#I'm on chapter 307 already

[crystalizedirongoblin]

I've succumbed to peer pressure

[dfortrafalgar]

I'm Losing You

Having a family isn't always as easy as fairy tales make it seem.

PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMER ON CHAPTER 1 BEFORE PROCEEDING!!!!!!

Chapter 2

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Law knew his eye bags were heavier than they usually were, so it came as absolutely no surprise when one of his nurses expressed deep concern for his unusually tired appearance.  And that was saying a lot.

“Room 305 is doing well on aspirin, their blood pressure has improved dramatically since yesterday morning– Dr. Trafalgar, do you need another coffee?  You look like you’re about to fall asleep,” she expressed, her eyes heavy with worry.

“I’m alright, Rebecca, but thank you,” he responded without a single fluctuation of his tone.  Though, he was definitely a tad embarrassed that his lack of sleep from the night prior was that evident.

His pink-haired coworker continued walking alongside him, flipping through her charts from her latest rounds in the cardiac care unit.  Not wanting to press further and risk upsetting him, she simply continued catching her supervisor up to speed with the patients in his ward.  “Room 306 has been slightly unstable since his triple bypass surgery, so he was on extra monitoring overnight but hasn’t shown any significant signs of distress.  Room 307 however is still intubated, with arrhythmia that comes and goes at random.  He has both you and Dr. Tony overseeing his care today.”

Law nodded along with Rebecca’s words, and he truly was trying to absorb them as best he could, but he couldn’t get his mind off of you at home.  He knew Shachi and Penguin would be good company, but he truthfully wanted nothing more than to be home with you at every waking moment, making sure you were okay.  The constant thoughts of you from the night previous made his entire chest ache, the sounds of your distraught sobs echoing in his brain constantly.

“Dr. Trafalgar?” Rebecca once again questioned.  She had stopped walking and Law hadn’t even noticed.  He turned around, startled at his lack of awareness, and turned to face her.  This time, her brown eyes were profoundly concerned.  “If something is seriously wrong–”

“I’m fine, I swear,” he urged, briskly cutting off her statement.  “Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine.  I apologize for my lack of attention, please continue with your notes.”

After a few brief moments, Rebecca sighed through her nose and flipped to the next page on her clipboard, continuing her briefing.

In a way, he was partially thankful for an unassuming round.  He really needed to clear his head in time for his next surgery in an hour.  This wasn’t like him.

—

It was around 9:00 PM when the front door to your apartment opened and closed softly.  You were on the couch with Bepo, barely keeping your eyes open at the mindless television program in front of you when your husband walked through the door and hung his jacket on the coat rack, kicking his shoes off of his feet.  Bepo seemed to know the drill, quickly hopping off of the couch and trying to make it seem like he hadn’t been lying there for an hour.  You watched with a faint smile as Law exhaustedly trudged over to where you sat, flopping down next to you and resting his head in your lap.  His nose was nestled into the plush of your belly, making you suppress a giggle at the ticklish feeling.  Your hand immediately gravitated to his mop of thick, black hair.

“Busy day?” you asked, already knowing the answer.

Law groaned.  “It wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t thinking about you all day.”

You frowned.  “I know… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I just can’t help but be nervous for you.  It’s not your fault.”  Law’s hand trailed to your hip, rubbing lazy circles into the skin below your pajama shorts.

“If it helps ease your worries, Shachi and Penguin took a huge load off today, they spent the entire day with Bepo.  They even did your laundry, if you could believe it,” you stated with a dry chuckle, thinking back to a few hours prior when Shachi was boldly making fun of the gaudy pattern on a pair of Law’s boxers.

“That instills some confidence,” he joked back at you.

Your fingers continued to comb through his hair, making his eyes close with the content feeling.  “Any interesting cases today?” you asked, desperate for a way to distract him from what was on his mind.  Frankly, you needed the distraction too.

Law hummed, thinking back to the morning.  “When I arrived this morning I had a patient in the OR for Carotid Artery Disease, so we did a carotid endarterectomy to help him with that.  Very pleasant man, I spoke to his family during my final round when he was moved to recovery.  He had suffered a very minor stroke a few years prior, so hopefully this surgery greatly reduces his risk for another.”

You nodded along with Law’s words.  You were always allured at the way he could talk about his work for hours if you let him, and with the weight hanging over both of you, you desperately wanted him to.  You could listen to him talk about cardiovascular diseases for the rest of your life if it meant not having to deal with the reality of your situation.

“What’s Carotid Artery Disease?” you asked, hoping he couldn’t catch on to the way you silently begged him to keep talking to distract your fuzzy mind.

“It’s a condition where a plaque builds up in the carotid arteries in your neck,” he explained, picking up his hand and trailing his tattooed fingers along the side of your neck, demonstrating where the vessel was.  “It’s sort of similar to the way certain blockages can cause heart attacks, but because the plaque builds up in your neck, it could cause strokes.”

You continued nodding.  “That’s interesting… any other surgeries today?”

Unbeknownst to you, Law was most definitely catching on to the way you urged him to continue speaking, using his voice to block out the anxious radio static in your head.  He slowly sat up, leaving your lap feeling cold and vacant before pulling you into his chest.  Bepo came to sit at the base of the couch, resting his fluffy head on Law’s thigh.

“I know you don’t want to talk about it right now…” Law began.

You closed your eyes and sharply inhaled through your nose.

“But I did call a urologist today to set me up with a brief fertility examination,” he continued.

You were scared to look up at him.  “What will they do?”

Law idly trailed his fingers up and down your sides.  “Most likely a semen analysis, blood test to detect hormone levels, or an ultrasound,” he explained.  He paused, anticipating your reaction, but got none.  With a sigh, he placed a hand on the back of your head, holding you close.  “I know it’s really hard to talk about it, but I want to rule out every possibility.  You don’t have to call so quickly, but I think it would be good to get in contact with your gynecologist again.”

You feebly nodded into his shoulder, your forehead resting where you now knew his carotid artery lay.  “I know… I will.  I promise I will.”

