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sanjiafsincedayone · 3 years

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Why SaNa over other ships?

Now, this is not to hate on other ships or downplay them, because what shipping really comes down to is often simply preference. What characters or dynamics you enjoy and what reasons you might have for liking different things.

No, this is simply my own reasons for why I like SaNa and also why I think they could make sense and thirdly why it’s possible Oda could be setting it up to actually happen in canon. It’s all just my views and I apologize if I forget a moment or add something that is more head canon, but again, this is my reasons and they will always be partially biased. (And there are too many to remember them all properly, so if you want to add feel welcome to do so.)

I think Sanji and Nami is a lovely ship even based just on fan content and the community. But we also get some great moments in the manga, and I personally think there is potential for Oda to make an actual romance work between them.

1. Why I like Sanji and Nami

I personally fell in love with Sanji before I even started to watch or read One Piece, simply based on his voice actor (Hiroaki Hirata), his design and his fighting style. So obviously I already have a bias towards Sanji (SanjiAFsincedayone having a bias towards Sanji? Who knew?). I didn’t ship Sanji with Nami from the start and even now I am a multi shipper who enjoys fan content with Sanji as a main part of several pairs, most prominently ZoSan.

So, when did I fall for SaNa then? Well, I have talked about it in various posts before which you can find in my Masterpost - SanjiAFsincedayone, but for me shipping Sanji and Nami more seriously didn’t start until Thriller Bark.

Sanji took a knife in the back for her as she is dressed in a wedding dress, even this one scene is enough to explain why someone might like to ship them together.

I for sure saw many SaNa moments before that, and felt Nami seemed special to Sanji, but I didn’t think it would have a big chance of happening and I preferred other ships above it when consuming fan material. Again, shipping is after all mostly fantasy and wanting more of something in a romantic/sexual way. Thriller Bark was when Sanji and Nami’s interactions caught my attention properly and I started to look a bit closer and actually note the way Oda wrote them and their moments. Going back after and rereading I think there is a lot of interesting things even before that. But the wedding theme and bridal carry and how Oda showed them in Thriller Bark was just too on the nose to ignore.

What got me into shipping Sanji with Nami were mainly three things.

1. Their dynamics getting more interesting over time and Sanji and Nami being two of the most well written and interesting characters in One Piece. 2. Sanji consistently seeming to have a preference for Nami in combination with my belief that he is after true love and isn’t just a pervert forever doomed to be alone. 3. The manga showing the potential of it actually happening and them finally catching my attention in Thriller Bark. Basically there are moments to follow and look at in the actual story as well, which in turn also leads to more fan content and material for shippers.

So point 1 and 2 really is mostly about my preference and how much I enjoy watching them together and how well I imagine they would fit together. I think their personalities and desires overlap well with them being able to understand and compromise for each other while aslo being on a similar level of intelligence and communication. They also have their kindness and empathy as a highlighted shared theme for their characters.

Them talking about the Children in Punk Hazard or Sanji helping Nami turn in the argument between both Luffy and Vivi and Luffy and Usopp are some examples. Or Nami letting Sanji smoke in her body because she knows how hard it is for him. Small gestures like this show both understanding and a willingness to compromise.

I think they are fun and have a relationship that right now might need working on, but it’s clear how much they care for each other and how they actually appriciate each other a lot.

Simply put I think they are interesting together and I think they could work as a romantic couple in the future, where their dreams and family oriented views migh allign. Again, from how I view them as characters and interpret their wants and possible futures I think Sanji and Nami is a good match. They can have a restaurant either traveling the world or docked close to both Cocoyashi and Zeff, Nami can tend to her mikans together with Sanji and they can manage a restaurant for a living. I also think they are the most parental members in the crew and has shown some possible signs of wanting to settle down with families. This would also work well as a final contrast to their less than happy childhoods (You might also want to check out my post (Part 3) Sanji x Nami hints - Thematic parallels).

There is a lot of potential in their dynamics and how different they seem while they also seem willing to adapt and try to understand each other that make them interesting as characters of romantic plots. At the same time they have enough in common to relate to each other and work well together. Again, as a fictional ship within the fandom there is a lot of great artists, writers etc. that truly explore them and make Sanji and Nami a great and fun ship with an active fandom to engage with.

Of course there are more shallow reasons like them matching in age and being good-looking but really I could ship Sanji with almost any woman if it was only about the looks. I mean, Purin is basically made to be a perfect match for Sanji, but I personally find his dynamic with Nami much more interesting and his dedication to Nami is of course unpraralleled thanks to the time Oda has spent on them over many years.

I love Sanji and Nami as individual characters and with the amount of moments between them there is also a lot to explore and enjoy in the manga. It makes them interesting in a third aspect for me, which is of course analysis and the potential of them actually ending up together and looking closer at the way Oda writes them from a story perspective. For me what we have gotten from Oda in terms of Sanji x Nami moments is very interesting and I see potential there even though it would need more development to truly work for the current story.

But, again shipping doesn’t have to mean anything for the actual story... There are crack ships or slash ships that surely will never happen but that could still be great and fun to explore for the fans. Honestly, everyone is free to ship whatever they want. We all have different taste after all.

So, what about the manga then?

2. Why do I think they could make sense as a romantic couple even in canon?

First, my own view is that Sanji is someone who seeks true love, and as briefly shown with both Violet and Purin it seems like he would take an actual relationship seriously if given the chance. I also think it would make him happy and thus as Oda might want to create happy resolutions for the strawhats I think Sanji ending up with someone has quite a big chance of happening. This is combination with his preference for Nami and in turn Nami truly caring for him (though not yet in a romantic way) is something that makes me think it could happen. Other ships have potential too depending on how Oda decides to develop them, but considering how he keeps adding moments for SaNa in the way he does as of now I still think SaNa is the most likely ship for Sanji.

As I mentioned earlier I also think Nami has shown some possible inclinations for wanting a family (or at least being a great mother if we look at her with children in many arc, not the least Punk Hazard) and maybe even getting married eventually.

If she ends up with someone we will need to see a more obvious attraction and want for romance from her no matter what ship we might consider. She has at this point not shown a lot, but I do think the thematic parallels she shares with Sanji in combination with how their moments are written has the potential to grow into something more.

As a romantic pair I think Sanji and Nami would be happy, he would adore her and take care of her and both of them would probably find that ideal. In fact it’s already a big part of their dynamics and seem to make them both happy. They also seem to try to understand and show interest in knowing each other as seen with several scenes and general attention towards each other’s backstories. They also challange each other in different ways and we have seen them compromise a few times. I think compared to many other relationship in the manga Oda has shown more personal moments between them. So a romantic additional aspect is not too far off. Not that Oda would make it happen now, but that he would lay down the groundwork for it to work by the end of the series.

In short I think they would make each other happy, but also challange and grow thanks to the other. I think their dreams of traveling the world with Nami drawing her map and Sanji cooking on all the seas and finding All Blue and then settiling down together close to both their “homes” in East Blue with a restaurant and family seems to fit them both. It wouldn’t always be easy, but I think they would actually enjoy their dynamics with Nami bossing Sanji around most of the time.

Now this all sounds nice and all, but it’s of course just my imagination based on biased interpretations of the manga. So where do I get it from?

3. The way SaNa is portrayed by Oda

Now this is really the biggest point... Because again, I can ship whatever characters I want and it is just for fun. It doesn’t have to happen for me to enjoy it or I wouldn’t ship Sanji with Zoro. But with Sanji and Nami there are legit reasons in addition to my preference that makes me think it could happen in the manga.

It might take years to actually go through it all in order with my additional interpretations, but I will try to go through the basics themes and moments that to me could indicate SaNa over any other Sanji or Namji ship.

I think the obvious thing to talk about first is simply how Sanji definitely has a romantic (and sexual) interest in Nami. No matter what other character you might see with either of them, this has been shown consistantly over the whole manga. You may argue that Sanji might be interested in others equally, and though I wouldn’t agree it’s a fair point. However from a story perspective it would still need to be resolved. It’s highly unlikely for Nami to end up with anyone unless Sanji ends up with someone else and gets a happy ending too.

As for Sanji’s interest in Nami I personally think Oda has paid a lot of attention to it in a way that makes it the most likely ship for Sanji. He might yet add moments between other ships and develop them (most notably San/Pu of course), but in my opinion the way Oda has added Nami in other potential romantic moments with Sanji it seems Nami is above every other woman so far.

Most importantly I think we have seen:

Sanji leave Violet who actually seemed to show interest in him to run off to save Nami (and the crew, but the point is that Oda chose to highlight and add this moment with focus on Nami to begin with).

Sanji being more focused on Nami even when Vivi and Robin has been on the ship or at the same place. Oda definitely puts Sanji with Nami above other women at least in amount of moments and involvment.

Sanji being very concerned with Nami in front of Purin and being shown happy with her (the bridal carry for example) and saying he loves her right in front of Purin.

Sanji having stronger reactions to Nami than other women. This could just be my way of seeing it, but I do think we have seen the strongest reactions from Sanji when it comes to Nami. Not the least with turning into a literal devil when he heard she was kidnapped by Absalom. For example compare Sanji rushing after Nami in both Skypiea and Thriller Bark even to him going after Robin. Or his reaction to Nami getting sick in Drum. We simply have a lot of strong reactions from Sanji towards Nami in different ways and more importantly Oda seeming to add focus on them.

We also have him reacting to things like “women’s tears” or calls but only indicating Nami might be calling him personally. For example Sanji hearing Tashigi cry or saying he trusts Violet or Robin even though they are lying but for Nami adding things like “I think I heard Nami call out for me” or moments like “I leave my Nami to you”. Basically the way Oda writes it there often seems to be added a more personal stake in Sanji’s reactions and moments with Nami compared to with other women.

