Is Alabasta the peak of One-Piece?

[Fantastische Hure]

I was challenged. Took me a long time to figure a topic out, since I forgot so much about One-Piece besides the major stuff, so I couldn't think of any thread and made quite a generic one. But I don't think it's been asked before anyway. Do you think Alabasta is when One-Piece was at its best? Everything seemed to work in this arc, IIRC. Every member of the crew got their chance to shine and this was also Luffy's first really huge challenge (you could argue Arlong, but even with Arlong it was mostly through the water and stuff once Luffy got angry he literally stomped Arlong through the building, even-though you could argue resolve boost). Luffy lost twice before he came-back to defeat Crocodile. Zoro had the second strongest fellow to take-on and he defeated him in a kewl way, the anime made this really gr9 with the way it was shown and the music playing. Then obviously there's also a lot of the political stuff, which I can't remember quite as much of or at-least not any minute details besides the obvious.

So what do you think?

 

[Papasmurf]

I personally found the CP9 arc more "exciting," but from a writing perspective Crocodile had an almost final villain-like aura to him, and the Baroque Works arc already had buildup when Laboon and that old man showed up so I'd say this arc is overall better. It's not without its flaws though like that nuke Crocodile was going to drop doing absolute jack shit, or his weakness being rather ridiculous (lol he didn't know blood makes him solid).

 

[Fantastische Hure]

It's possible he just thought Luffy wouldn't figure it out. It's not really ridiculous even in a real-life sense in real-life you can also grasp sand more easily if it's wet before. It won't fall through your fingers or you can build houses in beaches.

 

[Papasmurf]

It's still rather crappy writing, I guess. Would've been better had the dance powder been used to make it rain right then and there and Luffy used a gum-gum gatling gun to smash the roof, allowing them to fistfight at their fullest until they both drown from all the water.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

We got the (distant) second best possible ending.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Most likely. The only other One Piece Arc I found as good as it was the Whitebeard War and considering how some it's quality hinges on setting up future events, most of which have been completely ruined such as Luffy's development (or lack thereof) the Baroque Works Arc has held up far better in the long run.

 

[sei'taer]

Either that or Enies Lobby.

That by no means makes the rest of the series bad to me, but those are the highlights for me as a fan.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

I don't think I ever even got to the war or even CP9 (if that's the one with that Lucci character). :OP: :OP: :OP:

 

[SSJ2]

I think it's the peak of quality, but I found the stretch of Water 7, Impel Down, and the Whitebeard War to be just as enjoyable.

 

[sei'taer]

I honestly don't get the love for the paramount war so much.

 

[Papasmurf]

Impel Down was probably my favorite arc after Alabasta and CP9

 

[ahill1]

CP9 was honestly my favorite arc, even though it repeated some of the plot points from previous saga. Although in the opinion of most people the Paramount War was OP's peak.

 

[Diamond Ryan]

Alabasta was an extremely enjoyable saga, it was long but didn't feel dragged out unlike Skypiea, and Crocodile was a pretty entertaining villain. It's definitely a contender for the best saga in One Piece.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

What are the other contenders? I assume they'd all be pre-time-skip, other than maybe Dressrosa even-though I heard even that would be considered by most to be a poor meng's Alabasta.

Skypiea had a real adventure feel to it though. With all the discovering and stuff. Stayed very true to the genre until the fight with Eneru.

 

[Diamond Ryan]

Probably Water 7 or Sabaody (as well as Impel Down and Marineford). All of them were very enjoyable imo.

 

[sei'taer]

Alabasta was an extremely enjoyable saga, it was long but didn't feel dragged out unlike Skypiea, and Crocodile was a pretty entertaining villain. It's definitely a contender for the best saga in One Piece.

Skypiea holds up a lot better on re-read.

Sabody was only really good for the separation.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

What are the other contenders?

Only arc that comes close is the Whitebeard War due to subverting the typical formula of the series as well as the twists it took.

Most would cite CP9 as another contender, though I'd say it has too many asspulls such as the Monster Trio's power ups, the plot armour/convience of the Merry saving everyone and the character regression of Usopp and Luffy by the end of the arc for me to rank it anywhere close to Baroque Works or the Whitebeard War.

 

[Warmmedown]

It's one of my favourite arcs, but I can comfortably say that other arcs after that matched it or even surpassed it. In terms of build up to a crescendo, Marineford topped Arabasta, with the introduction of so many strong characters, as opposed to just the one in Arabasta.

 

[Symbiote]

It's in my top 3 since that's where they dropped Vivi. Never liked her as a Strawhat.