Love or Power in Friendship

Summer 2022

I was watching One Piece with Reemo the other day. She’s caught up with the latest episodes and the manga. I’m holding off because I’d rather watch the entire Wano Arc in one go rather than deal with the impatient anticipation of weekly snippets of the next part of the story. We started talking about what we like best about the show. Reemo gravitated towards the heart and life of the show, the bonds that Luffy and his incredibly unique crew shared. She especially loved how each one of the characters was on their own mission, driven by their will to hone their skills, called on by the spirit of adventure and each call sounded slightly different. Luffy was to be the King of the Pirates, Zoro the greatest swordsman in the world, Sanji wanted to find the deep blue, Nami was mapping the world, Usopp dreamt of being a brave warrior of the seas, and Robin wanted to find the mystery behind the ponyglyphs and the lost Century. They all had such different goals, their own direction, a unique melody to their call to arms, and yet, they all shared the same metronome, drummed to the same heartbeat. They were united by Love, bound together by friendship, driven forward and challenged in their personal quests by the camaraderie that wove their destinies together. While I saw the wonder of this honest and genuine emotive engine that propelled the Sunny to the seas, I got caught up in the transformation of these characters rather than the drive that pushed them to become this strong. They all came such a long way, dug deep into their spirit, worked hard to pus their skills forward, were tested again and again, and become more powerful every time. Like WTAF is Zoro in the Wano arc!! AND LUFFY’S 4TH GEAR!!? I was drawn to the power they’ve seemingly appaerated out of thin air ( maybe because my initial attraction to superheroes came from a place of powerlessness), but neglected the real strength of the Straw Hats, their Love. When they disappear for 2 years after Saba Odi, they worked relentlessly, to protect those they cherished, to help themselves and one another, in the same breath, get closer to their goal. One is all and all are one, only if love binds them together, only if its real. A lone wanderer will never reach their destination without companions to enjoy the ride with, without a sense of purpose, a ’why’, to drive them forward. No goal is worth the struggle if our friends aren’t there to welcome us home, if we aren’t there to struggle along side Them. 

Power in our common understanding of it is just an illusion. Foucoult argued that power is circumstantial, it isn’t agential, it’s wielded in and by the circumstances, the role we find ourselves in, but it is put down and evaporates just as soon as we depart the situation or structures that enabled it. Will power however, love, those are uniquely personal to us. There’s this beautiful strength that is felt in a community, the help and support you receive, the sheer belief in your passions, the attestation to the dreams you bring to life. A person can go anywhere when the harmonies of our loved ones amplify our voice.