So from Sanji’s point of view, and the way Oda has written them so far, I think he puts Nami above every other woman. But more importantly, Oda shows us moments between them that he doesn’t add for other ships as consistantly or in romantic looking ways. Keep in mind that both Nami and Sanji are main characters, but they are not Luffy. Oda choosing to not use Luffy (who will obviously have strong moments with all of his nakama, like how he had his own time with Sanji both in Baratie and WCI) for some of these moments but rather insert Sanji or Nami instead for each other’s stories makes it more relevant. Because it’s not an obvious choice in the same way. It’s a choice based on their characters and dynamics within the world, not because of their roles as main hero or heroine. Here are some examples.

1. Their first meeting. Sanji is for the first time seen in love cook mode and he basically seem ready to leave everything behind for Nami. Right away his reaction to Nami is stronger than what we have seen from him and it seems to hold true even with time.

2. SaNa having interest and plot relevance to each other’s back stories. Sanji getting involved with hearing Nami’s back story and saving his sister. Also, calling her “sister” which indicates a platonic familiarity where he puts Nami above Nojiko romantically (yes, despite flirting some with her). Nami in turn also getting involved and showing interest in Sanji’s backstory, pushing to go with Luffy to save Sanji and being the one to remind us of Sanji’s past and character traits.

3. Sanji getting personally tantalized by using Nami. This has happened several times, the first with Kuroobi in Arlong Park, but also with Mr. 2 in Alabasta, Absalom in Thriller Bark and then in Fishman Island (Zou too, but that wasn’t just Nami) and on Zou. You can check my post (thought not updated fully) Sanji and Nami – Fights and danger for a more detailed view. (Even in movies like Strong World Sanji has a direct talk with Shiki about Nami and it seems most people are aware of Sanji being extra sensitive to Nami.)

4. Sanji asking Nami if she is jealous or if she loves him, indicating again that he is interested to know is she is interested in him. Once even responding “I love you too”. In general Nami responding in these situations in a more “positive way” or Oda showing Sanji interpreting her actions as more romantic. For example the “proposal” or the hug in WCI.

5. Romantic looking moments or themes. Now this is of couse not something that has been done mutually between them and thus aren’t actually romantic scenes. But the tropes and common use for many of the things that Oda has chosen to use for Sanji and Nami are romantic in nature. Of course the two forced marriages are the strongest examples with them rescuing each other from getting married to someone else. But we also have the switch body trope, the slap and of course smaller gestures like the bridal carries or the way Oda drew the hug between them in WCI. I am not saying that SaNa is the only ship with romantic looking moments, because San/Pu And San/Violet obviously has some as well. However, considering the amount SaNa moments and the fact that he has left Violet and Purin in particular for Nami seems to make the SaNa moments trump any other ship. At least for me personally SaNa as it is now and as Oda has portrayed it in comparison to other Sanji ships gets in the way of Sanji ending up with someone else unless Oda starts to make some changes.

I want to make some emphasis on how Nami and Sanji seem to get some “bigger” moments between them in almost every arc. Again, compare this to Sanji with other women, or even Nami with other crew members.

Baratie - Their first meeting and Sanji’s reaction to Nami and interest gets focus. Arlong Park - Sanji shows interest in Nami’s past and Kuroobi mocks Sanji by specfically mentioning Nami. ( Loguetown Arc, Reverse Mountain Arc, Whiskey Peak Arc and Little Garden mostly have small moments, like Sanji asking if Nami is jealous or Sanji giving Nami his jacket.) Drum Island - Nami is sick and we see Sanji worry and care for her and in the end even sacrificing himself for her. Nami worries about him too. Alabasta - Sanji fighting Mr. 2 looking like Nami and lots of small moments like Sanji asking Nami if she loves him.

Jaya - Nami showing interest in Sanji’s back story. Small things like Nami hiding for the bugs behind Sanji or Sanji. Skypiea - Sanji being hell-bent of saving Nami and making the others look for her. Then him saving Nami and Usopp from Enel and Nami being worried in return. (Both times Sanji gets hit by Enel Nami is there and worries.) Then a lot of small moments like him giving her a flower and Nami pulling Sanji’s ear for flirting with Conis. Long Ring Long Land - Nami encourage Sanji be the ball and win, but mostly small moments like Sanji getting annoyed with Aokiji for flirting with Nami or him sitting next to her and trying to kiss her. Water 7 - Sanji leaving his love letter to Nami and Nami being worried for (and impressed with) Sanji. Enies Lobby - Sanji losing against a woman, Nami being understanding and then stepping in to basically revenge him. Also Sanji hearing it as Nami loving him and then him showing up to save Nami and Usopp from Jyabura.

Post-Enies Lobby - Not much, but Sanji stepping in to make Nami and Zoro stop fighting and make Nami understand Zoro’s pov. Thriller Bark - Sanji just being extremely focused on Nami and worried about her throughout the whole arc. Also him getting specifically selected by Luffy to save Nami. Of course the wedding theme with the bridal carry and Sanji’s reaction to Nami. Also Sanji’s Zombie protecting Nami (and later kicking Robin) and his “obsession with Nami” being mentioned. Sabaody Archipelago - Another smaller arc, but we do get Nami worried about Sanji possibly drowning. And smaller moments like Sanji being angry for Nami being put in danger by the Fishman Riders or him telling Franky to take care of Nami as he runs to protect Zoro. When they return we of course also get the nosebleeds, and Sanji daydreaming about Nami’s development.

Fishman Island - Sanji’s reaction to Jinbei and Arlong. Also the fishmen pointing out that Nami might be their weakness due to Sanji’s “over reaction“ to her falling. Punk Hazard - The body swtich, Sanji’s body saving Nami and Sanji being careful with not hurting her etc. Also them working together to save the children, Sanji listening to Nami’s request and saying he loves her more because of her kindness. Also small things like Sanji giving his jacket to Nami again. Dressrosa - Sanji leaving Violet behind to save Nami, insisting that he should be the one to save her and then him getting attacked by Doflamingo and Nami getting worried and not wanting to leave him. Sanji basically tries to sacrifice himself for Nami for the 4th time (Drum, Skypiea x2, also maybe in Thriller Bark). Zou - We get a lot of focus on Nami and Sanji together, and then of course when Sanji is gone Nami is the driving force for his plot. Once again Nami is also used to taunt Sanji (inside Capone). Then Nami is both the one to mention Sanji being from North Blue and to listen to Pekom’s talk about his family. Not to mention her insisting on going with Luffy to WCI and having a fight with Zoro as she defends Sanji. Whole Cake Island - The way she pushes for them to find Sanji, her hapiness when they find him and her hurt and the slap. We even get something like Nami being tantalized with Sanji by both Purin and Brulee. The only strawhat besides Luffy who gets a personal story thread with Sanji and a personal resolution for their conflict is Nami. The tension seems personal and combined with Sanji having another love interest but choosing Nami above her it does seem like Nami is the more natural choice both for Sanji and for Oda.

There is also a distinct increase in romantic-looking moments between them, with them touching more than ever before.

Wano - Even after WCI it doesn’t seem like Oda is stopping the SaNa moments. Sanji manages to save and carry Nami three times in the beginning of Wano. On top of that we have the bath scene and of course a lot of small moments and mentions between them like Sanji asking Usopp to take care of “My Nami-san” or Sanji jumping in abobe Nami to save her from arrows.

How many times have we had Sanji be the one to go after Nami or save her? By his own choice, by being the one present or even by Luffy asking Sanji to go. Oda puts Sanji next to Nami a lot, and I think it’s possible he might be doing it for a reason.

Who knows what we might get, but the fact that we have as much as we do really seems to show Oda having a preference to put them together in various ways.

The point is they have a lot of time and moments dedicated to them from Oda despite them both being secondary characters. At this point it’s possible Sanji is the person Nami has moments with the most in the story besides Luffy (and perhaps Usopp) as they often end up together. Of course this is including them thinking about and talking about each other as well, and not just direct interacting. For example counting the body switch and Nami being worried and focused on Sanji while on Zou. Oda doesn’t have to, but he has chosen to write it like this. On top of that he adds romantic interest from Sanji and romantic looking moments between them.

I could go on, and there are plenty of moments and examples to find between Nami and Sanji that are interesting to look a bit deeper at. You can check out my Masterpost - SanjiAFsincedayone for some of them. But as it is now here are the main points for why I think SaNa at least has a bigger chance to happen than other ships with the two of them as it is now.

One-sided attraction and romantic interest from Sanji’s side that needs to be resolved in one way or another.

Nami seems special to Sanji. Even small things like only using -san for her and -chan for others is a detail that makes her stand out to him.

Great involvement in each other’s stories. Oda likes adding Sanji and Nami in moments together both for interaction and explenation about each other. For example Sanji is also often used to save Nami.

Interactions of understanding and changing dynamics between the two, like them compromising for each other or wanting to know about the other’s past. Matching personalities and a possible future.

Romantic themes and moments, mainly the weddings, but also the amount of times Sanji has saved Nami and things like the hug being drawn in a very romantic looking way with Nami being more focused on.

Tension and urgency. This is basically Sanji and Nami having a lot of focus on each other in dire situations and Oda showing it with specific mentions.

So, to summarize, I like Sanji and Nami both as indvidual characters and together. I enjoy them as a ship and to explore their dynamics in a romantic way no matter what they might end up as in the story. Anyone should be able to respect that people have different preferences. Additionally I think and speculate that they would work well and could happen in the manga as well. This is obviously a biased interpretation and opinion.

I might be wrong, but you should be able to respect that too as we have yet to get anything objectivly confirming any ship. We don’t know if any ship with end up canon at all. Maybe Sanji and Nami will remain a ship that never becomes canon, but even so they are a ship that is definitely worth enjoying.

I hope you found this post interesting and can enjoy your own ship and fandom while also seeing that it’s ok for others to like something different than you. Thanks for reading.

