Their Reunion Is So Cute

Their reunion is so cute

i have to take matters into my own hands and post the zolu clip myself

One Piece and Its Nuanced Take on Family

Ok, so here’s the thing: when most series tackle the theme of “real” families, they always usually sing to the tune of “biological families are always bad, and your adopted families are your real, true families!!!” And that’s great!!! Really, it is!!! Although simplistic, it’s an important idea to convey, especially considering how IRL family dynamics work and how others interpret and assess those IRL family dynamics

However, I’m always a little bit sad whenever the fandom oversimplifies One Piece’s theme regarding family to the ones those aforementioned series have since not only is family one of the most essential themes of the series, but it’s also one that One Piece takes great care in portraying in a complex, nuanced fashion in order to show that the meaning of family can be different for everyone

Like Here are the Different Ways One Piece Portrays True Families*:

(*For convenience’s sake, I will define “true family” as one that follows traditional family dynamics–parental figure, sibling figure, etc, and it will encompass only biological or adoptive families. I will mention families composed of friends later on under “found” families. That being said, I’m not saying that found families can’t be your true families, because they absolutely can be. I’m just defining and differentiating these terms thusly for comprehensive purposes)

1. Instead of your biological family, sometimes it’s your adoptive family that’s your real family:

• Sabo was abused by his biological family and he deeply resents them for it, especially since they basically tossed him aside the moment he didn’t turn out the way they wanted him to and since they insulted his friends, so he views his adoptive family with the Revolutionaries as his true family, along with his adopted brothers Luffy and Ace

• Aside from Sora and Reiju, Sanji hates his biological family for being severely abusive to him and just being awful all-around in general, and he doesn’t want to associate with them at all. Instead, he considers his adoptive family with the Baratie Crew to be his true family, especially in the case of Zeff, whom he views as his true father

• Aside from Rouge and Garp, Ace despises his biological family, his dad in particular, and absolutely refuses to have himself be associated with him in any way, shape, or form. Instead, he views his adoptive family with the Whitebeard Crew as his true family, especially in the case of Whitebeard, whom he outright declares to be his true father

2. Instead of your adoptive family, sometimes it’s your biological family that’s your real family:

• Aside from Corazon, Law completely and utterly loathes his adoptive family, the Donquixote Crew, since they tried to raise him as a tool that they would exploit and sacrifice and since they–most importantly and egregiously, as far as Law’s concerned–murdered Corazon, whom Law explicitly declared to be his “most cherished person.” And while he reserves a special hatred in his heart for Doflamingo and Vergo, it’s not just them that he hates; he despises everyone in this crew since he holds them all responsible for the death of Corazon. He even was delighted when Monet died, and she wasn’t even part of the crew when they killed Corazon!! This shows that Law hates his adoptive family so much that the mere fact that Monet willingly associated with them was enough reason for Law to despise her and condemn her to death. (That being said, yes, I know that Law technically did spare Jora, Baby 5, and Buffalo, but that’s mainly because he has more complicated feelings towards them since Baby 5, Buffalo, and Jora were kind to them when he was little. But still, due to their admittedly limited involvement in Corazon’s murder, he still hated them enough to hurt them, torture them, and humiliate them before he ultimately let them live). In contrast, Law still deeply adores his biological family, who treated him with unconditional love and care, and views them as his true family

(… Actually, on this note, if you call people who create fanworks of Sanji being happy and having cute family dynamics with the Vinsmokes gross since he canonically hates them, but you yourself support fanworks of Law being happy and having cute family dynamics with the Donquixote Family, then… you’re literally just as gross tbh since, like Sanji with the Vinsmokes, Law canonically hates their guts. Like I love the Donquixote Family relationship, but I fully acknowledge that Law hates them and that they were abusive and that Law doesn’t consider them to be his family. JUST LIKE HOW A BIOLOGICAL FAMILY ISN’T ALWAYS A GOOD FAMILY, AN ADOPTIVE FAMILY ISN’T ALWAYS A GOOD FAMILY TOO, PEOPLE!!!)

3. Sometimes, your real family is composed of only some of your biological family, and only some of your adoptive family:

• Luffy never outright rejects his biological family, but he never fully embraces them as his real family either. He views his biological grandfather Garp as his real grandpa, for instance, but he’s completely indifferent to his biological father Dragon. And while he’s overall kinda neutral towards his adoptive family with the bandits, he genuinely regards Dadan, Ace, and Sabo as his mother and brothers respectively.

• Robin rejects some members of her biological family, like her abusive aunt and uncle, but fully embraces others, like her biological mother. She… never really had an adoptive family, per se, so I can’t speak much on that topic, but it does show that you can have complicated and varied relationships with your biological family overall

Overall, as people can have multiple families, along with these types of families, the one consistent family everyone has is this one: found families. Friends you make on your journeys, and those who will stick by you and support you until the end

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anime-lover1717

5 years ago

This is hilarious