I know this may sound odd to other One Piece fans, but it took me until this current arc and recent set of episodes to really appreciate Monkey D. Luffy as one of the best anime characters of all time. For me, the Egghead Arc made clear to me the powerful and timely political message embedded in Luffy’s journey to become the King of the Pirates.
Though any art can have and likely has multiple messages we can glean from it, I think Luffy is a great representation of the idea that morality is more important than ideology. If there was one idea fans of One Piece should take away from it is your ideology doesn’t make you good. Being good makes you good.
We all fall victim to the feeling that we’ve picked the right team, have the right ideas and that in and off itself makes us good. We treat the cohesiveness of our worldviews as a panacea and a fait du compli. All we need to do is think the right things and we are absolved from society’s sins. Of course we all have our own ideologies, and it will always be easier for us (both politically and on our psyche) to condemn the other side than to call out folks on our side. But if we can’t tell folks on our side when they are wrong and even fight them (politically speaking) when necessary, then the world stays the same. Luffy makes it evident that your values and ideals should apply equally to everyone.
To be clear, the show doesn’t act is if we can escape ideology (after all, Luffy wants to be the “King of the Pirates.”). No matter how many truly evil pirates he encounters, that doesn’t mean he’s going to join the Navy. I don’t mean to suggest kumbaya politics or to appeal to centrism in this essay either.
To lay my cards on the table, I consider myself to be on the Left. I think the Left has a better and more thorough understanding of the world, and certainly think the Left has a better vision for what a better world could be than the Right has. Though there are legitimate critiques of how the Left over-polices itself and others, I find the Right (speaking towards the collective, not individuals) is virtually incapable of policing itself. The Right is ironically quite liberal in what it accepts; there seems to be no betrayal of conservative values that won’t be forgiven if it is politically advantageous to do so. What are conservative values if loyalty to power is more important than conservatism?
That being said, Luffy’s example is an example for all of us. Whether you are on the Left, Right, center, wherever, One Piece argues that being good is more important than what team you claim. Being a Christian doesn’t make you good, being a good Christian makes you good. Being an American doesn’t make you good, being a good American makes you good. If you are in the Navy and you do the right thing, Luffy is your friend. If you are in the Navy and do bad things, Luffy will beat your ass. If you are a Pirate and you do the right thing, Luffy is your friend. If you are a Pirate, and do bad things, Luffy will beat your ass.
Doesn’t matter what side you’re on—if you’re good, you receive his joy, friendship, support, protection, solidarity, etc. If you’re bad, you get hands, head-butts, and feet. I think the world could use more that.