#what other vice admiral would be at Roger’s execution?

[delicatefury]

I started watching Netflix One Piece last night. Only got halfway through the first episode, because I was already half asleep, so I’m going to rewatch it to make sure lack of sleep isn’t the reason I think this, but…

I think I like it. I like it a lot. I was actually getting excited while watching it.

Because you can tell that for once, in a massive break from “Hollywood as usual”, the team behind the show loves the source material. They have read the manga, watched the anime, listened to Oda, and are dedicated to keeping to the spirit of Oda’s story.

Wanna know how I know? The details. I’m just blown away by how dedicated they are to including all these little details in episode one that won’t pay off for seasons!

Like a member of Baroque Works trying to recruit Zoro. Or the Marine symbol on the “Gum-gum” fruit’s case. Wanted posters for pirates we won’t meet for several arcs. How I can recognize every character on sight even with the adjustments to keep things from being too cartoony.

It really feels like the people behind this series love One Piece. They love adventure tales. They love Oda’s world and how vibrant and lively it is, even when the main characters aren’t there.

And they didn’t skimp on the budget. This feels like a different world. This feels like a land of pirates and oceans and great beasts and devil fruits. And I was surprised by how good Luffy and his fighting looks.

Like I said, I only got partway through the first episode before I realized I needed to stop and actually sleep. But if the rest of the series holds up to those first 20 minutes? Dear Lord, we might actually have something special here.

[invye]

How They Met [2/3] - CoraHawk

[CoraMiShanks Fix It AU]

I think it's time I write up my thoughts about how exactly Mihawk, Shanks and Rosinante met and outline the start of what will become their relationship. And since I am pathologically incapable of writing short posts, I'll cut it into three, so I can take my time.

Mihawk & Shanks [link]

Mihawk & Rosinante/Corazón [this post]

Rosinante & Shanks [link]

- Mihawk & Rosinante/Corazón -

Technically, Mihawk meets Rosinante before he meets Corazón. It just takes until meeting Corazón for him to realise that he did indeed cross paths with then Marine Ensign Rosinante a couple years back.

For that he can 'thank' Vice Admiral Garp. The Warlord system was created about a year into the aftermath of Rogers' execution; and with nothing better to do, Garp apparently decided that Mihawk would make an excellent addition. They spent another year playing catch across the Grand Line, with way too many cannonballs lobbed at Hitsugibune way too close for comfort, until Mihawk gave in.

Really it was less giving in and more getting bored. He had fought his way through the new and coming pirates, had found himself the old and established swordsmen and beat them all. Two years and the only interesting challenge left for him was Shanks, and the Dark King Rayleigh, whenever he deigned to resurface again. It wouldn't be long until the title is his, some people already considering him the Strongest Swordsman, and with the amount of Marines he has killed along the way, he's gained quite a lot of attention. A fact that becomes annoying as the Marines sent after him are more of an insult than a threat.

So Mihawk accepts Garp's invitation to join the Warlords. His acceptance was met by Garp laughing, clapping him on the back and then turning to a blond Ensign and saying: "See Rosinante, I told your old man I'd get him!"

Mihawk didn't make a habit of remembering Marine Ensigns, but when five years later that very same Marine turns up at the Warlord meeting as a silent shadow to Doflamingo? Colour him intrigued. He knew it was worth attending the meetings for the wine and the drama alone.

Corazón is not having a good time. Two months in deep cover and he couldn't convince Doffy not to drag him everywhere and loudly announce his long lost brother returned. So now he's standing in the corner of a room with six of the Seven Warlords assembled and has to pretend he doesn't know Sengoku sitting at the other end of the table. To make matters worse Doffy is making a scene as usual and the (former? please say former--) Marine Hunter has been unblinkingly staring at him ever since they walked in.

To make it even worse, Knight of the Sea Jinbe, leans over to Mihawk, says something, receives a response and then proceeds to give Rosinante Corazón an extended quizzical look of his own. The cherry on top comes at the end of the meeting, in form of Dracule Mihawk, Marine Hunter, walking by Corazón on his way out and quietly, just for them to hear, saying: "Good luck on your assignment, Donquixote Rosinante. You will need it."

Corazón falls over his own feet with how quickly he rushes after him.

Turns out the Marine Hunter / Strongest Swordsman / (Hawkeyes?) / Dracule Mihawk a) is not at all intimidated by Rosinante's silence ability, b) remembers Rosinante from his Ensign days on Uncle Garp's ship, c) dislikes Doffy with an unexpected fervour and d) thinks Rosinante is the worst possible choice for the job. Great.

Oh and also his Observation Haki is so strong that even despite the Silence blocking out all sound, he knows Doffy is about to walk in on them having a conversation. With words. That he isn't supposed to be able to speak.

Corazón swears he has been given extensive undercover training before all this. He swears. The deep cover preparation was a whole big thing across an entire year. But how is he, an alleged mute, supposed to explain away an extended interaction with another Warlord during which he didn't write a single note??

So here he is. Kissing the Marine Hunter and praying that Hawkeyes won't kill him for it. Or blow his cover.

And for some insane reason Rosinante will never forget to thank his luck for, Hawkeyes goes with it. Kisses him back (okay, first off, wow), gives Doffy the coldest side eye that has even his insane brother take a step back, says something about Rosinante better being safe in the upcoming storm, and manages to slip him his contact information under the guise of pulling out Rosinante's sunglasses which he proceeds to put on his face for him.

Rosinante Corazón is floored.

Doffy is delighted that his brother brings a connection this powerful to the table.

The message going along with Hawkeyes' number reads: "For when you inevitably require competent assistance" in perfect cursive that Mihawk must have written before all this.

[akwolfgrl]

LFT 30

Luffy had lost the cool smoke trail, but he did at least recognize where he currently was. He headed straight for the old man's bar from yesterday. He would just have to find what he was looking for later. He opened the door and walked inside. The old guy from yesterday was sweeping the floors. He looked up when Luffy walked in.

“Oh your back I see,”

“I told you I would be!” Luffy hopped up onto the same bra stool from yesterday. “Got any more cool stories for me?” He asked excitedly.

“Hmm I might have a good one,” The old man put away his broom and went behind the bar to pour two glasses. “This pirate hasn't been heard from in nine years, him and his whole crew vanished without a trace, it's said his kicks where so powerful he could cursh bloder and leave his foot prints in steal. His name came from the blood that would cover his boots after he was done. The Red Leg Zeff,”

“Oh! I know him! He has a peg leg, a tall funny hat and a long mustache, his kicks hurt almost as much as Sanjis,” But Sanji and Nami hurt him more because they loved him. Just like with his grandpa's fists of love. “He has a funny shaped boat! It's shaped like a fish, and it's a reastrunt, but it's kinda broken right now,” Luffy drank the milk the guy poured for him. “Tell me more!” He could always tell Sanji the stories later, and he could add his own details.

“Huh, well, there are rumors that he fled the grand line after kicking a celestial dragons head clean off his body, but there other rumors that it was an admiral and threw his chest,”

Luffy leaned forward eager to here more.

<>

Smoker entered the rundown gold Roger bar. Raoul, the old man who owned, looked up from behind the bar.

“Ugh, so it's you,” He looked away upset.

“Now that's no way to treat a customer, especially your only one,” Smoker teased the man.

“Why don't you cut the crap? You just wana see me close this place down,” Raoul snapped at him.

“You don't have a right to be angry with me,” Smoker informed him as he took a seat at the bar. “I didn't turn all the pirates around here into cowereds. That was all them,” Raoul ignored him and went to do stuff behind the bar, and his back turned to him. “They are just too weak to go against me, how can they survive the grandline if they can't even go up against me,” Smoker knew he was strong but he was also aware that he was nothing compared to the admirals and the vice admirals. He noticed two glasses on the bar. “Well isn't that nice? You had a customer other me after all,” Smoker didn't hate the old man. He felt pity for the guy. “I think I'd like a taste of rum old man,”

“I don't have any for you,” That finally provoked a response. Smoker ignored him and used the smoke from his cigar to grab the bottle from himself.

“Don't be such a bastard. After all, today is a very special day,” Raoul paused in whatever he was doing. Smoker pulled the cork out of the bottle. “Don't you think?” He asked retochily, taking a swig from the bottle. He could feel some of drip down his chin and neck. “Good stuff,” Raoul had good quality booze.

Shortly after getting lost in memories of Gold Rogers execution and young marine brust therw the door.

“Hey, here's the new water poster put where people can see it,” Smoker turned to look at the young man. He dropped his paper to suilt him. “Captain Smoker, my apologies, sir!” He had seen a flash of yellow as the paper fluttered to the ground.

“Huh?” He got off his stool and went to pick up the new poster it was a picture of a young teen with a big grin on his face and a familler hat. “That's a starwhat. That kid from earlier was Monkey D Luffy,” Pirates are getting younger every year, not just him getting older. He couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen. He had the same name as Vice Admiral Garp. It seemed like Garp had torbles with his kin doing the exact opposite of becoming a marine. Smoker knew exactly where to find this Luffy, the executious platform.

[omgsquee2001]

Prologue

This is a world like no other, one brimming with mystery and teeming with danger, filled with hundreds of islands strewn across vast seas.

And throughout these seas, are those who live according to their own rules.

Who seek a life of freedom and adventure. This is a world of pirates!

Loguetown, 22 years ago

"Piracy is a scourge upon this world!" A man shouted to the crowd gathered in the square of Loguetown. Today, the infamous King of the Pirates, Gold D. Roger, was to be executed for his crimes as a pirate, and his crime against the World Government. "For too long, villains and miscreants have sown havoc  across our seas. But the Marines, on behalf of your World Government, strive to keep you safe and protected." The man shouting was Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp of the Marines.  Gold D. Roger walked up to the execution block. He knew what was going to happen. He knew that his time had come. "And today, we've made a great stride in that effort." Garp continued. The chains on Roger's ankles rattled as he walked. People in the crowd shouted, either cheering for the King of the Pirates to be executed, or shouting in retaliation against the execution. "Gold Roger, the so-called King of the Pirates, has been captured. His reign of terror ends this day. Peace shall be restored. Let this be a message to break the spirit of anyone foolish enough to to follow in his footsteps." Garp said. His voice was filled with confidence. In the crowd, two hooded figures, one light blue and one dark blue, stood out amongst the civilians and pirates alike. Light purple wisps of energy surrounded the figure in the light blue cloak, a woman. Her partner glanced at her and took her hand. He leaned into her ear so that she could hear him over the shouting of the crowd.

"Sisu, don't. We can't interfere with the World Government." Her partner said quietly, yet loudly enough for his wife to hear him. The woman, Sisu, her turquoise eyes shinning with sadness and anger, looked at her husband, Jagan.

"Roger is our friend, Jagan. We can't just stand by and do nothing. We must fight for him." Sisu argued back. Jagan sighed.  

"I am just as upset as you, my love. But think of Raya. If we retaliate, we may never see her again." Jagan said. Sisu sighed. She thought of her little girl back home in the Grand Line. If she and her husband were caught now, then they would most likely never see her again. They would never be able to teach their daughter about her unique abilities. Sisu closed her eyes and nodded. The purple energy subsided. The couples' attention was brought back to their friend. 

"Gold Roger, you have been sentenced to death for the crimes of piracy, thievery, and conspiracy against the World Government. Do you have any last words?" Garp asked. Roger looked around. 

"Yeah. Would you take these off? Starting to itch." Roger said with humor in his voice. Garp looked over at Roger with a serious look on his face. 

"I warned you. Sisu and Jagan warned you. You brought this upon yourself." Garp said in a low voice. Roger nodded and looked a the man. 

"That I did, Vice-Admiral. Now I'm bringing it to one and all. Just promise me that Raya won't be harmed." Roger said. Garp sighed and shook his head. 

"You know I can't promise that. In the eyes of the World Government, her abilities are unnatural." Garp said. Roger sighed and nodded. He looked out among the crowd and made eye contact with turquoise and brown eyes, covered by the hoods of cloaks. 

"I was afraid of that. But no matter. I know that Sisu and Jagan will take care of her." He said. He thought about his God Daughter, feelings of sadness that he would never be able to see her grow into the powerful woman he knew she would be. Garp sighed and turned back to face the crowd. 

"By the authority of the World Government," Roger was forced to his knees, pikes facing his back. "I declare your life forfeit." Garp declared. A voice rang out amongst the crowd, 

"Pirate King, where is your treasure?" The voice shouted. Roger's shoulders shook with laughter. Members of the crowd stared at the Pirate King as if he had gone mad. How could someone be so cheerful on the day of their execution? 

