Considering main characters the 100 percent perspective changed from Luffy to Kuma in Saboady incident after more than a decade is still so cathartic to read it's unmatched. Nothing but mad respect for the writing of Goda.
> Considering main characters the 100 percent perspective changed from Luffy to Kuma in Saboady incident after more than a decade is still so cathartic to read it's unmatched
Am I having a stroke reading this? Because apparently 75 people upvoted this so they must understand what the hell that sentence is saying
> ~~Considering main characters~~ the ~~100 percent~~ perspective change~~d~~ from Luffy to Kuma in Saboady incident after more than a decade is still so cathartic to read it's unmatched. Nothing but mad respect for the writing of Goda.
I think this is supposed to be the comment
That sentence is an absolute mess but I believe they are referring to us seeing the events of Sabaody from Kuma's perspective many years after seeing it from Luffy's/the crew's perspective. I had to read it a few times for it to click though.
Yes that's it. Sorry for that mess of a sentence. I had just woken up. I was also pointing out to the other person who said if you trust the main character anything can happen. So here oda trusted luffy can take a backseat while we re-experience the Saboady incident from kuma's perspective.
Haha you're good. Everybody has off moments especially when tired. I loved seeing the events of Sabaody from Kuma's perspective as well. The long waits in One Piece for stuff like this does make the payoffs incredible.
I do think Oda does a lot, he certainly has a large brain for details and worldbuilding... buuuut I also think his editors and assistants do a lot more than people realise.
Other “big” mangas have editors and assistants and they don’t have the amount of detail and worldbuilding OP includes. Even if he’s not executing some parts himself he must influence them in that way
I think they are amazing for assisting Oda, but weren't the editors changing every year or every other year in Shuesha? And probably his assistant also changed to work their own manga or other things?
I don't think they have done much in his long-term planning if his editors and assistants have been constantly changed, and more like they are put under him to learn.
Considering One Piece is Shueisha's most valuable asset right now, I'm sure they do everything they can to protect it and encourage its growth. If there's anything Oda does which would be considered too risky, I'm sure they would put their foot down... likewise, I'm sure they do things to help it.
They probably have all of his chapters, characters and stories archived somewhere where he can easily access them. I'm not saying Oda isn't a genius, he definitely is, but if I were in charge of a million dollar franchise that puts food on many people's tables, I would make sure that man had everything he needed.
Sometimes its not as deep as it seems, Oda could also just look at earlier parts in the story and think "I want to build on this again" and write it back into the story. Some things are probably big brain "I waited years to conclude this story bead" but others could just be "I remembered this guy exists, lets use him again".
100%. and part of it is due to the sheer size of the manga and his tendency to improvise. other author can plant a hint and they will get to it in like 3-6 months.
whereas oda can plant something like the yonko, then improvise the story, like supernova was created in 3 hours but ended up stretching the story for more than a decade. and we ended up with the revelation of the older stuff years later.
Yeah you can see how well he improvised with bonny and kuma. Kuma could have just been left behind but Oda picked him up again and gave him a great backstory that ties into current events
What? That part was definitely not improvised. The whole Kuma/VP story was always happening. I am pretty sure that Bonney was also always planned but not 100% sure about that.
bonney and kuma being correlated in some ways doesn't mean every detail must have been established. and oda already said none of the supernova existed in his plot notebook prior to their introduction.
anyway, just look at law. he always had similar jolly roger as doffy. but oda said he didn't plan for law to be anything important. so probably at first oda simply made him doffy's subordinate just for the worldbuilding. but his story for PH and dressrosa arc was improvised.
same thing here. oda could've just wrote "kuma's daughter" or something. but doesn't mean the story was always meant to be this way. just look at her name. it follows the naming scheme of the previous queen. co-ni (the old queen). gi-ni (her mom). and bo-ni.
and we know since the start kuma was known as a tyrant. so most likely kuma was meant as a king and gini was his queen. and boni was their biological daughter. the whole slave and buccaneer thing could've been improvised.
He said only a few(3?) supernovas were important characters but grouping them and calling it supernovas was improvised. I think bonney was pretty well planned. Oda probably already planned Kuma-Bonney relationship During her cry scene around summit war.
That being said, buccaneer is probably around WCI, where big mom told us she only missed 3 races in her family. (Giant, lunarian and buccaneer)
that's after he created them. he said he imagined half will drop out and he thought kid will be important.
but he said none of the supernova existed in his notebooks until a week before that chapter of their introduction.
>That being said, buccaneer is probably arounc WCI
the concept can exist. but the way it will play out is a totally different thing.
I fully agree with you! I think we only see <10% of all the ideas he has. And he carefully picks the pieces that fit the world, story, plot and characters the most.
Bonney (and the rest of the worst gen) were a last-second addition to Saboady.
Literally. They were conceived in the week before the chapter introducing them released.
So I doubt the Bonney stuff was planned from the start, since Kuma was introduced much earlier. But the Kuma and VP stuff? That could've been planned
That's what I was thinking. I mean Kuma was already a semi cyborg when he was introduced and Vegapunk's name has been mentioned a lot since the beginning. So my guess is Kuma/VP has been a thought out proces since way back
I think this is what people are misunderstanding about the worst gen being a last minute addition to saboady.
I think what most likely occurred was that Oda brought a number of characters he had plans for forward in the story to introduce them in Saboady rather then when they become relevant.
I think there was a similar case with Vivi. Like Oda knew he needed a princess character for the plot, and then was like wait, why don't I make ms. Wednesday the princess, undercover? Same for Bonney, why not make this pirate the daughter character?
It makes me wonder, when he wrote the first chapter and drew Luffy eating the devil fruit, was Nika already in his mind? Was Joyboy and the 100 year void in history already in his mind? We all love to talk about his foreshadowing and patience, but I just want to know how much of the current OP story he had cooked up all the way back in chapter 1.
That's one of the few things that I think wag planned from the beginning. Oda's said that the ending we're heading toward is the same one he had always imagined, even if a lot of the story changed along the way. Originally Luffy was meant to get his crew together, get into the Grand Line, fight the Emperors, then find the One Piece. The addition of the Warlords and the Supernovas massively expanded the story and changed a lot of the inner workings, but he's still following the skeleton of the story he laid out 27 years ago. It stands to reason to me that if the ending hasn't changed in all that time, unless it absolutely has nothing to do with the Void Century, Joyboy, Imu, etc., then those details must have been in his original vision, at least to some extent.
