#[ sengoku: okay so you need your own ship now and-

[marinehero-a]

every time i think ab garp ships i just continue to think ab how the conversation to get it must have gone fr, like it's So so the sunny of the marines,,,, the dog figure, the dog house for crows nest, the little paws on the ends of the mast, the pattern, when did he get it? was it after or before rogers execution, when garp became the hero? how did the conversation go for it, was it a joke or was he dead set like was it a gift i am just---

[tooweirdforyou]

Hiiiii hope ur doing well❤. I was wondering if i could get Shanks with a female who he leave at the village the same day he leave luffy. And after a few year s/o was done waiting and decided to leave and become a pirate captain of a very dangerous crew with a very high bounty has all three Haki types [ A bout a Billion]. And s/o meets Shanks at the Marineford but s/o is all cold hearted and bitter. She still loves him but would never forgive for leaving her.

Have a good day/night❤❤❤

Shanks With An Old S/O From Years Ago

A/N : Oi, I hope y’all aren’t expecting an angsty ending 😖 no way am I going to do that.

note : originally, I was going to make this two parters, or at least begin with reader and Shanks before he left, but then it’d take even longer and I still have tons of requests to do.. and this is pretty short.

I changed it a bit too—

warning : MARINEFORD SPOILER * also, this is pretty different from the actual scene, I wrote my own scene because I can’t remember nor did I want to search it up.. so it’s my own scene but still contains spoilers!

Summary : Once lovers, now strangers, Shanks meets his significant other once more in a unexpected time and feelings are returned from the past.

-

Why now?

The old sinking feeling of your heart dropping down to your stomach was enough to make your blood run cold.

The sight of one of the four powerful emperors made you frozen in the spot.

Eyes widened in shock with mixed feelings bubbling up inside you, lips parted but no words could even begin to form. Not with him around, no.

Thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice.

“I think we’ve shed enough blood. Why don’t we end this war?”

Saving the young and brave, pink-haired marine from a tragic death from Akainu, Emperor, Akagami no Shanks had his signature smile present, hand gripping his sword and successfully blocking Akainu’s fist.

“I-It’s Red-Haired Shanks!”

“What is another Emperor doing here?!”

“Emperor, Red Hair Shanks. This war has nothing to do with you. What is your reason for your arrival?” Akainu scowls, raising his fist that was currently boiling with magma.

Shanks takes a small look around to see the damage done from the war that has just occurred, and amidst his scan, his eyes fall onto you.

His eyes turn wide from shock, while yours quickly turned away from him, to avoid his lingering stare and attention from the others.

Before anyone could notice the sudden awkward silence in the air, you began to walk off, your crew following suit.

Clearing his throat, Shanks turns back away, recovering from the shock of seeing you at a place like this before speaking.

“I believe we have had enough of this war. Many lives have been lost. What do you say, Sengoku?” Shanks then pulls a smirk on his face as he pulls back his sword from Akainu and held it out suggestively.

“Unless, you truly would like to continue it?”

Behind Shanks was his entire crew, Beckman smoking, Lucky Rue eating meat, Yasopp with his gun rest on his shoulder, etc.

Sengoku closes his eyes and remained silent before turning away. “We shall call it an end.”

Shanks nods as he sheathes his sword. “Very well. At least allow his family to give him and his son a proper burial as well. It’s the least you could offer.”

Referring to Whitebeard and the fallen Ace, you pause in your tracks after hearing Shanks.

Sengoku ponders for a minute before sighing. “I’ll allow that. But nothing else. Now, leave. Before I find myself a reason to start attacking you now.” Sengoku commands.

With that, the marines began to gather the injured, with the command of Sengoku, whilst the Whitebeard Pirates started to retreat, a few lingering back to recover their fallen people and the now deceased.

“[Name]. What should we do? The war has ended, and Straw Hat Luffy has retreated and being saved by Worst Generation Pirate, Trafalgar Law.” Your first mate reports, walking up to your side.

You look around the navy headquarters, seeing the mass destruction that has been caused and the pained and tearful expressions of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Though relief filled you from the thought of Luffy being saved, the overbearing pain you felt from seeing someone was taking over.

“..We’re done here.. let’s get—“

“[Name].”

That voice.

The familiar voice was nearly enough to make you stop, to think back on the many memories you had with him, to actually wait and see what the man wanted to say.

But you didn’t. You didn’t stop. You kept walking.

“[Name], wait. Can we please talk, for even just a minute?”

Reaching for your wrist, you instinctively tried pulling back but the Emperor’s grip was tight. But almost immediately, he let go and pulled his hands back to his sides.

You look at him, staring at his eyes that were filled with hurt and even the smallest hint of regret.

The sound of a blade un-sheathing from its scabbard interrupted your thoughts and you put a hand out, successfully stopping your first mate from harming the Red-Haired.

“Don’t. You’ll only cause unnecessary trouble.” You tell them, making them exhale and reluctantly turn away.

“What should we do, Cap?”

Exchanging glances with Benn and Yasopp, you receive a nod from the two of them and Benn faces the Red-Haired Pirates.

“Let’s head back to the ship.”

You turn to your own crew and directed your head in the direction of your own vessel. “We shall as well.”

Just as the others began walking, you stop, feeling Shank’s eyes lingering on you, waiting for your answer.

“.... Let’s talk then... we’ll talk on my ship and I’ll take you back to yours afterwards.”

Though you couldn’t see it, you could see the grateful smile that was forming on Shank’s lips as he nods at you. “Thank you.”

-

... Tension was eating away at the silence.

The two of you sat alone in the office. Your office. You stood behind your desk, next to your chair while Shanks stood in center of the room.

However, fortunately Shanks cut the silence by speaking.

“You’ve grown.”

“I have..”

Nodding once absentmindedly threw Shanks off for a second before he recovered.

“.. you’ve made quite a name for yourself. I’m surprised you became involved with this war though.” Shanks starts and you sigh, turning away.

“Someone had to watch over Luffy. Otherwise he would have gotten himself killed. God knows he needs someone to look after him after the person he idolized so much left him.”

You didn’t mean to start off so blunt and rude right off the bat, but it seemed to slip out.

However, Shanks wasn’t fazed but his expression merely softened and saddened at your words.

“Look..I didn’t have a choice, I-“

“Don’t give me that, you know damn well you perfectly had a choice.”

Shanks stammered for a second before letting out a heavy sigh. “[Name]. You have to understand..”

His gentle tone.

The way his body was striding over to you.

The way he slowly raised a hand to bring to your face.

And the way you just let him do as he pleased.

And you wish you didn’t feel it. But you did.

The same sparks.

You wanted to jump into his arms. Lean into his touch and let him hold you for all the years that went by.

But you couldn’t. You didn’t. You weren’t willing to make the same mistake twice.

You pulled away and pushing his hand aside, you walk around the desk and away from Shanks, arms at your side and practically hugging yourself.

Pain was evident in the two of you.

“Shanks, stop...”

Looking up at Shanks sorrowfully, you feel your chest ache and you knew Shanks did too. He felt the same sparks after all.

He knew he wasn’t the only one who was still having feelings.

“[Name]..” Shanks spoke in a hushed tone, carefully making his way around the desk to go back to you. This time, you didn’t stop him.

“Hey, look at me.. please.”

And you did.

“Believe me when I say this, I have never stopped loving you. You are the only one that has been on my mind all these years. I watched your bounties rise.. I checked in on the news on your growing fame and powerful crew by your side.. there has never been a time where I stopped thinking about you.”

Cupping your cheeks gently, caressing your skin with his thumbs, he leaned closer and closer until your noses touched together.

“I still love you, [Name]..”

He whispers out, staring into the abyss of your [ e/c ] just seconds before closing in on the space between you both.

Pressing his lips to yours, you felt the aching in your heart start to swell and fill it’s emptiness with the tiniest bit of warmth Shanks offered.

And you couldn’t help but kiss him back. Wrapping your arms around him, you let yourself just lean into his hold and all the pain you felt disappeared in seconds. You couldn’t even tell how much you longed to feel his lips against yours once more.

Eventually, you did pull away and look down, but felt Shanks press his forehead against yours and moved his hands down to intertwined them with your hands.

“You felt it too, right?..”

You couldn’t tell if you what you were feeling but regardless, you knew what he meant.

Nodding slowly, you breathe out softly and close your eyes.

“Still.. I can’t do this.. I’m afraid it’ll break again.”

“I promise I’ll fix it enough so it’s unbreakable. This time, I’ll make sure to stick around, and never leave your side again.... what do you say?”

Whether you were going to end up regretting it or not, you just couldn’t let this opportunity slip. Especially knowing Shanks was being genuine on his part.

“Fine.. Don’t ever leave me again.”

Feeling a uncontainable grin spreading across his face, he holds your hand tight and pulls them to his lips to kiss gently before smiling softly at you.

“I’m truly one lucky bastard, if I get another chance from you.”

-

A/N : hope you liked it and it was okay!! Thanks for requesting!

definitely rushed, I’m losing some motivation, and stressing from school ;-; soo, yeah. I’ll try to keeps these long but I’ll mainly be doing headcannons now ( sadly ) and they might be short.

Thank you for continuing to being supportive of me and I wish you all a great day / night! :)) 🤍

[frobin]

Hi! Ok, I know it isn't very related to Frobin (except if you decide to mention them in the answer), but I am curious about your opionion on this thing. If the end of One Piece have someone of the Straw Hat crew that can die, who can be? OBVIOUSLY I hope nobody, that this thing doesn't happen, but never say never. There're people who say Luffy to recreate Roger's connection. Someone else Usop (but I miss the reason). Or Jinbe, who has also some problems and enemies from previous experiences?

Hey there anon!

No worries about asking questions. This is a FRobin blog but it's also a One Piece blog so it's fine to ask all kind of questions about One Piece. Even though I wouldn't consider myself much of an *expert* so everything I write is very much influenced by my own impressions.

But you're asking for my opinion anyway so that disclaimer is not necessary in this case. XD

---

Okay, first of all: I'm no fan of death flags. I never see them and when I read about them I feel like people pull them out of nowhere.

So I don't think any of the Strawhats will die before or even while the big end fight. Also it's not like they will reach their goal and then just drop dead (don't forget the dream are very different too but more about that later). Like what kind of life would that be?

Also we can't forget that Oda still believes he is writing this story for 14 year old boys. So, even though death is and will be a theme I don't think he will kill off the main crew.

That would not be very clever story wise and is not how to tell a story about adventure and fulfilling dreams for young boys.

Right now it's very "fashionable" to let characters die for shock value. But the more it's done the more annoying it becomes and less of a shock and Oda won't stoop so low to use this kind of element. Why do I think that?

So far we had three deaths in OP and they all shocked us a lot. But they were also used as motivator for other characters. Whitebeards death was a motivator for a whole new Generation of pirates, as well as his crew to try to save Ace and his little brother. Ace's death was a launch of character development for Luffy, Sabo, Garp and even Sengoku and probably more. Pedros death was a motivator for Carrot and other Minks. (Even the fake death of Pell was a huge motivator for Vivi. Interestingly compared to other deaths his sacrifice did not stop the war, which would have been an adequate impact. So him coming back alive actually makes sense.)

But look how few and far between they are. Of course there was more death but the important ones are kept as those.

Why am I talking about that? Who would benefit from a Strawhats death?

Literally no one. They are all already motivated to go until the end for each other. It's more likely that a death would cause Luffy to just give up, him becoming catatonic again.

Who would Luffy fight for if he even loses one of his crew mates? Or maybe two?

If I were a Marine I would try to make Luffy think that his friends are dead and then catch him but that is beside the point.

But for One Piece, a Strawhat death it would not move the story further. There is no additional motivator needed and that would be the only reason to kill one of the crew.

Killing a Strawhat makes no sense in my opinion.

A death would only make sense after they reached their goal.

So it is possible that we see the Strawhats die but long after the story came to an end, them reaching Laugh Tale (if that is the end). And yes, I think all of them will die of natural causes and/or sickness. Most of them at an old age. I think Luffy, Zoro or Usopp being the firsts because of the trauma their bodies had endured would make most sense.

I hope that answered your question anon... and anyone who does not want to read even more about my nonsense can stop here.

But let me break down why I think that all Strawhats have plot armor against death flags, behind the read-more.

-> It is very important that I think the huge clash with the Blackbeard Pirates, which will be the end fight, will happen right before Laugh Tale. And Laugh Tale is the end-goal and the end of the main story. (I MIGHT BE WRONG!!!)<-

Everyones own story can only end after they reached their goal so let's look why I think that these dreams give the Strawhats Plot Armor.

Luffy: Become the king of the pirates. That means he has to reach Laugh Tale. I often hear that Luffy will die early because of the parallel to Roger. That does not mean he won't reach his 40s or 50s. Even after reaching Laugh Tale Roger lived a bit longer and even had time to "make a child" so, killing off Luffy in the end fight makes no sense. So maybe dying after the fight, on Laugh Tale? That could happen and would be the earliest death of any Strawhat imo.

Zoro: Become the strongest sword fighter. That means he still has to kill Mihawk. I don't think Mihawk will go and look for Zoro. So, Zoro has to survive and then return to Mihawk and have his duel. No sense in killing off Zoro. I am 100% sure that he will survive until then.

Nami: Drawing a world map. For that Nami has to travel the world many times more. After they reached Laugh Tale, Nami has only finished part of her dream. She has to visit all of the Blues, travel the Grand Line and the New world multiple times. Drawing a Map of the world will take a lifetime. Her dream will take the longest to be fulfilled.

Usopp: Become the great warrior of the sea. Now here we have a dream that is not really tangible. Usopp will be a great warrior as soon as he realises that he is one. In my opinion he already managed to become a great warrior. Time and time again he has shown how amazing he is but this is all about his own self image and so hard to grasp. This actually makes Usopp the most likely to have a death flag BUT we can't forget that he still has to return home and tell his stories to Kaya and the Usopp pirates. It's part of a promise that is only secondary but for me it's enough to think Usopp too is safe until he did that.

Sanji: To find the All Blue. Sanji thinks that the All Blue is something physical. We can't know that and if it is physical we can consider that it's maybe a part of the New World near the Red Line where all seas somehow come together. So again, until Sanji found that place he hasn't fulfilled his dream. And since I think that would be BEHIND Laugh Tale, again I think Sanji is safe. Alternatively the All Blue is just a metaphor for something completely different but I can't hink about what.

Chopper: To cure all illness. Here too, this is something that takes time. Chopper is still only at the beginning of his career of being a doctor. Finding a magical cure for every illness that exists is not something that just happens. Logically he would need to talk with many other medical experts and together they might be able to find it. When and how and if that happens is impossible to say but again that would be something that would fit best in the time after reaching Laugh Tale.

