#Oden's will lives in them alone

[fallensnowfan]

I’m rereading Zou and it’s still a favorite for how well it sets up everything for the next 250+ chapters.

When Kanjuro draws Ryuunosuke, it’s a small panel though Kin’emon seems a bit taken aback. I’m guessing over the fact that he drew a weak pink dragon to be essentially a servant. In retrospect, that says a lot about how much Orochi had warped Kanjuro’s views by that point. With Orochi’s views own already having been warped by Higurashi.

Also remembered that Pedro says Dog and Cat must not die. Also have Izo’s and Usopp’s message that living after defeat has meaning. Similarly to a lot of people saying Big Mom would tell Luffy that she had killed Jinbei, a lot of people were saying that all of the Akazaya would die. Shame on them >:(

#one piece #zou arc #pedro #akazaya nine #after everything the minks went through to protect raizo #denjiro working for the man he hates most for twenty years #kin'emon being momo's second father #the second leader of the akazaya and tsuru's husband #kawamatsu being the perfect friend shaped kappa who sacrificed so much to raise hiyori #kiku being the youngest who deserves nothing but the best #they all deserve to be happy #I'm so glad they all got to reunite before the battle #while ashura doji's sacrifice was meaningful and on his own terms #it still hurts me #since Oden's death they all did everything they could to prepare to strike back #would good would all of their efforts be if none of them got to see the fruition of their efforts? #Oden's will lives in them alone #also I find it funny that so many are still saying that the tragedy of act three never happened #when wano isn't even doing the jo ha kyu story structure #and had a tragedy with Oden's death #the Kozuki family being separated #and everything with the Akazaya being betrayed

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

in which lunch is had, old stories are told, and a misunderstanding is cleared up.

part five of the post-marineford portion of the near miss fics! (1, 2, 3, 4) if you have no idea what i'm talking about but would like to read a shanks/buggy story about kissing in disguise and then having to deal with the emotional fallout of doing that, click on this link, that's the tag for the whole thing in chronological order. (plus some complaining about writing, one inspirational improvised musical number, and a snippet of shanks pov) if you do know what i'm talking about: my intense examination of the cover to chapter 581 and frustrated googling of phrases like “oden cart curtain name” has finally paid off! also, i’d apologize for where this part ends, but that would be an enormous lie, i’ve been planning on ending this part on that line from the very beginning. >:3c enjoy!

With heavier topics taken off the table, the flow of conversation became smooth and easy.  Shanks asked about Buggy’s crew, his recent travels, his plans for the future; Buggy asked about the best places Shanks had been, who he’d met.  At Buggy’s request, Shanks devoted a full twenty minutes to a detailed description of his meeting with Rayleigh; to Buggy’s delight, it turned out Rayleigh was in Sabaody because Shakuyaku, the former Amazon empress, lived there.  Buggy had always been impressed by her, if a little privately judgy of her taste in men, so hearing that the two of them had semi-retired together made him smile.

As did the revelation that Shanks had first seen a wanted poster for Buggy the Clown—his earliest one, actually, before he’d perfected the crossbones and had still been experimenting with lip tints—when Rayleigh pulled a copy out that day.  “He keeps an eye on all the newspapers, from the four big seas and the Grand Line alike,” Shanks explained, digging his toes into the sand. (Buggy had gotten tired of his push-pull relationship with the tides and insisted they move further up the beach.) “I think he’s found and kept a copy of every one of our bounties.”

Buggy tried not to be obvious about how much that meant, but he had never been good at holding back the waterworks when he got emotional.  Sniffing thickly, he said, “That stupid old man… your bounty’s gone up so many times over the years without the picture ever looking different!  What a waste of his space.”

One of Shanks’ eyebrows went up—probably, Buggy realized a moment later, at the implication that Buggy had also been keeping track of Shanks’ bounties.  Ah, well, in for a penny… “Seriously!  It’s bad design!” Buggy insisted.  “If the only changes someone like me ever noticed are that you grew that shitty little beard—”

“Shitty?”  Shanks pouted, running his thumb along his jawline.  “It’s not that bad, is it?”

“It’s worse without the mustache,” Buggy said bluntly.  Shanks played up his shock, gasping and grabbing at his heart like an elderly man.

Buggy rolled his eyes.  “As I was saying: if all I ever noticed was the beard and that your hat disappeared at some point, your average citizen’s not going to realize the Marines have released a new poster and the bounty went up!”  Jabbing a thumb brazenly at his own face, Buggy said, “At least I had something new going on each time.”

Shanks cocked his head at Buggy.  “About that… do you change your makeup style so often for fun, or are you still searching for the perfect look?”

Buggy scoffed.  “There’s no such thing as perfection when it comes to art, or fashion,” he said.  “There’s just advancing your craft.  Every time I change my look up, I’m incorporating newer and flashier techniques, and better supplies.  The makeup I had access to fifteen, even ten years ago would never have lasted a day in Impel Down, let alone weeks.”

“That’s true,” Shanks said thoughtfully, hand on his chin.  “The stuff you have these days is much—” He cut himself off, glancing over Buggy’s shoulder.  Buggy turned to see a cluster of men in ragged prison uniforms standing maybe forty feet away, staring at them and then glancing away awkwardly when they met Buggy’s eye.

“I told them not to bother me today,” Buggy grumbled, giving the group a half-hearted glare.  They visibly quaked, knees knocking, but neither moved nor explained themselves.

“I guess our presence is interfering with their shore leave,” Shanks said, slipping back into his sandals.

Looking past the men revealed the beach had gotten crowded while Buggy wasn’t paying attention—save for a fifty-foot ring of emptiness centered on him and Shanks.  These men had only approached them because there wasn’t anywhere else to be.  Sighing, Buggy stood up, brushing sand off the seat of his pants.

“Lead the way, then,” he said grimly.

With a polite smile and a wave to the former prisoners, Shanks walked back up the beach.  Buggy gave them a glare, and a threatening slice-your-throat gesture (made more emphatic by the way Buggy separated his neck as he sliced) to encourage their silence before following Shanks further inland.

The terrain got a bit jungle-like as they went on, but there were neatly trodden paths between the trees.  It was a civilized corner of nature, and Buggy found he didn’t mind walking through it with just Shanks and his questions for company, even when those questions started getting a bit specific for Buggy’s tastes. (What did Shanks need to know about his plans after he found Captain John’s treasure, anyway?  Was he trying to go after Buggy’s next prize while he was still busy with the current one?)

It was the middle of the lunch hour by the time their jungle path led them back into town, which was almost suspiciously convenient timing.  Buggy glanced at Shanks, trying to figure out if he’d planned this or was just aimlessly wandering.  Well, either way he’d better lead them somewhere soon—Buggy was hungry!  He wanted to eat the kind of food he couldn’t get back on the ship—nothing a typical chef in a typical kitchen could manage.  He wanted something that involved a deep fryer, or another equally specialized device.  Something that would be too much of a hassle to make on a ship.  Something…

“Hey!”  Shanks turned to grab Buggy’s attention, pointing at a yatai on the opposite street corner.  “What about that?”

Buggy spotted the word written in bold white letters on slate gray cloth and started to laugh. “What are we, on a themed vacation or something?”

“You’re the one who put the idea in my head!” Shanks said defensively, grinning.  “I know it’s out of season, but…”

“No, you’re right, we have to,” Buggy said, and led them to the oden-ya.  “I’m just going to look like I’m obsessed, is all.”

Ducking under the bamboo noren curtains, they found themselves in a cozy space, with three stools set up along a polished wooden table the same length as the cooktop.  A gorilla mink stood behind the partitioned oden pot, rotating skewers of fishcake in their niches within the steaming broth.  He glanced up at their entrance, a friendly customer service smile spreading across his face.

“Welcome!  Looking for oden this afternoon, or just something to drink?”  He gestured to one side, where beautiful little sake flasks and other bottles of alcohol were arranged on shelves that took up the whole side wall of the cart.  “I’d be happy to warm a flask of sake up for you on the stove if you’d like.”

“We’re looking for both, thanks,” Shanks said warmly, stepping up to the counter.  “I don’t suppose any of your sake is sourced from Wano?”

The mink wrinkled his nose thoughtfully.  “I may have some in storage, but that stuff tend to run a little pricier, given… well, if you’re asking for it, you must know.”

“Of course you have expensive tastes in booze and nothing else,” Buggy said with a smirk, bent down to inspect the sake that was actually meant for sale.  “Come on, look, they’ve got some West Blue stuff, you were always a sucker for your home ocean.”

“Oh?”  Shanks leaned over Buggy to get a better look at the stock, and a prickle of heat went up Buggy’s spine.  “Ooh, I do like that stuff.  But I really had my heart set on something from Wano…”  Turning back to the mink, he said, “Sorry to trouble you, but can you bring out what you have from Wano?  I promise the price isn’t an issue, and I won’t have any problem drinking a flask of each.”  The mink ducked around back without complaint.

“More like a couple flasks of each,” Buggy muttered, but he didn’t mean it cruelly.  Shanks liked a drink, he always had—and rumor said the last time he saw Whitebeard before all this he’d matched him cup for cup.  Whitebeard-sized cups, too, which meant he had to have a crazy tolerance these days.  Good for him.  Buggy wasn’t quite as capable, but he could hold his liquor.  He wouldn’t be any kind of ex-Roger Pirate if he couldn’t.

“Guilty,” Shanks said, sing-songy, reaching over Buggy’s shoulder to snatch one of the larger bottles of shochu.  “Can you grab a flask or two of the West Blue sake for me?”

Buggy rolled his eyes, grabbing two.  “One of them’s for me.”

“We can share,” Shanks said mildly.

Buggy snorted. “If by ‘share’ you mean I get one cup and by the time I’ve finished it the flask is empty, sure, we can share.”

Shanks laughed.  “Am I that bad?”

“You’re just too fast about it is all.  I like to linger over a drink, really savor it.”

“Oh, you like to take your time, do you?”  Shanks’ smile, already suggestively wide, spread wider still when this comment flustered Buggy.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” he snapped.

“No?”

Why do you sound disappointed, Buggy was tempted to ask—except no, no he wasn’t, he did not want to know why Shanks might be disappointed Buggy hadn’t intended to be suggestive.  He had already decided he wasn’t going there.  “I just mean you rush things a bit.”

“…do I?”

Once again feeling like Shanks was reading things into what he was saying, but this time not at all sure what deeper meaning Shanks was taking from his words, Buggy averted his eyes, setting the pair of sake flasks down in front of the stove top.  “Yeah, I know you like getting drunk, but there’s such a thing as pacing yourself, you know?”

Before Shanks could respond to this—with who knows what kind of misinterpretation of Buggy’s words this time—the mink returned, a crate of sake in flasks and jugs of various sizes in hand.

“Here we are!”  With a soft grunt of effort, the mink set the crate down in front of Shanks.  “Let me know if anything catches your eye.”  He spotted the flasks of West Blue sake Buggy had set down and quickly made room in a pot of steaming water for them to sit and warm up.  “Now, were any items looking especially appealing today?”

Buggy glanced sideways; Shanks was occupied with intently inspecting the sake.  Well, if he wanted something specific he could ask for it later.  “Two bowlfuls of whatever the chef recommends, for now.”

The gorilla nodded.  “Coming right up!”  And he was as good as his word, quickly throwing together a wide, shallow bowl of savory golden-brown broth with a skewer of fishcakes, an egg, and a few slices of daikon for each of them. It looked wonderful, warm and familiar, and it smelled even better.

