#i mean if Oda want to draw more girls

[userpiece13]

Just imagine, if our girl Tashigi actually had time to train her Haki. Just imagine her being strong enough to really show that girls can be true swordsmen too ❤️ one can always dream…

[pokemon1oadvanced]

Thoughts on the live action one piece

Spoilers 😉

Yes, I binged all 8 episodes, and have work today and can’t see out my eyes but worth it.

I’ll try to keep it short.

Luffys character was immaculate. The way Inaki portrayed him and brought this man to life was so amazing to see. Oda really saw Luffy in him and he did not disappoint. The moves looked great, CGI was on point for a live action, and they really did break the curse.

Zoro’s character was beautiful. I love that he was more serious, and him throwing up the finger in his first scene?! I’m star struck. You can say what you want about the live action, but theres no denying this cast was perfect for these characters and the fight scenes were choreographed to the point where it looked so clean.

Nami 🥳 The emotion! The conflict! I absolutely love the way she had more action scenes and was more open with her care for the crew early on. Nami has always been my favourite character, and Emily did her justice.

I will be listening to her song on repeat.

Ussop! Ussop! Are you serious! Why do I love you in every reality! And Ussop and Kaya! The kiss! The scream I let out! I died😵‍💫 I wish he had more shooting scenes, but his true potential wasn’t seen until later in the anime so I can’t complain, cause season two Ussop is gonna pop off.

Sanji😳 First off, live action Sanji has a hold on me😮‍💨 Like what happened to the guy who couldn’t get any girls. Ngl, was keeping an eye out for the blonde at table 8, looking out for my competition👀 His kicks were so smooth and all, and I mean ALL, his fight scenes were perfect. Like how did they do this. You can see the care and effort he put into his character.

Buggy? I love our unhinged clown. His making a circus with trapped towns people. His CGI? Amazing. The little goof we were left with when they trapped his parts in the chest made me cackle!

The pacing of the show was done so well. I was worried that 8 episodes wouldn’t be enough (and I was right where’s season two I want Vivi), but the retelling was more then I hoped for. I will always love the anime more, as most of us know there’s not enough episodes in the series, but the live action did great in that respect. I did miss some of the characters they had to cut to make it flow better though. The ussop pirates live on in our hearts

Don’t get me wrong, there was some scenes I missed from the original show, like Zoro lifting Luffy’s cage, Nami burning her hands on Buggys cannon fuse, Nami stabbing Ussop. BUT, they wouldn’t have fit in this version of the show.

They did give us Zoro lifting the safe like he did Luffys cage which was cool. And Nami holding Ussops hand when Zoro was fighting, Nami showing up for the fight rather then leaving. I love her. Even though Nami didn’t get to show her care through the actions of saving Zoro or stabbing her own hand, she was still able to show those emtions through different actions. The hand holding with Ussop rather then the stabbing of her hand was so good to see. This version of Nami seemed more fragile in a way, so this suited her version well.

It was like watching One Piece for the first time all over again. I didn’t know what would happen. Getting more marines, and Garps relationship to Luffy being revealed so early in the series to cause tension within the crew *chef’s kiss* And Koby? ‘Be a good pirate.’? Like I love you? Not doing what Garp asked? Standing up for his beliefs? You are going to be a good Marine. You’ll be the greatest 💕

The relationships they explored?

First off Ussop and Kaya 😵 I love them so much. Them talking to the straw hats about their relationship was so cute, and Zoro saying it wasn’t his area of expertise 💅🏻✨ Jokes 👀

Nami being besties with Kaya😍 Her telling Kaya not to let someone tell her how to run her life, drawing connections to her own situation, telling Kaya not to be trapped. Her returning the treasure! I loved it so much. Ussop’s and Nami’s friendship has always been the one I cherished in the crew, and for Nami to support Kaya, and Ussop to see how Nami was good to his girl I feel will only strengthen their relationship.

Nami and Zoro besties? Didn’t know I could love them more.

Nami caring so much for Zoro after his fight with Mihawk showed her love for her new friends, and mirrored her care she had in the original series where she saved him from drowning at Arlong park. Even though we didn’t get the original scenes, they were supplemented with new scenes that held the same feelings.

Zosan- I mean Zoro and Sanji. The wings of the pirate king? I love their bickering in any universe it seems. The fish men fight was so good, them being unbothered with the guys trying to kill them as they fought with each other was so them. And Zoro licking his plate clean and saying Sanji’s food was okay? Not bad for a waiter huh?

And the most important pair. Captain and his first mate. I just loved how many times they reiterated that Zoro is Luffys right hand man 🥰 Luffy not stepping in the way of Zoros dream was beautiful, and his care afterwards reminded me of how he cared for Nami when she got sick in the original series. Asking Sanji to cook his favourite? So cute. He couldn’t decide if it was best for Zoro to eat or sleep or drink and him stressing for Zoro. All amazing. I’ve used amazing so many times but its just the word I need to explain it. Zoro waking up, Luffy engulfing him. I could go on and on.

Nami and Luffy? The amount of love I have for them. They were everything I wanted from them. The scene. THE scene. Beautiful.

I could go on and on about this show, but sadly I have work. Please show this version love, and don’t go into expecting the same series. It is different. It’s its own version and deserves its own category.

I love the cast! Thank you for making history with this adaptation! Xx

[pseudopigeons]

I came up with maybe not a theory but more of just an observation that the east blue 5 seem to parallel the 5 love languages and it's kinda reframed all of their actions and behaviours towards each other so much for me on my watchthrough. Got brainworms from that one oda interview where he said zoro doesn't like verbally expressing gratitude and prefers to show appreciation through actions and it got me thinking

The 5 languages:

Physical touch - Luffy

Acts of service - Zoro

Quality time - Usopp

Receiving / giving gifts - Nami

Words of affirmation - Sanji

Funnily enough in OPLA we definitely see a lot of physical touch Luffy. He's always playfully punching or hugging crewmates, despite having known the crew for such a short time he's just instantly clingy and physically present around them in east blue.

Zoro is very much an actions person. He's a little emotionally constipated and doesn't verbalise his feelings very much, in fact that seems like the last thing he wants to do, but he will always be looking out for any member of the crew silently, and is almost always the first to spring into action when it's called for. He shows he cares through acts of service and being there for his captain and crew.

Usopps language being quality time is shown pretty well in syrup village with his relationship with Kaya. Kaya is a girl who has everything she could wish for financially, but ussop provides her with a much needed friend, someone to support her and just physically be present and talk to her. He risks so much just to make her smile because being there for his friends is such a crucial and important thing for him.

Nami's love language being giving/recieving gifts means so much to me because it is so often seen as the most shallow of the love languages and I have seen so many poor analysis and digs at Nami's character, reducing her to just being greedy and money hungry. Did they watch Arlong park with their eyes closed??? For Nami, gold or money is a means for her to provide for the people she cares about, to ensure their financial stability and freedom and to keep her crewmates fed and afloat. She spent so long scorned and alone and (believed she was) hated because she created this money hungry persona to save her village and to best Arlong. Every piece of gold she bled to get was meant for that end goal. Nami deserves the financial freedom and gold that being a strawhat pirate could give because for years and years every bit she earned was tucked away for the well-being of others and was then stolen from under her nose. (This paragraph got very long but I'm not sorry I am the captain of the Nami defense squad.)

