The Evolution of the Straw Hats: Insights into the Time Skip and Fish-Man Island Saga

Liz Clyde: 00:01:27

If you lost someone you love in the middle of a war, would you take the time to heal or rush back to your responsibilities? We're going to discuss all this in our episode. We are Systematic Ecology.

I am your host, Elizabeth, with Clyde, and I am here with my co host, the best person ever, The. The Magic King. I don't know.

TJ Blackwell: 00:01:51

Magic King.

Liz Clyde: 00:01:52

The magic. I don't know why. I want to say the myth, the man, the legend, but I don't know why Magic King came.

TJ Blackwell: 00:01:58

The Magic King.

Liz Clyde: 00:01:59

Yeah. TJ Blackwell is now the Magic King.

TJ Blackwell: 00:02:02

The Magic Kingdom is mine.

Liz Clyde: 00:02:04

Yes.

TJ Blackwell: 00:02:05

Yeah. I live there.

Liz Clyde: 00:02:06

How are you doing, tj?

TJ Blackwell: 00:02:08

Great. Magical.

Liz Clyde: 00:02:10

I'm so glad. Like, I feel like I was watching Adventure Time and like just some of like the, the.

That stuff is stuck in my head right now and my brain is going a thousand miles. But it's okay because we're gonna slow down and have a great episode and talk about something we love.

So, guys, if you enjoy this episode, if you're in a laptop, please consider rating reviewing on your podcast platform of choice. If you're on your phone, please consider on our show and just helping us with our algorithm. We would greatly appreciate it.

So with my very vague opening, we are talking about one piece specifically, we are talking about the post war arc and then we're going to go into Fishman Island.

TJ Blackwell: 00:02:55

What are you geeking out on?

Liz Clyde: 00:02:56

I don't know why I know what.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:00

I'm geeking out on.

Liz Clyde: 00:03:01

Okay, tell me what you're geeking out on.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:02

Elden Ring Night rain came out 19 and a half hours ago.

Liz Clyde: 00:03:09

Wow.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:09

And unfortunately, I've not been able to play it for 19 and a half hours.

Liz Clyde: 00:03:14

Because you had to.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:15

I had to sleep and do a couple of other things.

Liz Clyde: 00:03:18

And this, let's see, I. What's it called? Just did. I've been doing a lot of baking, so I've been geeking out on not much, but I did decide to in the background.

And I've said this before, but from episode one, Naruto, all the way through Shippuden to Boruto, I've just been watching it because I never finished Boruto for obvious reasons. And so now that Boruto is all English dubbed, I'm just. I have that as background noise. So I'm like paying attention. Not really.

So I wouldn't really say I'm geeking out on it, but it's been there.

TJ Blackwell: 00:03:58

Yeah, yeah. Boruto's not that bad.

Liz Clyde: 00:04:03

It's not. But waiting week to week with the English like And having to like sit and watch it when it was subtitled. I just could not do it when it was out.

So now that it's all dubbed, it's a great background. It's fun to see.

Of course, when I have a Sasuke and Sakura on the screen, I stop everything and like rewind and like sit and give it my full attention, as my little teenage heart should. But it's been great.

TJ Blackwell: 00:04:26

Well, I mean, at least you're not waiting for the manga. It's monthly.

Liz Clyde: 00:04:30

Is the manga still going?

TJ Blackwell: 00:04:31

Yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:04:32

Really? I thought it was done. I have heard the manga is so much better. So much better with anything.

Like it shows a lot more of like Sasuke's and Sakura's relationship and how it actually developed.

TJ Blackwell: 00:04:43

Yeah, well, a little. But they gave it back to Kishimoto. Kishimoto took over and then there was a time skip and now it's good.

And now we're going to talk about the Post Summit War arc.

Liz Clyde: 00:04:55

Thank you for keeping me on track. Such a good co host. So tj, do you remember I.

It's been since it probably aired that I've seen these two, but I remember it so vividly because this is right after Luffy lost Ace. And so we kind of get to see like his.

His struggle with grief in the Post War arc, which is I feel like really just really healing in a way because it just shows the human side of anime. And just being able to like watch him kind of like conceal.

Don't feel trying to like hold it all together was really touching and I really enjoyed it. Especially like as an adult now and now, like when I watched it 10 years ago, I didn't know what grief was. I was sad if a dog died.

So I experienced it a little bit. But like losing actual family members now, like even losing a sibling, I can understand grief.

So we'll talk about that a little bit as we just dive deeper into the episodes, the episodes of One Piece. So what do you remember most about this?