Before Buggy could take a sip, Shanks had flung his arm across Buggy’s chest, blocking the spoonful of broth from reaching his mouth.

“Hang on,” Shanks said, weirdly serious.  “You have to have this first.”  He held out a small flask of Wano sake, tilted just far enough to encourage Buggy to grab a cup and accept the pour.

“Not warmed up?”  Shanks expression didn’t so much as twitch.  Buggy huffed.  “Fine, fine... you and your expensive tastes.”  He accepted the cup, swirled it for a moment to breathe in the aroma—they really did make it different in Wano; was it something in the water, or the rice?—and took a sip.  Then blinked, goggled at the half-drunk cup, and slung back the rest with a warm floaty feeling in his chest.

Setting the cup down, he breathed, “Is that...?”

Shanks grinned.  “Special pure rice brew.”  He spun the flask around to reveal the maker’s mark.  “From the Kuri region of Wano.”

Buggy snatched the flask away.  Looking it over, he said, “Seriously?! From the same brewery?”

“And you wondered why I was so insistent.”

Buggy shook his head, laughing a little in disbelief, and poured Shanks a cup of the stuff.  He glanced up at their host, politely not bothering them even though he had to be confused, and said, “This exact same sake was the first drink the two of us had, back when we were—what, eleven? Twelve?”

“Something like that,” Shanks said, watching Buggy with a pleased smile.  “Stolen out of Oden’s rooms on a dare—”

“—you’re the one who dared me!” Buggy snapped.  Thinking back, he added, “And he must have let us take it, we weren’t sneaky enough at twelve to get past Oden—”

“—oh, definitely,” Shanks agreed.  “Bet he thought of it as a rite of passage, stealing your first drink from under the nose of your honored elders.”

Buggy snorted.  “Definitely,” he echoed.  Giving Shanks a look, he passed this flask along to the mink as well.  “This stuff isn’t so fancy heating it will ruin the taste, right?  Might as well try it the way it was meant to be had.”

“Of course,” the mink said with a gracious smile, adding the flask to the steaming pot on his stove.  He watched the two of them dig into their bowls—delicious, of course—without comment, but as he carefully retrieved the first of the West Blue flasks from its bath he said, “Now, I haven’t thought about this in a long time, so I’m afraid I can’t quite recall… which of you is Shanks and which is Buggy?”

Buggy blinked dumbly up at the gorilla, his mouth full of radish.  Next to him, Shanks was pulling a similar face.

Hastily swallowing his mouthful, Buggy cleared his throat and said, “You know… both of us by name? But not well enough to know which is which on sight?”

The gorilla smiled sheepishly.  “I wasn’t sure until you brought up Oden.  That’s Kozuki Oden, isn’t it?  Which means the two of you must be Shanks and Buggy, they were the only other young people on the boat in all the stories I heard.”

“What stories?”

“‘The only other young people’…” Shanks lit up.  “Do you know Dogstorm and Cat Viper?”

Buggy nearly smacked Shanks.  “Seriously?!  Not every mink knows each other, Shanks!”

“Heh, actually...”  Buggy stared up at the gorilla mink in disbelief as he shrugged, making an embarrassed expression.  “The truth is, I only learned how to prepare oden at Duke Dogstorm’s request.”

“Duke Dogstorm?”  Shanks whistled.  “Somebody’s moved up in the world.”

Buggy jabbed him in the side with a free-floating elbow.  “I don’t want to hear that from you, Emperor Shanks!”

Shanks winced—an exaggerated gesture for the benefit of their audience—and leaned away from Buggy.  “Oh, come on,” he whined, “it’s not like I meant to become an emperor or anything.”

“Oh, of course not,” Buggy said, rolling his eyes and shoving a piece of tsukune in his mouth.  Eyes shut, he declared, “I’ll bet I can tell you exactly how it happened, too.  You had a meal with some mediocre pirate crew and made friends. Then some shitty Marines started beating the hell out of them; they could’ve just arrested the crew, but they decided to torture them for their own amusement.  Well, you could hardly let this abuse go unchallenged, could you?  So naturally you had to step in, and sent the Marines running with their tails between their legs.  And it was only natural that the pirate crew was thankful to you, but you never dreamed they’d all vow to follow you forever, forswearing their own flag in favor of yours.  Not daring to call themselves true Red-Haired Pirates, of course, but Red-Haired Pirates adjacent.”  Rolling his wrist, Buggy concluded, “And then that happened another twenty or thirty times, because you never learn.”

Opening one eye a crack, he glanced at Shanks.  “How’d I do?”

Shanks, red-faced, his fist pressed to his mouth to hold back laughter, nodded weakly.  “Well, uh... you’re not wrong,” he wheezed out.  Taking a drink to clear his throat and calm down, he sighed.  “Though you make it sound like far more of a foregone conclusion than it felt like when it was first happening.”

“That’s the benefit of an outside perspective,” Buggy said snippily.  “And also hindsight.”  Waving a hand in Shanks’ face, he said, “But enough about you!”  Jabbing the pointer finger of that same hand at their host, Buggy said, “What’s this about you learning to make oden for Dogstorm?”

The gorilla mink smiled, his eyes wide, and Buggy suddenly remembered hearing once that gorillas didn’t actually smile, but instead bared their teeth as a threat against potential enemies.  He pulled back his hand as casually as he could manage it.

“Do you really want to hear the story?  I’m told I can be a bit long-winded,” the mink said, fishing one of the Wano flasks out of its water bath and offering it up.

“Yeah, let’s hear it!” Buggy said, pouring a cup for Shanks, then handing over the flask so Shanks could do the same for him.  “I don’t know about Shanks but I haven’t heard anything from Zou in years, I’m dying to hear what those two have gotten up to.”

Closing his eyes, Buggy took a sip of the warmed Wano sake, not knowing Shanks was doing the same thing at the same time.  They set down their cups and sighed in unpracticed unison.  Suddenly aware of their double act, Buggy scowled at Shanks, who ignored him and made an encouraging gesture to their chef.  “Please, go ahead. I’d love to hear news of Dogstorm and Cat Viper.”

A sad expression washed over the gorilla’s face.  “I’m afraid I can only give you news of Duke Dogstorm.”  At the looks on his guests’ faces, the gorilla threw out a hand and said, “Not to say—please don’t misunderstand! Lord Cat Viper still lives! It’s just that I have not met with him since he and Duke Dogstorm first returned to Zou.  They... keep separate courts, and hours, and my service has always been to the day.”

A wrinkle appeared in Shanks’ brow.  “They don’t talk anymore?”

“It always turns into a fight.  Often one with devastating consequences for their surroundings.”

Buggy frowned.  That didn’t sound right.  Well, not the destruction—that sounded like those two—but fighting so badly they couldn’t even share waking hours... “What happened?”

The gorilla sighed.  “As I understand it?  Kozuki Oden died, and neither could forgive the other for failing to save him.”  A moment later, he gave Buggy a concerned look.  “Oh, are you hurt?”

Buggy blinked.  Staring down at his hands, he realized he’d snapped his chopsticks in half.  “I... no, I’m okay.”  The gorilla carefully plucked the broken shards of wood out of Buggy’s grasp, along with a splinter or two that had tried to wedge their way into his palms.  Thankfully the Chop-Chop fruit could handle any kind of stabbing, from needles up to legendary meito, so Buggy really was fine.

While the gorilla disposed of the pieces of wood, Buggy clenched his jaw, feeling Shanks’ eyes on him.  “I can hear you thinking.”

“…it makes sense,” he said quietly.  “What else could come between those two but the loss of someone who was as important to them as Oden?”

Buggy shot Shanks a narrow look out of the corner of his eye.  “Pretty sure I told you this morning that I was done talking about sad shit,” he warned, and Shanks raised his hand in a placating gesture.  The gorilla confirmed that Buggy wasn’t hurt, pointed out the extra chopsticks sitting in a cup to his left, and at their insistence told his story while they returned to their meal.

Dogstorm’s court sounded like a sight worth seeing.  Minks of countless animal forms, musketeers and attendants! To think Oden’s retainer had retainers of his own now!  And to think that he acted like a guy with such noble dignity, after the way he used to behave.

As the gorilla reached the end of his story—having made the closest thing to oden as could be produced with ingredients native to Zou, with Dogstorm pleased by the effort but quietly unsatisfied by the taste, the gorilla had left the court making a vow to learn the secrets of the oden-preparing arts, promising not to return until he was confident he would be able to put a true smile on the duke’s face—Buggy nudged Shanks in the side.  He glanced at Buggy, a half-eaten skewer of fishcakes sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

“Can you believe,” Buggy said with a shit-eating grin, “that the noble, wounded Dogstorm this guy is talking about is the same one who tarred and feathered Mr. Rayleigh?”

Shanks nearly choked before starting to laugh.  “How did I forget about that?!”

“I’m sorry, Duke Dogstorm did what?” the gorilla said incredulously, staring between the two of them.

“Wait, wait,” Shanks said, before Buggy could start to tell the story.  “If we’re sharing stories of mutual friends, you have to share a drink with us too.”  He grabbed a clean cup from a stack to one side and handed it over to the mink.  Shanks gave Buggy a pleading look, and with a magnanimous smirk Buggy chop-chopped a hand to swipe another sake flask from the water bath and pour for both of them.  “So—”

“Don’t you tell it!” Buggy snapped.  With a grin and a wave of his hand, Shanks metaphorically turned over the reins to Buggy, and took the opportunity to return to his sake and his meal.  “So,” Buggy said to the mink, “the first thing you need to understand about Dogstorm and Cat Viper is that they acted like respectful little attendants when Oden was around, but when it was just the four of us?”  Glancing at Shanks, who was grinning around the skewer in his mouth, Buggy cackled.  “They were just as bad as we were.”

Buggy went on to describe the prank in loving detail, alternating bites of fishcake with the reactions of the crew (mostly hysteria, especially from Roger) and the multiple attempts to blame the prank on someone else (Dogstorm nearly succeeded in pinning it all on Buggy, but forgot himself and corrected Rayleigh on where the tar had come from).  Shanks followed this up with a reminder of another time the four of them had been absolute nightmares to the crew of the Oro Jackson, and the story Buggy told about that day brought their host to literal tears of laughter.

They went around like this for over an hour, topping off their bowls and drinks all the while, recalling old times with the golden burnish of nostalgia softening the edges, easing the hurts and offenses of youth.  Gradually, the last of the fear Buggy had been clinging to all day faded.  It was hard to think that your childhood dread mattered much when looked at from so far off, in so fond a way. It was easy to smile at someone who so readily smiled back.

Eventually the broth pooling at the bottom of their bowls grew cold, and the flasks of sake they’d bought ran dry.  Not a soul had tried to enter the yatai while they were present, and Buggy felt a fleeting burst of pity for the gorilla’s business… until he saw how well Shanks tipped. With a light heart, Buggy waved a slightly drunken farewell to the mink—he’d paced himself pretty well, but a half-dozen bottles of sake split between two men were still going to have an effect—and ducked back out into the wider world.

The air outside was not exactly cold, but it lacked the cozy warmth of the oden-ya’s atmosphere.  It set something within Buggy out of alignment—or maybe back into place?  He stood just outside the noren with a hand pressed to his chest, trying to place the feeling, when Shanks made his own exit and nearly ran into him.

The proximity of Shanks at his back, with the last traces of that soup-warmed air drifting in his wake, sent a burst of longing down Buggy’s spine so intense his knees went weak.

Shanks’ hand went to his shoulder.  “Careful,” Shanks said, hoisting Buggy fully upright, the flat of his arm firm along the breadth of his back.  “You alright, Buggy?”

