#op analysis

[dykealloy]

such a small detail but I cannot stop thinking about law leaving kikoku by luffy's bedside when he went out to talk with hancock and ivankov. idk it stirs up a lot of questions. like does law do this often? does law, like zoro, talk to his well-behaved cursed sword like "kikoku, sit. watch." before he leaves to go have lunch or a well deserved twenty minute post-surgery nap. is this the protective equivalent to leaving a baseball bat by the bedside? doctor's bedside manner emotional support blade? but then I also can't help but notice that it's unsheathed. which... actually, who is that sword protecting really, just sitting there? did luffy wake up more than once in the cradle of that submarine while his body was still recovering? (drugged up to the gills, entirely noncoherent, unable to be reasoned with, going in and out of consciousness, the only thought running through his mind being "ace"). probably would've been a nightmare for the heart crew

[namisweatheria]

I feel like we don't discuss Nami's relationship with gender enough. Her entire character is so deeply informed by being a girl in a male-dominated pirate world and it's so interesting and so worth talking about.

The background creepiness of Bad pirate crews, which are most of them, how they tend to not have any female crew members at all, how they beckon any pretty young woman around to come play with them and join them. It's real bad. It's also like, a totally 2 dimensional portrayal of evil that is reserved for the most background of background characters.

However I think their ubiquity says a lot about how piracy is meant to be perceived by the public in One Piece, and is one of the strongest indicators of how prevalent misogyny is in-world.

It's very normal in One Piece for regular island inhabitants to have never met a Different class of pirate in their life. There's no reason for them to withhold judgement that maybe these pirates won't be like every crew that attacked before, and to wait and judge them by their actions. I mean frankly that would be irrationally weak self-preservation.

There are people who live peacefully under the flags of Yonkos who protect them, and feel loyalty and gratitude to them for it, but that seems to only be thing with very big name pirates. The East Blue, being the weakest and least populated, has no such plethora of powerful people and resulting turf wars.

So. Nami. Is very clearly implied to have never met any Different pirates before. I'm thinking about what that means. About how every group of pirates she stole from were creepy, dangerous men. How she started going out stealing when she was still a young child. How she didn't have a mother anymore to guide her or comfort her. How Arlong would grab her chin inappropriately, talk about her as a "human female", as property, and god knows what else.

How all the men in Arlong's crew treated her patronizingly, pretending they're all friends, teasing her and playing at respect when really not a single one of them ever stuck up for her or hesitated to accuse her of betrayal. Who were always ready to kill her if she refused to cooperate. Who grabbed her and intimidated her when they felt like it.

That's what she had to come back to after a close call with stealing from other predatory men, instead of the relief of home there was a dark, cramped room filled with endless hours of misery and isolation and blood. Where any one of her captors could barge in and demand new maps, work faster, where did you go, you took too long again this time. Endless threats and incursions.

I'm thinking about that her fight scene in Alabasta, where she tumbles and rips off her cape and uses it to catch her enemy's spikes, before leaping to her feet and running out the back door, all in one moment. How it makes her enemy reconsider her and think, "so the girl's not a total novice at fighting after all." What that implies about her experiences as a young thief. The times she wasn't fast or clever enough and had to fight and claw her way out. Why she always carried a staff and a knife. Why she was the only one before Chopper who had any medical knowledge or experience.

You know she was stitching herself up. And the weapons, how do you think she learned to use those? If any of the Arlong Pirates helped her it wasn't out of kindness and it wasn't gentle.

Then I think about Nojiko, and Bellemere's memory, and the only softness in a hard life. How easily Nami connects to every young woman experiencing hardship that she meets. How completely she dismisses the struggles of men unless they mean something to her and are going through something terrible. The way that Nami only has sympathy for women and children is easily noticeable in-text, but it's also something confirmed in those words by the author. And it's clearly because of the life she lived, the men who had all the power and only abused it, who saw her as nothing but a girl to take advantage of, without anyone aside from her sister clearly knowing and caring about any of it.

Nami clearly isn't bitter, she doesn't think the world owes her recompense, on the contrary she knows she is far from the only person in the world to suffer the things she has suffered. She is endlessly reaching out and kind, but only to those that she isn't sure would get help without her. Certainly, before Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro, no man ever reached out a hand to her without an ulterior motive.

