#Probably Luffy. Maybe Dragon. He's probably gonna die is the point.

[moongothic]

In reference to this post; I was gonna reply in the comments but once again, it got too long, and I figured I might as well make a brief post about this because shit's interesting but the OG post was getting so long I didn't want to extend it any further. So. New post.

But I'm also going to make this a lowkey follow-up to this post, where I briefly talked about whether or not Crocodile is worthy of a redemption. Because I did have multiple people reply to it, mentioning they don't think Crocodile needs a redemption, which isn't wrong. Villian redemptions come down to personal preference (some people like them more than others generally speaking), and the specific circumstances of a character and the story they go through. (Personally, I am a fucking sucker for a good redemption story, and One Piece? Has how many redeemed villians? Kuma, Hatchan and Bon-chan? Perona too? Buggy and Mr 3 if we're generous??? I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, but the ratio is quite low is my point) The reason I want to bring that up again, is that depending on what Crocodile's trauma really boils down to (**since we don't know for sure what it is**), it could go against the very core messages of One Piece if he just dies without that trauma being resolved. And at the same time, if his trauma is what I think it is, then he can not heal from it without being redeemed. And the opposite is true as well, if his trauma isn't what I think it is, then he doesn't need to heal from it, and he doesn't need to be redeemed. I do have a whole separate post slow cooking in my drafts right now so I don't want to go too deep into that subject here and now. But the point is. If we want Crocodile to open up and be vunerable and heal from his shit, it means he's either getting a redemption arc or redemption in death. The latter is way fucking sadder, but again, a whole separate post.

BTW quick apology but I figured since there's a bunch of shit in this post that I've written about separately before, I might as well link to those posts for like context, so people can get where I'm coming from with my nonsense while keeping this post brief-ish

BUT ONTO THE ACTUAL SUBJECT As I have kind of mentioned before, I do think Crocodile probably has multiple layers of trauma going for him

We know losing to Whitebeard Did Things to his psyche for certain

I think it's very plausible he might've been betrayed by his former crew if he ever had one

I think it's likely Dragon didn't take too well to him transitioning

And between that and Crocodile already having tried to kill Luffy multiple times, he probably believes his son would never accept him as his other dad, especially since he already hates him.

(And I do think it's likely he might have some additional early childhood trauma based on how Oda writes these things normally but whatever that could be is an absolute mystery)

And if I'm right and those are (some of) the different layers of his trauma, then for Crocodile to open up and heal from it you'd need to do it step-by-step, layer by layer

I think Luffy accepting Crocodile would be the most important thing, above all else. Because if Crocodile loving and caring about his son is the only shred of humanity left in him, if Luffy is the only thing Crocodile cares about anymore while believing no one else will ever do so for him, then having that feeling returned is the key to getting Crocodile to just start to heal. If his son can't accept and forgive him then what would it matter what anyone else thinks? In my mind, Luffy is The Sledgehammer that can break Crocodile's walls.

But that's the first layer, the first step to getting Crocodile to become vunerable

If he does have that betrayal-based trauma, then I think finding people who would actually follow him and be loyal to him would help him heal on that front. And... This probably sounds strange, but I think Mihawk is the best candidate for it. Not just because he could be to Croc what Zoro is to Luffy (in many ways), and not just because of the Romancing SaGa 2 comparisons, but because Crocodile does already seem to respect Mihawk on some level. Like he specifically invited Mihawk to start Cross Guild with. IDK if they have like shared history before or if it's just because they're Fellow Former Warlords or simply because he knows Mihawk is strong and in a vunerable position (after losing his Shichibukai Rights) or what, but despite Crocodile saying he doesn't trust people, he seems to trust Mihawk enough to invite him. And he seems to respect Mihawk's opinions on things, like he might view themselves as equals. So if Mihawk, The Greatest Swordsman In The World of all people, genuinely expressed faith and loyalty to Crocodile... Yeah, I think that would do a lot for Croc. Especially if Mihawk found out about Crocodile's baggage and chose to follow him despite/because of it.

But if we want Crocodile to Heal ALL THE WAY. He and Dragon need to have a talk.

Which will not be easy, considdering like.

Look at that fucking expression on the panel on the right. Dragon is more than likely beyond furious with Crocodile over what he did in Alabasta. And for good reason. And frankly, I can't tell if they can ever come back from that.

(Sidenote, but this page these panels are from (from Chapter 1058) follows immidiately after the page where Buggy introduces Crocodile and Mihawk to Cross Guild, Dragon's placement on the bottom right of this page matching perfectly where Crocodile was placed in the previous page. So considdering what Dragon says and the expression he makes... Man, if there ever was a way for Oda to tell us what Dragon thinks of Crocodile without explicitly having him say it, yeah, this would be it)

And I'm sure that even if Crocodile got over whatever heartbreak might've happened between him and Dragon and just moved on... The fact that Dragon never called Crocodile and warned him about their son being a pirate, with a bounty, who might be on his way to the Grand Line, where he could stumble his way to Alabasta, where Crocodile was famous for his Pirate Crushing Heroics mind you... Yeah. Crocodile would have a perfectly understandable reason to be furious at Dragon too. He almost killed their son without knowing because Dragon never warned him, never told their son's name to him, never told his OWN full name to Crocodile.

So needless to say.

They have a lot of differences to overcome. Things they've done that they'd both need to look past, forgive and forget. Somehow. And I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'd find it damn near impossible to happen.

But can you imagine, if despite everything, Dragon still loved him? And was sorry about whatever the fuck happened 19 years ago? And didn't want to lose him again?

I think that would be the thing that would help Crocodile heal all the way in the end.

If Luffy is the first step, then Dragon is the last.

[d-lissa]

One Piece 👀

predictable ik :B

Predictable, maybe, but of oh so good taste.

The first character I first fell in love with : Monkey.D.Luffy. I love him so much, ok ?

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now : Buggy. Boy do you never expect the Buggy.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t :  ... Erm. I dunno. Doffy, maybe ? Like, he's hot but I would rather choke on a cactus than appreciate him as a human being. But that's no hot take, because really, everyone and their blind grandma knows that he's an awful person. Except for the Thirsty™ people. They don't deal with logic. Which ... Yeah, that's fair.

The character I love that everyone else hates : ... There's a character hated by literally everyone in the fandom ? I mean ... Other than Teach or Sakazuki, which ... Fuck them, honnestly. And the Rosward's family (the Celestial Dragon). Yeah, no, I hate all of them too. Can't think of a single one. Is Cavendish hated ? Because I love him. Crocodile too.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer : Mmmmh. Vivi, maybe ? Like, don't get me wrong, I don't hate her by any means and I still cry when I see The Scene™ and her arc is ... Mwah. But like ... Yeah, I don't really care about her anymore.

The character(s) I would totally smooch : ... So. Fucking. Many of them. Erm ... Luffy, Law, Ace, Sabo, Brook, Rayleigh, Mihawk, Perona, Robin, Vivi, Marco, Crocodile, Nami, Katakuri, Aokiji, Cavendish, Baby-5, Sanji, Reiju, Eustass, Killer, Boney, Smoker, Tashigi, Coby, Alvida, Shiraoshi, Shanks, Rob Lucci, Iceburg and ... Probably others. I dunno. My brain is mush, everyone's pretty and I'm horny so ... Yeah, if it's hot, I probably wanted to smooch it at one point. Plus most of them deserve more love, dammit.

The character I’d want to be like : Mmmh. Perona, probably. Love her vibe. Maybe a bit like Yamato and Luffy. I'd love to be so passionate about something. Sad thing is that I'm a Law, in less smart and less hot.

The character I'd slap : Doffy. And Roger. Then I'd QUICKLY make a run for it, to hide the will I wrote just before that knowing my death would come soon, entrusting anything that I have left to Luffy, for I know he'd knpw what to do with it. Sell it all to buy meat, as God intended. Preach.

A pairing that I love : I am Lawlu trash and it shows, trust me bro.

A pairing that I despise : And THIS is where I'm gonna have a hot take : ZoSan, NaLu, ZoRo and ZoLu are overhyped. They're cute, but not THAT much and the sheer amount of die hard fans makes me despise it. Also, you can take my "The Straw Hats are all platonic soulmates" take from my dead ashes because no way in hell will I ever let that go if I still had a body.

Anyway, thanks for the ask !! It's really fun to get those ! I want more fandoms !!

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1024 - Initial Thoughts

Happy Volume 100 Day! Indeed, Volume 100 officially comes out today, it's a shame we didn't get more of those We Are One segments (just like the Nissin noodle commercials) but it wrapped up nicely

There's also a chapter to deal with though so let's get to it

Spoilers for Chapter 1024, Support the Official Release too!

I forgot to mention the special Popularity Poll colour spreads last time but here's our middle one mainly involving the Straw Hats, Vivi, the remaining Supernovas, Bon, Merry, Woop Slap (seriously how?) and some villains (Crocodile, the rest of Moria and Enel). Sneaky bit of Sabo on the side too who'll be fully displayed in the next spread

Oh Usopp, your braggadocios scamp you. He's spreading Fear of God by claiming some recent KOs are due to his Conqueror's Haki

Also claiming to have defeated 2 of the Tobi Roppo...I mean he contributed at least, maybe word it like 'I fought two of the Tobi Roppo and I'm still standing'

Plus he's riding a very unimpressed Alligator SMILE atrocity XD

Horsealina chan (aka Speed) is back to protect sweet child Tama, as it turns out the KOs are from Big Mom's Conqueror's Haki who's fighting on this floor, which must mean that Law and Kid are taking it to her

Also it's still worth applauding that Nami, Usopp, Speed nor even Tama have succumbed to BM's Conqueror's Haki

Luffy's status is still unknown to the crew though, and Nami does seem a bit nervous about it when asking Franky

Franky's right though, no news is good news because if Luffy was defeated or dead he'd be paraded around by the Yonko

Franky is also making motions to move Nami and Usopp with him to the performance floor, so the crew's gonna be converging soon

Some Heart Pirate action too as they fend off any attempts at enemies intervening on Zoro and Sanji's fight with King and Queen, seems like Law they don't like to be told to do stuff by the Straw Hats either

Everyone's bouncing from the Third Floor too thanks to Maria's arson attempts

Out in a blaze of Yohoho is Brook carrying Robin, but no you're not cremated just yet, need to be ashes for that

Look at Robin so peaceful, as Brook guards over her and also is eager to know how things are going

He calls Jimbei who's on the Fourth Floor with Kid's remaining crew, didn't know Kid has a feral female crewmate

Trust Jimbei to be concerned about the big picture of Kaido, but he also mentions how people are fleeing the castle, is it because of the fight in the Performance Floor or because we've reached mainland?

Showing Kawamatsu defending the line does make me think the former

But back to Yamato vs Kaido now, looks like some parent/child attack tennis

Since we can't avoid it now I know the Vivre Card Databook is saying that Yamato is female but since Yamato is identifying as Oden and was still canonically called Kaido's son I'm gonna continue to use male pronouns for the time being. Don't read too into it okay or leap at me for using the wrong pronoun because it's a can of worms right now and I don't want to be part of it

I mean, come on Yamato it's not like you expected Kaido to take it easy on you when you're trying to stop one of his endgame plans

Flashback time! And that's where the Dragon statue used to be...

Kid Yamato is precious, and also has Conqueror's Haki

Kaido all about not winning any Father of the Year awards, he's been starving Yamato, says if he wants to be Oden then he'd be better off dead, then threw him in a cave for a month

Yamato isn't alone though, there are three master swordsmen samurai in the cave too

And now he entices them, with a serving of food for one and a load of swords to fight over it

And the twisted cherry on the bastard cake: 'But I thought you were Oden', was there ulterior motive though? Oden would be able to inspire the Samurai right? I guess not for his own gain though given how he's treating Yamato

The Samurai grab the swords, but they hand Yamato the food: Samurai don't get hungry...unless they're Kin'emon and Momo, like how Kunoichi don't get hungry unless it's Tama

Full on Tama vibes from Kid Yamato eating their first meal in ages, I see that Oda

Dang then one of the Samurai just cut the chains off of him

Since I was given away on spoilers (like seriously guys use the 'Keep Reading' thing, it's the best way to hide spoilery stuff for those who don't wanna be spoiled) this must be Ushimaru, and he does look like those old Zoro pictures

He also now has an eye injury, but he feels disgraced, probably because he was captured rather than killed

Look at this little baby who is probably 5 foot tall hiding behind Oden's journal and doesn't know how to read yet

Looks like Yamato had 3 Dads, all of them Samurai, who taught him to read Oden's journal so he could fanboy more

10 Days pass and Yamato is weakening, seems like the Samurai feel that Yamato will need to be in the fight

Ushimaru though with the Shimotsuki crest on his back has had enough of prison, the Samurai are busting out and in turn giving Yamato freedom from the cave too

Amanowato, I feel like that's important, but the only thing I can find is a special dance (Amanowato Mai) that's performed on the day of the Annual Festival - October 15th...which is a Friday so maybe...

Back to the present and Yamato asks the tough questions, what right does Kaido have to steal freedom?

But Kaido makes a usual cruel response, there are no easy answers

And then we conclude with a clash of Thunder Bagua

Whooof, lot in that chapter huh?

We've got collective chaos with the Straw Hats as they do as expected begin to converge towards the performance floor, perhaps for the final hold off before Luffy and Momo arrive.

Oda though must've known that we were hoping for a Zoro flashback, because he then gave Yamato one instead XD It was cool to see some supportive people in Yamato's past, but while Yamato4Nakama fans will point that he now has a link to Zoro via Ushimaru we also have to note that Yamato's backstory may not have enough tragedy to be a Straw Hat (I'm joking in this btw, Carrot doesn't either unless the Dukes die but Zoro and Usopp's backstories aren't so tragic either)

Yamato giving me Tama vibes when a child is interesting, I do wonder why we have gone that route other than adorableness, but you can see where his strong admiration for Samurai lies too. Wonder how he got Oden's journal so young though

But yeah, no break which is good, I have a feeling though we'll get one next chapter after the colour spread is finished, 1025 could be setting something up big so Oda can pass out for a few days till giving us fire once again

[victorie552onepiecespeedrun]

Reading One Piece pt 310: Damsel In Distress

Chapter 558

Thoughts:

- Fpos/cs: “The demon begins composing” …??? What kind of master plan…?

