#trait: WG

[digi-lov]

Wind Guardians BT21-095 by Itohiro from BT-21 Booster World Convergence

This card is a reference to the promotional artwork of the Pendulum Z II Wind Guardians v-pet!

[zombie-eats-world]

Luffy's Linage and the Connections to God's Valley

I think we all know that the history of God's Valley is going to be very important to the story and to our protagonist, Luffy. But I think I've realized why it will be the biggest reveal in the story and intertwined intimately with Luffy's creation and destiny. This might sound crazy but I believe wholeheartedly that:

Luffy is the grandchild of Rocks D. Xebec.

Luffy is the child of Crocodile.

Crocodile's mysterious history is interlinked with every important character in the Grandline. Now, let me explain.

Let's first lay out what we know about the God's Valley incident. We know the Celestial Dragons were on the island, which prompted a young Garp to trust a young Gol D. Roger with an alliance to fight against the Rocks Pirates. Together they won, the incident was covered up, the island disappeared, and Roger found a baby Shanks in a treasure chest as he sailed away.

There is so much about that incident that we don't know, but we do understand just how much it has impacted the world of One Piece. And that goes double for the relationships born from the incident.

Whitebeard and Roger's friendly rivalry, Big Mom's vitriol for Roger, but by far the most interesting thing to come out of the incident is Roger and Garp's mutual respect. Roger respected Garp so much that he trusted the marine with knowledge of his child who was about to be born.

This is the million-dollar question, why would Roger entrust his child's (and at this time, Rouge's) life to this marine who could have become a massively different person in the years since they last met. For all Roger knew Garp was now corrupted by the marines and agreed that Roger's bloodline needed to be eradicated. Well, I believe Roger trusted Garp because he witnessed Garp save a child before against the World Government's wishes; I believe Garp saved Rock's child.

We all understand by now that one of the overarching themes of the story is 'history repeating itself', which is why I think the hunt for Roger's child happened once before with the God's Valley incident. The WG would obviously want to completely erase Rocks from existence (they basically have to with how little we know about him), which would include any children he had fathered to carry on his bloodline. As the fight on God's Valley raged a group of marines, or possibly Cipher Pol, would arrive with the orders to kill anyone with even a passing relation to Rocks. The survivors of this being Rocks top members (Whitebeard, Big Mom, etc.) AND his child; who I am willing to bet real money on was Crocodile.

Crocodile is one of the most interesting characters in the story by far. And while that might be a lot of bias from me, I still think the evidence speaks for itself.

Crocodile is one of the only major villain's that we lack a backstory for, we know more about Warpol's backstory than we do the very first Warlord we ever fought and defeated in story. The man has a strange relationship with animals that is never once explained. Lizard mail runners that we never see utilized by anyone else? Yep, Crocodile's got them. A trained otter and condor being given more trust than the humans in his secret organization? Yes, Crocodile did allow that. Gigantic reptiles that are known to attack Sea Kings? Crocodile kept them as pets and had them so well trained Robin was able to casually pet one! (This doesn't really add to the theory beyond showcasing an odd character trait giving to Crocodile of all people and without any explanation. No one even thought we'd see him again before impel down!)

We also know that Crocodile's inspiration was Roger, from the cover on chapter 408 we learn that Crocodile dreams of being Roger. (very similar to Yamato's dream of being Odin, just more history repeating itself.)

I'm not understating this, Crocodile as a character is so weird. He's got connections to everyone, (Whitebeard, the Revolutionaries, Ivankov, Mihawk, etc.) and yet we've never got any explanation for any of this. We know from how intertwined Crocodile is with the Grandline that he's been a pirate a very long time yet no one in the story seems to know anything about him outside of his Warlord status. In fact, Crocodile seems to be comfortable with the secrets, even being alright with Buggy taking the credit for Cross Guild.

This mans strange relationships with powerful characters like Whitebeard is the reason for the prevalent theory that Crocodile is Whitebeard's only biological child instead of Rocks.... but what if it was both?

No matter how I think about it I've never been able to get over the strangeness of Crocodile and Whitebeard's dynamic in Marineford. Whitebeard definitely doesn't treat Crocodile like someone he cares about, less so like a child that would automatically count in the family that was HIS DREAM. But there is a familiarity in how they address each other, like their history goes back far further than the battle we know they had when Crocodile was a young pirate.

So I propose this:

Crocodile was Rocks child, witnessed Roger take his own father down after standing up to him. This is the reason for Crocodile's dream seemingly being to be Roger. And this would eventually be mirrored in the relationship between Kaido, Yamato, and Oden.

Garp impressed Roger by helping Crocodile to safety instead of following orders and killing him. This would stick with Roger over the years and be why while sitting in prison waiting for execution he decided to put his child's life in Garp's hands.

The safety Crocodile was brought to was Whitebeard. Crocodile was 8 when God's Valley happened, so Whitebeard raised the boy for a few years before Crocodile either ran away or was sent away. We don't know why Crocodile and Whitebeard's relationship turned sour but whatever it was caused Crocodile to see him as an opponent he dreamed of defeating.

This all spurs Crocodile to go to East Blue to witness Roger's end and motivates his desire to defeat Whitebeard as he is now the father figure he must overcome in order to be like Roger. (Kinda like Ace's original desire to defeat Whitebeard huh? Again more history repeating itself.)

Now onto what this means for Luffy, and the story as a whole.

I've already outlined all the evidence for the Trans! Crocodile and Crocodad/Dadodile in many, many, many posts. So I'm not doing that here, you can find my main posts on it here and here. In this post, I want to discuss the ramifications of Crocodile being Rock's child and Luffy's birth parent if this theory proved true.

First of all, this would mean the person that literally gave birth to the dawn and the future sun god Nika/Joyboy incarnate had their life undeniably changed at GOD'S VALLEY. I don't think I need to explain the almost heavy-handed symbolism with that entire naming scheme.

It would also mean that almost everyone who had an impact on Luffy's life was at God's Valley. The person who gave birth to him (Crocodile), the person who inspired his dream (Shanks and Roger), the person to raised him and trained him (Garp), and the person to validated his dream to the world (Whitebeard). All that is missing is Dragon, but for all we know he was there too!

Also I simply love the symbolize that revolves around this entire theory. Luffy would be born from the son of the man who was push into the spot light after God's Valley, praised as a hero. And came from the child of the man who was wiped from history, his family memory thrown to the darkness. Its a clash of opposites, light and dark, a total contradiction, also could be described as a dawn. Not even mentioning the beautiful irony of Joyboy being born from someone taking the name of a predator known for its menacing smile.

If this proved to be true, Crocodile would be centered and primed to possibly be the link between the crew and Gods Valley. Maybe the last Road Poneglyph is there!

But what do others think? I'd love to have a discussion about this if anyone finds counter evidence, or finds evidence that gives more credence to this theory!

Here's an additional link to a great post about this topic I found while looking for evidence.

[saltedfishmaiden]

When I was writing my post about why Sanji loves love, why he sometimes seems too much invested in the concept and idea of it which goes deeper than being only a hopeless romantic, I got to the part with Judge and Luffy, and then wanted to make a whole post about that.

There's this sentiment that Sanji didn't need to have another story with Germa or this added background seems pointless. And while I get it somewhat, I also enjoy getting two cakes and have my fun by poking at parallels and contrasts. So here are all my thoughts and ramblings on the subject. 

I feel WCI is to Sanji in One Piece that Enchantix was to Bloom in Winx Club. For getting that enchantix transformation, all the fairies had to sacrifice something for their people. And while Bloom still gets her transformation, it wasn't at its complete because she hadn't fulfilled the condition of her transformation. Because, you know, she didn't have her people left. (I am talking about season 3, not the newer seasons). 

So how is it even remotely similar to Sanji's Germa origins? Or even ties in with Judge vs Luffy? This got quite lengthy, so under the cut, here we go:

Luffy stands as a figure of freedom and liberation. He has freed islands, thrown off corrupt governments and has saved many, many people. You should start doing good things from your home. And Luffy does it by saving every member of his crew too. But if you closely look at the flashbacks before and during the 3D2Y thing, one of them doesn't hold the same weight as the other. (It didn't for me, at least.) 

Most of the others have flashbacks to being rescued from high stakes situations. Sanji's flashback has a bigger focus on the scene where he asks Luffy if he has ever heard of the All Blue.

Luffy saved Zoro from being killed by Marines, from a death that comes from betrayal and not with a warrior's honor. He saves Kaya, Usopp, and Syrup Village from a fate that was going to befall them. Nami asks for Luffy’s help and he defeats Arlong. He declares war on the world government for Robin. Taking Franky with him so the WG doesn't constantly hunt him down is his decision in the end. Brook spent five decades in literal darkness. Luffy saves him, defeats Moria to restore their shadows, and takes him out of the waters he was stuck for so long at. He is the reason Brook can see sunlight again. He brings the light to the darkness Brook had been in. By launching the prison break, he sets Jinbei free from his cell in the Impel Down. 

