#but when I saw this scene in wano it got me thinking

[misslovasstuff]

guys yk that moment in Wano when Sanji saved Momonosuke and clashes with King?

Idk of it has been pointed out before but, first attack King uses is a kick with his foot which is on fire… I think Oda might be trying to tell us something by putting Sanji against King who is a lunarian and by doing a signature move of Sanji…

[beaulesbian]

🌘☀️ Some thoughts on Zoro & Luffy and their connection to gods and demons☀️🌒

This post started at first with just a few points about Zoro in the context to Asura/ King of Hell but since then it somehow evolved into connecting bits and pieces between Zoro & Luffy parallels again, I just can't help it, sooo...long post ahead.

Wano + Egghead spoilers

I always love remembering this one of the very first scenes where we (and Luffy) first hear about Zoro, and in the context of Zoro being a Pirate Hunter, even described as a demonic beast or as Koby says "demon in human form." None of this discouraged Luffy upon hearing this, on the contrary - he thought that if he sees for himself if Zoro was a good guy, he would be a great addition to his crew, and then went out of his way to seek him out! And only later we got the explanation that Zoro just couldn't find his way back home. "Roaming the seas" meant surviving for him, bounty hunter meant getting by in life with the skills he knew the best - swords, which is kind of sad when you think about it, but all the more interesting that it was Luffy who found him in Shells town,

where Zoro, a nonbeliever of any gods of higher power, was bound to a cross, and the first thing Luffy pointed out was "he's smiling".

I like to think that the smile might have been one of the first signs important enough for Luffy to choose someone for his crew - not only the kindness that followed when Luffy saw Zoro eating the dirty rice ball, but the smile that's by itself also very connected to Luffy himself:

After that first fight they won together, already reading each other so well, Zoro was the first one to call Luffy his captain (and later at Baratie also the first one to call him the future Pirate King!). He was someone who already fully believed in Luffy's future of reaching his dream without questioning it, perphaps because their drive towards their goals and dreams was very similar. And Luffy was the one who freed Zoro and let him have his swords - his biggest treasures - and gave him back the possibility to go into the world to actually follow his dream!

"One day, he'll show up and take you out under the sun, to the freedom of the sea!" - ch. 1095, Buccaneers about Sun God Nika (flashback with Kuma)

Fast forward to Wano - it's incredible how entangled their stories are with belief in always striving to do better/be stronger/try again next time for Luffy, someone who doesn't care what others think - he just needs to do what he wants and to be free - only for him to awaken his Devil Fruit and his God Nika powers; and for Zoro (a non-believer/apatheist) with how determined he was to successfully wield Enma so he could defeat King the Wildfire even to the lengths of becoming the King of Hell if that was what needed to be done to get Luffy one more step towards being the Pirate King.

Which brings me back to Demon Asura Zoro and where we saw this form throughout the manga:

This whole post started at first as a parallel to my other post about Zoro not really being shown to react to Luffy's Gear 5 (yet, as of chapter 1109), and I kept thinking about Zoro's Asura technique and how he used it so far only three (!!!) times, and there weren't many reactions from the strawhat crew either.

First one was during the Enies Lobby against Kaku, who even calls that vision 'demon-god' (ch. 417). If I remember Zoro was there by himself with Kaku, his crew each fighting other opponents elswhere:

The second time was during their first visit to Sabaody Archipelago, ch. 510, where it was the whole crew against the Pacifistas. The only bigger reactions were Brook and Chopper ("So many Zoros!!" - how cute!)

Luffy went right after Zoro with his last attack against the Pacifistas, so he's either seen Zoro's attack or it just wasn't the time or place to react, which, fair.

and then, third and last time so far Zoro went into his Asura form, it was up against Kaido, ch. 1010, when Luffy was out of it and Kaido was threatening how he would end Luffy in various ways.. which only angered Zoro more ("That's my captain!" - yeah, tell him, Zoro!)

All of these three times we've seen Asura, it was against few of the most dangerous opponents and all three times Zoro had his bandana on, being serious about it. All three of these times he knew his whole crew was fighting for their lives too and were in very real danger. Enies Lobby really changed the tone of the next few arcs with how serious things were about to go; Sabaody was just after Thriller Bark with Zoro being still injured and he knew what Kuma/Pacifistas were capable of - there was real fear and despair. And of course, on Wano against Kaido,. he saw how much damage Luffy took, Zoro could only hope to put more wounds on Kaido to count in their favor.

Zoro knew he had one last attack to try and make some difference in this fight - and this was before his fight with King, so he wasn't fully in sync with Enma yet, but it was good enough to unlock Asura technique - with something more to it.

Apparently along with his haki - not just the armament or observation haki, but the supreme king haki, as Kaido himself is shocked to find out. Zoro wasn't even consciously aware of having/using this haki.

Even the wiki mentions this as Zoro adding the supreme king haki to his Asura attack to strenghten it, or possibly was only able to unlock this technique because of having supreme king haki - meaning he was possibly using it even in both of those pre-time skip situations mentioned above.

The supreme king haki is something people can't learn, but are born with, meaning Zoro probably didn't know until Wano (and still wasn't sure what he did), but possibly learnt to use it instinctively - very much like Luffy on Amazon Lily.)

I already made a post that touched a bit on King of hell Zoro, and other parts around Asura (clearly, i'm never done thinking about that), with a very big possibility/hints that he could come from lineage of people of the D. (asura - enemies of gods - people of D.) - especially if it's connected to supreme king haki as inherited ability (although that isn't confirmed in the manga, as far as I understood).

This brings me to Zoro's family, and specifically Ryuma.

Wano was a great arc that connected things from Thriller Bark -with Zoro returning the legendary sword Shusui back to Ryuma's grave where it belonged.

There was an interesting panel at the end of Wano, where people were celebrating Luffy's victory over Kaido, but were given the name Joyboy as their savior - possibly Momonosuke's doing as Luffy told him not to mention him by name because Luffy didn't want to be a hero.

And in this panel, the peple are comparing this feat of victory to the legendary "God of the Blade" - which is another title for Ryuma.

It's so curious how Zoro is connected to Ryuma, even through span of many centuries and countries across, but still there is that connection, on top of actually fighting Ryuma's zombie on Thriller Bark, and Zoro isn't even aware of it. We only know about it from the SBS corner of Oda mentioning Zoro's family. (SBS corner in vol. 105. Ryuma wasn't mentioned there precisely, but the name Shimotsuki being of Zoro's grandmother and others from Wano, it makes sense they're Ryuma's descendants):

Side note: There's also something really beautiful of how the Shimotsuki line was passed down on Zoro from his grandmother - and his promise he cherishes since childhood being tied to Kuina, someone who wanted to be the greatest swords(wo)man - and therefore Zoro carrying Wado and that dream and promise for her.

Zoro & Luffy

Now to tie it all back to parallels with Zoro and Luffy - I love that there are always these small moment in how similar these two are - in their honest words and actions, in them believing in one another and believing even more in reaching their dreams, their crew and their strengths. In both being so directionally clueless and sometimes outright stupid, yet in certain situations (more so in battles and fights), they are the ones sometimes smartest and most strategic.

Then there's these other similarities between them: how much they don't care about what's told about them or -be it by luck or fate- how things work out in their favor in the end, usually. How both of them don't wish to be heroes, because heroes had to share (food and sake).

How there's that fact that Zoro doesn't know the full context of his powers, especially with his supreme king haki- or that he doesn't want to know the truth or put a name to that ability, because he fights with his swords and doesn't need to put belief of any other powers beside his own strength. (Or maybe he will soon learn how to use it to his (and his crew's) benefit.)

and Luffy, who doesn't know probably anything about Nika- and most likely wouldn't care much about them beside the scope of his new powers. The whole meaning of being something like "sun god" for others didn't register with him yet, and it might never be that important to him personally. Time after time, people around him mention luck or fate, or how people of the D. are the enemies of the Gods - enemies of the celestial dragons, but those don't really matter to Luffy because it doesn't change why he fights and why he needs himself and others to be free and achieve his dream.

How Zoro and Ryuma could be parallels to Luffy and Joyboy - one living in the present, reminiscent of those that lived centuries ago - something about the history always repeating.

When Zoro got to fight Ryuma on Thriller Bark, or even Hyogoro compares him to Shimotsuki Ushimaru (Zoro's great uncle),

and how Zunesha was waiting for Joyboy, how Roger and Oden found messages from Joyboy of his promises to return.

The parallels between sun god Nika and demon god/king Asura are so interesting in their opposites yet similarities. There's still so much we don't know about Nika or Joyboy, but Luffy himself isn't just the perfect picture of responsibility or justice. He's free, and that's the most important for him. He now has the power to do what he really wants to do with his powers, he unlocked that new potential to make it even more fun and even more dangerous against his enemies.

