WANTED: One Piece of my Heart (I Can't Believe It! I'm... All Caught Up!)
AFTER EIGHT YEARS I'M FINALLY TREADING UNCHARTED WATERS WITH THE REST OF THE ONE PIECE FANDOM
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
I crossed over episode 1100 mark on March 1, 2025, which means I have finally reached the Egghead Island arc! More importantly, I have finally reached the episode where the English dub-over stops, and only the original Japanese with subtitles episodes remain. As of the day of this Solstack going live, I’m on 1122. This is major news in my very cozy corner of the One Piece fandom, and I don’t know how to feel about it…
[LISTEN: ONE PIECE LOFI MIX TO RELAX, SLEEP, STUDY, CHILL TO]
This story (One Piece) means a lot to me because of Luffy. (Surprise, surprise, I know.) A character that resonates with the love and presence of Jesus Christ in a medium I enjoy. So, in honor of today (5/6 is Luffy Day), I will spend the rest of May (and many weeks after) clearing my drafts of all my many One Piece journey reflections.
I’ve been writing these reflections before I even started my Solstack, but never felt it was the right time to release them when I wrote them… I still don’t know why, performance anxiety, I guess. Never feeling like it was finished…perfect, not as perfect as the character. But, as I finally have the chance to watch One Piece in real time until the end, when One Piece is found, and Luffy becomes the Pirate King, fulfilling his dream and bringing the first part of his story to an end, it feels good to share my thoughts from the past, like a reflective time capsule.
Also, I’ve compiled so many notes over the past eight years of watching episodes 1 to 100 to 1100+ that I kind of want to infodump into this Solstack. I’m working on an audio-visual component for this project as well. I want to share spirituality through the creative lens as I experience it.
There are somaesthetic—spiritually embodied philosophical—life lessons that Luffy’s character and the One Piece world masterfully engage with. Tiny sermons are embedded into every arc about navigating the storms, relationships, and story of your life. It’s so easy for many…uninspired…One Piece fans to miss, ignore, or altogether skip the lore of different characters’ and locational backstories.
But I am nothing like them.
[And that’s not even every Monkey D. Luffy Solstack I’ve written or posted.]
Because within every episode of One Piece,
I see the Holy Spirit revealed.
So, now that I’ve reached a feat I genuinely never expected, and while I wait for the next batch of the English dub of the Island of Egghead arc, today feels like the right time—better than any—to release my next Anime as Experience series:
Next ‘Anime as Experience’ Series: One Piece of Advice
“My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to be King of the Pirates!”
This series will be about my lore—my hopes, my insecurities, fears, and dreams—with One Piece commentary attached to it. I am going to geek out completely, be vulnerable, and at times retell some memories that I recognize may sometimes come across as cringeworthy, but who cares? I am creating a space to be myself and share it publicly; I hope it can be received as I intend for it, because having one or more things to sink your teeth into and enjoy is creatively satisfying. That’s just my autistic special interest Gears, kicking in. I’m ascending, I’m awakening, and I want an audience to my transformation.
Now, I’ll be honest.
I regret all the time that I didn’t name this Substack, Sol no Strawhat. But we make do by just writing our hearts out about Luffy and One Piece in as many ways and for as many topics as we desire. So, climb aboard and enjoy the adventure—I’m launching a smaller newsletter section.
The Mugiwara Musings of Sol no Strawhat is a new section on my Solstack dedicated solely to my musings on my beloved Mugiwara!1
I hope you’ll read.
I hope you’ll enjoy.
I hope you’ll join my cozy pirate crew. ☀️🏴☠️