And finally Sanji reflects words of praise as a love language. I think it's the most clear to see with how Sanji is so quick to praise any female character he comes into contact with, especially Nami, but I think it also reflects his strained relationship with zef while working at the baratie. Zeff is always verbally critical of Sanji as a way to rile him up and to encourage him to leave the restaurant. Zef weaponises what makes Sanji tick to antagonise him and tries to get him to leave that way, but Sanji is far too stubborn and feels too great a debt to leave.

I think east blue definitely shows the 5 dynamics in a pretty clear way and kinda helped me understand what makes the characters tick. Also why some of the characters end up butting heads or getting into arguments. They all show and recieve love in different way, sometimes there are misunderstandings or clashes but at the end of the day they all trust each other with their lives and it's such a strong bond.

Anyways I'll eventually draw some more OP but I'd love to hear any thoughts or other people's ideas if they have any on the matter. Sometimes I get analysis brainworms, and I first shared the idea on discord, but figured why not post it to Tumblr too

ALSO please if anyone has examples from the series that fit the love languages PLEASE share it, makes my heart oougggghhghg.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Ok so here's the fairy tale meta thing based off a lie that I was talking about.

In Dead Apple, there's a flashback scene at Bar Lupin where Dazai explains the concept of apple suicide to Oda, while a track called "Dear Prince" plays in the background. There's a brief mix-up where Oda confuses the story of Snow White for Cinderella - but when I first came up with this, I misremembered what he said (I mixed up... his mix-up...) and thought the line was about Sleeping Beauty.

And I'm so unreasonably annoyed by this because that would've made so much more contextual sense. Why? Because they both involve an awakening. Moreover, there's a few interesting details in the environment of the older tales (I will not be using the Disney versions as the Dead Apple motifs actually connect better with the originals and also because I have never actually seen them... embarrassingly enough) that translate quite nicely to aspects of Dazai's life and bonds.

Specifically, there are some loose parallels to be found with Odasaku and the story of Sleeping Beauty, and Chuuya and the story of Snow White. (Note that this is not intended to be shipping fuel or anything; interpret it however you like, I'm just drawing connections.)

And yeah, I know this is an entire half-baked meta formed around a line that doesn't even exist but please just give it a chance or at least humour me please please please please please

Alright let's get the Cinderella thing out of the way first since I want to at least address it.

Cinderella has its origins in the old Greek story of Rhodopis, which sets up the main aspects of the story we know now: a servant girl from a poor background ascends to royalty through marrying a prince, who searches for her after finding her missing shoe. This doesn't really bear any resemblance to the rest of the movie or any other ongoing themes... unless you want to suggest that maybe Dazai's jumping from one side to the other was something akin to a "shoe-test"; that he was looking for a perfect fit. I think that's quite a stretch though and it's likely this really was just a throwaway line meant to show us Oda's occasional uh... airheadedness. If anyone has any further thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.

It's a shame, really, because the slip up could've been given more significance and also because as an analyst of sorts it is my sworn duty to pull meaning out of absolutely nothing so I guess I took another step further here and made up my own line to analyze in stupidly excessive detail.

The entire point of this was meant to show how both the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White have a theme of awakening, and so do Dazai's bonds with both Odasaku and Chuuya - they both have a function of "waking him up" in a sense. However, the means of doing so manifest very differently.

So, let's talk about Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Beauty has its origins in an old Italian story called Sun, Moon and Talia, which has many of the elements we know today but was uh. A lot darker. And way more non-consensual. The version the more modern story takes its roots from is Perrault's version. Here are the important bits to this analysis: the princess pricks her finger on a spindle out of curiosity, the good fairy puts everyone in the castle to sleep along with her for 100 years so that she will not be alone when she wakes, the prince does not wake her with a kiss but instead she wakes just by his presence and they sit and talk for a long, long time.

So, on to my delusional parallels. Part one: the princess pricks her finger out of curiosity. See, for Dead Apple, we have to rethink this a bit because Dazai brings up the concept of apple suicide, not murder. Of course, this is a parallel to himself and his disregard for his own life, so here we can take it that he did not "prick his finger" out of mere curiosity, but also, likely out of a desire to "sleep".

It's hard for me not to draw a connection between the curiosity aspect of the finger prick and Dazai's curiosity to join the mafia, especially with the next part - where everyone falls asleep as well for the time the princess is asleep. Essentially, no one will age or die. For as long as the princess remains unconscious, the world will not change. And if the princess perhaps, wanted this, then we can infer what is likely a fear of being left. Maybe even a fear of living. Dazai joined the mafia because he was curious if it would have what he sought. Instead, he spent his days trapped in an "oxidizing dream" as he detached further and further both from his humanity and from others. The mafia is already a place where people don't talk to each other openly and we know Dazai was even more unknowable than that - if he doesn't care about himself or others, the dream goes on. He stays asleep, and if he doesn't care, then he doesn't lose anyone - no one truly "dies".

As for the last part, there isn't much to say. Dazai warms up to Odasaku because the man just talks to him. And likes talking to him. And doesn't tell him to stop when he's being really freaking weird. But notably, Odasaku doesn't do much at first to help Dazai "awaken". It's only when he's about to die in his fight against Gide that he realizes he regrets not saying something sooner. Odasaku only has one chance to wake Dazai before he dies and he does it by shattering that dream that he will find what he's looking for. Paradoxically, that hope Dazai held onto was what trapped him in that singular mindset. Oda dies shortly after and the illusion is broken. Dazai wakes up, his world kickstarts where it had previously been stagnant and Dazai greets the sun and tries to live.

See why I'm slightly annoyed this wasn't the line now?

But hey, while we're at it, let's also talk about Snow White because the Dead Apple movie was actually a lot more firm with its connections than I think people realize.

Firstly, I would love people to know that in the original Grimms' fairy tale, Snow White doesn't clean the dwarves' house but in fact burgles it, eating their food, drinking their wine and falling asleep in one of their beds after testing each one, and generally leaving the house in complete disarray. Yeah. Not related to my point at all, but this sounds an awful lot like something Dazai would do (but more out of mischief than naivete of course).

Here's the important part though: Did you know that the Queen attempted to have Snow White killed not just once, but three times? The first two times, the dwarves were the ones to save her and quite quickly - they made a deal after she broke into their house that she would fix it up for them and maintain it in exchange for her staying with them in safety. It's an agreement of sorts, but as they became fond of her, they try and save her life in earnest. The poisoned apple is actually the third attempt to kill her, where the Queen bites into the white, non-poisoned part of the apple and Snow White, thinking it safe, eats the red half and falls asleep.

Hey. Remember the colour of the pill Dazai took in Dead Apple?

Yeah, someone on that team knows the original fairy tale.

Interestingly (and this is where I got really excited), there are three different attempts to kill Snow White (or, if Dazai is to be believed, three different attempts at her own self-destruction) - and there are three different instances where Chuuya "wakes" Dazai, twice while they're partnered (when they have an "agreement", terms in a sense as partners), and once in Dead Apple.

