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gojirarara · 3 months

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Heso!🤘Here you will find the origins of both Cupid and her Devil Fruit! [All designs by me!]

Of Gods and Monsters

Type: Mythical Zoan

Tenshi-Tenshi no Mi, Model: Seraphim

Tenshi means “Angel” in Japanese. For appearance, the Seraphim draws heavy inspiration from Holydramon/Magnadramon (Digimon) while also referencing both biblical seraphim and cherubim angels. The DF’s design is inspired by the etrog fruit which appears as one of the forbidden fruits in the Bible. In fact, Cupid’s real name is Querubín, meaning “Cherub/Cherubim” in Spanish.

The Seraphim’s finalized design! Below is early artwork of her along with the DF’s design

The Seraphim in Skypiean Culture: Myth of Creation: Mother Seraph

“Legends tell the story of a winged beast who fell from the heavens and in a disoriented fury created the Sky Islands. With cyclones birthed from the frantic batting of all ten of its powerful wings, raging fire and sea, the islands soon adorned the clouds.”

It is said that in 10 days, the beast weakened itself and retreated to what is currently known as the Upper Yard, creating its Holy Land. In time, the beast revealed its true form to the early Sky People— a Lunarian woman by the name of Seraph.

Her otherworldly appearance alone inspired devotion; A towering woman with a beautiful rich complexion, hair kissed by moonlight, eyes the color of rubies and her most distinguishing feature: a pair of kite-tailed wings crowned by flames with long black feathers that curled towards the heavens from whence she came.

Seraph and the Seraphim became their beloved ruler, their guardian, slayer of beasts, their goddess, their teacher. A temple and altar were erected in Seraph’s honor upon the Upper Yard. (Offerings, rituals and sacrifices took place in exchange for knowledge, protection and blessings)

The goddess bestowed the knowledge of her powers from the Devil Fruit to assure the security of the Seraphim’s power as to not fall into the wrong hands and bring destruction to their land as it did to her original home from where she was exiled.

Upon her passing, a Devil Fruit was left behind and the legacy of the Seraphim begins. Deemed “The Forbidden Fruit”, it was guarded by Seraph’s most loyal devotees from generation to generation.

The appearance of the Sky People is believed to be attributed to Mother Seraph.

Seraph’s design!

Winds of Change: Enter Querubín

Taken from her parents at birth, she was burdened with a destiny imposed onto her. The child was born with a distinguishing birthmark— her peculiar wings.

Querubín’s wings were kite-tailed with feathers curling upwards and a tint that was described as being “kissed by moonlight”.

Her birth was deemed the sign of a new age in which Seraph had finally returned to them.

Querubín was raised by Decem Alas within Seraph’s temple in Upoer Yard. Her sole purpose was to permanently embody the Seraphim and protect the Sky Islands/Upper Yard. Throughout her childhood, she was indoctrinated into the sect and thoroughly prepared to consume the Devil Fruit. Querubín spent years under a grueling schedule of training at the hands of the High Priests whose purpose was to ensure the Seraphim’s survival by having Querubín master and awaken her Zoan Devil Fruit.

Despite her destiny, proficiency in training and the teachings of Decem Alas, Querubín felt reluctant towards a future that involved shedding her humanity and her identity completely to become the beast, so resentment festered as she matured. Her focus within training shifted from the goals of the cult, to her own— freedom. To see the world and to learn more about it— about the vearthly treasures that lurked beneath the endless sea of clouds. The girl’s plan was to master her abilities in order to overpower/defeat the High Priests and leading cultists and escape the Sky Islands.

Epilogue

Threatening to plunge the entirety of Skypiea into the abyss and undoing Seraph’s work, the Seraphim leaves behind a blanket of blazing white, the temple that once imprisoned her reduced to ruins, blood and viscera painting the sacrificial altar crimson… She was free.

…Until she found herself face-to-face with the quickly approaching blue. Weakened by the fight, the victor travelled not too far until her wounds and exhaustion took its toll, sealing her fate to a watery grave.

But wait— There’s more!