"You want to know where my treasure is?" Roger shouted, his voice ringing out amongst the crowd. "I'll tell you. Wealth. Fame. Power. I found everything this world has to offer. Free yourselves. Take to the seas! My treasure is yours to find." Roger said. Cheers and whistles rang out amongst the crowd. Sisu and Jagan looked at each other and nodded. They had lingered there too long. In a flash of purple, two blue crows flew above the crowd. They were too distracted by the execution happening to notice. The only people who noticed the crows were Garp and Roger.  

~~~~  //Here is the prologue to the Live Action version of One Piece, which, I am excited to announce, has been confirmed that there will be a second season! I can't wait to watch it! I hope you enjoy this fanfiction. If there is anything you think I could improve upon or fix, please let me know, but be kind about it.//

[jasonblaze72]

Who Saved Luffy from Drowning in Wano? What Happened Actually?

Luffy, the boy who wants to become the pirate king and be in a world where his friends never have to sleep on an empty stomach, and there is equality for all. This all started when he ate a devil fruit, and his body became somewhat rubbery. He is the captain of the Straw Hat Group along with Zoro, Sanji, and notably many others.   However, this would have all drowned that day when Luffy, the main protagonist of the renowned anime series One Piece, almost died from drowning in Wano. What many people don't know about is who actually saved him that day and made it possible for all the fans worldwide for the final saga. As it is on a hiatus for the last part, we were blessed with some amazing movies recently which were highly anticipated by One Piece Fans worldwide. Eiichiro Oda as he deserves to be gained appreciation on the global level to make possible this anime, sorry an emotion.  Well, fans may not be able to know what One Piece is or when will it be discovered by the Straw Hats, but it is time that the mystery man, the savior of Luffy, be discovered. That is what Otakukart is here for. If any other mystery regarding any anime is bugging you day and night, Know where to find the answers. Also Read: Is One Piece Red Canon? Explaining the Massively Popular Movie https://youtu.be/89JWRYEIG-s Who is Luffy? In the first chapter, Luffy made his appearance as a little boy who unintentionally ate one of the devilish fruits, the Gum-Gum Fruit, also referred to as the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, and became rubbery. As the leader of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy has always had dreams of being a pirate, thanks to the influence of his hero Red-Haired Shanks. To surpass Gol D. Roger as "King of the Pirates," 17-year-old Luffy sets out from the East Blue Sea towards the Grand Line in pursuit of the fabled treasure One Piece. On his voyage, he faces enemies, helps locals on various islands, and develops friendships with them. Normally jovial, when he fights, he turns serious and even hostile. Luffy executes a variety of blows by concentrating his power and using his elasticity. Gum-Gum Pistol, his hallmark move, involves him slingshotting blows at adversaries from a distance. As evidenced by his "bounty," which is meant to gauge the threat he represents to the World Government, Luffy also gains strength throughout the course of the narrative. He is the son of Monkey D. Dragon, the head of the Rebel Army, and the descendant of Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp. He is also the pledged brother of Portgas D. Ace and Sabo. As a carefree, fun-loving, upbeat guy associated with a high determination and a ravenous appetite, Luffy is described as frequently speaking with his stomach and playfully devouring himself. He is normally kind-hearted and upbeat, but he is not as stupid as people think he is, and he frequently shows more awareness than the other characters anticipate. Luffy is prepared to put his life in jeopardy even though he is aware of the danger so he can rule the pirates and defend his crew. He is a capable and trustworthy captain who never jeopardizes the safety of his team or himself out of ignorance. Smoker, a navy commander at the time, tells Luffy that he "enjoys playing foolish" in the Loguetown tale arc, and Luffy answers with an enigmatic smile. Despite his laid-back demeanor, he is respected in different ways by every member of the team. When acting, Luffy rarely considers the effects of his decisions; he simply does what feels right at the time, even if it results in tremendous force retaliating. He is a fiercely devoted captain who has repeatedly shown throughout the series that he is very much ready to give his own life to ensure the safety of his crew. Who Saved Luffy from Drowning in Wano? Luffy washed up ashore on Wano, no one helped him, you can say it was a plot armor. Nobody is even close enough to save Luffy at this point as he is incapacitated, hurt, and sinking. Fortunately, Shanks saved Luffy's life in his village twelve years prior. In order to protect Luffy from the Sea King, he gave his arm as a sacrifice. Shanks claimed he staked his future on it. He most likely did this on purpose to demonstrate to Luffy the requirements for being a pirate. Also Read: When Is One Piece Ending? The Biggest Battle Yet To Arrive Read the full article

[mayihavethisdanse]

“What is this, the Dark Ages?”

Or, Arthurian themes and allusions in the Brotherhood of Steel mythos as seen in Fallout 4. (But that’s a lot of words.)

Yep. We're doing this. 

First, some obligatory caveats: there is no single Arthurian canon, just 1500 years of assorted fanfic based on the whims of whoever was writing at the time. For this extremely highbrow Tumblr meta, I have ignored most of it and drawn on my favorites. Also Wikipedia.

Also, I am not an expert in Arthurian literature (or Fallout lore, come to that), and I preemptively beg the pardon of anyone who is.

Finally, in no way am I claiming that all these parallels and thematic echoes are deliberate or even significant. In fact, I'd break it down into:

Clearly deliberate allusions, whether in or out of universe;

Probably coincidence, but could be someone deliberately capitalizing on a coincidental similarity;

Almost certainly coincidence, but fun to speculate about; annnnd

Blatant Monty Python references. (Because of course there are.)

I'll start with the big one.

Arthur Maxson, boy king and unifier

(source)

So across all the retellings and variations of King Arthur’s life story, there are a few consistent elements, particularly in his early life and rise to power. Some of these threads are echoed in the Fallout universe, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the person of Arthur Maxson.

Both the legendary King Arthur and Arthur Maxson were born with a claim to power lying in their ancestry, both were fostered away from their families, and both proved themselves in combat at a young age. 

King Arthur united the warring kingdoms of Britain into a single entity, making them stronger against outsiders and receiving general admiration and acclaim. Arthur Maxson united the divided factions of the BoS after the events of Fallout 3 and is held in similarly high regard by his men.

The name Prydwen is a reference to the ship of the original King Arthur. Presumably, Arthur Maxson (or someone in the BoS who anticipated his promotion) christened the airship in a deliberate homage to the Arthurian myth.

King Arthur is associated with his legendary sword. I think it’s notable that Maxson’s legend is associated with a bladed weapon, too. ("He killed a DEATHCLAW with a COMBAT KNIFE!”)

Probably coincidence, but fun: the historical emperor Magnus Maximus, who pops up a lot in early Arthurian legend, was known in Welsh as... Macsen. (⌐■_■)

Round Table, but make it dieselpunk

(Continued under the cut.)

Moving away from obvious allusions and into some looser parallels:

Like the Round Table, the Brotherhood is an exclusive knightly order with its leader being the one able to open it up to his chosen few.

Like the Round Table, the BoS sees itself as defending human civilization against forces of chaos. (I’ll touch on their tech-hoarding tendencies when I get to the Grail stuff.) This idea of civilization in the face of chaos goes back to the BoS’s founding, even though the level of isolationism we see in most of the Fallout franchise is not exactly what founder Roger Maxson had in mind: “Notably, Maxson's ultimate intention was to establish the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers.” (source) In a lot of ways, Arthur Maxson represents a return to his ancestor’s original ideals.

Renegade knights? Internal politics? Traitors within? We gotchu.

In both the medieval legends and in all chapters of the BoS we’ve seen, there’s a big focus on bloodlines (ew). Ironically, it’s probably Arthur Maxson’s unquestionable ancestry that allows him to be more progressive than either of his East Coast predecessors when it comes to boosting Brotherhood numbers by recruitment (even though you can still see a clear division between “born Brotherhood” and recruited soldiers, but that’s a topic for another day). Maxson sees himself as an Elder who "cares for the people"—however misguided and patronizing that attitude might be—and whatever else you might say about the guy, you can't say he doesn't believe he has a duty. Which brings us to…

Know Your Enemy: Danse as Gawain

Before I start this section, an acknowledgement of authorial bias:

Gawain, as portrayed in the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is my very favorite of King Arthur’s knights. (Other stories aren't always as flattering, but like I said at the outset: I'm sticking to the ones I like.)

That poem is my very favorite piece of medieval Arthurian literature. In this section, I'll refer to the modern English translation by Simon Armitage.

...that’s it, I have no other biases to disclose. 

What? 👀

(Art: Clive Hicks-Jenkins)

All right. So in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, you’ve got this himbo loyal knight of Arthur’s who finds himself caught up in... you know what, let me just paste in the Wikipedia summary. (The Toast, RIP, also did a pretty entertaining and more-or-less accurate recap.)

It describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is called into question by a test involving the lord and the lady of the castle where he is a guest.

Don’t worry too much about the plot details, though; for this post, I’m more interested in the thematic parallels. The Green Knight story is full of contrasts: order vs. chaos, civilization vs. wilderness, mortal man vs. Other... but let’s start with Gawain himself. 

Some stuff to know about Gawain:

He was "as good as the purest gold, devoid of vices but virtuous and loyal". Gawain took his principles more seriously even than the rest of Arthur’s knights, not out of pride but out of humility: "I would rather drop dead than default from duty," he says. 

He’s faithful and honorable and never even tempted to betray an oath, even when offered every variety of seduction and riches, except for a single moment of weakness in a desperate desire not to be executed for random shit by powerful forces for reasons he doesn't understand.  

Even though he doesn’t really understand why he needs to die, he sticks to his oath. Gawain's one weakness is a moment of desperate, private, human desire for survival. He'll submit to the headsman’s axe if he has to, but he'd still rather live. 

Above all, Gawain is the ideal of a human man: he might be the bravest and loyal man there is, but he’s still fundamentally human.

You can probably see where I'm going with this.

A few more fun facts about Gawain that resonate with Paladin Danse’s story:

He’s got a bunch of really shitty brothers. (No comment.)

Gawain (SPOILERS!) doesn't actually end up beheaded, but he does willingly kneel for his execution and gets a cut on the throat as a reminder of his sin. And, uh, Danse can also get his throat cut! It doesn’t end as nicely but it’s, you know, a thing that can happen.

Gawain might be a really good guy, and he tries really hard to be one, but in the end he’s nothing more than that: there’s nothing supernatural about him, he has no special powers beyond his own principles and devotion. He’s just a dude doing his Best. 

Wait, why not Danselot?

Oh, that guy? Here’s the thing.

Lancelot personifies the continental ideals of courtly love that became popular in the High Middle Ages. Central to his story is the prioritization of personal relationships and romantic feelings in a way that you don’t really see in Gawain's, at least in the Green Knight tale. (Later stories hook Gawain up with an extremely delightful lady, but even that is a different flavor of romance than Lancelot's and has more to do with Gawain honoring his word and his egalitarian treatment of women (hell yeah). In the poem, Gawain is impressed by Bertilak's wife but resists her temptation; in fact, the biggest risk is not that he'll yield to her advances but that he'll be discourteous to her, i.e., violate his principles and cause dishonor to his king and his host.)

Lancelot is driven by passions over principles in a way that Gawain never really is (at least in the stories I’m talking about; later writers have committed character assassination to various degrees). Yes, you could argue that both Gawain and Lancelot betray their oaths, but Lancelot’s betrayal is never, um, blind. He knows what he’s doing and makes a deliberate choice to prioritize his love for the queen over his love for the king. It doesn’t make him a bad guy—he too is an ideal knight with one fatal flaw—but his character isn’t as comparable to Paladin Danse. 

Yeah, Gawain is (in most stories) a prince and a kinsman of Arthur’s, but he’s ultimately a native boy who doesn’t break the mold of a Knight of the Round Table. Likewise, Danse is portrayed as competent and valuable to the BoS, but not exceptional or breaking the mold of what a BoS soldier should be: he simply represents the ideal. Meanwhile, Lancelot is a foreign prince who was marked from childhood as special and fancy, and his storyline goes alllll over the place. (Much like this post.)

For example, Lancelot goes to absolutely absurd extremes to prove his devotion for no other reason than to prove it. (“I’ll do any useless humiliating thing you want. I’ll betray every oath except the one I made to you. That’s what love is!”) Gawain would never. Danse would never.

Ultimately, Gawain's tests are of his character and not of his love. And like Gawain, Danse’s devotion is to service and his principles, not to another person—even Arthur Maxson.

All that said, there are some similarities: both are beloved by Arthur, both are held up as the ideal of what a knight should be. And even if their fatal flaws are different, both make the point that no matter how good and brave and loyal they might be, no human being can be perfect. 

(Except Galahad. Who is, as a result, very boring.) 

I’ll conclude this section with a quote from someone else’s take on the Greek Knight poem:

