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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 4 years

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The Voyage So Far: Enies Lobby

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

this is still one of my very favorite nami panels. i think she’s really great through all of water 7 and enies lobby in general, actually, even though she isn’t really one of the characters in focus for a lot of it- like zoro and sanji, she stays pretty steadfast and very badass even though everything that happens, and never gives up on robin for a moment despite being one of the ‘weaker’ members of the crew. and it’s always fun to see her playing with lightning.

one of my favorite jokes from the first half or so of enies lobby is the strawhats both being completely unsurprised that luffy charges in ahead of them as soon as they arrive AND being able to find him immediately by following the explosions. they know him so well.

luffy’s never been scared of dying, going all the way back to when he told coby he was fine with dying for his dream back in chapter two or three. that conversation is what his exchange with blueno here reminds me of- blueno asks him how long he intends to keep fighting, and luffy says until he dies, like there’s nothing to it.

it’s always been a trait of his to face death unflinching with a grin, so long as it’s for the sake of something he cares about, be it his crew or his brother or his dream, and i just really like that about him.

i’ll go into it in the dressrosa post too, but i think it’s really impressive just how long oda held off on giving luffy any sort of significant power-up. he gets his first big power boost in the whole series here, forty volumes in. i’ve always liked that oda is very conservative with power boosts like this, because it both keeps the series’ powerscaling in check and makes the times it does happen much weightier. this is a monumental moment, and it feels like it.

also, i love the way gear two is drawn pre-timeskip, especially with the steam. it looks very cool and atmospheric.

i really like how united the strawhat crew feels throughout enies lobby, after all the internal turmoil and discord of water seven. even though the matter of usopp leaving the crew is still unresolved, they’ll all together once more, on the same page, and fully united in the goal of saving robin, whatever consequences it might bring.

the tree of knowledge has such a cool design- it looks massive, and even more than that, it looks old. you look at that tree and you know its been there for easily thousands of years. its seen entire eras of history, and it would be priceless even without the countless books stored inside it.

and then it burns.

i’m so endlessly sad about the tragedy that is robin’s relationship with her mother. they never even got to see each other until their world was ending, and even then only for a couple minutes.

olvia is a very interesting character, because she’s someone who chose her dream over the people she loved. that’s not an inherently good or bad choice, but it is a choice she made, and it’s what led to the ending she and robin had to have. i’ve wondered a lot what might have happened if she chose the other way, if she never left or if she came back sooner or if she chose to flee the buster call with robin, and how different (and almost certainly better) robin’s life would have been if she had.

in a way, olvia reminds me a lot of kouzuki toki. they both die in order to fling a light of knowledge and hope into the future, and they both send their children away and choose to stay behind to choke on ash for the sake of a better tomorrow.

i didn’t really notice until putting these panels together, but a lot of things burn in enies lobby. ohara burns, and the pluton plans and the world government flag, and enies lobby itself, and at the end, the going merry burns, too. if you extend it back to water seven, there’s the galley-la headquarters, too. in an arc that deals so much with the preservation and destruction of history and knowledge, it’s a fitting motif.

the world government flag burning is still to this day one of the most striking panels out of a series full of them, in my opinion. in one act, the strawhats proclaim their absolute defiance against the world government, and their willingness to make enemies of the greatest power in the world for the sake of their friend.

it’s also another one of those moments that’s interesting to think about in the context of luffy’s past. it was a ship flying that same flag that shot sabo down, and while luffy wasn’t there to see it, i don’t think he’s oblivious to that fact, especially given how he says just before this he understands robin’s enemies perfectly.

dadan told him and ace that there was nothing they could do against the whole world, and luffy went and did it anyways.

sometimes i just think about how scary it must have been for robin, someone who’s been weighed down by the shackles of her past with no escape in sight for so very long, to open herself up and let herself hope, for life and freedom and a dream that’s always been out of reach.

franky has a lot of really great moments between this arc and water seven- his conversation with usopp as usopp is working on merry and his talk with robin on the sea train are two others. it’s almost impressive how quickly he becomes an immensely likable character once we start getting to know him, given how he’s first introduced as an absolute piece of shit.

his burning of the pluton plans is a favorite of mine, and i think it might be because, like so many people before and after him, he’s choosing here to stake all his hopes on the strawhats, on luffy’s ability to pull off the impossible and on robin’s goodness. when robin’s only ever been chased and hated and called a demon by the world, franky chooses to trust her and luffy with the legacy his dad died for, and neither of them let him down.

monster point looks SO FUCKING TERRIFYING in enies lobby, and i LOVE it. look at that. franky is seven and half feet tall, and in front of monster point he’s tiny. monster point is huge, and dead-eyed, and a force of absolute destruction. i do kind of wish we got to see chopper go completely feral like this more often. he deserves to be terrifying!

i love how much FAITH all the rest of the strawhats continue to have in usopp throughout enies lobby. he left the crew and they really would have a right to be angry at him if they chose to, but it doesn’t even seem to cross any of their minds. they’re just happy he’s okay, and they include him again without missing a beat, because he’s still their friend and they know down to their bones they can trust him, even after everything.

i’ve always really loved zoro and kaku’s little moment of post-battle banter here- zoro relays paulie’s message about cp9 being fired, kaku says he’s out of a job, zoro tells him to try the zoo, and kaku cracks up.

it feels very real to me for whatever reason, and i think part of it ties back into how well one piece handles morality with its characters- zoro and kaku are genuinely pretty similar people who get along decently, it just happens that they wound up on opposite sides. there are series where you’d never see moments like this due to the lines between good and bad being so firmly drawn, and i love how one piece blurs those lines so much they may as well not exist a lot of the time.

this is the other sequence, along with luffy climbing the drum rockies barehanded, that always makes me physically cringe to look at. it looks so painful. robin is so nearly powerless here, but not quite- she can still buy time for her crew to catch up, even if it’s only seconds, even if she risks shattering her teeth or even her jaw in the process. she’s spent so long giving up and has only just started daring to hope- she’s not about to go gentle.

there aren’t many panels that give me catharsis like this one. there really aren’t.

oda’s villains are usually complicated and awful and often a little admirable, if only for how clever or how terrifyingly powerful they are, but every now and then he comes up with someone who’s just pathetic and cowardly and pointlessly cruel. spandam is like this, obviously, and so is orochi, and the celestial dragons, and i’d argue flampe from whole cake island as well. and there’s nothing like seeing characters like them- weak, cruel people so assured in their own power and rightness- get obliterated.

one of the things i really like about enies lobby is that nobody really gets sidelined- everybody gets multiple chances to shine. luffy, usopp, and obviously robin are the most in focus, obviously, but zoro, sanji, nami, chopper, and even franky all get a bunch of individual awesome moments. oda’s ability to handle his cast satisfyingly is consistently really impressive (if sometimes strained in huge ensemble arcs like dressrosa or wano) and it really shows here, i think.

i just really love the entire climax of enies lobby. much like the arc as a whole, it just feels triumphant, even though the situation is extremely dire. luffy unlocking gear three, robin’s cuffs getting unlocked, usopp shooting spandam and the marines all the way from the tower of justice- it’s all just good, a long chain of much-needed victories and catharses, and it feels very good to read.

i’ll always be impressed by just how much characterization oda manages to give merry, a boat. she’s only really a character in water seven and the end of enies lobby, only about two chapters of which she actually speaks in. and yet i don’t think you’d find a single one piece fan who disagrees that merry’s death is easily one of the most heartwrenching in the entire series.

i love the reactions of the strawhats to robin’s thanks. they’ve just gone through hell to save her, most of them are beat to shit and they all risked their lives, and yet they all just smile, or brush it off, because to them there’s nothing else they could have done. it’s all worth it, so long as they got her back, so long as she’s safe and happy.

merry’s funeral just hits me in the chest every single time i read it. it’s tragic, of course, but there’s also something almost lovely about it, something peaceful about her getting to go out on her own terms, carrying her crew to safety one last time, defying every rule of the universe to do it. just like a strawhat pirate.

oda’s ability to communicate emotion through expressions really comes through here, too. merry has the only lines in this scene, fitting for her death in the limelight, but the shots of every other crewmate’s face let us know at a glance just what they’re all feeling and just how strongly they’re feeling it.

you know, i’d forgotten we only learn the name of the new world after enies lobby. we only get proper exposition about the revolutionary army and the yonkou here, too, despite them being set up since loguetown and jaya (or alabasta, or even chapter one if you count from shanks’s introduction) respectively. oda’s ability to parse out exposition and explanation so we always have just the right amount of information is really impressive- we always have more questions, but we also always have the feeling that those questions have answers, and that sooner or later they’ll be revealed.

points at shanks. i just think he’s neat.

it’s my opinion that one of the great joys of one piece is seeing luffy and the crew rise up in the world, and seeing them gain more and more notoriety. i love nothing they do ever happens in a vacuum- everything has impacts, and there are always outside eyes watching, and often those impacts are things that they never could have predicted.

ace and blackbeard is still, i think, definitely one of the coolest looking fights in the whole series. it’s not all that often we get to see two people with extremely flashy and showy abilities go all-out against each other, and the resulting fireworks are still really something to behold, despite how badly it all ends.

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #long post #arc: enies lobby #arc: post enies lobby #not japanese

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the-piece-of-spadille · 4 years

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May I ask for 30(croc), 34(reader) and 84(croc) from the follower milestone prompt list with sir crocodile pretty please. Maybe some angst that ends in fluff? Thank you luv and congratulations on the milestone you earned it! Have a great day!

Hey luv! I was hoping someone would request crocodile and when I saw your name I got super excited. I have such a weakness for him. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, love reading Star in the Sand btw.

Life after crocodile had been extremely hard to say the least. The once beautiful, lavish lifestyle you shared together came crumbling down than faster than you could have ever imagined. It was a living nightmare, to have him, the man you gave your whole heart to, the man who promised to never hurt you, toss you out of his life like you never meant anything at all. He was a cold-hearted man for what he did, but the way he couldn’t look you in your eyes while he told you never left your mind.

Sometimes you wished he’d gave you the same treatment he’d give his subordinates when he was through with them. That way you didn’t have to deal with the crumbling world around you. The only thing you were thankful for was that Crocodile always kept you out of the public eye. Funny how it’s what allowed you to leave Alabasta without too much trouble. You couldn’t imagine the what life would have been like if his enemies knew about your existence.

Still life had been difficult, trying to find a new place to start over, to get further away from him. There was nothing left you could sell or trade with that wasn’t the clothes on your back. There was no money to buy necessities, so you stole and snuck your way onto ships when people began to figure out what happened. Still, no matter how bad things got, you could never bring yourself to sell or throw away his ring.

It was much too big to fit on your dainty fingers, so you kept it on a chain around your neck, tucked into your shirt so prying eyes could never see. It still hangs close to your heart. It brought you comfort when you needed it most. When you were hidden away on ships and thought you were seconds away from getting caught, you clutched the ring to your chest, or when you couldn’t sleep at night you’d find yourself absentmindedly playing with it, like you often did with his hand.

Nevertheless, you managed to find an island you could lay low at for a while. Finding a job wasn’t easy but you were desperate for work and got a job waitressing at some crappy bar. Just when things started to look up, a customer left a newspaper on the table you were cleaning. It was an old paper, from over a month ago.

It reported that the former warlord had escaped imprisonment from Impel Down. That he was dangerous and to take precautions and to report his location immediately to the authorities if spotted. This discovery left you feeling conflicted. At first you were angry, angry that he had escaped prison and is now free. Then you continued to read and learn about the war. There was a picture, it showed Crocodile. He had a few injuries, though they were minor, you couldn’t help the pang in brought. After everything you still felt something for him. That angry feeling starts to return again.

Throwing away the paper, you busy yourself cleaning tables and serving drinks when the door opens. Immediately the feeling of panic floods your system. Somehow you know exactly who’s at the door. Refusing to turn around as if not looking at him will somehow make him disappear, but it’s pointless when he sits a table and waits. You try ignoring him, but your boss pulls you aside by your arm and gives you a threat about firing you if you don’t take that table.

Biting your tongue, you walk over to Crocodile with what little courage you have. “What can I get you Sir” you ask in your best uninterested voice. Looking anywhere but his eyes, you notice the different bandages littered over him. “A few minutes of your time.”

“Not happening.” Tapping your foot impatiently, “You can order something or leave. I know your taste in liquor, you won’t find anything you like here, so I recommend leaving.” Turning around, you begin to walk away when he calls your name.

“Letting you go was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” That tone of voice was something you’d never heard from him before. You couldn’t stop yourself from looking at him. Crocodile was exhausted. He was covered in dirt and grime, and the coat he adored so much was ripped in places, but most of all the look in his eyes told you everything.

“No, no you don’t get to do this-.” He stands, still towering over anyone in the room. Immediately everyone looks over, waiting to see how this plays out. Crocodile pays them no mind.

“What I built was crumbling down around us. I did whatever I had to, to make sure you got out. To protect you.” A single tear starts to make its way down your check before you could wipe it away. Perhaps this wasn’t the best place to hash out feelings. Crocodile timidly reached out with his hand and when he felt no resistance, guided you out of the bar.

He walked you down to a space away from any bystanders and gave you time to collect yourself. “I wanted you to be able to move on, find someone better and start over. Someone that could give you everything you deserve.”

A laugh was the only response he received. The darkness casted a shadow over his features making it hard to read his expression. “Did you” he clears his throat, “find someone.”

“Do I look like I’ve moved on.” Motioning to your surroundings. Kicking a pebble down the street. You pull out the necklace from the inside of your shirt. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to” your voice wavering. Crocodile reaches his hand out to wipe away your tears. “I trusted you. I gave you everything I had.”

Bringing you into his chest, he strokes your hair as you let out your emotions. Clutching onto his coat. ”I know you did. I’m sorry I hurt you, but please.” He swallows. “Know that my intentions were to truly protect you. There’s no way of knowing what the government would have done to you.” Leaning down, he places a kiss to your hair.

“I know it’s a long road ahead of us before you’ll trust me… If you’ll ever trust me again.” Holding you tighter against him, “I never stopped loving you.”

#sir crocodile x reader #crocodile x reader #crocodile one piece #one piece crocodile #One Piece headcanons #One Piece Fanfiction #one piece x reader

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opbackgrounds · 4 years

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This might be a weird one or long but we all know Oda reuses the same plotline every. Single. Arc. (For the most part). A country falling into chaos saved by Luffy through circumstances. Yet we’re not sick of this plot, can you do a commentary on how Oda chieves this? I have some ideas myself but can’t articulate as well as you.

A couple things here: While it’s true that there are several country-wide escapades for the Straw Hats to muck about in, there are plenty of arcs with much lower stakes. For example, Little Garden, Thriller Bark, Punk Hazard, and of course the Davy Back Fight. You’ve got war arcs and arcs where the Straw Hats are the destructive force (Enies Lobby says hi) and arcs where the island they’re visiting doesn’t really change, except for a few select individuals. Some of these arcs are set ups for larger conflicts, but they’re necessary to help break up the flow of the story, variety being the spice of life and all that jazz. People don’t like the Davy Fight Back, but the story needed a place to breathe between two long, emotionally draining arcs. Same goes for Thriller Bark. You can’t go from the emotion of Water 7/Enies Lobby to the darkness of Saboady/Impel Down/Marineford without a little bit of levity in between. It’s a pacing issue, releasing tension before it can be built back up again.

