One Piece

I know this has been discussed at some point in time but has anyone ever wonder if Chopper could go full human? I know he has multiple transformations but I would think it would be neat to see what Chopper would look like full human.

Heavy Point is full human. Human is his "animal" form, remember, and those always have some traits left over.

Ace never did anything really impressive on-screen (and it's saying something that blowing up five whole ships with a single attack isn't considered "really impressive" in One Piece), but he was definitely supposed to be a badass, according to the other characters like Jinbei and... Well, mostly Jinbei. Being offered a spot as a shichibukai and being made one of Whitebeard's commanders are indicators of his strength, I guess.

There was a panel of him tying a Beam-O-War with Aokiji at Marinefold. That's sort of badass, right?

I'd call that impressive if he didn't have the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors advantage from the get-go.

You know who was badass?

Marco.

He was pretty cool. I think my favorite was Vista though.

I figure it operates more like Final Fantasy than Pokemon, where Fire and Ice are mutually weak to one another rather than Fire having an advantage. Aokiji vs. Akainu worked on a similar principle, I think.

Hell yes. I'd be incredibly disappointed if we don't see substantially more Marco before the series ends.

edited 5th Feb '13 9:19:32 PM by MileRun

Of course.

edited 5th Feb '13 9:18:59 PM by wanderlustwarrior

The thing is that Smoker should be getting stronger. He should be evolving in strength and taking on bigger and badder goes with less trouble. No one should expect, nor is expecting, the guy to curbstomp every enemy he finds, but the least I want from him is to give a good fight. Back in the day, he was considered just-above Luffy's equal, and was the absolute stopping point of all East Blue Pirates entering the Grand Line. He had a good reputation, especially when he goes toe-to-toe with Luffy and the guy doesn't ever break a sweat - it takes baddass motherfucker Dragon to step in and separate everything.

Then in Arabasta, Luffy can only play a runaway game, and Smoker is stopped short from doing anything else that arc because he falls for Crocodile's trap, much like the rest of the crew. Shortly beforehand he goes against Ace and ties, if only because their elements can't fight each other. There's no denying that Smoker relies a fuck of a lot on his Devil Fruit, but so does, well, Ace.

In fact, Ace and Smoker are a lot alike. Both get their high-ranking positions only partially through strength but mostly for their renown, both are nimble opponents but are only hard hitters with their Devil Fruits, and they both spend their screentime acting cool and getting beaten! They're probably brothers.

So yes, it is unrealistic to expect Smoker to be on some supreme level of strength, but it shouldn't be so fucking ridiculous to think he should be able to do something useful in recent chapters. He at least had this sort of "film noire" style while piecing together what the plot of Punk Hazard was, but he should be a much more competent fighter.

Again, I imagine things would be looking much better for him if he had actually fought Virgo himself. It shouldn't have been an easy fight by no means, but imagine Smoker pulling out some big guns on the guy and just taking him down through a hard-fought fight. Possibly using his smoker powers in new ways. Really, I think Oda is just bored of Smoker's powers, which is unfortunate. One thing I love about One Piece is how the characters, especially logias, use their powers as energy sources - Ace had his jetboat, Mr. 3 had his candle ship, Smoker even had a smoke-powered motorcycle. Imagining other uses isn't hard - Smoker powered cannons? Smoker powered guns? A smoke sword thing?

I really would love to see Oda's notes and roughdrafts for Punk Hazard and see if things were originally set up to go differently, because part of me really believes that Oda changed his initial plotline mid-writing several times. Certain aspects just... stand out as having being dumbied-out threads of a different plot.

>implying the Marines feel they need to get stronger
>implying that they believe they're not in control of the world

Marines aren't in control of the world, the World Government is.

And yes, they do feel they need to get stronger, hence why someone like Akainu has taken charge and is letting brutes like G5 in. Besides, their war ended up sparking a whole new mini-age of pirating, since with Whitebeard gone, there was fucking chaos for two years and going, especially in the New World.

So yes they do feel a mighty need to get stronger. They might have some of the strongest people in their forces, but that doesn't mean they don't need even tougher guys.

This would not have been a good place for Smoker to have a drawn-out fight. And it would've been an even worse place for him to win.

And, well, as far as Logias go, Smoker's fruit is kind of terrible.

Plus, what else does Oda have to wipe his ass with? Smoker is so fluffy.

Why would this be a bad place for Smoker to have a fight? He had an opponent that's personally insulted him on every level. I think that was a plenty good chance for Smoker to bust out his true potential and actually fight and beat someone. Even if a little push from Law would have been needed, just something to show us that Smoker's a big guy still and could handle himself.

