I've never been a fan of One Piece's art style, but boy what a fun experience it is!
I'm going to discuss the chapters in depth as this is the second or third time I'm reading this volume, so I'm putting it under spoiler. Feel free to come discuss with me! :D
Chapter One:
It's interesting to note that One Piece officially begins ten years ago, with Young Luffy, and immediately categorizes him as both foolish, happy, brave and determined. It does so by two measures - one, his name: Monkey D. Luffy. He is literally called after a monkey, and Luffy reminds me of laughter.
Second, with his first action in the series - cutting his own face (it is, in fact, the origin to the scar on his cheek) in an endeavor to show his friends he is brave enough to voyage with them. This scar is one that will accompany Luffy throughout his entire life, and instead of being earned in battle like many a hero, it was self inflicted.
The first episode establishes everything one piece is about.
There are good criminals... and then there are bad criminals (and in this series, they will mostly be pirates). The criminals who laugh with children and apologize to barmaids, and the ones who immediately threaten to hurt everyone around if you don't do what they say and throw bottles at your face.
"Needless killing doesn't make you a man"
Friendship is everything with a capital E... and sometimes, protecting it might cost you an arm or two, but it's completely worth it.
Chapter Two:
We open up by showcasing Luffy's easy temperament and happy go lucky attitude, as he deals with being sucked in by a whirlpool (when he. can't. swim) in classic Luffy fashion... laughing and being blase about the whole situation.
We see Luffy's brutal honesty and straight froward outlook on life, and also his very serious determination. And for the first time, we encounter Luffy's unique ability to inspire everyone around him because he is all those things, and yet he is dead serious about his dreams and is prepared to die to achieve it.
Bonus points for this episode teasing Zoro, one of my faves! :D
Chapter Three:
There is not much to say about this chapter, aside than to say it does a good job establishing Zoro. Here is a man everyone think is a bad man... but will a bad man protect a young girl? Will he eat her crumbled rice balls after they've been stomped on just because she has been crying and he wants her to smile and know it touched him?
No, sir, no.
Chapter Four:
This chapters brings home the messages that not all people in places of authority and law are good, same as our heroes are actually the pirates, the villains of many a story. So, Morgan is a cruel son of a bitch who orders people to murder little girls just because they tried to feed a prisoner, and his son is a piece of shit, and both are officers of the law! Not a noble bone in their body.
It's also note worthy that Morgan is the first real villain in this series. We've seen a couple of small fries in chapter one and two, but it's a very clear choice to make the first real villain in the series someone who should be standing for what's right and good.
It's a clear message from Oda - in this story, the good guys and the bad guys kind of switch, and you shouldn't assume someone is good just because of the title he holds, and vice verse.
This chapter ends with a boom. Quite literally.
Chapter Five:
Backstory time. This one kind of pisses me off, to be honest, because Kuina is simply an instrument to motivate Zoro. She literally dies the moment she has accomplished that. And it kind of feels double the insult because she's a girl who's been given this role, and not a man. If she was a boy, I'm not sure she would've died. And definitely not so meaninglessly as to fall down the stairs and break her neck off camera - she would've gotten some epic battle scene in which she loses heroically and gives her life for a good cause...
But thanks to that promise and Zoro's unwillingness to die until he has accomplished it, we've got ourselves Luffy's first crew member!
Chapter Six:
The good old days when our guys could beat the villain in a chapter or two... savor it people, because every battle gets longer from here on out.
Side note: Got to admit, got a serious thrill and a grin seeing Zoro call Luffy "Captain" haha
Chapter Seven:
Just a feel good chapter, with an ominous closing line.
Chapter Eight:
Introducing... Nami! *dun dun dunnnn*