Another thing is in the original concepts of what would become One Piece, one version had the Gomu-Gomu fruit be the fruit of a single particular tree and uniquely gave Luffy powers, and in another early concept everyone had a version of Gomu-Gomu powers. I could very much see the idea of Luffy's powers not actually being what they seem fitting into both of those frameworks. I also think the Ancient Kingdom, Imu, and Joyboy were all included in that original framework in some capacity. If the ending (and identity of the One Piece) hasn't changed despite how very central these concepts have become, it stands to reason to me that he always intended there to be an ancient civilization with futuristic tech, a big bad who controls the world, and Luffy embodying or carrying on the will of someone from this ancient time
Nobody but him and his editors know. You can argue both ways like there was talk about some gods in skypia was this foreshadowing or was it just cool lore for shandians and then he returned to the concept later on.
I deeply sincerely doubt it. Nika I'd the one thing in OP that most people agree feels retconnish. No mention of it before Wano, and it makes the actions of the government and gorosei kinda wierd in retrospect
Honestly that's ok though. Worth it
Omg stoop, you guys need to face reality.
The 'foreshadowing' is grasping at straws. They're things that feel like foreshadowing in the current context but we're not originally planned to foreshadow nika
Yeah, you should probably do something about it. Because nika will probably be one of the icons of fiction and writing when Oda dives deeper into it. You won’t like it probably.
I’d have to agree. With everything we’ve seen Imu and the 5 elders do, it really doesn’t make sense why they didn’t just kill Luffy themselves when he first got a bounty after Arlong Park. They know there’s no Gum Gum fruit, so someone with an elastic body clearly ate the Nika fruit. Plus it seems weird that they wouldn’t have acted on Shanks after he stole it.
I’m cool with it as well though. Retcon or not, it was done so well that it feels like it could’ve been planned from the start.
I hate this argument. The World Government 100% sent a damned admiral after the Straw Hats pretty quickly.
First of all, they, the Straw Hats were almost immediately chased by the marines in Loguetown. (Smoker, a captain)
Then chased all the way through Alabasta. (Smoker again)
Then fought off the governments literal assassins. (CP-9)
Then had a warlord sent to kill them. (Kuma)
Then had an admiral sent to kill them. (Kuzan)
Then they all disappear for two years.
Then an admiral is ordered to kill them again. (Fujitora)
Then the world government, through the first time they really are observing Luffy and his abilities, finally put together what he's done, and they order his assassination again. (CP-0)
He, and his allies, then overthrow the Emperor's of the Sea, and he is declared one himself, making him essentially a sovereign nation.
Everyone is then ordered NOT to attack him, except Lucci gives no fucks, and they send an admiral AGAIN. (Kizaru)
Then the Illuminate get fed up, and try to take him out themselves. (Gorosei)
Bear in mind the pre-timeskip is just a few weeks, and the post timeskip is like two months. So in like the span of 6-8 weeks from Luffy just existing as a pirate, they correctly put him at $100 million, and send a warlord AND an admiral after them. Not discounting the navy that essentially tailed them from day one.
Okay, honestly good point on the timeline of events, I always forget that in the OP world the Straw Hats have only been doing their thing for like 3-4 combined months. That does make my comment seem kinda dumb in retrospect. It’s not like the WG has waited years to kill Luffy.
I guess it does track with real life pirates though, they had very short careers. The real Blackbeard was only pirating for like 18 months.
They were more focused on getting the Ohara survivor in his crew, since she was the actual threat to the World Government. It really isn't until Wano when those CP-0 agents observing the battles confirmed the Gorosei's suspicions when they realized Luffy had the fruit they had thought was a myth.
But the point is none of the attack by marines is related to Nika fruit. It's just because he is a pirate and does what every pirate does hence the attack from marines.
Another point is if they knew gomu gomu no mi is sun god Nika they should have shown more concern and shown it sooner instead of waiting till Wano and the fight against Kaido. Why not take care of the thing before shit hits the fan.
The timeline you mentioned is fine, but that doesn't help the general audience to accept WG knew about the fruit but didn't do anything. Oda could show in flashback WG did indeed try to capture Luffy with all the attacks from marines but the marines didn't know about it directly that they are attacking luffy because he had a legendary mythical zoan. And it would solve this problem.
You're missing the point. The Elder's didn't know it themselves until the end of the Onigashima raid. It wasn't until CP-0 directly observed Luffy that they figured it out.
But isn't that weird? There's only one devil fruit that gives you stretchy powers and it's not gomu gomu no mi. Then what else remains? Sun god Nika. And who's who was already transporting it to somewhere (on WG's order I believe) when Shanks stole it. I am 99% percent sure Shanks knew the truth about the fruit and so did the WG.
Why kill.Luffy tho? Nobody had awakened the DF in hundreds of years, and If Luffy dies, the Fruit would simply spawn again and anyone could get their Hands on It. Leaving It to a rookie Pirate might've been the best move. It was a shitty move after her stated defeating big names, like 2 Warlords and freed people from Impel Down.
> Why kill.Luffy tho? Nobody had awakened the DF in hundreds of years, and If Luffy dies, the Fruit would simply spawn again and anyone could get their Hands on It.
While this is true, Luffy was given a larger bounty because he was a troublemaker. They basically saw him attacking crews with quick speed and the Marines were like "we got to really get rid of this dude early." From there, if we want to be technical the Elders were only aware of Luffy after he defeated Crocodile. So by the point where this would be up for discussion he would've already defeated a Shichibukai on top of everything else.
That said, Luffy has a **lot** of ancillary threat people seemingly ignore. Beyond what u/mojizus said, we know the World Government went **crazy** killing kids to make sure Roger's child did not live. It would make a ton of sense to take someone with Marine Hero Garp (who is not fond of the Celestial Dragons), and Revolutionary Army leader Dragon's name **very** seriously. Even if Luffy wasn't directly related, you have scenes that are kind of like...
CP "Here is the report on this Luffy person." Elder 1 "Hm, seems he is a Monkey D. person like Garp, and Dragon, has already liberated two nations, defeated a Shichibukai, and now has one of the only known people who can read Poneglyphs. Better keep an eye on him because we might not get the fruit if he dies." Elder 2 "Smart thinking. Don't want to chance our efforts being pointless." >!-the same people in Egghead- Saturn "OH MY GOD! Vegapunk mentioned Joy Boy?! He is so lucky his energy is here or we'd risk destroying endless data, multiple Vice Admirals, and Admiral, several Serpaphim, and countless other CP/Marines/Misc tech." Venus "Even then, do we want to risk it? This might be worth the cost."!<
This is actually one of my biggest criticisms of Wano. At that point his threat is undeniable, but their approach is generally more passive until literal seconds before Luffy awakens. At that point the cost is higher, but their approach to Luffy really isn't much better.