Jaya

Following the echo of what seemed to be a large shipwreck, divers of the Saruyama Alliance crew were puzzled to find a young girl— no older than 10 years old— sinking to the depths. Upon rescue and examination, they were astonished at her appearance befitting of the descriptions of the Sky Islands’ inhabitants.

Returning to the coast of the island of Jaya with a heavily injured and comatose angel child, the captains bring their discovery to their leader, Mont Blanc Cricket. The girl was living proof of his ancestor’s expeditions to the Sky Islands and the City of Gold.

Querubín was taken in by Mont Blanc Cricket and his protégés Shoujo and Masira where she lived happily for years as a family until setting off on her own journey to follow her dreams. (There were many conversations between her and Cricket about the Sky Islands and her knowledge of it, sharing her experiences and past with Decem Alas and how it lead her to Jaya. Her accounts often helped the older man verify his ancestor’s claims.)

It was during her time spent at Jaya that she developed a love for botany, zoology, history and the arts through reading books Cricket had amassed during his own expeditions, plus those she was gifted by her surrogate family. The nearby rainforest became her favorite place, often going on her own expeditions to observe nature and taking a sketchbook along with her to draw the flora and fauna she came across in order to identify them back at home using her books. The walls of her room soon becoming covered in sketches with varying degrees of detail as she developed her artistic skills.

It’s on this island where Querubín meets her very first friend, Berry!Originating from Little Garden, her egg had been stolen by a traveling merchant looking to make good money off of it in Mock Town’s market. Upon arriving on the island of Jaya, the egg was stolen again by a hungry South Bird who attempted to take it back to its nest in the South Grave rainforest but dropped it beforehand due to its weight. Luckily, it was found by the young girl who saw the bird drop something. After inspecting the extraordinary egg, she decided to bring it back home with her to try and identify what it could be and to not abandon it to predators. (Paying forward the kindness the Saruyama Alliance showed her). Querubín took care of the egg until it hatched, not only revealing a species she had never seen in the rainforest, but a dinosaur nonetheless! However, the two quickly became inseparable and so ‘Berry’ became part of their small family (and also becoming the subject of many life drawings).

Berry’s design! She stands at about 2’7” and 5-6’ long!

Farewell, Jaya!

For her 18th birthday, Querubín was gifted her very own log pose so she could embark on her own journey and chase her own dreams.

An additional parting gift— an eternal pose to Jaya with a letter signed by all 3 letting her know that she would always have a home to return to.

After a tearful goodbye and a heartfelt moment of the Skypiean woman expressing her everlasting gratitude to Mont Blanc Cricket, Masira and Shoujo for saving her and raising her as one of their own throughout the years, she and Berry take their leave.

Querubín leaves with them an old sketchbook filled with drawings of them as she did when she was younger, adding a couple of loose pages at the end and using a feather of hers as a bookmark— a realistic sketch of them all together (including Berry) and a beautiful letter also expressing her gratitude and deep love for them all.

Heso, Alabasta Kingdom!

The Log Pose lead the Skypiean to the beautiful desert kingdom of Alabasta, but not before experiencing their fair share of obstacles along the way on their first ever solo cruise! The biggest highlight of their journey was befriending an interesting character who she helped from drowning. Their name was Bon Clay and the chemistry was immediate! (Even bonding over each sporting a pair of wings as part of their ensembles). Once Bon’s crew found them, the two friends shared an emotional farewell hoping to see each other again with Bon swearing they would repay their kindness.

A few days after their encounter with Bon-Bon, Querubín and Berry finally arrived at a port town by the name of Nanohana.

The woman soon became enamored by the diversity of Alabasta, soaking in all the history she could and studying its various locations with the intention of fulfilling her artistic ambitions, through her passion of capturing the opulence of different flora and fauna. Alabasta’s richly diverse ecosystems allowed Querubín to polish her skills and to develop further what would be her signature artistic style, throughout years of traveling across the desert kingdom.

