Doflamingo Masterclass | Reviewing One Piece: Dressrosa 

You can watch my next One Piece review (Zou) RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+): www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr To follow the readthroughs on stream, you can follow me on Twitch here: www.twitch.tv/Aleczandxr/ Link to AJ's Discord server: discord.gg/Ekhz7PNuJd Also I think I misspoke and said that Doflamingo killed his mother - that was a mistake, he obvious didn't, and that was one of the original events that fueled his fragmented and rageful mindset. CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE: Mondays @ 10am EST: A Blind Playthrough of Yakuza 4 Wednesdays @ 10am EST: Naruto Readthrough Fridays @ 10:30am EST: SOME FRIDAYS, I do full One Piece reading streams as well. Check Discord for updates/details. Sundays @ 11am EST: One Piece Readthrough

Man, something about Dressrosa's horror that hit me like a truck was when a toy was being arrested for his outburst at seeing his wife fall in love and marry another man. I can't imagine seeing, in real-time, your loved ones live their lives without you playing a factor in it.

#Ajpiece One thing that I think is really interesting about Doflamingo is how he simultaneously has a God complex and a victim complex and how those both feed into each other. He's better than everyone, he deserves things like slaves, and part of his victim complex is because he didn't receive the godly treatment that he thinks he deserves.

That moment when Fujitora talks about his wish to see Luffy's face is one of my favorite moments in one piece It's good enough that Luffy is being appreciated for the ray of sunshine he is, but for it to be done by an admiral makes it even more heartwarming and instantly made him my favorite marine

Massive amounts of respect for the amount of effort you take into making these reviews. 4 hours is not an easy task.

4 hours, perfect for my commute tomorrow

I think it is actually kind of genius how a celestial dragon caused Sabo to lose the memory of himself and those dear to him and a celestial dragon made the people of Dressrosa lose their memories of their loved ones and themselves. I think people give the Sobo having amnesia thing a hard time because it has been so poorly executed time and again in a lot of media, but I actually find it to be quite well done here. A traumatic attack, a major explosion, head trauma, plus being submerged in water to cause a further lack of oxygen to the brain for an extended time, and immediate removal from all familiarity. Makes sense he didn't remember.

My biggest respect and gratitude for all the time and effort you put into these videos my friend. As a long time One Piece fan, it's always a pleasure to discover other people diving into the wonderful world and story that is Luffys journey for the first time and your own journey has been among the most thoughtful and insightful ones I've witnessed. This video took some time, but I get why and it was 100% worth the effort. Dressrosa tends to be a bit divisive and being able to binge read/watch it is definitely a blessing, reading in real time back in the day really was a slog at times. But for an arc of this size and impact, I think it did a lot of things right and there is a lot of great payoffs in the end. Kyros, Rebecca, Doffy and Law are all among my favorites too, so it's great to hear you enjoyed them. Doffy especially definitely is one of the best written characters not only in One Piece, but all fiction. Terrifying yet so very human, an absolute demon yet so relatable at times, definitely a fascinating character. Kinda hard to believe we are now in reach of catching up, even if there are like 400 chapters and 2 Mega arcs left. Feels like yesterday when this journey started in humble beginnings like Luffys did in East Blue. There are tons of more highlights to come, looking forward to your impressions and thoughts of them. Also possible light spoiler, but since you mentioned to have already read Zou and started Whole Cake Island, I think it's safe to talk about it. I love all the little details Oda left in the story that hinted at there being more to Sanji than you might think at first glance. His love and absolute undying loyalty for women. His love, respect and loyalty to Cheff as a father figure. The nickname "Mr Prince" on Alabasta. When he mentioned being from North Blue and thus knowing the legend of Noland the liar on Jaya. And finally the "only alive" poster after Dressrosa.

I love how you mentioned the Usopp/Noland connection through lies. Beautiful subtext that does so much for Usopp! BTW. You might've misspoke but Doflamingo didn't kill his mother. He loved his mother dearly and was there by her side on her deathbed. Her death is one of the reasons he hated & decided to kill his father. Or am I misremembering? This is such a peak analysis AJ. As always, you catch so many tiny nuances that have been planted all around.

did you notice how law was only saved from doffy because x. drake was taken in by the marines and doffy thought that was law. x drake's father was the pirate who was smuggling the ope ope df and that's how x. drake got to be a rear admiral in the future. of course before leaving again to become a pirate and a member of the worst generation

Dressrosa is potentially a top 10 shonen arc, I love hearing about it, flaws and peaks. Thank you, your discussion on the cohesion of Doflamingo's character was illuminating and your passion shines through.

#AJPiece I also want to point out that a lot of Doflamingo's attacks are based in his trauma. The villagers who strung up him and his family talked about shooting them full of bullets and arrows. And what are some of the names of Doflamingo's attacks? Sixteen Holy BULLETS, One Thousand Divine ARROWS. So much of Doflamingo's Outlook and actions are trapped in his past and what he suffered through.

Thank you so much for all your effort you put into these videos Aleczandxer! Always appreciate your pov❤

Controversial, I know, but Bellarmy turned into one of my Top 10 non-SHs this arc

#Ajpiece While I do agree that "amnesia" as a plot device is often used lazily, I love how Sabo regained his memories. It wasn't simply a matter of hearing Ace's or Luffy's name; logically Sabo would have heard of them many times during his life, since they were starting to become famous pirates. Ironically enough, I think that the key to Sabo's memories was Sakazuki (which is the name of the cup that is used for sake, the same cup that the brothers used for their promise). Sabo read about how Ace died protecting Luffy from Sakazuki, and all of these names put together were enough for his past to resurface. A genius twist for a tired trope.

