Growing Up Grand Line Transcript

Almost 50 years of solitude drifting at sea. The overwhelming might of the Government forcing those under their heel to take responsibility for their creations. Or even just a bystander to the political crisis of an undersea nation. Backstories are a common element for characterization in One Piece, but these three stand out among those in the Straw Hat Pirates, even affiliates, because the most formative experiences we’ve seen of these characters come from events in their adulthood. Now, there’s always the possibility that we can get future developments to further explore their childhoods as we did with Luffy and Sanji well beyond when they were first established, but even as is, this structure draws attention to something specific. These characters were introduced later in the Grand Line, nearing the New World, where, with the other Straw Hats, and Vivi, we are specifically shown childhood experiences. Usopp’s missing father and lies of desire, Vivi’s fear of losing comrades that fought for her sake: the scenarios they were thrust in significantly affected them well into their adulthoods, in part helping to define who they were. And in the East Blue and Grand Line, this has a very specific contrast with the antagonists. Most antagonists aren’t given individual formative experiences, their nature being rewarded by the world around them revealing its flaws, especially in the case of a character like Lucci, a brutal murderer given a high position in the Government because his desire for blood is in service to them. Flashbacks give these characters more context, but how these characters act between them and their appearance in the story is largely the same. Buggy’s greed, Krieg's deceptiveness: if these characters do have a formative experience for why they are they way they are, it wasn’t important enough to show in the context of their arcs. But for the ones who are given experiences, in the East Blue or Grand Line it’s always specifically ones that occurred in their adulthood. Crocodile’s defeat by Whitebeard, Morgan’s false sense of greatness, Boa’s slavery: these characters went from their homes into the outside world and were pushed to a breaking point, their shapes bent into the people they are now so that they might better fit the world. Their formative characterization is inversed to the Straw Hats introduced in the earlier parts of the story, and in the New World this has started to change. When it comes to the likes of Doflamingo, Baby 5, Big Mom, or Katakuri, these antagonists were given tragic childhoods that shaped them into their adult selves much like many of the Straw Hats. And it's in this dichotomy where One Piece makes a shift in its storytelling between Grand Line and New World.

Starting from the East Blue and taking to the Grand Line, these regions are a story of children going out into the world and being challenged by it. And in that challenge they must grow. Zoro learned that protecting his comrades came before growing stronger for the sake of that in itself. Robin had to come to value her own life so that she could follow her dream. And in their struggles these characters are largely up against enemies who are the simple products of the world they challenge. Mr. 1 was a bounty hunter in a professional trade that had no value for camaraderie or protecting others. Spandam got his position through nepotism and that rank gave him the authority to look down on the lives of both enemies and the common soldiers under him like they were nothing. And in butting heads with the world it even comes to change in response. Buggy’s loss would lead to events that had him valuing his men instead of senselessly killing them. Crocodile’s dream of being Pirate King was restored through Impel Down and the War after his defeat at Alabasta. Bellamy saw the Sky Island and decided to become a foolish dreamer himself. The Straw Hats might be children in this world but they have values that help them prevail, and slowly they are changing the world in response, this idea further driven home by placing those affected as children against those affected as adults. Some of the enemies they fight being ones who, like them, went out into the world and were forced to change, simply in the past tense rather then present. Crocodile failed in the Grand Line like he gave Luffy failure. Moria gave up and allowed Luffy to continue on outright hoping Luffy would meet he same loss of his comrades that he once did.

But where the difference between the first half of the story and the second is really driven home is where it deliberately echoes the previous half. On Thriller Bark, Chopper gets to meet his idol in the form of Doctor Hogback, a genius who had saved countless lives. But upon finally getting to know him, he discovered that skill was all Hogback had, his practice completely divorced from the values Hiriluk taught Chopper. Hogback’s genius fed into his ego, his assertion that he deserved everything he wanted leading to him perverting the very nature of a doctor in trying to bring back the woman he loved. In order to surpass his idol, Chopper had to come to see him for the monster he was, reaching Cindry in a way he never could before their battle concluded. Chopper was able to grow closer to becoming the man he wants to be, but the New World would return to the idea of false idols. Punk Hazard possessed three groups with the ones they admired not being at all what they presented themselves to be. The respected Vice Admiral Vergo was an undercover pirate, while Caesar was far from the godly figure he was respected as by Brownbeard, among Caesar’s other men. But this idea is stated even more directly through Mocha. She and the children of the facility believed Caesar wanted to help them with their supposed sickness, but if they remained in his care, their only growth would be into giants, as they would never live to be the adults they so dearly wished to be. Chopper outright tells Mocha that if they don’t see Caesar and Monet for who they are, they will never grow up. And it’s important that Chopper is the one saying it because he himself was in this same situation 2 years ago. Before he was the child who needed to grow, but now he is the adult, the one guiding children down the path of growth. Without the Straw Hats, the kids would have been casualties of Caesar’s horrific science and the Warlord system that exonerated him of his crimes.

