One Piece

I kind of thought everyone just assumed comparing the VA with the actual Admirals was like comparing ants with dinosaurs.

Admittedly, they should still probably be more effective than they've been portrayed, but then again, it could just be they're going up against exceptional strong opponents, and not all New World people are like Bartolomeo and Sabo.

edited 19th Sep '14 2:12:55 PM by KBSL

I can buy Sabo or Doffy beating a VA, but Barty? He has yet to really impress me.

Though, it could just be because Maynard couldn't actually hit him, I suppose.

edited 19th Sep '14 2:15:10 PM by HamburgerTime

• Hm, according to Doffy, there's a huge secret in Mariejois. Something related to the Void Century, perhaps?
• The Ope-Ope Fruit. So powerful it can kill ya. Even more so, since you have to have insane stamina to use it effectively.
• Wow, Corazon's the type of guy that would trip on his own feet. Forever. He's almost as bad as Rurumo.

edited 19th Sep '14 7:19:49 PM by Diamite

The current guess at Arlong Park for the World Nobles' terrible secret? Uranus, the last Ancient Weapon. Or, in other words, the heads of the government have something that selfsame government is willing to commit genocide to destroy.

so the WG is hiding Uranus huh.

I just love this demonstration of Doffy's masterful criminality in general. He's blackmailing the most powerful people in the world, to the point that their Secret Police is doing his dirty work, and completely and utterly getting away with it.

I think Vice-Admirals, at this point, are on such a varied level that it's hard to consider them at a specific level of strength, especially in comparison to Admirals. Vice-Admirals can come in all shapes and sizes, and as we've seen with Smoker, promotions come from anything. I just don't think we've seen a Vice-Admiral that can really stand their own ground alone in the New World, since everything is controlled by either an Emperor or someone an Emperor really trusts, basically.

well,there was Garp.

but thats cheating.

VA Momonga seems really strong; he kicked Luffy around at Marineford and is apparently head of the Navy's largest branch now. He's also killed a Sea King and resisted Hancock's powers without being asexual.

edited 19th Sep '14 7:50:17 PM by HamburgerTime

> I just don't think we've seen a Vice-Admiral that can really stand their own ground alone in the New World, since everything is controlled by either an Emperor or someone an Emperor really trusts, basically.

Well, see, for the balance of power to exist, the VAs should be able to take on Emperor's lieutenants and representatives.

Not really. The Emperor's sort of have a home-field advantage, and an Emperor's reps should be decently strong on their own as well. I think the two would be perfectly balanced if it wasn't for that territory bonus. Not to mention Vice-Admirals don't really go up against reps anyway, less they want to upset the balance.

The balance is what I am talking about. If they don't present a credible threat, the balance does not exist. In the event of attack, the Admirals would threaten the Emperor. But they can't be everywhere, so individual territories would be presided over by the VAs - and they should not be outclassed by the Emperor's subcommanders sailing by, lest they would not be able to maintain their hold.

We have seen some VAs that seem to be on high enough level for that - Garp, Vergo.
I think that all Vice-Admirals posted in the New World should be up there on the levels.

edited 20th Sep '14 12:03:25 AM by Adannor

There is far more vice admiral than second in command for the 4, so it's not abnormal that the second in command outclass the vice admiral. Power wise, the second in command are supposed to be on the same level as the admirals, the other captains of the pirate fleet are supposed to fight the vice admirals.

I think a big part of the problem you have is underestimating how strong the Emperors have actually been built up to be, or rather understanding that, but not liking it.

edited 20th Sep '14 10:24:38 AM by KBSL

It's certainly clear that they're not, in the main, recruiting admirals from Vice Admirals. Sakazuki and Kuzan were, Issho clearly was not. Just have to wonder where there's this preserve of godlike men.

Sakazuki, Kuzan and Borsalino all were Vice-Admirals before becoming Admirals. Garp was also offered a promotion up to Admiral, but turned it down.

I know I've said this before, but I still can't believe all the people honestly don't seem to understand what Doflamingo's father was trying to do, or who act like not being super rich is the worst thing ever.

Does that count as draco in leather pantsing Doflamingo? Because, a lot of people seem to be acting like his past as we know it right now, justify his actions when he was a child and as an adult.

Edit: And on that same note, does Blackbeard deserve to be on that page. Whenever I look up anything have to do with him there are always people bitching about how he sucks and isn't a true pirate or doesn't deserve to be the Big Bad.

edited 20th Sep '14 2:12:46 PM by KBSL

I think Blackbeard deserves to be the Big Bad, mostly because I like how his philosophies mirror some of the good guys, it's so refreshing to have a villain who isn't a Nietzsche Wannabe and if anything agrees with ome of the views of our main character.

Of course there's differences in their beliefs, mostly Teach being a Dirty Coward who'd do anything to survive/accomplish his goals.

Yeah that is troublesome. The World Nobles are clearly toxic, Papa Don Quixote was probably right to get his kids far away from that environment.

I still say deliberately financially ruining your family is a kinda cruddy thing to do. Doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, or anything in between, actively trying to make the people you love worse off than they were before is morally ambiguous at best.

For me that depends, if they just went from fabulous wealth to middle-class or even lower-class but not really starving all the time or hurting for clothes and warmth and such, yeah it would suck to lose the wealth, but I can see why he would do that.

I could even understand if they were dirt-poor, not because he actually wanted it to be that way, but because if you leave the life behind you have to leave it all behind and he figured being poor was better for them than being around all of the other assholes at Mariejois.

Unfortunately, I doubt we're going to find out more of what his father specifically had in mind when he made his decision.

So Corazon will he turn out to be a good guy? Or does Law have really weird standards on friendship?

We actually could have Papa Doffy's motives padded out a bit when the anime gets there.

We're probably gonna get a run down of Doflamingo's past soon enough in the manga. This flashback might even cover it.

While I do think Doflamingo is a spoiled brat who doesn't understand how corrupted the Celestials are, I also understand why he'd be upset. Dramatic pasts cause motivation within characters, whether or not they use that motivation for good or evil or whatever. I think he's justified in viewing the world as he does because it makes sense - he saw the best and worst of the world, and was thrown between the two. He's basically a misfit that doesn't belong anywhere, so he made his own family and said "I'm going to do what I want and no one will stop me."

This doesn't make his actions right, it makes them explained. I wouldn't be surprised if it was true, that living in poor conditions lead to Doflamingo's mother's death. Like I said before, you guys saw how bad it was for those living in the Gray Terminal. Imagine going from a sheltered life where everything is handed to you, to being tossed in the dumpster and forced to survive.

I think at this point Doffy knows exactly how corrupt the Celestials are. He just doesn't care because he's an asshole.

edited 20th Sep '14 4:03:48 PM by Elfive