I think when she sees a girl in trouble, a girl biting her lip to hold in a scream of grief, a girl running in the woods away from a monster, a girl captured by pirates, she sees someone who no one is coming for. Who no one will stick up for. A person without allies in a world against her. Whether it's actually true in this case or not, she runs straight for that girl anyways every single time.

[shanksxbuggy]

Pls pls pls rant more about ur theories and thoughts abt op and this recent chapter i need ur analysis sm thank you for ur posts ur one of shuggys greatest blogs!!!

Thank you for liking my humble little offerings!! Every day I toil in the shuggy mines ⛏

In this spread, if Oda really did intentionally put a mirror parallelism between opposite forces, then it might imply that Buggy and Shanks would clash in the future because of their differing ideologies.

I’ve also seen people worrying that the parallels might signify a battle to the death, where only one side can come out on top. Basically pairs with contradicting desires that conflict with each other.

So I’m thinking, what kind of conflicting ideology between Shanks and Buggy would put them on this level?

Out of all people in this race - his arch-nemesis Blackbeard, the authoritarian government who slaughters innocents - it’s Buggy who mirrors Shanks as his polar opposite.

What’s interesting to me is that Shanks seems to have his own plans for the One Piece.

Since Buggy is about materialistic greed and wants to find the treasure for his own gratification (not for any grander scheme involving the fate of the world), when I think about the opposing side, maybe Shanks wants to destroy the One Piece so no one can have it, which would put him in direct conflict with Buggy’s interests.

Imagine there’s a big pile of treasure and priceless artifacts, and Shanks says ‘well I’m going to destroy all of this so no one can have it’. That would be enough to piss Buggy off and start a fight.

When Shanks uses the word ‘get’, the word he uses has the implication of ‘take by force’ or ‘steal’, almost as if someone else has it.

If I consider the possibility that Shanks plans on destroying the One Piece, this wording could imply he’s going to ‘take away’ the One Piece from anyone trying to possess it.

Since Buggy’s goals are selfish, as his direct opposite, Shanks’ goals might be selfless. Shanks doesn’t want the One Piece for himself, and if anyone does want to claim it, they’ll have to defeat him to do it. So in that way, he’s safeguarding it.

Just from how different Shanks’ expression is from the other Emperors, it’s like he’s the only one who’s not having a fun pirate adventure hunting unknown treasure.

Compared to every other ‘opposite parallel’ in this spread, Shanks vs Buggy seems very different. They’re the only opposites who actually care about each other despite their differences. Compared to the other matchups, their conflict seems kind of petty and personal.

I don’t think Shanks and Buggy will truly have a fight to the death. I’m not sure Shanks would even be able to fight Buggy seriously.

If they ever were to face off against each other, it might end up being like the challenge between Dorry and Brogy, where it’s a match between two people who care for each other and in the end won’t be happy seeing the other person lose. Unlike everyone else who’ll probably have to kill each other to stop their opponent, Shanks and Buggy have the desire to save each other. So their outcome won’t be the same as everyone else.

Honestly, besides comic relief and leading characters like Mihawk and Crocodile to the One Piece, Buggy doesn’t look like he has much of a role in the final battle royale. He isn’t important to the main plot or Luffy’s development, he isn’t strong and doesn’t have useful information, he doesn’t represent some moral good or ideology, even as a villain he’s not so evil that he needs to be defeated. So what is his purpose, why did it have to be Buggy with this important role in the finale? It’s likely that Buggy, as a character, exists for Shanks’ endgame.

Whatever Shanks’ endgame is, Buggy will play an important part in it, because narratively their fates were written to be intertwined. They were set up as narrative foils from the start, and even more so now they continue to foil each other. Buggy was written for Shanks, though we don’t know for what future purpose it’ll be. Whether they’ll cause each other’s downfall or save each other’s lives, some kind of redemption arc for Buggy or character resolution for Shanks, they’ll both have an effect on each other’s fate.

It’s all just me speculating, of course, because I crave analysis.

When did this answer get so long! I started writing this out and it just went off on its own and kept going.

