One Piece/Headscratchers


 * A few things that I have wanted to know since Oda explained how the seas, grand line, red line etc were positioned is "Exactly how does the planet orbit the sun?" and "Where is the planet's axis positioned?". It would be most logical if it was the same as the earth, but then I want to know at what angle we are viewing the planet whenever it's displayed. Is the middle of North Blue and South Blue where the axis is positioned? Any ideas?
 * Another Marineford entry for this page. Why didn't Marco use his Devil Fruit powers to bring Ace and Whitebeard back to life? It is said that a phoenix's tears can bring people back to life, and Marco's Devil Fruit powers turn him into a phoenix.
 * This is not Harry Potter. Marco's phoenix abilities are limited to flight, talon-kicks and regeneration via fire. It's never stated that he can cure other people, and I'm pretty sure he can't, otherwise he would have done it.
 * In episode 80, temperatures are measured in Celsius. Since it is an alternate world, how do they know what a Celsius is? Also, considering the time period, would Celsius even be alive then?
 * They also have the concept of miles/kilometers, four cardinal directions, etc. It's a literary convention to make it so the readers will be able to understand.
 * Why where Luffy and his merry band afraid of the fall in Marine Ford, screaming they where going to die? Luffy had been thrown away from farther away (the bird that almost swallowed him) by explosion, Crocodile was punched through half a mile of freaking rock, Ivankov propulsed himself with 5 times more force than that when he escaped from Impel Down and both Buggy and Mr. 3 where punched by two ton superstrong beast... with a gigantic iron spiked club. How is a normal fall from 2 miles tall (which mean they would only fall at certain speed) or the very fights against Marine Ford would be more harmful than that?
 * Rule of Funny, and falling from that height means anything you hit will be like hitting concrete at the fastest possible speed. The Minotaur isn't that strong and Ivankov can't push with that much force. It was deadly for the non-Logia, non-rubber people in the group, or at least should have been even when hitting water. But, again, Rule of Funny is in full swing here.
 * The minotaur can punch hard enough to kill Sea Kings with ease, pulverize reinforced rock (or whathever is Impel Down made of) and were Iron spiked clubs. How a fall to ice would be deadlier? I mean, if they where normal humans, sure that would be deadly. But a normal human being hit with Luffy chapter 1 punch would be splatted at the best case scenario. Hell, just punching a guy through a cement wall would be enough to destroy every single bone and pierce their internal organs. So I guess its Rule of Funny with Reality Is Unrealistic, probably the same reason why bullets still are deadly in people who can be blown up and/or kicked with enough force to level mountains without killing them, instead of annoying mosquito bites.
 * A terminal velocity fall is very very fast, way harder than the minotaur or anything else in this universe could ever hit. And ice isn't some spongy surface. It's solid ice. You might as well be hitting concrete if you impact water. A solid surface is even worse.
 * Why Rayleigh didn't act during the Marineford War? I mean, Ace was Gol D. Roger son, which would be an extremely big deal for somebody like him, with equal or beyond importance of that of Whitebeard. Instead he was only drinking Sake and remembering the Good Old Days while Ace croaked. I mean, the guy literally swam through a Sea King infested sea to find and train Luffy and he couldn't do the same for Ace? And how he didn't knew Ace was Gol son. Shouldn't the legendary "Dark King" be aware of something so important?. What, only Garp was deemed "trusting" enough to find out?.
 * Most likely, Roger just never managed to tell Rayleigh. Keep in mind that Roger's crew had already disbanded way before Roger died. When Roger was caught, the only one he could trust with his son was Garp. Also, keep in mind that Rayleigh was still a highly notorious criminal, which would make him very hard to find, and maybe even unsuitable for raising children what with all the people after him.
 * Why did Luffys bounty got such a low upgrade, I mean his bounty was 300 mil. before Morias arc and now it's 400?
 * 100 mil is not a small amount. Most pirates are considered serious business if they can get up to just 100 mil.
 * Yes but it's lower than when he declared war on the World Government in Enies Lobby(in a way), he got from 100,000,000 to 300,000,000. This time he defeated Gecko Moria ,a Warlord of the Sea, attacked a World Noble, destroyed a Pacifista(with Zoro and Sanji), caused a breakout from Impel Down, participated in the Whitebeard War, freed Ace (failed to save, but freed) and he intruded Marine Headquarters a second time and ringed the Ox-Bell 16 times (which was taken as a declaration of war, this time public worldwide). Oh and it was revealed that he was "Revolutionary" Dragon's son and the sworn step-son of Gold Roger (kind of, he's Ace's sworn brother and Ace's father is Roger). Quite a list... So... why so low upgrade?
 * Because he's already done it before. There's quite a big discrepancy between a nobody declaring war on the world than a known formidable enemy doing what you expect them to do. It's also possible that the Marines didn't want to make people panic too much, so they're like "Ok, you did all those pesky things but that's just 100 mil in our book." These are the guys that are ignoring Impel Down's Level Six Criminals.
 * remember that the world goverment also keeps quite a few of those exploits secret, like his fight with moria, his breaking in and out of impel down, and the complete existence of the pacifistas.
 * Bear in mind this is also the highest bounty we've seen so far.
 * Crimes and whatnot don't "stack" in the same manner an RPG character gains experience and levels. Defeating a Warlord of the Sea gave Luffy a 100 million bounty, while declaring war against the entire world is enough to bump him to 300 mil. Simply beating another Warlord of the Sea isn't more heinous than that, and being someone's son hardly qualifies for an upgrade. The only major stunts he pulled were freeing ID prisoners and taking part in the WB war (but even then, he was a relatively minor player.)
 * Well I think that the higher the bounty the less they add up each time, money doesn't grow on trees you know, he defeated buggy, creig, and arlong and gor 30 million, he defeated a Shikibukai and got raised to 70, he defeated member of the CP 9 and caused all that ruckus and got raised 200, now he hit a noble, damaged a pacifista, defeated moria, escaped Impel Down plus got other inmates (including 2 of level 6) out, declared war on the government, fought on the Marine ford battle and was a great force in said battle and only got raised 100 million, the people already got the idea that he's very wanted and powerful, they're starting to take many more offenses into account before raising a substantial amount because after all they have bounty on a lot of pirates, and like I said money doesn't grow on trees.
 * Luffy got the upgrade because he punched a World Noble and invaded Marineford (twice!). They didn't acknowledge Moira. As for why it's a minimal upgrade, you want a bounty that a) signifies threat and b) doesn't scare away hunters. If Luffy were bounced up to 5 or 6 hundred million, no one would think of attacking him.
 * Jimbe explains this post-Time Skip. Basically, 300 Million is a sort of "soft cap" as far as bounties go. Once you get that high, it starts taking some serious, unprecedented-level shit to get any higher. The fact that Luffy got bumped up a full 100 million so soon after reaching 300 million really says something about the feats he pulled.
 * Bounties are algorithmic,not linear.


 * Honestly. Why didn't the Whitebeard pirates just pay a visit to Impel Down instead of Marineford? It's public knowledge where he's being held. Sure, they have a ton of patrolling battleships, but those are no match for Whitebeard. And neither are Shiryuu and Magellan. Teach nearly destroys the place by himself later (although he did need to use his Warlord of the Sea credentials to get in).
 * My own guess is that it's because he wanted to punish the Marines for what they did to Ace. If Whitebeard had gone to Impel Down, he wouldn't have been able to convince his New World allies to join him in the fight, so a massive showdown at Marineford wouldn't have been possible.
 * Don't forget that Impel Down is in the sea-kings infested Calm Belt, and only marines have seastone layered ships to hide from them.
 * Then why couldn't they steal one of the dozen-or-so Marine ships sent out to keep an eye on him? Maybe only a small number of ships meant specifically for travel in the Calm Belt is layered with seastone?
 * Personally, I think it had more to do with the fact that the vast majority of Impel Down is underwater, and Whitebeard's power is really only good for mass-scale devastation. If he starts tossing around earthquakes in Impel Down, he'll bring the whole prison down, making rescuing Ace a moot point.
 * That's assuming he would need to. Sure, Magellan and Shiryuu are tough bastards, but I doubt that the entirety of Whitebeard's crew, and possibly also allied crews, would not be enough to get through Impel Down. Literally every other guard in the entire prison would be curb stomped. Can I call this a Plot Hole yet?
 * And you don't think that Impel Down would be able to get a call for help off, or that Marine HQ wouldn't do something about an assault? Remember that the reason they had to deal with Luffy's jailbreak on their own was because Marine HQ was bracing for an assault from Whitebeard. If Whitebeard shows up at Impel Down, that frees up Marine HQ's forces, and those forces include the Admirals, at least one of which (Kizaru) could make it to Impel Down in very short order. The Impel Down Guards might not be enough to stop Whitebeard and company, but Impel Down is a big place, and they could slow them down enough to allow the Admirals to arrive, and a fight between them and the Whitebeard Pirates in Impel Down would not bode well for the structure. It's just too risky for Whitebeard to try to attack Impel Down.
 * It would still take them quite a while to arrive. And I'm not sure if Kizaru can just fly there despite being light, since when he had to go to Shabondy he was seen traveling by ship. Even if he could, he alone can't take on the Whitebeard Pirates. I mean, sure, the Navy would respond in full force but you have to keep in mind that they prepared for the attack with 100,000 soldiers and practically every elite they had as well as a whole range of P Xes. There's no way they could have moved everybody all the way to Impel Down so quickly. Aside from giving Whitebeard the advantage in time, it probably would have worked out in his favor since his force was vastly outnumbered to begin with. But even if they'd sink all of Impel Down as soon as he shows up there, it still doesn't really explain why he didn't try to attack the escort ship. That would have been easy.
 * Consider this: It took Luffy almost five days to arrive on Impel Down with Boa Hancock on a Marine ship. The Whitebeard Pirates, in particular, the Moby Dick was in the New World, most likely pretty far in the New World when it received the news of Ace's execution, which is the same day Boa Hancock and Luffy headed off to Impel. In response to the news, 23 Marine ships were instantly destroyed, before the Moby Dick started to move. If Whitebeard headed for Impel Down, he would've likely easily annihilated the marine fleet awaiting the transfer of Portgas D. Ace. There's also the point that despite not knowing exactly where Ace is held, given time, it's possible that any of the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, let alone Whitebeard would locate Ace and escape with him. So, what was the problem? Well, as I stated earlier, Luffy and Hancock went off to Impel Down with six days left until the date of Ace's execution. This journey took nearly five days from Amazon Lily, which is in the Calm Belt. Considering it took that long to get to Impel Down from Amazon Lily in a Marine ship, which is a relatively close distance, imagine how long it would take for Whitebeard and his crew to get from the New World, likely the farther parts of the New World to Impel Down. The journey would be pointless became Ace would've been transferred to Marineford already, with the execution already underway. And also, from the New World, via Fishman Island the first location would be Marineford anyway. Not to mention, the key to the success of Luffy's, and later Blackbeard's break-in of Impel Down was they took a Marine ship, thus catching the element of surprise. Even with the power of the Whitebeard Pirates means nothing with the Gates of Justice aren't opened for incoming pirates to Impel Down, effectively trapping them in the Tarai Current. Although, Sengoku seemed to think that this factor was somewhat irrelevant when he ordered the Marines to be on high alert around the Impel Down post. Possibly for good reason as Whiebeard is a quake-man. Maybe if they attack Impel Down, not only would they be expecting them, but it may be enough time for the most powerful Marine forces to battle them there. I mean, even the distance between Marineford and Impel Down took nearly two hours on a Marine ship. The entire incident with Luffy breaking in and releasing 241 prisoners took place in a total of 29 hours, due to, of course, the might of the Impel Down staff, in particular Magellan. As strong as the Whitebeard Pirates are, I seriously doubt they can even so much as break-in Impel Down without a Marine ship, let alone go inside Impel Down and locate Ace, and break him out within two hours, perhaps less, until the higher-tier Marines, especially the Admirals arrive there, maybe on better Marine warships; and something of a war already takes place there, as opposed to Marineford. While I said that they could find Ace with time earlier, time is exactly what they don't have. In summary: 1. The journey takes too long, and would be pointless. 2. They would get immediately noticed by the Marines (they destroyed all the Marine ships they could've hijacked, remember), and possibly stuck in the Tarai Current. 3. They wouln't be be able to find Ace and escape less than two hours, even if they manage to defeat all of the Impel Down staff, without a mini-war taking place there as the powerful Marine soldiers would soon arrive on the scene. Even Luffy's mission in Impel Down was a partial failure. That's why the war took place in Marineford instead.
 * Consider this from the WB pirate perspective... if the Whitebeards attempted to take Impel Down, not only would they have to deal with the Marine reprisal from the outside, which would include basically... their most potent combatants possible, but Magellan as well. Magellan's Venom Demon represented a lethal threat to all of the key members of the WB pirates except... Marco (presumably) and Whitebeard (assuming he could keep his distance and not accidentally destroy the place). Faced with the Whitebeards, Magellan wouldn't hold back. He'd wait for them to get just deep enough, then Venom Demon his way through their forces until two or three Admirals showed up. Magellan is normally restricted to Impel Down, but is easily a world class combatant, equivalent, if not equal, to the Admirals. Why invite that disaster on yourself?
 * At Marineford, Ace was basically on display. A lot easier to rescue than tucked away in a dungeon. Plus, if Ace comes into contact with water while the WBs are breaking the walls of Impel Down -- especially with those shackles on -- he's boned. And then there's the factor of all the ridiculously powerful pirates locked up in the same level as Ace that hate WB's guts.
 * And then there is the possiblity that the marines simply decide to blow impel down up when the WB pirates enter and cannot be stopped. Do you seriously think they never thought of rigging that place with explosives? Not that it would be neccesary if marco, jozu, ace, whitebeard, vista etc. with all their troops fight their way down. No matter how careful, sooner or later somebody is going to break something, and everyone inside dies, devil fruit or not.
 * Nami's backstory drives me crazy. So, okay, everyone has to pay a Arlong a ransom. 100,000 a month for each adult, 50,000 a month for each kid. And Nami can buy the whole island for 100,000,000. Fine. So, judging from the attack on Arlong Park, there are about 100 adults in Nami's village. Let's ignore kids. 100 x 100,000 = 10,000,000 A MONTH. 120,000,000 A YEAR. Doesn't seem like a very good deal for Arlong, does it? Putting aside the obvious question of how a stranded village can afford these taxes (because we have no idea about the value of money in the One Piece world--Fan Wank suggests that it's similar to the Yen, but that just raises more questions than it answers), it took Nami eight years to gather what her village can routinely pay in only ten months. In those eight years, this one, tiny little village paid 960,000,000 B to Arlong! Kinda makes Luffy's little bounty seem like a joke. And don't say, "Oh, Arlong was never planning on going along with it," etc. etc. The one thing Nami knows best is money. Word of God states that she's one of the smartest people in the East Blue. She wouldn't be able to tell that this is a ridiculous deal? I don't buy it.
 * And there's more! What about Bellemere's death? Oh, everyone in the village loves Bellemere, they love Nami, they love Nojiko, it's so good to see those kids grow up, blah blah blah. But would any of them just slip Bellemere the money that she needed to SURVIVE? No. Even before Arlong's invasion, it seemed to be common knowledge that Bellemere's family was having a hard time staying afloat, but there's no charity--just endless dinners made entirely out of tangerines. Worst. Villagers. Ever.
 * Ummm, no. Everyone in the village gave all the money they had and distributed it equally, it just happened they were 100,000B short. If they could pay for her, they would've.
 * Wait, so, you're saying that the entire life savings of every person in the village is equivalent to the amount that they had to pay every month thereafter? The Arlong Landing Tax and the Monthly Living Tax were both the same: 100k for adults, 50k for kids. So every single beri that every person in the village could contribute when Arlong landed just happens to be the same as what they could pay EVERY MONTH, and that wasn't enough for Bellemere and the kids.
 * And, anyway, you're wrong! That "equal distribution" thing you mention never happens. Genzo even asks Bellemere if she has the money, and she says that she only has 100,000B. He did NOT say, "Hey, we pooled all our money together, and it just so happens that we don't have enough for you and your kids--what've you got?" Maybe you got confused when you saw Arlong with all the money together, but he was just counting the total. That scene wasn't showing that they all gathered their cash to pay for everyone in the village. And even if your theory WAS true, Bellemere still pointlessly admits she has kids, without even knowing that they're around to see her empty gesture (they were hiding and they don't cry out until after it's clear that Bellemere is about to be shot). Nami's backstory is full of stuff like that--nonsensical actions that utterly fail to disguise paper-thin faux-tragedies.
 * One possibility is that Bellemere wasn't the only person who couldn't pay, but had the potential advantage of being outside the village, and thus any spare money had to cover the ones who were in town. Genzo most likely hoped the fishmen wouldn't notice her house, but this was thwarted when the fishmen spotted the smoke. As for Nojiko and Nami, there were only three choices for them; 1)Send them out to sea (which failed because the boats had been sunk), 2)Leave them on the island and let them possibly get killed for not paying or 3)Pay for them at the expense of Bellemere's own fee. Bellemere clearly can't accept 2), but it's unclear whether she knew about 1) or that it wasn't an option.
 * Kuroobi counts the money, and gets roughly 25 million Berries on the first collection, which would indicate at least 250 people lived in the village. It's hard to imagine how the villagers would pay that amount of money each month, much less eight years, especially considering that it's flowing out of the village economy.
 * Nami's hometown, never mind the entire island, isn't exactly a gold-mine town, just from the looks of it. The residents would certainly have enough of an economy to take care of their basic daily needs and transact regular business and all that, but all that got shot to hell once Arlong and his gang arrived. And Arlong KNEW from the outset that it would be hard as nails for the villagers to come up with the monthly stipulated amount. He was just being a real bastard about it.
 * Which causes one to wonder if there were any extended families, i.e. families with more than two children at the most, plus grandparents and other relatives, as well as relatives who might have been unable to work to pay that total amount per month, and just what might have happened to them if they were unable to pay...Arlong DID say the money was rent for them to keep their lives, after all...