The first is in Fifteen, the infamous scene where Dazai shoots the body and Chuuya snaps him out of it by wrenching the gun out of his hands. I'm honestly a bit too tired to go super into that scene right now but I'm doing a little bit on it later - all that needs to be acknowledged here is that Dazai was out of it and Chuuya forced him back to earth. The second occurs during the Dragon's Head Conflict when Dazai is completely insensitive to the death of a mafia executive and Chuuya decks him for it. The now-infamous line "no one would believe that" is often misinterpreted I think. Chuuya says this in response to Dazai's "I'm human, too, you know." He's not saying "you're not human", he's saying "you are human but no one would believe that with the kind of shit you're saying and doing". It's the same kind of sentiment in the first scene where Chuuya intervenes, I believe. And it is a form of waking, in that Chuuya snaps Dazai out of his more inhumane moments - he basically calls him out and forces him to reevaluate; the epitome of a rude awakening.

Now for the Dead Apple scene proper.

Firstly, let's establish something. They are no longer partners in the mafia. They are even on separate sides. The framing of this changes Chuuya's actions from working with Dazai with occasional call-outs to bring him back to earth, to saving him in what is quite literally a rescue.

In the original myth, again, there is no waking kiss. Instead, in this third time, everyone assumes Snow White is really dead, that she will not be coming back. The prince, who happens across her, insists she at least receive a proper burial. But when carrying her coffin, one of them trips and they stumble, which jostles the princess enough that the piece of apple stuck in her throat is dislodged and she coughs it up, reviving. Uh...

Yeah.

Anyways this got kind of messy at the end and idk if it even made sense this is really just unhinged rambling so...

Tldr, Odasaku and Chuuya both help "wake" Dazai even if their methods and personalities are very different, which is part of the reason why both bonds are very important. Neither are particularly gentle with him, but waking, especially if all you want to do is sleep, is not a gentle thing.

[wavytam]

Sanji and Zoro's Pact/Sanji's love for Nami

One of the things that has been blatant from the beginning of One Piece is how Nami has a special place in Sanji's heart. Whether it derives from admiration, some type of respect or simple, genuine, love (or the three at the same time), there is something there worth noting.

Oda has also dedicated a lot of colorspreads, manga moments and coverpages to show us that. And in recent chapters, he once again brought up how, even when Sanji does show interest in other girls, it's always Nami who is on his mind the most.

(Also, when we talk about the colorspreads specifically, it's quite interesting how he includes the two together even when the requests only have to do with one of them, not all the time ofc).

And although Oda does not like to focus on romance and love stories in One Piece, he still seems to use them to advance the plot when they exist

A good example is Boa Hancock, whose love for Luffy motivated her to go an extra mile to help him rescue his brother in Impel Down.

So it feels like Sanji's feelings for Nami might also be used as a way to advance the plot.

How exactly?

Well, if we take a look at Sanji's recent development it has been focusing a lot on his inner war of empathy vs. lack of empathy/love vs. science.

We all know that Sanji has suffered a lot at the hands of scientists (his father and his minions) and of their cruel "experiments" (his brothers).

Because of that bad experience and his strong will, he has always been very certain of what he does not want for his life and of the principles he wants to live up to.

He won't beat women

He will feed anyone who is hungry

He won't use his hands in a fight

However, in recent chapters, his behavior might change since his Germa DNA is no longer latent.

Sanji himself was afraid that it would make him behave like his brothers, and with this panel (and although it seemed to be resolved in Wano), we can still suspect that there might be something there worth worrying about.

Now, of course if could mean nothing, but I find it unlikely since Oda even chose to switch the direction of the swirls of his eyebrows to show when Sanji's Germa powers are taking over (it's still a bit difficult to know what exactly happens when they "activate" though, since Sanji's exoesqueleton is always active now).

We also have to remember the pact that Sanji and Zoro made. The awakening of his new powers are what motivated Sanji to ask for Zoro's "help", should they get out of hand.

By the end of Wano, it seemed like there was no need for Zoro to keep his promise any longer,

but if Oda took the time and space to draw panels like the ones below for there to be no pay off in the future, I think he wouldn't have botheredto include them in the first place.

It's also clear that, because of their frequent bickering, everyone wants to see a Sanji vs. Zoro fight, and the pact that they made might be the way Oda found to make these two fight on equal grounds.

Now, do I think Zoro will kill Sanji, like Sanji himself asked? Not exactly.

I think that Zoro might end up helping Sanji kill this Germa personality that seems to be developing within him... but I don't think Zoro will do it entirely on his own.

The other person who might be extremely important is Nami.

Like I said, with the recent chapters, colorspreads, and cover pages, Oda has been once again showing us how much Nami is special to Sanji. And its worth noting that Sanji has also addressed an interesting power called the "power of love" when he protects Nami.

Again, it does seem like a gag, but the more we advance in Future Island Arc, the more it seems to be revolving around the subject of science/rationality against love/desire for other characters as well (I.e. Kuma, York).

Another good example is in Thriller Bark.

Where Sanji fought his "programming" to protect Nami and blamed this behavior to the power of love.

(It's worth noting what Sanji describes what the power of love can do: make the impossible, possible, and blow everything away. Insteresting)

Moving to more recent chapters, we also have this coverpage with its request at the bottom.

It might seem like any other request made for Oda, but I think it's worth noting what he included in the picture that wasn't in the request.

Two things come in mind:

The raccoon priest using the three sword style to "discipline" Sanji

Sanji's worldly thoughts being especificaly about Nami

This cover page was posted during the Wano arc, around 30 chapters before the Pact, so we can kinda consider the racoon strucking Sanji with Zoro's fighting style as a foreshadow for a future Sanji/Zoro fight, right?

But why did Oda also put Nami there?

Well, as Zoro fights Sanji to honor their pact (maybe with the intention to kill him if he sees no hope)... Nami might be the one to make Sanji return to his normal self before it's too late. Making the impossible, possible *wink, wink*

Remember, it has already happened before at Thriller Bark, and it might be a foreshadow to the moment the Power of Love stops being a gag, and becomes a real type of power that can be used in a battle.

So, in the end, Sanji might go back to normal but with total control over his Germa Power... and maybe with another power up? Hehe, who knows.

And maybe, not only will it be important for Sanji to finally know that he will not behave like his brothers anymore... but maybe also for Nami to see how important she is to Sanji.

Although for the audience, it's clear that Sanji holds Nami in a higher regard, it seems like Nami herself might not be aware of that since Sanji does flirt with a lot of women.

Well, that's it for now. Feel free to tell me what you think hehe

As I have stated in my other theories, I might get some things right, everything wrong or everything (miraculously) right but I don't mind being wrong, since the fun part is to speculate, talk about our favorite ship's and see how Oda surprises us!