Even if Zoro's saying he doesn't believe in higher powers he embraces the powers that unlocked with Enma and getting him the title of King of Hell, he knows it would be the things that would keep him fighting for another minute, hour, day when it becomes necessary to protect Luffy and their crew.

Zoro may not believe in any gods but he believes in Luffy with all his being.

And in the similar vein, Luffy is the one who always believed in Zoro's strength and capability to protect the rest of their crew when it was necessary, times after time.

It's feels like it's not at all a coincidence that Luffy's whole crew is full of otherness and beings connected to hell/monsters/demons more than anything divine - because lot of the gods in One Piece are mentioned in context of standing above others and above common people - it's a bit flipped of what's good or not, or even more it's never clear because that's life, and those people are just claiming some titles. Eneru being the first example of a "god" the Straw Hats encountered, celestial dragons being called Gods, the Gorosei having each titles of "Godhead" - it's no wonder that Luffy's crew all fights for freedom and reaching whatever each of them needs to achive as their dream,

and includes: a dead man but living skeleton Brook; a demon child Nico Robin; Chopper "I don't mind being a monster for Luffy.'"; Sanji with all his hell fire and "diable" kicks and attacks, along with his non human strength and other abilities; Nami wielding the powers similar to Eneru without the need of both Devil Fruit or being called a goddess, and bringing down lightning on anyone who threatens her crew; Usopp and his powers of nature and plants sprouting new life and strengths from long distance; Jimbei - fishman and former Sun Pirate and also "First son of the Sea"; Franky the more cyborg than a man; and of course, Roronoa "I might as well become the King of Hell" Zoro.

It's not all so black and white, good or bad. Luffy is still everything that makes him Luffy - he's honest and selfish in his selflesness, kind and brave and stubborn, and always knows that Zoro (and his whole crew) has his back so he doesn't have to hold back.

And Zoro is still Zoro despite being able to wield some newer haki powers he's slowly discovering now. He's still getting lost and still is his stubborn self that puts the crew and Luffy above himself, and would follow Luffy into hell if that was needed.

Luffy and Zoro are "just" captain and his first mate, always throughout the story since the beginning. Orphans with such interestingly woven past and relationships around them, who grew up with a big dream they had to go and achieve it no matter what, and found someone just as honest, kind, powerful and trustworthy as they were. But there's that deep and fierce devotion that always borderlines on something beyond just good. They're pirates - because that means being free.

They can be chaotic and powerful, and find something divine in the loyalty of the demonic powers, and something hellish in the god-like entity bringing freedom.

It feels like something Roger said to Rayleigh when they first met - That it was a fated meeting.

[punks-never-die205]

When looking up the definition of Klabautermann it states it will show itself if the ship is doomed.

So that got me thinking of this scene.

What if aside from the realization that his dream got Killer hurt (I'm staying positive until I hear otherwise 🥺) , he also saw Victoria?! Knowing fullwell her time has come?

T-T

I could see it. I have to imagine given Kid's capacity for tinkering, that he was intimately familiar with the ship. I wouldn't be surprised if they built Victoria themselves, and considering her name sake I'm sure they were all thinking of her.

With a little levity, I like to think some of the last things she said to him were "thank you for showing me the world" and "Did you really have to throw yourself off the falls after Wano?"

^_^;

[moongothic]

Hi! Just found your blog and I'm having a blast reading through your Croc theories and analysis, they're great! I wanted to ask you what you make of Croc's last manga appearance (I think), where Buggy announces he wants to be Pirate King. Just before that Croc mentions they need power and influence to form their utopia. It bugs me. Operation Utopia was your typical bad guy plot, but now he's still going on about that? What's that about? What idea of utopia could Mihawk and Croc possibly share??

I mean the OG Operation Utopia was simply about creating a military nation powerful enough to oppose the World Government, Crocodile explained it during the Alabasta arc explicitly. And the reason he targetted Alabasta specifically was because he believed Pluton would be there which would make his military nation unstopable.

So it's not entirely shocking Crocodile still wants to create that military force, even if he's given up on the Ancient Weapon part.

What bothers me is:

Why did Crocodile wait two whole years until he made his first move at restarting his Utopia Plans?

Why does he want that military force to begin with?

Like the easy answer for 1) would be that Crocodile had to wait for his turn to become plot-relevant again and was simplying enjoying his vacation in the meantime. Like considdering the shit happening during Dressrosa, Whole Cake and Wano, having Crocodile start his BS early would've been a distraction storywise frankly and Oda had enough balls to juggle at once with those sagas. But also, it is odd Crocodile hasn't done ANYTHING ahead of time to start rebuilding a new military force, like. He had two whole years, what the fuck was he doing then? Why wait that long just to start??

And I can only assume... he was waiting? For something?

Let's think about what has changed in the world of OP between Dressrosa and now, like the big, key events that impact the whole world:

Luffy has not just returned to the pirating scene after two years but has caused a fuck ton of world-shaking chaos in the New World (becoming an Emperor being simply the latest big thing)

Reverie happened

The Revolutionaries attacked Marijoa for the first time

The Shichibukai System was demolished

And there's two things we can kind of take-away from these.

If Crocodad Real, Crocodile watching his son take the spotlight could've inspired the man to move; the WG would want to target his baby boy and thus becoming an intentional distraction could be his goal here. Alternatively, hearing that his ex Finally Did Something could've made Crocodile be like "fuck I'm not losing to Dragon" and inspired him to actually make a move himself.

OR. Perhaps the end of the Shichibukai System is what got Crocodile to actually make a move? Because there's two things; One, he was able to make a very powerful ally very fast when Mihawk became a target for the WG. It's possible Crocodile might've been waiting for an opportunity like that, to recruit someone reasonable, reliable and extremely capable to make his own future endevours easier. Two. Because Crocodile gave all his money to fucking Buggy, it's possible Croc could've been broke these past two years. But knowing Buggy's now lost his Shichibukai Rights, THAT may have been why Crocodile decided to go get his money back when he did. Because if/when Buggy decided to skedaddle and disappear into the wind, there'd be no way for him to get his money back anymore, right.

OR. It could be all of these things together. The planets aligned and Crocodile saw now was the time to make his move. Maybe. IDK.

And then we get to 2, Why Does He Want To Create That Military Nation To Begin With

And I have no idea

I mean there's the whole Romancing SaGa 2 thing, but while that would work as proof of Crocodile's motivations, it doesn't explain particularly why he wants to destroy the WG. Like not that you need a personal motivation considdering what the WG is like, but without the motivation it's hard to tell if it's for World Domination or something else.

Though if Crocodad Real then it'd sound very reasonable if he was very intentionally trying to fuck with the World Government to protect his son by

trying to put a target on his own back and act as a distraction

take down as many Marines as possible to dwindle down the enemy forces (making it harder for the WG to make moves on anyone)

lowkey assisting Dragon if he wanted to mayhaps attack Marijoa again if he's actually up to doing something now

just prepare for a war against the WG

Or any combo of the above.

Like. I dunno man Crocodad really would just explain so much

But it all remains to be seen

[basedkikuenjoyer]

We have Academy Episode 44 and I already want more. So we do resolve the stuff with Corazon, he's fine and after a couple of days to heal we get everyone together to debrief. (Can I see them? Yohohohoho) Seriously though, we do get an update on the Oni Middle Recon Team. Not too much though because they couldn't hear over Queen's Zoomin-Zoomin-Zoomin. Y'all should know by now I'm being serious when I say things like that. Sadly no Kiku, the mention Yamato not being there briefly, but it is very similar to the scene where we came back from Wano setting up there was stuff with Kiku we didn't see. Very short recap.

They saw a meeting with the Tobi Roppo assembled where Vergo shows up. Keeping up this trend of a jumbled New World Saga plotline. What I do find legitimately interesting is how we put the uniform game on display here. You can see Ulti very visibly in the very different Oni girls' uniform. Vergo also has a scene of switching them. Recall that was the fun little "read between the lines" thing with Kiku when this started. We had no way of knowing they were different yet, but she was wearing a New World Middle uniform which makes sense through context we cement in all this with Law/Cora. We've seen Izo a few times, people tend to live with their first family in this verse. Ergo, Kiku & Izo might still be like, at a dance school and it wouldn't be unrealistic for Kiku to be in a situation like Brook studying abroad at a music school. Working part-time as a model or something. There's one more thing here that makes me think of that even if she's not in this chapter directly:

I'm as incredulous as Luffy is to see Cora without his hat. So he can take it off...

This conversation is all about big brothers, weirdly enough it's Luffy who has the most faith in Doffy to do the right thing. But Cora goes off on a tangent during about how he's coming back to school and you can think of him as a 2.5 year student because does anyone actually care about the school part of this? That does actually play well with how Yamato described Oden & the Akazaya several chapters ago. That they were students in the past but delinquents who hopped between Oni/New World. All that to say we got our update on the Oni Recon team, it played back into making sense of our Marine side ventures, and just so happens to do it in a way that plays nice with our girl's cryptic shit in the background. All set up to come to a head with a promise Doffy will show up in time if Kaido attacks...

