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Hey everyone! So I’m kind of behind on the bloganuary prompts but you know what, that’s ok. For day two’s memory prompt, I made a list of my earliest weeb memories, and for day three’s prompt, I decided to talk about One Piece again. Actually, when the prompt came out I was reading One Piece and I thought to myself, funny how the prompts are lining up with my reading!
But maybe I should mention what the prompt is before we continue: What is a treasure that’s been lost? Before I answer this question, I thought it would be fun to jump into volume two of this series because it focuses heavily on treasures, especially lost ones
In volume two of One Piece, Luffy and Zoro are finally at sea again, except that now they have a bit of a problem. They’re hungry and not really sure where they’re going. They need a navigator and fast. Luckily, or perhaps not, they bump into Nami, the self-proclaimed best navigator!
I don’t think I’ll be screenshotting the definition of treasure this time because I’m pretty sure I know what that is. Treasure is something we consider valuable, such as Gold Roger’s One Piece, which I assume we all assume is gold and material wealth. A material wealth I’m sure we would all love to possess. I know I wouldn’t mind it! But I’m sure we can also agree that treasure can be something as simple as a drawing or something intangible like recognition. Treasure is subjective
Luffy’s Treasure
When Nami first encounters Luffy, she tells him she steals treasure from pirates. And since she’d just witnessed Luffy take down a group of pirates coming after her, while aggressively telling them, “Don’t touch…the hat!”, she decided to ask if it was valuable. After Luffy calls it his treasure, Nami asks if perhaps he’s hiding jewels or a treasure map in there because, at face value, the hat is just a hat. A treasure to her means riches. But since we know the origin of Luffy’s hat, we know that his meaning of treasure is more symbolic
His hat is his treasure because it belongs to Shanks, someone who he looks up to and respects. It’s a promise that he will become strong enough to sail the seas and return it to its rightful owner
Nami’s Treasure
Although! As the chapter progresses, we learn that perhaps Nami’s definition of treasure is not JUST riches, which leads to another point. We don’t have to have only one treasure.
Nami mentions wanting to buy a certain village, which is again, another example of material wealth, but I wonder if perhaps she’s only hiding behind these “treasures”. I haven’t gotten too far in the series so I don’t know Nami all that well, but she’s very determined to raise that money. So much so that she’s not afraid to risk her life (or others’ lives, to a degree, and probably only if they’re pirates). I won’t spoil later moments, but perhaps her “ultimate” (if we make it a tier) treasure is something less physical and more symbolic like Luffy’s hat
Chouchou’s Treasure
In this volume, we also meet two others who have treasures. One of them is Chouchou (the dog) and the other is the Mayor. We learn from the Mayor that Chouchou has been guarding his mater’s store for years now, even knowing that he’s dead. He calls it Chouchou’s treasure and we can see how this is true when Chouchou fights Mohji the Lion Tamer. In this scene, Mohji is trying to get inside the shop with his building-sized lion to get some food for it. Chouchou tries to fight them off, getting up no matter how many times he’s knocked down. We can see the memories that the shop represent
Sadly, in the end, Chouchou’s shop gets destroyed (burned down) and he’s seen crying over the fact. Luffy witnesses this and manages to get back the last surviving item for him: a box of pet food. Chouchou is grateful and later becomes a loyal ally
But do treasures that are treasures because they’re tied to memories, make the memory disappear when they’re destroyed? No, and I don’t think Chouchou believes that either, but I think that mementos are an important part of our culture so it was nice to see this scene. The food will one day mold, if it hasn’t already, and all Chouchou will have is a cardboard box, but that’s ok
The Mayor’s Treasure
The Mayor is the last person we see who talks about a treasure. Well, sort of. After seeing all the destruction Buggy and his crew have been making of his town, and being inspired by Luffy, the Mayor decides it’s his time to finally stand up for his treasure, which is their town. He talks about his townspeople building it from nothing after they’d been forced to run from another previously destroyed town (suspicious…they being followed?). He believes that he’s sat around moping and crying for long enough. It was time to fight back!!
To bring back the talk of bravery, I do think he’s more foolish than brave here, especially when he tries to stop Luffy and Zoro from helping him…after he was suffocating to death (and they save him)
This also brings up another question about treasures: how far are we willing to go to protect our treasures? And what treasures are worth protecting?
What is a treasure that’s been lost?
If I had to put it simply, I would say that I am a treasure that has been lost. Or perhaps it’s “a purpose”. You see, I grew up having many treasures. Someone would give me a stone and I’d treasure it. I would get cards and I’d save them. All of these are material items, but I also had bigger dreams when I was younger. I suppose you could say the “problem” was that I had too many treasures, and people knew about them.
Many of the things I loved were used against me as punishment and eventually, I learned to hold nothing too close. I learned that if someone started taking things from me, I should just move on. It wasn’t worth it to keep fighting and there was the added bonus of upsetting them. That they couldn’t control me. Wow, it actually hurts a lot thinking about it even now. I guess I haven’t let go completely. I think that in doing this, I stopped holding things dear to me and what are we when we can’t connect with our world in a deeper way?
I don’t really have a Luffy in my life to come and inspire me like he does with the Mayor and maybe I’m not as strong as Chouchou. He fought and fought. I didn’t.
I suppose you could say that the closes thing I have to a treasure is this blog. It’s one of the things that’s been with me the longest and it’s a residue of who I used to be. It’s like a haven of sorts. I feel like I can be just a little bit more genuine on here than IRL, even though sometimes it also stresses me out. But is it a good treasure to hold onto? Can a treasure also be a shackle?
Wow, that got a bit dark! Feel free to be dark in the comments with me. Or cheery! I welcome both sides. Do you have a lost treasure? Alt. do you know of a treasure that’s been/being lost? Moving away from myself, I think that we’re losing many things around the world. And by “losing” I mean purposefully destroying (or being left to be destroyed). Indigenous cultures, WW2 victims, humanity, basic human rights, the environment, and so much more
A Nerdy Fujo Cries 