I like Gawain. He’s not perfect, but he’s trying his best which is all any of us can do. He’s not like the other knights in the Arthurian legends who occasionally ‘accidentally’ kill women on their little adventures and then feel hard done by when they have to deal with the consequences of that. Gawain holds himself to a high standard – higher, it seems, than Arthur and his knights hold him to considering how hard they laugh when Gawain tells them how bad he feels about the whole thing.

I think Gawain is very relatable in this story. We all want to be better than we actually are.

And that, more than anything else, is Danse.

The Grail myth

What’s that? Lost relics of power? Better send some large armed men after ‘em!

The parallels to the BoS’s tech-hoarding ways are obvious enough that the games themselves lampshade them (albeit by way of Monty Python). But it also ties into the larger themes of “purity” versus “corruption” and the BoS’s self-image as a bastion between civilization and chaos. (See Maxson's line in response to the Sole Survivor’s quip about the Dark Ages: “Judging from the state of the world, it wouldn't be a stretch to say we're living in that era again.”)

But the ultimate futility of the Grail mission is also worthy of note. The BoS might want the power of prewar tech on their side, but they’re no more to be trusted with it than any other group of human beings. No matter how they try, the “corruption” of humanity can’t be overcome as long as they’re striving to harness power for their own ends. You can only achieve power by surrendering control of it.

The death of Arthur

The nature of gameplay being what it is, it's not guaranteed that the Arthur figure will be fatally betrayed, bringing Camelot down with him—but it's not unlikely, either.

Awkward.

Some final spitballing:

Outside the Brotherhood, there are some fun parallels of the Arthur myth with the rest of Fallout 4. Betrayal by one’s own son, for example.

The key difference between the BoS and the legendary Round Table: King Arthur’s knights, for all their flaws and human weaknesses, are usually presented as unambiguous Good Guys. The BoS is... a little more ambiguous...

...but damn if they don’t think they're the good guys. 

A-ad victoriam, fellas!

[heavenlyborne]

👤+ Garp

Send me 👤+ a character name for my muse’s opinion on that character

Another oaf, albeit one with a long and interesting history. Shalria’s lip curled upon hearing the Vice Admiral’s name; in spite of many years of service to the World Government and protecting Celestial Dragons, Garp was still a D. and worse, he had the nerve to spawn two of the biggest headaches on the planet! "If he hadn’t performed exemplary deeds throughout service, that Garp would have probably been executed by now because of everything that crazy family of his has done. You can’t tell me that’s not proof how some families simply carry bad blood and nothing short of chopping down the whole tree and scorching it’s roots will fix that.” She’d never met Monkey D. Garp and hoped to high heaven she never would. Shalria had heard things about that man, how he was an affront of everything that proper nobility held in high regard. He was rude, completely lacking in manners and class despite his great strength. No wonder where Dragon and that Luffy had gotten it from! They were bad seeds and as far as she was concerned, Garp was the culprit of their wretched existence. As she thought about it further, in some strange way, perhaps he had partly been responsible for her’s too.

"Then again, I do remember father talking about him one time. Just one time though, since he doesn’t like to talk about it very much...”

At the time, Rosward wasn’t much older than her, having just celebrated his eighteenth birthday and going away to God Valley for the occasion. As was customary for Celestial Dragons, reaching adulthood was a prestigious event and honoured as one of the most important traditions throughout the centuries of their reign. That was until that stupid Rocks D. Xebec showed up and wrecked havoc across the region, which had only solidified Shalria’s belief in just how dangerous the D. were. It had taken both Garp AND Gold Roger to stop Xebec in his tracks, before he and his crew reached Rosward and the other Celestial Dragons. How infuriating that she might owe her existence to a D. of all people! Shalria almost wanted to spit on the floor in disgust at the thought, but instead merely wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I asked father what happened but he shot me such a nasty look, I haven’t asked again. Make no mistake, I will rip the truth out of his mouth one of these days but it’s not that important, merely old news at this point.”

[whirlybirdwhat]

flowers (still blooming)

Ace doesn’t know what his mother looks like. Makino met a woman twelve years ago. 

(There are flowers in Rouge's hair.)

Read on AO3 for better quality!

--

Makino runs a bar – this is common knowledge to anyone who has ever visited Foosha.

She’s always behind the counter or at serving drinks, all with a kind smile and a laugh at hijinks. No one misbehaves, and there’s a shiny new gun behind the counter for any unwanted visitors.

(Rumor has it a pirate taught her how to shoot.)

She a barmaid and a bar tender and a bar owner – anything really. The Party Bar is her pride and joy.

And left over from her mother, a generation previous, it is her information hub as well.

People come in from all sorts of places for the taste of beers delivered directly by Vice Admiral hands and homebrews from the other side of the island. With them they bring stories, and tales, and wanted posters, secrets about criminals Makino has never known and praise for villains she never wants to meet. Alcohol loosens lips, and it’s an easy task to ask the right questions to get the right answers.

Makino’s smart. She knows the power she holds with all the information locked tight in her brain. She sends letters to Garp, sometimes, to warn about an upcoming raid on some poor island, and smiles at the news of the Hero of the Navy saving yet another place.

(She calls Shanks sometimes, to hear his voice, and to tell him that some upstart is planning on challenging him, to tell him that the Marines are planning some ambush but its only rookies, really, to tell him that she misses him and Luffy isn’t in Foosha much now a days, so can’t he come visit?

He doesn’t. But that’s okay.)

Wanted posters find their way onto the Party Bar’s walls, for one reason or another. A nice young man who tipped well, off to becoming a pirate, or a couple of scoundrels smacked down by Garp the Fist himself. Shanks is there, serious faced over a hefty bounty, with the rest of the crew smiling alongside him.

(A spot is reserved on the other wall for the bounty of three young to-be pirates – she can’t wait to see how high their bounties soar.)

It’s not often Makino looks through them, but then she meets Ace, whose face is so similar to one she has known before – one who smiled at her and gave her a hug when her mother didn’t bother paying attention to her.

Makino visit’s Luffy’s brothers, and cries, just a little bit, when she gets home.

Luffy is so happy but someone dear is gone.

-

Garp keeps secrets when he wants to but Makino knows how to get them out of him. A drop of knowledge here, a drink there, a smile, a private place with no prying ears, and the mention of grandsons is all it takes for the tears to well up in his eyes and for the words to spill out.

Ace, his first grandson’s name is, adopted or not, Portgas D. Ace –

All the information Makino wanted, really, but Garp keeps on talking –

Gol D. Ace, son of the Pirate King –

And Makino’s heart shatters.

(Like any bar, the Party Bar receives its fair share of unruly customers, those with cruel words on their tongues and hatred for people they have never met.

The Son of the King? They say, referring to the only king that ever really mattered. Hope he doesn’t exist! Should kill 'em if he does, sins of the father, right? Drown him at birth, noose around the neck, whatever works! Kid will turn out to be just as bad as his bastard father!)

Ace has demons in his eyes. Makino knows why.

-

Ace proudly calls himself Portgas D. Ace, so Makino has hope, and she loves this boy because he is Ace, the one who Luffy calls brother and the one who makes Luffy less lonely, and because Ace is a child and deserves love no matter what she thinks.

She works past the lump in her heart, when she gets home from that conversation from Garp, and opens the chest in her room.

(Tears drip from her eyes and the Party Bar is closed for the day, but that doesn’t matter.

Whatever has, in the face of this bloodline?)

-

Makino was seven when the woman came into town. She was the most beautiful woman Makino had ever seen, gliding into port with hair the color of morning skies and a dash of freckles across her cheek. A flower rose in her hair, vibrant and beautiful, and her smile changed her face into something different, something Makino wished she had. She was pregnant but didn’t stumble under the weight of her still small belly, and instead stood tall and imposing, almost as tall as Garp.

Portgas D. Rouge came into port like a storm and exited like a whisper

“Child,” she had said to the only one at port that day, Makino, playing in the waves. “Where is everyone?”

“At the bar,” Makino told her blindly, because Foosha was small and had no need for anyone to be wary of strangers.

(The era of pirates was beginning today after all.)

“The Pirate King is being executed – everyone’s watching it.”

It was strange, how people’s faces broke at the strangest things.

“My name is Rouge,” the woman introduced herself. “Will you take me to the bar?”

“Sure.” And Makino did.

(She grabbed Makino’s outstretched hand when Makino lead her to the bar, and didn’t let go when they were inside. Makino didn’t mind (her mother never held her hand anymore). Eventually, the woman, Rouge, lifted her up and placed her on her hip, so she could see the Pirate King.

(He looked big, up on that stage. Who could ever kill him?)

They stood in the back of the bar as Roger shouted his last words – You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you'll just have to find it! – and an era was born with the death of one man.

Rouge cried when it happened, and Makino didn’t know why. She was smiling though, still smiling that beautiful smile she gave Makino, so she figured it was alright even as tears dripped from her face onto Makino’s hair.

She clung tighter to Rouge, hoping to give her some comfort.

(Hoping she could make this woman happy again.)

It worked, as they left the bar where people were cheering, screaming, at the death of a King. Rouge smiled and her tears mixed with the salt spray from the beach, as she and Makino played in the sand.

Rouge stayed for a week, playing with Makino and giving her more attention than anyone else ever did. She left a flower in her hair when she left, whispered secrets of men and women Makino had never known, and kissed her forehead when Makino went to sleep on her shoulder.

Makino loved her, didn’t you know?

(She left, and never came back.)

-

Makino knows the path to the bandit den like the back of her hand by now. She makes journeys up there in the middle of the week, when the bar is quiet, to give boys a well-cooked meal and some bandits some booze. Its tradition, at this point.

This isn’t her usual day, so it’s a miracle the boys are even at the bandit den (she had heard from an excited Luffy that they were hiding out in a tree house now.) They cheer at her presence and the meal she brought while Dadan gives her a curious look.

They are covered in bruises, a blessing from Garp before he visited Makino, but are still running around, screeching and wrestling in the mud.

Makino doesn’t mind, and in a quiet moment, takes Ace away to talk to him.

“Ace,” She starts, kneeling down to be at his level. “Garp told me about your parents.”

Ace locks up, body freezing as his eyes go wide. There’s terror in them, and Makino feels her heart break. His mouth opens and shuts, words not coming out, but that’s okay.

Makino knows his question.

“I don’t care, Ace, I still love you.”

His eyes well up and he bites his lip, like he can’t bear to believe it. He’s trying to stay strong, and Makino can’t help but wonder at how similar he is to his mother.

(The freckles are a spitting image of Rouge, and Makino can’t help but wonder what he would look like if he had his mother’s hair.)

Ace sniffles and she draws him in. He’s too flustered to fight back, to unused to hugs to hug back, but that’s why Makino drew him away from everyone else.

Her shoulder grows wet from his tears as she gently brushes his hair back. “Shh. It’s okay, Ace. It’s okay.” When he grows quiet, eyes dried up, just a little, she says what she truly came up here to do.

“I have a present for you.”

He lifts his head up, face curious. “More clothes?”

“No, silly.” She laughs and then laughs again at the redness of his face. “Do you know what your mother looked like?”

Ace shakes his head, stilling. “No. Shitty Gramps told me stories though…”

And by the tone in his voice, it’s probably stories of his birth – not the ones Rouge told Makino on Foosha’s beaches twelve years ago.  She’s going to have to fix that.

Makino pulls the old and faded paper out of her pocket. “Here”

Ace takes one look at the poster and promptly breaks again

-

Two weeks after Rouge left Foosha, the News Coos brings another round of papers. Everyone scrambles for one, eager to hear what has happened since the Pirate King fell, but Makino is lucky enough to grab her mother’s copy.

Her reading isn’t the best now, but she likes looking at the wanted posters that come with them. There are so many new pirates now

The wanted poster that falls out is a new one, an updated one, with a face Makino hasn’t seen on a wanted poster before - but has seen in reality, cupped in her hands and counted the freckles of a stranger’s face

‘SEA STORM’ PORTGAS D. ROUGE - WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE: 1.5 BILLION BERRIES

Rouge... the pregnant woman who laughed and dance with Makino as if she was her own child. is wanted? is a pirate? Why?

Makino can’t fathom it and worries for the woman who she had known for a week.

She hopes she’s alive

She hopes she comes back

(She asks Garp about the woman, once, and some strange happenings run across his face, like worry and concern and anger all at once. He curses then interrogates Makino about everything she knows about the woman, which she tells him, trembling. Her mother scolds her for being dishonest but Garp thanks her, tells her she’s keeping her safe. That Rouge will be safe.

Makino is thankful.)

Raids start for the pirate Kings son the next week. Makino stays at home, afraid and hidden as soldiers interrogate every woman on the isle, how long they been there, if any people visited port before the capture of the king.

She hopes Rouge, regnant and tall and bold, escapes it.