TJ Blackwell: 00:06:02

So these Fishman Island. I remember a lot more than the time skip. Okay, like post Summit war. But like I do remember Luffy's part really well and Sanji's part really well.

And these probably because it wasn't that long ago that I really like watched these and paid attention for the first time just because, you know, growing up, I would see it here and there on Four Kids, then on Adult Swim.

But it wasn't until I decided to catch up on the manga, which I started at Marineford because I remembered everything up to Marineford then I caught up to the manga and then I was like, well, I'll catch up to the anime in my spare time. Which was so much longer. It took so much longer to catch up to the anime. So I remember them pretty well.

I remember Fishman island way, way better though. But yeah, like you said, just this was. I feel like the first time we really saw Luffy not just be like super happy, go lucky. Well, second.

Second time we saw him not be super happy, go lucky. First time being like a couple of days before this when Ace died.

But like watching him not be able to hold it in anymore is really humanizing for Luffy. And I think it does a lot for his character.

And watching him build his bond with Rayleigh and like them develop that little student teacher bond was really cool.

Everyone else, sure, whatever time skip shenanigans, Sanji's did stick out to me because Sanji was always my favorite and his I thought was the funniest.

Liz Clyde: 00:07:41

It was hilarious. And so with this arc, a lot of it was also flashback to like Luffy, Ace and Sabo's time together as their childhood.

Which really just makes the death more. More heart wrenching as we relive it with Luffy. And so Luffy, for his time skip, he got sent to. It was. It was the Amazon land, right? No.

What did he get sent? I'm getting.

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:04

He just got sent like a little island.

Liz Clyde: 00:08:05

Okay. So I know he was with Rayleigh. I can't remember if like it was a sub island off the Amazon. So he's pretty much with Rayleigh.

And that's where he's kind of learning. Is he learning high key for the first time? I know he really taught him a lot.

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:19

Hockey.

Liz Clyde: 00:08:20

Hockey, Hiki Hockey, whatever. But. But when you hear it in like the Japanese, it's kind of. I don't know. I'm just making stuff now.

TJ Blackwell: 00:08:28

You know, he, you know, Rayleigh's like, well, I know what this kid needs. He needs to learn hockey because he just fought three logia fruits and he has no idea what to do about that.

So this is the spot where Oda was like, well, I might have made this one specific kind of fruit really, really strong. So I need to do something about that. And then that's why hockey exists.

Liz Clyde: 00:08:53

Nice. And then just kind of backtracking a little bit.

So pretty much what happened was right at the end, all the team members got sent to different areas of the world to escape from the Marine Forge. And then Luffy's does send while everyone's on Their island pretty much a cryptic message saying 3D 2Y.

And so that's pretty much saying like, you know, the three days is crossed out. And it was replaced for two years year saying we're going to meet up in two years. So pretty much in those two years, people are getting buff.

So Nami went to like, one of the sky islands, and so she's like learning weather and how to like, make that make her strong with that. Usopp went to like, kind of like a jungle and he's learning all these plant things to help with his ammo and the slingshot.

TJ Blackwell: 00:09:43

Nah. Usopp went to a gym.

Liz Clyde: 00:09:45

A gym?

TJ Blackwell: 00:09:47

Well, basically.

Liz Clyde: 00:09:48

Oh yeah. I mean, he did. Yeah. Running from the shredding plant thing. I. Ushop's transformation is probably my favorite.

So I know Sanji's your favorite story, but like, ushop's like, growth is my favorite.

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:00

Like for times, he's just. Sanji's just my favorite straw hat period.

Liz Clyde: 00:10:05

Because I skip wise.

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:07

I just always thought he was cool. I like to kick people a lot when I was younger, so, you know, the bond is there.

Liz Clyde: 00:10:15

Gotcha.

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:15

I think Luffy has the best time skip story.

Liz Clyde: 00:10:18

Yeah, his was pretty fun too. But tell us a little bit about the Sanji time skip and why you love it so much.

TJ Blackwell: 00:10:24

It's, I want to say, objectively hilarious. I think it's fair to say, actually. So Sanji.

I don't remember the name of the island that Sanji got sent to when Kuma blasted them all into, you know, their respective corners of the sea, but just the idea, the concept of Sanji getting stronger because he has to spend his all of his time running away from Okamas, which is. Drag queens is so funny. It's like he literally learns to run on air so that drag queens can't kiss him.

Liz Clyde: 00:11:03

It's my favorite.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:05

And at the end, he has like a great mutual relationship with them. So like, it's a happy ending. And then Mr. Two comes back and.