(Also this is another reasons why One Piece has a much more organic power creep than some other series. Not every villain has to be stronger than the last)

Secondly, “country falling into chaos saved by Luffy through circumstances” is pretty broad as far as descriptions go. You’ve got Point A and Point Z figured out, but all that stuff in the middle is up for grabs. How the Straw Hats go about saving Skypea is pretty different than how they end up dealing with Crocodile in Alabasta. They’re different places with different characters dealing with different sorts of problems. Freedom is a major theme of the series, so it stands to reason that the crew is going to deal with a lot of characters trying to take away the freedom of others. Different arc villains do this in different ways, allowing Oda to explore his core message in a nuanced and deep way.

Thirdly, Oda’s world building is second to none, and he does a really good job making his audience care about secondary characters and the dozens of different factions that influence the plot as much as the main cast. I get more excited about post-arc chapters than I do anything else because you know Oda’s going to throw curveballs at you that you never expected.

Sometime you don’t notice that a plot line is similar to something you’ve seen before because you’re super invested in what’s going on In the present, or the settings are so different you don’t think to compare them. For example, I think there are some interesting parallels between Totoland and Thriller Bark, but their aesthetics couldn’t be any more different.

Many of One Piece’s strongest arcs draw connections not just between Luffy and the big bad. The Guest Star Party Member is just as important. I noted it in East Blue that the villains were all foils to Luffy and the crew member he was recruiting, but when you think about it it carries over into the Grand Line. You can make just as many connections and comparisons between Vivi and Crocodile as you can Luffy and Crocodile, and it’s this sort of multi focal writing that really makes it easy to care about someone you know won’t be around after their arc is over.

Lastly—and this isn’t directed at you, op—I’ve seen people complain about Luffy going around to all these islands saving the day and I’m like. What do you expect? He’s the main character, of course he’s going to do stuff. What I like about One Piece is that there’s a sense of progression. Luffy has always been working toward a goal, and though sometimes advances are slow, he is always advancing. First he had to prove he was ready for the Grand Line. Then he had to be able to fight Warlords. Then you bring in the giant, globe-spanning military might of the World Government. Then he got strong enough to challenge an Emperor’s strongest commanders, and by the time Wano is done he’ll be able to fight an Emperor (or two) and win. Luffy never feels stuck, is never retreading old ground or spinning his wheels. You know he’s going to reach his goal, it’s just a matter of getting there.

#sarc talks

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side-lizabeth · 3 years

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ONE PIECE DRESSROSA-ZOU ARCS IMPRESSIONS

This part is the spoiler-free part of my impressions.

I don’t know what I was expecting from Dressrosa but it didn’t left me wanting for more... outside the animation part, probably. But I mean when you get spoiled on how OP’s being animated rn, no sh*t. Although I really did enjoy the new characters. Cavendish is accidentally becoming one of my favourite characters and this is because of the anime of Gintama... But that’s because I’m finding more and more seiyuus in One Piece that just so happened to be voicing recurrent characters (or straight up main characters) in Gintama, so I shouldn’t be suprised.

And then there’s Zou and I’d lie if I’d say I should have had expected an island with furries, and yet I didn’t. ...and once again the “holy sh*t I wasn’t expecting these seiyuus being in One Piece too” striked back. But at this point I don’t know if it’s really because of Gintama or just because I’m starting to go back to my old teen hobbies like when I was a hardcore Seiyuu fan, and recognizing a lot of seiyuus is giving me a huge bust of serotonin. (?)

Above all, I liked Dressrosa more than Zou, even if Dressrosa has... it’s own issues.

If you want to go straight up to the spoiler section, click down here:

Let’s start with Dressrosa:

I thought to just continue this lil update, where I started the non spoiler section by saying that I won’t feel any shame or make an apology for reblogging non stop posts of Roronoa Zoro, I’m still on that Idea, fight me if you want(maybe no); but I decided to explain more about my first impressions, and then maybe elaborate extra stuff from those bullet point-lighning round from that post.

Overall, I had fun. I geniuently enjoyed Doffy as a villain, and his motivations where pretty interesting too. NGL, this arc is basically new world Alabasta” and it pretty much shows... But the thing is that this time it was a little bit more interesting because of Doffy.

Doffy being the combo of Warlord and Celestial Dragon may sound like that moment of the Simpsons of “it’s just the same doll but with a new hat” in comparison to Alabasta, but even if I also enjoyed Crocodile as a villain in there, at least Doffy had a more interesting backstory and motivations to explore... while Crocodile was just an excuse to show off Nico Robin in all her glory. That’s it. I said it. (and probably made a fwend sad). Please, Crocodile, sir, next time you come back please do show us the secret Ivankov and you only know and then we talk.

Overall, I just had the time of my life hating Doffy, that’s it. I’m not going to try to explain anything else. I’m a basic b*tch whose favourite villains are the ones who are just so evil I just have the time of my life hating on. Like Tsurumi from Golden Kamuy, another despicable motherf*cker, for instance.

And now that I’m talking about Doffy... I KNOW UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE CORA-SAN AND I ALSO JOIN THE GANG. BEST FATHER EVER AND HE BARELY WAS ONE FOR 6 MONTHS. BUT GAVE BABY TORAO ENOUGH LOVE TO PREVENT HIM FROM BECOMING LIKE HIS BROTHER. KUDOS TO HIM.

...Btw, I just need to break this impressions one moment to openly say that, as a Spaniard, I feel weird now saying Doffy’s entire name. For a reason. And Cora-san’s too. Now I understand english speakers(americans to be more precisely) when they watch Bungou Stray Dogs and some characters from there just happened to be named after famous english literature writers... (the first comparison I just thought about, don’t attack me plz)

Also, kudos to the voice actors because they did an amazing job and I had even more fun, like for instance Koyama Rikiya. I absolutely loved Kyros thanks mainly to him... Although I wish I could entirely say the same about Rebecca and Baby 5 because they barelly had any screentime or, at least personally speaking, didn’t to bring something interesting tothe table... Well, maybe I can excuse Baby 5 because of the ending of Punk Hazard, but with Rebecca definetly not. FFS her seiyuu is the Queen Hayashibara Megumi, I was expecting more from Rebecca (although maybe the blame is really in me for expecting that much) than what we got. But don’t get me wrong, I did like her but.. I wanted just a little bit more of her.

Another thing I enjoyed a lot was the introduction of Fujitora. I knew he was popular for a reason, but I wasn’t expecting it to be... because of this. I was expecting him to be popular only because he was a blind old man who could fight harder than the dudebro’s gary stu fanfic-like idea they have of Zoro, but he’s definetly not that. Fujitora is a really interesting man who geniuently thinks about people’s safety (can’t say the same about Sakazuki and Borsalino, lol), and I respect that.

*LAST MOMENT EDIT BECAUSE I FORGOT ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT THING* THE REUNION OF LUFFY AND SABO MADE ME CRY TOO. I DON’T KNOW, I’M CRYING TOO MUCH OVER ONE PIECE

Now I’m just going through some bullet points from the update post:

First bullet point I’m actually elaborating: The Colloseum part was hella boring.

I just couldn’t stand it. I barely gave any sh*t about the characters and there’s also times where I’m just thinking that the Colloseum part could had been handled differently, with more interesting characters but well, that’s my opinion. I mean the only tournament arcs that I genuenly enjoyed were the Galaxy Wars from Saint Seiya (the OG one from the 80′s if somebody’s wondering), and maybe the Heaven’s Arena arc from HxH, so even if I was interested on seeing the OP take on it.. It kinda went sour for me at the beggining of this tournament, honestly. The fight versus Diamante was probably one of the very few interesting things happening inside the tournament.

And don’t get me wrong, interesting things do happen inside, like the encounter of Luffy and Rebecca, the fate of the losers from the colloseum, etc. But the tournament arc itself... not the best thing, pretty boring tbh.

The second bullet point I’m actually elaborating, but this time I’m literally copy-pasting the bullet point... for a reason: I STARTED TO SWEAT IN F*CKING FEAR WHEN NAMI’S GROUP ENCOUNTERED BIG MAM’S SHIP, AND EVEN MORE WHEN SANJI SAID “I’M GETTING INTO THAT SHIP”. NO. PLEASE. DON’T. I’M NOT READY FOR WHOLE CAKE ISLAND YET.

Look, by the time I’m writing this I’m already in Whole Cake and let me just tell you one thing; I’m still not ready for this arc. I know it’s very important, specially for Sanji’s development as a character and it’s like a re-introduction of him, but I’d lie if I’d said that I “do feel sensitive” around the themes explored in this arc, and it’s personally tought to go throught it but... Since it’s just too long and too personal to share the entire reason on a public post, I’m just leaving it as the following: “I’m not ready to tackle those themes, but I feel like I need to tackle them if I want to be the best version of myself”. That’s all.

The third and last bullet point I’m actually elaborating, LET ME TELL YOU HOW GINTAMA F*CKED ME UP ENTIRELY

For the sake of being short, I’m a crazy Gintama fan. I’m almost like an encyclopedia of shorts for all(?) Gintama content. I’ve been like this since I was 14-15 y/o (when I’m writing this I’m currently 25), so of course, if there’s something that remotely resembles something from Gintama (mainly gintama jokes or references when it happens), I’ll react to it instantly (but in a healthy way, not like an obnoxious annoying elitist lil sh*t of a fan), and sadly, part of this curse I ended up with included reconizing every single seiyuu that appeared in Gintama (or at least the ones who voiced important/popular characters) in other anime. And of course, seiyuus from Gintama did already appear before Dressrosa; like kid Ace’s seiyuu Sakaguchi Daisuke (voice of Shinpachi), or... Akainu’s seiyuu Tachiki Fumihiko (voice of Hasegawa “Madao” Taizou)... But then there’s Dressrosa and... It just went all over the board (pun not intended... does it even count as one tho?).

And don’t get me wrong, this did also happened to me on reverse with One Piece Seiyuus, but.... coming back to “Gintama f*cked me up”, it hitted differently, because it almost looked like they were casted to play certain characters based on the characters they played in Gintama and... NGL, it made everything even more hilarious. Like the fact that Kugimiya Rie voices a bad mouthed “child” in One Piece(Sugar)... just like she does in Gintama(Kagura). And I know technically speaking Sugar “is an adult” BUT, if we follow the logic of her Hobby Hobby fruit, she’s doomed to be an eternal child for the rest of her life, as in “no more development like a normal adult human would”. I’m just saying what the canon says, don’t mind me.

...Or Cavendish. I can confirm you that Cavendish is pretty much Gintama’s Katsura Kotarou’s madness as an OP character. And now he’s one of my favourite background characters in One Piece... Mainly because of that. And yes, they do in fact share the seiyuu Ishida Akira. (Also, is it just me or is he inspired by Lady Oscar from The Rose of Versailles???)

...So yeah, TLDR: too much gintama made me shout “oh shit, gintama’s taking over one piece”

Now with the Zou impressions

I liked the idea of Zou being an “island”, that’s not an Island but a millennia old elephant, walking around and hard to track down. Brilliant. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s inspired by something mythological but I still can’t point out which one.

...also I wasn’t expecting Pedro to be voiced by Miki Shin’Ichiro, in the same way I wasn’t expecting Orikasa Fumiko as Wanda... although she already voiced someone previously in One Piece so...

Even if it was a short arc, it gave a lot of valuable information like the origin of the poneglyphs and the link between the Mink tribe and the Kozuki clan from Wano but...

What I wasn’t expecting was how we got introduced to the Whole Cake arc. I came to this arc, thinking the Whole Cake thing won’t be that mentioned and... I ended up crying because of the sacrifice Sanji was willing to partake in... I feel bad for that guy... And since by the time of writing this I’m already in Whole Cake... Without spoilers I’ll say: yeah, no sh*t I was feeling bad for him” (also because I got almost entirely spoiled over all Whole Cake arc).

...but look, ngl, I didn’t like very much the ending of this arc. Probably what happened to Momonosuke and the Millennia old elephant may be more interesting and better explained in the near future but... I was more confused than anything, and I’m hopping it to be better explained in the future. I’ll just leave it as such.

Over all, if I had to choose, I’d say that Dressrosa was more entertaining than Zou... Although Zou did deliver bigger stuff when it comes to plot development, while Dressrosa was more focused on the next step to overthrow a Yonkou than anything, I felt like I had more ”fun” watching Dressrosa... Probably because I also want to get to Wano already.

Now I’m in Whole Cake arc, I’m more or less by the beggining of the arc and oh boy... This arc is going to be harder than expected and the only thing ready I have are the pocket tissues by my side because I already know I’m going to cry the hell out of this arc. And of course, have my soul utterly destroyed by the Reintroduction of Sanji and his past.

I hope he has a break after this because wow... He needs too many hugs to count. Probably more than Luffy in Marineford.

#personal mumbling #one piece spoilers #dressrosa arc #zou arc #the zoro joke from the spoiler sectiong was brought to you by a zoro enjoyer who hates straight zoro 'fans' *cofcof*dudebros*cofcof*#i know i said i may analize the spanish influence from dressrosa but it looks more like a cross between italy and barcelona tbf #i still can't believe i still can recognize so many seiyuus after all this time #I FORGOT TO MENTION CARROT IS HELLA CUTE AND I LOVE HER ALREADY #ALSO ALSO ALSO SPOILER BUT SABO AND KOALA ARE VERY CUTE

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neverwatchedonepiece · 6 years

Text

526-528: "Undersea Volcanic Eruption! Drifting to the Fish-Man Island!", "Landing at the Fish-Man Island! Beautiful Mermaids!" and "Excitement Blow-out! Sanji's Life Under Threat!"

HOORAY! :D:D:D

Will this be one of those arcs that’s filled with sympathetic villains? The kind of characters who... well, you get where they’re coming from because they have a cast-iron reason for their villainy and you feel conflicted about cheering for the heroes? Or will it be more complicated than that?

I hope I like this arc. Ever since Arlong Park, since I learned about the Sun Pirates from Hachi and the racism Fishmen experience I’ve been hoping Oda might dig deeper into the theme. It’s early days yet, but from what I’ve seen in this episode, I’m quietly confident he’ll deliver.

Cthulhu Is... Friendly?

Must admit the Flying Dutchman action was a bit of a let-down. I thought Captain Vander Decken would be the next villain (or at least the henchman of the next villain). It was built up so well. The creepy “Dead men tell no tales” speech, Brook confirming he was the Real Deal, that the legend told of how the captain lost his mind, killed his crew and cursed the gods (who got their revenge by cursing him to drift forever).

I thought that might make a good plot line (that was before Hammond appeared and the Real Plot kicked in).

