#very piratey

[royaltea000]

Talk about haunting the narrative huh

[spearxwind]

sea of thieves rly was like. we are delaying the tenth season soo much its gonna be soooo good you guys <33 and dropping hints for more hunters call content and then the reveal drops and its just guilds. in the year of our lord 2023 (and one more mid world event i guess. coming a month after that but initially planned to be the one thing in season 11. and also the singleplayer mode coming in on december so two months into the "season")

[whumpflash]

Never: Left

cw: hand whump, gore, brief emeto mention, this one gets kinda graphic so be warned :)

"Pick a hand."

James eyed his captor, sullen and silent. For two days, he'd been a prisoner in the brig of his own ship. No food, no water, no idea if the men still loyal to him were even alive. Kept chained to the wall, bound in a bent position by rough rope.

His body ached, his head was pounding, his mouth felt swollen, and here was Peter, first mate turned mutineer, giving him stupid orders.

"Pick a hand," Peter said again, sounding annoyed.

"Why?" James spat out, his voice rasping. "Why should I do anything you ask of me?"

Peter clicked his tongue. "Well now, you don't sound like someone who wants a drink of water."

James scowled. So this was how it was going to be. He'd have to play Peter's games, cave into his demands, just for the pleasure of keeping himself alive. Fine. His life was worth more to him than his pride.

"Left," he said, and Peter's face broke into a smile.

"There we go!" he said, producing a small flask from his hip and unscrewing the lid. He pressed it to James' lips, and he drank, unable to grasp it himself with his hands tied behind his back. It was taken away too soon.

"Now, you said your left hand?" Peter asked, moving behind him. James tensed as his former first mate cut the hand in question loose in such a way that the other was still tied firmly in place. Traitor or not, Peter was skilled with rope tricks. He gripped his wrist tightly, and James winced as his arm was straightened for the first time in days.

Even with one hand freed, the rest of his body was practically immobilized. Trying to fight back at this point would yield only failure. His best hope was to entertain Peter's wishes until the traitor let his guard down.

"Left hand, left hand. Good choice," Peter said, tracing a finger along James' palm. "Now, will you let me cut it off?"

James clenched his jaw. Even though he'd suspected this was the way things were headed, hearing the words spoken out loud sent a shock through him. "What?"

"I want to cut off your hand," Peter said. "But only if you tell me to. Will you?"

What kind of game was he playing now? "No. Why would I?"

"Okay!" Peter said brightly, releasing his arm. James watched him stride out of the room, flexing his fingers. Was that it? Was Peter just trying to mess with his head?

He took a shaky breath as the other man returned a few moments later, carrying what looked like a small anvil.

Of course not. Peter's games were never so simple.

The anvil was placed a few feet to James' left, and he felt a shudder run through him when he saw the metal cuff welded to the top. He was too weak to pull away when Peter grabbed his hand, and could do nothing as he was dragged from the wall, body stretched as far as his restraints allowed, left wrist locked into the anvil.

"I'm going to ask again," Peter said. "Can I cut off your hand?"

James' heart was pounding in his ears, worsening his headache. Should he just say yes? Get whatever Peter had in store over with? Or would he really be spared if he denied the request? He squeezed his eyes shut, thinking of climbing the rigging, steering the ship, engaging in battle. All things better served with two hands intact.

"No," he said at last.

"Okay then," Peter said cheerfully, drawing a small knife. Its edge was polished, razor-sharp. James felt his blood run cold as Peter brought it down to trace the outline of his hand.

"That means I get to convince you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter started with the ring finger. One long deep cut along the inside of it, a few more around the circumference, and he was able to set to work on removing the skin.

No amount of screaming, begging, or threatening would stop him, James found that out within a few minutes. He'd tried to clench his hand into a fist, but Peter struck him against the knuckles with the hilt of the knife and threatened to take an eye if he made this difficult, so he'd given up on that and took to screaming instead.

"Cut it off, cut it off!" he'd screamed as the finger was reduced to bone and muscle, and then not even that as Peter began to slice away at the tendons.

Peter had responded in a calm, friendly voice as he dug the point into the first joint, began to pry it away,

"It's too late for that. You can only tell me to cut it off when I ask you if you're ready for it to be cut off."