[swordsmans]

a lengthy breakdown of why ch. 878 is one of the best luffy moments in the entire series (to me)

question: favorite luffy moment?

oooomg it would have to be the scene in ch. 878 immediately after pedro's death--when luffy 1) snaps the crew out of their grief because they're in danger, 2) comes up with an extremely efficient escape plan for his crew 3) comes up with an extremely efficient plan to deal with katakuri 4) snaps the crew out of their grief again 5) gets the crew to execute their escape 6) executes his own plan (+ bonus moment in 880/881 because it's technically the "end" of this scene).

this whole moment on the ship is the Captain Of The Straw Hat Pirates moment for me. hang on, i'm gonna include manga caps because i dont think ive ever talked about the way the dialogue is set up in this scene before and im stealing this opportunity lmao

like, we almost never see luffy really engage with his role as captain and leader in a traditional sense--yes, he's captain, but in most arcs he fits the "The Big Guy" role more than the leader, and often the broader captain-ish duties fall to other characters (e.g. planning and executing strategy outside of battle, mostly). like, half of the entire joke in both dressrosa and wano is that luffy doesn't plan (even though we, the readers, know that he does) and yet in WCI he not only showcases his skills as a leader but does so flawlessly.

(for context, "The Big Guy" is basically the trope of like... the most powerful person, the one you know is always going to win/solve any problem by the end of it--the character who's going to fight the biggest bad in a story and who often can't deal with "little" problems within a story because it would undermine the internal logic of a story's power-scaling. i have many thoughts on The Big Guy and i think one piece is one of the few series that does it well, along with spyxfamily re: yor... but i digress.)

so here's where i think the "moment" starts in ch. 878. for a refresher, in ch. 877 luffy+co reach the sunny, fine chopper/brook encased in candy, katakuri attacks, big mom attacks, the sunny gets stuck in candy, and then pedro sacrifices himself. at this point in time, luffy+co have been on the ship for all of a few seconds--in 877, nami is trying to set up a coup de burst and explain how it works to jinbei at the same time, luffy is holding off katakuri, but nothing is really happening. when pedro sacrifices himself no one knows what his plan is so they don't have time to incorporate it into their escape strategy (which is basically nonexistent at this point). then--wham! pedro is down, the candy breaks, and there's a split-second of decision time that luffy jumps on, which brings us to 878

everyone is shocked and grieving, their tentative set-up is completely derailed, and luffy immediately takes charge--starting with "can we fly, nami?!"

he addresses nami as the navigator/in charge of the physical ship itself a this point (+ she set up the coup de burst in 877), then addresses the crew as a whole in "let's set sail, people!!"--like, the way this is phrased sets him apart slightly as someone with the authority to speak to the group as a whole; he's getting everyone's attention. then his declaration!!! "if we waste this moment... then we throw away his sacrifice!!"

he's completely taking charge of the situation and focusing on getting the rest of the crew to safety. it is his job as captain to look out for the whole, so he doesn't waste a second--which is so incredible, because we know luffy is emotional, that's his whole thing. he's incredibly emotionally-driven and emotionally-intelligent, but during this entire scene he is being emotionally driven to protect his crew, which in turn gives time for his (often-overlooked) intelligence and pragmatism to shine.

once he has everyone's attention as a group, he goes back to addressing crew members individually--which i think is really important because that's, like, literally what you do in a crisis when you're taking charge. you get everyone on the same page, then you single people out so no one feels lost or unmoored--everyone has something to do, everyone feels included in the solution in some way.

in these two pages alone, he addresses nami, chopper, and brook individually, and then jinbei responds (so he's also participating individually). i think the fact that carrot is excluded here also kind of supports this whole thing, because carrot isn't technically a straw hat--luffy isn't her captain, even though she's under his protection at this point. here, he's ordering his crew in his capacity as a leader.

and then, of course, there's the moment:

yes, he's talking to katakuri here, but he's also on the sunny's deck screaming--and his address to the crew doesn't have a distinct "end point" from a dialogue perspective, he just gets cut off when katakuri attacks carrot. here, i think he's declaring this as much to katakuri as the straw hats themselves. i think the "end" of this whole scene in 880/881 when he reassures the crew (after holding the fucking mirror shards in his mouth--god this whole scene is just so good) that everything will be fine supports this, too, because that feels like the end of the crew address to me. but i'll get there.

