Chapter Discussion FINAL VEREDICT on God Valley Incident

[Uncle Van]

I will die on the hill of Shiki being the best thing about the Xebec flashback.

Given koidos and big moms characterzation i doubt it gets adressed

As a fellow yonkek WB gets the IQ malus, seems like a certified oda moment. remember that garp is around 40 in gv and in the marines his whole life and he was going like "wait sengoku the marines are....le bad???"

Problem is that we have no idea why Garp even joined the Marines in the first place, nor the sense of justice he carries in detail. Oda does his best to portray Garp as a great guy when he does nothing about even the slaves in MJ. Fujitora the admiral freed them without issue, but Garp with more influence and freedom does nothing for decades? Wecan assume that Garp views the WG as a necessity evildoedite hating it.

Oh my god I somehow forgot Shakky too despite her being one of the worst parts of the flashback. We all know Oda is a huge misogynist but he was especially shameful with her

Funny thing is that I forgot about Shakky too lmao. She was used as plot device to bring the Rock Pirates together, and keep them together while on Pirate Island. Majority showed up to GV to win her favor and them immediately dumped her from their brains to do their own thing.

 

[GalaxyLevelShanks]

Still one of the best pieces of content Oda has delivered in years

This is moreso a testament to how utterly putrid Oda's writing has been in the last decade because if this shit is the best content he's delivered in years then he's finished beyond repair (old news).

(I think Egghead was great outside of the trash VP speech though especially outside the island stuff)

 

[Franosuke]

What did he retcon, besides some dialogue?

Retconned Roger's mustache

Spoiler

0/10 flashback

 

[MonochromeYoru]

Retconned Roger's mustache

Spoiler

0/10 flashback

that was a fanart based on oda's scribbles tbf

 

[Peepooman]

Trash, only reason this type of arc exist is so that the powerscalers get their sugar. But what is the point of powerscaling when the fights are one panel or offscreened?

Aside from that, what lore was explained that actually propelled the story. We dont dont know what the D stands for, we dont know where the one piece is

Straw hats will leave this arc with nothing all for this bullshit flashback

 

[Luffy is the mc]

8/10. It was an event that happened in a flashback so it couldn't have the focus that Oda can give to present timeline for certain things.

I would say that I would have liked to see more fights but that's just for powerscaling reason, it changes nothing to the plot. Besides Oda doesn't like drawing fights, even more now, except for Looney Tunes gags.

I didn't like how he portrayed WB's character either, it's the second time now that he does shit like that to WB in a flashback.

 

[moreha9685]

We were shown nothing that the summary of this event--Roja and Garp teaming up against the "dsngerous" Xebec--hadn't already told us. We had already speculated on Xebec getting DR'd. Hell, we even had better theories about how Majin Xebec would die and how IMU would be made to leave GV. Even the island itself suffered a boring fate--just sunk. No secret history, no repurposes, no AW mentions. The entire event was bland. The only two moments of genuine fun were Xebec utterly destroying Garling, and Kaido's childish spamming of his dragon fruit.

 

[moreha9685]

Can you give examples of 4 star, 3 star, 2 star, and 1 star segments/moments of the story?

Within One Piece? Of course not. Everything is 5/5 at all times. Only those who don't understand the story would rate it anything lower.

 

[Ven437]

7/10

I was waiting for gunman Roger and gunwoman Linlin to come out, maybe finally get haki bulletship in a show about haki and pirates

Instead we got same old shit from Roja and Shin-lin

Webec and baby Katakuri saved this flashback massively btw

 

[grey matter]

Whitebeard

Whitebeard, Whitebeard, Whitebeard where do I begin

Throughout the flashback I loved him and his dynamic with the crew. A mediator who was almost like a chill older brother figure to Kaido

Then we get to God Valley and initially I’d say everything went pretty well. Sure, he ran from Garp but with context it made perfect sense. Then he went on to clash with DR Xebec and singlehandedly brought down a mountain in the process

This was all well and good until the conclusion of the incident. I have no problem with Oda making Kaido or Big Mom braindead, no problem at all

But Whitebeard has always been portrayed as a level headed and intelligent guy. Strategic, emotionally intelligent, wise, everything you could ask for in a man

And instead of coming back to assist his captain who very clearly had something wrong with him he… just left?

It made no sense at all. Sure, Roger and Garp needed the VOAT to figure it out but I’d argue Whitebeard has been established to be the smartest old gen captain/leader. Even if they couldn’t figure it out initially that shouldn’t apply to Whitebeard

That seriously soured Whitebeard’s role in God Valley for me. Like I know Whitebeard always viewed Rocks as a flawed individual and similarly believed that the crew was doomed from the start but like… he clearly didn’t hate the guy

I dunno it just annoyed me

My exact thoughts here.
Ditto, 1:1 on Whitebeard

Remove the final part, and Whitebeard lived upto what I had expected of him. He was never going to outshine Roger/Garp as an underling, he all considered he was doing pretty well.
Rocks/WB interaction, as well as the massive island splitter clash, conveyed the author intent regarding his role (loyal first mate) and power level (clearly superior to everyone bar the top 3) pretty well. Pleased with that, well within my expectation.

