starryygarden

[itsfantasticac]

Sengoku Ace key art, by Hirofumi Nakamura.

Gamest Mook Vol. 113 - Psikyo Illustrations Psi (Mar. 18, '98), pg. 101

[jet-grind]

[multifandomnonsense]

[lostuzumaki]

Happy Halloween!

(Reincarnated Luffy au special 🎃)

Link for those who want to know about this au and read it: Part 1

[arcadebroke]

[inpursuitofnunchi]

Post-war marineford is probably one of the most brilliant explorations of grief I've seen in fiction. From Luffy's justified unbearable grief to Dadan's screaming anguish for her foster kids, to Garp's guilt. It's such remarkable writing that reflects such a deep understanding for human emotions. Luffy drowning in grief and then the thought of his "nakamas" anchoring him back, letting in the light in his thoughts. Poetic cinema.

[loudtimemachinewitch]

They came from All Blue

[eroguron0nsense]

Garp Rant #11543

Because I'm something of a Certified Garp Hater/extremely obsessed with this man, and because Tumblr people seem to like my Garp takes and/or find them extremely pain-inducing, here's another one for funsies! Again, Garp is an incredibly written character and I massively enjoy his moral failings and human shortcomings, hence why I won't shut up about how much he sucks. So we all remember Garp crying in front of Ace during his imprisonment and awaiting his execution, lamenting the fact that his son and grandson could have maybe avoided this horrible horrible fate that awaits them at Marineford if they'd just become good marines like he'd tried to press them into. Every time he says it, he sounds more desperate, sadder, and angrier, like he's experiencing the stages of grief and going through denial, anger bargaining all at once, lashing out at his grandkids for supposedly causing him grief by defying his wishes, or maybe praying or wishing for a world where they could have followed in his footsteps and lived happily ever after. And when Ace hears that again at Impel Down, he says this:

Here's the thing though: Ace is unequivocally correct Garp should, by all rights, know this. He lived through the fallout of Roger's execution. He knew long before that exactly what would happen to Roger's loved ones and anyone the government could get their hands on who'd ever associated with him. Even before they started committing femicides/infanticides in Baterilla trying to end Roger's bloodline, he knew that the Marines were going to target completely innocent people in the name of purging the bloodline and cementing their "victory" over the greatest threat they'd ever faced. He specifically had to smuggle Rouge out of there so she could give birth to Ace, and all the while dozens of families were being brutalized by his peers and having their lives torn apart. That was the cost the Marines were willing to incur to kill a hypothetical infant, and years later, when that very same child is set to be executed, Sengoku goes on a remorseless public tirade about the necessity of killing babies and the horrible trickery and audacity Rouge displayed by dying so that they wouldn't kill her baby too.

