, but exists all across the series. The Straw Hats always throw parties at the end of major sagas, and have more than once used up all their money in the process. The sharing of food is more important than material possessions,

It shows up in a lot of little moments, too. Rika risking her life to give a starving Zoro a rice ball, Zoro’s decision to eat it and show gratitude even though it was stomped on and made incorrectly, Bellemere cooking a reconciliatory meal right before her death and specifically mentioning it would break the family budget. Luffy risking a fire to get a bag of dog food for Chouchou. Kaya’s parents took in a starving Kuro. Tama and the Dressrosa gladiators giving Luffy food that they can’t really afford to give up. Luffy, Sabo, and Ace become brothers over a cup of sake, and as I pointed out today Ace was offered his place in WB’s crew with a bowl of soup.

I liked the theory that was floating around for awhile that each of the Four Blues and then the Grand Line had their own language/language groups, but I think they’d all have to be multilingual to some extent. I personally headcanon that there’d be a sort of universal “trade language” everyone is at least passable in. Since English is the language of bounty posters and the world newspaper I’d have it be that.

Zoro would know some Japanese since his family are expats from Wano and he’d have to know enough to turn all his attack names into puns. Robin would know the most, because of her travel and education. I could see Nami being able to read a couple extra languages from her book learning even if she can’t speak them well.

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times that I’d like Koala to be the right hand man to Dragon, yeah. But I also think Sabo should be the Rev’s spook, and be completely unknown/just a boogeyman that the WG is terrified of but has no bounty. It solves the mystery of Ace never seeing his bounty and hunting him down. Also the amnesia plot is dumb, but if it must exist then he shouldn’t have been healed until Dressrosa. Mansherry is right there, and it’s stupid and/or cruel that Robin spends two years with the Revolution and that brotherly relationship isn’t addressed. It’d be more interesting if Sabo distanced himself to protect his brothers after joining the Revolution and just happened to be on the other side of the world or something and unable to make it to Marineford on time, and ends up being too ashamed that he tries to stay away from Luffy until they reunite in Dressrosa.

But now I wonder, both should-be-canon but also complete headcanon, what specific illnesses are Sanji and Chopper preventing the crew from developing day in and day out? Scurvy of course, but other than that?

Luffy has a diet that predisposes him to gout but no other risk factors, and I don’t know how that would work with a rubber body. His use of Gear 2 would likely increase his risk of stroking out and is likened in-universe to doping or steroid use, but I think with his power he’d be at more risk for having his body age like an overused rubber band. I also personally think he should stretch less when he’s cold, but that’s neither here nor there.

Zoro’s an alcoholic and Sanji would be on a fast track for all the issues related to a 17 pack a day smoking history (COPD, emphysema, lung/throat/mouth cancer, etc). Usopp literally gave himself a split personality and Robin’s struggled with suicidal ideation since childhood. As Brook ages he’d be prone to osteoarthritis, and he’s not exactly sane either.

Franky never should have survived his initial surgery and would have to work around infection in all his internal hardware, and I suppose his immune system rejecting his artificial organs. How his GI tract works will forever remain a mystery, but he canonically has a refrigerator where his intestines should be so digestion and hydration would be tricky. In all honesty, Luffy should be asking Franky how he poops.

Nami would likely have shoulder and hand issues after stabbing herself during AP. There are a lot of complex muscle groups there, and for shoulder especially I’m sure she hit bone. Her foot got impaled during Alabasta too, but that was post Chopper. Her illness from LG was analogous to something like Lime disease, which often leads to other chronic health issues.

Much like Luffy and Gear 2, I think Choppers use of Monster Point, especially before learning to control it would cause great stress to his body with the additional potential consequences of doing all his drug testing on himself.

How would you explain to someone why Usopp was treated differently in relation to leaving the crew compared to Nami, Robin and Sanji?

While Nami, Robin, Sanji, and Ace all have inner turmoil that causes them a lot of problems, the most pressing threat in their arcs is external. There are outside forces impinging their freedoms in some way, and that's something Luffy isn't going to stand for.

Usopp's issues were all internal. The Straw Hats were just as quick to go after the Franky Family as they were Arlong or CP9, but if anything their display of strength only exacerbated the problem that had been festering under the surface.

It was Usopp who escalated the argument with Luffy by rejecting the latter's attempt at an apology, Usopp who demanded a duel, Usopp who rejected Choppers attempts at treating him after said duel, and Usopp who went through the entirety of the Enies Lobby arc with a mask over his face pretending to be another person so he wouldn't have to deal with the humiliation and shame of facing his old crew as himself. And remember, there were days, if not a couple weeks, after EL that Usopp could have approached Luffy to patch things up, but instead he waited until the last moment, almost ruining his chances entirely.

The exact moment Usopp humbled himself enough to admit he made a mistake he was welcomed back with open arms, but Luffy was not going to trample on Usopp's freedom by trying to force him on the crew, when Usopp made it very clear of his own accord that he did not want to be a Straw Hat.

Imagine with me if after the Enies Lobby arc that Robin was still actively suicidal and told Luffy to his face that she still wanted to die. I firmly believe that, under these circumstances, Luffy would let her. He said as much within the arc itself. He wouldn't like it and may try to talk her out of it, but at the end of the day, she's free to do what she wants.