The worst part about trying to figure out what Crocodile's deal is that because he's so fucking irredeemably evil in Alabasta... Like... Yeah he's just irredeemably evil. Like I love him but he did cause countless casualties, a ton of pain and suffering and literally attempted to blow up a million people
Like no amount of theoretical "trying to do it to save his son from the Government" or "trying to stop the Government from hurting anyone else" or just "doing it for the greater good" is going to make him any less of a mass murderer
But also Robin absolutely 100% helped with all of that shit simply because she wanted to read the Poneglyph for herself.
No amount of her intending to betray Crocodile from the begining and sabotaging his plans erases the fact that Robin also caused countless people to starve to death and die in the civil war. Her sabotages only succeeded out of sheer luck, and only spared the lives of the people at the final battle. She has the blood of countless innocents on her hands. Because she wanted to read history.
But her crimes were swept under the rug because she has a sad backstory and her sabotages worked out just at the nick of time by sheer dumb luck
So Croc??? Just??? Is there a chance??? At all???
But also he did literally intend to sell Buggy into slavery
Like, fuck Buggy, but jesus
What's also killing me is that we like. Don't know what Luffy thinks of Crocodile right now. Which really is like. The thing that will decide how we, as the readers, are supposed to feel about Crocodile. Luffy is our POV
Like we don't know what Luffy's opinion of Crocodile is after he helped save Luffy (and spared Ace once) during the Summit War. Like Luffy clearly fucking hated the man in Impel Down and the two interactions they had during the War weren't like positive (in the sense that Luffy himself didn't think of the interactions as particularly positive. Defending Whitebeard from being attacked once and then being like "wait what HIM?!" when Crocodile defended Ace. To be fair, in the midst of the chaos, there wasn't much time to spend on Pondering On Such Things because Ace needed to be saved, and Oda goes out of his way to not show us what's going on inside Luffy's head, because it's all meant to be out in the open anyways. Regardless, these weren't like "yay it's Crocodile! :)" moments for Luffy is what I mean)
But also Luffy was very grateful of Law for saving his life and was willing to put his trust into Law for their alliance- of course, they weren't explicitly enemies to begin with, rivals at most, but still. Luffy respects those who help him.
But also Luffy grew during the timeskip. Like he's not that clueless anymore (like he finally understands Hancock is in love with him etc), and similarly Luffy gets that Buggy is an absolute loser now. But also Buggy did also help save Luffy's life (even if it was by accident), and while IDK if Luffy is aware of that, I don't think that helped improve Luffy's impression of Buggy
So like. The fuck does Luffy think of Crocodile, at this moment? Even with the Cross Guild reveal, he didn't even really comment on Croc and just focused his energy on being confused about Buggy being "the leader" of CG. IDK it feels almost intentional or something, that we don't know what Luffy thinks?? Especially since we did get Zoro's opinion on Mihawk in the situation?? Or am I delulu??
(Sidenote. I'd love to know what Robin would have to say about Crocodile helping save Luffy's life. What Jinbei might think of the final words Crocodile left him with before blasting them out of Akainu's reach. But mainly just Robin's thoughts)
Like IDK my best guess would be that Luffy still hates Crocodile just the same but is like grossed out by technically owing him one??? In the classic
-kinda way, you know? And that he'd be just kinda confused about it?
Because I can't fucking imagine Luffy being like "oh we're cool now" with Crocodile, let alone "Yay Crocodile :) He saved my life!". But also like. Luffy does kind of owe Croc one. Kind of. And Luffy is usually very respectful of that kind of thing. Aaaaaaaa???
(Also does. Does Luffy even know it was Crocodile who yeeted him and Jinbei out of Akainu's reach to begin with. 'Cause he was unconcious. Knocked the fuck out. Does. Does Luffy even know. Did anybody tell him???)
I just.
There's the reasonable part of me that knows Crocodile is an irredeemable evil dickbag and everything he has ever said and done up to the most recent chapters support that. He is too far gone.
And then there's the absolutely delulu part that loves a tragic villian who gets a heartwrenching redemption that's looking for any fucking sign that could indicate Crocodile could maybe be one
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The sight that greeted Victor Rookwood as he exited the Hog's Head that fateful evening would be forever ingrained in his memory.
The street was dark and eerily quiet, and the dapper wizard had just taken a few steps outside the seedy pub before he realized something was amiss, causing him to stop abruptly and survey his surroundings.
"Lumos."
Continued below...
At first, Victor was more disoriented than anything - unsure that he could trust what he was seeing with his own eyes. The dark wizard blinked a few times in confusion before, slowly, he began to make sense of the gruesome display before him.
Heaps of... dirty rags? Someone has made rather a mess, it seems. . .
No. That's blood.
