#i think Kuina and Sanji would have a funny dynamic

[zoroslost]

AU where sanji can see ghosts and kuina has been haunting zoro. They become friends after she realizes that he can see her and also once she manages to beat it into him to be a normal person around her.

Both of the swordsmen are in rough shape after the fight and Zoro passes out for days after securing his victory. He doesnt know much about what’s happening outside while he sleeps, but he can hear talking when he manages to swim into consciousness.

“-were just here to see what happens to him right? What happens to you now?” the voice is deep but warm, Zoro kind of wants to curl up in it.

“How the fuck should I know, no one explained this ghost thing to me. You’re the one who’s been able to see them for the past 25 years and you already know that I can’t talk to other ghosts,” it sounds like a kid, high pitched and grating. He kind of wants to tell her to shut up, but he feels a longing to keep hearing her talk. But he’s still asleep so he can’t tell her to do anything anyway so she continues, “Haven’t you seen one fade before?”

“Of course I have,” the man replies, “Usually they just vanish as soon as their reasons for staying are complete, which we both thought was to make sure this idiot completed his goal before he got himself killed.”

Zoro feels a soft hand brush against his forehead as the girl hums in reply. He wants to ask what they’re talking about, wants to see who they are, but the warmth of the hand brushing his face pulls him back into unconsciousness.

He's woken by the same voices sometime later.

“-still doing it wrong, idiot,” the girl complains.

“You’re the one who told me how to do this,” he can hear the eye roll in the man’s voice, “Would you rather I just leave her, I’m sure the moss-head would appreciate that.”

“Better that than doing it wrong,” she grumbles in reply, but seems content with his reply and let’s the other continue. Zoro registers the sharp scent of sword oil and steel as it cuts through the bitter smell of smoke that fills the room.

The two continue the sword cleaning in relative peace, only broken by the girl correcting the man’s work occasionally. Zoro wonders why she doesn’t just do the work herself.

"You going back to your ocean now?" the man hums in reply, "I mean you only stayed to see everyone finish their goals and he was the last one."

"You sure you won't be lonely without me Mellorine."

"As if you damn womanizer!"

"I won't leave until you figure out where you're going."

"You're just looking for an excuse to stay around your Marimo~"

"Not at all Kui-chan, I'm only here to make sure such a beautiful lady doesn't get lost with this oaf."

"You're not fooling anyone love-cook."

Their feeble back and forth lulls him back to sleep.

The next time Zoro rises to the surface, its quiet. His hand is warm, clutched in someone else’s, and he can hear their even breaths clearly in the silence.

“You’re the greatest now huh? Guess I’ll really be the only one who’s ever above you little Zoro. I would say it’s been nice to watch you get here but I’ve seen so much shit I never wanted to. You’re gross!”

The girls voice is quiet and wistful; she clearly isn’t expecting anyone to hear her. He wants to wake up, to argue with her, but his body won’t cooperate.

“Still, I should say thank you, I guess. For carrying my dream. Still kinda pathetic that you had to copy mine but it’s impressive regardless,” her teasing tone turns somber as she continues, “I don’t understand why I’m still here. You completed my dream, we’re the best. I thought I was stuck here to make sure you saw it through but you’ve done that, so why?”

She remains in contemplative silence for a while after. Zoro is almost back under when he hears her, “He’s waiting for you you know. You need to let me go already, there’s someone who’s been waiting for you for far longer than you know. Go with him and find your new goal. God knows you’ll be lost without it…”

He drifts back into the abyss, but not before feeling a cool brush of air across his forehead. It almost felt like a hand.

His head is clearer the next time he hears them and he finally has enough consciousness to recognize them as the cook and Kuina. A weird duo to dream about, but who said dreams had to make sense.

“So you figured it out then?”

“Yep, just gotta make sure someone trustworthy will keep an eye on this idiot and then I’ll fade. For sure this time.”

The cook sighs, “I assume you are making me take care of him then?”

“Don’t act like you weren’t going to anyway. I just need you to confirm it for me.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for him to wake up? Say your last goodbyes and all that?”