Liz Clyde: 00:11:13

We can't handle that too much right now. But where did Chopper get sent? I can't remember. I can't remember Chopper or Robin. So I don't know if.

So obviously it didn't go too deep into their orcs.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:25

Yeah, it was.

Liz Clyde: 00:11:27

I know Robin went somewhere where she got to study more of the poly stuff. I remember that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:31

Yeah. Because I know this is where they assassinated Chopper as a character. And after the time skip, now he's just really cute. Until wano at least.

But I'm pretty sure because why would.

Liz Clyde: 00:11:45

Brooke Went to go be a rock star.

TJ Blackwell: 00:11:48

Yeah. Brooke became soul king. Love that for Brooke. Also really, really cool. Like time skip activity. I did forget about that though.

That was super awesome for him to just like, yeah, I'm just going to get really famous.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:01

Well, it really bothered me because I used to have all the one piece flyers in my classroom and Brooks was different. So my ocd because it was more like a poster. Yeah. And it's. It still bothers me to this day.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:14

But yeah, it is really annoying because they don't. They don't change it ever.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:19

Gosh. So aggravating. And so this is why when I moved all my stuff into my home office, it's not even hanging up anymore. And then Frankie, Frankie.

What did he go?

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:30

I want to say, Frankie, you went back to Water seven and he just.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:35

Became even more of a beast of an Android. Pretty much, yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:39

He came back bigger with bigger, sexier.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:43

Shoulders and a tighter.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:47

One piece.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:49

What's it called? Why Can't I?

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:51

Speedo.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:51

Speedo. Even tighter Speedo.

TJ Blackwell: 00:12:54

An even tighter Speedo and a bigger body.

Liz Clyde: 00:12:58

Good job, Frankie. But this is like, really important because, I mean, this is just such a defining time for the. The straw hats.

I mean, they just suffered an utter defeat and then now they are in an unknown person. They don't have their, like crew with them. They, you know, are feeling vulnerable.

And it's one of those times where we face so many times, like, you know, when life literally knocks you down. Are you going to get better? Are you going to quit? Are you going to get stronger? Are you going to give up? Like, what's going to happen?

And so it was really kind of like shocking if you think about it. All the crew members was like, yes, we're still in it. We're going to get stronger and we'll meet you back in. In two years.

TJ Blackwell: 00:13:39

Yeah. And like, most of their reasons for like being back like at Sabaody are because they came back to meet them. You know, that was the goal.

But Brooke is just there for a concert. Brook's just performing at Sabaody.

Liz Clyde: 00:13:55

Brook is living his best life and.

TJ Blackwell: 00:13:57

Then he's like, oh, right.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:00

Can I see your panties?

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:03

Oh. Zorro went to train with Mihawk.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:06

Yes, I remember to live with Mihawk. I love that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:10

Yeah, that's exactly what he wanted. You get. We get to see more Perona, which is like a, you know, she's like a cult classic, I guess. She's like a mild crowd favorite, I would say.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:19

She's the one piece. Holy Coin. Kind of. Maybe the vibe. You know what I mean? Like. Yeah, like if people are gonna dress up as a gothic character, it's gonna be her.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:29

Yeah. I don't. I like her more than Harley Quinn though.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:31

Same. She's less annoying.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:32

Yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:33

And less violent.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:34

Yeah. And has cooler powers. Which is powers.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:38

I just love that she kind of just made herself at home with Mihawk.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:42

Yeah. She just moved in.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:43

Yeah. She just.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:45

Gecko Moria is not a warlord anymore.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:46

So, like, this is where I belong now.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:48

I live here.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:49

And you can tell Mihawk secretly likes it. So we have a side ship going on.

TJ Blackwell: 00:14:54

Yeah. It's cute.

Liz Clyde: 00:14:55

It is very cute. So I think that we covered all where the crew left. Where would they win?

So pretty much watching them get stronger and when they reunite, it's really fun just seeing how they grow. Of course Nami got sexier, like shocker.

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:09

Naturally.

Liz Clyde: 00:15:10

As. As you show, she got curvier more. You know, I like her with long hair. Robin, also you.

TJ Blackwell: 00:15:18

Yeah. She lost her tan. She spent all of her two years on the time skip inside. Clearly, when she comes back, she is pasty white.

Liz Clyde: 00:15:26

As they like them in anime. And then with their first adventure with the crew back we go to Fishman Island.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:32

Oh, wait, no. The best part of them reunited.

