Current Events Do Unearned Powerups Destroy Tension In Storytelling?

[Celestial D. Dragon]

So, is there no tension from the fact that "Character X" is well below the level of their opponent prior to said powerup?

And also, how is "Character X" supposed to beat their opponent without said powerup, if they are massively beneath them in the first place?

I'm extremely confused here.

Should Luffy have just gotten the shit kicked out of him during the entire Katakuri fight, and then just yelled really loud at the end and gotten stronger? Or would a better plot point than him going through an extreme situation for him to get stronger during that fight, be that he just got stronger because he got the shit kicked out of him, and magically he's now on that level?

Or should Luffy have just gone into the fight against Katakuri as strong as him, and then we get an 11 hour stalemate of a fight, until the one who exhausted first loses?

Help me understand here, because it seems like your implying powerups shouldn't exist, or at the least, they should exist, but before the fight, and then the characters should go into the fights as equals. I don't think I've come across an manga where this type of trope is common use. Maybe sporadically, but it tends to make for very one dimensional fights because of how mishandled it can be.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

If Oda goes for another gimmick instead of Haki bruh xD.

Oda is down bad.

Can't wait for the Color of the Ruler of the Supreme Kings for Luffy since he basically unlocked all power ups atm. ( Aside from awakening but I lowkey think of Gears as awakening ).

Awaken probably gonna be some gear overdrive type shit

Nah, Sanji aint ever gonna actually overely on Haki tbh. I think the next power up is gonna be some form of a DJ boost again lol

 

[Formerly Seth]

Awaken probably gonna be some gear overdrive type shit

Nah, Sanji aint ever gonna actually overely on Haki tbh. I think the next power up is gonna be some form of a DJ boost again lol

We will find out that Sora was secretly a water bender from the void century and Sanji's next gimmick will be throwing sea water kicks giving him the edge over DF users.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

So, is there no tension from the fact that "Character X" is well below the level of their opponent prior to said powerup?

And also, how is "Character X" supposed to beat their opponent without said powerup, if they are massively beneath them in the first place?

I'm extremely confused here.

Should Luffy have just gotten the shit kicked out of him during the entire Katakuri fight, and then just yelled really loud at the end and gotten stronger? Or would a better plot point than him going through an extreme situation for him to get stronger during that fight, be that he just got stronger because he got the shit kicked out of him, and magically he's now on that level?

Or should Luffy have just gone into the fight against Katakuri as strong as him, and then we get an 11 hour stalemate of a fight, until the one who exhausted first loses?

Help me understand here, because it seems like your implying powerups shouldn't exist, or at the least, they should exist, but before the fight, and then the characters should go into the fights as equals. I don't think I've come across an manga where this type of trope is common use. Maybe sporadically, but it tends to make for very one dimensional fights because of how mishandled it can be.

It would be better if they were better written. The issue isnt getting the power ups itself

Post automatically merged: Oct 8, 2021

We will find out that Sora was secretly a water bender from the void century and Sanji's next gimmick will be throwing sea water kicks giving him the edge over DF users.

Ngl, that would be crazy as fuck lol. Technique he could do that if Jinbe taught him Fishman Karate lol

 

[Celestial D. Dragon]

It would be better if they were better written. The issue isnt getting the power ups itself

So how would you write a mid battle powerup? Like, instead of Haki blooms under extreme circumstances for the Luffy/Katakuri fight, what explanation would you provide for Luffy unlocking future sight during that fight?

 

[Peroroncino]

How was enma for free when he had to give up his only black blade for it?

 

[Rukusho]

So I apologize for posting just text with little/no pictures. I wanted to briefly articulate why solving every problem by handing your characters unearned power ups destroys conflict and tension in a story. I’ll bring up a point I made a few weeks back:



At the end of the day, the one thing that any story should get right, is it’s conflict. The ability of a fictional story to get you to suspend your disbelief and not know whether or not the characters you’re rooting for can actually succeed or fail. This is the source of tension and ultimately what makes triumphs feel memorable.

If I can run at 100 miles per hour, and I run a race where in order to win, I only need to run 80 miles per hour, there is not much tension because everyone knows what the outcome will be.