Fuck.  Even though it was the wrong arm, something about Shanks putting an arm over Buggy’s shoulder made his stomach flip and his heart kick into high gear.  Stupid, loyal organs didn’t have the sense Buggy’s brain had been given, to recognize that feeling feelings for Shanks was a very bad idea.

“Fine,” Buggy croaked out, taking a few careful steps away from Shanks to confirm he was steady enough to make that lie truth.  He shook himself off.

“Your tolerance not what it used to be?” Shanks teased.

“My tolerance is normal,” Buggy insisted, not looking back at Shanks.  “Yours, on the other hand...”

“Yeah, unlike you I’m actually fine,” Shanks said, picking up his pace to match Buggy’s stride.  Glancing around, his back straightened involuntarily with recognition.  Nudging Buggy’s shoulder with his own, he said, “Here, there’s a park nearby where we won’t be bothered.  We can sit down, let you sober up a little before heading back to the ship.”

Buggy drifted in Shanks’ wake on some old instinct.  It was only mid-afternoon.  “There wasn’t anything else you wanted to do?”

Shanks glanced at Buggy over his shoulder.  “What?”

“I dunno, some... sight you thought I should see, or a shop you like or something?”

Shanks blinked.  “Buggy, I’ve never been to this island before. I asked the locals for recommendations yesterday so I could have a good time with you.”

Buggy’s face went hot.  “You—stop saying shit like that!  Don’t you know how that sounds?”

“How it sounds?” Shanks echoed. He led Buggy through a tall, metal gate, into a walled-off plot of land with very little to it, just rock-paved paths, plaques underneath oddly colored trees, and the occasional bench.  Closing the gate behind them, he spun on Buggy.  “How does it sound?”

Buggy scowled and stormed past him.  Like Shanks didn’t know.

“If it sounds like I’ve missed you—well, sorry, Buggy, but I have.  I thought I’d been pretty obvious about that.”  When Buggy turned an incredulous look on Shanks, the corner of his mouth turned up, amused.  “Obvious to everyone but you, I guess.”

“You—you didn’t miss me,” Buggy said, insistent.  “You missed—” he gestured vaguely between the two of them. “—someone knowing you, without you having to say anything.  You missed having a history with someone.”

Shanks shook his head.  “I would love to see many people from back then again, but I’ve never missed any of them like I did you.”

“Oh, come on!” Buggy spat, “what was there to miss?  A greedy little brat who couldn’t decide if he hated you more than he was jealous of you?  A coward who ran and hid from every fight?”  The memory of Shanks leaning in close, a hand on his face, shot through Buggy.  Resisting another stab of longing, he blurted out, “Some stranger’s pretty face?”

“I missed my best—” Shanks’ face screwed up in confusion.  “A pretty face?”

Buggy hadn’t meant to say that.  He grimaced.  “You know.”  Swiping a hand across his face, he chop-chopped his nose off for a moment, hiding the gap behind his free hand.  “This one, that you liked so much that time.”

Understanding lit up Shanks’ face.  “Oh, the gorgeous stranger with stunning eyes.”  A sheepish expression coming over him, Shanks looked away, askance.  “Can I tell you something embarrassing?”

Buggy blinked.  Not the response he’d expected.  “Uh, sure?”

“I only thought those eyes were so stunning because they reminded me of yours.”

Buggy’s jaw dropped.  “The hell they did!”

“They did!”  Shoving his hand over his eyes, Shanks smiled self-consciously.  “Oh, I felt so ridiculous later.  That poor guy, I thought, was deserving of more than my secondhand affections.”  Dropping his hand to look at Buggy, he said, “Though that’s nothing compared to how ridiculous I felt the other day.”

Buggy swallowed, mouth dry.

“I’m sorry, Buggy,” Shanks said after a long, silent moment.  “If I’d known it was you, I wouldn’t have kissed you like that.”

Buggy blinked.

Well.  Of course he wouldn’t have.  That went without saying.

He stepped back.  “I know that.”

“You do?”  Shanks frowned.  “I… good.”  Shoulders hunched, he turned to peer down at a plaque mounted beneath a pink-leafed bush.  “That’s good.  I don’t want there to be any more misunderstandings between us.”

“What’s there to misunderstand?”  Buggy spotted a bench and sat down.  He immediately felt clearer-headed.  Maybe Shanks was right about his tolerance.  “I get it.  You kiss strangers, not old friends.”

Shanks paused mid-step.  “Are you…” He spun to frown at Buggy.  “Are you deliberately misunderstanding me?”

“Hm?”  Buggy had just gotten comfortable, hiking one knee over the bench’s arm.  What was Shanks talking about now?

“Buggy.”

Buggy craned his head back to look up at Shanks.  He looked tall from this angle, and taller still when he leaned over Buggy, resting his hand on the back of the bench.  Shanks’ expression was unreadable, but intense.  Buggy’s mouth felt dry again.  Oh, this was bad.

“I was not apologizing for kissing you.  I was apologizing for kissing you wrong.”

“Kissing me wrong?” Buggy echoed bewilderedly.

“If I’d known that stranger was you, I still would have kissed you, if you’d let me,” Shanks said bluntly.  “I’d kiss you now, if you’d let me.  But it wouldn’t be like that kiss, it would be different.”

Buggy blinked, dumbfounded.

Shanks… wanted to kiss him.

Not the stranger he’d taken him for back then, but Buggy himself.

Had wanted to kiss Buggy then.

Still wanted to kiss Buggy now.

Would kiss him in a different way from a stranger.

“Different how?” Buggy croaked out.

For a long, agonizing moment, Shanks stared blankly at Buggy.  A furious heat rushed into Buggy’s face—there was no way to take a sentence like that back.  He couldn’t pretend it was simple curiosity.  He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t eager to be kissed.

Slowly, Shanks grinned, infuriatingly smug.  “Would you like me to show you?”

#notfic #the near miss fics #one piece #shuggy #shanks #buggy #cackling to myself as i hit post on this bad boy

[p0chy]

~One Piece characters tiktok user HCs~

Part 2 !

Characters included : Brook, Yorki, Rosinante, Marco, Yamato, Robin, Luffy, Hiyori, Iceburg, Buggy, Mihawk, Ivankov, Pudding, Whitebeard

Brook

He'll do videos with Yorki most of the time, the content will vary between scary exploration, dad jokes and ofc music

He'll shows his own creation and make live asking people what they'd like him to play

Sometimes will do fashion videos because people keeps asking to see more outfits (grandpa is swag)

He has been suspended once because he kept duetting girls videos asking to see their panties

Yorki

Rarely post alone videos, always with Brook

He also makes music but he's also willing to get an outfit makeover from Brook

Will never answer the "are they together??" comments because he enjoys the chaos

Will duet cool musicians and add something to create the best music ever

Rosinante

Kind of a dad will tell stories, also make bad jokes, usually a go to page when you're sad

When he tries to make serious video everything goes wrong and he end up catching fire almost all the time

Had to ask Law why some people call him babygirl

His fyp is mostly cute things, he cries in front of cute kitten videos

Marco

Doesn't post often but when he does he breaks the internet (too hot)

He has medical videos and animals videos on his page

But contrary to Law his videos aren't traumatizing and everyone loves to learn with him

He likes to just watch his friends videos, seeing them happy make his day

Yamato

An Oden dedicated account

He'll do everything, edits, drawings (he tries), cosplay, dance everything if it's Oden related

Will be a guest in Ace videos sometimes (for more chaos)

His most viral video is not about Oden and it's making him very sad (he tries his extra best to change it)

Robin

The historian tiktok, you learn so much thanks to her

Will also tells you about the most gruesome cold cases she knows about with a smile on her face

Her fyp is book recommendations and cute little animals

She's also a guest on Franky's page a lot, he keeps building her cool stuff

Luffy

ABSOLUTE CHAOS

Use of sounds you never heard on this app, loud and shakey camera as well

Exploration and bugs tiktoks, can't focus on a thing for more than 2 seconds but will spend 10 minutes describing his new beetle

Doesn't even understand the app but people follow him because he's funny

Hiyori

Pretty girl influencer account

Makes music and fashion content, overall not problematic

She has some male fans accusing her of taking their money without anything in exchange and she's unapologetic about it

She has a secret channel for girls to give advices on how to find and take the most money out of a sugar daddy

Iceburg

Was supposed to be the face of the Water 7 official account to show all the good things in the city

The account is almost dead

The rare posts starts normally with his secretary making a speech about the workers but Iceburg ends up making a vlog of Tyrannosaurus

Often repost miniature accounts especially with tiny rodents in them, with the official account

Buggy

Started as an hater account, but people never took him seriously

Ended up trying to make himself look cool, failed miserably as his lies has great consequences on his life (rip)

Pathetic boyfail, doesn't know if he should be happy or offended when his fangirls insult him while saying how much they love him

Attempts thirst traps, get interrupted by Alvida who gets all the attention in the comments

Mihawk

Didn't want to make an account, his (undesired) kids made one for him

Ended up spending a lot of time on it when he saw he could find useful advices and recommendations from interesting accounts

Started posting a bit without showing himself showing his favorite wines and his plant garden

Shanks recognized him anyway and he deleted his account after seeing a comment from him

Ivankov

Drag queen account

Post shows, makeup, drama and always manage to have feat with the baddest bitches

No one ever dare to criticize the queen, they fear what happened to those who tried

Virtually adopts every misfits and made a discord for them, hops in from time to time to remind them to hate the government and slay all day

Pudding

Made videos about baking and cute family moments

She was very liked as an unproblematic and caring girl

Until a video of her being awful and mean was posted and her downfall was almost immediate

Posted an apology video with tears but people still don't trust her

Whitebeard

Another dad account

Badly filmed video of his children, always trying to show them off

Will engage in dads fight to prove that his children are the best

Reposts all of their videos even the questionable ones to their dismay

SEE I TOLD YOU THAT I WOULD MAKE THE POST BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR, YES IT'S THE 30/12 BUT I'M STILL IN TIME I DON'T CARE, NO ONE WAS WAITING FOR IT ANYWAY BUT IT'S MY PERSONAL VICTORY I AM TRUSTWORTHY

Anyway you liked these ones! I didn't have the inspiration for a while and was super busy after, but really wanted to take the time to do it today! The hype is probably gone with all the wait but if you want a part 3 with more characters let me know, I'll try to make it in less than a year 🧍🧍🧍

Well this aside, take care of yourselves, happy holidays and best wishes for 2024, hope your year is full of Killer 😌

#One piece tiktok hcs #brook one piece #Yorki one piece #donquixote rosinante #corazon #marco one piece #yamato #nico robin #luffy #hiyori one piece #iceburg one piece #buggy one piece #dracule mihawk #emporio ivankov #pudding one piece #whitebeard one piece #one piece hcs

[faketokufan]

Now that we’re finally to the premier of King-Ohger, I think it’s time I gave my piece on what DonBrothers was really about... Every season has it’s themes and Donbrothers is a little hard to pin down, but I think I got it nailed down.

Donbrothers is about bonds. More specifically it’s about Taro’s bonds, and how he grows them from passing acquaintances into the true family he desperately wants.

In the beginning. All Taro had were superficial and surface level. His coworkers, the old man at the Oden stand... and the people he would deliver packages to.

This was all he had. These small bonds that he would put so much weight behind because he didn’t know that they weren’t real. He was naïve and fully ready to believe that these were what real bonds were. Surface level and transient. 

But now lets look at the bonds of the other Donbrothes at the start of the series.

