A thread without powerscaling in mind, it has been a while!
I could never really get into Garp because his character always left me confused. He hates the Celestial Dragons and refuses to follow orders, yet he stayed in an organization that serves them for several decades. Consider his inaction at Marineford: despite his deep sadness, he did nothing to help Ace (actually no, he did let Luffy get past him) yet people often point out how he’s more like a pirate with his free spirit than a Marine. His character always seemed like Oda wanted to create a Marine uffy but couldn't find a coherent way to make it work.
It finally clicked the moment I saw this scene and how dumb I was for overthinking it.
"That's such a Luffy line! I finally get you, Garp!"
Luffy's crew s his primary drive; they're like his family. If they were gone, I don't think he'd care about becoming the Pirate King. There's no scenario where Luffy would ever leave one of them behind if it was up to himself.
Garp's crew are the Marine soldiers—they're his family. Maybe, like Luffy and Shanks, Garp was inspired by a cool Marine soldier to join them. Maybe he simply wanted to protect people from criminals, but his initial motive isn't really that relevant. What I mean to say is that even if Garp realized how rotten the World Government was (he replies, "I'm with you there" when Roger points out the affront to justice that God Valley represents), by that point, the Marines became his family, and he can't just leave them. It's a ride-or-die situation.
TheWillOfMarco on Twitter explained that the term (海兵) Garp used in the original text specifically refers to individual Marines, not the organization as a whole.
Interestingly, when asked about a spin-off Oda said he'd like to draw Garp's relationship with various marines (& CP and Roger).
The difference between Luffy and Garp is a matter of scale : Luffy's crew is made of 10 members while Garp is made of 500 000 and can't handpick them all, but at core the feeling is the same.
I've heard some say that the flashback made Garp's character even worse for staying in the Marines after witnessing the GV incident, but Oda essentially absolved him of the accusations of not caring :
To end this, Garp was introduced wearing a dog hat
This fits him so well. Dogs are pack animals; they want to belong in a pack and are extremely loyal to the group. The Marine soldiers are Garp's pack.
Garp is fully aware the WG is rotten. He has made his hatred of the Celestial Dragons vocal many times, but like Luffy, he's loyal to a fault to his people. We can criticize him for not pulling a Dragon, but his choice to stay for his pack makes him very human. His behavior in Marineford makes sense, too. Ace was his family, but would he pick one family member over thousands of them? You can fault his sense loyalty to the pack being stronger than his wish to take down the WG, but again isn't that human?
Is Garp a good character? I know users that disagree with that notion heavily, but I no longer have any genuine issue regarding his writing itself.
At very least, he truly deserves to be called the Hero of the Marines.
I could never really get into Garp because his character always left me confused. He hates the Celestial Dragons and refuses to follow orders, yet he stayed in an organization that serves them for several decades. Consider his inaction at Marineford: despite his deep sadness, he did nothing to help Ace (actually no, he did let Luffy get past him) yet people often point out how he’s more like a pirate with his free spirit than a Marine. His character always seemed like Oda wanted to create a Marine uffy but couldn't find a coherent way to make it work.
It finally clicked the moment I saw this scene and how dumb I was for overthinking it.
"That's such a Luffy line! I finally get you, Garp!"
Luffy's crew s his primary drive; they're like his family. If they were gone, I don't think he'd care about becoming the Pirate King. There's no scenario where Luffy would ever leave one of them behind if it was up to himself.
Garp's crew are the Marine soldiers—they're his family. Maybe, like Luffy and Shanks, Garp was inspired by a cool Marine soldier to join them. Maybe he simply wanted to protect people from criminals, but his initial motive isn't really that relevant. What I mean to say is that even if Garp realized how rotten the World Government was (he replies, "I'm with you there" when Roger points out the affront to justice that God Valley represents), by that point, the Marines became his family, and he can't just leave them. It's a ride-or-die situation.
TheWillOfMarco on Twitter explained that the term (海兵) Garp used in the original text specifically refers to individual Marines, not the organization as a whole.
Interestingly, when asked about a spin-off Oda said he'd like to draw Garp's relationship with various marines (& CP and Roger).
I've heard some say that the flashback made Garp's character even worse for staying in the Marines after witnessing the GV incident, but Oda essentially absolved him of the accusations of not caring :
To end this, Garp was introduced wearing a dog hat
Garp is fully aware the WG is rotten. He has made his hatred of the Celestial Dragons vocal many times, but like Luffy, he's loyal to a fault to his people. We can criticize him for not pulling a Dragon, but his choice to stay for his pack makes him very human. His behavior in Marineford makes sense, too. Ace was his family, but would he pick one family member over thousands of them? You can fault his sense loyalty to the pack being stronger than his wish to take down the WG, but again isn't that human?
Is Garp a good character? I know users that disagree with that notion heavily, but I no longer have any genuine issue regarding his writing itself.
At very least, he truly deserves to be called the Hero of the Marines.
