The Arlong Park arc serves as one where the Straw Hat crew’s navigator Nami (who will be played by Emily Rudd in the live action) is the main character of focus. Initially one of the most secretive characters of the group, Nami’s backstory gets a shine and introduces us to a small, but incredibly powerful group of fishmen led by a lad named Arlong.
Aside from being genuinely scary-looking, Arlong is perhaps best known for his treatment of Nami — taking advantage of her talent as a sea-charter and navigator with the threat of killing the rest of her village if she refuses. Only after accruing a ludicrous sum of money, Arlong claims, will set Nami and her village free.
The arc is, to myself and many other One Piece fans, a classic. You’ll often see questions — or even jokes from the naysayers — online about when the series “gets good”, but I’ve always found it to be a rather uninformed question.
Much of the beginning of One Piece, while still filled with its own share of violence, is mostly treated as a silly, effervescent adventure with a motley crew. Even in the main character’s name — Monkey D. Luffy, the future king of the pirates — there’s silliness to be found. Luffy and his crew go along and put some comically evil evil-doers in their place. And it’s a total blast! Watching a stretchy lad yell about food, a big-nosed sniper cower in fear at every given opportunity, or a green-haired swordsman constantly getting lost for no reason, filled me with blissful joy.
So it isn’t a question of when the series “gets good” but rather when it begins to open up; for my money, that’s the Arlong Park arc. It’s incredibly brutal compared to everything else seen at this point, and even to this day Nami’s backstory remains one of the most profoundly sad of any character in the series. The reasoning behind why she’s almost obnoxiously obsessed with money, her affinity for oranges, and the fate of her adoptive mother all hit you right in the heart.
Plus, it’s one of the first times you get a closer look at the corruption of the World Government — introducing the idea that many of the evil pirates (in this case Arlong’s fishmen crew) are very much allowed to do as they please thanks to the inaction of said government in order to retain the status quo.
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