now that he has the crew on track to execute their own escape (by giving them step by step orders to do so, basically), he tackles the katakuri problem. at this point, he's already figured out what to do, because he's gearing up for the elephant gun grip that he uses to pull katakuri into the mirror world, and he doesn't tell anyone else his plan because it's his responsibility as captain to take care of the crew (as opposed to just his responsibility as The Big Guy to take out the strongest enemy, which--if we were just adhering to The Big Guy trope, i think he would have shouted his plan along with everything else. basically authority [no one needs to know my plan because it's my responsibility to handle it and i know i will] vs. equality [im the strongest but we're all in this together so here's what im going to do], and he's authority.)

then we get another crew address, this time starting individually then talking to the group. they see the shadow--they realize pedro has died but perospero has survived--nami is seconds from absolutely spiraling again (just look at that panel of her, oh my god). further proof that luffy is the most emotionally intelligent character in the entire series, luffy immediately redirects everyone's attention a second time, focusing them away from their grief again and onto their own escape again.

since this is, like, a second wave of grief/horror, he starts with the individual address--snapping everyone out of it directly because a whole-crew address might not cut it and he needs to include carrot, here.

then mid-address, he grabs brulee and starts executing his katakuri takedown plan. his focus here is entirely on keeping his crew safe in the most efficient way possible, and in two pages we get: assessing the situation (grief 2) -> solving the immediate problem (the escape plan starts to derail, everyone needs to snap back out of it) -> solving the next problem (katakuri) -> inspiring them to carry on because he's about to leave.

(seriously. i cannot overstate how great the brulee grab mid-dialogue is in the broader context of this scene. seriously.)

(also, the way the group -> individual -> individual -> group address works in this whole scene feels like such a beautiful closed dialogue loop... even on a structural level it's designed to have the biggest possible impact. love u oda.)

then, of course, we have the culmination of this whole thing--the mirror smash. with ruthless efficiency, he not only isolates the biggest immediate threat (katakuri) but also the character who poses the biggest danger to the crew's escape--brulee. all three of them have been completely separated from his crew, and now he can both keep an eye on brulee and the mirrors (which is most of 880/881), the "intelligence" part of the plan, and confront katakuri directly, the "battle" part of the plan.

also, the decision to isolate katakuri works both ways here--he's not only protecting the crew from katakuri as an enemy, but he's also protecting the crew from their fight. we see in subsequent chapters that the katakuri fight absolutely decimates the mirror world. if they were to face off anywhere near the sunny, people would get hurt. if katakuri were to escape, not only could he harm the crew but luffy would have to give chase and bring the fight back to katakuri, wherever he ends up (attacking the crew). i fully believe the decision to isolate brulee shows that he's aware of this--their fight has to stay in the mirror world, because the only way he'll win is by operating at full power and his full power is destructive.

also--this moment is just really cool, okay? it's so, so cool.

honorable mention to the rest of this "scene" as it's continued in the next few chapters, specifically the way this whole thing culminates--luffy holding the last mirror shards in his mouth to make sure he can communicate his final reassurances to the crew without the risk of those shards falling into enemy hands.

to me, this is as solidly and completely an "i'm the captain of this ship!" moment as the declaration itself, and every time i think about it for more than 0.2 seconds i start to go crazy. but. it it technically a different "moment" (and is also extremely self-explanatory) so i won't go into it here.

also, side note because this didn't fit anywhere--i think this scene not only stands on its own as one of luffy's most badass moments but also works as a really amazing example of his character growth--particularly compared to scenes like the usopp fight in water 7 (different scenario technically because usopp isn't an enemy, but it is one of the premier moments when he struggles with the burden of being captain).

anyway, sorry this got stupid long *jazz hands*

[xxscarletxrosexx]

SpyxFamily Season 2 OP is finally here! Also, my attention kept honing in on the teapot & teacups, so here's an analysis.

(Possible spoiler ahead--you've been warned!)

