#and consequently a member of the strawhats)

[riot-control-camp]

OKAY NOT DONE TALKING ABOUT THE LITTLE GARDEN ARC

ESPECIALLY THE NARRATIVE PARALLELS BETWEEN ZORO AND SANJI AND DORRY AND BROGGY??? THE FACT THAT THOSE PARALLELS PARTICULARLY IMPLY THAT THEY HAVE A SPECIAL BOND THAT WILL LAST LITERALLY FOREVER???

THE VISUAL WHERE THE AUDIENCE REALIZES THAT THE MOUNTAIN RANGES WERE SKULLS?? PAIRED WITH THEM LYING IN THE SAME POSITION AS ZORO AND SANJI'S TWO DINOSAURS LEFT BEHIND ON THE BEACH?

average tumblr user notices single instance of symbolism, more at 11.

but usopp getting more moments of bravery!!! WE STAN HIS ARC!!!!! I LOVE HIM!!!

zoro getting to laugh and tease people this arc was beautiful, i love that stupid cunty bitch

sanji getting his part of the arc done through cunty trespassing, lying through his teeth, and beating up animals? FANTASTIC THANK YOU FOR MY LIFE (specifically thank you for that twisting move he did with his heels around the vultures head. how does it feel to live MY. D R E A M)

LUFFY WAS SO SHAPED. I WOULD KILL FOR HIM. HE'S SO FERAL.

and calling it now, nami is absolutely going to get malaria girl is the QUEEN of "it's nothing [2 episodes later it is in fact a resonant Something with excruciating plot relevance and emotional stakes attached to it"

almost simped for crocodile but miss all sunday was Right There MA'AM. MA'AM. RESPECTFULLY AND ASEXUALLY, TILL THE BED FUCKING BREAKS--

also he has a giant gold pet which i don't fuck with. also his rings remind me of redd white from ace attorney who is Unfuckable as he is a murderer of a mentor figure (other forms of murder have not detered me from simping in the past. in fact it is typically a point in a character's favor)

also oh my god tumblr makes so much more sense now that i am attempting to use it while high, my fluency rate and understanding of how every person on this platform is distressingly and hilariously comfortable assuming their experience is universal

okay but the still of the giant's weapon shards thrown over their head in victory? makes me insane, will never be over it cannot fucking handle it will be crying forever and ever

[sailing-ever-west]

Thinking about how much the strawhats need Usopp.

His place on the team has always been weird and uncertain for him. He's a sniper but also he's an inventor and he fixes the ship but the thing he gets known for is mostly the long nose and the lying. He calls himself a great captain but he's not the captain and in fact he has very little decision-making power and even less actual confidence. He's the most cowardly. Or maybe he's the bravest. He's pretty sure they only keep him around because he helped them get a ship. He'd die for them anyway.

But the strawhats don't really need a sniper, or a liar, or a guy who gave them a ship. They need Usopp. And the reason has nothing to do with whatever his official role on the crew may be.

They need Usopp because they need a (goodhearted, clever, brave, talented, but nonetheless) regular guy. It's actually so important for the strawhats to have someone who knows what it's like to be weak, who has to really grapple with the consequences of every fight and crazy adventure, who has some semblance of being average and practical about things.

Nami shares some of this role of not being impossibly strong and unkillable the way the others are, but even she has solid close combat techniques and has random bursts of crazy where she'll do things like stab a 3 inch wide spike through her foot to win a fight and help Vivi. She's just pretending to be normal. You can see the glint in her eyes and know she's actually insane.

Also, Usopp is like. Actually nice to people. Regularly. He wants to avoid conflict. They desperately need at least one crew member who wants to avoid conflict. Nami does not serve this purpose quite like Usopp does, either. Sure, she doesn't want to get into fights willy-nilly and she'll often run instead, but she has a harsh and prickly personality that doesn't exactly set people at ease. Chopper also avoids fights but that's mostly for medical reasons and he has very little problem getting into them if he thinks it's necessary. Sanji is kind to people, but he's only nice to women, and will start fights with very little prompting. Luffy is friendly but completely tactless, Zoro doesn't even try to be sociable, and Robin thinks murder is a little funny. So again, between all these weirdos, they need a guy who's just like. Hey what if we said good morning like normal people. What if when some stranger is mildly rude and has a lot of weapons we just ignore it. What if we like. Got along with people. That would be neat.

Anyway I don't have a big grand finish for this post but just. The strawhats were genuinely in need of Some Guy, and Usopp solves that problem even though he thinks he's not special enough. Of course he's unique and talented and strong, but he's still an average human with average physical strength and slowly hard-earned skills. The strawhats without that have no tether.

[zorosbeau33]

"They said no"~ One Piece Luffy Scenarios/Drabble

❖ One Piece, Luffy x gender neutral reader

❖ Scenarios/Drabble, Not sure what genre to put on this? Established Relationship AU, Protective Boyfriend Luffy

❖ TRIGGER WARNING Unwanted advances from a third party, 18+ Only due to theme

❖ wc: 750

❖ Prompt "You said no and they didn't listen how does your partner respond?" ❖ Masterlist ❖ Zoro version~

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Hope you all enjoy~ If you think this prompt should be done with one of the others leave a comment or send a message~

. ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ ⋅˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

The night was young, the bars air yet to be filled with the heavy scent of smoke and sweat from the dozens of patrons that would filter through its worn wooden doors. And yet…already several men had one drink too many. This seemed of little consequence to your crew, earning only a mild scoff from Nami in disgust when you first entered. Perhaps due to the fact your merry bunch all congregated at the other end of the bar together, ordering drinks and food. Hopefully enough to satisfy your darling lover and captain’s insatiable hunger.

 

To the surprise of few Sanji was flirting it up with the bar maid to get the secrets of their famous cocktails for him to replicate on the ship. Luffy between bites of food with you, and silly slack stick humor with the others was very relaxed. After two weeks of battling marines on island after unfortunate island it was great to be able to just kick back and relax. He’d always held all his crew members, you included, in high regard when it comes to your fighting capabilities. Yeah he didn’t think you were invincible, but he had faith in your abilities to defend yourselves, and you to stand up for yourself with the knowledge he would always be there to back you.

This is why when the sleezeball at the bar put their arm around you Luffy didn’t flinch…well perhaps he had also not noticed at first. Too busy was he swallowing down his flagon of booze in a competition with Usopp to pay heed to the mans offensive once over of your being. He did however hear the switch in your tone as you firmly told the drunkard you were not interested, extricating yourself from his clammy hands. The strawhatted captain stayed calm, smile still in place as he talked with the others, but for once he did not boast of his victory in the competition. Merely laughed lightly, and continued eating, the slightest shift in his posture caught Robins eye. A tiny squaring of his shoulders as he sat up straighter.

Rolling your own eyes you moved to return to the group your new drink in hand, and a frown upon your lips. This however did not go noticed by your new admirer, the creep had his hands around your waist in a sudden and surprisingly quick movement. Pinning your back to the bar a bit roughly, causing you to wince at the force as you tried not to dump the fruity beverage down either of your fronts. 