The Kraken coming back and sucker punching the Sea Bonze was so worth it. I laughed like a drain and could not believe I was cheering a Kraken like it was Hell in a Cell. Top it all off, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji came paddling back in a single bubble. And Luffy had made the Kraken his pet and named it Surume! Only Luffy can get separated from his crew and return with a pet Kraken. And laugh about the fact that he almost died.

The volcanic eruption action scene was fun. The Flying Dutchman crew and the Kraken would not mess with nature. The water glowed an ominous red and before Luffy gave any orders, Surume the Kraken was already checking out. Nami made the call for them to leap into the deep trench ahead to avoid the pyroclastic flow (is that even possible underwater? I have no idea.)

Usopp got to show off some of his skills by shooting a net-like plant weapon that stopped the debris from the eruption from smashing Sunny to pieces. (Could be good in combat for subduing bad guys.) I liked how Luffy was a good captain and praised Usopp and his cute Kraken pet for doing a good job. There’s that leadership shining through.

This was just before a stray rock bonked Surume on the head and the Strawhats woke up... ten thousand meters under the sea?

But... how? I thought.

It was bright. There was natural light and vivid colours. How?

Because it was Fishman Island! :D

Cannot lie. I was excited to finally see it. I wonder how it was for manga readers then to see that place brought to life after so long. I mean, how many chapters was it since it was first mentioned in Arlong Park until now when it was animated. I mean, it was huge! And there were entire massive trees inside the bubble. I still have no idea where the natural light was coming from, but pffft, did I care? It was FISHMAN ISLAND! :D

Then the Border Patrol Arrived?

At least, that’s who I thought they were at first.

And they brought Plot, which, let’s face it, is always good.

Three shady-looking Fishmen rode up on massive Sea Kings. They were so tough, they spoke to Surume the Kraken like it was a disobedient pet. Or... more accurately, as if it was a race traitor. “Why are you obeying such fools as humans, Kraken?” Surume fled the scene (obviously scared of these guys).

They recognised the Straw Hats too. I love how Luffy said, “Who are you? How do you know about us?” Um, Luffy... everyone knows about you now. xD

But these guys went way back. Much further than Alabasta, Enies Lobby, Impel Down or Marineford.

“You are the ones who foiled the Arlong Pirates’ plan. You stood up for Hachi and knocked out a hateful Celestial Dragon, just like Fisher Tiger, the hero of Fishman Island.”

They claimed they were the New Fishman Pirates and demanded the Strawhats enlist under their banner or be sunk.

Hammod did most of the talking but two others tagged along (Hyouzo and Kasagon).

Nami and Franky knew Luffy would say no (and possibly put them in danger because they couldn’t fight back). They took a huge gamble and spent the last of Sunny’s air crashing through Fishman Island’s protective bubbles.

The dramatic tension when the coating shrank, pinning all the Strawhats to the deck was great. But it really ramped up when the first bubble ripped off the coating and the second one turned out to be full of water. I didn’t expect that twist.

Was that the closest the Strawhats have been yet to almost dying?

Camie to the Rescue!

Luckily, they have a friend who was sort of expecting them. Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Sanji woke up at none other than Camie’s place! (The others were separated. Franky, Nami and Robin are together. I have no idea where Brook is and Zoro is on his own.)

Turns out she works at a Mermaid Cafe on the sea floor of Mermaid Cove. The dorms are more affordable on the sea floor, as opposed to the ones higher up with more natural light. I liked that Oda has imagined an entire class system here. Mermaid Cove seems an okay place. Pappagu the starfish is in the fanciest district: Fishverly Hills (lol!) and is a famous designer. Hachi lives in Fishman District, which Camie said was a ‘rough place’. Luffy still thinks Pappagu is Camie’s pet. I don’t think Luffy completely gets how Fishman Island works yet, but Camie was nice and didn’t say anything. Hammond also hinted at another Fishman Island faction: Neptune’s Army, who were introduced later but I don’t know which side they’re on yet, so they seem like a neutral third party so far. 10/10 world building from Oda there.

Camie showed them around. They took a cute turtle elevator up to the “surface”, where there were clouds, blue sky, trees and rainbows. Luffy mentioned reuniting with Jimbei because “when Ace died two years ago, I didn’t lose heart thanks to him” (yes, Luffy. I’m glad you realise just how much Jimbei did for you!)

But Jimbei was not on the island. Camie seemed to hint the War in Marineford caused a bit of trouble in Fishman Island. She didn’t go into it, damn it.

Then, the royal family’s Fish Boat swam into view, heading straight for them, carrying the Neptune Princes (Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi and Sanboshi). The mermaids hid the Straw Hats, in case they were arrested for illegally entering Fishman Island. One mermaid made the mistake of holding Sanji... let’s just say a little close to her chest.

And Lots of Beautiful Mermaids

You know what, I didn’t want to say but over the past couple of episodes, Sanji’s weakness had been annoying me. Not really badly. Just that the joke was getting a bit thin because it’d been played so many times for laughs.

Now I know why.

Does Oda do nothing without a purpose?

He had to set up all the blood loss stuff because blood transfusions are a central tenet in the hatred a lot of Fishmen have over humans.

When Sanji had his Vesuvius Moment, Dr Chopper bravely came to the rescue. Just as the Princes seemed about to take the Strawhats (though they didn’t want to arrest them. Still not sure what their deal is), Chopper placed himself in harm’s way and shouted, “Stop! I’m a Doctor! Can anyone donate S RH negative blood? If Fishman blood is the same, would anyone be willing to donate?”

Chopper unwittingly referenced an Old, Highly Politicised Grudge.

Fisher Tiger: The Hero of Fishman Island

Hammond, who had been lurking, waiting for an opportune moment to catch the Strawhats, couldn’t stay quiet at that point.

“No one on this island would give blood to lowly humans,” he scoffed. “If anyone did, they’d risk punishment from the Dark Night, from human haters. The Old Law in the kingdom states that donating blood to humans is prohibited.”

When the Strawhats protested, Hammond fired back with some Context.

“You humans set that rule first! You people have a long history of fearing us. Didn’t want your blood mixed up with ours. That’s how the hero, Fisher Tiger, died. He risked his own life to free slaves of all races. But after a bloody war, he died. He could have lived if he had a transfusion. The heartless humans refused to give their blood to him.”

I was gobsmacked by that. Honestly. What a great twist, in terms of both plot and morality! How are the Strawhats going to fight against years of racism, abuse, toxic politics and the veneration of a martyr-like figure who means so much to the people of Fishman Island?

This is going to be a wild ride.

Usopp dismissed the old law. He begged someone, anyone, to help Sanji. Hammod tried to take Luffy by force but severely underestimated how much stronger he’d become (that Haki, honestly... it is so badass).

Camie hijacked the Royal Fish Boat (the royals here seem pretty laid back because if that was real life, you’d be in your local Impel Down faster than you can say, “But I need a blood transfusion!”)

And it seems something is rotten in the state of Fishman Island. Not only are the Strawhats the first human visitors in a while, the Princes were unable to deliver a message to Jimbei.

I wonder if it’s anything to do with this shady character?

This is the guy who wants to see Luffy. The one Hammond calls “Boss.” Hordy Jones, I think his name was? And here we have a shady face, not entirely revealed, sharp teeth and a good voice actor? This has happened before with Moria and Crocodile. Could this be the villain? Is this Hordy Jones, or is he higher up the chain?

I hope so. Was blue-balled with the Flying Dutchman stuff. Don’t want it happening again, haha.

Also, who or what is Noah? Was confused as to whether it was a location or a person.

*insert Rocky Theme tune*

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genogenocrazycatman · 5 years

Text

Stillwater Chapter 17

Stillwater [Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.Net, Mibba]

Characters: Original Female Character, Monkey D. Luffy, Rorona Zoro, Vinsmoke Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Nefeltari Vivi

“We build as only children know to build

We made a way where there’s a will

No slowing down or standing still

Innocent and reckless

"How did we get so old and never notice

How did we gain the world and lose the moment

Rise and fall, the tide surrounds us

And drowns us all”

-Hands Like Houses

***

Random rain storm in the middle of the desert?

Check.

Luffy?

Check.

Coincidence?

Not even close.

As soon as we had docked the Merry, Luffy had taken off in search of food tore through the desert sands, leaving a trail of dust behind him. We hadn’t even been able to get the first syllable of “Stay out of trouble,” out, before he was gone over the horizon, not that he would’ve listened to us anyways.

I had offered to go after him. Out of everyone, I was the most tolerant of Luffy’s antics. I found them endearing more than annoying. Not that the rubber boy didn’t have it in him to work my nerves, but 900 years was more than enough time to develop at least a little bit of patience. That and I had a very obvious soft spot for him.

In addition to minimizing the damage that he was sure to cause, it also got me away from the rest of the crew. A break from Usopp and Zoro sounded great. Zoro was still guarded, and Usopp was still afraid, jumping at nearly everything I did.

Yeah, chasing Luffy through the desert sounded like a lovely break from the tense awkward atmosphere caused by my confession.

Granted, I hadn’t thought that I was actually going to have to chase Luffy through the desert. Somehow, he had managed to run completely past the port town of Nanohana, bypassing all of the eateries that he had been desperately trying to get to. Instead, he ended up at the one solitary shack that dotted the land skip in the sands beyond Nanohana’s boundaries.

I reached out, feeling the rain as it fell. There was nothing off about it as far as I could tell. It was just the timing and location that was strange. Water was way to valuable here to let it go to waste, so rather than keep pondering its origin, I waved my fingers, collecting as much water as I could into a large orb that floated above the ground.

I wasn’t trying to do anything too complex with it, meaning that I could collecting large amounts of water, but aside from large brunt force attacks, I couldn’t do much with it. More precise and accurate uses required much smaller amounts. Maybe, if I had honed my skills more that would change.

This went unnoticed by Luffy and the old man that was currently yelling at him, sword in hand. The two were locked into some kind of altercation that I had missed the beginning of. They were mid conversation by the time I got close enough to hear.

“Illegal? So, you’re a criminal,” Luffy said, narrowing his eyes at the man.

I snorted. I still had no idea what was going on, but a kid with a thirty-million on his head calling anyone a criminal was hilarious.

The sound cause Luffy to notice me. “Mimi!” he cheered, looking away from the guy, who took the opening to slash at Luffy.

I shook my head. The old guy was completely outclassed. Even without his devil fruit, Luffy was still young and spry. The old guy was well past his prime. Hungry and barely paying attention (even for him) Luffy was able to beat the guy in short order, leaving him bruised and bloodied. The guy had called for a truce, begging for mercy.

Having gotten that out of their system, the two sat down in the dirt. I took advantage of the barrels the man had around, filling them with water.

“Well you certainly are a strong one, aren’t you?” the old guy said, breaking the ice.

“Sure am. No one can beat me,” Luffy said.

“Yeah. I’m not surprised. Your fighting style is very unique. Sorry about that,” the guy sounded embarrassed. I would be too, if I was beaten up by some kid with only one punch.

“Oh no no no. I’m the one, who burnt up your powder stuff. I’m sorry.” Luffy’s apology was genuine. The old man had referred the powder that Luffy was talking about to as his treasure. There was something about those words the registered with Luffy.

I assumed that it was a pirate thing.

“Why don’t we go ahead and say we’re even?” the guy offered. “And you-” He looked at me. “-I don’t think I’ve ever seen a devil fruit power quite like yours.”

“Yeah. I’d appreciate if you kept it to yourself. I don’t exactly like the unwanted attention it causes, but water’s too valuable here to let it go to waste.”

“You’re certainly right about that. You’ve done me a huge favor collecting it. Your secret’s safe with me. And if you could, please don’t tell anyone about the powder. That would be great.”

“Wait what was that powder stuff?” Luffy asked.

“What? You don’t know?”

“It sure was gross,” Luffy said.

“It isn’t food. It’s a very special powder known as dance powder. There’s another name for it. It’s also known as rain summoning powder. That’ what caused that sudden downpour we just had. Uh… Would you like me to explain more?”

“It’ll just go over his head,” I said.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t understand.”

“I guess you wouldn’t would you,” the old guy laughed.

Luffy laughed as well, but it came to an abrupt stop, when he brought his fist down on the guy’s head. “Hey, don’t be so rude, old guy.”

“Like I was saying, this powder is very special. It can be used to artificially produce rain.”

I listened intently as the man explained how rain powder works. I followed along just fine, but it was clearly lost on Luffy.

“Does all that make sense?”

“So, it’s mystery powder,” Luffy concluded.

The old guy started clapping sarcastically. “Yes, well done that’s it exactly.”

“Are you being rude to me again old man?”

“Yes,” I answered.

Luffy hit him again. “Why would you want to use the powder to make rain in the first place?”

“You don’t even know the first thing about this country, do you?”

“Luffy,” I said gently. “Alabasta is a desert kingdom. There’s no rain here. Water is scarce.”

“Well you see, here in Alabasta, we’re constantly battling drought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Drought is when there’s no water and the land dries out.”

“Ugh! I know that much!” Luffy knocked the man on the head again.

“Anyway, our country never gets much rain, but it’s become much more scarce in recent years.”

“That sounds bad.”

“Most of the oases have dried up.”

“So just use the mystery powder then.”

“That’s what you would think, but as I told you, the world government has now made dance powder illegal. Use of the powder is a crime punishable by execution. The powder is also supposedly what started the country’s rebellion.”

“Really?” I questioned.

“I don’t know much about that though.”

“Oh. Hey. I think I get it now. Was it your dream to help save your country by using the powder?”

“What?”

“Earlier you said the powder was really important.”

“Uh… Yeah, but that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for it,” the old guy admitted sheepishly.

“What was?” I asked.

“Well. I thought by selling water in these hard times, I could make a lot of money.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You must be really smart. I don’t’ really care about that,” Luffy said.

‘No, but Vivi would,’ I thought.

“I just need to find some place to eat,” Luffy said, focusing on his initial goal again.

“Bu- bu- bu- bu- but please don’t tell anyone about this. Let’s keep this between us, okay?” the man pleaded.

“Yeah, whatever. Makes no difference.”

Luffy’s words apparently didn’t register with the old guy, because he immediately started begging. “Please! Just don’t tell! I’ll give you anything you want! Anything!”

“Anything?” Luffy asked, excitedly.

“Anything. Anything at all.”

“You got any food?”

I smiled fondly. Oh Luffy, sweet simple Luffy.

Once he had a lunch in hand, he was ready to go. “Well it’s been fun. Thanks, a whole lot for the food, weird old guy.”

“Sure. I only hope you enjoy it.”

“And that we keep your dirty little secret,” I chirped, causing him to cast me a nervous glance.

“Trust me, I will,” Luffy responded, ignoring me. “See you around, rude old guy.”

I moved the barrels, so that they rolled behind me.

“What are you doing?” he cried out.

“You didn’t think that I collected this all for you, did you?” I asked. “Consider it the thing I want for keeping my mouth shut.”

“You can’t do that!” he yelled.

“I can, and I will.”

“You take that, and I will tell everyone about your devil fruit,” he threatened.