Hope you liked the read! 🤗

[hapifangurl]

my headcanon is what if robin was not shown celebrating in wano is a subtle way that she's jealous that hi/yori is crushing on zoro.

if u look back, whenever the sh save a country/people they always have a big banquet at the end. sh likes to party very much. look at skypiea, post-enies lobby, thriller bark, fishman island, etc...

robin always does her exploring after the big celebration but during wano, she made it during the feast. and why is that? she never once missed a big party. she's not too shy away from such a big celebration.

in episode 1079, we saw that luffy and zoro woke up after recuperating from the big battle. chopper, nami, brook, jinbe and sanji were the only sh presents when zoro and luffy woke up. the sh who were not there were robin, usop and franky. usop and franky are in the dock obviously for the ship and we cut to robin already doing her exploring.

in that episode, it was revealed that hi/yori is the one cleaning zoro's body while they were still asleep for a long time. she even bragged about it. zoro being zoro did not pay attention to it since he was more into bickering with sanji.

we all know, that brook saw hi/yori and zoro slept together not in a sexual way of course but hi/yori is very much into zoro that she drapes herself into him while the little girl otoko is also resting beside him. i wonder if brook told anyone in the sh about it. based on sanji's reaction he does not know.

i dont know if brook kept it as a secret. and if ever he's going to tell anyone my best bet it will be robin. cause robin will always wants to know about zoro (look at thriller bark, even the 1st interaction they'd ever had on the going merry). we all know she is very inquisitive when it comes to zoro.

going back to my point, i think the reason why robin is not there during the big banquet is because she does not want to see hi/yori clinging to zoro. she was not in the celebration and just focused with her work since what a smart archeologist would do compare to a princess giving too much attention to zoro? bury herself into work, looking for poneglyph, learning about wano's history etc...

on thriller bark, after the fight with kuma, she was there checking zoro's health. but here in wano she's not there which is very odd since like everyone else robin also cares for luffy and zoro.

she could've done all her exploring after luffy and zoro wakes up but no she decided that she did it while everyone's celebrating bcos she does not want to see hi/yori with zoro. even law caught it that she was not there partying.

even though it's not explicitly shown in the episode or maybe even in manga, but my girl robin is jealous... so her coping mechanism is to bury herself to work.

robin is always very reserved for letting anyone know how she feels. even though she has already been showing a lot of expressions after the timeskip. i mean oda will draw sanji and hancock getting jealous but not nami and robin cos it will instantly go to the romance trope of it all. with these 2 main girls it always subtle.

there's also a link from a blog, explaining how robin reacts or gets jealous but this one is during punk hazard arc.

[ringdabel]

My thoughts on OP ships except I’m being 100% honest (P.3)

SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR THE HEROINES ONE PIECE NOVEL

*LawBepo

- I don’t know about you but to me I’m neutral about it, if you ship this, good for you! If you don’t then okay!

- I do think it’s a cute ship though with their interactions, relationship between the two, etc..

- And it actually MAKE SENSE

- Like hear me out, Law would actually marry a polar bear because of how much of a freak he is and considering he’s a pirate, he wouldn’t care if other people think it’s weird, at least he has his fluffy boyfriend.

- I draw these two a lot in my sketchbooks, like every single one just HAD to have Law and Bepo together or else those sketchbooks are not mine

- he has a soft spot for Bepo, definitely Bepo. He hates everyone and everyone but his crew, Corazon and BEPO.

-In the SBS, Oda did tell us about how Law met Bepo (with Penguin and Shachi), at that time Law was a kid along with the three others so that means Law and Bepo knew each other since they were children and are super close.

- FUNFACT : You know how Law hates Umeboshi right? Well Bepo likes eating it with onigiri pretty much! I like to imagine that if someone ever gift Law some onigiri with umeboshi inside, he will give them to Bepo.

*Smoshigi

- Small girl with her gigantic DILF (idk what that means but I think it’s fitting).

- it’s the size difference isn’t it?

- I like their chemistry a lot! It’s pretty cute in my opinion.

- for some people, a 10 year age gap is too much (Shigi is 23, Smoky is 36, so that means it’s 13 year age gap then) but they’re both adults so I guess it’s legal? I mean Rayleigh and his wife has a 10 year age gap and they’re old now-

- this might be controversial but… Smoshigi is better than Zoshigi or Lawshigi in my PERSONAL OPINION.

Zoro is confirmed to have no interest in women by Oda and for Law i don’t think he’d date her or even taken interest in her in general.

(I telling all this like a hater I’m so sorry I don’t mean to sound like one DDDX!! If you ship Zoshigi or Lawshigi it’s totally fine and valid! It’s just my opinion!)

*Sanami

- MY FAV SHIP!!!!! I love them so much they’re so cute!!! <3333333333

- Theres this one part of the OP stage actors and actresses like an event or something?? And I saw a video of these two where basically Sanji is being a simp as always, drops on one knee and like hold out his hand to Nami

Nami holds his hand then blows him a kiss!!!!! IT MADE HIM STARTED BREAKDANCING ITS HONESTLY SO CUTE AGSHSVHSHSHSHWHHSHW

- They’re the DEFINITION of GIRLBOSS MALEWIFE FRFR!!! No 🧢!!!!!!

- wait did I already put this ship in part 1 or part 2? Man idc anymore I just genuinely LOVE this ship!! If it becomes canon I will become happy! (Even though it’s highly unlikely it’s fine!)

- I just love their moments together you know? When I was young I always wanted the two of them to kiss a lot, I have never change at all 😈

- Like look at the sad French man! How can you not kiss him!?!?!?! He makes you desserts you really like, compliments and swoons at you everyday, cooks for you, loves you for who you are, patient and will listen to you whenever you have a bad day, shows affection to you, a gentleman, IN A SUIT, ALSO WEARS AN APRON AS WELL, Respects you, etc… etc… he’s the only French I like <333/j

- They’re also both good with kids and have a soft spot for them! Oda stated that if Nami is ever kind to someone it’s women and Children, for Sanji he always has a motherly nature surrounding him, his interactions with the DK crew proves this!!!

- AGH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!! IM DYING!!!

*KozaVivi

- a HUGGGGEEE fan of childhood friends to lovers trope <3333333333

- I love these two a lot, I ship them a lot TOO! I want them to have more interactions!

- in the Heroines novel, I just love Vivi’s episode with Koza and the love letter (NO CONTEXT HEHEHE 😈) it’s so so so SOOO sweet it’s giving me diabetes

Like it’s so funny, full of sweetness and wholesomeness! I love them!

- I wish these two would be canon… if not it’s fine as well… because I have another ship up my sleeve… *takes out hand*

[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.

[beanghostprincess]

I wanted to rant about this to someone and I have nobody to so pardon me, you can ignore this

I have a lo to say about oda's work as someone who work in cinema, in animation cinema at that.

I hate how he's such an incredible story teller and has one of the best world building that I've ever seen but he can't desing characters.

Like Nami, I love Nami, she's so well written (too well that nobody seems to understand her at all) only to be reduce to boobs.

The same can be said about evry female character sadly.

Also evil female characters, they also follow the same patter of being more on the weird side of his designs and it saddens me a bit that he can only make variations of characters when it comes to vilians that you're not supposed to be attracted to.

This can be said for the men too but this whole post ts art style is a debate I have with "is it commercialism and the death of art under capitalism or is it that Oda genualy can't desing proper characters?"

But then again, pre ts style is also not that much better. Speaking of professionalism a studio looks how unique your style is and oda's old way of drawing his characters specially Robin or Ace were interesting and gave him something really unique and special (and that's on the socially attractive ones)

Now I'm looking at Nami copy n°10982 while all the men are getting beefier but at least they have more interesting and different designs.

It's something that makes me mad and it's not even the whole "no women in op has organs" way more of the "this same face sindrom can't go on for much longer" because at the end of the day his female characters tell us nothing about them wich tend to lead to people not caring for them or just going with "big boos=great character" because something really important in character design is that your character is clear and can be read from the siluette and acting and that is something no woman in op that's marketed as attractive has.

