Arlong Arc - While everything that happened in East Blue was a saga as a whole, the Arlong Arc hooked me for life. What can I say, it was the pimpwalk scene that did it!
CP9 Saga - Everything from the zany Davy Back Fight to the raid on Enies Lobby was amazing. Let’s not forget the insane amount of plot twists Oda whipped out to bitchslapped the fans!
Baroque Works Saga - Upon entering the Grand Line, we learn the sad tale of Laboon and then the Straw Hats get wrapped up in a criminal organization’s plot to destroy an entire kingdom! Also, if you can watch Chopper’s story unfold and NOT FEEL ANYTHING, you have no soul. Top that off with one of the greatest good-vs-evil battles in a shonen anime/manga and a heartwarming goodbye scene that would fit perfectly as a series finale, and you got one hell of a saga!
Whitebeard War Saga - Damn, this was composed of the mega-arcs, Thriller Bark, Sabaody Archipelago, Amazon Lily, Impel Down, and Marineford! The first two featured little tidbits of what was building up for the future (learning of Ace’s imprisonment in TB and the World Government’s plan to execute him in SA). Oh, boy, did it build up! An epic battle featuring many of OP’s strongest characters all in one place was badass enough, but Oda also broke the main character and we all felt it! Last, but not least, when you-know-who makes a surprise appearance and put a lid on all the fighting, it was glorious!
It took me a month to catch up to where the series was at at the time (right before the time skip). Loved every moment of it. Great characters, great story, it’s all just very enjoyable.
I’ve recently rediscovered Kenichi… well actually I’ve been hooked on it and spent the weekend reading the entire series (lack of a life, FTW!)
The only thing that bugs me about the series is the overly gratuitous T&A and panty shots. It’s obvious that the author has done his homework when it comes to all the martial arts and philosophies featured in this series, but it kind of gets overshadowed by the 'fan service’
ANYway, despite all that, this has moved up to number 3 in my top 5 list, the other two being Berserk and One Piece
I’m going with this as well. Though, I’ll always remember Skypeia as being the last time we see an ‘adventure’ arc in OP. OP has gotten much more serious since then.
Water 7 arc, is def. my favourite in the series, sans the Davy Back Fight.
mermand island would be the closest thing we have to an adventure since skypeia, though I doubt the serious mood is really going to continue on in the new world. At least not right away. Unless oda starts feeding the SH’s to emperiors already.
Even though skypiea > cp9, it’s by the most miniscule of margins. Something about the friendship of norland and the shandian chief hit me just a bit harder than what happened in Robin’ past/time in capture, luffy vs ussop, and franky’s past.
Plus skypiea was funny as all shit. Chopper made the best face to date in the entirety of op. It was even better animated because it was shown as a triple take. The scene I’m talking about is the one where the fire lance priest snuck up on him from behind.
Really? I know it’s your opinion but I consider the Luffy vs Lucchi fight the best in the series so far. It was the first time Luffy met a major enemy that fought strictly hand-to-hand on an even (or possibly slightly better) level than Luffy. No weapon/armor gimmicks, no wacky Paramecia powers to pervert the skill gap and no broken Logia powers.
I always thought that Lucchi was the better fighter in that battle because Luffy’s devil fruit power saved his ass from getting one-hit killed multiple times.
I agree that it was a better fight than the Enel matchup. Enel had some skills, but he was kinda dumb and straight up panicked whenever something didn’t go his way during the fight.
Yes, I have to agree that Lucc(h)i was probably Luffy’s best fight. It helped that he’s so far been the only “big bad” who was a Zoan AND used his Zoan fruit to the fullest extent of its ability. Before him and the rest of CP9, I honestly thought that Zoan fruits were largely trash.
Haha. Nice to know what happened in between Buggy and Jango’s reappearances.
i didnt really like op at first. gave up on it, started again. my opinion changed. its a good shonen, for me personally on the same level as naruto (naruto has better fight choreography, most of the time, op has better story). biggest problem of op is always shit taking way too fucking long before it gets interresting (same way ippo has been staring that fucker in that other manga). i think the later chapters are better than the older ones. also unlike naruto in op most characters are likeable. odas art for the most part is pretty crappy, but very detailed. unlike bleach which has no backgrounds at all most of the time, in op we at least have a scenery and bg. since the last arcs i think op might have become as good as hxh. if ony it would move at a faster pace, like x10. this also applies to bleach and ippo among other series.
You’re right, if Luffy wasn’t a rubber man then all those Shigans to the neck and those devastating Rokuougans (the last one so powerful the shockwave pulsed through him and blew up a wall.) would’ve certainly ended him.
It still give me chills when Luffy gets hit by Rokuougan and is down, with all of his stamina totally spent. Ussop then has to stir Luffy to get up with the trace amount of strength left with the threat of trying to take Lucchi down (aka suicide).
Hah! The way Lucchi casually grabs a tech hitting Luffy with his tail and calmly repositions his fists towards him before sending him to hell was one of THE best moments in OP in my opinion!
That fight always had me wondering about how much of an absolute monster Lucchi would be if he incorporated Busoshoku Haki into his Rokushiki arsenal. I don’t think a point black buster call cannon blast would hurt him and his Rokuougans would take out entire ships or towns.
It might happen since I doubt he’s been slacking off on the training during the two year gap.
You know shit was serious when Lucchi returned to his original giant form to do Rokuougan too. That’s why it was believable that Lucchi thought he was dead, because technically he was.
That’s what made Jet Gatling at the end too beast, Lucchi did a last second Tekkai but you slowly saw Luffy’s punch bend through his steely body I was like “Oh Shi-!”.
I still have a theory that Rokushiki has even higher unexplored levels that Sengoku and a few other people might now. If Coby is meant to be the first non-DF Admiral, he will need more than the standard 6 forms to step in front of Luffy again. Still, part of me think Rokushiki might’ve used Haki because according to Lucchi to learn the secret technique it took “a mastery of all six forms”.
It seems like Lucchi and the gang have given up the fighting game and Lucchi has tossed his “Dark Justice” aside. They probably just want to live in relative obscurity now.
It would be cool to see him come back though. It was fun knowing just how much Luffy FUCKED HIM UP seeing how he was in a coma for days and days afterwards and the CP9 needed to find a doctor just to treat him in the cover story. Luffy definitely tore him a new one.
