East Blue: One Piece Analysis
I recently started rewatching One Piece with my wife, who is watching it for the first time. I first watched One Piece as a 12 year old, nearly two decades ago. I loved it then, as I do now. But my appreciation for its storytelling and literary exceptionalism has deepened over the years.
Though I’ve rewatched and reread parts of it countless times, this sequential rewatching, particularly through the eyes of someone who is experiencing it afresh, feels like a unique opportunity to reflect on the story and on Oda’s evolution as a writer.
This article will discuss the East Blue saga (up to the end of the Logue Town arc). It will be free of spoilers for subsequent arcs. While the article targets anime viewers and manga readers, the overall faithfulness of the live action adaptation means that the article should make sense to live action viewers as well.
Romance Dawn
Luffy wants to be a pirate. We aren’t told why he wants this, but Shanks’s crew gives us some clues.
…The best thing about pirates is that they have freedom.
Luffy wants to join Shanks’s crew, and claims to be a strong fighter. Shanks is unimpressed. Later, Shanks shows Luffy a new meaning to strength.
…You can even spit on me. I’ll laugh it off. But… good reason or not… nobody hurts a friend of mine!
— Shanks
Luffy still wants to be a pirate, but what it means changes when Shanks gives him the Straw Hat. The Straw Hat is a legacy — a will — rather than a gift.
From this point forward, it’s not the legendary figure of Gold Roger that guides Luffy’s ambition. While Luffy does show a fascination with the Pirate King, it is Shanks he idolizes. It is Shanks’s will that Luffy inherits.
Dreams, and Inherited Will
Inherited Will, The Destiny of the Age, and The Dreams of the People. As long as people continue to pursue the meaning of Freedom, these things will never cease to be!
— Gold Roger
Zoro and Kuina each wanted to be the world’s greatest swordsman. When Kuina dies, Zoro inherits her will and her blade. The Wado Ichimonji is to Zoro what the Straw Hat is to Luffy.
Sanji always wanted to find the All Blue. Zeff catalyzes a boy’s dream into a man’s calling.
So it is with Nami and Bellemere, and with Usopp and his parents.
The Straw Hats have their own dreams and singular identity which they manifest even as children. But they inherit a will that gives them the resolve to pursue the dream.
Interestingly, Luffy becomes to Koby what Shanks is to him, even though their dreams could not be more different. Koby had long dreamt of becoming a great marine who catches evil pirates, but it is Luffy, a pirate, who gets him into the marines and helps him believe in himself.
The Call to Adventure
Before his arrival, Luffy’s future friends had lost the way to their dream and were trapped in some way.
Zoro wanders East Blue as a bounty hunter; he’s tied to a mast when Luffy comes upon him. Nami serves Arlong and hopes to free her village. Usopp lacks the courage to actually set out to sea. Sanji feels he cannot leave Zeff because of the debt he owes him. Koby is trapped on Alvida’s ship and too afraid to escape.
In one way or another, their dreams are dormant. They’re in stasis.
Luffy breaks them free, and not just literally. Luffy embodies the spirit of adventure. He reminds them what it means to follow a dream. The Straw Hats are drawn to Luffy not because he helps them, but because of who he is and what he represents.
The Grand Line
A central lever of storytelling is anticipation. The more groundwork you lay for a monumental event, the greater the impact it lands. Oda does this masterfully.
The culmination of East Blue is the crew entering the Grand Line. But the groundwork for the Grand Line is laid from the very beginning.
We don’t just see Luffy collect a crew and head for the Grand Line. We hear whispers and rumors that elevate the stature and mystique of the greatest sea. We also witness Luffy encounter many who have a relationship to the Grand Line.
Buggy is about to set out for it when his map gets stolen by Nami. Don Krieg comes back beaten by the Grand Line, hoping to go back with better resources, such as Zeff’s journal. Arlong thinks he can take over the oceans with Nami’s naval maps.
Unlike the others, Mihawk and Zeff are true veterans of the Grand Line, and it shows in how they carry themselves. While Krieg and Arlong concoct elaborate schemes that would give them an edge, Mihawk and Zeff remind us that the Grand Line demands something much simpler, but much harder to fake — unrelenting conviction.
But conviction isn’t enough. In Loguetown, we see Luffy at his most powerless in the saga. He almost dies at the hands of Buggy and is rescued by a bolt of thunder. He is helpless against Smoker and is saved from capture by a man named Dragon.
The crew leaves every other island on their own terms. But they flee Loguetown.
They have the heart, but do they have the strength? Are they ready? Perhaps not, but they go anyway. You can never be completely ready to pursue your dream. It always takes a leap of faith.
It is for this reason that the moment feels hopeful rather than triumphant. We see the crew renew their promise to themselves and venture out in an unthreatening caravel amidst a stormy sea. It’s a beginning, not an end.
Unpolished Brilliance
The East Blue saga is not just the beginning of Luffy’s journey. It is the beginning of Oda’s too. He’d written a one-shot story before, but One Piece is his first (and so far only) grand venture.
As such, East Blue has some weaknesses — villains such as Morgan, Kuro and Krieg among them. But Oda’s writing evolves and matures quickly.
Baratie is the first strong arc. Zeff and Sanji’s relationship is rich and layered, and their story is memorable and heartwarming. Oda deftly peels back what seems to be an acrimonious relationship to reveal two kindred spirits with profound respect and admiration for one another.
Zoro’s defeat at the hands of Mihawk and his pledge to Luffy adds another dimension to the character’s dream — he has to become the world’s greatest swordsman not just for himself or for Kuina, but also to be worthy of the man he calls his captain.
Oda’s writing reaches its zenith in the Arlong Park arc. The Straw Hat represents the will of Shanks passed on to Luffy. It is Luffy’s treasure and also his lodestone for what kind of pirate to be. A pirate that lets no one hurt his friends, good reason or not. We’ve also seen Nami learn what the Straw Hat means to Luffy during their journey together.
The specificity of Oda’s choices is noteworthy. Luffy walks away while the other crew members learn of Nami’s past. He doesn’t leave Arlong Park when rebuked by Nami, but he also doesn’t jump into the fray without her consent. He knows his friend is hurting, but he doesn’t know how to help. So he waits.
When Luffy places the Straw Hat on Nami, it is a moment that speaks a million words. It is the culmination of Shanks’s will, of how Luffy carries that will forward, and of Nami and Luffy’s friendship. It is an emotional payoff we didn’t know was coming, and didn’t even know we needed. It is one of the most powerful and iconic moments in all of fiction.
The East Blue saga appears simple early on, but Oda’s thematic vision and storytelling skill come together in rewarding ways, setting up a strong prologue to the adventures of the Straw Hats. I remember my excitement when I first reached the end of East Blue nineteen years ago. Having reached this point in the story again, I find myself as excited now as I was then.