The Philosophy of One Piece (Netflix Live Action)
Dreams
The most potent theme running through One Piece is the concept of pursuing your dream. The main character, Luffy, takes on the role as the only person so foolish as to believe that they can accomplish great things. As they move about the world, people become shocked, appalled and jealous of his self-confidence. They try to knock him down a few notches, but his resolve is unshakable. He slowly gathers around himself a team of friends who are magnetized by his charasmatic presence. His audacity to believe in himself gives them the courage to also believe in themselves. His team becomes comprised of 1. Luffy - the future King of the Pirates, 2. Zoro - the future greatest swordsman, 3. Nami - the future greatest cartographer, 4. Usopp - a future great warrior of the seas, 5. Sanji - the greatest chef to find the location of the greatest spices.
The concept of pursuing your dreams traces its philosophic roots to Existentialism. In the philosophy of meaning, philosopher's struggled with the question of meaning in life in the wake of the "death of God". Some philosophers believed that the conclusion was that there was no meaning to be had (Nihilists). Others concluded that everything was absurd, but perhaps we could find peace with absurdity (Absurdists). The Existentialist philosophers came to the conclusion that it was up to each individual to make their own meaning (Existentialists). Yet, a biological reductionist take on Existentialism would be skeptical of the idea that we can "make" our own meaning. Instead, we must recognize that we are biological creatures that come prepackaged with deeply complex value systems that provide us with meaning. Instead of a top-down forcing function of "making meaning" by telling ourselves what to care about, we could explore our subconscious to understand our already existent values and build meaning from the ground-up after discovering what we already care about. So in this sense, we don't make our own meaning, we discover it.
Nuance
The show starts off with drawing a distinction between two different sides of a geopolitical conflict - the Marines and the Pirates. We are shown examples of bad pirates and then examples of good pirates. We are shown examples of good marines and then examples of bad marines. One thing that Luffy constantly insists is that it is possible to be a good pirate despite their bad reputation, and it is possible to be a good marine despite the institutionalized corruption. We see examples of pirates as revolutionaries liberating people from the oppression of the marines, but we also see examples of pirates pillaging and enslaving cities. We see examples of marines trying to rescue people from the violence of the pirates, and we also see examples of marines in bed with the pirates - taking financial kick-backs from allowing illegal plunder. We even see nuance within individual characters as the same person to raid a ship is also willing to sacrifice a limb for their victim; the same person to betray their village is also the person that secretly invests their entire life in rescuing their village.
Sacredness
In a Judeo-Christian context, sacredness refers to that which is most important to believers because it is most important to God. In a non-religious context, sacredness becomes that which is most important to the deepest parts of our natural human value systems.
For Luffy, his bond with Shanks is sacred. Orphaned at birth, Luffy found Shanks to be a role model for a good pirate. Shanks treated Luffy with fatherly love and even sacrificed an arm to protect him. Shank's parting gift to Luffy was his straw hat which becomes the sacred symbol of his relationship to this father-figure and of his dream to become even greater than Shanks.
For Zoro, his 3rd sword is sacred. He made a solemn oath to his friend in his youth that one of them would become the greatest swordsman in the world. After her passing, he takes her sword with him everywhere he goes so that she can participate in the process of becoming the greatest swordsman or swordswoman who ever lived. This sword is a sacred symbol of their friendship and shared dream.
For Nami, her hometown was sacred. Because it occupied the status of being most important to her, she was willing to sacrifice anything at its alter, even her own friends. But what she didn't know what that Luffy was not interested in trolley problems. He wanted to make sure she knew that he would never stand in the way between her and what was sacred to her, but rather help her in her quest to rescue it.
Sacrifice
One of the most powerful aspects of One Piece LA is it's emphasis on sacrifice. From the beginning, Shanks sacrifices an arm to protect Luffy. Zeff sacrifices a leg to protect Sanji. Zoro sacrifices his life for his goal. Nami sacrifices all her time and energies for her village.
From a value hierarchy perspective, if something has more value than everything else, we could call it a transcendent value. If a goal has transcendent value, we could call it a transcendent dream. If a socail bond has transcendent value, we could call it a transcendent bond. What One Piece shows us over and over is that once you have a transcendent goal or a transcendent bond, you will have the power to make transcendent sacrifices - the ability to make a greater sacrifice than normally possible.
Betrayal & Redemption
Another powerfully moving theme within One Piece LA was the betrayal and redemption arch. Nami becomes conflicted between her loyalty to her crew and her loyalty to her village. She already had a deal with another set of pirates for liberating her village. She betrays her crew in order to complete her deal with the pirates who will liberate her crew. She is ashamed of herself and tries to push her crew away, but Luffy isn't having any of it. Luffy has a faith in her humanity and trusts that she wouldn't betray them for no reason. He persists in trying to assist her and consoles her in the fact that her crew will never give up on her. She is so moved that they could be so loyal to her despite how she had treated them.
Walking the Walk
After years of Sanji working with Zeff in the kitchen, Zeff finally told Sanji - "Its one thing to have a dream. It's another to go after it."
Value Conflict
For Luffy, dreams are higher up in the value hierarchy than the safety of his friends, as he is unwilling to stop Zoro from engaging in a fight to the death with a superior swordsman.