#AJPiece One thing I adore about this arc is how it tackles the subject of trauma & trauma responses. A lot of our main cast have dealt with severe trauma in the past, and Luffy has just recently within the story. But due to different positive influences & self-work, they were able to overcome a lot of the primary aspects over time, and even bring a new complexion to it to help others. See Nami’s compassion to the kids on Punk Hazard, Brook’s devotion to the Straw Hats overall, Luffy honoring Ace in his moveset and learning how to gauge challenges, etc. Doflamingo is also heavily traumatized, and his treatment by the villagers in his town was objectively horrible. He was chastised for simply being part of a privileged group he was born into, as a child, and he was not even participating at the time because his family had left Mariejois. But due to his fractured view of the world, he uses this trauma to fuel his ego, persecution complex, and insecurities. In Dressrosa, he is constantly talking about how no one has suffered to his degree, and it is because he believes his place is at the top. But he uses this to reinforce his entitlement to control the lives of others. He believes he can do so because he’s “earned it”, as well as by blood. Doflamingo uses his trauma as an excuse to lord over and oppress others, which makes him a perfect antithesis to Luffy, who believes everyone should be free due to his nature & upbringing. This is brought home when Luffy makes the comparison of Dressrosa to the environment where he grew up. Doflamingo is a perpetuator of trauma. This shows within his crew dynamics as well. He wants to breed Law’s darkness and nihilism, and doesn’t understand his brother’s perspective on the matter. He constantly kills Baby 5’s husbands/partners, so she remains reliant on him and the crew for affection & attention. He takes advantage of these responses for the sake of his goal, but also believes he’s doing so righteously, for the benefit of these people he calls family. He really is a fascinating character.

If you think I'm going to spend 4 hours of my precious night watching you talk about Dressrosa then you're absolutely correct!

I don't really like rankings personally, but Luffy could never leave the TOP 1 spot for me. I've never seen a character caracterize any story better than Luffy. This man just fits within every themes and narratives, magnifying every opponents and allies. Luffy is like the Sun to the Earth, it brings the light with which we can see and understand our world, but also makes it warm and beautiful with all the colors it provides. Doflamingo is such a complex and well written antagonist, I think he's definitively in my top antagonist list ever alongside Meruem, Johan, Shigaraki and Katakuri, but he's still not Luffy. He doesn't have that story built for him and for his points, in fact he got those against him, and Luffy shows him that. Want to create a birdcage? Luffy will show you what freedom is by revealing everything to everyone (even to yourself by taking off your rose tinted glasses) and sending you straight to "hell". Anyways, I'm just here talking about my love for this rubber guy, but your analysis of the arc is really good. I agree with like 99% of what you said. Only point I don't really agree with is the amount of characters. While yes, there is a lot and you could want more from them, I still feel like this didn't hinder the arc in any way, in fact it helped develop Luffy a lot and it's not like we have to understand every character perfectly. Kinda like Yorknew arc. We don't really understand all characters but that's also what makes it realistic to some extent.

Fun little tidbit about Bartolomeo (probably not #AJpiece worthy but something anyways): His pirate epithet is "Cannibal". This is likely because "cannibal" is Japanese slang for an (internet) troll. Which really matches his behaviour. The Finnish localization of One Piece (which being a Finn I read, in addition to weekly releases) was able to adapt this idea _beautifully._ We have an expression in Finnish of "___ syö miestä", literally "___ eats man" (no partitive case in English so it ends up sounding a bit clunky translated), which means that that something is very tiring, aggravating, or frustrating. So the Finnish localization mentions Bartolomeo being called the Cannibal because of how badly "his behaviour eats man".

No doubt Crocodile, Enel and Doflamingo are my top 3 villains in One Piece. Oda gave all three of them such a great design and cool powers, but with Doflamingo he added a flashback which we hadn’t seen in this way before.

your point and question about whether or not doflamingo has a "heart" is so crazy cuz it immediately made me realize that he always needed someone to be "the heart" for him (perhaps because he indeed didnt have one) being the corazon(s) first rosinante then virgo then potentially law...

