Better Luck Next Time,Zoro…

Secret Santa to @yamineftis !! (・▽・。) Young Garp and Dragon (+ baby Luffy)

Shikatema doodle!!

fave obscure demographic: kids raised Roman Catholic who aren’t Roman Catholic anymore but have an odd fascination with either true crime or lovecraftian horror

On Charlotte Pudding and the Red Velvet Wedding Plot in Chapter 850 (Manga Spoilers Ahead!)

This chapter was insane.  Period.  Oda had us going and has had people torn about Pudding ever since the beginning of the arc.  And now it’s been revealed that she is a murderous, lying bitch, right?…or, is she?

Hear me out, okay? Firstly, I am the first person to want Pudding to be evil.  I just love the evil bitches in One Piece, and I’ve been waiting for this since she was introduced.  However, Oda’s writing in this arc has…left me confused.  Not in a bad way at all, it’s just that there are still some things that don’t add up with this.  Sure, she came out as evil and revealed this whole scheme about the Vinsmokes being assassinated at the wedding, and there is a high possibility that I am overanalyzing everything, but for the sake of analysis, I am going to look deeper and examine the parts that, in my opinion, cause for some suspicion to still be present.

One reason there has been such huge debate about Pudding’s true nature for so long is because Oda has written her in a way that has put evidence toward both directions, at least, prior to chapter 850.  She was seen as a nice, pure soul, but there was a lot of evidence to show she was deceiving the SHs, like how she didn’t meet them at the coast, how Pedro didn’t trust her, how she was revealed to be a good liar right when we met her, how she was made completely perfect for Sanji, how she was suspiciously not revealing her third eye, and how she didn’t have an “Oda Box”.  I always suspected that the Oda Box would be revealed, surely, when her true nature was revealed.  I mean, that would make sense, right?  Interestingly enough…her Oda box wasn’t revealed in this chapter either, where we find out that her true nature supposedly is that of a murderous crazy person.  I really doubt Oda forgot about the box, especially for a character as important as Pudding…so what’s up with that?

This may sound crazy and completely stupid given what was shown in chapter 850, but I think that there is still something Pudding is hiding.  I know, I know this sounds dumb, but just hear me out!  Despite the evidence listed previously and in chapter 850 of Pudding being an evil bitch, there is actually also some evidence that she might not be evil, too, and that she might still be a good person.

One giant question I have is if Pudding was going to be an evil bitch this whole time, why would Oda make us sympathize with her? The obvious answer could be to make the plot twist that much more surprising.  But in all honesty, I think there could be something more to it.

Here, we see Pudding alone on a balcony in the rain, staring out over the horizon.  Here, there is no one to act for.  And she looks sad.  …Wait, what? If everything was going according to this plan to kill the Vinsmokes, then why would she be looking sad about it?  Surely, evil Pudding would be happy about it, and if she was, she wouldn’t be hiding it because there is no one here for her to act for.  It is in this scene of her being alone that we also see her given a flashback, in which Oda shows a little Pudding listening to Lola talking about her freedom to marry who she chooses.   For one, true villains in One Piece rarely get flashbacks, as they are normally used to generate sympathy for characters or provide insight into them.  This is the second hint we’ve seen of Pudding having some respect/affection for Lola and her decision (the first instance being in chapter 828, in this panel:

She even has those little floating specks behind her, which often has been used in One Piece to indicate a significant moment or event. )  Lola is confirmed to be a good person and is a friend to the Straw Hats.  I don’t know about you, but I find it weird that someone as supposedly maniacal as Pudding could look up to someone kind like Lola, without being kind herself.  It would also make little sense if Pudding, who exhibits loyalty to Big Mom and her evil plan in this chapter, would actually look up to Lola, who did the opposite and defied Big Mom’s orders by leaving that important marriage.  I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that, even though Pudding says she’s evil in chapter 850, these canon panels of her thinking about Lola can and would not be faked by her in this context.  This makes me think that there is some other motive, perhaps relating to her freedom to choose what to do and who to marry that is at play here in some way. Speaking of her freedom, the scene earlier rom 848 also highlights something else that’s interesting.  It’s shown here that Pudding selects her own wedding dress, only to have Mama refuse and make her wear a different one.  For one thing, if the wedding is going to be for the sole purpose of massacring the Vinsmokes, then who cares what dress is worn?  The wedding isn’t even going to happen anyway, so Big Mom worrying about the type of dress seems rather pointless (this relates to some contradictory points about this whole Red Wedding scheme of Big Mom’s in general, which will be talked about later).  Secondly, I find it interesting that, while she is alone, she recalls Big Mom’s words to her about being her “little doll” and it being best for her to listen to her orders.  This kind of reiterates the idea that Pudding really has little say in what she does on WCI.  If she was really evil and wanted nothing but to go along with Mama’s orders, Oda would probably not have her thinking about this in this emotional kind of context.  Pudding, also, would probably not have made this face in reaction to Big Mom’s antics if she was 100% behind it, would she?  

