I think one of the core reasons that One Piece has outlived and outshined its contemporaries (namely Naruto and Bleach) is that it never was particularly insistent that its main character was an average guy. Early parts of Naruto and Bleach try to stress the humble beginnings of their protagonists and that pure grit and determination allow them to overcome enemies who are naturally gifted. This then gets subverted in a disappointing way when you learn that Naruto has all of this pedigree and Ichigo is an everything bagel of every notable spiritual race of beings.
Meanwhile Oda drops in from the start with a main character who is a freaking weirdo with lots of early references that connect him both directly and figuratively to influential persons in his world. His humble beginnings come from his naivety and inexperience but not necessarily from being ordinary, and his relatability is seen in his convictions rather than in trying to pitch him as some sort of everyman. As such it doesn’t seem as weird when Luffy consistently wins his fights with what would be a contrived reveal of new abilities in another series. And in fact the few times that Luffy outright fails are really drilled with extra meaning as a result.
The end result is that when you learn that Luffy has literal Roger Rabbit cartoon powers due to being imbued with the power of a sun god, rather than the exasperated sigh you might feel from other stories you instead reach for the popcorn.
if you think im insane for drawing all the scales individually, i will say, it is surprising therapeutic and was quite enjoyable and i think i will do it more often
Some One Piece Minks drawings I’ve been accumulating (technically I know some of them don’t fit under the mink category but lets just say they are still all minks).
That awkward moment when your childhood friend grew up to be one of the most powerful pirates in the world… and meanwhile you’re still a clown in every sense of the word.
I saw this request, went “Got it!” and got to drawing. Only when screenshotting it did I realize that I’d missed that it was supposed to be melancolic. Perhaps, all along… the clown was me.