#AJPiece Not entirely sure how to put my feelings for this arc into words because of how insane, large, and just substantive it is. But to start, my favorite aspect begins with Rosinate and his belief Doflamingo was born evil. Because it is in a way true but also far from it. As yes Doflamingo’s villainy has everything to do with how he was born, but he was not born evil. Doflamingo was born a Celestial Dragon. That is why he is the way he. While he may be a product of the world that shaped him after leaving Marijoa, the aspects of him that Rosinate sees as evil are those he was raised with. Doflamingo treats others as lesser, shows no mercy, requests for inhumane things like slaves, and revels in the chaos he causes. Just like any other Celestial Dragon. Because while Rosinate saw Doflamingo as the one who was different, in truth, the rest of the Don Quixote’s were the ones who were different. This oversight by Rosinate meant he did not see his brother for what he truly was, a child who never grew up and was always scared of being hurt. To elaborate on both points: Doflamingo cannot grow past his experiences as a child. While that is understandable, as many characters in One Piece will forever carry their trauma, Doflamingo refuses to carry it and is as such controlled by it. Because he fears to be hurt that way again. He hates pain. Because back when Doflamingo was a child, what hurt worse than the death of his mother or torture of him and his brother, was the fact their father caused this. Though unintentionally, Homing had placed Doflamingo in hell. He betrayed Doflamingo before anyone else had, his own father, a man who couldn’t even justify his foolish decision. One which only backfired because the Don Quixote’s were not seen as the exceptions that they were, the same mistake Rosinate made. That is why even when recreating the inherently elitist systems that he had referred to as heaven; one which Doflamingo was placed on top as god, the Don Quixote pirates right below him as humans, and the toys far beneath that as slaves; above all else, Doflamingo will not allow betrayal. While the Celestial Dragon’s have no qualms with killing anyone after they’ve outlived their usefulness, Doflamingo saved Giola despite the fact she completely and utterly failed him. Because so long as no one hurt him, then they were fine. Rosinate and his father both hurt him by betraying his trust, so they had to die. To Doflamingo one who betrayed him sought to hurt him, and those who hurt him did so because they must hate him. Doflamingo focused almost entirely on himself in regards to Rosinate’s betrayal, not the child who was the main reason Rosinate did so. When Law came back to face him, Doflamingo assumed it was out of hatred for him. But Law wanted to be free of the self imposed expectations he placed on himself to avenge Rosinate and be worthy of that love. Fujitora may have held hatred towards Doflamingo, but never to him specifically, instead it was at the larger systems that helped get Doflamingo to where he is. Doflamingo despite thinking himself to not be controlled by hatred, is in fact a slave to it. And in seeing all others as beneath him, they all must also be slaves to their hatred. But all throughout Dressrossa we find counterpoints to this thinking. Sanji is a an angry person, but that will never compromise his ideals or kindness. That which managed to reach Viola’s damaged heart and began to slowly unravel Doflamingo’s plans. Usopp despite having no friends in need of saving once forgetting Robin, and regressing into the type of person who would hate the Tontatta’s for being everything he is not, couldn’t bring himself to abandon them even if he was certain he’d lose the fight. He completed the lesson that Luffy and Sanji had taught him, creating a miracle by doing everything he could do. Barto, Cavendish, and Koala were never truly motivated by hatred but instead love. Barto’s love for Luffy, Cavendish’s desire to be loved despite his curse, and Koala still holding love in her heart for the Fishman who saved her, even going so far as to use their very techniques. Sabo may be influenced by hatred over the death of Ace, but that would never overshadow the love for his remaining brother. Even in Doflamingo’s crew, Baby 5 would have a right to be as heartless as Doflamingo himself. But instead of giving into hatred she kept seeking love, and while she’d often be manipulated, in finding the right person her love would be cherished far more than any hatred. The antithesis to Baby 5 is Senior Pink, who because of his relationship with the Doflamingo pirates lost everything he had outside of that, so he closed himself off to never love again and never forgive himself, but that hatred for one’s self and the world around them was vested by Franky. One who also had hated himself for some time but learned to move on, much like how when learning of Dressrossa’s plights his first instinct is to cry and afterward focus solely on his role in the mission, because whatever hatred or disgust he’d feel towards the Don Quixote pirates did not matter as much as solving that problem in the first place. Robin may not have liked many of her enemies in Dressrossa, but she had no reason to hate them. Not when she already knew herself to be better than them, and especially not when she had nothing to prove by showing hatred. So instead she allowed for Kyros to fight freely as he was the one who didn’t know himself as better and had everything to prove. Kyros is the most influenced by hatred. His first act once regaining his human body was to strike with hatred, but it was not enough to kill Doflamingo. Because Kyros’s hatred isn’t directed just at Doflamingo but also himself. Each strike an attempt to make up for his failures. That is why he’ll never be strong enough to defeat Doflamingo, but he would be strong enough to defeat someone weak in all convictions like Diamante. And ultimately Kyros would be strong enough to forgive and show himself that love which Rebecca had wished for him. Rebecca herself had every reason to hold hate in her heart, but could not bring herself to put that hatred above the ideals her mother had taught her. She echoes the will of Scarlet who echoes the will of Riku. The country of Dressrossa itself would have every right to hate Riku for these ideals though. He was a man with so little hatred that he failed to prepare his country for any battle or conflict. He’s all too similar to Homing in that sheer idealism. But unlike Homing, Riku could give his reason for his action loud and clear, to remain human. And as such Riku could be forgiven by a kingdom which had hated him for so long. Riku himself unable to hate a single one of them for their own hatred that had been directed at him. Law, Kyros, Riku, and Luffy all act as the biggest foils to that which Doflamingo stands for, it is why they defeat Doflamingo and his inner circle. Doflamingo placed himself above pain, but Kyros knew pain is what made him human after having to spend so long as an inhumane doll. Doflamingo saw himself as superior to all purely because of how he was born, but Riku wanted to be human and saw standing up for one’s principles as human as that would always be more important than his Royal status. Doflamingo was controlled by hatred no matter how much he thought otherwise, but in being shown love, Law managed to navigate his way past hatred in the end. And Luffy was much like all three. Though he didn’t like being hurt, he’d endure it to protect what he cared about. Though he was strong, he never placed himself above others. And though he held hate in his heart, he also had a profound amount of love and even forgiveness like with Bellamy, who himself never hated Luffy for defeating him. Doflamingo didn’t want to be human, he wanted to go back to being a god. But in rejecting his humanity, he summoned down gods natural enemy. Luffy and his Will of D proved that Doflamingo was not a god. Because whereas everyone else found freedom by the end of this arc, Doflamingo ends it in shackles as he will always be a slave to his hatred.