Haruka’s entire social standing was based on her manga. Once that fell through, all of her bonds broke. Her friends, her fans, even her boyfriend all turned on her overnight. Her bonds were shallow and spread thin, all balanced precariously on her status as a mangaka.

Saruhara didn’t really have any bonds, though for him it was by design. His Wabi Sabi lifestyle and detachment from the world around him left him isolated and alone. Alone in his big house (which like... how did he afford that?) Sure he had customers who came to him for advice but... no friends, no family, no bonds. 

Kijino only had his Miho. His one and only bond that consumed his entire being. Kijino gave everything he was and everything he had to the one person he had in his life. He lived for his bond with Miho... Which left him utterly alone otherwise. His coworkers hardly noticed him. He had no friends to speak of. Without Miho he was nothing... And when it turned out there was no Miho, there really wasn’t a Kijino.

On the other hand there’s Tsubasa, the other side of Kijino’s coin. Like Kijino he gave everything for one bond. One connection that he lived his life for. Only unlike Kijino, his was real and he lost it. While Kijino reveled in something he found, Tsubasa languished in something he lost. Tsubasa is broken, just as broken as his bond.

Then there’s Jiro...

... yeah...

Each of them either lost their bonds to those they held closest to their hearts, or they were never real to begin with. These are all broken and lonely people separated by circumstance and misfortune. 

Then, along came a peach.

Floating down the riverbend.

And inside that peach was a young boy.

That young boy was raised by a kind old man and grew into a fine hero...

Who forged many bonds.

And touched many lives. 

Donbrothers is a mess of a story about extra dimensional beings that eat human thoughts and the age old civil war that now spills into the human world. About monsters taking human skin and about twisted desires running out of control... Its about Don Killers, Don Killer Killers, Shark Swords, True Heroes, The Dragon Fires, First Love Heroes, Wabi Sabi, run away criminals, delivery men, cafe’s, true love, fated rivalries, the Nato and the Donbrothers...

And it’s also about 6 broken people who found a way to be a little less broken by fitting their pieces together. 

A true win for the ages.

#Good bye Donbrothers. #Thank you for the past year of stories #avataro sentai donbrothers #super sentai #Toku #tokusatsu

[elles-home]

i think if sanji and yamato took a moment they could be fast friends bonding especially so on fucked up dads and even more fucked up childhoods

they get so close in wano, after the battles and in that short period before they disembark from the land of wano. everyone thinks they're dating because sanji makes an extra set of snacks and drinks when he seeks yamato out for their late night talks and sanji only makes special snacks for girls and people he has crushes on (and luffy but that's something else entirely)

nami and usopp try to figure out if they're dating but she's so skeptical (nami, who finds sanji's flirting cringe even though she humors it endearingly: sanji? pull yamato? be serious, usopp. vs usopp, who has been on the other end of sanji's kindness and can see how charming he can be when he's not twirling: hey, you don't know what he's capable of. there's many attractive things about him. (that makes nami squint her eyes at usopp so he shuts up. immediately))

but when they find yamato and sanji its the both of them exchanging stories on who had the worst dad. "at least you could breathe," sanji says. "my sperm donor put a metal helmet on my face when i was eight because he didn't wanna see me anymore, announced i was dead to the country and threw me in jail."

yamato, equally outraged, "my dad threw me in jail when i was eight too! with other prisoners of war! i thought they were gonna kill me! one plate of food for the whole lot of us"

they both look at each other, and burst out laughing, at the sheer ridiculousness of it. they have to laugh. it hurts too much if they don't. sanji was able to escape long ago but his recent stint in whole cake island has brought memories he left in a life he abandoned back to the surface, and he feels a bit more brittle these days. more than he had had in over a decade.

smiling softly at a memory himself, yamato offers, "it was scary at first, and my hands were bound. but the prisoners. they were so kind, and helped me escape."

"i've gone hungry before, starvation and at the edge of death. but when i look back, i wonder if i would have preferred one meal and a group of samurai for company, who i did not know would be kind to me, or solitary confinement for months at end." sanji takes another drink. "but i wasnt starved in the dungeons. they still fed me." here he pauses, thinks, and adds as an afterthought. "i think you may have been safer with your samurai than i was there alone. my brothers came down regularly and beat me up, experimenting in new ways to discover just how fragile my human skin and my human bones were."

and now nami was there in whole cake island, she knows sanji's bio family are all bastards and they only let them live because sanji wanted to. but she hadn't known just how bad it was for him. and this is usopp's first time hearing this, and brave as he may be, as he is trying to be, he has always had a soft heart. nami hears a sniffle and sees tears streaming down usopp's face. nami blinks as tears she hadn't known were gathering fall down her own, and holds usopp's hand and leads him away. this isn't a conversation they are meant to hear.

sanji smiles when they leave and yamato grins too. they knew they were there, of course they did. sanji's observation haki may not be able as developed as luffy's, incapable of foresight yet, but he can tell when there are people around.

"they care about you so much, you know?" yamato says.

"i do," sanji smiles. "they could be yours too, if you come with us."

yamato takes a moment. "i know." and he sounds so sad but also determined. "i believe its best if i stay here right now. momo may be in a grown body, but he's still a child. and it would make me happy to be able to discover the country oden loved so much. all those years in onigashima, so near, and i've been unable to truly explore the home i call mine."

"whenever you want," sanji says, "luffy will welcome you i'm sure."

"so he's said."

and they're quite for a while. watching the campfire they built for a while.

"he reminds me of ace so much," yamato says softly.

"ace?"

"i think he was to me what luffy is to you. he would've set me free if he could've. he's so free, and i don't think i've ever laughed as much as the night i had with him."

sanji, familiar with ace, the way he lit up any room he was in, the charm he oozed and the easy smiles he had, says. "i know what you mean. the time he travelled with us was one of the best weeks ever. we were so surprised such a well mannered man could be luffy's brother."

and yamato laughs. because the ace he met immediately tried to kill him.

but sanji knows the sparkle in yamato's eyes, and so he starts explaining how they met ace. burning ships and travelling together in a desert. and when yamato laughs next, it's filled with love and joy and grief. not the kind of laughing you do to hide how much your heart hurts over the childhoods you had. and so sanji talks and talks about ace, informs him of their other brother sabo. the one he is yet to meet, but have heard stories of. he hopes yamato meets the other brother one day, the second in command of the fucking revolutionary army. the one who now holds ace's mera mera fruit powers.

yamato deserves nice things. he's learning he does too.

#one piece #yamato one piece #sanji #nami #usopp #one piece usopp #portgas d ace #made myself sad writing this #it was gonna be short but it got away from me #i think sanji and yamato would definitely get matching tshirts that says “bastard bio dads club” #like “dead dads club” but for fuckers they cut off themselves

[yonkokraven]

Honestly, there was a certain point when I was reading Wano for the first time that I was expecting a mini ace to appear as a result of some craziness with Yamato before I left Wano.

I mean, imagine how funny it would have been to have Yamato explain that he is a man and his name is Oden and the boy or girl's name is Momo or Hiyori.

Or better yet, imagine that indirectly the path to Wano was the path to Ace's legacy, we already saw a part of that in Dressrosa when Sabo ate his fruit and the will is part of what Luffy carries with him just like Sabo and the pirates of remaining whitebeard pirates.

and the parallel that after Wano... the boy or girl can freely live in a place where they will not be persecuted because of their last name or relationship and that each family member will know what to tell them about Ace (being totally opposite to what it was when Ace was alone in the kingdom of Goa).

#one piece theory #one piece headcanons #one piece yamato #portgas d. ace #ace x yamato #yamato x ace #random thoughts

[earth-machine-bearglitch]

Illustration by apoloniodraws

This was the dawn. Her dawn. Her life had finally begun.

"Let's see the needles... ah! They're moving!" Izuku called out. Yamato looked down, and she lifted her arm, the tendrils moving to accommodate her. The needles within the compass-globes were indeed moving.

"One's safely pointed behind us towards Onigashima... and another is pointing left…"

Izuku turned his head, as did Yamato.

And there it was, gleaming in the dawn light. The coastline of the Land of Wano. Oden's homeland. She could make out Mount Fuji, and there was the faint outline of the Flower Capital dozens of miles away in the distance too, just as Oden had described them.

"Well that won't do. The only needle left…is pointing north!"

"Oh, mine's pointing northeast!" Yamato added. "How about... we go northeast? My compass' needle is calmer than yours Izuku!"

"Sure, maybe we'll find something along the way!" Izuku called back with a grin. "Yamato, I know little of the world here. Only from your journal Oden wrote." He looked up to her. His green eyes filled with happiness. "So let's explore it... Experience it with our own eyes, together."

And Yamato's heart blossomed, like a flower opening in the sunlight for the very first time.

"Yes! Let's!"

"Alright! North by Northeast!" Izuku grinned. "Let's go!"

And they flew off together, into the morning clouds, towards the falling moon, away from the hell that was Onigashima, over the raging waterfalls that sounded the plateau island of Wano.

For both of them, it was a new beginning. Their lives were cut short; one by the dastardly intentions of a shadow king, the other by the cruel parentage of a demon king.

But those days were behind them, and before them was the great endless blue. For both of them, a new world had opened up, a world of endless possibilities.

They had both lost, and they had both grieved. They had found each other, and escaped from their despair. Alone they would have failed, but together they succeeded.

And so they flew on, riding on the wind, with only the needle of a Log Pose to guide them.

One day they would return, they both knew. Fate was inexorable, and it would draw them back to Onigashima.

But when they did, they both knew that they would defeat Kaido. They would put an end to his evil, and bring a new era to the world. A world of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

For they would be heroes. Heroes of the New World.

[Chapter 16, Heroes of the New World by Zaru]

#yamato #yamato one piece #my hero academia #mha #heroes of the new world #midoriya izuku #izuku midoriya #kaidou #kaidou one piece #deku #bnha #my hero acedamia #crossover fanfiction #crossover fanart #fanfiction #crossover #fanfic #fanart #izuku x yamato

[afterdeck-ace]

Whitebeard Pirates Week - Day 2: Saying goodbye

It's a list of regrets no-one's ready to write. Bullet point after bullet point of sad "if only" and bitter "I should have".

It's pointless. The kind of mental torture that offers you no way out, no absolution. It's a spiral as vicious and unpredictable as those whirpools that used to trouble the New World waters. It's so easy to get stuck and to sink deep, deep and deeper still. Until you're alone in the dark depth with nothing but that crushing pressure inside your chest.

Marco knows.

He lived through so many of those shipwrecks already. He learned the rhythm of that particular tide called Grief. The ebb and flow of despair.

He witnessed the remains of it in his brothers' eyes.

Behind Izou's bravado in front of Pops, Oden on the verge of drowning and his home country growing smaller and smaller in the distance. And in the way he'd fix the horizon, years later, quietly admitting to the missed farewells with his sister and all those words left unsaid, still sticking to the back of his throat.

Behind Thatch's poorly hidden flinches his first few weeks on board. And in that mournful haze that clung to his shadow each time they celebrated birthdays.

Behind Ace's anger-stoked fire. And in his inability to relent, to let go, to give up.

Behind the heaviness of Namur's footsteps on Moby's deck after hours spent undersea.

Behind Haruta's quiet violin recitals to the setting sun. And in his nostalgic smile every time he deciphered a new partition.

Marco saw. Silent witness to all those moments and memories that caught them unaware, threw them off-balance.

You grew sea legs for that too. Staggering but standing. Learning over and over that freedom comes with concessions. That death is inevitable but not to be sought after. That vengeance could be more bitter than defeat.

Marco knows, overlooking Ringo's Eternal Graves, surrounded by the falling snow, but nothing eases that familiar pressure in his chest.

