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kilannad · 10 months

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As the Stars Burn On Chapter 33

Masterlist. Ao3. Discord.

The Fragments of Time

Sunny was a beauty. Franky had truly reached into the soul of the Straw Hats and created the perfect ship for them. The first few days of sailing were like a weird fever dream, where everyone was uncertain of the new reality. Lucy had to figure out what an actual relationship looked like--spoiler, it was exactly what they'd been doing just with more sex--while Robin readjusted to her place, fully confident that her crew would always come for her. Franky fit in like a puzzle piece, another member added to their ranks and welcomed wholeheartedly. As the days went by and they started sailing once more the whole crew fell back into rhythm. Which of course meant craziness--a Coup de Burst had sent them once more into a Navy base, though this one much easier to escape from--and, as always, the quiet times that made them who they were.

☉

Lucy settled against Sunny's railing near the figurehead, sun warming her skin as she cracked open a good book. It'd been ages since she'd had the chance to simply read and while she loved the library, she enjoyed the sun. For a little while, everything was perfect; Gajeel, Usopp, and Franky were making something explode below deck; Nami was drawing maps with Robin for company in the library; Sanji and Zoro were arguing; and Lily and Laxus were speaking with Chopper about his monster point. Luffy, in his usual way, rocketed his way over the deck and onto the sunflower--lion, maybe--figurehead. With their whole crew back together, she had no worries in the world. Which is why she startled so badly when Luffy of all people sounded small and confused.

"Lucy?"

She set her book aside, immediately concerned. Luffy didn't do small or confused--well, okay, he occasionally did confused very well but not like this. Not when he was staring at his straw hat, flipping it through his hands with a far off look in his eyes. It might have been the first time he'd sat there without looking towards the horizon. Whatever was on his mind wasn't something simple.

"Yes, Luffy?"

"Why do you have sex?"

Her brain hit the brakes; it went out one ear, did a few cartwheels, then came back in to restart. The words sex and Luffy had never connected together before and she wasn't sure she wanted them to this time. It occurred to Lucy, vaguely, that the captain was a seventeen year old boy--when she'd been seventeen, she'd already started experimenting with porn and lingerie. For Luffy it just seemed...alien to his character.

When she woke up this morning, she certainly hadn't expected this.

Setting her book gently to the side, Lucy heaved herself up and, gently pausing for Luffy's permission first, climbed up next to him. He scooted to let her have more room, but that wasn't really necessary; Sunny was huge, her head included.

"What brought this on?" He only shrugged at her question, still playing with the hat. She was so far out of her depth she didn't even know where to begin. For her, she'd discovered sex through books, learning everything she knew by hunting out the information. It would've been unseemly for a lady like her to be interested in such things, which had been what mostly fed her desire to learn. For Luffy, though, who cared so little for that sort of thing and left the world to teach him what he needed to know, giving him a book would be the worst thing she could do. Honestly, this was probably a conversation better had with Laxus or Gajeel--certainly not Sanji--but Luffy had come to her, so she had to figure something out.

Well, shit. She had to give him The Talk.

"Well," she started, clearing her throat. "Do--Luffy, do you know what sex is?"

"Yeah. Sabo explained it to me an' Ace."

"Who's Sabo?"

The straw hat crinkled a little in his grip before it smoothed out. "He was our brother."

Was. Well, fuck. This had just become a bigger minefield than before. "Did he explain the...emotional aspect, or just the physical."

Luffy scrunched up his face. "He taught us how it worked and when I said it sounded gross he said that we'd want it when we really liked someone."

"Okay." Lucy scrambled for something to say to that. While she never would have said it ten minutes ago, she suddenly desperately wanted the marines to attack them. "Well. Have you ever liked someone?"

"Of course! I like you, and Zoro and Robin and Nami and Usopp--"

"Not like nakama," Lucy clarified. "Like...like I like Gajeel and Laxus."

He stuck his tongue out. "Why would I? That's a you and Gajeel and Laxus thing. Shanks didn't like Makino the way you like them, or Sanji with Ace-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Luffy stared at her blankly as if she was the crazy one. "Did something happen between Sanji and Ace?!"

"No? He wasn't here that long."

That was a can of worms she would touch later. Holyshit the drama on this crew.

"Setting that aside...While relationships are certainly different for every relationship, that's not really what I meant."

"But what does it mean?" he huffed. Despite the bizarre situation, Lucy found sympathy twisting her throat. This was clearly something bothering him, though she couldn't quite figure out why.

"How I feel with Laxus and Gaj--it feels different with them, then with the rest of our crew. With the crew there's love and camaraderie for sure, but with them there's another layer. When I'm with them there's a feeling of partnership in life that isn't present with you or Nami. They're the sort of people I imagine sharing a bed with--sometimes with sex, sometimes just to hold each other--or having kids or any of those other things that you think of when you think of the people you know in romances. They're just...I'm in love with them instead of just loving them, if that makes sense."

He chewed on his lip, eyes lifting to the horizon line. Lucy thought it was his favorite spot on the ship because he was always looking forward, always ready for the next adventure. She had never considered that Luffy had his moments of introspection; a dumb assumption, considering he was probably the most empathetic person she knew.

"I don't think I've ever felt that."

"That's okay," Lucy assured immediately. "Some people never find someone like that; that doesn't mean they don't live happy lives. Some people don't want romance, and that's okay too. Maybe someday you'll find someone and want that closeness or maybe not."

"I still think sex is gross."

She couldn't help it; she laughed. "That's okay. Maybe you're asexual."

"What's that?"

Lucy bit her lip, leaning back to count the clouds. Trying to explain gender and sexual identities to Luffy might be more than she could handle. Actually, now that she thought about it, did Terra even have the same labels as Earthland? The queer movement was about three hundred years old, but it had taken them a long time to develop the sort of community they had modernly, to say nothing of the organization it took on a continental scale. Besides, lacrimas and magic had played a huge role, both things Terra just didn't have. With how broken up society and cultures were in Terra, she didn't think it was possible for them to have as many centralized social movements as Earthland did. Not to mention the World Government actively blocking any social change anyway.

"Back home," she started slowly, carefully picking her words. "For a long time, we didn't have words for the kinds of people we had. Some people were women who liked women, some were men who liked men, sometimes people liked both and weren't a man or a woman."

"Like Bon Clay," Luffy cheered. "He's an okama."

"Exactly! Okama is the Terra word for a cross-dressing man who likes other men sexually. In Earthland we had a lot of words for a lot of different people. Asexual is the word for people who don't want to have sex with anyone, no matter the gender."

"Oh." For once, Luffy didn't call it a mystery word, which actually made her think he was trying to process it. "So there's people who never have partners?"

"Well, yes. But those are aromantics; people who don't want or feel romantic desire. You can have a romance without having sex and vice versa."

He scrunched up his face, which probably meant she was getting too complicated. "The point I'm making, Luffy, is that you don't need to worry if you think sex is gross; lots of people do."

Like a switch flipped, he grinned that same bright, impossibly wide smile. "Shishishi. You're really smart, Lucy."

☉

Nami ran the brush through her hair, gently pulling out any knots until it was silky smooth. Living on a ship meant giving up a lot of things, but damn if she'd give up having nice hair, no matter what the water and wind had to say about it. Robin slipped down the steps, letting the door fall shut above her. Lily and Chopper were on first watch, leaving the rest of the crew to turn in for the night. Slipping on the soft silk of her pajamas was paradise, the sweet feather mattress nearly swallowing her as she finally laid down. Robin hummed a little as she went about her evening routine, lulling Nami. It was strange to only have the two of them in the room after so long sharing with Lucy; weirder was the fact that they each had their own bed. They'd both taken the bottom bunks, leaving them across the room from each other at night. Sometimes, when Nami woke from nightmares, all she had to do was look over and see Robin's sleeping face to calm herself. After all, if the crew managed to declare war on the world and take her back successfully, then there was nothing that could stop them. Probably.

She could just make out the sound of Robin slipping between the sheets, skin on silk, and the quiet ruffling of her settling down. With the lantern put out, all that was left was the gentle dark and ever present rocking that she loved so dearly.

"So," Robin whispered, shattering her peace. "Would you like to tell me why you're ignoring Sanji?"

"I'm not ignoring Sanji," Nami contested loudly. She flinched at the volume, eyeing the emergency door to the men's quarters.

"Oh? Is that why you've spent the last few days hiding in the library with your maps?"

"I'm the navigator. Drawing maps is my job."

"To the extent that you aren't seeing Sanji except for mealtimes, during which you won't even look at him?"

Nami bit her lip, knowing she had no defense against the accusation; because she had been avoiding Sanji. Not on purpose, really, she just--she couldn't stand to look at him without remembering how he refused to fight Kalifa. It bothered her, for a lot of reasons, most of which she didn't really know how to put to herself.

Robin sighed a little, shifting in the dark. Nami turned towards the center, making out the faint outline of her body. Light trickled through from the overhead door, just faint beams that let them see a little.

"Nami. Whatever the problem is, ignoring it won't make it go away. Trust me, I've tried."

Nami couldn't deny that--she'd been giving Lucy shit for avoiding dealing with Laxus and Gajeel, to say nothing of how Robin hadn't trusted the crew with her past. Still, she thought it'd make her sound like a crazy person to say it.

"Did you hear? About how he protected me from Kalifa?"

"That sounds like him. It bothers you that he stepped in?"

"No. It bothers me that he wouldn't protect himself. She was trying to kill him and all he'd do was block and redirect. He didn't even try to counterattack!"

Robin hummed a little. "He hasn't been quiet about how he sees women. You've never seemed to have a problem with it."

"It's bullshit," Nami hissed. "He says he wants us to be happy and safe, but he's more worried about being a perv and keeping his own honor than fighting."

"Nami."

It wasn't much, but the rebuke hurt. Nami deflated, picking at the edges of her pillow. That was unfair to Sanji and she knew it. It was just frustrating, to know how powerful he was and yet see him willfully lose to any woman, even if that meant his own death. For the life of her, she couldn't figure it out.

"I don't want him getting hurt," she finally murmured. "And okay, maybe his pervert tendencies bother me a little."

"Have you considered talking to him?"

"How? 'I know you have a strict code of honor but won't you bend it for me, pretty please?' I might be a bitch, but I'm not a monster. I wouldn't ask Lucy to kill or Zoro to disobey Luffy's orders; how can I possibly ask Sanji to change who he is?"

"There is a difference between asking someone to change who they are, and setting boundaries," Robin pointed out.

Nami breathed out a little sigh, turning to stare at the ceiling. "I don't know if I can," she admitted. "After all the years with Arlong that I spent just...going along with people, using who they were to my benefit, I haven't set a boundary since I was eight. I don't even know how, anymore. And if I tried, I'd probably just end up yelling."

"Would you like me to do it?"

"Doesn't that make me a coward?"

"No. It makes you someone who needs help. That is the point of nakama, yes?"

Nami laughed a little, relaxing into the soft bed. She thought about it, considering all the ways it could play out. Sanji, she knew in her heart, would hear her out. He might not be able to change it instantly, but he'd at least try his best. He would never make a woman uncomfortable on purpose; sometimes, he just lost sight of what was okay. Still, she didn't want to do it alone.

"Would it be wrong to ask you to do it with me?"

"Of course not."

"Really? It won't seem like we're ganging up on him?"

Robin laughed. "Let's ask Lucy to help. That way it'll seem more like a universal opinion rather than just you."

"Okay," Nami breathed. "I can live with that."

☉

Jonathan stood at the dock, ready to greet the incoming ships. Navarone had, tentatively, been allowed to continue, with the understanding that it'd be involved more as a weigh station. His first guest, unsurprisingly, was extremely high ranked and rather known for having a zero tolerance policy towards pirates and the sympathizers. At least it wasn't Akainu.

The massive marine--retired though he technically was--still had the same presence of unquestionable power he'd had the one time Jonathan had seen him before, when he'd just been a Commodore and the man an Admiral. Eleven and a half feet tall, with bright purple hair and a square jaw, he cut an intimidating figure. The bloody bandages hiding the stump of his arm did little to detract from that.

Jonathan saluted sharply as he stepped off the gangplank. "Kuroiude-"

"Drop the titles, Vice Admiral. I'm not an admiral anymore."

Interesting. Resentment for the institution or simply a strict sense of propriety? Rumor had it he'd wanted to leave the marines entirely when his wife and child had died, so perhaps the former.

"Of course, Zephyr. My apologies."

Behind the former admiral, two figures were helped off the ship by Jonathan's own medical team. He could just make out the massive Marine flag covering a stack of what he guessed were bodies. While the ship had been populated by mostly cadets and seaman recruits, it was a shocking sight to know that someone--anyone--could get past a former admiral long enough to slaughter the whole ship and remove the admiral's arm to boot.

Jonathan, too well trained and too intelligent to stare at any one part for long, smoothly continued talking. "Would you like to see medical first, or get debriefed?"

"Debrief can wait," he grunted. "Just send out a notice to HQ. The Surgeon of Death's bounty needs to be doubled."

Trafalgar Law did this? Perhaps his ego had been hurt by the Straw Hats' showing and was trying to prove himself better than them. This generation was truly turning out to be awful. "Consider it done, sir."

☉

Paulie stood in the doorway to Iceburg's office, staring at the stacked papers, the half drawn blueprints, the tossed plans. He'd been so caught up in building the ship for the Straw Hats, that he'd forgotten about the elections. He'd been surprised at the results, though Tilestone and Lulu had just laughed at him. Just because he was Vice President didn't mean he was ready to take over Iceburg's shoes. He'd been an inspiration to Paulie for over a decade and the thought of him gone, never again to bring home some strange pet, made his chest ache.

He skated his fingers over the worn wood, collapsing into Iceburg's chair. It felt wrong, sitting here instead of lounging across the couch, bitching about his clients and his debt. He moved the papers, unwilling and unable to bear going through them now. One piece fluttered to the ground. Groaning, he bent to pick it up, eyes catching at the half done schematic. It was a full blueprint, just the idea stages. It was enough for Paulie to understand what Iceburg had been trying to do though.

"You crazy son of a bitch," Paulie breathed. "You wanted to turn the island into a ship."

Unable to help himself, he pulled out his pencil and tools.

☉

Nami, with Lucy and Robin close on her heels, slipped into the kitchen. Usopp caught sight of them, cutting off in his story, before making a quick excuse to vanish. If there was one thing Nami always appreciated about him, it was that he could read a room. Sanji looked up from the stove at the sudden disappearance of his companion, eyes lighting up at the three ladies.

"Lovelies! What can I do for you? Something to drink? A beautiful snack for your beautiful selves?"

"Actually," Robin started, slipping into a seat at the table. Lucy and Nami followed suit, though Nami couldn't help picking at a thread on her shirt. "We came to talk."

"Of course! Whatever you need."

"Sanji," Lucy started kindly, but not without a note of steel in her voice. "We came to talk about you."