“And I’ll tell everyone about how I collected it from a freak downpour, caused by your dance powder.”

He glared at me. I stared back at him, not bothered in the slightest. We both knew that I was at the advantage here. Having a weird devil fruit wasn’t a crime. Being on a pirate crew was, but I had yet to be recognized for that.

Even then, I could always skip town, live life on the run. He, however, was stuck.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But don’t tell anyone!” he called as we walked off.

I smirked, pleased with my victory.

“No problem,” Luffy said. “It wasn’t like I could turn you in if I wanted to. I’m a pirate after all.”

The look on the old bastard’s face was priceless.

“Next time you decide to run off, could you at least try to stay within the city?” I asked, Luffy as we walked towards town.

“I can’t believe I ran past all the food.”

“Honestly, I can’t either. I thought your stomach would’ve just guided you into the closest restaurant.”

Luffy opened the lunch from the old guy and began chowing down. It was a decent lunch for a normal person, which it meant it barely qualified as a snack for Luffy. It had taken him no time at all to finish it, and he was still left hungry afterwards.

He whined and whined as we walked.

Meanwhile, I was having my own issues. At home, I was constantly surrounded by water, and while my travels had taken me to places far inland, none of them had ever taken me to a desert. Being so disconnected from the seas was an uncomfortable feeling.

My tie to water was more than simply an ability to control it. For me water almost always felt like home. I was born of the seas, and raised in the rivers, lakes and streams of Ogygia. For me water was home. Having not submerged myself into its depths, since I washed up in the East Blue had already felt strange but being on the seas had been enough of a comfort to combat the urge to toss myself overboard.

None of my travels had taken me to a place so devoid of any type of water. The world around me, felt empty without it, and we weren’t even that far from the sea. I was having difficulty imaging what it would feel like, the further inland we got.

“Where’s the city? Where’s a restaurant? Can’t a guy get any food in this stupid desert place?” Luffy whined.

“You could’ve gotten food earlier, had you not completely blown past the town,” I pointed out.

“Mimi, are you being rude now too?”

“Only a little,” I chuckled. “Look, the town is right there. We don’t have much further to go. Once we- “

Luffy’s eyes were glazed over.

‘That’s not a good sign.’ “Luffy?”

“Food!”

“No,” I tried to grab him, realizing that he was now seeing things. “Luffy, that’s a mirage. You’re seeing things there’s no-“

“I’M COMING FOOD!” and he was tearing off again, rubbering hand squeezing out of my grasp.

I shook my head. Last time he had a head start, and I walked into a rain storm in the middle of a desert. Who knew what he would do in the city. Ideally, we would’ve kept a low profile, while we ate and gathered supplies, but there was no chance of that happening now.

I quickened my pace to catch up to Luffy. I wasn’t running, regardless of how fast I moved, he was going to cause trouble, before I got there, so there was no point in sprinting after him. Plus, I couldn’t just tote the barrels around the city like I had been. It was too conspicuous. I didn’t have enough arms to just carry them either. I had to find somewhere to stash them, before I could go chasing after him.

After hiding my barrels behind an empty building, under a tarp, I went after Luffy. I was sure that if I found the food, I’d find him. My theory was proven correct, when I entered the second restaurant that I had encountered and saw him sitting at the counter, shoveling food into his mouth.

My other theory about him failing to keep a low profile was also proven correct by the massive hole in the wall and the marine captain from Logue Town walking out of it, after shoving what looked to be one of Whitebeard’s men into the ground.

Of course.

“I’ve been looking for you Straw Hat. I thought you’d be here. Seems I was correct,” the captain said.

Luffy said nothing. He gave no indication that he had even heard the marine. Instead he continued to scarf down food.

“Would you quit eating?!” the captain yelled.

‘I should’ve kept one of those barrels.’ I had no water on my person at the moment, the canteen clipped to my hip empty.

It was okay though, I could make do. My plan wasn’t complicated, didn’t require gallons of water. There was dish water in the sink, and while it was gross, it would work. I pulled the water from the sink, hitting Luffy square in the chest with it, with enough force to send him flying back towards me, I grabbed him by the arm and took off, running like hell through the streets.

We ran like hell through the streets, ducking and dodging, but Smoker was on our asses, a cloud of smoke that we couldn’t lose.

“TASHIGI!” Smoker yelled, at a girl on the street. Seeing the weapon in her hand and the way she addressed him led me to the conclusion that she was a marine as well.

“Get them!” he ordered.

She and her men moved quickly. They blocked the street, while she launched herself towards us.

I tossed Luffy upwards, and he got the hint, catching onto one of the nearby buildings and rocketing himself to the roof. I dodged the girl’s attack and turned right, running down a different alley.

I had to get back to Luffy. He was useless against a logia user.

“TASHIGI!” I heard Smoker yell. “GET THE MARINES AT ONCE! Search every inch of this place and find the rest of his crew.”

Of course. I didn’t want to engage her. A fight would waste valuable time, but now I had no other choice. Sure, Luffy and I had blown our covers, but the others hadn’t. So as long as the people didn’t catch wind of their true nature and the marines weren’t fully mobilized they would be fine.

“Right! Come on!” she commanded the few marines with her.

I came back around the building and ambushed the trio of marines, grabbing a bottle and hurling it at one of them, hitting him right in the head and knocking the unconscious. Tashigi and the other turned their attention towards me.

“Stop right there!” Tashigi yelled. I charged at her, knowing the she would dodge, using the opening to attack the other marine, who was by no means ready for me. He aimed his riffle at me, but I ducked under the barrel, grabbing it and aiming it towards the ground. I knocked his legs out from underneath him, gaining control of his weapon as I did so. While he was flat on his back, I used the butt end of the riffle to knock him unconscious.

That left one.

“Who are you?” Tashigi asked, her sword drawn.

“I don’t have time for you,” I said bluntly. “I’ve got to go keep your hard ass captain from getting his hands on my simple captain, so do me a favor and just stop, while you’re still conscious.”

“Not happening, pirate.” She spat the last word out, before charging.

It was obvious that she had studied the blade. The way that she held herself and the techniques that she used showed that she had a strong understanding the fundamentals. Her execution wasn’t perfect, but it was still proper. Had she been up against a rookie or some simple thug, she would’ve been able to land a hit on them easily.

I was neither of those things. Swords weren’t my weapon of choice, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know how to wield one. I had studied the same techniques as her, and I had much much more time to do so. It took something far more creative to get the jump on me.

I dodged easily, running up and kicking off of the wall landing behind her. While I was in motion so was the dishwater I had used earlier. With a swift jerk of my arm, I whipped it across her knuckles, causing her to drop her sword. Another flick of my wrist and the water ran across her palms, the pressure enough to slice through the flesh there.

She cried out, dropping to one knee.

“Your theory is excellent and your execution close. You’ve studied well, Tashigi, but you’re not the only one.”

“Who the hell are you?” she growled out, reaching for her sword.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, knocking the weapon away from her. I went to knee her in the face, but she blocked, grabbing my leg and pulling me down.

She was feistier than I had thought. I was sure that she would’ve lost her fight once her palms had been slashed, but still she continued.

She may have been feisty, but I was stronger, rolling us over, so that I had her pinned down. I brought my fist into her face, leaving her unconscious with a bloody nose.

“I kind of like you,” I said, as I pulled myself up. A large cloud of smoke and a burst of flames drew my attention.

Before I could run towards it, a streak of red and blue with a straw hat ran in the opposite direction.

When I caught up to Luffy for what felt like the fiftieth time that day, he was sitting on a barrel in an alley, not far from, where I had stashed my barrels of water earlier.

“Luffy,” I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Hey, Mimi! Have you seen the others? I think they got lost, while the marines were chasing us.”

I groaned. “Of course, you guys attracted their attention on your own, after I took out the sword girl to try to buy everyone some time.”

“I share your sentiment,” a guy said from the roof above us. “It seems giving you a chance to escape was pointless.”

I looked up to see the Whitebeard pirate standing on top of the home beside us.

“Hey!” Luffy greeted enthusiastically. “Hiya, Ace.”

The guy, Ace, jumped down.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Luffy asked.

“You could say that,” Ace responded.

The pair laughed together, before locking hands for an arm-wrestling match on top of the barrel. Seeing the two interact caused me to relax a bit. Ace and Luffy were clearly on good terms, which meant I had one less threat to deal with.

“How many years has it been?” Luffy asked.

“I don’t know, but you haven’t changed much during all that time, you’re a little taller, but you pretty much look the same.”

“So, do you. Aside from those powers you got from eating that devil fruit, you haven’t changed a bit. Remember, when you used to run into the fields, eat a hundred watermelons, spit the seeds out like a Gatling gun and run away?”

“No, that wasn’t me, that was you,” Ace argued.

“The farmers would chase you and you’d scream like a girl.”

“That was you too. I watched and laughed.”

The two of them were caught up in their own little world, reminiscing, while they arm wrestled.

I leaned against the building watching, while also feeling my barrels from earlier, and moving the water within them, so that they rolled towards me.

The force from their arm-wrestling match was enough to break the barrel. I caught the water before it could seep into the ground or evaporate.

“I guess we’re still the same.”

“Sure are.”

“Just like old times.”

“Wasn’t your crew looking for you a few minutes ago?” Ace asked.

“I’m sure,” I said, attracting his attention.

He straightened up, before bowing. “My apologies, miss. I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Portgas D. Ace, Luffy’s older brother.”

I realized at that moment, who exactly Ace was. Fire Fist, the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.”

I smiled at him. He was polite if nothing else. “Big brother, huh? I’m a big sister myself. I’m Zale Mira Kai, but I prefer Mira.”

“Mira, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I take it you’re one of Luffy’s crew members.”

“The stewardess,” I answered. “And the pleasure is mine.”

“A stewardess, huh?” he asked, directing the question towards Luffy.

“For all intents and purposes, and then some,” I said.

“Yeah, isn’t that cool, Ace? Mira cleans. She can cook. She fixes our clothes. And she’s really strong.”

He nodded towards the water, floating above the ground. “That’s some power you got there. Didn’t think there were devil fruits that could control water.”

“There’s not. Mimi’s the daughter of the Sea Devil,” Luffy blurted.

In his defense, I had only told him to keep it a secret from the crew until I had told the others, and I had by this point told the others. We were going to have to have a discussion about this. I didn’t need everyone I met thinking I was evil or crazy depending on whether or not they believed Luffy.

“The sea devil?” Ace quirked a brow, sounding amused more than anything. “That’s one hell of a blood line.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” I grumbled.

Ace seemed to sense that I didn’t want to keep talking about it and changed the subject. “Wasn’t your crew looking for you?”

“Yeah,” Luffy answered, not at all bothered by the fact that the others were probably worried. “What are you doing in Alabasta anyways?”

“I take it you never received the message I left for you back on Drum Island?”

“Message?”

“Well, I guess that’s a no, but don’t worry. It’s not a big deal. It was just to let you know that I’d be in Alabasta for a few days. I’m in these waters on some business.”

I raised my brows. “What business does the Old Man have this early in the Grand Line?” I asked.

“You know Pops?” Ace asked.

“I know your Pops. I met him a long long time ago.”

“Who’s Pops?” Luffy asked.

“I’m with the Whitebeard Pirates,” Ace said proudly.

“Pops is their captain, Whitebeard,” I explained.

“The Whitebeard Pirates?”

“See this tattoo? That’s our mark, and it’s my pride. So Luffy, why don’t you and your friends come join us? Come on. It’ll be fun.”

I snorted. As if Luffy was going to sail under anyone.

“No thanks.”

Ace laughed. “I had a feeling, you’d say that. You see that’s too bad, because Whitebeard’s the greatest pirate I’ve ever met. That’s why I’m going to help him become king of the pirates, and not you Luffy. Sorry.”

“Heh. That’s fine. I guess we’ll just have to fight then, because I’m going to be king of the pirates.”

I shook my head. Boys.

Luffy tipped back the canteen, finishing it off.

“Stop it! Don’t drink it all, you mooch!”

With a few flicks of my fingers, I refilled Ace’s canteen.

“Thank you,” he said, tipping his hat to me.

“You’re welcome.”

He took a swig. “We need to get you two back to your crew, before the marines get to them. You have any idea, where they could’ve gone?”

“Probably back to the ship,” Luffy said.

“Well that’s a start, where’s it docked at?”

“Well actually, I’m not sure. That’s funny.”

“Jeez,” Ace groaned.

“Mimi?” Luffy deferred to me.

I reached out looking for that stupid demon sword, finding it much easier, after having practiced with it. “This way,” I said, leading the other two.

I walked ahead, allowing the other two to talk. Seeing as they hadn’t seen each other in a while, it was a nice chance for them to catch up, and it gave me a bit of a breather.

“You know, Luffy, Pirate ship captains usually remember, where they leave their ships,” Ace said.

“Yeah, but I was hungry, and I forgot.”

“You haven’t changed at all. So, tell me about your crew. What are they like? Who are they?”

“Well first there’s a tough guy, who carries around three swords.”

‘And sleeps more than any other person I know.’

“Wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world.

“Then there’s a navigator, who likes maps and tangerines and money.”

‘Especially money.’

“There’s also a cook, who makes really yummy food.”

‘And is totally hopeless.’

“There’s a liar too,”

‘Scaredy-cat.’

“And a doctor, who just so happens to be a reindeer.”

‘So cute.’

“Really? You don’t say? Sounds like you have a motley crew there.”

“We also have a princess and her giant duck.”

“Not something that we should be talking about here,” I reminded Luffy.

“And then of course there’s Mimi! She takes care of us all. Everyone of my crew is so interesting.”

“Sure sounds like it, but I’d wager, you’re the most interesting one of all.”

I grinned. That was for sure.

“Still, just a handful of people for a pirate crew, that’s just like you Luffy.”

“I’m still looking for a musician though.”

I stopped, seeing the Baroque Works idiots coming out of their hiding spots to intercept us. I figured that we would run into them, but I was also hoping that we wouldn’t. Wishful thinking. They were already out for us. Plus, Ace was one of Whitebeard’s, which meant he likely had one hell of a bounty on his head.

“Stop right there, Fire Fist!”

“You’ve got nowhere to run. Your head is mine. It’s my one-way ticket to a promotion! Prepare to die!”

“It’s our lucky day boys. This’ll be easier than shooting fish in a barrel.”

“Hey, look at the other guy. Is it just me or does he kind of look like Straw Hat Luffy.”

“Great,” I deadpanned.

“Hey, now that you mention it, it is him. He’s worth thirty million berries.”

“Well well it looks like our lucky day just got even luckier. It looks like or big promotion is just a hop skip and two severed heads away.”

Luffy and Ace were unfazed by the goons, continuing forward like nothing was happening. “Anyways, let’s look for your ship. We’ll start at the shore.”

“Okay. Wait, Hey Mimi, can’t you just sense Zoro or whatever?”

“I can, hence why we’re going a different direction than where we came from,” I said.

“See Ace, Mimi’s always watching out for us.”

“Well then lead the way, Mira.”

“Hey!”

“Stop you!”

“Hold it right there!”