Liz Clyde: 00:16:34

I forget.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:35

What was the reuniting at Sabaody. When Chopper gets there, there's, you know, they're like straw hat impersonators. Like Fat Luffy. Yes, those guys.

Chopper just is like, wow, They've changed so much in two years and is just following the fake straw hats around.

Liz Clyde: 00:16:53

I forgot about that one.

TJ Blackwell: 00:16:55

And he's just completely oblivious to the fact that the people he's following are not his crew. Because they didn't have a Chopper. They didn't have a fake Chopper. Because Chopper was still just the pet at that point.

His Bounty was like 500 berries or something.

Liz Clyde: 00:17:09

That is hilarious.

TJ Blackwell: 00:17:10

That's hilarious. And then, like, Luffy fighting the Pacifistas, who he thought were Kuma, which now we know are not Kuma.

That's a whole thing that we'll discuss in probably several years at this rate. But it's so good them coming back and being super strong. It just. It's really special.

Liz Clyde: 00:17:31

You get really excited and, like, you feel motivated and you feel like we can conquer anything. And even I can't. I remember binging it. So I didn't really have to wait for the time skip. So.

But I can only imagine if Marine Foal was the end of one season. You actually had to Wait, you know, for the episodes to come, how excited you would be to see this killer.

TJ Blackwell: 00:17:54

That would be unbelievable. What year did this even come out in the anime?

Liz Clyde: 00:17:58

,: 2011

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:13

Yeah. I was in elementary school.

Liz Clyde: 00:18:15

,: 2010

I didn't wait either, so it's fine. So kind of just. Just keep on going week to week with them.

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:33

Pretty sweet.

Liz Clyde: 00:18:34

It is nice. But I could just imagine, like, if they actually made them wait, you know, per season, like a few months, it would have felt like two years.

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:42

Yeah. Like if it wasn't like a towy production.

Liz Clyde: 00:18:45

Because they. They really missed it. They really should get a time machine sheen and you know, they should do that.

And that's when they should do the six month break. Yeah, is right then.

TJ Blackwell: 00:18:54

Yeah. Because right now, six month break is not going to mean that much.

Liz Clyde: 00:18:58

No, people are still catching up, so it doesn't matter. But Fishman Island, I loved this one just because I love aquariums. So I felt like this whole episode was a giant aquarium feast.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:10

Yeah, I love fish. And Fishman Island's really cool. Well, what else is there to say? Fisherman island is awesome.

All the straw hats get another chance to shine with their new powers.

Liz Clyde: 00:19:20

Well, you're the magic king. So this is just pretty much an underwater kingdom for you at this point.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:24

Mm, it is.

Liz Clyde: 00:19:26

And then we. We kind of learn a little bit. Well, we learned a big Easter egg about that. Do the. We do learn that. The mermaid, right, The. What's her name again?

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:36

Shirahoshi.

Liz Clyde: 00:19:37

Shirahoshi. Who is the daughter of Neptune? Was that his name? Okay. And so we actually learned that she is one of like the secret weapons.

TJ Blackwell: 00:19:48

Yeah, she is one of the, like, I don't remember what they're called all of a sudden. One of like the ultimate weapons in the One Piece world.

Liz Clyde: 00:19:56

Yep. Like the ones that the polygraph mentions that everyone's trying to keep. Hush, hush.

The one that was destroyed Robin's whole town for, like, she's just chilling, hanging out, being all like kind of Ignorance is bliss. She's classic sheltered princess. But she is huge.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:15

Massive.

Liz Clyde: 00:20:15

She is so big. Which, you know, some fan service. Love that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:20

Yeah. You know, it happens. One Piece has something for everybody.

Liz Clyde: 00:20:24

They really do. Even furries.

But with the Fishman Island, a theme that we really see, and we saw this a little bit back in the day with Arlong park is the racism and the prejudice and, you know, the humans thinking Fishman or a lesser race and. And whatnot. And so what we see is the actual kingdom, would you call it? Not under siege, but it's kind of like under control with Big Mom.

TJ Blackwell: 00:20:53

Yeah, they're like, they're vassals, I would say. Like, they report to Big mom, they pay Big mom, like, for protection, whatever.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:01

For sweets.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:03

Yep.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:04

I would. I remember when I watched this because I was in culinary school and I was like, I want to eat that candy.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:10

Yeah, it looks good. But the. So the reason they go to Fishman island is because they don't want to cross over the Red Line, because that's for law abiding citizens.