If Big Mom knows her daughter’s true nature like Pudding says she does, then why would Pudding act in this timid, quiet way?  There’d be no reason to act like this and hide her true nature in front of Big Mom, especially if she is in on this plan. This is all very interesting to me, as all the information from the above panels all seem to be genuine reactions from a Pudding who, again, would have no need to be acting for anyone in those situations. This combined with some ambiguous factors like her randomly crying as she said goodbye to Luffy and Nami and her looking distressed about “having somewhere to be” when Tamago was helping her select a dress make me question this newest revelation about her.  Chapter 850 aside, it almost makes it appear as if…Pudding could possibly view her arranged marriage as shackles tying her down to a life without the freedom to decide anything for herself, all the while possibly having a dream to live freely, like Lola.  If this is true, and I’m not saying it is, Pudding could potentially, and this is a stretch, have some motives with everything she’s doing that deviate from everything she is telling to Reiju in this chapter. This brings me to the overall sketchiness of the “Red Velvet Wedding” situation as a whole.  While this idea of it being Big Mom’s ultimate plan to lure the Vinsmokes into WCI via marriage so she can kill them, there are a few things that I find really weird with this:

1) Why would Big Mom wait until the actual wedding ceremony to kill the Vinsmokes?  They’re already on the island, so what’s stopping her?  If all she wanted was the clone army, wouldn’t this whole elaborate wedding plan be a really roundabout way of doing what could be probably a simple task for a Yonko? Also, why even kill the Vinsmokes at all?  They would be Big Mom’s allies if the wedding happened, and the whole point of the alliance is for Big Mom to get ahold of the army.  She would have it through the marriage, so why wreck the marriage, kill the family, and use the science when she could do it with them alive just as easily?

2) Has Big Mom ever done this with any of her other weddings before?  She has Chiffon married to Capone, and he and his crew are alive, and she has Praline married to Aladdin, and he and the Fishman Pirates are alive.  Does she normally just kill the in-laws like this?  It seems weird that she would only do this for this marriage, but not for any others before this point.  

3) Why would Big Mom request for the Straw Hats (specifically, Luffy and Nami) to be kept alive as well, only to kill them later?  To me that is just so pointless.

4) Pudding telling the plan to people is also really weird. Like, why even tell Reiju anything?  There’s not really a point at all to doing that, other than the typical evil villain monologue villains give that sometimes crew them over by revealing too much.  And why in the world did Pudding take time out of her day (right after her sad pondering on the balcony scene, interestingly) to approach Luffy and Nami to tell them about it?  Wouldn’t telling so many people put the plan at a higher risk of being discovered? I don’t know, but telling one of the Vinsmokes themselves about this plan is a really risky move if she wants it to really succeed.  This, again, makes me question Pudding’s motives a bit.

5) One thing I also find really sketchy is the fact that Pudding didn’t just tell Luffy and Nami, but she whispered it to them.  Why would she do that, when she could just say it in front of Opera, who is guarding the cell and is a son of Big Mom who, according to Pudding, would be in on this plan because he is one of her siblings?  Unless she just wanted to be really really creepy, there was no real reason for her to hide what she was saying, unless, perhaps, the siblings don’t actually know any of this.  And if the siblings don’t know any of this, this could potentially mean…it doesn’t involve Big Mom at all.

We have to remember that there is still one huge player who we know has something planned that has been missing for like 20 something chapters:

Capone.  

Truly, we don’t know what he’s up to, but we know that he’s got an ulterior motive and that he shot Pekoms off a cliff, and that it would not be out of the realm of possibility for him to be planning to take out other members of Big Mom’s crew. Pekoms told him not to underestimate Big Mom, and Capone would definitely benefit from the chaos that would ensue if there was war on Whole Cake Island.  Nothing is for certain, but it’s definitely possible that, in some way, he could be involved with this plot.  I’d even go as far to say that Big Mom may not be involved at all, and that this is all part of Capone’s plan, and Pudding is somehow involved. (I also find it interesting that Nitro the Jello has a hat and a face very similar to Capone’s.  This might not mean anything, I just thought it was interesting).