- now Whitebeard knows they want to kill Ace early, just after they’ll get something. I don’t know why they need preparations for that but ok

- “He’s talking to Whitebeard like an equal! Where does he get the guts!?” that probably sounds more daring in Japanese. I don’t feel like Luffy got any more guts than usual

- oh? Sengoku wanted pirates to know the plan? Do you know what that means? MIND GAMES!!!

- Kizaru is attacking Lu… no, wait, Ivankov saved him

- lol at Buggy. “You are too easily impressed!” indeed :D

- KUMA NO

- “Bartholomew Kuma! You creep! Just because they made you a Warlord doesn’t mean you can fire your laser at an old friend!” huh?

- (so Kuma DID know Dragon. Maybe he was even in the inner circle of the Revolutionary Army?)

- Hina is making her move!

- “I’m sick of being locked up!” yeah, you tell them Luffy

- not Luffy vs Moria again, our last Moria fight lasted forever

- “I know! I’ll take your shadow again and use it to control Oar’s body!” …why do you think it would work this time. No creativity, that one

- “Zombie soldiers! Capture Straw Hat! This is a battle field! The more corpses there are, the more zombies I can make!” shit, that’s true. People are actually dying all around our main players. I barely feel that

- Ace, don’t

- “Luffy! Don’t come up here!!” for the love of… Ace, this is happening, deal with it. I swear, you’re worse than Robin on the whole ‘being rescued’ front

- (I get Ace wouldn’t believe someone would want to save him, I mean, his very first parental figure (Garp) is doing nothing to stop the execution, this is where it all came from. But even Robin decided she would let Straw Hats help her after they opposed WG for her. Here we have a whole war going on, both nominally and literary for him, and Ace’s all “I’m not worth it, leave me to die”. He wants everyone safe and to not be a cause of war but that ship had already sailed. At this point protesting his own rescue is insulting to him and others. Does he hate himself that much or what. I mean, why?)  

- (Oh my god. I just realized Ace’s a damsel in distress. Save that prince/ss, people)

- “You should know better! You and I are pirates! We went to sea separately!” oh Ace

- “I have my own adventures! I have my own friends! There’s no place for you in my life!” …ouch

- “You think I’d let myself be rescued by a weakling like you!? That would be an unbearable insult!” what I just said

- “Beat it, Luffy! Why did you come here!?”

- “…Please, Luffy. I don’t want you to get killed for me. It’s my own fault I’m here!” …

- he’s broken. They broke him and I don’t know how or really why. And I’m angry

- “I’M YOUR LITTLE BROTHER! I don’t care about your pirate rules!” ha!

- Jimbei rules. He defeated all Moria’s zombies in like one move (with salt in sea water)

- Sengoku, what are you doing, live commentary?

- he’s broadcasting to the whole battlefield, yes

- “That man is a menace to the future of humanity! HE grew up with Ace! They’re like brothers! And as for his bloodline…” bitch you didn’t

- “He’s the son… of Dragon the Revolutionary!” bitch DID

- and now everyone knows

- “Nothing will surprise me at this point” lol, Mihawk :D but everyone else is shocked, either at the news or that Sengoku spilled the tea to the whole world

- “Whatever. Luffy’s already an outlaw.” – Garp. Grandpa of the Year, everybody

- meanwhile, Luffy is owning the battlefield

- “Say whatever you want! I’m gonna save you even if it kills me!” yeah!!!

“Don’t you let him die, Marco.” “Aye aye, sir.”

rOP 309  rOP 311

[cynthiaandsamus]

Game Blondes: Tekking101 One Piece Isekai Adventure!

“Hey I’m Blonde!”

“...I’m also Blonde.”

“AND WE’RE THE GAME BLONDES!!”

Game Blondes Logo by @game-overture​

One Piece Isekai Setup created by Tekking101 and found here:

https://youtu.be/zHInvsopBtQ

“Wait this isn’t a video game.” Samus pouts.

“The show’s called “GAME Blondes” not Video Game Blondes, that means any game is fair… game!” Cynthia cackles. “And today we’re doing the One Piece Isekai Adventure Game created by Tekking101!”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“That’s fine!” The Champion nods. “We’re going to roll some dice to determine how and where we get sent into the One Piece world and what goal we have to achieve in order to come back to our own world. They’ve made some reference tables to show everything about our situation and we’re gonna make little stories based on them!”

“Okay, sounds simple enough.” Samus flicks one of the dice around. “So what’s first?”

“First the Isekai Fairy comes to take you away! As per the rules the Isekai Fairy is extremely attractive for some reason and is your ideal type of attractive person. For me they look like Dawn.”

“Okay that’s strange, I guess my fairy looks like Tifa.” Samus shrugged.

“Fair enough! Now the fairy lets you get hooked up with your starting gear!”

“You get to take what you’re wearing, plus two sets of clothing and one free set of winter clothing in case you end up somewhere cold, though they have to be extremely unfashionable.”

“That seems unnecessary but given I’m weak to the cold I’d better take it.”

“You get a backpack to carry this stuff in and also arrive in perfect health, get 1 million starting beli ($9,500) and one object of your choosing.” Cynthia read down the list. “So you gotta choose something to take with you, it’s one thing and most kinds of electronics and stuff won’t work. Though pets are allowed.”

“Guess I’ll take my arm cannon since I don’t think my whole suit would fly here, and the basic laser of the arm cannon works off my own energy instead of external missiles or power sources.”

“And I’m taking Garchomp, if pets count that must mean pokemon do too!”

“But if Garchomp is one object doesn’t that mean you can’t take its pokeball?”

“… fuck, so I gotta walk around the One Piece world with a giant sand shark following me everywhere… well they’ve seen worse so I guess it’s fine, it’ll work for the intimidation factor at least and keep people off my back.”

-Cynthia’s Inventoy-

1 Million Beli, Large Backpack, Champion Coat Outfit, Summer Blouse Outfit, Hideous Plaid Winter Clothes, Garchomp

-Samus’s Inventory-

1 Million Beli, Large Backpack, Zero Suit, Workout Clothes, Neon Pink Winter Clothes, Arm Cannon

 “Okay so we’re ready to go, got our starting gear, we’ll get a bonus item once we arrive but first we have to decide where we arrive at.”

“Fuck, the One Piece world’s huge, how do we do that?” Samus blinked and tilted her head.

“More reference tables! We roll a die to determine the region we end up in and then another to determine the exact island, let’s check out those tables.”

Cynthia’s Result: 2

Samus’s Result: 6

“So I’m in the South Blue, the buttfuck nowhere of the One Piece world, and you’re in the New World, the hellish crime-littered frontier of the current storyline. We arrive at the same day the One Piece story starts so none of the events have happened yet but we do retain our knowledge of their events. Now to find the islands we’re going to!”

Cynthia’s Result: 5

“I’m in the Black Drum Kingdom, a snowy desolate area that Wapol will eventually come to rule after Luffy kicks him out of the Non-Black Drum Kingdom. For now I guess it’s up for sale though since he only becomes King of it by getting lots of money so I might have a shot at ruling it before he does.”

Samus’s Result: 11

“You land on Applenine Island, a land neighboring the country of Dressrosa ruled tyrannically by Donquixote Doflamingo. I don’t know much about it except the terrain and houses look like Apples but it’s probably a short hop over to Dressorosa if you feel like going over there and making some connections.”

“You said something about a bonus item once we arrived?”

“Yes! For this one we roll a D100 and get an extra potentially useful, potentially useless item to add to our inventory. Let’s see what we get!”

Cynthia’s Result: 38

“A fishing rod with line, tackle box and bait. Well I’m pretty good at fishing up Magikarp so that might come in handy, though I don’t know how good the fishing is on the Black Drum Kingdom, maybe ice-fishing or something…”

Samus’s Result: 42

“A bag with EXACTLY 37 green apples.”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THE APPLES!?” Samus pounded her hand on the table. “I get warped to appleburg with a bag of fucking apples!! Is this rigged!?”

“It’s all random I swear, the apples of chance just seem to favor you.”

“Ugh, I don’t know how I’ll put that to use… what’s next?”

“Well before we get our objective and figure out or paths in this world, we have to look at… the risk table!”

“You don’t have to roll it if you don’t want but you have a 50/50 shot of getting a fair boost or a horrendous hindrance to your goal.”

“Ehh fine why not, there’s no apple-related choices so what’s the worst that could happen.”

Samus’s Result: 7

“A Yonkou wants you dead.”

“FUCK.”

Cynthia’s Result: 2

“And I get to bring a family member or friend! Considering most of my family are either young or elderly and I’ve already counted pokemon as pets for the sake of this game, I’ll bring a friend! You’re already having your own adventure so I guess I’ll pick Zebes, never know when a Tentacle Metroid might come in handy around here.”

“Which Yonkou wants me dead? Like if it’s Shanks I may be able to get away from that but if it’s Kaidou like Doflamingo works for him and he’s right fucking next door.”

“Let’s roll another dice to see! There’s no reference table for this one but considering it’s pre-timeskip we’ll go with 1 is Whitebeard, 2 is Kaido, 3 is Big Mom and 4 is Shanks.”

Samus’s Result: 4

“And it’s Shanks.”

“…okay, still not great but Shanks has a small crew and doesn’t seem to personally go out hunting a lot so I might be alright.” Samus breathed a small sigh of relief.

“And now last but not least the Objective Table! This will be your goal to achieve so you can get sent back to your own world and consider the challenge successful.”

Cynthia’s Result: 7

“I have to meet a Straw Hat, specifically meet a Straw Hat while they’re on the crew. That’s not going to be easy, I know where they’ll be but they never come to the South Blue so I’ll have to go out and find them/intercept them somewhere along their journey, meaning I’ll have to go out and find my way into the grand line, this might be tricky…”

Samus’s Result: 2

“I have to Walk on a Sky Island? I mean I guess there’s a lot harder goals out there but I don’t know where the nearest place to find one would be.”

“Okay, the stakes are set, let’s make our Isekai Stories!!”

Cynthia arrives in the South Blue in the Black Drum Kingdom, with a bit of money to her name, some clothes, a Garchomp and a tentacle blob. Needless to say the townspeople are all terrified of the woman that wears hideous plaid snowgear and controls strange creatures to do her bidding but with her trusty fishing rod and the hunting of her two partners she’s able to gather some supplies, some semi-frozen fish and a few other trinkets and uses some of her money (as well as some she earns by selling some of the fresh caught fish, doing tricks with Zebes and Garchomp as a street show and various odd jobs the team of three can do for the townspeople that aren’t scared stiff of her) to book passage on a sailing ship, the goal in her mind of meeting one of the straw hat crew.

By the time she makes it to the last island in the South before the Grand Line, working up the money and supplies as well as travel has taken her over a month and murmurs of Luffy’s first bounty arise. The exact timeline is sketchy but he seems to have already beaten Arlong and is heading for the Grand Line. Judging by the timeline and how difficult it seems to buy passage on a ship heading towards the Grand Line, she’s a little bit behind Luffy and will have to find a place to make up some time.

Luckily thanks to her One Piece knowledge she knows the Straw Hats do make a few detours coming into the Grand Line, and where they’ll be spending a lot of time: Alabasta. Using the remainder of her money and some intimidation thanks to her dragon friend, she is able to buy her way onto a ship running supplies into the desert country. They have an eternal pose pointing to Alabasta and as long as the trio catch lots of fish for the crew to eat, they’re welcome to stay on until they meet their destination.

Making a straight shot from the South Blue up Reverse Mountain and to Alabasta takes a good while but Cynthia, Garchomp and Zebes arrive in the desert country where the two creatures feel right at home and Cynthia has just enough money left over from fishing that she can buy herself a desert dancer girl outfit and a horse to make it to Rainbase, the luxurious casino town where Warlord Sir Crocodile is stationed and where the Straw Hats will arrive eventually.

Cynthia stakes out the casino day and night, getting a small part time job as a waitress there to keep an eye on things until the Straw Hats inevitably arrive, assured that none of her prior actions have changed the One Piece timeline and altered the Straw Hat pirates’ path. Eventually she hears the uproar of Luffy making a scene, screaming that he will kick Crocodile’s ass. She heads over to the commotion to jump in, and just misses Luffy running past, though she collides with an equally scantily-clad dancer girl: Nami.

“Hey, I’m Cynthia.” She gives a sly wink as her face is buried in the desert-clad navigator’s chest.

And thus her mission is complete in more ways than one.

“So you buy your way into a slutty waitress job and dive into Nami’s cleavage to win?”

“I mean luckily we don’t have very combat-oriented goals here so it’s probably mostly buying our way from place to place.

“Well I guess I’ll have to see what I can come up with…”

Samus enters the New World on Applenine Island, carrying a back of apples and her arm cannon while wearing her zero suit. Far from able to just do things on her own or in a group like Cynthia, Samus has also somehow incurred the wrath of Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Yonkou that rules the New World. Acting quickly, Samus uses some of her starting money to book passage to Dressrosa, led by Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo. She allows herself to be captured by them while sneaking into the castle of the Young Lord Doflamingo, claiming that Shanks wants her dead and the best place to protect herself is under the wing of another Yonkou, Doflamingo’s Master: Kaido of the Hundred Beasts.

Intrigued by her strange weapon and the idea that the mild-mannered Shanks wants this random woman dead, Doflamingo keeps her around but fails to see why he should bring her to Kaido. Thinking of a scheme, Samus tells him a quick lie: the reason why Shanks wants her dead is because she knows the location of the Ancient Weapon Pluton, it’s location? A sky Island.

Little is known about the Sky Islands by the surface dwellers but Doflamingo is in the know enough to at least confirm their existence and the legitimacy of the usually mild-mannered Shanks wanting her head combined with a few other predications she makes about the rise of Straw Hat Luffy and certain other world events lay credence to her claims, Doflamingo starts to believe there may really be an Ancient Weapon hidden among the clouds where no one else can see.

Having already been in talks with Kaido thanks to the Smile Devil Fruit trade, Doflamingo sweetens the deal by offering Kaido the woman that knows more than she lets on, the enemy of Shanks and supposedly the keeper of an Ancient Weapon. More than happy with this and her seeming ability to predict the future as more months pass, Samus is taken to Onigashima on Wano to forcefully become a member of Kaido’s crew. He doesn’t seem ready to embark to the Sky Island just yet but he finds the insight and story she tells to be rather interesting, until one thing seals the deal: Shanks arrives at Onigashima’s gate to demand to kill Samus.