Everyone else has to go through Fishman island to get past the Red Line into the New World. Because this is where we get into the New World and the stakes are raised a lot.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:28

So forgot about that. And they get a giant bubble to go through it, which is really fun.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:33

Which is. Yeah, just super fun. One piece science. They're like, yeah, no, all ships can go underwater. You just put a big bubble on them.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:40

Yeah. And it won't pop. It'll be fine. There's no such thing as, like pressure in the deep or anything like that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:45

No, there's really strong bubbles.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:47

Yeah. That is so dark and cold that you wouldn't even know which way to go. But it's.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:51

That's different. Different water.

Liz Clyde: 00:21:53

Different logic.

TJ Blackwell: 00:21:55

Yeah, different water. So we do have a main antagonist here, Hody Jones. Always called him Hody White, but because he's a great white shark. Fishman.

But he's one of my favorite One Piece villains. I just think he's really cool.

And if one villain were to come back from like this, like, pre New World, I wanted to be him just because I think he's awesome. Because he's a shark. I love sharks.

Liz Clyde: 00:22:21

I like the mermaids over the shark, but have you been to the Georgia Aquarium and their shark thing?

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:27

I have.

Liz Clyde: 00:22:28

So if you love sharks, that's a bonus tip for you guys. Atlanta, Georgia, everyone.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:33

Yeah. Big, big systematic ecology. Hint, there are three whale sharks in captivity in the Georgia Aquarium. And they.

They raised them and saved them from some, like, illegal breeder or something when they were babies. So it's not unethical.

Liz Clyde: 00:22:52

Yeah. They couldn't go back into the wild to survive.

TJ Blackwell: 00:22:54

Yep. They could not survive if they were released. So Georgia Aquarium is keeping them until the end of their lives.

They're not trying to breed them or anything. It's all above board. The tank is like 600 million gallons or something big. It's cool. It's good.

And they're the only ones that are in captivity legally, I think. So if you want to see whale sharks and you don't want to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you go to the Georgia Aquarium. Georgia Aquarium.

Liz Clyde: 00:23:18

Yep. So let us know if you go. I might meet you there. Because I think I've been to aquarium all across the nation and the world if I can flex that.

And Georgia Aquarium has. Is top, except for the one in Osaka in Japan. That was pretty fascinating too.

TJ Blackwell: 00:23:32

But yeah, it's like. It's like actually a global top five aquarium. And it's in Georgia. It rocks.

Liz Clyde: 00:23:39

It does. Okay, well, going back to our one piece aquarium, so we defeat. What was his name? Hootie Jones.

TJ Blackwell: 00:23:48

Hody Jones.

Liz Clyde: 00:23:48

And Hody Jones. And pretty much he was trying to be a wannabe or along. He distorted Arlong's vision. And a funny bad guy.

TJ Blackwell: 00:23:57

Yeah. Yeah. And it is really interesting to have someone, like, show up again at this point.

Like, so far past where we were when we met Arlong, who's like, hey, what's up? Arlong was right, and I'm gonna kill you for it. I just. I really like him. I think he's a lot cooler than Arlong. I think.

I think sawfish are cooler than great white sharks, but Hody Jones's design is cooler. And he was a more interesting villain, even if his main drive was just a previous villain's drive. Argue with a wall, I don't care.

Also, the cuttlefish, I don't remember his name, and I do feel bad about that, but that was a super fun fight to watch.

Liz Clyde: 00:24:39

It was. Oh, it's. The weapon is called Poseidon.

TJ Blackwell: 00:24:42

So, yeah, she is Poseidon, but her name is Shiraoshi.

Liz Clyde: 00:24:46

Yeah, but like, that's the. So whenever they're reading the polygraphs and stuff like that, and they, like, hear about Poseidon and they don't realize that she is it.

And so pretty much what she has is she has the ability to control all the sea kings and stuff.

So if you think about it, she has the ability to control a lot of the water, because sea kings, I mean, we've seen a couple of them, I think, show up, but, like, you just don't realize how powerful they are.

TJ Blackwell: 00:25:13

Yeah. And like the east blue one. Sea King was like a death sentence. And they were like babies. They were like tiny, tiny Sea Kings.

And here at Fishman island and like, all around the red line, they're huge. They're. They're like. They could swallow an East Blue. I don't know if. Man, we're all over the place today.

Liz Clyde: 00:25:33

We are, basically.

TJ Blackwell: 00:25:35

But they're massive and just not a problem anymore. Not for us.

Liz Clyde: 00:25:40

Yeah, No, I mean, if you have the power to control it. And remember, I don't think she realizes she has the power to control it.

