One Piece Volume 1, Chapter 2 manga review

Title: They Call Him "Strawhat Luffy"
Author/Artist: Eiichiro Oda

What Happens:

Luffy's journey looks like it will be a short one as he ends up getting sucked into a whirlpool. By pure luck he makes it out and ends up running into the Alvida pirates, including a boy named Koby.

Luffy quickly learns that Koby is only a member of Alvida pirates by unfortunate circumstance and he lacks the courage to escape. Luffy shares his dream to become the Pirate King which Koby believes is impossible. But Luffy's determination sparks some hope in Koby confesses of his dream to join the Navy/Marines then vows to take Alvida in himself.

Alvida happens to be close and overhears. She tries to bully him back into place but strengthened from his talk with Luffy Koby stands up to her. When she attacks him Luffy steps in and easily defeats her then demands a dinghy from the crew so he and Koby can leave.

As Koby and Luffy sail off to the next port Luffy decides that that he wants to check out the feared pirate hunter Roronoa Zolo to see if he wants to ask him to join the crew.


Why It Matters:

One of the themes One Piece is centered around is, "Follow your dreams with all you have." This is the first story that gets brought up but it will be far from the last.

This story follows what becomes the usual story formula for the series. It boils down to Luffy and/or his crew end up running into someone that is in trouble and/or is stuck in a bad situation and through misadventures help them out.

This chapter also helps illustrate the kind of pull Luffy has on others where his determination in his dream inspires others to steel their own resolves. Like the rest that I have covered though it is breezed over here but since it is a recurring theme it will come back again and again with various levels of impact.

We have the first mention of the pirate hunter Roronoa Zolo in this chapter which is set up for the next but there are some other bits of information dropped in this chapter that the story will get to further on. The other two big takeaways is the mention of the King of the Pirates title and the Grand Line. This chapter gives a brief rundown of what they are and both will be expanded on in upcoming chapters as we continue these introduction arcs for the series.


Review:

This chapter is one that is a bit of a miss for me. It does have some strong moments as setting up themes as well as introducing information that will be used for future story lines. In fact that lore to me is the most interested aspect of the chapter. Though it probably comes down to the fact that I have re-read this series so many times that these early chapters fail to stand out when compared to some of the epic story lines that come later.

Yet this is a good chapter to start picking up on the common themes of the series and just overall as an introduction to much that will be expanded upon going forward. If you are still fresh to the series than this is one of the more important chapters and it is no surprise that the anime adaption started with it instead of the actual first chapter.