While your opinion is valid I just want to add that I can ship a damn orange and beagle if I want to. I don't care how "foolish" it is, leave me be, and secondly, I don't think that Oda favors Nami, she's no Sasuke to him. She's had her fair share of fights where she's gotten hurt, she's not untouchable or anything. Her fight with Doublefinger was pretty bad, she didn't walk away unharmed, plus stabbing herself out of desperation is no joke either, but I will say that in the grand scheme of things, I do think Nami has been cheated when it comes to fights, but that's what this arc is supposed to be about. We haven't gotten to see her, Sanji, Chopper or Brook show what they've learned in the past two years. So I'm sure she'll get an ass kicking fight.
Oh and I think you might be missing the point between Zeff and Sanji. It's not about Zeff telling him not to hit a woman, it's the fact that he flat out told Sanji that as his parent it's his job to make sure he doesn't grow up to be a douche. Telling him "please don't grow up into someone I despise." must hit home to a child whose actual father wanted him to be a monster, to be cruel and unmerciful to everyone. That's why its meaningful. It's probably one of Sanji's first morals he learned from a father figure. I'm sure his mother did some things too, but from what we got Sanji wasn't able to be with her much :/
Relax, I was joking, though I do find it funny that you do ship so intensely in One Piece same for those that do so in Pokemon, hence my little jab.
Oda does favor Nami. She has never ever received the types of injuries that Robin and the other boys have gotten, especially Usopp. All her fights are won because her opponents turn into monologuing idiots when they face her while those same opponents seriously try to kill other members of the Straw Hats. Look at how easily Brulee captured Chopper and Carrot for instance, yet started on a grand exposition trip when the same thing should have happened to Nami. She was hurt in her fight with Doublefinger but given what happened to Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Usopp in that arc she was treated lightly. Furthermore, that was over a decade ago. Doublefinger, Enel, Khalifa, etc, by all means should have killed her, and while that obviously wouldn't happen for a number of reasons, it's become painfully obvious that her fights are won thanks to a case of severe PIS which the other SHs have never had on their side.
I understand Zeff is important to Sanji, everybody does, but the brief flashback doesn't do the intensity of his morals justice by any stretch. It requires external self-imposed reasoning to carry any value as opposed to Oda as the writer showing this himself and that's not because it was intentionally left for self-interpretation, it was as blatant as can be. It was simply jammed in there to one-up Judge, particularly with the use of the word "parent", and came off as forced. Not everything Sanji is has to come from Zeff, though from a story perspective a significant amount of it should. We knew that Sanji greatly values Zeff even before observing Judge, he just served to strengthen that thought, and his reluctance to harming women doesn't carry the weight it would had he decided upon that due to his own experiences rather than something instilled in him by another. It means he would still have room to grow as he realises that there are some women he will have to harm regardless of not wanting to because they are just as dangerous as the men in the New World. Now that we know it's Zeff's morals he adheres to so greatly it's pretty much telling us he will never harm a woman and I don't like stagnant characters. Sanji is currently my favorite character, though that tends to shift around the SHs frequently, and I'd like for him to be his own character rather than a sponge that soaks up and repeats morals. Truthfully, I had thought it to do with his childhood and considered that a much more telling story but Oda simply used it only to one-up Judge which was, again, unnecessary.
You guys seem to forget how much Luffy was panting. He had to exhaust so much to do a gatling gun, to combat what Cracker could just remake in a second. There was no getting to Cracker for Luffy. In fact, Cracker could slice through Luffy's haki with ease. Take away Nami as support and Luffy loses the fight.
Yeah, but Zoro x Tashigi is gonna happen.
Oh? No Zoro x Robin ship? That's a rarity.
Edited by MoonStar, 07 October 2016 - 12:47 AM.
