So… How about that Fishman Island arc, huh? People sure seem to have a lot of feelings surrounding it. Us One Piece fans like to boast about how our favorite series has been going on for so long, all while building and expanding the story’s world effectively and without blemish. But if you ask a lot of fans, there possibly was this one.

I remember while the arc was still going on, readers were fairly into it. It wasn’t until near the end when people really started to wonder how much they were getting out of it as a total package. A few dissenting voices turned into dozens, which turned into hundreds and so on. Nowadays Fishman Island is almost unanimously considered to be the worst arc in all of One Piece. This puts me in an awkward position because I still really like it a lot.

So, what do people not like about this arc? Well, for starters I guess the villains, setting, themes, and all the complicated exposition that never really pays off are all problems. The fact that it was underwhelming after the years of build up and foreshadowing that led to it, that it showcases some of the series’ most groan-worthy cliches, and just about everything to do with Sanji doesn’t help either. I’m kind of making this an uphill battle for myself here, but I swear this is a good arc!

All and all, Fishman Island is at the very least an incredibly interesting mixed bag. There are certainly weaknesses, but they’re very interesting weaknesses. On top of that, I feel like there are several common gripes people had with this arc that are somewhat ungrounded. Yeah, the stuff with Sanji really sucks. Yeah, it also makes sense to be disappointed after a ton of build-up. The Straw Hats talked about following their log all the way to this island as far back as the end of the Enies Lobby arc, after all. However, not only do I think there are a lot of overlooked strengths going on here, but a lot of incredibly unique ideas that are thematically and emotionally ambitious in a way I’ve never seen One Piece be before. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

So what are some of the things that I like? Right out of the gate we’re greeted to some awesome story hooks: A giant mermaid princess? A fortune teller who predicts Luffy to be an enemy that destroys the island? Two villains teaming up? The island itself is quite a fantastical location as well. What Skypiea was to the sky, Fishman Island was to the bottom of the ocean. My favorite islands in the series are the ones that make the One Piece world feel like one big, exotic location.

From there I think I like a lot of the same things that others seem to enjoy as well. The flashback is beautiful and Queen Otohime is a real stand-out presence in both personality and design. Who wouldn’t want to carry on the will of somebody as kind-hearted as that? All the traditional post-battle stuff with Big Mom is great too. Fishman Island is also the centerpiece of Jimbei’s relationship with the Straw Hats as a crew. An important factor considering he’s likely going to be joining them as a permanent member some time down the line.

I think it’s safe to say that Fishman Island shares a lot with the likes of Skypiea and Thriller Bark in the pantheon of One Piece story lines. These arcs exist first-and-foremost to pace out the bigger, more dramatic stories. They’re arcs with their own adventures and drama, but in the the big picture they tend to be the calm before the storm. Marineford was such a crazy and series-changing arc that it makes sense the follow-up would be a little more reserved before kicking it back into high gear with the Law and Doflamingo stuff that would come after.

We have a few very distinct differences between Fishman Island and arcs like Skypiea, however. Up front, Fishman Island is a story about something beginning. It’s not just the beginning of the Straw Hat’s adventures in the New World, but the beginning of an enormous array of subplots. Fishman Island is far more important to the big picture than people want to give it credit for.

Madam Sharley’s vision of Fishman Island’s destruction by Luffy’s hand was not an abandoned idea by Oda. That’s still coming. Joyboy, the ark Noah, and the ancient weapon Poseidon all seem to have ties to the void century. The Ryugu Kingdom’s centuries-long history is going to come full circle at the long-awaited Reverie thanks to the efforts of people like Otohime and the Straw Hats themselves. Considering all these things, plus Luffy’s newfound beef with Big Mom over the island as territory, Fishman Island is not a place we’ve left behind for good. Really, it’s just getting started.

One of the things that I find super interesting about the Straw Hats’ fight with the New Fishman Pirates is that “underwhelming” probably isn’t the correct term to describe it, but rather “anti-climactic.” The battle ends with Luffy easily trouncing Hody Jones and the most threatening conflict, the falling of the ark Noah, being halted at the hands of a deus ex machina. The obvious criticism here is to say it’s weak storytelling, but that would only really be the case if those weren’t very deliberate creative decisions by Oda. Like I said, Fishman Island’s full beginning, middle and end is not complete. Yet.

Many fans were disappointed to see initially cool-looking characters like Hody Jones and Hyouzou get quickly swept under the rug as the Straw Hats barged their way in, turning them into fodder. Many found Hody’s “nothing” reveal to mean that he was simply a shallow character who was unworthy of screen time. But I feel like that’s missing a few important points.

This is not an arc about cool villains. This is very specifically an arc about pathetic villains. I find that to be an incredibly compelling story decision. Earlier in the arc when Hody was bragging about killing Otohime, I remember rolling my eyes at how limp of a plot twist that was. However, as we discovered just how shallow and petty Hody’s true self was, it only illuminated how destructive those qualities were. He did all this, hurt all these people, and for what?

I’d say it’s a mistake to claim that Fishman Island is a story about racism, because it’s much more a story about history. Hody had a history that he wanted to create and preserve. The characters that we follow the most in this arc are Fukaboshi and Jimbei, and the question that they struggle with the most is, “How do we move forward? How do we take these awful things from the past and learn from them?” The antagonist here isn’t really a person, but an idea. The possibility that something truly dark and unfortunate has been planted long in the past.

Much of that bad history didn’t even start with the deaths of Fisher Tiger and Otohime. The Ryugu Kingdom’s place in the world seems to have been established as far back as the void century. Something dark has been brewing in this place for a very long time, something much bigger than anything we saw during the crew’s initial visit. When the Sea Kings stopped Noah from crashing, they didn’t solve the problem, they paused it. Big things are going to happen to the island by the end of the series. How is it going to effect the rest of the world?

Fishman Island, as a story and as a place, is an atomic bomb waiting to go off. Its role in the New World portion of the series is to wait.

Fishman Island is not the slowest or the most boring arc in the series. Hell, even as far as the anime adaptation goes I think Punk Hazard got the worse end of the deal. Your mileage is going to vary on a lot of points, especially regarding which side characters you liked or didn’t like, but that’s to be expected. I believe time is going to be real kind to this arc in the long run, however, and at the very least I believe there to be an abundance of interesting facets worth re-appraising.

Sam’s Piece is a bi-weekly column released every other Friday, only on the One Piece Podcast website!