Her bounty comes in again with a New Coo a year later, when raids have died down, and Makino is sure she’s alive.

1.7 billion, and she’s smiling.

Rouge survived. Makino can’t wait to see her again.

(That is the last picture she ever gets of Rouge. It’s not put up with the others when Makino takes over the bar at 16. It’s much too precious for that. instead, she hides it in her chest of precious things in her room, taking care to make sure the paper doesn’t crumble or fray. It’s a treasure she doesn’t admit to having, and dream she doesn’t say to the world but keeps close to her heart.)

Makino sees ace and knows Rouge didn’t survive for that woman, who played with her when no one else would, would never abandon her child willingly.

-

The wanted poster is faded but the picture is still clear through meticulous care.  a woman stares out from in, angled away from the camera but with her face fully visible. her hair flows in the morning light of the picture, pink against the sea in the background, and freckles dash across her face. she’s closed mouth but smiling eye amused but with one eyebrow raised. A hibiscus, pink and blooming, is nestled in her hair. Her skin is warm and glowing and she looks like an older Ace.

Its Rouge, queen of the seas.

Its Rouge, Aces mother.

In the wanted poster he takes gently from Makino, he sees his mother for the first time.

“Mom?” he croaks out, voice shaky and so, so hopeful. Makino hums, and settles in, guiding Ace to sit next to her as they stare at the wanted poster.

“Yes. When I was girl she visited this island... you look just like her, you know? I knew it was her the moment I saw you.”

“What... what was she like?” Aces voice is soft and hopeful as he traces the bounty number, so unbelievably high for someone he has never heard of.

Makino smiles. “She was kind, so unbelievably kind, to me at least. Just wandered into Foosha one day and took my hand – I think she was pregnant with you at the time, isn’t that fun?”

Ace gives a tiny smile, eyes wide and big as he stares at her. He hangs onto every word, trying to show that he isn’t lest she decides not to tell it, which she never would, but it’s endearing all the same.

“But to others,” Makino continues, “She was the storm at sea. Sea Storm Rouge, the papers called her, a legend known by the burning flower in her hair. She would appear like a maelstrom at sea, suddenly there before you could blink and taking down ships at a speed no one could rival save for a select few. She would free slaves from nobles in the same breath she took off with all their loot. She took nothing lying down.”

Sabo and Luffy sneak in to their tiny clearing and find their place next to Ace, knowing there’s a story to be told and not willing to miss it. She laughs at their curious expressions, and continues wither her tale of the woman she might have called mother as Ace pulls his brothers in close.

“She told me once of how she stared a sea king the size of an island down because he was bothering her morning meal…”

-

Rouge leaves in the quiet moments of dawn, when the sun is only barely rising and all is quiet save for the fishermen already out in the waters.

She takes Makino with her, out to the shore, taking her by the hand and leading her out as the girl rubbed sleep from her eyes.

There’s sadness in Rouge, Makino notes as they leave, passing by houses and towards the abandon beach half a mile from Foosha.

She doesn’t like the sadness there, but she senses it’s not her job to get rid of it – it’s the selfish kind of sadness, the kind that comes with loving some great.

(Makino’s young, but all the children of this world know that feeling.)

They watch the sunrise together in front of Rouge’s small ship, and lean into each other. Rouge’s hand braids Makino’s hair as she plays with the sword handle at the woman’s hip.

“Rouge,” She asks, quiet. It’s not the time for loudness. “Why are you leaving?”

Why are you leaving me?

(Makino’s mother runs the Party Bar and doesn’t leave time for anyone else. Her father isn’t around and the closest she has is Garp and Woopslap, and it should be enough, but it isn’t. Not next to this stranger who has told her of legends and let her hold her hand and dance under the stars. It’s not enough to the raging storm of Rouge’s love.)

Rouge smiles, face softening as she finishes tying off Makino’s braid. “I have to, to keep those I love safe. If I fight, I can win, but others won’t. And I won’t hurt them for their selflessness.”

“But what if its selfishness?”

What if I want you here for me?

Rouge rests a hand on her stomach and one on Makino’s head, and the world seems to still. There’s a pressure from Rouge, one that seems to make the light from the sun flicker under the force from it. It relents, after a moment, but Makino feels safe.

Secure.

Rouge loves her.

“Then you must live with that selfishness, like I do mine.” Her voice is soft. Makino takes the words and keeps them in her heart. It’s hers.

The sun is half over the horizon now. Rouge gets up, and lifts Makino from the railing where they sit to put her on the sandy ground. They are both barefoot, now, having run in the sand half an hour before, and their toes sink into sand as water runs over their toes.

It’s a peaceful kind of ending.

Rouge kneels, soaking her pants in the shore to look Makino in her eyes. She pulls the flower out of her hair, still immaculately pristine and beautiful, and places it behind Makino’s ear. “A gift,” she says, and kisses Makino on the forehead, “so you don’t forget me, alright?”

Makino nods and knows she never will.

No one but Makino knows the Maelstrom of the Grand Line was on Dawn Island, but as Rouge sails off into the raising son, one child left behind and one yet to be born, she finds that’s quite alright.

She was there, and that was enough.

(Never, her selfish heart whispers, never enough.)

-

Ace is the only one still awake by the time Makino tells the last of her few tales. He’s tired, clearly, resting heavily on Sabo as Luffy rests in his lap, but he keeps on blinking his eyes open. The sun is setting now, and Makino must really be going, but she has one last thing to show him.

“Come on,” She says, pulling Ace up and leaving his brothers to collapse on each other. “I have another gift for you.”

Ace looks at the wanted poster still held so gently in his hands, and follows into the woods.

There’s a field on the west side of the island, the cliffside above the shore half a mile from Foosha. Its filled with beautiful hibiscuses the shades of vibrant pink.

Ace had seen it before, on his ventures.

But now, Makino shows him the truth.

“Your mother gave me her flower, one of them at least, that was in that poster. It started wilting after a few days, so I found a way to replant the seeds and pressed the original… they quickly spread over the valley…”

The sun makes them burn like fire, and Makino sees the love of a mother reflected in Ace’s eyes.

Saltwater falls down her cheeks as she sees Ace take a flower like it is the most precious thing in the world (like Makino had treated the flower Rouge gave her) and place it in his hair. It’s just long enough in the step that it nestles gently in his hair, and he smiles, so happily, like she hasn’t seen him do unless he’s with his brothers.

Tears mirror hers on his cheeks and suddenly she’s staring at Rouge on the day she met her.

He gives her a flower next, and they walk under the setting sun to Dadan’s hut with Rouge’s love intertwined in their hair.

-

Makino is a bartender, which means she keeps information, and it means she inherited the place where she met a woman who changed her life.

She sees Ace off on the same shore she saw Rouge off, and cries and waves with joy in every moment. He sails into the sun, brilliant and bold, as flowers float around the waiting crowd, and she’s so, so happy.

She is a bartender so she gets the wanted posters two months later first: information is key, after all.

The poster is put up on the reserved wall, a place of pride for three two boys.

Fire Fist Ace, it declares, Captain of the Spades Pirates WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE!

The picture on it is a smiling boy on fire, freckled and smiling. His hat has two charms around it and a wreath of beads is around his neck, a gift from his bandit mother. Expected, for a runaway pirate.

Intertwined in the hat and in his hair, however, are brilliant pink hibiscuses – a tribute to a woman forgotten by the world.

(The rumors Makino hears tell of a boy who doesn’t care what you do to him, but if you harm his crew or the flowers on his ship and hat, there will be hell to pay from a boy made of fire.)

Makino thinks Rouge would be proud.

-

“Rouge? What are you going to name your baby?”

“Ann if it’s a girl. I would name her Makino, but I think the one I know is great enough!”

“Sesesese! And if it’s a boy?”

“Then Ace! That’s the name his father loved – it’s a good name, don’t you think? I love him already.”

“Can I be his big sister?”

“Of course.”

-

(Makino is a bartender, and that mean Makino has connections.

She asks Shanks to fill Ace’s grave with pink hibiscuses, and for Rayleigh to give Luffy a bouquet of them to give to the cracks in the Earth at Marineford.

It’s not nearly enough, but she will be selfish, just this once, and will cry about it.)

-

She names her child Ann and calls her my little sea storm, my little flower. 

She knows Rouge would be proud.

[sparrowwritesforop]

I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK!!!!💞💞💞 Could I get some HC's about a fem Marine of the same rank dating Smoker? I imagine they have kown each other since basic training or maybe officers school 👀 😚 😍 Thank you!!!!🥰🥰

So it kind of became a scenario.💕I hope you don´t mind. If you´d like to have HCs just tell me :) And just a warning, I got carried away a lot.🤔😂💕

Smoker with his Fem! S/O

Stacking rocks. Putting one on top of the other, stacking them as high as possible. Planning which one goes on which one, using the laws of physics to secure that they stay where they are.It takes planning, a steady hand. concentration and (most important) a goddam minute of silence.The grey pebbles shook slightly, seemingly being affected by the commotion on the ships main deck. Seemingly annoyed, the grey haired Vice Admiral observed the pitiful scene from his spot in the crows nest. Even metres above the ground, isolated there was no calm moment for him to find.Smokers subordinates were all giddy, having caught a crew of pirates on their journey. Surely they would all get a big bonus from the higher aboves. A reason to celebrate, they could be proud of themselves, Smoker knew that. He would be the last one to tell them to stop their celebrations, but he just needed a minute of calmness for gods’ sake!The marines on deck felt more than happy at the moment. Some talked to their mates, some laughed and some broke into cheers, while holding eachother. The wild exclamation of their happiness caused a small group of them to bump against the mast, causing the stack of Pebbles in front of their Vice Admiral to break up.He huffed annoyed, gripping the bridge of his defined nose.

“You sure know how to put on a happy face, Vice Admiral”Smoker turned to the side of the crows nest, where his girlfriend emerged.The shorter woman observed her man turning to her, not missing how the muscles of his back moved slightly under the scarred skin of his back. It was really a blessing from the gods themselves that he chose to leave the jacket off today.“This is my happy face, Idiot.” She mockingly smiled at him, before completely climbing on the crows’ nest.“What is bothering you now?” The woman plopped down next to him, observing his expression carefully. She noticed the small wrinkles appearing on his forehead, meaning that there was something that seriously bothered him or at least occupied his thoughts. Also his habit of stacking little rocks clearly spoke for her theory. She remembered the day they met for the first time. It was back then in Loguetown, both of them were children. Shortly after Gol D. Rogers execution.She saw him in a meadow, stacking little rocks he collected from the small riverside. He was taken aback by the smile of the former pirate kings face during his execution and easily annoyed by the little girl disturbing his train of thoughts.She liked to remember this day, even though the both of them started of on a bad foot, they somehow found their way to each other. It may have happened during the training of the Marines or the moments she forced him to let her patch him up, when he got injurys, while he complained that a real marine does not need a little girls help. Maybe when she taught him that the “little girl” Is more than capable of beating him. It didn´t matter anymore. The both of them eventually found their way to eachother, which was never easy in the least. He, a man that had a hard time expressing his feelings and her, a woman that wanted nothing more than to be a part of the so called “Men´s world” without being seen as a lovesick little woman running after some man.It took the two of them many years to find their middle way, but here they were, defeating the evil to their best abilities.The now older man looked at her, contemplating how much she already knew, since she had this habit of reading him, even if he tried his best to conceal one or two things, not wanting to upset his love more than necessary.“Have you….have you ever looked at the marine as a whole?”“As a whole?” (Y/N) scrunched up her eyebrows, not getting his questions quite right.“Yes. Not just our Ship, but everything. I was thinking about the Marines Moral. Just think back to the white city. I read that everybody was slaughtered there, but not only because of the sickness. The main goal was something different according to these books.”He pointed to a small stack of brown book, lying in a corner of the small space.“These books…were they in the pirates ship? Let me see.”She curiously reached for one of the leather-bound books. It looked slightly broken, like it was hidden in a small corner, without good protection. Water stains made the pages stiff as she turned them, reading about the distress, about the murders.“Smoker, what does this mean? The Marine wants peace, right?”

The tall man clicked his tongue before moving his arm around her waist, pulling her into his lap. He rested his chin on her shoulder, before answering.

“I know what we want. I looked into it and in the past….mistakes were made, but we decide what kind of marine we want to be, love”She turned in his lap, observing his determined expression. Smoker knew what he wanted, he always knew. This determination was what she fell in love with at first. He had his own Idea of moral, he was not one for seeking great money or fancy titles, he just wanted the world to become less cruel, less cruel to future generations, less cruel as it has been for him, for both of them.She gently took his face in her hands, pulling him to her, but Smoker (being the man he is) ended up kissing her first. Promising her with his silent gesture that they´d be together, that they would be better, that they would make the world a better place, side by side.

