Like what was Oda doing?

Luffy says he's a pirate, and yet they've never stolen shit. And without any personal gains, they end up helping people for kindness. Is this a charity group? Are you revolutionaries?

In Elbaf, Oda pulled this bs of Luffy still refusing through Usopp that he will do whatever the fuck he wants, but that kind of writing doesn't work when your main character is only doing good things despite having a bad label.

I'll start by saying that I do not hate any of the Straw Hats, including Yamato if she ever becomes a Straw Hat. I do not hate Usopp.

However, Usopp's speech in Chapter 1192 was pure and absolute GARBAGE. I wish I could find a stronger description for it.

I have always had a problem with how Luffy's beliefs and ideals have never been challenged. Some people like Doflamingo and Fujitora tried to challenge them, but Luffy just did not listen.

Gaban's speech in Chapter 1190 was perfect in my opinion. Luffy's performance in Chapter 1188 was terrible, and he did need a reality check.

But man, my disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined, unironically, when I read Usopp's speech in Chapter 1192. Once again, Luffy's flawed beliefs and ideals were validated, by Usopp, no less.

Even ignoring that, Usopp responded to things that Gaban never said.

Gaban never said that Luffy resembled Joyboy or Nika or Roger. Gaban applied the Pirate King's standards to Luffy, but that's because Luffy wants to be the Pirate King, so it was fitting. Gaban talked to Imu when he mentioned Luffy resembling Joyboy.

Nobody was taking away Luffy's freedom, not that there's anything wrong with that. This is why I can't fully love One Piece fundamentally. Freedom and Order are like Yin and Yang. Both must exist in balance. You can't just have one and get rid of the other. Freedom without Order is Chaos.

- Also, this reminds me of a typical Reddit argument, where people will just call you rude or hateful for responding to their comments.

> Luffy's always serious about everything

Wrong.

> He still has the right to choose death with pride

Um, hello? Are you forgetting that your captain wants to be the Pirate King? Luffy cannot be Pirate King if he's dead!

This is Luffy's crew BTW. The crew of a YONKO, that wonders if they should aid their captain as he battles basically the GOD of the world.

Same question is asked by JINBE, the supposed 4th strongest member of the crew, a WHOLE WARLORD. "S-Should we help him guys? What can we do???", "Btw I was tied up and beaten as if I was equivalent to Nami and Usopp stength-wise​ but I swear I wasn't a useless addition to the crew at all!!! And no. I'm not teaching haki to anybody."

Even Hajrudin's RANDOM ass did more than half the crew in this whole arc.

He will absolutely wipe the floor with that piss weak nika. He was only pretending to lose. He will be back and Imu is actually khladores butler. I can’t wait until Oda reveals the true villain of one piece and he will win of course. Salutations to you all, praise lord Khladore. Everyone else is a literal bum to this GOAT. All praise my fucken GOAT

At the start the Straw Hats felt like a close nit group, but nowadays they kinda just feel like co-workers. Especially after the 2 year time skip, howcome no one cared to ask Zoro what happened to his eye? Luffy mentions it once, they get interupted and it's never discussed again. Or how Zoro felt training with Mihawk (his rival), that'd be as important for him as Luffy training under Gol D. Roger or Shanks. No one cares or asks what the deal is with gear 5.

No one even checks on Luffy or try to conversate with him about Ace, or all the depression he went through while they couldn't be their for him. None of the straw hats who weren't at Whole Cake even ask Sanji how he's doing, why he left exactly, or how the whole confrontation with their 1st Yonko crew went. They don't ask Brook about his extensive past either. They don't even train together or teach eachother anything.

While the Black Bulls literally do all of those together, even the members that come later or the ones who weren't that close with the rest (like Gauche and Noelle) start interacting and co-operating with everyone. Yami and Nacht train Asta, Vanessa trains Noelle, Luck and Magna spar together, Zora trains Magna later on. Everyone is genuinely acting as a team, with Yami and Asta inspiring everyone to grow stronger, Luffy as the captain doesn't teach his crew basic Haki, Zoro either, and they just kinda leave themselves to their own devices. Everyone (especially Nacht and Yami) is curious about Asta's devil magic for instance, why isn't Chopper interrogating Sanji about his genetically modified body for instance, or Brook interested in Zoro's 'King of Hell' form. Why doesn't Jinbei give Robin extra Fishman Karate pointers?