#sanji #nami #sana #sanami #sanji x nami #sanjixnami #sanami theory #One Piece analysis #sanji x nami analysis #sanjiafsincedayone #one piece manga

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

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The Voyage So Far: Fishman Island

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

i know i’ve said it before but i really, really love the entirety of reunion arc. it might be short, but there’s just so much fun and joy packed into it after the extremely fraught and upsetting paramount war. there’s something exhilarating about seeing characters who could barely compete on the world stage two years ago not just come back from nigh-obliteration, but come back so much stronger. this is true about fishman island as a whole as well, really, which is the main reason i enjoy it so much.

every time we get to see luffy flex his conqueror’s haki absolutely fills me with delight.

brook’s return to the crew is, i think, the most meaningful of all of them. he knew them for, what, a week or two in-universe prior to the separation at sabaody? and in the two-year interim, he becomes basically an extremely successful rock star known worldwide and selling out stadiums. and yet he doesn’t hesitate a moment to drop all of that, to declare before the world that luffy is alive and will be king, because he might have only known the strawhats for a little while but they saved him, and he’s going to see his dream through to the end with them.

this is possibly my favorite panel in all of one piece. it just makes me so fucking happy to finally see him again!

i’m a big fan of oda’s choice in not revealing his full design until this moment, so that we get to see him finally appear in all his glory the same moment the rest of the world does, just in time for him to explode back into the public consciousness and fuck up sentoumaru’s whole day.

i feel like i might be repeating myself a little with regards to reunion arc, but i don’t really care- it just makes me happy. this spread where luffy finally arrives back at the sunny- look how delighted they all are to see him! look how much they missed him! the strawhats are such a family, even though at this point they’ve just spent far more time apart than they’ve ever spent together, and i just adore them so much.

roger is one of my favorite flashback characters and definitely one of the characters i wonder about the most, and a lot of the thoughts i have about him circle back around to this panel right here. where did he get the hat? why did he give it to shanks? why did he choose to set out to sea who is he-

i think about kuma a lot. for such a minor character his tragedy is immense, and i would really like to know more about him, why he chose to do the things he did, what his relationship with dragon and the other revolutionaries was like- whether there’s any chance he can still be saved.

fishman island is absolutely gorgeously drawn. i’d call it absolutely the prettiest setting in the series until wano, and i think that, like wano, it’s clear oda was waiting to draw it for a very long time. the amount of detail and care put into all of the big establishing shots is really breathtaking.

one of the reason i think fishman island is so fun is because the comparatively lower stakes, combined with how much stronger the strawhats are, means they get to be at their most fully chaotic best. they take ryuuguu palace hostage almost completely unintentionally, off-screen, and then immediately start bickering and making ransom demands. i love them so much.

i love luffy and shirahoshi’s relationship so much- i love how much she trusts him to keep her safe, and i love how easily he does it. i love how he’s brutally honest with her but never really mean and how he encourages her to open up her world and do new things even when it’s scary and dangerous, and lets her take things at her own pace.

i think the sun pirates’ symbol is probably my favorite jolly roger in the series, both because it’s so well-established in the story, all the way back to arlong park, and because it has so much meaning. the shadow of fisher tiger’s life and death is cast over the entire story long before we even know he existed.

the symbolic destruction and replacement of the slave brand with the rising sun is so, so cool, and the knowledge of the reasoning behind the symbol also makes it clear long before its confirmed in-story just how empty hody and his crew are. their versions of the symbol are open, with the silhouette of a decapitated human, because they have no brand to cover.

i care so much about koala and fisher tiger, and the relationship between them as two former slaves and two deeply injured people, and how fisher tiger still manages to muster the strength to be good and gentle to her even after how much humans have hurt him.

i think it’s really a shame that he never got to see who and what she grew up to be as a direct result of his kindness. i think he would’ve been really proud of her.

i’ve always really liked that otohime isn’t perfect. she’s not as flawless as she first appears to be- gets angry and frustrated and even drunk and shouty when her own people won’t listen to her trying to help them, and it makes her feel so much more real. her patience and pacifism feel much more admirable when we’re also shown how hard she fights to keep them up. she works to be good.

one thing i like in one piece is how much value is placed on just the value of knowledge, of writing, of reading and understanding. it’s visible in how one of the rarest powers in the world is the ability to hear the voice of all things, and in the poneglyphs, too.

one of my favorite things about luffy is how he becomes a hero by trying not to be one. he doesn’t care about how people view him, and he never has; he really only cares about his friends and loved ones. it’s just that he’s also an incredibly easy person to befriend, and if those friends need help, then he’ll help them, regardless of the cost. most of the island-saving he does is just positive collateral to luffy’s driving desire for the people he cares about to be safe and happy.

i have always loved strawhat group shots ever since back in east blue when the crew was just three people, and they’ve only gotten more exhilarating as the crew has expanded and full-crew shots have become less common in the new world. it’s always just awesome, seeing them all together and united for a common purpose, whether it’s saving robin in enies lobby or kicking hody’s ass here.

my friend zeph grainjew calls moments like these, where other members of the strawhats deal with a problem so luffy doesn’t have to, ‘honor guard moments’, and i really like them. they’re a display of both the loyalty luffy’s crew has for him and the trust luffy has for them right back.

the thing about shirahoshi is that she’s not a coward. she’s a crybaby and overemotional and extremely skittish (which, for the record, is fully understandable for someone who’s been the subject of constant assassination attempts since she was six), but when it comes down to it, she’s fully ready and willing to let herself get killed by the noah in order to protect her people and her country. she’s so brave.

i sometimes see people complain that the villains of fishman island are flat and boring, as though that’s not the whole point, as though the entire arc isn’t a treatise on the importance of not passing hatred down to children. of course hody and his crew are hollow, they’re the equivalent of malcontented shitty white men who become neo-nazis because it’s easier to blame minorities for their problems.

luffy’s victory over hody itself is nothing. it’s easy, it’s only barely a challenge because they fight in the open water and luffy is a devil fruit user, and in the larger scheme of the one piece world, hody is nobody to even take notice of, no matter how grand his ambitions might be. what’s important isn’t hody’s defeat itself, it’s that the children of fishman island see luffy come when shirahoshi calls, and that at the end of the arc, they all want straw hats of their very own.

this might genuinely be a coincidence, but i’ve always liked that fishman island, an arc all about inheritance and what we pass down to our successors, is when luffy first pulls out red hawk, an attack clearly inspired by ace. inheritance can positive or negative- the negative examples in this arc are obvious, but there are positive ones, too. we can also see it with koala and fisher tiger, or with jinbe and both of the legacies he’s shouldered. it’s up to us what we leave behind.

for all that fishman island isn’t the strongest arc on its own, i do think it has by far one of the strongest endings. it’s an arc all about hurt and loss and how it gets passed down and renewed over generations, and it ends with a return to zero. everything’s not better, but the wound’s been cleaned and bandaged, and now it can finally, finally start to heal.

and into the new world we go! with skies full of fire and oceans full of lightning, looking just like the entrance to hell- and all our crew can’t wait to get there.

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #long post #arc: fishman island #arc: reunion #not japanese

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bigkyle990 · 3 years

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A Witchy Pirate part 6

Links!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Back to things calming down for a bit and setting into the meet up with Amity (which I only have a partial idea of what I want to do with)

A short time after the attempted raid by the Emperor’s Coven, the three women found themselves back in the living room. Most of the mess that Luz had made while she was injured was cleaned off of the couch.

Lilith had come in with some drinks for them and Luz was now wearing a shirt lent to her by Eda. “You finally got these printed huh?” Luz asked with an amused tone as she looked down at the “Bad Girls Coven” shirt. “Of course, there was no way I was canceling that t-shirt order.” Eda shrugged before taking a sip of her drink. “Now, you have some explaining to do, what happened to you and how are you able to use magic that effectively? Did you somehow get a bile sack?”

Lilith took a seat next to her sister and nodded. “Yes, I’m curious about that myself, along with that glyph you used to heal yourself. I’ve never seen a spell quite like that before.”

Luz leaned back and nodded. “It’s one I came up with after a fight with a guy called Blackbeard, he had a power that allowed him to control darkness as well as absorb things into it and then cast them back out. Normally I use the Siphoning Glyph to take in attacks and reuse the energy right away, but if I want, I can combine a new one into it and have the energy used for that. It’s handy, and probably will be hell for the Witches around here.”

“Okay, guy controlling darkness, you making new glyphs… That’s all well and good, but you still haven’t actually explained what’s going on with you? What did the human world go nuts in the last seven years?” Eda asked, wanting to get to the meaty stuffy. Luz shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, I haven’t been there in the last seven years.” Both women looked at her incredulously. “No seriously.” She held up a hand. “I don’t know what happened with Belos’s machine, but it didn’t send me home. When I got pulled through it, I ended up on a completely different world. There were humans there, but along with them there were giants, fishmen, minks… All kinds of different races of people. Along with plenty of monsters and other strange things. See basically…” Luz began explaining the last few years of her as a pirate. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. Afterwards, Eda leaned back in her seat, looking like she was trying to even believe half of what Luz had told her. “Okay, so your power comes from this Devil Fruit thing? It gave you a bile sack?” “Well, I wouldn’t say it gave a bile sack, rather it gave me an actual magical core. A center of energy within myself that I can manipulate in anyway I want. Bella couldn’t find anything attached to my heart whenever she did a medical exam.” Luz did her best to explain, honestly even after all this time, she didn’t have a complete understanding of how her own devil fruit worked.

“Still, it’s hard to believe that such a power can be granted just by eating one of those fruits... “ Lilith stated, attempting to wrap her own mind around things. “There must be some kind of draw back to it though, correct?” Luz nodded. “Yeah, it probably won’t be a major problem around here, but eating one causes the sea to turn it’s back on you.” “And that means…?” Eda raised an eyebrow.