It's really upsetting - and I've said this a million times - that instead of making Smoker and Tashigi cooler, Oda decided to make Law seem like badass extraordinaire.

I mean, what the fuck would the problem be with Smoker being stronger at this point? It makes sense that after two years and moving up in the marines several ranks, he would have become more proficient in, well, something, especially combat, and especially towards enemies that he absolutely despises.

I'm a bit annoyed by Smoker's treatment too.

• Loses to Law: Yep, makes sense, we have to hype up Law.
• Loses to Vergo: Uh, wait, wasn't this his fight? Hey Law, what are you doi-YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT SMOKER'S MOST IMPORTANT PART IN THE FIGHT IS JUST GETTING LAW IN?
• Loses to Doflamingo: Expected, but at this point I kinda just wanna hug the poor guy.

Actually, I too think vs. Virgo should've been a great chance for him to shine. Show off something new, have a plot important fight, show his strength and that he's earned his rank up. But no, he's at the same tricks, and he's even still relying on his jute. Not good enough at Haki yet?

Plus he should be doing more unique stuff, especially with the condensing aspect of his smoke. Or gas bombs, lung cancer attack, suffocation, and more. Heck, he could inflict burn damage, or track someone about to flee by covering them with soot.

Strange that he requested to transfer to G-5 to stop pirates just entering the New World, and seems incapable of doing shit to any of them. Think about all the pirates who made it into the New World: they all got past Smoker and Virgo's base. Granted, there are multiple routes, but still.

edited 5th Feb '13 10:39:28 PM by wanderlustwarrior

Clearly he thought too much of his own abilities.

The jute is actually still a pretty good weapon even with Haki; seastone doesn't just get past devil fruit resistance, it also weakens devil fruit users and stops them from using powers, things that Haki don't do. It's why Blackbeard's touch ability is still pretty nifty even when everyone has Haki.

The problem with Smoker is that he never actually hits jackshit with his stick.

edited 5th Feb '13 10:43:27 PM by Scardoll

Oh I know, he just doesn't get creative with it, or using it in tandem with his abilities.

Here's another thought that might've been interesting if pressed: making a bubble of condensed smoke to prevent things such as SAD from getting in, say if something happened during the fight at the SAD factory. Granted, he'd probably be unable to see outside the bubble, but he could expand it.

I just wish they actually, y'know, showed the Smoker vs. Virgo fight. We're treated to a couple panels of Smoker owning Virgo, then we cut to Straw Hat antics for a few chapters, and we when we come back, Smoker is losing.

Smoker didn't need to win the fight. All they had to do was show Smoker fighting, Virgo taking control of the fight, and Smoker changing his tactics to steal the heart. Smoker could have had a crowning moment without actually needing to win, since nabbing the heart was his win condition anyways.

I'm seconding the theory someone posted earlier that Oda had a massive change of plans while the arc was underway.

Heavy brought up earlier that, given that Tashigi can have it, why not give Smoker a few Rokushiki abilities that tie in with his fruit? It'd help diversify his movepool and reintroduce Rokushiki as a legitimate moveset after the Enies Lobby arc, where it just sort of faded into obscurity. I personally think Smoker could make pretty good use of Tekkai (assuming it works in his smoke form, he could use it to somewhat mitigate Haki attacks), and I'd say Shigan could be a good attack type outside of his Jutte, especially because he can become a cloud of smoke that could then essentially materialize bullets anywhere.

Punkhazard's pace feels a bit funny, especially compared to Thriller Bark (Which is probably the closest analogue).

@ Scardoll: He took a dive against Vergo. Frankly, I always thought Warlords were, in general, stronger than VAs, so I'm not upset Law and Doffy are above him.

I had a dream about Doflamingo catching Law when he is seperated from any allies and delivering a merciless beatdown. I guess my bottled up frustration towards Law manifested in a form of a dream.

The Warlords aren't really comparable to Marine ranks at all. We have absolutely top-tier people like Mihawk, Jinbei, Kuma, and Boa; somewhere below that is Doflamingo probably; below that is Moriah and Crocodile(???????????); and then Blackbeard also fits into that equation. Don't forget Law and Buggy.

The Warlord position is handed out for way too many different circumstances. You have people like Blackbeard who get in because they happened to capture a pirate the World Government hated, Boa who needed to join to ensure the safety of her people, and then fucking Buggy because he happened to be involved with Luffy's prison break.

It's all over the place. Mihawk is definitely above Vice-Admiral level, but Moriah certainly isn't, and Crocodile couldn't even beat mid-journey Luffy.