#anyway yeah oda really went and wrote them specifically like that that's so interesting to me

[franeridan]

kidd and killer are such interesting creechers to me... isn't kidd the only captain we know that refers to his first mate with a term that puts him on his same level? they both call each other partner that's such a specific dynamic they have. and then there's that sbs where oda was like they've been partners since they were kids and have always done everything together so of course when they liked the same girl they both went on a date with her at the same time, like. hell yeah but also does oda understand what kind of relationship he's given them

[anonymouscrocodilefan]

Leadership Styles and Law (”Law is an INTP” revisited)

Haha what this is a Croco blog, why am I talking about Law after months of silence.

To be honest? Because this past year of developments in the manga has left me feeling REALLY vindicated about my reads on characters again. I am terrible at predicting Oda, but my track record at interpreting and analyzing his subtext ain’t too shabby. My read on Sanji, frex. Also, I actually REALLY regret not talking about Viola in depth before now – I mentioned her in passing in at least one post I published, but really regret relegating my thoughts on her relationship with Doffy to “ah this is crack I’m reading too much into this and no one cares anyway right?” Because one recent SBS more or less confirmed what I’d been thinking about there – and why I found her character very very fascinating in context, despite her being fairly low on my list of “characters I like”. Maybe I should still put together a writeup on that at some point.

But I digress.

Just as this past Year of Sanji has more or less borne out my thoughts on Sanji (despite his intelligence, spy hijinks, and capacity for trickery, he is not a calculating rational type of person as some people kept insisting, but a Myers-Briggs Feeling type who deeply values interpersonal relationships above all else, for better or for worse)... towards the end of Zou there was one particular chapter that made me feel SUPER pleased about my read on Law.

Specifically, my opinion that he is an INTP, despite the fact that he doesn’t fit into any of the cliched, stereotypical images of INTPs. (And the fact that I saw a fair amount of people complaining about the apparent inconsistency between his pre-timeskip personality vs. his post-timeskip personality.)

I wrote about that in this post: http://anonymouscrocodilefan.tumblr.com/post/135651487781/one-piece-mbti-allies-introverted

Mainly in that post I talked in generalities about his relationships and his plotting style and how they related to the cognitive functions (read up on them if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, but the four abbreviated letters aren’t just binary labels).

Chapter 819 though, made me giggle so much, because Law’s behavior through that entire sequence (throughout all of Zou, really) is basically THE ultimate giveaway of his INTP-ness.

Disclaimer: As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m an INTP myself (if it wasn’t already obvious from all my tl;dr analysis). Whether this fact biases me towards or against this interpretation of Law is up to you – but I will add that I originally only grew confident in my assessment after we saw our first glimpse in text of child!Law.

Preliminary note: throughout the Zou arc, Law very noticeably retreated into the background. He was off-screened for many chapters (for good reason). But hilariously, even when he was ON screen... he was often deliberately blocked out by word bubbles or just a silhouette in the distance. This despite the fact that he is technically the other major leader of the alliance...

Guess what? INTPs hate to lead. We’ll do it if we have to and depending on the individual we might even do a decent job of it. (Yes, introverts can hold leadership positions.) But we’d rather not, all in all. So was I surprised at Law backing off? Nope, not at all. In fact, I’d expected it. (And it’s not like hiding/fading isn’t “normal” behavior for him – he owns a submarine, ya know.)

1. What Law is most definitely NOT:

- an ISTJ. He’s contrasted directly with Drake in his own flashbacks, even. If he were a dutiful ISTJ sort who believed in the system despite everything he’d gone through, Law would’ve been in the perfect position to join the Marines the way Drake did. I mean, kid wasn’t stupid. He knew who Cora really was. He let Cora lie to him because he wanted to believe in the lie, but he clearly wasn’t fooled.

More importantly, an ISTJ leader (they’re one of the more common introvert leader types due to their dutiful nature) tends to be more anchored by a strong sense of responsibility. No ISTJ leader would have EVER run off to pursue their own personal agenda the way Law did (it’s even made explicit that Law never expected to see his crew again). And it’s not like Law doesn’t care, doesn’t love his crew – he very clearly does. But he simply doesn’t feel that sort of obligation toward them. Hell, he can’t even be bothered to introduce them properly. XD

In fact, we need look no further than Jinbe for a classic ISTJ leader, torn between his various conflicting duties and obligations and his own personal desires. Completely different from Law.

- an INTJ. An INTJ is characterized by meticulous long-term planning – which I have already pointed out in the previous post, doesn’t actually characterize Law and his ability to be spontaneous, as well as the specific ways his plans fall short.

Again, it’s also interesting to consider leadership styles. I do believe INTJs & INTPs are closer in that regard (most of us aren’t interested in being “leaders”, but INTJs are more likely to have ambitions that involve being thrust into such positions), but perhaps the best point of comparison is INTJ Croco.

