#neptos

[verysmallcyborg]

i've succumbed to fishing hell after finishing all of the splendorous gatherer/crafter relics, so fornax gets a new glam and the funny "women want me, fish fear me" hat!!! also they have their glowing eyes in-game now :)

[dress-up-tataru]

i cant believe they put a big fish in the mogpendium

[twit-ter-pa-ted]

Yes, Ma'am. – Final Part

pairing: Vinsmoke Sanji x afab!Reader

warnings: flirting, kissing :O, swearing, reader lore, mentioned events from the anime/manga

overview: 5 times you accidentally run into sanji, and 1 time you plan to meet; or – 5 times you rejected Sanji and 1 time you finally gave in.

a/n: this has about an 8.3k word count! ⊙⁠.⁠☉ i tried revising and making it shorter and wound up with more words instead,, anyways, eat up! <3

p.s. requests are open for anyone interested!

part one — part two

You drank your fifth bottle of beer despite not having enough Berries for even one. It had been a bad day – the worst, you think. It had been less than a year since you started as a sea merchant, and here you were now, not a Berry to your name thanks to a band of thieves. Thankfully, they left most of your products alone, only grabbing what they needed.

You tugged your father's jacket closer to your body and pulled out the stack of wanted posters that a News Coo bird had dropped off for the town you docked at. Most were new faces, some were pirates whose bounties increased.

You had asked for another bottle when the bartender questioned how you would be paying for it. You didn't answer. He rolled his eyes and muttered as he moved onto the customer a few seats away from you.

As you looked through the bounties, someone's booming voice chuckled as they entered the pub.

"Hey! Bartender, give us your finest liquor. Today is a day for celebration!" You turned to glare at the cause of loud noise when you realized at first glance that he looked familiar. You quickly whipped your head around to look at the posters again, shuffling through them.

Just as you found the one of the pirate that had just entered the pub, someone snatched it from your hand.

You turned to find that you had caught the attention of the pirate, Nepto Edda.

You saw the poster long enough to know his bounty would be more than enough to pay for your bill and get you back up on your feet.

"Looky here, men!" He chuckled again, showing his wanted poster to his crew with pride. They laughed as well.

Edda turned to you. "What are you planning to do with these, girl? You shouldn't be messing in these parts of the turf."

He slapped the posters off your hand, causing them to scatter on the pub floor. The bartender was too intimidated to reprimand the pirate.

Despite your recent loss, you held your chin high. You turned to completely face him.

"I'd love to hear you say that after I turn you in to the Navy."

He laughed before he swung to hit you, which you quickly avoided, sliding off your seat in the process. One of his crew was about to reach for his sword when you kicked his hand down and took the sword for yourself.

He and his crew kept his distance as you held the sword between you and them. At the last second, you sensed someone behind you. Before you could turn around, their blade was to your neck, their arm around your waist to keep you in place.

You clenched your jaw hearing their captain chuckle.

Your arms quickly fell to your side as a plan came to mind, though you were surprised to find the other person at the bar jumping into action.

He had taken one of his three swords and sliced at one of Edda's crew, catching everyone's attention.

You took the chance to slice the person behind you by their leg, the blade barely grazing your neck as you got away and sliced towards their chest.

The rest of the fight was a blur with the rush of adrenaline, though you had taken out your hidden gun at some point and pointed it to Edda.

His chuckle was nervous now, unlike how it was full and confident just moments ago. Who wouldn't be nervous, being at the mercy of a gun and a katana?

"Hey, back off, he's mine." The man that had jumped into the fight was first to speak.

You let out a surprised exclamation. The man certainly had the audacity. "How is he yours? I found him out and did the hard work, I didn't even need your help."

"I've done more damage to him than you have. It's only right that I'm the one to take him in," the green-haired man justified.

"Bullshit. I don't abide by that logic."

"Well, that's not my problem."

"I need to pay for my bill," you reasoned.

"So do I," he retorted.

"Please, it's both on the house if you just leave," the bartender, already sick of the bickering, pleaded with the pair of you.

Still, you continued even as the bartender spoke. "You wanna take this outside?" You said in a flurry of anger.

"Fine." He started to head out. You watched as he did, hitting Edda's temple with the butt of your gun to knock him out. You tied the pirate up before you quickly followed.

You settled right outside the pub, readying yourselves for a duel.

You recognized from his Three-Swords Style that you had challenged Roronoa Zoro, the notorious pirate hunter. Still, you did not prevail, taking out your own sword and placing your hand on your gun.

Before taking on the business in the seas, you had mastered the skill of swordsmanship and marksmanship, at least to your own extent.

"No guns," he announced.

"What, afraid you'll be at a disadvantage?" You knew he could most likely deflect bullets just as you could, but that couldn't stop you from taunting him.

"Fine. Do whatever you'd like."

Still, you obeyed, crouching and throwing your gun to the side. You instead equipped brass knuckles onto your now free hand.

You were now both ready, observing each other, waiting to see who would be first to offend and defend. Getting impatient, Zoro charged towards you.

His right hand rose to strike, which you quickly blocked with your sword. He pressured his sword forward, grunting when you didn't even seem to struggle upon keeping his blade away from yourself. You deflected it and stepped away as the blade swiped downwards, leaving a trail of dust as its trajectory hit the ground.

Your duel had caught the attention of a crowd, though it slowly depleted in size as your fight went on for hours.

Though you were exhausted, sweating and panting, the fight went on. You had both grazed each other multiple times, your knuckles even inflicting bruises onto his face, but neither cut a wound too deep into each other. The pub was closing and the moon had long risen by the time the bartender from earlier called your fight off, announcing it as a draw.

Reluctantly, and because the bartender had run his mouth off with scoldings, you split the bounty and parted ways. You never saw him again after that, and you were glad you never did.

* * * * * *

Once is an accident.

After leaving Baratie, you pulled out your map to head for Cocoyashi Village. It was under Arlong's reign but he allowed you to make trades with the village. As long as he got a share of your profit, of course.

You arrived every midweek to trade with the fruits they bore, most specifically the tangerines one villager named Nojiko grew. In return, you would give a few of the fruits and vegetables you traded from other villages. You would also give a few Berries to Genzo to help them pay for their monthly tributes.

For sailors and pirates of the sea, at least those with common sense, fruits and vegetables were essential to have on board to avoid getting scurvy. Naturally, you had to get the best of products to have a greater profit.

It took a few days for you to arrive. Though it was night when you did, the village seemed livelier than you had ever seen before.

Genzo greeted you as you docked your ship. He seemed to be in a bit of a drunken stupor as he called your name with joy. "Welcome!"

"Genzo, what's the occasion? I'm surprised Arlong let you have any fun," you remarked as you placed an arm around his shoulders to support him.

"You came at the right time! This marks the start of a new age in this village. We've been set free!" He announced, your eyes widening in disbelief.

"Coco's free?" You questioned for confirmation.

Genzo nodded with the grin that has remained on his face since he began to approach you. You had never seen him smile this much.

"This kid named Luffy beat Arlong into a pulp!" He then chuckled.

"Luffy?" You repeated. Genzo laughed again.

"And he had the nerve to challenge Marine's Vice Admiral Garp!" He said through his laughter.

"He fought Garp?"

Genzo nodded enthusiastically. He had begun leading you into the village at some point. "The Marines left without arresting them, though. Even if Garp could have completely beaten the kid."

"The village has been celebrating for four days now. Especially those pirates, they never seem to get tired!"

Just as he said it, you caught sight of Zoro sound asleep with a bottle of beer by his side.

"Oh. I guess it's just their captain that has endless stamina," Genzo concluded.

"Nojiko is resting, you ought to wait until tomorrow comes before you can trade."

You nodded in understanding.

"Have you eaten yet? You should try tonight's dish – tangerine garlic chicken." He grabbed you by the shoulders and led you to where the food was.

"Oh? Sounds interesting." You turned to face the person serving the food, your heart jumping in surprise as you did.

"Sanji!" Genzo had walked away to conversate with Luffy.

He had been keeping his eyes on the pan of cooked chicken as he scooped up a serving, his head suddenly whipping up to look at you as you called his name in surprise.

His eyes lit up as he called your name as well. "What are you doing here?" He was too shocked to tease you with something along the lines of, "how did you know where to find me?"