Your feelings on Dressrosa are my feelings on this video, more than amazing analysis and reaction. Hope you keep enjoying the coming arcs as much!

#AJPiece "Doflamingo is bereft of heart" which is subtly conveyed through his empty heart executive seat. He killed his brother Corazon (which means heart) and then actively tries to snuff or cage Law, who is the captain of the Heart pirates. Also, he has actively been trying to get his hands on the OP OP fruit l which is literally shaped like a heart. He is never able to get hold of the OP OP fruit, kills his brother named heart in spanish and then pursues the captain of heart pirates to subjugate him and being him under control. All of these thoughts came to my mind with that one line of dialogue from AJ. Thankyou for this treat as always.

In my eyes, oda wrote one of the most terrifying villians of all time in doflamingo specifically because of his charisma and gas-lighting. Its an intensely real type of evil that i feel many people dont even pick up on if they have not been emotionally abused before. Basically i think doffy has successfully gaslit most of the readership into thinking he is incredibly more sympathetic as a character than he deserves to be, and that is incredibly terrifying and well written feat for oda. I read many scenes with doffy very opposite to you i feel. When doffy calls the people hes murdering "tragedies"- i see that as straight up gas-lighting, not a sign that hes a gray character. When he boasts to law about being his mentor and how similar they are to eachother- i see straight up gas-lighting and emotional manipulation, not a sign that they are similar. In my eyes, the main theme of the arc is love. I think that the point of doffy in relation to that is that his "brand" of love, is not real love. Corazon shows what real compassion looks like, doffy just says hes being compassionate when he never really is. Luffy shows what it means to really love your crew, while doffy is willing to sacrifice any of them for his goals. I know that people love gray characters and all, but i strongly believe doffy is so unbelievably evil that he tricked most of the readers into thinking hes gray.

Laws relation with his own freedom and his struggle with the influence Doflamigo had on him is one of the most nuanced character aspects in one piece. He on multiple occasions affirms to himself that he is free and that nothing is shackling him anymore which is what Cora wanted but he also still clearly isn’t mentally recovered from what is effectively grooming that he experienced from Doflamigo which is deeply sad. He, likely unintentionally still clings to and spreads his words such as with what he tells Tashigi, and his view of the world that Doflamigo tried to instill in him is clearly still there to a degree. He has convince himself that he has to honor Cora by defeating Doflamigo and saving Dressrosa which but that too is just a reflection of the ideas that Doflamigo internalized in him, that Love is always conditional and that defying him would deny Law of that love. Thus he tries to repay this “Debt” to Cora when all that he needed to do really was accept what Sengoku tells him, that you shouldn’t try and find a reason for someone to love you. His view of love and relationships were ultimately still defined by Doflamigo’s Conditional ideas of love until that moment which also creates context for his saving of Luffy in Marineford, he wanted luffy to something for him (That somethign being helping take down Doflamigo since he knows that the D. Means he will oppose him) but also through his connection with luffy the conditional form of connection and love starts to break seeing the Straw Hat’s unconditional support and love for one another also help re-contextualize Law’s reactions to their antics. Like you said Law is absolutely the type of character that you could just like because he has a cool design and ability but there is such good writing behind all of his actions and so much more to look for if you want. I love one piece #AJPiece

Loved this review, really interested in your thoughts on Zou. That arc is hella under appreciated.

Corazon was an INSTANT favorite of mine. Top 5 forever, it’s crazy how much Oda achieved with Cora with so little time.

#AJPiece Cora’s backstory (Laws) is by far my favorite in piece. And the fact that Cora and doflamingo came from the same tragic story but had such different outlooks on life really says something about nature of people. Just wanted to bring more love to Corazon who I feel like is often overlooked! Love you videos and thanks for making them

#AJPiece It wasn't until you pointed out the potential negatives of Bart being so wholly invested in Luffy to the point of eclipsing anything else did I realize the connection between him and Bellamy in this Arc. Both characters fully dedicated themselves to someone else, but while Bart gets met with positivity Bellamy gets the opposite. Doflamingo uses Bellamy's as a tool and then discards him unceremoniously where as Bart gets welcomed into the Straw Hat Fleet and treated as an ally. Never realize that until now so thanks for helping me make that connection.

Can't wait to dig into this over the next few days, this is perfect podcast/discussion material while working.

Spoilers for Wano: Bro, AJ's cooking something fierce with that Kanjuro take. What a legend. He also is very on the nose with Bartolomeo tearing down Shank's flag. Effectively misrepresenting him.

I really love these videos because your perspective always puts this series i have loved and admired for decades in an entirely new light in a way that only makes me love it more. Even when I didn't think that possible

What an amazing video! Listening to you gushing about Dressrosa while working as a treat. I'll definitely watch it again in a few months, since I couldn't focus 100% due to work :(

This is my favorite "podcast" to listen to whenever I'm commuting. Thanks for making these, these reviews are phenomenal.