 * The deal wasn't for money really. It was so Nami would have a reason to willingly serve Arlong and in that regard it succeded marvelously right up until Nami's former crew members showed up.
 * This is a minor one that I don't even think we can answer yet based on the manga, but what would happen to a Devil's Fruit if it were submerged in water? I ask because I saw the "fish eating the Hito Hito no Mi" and wondered how the fruit would even reach a fish.
 * Nothing relevant to the fruit's power happens when it is adrift. In fact I recall that the Yami Yami no Mi (Blackbeard's fruit) was found while a crewmate - both then on Whitebeard's boat - fished it out of the ocean.
 * Seawater prevents fruit users for using their powers, and drains their strengh. as fruit does not have powers or strengh, this is a bit of a non-issue.
 * Why doesn't Smoker use smoke more lethally? Just push it into someone and they will suffocate. Very quickly. One breath of smoke that thick could leave permanent lung damage and easily take someone out.
 * Probably for the same reason why the other Logia users like Crocodile and Ace don't; because it would make them grossly overpowered and boring to boot.
 * He probably could do something like Gedatsu's swamp attack, but why would he? Smoker's not the type to kill someone who he could restrain, and the only people he can't restrain are logia and haki users, who probably wouldn't be vulnerable to a suffocation attack anyway.
 * And for Logias, he's got his seastone jitte, and his crew has seastone nets, so he's got ways to restrain them as well. And even most haki users are probably not the equal of the likes Hancock and her Warlord of the Sea-class fighting power and King's haki, so he could probably restrain them as well. Besides, he's had all of what, 4(?) fights in the series, and they were all interrupted by Dragon, Ace, Crocodile's seastone cage and Hancock before he could do too much more than catch up to and grab Luffy.
 * Boa's behavior bugs me right now. At first, her love for Luffy was extremely cute and endearing and a good direction for her character, IMO. Right now, she's practically advertising to a bunch of people that she's protecting Luffy. That's right, Boa. Just tell all those marine members that you're fighting against them. This TOTALLY doesn't put your position as a warlord in danger, and it's TOTALLY not going to jeopardize the security the island full of innocent people who worship the ground you walk on you happen to have responsibility for. What. The. Fuck.
 * This would be the same Boa Hancock who is introduced turning Vice-Admiral Momonga's entire crew to stone and stealing all their treasure for attempting to summon her to Marineford, right? Because in all honesty, Boa has never been loyal to the Marines and in fact has good cause to not be loyal to them. Plus, no matter what the final outcome of the battle is, the marines will be stretched so thin that they won't have anywhere near the manpower needed to take Amazon Lily.
 * Point there. Okay, I feel better now.
 * Don't worry, she will always be forgiven. Why? Because she is beautiful.
 * What happens if a devil fruit user eats the Yomi Yomi no Mi(Brook's Fruit)?
 * Any DF user that eats another DF will die because the two fruits will react against one another and destroy the DF user.
 * The question is probably if the Yomi Yomi no Mi would bring the DF user back and if he would still have his old powers after that. The answer is probably "no", but I guess only Oda knows. Or not even him, if he haven't thought on that.
 * ODA THINKS OF EVERYTHING.
 * The user's body would probably be destroyed, leaving the soul no place to return. Brook died from being poisoned, so his body was still intact (albeit a skeleton). If he had been dismembered or incinerated, he most likely wouldn't have been able to move his body, and if he'd fallen into the ocean, he would have drowned as soon as he returned
 * Rather related to this: does one need to eat the devil fruit whole to get its power? What happens if 2 people find some Whatever Whatever no Mi and decided to split it between them 50:50?
 * Oda addressed this: Whoever eats first gets the power alone. And a single bite of the fruit is enough.
 * But what if they both eat it at the exact same time?
 * Then whoever managed to disgest it ever so slightly faster would have it.
 * Blackbeard killed Thatch and defected from the Whitebeard Pirates several months before the events of OP, prompting Ace to go after him. So how did Ace get Luffy's wanted poster to proudly show Whitebeard since Luffy got his first bounty about a month (to be generous) before he went to Drum? The Blackbeard pirates had by then already sacked Drum, which meant that by that time Blackbeard had already left the Whitebeard pirates and Ace had gone after him and had already visited Drum a few weeks before Luffy and his crew arrived.
 * Travel time between islands seems to be vague. The time they spend sailing between any of the islands could easily be months. And do we have a definite time for when Blackbeard sacked Drum Kingdom? It seemed to be fairly recently before Luffy arrived there, considering that King Whats-his-name was still hiding outside his kingdom. And there's no indication that Blackbeard defected in the months before One Piece started. He could have easily done that sometime between the Arlong arc and the point where they arrived at Reverse Mountain to enter the Grand Line.
 * It's probably since I haven't re-read the older chapters recently but when did Ace show Whitebeard Luffy's wanted poster? I don't remember that...
 * Ace was searching for Blackbeard. Let's say he was last spotted in the New World, Ace is searching around. Whitebeard hears that Ace is near the island, goes to visit. Ace shares the bounty, gets world Teach attacked Drum Island, heads off there.
 * Why is the World Government stupid enough to go to war with Whitebeard? An all out war of that scale will have massive casualties for both sides and with three out of Four Emperors remaining, the Marines can't possibly take another fight if they manage to defeat Whitebeard.
 * Because Ace is the son of the former pirate king, Gol. D. Roger, and thus the apparent heir to the pirate king. Thus, he can be seen as a symbol of the future of the pirate era which was established by the dying words of Gol. D. Roger, and which the Wolrd Government is desperately trying to destroy. However, if they simply quickly execute Ace, than Whitebeard will come in and go into an all out war in order to destroy the World government. However, by announcing it, they basically make a public announcement about it, so in as to draw in Whitebeard. Thus, instead of Whitebeard going to war and trying to destroy the Marines, it is instead a rescue mission to save Ace. At this point, when Whitebeard shows up, he has to hold back a bit in order to not kill Ace as well, as rescue missions are generally alot more difficult than simply destroy missions. Thus, this is probably the best chance the Marines have of killing two birds with one stone. If they succeed, they will have essentially destroyed a great deal of the pirate era's current strength (whitebeard), and future potential strength (Ace).
 * Whitebeard could have destroyed Marineford with a massive tidal wave, just like he tried at the start of the battle. But they also announced it so they'd know when he would come. Can't just have 100,000 men standing around there day and night waiting for an attack.
 * Also, by handing over Ace, Blackbeard essentially forced their hand. If Blackbeard handed him over publicly enough (which he probably did), they would be forced to choose between executing Ace (thus starting a war with Whitebeard) or letting Ace go (which would have caused a massive blow to the world government's reputation -- and we know how much the WG cares about their reputation). The plan they went with gave them a shot at the best possible outcome for that scenario, from their perspective.
 * Also,they wanted to get rid of Whitebeard anyway,and that would be easier on their terms(i.e.on their stronghold)
 * Usopp says in the Thriller Bark Arc that no two Devil's Fruits that grant the same power, yet Blackbeard said he knew that the Yami Yami no Mi was the Devil's Fruit he'd been searching for because he saw it's illustration and description in a book full of Devil's Fruit illustrations and descriptions. How is that possible?
 * That was actually brought up in an SBS. Oda said to read that as "A Devil Fruit's power cannot be possessed by two people at the same time." Oda implied that Vegapunk will explain everything in due time, but for now the fanbase generally assumes that once the Fruit user dies or such, a new Devil Fruit is grown somewhere.
 * It is most likely that once the user of a fruit dies, another grows/appears in its place to be eaten by someone else. They have to have been used before; Sanji mentions reading a book about them and their effects, which was how he knew about the Suke Suke no Mi (Absalom's Devil Fruit).
 * Exactly what is Sanji going to train himself towards? Luffy wants to surpass Shanks and be the Pirate King, Zoro wants to surpass Mihawk and be the best swordsman, Sanji...wants to find a sea with a bunch of fish in it? It bugs me because Sanji is repeatedly put in the same league as Luffy and Zoro, yet he doesn't seem to really have a benchmark for his strength.
 * Of course he does. It's Zoro. Which is why he is slightly weaker than him, since Zoro is training for Mihawk and Sanji is training to keep up with Zoro.
 * Because to get to that sea, Sanji needs to travel through the most dangerous sea in the world, which is inhabited by the most powerful people in the world.
 * He still doesn't have a benchmark like Luffy and Zoro.
 * How else is he going catch the monster giant fish? The fish with which a fishing rod probably won't be able to do much good.
 * He might not have a specific, active fighter to use as a benchmark, but his goal isn't simple strength. Neither he, nor Luffy have mere strength as a goal: Sanji's a chef, and Luffy wants to be the Pirate King not necessacarily the strongest man on earth. He's still the second-strongest member of the absurdly powerful Straw Hat crew and is able to go toe to to with both of the ones above him.
 * You honestly believe that Sanji isn't training himself for something? Forshame. Remember, Sanji is a chef - an ass-kicking badass normal pirate chef - but a chef none the less. And what do all chefs do? They cook of course! He has a reason for wanting to find the Great Blue and catch all those fish: to cook them up in any dish his imagination can create. So anytime he's cooking away in the kitchens, he's essentially continuing to improve his skills as a chef. And with a captain that as a Bottomless Pit of an appetite like Luffy, he's never short on practice. Sure, it doesn't emphasise on physical strength, but why does he need to aspire for something that requires muscle when he has an actual talent at something productive? It fits well into his character as being someone who "loves to cook" and avoids getting his hands dirty (I only mean literately; he has no problem in doing the dirty work himself metaphorical) in any sense.
 * How did Luffy have Shanks's hat already when he was dumped off by Garp?
 * You mean in the latest chapter? Garp dumped Luffy with Ace and Dandan after he'd met Shanks, eaten the Gum Gum Fruit, and received Shanks' hat. So Luffy and Ace originally met when Luffy was 7 and Ace was 10.
 * How on earth did Dragon's identity stay hidden so long? Garp very casually revealed it in front of his entire brigade and Luffy's friends, and then only absently realized that he probably shouldn't have revealed that fact in front of so many people! Seriously, does Dragon employ Amnesia Dust or is he just incredibly lucky?
 * You know how Luffy never even mentioned he had a brother until he showed up? I feel like that's the way Garp handled talking about his family with his subordinates. Garp and Luffy have really similar personalities. I think Dragon is more responsible than that though. Iva seemed relatively close to the guy after all, and even questioned him about where he came from, and he still didn't mention having kids.
 * Everybody knows who Dragon is. They don't know that Luffy is Dragon's son.
 * One of Garp's mooks mentioned that this was the first time he heard Dragon's full name, Monkey D. Dragon. And Garp's men are equally shocked that Dragon is the son of their superior. In fact, even Dragon's men don't seem to know his true identity as Dragon passes over Luffy's bounty poster and his subordinate begins to give him Luffy's profile, evidently unaware that Dragon already knew him.
 * Or more like, knew OF him. As not even Luffy knew his father's identity, it's rather obvious that they haven't met, at least not when Luffy was old enough to remember. It's quite a bit like Usopp and Yasopp, except Banchina didn't hide Yasopp's identity.
 * So didn't they once say that anyone in Marine HQ is about the equivalent of someone three ranks higher anywhere else? Wouldn't this mean that Coby and Helmeppo, both coming from HQ, are in reality around lieutenant rank?
 * The titles that they were given in the manga were "Sergeant Major" and "Sergeant" which is below Lieutenant rank but above the average Mook.
 * I am aware of this. But since they are from the HQ, this is their ranks by HQ standards, which is three ranks lower than they would have everywhere else.
 * They said that strenght, skills etc. are as if they're three ranks higher.
 * If you go south from Roguetown, through the calm belt (which at least the Marine has the ability to easily do), wouldn't you get straight to Raftel?
 * You can't sail in the Calm Belt because there's no wind, in addition there's Sea Kings in the Calm Belt. You have to go the long way. Marines have some degree of advantage because of upgrades to their ships. Boa Hancock likewise has a ship driven by Yuda, creatures even the Sea Kings are scared of.
 * There must be something that prevents you from getting to Raftel, then.
 * I think they call that something "a shitload of pirates".
 * Don't the maps show a ring of land along the "prime meridian" equivalent? The hemisphere we've seen has Reverse Mountain blocking the sea route from Rogue Town.
 * That and they can't find islands like that in One Piece. Remember on Jaya Island they had to get a 'bird' that always faces south since regular compasses don't work in the grand line, and without the log pose guiding you from one island to the next, you'll end up completely lost. Of course there are Eternal poses that always point to specific islands, but those are normally made by the World Government after they've discovered an island. Guess which one isn't on the list.
 * Also, we don't really know anything about Raftel. All we know is that it's SUPPOSED to be the last island on the Grand Line, which means it PROBABLY is where the undefined treasure is located. We don't know how big the ocean is, or how far apart islands are. And, about the Marine ships, though they can travel through the Calm Belt, that's a big secret (remember the phony newspaper article that showed Helmeppo and Coby crying as they supposedly went down Reverse Mountain?). I get the feeling that Raftel is really just a fake island, or maybe even the true Marine Headquarters/Vegapunk's hideout.
 * Rogers had offered to tell Whitebeard "the way" to Raftel, implying there's some trick you have to know to get there.
 * Why are so many characters in One Piece gigantic? Whitebeard, Blackbeard and his crew, Gekko Moriah, Aokiji/Kuzan, Jerry, Kumadori, Fukorou, The Destroyers, Donquixote Doflamingo. These guys have been eating their greens.
 * Largely I think it's just Oda's sense of design, but if you want to look for an in-canon excuse, the best I could give you is that they've somehow got giant genes somewhere in thir historyy since there are, y'know, actual GIANTS in the series.
 * Oh man.
 * NO WORRIES! Because there's no romance in One Piece, that means sex doesn't exist in this universe!
 * Oh, I'm pretty sure it does; otherwise, what are Sanji and Brook always getting so excited about when the girlies are half naked. XP
 * Sex and romance are two different things. Sex is the act of sexual reproduction. Romance is a lot more complicated than that.
 * Wait, then what did Shakky mean when she said Raleigh was 'looking for women'?
 * Word of God says there's no romance for the Straw Hat Pirates.
 * NO MATTER HOW BIG THEY GROW, THEIR HEARTS WILL ALWAYS BE BIGGER!
 * Wait, including Donquixote? I thought he was cynical...
 * Luffy lampshades this in the Jaya arc by wondering why everyone on that island is so big. It may just be the norm for Grand Line inhabinants. Laboon was once a normal sized baby whale before he became the biggest whale ever, Franky, Brook, and even Chopper's human form and pretty tall, Amazon Lily isn't helping at ALL, Little Garden even LESS, giants are in huge abundance, heck, even Robin is one of the taller females in the series, and she wasn't even born in the Grand Line. And let's not even get started on Luffy. Gear Third.
 * Training could also explain it. These guys are all tough characters to fight, so it stands to reason that they've trained for years to become some of the most dangerous pirates around. Of course training for so long would get you pumped in size, however as this is manga, the size must be exaggerated just to show how really strong these guys are just by looking at them. Even in real life, body builders tend to be large and built, just not to the extremes as what the manga (any manga in fact) shows.
 * Body builders aren't 3 times as tall as the average person. No matter how much you lift, there's only so mch that you can change about your skeletal structure.
 * First of all the trooper above clearly said that it was an exaggeration, not that hard to miss, and second, your bone structure changes and adapts to your body depending on the situations, true someone in his 30s have to follow your rule, but someone that started training at a young age can affect their growth, that's why people that play sports, specially basketball will almost always be very tall.
 * To make the Straw Hats look smaller, and therefore more badass if they beat someone perhaps. After all, most of the Straw Hats look fairly harmless.
 * They suffer from gigantism. No, seriously.
 * People in the real world vary widly in hight. Oda just exaggerated this fact, just like everything else in the series.
 * Is it more than a coincidence that the Blackbeard Pirates are eerily similar to the Strawhat Pirates?
 * I don't think think so. I remember specifically hearing that Blackbeard (along with many of the D's) is sort of an analog to Luffy, and more or less his "evil counterpart".
 * What about the other BB Pirates?
 * They're all evil counterparts to some of the Strawhat Pirates. Probably it's just the case that Blackbeard is still in an intermediate stage of forming his nakama. Check the WMG entry for more info.
 * What's the deal with Lafitte of the Blackbeard Pirates? Judging by the Ace VS Blackbeard fight Lafitte seems to have Soru or at least some form of super-speed.And how did he sneak into Mariejora without Mihawk,Doflamingo,Sengoku, and the others noticing?
 * While wearing tap shoes, no less. I think this is a case of Just That Good.
 * Apparently, Lafitte uses a Zoan Devil Fruit, because the latest chapter shows him with wings.
 * Is Doc Q of the Blackbeard Pirates weak or is he just lazy?
 * I wouldn't say "weak", but most likely that his body doesn't work right. In the sense that he couldn't do extraordinary things, but his body doesn't work well for day-to-day living.
 * He's faking. I recall him rowing the crew's boat and keeping up with Burgess on the other oar, who's enormous and can lift a hotel. Not to mention him carrying what appears to be some sort of very large weapon on his back...
 * Confirmed in Chapter 577. The weapon is a Sinister Scythe.
 * What did the Gorusei mean when they said that if the "3 World Powers were to collapse the world would descend into Chaos"? I think having all of the Pirates dead would give order rather than chaos.
 * Well, those 3 powers includes the Marines, but not all of the pirates. In other words, there'd be a huge power vacuum, followed by a huge power struggle.
 * The Three World Powers are the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors (the four most powerful pirates in the world, including Whitebeard and Shanks, as well as two other unknowns). Right now it's an uneasy tension, but if something went wrong--the Warlords collapsed or were wiped out, for example--it could devolve into a massive war. Hell, the Four Emperors are equal enough that they barely keep each other in check, and an all-out war between them could cause mass devastation. Remember that Shanks is powerful enough to make people pass out just by being near him.
 * No, I remember an early episode saying that the Marines were the third world power, long before the Four Emperors were created. But regarding the original question, I thought it was possible that the World Government just overestamates their importance. Given what huge bastards they are, how could they not?
