Tolkien level? That has to be an overstatement. I'll ask for my friend's volumes if you recommend it so strongly then, though!

 

One Piece is everything every other major shounen manga is not- planned out.

There are no asspulls in One Piece- you can actually see the foreshadowing that occurs, if you look back for it.

There is no powercreep- There's no Super Saiyan 1, then 2, then 3 to keep up with the big bads. We've actually SEEN a good deal of top tier fighters go at it, and we know that the remaining top tier fighters can't be much stronger simply because these guys kept them deadlocked.

Everyone remains relevant- Every member of the crew keeps on moving on with Luffy. One of my favorite things about Luffy is how he forces character growth on those around him just by the way he does things. Some of the characters even point out in one of the arcs (CP9) that Luffy seems to instinctively know who the strongest of the enemies are and that he claims him/her as his own, then lets the rest of his crew handle the rest of that guys crew. Characters like Usopp are straight up forced to grow and develop, because they can't afford to stay weak- Luffy depends on them too much.

Even bad guys stay relevant. Seriously. They come back. And it's awesome.

It has the single greatest story arc in a story I have ever seen. Whitebeards War is by far the coolest story arc I've ever read in my life. I have read a lot. I've read everything from Dickens to Tolstoy, from Eddings to Gemmel. I've read classical literature, modern fantasy to mystery to science fiction to whathaveyou.

And Whitebeards War is the greatest individual story arc I've ever seen. From Impel Down to the time skip, goddamn.

Characters arent afraid of being weird, and weird characters are able to be badass despite how bizarre they are. Bon Cre, you were amazing. Epicly amazing.

And Oda actually planned everything out. We STILL haven't seen a pirate with an eye patch yet, and Oda has gone on record saying he's saving it for something special.

Villains powers are allowed to make sense, and don't have to be bigger-is-better power spikes like DBZ. Enel is, Word of God, the strongest person we see up until Whitebeard shows up (ignoring Shanks), and would have had one of the highest bounties in the series if the marines had known he existed (500million, which Luffy only hit this chapter. The only people higher were Ace and Chinjao, the pointy head guy), and yet he was a BEATABLE villain because of pure luck. His reaction to Luffy was hilarious, and you will know what I mean when you get there.

Basically, One Piece is everything every other Shounen tries to be, and with the exception of Gash Bell, every other shounen fails at.

It is very much worth the read, all 801 chapters of it.

Edit: I don't watch the anime, because i get bored of anime quick. The anime does actually seem to be pretty good at staying true to the manga, and there are some scenes that just need to be watched rather then read to get the full hilarity of them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiokMc7g0bk)

 

oda is the master of shounen manga, even after 800 chapters, it still feels fresh.

 

Spoiler

So we've started to see what might be the new 7th Shichibukai and 3rd Admiral. That Jack from Caesars broadcast is working under Kaidou. Spandam is working under Lucci. A 4th Revolutionary strong enough to be shown with Sabo, Dragon and Iva. An epic Doflamingo rant, and Sanji has done something or is someone to warrant capturing only alive. My guess is that he might be the son of that younger blonde Gorosei. This whole chapter was amazing.

 

Isn't the gear system exactly 2,3,4 ?
Not that I dont agree with the sentiment that one piece is awesome. And that everyone should at least give it a try!

 

All the gears serve different purposes. Not exactly a linear system of strength.

 

Not at all. Luffy still uses all the gears for different situations. He needs to be faster? Gear 2nd. Needs to hit harder or attack a large surface area/group of enemies? Gear 3rd. Want to yell KING KONG AINT GOT NUTHIN ON ME? Gear 4th.

He's never ignored using previous gears when he unlocked another. Hell, he developed 2nd/3rd at the same time so thats a hint that they each serve a purpose.

As far as this chapter goes tho, i think Oda finally gave a lot of credence to those who thought Sanji was a prince or noble. Only Alive on his bounty and it happened after his bounty picture switched to his actual portrait. Obviously someone from his past saw it and recognized him, and given he went missing from that cruise ship when he was only a child, it's unlikely it's an "enemy" so it must be family, one rich enough to get the "Only Alive" tag on a bounty of a Strawhat Pirate no less.

 

If you're going to get into One piece the best thing I can tell you is..deal with the weird characters, it might seem like a silly thing but sooner or later it will grow on you.

 

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...est/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140211191437

That dude is one of the most epicly awesome characters you come across in the series. Just take a look at him, and imagine what it would take for him to become a badass.

That's some serious writing.

 

I feel like this is one of One Piece's greatest strengths, the fact that it's silly characters always manage to become relevant and have real depth instead of being one off gags.

 

New Chapter is out, and I can tell I'm gonna hate the two new characters :/

 

^ Yup. Still, no hype for Zou being what it is? As some guys on the subreddit are saying, we could be in for more Void Century drops ahead.

 

Yeah, Zou is fascinating in its implications.

I mean, in those 1000 years, at least one ship must have sunk because of a monumental amount of literal elephant shit falling from the sky, right?

 

Reading the last few posts makes me feel bad that I really lost interest in OP after the time skip.

 

This chapter cracked me up. Like not chuckling in my head like usual, but i laughed out loud in a couple spots. Luffy saying they were all gonna die and asking Nami to save them was fucking hilarious. I'm liking Bartolomeo's crew even more also.

To think Zou is an actual living giant elephant is pretty crazy. Those eyes(or lack thereof) look like they've seen some shit too. Curious what that thing can possibly eat to sustain itself as big as it is.

I feel bad for Whitebeer. He's gonna get his ass kicked all because of his greedy momma. Weird how he seems to be another "Oars Jr" though. He has Oars' hair, and he's stitched up like Oars too. At first i thought it was just his arm, but looks like he was decapitated at one point as well.

 

Sometimes it feels like the arcs drag on too long, but whenever one ends, and so much stuff is getting shown and revealed, I can't wait for the next one to start proper. I really hope they didn't get anything from Whitebeard's body to make Whitebeer, possibly, that's my theory on it, at least.

 

So some mother fucker with either retarded good memory or something dug up some previous foreshadowing on the Mink tribe back in the Schabody Archipelago arc where Duval was showing them the starting prices for the different races at the slave auction.

And Minks were shown on the list for 700,000 beri. Here's the image if anyone wanted to see.

I think the only race we haven't seen yet is the Snakenecks. Possibly the dwarves, but I think the Dwarves are actually Tontattas.

 

Theres a theory that the Mink people are the half animal people, like Pekoms and Bepo.

 

Im pretty sure Bepo is just a old crew member of Laws that got supremely fucked up and Law saved him by transferring his "soul" to the body of a bear. As for Pekoms, wasn't it confirmed he has a lion zoan DF?

But yea, i'm pretty sure you're right still, like the little girl that was running away from Kaidou's subordinates.