Character Discussion Dragon is the most misunderstood character in the series
- Thread starter Donquixote Shivercalero
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u get non serious answers but this is a great read on dragon. and i understand the character oda wants but it feels so...out of place..cause at the end of the day this is a battle shounen and we want to see the fucker fight...but ugh...dragon is a conflicted character for me. i wanna like him so badly ugh
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.
People who don't know what it takes to build a revolution do not understand just how much preparation and patience is needed. With a revolution, there is no due over, it's a one time opportunity. If you fail, you have to build everything back and the power will most likely strenghten its grip.
For this reason, every move must be calculated, every fighter must be loyal and be disciplined. And most of all, you must managed to do it, while oppressions is still going on. This demands an immense self control and the need to keep the eye on the horizon at all cost. This means that personnal feeling become secondaries.
The revolution of Dragon is not a perpetual one, it will be swift (if it ever succeed), agressive and most likely deadly to most fighter including Sabo and Dragon.
Dragon doesn't deserve the hatred. Oda is actually picturing him exactly how he should. Trust me that the day the storm will hit, you won't regret it.
I forgot to add this to the first post but another uber retarded criticism that Dragon gets is that he “ran away” from BB. Funnily enough, Whitebeard, is never given the same treatment despite running from fodder marines while on the sea. Roger too was about to run from the fodder marines and only decided against it because he saw it was Garp’s ship. The obvious defense Roger and Whitebeard get is that fighting every marine that comes to you is tedious. But this would go double for Dragon since far more enemies would come to a fixed location rather than a ship at sea.
Not to mention BB himself came to Baltigo and Dragon has quite literally zero reason to waste manpower to fight him since BB has nothing to do with his plans. Furthermore CP0 followed right after BB, so theoretically if he fought BB and beat him the Marines would still find out about Baltigo and could send all 3 admiral there. So either way he would have to leave Baltigo.
Dragon is slandered for not doing quite literally the dumbest thing ever and getting his subordinates killed over a headquarters that had already been broadcast to the world anyways.
Not to mention BB himself came to Baltigo and Dragon has quite literally zero reason to waste manpower to fight him since BB has nothing to do with his plans. Furthermore CP0 followed right after BB, so theoretically if he fought BB and beat him the Marines would still find out about Baltigo and could send all 3 admiral there. So either way he would have to leave Baltigo.
Dragon is slandered for not doing quite literally the dumbest thing ever and getting his subordinates killed over a headquarters that had already been broadcast to the world anyways.