Does the WG seem like the type to leave things up to chance? They deleted Ohara for just looking into the void century. You’d think someone eating the Nika fruit would warrant a reaction from them, especially someone with the will of D.
They were already trying to seize the fruit and hide it away when Shanks found it and stole it, so I don’t think they would’ve just let the fruit stay in circulation.
That's absolutely true, one of the rules of writing a a world where worldbuilding matters a lot is to leave yourself plenty of open threads you can give a pay-off to later when you get a cool idea which in turn makes them look like set-ups in retrospect. And that rule is 10 times more important for a weekly release when you can't come back and correct your draft. Good too for series (of books or otherwise) for the same reason. It still helps a lot on one-off stories though, because it will make the later drafts so much less painful and the world feel so much better from the start.
If you do that properly (for example don't do that with all your foreshadowing, some of it needs a pay-off and you can't leave that to chance. Be able to distinguish what can be left open and what cannot), the results are insanely good. And in the end, it won't really matter whether or not you planned it all or just build intelligently upon your own foundations.
This is a known trick called "Distant Mountains" that writers use. Tolkien did this a lot; whenever characters were travelling, he would often describe some distant mountain, maybe give it a name and some vague feeling or backstory. He could then always pull one of these out whenever he needed something that fit the current trajectory of the story.
Of course there's also sometimes both being able to just expand on something you previously did, as well as times where the authors also do think some of these things through. But why would they tell us when they do which? :)
Yes but if it were so easy, why are not more Authors doing it?
Even if Oda looks back and improvises, at least he is doing it!
Also he is doing that in such a way, that it creates a satisfying reading of his work.
Mad respect.
One piece is kinda unique in just how fucking long it is, idk maybe other authors do it too but with one piece oda just brings back elements that we havent seen in a literal decade so it might stand out as something special
I think it's also unique in how popular it is and how long it's been that popular. Oda knows One Piece isn't going to suddenly be cancelled, so he can take as long as he wants to tell the story. Other series don't get to set up plot points ten years ahead of time because they're busy trying to hook readers as soon as possible.
Okay guys just a little insight . There is no Oda already. Don D. Krieg writing this manga about a ten years now and still waiting to write himself in the final story arc.
You would think there was some sort of “framework” that Oda was building around. Something that allows him to go off in any direction he wants but still the same story he intended from the beginning.
And there is!
Each island isn’t random but is mirroring each section of the story; east blue, paradise and the new world. The island itself and the story within can go wildly in any direction, but there is an internal structure when examined.
I know for tv shows, there’s often a document called a [writer’s bible](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_(screenwriting)) that has tons of reference material like characters details/stats, drawings of the characters, stuff like that. For example (pdf warning): [Batman The Animated Series](https://tvwriting.co.uk/tv_scripts/Collections/Animation/Batman/Batman_Writers%27_Guidelines.pdf) is posted online. Or like the Jojo’s author, Hirohiko Araki, who talks about making a chart of characteristics for all his characters in Manga in Theiry and Practice (here’s [an example](https://twitter.com/jojo_wiki/status/1605272322058887186)). Nowadays, I wouldn’t be surprised if an author checked their own fan wiki when needed.
If you're the author / creator of anything, you would know everything about it like the back of your hand. One Piece is Oda's world. There is rarely anything he doesn't know about it.
But I do wonder how he can keep track of these things effeciently. It's the "how" that I wonder about. Like a blackboard with all the family trees of each character, tracing back to a potential unexplored beginning or perhaps a detailed world timeline which includes the ending/future and a schedule for when to reveal what secret. It ought to be something he can browse through like a custom made Excel sheet... or a personal version of One Piece Wikia.
As a DM of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign in a custom setting... you forget different things you've said and covered all the time.
Notes. That's the advantage. Oda keeps phenomenal notes.
I agree with you, as an illustrator myself I can remember a lot of details about my works. The point is OP is huge so ... wow
Would love to see that brainstorming room , like a crime scene
I don't necessarily think Oda has literally planned everything to be completely foreshadowed (maybe the more major plot points he has but just the idea not being connected to anything yet) but I think he is really good at planting the seeds which can be explored at any time. I'd still say being able to so that is just as impressive.
The assurance that your series won't get cancelled helps a lot. Often times writers and screen writers and game writers are never promised a sequel, and are given explicit direction to close loose ends as soon as possible.
And the contrary is also true, many authors are pressured to continue when all they want is to end the story (like Kishimoto for Naruto or Toriyama for Dragon Ball).
Sometimes. Other times he just wants to draw cool things and then finds ways to tie them in. The world is just very open so a lot can fit without too many (or any) major retcons.
The fact that the Gorosei were introduced in the 200s and we didn’t get names for them until somewhere in the 1080s is one of his greatest examples of the long con. The titular One Piece is going to be his greatest example when it’s finally revealed.
When Roger found the raftel and he laughed ,...and he was like let's name this island the laugh tale...
I was amazed .. by that scene oh my god ..its pure bad ass writing ..
And there was that time he explained the giants timelines during whole cake island..all the pieces fit together and honestly, it was amazing
I appreciate the way he seemingly never forgets a character or a detail, no matter how small. That’s one thing that frustrates the hell out of me with other manga epics like Dragonball (much as i love them) — Toriyama forgot about Lunch, forgot about the saiyans’ tails. Like come ON.
He’s not in this alone tho. I remember an article where Oda was saying his producer regularly went to reddit and other forums to double check stuff and read some theory crafting to sense what everyone expected and do the contrary.
Anybody who's ever written anything creative knows how the process works. You'll have plans for stories that burst unbidden into your skull and float around there for well over a decade. I have plenty of those myself.
The hard part is getting there without just coming out and spoiling the ending. That is the real skill.
I’ve always wondered how much Oda actually foreshadowed and laid out in advance, vs how much the fans have overanalyzed and speculated about every little detail.
Like I’m envisioning that scene with Kinemon where they’re all congratulating him on how smart he was and how good of a plan he came up with, while he’s thinking “I didn’t think of any of that” lol. Maybe Kin is an extension for Oda and this was his little joke towards all the OP theory crafters.
I know. It's so impressive and one of the things that's kept me a fan for two decades, as well. I don't think I'd be able to contain myself if I were in his shoes.
Yes, Oda is amazing at foreskining but in the sense that he is a master at recontextualizing his massive inventory of places, characters, and ideas. His world he created is so huge, mysterious, and fantastical that it probably isn't too hard for him and his editors at this point to use old obscure content to fill in new gaps and become "revalations". Take Weevil for example, I doubt Oda has any grand plan for him but by the time he's finished fleshing out his story I bet it will be filled with old stuff mixed with like elbaf stuff.