Well damn, that was fast. So we gonna get Monet in here or are we being exclusive with the big brothers theming? Her and Sugar finally getting to be together would be a treat. Check Dellinger's outfit, lil psycho Momiji Sohma over here. Baby 5 is one of my absolute favorite designs in this series. The headband and extra frills on her skirt. I assume the flames on Doffy's pants make him go faster.

Uh yeah...looks like this may be all coming to a head soon! Academy has really matured into telling a compelling narrative in its own right on top of making excellent use of a known cast in a different setting.

[mackenyus-photo-dump]

Image credit: amalapatt

ZORO CAUGHT HANAHAKI

Part 1: Confession

Does anyone know Hanahaki disease? It's basically a fictional disease people catch when their love is unrequited. The symptoms include coughing out red petals, once severe, the sufferer would cough up blood.

[This fanfiction took place right after this scene]

Recalling his promise to Sanji to kill him once he was back from whatever hell he went to, Zoro got up. "Oh right, I need to fulfill my promise," he said, taking another sip of Sake. The Sake in Wano is especially decadent, but why did it taste sweet and fragrant that day? Zoro stood up, ready to draw his sword to execute his nakama, but he felt a sudden tingle in his throat. He tried to ignore the itch, but the more he did so, the more it bothered him. Once he could no longer take it, Zoro coughed, and 2 petals of a red rose flew out of his mouth. "Petals?" he hummed to himself. Now the itch was gone, he smirked back at Sanji, trying to continue what he meant to do, but the itch came back, and it was way worse than before. Sanji's eyes widened. He never saw Zoro in such a state. Zoro sat back down, with his fingers on his chin, he was thinking. "Chopper, did you feed me any seeds or flowers while I passed out?" he yelled at Chopper who was playing with the 2 orphans on the other side of the room. Chopper rushed to his side and shook his head. Chopper was taken aback once he saw the petals on Zoro's palm. Could this be? the doctor mumbled to himself.

"I will get Tra-guy to have a second opinion!" Chopper ran outside to find the best doctor he could find on the land. Law was not difficult to find, since he was always glued to his mink comrade who stood out from the crowd. After explaining what he just discovered, Chopper led Law to the palace, where Zoro had been resting for a few days. "So he is alive, after all," Law exclaimed. It was difficult to know whether he was glad or burdened by it since Law had always been such a tsundere. The 2 petals Chopper saw earlier had multiplied by many, it seemed like his feelings towards this mysterious person were quite strong. "Good, you're back," Zoro said, grabbing as many petals as he could to fit into his hands. "It's getting worse," he added, followed by a cough. "Good grief, I thought this disease was a myth," Law said, fixing his cap. He squatted so he could examine the scene better. "You know if you confess your love, and they reciprocate the feelings, this will all go away," the doctor suggested. Zoro scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about," he truly had not grasped the situation. No one told him the name and cause of this disease he caught. "If you say so... room!"

The surgery went accordingly. Law was able to successfully remove the flowers from both of Zoro's lungs and thank heavens he did, the flowers were growing rapidly, if they waited for another second, the thorns would have pierced through Zoro's lungs already. "Now I'm feeling better," he cracked his neck and gulped down an entire bottle of Sake. "Thank you," he told Law. As Zoro was enjoying his copious amount of booze, he heard a Shamisen being played. The same one that he heard during his most recent battle. Enticed by the mellifluous melody, Zoro intended to find out the player of the said song. His pace followed the sound of the beautiful notes and it led him to a room. He slid open the shoji to find Hiyori. Her delicate fingers were carefully plucking each string of the Shamisen. The princess stopped and looked up at the man who towered before her. Blushing, Hiyori looked away. "Go on," Zoro said, taking a seat right in front of her, his muscular hand was still holding a bottle of Sake. Hiyori nodded and resumed the paused song. A moment later, Zoro felt another tingle in his throat. He groaned in frustration, then coughed out the petals. Hiyori's blue eyes widened, she stopped playing entirely and threw the shamisen onto the ground. "I take it the surgery did not go well?" she placed one hand on his shoulder and another on his muscly chest. "It went great, I just have to confess my love to someone," he confessed.

[A picture break]

Zoro hated this unfamiliar feeling of love. How could he be sure he was in love if he never knew it before? He pondered for quite some time before drawing out the potential candidates, it could always be Tashigi, he has a deep respect for the swordswoman as she constantly reminds him of his childhood crush and best friend, Kuina. Being around Tashigi felt familiar too. She is a good person, a warrior, just like him, and he assumed that was what he was looking for in a romantic partner. Zoro quickly brushed off the thoughts as he realized he never thought of her as more than a friend. He could never imagine a future with her, let alone a life with her.

Perona on the other hand, took care of him during his lowest. Having lived under the same roof for 2 years, they grew really close. Still, he only ever saw her as his older sister who was as annoying as a younger one. She was innocent, yet strong. Hell, even Zoro could not defeat her in a battle. Realizing Perona was never the object of his adult fantasies. This led him straight to another candidate. The last one in his book.

Zoro turned to face the distressed princess. She was praying to Buddha to help him recover soon. He scoffed, there was no way he could be in love with this idiot of a girl, right? Sure, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever encountered, but she believes in God for fuck's sake! They were basically the polar opposite. Hiyori and Zoro recently met under an ill circumstance, she was fleeing for her life as she was trying to save an orphan, while Zoro was trying to rob back his katana from a mysterious bandit. This stupid princess was trying to save someone else's life while her life was on the line. To him, she was nothing but a burden, but why did he feel the need to save her life over and over again and refuse to let anyone else do it? He even pushed Sanji out of the way so he, himself could save her and be her hero? It felt somewhat out of character, but he tried to make excuses like how he had to make that decision impulsively. Then comes the lewd dreams he had of her during his days in the comatose state. There was no denying it. Although his brain had warned him not to, his heart could not easily dismiss her kind nature, unsullied pale skin, and stunning face. "What a pain," he whispered so faintly, that nobody else could hear it.

"Oi, Hiyori," he called the princess to snap her out of her thoughts since she seemed like she zoned out. "I think I'm in love with you."

This will be a 3 part fan fiction, the next parts are going to be smuts. Please stop reading here if you are under 18!

[hauntingblue]

Arlong park musings

First things first, these beauties in the art gallery.

What I believe is inspiration for the alabasta bath scene (also what is usopp doing there lmao, but most importantly how Zoro nor Luffy are there begs questioning for how the current readers saw them). And first ever Luffy chad?????

This actually parallels nami believing in luffy when he dies in wano. Nami believing in him making him "resuscitate"

And what makes me more insane is Luffy making nami smile again and promising to keep it that way:

Surprisingly I don't have much to say because I have said it all I think. Luffy nami twins together in the womb together in the tomb like this 🤞 etc etc

I can't put more pictures but arlong yapping about how humans are inferior and can't do anything and Luffy getting the strength to finish arlong when he realises how badly nami was treated like..... Which is funny bc arlong got mad and Luffy was still beating him but when Luffy got mad.... It was arlongver... Also arlong saying how Luffy couldn't use nami as good as him and how Luffy doesn't intend to do that even if he still needs her bc they are truly a crew and not a leader and his slaves...

[maykitty]

Trafalgar Law x Reader: Rumors chap 5 (finale)

"Oy, Traffy where you going?" Luffy asked with food stuffed in his face. "One of my crew mates is missing I'm going to go find them". Law replied. "Hey y/n missing," Nami said. "I saw her she was heading to the beach". Bepo said. So Law headed there to find you. While on the walk Law thought about how your relationship has been going.

Originally he only care about you as a patient who would get better and leave but after finding out you had nowhere to go after leaving home he decided to have you stay as an act of kindness due to the fact you could be useful. He never regretted his decision as you become someone he could be comfortable with. He remembers the times you and him would spend time reading Sora. Over time talk about your goals and the plans for after the one piece. But the one time he couldn't tell you was how much he loved you.

Due to his goals and past, he is afraid of you getting hurt or worse rejection. For all he knows you only see him as your captain and it could ruin your relationship now. Right now, he just wants to find you and make sure you are safe. Finally, he got to the shore and saw you sitting in the sand. "Y/n, why did you leave?" Law asked, you turn around to face him.

"Oh, I'm sorry I just needed to get away from the party scene a bit". You replied. Law saw you looked nervous "What's wrong?" He asked. "It's nothing" you replied, Law knew something was wrong "Just tell me what's wrong, you left and come here obviously because of something bothering you," Law said. You thought about it and decide to ask what was on your mind. "Do you love Robin?" You ask, "What?" Law said surprised.

"You are always with her to the point even other people think you are together," you replied. "What do you mean?" He asked, "At the party, I heard some towns-folks saying they think you two are dating and how great you look together". You said. "It isn't just that time I've heard other people around us say it too at Zou and Wano". You added. "I know it is not my business, it's just I want you to be happy, and I know, it is not my choice who you love". You finished. Law didn't know what it say at first because you just confessed you liked him without fully saying it.