Finally, he stuttered, seemingly picking up on the energy. Turning off the stove, he set aside his ingredients and wiped his hands, settling against the countertop. Sanji's lips twisted into a slight frown, but he gave them his full attention.

Robin glanced at Nami, who continued to fidget in her seat. She didn't want to hurt Sanji's feelings but she also couldn't figure out a way to start that wouldn't sound like an accusation. Under her lashes, she sent a look towards Lucy.

Seas bless her, Lucy didn't hesitate to start. "I want you to understand that we love you Sanji. You're our nakama and nothing will change that."

Briefly, panic flitted over his face but he hid it behind another cigarette. His hands were shaking. "Of course, Lady Lucy."

"We'd like to know, though, why you refuse to fight women."

His eyes widened before hardening. "I will never kick a woman. You shouldn't have to fight-"

"That's not your choice!" Nami burst out. She tried to calm down and speak calmly, like Lucy, but her hands were shaking and every time she blinked, all she could see was Sanji, bloody and glistening like a doll. Sanji, hurt trying to protect her and refusing to help himself. Neither Lucy nor Robin tried to stop her. "We're pirates, Sanji. We might not enjoy the fighting like Zoro, or be monstrously strong like Laxus and Luffy, but we chose this life and we know what it means. You refusing to let us fight or pretending like every female enemy we have is some damsel is-" hurtful, shortsighted, moronic, dangerous, "-condescending!"

For a long second, the only sound in the room was Nami's heaving breath and the near silent burning of Sanji's cigarette. Gently, Lucy reached out and rubbed Nami's back; she hadn't even realized she'd stood up, planting herself against the table. Her eyes were wet and she couldn't figure out why. It had never bothered her before, not really. Sanji was Sanji and she'd lived with his womanizing and dumb honor for months without this being an issue.

"Oh Nami," he breathed. He didn't continue, words seeming to fail even him in the wake of her rant.

"We appreciate your care," Robin murmured softly. "But we tend to find your treatment of us...a tad insulting."

Sanji flinched, even the gentle words seeming like a harsh blow. For a second, he worked his jaw until, finally, he burst out, "I can't hurt a woman." Nami bristled, but he was staring at Lucy. "After my childhood, I can't. Not without losing myself."

Nami had no idea what he was talking about but Lucy seemed to. She reached out a hand and waited for him to step forward and take it, collapsing into a chair across from them. "Okay," Lucy said. "If this is something about--what we talked about last time, okay. But Sanji; you fucking terrified Nami when you didn't fight Kalifa. And while we didn't linger on it at the time, it was really hurtful when you said I shouldn't fight a priest on Skypiea."

"I'm sorry," he swore. "I am. I just...I hate seeing women hurt."

"Do you think we like seeing you hurt instead?" Nami rasped. She blinked rapidly, swallowing back tears. "Sanji, when will you get it? Men, women, it doesn't mean shit, not to us. Traveling the Grandline means we're going to get into fights and we need to know you'll trust us with that when the time comes."

He took a long pull on his cigarette, eyes downcast. "I can try. I don't like knowing you're in battle and I can't help, but I can try."

"That's all we ask," Robin soothed. "But while we're here-" she faltered, pursing her lips before simply choosing to rip the bandaid off, so to speak. "-while we're here, I'd also like to request you tone down your...intensity when it comes to your appreciation for women."

"I didn't know that bothered you."

"It's you, Sanji," Nami said. "We know that if we tell you no, you'll listen. But other women don't know you the way we do, and you can come off as intense."

"Really intense," Lucy agreed. "Just...you don't have to treat us like you do men, if you don't want to. But we'd like it if you treated women as people instead of just goddesses or objects of beauty or whatever else."

He blew out a smoke ring, letting it float in the air as he furrowed his brows. "Okay. Okay, if it bothers you, I can try." Sanji bit his lip, looking at all of them. "I have never wanted to make any of you uncomfortable."

"Oh Sanji." Nami came around and tugged him into a hug, burying her face in his shoulders. It said good things about their talk that he didn't immediately start freaking out. "We never feel safer than when you're with us. We just want to stand on our own power, sometimes."

"I still can't fight a woman," he admitted.

Nami breathed through her nose, tightening her hold on him. "Then call one of us. And we'll take that fight for you."

☉

"Captain?"

"What is it?"

"The first wave of prototypes is ready for field testing."

"Perfect."

#as the stars burn on #one piece fanfic #fairy tail fanfic #laxus dreyar #lucy heartfilia #gajeel redfox #laxus x lucy x gajeel

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ladycrimsonandblack · 2 years

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hey! i love your on brotherhood fic. for the ask thing, i was wondering if you had any headcanons for older brother!luffy 💖

A few, honestly, especially after Wano, which has just so many quality big brother Luffy moments and gave me so many ideas.

Ace and Sabo warm up to Luffy a little quicker here. If we take canon ages into the account, then Luffy would have been 7 when he ate his Devil Fruit and Ace and Sabo 4 or 5. Let's go with 5, because that's when they meet each other. That's also when they meet Luffy. At this point, they're still young, they're still open to making connections – they befriended each other, didn't they? – and Luffy, cheerful and earnest and with enough determination in his small body to outlast their stubbornness, would win them over in a flash. In this universe, they start their pirate stash together.

Luffy still gets captured by Porchemy. Someone has to protect his little brothers and their treasure, right?

I imagine the strength gap is a little smaller in this AU than in the canon. There, Ace and Sabo have always been better fighters than Luffy – taller, stronger, quicker. Here, Luffy has all those advantages, but he also has a Devil Fruit he has no idea what to do with. Ace and Sabo don't win often, but it does happen. Luffy is still the strongest, though.

Sabo's death hits so much harder for exactly this reason. Older brother Luffy is the protector in this scenario. And yet, Sabo goes with Outlook because Luffy is too weak to protect him. He dies because Luffy is not strong enough as a big brother, and the thought never quite manages to go away.

He's not overprotective of Ace, after, not really – too much of a free spirit and too respectful of others' freedom to be overprotective of anyone – but he does cling more often for several months. Ace doesn't mind.

Ace, in fact, thinks that Luffy is the strongest person in the world. Maybe not physically – yet, Luffy is going to be the Pirate King, you know? – but in everything else. Luffy tells Ace that he loves him, that Ace is needed, that he deserves to live, and Ace looks at him like he hung the moon and stars. Yeah, Luffy may be stupid or dense sometimes, but he comes through when it counts and Ace never quite grows out of his admiration.

Luffy still sets sail at seventeen, still gets his crew, but some of the interactions are subtly different. Not many, not enough to be noticeable or to change their adventure, but he is quicker to notice when Usopp is feeling uncertain or when Chopper needs reassurance. He responds better to Nojiko and Iceburg and bonds with Franky about some things they do not have in common in canon. Every kid they meet along the way is instinctively slotted into the younger sibling category. Whenever he comes across a sleeping crewmate, he tucks them in automatically. Nobody minds.

The timeskip still happens, but this time because of Kizaru and Kuma on Sabaody. Rayleigh still offers to train Luffy and Luffy still accepts. The crew still waits for their captain, as they always do.

Ace sets sail during the timeskip. One of his goals is to find Luffy.

When the Strawhats resurface after two years, Ace's crew has a party so wild that nobody quite remembers it next morning.

Marineford still happens – Blackbeard is there, after all – but now Luffy has his whole crew and his whole fleet and two more years of experience behind him. Ace survives.

Sabo, seeing the photographs in the papers, remembers.

#one piece #asks #this is so long #i have so many thoughts about this au #about all aus really but this one especially #older brother luffy au #anyway i'm glad you like my fic #i might actually write a second chapter about marineford #but it's going slowly and i'm terrible with updates so don't get your hopes up

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whirlybirdwhat · 3 years

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a piece for the it’s pirates zerver sine: home: built stolen lost found

When Luffy is three, alone and abandoned in the world besides a grandfather who is never there, and a bartender who tries her best to be, he asks Makino a single question.

It’s from a phrase he had heard patrons of the bar say as they pushed back their seats and headed out the door, a phrase Gramps had said as he slammed through walls with a smile, a phrase, a word he had never known he meaning of.

“Makino? What’s home?”

Makino looks down at him, tugging on her skirts, and kneels down with a smile. “Well – home is a place your family is, and where you feel happy and safe. It’s a place where you stay, and can have a bedroom, and a place to put all your toys and belongings. Sometimes, it can even be a person!” She says it so happily, so brightly, but Luffy only looks at her with wide, wide eyes.

“Oh,” he says, and clutches harder to the toy boat in his hands. Oh.

It is then, that moment, strikingly clear, that Luffy realizes he doesn’t have a home.

(His grandfather is never here, Makino is good but she isn’t quite family, not in the way he knows it, and he had a small attic to call his without a view of the sea.)

And, quietly, realizes that he doesn’t want one.

(To have a place to stay, to remain still, to place all burdens on another? To call home somewhere stationary, unmoving, unwanted? It sounded like hell.)

Oh, he says again. Oh.

When Luffy is six, alone and abandoned in a small village by the sea that he could never leave, he asks Shanks a question.

It is a question that had been lingering in the dredges of his mind, ever since these pirates had barged through the door with songs on their lips and adventures in their minds, with not that word that he didn’t have leaving their mouths but rather tales of ships and voyages and seas.

“Shanks? Where’s your home?”

Shanks looks down at him, eyebrows quirking upward as he finishes his drink with a flourish before setting it down with a soft clink. His eyes are just as soft, like some how he understands that this is different from when Luffy asked about his favorite battles, when Luffy asked for a sip of his drink or if Shanks really had been at the bottom of the sea when he was Luffy’s age.

“Home? Easy – it’s the sea, anchor!”

“The sea?” Luffy had never heard something more stupid, and that was saying a lot since all the stupid things he heard of were from Shanks. That wasn’t what Makino had told him, wasn’t what Gramps had explained, wasn’t anything like where your family is or place you stay. It was the sea – endless and vast and full of danger and sea kings and marines that like to give you Fists of Love and don’t come back. The sea didn’t have a place to have belongings or keep yourself safe. It –

It doesn’t make sense.

“The sea!” Shanks says with a grin, a sparkle in his eye like he gets before stands on tables and talks about the time he sailed to a land of samurai. “It’s any pirate’s home! It’s where our adventures await, and where our nakama are with us, and every day it bright than the rest, ain’t that right, fellas!”

“Aye, captain!” The crew drunkenly choruses, words already forming on their lips.

“How does that one chorus go?”

“Which one?”

“Oh, I know! Gather up all the crew – “

“It’s time to ship out Bink’s Brew!” Shanks joins in, holding his hands out to Luffy and not even waiting till he grabs them to snatch him up in a dance. “Pirates, we eternally are challenging the sea.” His voice is joyful and loud with the way men get when the party in in swing, but there’s nothing but happiness in his steps as he guides Luffy onto his feet and twirls him around.

“With the waves to rest our heads, ship beneath us as our beds, hoisted high upon the mast, our jolly roger flies! Yohohoho-“

“Oi! Wrong part captain! It goes like this – “

“Dahahaha!” Shanks ignores them, only to bend down to Luffy’s level. “A pirates’ home is where he’s happy, Luffy. My home is with my crew and with some drink – or an adventure – in my hand. That’s the sea for me. Got it?”

Luffy doesn’t, but as Shanks sweeps him up into another round of Bink’s brew, he’s starting to find that the answer doesn’t really matter, not when he’s not alone here, with Shanks and pirates all around him

“Yohohoho, yohohoho!”

Luffy is seven, and he’s finally figured out what home is. Home is his brothers, running through the jungle, laughter and adventure and fun is every step. Home is the way Ace smiles when he thinks no one is looking, and the way Sabo is always the first to say Let’s explore! Home is coming home to a tree house, and never being alone.

Home is Ace and Sabo and Ace and Sabo and –

Home is burning.

Home is dead.

Luffy feels hollow, feels like the world is crumbling out from underfoot, because everyone said that home could be a person but they never said that home could burn. That home could die. That home could go away and never, ever come back.

Maybe that’s why Shanks said home is the sea and why Makino said that home is a place and only sometimes a person – because people leave and burn and never come back, and seas can’t burn or be destroyed.

Luffy is seven, and he realizes again that he doesn’t want a home, not anymore, because all home does is burn.

(Then, there’s a promise and a vow and Luffy is never going to lose home again.)

Luffy is seventeen, and he’s been alone for three years but not anymore because this time – this time he has a home that won’t burn, that won’t leave, because he is their captain and he will protect them.

Home is Zoro and his quiet smiles, home is Nami, and her ink-stained hands, home is Usopp and stories that roll off the tongue, home is Sanji and meals made for comfort, home is Vivi and her kindness however far away, home is Chopper and his hugs, home is Robin and her cryptic statements, home is Merry, sturdy and true, home is –

Ace, and Ace won’t burn because Ace is made of fire. Home can’t burn again. It can’t.

It can’t.

Luffy is seventeen, and home is burning by his own hands. It’s a funeral, the only one worthy of Merry because the bottom of the sea is a dark place and she deserves a sendoff to light her way but –

It’s fire, non-the-less, reminding Luffy of how Grey Terminal’s fire looked by the shore, and home – Merry, with her black eyes and painted smile, with her strong planks and her determined heart, Merry, home –

It’s burning.

(He’s starting to think that maybe home isn’t what he’s always called it before – people and places that make you happy, that keep you safe.

Maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s something that’s only this way because of him.

Maybe – )

Sunny won’t burn, will never burn with a hull of Adam’s Wood, but Merry does, and it hurts.

Luffy is seventeen and home is burning.

This time –

It burns it burns it burns it hurts it hurts Ace Ace Ace Ace why no Ace Ace please –

Home burns in his arms, his big brother who is made of fire, who can’t be burned, burns in his arms, and it drips drips drips down onto Luffy’s chest and he can’t let go because this is home and this home can’t burn but it does and –

“Thank you for loving me.”

Home burns.

(It always does.)

“AAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Luffy is eighteen and Ruskaina is sweltering and his chest is burning burning burning but he’s not home.

He’s not.

He’s…

He’s not alone. He’s not home. His crew (ZoroNamiUsoppSanjiViviChopperRobinFrankyBrook) is still there, still existing, but they are not home, any longer.

Maybe he is, to them. He’s burned, after all, he fits his own criteria. But they aren’t to him.

On Ruskaina, he makes this decision. He vows it, under the sweltering sun and with bandages wrapped around his chest, with phantom pains on his finger’s where Ace’s vivre card singed him, with his mind alight with war. His crew is not his home, Sunny is not his home, because Luffy does not have a home.

He does not want one, he does not have one, because home is a place that burns, and Luffy has been burned too many times to count.

Luffy is nineteen and older and stronger than all his moments before. He stands in front of his crew with a smile on his face and a burn across his chest, because he is not home, but his crew –

His crew tumbles into his open, waiting arms, crashing him down onto to the ground as they come home.

Luffy burns, and Luffy is home, and he will be King of the Pirates.

For his crew – for people who are not his home but his family, his nakama, his treasure - there is nothing else he could possibly be.