He felt the familiar fluttering as she looked into his eyes. It bothered him in the past, but he knew that this feeling was a gift by whatever was out there. Giving him a reason to be strong, to fight, to win over this cruel world. Her smile spoke a thousand words, reassuring him over and over again.“We do, Vice Admiral. We do.”

[hailpiratekingrouge]

How The Heck Did The Marine’s Know About Ace’s parentage?

I have been wondering this for a while on how the marines even knew about Ace’s parentage. If we look at the screencap below the Marines only had intel from Cipher Pol that Roger’s possible lover was on Baterilla but they did not know who she was. 

Furthermore, When we are first shown Ace starting his journey as the captain of the Spade Pirates, Fleet Admiral Sengoku receives Ace’s bounty poster and points out at the “D” in his name and askks his subordinate if the know where he came from. Thus confirming that tat the time they had no clue about Ace’s heritage. This poses the question of how did they find out?

There are eight people whom originally knew about Ace’s birth. Two of whom are Roger and Rouge & very dead in One Piece. Rouge had deceived the marines for twenty months despite the witch hunt around her. She hadn’t let anyone even have an ounce of suspicion towards her. Judging by the flashbacks Rouge had been isolated throughout the entire pregnancy so she certainly had not confined the details of her love and pregnancy with anyone & had died after giving birth.

Next was Roger whom had only trusted Garp to look after his son after his demise. Not even his crew knew about the unborn child their captain was going to have as the crew had been disbanded two years prior to his execution. If the crew had know you can bet your hair that they would have searched for Rouge to keep her and Ace safe.

We all have seen Ace insistently denying his relation to Roger so it obviously wasn’t Ace spilling the beans to his own past especially the toxic words the people have spoken to Ace about Roger and the hypothetical son.

Someone had said to me that maybe Garp had gotten drunk one night and just blabbed it. I really don’t find that probable because this is the exact same man who kept the identity of Luffy’s father hidden from him throughout his entire life. Garp knows how to keep secrets. Do you really think that the man with a rank of Vice Admiral whose closest friend is the Fleet Admiral isn’t aware of some really confidential information? Garp is a lot of things but he wold not blow up a secret just because he’s drunk. The only person he had ever told about Ace’s heritage deliberately was Dadan and though she was a questionable guardian Ace was part of the Dadan Family and she will not tattle out her own. Like she says to Bluejam here “A parent, no matter if it’s a foster parent could stand by and watch anyone kill their kids”

We know Sabo lost his memory and Luffy is Luffy. He doesn’t care and would never reveal it to anyone. I am not certain if Ace’s crew was aware or not but if they were I doubt they would betray their captain like that especially when they chased after Ace when he was defeated by Whitebeard instead of abandoning him.

This eliminates all the people who could have possibly tattled on him.

If One Piece reflects our modern society then that might include to the level of Intelligence. Cipher Pole is the marines Intelligence Service as well as Assassins. They might have undercover agents in ever sector to weed out any retired pirates or criminals.

If the Marines had figured out Ace’s identity during his Spade days it might have happened after a battle Ace had been badly wounded that they had to take him to a hospital or clinic since the resources on the Spade’s ship was scarce at the time. Deuce and the other doctors had tended to Ace’s injuries and all the medical waste would be thrown away and no one would consider think twice about the blood and hair samples that any undercover agent would take and send it Cipher Pole.

Cipher Pole would run his DNA into their system for future references, in case of forensic DNA matching etc. Since they are really paranoid little jerks they would even run a maternity and paternity test to see if he’s the kid of some petty criminal(s). The maternity test is blank but the paternity results would run them cold.

Paternity Test. Match Found: Gol D Roger. Pirate King. (Deceased)

That would have them all running in a frenzy, pulling out case files of the search and all the women and children they had eliminated all those years ago. None of them matched the surname Ace carried “Portgas”

Hence they traced the name Portgas to the island Baterilla and the woman who lived there had died at childbirth. What’s even worse is when they learn that the Portgas Family are powerful Haki users and they had been deceived for almost two years by a pregnant woman’s Will 

[rumandflamingo]

Come Along - CONCEPT

New AU idea because I can. ‬

‪Concept: alive Roger and Rouge; Rayleigh raising Luffy. ‬

‪Okay. So. I imagine that Roger probably hid his illness from everyone but Crocus, so when Rayleigh catches him coughing up half a lung he is beyond pissed. Like. He knocks out half the crew because he couldn’t restrain his Haki, he’s so angry. ‬

‪During one of his and Marco’s regular weekly talks (because the younger was so lost on how to be a good first mate and looks up to Rayleigh so they ended up having regular talks), Rayleigh reveals a little bit about the fact that Roger’s sick. Marco just pretends to ignore it. ‬

‪But after their conversation, Marco realizes that there is something he can do. Phoenix feathers have the ability to heal large amounts of damage to the body when applied to the wounds. If ingested, the feathers can cure sickness. He is 100% on board for giving up a feather or two,‬ ‪and when Marco asks, Whitebeard is also on board.  

Marco is shocked. When he asks his father why he isn’t rejecting, or at least protesting, his idea, Whitebeard responds that he owes Rayleigh much more than he will ever be able to repay him. It was the Dark King who brought Marco to the Yonko, who gave him the Phoenix fruit to save the young boy, who gave the other his first son. Rayleigh gave him his family; Whitebeard would never do anything to destroy Rayleigh’s.

Marco immediately calls the Oro Jackson and Rayleigh readily agrees. The Zoan is in the air the next morning. The entire flight he is worried about the reception he’s going to get when he arrives on the Oro, but instead of glares and threats, he’s greeted with food and cheers.

It takes some time for Roger and Rayleigh to come in the deck, and most of the time for Marco is spent answering questions of a young red haired boy. Roger is confused at seeing Marco but Rayleigh says he had invited him over.

Marco and Roger are soon ushered into Crocus’s office, where Rayleigh explains that they have a way to cure Roger. To Marco’s surprise, Rayleigh doesn’t mention the deal that he had made on Roger’s behalf. Just says that Whitebeard owed him a favor. When the blonde gets a raised eyebrow from the first mate of the Oro, Marco realizes that he must have talked to Pops after they had hung up.

It’s quick and painless, healing Roger. Marco’s spare feathers are ground up and made into a drink that Roger just takes like a shot. Crocus does a complete checkup and declares that, for now, Roger is doing better.

Once Crocus departs, as apparently Shanks, the redhead, and Buggy had gotten into a fight, Rayleigh explains that things are going to be a bit tricky from here on out. Neither of them mind Marco, so the young blonde sits and listens.

Rayleigh explains that Roger can not reveal that he’s healthy. He’s been spotted coughing in public by multiple marines, so they have begun to think something is wrong with him. (Marco wonders how the other blonde knows Marine intel, but doesn’t ask.)

Rayleigh gets weird looks from Roger and Marco, but the blonde ignores them and carries on. He explains that once they find the final island, which blows Marco away at the man’s complete faith that they will, he needs to turn himself in to the marines, like he had originally planned.

Marco falls to the ground in shock. Roger had planned to turn himself in? Rayleigh continues that they have a contingency plan to fake his execution (he doesn’t say the other players involved, or how it will be done), and doesn’t continue from there. Marco is trying to not feel offended when he sees the pout on Roger’s face; Rayleigh is purposely not telling his captain his plan.

The conversation fades off from there and Roger goes to call Rouge. Marco is left with the first mate, who smiles warmly and tells Marco that Whitebeard told him to take a few days off and that he is welcome to stay aboard the Jackson.

And he does. He spends the next three days with the older man, avoiding the red haired menace known as Shanks and his captain as well. (He is so tired of being called Pretty Birdy.)

A few hours before he sets off, a woman shows up on the Oro, long strawberry blonde hair trailing behind her and a hibiscus tucked behind her ear. Roger immediately turns into a puddle, crying over his beautiful Rouge.

Portgas D Rouge, Roger’s very pregnant wife.

Marco feels like he isn’t going to leave the Oro without suffering a heart attack. Roger would have died before his child was born. He would have never met his child. Marco turned to stare at Rayleigh, but the older man just shakes his head. A small party is thrown and Marco leaves at sunset. Before he takes off, Rouge stops him and hugs him, thanking him for saving her husband and for not leaving her child fatherless.

It’s three months before Marco hears anything about the Roger Pirates and when he does, it’s because they have discovered Raftel.  Almost immediately, Roger turns himself in and the slander starts.  

Whitebeard says nothing, just goes under the deck with the den den that’s always at arm’s length.

A week later, the date for Roger’s execution is set. The Whitebeard Pirates do not attend, instead setting sail for the Blues, particularly the East Blue.

Roger is executed, and they all mourn. Whitebeard says nothing, just keeps eyeing the snail with a little black crown.

They land several days later on a small tropical island named Dawn Island and Marco, Whitebeard and several others begin the long trek inland. Half a day later they arrive at the outskirts a small town, where a grinning (alive) Roger is holding a small baby boy.

He runs around and introduces his son, Portgas (Gol) D Ace. Whitebeard is ecstatic, especially when Roger lets him hold the baby. Rouge is smiling in the doorway, Rayleigh at her side.

The Pirate King is alive, happy, with his family.

Rayleigh invites them in, and they have a small feast. After the meal, all but Marco and Whitebeard leave. Curious as to why, Marco soon finds out that the other half of the deal is about to be told to Roger. It takes Rayleigh a few times to start, but he does explain the deal he made to save Roger’s life.

Roger can never sail again under the name Gol D Roger, or under the Roger Pirates flag. He will be known under a different name of his choice, but he must part with Gol D Roger. He is free to do whatever he wants, but if he chooses to set sail again, it will be under the eye of Whitebeard, so that they can keep him safe. Rouge nor Ace will owe any allegiance to Whitebeard, they are free to choose to serve under any command they like, if they want. Roger’s appearance will also need to be changed, but that can be however he likes. If he desires to leave the island, it cannot be without Rayleigh, Whitebeard, or someone trusted from Whitebeard’s crew.

Roger is still for a moment, before turning to look fully at Rayleigh. Rayleigh fears this man will lash out at him, yell at him for taking away everything he held dear, but the man instead hugs him. The blonde is confused, until Roger explains that Rayleigh, ever thoughtful Rayleigh, didn’t take away his ability to sail, to be free. Even if he doesn’t go by his name, he can still be free to sail as he wishes.

They work out a few details, but Roger is determined to spend most of his time from now on with Rouge and Ace. Whitebeard and Marco depart, but not without Rouge asking for Whitebeard to be Ace’s other godfather. Whitebeard accepts and cries over tiny baby Ace.

Rayleigh goes with Marco and Whitebeard to the shore, Marco walking ahead of the two older men. It’s hard to hear what they are saying, but Marco is able to get the gist of it.

Rayleigh won’t be going with them. He has decided to stay with Roger and Rouge, to keep them safe. Early retirement, he tells Whitebeard.

Whitebeard is angry, Marco can tell, but says nothing. The rest of the walk is in silence, and soon enough Whitebeard and Marco are back on the Moby, but not before Whitebeard gives Rayleigh part of his Vivre Card. The Dark King hands him part of his as well, then disappears beck into the thick forest.

Years pass, Marco and Whitebeard having weekly talks with Roger, Rouge, and Rayleigh. Ace constantly likes to interrupt and ramble on and on about what he learned or did that day. He is 100% a mama’s boy, much to Roger’s dismay. He refused to wear hats like Roger, instead choosing to wear flowers in his hair.

Ten years pass, before something shakes the well balanced life that the four of them have on Dawn Island.

Out of the blue, Vice Admiral Garp arrives at the small shack of Roger and Rouge, carrying with him his seven year old grandson, Monkey D. Luffy.

Roger is terrified that Garp is at his door, standing to block the man’s view of Rouge and Ace, hoping they take the hint to leave and go seek Rayleigh. He knows that without a doubt, this man would turn him into the marines. Garp simply asks for tea, moving into the shack. Ace is not happy that there is a strange man with a strange kid (as he wants nothing to harm his family), and glares at him from Rouge’s lap. Garp simply laughs and tell the trio that he needs someone to look after his grandson, because his son is quite the idiot. He figures that since Roger was very good at hiding, he’d be good for Luffy. Both adults are shocked that Garp was made aware of their location, as well as that the execution had been faked.

Roger starts to protest, when Rayleigh appears, dropping off items he had picked up from the village that day. He’s somewhat put off at seeing Garp, but says nothing. He goes about his business, shelving items, until he realizes that he has a little follower.

The three adults in the room quiet as the Dark King turns and see young Luffy following him, large eyes staring up at him in awe. He exclaims that Rayleigh has the coolest beard he has ever seen, before trying to climb up his jacket to grab at it.

Roger gets up to grab the kid, but Rayleigh stops him, hefting the kid up and placing him on his shoulders. The kid is content to sit there and be tall, talking on and on about pirates and treasure.