Yes he saves Sanji too by fighting Don Krieg. But it differs here that after being set free from their captors or situations, the strawhats have an impact that becomes a trait or a part of their personality. 

Nami doesn't have to free her village any longer. So she's more assertive in taking charge of everyone's finances. Zoro takes quickly to piracy and while his own condition was never jeopardizing his dream, he was ready to give up for Luffy’s life. Robin decides she wants to live. Brook becomes more cheery. Chopper learns some people will love him Because he is a monster. While initially he doesn't want to be one, he is ready to become one for Luffy post time skip.

Coming back to Luffy at Baratie.. he does defeat Don Krieg. (Luffy wasn't the only one influencing his decision. Zoro's refusal to back down from his dream was doing something to his brain too.) But look at it from Sanji's angle:

A pirate crew returns from the Grand Line and attacks a ship on the East Blue that he currently calls his current home. That sounds very familiar though. 

A pirate saves him from a seemingly worse fate after that attack. That too has already happened. 

For Sanji, it's probably another Tuesday. Even if it probably repeats every nine years or so.

Interestingly, Sanji doesn't actually change after Baratie is saved by Luffy. He's still all traits and characteristics that he was. He was ready to die on the Baratie. Then, from Drum Island and onwards, his sacrificial tendencies and (passively) suicidal behavior becomes a recurring theme. At the restaurant, he declares he is ready to die because dying is how he can repay Zeff for saving him. Luffy tells him it's stupid and Zeff didn't save Sanji for him to pull this. But Sanji still keeps this stance, which he again repeats at Thriller Bark that he has always been ready to die. This thing continues post time skip too, as seen in Dressrosa where he was ready for his fate by willingly giving himself up to save the crewmates on the ship. 

So Sanji had yet to change that streak. And it makes you wonder WHY he is so ready to die, to put other's lives and dreams above his own, why his self worth is lower than Punk Hazard’s temperature? Because, again, Zeff didn't save Sanji so he can throw himself away every chance he gets. So where does his behavior even come from? A random nobody kid on a cruise ship shouldn't come with this much baggage. Then why does he? 

Those questions are answered with the WCI arc. Father vs father figure gets the focus. But Zeff isn't physically present there. You know who is? Luffy! The center stage is taken by authority figure vs authority figure. Or, well, leader versus authority figure. And the two couldn't be more different. Which the arc shows throughout.

Judge is a colonizer and symbolizes oppression. In contrast to him, Luffy is the liberator, symbolizing freedom. One of them is power hungry, the other craves freedom. Judge is someone who thrives on hierarchy, on being the biggest, the oldest, the one who looms over others. Luffy is the captain but he is also the second youngest, and usually lets his crewmates do their own thing. 

When Sanji goes back to his bio family, he ends up beaten. When Luffy catches up to him, and Sanji reacts to send him away, Luffy refuses to fight him back. While Judge ignores Sanji's pain and hurt, Luffy acknowledges it. Judge refuses to give Sanji any choice in being used as a pawn. Luffy asks Sanji what he wants. 

Judge goes back against his own word that he had bound Sanji to. Luffy makes a promise of staying there come whatever. Luffy binds himself to his promise. Judge is ready to blow up Sanji's hand. Luffy was ready to give up his own.

What Judge says he doesn't do. Luffy always does what he says.

Luffy picked Sanji as his cook at the Baratie before ever tasting his food. On Whole Cake, the food is ruined but Luffy had nothing but praise. The two stories, both, have Luffy choosing Sanji and it's not because of how good the food is. 

Judge puts everything above Sanji and Luffy puts Sanji above everything else. 

Whatever Judge does, Luffy does the opposite. We have Sanji realizing that he's worth it too. That no, he shouldn't be thrown in a dungeon or used as a chip. 

(Back to my kinda silly comparison to Bloom’s enchantix, isn't it interesting Sanji awakens his own sense of self worth while saving his family too?) 

He changes from that point forward. He asks Robin for help. He questions if Luffy would want him more useful or how he is. And doesn't wait for an answer. Because he already has one. Luffy isn't Judge. For the latter, everything is about usefulness and that's why Sanji is a failure because of what he can't do. But now Sanji knows he is Sora’s success and he already knew Luffy has never cared for what others are of use to him. 

Sanji has never doubted Luffy. He just hasn't believed himself of any worth.

Luffy at Baratie was throwing hands with a pirate who failed on the Grand Line, in exchange of not being the chore boy any longer. Luffy on Whole Cake Island was throwing hands with an Emperor of the Sea for someone he deemed worth more than his dream. That's the difference. 

[psyche-ren]

I don't share much about my WordGirl OCs like I do on Insta, so here's some info about them!

Michael Gilroy:

is Irish and immigrated to America (Fair City) during his preteen years

37 y/o, personality: calm and collected

became friends with Taylor's father during their late teen years, they met a bit earlier in high school

despite living In America for over half of his life, he does not celebrate most American traditions

still travels back to Ireland from time to time to visit family

has a slight Irish accent but it slowly tones down since he now lives in America

is an honorary Miller and takes part in their culture ex. Dia de Los Muertos

gained legal guardianship of Taylor 2 years after she was born; contract through her father to take care of her while he's away for work, more of a work deal between the two

his job is consist of taking the roles of a "parent" but with very clear boundaries that he is not one, such as attending to her schedule, drive her to school and ballet class, cook healthy meals, help out with homeworks, take her to fun places that she may like, etc.

overall, his job is too never leave Taylor's side and protect her

refers to himself as the 'uncle', is not biologically related to the Millers

shares multiple stories to Taylor about her mother before she passed, they were childhood friends and grew up together

Taylor Miller:

mixed; half Irish (mom side) and half Mexican (dad side)

10 y/o; born in America but mainly celebrates her parents heritage/traditions

mainly raised by Michael and developed some of his personality traits, although she's a bit more on the shy side and can be a bit niave

is a WordGirl and Captain HuggyFace superfan

keeps a journal to keep track of anything WordGirl/Huggy related; battles, villians they encountered, new powers/battle strategies, new words that WordGirl defines

constantly asks Michael drive her where WordGirl and HuggyFace are so she can have a closer look at their battles

dreams to be a beloved super hero and become friends WG and Huggy

has some internal struggles as seeing Michael as only as her legal guardian with a contractual job to protect her

sometimes sees him as a parental figure even though she strictly knows she shouldn't

gives Michael multiple nicknames; some fun random ones and some meaningful ones

receives art lessons from Michael since he's good at art and she loves to draw

only allows Michael to draw and write in her journal, other than herself, she's very protective of it

is inspired to be a good of a person like her mom was, as described by Michael and her family

[beaulesbian]

Thoughts and more thoughts about the potential of Rob Lucci after chapter 1111 - spoilers and theory

(disclaimer: this might be totally implausible and not at all what could happen, but it's something that's been on my mind since last chapter, so here are my thoughts on this. again, very long post ahead, I don't know how it keeps happening)

The way Oda allowed Lucci to feel during chapter 1111, is something I didn't expect to find so intriguing, and it points to how much depth really has each character in this story.

There is a subtle change of certain aspects of Rob Lucci's personality since the start of Egghead, and in the chapter 1111 even a bigger focus is on his reaction to meeting Mars Gorosei and asking for Kaku to be spared.

Given this swept away answer with seeing whom he's been serving all this time, there could come a realization that'd sort of wake him up. There's a potential to somewhat turn power of Cipher Pol agents from blindlessly following the World Government. To stop being the WG's shield.

It's very probable the story might deal with the reform or even collapse as a whole of the World Government - especially since the Gorosei are currently Luffy's main enemies. With that, the Cipher Poll intelligence could play a significant part of it as well, along with other moving pieces like the Revolutionary Army, Shanks, Luffy's fleet or even Morgans and his newspapers, and, of course, the Strawhats.

There's been comments of readers who only saw Lucci and Zoro's fight as one dimensional - one has to win, the other has to lose, and comparing points and skills without really diving into their respective characters - thankfully Oda knows those characters and knows how to make the story interesting and compelling. Where before I hoped we would get a follow up about the words directed at Zoro, instead Lucci was given more space for this chapter.

Where one would hope for Zoro to win and move to other parts of the island with the Strawhats, we instead stayed with Lucci and him witnessing Mars in his full on demon form - something that even Lucci was shocked to see.