#op #one piece #whirlywhat #whirlywrites #luffy #monkey d. luffy #makino #shanks #straw hat pirates #ace #portgas d. ace #going merry #thousand sunny #sabo

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taizi · 3 years

Note

90 for sanji!

PROMPTS LIST

90. “Why do you keep risking your life? To prove a point?” “Yes.”

Chopper's movements are jerky and stilted. It's not uncommon for him to get nervous, but it's rare that it would happen here, in the infirmary. This room is his domain, full of his books and instruments and precious medicines. It's where he shines the brightest.

Sanji sort of feels like a tool for throwing a shadow over that.

"Hey, doc," he says. The reindeer pauses for a split-second, one ear flicking back in Sanji's direction, before he continues on as if he hadn't heard.

"Chopper," Sanji tries again.

"I'm not speaking to you," Chopper tells him succinctly. His voice is thick and wet.

Abruptly, it becomes obvious why he's refusing to look at Sanji. Oh, fuck, no.

Sanji sits up, the bed creaking as his weight shifts, and that, at least, gets Chopper's full attention. He whips around, one hoof raised in warning. He can clock an escape attempt from three miles away.

And there are tears in his eyes, but now they're dwarfed completely by the magnificent scowl on his little face.

"I told you not to move! I'll sit on you if I have to! I'll tell Nami you're not listening to me! What will you do if you pull those stitches, huh? Do you want to heal or do you want to be stuck in here for a week?"

Sure, he's getting scolded, but something tight in Sanji's chest starts to loosen the longer the little doctor rails on. If he's still being shouted at, he thinks, then he hasn't fucked up too badly.

It's a language he's had to learn, but he knows it well now-- all the different shapes caring can take.

"I thought you weren't speaking to me," Sanji says, his voice doing a gentle thing it really only does for this, his youngest of siblings.

Chopper rears back, ears sticking upright and fur bristled in absolute outrage, and it makes Sanji have to bite back a cough of laughter.

"I'm not! I'm mad at you!"

Words notwithstanding, he's very careful as he presses little hooves to Sanji's chest. Checking that none of the bandages have been bled through, making sure nothing slipped or shifted when Sanji moved.

"For someone so smart, you're so stupid," Chopper adds, under his breath.

"I have been told that," Sanji replies mildly.

"Not enough, apparently."

Chopper finally sits back. He's in his default shape, Brain Point, and had to clamber up onto the bed next to Sanji in order to doctor him.

From this close, all his sharp edges go soft. It's as if there's some sort of gravitational field around his nakama that reminds him, the second he drifts within orbit, of how much he would much rather have a hug than an argument.

Now he looks up at Sanji from under the brim of his hat, his eyes big and wide and still a little damp. He clearly wants to stay angry, but he was never angry to begin with. That's only what it looked like to the casual observer.

"Why do you keep risking your life?" he finally asks. "To prove a point?"

"Yes," Sanji replies honestly. "More or less," he adds, a heartbeat later.

"To who?" Chopper demands shrilly. He looks seconds away from picking a fight with whoever planted that dumbass idea in Sanji's head. Considering he's about a foot tall at the moment, it's pretty cute.

"To myself," Sanji tells him. He would love to have a cigarette right now, but if he smoked in the infirmary, it would be the very last thing he'd ever do.

He can live with the nicotine itch for the time being. It isn't so bad. A heart-to-heart like this with virtually anyone else would have him climbing the walls by now, but Chopper is one of the few he can stomach it for.

The kid is seventeen now, the same age Luffy and Usopp were when Sanji met them, but he's still so much a kid. He still listens in awe to all of Robin's stories, and dances on tabletops when Brook plays silly songs, and follows Zoro around the deck like he's never seen anything as amazing as their swordsman before.

He still cries when his friends get hurt, and flies into their arms when they get home. He's still so, incredibly, impossibly, full of love for every single one of them that it's like a feat of medicine or a miracle all on its own.

Chopper sits there and gazes up at Sanji, expecting something more from him. Expecting something better. And yet he's still sitting there with him, crying for him and caring about him, and holding his body together in those tiny little hands. Still loving him, like it's a simple and easy thing.

That's exactly it, Sanji would tell him, if only it would make any sense. That's exactly why.

#one piece #op #opfic #black leg sanji #tony tony chopper #nakamaship #my writing #prompt #anonymous #its sanji loving hours boys

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yukipri · 4 years

Photo

One Piece Mermaid AU!

Featuring Luffy as a rubber mermaid who can’t swim, and Ace who carries her on his back as they pirate together.

＊Genderbend warning, fem!Luffy

Sliding in last minute for MerMay, bc idk about you, but I need something to mark that May has passed this year...

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, EDIT, TRANSLATE, OR OTHERWISE USE MY ART. To share, please reblog! Reblogs and comments greatly appreciated!!!

Base headcanons for this AU beneath the cut! ↓ ↓ ↓

Luffy's a mermaid who was raised in Fuusha village, just like in canon. And, just like in canon, despite being a mermaid, she SUCKS at swimming, a fact that Shanks finds absolutely hilarious. She still wants to become a pirate, she still eats her devil fruit and becomes a rubber mer(?), she still gets kidnapped by Higuma (who sees her as an excellent way to rake in cash, given how valuable mermaids are on the slave market), and Shanks still gives her his hat.

As a devil fruit user, Luffy's already atrocious swimming skills are now at zero. She can still breathe under water, but will sink like a stone, her strength sapped by the sea, and if she loses consciousness she'll stop breathing too. Needless to say, she stays out of the water, and the villagers come to accept that sometimes, mermaids just live on land.

Garp still comes back, and is still furious at her wanting to become a pirate (and inwardly, extremely concerned that a bandit tried to catch and sell her), and still takes her to live at Dadan's where she meets Ace.

Ace has no idea what to think of the weird fish-brat who he's now told is gonna be his sibling, and resolutely ignores Luffy. He's inwardly slightly impressed as Luffy continues to follow him through the mountain every day, not even particularly hindered by lack of legs and using a mixture of crawling, squirming, hand-walking, and ricocheting forward with rubber arms to move.

Luffy still meets Sabo the same way as canon, and is still caught by Porchemy, who at first is thrilled because a mer brat! That'll bring in WAY more money than the spare change Ace stole! But in the end, he loses his temper at Luffy's stubbornness and still beats her to a pulp.

Ace and Sabo still rescue Luffy, and they still exchange sake cups and become brothers.

Yes, brothers.

Because at this point, neither Ace nor Sabo nor any of the bandits, nor anyone really on Dawn island save Makino and Garp actually know that Luffy's a girl. Not even Luffy.

The three brothers promise to each other that they'll all leave the island when they turn seventeen, setting out to sea to become pirates (Ace and Sabo are honestly a little concerned, given how often people try to sell Luffy, and how despite aquatic appearances Luffy's vulnerable af in water, but decide to wait and see. They have seven years together, Luffy ten until seventeen, who knows how much stronger their baby brother will get in that time).

Sabo "dies."

Ace and Luffy continue to train, and things don't change until Ace is seventeen, shortly before he sets out to sea.

He's let Luffy crawl into his blanket to sleep with him (partially cold-blooded, Lu gets cold easily when inactive), and Ace realizes that his lil brother's chest feels a bit lumpy.

Concerned, he makes Luffy have it checked out by the bandits, who are shocked to find developing...breasts?

That can't be right...right?

Dadan makes a call to Garp, who snorts and says of COURSE Luffy's a girl, didn't he say granddaughter?

No, he had not, he had only mentioned "grand child."

Everyone is shocked, but none more so than Ace, who really doesn't know what to do with this new information.

(Luffy's not quite sure what a "girl" is, and when she asks Ace, Ace honestly doesn't know how to define "girl" either, so she doesn't get what the big deal is)

Ace realizes he's troubled because he can't remember the number of times he's rescued Luffy from potential traffickers, and the number of times he's heard the lament, "Pity it's not female, it'd be worth quadruple," from the kidnappers before he beats them to a pulp.

He already had doubts about letting Luffy go out to sea alone, three years after he's left. But now knowing that Luffy's a girl, and one of the most sought-after species that traffickers target...he knows the world out there is much bigger than a teeny peaceful East Blue island, and Luffy may not get lucky every time, and may not be strong enough in just three years.

But at the same time, it's not like he can order her to stay here. There's no way Luffy'd listen; the sea calls to her, freedom calls to her, and Ace understands that more than anyone.

Sabo, Ace thinks, what would you do?

The night before he leaves, Ace tells Luffy that there's been a change of plans.

He's still leaving for sea. He's going to get stronger, and work his way towards becoming Pirate King.

BUT, three years later, Luffy will NOT leave Dawn Island alone.

Ace promises that he'll come back, a stronger pirate capable of looking out for his baby brother (because girl or not, they exchanged vows of brotherhood, and that's something that can't be changed).

He refuses to let Luffy be his captain, he's still got his pride, but maybe, maybe if Luffy becomes strong enough, he'll let her be co-Captain.

Luffy is thrilled, because she wanted to be pirates WITH Ace, and grudgingly accepts the compromise, and promises to train and wait for Ace's return.

Ace leaves Dawn island, and makes a name for himself on the Grand Line (he's PISSED when he finds out he's eaten a devil fruit, because now how's he supposed to rescue Lu from drowning when he can't swim himself???).

He even eventually makes it to Whitebeard, and eventually comes to admire the man. Whitebeard invites him to his crew, and Ace honestly replies that a large part of him wants to accept...but he can't. He promised his baby brother that they'll be pirates and co-captains together, and he can't join another pirate crew without Luffy agreeing too. Even so, and he knows it's selfish of him, he wants to call Whitebeard his father.

Whitebeard tells him that Ace is already his son, regardless of where his allegiances lie, and gives him his blessing to return to East Blue to fetch Luffy. Whitebeard laughs that he can't wait to meet the lil brat that Ace speaks so highly of, and for Ace to hurry up and come back to the New World so they can meet.

Ace plans on traveling light, his former crew all choosing to join the Whitebeard pirates except for his first mate, Deuce. Ace loves his crew, but they're also his crew, and knows that he wants to make their crew with Luffy. So he thinks he and Deuce will be a good starting point (You're just bringing me along bc you want someone who can swim on the crew, Deuce accuses).

As they're planning on leaving, Marco lets slip to fellow commander Thatch that he heard that Ace's "little brother" is actually a super cute girl.

The next morning, Thatch shows up too, insisting that he come along, because hey! He's been with the Whitebeards for ages and hasn't been to Paradise in a while, he wants some change! And won't it be nice to have someone as reliable as him along, just until they get back to the New World and reunite with the Whitebeards? Really he has no ulterior motives like wanting to check out Ace's supposedly hyper hot baby brother-sister!

Ace is suspicious, but Thatch is already on board and the other Whitebeards are already waving so he lets it go.

(Shortly after they leave, Thatch discovers a devil fruit. Deuce tells him to sell the damn thing, it'll taste like shit, but Thatch thinks boy wouldn't it be great to be able to woo Ace's hot brother with a really cool devil fruit power. So he eats it, and yeah it tastes like shit, but now he can control Darkness which is sorta badass?)

(Somewhere on the Whitebeard ships, Blackbeard is still waiting for someone to find the darkness devil fruit, and well, it doesn't happen)

Before Ace returns to Dawn Island, part of him still hopes that Luffy looks passably like a guy. Having been to Fishman island, having befriended Jinbe, he knows that while mermen can still be targeted, mermaids are exponentially more vulnerable. He's learned the kinds of clothing that can help conceal tails, and is hoping that there's a slim chance they might be able to be pirates without the world knowing that Lu's a mermaid.

His hopes are shot when Luffy rockets into his arms at the dock, and his face is immediately buried in enormous tits that definitely weren't there three years ago.

Despite Ace's growing concerns (and red face; why does he feel so hot??? It's not his devil fruit...), Ace lets Luffy give Deuce a beating (why me?!) to claim her position as Ace's Co-Captain of the newly established ASL pirates (because if we're pirates together, Sabo has to be with us too!).

Luffy's gotten a lot stronger, but is still utterly ignorant of the outside world and the dangers it holds (such as the drooling Thatch who immediately wins Luffy over with his cooking despite Ace's burning glares). She's reckless and falls into the ocean every damn day, and while Deuce dives in after her and they've discovered her useful ability to talk to fish to ask for help, it still gives Ace heart attacks.

They still pick up more crew members while in East Blue, including Roronoa Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji, a pervy cook who competes daily with Thatch for Luffy's affections through food (Luffy appreciates the food).

At Arlong Park, Luffy encounters fishmen for the first time in her life. Arlong mocks Luffy's choice of friends and family, and invites her to join his crew made of her own kind. Fishmen and mer are the superior race, and Luffy will make a fine wife, Arlong says.

Luffy breaks his nose off, and Nami joins their crew.

Luffy's chosen mode of transportation is on the back of one of her sturdier crew mates, usually Ace, but often Zoro too. She unfortunately hates all the long skirts/robes Ace suggested for her to hide her tail, and so Ace has decided that being as intimidating as possible while carrying his brother glued to his back is the only way to go.

Needless to say, news of the former Spade Pirates Captain + Whitebeard Commander Thatch (are they an extension of the Whitebeards??) establishing the new ASL pirates spreads fast. That, and rumors that there's a beautiful young mermaid on board who can't swim. And despite the strength of the crew and their attempts at vigilance, Luffy's still dumb and gullible, and is kidnapped (and rescued) a dozen times before they're even on the Grand Line.

(after a few times, Luffy's uncharacteristically quiet, and privately asks Ace if they can break up the crew. She's holding Ace back; she not only made him come back to her, but half their adventures just seem to be her crew rescuing her. She's strong enough to defeat enemies, but not save herself. Ace tells her to shut up, and never bring this up again; they're BROTHERS, and he's not going to leave her behind or make her abandon her dreams when she can't accomplish them alone, and that's his choice. Luffy doesn't bring it up again, but works harder than ever to become stronger and earn recognition as co-Captain when the world seems intent on thinking of her as Ace's pet.)

During one of these kidnappings, Luffy's successfully brought all the way to an auction house before her crew can rescue her. An auction house that unbeknownst to them, was under investigation by the Revolutionary Army.

Liberating slaves is an unfortunately common mission for them, and Sabo's doing final sweeps as Koala frees the last of them when he notices a tank stowed away in a corner. He's familiar with these tanks, used to showcase mermaids in the rare occasions one can be caught, and it looks empty but he's still drawn to it for some reason.

It's only when he gets closer that he notices a mermaid crumpled at the bottom of the enclosure. She's completely slumped over, and he's afraid she's already gone, even as something about her screams with familiarity.

He's cracked the tank and has reached in to pull her out, when the wall behind him explodes in flames, revealing a furious Ace who snarls at the strange man with his hands on his baby brother...

...and then Sabo's memories come back.

Something like that???? For an initial HCs dump????

This AU has continued! A LOT! Check out the comics, illustrations, and text stories for this AU under the Mermaid AU section of my One Piece Masterpost!

