If there is one thing, that One Piece is known for from a storytelling perspective, it’s the
tragic & powerful backstories of each single straw hat, that are usually accompanied by the
tragic death of a loved one. And while the main story line itself rarely leaves the adventurous
spirit of a typical Shounen story, the flashbacks are usually the places where Eiichiro Oda allows
himself to integrate deeper, darker and more dramatic aspects of storytelling to add to his
epic world building, that might be considered as too brutal for a week-to-week reading experience.
So I think I don’t have to explain to you how essential these scenes are to the overall appeal
of a long-lasting story like One Piece. But I’ll do it anyway. By showing us the tragic pasts that
each of the diverse crew members have lived through, Oda reveals that no matter who you
are or where you come from, this world and society is fundamentally broken.
A world that allows for so much suffering, cruelty and hardship cannot be allowed to continue,
and we need someone to change it. Say, a rubber boy with a crew of dreamers.
And so, while there certainly are flashbacks for other characters in the story as well,
the general structure & length of the straw hat ones are exclusive to them. With one notable
exception. Law’s flashback on Dressrosa, which stretches over 7 chapters, and which in my opinion
is not only the key scene to unlock the entire Dressrosa arc, but one of the most well-written
and structured sequences in the story. And so in today’s video, I want to look at Law’s and
Corazon’s flashback, and why it is my favourite piece of writing in the new world so far. Oh, yeah
and if you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe to the channel. No excuses. It’s free.
The flashback takes place right before the major battle between Luffy
and Doflamingo. When Law is facing off with Trebol and Dofi, we finally get an insight into why Law
feels so strongly about the warlord and why his true objective had been Doflamingo all along.
The young Law is found by some of the Doflamingo family members after escaping his country.
As we will learn, Law is from a country called Flevance, that got wealthy on a valuable,
but toxic material called Amber Lead, that shortens the life span of each generation
drastically by accumulating in the body. Since there is no cure for the toxic effect, Law as
the son of doctors knows that he won’t even reach his teens before dying a slow and painful death.
As if this wasn’t tragic enough however, we learn that the world government, as well as the
country’s nobles, knew right from the start about the true danger of extracting the Lead, however
decided to keep it a secret to further enrich themselves at the cost of the people’s lives.
When the inhabitants of Flevence finally tried to look for help in the neighbouring countries,
they were attacked and denied entry out of fear of contagion. In a last attempt to get help,
the people took up arms, which gave the other kingdoms the necessary justification
to invade and kill every single citizen, including the orphan kids that Law had lived with after the
death of his parents. Seeing them shot in the street as the hospital his sister was lying in
went up in flames, pulled the young Law into deep darkness. Severely traumatised, just as the young
Doflamingo, he turned his despair into feelings of hatred and revenge. As a result, he joins the
Doflamingo family with the goal to kill as many people as possible before dying of his poisoning.
The first time Law and we readers meet Corazon, he is introduced as Dofi’s mute and clumsy
younger brother who absolutely hates kids. Without hesitation he grabs law and throws him out of the
window. As we will later learn, Corazon did so in the hope of pushing Law away from Dofi. However,
quite understandably, it made Law hate loath Corazon, whom he ultimately stabbed with a knife.
Knowing fully well, that Dofi would kill him for attacking his brother,
he is surprised to find out that Corazon has not sold him out. The real turn in
their relationship however happens when Law reveals his true name to Buffalo and Baby 5.
Upon hearing Law’s secret middle name, Corazon reveals his true self to Law and urges him to
get as far away from Dofi as possible. Law declines, but also decides not to sell out
Corazon in return. Already caring deeply for Law, Corazon kidnapps him away from the family and goes
on a journey to find a cure for his illness, during which the two grow closer and closer.