Luz giggled, waving her hand a bit. “Sorry, I have to remember that most people aren’t going to even know a small amount about them now. Basically it means I can’t swim anymore.” The sisters looked at her with widened eyes. “Wait, it made you forget how to swim!? I mean you could just learn how to again, right?” Eda asked, looking oddly at Luz as she laughed. “No, I remember how to swim, I just can’t. See, if I was to fall into any kind of standing water, a lake, the ocean, a tub of water... It would completely sap all my strength and keep me from using my powers, on top of that I’d start sinking like a rock.” “So we keep you away from large bodies of water, understood.” Lilith said with a nod, before noticing the young woman looking to her right hand every now and then. “Is there something wrong?” Luz jumped a bit, thinking she had been subtle about it and sighed. “Sort of, like I told you before, our crew was in the middle of a war just before I ended up back here.” She saw both nod and continued. “Well, I don’t know what’s happened to the others… If they’re alive, if they made it back to their own world and families. I’m worried.” “You cared about them.” Eda stated. “Of course!” Luz shot up, surprising them a bit. “They were like family to me, we went through hell and back together and I didn’t even get to say goodbye, again!” Luz was tearing up a bit thinking about the others. This wasn’t some little war like it had been with the Payback War or even like the war of Wano the Straw Hats had started against Kaido and Big Mom. This one had quite literally set the world on fire. The Straw Hats and those backing them taking on the world to make Luffy the King of the Pirates, their own flag thrown in with the Rubber Man as well, going up against the World Government and its own secrets. Add in the remains of the Beast Pirates and Big Mom Pirates, and you had yourself a war that was going to turn everything on its head, no matter who won. And the thought that she’d left her own behind was eating at her. That was, until she heard Eda speak up. “Hey Kiddo, what’s that on your arm?” She asked, pointing to Luz’s right hand. Said young woman blinked and looked down, only for her eyes to shoot wide as she fell back. There, forming on her arm was a marking that only looked familiar to herself. She felt her eyes well up as she traced a hand over it, hoping it wasn’t some fake. Her fingers traced over a dark purple dragon like design that started about her mid forearm and wrapped around till it’s head was on the back of her palm, mouth open and trying to bite down on a green gem like design. “Luz, Luz, Boiling Isles to Luz!” Eda called, snapping her fingers to get her attention. “Huh, wha!?” Luz blinked looking at her. “What is that?” She asked again. “Right right, sorry... “ She wiped some tears away and held up the arm. “It’s a Hoard Mark, something that my crewmate Spike gave all the commanders, and since it’s here… it means he’s got to be alive still!” She grinned and then got a look of realization. “Oh! This means I can change clothes! I know I put away some spares for sure…” Luz mumbled as she suddenly reached into her pocket and seemed to start digging around in it.

“Uh, Kid, I don’t think you’ll fi-” Eda started to try and reason with her former student, only to pause and eyes go wide as not only did Luz’s arm go deeper into her pocket, but she started pulling out large objects. “No… No… Not there…” She mumbled, pulling out a few large pieces of treasure, a massive anchor that shook the house when she set it down, there was a moment when an elephant's head popped out of her pocket and was shoved back in. “I swear, Spike would steal anything…” She mumbled before her eyes lit up. “There it is!” She called out, pulling out a large clothing trunk from her pocket, it was marked with her name. She set it to the side as both sisters looked curiously at the trunk, which she popped open, showing that the inside had a large number of clothes inside. “Okay… Um, how did you do that?” Even Eda’s hair couldn’t store that many things away, certainly not as large. “Huh? Isn’t this Adora’s…” Luz mumbled as she pulled out a red jacket, before shrugging and putting it away. “Like I said, it's the Hoard Mark. See, Spike ate the Hoard Hoard Fruit, which made him a hoarding person. He could take anything he wanted and store it away into a separate pocket dimension for his personal use later.” She explained while looking over a shirt that held the Crew’s Jolly Roger on it, it was a dark purple color. “Hmmm, maybe… Anyway, he was able to develop his powers to let him give other people a special mark that gave them access to the storage space as well, just have to have it active and reach into some kind of container. Can be a bag, a pocket, box… Anything like that and it always expands to fit whatever you’re getting.” She pulled out a dark purple dress shirt and held it over her chest. “Think I should go formal? I am planning on meeting up with Amity tonight.” She smirked, giving a bit of a mischievous look. “You’d slay her for sure kid.” Eda laughed. Lilith giggled a bit and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure she’d love it, but try not to get your hopes too high, it may not be the same now.” She tried to warn her.

Luz started getting a few other things, a pair of black dress pants, black tie, and a black blazer to go over everything else, and nodded. “Oh I’m sure, I know that I certainly had my fair share of relationships over the last seven years. At least two serious ones, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try and see if anyone is in the way.” She smirked, grabbing one last thing and closing up the trunk to put away. “Guess I’ll go get ready, it’s nearly time for our meet up.” She said, heading to go get a shower.

#A Witchy Pirate #Luz Noceda #Luz #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne #fanfiction #fanfic #CrossOver #crossover fanfiction #Lumity #Owl house #the owl house #TOH #I'll probably try to drew Luz's outfit before the next part

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g-on-ef · 4 years

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To The Moon and Back

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A/N: 👻🦇🕷🕸☠💀🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!! 👻🦇🕷🕸☠💀🎃 Thank you everyone who was kind and patient with me and I hope you all enjoy this chapter ^^

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Portgas D. Edward

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Edward was a child of the sea; his grandfather would always tell him that. He would comment on how Edward was just like the sea; calm and soothing a peaceful sight to behold but when anger would become a deadly storm, destroying everything in its path. The first three years of his life he lived on his grandfather’s ship enjoying everything that the sea has to offer. His uncles, aunts, and parents would always tell him the joys that the sea gave them, the warmth the sun offered, and most importantly the freedom they felt whenever they were out to sea. Edward enjoy listening to their tales, loved hearing their stories about adventures, the places the visited and the dangers they survived

Being out to sea meant living life to the fullest, exploring new worlds, facing dangers that no one would ever want to face, and more importantly being free. Edward wanted a life like that, full of adventure excitement and most of all freedom.

He wanted to be free like his parents, have a family like his grandfather, and become the next pirate king after his uncle of course yes Edward wanted the same freedom his family had…no one ever told him that freedom was a lie and that it came with a price…

Not only was he a chilld of the sea but he was also the child of two powerful pirates and his grandfather was the strongest man in the world.

His papa was the first commander of his grandfather’s crew and his daddy was the second commander both had cool super powers that could turn the world to ashes but would never let their flames hurt him. Instead they would use them to protect him from all the harm in the world.

The two would always tell him stories of their adventures and all the treasures they have found it made Edward want to go to sea and become a pirate like his parents.

His Daddy would always smile brightly whenever he said that while his Papa would just hug and squeeze him and call him his greatest treasure. It made both parents and his Grandfather smile with pride whenever Edward would tell him he wanted to be a great captain like his grandfather.

But in order to do that he needed to become stronger first and train as hard as his daddy did when he was his age.

Exploring the woods was Edward’s favorite thing to do. His grandmother would tell him how his daddy and his daddy’s brothers would come to these woods and explore it while also training in it.

He loved playing with the animals and also practicing his powers, it turned out that if both partners have devil fruits their offspring could inherit one or both of their parents, sometimes even a power similar to theirs.

Edward was able to inherit both of his parent’s powers…minus the ability to turn into a bird like his papa but he could heal himself from harm as well as turn himself into fire.

He was getting better with them, of course, his grandmother always told him to be careful and not draw attention to himself.

She never let him go to the village when asked why she would tell him that right now wasn’t the best time for everyone to know about him, she said that they will surprise everyone when Daddy and Papa came back.

He hoped they came back faster, he really wanted to see everyone at the village and play with the other kids.

At the moment Edward was trying to do the fire fist the move that made his daddy famous. He hoped that he could do it before he and papa came and get him and surprise his parents.

Edward pulled his tiny fist back and shouted,

“Fire fist!” aiming his little hand out and shooting flames out, they weren’t strong like daddy’s, but they were pretty like papa’s.

He smiled when he saw that his flames have gotten a little stronger when he saw the tree’s trunk become a darker color than it originally was.

“Yes!”

Edward was going to try it again when he heard a sobbing sound.

Was someone here? No, grandma Dadan told him no one was stupid enough to come to these woods, so why was he hearing someone crying?

Walking to the sound Edward came across a man who was sitting down in front of his daddy’s treehouse that he built with his brothers crying.

Why was he crying? And more importantly, why was he here in the forest?

“I’m sorry Roger, I’m sorry Rouge, Ace…ACE! Damnit brat! Why couldn’t you just live! Why didn’t you accept to become a warlord when they asked you to! Why?! Why?! WHY?!”

Edward watch with sadness as the old man punch the ground each time he spoke. He seemed so sad, not to mention he said his daddy’s name. Did…did something happened to Daddy?

“Umm…excuse me mister?”

The man turned to look at him and as soon as his eyes landed on him he looked like he seen a ghost.

“Ace…?”

“That’s my daddy’s name,” Edward said with a small smile on his tiny face.

“Do you know my daddy?”

Garp stared at the little boy before him…he looked so much like Ace minus the hair and eyes, hell the hair and eyes were the same shade as…no…realization drawn to him as he put two and two together him and MARCO! When the hell did that happened?!

He knew Ace and Marco were in a relationship, but he did not knew that they had a kid together…no…no…no…NO!

If Sengeku or worse Akainu found out about him they would kill him! They thought they ended Roger’s bloodline by killing the son of the Pirate King, they did not know that Ace had a child…which means…Roger’s bloodline is still alive!