“Now now my pretty I said you should come home with me tonight eh?” His slurred purr felt like hot oil being poured into your veins. It was clear this man was much stronger than he appeared, and the malicious glint in their eyes spelled trouble. Still Luffy did not move, even as Nami jumped out of her seat the farthest person from you. Her yell of outrage on your behalf grabbed Zoro’s attention, several pairs of eyes fixed themselves upon you. Some of your crew still had not seemed to notice but the mans compatriots had, and they now rose and laughing approached cheering their “cap’n” on and making obscene jokes on your goings on for the night. 

When your response was to tell him to get lost and kick him away, their laughter turned into drunken outrage. “I said no.” The man sneered at you now all feigned charm lost in an instant. 

“You’ll do what I say when I say-” A fist connected with his cheek before he could reach for you again, down in an instant as your back was suddenly against a much softer surface. Luffy's warmth radiated into you from behind as he placed his hat upon your head, covering your view of the scene in front of you. “Oi…they said no.” His voice was deeper than normal, any normal boyish amusement gone. The hand around your waist, trembled softly with white-hot rage, his rubber skin radiating waves of Haki turning it a deep glistening metallic black. Luffy believed in your ability to protect yourself, but a no was a no and if the man tried to hurt you there was no way he was going to sit there and watch. The structural integrity of the bar be damned he was going to smash this man's face into every hard-looking surface he could find so that he’d never try such a thing ever again. 

[yukishirostar]

Because of what's happened with Zoro's character the past few chapters in relation to him being called a 'burden', I wanted to discuss Zoro's character in relation to his position and sense of worth as a person and why this is particularly painful to see for me as a Zoro fan.

We all know this was a significant moment for Zoro's character. In particular because it marks how he went from a character who was singularly focused on wanting the become the strongest swordsman to someone willing to give up his own life and dream for his crew.

With a gentle smile and tone after everything he went through, Zoro tells Brook 'the crew is a handful'. It wasn't something he asked for, but this is now his family and one he is responsible for protecting even if it means giving up everything he's worked for in his life so far.

But despite being successful in protecting his Captain and his crew and surviving, Zoro has fears and insecurities after Thriller Bark. From his perspective, they had been lucky that Kuma accepted his terms and he was lucky he survived. But either of those things could have gone another way and Zoro is well aware of that fact. Zoro is someone who puts his value as a person into his strength, and if he doesn't have that then he isn't worth anything. To him, because of his weakness, his crew were in danger and he would have failed his life dream just like that.

Not too far after during Saobody, Zoro is yet again in a helpless situation. Zoro is too injured to run and the other members are trying to protect him. Zoro wishes to sacrifice himself (again) to hold them off so the others can escape, even if it means his own death. He sees himself as being useless in the moment and weighing his crew down.

Zoro begs Mihawk to train him, and as Mihawk recognises, he gives up his own pride by bowing before him. While some including Zoro himself might argue that Zoro's sacrifices so far are because of his ambition and he can't be the strongest if he can't even protect his own captain and crew, I think Mihawk's monologue proves its not just about that and its because well Zoro genuinely cares about his crew on an emotional level. (that should be obvious but some ppl really treat zoro as if he's an emotionless solider so i just wanted to point it out...)

Zoro even goes so far to sacrifice himself for people other than his crew, though you could argue its because Luffy was there, I think its just in Zoro's nature to protect others through sacrifice. While I think it shows resolve and a will to protect, I also think it shows how little Zoro values his own life sometimes when he's so quick to give himself up. We also see this later with how quick he was to take the drug so that he could fight King despite the consequences of doing so.

These reasons is why not just an enemy but a STRAWHAT calling Zoro a burden to his crew is really hitting a sore spot for Zoro. Zoro doesn't get easily affected by anything but having his will to do anything to protect and help his crew being questioned is in my opinion one of the worst things to do to him. Zoro always gives up his everything for his crew, including his own life and dream.

I just hope his crew and others would tell Zoro how valued he is and how he doesn't need to sacrifice himself all the time to be valued as a person.

[one-idea]

As I just watched 325 where Ace and Blackbeard fight. I can’t help but think of other ways it could have gone.

What if Ace didn’t leave the Moby dick alone? What if members of the Spade pirates followed?

Maybe Ace takes off on his own but Masked Deuce, Skull, and Mihar follow. They were his commanders. Maybe Deuce never liked Teach to start with. The man has bad vibes even when he’s actively tricking the Whitebeard crew. (If Luffy can pick up on the rancid vibes I refuse to believe other people didn’t pick up on them) add in the fact he just murdered a crew mate, and they all know Ace. Ace will take this as his responsibility. He’s going to go after teach there is not stopping him.

Maybe they go with him.

Maybe they see him leave. Deuce asked why no one’s going after him and is told that as second division commander Teach is Ace’s responsibility. So Deuce Mihar and Skull decided to follow on their own.

When they catch up depends on how you want the final battle to play out. There are two options.

1) they catch up before Ace reaches Blackbeard.

You get an argument of Ace anting them to turn back. He’s still underestimating Teach. He doesn’t know what his new devil fruit does.

It ends with them reminding Ace that they are there because they’re his friends and they care about him and want to help. They can deal with what ever consequences come from leaving the Moby later.

When they catch up to Blackbeard. Maybe they go to fight Blackbeard’s crew while Ace handles Teach.

That is until Teach shows off his devil fruit and the three have to book it to the forest. They don’t know what the fruit does but Blackbeard’s crew is fleeing from it.

Pause because idea 2 is that they trail him and end up on Banaro island right before Ace does. Maybe it was easier to track Blackbeard than Ace and the best him there. They are talking to/helping the town folk when Blackbeard shows off his power.

Either way both ideas meld here

Once out of range maybe Skull recognizes it. He has a weird hodgepodge of knowledge about pirates and I can see him knowing somethings about devil fruits.

Once Blackbeard is done showing off. They three race back to Ace. It takes them some time but they get there just in time to see Ace take a big hit.

Maybe between Skulls sword, Mihar’s gun and all threes quick thinking they are able to pull Ace out of there.

Ace is furious. He hates running. But the others know they are out matched. They were able to do some damage. (Over the years with Whitebeard they have gotten stronger) but maybe Blackbeard’s crew had also come to back him up. They were out numbered and Ace was already hurt.

Ace fights every step of the way. “You don’t understand! I can’t let him get away!”

“Ace we’ll get him I promise but we need help.” Deuce tries to reason. Blackbeard is a bigger threat than any of them thought. They will need Pop’s help for this.

“No you don’t understand. He’s going after Luffy!” And the world freezes for a second. (I’d like to think in either option the Spades missed Teach’s little attempt to get Ace to join him) they all know of Luffy. Ace little brother who he adores. He talks everyone’s ear off about the kid. So the fact that Teach was going after him was beyond low.

