Dragon gets the most underserved slander in the entire series simply for not realizing he’s in a battle Shounen and has plot armor. Take for example the Ginny situation. Dragon is slandered for not raiding Marijois right then. But if you look at it rationally, this is completely logical and all other raids on Marijois in the story have been results of plot armor. All 8 holy knights, the Gorosei (who are known as fighters since they carry the title Warrior God), the Commander-in-chief and the fleet admiral should all be there. Not to mention how close it is to Marineford and how easily multiple Admirals could be sent there.
And even if Dragon was still powerful enough to take on all these fighters on his own, him mobilizing just because Ginny got captured would actually harm his character not help it. It implies that none of the thousands of other slaves in MJ were worth caring about until until Dragon was personally effected.
It has never been in Dragon’s character to ignore the suffering the masses to selfishly only care for his friends. In fact we are literally shown this dichotomy between Dragon and his father in God Valley. Garp is willing to stay a Marine despite all he knows to protect the rank and file Marines who he considers family just like Luffy, WB, and even Kaido. Dragon, on the other hand, can’t accept this. When he leaves God Valley he threatens to execute his entire platoon if they don’t rescue the survivors. His duty first and foremost is to freeing the entire world and there is no group of close confidants that could ever dissuade him from this goal.
While it has already been noted that Dragon and Luffy used the exact same phrase in Japanese when rescuing the survivors of God Valley and declaring War on the WG respectively, there can be no comparison between in the two in terms of heroism. Dragon in GV risks the wrath of the WG while being a marine and furthermore he does this for people completely unknown to him whereas Luffy in EL explicitly says he only cares about Robin. Similarly in Impel Down while Hannyabal lectures him about the disaster that would occur if hordes of rapists were released from ID, Luffy only responds that he has to save Ace. Make no mistake there is only 1 truly heroic Monkey D. in the story.
Dragon also catches flack for not trusting Sabo but what people don’t realize is that the Revolutionary Army is not a pirate crew like the strawhats. Luffy has no goals beyond the adventure itself and even then would sacrifice that for his friends. Dragon needs to change the world so he cannot nor should he place personal bonds above the ultimate goal. This is why Dragon’s sole criterion for his soldiers is discipline. He doesn’t want or need a personal relationship with them. A good illustration of the differences between father and son is how they celebrate. Luffy ends every arc with a party but Dragon censures his solidiers from celebrating any victory apart from the final one. Luffy is a Vagabond whereas Dargon is a man with an unchanging goal in life.
And even if Dragon was still powerful enough to take on all these fighters on his own, him mobilizing just because Ginny got captured would actually harm his character not help it. It implies that none of the thousands of other slaves in MJ were worth caring about until until Dragon was personally effected.
It has never been in Dragon’s character to ignore the suffering the masses to selfishly only care for his friends. In fact we are literally shown this dichotomy between Dragon and his father in God Valley. Garp is willing to stay a Marine despite all he knows to protect the rank and file Marines who he considers family just like Luffy, WB, and even Kaido. Dragon, on the other hand, can’t accept this. When he leaves God Valley he threatens to execute his entire platoon if they don’t rescue the survivors. His duty first and foremost is to freeing the entire world and there is no group of close confidants that could ever dissuade him from this goal.
While it has already been noted that Dragon and Luffy used the exact same phrase in Japanese when rescuing the survivors of God Valley and declaring War on the WG respectively, there can be no comparison between in the two in terms of heroism. Dragon in GV risks the wrath of the WG while being a marine and furthermore he does this for people completely unknown to him whereas Luffy in EL explicitly says he only cares about Robin. Similarly in Impel Down while Hannyabal lectures him about the disaster that would occur if hordes of rapists were released from ID, Luffy only responds that he has to save Ace. Make no mistake there is only 1 truly heroic Monkey D. in the story.
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