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forgetme-eternally-blissfully · 1 year

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Spoilers for Cales past and a ss of a few paragraphs of chapter 695

Cale hates when people sacrifice themselves. He hates when they push themselves too hard, especially for him.

Because that’s what happened with Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo, isn’t it?

Cale was supposed to die. They sacrificed themselves for him, and he lived, and now he gets visibly upset when people try to do things that are similar.

What does he think about when he sees people work themselves till they faint? It’s stupid. Not just because it’s not healthy, but because it’s sacrificial. He hates martyrs. He hates it when they’re his friends.

Cale has a weird complex, right? Sacrificing himself left and right, fainting, but not allowing anyone else to do the same? Hypocrite, right?

(Chapter 695)

This is weird, isn’t it? This complete lack of awareness is concerning! It’s almost as if he’s oblivious to the fact that he does the same thing all of the time!

To everyone else, yes, this situation with the crown Prince fainting after using all of his mana is a perfect parallel to Cale using his ancient powers too much and going into a coma.

But Cale doesn’t see his actions in the same light! He really isn’t trying to sacrifice himself 90% of the time! The collateral damage (fainting, bleeding, pain) is usually not part of his prediction, and if it is, it’s more than he expected.

His intentions and thoughts are always about keeping his friends safe, and he’s okay with coughing up a bit of blood to do that! Just a bit, maybe enough that it will look scary but it won’t hurt him in the long run and that’s okay.

If he faints? It wasn’t planned, so it’s not really sacrifice. Maybe a little but he’s selfish enough already, it’s the least he can do, honestly.

When Cale puts himself in danger it’s for selfish reasons. Self-declared selfishness, but that’s how he sees it.

Cale doesn’t sacrifice himself. Everything he does is because he chose to! He chose to. If it doesn’t hurt too bad, he doesn’t consider it as doing much at all. The level of pain he experiences in every situation is his way of determining how much he’s ‘accomplished against his will’ (sacrificed).

Not only that but there are circumstances he must be in to even consider it of consequence to other people. If it doesn’t happen while someone’s in danger, it doesn’t really matter, does it? He doesn’t understand why someone would be asking about his well-being. He doesn’t plan to let anything that happens affect his plans, so there’s no reason for them to worry.

If he’s not on a battlefield, all of the effort he puts in?

(ancient powers) (strengthening his friends) (being in pain and pushing through it) (planning and strategizing) (so, so much more)

It doesn’t count. He is familiar with meticulously and extensively optimizing his time, because as KRS, monsters attack indiscriminately. Being prepared and working hard to be strong is nothing when compared to the battle soon to come, therefore, it doesn’t count as “work.” It’s what is expected. It is the basic standard for what is required to survive.

Where everyone sees Cale working nonstop for weeks and months and years, it’s a normal weekend for him. Those days outside of battle don’t count. He worked like that for 15 years, so much stress is easy for him.

But- why doesn’t he recognize that he pushes himself until he faints? There’s a threshold that he passes where he faints, but he still keeps crossing it?

Well, because he’s the protagonist and- often, our only source of information for what happens in this world- narratively, he tends to stay awake and only faints when the battle is coming to a close, or has just closed. If the battle ends, his presence isn’t of vital importance, so it’s fine if he was unconscious for a little bit. Other times it’s involuntary and a result of his body’s terrible condition or outside forces.

He doesn’t recognize his fainting as sacrificial because as long as the battle ends on a good note and he’s still able to think and plan relatively soon after he wakes up, he hasn’t sacrificed much other than time. He also has Vitality of the Heart, which lets him feel rejuvenated after a ‘nap.’

You see, Cale Henituse is interesting. He doesn’t know how to distinguish being selfish and selfless because being selfless is, in itself, an act of selfishness. When Cale (from the perspective of his friends) ruins his health and runs from battle to battle without resting or thinking about his friends concern— it’s pretty selfish of him.

While everyone else considers him selfless, he thinks of himself as doing the “obvious” amount of work and being selfish too. That much work is expected of him, so it isn’t selfless. It’s all for his own gain, because when everything is over, he’ll be the one going away to slack off in a forest. Ha!He’s seven steps ahead of everyone (and on the verge of collapse).

How trashy.

So to answer the question? Cale doesn’t notice his own sacrifices because he feels that:

1) his intentions remain solely selfish, so fainting and coughing up blood is just something he needs to do to get closer towards his goal.

2) anything that occurs outside of battle does not count as sacrifice because it does not affect how his plans will pan out, and everything he does is just a normal amount of work for him.

3) fainting is not on his list of to-dos, it happens without his consent- constantly- and it is very annoying because it’s an unpredictable variable, but thankfully it happens when the battle is almost over/already over so it’s not really fainting. It’s like taking a nap! Involuntarily, but at least it’s sort of convenient.

4) being overly selfless is selfish, and selfish = bad, so Cale is a Bad Person and Complete Trash. Look at Cale, selfishly wanting his friends and his homeland to be safe so that he can retire. Bastard!