Without thinking Garp reached for the boy and pulled him in his arms and cried.

A part of him felt like he was given a second chance to protect his family.

He already lost two of his grandsons, but he was not going to lose his great-grandson, he was not going to let anyone kill him! He failed Roger and Rouge, he failed to protect Ace, and he failed to spare Luffy from pain, but he was not going to fail this little boy.

He would do everything and anything to protect his great-grandson, and if that meant going against orders, he would do it without hesitation.

“Umm…mister-“

“GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

Both D. men turned to see Dadan glaring at them or more specifically at Garp. Before Garp could say anything Dadan raised her club and hit him as hard as she could!

Edward watch as the old man fell hard to the ground, before he could ask if he was okay Dadan snatched him up and ran as quickly as she could to her house.

“Dadan wait!”

Dadan didn’t listen she just ran as fast as she could with Edward in her arms.

Edward was confused, why was grandma taking him away from that man? Was he a bad man? Grandma, Grandpa, Papa, and Daddy told him that there were bad men who wouldn’t like him because of who his daddy is.

Maybe he was a bad man since he scared Grandma, but if he was why was he crying and asking for forgiveness and crying for Daddy?

They reached the house in record time, Dadan placed him down,

“Edward, go to your secret place and stay there until I come get you,”

“Okay Grandma,” he didn’t ask any questions, he could see his grandma was afraid of that man. He didn’t know why that man scared her but if he could put fear in one of the strongest women, he knew then he must be a bad guy.

Edward ran to his secret room, the one his parents built for him to hide if he was ever in danger.

Dadan watched as her little grandson ran to his secret room before she turned and locked the door to her house. It might be a useless attempt since she knew Garp could easily destroy the door with his bare hand but even so, she was going to do whatever she could to protect her little boy.

Grabbing her club, as she waited patiently for Garp to come barging through the door like he did in the past.

Garp arrived at the house and to say he was nervous was an understatement.

In the past he would just barge in and start giving everyone in that house a fist of love but that was before…before everything went south.

Taking a deep breath Garp approached the house, he could feel his heart beat accelerating wondering if he should just break the door down.

“No, I shouldn’t besides if I want her to let me near my great-grand brat then I should approach this with a delicate matter,”

Taking a deep breath Garp raised his hand and knocked on the door.

“Dadan, it’s-“

“Go away!”

“Dadan please, let me-“

“You didn’t save Ace! You didn’t bother to protect him or Luffy! If you think I’m going to let you anywhere near him then think again!”

“Dadan! Please I’m-“

“You care more about your duty then you do your family! What will happen if they capture him huh? What if they want to kill him like they did his father?! You would just stand by and let it happen again!”

“NO! Dadan I won’t let it happen not this time! I’ll-“

“YOU GOT MY SON KILLED! He may not have been my son by blood, but he was still MY SON! You let them kill him! You let LUFFY watched as they took away his brother! Two of my boys are gone! I…I couldn’t protect Sabo…I couldn’t save Ace but like hell would I let you harm Luffy or Edward!”

Garp stared at the door and could hear Dadan’s sobs it was then that he realized something, something that both he and Makino have foolishly ignored.

She was wrong…she said Luffy was suffering more than anyone but seeing her tears, hearing her cries Garp knew deep down that she was suffering just as much as Luffy, she raised Ace. She took care of him and was there for him throughout his entire childhood, she may have hated him at first but if he had to guess Dadan grew to love Ace and she saw him, Sabo, and Luffy as her boys. Losing one killed her, losing another is destroying her and she was doing everything she could to protect her last one along with her surrogate grandson.

She was their mother; she may have been forced to raise the boys but she still did her best took care of them and made sure they were safe.

She loved them and knowing that she lost Ace had her wanting to do whatever she could to protect Luffy and the little boy, Edward. If Garp had to guess Ace named him after Whitebeard.

Then he remembers one of their last conversations how Ace claimed only Whitebeard as his father and not Roger, so yeah it was most likely Ace that named the boy.

Taking a deep breath Garp sat down and waited until Dadan calmed down, he hated himself for what he had done, for not doing anything to save Ace, but she had to understand. She had to know he had no choice, he was caught between doing what he thought was right and what the world believed was right which is why he retired so that if something like Marineford happened again he could save Luffy without facing the consequences sure he still had ties to the Marines but the only ties he had was to train the new recruits other than that Garp was more than welcome to do whatever he pleased.

He had to let Dadan know that, that he was free-not really but still had enough freedom to save and protect Luffy and now his great-grandson should they ever get capture by the Marines.

He sat down and waited for her tears to stop but something told Garp he would be waited for a long, long time before she ran out of tears.

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Despite what everyone thinks Blackbeard did not want to turn Ace in, if anything he wanted to protect him and the little brat of his.

If he would have only joined his crew then maybe he would still be alive, he would be right here beside him along with little Edward.

He would admit it that it killed him to see his commander lying on the ground as he took his final breath and left this world behind.

He hated himself for he partially blamed himself that his commander died, but if only he had listen to him and joined his crew than none of this would have happened. It didn’t matter though; he may have gotten his commander killed but he be damn if he let anything happen to little Edward.

He may be part Marco but the little boy was still a part of Ace, he looked a lot like Ace the only difference were his eyes and hair color other than that he was the spitting image of his commander.

Which is why he and his crew were heading to Foosha Village where he knew the little boy was at. If he can get to him before Marco, he can take the boy far away from the rest of the Whitebeards and protect him a hell of a lot better than his former crew.

If his good for nothing old crew got both Ace and Whitebeard killed who’s to say they wouldn’t do the same for little Edward.

Not to mention that his commander’s grandfather was Garp, the Great Hero of The Marines. If he finds out about Edward…the thought alone scared the Blackbeard Captain that he shouted at his navigator to go faster.

He needed to get to Foosha Village as fast as possible, if any marine spotted the boy they would turn him in.

No, Teach would not let harm come to that boy, he would do whatever is necessary to protect him and he will be damn if Marco, Luffy, or anyone else got in the way, looking at his hand he saw that he had Whitebeard’s devil fruit, at the moment he did not want to eat it, he wanted to save it till he got to Foosha village so that he could kill Marco with the same power that once protected him and his siblings.

Taking a deep breath Teach put the fruit away in one of his treasure chests, making sure to keep it under lock and key.

After all, if his sources were correct then Marco should be heading towards Foosha Village as well and that’s where he’ll make his move.

#To the Moon and back #portgas d. ace #marco the phoenix #portgas d. edward #my writing #happy halloween #original child character #marcoace #one piece #one piece fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #angst

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pandamega · 5 years

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Up In Flames [Ch. 1]

AO3 | FF.net (not a new fic, just never uploaded it to tumblr)

AU. Marco/Ace. Arson investigator Ace finds himself working on a case with police detective Marco, linking a string of arsons to a web of organized crime that pulls them in deeper than they ever wanted.

Thick, stifling streams of smoke climbed out of the charred and crumbled debris and clung heavily to the air. The crooked, skeletal rebar climbed out of the collapsed concrete like bones escaping flesh, and the blackened remains of wood and cloth scattered ashes into the wind.

“How many dead?”

“Three.”

“Damn.”

Flashing blue and red lights illuminate the night, reflecting off of the surrounding midcentury colonial houses and one pile of smoldering rubble, barely maintaining the shape of what once was a home.

“How many house fires is that this month?”

“Too many.”

When the firefighters cleared the scene, one man from the fire department stayed behind, a tall, dark haired man with a splash of freckles scattered across the bridge of his nose under a thick layer of ash. He surveyed the damage, taking mental note of the burn patterns, the way the structure crumbled, the burn path. He circled the entirety of the decrepit property before entering the charred remains.

Outside, two police detectives interviewed neighbors and witnesses. One man, dressed in a posh white suit with a swirl of fashionable auburn hair and a goatee, comforted a sobbing woman gently while she described what she had seen.

“It all happened so fast, I smelled smoke from my bedroom and though my husband left something on the stove, but when I looked out the window I saw fire coming out of the neighbors house. I just… I was so stunned! I called 911 and the fire department arrived, but by then the roof had already caved in, I couldn’t believe how fast a house could just burn down… and the neighbors! Oh, it’s just terrible,” she sobbed.

The other officer, a tall man with a tuft of yellow hair on the top of his head and lazy eyes nodded in understanding, writing down her description in his notebook.

The detectives let the woman go back into her home and turned towards the blackened rubble.

“Hard to believe that used to be a house,” the white suited man said to his partner.

“Yeah.”

A dust-covered man emerged from the skeletal remains of the house, brushing ash from his clothes, and approached the two men with a somber look.

“Who wears white to a house fire?” the dusty man commented.

With a chuckle, the man replied, “Name’s Thatch. You must be the arson investigator.”

“That’s me, call me Ace,” he replied, extending a dusty hand which was promptly taken by the other detective in a firm handshake, drawing his attention to the blonde, lazy-eyed man.

“Nice to meet you Ace, I’m Marco. I’ll be the lead detective on this case,” the blonde detective said, locking eyes with the arson investigator in an intense gaze. The intensity was stirring and Ace felt his immediate, engaging presence and found it to be energizing. The contrast of that energy to the calmness of his features was captivating.

“What did the neighbors say?” Ace asked the detectives.

“They all agreed it happened very fast. One minute they notice flames in the windows. When the fire department arrives at the scene the roof has already collapsed, and just minutes later the place is rubble,” explained Marco.

“That sounds about right,” the arson investigator hummed. “This wasn’t an accidental fire. I’ve collected some samples to bring to the lab.”

“Was it the same as the other fires?” Thatch asked, referring to the previous fires that month.

Ace shook his head, “No, the trouble is all the fires were started differently; different incendiaries, different accelerants. I can’t link them by method.” He brushed a hand through his hair, causing a drift of ash and dust to fall to his shoulders. “But I have this gut feeling, something’s going on, and this isn’t going to be the last fire like this we put out.”