As always, REBLOGS, tags, asks, and comments greatly appreciated!

Advance posts for this AU and more are on my Patreon! (Patreon(.)com/YukiPri)

#One Piece #MerMay #AceLu #Monkey D. Luffy #One Piece Mermaid AU #Portgas D. Ace #genderbend #YukiPri art #text headcanons #fem!Luffy #Honestly not a CLUE if this is the kind of AU that would interest people ^ ^;#Started on a whim and trying to keep my investment on it light #I have more posts planned for Patreon but idk if they'll be going public #it really depends on response so please let me know if this interests you!#I've been less invested in posting publicly recently and am trying to get that back #but i also know people don't engage in content anymore so...we'll see!!

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wordycoward · 3 years

Text

This came to me on accident. It's late and I'm projecting feelings onto Usopp. Feels necessary.

Also available on AO3.

Word Count: 483

Pairing: Usopp/Roronoa Zoro

Warnings for depression, blood mention.

Hurt

"You're gonna wake up one day and they'll be gone."

Usopp's smile faltered. He pressed it back on and continue with his tale, arms wide, voice loud, words rolling off his lips as if planned days in advance. Luffy laughed. He always laughed. It filled Usopp with warmth, even when his thoughts twisted, writhed, and willed numbness or soul biting chill with winds and words. Usopp was here. Usopp was present. Usopp was not considering how he'd feel when he finally woke up, seventeen, on Syrup Island, his two years of adventure shattered, splintered, stripped, and sealed beneath the sea of slumber that told him with increasing cruelty, "Yes, Usopp, you can travel the world with these people, even with how weak you are."

No, it was real. Usopp knew the pain, saw the scars, brushed his fingers over battle wounds, his own and others. He had dreams and nightmares he scrambled to piece together once the Thousand Sunny set sail each morning, but the journey as a whole was not one of them. No. It was real.

But they would be dreams eventually.

These adventures wouldn't last forever. These figures would leave him. These days would end and he would go back to an island that would no longer feel like home to wait for another ship, crossbones flying high, the song of freedom mingling with laughter in the air.

"Hey."

Usopp jumped. A warm hand caught his arm and pulled him back, saving him from the blue depths outside the ship. His head jerked back, eyes wide, mouth open.

Green. Tan. Spots of gold. Scars that marred the landscape of flesh. One emerald eye pierced to him, through him, and dug through Usopp's own scar-scattered skin. Usopp wanted to smile, wanted to pull up his shield and keep the sword from cutting too deep. He was a weapon. He hurt. If Usopp could keep the blade on the surface, only a little blood would trickle free and he would be safe. He would feel safe. It wasn't too late.

Before Usopp could slam the shield between them, the man sliced. The air between them fell to pieces. The man that closed in. Usopp blinked. He missed the point of the steel. He didn't miss the tip - the man's kiss - cool on his forehead. It pierced past muscles, past bone, past everything Usopp hoped would hold him together when the blade cut too deep.

"Zoro..."

Usopp whispered the name so soft he thought the wind carried the two syllables away. Instead, arms encircled him. Warmth, dirt, steel, salt mixed with sweat brushed against his nose, his chest, his whole being.

"I'm here."

Blood poured from Usopp's soul, his heart, his eyes, in hot streaks. He trembled, reached, grasped, entangled fingers in the fabrics before him. Brown and green: an island in his storm-struck sea. Rains came for that island, along with sobbing thunder.

#one piece #usopp #roronoa zoro #monkey d luffy #one piece fan fiction #my writing #vent fic #tw depression #tw blood #tw swords #tw crying #zosopp

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beanghostprincess · 4 months

Note

loved your post about yamato and ace and sabo finding out!

if it's not too much of a bother, can you give your hc in the same au of modern ASL living together and luffy trying to sneak in zoro? how ace and sabo find out and if possible, sprinkled with a *little(or more)* angst?

Aww thank you!! It was a sudden, random thought I had last morning and I loved it <3 And ofc I can!! I'm loving this AU, ngl.

I think Luffy isn't used to sneaking in people. Like, there's no need to do so. He often invites the whole group over (East Blue Crew + Vivi in this case, btw) and there are never any issues. In fact, Ace and Sabo like his friends. Sanji cooks for them (thank you, because most of the time they live thanks to his leftovers), Zoro isn't as loud as the others (unless he's arguing with somebody), Usopp is actually a really funny guy to be around, Nami keeps Luffy in the right path (they always thank her for taking care of him) and Vivi is the most surprising of them all but only Luffy would befriend a rich girl (Sabo didn't seem fond of her at first, but when he got to know her? She's the sweetest thing!). So Luffy isn't shy about things like this. However-

However.

Long post, by the way:

Sabo and Ace are a bit overprotective of Luffy. Well. Not really overprotective? They're not intense about it. They just treat Luffy (sometimes) like a kid and,, Honestly? It's understandable if you look at it from the older brother's perspective. Sabo and Ace have to take care of Luffy financially and I mean, have you seen Luffy's personality? He's actually extremely empathetic and pretty mature but he doesn't look like that at all, and he's seventeen. And it's not that they're worried about somebody taking advantage of him, because they know Luffy would never do something he doesn't want, but it's just,,, Seeing Luffy heartbroken? After everything they've been through together? After seeing Luffy crying already? They finally have a stable home, more or less, and he has a group of friends! They just don't like the idea of Luffy dating somebody they don't trust. But, you know, miscommunication and older sibling stuff. Sabo and Ace keep making fun of him and they say he's too young to date and have sex and understand these things. And they're not really serious about it? They just joke around. And Luffy is always complaining about it but y'know, whiny little brother, what's new? So they worry about him dating a stranger and that's why they always tell him to be careful (Luffy is SO done with them) and they just make fun of him because... Because they can. Older brother stuff. So, basically, they make a little bit of fun of Luffy and also keep saying he should be careful if he's going to date somebody, and Luffy takes it pretty damn seriously because he hates it when they treat him as a kid. Now, add the "Sabo's going to college and still takes care of them" layer here and the "Ace has his own issues and feels like a burden".

So when Luffy starts dating Zoro... It's a whole mess. He doesn't want them to make fun of him, first things first. He also doesn't want them to give him THE talk. He refuses to listen to them if they tell him he's too young and should break up with Zoro (which doesn't even make sense because Ace was even younger when he started dating people). And he doesn't want them to worry either because Ace seems more distant lately (Ace is dealing with the Yamato thing) and Sabo is always complaining about college being a scam and a shithole full of rich spoiled brats he hates (the only good thing there? Koala). So, of course, the most obvious thing to do is to hide the fact that they're dating.

Zoro is,, Luffy doesn't really know? Zoro is his best friend? But that doesn't feel right because that's what all of his friends are to him. Zoro is just something more. They start growing closer. And closer. And Luffy wishes they could be even closer but Nami tells him that that's literally just dating. That they're quite literally dating already. Luffy doesn't really get it? Like, the whole concept of dating is just dumb because it seems like a friendship with extra steps. Zoro is just- He's special but it doesn't really feel like Nami's crush on Vivi? He just knows that Zoro makes sense in his life and he doesn't want to do these things with anybody else (Luffy doesn't know that being Aroaspec is a thing, leave him alone). The fact that he feels the need to hide Zoro from Ace one day is what makes everything click. And it's funny like that because he asks Zoro if they're boyfriends and he's just like "I guess we are. Do you want to?" and Luffy couldn't be happier because well, at least now he has a word for it or whatever. And it's kind of exciting, isn't it? Like an adventure, the fact that they have to sneak in and hide from his brothers. Zoro finds it funny the first few times, but he thinks it'd be easier if he just told Ace and Sabo. But whatever, as long as Luffy is comfortable.

But Ace notices because Ace isn't fucking stupid and he's street smart and probably the one who knows the most about things like this. When the group is hanging out together, he notices the way the two guys look at each other. They're all very clingy, but he notices Zoro actively holding back and his touches lingering more on Luffy's body. He can tell when somebody is hungry and touch starved just by looking at them, for fuck's sake, it's horrendous to witness because it's painfully obvious. The way Zoro is always the last one to go home. That, and also that they're not quiet when Zoro ends up in Luffy's room. Zoro might do well with the "sneaking in" part, but the "staying over without your brother finding out" part? Nah. Horrible. Awful. They're idiots. Ace lets them enjoy themselves for a while because, meh, who cares? Besides, he's doing the same exact thing. For different reasons, but technically they're both lying to each other, so it's okay. He keeps an eye on them and tries to leave them enough food if he's going out with Yamato and that's about it. He isn't worried about Zoro. Because it's Zoro. And it only takes one glance at him to know he would do anything for his little brother.

Now, the thing is, Ace is angry. But he's not angry because Luffy is keeping this from him. Teenage years stuff. The thrill of having secrets. It's not as dramatic as Sabo would say it is. Ace is angry because one day Luffy comes home extremely irritable and visibly sad and he won't tell Ace why. He keeps asking but Luffy keeps yelling and pushing him away and Ace knows it's because of Zoro because it's the one thing he won't tell him. And now Luffy is sad and he can't tell his own brother because he fears he might get angry for the wrong reasons and Ace is angry because Luffy isn't telling him. The reason why Zoro and he fought isn't really important (although if you wanna know, it's linked to another AU I have that I just realized fits this thing too? So I'm just mixing them up. And basically, Zoro and Sanji were arguing and Zoro said something really fucked up without meaning to hurt Sanji that much, and Luffy didn't like that. And he could tell Ace about that but Ace would probably say "if he's just your friend why are you being so dramatic? Just talk things out. You've had worse fights with other people and haven't reacted like this" and Luffy isn't risking anything). Long story short, Ace ends up getting angry and telling Luffy that he knows he's dating Zoro. And it kind of goes like this:

Ace: Luffy, I don't want to get angry because I am not your babysitter and you're not a kid- Luffy: Liar. Ace: What?! Luffy: You're always saying I'm a kid. That I shouldn't date. Or have sex. Ace: Do you even want to have sex? Luffy: I dunno. Maybe? Not really. But it'd be nice if I could choose for myself! Besides, I don't mind if it's with- Ace: With who? Luffy: With nobody! Ace: Agh, c'mon now, Luffy! Don't act like a child. Luffy: See? You're always doing this! Ace: And you're keeping things away from me! What? You don't trust your own brother?! Luffy: You're gonna get angry. You are already angry. And you have your own things and you're going to go all worried older brother on me- Ace: I am not Sabo. Luffy: Oh, fuck, don't tell Sabo. Ace: Tell him what, exactly? Because you're not telling me shit. Luffy: ... But you already know. Ace: Yes, I know, I am not stupid. But I want to hear it from you. Luffy: Why?! Ace: Because I want you to trust me enough to tell me these things, you moron! Especially since he has hurt you so much. What the fuck did he do? Luffy: Nothing. It's nothing. Zoro didn't do- Ace: Okay, we're finally using his name. What did he do to you? Luffy: He didn't do anything to me! It's just- It's a silly fight. I'll be fine. I'm old enough. Ace: Nobody should be old enough to go through these things alone. Luffy, you don't have to deal with it on your own. I am here. Luffy: But... But you already have your thing with Yamato. And your job. And I can deal with this- Ace: You shouldn't deal with this alone. Even if it's a stupid fight that you're gonna solve in less than two days because it seems that if he spends more than five minutes away from you he fucking dies. Luffy: But- Ace: You always go to Sabo for these things, you know? It'd be nice if you trusted your other older brother too. Luffy: Sabo doesn't know. Don't tell Sabo. Ace: Then, tell me. Luffy. Just trust me.

Long story short, Luffy tells Ace what happened and Ace gives him some advice and they talk things out. So Ace isn't really angry at Luffy and he doesn't have to tell Zoro to sneak in anymore. Unless Sabo is the one home, because Luffy makes Ace promise he won't tell Sabo any of this. Ace just tells Luffy to do the same with the Yamato thing and they'll be fine. Basically, they're stupid because they keep lying to Sabo because they want him to not worry for them anymore. He has this older brother complex thing and he always tries to have everything under control and feels like he's the one responsible for everything? And they just would hate it if his finally stable mental health shattered just because of their own drama (bold of you to assume Sabo is well mentally in this AU, because he isn't. None of them are. Ace and Sabo are the ones who have more issues with mental health, tho, but Sabo is the one who tends to have more extreme emotions. Mental stuff headcanons, not important).

But it just makes things worse. For obvious reasons.

As I said in the original post about the AU, Sabo finds out about Yamato and reacts the way he reacts there. I think the fight is a bit more dramatic, but I didn't want to make it long. And of course, Sabo remembers what Ace said about Luffy "sneaking in" friends, and he asks him about it. Ace is just- He's so done with keeping secrets. But he also doesn't want to make Sabo more worried, even if he technically reacted well to Yamato staying over. Sabo is a bit more protective of Luffy (but in the sense I said before, not wanting him to get hurt because they know he cares A LOT about his relationships and a breakup or a fight would break his heart) so Ace is starting to question if it's a good idea to tell him about Zoro. Or if he should be the one doing it. Ace ends up telling him because it's Sabo we're talking about, and if they keep more secrets from him it's going to be a whole lot more drama. But the way he finds out is actually like:

Ace: Okay, don't get angry at Luffy for this. He was just worried about how you would take it. Sabo: Take what? I already told you, your idea of me is so fucked up. I am not a monster. Ace: I know. I know, Bo. But you know,, Ugh. Okay. Look. He's been dating Zoro for a while now. Sabo: The green-haired guy? The one who goes to the dojo next to the bakery? Ace: How do you even know that? Sabo: Because I listen to what others tell me? And why would Luffy think I'd get mad, c'mon. That guy would set himself on fire for our brother. I'm actually more worried about him than Luffy. Ace: He just- He just thinks we'd get too overprotective because we say he's just a kid. Sabo: But he told you. Ace: No, I found out. Sabo: But you told him I wouldn't get mad, right? Ace: ... Sabo: Ace. You told him to tell me, right? Ace: He asked me not to tell you. Sabo: What? Why? Ace: Look, I think it's better if we talk about this together? Just wait until he wakes up, please. Sabo: But he didn't tell me. Doesn't he trust me? I- If I have to drop out of college- Ace: Sabo, don't be stupid. You're not quitting. Sabo: But I don't want him to push me away like this! I- I feel like I don't know anything about his life. Ace: You know where his fucking boyfriend trains and you feel like you don't know him? Shit, I've been here the whole time and I recently found out they had a fight. It's not about colleg- Sabo: They had a fight? Ace: Oh, fuck, Sabo- Sabo: Is he okay? Why didn't he tell me? Ace- Ace: Just wait until he wakes up, c'mon.