The weariness of starting yet again a new cycle of pain and respite. Studying that fresh tidal range one day at a time, to hopefully master the rage and apathy it'd bring.

It's a new morning for an entire country but his pain is the same as before. Raw, vivid. And it's easier to pretend he can feel Sphinx and its hidden valley beckoning, the call of the living depending upon him, than to think about the words he ought to have said to all the people he lost before it was too late.

His goodbyes are short and formal, affecting a resignation and a collectedness he doesn't feel.

He stocks up on paper and ink before flying off. He has letters to write and news to share. Maybe he would get Fossa or Blamenco to pay him a visit.

@whitebeard-pirate-week

#I write #op fanfic #one piece fanfiction #whitebeard pirates #Marco the Phoenix #angsty #I swore I'd never write about Izou's death and here I am with a grieving Marco #I started something for D1 with power swap but it wouldn't stay a short thing I could easily write in one day #tried for a hopeful resolution in this one but it's pretty bleak #also made some link with the fic I wrote for Haruta #and the project I have on Thatch's backstory #I wrote this instead of working 🌟

[charkyzombicorn]

Selkie au

Reactions to seeing there alike parter on a full moon (both human and seal form)

Luffy reaction to usopp

Luchi reaction to Paulie

Coby reaction to eyrdice

Banchina reaction to yasopp

Oden reaction to Toki

Mihawk and crocodile reaction to buggy

(Bonus)

penguin reaction to shachi

Shanks and benbecman reaction to yasopp

Luffy @ Usopp: Completely starry eyed, calling Usopp the coolest thing ever, so in love it makes him look stupid, immediately asks for a ride.

Lucci @ Paulie: Stressed, horrified, nauseous. Lucci gets nervous seeing any proof that Paulie's a selkie because while he is a servant of the world government, he is so very scared of it. Seeing Paulie even larger - even harder to hide, and glowing like a sign to tell anyone that saw exactly what he is. He doesn't like it, Lucci doesn't feel safe easily and he'll never trust that Paulie's safe enough to so brazenly show his identity.

Coby @ Eurydice: Starstruck. Completely speechless. The most beautiful thing he's seen and will ever see, even if he first sees it while they're in the middle of fighting for their lives. He nearly gets his head cut off, because he can't stop staring. He gets the same way every time he sees that form in the future.

Banchina @ Yasopp: She's only seen it once, but it scared her. Yasopp was suddenly gigantic, aetherial in a way she had only seen in stained glass windows. Maybe if she'd seen it again she would have seen the beauty in it, but when Yasopp transformed it was sudden, without warning while small time pirates were attacking the village. Just the size of him smashed half their docked ship in a second, and Banchina was young with a wailing Usopp in her arms to protect. She saw the encompassing creature tear through wood and people like paper - killing them, killing people much stronger than her or her baby - and a monster was all she could see. She apologized, later, because she hated how she reacted, but within the year Yasopp had left, and she was alone with a child to raise.

Shanks @ Yasopp: Bullied him into it. Yasopp was a little skittish abt most things when he first joined the crew, but Shanks is very good at pissing people off enough they forget boundaries. Shanks already knew abt the full moon thing with selkies because Buggy he just wanted to know what Yasopp looked like specifically.

Ben @ Yasopp: Awed a little bit but hid it pretty well. He was watching when Yasopp transformed for Shanks for purely strategic reasons so he had an estimate of how big Yasopp could get and. Big. He can get really big. He also gets glowey and if Ben was a holy man he would compare it to some sort of god.

Oden @ Toki: Oden always knew his wife was special, she showed him on their anniversary that fell on a full moon. He was absolutely enraptured, but not wholly surprised. He knew a bit about selkies before he met her, after all, and he was doing research because he wanted to start a family with her.

Crocodile @ Buggy: Crocodile is immediately pissy because 'how is that discreet at all you clown' but he snaps a picture when Buggy's not looking and has it framed. For very practical reasons, he can assure you.

Mihawk @ Buggy: Likes the aesthetic but honestly couldn't care less, he doesn't like Buggy because he's powerful. Knows abt the picture Crocodile has and teases him relentlessly abt it.

#one piece #selkie usopp au #don't make me tag the ships #you know who you are

[omegaworld]

Different Species [Alpha Marco x omega reader] - part 2

Important to understand the context

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 - Final

Word count: 1575

Ok so I abandoned tumblr because of my college evaluations and now that I go into holiday and come to write I realize that the chapters in drafts and I didn't leave them scheduled so they weren't posted....

___

Oden's story spoiler from the Wano arc

I realised I made a mistake in the age count in the previous chapter, actually when Marco was 15 Oden had just joined the crew, two years later when he's 17 Momonosuke is born and when Momo turns two they leave Whitebeard's pirates. I will continue with the mistake of the previous chapter but it was just for your knowledge.

The fanart is not mine but it has the @ of the creator.

___

For Y/n that first rut was hell on earth, after that comforting smell leaving everything seemed to get ten times worse. Throughout the rut all she could do was crave the alpha who possessed such a scent.

When her rut finally ended she was greeted enthusiastically by members of Whitebeard's pirates and eventually joined the crew. Y/n was a skilled fighter in both hand-to-hand and long-range combat, fast and agile using two knives that she could throw with aim.

None of Whitebeard's Pirates mentioned the incident between Y/n and Marco again out of respect as most of them know how hard it is to learn to resist the alpha instinct.

Ever since Y/n had joined the crew Marco had been the alpha that had caught her attention, she didn't know how to explain it but she felt herself constantly pulled towards the alpha. The crew had told her that it was Marco who had carried her to the ship even though the omega could tell by the smell alone but it made her wonder. Why did his scent affect her so much? Was it because it was her first heat? Regardless of whether or not that could have influenced it Y/n loved everything about Marco, being around him just felt right.

Over those years that had passed they had both always been very close but one night in specific completely changed the intensity of their relationship.

___

For months Y/n has been fighting the pain, trying to distract herself, training, learning to read, cooking...but on nights like that the reality of being pinned to the ground kept the tears flowing as she tried futilely to fall asleep. She didn't want anyone from the crew to see her like this.

When Marco was about to go up to the galley to take his watch he was told there was no need as Y/n was already taking his shift. He thought it was odd and the alpha's instinct begged him to go up and check what was in fact going on with his omega. He bites his tongue scolding himself for internally calling her 'his' again.

Good thing the alpha went up because when he got to the top he saw Y/n curled up in a ball crying. Probably the same instinct that made him call her his own earlier makes him act automatically in response to the omega's state. He sat beside her pulling her into his arms, purring and releasing comfort hormones to calm her down.

All Y/n can do is cling to Marco as she cries, the alpha is patient whispering words of comfort in her ear. Slowly her crying subsides and Marco takes a deep breath before asking what made her like this.

Was it worth lying? It was Marco, she hated the idea of lying to him. So Y/n tells him everything she has been going through, how hard it is, hard not being able to fly, being stuck to the ground and how all she wishes most is to be free again and be able to fly through the sea.

Marco's heart squeezes seeing his omega like this perhaps because more than anyone he understands the feeling, he knows what it is like to be free and to be able to fly and how he would never be able to live without it again. The pain she is feeling is unimaginable but still he is the one who can understand her best.

"Then let's fly"

Y/n wipes away the remnants of tears and looks at Marco uncomprehendingly

"How?"

"I'll take you"

Marco extends his hand which the omega grabs still hesitant but when he does Marco jumps transforming into the Phoenix. Y/n closes her eyes but when she opens them again the sight is incredible. Again she was flying, the wind, the stars, the clouds and the ground she had finally walked away from. All this while being enveloped in beautiful blue flames that chased away any cold she might feel tenderly warming her heart. Yet while the pain of not being able to fly was eased a new pain seemed to arise with the beautiful flames. Was it right to fall in love with someone who didn't belong to you?

___

Since that night the whole crew noticed the difference and how much closer they both were however no one was able to comment (at least not in front of them) not wanting to address the fact that they were not mates despite how in love the crew could tell they both were.

Even though he knew she could defend herself Marco started to be more protective of her. Whenever they visited any island he always accompanied her never leaving her side or that he at least made sure she went with someone he trusted. When Y/n was close to the rut he could tell even before the omega himself and during the whole rut he would not leave his door making sure that no pranksters were plotting to try anything against his omega.

Y/n on the other hand became much more affectionate towards her alpha taking every opportunity to cuddle him making sure to leave some of her scent on her alpha. Their nest became filled with purple and blue blankets and pillows where somewhere in between there were some shirts that had mysteriously disappeared from Marco's wardrobe.

One day they visited an island, Y/n went down with Sakura to visit the fair and Thatch went with the two omegas to protect them since both Marco and Izou had things to do on the ship.

They returned later and while most were distracted by what the three brought Marco's eyes were fixed on the fine coloured braid that Y/n wore. When Izou came to greet his companion he too seemed to notice the braid and Sakura explained.

"There was a beta at the fair making these braids, they call it terere and I wanted to make one, the colour reminds me of your lipstick. Y/n made one too."

At that point all eyes turned to Y/n and she could have sworn her heart was going to explode, especially when her eyes met Marco's. Why the hell did she have to explain the reason for the colour choice??? Even a child could tell how the colour of her terere resembled the colour of Marco's fenix and that happened to be exactly what happened.

"It is so beautiful! It looks like the colour of Marco's phoenix"

Momo's innocence says what everyone just thought. Luckily Toki intervened saving everyone from the tension of the moment

At that point the whole crew understood perhaps even better than themselves that they were both in an unofficial relationship.

___

After an intense battle against Roger's Pirates that lasted 3 days it was time to say goodbye to Momonosuke, Toki and Oden who decided to embark on a journey to reach the end of the grand line.

Biting her lip Y/n walks hesitantly knocking on the door of the room where Toki was getting ready to leave.

"Come in"

Y/n opens the door revealing a smiling Toki.

"Toki, I wanted to ask you a question"

"Sure"

"You have travelled for a long time across centuries right?"

Toki nods icentivating her to continue and Y/n takes a deep breath trying to control her nervousness.

"During that time did you ever encounter companions of different species?"

The older omega's eyes fill with understanding and empathy.

"I have never seen"

Y/n tries to hold back the tears. After all what did she expect?

"But I know of a book that might have the answers you're looking for"

Y/n's eyes widen and Toki smiles as she writes the name of the book on a piece of paper and hands it to him.

___

Since that first night they flew together, doing so had become a sort of tradition between the two of them. They both laughed as they landed in the galley and sat down while chatting animatedly.

Marco slowly stops paying attention to the conversation losing himself looking at Y/n, she seems to notice the alpha's silence and is surprised to turn around and find him much closer than expected. The omega can feel Marco's breath on her parted lips and slowly closes her eyes feeling him getting closer and closer. However just as his lips are about to brush hers he seems to wake the trance by abruptly getting up and ending the moment.

Without looking her in the eye again Marco whispers a "Good night" and quietly walks away leaving behind an extremely shaken Y/n. As much as it hurt her and as much as he might have hurt her Marco was glad he hadn't kissed her. He loved her, he loved her never than he ever thought possible as well as he knew she loved him too and that was why he couldn't do it.

To love is to care. He would not hurt her by starting something that would one day end, one day when she found the one who was born to love her. Not Marco, someone else, someone of her kind, someone who would be her alpha and who could heal her.

He knows he made the right decision, one day they will both find their mates. But why did the thought of having an omega that didn't Y/n make Marco's alpha want to cry? Why did the right decision hurt so much?

