C
5) The taste from back then
As far as the ‘taste’ is an allegory for the will of D, how does this then relate to the childhood of Big Mom in terms of 'the taste from back then'? Big Mom is then obviously speaking in parables here that relate to the will of D as a metaphor and analogy for some additional attribute of the will of D; her past is not the main topic or theme here but serves as a descriptive analogy to further illustrate the real theme which is the taste - not her ‘taste' as in the physical taste or flavour she's describing. Hence, as far as it serves as a direct analogy, whatever significance the taste holds for Big Mom in her example as a child, the same significance will also hold true for the metaphorical 'taste'(i.e the will of D) that's the theme of the song. Hence, we must try to understand what role the 'taste' plays in the situation Big Mom references, i.e. her past so that we may understand the corollary role and significance of the will of D; the will of D will take on similar properties and attributes as that of the 'taste' Big Mom relates to in her past; her description of her past merely serves as a metaphorical illustration of some property or significance of the will of D.
The way I see it, one could say that on that fateful day when Big Mom gulped up Mother Caramel and all the kids she was not really in full possession of her faculties; one could say that she literally lost her mind owing to the 'overflowing taste' of the cake/croquembouche. The 'taste' literally made her lose her senses; her senses were given over to the 'taste', if you will. As a result because of the effect of the taste she lost everything and everybody that she cared about and as such this day marked a great disaster in her life with a painful sting of loss of her friends and also of her identity. The 'taste' literally overtook her senses and as a result this brought enormous chaos and disaster into her life.
(5.1) The incident at Sabaody Archipelago
If that was he effect that the taste had on Big Mom and her life then logic dictates that the corrallary holds true in our example: that the metaphorical taste, the will of of the D's, must then also be able to produce the same devestating effects as that which the taste had on Big Mom mom and her life. What on Earth do I mean by that and how can I even deign to proclaim such a thing? Let me explain.
To answer this question I will bring up an example explicitly referenced in the song to clarify and clearly elucidate exactly what I mean. If we recap back at what happened in Sabaody Archipelago when Luffy punched the Celestial Dragon, Saint Charloss, this was quite a momentous occasion, yet one that brought much chaos and disaster into the lives of the strawhats and effectively was what led to them being separated from one another. This was what led to the timeskip.
Because of Luffy's righteous, yet nevertheless foolish, attack on a world noble, Kizaru was sent to deal with them and he proved far too much for the strawhats to handle. What bears mentioning here is that there was an amusement park back in Sabaody Archipelago and the actions brought about by Luffy was literally like throwing a bomb into an amusement parkin very much a literal sense as Kizaru destroyed much of Sabaody, the amusement park included (a direct reference in our case)!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kizaru+sabaody
(5.2) An all-consuming disaster
There is where I made the connection. We know that Luffy dreams of a becoming pirate king but ultimately we know that in his case he wants to create a freer, a better and a more just world. As a result he reacts very passionately when he sees injustice and evil being done in the world. When Hacci was shot Luffy responded instinctively and without considering the consequences of his actions; he saw immense evil being perpetrated and he felt prompted to lash out against the evildoer because his instinct, his gut and his heart - his strong passion - told him to do so. Luffy acted purely from passion, absent reason. The reasonable thing to do would've been to simply take Hachi back to the ship to give him the medical care that he needs and then get the hell out of Sabaody to avoid any further entanglements; but Luffy's strong-willed passion led him to take the course of action directly opposed to and divergent from the reasonable course of action. By attacking the noble so boldly believing he and his crew could come out ok on the other side was just a stupid a reckless decision that put all their lives in danger: all on account of blindly following his passion. His action was completely devoid of reason - almost as if the passion clouded his judgement and made him lose his mind; Luffy's passion consumed him - muchin the same sense that the taste of the cake consumed Big Mom to the point where one could say that neither of the two had any mind whatsoever. The devestating effect the eating of the croquembouche had on Big Mom’s life, the same devestating effect resulted from Luffy following his passion to punch the Celestial Dragon and thereby invite chaos and disaster into the lives of him and his crew. And in the same way that Luffy's passion overtook his senses and landed him and his crew in an all.consuming disaster, so did Big Mom when she became blindly obsessed with her passion to pursue Luffy with a come what may attitude that Oda that is foreboding and portending only of disaster.