The gloomy silence hangs on the hair until she speaks again, “I’ve had more than enough time to see Zoro. Far longer than I would’ve had even if I had lived. It’s your turn now. And I don’t want to watch you two being gross anyway. I’ve had enough of that already no thanks to you.”

“I can’t promise to keep him from getting lost because that’s a hopeless case already, but I will make sure to always bring him back… Goodbye swordsman above the greatest swordsman.”

Her laughter is the last thing he hears before he is gently tugged away again.

When Zoro finally wakes from his slumber, Sanji is still sleeping by his bedside, Zoro’s swords held gently in his precious hands. His sunken eyes and messy hair are enough to tell Zoro that the cook hasn’t been sleeping. Even so, the cook looks beautiful in the afternoon light.

Zoro thinks back to the two people talking in his dream. About the girl who told him to move on, who, in retrospect, was clearly Kuina. About how he’s already found a new purpose. He holds the cooks hand tighter.

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: East Blue (Part One)

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

so!! hey folks. as i’ve mentioned before, to mark the upcoming chapter 1000 (holy shit!!) as well as my blog’s first anniversary this december, i decided it would be a good time to go back and put together some highlight reel posts of my favorite panels/moments/scenes from each saga and some commentary about what i think the best parts of each arc and the series as a whole are and why, as a celebration of just how far one piece has come and how many fantastic moments we've had so far! 

this will be quite a series of rather long posts- they’ll all be tagged #the voyage so far, if you’d like to avoid this messy retrospective. i'll be posting one saga a day each day until chapter 1000's official release on january 3rd!

honestly, i’m opening with this panel because it has a special place in my heart: i’m pretty sure it was the first time that one piece ever made me laugh. 

the entire prologue does a really good job of setting up the tone for the entire rest of the story. i think i haven’t really written much about it before, but i really love romance dawn. it hits the exact mix of humorous and serious that’s practically one piece’s trademark tone, and introduces us to some of the main themes of the series: inherited will especially, and the theme of freedom, and the idea of betting your life for what you love. 

technically this isn’t the first time we see luffy as an adult- he punches out the sea king before this- but it is his formal introduction, as well as (in the chapter title) the first time he’s referred to as strawhat luffy/mugiwara no luffy. 

i really like a lot of these very early panels of luffy, really. i’m a writing person, not an art person, so i can’t really explain why, but there’s something about how he’s drawn that i think is just delightful for some reason. i like the earlier one piece art a whole lot in general, even though it’s often much less intricate and more simple than the current artstyle (which is not by any means bad either!! it’s just different). i think it fits the atmosphere of the start of the story very well- a journey just starting out. 

he’s going to be pirate king!!

i’ve complained before about how zoro’s backstory doesn’t really hit the way a lot of the others do, mostly because it goes so fast, and kuina’s death is unfortunately the closest the series comes to fridging, but- that said, i do really like the core of it. i really like zoro being motivated by a promise to the one friend and rival he could never beat, and i love how this moment is what he cites later on while facing mihawk: a promise to a friend. 

i love all the strawhats and their dynamics, and seeing the crew grow and develop and become a family over the course of hundreds of chapters is one of the great joys of one piece, but i think i’ll always have a soft spot for luffy and zoro’s relationship. there’s never really any conflict between them after their very first meeting; there’s loyalty and dedication and understanding there that starts from this moment and never really wavers.

it makes me grin to see the two of them, here at the start of it all. they don’t have a flag or a ship or a destination, yet, but this is the start of the strawhat pirates.

this series will probably reveal that i have a great weakness for group shots, and i think oda is particularly good at them- especially in these earlier arcs, you can usually see every character’s personality and feelings coming through in how they’re placed and what they’re doing. 

i had actually forgotten that usopp did this, and while i know kuro was egging him on on purpose, i feel like he doesn’t get enough credit for being a reckless idiot sometimes. there’s a reason he fits in as a strawhat, after all, even if he himself isn’t always aware of it. 

