It's the most emotional part of the story in the beginning, where we don't truly know the characthers yet. And this sets both Nami and Luffy up for a thrustworthy relationship for the rest of theseries and shows luffys characther off well and and just is so awesome. This is THE moment that had everyone on edge. This is the moment everyone remembers and got the feels. Love this moment.

Yeah, this is probably my favorite arc from what I've seen of the anime, the whole interplay between luffy and nami in it is pretty great.

I have some fanfics for you to peruse. Thrustworthy indeed.

Tell a story of a time that a character just sort of solidified due to an action.

I had been playing the 5th edition beta and had made a halfling barbarian that was acting more of a 'gentleman adventurer' then barbarian. Instead of going into rages I described it as him getting 'intensely focused' on one person at a time that he would attack with his rapier. He would also not kill if he could help it and just really softened the enemies up if they were people that didn't really deserve it. I was, however feeling that the character was a bit flat and the way I was describing him using his skills was just not feeling right for the way the rest of the party was acting.

Cut to a session where our whole party gets captured by the big bad of the campaign and the dm basically roleplays with us getting tortured for what is described as weeks with characters getting limbs chopped off and spikes getting stabbed into my characters wrists. We then escape with the help of a dmpc and get healed by her and then start trying to escape. first combat we get into my barbarian pulls out both weapons he has on him, starts RAGING, leaps up onto a 20 ft high ledge, and kills three crossbowmen in three turns. and thus began the little bouncing ball of blades.

my bard was neutral good and was paired with two evil characters. I had a strong sence of justice and was very determined for the most part they tricked my guy so that they could keep using me but then my character heard them planning to slaughter the people in a nearby town. I went over there warned them and when the characters came by I stood there to try and stop them. in my first true act of goodness and determination I stood their tanking for the townspeople despite only being a bard. in the end I died protecting the townspeople from the evil PC's and because of my help they survived.

I've heard many people talk about this part of the story as one of its strongest parts, as a moment that cements the greatness of One Piece. Looking at the comments as I write this, they are doing so now. I never understood that at a visceral level as I originally read the comic, or on my several readthroughs since. Perhaps I was too young then; perhaps I was too sheltered, unfamiliar with this particular brand of pain. Perhaps it wasn't as great as some seemed to think it was.

Looking at it now, many years later (a decade? probably) and seeing it filtered (overlapped, even) with a different, more familiar scenario; the rigors of drama-focused roleplaying while socially awkward and a girl; I feel like I get it; and in so doing, get all the other things I just mentioned as well just a little bit better than I did before.

I'll be honest, when the preceding page first came out, I didn't really understand it. Were the black speech bubbles the other player's comments? Some of them seemed like they could be. Were they Nat's thoughts? Again, some could be, especially the one at the end. Were they memories? Perhaps. I was confused, but looking back, that confusion seems, if not necessarily intentional, then certainly part of why the 833-834 pair works so well. When your head is in a dark space, telling things apart (your own words and those of others, memories and things that are actually happening) can be difficult. 833 is structured in a way that drags the eye in multiple concurrent directions, making it difficult to understand what to read in what order, and, thusly, what is really happening. The only thing that's really certain is Nami's (Nat's? See again about the blurring of lines and the affect of difficulty) regret at the end.

834 opens in a manner that is almost entirely devoid of content. The slowly repeating panels give us nothing but regret and a sense of continued confusion. It is only with Luke's (and by extension Luffy's) dramatic action that the spell is broken. With a clear outside voice, the difference between the real world and what is in hindsight a painfully obvious PTSD attack (or at the very least something very similar to that) becomes clear, and we can look back, seeing that the other players/characters' faces (are they deliberately placed such that the eye moves over and around them on a first read? It sure seems that way) are shocked, but hardly mocking. Hell, some of them (critically Luke/Luffy) seem even understanding. Rika/Merry's face is a mystery, is that because no better face could be found (Merry is not a character with much screentime) or because Rika, a fellow socially awkward girl, understands more of the situation? Hard to say atm.

Kudos, Dragontrainer, on unlocking the dramatic potential of the screencap RPG comic. Looking forward to more impressive compositions like this one.

I do think Dragontrainer is fully utilizing the sequential comics format to its fullest artistic extent- as you said, the way that 833 isn't only visually chaotic, but gives the reader that same sense of deseperate need to understand what's happening, without giving a clear answer, and this comic's sudden silent focus. I've looked at many, many screencap comics, but this is about the only one that I still regularly read, and that I really look forwards to.


On the emotional impact of this scene in One Piece- I think this is one of those rare instances where the Anime was better than the manga. This sort of emotional breakdown really requires the motion and sound of what's happening to push the impact in.

Thank you to both of you. It really means a lot to have my work commented on at such a deep level. I've been working on how this scene would play out in my head ever since the start of the Baratie Arc. I was originally going to have 832-833 only take up one half a splash page, with 834 taking up the other half. The confusion in 832-833 was indeed intentional and I'm glad you two noticed. The sudden silence in 834 was more of a last minute thing and the decision to do it that way was more instinctual than calculated (in a "hmm... it might look better like this" sort of way). The only part about this page that was planned out was Luke breaking the silence in a huge panel at the end.

P.S. I learned the repeating panels trick in Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art". I highly recommend checking it out.

Please tell me Luke physically walked over and grabbed Nat's wrist.

God this comic is good.

Having said that, I can't help but look at Nami's arm all stretched out and wonky like that.

People have strange proportions in One Piece. Wait till you see the weird ones :p

As a long time fan or One Piece, I already have. I'm talking about just seeing thar frame by itself.

That's a awesome culmination. really. congrat, dragontrainer.