Fridge Brilliance

General
Nami's obsession with money makes a lot more sense when you realize it's bec
ause she was always poor as a child. Plus, her name means "wave". That not only
makes sense because of her navigational skills, but also because of the fact tha
t she was saved from a huge storm as a baby; Bellemere may have (re)named her Na
mi precisely to allude to the fact that she survived such a huge storm.
Of course Brook can do 45 degrees and not a radian more: a radian is 57 degr
ees(more or less).
Brain works through electric stimuli. And Luffy is made of rubber. That expl
ains much.
This one is plain Rule of Funny- don't take it too seriously.
Luffy's manner of dress (loose sleeveless jacket, cut-off jeans, sandals) ju
st seemed like beachwear, but after reading Required Secondary Powers, it occurr
ed to me that it was possibly selected by Luffy after he ruined too many jumpers
whilst training his Rubber Man powers
allowing him to stretch without ripping h
is clothes.
Ack Sed.
His new outfit, well shirt, reflects his improved control and uses of sa
id powers, especially the fact that the sleeves extend out Otakukun
Luffy's attacks are almost nigh intrackable/predictable to anyone without ha
ki or ridiculous instinct. Why? Snap a rubber band as hard as you can, did you s
ee it move? Probably not. Now imagine SOMEONE'S FIST doing that. In the Anime, w
e get long animations and a sound effect of Luffy's arm moving/ Luffy flying, in
reality, Luffy's attacks look like this.
1. Luffy takes stance. 2. Luffy names his attack. 3. a split second afte
r that, your face is caved in, and you have NO idea what hit you while you regis
ter the pain of something hitting you at insane speeds and forces greater than t
hose required to SEPARATE MULTI STORY BUILDINGS. To anyone not superpowered or a
Defensive Haki User, Luffy is a Lightning Bruiser with the "lightning" Up to El
even to nightmarish levels (bruiser as well since he tries not to kill people).
This probably explains why Luffy could predict where Bellamy was going to land d
espite his ridiculous bouncing maneuver, Luffy was already used to tracking thin
gs moving at those insane speeds. Even more frightening when you realize Luffy i
s constantly throwing himself at those speeds (Gum Gum Catapult anyone?) that by
all rights, should snap a non-rubber human's neck from the whiplash.
Alternatively, Bellamy vaulted himself to a ridiculously wild attack to
build up plenty of speed, leaping around those buildings in Mock Town. When he f
lung himself at Luffy traveling at about the speed of a sports car, he crashed i
nto Luffy's fist. So hard it left an indent in his face. To clarify this stateme
nt, Luffy's punch had the impact of a car crash. And it was Bellamy's own fault
he got knocked out. Luffy merely wound back to throw a punch and absorbed the fo
rce of Bellamy's attack through his elastic rubber body. That energy snapped bac
k and hit Bellamy. Guess what his power is? A human spring. As in a giant shock
absorber. So not only did Bellamy get hit by the force of a car crash, he suffer
ed a realistic example of Collision Damage. And that would mean that Luffy didn'
t just knock Bellamy out- it's actually Bellamy's own fault, too.
Actually, Luffy hit Bellamy in an entirely different direction than
he was going. He didn't just catch him with his fist, he caused him the halt mov
ement, change direction, and crash into the floor beneath them.
For a bit, I thought"Well if the World Government would just Hand Luffy the
title of "One of Th eSeven Warlords", they'd probably solve a lot of their probl
ems since he's dopey as all can be, and pretty manipulable. The PR spike would b
e ridiculous since having someone who caused SO MUCH damn trouble on their side
would intimidate the shit out of new pirates. But then I remembered, Luffy is in
sanely self righteous. If anyone exposed ANY WG conspiracy that hurt people, Luf
fy would flip his shit and barrel down the WG until he got the conspiracy dealt
with. Not to mention if anyone in the WG touched any of his crew (Particularly R
obin as she's a helluva risk to the WG) Luffy would go bonkers. I have to imagin
e they had to do similar precautions when dealing with Garp, as he's the one Luf

fy got that attitude from, and Garp is easily more powerful than anyone in the W
G, even Aikanu.
For a while, it bothered me that the Admirals and other major players all ha
d such ridiculously overpowered Devil Fruit powers; I quickly realized that caus
ality went the other way, and that they rose to that rank because of their power
s being what they were (or they pulled a Blackbeard and sought that one out part
icularly).
Not entirely true. Some of the strongest characters don't use fruit powe
rs at all and other are Blessed with Suck. For example, Garp had been offered th
e position of Admiral countless times but he declined, the former Admiral and me
ntor to the current admirals, Zephyr, saw devil fruits as a weakness to be explo
ited and Tsuru having the ability to... wash people.
The Vivre Card turns out to be made from fingernails. After reading up on na
utical superstitions for a class, it turns out that it was believed to be very u
nlucky to cut one's fingernails while on ship. It might just be coincidence, but
knowing that Oda does do the research probably means that this wasn't an accide
nt.