Those two pages were such incredible moments for Lucci as a character who serves fully the Gorosei and the World Government in first place, yet! Yet! In the last part he's on the page, he's allowed and shown to be worried and caring for someone else than himself- after arcs and arcs where he appeared here and there just carrying out on orders and missions without seemingly caring about anyone to much depth before, he's given space to actually express the concern regarding Kaku.

Of course he's still this same of bloodthirsty killer, just like in Enies Lobby, (ch. 382),

both his immediate fight upon seeing Luffy on Egghead, and later against Zoro paints it clear what he's capable of.

Rob Lucci is regarded as one of the strongest assassin's in the Cipher Pol agency CP9 (and later with higher rank of CP0). Just reading his wikia to remember more moments, the section about his personality is mostly compiled of traits like cold-hearted, agressive, and especially taking the Wold Governments meaning of Justice into brutal heights, thinking all is allowed to accomplish his goals/missions/orders.

There's his past and how he has been trained by WG to do as they told him, or even go to length which he wasn't even ask to do, but knowing his position as assassin he did as he wanted.

By the end of Water 7 and leaving to Enies Lobby, where he preteded to be friends with Iceberg, Paulie and other shipwrights for 5 years, he didn't show any regrets leaving the place (contrary to Kaku, who seemed to really enjoy his work as shipwright and is sometimes shown really excited about new places and such)

Up until the chapter 1111 I mostly took him as someone really dutiful to follow orders through and through and not gave it much more thought beside that, but it's true that this already started to shift around chapter 1062, when we see Lucci, Kaku and Stussy on their way to Egghead Island:

"They want us to eliminate the most useful man in the world..."

"The last thing a man as keenly perceptive as you should be doing is looking for answers." (says Stussy, a double agent working for Vegapunk, lol).

I wouldn't call it distrust in WG, yet. At this point he was still adamant about following the mission to kill Vegapunk. But maybe it's more visible that he's thinking more about such orders and their consequences.

He fights Luffy immediately after setting foot on Egghead, calls it as it is in wanting to defeat Luffy and destroy his whole crew without any pretense (and maybe that honesty was why Luffy took his word for their brief cooperation in fighting Seraphim). ch. 1076

He says this honestly, yet after the Strawhats and Vegapunks are healing later on, Lucci still tries to attack Vegapunk, ch.1091

Once knowing Kizaru appeared too, Lucci returnes back to finish his mission, he strikes at Vegapunk again - unsuccessfuly because Stussy takes that attack, and Zoro pushes him from the lab and then keep him occupied until the latest chapter 1111.

And that is a big part of him, eyes always on the mission - get information to his bosses, to Navy/Saturn/Gorosei/Kizaru, and keep his enemies occupied or better yet - dead. This thinking was always present with him to this point in ch. 1111, and that is from where it could lead to even more nuance in his future decisions:

The first time seeing Mars in his demon form there's that blink-and-you-miss it expression of pure horror, hinting that even the highest ranking agents probably had no idea just what the true nature of the Gorosei looks like, and that a sight like that can pull this expression from Lucci:

After that brief shocked state, he goes back to immediately report all informations he has on Vegapunks, Strawhats, even their plan of escape, as well as mentioning the other Cipher Pol agents, trapped in the Lab:

then there's this panel, "well done. no further questions.":

which reminded me of very similar words Lucci said to Robin in Water 7, ch. 348: "you've fulfilled your role. good work."

Maybe it's not intended as parallel, but just that similarity of something he's been clearly hearing from his higher ups, that he added it to his own vocabulary.

But then there's this more surprising part of ch. 1111:

After his shock of seeing that monster in front of him, and after giving Mars all the informations, he still finds the strength to ask him to spare his partner's life, to save Kaku:

What he gets as an answer is along the lines of: "it might be difficult when everyone to us is like ants" and that's the last of Rob Lucci for this chapter.

Mars seem to share this same thinking like Saturn expressed before, while the navy guy heard that even the life of an CP0 agents isn't something Saturn (and Gorosei) would really be troubled over, if lost.

and hearing that from Mars could be an eyeopening moment for Lucci.

They're assassins and an intelligence agency of almost the highest standing among the World Governement, but even the lives of Kaku and such seem to mean nothing to the Gorosei.

The point of the current anime episode 1098 where Lucci & CP0 were just arriving on Egghead reminded me how he was asking Vegapunk about the missing Cipher Pol agents and their disappearances, ch. 1068:

It's not that he was only concerned about Kaku in the latest chapter, but since the end of Water 7 - and seeing how his crew cared for him to pay for his medical bills (cover story chapters 491 - 528, manga only, which is very interesting that the anime didn't adapt that cover story), I think he started to care more about "his own people" - the Cipher Pol agents in general - even to visit to their "hometown" while he was healing and defended that place (and the new young trainees) from the Marines who were sent to attack CP9 after their failure at Enies Lobby:

So the question is.. once Lucci saw just who he was serving all those years, the World Government and the Gorosei - and now seeing Mars in his bird monster form disregarding any care for any lives, even their own agents - will that be a tipping point for him?

He asked Mars to spare Kaku but got an answer that all of them, Cipher Pol agents even on the highest places, are still the same as insects in the eyes of the Gorosei

Could that be something that will help him make a certain change?

My possible theory of what he might do/what might happen (given that he still has the strength to walk after his fight with Zoro):

Find Kaku himself - he was trapped in the bubble like the other Seraphim - we don't know if anyone else un-trapped him in the meantime, and Lucci himself doesn't know about the bubble prison, given his flashback to Kaku is just him laying down, as he last remembers that from the Lab.

Sanji said to Kaku that Lucci abandoned him - something that Lucci kept taunting Zoro with during their fight - about the inability to sacrifice one from their team for the greater good. (It could mean that Kaku either wouldn't count on Lucci coming back, but it would work even better if it was shown Lucci actually coming back for Kaku

and they could go finish their side mission of rescuing the other Cipher Pol agents -

and that's another thing -

even during that brief panel of their rescue -they were thankful to Luffy! Despite their positions of agents of Government, which puts them always directly opposing pirates/Strawhats/Luffy, they appreciated and thanked Luffy for giving them food and saving them, ch. 1090

This together I feel could become a moment of all these agents realizing that Luffy isn't their real enemy - or wake up from their WG brainwashed thinking once they see just who is outside fighting: Gorosei in their monster forms vs. Luffy

I think that Rob Lucci stands there now as one of the few who could sway the Governments power to a tipping point from the inside.

Not precisely helping Luffy or Strawhats, but taking that power of the intelligence agency away from the WG and Marines.

It was shown in multiple pages how the Gorosei care more about the rank and position than any lives of their trained assassins, and think of them as something to be disgarded left and right.

Their intelligence agency and assassins act as a Shield to the WG, and the CP0 even carries that in their name: AEGIS, (a powerful shield from greek mythology).

If the other agents would follow Lucci in a different direction, he could be the one to take away that shield from the Gorosei, uncover one of the layers that act as their security, leaving them more exposed and vulnerable to future attacks (possibly from people like Dragon and Revolutionary army when the time comes for them to strike).

[ms-all-sunday]

please give us your Nami thoughts, I love your takes on her. It can be about anything you're currently thinking about but if I could pick then could you talk in depth about what you think about the Nami & Ussop dynamic ? Like yeah it doesn't need explanation about why they're my favorite duo among the strawhats but some of the things you've said about Nami and Ussop individually were not things I had thoughts about before so I want to know what you think of Usopp & Nami

i love nami forever thank you anon this is so sweet and i feel so appreciated. i hope i dont let you down. i'll do both!

i think i havent talked formally on this blog about how nami is written in most fanfiction to other people, but i try to emphasize in my fanfiction the fact she's an abuse victim since I feel that's one of her most apparent traits. the way that she deals with trauma is very reliant on exclusively herself, something i don't think is talked about a lot is that her expectation of what she is told is true is not only reflective of how pirates are known to the god fearing public (indicative of propaganda) but that she exclusively sees herself as the exception to a lot of rules, there's this inherent close-mindedness she has but won't ever really get rid of, that naunce and the room for things to go positively can't fit within her self perception.

this is because she believes she is the only thing in life she can control, and it's a necessary self-perception to maintain the inner worldview she has.

this of course is a survival instinct inherited from her childhood. but what it speaks to i think is that in real life and one piece the anime, that abuse victims (children and teens especially) can come out with a cynical view of the world and externalize that onto others (advocating for the current dysfunctional societal systems for example like nami does in repeating wg propaganda) simply because of how much we alienate them and how that continues to give no hope to people looking for community and understanding.

i like usopp and nami. theyre my favourite dynamic as well! i think something nami is able to do with usopp and nobody else (even with women) is give him the benefit of the doubt. i think this is because she relates to him