Robin: To find the truth of the void century. Right now we figure that she will find that at the end of their travel, on Laugh Tale. Maybe it will happen earlier in case the Strawhats storm the World Government. Either way she will learn the truth. But that will not be the end to her. After learning the truth it's up to Robin to bring it to the world, to write it down, to teach, to make people understand that they can't erase history and that they have to learn from it. Again, that is something that takes time and so, truly fulfilling her dream.

Franky: To travel the world in the ship of his dreams. Again that is a vague dream. But it would mean to at least return to Water Seven, so that Sunny has traveled the world once. But even then it's only been a small part of the world and traveling the world would mean to visit at least every of the seas. So far, Sunny had been in two to four, depending on how much you take the movies into account. But to fulfill Franky's dream he needs to survive a bit longer and so does Sunny.

Brook: To meet Laboon again. This is simple. But for that Brook has to reach the end of the New World and then get over the Red Line again. What he will do after that is hard to tell. But again, the Red Line is behind Laugh Tale and so I'm sure Brook too, has to survive... even though he is already dead YOHOHO!

Jinbe: Equality between merfolk and humans. Again this is something that is no easy feat and will probably take more than one generation. Also it is not only up to him and more to Shirahoshi and the World Government. This dream is about teamwork too, but who could be a better ambassador for the merfolk than him? Losing Jinbe would be a huge backfire for the cause. Jinbe too is safe in my opinion. If you have reached the end of the post, let me tell you again my headcanon about FRobin: After the main adventure Franky and Robin return to Water Seven where Franky helps to turn W7 into a boat and after that is done, they travel to the island where Ohara used to be and there they rebuild the island. More people return and it again becomes a hub for scholars and history.

[writingwhimsey]

The Tiger and the Oda Princess Ch. 14

Chapter 14

It had been almost two months since the festival. I was only a mere two weeks away from my due date and the weather was heating up. It seemed like spring had sped right by. Nobunaga and the others visited when they could It seemed we had a gathering at least once a month. And since I was so far along, everyone was coming our way.

Since the heat had gotten so bad and I was even hotter thanks to all of the hormones flowing through my body, I had made myself some more summery attire. I had made some simple A-line sleeveless dresses out of the lightest fabrics I could find. I did make them down to my ankles so that I wouldn't scandalize the Sengoku era populace too much. Though I hardly left the palace anymore.

I sat in the shade of the veranda, fanning myself. "Oh, how I miss air conditioning...and ice cream." I spoke to myself. "And popsicles...snow cones."

"Trying to cool yourself down by thinking cool thoughts, my love?" Shingen asked as he came out to sit beside me.

"It's not working very well." I replied.

"Perhaps this will help." He said, setting a tray between us.

I looked at the tray. It held sliced up water melon and some water. "That might help." I answered, smiling.

Shingen leaned over and kissed my forehead. He was then taking the fan from my hand and began to fan me. "Allow me, my goddess."

I felt my cheeks redden. "You don't have to do that...though it does feel nice...thank you."

Shingen smiled at me. "I just want to do what I can to make you comfortable. What kind of husband would I be if I let my wife suffer? Especially while she is doing one of the most difficult things of life."

Shingen had only grown more attentive as my pregnancy went on. He really is the sweetest and the best! I thought to myself. It was at that though that tears began to sting my eyes. "Oh...dammit." I muttered as I wiped at the tears.

Shingen reached his hand up to my face, gently wiping away my tears with his finger tips. "Ava, my love, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing...I'm crying because I'm happy." I answered. "And you're just...you're so wonderful and love me...so much...I just..." I was then dissolving into a puddle of tears.

Shingen put a comforting arm around my shoulders but continued to fan me. He kissed the top of my head. "It's alright my love." He whispered to me.

We sat like that for a time before I finally finished crying. Shingen was then making sure I drank my water and handed me the water melon. "I can't wait for this baby t get here." I said. "I'm tired of being pregnant...and being so emotional...and of being so damn hot."

"Perhaps a dip in the river would help cool you off?" Shingen suggested.

"Oh...that does sound nice." I replied. It was then that I remembered Nobunaga and some of the others were supposed to be visiting today. "But wait, aren't Nobunaga and the others supposed to be coming by today?"

"Yes, Nobunaga and I have some strategies to discuss." He answered. "You should go to the river, take Asuna and some guards with you. After my meeting with Nobunaga, I will come to you."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Shingen nodded. "Yes, I just want you to be comfortable."

I smiled up at Shingen. "I love you, Shingen."

He returned my smile, leaning down to then gently kiss my lips. "I love you, Ava."

I finished the water melon and water. Then Shingen was helping me up. My belly was so large that I couldn't get up and down without assistance now. Sitting down was also a chore in all honesty. We walked inside...well Shingen walked, I had begun waddling. When we arrived Asuna and a group of guards were already waiting for me. Yukimura was among my guards.

"Here, I brought your lightest haori." Asuna said, draping the garment over my shoulders. "We do still need to keep the sun off of you."

"I know." I replied with a sigh. Ah, sunscreen how I miss you, too. I thought to myself.

It was then that Kenshin, Sasuke, and the Oda were arriving. "You weren't about to leave, were you?" Nobunaga asked, looking at us.

"Just Ava and the guards." Shingen answered.

"Where are you headed?" Masamune asked.

"to cool off in the river." I answered. "It is ungodly hot and I am roasting." I was then pulling out my fan to begin fanning myself. However, I dropped my fan. "Dammit." I muttered.

Shingen instantly bent to pick it up for me and gently placed it in my hand. "Don't worry." He told me with a gentle smile.

"What's the matter you can't pick up your own things now?" Came a teasing voice from Mitsuhide.

I felt my cheeks redden. "Shut it, Mitsuhide." I snapped.

"She can try...it's pretty funny to watch her." Yukimura replied. "She also can't sit down or stand up without help."

"Yukimura." Asuna said, giving him a slap to the back of the head the same time Shingen flicked him between the eyes.

"Owe, what was that for?!" He remarked.

"That is not the way to talk to or about a beautiful woman." Shingen replied.

"You're such an idiot." Asuna added.

"I'd like to see you try being pregnant." I remarked, glaring at Yukimura.

"You really should be nicer to her." Hideyoshi agreed. "How are you feeling, Ava?"

"Hot." I answered, furiously fanning myself. I was then looking at Sasuke. "Think you can keep everyone in line?" I asked.

"Of course. I will just litter the ground with Makibishi spikes." He replied. "You go cool off and don't worry about a thing."

"We can all get along." Shingen added, lifting a hand to stroke my hair.

"We don't always devolve into fighting." Nobunaga agreed, almost sounding like a petulant child.

I couldn't help but to giggle. "Sure, sure."

Shingen smiled warmly at me. He was then taking my hand and placing a gentle kiss on it. "I swear to you, we will all be on our best behavior. You have nothing to worry about, my princess."

I smiled, my cheeks reddening. "Okay. You guys have fun."

"I think it's be more fun to go with you to the river." Masamune said, grinning. "See both you girls splashing around."

"I hate to disappoint you, but I'm going to find a nice shady cool shady spot and just sit in the river." I replied.

"And I will just be sitting beside her." Asuna added. "Also trying to cool off."

"Be fun to be there when you stand up then." Masamune said his grin widening and his eye roaming up and down Asuna's body.

Asuna was walking over and slapping Masamune upside the head. "I don't know who is the bigger idiot you or Yukimura." She was then groaning.

I was holding back more laughter. It was a moment later that Shingen and I were sharing a kiss and I was heading off with Asuna, Yukimura, and my guards. Though it was a short distance to the river, we had to stop and take frequent breaks as I was becoming winded very easily.

We finally arrived at the river and we found a rather nice shady spot. Yukimura and the guards set up a perimeter and checked things out. Asuna laid out a blanket and picnic basket. She had also packed some extra clothes, since we would be wading into the river still clothed.

I made my way into the river and then found a nice spot that I could sit down in. Asuna of course was helping me every step of the way. "How are you feeling, Ava?" Asuna asked me.

"So much better." I answered with a contented sigh as the cool water washed over me.

"Just a couple more weeks." Asuna told me.

"I just wish they would get here already." I replied. "I am starting to get so tired of being pregnant."

Asuna laughed. "I hate to tell you, but it's only about to get worse."

I let out a groan. "I feel like it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for this heat."

"I really don't see what is so bad about being pregnant." Yukimura spoke up from the riverbank.

"Oh, I don't know. Only my entire body is changing. I have another person inside of my body, growing and kicking me at all hours of the night. Pushing on my internal organs. Not to mention I cry over the dumbest things. Then there's all of the embarrassing stuff that my body does and I have no control over it..."

"Okay, okay I am sorry I asked." Yukimura replied.

As usual Yukimura had irritated me. So I decided to splash him in the face.

"Haha!" Asuna laughed. "Direct hit! Nice shot, Ava."

"What was that for?" Yukimura asked looking so much like a puppy.

"For acting like being pregnant is no big deal." I replied.

Asuna was then splashing him as well. "The simple answer is that you're an idiot."

Yukimura grumbled, but looked at Asuna with an almost tender smile. I totally ship them. I thought with a grin. I think Asuna would be good for Yukimura, too. He needs someone who can kick his butt and knock some sense into him.

"What's with that look on your face, Ava?" Asuna asked me.

"Nothing." I lied.

Asuna eyed me. Then her cheeks became red. "You'd better not be thinking what I think you're thinking."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied with a grin.

"What are you two even talking about?" Yukimura asked.

"Nothing." Asuna and I answered in unison and then both giggled.

"Women." Yukimura muttered with an eye roll.

I started laughing again. Then Asuna splashed me. "What was that for?" I asked.

"Just want you to stop thinking what I know you're thinking." She answered.

I splashed her back. We played like that a few moments before dissolving into a giggle fit. It was in the middle of my laughter that I felt a tightening in my belly. I gasped.

"Ava?" Asuna asked, catching onto it right away.

"It's nothing." I replied.

"Ava, I am your midwife." She said.

"I just...I felt a tightening is all." I answered. "Right here" I then gestured to where I had felt the pang.

"That could be labor pains." She said.

"You mean like...my labor is starting?" I asked.

"You're far enough along that you should be experiencing practice labor. Your body is warming up for the real thing."

"That makes sense." I replied. It was then that I felt the tightening again. It was a bit sharper this time.

"Did you feel it again?" Asuna asked.

"Yeah."

"Maybe we should get you back to the castle." Asuna said. "Two weeks isn't too early. We should go back...just in case."

I nodded. "Alright."

We got out of the river. Yukimura and the guards turned their backs as Asuna and I changed. As soon as I was changed, it was then that felt another pang and then something wet was falling down my legs. "Uh...did...did my water just break?"

"Yes, yes it did. Let's get going." Asuna answered.

https://writingwhimsey.tumblr.com/post/659492281348472832/the-tiger-and-the-oda-princess-ch-15

[victorie552onepiecespeedrun]

Reading One Piece pt 276: Hancock/Luffy And Holy Shit, This is Intense

Chapter 523

Thoughts:

- “Volume 54: Impel Down!” I… I have no idea what’s happening on that cover. It’s a lot

- ohhhh, but that one is nice

- nice

- Fpos/cs: Guys, guys, it’s Spandam! He’s in intensive care unit! He looks like sh*t. That’s what you get for being a jerk, Spandam :D

- ohhh, Hancock has a cruuuuush :D

- no, seriously, she doesn’t know what’s happening

- Grandma will explain. Oh, I feel the bullsh*t coming

- “I agreed to go to the Central Zone without even thinking it over. But I don’t mind!” it’s because Luffy asked you to. You and Zoro would have a lot to talk about I think :D

- oh no, just look at that

- *sign* ok, let’s do this

- „By choosing to go with that man, you’ve saved your own life.” I’m offended by the concept here, you know, The “Woman Needs A Man” Thing but in the context it actually holds. Hancock really needed to go to Capital with Marines as Warlord to keep her people safe. But as we see, she would never do this without her “sudden love insanity” thing. In that aspect, Luffy, or more likely her Love for Luffy saved the day here. (And let’s be real, everyone in One Piece needs Freedom that Luffy represents) And Hancock’s crush on Luffy makes perfect sense! Luffy was really great for her and all over this arc! It was way too fast for Big Feelings to develop but. This is a shounen manga about FRIENDSHIP made by an old Japanese man and if ‘kinda fast’ and ‘why did a whole-ass adult woman fell for a teenager’ is all that’s wrong… we’re good here, guys (if that teenager was or looked like Zoro, NO ONE would complain and you know it).    

- as a ship, I think it holds too, at least for me, especially in the future when the age gap and life experience aren’t that much to think about (also she’s not coming onto him). He helped her! And she will help him! Mutual aid and respect! They’re both strong and silly! Pirate King and Empress! And, well, at this point it’s one-sided much and Luffy is more or less clueless when it comes to romantic relationships (aroace. He’s aroace in my eyes) but that doesn’t mean he can’t be happy with someone or that he can’t make someone happy, everything can work out in the world, especially a fictional one

- (One Piece is short at couples. All I can remember now is Yasopp/Usopp’s Mom [where she went and died when he was away], Usopp/Kaya [strongly implied but not ACTUALLY canon goddammit also they’re both 17 come on] and whatever Rayleigh and Shakky have going on [because COME ON]. Not a stellar record if you ask me but they make it work and even are happy)

- The point. I had a point

- oh right. What I’m saying is that Oda is absolutely using a cheap plot device to give Luffy a much needed help and allies AND girlfriend, BUT (and that’s the annoying part) he’s using said cheap plot device Masterfully and I’m both in Awe and mad about it. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

- ok, in the chapter they are leaving the island. Damn, Luffy really charmed everyone

- Hancock is here. She just kicked a puppy and a baby seal to illustrate she’s still That B*tch, mushy feelings aside. I deeply disapprove but it’s a nice touch. Damn you Oda, damn you

- “Just call me Hancock.” “Okay, Hammock.” Godammit, Luffy

- bye, Amazon Lily! You were a nice place when you didn’t try to kill us!

- onto Marine Ship they go. (And they will stop at Impel Down!)

- all marines are un-stoned now :D (I think that made Badass Marine Captain really happy. It couldn’t be a nice two days for him, alone and not even knowing if his crew is gone for good or not)

- lol, Luffy is literary hiding under Hancock’s coat :D

- to Impel Down!

- At Navy Headquarters. Hey, Sengoku

- So he know Boa will cooperate. Six out of Seven Warlords will in fact. Who’s the odd one out?

- Jimbei?

- There are problems at Sabaody Archipelago (they mention labor camps and god, WG just keeps getting more awful, it’s like they don’t how to stop) but Sengoku doesn’t want to hear anything that isn’t about Whitebeard. I feel your pain, man

- (I like him, sue me)

- oh. Grandpa Garp went to Impel Down. Probably to talk to Ace… oww, that will be a hard conversation

- Whitebeard’s on the move! And destroying marines’ spying network!