So, Sabo is feeling like shit. Yamato is there having breakfast knowing that something's wrong. Ace looks at his boyfriend with the guiltiest of expressions. And- And Sabo is obviously not okay. So, everything is going downhill. They wait for Luffy to wake up because he's either an early bird or sleeps til noon, depending on the day. Right now, hours seem to be getting longer and longer. Until he inevitably wakes up and sees the whole thing and he's like "Oh! Yamato! What are you do-" and Ace rolls his eyes and says "Luf, he knows. C'mon. Of course he knows." and Luffy turns to Sabo smiling and saying "So you let him stay?! Of course you do, right? I told Ace he was being silly for worrying about that." (<- they're both stupid because they knew Sabo wouldn't get mad or anything, they were just worried about him getting too concerned. Idiots). Sabo sighs and he says that yes, he's obviously letting Yamato stay all he wants. Luffy acts like everything is fine, then, having breakfast and talking to Yamato like normal. But Sabo is digging his nails on the palm of his hand and he's not in a good place right now. Everything is normal until Sabo speaks up:

Sabo: Luffy, I- Do you think I'm spending too much time in college? Ace: Sabo, don't- Sabo: I've been staying at Koala's for a long time. Her apartment is closer to the campus, too, and- And I don't know. Would you want me to be around here more often? Luffy: Mmm? But you're always saying that you need to focus on studying! To have a good job and write your book. That's your dream. It's fine if- Sabo: But do you want me to be around here more? Luffy: I always like it when you're around. I don't mind. You still come over here a lot! Ace: Okay, but Sabo! Sabo. Dude. Even if you stayed at campus more often to write your book or study, it's alright. We can take care of ourselves. Sabo: I know you can. It's not about that. You know it's not. Luffy, do you feel like I've been... Like you can't tell me stuff? Luffy: What do you mean? I tell you everything. Sabo: Do you really? Luffy: I- Ace: He knows about Zoro, Luffy, don't lie. You're an awful liar, too. Luffy: Did you tell him?! Why?! Sabo: It's fine, I am not mad. Leave Ace alone. Luffy: You're not angry?! Sabo: See? Why do you even think I'd get angry? Luffy: ... Because I lied to you. And I'm dating somebody. Sabo: Luffy. I always tell you to be careful because I don't want you getting hurt by some random person. But it's Zoro! I- I know him. And you're seventeen. You knew I wouldn't get mad. So what's the truth here? Yamato: Ace, I can go to Deuce's for a while if you don't want me- Sabo: Please, don't be like that. You're family now. I- I'm not kicking you out. I am not mad. Why does everybody think I'm angry? You can listen to this. I'm sure you know more than Luffy now than me. Ace: Dude, you're being too hard on yourself. Sabo: But I am not here enough for Luffy to trust me! Ace: It's not that he doesn't trust you! He just doesn't want you to get like this! Sabo: Like what?! Ace: You're always blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault! Yes, Luffy didn't tell you he has a boyfriend. I didn't tell you Yamato was staying here. We didn't tell you because you're better than us. Luffy: Ace- Ace: We didn't tell you because you actually have a chance of doing something with your life and this? Teen drama? Luffy fighting and making up with his boyfriend because he said something mean about another guy? Yamato doing the same thing you did when you were a kid at twenty-six? This is not the stuff you should be blaming yourself for! You have this constant need to take care of everything b- Luffy: I'm not weak. I can take care of myself, Sabo. Sabo: Do I make you feel like you're a burden? Do I really- Luffy: What? No! Sabo: I just-I just want you to be able to tell me these things without thinking I'm gonna go into another episode. I'm fine. Just tell me these things and we can find a solution together. Isn't that what we've always done? Ace: Then you have to promise you won't try to carry everything on your own. Man, you already are stressed enough. Luffy: Yeah, and I trust you! Dumbass! I wanted to tell you. Ace: Shit, babe, I'm sorry you have to deal with us now- Yamato: Oh, no! It's really nice. Sabo: Nice? Yamato: You love each other so much you fight about it. Never seen that before. And you're letting me be a part of this! I think it's great. Thank you.

This is getting TOO long, but to end this: They obviously talk things out. Sabo tries to focus on studying but also calls them regularly so they can tell them everything about their lives. He also visits often with Koala. Yamato starts living there (not really because there are some issues with Kaido still, even if he's old enough to do whatever the fuck he wants, but he stays over most of the time). And Zoro meets Sabo finally saying he's Luffy's boyfriend (and it's literally just the same as always because they already know each other. Sabo is just happy they can be together in front of him).

Who would've thought the key would be communication, huh?

#oh god this is long #i've been working on this for hours yes #i am obsessed with this au? maybe who knows #hope i fulfilled your needs anon #here's your zolu/yamace and asl food #one piece #revolutionary sabo #portgas d. ace #monkey d. luffy #yamato #roronoa zoro #zolu #yamace #asl brothers

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creative-type · 4 years

Text

Commiseration

Robin didn’t talk much about her mother. Strangely enough, neither did Usopp

Rating: Gen Word Count: 3100 AO3

Robin didn’t recognize the silence at first. She had been engrossed in a book, a history of the West Blue that predated the Buster Call that she’d been trying to get her hands on for years. There was nothing between the covers that she hadn’t read before. The history of an entire sea was too broad a topic to go into too much depth on any one subject, but it wrote of Ohara and the library that rested there, and it did so without calling the scholars of the Tree of Knowledge demons or monsters or traitors of their chosen field. Newer editions of the same book had been sterilized by the World Government, passages that lovingly described the verdant branches of the great library scrubbed from the public consciousness as if it never existed.

Of course, a book of history would love the historian’s holy land, and Robin remembered reading this very tome from within those hallowed grounds. The memory was a balm for the ache she still felt when she thought of Ohara, the familiar words a warm summer breeze against her soul.

But then, there was quiet.

It was the sort of quiet that became its own sound, unfamiliar and unwelcome in a crew as boisterous as hers. As was her habit, Robin had her ears spread throughout the Thousand Sunny . There was a time she had been forced to listen for the first sounds of betrayal, but those days were long past. The lesson borne out of paranoia evolved to serve a more benevolent purpose.

Robin marked her place and peered across the deck. Luffy was sitting crosslegged at the ship’s prow, a monkey atop the head of a lion. He was in one of his rare contemplative moods, gazing out at the sea with eyes lit with a childlike wonder. Sometimes Robin he saw that excited him so.

But even now he was not still. Luffy never was, not even in sleep. He hummed a rather out of tune rendition of Bink’s Sake, slapping his sandals together as he kept time. He was not the source of the quiet, and so Robin stood, stretching in a long, catlike motion and wandered to the woman’s quarters.

Robin spread her eyes as she walked. Sanji was cooking, Zoro keeping watch while he lifted weights. Brook was on fishing duty with Chopper by order of Nami, after an ill-considered dare led him to breaking the glass of the aquarium with his voice alone. Franky had, of course, replaced it posthaste, but was in the bowels of the ship drafting a new design that was resistant to sound as well as any damage that might be caused by any future roughhousing.

None of them caused the disquiet that Robin felt in her bones. She dropped her book off in her bedroom, exchanging brief pleasantries with Nami and inquiring how her researched fared as she planned their course ahead.

“I’m still not sure how we’re going to get to Fishman Island,” Nami admitted. She took off her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes with her forefinger and thumb. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Robin’s smile seemed to reassure her some, and she let Nami return to her books. Her apprehension, while noteworthy, was not the source of the silence that roused Robin from her reading, which left one final destination.

She found Usopp at the workbench of his designated tinkering room. Surprisingly, it was cleared of tools and the odds and ends he used while inventing. Instead he had the day’s paper spread out flat, staring intently without seeming to actually read .

Robin couldn’t think of a time she had seen him worry over the news. She could count on one hand the time she’d seen him with a paper at all. Like most of the crew, he was content to let his knowledge of the outside world filter through Nami, trusting her to share with the crew anything that was important enough for them to know.

He was tense, singularly focused on the words that lay in front of him. All the boisterous enthusiasm, the bravado -- both warranted and not -- had left him, leaving Usopp looking strangely small. His bluff and bluster usually puffed him two sizes bigger than he actually was, but now all Robin could see was his knobby elbows and the round youthfulness that remained in his face.

Usopp seemed...young. Unsure of himself in a way he rarely let others see, but often felt. Robin was suddenly aware that he had sequestered himself away on purpose, taking the news that distressed him so much to the one space on the ship that was well and truly his.

Robin lingered in the doorway for a moment, uncharacteristically unsure of herself. It was difficult while out at sea to find a place to be alone with one’s thoughts. Not every bout of quietness required direct intervention. Not every secret needed pried loose.

This, too, was a difficult concept that Robin was just starting to wrap her mind around. She had spent her life searching for hidden things. There were no efforts she wouldn’t go to in order to find the truth, no matter how painful or personal. Secrets were powerful, just as capable of destroying a person as a knife or a gun. Robin collected secrets like some did bottle caps, and had learned as a young girl to jealously guard her own lest they be used against her.

The Straw Hat Pirates deserved the same privacy they had afforded her. And besides, Nami was not the only member of the crew who read the paper, and Robin had a strong inkling as to what was bothering their sharpshooter so badly.

Robin was about to slip away unnoticed when something within Usopp shifted. He stared at the black and white print so long he saw red, and making a sound that was half-curse, half-noise of impotent frustration he crumpled the paper into a ball and hurled it across the room. Usopp spun sharply away from the table, as if he was about to storm from the room, bringing himself face to face with Robin.

All the color drained from his face and settled in his ears, which burned with embarrassment. He sputtered half a dozen excuses and apologies before Robin held up a hand to silence him.

“It’s okay. I was just passing by and wondered if you wanted me to fetch you a drink. I believe Sanji was working on a new concoction using some of the jackfruit we found on the last island.”

It was ironic that he couldn’t tell that she was lying. Usopp let out a rush of breath that he’d been holding, shoulders drooping like a flower in the desert sun. “No, I’m fine. Thanks for asking, though.”

His fingers became restless, fidgeting and twitching with the need to be working on something, anything , to distract from the fact that he was very much not fine. Robin waited as he pulled supplies from the cubby holes Franky installed in the walls: his chemistry set, a few sheets of scrap metal, a long-handled wrench. Nothing that could be used effectively in conjunction with each other, a sign that his mind was still preoccupied.

And truly, Robin would have been content to let the matter drop, but she knew at that moment that he did not want to be alone. She had long-since memorized his tells, the little shifts of insecurity and nerves that went beyond his usual theatrics, the quiver of his lips as he tried to speak but couldn’t find the words.

She slid into the seat next to him and waited. If there was one thing she knew about Usopp, it was that he could not be kept speechless for long.

“It’s stupid,” Usopp muttered. He bent so low his long nose nearly touched the table, clasping his hands around the back of his neck, his nails digging into skin and leaving white streaks that filled in red.

“How do you mean?” Robin asked.

“It’s just...I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Everything was fine the way it was, and now...I don’t know. It’s stupid.”

Only this time the tone he used for the word it’s made it sound as if he’d meant I’m. Robin conjured a line of hands to retrieve the crumpled up paper and smoothed it out on the table. The headline was about a recent marine skirmish with Red Hair Shanks, and some intrepid soul had managed to catch a snapshot of the battle itself.

Beside the Emperor was a tall man with dark skin, dreadlocks hanging to his shoulders and a gun in each hand. A tattoo was partially visible below a billowing and rather tacky cloak with the letters Yas clearly legible.

Even without it, the man would have been unmistakable. His grin was identical to his son’s after a particularly good shot: cocksure, almost arrogant. But justifiably so, if the rumors of his sharpshooting prowess were to be believed.

“I wanna see him so bad it hurts,” Usopp said miserably. “So why am I so mad?”

Robin folded the paper into neat fourths and set it aside. She knew enough about Usopp’s past to understand what he was saying, having pieced together the snippets and stories he’d shared during their travels. Some of them may even have been true, but even if they weren’t it was evident that Usopp worshiped his father. Held him as a picture of an ideal pirate, one that chased his dreams on the open sea.

Even if that meant leaving his family behind.

There were other details that were less clear. Usopp spoke less frequently about his mother, but always warmly and with great fondness. The rest of the crew made it seem as if he had been living alone when they found him at Syrup Village, a boy of seventeen by himself in an empty house. Robin could guess what had happened, but she didn’t know for sure. Whatever the case, there was no mistaking the hurt on Usopp’s face now, and the anger he used to defend himself from it. Grief and loss commingling with confusion and helplessness into one wretched expression.

Robin knew, because she had experienced it herself. She could read all the histories she wanted about Ohara that venerated the ground that it sat on, but without the buffeting layers of nostalgia, the truth became much more complicated. Her few happy memories with the archeologists were like a scab protecting a bleeding wound, and once peeled away all that remained was a lifetime of pain and misery.

“There is nothing wrong with being angry,” Robin said. “And there is nothing wrong with admiring him.”

“But those two things don’t fit together,” Usopp protested.

“I know.”

Robin hadn’t meant the words to come out as bitterly as they did, leaving the sour taste of regret in her mouth. Usopp looked at her, eyebrows knitting together in an unspoken question.

It was her turn to go silent. Robin had not spoken about her mother in anything but the broadest terms, preferring not to think of her if she could help it. Twenty years had passed, and the contradiction did not get any easier to untangle, the knot of repressed feeling, confusion, and resentment growing only larger over time.

But Usopp waited for her to speak, and Robin realized suddenly that if there was anyone on this ship who could understand, it was him. The revelation startled something loose, the one final push to break down one of her oldest and strongest walls.

“My mother left Ohara when I was young to study the poneglyphs,” Robin said. She propped her hand under her chin and looked at the opposite wall, studying the grain in the wood to distract from the surprise on Usopp’s face. “My father passed away before I was born, and my only relatives were my mother’s brother and his wife. They had a girl about my age, my only cousin. And they hated me, or at least my aunt did. The rest followed suit.”

Robin blinked to clear her vision, which had gone unexpectedly misty. She had forgotten the truth of her words until she was forced to say them aloud, locking the memories of home into some deep corner of her soul and throwing away the key. Now they rushed back and pressed against the corners of her skull, demanding to be remembered. For the truth to be told, instead of the sweet falsehood that was so much easier to bear.

“She’s the reason I became an archeologist,” Robin admitted. “I thought that if I did she would take me out to sea. I met her, once. The day Ohara burned. She told me she was proud of what I accomplished and sent me out alone. She died with the rest of the scholars trying to save the library.”

A lost cause, Robin knew. Had always known. Ohara had been doomed the moment the World Government pressed the golden den-den mushi. And still her mother stayed.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference, but Robin had always wondered what her life would have been like if she hadn’t. If anything would have changed if Robin had one person who she could trust and depend on instead of spending twenty years struggling to keep her head above water in a sea of loneliness and isolation.

“Why?” Usopp asked.

“I wish I knew,” Robin said. “She said I would understand someday, but it hasn’t come yet.”

It occurred to Robin then that she was doing a very poor job, sharing her own woes instead comforting Usopp. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose before turning back to look at him properly. It was difficult to find a smile for him, but she managed. The caustic aftertaste of her own bitterness twisted it into something less than genuine.