In Chapter 0, which acted both as a warm up for Strong World as well as a ge
neral background for older characters, Garp and Sengoku team up against Shiki in
a huge battle which leveled half of Marineford. Unfortunately, the battle itsel
f is never shown, simply the fighters preparing to do battle and the chaotic aft
ermath. I was beyond annoyed at what was perceived to be a wasted opportunity. H
owever the current chapter reveals that a similar team up will occur against Whi
tebeard! In not showing us the battle itself and only hinting at the destruction
the old fighters were able to wield in their prime, Oda has only heightened the
tension and expectation for an ultimate battle to show case the strength of the
old generation!
However, this didn't happeen as the only fighting Garp and Sengoku did w
ere in individual fights. Garp threw one Armanment Haki-infused punch at Marco a
nd Sengoku struck Blackbeard and his crew with only one blast. They were about t
o fight against the Blackbeard crew together, but it wasn't shown, meaning that
it either happened off-screen or never occurred.
Garp has a scar around his left eye, the bottom part of which looks uncannil
y like Luffy's. Remember, now, that Luffy gave himself that scar in order to see
m tough. That's not just Fridge Brilliance, that's Fridge Adorable (well, giving
PikaBot
himself a scar isn't, but you get the idea).
Luffy got his scar by trying to be tough in front of Shanks, not his gra
ndfather.
True, but he shoved the knife on his face because Garp is probably o
ne of the toughest people he knows, so he wanted have a scar like Garp's because
scar on face = instant Garp levels badass.
At first Sir Crocodile just sounds like a cool name, but under a bit of scru
tiny it becomes extremely meaningful/ironic. The most obvious is the fact that w
ith the hook and being a pirate, he's a pretty strong shout out to Peter Pan. Th
en comes the fact that like any other DF user, he can't swim. Not only that, but
water is his main weakness. If he so much as touches water, he can't use his po
wers, a sharp contrast to his namesake, which pretty much live in water. Finally
there's his DF power (sand) and the fact that the island that he was the "hero"
and "protector" of is a desert.
Also note, in that Peter Pan shout out, that Crocodile's named after the
creature that ate Captain Hook's hand, necessitating the hook.
Sgamer82
Another thing to consider with Peter Pan is that Hook could not swim in
the waters due to the crocodile wanted to eat him (because hook's hand tasted so
good), Hook was probably at his safest on land where there was no large body of
water nearby (water=crocodiles), so a place like the desert which has no large
bodies of water close by would probably be the safest place for Hook. Also Sir C
rocodile in One Piece has a pet crocodile.
There's also something to be said for Crocodile hiding the bomb that was
the key to his plan inside of the capital city's clock tower. The crocodile in
Peter Pan swallowed a clock.

For that matter, his plan involving a hidden bomb is a Shout-Out to

Hook itself.
While thinking about Luffy, Ace, and Garp s relationship with each other I rea
lized why Garp tried so hard to turn Luffy and Ace into marines. He did it becau
se he wanted to prove that children don t inherit the sins of the father, and in m
aking them strong marines he would also be able to keep them safe because the Wo
rld Government and marines would have no reason to hunt them or think of them as
threats or monsters.
Cryoflar3
It also serves as a proper justification for Luffy and Ace's moral compa
sses. One would initially assume that since Luffy is the hero of the story, he's
bound to be a good person. Garp's secretly proud of his two grandsons because h
e knows that while they are labelled as criminals, he's taught them to be good p
eople.
Sanji was the only one who didn't get targeted by Baroque Works, due to not
being off-screen every time members of the crew were found out (Luffy, Zoro, and
Nami at first; Usopp later). He's also the only member of the crew that wasn't
touched by Mr 2 Bon Clay, making him impossible to mimic. This tendency to avoid
scrutiny turns out to be massive foreshadowing for later on in the series, not
only for being able to trick Crocodile as "Mr Prince", but after Enies Lobby whe
re he's the only member of the Straw Hat crew the Marines are unable to get a ph
otograph of for his bounty poster, which itself becomes important not long after
when the crew make a new ally. Chances are good this will continue to be import
ant for the rest of the story.
This adds even more fridge brilliance to the fact that Sanji is always f
ailing with women. The suit and the womanizing and his tendency to work on probl
ems from behind the scenes makes him a shout out to super spies like James Bond.
Except, he's sort of an inverted version. James Bond succeeds with women withou
t even trying, and is effortlessly cool... but he is perhaps the least sneaky sp
y who has ever existed. Sanji tries REALLY REALLY HARD to succeed with women and
be cool, but ends up failing horribly every time... but he's fantastic at keepi
ng his identity and abilities a mystery and using his brains and ability to thin
k ahead of his foes to his advantage. He just wishes it were the other way aroun
d.
Also, the only DF Sanji was interested in was the invisibility fruit.
Even after the time-skip, his wanted poster is still just a photo of the
back of his head.
Earlier in the manga, Bellamy mocks Luffy, Cricket and the Saruyama alliance
for their dreams, even calling them the "same species" to top it off. At first
it seems to be just a jab at Luffy's intelligence, but when you consider his ani
mal motif (and of course, his name)...
The Devil Fruits are a fantastic source of Competitive Balance; no matter ho
w strong Luffy gets, he will never be as effective underwater as Sanji, or even
Usopp.
This point is similarly reminiscent of Sun Wukong's abilities (Journey t
o the West was the inspiration for Dragon Ball, at least initially). Though he i
s by far the strongest of the group, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing are still more eff
ective water combatants than he is.
