Warning: Long winded post ahead
I’ve been reading several posts and comments within the One Piece community saying that Luffy and the Strawhats are still too weak to take down Kaido or Big Mom. I think this all stem from the fact that a lot of people equate time skip as solely a power up plot device. They’re not entirely wrong as it is a common anime and manga trope, however, there are several factors story-wise where I believe it doesn’t make sense for there to be another time skip in One Piece.
I. Power Gap
While it is true that Luffy is still weaker in comparison to the Emperors we need to remember that story wise, fights where the heroes barely show any chance of winning at the start but succeed at the end make for great drama. We get invested in the fight, we cheer the heroes on and we’re constantly on our toes wondering “How will this character ever win?”. Luffy’s main Boss Battles have always been “bare-wins”, and that’s part of the reason they were so satisfying.
Aside from that, I believe Oda had already foreshadowed elements that will help Luffy and the alliance win at the end. I’m not even talking about the Grand Fleet, or possible Jinbei arrival or team ups, but just in terms of Luffy managing to improve before or during the fight with Kaido. Why do you think Oda showed Luffy improving WHILE battling Katakuri? Why do you think he’s had Luffy advance both his Observation and Armament Haki before the final battle, or that Haki colors even have advanced forms? Why do you think from the last two major Boss Fights, both villains teased how much more powerful an “Awakened” fruit can be? I can’t confidently say exactly how Luffy will beat Kaido, but I’m pretty sure most, if not all of these will play a big part.
As a minor argument, I recently checked Big Mom’s age and found out that she’s already 68. Obviously, she’s still a powerhouse but at that age she won’t be in her prime for too long. Meaning instead of a power up, another time skip would just be a waiting game. As in, “let’s just wait for one of the main contenders to grow old and weaker so that it’s easier for us to take them down”. That’s not how Luffy operates. Remember what he said about Katakuri?
“I want to take him down at full power, all 1 billion berries!”.
II. The significance of the Levely
During Drum Island’s Flashback, which was 6 years ago from that time, Dalton met Vivi during the Levely. In the current story line, that event transpired 8 years ago. As we know, the Levely happens every 4 years, and this is why we had another Levely at the present. Based on recent developments, we’ve seen how far reaching the effects of the last Levely especially considering the involvement of several significant characters to the Strawhats. This is proof that Oda had always planned in utilizing the Levely as a game changing plot device for the story. He needed the Levely to happen in the current story line.
III. The bigger picture
Oda is a master in World Building. We are constantly reminded that ongoing plotlines around the world are still moving forward even without the involvement of the Straw hats. Let’s think about what happened during the first time-skip:
Blackbeard had to be made an Emperor.
Akainu had to be made Fleet Admiral.
Basically, Oda used the time skip to not only give our heroes the power boost they needed, but also to put the significant pieces of the story to where they need to be. If all we care about is the main characters being put aside to get power ups while the rest of the One Piece world barely move, that would be inconsistent with how Oda writes his story. If he did do another time skip and moved all the pieces again, what movement would make sense story-wise? The thing is, all these major players are now in the perfect place they need to be to setup the overarching conflicts going into the end of the series: The Battle for Pirate King, and the War against the World Government.
TL;DR: In conclusion, I don’t believe another Time skip makes sense because it is more dramatic story wise for Luffy and the alliance to struggle and improve in-story during the Wano Arc, the Levely was an important aspect of the current story line, and finally the key players in the overarching conflict of the series are where they need to be. I believe the only other time skip we will ever get is for the epilogue.
Anyways, I’m excited to hear your opinions. Maybe there will be another time skip and I’m just missing some key arguments so feel free to share what you think. Apologies for the long post and thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, please Like, Share and Subscribe (Kidding).
I’ve been reading several posts and comments within the One Piece community saying that Luffy and the Strawhats are still too weak to take down Kaido or Big Mom. I think this all stem from the fact that a lot of people equate time skip as solely a power up plot device. They’re not entirely wrong as it is a common anime and manga trope, however, there are several factors story-wise where I believe it doesn’t make sense for there to be another time skip in One Piece.
I. Power Gap
While it is true that Luffy is still weaker in comparison to the Emperors we need to remember that story wise, fights where the heroes barely show any chance of winning at the start but succeed at the end make for great drama. We get invested in the fight, we cheer the heroes on and we’re constantly on our toes wondering “How will this character ever win?”. Luffy’s main Boss Battles have always been “bare-wins”, and that’s part of the reason they were so satisfying.
Aside from that, I believe Oda had already foreshadowed elements that will help Luffy and the alliance win at the end. I’m not even talking about the Grand Fleet, or possible Jinbei arrival or team ups, but just in terms of Luffy managing to improve before or during the fight with Kaido. Why do you think Oda showed Luffy improving WHILE battling Katakuri? Why do you think he’s had Luffy advance both his Observation and Armament Haki before the final battle, or that Haki colors even have advanced forms? Why do you think from the last two major Boss Fights, both villains teased how much more powerful an “Awakened” fruit can be? I can’t confidently say exactly how Luffy will beat Kaido, but I’m pretty sure most, if not all of these will play a big part.
As a minor argument, I recently checked Big Mom’s age and found out that she’s already 68. Obviously, she’s still a powerhouse but at that age she won’t be in her prime for too long. Meaning instead of a power up, another time skip would just be a waiting game. As in, “let’s just wait for one of the main contenders to grow old and weaker so that it’s easier for us to take them down”. That’s not how Luffy operates. Remember what he said about Katakuri?
“I want to take him down at full power, all 1 billion berries!”.
II. The significance of the Levely
During Drum Island’s Flashback, which was 6 years ago from that time, Dalton met Vivi during the Levely. In the current story line, that event transpired 8 years ago. As we know, the Levely happens every 4 years, and this is why we had another Levely at the present. Based on recent developments, we’ve seen how far reaching the effects of the last Levely especially considering the involvement of several significant characters to the Strawhats. This is proof that Oda had always planned in utilizing the Levely as a game changing plot device for the story. He needed the Levely to happen in the current story line.
III. The bigger picture
Oda is a master in World Building. We are constantly reminded that ongoing plotlines around the world are still moving forward even without the involvement of the Straw hats. Let’s think about what happened during the first time-skip:
- The Whitebeard vs Blackbeard pirate’s payback war
- Blackbeard won and established himself as a full-fledged Emperor of the sea
- Akainu defeated Aokiji and became the Marines new Fleet admiral
- The Marines HQ is moved from Paradise to the New World
Blackbeard had to be made an Emperor.
Akainu had to be made Fleet Admiral.
Basically, Oda used the time skip to not only give our heroes the power boost they needed, but also to put the significant pieces of the story to where they need to be. If all we care about is the main characters being put aside to get power ups while the rest of the One Piece world barely move, that would be inconsistent with how Oda writes his story. If he did do another time skip and moved all the pieces again, what movement would make sense story-wise? The thing is, all these major players are now in the perfect place they need to be to setup the overarching conflicts going into the end of the series: The Battle for Pirate King, and the War against the World Government.
TL;DR: In conclusion, I don’t believe another Time skip makes sense because it is more dramatic story wise for Luffy and the alliance to struggle and improve in-story during the Wano Arc, the Levely was an important aspect of the current story line, and finally the key players in the overarching conflict of the series are where they need to be. I believe the only other time skip we will ever get is for the epilogue.
Anyways, I’m excited to hear your opinions. Maybe there will be another time skip and I’m just missing some key arguments so feel free to share what you think. Apologies for the long post and thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, please Like, Share and Subscribe (Kidding).