When the detectives got back into the car Thatch smirked to his partner from the passenger seat, “that arson investigator huh? He’s totally your type.”

“Shut it Thatch,” the blonde rebuked.

“I saw the way you took that handshake, damn, you were not gonna let me touch him first.”

“Come on man, people just died, show some respect and stop talking about my love life for once.”

His partner shrugged, “people die every day in this line of business. But you don’t run into an ass like that every day. You get his number?”

“Of course I got his number, dipshit, we’re gonna be working together,” Marco snapped, but he was smiling. His good natured partner took every chance to tease him but they could never stay mad at each other.

Back in his office Ace felt like one of those wild conspiracy theorists with his wall of arson evidence. The investigator was a visual person and needed his information out where he could see it to visualize the way the pieces went together. He new there were pieces missing, but he felt like he was so close to solving this thing, cracking it open. This was the third arson this month, different MO each time, yet in his gut he knew they were connected, and he knew there were more to come. And today he had met the third pair of police detective he would be working with. Couldn’t they assign one guy to the arsons instead of having him running between six different people to convey his findings? He felt like he was at his wits end. At least the one blond detective seemed very serious. Perhaps they would actually make some progress on this one. Ace was working overtime, all the time, and his little brother was getting frustrated with him. He hated doing this to Luffy. Sure, the kid was fiercely independent, but Ace had moved back East for the sole purpose of spending more time with him.

He rubbed at his eyes. On top of everything, his narcoleptic ass hadn’t been getting enough sleep. Leaning back in his chair, Ace felt himself floating in and out of consciousness and was about to pass out right then and there when his phone rang, jolting him out of his sleeping spell.

“This is Ace,” he answered,

“Hey, it’s Marco, the detective from the arson case today.”

“Oh Marco, you’re working late.”

There was a chuckle on the other end of the line, “Did I wake you?”

Ace laughed awkwardly, “You caught me.”

“My bad, sleeping beauty.” Marco continued before Ace could reply to the comment, “I was thinking about what you said, about how you think these cases are connected, I’d like to hear more about that. You free for coffee some time tomorrow?”

This is something Marco liked about his work, he could casually ask people on dates without actually asking them on a date.

“Mmm, Sleeping beauty huh. You’ve clearly never seen me sleep,” Ace laughed, “How is noon tomorrow? Not the Starbucks but that coffee shop on the corner with the couches.”

“I know the one, I’ll see you there at noon,” Marco was grinning, he liked this Ace guy already.

Notes: updates will be slow ahaha sorry

#marco x ace #marco/ace #one piece #fanfiction #fanfic #pandawrites

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kingcocoabutter · 6 years

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The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

I saw a video recently discussing the merits of Whole Cake Island and Sanji’s character arc within said story arc and there was a word that caught my attention. Intentions. The author asserted that Sanji is willing to forgive Pudding for shooting his sister and he was willing to place himself at BM’s mercy because he felt that their intentions were good. It is a fascinating idea and one I want to explore in more depth in this editorial. Fair warning that this editorial will be somewhat lengthy. It is going to explore a range of seemingly diverse topics but I swear that they are all interrelated. Let’s start with the easy stuff.

What You See Is What You Get?

If you were to ask fans what the central “theme” of Whole Cake Island (insomuch as it has one) you’d probably get answers like: parenting, family, race relations, self-discovery, and acceptance. Fair and true. But it is also an arc about dealing with personal pain and overcoming trauma. After all it’s the main defense that fans use to support Sanji’s actions during this arc. Sanji’s “self-sacrificial nature” is a result of the endless years of abuse at the hands of the people that were supposed to love and support him come hell or high water: his family. And while Sanji may have managed to escape that hellhole and learn the true meaning of love and family he’s never really addressed his conflicted feelings about his “real” family or confronted his abusers. But more on that later.

I’ve said it before in a previous editorial but I understand why Sanji made the decisions he did at the start of this arc. I don’t think any of the other Straw-hat would have behaved any differently when protecting their friends from harm. Especially when that Strawhat, as we have been repeatedly told, is so kind. I even understand why certain key events in this arc played out the way they did. Especially Pudding and Katakuri’s character arc’s, which really are a central lynchpin around which so many of the events of this arc revolve around. But first please permit me a brief digression.

Most fan expectations for this arc skew towards the idea that the Charlotte Family and the Straw Hats conflict will be resolved by having them end up as allies by the end of the arc (whatever shape that may take). I know some fans are opposed to this because of the belief that one cannot know an author’s intentions before the story is complete and that setting strong expectations can only inevitably lead to disappointment. Fair. That said I land firmly in the camp of The Charlotte’s will be allies for a number of simple reasons:

1) Oda cannot realistically expect to convince me that half of the SH crew were able to storm an Emperor’s territory and defeat all their forces, no matter how unusual the circumstances. I’m putting aside arguments regarding the expectation of running away from the clash or other related arguments because they are not relevant to the contents of this work. If I feel they are relevant to the arguments I’m making then I may address them later on.

2) The way Oda has structured the relationship between the two prominent main characters on both the SH’s and Charlotte sides (Luffy/Sanji, Katakuri/Pudding) leaves me no doubt in my mind that there will be no protracted conflict between the two groups. Again maybe a discussion for further in the editorial.

So many fans whose analysis of WCI I read bring up pretty much the same arguments and defense of the characters. All of them see Pudding/Sanji/Katakuri as sympathetic and relatable characters and it’s not hard to see why. Each of them has had expectations placed on them regarding behavior since the day they were born in spite of the fact that their personalities seem to run counter to said expectations. Sanji was supposed to be an apathetic killer working in the service of his father to restore the glory of a fading nation. Katakuri is…well we ASSUME that he has spent a lifetime striving to achieve a state of perfection so…perfect, so that he can compensate for his relatively minor “flaw” despite it not being perceived as such by his family. Pudding is much the same in she puts on a mask to plays the role of the perfect daughter who is a pawn in her mother’s machinations (much like all her siblings) to gain power/alliances that will allow her mother to achieve her dream of creating a utopia for all races.

We are also shown how tenuous the bonds of blood that bind the Charlotte family together seem frail and frayed in the presence of a family like the SH’s whose bonds have been forged in the fires of love, friendship, conflict, and perhaps most importantly choice. Given that it makes sense then why the crux of this arc relies on us understanding that the reason Katakuri/Pudding are swayed by Luffy/Sanji is because they are genuine people with good intentions who have shown them something they have never gotten from their family: kindness. It’s most likely the reason Sanji so strictly adheres to Zeff’s teachings and code is that he was one of the first people to show Sanji kindness. He was the person that selflessly gave of himself so that Sanji could live. And for a kid who has spent his entire life being told that he was worthless, a mistake, and an embarrassment, that is a powerful action indeed. So let’s talk about that Pudding eye scene.

The single most “powerful” defense of the Pudding scene is the idea that Sanji saw a kindred spirit in Pudding, much like Zeff did in Sanji all those years ago. That the sentiment behind his exclamation of the beauty of her eye was grounded in something deeper, something empathetic, and something…genuine. And given that we know Sanji is doing his best to model himself after the man he admires, maybe Oda’s intentions with that scene were to capture that same feeling. After all Pudding has basically been stuck in a situation similar to Sanji for far longer than he had without the possibility of escape. And given what we what we know of the Charlotte family, it would seem kindness is not a trait they value. So when seemingly confronted with someone that shows her something she has never experienced before what else would Pudding do? Especially when it’s directed at a perceived flaw that seems so trivial when compared to the whole.

It all seems so perfect doesn’t it? Sanji was born into a family that saw his kindness as a weakness until a man showed him that his perceived flaw was not something to be ashamed of but rather should be carried as a mark of pride. Then when he comes across someone in a similar situation to his he emulates the actions of the man he so admires to lift them up much like what was once done for him. All these pieces fit together so well it almost seems like WCI should be one of Oda’s better arcs. So why don’t I feel it? Well that’s probably because that while Totland, may seem like a Utopia from a cursory examination, a closer look would reveal all the hidden cracks and imperfections that mar its flawless façade. And what better place to begin examining its structural flaws then with one of its mightiest pillars: Sanj’s character arc.

You Are The Weakest Link! Goodbye.

Is Sanji shallow? I heard a fan ask once why other fans (mostly women) were bothered by Sanji’s preferences regarding women. Why were they trying to shame him for being physically attracted to a certain “type” of woman? Well…it’s complicated but I’ll do my best to give input.

One reason it’s so problematic is how Oda embraces a problematic cultural trend that has been emblematic of a societal problem that has plagued us for centuries. We have been fed a media diet that has conditioned us to recognize certain body shapes as being the model of attractiveness, and Oda has taken that to an EXTREME with his female characters. Any DESIREABLE WOMAN in the series has a certain body shape and they are almost always meant to be perceived via “The Male Gaze”. Chapter 898 being a perfect example, with all the Vinsmoke brothers being drawn in dynamic action panels and yet when we see Reiju attack it’s with a nice front row seat to her ass. Or even consider the infamous bath scene in Capone’s hideout. It is very telling that Oda only draws Nami/Carrot “naked” in the bath and has Chiffon sitting off to the side fully clothed. Saying “well Chiffon was holding Pez” is an excuse and an example of how good Oda is at illusion, and misdirection. He believes that Chiffon isn’t attractive like the others and so he shunted her off to the side. What does this have to do with Sanji? I wrote an entire editorial about this but to reiterate: What does Sanji love about women? Answer: He loves their looks.