 * Keep in mind that the Four Emperors are apparently equivalent to actual empires with the amount of territory and allied crews that they command, in addition to the absurd strength that their primary crews possess. The World Government is almost like a super-nation composed of other smaller nations, with the Four Emperors being the only other alternatives. The "Three Powers" are essentially the "Three Deterrents".
 * Actually, the three powers are the World Government (including the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and all of the national armies, though the third one seems pretty useless), the Rebels lead by Monkey D. Dragon, and the Four Emperors. All three powers are in opposition to each other, as the Four Emperors and Rebels consider each other 'rivals', and the World Government wants to wipe both of them out. Currently, they are in stalemate, but with Whitebeard and Ace dying/dead... the balance will change.
 * No, it's stated in the story that the three powers are Marine HQ, the Seven Seas, and the Four Emperors.
 * Presumably, the three powers not only balance each other out but also keep any pirates or other forces not affiliated with them from gaining strength; Whitebeard's territory becomes vulnerable to attack from pirates like Brownbeard after his death.
 * What would happen if someone were to eat two Devil Fruits?
 * They'd die, I believe it was stated.
 * Ayup. It was stated in the Enies Lobby arc that whoever eats two Devil Fruits is blown up by their combined effect.
 * That is, however, just rumor. Only Vegapunk really knows a thing or two about Devil Fruit, and Rob Lucci (or some other CP 9) even mocked Jyabura for believing such rumors.
 * Wrong. The rumor he was mocked for believing was that he would blow up by just being near a devil fruit as a person who ate one. Eating a second one would still cause an explosion- http://www35.onemanga.com/One_Piece/385/03/
 * Why did the World Government flat out annihilate Ohara and it's various treasures rather than take it's resources for themselves?
 * Duh. It's because they're dickwads. Also, the level of intelligence we're dealing with here is that which shares genes with Spandam. Logic need not apply.
 * It was because the scholars knew how to read poneglyphs which among other things contain information regarding the blank century and the Pluton/Poseidon blueprints. As for the resources, it's anyone's guess.
 * Given the way the Government acts, the speeches from most of their subordinates about Justice and the sole existence of something like the "Buster Call", I suppose they simply think it's better to sacrifice nay resource from Ohara instead of letting it fall on the right(or wrong?) hands, in case it contained a clue to the Poneglyphs or anything illegal that they couldn't detect. After all, they did explode a ship full of innocent people during the Buster Call at Ohara, didn't they?
 * Speculation among some leads to the theory that the World Government was the prevailing side of the war that took place during the blank century. History is written by the winners, so normally the atrocities and horrible acts comitted by the winning side are shrugged off and suppressed. However, the poneglyphs were written by the losing side, and detail things that might undermine the entire World Government. The Government, unable to eradicate these accounts history, simply chose to wipe out anyone who might read that history. The Pluton theory doesn't hold in this troper's opinion, simply because the World Government has shown that they'd rather obtain the blueprints than destroy them.
 * They could have acted thinking that they were destorying leads to what happened in the blank century, and it's only afterwards, reading some surviving documents or something, that they learn that there's more than just history on the poneglyphs, there's weapon blueprints, too.
 * The part that gets me is this. The World Government didn't have to wipe Ohara off the map. They could had gathered up all the scholars, like they did in the manga/anime, and had them summary executed by shooting each in the head once they had verified the crime. That way there wouldn't be any need for an ax crazy marine like Akainu to blow up the escape ship, which killed hundreds of people that had nothing to do with the poneglyph. Instead of doing things simple and quick, however, the World Government felt the need to wipe the entire island off the map and destroying everything. Including hundred of years worth of knowledge that the World Government most likely benefited from given that Spandam was actually reading one of the books saved by one of the scholars that they marked as devils. It wasn't like they could had destroyed the poneglyph on the island anyway so the entire Ohara incident was a waste of both manpower, resources, and life. Then again, the World Government seems to think it is more important to set an example instead of using common sense.
 * Sauro actually brought this up, asking why, if the research into poneglyphs was so dangerous, the government just didn't help the scholars instead of killing them. Sengoku told him to shut up and follow orders, thus he defected.
 * Why is Van Auger of the Blackbeard Pirates the only gun user who has a scope?
 * Maybe his gun's the only one with enough range and accuracy to make a scope reliable.
 * Indeed, probably only his gun and Sogeking's Kabuto. Of course, the Kabuto maybe isn't able to hit a seagull soaring several miles away from coast, but then again a simple scope wouldn't help much anyway...
 * For the record, Usopp's goggles are his scopes.
 * As is his nose.
 * That's technically mere speculation; Yasopp is said to be just as good as his son, if not better, and he doesn't have the nose; it came from Banchina. That isn't to say that it's not an amusing speculation...
 * Keep in mind: Yasopp is a sharpshooter with a pistol. it's not shown that he can do it at range as well.
 * Who were the 3 Marine Admirals prior to Aokiji,Akainu,and Kizaru?
 * Sengoku and two unknowns.
 * Why hasn't Whitebeard or one of the other Top tier Pirates found One Piece yet?
 * Dunno. Whitebeard's said to be close, though.
 * Because if Whitebeard made a deliberate move for One Piece, all the other three Emperors would form an Enemy Mine alliance and stop him. Whitebeard may be the single strongest man alive, but her can't beat the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strongest together.
 * According to Sengoku's theory, Whitebeard doesn't want to find One Piece. He wants Ace to find it.
 * Whitebeard isn't interested in it. Said so himself.
 * Plus another one of the Emperors, Shanks, probbaly already knows what/where One Piece is as he was on Gold Roger's ship when he conquered the Grand Line.
 * But was he really on the ship at the time that they conquered the Grand Line, or did he come later? I have a horrible memory, so perhaps Shanks specified that he was, but maybe he wasn't. Buggy's attitude seems to reflect that they have no idea if One Piece exists or is on Raftel, for sure.
 * I think they came after, Roger probably just had a small but powerful crew first that could withstand the New World, and after he started accepting more weaker members like shanks and buggy (who were kids then).
 * No, Chapter Zero shows that Buggy and Shanks were members of Roger's Crew for at least the end of his pirate career. More likely, Buggy never went after One Piece because he wanted to lay low, and Shanks wants Luffy to be the one to get it.
 * If Gold Roger was so powerful than how did the Marines capture him?
 * Bad luck, perhaps?
 * Most likely, he turned himself in, having, from his viewpoint, done everything in life.
 * He had aids.
 * Almost, but yeah, he turned himself because he knew he was dying, and he wanted to start the New Age or something alike.
 * He turned himself in for a number of reasons, but even so the Marines went and said he was captured (Garp and Sengoku were possibly the only Marines strong enough to give him a challenge then and neither of them did it)
 * Why doesn't anybody know who the Blackbeard Pirates are?They did sack an entire country...
 * Wapol kept his mouth shut. He's a big enough egotist that he couldn't stand the thought of the rest of the World Government knowing that he got chased off his island by like five guys.
 * What exactly is the punishment for a country to harbor pirates?
 * It's never stated outright. Considering the World Government's warm, tender, caring nature, it could range from being cast out of the WG (and left to defend itself against every empire-builder pirate that comes along) or outright annihilation (which they HAVE done in the past when they felt like it.)
 * Consider that it's canon (ep. 524) that when a country refuses to enter the WG, its whole population is send to slave labor at "Tequila Wolf" to build a bridge that makes the Great Wall a backyard fence.

"Doflamingo: Hey, you'd better not get too cocky here...since when did you become my boss? No matter how much power you may hold within the government, I'm a pirate...so it doesn't mean shit to me...!! Once dealings with you become boring, I can quit the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Anytime I want...you'd better not forget that!!"
 * What makes the World Government think it can control the Seven Warlords of the Sea? Crocodile rebelled; what makes the Marines think that they can keep the other super-powerful pirates they're sheltering from trying to take over their half of the Grand Line?
 * Because if they did they would not only have to fend off the Marines but also maybe the Four Emperors as well. Secondly Crocodile was searching for the Ancient Weapon Pluton which I wouldn't be surprised if he needed it to fend off the Marines as well as other groups.Thirdly I get the impression that the SB's are Pirates who were too strong for the MS or the YK's to defeat individually but too weak to fight both groups at once. Also I seriously doubt the WG really expects the SB to follow every single rule they make.
 * The Seven Warlords are basically privateers. They're not powerful enough to take out the World Government (and smart enough to know that outright challenging the World Government is a real good way to destabilize everything and get killed by the Four Emperors). They were made Warlords of the Sea because the World Government considered them a greater threat to other pirates than to the WG, and I'm ASSUMING that they just don't target Government-affiliated things. It's really a sweet deal-legal immunity and license to kill. Not to mention the Seven Warlords of the Sea being far too fractured and independent to band together as a force on any topic short of outright annihilation.
 * In case you haven't noticed, the WG doesn't really control the Warlords that well. Crocodile starts rebellion to try and takeover the world with the ancient, Moriah creates a zombie army to try and become pirate king, Mihawk runs around picking of pirates trying to enter the Grand Line, Kuma lets the Strawhats escape, and Doflamingo is plotting something involving the New Age and war with Whitebeard. They don't all come to meetings when called, and some consort with wanted pirates (Mihawk going to meet Shanks when the Strawhats first enter the Grand Line) Plus Kuma states in chapter 513 the Warlords have no obligation to the Marines except where the government is involved. They really are loose cannons, but since the Warlords aren't figured into the 3 Powers, it's most likely that they aren't strong enough to deal with the upper level marines and the Four Emperors.
 * The Three Great Powers are the Marines, the Four Emperors, and the Seven Warlords of the Sea so they are most likely strong enough to take on the Marines or the Four Emperors but obviously not both.
 * I use to think it was a matter that it would take several Warlords to defeat an Emperor (as in Emperor and their main fleets) or that the 3 admirals together would be able to, but in the war, we see that the Four Emperors are very powerful but that their underlings aren't that far behind, several Warlords and the admirals not to mention countless soldiers and all of the Black Beard pirates fought Whitebeard and it still was not an easy task to kill him. So the balance is mostly maintained by the fact that neither the Warlords or the Emperors are a joined group unlike the World Government and it's pretty obvious how without the Warlords the WG would fall to the/a Emperors while without the WG the Four Emperors would probably divide the world among themselves and without the Four Emperors the WG would get rid of all the pirates it could find (eventually the SB would fall too) so it's a pretty fit power, maybe that's why the rebels (who would be a 4th power) is such a big threat to the WG if Dragon decided to attack them.
 * Didn't Kuma say that he was ordered to warn Moriah, but wasn't ordered to capture the Straw Hats, since they didn't know they would be there.
 * The only reason is because he was made into a cyborg by the WG, and thus under their control to an extent. Possibly even moreso now than before.
 * Don't forget Boa Hancock, who seems to get her kicks by turning entire marine platoons to stone and smuggling notorious high-bounty criminals into top-security prisons.
 * It is better to have the Seven Warlords of the Sea secretly plotting against you than to have them rampaging across the Grand Line. The World Government still doesn't trust them much. That's why, despite theoretically having two of the three great powers under its command, the World Government hadn't moved against the Four Emperors.
 * You want to know the answer? THEY CAN'T. As shown by the latest chapter, in a conversation between a high-ranking Marine and Donquixote Doflamingo-


 * IMO, it's a moot point. In a way, the Government must know that the seven warlords haven't got what it takes to be threats akin to the Four Emperors. The basic idea about the Warlords? They are loosers. They became pirates, faced Grand Line and were broken by it. Each of them. Crocodile became a pirate with big dreams, wanting to be the next king and lost against Whitebeard. The guy became a jaded warlord and dealt with his weakness focusing on military power (probably because of his supposed association with the revolutionaries which would explain his knowledge of ponegryphs). Notice his talk about "rookies" when he faced Luffy... It's quite revealing. Moria lost against Kaidou and lost his crew. His way to deal with the idea? Zombies. Doflamingo's new pirate era is also probably a way to deal with the lost of his dreams. Jimbei, Hancock and Kuma's deals reflects this idea too. Anyway, they don't have the will to really be big threats. Sure they can still be a pain to deal with from time to time but keeping this idea in mind their usefulness way outclass the danger they represent. They lost their dreams, their will... so they lost their power in a way.
 * That doesn't explain Law, one of the New Warlords. He seemed not to have lost any of his ambition, although we still know little about him and his plans. I also wouldn't call Moria broken since he haven't given up his dream as it took a twisted new turn that probably made him even more dangerous. Doflamingo is still a big question mark and we don't know if he ever had a dream besides being more of a stereotypical pirate. Kuma was a double agent for the Revolutionaries and Jimbei and Hancock become Warlords for the benefit of those around them than given up a goal or a dream. Hawk Eye seemed to became a Warlord out of boredom than being broken by anything. The only person among the Warlords who 'gave up' was Crocodile and he arguably became more danger since he wanted a weapon that could destroy an entire island, which is more of a threat than the Four Emperors. To me, becoming a Warlord in most pirate's eyes is a way to get the government off your back while you make other plans.
 * One thing that I would like to point out from the above mentions about the Warlords' strength... Have you all forgotten that Mihawk used to duel Shanks in battles that made the GRAND LINE shake? That even Whitebeard's ears were still ringing from it? The only reason Mihawk stopped fighting Shanks was because he lost his arm. Not to mention Hancock can freakin' knock out Pacifistas with her kicks! So physical strength isn't really an issue. They probably COULD handle most of the Marines, but who wants that on their backs?
 * Given that the Gorosei most likely know that One Piece is on Raftel, and possibly that the Rio Poneglyph is on Raftel, and assuming that the Marines do indeed have an Eternal Pose to every island on the Grand Line, why don't they just Buster Call the hell out of Raftel?
 * Why indeed?
 * Seriously, though. The idea is that the farther along the Grand Line an island is, the harder it is for anyone to get to, even the Navy. Especially when you consider that the Four Emperors rule that half of the Grand Line, and those four pirates together are a match for the entire planet's military force.
 * Not the entire planet. Just the Seven Warlords and the Marine HQ.
 * Right, and those two groups compose the military force of the entire planet. It's not just the marine HQ, it's ALL the Marines.
 * No it's just the HQ.
 * And the HQ commands the rest of the Marines.
 * Yeah, but the rest of the Marines don't matter. As far as battles between the HQ and the Four Emperors are concerned, they'd be not so much a combat force as a shield of ablative meat.
 * If they tried, it would probably get out, and they'd have the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords, the Eleven Supernovas and a hell of a lot of pissed off pirates baring down on them. Either that, or maybe they know that somebody on Raftel is sittin' on one of those weapons like Pluton or Poseidon. Would sure as hell be enough to keep this troper away.
 * Also, wouldn't it be kind of pointless anyway? A buster call wouldn't destroy a treasure of gold and jewels (damage and scatter perhaps, but not completely destroy) and it would be unable to damage the Rio Poneglyph at all. It would be a worthless gesture and furthermore the smoke rising from the island would be a navigational aid making it that much easier for anyone else to get to it and find the undamaged Rio Poneglyph among the rubble and ashes.
 * For the same reason none of the Four Emperors reached Raftel. Doing so is supposed to be ridiculously hard (for the reasons still unknown). Gold Roger was the first man in centuies who set foot on Raftel.
 * Yeah, I mean the Emperors are even closer than the WG why haven't they gone for it? There has to be stuff between them and Raftel which makes even Whitebeard and Shanks worried.
 * A recent flashback suggests that there is some trick to getting to Raftel. Rogers was going to tell Whitebread but Whitebread didn't care.
 * What happens to Brook if he's submerged to water? I mean, since he's technically a dead guy, he doesn't need to breathe, right? So, while any other Devil Fruit user would just die, wouldn't Brook's fate be kinda a lot worse than death?
 * Presumably it might happen at a later date. Worse yet, since the Devil's Fruit is explicitly the reason why he's NOT dead, would water/Seastone just cause him to die again (possibly temporarily)?
 * One needs to to consider his Devil Fruit power, which is to come back from death, so supposebly if he is killed while underwater or touching a seastone, he's Killed Off for Real. This raised the question, how do you kill off a skeleton?
 * But wasn't it stated that he can come back to life only once?
 * You know, I've looked into that. The fandom seems to accept the "once" figure, but I'm unsure how accurate it is. I'm sure we'll find out, though.
 * This Troper owns the Japanese tankobon. His ability is, translated as literally as possible, a "promise of a second life". The actual Japanese, for those more knowledgeable that me that want to confirm it, is ”二度の人生を約束される”. From this, I judge that he can only come back once.
 * Brook was submerged in water recently, after he and Chopper leapt in to save a drowning Luffy. He was fine.
 * If by "fine" you mean collapsed and coughing. He didn't die from having his DF suppressed though, it's true. Also to the person that asked the initial question: pay closer attention, Brook DOES breathe and get tired and eat and all sorts of stuff that living people do that makes no sense for a skeleton. So yes, he'd die.
 * Brook wouldn't die, he lived on an abandoned ship with no food for years, my personal theory on Brook is that it is not that he has to breathe/eat it's that he prefers too.
 * Most likely he eats, sleeps, breathes,and poops all through the power of the yomi yomi no mi making his body act like it is alive, despite not being truly alive. It is shown his soul simply went back to his corpse, and he has been shown to leave the skeleton in spirit form, so it's technically only animating a skeleton that can simulate life. Also, If this troper turned into a living skeleton, I'd do anything to convince myself I am still a properly living human, and doing mundane and very human things would certainly help that.
 * It's been shown in the fight against Arlong that devil fruit powers are still active while the person is submerged, one just can't do anything. So presumably, as long as someone was able to fish him out, Brook would be okay. Eventually.
 * More precisely, as far as I can tell water/etc fails to suppress innate abilities that come from some Paramecia powers. A submerged Logia user is probably boned, and we've seen that a submerged Zoan user reverts to a base form (as seen when they dunked Monster Chopper during the CP 9 arc). I figure that certain Paramecia powers are impossible to outright suppress, though, with ones that require activation (like Robin's or Whitebeard's) being disabled entirely, but ones that cause a permanent change, like Luffy's rubber body, being unsuppressed but them being paralyzed. It's one explanation for why Luffy was pretty much paralyzed by contact with the seastone bars of Crocodile's cage during Arabasta arc but Robin was able to move and act while wearing seastone cuffs... the other explanation being that Seastone just has different forms that affect people differently.
