[PATREON Content of the Day! - Mar 19!]

This is a really common theme in One Piece that a lot of people don't seem to understand. Character development in One Piece is never about overcoming your weaknesses and becoming perfect, it's about letting other people cover for your weaknesses and trusting them to do so with your entire life. Luffy literally says this theme word for word in Arlong Park, where he describes all the things he's incapable of doing (including lying, which is really funny), and then specifies that his job is just to beat Arlong. Sanji in Whole Cake gets a huge development but it isn't that he can hit women now or isn't a compassionate softie or pervert, it's that he finally lets his guard down completely towards his crew and trusts them to help him even when he's being stupid or selfish (ie: wanting to stay in Whole Cake to rescue his Nazi family instead of just easily run away, which ended up condemning Pedro to death, Luffy in a brutal fight with Katakuri, and the Straw Hats nearly getting smashed by Big Mom like ten times). Thus, in Wano, we finally get to see PROOF of this development, with what happens next regarding Black Maria. Same thing has always applied to every Straw Hat. Usopp felt insecure about his strength and cowardice and left the crew because of it. Did that arc end with him being strong and brave? No. It ended with him finally understanding that he doesn't NEED to be strong and brave to be with the Straw Hats. He just needs to be himself and help out however he can, which is a lot when he focuses on support. This is also why I never complain that much when we don't get many Robin, Chopper, or Nami fights. That part of the crew is certainly capable of fighting when they need to, but it is ultimately not really one of their strengths. The strong trio is there to protect the crew, and the others are mostly either support in combat, or put in charge of other important operations. Franky basically was just a valet during all of Punk Hazard, but if he hadn't recovered Sunny and the Mini-Merry, who would've? Robin didn't get a single fight in Dressrosa, but besides generally playing a support role she also helped protect Rebecca while Kyros fought his wife's murderer. Zoro is strong in a fight but the man is next to useless for every other part of sailing a ship and in some ways is almost a hindrance because of his terrible sense of direction. That scene where the crew battles the insane weather of the grand line and falls exhausted as Zoro wakes up and asks why everyone is resting and being lazy is a perfect example of his own weaknesses. Does that mean Zoro's character development should be becoming a competent crew member and good at directions? That would be silly. Yet people still expect that from Sanji. I tend to blame bad storytelling in general. A lot of people have become used to "character development" meaning characters just magically becoming completely different people and saying that it makes sense because people change. But in reality, that's not really how that works. Most people change very little outside of traumatic experiences and growing out of puberty and childhood, and most of what looks like change is actually external circumstances changing around them and them simply adapting to the new situation. Characters in One Piece to develop, but they tend to develop like people do in real life - slowly, and imperceptibly. Like if you compare Luffy in episode one to him now, he's clearly and obviously the same, goofy, fun-loving, optimistic, confident guy. (As people say in real life, growing up doesn't mean you have to become bitter and lose your creativity, it's often a choice people make to fit in with society) But he isn't exactly the same. Modern Luffy is more mature, a better leader, and understands how to deal with people better (after having fumbled with Usopp but learning his lesson and correctly approaching Sanji). Modern Luffy isn't full of false bravado like old Luffy, he has confidence because he is actually strong, but he's also able to recognize when his enemies are extremely strong as well. That's actual character development, but it just happens so gradually that many people miss it. This sort of slow but sure development happens with each Straw Hat, some more than others, but none of them have or ever will suddenly become a different person just because the fans want this illusionary unrealistic "character development" that some other media forces their characters through.

its lowkey not a ship its a friendship smh

@Sceptic Llama Yes, possibly. While that legend does exist, it's not explicit, even in the SBS. Oda doesn't seem to imply Kaidou's awakening was turning into a dragon anywhere. The fruit's model name was always Seiryuu, which means the creature was always a dragon, but classified as a fish. The Magikarp Kaidou idea seems to be a fan head-canon more than anything (though I do think it's hilarious and a great theory).

Notably, Yamato consistently uses "boku" to self-identify. If you google "boku meaning," the first result is "In Japanese, 'boku' (僕) is a first-person pronoun meaning 'I' or 'me,' typically used by males, especially young men, in a casual or semi-formal manner. "

Yeah I was gonna ask because that confused me too. like Wdym stand-alone vid

yeah not gonna lie, sometimes he is on point and sometimes this man is a massive goober I swear. Eastern dragons are related to fish, it's western dragons that are reptilian, like I swear Kaido's fruit has come up before and he didn't have a problem understanding it then. Not to mention the actual dragon-dragon class of zoans is already known to be used for dinosaurs and not actual dragons.

He watched it like a month ago just not uploaded lol

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