Hello everyone. Justin here, welcome to the Otaku Mind. Well it’s July which means it’s time for another Memories of One Piece. Good old One Piece, despite having their throne stolen by Kimestu no Yaiba still remains to be a powerful name in the manga industry and honestly is in the middle of possibly their best arc yet. One question fans have asked me is when did I become a true One Piece fan? When did this series pull me in and make me realize that, I’m reading something special here? Everyone has their own answer, but for me, the place where One Piece pulled me in is the Alabasta arc.
Often considered by many to be the first major arc in the series and the arc that made me go all in on One Piece. The story of the arc is the Strawhat crew is helping out a girl named Vivi who we find out is actually the princess of Alabasta. Her kingdom has been invaded by Baroque Works, a secret pirate organization run by the shichibukai, Crocodile. Crocodile’s plan is to have the country destroy itself from the inside out and rebuild it in his image as a kingdom for pirates with him as the king. It’s now up to Vivi and the Strawhat crew to fight against Baroque Works, defeat Crocodile, and stop the country from destroying itself. At the time when this arc started this was the biggest the stakes have been in the series. It’s not just a small town or island under attack, it’s a whole kingdom and these aren’t just small-time pirates, it’s a whole organization of pirates who are strong and have immunity from the world government meaning that they could take over this kingdom and the world government won’t interfere.
Another good factor going into this arc is that they did a good job building up the characters. The previous arcs before this arc focused primarily around the members of the Strawhat crew. They took the time to establish each character and let us know who they are, what they believe, why they’re like this, their fighting styles, and what their goals are for the voyage. This was all great stuff and necessary, so that when the Alabasta arc starts we don’t have to waste time establishing who these guys are because we already know who they are thanks to the previous arcs that established them and allows the current arc to establish new characters and future story elements as well. In fact, they were established so well that the arc feels like the finale to the series only it’s not the finale, it’s just a small story in a grander adventure. Seriously, I watched the anime first before picking up the manga so when this arc started I thought that this was going to be the end of the series because it felt like it, but when it ended and they started up a new arc I was excited and blown away at how good the storytelling was.
Now that’s not to say there’s no character development in this arc. The characters get a chance for growth as we see Zoro takes a step forward as a swordsman becoming stronger than when the arc previously started. We got to see Usopp go beyond his limits to defeat members of Baroque Works in order to defend the reputation of Luffy. Nami finally being in a major fight where they establish that even though she’s the weakest of the Strawhats she’s the smartest and wins her fights by out thinking her opponents. We see Luffy lose a fight for the first time in this arc only to come back realizing he can’t rely on such simple strategies to win, he has to think outside the box and come up with a new strategy. Vivi also grows as a character during this arc as we see her come to care for the Strawhats crew and they do a good job at making her a likable character. While she doesn’t fight in major battles like the others, her determination and courage is to be respected as she’s going all out to save both her kingdom and people.
In terms of future story elements, this arc introduced Ace, the big brother of Luffy and member of the Whitebeard pirates. It was cool to see a member of Luffy’s family as they quickly established their relationship with each other and show off just how strong Ace is as well as build up the reputation of Whitebeard pirates, a crew that we have never seen or heard of but know that they’re a powerful crew and that their captain is a powerful man seeing as how he has someone as powerful as Ace working under him. It doesn’t stop with Ace it also extends to the villains. Robin gets introduced as the first real member of Baroque Works and they do a good job building a mystery around her throughout the arc as we see her help out Luffy, how she has her own bounty and is interested in these ancient rocks written in a language that only she can read. What is this language, how does she know it and why was she given a bounty at such a young age? Questions like these make you invested in the character and want to learn more about her and what her goals are. Let’s not forget Bon Clay. Out of all the characters introduced in this arc, none were as liked as Bon Clay. What many thought was just a joke character wound up being a fun character who could easily fit in with the Strawhat crew. He had a good power, a fun personality, and a fighting style that made him a threat. While Bon Clay didn’t join the crew they established him as a fun character and someone we would be happy to see down the line again.
Finally, there’s the ending of the arc. It ends on a high note with Luffy inviting Vivi to join the crew which no one was against. The arc established her as a great character with the potential to grow and she fit in so well with the crew. This made it all the sadder when she chose to stay and help out her kingdom bidding farewell to the crew, but the crew letting her know that she will always be their nakama. Despite Vivi not joining the crew, they still manage to find a new crewmate in the form of Robin who would go on to have one of the most emotional backstories in the crew and give us one of the biggest and best arcs in the series. It also does a good job segueing into the next arc where more mysteries, characters, and villains will be revealed adding more to the lore of the series.
The Alabasta arc for me was the arc that would go on to establish the flow and storytelling of One Piece moving forward and pulled me into an adventure that has kept me entertained for years. When did One Piece pull you in? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.