Blood and worse.
Before him was a scene of utter carnage the likes of which he'd never seen. A slaughter. The lifeless bodies of several young witches were splayed out in the middle of Spire Alley, a spectacle so macabre that even the dark wizard, well-accustomed to death, felt his stomach lurch at the sight.
A ginger witch lay eviscerated. Another's golden hair fanned around her angelic face like a halo. A brunette was positioned face down in a pool of her own blood. A strange-looking witch with odd-coloured hair... Victor shuddered as he recalled that one. He remembered her as having been particularly annoying.
And yet more still.
Sisters in death. Some he recognized outright, a vague familiarity to the rest. Their faces - doubtless once beautiful, now befouled by their own blood. Twisted limbs at grotesque angles. Internal organs now decidedly external.
Gods..
And in the center a... survivor? Victor tentatively stepped forward, perhaps even to offer a helping hand, as the pale witch clad in black gazed up at him adoringly.
"Victor.. I did it for you. For us."
Rookwood watched, horrified comprehension dawning on his face as the witch released a bloodied dagger she'd been holding. He barely registered the sound of the steel clattering to the cobblestone over the pounding of his heart.
"I love you, Victor."
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V(ergil)&Griffon banter is precious to me because Griffon clearly had his personality form from Vergil's memory and yearning for his brother - witty, sarcastic smartass, yet undeniably supportive and a good ally.
Even if he's gotten 'the real thing' at the end of DMC5 it's obvious he would still miss Griffon, as Griffon clearly wasn't a carbon copy of Dante either (especially given Vergil's view of Dante), he is his own beast, and those two, while connected, are not mutually exclusive.
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i'm a little sad at how sparse steddyhands and stizzy art and writing is on here now after the finale (thankfully, i am still digging through the couple thousand fics up on ao3 so i'm not totally bereft)
because during the airing of the season there was new stuff in the tags every day, sometimes even every few hours, but i think the finale really punched all of us in the face
there's lots of good stuff from before s2 to go digging through of course, and ao3 and twitter still have some new art and fic and memes if you go looking for it, but the difference from before and now seems a bit stark
don't misunderstand me, this isn't me being defeatist, just being a bit melancholy (and mad at the s2 finale tbh lol) about it. shout out to the regulars i see in the tags still making stuff and posting jokes, ya'll are doing the most and i wish you all the passion and motivation and time to create in the world <3
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its so sad to me how qbagi is trying so hard to protect qcellbit while he goes on a killing spree of federation workers. and she doesnt agree with that, and her brother in law doesnt see her side, blinded by an unconditional trust for qcellbit. and she KNOWS how much danger qcellbit is putting himself in, but shes probably reaching a point where she thinks she cant stop him. and yet. AND YET, she will not let him go. because thats her twin brother, and they are not getting separated again. so she tells the cucuruchinho that she is responsible for the death of the workers. she will carry qcellbits weight, she will sacrifice her freedom and safety for her brother.
and what are the chances of him understanding that? didnt he want cucurucho to see all of the killings? as a form of revenge, of showing cucurucho how much they made qcellbit suffer. how will he react when he realizes qbagi took that satisfaction away from him? will he understand she was trying to protect him?
mystery twins more like tragedy twins
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Sometimes I think about the fact that Lucy was married and has never once spoken about it. I wonder about Gelsin Mux every single day actually.... Imagining Lucrecia as young and in love in Grulovia before she got tied up in any sort of crazy Psychic 7 nonsense is so bittersweet to me. I like to imagine her ties to Gelsin as being like her ties to her old life. Gelsin and Marona and Lazarus after a certain point of interacting with the psychics in America become almost like characters in someone else's life to her. I'm really fascinated with this idea of Lucy really losing touch with her old life. It's obvious that she had a lot of love for Grulovia and for her family but what she was doing with the rest of the Psy7 was extremely important to her. I like the idea that maybe she just felt a little suffocated and isolated for a while in Grulovia as a powerful psychic and couldn't find anyone to relate to (I hc that neither Marona nor Lazlo were psychics) so the Gulch became a place of acceptance and self expression that she had never been used to having. But the way that the Gulch made her grow as a person meant that she could never really go back to "the old Grulovia" that she grew up in, especially considering that the country was war-torn upon her return.
Also realizing that this image here means that it is highly likely that she left Gelsin in Grulovia with it very questionable if she would return. Since it is canon that Gelsin died in the Grulovian war, and not the Deluge.... and Ford met Lucrecia as Lucrecia Mux. I like to think that they fell in love when they were young and back when things were really simple for Lucy, but after she was able to identify how vital being psychic was to her as a person, they lost the ability to relate to one another like they used to could. I don't think she ever really fell out of love with him, they just grew apart in a sad way...
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