(i think she has bpd as well but i cant decide whether thats my legitmate reading of the text or me projecting. i write her like she has bpd. you decide.)

if we look at water 7 i think she's the most sympathetic of the usopp apologists because she was very obviously coming at it from a place of understanding from usopps emotional perspective (because she relates to him and loves him) in a way that nobody else really was articulating. because she's been in that situation where she's successfully alienated herself from everybody she loves in a way nobody else on that crew related to usopp (and by extension robin) on that crew during water 7.

nami doesnt just have a relationship to usopp she could have with no other man she has a relationship to usopp she couldn't have with anybody. i think. usopp is the only one who can cross the invisible boundary of the fact she expects you to be a kiss ass towards her lest you get consequences but usopp isnt a kiss ass to her and there are no consequences. (in fact usopp is quite snarky/mean to her, which is how he is when he isn't masking and completely confident in himself: see end of enies lobby) she apologizes to him when he's snarky to her in thriller bark.

since this is a nami themed post i won't talk about usopp as much. but have you noticed? usopp is mean when he's comfortable with people. he has this attitude at the end of enies lobby as they're escaping on the merry, i think i registered it subconsciously but i only did register it consciously a few weeks ago, but if usopp is truly comfortable he's not a kiss-ass whatsoever. and he's never a kiss ass with nami.

we don't really think about it like this because people are so prone to dismiss usopp is one of those characters that have a facade of palatability when he feels he's not on the same level as someone, coming from his insecurity, but in regards to his genuine attitude we see in enies lobby and with nami that admiration is not the true breath of how he thinks about zoro or sanji or luffy. he thinks they're fucking stupid as well. and he's right. (this exact thing is another reason nami is able to emphasize with him. she thinks similarly)

this ties into both nami and usopps implementation as shonen characters. they're smart and witty and have big personalities to differentiate them from the more powerful characters, i feel this juxtaposition with more traditional shonen characters has made oda feel like he has to justify both usopp and namis existences in the story in a way he doesn't with the other characters. i think it's this element that makes them the most consistently well written throughout every arc they appear in as opposed to the other 7.

[jayyydez]

And I absolutely agree!

I love seeing him wear dresses and enjoy doing it. I think it's sweet that in the cartoon, when he adopted a Yoshi, he referred to himself as Mama Luigi. He has feminine interests and I don't think they should be overlooked or ignored.

I do think that because he has shown those feminine traits though, despite being a very good mix of masculine and feminine attributes, he gets hyperfeminized like you mentioned as a result. People saw those more overt feminine traits in a mlm ship and found an easy way to assign the "man" and the "woman" in the ship.

I have seen some Bowuigi shippers assign him completely feminine roles and titles, with no acknowledgement of who he is outside of that. And to each their own. If they get enjoyment out of that, then they are welcome to it.

But as you've said yourself, he's not the most masculine man but he does still have those traits. I don't think overriding his masculinity completely is fair to him. Especially not to make him weak, when he hasn't ever been weak. A little cowardly? Yes. On the reluctant side when it comes to getting involved in adventures? Sure. But he is still very much Mario's brother. He holds his own quite well on adventures, and works extremely well in tandem with Mario.

Plus, just of the top of my head, Bowser himself has had a few situations in the Mario and Luigi games alone, where he sort of stumbles into a mess or a problem and has difficulty getting out of it. The whole situation of him being Rookie in Superstar Saga comes to mind.

It wouldn't be out of the question at all for Bowser to stumble into some sort of trouble and have Luigi save him. But I agree that because he's been assigned the role of "the man" in the relationship, we don't often get to see that.

23 for the ask game?

Ooo that's a really interesting one to answer!

I would say that a ship I've come around to is Bowuigi. I've played a lot of the Mario games and I've felt like a lot of the characters were pretty mean to Luigi, especially Bowser. In the Mario and Luigi series, it took Bowser FOUR GAMES to learn Luigi's name. So for a while, I was firmly against Bowser/Luigi as a ship.

After the Mario movie trailer came out, the ship blew up in popularity, which is something I never could've predicted. I saw the way people were writing and drawing for it, so I came around to the ship. Now I like it quite a lot.

Though I will say it bothers me how Luigi is often hyperfeminized or turned into a damsel in these fics. Idk, it just feels like people think it's cool or sexy to make him the "woman" because he's smaller and a regular human. I would actually love to see more fan content where Bowser is a damsel who has to be saved by Luigi. Or I would like to see more fics where there is not as much of a power imbalance between the two--or at least, if there is a power imbalance, I would like to see less of people forcing Luigi to be more "feminine."

[gyuluttony]

hello i love your fics and neeeeeed!! more yeonjun wg in the world; maybe a freshman 15 (or more ;) ) wg? where yeonjun takes a break from dance classes for a semester or the summer and doesn’t focus on his diet, does even notice anything has changed until his pants are weirdly getting tighter and tighter, maybe eventually he goes back to dance classes kilos heavier and is surprised when he can feel.. his belly? jiggling? that he’s never felt before.. and everyone is noticing their ace has gained some weight

i've been cooking this one quietly because i always love to write yeonjun gaining,,, when he's been my number one ult for like three years. that's usually why i throw him down the gain train for all the txt fics SDFJSDF

so i've been excited for this request and i hope you enjoy it hehe (i'm also lowkey yeonbin trash so don't be surprised if they're the only pair i write for him sDFJSDF)

also an apology because holy shit i kind of go off on a tangent before filling this request properly SDFJSDF

Honeymoon Weight

This is a feederism fic and features weight gain, breaking of clothes, unintentional weight gain, and smut. Don't like, don't read.

It was pretty commonplace to receive flowers following a dance recital. When someone had worked their way to the top of the dance team and become the de facto leader as well as ace, most of the flowers were praises for a semester of hard work and just people who had fell for the way that he performed on stage.

His solo on stage had taken the more sensual route so flowers were expected... but what he didn't expect was a single extravagant bouquet from one person. One man who looked like his face was about to explode in flames.

Although, he was fairly certain that he didn't look all that different, covering his face with his hand as he looked away shyly.

"Oh my god, Soobin hyung actually did it." Yeonjun looked at Kai rather flustered who awkwardly started whistling and looking anywhere but their little scene. He could feel the dance team behind him, giggling about it.

"I don't think I've seen Yeonjun oppa that red and we've had some pretty intensive practices this semester."

"Oh, is that the hyung that always comes to pick him up after rehearsals? I thought they were dating."

"Finally. Do you know how long that Yeonjun hyung-" Yeonjun's head turned back to shoot a glare at Beomgyu specifically who put his hands up defensively, an indicator he'd stop talking as he smiled. The little brat seemed to enjoy pointing at Soobin.

Which was fair. Yeonjun hadn't said anything as he looked at the taller man.

"Ah, Soobinnie... thank you so much. I thought you weren't..." They had discussed it earlier. Soobin said he might miss the recital because he had an exam to study for and it was one of the many traits that he loved about the younger man. Even if he was disappointed, he would miss the performance.

He had been so invested he didn't see Soobin enter midway through the performance and he probably would have stumbled on stage seeing that large of a bouquet.

"Hyung, I wouldn't miss it for the world." The coos from behind him were ignored as he felt his face flush a little deeper, "I really like watching you dance... but I also just like you in general."

Yeonjun laughed, the smile splitting his face as he covered it with his hands, "Ah, wait a minute. You can't just ambush me with that after this long." Although, the hands that snaked around his waist and feeling the bump of Soobin's belly pressing against his thin waist made him feel weak.

"I'm serious, hyung. I like you." Yeonjun looked at him in the eyes, seeing the serious intent as his mouth opened, slightly agape before he cupped his cheek with the now free hand and pulled him into a tender kiss.

The choice to ignoring the hollering behind him was strong until Beomgyu told them to get a room and then he was ambushed by the new happy couple.

-

For the first time in his four years at college, he never really took the summer off for the dance team. But, there was a lot of work to be done. Mostly rearranging his apartment with Soobin. Considering the two of them lived together prior to becoming a couple, they wanted to organize it to suit them better now that they were a couple.

Originally, Yeonjun planned to manage both but the conversation was pretty present on his memory. "Hyung~" The sound of Soobin whining filled their space as Yeonjun washed the dishes from their meal. "You can trust your team to be fine while you rearrange everything..."

Drying his hands, the older man walked over, sliding rather naturally onto Soobin's lap, the plush thighs providing a comfy space as his hands cupped his lover's soft cheeks as he was pouting at Yeonjun. A small kiss to him as he looked rather pleased, "Do you want me to take a break that badly? This is going to be my last summer with them... and we're going to have a lot of summers together in the future."