So James could only wail helplessly, straining against the bindings that held him in place until his skin burned and bled wherever the rope touched it. He'd be sick if his stomach had anything to give up.

Peter hummed as he carried on, removing more and more of the finger until it was down to the knuckle. He paused then, looking at the bloody space thoughtfully, and for a moment, James dared to hope he was done.

But then Peter jammed the point of the knife into the wound, and James' vision went white with pain. For a blissful few seconds, he knew nothing, felt nothing. But when the world came back to him, Peter was holding his thumb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He didn't know how long it took as the process was repeated, the slow filleting of each finger, the piece-by-piece removal of bone. James' consciousness felt like it had melted into the pain, each new excruciating stroke indistinguishable from the next as he faded in and out of consciousness, barely able to do more than whimper as his body shook and his hand was taken from him one cut at a time.

Eventually, he opened his eyes to see everything gone, the remains of his hand sitting amid discarded flesh and gore. Peter was carving the skin off his palm, still humming a carefree tune. James let out a sound that was something between a sob and an animalistic whine, and Peter's gaze flicked down.

"Ah, you're awake!" he lifted the knife, twirling it between two fingers. "Now I hope you remember the rules, because it's your turn again."

James couldn't speak, couldn't even nod. It had to be over. He couldn't take any more of this slow slicing. It had to be over.

"I think you know what I'm going to ask you," Peter continued.

James only stared up at him. His vision was swimming. He had to stay conscious long enough. He had to be able to say the word, just one word.

"Can I cut off your hand?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

next part

[clamsjams]

just finished jimmys most recent episode and shelby literally stole his badge and made him pay her to get it back. i think pirate joe has rubbed off on her

[constant-and-immovable]

Hmm. Fascinated. Dying to see the pirate girlies fight it out over favorite fucked up pirate man, not counting the OFMD fans, I mean like the "I read under the black flag in middle school and this is now my dna" girilies.

[coconut530]

Gotta be one of the coolest Dragon Prince seasons ever, my god 🌊💔🧞📚🧜🏼‍♀️🎣🏴‍☠️🪵👶🏻

[merrigel]

After many years... Maybe it's new outfit time for Av?

[moonie-presence]

shame i cant find a decent version of to the grand line (this song, to the uninitiated) on spotify because it is such a Chip song to me.

AS MUCH AS I LOVE putting silly songs on the playlists and as silly as Chip is there is this unignorable romance simmering in the low swings of Chip's character, and to the grand line fits like a glove here functionally because it has a similar use and meaning in op.

Obviously at this point you know about gold roger's treasure, wealth power fame all things the world has to offer etc outside of its context it gets used as a joke (which is should bc those jokes are funny) but in context it hits with this incredible weight because its often accompanied by this song symbolizing romance.

and what i mean by romance here isnt literal romance, but rather the traditional idea of romance. Belief, magic, the impossible, etc.

In the context of op the song symbolizes the romance of going out to sea, for better or worse, in pursuit of something that is either long gone or had never existed at all. The kind of faith that launches a ship, regardless of established reason or sense.

In Chip's case these overtures aren't as overt and clear cut, but the reason Chip is here at all is because of this kind of romance. Early on he folds often in the face of danger or conflict, and is aimless on the sea, but his faith that Arlin is alive is there. It is romantic. If we go by the idea that all who set foot on the sea are chasing something, finding something, Chip is very very much no exception. it is his driving force.

As far as Chip is concerned Arlin is indeed alive. Logic doesn't touch this idea. If he goes to sea, he can find what he'd lost, and everything he has ever wanted or needed. He can get it all.

All he has to do is go find it.