- “Tell everyone to be ready for attack on Impel Down!” oh no

- everything is so INTENSE now

- Impel Down

- with Garp and Ace

- …that does not look good…

- oh for the LOVE OF… stop jumping places, manga!

- !!!! NAMI !!!!

- weather magic

- “This is a small Sky Island called Weatheria. We study the science of weather here” ohhhhhh!!! Power-up arcs begin!!!

- with Franky, he’s on some winter island

- “This is mechanical Island! It was created by a genius!”

- “Peachy Island – Island of Dreams” oh, I don’t like where this is going

- “This is the famous second Island of Women. All the plants and animals here are pink” huh. You know, I never had a pink phase when I was a kid, wonder why

- “And the people on this island… all have the hearts of maidens.” Cool. Why is that so ominous

- HOLY SHIT IT’S SANJI. God, what is happening to him

“Right now… I’m in hell.” From the look of it, accurate. Jesus, what is happening to that guy.

rOP 275 rOP 277

[luccislegs]

Au where Cora actually survived the shooting but went into a coma after somone found him. (also since Devil Fruits stop working after being unconscious too, law in chest works!) He wakes up roughly a bit after the timeskip and tries to track down Law and manages to find Law right after Dessrosa but before Zou. Plus points if you include Cora having a heart attack after seeing the news of Law being a warlord, his son is to close to his monster of a brother, and then him defeating said brother.

When Rosi wakes up, he instantly recognizes the decor as that of a Navy hospital. What he’s confused by is the grey-haired Sengoku sitting beside him, looking at him with a mix of anger and relief. There are tears in his eyes when Rosi finally locks with them and, before he can sit up, Sengoku’s arms are around him.

“Thank god, son. We thought you might never wake up,” he says, and Rosi is further confused.

“Never wake up? How long have I been out?” he asks. He sees the machines surrounding him, hears the beeping, realizes nothing hurts even after all the gunshots he took on top of the beating from Vergo, and a dawning sense of dread fills him.

“You’ve been– It’s been–” Sengoku stutters, unsure for the first time in a long time. He knows Rosi is strong, but how does one explain to someone else that they’ve been unconscious for nearly 13 years?

“Sengoku, just spit it out, please,” Rosi says, wrapping long fingers around his wrist. The wait was steadily making him more anxious, the beeping of the heart machine increasing to an alarming pace.

“Thirteen years, son. You’ve been in a coma for thirteen years.”

The silence that followed was palpable, and Rosi could feel the panic start to set in. Blackness creeped into the edges of his vision, and only years of military training allowed him to push the impending panic off. “Thirteen…What about Law?”

Sengoku paused, wracking his memories for a Law. “You aren’t talking about Trafalgar Law, are you?”

Rosi nodded so hard he could practically feel his brain bouncing around in his skull. Law was the reason he had almost died, and he had willingly attempted give his life for the boy. It was the only thing he was concerned with right now.

“Well, he’s just recently had his title as a warlord revoked. Last I heard he was…” Once more he paused and sighed. It really was a lot to unload on Rosi all at once, but he knew the man well enough to know that he wouldn’t hear of resting. He also knew that he would be the same way, was the same way when he found out about Rosi.

At first, he had been angry, which no one blamed him for. Rosinante had taken a break from his mission for some reason, and Sengoku had just accepted it. Then he was directly disobeyed when Rosi showed up at Swallow Island and stole the Op Op no Mi. But it wasn’t until after Law came out and displayed the remarkable Devil Fruit power that Sengoku began to suspect Rosi’s motives.

“What, Sengoku? Just tell me, please. I need to know he’s okay,” Rosi begged, his fingers tightening around the other man’s wrist.

Another sigh and Sengoku seemed to wilt. “Last news we had, he was fighting your brother in Dressrosa. We don’t know for sure his status.”

Rosinante couldn’t stave off the blackness this time.

–

Law was already on board another pirate’s ship when Rosi arrived at Dressrosa. The carnage caused by his brother’s birdcage was extensive and as terrifying as it had been the last time he witnessed it. There was an urge to go and see his brother, to tell him what Rosi really thought, but more important was getting to Law. When he told Sengoku of his plan, it looked like the man aged another year but he nodded and provided cover.

He could hear people yelling from the deck of the ship as he approached it, and knew instinctively that it was because of him. But he didn’t stop. Pulling the hood of his jacket further down, he allowed himself to be captured.

“Hey, who are you? Show us your face,” Zoro commanded, holding him at sword point. No one else spoke, each of them watching him for some sign that he was going to attack.

He took a deep breath and peeked up, meeting Law’s eyes. He could see the initial denial followed by recognition, and then–

And then he was on the deck, his face throbbing.

When he opened his eyes, he caught the tail of Law’s tattered coat disappearing through a door. No one tried to stop him when he hopped up and chased after him, slipping twice and smashing his face off the deck. He was sure he was bleeding but he ignored it in favor of slamming the door open and coming face to face with a teary Law.

“Where the hell have you been? How are you even alive?” he hissed, balling Rosi’s shirt up in his fist. He fought down the urge to hit him again, his heart racing in his throat as he stared at the man who had been– to his knowledge– dead for the last thirteen years.

Before Law got his answer, he was swept up in a tight hug, his face pressed somewhere in Cora’s chest. A few tears leaked out before he could stop them, and then he was full crying, soaking the other man’s shirt.

Rosi remained quiet, tears streaming down his own face as he realized just how far that little boy he tried to save had come. He understood that Law had harbored a grudge on his behalf and, had he been around to, he would have encouraged him to let it go. As it was, he couldn’t be mad at the path Law had chosen, solely because it was his choice to make.

“I’m so glad you survived, Law. It was the only thing I wanted,” he said at last, resting his hand on the top of Law’s hat. He may have been an adult now, and a very powerful one at that, but as everyone always said:

You’ll always be that little kid in the eyes of your parents.

[tsarisfanfiction]

Costras del Corazón

Fandom: One Piece Rating: Teen Genre: Angst/Family Character: Law

What do you do when you find out something about a man who died thirteen years ago - something that might change everything you thought you knew about him - while trying to sort out what to do next with your life because you hadn't planned past the point you expected to die?

Law was happy to be back on the Polar Tang. While he was admittedly not free from his bizarre allies with approximately half of them now travelling as his guests, there were certain perks to the situation.

First off, he was in charge. The more sensible Straw Hats had looked to him for leadership when without their captain in Dressrosa (by which he means Nico Robin at least had the grace not to abandon him to the whims of Cavendish until he gave her the okay), but there was something satisfying about knowing that when he issued an order, it would be followed. There was no more fear of being overridden in his planning by something as simple as his fellow captain's hunger; while his crew were not afraid to voice their own opinions (he still remembered the dispute over their delay in entering the Grand Line, and let's not even start on convincing them to leave him alone on Punk Hazard with no back up), they at least still did whatever he ordered.

Secondly, and right now most importantly, he had his own room. It was a blissful paradise he had never quite managed to fully appreciate before his weeks travelling first on the Thousand Sunny and then, although not as torturous, on the Luffy-Senpai-Go (that was still a ridiculous name and he couldn't even begin to fathom how Mugiwara-ya had been able to stand that level of fanaticism aimed at him).

His own room. His own bed.

As much as he had planned to stick to the deck to keep watch on Caesar, the Straw Hats had had other ideas. Even if you excluded the obvious – their captain literally catapulting him into the men's quarters and onto a bunk – several other members of the crew had their own creative methods. It wasn't worth paying the extortionate fee that Nami-ya imposed for refusal and Nico-ya… well, he had been later informed by a tearfully sympathetic Robo-ya that he was not the first male to be on the receiving end of her inventive uses of her devil fruit when she wasn't immediately obeyed. At least Tony-ya's ridiculously cute kicked-reindeer face was only with the intention of persuading him to rest in the infirmary bed, away from the cacophony the sleeping male Straw Hats caused in their sleep.

Those were the only ones he could actively name, but Bone-ya had more than once played a lullaby that sent him to sleep without his consent. He could never prove it was intentional (even though it clearly was). That would not have been disastrous, except for the fact he always fell asleep on deck, and woke in some bunk or other in the men's cabin. This was where the act of conspiracies between the Straw Hats became clear, as if it hadn't already. For all that he was a walking medical miracle (and Law felt he was justified in his expertise on that particular subject), Bone-ya had no muscular mass to give him the strength to carry the tall individual that Law was. His bones were unsupported, and expectedly fragile, so it was clear that while a vital part of the plan, it was not him carrying the sleeping Law away from his guard post. That left Zoro-ya, Kuroashi-ya and Robo-ya as viable candidates. He dismissed Nose-ya for the terror the sniper clearly held for him. Tony-ya and Mugiwara-ya were not impossible, but he believed that Tony-ya would take him to the infirmary, and he liked to believe he would not be able to sleep through Mugiwara-ya's usual mode of transportation across the ship.

The point was, he was back on his own submarine, in his own room, in blissful silence. Three facts he swore never to take for granted again.

Especially with a guaranteed reunion with Mugiwara-ya on the horizon. He wasn't idealistic, but the fact was that somehow the insane teenage captain always seemed to beat the odds, especially as he had half his crew to return to (how could he possibly forget Marineford and the latent fallout from that?). Mugiwara-ya would return eventually, whatever Big Mom thought.

Still, for now he was going to take advantage of this blessed silence. His crew had orders not to disturb him unless in an emergency (by which he meant, and expressed, Kaido or any of his senior crew. Anything less could be dealt with by either Shachi, Penguin, Bepo or Jean Bart, depending on the situation).

Making sure his door was well and truly locked, he gently set Kikoku down on her stand before flopping with none of his usual elegance backwards onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was dark blue, matching the feathered jumper he owned. While the external panels of the Polar Tang were bright yellow, as well as some of the interior metal panelling, everything with insulation was either white (the infirmary and the infirmary only – Law had had enough of that particular colour) or some shade of blue. Blue worked nicely with the yellow, and more importantly had no immediately negative connotations. He didn't need his own ship triggering the residual PTSD he was more than aware he possessed.

He supposed it was a good a time as any to think about what had happened on Dressrosa. If nothing else, he needed to get a handle on his own mental state now that Doflamingo was out of the way, hopefully for good. At the time he'd been gunning for the bastard's death, but in retrospect, he was glad Mugiwara-ya hadn't dealt a fatal blow. His unexpected conversation with Sengoku had forcibly thrown new light on his situation.

Which was one of the things he needed to sort out.

Don't try and find a reason for someone's love. In retrospect, it was obvious. Love was instinctive – while he had to forcibly pull back his mental armour to admit it, he had never needed a reason to love his parents, or Lami. If he was brutally honest with himself, 'he's actually trying to save my life' was no reason to love Cora-san like he did, either.

If he had no reasons for his own love (and while he was at it, this seemed like a good time to remind himself that he loved his crew too, even if he wasn't as obvious about it as, say, Mugiwara-ya), then he should be able to accept that Cora-san had had no reason either. It wasn't exactly as if Law had given him many. He'd tried to kill him, then blackmailed him, and then spent the next six months of travelling being the most ungrateful brat it was possible to be. No, Cora-san had no reason to love him. But according to his memories, and Sengoku, he had.

It sounded so easy, when he laid it out in his head like that. Logical. If only his heart could accept what his brain was telling him. That Cora-san really could have loved the broken boy he was for no reason (while he was at it, this extended to his crew – what, exactly, had he done to earn their unshakable loyalty to the extent that not one of them had left while at Zou, despite the opportunity and everything he'd done).

He rolled over onto his front with a groan, burying his face in his pillow, and taking a moment to appreciate that it was his pillow, after so long. Law had not been one to feel pathetic notions like home-sickness since the first, and only, sleepover his classmates had organised and dragged him to when he was eight (he attributed that particular blip to the fact that Lami had come down with a cold that very day and his big brother instincts were screaming that he should be there with her, not awkwardly bundled in a sleeping bag in the corner of some classmate's bedroom watching the rest play games as he flicked through a medical journal two levels above what he was supposed to be reading at the time), but there was no denying that Kikoku, while an amazing weapon, was not such a brilliant pillow, and aside from the Straw Hat interventions she had been his only pillow since he'd disembarked on Punk Hazard all those months ago.

He almost hadn't come back to his pillow, his bed, his room. Let alone his ship or his crew, and there was more than a little guilt that came with that revelation. He didn't regret his actions on both Punk Hazard and Dressrosa, but the idea that his crew would have waited for him forever, if they had to, was sobering, and another revelation to add to the growing list.

Another revelation he should have realised years ago, but his obsession with defeating Doflamingo had overridden that sort of common sense.

And Doflamingo had nearly won. Had outsmarted Law at his own game because of the one ridiculous fact that no-one could have predicted, but Law still kicked himself for not anticipating it, if only because it fit so well.

Donquixote Doflamingo was a tenryubito. A fallen one, admittedly, but still one with enough sway he could get the newspapers to lie just to take down Law. He still didn't know how many members of the Family had known that particular tidbit. At the very least, it had not been openly discussed during the years he had been with them, and Baby 5 and Buffalo hadn't known then. They could never keep secrets from him (for him was a different matter entirely; he'd learnt the art of manipulation young).

Trebol had known. Vergo, too – hell, Vergo had even warned him, in his own twisted way. To that end, it was safe to assume Pica and Diamante were also aware, as his top executives. Law wondered if Cora-san had known. As the original Corazón, it was likel-

Law's blood ran cold.

Of course Cora-san had known. It would have been impossible for him not to have known that about his brother. Mainly because they were brothers and if Doflamingo was a former tenryubito, then that meant Cora-san was too.

He hadn't made the connection immediately. He should have done, fixated as he had been on the fact that Doflamingo had killed his own younger brother in cold blood. He'd told Mugiwara-ya, and probably several other people besides. His pitiful condition through much of Dressrosa had dulled his awareness more than he'd admitted, so who knew who else had overheard.

And yet, despite that, and despite being plainly told by Doflamingo what he was, he hadn't made the link.

He wasn't sure he was glad to have made it at all.

The tenryubito were cruel. He'd seen it on Saboady, at the auction house and even walking the streets. Never mind the fact that one of his own crew mates was a former tenryubito slave, although like the Sun Pirates in the past, he'd since had the brand covered by a creative and otherwise-unnecessarily extravagant tattoo of the Heart Pirates jolly roger. It had had to be as extravagant as it was to hide the hoof completely. Law's flag was not made for covering things up, unlike the Sun Pirates'.