Blueflame724
For something that's supposed to occur only once in a million people, the li
st of people who can use Haoshoku Haki in the series is pretty long. And yet, it
's clear that almost all the characters that are shown to have this ability are
among the strongest in the series.
Ummm... do those Red Shirt Armies and sprawling masses of civilians just
not exist to you? Not to mention that there are three entire oceans that the st
ory hasn't even touched, and even of the oceans we have visited, we've seen mayb
e a handful of the islands that are actually in them. There have been only nine
people revealed to possess Haoshoku Haki(if you include the fact that Gold Roger
undoubtedly did, too), and when that figure is only applied to people who are a
ctually alive, it gets whittled down to six. Unless everyone in the series witho
ut a given name just doesn't exist to you, that's not many at all.
Assuming that literally one in a million people have the Conqueror's

Haki and that the population of the One Piece world is comparable to our own, t
here should be around 7300 people who have it. Even if there are only, say, 1 Bi
llion people instead of over 7 Billion, it would still be 1000. That's... a bit
more than nine.
On the other hand, the Grand line is viewed as a place where the strong
will inevitably meet each other, so Luffy meeting others with that ability is mo
re likely to happen in the Grand Line, than, says, in East Blue. The only surpri
sing thing (till now) is Coby having such strong Haki.
The thing is, the distribution of powerful people in the world of One Pi
ece isn't uniform because from the moment of Gold Roger's execution everyone in
the world has wanted to get One Piece for one reason or another, and thus the en
tire grand line acts like a sorting device separating everyone by how powerful t
hey are.
I always assumed that Luffy's getting better ridiculously fast after anythin
g that happens to him had no logical cause, but I only just realized it's as a r
esult of his Devil Fruit ability. He's made of rubber, and rubber always bounces
back.
One for me is that Chopper, after the Time Skip, has learned to use six out
of his seven Transformations without the Rumble Ball. While this is a perfectly
natural extension of his powers, it occurred to me it could well have been inspi
red by his fights at Enies Lobby. Not just in learning to control Monster Point,
but also because his opponent in that arc used Biofeedback, enabling him to cha
nge and manipulate his own body at will.
I just now realized a detail regarding the "Where are they now?" Cover story
that's been running since the about the start of Fishman Island. The covers det
ailing residents of Impel Down, the place widely regarded as "Hell on Earth" are
taking place during the 660s, with the final one taking place at the prison its
elf being Bon Clay ruling New Kama Land in Chapter 666.
You know, I've always wondered what the main treasure of One Piece is, and i
t's great expanses of what makes the thing wealthy.... But maybe, just maybe, as
when the famous Gold Roger made known his treasure.... that maybe the One Piece
isn't actually a material possession at all on the Grand Line or in their world
at all? One thing I know about the name of the treasure.... "To make it back in
one piece". Maybe, in a world where people are held back by oppressive and tyra
nnical despots, forced to slave under their rule, all ways of life dictated and
cruelly governed over, Gold Roger wanted people to experience the joys and adven
ture of one treasure that, that was taken from them under such oppression. Maybe
it's the freedom to venture and experience, to live life in its vastness, to li
ve and bask in the good, and look back and laugh at all of the bad, to just embr
ace the greatness and vastness of life, all in "one piece". Maybe that's the gre
at treasure, that Roger wanted the world to experience again and look for....
The whole bit about "making it back in one piece" makes more sense when
you realized how much of a hellhole pirates considered the New World...
Of the Straw Hat Crew, only Chopper is the one that comes anywhere close to
being a truly pure hero, the rest of them scattered across different archetypes
of Anti-Heroes from Classical Anti-Hero (Usopp) to Unscrupulous Hero (Zoro/Robin
). Why is that so? Besides them being the main protagonists of the story, didn't
they also have flashbacks which showed their various role models making acts of
sacrifice for them, influencing their moral compass? But look closely at their
pasts and it seems their lessons are taken in a neutral view: Luffy learned how
friends and being a friend is important but also remains one of the more egregio
us examples of Protagonist-Centred Morality; Sanji learned moreso the importance
of sticking to your dream or how cooking is important rather than helping peopl
e/making sacrifices; Nami and Robin saw importance more in protecting or finding
your loved ones/friends respectively, and as seen with Luffy this is subject to
the same Morality; Franky was taught to be proud of his craftsmanship rather th
an being instilled with justice (Tom was a criminal after all) while Brook cente
rs more on the importance of keeping promises or remembering your friends. At be
st, all their pasts have done was to let them exercise the morals of their lives
with Chaotic Good intentions. On the contrary, Chopper s past was about teaching

him that besides having a good heart, actual knowledge was also important. His r
ole models also held strong moral compasses: Hiruluk wanting to save the country
and Kureha, despite being greedy and sly at times, still having the passion to
save and/or cure human lives. It shows really, why he would be the one who holds
the strongest sense of morality/ethics (as seen when he expresses anger at Hogb
ack and Caesar).