He enjoyed seeing the way that Soobin smiled at the comment before he added, "Well... you're right about both of those but no one is stopping you from helping them after you graduate. But, we only get one first summer together..." Soobin grew a little more shy as he added, his hands resting on Yeonjun's hips, "And... I might have wanted to take you with me when my family goes on a cruise."

Yeonjun's eyes widened. It's not like Soobin's parents didn't know and love him but the family cruise that they went on every year? He usually missed his best friend significantly during that time. "Binnie, are you sure? I know you miss me but I don't want to intrude-"

Soobin looked awkwardly, "They're inviting you... It's not like they didn't know I had a crush on you and they're happy that they can finally get the family of four discount." A laugh come from Yeonjun before he hugged him tighter, hands sinking in a little closer to Soobin's soft body as he felt his lover's hands move to his perky behind.

It'd be a first in terms of not leading his dance team through the summer but Beomgyu should get the hang of it since he was the prospect as the next captain.

The team was rather sad to hear he wasn't going to be helping them for the summer showcase but he promised that he would be there since it was right before classes began again. Beomgyu in particular looked rather excited, "Don't worry, hyung. We're going to do a number that will have you jealous you didn't participate!" The smile from the elder as he ruffled his hair roughly was only widened as cried out for help.

-

Yeonjun lounged around their apartment on the couch as he examined. It didn't take all that long to move everything into place and most of the time that he wasn't at work, he was wondering if he could have just attended the dance practices as usual.

But at the same time, Soobin seemed to have some date planned. He hadn't really pegged the young man as a romantic, but considering they did something almost everyday from the other man's plan, it was hard not to fall deeper in love with him.

The restaurant they first ate out at when Soobin started to attend the same university as him, at home dates where he'd get all of their favourite dishes to share, other date activities like laser tag, mini golf, or just movie nights. They spent a lot more time together considering Yeonjun wasn't spending lots of time in the dance studio these days.

As he walked to Soobin's room, he watched the younger man game before he moved into the space of his chair rather naturally, sitting on his lap. Any creak from the chair was flushed out by the noise of surprise that came from his lover as he smiled. "Was I taking too long? The game is almost done."

Yeonjun shook his head, "I just wanted to sit here." Settling on his thighs, his hands squeezed him teasingly as Soobin sighed into his ear. He saw the mute button pressed in the corner of his monitor as he slid down again, a small whine coming from his boyfriend before he knelt in front of him. "Are you going to stay muted? Don't you have to do call outs or something?" He was getting more familiar with the terms but the kiss on the bulge of his shorts made him twitch as Yeonjun smiled at him.

Soobin looked rather conflicted as he unmuted, sensing the sort of vibe from his boyfriend and began to say some things about what the other team might be doing as he slid down his shorts, the length sort of popping out as Yeonjun glanced at it. Had he gotten smaller? He touched his crotch as Soobin whimpered before apologizing to his friends. It felt softer than it had before. Maybe he'd gotten bigger.

His boyfriend was a victim of the freshman 15 and it was only expedited with how he shamelessly asked his boyfriend for meals during his first year. And Yeonjun was happy to spoil him but he didn't expect him to get bigger. His stomach was already pretty comfortably on his lap but it's not that he didn't mind it. Quite the opposite really. The feeling of his boyfriend's heavier body pressing him into the mattress was one of the highlights of their sex life and he told him in earnest that he didn't need to hold back because he wanted that sort of feeling of being pressed down.

So, knowing he was getting bigger? Yeonjun felt himself twitch in his pants before taking his whole length in his throat. Bobbing back and forth while Soobin tried to talk through it was one of his favourite hobbies when it came to spoiling him. Sinking his hands into plush thighs, he made sure that his lover couldn't move back while he struggled to play.

"Ah, I died!" Soobin seemed to exclaim as Yeonjun smiled before continuing to suck him off, the complaint no longer valid when Soobin knocked his head back, biting his fist to stop from moaning as he struggled to mute himself as he looked at his hyung who continued to service him without a second thought. "Hyung~" The whine was complaining but his gaze was thankful for the act, "That was an important game~"

Yeonjun moved back with a pop, enjoying seeing how his boyfriend shuddered at the sight, "Should I stop then?" Soobin looked at the screen hesitantly while Yeonjun smirked, feeling one hand move to his locks as he moved him closer to his dick again, "N-no. I can do both... please keep going."

He watched Soobin unmute, a little excited with how he seemed to be confident in himself as he moved his hips forward a little, grinding in his spot while Soobin moved forward, the gut hitting his forehead as Yeonjun moaned a bit around his length. Soobin's tone with his friends sounded more out of breath while he continued to suck.

Before long, the game finished as Soobin hurriedly left the call and placed his hands on Yeonjun's face, stroking his cheek. "Hyung, I'm gonna-" It didn't take much longer before he felt his mouth filled as he swallowed it, taking the load perfectly even with the short warning.

They were rather comfortable in their domestic bliss and after Yeonjun brushed his teeth, he asked, "Where did you want to go for dinner today?"

-

Yeonjun collapsed on the bed in a heap as he groaned. He hadn't known that most of the time on cruises, the most that you could do was eat. He wasn't sure if he was looking too hard at him after those cruises before, but now he was sure of it. Soobin usually did get heavier after those sorts of things and it was already showing at how he sort of waddled back to their shared room, almost amused at the state that Yeonjun was in.

"I told you they were good, weren't they?" He looked at his boyfriend's gut which was starting to hang out of the bottom of his shirt. It was hard not to drool but his own stomach didn't seem eager to do anything right now as he sank into the bed.

"Too good. Oh my god, I don't think I can move today." The bed creaked and groaned as Soobin lied down next to him, his gut pressing into his boyfriend before he felt the chubby hands rubbing his stomach as he groaned in relief at the pressure. "Don't stop, Soobinnie. Your hands are like magic..."

A giggle came from his boyfriend as he continued to massage Yeonjun. "Would now be a bad time to tell you that they change their special everyday?" He laughed rather hard seeing his boyfriend snap his head at him.

"We have to go then." The cruise was a month long which meant that he had time to try different things. And that restaurant by far was his favourite.

Soobin's fingers combed through his hair adoringly, "There's still the dessert bar we haven't tried either." He patted Yeonjun's stomach who groaned before he started massaging again.

"If you keep working your hands like that, we can go in an hour or two. It's all-night service, isn't it?"

-

As the cruise made a stop over, Yeonjun was struggling. He had an outfit ready for when they docked but as it turned out, maybe there had been a flaw with the laundry that they were doing because it almost felt like everything was struggling to fit on him.

He felt Soobin come from behind him and press into him. His stomach on his back as Yeonjun looked at him. "I think they messed up my laundry." It invited his boyfriend admiring his figure before he smiled.

"If you're fine with a baggier look, you can just borrow my clothes." It worked out well since Soobin adopted his style since they started living together, so it's not like it was out of his taste anyways. He dressed baggy most of the time anyways, so this was rather comfortable. Plus smelling his boyfriend on the clothes definitely added to his enjoyment of the fact.

"Ah, you're the best, babe. I'll show my thanks later." Yeonjun winked as his boyfriend flushed as if they hadn't done worse at this point.

Although, following this dock, the trend was that Yeonjun just started wearing Soobin's clothes. They both enjoyed how he looked wearing Soobin's clothes and it made them more excited when they got back to the privacy of their room with the way Soobin always seemed to pounce on him. He wasn't ever as lethargic after eating all day like he was on the first week so they were able to do a lot more.

The last night of the cruise specifically stood out. Getting their fill completely and when they made their way back to the room, it was hard to stay off of each other. Yeonjun wearing a button up that completely drowned him since Soobin was a lot bigger than he was as they fell onto the bed.

"Wait, Soobinnie, let me..." He was quieted with a kiss as Soobin stripped, the stretchmarks on his belly an angry red as Yeonjun admired his boyfriend's large figure.

"No, hyung. Let me tonight. You had a lot so I can do more." A chill ran down his spine while he felt Soobin prepare himself, sitting down heavily on Yeonjun's thighs, suffocating in the bed as he guided Soobin closer to kiss him while the sound of him stretching himself out with lube filled the room's sounds.

Despite his boyfriend's own gluttony, he was a lot more mobile compared to Yeonjun who leaned on him while they were leaving the buffet and it showed with how well he rode, almost mirroring the way that Yeonjun was able to do it to him. Grabbing thickened thighs, Yeonjun's head rocked back while his boyfriend's body jiggled with each small movement.

An end to their first summer together with an explosive finish. Yeonjun definitely would have to stick around for the cruise next year.

-

True to his word, the number that Beomgyu organized had him itching to go back into the dance studio and Soobin patted him on the hip as he dropped him off, waving before heading to his classes for the day.