If I can run a race at 100 miles per hour, and I race an opponent who can also run 100 miles per hour…well now we have actual tension, because nobody really knows who is going to win and who is going to lose, or if there’s going to be a tie. The tension comes from the idea that we don’t know what is going to happen.

But if I can run 100 miles per hour, and I’m facing an opponent that can run 200 miles per hour, and half way through the race I suddenly unlock ability that allows me to run at 400 miles per hour in spite of the fact that I’ve been training for years and never discovered this ability before…then ladies and gentlemen, there is no longer any conflict in my story. My win was completely unearned because I was simply handed the ability to win for free, having done nothing myself to earn that win. I was faced with an impossible scenario to begin with, but I still won because the plot just handed me a win for no good reason.

This is not about Sanji, he may be the victim of this discussion as the most recent Ass Pull powerup in One Piece was handed to him this week, but this speaks to a greater trend and problem in Oda’s writing:

There is straight up no tension in One Piece anymore. There is no question of “can Sanji actually beat Queen?” Now the question is “what ability will Oda hand Sanji for free that wins the fight for him?”

Sanji is not the only culprit here. Every mid-arc powerup Zoro has ever unlocked has been an ass pull powerup as well. Every single one. From arbitrarily discovering the unexplained “breath of all things powerup”, to manifesting the completely unexplained Asura powerup from the depths of his ass hole against Kaku, to being handed Oden’s sword completely for free, every big powerup greenboi was handed has come at no personal cost or reward. Descendant of Ryuma amirite?

Luffy is the most heinous offender in the manga but I’ve discussed him at length in the past. The only thing I’ll say here is that it should be as clear as day to everyone, that the “Haki blooms under extreme conditions” bullshit that Oda fed us during the Katakuri fight, is the biggest ass pull line of dialogue in Shonen history, as no other character has ever had a Haki bloom in the middle of battle whereas Luffy has so far had 2.

Sanji unlocking his exoskeleton during the Queen fight is far from the only ass pull powerup that we’ve ever seen in this manga full of ass pull power ups. There is no longer any tension in the OP story when every character will simply be handed the power ups required to win their conflicts by Oda no matter how unearned or nonsensical they may seem.

Discuss your opinions on the state of ass pull power ups in One Piss.

@Owl Ki @Blackbeard @TheKnightOfTheSea @Light D Lamperouge @TheAncientCenturion @comrade @Sentinel @MarineHQ62 @Seth @HA001 @Shepherd @Cuistot @VersusPhD @Mr. Anderson @Den_Den_Mushi @dizzy2341

Wholeheartedly agree, couldn't have said it better myself.

Only thing is a bit of Zoro I don't agree with but besides that yep you're not wrong in the slightest Oda is even willing to ruin a protagonist character to justify it.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

So how would you write a mid battle powerup? Like, instead of Haki blooms under extreme circumstances for the Luffy/Katakuri fight, what explanation would you provide for Luffy unlocking future sight during that fight?

Personally I wouldnt have given Luffy FS at all. I would have preferred Luffy defeat Katakuri going down the outsmarting route and finding a way around FS without needing to get beat up for hours before reaching an even ground

 

[Formerly Seth]

How was enma for free when he had to give up his only black blade for it?

One of the most retarded things Oda wrote. I hope he gives Emma back to that little fucker Momo and take Nidai.

 

[Aknolagon]

If DJ is a result of his genetic mutation, then Sanji is quite literally the only one that has consistent powerup asspulls. Since he's always gotten stronger due to his family lienage

Zoro deadass just pulls shit out of his ass lol

Luffy in the very least, you can say say he had his training with Rayleigh and his Ryou training to pull from.

@Seth @Owl Ki

Maybe because Zoro trains his ass everyday ?
It's not like Luffy or Sanji who barely train and have PU to save their asses. Whenever Zoro gets a PU it's at the limit of death and need to train with that PU (exception ashura only).
He got CoC against Kaido, but he isn't using it against King since he didn't even understand what happened. And he was half dead.

Luffy at the very least ? lol Zoro trained with Mihawk, someone comparable to kaido or akainu for two years, enough said.
Luffy saw Kaido using adv.coc and suddenly know how to use it and recking kaido in base form lmao!