Sorry for the rant, character design is part of my job and if I were to present desings like oda has for his girls I would get fired and that got me thinking

Hope you have a great day :D

I agree mostly with this, but I personally think a lot of the damage was done because of Toei. Like, obviously Oda's style suffers from a lack of diversity when it comes to women and their sexualization, but Toei makes it SO much worse. Like- Right now I'm reading early OP (because I had just watched the anime and then caught up with the manga from Wano) and it was so much better back then. It got considerably worse with time but-- Yeah, I see what you mean.

[enigmasong]

And, again, we have to consider what kind of pressure Oda might be under when it comes to being able to present gender non-conforming.

Shueisha, by all means, seems a fairly conservative company. They clearly don't let female characters in the Shonen Jump publishing to act out of certain perimeters, like being in heavy combat against male characters (and how many of their girl lead stories are action pieces, hmm?). And they also clearly want that sweet, suspiciously sticky incel otaku yen, so any character with big naturals have to be sexualized and feminized to sell those pillow cases.

Just look at how Oda's fem characters went from fairly balanced figures in the early series to cartoonishly boobish with waist lines he can't be bothered to keep consistent. (He broke his drawing pattern for them into a two-step system - does that really sound he cares about drawing them that way?)

This would go doubly for trans characters. TransFems get mocking depictions and TransMasc get their gender nonconformity erased because transphobia is just as much part of the conservative makeup of Japan as it is over here in the west.

It's highly possible (and I'd say downright likely) that Oda had to depict the kama the way he did because that's the only way he was allowed to put trans rep in at all.

The give and take is actually pretty visible: the New Kama of Impel Down are actually a pretty Utopian vision of gender presentation where people were able to fully present wherever on the scale they wanted without judgement while the Old Kama of Peach Island were presented as borderline monsters.

And that gets further contrasted in the anime where the Old Kama, while still having to chase down an unwilling Sanji to follow manga plot, got to be shown as more fleshed out people who feared transphobic backlash, jumped to conclusions, and were able to see through Sanji's masc performative bullshit.

Likewise, Oda shows TransMasc Yamato in the male bath and TransFem OKiku in the female bath, then later, Yamato gets shown in a traditionally female outfit and context and in a cover with other 'girls' that Kiku is notably absent from.

Not to necessarily say Oda didn't want to make those that way (forced intent from others doesn't mean no intent on a single person's part [but it doesn't also mean that person shares the viewpoint on it that the others do]), but that Oiran Yamato practically screams anime figure merch design and the merch licenses would definitely far prefer to present the boob haver as 'woman' because, again, suspiciously sticker incel otaku yen.

Similar for today's chapter cover: Nami has to wear bikini tops a lot because boobs sells (again, not saying that Oda doesn't necessarily want to put her in them - I mean I low key think it, but I'm not actually saying it). Yamato has boobs, Yamato must be used to move issues - Kiku doesn't have boobs, Kiku cannot be shown in public like that.

(I've got a strong feeling that the only reason Oda was able to get away with Kiku so easily was because of the way traditional Japanese women clothing views slimness as its beauty standard and, as such, she's able to pass as a 'natural' woman and sell fetishized figures still.)

And it's also noticeable that, in today's cover, all the characters are wearing t-shirts and tank tops and not bikinis. The thing nearly all the other summer time covers have the female characters in.

Again, we can't say definitively how much of a willing or unwilling agent Oda-san is in this and we probably won't get to know until that distant day when he's no longer under contract with and say whatever shit about Shueisha he wants, but reading between the lines in the story he's written, I'm willing to bet on the answer being 'not as willing as he pretends to be'.

Oda-san is one of the more head-strong mangakas, but even he's beholden to the bureaucratic publishing system and he still has to sacrifice some things he wants to do to insure others that will be pushed back against can still make it to print.

[moongothic]

Honestly what kind of changed the way I view One Piece was when I realized that Oda's transphobia isn't just a side-effect of him having an "outdated" view of trans people, but also like

One Piece is very much about Letting People Live How They Want To

And that includes not just queer people in general, but every single transfem person who either doesn't pass or doesn't want to pass, it includes not just the "acceptable, normal trans people" but also the kinda weird and/or horny ones.

Because Queer Liberation is for everyone

Like don't get me wrong, Oda may not fully understand the difference between GNC and trans people, and most of his transfem/GNC men (only lumping them together because Oda does that) look identical to how gender crits would draw "a trans person infiltrating women's spaces!!!!11!!!". And he does seem to have some actual gender essentialist beliefs (Luffy being "a vegan if he was a girl"........... Bro) with a healthy dose of misogyny thrown on top Generally speaking, it would be nice if his queer rep was more like 50/50 with the """"normal"""" (this is One Piece you know exactly what I mean) and weird queer characters instead of like 95% weird. Not just because it'd give queer people more characters we might actually want to relate to and see ourselves in, but also because it would maybe help drive home to queerphobic readers that One Piece is in-fact for Queer Liberation instead of supporting their beliefs that queer people are just "kinky men who like to wear women's underwear because they're delulu".

All this to say; no, the queer rep in One Piece is still kinda Not It. It could definitely be better*. Like I said at the begining though, realizing OP specifically has the belief that everyone should be allowed to live how they choose to and be free (something Luffy dreams of becoming, the most free person in the world aka Pirate King)... IDK it just changed how I view Oda's transphobia. Because it truly does not come from any sort of malice, it's just... misguided support

(*In fact, One Piece has/had the potential to be so extremely pro-Queer. Like we know trans people play a HUGE role in the Revolutionary Army and helping take down the Government already. We saw a FUCK TON of Queer people being held in Impel fucking Down, the giant prison facility that's meant for "the worst criminal's the world had to offer" that the government had to put away somewhere. I know the implication with the imprisoned queer people in Impel Down was that some/a lot of them were already imprisoned there for some other reasons (probably) and simply transed themselves because being a funny little queer in Newkama Land was a billion times better than being tortured by guards in the jail. Which is understandable. But like, my question is... How many of these people were imprisoned in Impel Down because of some crimes they commited, and how many were imprisoned for being queer? One Piece never exploring queer rights within its world is an absolute fucking shame. It is such a missed opportunity. Like all Oda needed to do was say "it's illegal to be gay on Island XYZ, these people were imprisoned in Impel Down for being queer". Just that, just one island could completely reframe how being queer is seen in this world. It would completely reframe the Revolutionary Army's queer participants, and it would not just remind the readers about why the World Government is Bad, but also drive in for those queerphobic readers that One Piece is, in fact, pro-queer. Like really rub it like salt into their wounds.)

[purplehairedwonder]

Chapter 1056: Separate Paths

It seems like we’re this close to the end of Wano, which is kind of crazy considering how long we’ve been there. Things are wrapping up, plans are being made, alliances are ending (sob)...

So, Raizo and Shinobu are still shriveled after Greenbull’s attack. 

Apparently, this is not a temporary change, as we see a recovered Shinobu later in the chapter.

If Queen is permanently thinned out as well, he’s going to be too popular ;-)

I’m just going to... move past the icky feeling I get from the most “unattractive” characters getting thinned out to be “attractive” now that the good guys have won because it’s such a small thing in the grand scheme.

Also, Tama as Shinobu’s apprentice is adorable, and so is Luffy offering to let her join the crew when she’s older. One Piece: Generations?

Staying with the Scabbards, Kin’emon remains wonderful. He’s so in love with Tsuru, who was wounded in Okobore, and I love him for it.

