CAESAR
Caesar Clown is often named as one of the prime candidates as a possible next straw
hat. And while I believe that he in theory fulfils the basic requirements for this, I
think his character serves a completely different purpose in the story after all.
There aren’t all too many parallels to draw between the lord of the rings and One Piece,
two of my all-time favourite works of fiction. One thing however, that both of these worlds
undoudabtlay share is their seeming disregard and even distaste for science and scientific
advancement in their epic world building. While there clearly is some scientific progress
in both worlds, it tends to be associated with military power, destruction and an overall
threat to the vast beauty and pureness of a world, where strength, courage and WILL
determine one’s success in battle, and where the heroes strive to forge a path to peace
and freedom. After all, we don’t want to see a world where Aragon drives around in
a corvette, ordering drone strikes on Mordor. In the lord of the rings, the best example
for stark technological and industrial progress is Saruman, who’s ambitious undertakings
to wage war, go hand in hand with the destruction of the environment, that in the end fights
back against him. And bringing this all the way back to One Piece, the face of Science
and technical advancement in One Piece is of course none other than - Dr. Vegapunk.
Yes, it’s without any doubt the biggest tragedy of Caesar’s character that even
as the archetypical mad scientist-type of antagonist, he is not the dominant face of
Science in One Piece. His arc is arguably the most insignificant after the time skip
and his battle with the straw hats was not exactly a close call. And yet Caesar has stuck
around for 4 consecutive arcs in the story, going from Punk hazard, over Dressrosa and
Zou all the Way to Whole cake Island, traveling together with the crew and developing his
own dynamic with Luffy and co until he finally was free to go his own way after the events
of the Wedding. It is no wonder then, that similar to characters like Momo or Vivi, Caesar
for the longest time was a top contender for the next spot on the Sunny. And while I strongly
believe that Caesar wouldn’t be a great fit for the crew, as we’ll see over the
course of this video, I also think that people who straight-out disregarded this as a realistic
option, have overlooked some crucial aspects of his character. Because Caesar in fact fulfils
a number of general qualifications strongly associated with becoming a straw hat: Having
a quirk, a dream and a tragic backstory. If you’re shaking your head at this, let me
convince you otherwise. Oh yeah and before we get into it, if you haven’t subscribed
to the channel yet, make sure to hit that big red button below this video.
I think we don’t have to say too much about Caesar being the sort of quirky addition to
the crew that Luffy loves to make. His strange appearance, his logia devil fruit as well
as his socially awkward personality undoubtedly would make him a great fit among a talking
Skeleton, a pervy Cyborg and a candy-loving reindeer. So we can definitely cross this
one off the list. What about the tragic backstory then?
Here it might already be less obvious for some people. However, as we will explore in
more detail later on, Caesar does indeed have a tragic backstory. It’s undeniable that
he is actually a quite intelligent and academically capable person that has dedicated his entire
life to science and research. And yet despite all that he is outshone by Vegapunk for what
is basically his entire professional life. There seems to be nothing that he can surpass
him in and he suffers heavily under the disregard people have for him, always in the shadow
of this OTHE brilliant scientist that is creating technology 500 years ahead of the current
age. Given his psychopathic and apathetic personality, that is yearning for attention
and recognition, I think we can pretty safely assume that Caesar didn’t exactly have the
most fun childhood as well. This is also where the theme of Julius Caesar come into play,
who served as a namesake for the character and might hint at some sort of betrayal happening
in his past. And so, while it might not compare to the likes of Robin or Brook, I think Caesar’s
life and past can definitely be crossed off as tragic. So, what about the infamous dream,
that every straw hat needs. Surely Ohara isn’t proposing that Caesar has a dream - and also
why is Ohara referring to himself in the third person?
Now, this speech here that Caesar holds in front of his men whose demise and suffering
HE caused HIMSELF, is OBVIOUSLY meant to be pretence. We know that Caesar in fact doesn’t
care about his men one bit and that HE was the one who launched the horrendous explosion
on the island and not Vegapunk. However, I think that there are parts in this speech
that might very well be honest, regardless of whether Caesar is aware of that himself
or not. He clearly DOES want to surpass Vegapunk and wishes for more attention. And so I personally
believe that the part where he talks about his dream to bring peace to the world trough
science is also true, or at least WAS true at some point in time. I think it’s not
too far fetched that Caesar’s passion for Science didn’t start with a minority complex
towards Vegapunk right away, but with the amazement and joy of experimenting, - a young
boy with the hopes to make the world a better place and loosing his path along the way.
I think there is a quite strong argument for this dream to be the truth. So, clearly the
argument that Caesar might become a member of the crew is not completely empty. With
a quirky and interesting character, a tragic past and an unfulfilled and seemingly unachievable
dream, Caesar certainly could fit into the ranks of the straw hats. So, what then makes
me SO certain, that he won’t ever join the crew?
Caesar in many ways is a quite straightforward character, fulfilling the trope of the mad
scientist that doesn’t shy aways from unethical methods to satisfy his urge for discovery.