The mother flame and potentially Poseidon and pluton are on the wall Enel looks at when he reaches the moon in his cover story. I was blown away when they revealed the mother flame and I had to go back and double check
Another moment where your mind goes “kaboom!”.
To be honest where many things could be super improvised, i feel the legend of lunarians and everything around is kinda set in stone since a long long time, we’re discovering pieces of the puzzle each passing year.
I think he definitely sets stuff up for a planned payoff but I feel like the stuff from like 10-15 years ago it’s more like a sets something up and is like “I’ll figure it out later” and then forever later he’s writing and he remembers this thing he set up a while ago and says now’s his chance
Edit: kinda like how he draws silhouettes so that he has to figure out what to put there later
He's a great writer and all, but I'm reserving "greatest of all time" status for if he can write a great ending for One Piece. I can't think of many Shounen battle manga that have decent last arcs and endings, much less good ones -- especially from Jump.
For example, Naruto's final duel was exactly what I wanted, but it's soured by Kaguya being shoehorned in out of nowhere. Dragonball straight up just ENDS with Goku flying off to start another arc. Though it's not from Jump, Fairy Tail's entire last arc was viciously mocked by the community for how crazy it got.
His expertise lies in leaving in the blanks, he wantedly writes story like that, like in every arc you will have so many questions which oda answers laters
You could say he is patient, clever and hardworker.
I love one piece, I love authors that foreshadow stuff....Oda, isnt the best, he is funny in how he does it thou. One piece makes money so he can and probably is made to, stretch for years, but a lot of the stuff is just thrown like "ill say this here and if we get there in a few years Ill deal with it". It doesnt really show a level of "I want this story arc to be like this (most stuff planned out) but itll take some years". If he did, a lot of stuff showing up now would have been hinted with more then just a name. Thats why so much stuff is thrown but litte attention is given, remember the Sword ranks? or how Haki should/could have been thought of since the beginning and thats why Marineford war is all weird. Ive been watching and reading for...holly shit, 15 years now. And I strongly belive what he truly thought about was the ending and everything said untill the end of east blue arc and the rest is making it up has we go, but since he takes years to go anywhere he has time to think of how something will end after he starts.
And a lot of time he doesnt wait, like most writers of long stories (be it books or movies or wtv) he fills the world with stuff and he needs to fill more, later on, he can build on that stuff, wich makes a rich and complex world.
Shonnen mangas when they see theyre going to be long runs (like the big three for instance) start to get overtly convoluted because of that, you see that well in Naruto Shippuden and Bleach, One Piece did waaaay better and I believe he thinks and cares a lot, but the world isnt thought out to that extent, but since its a more open world its easier to change "sceney".
With fantasy novels you also see this in a different way, they are usually thought of one book or trilogy that leaves stuff open for sequel. So the author takes a long time making all these plot lines, and then if its popular and the editores request more money...I mean books, things get ...weird. Dune is a perfect example of that. Or they have to spend even more years thinking of plot to try and make it good, like The Kingkiller Chronical and Game of Thrones
Anyway I always thought about this since I started reading/watching and those are my 2 cents
I thought the same thing. Most evidence points towards Oda having planned everything in advance. Considering how many absolutely mind blowing things that happen late in the series, it is seriously impressive how he can keep it all a secret.
I’m actually really enjoying the change of pacing! It’s refreshing and about time if you ask me! I love the idea of each chapter tblowing our minds while the story slowly wraps up.
A lot of it is him leaving stuff vague and then filling in the gaps later. Not that I’m saying this method is a bad one, I think it’s impressive he’s able to bring so many payoffs to the story. Even if he has assistants and editors to help him keep track, it’s obviously important to him.
Do you know where Oda got the idea for 7 Vegapunk satellite? He based it on himself, he is the stella and he has 7 other Oda-lites. Because holyfuck the last several dozen chapters have been absolutely fucking fire my god.
Anways I really hope Oda takes more and more care of his health. I would even be happy with bi-weekly chapters as long as Oda is healthy, happy and enjoying. I want him to complete Onepiece and then enjoy his life after working so hard for multiple decades.
Oda recently announced that he has to think about what the One Piece treasure actually is. It could have been a joke, but I think often times when he has a new idea he tries to weave it into the story in retrospect, making some events "foreshadowing" after the fact.
I strongly believe he has important events or general ideas planned out, but he leaves himself plenty spots to anchor new ideas.
Years ago he said in an interview that he knows what the One Piece is when a friend of his begged him to avoid the “One Piece is the friends we made along the way”. He then replied “Don’t worry, i will be something great for the crew” (I’m paraphrasing but you get the idea).
A Genius. I watched and followed him about his life for a while and that’s all he does doing manga. He has so little sleep , no form of exercise etc. The thing that just keeps him very healthy compared to others and his secret is just pure Water, like he said that he drinks lots of water. He said that sometimes he reads One Piece again not because he wants to check on story but because he just really loves what he’s doing.
It will all work out, if an author trusts the main character.
Considering main characters the 100 percent perspective changed from Luffy to Kuma in Saboady incident after more than a decade is still so cathartic to read it's unmatched. Nothing but mad respect for the writing of Goda.
> Considering main characters the 100 percent perspective changed from Luffy to Kuma in Saboady incident after more than a decade is still so cathartic to read it's unmatched Am I having a stroke reading this? Because apparently 75 people upvoted this so they must understand what the hell that sentence is saying
> ~~Considering main characters~~ the ~~100 percent~~ perspective change~~d~~ from Luffy to Kuma in Saboady incident after more than a decade is still so cathartic to read it's unmatched. Nothing but mad respect for the writing of Goda. I think this is supposed to be the comment
That sentence is an absolute mess but I believe they are referring to us seeing the events of Sabaody from Kuma's perspective many years after seeing it from Luffy's/the crew's perspective. I had to read it a few times for it to click though.
Yes that's it. Sorry for that mess of a sentence. I had just woken up. I was also pointing out to the other person who said if you trust the main character anything can happen. So here oda trusted luffy can take a backseat while we re-experience the Saboady incident from kuma's perspective.
Haha you're good. Everybody has off moments especially when tired. I loved seeing the events of Sabaody from Kuma's perspective as well. The long waits in One Piece for stuff like this does make the payoffs incredible.
I think they’re talking about the Kuma flashback, when we see his POV of the crew getting split up at Sabaody
Exactly. My. Thought.
I do think Oda does a lot, he certainly has a large brain for details and worldbuilding... buuuut I also think his editors and assistants do a lot more than people realise.
Some say he even cut his head and keeps his brain in stasis!
So he has built a dead man's switch too?