This is much more wholesome than the Shinobu/Raizo stuff.

The running joke of Kin’emon being clueless despite being considered a brilliant mind also makes its return, much to my amusement.

I’m going to miss him.

Additionally, now that Momo and Hiyori know about Sukiyaki, is he going to pass on the knowledge about reading the Poneglyphs?

Okay, one more Scabbards plotline: the Minks. Neko and Inu have decided to remain in Wano, leaving a leadership vacancy in Zou. There are plenty of qualified figures, you might say, like Wanda or Shishilian, right?

Nope. Inu and Neko want Carrot to be the new leader of Zou.

I understand the thought that her having been outside of Zou gives her invaluable experience, but, um, girl is 15 years old. I also understand that they see her as inheriting the will of someone important -- Pedro -- and inherited will is a core theme of One Piece.

But when you think about Pedro, he was a pirate who wanted to witness the dawn of the world -- which he believed to be coming true with the Straw Hats. If Carrot has truly inherited his will, it seems like she’d be more likely to continue traveling with the Straw Hats than rule on Zou. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Speaking of the Straw Hats, it was good to see Robin telling everyone about Pluton and getting the reminder of Franky’s ties to that Ancient Weapon.

Of course Luffy has no interest in it. Reminds me a bit of what Law tells Kid later about not wanting to be at an unfair advantage.

Also, it’s nice to just bask in this panel for a moment to see all the Straw Hats together, just hanging out like family. Makes me smile.

Someone else is spying here: Caribou. He’s planning to report to someone; Blackbeard, maybe?

OKAY.

Time for the best part of the chapter: Law in a tank top. Erm, I mean the Captain Trio.

No, I mean both ;-)

Random: We’re seeing Law’s right arm here but no scar from the reattachment?

ANYWAY. Lots to unpack here:

I’m sad to see Law and Luffy going their separate directions. They’ve been working together for nearly 400 chapters now; Law proposed the alliance in chapter 667 and Luffy accepted in 668. That’s almost half the series they’ve been allies. And while I’m certain Law will be back before long (he’s far too tied to the series endgame on several fronts), I don’t want him to leave.

And then there’s Law: oUr AlLiAnCe HaS rUn ItS cOuRsE. wE’rE rIvAlS aGaIn.

Whatever, Law.

We also haven’t been relying on the Log Pose to determine the next island since Fishman Island. It’s kind of weird to see it again.

I notice that Law is the only one with his navigator in the picture when he chooses the direction he wants to take. I love him giving the other two captains shit for just choosing the middle route.

Also, I wonder why Oda chose to draw the compass off-center. This panel is strange.

EDIT: Good Reddit post on this very topic here.

As for the three islands the trio may be going to, it was pointed out on Reddit that the Road to Laugh Tale that three main islands were noted as being potential locations for the final Road Poneglyph.

I wonder if each captain will be heading to one of these three. If that’s the case, I’d bet on the following: Straw Hats going to Elbaf, Hearts to Vira, and Kid to Hachinosu/Fullalead. Of course, that would put Kid on a direct collision course with Blackbeard.

I get the strange feeling that Luffy losing the draw to Kid is actually going to be better for him, and Kid ending up in Blackbeard’s path would fit that.

Notably, Vira is tied to the Revolutionary Army, so it would be interesting to see Law get pulled into that story somehow, especially considering his hatred of the World Government after Flevance and Sabo’s whole *waves arms*.

And, of course, Usopp has wanted to visit Elbaf since Little Garden.

The next big reveal, of course, is about Buggy:

I am dying to see what the actual dynamic is here because you know it’s not what it looks like. Zoro and Luffy recognize that, while Law has the perspective of most people who aren’t familiar with the figures in question:

Luffy -- Luffy, of all people -- calling Buggy a moron had me rolling.

Putting bounties on the Marines, though, is a ballsy move on the part of the pirates, and I am absolutely here for it.

Then we get Law giving Kid a copy of the Road Poneglyph from Wano:

Honorable Law, recognizing that Kid deserves his share of the loot for his part in defeating Kaido and Big Mom.

So, Poneglyph count:

Luffy: Zou, WCI, Wano

Law: Zou, Wano (I suppose Luffy might have shared the WCI with him or he might have gotten a look at it at some point but let’s assume not)

Kid: WCI, Wano

Luffy’s the only one with someone on his crew who can read them, though. Robin and Law do have a connection, though, so I wonder if she helped Law with this at all once Law revealed his name to her.

However, Kid doesn’t seem concerned. He’s going to look for a figure marked by flames.

Lots of theories about who this might be. Sabo (unlikely; what would he know about One Piece?), Aokiji, Dragon, a previously unknown survivor of Ohara... I’m guessing it’s not someone we’ve met yet.

Luffy has no idea what they’re talking about but Law’s reaction is interesting. I think he knows what Kid’s talking about. Robin’s reaction is also interesting; is her confusion toward what Kid said or Law’s reaction, considering the panel comes right after Law’s?

Lastly, we get Yamato’s declared intention to join the Straw Hats. (Luffy still hasn’t said anything about this, though, which is interesting since he so easily said yes to Tama earlier in the chapter.)

Look, I haven’t made a secret of the fact I’m not a Yamato fan. And I’m not interested in having him join the Straw Hats for a couple of reasons: 

1) The Oden schtick. I understand it was clearly a trauma response, but it has really grown old. I can see Luffy telling him that he has no interest in Oden on his crew but would welcome Yamato. I’m open to liking the character more if we stop getting the Oden stuff.

2) The crew balance. Oda is already struggling to balance the screentime of the current Straw Hats, and that was even before Jinbei joined. (We still haven’t gotten his toast yet.) Yamato is a character that desperately needs a character arc to feel like he belongs on the ship, but there’s so little time for that since we’re now in the endgame of the story. Having to balance the sheer amount of story left to be told, the current Straw Hats, the supporting characters... this does not feel like the time to bring in yet another crewmate.

Oh well. Oda’s gonna do what Oda’s gonna do. I’m just going to sit in a corner and ogle Law in his tank top.

[aangmarble]

Chapter 1089 thoughts

Thank you Oda for not forgetting that Nami's dream is to draw a map of the world. We never really see her working on her sea charts, so little reminders like this one are always welcome

Makino considers Luffy her son's "big bro." Isn't that wholesome.

Also, I hope Luffy and Sabo one day go back to Foosha Village and tell Dadan that everything the government said they did is a lie. Please don't make your mother cry, boys.

I've waited 500 chapters for my man Kizaru to become relevant again. Thank you Oda for making my wishes come true twice this chapter. Now make Kizaru real so he can rearrange my insides

Wholesome Kizaru x Sentomaru x Vegapunk content. Truly there are things we don't know we need until we see them.

York, I wanna like you, I really do. All you wanna do is eat and shit 24/7 and I love that. But for someone who is supposed to be a super genius, you're kind of a stupid fuck. Did you really try to negotiate with the Five Elders without some sort of leverage? You know these people will genocide the shit out of anyone who tries to research the Void Century, yet you went out of your way to tell them the Vegapunks were doing just that? Girl, you are Vegapunk too. Simply telling them you're not interested in the Void Century doesn't mean your ass is safe. Even a toddler would be smart enough to figure that out, yet you're still trying to reason with them even after they tried to kill you. I guess it's because right now you're desperate and you don't have any other options, but you wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't opened your big mouth in the first place.

