One Piece: Alabasta Saga Review: Friends to the End

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Welcome back to another One Piece review! On today’s agenda, I’ll be covering the Alabasta Saga. Personally speaking, I believe this saga is on par with the East Blue Saga, but it isn’t as great as some of the future sagas. I think the main thing that held this saga back a bit was some of the pacing.

There are definitely moments in this saga where you can feel the pace slow down. However, this saga does have redeeming qualities. Besides Chopper’s backstory, we also get introduced to Vivi, which most people consider an unofficial Straw Hat, and Nico Robin, who is one of my more favourite characters.

Overall, the Alabasta Saga was good as a whole. Although there are some points in the show where the pace slows down, it gets balanced out by some great fights and character moments. This isn’t my favourite saga by any means, but it also isn’t the worst one either.

Reverse Mountain Arc (Episodes 61-63, 3 Episodes)

The Reverse Mountain arc, episodes 61-63 and spanning 3 episodes, is our introduction to the Grand Line. When it comes to a story arc, it’s quite short, but it accomplishes what it needs to. The best part about this arc are the characters it introduces. The first of two characters we meet is Crocus, who was the doctor for Gol D. Roger’s ship.

He was an interesting character, but the more important one we meet has to be Laboon, the giant whale who is scarred from running into the Reverse Mountain. The reason I like Laboon comes from reasons that get explained later on in the series, so I’ll mention that later once it happens.

As an in-between arc between major plot points, the Reverse Mountain Arc does its job. We get a brief glimpse into the crazy world that is the Grand Line, and we also get introduced to some interesting characters.   

Whisky Peak Arc (Episodes 64-67, 4 Episodes)

The Whisky Peak Arc, episodes 64-67, spanning 4 episodes, was a solid arc when it comes to action. In this arc, the Straw Hats land on an island that is the base for Baroque Works, a mercenary group. In this arc, we meet a variety of interesting characters, and we get to watch Zoro and Luffy mow through countless canon fodder.

This arc we get to meet fun characters like Mr. 5, who’s main power is to make his boogers explode. Those who know, know. But more importantly, we meet Vivi and Karoo, who are some nice additions to the crew, if only temporary. For such a short arc, a lot gets explored and the action is fun, so this was another quick but fun arc to enjoy.

Little Garen Arc (Episodes 70-77, 8 Episodes)

Contrary to its name, the Little Garden Arc, episodes 70-77, spanning 8 episodes, isn’t about something little. Instead, this island is home to Dorry and Broggy, two giants from Elbaf who have been fighting for the past 100 years. As all their rounds of combat end in draws, neither has been able to return home. Along with the giants, we also meet Mr. 3, who uses wax powers. Through this power, Mr. 3 creates a base for the Baroque Works group, which is how Sanji, and thus the audience, discovers the true identity of the boss of Baroque Works, Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Besides meeting all these new characters, I enjoyed the action sequences this arc. First off, this arc had a moment where Usopp and Karoo carried a fight, which was fun to watch, since these two are the more cowardly ones in the crew right now. Even though I don’t really like Usopp too much, this moment was worthy of respect.

Another fight that I enjoyed was Luffy’s fight against Mr. 3. Not only was this a moment that demonstrated Zoro’s trust in Luffy, as he, Vivi, and Nami almost died, but it also shows Luffy’s ingenuity in combat. By combining his rubber powers and Mr. 3’s wax powers, it was hilarious and satisfying seeing him create essentially a giant hammer to beat Mr. 3. Solid fight scene overall.

For the Little Garden Arc as a whole, it was solid. It had a nice balance of backstory and action. This arc was also significant for Usopp, as he idolizes both Dorry and Broggy. These two giants are also important in the Egghead Arc, but as that is currently ongoing, I can’t reveal anymore than that.

Drum Island Arc (Episodes 78-91, 14 Episodes)

The Drum Island Arc, episodes 78-91, spanning 14 episodes, is where we meet our next Straw Hat member, Tony Tony Chopper, the ship’s doctor. Chopper is a regular reindeer that ate the human-human fruit, which helped Chopper become a reindeer and human hybrid. Common to all Straw Hat pirate backstories, Chopper also has a depressing one as well.

Up until this point, only Nami’s backstory was tragic, but Chopper’s was tragic as well. For such a cute and friendly character, seeing such a sad backstory for him was enough to make me tear up. The arc as a whole was all about Luffy defeating Wapol, who has this island under his thumb. Adding to the pressure, Nami also contracted a prehistoric disease from Little Garden, which puts her life in danger.