TJ Blackwell: 00:25:47

No, she doesn't.

Liz Clyde: 00:25:48

But the. The father does. Because it was prophesied that the every, like, few generations or so, like, there is someone who. Who controls it.

And so it was prophesied that pretty much the person was coming. So her father, the King, put it together that this is her. But it's a big secret. And so, I don't know, dudes.

It doesn't get, I think, outed for a very, very long time.

TJ Blackwell: 00:26:13

Yeah. Because, like, that is what makes her One of the. The weapons, I'm pretty sure, is that she can call it Sea Kings.

But Luffy and Hody Jones fight because Hody Jones wants to, like, destroy Fishman island for some reason, probably because he's awesome, but he thinks that's a good idea. He's gonna inadvertently destroy it, at least. And Luffy stops him. And then for the rest of time, Fishman island is like, wow, Monkey D.

Luffy is so awesome and cool. All of our kids are gonna wear straw hats now.

Liz Clyde: 00:26:44

Which is really sweet because, like, what is a fish gonna do with a hat? They only eat it.

TJ Blackwell: 00:26:48

They don't need a hat.

Liz Clyde: 00:26:49

They don't. Those silly fishies.

TJ Blackwell: 00:26:51

But it is also interesting because the prophet. What is her name? But there is a prophecy that they assume is about Luffy or one of the Fishmen or one of the straw hats.

Because it is prophesied that someone with a straw hat on is going to destroy Fishman Island. And now so many people in Fishman island wear a straw hat.

Liz Clyde: 00:27:15

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:27:15

So it kind of just could be anyone. It's probably gonna be Shirahoshi.

Liz Clyde: 00:27:19

Yeah, it could be. Or even then you can think about, like, maybe destroying the ideology of Fish Man. Like, maybe it's not even like a physical destruction.

Could be like, more of, like, the how they've lived life and how they're gonna go more forward, like integrating with the human so we don't know how it's going to get destroyed. And so another big thing is Luffy officially invites Jinbe to join the Straw Hats.

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:32

Yep.

Liz Clyde: 00:28:32

And we love Jinbei.

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:34

We love Jinbei. Jinbei is he just, you know, like, when he joins the crew, he's already, like, a powerhouse.

Like, at this point during Fishman island, he was probably the second, maybe third strongest Straw Hat.

Liz Clyde: 00:28:48

Mm.

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:48

At this point, he's been outpaced because.

Liz Clyde: 00:28:50

He was a warlord back in the day, right?

TJ Blackwell: 00:28:52

Yeah, he was. He was one of the Shichibukai, the warlords, along with, like, Gekko, Moria and Mihawk and.

Liz Clyde: 00:28:58

But Jimbe accepts the invitation, but he was like, I have to do some stuff first. So they wouldn't. They didn't drink sake together yet because he's like, I want to join, but he has to do something. So that kind of like, hints.

And this is going to be a little spoiler, but kind of like his you know, involvement with the whole what's coming next with Keiki island and whatnot, which I'm very excited about, because me being a pastry chef, I loved that way too long arc.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:25

Yeah. Whole Cake Island. I don't know. It's not that bad. Coming off the back end of Dressrosa, Nothing feels like a long arc anymore.

Liz Clyde: 00:29:33

Yeah, you're right. But I just. I loved it. It was so fun. I love her. Like, I would love to live there, even craziness and all.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:41

I think you would just like to be Big Mom.

Liz Clyde: 00:29:43

Okay. A little bit skinnier, though.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:46

You'll get over it.

Liz Clyde: 00:29:47

No, I wouldn't.

TJ Blackwell: 00:29:48

Yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:29:49

And so. And speaking of Big mom, so she's the one who controls whole Cake Island. And so Luffy. It ends with actually, he declares war on Big Mom.

So as we mentioned before, the Fishman island has been under the protection of Big mom since Whitebeard's death. And so by protection, it was kind of. It wasn't a mutual benefit. Protection for them.

It was kind of like, okay, well, we need to do this because we have no one else to really protect us. So when Big mom crew demand the payment and the candy, Luffy learns that they want to destroy the island over it.

So he boldly declare war over Big mom. And he. I think he eats all the candy too, which is just a such a g move to do.

He's like, not only am I going to eat your candy, I'm going to declare war on you. And this island is under my protection now.

TJ Blackwell: 00:30:38

Yeah, that's my goat.

Liz Clyde: 00:30:40

And this is like, to the point, like, Luffy is still. I mean, he's not a nobody, but no one really realizes how strong he is because he Just got his butt kicked.