It’s a race now to Water 7. (They say the fight took place three days before the Strawhat’s new bounties dropped) so they are all still resting at Water 7. Garp may not have even shown up yet.

It’s a race between the two crews. Blackbeard to kill Luffy for his Warlord position, and Ace who desperately trying to warn/save his brother.

Maybe they have contacted the rest of the Whitebeard pirates and filled them in and they are on their way to.

This is a fluid idea. But I always thought it was unfair for Ace to be on this quest alone. I understand why, but like the boy deserves his friends.

Also I don’t think the Spades could beat Teach on their own. I think they are just enough to pull Ace out of the fight. He’s kicking and screaming but he’s safe.

Part 2 of this nonsense

[zoros-bandana]

Part 1 for my angst Zoro x reader request! Everyone, even Luffy, knows about S/O’s love for Zoro, given how she does support and take care of him a lot. Zoro does appreciate her efforts but doesn’t know how to reject her properly. With the Grand Line getting more dangerous, Zoro trains more and is stressed. In private, when S/O tries to get him to rest, he rejects her in the worst way possible. Taking all his stress out on her, he tells her never to bother him again. S/O quietly agrees.

Unreciprocated 

(part 1) (part 2) (SFW)

Warning: possible Thriller Bark spoilers, aggression, fighting, yelling

Summary: Joining the Strawhat crew came with an unintentional consequence; falling for the swordsman. Over time, the course of the treacherous seas forced an unbearable weight to push on your relationship with Zoro, until one fateful day in Sabaody.

Word Count: 1,200

   You had joined the Strawhat crew shortly after Usopp, enthusiastically invited aboard by your captain. The moment you became a Strawhat you slotted in almost perfectly; except for the looming bubble over your head. From the moment you met your crew you sparked a particular interest in the swordsman, fascinated by his craftsmanship and loyalty. There was something so captivating by him it was hard for you to keep away from him, constantly drawn to his every move. 

   Although you weren’t that well with fighting, you tried your best to supply what you could to the crew; caring and assisting your crew in whatever you could. Your skills weren’t overly helpful in the battle field - your chosen profession more domestic based - but you tried to help where you could. Taking the opportunity you turned to Zoro for help, knowing he would be the best person to spar against to strengthen your abilities. You wished to be greater on the field, not only to help your crew, but to impress the swordsman you were madly in love with. 

   The two of you would go around in circles. The more treacherous the sea became, the more protective and love-struck you were with him; while he battled to not only protect his crew but juggle training and sparing against you. It soon became clear to everyone on board of the love you showed for Zoro; even to those who were usually oblivious to everything. However nobody said a word to you. It was clear that he made you happy, and although your presence seemed to aggravate the stresses already building on him, you could also provide a source of comfort for Zoro he deeply needed. 

Zoro was aware of your feelings, however, was too inverted to let you down gently. He did enjoy having you around as nobody else in the crew was willing to participate with training in the crows nest. But he also couldn't focus on his dream; the things he desired so deeply. Having you around felt like a wall he couldn't barge through, your overbearingly love-sick manners mimicking that of Sanji around Nami. He would do anything in his power to protect the crew, including yourself, but he knew where his intentions lied; and he couldn't voice his rejection for you. By the time the crew had reached its limit of nine, Zoro felt his body on the verge of breaking; momentarily on the verge of snapping at any second. He was drained. Physically and mentally he felt weak - as if he was the weakest member of the crew - and he needed to train. He needed to concentrate on what was at stake; his dreams, his crew, his ambition. He couldn't have any distractions to take him away from his prime focus.

And that included having you around.

   After the events of Thriller Bark, your worries for Zoro grew sickly; pining after him at any chance you had. You didn’t want to lose him. You couldn't lose him. Not again. You pressed Sanji for details on what happened that day, unaware of the amount of pain he physically and emotionally endured; although met with a dead end of dismissal. You could pick up on the growing annoyance in Zoro, mumbling how weak he was as he only wished to train harder. The wounds on his body grew tired, opening through even strain as he tried to push through training. He grew more willing to spar alongside you, much to his constant dismissal of your concerns for him. He found your activity as a source for him to let out his stress, growing more harsh with his sessions. He ignored your concerns for him to rest, each dismissal piling over an already tilted wave of stress; willing to snap at any moment. 

That was until you reached Sabaody. 

“Zoro” you stood over him, ignoring the bar blocking your view “you need to rest!”

“I’m fine, just piss of will ya”

“You’re not” you argued, placing a hand on the bar to stop him from lifting it over his head once again “you’re body is still recovering”

“I said I’m fine!” He snapped, furiously tossing the bar back on the hook above him. Sighing he sat up, ignoring the painful ache in his body as he walked away from you; picking up one of his dumbbells on the other side of the room. 

“That’s not what I meant!” You scurried after him “just please rest for a bit; it doesn’t have to be long. I worry about you sometimes and I really do think it would be beneficial for you to not train so much. You’re ignoring Chopper’s advice the least you can do is listen to -”

“Oh my god, (y/n)! Can’t you just leave me alone?” He snapped, turning down to look at you. His voice rumbled through the crows nest, each word spitting like poisonous venom. His whole body shook with adrenaline, an overwhelming mixture of fear and overstimulation forcing him to snap. 

“Just stop this crap! You have been nothing but an annoyance to me ever since you joined the crew! You never leave me alone and all you want to do is do things for me or talk to me and its distracting! Can’t you go mope around someone else for a change, huh? What about that stupid ero-cook? Anyone else, I really don’t care! I don’t care what you do, (y/n), as long as it is as far away from me as possible! I wish you never joined us to begin with! My life would be so much easier if you weren’t here!”

“Oh” you mumbled, looking away from him. You shook your head to fight against the strain of tears that brimmed at your eyes, your lip wavering as you spoke. “Okay, Zoro. I’m sorry I bothered you… I won’t let it happen again”

   Spinning on your heels you made your way to the door, quickly getting away from Zoro. The sinking feeling in your stomach tied you up in knots, the cruel sting of each word hitting you so deeply. You didn’t mean for him to feel overwhelmed with your support. You cared so deeply for him that you would do anything to make sure he was okay; and that wasn’t enough for him to care back for you. It was obvious what his true intentions were and he didn’t want you around. 

And because you loved him you would do anything to make him happy.

Even if it meant you had to stay away from him. 