Garp knows every single piece of this information in painful, excruciating detail. He's so horrified by it he feels the need to fulfill this wish of Roger's because he knows blameless people will die. He has Ace raised in secret to protect him from Marines who are figuratively and literally out for his blood. And yet, throughout this boy's childhood, he clings to the notion that maybe, just maybe, the people he knows regularly commit atrocities, who have carried out at least 3 genocides that we know of in Garp's lifetime, who were willing to commit mass infanticide for a woman and child they hadn't verified the existence or identity of at the time, would have accepted him within their ranks and turned a blind eye to that information when it eventually, inevitably surfaced. That Ace can find salvation from the people who stole every loved one he ever had before he was even born, who slaughtered his mother's community and pushed her to her death, and were slavering at the opportunity to kill her. That even though Ace was born in direct opposition to them, has had a target trained on him before he was born, these people who tried so goddamn hard to kill him would surely welcome his presence and not murder him the second they found out if he could just be a compliant model soldier and make himself useful. It's hammered home pretty effectively–especially in the manga– and One Piece has never been known to be subtle in its messaging, but I swear to God I see so many people echoing the notion that Garp's attempts to force his grandchildren into serving the Evil Empire was done because he knew was their only shot at safety from the WG, and I fucking despise this take. Ace saying that he could never be a marine here in Impel Down isn't some young man's rationalization for his (beyond valid) desire not to subscribe to the preset path Garp laid out for him; it's literally the only logical conclusion if you know literally anything about the circumstances of his birth and upbringing, and Garp only thinks that the leopards wouldn't eat Ace's face because he's fucking delusional This in and of itself is extremely telling of how horribly warped Garp's perception of the Navy is, and how deeply he's willing to buy into the Marines and their warped propaganda no matter how many glaring examples he sees throughout his life that counter his worldview, but let's not forget that this applies to Luffy too. This is slightly hairier, in that if Luffy was a) the sort of person who could willingly accept a career in the marines and b) managed to cling really, really tightly to his grandfather's coattails and legacy, there might have been a very, infinitesimally small chance that he could have joined the Navy. The higher ups know that Dragon is Garp's son and therefore Luffy is Dragon's by logical inference, but I could see some AU where Luffy is a fundamentally different person and manages to build himself up in the Navy if not for two things I think warrant examination. It's pretty evident, and Dragon explicitly confirms, that Luffy being known as his son would have put him in incredible danger, only feeling comfortable with acknowledging it and the possibility of actually reuniting with his child after Luffy was both publicly recognized due to factors beyond his control, and proved that he was more than capable of holding his own. But I want to draw attention to this one otherwise pretty silly little gag moment between Garp and Sengoku when they learn that Luffy's broken into Impel Down, and present a theory that's kind of a reach but also not really

Now the phrasing here kind of interests me, in that it ties back to earlier demonstrated patterns that the Navy uses repeatedly in collective punishment for the families and loved ones of their primary targets. Rouge and Ace barely escaped the mass murders intended for them because of their connection, but Tom was also originally sentenced to death for having had a connection to Roger, and ultimately chose that as the offence he wanted to be sentenced for at Enies Lobby. Law, as a child survivor of Flevance, has multiple hospitals try and turn him in to the World Government to be killed when Cora tries to find someone to treat him because their policy is to pull out the roots and salt the earth whenever they deem a person or population politically inconvenient. Robin's flashback shows us Akainu blowing up a refugee boat on the off chance that one of those people that they were planning to evacuate might have gotten past their initial screening for archaeologists/poneglyph readers. At Marineford, Akainu specifically targets Luffy not because of his prior offences or even his attempt to rescue Ace, but because he's Dragon's son and his and Roger's bloodlines need to be eradicated. This is not an institution that is in any way reluctant to destroy anyone tangentially affiliated to a designated enemy, and Luffy being the son of the worst criminal in history seems to put him right in line with all of those other cases. In light of this, and Garp's massive blind spots and wishful thinking regarding his peers and employers, it's not that much of a stretch to assume that the only reason Garp's exempt from being targeted like Dragon is because of his popularity/symbolic importance/utility, and that Luffy likely wouldn't have been safe even if he weren't a pirate. Garp's circle of confidantes/friends in high places is powerful, but clearly there are factions (Akainu, Ryokugyu etc) that would be substantially less willing and who are given preferential treatment by the Elders and Celestial Dragons. There might be something to read into based on the fact that Garp is the only known person from a D bloodline who's achieved massive success in service to the World Government and not defected from the Navy after realizing its true nature (props to Saul), and therefore he might project the fact that he's been rewarded by the system despite being a "sworn enemy of the Gods" onto his family, but that still doesn't account for the massive, delusional arrogance he displays in insisting that, despite everything–especially, especially the murders committed in pursuit of Ace, that robbed him of his birth mother and community–the Navy is the best and safest place for either of those boys. TLDR Garp not wanting his grandsons to have a bounties on their heads is one thing, but it says a lot that in spite of everything he knows, he's willing/determined to put Ace and Luffy in an environment that's extremely dangerous for them –and in Ace's case 100%, unquestionably fatal– because he's so convinced that compliance and the platonic ideals of "justice" and military service/hard work being rewarded by the system could supersede all of that.