Finally, when Law’s condition has worsened to a worrying degree. They get intel from Doflamingo
that they know the location of the OP OP no Mi, the so-called ultimate devil fruit,
capable of switching personalities and matter, as well as bestowing eternal life on another
at the cost of the user’s own life. Doflamingo wants this fruit above anything else to have the
immortality surgery performed on himself. Corazon on the other hand wants to use it to save Law’s
life and at the same time get it out of Dofi’s reach. So he contacts Sengoku to tip off the
Marines and takes Law to retain the fruit himself. Despite getting heavily injured in the process,
he manages to claim the fruit and feed it to Law. Trying to get help from the Marines,
he accidentally gives Corazon’s message to none other than Vergo, Doflamingo’s spy in the marines,
who immeaditley notifies his boss and beats Corazon half to death. When Dofi is on his
way to finish the job, Crazon hides Law in one of the treasure chests and uses his powers to
mute the sound from within. Then he is confronted and ultametly killed by his brother. Holding on
to life to not give away Law’s cries, he finally dies lying in the snow with a smile on his face.
One thing this scene does incredibly well is give deep characterisation for both law and Doflamingo,
while introducing Corazon completely from scratch in such a well-written way, that he ended up
as one of my favourite characters in the show. I already talked about Corazon’s fantastic character
in a separate video, that I’ll link at the end of this one. What I want to focus on in this video
instead, is how this scene is constructed and what makes it one of the most powerful
moments in the story. And I think the secret here is that Oda has basically built upon all
his previous experience in the story, to create the perfect flashback for a quasi-straw hat.
As a result, Law basically being an honorary member of the crew at this point has the luck
of getting a back story that builds on only the best elements of previous straw hat stories.
The first clear parallel I see is with Chopper. The last part of Law’s story
takes place on a quiet winter island that gives the entire scene a unique ambient feel.
In storytelling snow mostly conveys at least one of two emotions: Serenity and peace
as well as a slow creeping death in the cold. In this case I would say it works as both.
Both Corazon, as well as Hiruluk have a quite quirky nature and both are shown to be conmen,
pretending to be something that they are not. But while they appear to be rough and dishonest on the
outside, in the end both turn out to be two of of the most kind and loving characters in the story.
Just as doctor Hiruluk does for Chopper, Corazon also gladly sacrifices himself for the good of
someone else. Both characters have a medical theme that is focused on both curing the body,
as well as curing the heart, both of whom manage to do in the end, saving both Chopper and Law from
their darkness as well as saving their lives. In the end they die with a smile while the snow is
falling. You could even compare Dr. Kureha and Sengoku as forces sympathetic to their cause,
that in the end are unable to really do anything for them and have to mourn their death.
And of course both Chopper and Law end up becoming doctors and pirates that end up traveling with
Luffy. And finally, the big theme of inherited will that is introduced to us on Drum Island is
strongly repeated with Corazon. He sends Law on his mission to find out more about the will of D.
Another flashback we draw from is Nami. Just as Nami grew up as a member of a ruthless and
immoral pirate, Law did the same thing. Both Nami and Law were fuelled by their anger and injustice.
In other ways, we also have some Sanji in there, as Law goes from the toxic and hateful environment
of the Doflamingo family to traveling with Corazon, just as Sanji broke away from the
Vinsmoke family to live and be raised by Jeff. However the second big parallel, next to Chopper,
is with with Robin and her backstory. This is actually interesting, because I would say that
Law and Robin are actually pretty much of the same wavelength personality wise. Both of them are calm
and have a dark aura around them, but also have a nerdy and funny side that shows more and more
as they travel with Luffy. Also, both of them are scientists and both have a good grasp on the
politics of the world. And this reflects really well in their flashbacks. Because as children,
both Robin and Law were quite cheerful kids, until they were separated from their parents.
Both had to witness the full cruelty of the world government
as they were responsible for the death of their people. Both managed to flee the doom
of their loved ones as the sole survivor of their respective kingdoms. And both were
treated as outcasts and as dangerous by the people of the world for their origin.
Both Robin’s and Choppers flashbacks are two of my all-time favourite scenes in the story.
And Oda took these wonderful elements out of both of their back stories, as well as some
minor successful elements from other straw hats, to write the best flashback in the
story so far. This, combined with the fantastic character design for both Corazon and Doflamingo,
made for one of the most emotional moments in the story, that at the same time served as
the centre piece for the entire Dressrosa arc and thus as a hefty piece of world building.
Hands down, simply a wonderful piece of story telling. Thanks guys. Piece.