He didn't know whether to feel happy or worried due to how your feeling because of some rumors. "This is why you left, look I'm not in love with Robin and I don't see her any different than the rest of her crew." He started. "Plus she only cares about her crew and the polygraphs, not a relationship" he finished. You heard what he said but the feelings are still negative as you feel he will never like you more than a friend it is just another case of Law not wanting a relationship when you just asked him if he was in love with someone else only for him to say no like usually. Law noticed you were still upset and decided to sit down next to you.

There was a few seconds of silence until he spoke up "I do care for you and as much as you don’t believe it your feelings are reciprocated". He said. You look up at him surprised and realizing he liked you back. You didn't know if he was joking to spite you. Law could tell you didn't believe him so he did something out of the norm for him. He leaned in and kiss you, you were shocked for a few seconds before closing your eyes and leaning further into the kiss. After a few minutes, you broke from the kiss for air and looked into his eyes seeing the love there.

"Would you like to stay here together or go back to the party"? He asked holding you close. You decide to head back to the party. Two of you head back and lucky people were still partying. "Oy, Traffy, you found Y/n". Luffy shouted. Law looked annoyed again but this time he looked back at you with a soft expression.

"Oy, Traffy come get some sake". Zoro said. Law went to get you and him a mug. "Hey there~". You look up seeing one of the gossipers "You look like you could use some company". They said flirty while getting uncomfortably close. "No, thank you I'm fine". You replied stepping back.

"Oh come don't be like that". They kept getting close even when you already said no. "Please stop your too close". You said but they ignored it. "Hey, they said no". You looked to see Law there with a pissed expression. "Butt out we were talking here, go back to your girl". The creep said back pointing to Robin in the corner.

"No, you go away they don't want you near them". He said pushing them aside and holding you close. "Mine". Law growled. "I thought you were dating that hot babe Robin". The creep said. “Who said we were dating, it's just stupid rumors,” Law said annoyed. The creep finally left you alone.

You turn to Law and kiss him on the cheek "Thank you". You said. You two relax with a cup of sake together as everyone enjoys themselves. Later you're going to have some great news for the crew once you're back on the ship.

[mamamittens]

Well, didn't get as much done today but I'm on track to finish the first comm this week at least. Would have helped if we didn't have a +1 today but tomorrow is looking to be the same so idk how much progress I'll make after a shower and dinner.

Not going to lie, I fell into a bit of a slump the past two weeks which was... Interesting. Stress, burnout, anxiety, or whatever really said "make time or it'll make you" huh? Mostly with inexplicable exhaustion. Anyone in my DMS probably noticed I was spacy as fuck and honestly, it was a bit embarrassing. Is embarrassing.

Got a discord group I've basically not interacted with (sorry Franky bro) cause I've been so spacey and tired. Hopefully I'll clear my plate enough to chime in soon without losing the plot.

I'm still tired. But it's not quite soul deep this week so far. Still not quite Tuesday though so we'll have to wait and see on that front. Helped I slept 14 hours and then spent the day with my brother and his friend who treated us to dinner and a movie (The First Omen, I liked it but kept forgetting it was a prequel. Did NOT expect to see full pussy in a nightmare/hallucination scene so warning to the dam that was wanting to watch it.) and saw the biggest fucking parmesan chicken in my life.

They brought that bitch out on a pizza stone and I legit thought he changed his mind and ordered pizza. A pound of chicken the size of a personal pizza COVERED IN SAUCE AND CHEESE ENOUGH TO PASS AS A LITTLE CEASERS.

Mad lads.

And I also started thinking about Nikia in Wano again! Shockingly, it's been a minute. Seems like pouring out my hyperfixation has helped me focus on other things instead of being consumed by pokemon while in the middle of One Piece shit lol

This is about the end of the useful updates btw, the rest will just be me rambling about Wano thoughts

So, I suddenly had the thought about what little dramatic plot would go nicely in the middle of this for the bois to do while the Straw Hats are fucking shit up.

And clearly, Izou is gathering Intel while keeping Thatch from blowing their cover. Nikia taking advantage of her anonymity to do some sight seeing and maybe take some eyes off of them cause who wouldn't investigate this new woman with giant ass wings?!?

(she's not a fan of the nosy bitches but we tolerate things for the people we love. They'll make it up to her later lol)

Had the hilarious mental image of Thatch disguising himself, specifically his hair. Very upset to part from the pompadour and gets a topknot that has a suspiciously shaped bundle up top. Izou hates it but picks his damn battles at this point.

So! The cheap trope drama I figured I'd give a little spin was!!!

Amnesia!

Manufacture to be specific. As maybe a follow up once King clarifies that Nikia is absolutely NOT Lunarian. Maybe to keep her in check so she doesn't run off before they do DNA tests to see wtf she is. No idea she can fly, so they (I feel like Kaido is the one suggesting it first cause he's a bitch with Big Mom seeing no issue and King just going along with it cause Nikia may not be like him but she's close enough he doesn't feel alone so whatever works, right?) go with a bit of a caged bird thing.

She's a 'guest' while she 'recovers' with King 'looking after her'.

And even with no memory of who she is, she doesn't trust this set up at all. Like, more in an awkward way cause it's clear she's meant to be displayed in a way so she can't 'repay' her 'hosts' like she'd traditionally want to via chores or cooking. She doesn't know what she's supposed to do at all and hates it. Her aloof expression just barely masking the 'someone give me a social clue about wtf is going on already'.

Gets on well enough with King, especially once he stops wearing the damn mask cause it really freaked her out. Pretends to be amicable with the others, can't erase the 'hostess' mask that easily. So it's a legit surprise when she finally admits she doesn't like or trust anyone there at all and has smelled the bullshit from the start and just didn't say anything.

Runs into Yamamoto at some point and likes his spunk even if he's a little weird. Has a hard time keeping up the act under his insistent investigation about why she's there cause honestly, same fam. Why am I here? WTF is going on?!?

I feel like Big Mom tries to touch her wings at some point out of curiosity and King stops her cause I can't imagine that's not a pretty intimate gesture for even Lunarians. Wins brownie points. Thanks for being a bro and all that.

On the night of the throw down the Bois finally manage to get into the palace and shit and Nikia immediately recognizes Thatch from his silhouette despite still not remembering shit.

A hilariously awkward "oh, hey, what are u doing here? Trying to steal shit? I heard it was bad out there but this is pretty risky don't you think?" And Thatch is staring at her in full Wano gear, makeup and all like

(⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

"I'm looking for my lover"

"OUR lover"

"ye that. Uhm. U seen her?"

Nikia just stares at them.

"... Ya gonna describe her or am I supposed to vibe check everyone I've seen here?"

They do recognize her btw, it's just painfully clear she doesn't so they're wondering if she's the real deal or something.

Cue Thatch trying to come up with a noteworthy detail she'd realize is her own feature but her hair has been changed up and he doesn't even think about her wings. Trying to be smooth and razz her up a little to knock some memories loose.

Notices the lipstick.

"Oh! She has a freckle on her lip! Right here!" He's so proud of himself, Izou ready to smack him as he continues "It's my s--one of my favorite places to kiss!"

It takes a moment before she blushes, realizing the obvious implications.

"ah... Why do I get the feeling you were about to say something else? Are u sure your lover would like you talking about that with a stranger?" She's flustered horribly as Izou smacks him.

"Ignore him. He's being an idiot. May we have your name?"

Honestly didn't have an alt name planned, thought it would be funny briefly if it was Nika but idk. Not committed to that but yet.

Anyway! She does remember on her own as she considers how compelled she feels to trust the two and how familiar they are. Comforting, dare she say. And, without remembering she can fly either deliberately does her 'clearing exercise' or is tossed up in a fight.

The clearing exercise is a rather dangerous, borderline suicidal act she does every so often when she feels conflicted or uncertain.

Usually, she'd go to the practice cliffs with updrafts. And then she'd fall down. The idea is that the threat of death would help clear her mind and what really matters to her. Is it really that important if it's not the first thing she thinks of when faced with the threat of death? And then she uses her wings to glide out of danger. She never does this injured, but the awareness that inaction will kill her is part of the process. She tends to overthink so this really streamlines the process in a way that can't be argued with.

She did NOT mention this habit to anyone before so the bois bout shit themselves when it looks like she's free falling to her death. Maybe Marco is there and goes to help only to end up banking with her as she recovers instinctively at the last moment, memories flooding back.

She's a little too good at faking an uncontrolled fall as part of her 'fighting style' to throw people off and it's steadily giving the bois gray hairs. Mostly because she's lost control while flying a lot due to the chaotic up/down drafts on the mountain.

Anyway, thats about all I thought of while spiritually ascending from this plane of existence for this scenario. Who knows if I'll use it or scrap the whole damn thing.