Law encouraged you to pick your head up to look at him.  “You know I’m not the best with words,” he blankly stated, bringing a very small smile to your lips as you nodded.  His calloused hand caressed the skin of your cheek.  “But I’m going to be with you through this entire journey, no matter how long it takes.  I’m your husband, I’m not going to leave you over something so…” he trailed off, looking for the appropriate word.

“Pointless?” you offered.

He quickly shook his head.  “No, not pointless.  Far from that.  Maybe ‘idle’ is a decent word.  An idle issue.  An idle issue that will resolve with time.”

“Might resolve,” you countered.

“No.  Will resolve.”  Law was steadfast in correcting you.  You could tell it was taking an incredible amount of energy for him to keep a positive head.  As much as the entire fertility situation greatly upset you, you found a spark of hope and joy in the way Law was, surprisingly, keeping optimism.  It wasn’t near enough for both of you, but it was better than nothing.

“I’ll call my OB-GYN tomorrow morning when her office opens…” you muttered, dropping your head back down.  Law hummed in response, now taking the time to pet your hair with his fingers.  

The room fell into moderate silence before Bepo huffed, demanding to go outside.  You snorted at the sound, picking your head up and looking at your husband.  “I’ll take Bepo to pee, there’s leftover lasagna in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

Law lifted an eyebrow.  “Lasagna?”

You finally stood, stretching and popping your back.  Bepo excitedly ran toward the door, eagerly bouncing on his paws for you to hurry up and follow him.  “Penguin was cooking all day today.”

Law grinned.  “Nice, I’ll make myself a plate.”

He watched as you slipped on a light jacket and pulled Bepo’s harness over his body, looping his leash and exiting the apartment.  With a groan, Law stood up and meandered to the kitchen towards the refrigerator.  

You didn’t have many decorations or magnets, a few small sticky note reminders here and there, but a gift-shop magnet from a trip you took while still dating was stuck to the metal, holding up a candid picture of you and Law on your wedding night.  Law still had no idea who took the image, but every time he looked at it sent butterflies through his stomach.  You were both in the middle of dancing to an energetic song, you happily clinging to his arms with the brightest smile on your face.  Your eyes were creased with unparalleled glee as you stared up at Law, who was looking back down at you with his own cheerful grin.  The lights had blurred around you with the motion of whoever took the photo, but it made an ethereal golden glow surround your dancing figures.  Your wedding night, albeit cliche, was the happiest night of Law’s life.

His stomach grumbled, interrupting his thoughts.  He mindlessly reached for the leftovers in the fridge.

[acre-of-wheat]

sory if this is rude (not trying to be!) but are do you know when you're going to be updating network connectivity issues? not trying to rush just curious!! it's one of my favorite fics i've read in a long time and you're an amazing writer!

Oh, not rude, don't worry! I don't have an exact answer for you, though. I am planning on updating, and the next chapter is about halfway done (I've written the first Kit section and the first Jade section). The issue is I'm going through a Certified Bad Time right now, and I'm having a hard time...accessing my writing? No one is more frustrated about it than me, I promise.

I do have some options to tide you over though, if you haven't read them already.

Network Connection Secure is about them several years in the future-- a happy little future glimpse of them. It doesn't contain specific spoilers for NCI, other than the promised happy ending.

There is also my good friend @swashbucklery writing in the world, which are prequel pieces that explore the friends with benefits relationship Jade and Elora had.

(307) temporary redirect

(208) already reported

And because it's been so long, here's a little snippet of the upcoming chapter!

“I don't know how you feel about–” Beautiful's fingers flex on the blanket besides her, and Kit watches her hands, the fingers that had been inside herself, “what I'm asking is, do you think, if I was– just to imagine it– if I was there, would you like me to touch you?”

“I think it would be okay,” Kit says, “I want it to be okay. I want it so badly.”

Beautiful's fingers flex again, like she's reaching for the screen, for Kit. Kit shuffles closer to the phone, pulls it nearer to herself.

“How do you think you'd like to be touched, now?” Beautiful asks.

[everynicorobin]

what are your absolute favorite robin panels from each arc/island?

This got so long that I hit the image limit, so this is part one of a five part post!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Whiskey Peak

Chapter 114

This is the first time we have a clear full-body shot of Robin! She barely moves from this point on until she leaves on her turtle friend, not even raising a finger to take down the Strawhats.

Chapter 114

I like how cheeky she is here, not only stealing Luffy's hat but putting it on top of her own :)

Alabasta

Chapter 170

An absolutely iconic panel. She's just showing off her power here to mock Pell and Vivi.

Chapter: 173

I enjoy this one simply because it kinda looks like she has two weirdly long and skinny legs. Milkwalker

Chapter 200

This is just delightful. It's the first time she's laughing and smiling without being sarcastic or mocking, and it's because of Luffy's stupid "Water Luffy" move.

Chapter 217

Another iconic panel. She's just beautiful here - look at how her hair flutters in the wind. Ever since she showed up as a surprise stowaway for the second time, she's been smiling.

Chapter 218

Godddd just look at her... look at her smile...

Jaya

Chapter 219

Robin rarely performs hands-on archaeology, so this scene is very cool to see. She gets to show off her smarts, too, by figuring out how the person died and using the hole in his skull and the ship's cargo to estimate how old the ship was.

Chapter 221

After the moment where she states that her specialty is assassination, this is one of the first times she and Usopp become a comedy duo, and one of her first morbid comments after joining the crew.

Chapter 229

She's just very cute here and the reading pose is #relatable

Skypiea

Chapter 239

This is one of the first times she starts to realize what the Strawhats are all about, and when just being around them gives her a new lease on life, psychologically instead of literally being dragged away from death. She's not joining in the romp, but she's just happy to watch her new crew have fun, and I'm sure this was the beginnings of when she fell in love with them.

Chapter 253

And speaking of falling in love with the crew...

