Post by EriChar on Jul 10, 2015 6:52:53 GMT -5
I'm not sure how many people on the site are familiar with SBS, but if you're not, it's a kind of Question and Answer type deal that Oda does when he releases volumes of the manga, and a lot of the time it reveals information on characters that neither the anime nor manga has the time or scope to deal with. While a lot of this information is trivia, such as the associated animals or countries of the straw hats, or birthdays and ages of characters, there are times when he shares some information that can be quite relevant to the understanding of characters.
The One Piece Wiki has a translation off all currently released SBS so far, so I thought I'd link it so you can peruse at your leisure, however the latest (78) contained some interesting backstory notes for a couple of major characters in the series;
CrocodileReader: I have a question for Odacchi. In "The White City", chapter 762 of volume 76, during the scene where Law stabs Cora-san, I found Crocodile printed on the paper Cora-san was reading.
So what was that article about? P.N. Yamamoto・Sugiyama・Hori
Oda: Yes. I'm quite impressed you found this one~. As you've pointed out, if you look really closely, you can find Crocodile there.
This was from the time when Law was 10 and Doflamingo was 25; 16 years ago from now. Crocodile was 30 at the time.
Similar to Luffy, back when he was young, Crocodile's name spread across the seas with incredible momentum, but soon after he was admitted into the Shichibukai in his mid-20's, he tried to fight Whitebeard and was completely and utterly crushed by him.
Though he seemingly calmed down at this point, his eyes became set on the kingdom of Alabasta, and it happened to be precisely during this time period that he was being featured in the papers as a hero who hunted down pirates. In other words, that was an article reporting the acts of heroism by Crocodile at the time!
X DrakeReader: The one who was with Barrels, the pirate called "Dorry", was X Drake, captain of the Drake pirates, right?! It struck me when I saw the name "Diez", found the scar on his chin, and discovered that he comes from the sea of the North.
So does that mean that Barrels is Drake-san's father? from Kobe Prefecture, Kazuki-kun
Oda: Yes, that's correct!! Well done with your findings.
X Drake, along with Luffy and the others, is a member of the youthful "Worst Generation" of pirates that stirred up a great deal of commotion around the world. His father, Barrels, used to be a Marine Officer and Drake admired this, dreaming of becoming a great Marine just like him one day. However; who knows what happened, but his father suddenly turned into a pirate and became a terrible man who would physically abuse even his own son. Drake, who still believed in his past father and followed him around, and was aged 19 at this time (13 and a half years ago). Though that's a bit too old to be calling him a boy, he probably seemed to look a lot younger while he was weakened with the fear of his father. Later, he fatefully crossed paths with Law, and the Marines soon took custody of him, leading Drake to become a Marine. The thing is, as if resigning himself to fate, after Drake made his way all the way up to becoming a Rear Admiral in the Marines, he ended up leaving the navy and becoming a pirate himself!!
Just what happened? What's he thinking? Hey, you!! ---come onnnnnn.
I'm interested in seeing the future of Drake, who has also made an appearance in a cover series!!
I find the dynamics that both these characters have gone through to be quite interesting? Crocodile who was once much wilder and aggressive, needing to adapt after a crushing defeat. X Drake who seemed to want so badly to believe in his parent, only to see him for what he truly was, and yet still end up on a similar path to him?
I know some of Crocodiles backstory was hinted at, but it's interesting to know he was a Shichibukai for the best part of twenty years, and that people idolized him for being a Pirate Hunter much like Zoro was named? I always found it strange that he was regarded as such a hero initially, when the information 'we' got was that he was obviously being duplicitous?
Drake's little cameo in the Corazon flashback was very subtle, and in all honesty, I only realized it long after I had first read the chapter. It struck me as odd, when I realized that was Drake, that in his childhood pic he seemed so happy about Marine life? Then as a Teenager he was part of a pirate crew. Then he was a Marine again... It seemed very conflicting? On the whole, all of this makes me very excited to see Drake's story unfold?
Personally, I think these are good character development lines, from characters that we might otherwise overlook? Bearing these portrayals in mind, it makes me really want to give a greater sense of character development and dynamism?