Where the Grand Line called attention to their childishness, the New World places focus on the adults the Straw Hats have been steadily growing in to by focusing more on childhood in the world around them. Similar to Punk Hazard’s mythic fantasy that veiled the corruptions of science behind them, Dressrosa is a place where whimsy and wonder are deceptive shields distracting from the darkness they hide, and in order to move forward that darkness must be recognized for what it is, placing the same idea on a larger scale while still presenting another conflict of a Straw Hat above a childish figure. The Tonta’s are honest and trusting, naively so, much like a child, and this nature allows the liars that are the Doflamingo Family to abuse them. Doflamingo is something of a parent figure himself, taking numerous children into his family, from Buffalo and Baby 5 to Sugar and Monet. And while even these children were valued members of his inner circle, if required they would still sacrifice themselves for the parent, rejecting the bond of parent and child in service of the one above all, and if even the children he valued were expected to be expended in service to him then it’s only natural the Tonta’s would be no safer, let alone the rest of Dressrosa, the nation he took control of under the guise of the hero, the one who comes when he is called in the bleakest hour. And in his first contact with the Tonta’s, Usopp acted not as a strong parental figure, but a liar who called himself a hero, just like Doflamingo. His lie led to their confidence in the fight to come, and almost became something that would destroy them, but he found the courage to go back on his lie, the courage to be better than the man acting as Dressrosa’s protectors as he took the step towards being a better influence on the smallest and most childish of Dressrosa’s people.

Whole Cake Island continues this trend, Totto Land being of similar deceptive nature as Dressrosa, its enticing sweetness being bait to the paradise none can leave. But even through the crisis of Big Mom’s rampage, the populace does not truly grow from the ordeal, only briefly questioning their position as Big Mom destroyed the very archipelago they gave their lifespan to live in protection. Not everyone has the strength to grow, letting themselves be entrapped by the lies they cannot admit are wrong. And no character shows the danger in the inability to grow better than Big Mom herself, as in being in childhood for the entirety of her life, she raised a family that was even more broken than she was. They lacked healthy coping mechanisms for their burdens, and while there are positive bonds between them, there’s also the occasional desire to rise above their siblings in the family hierarchy by pushing others down. And pervasive among them is the fear of failure or the resulting punishment from their mother, a fear that leads to them covering their weakness as best they can, lest it be exploited or lead to their suffering. Her angering is damaging and dangerous, ignorant of the actual intent of her children and focused solely on how their actions affect herself and her rule, where Luffy and Sanji are able to help Katakuri and Pudding to do better in spite of their circumstances. Caramel accepted Big Mom for who she was, so she had no desire to change that, but as a result she only accepts herself. Without a good parent figure of her own, Big Mom could not grow into one herself, and it is the transition of childhood to parenthood that is at the heart of this exploration. Because “the children are watching.” Otohime knew how susceptible children were to the world around them, to the adults they look up to. The orphan Hody Jones never stopped being filled with anger, never having anyone to look up to except enemies of humans like Arlong, and that child became a monster of willful ignorance. But while Shirahoshi herself was a stunted child, shielded from the world for a full decade, those earlier years she experienced outside were under good parental figures, giving her a strength to hold on to when she finally came into contact with the world outside.

Big Mom, or even Doflamingo, could not be good parental figures because they were never able to transcend their circumstances, and as such, those in their families were similarly unprepared. Baby 5 wanted to be needed, not useful, and Sai helped her to not be used as a disposable tool like the rest of the Doflamingo Family did willingly. Katakuri put the burden of his broken family on his own back, but in his battle against Luffy he chose to shed that burden so that he might finally be able to grow. They are the children, experiencing the world and changing as a result of the Straw Hats, those who have been changed by their experiences as adults, because their parents failed them as they were failed by their own parental figures. Without a strength to inherit, they were fragile where the Straw Hats are strong. Big Mom tantrums over the food she craves at the expense of even her own children while Luffy is able to starve himself if it means he can see a comrade once again. Doflamingo cannot take the pain of betrayal, cutting off any of those damaging bonds where Luffy seeks to understand those crewmates who turn away from him, because his judgment is not that of a God. They have their flaws, no one is perfect, but their strong parents have in turn given them the strength to take on that role with others. This structure will likely become even more apparent going forward. Wano Country has introduced three (and a half child characters of note who will inevitably be influenced by the coming events that will shake the environment around them, and with Momonosuke and Hiyori, where one is still a child, the other had 20 years in a new environment that have shaped her. We can also see future antagonists who have been implied to have rough upbringings, begging the question of what their parent figures were like, if they even had any before taking their leaderly positions that by nature influence the world’s they command and control.

While One Piece is a story of freedom, the child is one who cannot be absolutely free. They must first be raised and guided, as how they come up in the world, how they grow, will determine their very place in it, and how they come to affect those who come after them, because the bond of parent and child is one that never ends.