It's more basic than that though. Luffy's positive role models are Shank
s and Garp. Shanks, the pirate, was cool laid back and saved his life. Garp, the
Marine, foisted him off on some bandits (which he hate thanks to Higuma) and co
nstantly put his life in danger. Result: Luffy wants to be like Shanks. Also Luf
fy has a natural disposition towards freedom so a rigid military would never wor
k. Zoro's goal is very personal, martial self advancement. Zoro also is the one
who takes being a pirate the most seriously. But as a swordsman, something like
killing comes with the territory so his moral compass is very neutral, but in no
way pacifistic. Usopp has started out as a liar, but his goal is to become a gr
eat warrior. But his role model is his father Yasopp...a pirate. Nami has a bala
nced experience. Her mother was a marine, but at the same time, the pirates who
enslaved her and her village paid off a marine to not get hassled. She was using
her criminality (thievery) as a means to a noble end. Robin was shown that ever
yone, Marine and Pirate was trying to kill her so she evolved to trust no one. A
s for Franky, Tom being a criminal is a technicality, all he did was build an ex
cellent ship. The government is the one that attached criminality to everything
attached to Roger including the existence of an unborn son. Franky saw that the
government didn't care about justice sabotaging Tom just so they could acquire s
ome blueprints. Brook was always a pirate so his moral compass started skewed bu
t he also has a deeper understanding of death and loneliness than anyone else wh
ich shifts his compass in a different direction. As for Chopper, he is the only
member of the crew who did not have a negative experience with Marines or Pirate
s beforehand. His morality was formed by two doctors who genuinely work to help
people and a corrupt king, to say nothing of his outcast feelings. But Hiruluk d
id speak highly of pirates, which brings Chopper back to Luffy. They both want f
reedom.
I was wondering why Ace's crew were called the Spade Pirates, since normally
the Straw Hats, Whiteb
, pirate crew names are connected to their leader somehow
eards, etc. But then it hit me: Ace is the Ace of Spades! In other words, the hi
ghest card in a deck. In fact, the U.S. military actually created a deck of card
s featuring the most wanted members of the Iraqi government, and the ace of spad
es was reserved for Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president. It's sorta the same way
that the Marines view Ace since he's the son of Gold Roger, his death becomes a
priority above other wanted pirates. Oda probably didn't mean to make such a sp
ecific reference as the Iraqi most wanted deck, but it's just an example of the
specific card's symbolism.
What's more, though, the ace of spades always carries the insignia of wh
atever printing house or brand a deck belongs to, and Ace has Whitebeard's logo
tattooed on his back.
In a standard card deck, the ace of spades is also known as the "Death C
ard."
Here's a Stealth Pun that was probably entirely unintentional on Oda-sensei'
s part... He said that the language spoken in One Piece is English. English is "
a language of pirates and traders, they beat up other languages and steal their
words".
Robin's skin color post-timeskip. At first she was Ambiguously Brown, but no
w not only is the tan gone, but she's actually fairly lighter than the rest of t
he cast.. Well, she's spent the past two years in a land where it constantly sno
ws.
The Magic Pants secondary power of Devil Fruits seems to extend mainly to wh
atever attire or items the user has on them. Luffy's clothes stretch, Buggy's cl
othes split, and Ace's clothes turn into fire. The only person who doesn't seem
to have this power is Jewelry Bonney who instead wears a skimpy outfit so it wil
l fit when she shrinks. However it wouldn't make sense for her powers to shrink

clothes because she can only change age. The most she could do with clothing is
restore it to new condition or age it to the point it falls apart.
The series is prone to using paper-thin disguises throughout the series. Amo
ng the outfits that were generally successful include the fake Straw Hats' outfi
ts, the crew's disguises in Dressrosa, and Ace infiltrating a marine base using
a captain's coat and drawn on mustache AFTER he'd already been caught. Meanwhile
disguises that didn't fool anyone include the Sogeking outfit and Foxy's disgui
ses. Successful uses of this trope only worked on people who either didn't alrea
dy know the person, are naive (Chopper), or are stupid (Luffy). These disguises
always fail whenever someone knows the actual person's face or a characteristic
trait and aren't foolish enough to fall for the disguise.
The short "Monster Time" re-imagines the One Piece cast if they are monsters
. Only after seeing a Youtube comment do I realize that Luffy was portrayed as a
dragon. To quote the remark that made me realize:
Monkey? D. Dragon... Well played
Brook's backstory doesn't follow the Straw Hat tradition of having a traumat
ic childhood incident (death of childhood friend via stairs, accidentally poison
ing your adoptive father figure, seeing your hometown destroyed, etc.) because h
is backstory is an inversion of the usual formula; Laboon is the "child" in this
case who has experienced a trauma in the form of the death of his parental subs
titutes, with Brook now taking the role of a downtrodden parental figure instead
of traumatized child. (Granted Laboon isn't exactly aware of the crew's death n
or Brook's survival but the point on inverting the usual formula still stands.)
It's noticeable that Bellamy the Hyena and Donquixote Doflamingo share a num
ber of similarities: blond hair with similar hairstyles, almost constant smirk,
habit of sticking out tongue, massive ego and love for violence is present in bo
th the characters. At first, it looks like Oda got lazy designing his characters
, but then the realization comes: Doflamingo is Bellamy's childhood idol, and Be
llamy just tries to imitate his ideal as much as possible.
Fishman Island is 10,000 meters below sea level. Fishmen and merpeople would
have to withstand well over 1,000 pounds of water pressure. It makes sense that
on land they are ten times stronger than humans.