Chapter 255

Not only is this hilarious, it's a cute moment between Robin and Chopper :)

Chapter 268

This is just a nice scene. She's spent a couple hours now not only searching for the lost city, but fighting off enemies on the way and literally digging into the ground to get there. She deserves a break.

Chapter 296

Another moment of her loving her new crew, whether she wants to or not. No matter how much the Strawhats might bicker, they follow Luffy to the end.

Chapter 301

Another wonderful smile from our favorite Robin

Long Ring Long Land

Chapter 307

Very amusing to me that she somehow keeps a book in that outfit, and that she's taking the time to read it while there is a dire situation on their hands

Chapter 312

Women supporting women we love to see it

Chapter 319

This is the first time we see Robin really vulnerable in front of her crew. This whole scene is a great moment for her character, showing the normally calm and collected woman suddenly so scared she's fallen down and frozen in fear (though not literally just yet), and it does a good job setting up her character growth in W7/EL.

Chapter 320

Related to the previous one, this is another great look at Robin's character. Here she's already willing to sacrifice herself if it means everyone else will get away, just like she tries to do in Water 7, and I suspect she attacked Aokiji to goad him into focusing on her instead of Luffy and the others.

Chapter 321

Once again we're coming back to Robin and her newfound love for the crew. She's perfectly fine here, but according to the next chapter, it appeared to the rest of the crew that she recovered a little after Luffy, leaving the room after he did. I wonder what she was thinking about while resting - was she worried about the fact that she could no longer leave of her own free will, having become attached to them? Was she preparing to give herself over to the WG should Aokiji alert his comrades? Was she contemplating suicide in order to free the Strawhats from the perceived burden of having her as a crewmate?

Water 7

Chapter 323

Yes we are once more coming back to the "Robin loves the Strawhats so so much" hour. Look at her smile!

Chapter 325

The introduction of a fantastic and iconic outfit, and she's hanging out with Chopper :)

Chapter 340

This is an interesting scene. Robin is telling this to Sanji and Chopper to try to keep them away from her - she's clearly stating that she's leaving the crew, and trying to emphasize that she herself is dangerous to have around to make them stay away. But even though she loves them, it's apparent that she doesn't know them well enough yet, because this only makes them more worried about her and desperate to go after her.

Chapter 340

A continuation of the above - despite that she's trying to drive them away from her, she can't help but leave them with kind words, and thank them for everything they've done for her.

Chapter 347

She's trying so hard to play the part of the villain here, deliberately being vague with her wording to make it sound like she's sacrificing the Strawhats for her own dream when in fact it's the other way around. I'm not sure if it's because she has trouble being vulnerable with people at this point in time, or if it's because she correctly thinks that the others won't accept her actual reason.

From Chapter 359, I had to include this whole sequence because. Augh. Augh. We finally know the truth, that she loves the crew so much that even though they brought back her will to live, she's ready to die all over again just so they can keep going. She can't betray them so she can live this time - it seems like she never even considered that possibility despite doing it so many times in the past. And she just has to tell someone the truth. She might not have said anything if Iceburg hadn't accused her of being on good terms with the government, and insulted her dream. aaaaaauuuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhhh

Chapter 370

We return to the comedy abruptly! Endlessly amusing how serious and calm she is here while Sogeking is doing goofy things with his arms for truly no reason.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

[anderstrevelyan]

2022 Writing Round-up!

I was tagged by @cleverblackcat and @barbex to share what I got up to this year—thank you!

I've actually been really excited for this moment since this time last year, since that's when I decided to start tracking my daily word count. I have a graph! Proof it all adds up!

For context:

I'd been trying to write for fun/just for myself for years, but it would never stick. I work in publishing (being as vague as possible here!), so I always stewed in the pressure of feeling like anything I wrote had to be brilliant, which meant I wrote...almost nothing that wasn't for work.

It turns out fanfiction was the perfect solution? Purely for fun, inherently non-commercial, and without any of the baggage that came with trying to publish under my own name. (Also: Anders.)

Words Written:

I started towards the end of 2021 (I think I wrote about 5,000 words?). But in 2022, I wrote 109,098 words.

I'm very much not a fast writer, so instead I tried to become a consistent writer—apparently my daily average was 307 words.

I always let myself go longer if I'm really into it on a certain day (though even then that was never more than 1,000 words or so, and looking back I only had seventeen 1,000-word days), and of course that counts days off—if I write today I'll have written on 234 days this year (about 65% of them).

But it's so cool to me to see the trends?? Like, June is low because that's when I started publishing Force of Nature, so I spent a fair amount of time editing chapters I first wrote in Jan-May. December was low because a) holidays and b) I spent a lot of time working on an exchange fic, which took longer since I was figuring out the character dynamics/arc from scratch—I write the longfic at a faster clip these days since a lot of that was already figured out in the early part of the year.

Words Published:

AO3 tells me I published 56,385 words this year. A little over 44,000 of those in the longfic.

Misc Thoughts:

I'm far and away most proud of Force of Nature, my Amell/Anders longfic—I never thought I'd work on a long project, but it's been so much fun and so rewarding!

I don't really have specific goals for next year besides to keep going: aiming for consistency, writing what I find fun, tracking again.

(Though I'm very excited for Anders and Garrett to finally get together in the longfic in 2023!!)

And just, thank you so, so much to anyone and everyone who's read anything I've written. It's been such a fun year and it's been great sharing it with you 🥰🥰

[yourlocalwriters]

Lost Finding You

Lost Finding You Chapter 3

------> This story was heavily inspired by The Glory, caution reading!

TW: Lots of violence, Bullying, descriptions of gore/death, suicide, name-calling, heavy topics.

WC: 754

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They both left the house.

      “Hanaka can you load up the gps on your phone I’ll drive.'' Hanaka nodded and typed up the address on her phone. It was a 20 minute drive that felt like hours of silence. Soon they finally arrived. Miski was unsure she looked around then got out of the car.

    “Come on Hanaka. If we don’t hurry; It’s gonna turn into a living hell” Hanaka groaned and got out.