#one piece #One Piece Fanfiction #one piece oc #one piece fanfic #omegaverse #omegaworld #Alpha x Omega #omega x alpha #alpha/beta/omega AU #Omega #Alpha #omega reader #alpha marco #alpha marco x reader #alpha marco x omega reader #marco x reader #marco the phoenix x reader #marco the pineapple x reader #lunarian reader

[frida--y]

Let's get the party started!!

Man.... Dondon is. Great!

I loved it a lot, plot wise and pacing aside, it's very obvious the heart of the show is its characters.

In terms of its predecessor, Zenkai celebrated in the tokustau of it all, and Donbrothers celebrated the characters. Like Inoue's other works, he really makes great protags. Takkun, who’s afraid of betraying others so that's why he doesn't want to get close to others, and Taro who’s lonely and wants to understand true happiness, both a bit similar in their loneliness. They both find humanity throughout life, through opening yourself up with others and creating inseparable bonds. And have bfs

I do think Inoue's main writing strength is in his characters. Everyone has changed from the first intro... Another strength is his willingness to collaborate and be flexible. Always heard about Jetman's finale on how it was conceived through drinking with Gai's actor and how the both of them thought it would be funny if they ended the series like that... like.. that's hilarious. And through collaborations, Sonoi, Sononi and Sonoza got to live!!! Making bonds and establishing friendships though eating meals together in real life saved them. Ugh, I really love getting these behind the scene stories.

These two..

They kill me. THEY KILL ME!!!!!!!!!

Just. The small moments too. Sonoi running back upstairs to just SEE what oden looks like... I could not stop thinking about it when that episode dropped, it was hours later. Sonoi.... wanting to understand art, just like the humans do.. wanting to enjoy human food. To enjoy the food Momoi enjoys. To- enjoy- food.. to.. enjoy sharing the moments of eating alone and eating with others.... to-

Taro's daydream of casually eating oden with Sonoi, I had to get up and walk around...................

okay im back.

The Notos. MY BELOVEDS! Sononi, the failmoe girl. Of course it’s eye rolling that she became so attached to Tsubasa, but the fact that she’s so failmoe after cringing over everyone around her AND her finding Tusbasa worthy for falling over despite being a fucking DOG is. so funny. Go get him girl, do not get him chocolate though, he’s a dog after all. I loved Sonoza with Haruka, it’s so cute! For the one that wanted to understand raw emotions, it’s so great to have him see that Haruka manga could save others like him! 567 my messy messy beloveds... the staff’s love and oden could not save you.. :(

siiigh, rip my evil trio, you WILL be missed. Hopefully the staff can pull something out of their ass to revive you three. I NEED them.

So now the talk about the show for real.. Pacing in the beginning was awful, did not like it tbh! Once I was poisoned enough though, I got it. It definitely helps that I’ve seen a lot of Inoue’s shows (especially changerion) that a lot of it’s problems just bounced off me. His rushing and refusal to use certain characters brings down the show at times, and that’s double for the motw. It is an after thought at the worst and something that has to happen due to it being a sentai. It’s hard for me to pay any kind of attention when the fighting starts and when the mech fights, but that’s me problem in sentai in general, but it’s reaaaaaly bad in donbrothers where sentai fans even complain about it lol. The show’s comedy is great though!! Haruka’s actor beter go places after this, she’s def the highlight, and even veteran director Tasaki had said something similar to, “Donbrother’s is Haruka”, it started with her and it ends with her :)

Everyone else on the team are freaks!! I thought I would really love Saruhara through my blue bais, but I didn’t! Weirdo (affectionate) <333 His money lines are so Inoue coded... Tsubasa is also a character designed for me, dark and mysterious, but he is also a freak (theater kid), I CANT believe I fell for Kijino LOL Jirou is adorable, just so bright and loving, I wish his story got a longer run time, but it was still very effective. I’m just so glad he wasn’t someone the team had to fight, I’m so glad he accepted himself and found happiness that way :””) Murasame.

Of all the things left out, it is great that Kaito didn’t get explained... or did he?? 

I wonder if Kaito going into this world, (or the Kaito of this world) had this happen to him. I wonder if this would get explained in the VS movie.

.

and for thoughts on the finale:

I loved that Taro got a final scene with everyone, but with Kijino’s scene it felt somewhat special, he was the first one with Taro after all! So satisfying that Kijino is focusing on himself too! I know that he had that scene with Natsumi, but it came with the caveat that Natsumi chose this herself, she wasn’t a prize at the end for Tsubasa and her wants, her dreams is what’s important. I WILL ignore the wedding ring back on in the final scene, it’s fine that they’re together but I’d like to think that it took a longer time for them to get married. I mean.. it’s two volumes of donbros that came out before Haruka got her award so... and Kijino needs the time to himself!

God you have no idea how much I teared up here.. such a great roll call!

The fact that they held up on doing a complete roll call in the show proper with EVERYONE is so worth it. It was for a gag for sure, but after Sonoi’s revival, it was on purpose. The team was not complete. GOD and the MOON here.

I wanted the Noto trio to join the team soooo bad and be shown to be as silly as the doncrew when I saw them dancing in the intro and it came true.. THE vision. THIS is tokustau. The innovation, the onset rewrites, the relationships that grow on set. The love for the characters and what you do. 

DONBROTHERS!! AHH! TWO SENTAIS IN A ROW ABOUT LOVE YOU FIND WITH OTHERS!

alright bonus talk that is just my thirst talk:

juiced up Sonoi got me [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted][redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted][redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted][redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted][redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] 

I will placed in jail for what I want to say. 

Just know that I would [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] . <- this is a real sentence, you have been warned.

To quote Rain, “Kijino is the only fuckable donbrother. This is the rawest sexual energy donbrothers has on offer”

😤 AGREE 100X, YES ! HE IS!!

You do not want to peek into my mind when I first saw this ^

This is a warning. This made me fall for him even harder.

#text #donbros #donbrothers spoiler #this is the most positive final thoughts i ever had for inoue

[chenziee]

Freedom

Second piece for the @yamabrozine! This time full of Ace, fluff and ~pain~ 👹🔥

Shout out to my beta again, both for the help and for leaving wonderful live commentary of "don't make me ship them", "who would WANT to go there?!" and "oh fuck you". Love you <3

[ Read on AO3 | Yamato zine fics ]

--------

When he had woken up that morning, Yamato hadn't expected to make a friend. But then evening came and with it, pirates.

Angry pirates, too young and hot headed—literally—for their own good. It was lucky Kaido wasn’t there, if only because that made it possible for Yamato to fight their captain himself; to test his power, to see him free the captive children, to break the large dragon statue at the entrance to Onigashima, and with it, the chains Kaido had around his soul.

The moment he swung his kanabo at the statue which represented Kaido’s power, it was like something snapped. Something that had restrained him, kept him from spreading his wings and even dreaming of flying.

Now, he felt light, like the sky boats that the people of Wano set free during the Fire Festival; the ones that Yamato could only watch float into the sky from his confines of Onigashima. He knew they were sent as messages to the dead… but every time he saw them, he couldn’t help but think how much freedom those messages—and the dead who received them—had.

But now, with the statue destroyed, its broken off head lying at Yamato’s feet…

He knew he, too, would fly one day. Not today, maybe not even once the dawn finally came to Wano.

But one day… he was going to leave.

“Why are you suddenly looking so serious?”

Yamato jumped at Ace’s words. He stared at the man for a moment, trying to gather his lost thoughts. “You came here from the East Blue, right?” he asked, leaning forward.

“Yeah?” Ace blinked at Yamato in confusion.

“Have you seen the island in the sky?!” Yamato questioned eagerly.

“Which one?” Ace shot back, a smirk on his lips.

Yamato gasped; he could swear his heart skipped a beat too. “There’s more than one?!”

At that, Ace laughed, loud and full of amusement. It took him a while to calm down enough to reply, “Yes. Though I haven’t actually been yet. They’re a real bitch to get to.”

“That’s amazing!” Yamato cried, a giggle on his lips as he let himself fall back; he laid on the ground, arms spread out while he grinned at the stars above. 

It was real.

“And the island where lightning falls like rain?” Yamato mumbled, breathless.

“Deuce nearly murdered me when we arrived on that one! It was fun though.” Ace burst out in laughter all over again, no doubt at the memory of his serious first mate and navigator absolutely losing his shit over his captain’s reckless decisions.

And Yamato…

Laughed.

Twice tonight, a weight was lifted off his shoulders. First, his chains.

And now, his doubts about the crazy places that Oden had described—dismissed so easily. It wasn’t made up. It wasn’t exaggerated. Those places really existed, just waiting for Yamato to make his way there and experience them for himself.

Waiting for him to create his own adventures.

—————

A small smile played on Yamato’s lips as he thought back to that night almost two years ago. It felt like yesterday that he had interrogated Ace about every little thing in Oden’s journal, listened to his stories, sighed at Ace’s endless boasting about his brother.

Now, Yamato was alone again… but he wasn’t lonely anymore.

Letting go of the sky boat in his hands, Yamato watched as it rose up to the sky, floating up and up and up, away from Onigashima.

Free.

Yamato’s smile didn’t falter when a single tear slid down his cheek.

“Goodbye, Ace.”

#one piece #yamato #one piece yamato #op yamato #portgas d ace #ace #yamaace #yamato & ace #up for interpretation whether you read it as platonic or romantic #canon compliant #pre-wano #fluff and angst #hurt/comfort #canonical character death #yamato zine #katie pretends to fic #zine stuff #i was SO proud of this when i finished you have no idea #i still really like it #but shit happened in between so it's not as pure a feeling ahaha #zines

[tsuki-sennin]

Pretty Cures! We have two of them now! And a fifth episode! Whoa!

Getting all the early episode conflicts outta the way. Should be plenty of fun! And if not, hey~!

Spoilers, I guess...

-Handwritten letters!

-Bebop really said "Fuck that, I ain't doin' that shit."

-Sora really be doin' night terrors.

-SQUARE?

-Got lazered to death.

-See, my nightmares are usually a lot less direct than that.

-Man, it's so funny to me that sweet superheroine Sora's now sharing a TV block with Compulsive Liar Ace Ukiyo and "King of Evil" Gira.

-This is why Toei gets superheroes. They run the whole spectrum.

-Oh fuck, more ancient legends about monsters.

-Legendary Warrior Pretty Cure. There she is again.

-If I recall correctly, we've had at least one person bearing that title every season since Tropical Rouge.

-I wonder if these ancient superheroes have like a trade union?

-Like

-Riku!Kuuga, Cure Empress, and all the ancient Kyoryugers in a bingo tournament and debating where their royalties are gonna go.

-Ozone Baby's princess magic.

-Ohhhh, Sora's really antsy to get back, huh?

-"How adorable~!"

-ODEN

-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-This guy's been real patient with Pteragordon.

-Free food...

-OHHHHHHHHH

-This lady must be our boss.

-WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

-Unionize.

-Mashiro doesn't believe in copyright infringement.

-Okay, I'm sorry, I should be taking this seriously. but I can't see this empty stretch of road without immediately thinking of that Invader Zim scene.

-You know exactly what I'm talking about.

-She needs to train.

-Ohhhhhhhh, here it comes.

-ODEN, HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US SO

-"I like trains."

-Holy shit, they thinned him.

-He somehow looks even more terrifying.

-Please stand behind the white line, Pretty Cure.

-"Back off, bitches! We're now departing, full speed ahead! ...I wonder if they'll let us on the Shadow Line?"

-Hero Time, once more!

-Thaaaaat's the stuff.

