A bit late, but since I’ve finished the pre-time skip (a few months ago, actually, so this is late), I think I’ll go over all the main arcs/sagas of the pre time skip era. Spoilers ahead, so tread carefully and make sure not to open anything that’s in spoilers unless you’ve already seen it.
Alabasta saga:
Great saga. It was genuinely when One Piece captured my attention, although it had already honestly. Better than the Arlong Park arc. We get new characters on the crew such as Chopper and Robin. Chopper’s intro arc was pretty good, and I liked his backstory with how he ate the human-human fruit and how he was despised by everyone except Dr. Hiriluk who took him in. Yes, Chopper is the ship’s doctor, and I’m not sure I could ask for a better one. Voiced by the same VA as Pikachu in Japanese in fact, which is pretty cool. Robin, though she originally worked for Crocodile, became a very good addition to the Straw Hat Crew. Great saga honestly.
Skypiea Saga:
Honestly this saga wasn’t as good as the last, but it was a decent saga. Jaya was interesting, and never have I wanted to see someone get beaten by Luffy as badly as Bellamy. Good thing he actually did get beat up at the end of the arc though. Skypiea Arc had an interesting setting, and a somewhat interesting story. I just felt like it wasn’t as interesting as the arc that came before it. It kind of lacked the excitement the last arc had, maybe due to lack of good fights in this arc. I don’t know. Still pretty good.
Water 7 Saga:
Let’s just say I think this saga is peak One Piece so far. You get the new addition of Franky the shipwright, who I did not expect to be a demolitionist before he became a Straw Hat. The twist villains were pretty interesting honestly, and the story was very good for Water Seven. The conflict between Usopp and Luffy was also great, even though I knew Usopp was gonna come back to the crew eventually. It felt so strange for him to leave. I’m glad he came back. Enies Lobby Arc was the best arc I’ve seen so far in One Piece. The fights were great, and the power ups of the crew were amazing, especially Luffy’s Gear Second and Third, additions I feel were needed to keep Luffy both interesting enough and powerful enough for the Grand Line. Rip the Going Merry though, as we said goodbye to that ship in this saga. The Thousand Sunny is a great successor to the Going Merry though, so I’m happy with it.
Thriller Bark Saga:
Definitely not as good as the last saga. Brooke is quite interesting and I do like his relation with Laboon and that distant connection to the Straw Hats in that sense. Though not the best character, he’s a decent addition to the Straw Hat crew. The arc itself was decent enough I guess. The concept was very interesting, though I feel the arc dragged on too long, and I’m not sure how I feel about Gecko Moria. He looks quite strange, that’s for sure. The reveal of Kuma was cool though, especially Zoro’s sacrifice which ultimately led him to be severely injured. He did survive, but still.
Paramount War Saga:
Very good saga honestly. The final saga of pre-time skip, and it’s a solid one. Sabaody Archipelago is a very good arc, with the introduction of characters like Rayleigh, the man who was second in command to Roger (I think), who was once the King of the Pirates (as is known at this point in the story.) Hachi returns, which is cool because he was definitely the nicest fishman out of Arlong’s crew. The discrimination against fishman and the slavery was honestly disgusting, but was shown well. The celestial dragons are probably the most despicable characters in One Piece. Luffy definitely was just to punch one right in the face. Also the other rookies were definitely cool, like Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid (I think that’s his name?). The separation of the Straw Hats was truly sad, and even though I knew they would reunite again, it was still sad to see it happen. Kuma teleports them all to different places, and yeah, it was sad to see.
Amazon Lily was a decent arc. An all female island with strong warriors, the strongest which almost rival Luffy. He does get the best of them though, and the Queen, one of the seven Warlords of he sea, Boa Hancock, ended up falling in love with Luffy. Also I checked age difference, and in our world that relationship would be very illegal. Maybe not now though, Luffy is 19 in post time skip. He was 17 then though. We hear Ace is being kept in Impel Down and that he’s going to be executed, so of course Luffy, with the help of Hancock, gets to go to Impel Down to save his broher Ace.
Impel Down was a cool arc. Familiar faces return, like Buggy, Mr. 3, and Mr. 2, and we see new faces, like what is essentially the boss of the prison Magellan, and Jimbei, a former warlord of the sea and a Fishman. Also Ivan, who works for Monkey D. Dragon in the Revolutionary Army. Oh yeah, Luffy is the son of Monkey D. Dragon, and Dragon’s father is Garp, who trains Coby and Helmeppo. I forgot to mention that a couple sagas back. Anyways, the escape of mass prisoners is successful, but Ace being saved is unsuccessful. Luffy nearly died to Magellan’s poison but was saved by Ivan. Now Luffy goes with a bunch of other people to save Ace.
Marineford is a very large event in the One Piece Universe, and honestly this is a very good arc as well. Whiteboard declares war on the navy and tried to save Ace. Is it really a war though? It’s one large battle really. Anyways, this arc truly shows how weak Luffy is compared to the strongest of the strongest. We used to think of Luffy as this very powerful character who could overcome any challenge, and although he is powerful, it pales when we see the other most powerful characters. Luffy almost saves Ace, but when Akainu, one of the three admirals of the navy, puts a hole through Ace’s stomach, it’s all over. A great but sad moment honestly. Jimbei saves Luffy but ultimately has a hole out in him too by Akainu. Not fatal like Ace’s though, and Luffy’s chest is grazed by Akainu as well as a result of him putting a hole through Jimbei. Law takes Luffy and takes him away from the war, Whitebeard dies from many wounds, and the war ends. Luffy heals, but not before Jimbei tells Luffy to get ahold of his feelings and remember what’s in the present: his friends, aka his crew. With that, Luffy goes back to Marineford to make a sign to his friends: We will not meet back at Sabaody Archipelago in three days (a goal set by Luffy when they were in trouble back in Sabaody Archipelago arc), but instead two years. And with that, the time skip happens. A solid way to end off the pre time skip, and made me exited for the post time skip.
It’s funny, because even now, the pre time skip makes up the majority of One Piece. I’ve watched the first two sagas of post time skip One Piece (Fishman saga and Punk Hazard saga), and am currently on Dressrosa. I’m enjoying it so far, and hope the series continues to get better from here.
Hey there! My name is BuilderROB and I am an organizer who hosts tournaments in North Carolina.
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