    “My life’s already a living hell.'' They both walked through the sticks and dirt to reach the school. It was burned down so half of the school was gone; There was a big gaping hole with stairs at the left side, they went through there. As soon as they went in, a chill went through their spine. 

      “Holy fuck.. What are we even looking for?” Hanaka said. Miski was thinking really hard for her dreams of Emi until she thought of something. 

      “Room 307.” Miski uttered.

      “What?” Hanaka looked at her in confusion. 

      “We’re going to room 307, that's what my dream said.” Miski looked to Hanaka

      “Jeez Miski, you’re creeping me out. Tsk let’s just go.” Hanaka sighed, they both walked the session of stairs with a feel of eyes staring at them. Miski and Hanaka walk up the stairs trying not to slip through the holes.

      “So what floor is 307 on?! My legs hurt already!'' Miski stopped. she tried to remember how many stairs she walked before she got the door, she looked down then looked right.

       “Here.” Miski says; they walk into the creepy dark hallway that was practically black from it being burned.

       “Gosh this place smells..” Hanaka says, still following Mitski. They reach the room and go inside. Mitski looks around

       “Looks just like my dream” Mitski says with a serious tone. 

       “Whatever! Let’s just hurry and get out of this creepy place.” Hanaka says and walks into a small room with books inside, 

    She turns on a light and chuckles “Hey! Look! This light still works!” she says smirking, “Mhm~..” Miski says distractedly looking for anything that can help in the room; After a few minutes of searching, Miski gets frustrated. “Ugh, Nothing!” She quickly gets up frustrated but startled by what happens next. “Holy shit.” She said with wide eyes. Hanaka looked at Miski, confused “I saw Emi..” Miski said horrified, Hanaka's expression changed. “Miski what the fuck do you mean. Emi is dead! You need to get over her.'' Hanaka yells, “No.. I saw her.” Hanaka gets even more pissed, “I swear to god Miski! If this is some prank, I’m out of here.” Miski looks concerned but changes her expression, “You know what, It’s fine. I'm probably just seeing things” Hanaka rolls her eyes, “Yeah, you probably are! Anyways, I found something.” Miski gets excited, “Huh? Where!?” Miski runs over to Hanaka, “Nothing much, just a yearbook, but I think it belongs to Emi?” Hanaka explains, Miski gets confused, “What? Why would Emi leave her yearbook here though?” “Why are you asking me?” Hanaka says. They flipped through the pages but had stopped,  shocked when they saw themselves, “What..” Miski says, shocked and confused. Scribbles and X’s all over them, It became a loud silence until Hanaka spoke, “Well I mean, she hates us so..”, Hanaka was about to say something else until Miski spoke again, with a different tone. “Yeah! and you made her hate us!” Miski said, Hanaka was shocked by the sudden change, “Look, I’m sorry okay. I never meant for that to happen""Yeah, sure you didn’t Hanaka! you forced me to stop being friends with Emi!”, the two started arguing. “I didn’t force you!” Hanaka yelled back. “You did! if it weren’t for you. Emi would still be here right now!” Miskis' face turned from furious to a sad face with salty tears. It was obvious Hanaka felt bad but, the words she was saying made it seem like she didn’t. “Whatever. I’m going home. My daughters probably crying.”, Hanaka started walking away, until Mitski spoke, “I’ll drive you home” Miski said while wiping her tears, but Hanaka refused, “It’s fine,” but Miski kept insisting “Hanaka come on. It’s night and the walk is an hour long.”. Hanaka sighed, “Fine.” They both walk out and get into the car. The whole car ride was filled with silence and the car radio. Once they arrived at Hanakas house, Hanaka slammed the door and walked away. Miski stared at the house for a minute then drove away.

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To be continued..

[olivereactsaboutgarbage]

One Piece - Volume 33

Ah... excellent... I'm a third of the way through!!! The first 99 volumes of One Piece!!!

Chapter 306 - Donut Race!

The horse hunters decide that Lufpy wants to play the Depression Game because "Punching? Okay" has "Okay" in it.

Meanwhile, the horse's friend decides to become a horse hunter hunter. Or maybe a horse hunter x hunter. It's impossible to know, because the x is sixlexnt.

The rules of the Depression Game are that if you lose, it works like slavery, and if you win, it works like slavery, except you get to own the slaves. If you don't want to own slaves, you have to start a flag collection. That's the only way to avoid your fate of being a slave owner.

I think I said back when Lufpy first arrived at that place that had that Apocalypse Horseman, a One Piece gambling arc would certainly be something. Well, this appears to be it, and it's certainly something. I guess I'm gonna have to separately keep track of which Kaiji Joke Part we're on for both Higurashi and One Piece.

This is why Nami will forever be the Best One and whoever says otherwise is wrong.

Uh, unless a retread of all the character traits we already saw in Reverse Santa!Carmen P. Sandiego joins up later, I guess.

I... is Zoro... lonely...?

Oh right, Usopp has played the role of an additional wielder of Nami's standpoint increasingly frequently the longer things have gone on. I guess the reason I like Lufpy better than Usopp is simply because Lufpy is just that good. If anyone else were Lufpy, it just wouldn't be the same (see: Zoro).

Before the Depression Game can be played, a Depression Carnival must be set up. So that happens between panels.

Oh, I know how this one goes. Lufpy loses every single member of his crew, so he bets his mother, and the horse hunters surrender.

The leader of the horse hunters decides the first person he wants to enslave is a man. Shoddy move, sir. If you want to enslave the most powerful person, that's Nico Robin, and if you want to enslave the bestest person, that's Nami. The only other valid choice is Tony Tony Chopper if you're desperate for hair to make a wig. Honestly though you're probably better off just expanding your flag collection.

Kaiji Joke Part 1: Race

Usopp is no longer racist! However, he has no choice in this scenario... the women need a third guy. Usopp is no longer sexist! I thought worse of you, Usopp.