TJ Blackwell: 00:30:49

Yeah. And he's like, he's about to make it known at this point. He is like a world criminal. He's like one of the supernovas.

He's one of the pirates to watch out for like this season, you know, every couple, every generation. But they still don't know who he is. You know, they don't know he's him. They don't know he's the pirate King one day.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:12

They definitely don't know who his daddy is.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:14

They sure don't. Because I don't think we did at this point.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:17

No, we sure did not know who. And we will not say who his daddy is until later when it is time.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:22

Because we still don't know anything about his dad. So.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:25

No, no, no, no. But we do know that we have seen, I think his mom. I don't know, but his mom has appeared. We just don't know who the mom is.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:33

Yeah. Which is a really awesome thing to say. I love it as an author.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:37

Yes. Oda.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:38

Yeah, no, she's been in there.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:39

Fantastic.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:40

You just didn't know it. He's hilarious. I love oda.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:44

Whenever it gets revealed, we're just going to be like, of course. It friggin makes sense.

TJ Blackwell: 00:31:50

No, she's just going to be in like the back town background of Logtown or something. He's like, she was that silhouette right there. I planned that.

Liz Clyde: 00:31:58

I just feel like 30 years ago. Going to have actually like an encounter and we're going to be like, we should have seen it.

So in this we also find out when Robin finds the puny ogre lift, it pretty much says stop.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:09

That was. That one was really far off.

Liz Clyde: 00:32:11

It was really far off. But I'm so slurring right now. So pretty much it says it's an apology from a mysterious figure named Joy Boy.

And so it's related to the Noah and the ancient promise. So I just love that every single time we find one of these rocks with words, it just, it solves nothing. It keeps raising more questions.

I feel like this is almost just like a little side bonus of the whole anime. Like it's like one of those little side treasure chests that you didn't know you stumbled upon.

TJ Blackwell: 00:32:46

Yep. Every time aponoglyph gets translated, it's like, hey, here's four more questions and zero answers.

And you're welcome because you got to see another one.

Liz Clyde: 00:32:56

And then like we get to ask no question. Oda does such a good job at like keeping, you know, hit his thoughts concealed. So there's really no spoilers. Like, there's no leaks.

And so we literally just have to wait until he throws us another bone.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:14

Like dogs we are as of this year, you know, maybe a couple of months before this year, now we know who Joy Boy is. So that's 14 years of waiting, if anyone's keeping track.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:28

And we're still on the edge of our seats.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:30

Yep. Because they still haven't found all the road poneglyphs.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:34

No. And then it's even to the question, will they find them all?

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:37

Yeah, probably not.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:39

There's. There's so much.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:40

They just haven't found all the ancient weapons.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:42

Yep. But we know. Well, no, we just know what one is. Right. Or do we know what the second two is? Now we know two are.

TJ Blackwell: 00:33:49

And possibly a third.

Liz Clyde: 00:33:51

Got it. Got it. So this pretty much just deepens the void Century and ties to the larger one of the One Piece.

Every time we feel like we're getting close to it, we find out we're not. And then we depart Fishman island, and they break through the sea's current and officially enter the new world, the second half of the grand line.

So do you remember the feeling of them finally leaving? Did you feel like it was like we would actually, at this time 14 years ago, did you think we were getting close to finding the One Piece?

TJ Blackwell: 00:34:24

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Liz Clyde: 00:34:24

I was like, oh, we're almost there.

TJ Blackwell: 00:34:26

At least halfway are done.

Liz Clyde: 00:34:27

I was like, we are about to find the One Piece, baby.

TJ Blackwell: 00:34:30

Yeah. I was like, oh, this is it. Couple more years and it's over.

Liz Clyde: 00:34:34

But now, 14 years later, Oda says, We're just getting started.

TJ Blackwell: 00:34:38

Yeah. 14 years later, Oda's like, okay, so the intro's done. I finished setting the groundwork for the story, and now we can start.

Liz Clyde: 00:34:46

Actually, you can just start right now. So all those, like, 20 years that.

TJ Blackwell: 00:34:50

You wait, literally, he's like, you can start reading right now and miss nothing.

Liz Clyde: 00:34:54

I hate him. And review him at the same time.

TJ Blackwell: 00:34:57

That's just not true, man. That's just not true.

Liz Clyde: 00:35:01

So do you have anything else to say about Fishman Island?

TJ Blackwell: 00:35:05

Shout out Fishman Karate. Fish Man Karate is awesome. Oda revealed later in an sbs. Like, he loves to do that. Anyone can learn Fish Man Karate, not just Fishmen.