What I've noticed is that the teapot is only held by Twilight, who I see is the leader of the family, and he's solely the only one pouring the teapot. We've already established in season 1 that the teacups are symbolic of the characters' bond/identity in the Forger Family and closeness with one another. So, each time the family is seen holding teacups, it's a Forger family moment (if that makes sense). The way I perceive the teapot is that it's Operation Strix.

SS1: In the beginning, Twilight is seen as very cautious and protective of the teapot (he even puts it under a sleeve to keep it warm -- furthering my understanding that he has control/is very protective of it).

SS2: It isn't until the car scene that we see the teapot again w/ Twilight. This time along with Anya and Yor's teacups. Everyone's cups are filled with the same beverage which could represent their ties as the Forger's. Twilight's crazy driving represents him driving the wheel of his mission. The turbulence in his driving along with his teacup and teapot moving could represent his control of his spy life (the car), control of Operation Strix (teapot), and control as Loid Forger (teacup).

SS3: When Loid pours the teapot and we see water, I perceive it as Twilight/Loid probably experiencing failures (despite how cute and upbeat this design and seen is). This is b/c the tea inside the teapot has been washed away by water. We also notice that Anya is holding her cup and it's not being poured into. So it may also be a sign of discord in the Forger family. Also, I love that the Forgers "drowned" which represents drowning in their respective missions/problems in their involvement in the mission or with each other.

SS4: We have a clear view of all members of the Forger's with their teapot and teacups. Twilight/Loid is missing his teacup here. I may be stretching a bit, but my analysis of this scene is that regardless of having his teacup (Loid Forger), he doesn't forget his role to care for Anya. We also notice that Yor's cup is empty, and yet both she and Twilight prioritize saving Anya. As a result, I see this as the family still working together even if they're not on the same page with each other--not being on the same page represented by the absence of tea in their cups.

SS5: Twilight has redeemed himself as evidenced by the piping hot teapot, and he also has his teacup too along with Yor and Anya. I also like they used airplanes here b/c it could also have a symbolic meaning that, together, they're figuratively on top of the world.

SS6: Twilight is now more relaxed when pouring the content of the tea (Operation Strix) out to Anya because he can now trust that his family (Yor, specifically) will have his back.

SS7: When Yor sips the tea, I see more of a symbiotic relationship going on here. When Yor is seen drinking her tea, Anya is happy. I see this as "papa is trusting mama" from Anya's perspective, and of course, she just wants her parents to be happy (and possibly in love with each other). And when Anya is happy, Operation Strix goes well (recall that Anya's emotions easily influence Twilight).

SS8: Same thing is happening here. Twilight pours tea for Anya but Yor catches it, which is a lovely transition that this will be a Yor-centered season (aka Cruise Arc).

SS9 & SS10: Harmony / being on the same page together / united as a family from henceforth regardless of their crazy adventures (shown with them upside down) together.

TLDR; I love this teacup/teapot engagement with the Forger family because it essentially summarizes the Forger's relationship with one another from S1. This is such a good OP b/c whatever ep is shown will show the growth in their relationship w/ each other.

[writesailingdreams]

The biggest thing missing in OPLA is self-determinate freedom, prominently in Luffy's character. It spends more time talking about being good rather than being free, which is more what OG!Luffy wants - becoming the Pirate King means being the freest in the world.

[vivika-ka]

Hello, fellow humans! 

I finally finished editing the “One Piece Through Celtic Mythology Lens” video! 

For this video, I focus on the possible inspiration of Celtic mythology in One Piece, and how its theme regarding balance translates through the Will of the D.

How do the characters belonging to the D clan fit with characters who belong to either the Tuatha Dé Dannan (gods) or the Fomoire (evil gods)? What is the role of inherited will in terms of divine order? The video strives to answer these questions.

If you’re unfamiliar with Celtic Mythology, I got you <3 I explain all the traditions and beliefs I’ve made this video based on! 

If it’s up your alley, please check it out! <3

[thought-about-it]

Here's me over-analyzing a single panel to try to gauge Oda's intentions between Sanji and Jewelry Bonney. (Okay, not just this panel, but I just got to typing because of this one.) 1. Sanji caring about Bonney's safety but has not been fawning over her disrespectfully, which shows that she could potentialy be a viable love interest or a Straw Hat member. (If we're still on that 10-members thing, but I have my separate thoughts on that.)