 * Well, Aokiji can FREEZE the ocean, which always bugged me because I was of the thinking that the sea would supress DF powers. But then you mentioned that Luffy's still worked, so perhaps it's the same for certain Logia, even.
 * The sea does not supress Devil Fruit powers. What it does is rob the user of the energy needed to activate those powers. Aokiji can freeze the sea because his power is the ability to freeze objects. Water behaves the same as any other object. If he were submerged he couldn't do so, but as long as he's above-water it's fine.
 * But isn't Luffy a Logia user, even though it's a fairly weak one? think about it: Crocodile is made of sand, Ace is made of fire, Aokiji is made of ice, etc., and Luffy is made of rubber. The Paramecia users aren't made of their power--they have the ability to use it. The Logia users are made out of their element.
 * Luffy is not made of rubber the way Crocodile is made out of sand; Crocodile can turn into sand and become outright immune to any attack that isn't wet in some way, while Luffy can only stretch his body and is merely highly resistant to bluntforce trauma. When Luffy can start turning into rubber and not just stretch like rubber, then we'll have a basis for calling his powers a Logia type.
 * Yeah, Luffy's power is paramecia because it alters his body "chemistry." Paramecias do that or give super powers to their user. Logias on the other hand, allow the user to turn into and create an "element" at will. Luffy doesn't turn into rubber, he is rubber. So, people like Magellan and Mr. 3 are actually Paramecia users, because they are unable to turn into poison or wax, only create it.
 * Would it really matter whether he died outright or not? He would eventually sink low enough that the pressure would destroy his bones, as it's been shown that his body is completely subject to natural decay. And it was also shown that his soul could live on, but he needed to a body to be "alive." So basically, if he fell in the ocean and sank, he would either outright die or would become a soul again eventually and float around aimlessly.
 * How do Mermaids and humans have sex?
 * It's stated that the tail splits into two 'legs' after 30 years. Presumably another split occurs too, if you'll forgive the crude phrasing.
 * These aren't your Little Mermaid type mermaids - these are Our Mermaids are different type Mermaids.
 * Buggy was a contemporary of Shanks, and his rival at an early age. He has a devil fruit that makes him invulnerable to swords. He sailed with Gold Frickin' Roger!! Why is he so weak?
 * Shanks went to the Grand Line and became a Four Emperors. Buggy hung around in the East Blue, maybe because he assumed it'd be an easy mark? Whatever the reason he stayed there, it seems like he just let himself stagnate.
 * It's the Grand Line that does it. None of the Straw Hats, even Luffy, was particularly impressive before going there, but afterwards they all started to gain power in great speeds. Similarly, when Buggy limited himself to the East Blue, he started to get weaker: Now that he's returned to the Grand Line, this troper's bet would be that he's started to regain his old strength. Hell, he even has a nice chance of becoming a major villain.
 * Even more than that, he didn't even fight other pirates. When we met him, he was beating up on townspeople. There's no way for your skills to not become rusty if you never use them for anything more than that. Compare to Luffy's crew, who started by fighting pirates and have now moved to fighting the people who spend their time fight pirates.
 * Maybe it's not really the Grand Line that does it... it's having a dream. Each of the Straw Hat crew has a dream, and they've become more powerful for it. Now that Buggy and crew have the dream of catching Luffy, they'll probably be improving enough to be a decent threat.
 * I doubt it's just having a dream that does it. I think it's having a will to do something. Buggy's probably going to give up on 'catching' Strawhat Luffy now that Luffy sprung him from jail. Buggy is a coward who never risked anything to get stronger. I think you're supposed to look at him and Shanks and ask 'what's the difference?'
 * Another part is training. Shanks has been traveling the grand line, seeking greater and greater challenges, and trained accordingly. Meanwhile, buggy has been sitting on his arse in east blue, with his only opponents beeing around the level of kuro or don krieg (and he would have possibly avoided them, anyway), so he didn't have a reason to become stronger.
 * It also doesn't help that Buggy is both a coward and an idiot. As seen for Impel Down and Marineford, Buggy prefers other people to do the fighting for him while he stays more in the background and take the glory. Also, although Buggy has a very good Devil Fruit, he doesn't use it all that well. He's probably one of the best examples of people who merely possess a Devil Fruit, but never bothered to master it. He is also the only Devil Fruit user that we have seen that shows contempt with his powers since he can't swim anymore, which is probably why he never bothered to master it. Overall, Buggy is lazy and prefer to do things easy which is why he never really grown.
 * When the hell did the CP9 become such good friends with each other (to the point where they were willing to do street performances to get Rob's medical expenses)? This troper was under the impression that since they were all just assassins, they didn't have that great of an attachment to one another.
 * I think it happened the moment they were cast to the wolves with only each other to depend on. Oda showed even Lucci was capable of affection when Hatori came back.
 * This troper kinda assumed they had some sort of dark version of nakama relationship, or something to that effect.
 * We see very little of CP9 when they aren't at work. But they seemed to be on good terms with each other, even despite Jyabura's rivalry with Lucci and other quarrels. The only time Lucci ever seemed relaxed and the only time he ever smiled outside of battle was while being alone with other CP9 members (the scene when Kaku and Califa ate their Devil Fruits). Also, Spandam framed CP9 for defeat of Enies Lobby, and taking pains to save your strongest fighter and leader, when you are on the run from the World Government, is just a display of common sense.
 * All CP 9 members were brought up together by World Government. http://beta.onemanga.com/One_Piece/565.5/15/ They are more like childhood friends than a band of professional assassins hired by World Government.

Funniest. Description. Ever. Also, he was voiced by the same guy who did InuYasha and Mouse.
 * What are Luffy and Zoro's power in Dourikis?
 * We never get the exact number, but... we can assume that Luffy's is over 4000 and the same for Zoro's since he's stated to be his equal, but at least way over 2300.
 * Fool! It is surely OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAND!
 * Actually, I think that Luffy and Zoro (and Sanji's legs) are somewhere along 4000 when not using Super Mode. Remember, where Luffy was matching an untransformed Lucci in strength, Zoro and Sanji were fighting Kaku and Jyubura, who were using their powers (Jyabura explicitly stated during the "power level thingy" that his Demon Fruit boosted his power a lot).
 * I think that, based on their fights, Zoro and Sanji's douriki probably matched their opponent's transformed forms so probably around 3450-3500 (without using their best moves) but for Luffy I get the impression that his douriki was actually around 3500 while in gear second it shots up to 4000+, maybe around 4500. In his fight against Lucci he's constantly outclassed and thrown around against both human and leopard forms with ease and in while in gear second that gets reversed. That said, dourikis are very vague and probably not very reliable. I mean, how the hell does Luffy manages to have any sort of trouble against Blueno earlier who has around 800 and then be able to hold up against Lucci later even without gear second? They seem to be as reliable as bounties for reading someone's toughness and battle prowess.
 * Before the timeskip, luffy was probably around 4000 (remember, he didn't win that fight on strength, he won on stamina) and Zoro and sanji around 4000-3500 (Sanji's only slightly behind Luffy and Zoro). After the timeskip, that probably doubled. At least. Just ask those Pacifistas they trashed).
 * Didn't Sanji, and Zeff, find All Blue already? I mean, the way to the Grand Line is through the Reverse Mountain, to which water comes from all four Blues...
 * No, occasionally fish just get caught in the waters and end up in other seas. The area around reverse Mountain isn't All Blue, it just (in Sanji's mind) is proof All Blue can exist. And Zeff stated that even though he did sail through the Grand Line for a year, he never did actually find All Blue.
 * This Troper's hypothesis is that All Blue is actually at the bottom of the ocean, or even further down than that, in another ocean BELOW the bottom of the ocean, an "underground ocean." The only way for pirates to get to the second half of the Grand Line is by traveling underwater to Fishman Island, which is beneath Mariejois (the World Government capital). Fishman Island is located on a "hole" in the Red Line, a passageway between one ocean and the other. It would make sense that All Blue is somewhere around this area; there's probably some way to get to Fishman Island from each of the other four oceans, like how it is on the opposite side of the world, on Reverse Mountain. Logically, if all four oceans have access to this one other area in the sea, that place would be All Blue. Also, finding All Blue AND the home of the Mermaids (Sanji's two biggest goals) in the same place would be the ultimate dream of the Strawhat Pirates' perverted cook. If this hypothesis is correct, finding All Blue/Mermaid city would be one epic moment.
 * Except, then Sanji's dream would have concluded halfway through the manga. This Troper's wild guess, is that Raftel is located on All Blue.
 * It might happen at Fishman Island, at which point he could say something like "I'd stick around for all eternity for Nami-san and Robin-chan!" while inwardly thinking about his bond with his Nakama. The crew's goals require them to go to the Grand Line, not necessarily Raftel (although that is Luffy, Robin and Franky's final destination, and Brook's is on the other side of Reverse Mountain),
 * This is not my theory, but one of my friends suggested that All Blue may be UNDER Reverse Mountain, which would make sense due to the currents pouring in from each Blue, as well as its connection to the Calm Belts and the Grand Line. In a fic, she also had Zoro suggest that they could smash Reverse Moutain apart, forcing the seas to meet. MY theory is that All Blue lies directly BEYOND Raftel, in the X number of miles between the island and the Red Line.
 * Yet so far, it's been implied that the only way into the Grand Line is up the mountain. But that route only goes one way. So how are pirates (like Gold Roger and Zeff) expected to leave the Grand Line when they're done? Do they just brave the Calm Belts or something?
 * Explained in the recent chapters that they coat their ships at an archipelago at the Red Line and go down to Fishman Island, crossing into the New World, and sailing around, it can be assumed that in Zeff's case it's likely that he snuck aboard a ship to get to East Blue. The ships are probably coated with seastone, considering that pirates don't necessarily turn back; for Don Krieg he probably braved the Calm Belt seeing as he had so many ships he might have lost a few there, but mostly pirates generally travel through and eventually die, or become so powerful the sea monsters look at them (like Shanks) and go 'Fuck that I wanna live.'
 * Actually, the Red Line bisects the world and the Grand Line runs perpendicular to it. The two split the world into the four oceans. That means, the Red Line and Grand Line intersect twice. The first time being Reverse Mountain, which spits out people on one side of the Red Line, where Laboon was. The second time being at Fishmen Island. Therefore, it makes sense that after hitting Raftel, the water from the Grand Line would also flow up Reverse Mountain. Which, in the anime anyways, showed current going up AND down into the ocean. Alternatively, you could just be stuck XD
 * Why the hell does everyone call Shura (the priest with the ordeal of string)'s bird, Fuza's attack "Fuza's Wrath?" I've never seen him call it that.
 * Probably depends whether you're reading the official English translation, reading One Manga, watching the dub (ick!) or watching a fansub. It'd all be translated different.
 * Let me make myself more clear: a lot of websites list it as one of his attacks, but as far as I've seen in both the anime and the manga, he never gives a name, period. Ridiculously minor, I know, but it still bugs me.
 * Related to Buggy up above, is it just me or was Crocodile ridiculously weak compared to the other Warlords of the Sea? Perhaps it's just his readily available elemental weakness, but he didn't seem anywhere near Kuma or Mihawk.
 * Personally, I think one of the things Oda is best at is not putting characters up to these indisputable 'levels of power' that a lot of other animes have. He does it to a lesser extent, but your level isn't absolute. It also depends on circumstances. It's sorta like in real life, how the Red Sox might be shitloads better than the Yankees (hypothetical situation, but you know it's true) but that doesn't mean they'll win every game. Croc isn't weak, he just ran into the unstoppable force that is Luffy trying to protect his Nakama. In recent chapters he's just as kickass as Jimbei. (Raise your hands if you're waiting for the inevitable Jimbei-Croc smackdown that will occur the moment the 'escape impel down' truce is over). I mean, look at Mr. 3 for an example. He's the third most powerful guy in an arc that took place like six power ups ago, and he somehow manages to significantly delay the Big Bad of Impel down, who Luffy AND Iva couldn't take down.
 * He definitely looks weaker than Kuma, but I think he was still about the same level as Moriah. It makes sense that there are some Warlords who are stronger than others.
 * He really wasn't all that weak; He owned Luffy's ass 2 times out of 3. Plus, he spends his time in Alabasta, which is in the "weaker" part of the Grand Line (compared to Kuma, who probably spends most of his time in the "stronger" New World.)
 * He also has poison that can dissolve rock and what is essentially a 1HKO move.
 * I think someone more or less stated that Crocodile was basically the little bitch of the Warlords, but I guess he was powerful enough to merit a membership anyway.
 * I chuck it up to the water weakness. If Luffy didn't think it up or use blood as an alt, Crocodile could have won. The same thing happened to Enel.
 * I chalk it up to being the first to appear. It doesn't matter how badass or high-ranking you are if you're the boss of level 6 out of 100. :(
 * Since he was able to manipulate a whole country to the brink of civil war while remaining a hero in the public eye himself, this troper thinks that his power was more in the way of planning, strategy and social engineering rather than raw fighting power.
 * Yes he is. Being far too weak by the Grand Line standards (easily-exploited water weakness, cannot fully utilize his abilities at sea, isn't that strong physically, the only maimed Warlord of the Sea) and being incredibly bitter about it practically defines his character. Remember that Croc's dream is to become the Pirate King. He lost all hope of defeating other contenders without some sort of cheat, like Pluton, and is eager to humiliate those weaker than himself, precisely because of his own lack of real strength.
 * Luffy suggests that he stole Alabasta's rain partly in order to guard against his weakness, which also suggests that he's strongest in his native terrain (when he fights Luffy in the desert, he can manipulate the sand in the ground in addition to becoming sand, making him stonger). He's presumably much less powerful at sea, and may have used his planning skills to get his Warlord title.
 * He's the Radditz of their group! But seriously, we're talking about a guy who can manipulate land-based weather on a large scale and instantly dehydrate people. He may be weak for a Logia user, but his power is still pretty earth-shattering when you think of how many things he was able to do.
 * Also, it's just a matter of finding the right combination to defeat them. Magellan of Impel Down seemed impossible to defeat head on due to his poison powers but Mr. 3 (one of the weaker former members of Baroque Works) had a Devil's Fruit power that could neutralize the poison. It must be quite annoying for a chief jailer to know that his powers can be stopped by wax.
 * Are you guys serious? Crocodile is a Magnificent Bastard and he's most definitely one of the strongest characters out there. He is not weak as a logia. He has obtained such mastery over his powers that he can turn people into dry husks by touching them. Did anyone else see how he's fought Mihawk, Doflamingo, Jozu, AND Akainu in the latest arc? And did he lose to any of those mentioned? No, he didn't. He did nothing but kick ass during the Marine Ford arc and he was most certainly not the little bitch of the Seven Warlords. Someone said his bitterness about his weakness was a defining part of his character. Wrong. Sounds nice but it's not true. Crocodile was disillusioned by his time in the Grand Line. Power levels in OP are not set in stone. Why does no one remember him curbstomping Luffy two times! And let me say again he's been fighting Akainu! The man made of lava. Crocodile is as bad ass and powerful as they come.
 * Oh, and, as an aside, we're talking about the top 0.00001% of the world here. Is Crocodile relatively weaker than the other top 0.00001%? Maybe, but he's still indisputably in that range. I mean, as a Logia-type, Crocodile already instantly owns 100% of all non-Devil Fruits, and 99% of all Devil Fruit users. It's like living with God Mode on.
 * The best way to describe Crocodile in terms of Warlord strength is as Weak but Skilled. He may not have Blackbeard's raw physical strength, Jinbe's martial art skills, or Hancock's knowledge of Haki (or maybe he does), but he has his intelligence, his experience and a complete mastery of his powers, which is still a Logia-type. Why he lost to Luffy is because he suffered a Villainous Breakdown and did not use his powers like in Rounds 1 & 2 and forgot to Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight, especially against someone like Luffy.
 * I think it needs to be pointed out that it has been heavily implied(if not outright stated) that the guy that stopped Crocodile's rise to the top was WHITEBEARD HIMSELF. I think that kinda says a little about Crocodile's abilities. Just to clarify, though, being vulnerable to water may be a serious Weaksauce Weakness in the One Piece world, but remember that Crocodile is capable of eliminating moisture with his powers. After all, Crocodile still Curbstomped Luffy even after the latter found out about that weakness and started exploiting it; it wasn't until Luffy started using his own blood that Crocodile started losing his edge, and I wouldn't be surprised if Luffy was the first person to ever try that on him. To all the people claiming that Crocodile is physically weak, he stopped an attack from Mihawk, 'nuff said; he may not be the strongest out there, but combined with his powers and intellect, he's definitely strong enough to at least competently take on pretty much anyone. And as someone mentioned above, Crocodile's loss to Luffy way back in Alabasta could probably be more chalked up to Croc getting sloppy and not bothering to use his powers rather than Croc simply being weak; after all, he did curbstomp Luffy twice, and when Luffy finally won, it took all the effort he could possibly muster just to knock Crocodile unconscious.
 * Another theory is this: The Seven Warlords of the Sea may be like pirate bounties: It's not always how strong you are, such as how much of a threat you could become that can get you the title. This is evident in that they tried to recruit Ace back when he was still relatively green, because they feared what he could become. It also explains Blackbeard getting the title when he was a total unknown: Any total unknown that could bring in Ace could be a major threat in the future. Also, the most recent chapter has Buggy receiving a letter from the World Government, possibly to become a Warlord of the Sea, which makes sense when you think about it. Buggy's not all that strong, but his crew has just been buffed up with Impel Down escapees, he was on the ship of the Pirate King, is (supposedly) friends with one of the Four Emperors, and survived the Whitebeard War. This all makes him a very credible threat in the future, so it's best to get him on your side now. Considering all this, the Government probably wanted to control Crocodile before he became a major problem, not that it did them much good.
