We had a bunch of fun with the Ninjas the last time we posted. We are now on to the PIRATES!
Avast Ye Maties and climb aboard for a water filled adventure. We are of course going to talk about the sensation known as One Piece. Everything in this series is over the top. The characters, scenery, wildlife, just plan all of it. I think this is what adds to the fun of the series. Similar to Naruto, we will have a male character that is pushing the envelope on all levels. Alas however, I am getting ahead of myself, so let’s start at the beginning.
We start off with the execution of Gold Roger aka The King of Pirates. He makes it know that he has a treasure called ‘One Piece’ that is out at the Grand Line. This treasure, with this death, is now up for grabs and starts what is known as the ‘Great Pirate Era’.
Lets now introduce you to a young boy (Monkey D. Luffy) who is sitting in a bar/restaurant listing to pirate tales by ‘Red-Haired Shanks’. What Shanks doesn’t realize however is that Luffy is ‘eating’ his treasure, a Devil Fruit (like all boys, he has a bottomless stomach). As it turns out, this is the Gum Gum Fruit and Luffy’s body is now as bendable as rubber. Sounds great huh, but the ill side effect is that anyone who eats these fruits, can’t swim. Must be great being a pirate with amazing powers, but can’t swim – oops. After a battle in town, Shanks gives Luffy his hat and thus is born ‘Straw Hat Luffy’.
With each adventure, a new shipmate (friend) is found. His original crew starts off with (in order met) Zoro (3-Blade Sword man), Nami (sexy Thief and Navigator), Usopp (tells tall tales, but great with a slingshot), Sanji (their chef who is a skirt chaser) and to round out the crew Chopper (a anthropomorphic Reindeer Doctor). If you think this is a rag-tag team, wait until you meet the rest of the crew. It is always a fun adventure full of hi-jinks and danger, but they manage to get through it. I swear that Luffy dies like 50 times in this series with all the crap that is thrown at him.
Now let’s expand on the Devil Fruit and the other Pirates of the show. This may be a mixed bag however as most of the Pirates have eaten the Devil Fruit. There are actually 3 types of fruit. These fruits types are Paramecia Fruit (alters the body in some fashion), Zoan Fruit (allows you to change into an animal) or Logia Fruit (you can actually become an element). I am not sure if the fruit is labeled what it does before you eat it, but I am not sure I would be able to take the chance on eating one.
Some of my favorite Pirates are Buggy, Ace and Hody Jones. Buggy is a clown pirate that ate the Chop Chop Fruit. He can literally chop his body into pieces and each part acts as an extension of his body. Now Ace (who is Luffy’s older brother) ate the Flare Flare Fruit. He has the ability to make and control fire with his body. As for Hody Jones, well he is just a plain old Fishman – with a really big mouth and razor sharp teeth. Just as unique as each pirate is, there ships and flags also reflect their personalities. Some are just the size of rafts that the Blackbeard Pirated use to ones that are huge like Moby Dick which the Whitebeards Pirates use that can swim under water.
By the way, who is policing these guys? That would be the World Government and their Navy. These guys are more like the Keystone Cops than anything else, but do have a few heavy weights like Smoker (ate the Smoke Smoke Fruit). They popup here and there to cause issues, but end up just being an annoyance more than anything.
This is an extremely fun read or show to watch for anyone who has a funny bone. My son has been enjoying both and even drew a One Piece scene on his Math Test (boat and crew). For a fun time and an extremely wild adventure to boot, this is one series that you have to catch up on. Not wanting to take my work on this, well for the record, the Manga series has been breaking publication records in Japan. Volume 57 of the series sold 2,305,594 copies alone.
One Piece also has a great variety of merchandise that is as vast as the seas. There is so much that you will fill your Treasure Chest to the brink of exploding. If you want to get you and your crew setup in the pirate gear, then check out the fine selection at Miccostumes.
Here is a hint of our next post: We see several Sailors who are happy playing with the Planets.
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