2. Sanji has not been shown fawning over Bonney disrespectfully, because she is actually still a young, underage child and that would be creepy in retrospect. (Yet there has been some pretty fanservice heavy shots with her, so I dunno about this.)

3. Sanji finally has gotten over his extreme idolization of females in general after Wano, and his interactions with Bonney simply showcases his general character development. (I personally hope it's this last one.)

[laughingsour]

Rest in Peace T-Bone

It happened chapters ago, but I remembered this happened and I’m crying.

When we learned of Cross Guild, we cheered because we were hoping that people like this guy...

Or this guy...

or this guy...

Would be given a taste of their own medicine. But of course, we should’ve known this story isn’t that cut and dry. Of course Onigumo, Dobberman and Nezumi wouldn’t care less about the civilians they would kill to stay alive. Of course the most affected by this would be the few who couldn’t bring themselves to harm civilians.

Like this guy...

As it’s been pointed out, his death is an eye opener that this is NOT a simple case of bullies getting their just desserts, it’s bullies draging good people to the mess THEY made.

It’s yet another injustice, one that was coming for a long time to the surprise of no one with awareness, yes. But an injustice nontheless.

Will the family that claimed T-Bone’s bounty ever know that he was a good man and feel guilty?, will they never know and cheer for his death? or will they know and still cheer?

I doubt we’ll ever know, but we do know that we can’t blame the starving family for it and that Mr. “100 good deeds a day” does not regret feeding them. And that’s all we can ask from a One Piece character.

I salute you T-Bone, you didn’t deserve this and the Navy didn’t deserve you.

Rest in Peace. 

[possessionisamyth]

Rambling thoughts, but I feel like Sanji's time on Drag Queen Island was a shit show for more than what he says about being surrounded by "ugly men dressed as women". The framing of him running for his life and some of his fight scenes makes me wonder how much of his consent was revoked or boundaries ignored when it comes to casual touch. Don't twist my words. I'm not saying these touches were sexual.

I am saying they dressed him up in a way that made him distinctly uncomfortable. They didn't give him the option of choosing his own clothes. I don't know who did his hair and make up either when we see him later enjoying dressing up in drag. I want to say maybe those feelings of enjoyment for varied gender expression were mixed up with the crossed personal boundaries and comphet to make him double down on his manhood and masculinity before the two years were up.

That's probably why he's so Like That when we see him again in Sabaody. It's over compensation to the max going all the way down to Fishman Island. Ivankov can change people's secondary sex characteristics, so there's no way he didn't see a woman's tit on and off during his stay there. The only way he'd know who came to the island as a woman or a man first is if they told him, and I don't think any of them cared too much to even think about that.

Good news is he has calmed down since then, now only getting horrible nosebleeds at the sight of a naked woman instead of when one just breathes in his direction. Which is more in line than before the time skip. Plus, he has realized both Nami and Robin are as capable if not more capable than he is when it comes the same barrage of battles. I will take that scene of him asking Robin to help him in Wano to my grave. Their enemies framed it as emasculating, but Sanji's whole spiel to Usopp in Water 7 was "I'll do what you can't do, and you do what I can't", and this was the perfect example of him upholding that belief. This is a distinct difference from his "I have to protect the women" rhetoric he upheld for a lot of arcs pre-timeskip. If he still held onto that rhetoric as tightly as he did before, he would've cried for help to one of the other guys regardless of spider-lady's demands, but he didn't. He believed in her.

Not to mention, there's also something extremely funny about this giant woman beating the shit out of Sanji saying she wants to kill Robin and to call her there right now. Sanji weighed his options because he knows Robin would kill that woman and everyone in her way before going "aight, bet, I'll call her."