-All alone, Hero Gal?

-"ALL ABOARD THE KNUCKLE TRAIN TO FIST PLANET!"

-Hell yeah Mashiro. Show 'em whatcha got.

-Baby Mandala.

-Ew, no, don't lick your lips.

-Oh...

-First friend...

-Man...

-The path of a hero is a lonely one.

-No man is an island, Sky-chan.

-Better to lose on your own than let Prism put herself in danger, huh?

-Oh, here he comes!

-"Oh, just typical! You know I'm not gonna leave you alone, right!?"

-"YES! Thank you for realizing that!"

-Fast train.

-Buddy!

-Aibo!

-Partner!

-Synonyms!

-"No Elle-chan, your two extra moms aren't fighting! See, getting along perfectly~!"

-Hit by the train.

-*Smeck*

-Sparkle!

-No other word for it than "friend".

-I personally would've said "destined" but y'know.

-Live Elle-chan Reaction.

-OH GOD SPIN TRAIN

-She acknowledges her partnership~!

-Futari wa! Pretty Cure!

-Lots and lots of callbacks.

-Oh shit, trinkets.

-Sky Blue! Prism White!

-Motherfucker Dipped

-PreCure! Updraft Shining!

-"Breakfast is ready, darling~!"

-AAAAAAAH

-Futari Wa! PreCure!

-SUMMER

-Manatsu, baby, it has been SO FUCKING COLD OUT these past few months, you gotta motivate me to think about pina coladas, cheeseburgers, mermaids, beachy things!

-SCHOOL

-...oh yeah, Sora's technically an illegal immigrant, I forgot about that.

-Anyways, Episode 6, can't wait~!

#Hop! Step! Jump! Hero Gals Dream of the Everlasting Sky! #pretty cure #hirogaru sky precure #precure #hirogaru sky pretty cure #hirogaru sky spoilers

[incorrect-akazaya]

The Akazaya headcanon weeks, Day 5: Raizou

Prompt question: Would they rather live life always surrounded by people or always alone?

My take (late today, but hey!):

Raizou, as I see him, is incredibly socially awkward. He's just a lil' weirdo, though one with a good heart, and he definitely isn't someone to be surrounded by people: he lacks both the looks and the charisma, so only the people who actually take the time to get to know him may find out that he can actually make a great, level-headed, and loyal friend. In my interpretation, he's introverted too, so having only close friends doesn't bother him much - though he would really, really like to finally get a girlfriend (get on it Shinobu)

Despite his introversion, though, I don't think that Raizou would like to live his life always alone. It's like he told Oden: he was tired of living in the shadows after having tried that as an outlaw. He does need friends, but mostly a tight-knit group - which is why the Akazaya are actually perfect for him. When he was a bandit, actually, he kidnapped women mostly in hopes that they would fall in love with him or at least befriend him; he didn't do anything to them though. Most of the time he was even too nervous in their presence to say a word, so he just let them go.

Overall: Raizou may be quite socially awkward and often in the shadows. Still, he does need some people around - and he's definitely yearning for his big love story moment.

What do YOU think? Feel free to participate in this event by replying to the prompt question in reblogs or comments! Any other headcanons about Raizou that you’d like to share? This is the time to do this too!

Thank you all for participating yesterday - again, I LOVE all of your writing! ❤️

Tomorrow’s focus: Ashura Doji

#one piece #akazaya nine #nine red scabbards #raizou #shinobu #akazaya headcanon weeks

[ouvertyr]

Folklore

Before Orthism became the widespread faith of Sinnoh, the stories passed by word of mouth alone dominated the region as a whole. The myths of the lands, the creatures within it. The belief that the beings living amongst humans were closer to God than any other.

In the modern world, the subjects of these legends are now known as Pokémon. But they were once mythical; from The Brook Horse with its mane created out of dancing water, to Trolls as large as trees. Every imaginable horror of which could scare children away from wandering too far into the woods alone. A population ruled by fear of the unknown, the fear of those that were different.

As well as the worship of the untouchable.  

These superstitions do, in part, still linger amongst the broader population. Many know the tales by heart yet seem to view them as little other than old wives tales. They are but the subjects of children’s books and youthful songs, not the honest truth while others may take care and warn you to not wander too close to creeks. Least of all if you hear the ache of a violin.  Below, a list will be given of some notable creatures who came under scrutiny (or reverence) during Sinnoh’s earliest of days. Those who were once considered omens of good, just as well as bad, and who perhaps suffered more than caused harm. All because their coloring differentiated them from the rest. It made them noteworthy. Unique. Divine in all the ways only humans can label something to be – and old wives tales can affect a generation should one know how to begin.  To make fairytales into reality takes but a visionary. That is, however, a story for another time…

And so, we begin.

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Introduction

Before time, there was space. Before space, there was time and before either of those – there was the primeval being known as Ymer. Molded out of the northern frost and southern embers, nurtured by milk and then slaughtered to create the world. Out of his flesh, the earth was formed: from his blood, the sea and lakes. His hair created the forests and his skull, the sky dome – his brain, the clouds. At last, his eyes were thrown into the sky to become the sun and moon.  All that Ymer gave was not, however, good. From his sweat formed giants of the north who, as time were to go on, would come to haunt the world of human’s and threatened them with darkness and a winter without end. Giants from which a shapeshifter would be born, whose children and those they sired would bring forth the worlds end.

Ymer is, by all means, a fictional representation created by the minds of the given time – but he does have connections within later written work to the titan Regigigas. His likeness was described within many old stories, just as well as artwork and it is believed that the temple that now reside in Snowpoint was built as a representation of Helheim upon earth. A way to contain the passageway of the ice giants.  Within these tales of beginnings, however, there is also the first depictions of a central God. Old Sinnohan belief had many Gods within its dossier, but there were indeed those who had greater presidency compared to others. There are three brothers who are said to have been the ones to slaughter the giant Ymer – something that, as Orthism became more prominent, changed to instead be depicted as a father and two daughters. Arceus, Dialga and Palkia respectively. This shift does, therefore, entail that many instances of this previous God – one who had many names such as ‘Have’, ‘Sigfader’ and ‘Oden’ – does refer to the same central figure in later adaptations of the faith. Arceus is, therefore, believed to have been the creator of worlds as well as seer of all.

On the note of the worlds end – once referred to as Ragnarök – there is a curious connection between an extinct species and the beliefs of which ran rampant upon Sinnohan soil about them. This is one of the first instances of where there was real world connections drawn between reality and fiction, as well as one that had notable consequences.  The son of giants, a shapeshifter whom sired beings such as the wyrm said to encase the world of humans – large enough to bite itself in its tail (who, by some scholars, is said to have been an early depiction of Giratina) – also was the father of a great wolf named Fenris. Fenris’s existence caused great debate amongst the Gods of old as it was said that his presence was the beginning of the end. All other wolves in Asgård were slaughtered and Fenris, isolated, in an attempt to put a stop to the words demise. Oden (Arceus) did however promise the wolves safety so long as it stayed upon its island – even if later, by trickery, the wolf would come to be chained against its will.

These tales were, of course, spread amongst humans. That wolves were to be the beginning of the end, all thanks to the trickster God and Fenris. You can imagine, then, how this effected the populations of Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark. These beasts were labeled as descendants of the great wolf Fenris, sent to force humans into eternal night by swallowing the sun and moon whole. A fearsome concept to be sure, and one of which brought forth the desire to rid the lands of them.  It would take decades, if not more, for the species to become entirely extinct – but it was an effort of which bore fruit. There are therefore no trace of Zorua or its larger counterpart within Sinnoh in the modern age, and there has been no effort made to return them to the lands.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Deities

As established before, there are Pokémon whose likeness have been attributed to deities of old. Zorua and Zoroark are only one out of many, but perhaps one of the more unfortunate examples. Below will be a list of a few species who have had their lives disrupted by human superstition and the stories that came to follow them. Even into the modern day:

Troll  Shiny and Neutral Snover, Abomasnow

The word ‘Troll’ has been a descriptor whose meaning has changed over time. In modern terminology, ‘Troll’ has mostly been used in relation to one specific creature group – Snover’s, as well as their more developed counterparts. In the past, however, ‘Troll’ was more used as a blanket term for all being that were considered evil in some regard, rather than having had a specific class. Giants, mountain creatures, witches, berserks and even just abnormally tall people were found to have been referred to as ‘Trolls’ in old Sinnohan writings.  In central Sinnohan texts, ‘Trolls’ have been described as having been capable of disguising themselves as people so well that they were practically indistinguishable from humans. Height, therefore, was often used as a ‘tell’ of malevolence and often left many untrustworthy of those who displayed this trait. In the south, as Orthism grew more prominent throughout the region, ‘Trolls’ – just like giants – have been said to have gone ‘extinct’. It is said that the faith either destroyed them or scared them all towards the north.

In the north, therefore, they wander freely upon earth soil. Though certainly not without trouble.  It should be noted that within the stories of the Old Gods – as well as Orthism – it is said that Goddesses such as Frigg and Freja (Dialga and Palkia) mothered the children of titan descendants. They could be distinguished from that of ‘Trolls’, technically, but do also fall into the broader category as titans and giants weren’t known to be friendly. Notably, in the cold north, they were said to be capable of shapeshifting; disguising themselves within the forests as large firs.

Abomasnow’s and Snover’s fit that descriptor quite perfectly.  

They earned themselves the reputation of being foul, kidnapping creatures who wished for nothing but to cause humans harm – who dined on the bodies of pure children and hid in plain sight. Though there were, of course, exception to these cruel tales. It was said that if spoken to, one could, theoretically, convince them to not steal the lives of others. In so far as the shiny variants of these Pokémon were concerned, they were often believed to be the leaders of any given group of Snover’s and Abomasnow’s. Ones closer to their titan ancestors, and therefore stronger and more dangerous.  If you asked a Sinnohan school child in current times what a ‘Troll’ was, then a Snover and Abomasnow would be their most common answer. The attitude towards these creatures are, however, far more positive. They are often depicted as friendly and playful in children’s songs and media, and are even sometimes used as fun tools to learn basic counting and reading.

Brook Horse  Shiny Ponyta, Rapidash

Another Pokémon who suffered due to superstitious beliefs was that of Ponyta and Rapidash. With their manes having gone from fiery red to wine dark sea, this abnormality – in a world whose understanding of genetics was limited – caused their rarer kind to be ascribed as the spirits of forest creeks. The Brook Horse was said to have a lair within watery depths and if one were to meet him, trouble was sure to follow. Most often this spirit was described as a beautiful horse. So beautiful, in fact, that children and adults alike couldn’t help but follow it wherever it went. One would often wish to ride upon its back and, no matter how many occupants it carried, The Brook Horse would always make room for more by elongating its back. Sometimes to grotesque proportions.  There are, however, ways that one can be saved once trapped upon the horses back. If another person comes upon the scene and carried with them a bar of steel – then they could toss the mineral between the water and horse and he would no longer be able to continue forth. Releasing his victims in the process.

In certain tales, often depending on where in Sinnoh it was you resided, The Book Horse could at times be depicted as a handsome youth. (Certain tales, under another name, say he lured his victims by use of a beautifully played violin.) His primary goal in these stories were often to lure young women to himself, with the promise that he would bring them joy and gladness in his halls if only they were willing to follow him back home. However, if the women were to grow suspicious of who he was and called him by his true name – Bäckahäst – then they would be released from his allure and all of his power would be gone.

The diminished population of fire types such as Ponyta and Rapidash in Sinnoh is, in part, attributed to the fact that this species was seen as a malevolent deity.