And you can only learn it at Fishman Island.

Liz Clyde: 00:35:20

I like it. I mean, for the equality. Like, anyone can learn it.

TJ Blackwell: 00:35:25

Yeah. And it's. That's just so crazy because anyone can do it. What do you mean, anyone can do it? It's controlling water. It's not Just karate.

They're literally moving. They're water benders. Why can you learn that?

Liz Clyde: 00:35:38

But why not is the question.

TJ Blackwell: 00:35:40

It makes sense. If fish can do it, they're fish.

Liz Clyde: 00:35:43

Who knows?

TJ Blackwell: 00:35:44

I want Sanji to learn fish macarotti.

Liz Clyde: 00:35:46

And just kicks the water bullets or something. Yeah, that'd be nice. It'd be very handy for cooking too.

TJ Blackwell: 00:35:53

He could use Diablo jambe and kick boiling water at people.

Liz Clyde: 00:35:57

He can sous vide a lot of stuff.

TJ Blackwell: 00:36:00

Just going to sous vide his enemies.

Liz Clyde: 00:36:02

Yeah.

TJ Blackwell: 00:36:02

So you're gonna walk around the battlefield with a tub of water, Put his leg in there.

Liz Clyde: 00:36:06

That would be great. Sous vide is a great cooking method for those who do not know.

TJ Blackwell: 00:36:10

Absolutely is.

Liz Clyde: 00:36:12

So what would you give these? Okay. Try not to think forward of the arcs we've already seen. I would think from what I've seen this time, the.

The post skip is probably my favorite because I was really excited when they all got back together. The post war arc, I would say, is top tier for me at this point.

TJ Blackwell: 00:36:31

Yeah. Their reunion is really heartwarming, and it's really fun to watch.

Both of these arcs are, like, smaller, though, and there is a lot of meaning in both of them. But it's impossible for me to view them outside of the context of the other arcs in the show.

Liz Clyde: 00:36:49

Mm.

TJ Blackwell: 00:36:50

So I'm going to have to score both of these, like, seven out of ten.

Liz Clyde: 00:36:55

Well, I'm, like, writing wise, I would say, like, the depth wise. I agree with you. Like, there. There's better meat, meaty arts, and better written arts. But I'm so. I don't really even know if I can rate it.

But, like, just as an emotional, like, investment, like, this is my. My.

TJ Blackwell: 00:37:12

It is a big payoff.

Liz Clyde: 00:37:13

And I do like that it's shorter. It's refreshing to have, like, to get.

TJ Blackwell: 00:37:17

Through it quickly at this point. One piece hadn't had a ton of really long arcs.

Liz Clyde: 00:37:23

Mm.

TJ Blackwell: 00:37:24

Because Dressrosa happens soon.

Liz Clyde: 00:37:28

That I remember. It was hard getting through that one. It was so long, and I didn't even know what I was going through.

TJ Blackwell: 00:37:34

Like, 400 episodes.

Liz Clyde: 00:37:36

I can tell you when I. Every time I pause which arc I was in because I just had to take a break because I could not watch week to week.

And I would, like, literally, I remember I would take a year off and then binge it, and then I would take another year off and then binge it.

TJ Blackwell: 00:37:53

Yeah. Just nothing happens in Dressrosa. So often you watch entire episodes where nothing happens.

Liz Clyde: 00:38:00

But we'll talk about that next time. So as we wrap up. Please once again, feel free to rate, give this episode a like or however your platform chooses.

If you enjoyed this episode, we have probably at least, what would you say, a dozen episodes like this now. We've done quite a few. I can't count them. And we have quite a few more to go. As we have said 14 years later and we're just getting started.

So I guess this will be a a very long segment until the end of time, unless you absolutely hate it. And if you do, let us know and we'll continue to do it and we'll just know that we have some hate, which is perfectly fine.

Thank you so much for all the Patreon members. For those who to support, special shout out to Justin Vaughn. We appreciate you.

Remember, if you would like your own shout out too, you can support the show for $3 a month on one of these three platforms, which is Captivate Patreon. What was the other platform? Tj?

TJ Blackwell: 00:39:01

Apple Podcast.

Liz Clyde: 00:39:02

Apple Podcast. So whichever one you prefer. And for the Patreon members, we do have a bonus question, so make sure you stick around for that.

But for for those who hate us and do not support us on Patreon, we still love you. So remember, we are all a chosen people, a kingdom of priests.