Because you know what more “developed” and/or ambitious INTJs are good at that INTPs definitely aren’t? PR. XD

Croco played up that heroic public persona of his for more than twenty fucking years. And is obviously a man very much concerned with keeping up appearances, even during a fucking prison escape of all things XD. Law? Law has a TERRIBLE public rep, what with his coldblooded heart-swapping and whatnot. He doesn’t care what the public thinks, he doesn’t think it matters (from his experience, it’s all a lie anyway). He doesn’t consider that public perception can be used as a weapon – or rather, he definitely does, but I don’t think he understood the full extent of it. See also: everything he tried to pull off wrt Doflamingo (his goal had not been so much undermining Doffy’s “public” reputation, but Doffy’s position in the underworld – had he taken the former into account, I think he would have perhaps not been so blindsided by what ended up happening).

And then there’s Marineford to consider: time and time again Croco decides to step up to the plate – towards the end, he even briefly takes on the mantle of leadership when all the WB pirates are despairing. INTJs definitely have more of an assertive tendency (compared to INTPs). Law? Even then he was a “wait and see” sort of person. He’s explicitly the one Supernova who delays entry into the New World – a pretty INTP thing to do, btw. We’re perfectly capable of being risktakers and making spur of the moment decisions, but ultimately, passivity (out of a desire to keep gathering more info) is more likely to be our downfall.

- an ISTP: If an INTJ is characterized by too much plotting, I guess it’s arguable that an ISTP is characterized by too little. XD (Zoro is the classic example: ACT FIRST THINK LATER.)

ISTP leaders though... ISTPs are again actually fairly close to INTPs – lone wolf tendencies mean that you rarely actually see them in true leadership positions, although they’re capable of it (Zoro). IMO the main difference though is that an ISTP will tend to lead by example and decisive action. An INTP has ideas about what should be done but isn’t going to go out of their way to make sure those ideas are enforced. See again the same scene I referenced when discussing ISTJs. XD

(Note that he doesn’t actually explicitly forbid them from introducing themselves. XD)

2. Seriously though, having achieved his major life goal, post-Dressrosa Law doesn’t really care that much about leading. He’s perfectly content to cede control to Luffy... and even to Zoro. He speaks up only to clarify what he’ll personally do/contribute to the task at hand or to ask about things he’s interested in (even then he doesn’t always ask, we sometimes see panels where he’s just reacting silently), never to suggest a course of action (it even takes outside prompting for him to remember that he has Bepo’s Vivre Card... yep, that’s an INTP derp moment all right – it’s not that we don’t care, it’s just that our brains don’t prioritize like that).

This is to the extent that he’s even blatantly shocked when Kin’emon includes him in his request for alliance in Chapter 819:

(Who, me?!)

Hahaha, I hadn’t even noticed that on my first readthrough, but when I later went back to read the chapter I found it hilarious (yeah, I know, it’s not THAT funny, fairly normal/subdued reaction, even Luffy had a bit of a surprised look, but still – this IS Law’s freakout face, he has pretty much the exact same expression in the previous chapter when the big reveal about the Kouzuki relationship to poneglyphs* is made and everyone else’s jaw is dropping, and a similar expression when he hears about Kaidou’s direct involvement with Momo & co, and an earlier omgwtf face when Raizou shows off his ninja techs...). I mean, it’s kind of a given that Law should be addressed for a major decision like this as well, but it’s like Law expects everything to just go through Luffy from now on... XD

* For the record, I wonder what else Law knows that he’s not telling anyone. He reacted suspiciously to two things that I recall during this arc: Momo’s ability to hear the voice (chapter 817) and to the poneglyph info... after Dressrosa it had seemed that his knowledge of “D” came solely from Corazon (disappointing everyone still waiting on his pre-timeskip quote to bear fruit), but we’ve been getting hints again that he actually has picked up some more info on his own since then.

3. But wait, you say. Doesn’t Law complain about this exact issue immediately after that???

[… After pretty much everyone else has already agreed to the deal.]

(Some other translations made it more explicit; this one is closer to the more subtle needling of the original text, but the implication given the context is that he’s grouchy over Luffy not bothering to consult him regarding major decisions, like, ever [i.e. “He cares more about an eight-year-old’s opinion than about mine!111”].)

Well, yeah. But see, it’s a semantics thing. XD A matter of principle. And trust me, for INTPs, semantics is Serious Business. Even Kin’emon took the time to acknowledge Law’s ostensible position. Luffy though... Law is WELL aware by now what Luffy’s idea of an “alliance” means, and he still does not approve. XD

That’s what he’s all pissy about. The fact that Luffy just assumes everyone is buddy-buddy and will therefore just go along with everything without question. (“That’s not the way this works!”)

(Luffy’s not wrong though. If Law really had a problem with it, he could have and no doubt would have spoken up much earlier. XD Luffy just instinctively has a good read on Law’s personality, LOL.)

As further proof, just a few pages later we have this:

Yep. Semantics. XD

Does it really bother him that he’s getting no say in any of this? Nah. As long as there’s some sort of plan going on and it’s not completely absurd (… not always a guarantee with Luffy involved), he doesn’t really care. He’ll do his part (while holding his cards close to his chest), and trust that the others will do theirs. Very hands-off, very self-contained. Very much an INTP approach to leadership.

Even so: there’s a difference between alliance and friendship, and IT MATTERS. XD