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AsOne Pieceheads into its Final Saga, massive arcs and world-altering events almost feel like a daily occurrence. Between the Egghead Island Incident, the introduction of Elbaf, and the set-up for the highly anticipated ending, it seems like there’s almost no rest or downtime for the tenacious Straw Hat Crew. Although this downtime is probably implied to happen sometime between pages and chapters, it remains hidden, focusing more on the action and less on the casual time of the Straw Hats together.
However, now more than ever,One Piece’sStraw Hat Crew needs to spend more time together. In pre-time skipOne Piece, the crew often felt like a whole team, spending downtime together, and traversing dangerous new islands as a unit. Sadly, inthe modern era ofOne Piece, it seems that the Straw Hat Pirates split up into smaller groups at a moment’s notice, spending potentially hundreds of Chapters and Episodes apart. In many ways,One Pieceneeds to make the Straw Hats whole again in the Final Saga.
One Piece’s Straw Hats Split Up Too Much
A Crew Divided
Since the post-time skip, the Straw Hat Crew has been splitting up more than they used to. Although this is most likely due to the expanded size of the crew, giving characters more time to shine, as a whole, makes the group feel less like an interconnected family. Major splits, like dividing the crew betweenOne Piece’sDressrosa andWhole Cake Island Arcs, made for massive amounts of time when certain crew members didn’t interact with one another. Even on Elbaf, the whole arc begins with the crew being once again split up.
You might be alone at this moment, but no one is born into this world to be alone. - Jaguar D. Saul to Robin
For example, although the two had a healthy dynamic inOne Piece, Franky and Luffy have had only limited conversations post-time skip, even going around 6 years, between Volumes 73 and 97, without a full conversation. Additionally, Zoro and Sanji, despite being pivotal parts of the crew and sharing an important rivalry, after splitting up on Dressrosa, didn’t interact again until meeting duringOne Piece’sWano Arc, well over 200 Chapters later. While this was only around a month in-universe time, for viewers it was over 5 years of waiting for one of the Straw Hat Crew’s most important dynamics.
Splitting the Crew Up Makes Character Relationships Stagnant
Too Much Time Apart
When it comes down to it, these huge gaps of missing character interaction severely hurt the overall dynamic ofthe Straw Hats inOne Piece. Before, the characters had ample downtime, leading to amazing interactions between the crew, developing them into the lovable family of goofball pirates they are today. However, post-time skip has been moving far too fast between these big action-filled arcs, spending little time with the crew as a whole, interacting with one another.
One of the reasons that many people enjoypre-time skipOne Piece, compared to post-time skip, is due to the crew’s interactions with one another. Luffy and Usopp being goofy best friends used to be an integral part of the duo’s dynamic. Moments like Luffy and Usopp building snowmen together, or Luffy throwing the hard fruit at Usopp’s head made the duo feel much more fleshed out. This helped make moments, like Usopp and Luffy’s fight on Water 7, more emotional and rewarding in the end.
Relationship Moments Are Few and Far Between
Too Much Action For Downtime
Post-time skipOne Pieceespecially needs to feature some of these moments to show how the characters have grown over the time skip, despite that event taking place so long ago. Instead, modernOne Pieceheavily relies on the relationships that pre-time skip created rather than further exploring the dynamics of the crew. Due to this, the relationships of the Straw Hats stagnate without ever revealing deeper moments, unless they match up with the current main objective of the series, like Luffy and Sanji’s development on Whole Cake Island.
you’re able to’t get back what you’ve lost. What’s important now is “What is it that you still have?” - Jinbe
While it’s nice to see post-time skip explorethe massive world ofOne Piece, seeing the relationships of the crew stagnant because of this makes it seem like a bad trade-off. However, post-time skip has a different style from pre-time skipOne Piece, and that’s completely okay. However, in the end, it’s still easy to miss the moments whenOne Pieceused to focus on the Straw Hats as a whole, goofy family.