Kaiji Joke Part 2: Alcoholism, I Guess

Zoro and Sanji invited a newborn to do this.

Kaiji Joke Part 3: Actually, it's literally any anime other than Kaiji.

Lufpy still prefers 1v1s deep down in his heart.

Anyway, I guess we're gonna have three Kaiji Joke Parts queued up, but the first one comes first.

Chapter 307 - Ready, Set, Donut!

One Million Guys shooting your opponents to death with One Million Bullets isn't against the rules, in a race. However, neither is Sanji.

Everyone points out the fact that Nico Robin has powers. Hmm, maybe she shouldn't have shown them off... now everyone will try to drown her... well, that's already what was already happening...

Usopp uses a recording device. It super duper doesn't work!

Woah, does Usopp actually believe that? Well, good for him, I guess. He's certainly somewhat cute.

The horse hunters don't like Nami, so they decide to pull a "Tortoise-Hating Hare" move and take actions that make their victory less likely. However, before they can even enact that decision, they're already losing. This is the power of Usopp...!

Nico Robin tries to use power too, but everyone is looking at it, so it's kinda not allowed. Usopp's power is still a thing, but he doesn't want to die.

So, our heroes haven't figured out their next move. And our villains have. And soon, there will be coral. This is just like Kaiji!

This is the end of Chapter 307. If I had to rank our heroes on cuteness...

Nami > Lufpy > Usopp > Zoro > Nico Robin > Sanji > Tony Tony Chopper

So, you know, my normal ranking, just with Sanji much lower. Tony Tony Chopper's problem is he's so cute it wraps back around to not being cute at all--not even a little.

Chapter 308 - Obstructive Tactics

The horse hunters distract Lufpy by offering him food while distracting Sanji by telling him they don't have a good chef. I find this very amusing.

Meanwhile, they're poisoning Tony Tony Chopper, and getting Zoro drunk in advance before he even participates in the Alcoholism Kaiji Joke. All ruses were not created equal.

In the race, no one can see. However, Nami explains that that's fine, and everyone moves on with their lives.

Nami makes Usopp die in that version of the trolley problem where one person dies either way, but you can pull a lever to save the other two, if you want.

There's also a sign that says "Lose", but everyone ignores it. This is something Nami did, apparently.

There's also a guy, but everyone ignores him. This is something Nami did, apparently.

There's another sign that says "Lose", but everyone ignores that one too. This is something Nami did, apparently. ...Wait, I spoke too soon, the horse hunters don't ignore it.

bing bong

Usopp gets commanded to do more bad and deadly things. The horse hunter racial leader does bad and deadly things too, but she's still way behind in the race.

The horse hunter head honcho has the power to make people lose.

Chapter 309 - Groggy Monsters

I hope the punchline of this arc is that the race crew loses Kaiji Joke Part 1 and Lufpy loses someone, then the alcoholism crew wins Kaiji Joke Part 2 and wins them back, then Lufpy wins Kaiji Joke Part 3, some guy aligned with the horse hunters says "I'm the world's best carpenter!" and Lufpy takes their flag.

To demonstrate his power to make people lose, the horse hunter head honcho makes himself lose at the "not getting hit by cannonballs" game. He's really good at losing at it!

And as for who he wants to enslave... it's Tony Tony Chopper! You were on thin ice there, Quadruple-H, wanting to enslave a man instead of a woman, but you successfully did it! You correctly picked out the only acceptable man to enslave! You're not an idiot yet.

Nico Robin has seen the internet. This must be why everyone loves her! On the internet! It's because they know she's watching!

Wow, Quadruple-H really IS a furry! He likes Rarity from My Little Pony!

Zoro says that slavery is justified as long as the slaves are men. That's almost completely wrong!!! They need to be either women or Tony Tony Chopper! Either women or Tony Tony Chopper, I tell you! Well, either way, Zoro's core point, which is that it's totally fine that Tony Tony Chopper has been enslaved, is valid, and gets across to Tony Tony Chopper, who stops crying. Hooray for happy endings!

Wait, is Genshin Impact also a One Piece ripoff? There's literally one thing I know about Genshin Impact, and that's that it's a gacha game made by Chinese people about globally diverse people who all look like light-skinned anime people.

Oh, Kaiji Joke Part 2 isn't actually about alcoholism at all, it's about throwing people. Tony Tony Chopper actually would have been super qualified to get thrown, but it's too late, he's an enemy now. Lufpy will have to kill him.

Zoro and Sanji's opponents in Kaiji Joke Part 2 are an oversized male Matryoshka doll.

Chapter 310 - Groggy Ring!!

Danganronpa continues to be a One Piece ripoff.

Wait, I misunderstood the rules yet again. It's actually BAD for your throwable person to be throwable. Good thing Tony Tony Chopper got enslaved!

Zoro and Nami can agree on one thing: They like Sanji's new hat.

Wait, hang on, that panel I just posted has a smudge on it. Here, let me fix it:

You know who would have been a great pick for this game? Nico Robin. She could wear the hat, and then, using arms, she could win. Actually, no matter who was wearing the hat, she could just make a huge pile of arms on top of her allies' goal. Then no one could put her team's hat-wearer in the goal, because the goal would be covered in arms.

By "score", Sanji means "have sex".

Chapter 311 - Rough Game

Usopp, of all people, tells Zoro and Sanji, of all people, not to run away. Comedy gold.

Anyway...

This is how we win! Sanji needs to attack the referee a second time, so he gets removed from the field! Once Sanji is no longer allowed in the field, he's no longer allowed in the goal! It'll become IMPOSSIBLE for the horse hunters to win!

The surface Matryoshka hat-wearer horse hunter traps Sanji and Zoro in the second execution from Danganronpa. But it was already beyond clear that Danganronpa is a One Piece ripoff, so I'm totally just wasting time by continuing to bring it up, again and again.

That stops happening, but various other violence continues to happen. Nico Robin doesn't like it, because Zoro and Sanji are wounded again.

Zoro DOES like Nico Robin though, so he asks Sanji to use her power.