This is going to get me through half my shift thank you! Cant wait for further reviews!

#AJPiece Just a cute reference: Trafalgar and Waterloo are the two major battles Napoleon lost. Trafalgar D. Water Law. I also love the Amber Lead backstory. It's not so subtly an analog to asbestos and how the asbestos mining industry was kept up for decades after the government and those in power were already very aware of the hazards. The way it adds up in later generations is a mechanic we see with pesticides in nature- It all accumulates upwards in the food chain, being a big risk to birds of prey at the top of the chain.

Thank you for taking the time to make one big video! Can’t wait to hear what you have to say

Took me a couple of weeks across a few work sessions but finally finished this and it was so great. Thank you. Can't wait for Zou :)

Oh boy podcast while sending emails tomorrow time. Favorite arc to binge next to the water 7 saga. Let’s gooooo

2:47:57 The most ironic thing about this was had Senor followed her instead of listening to her to stay away, he could have saved her from that Mudslide on account of his ability to Swim on Land.😢

Thanks for all the hardwork and dedication you put into your videos! One piece is legendary!🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

Bold of you to assume we wouldn't want to hear you talk about this for the full 6 hours. Love all of these breakdowns, both movie and anime/manga.

4 hours is not long enough Unironically though I love listening to your reviews, cant wait for you to reach my favorite arc, its not far off :)

I'm really glad and thankful you made the Dressrosa video it's own thing in one giant video. I can't say much else about Doffy that hasn't been said already he's amazing as a villain and really fleshed out character plus Law getting so much focus is awesome and always loved his backstory so much. Not to mention Luffy gets Gear 4th, reunites with Sabo, gets his own grand fleet like a Yonko of the sea, so many dope characters Barto, Senor Pink, Sabo, Fujitora and Bellamy comes back with a great end for his character rn and the straw hat crew being split oh man 😅 so much went down.

Wow....i never what you looked like until now, this definitely what i had in mind. Great video as always 👌🏿👌🏿👌🏿👌🏿

4h?! I was expecting Part 1&2 tbh , ty for putting everything in 1 Video

You said it yourself you're almost caught up and the pain of being caught up sucks somewhat but enjoy those arcs to the fullest for sure also big congrats on 300K followers that's awesome in itself

Whew, I spent last two weeks watching all of your reviews. Amazing videos with great insight. I feel like I know OP top to bottom, yet you still managed to show me some things I hadn't considered before, which rarely happens on youtube. I was really surprised to see you catch some things hundreds of chapters before the fandom even began putting the pieces together. I wish OP was already finished so I could see your reactions to the whole thing. Weekly reading is a lot of fun for theorizing and discussion in the fandom, but I've been reading weekly since Marineford and I can see that it's a double-edged sword. The constant waiting and discussions create a lot of unreasonable expectations, which result in people being disappointed with basically every arc since the timeskip... yet new fans, like you, who go into these arcs with fresh mind without years of fandom hype, seem to like them a lot. Anyway, I'm very interested in seeing your reaction to Wano and how it will compare to feelings to those who read it weekly for four years (let that sink in)

Thank you for the intense and extensive review vid

Your observation haki is on point man... Loved the analysis. Listened to the whole thing through the second half of my work day.

#AJPiece One thing I really like about the Gear 4 reveal is that Luffy had it in his back pocket since the timeskip began. While Hordy Jones and Cesar do challenge Luffy physically and are genuine threats to their respective islands, they simply aren’t powerful enough for that trump card to be worth it. This retroactively makes all the training Luffy did over the timeskip seem even more worthwhile. It also makes the world and the Strawhats’ journey feel more realistic, as they’re now at a point where they are legitimate players. They have the chance to be the dominant ones in some conflicts rather than the underdogs punching up against impossible odds (although there’s still plenty of that as their growth brings on bigger challenges).

#AJPiece Thanks always AJ for such great content. I got so hype when I saw how damn long this video is. There’s so much to unpack when it comes to Dressrosa that I even had trouble formulating my AJPiece comment, so I can’t imagine the effort it took to put out this video. You’re the best! During my initial read through of Dressrosa, I’ll admit I had my reservations. The influx of so many new characters combined with the fact that the entire arc takes place over the course of essentially only a few hours made for a story that definitely felt like it dragged in places. The Corrida Coliseum bits were hit or miss to me. But holy crap, one of the greatest characters in all of One Piece emerged in this arc: Fujitora. The man who saw the world, didn’t like what he saw, and thus closed his eyes to that horror. He offers such an interesting perspective, and I think he is very indicative of the course of post time skip One Piece. His dynamic with Sakazuki is a particular highlight for me: the contrast he offers to the Fleet Admiral’s philosophy of “absolute justice” is so key to conveying the true state of the world. Fujitora makes for a World Government that seems much less monolithic, and exhibits empathy & humility in ways drastically different from his contemporaries. Fujitora is one of my absolute favorite characters, and one of the most objectively good Marines. Plus, his interactions with Luffy show how good natured our protagonist is - most people would blindly blame the entire WG for Ace’s death, but Luffy still only judges people for who they are. I think Fujitora is ultimately so important to the notion that the World Government is definitely not a one-sided evil organization, as some of the major proponents for “good” left after the time skip (Garp, Sengoku, and Aokiji). He’s my GOAT!