So, turns out his inability to realize the irony of his statements is because of the traumatizing 16 years of mental conditioning where pushing himself over the edge is normal and expected, spurred on by his socially isolated past that led to a lack of empathy and emotional awareness, and his two closest friends sacrificing themselves for him after his ability couldn’t predict the situation accurately enough.

Wow, it was the trauma all along…

€<><><><><>o

{>>>O=

^^^ my attempts at fish

Anyway, here is a compilation of my favorite Cale moments :D find it under the cut :3 they’re angsty :v spoilers ofc

Chapter 258 ^

Chapter 259 ^

Chapter 303 ^

Chapter 420 ^

Chapter 560 ^

Chapter 584 ^

Chapter 656 ^

#yes that one ss of chapter 695 prompted all of this analysis #i reread the Alberu fainting scene and was determined to find the reason #ah I’m so glad I’ve managed to boil it down like this #it frustrated me so much when he seemed so oblivious but it makes sense #character analysis #!!!#I love to look at my blorbos and tell them their problems #tcf #tcf spoilers #trash of the counts family #trash of the count’s family spoilers #lcf spoilers #lout of the count’s family spoilers #cale henituse #kim rok soo #not a reblog

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opbau · 4 months

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strawhats and bending elements for this au:

Luffy - water

Zoro - earth

Nami - water

Usopp - fire

Sanji - earth

Chopper - non-bender (reindeer)

Robin - non-bender

Franky - non-bender

Brook - air

Jinbei - non-bender (fishman)

little bit more explanation under the cut

Luffy

my man cannot turn water into ice or fog and doesn't have the strongest control in the world, but in terms of raw power? pretty fucking strong

to be clear, he can manipulate ice, fog, snow, etc. but he can't alter whatever form it's already in. Nami gets a headache if she thinks about it too long

learned a little bit of waterbending from Shanks, but never really had a teacher

Zoro

strong earthbender with much better control than Luffy

can only bend earth

metal, sand, gems- nothing. he is very much a one trick rock pony

he only learned the basics from his village's earthbending teacher and devoted a majority to his time to swordsmanship so. yeah

Zoro doesn't even know what the hell sandbending is until they get to Alabasta

Nami

one of the few strawhats to have a formal teacher and learn more than the basics

Bellemere was a great teacher. but. yknow.

Nami learned most of what she knows from waterbending books and scrolls that she stole over the years from other pirates and rich people. And she's learned a lot compared to the other strawhats.

To keep this brief-ish, she's practically a master at waterbending, save for healing. For the life of her, she couldn't really get the hang of it and none of the scrolls or books she had picked up over the years were at all helpful in explaining it. She's still working on it.

The unfortunate part of this is, while she has great control and precision over her bending, her power is... lacking. Which is where the 'practically a master' vs. 'an actual master' distinction becomes important lol

Due to amazing forethought, Nami is perceived by the outside world as a non-bender. Even some of her enemies think she's a non-bender. Nami really doesn't want people to know how good she is at waterbending because that would make her more of a threat and her pretty little heart wouldn't be able to take it if her bounty increased, Robin, so could you do her a big favour-

Usopp

christ where do i begin

the only firebender in Syrup Village. Yasopp is a known pirate and firebender.

Usopp never had a firebending teacher. He did, however, have ample amounts of earth and water benders to watch from afar. He taught himself bending, in a way that works for him. It is far from traditional firebending, but hey it works.

Somewhere along the line- maybe around Loguetown or after- he learns that firebenders really can shoot lightning and it wasn't just a myth. He blows himself up a lot trying to create it on his own before some lady on an island they stop at explains the right way to do it and demonstrates. Usopp still blows himself up, but now his form is correct.

While the other strawhats tend to weave their bending into their fighting styles somehow- or at least use it to aid them in battle from time to time, like with a boost into the air via rock- Usopp never uses his bending in a fight. He likes his bending and all, but he's the sniper and he has a bag of explosives on him so uh. No.

one day, post-Wano, Usopp has a really good day before bending practice and accidentally discovers his ability to combustion bend. He doesn't know it's combustion bending though, because all that comes out are little sparks of fire, like a sparkler. No one else knows either and he just uses it as a party trick.

Sanji

dear god this one is gonna be. AA.

all of the Vinsmokes are earthbenders. Sora is not. Sanji is.

After escaping onto the Orbit, Sanji decided the best way to never be found again would be to never bend again. Ever. (also because those 3 bastards and Judge were earthbenders and Sanji hated them)

He had an earthbending teacher, but anything that wasn't a superhuman feat was deemed a failure so Sanji never actually learned shit from that teacher. He also just wanted to cook all the time, so he never practiced.

Point is, when he's stuck on that rock with Zeff, he has the power and control to lift a rock, but nothing heavier than something he could physically carry himself.

Zeff is a non-bender. While the Baratie has it's fair share of benders, Sanji is Zeff's son and when Zeff offered to teach him how to fight one day, what was Sanji to do other than accept?

Sanji never told Zeff he was an earthbender, but he had a feeling Zeff knew anyway.

