One Piece, anime wackiness meets Pirates of the Caribbean

I think One Piece has got to be one of the best (lengthy) mangas I've ever read. Most mangas teeter and decline after the first couple of arcs, but One Piece really pumps the gas into every arc. I never really bothered to watch the anime since I'm more of a manga-holic, but so far the manga is definitely top notch. The art itself lends itself to humor, and it is totally not cliched, unlike the majority of manga I see out there. Oda has this special blend of humor and yet emotional seriousness, especialy dealing with character development and event situations. If anything, I really enjoy the character relationships within each other. Each character has his/her own personality, although simple, but at the same time readers like me can over-analyze them in ways even Oda probably didn't mean for them to be.

As must as I would love to rave about One Piece, the easiest thing I can say is: GO READ IT.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Anyone up to par with the manga? Ch. 432 is the latest I've caught up with:

Spoiler:

Really interesting to hear about Luffy's lineage... what kind of family does he have?! Then to see Coby and that other dude, that was pretty cool.

Merry's goodbye was so sad! I really loved it though.

Oh, and Usopp/Sogeking. That facade was pretty funny, even through Merry's goodbye Usopp couldn't help but sob. Poor Usopp, he was so attached!

I can't quite pick an absolute favorite character, but I know Luffy rounds out to the top, and then Sanji. Sanji just has those weird quirky qualities that makes him bad ass, at the same time, a stupid whipped boy.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've found out online that another group was translating One Piece, Jinchuuriki (sp?). They've been doing recent Naruto but I think they dropped. They are up to 439, but I'm loyal to Null, who're up to 434.

About 434

Spoiler:

Dude, Shanks vs. Whitebeard! And Ace vs. Blackbeard! I really hope Ace does pull out, since Shanks heeded that terrible warning not to fight him. I want to see more Ace in action, though. Hopefully he doesn't sleep on the job.

This makes me wonder, does Shanks even know that Luffy has become so powerful (making his good arm sacrifice worth it)? And I think by now the ENTIRE WORLD knows that Dragon is the father of Luffy and Garp his grandfather. Does this make Ace's lineage the same? Wikipedia states it as still unknown, even bringing up possibility of half or step relations.

I think Franky will join, but what about Usopp? Will he "drop out" like he did before? I don't see a reason why he should, although in most fights he has proven to be a minor fighter.

About DF users, I agree that the last two devil fruit users, the giraffe and the soap making girl, were lame. But I think that was intentional from Oda (maybe comic) because those two just ate the fruit without thinking about consequences and dealt with those weird powers. I enjoyed the more interesting sounding DF users, especially those with elemental properties (like Aokiji and Ace).

I think the next arc has a lot of potential, especially with the big pirates duking it out. Are the big four, as Garp pointed out, Whitebeard, Shanks, Blackbeard, and Dragon?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.