[fuegito-de-eeuu]

Another Rant, One Piece-Related This Time

I find it difficult to like some of the characters in One Piece, mostly the Straw Hats. It's just. A struggle and it feels hard to interact with the media sometimes. It feels like the characters have wildly different personalities inside of them sometimes.

(Note : This is not a hate post. I feel neutral about this characters but some of the writing involved with them troubles me sometimes and annoys me at others.)

Luffy

I just. Can't with him sometimes. I know he's popular and I know he's the face of the series but. Some of his behaviors man.

One of his main features(?) is that he eats A LOT. I understand this is from the training with Garp and Ace does this too, but it feels like Luffy does it just way too much. Almost to the point it was detrimental to his crew way early on in the East Blue saga.

He has literally ruined food because he does not know how to cook and has thoughtlessly ruined all of the food aboard the Sunny during the Zoa - Whole Cake Island arc. And I know wasting food is more of Sanji's thing, but for someone who got pissed off when he saw the Beast Pirates not eating the red bean soup because they thought it was garbage, it doesn't feel like the same person.

I understand for the Beast Pirates it was after he had discovered that O-Tama and many other people of Wano were literally starving to death among other things. But why does he not share the same concern for his own crew when he eats everything? I'd like to think Sanji lectured him about food waste because he throws hands if someone wastes it. They're different situations, I know, but it seems like Luffy only cares when the suffering is now and not a possibility because of his actions in the future.

Luffy has expressed he wants everyone to be able to eat as much as they want. And while it's a nice dream, I won't say anything bad about it, it feels like he both believes in it and disregards it.

There's been so many times where he's literally just stolen food off the plates of his crew and others. Like??? I'm sorry? I know they're supposed to be funny scenes and show how goofy Luffy is, but his crew seems to just accept it, scolding him in the moment whenever it happens. It feels disrespectful to his crew and just plain rude to others.

And then with the portions he eats, again, I know it's mostly because of the training with Garp that he follows but. Even outside of fighting or even before at least an expected fight, why is he eating the same amount every time? He doesn't really train and seems to come up with new moves on the fly in battle (not criticizing this), so why does he eat so damn much all the time. It feels like he's just wasting food at that point because you never know how far the next island in the Grandline is going to be. Not every island will have food or welcoming people, we've seen it.

Not to mention almost eating Chopper? I know it's a gag that was used on occasion, but no one else in the crew gets that same treatment. So it feels kinda weird to me.

Nami

Overall, Nami seems fine as a character. Temperamental? Sure, but some people just have their moments.

Not everyone beats up others until they're black, blue, purple and green when they're mad though.

I know it's a gag, I know other's have issues with this too. But why does Nami do this? Does she do this because the people she hits should "know better"? Because she knows they can take it and be fine? It just doesn't make sense to me.

"It's a gag, don't worry about it" - NO ONE ON THAT BOAT INJURES EASILY BESIDES USSOP AND NAMI. It just. Feels inherently abusive that if you fuck up too much to Nami that she just fucking beats you up. Doesn't matter if you have a fruit that makes you immune to damage and she doesn't have haki, she'll smack you until your face is nothing but literally WELTS.

I don't care how she is at other times, I would not feel fucking safe on that ship if I was working with her.

Sanji

5 words : timeskip, Fishman Island, & Whole Cake.

I just hate the pervert trope so much which doesn't help me.

But for Kama Land, you're telling me that Sanji was seemingly afraid of... drag queens, trans women, and other queers to the point he... learned to walk on the fucking air? Are their other reasons? I don't fucking know man, the timeskip isn't really elaborated on a whole lot besides "this person went here and learned this".

Ffs we see Sanji in a dress and makeup as if he's trying to fit in. How the fuck did he even learn the recipes that Ivankov advertised to him?

Let alone the simple idea that all of the inhabitants looked unattractive??? My brother in christ have you seen drag queens and trans women??? Also the fucking idea that everyone on the queer island was unattractive doesn't sit well with me. Feels insulting at the very least. Also the fact that they all seemed to act like perverts and tried touching Sanji??? wtf man

Fishman Island. Ho-ly-FUCK. Flashback to fucking Kama Land. And then his behavior around the other mermaids??? Not to mention Shirahoshi WHO IS ALSO SIXTEEN. It's gross- and the amount of times he got nosebleeds from gals just. Living their fucking day???

Whole Cake. Aside from the fact that Sanji was in love with another 16 year old- It felt like he didn't want to leave. Like he was perfectly fine never going back to the crew. Especially when Pudding was starting to fawn over him to, it was just. All around weird.

Usopp

I've just never liked Usopp after Water 7. I don't mind a good scaredy cat and lying character, I liked how he fought in Thriller Bark. Lies, trickery, and unusual attacks are amazing!

But the thing with Merry is gnawing at me. He was told by Luffy that the Merry was essentially done for. I know he was going through denial and grief, but they helped make money to get the Merry professionally REPAIRED because everyone knew they were struggling to fix the Merry.

The fight was just. There.

And then when he went to get another opinion from their future shipwright, Franky literally told him "Your keel is shit, your boat is gonna sink" that Usopp STILL DENIED IT.

I understand insecurities and that Merry and Usopp technically joined the crew at the same time, so if Merry can be replaced, so can Usopp. ...but Merry is a very small wooden ship and Usopp is a person. It's just. Dumb to me. I don't know.

And then also the stuff where Usopp portrays himself as a great captain, it feels like he's not truly loyal to Luffy cause he always has Luffy and the others as his underlings in his lies. I get the other members of the crew being his crew members. But why is Luffy always great because of only Usopp? It's just. It makes Usopp's promises feel empty.

Rant done, thanks for anyone who listened.

Again, not a hate post but some of the behaviors the characters show feel troubling or just weird to me and I wanted to give reasons for it.

[ninjaboyjoel]

One Piece 1073 Theory - Huge Spoilers

In One Piece Chapter 1073, we had a huge reveal- the fact one of the Five Elders was making his move, and what his name was-- Saint Jay Garcia Saturn.

This really got my brain going, as from this I believed we could possibly extrapolate the names of the other four Elders. 

Indeed, they are often depicted in this order, especially Garcia and the fellow that looks like Gorbachev are usually seated in these positions. I decided to apply the order of planets to these characters, starting from Saturn and going right-to-left. which led me to this understanding: 

I eliminated the ancient weapons from consideration for obvious reasons, and I also eliminated Earth because we are unsure what role it may play in the story, alongside the Moon and the Sun, indeed because the Sun is Nika to our current knowledge. You may be wondering why I have applied elements to these five figures and what they might mean (and why they are followed with ‘star’).

That’s because of this: 

The Chinese elements, also known as Wuxing, or Gogyo in Japanese. As you can see, each of the planets potentially attributed to the Elders, also has other connotations. 

Those being colours, which I used for clarity, and elements which I believe will have some greater significance. I think it lined up quite well, especially with the swordsman being attributed the Metal element. And let’s not ignore the key symbol of this-- the five-pointed star, Gorosei can also be translated as Five Elder Stars, and with that, in Japanese and Chinese the planets are also called stars-- their names translated as seen in my original graphic above. 

This then led me to think about the missing planets- the ancient weapons and what it could mean.

That’s right, Neptune is the ‘Sea King Star’, this is when I realised I might be onto something. 

But that “Hell King”, Doesn’t that sound familiar...?

Now hear me out, I know this sounds crazy but I think Zoro meeting the reaper might have something to do with Pluton, I just don’t know what yet. 

We know Pluton is under Wano. We know it’s related to the King of Hell. We know Zoro claimed he’d become the King of Hell and then met the Reaper. I feel like we just need one more key piece of information to make it all click. 

I think the avatars for the Sun, Moon and Earth and Uranus definitely have something to do with this scene:

We know Luffy is the Sun (Nika) but the rest is up for debate. 

I have them ready to add to the spreadsheet at any time! I think Imu calling themselves Uranus ‘The King of Heaven’ would make a lot of sense, especially regarding what we just saw them do to Lulusia. 

On a much less well-evidenced note, I feel like the planets I picked for each Elder fit them pretty well design-wise, the wood element being tall and lanky, and the fire one having a wild birthmark or scar on his head. 

That’s all for now. I hope it was interesting and I hope to have more to say soon.

[bobtheacorn]

Film RED bullet review below the cut bc of spoilers but also it’s living in my mind rent-free and i gotta holler for a min (though I should preface this with saying i haven’t read wano yet bc I keep procrastinating but If I Don’t See EVERY one piece film in Theaters I WILL Die! Waited 32 years of my life for this and I’ll get my spoilers via the big screen if i have to!)