“I’ve worshiped my mother and cursed her name, sometimes in the same breath. I’ve hated her, and loved her, and wanted her, and wished I never knew her all at once. I’ve dreamed of seeing her and wanted nothing more than to hurt her beyond the grave. It’s not logical, and there was a time when it almost consumed me.” Robin paused, more memories of an angry and self-destructive adolesce causing an involuntary shudder down her spine.

Really, it was a wonder she was still alive at all. There had been nothing left after the rage burnt itself out, the pressing need of her own survival giving her little time to nurse the hurt into a wrath that could sustain itself. Bit by bit the weight of life had pressed against her, smothering what little hope she had left and leaving a bleak wasteland that made Robin want to curl up and die.

After all, she’d twice been abandoned by her own mother. Who would want a monster as unlovable as that?

“I just don’t understand why he never came back,” Usopp said after the silence went on a beat too long to be considered comfortable. “Or write, or something. Was he trying to protect us?”

He looked down at his hands, calluses and fine white scars crisscrossing into a map that laid out the path of his adventures. He clenched them into fists, the strain pulling the tendons taunt against his knuckles.

“Did he forget about us? Does he know what happened to Mom? Does he even care ?”

Usopp kicked at the leg of the table, then yelped when he succeeded in stubbing his toe. His eyes shone with unshed tears, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand. Robin knew the physical pain wasn’t their source.

“I don’t know,” Robin said. The blunt truth startled another yelp out of him, and Usopp looked up at her with his jaw slack and an unguarded look of terror in his eyes. Robin felt her expression soften, and she reached out to lay her hand over his.

It had been a long time since her touch could offer comfort instead of destruction. The simple act of holding his hand brought back more memories, one that was neither the tearing pain of her miserable childhood nor the false nostalgia that she’d hidden behind for so long. It was a healing sort of hurt, powerful in its simplicity, and Robin gave a soft, reassuring squeeze.

I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.

“What I do know is that your father is still alive,” Robin said gently, “and when the right time comes I believe that you will have the courage to face him.” She paused, one last silence in a day that had been full of them.

“And...you don’t have to follow his path. No matter how similar you are, no matter how much of him rests in your heart, you are not your father.”

Robin thought back to that last meeting with her mother. She had been honest when she said she didn’t understand why she had stayed behind. Her mother had chosen her dream over the people she loved. Despite Robin’s best efforts to convince herself otherwise, as time passed and she became, if not unbiased, then more openminded, it became clear that her mother had loved her very, very much.

He mother said that Robin would someday understand, and when faced with the same impossible choice Robin thought she finally would. Had her mother been at Water 7 Robin had no doubt that she would have chosen her own survival over the life of the Straw Hat Pirates. After all, that’s what she had done at Ohara.

But Robin couldn’t. Twenty years later, and she was still no closer to understanding. She made her peace with that. She had to, or the contradiction would have torn her in two.

Usopp broke through her ruminations with a hug that threatened to crush her. Robin sprouted arms to keep her chair from tipping, then returned the embrace, digging her fingers into the rough fabric of his coveralls as if he’d disappear if she didn’t hold on with all her strength.

“Thanks, Robin,” he said, his voice muffled and wet.

Robin smiled, not caring when a tear slipped down her cheek. She had no answer, safe to tighten her hold, the silence holding more understanding than words ever could

#creative-type writes #Nico Robin #usopp #one piece #One Piece Fanfiction #complicated family relationships are my jam #in case you couldn't tell

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droplet-dread-cat · 4 years

Text

the fourth

Tags: Physically Strong Nami, canon divergence, this wasn’t supposed to be a fic but here we are, Nami-centric, I love her

She becomes a member of Arlong’s crew when she’s a little kid, months after she saw him take her mother’s life right in front of her eyes. Nami is accepted maybe a bit too readily, in hindsight. It’s not only for her maps why Arlong wants her but also because she’s painfully human, a tiny girl amongst grown fishmen. A ragdoll he can beat up easily when he’s drunk and sees a light brown head of hair instead of orange - when the faces of two girls overlap until there’s only Koala left. The brat who was responsible for Fisher Tiger’s death.

Nami endures, mainly because she has no other choice. She is thrown, hit, slapped, burned and held under water until she nearly passes out. She is ten, eleven, twelve years old and all she can do is endure the pain. Somewhere in her heart, she thought Arlong would become less cruel with time. Maybe, she’d thought, he’d slowly accept her as a true crewmember of the Arlong Pirates. She draws maps for him, she goes on robbing missions for him - but, on top of it all, she bleeds for him. She bleeds... never stops bleeding and hurting for the killer of her mother.

And Arlong never treats her better. No, he’s becoming worse. The beatings are getting harsher the longer Nami’s a part of this scheme. She’s at 10 million beri, a tenth of what she needs to buy Cocoyashi. (Nami wonders if Arlong’s going to let her buy it. He’s a bastard. He’s the worst... so why should he bother keeping his word?) However, at this point, she doesn’t know if she survives long enough to even make it till 20 million. Her whole body is a mess of blue and black. Every time she wakes she’s barely able to heave herself up and when she does so too fast she runs the risk of vomiting all over her bedroom floor. She doesn’t want to worry the doctor – he’s a good man and she’s a... she’s a bad person. She doesn’t deserve his kindness anyways.

But she needs to do something – everything – to keep going. Everything to ensure she gets back her village. Everything to come out of this ordeal alive. She’ll never forget Bellmere’s sacrifice and dying without putting up a fight would be a dishonour to the woman who’d taken her in. Nami starts out slow. She buys a bo staff. In all honesty, she’d probably done so even without the constant threat of Arlong accidentally bashing her head in. Maybe she’d have trained a little bit, not too much to put on serious muscle mass because she always wanted to have a body like Nojiko’s or her mother’s – feminine, toned but not too athletic. She’s thirteen, empty-eyed and hurting all over... and she thinks: “I can’t be like them.” They’re not fighters (Bellmere hasn’t fought in a long time before Arlong’s arrival) but she is. Nami’s life tells her she isn’t made to be curvy and feminine. She isn’t made to wear dresses and skirts. Instead, she was made for battle. Her body’s not a temple, it’s a bastion. It has to be.

She neither parts from her V-cut t-shirts nor from her girlish haircut. Those are the two things she’s able to keep. Nami begins wearing leggings or boys’ shorts while swinging her staff in the silence of Cocoyashi’s nights. The night time is when she can refine her swings and build her muscles. Nami’s thirteen and fourteen.

Slowly, she puts on weight. The good kind of weight. The kind of weight that lets her absorb blows and anchors her feet to the ground. They’re clad in boots light enough to run in, but nothing fancy. No impractical heel that could make her stance weaver. She has abs and muscular upper arms. When she looks at herself in the mirror, she’s both proud and strangely sad for the person she’ll never be. In another universe, she’d have had a pinup girl’s frame. Now only the curves of her breasts and hips show that she’s a girl. Even her face has lost its cuteness. She’s raw, she’s stronger than she’d ever been; she can withstand Arlong’s drunken hits... And she starts wanting to strike back. She’s sixteen, seventeen and simultaneously collecting money for Arlong and training to kill him – to rob him of his existence just as he’d done with her mom. Nojiko’s looks towards her are indecipherable. Nami doesn’t know if she wants to know their meaning.

Nami’s seventeen when she hits back for the first time.

She loses. Badly.

There’s a large scar on her forearm. If she’d been a bit less muscular, she’d have come back with one arm less. Nami doesn’t stop trying, though.

At eighteen years old, she’s tried to kill her boss 66 times. None of those attempts have truly done any good. She starts to grow tired... tired of living like that. When she isn’t running towards Arlong with yet another new bo staff in her rough hands, she’s tricking pirates into accepting her as their crewmate. Then she betrays them for their money. She doesn’t feel remorse but the faces of those men are haunting her dreams. There’s blood on her hands. The deal between Arlong and her still stands and he luckily has always just laughed at her “fierceness” instead of punishing her for it. She nearly has the 100 million. (She’ll try it this way... although there’s a voice inside her head telling her not to be so damn naive.)

She comes across Luffy and Zoro and then Usopp and finally... Sanji.

“Wow! What a strong beauty you are, madam! A rose for you and I’ll of course give a discount to such a stunning lady as you!” Something in Nami breaks a tiny bit. Perhaps it’s her heart. She still remembers how she’d bitten her lip to stop herself from crying when she realized she’ll never look like Nojiko or Bellmere. She remembers a thirteen year old girl who’s sworn herself to become stronger to survive.

“Thank you.” she says and smiles brightly to cover her surprise. Sanji finds her attractive. It shouldn’t matter but it does. He’s... charming and even though she could never imagine herself loving him romantically, he’ll hold a special place in her heart nonetheless. (That’s why Sanji beating up Luffy on Whole Cake Island hurts her so much. Because they’re both so goddamn special to her. Luffy is the boy who saved her from Arlong but Sanji’s the one who saved her from the poor image of herself.)

She steals a ship.

Arlong betrays her. (Of course he does.)

Nami kneels on the ground. She has had enough. She grabs her knife and stabs her tattoo – over and over and over again. She curses his name. She... cries. She’s eighteen and she feels broken and bone tired.

A straw hat lands on her head. “Save me” she whispers.

“OF COURSE I WILL!” the only one she’ll ever willingly call captain answers.

Nami’s eighteen when Arlong Park falls to the hands of her friends. She’s eighteen and she’s strong but apparently not strong enough to... “Stop.” Zoro flicks her head. “Stop thinking you’re weak when you’re not.”

“But I couldn’t beat him.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” It hurts to hear that. Of course she couldn’t have... another flick to her head. She looks at Zoro. Zoro looks back. “You had no teacher who could have taught you how to fight, right? You had no-one, didn’t you? Why would you think you could go up against Arlong – who came from the Grandline – without someone teaching you how? Why would you think you could beat the other fishmen when you were having a mental breakdown? Of course you couldn’t. That’s why we did it instead. You’re nakama and you’re at least ten times stronger than Usopp” “Hey!” Usopp cries but is ignored, “but you don’t have a proper technique. That’s why I’m gonna teach you.” Zoro smirks.

“You’ll teach me?” Nami murmurs, absorbing the rest of the swordsman’s words. He’s... right. She never had a teacher. Of course she wouldn’t be able to beat Arlong that way. She swallows, nods. “I’d like that.” she says, voice sounding small.

“Good. I wouldn’t have accepted a no.”

Nami’s eighteen and she learns how to fight for real. She becomes a monster. She wants to be. Nami’s eighteen and she’s a navigator; she’s strong and muscular, she fights alongside Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. She wields a bo staff – one that soon contains the weather itself – and she’ll unlock armament haki. But she’s nineteen when she does and that’s another story altogether.

For now, Nami’s eighteen and she’s strong and... she’s happy.

#nami #one piece #op fic #one piece fanfiction #Strong Nami AU #Michinokao #arlong #arlong park

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opbackgrounds · 5 years

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So here’s Usopp’s house, and a couple of things worth noting: 1) Usopp doesn’t have any close neighbors. I imagine he grew up pretty isolated, and while I suppose the village made sure he didn’t starve, I’m guessing he had to do a lot by himself as shown by 2) the firewood in the front yard. I doubt there was anyone doing those kinds of chores for him since he’s seventeen years old and basically an adult.

Without saying it outright, the fact that Usopp’s out playing pirate with a bunch of kids instead of, you know, acting like a grown up goes a long way to show how immature he is and why the village has such an extreme reaction against his antics. Usopp isn’t a child anymore, but he’s emotionally stuck at the time when his mom died. Him maturing into a responsible person instead of living in a fantasy world that he’s built for himself is the crux of his character arc. Remember that in Water 7 Usopp told Franky that he knew the Merry was unsalvagable, but he refused to believe it and nearly lost his friendship with Luffy because of his stubbornness and inferiority complex.

Secondly, the fact that Usopp grew up alone goes a long way to explain his resourcefulness. A kid like him isn’t going to be able to call a handyman every time something breaks, and he didn’t have any parental figures around to teach him how to fix stuff. It would have been something he had to figure out on his own.

#opbackgrounds #one piece #ch41 #usopp #character analysis

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rad-neto · 5 years

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“Feels Like Drowning.”

@lawlu-events | FOR THE LAWLU BIG BANG 2018 | artwork by @ariririsu

He was in love.

A simple conclusion brought together by a series of not exactly unfortunate events. He was quite simply in love and almost terrifyingly so.

Oh god.

He was in love.

It wasn’t as simple as he thought it was going to be, actually. In fact, he is rather terrified. He was in love and scared and he had never felt something as amazing as those two emotions smashed together like some disgusting sandwich.

At twenty-seven years old he fell in love for the very first time and it felt like drowning.

Trafalgar D. Water Law, P.h.D. in a lot of things that aren’t particularly important to this story. But he was a medical person, to be unspecific. He was medical and magical, like most folk were. Magical, that is, not medical. Although there were plenty of medical people out there, just to clarify. But Law was a wizard as well as a surgeon and it came in handy in tricky situations, he supposed. Like saving the life of a seventeen year old boy who had gotten himself impaled on a thing. Yes, a thing, just a thing because a surgery that happened two years ago was two years too long for him to bother remembering what exactly a person was impaled with because two years ago it didn’t really matter to him.

Two years later it did matter a lot more than he expected because two years later a lot of unexpected things began to occur in his life, that on any normal day he would question, but there was no normal day left for him to be allowed to ponder those thoughts. Two years later, he met a boy named Monkey D. Luffy, a wizard like him. A freakishly powerful wizard who could probably split mountains with a simple armament spell casted on his fist. Not only that, but Luffy had, like, a lot of insanely powerful wizard friends who scared Law a lot, not that he would ever admit that.

But he supposed it was his fault anyway for saving Luffy’s life two years ago.

It started in January. He received a knock on his door at five in the evening. It was a Saturday and it was his day off and he was just about to order some dinner from that Thai restaurant down the street when it happened. With a sigh, Law set down his cell phone and walked up to the door, opening it without checking the peep hole first. On the other side was two men. They were both the same height, roughly. One had wavy blonde hair and a burn that covered the left side of his face which would seem terrifying if it weren’t for the fact that his smile was gentle and kind and not at all psychotic like you would expect. The other had black hair and several freckles decorating his face. He didn’t look as friendly as the other man, but Law willed himself to be unbothered by it.

“Can I help you?” he asked, hoping he didn’t sound as impatient as he felt.

“Sorry for bothering you,” the blonde one said. “But we had just moved in next door and we kinda felt the need to introduce ourselves to the neighbors. My name is Sabo and this is my brother Ace and we also have a little brother named Luffy but he’s out with his friends right now so it’s just us at the moment. I made casserole as a gift.” He held up a foil covered container Law just now noticed and before he could say anything it was pushed into his hands.

From a crack in the foil, he could smell the dish and its savory, cheesy aroma had his stomach aching. “Thank you,” he said, almost unsurely. “I’m Dr. Trafalgar Law, it’s a pleasure meeting you.” Again, with the formalities. He was tired of speaking so politely after having to do so much of it at the hospital already.