(5.3) Efforts sprung from drunken hearts
If this is what it means to follow a drunken passion then that would also explain why it's so 'risky' and why it creates such 'ruckus' (and the analogy with the bomb in an amusement park is also quite spot on!).
It’s obviously risky because the D's and their drunken passions inevitably land themselves and their followers into dangerous situations time and time again. This is obvious in the case of Luffy but this extends to and is equally valid for all the D's. Look at Monkey D Garp and how he and Gol D Roger fought and cornered each other on so many occasions (I can simply imagine many of these battles surely being fraught with danger: a clash of two strong passions resulting in legendary battles); look at Blackbeard (Marshall D teach) and how he entered Marineford with all the admirals, Garp, and WB pirates present: an action that proved fruitful in the end yet a incredibly foolhardy and 'risky' move nonetheless; the same can be said of Law and his current undertaking against Kaido and recently his perilous manoeuvres against Doflamingo; Ace likewise took on a tremendous risk by going after Blackbeard - and the result was devestating! None of the D's let reason stand in the way of their passions: they follow their passions no matter what. Sometimes it pays off handsomely; other times it spells their doom and downfall!
Is this also the reason why it's ‘a deal with the devil’? To follow the drunken passions of the D's ultimately leads to great perils - that we can already tell - but why specifically is it referred to as 'deal with the devil' as I think that's quite a strong wording? I think we need to delve deeper
6) The Tottoland analogy
What we can see is that Judge is confronting what appears to be Snack and the latter asks his mother: "hey mother, I can definitely do it right?" (and the posed question is part of the song as there are notes encapsulated in the speech bubble). Then what is the question and how does it relate to Big Mom's nebulous answer about Tottoland?
(6.1) Join or not to join - that’s the question
Well, first of all the fact that Snack is depicted as a shadowy figure not visibly shown suggests that he's not really in focus and not at the center around all of this - but rather what he's asking is all that matter; basically it means anyone could take his place and the meaning wouldn’t change. In a way one could say that Big Mom functions as an oracle here and Snack being represented as a shadowy figure here I think signifies that it would be like anyone of us being able to take his place and ask that very same question; one could almost say that he's, again, like a 'metaphorical placeholder' due to the fact that he is not visibly shown and this I think is meant to illustrate that the question posed and the answer given applies to all of us - not just simply to him. The question and answer applies across the board: they question and the answer given are universal. So what then exactly is the question to begin with if we are to divine the content of its reply?
Well, so far we've established in principle what the metaphorical taste. i.e. the will of D, is all about. As the "taste" is the theme of the song the question must then arguably also relate to it. Hence when he asks 'can I do it' in his example he's presumably asking for permission from Big Mom if he can engage Vinsmoke Judge, but that's, however, beside the point as the question posed is an obvious parable that relates to the song (whether he clashes with Judge or not is therefore entirely irrelevant). Seeing that the song is about the 'taste' when Snack asks 'I can definitely do it, right?" I think he is consequently quite simply asking Big Mom: "Can I taste it? And if so, what does that entail'? He is obviously hesitant because he's asking her if it's okay and presumably that's because joining up with the D's obviously is 'risky' as far as we've gathered and so now we're going to get a further glimpse into the nature of the risks that go along with it.