[dykealloy]

i keep going back to this moment. obviously there's the palpable devotion from zoro towards luffy which is all very insane, elicits the urge to chew through drywall etc etc. but I can't help but get caught on the way this is phrased. suggesting maybe zoro isn't the only one mihawk is talking about here. as in, I'm getting opla shuggy rant energy, i.e.

which is about as blatant and transparent as it gets in terms of the older wiser figure with a connection to shanks speaking about his own experiences (under the weak veil of this being about Luffy). but back to mihawk talking about zoro whilst also talking about himself. I'm having to extrapolate a fair bit here given my limited knowledge of his history, but here's what we do know - mihawk never belonged to a crew, was a "rival" of shanks before he "lost interest" in killing him at some point after he lost his arm ("it's always for the sake of another" - given how powerful shanks still is at this point - one of the four emperors - i'd like to think there's something more to this).

when zoro falls to his blade outside the Baratie and he tells luffy "that's a more treacherous path than even mine" after hearing his main goal is to become king of the pirates, do you think perhaps there's a chance he's projecting some old buried anxiety/fear from his youth about the thought of facing shanks, standing by his side and falling. It's giving "I am not worthy until I prove I'm the best", which if true, was followed after many years by "Now I am the best and it's hollow and empty and I regret all those days I could have had with you".

luffy gave zoro direction - a greater purpose and a family. luffy enables his aspirations, but he also provides zoro the freedom to have something more than just this obsessive structure where the only thing that matters is becoming top dog - something beyond years and years of endless relentless training fueled in part by his loyalty to kuina but also the grief of her loss. without luffy, zoro could very likely have followed mihawk's path, something @joyish-little-boy pointed out in one of @assiraphales' posts.

despite being recognised by the world at large as the greatest swordsman alive, and supposedly having achieved all there is for him to strive for, mihawk has never struck me as a man awfully satisfied with where he is.

[konfuse]

I’m trying to find your Frobin Proof post for a friend, please;; where can I find it?

Hey there!

Do you mean this one?

It's a bit on the older side now and I do think I should work on certain points like that fact that in the new family dynamic Franky is not the father anymore... but that does not change the fact that Oda described the accomplishment of a husband laying his head on the lap of his wife to climbing a mountain and reaching the peak.

If you meant another one feel free to write me again!

[ariadne-mouse]

"Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks!" says man who spent the last several hours providing the fireworks show for a birthday party

[sailing-ever-west]

I'm obsessed with Nami in the realm of female character writing, because on the surface her arc is to be saved by a guy/group of guys, and generally with female characters that's used to take away their agency or power and/or support a romance. But with Nami...it does none of that. Her story is about learning to depend on others, but rather than reducing her power in any way, it increases it. The isolation she experienced before wasn't independence, but part of her oppression, so having a family to support her gives her infinitely more freedom.

Luffy is her captain, but the way Luffy does that is never to lord over people, it's to raise them up with him. And, importantly, he waits for it to be her choice. He stays supportively in reach until she asks for his help. The only time he intervenes without permission is to stop her from actively harming herself. And when he does intervene, it's not to whisk her away and keep her somewhere else safe where she's dependent on his security and protection, it's to literally beat the crap out of her oppressor so he's never a problem again and she's free to live her life either way. And although Sanji acts romantically toward her and the rescue follows his grand ideals of fighting for a beautiful lady, there's no expectation that she now owes him anything or has to give him a chance just because he helped her out of an abusive situation. He did it because he cared, not in exchange for anything. They were all willing to fight and bleed for her with next to nothing in return, and that's so vital.

Nami being a woman is definitely relevant to her story (using her beauty and pretend helplessness to steal without suspicion, the fact that she takes after her mom who was tough as nails in the male-dominated marines, the very real isolation and fear of being female surrounded by [fish]men with power over her), but it's important to note that she doesn't need saving because she's a woman, or due to any weakness on her part. She is shown as incredibly strong, brave, and clever, right from the beginning, but she was trapped in a situation with Arlong that would've been impossible for anyone to get out of alone. Now with a crew by her side, she no longer has to.

[relaxxattack]

me attempting to make a post about literally any “theme” or “meaning” in homestuck

[chemblrish]

11 May 2024

Here's what's left of the semester:

four weeks of classes (only four?!?! Ahhhh!)

one analysis in ochem

one synthesis in ochem (when am I supposed to do it?!)

two pchem labs

two ochem tests

one final

I am totally not freaking out. It's fine I'm fine okay I'm fINE