One Piece, Volume 14: Instinct

One Piece is easily the most fun I have with comics on a regular basis. Eiichiro Oda knows how to keep an adventurous feel to the whole affair, expertly balancing the generally light, goofy tone with the occasional moment of seriousness. I've read fourteen volumes so far, and I have yet to finish without a giant grin on my face.

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Title: Instinct
Series: One Piece #14
Arc: Baroque Works #3
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 188
Words: 8K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_chapters_(1_186)

"Someone's Out There"

"Deadly Improvisation"

"The Red Ogre Weeps"

"I Knew"

"A Dead Body is Useless"

"Luffy vs. Mr. 3"

"The Tea is Good"

"Candle Champion"

"Instinct"

Baroque Works agents Mr. 3 and Miss Golden Week are on the island in search of the Straw Hats and show more the bounties on the giants' heads. With the help of Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, they rig the giants' fight. After thousands of draws, Broggy strikes Dorry down and, while weeping over his friend's body, is captivated by Mr. 3's wax-creation powers. Zoro, Nami and Vivi are captured and placed on a large candle with a rotating top, designed by Mr. 3 to slowly turn them into wax figures by covering them in vaporized wax. Luffy, Usopp and Vivi's ostrich-sized duck, Karoo, come to save them. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine chase Usopp and Karoo, while Luffy fights Mr. 3 and sends him flying into the jungle. However, Luffy is no match for Miss Golden Week and her hypnotic paintings. Joining forces, though, Luffy, Usopp and Karoo destroy the wax structure and free their friends.

My Thoughts:

I was looking at the dates on the inside cover. Oda copyrighted this in 1997. The english copyright wasn't until 2007. TEN YEARS!!!! What a world the 90's and early 00's were. Nowadays the translated books come out a month after the japanese release. 10 years, phhhtttt.

While I was reading this one of the side characters uttered this phrase about a fight they'd been in: “....how could I dishonor him by showing mercy!!?”

A part of me understood the reasoning behind that phrase. But the greater part was disgusted at such pride and selfishness. No, not disgusted, but horrified. Because if you are not willing to show mercy to others, you in turn will not expect mercy nor will you take it when offered. To take mercy means you can accept that you are not good enough, that you have not measured up, that there is a standard to which you have failed to live up to. The attitude on display says “I am good enough!” The problem arises when somebody greater says that you are not good enough and offers you a way to be good enough, you won't accept it. That gesture of mercy will be tossed away.

The battle at the end is utterly ridiculous. It's meant to be that way but the badguy, Mr 3 fights with wax and there is nothing serious about a guy who fights with wax. However, it does allow the whole crew (except Sanji) to work as a team and help each other out. This volume ends with Sanji accidentally answering a call meant for Mr 3 and talking to Mr Zero.

★★★✬☆ show less

This volume is the rest of the arc on the dinosaur island. I vaguely remember it, but the namesake of the volume is an unforgettable scene. After checking short summaries of a few sample chapters, I smiled because I totally forgot about Karoo and Karoo's dynamic with Usopp. I love that dopey bird.

Chapters 118-126. Almost hard to believe the manga has been this long-running, lol (as of 2025, nearly 30 years after its debut) The Straw Hats continue to deal with Baroque Works.