The brothers left him with brief instructions of how to heat up the casserole if it gets too cold before returning to the apartment beside his. He really was grateful for the food, it saved him from wasting money on mediocre Thai food takeout. Law spent the next few hours preparing and eating dinner alone while watching reruns of Doctor Who on his box TV.

While being a surgeon does get him a lot of money, Law was more of the type to conserve his money rather than spend it recklessly on things that weren’t essential to him like a fancy house or car. Hell, he didn’t even drive to work, he took the bus just so he could save a couple dollars that he could use to pay rent and his bills.

He shoveled another bite of casserole into his mouth, chewing slowly as he watched the opening sequence of the Doctor Who episode began to play. One might think a life like this was lonely, but he didn’t mind it. Not at all. Not even a little bit. Not even when he wakes up alone in his bed, the sheets cold and the silence deafening. Not even when he eats dinner alone, watching television until he passes out on his couch. Not even when he unlocks the door to his apartment and walks into an empty home. He wasn’t lonely. He wasn’t lonely at all.

Suddenly, his door blasted open and he was sprayed with bits of wood and brick.

Of course he was surprised by this. Exploding doors was not a common occurrence. It wasn’t even mentioned in the advert when he found this vacant apartment a few years ago.

Law coughed up the smoke that had invaded the lungs, swiping at the dust in the air as he stood from his seat and approached his ruined doorway. On the floor of his apartment was a boy. A boy wearing a straw hat and sandals. The boy laid there for a few moments before slowly detaching himself from the ground, dust and debris covering every part of him. He coughed once.

“Hi,” the boy said cheerily, grinning at Law.

“You destroyed my door.”

Sabo and Ace suddenly appeared from what used to be his doorway, concern etched in their expressions. “Luffy!” Sabo exclaimed in surprise. It took him a moment to connect the dots and his pleasant surprise turned to disapproval. “Luffy, what did we say about using destructive spells indoors?”

“Not to?” the boy answered unsurely, looking up at his brother with an innocent and sheepish smile.

Ace grabbed Luffy by the collar and dragged him out into the hallway as Sabo repeatedly apologized for his brother’s behavior and that he would deal with the damage immediately. Law could do nothing except blink as the three of them disappeared, the door repairing itself after being hit with a quick spell from the blonde brother.

He believed those brothers were the most bizarre neighbors he had ever met in his entire life.

After tidying up his apartment with a series of cleaning spells, Law went to bed. He slept only briefly before waking and, well, getting on with his day. It was still the weekend so he intended to spend what was left of it relaxing, something he didn’t get to do often on any other day. He wore comfortable clothes: a pair of joggers and a plain t-shirt. He thought of all the things he needed to do and was glad that he didn’t need to leave his apartment at all unless he wanted to. And he didn’t want to. Not at all.

Law laid on his couch and read a book. And it wasn’t a medicine related book at all. It was a book with a real story, with characters and plot and it was the best thing he had ever read since before he became a surgeon. What was he even reading? Probably Neil Gaiman or something, he had a handful of his books. But it didn’t matter to him because he was actually reading a book because he wanted to not because he had to. And he liked that. Doing things for pleasure, not for work. And that was something he was not going to do today. Work.

A knock on his newly-repaired door interrupted his book reading and he grumbled as he doggy eared the page he was on and set the novel on his coffee table.

Who dares to interrupt my reading time? He thought in a very Mufasa sounding voice, which he immediately regretted and erased the memory of ever thinking in such a way. It was embarrassing to say the least.

Opening the door, he saw the straw hat boy from last night. Luffy, he believed. Law rose a brow at him, urging him to speak.

“Uh, well,” Luffy began, frowning in thought. “Sabo said I had to apologize for breaking your door last night. So, sorry, I guess.” He grinned brightly and it was almost blinding.

Despite his words, Luffy didn’t sound very apologetic at all. Law decided to ignore that and tell him he already forgave him so he can go back to his own apartment so that Law could be left alone, again. But then Luffy held up a pie dish.

“Sabo also made you this! As a gift. It’s really tasty, Sabo always makes tasty things, but not as much as Sanji does. Sanji’s my friend! He cooks in a real fancy restaurant downtown. But he’s also very good at kicking things and it’s fun when he and Zoro fight all the time. Oh, Zoro is my other friend, he has green hair and uses three swords to fight and it’s super cool! One time he fought a dragon can you believe that? Because I can, I saw it with my own two eyes,” Luffy rambled, pointing at his eyes for emphasis.

It was clear that he had more to say and Law wasn’t really interested in any of it, but he was trying not to be rude so he did something he wouldn’t have expected himself to do in a million years and invited the boy into his apartment. Luffy walked in cheerily and set the pie on the table, sitting on top of it as he continued to talk about his friends.

“Besides Zoro and Sanji, there’s also Nami, Robin, Chopper, Usopp, Franky, Brook, Jinbei,” he counted them off on his fingers as Law grabbed plates for the pie. “Nami is real mean sometimes, and stingy and greedy and other bad things. But she can be nice, too. She lives on a tangerine orchard with her big sister Nojiko. Nojiko is nicer than Nami but Nami is my friend because she’s mean. It’s a whole thing.” Law sliced the pie and scooped a piece for himself and Luffy. “Robin is super serious. Well, sometimes she makes a joke that I don’t really understand and she says weird stuff like “I hope we don’t die” or something like that. It’s weird but kinda funny too, especially when she scares Nami and Usopp. Speaking of Usopp, he has this real long nose, he looks kinda like Pinocchio and—yes, I’d like ice cream with my slice, thanks—and he’s a real wimp but he’s brave when he wants to be and that’s what’s great about him.” Law set the plate of pie beside Luffy and sat down in front of him with a bored expression. “Then there’s Chopper who’s a talking reindeer. He’s also a doctor and he’s super funny. Do you know any talking animal doctors?” He shoveled a portion of pie into his mouth, chewing obnoxiously.

Law had made himself tea and sipped from his mug before answering. “Yes, actually, I do. One of my colleagues is a polar bear mink,” he said, taking a bite of his own pie.

Luffy’s eyes lit up like light bulbs. “A talking polar bear?” he exclaimed excitedly, bits of crust and filling spraying from his mouth and Law had to grimace.

“Yes,” he confirmed, pulling out his cell phone and browsing through it to find a picture. Once he found one, he showed it to the boy. “His name is Bepo and he works as my assistant surgeon.”

Luffy grinned at that, teeth stained red from the cherry filling and crumbs were wedged between them. It was a hideous smile and yet Law found it strangely charming. Which he would never admit. Ever. He put his phone back in his pocket and focused his attention onto his pie. When he looked up, he saw that Luffy had practically inhaled his slice of pie and he was unsure if he should be impressed or horrified.

“Oh yeah,” Luffy burped. And I mean actually burped. Somehow he managed to create words from a disgusting noise. “I forgot to introduce myself. Sabo says that’s bad manners.” Obviously Luffy had been minding his manners throughout his entire visit. “My name’s Monkey D. Luffy! I’m gonna become King of the Wizards!”

It was a ridiculous ambition because becoming King of the Wizards was a myth and more of a children’s fairytale, but he decided not to say anything about that. “Dr. Trafalgar D. Water Law,” he introduced in turn. “I’m a surgeon at the hospital downtown.”

“‘S nice to meet you, Torao!” That wasn’t his name but okay, whatever, he was tired.

Luffy hopped down from his seat on the table and dusted the crumbs off his shorts. “Thanks for the pie. I’ll come again later to hang out! We’ll be the best of friends!” And then he waved. And then he left.

Law should be upset that Luffy had just invited himself over for whenever he felt like coming, but he was terrified to find that he was actually looking forward to his next visit. He was just too damn charming.

Luffy visited frequently. At first, he came only on the weekends, but then he started visiting in the middle of the week, and then he started bringing along some of his friends. The first time, he had showed up with his brother Ace. Now Law was fine with that because Ace was also his neighbor and he did his best to make them comfortable and to avoid the intimidating glare he would feel directed at the back of his head every time he turned around. Then Luffy began bringing others to his apartment.

He met Zoro on a Wednesday, after he had finished up at work and got home early that evening. He hadn’t even changed out of his clothes yet when there was a knock on his door. His heart leapt in his chest as he expected it to be Luffy on the other side (but again, he would never admit that his heart did any acrobatics in his chest at all) and he opened it to find, yes, it was Luffy! But also a tall green haired man standing right behind him.

“Heya, Torao! I brought Zoro with me this time! I told him you had a cool sword and he said he wanted to see it,” Luffy was already walking past Law and into the apartment, friend in tow. Law watched as they approached the nodachi displayed on his wall, a cursed sword that his uncle Doflamingo bought for him as a Christmas gift, but he wasn’t superstitious so he kept the sword because it looked like a cool decoration.

“Hey, Torao, what was your sword named again?” Luffy asked suddenly.

Law shut the door and joined them by the nodachi. “Kikoku,” he answered. “It’s supposed to be cursed.”

He would have found the way Luffy looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect of a cursed sword worrisome if it weren’t for the fact that his chest felt incredibly tight and his cheeks felt they were burning at four hundred and fifty one degrees Fahrenheit. But besides that, Zoro looked just as excited as Luffy, in his own way of course.

“A cursed blade, huh? Just like my Sandai Kitetsu,” he patted the hilt of one of his swords for emphasis. “You ever used it before?”

Law suddenly felt a bit suspicious. “Er, no, not really. I’ve only ever used it as a decoration,” he answered unsurely.

Zoro frowned. “Disappointing.”

It was then that Law realized that Zoro might have intended to challenge him to a duel had he been able to use Kikoku. He already didn’t like this. Luffy took control of the conversation from there, talking excitedly about his day and how he saw his friend Jinbei riding an actual whale shark in the ocean. And after sharing a dessert and some tea, Luffy and Zoro left and Law was left alone.

He was afraid that this would become a thing. Not the whole Luffy visiting situation, that was already a thing and a thing that he enjoyed, but he meant Luffy visiting with his other friends. From Zoro alone Law decided that meeting the rest of Luffy’s crew would be a stressful and possibly terrifying experience. He didn’t want it to happen again.

It happened again.

Luffy returned on a Saturday with not just one, but two friends accompanying him and Law had to refrain from groaning. He could refuse to let them in. He should refuse to let them in. But Luffy’s gleeful grin and the excitement that twinkled in his eyes, those things made it difficult for Law to do anything except for step aside and invite them into his apartment.

This time it was Usopp and Chopper who had entered his abode and they were surprisingly pleasant company. Usopp and Luffy shared a bowl of snacks on the floor while they played a game of Go Fish. Law actually managed to befriend Chopper as they exchanged medical advice and patient stories.

“Nami was actually my first patient,” the reindeer doctor had told him. “She had caught a really bad fever so Nojiko and everyone brought her to the nearest clinic. My mentor Doctrine was out when they came so I did my best to help and that’s how we all became friends.”

Law thought that those were strange circumstances to become friends under, but then he remembered how Cora-san had adopted him after Law had stabbed him with the intent to rob him of all his belongings, and the thought was dismissed.

He wasn’t surprised the next day when Luffy decided to show up with a cyborg of all things standing in the hallway.

Law was able to meet a majority of Luffy’s friends in about a week, and he sure had a lot of them. He met a fishman, a mermaid, a skeleton, and other interesting species. It was... a lot to take in, even if he was a wizard who could do things just as bizarre with a wave of his hand.

But he felt that he was barely anything at all when Luffy was far more powerful than he was, both magically and physically. That fact would have hurt his pride if he didn’t find it insanely attractive. And that was something new to him. Admitting that he found Luffy attractive. He had come to terms with his emotions after spending many sleepless nights having arguments with himself over whether or not he was completely infatuated with an idiot wearing a straw hat.

He cried himself to sleep after that realization.

When Luffy showed up on his doorstep on a Saturday, a bouquet of flowers in his hands and a wide grin on his face, Law was confused.

“What’s this for?” he asked, staring at the arrangement of carnations and daisies that had been pushed into his arms.

Luffy gave a short laugh. “Sabo said ‘If you’re gonna take Law to Sanji’s place, you gotta give him a gift first.’ So I asked Robin to make you something nice and she gave me those,” he said as though everything was explained perfectly. “Oh, right. I forgot to say that I was taking you to Sanji’s restaurant tonight! It’s real fancy but I don’t think he’ll care if we show up in regular clothes. I don’t have anything nicer than this anyway.”

Law was so confused.

Was this- Was this a date? Was Luffy taking him out to dinner? On a date? Was this really happening right now?

Before he could ask any one of those questions, Luffy took him by the hand and dragged him out the door. Law managed to shut and lock it as he was taken away and maybe his spotted jeans and black and yellow hoodie were too casual for a fancy restaurant, but he felt that he couldn’t care because this might be a real date with Luffy.

Oh god. This might be a real date with Luffy.

He tried not to think too hard about this entire scenario as he sat beside Luffy on the bus. He tried not to think too hard about their hands still clasped together as Luffy rambled about how delicious Sanji’s food was. He tried not to think in general.

The bus stopped a street away from a big, shiny restaurant that had people lined up outside in the chilly night as they waited for a seat to be open. Luffy ignored the line completely and a tough looking guy dressed in a kitchen apron and had a silver name tag that read “Patty” in bold text escorted them inside. Law had to keep his jaw from dropping because Luffy wasn’t exaggerating when he said this place was fancy.

It was a French-style restaurant. Its tables were all decorated the same, adorned with candles and flowers for the centerpieces. The tablecloths were a pristine white, not a single stain could be seen. The china was the finest porcelain he had ever seen, making his own traditional Japanese tea set look like a children’s play thing. There were three golden chandeliers that surrounded a large modern styled glass chandelier in the center. A spiral staircase sat off to the side that led to upper level and balcony seating. The ceiling had a gorgeous mural of some biblical painting that he didn’t know the name of.

Law had never felt more insecure than he did in that moment.

Patty lead them through the restaurant to a set of double doors in the back. They were brought through the kitchens that was a cacophony of clattering dishes and banging pots. But despite the noise, the food smelled amazing. His stomach growled as they passed and he tried to pass it off as background noise, ignoring the embarrassed flush that spread across his cheeks. There was another door at the back of the kitchens and when it was opened, he saw a corridor that lead to another door.

Just how big was this restaurant, anyway?

Naturally, they walked to the end of the hall and behind the other door was a private room. There was a table set up like all the other ones were. White tablecloth, flowers and candles, blue velvet seats. There were floor to ceiling windows on the other side that looked over the ocean. It smelled like roses.

A part of his brain nagged at him, telling him that this was disgustingly corny. He was about to voice that opinion, too, until he saw Luffy’s face, slightly dimmed by the lack of light but his always present smile was brightening it ten times better than any candle could. He realized that Luffy was smiling at him.

“Do you like it?” Luffy asked him, and it took him a moment to understand that he was talking about the room. Why was his brain functioning so slowly tonight?