 

[Monster Luffy]

Ok, you are probably right. But Oda realized his mistake. He should have made 100 vs 100 fight for each arc. So he made strawhats strong in Wano. Now when they fight Admirals everyone has a capacity to 100 miles per hour at the same time. So you can have your "tension' back because we don't know how will they win fight. We will be having 100 vs 100, 90 vs 90, 80 vs 80.

 

[Peroroncino]

One of the most retarded things Oda wrote. I hope he gives Emma back to that little fucker Momo and take Nidai.

Yuderon predicts king will break sandai and he will get nidai to replace it.
Enma is most likely staying though.

 

[ThatMojaveCourier06]

Personally, the major asspull that I don't like at all are the haki blooms. They seem to only be within the story to justify Luffy's victories over obviously superior opponents.

My favorite asspull has to be Second Gear. I lost my mind after watching Luffy turn purple and started releasing heat as I never considered Luffy getting an ability like that before.

 

[Celestial D. Dragon]

Personally I wouldnt have given Luffy FS at all. I would have preferred Luffy defeat Katakuri going down the outsmarting route and finding a way around FS without needing to get beat up for hours before reaching an even ground

But Future Sight wasn't actually the ability Luffy used to defeat Katakuri. Snakeman was. Luffy just used Katakuri as a means to unlock the ability, but even after unlocking it, he couldn't use it to it's fullest potential, which is why the alternative of Snakeman was used.

It was essentially a means to give Luffy an ability that could be used in a later fight against a much higher caliber of opponent than that of Katakuri.

 

[Formerly Seth]

Maybe because Zoro trains his ass everyday ?
It's not like Luffy or Sanji who barely train and have PU to save their asses. Whenever Zoro gets a PU it's at the limit of death and need to train with that PU.
He got CoC against Kaido, but he isn't using it against King since he didn't even understand what happened. And he was half dead.

Luffy at the very least ? lol Zoro trained with Mihawk, someone comparable to kaido or akainu for two years, enough said.
Luffy saw Kaido using adv.coc and suddenly know how to use it and recking kaido in base form lmao!

@Mr. Anderson this actually has to be brought up too.

Zoro trained hard af for 2 years under Mihawk.

Rayleigh left Luffy at some point and Sanji was trained by Iva who is not very strong himself.

If to pick who worked hard to earn his power ups in our eyes. it would be Zoro > Luffy > Sanji.

 

[m0nst3Rx]

imo Oda is a Garbage writer he never learn how to write the shit right way or he fuking scared of Zoro if he gave him more panels a d explained his character well that condom will be a fodder in OP

Best example is FCI
Zoro said if Luffy aint Got coc he should step back and Let Zoro to become captain ( isnt that mean Zoro got coc and even mastered The basic Coc since the Prets before luffy? )

Then he asspulled cant even wrote a fuckinf dialog he "Do you use coc too" Peope thinks it was the his first time because oda is a Fucikng failure,

If you want to uderstand one piece, fans should be become a Theory makers. yet not even single explanation about the asura only a Word from kaku "He can manipulate his souls with the spirit" pathetic

About the Powerups, enma is a Fucking nerf, he used against kaido that the Same aura his arm got sucked up,

Flying ability is cant be a asspulled since he can use tornanrdo since prets

And this judges bullshit lol

 

[Formerly Seth]

Yuderon predicts king will break sandai and he will get nidai to replace it.
Enma is most likely staying though.

Fuck Yuderon that bitch ass Japanese Morj.

 

[Monster Luffy]

Personally I wouldnt have given Luffy FS at all. I would have preferred Luffy defeat Katakuri going down the outsmarting route and finding a way around FS without needing to get beat up for hours before reaching an even ground

Sorry but to date, Luffy is still not good at using FS yet.

 

[HA001]

Long story short what the fuck else can oda do. They kids basically being shoehorned to being the world's strongest by their early 20s

 

[Formerly Seth]

Sorry but to date, Luffy is still not good at using FS yet.

He will never be "good at it".

I would even say that Katakuri is not "good" at it.

What you can do the best is how long can you keep your composure. FS is all about staying calm in threatening situations.

FS can't be "mastered" so to say. It's not like CoA or CoC coatings.