"I'm here for business, I trade for tangerines and other fruits with Nojiko. What are you doing here? What happened at Baratie?" You asked with confusion.

He shook his head and smiled, scooping a serving larger than usual to put on your plate. "I was, but I quit. I was too good for that place, anyway. I joined a pirate crew."

"You joined Luffy's crew?"

"You know him?"

You shrugged. "He pestered me at Baratie."

He chuckled as he looked away to find his captain, shaking his head in disapproval. "That idiot."

Usopp suddenly approached them, "Say, Sanji, have you eaten? Maybe you should take a break," he recommended, and something in his eyes told Sanji he was not taking 'no' for an answer.

"Hi, nice to see you again, miss Trader." He held his ground and stood with confidence beside Sanji as he greeted you with a grin.

"Likewise, I suppose, Usopp."

Usopp's confidence and courage seemed to crumble in less than a second as he cowered behind Sanji. "She remembers my name…!"

You fought an amused smile off your lips. "I'm not an ally to the Marines, there's nothing to worry about."

He didn't seem at all convinced, yet decided to trust you anyway. "A-Anyway, you should take that break, Sanji. Don't worry about the food, I'll handle it."

Sanji looked at him for a few seconds, almost reluctant, before taking a plate for himself.

"Make sure Luffy doesn't get near it – the village needs it more than he does, especially when he's had five servings and he's still starving," he instructed as he scooped himself a serving and took utensils for himself and for you. He handed you a fork and a spoon.

"Yes, sir!" Usopp saluted the chef before the latter gave him a grateful smile and began to walk away, a hand gently on your back to lead you along.

"What really happened?" There was silence on his end for a moment, so you spoke again. "I went back to Baratie the other day."

He chuckled. "Missed me that bad?"

You rolled your eyes yet a smile was on your lips. "The owner said you'd left. Figured that since I was a sea merchant, I'd be bound to run into you. That's all he said."

"Well, the old man's an idiot, he knows I'm headed for the Grand Line."

"You are?" You asked before taking a bite out of the chicken.

"Good?" He asked for your feedback.

You closed your eyes. You hated raising men's egos but you also couldn't lie. "It's the best I've had," it almost pained you to admit.

He couldn't help but chuckle at how cute you looked as you blurted it out, almost as if it were against your will that you did.

A somewhat comfortable silence fell between the two of you.

"I left Baratie because I wanted to find the All Blue." He looked at you and, as expected, you gave him a puzzled look. "It's a place where all the Blue Seas meet. You can find fish from all seas there."

You hummed with interest and intrigue. "Sounds like quite a chef's paradise."

He only smiled at you for a moment. He liked how you understood how he felt in an instant. "Exactly."

"So you're setting off to the Grand Line?"

"That's where we're headed. We just came here to get Nami." Your brows raised in surprise as you looked around.

"This is Nami's hometown?" He nodded.

"Turns out she joined the Arlong Pirates to buy her village back," he explained, "He set the price to a hundred million Berries then cheated her when she was about to reach that goal."

You couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief. "A hundred million?"

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" Sanji laughed as well just thinking about how Nami collected a hundred million Berries in eight years. "Luffy beat the shit out of Arlong for that. Now we have our navigator back, we're headed for the Grand Line."

You could listen to him talk for hours, and so you did just that. You and Sanji talked for the rest of the night. Next thing you knew, Nojiko had awoken and approached you to trade.

Sanji helped load the crates of tangerines onto your boat, despite him usually refusing to use his hands for anything other than cooking.

"Come with me," he offered as Genzo loaded the second crate onto your boat. "Come with us."

"The Straw Hat Pirates?" You asked for confirmation. He nodded. Genzo left the two of you to talk.

You smiled and shook your head as your eyes avoided his gaze. "I'm a merchant, not a pirate."

"We're headed for the Grand Line."

"All the more reason not to go. That place is treacherous," you retorted.

Sanji suddenly had a cocky smile. "You'll miss me."

You matched his smile. "I'll live."

"You'll miss my cooking," he rephrased. You rolled your eyes again, unable to respond.

Sanji, dejected, forced a smile despite the rejection. "If your mind's set."

You only watched as he departed, hands in his pockets as he watched his feet with every step he took. You, too, watched his feet as he left. You felt like you should be doing something to get him to stay – maybe change your mind and come with him, become a pirate.

It was the first time you had made a real connection with anyone. Even before entering the business of a sea merchant, you never really clicked with anyone, platonically nor romantically. Sure, there were people who were there, but they never really felt right.

As you watched his feet, you looked curiously as they stopped, then turned around. Your eyes travelled up to his eyes when he turned.

"Maybe I'll come see you once we've left the Grand Line – once I've found the All Blue."

He spoke as if he was confident that he would leave the Grand Line. You knew the chance was small, but you decided to hope that he would leave the Grand Line, too.

"I'll look forward to it."

* * * * * *

Twice is a coincidence.

"Zoro, what's the deal with you and that merchant from Baratie?" Usopp had been the one to ask this time. The whole crew was curious, they just didn't want to pry, but the questioning and the lack of answers was getting to everyone.

"Please, just answer them. The asking is getting irritating," Nami complained as she looked at him.

They were currently strolling along a village they had come across while on the way to the Grand Line. They decided to stop by only with the purpose of buying supplies for the kitchen, yet everyone decided to come along. Everyone reckoned they needed a walk around for what they had gone through in just less than a month – what they had gone through ever since they became a part of Luffy's crew.

Zoro rolled his eyes and gave in. He told them the story of how he and you fought for a bounty, only for it to end in a draw.

Sanji smacked him upside the head as he finished telling the story of your first interaction. "You don't have a single ounce in you that's a gentleman, do you? How dare you fight her?"

"She was the one who challenged me," Zoro defended himself, facing the blonde.

"That's not an excuse." Sanji faced the moss head.

"She pissed me off."

"She had every right to after you tried claiming her find."

"You wanna take this somewhere else?!"

"Hey! Don't you dare fight or I swear, I'll knock you both out myself," Nami threatened.

At that, both men went silent. As they both turned to face the main street forward again, both pairs of eyes landed on you.

Sanji called your name again, in confusion and in surprise.

You hadn't heard, as you were in the market where all voices overlapped with each other.

"Oh, it's the bounty hunter!" Luffy exclaimed with a grin.

"Shh…! She might hear us!" Usopp covered his captain's mouth as they all kept their eyes on you.

"Her again?" Zoro groaned in frustration.

"Shut up, moss head." You were picking out fruits, picking the best ones then asking for their prices.

As Sanji watched you, a cigarette between his lips, he saw your eyebrows furrow, your eyes darting between the fruits in your hand and the merchant. Upon seeing the conversation begin to get heated, he quickly made his way to you without second thought.

The rest of the crew watched as Sanji spoke to you, still with the cigarette in his mouth. You had been surprised at his seemingly sudden appearance, though your anger quickly returned.

You spoke to him, though the crew wasn't near enough to hear exactly what you said, but all they knew was it was enough to rile their cook up as well.

Luffy scratched his head as he watched you and Sanji argue with the merchant who began to sweat anxiously. Sanji had approached you with the purpose of diffusing the tension, though he seemed to only add to it as he, too, became frustrated with the merchant and his product's pricing. His cigarette almost fell from how much he was yelling at the merchant.

"They're a perfect match," he concluded. The others agreed with hums.

"Zoro, you said you fought and it ended in a draw?" Luffy affirmed, his first mate nodding.

"Great! She's joining the crew."

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed at his quick decision making.

* * * * * *

Sanji found that the village they were now docked at was your hometown. You visited every once in a while to check in on your parents, who Sanji offered to cook for as the Straw Hat Pirates resided in your home for the day to rest.

You were one of the first to receive their captain's wanted poster, being considered an ally of the Marine despite you denying it time and time again. It was yet to be shown to the public, but you knew it was bound to appear in newspapers. It wasn't often that someone's first bounty would exceed the former highest's by 10 million Berries.

You would depart the next day and so would they, just in time to avoid having your parents seen as associates of the pirates.

Sanji offered you to join them again, telling you the captain's decision to invite you along as well.

You declined, again.