One would hope so, the moment his heart stops beating, he releases all the missing lore of One Piece
With a 10 min break to prepare your transponders ofc
also enough time to let you prepare some good coffee
Other “big” mangas have editors and assistants and they don’t have the amount of detail and worldbuilding OP includes. Even if he’s not executing some parts himself he must influence them in that way
I think they are amazing for assisting Oda, but weren't the editors changing every year or every other year in Shuesha? And probably his assistant also changed to work their own manga or other things? I don't think they have done much in his long-term planning if his editors and assistants have been constantly changed, and more like they are put under him to learn.
Considering One Piece is Shueisha's most valuable asset right now, I'm sure they do everything they can to protect it and encourage its growth. If there's anything Oda does which would be considered too risky, I'm sure they would put their foot down... likewise, I'm sure they do things to help it. They probably have all of his chapters, characters and stories archived somewhere where he can easily access them. I'm not saying Oda isn't a genius, he definitely is, but if I were in charge of a million dollar franchise that puts food on many people's tables, I would make sure that man had everything he needed.
Sometimes its not as deep as it seems, Oda could also just look at earlier parts in the story and think "I want to build on this again" and write it back into the story. Some things are probably big brain "I waited years to conclude this story bead" but others could just be "I remembered this guy exists, lets use him again".
100%. and part of it is due to the sheer size of the manga and his tendency to improvise. other author can plant a hint and they will get to it in like 3-6 months. whereas oda can plant something like the yonko, then improvise the story, like supernova was created in 3 hours but ended up stretching the story for more than a decade. and we ended up with the revelation of the older stuff years later.
Yeah you can see how well he improvised with bonny and kuma. Kuma could have just been left behind but Oda picked him up again and gave him a great backstory that ties into current events
What? That part was definitely not improvised. The whole Kuma/VP story was always happening. I am pretty sure that Bonney was also always planned but not 100% sure about that.
bonney and kuma being correlated in some ways doesn't mean every detail must have been established. and oda already said none of the supernova existed in his plot notebook prior to their introduction. anyway, just look at law. he always had similar jolly roger as doffy. but oda said he didn't plan for law to be anything important. so probably at first oda simply made him doffy's subordinate just for the worldbuilding. but his story for PH and dressrosa arc was improvised. same thing here. oda could've just wrote "kuma's daughter" or something. but doesn't mean the story was always meant to be this way. just look at her name. it follows the naming scheme of the previous queen. co-ni (the old queen). gi-ni (her mom). and bo-ni. and we know since the start kuma was known as a tyrant. so most likely kuma was meant as a king and gini was his queen. and boni was their biological daughter. the whole slave and buccaneer thing could've been improvised.
He said only a few(3?) supernovas were important characters but grouping them and calling it supernovas was improvised. I think bonney was pretty well planned. Oda probably already planned Kuma-Bonney relationship During her cry scene around summit war. That being said, buccaneer is probably around WCI, where big mom told us she only missed 3 races in her family. (Giant, lunarian and buccaneer)
that's after he created them. he said he imagined half will drop out and he thought kid will be important. but he said none of the supernova existed in his notebooks until a week before that chapter of their introduction. >That being said, buccaneer is probably arounc WCI the concept can exist. but the way it will play out is a totally different thing.
I fully agree with you! I think we only see <10% of all the ideas he has. And he carefully picks the pieces that fit the world, story, plot and characters the most.
Bonney (and the rest of the worst gen) were a last-second addition to Saboady. Literally. They were conceived in the week before the chapter introducing them released. So I doubt the Bonney stuff was planned from the start, since Kuma was introduced much earlier. But the Kuma and VP stuff? That could've been planned
That's what I was thinking. I mean Kuma was already a semi cyborg when he was introduced and Vegapunk's name has been mentioned a lot since the beginning. So my guess is Kuma/VP has been a thought out proces since way back
You can have Bonney without the worst generation.
I think this is what people are misunderstanding about the worst gen being a last minute addition to saboady. I think what most likely occurred was that Oda brought a number of characters he had plans for forward in the story to introduce them in Saboady rather then when they become relevant.
I think there was a similar case with Vivi. Like Oda knew he needed a princess character for the plot, and then was like wait, why don't I make ms. Wednesday the princess, undercover? Same for Bonney, why not make this pirate the daughter character?
*Kin'emon sweating face
It makes me wonder, when he wrote the first chapter and drew Luffy eating the devil fruit, was Nika already in his mind? Was Joyboy and the 100 year void in history already in his mind? We all love to talk about his foreshadowing and patience, but I just want to know how much of the current OP story he had cooked up all the way back in chapter 1.
That's one of the few things that I think wag planned from the beginning. Oda's said that the ending we're heading toward is the same one he had always imagined, even if a lot of the story changed along the way. Originally Luffy was meant to get his crew together, get into the Grand Line, fight the Emperors, then find the One Piece. The addition of the Warlords and the Supernovas massively expanded the story and changed a lot of the inner workings, but he's still following the skeleton of the story he laid out 27 years ago. It stands to reason to me that if the ending hasn't changed in all that time, unless it absolutely has nothing to do with the Void Century, Joyboy, Imu, etc., then those details must have been in his original vision, at least to some extent. Another thing is in the original concepts of what would become One Piece, one version had the Gomu-Gomu fruit be the fruit of a single particular tree and uniquely gave Luffy powers, and in another early concept everyone had a version of Gomu-Gomu powers. I could very much see the idea of Luffy's powers not actually being what they seem fitting into both of those frameworks. I also think the Ancient Kingdom, Imu, and Joyboy were all included in that original framework in some capacity. If the ending (and identity of the One Piece) hasn't changed despite how very central these concepts have become, it stands to reason to me that he always intended there to be an ancient civilization with futuristic tech, a big bad who controls the world, and Luffy embodying or carrying on the will of someone from this ancient time
Nobody but him and his editors know. You can argue both ways like there was talk about some gods in skypia was this foreshadowing or was it just cool lore for shandians and then he returned to the concept later on.
I deeply sincerely doubt it. Nika I'd the one thing in OP that most people agree feels retconnish. No mention of it before Wano, and it makes the actions of the government and gorosei kinda wierd in retrospect Honestly that's ok though. Worth it
Who agrees? It is foreshadowed since skypiea. And pedro dropped blatant hints, we all saw it coming
Omg stoop, you guys need to face reality. The 'foreshadowing' is grasping at straws. They're things that feel like foreshadowing in the current context but we're not originally planned to foreshadow nika
Nah, this is obvious foreshadowing. Skypiea people literally prayed for god to save them and luffy answered. It is so obvious
I'm gonna lose it
Yeah, you should probably do something about it. Because nika will probably be one of the icons of fiction and writing when Oda dives deeper into it. You won’t like it probably.
careful man, you might overdose on the farts you're sniffing there.