“You can’t walk away from us! Get them!”

The goons were moved to action, attacking with greed fueled vigor.

“This is too easy to be fun,” I said, taking down man after man. I bowled over some of the goons with the barrels, something I had never really done before. I had never really experimented with the concepted of fighting with an object filled with water as opposed to just the water itself. The barrels made things a bit more interesting. It allowed me to use more blunt force attacks. I could just hit someone with a jet of water, so that it felt like I punched them or hit them with a board. However, actually hitting someone with a board with the force of my water behind it was much more satisfying, plus it required less concentration.

I lacked the fluidity though, and the speed. I didn’t like the bulkiness of the barrels, but maybe if I had something smaller, it was an option worth exploring.

It didn’t take long for Ace, Luffy and I to clear the road. Ace and Luffy had taken care of the lead idiot. Ace had heated up his sword, the heat traveling through the blade to the hilt, where it burned the man’s palms. Luffy followed that up with a gum gum bazooka, rocketing him off into the distance.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said, heading towards the water.

Once the ocean was in sight, so was the Merry. “Over there,” I pointed it out.

“We’re not afraid of you!”

I glanced back to find more Baroque Works agents surrounding us. “Seriously?”

“You two go ahead. I’ll catch up,” Ace offered.

“Sure thing,” Luffy said, jumping down and waving at the crew.

I followed him, standing by as we waved at everyone. “Alright, Mimi. Let’s go,” he said, coiling an arm around me, extending the other towards the Merry.

“Luffy-“ I started to protest, but before I could get any further were flying over the ocean as Luffy’s arm snapped back to its original size.

We crashed into the deck, taking out Shopper and Sanji in the process.

“Ouch,” I groaned, rolling off of Sanji, who I had landed on and onto the deck.

“Oh Mira, my sweet! Are you okay?” Sanji asked, springing up to sitting position, so that he could fret over me.

“I’m fine,” I said, sitting up. I rolled my shoulders and neck.

“Oh, my dear-”

“Clearly, you’re fine.”

“My barrels,” I whined, looking over at where they were still sitting on land, too far away for me to reach them. “Damn it.”

“Oh! Luffy came back!” Usopp said, appearing from inside.

“Yeah. We’re here.”

“Yeah, the hard way,” Zoro said, face palming.

Luffy popped up. “Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, you’re sorry alright! The sorriest excuse for a captain ever!” Sanji snapped, grabbing Luffy by the shirt and jerking him back and forth. “Do you even realize how our precious angel, Mira could’ve been injured- “

“I’m fine, Sanji,” I pointed out again.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you put us in?” Nami scolded Luffy.

“And you!” she turned on me. “You were supposed to keep him out of trouble.”

“I tried, but he’s a fast bastard, makes messes quicker than I can clean them up.”

She sighed, turning back to Luffy. “Can you at least try to act like a captain some time?”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Wait, where’s Ace?”

Luffy shot up and looked out over the railing.

“You were with your brother, huh?” Zoro asked.

“Wait? Your brother?” Chopper asked, as he sat up.

“You didn’t just leave him, did you?”

“Um… Sort of, but it’s okay. He’s really strong,” Luffy explained.

“So how strong is he?” Chopper inquired.

“Well let me put it like this, when we were younger, I was never able to beat him in a fight, and this was way before he ever ate the flame flame fruit. That’s how strong my big brother is.”

“You mean to tell that there there’s a flesh and blood person out there that you can’t beat?” Nami was clearly shocked by this information. For the East Blue, Luffy was a force to be reckoned with, but he was nothing compared to some of the people that I had met on the other side of the Red Line.

“The big brother of a monster is an even bigger monster,” Usopp said.

“I guess so, because Ace used to beat me up all the time, but I bet now I could kick his big butt.”

“I’d like to see you try. So exactly whose butt is getting kicked?” Ace asked, hopping up on the railing, causing Luffy to fall over.

“Hey, Ace! This is my crew I was telling you about!”

“Nice to meet you. Thanks for taking care of my kid brother. I know he’s a handful.”

The others were clearly taken off guard by his manners. It was surprising. You didn’t often hear about polite pirates, especially not those under a yonko. Of course, having seen how Luffy behaved, it was even harder to believe that someone like Ace could be related to him.

“Oh no, not at all,” everyone save for me echoed. I pulled a face at their behavior. Polite or not, everyone knew Luffy. Ace knew him better than all of us, meaning that there was no way Ace would believe that.

“Oh, come on. Be honest. This is Luffy we’re talking about. Isn’t he a bit much for you to handle sometimes?”

“Not at all.”

“You’re good people,” Ace said.

“Well sit down and relax. I’m sure you have some catching up to do. I’ll make some tea,” Sanji offered.

“No. That’s thoughtful, but I don’t want to impose.” Ace lit Sanji’s cigarette.

“Well he’s certainly not what I expected,” Sanji said.

“I’ll say,” Zoro seconded Sanji’s statement.

“He’s clearly something if he has you two agreeing,” I chirped.

The two looked at each other, horrified, before glaring at each other.

“Whatever,” Zoro mumbled, glare focused on me for a moment.

“Listen Moss Head, you-“

“Settle down, Sanji,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s polite helpful and gracious, the polar opposite of Luffy,” Usopp pointed out.

Nami continued. “One only cares about stuffing his face. There’s no way that these two can be brothers.”

“While the other only cares about his brother,” Zoro added.

“I wish I had a wonderful brother like that,” Chopper cried.

“Forget brother. I wish I had a wonderful captain like that.”

“Sanji!” Vivi scolded, putting her hands up in a placating manor. “He’s kidding.”

“See, I told you they were interesting,” Luffy chuckled.

My eyes caught the line of ships appear on the horizon. “But they’re not.”

Vivi exclaimed. “Baroque Works?! Those are the billions ships!”

“Those guys again?”

“Luffy, leave it to me. I’ll handle it,” Ace said.

All eyes were on Ace. He hopped off the Merry onto a tiny little skipper type thing.

“I wouldn’t worry about him if I were you,” Zoro said. “They don’t let just anyone become the second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates.”

Using the power of his devil fruit he powered his little skipper flying towards Crocodile’s goons. His stance was casual, hands in his pockets, posture slouched. Once he was close, he pushed off. The skipper dove under the ships, while Ace jumped up and flew overhead, his lower half turning into flames propelling himself above the ships.

He landed on his feet on his skipper on the other side, and cocked his fist back, his hand turning into flame. “Fire fist!” he yelled, throwing a punch. The flames burst forth from his hand breaking through ship after ship, until it they were all in pieces sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

The others stared at the scene in awe, save Luffy, who was laughing and cheering with glee.

“Sanji, why don’t you make us all a snack? I’ll get the mugs and bust out the booze,” I proposed. “If that’s okay with you, Captain.”

“Woo! Party!” Luffy cheered.

Sanji and I moved in tandem in our small kitchen, him cooking, while I busted out the mugs and filled them with booze, setting them on a tray, so that I could carry them out for everyone.

Ace had returned to the ship and was sitting on a barrel, while Chopper, Luffy and Usopp sat in a circle on the deck.

“Woo hoo! Time to celebrate!” Luffy hollered as I handed out their drinks, tucking the empty tray under my arm.

“Here’s to Fire Fist Ace!” Usopp yelled, seeming to not notice it was me dosing out mugs.

“Cheers!” the three of them raised their glasses.

“Wait. Who said I was joining your crew?”

“Don’t worry. You can’t take anything they say seriously when they’re like this,” Nami explained as the boys continued to toast to various things.

I shook my head at their antics.

“Hey, are you sure you don’t want to join us? It’ll be fun. I promise.”

“I can’t right now,” Ace said, voice serious. “I’m chasing someone. He’s a pirate named Blackbeard.”

“Blackbeard?”

“I’ve heard of him. He was the one, who attacked Drum Kingdom,” Vivi explained.

“You see Blackbeard, used to be a member of the second division of the Whitebeard Pirates. He was one of my own men, but he committed the most unforgivable sin that I pirate could. He killed one of his fellow crew members then he jumped ship. As commander of his division, it’s my responsibility to take care of him.”

“So that’s why you’re here,” I deduced.

“I heard he was going to a place called Yuba, so that’s where I’m heading.”

“Hey, that’s our destination too, right?” Nami asked.

“Exactly.” Vivi pulled out a map of Alabasta. “We just entered the Sandora River. We’ll take it to Erumalu, where we’ll dock. Then we’ll trek on foot, until we reach Yuba, here. The leader of the rebel army is there. That’s where we’re going.”

“You don’t say. Do you mind if I tag along?” Ace asked.

“Nami, Vivi, I’ll follow you wherever you go,” Sanji cooed.

“Hopefully, it’s off of a cliff,” Zoro snipped.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY ZORO!?” Sanji yelled, getting in Zoro’s face.

“Cool it you two!” Nami barked. “Well it looks like we’ll have you for a little while Ace.”

“We’re happy to have you aboard,” Sanji said.

“This is going to be fun! To Ace!”

“To Ace!” we echoed, toasting.

***

Author’s Note: Hey people, it's been a while. Sorry about that. Some shit has happened. Uh. 1.) I graduated college. 2.) I did another internship. 3.) I turned that internship into a job. So yeah. Mira as I've mentioned takes a lot of time, because I have to watch the episodes in order to write it, which I haven't had the chance to do, because I work full-time at job 1 (which also involves a stupid two hour commute), every other Saturday at job 2 and Sundays are spent helping out my grandfather. So it's been hard to find time for Mira, hence the lack of updates here.I have been able to do some other stuff though, stuff that doesn't require me to watch anything to move forward with it, so if you havne't please go check out Throne. It's that Shanks thing that I kept saying I was gonna work on and then just didn't. It's been a lot of fun to write, so there's that. Uh... I've also started a writing blog, I don't know if I mentioned that since my last review. If you feel like it, check it out on tumblr at teroinreadsteroinwrites, which is also my new user name here, so that's another change. Jesus a whole lot can happen in some months. But yeah, go check that out. I have a master list to all of my works, including stuff that doesn't really fit on fanfic and I'm going to start posting updates about the writing process, so if you want to know what I'm working on or have questions that you don't want to leave in a review head over there. I'm always happy to talk. It also has my rec list, which is as complete as it's going to get at the moment. Uh... What else? There's a Kid oneshot called Terrible if you want to look at that, and I've missed you guys. Sorry it's taken so long to update, but you know life.

***

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tigerlover16-uk · 7 years

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Anime I need to watch (July 2017 update)

What do you know, I’m on time with one of these things? Been a pretty good month for me and I’ve got plenty to talk about, so see you after the cut.

I started the month off watching another arc of Yu Yu Hakusho. I thought about watching the show as a whole, but I decided to wait on the Three Kings arc for another month since I heard it’s a fairly lackluster one. So I just watched to the end of the Chapter Black Saga.

It wasn’t as good as the Dark Tournament Saga. It was... good, but I have a hard time calling it great, though it certainly had ambition. It starts off really well, the first few episodes were great, Kurama in particular got one of his best showings, but the actual main plot felt a bit meh in places.

I don’t really know how to describe it, there weren’t a ton of flaws to the story, but personally I just had a hard time getting invested and at times I just found myself tapping the side of my laptop wondering how long things were going to go on for. But the actual content of the story was fine. The world building was good, the action was... mostly good, outside of a few mediocre brawls. The side villains were entertaining, though the newly powered teens Genkai recruited (I can’t remember any of their names because they didn’t interest me) felt largely pointless and boring after their initial introduction. I really didn’t care about their send off at the end. And the main characters all got some pretty good moments, even Koenma got some great ones. And there was plenty of tension to the story.

And yet, while I enjoyed the saga for the most part... at times it felt kind of like a drag.

Maybe it’s just that the Dark Tournament Saga was so great before it that everything here just didn’t measure up. The villain was definitely a downgrade. Sensui has an interesting thing going for him, being the previous spirit detective who went rogue and his weird views on morality. But he felt extremely meh as a villain, bordering on boring. The thing about him having multiple personality disorder felt too sudden and, kind of pointless overall (and feeding into the media’s problem of demonising the mentally ill, thank you very much), and his personality wasn’t all that entertaining. He just felt like kind of a mixed bag of a character that fell short of being excellent.

I had other issues, like Yusuke being descended from demons came pretty much out of nowhere and was a blatant plot convenience that made the climax a bit unsatisfying. But I think the thing that put me off this saga a bit was just how incredibly serious and dark things were throughout. Yeah I know, that’s kind of the point and it fits for this show, but when things are constantly tense and grim with very little levity here and there to ease the tension, I tend to get bored and anxious more than entertained. So that’s probably more of a me thing, but I don’t get this feeling with most other anime I watch like Dragon Ball Z. I didn’t get it with the first season of Yu Yu Hakusho. The Dark Tournament saga dragged on a bit, but that felt more like because of how long the story was more than anything, and I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The chapter Black Saga... this is the only arc I overall liked from a show I’m a fan of that felt like a chore to get through.

I suppose that says more about me though and what I want from my shows than it does about the saga. Apart from the issues I mentioned and some others, there’s not a lot that’s objectively wrong with the arc. It was good.

Onto something lighter, One Punch Man is great. Yeah after watching that story, I decided to watch something more light hearted, and I wanted to watch a short series that wouldn’t take long to get through, like a lot of the long running shows I’ve been starting. And I had started watching it before, so why not?

There’s not a lot I can say about the show that others haven’t already said, so I’ll just say it was a blast. Saitama and Genos are fun and likeable characters with endearing personalities, the humour and casual tone of the series are fantastic, the animation is stunning, especially in the action scenes, and the supporting characters are fun to watch too. It’s a really charming show that’s just fun to watch and easy to get invested in, and even has some genuinely touching moments surprisingly.

I don’t think it’s the best thing ever like some people do though. For one thing... IT’S WAY TOO SHORT. Seriously, the twelve episodes we have are great, but it feels like it ends right as the story is starting to pick up. There’s really not a lot of tension to be had because of Saitama’s strength, and while the execution of the show and how Saitama’s handled make that a minor issue, it does feel disappointing that all but one of the villains goes down incredibly easily and get killed off, so there’s no chance to build a cool rogues gallery. Oh, and Puri-Puri-Purisoner is one of the worst, most uncomfortable gay stereotypes I’ve seen in a while, so that definitely knocks a few points off the show.

Still, there’s nothing majorly wrong with the show and it was a good time to watch. I just wish Madhouse would hurry up with season 2, if that ever happens.

Next up is a bit of an odd one for me, Tenchi Muyo!. I usually stay clear away from Harem anime for many reasons. Most of them are boringly formulaic and have annoying clichés (especially thanks to love Hina), the premises are often dull, and a lot of them feel like they care more about fanservice and accidental pervert comedy than good storytelling or characters. Which is what I care about watching, I really don’t care that much about fanservice in my shows (One reason I hesitate to start Kill La Kill).