Sanji could see in your eyes that you wanted to, and not just because you wanted to join him. There was another reason that wasn't there the first time he gave you an invitation. Still, he knew he was in no position to pry.

You parted ways once again despite the both of you knowing you wanted the exact same thing.

* * * * * *

Third time's a pattern.

Only a few weeks passed when you saw each other again. You saw him first this time, almost thinking your eyes were deceiving you as he shopped for kitchen knives, while you searched for a better sword.

This village was known for their blacksmith being the best in the East Blue, so you knew to head here after earning just enough Berries.

You slowly approached him as he examined knives. He caught sight of you from one's reflection, his leg swinging towards you in defense as he was surprised. Only halfway through his action did it process in his mind that it was you.

Still, though he couldn't stop himself, you deflected his leg with your forearm. You knocked him upside the head afterwards.

He rubbed his head to ease the pain. "You are good."

You didn’t ask how he knew of your abilities when he had never seen you fight. "Thank you."

You already knew he would ask what you were doing here. "I'm looking for a better sword," you answered his silent question, "I'm thinking it's about time. I recently turned in a million bounty, anyway."

"Good job, darling." Your eyes darted to his with surprise at the pet name, a chuckle leaving your lips as you looked away from his eyes that bore into yours.

"Thank you." He smiled as you tried to hide your flushed cheeks.

"Have you eaten? I'd love to cook lunch for you." It was comedic how he didn't trust any restaurant, only offering his own cooking every time you ran into each other. He knew you only deserve the best in everything, so he always offered you his cooking.

Still, you never really refused.

You had to admit that he had every right to be cocky about his cooking skills – he wasn’t just all talk, anyway. You do believe that he was the best chef in the East Blue – maybe even of all the Seas.

After finding the right sword for yourself, you walked through the market to buy supplies for lunch. Sanji couldn't help but complain to you how Luffy had consumed a month's worth of food in less than an hour just as they had left the village prior to this one.

You couldn't help but laugh as he told the story, imagining Sanji chasing Luffy around their ship and pleading to Nami for a lockable fridge. After buying meat and vegetables, you started to head back to the boat.

Luffy was more than delighted to see you, Usopp still a bit skeptical (it was only in his nature), and Nami welcomed you aboard. Zoro was asleep.

Sanji cooked lunch for you, making something special for you and Nami as well as dessert, staying by your side as you ate your food.

You stayed with them for dinner, as well, finding that you made a connection with the rest of the crew as well.

"Do you really not want to join?" Sanji asked for the third time, you only chuckled as you already expected the answer to pop up at some point. You sat with the crew on the main deck's floor, deciding to dine under the night sky instead of inside the cabin.

"Yeah, it’ll be fun, come on!" Luffy urged you on before stuffing his mouth with the contents of Usopp's plate.

"Hey!" Usopp scolded him as soon as he noticed his plate empty again.

"I thought you were heading for the Grand Line, what are you doing here?" You asked while Usopp stood and went to the kitchen.

"Don’t change the subject." Sanji caught your attempt, causing you to give him a sly smile.

"We were, but Luffy can’t keep his hands off our fridge.” Zoro glared at the oblivious captain who only continued to eat.

Nami hummed in agreement. "We keep needing to stop by islands to restock every other day, even if we stock a month's worth of food."

"Your turn to answer," Sanji urged, leaving you no choice but to do so.

"I’ve told you – I’m a merchant, not a pirate. I’m not in these seas for gold or adventure, I’m here to make a living."

"You’re a negotiator," Nami chimed in.

"And a good fighter!" Luffy exclaimed with a full mouth. You could only assume that Zoro had told them of your first encounter.

"Pirates don't negotiate," you chuckle out.

"Usually not, which is why we need a great fighter if things go south," Luffy explained persuasively.

"You already have good fighters on board," you motioned towards everyone.

"It wouldn't hurt to have one more."

You ran out of rebuttals.

"Still, I’m not joining a pirate group with him." You cocked your chin towards Zoro's way. He had finished his dinner and shut his eyes to go to sleep while still sitting with his arms crossed.

"Done, he’s off the group," Sanji concluded in a heartbeat.

"You don’t get to decide that," Zoro reminded him without opening his eyes.

Usopp had returned with a plate full of food while you had started rebutting. He kept his eyes on it the whole time, yet it disappeared the second he looked away to listen to what you were saying.

"LUFFY! Stop eating my dinner!"

* * * * * *

Fourth time's a sign.

It was less of a surprise than a concern, the fourth time you ran into each other. You headed to Loguetown not long after you left the Straw Hats again. You arrived at the town and stayed for a few days.

You were currently in Captain Smoker's office. Usually, it was pirates that passed by Loguetown, as it was the island closest to the Reverse Mountain in the East Blue. He wasn’t expecting that his ex-subordinate’s merchant of a daughter would be found in a place such as this. He knew this was your father's hometown, but you being in his office told him you weren't here for family reasons.

"Will this take long?" You asked impatiently.

"Not at all." He pulled out a piece of paper. You waved your hand around the air in front of you, trying to swat away some of the smoke to see even a little bit of the writing on the paper.

He flipped the paper and slid it towards you. "State your purpose here, write your name here, sign here." He pointed at different lines on the paper.

"You will not be permitted if you’re after the One Piece," he informed you before you started writing, "You’ll be considered a pirate and arrested, effective immediately."

"And if my purpose is private?" You questioned.

He only sighed before replying, "You have to put something down."

At that, you began to fill up the details. "Your father, how is he?"

Your brows raised at his decision to make conversation. You knew he wasn't the best at it. "Fine. Better since he finally retired."

It was difficult taking care of your father. Once an ex-marine, then a merchant, his life had always been on the line especially in this age of pirates. You always worried and wondered whether or not your father would come home. It was only four years ago that he retired at the age of 71.

"And your mother?"

Your mother had been supportive of every decision you and your father made, finding that it would be difficult to get either of you to change your minds anyway.

She always wanted at least two children, though fell ill and became unable to before she could. Your mother always assured that you were enough, though she never really said it.

She was remorseful that you grew up alone, and you were sad that she never got to completely have what she wanted.

However, she had recently begun teaching art class to the children of your village as a way to pass the time. You were happy she did – it made her happy.

"She’s fine, too. Dropped by for a bit before I head for the Grand Line."

Silence filled the suffocating atmosphere that wasn't even as severe as when Captain Smoker would be alone in his office. As you finished filling up the form, you flipped the paper again to face him.

"I'm not going there for the One Piece, by the way."

"I thought you weren't," Captain Smoker affirmed, as if to elucidate the trust he had on you, despite your father's other connections.

He read your reasoning and seemed to be stuck on it. He glanced between you and the paper multiple times before he put out his cigar on the paper, putting out the fire so it didn't completely burn. That served as his seal of approval.

You left his office afterwards, and you couldn't help but scan the streets as you walked. It had become somewhat of a bad habit, looking for Sanji in every village you visited.

As if fate was on your side, maybe even rooting for you, you heard the certain North Blue accent of a certain blonde haired chef call out your name.

You cannot hide the smile from your face as you turn to face the source of his voice, and it is evident by the grin on his face that he was all the more elated to have been able to run into you just before he entered the Grand Line.

"What are you doing here?" You asked, though you already knew the answer.

"Heading for the Grand Line," he answered as if it didn't need to be questioned at this point, which it really didn't. "You?"

"Heading for the Grand Line," you mimicked with a grin.

Though you expected him to be joyful, his face fell with confusion. "What?"

"There's something I have to tell you," you admitted sheepishly. "Lunch?" You offered before you gave him the news.

He couldn't help but smile at your offer, knowing he couldn't refuse it.

* * * * * *

Sanji found out your favorite food in your hometown. Given that, to your parents, it was a blessing for you to come home, they had decided to cook your favorite food for you. It was a simple tonkatsu, yet he wanted to make it perfect for you – just the way your parents would make it.

You learned that every Straw Hat had gone to different parts of the town, looking into every shop and spoiling themselves for as long as they could before they entered the Grand Line.

Meanwhile, Sanji set aside the task of buying supplies to cook for you instead.

"Why are you suddenly going to the Grand Line?" He asked while chopping up a cabbage. You sat at the dining table of the place you rented for a few days.

"It was never my intention, I always planned to stay in the East Blue," you admitted. "But my father, he…" you couldn't help but chuckle at how ridiculous it was.