this is a lovely panel just on its own, but i think it (and all the other appearances of sunrise and dawn in the story) hits different now, with all the 'coming dawn’ theming that’s been established in recent arcs. 

oda often absolutely nails his use of negative space to emphasize heavy little moments like this, and i for one absolutely love it. this one in particular gets me in the heart. 

i like how you can reread some of these early arcs and see nami’s affection for the crew growing in little moments like these, and it’s very sweet, but there’s also a quiet kind of sadness in knowing she’s spending the whole time knowing she’s going to have to betray and leave them eventually. 

i LOVE the new crewmate toasts. they all always look so happy.

also, in my opinion, this is the first time the strawhat pirates feel like a proper crew. they have a SHIP now! and just after this, they get their jolly roger to seal the deal. 

it is my opinion that sanji has one of the best character introductions i’ve ever seen. in just a few chapters we know just about everything we need to know about him: he's not to be fucked with, he has extremely high respect for food and absolutely none for morons, and the first genuine smile we see from him is when he gives a free meal to a starving man. 

i think about this moment a lot, really. luffy knows almost nothing about sanji at this point. he hasn’t tasted his food- he doesn’t even know his name. but he’s seen sanji give free food to gin for no other reason than that he’s hungry and it’s right, and that’s all it takes for luffy to decide that sanji is gonna be his cook. 

baratie is mostly a serious arc (and leads into the even more serious arlong park), but it has some really good funny moments towards the start and this is one of them. you know they’re friends because they all just start roasting luffy without sympathy or hesitation. 

i’ve mentioned before that the zoro and mihawk fight was one of the big things that hooked me on one piece (the other being sanji’s backstory), but the way it ends, especially, is one of my favorite moments in the whole series. i love,, strawhat loyalty moments. carve “any complaints, pirate king?” on my fucking grave. 

sanji has a lot of really great action panels in this arc, but this is one of my favorites mostly because his combat abilities are being revealed to the audience at the same time they’re revealed to a lot of the characters watching. i can’t remember who pointed it out but sanji’s character design (especially pre-timeskip) just really looks like he’s designed for kicking- shiny black shoes, about 70% leg- and it really shows in panels like this. 

sanji and zeff’s chronic inability to communicate is kind of the emotional core of baratie, and i think sanji calling the restaurant zeff’s treasure sums up the entire conflict between them very neatly. of course zeff values sanji way more than the restaurant, but zeff will never tell that to his face and sanji has negative zero self-worth so he’s never going to figure it out on his own. so they’re basically in a stalemate. 

sanji’s backstory is absolutely brutal. we spend a truly agonizing amount of time literally just watching him slowly starve to death. it’s no secret that oda is really amazing at backstories, but i think sanji’s is probably one of the most effective at driving home exactly where his very specific mindset as an adult comes from. it’s hard to even read this section and not come away with at least a little more appreciation for food. 

(to be continued in east blue part two!)

[robinchan-hananomi]

One Piece 1023

I have a lot of thoughts here about the new chapter. There is a lot of things to unpack here!

So first, things I loved! I absolutely loved Zoro and Sanji’s dynamic in this chapter. Yes, the two were bickering a bit but honestly it felt like their comments were more to reassure each other than anything. Zoro immediately noticed that something was wrong with Sanji and Sanji responded honestly, that his body has felt funny ever since using the raid suit a second time. Zoro probes to see just how deep the concern is, asking if Sanji is going to slow him down, and Sanji’s answer seems to reassure him enough that he almost jokes, teasing Sanji about his eyebrows. One the flip side Sanji knows better than almost anyone just what kind of shape Zoro is in right now. They both look out for each other and they tease each other during the start of this fight, but it is mostly them being more like ‘look asshole, I know you’re trying to see what the extent of the damage is but I swear I am fine enough to knock this son of a bitch out’.

