One Piece Diaries #54: Amazon Lily Arc #2

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the first half of the arc, I persevered and watched the rest of it. There were parts of the second half that I found interesting and parts that I seriously could have done without.

For this review, I’m going to talk about the Gorgon Sisters’ past and the plot going forward. In my next review, I’ll be talking about the same set of episodes, but focusing on the rest of the Straw Hats’ adventures after being separated. There’s just too much going on for one review.

The Gorgon sisters are hiding something major from their community – they were once enslaved by the World Government and force-fed Devil Fruits. There isn’t much detail about what they specifically endured, but it seems like they were used for entertainment and possibly sexual purposes more so than for labor.

When they finally returned home, they made up a story about having eyes on their backs that could turn anyone who looked at them into stone. Since Hancock actually could turn people into stone, the community believed them.

The part of the arc where Luffy learns about and responds to all of this really endeared me to him. Even though the Gorgon Sisters are actively trying to kill him for intruding on their community, he still helped Sandersonia hide the slave mark on her back. He saw their battle as completely separate from the fact that they didn’t want anyone to see the slave marks branded onto their backs. He didn’t even know what the mark meant, but he didn’t have to – all he needed to know was that it was important to them.

The backstory was, of course, heart wrenching. The sisters went through one of the worst traumas imaginable, mostly at the hands of powerful men. Given that they’d already been raised in a society where they never got to meet any men or have any positive examples of them, it’s no wonder they fear and loathe them so much. That being said, they spend a lot of time on the high seas, meeting all sorts of people. While they might still dislike men and want to avoid them, they do have other information to work with. But then again, they also have to maintain a strong sense of leadership for their community, which means upholding community values even if they don’t exactly align with reality.

The last part of the arc involves Boa Hancock falling in love with Luffy and Luffy being totally unresponsive to her feelings, as expected. I guess it makes sense that she’d swing from one extreme to another, but the whole thing felt like it was veering into repetitive jokes.

The really interesting thing about the end of the arc was Ace’s situation. He’s been arrested for his pirating activities and is being held in a filthy dungeon. When we finally see him in this condition, he’s with his grandfather, Monkey D. Garp. Garp is a high-ranking Marine, which means that he’s often in opposition to his grandchildren. He clearly loves them both, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to act against them. Last time this happened, it involved a joyfully chaotic cannonball battle with Luffy and his crew. This time, the situation was a lot more serious. Not only was Garp watching his grandson suffer and probably feeling incredibly conflicted about it, there was also the looming threat of war.

I’m looking forward to the next arc, which is Impel Down. I don’t know too much about it, but I do know that the main villain has poison powers, which is one of my favorite types of powers because I’m a weirdo. Before I talk to you about that, though, I’ll be reviewing the Straw Hats’ adventures on separate islands. See you in two weeks!

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