Chapter 312 - Goal!!

Roper is in this chapter?! I thought he died!!

Quadruple-H asks for monster meat, and a Matryoshka fellow reaches into his pants and pulls out a long, curved, huge instrument! Quadruple-H truly is a furry! Or at least I think this is in line with the values and beliefs of furries.

The Matryoshka horse hunters say they'll mince and slice "you", to which the other horse hunters ask "Okay, but what will you do to Zoro and Sanji?!" Man... did Quadruple-H just demand infighting? That's silly.

Well, sure enough, the Matryoshka horse hunters start killing each other. Zoro and Sanji help.

Sanji attacks the referee again, but unfortunately, he isn't removed from the field, because Nami stole all his stuff, meaning the horse hunters still have a chance to win.

Well, that chapter didn't even have Roper in it. It just had Zoro winning.

Chapter 313 - Main Event

I know, Usopp. I respect that about you

...okay LMAO

Nami pointed out that if they enslave Quadruple-H they'll automatically win Kaiji Joke Part 3 and be able to unenslave Tony Tony Chopper, but when Nico Robin points out that this means they'll have Quadruple-H as a slave, everyone decides they dislike Nami's idea after all, because Quadruple-H smells bad. Wonderful!

I also love how the next arc antagonist after

A GOD

is a pathetic little gamer man who hunts horses and gives people depression but also clearly has depression himself judging by his self-esteem levels. So much for shonen manga having power creep.

Anyway, Lufpy just skips to the part where Tony Tony Chopper gets unenslaved.

The horse hunters employ clever cheating: Shooting their own ship with a cannon.

Usopp gives Lufpy a makeover. Wow, Usopp was right... Usopp is cute... however, by making Lufpy cute, Usopp has prevented a shake-up in the cuteness tier list.

Chapter 314 - Combat!!

I hate to disparage Nami by comparison, but, in this panel... Nico Robin is the only one who gets it. That must be why people like her!

JOKE SETUP DETECTED! PUNCHLINE? PUNCHLINE? PUNCHLINE? PUNCHLINE? PLEASE? PLEASE? PLEASE? PLEASE?

There seems to be a bit of miscommunication going on amongst the horse hunters.

Also, explosions happen to Lufpy.

Chapter 315 - Secret Room

Lufpy has gotten adept at dodging Quadruple-H's power that makes people lose. The question now is... which one does he shoot?! It's impossible to know when every Quadruple-H looks equally ugly!!!

Lufpy shoots the sad one. Excellent joke as always, Oda.

Quadruple-H puts Lufpy in an autoscroller.

Wait, the autoscroller comparison I made was already valid, but this is literally something out of a video game.

Wait a minute... he's a furry... he's a gamer... he's so depressed it's contagious... even the name "Quadruple-H" sounds like an internet handle... this guy is just a guy who spends all his time on the internet!!! If the previous arc was the religion arc, this is the internet arc! It's all so obvious now!

Quadruple-H uses a complex web of disguises and lies to lure Lufpy to a door with something dead behind it.

Chapter 316 - Brother Soul

Quadruple-H has the world's least cool-looking mecha. Although, even despite Lufpy's ploy to give it bad luck by breaking a mirror, it's pretty effective. Lufpy is basically losing. However, he refuses to lose. It turns out Lufpy likes slavery even less than me and Zoro! Weird opinion, Lufpy, but okay.

[aashi-heartfilia]

Toga upcoming in chapter 327? Vol 32 ending with Ochako vs Toga Finale?

With the release of the latest volume cover featuring Lady Nagant, Deku and Toga too surprisingly, it got me questioning if she is about to make an appearance very soon.

For a fact we know that volume 32 starts from 307 and ends on chapter 317 leaving Bakugo's entry as a that sweet sweet cliffhanger. So volume 33 starts from chapter ch 318 and it should probably end on 327 or 328.

Chapter 327 is about to release tomorrow and what could happen now is just anyone's guess. Stain has given info about Tartaros to All Might and Endeavour etc are already looking for Dabi. Out of the three main nemeses Toga should be the easiest one to save. She has already made an appearance in previous chapter but it was always in the form of a callback or flashback.

It was also stated in ch 325 that Aizawa and school are all taking precautions regarding the invasion in UA. Heck we had half of ch 323 dedicated to showcasing how Nezu has turned it into his moving castle.

My point is, Toga should make an appearance physically too.

The last time we saw her in person was during war arc when she left in tears after battling Ochako. So what if she makes an appearance in the next chapter? Or better, what if she was in the crowd and heard Ochako's speech too?

Remember this guy?

Looks suspicious? Everyone was taking about how All Might at the end of ch 325 could be Toga but what about this guy?

Also, remember how Ochako literally remembering Toga during her speech?

With the events in manga that are going on lightning speed lately, why not end the entire freaking Volume with OCHAKO vs TOGA FINALE?

.

.

I'm hyped.

[seyaryminamoto]

How many chapters have you already written as of now? And what’s the event that you think is gonna shock us readers the most in part 3 (apart from the end of part 2 aka what’s happening now)?

Well, if you must know, Anon... I'm currently writing chapter 307 :'D

I guess there's quite a few things that might take you guys by surprise, tbh. I suppose at this point, though, 'shock' can be a complicated term: what's more shocking, more angst or something that's actually happy? xD

Alright, I guess as far as dark/sad things are concerned... I'd say the shocking stuff is to be found in:

251

258

259

274

276

279

280

Those are the chapters that feature scenes that I think got the most volatile reactions out of me. There's still sad moments pretty much everywhere, tbh, but those were preeeetty heavy for me. Some may not be too much of a surprise for those who have been inspecting both my blog and Gladiator's blog for spoilers, and also not much of a surprise for those who watched the Anniversary project veeeery keenly, but they might surprise a lot of people anyway.

As for the happier surprises, though...