[cyborg-squid]

I;m mid-Dressrosa arc right now, which has been very neat, Doflamingo* is a very cool villain and it's interesting seeing Sabo (the least hot of the three brothers, if we're being honest) for what's basically the first time, and Luffy unintentionally rallying all the gladiators behind him... but this is also where my gripes with OP start coming out.

first is that this TL/upload has the QnA portion at the end of the volumes, which would mostly be whatever, but there're these two stupid little things which annoyed me. one was Oda doing genderbent art of the Worst Generation (i'm seeing a lot of Fem Law art on my feed), which is fine, but what annoyed me was then giving them each super stereotypical... girl lines? like Fem Kidd calling the alliance a "girl's night", Fem Hawkins talking about romance horoscopes, etc... only Fem Law had like a normal line. and the second, in a similar vein, in that stupid little QnA thing, someone mentioned Franky had on a shirt with JK on it, and brought up the 'JK schoolgirl' thing with him, since Franky also had braids, and Oda responded with "Haha, gross!". like. c'mon. i guess i already know how he feels about trans people but c'mon.

and with the content of the actual arc itself, it feels very intentionally mirroring Alabasta arc, like how Fishman Island mirrored Arlong Park, but here in Dressrosa... the idea of "good king=good monarchy" and "the previous royals were just so good until they were literally puppetted by Doflamingo" feels much more annoying than it did in Alabasta. probably a big part of that is how Vivi was a member of the crew for so long, we felt much more attached to her, her struggles, and her kingdom, than i do to Dressrosa. the monarchy bit also strikes meh cuz we've also seen. alternatives to that, in this very same manga, and actual revolutionaries against both monarchies and the World Government. like maybe there wouldn't be all these problems with Shichibukai taking over kingdoms from the shadows. if there were no kingdoms. (I feel like Dragon is being set up to be, if not an antagonist, an oppositional force to Luffy in some way, but I'm with him so far, honestly.)

oh and actually i just remembered a third thing i'm annoyed by. and i'm annoyed that i'm annoyed by it. it's the little "Where are they now?" sections at the start of chapters. and a large part are good and fine! It's nice seeing how Vivi is doing, or Dalton and Drum Island, or Nojiko, etc... but I don't really care seeing that CP9 survived, i'd rather they didn't. or Wapol. or 1/2 of Baroque Works. or Caribou. or Impel Down and their stupid fucking jailers. i just feels kind of... pointless when the Strawhat Pirates take down some guy, but then they end up getting away scot free, or facing basically no consequences. like what was the point?! no the Strawhats shouldn't kill everyone they fight and no they shouldnt be all imprisoned or anything, i dont support incarceration or the death penalty, but i just feel it'd have been better if. they'd been written off as dead, if we hadn't seen them again, especially in a silly little segment. i'm annoyed that i'm so annoyed by this, i'm not someone who needs moral lessons out of One Piece but god. just kill em and dont sweat the small stuff. at least, the Hachi ones and the Baroque ones did set up their later appearances, so those're fine.

*I'm reading the manga, but i did put on some Marineford episodes in the background while i farmed granblue (which is also what i do while reading the manga) and was surprised at how deep DFs voice was, compared to how he looks. like i was kind of expecting another 'okama' joke but thats just not present.

[roy-dcm2]

The Straw Hat's Journey

One Piece is my favorite anime. I started reading it in the early 2000s, and now the manga is steadily approaching the final arc. It might be a bit early, but I decided to commemorate the launching of this Tumblr by making another one these Hero’s Journey essays.

[I worked really hard on this, so Reblogs are appreciated]

Like before, I’ll start off by reminding people that the Monomyth is not a concrete list of steps that MUST appear in SPECIFIC order. You’ll find that the more complex heroes have phases that overlap and interweave with each other. There are steps that appear on the journey, are skipped over, or apply in a different way. Also, keep in mind, that due to the comedic aspect of One Piece, there are moments that subvert our expectation for a joke.

For starters, as I ruminated about the Hero’s Journey as it applied to the main protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, I realized that, in a way, the entire Strawhat Crew is also experiencing the journey with their Captain. Luffy, himself, is their Call to Adventure, and they all cross the threshold together. But, I’m getting ahead of myself…

The ordinary world of One Piece is the East Blue. It is a simple world where it functions that the Marines are Good, and the Pirates are Bad. When we meet Luffy he is already enamored with the idea of life as a Pirate, but he is not set along his path until he meets Shanks. It is really Shanks that is his Call to Adventure. It is not enough to just be a pirate, Shanks tasks Luffy to become a great pirate by giving young Luffy his signature Strawhat as motivation.

Shanks is also Luffy’s mentor figure, and he provides supernatural aid in the form of the Strawhat, but also the Gum Gum Fruit, which would become more significant in his quest later.

You could interpret the first manga chapter as serving as Luffy’s Departure Arc, the first part of the Heroe’s Journey, but as stated before, I think the entire crew is on the journey with him. So, as he travels the East Blue, Luffy represents the Call to Adventure for the other original four members of the crew. (And this also applies to the future members that will join the crew on the Grand Line.)

Zoro was a bounty hunter. Usopp was scared of pirates. Sanji had no interest in anything outside his restaurant. And Nami hated pirates. They all had ordinary lives, had mentors and things they were beholden to. They refused the call of the stranger in the Strawhat, at first, until they decided to take the chances and follow their dreams.

As I reflected on the journey ahead, I couldn’t help but wonder did Luffy ever refuse the call? It would be easy to say no - Luffy has always loved adventure. But, refusing the call, is not just not wanting to go on an adventure, it’s more about weighing the consequences of your actions.

If you keep in mind Luffy’s later flashbacks, when Sabo “died” – it was there that young Luffy saw the real risks of going out to sea, as Dadan said it was the cruel (oppressive) World that killed Sabo. In a way, his brother, Ace, served as a second mentor to Luffy that also guided him on his path to find real freedom in the world.

So, together the Strawhat Crew must leave the ordinary world. They won’t find the All Blue, chart all the oceans, become a brave warrior, etc. piddling around in the East Blue.

But before leaving the familiar world, there are “threshold guardians” that bar the way. This is the incident at Loguetown, where the Buggy’ pirates (and Smoker) try terminate our main characters. Captain Buggy is not just any ordinary pirate either, not only was he BORN on the Grand Line, but he served on the crew of the King of the Pirates. But, the hero is often (secretly) chosen by the Gods, so the wind blows in his favor, and the Strawhat Crew escapes.

The real crossing on the threshold from the Ordinary World to the Special World is known as “the Belly of the Whale,” and this is very clearly represented in Reverse Mountain. Once crossing Reverse Mountain, they cannot go back the East Blue, and are very firmly in the “Special World,” that is the Grand Line, where the real adventure begins. (As if to drive the point home, Oda literally puts them in a belly of a whale, right after this.)

The first half of the Grand Line represents a “Road of Trials” in the Hero’s Journey. Here the cast is learning about this special world, experience new things, find challenges. You meet enemies that become friends, and friends that become enemies. It serves to temper our heroes and is the beginning of transformation.

Once the trials are behind them, the next important step is sometimes called “Approaching the Innermost Cave” or alternatively, “Descending into the Underworld.” All of the trials have been leading to this. This phase overlaps with a few other themes.

The greatest challenge for the Strawhat Crew begins when they arrive in Sabaody Archipelago. This is where we get the first glimpse of the true darkness at the root of the World Government – there is slavery, prejudice, and injustice that the self-styled protectors of the world are not just turning a blind eye, but they’re beholden to in this rigid class system.