THAT BEING SAID lmao

the only reason i went to see this film is bc of JINBE it was BABY’S FIRST FILM and he had 8 entire minutes of screentime rip

the COWARDS didn’t dub the songs for some reason???? but Uta’s english VA AmaLee did her own version of Genesis and it’s a FUCKIN BANGER give it a big big listen she deserved to drop the entire album on the big screen!!!!!!!!!!

in spite of that, me and my friend are huge Jpop nerds so this movie felt tailor made for us and we were alone in the theater thank God so we got to be absolute assholes and jam 100/10 

Uta’s EXCELLENT Cult Vibes my girl swung so far to the left she curved right back around A for effort

Every song being a little more deranged than the last as her mental health plummeted bc of sleep deprivation / stress MWA we love to see it we love a girl saying Fuck the Government AND the Pirates and streaming her absolute break down live on global television and taking EVERYBODY DOWN WITH HER only bc it is SO FAR REMOVED from Oda’s typical villain trope of Bitter Old Man who wants to destroy the world bc he is Sad Z i am looking you in the face

the Things I Care About and the Things This Film Wanted Me to Care About Divergence was... Incredible! Uta being Shank’s daughter got crickets from me bc ask me why i should care but it was immediately followed by “Strawhat is The 5th Emperor” which received uproarious applause and that was a spoiler for me lmao

Oda/etc Stop Cramming 48 Random and Unnecessary Characters into every Film Just Because They’re High On The Popularity Poll Challenge

We have a full entire cast of STRAWHATS. There are TEN STRAW HAT PIRATES. Would have loved to see a little bit of oh i don’t know Interaction and Shenanigans that lasted longer than a few seconds, i mean jesus christ I remember the older movies always having lots of fun banter and moments with the strawhats and that’s what made them fun to watch, i remember when there were Character Driven plots give me some of that back I come here for the StrawHat Pirates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did i enjoy Trafalguy turning up to babysit his queer platonic BF? Yes!

Did this movie in particular benefit from him being there? NO.

Fleeting Lullaby (song/scene) is Unhinged, Uta i love u

Luffy who recognizes No One Ever spotting that girl he saw like twice when he was 7 from 40 yards away and being like Hey Stop The Show I Think Know Her sklfsjfasd;lk KING

He said he was gonna go take a nap and Uta had a meltdown abt it, say you have Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria without saying it

ALSO Uta sitting in the rain stroking Luffy’s precious sleeping face and crying got me cryin in the club fr

That very quick flashback of shanks thinking abt Roger and Rayleigh also punched me in the chest but I went into the film not caring abt shanks and his daughter and I left the film still not caring i’m sorry lmao

Usopp’s observation haki connecting him to his dad and them both working to coordinate their respective crews was GODTIER OH WE LOVE TO SEE IT. USOPP THANK U FOR SHINING SO BRIGHTLY

the very quiet scene where Uta gives Luffy his hat back and she’s trying to be silly with him but you Don’t See His Face At All that entire scene so you KNOW he’s upset and something is wrong made me fucking feral I love Luffy’s growth I love his character development I LOVE HIM SFM

Coby was the REAL MVP of the Film

Jinbe deserved more screentime

Rob Lucci struggling to trouble-shoot the Elders TV sent me right into the stratosphere HOW fucking embarrassing sdfljslfksl

Uta fuckin died????????????/ Unconfirmed but implied

Oda Stop Martyring Women Challenge

this movie is GREAT but it’s not Film Gold

[uzukage-naruto]

for the ship ask game! what about zolaw?

OTP | love it! | really like it | it's ok | not a fan | very much dislike | thinking about it makes me feel rage

I didn't have any feelings about zolaw until I saw a really good fanart of them on twitter. and then very shortly after that, the zou arc happened and I started seeing them in a completely different light. these two were joined at the hip throughout zou. and then this scene sealed things for me. trafalgar 'don't come close to me' law willingly following this directionless moron all the way into the forest AND invading zoros personal space. and these two jumping apart like they were caught doing something?? OKAY.

and then wano happened, and again these two got so much development. law is someone who would always rather put the mission first and here he is, ready to let it all go to hell because he doesn't want zoro to get hurt!! mans has a crush is what I'm saying.

okay so maybe I have more feelings about them than I thought I did... I'm not saying that these two are my first choice for each other, but post zou when SOMEONE ran off to get married im saying these two definitely fucked. WELL into the wano arc even.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

And We're Live!

Bruh a Miss Kaya update? Sweet! As we've said with Academy, this blog fully stans certified good girl Miss Kaya. I love her outfit here, she was really one of this series's first more classy, modest girlies and say what you will about how Oda draws women but I'm noticing she's not one of the ones who got a Timeskip breast augmentation. Usopp's former crew look like they're growing up fast too. This is a good group, still hope we get more Kaya in Academy because I really like her as the sickly girl who doesn't make it to school all the time. Clever use of a character on Sohei Koji's part.

We can talk about Academy over Golden Week though, because Vegapunk's message is going live! Which means sadly we're done with the fun of dicking around for ten minutes. The Vega Coffee bit was so, so good though. We'll get to the ramifications as we go but first there is a reason for Miss Kaya. Take note of all these people we see, how places like Torino highlight that darker side. VP will even own up to some of his own "sins" in his message. It's a very diffuse reaction to the man. Someone who inspires a lot of different reactions. It's important to pay attention when a story does that, but let's move on:

Hahaha lol eat a dick Mars. Classic decoy maneuver. We did get the brain in a jar! In a chapter where Vegapunk "confirms" his own death and an arc where we've played this game with Kuma. Remember Mars doesn't actually know the deal, he himself is pondering a little over what counts as the real Vegapunk. So I'm inclined to ponder if it is just what we see; part of his brain serving as more or less a hard drive. As much the real him as that paw bubble of memories was the real Kuma. Shout-out to Bonney and her Giant-ish future by the way. It was cool, but pretty much reinforces the same themes. You're acting like Luffy and the crew has fully shifted to treating you (appropriately) as a little kid to watch out for.

The decoy snail though...I like it. Could it have been a long game by Vegapunk? Of course, and keeping York out of the loop is believable. But being on the floor randomly is still weird and putting it right in front of the big brain tank seems rather risky for Vegapunk. Why would he want to nudge at that connection. Get what I'm saying? This is a weirder beat than it seems, but it would make perfect sense through the lens of someone else reacting. Great way to cover one's tracks by just letting the natural assumption take course. There's one part of Vegapunk's speech that bolsters this to me:

Please do not assume that the ones who strike me down are evil. That plus what he says here? Do...not track with thinking the Gorosei would be the ones who came after him. Sounds a little more like he expected Luffy, Bonney, someone like that to take him out. Or even Lucci. It's subtle, but actually a great remind that this all has nothing to do with the Straw Hats. Remember that old theme? The extra effort from the World Government is because of an emperor drifting into the situation. You can't act so casually when the world rocks in your wake. That still seems to be the core lesson for Luffy.

Speaking of, we get another nudge at one of last night's big mysteries. How did Robin get in such rough shape? The scenes before we skip the night set it up okay, she was headed right into a confrontation with York. But it's still a lingering question. And speaking of "lingering," you have the Gorosei hammering that Bakura Town/Ryokugyu theme hard. Reminds me of someone who knows no one called Vermin. The message though, it's what we're all here for. Well, I'm here for Nami Protect Mode.

I have some thoughts about this. Not the reveal itself. Sorta what we saw with Lulusia at the start, the fallout I mean. Excellent through line with Wano and it's own history. Makes Iceberg look so cool in hindsight because he at least was a good enough leader to see it happening locally. Type of thing a shipwright-turned-politician would notice your typical noble wouldn't. Very classic looming threat, makes me think of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou which was our world after massive sea level rise.

Let me just say one thing. This is fucking hilarious from a certain perspective. Imagine you're chilling. Doing your thing. Every PC and Windows product in the world fires up. Bill Gates is streaming live. He takes ten minutes to dick around with coffee then promptly announces his death before telling everyone their own death is imminent because [government conspiracy]. The reaction is going to be wild. Makes me think of David Bowie's "Five Years." If you're a fan, see if you can find the live version from the Dinah Shore show. You won't regret it. That Man Who Fell to Earth look was iconic and you gotta love managing a 4th wall break in a rock opera.

We've talked about this with Robonosuke, who's hanging around in the background still. This is an even better detail someone who learned a lot from Toki would know. Even if it's indirect relevance, it's the exact type of knowledge a modern scholar would find as a big surprise but a friend of the lady from the Void Century could just casually know. Maybe not a fancy sea chart, but say to the degree of a rough map?

Just saying, type of thing there's scenes to support it. The map is right there with some of the first ones that really show Kiku acting like a nanny with Momonosuke. The Act plot with Olin had a lot of subtle bait the girl's a little distinct from the group we'd build on in Act 3. Aside from all that though, just this basic setup of the chapter? We start on a few vignettes around the world showing different reactions to Vegapunk. Then we set up everyone in dire straits as Luffy's run out of gas. Injected a little new mystery through Stussy/York. Now we end on a big reveal that doesn't affect the matter at hand as we pull away from the island?