 * How about this, it took luffy THREE FULL BATTLES to beat Crocodile! all of the other villains will have at most two. And then consider this, Croc guarded his Weaksauce Weakness VERY tightly, for several years, so pbviously in his second fight he would have been very suprised, but then using your own blood must have been the icing on the cake, because would you really expect something like that, even if you had Crocodile's brains? Plus, Luffy only managed to survive through an incredible mountain of luck (first battle:Robin appears out of the blue to save his ass, second battle: one of the water bubbles Luffy fired just happened to float down onto his face, third battle: Luffy decides to save Robin who just happened to have an antidote to Crocodile's poison). Oh and this man also considers WHITEBEARD his Worthy Opponent
 * Actually, I kind of thought Moriah was the weakest of them, really. I mean, at least Crocodile and the others actually were out regulary fighting people and other dirty deeds. Moriah just sat on his ass getting fat, weak and lazy by relying on his zombies for 10 years. Probably why Jinbe one-shotted him back at Marineford.
 * Moriah was not so much weak but lazy. He had the chance to wipe out the entire Strawhat crew several times before they knew what was happening and was easily able to capture the top fighters. He, with the combination of Oars, would had finished off the remaining Strawhats if Luffy hadn't absorb 100 shadows and even then he got back up for one last battle. If Moriah had any sense at the end, he would never had taken on 1000 shadows and should had kept the number down between 50 or 100. That way he would had been ungodly powerful without being on the brink of unconsciousness, but Moriah allowed his pride to defeat him in the end more than anything Luffy did himself. Crocodile is, as another troper said, weak but skilled given that his combat skills are rather mediocre, but he knows how to use his powers to maximum effect along with his battle experience and his intellects. Also, being a logia is broken in the One Piece world if you don't know their weakness or know Haki.
 * actually, crocodile may be one of the more dangerous warlords. Yes, he doesn't have the pure physical strenght of Kuma or Jimbei (meaning that he is just ridiculously strong), but he has a very powerfull DF (remember, he can drain water on touch, counterign his own weakness) that he has precise control over, a grand arsenal of dirty tricks, massive amounts of intelligence and charisma, and and of course a massive attitude (illustrated by him attacking WHITEBEARD, and when that fails, joining him and luffy in the rescue operation, taking on opponents like Mihawk and akainu in the process, and getting anway scot-free without a scratch in the end. And since it has been foreshadowed that we will see him again, a rematch against luffy would be very interesting indeed.
 * Is being unable to swim really that big a deal when you have infinitely stretchy limbs that can grab on to the nearest floating object or push you up from the ocean floor like giant stilts?
 * When a Devil Fruit User falls underwater, they lose the strength to use their power. In Luffy's case, he can use his power, just that he cannot move underwater. Outside sources can still make him stretch, but he loses all strength to even use his power. The problem with grabbing a floating object to push you up from the ocean floor like Giant Stilts is that the Ocean floor reaches many levels of Depths meaning you'll have to get stilts above 1,000,000 miles just to walk over the ocean. There are also Sea Kings in the ocean.
 * Are oceans in One Piece really that deep? That's insane. For reference, the deepest ocean trench on Earth is less than 7 miles. The world of One Piece is significantly bigger than our sun.
 * The only definitive comment about how deep the oceans get is in reference to Fishman Island, at 10,000 meters. No idea where that 1 million miles thing came from.
 * He doesn't have "infinite stretchy limbs." In at least one author interview, the author stated that devil fruit powers like the gum-gum and chop-chop fruit powers have a limit on how far from the person they can actually work (I think Luffy's may have been a distance of some 32-36 gum-gum fruit, and Buggy had trained for a lot longer and could therefore control his limbs up to 100 chop-chop fruit lengths away). It is probablye, given the reappearance of Buggy, sans body, that it is a limit on control rather than a limit on the power not working at all.
 * Oda is notorious for giving nonsensical answers to that sort of thing, which I entirely understand since it keeps him from Word of God-ing himself into a corner. The implication was that there was a physical limit to the range but that he wasn't going to share the specs.
 * That's not how Luffy's powers work. He's not like Mr. Fantastic - he doesn't just stretch on command. He literally works like rubber. He's not going to stretch unless there's some force behind it, and it snaps back as soon as possible.
 * When Luffy crashes into Zeff's restaurant, he tries to apologize and tells him that he doesn't have any money to pay him back. He says this even though he has treasure he got from Buggy. What's the deal with that? Granted, Nami wouldn't be too happy about it, but Luffy tends to do what he feels like regardless of whether his nakama approve.
 * At the time, Nami was saving money for her villages liberation from Arlong's clutches. Besides, she said she keeps all the treasure and Luffy, at the time when he crashed into Zeff's place didn't have money in his pockets.
 * Even so, Luffy didn't know what Nami needed money for.
 * Nami actually told him that she wanted to buy back a certain village with the money. Even if he didn't know that, though, Nami most likely wouldn't let him pay.
 * Been awhile since I read the Buggy/Baratie arcs, but didn't Nami say at some point that she was keeping the treasure, and Luffy said that he didn't care? So technically, it was NAMI'S treasure, because Nami was not then an official Strawhat pirate, and despite being a pirate himself, Luffy isn't much inclined to stealing (unless it's meat).
 * Or maybe Zeff just didn't want to piss off the Marines, seeing how he's a former pirate.
 * I always thought that the reason Luffy had not paid Zeff for the damage was because of the fact that he left all the treasure back at the village Buggy took over so they could rebuild and stuff. Nami wasn't too happy about that....
 * If a fish would have eaten the Human Devil Fruit, would he turn into a fishman? And if so, would he not be able to swim?
 * Techinally, yes. If a fish were to eat a hito hito fruit, then they would be able to turn into a fish, a "mer-fishman" (Top half like a human, bottom half like a fish) and a fishman (with a humanoid body). Also, they would probably gain the ability to breath on land since they ate the Hito Hito Fruit and yes, they wouldn't be able to swim. As Shanks said, "no matter how good you are at swimming, after you eat a devil fruit, you won't be able to swim anymore".
 * With all this, it stands to reason that a fish who eats the Hito Hito no Mi would be less powerful than even a human who eats it, and all that happens to thee human is that they are "enlightened".
 * Any particular reason why there has to be Seven Warlords of the Sea?
 * Because the number seven is in the name? Shichi from the Japanese "Shichibukai" means seven after all. C'mon, that's like asking why there has to be four Emperors, man.
 * Maybe because more than that would upset the balance of power too much.
 * I was thinking more or less, but I read that the Seven Warlords of the Sea are stated to be equal to the Four Emperors and Marines in terms of power, so maybe they need 7 for it to stay equal.
 * It's a Shout-Out to Seven Samurai.
 * As for why there are seven in terms of story asthetics, it's because 7 in many cultures and religions is a symbolic number for devinity, so there's some sort of symbolism/allusion going on here. As to why there have to be seven in regards to the world of the story, it's just what the WG set down (like how there are only three Admirals).
 * If I remember correctly, the literal translation for "shichibukai" is something like "seven armed seas," so it's probably referring to the realworld seven seas.
 * Why didn't Ao Kiji suffer the effects of putting his hands in the water when he froze part of the ocean for stranded people to cross? He clearly dipped both his hands into the sea, which should at least dizzy out a Devil Fruit user.
 * That only comes into effect when the user is almost or completely submerged. There have been times when Luffy and others have been in knee-deep water and they've been fine.
 * During the fight with Calipha, Nami stated that a Devil Fruit weakness starts kicking in when their body is 50% submerged. So Luffy can still use his powers if he's ankle-deep in shallow seawater, for instance.
 * What in the world made the World Government think that that Very Good could take CP9 back into custody? He was a mere part of a horde of Superpowered Mooks who lost to the Straw Hats, who also beat CP9. Odds were not good.
 * Captain Very Good was leading the whole capture raid. Apparently, I think the World Government thought he would be a good lead because of his devil fruit advantage. I guess the World Government underestimated CP9 and their skills.
 * Maybe they thought that CP9 suffered some permanent damage at Enies Lobby, as all members were mauled really badly. Maybe that's just another display of incompetence on the part of Spandam and his buddies.
 * The search was organized by Spandam, who has been shown time and time again that he is massively incompetent. Mistaking the device that sends the message for the Buster Call for your cell phone, anyone?
 * Why does Robin call Nami "Nami-chan" when speaking of her, but address her as "Nami," without honorifics. For example, in Movie 9, Robin says, "As expected, Nami," after Nami helps the crew escape a storm by predicting it, but when she collapses seconds later, Robin yells, "Nami-chan has a terrible fever!"
 * Nami is sometimes like a "little sister" to Robin assuming here. So when something bad happens to one of her nakama or when she shows the most affection towards them, she uses honorifics such as -kun for luffy or chan for Nami. But when she is not, or when the situation is just the usually what the crew goes through, Robin is most likely to not use honorifics. That or there is something wrong with the script or they needed to fill in the mouth movements.
 * She never uses "-kun" on Luffy. It seems a little odd that 1)Nami is the only one for whom she adds an honorific (albeit a somewhat informal and affectionate one) and 2)only does so when she's not around (possibly because she doesn't want to be addressed as that).
 * The One Piece anime needs filler, as all long running anime shows do. But if that's the case, then why have they animated only two of the cover arcs? Not doing so even leads to confusion when Jango and Fullbody show up together on Hina's ship. It doesn't exactly bug me, it just seems weird.
 * When they did the cover arcs for Coby-Helmeppo and Buggy, it didn't really become that popular. That's most likely the reason why cover arcs aren't made into fillers for the anime.
 * So it was even less popular than usual filler?
 * It's because readers of the manga have already read it. Plus, it's a bit troublesome to wait for the new chapter to update with a new part to the Coverstory and then animate it, while trying to keep up with the stories timeline.
 * If you pay attention, you can see that the anime does reference the coverstories though, in Easter Egg format. For example, when Crocus was shown reading the newspaper in episode 381, you can pictures showing characters from Ace's coverstory, and another one on Iceberg trying to hire a new secretary.
 * The story of how Hancock got the Swoon Swoon Fruit doesn't really make any sense to me. I can understand giving your slaves Zoans for stuff like heavy labor and gladitorial combat due to the added strength, but giving someone who is on their way to being reputed as one of the most beautiful women alive a power that enables her to turn people who get turned on or think lewdly about/around her into stone? You kinda have to wonder what the thinking was there.
 * I'm thinking they went for sort of a Medusa parallel. Unfortunately for them, it didn't work out the way they hoped it to.
 * It probably had an effect on Boa Hancock's appearance like Alvida's Sube Sube fruit. That or it was to see them turn into a branded freak for eating a devil fruit or that was the only thing she was given to eat.
 * It's entirely possible that the World Nobles had no idea what the fruit's powers were when they gave it to her. They seem the type to be careless enough to feed their prisoners strange foods for entertainment purposes.
 * These are the World Nobles we're talking about. They more than likely kept the Devil-Fruit eating slaves chained up with Seastone 90% of the time, they have the resources. They're also not the brightest group of people.
 * Also, is that what "Mero-Mero" really translates to?
 * Mero is a sound effect for "falling in love", so I'd say "swoon" works.
 * I doubt the devil fruit that Hancock ate had an effect on her appearance, at least not majorly. It's more to do with the effect she has on people. Also a lot you forget that she also has the ability to turn people into stone, so that be seen as entertaining to the World Nobles.
 * I was under the impression that her powers only worked on those who were attracted to her, which is why Chaste Hero Luffy was immune. Considering that the World Noble's saw her as property, I think its safe to assume that her powers wouldn't work against them.
 * Recently we've seen her petrify cannonballs, so who knows what's supposed to be going on with her.
 * While I agree it sounds plausible that they had no idea what the fruit would do (especially since documentation on the fruit is pretty sparse), the ability to petrify people is a function of her fruit,
 * It's probably like Kaku and Kalifa, not even Spandam with his connections who was capable to get 2 Devil Fruits had any idea what they did. Also, world nobles are delusional idiots, stupid shit is to be expected.
 * Why does most everyone seem to ignore the awesome combat potential of seastone? It's quite capable of neutralizing even active Logia powers if you get it close enough; i.e. Smoker being unable to drift between the bars of a seastone cage, and Enel losing to the skates of awesomeness. Considering all the Fruit-users they encounter, why haven't the otherwise fairly weak but intelligent fighters like Usopp and Nami started using seastone weapons? Why, out of all the marines, has only Smoker thought of making a net of the stuff?
 * Short answer, it would be cheap, like how if the Marines' rifles used modern slugs Luffy would've died long ago. Long answer, Sea Stone is very rare, supposedly only found in one location, and the Marines have a lockdown on most of the supply. And to the Marines' credit, the anime does depict them using Sea Stone nets more often than the manga shows.
 * Also, most of the Marines' seastone supply has to be used in their ship hulls -- it repels Sea Kings, allowing them to travel across the Calm Belts and get in and out of the Grand Line as they please.
 * It's also implied that Seastone is extremely heavy as well as being hard as diamond. So while a weapon tipped with Seastone might work, one made entirely out of Seastone would be too heavy to be wielded practically in combat. Now, the abnormal strength of most members of the Grand Line marines would seem to mitigate this... but if any of them are Devil Fruit users, they can't use such weapons, and would probably highly discourage subordinates or coworkers from doing so. Also, Seastone seems to be used primarily for capture purposes, so a elimination-focused group like those on the front lines would probably not use it. It probably doesn't sharpen into edges well, either.
 * Still, it wouldn't take much seastone to make Zoro, Sanji, or Garp even more bad-assed than they already are. ..
 * When did Nami start needing glasses? I wasn't aware she had problems with her vision, or does she just feel smarter with them on?
 * She wore them once for a few pages during Skypiea, and then never again until a recent filler episode. Since she was studying a map both times, it's safe to assume that they're just reading glasses for fine details. I suppose the implication is that she always wears them when she does map making, but since we almost never see her doing so, most readers/viewers don't notice.
 * According to one of the cover spreads, and the latest anime opening, Zoro has reading glasses too. (maybe that's why he's always squinting!)
 * Dudes! Fanservice, glasses are hot!
 * From what I have seen of manga in general (which is quite a lot), glasses are equated with intellectual pursuits, especially with reading and studying. Thus, even characters with perfectly good vision occasionally use reading glasses as a preventative measure, or to look 'smarter'.
 * And heck, there's nothing saying Nami and Zoro aren't just mildly far-sighted. They don't really need glasses for anything other than reading, so they don't wear them except for that purpose. And before anyone objects to that idea... most of what we see being 'read' are big signs at a distance, which would be no problem for far-sighted people without glasses. Of course, this makes no excuse for Nami reading the newspaper without glasses, but if she has a mild enough case, she might only need glasses for highly-detailed mapmaking or prolonged studying.
 * This troper has multiple family members who are far-sighted in varying degrees, and this seems quite plausible.
 * Something that quite bugged me while reading through some old mangas: Skypieans really have wings, or those things are actually accessories? And, being one thing or another, why do Shandians have wings, too?
 * Yes, they really have wings. If you read Enel's Cover Story you'll find out that the ancestors of the Shandians; the Shandorians, along with the Skypeians and Bilkans originally came from the Moon.
 * It's possible that the wings are a vestigial feature. Humans don't have tails, but we still have a tailbone.
 * Which is used to support the muscles that keep us from pooping our pants!
 * Also, on a related note... why does Gan Fall not have wings? Both the Skypeians and Shandians have wings, but Gan Fall does not. Neither do the Priests of Enel. Why?!
 * Do we ever see Gan Fall without his armor? Wings might just be tucked in there...
 * He takes off his armor after the Skypiea arc ends, but he doesn't seem to have wings under his robe.
 * After Luffy, Zoro and Sanji have their shadows taken by Gekko Moriah, why is it that, though they indeed don't drop a shadow onto the ground, they still drop a shadow on themselves? for example, in a close up of Luffy, his nose clearly drops a shadow on his face, and on a shot of Zoro, his torso indeed drops a shadow onto his arm. Sounds like a clear overlook, if you ask me.
 * There may be difference between a single object shadow and a full body shadow. What Moriah took was the full body shadow or the shadow that the full body casts. The shadow on the ground represents them, not the shadow that is on their neck or on their nose since that shadow itself is the shadow of the nose, not the whole body. It's a separate shadow to be exact. They are not connected to the main body shadow which is the one that is connected and copies the body. Also, there is such thing as Overshadowing.
 * Is it not outright stated, however, that having your shadow taken means an existence outside of light or something to that effect? I always assumed that in that condition, light simply passes right through you and therefore you have no shadow and cast no reflection in the mirror. So technically, one should also not cast any shadown on themselves. However, they should also not be visible, as light is a requirement for vision, and an object that reflects no light is either invisible or an impossibly deep black. As such, it may be best to just file this issue under "Things that utterly maim the laws of physics in One Piece" and leave it at that.
 * But if it really worked like that, then they would also be invisible, since an image is created by light bouncing off an object and being read by the eye. Here's my explanation: it's MAGIC!
 * It's possible that only "direct" sunlight at "full strength" can harm a person who has had his or her shadow stolen. Even though sunlight is almost never completely absent, even when blocked by the clouds of the Florian Triangle, it probably doesn't do a thing unless it's completely sunny out. Also, it doesn't look like artificial light or the light from fire does all that much either, as the zombies and Zoro, Luffy and Sanji were still in tact in Moriah's castle when brightly lit by candles or lightbulbs. Though, the zombies ARE afraid of fire... but that might be just because it's "really hot."
 * When you think about it, why couldn't you see the inside of Brook's skull if there was no shadow in there?
 * because A) this is ONE PIECE, and physicics are already treated more like suggestions, and B) devil fruits are magic, and therefore unexplainable
 * If Nico Robin is such a threat to the WG that they would put a bounty on her head since the age of 8 due to possible nasty secrets she'd be able to decipher about the WG, why didn't Dragon the Revolutionary pick her up before the events of the story?
 * I don't think she trusted anyone at that point, and would rather make it on her own ability to manipulate people, because the people she DID trust and thought were nice always turned her in. Not to mention Dragon probably has so much on his plate GLOBALLY that it isn't surprising one eight year old girl slipped by. Not to mention I doubt they put "Has skills that are an enormous threat to the stability of the world government, and might be helpful to revolutionaries" on her bounty poster.
