For a long time I've been the type of guy who never gives up. When I focus on one goal, I make sure it works. I stay with it until it does.
But I've been thinking about why that is. And I keep coming back to the same answer: Monkey D. Luffy.
On Luffy — and Why He Changed Me
I discovered One Piece at a point in my life when the world felt heavy with expectations and short on permission. Permission to dream loudly. Permission to be exactly who you are without apology.
Luffy doesn't want to be the greatest fighter. He doesn't want power for power's sake. He just wants to be free — and he wants the people he loves to be free too. That's it. That's the whole philosophy.
What hit me deepest is this: Luffy never chases the One Piece. He chases the adventure. The treasure is almost beside the point. What matters is the crew, the seas, the moments of growth forged through impossible odds. He taught me that the destination is not the point. The journey — and who you become inside it — is everything.
I grew up in a world that told you to be realistic. Luffy is the antidote to that. He's not realistic. He's relentless. And there's a difference. Realistic people negotiate with their ceiling. Relentless people don't acknowledge one exists.
That's why I find myself saying, even when nothing is guaranteed: one day we will fly. Not literally. But in the sense of breaking whatever invisible roof the world has laid over us. We will learn to move so freely that the word “ground” will feel like a memory. It's not just an image; it's a promise to the part of me that believes we are meant for something bigger than our current cages.
What I Watch For in One Piece
There are things in One Piece most people walk past. I can't:
The Crew as Sacred
Luffy would burn down the world for his nakama. Not because they're useful to him, but because they chose each other. In Web3, in community building, I search for that same energy. The people who show up when there's nothing to gain.
The World Government as a Mirror
One Piece is really a story about power, corruption, and who gets to write history. The people at the top of the world suppress the truth — the Void Century, the Poneglyphs. Sound familiar? That's why decentralization isn't just a tech preference for me. It's a moral stance.
Gear Fifth
When Luffy finally awakens his true power, it looks like play. Joy as power. Freedom as strength. That broke me open. The most dangerous version of you might just be the most free version of you.
Robin's answer
When Robin finally says “I want to live” in Enies Lobby, after a lifetime of being told her existence was a crime… I’ve never felt something so deeply in fiction. Existence as resistance. Being alive, building, contributing — that is the rebellion.
Thanks for reading. The journey continues.
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