Doflamingo had been a perfect example of a tenryubito. Cold, uncaring, and unbearably superior. He treated everyone outside of his Family as scum not even fit to dirty his unnecessarily pointy shoes, and even his own crew he was willing to cast aside if it came to it. If Law had to make a comparison, he'd say that they were the manservants. Of more use than trash, especially once trained, but inferior none the less. It was the attitude that made Law kick himself for not considering the possibility at all, despite its impossibility – he had sailed the Grand Line for three years now, he should know the impossible was simply par for the course on this sea.

Was Cora-san once like that? Law's stomach rolled uncomfortably, and he had to physically still himself while he regained enough control over his bodily functions not to vomit at the idea. The idea that Cora-san could be anything other than kind and loving to a fault was foreign and extremely unwelcome.

He pushed away his early memories of Cora-san with a scowl. Just because the klutz had acted cruel towards him, and the other children, didn't mean there was anything genuine behind the frown. He'd probably learnt those faces, that attitude, from his life in Marejois, but there was no way he'd ever done that for real.

Law decided it was best for his sanity if he stopped that train of thought right there before he started thinking the worst of Cora-san. The past didn't matter. Cora-san had saved his life, had taken him from hospital to hospital despite it being an exercise in futility-

Had spoken to the doctors in a manner that demanded obedience regardless of their personal feelings, and burnt down hospitals when he'd been disobeyed.

Law had found that touching, once. A sign of how far Cora-san was willing to go for him. A show of how much love the kind-hearted man held.

With his new revelation, it drew uncomfortable parallels to what he knew of tenryubito behaviour. An order, and excessive punishment if denied, just because they could.

You didn't need love to reach that level of indignity. Besides, he was certain the ability to love had been bred out of the tenryubito generations ago.

No. He refused to follow that line of thinking. If there was one thing he must not – could not – doubt, it was that Cora-san loved him. If he lost that conviction, then his crew would stand for nothing. Heart Pirates. His grinning jolly roger. Doflamingo had not been incorrect about the influence.

He shifted slightly, and froze as the movement brought his attention to the fact that his pillow – his beloved, never to be taken for granted again pillow – was damp.

It had not been damp when he had initially faceplanted it.

Plausible deniability could only get Law so far, so a single tattooed finger ran along the prominent bags below his eyes. The salty tear it picked up was unsurprising, but unwelcome.

He hadn't cried since Minion Island (tears of raw frustration and pain in Dressrosa did not count). Not since Cora-san had died (before that had been Cora-san saying all those things when he thought he was asleep, and then it was getting back to Flevance territory and that was still too raw so Law cut off his mental recollection then and there).

That now, thirteen years later, Cora-san was once again responsible for his tears did not escape him. It was always the ones you loved that hurt you the most, one way or another. Law was particularly aware of this (it was why he'd sent his crew away, to the elusive Zou and far far away from Doflamingo and his influences. If he lost the ones he loved a third time, he didn't think there'd be enough of him to even attempt to reassemble).

He had to trust in Cora-san. He had his memories, and while he could now see some aspects that had potentially stemmed from his social beginnings, Cora-san was too open, too klutzy, for it all to be an act.

He ruthlessly silenced the part of his brain – part that sounded a little too much like Doflamingo for comfort – that pointed out he'd been a successful Marine spy for at least as long as he'd known him.

He couldn't doubt Cora-san's motives. Not now.

Not ever.

It wasn't a watertight fix to his psyche. There were gaping holes that he'd only badly patched with worn tarpaulin and fraying ropes, but it would do for now. Cora-san had been a tenryubito. Cora-san had been an exception – kind and caring while his peers, his own brother, had continued their legacy of tyranny.

It didn't matter in the end. Cora-san was Cora-san and one day Law would have to truly analyse what that meant, what his saviour must have gone through and why it hadn't affected him in the same way as Doflamingo despite the fact that they probably went through it together.

One day was not now. He had other things to sort out.

Like the scabs Doflamingo had torn off with something as simple as lead bullets. Like the revelation that his revenge was over and he was still alive.

At least, his revenge should be over. Doflamingo was gone, defeated, and Cora-san was avenged (but not in a way that should unduly upset him, thanks to them not dealing a final, fatal blow). Law had focused on this revenge for so long – thirteen years, half his life and the entirety of the lifespan he'd never dared believe he'd have – that he felt he should still be at a loss.

Perhaps he would be, if he hadn't had his little revelation. If he hadn't let himself dwell on the edge of painful memories that had been supressed by his rage against Doflamingo.

But the rage was gone and the scabs had been torn off. Law had lived his life fuelled by revenge far too long to stop now. There was still the matter – the main matter – that he had involved himself with Doflamingo to achieve in the first place.

Flevance, the nobles that had fled, and the World Government that had used his home town for their own gain, and obliterated it once they could no longer profit.

The One Piece was a tempting target, sure. If he was honest, without his alliance with the Straw Hats – with Mugiwara-ya – he might have truly set his sights on it. The sole survivor of Flevance, becoming the Pirate King in a massive middle finger aimed at the World Government. There was definitely some appeal there, and there was no way he was letting that idiot Eustass-ya get his hands on it.

He might still head for it, just to make sure the red-headed menace didn't get it. But Law was no fool. There was only room for one Pirate King per generation, and it wouldn't be him. Somewhere along the line – he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment, but he was willing to bet the first time he truly felt the full force of Mugiwara-ya's haki that time on Dressrosa, when a single sandaled foot was the only thing between his face and Doflamingo was probably at least part of the lynchpin – he had fallen into Mugiwara-ya's pace.

He believed in Mugiwara-ya. Believed in him in a way he'd never been able to believe in anyone since Flevance burnt to the ground. Cora-san had come close, but there had always been the unspoken elephants in the room – a spy, a Marine, worked for the organisation that threw Law's life into chaos that first time, lies about health – that a young hurting Law couldn't quite push past.

There was nothing like that with Mugiwara-ya. He was straightforward and honest. Laughably so, for a pirate. He had no interest in planning, to the point that he would ignore anything that wasn't 'punch the problem repeatedly until it goes away' but in all his unpredictableness, he was predictable.

At least, there seemed to be a trick to it. Law hadn't worked out all the nuances yet – the other pirate had no right being so complex when he seemed so simple – but he was confident he had the main points identified. Loyalty. Trust. Empathy. Protectiveness.

He rubbed his right arm, over the stitches that held it in place while it finished healing (perhaps he should put it in a sling for a while, to reduce the stress, although that would worry his crew). Feigning death didn't mean he had been oblivious to Mugiwara-ya's reaction to its absence, let alone his presumed death.

It had taken more effort that he'd anticipated to stay limp and immobile while his observational haki picked up so many broiling emotions from his ally. At some point, perhaps as early as Punk Hazard itself, Mugiwara-ya had adopted him into his group of nakama. Nose-ya had confided in him, quietly after they'd set sail for Wano, that to be Mugiwara-ya's nakama did not mean you were part of his crew. Apparently they had other nakama, situated on many islands in both East Blue and the Grand Line, who Mugiwara-ya would do anything for.

It was said in the exact same tone Nose-ya had used when informing him of Mugiwara-ya's unusual definition of 'alliance', and Law found he didn't doubt him at all. Somehow, it was easier to accept his unwilling induction into Mugiwara-ya's nakama with this knowledge. Perhaps because he no longer had to fear he'd be dragged from his own crew by a rubbery limb and a too-large grin.

In retrospect, it had been irrational. Freedom was the most important thing in the world to Mugiwara-ya. He would never strip anyone of it, much less his own nakama.

On the topic of Mugiwara-ya, as well as his original topic of what he would do now, with the memories of Flevance surfacing in a way he hadn't allowed for years, a small recollection made itself known.

Mugiwara-ya had declared war on the World Government.

It wasn't as though he'd forgotten that little fact – that was not something one casually forgot, after all – but his attention had been aimed solely on the takedown of Doflamingo for the last two years, and much of the preceding ones.

Memories of a burning city had surfaced back when he'd first read that news, but he had ruthlessly quashed them, not needing the distraction when he was busy dealing with his other revenge.

But now that was over, and Flevance would no longer be compartmentalised into a neat locked chest in the corner of his mind. Lami, his parents, his classmates and the rest had gone unavenged for far too long.

Perhaps Mugiwara-ya's insistence that they were allies for far longer than just defeating Kaido wasn't such a bad thing after all. Together, they could bring the World Government to its knees.

Law's pillow had dried, and he smoothed out the wrinkles the moisture had left with the grin of a satisfied predator on his face.

Yes, that sounded like a plan.

[blue-and-dog]

More Sengoku Basara OC Writings!

Dinner Time (Nanahime and Yoko)

[[MORE]]

The pirate queen, scourge of the seas! Feared by all! She challenged the gods and won! She crushed her enemies! She commanded a crew of the finest, the strongest, the bravest!

She stood at the helm of her mighty ship—terror of the seas! Now that none in Japan stood against her, there was no choice but to continue to new lands! Adventure awaits!

With a crouch, she prepared to leap from the helm into the seas—

“Yoko, get down from there! Preferably not by jumping!”

Yoko snapped back to reality, the little girl crouching down to see her mother’s slightly-agitated gaze.

“Y’know, we specifically told you you’re not allowed to jump from the roof after what happened last time.” Nana held up her arms as she drew closer. “C’mon, I’ll catch you. Just climb; it’s time for dinner.”

“Comin’!” Yoko turned around, beginning to climb down and letting go; Nana caught the six-year-old under the arms with a grunt.

“Geez, you’re gettin’ heavy....” she laughed a bit, setting her down and taking her hand. “Okay, let’s go before the food gets cold.”

“‘Kay!” Yoko fell into step beside her mother, humming a bit as they headed into their home. “Think daddy’ll be back tonight?”

“Mm...probably not. You know your dad; he could be another few days, another few weeks, or show up within an hour.”

“I wonder if he’ll bring me a neat shell again this time,” Yoko thought out loud, “I don’t mind if he doesn’t, though.”

“Just want ‘im home in one piece?”

“Mm-hmm. Then we can wrestle again.”

“Am I not a good enough wrestling partner anymore?”

“That’s not true!” Yoko immediately replied, flustered, “You’re still fun! I like to wrestle you!”

“I’m just teasin’, squirt.” She messed up her daughter’s hair a bit. The pair said hi to passing crew members and guards as they went, before finally, Nana used her free hand to slide open the door to where they would be dining: a large, square room with a single round table in the middle and three somewhat-flat cushions (though one of the regular occupants was currently away). Waiting at two of the seats were a hearty bowl of steamed white rice, and somewhat-neatly assorted fillets of fresh ocean fish—Nana had even cut off the tail fin of the fish and stuck it near the far right of Yoko’s rice, having given it a bit of a whale shape (never mind that whales weren’t fish).

“Dinner!” Yoko cheered, immediately sprinting to her spot and jumping onto the little cushion meant just for her; the cushion slid a bit, but snagged on the wood floor before it could send the girl careening across the room. Yoko immediately snatched up her chopsticks and went to pick up the tail fin and pop it in her mouth—

“Ah, don’t eat that part. That’s for decoration.”

“Oh. Okay!” Yoko set it aside, instead swiping up the rice bowl and digging in voraciously.

“Please don’t choke.” Nana sat down with a laugh and a sigh, beginning to eat her own portion of the meal. After a while of eating in silence, Yoko swallowed a mouthful of rice, taking a deep breath.

”Mommy, what kinda stuff do you do as daddy’s first mate?”

“Hm?” Nana had a fillet halfway in her mouth. Chewing and swallowing, she cleared her throat. “Well, lots of things.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s see...” she put her chopsticks to her lips as she thought for a moment. “I’m head of the household, officially, so I handle anything goin’ on around the house. I also handle inventory for your daddy’s ship; make sure the crew has enough food and supplies. Lotsa physical work, too, like helping with building and maintainin’ the fleet. Then there’s handlin’ relations with the clans your dad allied with—“

“Those are the days you gotta dress up nice, right?”

“Ugh, yeah. Anyway, there’s all that, and basically keepin’ your dad from doing anything stupid. ‘Bout a fifty percent success rate, there.”

“And you gotta make me little brothers so Daddy has heirs, right?”

Nana paused as she looked at her, then squinted. “You were supposed to be asleep when we were having that conversation.”

“I know how babies are made, mommy. You told me.” Yoko stuck her nose up, “Don’t be surprised.”

“Listen here, you...” Nana started, then snickered. “You’re gettin’ too old, too fast.”

Yoko let out a giggle, then went back to eating, while Nana watched for a moment.

Those big green eyes, full of curiosity. So familiar to her.

Sometimes, when Yoko looked up at her mother with those big green eyes, Nana could see Fukurou there, for one, fleeting moment.

How would you feel, seeing your daughter now, Fukurou? she thought.

“Mommy?” Yoko spoke up again. “You’re not eatin’.”

“Oh, you’re right. Whoops.” Nana popped another fillet in her mouth.

“It sucks Daddy’s not here to eat this with us.”

“He had plenty of food packed; I’m sure he’s fine.”

“But it’s not like when you make it fresh! Daddy’s missing out!”

“Look at you, worrying over your dad. He’d be so flattered. Complete turnaround from when you first met him.”

“Really? I can’t remember a time I didn’t like Daddy.”

“Ohhhh, there was a time when you didn’t like him at all. You were really young, though; I’m not surprised you don’t remember.”

“How old was I?” Yoko leaned in a bit, now at full attention.

“Mm....” she swallowed some rice. “...three? It wasn’t long after Mommy and all her friends decided to become pirates. I think I was working on something that required two hands, but you were being clingy and wanted me to hold you, so I was managing with one hand. The cap’n—your dad, as you now know him—came by, saw what I was doing and asked if I wanted him to hold you while I was finishing up. I told him it wasn’t a good idea because you got fussy with people you didn’t know, but he insisted it’d be fine. So, I decided, fine, I’d let him hold you for a few minutes. Well, no sooner do I pass you to him and he says hello, that you scream, ‘NO!’ and—“ she started to cackle, “You smacked him in the face as hard as your little hand could. Which, luckily, wasn’t very hard.”

“I hit him!?” Yoko sounded distraught. “I’d never hit daddy if we weren’t playing!”

“Well, he started laughing after that and just held onto you despite the fact you started squirming and flailing—I think he kinda saw you as a challenge. Did seem kinda disappointed at your reaction, though.”

“When did I start liking him?”

“I’d say about a month or so later. I was talking to him about something, and you just walked over, looked up at him and said, clear as day, ‘Aniki, up!’ and held up your arms. I swear, he must have been waiting to hear that, because he scooped you up immediately. Plus, scored him some points in my book, with how much he took to you after that.”

“Is that when you fell in love with him?”

“Mm....nah. I can’t really pinpoint a time that happened. That’s the thing about falling in love, kiddo; sometimes, it’s just kinda...there.”

Sometimes more than once. And with multiple people. But she doesn’t need the details.