"He and an old friend hid their family treasure in the New World – swore to one day come back for it."

"Your father entered the Grand Line?" You nodded.

"He really did make the most of it during his golden age back then," you remarked.

"So now, you're going to the New World to get your family treasure back?" You nodded again.

"And his friend's. After everything my parents have done for me, I think this is the only way I can repay them. Especially since my father grows weaker everyday now."

He nodded in understanding. He moved to sit next to you while he waited for one side of the tonkatsu to cook. He usually wouldn't, but he wanted to savour the moment he had with you – to be as close as he could to you.

"So, would you want to join us, now?" He offered again.

He noticed you took longer than usual to respond.

"I can't."

Sanji chuckled, unable to feel gray by the fourth time you rejected him. "Do you at least think about it?"

You couldn't help but chuckle as well. "I've always travelled alone," you reasoned, "and I think this should be something that I do alone."

"Agree to disagree," Sanji decided.

"I'm still not changing my mind." He raised his hands in surrender and he stood to turn the tonkatsu to its other side.

"So, I guess this is the last time we see each other," you deduced.

"Unless we run into each other at the Grand Line," Sanji added.

"Right." You looked at each other for a moment, and being under his gaze suddenly made you feel small, so you straightened your posture as you and he made sure to take with you every detail of each other. You weren't even sure either of you would be able to enter the Grand Line safely, yet somehow you were both still confident that you would.

"There's different islands and different paths to take in the Grand Line," you brought up, implying that your paths may not cross again.

"Well, if it's our fate to meet again, I will continue to ask you," Sanji reassured.

You chuckled. "Your captain has the highest bounty in the East Blue, you might not even leave the town."

"Please, our captain's an idiot. People, even in the Grand Line, will underestimate him and end up regretting it." His tone was distracted as he spoke, his eyes darting between your eyes and your lips.

Your corner of your lips knowingly curled up to a smile, "You might meet other women."

"I will meet them, but I wouldn't pursue them – can you please just let me kiss you?" He asked impatiently. His eyes had settled on looking only at your lips by now. He knew by the smirk on your lips how you knew about his growing need to kiss you every time you two saw each other.

"Yeah, alright," your answer was all the more casual as if it didn't make your heart skip a beat to hear how desperate he had sounded. The words barely left your mouth before he had gently cupped your cheek and his lips met yours.

A groan left his lips and vibrated against yours as your hand tangled in his hair, his hand now resting to cup your jaw so he could feel how fast your heartbeat was from your pulse point.

You soon pulled away for air, your hand still in his hair and his on your cheek. Your foreheads touched as you leaned onto each other, both panting. You smiled and soon chuckled, pressing a kiss on the apple of his cheek.

"The food might burn," you reminded him that he was cooking.

He panted out a few more breaths and savoured the moment. It seemed as if the sentence you uttered took a moment to process in his brain after you had stupefied him with your kiss.

"Shit."

He quickly left your side, disconcerted as he overcooked one side of the tonkatsu.

Oh, well, he thought. He supposed he would have to endure eating this one if it meant you would have a perfect meal.

* * * * * *

Fifth time's an obstinacy.

It was as if your fates had been intertwined the moment you two first met.

You glanced at your Log Pose every once in a while as you waited for your order at the restaurant. As you did, you couldn't help but wonder where Sanji was at this point and time. It was taking quite some time for your Log Pose to record the direction to the next island with the path you chose to take, so you wondered if they were already far ahead of you.

"Man, I'm starving!" A familiar voice exclaimed upon entering the restaurant.

"You just finished eating every free sample at the market," another familiar voice responded, his tone nonchalant.

"Yeah, those were the appetizers!" You turned to face the entrance with a confused look, both heads immediately turning to face you, too.

"Oh, hey, it's you again!" Luffy walked towards your table, his first mate reluctantly following suit.

"What are you doing here?"

"We got lost, I think!" He announced as if it were something to boast about.

"Don't say it so confidently," Zoro scolded.

"Good to see you, moss head," you greeted with sarcasm.

"Hey, don't you start, too." You were about to give a snarky remark when Luffy spoke again.

"We just came from an island called Little Garden! We're planning on heading to Alabasta since we have their princess on board," Luffy explained, unknowingly preventing another duel between you and Zoro.

"For the record, we didn't kidnap her for ransom," Zoro cleared up due to the nature of Luffy's odd way of phrasing.

"Technically, we did, because Nami's asking for one billion Berries in return," Luffy argued.

"That's Nami we're talking about," Zoro retorted.

"Oh, waiter! I would like to order, please!" Luffy's voice boomed at the restaurant.

"Where's Sanji?" You asked. Your eyes had scanned around in search of the chef the moment you saw Luffy and Zoro, though you knew deep down that Sanji would only trust his own cooking. He would probably even scold you if he caught you dining here.

"Buying food supplies," Luffy responded while still eyeing the waiter who was serving another table.

"You ate it all again, didn't you?"

Luffy grinned at how well you seemed to know him. "I did!"

He was an open book – he seemed oblivious of the fact.

The waiter soon arrived with your food and Luffy took the chance to order every dish on the menu.

"Oh. Zoro, do you have any money?" Luffy had asked in the middle of his fourteenth dish. Zoro only looked at him, then they turned to you in unison.

Your eyes widened at the pair. You had finished your meal by Luffy's eighth dish, yet you stuck around both because of your amusement and manners.

You cleared your throat and looked away from their gazes, slowly taking out a few Berries that were enough for your meal before you stood and fled from the restaurant.

You could hear Luffy's frantic exclamations from outside the restaurant, growing distant as you continued to run.

You let out a surprised exclamation as you ran into someone upon your lack of focus. They had stopped you from completely crashing onto their chest by grabbing you by the shoulders.

He called your name and your head whipped up to face him.

"Sanji!" You grinned and threw your arms around his neck in an embrace, glad that he had entered the Grand Line safely. He wrapped his arms around your waist as well, lifting you off the ground as his grip tightened a bit.

He placed your feet back down on the ground a moment later, pulling away from the hug.

"Glad to see me again?" You teased.

"Very much, darling," he didn't attempt to deny, a wide grin now on his lips.

You noticed that he was with Nami, Usopp, and an unfamiliar woman with blue hair. You greeted the pair and gave the woman a puzzled look.

"This is Vivi," Nami introduced her, telling Vivi your name as well.

"It's nice to meet you," Vivi uttered sheepishly.

"Oh, are you the princess?" You presumed, panting from your running.

"Wait, you know?" Usopp questioned with confusion.

"I ran into your captain and swordsman. They almost trapped me into paying for their lunch at the restaurant." You pointed your thumb over your shoulder at the restaurant ahead of them.

"That's our captain for you." Nami shook her head in disapproval as she looked at the restaurant.

"Would you like to join us for lunch?" Sanji offered, smiling. "I'd be delighted to cook your favorite for you again."

You gladly accepted.

You were once again found boarding the Going Merry. Luffy and Zoro were yet to return, and presumably got lost, so Usopp volunteered to return to the village to search for them.

Once Vivi and Nami retreated to their shared room and left the two of you alone in the kitchen, you couldn't keep your hands off each other.

Your lips met again and things turned heated until you soon had to stop yourselves and let Sanji prepare the crew's lunch.

Sanji had a sly grin on his face as he buttoned back up his top button that you had unconsciously unbuttoned.

"I'm still not becoming a pirate." You could see the question coming from a mile away now.

Sanji clicked his tongue in playful annoyance. "Think about it."

"I have!" You chuckled as you spoke.

"And do you see yourself coming with us?" It took you a while to respond, contemplating whether or not you should tell the truth.

"I do," you admitted.

"So why don't you want to?"

"Because I feel like I'll forget what my goal is when I'm with you." He seemed taken aback by your response. "I forget about everything else when I'm around you. I forget there's a whole world with real people beyond that door and that it's not just you and me."

"I won't let you forget it," he reassured you, "I'll be there to support you, to help you."

He took your hands in his. "It pains me to be parted from you."

You rolled your eyes at how cheesy he sounded. "You'll live."

"I'll live in agony." You couldn't help but chuckle despite how serious he sounded. You squeezed his hands in comfort.

