I’m probably going to do one of these for each upcoming arc, but the next two arcs make for one big arc, so I think I might combine those. Either way, that’s a problem for the future, and knowing how long this next arc takes, I might not even have to think much about that until late this year. Today, let’s take a moment to look back on the arc we just finished: Skypiea. There’s a lot to unpack here, so without wasting any more of your time, let’s dive into it.
Let’s start with the history of Jaya and the Shandians. When Noland first went to explore and landed on the island, he saw the people living there as barbaric. And in Noland’s defense, they mostly were. They were praying to a snake who they treated like a god and offered sacrifices to. Most people living in the modern world would say that that’s not cool. So Nolands plays the hero and saves Kalgara’s daughter from being sacrificed. This infuriates the people and causes them to lock up his entire crew. He then promises he can cure their disease with his knowledge of plants and alchemy and they give him a chance to do so. This turns into a massive success and Kalgara and Noland become fast friends. A bump in the road in the form of some diseased trees is in the way, but they end on a promise. Noland will return and the bell will be run to welcome him back.
This is where the fantasy of exploration ends and where things probably start heading towards a more realistic worldview. There’s likely a reason why the king does not allow Noland’s old crew to accompany them on their search to Jaya, but instead brings his own soldiers with him. The king of the country had no will to ever treat the Shandians with an ounce of respect. I’m willing to bet he’s much more based on western explorers from our own world. Go to America, genocide the natives and then take their land and in this case, their massive golden city. Noland seems to be oblivious to this hidden intent, but there’s no chance Oda wrote this story in this way for no reason. Oda is too deliberate in much of his writing to randomly send the king with soldiers along. There was intent in this decision and the intent was to take over Jaya without Noland and his crew being able to argue against it. So in that aspect it was perhaps a stroke of luck that the knock-up stream sent the city flying into the sky and planted firmly atop the giant beanstalk. This luck would run out pretty shortly after.
The Skypieans’ ancestors very quickly did what Noland’s kingdom was planning to do, and took the large piece of earth and trees for themselves, kicking the Shandians out of their home with violence. This displacement lasted for generations until we get to the present time. Displacing the natives from their land is a dark stain on humanity’s history. One of many, although not everyone is willing to admit that it is. I’m from the Netherlands, we were near the forefront of exploitation in what – when I was in primary school – was still referred to as the golden age. You know, that golden age in which we owned slaves and stole land from people woefully unprepared for our invasions. It’s one thing to be responsible for what your forefathers did – which is not fair – but another to call this era a golden age. My stance on all of it is that acknowledging the atrocities we committed as a country and apologizing to the countries hurt by it is a great first step. Reparations is a much more controversial second step that I think can be a good thing, but is more complex and I don’t want to be here for hours.
What in my opinion makes this part of the story great is the eventual agreement and mutual sharing of the earth. This would never work in a real world like ours, but in a fantasy world, where both parties just barely managed to survive a world-ending threat, it might be easier to grow closer together. In the real world we’d just ignore the end of the world in favor of bickering with each other. Was that commentary on global warming? You tell me. We’ll save that topic for a future One Piece arc, those who know, they know. But I love how Oda has solutions for some of the terrible problems in the world. Most of them involve terrorism by a pirate made out of rubber, but they’re still solutions. Someone is doing a dictatorship? Overthrow the government. Someone stole your floating island? Overthrow the lightning god. Someone has made healthcare unavailable? Overthrow the government. I’m starting to think there’s a theme in this manga.
We leave Skypiea in a better place than we found it, despite all of the destruction and horrors that took place. It’s been fun reading this manga again while being much more aware of the political implications of the arcs. I don’t think I really understood a lot of the subtleties when I was first reading and watching these arcs. I haven’t revisited them in a long time. I was aware of the political implications in the later arcs (the Fishman Island one is incredibly on the nose), but not so much early on. I just saw the bad guys as bad guys and they did bad things because they’re bad people. That’s obviously still true, but there’s much more commentary on how we’ve done things as humans as well. It really elevates the story. I hope you’re enjoying these little revisits as much as I am, because I’m not planning to stop anytime soon. If there’s things I missed, please let me know. I’ve seen many people online who are a million times more perceptive as I am, so I have no doubt there’s things to find. And if not, thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 