A certain plotline throughout arc #2

261

266 (I think this might be the biggest surprise altogether, the foundations for it are laid down a little earlier, but it's a plot twist I just love and have loved from the moment I first hatched it and I can't wait to see the reactions it'll get xD)

275

282

284

285

290

Oof, so yep, there's a lot of wild stuff in store, and I can only hope you guys will enjoy what's enjoyable, and not hate me too much over what isn't xD I have tried, genuinely, to make Part 3 bearable and readable and not just a constant journey of misery... a few things in more recent content I've written doesn't come off as much of a surprise to me atm, no idea if you guys will feel any differently about it when the time comes xD but the chapter numbers I listed here might just be ones to look out for, or look forward to, as the case may be :'D

[thyandrawrites]

Hi! So I know that a lot of people didn't like chap.306 and I didn't find it interesting neither but I loved when people didn't listen Shindo. They haven't anymore trust in heroes as they did before and I think this is signal, someone saw the defects in hero society. Do they agree with Dabi? Maybe I'm wrong but I hope. In the end, where aren't heroes anymore, everyone should learn how to control Quirks, (law forbidding civilians to use their Quirks is bullshit🙃🙃) no matter how your quirk is powerful, scary or stupid. No discrimination.?!?!This is how I see it. Your opinion? English isn't my first language so forgive my mistakes😄😅😅

You english is fine! Besides, english is not my first language either so please don’t apologize to me :’)

I think you meant chapter 307..? when the civilians refused Shindo’s help. to be honest my interest for this arc is very minimal, but I like that Horikoshi’s finally delving into proper social commentary, finally showing heroes in less than sympathetic lights. Before, even when he did inherently criticize their actions, the narrative was always on their side at the end of the day. Now we’re finally starting to see that blind faith in heroism fade away under the harsh truth that their help doesn’t actually reach everyone, and I think this is a very important thing to finally show on screen, as opposed to just letting us parse it through the villains’ backstories. The heroes are now being held accountable for their failure at Jakku, which is something pretty much unprecedented. The fact that civilians are trying to defend themselves against villain threats even when they’re risking their own lives to do so, the fact that they recognize that the heroes’ protection at hero schools would put them into a greater danger, shows that the public perception of heroes as unshakable pillars has already changed. They stopped trusting the system, and are now relying on themselves to have fairness. This isn’t exactly what Dabi wanted (Dabi wanted accountability from both civilians and institutions alike, and this is more like a state of lawless vigilantism due to lack of faith in a superior state of things), but it’s likely the start of a longer process.

It seems to me that hori is building towards a shift in the definition of heroism and in the laws surrounding quirk use. I read that in the spin-off manga Vigilantes, they define “villain” as someone who committed two or more quirk-based crimes. But now half of Japan is using their quirks to fight, so basically they’re all villains. Which seems to point in the direction that maybe at the end of the story, the definition itself of villain is going to change, possibly as a result of Deku becoming the “greatest hero”, since we know that he’s already challenging his own perception of what a villain is right now

[puddle-of-awesomeness]

Fic Writer Review

Tagged by @samanthaswishes

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

51

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

508,020

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Apparently 28 ??? but most of those are just different parts of the MCU (i.e. Iron Man Movies, Thor Movies etc). Other than that, I've written for Marvel Comics, Person of Interest, the DCEU, The Gifted, Doctor Who, PJO, TSC, X-Men Movieverse, Arrowverse but Agents of SHIELD is my main fandom.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Someone Revoke Their Internet Access 638 kudos- Chaotic chat fic my beloved. Honestly, this one just gets weirder every time I update it, which I admit can sometimes take a while, but this is personally one of my fave fics I've ever written.

A Week After Death 529 kudos- The Agents of SHIELD/Agent Carter crossover fic that did waaay better than I thought it was going to do, and obviously I was going to do something with that "anatomy analysis" line. Also, this is the fic where I came up with a Dousy baby name and just stuck with it.

Loving The Journey Together 383 kudos- Can't believe I managed to miss the day this fic turned one year old, and can you tell I like fluffy fics?? Aaaaand I've just realised how long I've gone without updating this one.

00:00:00:00 307 kudos- I was surprised to see this one in the top five, not gonna lie. This was my first Agents of SHIELD/Dousy fic, the first of many (I may have a problem lmao). Also, my first soulmates AU, which is honestly surprising considering that it's one of my favourite tropes.

City of Dust and Shadows 274 kudos. This is easily the most insane thing I have ever written and one that I really want to finish, but I just struggle to think of what I want to say every time I open the document. Which is really annoying because I have the entire plot planned out, it's just the specifics of each scene.

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Sometimes, but not often. I do try to reply to comments, but more often than not I have no idea what to say so the unanswered comment just sits in my inbox, taunting me, until I eventually delete everything from my inbox.

6. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I don't normally write much angst, I'm more of a fluff person, however, Keep Me In Your Heart, Okay? and I Thought It Would Be Better This Way are both pretty angsty as both are about characters finding out/reacting to the deaths of other characters (one part-way through Crisis On Infinite Earths, the other post Infinity War). I haven't reread either of them in forever though, so I don't remember how good they are, especially I Thought It Would Be Better This Way as I wrote that in the space of five hours on my tablet in the back of the car on the way to London the day after I saw Infinity War.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've ever written?

I've co-written a couple of crossovers with friends, although neither has been updated in forever, sorry. The craziest one by far is definitely City of Dust and Shadows which is an MCU/X-Men Movieverse/PJO and co/TSC crossover and to this day I am amazed that I managed to plan out a fifteen chapter plot from all the dumb interactions me and my friend thought these characters would have while brainstorming ideas during our lunch break in school.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not so much hate, but someone left multiple comments on the same fic criticising me for stuff that wasn't canon as of the series finale even though I'd already replied to them pointing out that I'd posted the fic before the finale aired. They also accused me of promoting CCP propaganda because they forgot the 1998 animated Mulan movie existed, so that was fun.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, not that I'm aware of, but it would be cool to see.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, both crossovers I've written have been with friends, although with Mutants of Interest, my friend most/all of the first chapter and I wrote the 300 words of the second chapter that neither of us have touched since like 2019. It's actually become a running joke between us that we've gone so long without updating that fic.

13. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Dousy. That one definitely came out of nowhere last year to completely consume my life. Almost half of all my fics are about them at this point. Before Dousy, it was definitely Amerikate although I've never written as much for them, they've just been side pairings in a larger fic but I definitely want to write more for them in the future.

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

If you have been following me since the days of Life On The Farm, you may be entitled to a senior's discount. That was my second ever fic and the oldest one I still have posted, however, by 2019 I was losing a lot of my motivation to write that one and it started to feel more like a chore. I think the problem was that I wrote a lot of it while I was ill and have kinda associated it, especially the early parts, with that time of my life, which really sucked. And I also don't really like some parts of it as much anymore. But I really hope that one day I'll be able to go back to it, because that fic was like my baby for years.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Domestic and family fluff always feel like something that I do pretty well, as well as more comedic scenarios.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I find more serious moments harder to write, especially character deaths, and also action sequences, I just get confused trying to explain/keep up with what everyone is doing.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't write in other languages in fics as my foreign language skills don't extend any further than GCSE French and Spanish, the most I remember ever having "written" in another language was copy and pasting one word in Korean from a kpop song when someone referenced a line from that song. I normally just stick with "[name] said in [language]".

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The MCU.

19. What's your favourite fic you've written?

I do love the majority of my fics, but if I had to pick, it would end up being a tie between Someone Revoke Their Internet Access, A Week After Death and Explosive.

Tagging: @princessroot and anyone else that wants to do this

[casually-inlove]

Oooh, hello ~ I would like fanfic recommendations too!! I'm still new to the fandom so I really don't know a lot about it. I read about everything so I don't have any preference or warning, please ^-^

EDIT. Oops, looks like I’ve accidentally deleted the screenshot of the second ask. Dear anon who asked me about hardcore fics – this is for you too!

I’m merging your asks since they are similar. Here be my recs:

For raunchy fics, you should definitely check out works by @i-got-these-words (Ao3 link). Those are very well written and feature unabashed steamy fun. They also have a series of short drabbles that are written based on requests here. My personal favourite is Huaxia – a historical/fantasy AU that incorporates the elements of Omegaverse; I’m not a big lover of A/B/O but that fic happens to be one of the few that I truly find enjoyable. I Am Not A Prostitute by traceytries is another well-known work that features sexy stuff in every chapter, so you might check that. 

If you dig both explicit stuff and angst, @agapaic aka powerandpathos is your person. Beings is a very explicit, BDSM flavoured fic that keeps both HT and MGS fairly in character. Sleeping With Roses is one of the most Tianshan fics that paradoxically doesn’t feature He Tian; it’s extremely gut-wrenching and beautiful. 307 is another mature fic based on an official OX illustration; despite the rating it’s much deeper than it appears. Other than those I would definitely recommend checking out their more demure fics. The writing is beautiful, and quite British I might add, haha. Sweet Tooth is one of my favourite fics of all times, period. REM and Water on the Bridge are excellent character studies. If you enjoy AUs, you should probably check Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby for its flavourful 30s setting. 

I have already mentioned @nightfayre ​ in my previous ask. I greatly enjoy their writing style – it’s quite poignant and evocative. Their fics are chiefly softer and do not feature as much angst as those by powerandpathos. Hook, Line, and Sinker is the most recent fic, and it’s absolutely brilliant. I would also recommend reading Fire and the Flood, which is a Pacific Rim AU.

Another writer I would like to recommend is @notthatiwilleverwriteit ​. Apart from the relationship, between HT and MGS, their works also focus on the supporting characters. The Cycle of Sunflower is a great reading choice.

As an afterword, I don’t really read FF.net or Wattpad, so I can’t give any recommendations regarding works there. Also, there are many authors who post their fics on tumblr, so you just have to watch the tag frequently.  

[purge-that-urge-rhackathon]

Will we have a update soon? I literally can not stop thinking about reading your fics but I've reread all the ones ive read already. I'm gonna reread and leave some more comments of course, but I was just curious.

No time soon on either story, sorry! I’m a little discouraged by comment reception, especially compared to last (I.e. the most recent All Sales Final chap was 27 PAGES long, and I’m just a little disappointed at the reception).

I wish more people would tell me what they like more or what they’re enjoying about the story. Without me bitching about it :/ it’s common courtesy if you’re reading some long-ass fic someone put a lot of free time into for you to enjoy, leave a message! There are 307 subscriptions to that story and the number increases every chapter (I screencap everything beforehand to compare solids data numbers between chapters) and not even ten percent commented. That’s…depressing as fuck.

There’s zero incentive for me to work on updating fic right now. I don’t care if it seems petty (or those poor naive writers who think getting like three comments is acceptable when they have a lot of hits and their writing is good. It’s NOT acceptable. Not acceptable at all for the amount of work that goes into writing).

I know my writing is good to an extent. I’m confident in my abilities as a hobby writer and my command of grammar and formatting, few to no spelling errors, and decent pacing for plot/action/driving motivations. The numbers back it up. So when I spend a lot of time checking and working to give it that punch, and you don’t get half the same effort back for feedback, it stings.

People don’t want to spend thirty or GOD FORBID sixty seconds to write a lengthy little comment, then why should I spend 8-12HOURS writing a new chapter for them to read? Where’s the pay back, you know? I enjoy writing, but yes I want something out of it for the time I put into it. I think that’s fair.

[clexaweekofficial]

I already have a season 3 based fic (that's not finished) even wrote a chapter where Lexa got shot thinking that the show wouldn't go down that route (posted it literally the night before 307 aired, so that was shitty). I'm planning on writing something for today, as I've written something for every other day, but it's really going to be a struggle.

I know :( If you think you can do it, maybe it will be cathartic and help you feel better! If you aren't sure you can, just do what you need to feel safe and comfortable. *virtual hug* Stay strong, kru.