Now I know fans will want to bombard with me all manner of “That’s not true” and “he loves Pudding” and maybe even a “So?” I’ll address the latter but with regards to the former the only question I’ll ask is: Does he really though? What exactly does he love about Pudding? I haven’t been as attentive to the events of this arc due to my lack of emotional investment and so maybe someone will prove me wrong, but off the top of my head I cannot remember Sanji ever stating what exactly he loves about Pudding. And I mean something specific apart from she’s sweet/kind. Mostly because that was a façade she was putting on but also because those are very generic character traits that can be broadly applied.

I am not going to judge someone for taking physical appearances and traits into account when choosing a partner (stones and glass houses as it were) because that’s how we’re programmed and it’s something we have had jammed down our throat for years. There’s a trend starting recently that’s starting to make a move away from that with body positivity but it’s hard to undo centuries of mental conditioning so easily. So I’m not saying Sanji is shallow for being attracted to certain kinds of women but I will totally call him shallow for that being the only DEFINING trait that he claims to LOVE about women. And it plays into one of the biggest problems I have with this arc: The pudding eye scene.

My question to fans would be: Would Sanji have reacted the same way if Pudding was not a conventionally attractive woman? What if instead of her it had been Chiffon that he was to marry? Would he still be able to convince himself that he would be happy? Would he still have reacted the same way to any potential third eyes she had? Yes? Bullshit. I don’t buy it for a second and none of Sanji’s actions throughout the series have convinced me otherwise or even given me cause for reasonable doubt. The reason that the Pudding eye scene falls so flat for me is that Pudding is GORGEOUS. There is no believable world in which Sanji’s reaction to her eye would be anything BUT positive. Especially given his reputation for being a horn dog and ESPECIALLY when considering the kinds of women he finds attractive. A cynical person might even note that maybe that’s the reason Oda has spent so much time this arc reiterating how Sanji is KIND.

I know some fans will justify it by saying that Sanji could have seen something in Pudding that gave him insight into her inner turmoil. After all we as readers are not privy to every single event that the Straw Hats are involved in because they aren’t relevant to the story. Something could have happened during all the time that Sanji was with Pudding while we readers were preoccupied with one of the other groups on Whole Cake Island. Fair. But it’s not enough. That scene serves as a central crux of this arc and its importance means that reading between the lines and general assumptions aren’t enough. And given everything we know about Sanji that runs counter to what we’re supposed to believe I don’t think it’s unfair to ask for more. Which brings me to the core of this editorial.

The Missing Link

I’ve been privy to a number of conversations recently regarding “villainous” characters and how fans don’t understand how or why someone could like someone so heinous. The prime example of this being Bakugo from My Hero Academia. I’ll provide a quick refresher/primer for those that are unfamiliar with this character. Bakugo was basically the golden child, that was naturally gifted with a powerful superpower and whose arrogance was fanned by the flames of admiration.

He develops a dislike for another child (Midoriyia) whom he perceives as weak (because he lacks a “quirk”) and he relentlessly torments him and bullies him for much of his childhood. Bakugo is seemingly an irredeemable asshole. That said a core part of the story focuses on Bakugo’s development as he comes to terms with his past behavior so that he can set himself on the path to becoming the person he wants to be. He’s a kid that’s some done some horrific shit because that’s what you do when you’re a kid. You’re focused on your wants, your desires, and your pain. It’s basically all what can the world do for me and I deserve this. But the lesson most people learn is that actions have consequences and some of them may unintentionally or ignorantly cause harm to others because you don’t know better. A person’s past should not define their future but neither should it be wholly discounted. And that’s one of the things that kind of bothers me about Luffy.

Fans have questioned before why Luffy never pays attention to the backstories of his crew or the people he befriends and I feel like it’s because he doesn’t care about their past. Luffy only cares about what actions a person takes now because what’s done is done and there really isn’t much you can do to change that. It’s even easier to ignore when you consider that Oda has written someone like Luffy to be able to instinctually tell (much like Sanji this arc) what someone’s intentions/personality are like. And much like Sanji that has NEVER backfired on him. But more than that it also means you either don’t want to consider what terrible things a person has done or you don’t think it’s important. And that is problematic.

I’m not going to go dive into speculation about whether the SH’s are good people or not because that’s a mighty big rabbit hole to fall down. So instead let’s focus solely on the actions of the characters on Whole Cake Island and how it ties into the broader theme of empathy.

Empathy at its core is simply the ability to relate to another person’s perspective. To put yourself in their shoes. It’s the basis for “The Golden Rule” i.e. treat others how you’d like to be treated and phrases like “walk a mile in her shoes”. It is also, as Mihawk so observantly noted during Marineford, one of Luffy’s greatest weapons. It was also brought up more recently when, during a flashback, Luffy told Rayleigh that he felt a person’s personality was important to him in regards to predicting the future and observation haki.

I’ve speculated on this countless times but to summarize: I believe the inherent power of Observation Haki is basically Oda turning empathy into a superpower. Consider all the most powerful observation haki users we’ve seen in the story thus far: Otohime, Asia, Coby, Madame Shyarly (potentially), Sanji, Luffy, Katakuri. When you consider all their personalities it would seem that they are all extraordinarily empathic/sensitive to other people’s emotions/auras. The sole “logical” and “powerful” argument in defense of the Pudding eye scene relies heavily on the reader’s assumption that this was why Pudding reacted so strongly to Sanji’s comment. The same could be said for the end of the Katakuri/Luffy fight when Luffy covered up Katakuri’s fangs with his hat. And I would further argue that we as readers are supposed to assume that since Luffy/Katakuri were both pushing their observation to the max, they gained some sort of insight into each other’s character that led to them developing “mutual respect”.

Empathy is so inherently important to so many of the events of this arc that I’m surprised that so many fans don’t bother mentioning it by name or acknowledging it’s importance. But here’s the thing about empathy. It doesn’t make you omnipotent. It doesn’t let you read someone’s mind. Observation haki may let you read someone’s aura/spirit/chi whatever you want to call it but in the end the observer is essentially making assumptions based on a number of minutiae (body language, tone of voice etc.) to determine how someone is FEELING. And thinking about it so much of this arc rides on the assumptions people are making without realizing how problematic that is. Cause here��s the thing about intentions/assumptions: they are flimsy. They are insubstantial. And we place far more weight on them than they can bear. Yet despite that they’re wielded like shields and swords to deflect or detract from a number of troublesome behaviors.

An argument I’ve heard repeatedly again and again is that “X character doesn’t need a reason to do Y” or my favorite “X character having a flaw doesn’t make them a bad person” or my favorite “X character’s flaw is part of their personality and you should learn to accept it because it makes them who they are”. And that last one especially is a doozy, but let’s start with the simple stuff first: reasons. Let’s take the example of two people brought in for the crime of stealing medicine. One because they can’t afford to pay for it and their child is very sick and one because they want to get high off the fumes. So does this mean:

a) Both of them should be charged and receive the same sentence or;

b) The one stealing medicine for his daughter should face a lenient sentence if any because of the circumstances around their actions?

Would reasons matter in this case? Should they matter? Can we even be sure either one is telling the truth or should we just take them at their word? The road that people pave during the journey of life is a complexly interweaved web of the choices they’ve made and the circumstances/situations they’ve faced that has made them whom they are. And empathy is an ability that allows you to untangle that web to try and understand the how and the why. It’s easy to judge a broad group of people by measuring them against a single standard. It’s much more complicated to judge a group of people individually and tailoring the judgement after considering all the divergent paths they’ve faced and the ones they’ve chosen that led them to where they are. It’s a problem that Sanji has and something I’ve addressed before in that he tends to tailor his actions towards groups of people rather than considering their individual merits. Hence why he treats an entire marginalized group so poorly and why he will not harm a woman regardless of how heinous the acts she has or may have committed. Pudding shot his sister, gloated about how she was involved in a plot to assassinate him and his “family”, mercilessly mocked him, and yet Sanji will not hold that against her. Why? Because he is “kind”.

But the thing about kindness is that it is none at all to turn a blind eye to someone’s heinous actions. There are any number of reasons that Pudding may have done what she did. She was scared of BM. She was made this way because she was bullied. She was “acting”. But none of that excuses the actions she took no matter what her intentions were. A true kindness would be to help someone understand why they act out this way and help them become the kind of people they want to be. And that brings me back to the point I made above regarding flaws. Because it’s one thing to acknowledge that you have flaw. A person may be able to look at an aspect of their personality and say “yeah this is my weakness” and as long as it doesn’t hurt someone that’s fine (for the most part). But what if your flaw is something dangerous that could put the people that you love in danger?

The thing that annoys me about Sanji’s “flaw” is fans accept it as part of his personality and they’re willing to ignore it because he’s got an exceptional group of friends that will help him. After all it’s like Luffy said: I’ll do what you can’t do and you do what I can’t do. Ah! But the key word there is can’t. As in I literally cannot physically/psychologically or whatever do this thing. Sanji doesn’t want to hit women. It’s not something he cannot do. Usopp does not want to place himself in danger. His cowardice is his weakness. And he could do the same thing and say that he can’t fight. And I don’t think the crew would ever hold it against him. YET whenever Usopp exhibits this cowardice and considers running away, fans are very quick to eviscerate him. Yet when Sanji was selfishly unwilling to fight a woman, when time was a critical factor, it was shrugged off. Fans are more willing to accept that Sanji will never hit a woman and that doing so “would ruin his character” and yet they get infuriated that Usopp is “still a coward”. And that’s likely because it’s been instilled in us that hitting women is not something a moral/noble person would do. But you know what? Refusing to acknowledge or even introspectively consider the actions of your weakness and instead relying on your crew to compensate for you is the most selfish and cowardly thing you can do. You know why Usopp’s moment on Arlong Park was one of the most goddamn powerful moments in the series? It’s because Usopp is brave enough to recognize his weakness and strong enough to overcome it because he wants to support his friends. He wants to become the kind of man that would be proud to stand next to them shoulder to shoulder, KNOWING that he has done everything he possibly could have to help them during their journey.