Fascinated by the fact that Shanks would show up in person and risk clashing with another Yonkou just to kill this woman, Kaido decides that her story must be true. Having already thrown himself off a Sky Island or two for kicks, Kaido decides to take her to the nearest one: the Balloon Terminal not far from Wano in the New World. The Beast Pirates decide not to fight Shanks right away, opting to make a break for it and destroy Shanks’s fleet with ease once they have Pluton as not to rack of casualties. Kaido personally leads Samus to the Balloon Terminal under the promise that she’ll be able to pinpoint Pluton’s location once she arrives In the sky.

Shanks gives chase, sinking may of Kaido’s ship in his oddly single-minded approach to killing Samus. Eventually he makes his way to Kaido’s flagship and a clash between the giant dragon god of Wano and the Red-Haired powerhouse begins. The sky splits above them and both incur injuries, Kaido taking heavy damage and eventually retreating, using his Dragon Devil Fruit to fly Samus high into the air, up to the clouds and screaming that he’ll come back down for Shanks once he has Pluton.

“Who said anything about Pluton?” Shanks asks, but too late to reach Kaido’s ears.

Kaido lands on the Sky Island of the Balloon Terminal and lets Samus off his back, transforming back into a human and demanding that the bounty hunter tell him where Pluton is NOW so he can go back and crush Shanks.

However as soon as her feet touch the cloud-like ground of the Sky Island Samus’s goal is complete and a wry smirk crosses her lips. “Goodbye, and by the way, I hate Dragons. Have an Apple” She says, tossing an apple to him as she disappears back to her own world, the great dragon emperor realizing all too late that he’s been duped and is at war with a fellow emperor, wounded and stuck on a floating cloud feeling much like the lost balloons stuck under it.

“Well that was fun, got to con a Yonkou and ride a giant dragon demon thing.” Samus smirked, fiddling with the dice. “That was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it’d be.”

“See? Told you it’d be fun! Well now that we’ve got everything sorted out and our One Piece Isekai Adventures are complete, guess we’ll see you…”

“Next time on Game Blondes!!!”

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Daniel Barnes

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My next guest in this series is Daniel Barnes, writer for the Aggretsuko comic, and his original graphic novel The Black Mage. For my chat with him, he chose the Marineford arc, in which Luffy drops into a World Government headquarters in a desperate race against time to save his "brother" Ace from execution.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Marineford arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Marineford arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: Let’s say that for some reason, I get to the end of Impel Down, just before Luffy & Co. drop into Marineford, and I’m like “I’m done. This is it. I can’t handle any more One Piece.” In one sentence, what do you tell me to keep me going?

  Daniel Barnes: Why are you stopping before you reach the payoff of everything you’ve read so far?

  I like that! How long have you been into One Piece?

  When I first started consuming One Piece in earnest, ironically enough, I was in the Navy at the time. It was 2014, and up until that point, my only exposure had been the 4Kids dub on FoxBox.

    Nice. I love a good FoxBox reference. Was it recommended to you? Because I know that, when a lot of people start One Piece, it’s like “FINE. I’ll watch One Piece. You’ve convinced me.”

  I don’t consume anime as voraciously as I did back then. Back then, I was an anime vacuum, but I was also in this weird spot where I was semi-depressed. But someone told me, “You gotta try One Piece, it’s the best.” And my first reaction was “Umm, the art style’s kinda weird, though.” But they told me “You’ll get over it,” and the thing that made me finally take that leap was Gurren Lagann, which also had an unusual art style and then became one of my favorite things ever. So I figured I should at least give it a shot. 

  That’s something I’ve heard a few times. Because in other big series like Naruto and Bleach, the character designs are much more proportionate and straightforward. And I felt the same way...until I watched it, and realized the art style is PERFECT for what it is. So, Marineford is pretty much the halfway point of the series, with characters returning from all over the place. Were there any that you were excited to see come back?

  There’s a few of them. I always love it when Mihawk shows up, but I think the big one is Whitebeard. Because up until this point, he’s just sitting around and you know he’s a big deal but you’re always wondering why he’s a big deal. And then you find out in Marineford. I enjoy seeing characters that are kind of defined as the “power ceiling” in an anime universe get to do stuff, and it was cool to see him make the entire world quake.

    I think I called it in an article a “Be Quiet, The Parents Are Talking” character. You’ll go through Luffy getting new power-ups and increasingly strong villains and these seemingly insurmountable admirals with their elemental powers and then Whitebeard comes in, and he’s leaps and bounds above everyone. And like you said, for the most part, he’s just sitting down beforehand.

  Yeah, he’s sitting down drinking a giant gourd of sake. His name is Whitebeard, but he doesn’t have a beard. Got a real Hulk Hogan vibe to him. Who is this guy? But then you finally see him after all this time, and that’s the magic of One Piece. You see all of these things over the years and you wonder what part they’ll play and then it finally hits you and their role and strength becomes clear. 

  Marineford, obviously, is all built around Ace. And what you get out of the arc probably depends on how much you enjoy Ace’s character. How did you feel about him? Did it make you emotional at all? I know he has the one scene with Garp where they talk about finding your purpose in life, and that really got to me, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Ace.

  Okay, I think Ace looks cool and I think he has good powers, but I didn’t really care that much when he died. I didn’t really know him enough. 

    Were there any characters that you did get attached to or like a lot in Marineford? I know you said you liked Whitebeard and Mihawk, but who was your Marineford MVP? Who shines brightest among all those crazy diamonds?

  Okay, so the cop-out answer is probably Luffy. He’s one of the weakest characters there and he manages to survive and he plays such a big role by rallying everyone despite being constantly outmatched. So, objectively, Luffy. But maybe I give it to Coby, because Coby stands his ground against Akainu. He gives you hope that maybe the Marines can change their ways one day and when he refuses to move in front of an Admiral, I thought that was a real stand-out, awesome moment. 

  So Ace dies, Whitebeard just wrecks Akainu and throws him into a pit, and then, out of nowhere, Blackbeard shows up. Whitebeard beats up Blackbeard and Blackbeard’s forces kill Whitebeard. What do you think about Blackbeard as a villain? Because he’s so unlikeable. He’s underhanded, he whines whenever he gets hurt, he’s super pompous. He has cool powers, but there’s nothing cool about who he is. 

  He’s super interesting, to me. He has a mystery around him with his two Devil Fruit powers, and he doesn’t really fit into any shonen villain stereotype. He’s an inverse of Luffy, but not in all of the super obvious ways. When you first see him in Jaya, you see him start with basically nothing, and you watch him work through the system and the powers that be, just like Luffy. They’re both trying to achieve the same thing and reach the same goal. But Blackbeard’s methods are different. 

    Yeah, Luffy will punch you in the face, while Blackbeard will stab you in the back.

  And getting to see that evolution is great, because they easily could’ve just said, boom, here’s the next big bad guy and given him to you without context. But it’s like I said about One Piece earlier, where it shows you stuff over time and gets you to look forward to what will happen with it later. That’s Blackbeard’s whole appeal. 

  You talked earlier about Coby standing up to Akainu, ready to die for his beliefs. And then Shanks comes and stops the war. How did you feel about that? Because we’re all still waiting to see what his deal is (which as you said is a big part of the continuing appeal of One Piece,) but were you hyped to see him show up?

  I thought it was cool, because One Piece has done a good job of establishing him as an awesome guy. He’s a lot like Zero from Mega Man X, where he shows up at the beginning, they imply how powerful he is, they make the main character want to be as strong as him, and then they take him away and only show him sparingly. So whenever Shanks drops by, he's been handled so well that you’re just on the edge of your seat wondering what he’s gonna do.

    So, after the war is over, Jimbei has to remind Luffy that he still has things worth fighting for. And then, the timeskip. Were you aware that a timeskip was coming?

  Oh yeah. It’s kind of hard to exist on social media and not get a bunch of these little hints about what’s gonna happen. But that was my goal with One Piece for a little while: I’m gonna get to the timeskip. I have to get there. It’s coming, I know it’s coming, I don’t know when it’s coming, but I just have to reach it. 

  There are so many big moments in this arc, but looking back at it, are there any moments that stand out as prime One Piece to you? 

  The obvious one, for me, is when Luffy goes Third Gear and punches the giant out of the way. That’s so cool and such quintessential One Piece. A giant on an arena made of ice and a rubbery kid inflates his fist to make it huge and knocks him around. It’s so weird and it works. 

  ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  Favorite One Piece character?

  Usopp.

  Favorite One Piece villain?

  Crocodile.

  Favorite One Piece arc?

  Sabaody Archipelago.

  Which Devil Fruit would you eat if you had the choice? 

  Bellamy’s Spring Spring fruit. 

  If you had to live on any island in the One Piece universe, which would you choose?

  Does the Gran Tesoro from the Film: Gold movie count? That one’s pretty dope.

  Favorite One Piece fight?

  Luffy vs Blueno, when he first reveals the Second Gear.

  One Piece moment that made you cry the hardest?

  When the Franky Gang beats up Usopp and Nami finds him and Usopp is like “I’m useless. I can’t do anything.” Whenever Usopp gets beaten up, his nose gets all crooked and he loses teeth. There’s so many cartoon-ey visual indicators for Usopp in pain. It got me.

  One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

  When Luffy punches the Celestial Dragon in the face. It’s so cathartic. 

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece Podcast Co-Host and storyboard artist Steve Yurko about his favorite One Piece arc: Baratie!!

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

[indigopurple]

Basically a review of OP episode 503 ig

Currently rewatching post-war arc (in the dub so I don't have any screenshots for u guys sry) and theres a few things id like to point out.

During a conversation Dadan once had with Garp, they were talking about Roger. Garp said that even if they were facing powerful enemies, he would never run away because he wouldnt dare leaving his comrads behind; it wasnt an option for him. Obviously we see this in Ace. But ALSO, isnt this what he did with Katakuri? It was a little different cuz of the setting mostly, but he separated himself from his crew to fight off katakuri, and lied to them about being okay so they didn't worry (he was already getting his ass kicked by then, so he just made that stupid smile and told them not to worry (or smth like that, I can remember the exact line) (that smile was so gross and fake cuz he fucking sucks at lying). Also he said roger destroyed a buncha soldiers cuz they mouthed off his men. That's what Ace tried to do but instead he died. :(

"The pain he went through just made him hold on tighter to the ones he loved" -Garp, about Roger. "Despite his flaws and his bad reputation, his crew still trusted him completely." -also Garp, about Roger. These both sound a lot like Luffy AND Ace.

When Dogra got home and told everyone about Sabo's ship being shit down and him dying (which we all know didnt happen, thank fuck), (by the way the absolutely lost looks on Ace's and Luffy's faces with the sudden silence hurt like a bitch), Luffy started crying and said "WE SHOULDNT'A LET HIM GO, IT'S ALL OUR FAULT". Which fucking says something about him (thinking of episodes 913-915 when he goes fucking berserk, but before that he learns that Kaido probably killed Tama and he says "I should've escorted them..!" (*ugly cries*)). Ace also reacted pretty similarly-- "Sabo...why didn't we go back into town and bring him back here?! We're so stupid!" And he gets mad and asks where he could find the bastard that killed him (obviously not getting a good answer since it was a fucking celestial dragon ugh). That is what Luffy does, in present time. He results to anger first, not sadness. Not sure when he learned to do that but I'm 99 percent sure it was from Ace. Also the blaming himself thing? High chance thats ALSO from Ace. Who else would teach him that self hating behaviour?!

Dadan pins Ace down to stop him from going after the Celestial Dragon to calm him down, telling him he cant do anything, he's not big or strong enough to do anything and he'll be killed as soon as he tries anything, especially since it was the whole country -the whole WORLD- that killed Sabo. He can't do anything. And then they tied him to a tree outside to let him cool off. Oh yeah then he also told luffy to stop crying like a little girl or else he'll- (and he didn't finish the sentence). ...Ok maybe thats why luffy started being more angry than sad.

This is where things get a little more :( . Ace reads the letter Sabo sent them before he died. As he reads, he walks to the end of the forest, to a cliff overlooking the ocean. And starts fucking bawling (btw the voice actor who had Ace's childhood part did not do a very good job, no where near as in character and real as Coleen Clickenberg did with all of Luffy's crying scenes. She was spot on.) ...do you see where im going with that? He isolated himself before letting himself feel sad. It was all rage and then calm beforehand. Y-you see where im going with that. Dont make me say it.

"How's Luffy doing, is he any better?" "Well...he hasnt been eating much, but he still eats twice as much as we do". Oh look, That's what happened after Ace died too. There's a behavioral pattern that hasnt gone away. Not sure why it wouldve tho.

Luffy is mopeing, lying on the ground in a similar setting ace was at when he cried. Hes thinking about some of the things Sabo said, like how theyre gonna sail the seas together, and he clenches his hands into tight, shaking fists. After Ace shows up and hits him, and talking abt some other stuff I don't feel like relaying, Luffy tightens his grip on the straw hat and tells ace, whimpering, he wants to get stronger (and stronger, and stronger, and stronger and stronger and....) And he wants to be the strongest in the world. "And then, I'll protect everyone. I won't lose anyone I care about". He gets stronger mainly to protect the people he loves. And then he asks ace to promise he won't die. To which he hits Luffy again and tells him he should be more worried about himself dying first. And then the famous line that hurts like a bitch- "I'm NEVER going to DIE!" And then this hopeful music comes on (fucking damnit funimation, u gotta do this? Really??) Also he says he wont die as long as he has a wussy little brother to protect. ...FUCK. Ok, the fist clenching is a thing he does all the fucking time, usually when he gets mad. This was different because he wasnt mad, he was sad. He clenched his fist because thinking about it hurt. Which, huh, sounds a lot like his whole episode after waking up from his 2 week coma on the polar tang. To try and stop the mental pain of those horrendous memories, he resulted to physically pain. He hurt himself. So, He clenches his fists in times like these to fight off the mental pain and the urge to cause himself physical pain. Guys, our boy is bad at emotions, help him. ....ok this paragraph is longer than I anticipated so ill dumb down the rest of it ig. Next part, him asking ace to promise he wont die. The music, the body language, the over change in mood- this comforts him. He stopped hiding his face and silently sobbing after ace said this. OH YEAH! didn't he tell jinbe not to die when they parted ways in Totto Land? And then, hes missing still in Wano and we see Luffy is worried....but convinced Jinbe will show up. Again, this comforts him. Hes nervous cuz someone KOFF KOFF ACE broke that promise once. But jinbe is his crew mate so he trusts him, thank god.