Overall, the whole thing is still sketchy to me, and it will probably be sketchy to me until the Straw Hats leave Whole Cake Island at the end of the arc. And I know some people are probably going to think I’m an idiot for even questioning any of what was revealed in chapter 850.  TBH, I would not be surprised if I am completely wrong and Pudding really is 100% evil and this whole wedding slaughter really was planned by Big Mom and Capone has no involvement at all, but I just thought I would mention some things I thought were a little weird about the whole situation. I just thought I’d pose some food for thought since we have a freaking TWO WEEK BREAK until next chapter. Thanks for reading!

Vinsmoke Family in GRAN TESORO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A recurring trend I’ve noticed:

so far we’ve seen Ichiji smile only when he’s about to meet Sanji / torture Sanji / watch Sanji suffer

…he’s creepy as f**k

Is it the Sanji year already?

obama now’s the time for you to bring out the chaos emeralds,

On Sanji’s Characterization in the Whole Cake Island Arc

Let me just say that, for starters, the Whole Cake Island arc, in my opinion, has been the most enjoyable arc in the series post time skip, and it’s definitely making its way up there with the greats like Water 7/Enies Lobby, Sabaody Archipelago, and Marineford for me.  The setting is fantastic, as are the new abilities, the new forces involved, the uncertainty with who’s on whose side, the vast array of badass females characters (REP-RE-SENT), the stakes, the suspense… every chapter is hard to wait for.  However, I want to address something a lot of people seem to consider a downside to this arc and that is Sanji’s characterization, especially in the recent chapters.  From what I’ve seen, people are not happy with his “lack of faith” in Luffy, his “sad sack” attitude, and his recent acceptance of his fate as a member of Big Mom’s family.  And this kind of unnerves me, because not only is a lot of it based on faulty fan translations, but it is also indicating a misunderstanding of a) the situation he is in and b) how he’s been characterized throughout the entire series.

(WARNING: This will be lengthy.  Brace yourselves).

First of all, I don’t really know where this claim of Sanji “not having faith in Luffy” is coming from.  Faith in Luffy’s what, exactly?  His ability to get out of this alive?  His resolve for getting him back?

For one, I don’t know how one can say that any of the Straw Hats “don’t have faith” in Luffy’s abilities and perseverance, let alone Sanji, who just last arc was expressing his belief that Luffy will become the Pirate King to Capone.  I’m finding it hard to believe that Sanji is suddenly doubting Luffy’s abilities and capability in the face of adversity here and now, especially after that.

And based on past experience, Sanji definitely knows how strong Luffy’s resolve is when it comes to getting crew members back, which is why he:

1) wrote a note on Zou saying he’d be back rather than just leaving suddenly, so they would let him handle the predicament himself until he returned (which he did believe he would do up to a point).

2) lied about his allegiance in 844 to get them to leave, because he knew if he expressed that he was in trouble or doing all this against his will, Luffy would not leave him behind.  Unfortunately, he probably overestimated his lying skills with this, because Luffy saw right through him.

3) broke down crying directly afterwards as Luffy was declaring he’d wait for him, because he knew that since Luffy had seen through his facade, there was no way he was going to leave him behind.  This put the SHs more in danger, and prompted Sanji’s complete submission to the marriage and his pleading with Big Mom to let them out alive in 845/846.

This notion of him understanding of Luffy’s resolve is also furthered by this panel, which, in the official translation (which is what people should be referencing for these kinds of arguments, but unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of it bc I’m an idiot.  If you don’t believe me, there are plenty of other posts that have addressed this) says “Please just get out of here safely, guys!” This is evidence of him knowing his crew’s tendencies so well that he is sitting on a window ledge in agony, silently pleading with them to leave safely and forget about him.  The reason he is so agonized is because he knows that there’s no way they’re going to do this, so he’s scared for them.  

Therefore, because of all this, the “Damn, does Sanji even know his own crew?” comments are ludicrous.  Of course he does.

Another thing I don’t think some people are understanding about this arc is that, while it is similar to Enies Lobby, there are some fundamental differences, one of the biggest ones being that Sanji getting out of this is not a matter of his faith in Luffy’s ability to free him or in his own ability to free himself, but a matter of circumstance.  In Water 7, Robin left to protect the SHs because she thought they would be annihilated if she didn’t.  Usopp told her on the train to “believe in Luffy”, as in to believe in his strength, and this all culminated in the “I want to live” scene, where she finally asked to be saved and put her faith in the SH’s abilities to get her out of there.  This is not the case in the current situation.