And make no mistake, Zoro and Sanji are probably going to have a lot of physical issues after this chapter. Sanji mentions that his body is feeling weird. This could be anything from the raid suit being intentionally designed to hurt Sanji to his body just not being able to cope with the strain the new technology is putting on him. The mink doctor also just reminded Chopper that while Zoro is up now, he won’t be for long and that he doesn't even want to imagine what kind of shape Zoro is going to be at the end of the fight. No matter how Wano shakes out, Zoro and Sanji are going to be hurting and will require some serious rest and TLC.

After Sanji and Zoro face off against King and Queen, we also get a small moment for the opponents to communicate. On Queen and Sanji’s side, Queen talks about how Judge experimented on his children and questions the validity of Sanji’s claim of being completely human since he can light his body on fire. Sanji admits he’s probably just that dramatic. On the other side Zoro notes King’s unorthodox fighting and when King points out there is no need to follow technique and method in combat, Zoro agrees and reminds King there really isn’t anything preventing Zoro from ripping out King’s throat with his teeth.

Now Zoro and Sanji are only able to fight King and Queen in peace due to Hyogoro and Kawamatsu’s efforts. Kawamatsu prevented a Beast Pirate from taking a shot at Zoro and Hyogoro explains that anyone who tries to help either side at this point would just be in the four combatants way. While they watch the fight, they comment about Zoro.

The thing is, Zoro has been connected to the Shimotsuki Clan from the start. Zoro’s hometown is Shimotsuki Village. In the SBS corner, Oda explained that the village was founded about 55 years ago by Shimotsuki Kozaburo, the man who forged Wado Ichimonji and Enma. Kozaburo’s son Koshiro ran the Isshin Dojo, which used the Shimotsuki Clan crest as it’s symbol and Zoro had worn that crest his entire childhood. Koshiro’s daughter Kuina was Zoro’s best friend and rival. Then Zoro met and fought Shimotsuki Ryuma, whose family name was again confirmed in the SBS corner. More on Ryuma in a minute. Ever since Zoro has entered Wano, he has been even more connected to the Shimotsuki Clan. The Clan had two Daimyo’s that we know of, Ushimaru and Yasuie. Zoro has spent a lot of time in Ringo, Ushimaru’s territory, and even combated with Ushimaru’s retainer Onimaru a few times now for Ryuma’s sword Shusui. On the other side Zoro befriended Yasuie and his daughter Toko. While all the strawhats were seen to be fond of Toko and quite a few met Yasuie, Zoro spent the majority of time with him.

Now as for Ryuma. Ever since the Monsters oneshot was tied to the One Piece Manga, fans had noticed the similarities between Zoro and Ryuma. The two look very alike in appearance and they had many similar mannerisms. They also have the connection of sharing a sword, Shusui, and both decapitated a dragon in the air. And now, apparently, Ryuma had lost an eye in his adventures and was known as a one eyed swordsman...which I mean his zombie did have a scar on his face that would have gone over his right eye along with bandages covering his right eye so it’s not really a surprise.

The two citizens of Wano comment that Ushimaru is a direct descendant of Ryuma and note that Zoro has a similar appearance and style of fighting to Ushimaru and by extension Ryuma. Now if this is because Zoro is somehow part of the Shimotsuki Clan (which I actually kind of hope not), or if it is just a coincidence about appearance and the other similarities are because Zoro trained at a dojo from the Shimotsuki Clan is still up in the air. Either way, I really do like the idea of developing Zoro more and I have been waiting for someone, anyone, in the manga to finally notice just how much Zoro seems to be connected to this family.

Anyway, back to the chapter! While Zoro and Sanji keep two of the three calamities busy, we see there is a LOT of other things going on. I’m not going to go in order of the rest of the chapter because I want to organize my thoughts a little.