"-But whoever did it, they must be opposed to freedom." The whole freedom thing? That runs through Luffy's blood and spirit.His brothers fought for it, his dad is the man who strives to give everyone freedom basically, and Luffy himself has seen enough of the OPPOSITE of freedom to be so, so much more than just against it. Hence why he of course was so eager to free the slaves in Sabaody, the kids in punk hazard, the toys in dressrosa, the country of Wano from Kaido's tyrany. The apple doesnt fall far from the tree huh.

I dont think Luffy would remember his promise with Shanks if it werent for his brothers putting feul to his dream. It was a stupid bet at first; he just wanted to beat Shanks, right then. But after meeting Sabo and Ace, he found the opposite of freedom and human rights. And then he wanted, REALLY wanted, to become the free-est man in the world; the pirate king.

Last one i promise ok? This one is less connected to whats going on in the episode at this point, but something I noticed (its so obvious everyone has seen this ok) was when luffy cries, his posture is always open. He doesn't curl in on himself like many people would do (I know I would, lol). He doesnt hug himself, protect himself. He's just, opened up to whoever is watching, literally. This has a little more to do with something I haven't talked about much in this post yet; his self-destruction issues. I said he tried to hurt himself when he felt mental pain, which is definitely similar. But he cries and doesnt try to protect or comfort himself, like he doesn't have that programmed into his mind. Reminder that he only wants to live because of his dream, and if he doesnt have his dream, he wants to die. (Whoa.). Ok, so no self preservation mechanism at all rlly. Hes basically ride or die. So, when things hurt so much that he cries, he has no hope left. He just kinda...dies inside. So this was mildly different after sabo died. Yes we saw him just standing there, sobbing. But the next day he's still crying, and instead he's laying on the ground. I saw that and the voice in the back of my head told me he wanted to be a part of that lifeless dirt beneath him. Then, Ace walked over. And his words made him feel the hope that I told you about earlier, and he sat up into a sitting position. And HUGGED HIS LEGS TO HIS CHEST. There's some self preservation! Some hope! Some will to exist, to live! Something we saw none of as he sat in front of his brothers corpse, shutting down. He sat there, open to his enemies, incapable of protecting himself. Practically anyone couldve killed him right then and there. I think he mightve liked that, at that moment. Like thank god he has that stupidly good luck cuz if he didn't I swear someone couldve thrown and axe or FUCKING ANYTHING AT THAT MOMENT and hed be dead becuase he never physically or mentally prepared himself. On purpose.

Our poor boy needs some fucking attention and therapists. (Insert my rant post about how jinbe is on the crew primarily for anger management and therapy, not just being a helmsman.) Ugh, smh ugly cries

Aaaaand thats about the end of the episode. Theres so many little tics and peesonality traits that you notive thru this episode, and I only noticed them cuz im rewatching this part of the show for like the third time. I don't react as much as the first time of course but some things are definitely sadder after knowing what's going on and what will happen later on.

Moral of the story (post)? I think luffy is almost equally as alike -if not, more similar to roger as ace is. Also, high key genuinely think Luffy met like NO ONE but Garp before he met Shanks and his crew. What the fuck was his first like 5 years of being alive like? (He wantd to be a pirate cuz Garp didnt want that. Rebellious baby asshole. And then shanks made things worse, in a good way for luffy. And then ace and sabo made that worse thing worse for a good reason. Luffy lives...for those influences. And that is fucking it. Why.

Oh thanks tumblr for moving my picture to the bottom of the post u fucking idiot

[neverwatchedonepiece]

603-604: "Launching the Counter Attack! Luffy and Law's Great Escape!" and "Get to Building R! The Pirate Alliance's Great Advance!"

DING, DING, DING! It’s round two. And you know Luffy ain’t playing this time.

Not a huge amount happened over episodes 603 and 604. Still, the episodes were essential. The story needed a transition phase to tie up the plot threads and set everything up for the final push against Caesar.

Everyone is safe inside the lab, the Strawhats are all accounted for (sans Chopper, who is still in Caesar’s lounge), Luffy is in an alliance with Trafalgar Law and - I never thought I’d say this - Vice-Admiral Smoker of the Marines!

Actually, what the hell am I talking about?

Loads of big things happened.

Including this sweet and juicy nugget of off-island context that has me rubbing my hands with glee.

Juicy Opening Reveal Alert!

Attention: Kidd, Hawkins and Scratchman Apoo are discussing an alliance. This is not a drill.

It started out fairly innocuously. I say “fairly”. The Brokers and Dodgy Characters of the OPverse were kicking back and watching Caesar’s madness play out. Pekoms and Tamago had some lines, so I focused in on them.

“How did those big names get caught by Caesar?” Pekoms asked. “So that’s where they are now. What should we do?”

“We wait a bit and see how things play out,” Tamago answered.

This was a teeny tiny scene. But it was interesting. Why? It revealed Pekoms and Tamago know Caesar by name. Maybe Caesar introduced himself to his audience and I missed it, but if he didn’t, then that’s interesting.

After that, the action switched back to Kidd, who had also been watching Caesar’s broadcast. Kidd has earned himself a 470 million bounty, which is impressive. His right hand man, Killer, has a 200 million bounty. Less impressive. Kidd seemed happy Luffy had finally made some moves. He switched off the feed. “You’re not the kind of guy who wants to play an arms dealer, are you Killer?”

Not sure what Kidd meant by that. Does he mean Killer’s not interested in what Caesar has to offer? Or that he doesn’t want to get involved with an obvious head case like Caesar? 

They walked off through their extra edgy hideout complete with gloomy paint job and atmospheric candelabras (lol). They discussed Law and his shenanigans on Punk Hazard. Kidd couldn’t believe they were all there together. He thought Law had lost his mind when he became the World Government’s lapdog. But now... Law was definitely up to something. Kidd does not want to fall behind, so they’d have to make a move too. 

Upon opening the door an explosion boomed them right in the face. It was Scratchman! At first I thought, is this an assassination attempt? Then the camera panned to Hawkins and I thought.... okay, so a team-assassination attempt?

Nope. Killer had called them to Kidd’s hideout to discuss forming an alliance.

This is cool. I like this seemingly random development. Oda has made a good move here showing the other rookies in the Worst Generation are also working hard behind the scenes. They’re in the New World now. The Yonko are a-callin’. If they don’t team up, they’ll be destroyed. (R.I.P. Gangster Pirate dude and dinosaur guy. Still not sure what Urouge is up to.) 

I kind of hope their alliance works a little more smoothly than the Strawhat/Heart Pirate alliance does at the moment. xD

Just Get Out of the Damned Cage, I Don’t Even Care Anymore...

There are a few teething problems but I’m sure Law has now realised that Luffy is a major loose cannon and will learn how to point him in the right direction. Maybe. At some point. In the distant future. (Ahh, that golden moment when Robin and Franky straight up told Law not to turn his back on Luffy because he’ll be off like a rocket, yelling their secret plans at the top of his lungs.)

Law’s cunning plan from the episode 402 cliffhanger was revealed. It was surprisingly simple and dangerous. But then if it’s not dangerous, is it really a good One Piece plan?

Absolutely not.

Law asked if anyone could set the nearby broken ship on fire. Franky obliged.(That fireball was badass, by the way. Just need that on record.) Once the rising smoke had obscured Caesar’s view of the cage, Law revealed his sneaky ruse. While he had freeloaded at Caesar’s house, he swapped most of the seastone chains with normal ones. Law broke free from his and freed Luffy, Robin and Franky.

Once he had failed to convince Luffy to stop cheering like a madman, Law dealt with a spot of business.

Smoker and Tashigi. They knew too much. They knew Joker’s real identity. He had their destiny in his hands. I knew he wouldn’t kill them (not evidence for that, I just didn’t think Oda would go there) but I was not prepared for what would happen next. 

Law unshambled them and struck a deal: he would spare their lives because if they made it back to Marine HQ it would make life difficult for Vergo. In exchange, Smoker and Tashigi were to FORGET everything they had heard about Law and Joker. This was not a favour. It was a condition of their release.

Now, this had me bewildered. Why, if Law is no longer working for Doflamingo, is he still protecting the guy? If Doflamingo goes down, then surely Vergo will also go down and the whole operation will fall to pieces? Unless what you guys hinted at is bigger than I thought and Doflamingo has so many side hustles that some Marines being mad at him is small potatoes.

At any rate, the deal was accepted, despite Smoker’s pride, because of Tashigi’s sense of duty and practicality overcame it. She basically said, “Yes, untie us for the love of god. We need to live because if we don’t, we can’t save our people from Vergo and we can’t rescue Caesar’s experiment kiddies!”

So the deal was done. The neatness of Law’s plan was totally ruined when Luffy bent the bars of the cage and pinged out in a fit of enthusiasm. Then Franky basically turned to Law and said, “Yeah, I’m gonna pass on the plan. I’m off to look after Sunny.” 

Then he farted himself out of the plot.

I think I just made a new sentence there.

Deal done, Law roomed them all to the back door, whereupon the sneaked inside the lab and pulled a Very Important Lever that meant the Fodder Marines outside did not die a horrible, painful death from Caesar’s chemical weapon.

Yay!

And there was this great, dramatic reveal moment. 

Look. Look at this Beautiful Shot

While Luffy, Law and Smoker stood with their backs to Caesar’s bemused minions like total badasses, the poison gas rolled over the island. 

Zoro, Sanji, Brook and Foxfire still hadn’t caught up to the dragon. However, Sanji because super motivated by tits and found a sudden burst of speed. The only thing was, the dragon wasn’t quite good enough on its own. It was tiring too.

Luckily, Nami and Usopp rode up on the back of Brownbeard and caught Brook just as he fell off the dragon. They all leapt on Brownbeard’s back (dragon included) and galloped to the front door.

Which was rapidly closing, as the Marines had all scuttled safely inside!

Indoors, the Marines squinted. What was that white, powdery cloud in the distance approaching at speed? 

It was the rest of the Strawhats trying really damned hard not to die.

Zoro and Kinemon teamed up to slash the doors and force their way in. I thought it was majorly dumb at first (to be fair, so did most of the other characters). But the Fodder Marines patched up the hole with a speed that makes me think they’ve missed their calling and should be flipping houses instead.

Still think the gas would probably seep through those gaps but maybe Caesar’s got some wicked air filtration system going on. I mean, it is a state of the art lab specialising in chemical weapons research.

Have I Left the Stove On?

There was a moment after the Strawhats reunited where the action cut to a shot of the devastation Caesar’s weapon had wreaked across Punk Hazard. 

If you thought the island was screwed before, it’s beyond help now. Utterly Pompeii’d. Every inch of it is covered in petrifying, poisonous ash. There is nowhere on Punk Hazard that is now habitable. Caesar took immense pride in this achievement. Some people just love destroying stuff, right? The only thing that survived outside was a single DDM protected by a bubble for Caesar’s broadcast. 

Brook’s ghostly form confirmed it. Going outside would be a Bad Idea.

Inside, a lot of guns were pointed at the Strawhats and Brownbeard (Brownbeard was just pleased the Marines had remembered his name. Awww...you’re infamous now, Brownbeard. Just like Luffy. Enjoy it!)

Once the plot threads and outstanding issues of the whole reuniting scene were dealt with (Law unshambled Nami and Sanji and also told Smoker not to let his men stand in the way of the pirates), the plan to fight back against Caesar and escape the hell of Punk Hazard began.

As Law had been a guest at Caesar’s Weird Hotel, he knew the layout of the labs. They were in the foyer of Building A. To escape, they must force a path through to Building B, the large central area. There, they would find a gate at the back leading to Building R and a door marked R-66. Behind that door, is a passage to the sea that would be unaffected by any poison gas.

Law declared he’d rather not have to create a massacre, but could only give everyone about two hours. To anyone staying longer than that, Law could not guarantee their safety.

And the idiots still tried to attack the Strawhats, so I don’t have much hope for them.

One of the most interesting scenes here was the one between Zoro and Luffy. While fighting Marines, Usopp updated Zoro on what had happened. Caesar had soloed everyone with his de-oxygenation trick. Even Luffy had fallen for it. Zoro took that hard. He had flashbacks to Sabaody, to everything he had trained for in the past two years. What the hell? How could Luffy just lose like that?

Luffy (who had hatched a secret plan with Robin I know nothing about yet because Oda did let us hear it), was heading for the next room. Zoro caught him before Luffy barged his way through.

“LUFFY! GET A GRIP. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW WORLD!”

And Luffy replied, “YEAH, SORRY. I WON’T LET MY GUARD DOWN AGAIN.”

Then he tried out a hilariously dumb UFO move on the Fodder Marines and Zoro performed a mental facepalm.

I liked that glimpse of the relationship between Luffy and Zoro there. Sometimes, even though Zoro has his moments, he’s always there to give Luffy a kick up the arse and deliver some home truths on occasion. And because Luffy respects Zoro, he will take them on board and acknowledge them. But of course he’ll still have a damned good time and try out dumb moves on fodders because when else can you do that, am I right?

He Did Not Leave The Stove On

In the lounge, Caesar was about to take a special delivery from the Bad News Fairy.

One of the nice things about Caesar is that he is not a total dumbass. He looked at that cage. He noticed there were no petrified bodies clawing at the front door. He *knew* something wasn’t quite right. He asked Monet and Vergo. Vergo actually hypothesised that the Strawhats had broken free and helped the Fodder Marines escape too. But Caesar ignored him.

Then the Bad News Fairy arrived. A minion burst through the door. “Master! All of the enemies have entered the lobby with Strawhat Luffy in the lead!”

You all probably remember Spandam and Enel and those golden freakout faces. Caesar is giving them a run for their money. I love how he can shift seamlessly from twirling round the room in joyful glee, to “wait a minute....” suspicion, followed by shrieking outrage.

Two in-universe hours, Caesar. That’s how long you have.

Can’t wait to see what nasty tricks you’ll pull in your increasingly futile attempts to cling to power in Punk Hazard.

And they will be futile, because if there’s one thing we all know about Luffy, it’s that he always, always learns from his mistakes.

He is going to kick your ass and kidnap you.

At least he recycles?

[seikyoko]

About the Gon bashing

So there’s a lot of people being anti-Gon and being mad at him for what happened in the CA arc and all. So I thought, as someone who got annoyed at Gon at first, then stopped doing it, I’d get at the reasons why people might misunderstand his character. (It’s messy as hell and I suck at conveying ideas and I ramble a lot, sorry).

So actually, the first time I read HxH was when I was 12yo and it was mostly me half-heartedly binge-reading HxH without getting really getting involved in the characters and all (I was a really stupid 12yo), then dropped it because I considered Alluka too ass-pulley to my taste (Now I think that Alluka/Nanika are best girls and they rock) and had no real opinion on what happened .