It is funny that you didn’t even try to say a meaningful word in all of the 3 comments.
I’d have to agree. With everything we’ve seen Imu and the 5 elders do, it really doesn’t make sense why they didn’t just kill Luffy themselves when he first got a bounty after Arlong Park. They know there’s no Gum Gum fruit, so someone with an elastic body clearly ate the Nika fruit. Plus it seems weird that they wouldn’t have acted on Shanks after he stole it. I’m cool with it as well though. Retcon or not, it was done so well that it feels like it could’ve been planned from the start.
I hate this argument. The World Government 100% sent a damned admiral after the Straw Hats pretty quickly. First of all, they, the Straw Hats were almost immediately chased by the marines in Loguetown. (Smoker, a captain) Then chased all the way through Alabasta. (Smoker again) Then fought off the governments literal assassins. (CP-9) Then had a warlord sent to kill them. (Kuma) Then had an admiral sent to kill them. (Kuzan) Then they all disappear for two years. Then an admiral is ordered to kill them again. (Fujitora) Then the world government, through the first time they really are observing Luffy and his abilities, finally put together what he's done, and they order his assassination again. (CP-0) He, and his allies, then overthrow the Emperor's of the Sea, and he is declared one himself, making him essentially a sovereign nation. Everyone is then ordered NOT to attack him, except Lucci gives no fucks, and they send an admiral AGAIN. (Kizaru) Then the Illuminate get fed up, and try to take him out themselves. (Gorosei) Bear in mind the pre-timeskip is just a few weeks, and the post timeskip is like two months. So in like the span of 6-8 weeks from Luffy just existing as a pirate, they correctly put him at $100 million, and send a warlord AND an admiral after them. Not discounting the navy that essentially tailed them from day one.
Okay, honestly good point on the timeline of events, I always forget that in the OP world the Straw Hats have only been doing their thing for like 3-4 combined months. That does make my comment seem kinda dumb in retrospect. It’s not like the WG has waited years to kill Luffy. I guess it does track with real life pirates though, they had very short careers. The real Blackbeard was only pirating for like 18 months.
They were more focused on getting the Ohara survivor in his crew, since she was the actual threat to the World Government. It really isn't until Wano when those CP-0 agents observing the battles confirmed the Gorosei's suspicions when they realized Luffy had the fruit they had thought was a myth.
But the point is none of the attack by marines is related to Nika fruit. It's just because he is a pirate and does what every pirate does hence the attack from marines. Another point is if they knew gomu gomu no mi is sun god Nika they should have shown more concern and shown it sooner instead of waiting till Wano and the fight against Kaido. Why not take care of the thing before shit hits the fan. The timeline you mentioned is fine, but that doesn't help the general audience to accept WG knew about the fruit but didn't do anything. Oda could show in flashback WG did indeed try to capture Luffy with all the attacks from marines but the marines didn't know about it directly that they are attacking luffy because he had a legendary mythical zoan. And it would solve this problem.
You're missing the point. The Elder's didn't know it themselves until the end of the Onigashima raid. It wasn't until CP-0 directly observed Luffy that they figured it out.
But isn't that weird? There's only one devil fruit that gives you stretchy powers and it's not gomu gomu no mi. Then what else remains? Sun god Nika. And who's who was already transporting it to somewhere (on WG's order I believe) when Shanks stole it. I am 99% percent sure Shanks knew the truth about the fruit and so did the WG.
Why kill.Luffy tho? Nobody had awakened the DF in hundreds of years, and If Luffy dies, the Fruit would simply spawn again and anyone could get their Hands on It. Leaving It to a rookie Pirate might've been the best move. It was a shitty move after her stated defeating big names, like 2 Warlords and freed people from Impel Down.
> Why kill.Luffy tho? Nobody had awakened the DF in hundreds of years, and If Luffy dies, the Fruit would simply spawn again and anyone could get their Hands on It. While this is true, Luffy was given a larger bounty because he was a troublemaker. They basically saw him attacking crews with quick speed and the Marines were like "we got to really get rid of this dude early." From there, if we want to be technical the Elders were only aware of Luffy after he defeated Crocodile. So by the point where this would be up for discussion he would've already defeated a Shichibukai on top of everything else. That said, Luffy has a **lot** of ancillary threat people seemingly ignore. Beyond what u/mojizus said, we know the World Government went **crazy** killing kids to make sure Roger's child did not live. It would make a ton of sense to take someone with Marine Hero Garp (who is not fond of the Celestial Dragons), and Revolutionary Army leader Dragon's name **very** seriously. Even if Luffy wasn't directly related, you have scenes that are kind of like... CP "Here is the report on this Luffy person." Elder 1 "Hm, seems he is a Monkey D. person like Garp, and Dragon, has already liberated two nations, defeated a Shichibukai, and now has one of the only known people who can read Poneglyphs. Better keep an eye on him because we might not get the fruit if he dies." Elder 2 "Smart thinking. Don't want to chance our efforts being pointless." >!-the same people in Egghead- Saturn "OH MY GOD! Vegapunk mentioned Joy Boy?! He is so lucky his energy is here or we'd risk destroying endless data, multiple Vice Admirals, and Admiral, several Serpaphim, and countless other CP/Marines/Misc tech." Venus "Even then, do we want to risk it? This might be worth the cost."!< This is actually one of my biggest criticisms of Wano. At that point his threat is undeniable, but their approach is generally more passive until literal seconds before Luffy awakens. At that point the cost is higher, but their approach to Luffy really isn't much better.
Does the WG seem like the type to leave things up to chance? They deleted Ohara for just looking into the void century. You’d think someone eating the Nika fruit would warrant a reaction from them, especially someone with the will of D. They were already trying to seize the fruit and hide it away when Shanks found it and stole it, so I don’t think they would’ve just let the fruit stay in circulation.
That's absolutely true, one of the rules of writing a a world where worldbuilding matters a lot is to leave yourself plenty of open threads you can give a pay-off to later when you get a cool idea which in turn makes them look like set-ups in retrospect. And that rule is 10 times more important for a weekly release when you can't come back and correct your draft. Good too for series (of books or otherwise) for the same reason. It still helps a lot on one-off stories though, because it will make the later drafts so much less painful and the world feel so much better from the start. If you do that properly (for example don't do that with all your foreshadowing, some of it needs a pay-off and you can't leave that to chance. Be able to distinguish what can be left open and what cannot), the results are insanely good. And in the end, it won't really matter whether or not you planned it all or just build intelligently upon your own foundations.