Then the crew is separated, and Luffy must continue on his own into the darker depths of the Underworld… fittingly Luffy eventually travels a version of Hell when he arrives at Impel Down, but I’m getting a head of myself. Being separated from his “community” likens this part of Luffy’s journey to a Vision Quest, where he’s going to find the knowledge that they will need for the future.

During his time alone, does experience a few more key events. Arriving in Amazon Lily, Luffy has an encounter with the Goddess / Temptress as Boa fills both rolls at the same time.

The Goddess represents the knowledge that the hero lacks. Not only does she have firsthand experience of the dark side of the World Government, but as one of the Seven Warlords, she is privy to information that others don’t know. It is she that tells Luffy that his brother will be executed, which becomes the actual driving force of these next arcs. And only with her connections and resources can the Hero continue on his quest. But, Boa is also the Temptress. Any lesser man would have fallen for her feminine wiles, but our hero remains immune.

So, in the next arc, Luffy passes through Hell in Impel Down, then emerges at his Supreme Ordeal when he arrives at Marineford.

It is established that the One Piece World is held in balance between three great powers – The 3 Marine Admirals, the 7 Warlords, and the 4 Emperors. So, at the Marineford War, nearly all of them are represented. This is the Abyss, the lowest point in the Hero’s Journey, and represents Death.

To escape the Abyss, the Hero must reach “atonement with the Father.” Again, “Father” is not literal, here the hero must come to a new understanding about the forces that shape the world, and life / death. On one side of the war, we have Whitebeard, whose followers call “father,” and has the power to destroy the world, and on the other there is Sengoku the Buddha, who transcends life/death, and as Marines, fancy themselves as the shield that protects the lives of ordinary people. Then there’s Luffy’s mentor/ father figure who steps in at the last moment to actually preserve the life of everyone.

Of course, Luffy experiences psychological death after the traumatizing experience of watching his brother die. To recover, the hero must answer the questions that started his quest. Luffy wants freedom. (He thinks the King of the Pirates is the freest person in the world.)  But freedom is limited by those strong forces that dominate the world. He doesn’t just want freedom for himself, but for the people that he treasures. So, Luffy recovers by remembering that he still has his friends. But, also sets himself to a new path of becoming stronger to match those great forces and protect those closest to him.

After his experience in the Underworld, the hero receives a great boon. In this case, it’s KNOWLEDGE. If he hopes to stand a chance in the last half of the Grand Line, and fulfill his actual quest of being King of the Pirates, he needs to learn Haki.

At the same time, the rest of the crew experiences their own mini “Vision Quest.” In each of the places they ended up, there is knowledge, but also temptation. It would be easy to embraces where they ended up, and abandon the rest of the crew. No one would ever know. But where they ended up is not their dream or goal. So, they’re going to absorb the knowledge for two years, and then return to the real quest.

The two year training arc coincides with what is called “Refusal of Return.” It’s at this point where the Hero is in a special place outside of the world – growing, learning, experiencing bliss – but not really moving forward, and ignoring the world, which is steadily growing worse. Eventually, they are going to return to the main quest, which they do in the post time skip.

Next half of the Hero’s Journey begins with what sometimes called “The Magic Flight,” and is like a mirror of the original Road of Trials. In many myths, the Magic Flight involves STEALING something from the Gods. And in the last half of the Grand Line, the Strawhat Crew is stealing the Poneglyphs that will open the way Laugh Tale and reveal the One Piece.

Also, at this point, the Heroes receive “Recue from Without,” which is more like receiving aid from other allies. We know that to survive in the Grand Line, you need allies. Luffy allies with Law, creates the Strawhat Grand Fleet, also allies with the Minks/ Samurai, and eventually even the Kid Pirates (albeit briefly).

And that’s technically where we still are.

To complete his quest, the hero must achieve Apotheosis, becoming what the world needs him to be. Luffy wants freedom but he needs to bring that to everyone else in the world. Obviously, Gear 5th is the beginning of Apotheosis, but it’s too early to declare Luffy’s journey as complete. Eventually, they will find the One Piece, and bring the truth of the Void Century to the rest of the world, and deal with the reproductions of that. 

So, here is where this essay will end. (I’ll probably update it when the series is over) But I’ll remind you that the audience is also on a journey with the hero. We tell these stories over and over again because they resonate with us and remind us of the values that we treasure as a culture, whether that be something as broad as freedom or as personal as friendship.

[archer3-13]

one piece as a story does i feel a good job balancing out the antagonistic and obstructive nature of the marines as a narrative force without defaulting into making them an inherently villainous organization.

A part of this is in how oda takes care to emphasize that both sides of the 'pirate marine divide' as it were are equally capable of displaying nobility and tact or villainous depravity when the narrative calls for it [or when its a really good joke]. further one piece also takes care to further muddy the waters through introducing numerous other third parties with their own goals and shades to complicate the issue. the seven warlords as pirates working for the government out of self interest equally capable of mercy or vindictiveness. the cipher pols, spy organizations that report directly to the world government and nominally work with the marines out of shared interest but will happily go behind the marines backs to do what they feel needs done. the world government itself, the larger organization that funds and supports the marines activities and seems possessed both by a selfish desire to horde their own power and influence through expressing excessive control and influence over the cops and their member nations, but which simultaneously seems dedicated to a hidden agenda and purpose. pirates and criminals themselves, the yonkos holding territory and playing nice with the marines and world government so everyone can avoid an all out war, arms dealers and other smaller criminal outfits who profit from all sides, all well a rebellion is wrecking shit up in the background having its own power struggles with the world government.

which is all to say, one piece has a very organic working world. pretty much everything's a moving part in a system chugging along to protect a status quo desperately trying to hold itself together to prevent wide spread chaos and devastation the moment it collapses. no matter who gets crushed in the meantime. and our heroes, the strawhat pirates, ram roughshod throughout this system breaking every little gear in their way, mostly by accident often by spite, not because they strictly have an ideological stake in everything going on or some higher purpose but because they're pursuing personal liberation, glory and their personal senses of right and wrong. 'freedom personified' a force of chaos and freedom disrupting a force of order and stability. which can be seen in how as the strawhats rise in power and prominence so to do those who seek chaos to disrupt order be they rebels seeking freedom and liberty or pirates seeking to smash open a spot at the top.

compare that to naruto where im pretty sure you could clinically pronounce the world dead and which jettisons any relevant or interesting ideas and any consequences to its world and the actions undertaken therein because naruto had to wear the big hat at the end.

[holykillercake]

𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍´𝐒 𝐋𝐎𝐆: 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒

So, I do spend a lot of time brain-dumping about the incredible world of One Piece, and I was thinking something about the Kid´s Pirates that I need to share. If I don´t do it, I´ll die.

We know that the majority of pirate crews have a theme when it comes to their names (and nicknames). Like how the Roger Pirates have the GOL D roger, SILVERs rayleigh, sCOPPER gaban thing?