I only decided to reread/rewatch it again this year, mainly because I wanted to rewatch the CA arc, and just binge-watched stuff necessary to rewatch the CA arc (I also skipped the ZF arc because I didn’t think there was anything interesting to rewatch and vaguely remembered it).

I’m kind of baffled how some people want Killua to ‘not forgive Gon’ and all. Being a Killua fan/stan doesn’t even justify it because Killua is absolutely my favorite character and I think it’s a huge disservice to his character to woobifie him/victimize him/invalidate why he loves Gon so much. He’s one of the mentally strongest characters of the show and his character development is beautiful and while he have a lot of issues, reducing all his relationship with Gon to ‘ow poor Killua not knowing any better’ is kind of an insult to him.

Erm, so aside from the 2011 anime removing most of how much Kite mattered to Gon, I’m gonna adress some of the reasons that aren’t talked about as much

A lot of people who are mad at Gon are pro-Pitou people, or people thinking that Gon doesn’t care about Killua as much as Killua does about Gon , and the belief that Kirugon is one-sided .

And I was sad as hell for Killua after watching the CAA, and thought Killugon was one-sided too, and a lot of stuff about Gon bothered me but somehow, the interpretation “Gon is jerk/evil/don’t care about Killua as much as Killua does about him” didn’t sit well with me either, and I didn’t know how the hell I should interpret his character so it frustrated me to no end, so I desperately tried to understand his character and rewatched HxH and read meta/characters analysises until it made sense again (which took weeks) .

One really intriguing thing was that before rewatching the CA arc, I didn’t consider the ZF arc proof that Gon care about Killua in particular, but despite not rewatching it, I felt the Zoldyck Family arc mattered after I finished the CA arc again.  

So I wondered about it and.. The main thing that changed before and after rewatching the CA arc is considering Gon as a generic shounen protag, actually.

It’s such a weird argument to bring up, but, if you consider Gon a generic shounen protag like, say, Naruto or Luffy, then the whole ZF arc would be less about him caring about Killua, and more ‘I saw people being a bad family to that kid, but it is not right !!’ which is a fairly generic shounen protag thing to do, it wouldn’t even matter if Gon cared about Killua in particular or not, he’d do that to any random kid without having to, and even promptly forget about that kid month laters.

And the thing is.. Gon isn’t really like that, he ain’t the messiah-like perfect idealistic shounen protag who help random people to unreasonable lengths because it’s the right/just thing to do, he’s actually someone who tends to obsess over his goals (becoming a hunter/meeting Ging), wasn’t concerned about being a good person who helps anybody no matter what(he only did so with his friends) and  actually didn’t give a fuck about strangers dying in the hunter exam, there’s actually a lot of analysises (and characters in HxH universe noticing it)  about Gons morality and him not really caring that much about right or wrong.

Like, obviously he does have some morals (everybody does unless you’re Pouf/Mineta Minoru), but the ‘right thing’ isn’t what pushed him into trying that hard to rescue Killua, it was more him considering Killua as someone really important to him and that’s what pushed me to want to understand his character. (and that was one of the first things that sold me into Killugon).

There’s actually a lot of instances where it’s shown that he really cares about Killua in particular, but that I overlooked because I considered him a generic shounen protag/thought he actually gave compliments easily.

Another example is the Dodgeball match, I won’t talk about the whole ‘wrecking-killua’s-hands’ thing because there’s 36 ways to interpret that scene and there’s too much of stuff that played into that, mainly Gon having faith in Killua’s abilities/Killua insisting he could take it and being worried about getting discarded/ Gon getting obsessive about his victory against Razor/it actually was an impulsive decision and Gon doesn’t know why he insisted/Gon finally asking somebody for help (aka Killua), so it’s too much of a mess for me to state an objective opinion (there probably isn’t one)

Ahem, so Razor actually attacked/attempted to kill a lot of people in the dodgeball match, first he killed someone from his team, Bobobo, which Gon asked about, then dropped the issue when given a reasonable explanation.

But during the match itself, Razor actually attempted to decapitate Goreinu and would have succeeded if not for Goreinu’s ability to switch with his nen beasts, he then attacked Tzesguera, and despite Tzesguera protecting himself with Ko he still ended up badly injured, then attacked Gon aiming for the head (and despite Gon using Ko in a small area he still got blasted into a wall), then Goreinu attacked Razor in payback and Razor badly injuried him in return, then Razor threw his ball in Killua’s direction which then switched to the right then went for Bisky and Hisoka who dodged by a hair then got targeted again by one of Razor’s devil and broke two fingers to protect his head.

What actually pisses off Gon ? The possibility Razor could have killed Killua, despite Razor having attempted to kill every player on Gon’s side and Killua not getting any injury.

Heck, a lot of them are on somewhat friendly term with Gon, we see from Tzesguera’s thoughts that they spent a lot of time training in sports (He says that while he have overall better combat ability, Killua and Gon have better agility and reflexes while we see an image with Gon going after a volley ball) Goreinu is a nice and friendly and helpful person and I actually got attached to him, and Bisky was his sensei during the whole GI arc.

My favorite interpretation for the ‘wrecking-Killua’s-hands’ and Gon insisting they stay on the offensive is that : they actually tried staying for the defensive/dodging in the first part of the match, and that led to what ? Killua almost getting killed. So the staying on the defensive/trying to dodge strategy was rejected because of that, because Killua getting his hands destroyed at least meant Killua’s life wasn’t in any danger. It’s dubious whether Gon thought something like that that fast but he actually canonically did so in the beginning of the Palace Invasion when Dragon Dive rained on them and he decided to attack Youpi because of the possibility of Knuckle and Meleoron staying invisible after  death, so him thinking quickly is actually pretty in-character.

There’s a lot of scenes establishing that Gon cares about Killua, but I mainly wanted to point out those that could be brushed off by the idea of ‘Gon acting like a generic shounen protag’

The second really alarming thing is that at the end of his fight against Pitou, Killua calls out Gon’s name again, Gon looks back at Killua, and we actually see Gon’s power creating a huge white explosion with Killua being in the radius, and that scene actually still confuse me because it’s really OOC for Gon to not give a fuck about whether Killua die of that or not ? SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME.

Also, one of the reasons people got especially pissed at Gon is the line “since it’s none of your business” getting translated into “since it means nothing to you”, which would be a dick thing to say if only because it would be a callback to what Illumi said to Killua in ep 20 about Killua being unable to care about people/developing genuine relationship (and just 10x worse in general). Thank god it isn’t what Gon really said.

And my third and final point about how one might think Killugon is one-sided and that Gon doesn’t care as much as Killua does is actually a pretty legit worry for anime-only watchers. (WHY Madhouse, just why)

It’s the Killua & Gon’s separation scene.

Hear me out, after reading the manga I actually got less alarmed by that. (I have no idea how Madhouse could fuck this up this badly).

Starting by what got said 

In the manga it’s Gon who expresses he wishes Killua would come to which Killua reply ‘maybe next time’. In the anime it’s Killua who expresses he want to go with Gon, but say that he have to watch over Alluka

Also one thing that extremely bothered me is when they turn away : in the anime Killua look sad, and Gon is sad for like 2s then immediately get a determined and hopeful expression and march his way confidently.

Also the whole ep 148 is alarming in general because Gon march happily to the world tree with an adventure ost playing, then we see him having flashbacks of his whole journey and…  We pratically don’t see Killua in those flashbacks, while Gon had a lot of flashback about a lot of people and of his whole journey, Killua is either just not there or ignored in the background. 

In the manga Gon’s expression is equally heartbroken when he turns around, and he ain’t overly adventurous/satisfied/happy, he just march to the damned tree, give a normal smile to the dude in there, show his hunter license and get to climbing the tree before having his reunion with Ging.

So I get why anime-only watchers might think Killugon is one-sided

@ichaquisitor (is it okay to randomly tag people ? How do you even human) so I continued binge-reading your meta, and holy shit you weren’t kidding, the amount of people asking if Killua resent Gon and if their friendship is still intact is alarming, so as someone who was not okay with Gon’s attitude then changed to “ow poor kid” I decided I’d write about the reasons about why people might think that way.

[midnightluck]

Ok so I stumbled upon your blog a few weeks back, and I have to say I love love love your ASL essays. It’s just that your points are all well thought out. I just wanna ask, (or discuss?): Do you think what happened at Marineford could have been changed if Sabo had been there? Obviously this is given that somehow he didn’t lose his memories or regained his memories beforehand, because being honest, the way he recovered is kinda iffy?

Oh boy, I’m glad you like essays because this one’s gonna be long, haha.

The short answer is yes, but how? And the answer to that is it depends, but we’ll get into that in a sec because first we have to talk about amnesia.

Because, as I’ve said before, I was really kinda eh on the whole thing myself. Then Sableu pointed out that there’s a better canon reason, and that makes me happier, tbh.

But here’s the thing: why? Because the more I think about it (and I have been thinking about it, because Reasons) the more I wonder why amnesia was a plot necessity in the first place. We know the boys don’t really keep in touch, and Sabo did leave them a note saying he was going on ahead. He doesn’t know they think he’s dead, and why would he think about it? He wouldn’t risk going back to Dawn Island, but once Ace set sail he could follow the bounties and indulge in as much brotherly stalking as he liked.

Cause it’s not like it’d be hard to justify them never meeting; he’s got a job where he could easily go far away and out of touch at a moment’s notice for indefinite periods of time. He always means to get out that way to visit, maybe for next New Year, but he gets back from a mission and Ace is dead. Keep in mind, from capture to kill, Marineford was probably only two months or so, and the Marines are sitting on that knowledge hard. Even if we assume the fastest, where Garp calls Dragon directly, (which again, why? because Garp probably doesn’t know Sabo’s working with him) there’s travel time and all sorts of handwavy reasons Sabo could either show up just a bit too late or not even know until it was all over.

I’m not saying amnesia doesn’t cover all that too, because of course it does. And then we get Sabo inheriting Ace’s will through spiritual succession (?) and possibly haunting (???) and I love that, truly I do. I’m just saying, as a writer who’s been putting serious time into figuring out how to do an au where Sabo remembers and Ace doesn’t, that it’s really not that much a stretch to avoid it altogether.

So, after that tangent, let me finally get to your question. Would Sabo showing up at Marineford change things? and how?

I mentioned it would depend, and it does. There’s a lot of moving parts in this, so let’s break it down a bit.

When does Sabo find out?

How much time does he have? That will affect how much planning he does, what help he sources, and where/how his interference will happen.

A short amount of time is going to lead to a flat-out sprint across the ocean to get to Marineford in time, whereas a month’s head’s-up could allow for a stealth raid on Impel Down

Sabo will take every advantage he can get in a case like this, so given enough notice, he could feasibly show up with a literal Army

How does he find out/where is he when he hears?

This goes back to time. If he’s halfway across the world and has to run for it, planning on the fly, then he’ll have a solid plan but no resources

If he’s at base when he hears, then he has a massive amount of resources and potential allies

Can he pull any strings at his destination to have things waiting or set up there? Will it be an operation big enough to need a base? Where? Does he have time for this?

How does his amnesia affect this?

If he has to take the time to recover from it, can he afford it?

Is he somewhere safe enough to deal with it?

Given the circumstances, can he keep himself awake and work through the pain until there’s time?

How tf does convenient plot amnesia even work idk

So, as you can see, it depends, haha. But let’s get into some possible options for Sabo:

Impel Down

The Hard Team Option

Pros: No one’s expecting it. It’s supposedly impossible. The RA probably has the most comprehensive floor plan they could make, and likely black den-den mushi as well. Rumor is Ivankov’s in there somewhere, so potential help (oh, I have Thoughts out Ivankov in Impel Down, but that’s for another time). Potential for a large amount of allies, if sprung from cells. Potential for a massive distraction and huge blow against the Marines.

Cons: It’s Impel Down. The place is huge and hostile and nasty, and he wouldn’t know where Ace was until he got in. Everyone’s against him, even the prisoners, and he’d be walking mostly blind into a death trap, securing an exit route the whole way and with no guarantee that Ace is in any shape to walk out under his own power.

Would require: foreknowledge that Ace was there and as much on Impel Down as possible, infiltration tools, stealth tools, preferably a small group, an escape craft, luck.

Transition

The Solo Stealth Option

Pros: Best timing. Least security; no backup available. Stealth option available, and could be done solo. No need to worry about Ace’s condition, because with the seastone off he could set the whole boat on fire, making escape super easy.

Cons: Requires exact timing and knowing when the ship is going to leave and what path it will take. No backup available. The current there puts the ship on rails, so unless you disappeared the whole ship, when it reaches Marineford people will notice.

Would require: A way on to the ship, or a separate ship capable of surviving those currents. Foreknowledge of the ship’s schedule. Improvisation.

Pre-Marineford

The Infiltration Option

Pros: Mass chaos. Lots of Marines doing something out of routine means a loud mess, allowing for infiltration. While moving Ace from the ship to the execution dock, he’s in the open and not chained to anything. No one is expecting it.

Cons: Everyone’s on high alert. You’re running out of time; if you mess up here, there’s no more chances. It’s Marineford; there’s Marines for days. Even those not charged with guarding Ace will be watching him. Easy entry, hard exit.

Would require: Probably a Marine uniform. No visible weaponry. Balls of steel. An escape craft.

Marineford Proper

The Last Resort

Pros: No sneaking.

Cons: Actually declaring war on the Marines while standing directly in front of them.

Would require: As many allies as possible. Desperation.

Well, there’s just what I came up with offhand, anyway. There’s a lot of possibilities, and I’m no strategist, so hit me up with your ideas, too!

Going on the above, the ideal plan would be at least three of four, and probably go something like this:

Hang out around Impel Down until Ace is loaded onto the ship that takes him to Marineford.

Secretly board said ship, either in Marine uniform or by attaching a smaller craft onto the hull somehow.

The former leaves no traces for paranoid guards to stumble over, but the latter guarantees an escape route.

Case the ship quickly. Locate escape routes and dinghys.

Get to Ace, stealth preferred. Get him out of the chains and the seastone.

Get out.

Preferably through the nearest floor or wall instead of going back up. No guards, and cripple pursuit.

If Ace is in really bad shape and can’t risk the water, try sneaking, and when that fails, fight.

Ace is there, so it’ll be fine

Escape

Check for escape craft, but plan for if it’s not there anymore/wasn’t ever there, go for the lifeboats

Have a crew/escape craft standing by some distance away, and make for that, swimming if necessary.