It's easy to say at a lot of points but if there's a third cutaway...we may be going into it after Golden Week.

[aceopmari]

If the Straw Hats Had a Reality Show Dedicated to Pirates Headcanon! Ft: Law!

With how infamous the pirate crew gotten, it was only natural that they were soon granted the rights to have their own reality show, like other famous pirates in the Grand Line and the New World.

Get ready for Keeping Up with the Straw Hats!

Luffy: Whether it was his strength, or his childlike innocence, Luffy was a fan favorite!

He often ignored the producers suggestions to make the show more interesting.

Luffy didn’t like when the producers told him to punch a random person on the street when they were visiting an island.

Was not getting paid, as he owed the producers over 10,000 berris for punching the camera one time in anger, when the director attempted to take his meat away. The director was only making a suggestion for a much healthier diet for the star of the show.

Luffy also skipped out on a lot of confessional sessions. Mainly because he really didn’t have much to hide to begin with. But if he did go, it was mainly to either show appreciation for his crew or to make public declarations:

“Sanji’s cooking the BEST!”

“Do we get free meat with this show?”

“I’m going to kick Mingo’s ass!”

Zoro: The viewers found Zoro amusing! Whether it be him constantly getting lost, or his heated arguments with Sanji. The producers would rush over to him, cameras and all whenever they caught the two together.

Zoro was surprisingly popular with female viewers. They enjoyed watching him sweat whenever he would work out in the crows nest.

Zoro didn’t care about the show really. Just as long as he gets to work out, drink booze, and sleep, he’s good.

The producers always looked forward to his confessionals after he fights with Sanji:

“That damn shitty cook! Just who the hell does he think he is?!”

“That curly brow dumbass is gonna get himself killed one of these days!”

Sanji: Was angry that Zoro was racking in more views from the female viewers than he was!

Why him?! Why not me?!

He kicked the camera man straight in the chin when he told him that Zoro was naturally more popular than he was.

Sanji desperately tried to win over the female viewers by showing off his fighting skills or his culinary expertise.

He was excited when he finally got some fan mail from the fans!

It turned out to be from the okamas though…

If Sanji went to the confessionals, it was usually to cry about why women weren’t interested in him…or to talk shit about Zoro:

“Just what does he have that I don’t on this show?”

“Why aren’t all the beautiful ladies watching me?”

Little did Sanji know, he caught the eyes of Violet and Pudding.

Nami: An absolute slut for the camera! The producers LOVED her!

One couldn’t tell who was using who more. All that mattered was what would bring them more views and more money.

Whenever it was filming time, Nami would purposely wear a bikini without the jeans to draw in the male viewing audience.

Add the extra seductive act she would put on, and nosebleeds would cover millions of transponder snail television screens.

Loved to give tours of the Sunny and show off her designer clothes.

Would parade around the islands, using Momonosuke as an accessory to manipulate the fans into loving her more.

Nami LOVED to take advantage of the fanbase, often subtly asking for gifts mainly money through the fan mail she receives. Next to Robin, she had the most.

Nami became very vain and strict with the crew on how to present themselves for the camera and had to keep members like Luffy in check to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid to cause the show to be cancelled. But just in case, as a backup, she could always start an Only Fans.

One might say that the fame and fortune was getting to her head, as she would purposely start up drama whenever she was out on an island. Would probably steal from a city mayor if it meant she could get the fans taking for weeks.

Whenever she was in the confessionals, it was mainly to complain about Luffy’s or Zoro’s antics.

Would probably shit talk about Robin, although faking it the whole time, to get some drama started:

“Honestly! I wish Luffy would just use some common sense for once!”

“Robin thinks she’s all that! But everyone knows, I’m the prettiest girl on the show!”

“I’ll let you film me in the bath. It’ll cost you 1 million beri!”

Franky: Loved the camera! One sided on the producers part since they didn’t enjoy Franky’s sense of…ahem…style.

He would dance, be loud, or show off his cool body.

If he was in the confessional room, it was to complain openly to the producers on why they did him dirty.

“Hey! I saw last weeks episode! Why did you cut my scene out, bro?!”

Ussop: Although not nearly as popular as Nami, Ussop was interesting enough to get some viewers watching the show, even unintentionally.

Ussop used the show to make himself seem cooler, mainly through the confessionals.

The lies he told caught the attention of viewers worldwide, though very few could sees past his lies.

The producers didn’t care, so long as there were viewers.

“Yes it was I! The Great Captain Ussop who defeated CP9!”

“Wait wait! Cut that out! Cut that scene out! I meant SniperKing!”

Chopper: The Worlds Favorite Cutie Pie!

Choppers looks alone were enough to win the hearts of viewers! Mostly the female reindeer mink.

Combine that with his child like innocence and he’s instantly a popular household name!

On top of that he already has many sponsorships from multiple sweet brands. (Mainly cotton candy ones.)

Choppers pretty shy on camera and often does his usual dance when he’s nervous. The audience eats it up.

He doesn’t gossip. When it comes to confessionals, he’s usually talking about Zoro’s recklessness when it comes to bandages, or Sanji’s nose bleeding habits.

Jimbei: Not particular interested in TV or fame, but used being on TV to his advantage to spread his word and try stop discrimination against fishmen.

The producers found him boring and didn’t look forward to filming him, especially at confessionals…but at the very least, he was able to bring in views due to his former status as a warlord.

Robin: Had many admirers! She enjoyed being on the show. Often is seen on screen on a lavish shopping trip with Nami.

She does her part to make the show more interesting, whether it is be her dark sense of humor or putting her devil fruit powers to good use.

She once used it on a producer when he asked her to do something suggestive for views. After that, the producers never messed with her again, out of fear for their lives.

Not much for confessionals though, except when she’s expressing how amused she is at Luffy’s antics.

She may appeared to be calm and quiet but you better believe that the rumors she would stir up, would get the people talking!

Piers Morgans was having a field day with the headlines:

“Did Cat Burgler Nami Get Breast Implants?!”

“Roronoa Zoro: Honorable Swordsmen or Man Thot?! Gets Caught Sleeping with Wano’s Most Beautiful Woman!”

“Is Monkey D Luffy, Secretly Seeing His Crewmates Sister From the Germa Kingdom?!”

Brook: Fans loved seeing Soul King on screen. In some episodes he’s either playing music or he’s attempting a panty raid in Nani’s room. Which often results in him getting beat up by her every time.

Anything he says in the confessional‘s ends up with his signature laugh.

Law: Made a special guest appearance since starting hiw alliance with Luffy.

You can imagine his look of surprise, when the crew showed up on Punk Hazard with a camera crew and all.

He wasn’t at all interested in being on TV. His famous “I hate bread” made him an instant fan favorite. And meme along the fanbase.

He didn’t like that…

Law hated being followed around by the camera crew on the Thousand Sunny or when he simply just wanted peace. He frequently scolded the producers to stop or told Luffy to call off the cameras, but neither listened.

He only wanted to discuss the alliance plans in private with the crew and didn’t want the producers to catch any of it for the world to see.

As time went on, and Law was getting sucked into the Straw Hat shenanigans. He found himself wandering into the confessional where he would frequently complain about the crew. Mainly the captain.

“Mugiwara-ya will be the death of me…”

“Rorona-ya has no sense of direction…”

“How has the crew survived this long? They don’t ever strategize when it comes to making a plan!”

Viewer Reactions:

Sabo: Enjoys watching his little brother on screen, and always has a good laugh. Koala would often scold him for abandoning his duties to go watch the show.

Hancock: Would briefly abandon her duties as Pirate Empress for the whole day if it meant, she could watch Luffy on screen.

Took up most of his fan mail, and gifts that had meat.

Hancock would be envious of Nami and Robin on her screen, wishing she was their with Luffy.

Mihawk: Reality shows weren’t his usual choice of television entertainment, but he did watch, soley to watch over Zoro’s progress as a swordsmen. He would lie if Perona asked him if he found what he saw the slightest bit amusing.

Ace: He got a kick out watching his little brother on screen. Often laughing at Luffy’s antics. He saw that Luffy’s crew was slowly riding in more views on the reality show The WhiteBeard Pirates had. Ace wasn’t too worried but he knew he had to step it up.

Shanks: Often shaking his head and smiling in amusement at the sight of Luffy on screen. Would sometimes watch the show with Ace as the two spoke fondly of him.

Big Mom: Was furious that Luffy was racking in more views than her crew combined. Everyone used to love Big Mom’s wedding cake special episodes.

“MUGIWARAAAAA!” *Smashes TV*

Garp: Nearly choked on his crackers at the sight of his crazy grandson invading his screen.

“LUFFY NOOOOOO!”

Smoker: If any marine soldier was caught watching, Keeping Up with the Straw Hats, you better believe that he’ll would be raised at HQ. in secret though, he would watch it. Not for entertainment, but more so to study the Straw Hats moves.