(7) The deal with the devil
Big Mom doesn't answer him directly but rather illustrates the answer by using her own situation as an analogy. The direct answer to his question lies in it being a 'deal with the devil': basically by asking 'I can definitely do it, right?' this relates to some kind of proverbial "deal" struck or made. Big Mom is describing this deal by using Tottoland as an analogy to portray and illustrate the answer to the question by describing the nature of the deal itself. I think the metaphorical ‘deal’ being struck here is literally and simply speaking signing up with and joining a D and his/her/their respective drunken dreams and passions: basically the question simply put is the following: 'if I join up with any of the D's ( "eat of their taste", i.e. passion/dream) what would be the implications for me and my life?'. It would be the equivalent of asking about the terms of agreement if you enter a deal, if you will: "what does it mean and what would be the consequences and the fruits thereof of such an association"? The oracular answers to this question once one starts digging underneath the surface starts to make sense in a very telling way.
(7.1) We can’t help but be suckers for the D's
When Big Mom describes her situation in Tottoland it's described almost as an ideal situation (the most peaceful place where everyone is happy, etc)
I'd argue form this that one could say that signing up with D:s feels like an awesome and ideal situation. We all love the D's, whether you’re a pirate and love Luffy, Gol D Roger or Blackbeard for their burning and zealous adventurous spirits, or admire the charismatic leadership and strong personal qualities of Dragon and Garp; even Law has an equally strong and charismatic personality that makes for the perfect leader as we can see thus far with how he has managed to win over the strawhats, the minks and samurai into his scheme as they see him as embodying those leadership qualities; whatever D you've taken a particular liking to according to your preferences (dark piracy like Blackbeard or justice like Garp and Dragon) the D:s have such strong charisma, aura and force of personality that one cannot help but feel compelled and drawn to them. That’s the quality of the D's that we all admire and get so mesmerised by. When Big Mom says "let's eat again together someday" it just simply means that we just can't get enough of the D's and that we all seek to reunite with the D's so badly (just look at the big farewells when Luffy's got to leave town, Alabasta or Fishman Island are good examples). "In my stomach - a big ceremony" basically describes the overwhelming joy and pleasure we feel when being around the D's; "Thank you for the meal" is basicslly us saying 'thank you for this awesome adventure, thank you for the please of your company - thank you for this amazing ride"!
(7.2) Inspiring the better angels of our nature
I think the reason we all are and would be more or less suckers for the D's (isn't that partly the reason you're watching One Piece?
) is because we're like the proverbial 'dead puppies' who in a spiritual sense gets invigorated, inspired and willingly let ourselves be led by the D's because of them inspiring our innermost dreams and passions and thus compels us to become more of ourselves (they make us 'dead puppies' break into a dance); by virtue of their very force of personality we become like 'pets' to them, not in a literal sense but in the sense of us willingly following them wherever it leads, I think even to the very 'shores of the afterlife' if it comes to it (see Marineford war as a clear example of everyone sacrificing their lives for Ace). When Big Mom says "where everyone is family and ruled by the queen - Big Mom" I think it means that in the same way as the denizens of Tottoland can't help but be ruled over and governed by Big Mom under a form of dictatorship, that’s very much the same way with which we relate to the D's in that we feel compelled to follow the D's despite the tremendous risks and perils that go along with it.
I think the best example of this would be Luffy: the prophecy as told by the seer Madam Shirley which is that Luffy will destroy Fishman Island (yet I don't think it will be his own intentional doing but because Luffy is the way he is he will most likely upset another yonko or might even be the WG which will lead to them attacking Fishman Island as retaliation: all because something foolish Luffy will do or might already have done to piss them off).
This is something we know for a fact will happen - and the citizens of Ryokugu Kingdom ought to know this as well seeing that Madam Shirley's earlier premonitions have a perfect track record of always coming true. Ryokugu Kingdom has nevertheless now signed up with the strawhats and Luffy is as of right now their patron.
hence they've signed a 'deal with the devil' insofar as literally throwing caution to the wind and giving shit about about the prophecy even though deep down they must know it will hold true this time the same way as her previous prophecies have held true in the past. Deep down they know this so then why do they do it? Why do they discard reason in favour of allying themselves with Luffy? Why do they sign the proverbial 'deal with the devil'?