 * Two possible explanations: either he hadn't operated on the first half of the Grand Line yet, or she had reasons to trust his agents even less than everyone else. As far as we can guess, Dragon is not a good guy.
 * And the various villainous characters she's been working for, including Crocodile, were so much better?
 * But she was in control (or so she thought) in those situations. She could use 'em and leave 'em. Doubt an entire revolutionary movement based on ideals that she wasn't concerned with would have taken kindly to that.
 * "Not being any different" is enough. And we can suppose, that were easier to betray and get away with this, as she presumably always did (until Crocodile, who saw straight through her intentions from the beginning).
 * This has been answered. It's not through lack of trying: Dragon's forces have been looking for her for years. They even call her "The Light of the Revolution".
 * It was stated that the information released to the public was that she is "a demon child who sank Buster Call ship with her demon powers" (in reality it was Sakazuki that sank the ships) rather than "a scholar who can read a dead language that can resurrect a WMD"
 * If one didn't eat an entire Devil Fruit, just split it in half and shared with a buddy, would the effects still be exactly the same as if you'd eaten a whole one? Or what about if you only took one bite?
 * Word of God states that you only need to take one bite of the Devil Fruit to gain its powers. Also, Oda said that the same Devil Fruit powers can exist in different people in different times... but not at once. So no, two people can't have the same Devil Fruit power at the same time. Presumably, the first person to swallow that one piece of fruit would be the person the gain the power (even if they ate it at the same time, one person would most likely swallow it a "millisecond" or two before the other did), and the other person would just end up with a bad taste in his or her mouth (because the Devil Fruits taste terrible).
 * But would Person Two still sink like a rock, even with no powers?
 * No, person two would stay the same as they were. The second person would be eating the fruit as if it were just a regular fruit. A regular fruit that tastes really horrible. Only the first person who ate the fruit or swallowed it first will have all pros and cons of the devil fruit.
 * If Sanji has to go on a big, huge quest to find the All Blue, who does he expect his customer base to be? Rich people who happen upon the all blue and don;t have a 5-star chef? People who got stuck there? That people will sail a path to his door once he starts a restaurant in a place that is mythically hard to find? Or did he just hear Zeff talk about it so much that he just never thought it through?
 * It's fanon that states he wants to stay there and open a restaurant. The restaurant was ZEFF's dream, not his. Sanji just want's to prove it exists. After they find it, he's still gonna be cook for the Strawhats after all! Like Luffy would let him quit, and like he'd want to.
 * His dream is basically to be able to make a great meal from the sea life found there. Nothing about opening up a restaurant or anything like that.
 * So what the Hell is with the Tashigi/Kuina thing? Did Kuina bring herself back to life with sheer will and just come back to life somewhere else in the world? Is it just a pointless coincidence made to tick Zoro off and isn't going anywhere?
 * IMO, the evidence is in favor the former, although those with an opinion on the subject seem to prefer the latter. Not sure why, though; the first one is more epic and suits the story more. (Plus, come on, it would eventually be pure Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, and Oda never resists a chance to pull those.)
 * Evidence? Tashigi doesn't even have the same DREAM as Kuina. And if it was will bringing her back from the dead, then it would probably be in relation to that ever so important promise, wouldn't it? I think Oda's stated (but don't hold me to this, I heard it from someone else!) that they aren't the same person, and I think it's meant to be a coincidence that keeps Zoro from killing her in the first fight.
 * That may be because Back From the Dead is a common Pet Peeve Trope. It wouldn't necessarily be bad if it's built up well and is a single really special occasion rather than to pull a cheap drama trick, though.
 * Where the latter got placed in the Sorting Algorithm of Deadness doesn't help. Unless, of course, that part was intentional to throw off a majority of the readership....
 * I, personally, disregard the above. MY NAKAMA-SHIP OTP CANNOT DIIIIE. ZORO SHOULDN'T HAVE TO WORK TO FULFILL THE PROMISE ALOOOONE. THAT KIND OF THING IS THE HEART OF THE STOOORRRYYY.
 * In the manga, the viewer can actually see Kuina's body at her wake, which makes it harder to claim that she's just hiding and possibly amnesiac.
 * I agreed with you until we found out that in the OP universe, a pregnant woman could hold a baby in her stomach for 2 years. Now I've utterly given up on trying to apply logic to this story. (other than that, no solid opinion on this.)
 * Stomach?
 * Damn. This is controversial. Can I say "I don't claim to know where this story is going, and neither should you?"
 * This troper always figured it was just a matter of Kuina and Tashigi being twin sisters who were separated at birth. Unless Oda has said otherwise in an SBS, I'll continue to believe that.
 * Unfortunately, in a recent Q&A done by Viz for the American Shonen Jump magazine, Oda did say that it was indeed a coincidence, and even explicitly said that there's not going to be any backstory where she turns out to be Kunia's sister or anything like that.
 * What do you mean by "unfortunately"? Do you have any clue how relieved This Troper was to read that? The uncertainty around the whole deal was bugging me for way too long; it's good to hear something that makes all the fan speculation void, even if it's a little disappointing.
 * When Kumadori escapes from the fridge, he seems to have gained about three hundred pounds. Chopper then says something about how he's never seen anyone who could do that. The heck? Did he forget about someone? I think his name was Monkey D. Luffy. Even Usopp has been shown to be capable of acts of extreme gluttony. Of course, Chopper isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but still, spending several weeks, at least, traveling with Luffy's group and forgetting about Luffy's gluttony is a personal best when it comes to stupidity.
 * You gotta remember that Luffy has a stomach made out of rubber, so eating until he becomes a huge balloon is easy for him, but for a human without Devil Fruit powers (such as Kumadori), this act is seen as completely implausible, so I think we'd all be surprised to see something like that happen when the consumer in question isn't made out of rubber.
 * Also, it wasn't that Kumadori ATE all of that... it was that he PROCESSED IT INTO BODY FAT so quickly. His stomach wasn't just bulging, his whole body was heavier and his face was much more fat too.
 * Does this bug anyone else, throughout the Crocodile arc, the Marines and World Government were good, if not slightly incompetent people for the most part. Smoker was even introduced as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Then suddenly they are the most evil organization ever, with a serious evil upgrade. CP9 and Impel Down in particular, that and Smoker's role has been reduced to that of Cameo appearances, seriously he fought against Ace and kicked Luffy's ass. So what is up, with the sudden mood shift?
 * Smoker is SUPPOSED to be sorta maverick. See the end of the arc when the WG completely buries Smoker's report, to his fury, and promotes him rather than admit they screwed up. That entire bit alludes to the problems they'd have in the future with the WG. Not to mention, Smoker is disregarding orders even BEING there chasing Strawhat.
 * It's probably because 1) The story has gotten darker and 2) Smoker has to share screen-time with Loads and Loads of Characters, and we haven't gotten to the part where his role in the story is huge. Also, there are plenty of good people in the World Government (Smoker, Tashigi, Hina, Coby, etc.) but the government itself being deeply corrupt has been firmly established ever since the Arlong Arc.
 * The World Government didn't really feature much in the beginning of the story, so not much can really be said about how "good" or "evil" they were back then. And even in Alabasta, the lost history was mentioned, dropping the first hints about the true nature of the WG. As for the Marines, while their ideals are righteous, they've had many corrupt members from the very start. Consider Morgan, Fullbody (who may not have been so much corrupt as he was a total jerk) and Nezumi. In fact, I believe Smoker and Tashigi were the first significant Marine characters to be portrayed as truly good people.
 * Though this troper thought the implied baby-killing in the latest chapter was pushing it.
 * The Marines are not the World Government and don’t include Cipher Pol or the guards of Impel Down among their ranks, they are subordinate to the World Government. If the Marines and Impel Down guards appear “evil”, keep in mind what most Pirates in the series are actually like. That aside, it is heavily implied that lower-ranked Marines are more concerned with protecting people from magical fruit-powered villains who would rape, pillage and plunder all of the world’s oceans if only given the chance while higher-ranked Marines are often put in position to defend the very corrupt and ancient institution that is the World Government which having obtained near-absolute power (only partially-balanced out by Pirates of all things), would like to keep it.
 * If Magellan's diarrhea is bothering him so much (because of his love for poisoned food because of the poison poison fruit), then why doesn't he just use seastone accesories or jewelry or whatever to cancel out his ability when he doesn't need it?
 * Sea Stone doesn't just negate powers, it sucks the energy out of Fruit users.
 * I don't think Seastone negates powers at all. It saps energy and makes users far more vulnerable. But the only thing shown to NEGATE powers so far is Blackbeard's power. For instance, in the seastone cage in alabasta, Luffy was still rubber, just really weak.
 * Depends. Nico Robin was able to move just fine and even resist her arrest to a certain degree.
 * Sea Stone does negate the power to an extent on which type of fruit you have and also will weaken them. Sea Stone can't negate "perpetually-active" fruits like paramecia, where the power is always on and can't be turned off, like Luffy's or Alvida's. Powers that require conscious activation (ex. Robin, Mr. 3, Buggy, etc.) can and will be negated by simply touching Sea stone, since the power is not always on. Magellan can be assumed to be an "active" paramecia where his poison abilities are always active despite Sea Stone, since he has a poisonous breath.
 * When has this been mentioned or shown? Luffy bled when he was hit by Blackbeard, who has devil-fruit-negating powers, as hard as if it were a normal heavy punch for a normal person, instead of absorbing the blow with his rubber body (chapter 544).
 * The SBS talks about Devil Fruits and several obvious points from when Luffy was submerged under water and other parts of the manga. Also, Blackbeard=\=Seastones. Blackbeard ROBS the DF user of their power when he touches them. Seastones WEAKENS the DF user to the point of no strength to think or move if it is pure seastone, well, the "active" DF powers at least. As for Logia and non-active paramecia, they are completely negated. Note, Luffy was underwater during Arlong Park Arc, yet he stretched. Seastone=The Sea. Therefore Luffy can still stretch by outside forces even if he is touching seastone. Seastone seems to have no effect on negating active Paramecia powers, only the energy of the user. Non-active Paramecia, Logia and maybe Zoan all have different rules it seems, due to different natures of the categories. But one can guess that it depends on how much Seastone is used and where it is being used like in handcuffs or nets. Blackbeard is a different case since his completely takes away the DF power but does not rob the user of strength.
 * If he used Seastone to cancel out his abilities when he doesn't need them, then the massive amounts of poison in his body thanks to all the poisoned food he eats would kill him.
 * I'd imagine that the poison immunity function is always on. Just like I doubt that you would instakill Buggy with a seastone net; there's probably two levels to those types of fruit, one that allows one to do something through the fruit power (like split apart and levitate body parts) and another that renders one immune from the obvious side-effects of the power (like dying from being split apart). Just the same that I'd figure slapping Buggy with seastone cuffs would simply paralyze him and render him unable to split apart or to float/control split off body parts rather than causing him to bleed out from being dismembered, Magellan's power probably protects him from poison regardless of seastone. Remember, from what we've seen, Paramecia fruits often make permanent changes to the user's body that aren't nullified by total immersion in seawater. They may be unable to activate their powers, but the passive benefits would still stay. For another example, look at Brook, who is able to survive immersion in water despite being literally alive only due to his power.
 * The other guards in Impel Down have commented on this, it seems to be just his thing.
 * instead of these complicated means (which probably wont work in the first place, and are way more likely to hinder him) wouldn't it be easier to stop eating those poisons? it's not like he has to.
 * Just what do the Admirals do when they're not on-screen? They seem capable of curb stomping just about anybody short of a Four Emperors, and yet they apparently spend all their time at HQ (note the comment that the Celestial Dragons being so close to HQ meant that when they call for an admiral, "it could be anyone"). So in an age of rampant piracy, the most ridiculously powerful assets to the forces of law are doing paperwork and guard duty back at the base? Perhaps it will become the case, current events being what they are, but it's rather baffling that the Straw Hats don't have at least a Vice Admiral or two permanently assigned to tracking them and taking them down.
 * Admirals do whatever they want, as long as it is near the Marine HQ so they can be summoned on short notices. That is assuming that they have to stay near the HQ to protect the base in case of an attack that is a force to reckon with. Of course, all vice admirals are also probably spread apart in different areas, and the Marine HQ don't have time to waste a vice admiral just on one pirate crew. In short, Admirals and Vice-Admirals probably don't waste their time on just single small pirate crews, but possible higher-threat level crews. Also, the Marine HQ is pinned down with Whitebeard, the rest of the Four Emperors and the revolutionaries. So why tire your best forces on petty pirate crews or trivial matters? Even if they were sent to deal with problems with the world, there are just too many and some well undercover.
 * ...I'm sorry, but a pirate crew that defeated two out of seven Warlords of the Sea, their supporting organizations and the World Government's top unit of assassins and then declared war on the World Government is a trivial matter?
 * It is compared to executing the son of the former Pirate King and potentially killing the strongest man/pirate in the world who is also said to be closest to One Piece and is also one of the Four Emperors who's strength is equal to that of the entire Marine HQ + the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
 * Also, I get the sense that the world is absolutely hugemongous, with a million islands and a million acres of Red Line land. Crazy powerful admirals are leaders, symbols, and commanders well before they become front-line fighters.
 * I guess the argument holds for Aokiji and Akainu who needs to travel by rather conventional means (vehicles), but couldn't Kizaru just use his light speed to hop around in mid air?
 * they probably do send them out on imortant buisness from time to time, they only have to ake sure that one is in/near HQ at all times.
 * What would happen if a merman ate a devil fruit? I assume he'd be unable to swim, but could he still breathe in water? Also, what if a human ate a fish-type zoan fruit? If he couldn't swim or breathe in water, that would be like the most useful Devil Fruit ever.
 * Question was asked several times. Unless a fish-type Zoan appears or a Fishman (Merman and fishmen are different) who ate a devil fruit appears, we won't know. Look around more to find some theories of that matter.
 * And now we have an answer. Van Der Decken, a Fishman that is heavily implied (not outright stated, but all the circumstances leave absolutely no other interpretation) to have eaten the Mato Mato Fruit. When underwater, he covers his whole upper body with a diving bubble, and is reluctant to stick his hand out for a handshake without a glove on. He seems to have the same water weakness as all the other Fruit eaters.
 * The glove thing prevents him from using his target powers. He needs to touch someone or something to do it.
 * Emporio Ivankov. Just Emporio Ivankov. I am aware of Oda's Author Appeal for Designated Girl Fights. But I manage, since it never hurt the series. I can even manage how Califfa was pretty much Chickified in order to make Nami keep up with her. But Emporio Ivankov just makes me want to scratch my eyes out.
 * ...because he used his powers to fight? It's very possible that Ivankov transformed just to humiliate Sadi-chan.
 * And it's probably supposed to be a little badass and subversive that Iva fought as a woman. Remember, this series has brought up the issue of women not being as physically strong as men for the most part a few times; it's actually pretty refreshing to portray a character who'd sometimes prefer being a woman during a fight, and embraces both his/her masculinity and femininity. The unabashed love he has for both his maleness and femaleness is why Iva is awesome.
 * I believe its less for the fight to be a Designated Girl Fight, and more because Iva-chan just likes changing genders at random. One minute he's a rather disturbing-looking man, the next she's a hot woman. Iva-chan doesn't believe himself to be a man or woman, but both. It's more what she believes to be more aesthetically pleasing at any moment, at least in my opinion.
 * I think Oda did the designated girl fight just for fun, as a way of invoking and playing it for laughs.
 * Is actually stated (in the anime at least) that Iwa san's female body is much "softer" and thus more flexible, allowing him-ehm, her to fight better.
 * How did Ace's mother stay pregnant for twice a human gestation period?. Unless she somehow stopped him from growing entirely, he would have been stillborn. Special Technique my ass.
 * Part elephant...? But to be serious it probably won't be touched on other than willpower allowing you to do crazy things in One Piece, knowing Oda's attitudes to questions like this.
 * One Manga forums cite that the longest pregnancy on record in the real world was just over a year. Also, we're reading fiction.
 * Somehow it doesn't seem more unusual than a guy surviving being caught in the middle of an explosion that was supposed to destroy everything within 5 kilometers. This is the One Piece universe. Anything is possible.
 * One, she's a D. Two, we already have canon examples of bodies perverting the laws of physics (and biology and etc.), Life Return anyone?
 * Uterus Uterus fruit, obviously. "And Roger told me this fruit would be useless!"
 * Maybe she was the previous eater of the Gum-Gum Fruit, so when she died, it went to the place somewhere for Shanks to find it.
 * I thought she simply used Haki or something like that to "slow down" the growth of Ace.
 * You ask yourself how she did something impossible for human beings, in a show about a pirate with a body out of rubber where everyone is made of iron?
 * Okay, so the three powers that control the One Piece world are the Marines, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors. So where do Dragon's forces fit into the whole thing?
 * They don't. That's why they're called revolutionaries.
 * I guess it's true that they don't fit in. I am still curious as to just how powerful they are compared to the other groups, considering that Dragon was considered a potential threat in five or six years time...about six years ago.
 * Those three powers balance each other militarily and at a high level. It’s the World Government that employs 2 of those 3 (yes, the Marines and Warlords are of equal rank, I think this is supposed to demonstrate how corrupt the World Government is) and has a near-absolute monopoly of power. The Revolutionaries directly oppose this power, bypassing the Marines and Seven Warlords altogether, as well as the corrupt countries that form the World Government.
 * So Garp in his prime was a match for Pirate King Gold Roger himself (or at least was strong enough to almost catch him a few times). He's even considered a "legend". And he has a personal rapport with the head of the Marines. So why is he only a Vice-admiral? Is it explained somewhere why he was held back? Is it because he doesn't have the Game Breaker power of a Logia fruit? Because it seems to me that being able to throw cannonballs like they were baseballs is plenty powerful for an Admiral.
 * Garp has been offered promotions from Vice Admiral (at least as far back as when Aokiji was just a Vice Admiral himself) dating back to before Roger turns himself in and he has always turned them down explaining he doesn’t need a higher rank to do whatever he wants.