"Well, I do recall my father telling me that his friend left a clue somewhere in Alabasta." His eyes lit up at the thought of seeing you again, of having certainty of when and where you'll be able to meet again.

"Suppose I head there next; are you willing to find me?"

"I would scour all of the Blue Seas to find you."

Your heart jumped. "Then it's a date."

* * * * * *

It had only been two weeks since you last saw Sanji. You had encountered one more island, an autumnal kingdom, before you arrived at Alabasta.

Your father and his friend had made a riddle. It was almost as if you were on a scavenger hunt on the world's most dangerous land and waters.

In a desert land where droughts hold sway,

Soon an oasis, you'll find me one day.

But don't expect to see a mirage's grace,

I'm real, with life, by North's palace.

Rainbase. It had to be. It took days for you to travel to the location, the desert just as deadly as the open waters of the Grand Line.

You looked at the map of Alabasta, with it the piece of paper with the riddle your father had given you. In the event that neither he nor his friend would be able to return to their treasure, they decided to mark their clues with their initials.

And so, the paper was signed 'A.P. & G.D.R.'

Though there was commotion near the casino, you scoured the streets and alleys of Rainbase to find any sort of clue. Once you were sure to have checked every alley, your shoulders sagged as you failed to find the clue. It was only when you entered the pub that you found what you were looking for.

There was a wall of photographs in the corner of the pub. You drank a bottle of beer as your eyes scanned the unfamiliar faces of the pub's patrons.

You almost spat your beer out when you found one of your father and his friend. You unpinned it to take a closer look, noticing that it was slightly indented at some parts. You turned the picture around and found another riddle written with messy handwriting. It matched that of the riddle in your possession.

Way up high a place God is resided,

On stolen land from which its people are prohibited,

With fate and luck you will reach this land of Vearth,

Found far within the clouds where you will prove your worth.

– A.P. & G.D.R.

…What was that supposed to mean?

Rainbase was a piece of cake to decipher, but this one seemed to be utter nonsense.

You supposed it was up to par with how the Grand Line was. Nothing made sense and everything made you clueless.

You walked away from the wall, glum as you headed for the exit, when the bartender called for you.

He had been bartender long enough to recognize your father's face and your resemblance of him. He gave you something your father and his friend had left – something they entrusted to him to keep until someone came looking for clues.

Your eyes widened as you looked at the gold coin with Gol D. Roger's Jolly Roger. His flag had long fallen, yet the coin still assured your protection so long as you had it on your person as you continued in your journey.

And so, you left the pub with a photograph and a rare treasure.

"Oh!" Someone called your name just as you were walking back to the inn. You lifted your head off the ground to see Sanji up ahead.

A smile immediately found its way to your lips as you began to approach him, his arms raising as an invitation to an embrace.

You burrowed your face into his chest as you hugged him, his chest vibrating as he chuckled upon seeing you again.

"I hope you didn't miss me too much," he remarked.

You shrugged with nonchalance. "I survived," you retorted.

He had a cigarette between his lips that curled up at your reply. His hand took yours. "Come on."

Your eyes widened as he began running, leading you along. "Where, exactly?"

He forced a laugh to lessen your soon-to-be anxiety. "Err…Me and the gang are sort of on the run from Crocodile."

"The Warlord?!" He nodded.

"We got split up, but we're headed towards Alubarna to stop a war," he said too casually. You sighed exasperatedly.

"Nothing's ever dull with you guys, is it?" He only laughed.

* * * * * *

You successfully helped stop a war.

Luffy had fought and successfully defeated Crocodile. Unfortunately, he had been poisoned in the process, though was quickly given an antidote. This caused him to be in a three-day coma which fortunately left the rest of the crew to rest as well.

Since the last time you first saw them, you found that they recruited a reindeer doctor that had eaten the Human Human Devil Fruit.

You and Sanji decided to go out for dinner during those three days. By that, it means that Sanji cooked a five-course meal for just the two of you. You insisted that he didn't need to, but he insisted otherwise.

You both had taken hits and gained wounds during your attempt at preventing a war, so Sanji made sure to implement food that would help your wounds heal faster and give you more strength.

He told you the story of how they had met and recruited Chopper, the reindeer doctor. Nami had fallen ill days after their stay at an island called Little Garden. He also told you how the island had dinosaurs and two giants who had been in a century-long fight for a reason they didn't even remember anymore.

He told you of Baroque Works and the members they had come across and defeated, and how Crocodile had secretly been the organization's boss.

You noticed that he was yet to ask you the question that came every time you came across each other. Throughout your night, you waited, and it never came. You supposed he had come at peace with your seemingly compelled answer that never changed every time he asked you.

By the third day of your stay in Alubarna, Luffy finally woke. His crew was quick to devise a plan to leave the kingdom before the sun rose to quickly get back to your ships.

Vivi was torn between staying for her kingdom or joining the Straw Hat Pirates, so they had given her twelve hours to decide, which was just enough for their ship to pass by the eastern part of Alabasta and let Vivi board if she ever decided to join them.

Vivi chose her kingdom. She bid the Straw Hats farewell during her coming-of-age speech, staying by the coast as she showed off her 'X' tattoo that matched the others. It was a symbol that said no matter where they were, they would always be a Straw Hat Pirate.

The others had shown off theirs, too, while they sailed away from Alabasta.

Now, you remained on the Going Merry. Your boat was connected to the ship by rope. You were lounging at the main deck with the crew.

"We'll untie your boat from ours once we get far enough away from the Marines," Nami explained.

"Alright…" You replied, seemingly distracted.

Naturally, Sanji was the first to notice this. "Something on your mind, love?"

You had gotten used to the pet names at this point. You looked up at the ship's Jolly Roger as you rethought your decision one last time.

You closed your eyes. "Fine," you started.

You opened your eyes to see everyone looking at you curiously and expectantly.

"I'll join your crew," you clarified.

In the blink of an eye, Luffy lifted you to your feet and began to dance you around in celebration, Usopp and Chopper joining in. You couldn't help but chuckle at their delight.

Once the moment passed, Sanji approached you and held your hand.

"Are you sure?"

You smiled up at him. "I've thought about it a lot, like you said."

You looked around at the faces you've come across multiple times already. "And I guess I wouldn't mind being with a few friends – the journey to the New World is long, anyway."

You turned to Sanji. He had been looking at you with a smile.

Then, he suddenly swept you up into his arms and kissed you right there and then, finding himself too overwhelmed with emotions to say anything – so he just kissed you.

Most of the crew let out a surprised exclamation while Luffy began to laugh gleefully.

Nami was about to scold the cook as she saw your flushed face when you pulled away and chuckled sheepishly.

"Not in front of the crew," you spoke through gritted teeth as you gently smacked him upside the head.

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, I got carried away."

"Sanji! This calls for a celebration! Cook something for us!" The Straw Hat Captain boomed.

"Aye-aye, captain!"

The door to the cabin swung open just as Sanji began to approach it. He halted in his steps.

"So, we've finally left the island?" Nico Robin, Miss All-Sunday, seemed to have snuck on board.

"...AAAHH!"

* * * * * *

a/n: i wonder if anyone figured out reader's father's friend was roger before it was stated…?

taglist: @inf4ntdeath @x-uno @miloonmetis @angeli-fucking-cat @zzbloody-animezz @watercolorskyy @saltyfriendsaladbandit @mbekgsv @mischiefmanaged71 @leslielovestedalot1 @theamazingtrinitysky @stevenknightmarc

[rottenpumpkin13]

Would it be logical to say that Sephiroth is a nepto baby?

Serious answer: I don't think Sephiroth is a case of nepotism within Shinra because he was created by the company to serve them (first as a failed cetra, then as a SOLDIER), he never had a choice in the matter. The "advantages" he has are restricted to SOLDIER, but even then what advantages does he have? I also think that while he was placed in SOLDIER, he had to prove his way to where he was, and Shinra probably made that clear to Hojo, which motivated him to go even harder on Sephiroth.

[wutheringmights]

I finally finished Iron Flame by Rebecca "second generation army brat who loves military heroes and has been blissfully Yarros, and I don't really have anything to say on the matter. Nothing it does is as egregiously bad or interesting as the "war beyond our borders" issue the fist novel brought up. There's maybe about 200 pages of plot lost in 600 pages of meandering prose. It's bad, but not in a way I find entertaining or fascinating. It's just boring, and its remaining plot threads don't leave much to be excited about.