I'm also gonna need more info on why the Five Elders wanted to kill York if they value the Mother Flame so much. So far it seems both parties involved in this deal are idiots (although we've always known the Five Elders share a single brain cell between them).

I don't know if I like this twist or not. Last time we saw the Straw Hats was like 5 months ago. Shaka was shot in the head, Franky was fucking petrified, everyone was struggling against the Seraphims... So we're gonna have to jump back in time once again to see what the heck happened to get to this point. Normally that'd be fine, but we've been cutting back and forth so many times this arc that it's getting annoying.

Still, I'm glad we're finally back on Egghead. Love me some Vegapunk content and Straw Hats in cute, futuristic outfits.

[jckix]

Please say hello to April 🫰 She is the beautiful OC of Kyopink611.

Kyopink611 is an artist from Japan who is well-know for his fan art of One Piece girls. His OC April is very much inspired by Oda's character designs. I discovered Kyopink September of last year and have been a distant fan of his since then.

So you can imagine my surprise when out of the blue, he DMs me on Twitter to tell me that he likes my art and wants to see me to do more. How exciting to receive such a message of encouragement when you're a small artist! Since then, Kyopink has continued to be nice with comments and likes and all that social media goodness.

Out of gratitude for his kindness, I wanted to draw his OC. I think she's appealing for obvious reasons. Fun fact, I accidentally posted a version of her on Twitter in which her feet were swapped! This is the corrected version, which is why this file is called "April2". 🎨✨ Thank you for following me on the artist's journey. It means a lot! You can follow me on the galleries and socials! https://linktr.ee/jckix

[cybercaffie]

Dear Andy, when and how did you fall in love with Oda? 💕

under the cut for length cause uh. I just like making the fake people talk

also since I don't have lore written in an orderly manner anywhere yet - while she used to be a corpo she's not a V, so there is that

Andy: Uh. Well. *cough* Sometimes a girl sets out to do some things, of the not-so-good type, but then she meets a person that makes her reconsider everything… and she tries to do the right thing… and the-

Oda: That is not quite what happened. At all. Start over without conveniently leaving out the details…

A: [scoffs] Do you want to tell it yourself? 

O: No. They asked you.

A: Fine. Look, I can’t tell the whole thing up until now - too long, too complicated. And saying it wasn't some sunshine and rainbows thing is an understatement. But - 2077, I had "left” the corp and had been living with a new name, got tangled up in a shady job. To make a long story short, to pull this off I had to steal data from somebody that fit my purposes, and it just so happened that well… he happened. Chance, destiny, call it what you like. I lied all my way through getting closer to him thinking 'eh, it's just another Tuesday' - and by all accounts and purposes he was supposed to be just... a tool, a means to an end. But in spite of my deception, the connection that happened was ... real. Of course, I could understand him better than most people - that was my advantage from the beginning. But he confided in me and… I don't know, at some point I got blindsided by uh… feelings?. I knew I was losing control, yet I indulged. Telling myself I could stop at any time, draw the goddamn line. But when push came to shove... I knew I had to make things right, or... as right as I could have made them by then. Which entailed choosing to throw myself under the bus over harm potentially coming his way. And in my grand plan, he wasn’t supposed to know any of this - I'd just...vanish and he'd just move on with his life and be none the wiser. But well, other things happened. And then some more... but it would take a novel. Besides, it entails matters I do not like talking about. I’ve already spilled my beans enough, thank you very much. Happier with this version?

O: Better. I have to admit, even if I can’t take any real credit for it, knowing that I could cause such inner turmoil in a former agent trained to have none still feels quite…flattering.

A: What can I say, got a thing for stern handsome men with deep set issues... Don't mind him looking all chuffed, he's only trying to nag me. I still fooled him, big time.

O: Yes, and how did that whole plan work out for you?

A: Well, wonderfully. Isn't that obvious?

[miyu-writings]

Fairy Tail Reread 2023 part 2

It's been hard to sit down and read all of a sudden. Whew. It's quite annoying to want to do this but not having the chance. Sheesh.

Anyways~

Welp, I really am forgetful.

I mean, I like the Galuna Island Arc because it's the first time where we learn about Gray's past. What can I say, Gray's type is right up my alley, trauma included lol.

Moving on to the actual story in this book...

So, Natsu and Lucy are going on their first mission ever. Woot! Natsu behaves like Natsu and gotta love the twisted sense of humour as we're seeing that old saying "to those who love ugly, it looks pretty" - I couldn't think of an English saying that expresses that so, there, literal translation. There's something in the servants that makes me think of Oda's writing (or, drawing?) - the type of gag at least.

Anyway, look, it's a library!! And Natsu gets where he is!!! Wow. Such a difference... I wonder what happened... to make Natsu behave like Natsu here and then later he's a toddler. Seriously, Igneel would cry over how Natsu's being written in 100YQ - good thing he stayed in the canon story and didn't go to the sequel. Or so I hope, I have no clue if he appears once again.

Okay, Natsu finds the book, Daybreak! MC sure is lucky... xD

And then we have the opening for a fight scene. Very tense, very serious, very... Lucy? The way she's entranced in the book cracks me up. And she leaves Natsu HANGING to go read further in a calm corner! I love how shameless she is. But at the same time, seriously? Are you for real, girl???

Good thing that Natsu doesn't seem to mind. He's there to kick ass and that's what he will do. Even though two against one is quite unfair. Natsu was assessing his opponents, also letting them get close enough to hit him, to then give the final punch. No surprises he won.

One thing I quite enjoyed about the worldbuilding in the manga was the trinkets and whatnot, sometimes things that would be so damn useful irl. I wish I had those glasses Lucy wears - I would be finishing a few more books instead of just spending my time reading fanfic. Haha... It also does inspire me to add little artifacts and such while writing - I like to add to the lore lol.

Anyway, we're back to Lucy and the bad guy has caught her. He's such a disgusting dude. Very skeevy, makes my skin crawl and Lucy's too, tbh. Though, well, everyone has their taste at what they like - even lecherous and disgusting people like Count Ebar. YKINMK and all that.

The problem with being a celestial mage though is that if Lucy doesn't have her keys, she's toast. So far, Happy has been coming to her rescue quite a bit. And, is it me or in that mansion, Lucy is the only person with any actual reading comprehension? xD

The actual story of Daybreak is sad. I mean, how it came to be. And then Lucy fights!

How the fuck did Natsu survive the travel with Virgo - we will never know... only shows how super-human he kind of is... ('nuff said for now...)

But the battle was won, the Count was punished (and lost his remaining hair) as well as the book.

Good on Lucy, to give the punchline - you're just a secondary character - she's quite proud of completing her first mission, she's an actual member of Fairy Tail.

Then, we finally get the actual story of the book. Seriously, so much lack of communication and empathy. I mean, as a child who was kind of abandoned by his father, then seeing him chop off his hand, no discernible reason, and after writing such a pitiful book - a shameful book, even! - Kaby really wasn't very forgiving of his father. Going to the extent of really ignoring the words his bedridden father was telling him.

Lucy did great with unlocking the hidden words. Daybreak became Dear Kaby and I like the magic here. All the potential, the wonder and whimsy that is shown to us. How in the end, love does end up speaking louder. I'm a sap so yeah, this is touching.