Rouge and Roger let out hesitant laughs, Ace keeps glaring at the kid, while Rayleigh just nods along to the kids wild stories. Some point during Luffy’s babbles, Rayleigh pulls a gold coin from his pocket and asks the kid if he has any treasure, since he claims to be a great pirate in training.

Luffy grins and pats his hat, something that all of the adults had failed to notice. There, sitting on Luffy’s head, is Roger’s straw hat. Luffy exclaims that it’s a promise to his friend, Shanks, to someday beat him and become King of the Pirates. Roger promptly falls out of his seat, speechless. Garp glares between the kid and Roger, while Rouge’s soft laugh fills the room.

Rayleigh says nothing, simply smiles and pats the kid’s head. This kid is something special, he can tell.

Without pomp and circumstance, he tells Garp that he will take care of Luffy. He says nothing else, just simply grabs the bag that Garp carried in with him and leaves, starting a tale about an adventure that he and Roger had gotten into when they first started sailing.

The room echoes with the marines loud laughs as Rouge and Roger chase after the graying blonde and his small charge.

[recentanimenews]

Why Monkey D. Garp Is The Best Anime Grandpa

  In the One Piece anime, we're entering the Reverie Arc. Now, for those of you that don't keep up with One Piece, I'm sorry. I really am. I don't know what you're doing with your time, but I only hope that it makes you happy. But if you don't stay up to date with it, the Reverie occurs every four years, when the various rulers of the nations that exist under the World Government come together to, I don't know, decide stuff. And since the Straw Hat Crew have been island hopping like Instagram celebrities with trust funds for the past few years, they've met a lot of these rulers.

  That means that we're gonna get to see Vivi, Rebecca, Shirahoshi, Cobra, Dalton and, sigh, Wapol, among many others. But also, and this is the main reason that I'm excited for it, we're gonna get to see Garp, Luffy's Grandpa, again. We haven't seen him in a while, and that's a shame, because Monkey D. Garp, as far as I'm concerned, is Anime's Best Grandfather. Someone should buy him a coffee cup that says that.

    "But Daniel," you say, probably. "How did you get to this conclusion? What scientific method did you use?" Well, I looked at three key areas. And I'll explain them to you now, mainly because it would be weird if I didn't and was just like "Here's my opinion! Now watch Mob Psycho or something. Later!" 

  HOW DOES GARP STAND APART FROM OTHER ANIME GRANDPAS?

  First of all, he stands apart because look at him. If you need to find him in a crowd, just look for the dude with shoulders as wide as most condos. He looks like a man that's done nothing but compete in arm wrestling tournaments for eighty years. But aside from that, Garp doesn't fall into many old man tropes. For example, he's not a pervy senior. His nose doesn't gush buckets of blood when he sees a pretty girl. In fact, as you'll see in the upcoming arc, he accompanies Shirahoshi and Neptune up from Fishman Island just to make their journey more comfortable.  Aww. Good Guy Garp.

  And he also doesn't try to shy away from a battle because he's old, or make jokes about just how decrepit he is in order to get you to drop your guard. Garp is perfectly capable of handling himself in a fight, which brings me to my next point:

  WE STILL DON'T KNOW HOW STRONG GARP IS

  Sure, we hear stories about his time in Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard's era. And yes, he can punch Whitebeard's first division commander Marco out of the sky. And he can also throw cannonballs, which must make him an absolute menace during the Marines' annual Dodgeball Tournament And Picnic. But even still, the question remains: Just how powerful is this dude?

  Is he stronger than Luffy? Or how about Rayleigh? We assume that he's not as powerful as Big Mom or Kaido, but again, we're just not sure. He's a Vice Admiral, but he could've easily moved up a few ranks if he wanted to. Heck, when Akainu punched a hole through Ace, Sengoku had to hold Garp back from killing the magma jerk. Could Garp have killed Akainu? We don't know! But probably, as he certainly seemed confident about being able to rip his head off. 

  That kind of thing is fascinating. One Piece has been going for about twenty years, and it isn't like Garp is just a non-speaking cameo role. The dude's shown up a few times, but we're still endlessly debating who can out-brawl him.

  WHERE DO HIS LOYALTIES LIE?

  It's Marineford. A war is going on, and you're on the edge of your seat because Luffy is running up to the platform to save his "brother" Ace from execution. But Garp stands in the way. Garp, who had a hand in raising both of these precocious pirates, has finished talking to Ace about how upset he is that Ace is getting executed, and now he looks like he's gonna punch the rubber out of Luffy (or at least he's making a really good show about it.)

  But he turns away. He closes his eyes. Sad music plays and he allows Luffy to punch him. You're crying. I'm crying. Your Dad is crying because you're crying about cartoons. Your Mom is crying because your Dad is crying about you crying and she always wished that she could get into One Piece, but couldn't work up the courage to ask you to explain what a "Grand Line" is. Your dog is crying because pets feel emotions, too. The whole world weeps.

  But if Garp was such a career navy man, couldn't he just swat Luffy off the platform? Couldn't he have just strangled Luffy back at Water 7? Couldn't he have just sat in Luffy's way and not let him leave the Windmill Village? Where does Garp the Navy Savior end and Garp the Lovable Grandpa begin?

  Garp certainly likes his job, but he takes liberties with it, which makes me wonder if Garp wouldn't be perfectly happy doing something else that would fit into his definition of "the right path." He certainly likes training Koby and Helmeppo, but he could just do that elsewhere, and he wouldn't even have to wear a uniform. He could probably just dress in a Hawaiian button-down and challenge tourists to push-up contests. That seems his speed. 

  I LOVE GARP

  I do. I think he's great and I think he's one of the most underrated characters that One Piece has to offer. And I hope that whatever character arc he has comes full circle. Garp had a habit of knocking Luffy around, even when Luffy was just a tiny rubber lad, and though it was mostly played for laughs, I think it would be cool to one day see a Garp that has further recognized the mistakes that he's made in child-rearing. Some of the progress is already there, and I believe that Garp could be a great example of the fact that, even though you may be old and set in your ways, you can still change for the better. 

  So I can't wait to see him again in the Reverie Arc and in any other arc that Eiichiro Oda can toss him into. So keep watching One Piece on Crunchyroll, and keep hoping that, eventually, Brawny Best Grandpa Garp gets the respect and love that he deserves.

  Do you also love Garp? Are you excited for the Reverie? Let me know in the comments!

--------------

  Daniel Dockery is a writer for Crunchyroll. You can find him reading the Gospel of Garp on Twitter.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

    By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[neverwatchedonepiece]

476-478: “Luffy at the End of his Tether! An All-Out Battle at the Oris Plaza”, “The Power That Will Shorten One's Life! Energy Hormone, Redux!” and “To Live up to a Promise! Luffy and Coby Collide!”

You know, Whitebeard, with your massive ham hands, you could stretch Luffy, aim for the scaffold and ping him onto it like a rubber band. Just a thought.

Had time today, so burned through three episodes in a row. Glad I did because 478 was worth the watch with Luffy unconsciously using Conqueror’s Haki (Shanks will be so proud).

Can’t lie, I’m getting fed up with the “charge/knocked back”, “oh the blades are coming down, no... wait” repetition. I joked about the obstacle course a while back but come on...This is getting ridiculous.

It’s hard to split everything that happened into themes, so I’ll have to go through this write-up by episode. That way, I won’t lose my mind keeping track of everything.

476

This episode finally addressed the elephant in the room: Garp. Prior to 476, he had been hanging out with Ace and Sengoku on the scaffold, biting his nails, agonising, torn between duty and familial affection for Ace.

White Whitebeard ordered his crew to clear the way forward for him and briefly turned Aokiji into an Admiral Kebab (ha), Luffy charged the scaffold. Closer than ever, Garp watched his grandson’s advance, watched Vice Admiral Momonga slash up a tired Luffy who had reached his limit, then witnessed Kizaru take advantage and strike. Sengoku watched Garp’s reaction closely, noticed the tell-tale sweatdropping and sensed the conflict in Garp. Being a clever general, he knew he had to nip that in the bud. Having a powerhouse and famous Marine hero like Garp turn against you would be the worst for his meticulous image management strategy. “Garp, remember that you are one of us.”

Funny how Sengoku actually considered Garp might turn against the Marines. (I have a secret hope he might one day. Maybe one atrocity will push him too far and he’ll finally rebel).

Further to my shock-horror discovery that Kizaru is actually cold as ice and an accomplished shit-talker (Aokiji at least expresses regret, you know), he went Full Justice and approached a weakened Luffy through a dust cloud. I liked the shot where he looked down at Luffy and said...

“But, Strawhat, if you’re not strong enough, you can’t save him, no matter how hard you try. Now why don’t you just get lost.”

Luffy, unable to dodge because his vision was blurring and his legs wouldn’t hold him up, took Kizaru’s kick straight to the face. Ouch.

See, though, Kizaru... Luffy having courage is important. Even if he’s not strong enough to take you on now, courage is the starting point. Strength can be built. One day, Luffy will turn around and be fast enough to smack you right back. Rules of shounen, Kizaru. I don’t make them. Unless Oda breaks them, then everything’s out the window.

Luffy’s luck was with him, though. Whitebeard caught him in one massive hand and told his crew to treat him because he’d done enough. Luckier still, Ivankov and Jimbei scaled the wall (via Ivan’s giant face, ha) so Luffy could be treated properly.

I like that Whitebeard defended Luffy and reassured Ace at the same time (@meaheartonepiece has good point about everyone being able to hear everything on the battlefield. Dat manga physics). “He’s nothing but a bundle of energy who bluffs. Young and clumsy. But I like fools like him,” he said, while looking at Ace. Aw, Whitebeard.

But the Sea Dad feels were not to last. For he then stood up, called out the Marines, “Any of you who want to die, come forward!” Only Akainu stepped up to the challenge. Banter was exchanged. They clashed.

Oda (or Toei) love those contrasting colours. Reminds me of DBZ with Frieza vs Goku (and Goku vs anyone, really). The last time they used it to good effect like that was Ace vs Blackbeard (which still wins but this was great too).

It all went off for a while. Kizaru was firing out lasers like he was handing out candy (”one for you, one for you”), Jimbei swore to lay down his life (please don’t, Jimbei. I’d like you to survive this one) and the Shichibukai were still going at it outside the walls.

Marco realised this and saw an opportunity to sweep in and take Ace. Unfortunately, Garp chose that moment to make his Decision. He falcon punched Marco, sat on a vacant Admiral throne and roared, “If you wanna go any further, you’ll have to kill me first.” (Don’t say that, Garp. All these death flags are making me paranoid).

477

The Fodder hacking at each other with swords were quivering that the Legendary Garp had finally entered the battle. They gave us a handy-dandy rundown of Garp’s C.V. Twenty years ago, he fought Gol D. Roger, which we knew about, but he also fought some guy called Shinki the Golden Lion. (Is this filler? I vaguely remember someone mentioning this name a while back).

Gotta say, even if it is, I loved that shot of 70s cop duo Sengoku and Garp. Look at those Pulp Fiction-esque suits. Splendid.

Whitebeard was annoyed. “Don’t get tripped up by Garp’s name” He’s just an old soldier.” You know, I call out Kizaru for his sass but Whitebeard is up there with the best of them. He has top banter with Akainu too, who complained, “I told you not to destroy the city!” to which Whitebeard countered, “I told you to protect it.” 

Ha. Check and mate. Your move, Akainu! 

While this chaos was unfolding, Sengoku ordered the execution. Now, I’ve just had a thought, but could he just... do it himself if it’s that important? I know he probably won’t want to be personally responsible for Ace’s death because of Garp but really he is the one ordering it, so he is already pretty damn responsible.

Cue a close up of Ace’s sad, tired face which faded into a flashback. This was interesting because it revealed that Ace didn’t always hate Roger. At his adopted island, he’d wander around town, asking groups of unfortunate randoms what they knew about Roger. Most people hated him and gave Ace viciously negative responses, which earned them an ass-whooping and Ace a reputation for being out of control. 

I wonder when Ace started to hate Roger? Maybe he’s never really hated Roger. Or maybe it’s complicated.

There was a nice moment with Garp, though, which is a damn good quote for lie, really, now that I think about it. Ace, racked with guilt even at his young age, said to Garp, “Did I deserve to be born?” What a question for a kid to ask. Garp thought about it, then said, “That’s something you’ll see as you live.”

Excellent answer, Garp. It made me tear a bit, to be honest. That’s a quote I’d take away from One Piece and use in real life, no question.

The memory of that conversation triggered something in Ace. He looked out over the battlefield, over the carnage and chaos and wept because, even though that guilt was still chasing him, he was so happy because his family and friends had come to rescue him.

The boy wants to live, damn it. ;_;

I am certain those words hurt Garp more than any physical blow.

Now, this is where I have to disclose something. I have been avoiding talking about Ace and where I think this execution is going to go because way back when I first started this thing, a random, weapons-grade walnut sent me a PM with three “spoilers” in it. I say “spoilers” because one of the three turned out to be fake. Some of you might know this because I think I mentioned it in the early posts. One was that Roger was Luffy’s father, the other was that “Ace dies” and the third was “they have another brother.” The first is fake, so I’m holding out hope that the random was just trolling because now that Ace wants to live and has come to terms with his guilt, it would be cruel to take Luffy’s only brother from him.