We have the Big Mom Pirates and their food-related names such as Pudding, Chiffon, Brûlée, Katakuri(ko) - which means potato starch 片栗粉 - and 81 more.

Jumping to the Beast Pirates led by Kaidou. They have theme surrounding cards and card games! Let´s start with the cards King, Queen, Jack, and - on a certain level - Joker.

Moving on to card games, the Tobiroppo! (You don´t HAVE to read it. I just wanted to present some proof that all are card games haha)

Black Maria: Popular British card game for three to six players. The aim of Black Maria is to avoid capturing the penalty cards in tricks. The penalty cards are all the hearts, A♠, K♠, and Q♠ (Black Maria).

Who´s Who: If two players each get one Joker, they are partners and the third player is the soloist. If one player gets both Jokers, that player is the soloist and the other two are partners. Nobody may indicate whether or not they have been dealt a Joker except by their subsequent play.

Sasaki: This climbing game for four players is said to be very popular in North Korea. It is named after one of the special combinations that can be played: Sasaki (사사끼) means 44A, which is two Fours and one Ace.

Ulti: Ulti or Ultimó, is Hungary´s national trick-tacking card game for three players. It is important to note that the rules of the game are not universal, and typically every group of players will have their own set of rules that they agree upon.

Page one: Be the first to get rid of all of your cards to win this game!

Next, Dadd- *cough cough* the Red Hair Pirates, led by Shanks! They have a theme surrounding... beverages! There is a German beer brand called Beckmann (it looks really old... any German person out there to help me out?), Bonk (Atomic) Punch, Rockstar, and Monster are energy drinks, Limejuice is lime juice. Hongo is kombucha, and I have no idea what Lucky Roo and Yassop are. But I shall discover, or my name is not Holy Killer Cake!

Okay.

I think we all understood. Yonkous have thematic pirate crews. This is not what I came here to talk about, though. I came here to talk about EUSTASS FRICKING KID, as always. But before I do that, let´s talk about a certain rubber boy and Death Surgeon.

I´m going pretty simple on Luffy. Every strawhat has a big dream to fulfill. That could be becoming the greatest swordsman, discovering the truth about the world, or curing all diseases. Their names have little to nothing to do with their purposes, but I guess that´s the point, right? They are just a different breed (main characters).

The interesting thing comes with our beloved Trafalgar D. Water Law. I was cooking stroganoff when it hit me that the Heart Pirate crew has a theme surrounding animals, mostly water animals. Come with me!

Let´s start with Bepo, who is an animal himself - unrelated to water, I should say. Next, Shachi, which means orca, and Penguin, which means Benedict Cumberbatch. (In case you didn´t get it, Penguin means penguin).

Ok, ok, we all knew about this.

Now, there are only a few more crew members who are named. Those being Jean Bart, but I don´t think this applies to him because he used to be the captain of his own pirate crew. Then Clione and Ikkaku.

If you watched Jujutsu Kaisen, you probably remember when Itadori asks the spirits what kind of creature is stronger than the council member, and the answer is a KU-RI-O-NE (or Clione, which means sea-angel). And last but not least, Ikkaku, which means narwhal or unicorn whale. How fricking cool is that?

The fact that they live in a submarine (consequently underwater) makes everything so much better.

BONUS!! Rocinante is the name of Don Quixote de la Mancha's skinny and clumsy horse, in the universally acclaimed novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

Getting to my point, my Laugh Tale, my One Piece. The Kid Pirates. They have a punk, metal, rock... violence theme. That got me thinking about how we can narrow the possibilities for these guys' names! (the mowhak boys - circled in red)

You know what I mean? Killer, Heat, Wire... then these fellas are, like, Hammer and Punch? FUFUFUFUFUFUF I´m kidding, I´m kidding!!! Stop throwing rocks at me!

I have no idea what their names could be (after all, there are so many things you could use to murder someone...you could hire a professional killer, burn someone to death, choke someone with wires... do you get me?). The point is... now we have a log pose.

Anyway, I needed to share this. I don´t know if someone wrote about this before but... yeah. As always, share your thoughts with meee!!

[swamp-spirit]

Petty hot takes on My Hero Academia X One Piece crossover. If you write the Strawhats as MHA heroes, and you don’t make the ways in which that goes against their character a core narrative tension, I don’t feel like you’ve paid attention to either series. (note, this is a bit hard on MHA)

The two series’ have wildly different relationships with authority.

I see a lot of modern AUs in general be like “well, it’s still the Strawhats, but it’s the modern world, so they don’t do pirate shit”, but like... they are selfish characters. And not in a bad way! They have moral values, but Luffy’s core goal is to be able to do what he wants, free of constraints. Each Strawhat has a personal sense of morality, and even though they differ, each crew member is allowed to follow it. Nami believes you should fight to stay alive, even when it’s messy, while Zoro would rather die than compromise his beliefs. Both of those have consequences, but neither of them are shown to be wrong.

The Hero system isn’t as corrupt as the Marines. For example, they don’t actively protect slavers, but my biggest issue with MHA is that the flaws in the system are never fully explored. There’s almost no vigilantes (and even in the ‘vigilante’s’ spin-off, the reasons for becoming vigilantes are pretty light. The main character wasn’t forced out of the hero system by the canonically prevelent bigotry, he just missed the exam because he was Too Heroic), and though Horikoshi acknowledges that many of the villains were driven into it by circumstance, most of them are also unnecessarily violent people whose path to redemption is shown as being within the system. The enemy is never the base social corruption where you can only express your natural abilities by becoming government approved law enforcement. Honestly, the main reason I don’t keep up with MHA a lot is that I got increasingly disappointed with the series failing to follow through on the social issues it tried to address. Once Izuku stops being quirkless, the systematic cruelty he endured becomes a backstory element, not a core part of his world. Good people are those that believe the system can work, bad people are those that have given up on it, and need to be given the faith and support to once again Rejoin The Good Side.

One Piece isn’t flawless, or even necessarily less flawed than MHA, but it has a much more nuanced (in my opinion) view on corrupt institutions. There are many good marines, probably more good marines than good pirates, but even the best has to choose between betraying their institution or betraying their morals. Pirates don’t. Koby goes in an idealist who sees the marines as heroes, and is nearly killed by a superior officer for his empathy. Garp, Fujitora, and Smoker’s best traits often revolve around their ability to do the right thing, even if it goes against their orders.

Characters often slip between antagonist and ally not because they’ve changed, but based on convenience. People who genuinely tried to kill the crew will come to dinner the next week. Genuinely good people can be out to kill the protagonists because it matches their own sense of what is right.

The fact that Horikoshi wrote a One Piece crossover, and the 1A students just... turned themselves in to Impel Down immediately was the most hilariously Horikoshi has ever shown his whole ass. I know it was a joke, but he literally had his protagonist turn himself in to the torture prison run by a pro-slavery government because Being A Pirate Is Illegal. 