In close connection with his Gas devil fruit powers, he is a quite toxic and at the same
time elusive character. In many ways he is literally all hot air, relying on trickery
and more powerful people for protection. Nonetheless, his genius is real, and despite his hedonistic
lifestyle, he is the ONLY one able to produce the chemical SAD for Doflamingo’s artificial
devil fruits and thus is a priceless asset for both Dofi and Kaido. For this, Doflamingo
even threatened Monet with death, if she let anything happen to Caesar and made it a priority
to retrieve Caesar upon his defeat. The TURE reason why Caesar can never be a straw hat
however, lies in the rarely mentioned, but in my opinion most important qualification
for any straw hat: Being changed by Luffy. All of the current straw hats, without one.
single. exception. have been influenced by Luffy and have had a significant change of
heart or turnaround in their life upon meeting him. Luffy literally changed all their lives
to the better. In other words, all members of the crew have a positive character arc,
that ends on a high note when officially joining the crew. And Caesar simply doesn’t have
that. Despite traveling with Luffy for so long, his character arc is undeniably flat.
As any well-written character he does have a Lie about the world that he believes in,
that he is a better Scientist than Vegapunk, unfairly looked down upon and thus compelled
to beat him at everything he does. Clearly this is not true. As is shown over and over
again, Vegapunk seems to be the better scientist. Momo’s artificial devil fruit was way better
than any of the smiles. The numbers are way better than any of Caesar’s attempt of gigantification.
And there was a reason that he wanted to get his hands on Franky and the laser Vegapunk
had developed. Yet, despite being confronted with this truth through his encounters with
Luffy, he never stops to consider that he might use his intelligence in other ways to
follow his dream. That he’s actually holding himself back with his obsession with vegapunk.
Oda put him in the exact same spot as the other straw hat’s, giving him the chance
to develop, but he never does. This is of course not bad writing, but a conscious decision
of character design. But in my eyes, and I would say also in Oda’s, it disqualifies
him as a future straw hat. So if Caesar’s purpose is not to join the crew? What is?
Caesar’s character serves a number of important purposes in the story. He goes from a light
version of Hisoka, who’s video will be coming soon, to Buggy over the course of Punk hazard,
adding a comedic element to the straw hats’ more and more serious journey into the new
world. Oda sacrifices a lot of his character’s potential during Punk Hazard for setting up
the bigger fish during the Yonko saga. As a result, Caesar is introduced as a supplier
for Doflamingo, Big Mom and Kaido alike, pointing towards the increasingly intense arcs that
will follow Punk Hazard. Doflamingo in particular steals his show by arriving on the island
in person, threatening to take over the entire arc if not for Aokiji’s interference. As
a result Caesar’s role in the story is reduced to a setup-villain that serves as a measuring
stick for the true threats yet to come. Is his character useless then? Did Oda ruin the
potential he had? Honestly, I would say a bit, yes. Caesar could have been a way more
interesting villain, especially if Punk Hazard had been a little bit more condensed. However,
I think the real message behind his character is something completely different, that often
gets lost under all these other layers. Drawing the line all the way back to the beginning
of the video, I believe that Caesar, despite his inferiority to Vegapunk, is supposed to
represent the face of science and technological advancement in One Piece. In a world where
pirates sail on boatsfrom island to island, fighting with swords and shooting cannons,
there suddenly is laser technology and biochemical weapons of mass destruction. Something that
seemingly doesn’t fit into the world building and disturbs the adventure-like world we are
exploring. While Oda repeatedly hints that before the void century, science might have
been way more advanced and possibly used for the good, at this point in time it is mainly
used for military purposes, bringing an unfair advantage into battles that are otherwise
decided through willpower, strength and the use of mythical devil fruits. Caesar, as one
of the leading scientific forces, sets off a chemical weapon on Punk Hazard, killing
or crippling most of its inhabitants and destroying its environment, selling or creating weapons
of mass destruction for similarly unscrupulous individuals such as Doflamingo, performs
sick experiments on children and drugs them with a lethal, addictive drug to ensure
that they do not run away, and ultimately tries to murder everyone on Punk Hazard so
he could test out his new weapon-pet, Smiley—all of which he does without a shred of remorse
or empathy for his potential victims. And leading into the current Wano Arc, he is responsible
for the creation of the mutative artificial SMILE devil fruits that either turn their
users into grotesque hybrid creatures or condemns them to a live unable to show any other emotion
than laughter. Oda paints a very dark picture of science through Caesar’s character, emphasising
the adventure and freedom aspect of a more simple and untouched world, filled with exotic
places that have to be explored by ship. And in addition to that Caesar also leaves
us with two very interesting options for Vegapunk, who dismissed him as his assistant due to
his unethical behaviour, that is one of the most heatedly discussed issues to this day.
Is Vegapunk good or bad. Given the hints we have gotten from Oda so far it seems that
Vegapunk is secretly helping the revolutionaries and passively aiding the straw hats. However,
I think there is a quite notable chance that Vegapunk might be the true evil genius of
the story, that is actually way more ruthless and unethical than Caesar, as he is the one
responsible for all those horrendous experimentations in the first place, that Caesar is trying
to imitate - not even mentioning the work he conducted together with Judge Vinsmoke.
And so, even though he is often not out at first place by people, when it comes to science
& industrial process in the story, he undoubtedly introduces us to countless important concepts
and insights about the role that technology plays in the story. In conclusion I think
that Caesar is a quite unique and important character in the story, that hasn’t been
used to its full potential. Oda teased his readers with the quite real possibility of
becoming the next straw hat, but in the end made it clear that you can’t join the crew
without correcting the path you walk first.
Ironically enough, Luffy is able to open the eyes of caesar’s protector in the next arc
that follows. If you want to learn the true meaning of the bird cage for Doflamingo, make
sure to check out his video here. Thanks guys. Peace.