That being said, I have two things I want to bring up.

The first being Jark Barlowe. For those who do not know, Jack is the rival from the first novel who hated our main girl because she's a nepto-baby. Fair enough, but she killed him for his (numerous) sins. This book, he was brought back to life for reasons that were initially very unclear and silly.

Jack played at being reformed until the climatic battle. It was really obvious he was still going to be an antagonist, but I won't lie-- a part of me really badly wanted him to be a good guy now. Seeing the face of god weeping after you temporarily die being your motivation to become a better person is so stupid, and yet so ridiculously hilarious. I was really rooting for him.

The second point I wanted to bring up is Dain. That man is the only reasonable person in this story, and he gets such shit for it. He's like a maligned woman from the 90's to me. Did he mess up? Sure. Were his reasons understandable? Yes. Did he deserve the amount of hatred he got from it? Absolutely not. He's like Tonya Harding to me.

But even if I appreciate Dain, he's not enough to redeem this book for me. Iron Flame is still overall an uninteresting slog-- a bowl of unflavored mashed potatoes. That's really the beginning and end of it. Blah.

--

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Rating: ⭐/5

[myimaginarywonderland]

Personally, you all can have fun with your speculations about who might go where, which team might be fucked while I rest easy knowing my driver, a Canadian nepto baby, ain't going nowhere and Aston Martin is progressively going to get better.

[katewalker]

in other news i just have the nepto dragon left to catch and i'm done with the feast of famine quest

[softwaring]

if u think jamie lee fucking curtis deserved the award u might as well die honestly and truly. like that old ass fucking nepto baby couldn’t win til now when the racist af academy either has the choice between absolute mediocrity or actually acknowledge woc?! not at all surprised by the choice 🥱

[dazeddoodles]

Eda and Liliths dad being the principal is the *only* reason why Eda hasn’t been fired yet

Nepto baby Eda for the win

[dated-radz-at-han-coin]

Feast of Famine -the conclusion-

It was time to continue the quest with the last three fish, Shonisaurus, Namitaro, and finally - Nepto Dragon (that you can catch earlier too but I preferred to concentrate on others first).

Shonisaurus was a smooth catch, the more time-consuming part was waiting for the correct weather. After this, yes, back to...

...Namitaro hunting. At least this day had many opportunities with the several thunders.

And soon enough, the five were bagged! After this I learnt Nepto Dragon demands rainy weather, and unfortunately Eastern la Noscea was being graced with great sunshines and light clouds! Somehow this led to me joining a PF group arranging minimum ilvl no echo runs of all three Crystal Tower raids. Had big fun, and caught a Gigantpole while waiting between the runs.

Next morning, which was today, there was going to be couple occasions of showers and rains! Time to get to dragon hunting! I found out moment earlier that the ship is divided into couple fishing spots, and the particular one for Nepto Dragon is at the rear end.

I enjoyed to see the drastic change of weather from sunny to this. No luck on first try yet though!

Also... I noticed that Double Hook was behind a class quest that I hadn't done yet so I had to use Triple Hook and overdo things a bit (needed three Little Thalaos for Intuition buff, got seven). And woaw, the next set of rain brought the spoil!

Big!

And achievement got!

All in all, a very pleasant ordeal I think! And this amount of fish brought a good rotation to go catch something else while others are unavailable.

[six-of-ravens]

daily update:

for some reason since last night my brain has decided to get Big Mad about something that happened like 6 months ago. just basically trying to Constantly Distract Myself lol. Idk why my brain is this fucked up but I blame it on the weather, the wild swings between sunny and warm spring weather and dark cold winter are brutal on the mental health lol.

also i haven't left the apartment since Monday (except a quick trip down to the mailbox today) so that might be why my brain is acting up. my anxiety gets real bad if I don't leave the house for more than 1 day in a row (lockdown was a FUN time in this brain) and I think for lack of anything real to be anxious about my brain is just going "hey remember that asshole from July? let's be mad at him again!!"

on the plus side, was actually able to be productive at work today! the past 2 days were just a lot of spinning my wheels while the PM for this project works herself into a tizzy, because I don't know what I need to do (if anything) and I can't handle her ranting anymore. Apparently the boss is getting pretty tired of her too tho so I think he had A Talk with her about not skype-spamming with her whole thought process. Also, she always intersperses her updates with "I have other things to work on too!" type comments which are driving everyone insane bc like yeah, we all do too! so just fkn get this last list of revisions sent over so we can finish this!!

so yeah, work is a...joy. right now. at least we got to work from home today too lol, we got waaaaay more snow than they predicted.

i did take a 3 hour nap after work today tho (necessary, bc last night I was up until 2am and my brain would not get off this spiral) and had those good good adventure-quest dreams, so.

oh also I finally checked the mail and my laika pin from pangur-and-grim arrived!! she is baby 🥺 she lives on the pin jacket now:

anyway, plan for tonight is to try and decompress by listening to music and maybe writing. i also *still* haven't really started Fellowship bc I just haven't been in the brainspace for it (though maybe I should try...having to intensely focus on a book with very small print might be what my brain needs)

also, going from reading children's books with like 18pt font to a dense fantasy novel with like 8pt font is quite the change. highly intimidating!

I have made progress on ToTK and FFIII though, in totk I beat Master Kogha and then finally got my purah pad upgraded with the sensor, travel medallions, etc etc. I can't believe i missed all of this stuff at the beginning of the game lol. in FFIII I'm back at the Nepto Temple, which is one of my least favourite levels due to having to use Mini which makes your weapons useless. Ah well, the quests after this are interesting at least.

oh and finally, I got some sprouts in my garden! I'm kind of amazed at how much stuff has already sprouted, most notably the lettuce (but also a half-dozen other random things):

[jacquesthepigeon]

i remmembered that whole thing about marinette not exactly having the BEST fashion taste (bless her heart) but i just realized something. As creative as adrien is with chat noirs clothes he is still a nepto baby so like. Whatre the chances that hes also bad at modeling and thats why they lean into that whole pure teenpop image for him and we have TWO protags bad at their jobs

I bet Adrien’s poses get photoshopped to hell and back

[chaifootsteps]

I'm not sure what your opinion is of Daron Nefcy and SVTFOE. I liked the show, it has a special place in my heart, but it could have been done or executed better. So yes, I'm critical of the show, only because you know, I wish it could have had better writing and it should have. Now, I have gotten in trouble cause of some stuff I brought up about Daron Nefcy. Like how in interviews she complained about creative freedom and how most of the so called interesting stuff was pitched by other people like Eclipsa while her whole focus was Starco. So, I brought up her dad's impressive resume. Now, I did find his IMDb, well maybe it's a new one cause when I saw it years ago it had so many photos and this one doesn't. He passed last year due to cancer, so idk, maybe people submitted a new one? Ok here's my point. Yes, I am calling Daron a nepto baby, no, I'm not undermining her skills. Right after SVTFOE Daron took it to her Twitter bio, you know, everywhere anyone can see, to put "working on new project at nickelodeon". So this was like 2019 or early pandemic. Now, I'm not sure when, but it was removed off her Twitter bio and she no longer works at nickelodeon. https://www.reddit.com/r/StarVStheForcesofEvil/comments/14zndo1/what_happened_to_daron_nefcys_secret_project_at/

Here's this. My guess is maybe it got cancelled cause of the pandemic cause she left Nick last year. Now, she recently became a mother, and good for her and she lost her dad last year. So maybe she's working on her mental health? I'm not so sure exactly what to think. But I am going to point out her connections did help her get a new job right after her old one. Idk what happened to her Nick show. She's been on the down low for a while. Ok, anyways back to main point. Having connections helps. It really does. Maybe someone else can name another example idk.

Never watched SVTFOE or followed stuff like this, so this is news to me, but it's interesting to hear it!

[kuroimarzipan]

Your character has been invited to a masquerade ball. What mask do they wear? For Roeh!