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

But Rae, surely you have a copy of Treasure Island, you love pirates, you must have read it before! Yes I have read it but it was a school copy that they made me give back when I left so when I saw the nice nice Waterstones clothbound classics edition with the pretty pretty cover while I was away the other week I went yoink

[thingswhatareawesome]

finally caught up on job quests for monk and nin, monk just reminded me how much i HATE some of the job quests bc it's just an npc being an asshole to you over and over and over. if that one professor calls us derogatory names one more time i swear i'm going to punch a dev.

but god, i hate playing nin, how did they make it so different from rogue, how did they think that nin is some natural progression from rogue. i hate the whole expectation to memorize those mudra combos, which btw is EXTREMELY unfriendly to doing it as an alt job bc if you take a break and come back to it you're fucked bc you've forgotten them all have fun relearning them (esp if you hate playing nin so you level it via pvp and wondrous tales journal turnins)

but also idk, nin just isn't fun to play, and god i hate its job questlines. so tedious, and that one sparrow or swallow or w/e is 10000000% fucking useless, she does *nothing*. also ofc there's a creepy lecherous old man, gotta love an annoying quest with a side dish of sexual harassment, come on lady, kick that old man in the head. and also quit being a helpless damsel in distress you're just as much a ninja as this dithering male npc.

i'm so lucky i played drg first, so many of the other job quests are just so completely terrible (lol let me my previous rants about warrior and pld). like early on i was disappointed that they stopped doing job quests and just made it role quests, but god now i'm glad.

[khaoray]

i know i've said it before but download sites limiting your download speed and/or limiting the amount you can download so that 90% of their catalogue is off limits to you in an effort to get you to pay for premium is so evil

[blujayonthewing]

I will never be a man with long hair 😔

[pirates-and-posies]

Thinking of changing my theme again nDGHJ

[hellenhighwater]

I'm joining an ongoing D&D campaign that the DM described as "very piratey, like if One Piece was D&D," and he's said he's pretty much been letting people do whatever with character design so long as it's not too OP.

I think I want my character to be an Awakened ship's figurehead (the awakening cast by a passing, possibly drunk, wizard). She was the HMS Adamant, a naval battleship, and was very happy in that position until the Adamant was rammed broadside by a pirate vessel (name unknown but maybe it could be plot relevant?) and when the Adamant went down, the figurehead broke loose and drifted for a while.

She goes by Adda, these days.

I think she's going to be carved in the figure of an aarakocra, mostly because I've played them a bit and I have a spare mini. She'll use aarakocra stats but maybe have some different damage immunities/vulnerabilities due to being made of wood.

Now I just need to decide what class she should be....

[re-bee-key]

One thing I really like about the OPLA is just how piratey it is.

I know that sounds silly since its a pirate show. But one thing about the anime, is that it doesnt really feel very piratey. Im not sure why, maybe the music choices.

OPLA has all of the pirate charm. Big seeeping ocean shots. Swelling adventurous music. Swashbuckling and danger.

I also really like how it builds up the different types of pirates you see.

First God Roger, Alvida, and Shanks. All very classic pirates. Their clothing and weapons what you would expect from a pirate.

But then we get to Buggy. And, I'll have to rewatch to make sure, but I think there was this moment, right before Buggy's circus was revealed. That Nami warned Zoro they needed to wait and think of a plan because they didnt know what to expect. And Zoro was like "They are pirates. What more is there to epect?". Something like that. And immediately the crate walls fall away and carnival music plays.

Basically laughing at our notions of what it means to ge a pirate. Just like Luffy being a kind hearted pirate, pirates can be anything.

The show continues to show us that with butler cat pirates, cooking pirates, and fishman pirates.

Ive been a fan for over 15 years, and I never realized how Oda is basically making a point. That pirates, just like heroes, just like all of us, dont have to be one thing. We make our own stories. Our own dreams. And we can be anything.

God I love One Piece

[sporesgalaxy]

no one asked but in japanese pierro would not be bold enough to use masculine self-pronouns in normal non-piratey circumstances. however. men still use "watashi" when they are being very very formal/polite. this implies a scenario in which pierro first meets either buggy or a buggy pirate, and probably has to fight them, and they assume he is a guy despite the watashi pronouns because he's just being that profusely polite (during a fight). this is not at all out of character for pierro and i need to write that so bad when I have time. over-the-top politeness also follows well with pierro's stupid nickname for buggy being "Mr. The Clown."

I just love the idea of pierro being habitually apologetic and polite but it like very obviously being a front that breaks when he's thrown off balance or drunk. this has always been true i just didnt think of it structurally as a juxtaposition until now. teehee.