It just fell apart with the retardation surrounding Rocks' corruption.

I'll just argue that even as supposedly retarded as Kaido and BM are (they still are smart in their own ways), it STILL makes no sense for even them to not realize Rocks was obviously being controlled - after witnessing him being stabbed and held in sky by a demon, and literally growing wings and fangs!!
Let alone Roger and Garp, who are actually smart inspite of being goofy. IT shouldn't need VOAT to figure this shit out

@ZenZu

 

[Garp the Fist]

I really enjoyed God’s Valley, for the most part. I genuinely wish that Oda had the will or the confidence to step away from the Strawhats for long enough to make a full arc of it, because there was definitely room for it.

It’s been great for Garp and Dragon, Rocks was a strong character, Garling’s a really despicable villain, Kaido and BM were really fun. If it had been longer though we could have seen more highlight scenes for the characters that people wanted to see. Ray and I suppose Captain John, oddly enough, were really the only one of all the other pirates that got their own side plot away from the main Rocks story.

My criticisms are:

-I don’t think the reaction to Rocks’ DR from the future Yonko was done well at all. Oda wanted the big scene of the six legends attacking Saturnmu, but it meant that the Yonko looked like genuine morons for not realising something was wrong with Rocks.
-I don’t think WB fit in well at all in the crew. Don’t think he should have been in Rocks at all. Would have preferred that, if Oda wants him at GV, he shows up as part of Polo’s crew to get the treasure, which would allow him to clash a bit with Roger and then leave.

 

[shadowdancer]

Predictable. That's the issue with flashbacks: you already know the outcome, so everything else feels like filler. If the filler doesn't add anything new and not predictable, the flashback just falls flat.

 

[Punishhh]

I like the story of Rocks and his end. The flashback should've been shorter, again Oda wasting to much panel space on characters that in the end don't matter. To use Silver Axe as an example he probably got one chapter of panel space for no reason; he got a hype introduction for who knows why.

This FB suffers from the same thing all post time skip arcs do.

 

[RayanOO]

GV problems :

- Shakky plot. Stupid reason for the GV gathering. Should have been a treasure / huge DF or something special and not to rescue Shakky. A plot that was thankfully glossed over quick in the event. The Ray / Shakky thing wasn’t great at all either.

- The retcon about BM and Kaido life debt. BM looks stupid af with her life debt while Kaido just owned her lmao.

- The retcon of Kaido wanting to attack / fight Roger. No where in sight.

- the whole « fight » and clash was a mess. No real and clean fight panels, no hype etc. A bit of a shame considering the hype of the event. MF was quick yet we had some huge hype panel of monster fighting. It isn’t that difficult. Clash piece is really lame. Lot of guys should have had focus or at least one or two feats.

- the Imu fight was lame. Barely readable and the EPIXC double spread where everyone attacked was lame. There is also the problem of Garp attacking Saturn just like that no consequences lol.

- the DR reaction of the Yonko was straight up ridiculous. Everyone turned their brain off. Obviously Odas fault, but man it’s embarrassing this level of writing

- the last fight was a bit too quick and didn’t show enough but I guess for a flashback it was expected

the GV good things :

- Dragon is the biggest winner of GV. Loved his character arc and made me want again to see more of him

- Garp was an absolute mad lad and a unit. The guy went with a bunch of marine bozos against the strongest pirate crews ever and everyone was shitting their boots. Threat level over 9000 confirmed.

- Rocks was still a good character even in the GV mess. The man was a bit more of a good guy than I expected and what was sold beforehand but why not. But even like that he was still dope and bossy. Erasing the HK and Garling as a side quest, butchering his Davy clan etc.

- Garling. Yeah he was disappointing as fuck in the power/feat department. But as a villain and an evil piece of shit the guy is up there. Killed Shanks/Shamrock mom just like that, landing the last blow on Rocks etc etc. The guy is a fiend and I can’t wait for his elder version to deliver.

- BM / Kaido dynamic was kinda fun. And Kaido himself was fun. Too bad their characters were such a mess in their respective arcs because BM and Kaido had real potential.

- DR Xebec was a monster and the strongest character we have seen for now. Ragdolled Garp/Roger.

- Polo Gram kicking the shit if Silver lame axe

- Ganzui being a great meme with his dragon flame snot attack

The whole flashback was good, no doubt. A good 14-15/20

But the GV part specifically wasn’t that great and lacking. Not a whole mess and garbage but not up there. Barely a 9-10/20 and I’m generous.