"Welcome back, hyung!" The members of the team seemed rather eager for him to settle, even bringing a cake that they happily snacked on before they began their practice.

Beomgyu in particualr was eyeing him a lot but he didn't really pay it any mind when they began stretching. Simple warm ups to make sure they were ready to dance but the room felt slightly colder as he looked at the rest of his teammates.

Oddly enough, they all sort of avoided eye contact when he looked at them before they switched positions. Halfway through, Yeonjun was a little more aware of the way he felt out of breath. Most of the time, he could lead warm ups just fine so he wasn't sure what was happening today.

While they learned the choreo, the cold feeling never really left before Beomgyu awkwardly scooted closer to him as he whispered, "Uh, hyung. your belly is sort of peeking under your tank top." The words sort of splashed over him like cold water.

He hadn't really ever heard that word directed to him. He knew Soobin was bigger and his gut was something that he'd call a belly but in his mind, he wasn't that size so he had always had an abdomen... until he looked at himself now.

That trim middle that he had when he first got together with his boyfriend was nowhere in sight. Completely exploded with fat, Yeonjun was now suddenly aware of the way the mass jiggled when he tucked it into his tight pants. It seemed that just about every part of him was hit with this sort of weight gain.

The rest of the practice was distracting. Constantly needing to tuck in his mass into his clothes that he was spilling out of. The glances that were following his every jiggle and just how much he'd let go in that honeymoon phase with Soobin.

If Soobin had gained the freshman fifteen and then some, Yeonjun was almost certain he did most of that gain in a fraction of the time. The stretchmarks he had seen in the mirror looked horribly angry in comparison to the ones that he saw while Soobin rode him.

Some of the dancers definitely found it distracting and Beomgyu even squeezed his chest playfully, saying Soobin must have been having a lot of fun before he swatted him away. That made him wonder if Soobin had known about it this whole time... it's not like it made him unattractive because it was just weight but was he enjoying the way Yeonjun was completely unaware of it?

He'd have to put it to the test.

-

It was a little funny to act innocent of it now when they reached the weekend.

He was eating a lot less compared to the summer but Soobin basically made sure to keep him well fed throughout their dinners to make up for it... basically confirming with Yeonjun that he enjoyed the extra padding.

The touches that he didn't really notice before like Soobin fondling his own gut and shaking it, squeezing his plumpened ass and thighs. He was actually pretty bad at making it subtle but it's not like it'd be a secret after tonight.

Wearing old clothes was a choice considering nothing fit anymore and Yeonjun regularly stole Soobin's clothes which were starting to fit comfortably instead of oversized. But, the button ups that had no business being on his frame were what would get Soobin's attention.

They had gone back to their favourite restaurant and the mood seemed to shift as Yeonjun put Soobin's hands on the space between the buttons. "Soobinnie, I think I broke my shirt..." His boyfriend seemed to short circuit, trying to stammer out a response before Yeonjun added, "If you order another plate, I might even break my pants..."

He moved Soobin's hands down the swell of his gut with a smile, feeling the taut button as he watched him exhale shakily before looking at him with hungry eyes.

This was definitely a new layer to their relationship but given how he was getting excited by showing off his own gluttony to his boyfriend, he'd probably just need to adjust the routine. Only Soobin would get the luxury of seeing how he'd jiggle from overexerting himself.

And with the way he ordered two plates of food after he already broke his shirt, this was going to be something he'd need to get used to.

[moongothic]

To be honest I can kinda see how having a hook instead of a hand prosthetic has its benefits

Hook is easier to mantain than a hand with lots of small moving pats, especially when you don't know shit about it. If something happens to it and it gets broken, it's much easier to replace a hook, even with all layers and poisons

And depending on when in time Crocodile lost his hand he may have just got used to it already

But also yeah, Crocodile is just the type of guy to choose a hook instead of a new hand because looks and aesthetics lol

(sorry for typos btw)

Crocodile's hook is kind of fun because it's a reflection of so many things in the story. Like there's the in-universe lore and character stuff we can look at, but also we can look at it from a meta perspective

Like we know Oda wanted to give certain important characters in the story the Iconic Pirate Traits; the peg leg for Zeff, the hook for Crocodile and an eyepatch he has seemingly been saving up all these years for a special someone (my money's on Mr Burns but that's a different subject). And so Crocodile having the iconic hook is a part of an old pirate-y "vision" Oda wanted to fulfill with One Piece, an OG "goal" from waaay back in the day

But another thing is that Crocodile is very much from The Olden Days of One Piece, more specifically, very much pre-what I'd call the sci-fi era of OP. I'd say One Piece started truly dwelling deeper into that genre and its tropes during Punk Hazard, but Oda didn't even really dip his toes into it until the CP9 Saga (with the introduction of Franky and the namedropping of Doctor Vegapunk). Sure, Oda did already hint at the existence of Vegapunk and his scientific developments back in Alabasta (when Miss Merry Christmas explained that Lassoo was a gun that had eaten a Dog Dog Fruit, this being "the Latest Science from the Grand Line"*), but One Piece was still very much in its more classical fantasy element/genre at this point in the story, so the science fiction that was to come years and decades later was not even present at this point

*(Thinking about it, honestly, how the fuck did Mr 4 get his hands on Lassoo if Lassoo was created by Vegapunk?? Was he a gift from Vegapunk/the WG to Crocodile, maybe????? That Crocodile just secretly gave away to Mr 4????)

In other words, in hindsight it might seem odd Crocodile wouldn't have taken advantage of his position as a Warlord and gotten a prosthetic arm to replace his hook. But Crocodile is a One Piece character from a different era in the story, when advanced prosthetics, cyborgs, robots, clones and so much more were nothing but a twinkle in Oda's eyes. So expecting Crocodile to have lived up to the sci-fi future One Piece wasn't originally going to even get to would be unreasonable.

But the fun thing is that we can actually look at Crocodile and his silly little hook, and spin it in a way that does actually complement his character. We can find in-universe reasons for him to have stuck to a hook over an advanced prosthetic, and they make sense. The most obvious would of course be that Crocodile does not trust anyone. It would be very much unlike him to go to Vegapunk and/or the World Government requesting to be given a prosthetic, because that would mean 1) Leaving himself vulnerable for a period of time so that Vegapunk could actually give him a prosthetic (dangerous) 2) Knowing the WG they would not just give out something like that for free, surely they'd want something from Crocodile in exchange. And, while we know what would become of Kuma eventually (a fate so cruel I'm sure even Crocodile could not have imagined) I'm sure he could have suspected the WG could want to use him for a science experiment or two, something I'm sure Crocodile would never have agreed to. Or maybe the WG/Vegapunk would've wanted Crocodile to pay them an obscene amount of money in exchange for a prosthetic, and/or have him do some other favors. Whatever the case, I'm sure none of these options would have seemed worth it in his mind.

And yeah, what you said.

Maintaining and taking care of a hook would be easier, like if Vegapunk's prosthetics ever broke or malfunctioned for any reason Crocodile would have to make a horrifically long hike all the way from Alabasta to Marijoa, cross the Red Line (to be fair his Shichibukai Status would allow him to go over which would be more convenient than passing through Fishman Island), go to Punk Hazard (or Egghead later on), and then hike aaall the way back to Alabasta again. And Vegapunk's inventions didn't always work as intended, the man had to refine and develop his creations to get them to work the way he wanted them to.

So if the option get a prosthetic was ever brought up to Crocodile by the WG like 10+ years ago, he might've been far more cynical about Vegapunk's ability to actually create a decent prosthetic that worked and wouldn't malfunction/have issues etc. And as you suggested, by that time he probably would have become used to his hook, to the point that he didn't mind keeping it.

And yeah, it would be just a big ol' Luffyism if he preferred the giant, golden, gaudy-ass hook

[digi-lov]

Digimon Fields in the Card Game

[NSp] - [DS] - [NSo] - [WG] - [ME] - [VB] - [UK] - [DA] - [DR] - [JT]

While previous Digimon Card Games had the Digimon Fields as part of the general card stats, the current DCG only just introduced Fields as Traits in EX7. The Digimon being given these traits are the ones from the Pendulum series! Let's take a look at the line ups!

These cards have appeared in the card game so far!

There's also the Wanyamon promo, but so far it's the only one from the Pendulum Z

On top of this a Regalecusmon promo has been announced, from Pendulum Z

Below are the full rosters of each of the Pendulum series! What other NSp, DS or NSo Digimon from the Pendulum Z would you like to see? Notably, many of the Pendulum Z Digimon are included in the "LIBERATOR" trait.

Do you think WG, ME and VB will be added soon too? Which Digimon are you hoping for?