Though the manga doesn't really show Ace doing anything terrible, he somehow
has the highest bounty shown in the whole series. At 550,000,000 there must hav
e been another reason for the Government to want him dead. Perhaps its because h
e's the son of Gold Roger? Sengoku at least knew who Ace's father was, and the w
hole reason Marinford happened was because the Marines wanted to wipe out Roger'
s legacy.
Of course devil fruits would taste like crap! If fruit isn't eaten right awa
y it rots. People are usually reluctant to eat devil fruits for a variety of rea
sons, and the fruits we've seen have all been pulled out of chests, where they'v
e been for who knows how long. The only fruit which age we know for certain is t
he mera mera no mi that Sabo ate after it's been laying around for two years! We
've yet to see anyone consume a devil fruit we can safely assume to be fresh.
We know Law learned the phrase "D will bring another storm again" from Coraz
on. Now, in Chapter 0, Sengoku noted that East Blue is a "weak but peaceful sea"
. In our world, the sea on the east is called the Pacific Ocean. But despite it'
s name, it has a lot of storm going around. Now, which sea is the home of many D
members like Luffy, Garp, Dragon, Roger ?
"Jolly Roger", the term employed when speaking about pirates' flags, derives
from the French "joli rouge" (literally "pretty red"). Is it surprising, then,
that the obviously jolly king of pirates Gol D. Roger fell in love with the joli
e Portgas D. Rouge?
Eiichiro Oda once held an SBS on where he revealed that Luffy would be Brazi
lian, Zoro Japanese, Nami would be Swedish, Usopp would be African, Sanji a Fren
ch man, Chopper a Canadian, Robin a Russian, Franky an American, and Brook is Au
strian. At first, the nationalities didn't make sense, like seriously, what coul
d you get from Austria? But then I realised, these make perfect sense. Luffy is
a party animal, wears button up shirts, and a straw hat, like many people in Bra
zil. Zoro's samurai motif speaks for itself. Nami's clothing pre Timeskip, and h

er hairstyle, matches that of many Swedes, even some dudes. Usopp is likely a No
rth African, because post Timeskip, I was getting massive Mediterranian vibes fr
om him: from the hat, to the complection, to the hair, EVERYTHING, even his nose
, (which is admittedly more Italy's thing,) it's just that a majority of these t
raits lie in Africa. Sanji as a French man isn't even subtle: he expresses love
for the ladies, his meals are amazing, and he's a Badass in a Nice Suit. Chopper
is more subtle as a Canadian, but at face value, he's a deer, he's soft spoken,
and can't hide gratitude no matter how hard he tries. Now for Robin, all the qu
alities are there: Long dark hair, not at all loyal until a revolution occurs (E
nies Lobby), puts her powers to great use by snapping her opponents spines, and
can carry Franky, who is literally Made of Iron; it seems that Mother Russia Mad
e Her Strong. Franky, like Zoro, speaks for himself in terms of being an America
n, what with the big muscles, Ace Ventura inspired hair, that speedo, and his lo
ve for rootbeer, not to mention being very good at fixing stuff up. Brook as an
Austrian guy makes sense because of the country's history with music and famous
musicians like Mozart; it also reflects his more European influences: instead of
itaryu, he practices fencing. So there you go.
Usopp's nose being Italian would make sense too, in two ways: for a numb
er of reasons, Italians have migrated in large numbers to Africa (in particular
to Lybia, Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Eritrea) since the nineteenth century (wi
th some communities being even older: the Egyptian one has been in continuous ex
istence since the time of the Roman Empire), and for other reasons people from N
orth Africa have migrated to Italy since the Romans won the Punic Wars. He's of
mixed descent, with the nose being the best evidence of him having Italian ances
tors.
Which makes another genius move on Oda's part: at the SBS, when he s
aid that Usopp was African, that wasn't Critical Research Failure, that was Crit
ical Research Genius. And thus, backing up the ever so true saying: ODA NEVER FO
RGETS!
Oda once said that Nami and Garp can hurt Luffy with their bare hands becaus
e they hit his heart. Since then, Garp was revealed having Haki. Well played, Od
a...
But wait, if that's the case, then that means Nami is on the verge of un
locking Haki! And the thing is, this makes sense! Recently, Usopp, whom Oda pegs
will always the the weakest of the crew, recently unlocked his Haki, which flip
s everything we know about the Straw Hat Crew inside-out, thus turning a Running
Gag into a Chekhov's Gag! Oda, you clever bastard..
Observational Haki would explain Nami's navigational skills and uncanny
ability to predict the weather if she had been using it subconsiously.
There's also Armament Haki. As you know, a prominent Running Gag involve
s Nami hurting Luffy with her punches. Again, it used to be chalked up to just R
ule of Funny, but after seeing Usopp unlock Haki, it's no longer the case. Not t
o mention, Oda has the tendency of using Chekhov's Gag and Cerebus Retcon to mak
e what were once jokes into something serious or plot relevant. Finally, it shou
ld be noted that in the story, people who have Armament Haki are usually very ru
de characters, and considering how Nami used to be like, it seems only inevitabl
e that she would unlock Haki some point soon.