Sanji never told his crew he was an earthbender either. This was less of him actively hiding it and more out of habit. He loved them, but he didn't really see a need to explain it to them when it didn't matter. He wouldn't see his 'family' again and he could fight just fine without it anyway-

[Whole Cake]

Sanji: Hm. Hm™

He reveals he's an earthbender post-WCI. Zoro forces him to learn the basics and also adamantly insists that he knew the truth the whole time (he didn't. he's embarrassed). Zoro starts saying some super smug stuff now, like "is that any way to talk to your teacher?" and related lines. Think Zoro's thing about ranking and always insisting he's above Sanji and now that he's got the opportunity, he's gonna enjoy every moment.

(He's also gonna have some kind of earthbending specialty, but I haven't decided yet. Leaning towards metalbender though.)

Sanji faces the firebender rumours instead of Usopp. Both of them are incensed by this bc Sanji wants people to think he's a non-bender still (connection to Zeff) and Usopp is just mad people don't think he's a firebender (quite literally his own fault).

Chopper

always thought bending was cool even if he couldn't do it

Doctor Hiriluk was a non-bender too. Sometimes the two of them would talk and make up impossible scenarios that benders might do and laugh their heads off.

Doctor Kureha is an earth bender. She isn't a metalbender, but everyone besides Chopper thinks she is.

Robin

she comes from a long line of waterbenders, but she and her mother were both non-benders.

The scholars on Ohara were benders of all types and specialties. Fire, Earth, Water, Air all living in harmony and all that. Real shame. Anyway.

Because of Nami's "i'm totally a non-bender teehee" scheme, Robin has become the "strawhat's waterbending witch" that some people spread rumours about. The gist is that Nami begged her to help and Robin thought it'd be fun. Misleading people with her ability and those rumours never gets old.

Franky

non-bender in a family of 1) a fishman, 2) a mermaid, and 3) Iceburg (annoying waterbender his age)

Water 7 is known for a majority of their people being waterbenders. The Franky Family is mostly made up of non-water benders.

Franky didn't really care about figuring out bending as much when he was younger and after the Sea Train incident and he built himself back up, he couldn't bend a thing. He doesn't really know if he just fucked himself up hard enough he couldn't bend anymore or if he never could bend in the first place. He doesn't really care though, too busy being Super!

A lot of outsiders think Franky is an earthbender, specifically a metalbender, because of his whole cyborg thing. Also the no shoes thing. After joining the strawhats, the metalbender thing sort of holds up, especially post-timeskip with his General Franky.

There are also groups of people who are like "this guy is from Water 7, are you kidding? he's a waterbender for sure." They also point to the fact that he's always wearing a speedo and thus always ready to get wet.

The rumours are pretty funny to listen to and he and Robin love to just hang out on an island incognito (or as much as Franky is capable) and just listen to rumours about themselves and laugh about it. They share what they hear with the crew too.

Brook

he doesn't use his bending often, but there are occasions; can do loads of funny little tricks that he taught himself during That Time. He's also quite good at propelling his body high into the air for surveillance.

Not exactly a master airbender, but does have the basics down, like Zoro. There are attempts to mimic Sanji's Sky Walk- more for entertainment and curiousity than anything- with varying levels of success (Brook kicks himself too high, doesn't kick at the right time, etc)

Learned about 'gliding suits' (created after he died) and refuses to ever wear one. Adamant that if he must wear traditional airbending clothing, it's flowy stuff or nothing. (he's shy about form fitting clothing being too close to the skin. well, not that he has any-)

Jinbei

literally the exact same. Fishmen can do all the same things in canon, but they cannot be benders. Reason being: every single one of them is uhh, hmm. best way to say this is waterbenders, but to the left.

Fishmen can manipulate water with their hands but only if they're touching the element itself; they can't turn it to ice or anything like that, but the tradeoff is the immense amount of power and precise control they can more easily learn than humans... or smth like that

honestly, Jinbei's just here to chill in this au and probably unintentionally give Luffy bad waterbending advice (it's advice for Fishman Karate which isn't the same, but it's pretty close right? And Luffy keeps asking and insisting he teach him, and well, who is Jinbei to say no? Surely, Franky, who came to watch, will tell him if he's giving the wrong idea-)

Nami yells at both of them. Then yells at Franky because of his waterbender conspiracy theorists.

#opbauwriting #one piece #*realizes i never wrote out my bending headcanons for each of them* oh shit-#ANYWAY listen High Tide by kurgaya is a great great fic and i love it lots and it is pretty much the sole reason i made this blog lmao #i am just. filled with so many thoughts of domestic bending uses with the blorbos #ideally i'll make this into a fic with Chopper interviewing all of them about it. but for now i wanna have a short post for this #also i love robin don't get me wrong but i just don't have much for her in this au kdjfhdfg #Jinbei advice: just grab it / Luffy: just grab it? / Jinbei: yes / Luffy: okay- ahhhhhh *loses all his strength*#anywho theres a bunch more but i wanna turn those into fics or art (or both) and its getting late so. another time #if i had to give Franky an element it would be Air but like.#i find it much more amusing for him to be a non-bender that nobody believes is a non-bender lmao #ah who knows. i might change it in the future

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