The fishman have heard the prophecy, yet they all refuse to believe it. We all inherently know the dangers of the D's and their ways, yet we can't help but be suckers for them anyway. This is because the D's inspire our dreams and passions and embolden us to take action on said dreams! The best example of this would be how Luffy inspired Coby to become a marine and how Coby still uses Luffy as a source of inspiration. Coby was very much a 'dead puppy', one might say, and now Luffy has done wonders with the man: he made him 'break into a dance' metaphorically speaking and he made him feel the 'overflowing sweetness' of following his dreams!
As far as the ‘taste’ is an allegory for the will of D, how does this then relate to the childhood of Big Mom in terms of 'the taste from back then'? Big Mom is then obviously speaking in parables here that relate to the will of D as a metaphor and analogy for some additional attribute of the will of D; her past is not the main topic or theme here but serves as a descriptive analogy to further illustrate the real theme which is the taste - not her ‘taste' as in the physical taste or flavour she's describing. Hence, as far as it serves as a direct analogy, whatever significance the taste holds for Big Mom in her example as a child, the same significance will also hold true for the metaphorical 'taste'(i.e the will of D) that's the theme of the song. Hence, we must try to understand what role the 'taste' plays in the situation Big Mom references, i.e. her past so that we may understand the corollary role and significance of the will of D; the will of D will take on similar properties and attributes as that of the 'taste' Big Mom relates to in her past; her description of her past merely serves as a metaphorical illustration of some property or significance of the will of D.
The way I see it, one could say that on that fateful day when Big Mom gulped up Mother Caramel and all the kids she was not really in full possession of her faculties; one could say that she literally lost her mind owing to the 'overflowing taste' of the cake/croquembouche. The 'taste' literally made her lose her senses; her senses were given over to the 'taste', if you will. As a result because of the effect of the taste she lost everything and everybody that she cared about and as such this day marked a great disaster in her life with a painful sting of loss of her friends and also of her identity. The 'taste' literally overtook her senses and as a result this brought enormous chaos and disaster into her life.
(5.1) The incident at Sabaody Archipelago
If that was he effect that the taste had on Big Mom and her life then logic dictates that the corrallary holds true in our example: that the metaphorical taste, the will of of the D's, must then also be able to produce the same devestating effects as that which the taste had on Big Mom mom and her life. What on Earth do I mean by that and how can I even deign to proclaim such a thing? Let me explain.
To answer this question I will bring up an example explicitly referenced in the song to clarify and clearly elucidate exactly what I mean. If we recap back at what happened in Sabaody Archipelago when Luffy punched the Celestial Dragon, Saint Charloss, this was quite a momentous occasion, yet one that brought much chaos and disaster into the lives of the strawhats and effectively was what led to them being separated from one another. This was what led to the timeskip.
Because of Luffy's righteous, yet nevertheless foolish, attack on a world noble, Kizaru was sent to deal with them and he proved far too much for the strawhats to handle. What bears mentioning here is that there was an amusement park back in Sabaody Archipelago and the actions brought about by Luffy was literally like throwing a bomb into an amusement parkin very much a literal sense as Kizaru destroyed much of Sabaody, the amusement park included (a direct reference in our case)!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kizaru+sabaody
(5.2) An all-consuming disaster
There is where I made the connection. We know that Luffy dreams of a becoming pirate king but ultimately we know that in his case he wants to create a freer, a better and a more just world. As a result he reacts very passionately when he sees injustice and evil being done in the world. When Hacci was shot Luffy responded instinctively and without considering the consequences of his actions; he saw immense evil being perpetrated and he felt prompted to lash out against the evildoer because his instinct, his gut and his heart - his strong passion - told him to do so. Luffy acted purely from passion, absent reason. The reasonable thing to do would've been to simply take Hachi back to the ship to give him the medical care that he needs and then get the hell out of Sabaody to avoid any further entanglements; but Luffy's strong-willed passion led him to take the course of action directly opposed to and divergent from the reasonable course of action. By attacking the noble so boldly believing he and his crew could come out ok on the other side was just a stupid a reckless decision that put all their lives in danger: all on account of blindly following his passion. His action was completely devoid of reason - almost as if the passion clouded his judgement and made him lose his mind; Luffy's passion consumed him - muchin the same sense that the taste of the cake consumed Big Mom to the point where one could say that neither of the two had any mind whatsoever. The devestating effect the eating of the croquembouche had on Big Mom’s life, the same devestating effect resulted from Luffy following his passion to punch the Celestial Dragon and thereby invite chaos and disaster into the lives of him and his crew. And in the same way that Luffy's passion overtook his senses and landed him and his crew in an all.consuming disaster, so did Big Mom when she became blindly obsessed with her passion to pursue Luffy with a come what may attitude that Oda that is foreboding and portending only of disaster.