“Yeah,” he said and his throat felt dry and he needed something to drink but all he did was sit down and watch as Luffy sat in front of him.

Patty poured them their waters and left the jug on the table before exiting the room. Law lifted his glass and took three large gulps, leaving only a quarter left. He has never felt so nervous before. Luffy was staring at him. Simply staring at him. Except it wasn’t that simple because Law felt extremely vulnerable under that gaze. He didn’t know what to do or say. It was incredible.

“Sanji is making us a special meal,” Luffy told him, breaking the silence finally. “I already told him that you don’t like bread so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Law was going to die.

He was going to die in this five star restaurant with a beautiful view of the ocean, sitting in a private room with this person who he was absolutely head over heels in love with and he was okay with that. But before he could actually pass on to the afterlife, the door opened and a blonde man with a cart of food entered the room.

“Sanji!” Luffy greeted excitedly, grinning at his friend.

The chef returned the smile and put out his cigarette on an empty tray that was sitting on top of his cart. “Alright, shitty customers. I have your first course, the entrée,” he removed the lid of one dish. “Vichyssoise, a thick soup made of boiled and puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. Please enjoy.” Sanji set two bowls of the soup in front of them before leaving them alone once more.

Luffy immediately lifted the bowl of its plate and tipped its contents into his mouth hungrily. Law had lifted his spoon to his mouth but paused to watch him consume his soup in a messy manner. He blinked a moment before tasting his soup carefully. It was delicious.

Sanji returned a few moments later with wine. “Luffy can’t have this but you can if you want,” he had said but Law refused. He was hesitant about consuming alcohol when he was already drunk on his own emotions. If that even made sense.

Sanji shrugged and left again and by the time Law had finished his soup, he returned with another cart of food. “Voilà votre plat principal,” he said as he introduced them to their next dish and this routine continued all the way to their final course. They had ice cream sundaes for dessert and even though it was simple, with just ice cream with wafers and syrup, it was just as delicious as the rest of the meal had been.

When Law asked how much it all cost, Sanji had insisted that it was on the house. In his surprise, he looked to Luffy who happened to be looking right back at him with that grin on his face and he was falling in love all over again.

They left the restaurant, after thanking Sanji and everyone else for the pleasant evening, and Luffy was walking back to the apartment with him (I mean, of course he was, they were neighbors) and it was a long walk but not unpleasant. Somewhere along the way he had realized he had forgotten to bring his jacket and it was kinda chilly, but he didn’t want to say anything and he didn’t have to because Luffy just looked at him and cast a warming spell and suddenly he felt like he was wrapped in a soft blanket. Law felt like he was blushing and he hoped that it wasn’t obvious, but Luffy didn’t say anything about it as he held his hand again and talked about the stars and how maybe he should be an astronaut.

When they got to his apartment, Law paused by the door, one hand on the knob as he considered what to say. “Thank you,” he muttered, facing away for a moment before turning to look Luffy in the eye. “I had a nice night.”

Luffy grinned and their hands were still connected and Law was about to pull away when suddenly he was being kissed and even though it only lasted a second it sent sparks throughout his body and he could do nothing but stare as Luffy let go of his hand and escaped to his own apartment.

The next morning, Law couldn’t help but wonder if that was all a dream.

He got up like he always did but he was sort of in a daze. He still hadn’t been able to process everything that happened the previous night because Luffy had kissed him. And he was ninety percent sure that they had just went on a date.

He even thought that this was some sort of spell and did some extensive research on the possibility of last night being just a very realistic illusion but he knew in his gut that it had really happened.

Jesus Christ.

All of that really happened.

Law held his head in his hands as he leaned over his mug of coffee, sitting at his dining table in utter distress. This was not good for his heart. He was behaving like a twelve year-old girl with a crush and it was the worst. A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts and wiped at the bags under his eyes before answering. Luffy was standing there and he decided that this boy was going to be the death of him. He was going to die of exploding emotions. Or something like that.

“Torao!” Luffy greeted excitedly.

Law wondered how he could do that. Act so casual like he hadn’t kissed him last night. Then he remembered that Luffy doesn’t even know the word “shame.” He stepped aside to let him in and Luffy immediately jumped onto his sofa. He joined him silently.

They had to talk. Law needed to sort out his feelings and the only way he could do that was talk about them to Luffy of all people.

“Last night,” he began quietly as Luffy was surfing through his channels on the television. “When you, er, kissed me.”

“Oh, that? Sabo told me it’s what I’m supposed to do after walking you home. He said it’s “the nice thing to do,” Luffy commented as he stopped his browsing and settled for an old western playing on some obscure channel.

Oh.

“And the dinner?”

“An excuse to get you to meet Sanji and taste his food. He’s a real good cook, right?” he grinned at him.

Oh.

That made... sense. He supposed.

Law didn’t say anything for a long while. Luffy was expecting an answer from him and he gave a mumbled “yeah.” The boy returned his attention to the television then and he was left to his thoughts. Of course it was all just in his head. He couldn’t believe he thought that Luffy actually felt that way about him. Ah, he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“I have to get ready for work,” it was a lie. “I’m working overtime.” It was Sunday and it was his day off.

“Oh, okay,” Luffy said, surprised. “Guess I’ll just come back later. Have fun being an adult!”

And then he was gone.

And Law was alone.

Instead of trying to move on from his supposed unrequited feelings, he locked himself in his apartment, ignoring his door for the rest of the day and ate away his emotions. The next day he’s going to see that he’s gained half a pound and he’ll regret it then, but right now he’s going to eat everything in his refrigerator and watch Mamma Mia! until he passes out with a bucket of ice cream in his arms and a spoon in his mouth.

Law definitely wasn’t avoiding Luffy.

Waking up at an ungodly hour to get ready for work and leaving before anyone else should be awake is not avoiding. Staying late at the hospital until it’s practically midnight and then going home is most definitely not avoiding.

And it wasn’t like he was losing sleep over this, he slept plenty in his office during his breaks and he slept for four hours at home and he was a doctor, he knew that four hours was the absolute minimum to having a healthy rest.

He also ignored Luffy’s text messages.

Not that he would call it ignoring.

More like setting aside for later. If later meant never.

But everything was fine. He spent less time at home and worked more. He wasn’t stressed at all. He was eating protein bars for breakfast and bland hospital food for lunch so his diet was set. Dinner didn’t even happen. He was fine. Everything was fine. He’s got everything worked out and it’ll all blow over like the toupee on Donald Trump’s head.

So it didn’t “blow over” like he hoped it would.

The weekend came and he really couldn’t handle any more overtime so he stayed home. And of course there was a knock on his door. He wanted to ignore it. He was going to ignore it and hope that whoever was at the door would go away.

“Hey, Torao, it’s me.”

Damn. Why did the universe seem to hate him?

“Uh, I get that you’ve been busy and stuff, but you haven’t been answering my texts and stuff and it’s got me kinda worried. If you’re in trouble I can help you out, y’know. ‘Cause we’re friends and all.”

Law still didn’t answer. He remained seated on his sofa, wrapped in a warm blanket. Luffy didn’t say anything for awhile after that and for a moment he thought he left. But then he started talking again.

“If you don’t wanna talk to me, that’s okay. I’ll just talk to you. You don’t have to listen if you don’t wanna, but I’m gonna do it anyway.” And he did. Luffy was outside his door for hours, talking about what he did all week, describing a new dish Sanji made, telling him about some mini-venture he went on with his friends.

“The other day, I was talking to Sabo about you,” Law perked up at that. “I told him that I really liked hanging out with you and stuff and that you’re probably my most favorite person in the entire world, besides Ace and Sabo, of course. I told him that some day, Torao and I are gonna get married because that’s what you do when you want to be with someone forever, right? And I wanna be with you forever, Torao because you’re my bestest friend and I’m never gonna let you go.”

Law opened the door suddenly and Luffy was standing there, a surprised expression on his face.

“That was really corny,” Law said, frowning. “And bestest is a stupid word. And you can’t just decide to marry me out of the blue there has to be some sort of build-up.”

But Luffy just blinked at him and there was a plate of half eaten steak in his hands that he just noticed and suddenly Luffy was grinning like an idiot.

“I saved some of Sanji’s dish for you but I got hungry so I ate some.”

Law couldn’t believe that he was so in love that he let Luffy into his apartment to share half a lukewarm steak.

#one piece #op #lawlu #lulaw #fanfiction #lawlu big bang #lawlubb 2018-2019

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of-cloves-blog · 7 years

Text

One Piece Live Action

All of the live actions Hollywood has done has been an ass of a disaster. Just getting that out there.

I personally haven’t watched DBZ or the recent Ghost in the Shell but I’ve been in the midst of the generally dissatisfaction, to say the least, about both. And we all know of the unspeakable Avatar the Last Airbender (ATLA) live action.

But with One Piece(OP), that’s a whole monolith of a story that ATLA and Attack on Titan and others haven’t been before with almost a thousand chapters and episodes ongoing.

I think the main problem live action movies and their writers and directors have is that they can’t get the idea of the source being from an ANIME. It just sticks in their head and doesn’t allow them to treat this as a movie as it should be. An anime, a tv series, a book, and a movie are all different mediums and have completely different rules.

The thing I’m afraid about is that the live action will try to get the whole crew together in one movie and the fans know how long it took to get to Brook. I’m thinking that the best way to approach this is by following the animated movies’ lead, such as Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island and Dead End Adventure, and create an original narrative and plop it into the flow of OP’s storyline, kind of like what they do for filler.

Then comes the main purpose of the live action even existing, which is to appeal to an audience that typically wouldn’t watch anime and haven’t even heard of OP. So if they do as I said and make an original narrative like which was made for only the fans in mind, it might alienate the other half of the population.

Which comes in the whole situation of treating this like a movie instead of an anime. Get your head out of that anime is weird belief that everyone still has, writers and directors. You don’t need to spoon feed us everything by stating it directly and I think the audience who weren’t fans originally would agree even if they don’t have previous knowledge.

Let’s take Avatar again. The writers and director had a hard time with that one as they felt the need to add narration and world building and backstory within the characters’ dialogue and thus sucking any characterization from them and making it seem like the movie was just regurgitating information at you. Narration and Dialogue can be utilized to do worldbuilding, but it needs to be done right and not overused or repetitive. As I’m not an expert I can’t dive into this knowledgeably but I think this is the general consensus, unless they would do something smart and innovative with those things, but I digress. Even taking the anime in consideration, OP doesn’t use its narrator often, he mostly just shows up to recap on the fights or show where Zoro is lost at the moment. There needs to be a balance for both the fans and the ones who don’t know what they’re getting into. So worldbuilding is important, backstory is important, but what I believe should be the main focus is selling the characters and the spirit of One Piece.

This doesn’t mean doing as Percy Jackson the movies did by changing things unnecessarily, such as the character’s ages and the entire plot and the wit and spirit Rick Riordan put into the books. I think the Harry Potter franchise did the best in this case as they sold the spirit of the books, stuck to the plot, but was good at knowing when to trim some details off to fit the movie format.

So what I’m trying to say is that you’re translating something from a different medium to another, so it should be different from the main material. Of course, OP is going to be better as a manga because it works best as a manga. It has basically no restrictions on when it should stop and this way the writer, Oda Eiichiro, can more freely get people involved in the characters and the backstory. But there is a restriction on movies, and clearly the formula of shoving everything into a medium that has different rules isn’t working. The movies aren’t something the populus should expect to see an entire book in or an entire anime series in.

Another example is Howl’s Moving Castle, which is a stretch as it was inspired by the book and not based. But in my personal experience, I checked out the book because it did beautifully in an ANIMATED format but was completely different from the book.

So, if ATLA had been given and promised multiple movies, then they should’ve stuck to the plot. If possible stick to the plot. But it wasn’t because they weren’t promised another movie. And I believe, trying to fit the entirety of season one into one movie wasn’t the right choice for a solo movie. They should’ve cut it down. They should’ve stopped after the Winter Solstice, maybe cutting out Avatar Kyoshi and Omashu, though those are really important parts in themselves. The success of a movie done right, even though it didn’t have everything could’ve brought on the chance of another and maybe even more live action movies.

If OP is given more movies then they should stick to the plot. But the big difference between OP and ATLA is their versatility. OP as an anime series is more malleable and, in my opinion, has written the better filler arcs of anime. ATLA had a strict almost book like structure that builds off of each episode. So OP can have the possibility of straying off the original plot more than ATLA had.

To sum up, sell the spirit and character, never change things unnecessarily like Percy Jackson, don’t stick to the plot with a giant of a story like One Piece, and treat this like what it is: an action and adventure movie.

I know for a fact, it’s almost a given, that the movie will begin with Gol D. Roger’s execution and his last words about the one piece that prompted the Pirate Era. (and then Cinema Sins will say ‘roll credits’). Then it can go multiple ways. A montage of Luffy meeting his crew, young seventeen Luffy about to leave with his little boat, thinking back to Shanks and his hat, or just the flashback to Shanks putting the straw hat on luffy, and my personal favorite is just cutting to Luffy’s grin and the crew fighting on the deck of the Sunny where they can show their relationship to each other while in combat and their role in the crew. Or maybe a mishmash of all of them.

My hopes are that they will make Chopper cute and– the elephant in the room–not whitewash the Straw Hat crew. Personally, Usopp and Brook should be played by black actors, Nami could be latina, Zoro should be asian, Robin could be filipino or Indian but definitely someone dark skinned, Sanji and Franky can be white but Sanji needs to be or must resemble a french origin. Luffy can be anything to be honest as long as he acts like the character.

And the thing is, One Piece didn’t catch on in America as well as Naruto did back in the day, because of the horrible 4kid’s adaption that tried to make the show kid friendly which One Piece really isn’t (and that whole issue with making things kid friendly or maybe even dumber for kid’s to understand is also something that gets on my nerves). It ruined the chance of the show to be something even more amazing than it already is. The same thing happened with the live action of ATLA which made people disinclined to check out the animated show and affected the success of Korra.

I’m very passionate about One Piece, it’s dear to my heart and I really hope the live action isn’t a complete flop. I don’t remember OP for the fights, honestly, (naruto fights are more well animated and interesting) and I don’t like OP for them either, I like the story, and the characters. Luffy and the others say some profound things that have resonated in me and motivate me to this day. OP makes me laugh and cry and feel a connection to the characters. Not saying it doesn’t have faults, but I can see why it made the top and has stayed the top in shonen manga.

This is just my messy attempt at making a suggestion for the infamous anime live action. Oh yeah, and there’s the whole deal with how weird and wacky one piece can be, especially for western audiences. Well, if they can handle a movie about humanized emojis I think they can handle a rubber man and a talking reindeer.

Really hoping live action FMA is good though.

Thank you to nchanstories who talked this through with me and who I can’t tag at the moment because theyre getting some rare hours of sleep

#one piece #one piece live action #luffy #zoro #nami #usopp #sanji #tony tony chopper #nico robin #franky #brook #text post #straw hat #straw hat crew #i sleep now

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