But I did remember watching something Tenchi related as a kid and I think I enjoyed it, so I figured in this case it was worth checking out, so I looked up the original OVA series and watched the first two seasons of that (I hear season 3 was terrible, so I’m a bit hesitant to get into that). Soon after I started watching, I came to a realization that what I had actually seen as a kid was the tv series Tenchi Universe. Come back next month to see what I felt about that, but I decided to keep watching the OVA’s anyway for the sake of it.

The story is kind of a mess. Tenchi feels like almost a completely different character in the first episode compared to the rest of the series for one thing, there are a number of noticeable plot holes and conveniences, and there are some weird writing choices here and there. Like everything to do with Sasami in episode 9, that was weird and awkwardly handled and felt really pointless as a shoehorned excuse for drama, and I don’t really want to go further into it because that would take all day. And while I like Ayeka, I can NOT get over the thing about her being Tenchi’s great aunt and yet wanting to be romantically involved with him, and having wanted to marry her half brother. No I don’t care that she’s an alien with much different cultural beliefs and practises on this stuff, to me that’s still squicky as all heck!! And while the fanservice surprisingly never feels forced and is better handled than in many other series I can think of, I could have still really done without it.

Honestly it wasn’t very good at all as a story... but it kinda makes up for that with it’s characters. Tenchi may be a bit dull if still likeable, but all the girls in this show are really fun and endearing characters that I enjoyed watching, even in spite of some weird moments. The comedy was really good too, there were some stupid jokes and stuff that just really wasn’t funny, but I laughed more watching these two seasons than I have with a lot of other shows I’ve seen in a while. For all the awkward writing problems, it was fun just to sit back and see this colourful cast of characters just be themselves. Which is why I probably liked season 2 better. The main villain of the first season was underdeveloped and nothing special, but he was pretty cool and enjoyable to watch anyway, so props there too.

Tenchi Muyo! is a HUGE mixed bag of a show, and I don’t know if I’d recommend it to people. But I enjoyed it. It’s flawed and not great, but I do have a bit of a fondness for it, so I’ll definitely check out the Tenchi Universe tv series to see what that’s like. Not sure whether I’ll see anything else from the franchise though.

And rounding thing up, I recently bought two DVD sets for One Piece, so I've been watching that the last two weeks. I actually watched the 4Kids dub of the show as a kid, and remember actually enjoying it... I was a kid that knew nothing about the series going in, don’t judge me. I do remember really loving the show, but I don’t remember anything past the Alabasta arc and I just never got back into the show for the longest time. so recently I figured, why not?

It’s been fun watching the show again, seeing all the little things that are different about the show than I remember since Funimation didn’t edit it so heavily. The first few episodes were pretty meh admittedly, and I don’t really care that much for Luffy’s character up to this point (Just feels like a less endearing Kid Goku crossed with Naruto, but with different powers, though he’s still likeable enough usually), but once we get to the arc with Usopp things really pick up.

I don’t really know what to say about the show thus far, since I knew what was going to happen for the most part all the time I was watching since I remember everything I saw before fairly well, so really I just feel like I’m waiting to get to the parts I don’t remember all that well to experience the show fresh again. But everything I’ve watched so far has been fun to revisit, my favourite arc so far definitely being the Arlong arc (Even if Bell-Mere was a bit more of an idiot than I remembered), and the characters are all likeable and entertaining to watch.

I probably won’t be watching the show as frequently as some of the other series I’ve been catching up on, what I’ll probably do is buy a new season on DVD every other week and see how long it takes me to catch up, but I am looking forward to watching more.

Well, that’s about it for this month. It’s been an interesting month for anime for me, to say the least, gave me some stuff to think about and I had plenty of fun overall. Hopefully I’ll have plenty more to talk about next month. Until then as always, I’m open to suggestions as to more anime I could add to the list below, and I hope everyone had a good month.

Series:

Mobile Suit Gundam

Outlaw Star

Cowboy Bebop

Digimon Frontier

Digimon Data Squad

Digimon Fusion

Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Sailor Moon (Watched the entire first season and was about halfway through season 2. Should really get back to watching the full series)

Sailor Moon Crystal

Yu Yu Hakusho (Up to episode 94)

Ranma 1 ½

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (2012-onwards series)

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Fullmetal Alchemist

One Piece (Up to episode 53)

Astro Boy (Any series. I just want to be able to say I’ve watched something from this franchise).

Kill La Kill

Gurren Lagann

Fairy Tail (Up to episode 203)

Little Witch Academia

Tenchi Muyo! (Finished watching the first two seasons)

Tenchi Universe

Death Note

Yuri On Ice

Fist of the North Star

Soul Eater (Up to episode 28)

Code Geass

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma (I watched about 9 episode, need to catch up)

Your Lie in April

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mob Psycho 100

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Phoenix Wright anime

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Eureka 7

Black Cat

Black Shooter Rock

Gunbuster

Afro Samurai

Space Dandy

Vision of Escaflowne

magical girl lyrical nanoha

Shin Sekai Yori

Baccano

Cyborg 009

Gaogaigar

Danganronpa

Yo-Kai Watch

Pretty Cure

Future Boy Conan

Yona of the Dawn

WataMote

Space Patrol Luluco

Rurouni Kenshin

Steam Detectives

Movies:

Your Name

Garden of Words

Paprika

Tokyo Godfathers

The Boy and the Beast

5 Centimeters per second

Millenium Actress

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

The Digimon Adventure Tri Movies

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions

Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend awakened

Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction

Pokémon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel

Pokémon: I Choose You

Ghost In The Shell

Memories

Perfect Blue

Naruto: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

Naruto Shuppuden: Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Will of Fire

Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower

Naruto Shippuden: Blood Prison

Naruto: Road to Ninja

Boruto Movie

Fairy Tail the movie: Dragon Cry

Godzilla: Monster Planet

Mary and the Witch’s Flower

Princess Arete

Tekkonkinkreet

#anime #Yu Yu Hakusho #one punch man #tenchi muyo #one piece

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mobiissimo · 7 years

Text

Brotherhood AU writing contest

Silence. It was the element of a mission that gave the assassin a thrill, reminding him of the quiet after a chaotic, bloody massacre. The moon above lit the way as he gracefully danced through the cast shadows, stopping to see a guard pacing around the hall like a trained dog. He hesitated before jumping out and wrapping his arm around the soldier’s neck as his other hand covered their mouth. The figure waited for the struggling to cease, holding tight until the soldier’s movements were no more. After, his eyes turned to both ends of the hall then focused on the big door that he now stood in front of. This mission was crucial for the Fringeheads. They weren’t just stealing from some commoner and their village this time, no no. This was a royal palace, where people weren’t shaken by the threat of some lowly pirate crew. They had to do this while being unnoticed.

“All clear on the second floor. Nothing that looks valuable.” a voice spoke into his earpiece. “Find anything on your end?”

Silence filled the air again as the assassin entered and began probing the room for something. Anything. His eye twitched at the fact that there was barely anything useful in it.

“Apollo?” The voice called softly in his ear again.

“Yeah, I hear you.” He replied with a sigh, “Nothing but another useless room. Where the hell do they keep their fuckin’ treasure around here? You’d think they just spent it all on this damn castle.”

The slender, blue haired man sighed once again, placing his hands on his hips. He should have figured it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Well what, did you think there would be a treasure map and a big ‘X’?” Another voice chimed in.

Apollo’s eyebrows narrowed at the smart remark. “Look, four eyes, unless you’re gonna come in and help us, then shut up.”

“Both of you cut it out! Just find the treasure so we can move in.” A different more stern voice rang.

“Aye aye, captain…” Apollo grumbled as he closed the door and continued on throughout the large palace, taking whatever he felt was a worthy souvenir. Soon, Apollo came across another door, which looked slightly bigger than all the others. The detailed designs and gold coloration made it look especially distinguished. Slowly sliding the door open, the assassin’s eyes darted around the room, seeing a big bed in the middle with a dresser and nightstand off to the side. Seemed like a standard room for a ruler. His focus was interrupted when a small gleam of light caught his eye.

“Jackpot…” Apollo smirked as he crept into the dark room, inching his way over to a key that hung on a hook against the wall. Before he knew the door slammed shut, taking away the light from the outside. He felt something hard connect with his face causing him to fall back and be confined to the ground.

“Don’t move.” a masculine voice warned, making sure Apollo felt the cold metal of what seemed to be a gun barrel digging itself into his cheek. He made no hesitation to swat the gun away before trying to subdue his attacker. He tried to wrap his scorpion tail around the man but instead smacked him due to the lack of light. The guy must have moved away. The attacker recollected himself as Apollo rose to his feet, listening for any movement. Then suddenly, the room lit up for only a second before Apollo smashed the bulb up above with his tail to keep his identity hidden. In that second, Apollo got a brief look at the man near the switch. White hair with freckles. He wasn’t sure how it helped but at least he knew something. Apollo’s attention snapped back as he heard steps barreling towards him. He moved his head out of the way hearing a loud thud on the wall next to him. Sounded like he was trying to smash his head into the wall Apollo thought. The stranger kept coming jabbing at Apollo is he tried to counter. Only grunts could be heard as the two exchanged blows, striking wherever they could hit. Their battle seemed deadlocked until, after that short while, Apollo felt something cold wrap around his neck. He could feel himself getting weaker reverting back to his normal state well trying to keep the metal from choking him.

“Ahh, so he’s a devil fruit user.” another voice chimed in, holding the chains tight against Apollo’s neck. “I was wondering why it was taking so long.”

“I almost had him,” the first voice replied softer while moving closer. “You didn’t need to interfere, my little sun. You could have gotten yourself hurt.”

“Awe, you’re so sweet. But it’s okay to ask for help sometimes.” The other scoffed. “So should I just kill him now or-”

“No. He had some friends he was talking to earlier.”

“Oh~! I see. Well, looks like someone has a date with the torture room.” The second voice chuckled before slamming his fist into Apollo’s face, knocking him out cold.

——————————————

“Apollo? Apollo!” The captain called as he and the rest of his crew listened to the commotion on the other side of the headset.

“Sorry, looks like you’re mission has been compromised. So you can either leave now or come and get your little friend. But I promise that it will just end with all your heads mounted on spears.”

The entire ship went silent as the communicator went dead.

“Oh no..” Monroe groaned, placing a hand on his face.

——————————————

Apollo had been staring at the brick wall for what seemed like an eternity. Arms cuffed with sea prism stone and chained to the wall like a rabid animal. His situation wasn’t the best. And the room was no better either. Dried blood stains speckled over certain areas, while some rusted old tools sat on a desk.

Is that dumb shit suppose to scare me? He thought when he first woke up. It seemed like a joke considering the other thousands torture rooms he had been trapped in before. But now, the feelings from all those torture sessions came flooding back. The pain, the suffering. It made him wonder just what these people would do. Apollo snapped back to reality as the door began to open, bringing up a feeling of anxiety before it got thrown back down to hide away in the pit of his being. The first to walk in was a blonde man in a button-up shirt with jeans and a brown coat, but no white hair or freckles so it must have been the second man who subdued Apollo. His face seemed rather smug and his eyebrows had small pointed curls at the end of them remaining Apollo of a certain Straw Hat chef he faced in Alabasta. The next to come in was the white haired male that attacked in the beginning. The two stared Apollo down as the blonde man took a seat in a chair, a luxury that wasn’t given to Apollo. The blonde man raised an eyebrow and rested his cheek on his fist.

“So how do you wanna do this? You could just talk and tell me where your friends are, you know, the boring way, or…” The curly browed man hesitated before smiling in a sadistic way, “We could do this the fun way, which ends with me beating you senseless until you talk.”

“Blow it out your ass.” Apollo grumbled, before having his head thrown back by a kick to the nose.

“Watch it.” The white haired male said simply, pulling his leg back down next to the other. The blonde man pulled out a handful of papers, neatly looking them over one by one. Finally stopping, he held one of them up to Apollo’s face.

“Deathstalker Apollo. Assassin? Assassin of the… Fish head pirates? … I’ve definitely heard of your crew before.” The blonde pondered,shrugging after lack of response from Apollo. “So Mister Deathstalker, why oh why have you decided to knock on death’s door tonight?”

Apollo simply rested his head on the ground below, remaining silent. The man laughed as he was continuously ignored by the other.

“That’s the spirit!” he hissed, digging his heel into Apollo’s ribcage. The blue haired pirate gritted his teeth as the man gave no hesitation. The blonde continued kicking and beating Apollo for a couple hours, his lacky watching and occasionally joining. The blonde dropped back down into his chair, looking down at the beaten pirate. “Still nothing? ….Well at least you’re obedient.” The captor sighed, before seeing Apollo’s wanted poster on the ground. “Pfft. Assassin. Don’t make me laugh, we knew you were here the moment you set foot on our land. You pirates didn’t seem to do much research on us. That’s where you messed up. Either way we’re just going to find your friends and then have you all killed anyway. So don’t talk. Just sit there and take the beating, you scum.”

Apollo wheezed after having the air knocked out of him so many times. But still, all the blonde got in return was a glare. After a slight moment of silence, the man’s glare disappeared and turned to an awkward smile.

“ahh, not the talkative type. Well then I have someone I want you to meet.” he chuckled and nodded toward the white haired male to get the door.

Not before long, the door was opened and another blonde man with an eyepatch walked in. He looked related to the first. Apollo raised his head in attention as he and the other man stared each other down like two territorial animals. Silence filled the air again as the they scanned one another. Who was this? He wore more casual attire, just a black t-shirt and jeans. A lean muscular figure with intimidating posture. His eye like a dagger, sharp and cold, it seemed like nothing could shake his icy stare. Apollo smiled at this.

“Okay, well I’m gonna go to bed. I’ll be back in the morning.” The other male said.

“That’s fine.” The brother replied, not once taking his eye off Apollo. The sound of his voice was so calming. It was a voice so smooth that even though Apollo knew he was trouble, it was comforting to hear. And that made him giddy with joy.

“Have fun with your new pal.” The other said before shutting the door.

Oh I will. The Fringehead thought. The silence continued after the first male had left, and the staring hadn’t ceased since. Like a fight for dominance between the two. One glance away and the other wins. Or at least that’s probably what the blonde man was thinking. To Apollo this felt like a meet and greet. He carefully planned out what he would say to his captor. There was something about the threatening aura this man gave off that caught the pirates interest. For an enemy, Apollo was happy to be stuck with him. And he couldn’t say that about just anyone. Time passing seemed to take a lifetime. Minutes felt like hours. Apollo had been staring into the other’s eye so long, his eyes began feeling heavy, which really made him wonder how long he had been staring. The fringehead was soon dozing off, thinking of the the blonde and himself hopping from enemy to enemy, slitting throats and snapping necks, smiling at each other as if it were a casual date night. He then opened his eyes after he felt something hard connect to his face.

“wake up. No one told you to take a nap.” the blonde growled, reeling his hand back from the punch. Apollo grimaced at the pain. It seems like he had fallen asleep in his daze.

“Sorry my attention was… Elsewhere.” Apollo smirked at the glaring blonde, watching him cross one leg over the other. But now that the silence was gone, it was time for Apollo to have a little fun. “So what’s your name?”

“Excuse me?” The blonde raised an eyebrow.