[luxthestrange]

OP Incorrect quotes#10 Garp's One Fear...

In A marines meeting

Garp*Eating with a spaced out look* -You know what Teenage Girls don't care about?...

Sengoku*Looking at him weirdly*"Since when was he raising a teenage girl?"...

Bogard*Raises brow at him*...

Garp: Is your feelings...*Sees their confused expression and cackles knowing Sengoku got a son and the other admirals who may have daughters*HAHAA-OH MAN I'm sure your daughter or granddaughter have said something to your face and-

Garp: "I would punch a grown man in the mouth for saying that shit to me" Can I tell the shit she said to me-

Garp starts to explain how he took you and his kids to the beach...on his vacation to see you all

Garp: WE WERE AT THE BEACH-and'm at the beach wearing beach attire you know shorts, no shirt...She is reading a book by the way they deliver their insults WITH ZERO EMOTIONS...right to your face super matter-a-fact...

-At said beach with you reading a book and passing by Garp who was putting sunscreen and Ace,Sabo & Luffy making the biggest sandcaste already in the back-

Teenage!Y/n*Looks at him briefly*...Nice Titties

Garp*Freezes and looks as you sit down under the shade*...THESE are pecs...

Teenage!Y/n*Not looking back at him*Maybe they USED to be...but those are titties now

-Back to Meeting-

Garp*Deppressed his face on the table*-RIGHT TO MY FUCKING FACE-

[demifiendrsa]

Capcom 40th anniversary commemorative illustration by Kazuya Nuri

[skala-w]

Stickers❤️

[itsfantasticac]

Guest illustration for the Saturn version of Sengoku Blade, by Katsuya Terada.

Gamest Mook Vol. 113 - Psikyo Illustrations (Mar. 18, '98), pg. 64

[grandpuppylight]

Check out this amazing AU from ReynaAtTheEnd

This not my story but the person who owns it doesn't have tumblr. So I decided that the one piece tumblr fandom needs this in their life. The synopsis is that king finds out the seraphim exit 7 days before marineford. Three hours before the execution is to acure Sengoku gets a call from Egghead. Chaos insues. Chapters 1-20 up now the author does not have an upload schedule. Now for just one interesting insight to the story, the author is making Moria a bigger threat than he already was.

Ch. 1-17 arc 1

Ch. 18-24 arc 2

Ch. 25-33 arc 3

Ch. 34-43 arc 4

Ch. 44- ongoing arc 5

The author has decided to call it the "Age of Emperors AU"

[legend-had-it]

these parallels go crazy

[kacievvbbbb]

Garp and Compliance

I do think Garp is a very complicated man with very complicated motivations and actions. He is the definition of lawful chaotic. And I do genuinely believe that he joined the marines cause he wanted to do good in the world and that was how he saw how. But I also believe he is a great example of how the willful compliance of the few "good" help maintain the power of a bad system and how that is a part of the problem. does it matter if there are a few good men if the entire system is bad?

But I also do believe that he wanted his kids to drink the marine cool aid like him to keep them safe, Ace particularly. Like I do genuinely believe that.

Like listen they have the "D" just by being alive they are a threat to the world government and it will always want them dead and those they love dead by association. Hell even Sengoku tells Garp that he would have been executed long ago for the crimes of his family if he wasnt so valuable as the Hero of the Marines, anf it's played off like a joke but given everything we know about the marines and the world government it was very much a real threat.

But they haven't because Garp is valuable, he doesn't follow order, his family are all some of the most dangerous criminals in the world and he acts entirely too much like a pirate himself never mind that he and his lineage bare the ultimate sin of having a "D" in their name. But he gets to live, he is safe because he is valuable. And so by that logic if those kids get into the marines, if they complied and become strong, indispensable, invaluable. Then maybe that will keep them safe, maybe it will keep even Ace safe, a boy who committed the gravest only crime against the marines by being born the son of a man the government killed 22 years ago.

And if they are safe then maybe Garp doesn't have to confront the tyranny he swore to protect.

[arcadebroke]