If this is what it means to follow a drunken passion then that would also explain why it's so 'risky' and why it creates such 'ruckus' (and the analogy with the bomb in an amusement park is also quite spot on!).
It’s obviously risky because the D's and their drunken passions inevitably land themselves and their followers into dangerous situations time and time again. This is obvious in the case of Luffy but this extends to and is equally valid for all the D's. Look at Monkey D Garp and how he and Gol D Roger fought and cornered each other on so many occasions (I can simply imagine many of these battles surely being fraught with danger: a clash of two strong passions resulting in legendary battles); look at Blackbeard (Marshall D teach) and how he entered Marineford with all the admirals, Garp, and WB pirates present: an action that proved fruitful in the end yet a incredibly foolhardy and 'risky' move nonetheless; the same can be said of Law and his current undertaking against Kaido and recently his perilous manoeuvres against Doflamingo; Ace likewise took on a tremendous risk by going after Blackbeard - and the result was devestating! None of the D's let reason stand in the way of their passions: they follow their passions no matter what. Sometimes it pays off handsomely; other times it spells their doom and downfall!
Is this also the reason why it's ‘a deal with the devil’? To follow the drunken passions of the D's ultimately leads to great perils - that we can already tell - but why specifically is it referred to as 'deal with the devil' as I think that's quite a strong wording? I think we need to delve deeper
6) The Tottoland analogy
What we can see is that Judge is confronting what appears to be Snack and the latter asks his mother: "hey mother, I can definitely do it right?" (and the posed question is part of the song as there are notes encapsulated in the speech bubble). Then what is the question and how does it relate to Big Mom's nebulous answer about Tottoland?
(6.1) Join or not to join - that’s the question
Well, first of all the fact that Snack is depicted as a shadowy figure not visibly shown suggests that he's not really in focus and not at the center around all of this - but rather what he's asking is all that matter; basically it means anyone could take his place and the meaning wouldn’t change. In a way one could say that Big Mom functions as an oracle here and Snack being represented as a shadowy figure here I think signifies that it would be like anyone of us being able to take his place and ask that very same question; one could almost say that he's, again, like a 'metaphorical placeholder' due to the fact that he is not visibly shown and this I think is meant to illustrate that the question posed and the answer given applies to all of us - not just simply to him. The question and answer applies across the board: they question and the answer given are universal. So what then exactly is the question to begin with if we are to divine the content of its reply?
Well, so far we've established in principle what the metaphorical taste. i.e. the will of D, is all about. As the "taste" is the theme of the song the question must then arguably also relate to it. Hence when he asks 'can I do it' in his example he's presumably asking for permission from Big Mom if he can engage Vinsmoke Judge, but that's, however, beside the point as the question posed is an obvious parable that relates to the song (whether he clashes with Judge or not is therefore entirely irrelevant). Seeing that the song is about the 'taste' when Snack asks 'I can definitely do it, right?" I think he is consequently quite simply asking Big Mom: "Can I taste it? And if so, what does that entail'? He is obviously hesitant because he's asking her if it's okay and presumably that's because joining up with the D's obviously is 'risky' as far as we've gathered and so now we're going to get a further glimpse into the nature of the risks that go along with it.