Maybe Whitebeard will sacrifice himself for Ace because THOSE WOUNDS.

While fighting Magma Brat, Whitebeard had an attack of Old Age. Akainu struck and blew a goddamned hole in Whitebeard’s chest. (Oda likes that angle, doesn’t he? It reminds me of Luffy vs Magellan). At the same time, Marco was sniped by Kizaru, Diamond Jozu was Diamond Frozu by Aokiji, and Luffy was down.

But not for long. He has traded a portion of his life for a boost of Ivankov’s Regenerating Hormones. I like how Ivankov refused him at first, saying he could never face Dragon if he let his son die. But Luffy, as always, has that hellish charisma. “If I knew I'd done everything I could, I'd be happy to die. If I can't rescue Ace, I'd rather take my own life afterwards. Let me have the strength to fight now!"

That is some iron conviction you have there, Luffy. Ivankov, even though he was conflicted, said, “UGH, FINE STRAW BOY, HERE. DO WAT U WANT, SMH.” And it was business as usual. Another charge!

478

Meanwhile, Coby spent most of 476-477 feeling terrified, inspired and conflicted by Luffy’s strength and conviction.

It’s nice that he found his courage to fight and stand up to Luffy, but the encounter was laughably short. He saw Luffy through the dust cloud, built up an attack (does Coby have a fruit?) aaaaaaaaaaand... he got his face caved in.

At least he’s not dead, eh?  Coby, son, you need to level up! Go join Kizaru’s crew. He’ll teach you how to be a cold, hardass MF WHO IS ALSO CUNNING.

Realising his beams wouldn’t work on Marco because Marco regenerates, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, Kizaru cuffed him with seastone, negating his powers, and then sniped him.

What a magnificent bastard he is. I hate that I like Kizaru. I am as conflicted as Coby, haha.

At this point, things were not looking good for the Whitebeard Pirates and Allies. Sengoku gave the order to kill Whitebeard and a bunch of fodder leapt at him with swords to the point he looked like an angry, roided porcupine. He even took a bazooka to the face. But that didn’t matter. "They think they can beat me so easily? I don't need any help. BECAUSE I’M WHITEBEARD.”

That was awesome.

“Did he call me wounded? Ridiculous. I won't die from such a small wound.” (He said with a fucking hole in his chest). “I know.. what will happen.. if i die. Then, you know, I can't allow myself to die until... I see a bright future ahead for my sons. Right, Ace?”

I wasn’t crying. Nope. Not at all.

Sengoku did not like this. He ordered the swords to be brought down. Whitebeard tried to stop it from happening, but his vision blurred. Luffy was too far away. He fought and fought, got punched in the face, knocked back... there were too many Marines. Ace was going to die. And he couldn’t reach him. It all became too much...

And then this happened.

Conqeror’s Haki. Absolutely golden. Shanks would be proud, Luffy. You are now worthy of wearing that hat.

[t-rexthemouse]

Sometimes I really think about Monkey D Garp. Like that man is pretty awesome. I have a lot of respect for him. And my heart goes out to him. I mean the man is a Vice Admiral apart of the Marines and his family DID NOT follow in his steps like he wanted them to. Like his only child, Dragon (though we don't know his past at all), is the leader of the Revalotionary Army. Dragon is I'm charge of the group of people wanted to end the World Government. And them his #1 enemy, Gol D Roger asked him to take in his only child and he does. He raises Ace as his own grandson! Well he leaves Ace with Dandan but he tries his best ya know? And then Luffy (dragons son) is born and given to Garp and garp drops him off to be raised with Ace but he doesn't love Ace any less. He loved both of those boys equally. He wanted them to go into the Marines. He tried to lead them the 'right' (read his) way. He wanted them to be as safe(ish). Then both Ace and Luffy BOTH became pirates (much to his anger). But his grandsons didn't become any common pirates. They became famous pirates. Like when Luffy and his crew run into him at Water 7 (Luffys crews reaction is gold) he's like hey and then fixes the wall drops the bomb on who Luffys dad is. Everyone is just over all suprised by the entire thing. And the only time he even started doing his job to hunt pirates (Luffy cause he was in the area obviously) was only when he was ORDERED too. Like he didn't actively hunt his grandsons because he cares about them. When Ace is on the execution block Garp sits next to Ace fucking crying. He just wanted his grandkids to be safe and this is the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. And he can do NOTHING to stop it and it's killing him. And then is other idoit grandson shows up to save his grandson who's about to be killed. While Garp had to do his job I think he was hoping that maybe just maybe Luffy would save Ace and then they'd both get out of this alive and he won't have to watch Ace get executed. But then Ace is outed as Gol D Rogers son and then Whitebeard shows up and then it turns into an all out war. Ace gets killed protecting Luffy and Luffy barley gets away. And even then it was a hit an miss for a while there and Garp doesn't know about that bit but still. Garp almost loses 2 people on the same day. I just...I have so many feels and so much respect for garp. He doesn't get nearly enough attention as he deserves.

[stereden]

Buggy is many things. Selfish. Greedy. Cowardly. To name only a few of them. He knows he’s not the smartest knife in the bunch, but he makes do, and he’s not a half-bad captain, all things told (he hopes).

Landing himself in Impel Down had not been in his plans, neither had been running into the damn Strawhat again, but he uses the boy’s escape to make his own anyway, as terrifying as the experience is, and he still does not understand what all the fuss about Firefist is, him being old man Whitebeard’s commander should not warrant such a spectacle, but it’s not like he can leave, so he’s along for the ride.

His goals definitely do not include involving himself into any fighting, but getting his five minutes of denden-fame while commenting the damn thing, and then getting the fuck away while everyone is distracted, preferably before Whitebeard sends Marineford six feet under seabed.

Simple enough, right?

At least it is until Sengoku announces that Firefist is Gol D Roger’s son, and Buggy freezes.

Captain had a son? He knows about the Batterilla purges, Davy Jones knows Shanks had cursed the Marines high and low at the time, actually going up to Edward Newgate to try and intervene, because any of the Rogers Kaizoku showing their faces there to try and get people out would only have brought a buster call, but by the time Whitebeard got there it was over. To hear that the child had survived?

(And somehow ended up with Strawhat as a brother, but Buggy will deal with that particular mindfuck when he’s not floored by the realisation that his Captain actually reproduced, thank you very much).

He steals a denden, makes a grand display of it and makes sure the world will see what is happening here.

Everyone believes he’s an idiot and a coward, only after fame and glory, and usually they would be right.

But this not for him. This is for his former nakamas, for the Roger Kaizoku, so that they will know that their Captain left behind a legacy.

It’s highly unlikely that any of them will be able to do something to help, Buggy knows it all too well. Where are they right now, he wonders. Crocus is probably still at his stupid lighthouse, babysitting Laboon, and Rayleigh is either gambling or sold into slavery AGAIN back on Sabaody, but what about the others? Scopper Gaban? Seagull? He hasn’t heard from any of them since the crew disbanded, hasn’t dared to ask Rayleigh about them the few times he’s dared to approach the former first mate, not sure of his welcome, and while Shanks is a pain in the ass, he’s the only one who bothered to stay somewhat in touch with Buggy, even if he does so by regularly highjacking his denden.

They had been nakama, once upon a time, and this is about their Captain’s legacy, their Captain’s child, and while Buggy is too much of a coward to enter this particular battlefield, the less he can do is bear witness to what will happen and make sure the others will know.

At first, it looks like everything might end well for Firefist. Strawhat manages to get to him and free him with Mr 3’s help while Whitebeard and his allies demolish the opposition, and captain’s son is as much a reckless loyal idiot as his father had been, and they’re running towards the ships on Whitebeard’s orders when everything goes to hell.

Akainu provokes Firefist, who reacts about as well as Buggy himself would have to someone insulting his captain and stops running. To face a bloody admiral.

And if that were not enough, Strawhat collapses and Akainu hones in on his weakness.

Buggy doesn’t know what the trigger is. Maybe it’s the familiar strawhat on a boy who smiled when he tried (not that hard) to execute him. Maybe it’s Shanks voice, yammering on the denden he keeps hacking about the boy who is going to be the pirate King. Maybe it’s Captain’s boy’s devastated face when he realises what is happening, the grim determination not to let his brother die.

Maybe it’s a memory of sitting on the floor in Captain Roger’s cabin as a kid, no older than ten, still shaking from their last battle and tears streaming down his face because he had been terrified, had hid away, and he was a coward unfit to serve under Captain Roger’s banner, and Captain’s hand on his shoulder as he tells him that it’s okay to be afraid, to want to protect oneself, that Roger doesn’t mind if Buggy keeps away from danger more often than not, as long as Buggy remembers that there are things worth fighting for and that in Captain’s eyes, Buggy was one of these things.

Maybe it’s that Buggy remembers that he once sailed with Gol D Roger, that the man had once been the closest thing Buggy had had to a father, and maybe it’s the fact that he remembers all too well the day his Captain knelt on the execution platform while Buggy could do nothing but watch.

Maybe it’s all of these at once, but Buggy is moving before he registers it, limbs darkening with armament haki drilled into his head by Rayleigh years before he ate his devil fruit.

Not again. Not on his watch.

Buggy’s dark and shiny fists collide with Akainu’s attack and stop it in its track, less than a meter away from Firefist’s unprotected back as the boy had thrown himself over Strawhat in a vain attempt to protect him.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” Buggy growls out in the sudden silence of the battlefield. “Touch Captain Roger’s son.”

He’s standing between the Mad Dog of the Marine and his prey, magma fists blocked bare handed even as his entire frame shakes ( fear, adrenaline, pure unadulterated terror, what the fuck is he doing what the fuck was he thinking) , still clad in his prison uniform, two pistols and three knives he’d scavenged somewhere as his only weapons, and the Universe blinks.

“Firefist. Take the moron and get out of here” He hisses even as he gathers Haki into his lower body.

Said lower half rockets away from him and collides with the Admiral’s crotch with enough force to send him flying to another part of the battlefield.

“Are you deaf?” He barks at Firefist. “Get the fuck out of here! Do you have any idea how fucking annoying Shanks will be if something happens to the brat?”

Focus on Shanks. Being angry at the damn red-head is good, is familiar, and will keep the freak-out at bay once he realizes fully just what he has done.

Behind him, Firefist finally unfreezes, and Jinbei and Ivankov are rushing towards them too, but Buggy ignores them, keeping an eye out for his surrounding. Observation Haki, rough with disuse, tries to make sense of the damn battlefield.

Whitebeard’s commanders are mobilizing again, half remaining to guard their siblings’ backs while they retreat to their ships following Newgate’s last order, while the rest, led by a livid Phoenix, engages the remaining Admirals and Vice-Admirals. Whitebeard himself is still standing tall, an immovable wall between the marines and his precious children. Buggy’s merry band of prisoners is still gaping at him, but the smarter ones have started to regroup by the ships.

Buggy inhales.

Whitebeard is going to die on this battlefield. He knows it, his crew knows it, the marines know it.

Buggy had never liked the man. Respected his strength, yes, he would have to be the highest moron not to, but he had never understood his disregard for treasure and fame.

(Whitebeard also kept making fun of his nose, the asshole!)

But Buggy had also never understood Captain Roger’s love of adventure, and Newgate had been Roger’s friend and Rival, the last great captain of that Era, and his death would cause a great ripple around the oceans.

Behind him, Firefist is running, Strawhat in his arms, protected by Jinbei, Vista and Ivankov.

Buggy exhales. His lower half finally rejoins his upper half. Sengoku is sitting on Garp, who looks ready to join the Phoenix and the others in trying to separate Akainu’s head from his shoulders.

“Red-Nose.”

“What do you want, old bastard?” He retorts angrily, glaring at the strongest man in the world.

“You saved my precious son. Thank you.”

“I didn’t do it for you!” Buggy bristles, and it’s true. “I didn’t want to have to deal with stupid Shanks’ reaction if something happened to his damn Strawhat!”

And maybe that’s part of it, but Buggy remembers Roger standing between him and Shiki when the other pirate had been about to cut him in two, long before he got his devil fruit. And maybe Firefist hates Captain Roger, maybe he truly considers Whitebeard his father, but the boy is Captain’s son and while Buggy is many things (a liar a coward a greedy fool a doublecrosser) he is still a Roger Kaizoku, and always will be, no matter how long it has been since the Oro Jackson last took to the seas, no matter how much he used to disagree with Captain Roger’s ideals.

When Shanks shows up after everything is said and done, after Whitebeard dies standing and Blackbeard the backstabber somehow manages to steal his power, and stops the war in its track, forcing the marines to allow the pirates to collect their dead, Buggy punches him in the face with a haki reinforced punch.

Where the fuck were you? He wants to yell. Any of you? What happened to the great crew of the pirate King, to those who traveled the world and reached Raftel? What happened to those who once held the same dream as Captain Roger, that they fell apart after his death?

“You’re late, you red-headed menace!” He yells instead. “And your protégé is a bloody lunatic!”

“Maa, maa Buggy, I had to put little Kaido back in his place before he plundered Newgate’s territory, and he’s a persistent little brat, I’ll give him that. Besides,” he adds, giving him a knowing look “I knew you had things well in hand. Quite literally, or so I heard. Old Man Rayleigh will be proud to know that his teachings held true despite the years.”