So first, which is actually the last thing to happen, is Momo is now 28 years old. He has Shinobu turn him into an adult because he can only do so much as an eight year old. It is a fantastic way to follow the panels of the battle that came before it, because we see the samurai are willing to die to bring about an age where Kaido’s reign has ended and Momo’s time can start. They believe that Momo will bring Oden’s will and bring Wano to a wonderful future, they believe it so much that they are willing to die for it. Momo answers that belief by giving up twenty years of his life. Understand while twenty years have passed for everyone else, it hasn’t for Momo. Momo just had Shinobu mature his body by twenty years in order to get stronger, bigger, and be able to take a stand against Kaido. There is going to be a lot of issues in the future with having an eight year old in a twenty eight year old man’s body, but just like Zoro and quite possibly Sanji’s physical health; this is a bridge to cross when we get to it. After all everyone has to survive the battle and win before they can worry about what is next. So now as a much bigger and stronger dragon, Momo and Luffy can go face Kaido together.

On a side note with everyone talking about being ghosts and all, it’s kinda fitting that it is implied that Momo looks like Oden. Now we really will have people think they’re seeing ghosts.

We also have Inu and Neko fighting Jack and Big Mom’s son. These fights are not just about defeating Kaido either. There is an element of revenge to them both. As Inu sends Jack through a wall, he expresses recalls all the pain Jack brought to the people of Zou. Just like Neko talks about Pedro while fighting. And yet the two talk about how everything they lost, all that they suffered through, was all part of the road to get there, now, to bring Kaido and his Beast Pirates to an end. And the two are using their badass Sulong Form.

The last big note for this chapter is Marco’s memory of his discussion with Whitebeard. It is implied that King’s race are the Lunarian, and that King is the last one. They lived up on the Red Line in a long ago past. Marco recalls Whitebeard talking about how it was ‘God’s Land’ which is honestly giving me super Skypeia vibes. What exactly is this God’s Land?

Because we hadn’t talked too much of the Red Line, I for whatever reason, always imagined other people living up there. We knew the Celestial Dragons lived on the Red Line, but because it is like a long continent of linked together islands I just naturally assumed other races and beings lived up there. That doesn't appear to be the case. Which to be fair I am a fool for even thinking that because now that it’s put that way I realize a group so pompous and self important as the Celestial Dragons would never allow anyone so lowly as normal people to live so high in the world as they do. So they enjoy their life in the clouds while driving any peoples and race either off the Red Line or to extinction.

Marco brings up the old conversation to Izo, after the latter saves him for drifting off in a battle, and Izo says Marco sounds like Whitebeard when he was drunk. Whitebeard was part of the Rocks Pirates, the Pirate crew that shook the world to it’s core almost a whole generation before Roger even appeared. Whitebeard has seen some real shit. I wonder just what all Whitebeard knew about the world, and I wonder just how much he tried to impart on his children only for them to think he was drunkenly rambling?

Anyway, it was a fantastic chapter and I am so freaking excited to see where we go next!!!

[cyriusli]

Well those aside, I would seriously read ZoSanZo ABO, where the odds aren't the norm for them: Like Sanji is an alpha from the VInsmoke family, but loves to bottom instead (power bottom Sanji). Heck Zoro is an omega, maybe like Kuina, who doesn't see being an omega as a weakness, heck he is even the top in his relationships, if Zoro could find the not so prickly alphas who likes to be in control. But this doesn't apply to alphas and omegas, what about both of them being betas and switch 50/50

Funny that you come into my inbox with Alpha Sanji and Omega Zoro. I have already started an idea revolving around just that. I don’t know what I am going to do with it yet, but I can say I am in agreement with you. I like to see them switch back and forth normally, and I think under the right circumstances, that would work it’s way into an alpha/omega relationship between them as well. I understand the instinctual want of the dynamic, but outside heats, or even in them, whose to say they can’t switch. They would be a mated pair at that point right? Willing to do whatever it took to satisfy their partner, yeah?

If they are just betas though…. isn’t that what we have now?

Either way, I’m with you. I like seeing the different sides and styles that emerge from the different writing styles of the fandom.

Edit: Felt like sharing a little of what I have started to work on revolving around this.

Swallowing dryly, Sanji shook his head, swearing under his breath as he raised his hands in surrender and took another step back, despite what his body was saying to him otherwise. The Omega was right there, right within reach, all Sanji had to do was take those few steps forward and take what his body was demanding of him. Zoro hadn’t brought an Omega to the ship. Zoro was the Omega.