I’ve seen a few AUs where all the ‘good pirates’ (Shanks, Luffy, Whitebeard etc) work as heroes, and all the ‘bad pirates’  (Kaido, Doflamingo, Black-Beard) work as villains, but baby, they’re all villains. In My Hero

Hero - Use your powers for law-enforcement and disaster relief with a license

Vigilante - Use your powers for public good without a license

Villain - Use your powers for personal gain without a license

I’m not saying the Strawhats don’t do incredibly heroic things, but if Luffy was willing to tie himself to a questionable system to fight for good, he’d be a marine. Hell, if he wanted to just fight for good, he’d be a revolutionary. The Strawhats steal, run cons, kill, and are happy to ignore problems until somebody they like is involved. 

A MHA!Brand Hero Monkey D. Luffy isn’t free. He needs to keep up a press appearance, be told which fights are his, and not punch Endeavor. He needs to go to school for years to get official permission to use his powers at all, both to help people, and to live his life.

I can see Usopp and maybe Franky and Chopper as starting out as heroes, and Zoro starting as a vigilante, but Luffy was raised by bandits and has been doing crime since his law-enforcement grandfather threw him into the woods for being too pumped about becoming a criminal.

But it also bugs me because even in MHA, heroes aren’t all good people. A lot of the One Piece villains would happily become heroes. Is Big Mom gonna become a government crime fighter? Unlikely. She has a great time being evil. But would Doflamingo choose the power and prestige and keep his worse side working through an offshore bank account? Absolutely. 

The Strawhats aren’t the Justice League, and they certainly aren’t the Government Sponsored Justice League, but they are the Leverage crew.

Anyway, that’s my long winded opinion about a specific shounen crossover. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[anyothercomments]

I’m 90% sure that if any of the strawhats would die, it would be Ussop.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this because i think he’s a useless character or anything- he’s one of my favourite strawhats. But he’s the only one who’s ever left the crew with his free will. He’s the only one who has learnt what it’s like to properly leave the crew and come back and the consequences. With Oda’s foreshadowing and writing skills, there’s no way he wouldn’t use an opportunity this poetic.

I feel like the reason he’d end up in that situation was to save a crew member or the rest of the crew, mirroring how he left for the merry, no strawhat left behind. Someone would confront him if he’d be able to come out alive, and he’s say something along the lines of “I am God Ussop, greatest warrior of the sea and the best snipper in the history of snippers. I have over 4000 followers..” and he’d go on to list the things he once thought he’d only ever be able to lie about being. But the line that would break everyone would be the last line and his last lie; something along the lines of “I’ll be fine.” He’s turn around with tears in his eyes but with the biggest smile on his face, and everyone watching will be crying their eyes out, including me.

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Enies Lobby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and then it burns.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[emperor-of-blood]

Tony Tony Chopper is the mascot of the Strawhats. Or, that's how the rest of the world views him anyways. In reality, he's a reindeer who ate the hito hiro fruit, which also him to transform into a human and a reindeer human hybrid. Subsequently, this has also gifted him with both a human level intellect and the ability to speak, even when he is transforms back to a normal reindeer.

Chopper grew up on drum island, under the care of two separate doctors. His first caretaker, Hiriluk, something of a quack doctor, met his untimely demise due to Chopper's mistake in finding a cure-all. He instead fed the doctor a toxic mushroom which drove him to his death shortly afterwards. Choooer was then taken in by Doctorine, who trains him properly as a doctor until he leaves to join the Strawhat crew.

Though Chopper officially is the doctor of the crew, he does his fair share of fighting. And despite being put together with Nami and Ussop as one of the "Coward trio" he's one of the stronger members due to his devil fruit.

Getting to the point, I think Chopper is a...

Sylph of Rage

One who advances [Rage]/Heals with [Rage]

While I think it might be easy to classify Chopper as a Life player just because he's a healer, he doesn't really fit the bill otherwise. Part of the weird thing about Chopper is that he has so much stuff going on compared to the other One Piece characters so I can't just condense his personality down to "Pervert white knight" like I could with Sanji.

The first part I want to look at is why he became a doctor. He was a reindeer turned human with nowhere to go and the quack doctor Hiriluk took him in. Chopper was naive and assumed the best in his caretaker and admired his work. He thought that continuing his work as a doctor despite everyone having no faith in him was something admirable. Hiriluk, despite being terrible at his job and crazy, did have the best interests for his patients. Upon meeting Chopper, who was heavily injured at the time, he healed him and even showed great patience and care when Chopper related with violence. They spent most of their time trying to cure unwilling patients, messing up, and then having to run for their lives away from the angry mobs that would form. Hiriluk suffered from a deadly disease and upon finding out Chopper went to find a medicine that would cure it. He found a mushroom he thought to be a cure-all but was actually very deadly. Right after eating it Hiriluk fell into a trap set by the king of their country and found himself face to face with a firing squad. As he was about to die from the mushroom anyways he drank volatile chemicals which caused him to violently explode, so that Chopper wouldn't technically be responsible for killing him. Afterwards, Doctorine revealed to Chopper the truth of the situation and took him in as an apprentice in the place of Hiriluk.

As a quick refresher, the [Rage] aspect deals with anger, destruction, truth, and change.

Chopper acts in ignorance which is the spark of change for many things. The eventual downfall for king Wapol, the death of Hiriluk in a violent explosion, Doctorine revealing the truth of the situation and promising to tutor him as a proper doctor, and gives Chopper a lot of anger along with a proper place for it to fester for years.

How Chopper advances the [Rage] aspect is pretty clear but the healing part is slightly less. Or at least, not how I might expect a Slyph to heal with Rage. It's not like he's punching diseases or destroying the source of a plague or anything. It's more about the [Rage] aspect bring the reason why he studies medicine in the first place.

Moving on, the hito hito (Human transformation) fruit is a special devil fruit on a few different levels. The animal keeps aspects of their transformed state even outside of transformations. The "Human" form, is also very strange because Chopper is frequently referred to as a monster in this state. He's around 6 foot 5 (Luffy is 5 foot 7 for the reference picture below), super hairy, and extremely muscle bound. But, as you might notice from the picture below, Chopper also has more than just the normal 2 devils fruit transformation forms. For whatever reason, a special drug Chopper invented gives him access to several more forms, all with strange proportions.

He also has a hidden transformation beyond these, which only happens when he takes too much of his transformation medicine. This one is known as "Monster point" and is reminiscent of the abominable snowman. Until the time skip, Chopper is fully incapable of controlling himself during this time and goes on a rampage until his medicine wears off.

At first this is just a tool Chopper uses to keep himself relevant in battle. But as the story progresses and he realizes how much the Straw Hat crew means to him, he embraces it. He leans to do all of these transformations without the rumble ball and using the rumble ball let's him control his monster form. It all fits very nicely into the classpect.