Oda missed the premise and the execution too much for GV to be great.

 

[Jesse Pinkman]

Overall it was great i didnt expect Xebec to be goated so much . Oda wanked him to fullest . He ranks top 3 safe to say .

Imo Garling needs a hype the flashback made him look like bitch version of Draco Malfoy . He was pretty bad so far .

I liked the whole piratey thing this manga was missing . Xebec was a complete pirate .

Cons :

I feel the fights were so confusing and directionless . Xebec was easily Domi reversed given he was hyped up so powerful he shouldnt have been Domi reversed so easily given advanced conquerors have strong emotion intact .

Dragon as always did nothing much in God Valley . I kind of get it he was akid but Luffy did amazing thing at 17 years .

Post automatically merged: Friday at 8:52 AM

GV problems :

- Shakky plot. Stupid reason for the GV gathering. Should have been a treasure / huge DF or something special and not to rescue Shakky. A plot that was thankfully glossed over quick in the event. The Ray / Shakky thing wasn’t great at all either.

- The retcon about BM and Kaido life debt. BM looks stupid af with her life debt while Kaido just owned her lmao.

- The retcon of Kaido wanting to attack / fight Roger. No where in sight.

- the whole « fight » and clash was a mess. No real and clean fight panels, no hype etc. A bit of a shame considering the hype of the event. MF was quick yet we had some huge hype panel of monster fighting. It isn’t that difficult. Clash piece is really lame. Lot of guys should have had focus or at least one or two feats.

- the Imu fight was lame. Barely readable and the EPIXC double spread where everyone attacked was lame. There is also the problem of Garp attacking Saturn just like that no consequences lol.

- the DR reaction of the Yonko was straight up ridiculous. Everyone turned their brain off. Obviously Odas fault, but man it’s embarrassing this level of writing

- the last fight was a bit too quick and didn’t show enough but I guess for a flashback it was expected

the GV good things :

- Dragon is the biggest winner of GV. Loved his character arc and made me want again to see more of him

- Garp was an absolute mad lad and a unit. The guy went with a bunch of marine bozos against the strongest pirate crews ever and everyone was shitting their boots. Threat level over 9000 confirmed.

- Rocks was still a good character even in the GV mess. The man was a bit more of a good guy than I expected and what was sold beforehand but why not. But even like that he was still dope and bossy. Erasing the HK and Garling as a side quest, butchering his Davy clan etc.

- Garling. Yeah he was disappointing as fuck in the power/feat department. But as a villain and an evil piece of shit the guy is up there. Killed Shanks/Shamrock mom just like that, landing the last blow on Rocks etc etc. The guy is a fiend and I can’t wait for his elder version to deliver.

- BM / Kaido dynamic was kinda fun. And Kaido himself was fun. Too bad their characters were such a mess in their respective arcs because BM and Kaido had real potential.

- DR Xebec was a monster and the strongest character we have seen for now. Ragdolled Garp/Roger.

- Polo Gram kicking the shit if Silver lame axe

- Ganzui being a great meme with his dragon flame snot attack

The whole flashback was good, no doubt. A good 14-15/20

But the GV part specifically wasn’t that great and lacking. Not a whole mess and garbage but not up there. Barely a 9-10/20 and I’m generous.

Oda missed the premise and the execution too much for GV to be great.

Ya the God Valley plot of Shakky was Helen of troy stuff he copied straight up lol . But i get it given Celestial dragon have habit of picking up random beautiful lady from regular world and have illegitimate kids and offspring in order to maintain the bloodline to continue . They did with Ginny so it was not a surprise if Shakky wont top it .

 

[Punishhh]

This was not a Battle Royale this was more of an Extraction Shooter.
Almost everyone was basically running to the extraction point with their loot.

 

[nik87]

Just bullet points to set up Blackbeard's revenge path and to write off the background characters that are all those old legends.

 

[Kizaruber Eats]

Fraud Valley

 

[kom5]

It was good but honestly not much happened. There were so many powerhouses but the only ones who did anything were Rox Roger and Garp

Yes the Rocks Pirates are overpowered bar Imu they would clean the island, WB is on Roger-level, Shiki, Ray and Gaban below but prob Admiral-Level. If they did something they would clear the island.

 

[moreha9685]

This was not a Battle Royale this was more of an Extraction Shooter.
Almost everyone was basically running to the extraction point with their loot.

The CDs killed all the buccaneers bar Kuma.
Xebec killed all Davies after they got DR'd.
The slave kids got most of the DFs, while the Rocks Pirates got the remaining.
Then Rocks Pirates and Roger Pirates shared the actual treasure.
Oh, and Ray got the chick.

Then, separately, Rocks tried to flex on IMU, before Roger and Garp had to flex on Majin Xebec.

It's quite inorganic, an unconnected mess of "this has to happen so that that can happen."