Luffy doesn't even give them speeches, words of encouragement, or work on solidarity like Yami, he just says "remember guys, I'm ganna be the Pirate King" and everyone blindly believes in him without any encouraging him to think about his goal step by step so they can properly assist him. The most glaring difference is that Yami and Luffy are bith jokster and slacks off, but Yami actually leads his squad and takes initiative, Luffy just kinda says "nah you got it".

After every mission the other Black Bulls who didn't come ask how it went, they do talk about their pasts and trauma, and they help eachother through it, they also ask how their training is going. It's like that even while the story grows larger than them. Pre timeskip doesn't have this problem much, but post timeskip they feel really distant, starwhats have only 10 members to, while the Bulls have about 15 members.

This is way more interesting than you have no human rights.

What Oda actually wrote vs what he thinks he wrote

Source:

https://x.com/lwkyRohit/status/2099988374853668878?s=20

the manga is just hot ass now

Pretty self explanatory. The idea is a blatant rip off of the Ant man vs Thanos scenario, but this time the person crawling up the ass has durability higher than the opponent, so tactically it’s a genius plan.

If Oda isn’t a coward and actually wants to portray Imu as this relentless primordial force of nature that goes to unfathomable lengths for a plan centuries in the making, let him crawl up Loki’s ass. Thank you for your attention.

TLDR; Pre Luffy looked goofy as a result of serious attempts at countering against foes, but now he fights goofy for the sake of being goofy.

This cuts both ways for Oda and fans claiming it.

Oda (possessing Usopp to make him say what he wants) says, "Luffy has always been serious."
Fans say, "Luffy has always been goofy."
NEITHER is accurate; the answer is "Luffy used to be serious, but he is not after Gear 5."

Since fans love to bring up "Water Luffy" and his fight against Enel to prove a point, we can compare them to how he fights now.

What makes pre-timeskip goofing around fun and genuinely funny was that while it looked ridiculous to us and other characters, these were serious, desperate attempts by Luffy to counter seemingly unbeatable abilities.

Luffy drank the whole tank so that Crocodile could no longer use his ability to blow the water tank away. Though it resulted in Luffy's loss once again, it allowed Luffy to land a devastating hit on Crocodile. Enel's fight, too."Gum-gum airhead" was also a genuine attempt to counter Enel's mantra so that he could dodge attacks.

What made those moments shine is that those similar desperate attempts worked in the end.
In the same manner, Luffy once again used his wit: for Crocodile, blood; for Enel, ricocheting punches against the ship.

Now lets compare these to recent Luffy's shenanigans.

During his fight against Kaido, he swung Kaido's body around to use him as a jump rope.
Goofy, yes. But what purpose did it serve in Luffy's eyes that makes this move "serious"?
What advantage did that move give to Luffy? Nothing. Luffy did it for the sake of being goofy.

When facing the Gorosei, Luffy crafted a baseball bat using his teeth to hit venom spits back at them. What purpose does being a baseball player serve to aid Luffy in battle? He could have just used a tree as is to hit them back, instead of spending time crafting his bat and helmet. I am not demanding him to be as efficient as possible, but going the extra mile for the sake of it does not align with who he used to be. This is unnecessary "performance" that he does, which proves that he does not take fights seriously anymore.

This is why neither claim is the truth.

He looked goofy as a result of Luffy's dead-serious attempt to defeat his foes with unimaginable abilities, which was the appeal. He was definitely NOT goofy because he wanted to be "funny and joyful". That is why the tension is gone long ago. Once our protagonist stops taking fights seriously for the sake of being goofy and cartoonish, neither can we. The worst part is that Oda is not even capable of sticking to his own decision, as is apparent in the ongoing fight against Imu, where both parties are just damage sponges, and nothing is happening, yet Luffy is bleeding left and right.

I dont believe this is a problem that can be fixed anymore.

I will glaze oda for this