After dinner was eaten, Yoko scurried off while Nana went to wash the dishes. As she entered the empty kitchen, she went over the dinner conversation in her head, and again, her mind went back to Fukurou.

“Hey, if it’s a girl, let’s name her Yoko, okay?”

“Yoko? Not against it, but why?”

“We can use the character for ‘ocean.’ We met on the beach. It fits, yeah?”

“Yeah...you’re right, it does! That’s actually pretty cute.”

She smiled a bit. Him and his symbolic names. Such a dork.

He was her former lover.

He was exuberance and life and adventure all rolled up into one. Never sat still, never stopped thinking of new things to do. Never stayed in the same place. Always found something to love about the places he went.

As she finished drying the dishes, though, she paused. A pang in her stomach, and it wasn’t the food doing it. With a sigh, she headed back to the quarters she shared with her husband, going to the closet where she kept her few belongings. Sliding it open, she pulled out a small leather pouch, opening it and dumping the contents into her palm—a round, amber stone on a leather string—the string was long since broken. Raising it to eye level, she turned it over in her hand, a frown crossing her features.

The kid’s doing fine. We all are.

She closed her fist around it, giving it a squeeze.

I promise, I’m okay.

She sat against the wall, staring across the room blankly for a while, still holding the stone in her hand.

She wasn’t aware how much time had passed, until Yoko opened the door again.

“Mommy, I’m going to bed! It’s story time!”

“Huh?” Nana snapped back to reality. “Oh...! Right. Sorry. Are you all set?”

“Mm-hmm.” Yoko nodded, lying completely.

“Hey.” Nana crouched in front of her. “Are you lyin’ to me?”

“...no.” Yoko looked away.

“You didn’t wash up!” She put her hands on her daughter’s cheeks. “You gotta wash up, kiddo! Or else you could get sick, and that would be,” she smushed her cheeks, taking a faux-sinister tone. “Sooooo baaaaaad.”

“Stoooop!” Yoko whined, pulling away. “I’ll go wash my face, fine!”

Nana laughed as Yoko scurried off, heading to her daughter’s room—the room was filled with odds and ends; various little “treasures” Yoko had picked up from playing with friends, going on “adventures” with her parents, or just wandering around. But displayed proudly on a small shelf were four seashells, each different shapes and colors—gifts given to her by her stepfather...her “daddy.”

“Here I am....” Yoko arrived moments later, crawling onto her futon.

“Alrighty, so what story do you want?”

“...actually...instead of a story...”

“Hm?”


“...can I ask you about my daddy? The daddy who made me?”

Nana felt her stomach flip as Yoko asked. “...you wanna know about your birth dad, huh?”

“You don’t gotta tell me everything if you don’t wanna, but....I at least wanna know what he was like.”

Nana didn’t know this feeling. It wasn’t dread. She knew Yoko would want to know more eventually. Fukurou didn’t live to see Yoko; didn’t get to watch her grow. And as those big green eyes stared back at Nana...

“...well....I can’t deny you that, huh?” Nana smiled a bit. “...okay.”

One day, Yoko would have to know what happened. But...at least for now, she could tell her who he was.

[lordsister]

Method of Teasing (Motonari Mouri x MC)

A/N: So this is going to have chapters for Mitsuhide, Kenshin, and Mitsunari too because wow, people like this a lot more than I thought they would. Which is amazing and makes me so happy!^^

Previous chapters--> Nobunaga, Ieyasu

Thank you @thetwinkims for beta reading! And hope you enjoy it @odissey061!

I do not own Ikemen Sengoku or any of its characters. I do, however, own the plot of this fanfic.

My ko-fi:  https://ko-fi.com/lordsister (please consider donating if you enjoy my work!^^)

He knew he was teasing her, the handsome bastard. He thought he could get her flustered with those tight pants and his fine ass and those smirks he sent over his shoulder at her when he caught her staring?

Well, he was damn right!

This wasn’t fair at all. Unlike most men of the Sengoku period who wore a kimono or hakama pants or other loose-fitting trousers, Motonari stood out in his form-fitting apparel, the material clinging to his muscled legs and leaving little to the imagination when it came to outlining his sculpted rear. Because that’s the only word she could use to describe it - sculpted. 

While she was more than appreciative of her lover’s physique, MC didn’t know how much more of his teasing her heart could stand. How was it that she had fallen in love with the only man in the Sengoku period who wore pants like those? Or maybe that was one of the big things that had first attracted her? She didn’t know anymore.

“Liking the view, sweetheart?” a familiar, sultry voice asked from above. Blinking, she shook her head only to realize that she had zoned out while staring at the very object of her thoughts as Motonari climbed one of the many rope ladders used to adjust the sails. “Aw, don’t be shy. It’s all yours.” 

The sensation of her cheeks lighting up was becoming uncomfortably familiar. “Motonari! Don’t say stuff like that out in the open!” As if her blush wasn’t bad enough, her voice came out as more whining than scolding, only adding to her embarrassment. Groaning, she turned around on her heel and covered her flaming face with both hands.

A heartbeat later, there was a thud on the planks next to her as her lover let go of the rope and dropped to his feet beside her. She was sure he looked amazing doing it, damn him. MC had no choice but to look at him as he settled one hand on her hip while the other grabbed her wrist, tugging her hands away from her face.“And why not, love? It’s not like it isn’t true. And everyone around here certainly knows it.”

God, the look he was giving her was the visual definition of ‘rogue,’ red eyes narrowed teasingly and lips curved up in a delicious smirk. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to smack that look off his face or kiss him breathless.

“B-Because it’s embarrassing…” she trailed off, attempting to avert her gaze only to have a finger under her chin draw it back. 

“How can I help myself when you look so cute with your cheeks all red like that?” Before she could protest, his lips captured hers in a chaste kiss that somehow managed to leave her breathless in typical Motonari fashion. “You look even cuter all kissed like that.”

‘Screw it.’ Grabbing his lapels, MC pulled him into a longer, more passionate kiss, allowing his strong arms to tug her flush against him. “What am I going to do with you?” she panted against his lips when they parted long moments later, frowning at him. 

“I don’t know.” Hands grasped sensuously at her sides and his nose brushed hers, red eyes glancing at her kiss-reddened lips. “Love me forever? Kiss me again? Take me down to our cabin and have your way with me?” 

“All of the above.”

His smirk widened. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

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‘Damn him!’ she thought, even as she stroked her fingers through his snowy locks and gazed down at him with undeniable love in her gaze. The soft smile on his face as he slumbered away with his head on her chest and his arms wrapped around her made her heart melt, it was so sweet and affectionate, so different from the pirate’s usual hardness. 

The reason behind MC’s internal cursing was the fact that she had been rendered weak under his teasing again. As much as she enjoyed the fruits of his teasing, she felt that he was more than due to receive some teasing in return. How though? More than half the time she ended up a blushing mess, helpless under his charms as he wooed her relentlessly. If she was going to tease him and win at it, she had to do something he wouldn’t expect, something that would render him just as flustered as she was when he caught her staring earlier-

Wait. 

Her hand came to a halt in his hair, her eyes flying open to focus on the ceiling planks above her. Would that work? As far as she knew, he wouldn’t expect it, not from her. Maybe it would be enough to leave him flustered too? On second thought, it was Motonari she was talking about. She had only seen him flustered a few rare instances and having his ass smacked probably wasn’t going to add to that short list.

Even so...it was worth a try. And even if he wasn’t surprised, she would probably enjoy his reaction anyway. 

Pressing her smile into her lover’s hair, she tried not to giggle too loudly as she cuddled him. She loved Motonari so much, loved seeing the new expressions and sides of him that appeared with each new experience they shared, and she couldn’t wait to see how he reacted when she gave him a taste of his own medicine.

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For the next few days after MC thought of the idea to tease him, she did her best not to give any of what she was planning away, easier said than done considering how observant he was, particularly when it came to her. She tried to keep her eyes from lingering on him, focusing on whatever was on hand instead, but she could tell her lack of attention was starting to annoy him. 

“Whatcha thinking, princess?” Motonari asked from his place at the wheel as she sat against the rail a few paces away, mending clothes and supply bags. 

Looking up, she smiled at him, trying to keep her expression from giving too much away as he peered at her from the corners of his eyes. “Not much. Why do you ask?”

His gaze slid back to the horizon, adjusting the course of the ship as the wind changed imperceptibly. “You’ve been quiet lately. Distant.” He turned back to her again, searching red eyes watching her as he kept one hand on the wheel. “Is something wrong?”

“No.” Unless you counted lying in wait to spring a naughty prank as “something wrong.” 

The Motonari she knew now really was so different from the rough, near-mad sea dog she first encountered. Before, he wouldn’t have cared a bit about such a subtle change in her behavior, would have brushed it off as long as she was still breathing and useful. She counted herself lucky to have gained his affection and learned of this new side to him. 

Gesturing to a crew member to take his place, Motonari strode over and crouched before her, taking her chin in his hand. “You know to tell me if something is wrong though.” It was more statement than question, a repetition of something he had made clear early on in their relationship.

“I know and I will.” Banishing thoughts of her prank for now, MC reached up to lace her fingers through his calloused ones. “Don’t worry, Motonari. I’m perfectly okay.” Maybe she was trying too hard not to be obvious, but truthfully she was really excited to try out what she had in mind. She hadn’t meant to worry Motonari though, and she leaned into his touch, trying to convey that she was alright and how grateful she was for his care.

“If you say so, I’ll trust you.” The hand she held suddenly tugged her to her feet, the fabric and sewing box in her lap falling to the deck as he led her down the wooden steps and towards the lower decks.

“Motonari? Where are we going?” 

“To find some food. I’m hungry and I know you are too.”

She could tell he was still trying to fix whatever was or wasn’t wrong the best way he knew how - by taking care of her basic needs - and it warmed her heart to know he was that invested in her mental and physical wellbeing. It made part of her want to tease him even more than before, to show him she could stand toe to toe with him on this too.

Leaning closer to him and returning his smile, she could barely wait to see how he reacted to what she had in store for him.

The big question, she realized, was whether she should pull her stunt in front of his crew or when they were alone together. He had always been openly affectionate with her in front of his men, but he hated appearing weak or vulnerable in front of them too. She probably spent too much time deliberating over it, but eventually she decided to do it out in the open. He was always teasing her in plain sight. It was only fair she do the same.

A few more days of waiting and there he was again, looking as magnificent as always in the sunlight as he went about ordering his crew around. It was distracting as usual, but now it made MC more nervous than before, making her fidget in place as she tried to figure out what to do with her hands. How should she hold them when she was planning on using them to smack her boyfriend’s ass?

“Oi! Are you listening to me, princess?” 

Blinking, she found her vision filled with Motonari’s frowning face a few mere inches from her own, his hands on his hips as he bent down a little to meet her gaze. “Ah, sorry. I guess I got distracted there.”

“Hmm?” Straightening, he smirked that smirk that told her teasing was about to come. “Admiring me again?”

Instead of denying it this time, she smiled secretively and said, “...Maybe.”

A fine white eyebrow lifted in delight and he tilted his head to the side. “Oh? Admitting it now?”

Meeting the playfulness in his eyes in turn, she answered, “Well, you did say it was mine after all, didn’t you?”

A few wolf whistles and low exclamations of amusement came from the crew members within ear shot, a couple of them shooting wide grins and winks her way as their captain spun on his heel to face them, turning his back to her.

“Hey! Back to work, all of you-ah!” Her hand bounced off the firm muscle of his butt and his head snapped around as the smack resounded in the air, instantly making the deck grow quiet as crew members’ jaws dropped.

The vulnerable look of surprise on his face was something she had seen only a handful of times before, an expression he made when he was well and truly caught off guard. It made her feel more triumphant than she thought it would. A smile very much like his own stretched her lips as he stared down at her, baffled. Another second later, the deck erupted into hearty guffaws and whistles, other crew members emerging from parts of the ship to see what the commotion was about. 

Motonari ignored it all, a wild light in his eyes as he licked his lips and advanced on her. She had honestly never seen him so riled up before. “My princess is feeling playful, huh?” Wrapping an arm around her as his other hand dove into the hair at the back of her head, he tilted her head up to his, his breath fanning against her face as he husked, “I like that,” before his lips attacked hers and all chaos broke loose.

Needless to say, she was much more liberal with her teasing after that.

[geometragic]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 & 𝐍𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄;  𝘔𝘶𝘯 & 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦 - 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘦.

Fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OCs still can make it somehow work with their own lore and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multimuses pick the muse you are the most invested  in atm.

Tagged by: The amazing @illdivine​ ! Thanks a bunch for tagging me ! ^^ Tagging: @extravachance​ @grandordergirl​ @kimintsugi​ @royaltywritten​ @daitoku​ @pragmarage​ @teniras​ @deviilscry​ @foolslaugh​ @wrathlead​ and anyone else who’d like to do this meme ! ^^

My muse is:   canon /  OC  / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK.

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG (( He was one of the poster boys for Sengoku Basara 4, so...that counts for something, right ? XD I don’t think that Sengoku Basara really has a protagonist, though. Just a bunch of different characters. ))

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO (( I’m putting ‘yes’ if only because Mitsunari, who never remembers anyone, remembers who Katsuie is. XD I think that, in general, some characters know Katsuie and others don’t ? ))

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL (( Bad in-universe, somewhere in between neutral and bad in the fandom. ))

How strictly do you follow ‘canon’? — I’d say that I follow canon pretty strictly ! Though I do add my own headcanons. ^^ I need to update some of my pages so that they’re more in line with canon, though. Especially Katsuie’s modern verse, now that the Basara Academy anime has been out for over a year... XD

Sell your muse! Try to list everything that makes your muse interesting (in your opinion) to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —   Katsuie comes off as really normal and very chill at first, which lets him easily have a first meeting interaction with most muses without angering them / fighting them / killing them / etc. But the more you delve into his thoughts and the things he does, you can see how warped his mindset is when it comes to certain subjects / people. ^^ And he’s a depressed emo kid, so I'd imagine that a lot of people on Tumblr would connect with him over that. XD 

Now the opposite. List every reason why your muse might not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom think?).  —   Back when SB4 first came out, Katsuie got a lot of flak for his creepy obsession with Oichi, which is admittedly pretty bad. Since she’s, you know, married, and Katsuie’s willing to go so far as to kill Nagamasa, her husband, for a chance (?) to be with her. Not to mention Katsuie’s anime route, where he gets himself kicked out of the Oda clan, destroys his own hopes and dreams in the process by killing everyone in the Azai clan (Nagamasa, Oichi, and Maria), and finally gets mercy-killed by the former shogun. Yikes. ^^; I’m honestly surprised that, in my five years roleplaying Katsuie, no one’s sent in anon hate to me because of Katsuie’s behavior. (Unfortunately, a former rp partner of mine once got anon hate years ago for shipping Katsuie and Oichi. ;u;)

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄? —  Katsuie’s actually my very first muse ! ^^ I started writing him at the end of my senior year of high school. I think I’d been into Sengoku Basara for a year or two at that point, and I’d been reading translations that people were making for SB4. I’d also been following Sengoku Basara roleplayers / ask blogs (there were several active ones around back then), and I really enjoyed reading their interactions, so I wanted to pick a Sengoku Basara character so that I could roleplay with them, too ! I tried writing for a couple of potential muses in private to test them out, but it felt most natural to write for Katsuie, so I went with him as my first muse ! I probably chose him because I’d gone through a bunch of not-so-fun stuff in high school, so I saw Katsuie going through a bunch of not-so-fun stuff in the Oda clan and sympathized with that.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆?  —  To my knowledge, I’ve been the only one roleplaying Katsuie semi-consistently over the past five years ? He’s just such an interesting character to me —– it’d be too sad to close this blog and not see anyone’s Katsuie interact with other people’s muses anymore. ;u; It’s something I’ve been a little worried about recently because I know I’m going to be more busy in the future, since I’m (hopefully) going to finish up my research this year, get my master’s degree next year, and then go straight into a serious full-time job. I don’t want to give up rolepaying, but if I get too busy next year... >.< 

Also, playing the mobile game Sengoku Basara: Battle Party every day helps ! And my rp partners are awesome. ^^

𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could help them get more comfortable with you.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / IDK

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day?  YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO

Are you good at accepting criticism about your portrayal? —  Yeah, I’d say I’m pretty good at accepting criticism !