Get Ace to sink the Marine ship

He’d probably be glad to

Contingency 1:

Meanwhile have Koala/whomever wearing Marine uniforms blending in at Marineford

Try to sneak him out during handover

Contingency 2:

During above, try to get at least one plant on the platform with Ace/in Ace’s guard platoon, preferably the guard is made up entirely of plants for the next step, which is

Contingency 3:

Meet up with Whitebeard, because of course he’ll be there.

Scream defiance in the face of the Marines

Rescue Ace

Contingency 4:

Improvise

So, to make a very long answer very short, Sabo would do his damnedest to not let it actually get to Marineford in the first place. But if it did, that’s when logic can go hang because now not only is Ace on the line, so is Luffy. So Sabo’s gonna charge in, pipe swinging, and back Luffy up the whole way.

So you can have a turnabout, where all the guards on the platform are actually RA members. You can have a big battle where the odds are more even. You can have a sneaky circumvention of everything, and it will never ever come close to what it was. But if it does come down to that moment, then it probably plays out the same.

Because Sabo attacks, and Ace defends. Put in that situation, Sabo will go after Akainu and Ace will go to Luffy. So if Sabo is with Ace and they both see him go after Luffy at the same time, then there’s two ways it can go. Sabo attacks from the side, or from the front.

From the side, it plays out the same. From the front, though, where he gets between Ace and Akainu, well, there’s where it can differ. Does he take some of the heat, so they share the attack and are both injured but neither dies? Or is Sabo far enough forward to take the entire attack and die instead, for real this time? Or is the lava hot enough that it can cut through the pipe and Sabo and keep going?

So those are some possibilities for Marineford. Maybe Sabo comes in enough time to make a difference. Maybe he’s there and doesn’t anyway. Honestly, there’s enough going on in the whole arc that you can finesse it pretty much any way that suits a story.

But for me, Marineford will always hurt, and it’s not even only because of Ace. Because when you look at that scene, the one of Ace and Luffy fighting together, you can almost see it, can’t you? The way they don’t stand quite back to back but rather shoulder to shoulder, the way they move in sync but sometimes there’s a beat where they seem to be waiting, the way they fight together but independently.

There’s a brother-shaped hole in their formation where Sabo should be, and it hurts my heart every single time.

[genogenocrazycatman]

Stillwater - Chapter 7

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

***

Little Garden was a whole lot harsher than it looked like from the sea. It was hot and humid. The jungle was dense, so much so that your visibility was only about ten feet. In addition, its name betrayed its nature.

So far, nothing about this island had been little. The trees and other plants were fully grown, leaves and branches spread as far as they could mange in the dense jungle, taking over other plants.

The air here was purer. Well maybe not purer exactly. There were volcanoes pumping smoke and ash into the air, but the oxygen levels were higher. I could feel it every time I took a breath. It felt like the island that my father resided on and I knew for a fact that the air there had a higher concentration of oxygen.

That explained why the bugs were so large. A dragon fly had flown over the Merry. It had to be at least a foot and a half in length, and its wings spanned over two feet. Nami and Usopp had screamed, while I had looked on in awe. Bugs hadn’t been that big, since the days of the dinosaur, way before my time.

That caused me to take a closer look at the plants. They were tropical plants, most of which had been a around for millions of years. I couldn’t be positive. I wasn’t close enough to get a good look, but I could’ve sworn that some of them shouldn’t have been there, having gone extinct. They sure looked like the plants, I had read about in my lessons with my aunt, Persie, and Cal.

As we sailed inland, a massive rodent that resembled a capybara stood at the edge of the tributary river, drinking from the banks. It was a strangely peaceful scene. That is until a monstrous saber-toothed cat pounced on it from out of the jungle, sinking its lengthy canines into the rodent and wrenching its neck. Once the creature was dead, the feline dragged the carcass back into the depths of the jungle.

It was amazing really.

Of course, what was amazing to me was absolutely terrifying to Nami and Usopp who were convinced that the island was going to be the death of us all.

I shook my head. For as smart and as innovated as those two were, they were just as cowardly it seemed. I had figured that they were both fairly easily frightened, having seen their behavior during the storm, but they had managed to deal with that fairly well, all things considered. They weren’t cool calm nor collected, but they hadn’t been near tears, jumping or screaming at every little thing, like they were now.

Luffy was practically vibrating with excitement, the new environment and prospect of an adventure fueling his desire to go out and explore.

I wanted to go out as well, to get a better look and confirm some of my suspicions, but opted not to, because of my leg. It wasn’t terribly painful, and I wasn’t too concerned about pulling my stitches. I was pretty sure that I would’ve been fine. Even if I wasn’t, I could always fix them. I was honestly more concerned about my pants. I hadn’t brought much with me, so until I could get the stain out of the pair from the night before and stitch up the hole, I was going to have to work to preserve the clothes I did have.

I settled for hearing all about the island from Luffy and Vivi, who had chosen to accompany him, along with Carue. I was happy to see Vivi taking the time to explore, and enjoy the moment. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do. We were stuck here until the log set.

Zoro had left after that, deciding to take a walk. That plan lasted about all of five seconds, before he and Sanji somehow found themselves in the middle of a pissing match- I’m sorry.  A hunting competition.

That left me with Nami and Usopp. They were too afraid to go out. That was fine with me. This crew attracted trouble. I knew that the others could handle themselves if something went wrong, but it was 50/50 with Usopp and Nami. At least with me around, I knew that they wouldn’t die.

I didn’t want to sit around and do nothing though, so I decided to do an inventory of the ship to see what I could do to help out. That way, when my leg was fully healed I could get to it.

I let Usopp and Nami know. “Hey guys, I’m gonna head below deck and see what needs cleaned and organized down there, start making a list.”

“What?!” the two echoed each other.

“You’re just gonna leave us up here?” Nami cried.

“What if some giant bird tries to take off with us?” Usopp asked.

“What if a lion pounces onto the deck?”

“What if we get surrounded by a bunch of ship eating piranhas?”

I rolled my eyes at how dramatic that they were being. “Oh for goodness sake. I’m below deck, if something tries to kill you scream, and I’ll come up and save you.”

Usopp looked at me skeptically. “What about your leg?”

“It’s fine. I can climb up and down with my arms. If I need any help, I’ll holler.”

“You’ll holler, but what if…” I tuned the two out, heading inside to start my work. I started with the kitchen/helm. I had honestly meant to make a list at the start, but as I was writing things down, I realized I could just do them. After all, the pain in my leg wasn’t that bad. As long I didn’t pull my stitches I would be fine.

The crew had a fairly decent stock of cleaning supplies. I went to work. I tidied up everyone’s things, dusted, polished furniture, disinfected the surfaces that needed it. I found comfort in the task. Everyone in my house shared chores, but cleaning tended to fall on me the most. I wasn’t bothered by the mess, but Cal was. With everything she had done for me, I felt that the least I could do was make sure that the house was in order.

I finished up the helm and headed to the bathroom. It was fairly clean, but only because Nami made sure it was, and she only did that because she also used it. I sanitized all of the surfaces, threw any dirty towels into the hamper to be laundered, sorted through the various toiletries just strewn about. As I worked, I kept note of what needed restocked.

I gave the cannon deck/anchor room similar treatment. I went through all of our, weapons, munitions and equipment tucked away in there, keeping an inventory and making a shopping list, before heading to the bedrooms.

The room I shared with Nami and now Vivi wasn’t so bad, because again Nami cleaned, and I made it a point to keep things neat. It looked better once I was done, but it hadn’t been too drastic of a transformation.

The boys’ room on the other hand was like night and day. I had raised boys before. I knew how they were, and the state of their room didn’t surprise me. After all there were four teenagers living in it. I would’ve been more concerned if it didn’t look like a war zone.

I gathered up all the laundry, picked up everyone’s belongings, which were scattered about. I tried to put them back in their places, but ended up giving many of them new homes, when I couldn’t figure out where they went. I mopped the floors, dusted, and polished furniture.

I was extremely proud of myself, when I looked around the finished room.

By that point, I was really starting to feel the ache in my leg, so I took a break. I returned up to the deck, but Usopp and Nami were no longer there. I found them in the girls’ room. Nami was tossing books off the shelf over her shoulder, Usopp behind her dodging them.

“Nami, what are you doing? You’re gonna hit me,” Usopp whined.

“I just cleaned in here,” I said from the doorway.

“I’ll put them back, when I’m done,” she said. “I could’ve sworn I read something about this place before.”

A mysterious island with lots of crazy creatures and plants sounded like the basis of a number of fairytales to me, but I let her go, deciding that it was time to finally sit down. I headed up to the deck, grabbing myself a glass of water and dragging out one of the chairs with me, so that I could relax in the sun.

I flopped onto the lounge chair and stretched my legs out in front of me. I leaned back, folding my hands under my head.

I wanted to power wash the deck, but didn’t want to waste our fresh water. We weren’t far enough up the tributary for the water to be pure. Here the river was tainted by the salty sea, making it absolutely useless to me at the moment.

I couldn’t say that it was quiet, but the sounds of the jungle seemed to lull me towards sleep rather than keep it from me. A mid day nap seemed like a pretty solid idea. Plus, it would probably help my leg loads. I settled further into my chair and closed my eyes.

My peace didn’t last long. It took less than ten minutes for Usopp to scramble out on to the deck, worriedly pacing and muttering about the dangers that lurked past the river’s banks.

“Are you looking for something to be afraid of?” I asked, cracking an eye open to look at Usopp, who was staring into the woods intently. “Why don’t you just hide inside until we leave? I can practically feel you shaking from here.”

“THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP NEVER HIDES!” he declared loudly, his shaking limbs and quivering voice giving away him away.

A bird flew above the Merry, letting out a terrified cry as a much larger bird chased after it. Usopp whimpered and darted behind my chair.

“Uh huh. Never.” I tried not to chuckle. There was no need to insult the kid. I patted his head, affectionately. “Relax, I’m not gonna let anything get you.”

My amusement was cut short, when I felt the water in my glass begin to move. I stared down at the glass. Normally, I would attribute the effect to the movement of the ship, but this was different. It was rhythmic. With each pulse the water was a little more active.

“Mira?” Usopp asked, looking between the glass and I.

“Something’s coming,” I said, standing up.

“What?!”

I hushed Usopp, before he could start panicking, heading over to the railing.

Nami ran on out deck, book in hand. “Guys this is bad, really bad!”

“No, it’s big,” I corrected, realizing the pattern was that of footsteps. “Really big.”

The tremors got stronger, shaking the land and the water we were in. I could hear the trees falling in the distance, branched cracking, leaves rustling, and the thump of trunks hitting the soft earth.

Something that powerful and that large would be visible soon.

I prepared myself for a fight, just in case. I didn’t have the advantage of freshwater, so I was gonna have to rely on strength and skill if it came to a fight. Durability if it got bad.

“Either be ready to get the Merry out of here, or be ready to run,” I warned the two.

It was pointless. They were frozen in fear, whimpering, eyes full of tears that just waiting for the right incentive to brim over.

The trees cleared, revealing none other than a giant.

Usopp and Nami screamed bloody murder, while I relaxed a bit. I was still wary of our visitor, never having met him before, but at least it wasn’t some mindless killing machine.

The giant let out a loud laugh. “Gababababababa! Why hello there,” he greeted, smiling down at us. “I thought I saw a ship come in. Any chance you guys have alcohol? I drank all mine.”

I allowed my tense muscles to loosen. “Hi,” I returned his greeting. “We do, but it’s the crap for cleaning and cooking. I’m sure, you could probably stomach it, but it’s not all that great. You’re welcome to it, if you’d like.”

“Good thinking, Mira. Give him what he wants and maybe he won’t eat us,” Usopp whispered in my ear.

I had forgotten how little humans really knew about creatures other than themselves. They dismissed truths as myths and accepted myths as fact. Giants were horrible man eating beasts, mermaids were beautiful maidens, and dwarves only went after your socks.

“He’s not going to eat us regardless,” I hissed back at him, not that there weren’t man eating giants out there. There were man eating humans out there too. It was clear that this giant wasn’t after our flesh.

The giant cried out in pain. The sudden shout startled me. It terrified the other two.

The giant turned to glare at a t-rex, which had bitten his back.

“That is… a surprise,” I said, looking at the reptile. I don’t know why I was so surprised. If the plants were anything to go buy, the existence of a dinosaur should’ve been a very real possibility in my brain.

The giant pulled out his weapon, an axe fit for a man of his size, slicing the head clean off the animal.

Usopp and Nami were huddled together, bawling their eyes out. “Will you two stop it?” I snapped. Their behavior was ridiculous and insulting.

The giant lifted the head of the creature, raising it high in the air. “I’m Broggy. Elbaf’s strongest warrior, the invincible!”

‘Just like I thought.’ “I’m Zale Mira Kai,” I introduced myself. “These two crybabies are Nami and Usopp.”

“Now I have dinner, and you three are invited as my guests.”

Nami and Usopp fell back onto the deck. They held perfectly still. I could hear that they were whispering to one another but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, creating a mental reminder to smack them later. Clearly they weren’t going to calm down any time soon. “My friends have never seen a giant before. It’s seems that they’re a bit overwhelmed. We would love to, but I’m in no shape to carry them. I’m still recovering from a bullet wound, and I can’t just leave them here alone.”

“No worries, little lady. I’ll gladly carry both you and your friends. I’m sure some food and drink will help break the ice.”

I glanced at the pair on the deck, deciding that if they would come around eventually. Broggy was nice enough, and now that I knew giants resided on this island I was a lot more curious.

“Sure. Let me go grab that alcohol for you.”

I headed down and grabbed a barrel of alcohol. There were other things we could use as a disinfectant until then. I hoisted it up on my shoulder, returning the deck.

Broggy took the barrel from me, tucking into a pouch he had been carrying. He grabbed the tail of the dinosaur with one hand and scooped the other two into the palm of the opposite hand. He set it down on the deck, so that I could get on.

It had been decades, since I had been carried around by a giant. The thrill was the same as it had been. Being up that high was like nothing else. There was just so much to see, to take in. There were volcanoes and dinosaurs and weird looking rock formation that looked like bone. It was beautiful. I would say that it was ironic considering how dangerous the island was proving to be, but that tended to be the case. The most beautiful things in life were usually the most dangerous.

I glanced at Usopp and Nami. They still hadn’t moved. Unsure of what their plan was, I decided not to bother them. Again, they would come around.