Natsu waving off the fee - and seeing Lucy basically seeing the jewels gaining wings and flying away from her grasp, that made me laugh a bit.

And here we learn yet another important thing about Lucy. Her goal is to write a novel too, she wants to be a writer. In a way, I totally relate with the cringe of someone irl seeing what I've written.

Hang in there, Lucy! 😂

Next chapter: we're introduced to Erza!

So the chapter begins with Lucy adjusting to life at the guild. All the missions one can choose from are on the mission board and we also get to see a bit more of the background characters.

Mirajane tells Lucy that the Master is away for an important meeting and, just like that, we're given information of what's coming towards us. More of the magical artifacts (this magical pen is just neat!) and that's a small touch I really like. It helped quite a bit with settling the world we're in. Anyway, exposition about how the world is organized - with the guilds and whatnot - and Natsu gives Lucy a fucking scare!

His face cracks me up every time. He's such an asshole. 😂

He wants to team up with Lucy but Gray and Loke scoff at how badly served she would be. And it's back to reinforcing Gray and Natsu's rivalry and Gray's penchant for losing his clothes.

Natsu and Gray fight. Their rivalry was such an important element at the beginning, as well as a comic relief moment. Loke tries to flirt with Lucy but upon realizing she's a celestial mage, he's running away as if the hounds of hell were at his heels. This bit of foreshadowing is well-played, I find. It had happened already but twice is a pattern and it makes one wonder "wtf is wrong with him?" but then he comes back with urgent news.

Erza is back!

The faces of horror will never cease to make me laugh.

Next thing we know, the air in the guild has changed. And we get to meet another very important character.

Erza Scarlett.

Girl, you're insane! 😆 Such a badass.

Most of the members of the guild barely dare to breathe with her there. She definitely imposes respect.

The boys here make me laugh. It is quite a common occurrence in the beginning but throughout the story, their relationship changes and they do become friends. In the meantime, it's hilarious to me seeing how they change completely the moment Erza is mentioned.

Lucy (and us readers) is shocked! Natsu who, so far, has been both assured and goofy - he acts in this very out-of-character way now. And Mira isn't that good at drawing. 😂

Back to business. Erza has something to propose, she needs Gray and Natsu's help. A huge shocker because Erza is pretty much at the top of the guild, powers-wise, so why would she need them?

Mirajane's mumblings surprise Lucy but, well, she might be new but she trusts her elder and if Mira says that could be the strongest team at the guild, then it most certainly might be!

Gray's self-awareness...

(Also, it might be just me but he looks cute here...)

And Natsu is goofy.

At him being topless I just wondered if Gray wasn't being a bad influence already. Also, I realize I didn't remember that scar he has on his neck. Then again, when I visualize Natsu he's wearing the scarf...

Lucy looks cute in Natsu's clothes. Her "I'm so done with you" expression makes me smile a lot. Happy's such a troll.

And for the end of the chapter, we have a small yet ominous introduction to what certainly is the bad guys.

OoOoO

So yeah, here we go for the Lullaby Arc! I feel like I should be listening to the OST, because the music really helps with the whole ambiance.

///\\\

Gotta love how full of themselves both Natsu and Gray are. Of course that the whole rivalry is at play here but Mira sure set Lucy up. However, she was so right in toying with them. Just saying "Erza" and the boys were all buddy-buddy. Very well-done!

Erza sure is an exaggerated person. All that luggage. Sure, she can carry it all but, goodness. There's so. much. stuff!! Mte, Lucy, mte.

Then a small touch at "serious business" with setting up a match, which Natsu is sure to win. Of course...

And then the dichotomy: Natsu all fired up vs Natsu all passed out.

It's a funny gag.

Also Erza is tough and she likes to spread some tough love too. Poor Natsu, no wonder he got K.O. - how does he have the gall to challenge her and say he's going to defeat her when this also happens? Well, he's in a moving train but still.

The trepidation in Lucy's voice while addressing Erza... totally understandable to happen at this point but fun to see how their relationship evolves.

Then we have Gray demonstrate his powers and Lucy has that lightbulb moment as to why they are so at odds. Seriously, that's the foundation of things for me and I'm fine with it, haha.

Now with a passed-out Natsu, Erza gets down to business. She relays what she heard - and it's bad news. A dark guild is never good news, this is what we're learning. More so when they can get their hands on dark spells and use them.

The conversation is so serious that everyone forgets Natsu - even Happy! And the train is moving again so he's kind of defenseless. And we meet the next character.

Ahh, Erza is so tough that punishment is hitting. Why did she ask Lucy for that? I can't help but chuckle at the absurdity of the situation because on the one hand, there is serious and important stuff happening but at the same time, all the Fairy Tail mages are super weird. Even Erza who looks so serious and straight-laced is so silly!

But back to the serious matters, Kageyama is with a big conversation about legal guilds and illegal ones and the indoctrination seems to have been successful to him. And as Natsu is in such a low shape, he has the chance to kick him and have high airs. But Natsu does fight back, when the train stops. And we get a glimpse at the flute though we do not know its importance at first.

Natsu is crazy. He jumped out of the train because it's better to face death than to stay in that shitty contraption for another second. Lucky for him, his friends are there. And what's better to cushion a fall than your rival/friend's forehead? The bonk noise their heads made was enough to incapacitate a normal human. Fortunately the insanity coursing through both Natsu and Gray's bodies saves them from that fate.

Erza was quite unreasonable though. Natsu was totally out of it and they, idk, left the train while having the conversation - how was Natsu supposed to know he had to apprehend Kageyama? As far as Natsu knew, the dude was just an asshole from a dark guild and while dark mages should be stopped or whatever, he wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on if he started apprehending all the assholes that crossed his path, right? (Lucy noticed it but, rightfully, didn't dare say a thing)

Lucy's bookish knowledge allows her to connect the dots. And that makes our friends have a new goal.

The bad guys are making their move and we now have a better realization of the stakes. It's a race against time!

Everyone is moving towards the most logical place.

The Oshibana Station.

I find that this Erza from the beginning was so awkward and funny. Love how tough she is in her own way of being. I ask you a question and you don't answer? Forehead knock is the answer! xD

Now Lucy understands the respect (yes, we'll call it that) everyone has for Erza even further. So scary. xD

And before nothing, they're facing the bad guys. And learn their actual plan to spread the sound of the Lullaby.

Many fights are about to begin and, as Natsu said, at least now he's in firm land and the terrain is a bit more leveled.

Yet, Eligoal seems to have something more up his sleeve. It doesn't look like it's going to be easy...

And the book ends here.

OoOoOoO

I was going to ramble about the whole Lullaby arc but this book's ramble has taken me two weeks too long to write (RL is a mess rn) and so I'm doing this book by book, apparently? Or, maybe not. I'm just rambling about silliness so yeah.

It's quite noticeable how the characters were still at the early stages, their quirks and whatnot still being defined, the art was kind of charming and the silliness and moments where you just go "wtf?" abounded a bit. It's nice. I'm quite fond of this beginning.

@watcher-ofthe-sky hope your reread is going better than mine. Or at least faster.

Hopefully, will have time to go through the next book sooner. But I can say that rereading this is making me smile and in a way find my love for the characters back again. Super needed that. And a good revision of the characters, as I need to have them present for the wack-ass AUs I'm placing them in. 😅