Do you like questions which help you explore your character? —   Yeah ! I’m happy to answer whatever questions everyone has about Katsuie ! ^^

If someone disagrees with a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? —   Yeah, because it’s interesting to see how other people view Katsuie ! From my point of view, if someone disagrees with one of my headcanons on Katsuie, it means that they’re interested enough in him and have thought about him enough to have their own opinions on him. It’s so so so so difficult to get anyone interested in muses from a series as niche and JP-only as Sengoku Basara, so I’d honestly be happy if someone cared enough about Sengoku Basara and Katsuie to disagree with me on my headcanons for Katsuie, as strange as that sounds. XD

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? —  I think my answer to this question would be basically the same as the last one. I probably wouldn’t change my portrayal at this point, though ? I’ve had it for a long time and I’m actually really happy with it. ^^ Probably the only reason why I’d change my portrayal is if someone found / made more translations of the games that Katsuie is in (SB4, Sumeragi, Sanada Yukimura-den, Batopa, etc.) and I found canon details in the new translations that really clashed with details in my portrayal. In that case, I’d change my portrayal to match with canon.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? —  That’s fair, honestly, especially when it comes to things Past!Katsuie / Kaioh has said and done, and even just things Default!Katsuie has done. Katsuie’s a really messed-up dude, and his views on things can be really twisted sometimes. And hey, if someone hates Katsuie, at least that means that they care about him on some level, right ? XD Apathy is the one thing that really kills my muse.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? —  Sure ! If they can find them. XD I edit my drafts A LOT before I actually publish them, so usually I manage to catch all my mistakes, although the occasional mistake slips through every so often. Hemingway Editor is honestly a lifesaver when it comes to finding simple spelling errors and helping me write my sentences so that they’re a reasonable length and don’t have too many adverbs / phrases written in passive voice / etc.

Do you think you are easygoing as a mun? —  I think so ! ^^ I just want to roleplay my muses and have a good time watching them grow and form relationships with other muses, that’s all. If there’s something I don’t like, I know to mute / unfollow / block / etc. and move on. Life’s too short to get involved in drama.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵!

[somevirtualnolife]

I Like Him, I Like Him Not

2387 Words

Rating: T Series: Ikemen Sengoku  Pairing: Nobunaga x MC Summary: Makoto knows that what she and Nobunaga have is nothing more than a simple game and quite frankly, she wants to keep it that way. Why in the world would she want to get further involved with someone as arrogant, callous, and conceited as him? No thank you.And yet... for some reason, she always finds herself always spending more time than expected with him.

Author’s Note: I've been addicted to this game for the past 6 months, and so I finally couldn't wait any longer and wanted to write a fic for it! Nobunaga was my second playthrough and I am a big sucker for "I hate him until I fall in love with him" story lines.Although there are mentions to events in the game, this little one shot doesn't follow the plot to a tee. It's just it's own little thing in a universe where the story moves a little slower.Apologies in advance for any typos or if I still haven't gotten a proper grasp of Nobunaga's character yet! I'm still getting a feel for writing him.Happy reading!

***

Ugh, she did it again.

This was the second time Makoto had fallen asleep in Nobunaga’s quarters then and woken up, curled up on a futon next to him. Was this Stockholm Syndrome? It had to be, right?

The first time was to thank him for saving her. It turned into quite the night that ended with them playing another round of Go and him claiming her lap. In the end, she too ended up falling asleep, but instead of waking her to go back to her room, he took her to his futon. Nobunaga was a man of his word; she’d give him that. He never tried anything while she was asleep. Though quite frankly she still felt it was a pretty low bar to respect a woman’s boundaries, Sengoku era or not.  

Last night… now what happened last night?

She had gotten annoyed by a comment he had made during dinner and went to chew him out. That ‘chewing out’ turned into more of a discussion. And before she knew it, those few minutes she intended to talk to him turned into an hour. And then that hour turned into several more. So in that case… she must’ve fallen asleep mid-conversation. He may have been the ruthless Devil King of the 6th Heaven, but he was also an excellent conversationalist and listener. His thoughts and philosophies were thought provoking and in turn, he’d also listen to her speak about her own convictions, her life back in the 21st century, and really anything else that came to mind; no interruptions. It was one of his nicer qualities.  

Only one of his few. That’s what she’d continuously remind herself. She felt like she had to remind herself that no matter how good a conversationalist he was, how handsome he was, how, ahem, good he made her feel after a game of go, she was not falling for the warlord. He was so pushy, arrogant, and cold. Not to mention being the most feared warlord in Japanese history. He was the equivalent of a modern-day bad boy, and that was totally not Makoto’s type.

Makoto took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder. Nobunaga’s eyes were still closed, and he seemed to be breathing slowly. Still asleep. If she was quiet enough, she could go back to her room and no one would be none the wiser. She carefully sat up and attempted to inch her way to the end of the futon, just about to pull off the covers.

“Mmm, not yet,”

Nobunaga placed his hand on hers, pulling her back down beside him. His other arm then wrapped around her waist, careful not to tread any higher, for it seems was still awake enough to know which parts of her were ‘conquered’ territory.  “It’s still early,”

“Which is exactly why I should be going. I don’t need someone waltzing in and getting the wrong impression. Again,”

“And what impression is that?”

“That we’re… you know,” she felt a rush of heat flash across her cheeks. “Involved in certain ways,”

“Are we not?” his breath was warm on her ear, and before she knew it, she felt his teeth lightly graze and then nip at the tip of her earlobe. A wave of tingling pleasure shot down all the way to the tip of her toes. At the same time, his arm that was around her waist, slipped underneath her kimono and caressed the length of her thigh.

Makoto bit down on her lower lip, managing to supress a gasp. Ugh, he was good. But she wasn’t going to let him get to her so easily. She knew her limits, and she also knew that when she said no, it was no with him.  

“Alrighty, I think that’s enough,” She quickly squirmed out of his arms and sat up, crossing her arms with a flushed, but irritated expression on her face (or perhaps hot and bothered was a better way to describe it).

“We are not. Exactly,” she continued, a firmness in her tone. “Look, it’s all well and good for you. You’re one of the most powerful men in Japan. You know what, scratch that; you’re a man, period. No one cares who you’re in bed with. Meanwhile I have to deal with all the maids gossiping about me and the men calling me ‘Nobunaga’s Woman’,”

“You say that with disdain now, but you hardly seem fussed about it every night I’ve claimed you,”

“Okay firstly, please don’t say ‘claimed’. Secondly… that- is- well you-”

Look, there was no denying that when lips and hands explored her, it felt great. She mind as well just admit that now. After all, there is nothing wrong with a little ‘friends with benefits’ situation (or in this case, perhaps ‘warlords with benefits’), but that’s not what they were doing. Not really. To him, this was all a game; something that he had yet to conquer and once he was done, he would probably move on. And for her, this was her way of trying to get back home. And there were worst ways she could be spending her time here.

Regardless there was no way that they would become anything more than that. And she was fine with that. She wanted it to be that way.

“I just want to be Miyahara Makoto. You know, a person rather than someone’s property,”

“Ah, so it’s pride,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Very well, Miyahara Makoto. If that is what is bothering you so, sneak back to your quarters. Because for whatever reason, that is somehow less suspicious,”

“It isn’t if I don’t get caught,” she retorted.

“Which you have a pretty poor track record of thus far,”

Just then there was a knock on the door and Makoto froze in place. No! No-no-no-no-no! Was he also some sort of wizard? Did he have the ability to just summon people when she was in the worst looking situations?

She groaned and buried her face into her hands, frustrated. Great. Just great.

Makoto then heard Nobunaga sigh and she looked up. His expression unreadable as usual, but if she were to harbour a guess, it would be annoyed. He then nudged his head over in the direction of a folding screen. Oh! Why didn’t she notice that earlier? Quickly, she hopped up from the futon and ducked behind it, trying to keep as quiet as and as still as possible.

The door slid open.

“Lord Nobunaga! I’m sorry to bother you so early in the morning,” a voice said.

“It’s fine. What’s the trouble?” she heard Nobunaga respond.

“No trouble, but we have received the latest works for the palace. We thought that you may want to look over them first before we put them up for display,”

“Very well. You may place them over there,”

Makoto could hear the sound of people entering the room, most likely carrying things as she heard the soft thuds of objects being placed against the wall and floor. After a few minutes, the sounds of movement ended and there was a bit of idle chit-chat before there she heard the door being slid closed again.

“They’ve left,” Nobunaga said casually, and she carefully poked her head out from behind the screen. It was then that she noticed that the room was now filled with various pieces of art. Large screens and paintings in gold leaf that depicted western ships, delicate yamato-e painted on delicate rice paper. That’s what they meant by ‘work’. Artwork!

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” she repeated as she inched herself closer to them.    

“I thought you were leaving,” Nobunaga crossed his arms, a bemused smile on his face.

“I am! I just…wow.”

Makoto’s eyes lit up. It was amazing to know that some of these works of art would last for over 500 years. And here she was, seeing them in their original state. No textbook, no glass separating them, or waiting in lines at a museum. Most people could only dream of being able to do experience this. She had to admit this was one of the benefits of being in Azuchi among some of the most powerful men of this time.  

“Ah that’s right. You studied the arts back in your time, didn’t you?”

“Well, technically my major was in Fashion and Textile Design, but I did take several electives in drawing and painting even though my parents insisted that I take classes in business because they said that it would be more practical, but honestly I took one accounting course and I swear it was the most boring-”

Nobunaga’s expression went blank. She was losing him.

“Ahem, yes. I studied the arts. You’re required when you’re designing clothing,” she turned away.

Her eyes then landed on one final piece. It was a painting of what looked to be an older man, sitting down in a green haori and hakama with a white kimono. His hair was shaved in the middle of his head, with the rest tied in a topknot. His expression was… well he didn’t have much of one.

“Who’s this?” she asked, pointing at the painting. She couldn’t recall anyone who looked like him in the castle. Perhaps it was the artist that did these works? A relative? There was something oddly familiar about it.

Nobunaga walked over to Makoto and looked down at the painting.

“Oh, that must be the portrait that was commissioned,”

A portrait? “Wait, this is you?”

“Mm,”

Makoto was… well, she was speechless, to say the least. It hit her that she had seen the painting once before in her old history books from back in high school. No wonder she didn’t recognize any of the warlords when she first met them. They looked nothing like their portraits! This was the equivalent to photoshopping your profile picture, but in like, the opposite way that most people intended.

“So, you feel that this is an accurate depiction of you?” she finally asked.

“It’s not something that I’m particularly concerned about. I get them done because I have to,” his tone was indifferent. “There have been a number of portraits of me made, each one different from the next,”

Makoto chewed the inside of her cheek. Yes, it was now coming back to her now.

“You disagree,”

“No. It’s just… not what I would have gone with. Personally,”

“Oh?”

She fidgeted with her hands, looking as though she were about to burst. Finally, she couldn’t help it, and grabbed her bag, pulling out her sketchbook and grabbed a small brush and an inkwell from Nobunaga’s table. She felt a little bad critiquing this artist’s work, but there was just no way that was Nobunaga, even if this was the style used during this time. Maybe she could do her own little spin on it. Ugh, her art history teacher would kill her for wanting to change such an iconic painting. But she couldn’t help it.

“Let’s see… first of all, the linework doesn’t really convey ‘Devil King of the 6th Heaven’ to me,” Even resting or sitting, there was always this aura of intensity around him. Therefore, brush strokes used should convey as such. They should be more dynamic, more freeform. The brush moved across the page with both speed and precision.  

“And your face isn’t that round,” he had sharper features, that gave him a stern and devilish look at the same time. “Not to mention your hairstyle,”

“I believe I had a topknot when the artist first came to visit,”

“Well you don’t now, so we’ll just fix that. Plus your hairline doesn’t go that far back,”

She dipped the brush in the inkwell again started to add a little more detail to sketch. She was concentrated now, muttering a few comments to herself, but not really expecting an answer in return. It was always how she worked on her designs, whether there was someone around or not.

“And then of course, there are your eyes,” she continued. They were the three Cs; Carnelian, cold, and calculating. She’d gotten used to them at this point. She had asked them once why they were always so cold and he couldn’t answer, so she just sort of left it at that. It was a dumb question anyway, if she thought about it.

“I see,” he said.  

She didn’t know when it had happened, but Nobunaga had sat down very closely beside her, his face looking over her shoulder at the sketch. And that’s when she noticed his eyes.

They were different. They held some emotion in them. Interest perhaps. But not the type of interest where she was something new and unknown, or someone to conquer. More like… he was enjoying just watching her sketch.

Something fluttered inside her chest.

She then quickly put the brush back down and stood up. What was she doing? She just said that she wanted as little as possible to do with him, and now here she was sketching an entire portrait after spending the night with him.

“I should really get back to my room,” she tucked a strand of her curly brown hair behind her ear. “The later it gets the more people will be in the hallways, and-”

“You don’t want to give them the wrong idea, I know” he responded, a surprisingly playful tone in his voice. “It’s a shame. I quite enjoyed watching you work. Until our next game, Miyahara Makoto. Unless of course, you wish to come back again of your own volition,”

“I assure you that I will not, Oda Nobunaga,” she responded, though her tone was far less amused, but she still bowed. “Good day to you,”

Once she left his quarters, instead of darting off back to her room, she laid her back against the wall and clutched her sketchbook tightly against her chest. Her heart was beating loudly.