Buggy: Screeching out in jealously seeing Straw Hat Luffy was popular enough to be given his own show and not him.

Kid: Was sitting at a bar one night and spat out his drink in anger at the sight of Straw Hat on his screen.

Nearly popped a blood vessel when he saw Law on screen.

“The hell?! Even Trafalgar?! How come those bastards get their own show?!”

Killer remained silent. He knew the reason why the Kid Pirates never picked up the rights to a pirate reality show was because of how scary Kid was.

Dragon: Used the show as a way to keep up with his son. Although in secret, since he didn’t want his army to notice.

Germa 66: Mixed reactions.

“That’s no son of mine.” Judge would say.

Reiju giggled at the sight of the screen. After a mission, she would look forward to watching the show to see her brother.

Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji expressed annoyance and criticized Sanji. Although would never admit that they were each jealous that Sanji got to be on a reality show instead of the Germa Kingdom itself.

Yamato: Wants to be on the show. Not for the fame, but mainly to spread the word and tell the world what a horrible father, Kaido is and spread Oden’s legacy to the world.

[beanghostprincess]

Why is shanks/buggy so underrated in this side of fandom? It’s much more loved in Japanese one, one of the most popular for shanks. I feel like this one prefers other mlm options for him and I don’t get it. It got better after OPLA I think but still. Sorry for my English!

Oh! This is actually such an interesting question. I was talking about this the other day and I came to a conclusion with my friend about this. Basically, there are a lot of things to take into consideration here. The screentime, the age of the characters, the chemistry, how they're perceived by the fandom and canonically, etc etc etc.

The first thing I thought about was the screentime, honestly. Shanks and Buggy grew up together and they have a deep bond, however, we've only seen that through flashbacks (one in quite literally episode 8 of the anime, another one in Wano that isn't even about them and they're just side characters in this flashback, and in chapter 1082 of the manga. But it's not even a proper flashback because we already saw that when Shanks talks to Whitebeard about Buggy, it's just Buggy's interpretation of it) and we only have like one scene of them together that isn't even two minutes long. So, quite obviously you'd think "well, the ship isn't as popular as other ships because they barely have any screentime" and I think it's correct but also not quite. And also, this would also have to apply to the Japanese fandom at the end of the day. Fandoms don't give a single fuck about screen time if the chemistry is right, really, but there's always this factor, y'know. Lawlu has less screentime than Zolu and yet it's more popular somehow because people absolutely love their dynamic. Then, if you stop to think about it, both Satosugu (Jjk) and Soukoku (Bsd) have the same dynamic and concept as Shuggy, but they're by far the most popular ships in their fandoms. They're basically the same ships but Jjk and Bsd give them proper development and story because they're shorter series. One Piece is a long show and we still have many things to see, even if we know it's gonna end soon, so I guess that we'll still have to wait to see more of Shuggy. Once we do, I'm sure it'll become more popular. Also, Shanks' personality is very diverse because he's all mysterious and all, so I kind of understand why people don't want to make content because they still don't have him figured out.

But then again, screen time isn't really the problem. It's just one of the factors. If they had more screen time, they'd be more popular for sure, yes, but it's not exactly what makes them less popular in this side of the fandom. Otherwise, it'd be equally as popular on the other sides too. The Japanese side of fandoms is different from this one and tbh they often don't take into consideration things like cancel culture and proship discourse or the standard beauty regarding age because they just post whatever they want and scroll past what they don't like (god I fucking wish we were like that because I am so done with these things). Besides, isn't Buggy like a very beloved character over there, aside from Oda's favorite? At least from what I've seen, they take his character way more seriously than this side of the fandom does, honestly. And it bothers me because he's such a complex and great character, and people never see it because they use him either for memes or to keep saying "omggg turns out the clown is hot!! Can you believe I want to fuck a clow-" yes, Samantha, we know you want to fuck the clown. It's not weird. It's not new. Do you even like the character, at least, or you're just using him to say how kinky and quirky you are? (And I don't even care about the sexualization of characters because, again, fictional characters are fictional characters and you don't have to take everything so seriously. I have tons of characters I don't like that much but only stan because I find them hot and that's alright. But damn, it bothers me sometimes).

Anyway, with this, I wanna say that there are other things to have in mind when talking about this.

Recently (I know it's not exactly new but in fandom years? Recently) there has been a huge thing surrounding the term "old men yaoi". People are so down bad for middle-aged men and they see two of them together and they instantly go "omg they're soo married" but that's- That's it? That's just it. They don't even ship them, they just find the concept of older men hot because "omg he's such a dilf" and they want to fuck both of them. But they never end up doing anything with it. They try to be so groundbreaking like "ohh I am SO woke by shipping these two old men! See? Breaking stereotypes!" because both irl and online, age has always been a very stigmatized thing. Apparently you can't be in a fandom if you're older than 25 because then you're weird, and if there's an actress older than 50 she's instantly useless for the industry.

What I want to say with this is that most people in the fandom are young. They're young and they like attractive, young, hot people and they don't want old, unconventionally attractive men. They don't want them unless it's to give a "hot take" and to be super progressive and woke. Do you know what they like? They like Dilfs. They like Shanks because he's conventionally attractive and good with kids and he's the standard for a Dilf. Because he's hot and mysterious but also silly and quirky and "he's almost forty that is so hot something something daddy kink". And they don't want to see him fucking someone his age because God forbid this man has a personality outside being a Dilf. Younger people in the fandom constantly read y/n fics regarding Shanks because they want him to fuck them and not Buggy. And they can't project in these old men, so they publicly say "oh, Shanks and Buggy are so married" because it's just a fact the fandom made clear, but they don't really like the content. Because liking Buggy sexually, apparently, is just so weird. Or as a character. Nobody wants to say their favorite character is the failguy clown. It's a hot take when you say that Buggy is hot because people keep being all weird about it when... Uh... He's- He's just a clown. Guys. It's not weird. Or bad. Who raised you to think that? God, I find Monet extremely hot and she's half-bird. Could we please normalize these things? They're fictional characters. And also, stop reducing Buggy to his jokes or the fact that he's a clown because his character is GREAT and complex and it just bothers me so much.

This makes me think about this whole "background couple" thing. Which are basically couples that are canon or that are so popular and obvious that people, instead of making content for them (because why would you make content for a canon couple?) just place them in the background instead. There are so many fanfics in which Shuggy is a background couple. Or studies in which, instead of analyzing them, they're used only for parallelisms. This happens with, idk, Saboala? Frobin? Yamace? People don't like couples that everybody agrees on. They don't like m/f ships because they can't be woke!!!!! And queer!!!! (when they easily could but whatever). They don't like ships that everybody likes because!!!!!! They're canon already and why would you write about them???? And so, Shuggy stays a bit more as a side couple instead. For being old and unconventionally unattractive and not having much screentime, but being extremely popular. Not in a "content" way, but in a "knowledge" way. Even the general audience thinks their bond is crucial to the story, c'mon.

One of the differences that this side of the fandom has with the Japanese one, as I mentioned before, is the cancel culture and proship discourse thing. They just don't have that concept. And that's perfect, honestly, I wish we could just scroll past what we don't like too and live peacefully because the discourse is getting tiring. And also you have to admit that, because of the anti propaganda going around, now fandoms have turned into the most puritan thing in the world. Beware! Sex! Age difference between fictional characters that have a consensual and healthy and mature relationship! Oh! God forbid teenagers have sex with people their age! Ohmygodjustshutup. And so, Shuggy isn't a problematic ship. Not even close. But inside the OP world, people do say they are brothers. They keep talking about each other like that, too. And I don't even think it's the typical "we say they're like brothers so you don't think they're gay because they're both guys and guys can't kiss" (I am having flashbacks from the IT fandom). They do have the same parents. Like- We all agree Shanks and Buggy were both raised by Roger and Rayleigh and they consider them, if not their dads, parental figures at least. Right? And you're aware that doesn't make it incest, right? Both things can coexist. Foster families are a thing. Lots of people who grew up together and consider the same people their parental figures end up dating because they don't see each other as siblings. Well, most people don't see it this way and hear the word "brother" and run from it like it's a fucking virus. The Japanese side of the fandom doesn't give a fuck because they're fictional and because they're y'know, not brothers? And even if they were, cancel culture and proship discourse is so fucking stupid to them because they follow the "don't like don't look" thing. But on this side of the fandom, a lot of people see them as brothers and the other half sees them as a divorced couple and apparently nobody knows how to fucking read this manga and have a proper fandom experience without jumping to each other's throats at the minimum disagreement.

So, to summarize: People on this side of the fandom don't like Shuggy THAT much and it isn't such a popular ship in comparison to the Japanese side, because young people don't like older men together, they don't focus on unconventionally attractive characters, are afraid of any little possibility of cancelation, and also, well, Shuggy doesn't have much screentime anyway so there's not much we can do with that.