When asked about the lack of romantic love in the series, Oda replied that t
hey're in love with adventure. Now, keeping in mind that the series' first chapt
er and the two prototypes are titled "Romance Dawn", read what Romanticism used
to be before the Romantic love stole the word, and what Romance was in the begin
ning...
Luffy is infamous for always choosing to take his ship and crew in the most
dangerous direction possible, purely for his own amusement, or so it seems. Cons
idering just how much he cares for the well-being of his crew, this doesn't make
any sense unless you consider the following. The "heroes" of this story are pir
ates, criminals on the run from the law. Going the "safe" way is actually more d
angerous for them. They're far more likely to find marines, bounty hunters, or o
ther pirates that way. In addition, as seen on Skypiea, going to the more danger
ous location has a better chance of finding treasure, and increasing their effec

tive strength, not to mention their reputation. Can you imagine how the WG is ha
ndling Smoker's report that he chased Luffy, "in hot pursuit" to Punk Hazard, an
d how Luffy handled himself? Not to mention being allied with Trafalgar Law?
The fact that Issho is blind loses its merit when you realize that he has Ob
servation Haki.
East Blue Saga
The Straw Hat crew's visit to Loguetown was difficult to swallow at first. L
uffy wanders all over the place trying to get to the square where Roger was exec
uted. He even finds it once, then gets lost again! He only manages to get back t
o the square because the wind happens to pick up and carry his hat there. So he
climbs to the top of the tower where Roger died, when suddenly Buggy pins him do
wn. Buggy's inches away from decapitating Luffy, when the tower is struck by lig
htning. Luffy is unharmed (lucky rubber boy!), and Buggy is incapacitated. Meanw
hile, both Buggy's subordinate and the local Marines are trying to blow up or bu
rn down the Going Merry, but it starts raining, thus foiling their plots. After
escaping the square, Luffy is running back to the ship, when Captain Smoker capt
ures him. At this point, Dragon appears out-of-nowhere and sets Luffy free. The
Straw Hats all get back to the ship and an immense wind speeds them ahead of any
potential pursuit. Captain Smoker gapes at just how ridiculously lucky Luffy ha
s been. But not a one of these events was chance or luck. Dragon did it. Dragon
apparently possesses the kaze kaze no mi: He is the Wind Logia. He also shares s
ome of Nami's weather-control knowledge. And he's been watching Luffy all throug
hout Loguetown, but is apparently too shy to look his son in the face. But I can
just see Dragon face-palming the whole time he's watching his son.
Mothuzad Kee
n
You do realize this is Fridge Logic and not Wild Mass Guessing, right?
The only part of the above that is unfounded guessing is how Dragon mani
pulated the events, not if he was behind it. Whether Dragon has a DF, a weather
machine or a thus far unexplored form of Haki, he very likely was guiding and pr
otecting Luffy in Loguetown.
Guys: "Dragon". Mythical zoan. Eastern dragons make it rain. The math
do
it.
That's still Wild Mass Guessing.
But still not totally unfounded, considering how Oda has been shown
to work his story.
Apis's Whisper-Whisper Fruit is played up to be the weakest and most ineffec
tive of all Devil Fruits. All she gets is the ability to communicate with animal
s. But this is a world where most of the animals are ridiculously deadly. Apis h
as the right personality and demeanor to get animals to join her side. For start
ers, she could freely travel about the Calm Belt because she can befriend a Sea
King. She can make her way to Rusukaina and became pals with all the creatures t
here. She'd have an army 500 Luffies strong. She could break into Impel Down, an
d since much of the prison's muscle are animals, she could turn them against the
staff and cripple the prison. She could sway the super-strong bugs in the Boin
Archipelago to her side. And there are very likely even stronger animals in the
New World, so this is far from the limits of her potential.
Ehrm, it pains me to destroy your theory: the One Piece Wiki stated that
the Hiso Hiso no mi allows Apis to understand animals and talk to them, but it
gives her no power whatsoever over their will. So she could ask to a Sea King fo
r a passage, but whether it accepts or not is up to the beast.
The first troper was saying she would befriend them and get them to
do all that, not control them.
Sorry again, but befriending something that sees you as a tasty easy
little snack? Even in Real Life, making friends isn't really that easy, let alo
ne giant fierce animals capable of destroying whole countries by themselves.
In real life, most animals are fairly docile and peaceful when not h
ungry or in danger. You leave them alone, they leave you alone. (There are defin
itely some exceptions, such as badgers and tigers, though.) I would presume the

One Piece world's fauna works in a similar way. There have already been cases of
powerful hostile animals turning friendly through someone able to communicate w
ith them, such as the birds on the Torino Kingdom and Shirahoshi with the Sea Ki
ngs, so I wouldn't consider it beyond Apis's ability and her charismatic, gentle
nature to convince the animals to come to her side. And if one can't be negotia
ted with, they can be forcibly put to one's side through triumph in battle, such
as with Cerberus and Momoo. I don't think Apis has that kind of personality, bu
t a user of the Whisper-Whisper Fruit could conceivably do that with animals the
y've befriended.
To be frank, what does any of this matter? Apis was the central characte
r of a filler arc. In fact, her arc is not only non-canon, it was later directly
contradicted by canon (Zoro not believing in dragons despite seeing them in thi
s arc). This is probably why most fans seem to consider it the worst arc in the
entire series.