For enjoyability, the Drum Island Arc was another fun one, but more on the tragic side. Chopper’s backstory was enough to make me tear up. Besides the backstory, the added pressure of having Nami’s life in peril added to the tension as well, which was a nice change of pace. To this point, we didn’t really feel any pressure or stakes, but having Nami on the verge of death does rectify that a bit. The arc also has a satisfying, yet hilarious conclusion, which made for an enjoyable experience overall.

Alabasta Arc (Episodes 92-130, 39 Episodes) (93,98-99, 101-102 Fillers)

The final arc in this saga is the Alabasta Arc, from episodes 92-130, spanning 39 episodes, and having filler episodes on episodes 93, 98-99, and 101-102. If you couldn’t tell, this is the main arc for this saga. All the small pieces that were left behind in the previous arcs were coming together into a solid puzzle. Crocodile, head of Baroque Works, is attempting to start a civil war in Alabasta in order to gain control of the island to expand his influence.

In this arc, we meet a bunch of named characters, but the main ones are Mr. 2, or Bon Clay, Nico Robin, Crocodile, Ace, and King Cobra. We also get introduced to many of the higher-ranking agents of Baroque Works, but most don’t come back in future arcs.

This is one of those arcs where you start to feel the length of the show. Having 39 episodes in just this arc alone covers so many plot points that it’s hard to cover them all in this review. I’ll try my best to give my thoughts on most of the main points, but let me know in the comments if I missed something.

One of the first things that came to mind about this arc is that this is where we meet Ace for the first time in the series. Ace is Luffy’s brother, in bond but not blood, and Ace is a commander for the Whitebeard Pirates, one of the strongest crews in the world. It was also really helpful to see the skill difference between Luffy and Ace on a combat level. Smoker, who was a complete bad matchup to Luffy was stopped by Ace. This showed their brotherly bond and how Luffy is still quite inexperienced.

So, talking about some of my favourite characters this arc, first off, Bon Clay, also known as Mr. 2. In this arc, he was a main antagonist, but he was a fun one to watch. His power to copy and transform into anyone else he’s touched in the face was a nice hint of humor. The other character that I really enjoyed was Nico Robin and her flower flower powers.

Before I started watching One Piece from the beginning, I had already seen bits and pieces of it, but more of the later arcs. So when I found out that Robin was actually a villain this saga, I was surprised. But after seeing everything related to her backstory, everything made sense. Having Robin start off as a villain was a nice touch that I enjoyed.

This will be a bit on the spoiler side, but there was something that I noticed in the earlier arcs of One Piece, and that was that no one really dies in this show. Luffy get impaled by Crocodile through the chest, but after some meat, he’s alive and healthy again.

Pell, one of the royal retainers, flies in the sky and gets blown up by essentially a bomb. He lives as well. Since One Piece is a shonen, I’m not surprised that there’s no death, but at the same time, the impact of Pell’s sacrifice was greatly reduced since he lived. Just a small complaint that I have though.

For those familiar with One Piece, you will know that Devil Fruits come in three types. We have the Logia types, which essentially converts the person into the element, so for example, Crocodile’s fruit makes him a sand human. The Zoan type converts the body to another animal and essentially take on those characteristics.

So Chopper’s human human fruit makes him human. The final type the Paramecia fruits give the user properties of the fruit, so Luffy’s fruit gives his body the properties of rubber. What I noticed in the earlier arcs is that the Logia types are pretty overpowered. Unless they have a glaring weakness, it’s pretty much a cheat code to dominating the early areas of the Grand Line.

So, with that in mind, my favourite part of this arc was Luffy’s creativity to fighting Crocodile. On paper, Crocodile is pretty much invincible, but Luffy figuring out his weakness and exploiting that weakness made for a fun fight. As I mentioned before, Luffy is a creative fighter, and in these earlier arcs, he really shows that creativity.

Alabasta Saga Recap

So, to wrap up all my thoughts for this saga, I believe it’s on par with the East Blue Saga. Personally, I think that it’s a bit better than the East Blue Saga, but not by too much. After this saga, some of my more favourite ones are coming up. I think the main strength of this saga was how attached you got to the characters.

So slight spoilers, but at the end of the Alabasta, we see Vivi and the Straw Hats parting. The final shot of them all showing their markings together was a powerful scene, and it left such a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Once you get past some of the pacing, this saga had a strong story and a satisfying ending.