 * This sort of thing is explained by Smoker after the Alabasta arc; there are plenty of people just as strong as him who are ranked higher, the implication being that in the grand scheme of things, titles are meaningless.
 * Maybe they're actually stronger than Garp/Roger. Garp fought with Roger when he was young, and probably the actual admirals were still too young to even think about touching Roger. As time passed, they got stronger, and the Logia fruit power gave them a leap in power big enough to make them surpass Garp.
 * Did you miss the part where Silvers Rayleigh, Gold Roger's subordinate (which means he was probably weaker than Roger) fended off Kizaru by himself? It doesn't make sense for the Admirals to be stronger than Roger if a subordinate of the former can fend one of them off.
 * Rayleigh just fended off Kizaru for a few minutes. Kizaru probably didn't use his full power at the time since he was just being forced to capture some weak pirates for the nobles, capturing Rayleigh wasn't his objective, and clearly wasn't taking the job very seriously. If he fought at full power, Rayleigh might not have a chance to win the fight.
 * But remember, by that time Rayleigh was an old drunk and ship coater who probably hadn't seriously fought in years, so was probably a little rusty, and Kizaru was a much younger man. In his prime, he most likely could have beaten any of the Admirals one-on-one. Also, I believe the fact that Garp is only a Vice-Admiral being more politically motivated than his strength. Remember, he's got a rather... abrasive personality, and is the father of an infamous criminal, and grandfather to two more, one of whom is the son of Gold Roger. The reason he managed to get so high in the Marines in spite of those facts is a testament to his strength, in my opinion.
 * according to chapter 0, garp was offered a spot as an admiral several times by Fleet Admiral Kong but denied it everytime. SO yes Garp is easily admiral level.
 * Okay, if the 3 Admirals did surpass Roger/Whitebeard/Garp/Rayleigh then why haven't they wiped out the likes of Whitebeard's pirate crew? Sengoku wouldn't have been freaking out so much if he had 3 guys who were stronger than the likes of Roger.
 * Becouse if they made a move for Whitebeard, other Emperors would help him too. Plus, if you move your three most powerful fighters to New World (with their respective crews, mostly involving crapload of footsoldiers and captains), Marine HQ will be vulnerable to attack by anyone. Warlords? Supernovas? Revolutionaries? Emperors? Someone else? Also, keep in mind that Whitebeard's men aren't slouches and chances are they'll meet someone who can keep up with Admirals, maybe has a power that could nullify theirs? Either way, its a lose-lose situation.
 * Whitebeard was the strongest man alive prior to his demise. Which means he was stronger than any of the Admirals. He was also not stronger than Roger, which means that none of the Admirals are better than Roger.
 * How stupid is the World Government??? They didn't want to take on Whitebeard and his armada and allies, but still went through with Ace's execution for the sole purpose of killing off the former Pirate King's bloodline? They didn't realize that ships in the New World would be able to be submersible? How on earth did they think this was going to turn out?
 * Because the truth is, no matter what rank or place in society they have, most people are REALLY slow and have poor observation skills and foresight. The powerful tend to be arrogant, making these inborn human flaws even more severe and sometimes hazardous.
 * There's also the matter of time and place. By forcing Whitebeard to come for them, they were able to pool their resources in order to better face the threat. Holding his second squad commander captive while adding the one who took him down to your own forces (or so they thought, though I still think Blackbeard's planning on returning to the battle after recruiting some reinforcements) tips the scales somewhat and prevents him from simply running away if the fight doesn't go his way.
 * He does come back, but betrays the World Govrernment in the process after recruiting prisoners from Level 6 of Impel Down. Trusting him wasn't the best idea.
 * ...Didn't the World Government set up Ace's execution so that they could lure Whitebeard into a trap and kill him?
 * Whitebeard was more of a bonus since they saw killing Ace and making him an example as more important than killing an aging pirate like Whitebeard. Sengoku even says as much when he was announcing Ace's bloodline about it was important that he died despite they would have to go to war with Whitebeard.
 * they did. And it worked like a charm. The only thing they didn't expect was Blackbeard stabbing them in the back.
 * Nico Robin was given a bounty of 79 million as an 8 year old girl. The World Government considers her to be a highly dangerous threat, yet over the next 20 years, her bounty remains static until the Enies Lobby arc, at which point it only increases by 1 million. You'd think her bounty would have increased after the Alabasta arc: Smoker and some of his men correctly identify her (thereby confirming that she is very much alive and active), she is directly involved with a treacherous Schichibukai in the forced takeover of an entire country (to say nothing of the organization's international deeds leading up to said takeover), and she is not captured along with the rest of the organization at the arc's end.
 * The reason why her bounty stayed the same was probably due to her only crime which is just existing, which the World Government calls it a big crime on its own so her bounty froze until she escaped with the Straw Hats at Enies Lobby. Also, it wasn't possible to arrest her with the rest of Baroque Works because Luffy was the one who dragged her out of the crumbling ruins and placed her somewhere, in which she took that opportunity to sneak on to the Going Merry.
 * Bounties are determined by the treat that one poses to the world government. that treat just hasn't risen since that time. To the WG, being a cog in the works of a coup d'etat is insignificant compared to the treat of the poneglyphs.
 * Okay, I really enjoyed chapter 552. It was basically a Crowning Chapter of Awesome for Whitebeard and his crew. But that last bit where Whitebeard used his Quake Quake fruit powers to summon a tsunami? If he's a fruit user, won't all that seawater drastically weaken him? Or is that tsunami only going to hit the outside of Marine HQ? And if it does that won't it hit his allies as well? While very cool, it just doesn't seem like a well thought out move.
 * Whitebeard's ships are coated in resin, which allows underwater travel. I'm sure that will protect his forces from the water.
 * It's moot anyway, as in the latest chapter Aokiji simply froze them. One has to wonder what Whitebeard would've done if he hadn't bothered to do so...
 * The tsunami didn't hit any of his allies, it would have just killed a lot of Marines and sunk their ships. And he could have just done it to scare the Marines and show off his power.
 * This troper believes that it was Whitebeard's plan to have Aokiji freeze the tsunami because he knew that Aokiji couldn't just let the tsunami wipe out the whole fleet, so he had to freeze it for protection. Also, the marine ships severely outnumber the Whitebeard ships and so a naval battle would be risky at best. However, now that the bay is frozen the Whitebeard pirates can fight on land and they seem to be superior hand to hand fighters than the marines.
 * This may not be a bad thing, but as the series has been going on, it would seem that every single major development has been listed as a Crowning Moment of Awesome. While a fantastic thing for One Piece, it kind of weakens the meaning of the page since it's night really highlighting the true top moments of the series. If anything, it'd almost be better to say "From this chapter on, everything that happens is awesome."
 * One of the most infuriating is the one which lists Luffy punching Magellan in their first fight... I mean, why even Luffy's worst defeat must be in Luffy's Crowning Moment of Awesome?
 * Because it just keeping getting better. Luffy landing an attack on Magellan is a Crowning Moment of Awesome, because Luffy is going against one of the most broken powers in One Piece and a character that isn't meant to be a push over or flawed villain punk that overestimates himself. The fact that he land a strong blow on a guy who oozes acidic poison is huge even if Magellan is back up on the next page. Remember Luffy is very much out classed in the New World and everyone has been telling him such since he and the crew barely survived Ennis Lobby.
 * The problem is that for the Marineford War arc, every chapter DID have several CMoAs.
 * Why limit yourself to only seven Warlords? Why not go to every powerful pirate who isn't an Emperor and give them a Letter of Marque?
 * That would ruin the Seven Samurai Shout-Out.
 * Plus, consider all of the havoc that the Seven Warlords of the Sea can wreak with the Government's legal protection. These guys are highly untrustworthy and liable to abuse their power. The Government probably just wants to keep the number of them manageable, because having even more would 1. make it harder to keep track of the individual machinations of each one and 2. give too much power to too many pirates who are likely just in it for the profit. They have a hard enough time keeping pirates like Hancock, Moriah, and Donflamingo under some sort of observation; it would probably be too much effort to add any more treacherous and dangerous pirates to the bunch.
 * Could Buggy eat or drink while his head is detached? Would the swallowed food teleport into his esophagus/stomach?
 * Considering that he's already done that and appears to have no circulatory problem despite having spent days/weeks without his heart, lungs and the rest of his main body, I'd say yes.
 * In the 4Kids Macekre, Bellemere was "locked up in a dungeon" rather than shot by Arlong. This happened, at the very most, 10 to twelve years ago. Woudln't Bellemere still be in Arlong's dungeon? Why did the Straw Hats not go and free her? Great oversight there, 4Kids.
 * It was implied that she had died of starvation in the dungeon (either that, or the Arlong pirates just killed her for kicks later on). Then again, this only raises another plot point: Arlong Park hadn't even been built when Bellemere was "taken to the dungeon", so where would the dungeon had come from in the first place?
 * Arlong Park was built already, but not in the same way: Arlong Park was made from Arlong's ship. I guess the ship'd have accomodations for locking up prisoners.
 * Ironically this is actually darker than the original - she's dying slowly and painfully.
 * Why does a chief as dedicated Sanji Smoke? Don't cigarettes damage ones sense of taste?
 * Because Smoking Is Cool. No, seriously, that's his reason. One of his flashbacks shows the ten or so year old Sanji proclaiming that he's "Now a man!".
 * Zeff points this out, but Sanji doesn't care.
 * What would happen if you attacked Buggy with a drill? Or a syringe?
 * He seems to be immune to slashing damage, not piercing damage. He could probably protect himself by splitting before the attack reached him, though.
 * What the Hell is going on with those translators over at Shonen Jump? Everyone and their mamas knows what happens in the next bunch of arcs and they're still on Alabasta.
 * Dude, haven't you heard the news about Viz speeding up their release of the One Piece manga to five volumes a month? And to make it even better, in January, they're going to skip right to the Impel Down saga in Shonen Jump itself.
 * Wow. How can they do that?
 * They did the same thing with Naruto, rapidly releasing the volumes between just before the end of Naruto's fight with Gaara and the timeskip (16-27) and the volumes between the end of the Sasuke and Sai arc and midway through the Sasuke vs. Killerbee fight (35-44). One Piece definitely needs it, as many of the issues have three One Piece chapters or less (which means they're falling behind the Japanese version every month).
 * Wait, how is it that there are fat people on Amazon Lilly if they're all hunters and fighters? You'd think all the exercise would keep them slim...
 * Sometimes people really are just born fat or muscled in a way that looks it. The better question is what is up with some of them being miniature giants?
 * Word of God says that the reason Marigold filled out was because she put herself through the same kind of training regimen that sumo wrestlers do. It's possible that maybe some of the other Amazons did something similar.
 * Why do people keep insisting that Roronoa name is Zoro instead of Zolo. While his name is obviously supposed to remind people of the legendary Spanish swordsman and spelling it like that is obviously Writting Around Trademarks is every official translation that I have seen his name is spelled with an L instead of an R.
 * Because that's how Oda spells it on Zoro's bounty poster.
 * But it's so fun to watch the more hard-core fans squirm...
 * And Portuguese translation writes it with R. I was bugged to find out he was called "Zolo" in any other language... (And Luffy, too)
 * It's Ruffy and Zorro in the official German releases.
 * It's also Zorro in the official French release, and they even call him "Zorro Roronoa", but kept "Monkey D. Luffy". A good indication over the quality of the French release.
 * It's called Zoro in Italy, albeit his surname was first translated as "Loronoa", then "Roronoa", then "Rolonoa" and finally set back up on Roronoa. Also Luffy is called Rufy. Except in the bowdlerised anime where he's called Monkey D. Rubber.
 * How come there is so much swearing in the Funmation dub it's like some bad fansub. Considering that Japanese is such a clean language and what few bad swears they have would never be broadcast on TV it comes off as kind off-putting while watching it.
 * Because they DO swear all the time. Sanji's constant use of the word kuso for example.
 * But kuso is not that bad of a word, I remember once seeing a show Denn&# 333;Coil where a little kid said it all the time
 * Dennou Coil used 'unchi', which is more like 'poop', whereas 'kuso' is more like 'shit'. Neither is completely equivalent, but that's the idea.
 * Kuso literally means 'shit'.
 * It's to indicate what 'rough' characters they are. It's not like pirates are supposed to be polite company. There's not really any other way to convey this in American language.
 * They get a lot better about after a while; there's still occasional swearing, but people aren't saying "bastard" every other minute.
 * Ever been on a bus? I have, and there are sometimes people who practically speak in swears. The point of this little sidestory is that people swear, all the time. As for Sanji, he's always been a spitfire from what I can tell.
 * I don't believe Japanese treat swears the same way we do. And when you think about it, the whole "bad word" concept we have is kind of absurd anyway. It just so happens that swear words are the closest thing English has to those particular expressions.
 * I agree that English swearing is the closest equivalent to the kind of speech they use in Japanese, but it's far from acceptable. Talking like most anime/manga characters (who use informal and often rough speech) to anyone who isn't a close friend is very much frowned upon, because polite speech is what's socially acceptable.
 * they are pirates. What do they care about being socially acceptable?
 * Hiruluk explained how he came up with the name "Chopper" (he said his antlers looked like they could chop down trees), but where did the "Tony Tony" part come from?
 * It's a play on the Japanese word Tonkaichi which means "Reindeer"
 * It's Hiruluk. He probably just named him Tony Tony for some insane reason or another that makes sense only to him.
 * What bothers me is the fact that Hiruluk misunderstood the word 'Chop'. Hint: it involves sharp edges. A reindeer's antlers have no sharp edges!
 * Like in "Karate Chop", that is delivered with bare hands? Now, really, "Chop" does not necessarily involve sharp edges.
 * A Karate chop explicitly moves in a way which imitates a bladed weapon, which does have sharp edges. A reindeer's antlers, edged or not, cannot move in a 'chopping' motion. The name, while cute in a Deathbringer the Adorable kind of way, makes no sense.
 * Again, it's HIRULUK we're talking about here. Logic need not apply.
 * I know that it's dumb to complain about anime filler, but still, the invention of some of these Devil Fruits just pisses me off. And I don't mean cool ones, I mean ones like Apis' Hiso-Hiso-Fruit, which lets her talk to animals. Did they really need that so she could talk to a DRAGON!? IT'S A DRAGON! Luffy seems to understand it just fine! Why couldn't they just say something like the dragon can communicate with individuals it trusts on a spiritual level or something? IT'S! A! DRAGON!
 * Because without running into Apis they wouldn't have a reason to get sidetracked from heading to the Grand Line and ending up on Warship Island in the first place.
 * I agree that was dumb to think up that Devil Fruit, hopefully there would be more to that power that only would take a more strong minded person to unlock, but to be fair only Luffy and Apis could understand the Dragon, and with Luffy it's debatable if Luffy really knew what the Dragon was saying or just making it up and seemingly getting it right.
 * Another problem with the Hiso Hiso fruit is that it doesn't fit into the Paramecia, Logia or Zoan classes of fruits. Oda could make up a new class of fruit later on, but it seemed like a cheap way to give Apis the power.
 * No, it's a Paramecia. Logia lets you produce and change your body into an element of nature; Zoan lets you tranform into an animal, and Paramecia is a catch-all category for everything else. And how does it not fit in Paramecia with other fruits like Hana Hana, Mato Mato, Woshu Woshu (Vice-Admiral Tsuru's), and Doa Doa, among other patently absurd ones.
 * Prior to Haki, the series had exactly one type of phlebotinum, those being Devil fruits. It doesn't make much sense to invent a new source of power just for the sake of a single filler arc when the power can be explained as the result of a Paramecia fruit (and it indeed can). Also, I don't see why it's so nonsensical that you can't speak to dragons without that fruit; it's not as if dragons have a unified set of rules across all fiction.
 * Maybe an example of unintentional Fridge Brilliance; the manga was hinted that Luffy may have the same power as Gol D Roger of "hearing the voice of all things", that way only Apis (due to her devil fruit power) and Luffy would be able to understand the dragon. Still an awful filler though.
 * How did Crocodile know that both the Poneglyph revealing Pluton's location and Pluton itself are in Arabasta? If it's common knowledge, why didn't the World Government send lots of people to Arabasta to dig around until they found Pluton? That's what Crocodile said he would do after Robin betrayed him.
 * Crocodile was Alabasta's "Hero" for... how long, now? Chessmaster that he is, he probably had a way to get that info, even if only the royal family is supposed to know that.
 * This doesn't really bug me but I just realized how incredibly overpowered Crocodile is even on the sea, let's assume that mastery of a Logia Fruit lets you control your individual particles we have some foreshadowing of this with Smoker who couldn't control his enough to retain his human shape while still being invincible (So catching him off guard could hit him) now Someone like Enel can take a nap and not be hurt. So by that assumption Croc could simply turn one tiny grain of his body into sand and guide it up some poor bastards nostril, where he would locate the vital organs and then have the grain rupture them. Now this SEEMS like an oversight on Crocs part but keep in mind that a Fruit User is only as good as his imagination with his powers, Croc doesn't seem like the kind of guy to take that into account.
 * Luffy already proved that Crocodile is just as weak against blood as he is water, so navigating any part of himself within the human body would be impossible.
 * Beside, it's not just a Crocodile thing. Luffy could invade your body a la Mister Fantastic, Robin could grow hands in your lungs! Buggy could kill you with grain sized parts of his body and has much more control than Crocodile. Name a Devil's fruit user, and there will be at least a dozen Game Breaker s that Oda never used. Sort out the one that are based on wrong assumption, and tag the rest as Plot Leveling.
 * Shippers right now are pissing me off with talk that Boa Hancock will trick Luffy into marrying her like Chi-Chi did Goku. Disregard that Goku was a complete moron who understood nothing about the world while Luffy is rather intelligent and has already refused a proposal, but what pisses me off is the way they say "Because Oda is a fan or Dragon Ball" because ya know when your a fan of something that means you rip it off instead of paying homage.
 * Well Oda is more than just a fan of Dragon Ball, he's one of Toriyama's former apprentices.
 * Ummm...no, he wasn't. He was an assistant for another manga artist for a time, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't say anywhere Oda ever worked for Toriyama.