Note: I believe the Agumon, Gabumon, Agunimon and Lobomon Lines, and the Apocalymon, Armagemon, etc. jogress are only included to have "current anime" Digimon in there, and are not actually inteded to be part of the Fields.

[that-student-that-has-homework]

(Replying to your previous post)

First of all, tysm for ur interest aaaa and yes, I'd love some tea, thank you~ ☕️ (buckle up as this is gonna be a long yap!)

Ok so— you know how all HSR charas have certain game mechanics in their character design, right? As in, most of them are Pathstriders and some are Emanators. There's also element types and then we have the different types of combat utility (e.g. DPS, sub-DPS, support/amplifier, sustain, specialist, etc.)

Basically, I was thinking how our ASL trio would be like if they were playable HSR characters. The explanations below are mostly drawn from HSR wiki and OP wiki (and my very limited knowledge as I'm still behind on OP lol). I tried to fit their techniques into HSR game mechanics. So far, these are my thoughts (feel free to add on):

----------------------------------------------------

Ace ♠️

- Path: The Destruction (According to HSR wiki, Destruction pathstriders exhibit traits of recklessness, anger, and destructive behavior. They also deal outstanding amounts of damage and have great survivability. Fitting for Ace, no? ignore that he's dead EHEM. By seeking to overcome Roger's shadow and living half of his life in anger against the world for denying his right to live, he's someone with the potential to challenge the status quo and uproot the very system that ostracized people like him. In the end though, he wasn't able to )

- Type: Fire (need I say more? lol)

- Utility: Break DPS (like Firefly)

- Gameplay/niche: Mainly drawing inspo from Firefly's and Mydei's gameplay (and Blade's, if you squint). Ace would be a dual HP and Break Effect-scaling chara who can deal massive Break damage and automatically apply the 'Taunt' effect on enemies whenever he's on the field. Ace consumes his own HP to deal damage either by using his Basic ATK (let's say 'Fire Gun', which deals Single Target DMG) or Skill (call it 'Fire Fist', which can hit a max. of 3 targets as Blast DMG). In this regular state, his Ult is locked and can only be regenerated not with energy but rather on how much HP he lost. And so, whenever Ace gets hit / consumes his own HP, he accumulates stacks called 'Fury', so that means he has to get hit a LOT / consume tons of HP in order to deal massive damage. Once he's hit that threshold/reached maximum stacks for 'Fury', activate Ace's Ult and he can self-heal once for a certain amount of HP but not fully. In the 'Fury' state, Ace will take NO damage for 2 turns (I'll call this the 'Logia' effect, which makes him immune to damage except DoT effects). When you use his ult, Ace gets a 100% action advance and enters into an enhanced state—complete with a special animation—where 'Fire Fist: Inferno' will be converted into Blast AoE break damage. In this enhanced state, his weakness break efficiency increases and he can give himself a Fire-Type RES PEN buff (meaning, Ace's enhanced attacks can negate opponents who are resistant to Fire-type damage). Be careful if he's your main DPS as he might be prone to dying easily </333.

Sabo 🎩

- Path: The Destruction The Hunt (*refer to the info on Ace for the path of Destruction. However, for Hunt pathstriders, they are considered to be determined, ruthless, and tenacious. Imo the latter fits Sabo well in terms of his personality alone. BUT... considering how he fights and his motivations, he gives off more Destruction vibes because not only is he a revolutionary, a pragmatist, and determined to overthrow the WG, but having a similar Path with Ace would be lore accurate, dontcha think? </3)

- Type: Fire (again, need I say more? XD)

- Utility: Basic ATK DPS (like Dan Heng - IL)

- Gameplay/niche: Mainly drawing inspo from Dan Heng - IL and Qingque's gameplay. Sabo would be an ATK-scaling DPS whose main damage lies in his Basic ATK (let's call it 'Short Fuse', where he essentially just attacks 3 targets with a twirl of his pipe lol). Use his Skill 'Ignition' for a max. of 3 times consecutively to enhance his Basic ATK (for every one enhancement, you increase Sabo's Crit Rate and Crit DMG exponentially). If you use his Skill once, 'Short Fuse' becomes 'Dragon's Claw' (in this state, Sabo uses his signature three-fingered claw strike for a 2-hit attack, landing Single Target DMG). Use his Skill twice, then it becomes 'Dragon's Breath' (here, Sabo uses 'Dragon's Claw' and punches the ground to create flamey claws that spring out from the fissures he made, hitting max. 3 targets as Blast DMG). Finally, use his Skill thrice, then it evolves to 'Burning Dragon Claw Fist: Flame Dragon King' (basically 'Dragon's Claw' pro-max but with extra fire that he can use to make a flaming spiral which blasts enemies away, dealing massive Blast AoE DMG). When activating his Ult, 'Fire Fist', Sabo launches a fire column similar to Ace and deals Blast DMG that ignores a certain amount of enemy DEF (we love a defense shredder hehe). Be warned that this dude is SP-negative (meaning he uses a lot of Skill Points).

Luffy ☀️

- Path: The Hunt (*refer to the description in Sabo's. Although Luffy is not ruthless, he is indeed incredibly determined to achieve his goals. He's persistent and marches ever forward, which is why I thought this path is well-suited for his character given his motivations.)

- Type: Fire (Sun God Nika ahh fr, need I say more? but I was also debating on whether Luffy can be Physical-type)

- Utility: Follow-up ATK & Ult DPS (like Feixiao); can also function as a sub-DPS (you'll see why below)

- Gameplay/niche: Mainly drawing inspo from Feixiao with a lil bit of Seele and Himeko. Luffy is an ATK-scaling DPS with a high base SPD. His main damage-dealing abilities are in his Follow-up attack and Ult. When you use Luffy's Skill 'Gum-Gum Pistol' / break an enemy's weakness / defeat an enemy, it triggers one instance of a Follow-up ATK called 'Gum-Gum Pistol Shotgun, causing his fist to hit multiple times and deal Single Target DMG (this is also why he can work as a sub-DPS). If anyone in your party fulfills either one of the other two conditions (i.e. breaking enemy's weakness / defeating an enemy), you can also trigger his Follow-up ATK. If you manage to defeat an enemy with his Follow-up ATK, Luffy's action will advance 100% and you can use his Basic ATK/Skill one more time (if you use his Skill / if anyone in your party breaks an enemy's weakness again, the Follow-up ATK count will reset and won't trigger). When you use Luffy's Ult 'Gum-Gum Bajrang Gun', he gets into Gear 5 mode and literally kamehamehas the enemy to smithereens (if you look at Feixiao's Ult, you'll know what I mean). During his Ult, Luffy's DMG is greatly boosted, Crit Rate and Crit DMG is increased, and he gains Toughness Reduction 100%. :)

----------------------------------------------------

TLDR; the ASL bois would be Main DPS'es in their own teams and would be incredibly OP lol

Sorry for the long ask! Hope this was fun to imagine at least >< I'd love to hear your thoughts as well !!

~ ⚜️ anon

⚜️ anon this was a fun read! thank you for such a detailed and well thought out response!

for a second I was wondering if you were going to give them strategies in how they would play.

please forgive me for I am not the most versed in terms of the actual battle gameplay mechanics, like ya girl has horrid builds and I'm very much: I just need to be able to kill the enemy and progress the plot.

Luffy being a Hunt DPS who can also be a sub DPS is awesome, like you can pair him up with his bros as a result.

okay, so for Ace: I really enjoy that Fury mechanic! "I also like how "Logia effect" is an absolutely BRILLIANT name. How about the Ult Blast is the Flame Commandment: Fire Pillar to introduce more of his moves? Fire Gun and Fire Fist being his basic and his blast are lovely. yes. absolutely.

if he dies quickly (well that's a dark pun) why not have Marcobe a Galagher-style abundance? Damage + healing. Or should we get a shielder instead? Diamond Jozu is the one that comes to mind...

LOL Franky feels like he'd be a preservation unit. anywho let me walk away from that, I'm getting side-tracked...

I have nothing to add to Sabo. Amazing. Though I feel like he'd inflict status effects more often than Ace...? or would he?

Physical would've been the direction I'd have gone in for Luffy, but that Nikka stuff is...interesting...there's a chance it has been mentioned in front of me but I've been conveniently ignoring/forgetting it because I haven't reached that point yet. Either way, with that context: we get the three fire bros.

For Luffy, I like that Gum Gum Pistol is the basic attack! For the skill, can it be Gum Gum Elephant Gun? I actually wanted to ask about the inspiration behind the names for his follow up and Ult too!

Luffy sounds like an OP DPS, perfect for people like me who can't build characters. but also I need multi-target stuff, so gimme an Ace...and a healer LOL

thank you so much for taking the time to share all your thoughts with me!