She gets a mask evoking the nepto dragon, and then spends the entire party bragging about how she caught it and it was THIS big

[superthatguy62]

Villain Talk: Xande

Final Fantasy has a smorgasbord of villains in its roster. You have the morally complex such as emperors who seek to unshackle humanity from the gods or whatever, to the intelligent, nihilistic and possessing a wicked sense of humor to even more simpler cases like a man that is actually a tree stuffed full of evil spirits. However, if one were to look at the villains as a whole, who would be the weakest link? The bad egg? The one that isn’t up to snuff? With such a strong set of rouges, surely it must be difficult to deter It’s Xande. I like the guy, but it’s Xande.

General

Xande suffers, more than anything, from the format of the game, in that it isn’t very story-oriented. Final Fantasy 3 would be akin to a monster of the week show; one with the occasional plot development until the season finale. Xande is basically the Dr. Tomoe or Rita Repulsa to the main characters’ Sailor Scouts or Power Rangers respectively, except that they don’t show him sending the monsters and also a significant chunk of those monsters may not even be his.

Overall, Xande suffers from three issues as a villain:

Lack Of Impact

Final Fantasy villains usually have some major impact or effect on the world in some fashion. Chaos and his four fiends messed with the elemental crystals, throwing the world into ruin (among other things). The Palamecia Empire laid waste to the rest of the world. Golbez used Baron’s forces to attack its neighbors and steal their crystals, alongside other attacks. ExDeath is a war criminal in Galuf’s world and begins tossing places into the Void when he gains power over it. Most of the characters in VI are victimized in some way by the Gestahl Empire and things only get worse when Kekfa ascends to godhood. And then, there is Xande. It’d be a lie to say that Xande didn’t impact his world; He caused the Great Earthquake after all. But, overall Xande somehow still feels like he lacks impact despite it. The Great Earthquake causes problems, but most of them are easily reversible. Additionally, most of the problems it caused were indirect rather than being intentional on Xande’s part. The surface is even worse as that is totally fine after it is revived. To illustrate this, here is each boss in the game with a ranking: X means that Xande intentionally sent them (or is implied to), E means that they were a side-effect of the earthquake, meaning that Xande only inadvertently had a hand in their creation, and I means that there is no clear evidence that they were involved with Xande. Land Turtle – X (?) Djinn – E Giant Rat – I (The Giant Rat is guarding the Nepto Dragon’s eye, but I don’t recall any evidence that Xande or the earthquake made it evil). Medusa – X Gutsco/Salamander – I Hein – E Kraken – X Goldor – I Garuda – I (There is no evidence that Xande resurrected Garuda.) Hecantoncheir – I (Hecantoncheir’s dialogue suggests that it is the fang’s guardian,) Titan - X

This count is not counting the Eureka or Summon bosses. It is also not counting Doga and Unei, who fight the party explicitly to prepare them for Xande. As one can see, Xande has his own equivalent to the four fiends. But whereas Golbez and Garland’s fiends actually accomplish significant tasks, only half of Xande’s fiends do so: Medusa causing the Tower of Owen’s furnace to go haywire and Kraken attacking the water crystal, forcing the water maidens to seal it. During the story, two of the Warriors of Lights’ allies sacrifice themselves, but only one stays dead. Everything else is either a side effect of Xande’s messing about or not even connected to him to begin with. This is partially a side effect of FFIII’s desired narrative: A rather light-hearted adventure with not much of an overall plot. Thus, most of the issues on the Floating Continent are reversible, the Water Crystal dilemma aside the surface is mostly ok and the only major defined threat to the world pops up at the very end.

Lack of Presence

In a different way from the previous section. Final Fantasy antagonists usually make multiple appearances in their games, usually in some way that gives them a major impact. Garland works in a twist villain/book ends fashion. The Emperor already has his army and warmachines and even baits the party into fighting in his colosseum. Golbez started the trend of villains confronting the main characters multiple times over the course of the game, which ExDeath and Kefka continue.

And then, again, there’s Xande. It should be noted that Xande is a trend-setter in that he’s the first Final Fantasy villain with something approaching a fleshed out backstory; Garland’s backstory is vague and The Emperor’s is only given the questionably-canon “Final Fantasy 2: Labyrinth of Nightmares” novel. Xande’s motive for why he’s doing what he’s doing is actually explained within the game itself. In spite of this aspect of Xande being fleshed out, the rest can’t be said for the rest of him. Xande’s only appearance is at the end of the game, first gloating about how the Warriors of the Light have fallen for his trap, and then being fought. Even Garland, by virtue of being a twist villain, actually appears prior to confronting him in the past. Xande is pretty much an outlier in never making an appearance prior to the final battle. While it isn’t impossible for villains to make a strong impression despite a lack of screentime, Xande doesn’t have that either. He’s treated as just another boss, complete with having the standard boss theme. Given the context of the era, it kinda does still work as a fake out; FFII only had one boss theme after all. But given that II did toy around with giving the Emperor his own boss theme, and the Cloud of Darkness has its boss theme, Xande kinda draws the short end of the stick. To give the devs a bit of credit (or maybe not), a design doc in the Ultimania suggests that Xande was intended to get his own musical theme, but it didn’t pan out.

Lack of Connection

Final Fantasy has a habit of making their hero-villain dynamics personal. The Warriors of Light found themselves locked into a time loop with Garland, constantly killing each other. Firion, Maria and Guy lost their home and their family to the Empire, most notably their brother Leon. Cecil loses his position as leader of the Red Wings to Golbez, who has the king replaced with one of his own men and constantly toys with him, to say nothing of the reveal. ExDeath was the personal nemesis of Galuf and his team, and Bartz happens to be the son of one of those team members. While not everyone was personally victimized by the Gestahl Empire, a majority of the party were affected by it in some way, shape or form. And then, yet again, there is Xande. If there is a question of which hero/villain combo has the least connection to each other, it’d be hard to beat Xande and the Onion Knights.. Now, that’s not to say that none exists: Xande is responsible for the deaths of Aria, Doga and Unei at the end of the day (indeed, Opera Omnia leans into that to explain why Onion Knight is hesitant to use Xande’s dimensional coordinates i.e. use him in the party). But due to the nature of III’s plot, Xande doesn’t really have any sort of ‘fated relationship’ with them like the other protagonists. You could argue that them being Doga and Unei’s proteges makes up for it, but that only happens at the last fourth of the game. For all intents and purposes, Xande gets killed by four random kids. It’s entertainingly pathetic when you think about it.

So, Xande may lack all of these things, but so what? Garland and the Emperor were both lacklustre in initial appearances before appearing in spinoffs to get more refined. Xande just needs to show up in something like Dissidia and-

The Cloud of Darkness

The Cloud of Darkness is the prototype of the “Giant Space Flea From Nowhere” type of Final Fantasy final boss. These are bosses that come out of nowhere at the end of the game, sometimes as a physical manifestation of the game’s themes. In the Cloud of Darkness’ case, it is an emissary of The Void; the recurring force of nothingness throughout the Final Fantasy series. While the Void featured very prominently in Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy III was the first game to introduce the concept, albeit making it out to be more of a natural phenomenon. The Void is the force from which both the light world and the dark world emerged from and, based on the Warriors of Darkness’ words, the force that they will someday return to. The game is somewhat vague on the specifics, but it’s implied that in the process the worlds of light and dark merge, or something. In any case, The Cloud of Darkness appears whenever the balance between Light and Dark gets too unbalanced and goes about returning the world to the void, regardless of whether its time or not. It’s implied that the Warriors of the Dark had to fight it during the Wrath of Light and, thanks to Xande, it’s the Warriors of the Light’s turn to do so now. As an aside, the Ultimania reveals that the Cloud of Darkness was originally more closely tied to Xande, being created by the mage via the Dark Crystals (explaining why the WoLs go around to each and releases them from the Cloud’s control). On a more speculatory note, Xande was intended to be a woman, calling into question the possibility of the CoD being modeled after him/her, but no artwork of Xande from that stage is suggested to exist, so this is just a theory. Regardless of what could’ve been, the Cloud of Darkness makes for a significant impression compared to Xande. Its first appearance has it kill your party, it is the reason for III’s infamous final boss gauntlet, it even has a unique effect in the original game where its sprite colors change over the course of the encounters. That plus the game’s scale and stakes become much higher once it gets involved. So, for all of those reasons, it is of no surprise that the Cloud of Darkness became FF3’s go-to villain representative. It appeared in Dissidia as Onion Knight’s rival and retains this role in later appearances, especially in Opera Omnia where it [REDACTED DUE TO SPOILERS]. This on top of featuring in other games such as FFXI. All of this is well and good, but the Cloud of Darkness only enters the story at the very end. Poor Xande got the short end of the stick. So with all of that in mind: What about the remake? The 3D remake expanded on the story of Final Fantasy III, and while most know of the main protagonists, what about the other characters, most particularly Xande? Golbez got quite the glow-up in the FFIV 3D remake, with the backstory flashbacks. What about Xande? Is he improved? …Kinda?