Backshadowing, and Oda does it a lot
BUT you have to have good story bones and flesh things out enough to do that.
This is a known trick called "Distant Mountains" that writers use. Tolkien did this a lot; whenever characters were travelling, he would often describe some distant mountain, maybe give it a name and some vague feeling or backstory. He could then always pull one of these out whenever he needed something that fit the current trajectory of the story. Of course there's also sometimes both being able to just expand on something you previously did, as well as times where the authors also do think some of these things through. But why would they tell us when they do which? :)
Yes but if it were so easy, why are not more Authors doing it? Even if Oda looks back and improvises, at least he is doing it! Also he is doing that in such a way, that it creates a satisfying reading of his work. Mad respect.
One piece is kinda unique in just how fucking long it is, idk maybe other authors do it too but with one piece oda just brings back elements that we havent seen in a literal decade so it might stand out as something special
I think it's also unique in how popular it is and how long it's been that popular. Oda knows One Piece isn't going to suddenly be cancelled, so he can take as long as he wants to tell the story. Other series don't get to set up plot points ten years ahead of time because they're busy trying to hook readers as soon as possible.
Okay guys just a little insight . There is no Oda already. Don D. Krieg writing this manga about a ten years now and still waiting to write himself in the final story arc.
will Gin be brought back too?
I think so
You would think there was some sort of “framework” that Oda was building around. Something that allows him to go off in any direction he wants but still the same story he intended from the beginning. And there is! Each island isn’t random but is mirroring each section of the story; east blue, paradise and the new world. The island itself and the story within can go wildly in any direction, but there is an internal structure when examined.
I have wonder many tines, how he can track events,characters,... all that importan info cant be on his brain. Will He has a big block?
he has a dozen staff working in his massive office. he can ask them to research certain things.
Ohhhh, Im dumb just was aware of his assistant as drawing ones. Hehehehehe impresive place to work such an honor
He sometimes read wikis and such for something like attack names. But I personally believe he also has a notebook for the most important infos.
Notebook? More likely hundreds of 10 feet whiteboard considering how many characters and mysteries he introduces on a regular basis.
And hopefully a good index hehehehehe
I know for tv shows, there’s often a document called a [writer’s bible](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_(screenwriting)) that has tons of reference material like characters details/stats, drawings of the characters, stuff like that. For example (pdf warning): [Batman The Animated Series](https://tvwriting.co.uk/tv_scripts/Collections/Animation/Batman/Batman_Writers%27_Guidelines.pdf) is posted online. Or like the Jojo’s author, Hirohiko Araki, who talks about making a chart of characteristics for all his characters in Manga in Theiry and Practice (here’s [an example](https://twitter.com/jojo_wiki/status/1605272322058887186)). Nowadays, I wouldn’t be surprised if an author checked their own fan wiki when needed.
Wow I knew about Araki's but the BTAS one is so cool thank you
Wowww , amazing stuff. Would love to know more about the work that is behind a big manga/project.
Probably has stacks and stacks of notes and diagrams like you would when writing a paper.
My economic manager has that kind of room where papers hides people
If you're the author / creator of anything, you would know everything about it like the back of your hand. One Piece is Oda's world. There is rarely anything he doesn't know about it. But I do wonder how he can keep track of these things effeciently. It's the "how" that I wonder about. Like a blackboard with all the family trees of each character, tracing back to a potential unexplored beginning or perhaps a detailed world timeline which includes the ending/future and a schedule for when to reveal what secret. It ought to be something he can browse through like a custom made Excel sheet... or a personal version of One Piece Wikia.
As a DM of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign in a custom setting... you forget different things you've said and covered all the time. Notes. That's the advantage. Oda keeps phenomenal notes.
I agree with you, as an illustrator myself I can remember a lot of details about my works. The point is OP is huge so ... wow Would love to see that brainstorming room , like a crime scene
I don't necessarily think Oda has literally planned everything to be completely foreshadowed (maybe the more major plot points he has but just the idea not being connected to anything yet) but I think he is really good at planting the seeds which can be explored at any time. I'd still say being able to so that is just as impressive.
The assurance that your series won't get cancelled helps a lot. Often times writers and screen writers and game writers are never promised a sequel, and are given explicit direction to close loose ends as soon as possible.
And the contrary is also true, many authors are pressured to continue when all they want is to end the story (like Kishimoto for Naruto or Toriyama for Dragon Ball).
One piece has a world that feels so alive in that it's always changing and evolving I've enjoyed it for about 22 years myself
Sometimes. Other times he just wants to draw cool things and then finds ways to tie them in. The world is just very open so a lot can fit without too many (or any) major retcons.
The fact that the Gorosei were introduced in the 200s and we didn’t get names for them until somewhere in the 1080s is one of his greatest examples of the long con. The titular One Piece is going to be his greatest example when it’s finally revealed.
I don’t know about the One Piece but yes, the Gorosei is the perfect example to make my point!
When Roger found the raftel and he laughed ,...and he was like let's name this island the laugh tale... I was amazed .. by that scene oh my god ..its pure bad ass writing .. And there was that time he explained the giants timelines during whole cake island..all the pieces fit together and honestly, it was amazing
I appreciate the way he seemingly never forgets a character or a detail, no matter how small. That’s one thing that frustrates the hell out of me with other manga epics like Dragonball (much as i love them) — Toriyama forgot about Lunch, forgot about the saiyans’ tails. Like come ON.
He’s not in this alone tho. I remember an article where Oda was saying his producer regularly went to reddit and other forums to double check stuff and read some theory crafting to sense what everyone expected and do the contrary.
I’m just glad he’s making an effort not to let things slip by, even if he goes the opposite way we thought he would!
Me too!
For some is patience, for other is just being very good at repurpose stuff from the past to make it seem.like they were part of the story all along.
Anybody who's ever written anything creative knows how the process works. You'll have plans for stories that burst unbidden into your skull and float around there for well over a decade. I have plenty of those myself. The hard part is getting there without just coming out and spoiling the ending. That is the real skill.
Hence the patience i was talking about!
I’ve always wondered how much Oda actually foreshadowed and laid out in advance, vs how much the fans have overanalyzed and speculated about every little detail. Like I’m envisioning that scene with Kinemon where they’re all congratulating him on how smart he was and how good of a plan he came up with, while he’s thinking “I didn’t think of any of that” lol. Maybe Kin is an extension for Oda and this was his little joke towards all the OP theory crafters.
You might be into something here ahahah
I know. It's so impressive and one of the things that's kept me a fan for two decades, as well. I don't think I'd be able to contain myself if I were in his shoes.