Miss Cupid

Eventually, Querubín settled down in the city of Rainbase where she built a solid reputation as an anonymous artist using the pseudonym “Cupid” who specialized in anatomical pieces combining the delicate beauty of the local flora and fauna she observed during her childhood in Jaya and now in Alabasta.

Her pieces gained popularity for their unique aesthetic as well as being featured in popular establishments seeking to attract more visitors (purchases via art vendors, etc. to remain anonymous).

One day, she is approached by a beautiful tall woman with a special proposal… A commission piece for the owner of Rain Dinners Casino who expressed fondness over desert lillies and bananagators.

Cupid is invited by Miss All Sunday to the grand reveal of the special piece with the promise that her anonymity would be respected as well as exhibiting other artworks that had also been purchased alongside the main commission piece. Once the casino’s owner made his entrance, Cupid was gobsmacked witnessing opulence incarnate, feeling a rush of pride once he began to express his fancy. The man was perfect yet imperfect and she couldn’t help but admire him from afar. What she didn’t know was that the man had piqued his interest for a while, having noticed her particular appearance, making Nico Robin keep tabs on her. (It wasn’t very difficult for Robin or Crocodile to decipher the artist’s identity 😭)

As the evening progressed and guests were leaving, Crocodile approached her with a smug smile, “Superb work, Miss Cupid”.

After the initial shock had passed, Crocodile insisted in wanting a detailed walkthrough of each exhibition piece with her on his arm.

The rest of the evening was spent conversing about her artistic skills, about their shared fondness of animals, her small feathered companion… and the part of her anatomy that made him think of old stories involving entire civilizations built atop clouds.

Miss Cupid was eventually chosen by Crocodile as Miss All Sunday’s assistant in managing the art market in Alabasta while also creating more pieces to display at the high class establishment that is Rain Dinners.

The original commission piece is displayed in Crocodile’s private office.

This was only the beginning of what would later become their long courtship… The rest is history as they develop strong feelings for each other and eventually marry.

#miss cupid #her backstory got a total revamp and I’m really proud!#kaijufart #one piece self insert #one piece selfship

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gojirarara · 3 months

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Some Miss Cupid/Seraphim doodles! (Buggy is a glorified cat toy but they’re friends I swear!)

Bonus Cheeb Seraphim

#kaijufart #my art #one piece oc #one piece self insert #oc art #not a ship #buggy the clown

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gojirarara · 3 months

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Cross Guild! Miss Cupid 💘

#kaijufart #my art #plus size art #body positive art #one piece oc #one piece self insert #oc art

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gojirarara · 4 months

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Luz de luna, guía mi amor 🌙 🌹

After a long while, I decided to redraw my plus-sized Sailor Moon piece but in my toony style!

#sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #sailor moon serena #sailor moon usagi #fanart #usagi tsukino #plus size art #fat liberation #body positive art #my art #kaijufart

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gojirarara · 1 year

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A woman’s war Unoccupied history True nature won’t search to destroy If it doesn’t make sense

#Miss Manticore my beloved #feminine rage incarnate ❤️#what if the manticore and the seraphim kissed 😳#Ana fr this is my favorite piece of yours yet ugh

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gojirarara · 1 year

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More lore of A’s Devil Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Manticore, and its chimerical birthplace, Island of Chryseus 🌙

Island Made of Gold

At the threshold of New World, shrouded in salt air and protective incantations, drifts a fabled island of Chryseus (Island Made of Gold), known in legends for its veridian valleys, bountiful harvests and inexhaustible riches.

Those who have heard the tales of the golden island and embarked on a voyage to see it for themselves, however, beg to differ – this plot of land has nothing to do with its generous descriptions from the hearsay: liquid gold doesn’t flow in the aqueducts, the citizens’ prosperity isn’t glaringly evident, the island’s agriculture is thriving, but that’s the way it goes on most islands.

What sets the difference between Chryseus and the rest of the islands, even the most peculiar ones, is the plentitude of bizarre statues embellishing every square, street, alley, and residency. Stones and metals, coagulated in shapes of all sorts of demonic, brutish, disimpassioned, primordial, even benevolent creatures stand guard of each corner of the island.