I'm starting to think about the rest of the strawhat crew and I wonder if Robin would be a harmony or erudition, because she's definitely erudite, but she is also super cooperative y'know?

[bigs-bigshot]

I mentioned in the past that I'd turn my Spmtum into an oc, but I decided that I wouldn't do that, because he's already my oc in a sense. Mine has a different story and lives in 'the real world' and more changes to fit my tastes. (examples being adi's age (26), his story is wg related, big shôt being more prominent, pûppet being an incidental result that doesnt faze him as much, and of course him being with you/reader. Among others things I don't have in mind rn)

Instead I just chose to continue doing new AUs, even if they're far off from canon, and ocs that are more or less him but with different traits (posted on @bigbugmonsters my oc+fatfur+fat monster art blog, I havent posted much there lately though- this will hopefully change). Because at the end of the day, it's prorn, I don't have to hold my designs to the same standard as sfw.

[lichenstone]

I was just thinking about this, mostly through the line of thinking of "how did Garp stay so loyal to the marines despite Literally Everything?" and there's definitely some individual character traits and beliefs that keep that man licking the boot but. Like. Marine propaganda in One Piece has to go CRAZY to have their numbers even remotely make sense.

Like. I'm from the states, yeah? and with the amount of times the marines in op show their collective ass they are very comprable to my own country's police force (and frankly, also our military). Like they fuck up A Lot, and PUBLICLY too. And while they're very good at cover-up (e.g. Ohara, Alabasta) I'm left wondering how much effort they put into recruitment.

In the states, not only to we have the commercials for the various branches (and lmty those are wild as hell), but there's also a significant amount of time, effort, and money put in to making sure that mainstream entertainment is favorable of the military as well. Not to mention the recruiters sent to schools/events, the (J)ROTC classes, and the offers for paying through college in exchange for service. But the US has one of the biggest militaries in the world and an already broadly favorable public image (in the US). The world of One Piece has fucking Gol D. Roger.

I'm sure pre-great pirate era the marines had fairly little trouble in terms of recruitment, but post Roger's execution? No way in hell. I can just imagine it. All anybody cares about is the goddamn One Piece and the marines are Desperate for some fresh blood. Queue recruiters in every island in the grand line and beyond doing their damn best to "how do you do, fellow kids" their way into getting some baby-faced high-school juniors to sign their lives away. They try to make joining the marines sound like the coolest thing in the fucking world. "Who cares about the One Piece? Join the marines and you can uhh-"

Like the WG HAD to paint all pirates as uniquely evil and the marines as solely good because literally any other reason to join the marines beside serving the nebulous idea of justice Gol D. Roger already got by being a fucking pirate. Not only that, but promised to whoever could find the One Piece. Idk about y'all but going on a no-rules worldwide scavenger hunt with my besties to get fame and fortune sounds WAY more fun than joining the fucking navy as cannon fodder. The marines had to be working their ASSES OFF trying to get people to join; especially after every time they fucked up massively and publicly.

I know there's some very juicy thematic implications of this but all I'm thinking about is the workplace comedy that would be the marines' PR department trying to make the marines seem like a decent and honorable career path after every time a pirate crew does something cool or news is leaked of the marines publicly shitting the bed.

[your-pal-nebula]

Hey, have you ever wanted to know what happens when you combine a severely mentally ill transmasc egg in the sixth grade (11-12yo) with the WordGirl resurge?

Yeah so I've been... doing some thinking about my weird ass phase when I was 11-12 where I literally made WG my only personality trait for the entire school year (which was sixth grade).

It was basically all I talked about to people. I would literally plan out everything I'd say in the every day to make as many WG references as possible. And I still remember the despair I felt when I realized nobody got my references, which meant there were no other kids who liked it in my classes. I was actively getting ruthlessly bullied for how much I liked the show, but I didn't care. When I say the show was the only thing keeping me alive when I was that young, I'm not exaggerating. As previously mentioned, I was basically on the verge of purposefully overdosing on my mom's prescription pills 24/7, and WG was something that made me happy and distracted me from it.

I hope yall know I would completely unironically come up to my classmates and casually ask if they wanted to read my WG fanfiction. My WG fanfiction which made up about 70% of my diary at the time. And when they said no, I would become extremely offended over it. I have the very distinct memory of telling someone "C'mon, I'll skip the smut part" when they didn't wanna read my weird ahh Provoclone fanfic or whatever, and can ever more distinctly remember yelling in this poor girl's face "WELL I BET YOU'RE JUST HOMOPHOBIC" because she didn't wanna read my Lefthandedbill marriage fic.

On one hand, I was at the worst point in my life I've ever been mentally, but on the other hand, it was definitely really fucking weird that I practically paraded my Rhyme x Self Insert fanfic around like it was the most beautiful piece of literature ever created, and looking back, those kids had a right to think I was crazy. I'm not saying "oh it was a good thing I got bullied, it made me come to my senses" because it didn't, but... yeah my classmates had a right to wanna avoid me

I actually earned a nickname based off of this. My nickname was, "The WordGirl version of a furry." Commonly shortened to "WordGirl Furry" or "Wordy."

I'm not joking. This all happened and I regret it every day of my life and I don't think I'll ever live this phase down

[monriatitans]

AUTISM ACCEPTANCE MONTH QUOTE 12

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

“You hear as autistics we make poor eye contact, we have difficulty socialising, which are both very pathologising ways of describing something that is inherently neutral. You could completely rewrite the neurotypical experience to be just as pathologised, if you wanted to. … ‘I’ve discovered this new condition – sorry, disorder – called “Neurotypical Spectrum Disorder”, and people who are suffering or afflicted with this disorder often have poor attention to detail. They might have an obsession with meaningless small talk, social status, and ritualistic exchange or social grooming. They may demonstrate a lack of interest in exploring their favourite topics deeply. They will take many activities at once, aka “multitasking”, at the expense of all of them. They have a linear thought process and inability to think outside of the box on a daily basis.'” – Samantha Stein, Autistic traits are HUMAN traits: depathologising the autistic

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Check out Different Brains, who “strives to encourage understanding & acceptance of individuals who have variations in brain function and social behaviors known as neurodiversity”. Interested in seeing where the quote came from? If so, check out her YouTube Video here! For the curious, the purpose of this series of quotes can be found here! Enjoy what I do? Please consider supporting via the WGS Ko-fi! Like what you see and want to know when there’s more? Click here to subscribe for updates!

For more about MonriaTitans, click here! Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch and YouTube! The first image was made with the Quotes Creator App!

[hyperfixationhell25]

some One Piece Hcs of mine part 1

some of these are based on others head canons.

post-wano Luffy has white in his hair and I don't mean oh it turned a bit gray no I mean like whole streaks of pure white. this could be caused by his awakening pushing his more nika traits to the surface or because he fucking died and put his body under an crazy amount of stress. maybe a bit of both but I think it would be cool for him to have another visual que of his progress like his big x scar marked a pretty monumental moment for him and the growth he went through because of it.

1.2 I like to think that Luffy has had a bit of red in his eyes that only really shows when his emotions are high this means any emotion not just anger so yeah also its even more noticeable when the sun hits them because duh sun god shit.

1.3 jumping off the white hair bit I think it would be cute for lawlu artists to use that concept because I've seen a lot of art with Law having little patches from amber lead on him and i just think it would be visually appealing even in a platonic way for one its a reminder of the worst time in his life the other a symbol of triumph and rebirth.

2 Ace isn't the biggest fan of spicey food like he still its eat if its there but not something he actively seeks out IDK I just thought it would be funny to have the fire guy not like spicy food.

3 the real reason the WG didn't go apeshit the moment they noticed Luffy had the gomu gomu no mi which lets be real was likely very on, was because it was easier to let him have it so they could keep track of it because its implied that the dam thing kept vanishing every time they tried to get it so they chose to wait not thinking Luffy would be able to awaken it. that untill wano when they realized that he was close to awakening it so the kill order was given welp sucks to be them that just made it worse. XD

4. Nami has a fund set aside purely for sun screen girls a red head out on the open sea she's gotta be using crap ton and she and chopper have to remind everyone to were some. psa of day guys protected yourselves from UV rays doesn't matter what race you over exposer can still lead to skin cancer so be safe.

4.1 quick tip for artists regarding Nami if your going to give her freckles think about where the suns hitting the the most Ive seen some art that just slathers them on across her entire body with zero variation and its like that's not it works. its just a nick pick of mine, I've seen a lot of artist try to give redhead anime characters freckles and does this and as a red head with freckles it just feels looks really off.

5. Izo is the shipper of the whitebeards that man has eye for "esthetic" so you bet he's over in the corner looking at people 'bout ready to play matchmaker. he will also be super supportive if it doesn't pan out well cause he's like that.