These three scenes from the recent episodes on Wano struck me as similar at first because of the way Marco, Corazon and Yamato say the word “Free”. But as always with One Piece, there are other common threads woven in here - of Fathers, Fate, Loss, and Inherited Will.
Yamato has no freedom because he is the son of Kaido. Marco and Law, on the other hand, were both put on the path to freedom by their adoptive fathers.
Marco, the first son of Whitebeard, is no longer bound by his father’s voice, or his will. He is free to do as he chooses. Yamato, who felt bound to remain on Onigashima by his father’s will, is finally able to express his true desire with the help of Whitebeard’s other son, Ace.
Ace helps Yamato break free – metaphorically – from the shackles of Kaido, and realize his desire to follow in the footsteps of Oden; the same way that Ace himself sought to break free from the shackles of Roger, and would go on to follow Whitebeard, picking up the mantle previously held by Oden.
Law’s situation is a bit more nuanced; Corazon’s words still have a hold over him, but not in a way that takes away his free will. Sengoku ensures that Rosinante’s will, for Law to be free, is carried forward – by telling him that Corazon’s love for him, that the act of saving him, is not tied to Law’s status as a bearer of the Will of D. Where Law might have felt compelled to seek the true history in repayment of Corazon’s sacrifice, he now chooses to do so of his own volition. This freedom is a recent development – for all that Corazon willed him to be free, Law never truly escaped the shackles of Doflamingo until the man was defeated – by Ace’s little brother, Luffy.
Yamato rejects the hand dealt to him by fate in order to start on his path to freedom, whereas Law, upon finally gaining his freedom, sets out to find the meaning behind his fate. Their actions on Onigashima are driven by the will they inherited from another – Law by Corazon’s will, and Yamato by Oden’s – just as Marco’s very presence on Onigashima is driven by the will he inherited from Ace.
Law lost the father that nudged him towards freedom, Yamato lost Ace, and Marco… Marco lost them both. Yet of the three it is Marco – who carries in him a bit of Whitebeard, a bit of Ace, and a bit of Oden – that experiences freedom in the truest sense.
But honestly think about this from his perspective, he’s lost so much, first with Marineford and then the payback war, it makes sense that he’s kind of numb to it at this point. That doesn’t make this any less sad though, his friend and brother(that he has known since he was a child mind you) is dead and gone like his father and countless brothers and like them there is nothing Marco can do about it. I love how whenever we get Marco you can kind of tell he hasn’t exactly moved on from what happened at Marineford, I mean he has, but it’s not like he reverted back to who he was before, he’s different and the loss changed him. Idk this scene really stuck with me, I feel like Marco’s really underrated and deserves more love.
I wasn’t even thinking about o-kiku, but yeah, that would really hurt. The difference between Marco and Kiku with Izo is that Marco had time with him, he got to get to know Izo and watch him grow up as well as growing up with him. Kiku didn’t have that, even with the time-travel it has been YEARS since she’s seen her brother. So when she finally does get to see him and he then DIES.
Like
That’s got to hurt.
And I bet she was building herself up to see her brother again, and for them to bond and catch up, but now they can’t. Izo is gone and Kiku didn’t really get to know him, so much of her brother is now lost to her, she can only learn about him through other peoples stories and how they perceived him.
It’s tragic
and sad,
because even after all this time and heartache they will NEVER get to be
But honestly think about this from his perspective, he’s lost so much, first with Marineford and then the payback war, it makes sense that he’s kind of numb to it at this point. That doesn’t make this any less sad though, his friend and brother(that he has known since he was a child mind you) is dead and gone like his father and countless brothers and like them there is nothing Marco can do about it. I love how whenever we get Marco you can kind of tell he hasn’t exactly moved on from what happened at Marineford, I mean he has, but it’s not like he reverted back to who he was before, he’s different and the loss changed him. Idk this scene really stuck with me, I feel like Marco’s really underrated and deserves more love.
It’s hitting him hard.
and despite Izou knowing who he’d leave behind
it’s a choice he made for them
and to save them.
I wish he’d adhered to the Usopp school of survival
I guess it was imperative that O-Kiku survive.
But couldn’t they both have survived? And couldn’t we have had a little more brotherly interaction