Remake Xande

The FF3 remake makes a number of changes to the game’s plot and Xande honestly benefited from it. That’s not to say he’s a better villain per say, but he’s quite improved. Xande still lacks presence, but these aren’t as much of a problem due to the game’s script changes. Instead, Xande is something of a Red Herring. But before we can talk about that, we must talk about a way Xande improved: 

Consistency. In the original FFIII, Xande’s overall end goal was kept ambiguous. Sure he’s miffed about gaining mortality, but what does summoning the darkness have to do with it? Perhaps he was pulling a Kuja before Kuja existed: Xande knew he was going to die and decided that if he must go, then everything else is going with him. In the remake, however, this is reinterpreted. Xande messing with the balance is said to have caused time on the surface to cease. Why? Because he wanted to regain his immortality, and if freezing time was as close as he was ever going to get, then that’s fine by him. As a result of this, parts of the game were rewritten with this in mind. In particular (a point emphasized in unused content) the hints of the Flood of Light that we get implied something similar happened in the past: That the sun stopped moving, creating an eternal day. It’s implied that Xande basically did the opposite and created an eternal night. More subtly, the Curse of the Five Wyrms was also overhauled: In the original, the wyrm statues were actual wyrms that Xande intended to feed the frozen youths to. In the remake, the freezing in place is the curse itself, which thematically is similar to what Xande’s trying to do. Dude’s really into freezing stuff now. Even Xande’s lines before battle in the remake now make mention of his goal to gain eternal life. Also the main theme of the game is named “Eternal Wind”, so you know, maybe there’s something complementary there.

Connections

In terms of connections, Xande is also improved. Not only is the relationship between Doga, Unei and Xande emphasized a bit more from the former two’s perspective (again, more heavily in the unused text), but Xande’s actions actually have a direct impact on the four main characters, namely making them orphans that were raised by Topapa & Nina/Takka/King Sasune. Sure, the game doesn’t dwell heavily on it, but Xande is directly responsible for Luneth, Arc, Refia and Ingus being brought up by the people they ended up with. Maybe spinoffs like Opera Omnia can call more attention this- Oh. Right. Despite my grumbling, it’s clear that the remake’s portrayal of Xande influenced Opera Omnia’s take, with Xande’s desire for immortality being his primary motive, contrasted with Seymour’s belief that death is Really Great, You Guys.

Impact

In terms of Impact, the remake makes some key decisions: For starters, Xande’s act of stopping time was so unnatural that it caused the floating continent to ascend into the air. It’s implied that Owen had to repurpose his tech to ensure that the continent stayed up rather than falling to the ground, which in turn led to Desch being sealed away. This in contrast with the Famicom version where the Floating Continent was an Ancients project and Desch was sealed during the flood of light. And, of course, Cid is hinted to be from Saronia in this continuity, and some NPCs mention his disappearance. But I mentioned that Xande was a red herring, didn’t I? And while those aspects are good, how exactly is Xande a better villain? Well, that’s the thing. While the remake doesn’t change the amount of agency Xande has (on the contrary, it actually removes it), it actually does do so for the Cloud of Darkness. Xande is reinterpreted as a red herring; The party assumes for most of the game (or at least, the part where they’re aware of his existence) that Xande is behind all of the shenanigans up to that point. However, Unei notes that while she dodged the time stop due to being in the dream world, she noticed a great evil caused the earthquake on the Floating Continent. She then notes that Xande couldn’t have done it; He was busy being frozen like everyone else.

This is further cashed in by the Warriors of Darkness, who note that Xande fell under the control of the Cloud of Darkness and reveal that it was the one who sent the monsters to sink the Floating Continent. Xande himself still screwed up though as he was the one who inadvertently summoned it in the first place. The Famicom version does note that Xande himself was a puppet to the darkness, but goes no further than that. So yeah, the remake made Xande better. By not making him the main villain.

These days, Xande has seen a resurgence in use: He appeared in Brave Exvius as a Vision, he got a counterpart/reinterpretation in Final Fantasy XIV’s Syrcus Tower raids and he appears in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a party member and recurring antagonist. While he is arguably still an underrated character and it could still be better, he is getting more love from SE now than he has been for a while.

[dane-ffxiv]

Prompt #20: Hamper

It was too soon to go back to work.

The thoughts replayed in my mind repeatedly as I watched half a dozen anglers struggle to hold onto one rod. But at the end of that rod was what we were searching for– something so menacing and impossible to ignore. Yet, the elusive titan hadn’t surfaced. Multiple reports of marlin, mahi-mahi, and shark carcasses grabbed our attention. Shark carcasses. That information alone was enough to deter most members of the guild. It was a dangerous mission.

I placed my hand over my chest. It had only been a few weeks since that damned goat kicked the life out of me. Fortunate enough to walk away with only a bruised rib and a handful of scrapes. I was better now– mostly. If I could make it through this job by being a simple bystander, I promised to rest in bed for another week. Maybe two.

But that was just wishful thinking, of course, because the captain seemed to read my mind and toss me into the ring. I guess it was my time to shine since the strongest were at it for bells and had nothing to show for it.

I removed my gear and traded it for a harness, not that it mattered much. Drowning wasn’t a possibility but they’d be able to drag me back if I strayed too far. He followed me to the edge of the ship and tossed a rope after me as I dove into the water. If they couldn’t see what they were up against since the damned thing wouldn’t show itself, it was up to me. I tied the rope around the harness and, though it wasn’t needed, inhaled a deep breath before breaking the surface.

Being the gimmick member of a guild had its ups and downs. A gift like mine was valuable for this line of work but it was the only thing most people saw in me. Without it, I wasn’t worthy. I worked twice as hard to prove otherwise. That stubborn attitude came back with a vengeance today. To hells with this injury– I would be the one to ensure this venture’s success.

The currents were easy to navigate, but visibility was low. Something I could work with. I swam in the direction of the line, following the faint glimmer as it reflected off the surface light, and dove deeper. I felt for any sort of hint– an abnormal swell, the sound of thrashing, fish frenzying.

It was quiet for several moments before I saw a flash of red and purple. The movement sent a swift current in my direction, pushing me away. Against my better judgment, I followed it until I saw something in my peripheral– two large, winged fins fluttered underneath me, the front of its body coming into view. Shaped like a serpent with a large antenna-like fin on its head, I recognized it immediately.

I reached for my rope and tugged on it, signaling the captain. I wanted out before it noticed me, but it was too late. Fighting with the anglers on the line wasn’t enough– the sight of me gave it another sense of purpose.

I tugged on the rope again. There was no chance in hells I’d outswim it, but they’d be able to pull my body in quick enough. At least, that’s what I hoped. I felt myself being jerked backwards and the serpent faced me directly. It rushed toward me, recognizing its prey. As much as I didn’t like being bait in this situation, following me meant the crew would shorten the line and give the fish less opportunity to escape.

Once they pulled me against the side of the ship, I surfaced and called out to everyone above. It was a Nepto Dragon. They weren’t uncommon in the slightest– aether released from the Calamity seeped into the ocean and took hold of regular fish, causing them to grow abnormally large. In this case, a Thalaos. Other than size, they were gifted with larger fins adorned with talons and a new set of sharp teeth. I had caught one working for the guild before, but it wasn’t close to this size.

As the dragon approached, it proved to be advantageous to the crew. But not to me. No longer interested in the lizard on a rope, it focused on staying alive by thrashing around and causing a ruckus. Anything to avoid being reeled in. Its long body provided plenty of momentum to fight back.

As I was being pulled from the water, the dragon swung hard against the ship and slammed into my already injured chest. The air escaped my lungs and I barely felt the pain as I fell unconscious.

It was definitely too soon to go back to work.