(7) The deal with the devil
Big Mom doesn't answer him directly but rather illustrates the answer by using her own situation as an analogy. The direct answer to his question lies in it being a 'deal with the devil': basically by asking 'I can definitely do it, right?' this relates to some kind of proverbial "deal" struck or made. Big Mom is describing this deal by using Tottoland as an analogy to portray and illustrate the answer to the question by describing the nature of the deal itself. I think the metaphorical ‘deal’ being struck here is literally and simply speaking signing up with and joining a D and his/her/their respective drunken dreams and passions: basically the question simply put is the following: 'if I join up with any of the D's ( "eat of their taste", i.e. passion/dream) what would be the implications for me and my life?'. It would be the equivalent of asking about the terms of agreement if you enter a deal, if you will: "what does it mean and what would be the consequences and the fruits thereof of such an association"? The oracular answers to this question once one starts digging underneath the surface starts to make sense in a very telling way.
(7.1) We can’t help but be suckers for the D's
When Big Mom describes her situation in Tottoland it's described almost as an ideal situation (the most peaceful place where everyone is happy, etc)
I'd argue form this that one could say that signing up with D:s feels like an awesome and ideal situation. We all love the D's, whether you’re a pirate and love Luffy, Gol D Roger or Blackbeard for their burning and zealous adventurous spirits, or admire the charismatic leadership and strong personal qualities of Dragon and Garp; even Law has an equally strong and charismatic personality that makes for the perfect leader as we can see thus far with how he has managed to win over the strawhats, the minks and samurai into his scheme as they see him as embodying those leadership qualities; whatever D you've taken a particular liking to according to your preferences (dark piracy like Blackbeard or justice like Garp and Dragon) the D:s have such strong charisma, aura and force of personality that one cannot help but feel compelled and drawn to them. That’s the quality of the D's that we all admire and get so mesmerised by. When Big Mom says "let's eat again together someday" it just simply means that we just can't get enough of the D's and that we all seek to reunite with the D's so badly (just look at the big farewells when Luffy's got to leave town, Alabasta or Fishman Island are good examples). "In my stomach - a big ceremony" basically describes the overwhelming joy and pleasure we feel when being around the D's; "Thank you for the meal" is basicslly us saying 'thank you for this awesome adventure, thank you for the please of your company - thank you for this amazing ride"!
(7.2) Inspiring the better angels of our nature
I think the reason we all are and would be more or less suckers for the D's (isn't that partly the reason you're watching One Piece?
I think the best example of this would be Luffy: the prophecy as told by the seer Madam Shirley which is that Luffy will destroy Fishman Island (yet I don't think it will be his own intentional doing but because Luffy is the way he is he will most likely upset another yonko or might even be the WG which will lead to them attacking Fishman Island as retaliation: all because something foolish Luffy will do or might already have done to piss them off).
This is something we know for a fact will happen - and the citizens of Ryokugu Kingdom ought to know this as well seeing that Madam Shirley's earlier premonitions have a perfect track record of always coming true. Ryokugu Kingdom has nevertheless now signed up with the strawhats and Luffy is as of right now their patron.
hence they've signed a 'deal with the devil' insofar as literally throwing caution to the wind and giving shit about about the prophecy even though deep down they must know it will hold true this time the same way as her previous prophecies have held true in the past. Deep down they know this so then why do they do it? Why do they discard reason in favour of allying themselves with Luffy? Why do they sign the proverbial 'deal with the devil'?
The fishman have heard the prophecy, yet they all refuse to believe it. We all inherently know the dangers of the D's and their ways, yet we can't help but be suckers for them anyway. This is because the D's inspire our dreams and passions and embolden us to take action on said dreams! The best example of this would be how Luffy inspired Coby to become a marine and how Coby still uses Luffy as a source of inspiration. Coby was very much a 'dead puppy', one might say, and now Luffy has done wonders with the man: he made him 'break into a dance' metaphorically speaking and he made him feel the 'overflowing sweetness' of following his dreams!