2:28:00 Corazón steals the Op Op Fruit from Diez Barrels. Diez means Ten in Spanish. Diez Barrels has his son with him, who he basically treats as a slave. Diez barrels is a former Marine turned pirate. By the end of the flashback Diez Barrels's son is taken in by Sengoku. And his son is X Drake, X as in the Roman number for 10, or Diez in Spanish. Drake who becomes a Marine Read Admiral, and then a Pirate and member of the Worst Generation alongside Law.

#AJPiece When it comes to Doflamingo I think he initially wasn't trying to kill Law. All of his actions were brutal and taunting. Shooting Law with LEAD bullets. Mocking the fact that Law is using THEIR teachings against them. It's almost like an owner swatting a dog on the nose for misbehaving. It isn't until Law revealed that he is a D that Dolfamingo earnestly starts trying to kill him. He talks and mocks less and goes straight for the kill. I also think Law feeling like he wasn't free is because he felt obligated to Cora for saving his life. Cora saving him had to mean something. There had to be a reason since he didn't believe he was worth saving just as himself. It isn't until Sengoku tells him that you can't ascribe a reason to why someone saves you that he finally feels free of his obligation to Cora.

Was NOT expecting this so soon, damn! Great surprise AJ!

#ajpiece I think you should re-read the grand fleet part again... they don't just share a drink to friendship, and it's not just unofficial... just as Luffy is free, they realised they are free as well to choose to be his underlings, and so, they swear to serve him, and they fly his colours, regardless of if Luffy wants them to or not... Also, Zoro is the one who drinks from Luffy's boss cup LOL... so both the world and themselves consider themselves part of the Strawhat armada, it's just Luffy who doesn't, or more accurately, doesn't care.

I don’t think the Frankie pink fight was a comment on toxic masculinity I think it was supposed to be similar to the zoro mihawk fight where it’s not that they don’t want a woman to interfere, it’s that they don’t want ANYONE to interfere. I think a “man’s fight” (bad wording but that’s what they called it) is just a one-on-one fight

4 hours of peak. Thank you so much AJ

A lot of people have the theory that Dressrosa represents a minature of One Piece the series. Doflamingo = World Government, Toys and memories = void century, etc. I really like this theory because all of this was created by Doflamingo. It shows he wanted to become as great as the World Government/rejoin them but all he could do was create a minature version of it. Kinda like a Napoleon complex

I am hungry, and I have 4h of Dressrosa content for FREE here. I will not be starving in the next 4h, thank you AJ

What a bless! Now I need to stay up all night to watch it! 😂

#AJPiece Sabo's Amnesia does however tie into the themes of memories in this Arc so it's just another angle of how memories work, function and interact. Sabo's role as a noble also plays into the nature-versus-nurture theme

Your thoughts on Rebecca and her being her own person along with her dynamic with Kyros are absolutely on point. She's great.

I can’t wait to see where Sanji lands on your popularity list after whole cake island

You know this arc is insane when you can talk about Doflamingo, Law, Corazon, Luffy, Fujitora, Riku, Kyros and Rebecca and then you realize that there's also Senior Pink and SABO! There is so much peak here

#AJPiece Dear AJ, I have been following your channel for some years and I genuinly believe you may be the most perceptive commentator on anime and manga, which is why I was excited when you first started reviewing One piece. I think the way it works for most people reading / watching One piece is that they are surprised when a reveal happens and appreciate going back to see the clues and foreshadowings that Oda planted often years ago and it makes them appreciate the story even more retrospectively. However you clearly went beyond my expectations with your perceptiveness and it has been really fun and very impressive to see you make predictions based on those smallest clues that having read the story I already knew would turn out true. Now that you are catching up to the current events, you are joining the realm of One piece theorists which is one of the most fun aspects of the story. No doubt I will be paying even more attention to your speculations as they more often than not turn out to be true. Keep up the good work !!

Never read or seen a single part of One Piece, but I've heard praise for this character. So, this is the man I'll go to to fill me in

3:26:15 I do believe amnesia is a lazy resource, but: * Luffy would never EVER have got to know about Sabo, because Luffy does not read the newspapers. He didn't even know what the Yonko were until post-Enies Lobby * It's not only the impact of reading about Ace's death. In the same article Sabo read that Ace was dead, that Luffy, his brother, was there, and that Sakazuki killed him. Sakazuki, Akainu's actual name, is also the name of the ritual of sharing a cup of sake to become family. Four triggers, one next to the other. Ace's death, Luffy, brother, Sakazuki. If anything is gonna shock someone's memory back, that definitely would

making me wanna reread dressrosa, imperfect as it is, it's such a special arc to me

Kaido's introduction being a suicide attempt attempt is another bit of power scaling and illustrating just how much of a late game boss he is. He's so powerful that even kaido can't defeat kaido. It also shows that he's so far aboce everyone that even when he falls, hes still on top. It shows just how far you'd have to go to drag kaido down

woah 4 hours of peak

Aleczandxr’s observation about flipping narratives around 2:13:00 is very reminiscent of (Major spoiler up to current chap) - - - - It’s very reminiscent of how the “God” Elders and Imu actually look like demons and defeated the actual “Sun God” Nika. Then they flipped the narrative to make themselves gods🤔

4 hour one piece video????? HECK YEAH BABY!!!! ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!!!!