Really there's not much more to say. In general you might think Chopper doesn't fit the Rage aspect just because he's cute and fluffy, which is fair I suppose. But looking at both of our canon Rage players, Gamzee and Kurloz, it's not hard to argue in favor of it. Both of who have classes which dictate a lack or destruction of their aspect, and they both end up mellow with sudden bouts of being very true to their aspect. This is most obvious in the anger and destruction department, but with Chopper, it manifests through the truth and enabling the rest of his crew to continue causing destruction by healing them despite knowing the consequences.

During their Sburb session, Chopper is likely to meet up with some crew members quickly, where he can best utilize his skills. For his quest I imagine someone like Caesar Clown popping up on his planet and pushing him to alchemize new drugs to push his body further. Maybe he actually works together with Ussop or Franky to make some super alchemy invention or he makes new rumble balls that work for other people.

Sorry for my prolonged absence but my life had been nothing if not stupidly busy. Hopefully I'll see you folks again sooner rather than later next time!

[luffynamiblog]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: One Piece Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Characters: Monkey D. Luffy, Nami (One Piece), Roronoa Zoro, Usopp (One Piece), Tony Tony Chopper, Vinsmoke Sanji, Nico Robin, Franky (One Piece), Brook (One Piece), Thousand Sunny Additional Tags: Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, Pirates, New World (One Piece), Emotional Hurt, Heavy Angst, Someone dies..., ...Dont Know Who, dark themes, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, Emotional, Minor Monkey D. Luffy/Nami, Consequences Summary:

The Strawhat crew was drawn into a major battle but some unfortunate things happened.

Now each member is going to have to deal with what they've lost and how to process.

Focused mainly around the reactions and feelings of the crew.

[infriga]

Monkey D Luffy!

Sexuality Headcanon: Luffy is ace/aro as FUCK. Asexual icon.

Gender Headcanon: Luffy identifies as a guy and he definitely cares about being manly, but his ideas of being manly seem to be based less on him wanting to be a man and more on him just liking manly things because he thinks they’re cool. Aside from that he’s completely gender blind so I doubt he thinks or cares about it much.

A ship I have with said character: What ship DON’T I have with Luffy. He’s the kind of character who can be shipped with basically anyone because he has chemistry with most people. My favourite are probably SanLu, ZoLu, and KataLu, though I’m also fond of LawLu.

A BROTP I have with said character: My top ships are also my top Brotps, but I also love his friendship with Bon-chan, and his relationship with Tama is also really cute.

A NOTP I have with said character: Tama, his grandpa, Dadan, uh, there are so many characters in One Piece god, probably the really shitty villains like Spandam or St Charles because they don’t deserve him. I prefer his brothers as a brotherly relationship. Blackbeard. Oh Akainu for sure, Akainu doesn’t deserve to be loved at all. Most of the other characters are fair game tho.

A random headcanon: Luffy is secretly instinctively good at math but has a hard time articulating it out loud so most people don’t realize it. His culverin attacks in G4, especially as Snakeman, basically require a hefty calculating ability with angles and stuff to be as accurate as they are, and he was able to determine how many meals he missed in an instant when he woke up in Alabasta so canon supports this. He’s really good at judging distances and stuff in general too so it fits in my opinion. But he’s so dense most of the time about other stuff that no one would suspect it.

General Opinion over said character: I think Luffy is a more complex and interesting character than most people give him credit for. A lot of people mistake being a simple person with being a simple character, but there’s a reason why it’s so hard to get a good handle on his characterization when writing him. Part of it is that Oda almost never shows Luffy’s thought process, which leaves a lot of his actions up for interpretation. It also means we can’t really delve into how he thinks like we could for other main characters who tend to do a lot of thinking that the audience can see. Luffy does do a lot of thinking himself, but we don’t get to see it, we just get to see him pondering something before making a decision. He often seems to come to a quick conclusions which makes people think he doesn’t take much time to think, but too many of his decisions had to have been thought through beforehand so that means he does often put a lot of thought in to plenty of his decisions, even if it doesn’t seem like it. He's definitely a quick thinker, but he does think.

One arc that really showcases how Luffy isn’t just a singleminded idiot is Water 7. We get his reaction to finding out that Merry can’t be fixed, where he insists that they won’t ever leave someone behind, that they refuse to accept that her journey with them is over, but then the shipwrights counter that by telling him that he basically has to choose between the ship and his crew, because they won’t be making it to the next island if they keep sailing on Merry. And this obviously hit him hard. Later when we end up in the cabin with Usopp, Luffy has decided to buy a new ship. Usually Luffy makes choices based on what he wants, and does whatever he can to do it no matter the obstacle, but here he’s taking his role as captain seriously, and instead making a decision for the good of the crew, whether he wants it or not. This is where it gets really interesting to me. We the audience know he’s just as upset about leaving Merry behind as Usopp, but Usopp has been through a lot of shit in Water 7, and is blaming himself for losing the money they were going to use to repair Merry, so Luffy tries to put on a happy face to keep Usopp from feeling bad. This is very out of character behaviour for Luffy clearly, he’s never been the type to hide how he feels, but the decision itself makes sense in context. He’s not acting based on how he feels, he’s acting based on what he thinks is best for his crew. That moment, where he masks how he feels because he’s trying to do what’s right as captain based on what he thinks will help the crew and Usopp, is reflected again at the end of the post-Enies Lobby arc, when he wants so badly to let Usopp back on the ship, but he knows he can’t until Usopp apologizes, because he realizes that Zoro was right, crewmembers can’t be allowed to leave and rejoin the crew so easily without consequence if they show a lack of respect for Luffy’s decisions. So he stands there and sweats and is so obviously unhappy about it, but he waits anyways. These sorts of moments are the ones where I want to point at him and say “there’s more to him than just meat and punching things!” We see another good moment at the end of the WCI arc, when Jinbe asks Luffy to go on without him so he can stay and help his former crew. Luffy absolutely doesn’t want to leave Jinbe behind. They finally just got him to join their crew, they just spent the whole arc trying to rescue another crew member, and they’ve had friends die for that cause. The last thing they want to do is abandon Jinbe, leaving a crewmate behind is one of the things he would never be willing to do, but Luffy has to make a choice. He could order Jinbe not to go, but he respects Jinbe, and he doesn’t want to take that choice from him. Jinbe’s former crew is like family to him. But they can’t stay and help Jinbe either, because after everything they went through to get Sanji back it would be an insult to stay when the fishmen are putting themselves at risk to give the Strawhats a chance to escape. The best thing he can do is give Jinbe the order to survive and return. “Even if you die, don’t die.” aka “Don’t let even death stop you from coming back to us.” He tells Jinbe with all the authority of a true king that he is Jinbe’s captain now, and Jinbe is bound to obey his orders. There are so many other scenes I could point to for this topic but these ones are some of my favourites and if I went over all of them this would probably get way too long.

Yeah, basically it bothers me when people say Luffy doesn’t have any complexity as a character, he absolutely does, you just have to look for it. He’s not giving up all his intricacies easily, you have to work for them. I could talk all day about this topic but I’ll stop here for now lol.