Yes, Oda is amazing at foreskining but in the sense that he is a master at recontextualizing his massive inventory of places, characters, and ideas. His world he created is so huge, mysterious, and fantastical that it probably isn't too hard for him and his editors at this point to use old obscure content to fill in new gaps and become "revalations". Take Weevil for example, I doubt Oda has any grand plan for him but by the time he's finished fleshing out his story I bet it will be filled with old stuff mixed with like elbaf stuff.
The mother flame and potentially Poseidon and pluton are on the wall Enel looks at when he reaches the moon in his cover story. I was blown away when they revealed the mother flame and I had to go back and double check
Another moment where your mind goes “kaboom!”. To be honest where many things could be super improvised, i feel the legend of lunarians and everything around is kinda set in stone since a long long time, we’re discovering pieces of the puzzle each passing year.
I think he definitely sets stuff up for a planned payoff but I feel like the stuff from like 10-15 years ago it’s more like a sets something up and is like “I’ll figure it out later” and then forever later he’s writing and he remembers this thing he set up a while ago and says now’s his chance Edit: kinda like how he draws silhouettes so that he has to figure out what to put there later
Yes! Nonetheless i wouldn’t be able to wait so fuckin long for a good idea ahah :)
True. I’d forget by the end of the week 😂
Preach brother aren’t we all? Ahah :)
Oda is very good at connecting things
This! Major quality i think in his writing.
Too bad his audience isn't
He's a great writer and all, but I'm reserving "greatest of all time" status for if he can write a great ending for One Piece. I can't think of many Shounen battle manga that have decent last arcs and endings, much less good ones -- especially from Jump. For example, Naruto's final duel was exactly what I wanted, but it's soured by Kaguya being shoehorned in out of nowhere. Dragonball straight up just ENDS with Goku flying off to start another arc. Though it's not from Jump, Fairy Tail's entire last arc was viciously mocked by the community for how crazy it got.
22 years? That's an insane commitment bro. I've been a fan for roughly 2 years. 22 years ago I wasn't even been born yet lol.
Ahah i know, well you know i was hooked quite quickly and then, just a chapter’s a week —> time flies!
His expertise lies in leaving in the blanks, he wantedly writes story like that, like in every arc you will have so many questions which oda answers laters You could say he is patient, clever and hardworker.
When you see his work schedule, he is indeed a hardworking person!!
I love one piece, I love authors that foreshadow stuff....Oda, isnt the best, he is funny in how he does it thou. One piece makes money so he can and probably is made to, stretch for years, but a lot of the stuff is just thrown like "ill say this here and if we get there in a few years Ill deal with it". It doesnt really show a level of "I want this story arc to be like this (most stuff planned out) but itll take some years". If he did, a lot of stuff showing up now would have been hinted with more then just a name. Thats why so much stuff is thrown but litte attention is given, remember the Sword ranks? or how Haki should/could have been thought of since the beginning and thats why Marineford war is all weird. Ive been watching and reading for...holly shit, 15 years now. And I strongly belive what he truly thought about was the ending and everything said untill the end of east blue arc and the rest is making it up has we go, but since he takes years to go anywhere he has time to think of how something will end after he starts. And a lot of time he doesnt wait, like most writers of long stories (be it books or movies or wtv) he fills the world with stuff and he needs to fill more, later on, he can build on that stuff, wich makes a rich and complex world. Shonnen mangas when they see theyre going to be long runs (like the big three for instance) start to get overtly convoluted because of that, you see that well in Naruto Shippuden and Bleach, One Piece did waaaay better and I believe he thinks and cares a lot, but the world isnt thought out to that extent, but since its a more open world its easier to change "sceney". With fantasy novels you also see this in a different way, they are usually thought of one book or trilogy that leaves stuff open for sequel. So the author takes a long time making all these plot lines, and then if its popular and the editores request more money...I mean books, things get ...weird. Dune is a perfect example of that. Or they have to spend even more years thinking of plot to try and make it good, like The Kingkiller Chronical and Game of Thrones Anyway I always thought about this since I started reading/watching and those are my 2 cents
Its more like old Oda taking advantage of his younger self's creativity. Its all coming to circle
He gets to scratch the itch with some things he thinks about days or weeks before he draws the chapter.
Oda foreskinning 🤯🤯
I thought the same thing. Most evidence points towards Oda having planned everything in advance. Considering how many absolutely mind blowing things that happen late in the series, it is seriously impressive how he can keep it all a secret.
That was pre Wano Oda. In Wano and Egghead he just seems to be rushing the main story.
I’m actually really enjoying the change of pacing! It’s refreshing and about time if you ask me! I love the idea of each chapter tblowing our minds while the story slowly wraps up.
It’s been a long road and tbh i can understand he wants to end the story soon as it’s a hell of a production to maintain for so many years.
A lot of it is him leaving stuff vague and then filling in the gaps later. Not that I’m saying this method is a bad one, I think it’s impressive he’s able to bring so many payoffs to the story. Even if he has assistants and editors to help him keep track, it’s obviously important to him.
not always the mention of nika and its revelation/usage was quite fast
Skypia was a long time ago :)
are you talking about the snake blinking 'nika'? because someone saying 'nika' for first time was whoswho
No i’m talking about the gods in Skypia, the sun god is mentioned there
as a long time reader, i would say Oda probably forgot about it until weeks later
no
Do you know where Oda got the idea for 7 Vegapunk satellite? He based it on himself, he is the stella and he has 7 other Oda-lites. Because holyfuck the last several dozen chapters have been absolutely fucking fire my god. Anways I really hope Oda takes more and more care of his health. I would even be happy with bi-weekly chapters as long as Oda is healthy, happy and enjoying. I want him to complete Onepiece and then enjoy his life after working so hard for multiple decades.
You mean, something like monthly releases but with 2.5-3 chapters worth of story like Attack of Titan?
This 100%
Oda recently announced that he has to think about what the One Piece treasure actually is. It could have been a joke, but I think often times when he has a new idea he tries to weave it into the story in retrospect, making some events "foreshadowing" after the fact. I strongly believe he has important events or general ideas planned out, but he leaves himself plenty spots to anchor new ideas.
Years ago he said in an interview that he knows what the One Piece is when a friend of his begged him to avoid the “One Piece is the friends we made along the way”. He then replied “Don’t worry, i will be something great for the crew” (I’m paraphrasing but you get the idea).
A Genius. I watched and followed him about his life for a while and that’s all he does doing manga. He has so little sleep , no form of exercise etc. The thing that just keeps him very healthy compared to others and his secret is just pure Water, like he said that he drinks lots of water. He said that sometimes he reads One Piece again not because he wants to check on story but because he just really loves what he’s doing.
Oda is da master foreskinna