 * Shippers have a long, bloody history of claiming dubious evidence as "proof" of their ship being canon. (see Zutarians and Harmonians) When OP shippers do it, it tends to be extra...."special".
 * Also in episode 304, when the wall of the stair/tunnel/support structure is destroyed, water rushes in at a slower rate than when the others ( Nami, Kokoro etc) encounter it. It should be the opposite and the water level should rise gradually given that the tunnel is quite long.
 * In episode 304, during the flashback, when Luffy activates his Gear third, he becomes luminous and a shadow of his body is seen on the wall. Shadows occur when an object blocks the path of light, Luffy was the light source, so his shadow should not have been possible.
 * What was the point in developing Hancock's character if she was going to still be kicking animals?
 * Comedy value. Plus, Boa herself just only opened up to Luffy, but her character is still roughly the same.
 * In the anime, Eustass Kidd and Trafalgar Law were fighting the Pacifista. Eustass has magnet powers. Aren't Pacifistas made out of metal? What was stopping him from attracting the metal to him, and then repeling it quickly or something?
 * Sheer mass and death lasers, I would imagine.
 * Actually (i'm pretty sure it has been said here before) the fight we saw was anime-only therefore filler. Since, like the OP said, Kidd could have just magnetized the Pacifista, not to mention that Law, who can shift space, was also there.
 * Non-ferrous metals? and we don't know nearly enough about Law's powers yet. It has to have some unstated weaknesses, or else it's even more broken than the paw-paw fruit.
 * This always confuses me. So, during the Time Skip, Brook becomes famous, and goes on a World Tour. A WORLD Tour. Couldn't he have just gone to Laboon during that time? Couldn't he have just asked his managers to add one stop at Reverse Mountain?
 * How do you know he didn't?
 * Well, why would his managers agree to stop at Reverse Mountain? Only 2 people live there, if you count Laboon.
 * Because the guy that is making them rich asked.
 * Brook's promise to Laboon was that the crew would travel all the way around the world (to the end of the Grand Line) before seeing Laboon again. If he just went straight to Reverse Mountain like that, he'd be breaking that promise.
 * In episode 352, after Luffy's shadow is stolen, the zombie is seen eating lots of food, and some of it is seafood. As one need's salt to return the shadow back to the owner, won't the seafood cause Luffy's shadow to return? Also, nearly all food has some salt in it, so after eating that much food, why didn't his shadow return?
 * Maybe it was a filler scene that was added to pad out the episode(s), and was added before The Reveal about salt being the key to purging zombies. So, clarify--was this particular scene done before or after that reveal?
 * If you remember, during the battle with Oars, a major obstacle was that they needed a LOT of salt to purify a zombie that big, with their only chance being a sack the size of a person. It's likely the food just didn't have enough salt in it to purify him.
 * Why did Nami get mad at Luffy after seeing his message? Everyone else seemed to get the idea right away, but for some reason she was upset and saying Luffy was being selfish. What gave her that idea? The others didn't get upset even if they were on the verge of escaping a place they hated(i.e. Sanji).
 * Probably, because she just broke out of jail and was on the run, and now had to stay there and get stronger
 * Just thought her line of thinking was odd, that Luffy was being selfish when it was the exact opposite(albeit through Rayleigh's convincing): He didn't want to rush everyone back together before they were ready to challenge the New World, thus leading to another trouncing like they met before.
 * She's a tsundere for everyone she likes. (or at least cares about) Odd lines of thinking are to be expected.
 * Her reasoning is probably because they are best friends they are itching to be together again so putting on hold their meeting for 2 years is a little harsh.
 * Can mermaids Fly? In Chapter 638 it is shown that Shirahoshi is trying to lead Noah away by swimming away from Fishman Island, but then you see a mini-map of FI and you can see that the lower part is filled with water while tha top part is filled with air, yet you see Shirahoshi "swimming" in the top part so can she fly or is that trick only possible in Fishman Island?
 * If you look closley you'll see that she's wearing a Bubble Coral belt - You know, Like a Life Ring? Considering the bubbles are like the ones in Saboby, it's likely the mermaids are using this to get around in the air.
 * Probably. Megalo uses the same thing to float around, even though he is a shark. maybe she took his?
 * So wait, are the Four Emperors allied with the World Government or not? They were perfectly willing to take out Whitebeard, and as a matter of fact they took a member of his crew and executed him, so it's quite clear they're wanted men. But then why are they part of the Three Powers? Blackbeard and the World government talk about "positions" in the Four Emperors as if it's some kind of honour, but from what has been revealed they're just exceptionally strong pirates. So what's the point in them being there at all? In fact, whether or not they were an emperor or not wouldn't have any effect whatsoever, except to instill fear on others.
 * You seem to be royally confused. The Three Powers are the three greatest powers in the world. The Four Emperors are on one side, while the Marines and the Seven Warlords are on the other. It's like in the real world, where you've got America, Russia, Britain, etc. Just because there's a group name does not mean the individual elements are allied.
 * Okay, so one of the world ending weapons that the world government fears is the ability to control sea kings, doesn't the existence of Haoshoku Haki already make that weapon useless?
 * One, it's not even clear they know about that. They fear Pluton, which is an actual, physical weapon (all evidence points in that direction, at least). Poseidon is only detailed in Sky Island, which the Marines cannot reach. Two, saying Haoshoku Haki ends that threat is like saying one gun could defeat an army of spear-wielding savages 10,000 strong (ignoring that your fire stick would scare the hell out of them). Said Haki is incredibly rare, and all current users are pirates who would not be inclined to help the World Government. Furthermore, there is nothing stopping Shirahoshi from sending an army of angry sea kings to every WG island and tearing them apart. They could save a few islands, or protect their main bases, but a weaponized Shirahoshi is basically game over. She decides she wants to turn the sea kings on you, then you just lost the fight.
 * How does Brook keeps his pants on?
 * The Oda answer would be willpower, but he's probably just wearing a belt.
 * That massive thing that lives in the Florian Triangle that Lola and the Rolling Pirates were sailing towards--Gekko Moriah had been living in its territory for 10 years, and Brook for 50. Something that huge can't escape their notice for that long, and no doubt whatever it is has tried to attack both of them at one point or another. However, Brook makes no mention about it to the Straw Hats--he warns them of Moriah but not of this thing, which is likely more dangerous. So why is it that these two never make any mention of this being?
 * Fog.
 * Why do so many people regard Arlong a complete monster?I mean he is unquestionably evil,but unlike most other villains in the series he is not a bad boss(to his fishman subornatives at least),he has an more than decent freudian excuse and unlike some other pirates who would pillage your village and kill you for fun,he would give you chance to survive if you paid him.He is not ever an racist he is a speciesist ,who is,for some reason,considered a complete monster and not a well intentioned extremist or at least a knight templar like Order of the Stick a certain other villain of a certain webcomic who is far more ruthless,or a person likebuggy who,given half the chance,would easily have a bigger headcount.I do not claim that he is not evil,because he certainly is,I just can not understand why he is considered a complete monster in comparison to worse villains who are not considered complete monsters
 * At that point in the series, he was regarded as such because he was the first villain to directly do something horrible to one of the main characters and already had her home island under his control. All of the other East Blue villains are totally unconnected to the Straw Hat Pirates and just happened to start acting on their plans around the same time the Straw Hat Pirates arrived. Arlong, on the other hand, had already set up an empire, which makes him feel more dangerous than the likes of Kuro or Don Krieg. With the possible exception of Buggy, Arlong also has the worst tantrum problem of the East Blue villains. People forget about his redeeming traits of genuine compassion for his crewmates and for fishmen in general.
 * In the East Blue Sage, Kuro came off as more of a complete monster than Arlong. Yes, Arlong was undoubtably a racist murderer, and a dishonorable bastard, but what Kuro attempted to do to Usopp's village was far worst. Kuro was going to betray the girl that he had taken care of and look after for the pass three years. Her parents took him in when he was half-dead and gave him a home and a good job. Kaya saw him more as a friend and advisor than a servant and trusted his word over Usopp's. Yet, not only did he rubbed her nose in how much he hated serving her and how he actually looked forward to the day that she was killed, he planned to hurt and kill many of the villagers that he got to know. He even planned to kill his old pirate crew purely to cover his tracks. The icing on the cake, however, is that Kaya offered to willingly give her wealth in exchange that he wouldn't attack the village. He pretty much laughs at her. His actions were so bad that both Luffy and Zoro were utterly disgusted with him and he was the first villain before Arlong that really pissed Luffy off, even more so than Buggy. I think the only reason Kuro is never really consider a complete monster is because his planned failed and no one was killed, unlike Arlong who had eight years of ruling his island.


 * In the grand line there is an island populated by okamas. okay. they are all ugly. Okay, logical since, presumably, chance-sex surguries are either nonexistent or much worse than real ones. Their king/queen can change the most manly man to a very beautiful woman, and has been shown doing it on screen. Fair enough, since s/he has been (kinda) imprisoned in impel down all thes years and he could not fully change them. Then s/he goes back and they are still ugly men who dress like women or who has been trangedered imperfectly. Okay s/he could not change them all instantly, and s/he may have had more pressing matters to attend to. Two years later, they still look just as ugly. WHAT?
 * Did it ever occur to you that maybe they just don't want to be changed? Maybe they just want to dress like women and not actually be them. Also, Ivankov doesn't stay on the island all the time. There's revolution to do, you know.


 * Why does Nami need the way log poses work in the New World explained to her? Didn't she spend two solid years learning how to navigate in the New World? That seems like a really basic thing to not know after spending that long preparing for the journey.
 * Maybe it was just to remind the readers in case they forgot.
 * If that were the case, it could have been Nami explaining to the rest of the crew, since she's the one who spent two years studying the New World.
 * Nami spent two years learning New World's climate. Weatheria studies climate, not navigation (given the way they travel, they may not use poses at all).


 * Why does Gonbe, Chimney's pet rabbit, think he's a cat?
 * Because it's funny.


 * How can Bepo and Pekoms talk?
 * Same reason Pappug can: because it's funny.


 * Is Akainu really so much of a hypocrite that he kills people for performing such petty crimes, because that would make him even worse
 * Elaborate


 * Why is the world on One piece considered crapsacharine? It is not much worse than ours. It may not be your standard the good will prevail world, and there are certainly better worlds created, but it is not much worse than our world, perhaps it is better. After all,there are more Spadams and hodys in our world than any other kind of villain (In the world of one piece they are the exception), teryubitos existed in our world not too long ago (with other names, obviously) and arguably may still exist, the nuclear bomb is worse than the buster call, all the badasses out there will not kill you wiothout a reason, and the not so badasses will be eventually beaten by the baddasses, in cotrast to our world where the strong in the third world will. Most people also forget the people of the third world, who live worse than the people in the trash district, the fact that in our world there is still underground slavery, the fact that many woman are still oppressed in many parts of the world and the fact that there are more people in poor countries that there are in rich ones. All that while assuming that none of the conspiracy theories are correct. So, why exactly is one piece considered a crapsacharine world, if it is better than ours?
 * I don't think you actually understand what the Crap Saccharine World trope actually is. The idea is that the initial fun/pleasantness is actually really deceptive. Which frankly, really describes how OP is set up. It's not about the word-for-word type of darkness that happens, it's all in the set up and execution. For example, the picture used for the trope page is from Toy Story 3. Even though nothing that happens in the movie is ever quite as dark as it can get in real life, it still qualifies for that trope really well.
 * Original troper: Still, the only place the world is happy is obviously where the strawhats are, because due to to their captain, they generate blissfulness becuse they live happilly. At the first chapter we saw a child self-mutilating. Then we saw a lot of antagonists kill their mooks. From the second chapter onward, killing their mooks was done by every non heroic major antagonist expect, ironically Spandam (doing it on accident do not count even if he did not care afterwards anyways). The tragic bacstories were a norm from Zoro onwards and the non-named people who die in this manga is phenomenical. Heck,if you count flashbacks there are many dead named people as well. So,when exactly were we deceived about the nature of that world? Also, tropers have been saying that the sacharine part is beingdropped. That leaves some people to classify one piece as a crapsack world, for which my first argument still counts.
 * You're...sorta missing some crucial points about differences in what cultures deem appropriate for children or not. Oda makes it really clear in a lot of interviews that he designed OP for young boys. And by Japanese standards, the early part of the story lives up to that idea. And once again, it can also be about the clash between superficial presentation and what actually happens. More examples: Moral Orel counts as one too; it's designed like Davey and Goliath, yet the first episode has a zombie apocalypse, and it gets worse from there.
 * HOW has the entire world not joined the revolutionaries? How can so many people be OK with stuff like the atrocities of the nobles or the mass slavery of entire countries?
 * Because islands are relatively isolated, especially on the grand line, and the common man is just trying to scratch out a living. What can they hope to do against a power that runs the entire world? Plus, the WG has very good spin doctors. Not all of that gets out, and what does is just something people have learned to live with.
 * Quite minor, but, Alvida's crew used ropes to swing onto a cruise ship... When the ship they were boarding was larger than the pirate ship? What? (Of course, I watched the Anime, so...)
 * Um... Why would Buggy need a chart of the Grand Line? He sailed with Gold fucking Roger, for fucks sake, he'd hardly need a chart of the place. Furthermore, you can't actually navigate the place because the sea turns your ship around all the time, so it's either travel from island to island with the Log Pose, which you don't need a chart for either way and can't actually use it at all, or through Eternal Pose, which is hardly worth going to all the effort of getting it if you just want to raise hell.
 * Travelling the Grand Line is not the same as navigating it. He'd need a chart if he wanted to know where every island was and what they were called. If he's looking for treasure, best to skip the death traps.
 * Franky's theme was made before he even appeared in the manga. Seriously?
 * Van Der Decken wears gloves because he doesn't want to touch anything because otherwise his targeting powers stop aiming for the princess and start aiming for the last thing he touched. Then you realise he's touching the gloves
 * Van Der Decken's powers only work on people, and he has to touch them for it to work. He just wears the glove as a precaution.
 * Do Haki users count as Badass Normal or not?
 * I think it all depends on wether or not the user also has a Devil Fruit Power.
 * Why do the Shandorians have wings? They couldn't be part Skypiean because they spent centuries hating them, SO WHY THE FUCK DO THEY HAVE WINGS?
 * Enel's cover story showed that Shandorians, Skypieans and Bilkans share a common origin: they're all winged people from the Moon. Yep.
 * That still doesn't really make sense, since they lived down on Jaya before the Knuckup stream sent them to Skypiea. Unless this troper missed something and they did actually have wings before they were sent to Skypiea.
 * They HAD wings before they were sent to Skypiea (Calgara had wings, for example). Apparently, after leaving the Moon, Skypienas and Bilkans settled on Sky Island while Shandorians opted for Jaya... untile the Knock-Up Stream decided otherwise.
 * When Rayleigh discusses Luffy's message to his crew, he says (paraphrased) "they should all get it, well there was one who weren't too bright but i think it will be allright". Then we are shown each crewmembers reaction to the message, and they all understand instantly right away, except for Zoro, who is on the verge of getting the message. Did Rayleigh think of Zoro as dumb? He's not the smartest of the crew (that would be Nami) and he certainly has no sense of directions, but he's no dimwit.
 * Just because he doesn't think of Zoro as bright doesn't mean he thinks he's an idiot. He just felt Zoro wouldn't catch the message.
 * In Chapter 490, the Strawhats are testing out a pool in the ocean. One of the members in the water is CHOPPER. Who can't swim. He did have an inner tube, which I assume keeps over 50% of his body out of the water, plus he's got Ussopp with him, but... I don't understand.
 * This is the same Chopper who will frequently end up nearly drowning to rescue people who are themselves drowning. How is his use of a pool a surprise?
 * The Sabaody Archipelago: Why did NO Straw Hat know of it? Of course Luffy didn't, but Nami and Robin ought to - Nami is the navigator, and Robin knows tons of things about the world. They were just completely lost until Keimi appeared, and had Luffy not defeated that sea rabbit, maybe they would still be hanging around at the Red Line. Just about EVERY other pirate on Grand Line knows of the Sabaody Archipelago and how it's the only way to get to Fishman Island, so would that mean that even the most book-smart member of the Straw Hats, Robin, is nothing compared to every other person in the world? Of course I know it had to be a plot point that they just didn't find the Sabaody Archipelago on their own, because then they wouldn't have picked up Hatchan, Keimi and Pappug, but it still seems like utter out-of-character ignorance. Again, not knowing where the archipelago is located is fine, but it's too weird with them being the only people on the sea not knowing of its EXISTENCE. Come to think of it, shouldn't Brook know about Sabaody as well? If the Rumbar Pirates weren't on their way to Sabaody, then what the heck were they doing in the Florian Triangle?
 * Isn't Fish-man island directly underneath the Archipelago? Even those who didn't know about it could still follow the Log and find Sabaody Archipelago. Presumably they just fallow it unti they get there. (Or, alternatively, follow the Red Line)
 * It's not, as they were stuck for some time at the Red Line with the Log Pose pointing directly downwards, and they were nowhere near the Sabaody Archipelago before they met Keimi by a stroke and luck, and she had them sail in that direction.
 * None of the Straw Hats have a map of the Grand Line, as they are very difficult to come by (it's a big deal that Buggy has one). Instead, the Straw Hats seem to figure out where to go next entirely via Log Pose, leaving Nami's role being mainly to figure out the safest path to the next island and to warn the crew of weather anomalies. As for Robin, she likely read about the Sabaody Archipelago (or at least about the yarukiman groves) but don't know their exact location. (We've seen that various Straw Hat members know about islands they haven't visited, such as Sanji's detailed knowledge of Wano--they just don't talk about them unless directly relevant to a conversation.) When the crew reach Sabaody, we see that most of the other pirate crews know exactly where they're going, and they consider the Straw Hats insane for tackling the Grand Line with very little prior knowledge of it. As for the Florian Triangle, that's part of one of the paths going through the Grand Line. Luffy stumbled across it going from Water Seven. Other paths to Sabaody might not involve the Florian Triangle at all.
 * Where exactly is Amazon Lily situated in the calm belt?
 * Here.