“Old man Rayleigh can kiss my ass!” Buggy snarls, and Shanks’ eyes widen as he notices that, for the first time since their captain’s execution was announced, Buggy is more than just angry. He is furious, a cold and contained fury that few would believe him capable of.

“The Law brat tok your brat and Captain’s brat on his sub, I’ve got no clue where they’ll be going.” Buggy says calmly, too calmly. “And I’ll be going now. Have fun dealing with this mess.”

He turns around to leave, to join his fellow prisoners on the battleship that they’ve commandeered in the chaos following Newgate’s death and Shanks’s arrival.

“Buggy.”

It’s Shanks, and he sounds… tired, and sad, and more serious than Buggy wants to remember him ever being.

“Thank you.” He says quietly, so quietly that Buggy is the only one to hear it. “Same place as last time, three weeks from now? I’ll bring the booze.”

Buggy pauses.

“Alright. Fair warning, Shanks. Any of the others show up, I’ll be asking for answers.”

“As will I.”

Three weeks later, Buggy makes his way to a small, anonymous island in East Blue, not too far away from Loguetown, an island he hasn’t set foot on in over twenty years, ever since the Roger Kaizoku had gathered there for one last send-off.

They hadn’t even gotten to give their captain’s body the farewell he’d deserved. The marines had destroyed it, scattering even his ashes to prevent anyone from finding them.

Buggy knows very well that this is why Shanks insisted on allowing Whitebeard’s people to take the old man’s body with them.

When he arrives on the island, Shanks is already there waiting for him, early for the first time in his entire life. They’re a day early, both of them, but odds are the others might show up before the night is over. Or they might not. Buggy doesn’t even pretend to know how they think anymore. And he isn’t quite sure how he feels about that.

“Buggy.”

“Shanks.”

He’s too tired, too weary to play their usual game of cat and mouse, and he takes a long gulp from the offered bottle before sitting down on the cliff’s edge, next to the redhead.

“How have you been?” Shanks asks, and Buggy wants to snort, because really? but doesn’t.

He shrugs instead. “Busy. My crew basically decupled, even after most of the former prisoners went their own way. I expect at least half of the remaining ones to leave before the month is up - the marines have been on our asses like hemoroïds.”

“That’s what happen when you prevent the execution of the Pirate King’s son on live TV.”

Buggy groans. “Don’t remind me. Have you seen these blasted articles? Half of them are accusing me of playing the fool until now, and the rest of only saving the kid because he might have some intel about Raftel! Raftel! Morons! Does no one remembers that we were there when Captain set found on bloody Raftel?!”

“Captain did his best to keep us cabin-boys from the limelight, remember?” Shanks reminded him.

“Yeah, and he was a moron too!”

“And that’s the other reason many have trouble understanding why you stood up for Ace. You never made it a secret that you didn’t have a very high opinion of Captain Roger’s goals.”

These words, coming from Shanks , hurt a lot more than expected, and Buggy gulps down the ret of his bottle before grabbing the next.

“Captain and I had our differences of opinions” He says flatly, trying to keep the hurt and betrayal out of his voice. “But he was still my Captain. Ore wa Roger Kaizokudesu , Shanks. That used to mean something, once. Didn’t it? Is it so hard to believe that it still means something to me?”

Buggy…”

“No!” Buggy’s voice does not stutter as he interrupts the Yonko. “You do not get to accuse me of betraying my Captain and then brush it off as a joke, Akagami no Shanks. My goals have always differed from his, but he was my Captain, and as long as he was that didn’t matter. He knew I wasn’t in it for the same reasons as he was, and he accepted me in his crew nonetheless. I may not have shared his ideals and his dreams, but I respected them, admired them despite that. I used to wish that I could believe like he did, that adventures and nakamas were all we needed in this world. But just as I started to see things his way, he disbanded the crew, disappeared for two months, then gave himself up to the marines. And everything fell apart. Everyone left, went their own way, and maybe it was naïve of me to believe that they would at least try to stay in touch, to reach out, but I did. And they never did. We were still kids, still fucking kids, and he was the closest thing either of us had to a fucking parent, and they left us hanging.”

He takes a swig of the bottle by his side, still facing the sea rather than the man beside him.

“So no, I’m never going to put my dreams in adventures and friends and family. I’ve learned my lesson. At least treasures and money have never betrayed me when I needed them the most. Do you remember how it felt, Shanks? Not even fourteen years old, barely even fifteen in your case, being thrust into the world on your own after losing the center of your universe? Of course you do. That’s why you never took that Strawhat kid of yours on the Red Force. Becaue he was just a kid and had no idea what he was really getting himself into. He still doesn’t, though I hope Marineford was a wake-up call for him.”

“You tried to kill him in Loguetown. On the same platform they killed Captain Roger on.”

Buggy laughs. It sounds hollow in the increasing darkness.

“Did I? Tell me, Akagami no Shanks, Emperor of the New World. Have I ever deliberately killed anyone younger than twenty-five?”

Shanks freezes, and Buggy laughs again. Even Shanks hadn’t bothered to look beneath Buggy’s surface, and it hurts more than it should.

“The one they call the Supernova? I met them all at some point, when they started out. I ‘tried’ to kill them. Them and all the others. Some gave up, some didn’t. Some won, and some I let go. All of them learned a valuable lesson. Someone had to make sure they knew what they were getting themselves into before they got themselves killed. And damned if I was going to let them find out the same way I did.”

He takes another swig, frowns at the empty bottle and grabs another.

“You want to know why I mostly stayed in East Blue, Shanks? I stayed there because I learned the hard way that I’m not like the rest of you. I’m not strong enough to keep my crew alive out there. So I’m not going to risk it. I might not believe in that ‘nakama are family’ crap, but they’re my responsibility. And contrary to others, I’m not going to abandon them.”

He stands up, turns around and starts to walk away.

“It was nice to see you, Akagami, but I’ve got to get back to my crew and make sure they’re going to survive the shit-fest I landed them into. Give my greetings to the others when they have the decency to show themselves instead of eavesdropping like naughty cabin-boys.”

He leaves with these words, ignoring the wince that shot through his fellow former cabin brat at the iting tone. Shanks doesn’t try to stop him, though, and neither do the others he can sense hidden in the trees.

[onepiece-imagines-bartoloclub]

(This one was a long time given and I apologize for postponing the request, I hope you enjoy this one senpai!♡♡♡♡♡♡) It was hard, but Sengoku was able to convince Kuzan and Sakazuki into training a new set of recruits who arrived to Marineford a few weeks ago. He thinks that these rookies would be better off being taught by heavily experienced soldiers, especially by the monster admirals themselves, he would've done it himself but he has too much paperwork in his office. Kuzan couldn't care less about teaching them but Sakazuki was somewhat curious, he asked the fleet admiral to see the files on the new recruits to see if they were even worth his time. All of them looked very generic and uninteresting but his eyes landed on the last person, their picture covered up and a lot of their profile is covered up and blacked out with ink, he thought that whoever this person was had to be important or maybe even a former criminal, the mere thought made him growl. ----- Time Skip to 3 days ------ It was 10 am and the ship with the new recruits have arrived are all lined up in front of the admirals alongside vice admiral Dalmation who's giving them some last minute pep talk. "Alright, newbies! For three weeks you'll have the honor to be trained under the most powerful members of the Marines, the prestige admirals Aokiji and Akainu. Remember to not look at them in the eyes and only speak when spoken to, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" "YES SIR!" He walks up to the admirals and salutes to them. "They're all yours." Akainu nods while Aokiji sleeps in the corner of the room, Dalmation leaves and the molten admiral decides to scan the soldiers. They're all exactly how he saw them in the folders, but one in particular stands out from all of them. She stands out at 6'2, long black hair and a dark skin tone, she sports a scar that travels from the bottom of one eye, over the bridge of her nose and under the other eye. She wears the usual newbie marine clothing of a white cap with the Marines logo on the front, white shirt, long blue jeans and brown boots. He guesses that she's the one who's files are covered up, but there's also something about her that's familiar. He shakes his head and kick the cold admiral awake and adresses his new soldiers. "As long as you're with us, you will suffer through a fate worse then hell, you might be new but we will not go easy on you and for those who can't take the heat, raise your hands now and I'll happily toss you into the ocean to swim back home." Nobody raises their hands and he smirks. "Very well, let's get started." A day turns into two and late turns into a week. Akainu scoffs at the majority of the newbies as they can barely manage a push up and some even tried to slack off but were quickly caught by a half sleeping Kuzan. Out of all of them, the girl seems to be the only one with any experience and both admirals catch on quickly as she was able to go through all of the exercise regimens and was even able to land a hit on the the molten lava user during a spar. But even with all of that in mind, there's something about her that attracts the admirals to her, heck she's the only one there that gets a "Good work" and a "Not bad" from the both of them. Sometimes whenever she salutes them or greets them before training, they become quiet and rigid, her smile quiets them down, especially when they're arguing about how to train the newbies. "Y/N! Did you finish off the family of Sea Kings like we ordered too?" "Yes Akainu, sir! They're all dealt with and are sent to the chef to become our next week's menu." She replies with a salute that always makes his cheeks heat up a little but cleverly hidden away by a scowl. "Good, you can rest now, Kuzan will be giving you your next exercise in an hour." "Yes sir!" She sits down on a bench outside the range of working officers who are being yelled at by the heated admiral for trying to take a nap. "Excuse me y/n, but I hope you don't mind that we have a little talk." She springs up on her feet and salutes the calm Chilly Chilly devil fruit user. "O-Of course Aokiji, sir!" He smirks and gestures her to sit down on the bench with him. "Cut the formalities kid, I just wanted to talk." "Kid? We're only ten years apart." "That's true but that's beside the point." She sits down next to him. "So, what did you want to talk about?" "..... How did you manage to avoid the Marines for so long?" She stiffens at the question "W-What do you mean Aoki--" "I mean, how did you last all these years without being caught even with being one of the few living members of Roger's crew?" "...... I stayed in Shank's ship until I was confident enough to go off on my own. I may have had a low bounty, being the musician and all but I knew that being a member of Roger's was enough to get me executed.... I was done with the pirate life after Roger's death and at heart I wanted to be a marine as well, but I new that being a warlord was not an option for me." "Hm..." "...... Is there anything else you needed to ask?" "Just one thing, who else knows about you?" "Garp and Sengoku, but that's it. It was hard but at the end it was Garp that helped me get recruited." "...... Alright, kid. That's enough interrogating for today, let's go, you have to swim five hundred kilometers around the island, I wouldn't have ordered you to do something like this but the hot head over them would raise suspicion if I didn't tell you what to do." He pats her head and leads her to the beach. She stays quiet until they arrive. "Oh and kid." "Hm?" "This will be our little secret." She looks at him and smiles. "Thanks." He smirks again, expertly hiding away the ever looming blush on his cheeks. ------ Time Skip 2 weeks ------- The last two weeks blaze by way too quickly and for Sakazuki and Kuzan, it was true. During those fourteen days they grew attached to the new recruits (admittedly they grew attached to y/n but they wouldn't admit it) and it almost saddened them to see the newbies enter Dalmation's ship and swim away. The rookies salute the admirals while the boat goes away but they saw y/n give Kuzan a little wave and a wink while her superior wasn't looking. It was extremely hard for Sakazuki to admit but he grew too attached, he knew about the woman's past and was both angered and frustrated with his new feelings for her. He kept it quiet for the two weeks and during that time he tried to avoid her as much as possible while also attempting to give her the hardest and rigorous training possible. In the end he chose to keep quiet and wait, hoping in a some tiny part of his conscience that she stays on the path of complete righteousness. As for Kuzan, he couldn't care less about her former status as a pirate, whatever path she chose to follow was completely up to her and all he could do is wait to see her again. They return to an office, having been called up by Sengoku in order to talk about a possible war coming up with the new Whitebeard pirates. They waited for the fleet admiral to arrive. It was quiet for a while until Kuzan decided to speak up. "So Saka, what do you think about the new recruits?" "Why do you care Kuzan? Or are you asking because you want to talk about your disgusting crush on a pirate?" "Pirate? What pirate? All I saw were Marines in trainin--" "Don't talk lies Kuzan! You know just as well as I do that y/n was a filthy pirate!" "A filthy pirate you say? All I saw was potential marine, nothing more and nothing less." "I don't care what you think of her, a pirate is a pirate no matter where they are and who they join." And as much as he says that, he knows that Kuzan knows that all he said was bull. While he holds an infinite am out of contempt for pirates, there was something about her that was different and tiny part of him hoped that she stays on the path of justice. "Whatever you say, don't think I didn't see you sneaking peeks at her during the push up regimens." "Shut it, Kuzan."