Actually, there's a possibility that it's not contradicted be canon.
Zoro stating that he doesn't believe in dragons happens in Punk Hazard. He enco
unters a dragon in the Warship Island filler arc. In between the two (but closer
to Punk Hazard) is the Straw Hats' first visit to Sabaody, during which we actu
ally see Zoro erasing his memory of Kokoro. Since he can apparently do that, I s
ee no reason to assume that his not believing in dragons is a contradiction.
No comment on whether or not Zoro would or could have erased the mem
ory of seeing dragons, but it is stated that he doesn't believe in the creatures
before Punk Hazard he mentions it briefly during Thriller Bark, before fighting R
yuma.
At first during the Arlong Arc, I always thought Arlong was bribing the mari
nes to keep their mouths shut because he just wanted to stay hidden for simple r
easons, like not having the marines chase him or to just relax. But after recent
chapters, it got me that the only reason Arlong was freed was because Jinbe bec
ame a Warlord of the Sea, and if word got up to Marine HQ that Arlong was terror
izing a small island, Jinbe would have no doubt gone there and solved the proble
m himself. Arlong was bribing the marines because he didn't want to get Jinbe on
him! And yes, this would probably happen since it has been implied that Jinbe h
ates Arlong's guts.
That theory would actually confirm what the Warlords of the Sea are for.
Intimidating any minor pirate from doing anything. Or trying to cover it.
Oda's Foreshadowing in general is amazing. The examples are innumerable, and
many of them are quite subtle, but here's a pair:
In Loguetown and just before reaching Alabasta, Nami is shown to have an
exceptional weather sense (she predicts the huge windstorm that saves Luffy, an
d then a big cyclone with no plot significance. Then, at the end of the Alabasta
arc, Nami's new weapon turns out to be weather control!.
From way, way early in the series, even before meeting Sanji, Luffy says
he wants a musician on the crew (the line, paraphrased, is something like "Man,
I hate not having good food out here. You know what we need on this crew? A MUS
ICIAN!"). He repeats this a number of times, ("Luffy, since we all got so injure
d in that fight, you should really add to the crew
" "A musician, I know!"), and
then with Brook, they finally have a musician... Hundreds of chapters later!
Co
nfusion567
In Romance Dawn, Haki, of all things, is foreshadowed, leaving the one t
hing I thought of coming out nowhere, no longer as irritating. Shanks uses it on
the Sea Monster when he protects Luffy. More proof that Oda knows what he's doi
ng.
All the way back in the Lougetown arc, Luffy was about to be executed by Bug
gy on the execution platform when it was struck by lightning. While Buggy is fri
ed, and the platform burnt down, Luffy is miraculously unscathed. Cut to the Sky
piea arc, and he is proven to be immune to Eneru's Lightning. Luffy's immunity t
o lightning was fore-shadowed very early on.
I wouldn't say this should actually be considered foreshadowing, conside
ring that insulation of electricity is a well known property of rubber.
After the execution stand is struck down by lightning in Lougetown, Sanji as

ks Zoro if he believes in God (canon says he doesn't). A few arcs later we end u
p in Skypiea, where resident A God Am I Eneru uses, yup, lightning.
This borders a bit on WMG, but for a long time, I found Sanji's flanderizati
on regarding women a bit tacked on, as if it was just there to make him more fla
wed. I just didn't think it was plausible how he went from reasonably cool to ov
erly fawning of all the women he met. Then I realized that of the first five Str
aw Hats, he never really had a mother figure or a sister figure; Luffy had Makin
o and Dadan, Zoro had Kuina, Ussopp had Kaya and his mother, and Nami had Bellem
ere. Sanji on the other hand, mainly had Zeff and the other cooks, limiting his
exposure to woman(especially since he's living on ship).
Also, observe the other Straw Hats. Chopper had Doctor Kureha. Robin had
her mother. Franky had Kokoro. In contrast, look at Brook. His crew did not app
ear to have any women and aside from being isolated for fifty years, he was tact
less when talking women (like strolling up to a girl and ask to see her panties)
.
It's amazing when you realize Arlong, one of the first big name pirates Luff
y beat, SAILED IN THE GRAND LINE previous to his relocation to the East Blue. No
wonder the World Government was startled by Luffy; he beat up someone who shoul
d, by all accounts, have been able to beat Luffy senseless without much effort.
Drum Island Arc
The noble quack doctor Hiruluk's last words are as follows "Sooner or later,
I will die anyway. But a man does not die when he is shot. Nor does he die to d
isease, nor to eating a poison mushroom! He does not die due to a sword! A man d
ies when he is forgotten!" So what is he saying? If a man is remembered, he will
never die. Flash forward to Gold Roger's old first mate recounting the man's la
st words to him before facing his execution because he's going to die soon anywa
y, due to a disease: "I won't die, partner." He then goes on to spark the Golden
Age of Piracy with his last words, ensuring that he will never be forgotten. No
t only do their death scenes parallel each other perfectly (Roger's death being
grander), Gold Roger and Hiruluk have the same philosophy on death; Hiruluk prob
ably picked it up from Gold Roger during their youth!