And that’s when a benighted traveller comes up with a delusional sense that Chryseus isn’t made up of a metaphorical gold after all. The precious jewels and metals must be stashed in these terrifying statues, the contents of just one could probably provide him with unheard of riches for the rest of his life. An unfortunate traveller reaches for the etched creature, a feeling of unease descends upon his shoulders and soaks into his skin as soon as his fingertips brush the cold surface of the idol. Before he can discern what happened between the moment he touched the statue and the next, the thief’s chest reverberates with a sharp pang, he can no longer feel his extremities as venom from an enormous scorpion sting spreads across his entire body.

The deafening roar is the last thing he’s capable of hearing, when an amber-maned beast with unsettling human features, that seemingly materialised out of thin air, sinks his teeth into the thief’s paralysed flesh.

Sentinel on the wreckage

A tragic fate meets those who in their heart deemed that Chryseus’s possessions would make them wealthier. An ill intention of disrupting the island’s way of living or taking away from its citizens results in the perpetrator’s encounter with Manticore, the vengeful guardian spirit of the legendary island. Many millennials ago, Chryseus lived up to its epithet of Island Made Of Gold, its wealth overflowed, trade and culture flourished. The folk worshipped countless gods and spirits, carving marble sculptures in their honour. Alas, soon the island’s allies discovered that despite boundless resources it has to offer, Chryseus citizens are barely capable of protecting themselves against a large number of enemies. The island suffered from relentless attacks and pillages more and more often, soon its golden halls were torn down and sold out, the fruitful soil bled dry by the fiends.

A selfless hero, whose name lapsed into oblivion, sacrificed himself to preserve the last remaining evidence of Chryseus’s mythology and heritage in the form of defaced sculptures and feeble scrolls. The hero’s wrath towards the fiends who destroyed his home, conflated with the last heartfelt prayer to the spirits manifested in the birth of the brutish Manticore, an abysmal beast with a body of lion, gigantic wings of an eagle and a monstrous scorpion sting. An amber mane frames a beastly face with glowing golden eyes. For a fleeting moment, Manticore’s targets could witness an eerie humanity about the beast’s face. Perhaps, these were the traces of the deceased hero’s soul exposing themselves to the beast’s victims before they let out their last breath.

As the centuries marched on, Chryseus quietly recovered from its ruin. The Island Made Of Gold was no more, instead its citizens resorted to farming as their means of survival. The formerly glorious trade was conducted through trusted third parties. Until decades ago, Chryseus banners flew neither on trade ships nor at summits.

Hoping for their civilization’s restoration, the citizens carved more statues of the island’s spirits and guardian beasts, although due to the sparse resources, new statues seemed to immortalise disfigured monsters, as opposed to benevolent spirits. Manticore’s spirit now stood in the centre of the island’s pantheon, as the loyal aegis, celebrated by the recently tormented folk.

Incantations and protective spells cast during the decades of merciless onslaught on the island made the salt breeze waft around the suffering plot of land, rendering it practically invisible to the ships passing by. Every now and again, Chryseus reveals itself to weary souls in need of rest, or to those marked by fate to carry on Manticore’s legacy. Peculiarly, log poses malfunction or even spontaneously shatter into pieces in the proximity to the island.

Artwork by JNickBlack

The Sacred Covenant

A mighty and dreadful spirit, alas, is still capable of fading away. In order for Manticore to continue existing, it must merge with a human and establish a firm bond with its vessel. The reasons for the vessel selection remain unknown, however the legends claim that the spirit can sense the souls that most remind it of the hero’s soul from which Manticore manifested. The spirits populating Chryseus cannot enter a human body even with the host’s permission but they can possess a range of objects, and even food. When its former vessel passes away, Manticore must possess a fruit grown on Chryseus soil.

A new host then must consume the possessed Devil Fruit and let their soul merge with the spirit. The cycle continuation can be delayed for months or a year before Manticore senses and leads a potential host to the island. But the cycle can be broken as well: if the host is killed while in Manticore form, the spirit perishes along with them without a chance of restoration and Chryseus loses its steadfast sentinel.