34:05 Parc Güell in Barcelona. And the Corrida Colosseum after a bullfighting arena (like "La Monumental" if you want to stay in Barcelona), since bullfighting = "corrida de toros" in Spanish, hence the name of the arena and the presence of Ucy.

#AjPiece i always think that people doesn't sems to understand how broken is baby 5. Just imagine that you are willing and happily unalive yourself just to make a, basically extranger, happy... just to be needed again

#AJPiece i think an interesting lense to view fujitora through is that he's the first morally just marine we get introduced to since sabaody, where we learned that the marines' real goal is not to enforce peace, but to enforce order and protect the interests of the celestial dragons regardless of how far the celestial dragons go against the ideals the marines espouse to. in the past before saboady we used to think that there are good marines and bad marines, ever since sabaody we realize that the marines as an organization is meant to create loyal unthinking soliders and sometimes someone who is morally just like garp smoker or koby end up working for them whether it be through falling for their propaganda like koby initially did or thinking that the symbol of the marines is more important than the reality of the marines like garp does. fujitora is extremely interesting to view through that lense to me. we've been told him and another admiral have been recruited through a special draft to replace the 2 missing admirals after marineford with both sengoku and kuzan quitting. so fujitora is a new recruit with the authority of an admiral and he shows it by not playing by the government's rules and apologizing to king riku. he seems to me like someone who is well aware of the evils of the marines and is willing to use them in ways that hurt his standing to improve the lives of civilians. another thematic detail about issho is that the epithet of fujitora translates to purple tiger, and in japanese myths tigers are often enemies of dragons, perhaps this represents that issho the tiger views himself as an enemy to the celestial dragons and is simply biding his time and doing all he can in the meantime to manipulate the dragons' army into doing some good while he waits

i literally just finished the punk hazard video and a refresh my page to see a FOUR HOUR DRESSROSA REVIEW. Day sufficiently made.

#AJPiece A cool detail about Doflamingo that I've never seen anyone bring up before is how in the Skypiea arc he mocks Bellamy for believing in the sky islands. Yet we learn in this arc that the way he flies around is by using his strings to grab onto clouds. The only way a cloud could be a solid thing to latch onto, and be able to support the weight of a person, is if it were sky islands that Doflamingo was grabbing onto. Meaning he himself must know they exist. So why does he chastise Bellamy for believing in them? Well, just being generally cruel is one reason. But it's also worth noting that Mariejois, the home of the Celestial Dragons, the place and life Doflamingo seems desperate to return to, is also a heavenly land above the clouds. In my opinion, Doflamingo in his mind has firmly associated happiness, a peaceful life, and what have you, with the life of a Celestial Dragon. A life he will never be able to return to. So when he sees Bellamy: someone that at least on the surface is extremely reminiscent of a younger Doflamingo, dreaming about the joys of a land beyond the clouds, it frustrates him, and he tries to quash it as soon as possible - maybe reflecting a desire to stop the grief his younger self felt by longing for the same thing, only for it to never materialise.

My second favorite arc! Thanks for the review.

Punk Hazard came out 10 days ago, and now you drop Dressrosa? You spoil us.

#AJPiece Not sure if this is something noteworthy, but you referred multiple times to verticality in Dolfamingo's character. This brought me back to Marineford, in how Doflamingo's first major action was to take out the largest most physically imposing figure on the battlefield, Little Oars Jr. Perhaps this also encompasses what you brought up about his character.

I think you are absolutely right about the Jinbe flashback, it was out of character for Luffy, it wasn't neither the time nor place for a joke like that.

FOUR HOURS OF DRESSROSA JEEEEEZ, thank you!! :')

3:02:16 I think that was a break week, so we actually had to wait 2 weeks to get gear 4

4 hours and not a single mention of Moocy/Ucy, terrible video 0/10

#AJPiece the "Water" part in Law's name might be his ancestors connection to Water 7 because the name of the city is unusual on its own and we know its other name is "the capital of water". Hence, it might be not the capital of "water" because there a lot of water, fountains, and aqueducts there, but "the capital of Water" because it was a name of the family or a country that had other cities under its rule and this one was the capital. I have other thoughts, but it's not a theory channel, so I wanted to share just this one, because it feels like we learned about the second secret name of Law and at the same time it doesn't feel like we learned anything as it seems so random=)

Hell yeah the dressrosa video is here

3:14:55 Yes!! This is my favourite parallel between Alabasta and Dressrosa (as Dressrosa is basically what would've happened to Alabasta if they didn't stop Crocodile), and one of the best examples of Oda mirroring other moments of the series (he does it every so often): * In Alabasta, Luffy defeats Crocodile by punching him up, from the shadows of the underground where he plots, schemes and concocts, into the light, for everyone to see him. The rain falls * In Dressrosa, Luffy beats Doflamingo by punching him down, from the skies where he sits as a puppeteer, as a god, into the ground, same level as everyone else. The birdcage disappears

Oh Corazon, from hitting kids to hitting us all in the heart, what a goat. I feel like Dofey, thinks more of the like possessions, a bit like Greed from FMA. Also after the Nefertari Family the Donquixote family are probably the most kind Celestial Dragons. Mainly by 2 members and that’s about it.