Enlong
This exact point is stated the Hvaml, which is a part of the Poetic Edda o
f Norse Mythology. It might just be a coincidence, but I recall Oda saying that
his interest in pirates started with vikings. Conflux
I'm currently working on the theory that the entire show is Gold Roger's
inherited will. Confusion567
A running gag in the Drum Kingdom arc was Luffy consistently having a delaye
d reaction to the cold weather around him. At least two or three occasions went
by where Luffy was slow on the uptake, usually only noticing the cold after some
one else pointed it out. At first glance this is just a joke at Luffy's idiocy,
but then I realized: Isnt rubber an insulator? To be honest, I don't know if tha
t's how it works here, but it made me realize that it's quite possible that Luff
y actually can't feel cold right away. His insulated rubber body gives him a sli
ghtly higher tolerance for cold than most. He's hardly immune (Aokiji aside he n
early froze to death in Drum), but he is noticeably hardier in the cold than oth
ers. Sgamer82
Oddly enough, Luffy seems no less sensitive to heat than normal people.
Rampulus
Rubber is an ELECTRIC insulator, which has nothing to do with temperatur
e conductivity. People pointing it out to him wouldn't suddenly make him cold, i
t was simply done for laughs.
An interesting fact is that poor conductors of electricity are also
poor heat conductors. So while not on the level of styrofoam, it is indeed a tem
perature insulator.
To add to all of this, rubber is in fact a good heat insulator. However,
rubber's structural properties are affected by hot temperatures. This explains
why, while Luffy would naturally be more resilient to both hot and cold temperat
ures, he's really only tolerant to the cold.

I was looking at picture of the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming page when so

mething hit me. The picture on that page is the "cherry blossoms" from the end o
f the Drum arc. While truly an awesome and heartwarming moment, only when I happ
ened to look at that picture at this moment did it hit me: The combination of th
e giant pink cloud and the sheer cliffs of the Drum Rockies look like an actual
giant cherry tree.
This isn't so much Fridge Brilliance as it is actual canon.
Drum Island arc ended with Chopper claiming that he can't go to seas because
everyone would just call him a freak. Luffy yelled the legendary words: "SHUT U
P! LET'S GO!". Think about what that meant to Chopper. He finally met someone wh
o accepts him as what he is. And Luffy... He chooses his True Companions out of
random people, who usually happen to be called "freaks" and "threats" by the soc
iety.
Made all the more heartwarming because Luffy had no idea that Chopper is
a doctor. He wasn't recruiting Chopper because his crew needed a doctor, he jus
t wanted Chopper to be his nakama.
After Wapol fired on Hiriluk's Jolly Roger, Luffy went up and protected it,
keeping it from falling. He then said to Wapol something along the lines of "Thi
s flag is not something you can just shoot down while smiling like an idiot." No
w, of all the Straw Hats, which two are the ones who are, at any given moment, m
ost likely to be smiling like idiots? Luffy and Usopp. Yet... neither of them we
re smiling like idiots when Luffy ordered Sogeking to shoot down the flag of the
World Government in Enies Lobby!
Befitting the eponymous trope, Ace in many ways functions as the ideal hero
not just in comparison to Luffy, but in general; friendly, sociable, is the son
of the most influential figure in the series, has a classic hero power(fire), an
d is considered one of the strongest characters. With his death, the story empha
sizes that despite these qualities, Luffy is the hero the story needs.
Ideal hero? We're talking about the same dine-n'-dashing, pirate-followi
ng, rebellious, Marine-busting, reckless Ace, right?
The idea still stands. One Piece is almost like A Song of Ice and Fire i
n regards to its moral neutrality. Pirates are either insane and dangerous or id
ealistic and Chaotic Good. Gold Roger is said to have murdered an entire crew be
cause he was angry. Luffy released prison inmates who were obviously deranged at
best. Compared to all that, Ace is an ideal hero. If you want an ideal hero bas
ed on niceness, I suggest you either go to Shanks (who probably has a morally am
biguous past himself) or Coby.
Alabasta Arc
So, in the Alabasta arc, after Luffy's defeat by Crocodile, Robin saves him
and questions why "those with the initial of D. are so persistent." Of course, s
he was talking from experience, as we learn that the giant who saved her life 20
years before also had the middle initial "D".
In the Baroque works saga, Mr 2 Bon Clay announces his special technique compo
site face changing, where he can change each part of his face and announces that h
e will create the strangest face known to man! five seconds later, he turns back
with "90% of his own face". That was funny in and of itself (see: the ten-secon
d long awkward silence afterwards), but what I only realized the second time wat
ching was the the 10% he changed was his nose... To Usopp's.
A moment of Fridge Brilliance that occurred to me a while ago regarding the
Alabasta arc. The key element that allowed the Straw Hats to escape Crocodile's
fiendishly clever trap was the fact that Crocodile's information about the Straw
Hats was incomplete, which allowed Sanji (who he never knew about) and Chopper
(who he dismissed as a pet) to trick him. It wasn't for a long time that I reali
zed he should have known about Sanji all along. The Unluckies only identified Lu
ffy, Zoro, and Nami at Whiskey Peak, and the Mr. 3 and 5 pairs met Usopp at Litt
le Garden. But in between Miss All-Sunday met all five current Straw Hats. The f
act that Crocodile didn't know about Sanji despite his own Dragon having met him
makes you realize Robin was undermining Crocodile's activities even then.