“Well I at least think it would be appropriate to introduce yourself since you already know who I am and you and I will be all alone together in this room~.”

The blonde’s glare deepened as the pirate batted his eyes. “do you think this is a game? I hardly think you’re in a position to be asking questions.”

“We’ve been staring intimately into each other’s eyes for hours now and you won’t even share your name? How rude.” Apollo huffed playfully. This only irritated the blonde more as he tried to keep a steady glare.

“This isn’t some date.” He huffed at the pirate.

“I would say so, seems we skipped right over to roleplaying.” Apollo replied, glancing down at his sea prism cuffs. As he glanced back up he saw the look of confusion on his captors face.

“PFFT.” The pirate tried poorly to keep his laughter from taking over before getting kicked in the stomach by the embarrassed blonde.

“I’ve had enough of this! You can either tell me where your friends are now, or I can execute you myself, right here!” He growled, digging his heel into Apollo’s ribcage.

“Oh.. don’t worry…” Apollo chuckled to mask his pain, “they’ll come… you… just have to be patient. Trust me, when they arrive… it’ll be quick and almost painless. So how about… we just enjoy the time we have left together?”

The man hesitated before taking his foot off of the pirates chest. What did he mean by that? Surely he didn’t think they were actually going to try and save him, did he? The blonde pondered before turning away and pulling his watch to his mouth.

“Miss Laurel, I need you to let Niji know to tighten security for every exit in the palace.” the blonde then turned to Apollo with a glare that could strike fear into any beast. “Well, let’s just see how long it takes them to retrieve you before you’re a bloody mess on my floor.”

Apollo’s heart skipped a beat as his captor cracked his knuckles. He wasn’t sure if this was fear or excitement.

——————————————

Hours have passed since Ichiji had told Niji to up security. No one had come through, but he wasn’t going to take the chance. Niji watched his men patrol every entrance in sight, making sure no one goes in or out. He watched carefully before he heard footsteps coming toward him. Niji quickly turned his head, seeing his lovely white haired and freckled subordinate, Taysir.

“Hello, dear. How goes the patrol?” Niji smiled, it was glad to have some ray of light in this dull place.

“Nothing so far.” Taysir replied in his usually soft voice. “But your brother has finished his turn with the pirate and wants me to take him to the cells.”

“Oh! Then I’ll go with you.” Niji chimed.

“You don’t have to. I don’t want to disturb you at your post.”

“You’re as considerate as always~! It okay. There’s already enough guards, so we can go.” Niji smiled as he followed his boyfriend.

“Of course.” Taysir smiled dully back at Niji before leading the way. The look in his eye was concerning to the Vinsmoke.

——————————————–

Apollo’s eyes were nearly swollen shut as he lay in a pool of his own blood. The pirate watched as his captor wiped the blood off of his knuckles. Apollo smiled slightly, seeing his blood on the blonde’s face. It was a great color on him.

“You look so smug. Even though you’re about to die here.” the man scoffed as he lifted Apollo’s head with the cap of his show. “Pathetic.”

“Oh… it’s… not that.” Apollo gave a raspy chuckle in exhaustion. It was cute to see how oblivious the blonde was to the pirates attempts at flirting with him. The blonde, however, was just surprised he could still talk. He kicked the pirate’s face to the side, giving him an ear full of his own blood.

The man turned to the door as a blonde girl opened it up.

“Mr. Vinsmoke! There’s an incident on the west side of the palace! And Mr. Niji isn’t sure how much longer they can try keeping the pirates at bay…!” She said with a worried look.

Apollo watched Mr. Vinsmoke turn to him with a glare.

“I’ll be back to finish you off.” he growled before the two exited.

“Hurry back~.” Apollo sighed as he rested his head in the blood on the floor. He was a bit relieved to have a break, but he didn’t want the blonde to leave either. Soon, his head rose as the door opened again, seeing two familiar faces enter. Apollo stared at the smiling Sophia and Matteo for a moment before chuckling.

“Took you long enough.”

“Goodness, you couldn’t have waited a little longer before nearly getting beaten to death?” Matteo grimaced at the sight of Apollo’s blood. The assassin glanced up at the red head telepath with a more annoyed and tired expression this time.

“Just hurry up and get me out of here.”

———————————————

Niji seemed a little confused at why Taysir wasn’t speaking. He was usually talkative with him when they walked alone like this. Soon He came to an abrupt stop. Niji backed away slightly at this. Taysir blinked and turned to see Niji with a worried expression.

“Is there something wrong, Little sun?” he asked.

“What do you mean!? You were taking me to the prisoner!” Niji was surprised at his new behavior.

“Prisoner? I don’t remember that.” Taysir asked. “And… why are we in the dungeon area?”

“What do you mean! You’re the one who-” Niji’s eyes widened at a sudden realization. “We have to hurry back!”

The two rushed back down the hallway to the torture room.

———————————————–

Ichiji backed away, huffing as he examined the raging pirate. This was their witch doctor, Bantu. He was big, had massive unmanageable hair and a tiger mask, just like his wanted poster. He was a close combated fighter, a little ranged with the staff he possessed. But this was nothing to the Vinsmoke. He could read his moves perfectly. He watched as the massive man swatted at a few soldiers before making his move. He rushed at the pirate and jabbed into his stomach, catching him off guard before kicking his jaw and knocking him over. Ichiji stood over him, pistol aimed at his face before a voice rang overhead.

“Dr. Bantu, time to go.”

“What..?” Ichiji and other soldiers looked above, searching for the source of the voice. Ichiji’s attention turned to the smiling pirate as he heard a chuckle. His body began to surge with electricity beneath the Vinsmoke, making his eyes widen.

“Goodbye.” the pirate said playfully, making it the last word Ichiji heard before he felt a jolt fill his body, causing him to black out.

———————————————–

Ichiji awoke in his bedroom with Miss Laurel, Taysir and Niji looking over him.

“You’re awake! Jeez, don’t make us worry like that.” Niji sighed in relief.

“What happened…?” The tired Vinsmoke said rising from his pillow.

“the pirate. His body started sparking and he electrocuted you somehow-”

“The pirates!” Ichiji remembered interrupting miss Laurel, as if in a haste to get back to the battlefield.

Niji and Taysir looked uncomfortably at each other before turning back to Ichiji.

“Yeah they.. Got away. And took some stuff with them.” Niji sighed.

Ichiji clenched his sheets as he remembered the pirates words. “Trust me, when they arrive, it’ll be quick and almost painless.”

“But one of them did leave this.” Taysir added as he showed Ichiji a small transponder snail with a little note attached.

That was fun, “Mr. Vinsmoke”. we should do it again sometime. Call me~ -Deathstalker Apollo.

( @ask-the-vinsmokes )

#one piece au #writing contest #ichiji #niji #taysir #bene #one piece ocs #vinsmoke au

11 notes · View notes

rei-the-rat · 7 years

Text

Saxophone

Thank you @shishiswordsman for looking this over for me~

read on ao3

Law was, for lack of a better description, kicked out of the hospital. Well, in reality he was told he was working too much again, and that he ought to get the hell out, courtesy of senior doctor Kureha. But it felt like he’d just been kicked out.

He stretched on the way to his car, contemplating what to do with himself. Usually, Penguin and Shachi would drag him off to a bar if they got out early. But his friends were out of town on personal business. So he had the freedom to do as he pleased with his days off. A smile found its way to his face, and he quickened his pace to his car.

His boyfriend would be ecstatic to know he had some time off. It was on short notice, but he doubted Luffy would mind. Once inside his car, Law pulled out his phone. The date and time flashed on the screen with a bright light, illuminating the darkness in his car and momentarily blinding Law. When the glare lessened, Law looked back at his phone and frowned a bit. He had forgotten what day it was, so maybe Kuroha had a point; maybe he had been working too much. A Friday night meant Luffy was at work.

Luffy was a musician who played at a lounge downtown. Once a month he also played at a rather ritzy hotel and occasionally he would volunteer to help out with school musical productions. But Tuesday through Friday he played with his friends at the East Blue jazz lounge.

Law smiled at the thought of Luffy playing his saxophone and then halted as a realization derailed him. He had no idea what a saxophone sounded like.

He was sure he had heard one somewhere before, but he couldn’t pull up a tune or song to place to the instrument. Was he even thinking of the right instrument? What did a saxophone look like again? What did Luffy look like while playing it? Did he stand? Read sheet music? Could he play with his eyes close?

Too many questions with no answers, and Law felt guilty for not knowing. He had been dating Luffy for over a year and not once had he ever heard Luffy practice or asked him to play. Music was important to Luffy just as the medical practice was to him.

Law growled under his breath as he started his car. At least it was an issue easily remedied. He still felt awful about it, but he would apologize to Luffy and make it up to him.

It was a little after ten when Law pulled into the parking lot of the lounge. He grabbed his bag from the back seat before heading inside. The atmosphere of the lounge was calm and quiet. Law could hear the soft murmur of others as he walked through the foyer to the hostess’ podium.

The young woman greeted him with a smile. “Just one? And will you be needing a menu tonight?”

“Ah, yes. And maybe just a drink. I came to listen.”

“That’s fine. We get a lot of college kids this time of year.”

Law almost corrected her but decided to just leave it. Did he really look like a student? With the messenger bag, he suppose he could pass as one. He chuckled to himself at the thought.

She led him across the the dining area and pass the bar on the far wall, only stopping to grab a small menu from the counter. The booths in the lounge were each embraced by large curtains hanging from the ceiling. They could be pulled closer to block out more sound or pushed back almost completely. It gave the customers a secure sense of privacy. The hostess brought him to one of the smaller booths and took a moment to adjust the curtains as he caught up.

“Is this ok?” She asked.

“Yes, thank you.” Law slid into the seat and looked across the room to the empty stage and cleared floor in front of it. Tables were sparsely placed throughout the center of the room, but a designated area had been left for what Law assumed was a dance floor. Judging by the number of people, the lounge was actually busier than Law had assumed based on noise. Some were in booths like him, with dates or laptops and notes spread across the table; there were a few patrons at the bar, but most were at the tables, chatting and laughing.

“The band will be back in a moment.” The hostess reassured him when she saw his gaze linger on quiet stage. “Something went weird with the wires for the speakers.” She placed the drinks menu on the table along with a small piece of paper. “That’s the wi-fi password if you need it. Will you be ordering anything from the bar?”

“What’s the house scotch?” Law asked as he pulled out his ID.

“Alabasta Kings.”

“A scotch on the rocks then.” He waited until she left before getting his laptop out of his bag and setting it up. His email was loading when he heard the room quiet just a bit and the lights changed.

“Ok, sorry about that guys,” Law recognized Nami’s voice as she apologized for the delay. He glanced over to see her in a shimmering dress on stage while Sanji and Brook were setting up to start playing again. “But Usopp fixed the problem so we’re good for the rest of the night.” She stepped off to the side so Sanji could take the mic.

Law turned back to his laptop so he could start sorting through his messages and work a bit on reports that were due at the hospital. The first notes were played on the piano before Sanji began singing softly in time with the bass that sped up the rhythm of the song. Law paused before he began composing a reply email and looked back to the stage. Despite the slow start, the beat was quick and catchy. Several couples had gotten up to dance, and Law smiled as he watched an older couple move across the dance floor with ease like they were teens again.

A unique sound, something deeper but more quirky than the others, kicked off the chorus of the song. Law’s gaze flicked up to the straw hat and then settled on the man wearing it. He had seen Luffy in suits before, simple dress shirts with a jacket and slacks. It’s what he wore when he performed, but this was a little different.

With the dark room and light shining on the stage, his hat tipped just enough to cast a shadow over his eyes, the sleeves of his jacket rolled up his forearms…

Law watched, mesmerized by the sight. Luffy moved with the music, swaying back and forth or stepping to the beat; he played with his eyes closed and a small smile at the edge of his lips. He looked classy, like he was made for the music and his instrument was an extension of himself.

The hostess bringing his drink back forced him to look away. “You should have said you were with the band.” Before he could reply that he wasn’t, she handed over a note. “From Miss Nami. And don’t worry, your drinks are on the house.”

Law sighed as she left. He read the note quickly, a small message from Nami about how he should’ve called ahead if he was going to stop by and she’d come by to sit with him later, and returned his attention to his lover on stage. “Can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this…”

The lounge was winding down with only an hour before close. It was one in the morning, and the band had finished their last song. Law had shared a few drinks with Nami before she had to head backstage again. He’d spent the evening listening specifically to Luffy, what notes the saxophone made, which parts did he play alone, and now he closed his eyes with his head leaned back, filing all the memories away until next time.

The booth’s cushioned seat dipped beside him and a warm hand slid across his shoulders. “Hey handsome. Come here often?”

“No, but I should really fix that.” Law chuckled. He opened an eye at Luffy and pulled him closer. “You sounded good up there.”

Luffy grinned. “Thanks. I didn’t know you were getting off early.”

“Neither did I…” Law sighed. “Are you all done?”

Luffy gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Yeah, let me grab my sax, and I’ll meet you in the foyer.”

Law didn’t truly feel his exhaustion until his back hit the bed. “Ok… maybe it’s a good thing I have the next four days off.” He heard Luffy laugh. Law threw an arm over his eyes to block out the light. It was turned off a moment later, but he didn’t remove his arm. “Come here, I need to tell you something.”

He felt Luffy crawl over him, naked except for his boxers. “What’s up?” He pulled the unfastened belt from Law’s pants and began unbuttoning his shirt.

“I’m sorry.”

Luffy paused. “Why?” He picked up Law’s arm so he could look at him.

Law blinked at the darkness. “For never asking you to play, and I don’t know… not caring as much as I should about your music. I-” He stopped with a hitched breath because something wet was licking up his stomach. Luffy’s tongue, he gathered after a kiss was placed where his chest tattoo ended.

“You care.” Luffy said. He kissed his way up Law’s chest. “You always ask how the performance was when I play at the hotel and you remind me to practice.”

Law clicked his tongue. “That’s why I never heard you play before tonight.” He could see Luffy better now, the shine of light in his eyes as he looked at Law.

“Hm, I guess I don’t really play around you often.”

“Never.” Law corrected.

“That’s not true. We met because you heard me playing.” Luffy resumed his trail of kisses.

“What? No, we met at that antique store downtown…”

“Cricket also knows how to fix instruments. Remember, you asked us to keep the squeaking down.” Luffy was talking against his neck now.

“That squeaking…”

“Was my saxophone.” Luffy confirmed.

Law snorted. “How…? Thank goodness it didn’t sound like that tonight.”

“I know.” Luffy sighed with a small laugh.

It was silent for a moment before Law spoke again. “You looked good playing on stage.” He could feel Luffy’s grin as he sucked softly at his neck. “I kinda want to have sex right now, but I’m too exhausted.”

Luffy buried his face against Law’s shoulder in a vain attempt to muffle his laughter. Law pinched his side. “Don’t laugh at my pain.”