He said he liked watching her work.

Why did she just sketch a picture of the man that she was determined to hate? Why did she spend the night with him just talking? Why did she want him to keep looking at her like that? His eyes… she wanted to see that look again.

Miyahara Makoto… not Nobunaga’s woman.

But maybe she wanted to be.  

[otome-is-my-life]

Okay. So basically, I just finished reading an IkeSen fic on Ao3 called ‘Stalked to the Sengoku’ by Forallyourikemensengokuneeds and I am royally pissed to say the least. I’m unsure if this anger is genuine or just because of how hormonal I am at the moment but I felt the need to share my views on it.

There are many spoilers for the fic down below so I recommend you actually reading it before seeing what I have to say. It’s reasonably short and as an IkeSen lover (which I assume whoever is reading this is) you might really enjoy it and think that I’m just talking out my ass.

First of all, the main pairing stated in the tags is Mitsuhide/MC however, contrary to this, the first half of the fic is Sasuke/MC. In this first half, we learn a bit about their background together and see their relationship develop throughout the story. We see how Sasuke is there for her when no one else is, and how he helps her significantly when it comes to her stalker problem. I thought it was really sweet and genuine. They seemed so happy with one another and I was totally shipping them. It was even hinted, before everything went to shit, that Sasuke was going to propose to her. I was totally down for that!

This is when things got messy. The MC was sent into the past (without Sasuke) and out of nowhere, falls in love with Mistuhide. Where Sasuke and the MC had known each other for around 5 years, he had helped her through many things and had been through a lot with her. But then all that is turned on it’s head because MC was poisoned, Mitsuhide barely saved her, and suddenly, he’s the person who knows her best, he’s her hero, he’s the person she’s going to MARRY after (barely) knowing him for what? A week? Boys, I was pissed!

Not only had she now practically forgotten Sasuke who it seemed like she was willing to marry and have children with a few chapters prior, she then went on to state that she never actually loved him, and that she was more grateful for him than anything else.

The idea of Mitsuhide and the MC being together did bother me in many ways. Firstly, he hasn’t even been introduced into the story until halfway through. Then, they ‘fell in love’ in practically a matter of days. Also, there was no real development or chemistry between them. Whereas with Sasuke, their connection was much deeper and their relationship had more depth to it.

Now, I don’t think I would have minded Mitsuhide and MC being together so much if their time together had been stretched over a longer period of time, but no. They met, ‘fell in love’ and everything else that had happened before then was irrelevant and completely inconsequential.

Then, in the epilogue, we found out that Sasuke also just married someone else after the MC has been missing for about 4 months. He was like “oh, she went to the past and has seven kids with Mitsuhide Akechi? Sounds good to me. It’s not like we were in love or anything. Plus, I’ve married some random woman and we’re having a kid together”. It is ridiculous.

I apologise for this rant, I didn’t hate this story nor do I mean any harm to the author. They seem like a good writer and it is very likely that I will be reading more of their stuff. It’s just that some things bothered me and I’m a bit hotheaded at the moment. Please, don’t take my word for it, check the story out for yourself and develop your own opinions for it. I’d say that it’s definitely worth reading and I mostly didn’t have any problems with it, it’s just that some things really rubbed me the wrong way.

[neverwatchedonepiece]

483-484: ‘Looking for the Answer! Fire Fist Ace Dies On the Battlefield!’ and ‘The Navy Headquarters Falls! Whitebeard's Unspeakable Wrath.’

...

Actually watched these on Friday but was too bummed about what had happened to post. Turns out one of the spoilers was real, after all. Joy of joys. One more to go and then all I’ll have floating around my head is that Sanji has a sister.

Annoyed at the spoiler-tastic title, though. Thanks, Toei, for ruining that in advance. I was also unwittingly spoiled by the latest Uniqlo/SJ 50 t-shirt drop (but didn’t know it at the time because I was clueless about the panel’s context).

Yes, I am delaying the inevitable...

Better get on with it.

R.I.P. Fire Fist Ace

I am sad and mad at the waste of life.

Ace had so much to live for, but he had no regrets, so from his perspective, it is okay. I mean, the old cliche is true, right? Death is easy for the dead. Those they leave behind have to deal with the fallout. And Luffy is... beyond distraught. Catatonic with despair, actually, to the point Jimbei had to step in or else he would have been fried by Akainu.

Picking up where 483 left off, despite the Big Damned Spoiler Title, I knew Ace was not in a good way. If that title hadn’t ruined it, I might have thought even then that Ace would make it through. If Whitebeard can fight on with a hole in his chest, why couldn’t Ace? And the Pirate Alliance had Emporio Ivankov on their side, right?

There were a few final twists and turns, a few flashes of drama, before the quiet, sad moment happened. Garp rushing down to Ace, Sengoku having to pin him to stop Garp killing Akainu (I wish he hadn’t. I still want that Garp Monkey D. Family Team to happen). The nightmare fuel scene when Akainu was shot point blank by bazooka fire and walked back through the flames like a zombie with parts missing. The moment when Jimbei stood between Ace and Akainu “You will not touch him again! I have been ready to die since the beginning!” with Akainu retorting, “Looks like I need to execute a traitor.” Marco breaking free courtesy of Mr 3, enabling Luffy to take Ace away...

Damn, I really didn’t think Oda would have the cajones to kill off Ace. The moment was done well, though, so at least there’s that. Weirdly, the scene reminded me of Mufasa’s death (from The Lion King). Just Luffy’s fragile, tentative questions, “Hey. Hey... are you alright?” mixed with the horror of realisation something was terribly wrong when he placed his hand on Ace’s back and it came back thick with blood.

But still, he could deny it then. Ace could be treated. Ace could be cured. Emporio Ivankov was on his side!

Unfortunately, the damage was irreparable. Ace’s organs had been completely burned away. The moment Ivankov had to break that news was horrible. I felt so bad for Luffy. He tried to bargain desperately: “You can’t die! You promised you would never die, no matter what!”

Knowing he didn’t have much time left, Ace took advantage of the quiet moment to have a last talk with his little brother. I liked how Toei froze the battle, cast everything and everyone but Ace and Luffy in greyscale, because for that moment, the only alive people in the world were two brothers. 

“I wouldn't even have had a will to live if it weren't for Sabo and a high maintenance brother like you. If you see Dadan someday, say hello for me. When I face my own death, I even miss a woman like her. There is one thing that makes me wanna stay. That is my desire to see you fulfill your dream. But I'm sure that you can do it. Because you're my brother. Like we promised that day, I have no regrets in life. Something tells me that what I truly wanted was not fame. Did I deserve to be born? What I wanted was the answer to that question.

I can't raise my voice to let anyone hear anymore, Could you tell them what I'm about to say now? Old man, everyone, and you Luffy. Thank you... for loving someone like me: a good for nothing who has such bad blood in his veins... Thank you!”

Yeah, so at that point, I was just staring at the screen, watching Ace die and labouring under the same haze of denial as Luffy. It still wasn’t real. Then Ace’s eyes glazed over, the little flame inside him finally winked out and he slumped to the ground with a smile on his face. Even the vivre card burned to ashes.

Watching Luffy realise his brother was dead was worse than Ace’s last words. Eyes wide, he just stared at his blood-soaked hands and shook. “Ace...? Ace...?”

Then he screamed. The grief was too much and he shut down completely.

This is the second gut-wrenching loss Luffy has suffered in quick succession. As far as he’s concerned, he’s lost his crew. Now, he has lost his only brother. I wonder how this will affect Luffy going forward? I’m assuming Luffy will use Ace’s death to swear vengeance on the Marines and World Government. Take note, Marines: this is how you create a mighty enemy. Luffy does need to be stronger. But, damn, if that is not a harsh way to learn that lesson...

Oh, and I don’t ever want to see Jimbei sobbing again. That was too much on top of everything else. ;_;

Akainu Is Not A Good Person

He’s behind me, isn’t he?

That shot is honestly the only thing that cheered me up over these two episodes. I watched it three times and laughed like a drain every time.

Then it just got better because Oda let Whitebeard loose on Akainu and it was glorious! It’s as if Oda realised, “Yeah, the fans will be grieving and seething, let’s give them an outlet for their feelz.”

Akainu made another swipe at Luffy, but Marco stepped in. Unfortunately, Marco was wearing sandals. (Not the most effective footwear for facing off against Akainu. You’d need steel toe capped boots or special heat-entry PPE for that. Marco, you must update your look. Function over fashion. I know it will sting but it is for a good cause.) He couldn’t hold off Akainu completely. But someone who could rumbled up behind him.

Man... Whitebeard was mad. Beyond mad. “I will hammer you into the ground like a tent peg” mad. “I will punch you to pate” mad. I actually cheered when that first punch connected. The best part was when he grabbed Akainu by the collar, tossed him in the air and broke him with a devastating punch. I’ve never been happy to see someone bleed before. That was new.

But Akainu did get a hit in. Note to All Pirates: Do not let Akainu anywhere near your torso. Reblog to save a life!

It’s maybe too late for Whitebeard, though. I am not going to jump the gun again because Oda has subverted tropes before, but it seems like Whitebeard is intent on Marineford being his last stand. He split the battlefield so the Pirate Allies could escape, trapping himself on the other side with all the Marines. 

It was also satisfying to see Marineford sinking into the sea along with Akainu! I may also have cheered at this and laughed: “YES! BYE, SAKAZUKI! SINK INTO THE OCEAN AND DROWN!” A measured response? Absolutely not. Do I think he will be saved? Hopefully not!

Then Teach appeared.

This is the first time I was not excited to see him and his crew. I thought, “Come on, mate. There’s a time and a place...” 

But clearly, for Blackbeard, this is the perfect time and place.

Not Even In The Mood For Blackbeard

Teach has the chutzpah to turn up at Whitebeard’s last stand and advertise his new crew. I might be going off them. There are now ten Blackbeard pirates, so that’s my Individual Blackbeards vs Individual Strawhats theory up in smoke.  (Unless Luffy recruits another crew member. Then it’s back on!) 

So far, we have:

1. Blackbeard 2. Van Augr 3. Jacques Laffite 4. Jesus Burgess 5. Doc Q 6. San Juan Wolf 7. Catalina Devon 8. Shiryu of the Rain 9. Vasco Shot 10. Guy With Horns I Don’t Remember

Now it makes sense why Teach was sniffing about Impel Down. He was recruiting! Still don’t know what his game is, though. Why is he here now? What’s the point in having a chuckle at Whitebeard’s expense? Why advertise your new crew? I don’t think the Marines will be impressed that you took time off to recruit while there was a big battle going on.

I also have questions about San Juan Wolf.

How does San Juan Wolf fit on any ship? He is so massive he barely fits into shot and suffers from goddamned distance fade. Does he just trail after Teach’s ship like a massive, violent puppy? Where did they keep him in Impel Down? Would Ikea be interested in such space-defying dimensions?

I’ll have to stay tuned, I guess.

No, thank you, Ace. You’ve been great. ;_;

[midnightluck]

ive been thinking alot about a spirited away m au where ace gives his name away to like, kurohige or akainu or smth(maybe to save luffys life?? idk) and then forgets who he is and becomes their servant (muscle? assassin? weird deputy? idk). not sure where it would go from there. maybe sabo meets him, or gets enrolled on luffy's quest to find his brother? im just interested in a dynamic where sabo finally remembers ace, except that ace has forgotten him and even himself

Oh, man, that would be intense! I’ve actually got a half done story about Sabo remembering and Ace not, but I love Spirited Away, and with Ace already having naming issues, it would make sense!

Like, there could totally be a world where Ace is a little more angry and a little less careful, where someone figures out that the young kid with the familiar face asking “what if Gol Roger had a kid?” is pretty suspicious, where the government hears the rumors so much earlier. In such a world, Garp might think that if hiding won’t work, then submitting might. He might gather up Ace and tell Luffy to be good and take Ace to the Marines. He might tell Ace that if he’s good and quiet and keeps his head down, he’ll have a life. It won’t be a good life, but it would beat dying.

Only, Ace is young and angry and unwilling, and honestly probably entirely incapable of “keeping his head down” or behaving. He stands out, and Garp intercedes, again and again, until even he knows this isn’t going to work. But there is a way, a way to keep Ace alive and safe, and alive and safe is more important to Garp than happy. So he begs and promises and threatens, and Sengoku accepts a bargain; Ace’s name, held against his life.

Luffy constantly asks where Ace went. Garp says he’s safe. Luffy says okay, and asks if he’s happy. Garp changes the subject.

Ace turns out to be a good lieutenant. He can never have the freedom of having his own ship, and he’ll never be promoted above a certain point, but his life is dull and grey and routine and he doesn’t care. There’s a hole in his thoughts where a smile should be, but he follows orders and doesn’t think and lives in greys and dreams in bright broad strokes of color–reds and greens and vivid blues, and never remembers it when he wakes.

He lives at the base and doesn’t think about leaving. It wouldn’t happen anyway, and there’s not more for him out there than there is in here. He wakes up in the cafeteria one day, having fallen asleep, when a stranger slips in. They’re not in uniform and not base personnel. They’re likely an intruder. He lifts his head and the intruder freezes.

He should probably care. He doesn’t.

“Aren’t you going to report me?” The stranger asks, all in blues, such vivid blues.

“No,” Ace says, and continues staring.

“Hmm,” the stranger says, circling closer. “You’re an odd one. What’s your name, then?”

Ace shrugs.

“You have to have a name,” the blue man presses, and the thing is, he does have one–it’s not his, but he’s got a single word that he keeps in his heart, the one thing that’s truly his. He has never told anyone, but this man is vaguely familiar now, and somehow Ace thinks he will understand throwing away one’s name.

And he’s blue, blue like the sky, blue like the sea, blue like freedom, blue like his dreams, and Ace tells him the only name that was left for him to keep–“Portgas,” he says, because they took his name and his father’s, but no one thought to take hers.

And the not-quite-stranger comes closer, gasps, sits down, says, “I knew it.” Then he leans in close and asks, “Do you want to be here?”

“I need to be.” That’s true; he just wishes he remembered why.

“That’s not what I asked. Do you want to be here?”

Ace blinks. No one has asked this before. This person, almost-friend (almost-more), is leaning in, staring intently, and so he asks a question in return. “Do you know what I’m missing?”

“Yes,” says the blues and the eyes and the sunshine smile, only no one is smiling. “I know you. I know who you are and I know what you’re missing, and if you come with me, I can return it to you.”

It’s too good to believe and the grey wavers in the face of so much blue, so much color, so much intent. It’s dangerous and he wants to trust this person, but last time he trusted, he lost…he lost his something.

He doesn’t move. “What’s the name I’m missing?” he asks, hues and shades pressing up against the grey.