The Beast’s Burden

Once the possessed Devil Fruit has been consumed, the current Manticore bearer must assume their duties as the island’s protector. Whether they want to disclose their new role to the rest of the islanders is up to them.

Manticore bearers obtain the ability to transform into the beast and can utilise its supernatural strength in order to punish the transgressors.

The chosen soul’s spiritual attunement becomes extremely refined: they can sense and communicate with the spirits and ghosts, hints about the bearer’s future can be revealed in dreams and visions.

The Zoan user can also access the spirit’s memories, and look for the answers in the past. The Manticore bearer must keep an eye on the island’s frenetic paranormal activity, pacifying the restless ghosts if required.

It is impossible for the possessed devil fruit user to enter a hybrid form until they’ve connected with the spirit properly through many hours of meditation, training and fasting.

Curiously, they are capable of achieving Manticore’s monster point, the form when all humanity is erased from its user, and the beast’s primordial wrath is unleashed. Although the monster point demonstrates extraordinary destructive force, it rapidly drains the user’s energy which causes them to recover for days after having resorted to such extreme transformation.

The spirit’s vessel must operate on a cline between their human, hybrid, Manticore and monster forms.

Thank you for reading 💖

#fantastic lore from a fantastic writer and artist!#hands down the best original island and lore #beloved 💜

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gojirarara · 1 year

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Profile

Name: Ana S. aka Manticore aka A.

Age: late 20s

Origin: North Blue

Residence: The Island of Chryseus (Island Made of Gold)

Star sign: Scorpio

MBTI: ENTJ, 8w9

Significant relationships: Eustass Kidd (lover), Killer (friend and confidant)

Devil Fruit: Mythical Zoan, Model: Manticore

Backstory and Motivation

As a young linguist and translator, Ana went on her first expedition as a part of a crew searching for a mythical island of Chryseus replete with fertile soils, ambrosial fruit and fairy tale treasures.

By a stroke of luck, the island finds the expeditionists, and the research begins. To the crew’s bewilderment, their safely berthed ship disappears without a trace.

In the heart of the forest, the crew is met with a guardian spirit of a Manticore that defends the island from invaders that have come to pillage the land and drain it of its rich resources, slaying the crewmen who began the excavation process on the island. However, for better or for worse, the manticore leaves the linguist untouched, vanishing instead and leaving a mysterious devil fruit behind.

Entranced by the Manticore, she consumes the fruit forever uniting with the spirit and accepting the duty of guarding the island and its inhabitants.

Together with the surviving crew, she joins Chryseus commune, scatters the fields with seeds and vineyards, produces wine and does all in her power to sustain the island’s flourishment. In several years it turns from an arguably fictional patch of land into a small but robust cradle of prosperity governed by a close-knit community. The island continues to find the tired souls and welcomes them to stay for as long as they find necessary.

A. keeps her gift and connection with the Manticore a secret, disclosed only to a few closest confidants, for the sake of the safety of the islanders and herself. Like the rest of them, she worships the ruthless spirit that executes the wrongdoers and those who disrespect the island’s folkway. However, she keeps an eye out for transgressors who intend to devastate the island or harm its inhabitants, and swiftly carries out the punishment under the guise of Manticore.

Personality

Before the fateful expedition, Ana led a peaceful but unremarkable life: she had a job that she didn’t despise but wasn’t quite passionate about; was friendly with her peers but never formed more meaningful relationships. A feeling that she can achieve more significant things in life gnawed her heart relentlessly.

She held back her fiery and passionate personality out of fear of being misunderstood or ridiculed, her desire to create and nourish her little world started dissipating until she was invited to the expedition to the mythical island as a translator. Finally, her prayers for a shift in her life have been answered.

Following the consumption of the possessed devil fruit and merging with the Manticore, she mustered courage to throw off the shackles of fear, taking initiative in building and enriching Chryseus pouring her soul into securing the well-being of the community and announcing that the island is the force to be reckoned with in trading world.