“Mmm, poor thing.” Luffy settled into giggling. He scooted back a bit so he could pull Law up in a sitting position. “It’s ok. We have tomorrow and the day after that. Let me take care of you.” He tugged off the last of Law’s clothes until he was in a similar state of undress.

Despite how tired Law was, sleep didn’t come quickly. He laid wrapped in Luffy’s embrace while the younger tapped out a rhythm against his arm. “What are you playing?”

“Hm?”

Law rested a hand over one of Luffy’s. “This. I used to think you were just drumming your fingers but…” He paused and ran his thumb against Luffy’s knuckles. “It’s always the same, and it’s patterned, not random. Are you playing something?”

“You noticed? You’re smart.”

‘After a year of dating you…’ Law thought bitterly. It was going to take him a while to get over the guilt and feeling like a bad boyfriend.

“Don’t laugh?” Luffy sounded almost embarrassed.

“Promise. What song is it?”

“Careless Whisper.”

Law sighed and scratched his nose. “Luffy?”

“You don’t know that song?”

“Yeah…”

As soon as Law said it, Luffy was up and rummaging for something in the corner of the room. Law considered flipping on the lamp beside the bed. He didn’t really want to move that much though, so he waited. The first note of from the sax startled him a bit, the bedroom was small and it bounced off the walls.

‘Guess this is the song,’ Law listened to it, and it did sound familiar. But he had never heard the whole song or had a name to place to it. The melody Luffy was playing seemed excessively sexy, which was a weird thing to think about a piece of music. Law was smiling regardless when Luffy stopped.

“Nice song.”

“Eh… it is, I guess.” Luffy rejoined him on the bed.

“You guess?”

“The music is, but the lyrics aren’t my favorite.”

“What’s it about?” Law reached out for Luffy’s hand.

“Regret… because the singer cheated on his lover. That’s what it sounds like to me, anyway. It’s kind of a sad song, but everyone always calls it a love song.”

“Broken love is still love.” Law squeezed Luffy’s hand.

“It’s dumb. He shouldn’t have done that.” Luffy laid next to Law. “But I like playing it, just the sax part.”

“Maybe you should rewrite the lyrics?”

“Maybe…” Luffy opened his arms so Law could lay against his shoulders.

“Rewrite them for us.” Law mumbled sleepily. “Something to match your sax…”

Luffy smiled down at him, his breathing slowing into long peaceful beats. The warmth of sleep and his lover pulled at him, and as his eyes closed, his fingers tapped out the notes of a love song.

#way late #but life #10 Days of LawLu 2k17 #S is for...#Saxophone #jazz!Luffy #LawLu #LuLaw #Trafalgar Law #Monkey D. Luffy #10 Days of LawLu

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terryblount · 4 years

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One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 PC Review

It’s that time again folks! Put on your straw hats, check your log pose and join anime’s most endearing gang of pirates as they beat up more marines than you can physically count. After five years, Omega Force and Koei Tecmo have finally shifted the focus of the Warriors/musou series back to the One Piece anime, and the potency of this crossover is as clear as it has ever been.

Truth be told, One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 hardly strays from the classic musou design that the developers used in their recent titles, but it is clear Omega Force and Koei Tecmo have become really good at making these games. Even if the fourth incarnation of this Warriors sub-series doesn’t reinvent the wheel, the polished gameplay and obvious passion for the anime adds up to a very appealing new entry.

Gold D. Roger, the pirate who hid the One Piece. This review features screen shots only from the first part of the game to avoid spoilers.

Return to the Grand Line

As with previous Pirate Warrior games, Omega Force and Koei Tecmo have used the chronological events of the One Piece anime to guide the progression of their fourth game. The major fights within the single player campaign, named ‘Dramatic Log’, features six different story arcs (basically chapters) to play through beginning with the Alabasta Arc, and ending with the most recent Wano Country Arc.

This adds up to A LOT of One Piece episodes, but the devs used a strategic mix of nicely recreated cut scenes and story exposition to provide a crash course on the anime’s narrative, and it accompanies the gameplay nicely. Whether playing through the enormous siege on Alubarna, or the massive battle at Marine Fort, the game’s storytelling is effective in making the player feel immersed in these classic moments.

One of the first story arcs to play through. Each arc features around six missions.

There is just one unfortunate problem with the gameplay being driven so heavily by the anime’s narrative: Pirate Warriors 4 creates a minefield of spoilers. I can speak from experience here because I am just about reaching the middle of the Whole Cake Island Arc in the anime, only to feel my jaw drop at what I learnt in the Wano Country Arc (which follows) while playing the game. You have been warned.

All aboard the Going Merry

True to its name, Pirate Warriors 4 is every bit the unique style of spectacle fighter that Omega Force and Koei Tecmo have become famous for, and the combat really does its genre proud. This is not a game where enemies necessarily represent a danger, nor does this game know the meaning of the words ‘dodge’ or ‘block’.

Just look at all those enemies!

Instead, enemies are fodder for the player to show off their almost comically overpowered fighting moves as easily thousands of them can get mowed down within a single mission. The usual buffet of attacks, heavy attacks, special moves and charge attacks are yours for the picking, and the combos from joining these moves are easy to pull off, even for a cack-handed slowpoke like me.

Further bolstering your journey to becoming the flashiest fighter is also a skill tree (depicted as a nautical map with islands). Here the player can choose to spend in-game currency on everything from extra slots for super moves, to boosting the power of basic attacks. I could never figure out why you can choose between a general skill tree or a character-specific trees, but the option is there.

You have a separate map for each character… but I am not entirely sure why.

By the time I had built up the muscle memory for the particularly brutal combos, and my uhm… skill islands had filled up, I began to wonder if Pirate Warriors 4 wasn’t a bit too easy (even on ‘normal’ difficulty). For players looking for a more earnest challenge this might be true, but that would be missing the task.

Instead, satisfaction in Warriors games comes from becoming skilled in their combat system. This holds true for Pirate Warriors 4 as the game really encourages flowing seamlessly from one attack into the next, and rewards the player with watching hundreds of enemies fly at once. Playing this game is the digital definition of a power trip.

Many pieces

Aside from the show’s epic fights, another reason why One Piece transitions well into a Warriors game is due to the excellent (and remarkably quirky) cast of protagonists, antagonists, and everything in between. This is an area where Pirate Warriors 4 really excels because the roster of playable characters has been raised to a respectable 43 this time round.

The choice of characters in each mission is usually split between power, speed, technique, and airborne fighting styles, which basically hints at where they do the most damage. Take Roronora Zoro for example and his moves to keep even stronger enemies off the ground. Juggling a bunch of marines for a long time is an absolute breeze with him as you can make their health bar drain before they can even touch the ground to attack.

Luffy on the other hand is an enthusiastic combo linker with one mother of a stamina bar. When fighting in the air, he usually lets enemies drop before I could pull off a prolonged attack sequence. On the ground, however, I seamlessly strung one chain of combos to the next while using dash as a cancel attack. If the map had longer, straight sections, Luffy was invariably my first choice.

Luffy and the thousand fists

Unfortunately, I never made friends with the camera; it felt like I was constantly fighting to bring what I wanted to see onto the screen. This was particularly a problem when pulling off special moves since characters execute their attacksin the direction the camera is facing, and not necessarily towards the enemy in front of them. Not a huge problem per se, but enough to tinge the experience with frustration at times.

A nice new age of piracy

Given how slick Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have designed the gameplay and how committed Pirate Warriors 4 is to the One Piece IP, both seasoned musou fans and first-timers could enjoy this game. Veteran Warriors players would find their hard-earned skills rewarded, but this game is still a forgiving entry point into this lucrative sub-culture of gaming.

Gosh, to think this scene is going on for 18 years old.

That being said, the ideal player for Pirate Warriors 4 is undeniably an up to date One Piece fan. This is not just to avoid spoilers, but also due to how deeply saturated Pirate Warriors 4 is in the colourful and really weird world of its source material.

If that sounds like you, play this by any means possible since there are few genres that really gel with One Piece as much as Pirate Warriors games. If not, this game should at least be on your wishlist if you need time to catch up on some episodes because it is a lovely culmination of everything great about musou games.

Re-imagined old story archs

Responsive controls

Lots of replay value

Real voice cast

Many playable characters

Some awkward cut scenes

Not the best graphics

Clumsy camera

PC Specs: Windows 10 64-bit computer using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Contoller

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 4 years

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The Voyage So Far: Fishman Island

i know i’ve said it before but i really, really love the entirety of reunion arc. it might be short, but there’s just so much fun and joy packed into it after the extremely fraught and upsetting paramount war. there’s something exhilarating about seeing characters who could barely compete on the world stage two years ago not just come back from nigh-obliteration, but come back so much stronger. this is true about fishman island as a whole as well, really, which is the main reason i enjoy it so much.

every time we get to see luffy flex his conqueror’s haki absolutely fills me with delight.

brook’s return to the crew is, i think, the most meaningful of all of them. he knew them for, what, a week or two in-universe prior to the separation at sabaody? and in the two-year interim, he becomes basically an extremely successful rock star known worldwide and selling out stadiums. and yet he doesn’t hesitate a moment to drop all of that, to declare before the world that luffy is alive and will be king, because he might have only known the strawhats for a little while but they saved him, and he’s going to see his dream through to the end with them.

this is possibly my favorite panel in all of one piece. it just makes me so fucking happy to finally see him again!

i’m a big fan of oda’s choice in not revealing his full design until this moment, so that we get to see him finally appear in all his glory the same moment the rest of the world does, just in time for him to explode back into the public consciousness and fuck up sentoumaru’s whole day.

i feel like i might be repeating myself a little with regards to reunion arc, but i don’t really care- it just makes me happy. this spread where luffy finally arrives back at the sunny- look how delighted they all are to see him! look how much they missed him! the strawhats are such a family, even though at this point they’ve just spent far more time apart than they’ve ever spent together, and i just adore them so much.

roger is one of my favorite flashback characters and definitely one of the characters i wonder about the most, and a lot of the thoughts i have about him circle back around to this panel right here. where did he get the hat? why did he give it to shanks? why did he choose to set out to sea who is he-

i think about kuma a lot. for such a minor character his tragedy is immense, and i would really like to know more about him, why he chose to do the things he did, what his relationship with dragon and the other revolutionaries was like- whether there’s any chance he can still be saved.

fishman island is absolutely gorgeously drawn. i’d call it absolutely the prettiest setting in the series until wano, and i think that, like wano, it’s clear oda was waiting to draw it for a very long time. the amount of detail and care put into all of the big establishing shots is really breathtaking.

one of the reason i think fishman island is so fun is because the comparatively lower stakes, combined with how much stronger the strawhats are, means they get to be at their most fully chaotic best. they take ryuuguu palace hostage almost completely unintentionally, off-screen, and then immediately start bickering and making ransom demands. i love them so much.

i love luffy and shirahoshi’s relationship so much- i love how much she trusts him to keep her safe, and i love how easily he does it. i love how he’s brutally honest with her but never really mean and how he encourages her to open up her world and do new things even when it’s scary and dangerous, and lets her take things at her own pace.

i think the sun pirates’ symbol is probably my favorite jolly roger in the series, both because it’s so well-established in the story, all the way back to arlong park, and because it has so much meaning. the shadow of fisher tiger’s life and death is cast over the entire story long before we even know he existed.

the symbolic destruction and replacement of the slave brand with the rising sun is so, so cool, and the knowledge of the reasoning behind the symbol also makes it clear long before its confirmed in-story just how empty hody and his crew are. their versions of the symbol are open, with the silhouette of a decapitated human, because they have no brand to cover.

i care so much about koala and fisher tiger, and the relationship between them as two former slaves and two deeply injured people, and how fisher tiger still manages to muster the strength to be good and gentle to her even after how much humans have hurt him.

i think it’s really a shame that he never got to see who and what she grew up to be as a direct result of his kindness. i think he would’ve been really proud of her.

i’ve always really liked that otohime isn’t perfect. she’s not as flawless as she first appears to be- gets angry and frustrated and even drunk and shouty when her own people won’t listen to her trying to help them, and it makes her feel so much more real. her patience and pacifism feel much more admirable when we’re also shown how hard she fights to keep them up. she works to be good.

one thing i like in one piece is how much value is placed on just the value of knowledge, of writing, of reading and understanding. it’s visible in how one of the rarest powers in the world is the ability to hear the voice of all things, and in the poneglyphs, too.

one of my favorite things about luffy is how he becomes a hero by trying not to be one. he doesn’t care about how people view him, and he never has; he really only cares about his friends and loved ones. it’s just that he’s also an incredibly easy person to befriend, and if those friends need help, then he’ll help them, regardless of the cost. most of the island-saving he does is just positive collateral to luffy’s driving desire for the people he cares about to be safe and happy.

i have always loved strawhat group shots ever since back in east blue when the crew was just three people, and they’ve only gotten more exhilarating as the crew has expanded and full-crew shots have become less common in the new world. it’s always just awesome, seeing them all together and united for a common purpose, whether it’s saving robin in enies lobby or kicking hody’s ass here.

my friend zeph grainjew calls moments like these, where other members of the strawhats deal with a problem so luffy doesn’t have to, ‘honor guard moments’, and i really like them. they’re a display of both the loyalty luffy’s crew has for him and the trust luffy has for them right back.

the thing about shirahoshi is that she’s not a coward. she’s a crybaby and overemotional and extremely skittish (which, for the record, is fully understandable for someone who’s been the subject of constant assassination attempts since she was six), but when it comes down to it, she’s fully ready and willing to let herself get killed by the noah in order to protect her people and her country. she’s so brave.

i sometimes see people complain that the villains of fishman island are flat and boring, as though that’s not the whole point, as though the entire arc isn’t a treatise on the importance of not passing hatred down to children. of course hody and his crew are hollow, they’re the equivalent of malcontented shitty white men who become neo-nazis because it’s easier to blame minorities for their problems.

luffy’s victory over hody itself is nothing. it’s easy, it’s only barely a challenge because they fight in the open water and luffy is a devil fruit user, and in the larger scheme of the one piece world, hody is nobody to even take notice of, no matter how grand his ambitions might be. what’s important isn’t hody’s defeat itself, it’s that the children of fishman island see luffy come when shirahoshi calls, and that at the end of the arc, they all want straw hats of their very own.

this might genuinely be a coincidence, but i’ve always liked that fishman island, an arc all about inheritance and what we pass down to our successors, is when luffy first pulls out red hawk, an attack clearly inspired by ace. inheritance can positive or negative- the negative examples in this arc are obvious, but there are positive ones, too. we can also see it with koala and fisher tiger, or with jinbe and both of the legacies he’s shouldered. it’s up to us what we leave behind.

for all that fishman island isn’t the strongest arc on its own, i do think it has by far one of the strongest endings. it’s an arc all about hurt and loss and how it gets passed down and renewed over generations, and it ends with a return to zero. everything’s not better, but the wound’s been cleaned and bandaged, and now it can finally, finally start to heal.

and into the new world we go! with skies full of fire and oceans full of lightning, looking just like the entrance to hell- and all our crew can’t wait to get there.

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #long post #arc: fishman island #arc: reunion #not japanese

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