Sanji is not going to get out of this by simply telling Luffy he wants to be freed, because there are too many factors out of Luffy’s control at play, most notably the impending death of Zeff, who is out of the reach of protection over in East Blue (Sanji was fighting back until the moment Judge brought out Zeff’s picture in chapter 839 I believe).  At this point, he is of the knowledge that the only thing that can save Zeff is him giving in, so that’s what he’s doing.  And until circumstances change and Zeff’s life is off the line, Sanji is not going to resist the marriage.  This is not him “not having faith in the SHs”, but rather him realizing that, realistically, there is nothing that can get him out of this without resulting in Zeff dying, which, in his mind, would be worse than him leaving the SHs and abandoning his dream.  And because he knows he can’t leave for this reason, he is hoping, begging that his crew will go on without him.

Is it almost too selfless? Yeah. It might even be borderline stupid, and I’m sure if Zeff knew this was happening he would kick the little eggplant upside the head for put Zeff’s life above his own.  After all, Zeff didn’t cut off his foot and save his life so he could throw it away!  But if Sanji’s flashbacks this arc have shown us anything, it’s that his horrible treatment from his family made Zeff much more important of a figure for him than we thought, and that Sanji cares about his “saviors” (Zeff and the SHs) much, much more than himself.  This really has been part of his character since we met him.  He took the lightning for Usopp and Nami on Enel’s ark, offered his life to Kuma on Thriller Bark to save Luffy and Zoro, and sent himself over to a Yonko just to keep his crew safe on Zou.  Really, this is no different than how he’s previously been written to be. The only difference now is that we have some info on why he is this way, and I think that is what Oda meant by the “Year of Sanji” thing.  

In retrospect, him calling it “the Year of Sanji” probably wasn’t the best decision, because a lot of people took it to mean that it was going to be “the Year of Sanji Kicking Ass and Taking Names”, rather than “the Year of Sanji’s Backstory and Character Elaboration”.  Realistically, we all probably should’ve assumed the latter because of the set-up, but I, like many, wanted to believe that finally, Sanji was going to be a 10/10 badass again after being gone for most of Dressrosa.  And while I know he will do that later in the arc (come on, of course he will), I think it’s important to note that, really, he is going to come out of this so much stronger because of how he is acting now during his low point.

I already posted this elsewhere, but think about this for a second.  This whole arc has been Oda going the extra mile when putting everything in the book against Sanji, and given that he is only NOW getting desperate, that truly attests to his strength as a character.  Seriously, he had to have his crew, his father, his hands, his livelihood as a cook, and his freedom on the line (basically everything he cares about), as well as resurfacing of his devastating childhood trauma, physical beatings from his family, a fight with his captain, and the threat of a freaking Yonko’s army against his crew to get him to the point of breaking, and even now he is still doing everything to ensure the safety of the people he loves. Seriously, that is pretty much everything that can possibly be held against him, and he cracked this late in the game. That’s some beastly shit if you ask me, and it says wonders about just how good and strong of a character Oda has made him out to be.

Not to mention that his arc has, IMO, brought Sanji from the cool, quirky character that we knew before to a complex, more durable one because of the fact that he is hitting his low point.  Oda did this with Nami in Arlong Park, Usopp in Water 7, and Luffy himself right after Marineford, and this only made me appreciate and respect these characters more, because it is when a character is at their lowest that they truly can emerge stronger and better than they ever have been.  This is what Sanji’s fans want, right? And this current part of the arc, with him being sad and submissive (which is really a very realistic reaction that probably would’ve occurred for a lot of other characters much earlier on) is the first part of that development. This distressed, hopeless Sanji isn’t the most badass or controlled one, but it’s a human one and I love Oda for that.  Any author that can do this with their characters earns my respect a thousand times over, because it takes guts and really good writing to accomplish it successfully.  Oda has done it three times now, so why should we think he can’t do it a fourth?

^^ The foreshadowing is real, and at this point, it’s the waiting game.  Until then, we should probably let this arc evolve and take the events as they come, because it really is a great one.  And at this point, I’d say instead of doubting Sanji’s faith in everything, have faith in him, because he will definitely pull through and reemerge from this as a more compelling, more well-written, and more beastly character.  Until then, enjoy the ride!

[I am SO sorry for the length.  Holy nuggets.]