Thank you AJ for letting us feast 🙏🙏🙏

I still remember The Sabo Reveal when it came out. Sadly it was a sad time in my life where I was visiting my grandmother in the hospital a few days prior and we both knew it was our last time seeing each other (she died at the end of that week). I was very sad that week so getting that chapter helped me get through that week and helped lift my spirits a bit.

#AJPIECE I've already commented but I wanna say something about Bellamy as well. I don't remember how much you said about Bellamy in this video, but I'd like to add my perspective on his character. This is gonna be a long one so buckle your seats belts. Bellamy is a case study of what happens when you place your loyalty, your very one piece style of loyalty, in the wrong hands. Especially in this arc, Bellamy's wanting to be loyal to Doffy can be compared to a lot of different characters we've seen in this story so far that have this endearing loyalty to their friends/superiors. I think that's one of the qualities that Luffy sees in Bellamy and grows to respect a bit. And that's what really pushes Luffy over edge in my opinion. Luffy was forced to fight Bellamy. Luffy doesn't take any pleasure in destroying those weaker than him, and considering the fact he was liking Bellamy, the fact that he was forced to beat up his friend is something that infuriates him. Also to me, it's clear as day that Bellamy didn't want to fight Luffy either, but, he was so far at the end of his rope that he felt that there was nothing else. He had wasted his life; placed his loyalty in the hands of someone that used him as a meat shield and a ragdoll. Luffy sees this, and that's why he's so hesitant at hurting him, since this isn't what he wants. But Bellamy feels too far gone to change paths and decide the course of his life, and why he begs luffy to kill him over and over again. Of course, Luffy would never do this, but from this interaction in particular, I think it is here Luffy sees the absolute worst of Doflamingo's manipulation. Bellamy is not necessarily manipulated by Doflamingo directly, but rather, the strings that Doflamingo has on those in his vicinity are so widespread and so numerous that even if Doflamingo does little, he practically owns them. So even when Bellamy isn't being directly controlled by Doffy, he is, in a sense, still being used all the same. And so Luffy I think at the end of his fight feels these kinds of feelings: 1. Hatred because very few characters in this story have straight up forced Luffy to do something that is reprehensible to him and that's beating someone, that he considers a friend, who doesn't even want to fight, but feels he has to because he is left with nothing. 2. Luffy values loyalty immensely, and seeing such genuine loyalty from Bellamy towards Doflamingo, and then to see Doflamingo spit on and crush that loyalty, degrading and humiliating Bellamy for the entire fight making him and his devote feel like a complete joke as it all ended up like this. This makes him also angry And 3. I think Luffy, out of every villain so far in the main storyline, probably hates Doflamingo the most since he is almost an embodiment of every vile disgusting trait in a person Luffy would despise. And seeing that personality, that kind of personal manipulation and gaslighting, affect his friends (Bellamy and Law) makes him angry. One more detail I like is that Bellamy, once the grand fleet is formed, does not decide to join. He's done placing his all into people and decides to pursue a dream of his own. Even if Luffy would be an absolutely perfect person to place that loyalty into, he decides to make his own path in life, and to not be in the shadow of someone else's. Perfectly mirroring his first scene in Jaya where he chastises dreams and adventure, and now in this scene, he's deciding to do pursue a dream, or at the very least, find something to strive for. Bellamy is one of the more deceptively well written characters in the series and I'm glad you feel the same way. Sorry for the long winded comment, but I was thinking about Bellamy and decided to just get my thoughts out there. I wanna say, I have been a huge fan for years, glad to see you're enjoying one piece 😁

Dressrosa is also in my top 5 arcs of one piece. People always asked me why but now I have a video to refer to in the future. I also think post timeskip the art looked the best in Dressrosa overall. Reread later acrs to commpare and none of them in my opinion come close to the consistency that was displayed on Dressrosa by oda. The Reason why sabo gets out of amnesia is not only because of the shock of ace dying but that it was "Sakazuki" who killed him. Sakazuki is th term of the very act of becoming brothers, the exchange of sake cups. That is the reason and in my opinion a beautiful yet also tragic one.

22:29 “When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom!? No! It’s when… they are forgotten.” -Dr. Hiruluk, chapter 145, July 2000. In Dressrosa, 600 chapters and 13 years later, people who are forgotten are forced to live on.

This is gonna be a good 4 hours🍿

#AJPiece Another lovely analysis, I enjoyed every minute of it! A thing regarding Sabo's amnesia and why his memory came back that got lost in translation: It wasn't just Ace's death that triggered his memory, but his name, death and the mention of Admiral "Sakazuki" all in one sentence. "Sakazuki" is also the Japanese word for "sake cups". That's two trigger words (Ace, sake cups) for Sabo's most precious childhood memories. Sabo has probably heard of Ace before, but since he isn't enough of an important pirate, Sabo wouldn't have been interested in him. That's my take at least.

Great video!

#AJPiece another bit of visual storytelling in the fight between Luffy and Doflamingo is that final blow where Doflamingo's sunglasses are finally shattered and come off. It's a great way of visually showing Luffy's ability to shatter his enemies' world views.

Once again your ability to catch these things on your first go around impresses me. Some people in the fandom will argue over whether Doflamingo cares about his crew or if he just views them as things beneath him, a means to an end. The answer is both. He cares about them...the way you'd care about pets. Some are favored, some are less so, but what kind of lunatic would value their dogs life over an actual person? And that is his crew to Doflamingo #AJPiece