“This is gorgeous.”

Broggy laughed once more. “I guess it is a lot different to someone tiny like you. So Kai was it?

“Yep, but I prefer Mira.”

“Mira. Pretty name. You know there’s legend of a sea witch of that name?” he teased.

I chuckled, ignoring the way my heart seemed to stop beating. “No, I haven’t heard that one before.”

“Just a story I heard years ago, they say she was stranded on an island all by her lonesome and that she sinks the ships of anyone, who sails to close stranding them there with her.”

“Interesting. Well let me assure you that I am no witch, just a pirate.”

“A pirate? I guess that explains the wound.”

“I got a little distracted.”

“Rookie mistake.”

I nodded. “Yeah, but if you knew my crew, you’d get how easy it is to become distracted.”

Broggy was a very upbeat individual. He hummed and sang as he walked back to his camp, pointing things out to me as we passed and answering my questions about the island. Apparently, Little Garden was so isolated that it just stopped evolving, which was why it was still stuck in the dinosaur days.

Once, we got to his camp, he set Usopp and Nami down on a bed of hay, and me on a large stone, so that I could continue our conversation, while he broke the dinosaur down and roasted it.

“I think you’re the first human that I’ve ever met, who hasn’t been surprised by a giant,” he said, sitting down and turning the meat.

Human.  If he only knew.

“Actually, I’ve met a few giants in my life. Some lived on the same island as me. Other’s just passed through as part of pirate crews.”

“You don’t say. Where are you from?”

“There’s no translation of it for me to give you.”

“Oh well then.”

“How’d you end up a pirate?”

“I ended up in the East Blue and needed a lift back. Luffy, my captain, offered me a spot on the crew, said he’d take me home after we’d sailed the Grand Line. I’m the newest member, though we do have a guest at the moment.”

“The other two are on your crew as well?”

“Yeah, they-“I stopped, having glanced over Broggy’s shoulder to check on them. “-Are missing. Damn it,” I swore.

A pair of terrified screams came from the jungle nearby.

“They’re easy to find,” I said, moving to stand.

“Sit. I’ll get them,” Broggy offered.

“Thank you.”

He returned with the two cowards in tow, sitting them on a log that I had brought over for a bench and dropping a large piece of meat in front of the three of us.

“Mira, you’re alive!” Usopp had cried, when he saw me sitting there.

“I was never in danger of losing my life. You two are just obnoxious, and even if I was in danger, you just left me. Next time I might let whatever’s after you have you.”

“You told us you weren’t going to let anything get us. He got us,” Nami snapped.

“We were invited to dinner, and I accepted on your behalf. No one took you. I agreed in your proxy.”

“Go on. Eat hearty my friends. It tastes delicious.”

We were further up the river, the water here fresh. I pulled it over, through the flames, until it boiled and then used it to slice off, three pieces of meat.

“I think I’ve lost my appetite,” Nami said, sounded dejected.

“Don’t be shy now. Dig in.”

I took a bite and was surprise by how good it was. Sanji would definitely have had fun with this. I thought about him and Zoro, wondering how their hunting was going. I had no clue, where Sanji was, but I could very faintly feel, Sandai Kitetsu. I could feel Luffy as well. He must’ve been a good ways away, because it wasn’t as strong as usual.

I couldn’t pin point either of them, but knew their general vicinity.

It would probably be handy if I could feel them better, but it had been so long since I opened up to that. I didn’t even know if I could. I had spent long closing off my mind to the world around me, its energy, I didn’t even know if I could open it back up again. I didn’t know if I wanted to. I had spent so long created that dam in my head, just to stay sane. The idea of loosening that hold was terrifying.

“Mira,” Broggy said, catching my attention.

“I’m sorry. I spaced out. What?”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s really good.” I emphasized my statement by taking another bite. “It’s sweet. I didn’t see you put anything on it.”

“Nope. Natural sweetness.”

Usopp and Nami were still crying.

“For the love of- He’s not going to eat you,” I said, sternly. “Now, quit your crying, pick up your dinner and thank Broggy for such a nice meal.”

“Eat you?”  Broggy asked, before laughing. “I’m not going to eat you.”

“See. I pushed food into their hands. Eat.”

Both looked between each other, and then bit into their food.

“Sorry about them. Like I said. They’ve never met a giant before.”

“Like you have,” Usopp scoffed.

“A few of them,” I elaborated, taking another bite. “Enough to know that the whole, giants are man eating barbarian things is a stereotype, spread through ignorance and pure stupidity.”

Usopp and Nami winced at my sharp words.

“Not to say there aren’t some bad ones out there, but not all of them.”

The two cowards looked ashamed.

“Apologize.”

“We’re sorry, Mr. Broggy,” they chorused.

“And?”

“Thank you for the meal.”

I grinned, satisfied.

“No problem, young lady, young sir.”

Nami and Usopp were still nervous, but that was to be expected. After all this was a giant. He could easily kill them. They didn’t know him. They had settled considerably, which was enough for me.

“Mr. Broggy, sir? Can I ask you something?” Nami asked.

“Sure, what’s on your mind, young lady?”

“How long will it take until the log resets?”

“One whole year,” Broggy answered.

I cringed. Nami and Usopp both fell over backwards in shock.

“Yeah… That’s… Bad.” We didn’t have a year. Alabasta’s people could go to war any day now. Not only that a year on this island was sure to completely fry Usopp and Nami’s nerves, and by extension mine.

“A BIT OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT DON’T YOU THINK?!” Nami yelled at me. “WE’RE GOING TO DIE HERE!”

I forced her to sit back down. “Screaming about it doesn’t help the situation.” I looked up at Broggy. “Do you have-“

I was cut off by the eruption of a volcano.

Broggy rose to his feet, throwing the remainder of his meat in the fire. He features shifted. The easy going smile replaced by fierce determination.

“Broggy?”

“Please forgive me, but there is something that I must attend to.

“What? You’re leaving?”

“No choice. That’s the signal my opponent and I use to mark the beginning of our fight,” he explained. I had earlier inquired as to why he was on the island, so I knew the story, but to the others, it really didn’t explain anything, leading to more questions than answers.

“A fight?”

“With who? Where? And more importantly why?” Usopp asked.

“Why? I don’t remember.”

I laughed with Broggy. Oh what time does to the memory.

“Why are you laughing?” Nami snapped at you.

“I don’t remember,” I said, cracking myself up further, Broggy seeming to also find my joke funny.

“You’re a funny girl, Mira. I look forward to finishing our meal, when I return.”

“Confidence is good, but don’t get too cocky.”

“My opponent and I have been fighting for over a hundred years. I am aware of and respect his skill.” With that, he charged into the jungle towards his opponent, another giant, who had risen from his hiding place.

“A hundred years?!”

“Giants’ lifespans are three times that of humans,” I explained. “A hundred years doesn’t mean much to them. The giants of Elbaf believe that their god chooses, who wins and who loses. A loss means that they have fallen out of their god’s favor. In this case they’re fighting to see, who their god deems worthy enough to return to their home land.”

“Still a fight to the death? Why doesn’t one of them just go somewhere else? Surely someone could lose without dying.”

“Death before dishonor,” I said, watching the two behemoths go at it. The force of their blows sent shockwaves through the air, pushing us away from the epicenter of the fight. Their steps rocked the island to its core, shaking the dirt beneath our feet.  Trees were torn from the ground like nothing.

A fight between giants. I had heard stories of their epic battles, but had never gotten to experience one for myself. It was a sight to behold.

“What an incredible fight! Every one of those attacks is aimed at a vital spot, just one slip from either of them and that’s it, they’re dead.”

I nodded in agreement. It was clear that these two knew each other well. That was expected after a hundred years. Each move was precise and deliberate. There was no wasted motion, no wasted effort.

“You’d think this would get old,” Nami said. “This is a good thing. This is our chance to get away.”

“You’re not still convinced he’s going to eat you are you?” I asked.

“You may trust him, but I’m not taking my chances.”

‘Ridiculous,’ I thought, turning to watch the giants again.

Unlike Nami, who was walking away from the camp, Usopp was frozen in place. I thought he was scared at first. I was fully prepared to defend Broggy once more, but then I saw his face. He wasn’t afraid, he was in awe. His eyes were wide, his jaw practically dragging on the floor.

“Usopp!” Nami called, when she realized that he wasn’t following.

“Amazing. They fight so seriously, and they don’t even know why.”

“This fight is getting annoying,” Nami whined.

“Don’t you see?” Usopp asked. “This is an example of a real battle, between real men.”

“Say what?”

“Maybe an analogy will help. It’s as if they each planted a flag in their hearts that says ‘I am a warrior.’ This flag is more important than anything, more than their lives even. They will never allow the flag to be destroyed by someone else. That’s why they’ve both continued this fight for a hundred years. Do you see it now? This is a proud duel, a legendary fight between two dedicated warriors!”

“Yeah. Whatever. That warrior stuff doesn’t really interest me in the slightest,” Nami said, dismissively.

“That’s because you can’t put a price tag on honor,” I shot.

She ignored me. “You coming?”

“No. I’m still watching this. This is my ultimate goal, this right here, to be a brave warrior, like each of these titans. Really though one day, I’ll be a proud warrior of the sea.”

I smiled at Usopp. “A proud warrior of the sea, a perfect companion for the king of the pirates.”

“So what you’re saying is you want to be a giant?”

I snorted at Nami’s interpretation. Usopp stomped over to her, yelling about her missing the point, before returning his attention to the fight.

The pair both managed to disarm each other, leaving them with only their shields and fists to fight with. They each went for a finishing blow, the punches landing at the same time, knocking them both down.

Broggy returned from his battle, battered and bloody, but alive.

Usopp began to fawn over the giant, as soon as he was near, explaining his admiration and ambition to Broggy. Broggy was surprised by Usopp at first, but seemed to accept his new found title as master well.

I idly wondered what Luffy and Vivi were doing. According to Broggy, they had befriended the other giant, Dorry. Luffy was probably just as enthralled with the epic nature of their battle of Usopp was.

The volcano they used as a signal erupted once more. “Well, there’s the signal. It’s really been active today.”

“You’re really going? But your wounds from the last battle haven’t healed.”

“Please,” Broggy scoffed. “Dorry can’t be doing any better than me. A few scratches won’t take me out of a duel. That surely would be a poor excuse for a brave warrior.”

It was a fair point.

“I guess so,” Usopp conceded.

“Alright then.”

“Now, Master Broggy, go and show this guy!” Usopp cheered.

“You bet, Usopp! I’m gonna beat him for sure this time. He hasn’t got a chance.”

“Go get him, you great warrior of Elbaf! The mighty Broggy always defeats his opponent! You can do it Broggy! You’re the mightiest warrior in the world! You can destroy him any day! Go Broggy!”

“Why does he continue this pointless fight?” Nami asked.

Usopp turned and exploded on her.

Nami was unfazed. “Well now we can get back to the ship. Waiting for a year. No freaking’ way it’s completely unacceptable. We need to get everyone on the ship and come up with a plan.”

I was in agreement as much as I wanted to watch this play out, we didn’t have time. There was never going to be a clear victor. They were too evenly matched. Plus, we had to make sure that the others were alright, and figure out how we were going to get to Alabasta.

“Now hold on a second. I for one don’t think that we stand a chance against dinosaurs. Cutting through the jungle to get back to the Merry won’t so us much good if we get killed on the way, will it?”

“Such bravado from our brave warrior of the sea, afraid of a big lizard,” I teased, standing up.

“I said that come day I’ll be a brave warrior of the sea. Besides even a brave warrior has to have enough sense not to get himself killed. Mira, Nami, listen. Even if I should lose everything someday and have to face a horribly tragic death, along on a deserted island, I will proudly say this about how I have lived, “I am Captain Usopp and know that I have been a great brave warrior of the sea!””

Usopp hit the ground with a hard thud, his fear causing him to go stiff as a board.

“Yeah. Yeah. For now can you just settle for being a dependable warrior?” Nami asked, dragging him by his satchel.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

I shook my head, following the two. “Well then I guess I’ll be on dinosaur duty. I expect you to return the favor, when you’re a brave warrior of the sea.”

***

Notes:

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***

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[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1027 - Initial Thoughts

Okay we have returned, 2 more commanders have fallen and Luffy has returned into the fight proper now. But the chapter title is a concerning one

'An Unbelievable Disaster'

but for who? Let's find out

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release

Haha Roger, little scoundrel. Wonder if we will get any young Roger flashbacks in the future

Carrot is back in centre frame, hugging Neko after defeating Perospero

Neko being sweet in warning her about the moonlight, I mean Carrot did say she was able to control it in WCI

Must really be a moment for Momo and Yamato too, we've seen the heavens part, we've had our freakout from the clash of kings, but this is the first time for them, the wave of emotions they must be going through

The clash is really doing a number on the lower floors too, I have continually warned you all of this island's structural integrity, roof ain't made for fighting

Yamato finally feels the effects of Thunder Bagua, despite shielding themselves from it. So I'd like people who were trying to rank Zoro below Yamato to kindly take the L because Yamato didn't scar Kaido

Back to the bickering for Luffy and Momo, Yamato telling him to help Momo, which is a solid plan still despite Momo's protests

Kaido isn't just gonna let this plan happen though and goes for Momo - who is still trying to will himself to fly - and Yamato

Seeing Kaido has Momo invoke Kin'emon and Kiku for strength, which is a bit heartbreaking since they're either dead or near-death atm

Yamato blocks the first attack and then Luffy wraps around Kaido to halt him

Luffy's little smile, of course everyone knows that Luffy wants Kaido to himself

Momo takes the leap, but he cannot steer and thus is plummeting

Luckily Yamato is a Dragon Tutorial NPC, telling Momo the mechanics of 'flying', like Geppo is more kicking the air, Dragons are simply climbing clouds

Momo's euphoria to flying is sweet too, given how he was deathly afraid of heights about 2 minutes ago

But rubble from the island is falling on them, so Yamato has to bat them away

The underneath is crumbling, which could indeed be a sign that Kaido is weakening, but it could also be a sign that the island's integrity is reaching its limits, also I still like my theory last week that Onigashima was the original capital, the bedrock would be unstable if it was lifted away before

Momo tries to push the island away, but Yamato points out how it's futile; the Flower Capital is in sight

I wonder if that's a normal 5 minutes of a Frieza 5 minutes?