Despite Manticore-fueled ferocity she brings when dealing with traders, pirates and breakers of island’s folkway, Ana needs a lot of time to recover from the instability of being its de-facto leader. She restores her strength by making wine or painting and lounging in her garden.

At her worst, she allows her anger take over and runs off people who try to get closer to her. Several times, she transformed into Manticore’s monster point, abandoning her humanity and regretting it as soon as she’d realised what she’d done. Her intensity and tenacious drive can come across as intimidating, if not malignant and aggressive.

Appearance

Height and physique: The young leader of Chryseus is a petite woman, around 5’2’’ in height. She cannot brag she’s got voluptuous forms either.

Facial description: Fair skin tone; oval face; hooded blue eyes; straight nose; sultry lips. Wears natural eye makeup, but likes to accentuate her lips with red lipstick .

Hair: Since her arrival to Chryseus, Ana grew out her golden blond hair and started wearing it in a braid or side ponytail. For special occasions she embellishes her hairstyles with flowers.

Preferred clothing: Ana comes to town meetings and greets guests dressed modestly, not exposing her skin. For formal events, her gowns have a velvet veil cascading from her shoulder. Casually, she opts for a flowing maxi skirt with a slit and a top that exposes her clavicles and shoulders. She prefers clothing in burgundy or wine red shades with golden accessories, traditional to Chryseus.

Relationship w/ Kidd

When attacks on Chryseus trading ships became increased, Ana decided to seek help from all sailors to strengthen the defence of her people in the open sea. Alas, despite the generous reward she promised, nobody responded to her call for help.

At the brink of despair, she and de-jure mayor of the island summon the most feared pirate captains in an attempt to form an alliance with anyone willing to run protection for the island’s traders in exchange for an extravagant baksheesh. Among the captains, towers Eustass Kid, upon glancing at him Ana feels the spirit of the Manticore itself slightly roused. In his turn, Kid finds something strange yet familiar in her icy gaze. Ana does most of the talking with the pirates, although the supposed mayor is right there and the observant Kid infers who is the real decision-maker.

Negotiations go awry when one of the captains starts poking fun at the island’s fear of Manticore which results in a verbal altercation between Ana and him, the former daring him to steal something from the premises to check for himself if the legends are true. Frustrated, she adjourns the meeting, making plans to summon another batch of captains to try her luck with.

Late in the evening, she goes to the island fair to unwind and taste fresh cherry wine, when one of the vendors gifts her an adorned bottle of the most expensive nectar on the shelf. Confused, she replies she didn’t buy it, when the vendor points at the familiar towering figure enveloped in a lavish fur coat. She scoffs and approaches Kid, treating him to a glass of nectar.

One shared bottle of wine turned into two, the distance between them shortened with each joke and each laugh, soon they found themselves in her garden, feeling each other’s warmth, cheek to cheek. All of the sudden, he stares at her with the most serious expression in his eyes, telling her that he’s willing to defend her and her people no matter what happens. He’ll personally announce to everyone in the sea and on the land that anyone who attacks Chryseus’ ships or the attempts to invade will have to deal with his wrath.

Touched by his words and the blood moon glimmering above their heads, Ana gave in to Kid’s persistent touch, spending the night with him, no regrets could dare to sneak into her heart. He kept his promise, mercilessly punishing the fools who attacked Manticore’s traders, and she kept hers, rewarding him tenfold for his protection.

The fact that the couple has stuck together for years remains a surprise to anyone aware of their relationship. Reckless and constantly chasing thrills, Kidd can never be bound to a singular place unlike Manticore who must guard Chryseus till the day she passes on. A shadow of fear pushed through in her soul that her attachment to the Captain of Victoria Punk might prevent her from fully bonding with the spirit, but little does she know that her lover could finally feel at home only next to her.

Thank you for reading! This is an old concept of Manticore, my first One Piece s/i that I expanded a little bit. I’m going to dedicate a separate post to her DF and Chryseus lore.

Artwork of Manticore is by my beloved wife @gojirarara 💜

#beloved 💜

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