Huginn and Muninn  Shiny Murkrow, Honchkrow

Two ravens sit perched upon Oden’s shoulders, seeing all that he cannot see and hearing all that he cannot hear. At dawn, they fly over the world and return by noon, describing to him all that humans, as well as beasts, have done: every fault, every triumph and every battle and strife.  It should come as no surprise that Murkrow, as well as Honchkrow, fell prey to the belief of Huginn and Muninn. Their glimmering, imperial coats of the rarest sort: the one thing of which distinguishes the God’s ravens from all others. It was said that if one was watched by either of these ravens that an omen has befallen them. Good, just as well as bad.

Because of this connection, Murkrow’s and Honchkrow’s were treated favorably by those who described divinity to their kind. A rare feat for the times.

Huldra  Shiny Gardevoir, Froslass, Lopunny (Gallade)

Huldra is a name, or characterization, which befell several wardens of nature. She does, however, most often get depicted as a fair lady who wanders the forests or mountains upon bare feet. In some tales, she’s considered the forests ruler and protector of the wild while, in others, she falls into the category of Troll. ‘Troll Mother’ is a title of which she more commonly known as in the north and, as you may imagine, it is Froslass who most often were referred to as such. Huldra’s are said to rather willingly offer their flesh to those she takes a liking to, luring wanderers or others astray. Her goal is, in general, to simply claim them as her own – for a man who is unfaithful to a Huldra gets forever haunted by misfortune.

In northern tales, and northern tales only, there too is a depiction of a male counterpart to the Huldra. However, rather than being considered seductively beautiful – he’s known to be hideous and foul.

Gardevoir, Froslass and Lopunny have earned themselves the title of Huldra throughout the ages; beasts considered attractive and desirable to certain humans. Men would spread the word by mouth, how they were seduced against their will while lost within the deep woods or icy meadows – they were the victim, you see, not the nymphic beasts.  These are, of course, not the only Pokémon who were said to couple with humans. But they are the ones most prominent within folklore.  

Mara  Shiny Misdreavus, Mismagius (Female)

In folklore, a Mara, The Mara or Nattmaran (nightmare) is a supernatural creature who is said to torment sleeping people by riding upon their breasts – causing them severe anxiety and respiratory distress. A Mara is sometimes depicted as a human spirit, though it does not necessarily have to take on a human form when partaking in their nightly schemes. They may take on the form of a cat, a dog, monkey or mouse. A feather or even a ball of yarn have been said to be a Mara in disguise.  There are different stories as to what it is that makes a human soul turn into a Mara. Sometimes, it is said to be due to envy, or perhaps a cat skipped over an unbaptized child. In older Sinnohan provinces, pregnant women thought that a way to have an easier birth was to pull the placenta of a Rapidash over their head three times. This, however, was a remedy which carried a price. For if the child was born a girl, then she would transform into a Mara.

If the child was a boy, then it would instead become a hound.

In western Sinnoh, it was believed that if a child was born ‘untimely’ – between the hours of 12 and 1 at night – and the child was a girl, that she were to become a Mara.

(Other tales say it was women who, often unknowingly or against their will, became Mara’s during the night. However, since a Mara could not get up in the sleeper's bed without first getting up in his footwear, the caution was that one should preferably place their shoes underneath the bed with the tips of the toes facing outwards.)

Misdreavus, as well as Mismagius, have been mistaken for these ‘Nightmares’ throughout time. It is however said that only those who are female, as well as those of different colors, are certain to be Mara’s.

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There are, of course, far more creatures who littered about in the days of old. Gods, just as well as mortal. These are but a handful amongst all of them, though perhaps the ones who hold the most prominence to this day. So, the next time that you’re cautioned away from creeks while wandering the Sinnohan woods; perhaps heed their warnings as true.

It is always better to be safe, than sorry.

#lore #folklore #welcome to: a headcanon that goes deeper than you might think #i just have yet to properly write it out #take the line of a 'visionary' as a hint though

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1056 - Initial Thoughts

So we are back again reaching the ending stages of Wano

There's still stuff to wrap up though, so let's get to it

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release

We return with the Vinsmokes and there's Katakuri!

We return to the fallout of the Admiral attack, seems Shinobu was got too, but both she and Raizo are alive so Kaido's crew likely are too

Kin'emon regrets not being there, but is smitten that he got to spend time with Tsuru

Poor girl got a burn on her face, but other than that she's fine and wants to return to the capital

Finally a proper panel of Carrot

And, she's being made the new leader of Zou, and I don't quite agree with that (I will explain at the end)

So, Inu and Neko are planning to stay in Wano, and they're using Carrot's experience with the crew as a reason to put a 15 year old in charge of an ancient civilization

Carrot does make the point as well that there are more qualified people, including Wanda

They pull the Pedro card too, even though Pedro's will was to help Luffy get to the Dawn

Sukiyaki does indeed reveal himself to Momo and Hiyori

But the kids embrace him, thankful that they still have family

The Akazaya all knew as well...except Kin'emon but he'll play it cool

Seems Sukiyaki wants to lore dump but then resume as a commoner

Back with the crew and it's discussing the Pluton stuff

Luffy doesn't want it, but Franky is a little curious

Shinobu and Tama then appear, the former with a youthful appearance

Seems she's still recovering and that's what makes her look young and skinny

Tama's gonna be her apprentice, but does note she would like to travel with Luffy when she gets stronger

Caribou no! You had a change of heart remember don't sully it!

It is dangerous that he now knows about two ancient weapons

A few days pass and Momo's already getting a little stoic about the reparation plans

But the crew have already done their patented 'leave without saying goodbye to the major players' shtick

Momo and Kin'emon of course will not allow them to leave without saying bye to them specifically, and lucky for them they are delayed

See the three captains are arguing, planning on going their separate ways by sailing to separate islands

But Kid and Luffy want to go to the same island, they draw straws and Luffy loses

Law is going in the straight path, noting how the alliance is over, Luffy is forced into going the shortest distance, despite his claims for Yonko leeway

Buggy's Yonko promotion is validated though, he had formed the 'Cross Guild', with his two commanders: Crocodile and Mihawk!

Of course, there's gonna be more than what meets the eye, Zoro does feel like Mihawk wouldn't bow to anyone anyway, Crocodile is certainly not the take orders type either

When Monkey 'Got eaten by a snake and thought it was a cave, was going to write his own name while undercover to enter a tournament, punches people while holding an infamous cursed sword' D. Luffy calls you a moron you best believe you must be a moron

Seems Buggy is also putting bounties on Marines, which I guess does level the playing field but I swear if you touch the good marines there will be words; leave Smoker, Tashigi, T-Bone, Jonathon (make him canon Oda), Coby, Helmeppo, Fujitora and Drake alone! I doubt there's bounties for Garp though because even Buggy can't be that foolish

The trio seem to depart similarly to how they departed on Sabaody, Kid at least reminding Luffy that they're rivals when they leave the island

Law also gives Kid an etching of the Road Poneglyph since they all earned it equally

Kid seems to be setting his sights on a new target too: the Man Marked With Flames

I feel like this is Sabo, given the Translator's note, but it could be someone else entirely

Law and Robin seem to know, but Luffy and the audience do not

Yamato though is still on the roof, deciding to set off and live like Oden did

So this was a bittersweet chapter for me, lots of things coming to an end definitively.

We'll start of course with Carrot. You should know by now that I was very Carrot4Nakama, and still am, so it hurts that Oda would potentially rush her conclusion. It feels weak, and contradictory; Inu and Neko are staying in Wano to better protect it - the very thing Momo was trying to prove so people wouldn't be compelled to stay - but at the same time they are now leaving Zou in the hands of the musketeers who are proven to struggle against below-Yonko Commander strength, it feels counter-productive. In addition, it feels like Wanda is gonna be the one actually calling the shots, given how Carrot is still 15 and unlike Momo has never expressed the desire to lead Zou. And they are going to get invaders, because they have a Road Poneglyph, all it takes is one treacherous Mink or a vivre card to undermine Inu and Neko's reason of staying. Plus Zunesha bends to Momo's will anyway, so even if you lead the kingdom Momo is in the driver's seat for Zou anyway too. Don't get me wrong, leading Zou would've been a nice endgame for Carrot, but not right now, she needed a lot more time to grow that desire and the qualities of a leader to earn that outcome, being handed it right now just felt a little lazy. In that same vein though, as hugely unlikely as it may be, Oda may still swerve us and have Carrot stow away again anyway, it does feel like there's more adventure in her as well as room to mature, and as I said Pedro's will was oriented around helping the Straw Hats to the Dawn, if Carrot has that will 'more than anyone' it's better suited for Carrot to do an Oden-like move and journey with the Straw Hats first before ruling Zou. Unlikely? Probably, Denial? No Comment, but for me this does not feel satisfying to conclude Carrot's character this way.

I do feel a little bit blueballed by Pluton now too, we could at least have seen it, but I guess a time will come now that Caribou knows, I had hope for you man! You had a heart in the cover story but now you're going back to old ways. We're still yet to get any info on Zoro's heritage or the fact that Sea Prism is made in Wano, these feel like important stuff. What happened with Kaido and Big Mom too?

And another sad ending comes with the end of the Alliance, Law is setting off on his own, to find out about the D via Poneglyphs...which only 2 known people alive know how to read (does Kid have someone who can read it? Seems like he might). It's a sore spot because of how long we've spent and grown attached to Law to see him depart, but like the Ancient Weapons they'll probably show up later down the line. As for Kid, he drops a hint for the 'Man Marked With Flames' but we'll have to see who that is.

His important lore drop is Buggy, pulling a near-mirror image alliance that Luffy did by using Crocodile and Mihawk. There has to be some explanation on why they're paired up, likely out of convenience, but it at least validates his position and sets up a new endgame threat; the Straw Hats will have to fight the Cross Guild if Zoro is to defeat Mihawk, it'd be interesting if the Cross Guild included other pirates from the Paradise Saga: Krieg (and Ghin), Morgan, Kuro, Foxy, maybe Moria if he's not with/killed by Blackbeard, they don't have to be threats but it'd be a cool 'full circle' kinda thing. Overall I'm just glad Crocodile's back in the game.

Which leads us finally to Yamato, he's only at the end of the chapter but there has to be some nerves from fandom right? Luffy has never intended to leave an island without Nakama, he waited for Nami, Vivi, and Usopp (x2), and he chased down Chopper and Franky, it seems they really were going to leave without him, but stuff remains to be seen, Yamato at the least seems to want to go with Luffy but again, that doesn't automatically entitle you to Nakama. I'd also like to note this parallel with Carrot being bestowed a responsibility to rule she doesn't want, if she does stay to rule Zou it's hypocritical that she has to do that while pushing for Yamato to live free from responsibility to rule when he was named Shogun by Kaido.

Overall it was a good chapter, but I didn't vibe with it as much because of some potential to likely directions I don't at the current moment feel right about, it would seem we'll leave Wano next chapter which is sad too because it did feel like we had a mountain left to uncover.

Much to wrap up, but we know Oda will finish strong.

#one piece #one piece spoilers #op spoilers #wano arc #one piece wano #wano #wano country arc #straw hat pirates #kozuki clan #mink tribe #carrot one piece #akazaya nine #raizo of the mist #shinobu one piece #inuarashi #nekomamushi #duke dogstorm #master cat viper #wanda one piece #kozuki sukiyaki #kozuki hiyori #kozuki momonosuke #foxfire kin'emon #one piece otama #monkey d. luffy #trafalgar d water law #trafalgar law #eustass kid #buggy the clown #dracule mihawk