Blue leans in and he is smiling now, sharp and bright and big, like yellow. “The name you’re missing,” he says, “is Luffy.”

And it is, and he gasps, and the grey shatters.

…or something like that, haha

[luffylaws]

A Million Ways To Feel

10 Days of Lawlu Day 6: H is for… Heart

Summary: Luffy gets injured and in an attempt at getting him to rest, Law explains to him all the ways in which he could have died.

[read on AO3]

Luffy was bleeding profusely. Good that he knew not only one, but two doctors – or so he said when Nami dragged him into the operating room on the Polar Tang.

Law was neither impressed with nor happy about the situation.

The cut was on Luffy’s chest – not low or deep enough to have hit his heart or aorta, but bleeding badly enough to have completely stained his blue shirt and Nami’s hands on the way.

“One day,” he said while he gently pushed Luffy – who was by now feeling light headed and “very funny”, according to him – onto the operating table, “one of you is going to need a new heart and then what am I going to do? Just steal one.”

“You could,” Luffy slurred. “You’re good at that.”

Zoro – who had come in to supervise in Nami’s place, who wanted to get all the blood off her hands –  snorted behind them and Law shot him a dirty look. “Help or get out!”

Zoro stepped closer, obviously both ready to help and deliver more comments. “Didn’t you give a bunch of hearts to the government to become a Warlord?”

“That’s a rumor,” Law scoffed, his hand raised to create a room.

“’S the truth,” Luffy said.

“Jeez, do you think I’m that ruthless?” Law assessed the damage. The cut was deep, but clean, and hadn’t hit the subclavian artery either, and if he sutured it properly it would heal quickly – given that Luffy didn’t move too much and rip it open again. “I didn’t give them a hundred hearts, I just collected some from a couple pirates I came across who were particularly rude, and the rest was from cows – which they never found out about. And they were all alive. When I sent them, Sengoku still had enough pull to ensure that none of them got killed, and I didn’t tell them who they belonged to anyway.”

“Still, that’s hardcore.”

“I’m not above ripping the hearts out of chests of people who deserve it,” Law said, cleaning the wound with practiced motions, “but I’m definitely not sending them to the government. Fuck them.”

“I’d totally have thought you would do that, if I’m honest,” Zoro said and Law was about to roll his eyes again, when Luffy said: “Not me.”

“You overestimate my moral compass,” he said gently. He knew the sedative had to be kicking in by now so he wasn’t going to take anything Luffy said for granted.

There had been a time in his life when he would have ripped the hearts from everyone who stood in his way. He wasn’t as angry anymore, but he had no qualms to tamper with organs either. He chose his subjects carefully, sure, but it wasn’t ethical – his parents would have hated it.

Maybe they even would have hated him, he mused, as he carefully stitched Luffy’s skin back together.

   Luffy recovered slowly. Keeping him in bed was a struggle, so of course he tore his stitches open on the very first day. Which in turn led to Law putting him on bed rest until the wound started mending.

There was a lot of whining.

 “I’m so bored,” Luffy complained, loudly.

Law sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He had half a mind to just let Luffy run around again and let Chopper deal with it, but he knew it wasn’t right – it was just his annoyance. So he sighed and sat down on the bed next to Luffy, making the mattress dip a little. Luffy scooted sideward to make room for him almost automatically and that was incentive enough for Law to kick off his boots and pull his legs up onto the bed, too.

“I know,” he said. “But you really have to take better care of yourself.”

He ran a hand up Luffy’s arm, marred with scars – he didn’t even want to look at the old one on his torso, its upper edge disappearing under the bandages for the new wound. Getting hurt was part of the life of a pirate, Law was all-too aware, and he had fought time and time again to make his crew take enough time off to let their wounds heal. He wasn’t going to stop with Luffy now.

“I always either sleep for a few days after a big fight, or the wounds aren’t bad enough to need much recovery time,” Luffy said.

“You’re an idiot,” Law said but he smiled. “And I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

“Pure luck,” Luffy said, very seriously and now Law had to laugh.

“See, you’re even self-aware.”

Luffy shrugged half-heartedly. “It’s worked out so far. I’m tough.”

“And you heal quickly,” Law said. “But that doesn’t guarantee it’s going to work forever.”

The unspoken I don’t want to lose you hung heavy in the air. Law had lost too many people to be able to say it out loud, though. Because he felt like that would jinx it, like he would doom Luffy to the same fate that had befallen his parents, and his sister, and Cora-san.

“Hmm,” Luffy made and then fell quiet. Uncharacteristically quiet.

Law had to stop looking at him after the silence had stretched on for more than a dozen seconds and fiddled with a loose thread on his shirt instead.

As much as he was in favor of Luffy thinking about things for more than a second for once, he wasn’t a fan of uncomfortable silences. He liked knowing what was going on in Luffy’s mind – at least vaguely, because sometimes Luffy made no sense even to those closest to him – and it was proving hard right now.

Finally, Luffy broke the silence: “But could it have been my heart?” He was still speaking softer than he usually did, obviously aware of Law’s discomfort.

“So you do remember what we said,” Law said.

Luffy shrugged. “I’m used to pain. I was probably more aware of what was being said than you thought.”

Law grimaced. “It could have been,” he said, answering Luffy’s original question, “but only if you had been stabbed right here.” He put his finger on the spot between Luffy’s fifth and sixth ribs. “And only from the side, otherwise they would’ve had to go through your left lung.”

“Huh,” Luffy made, sounding a little breathless.

“Or,” Law continued, “they would have had to shatter your ribs, which a lot of people are strong enough to do around here, but that would have been harder than with other humans because of your rubber body. Or of course if their blade had been sharp enough to just cut through your ribs…”

“Okay, okay, stop!”

Law pulled his hand away and looked at Luffy apologetically. “Did I freak you out?” To him it was cathartic to talk about all the ways Luffy could have died – and didn’t – but he realized that he had gotten lost in the feeling.

“A little? It’s kinda cool too, I guess, but you really know a lot of ways to kill someone.”

Now it was Law’s turn to shrug. “I’m a doctor. It’s my job to know all the ways to kill someone – and how to treat them.”

“Okay, what’s the easiest way to kill me then?” Luffy asked.

Law laughed a little. “Probably if they’d cut your jugular vein here,” he put his finger on the juncture of Luffy’s neck, feeling his pulse speed up. “Or the external carotid artery – it’s close to there, too. You’d bleed out so quickly not even I could help you if I wasn’t with you.”

Luffy reached up and pulled Law’s hand away from his neck. “I just won’t get cut here,” he said decisively. Law wished it was that easy.

“Do you understand now why you need to be more careful?” he asked instead.

Luffy nodded. He was tracing the tattoos on the back of Law’s hand that was now resting on his leg.

“I can’t promise to stay out of trouble, but I can at least try to heal up properly.”

Law sighed. “Guess that’s the most I can ask for.”

They lapsed back into silence, both looking down at Law’s hand where Luffy had now taken to running his fingers over the letters on Law’s fingers. D E A T H.

The quiet didn’t last as long this time, barely a few seconds, before Luffy spoke again.

“Can you show me the heart thing?” he asked.

Law frowned and his hand twitched with the impulse to pull it away. “Why?”

“Because it always looked so cool,” Luffy said. Law sighed.

“It’s an extremely delicate thing,” he said. “It’s not something I do for amusement. I’ve always only used it for two things: tactics, and actual treatments.”

Luffy scoffed. “You’re telling me switching out our hearts and personalities was a hundred percent tactics?”

“…yes,” Law said and squinted. Maybe not a hundred percent, but a very solid ninety.

Luffy, seeing right through him, grinned. “Are you sure?”

“It was mostly tactics, anyway.” Law rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t just do it to you guys here on the ship now, just for fun. I think that’s what counts here.”

“If you say so,” Luffy said and laughed, but he sobered quickly. “But I really wanna see you do it. I’m curious. I’ve never seen a human heart.”

Law hesitated. If it was for educational purposes – at least kind of – it was alright, too. (And Luffy did seem genuinely curious, not just because he was bored, but because he was interested.) And if it served to keep Luffy in bed and resting a little longer, even better.

“Fine,” he said finally. “But I’m not showing you your own heart. I don’t think your wound is stable enough.” And without much more preamble he pulled his hand out from under Luffy’s, summoned a room and removed his own heart, cased in a protective bubble.

He had done this countless times before, to test and practice the technique, because he didn’t want to subject too many animals to it and certainly not his crew, but it was still a weird feeling to have his own beating heart in his hand.

“Wow,” Luffy made. “That’s awesome.”

Law slowly offered the heart to Luffy, who had sat up straighter to look at it.

“Can I touch it?” he asked.

Law shrugged. “Sure, just don’t squeeze it or anything.” Luffy grinned mischievously as he took the heart from it – much more carefully than his expression would suggest. “I swear, I’ll cut your head off and switch your heart with a turtle’s.”

“You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be cool.”

“I’m pretty sure both of you would die after about a week,” Law said drily.

“Have you tried?”, Luffy asked. He was inspecting Law’s heart closely now and Law wondered if he could also focus on the conversation they were having.

“I’ve tried switching different animals, yes,” Law said. “They usually couldn’t stay alive for very long. Humans and animals are okay, but the human body would need to be monitored because the animal has no idea what to do with it.”

“Hm, okay,” Luffy mumbled. “Makes sense.” He slightly poked Law’s heart and Law flinched.

“Ouch.” He slapped Luffy’s hand. “What did I tell you!”

Law looked up at him with big eyes. “Sorry! I didn’t think you’d feel that.”

“You literally just poked one of my most important organs, of course I’m going to feel it somehow,” Law said.

“Sorry,” Luffy said. Then: “It’s smaller than I expected.”

“You’ve seen me extract hearts before…”

“Yes, but not up close.”

“Fair,” Law said and looked at the heart himself now. “It is pretty small for such an important thing.”

“Is the brain just as small or is it bigger?” Luffy asked.

Law almost had to laugh, but he successfully held back – it was a valid question after all. “It’s bigger,” he said. “But not much. A few centimeters at most. The lungs are much bigger.” He spread his fingers out over the right side of his chest to indicate where his right lung was – he didn’t want to demonstrate on Luffy’s body, since he had just changed the bandages a while ago. “But I’m not taking either of those organs out.”

“Yeah, you need the brain to think,” Luffy said, very seriously. Law almost had to laugh. He needed his heart to survive, too, but it was alright out of his body by virtue of his Devil Fruit. But he didn’t correct Luffy.

Instead he watched him inspect Law’s heart, his eyes bright with wonder.

“It’s so delicate,” he said, holding it in his hand much gentler than before, only letting it rest on his flat palm. He was watching it beat. “Such a small thing, keeping all of you alive. And there’s a lot of you.”

Now Law did have to laugh. “Yours is doing the same job.”

“Yes, but I can’t see it,” Luffy said. “I can see yours now.”

Law took a deep, surprised breath and his heartbeat sped up a little, clearly visible in Luffy’s hand.

“Did you know there’s a legend of a pirate captain who locked his heart away in a chest, because he fell in love and subsequently got his heart broken?” Law asked.

“What?” Luffy gaped at him. “That’s insane.”

“And pretty much impossible, considering I’m the only one who’s ever had this power – as far as I know,” Law said. He did wonder often however if anyone had ever had it before him – Devil Fruits grew again. Was he just one in a long line of successors with the power of the Ope Ope no Mi? “It’s probably just a myth.”

“Why would anyone lock their heart away?” Luffy asked.

“He didn’t want to feel,” Law said and shrugged.

Luffy frowned. “Can you do that? Take someone’s feelings away by taking their heart?”

Law shook his head. “No, that’s not how it works. You are your heart, and your soul, and your feelings, no matter where it is.”

He stared at the heart in Luffy’s palm and thought about how often he had wished he didn’t have to feel, and about the times he hadn’t been able to feel – but not because he had removed his heart, but because his depression had overtaken him so viciously that he had come out the other end of feeling too much with nothing left to feel.

“I’m glad we have feelings,” Luffy said and Law tore his eyes away from his heart to look at Luffy’s face. “It’s hard, sometimes, but it makes us who we are, right? What would you be without your grumpiness, and your enthusiasm about medicine, and your love of soft things?” He handed the heart back to Law.

“Not me, that’s for sure,” Law mumbled. He hesitated, then said what he was thinking anyway: “It can be very hard. But I think… I think it’s worth it.”

Because with all the bad came just as much good. If Law had given in to his yearning not to feel – if he hadn’t been fueled by spite and revenge all these years – he would have never developed his deep friendship with Bepo, or met Luffy, or been able to talk to Sengoku about Corazón, or been able to experience what it felt like to have a beating human heart in your hands.

Law slotted his heart back into his chest, where it belonged.

[drcuge-blog]

[ Unpopular opinion: Akainu did nothing wrong ]

send some opinions!

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

read more because i don’t wanna clog up the dash ~

well, first off i don’t mean to sound harsh here …and it’s not because of Ace or anything, because I am not saying he can’t be a good guy too at times - he did after all spare jewelry bonney and her crew that one time - but i see Akainu as a character who takes his justice sense to a certain extremism. and me being one who can empathize with outcasted characters since i’ve been one myself throughout my life i believe that you can’t judge someone without knowing them or their hardships. of course, the marines’ job is to hunt down pirates, yet the system, but the way some marines (like him or Sengoku) condemn someone merely by blood or lineage is very wrong. one’s identity doesn’t mean that they will either be a devil or an angel, you can’t judge before witnessing with your own eyes. in this sense it’s not a character i despise, but definitely not one of my favorites. 

i personally am a fancier of clean tactics and what he did at marineford or when he suspected there was a scholar inside a ship ( was it a ship or  a boat now? i can’t recall ) but it’s cases like these where i think he takes it into extremism. out of that he performs a good job at being a marine and delivering justice, but sometimes i think that Akainu goes too far. he needs to think about his surroundings and who is surrounding them and what consequences it will bring for both parties. \

also there are many characters that could irk me more easily than akainu! im not saying he’s the ultimate eviiiiiil ,he has a strong sense of justice and that’s good but he needs to sometimes be aware of other ways to perform that justice more equally and fairly. justice is not just for some. but it’s part of his character and having flaws is part of every character in this series as natural as it should be. i’m just stating that he should open his eyes a little bit yeah but it’s Oda’s character not mine so, let’s see how much he will develop through the series right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

nevertheless, he is a very complex character like many other op characters and whom i find very needed to the plot. it’s good to have diversity and i’m okay with that. we need this complexity and drama as well as action into it, and to be frank one piece got me sucked in because of the similarities between our real life world’s injustices ( like the discrimination towards certain characters due to their race or lifestyle ) and the one in one piece. so, yep definitely i wouldn’t say Akainu is an innocent character much in that sense. not sure which sense but this one you meant but … ^^’