Yamato suggests using Momo's fire clouds, but Momo doesn't feel like he's at that level yet, still questioning whether he has all of Kaido's powers

Alright so you can't just drop it there either it seems, Onigashima has enough explosives to basically nuke the capital in fallout, got a bit of Alabasta references here maybe? Blow it up in the sky

Since they don't want Kaido to run out of energy too, Momo suggests stopping Luffy, but gets bonked for being daft

'Even though he can barely stand'? Not sure about that Yamato he had a big lunch while you were fighting Kaido

But it's right not to tell him yet, if a solution is found there's no point, plus one will bet that Kaido will tell him if he gets desperate

Meanwhile on the performance floor though, King has gone in a slashing fit

KNIFE WINGS!

Zoro's blocked it but he's also been flung quite a way away

Safe hands by Franky

Zoro ain't asking for help when he scarred a Yonko, besides he should be teaming with Sanji at this point

Sanji of whom we don't see in this chapter, just Queen bickering with King

Ah okay so King is having a fit because Zoro cut his mask

King charges at Zoro again, hoping to dump him off the Island, but Zoro corrects himself with a new attack 'Clear Lance/Sky Tanuki'

Yeah Zoro would much rather die by the blade than plummet, though King's not exactly in a compliant mood

Though, you only see a tiny bit of his forehead, dunno why he's throwing such a hissy over that? He'll probably get a bunch of fangirls when his full face is revealed anyway

So this was an eventful one, starting strong with Luffy and Kaido setting a 1v1 we shifted over to Momo. As expected, Yamato is perfect for guiding Momo through his dragon powers. I didn't expect Onigashima to be loaded with enough explosives to be a bomb though, suppose it makes sense but it is adding some extra urgency.

We had some Neko and Carrot stuff at the start but not a lot, I hope this does mean plans for Carrot, it also may be a contrast to Inu who is without support and Orochi nearby.

Our main focus looks to shift to Zoro vs King, bit sad it's focusing on a singles fight (for now maybe) because I wanted Zoro and Sanji to fight together to win, but alas we will get some personal time with King to show off his race's design and capabilities. Wonder if he looks similar to someone else we know?

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1026 - Initial Thoughts

And we return The weeks always feel longer without it but One Piece is back from its big 3-part colour spread and a well-earned rest for Oda

But now we return to the Dragon Action, taking it by the ball Z Or something along those lines

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release as Well

A sweet Nami cover this time, making a fashion line with Leo in the style of Bell-mere's Sunflower/Lion design - which tbf could've been Thousand Sunny foreshadowing now that I think about it

Man, the Flower Capital is just a big bowl for Onigashima isn't it? I wonder if Onigashima was originally where the Flower Capital was, and when it was thrown into the ocean they built the Flower Capital from the remains

Hitetsu's worrying about Tama, even though he could've easily been competent enough to fight, but I guess someone has to look after Toko - where's Onimaru btw?

Even more ominous is that Onigashima isn't too far from the Flower Capital now

One of the eye print spies who can broadcast seems to be at the scene of the dragons, able to confirm that there are two dragons, one's being rode by Luffy and Yamato has been fighting Kaido

Luffy does want to encourage Momo to do Dragon Things but he's still being unsure about himself, deciding to dodge the Blast Breath rather than fire one of his own

Quietly, Luffy tells Momo to do something, something he's not entirely sure about, but Luffy's already off to hammer down a Gear Third Elephant Gun

Bite Kaido!? That's a Luffy and a Goku move there, when in doubt bite your enemy

Momo's reluctant, but then memories of Oden Castle steel his nerves

Crazy sonofabitch did it, Kozuki Momonosuke just bit the Yonko Kaido, and boy did Kaido not see that coming

Though it's not doing as much damage as hoped, but when Kaido stares him down Momo stares right back

Yamato looks to come rescue Momo but Luffy's back with the conqueror's punch

Ah shit, the dragons have clouded up the Moon again, meaning that Inu and Neko have been pushed back to their normal forms at the mercy of Perospero and Jack

Oh man Jack's hybrid form just keeps looking worse, he has a whole mammoth's ass

Pero you should really not gloat about having luck

Carrot honey you need to contribute more in this fight please, it hurts to see you go to waste

The performance floor still is getting the broadcast from the transmission guy, where Momo's name is clearly heard to identify the safety of the young lord to the allies

Luffy got a point, if Momo can bite a Yonko what's he scared of now

Yamato is just enjoying the ride at this point

As Luffy encourages Momo to stop Onigashima, Zoro and Sanji show disbelief that they're talking about Momo

Once more Luffy stands his ground, declaring he will defeat Kaido

I wonder if BM lowkey respects Luffy at this point, or if she's just laughing it all off

Kid's 'fuckin' better' gets me though XD dude went from wanting to take Kaido's head to letting Luffy do it

Law too just pulling his passive aggressive comments

For the rest of the alliance, spirits are high, mainly out of relief that Momo and Luffy are indeed alive

Kaido though is back in his hybrid form, ready to challenge Luffy once again

Apt that Luffy says 'anything can happen' because the two Conqueror's clash parts the skies just like WB/Shanks and Kaido/BM did, the transmission guy is KO'd and the clash parts the heavens, letting the moon shine in

I'd say Perospero is about to eat his words but with that fatass tongue of his it's a surprise he can eat anything

Citing Oden Nitoryu, though clearly not using Nitoryu, Inu and Neko defeat Pero and Jack. I think Pero's candy arm has shattered too

Orochi get your bitch ass out of hiding so we can finish that last head off!

So we're back to Luffy vs Kaido now, which is great, I'm curious though what Yamato will now do though, maybe help Momo with stopping Onigashima from falling? Dunno how but it could work out.

Luffy definitely should get props for sparking confidence in Momo, telling him to bite Kaido was childish on the surface but it also served as a motivation for Momo to act his newfound age.

While I'm not surprised that Inu and Neko won, I am still let down that Carrot doesn't get the final blow on Perospero, since she was most affected by witnessing Pedro's death. I dunno I think I just want more from her, especially since I think she'd be cool in the Nakama. Considering that in Whole Cake she successfully outwitted and defeated 3 of BM's children including Daifuku, plus Randolph a high ranking Homie also plus any of Kaido's gifters during their skirmish at Zou, she deserves some props.

Orochi's return to the field could spell bad things for Inu though, I still think he's gonna die but it's gonna suck if it's thanks to Orochi rather than in combat. At the moment though he seems to want to keep his distance, probably looking for a safe way off the island, but we should definitely be wary of him for the time being.

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Wano Theory - The Fall of Onigashima

Spoilers for Manga Chapters leading up to and including c997

So yeah, that happened Not content with just throwing his weight around in beating 8 Scabbards at once, Kaido decided to up his power play by LIFTING THE WHOLE DAMN ISLAND which he’s gonna then carry across this storming sea, to the Flower Capital - which is in the midst of the Fire Festival and completely unaware that this raid is taking place - which he likely will drop on top of the Flower Capital with the people below: destroying its aristocracy, a large chunk of rebels and leaving the weak and weakened at the mercy of Kaido’s (and Big Mom’s) military might.

So now we have more stakes to deal with, 2 stakes primarily:

Stake 1 - Defeat Kaido before Onigashima leaves the ocean, allowing the island to fall before it damages any populated area in Wano Stake 2 - Prevent Onigashima from falling on the Flower Capital, but at the same time defeat Kaido Obviously, neither are easy, but 2 is much more difficult than 1 to achieve, which means that Stake 2 will almost certainly come to fold, so the question is this: How does the Alliance STOP Onigashima from Falling?

No easy feat, but maybe this is a place for other Straw Hats and side characters to shine. So far I have 7 possibilities linked to who could help save Wano from ‘New Onigashima’.

Option 1 - Gods, Titans and Homies

Option 1 considers the idea of what, or better yet who, can amass to such a size to cushion Onigashima, and the first answer that comes to mind is Prometheus and Zeus. We’ve already seen Zeus and Prometheus grow to incredible sizes in Whole Cake Island and they both are able to carry Big Mom with ease, so who knows how much weight they can carry at that size. Zeus is probably the easier bet for cushioning Onigashima since Prometheus would burn everything too, allowing Zeus to be the pivotal character also allows it to go two ways, either Nami reclaims Zeus from Big Mom in some manner - which will likely lead to BM’s defeat - or Big Mom turns on Kaido and works with Nami to help. This allows Nami to show the strength of her Clima Tact, being able to strengthen Zeus beyond Big Mom’s own capabilities.

Option 2 - The Last Gift of the Minks

Currently the Minks are completely weakened by fighting Kaido, despite their Su Long form they have been left with a stalemate, however the Minks do have a disadvantage: if they turn off Su Long they are out for a considerably long time, too long to return to the fight, but if they don’t turn off Su Long they will die from exhaustion. Unfortunately I am convinced that many Minks will fight to the death, including at least one of the leaders, but there is a more valiant way they could go out, and it’s a power all minks had which is overlooked: Electro. Electro is born from every mink, the ability to produce electricity which is further empowered in Su Long, but when Carrot fought Big Mom’s fleet she was able to somewhat float off the ground, and that is what can help Onigashima float. If enough Su Long Minks surround the bottom of Onigashima, they could provide an electromagnetic field that can keep the island from even touching the surface below, pure static electricity as the Minks give every ounce of their life to save Wano.

Option 3 - Rise of the Kozuki Dragon

Momonosuke has an artificial Devil Fruit of a Dragon, one where he too is able to produce these clouds to float. The problem however, is that he doesn’t know how to use them, Momonosuke has been so busy training his human form that he’s never considered the benefits of a dragon form. Of course, this means Momonosuke cannot do this alone, but fortunately he’s got people who can help; Yamato has extensive knowledge of how the clouds work, Nami has weather magic, Shinobu’s ‘maturing’ theories could help strengthen Momo’s dragon powers or even his own age and experience and, should she turn on Kaido, Big Mom could imbue the clouds with souls to make them Homies, not only being able to funnel more power but give more sentient intent to the clouds themselves, she could even enthrall Kaido’s clouds this way.

Option 4 - Combined Might and Monsters

While we expect at the least Luffy and Zoro to have a crack at Kaido in the final fight, and hopefully more if not all the Straw Hats, there becomes a matter of what others can do to stop Onigashima from falling. We’ve seen Nami’s potential with Zeus but others can also combine in strength. First is Robin, her Gigantesco Manos or even a Spider’s Web could help resist the fall, but of course even she cannot carry that much weight. This is where Chopper’s Monster Point and Franky’s Iron Pirate can also assist with their raw strength, and this is where Usopp can also shine. Usopp’s weaponry appear to involve plants now thanks to his pop-greens, but what if he could influence existing flora? One of the main pieces of the Flower Capital is a giant tree and if he could influence that he too could be able to contribute to pinning Onigashima above him. But it can go farther, Tama’s DF allows the opening to control the entire flying squadron, anyone Tama brought with her (remember she has something brewing in 3 minutes), Drake’s Allosaurus form, Hawkins’ giant Straw Demon, Jimbei can even call the giant Koi from the waterfall (though it may serve more to drag it back), Marco’s phoenix flames may also have influence on top of Apoo’s sound manipulation, Kid’s metal, even Law’s shambles could assist - since I don’t think he could make it big enough to cover all of Onigashima. There’s also the matter of Perospero’s candy if he survives to help and anyone else not revealed to have been present in Onigashima, the possibilities are wide and combined could hold up an island. 

Option 5 - Outside Parties

By raising Onigashima from the ground, Oda wants to give us the perception that no other external forces can roll up to Onigashima and support for or against Kaido, but that could be a misdirect. Currently on the surface as far as we know, Big Mom’s remaining forces, Law’s remaining crew and any other samurai, prisoners, SMILE members Tama had taken control over and as far as we know Hiyori, Hitetsu, Onimaru and Caribou, maybe even the Mountain God(s) from the Oden flashback. But outside of who we know is in Wano could be others we didn’t expect to be there; Germa 66 for one may come to ‘repay’ Big Mom for her attempted assassination, reengaging Sanji with his estranged family - and Baeju...which holds bias in this hope - which could just send all the other North Blue boys in a frenzy. The other outside factor is the Marines, Drake may not have called for help but circumstances outside of Wano may call for it: the marines going for a Warlord we didn’t know about (We only knew about Weevil, Mihawk, Boa, Buggy and Kuma, meaning Law and Doffy’s replacements were unknown), if Fujitora also shows up then Onigashima is no problem to his Gravity DF, but it will snowball another conflict.

Option 6 - The Sky Ships

This is probably my most deep-cut part of the Onigashima theory. As much as Luffy has to defeat the Yonko, Wano will never be free unless they see it for themselves: Orochi dead, Kaido defeated, until that is something the people can even believe in, Wano can never truly escape that oppression. Which is why arriving at the Flower Capital during the Fire Festival may actually allow ‘Wano’ itself to help save the country and a key part of that is the Sky Ships. Oda made note of paying attention to it, and making sure that the Fire Festival is as big as ever because this is the 20 year prophecy, every person in the Flower Capital right now is as spirited as ever because they desperately are clinging to the idea of salvation, so what if Oda is actually giving them an opportunity? The Sky Ships alone may actually be imbued with the spirits, the will of those who died for Wano, in that way the spirits of Wano itself could prevent Wano from falling atop of them, the same way Skypeia’s golden bell was to reach Noland and Calgara. It may be simple as these mythic powers from Wano’s culture, but it could be ushered by someone else - Brook. In WCI Brook proved himself capable of suppressing souls of chess soldiers via his DF, able to harm homies via Soul Solid, so what if via his Soru Soru no Mi he would be able to temporarily raise the souls of Wano’s dead and empower them through the memory and belief of the people symbolized by the Sky Ships they would release into the sky. 

Option 7 - All of the Above Outside of Luffy suddenly awakening his DF and making the island bounce off or a surprise Katakuri appearance, there aren’t many other options outside of the six detailed. But, why settle for only one option? Each of these options are feasible together as well as apart; Nami can empower Zeus and Momo’s clouds while Usopp, Robin, Jimbei, Chopper and Franky provide weight support as the Minks surround the island and Momo’s clouds with electro and raised by Brook’s soul-powered Sky Ships. A culmination of an absolutely bonkers scenario we’ve found ourselves in which can allow every Straw Hat a vital means of contribution but also allowing Wano and its citizens to have a large part in liberating its country from Kaido, Orochi and the Isolationist Regime Wano currently has.

Whether that comes to be remains to be seen, there are many pieces moving and as with this moment itself, it can go any manner of directions, we just have to wait for Oda to weave his magic.