So let me present a hypothetical. What if all the SH’s were otherwise pre-occupied and Sanji was the only one that could have saved Robin? He can’t just pass it off onto Usopp/Nami saying I WON’T hit a woman. I know that Sanji is probably so attached to Zeff’s teachings because he wants Zeff to be proud of him. He want his mentor that he loves/respects more than anything to be proud of the life he’s lived and he doesn’t want him to think that saving Sanji was a mistake. But here’s the thing. Sanji isn’t living his life for Zeff and I don’t think Zeff saved his life because he wanted Sanji to feel obligated to him. Zeff made choice to take a chance on a kid that might achieve the dream that he never could. I don’t think Zeff is the kind of man that would blame/fault Sanji for not being perfect, or deciding that maybe he doesn’t want to find the All Blue after all. And I’m not saying that if Sanji kicks one woman that all bets are off and he should just go around kicking any potential female enemy they come across. See above where I said I want him to stop tailoring his actions to a broad group of people. If Sanji wants Zeff to be proud of him then maybe he should live his life on his own terms. Because at the end of the day that’s all that matters. Is Sanji proud of who he became? When he dies will he die satisfied that it was a life well lived? If he can stand next to Zeff one day and say yes to all of the former isn’t that all that matters? And if Zeff was ever the kind of person that judged Sanji for hitting a woman to save his friends, then maybe he’s not the kind of person he should give his respect to in the first place.

Bakugo has made some shitty choices as a kid either out of selfishness, ignorance, or arrogance. BUT he’s starting to learn. He’s changing himself and his approach to others. And I hope that eventually he makes amends with Midoriya for all the atrocious shit he puts him through. And Midoriya might not forgive him. And that’s okay too. Because the point of the apology is not to make yourself feel better that your intentions were good because you are defined by the actions you take. All you can do is understand how your actions hurt other people and then going forward work to make sure it doesn’t happen again (at least intentionally but again that’s a complicated issue for another time). But this is the big kicker and one of the storytelling elements that’s been weakest in Whole Cake Island. Like I said it’s one thing to acknowledge a flaw and another thing to overcome it. But can a thing really be called a flaw if never results in consequences?

It Ain’t Over Till The Fat Lady Sings:

I’ve always imagined that having the Grand Line being split into Paradise and the New World was reflective of the process of growing up. The first half is the journey towards adulthood where you make friends, set your sights on a goal/dream you want to reach, and learn what your values are. In the second half your CONVICTION in all those areas is tested. Is your bond with your friends/family based on something real or were the connections so tenuous and superficial that they were never there in the first place? Placed in a desperate situation where your values are tested will you still have the strength to hold onto them? What cost are you willing to pay to achieve your dreams? And how many people are you willing to step on to reach that goal if any?

Avid followers of my Twitter theory posts will note that I’ve stated this before but I want the Strawhats to be tested in ways they’ve never been tested before in the New World. After all they are in the big leagues now. We’ve seen how the New World takes in hopeful, optimistic, ambitious rookies and spit them out again as callous, hardened, broken men and women. One of the reasons I love Sabaoady and Marineford so much is that those arcs are the first time that Luffy has ever really tasted defeat. No amount of luck or skill could have saved him from those situations, even though he did his absolute best, because he was weak. In his case it meant that he wasn’t powerful enough and I don’t expect that to always be the case. But in a series like One Piece, where people’s convictions in their dreams are represented by their ability to overpower their opponents it’s something that can’t be ignored. So how do you push people past their limits? You attack their weaknesses (an idea I’ve explored in my other editorial “The Hero’s Dilemma”). If you want to test the strength of a person’s convictions and push them past their limit then you have to place them in a situation where they are FORCED to grow, change, and adapt. But you can’t just place the character at the precipice of the volcano and then pull them back at the ending and let them go on their merry way. It’ll instill fear in them for a little while but then they’ll forget about it because there was no CONSEQUNCE! And it’s something that is especially important in a series like One Piece.

One of the big problems I’ve had with this arc is Sanji’s general attitude and treatment of women. So you can imagine I was a little bit infuriated in a recent chapter when he so easily made light of all of Pudding’s actions up to that point, even thanking her for “playing the role of his bride”. It was first brought up in Water 7 when Sanji told chopper that “a man forgives a woman’s lies” and it’s been heavily played up this arc with Sanji calling out Pudding’s “acting” and questioning whom was she really fooling. Remember how I mentioned that empathy is a not a mind-reading power? Well Oda has been really heavy handed in treating it like one. We are to ASSUME that Sanji somehow has an intimate understanding of a woman’s true intentions because he is “kind”. And quite frankly that’s something that’s very easy for him to do when he is RIGHT EVERY TIME. And it’s even easier for him to do when there’s been no consequences.

Because that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s easy for Sanji to say that he believes in his captain when he has no real personal stakes in the matter. I hate that Oda made the bomb cuffs a red herring and then used the wedding as plot convenience to ensure that Sanji didn’t have to lose anything. . It’s bugged me throughout this arc that Sanji didn’t have any faith in Luffy or the crew being able to help him out of his hopeless situation but as soon as he’s free then he can start spouting all that nonsense again about how his captain will become the Pirate King. And what makes it worse is that Oda has repeatedly dropped hints about it throughout the series. Luffy wants to be the Pirate King because he wants to be a man with unlimited freedom. But that’s not something he can just have for free because other people will fight him for that same right. So he has to have POWER. It can be interpreted as you like: physical power? Authority? Alliances? Weapons? If he wants to be the Pirate King then he needs to ensure that he doesn’t have any weaknesses that can be exploited. And of Luffy’s greatest strength and his greatest weakness is his crew. He would do anything for them, including invading an underwater prison (his brother now crew but they are the same for this purpose), the HQ of a clandestine government organization, or the territory of an Emperor of the sea. But the thing is he can’t do it alone. And I don’t just mean that he can’t do it without the help of his friends (though there is that) but rather the person he’s saving has want to be saved. Fans like to compare Sanji’s actions to Robin’s during Water 7 and Nami’s during Arlong and that’s fair. Fans may not like the comparison but it stand that in each of these cases the lesson they had to learn was that they needed to trust in their friends. There are some challenges they might face alone that they can’t overcome but that there aren’t any challenges they can’t overcome if they work together and trust in each other’s strengths. And Sanji didn’t do that when he was at his lowest point. He only did that after he was unburdened from having to make the choice to lose something he valued the most. And I don’t want to hear arguments about Sanji’s self-worth and all that because it doesn’t matter. At this point in the series there is no excuse for Sanji to EVER doubt in the strength of his crew or his captain and the things that they can achieve for their love of one another.

One of my favorite panels from Zou is the one where Pekoms tells Luffy that Big Mom could have the heads of a loved one sent to anyone that declines her tea party invitation because that’s true power. And if Luffy ever wants to claim to be the Pirate King then he has to wield a similar level of power. The sight of his flag flying on an island should inspire the same level of respect that pirates had when they saw Whitebeard’s flag on Fishman Island. Luffy’s reputation should be so well know that no-one would dare harm anyone that claims his protection because the consequences would be DIRE. And that’s the thing I didn’t see Sanji acknowledge. Yes he was stuck in a seemingly impossible situation. He had the best of intentions when he did everything that he did because he thought he was protecting everyone. But he was being selfish. He thought he could/should shoulder his burden himself. He didn’t want to ask his friends for help because he didn’t want them to get hurt. But you know what? They did.

They invaded the territory of an Emperor and started a fight with her at a time they could ill afford to do so. Luffy was brutally beaten, almost had his hand chopped off, and he lost a tooth. The Sunny took massive damage. And Pedro is dead. Except…none of that matters does it?

Luffy almost got his arm chopped off and yet there’s no scar to show for it and it didn’t hinder him in his fight against Katakuri in the least. He lost a tooth, and while the gag was funny the first time, he grew it back again leaving no trace. And the Sunny? Well this isn’t like the first half of the series is it? The sunny will get repaired because they have Franky. Any “damage” it takes is temporary and there’s no reason to pretend that we’re supposed to care because the Strawhat’s do because we know better. We know that the good guys always win in the end. So how do you still make it FEEL like they achieved something? How do you make it look like they changes? That they learned a lesson? That there was a cost? You have consequences.

Empathy is one of the most powerful tools in a storyteller’s repertoire because the easiest way to get you invested in a story is to have you be invested in the characters. Having a sad backstory in One Piece is not something unique. Sure it may set your starting point on the path of life but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a straight one or that you are confined to its borders. And despite Oda being heavy-handed in his use of it during this arc it really feels like he’s just going through the motions. He’s given us a few panels of backstory for Pudding/Katakuri and used his characterization of Big Mom to justify their actions and make us sympathize with them. It feels like we’re supposed to feel sorry for them because they had a shitty past. But does that mean we just assume their actions are justified? That they’ve never once done a single heinous thing in the service of Big Mom. Or are we supposed to sympathize with them because we ASSUME Luffy/Sanji are good judges of character? How great would it be if they turned out to be wrong? If someone they trusted/admired betrayed them and they never saw it coming? Because that’s the thing about reading a series like One Piece. We know the good guys will beat out the bad guys in the end. But reading a story where they always win is boring. It’s more interesting to see them fail and get knocked down. Because then we get to see them climb back up again over and over and over. And each time they get knocked down they would learn something new about themselves. It’s why some of the most powerful moments in the series are just that: powerful. Whether it’s Zoro being cut down by Mihawk, Usopp confronting his weakness, or Nami/Robin learning to ask for help. All these little moments make us cheer that much harder for these characters because we know they’re going through hell but the moment they get their reward it’ll all have been worth it. And that is something I’ve been advocating for either through my criticism of the series or even via the theories I create. And that’s why I can only see WCI really ending satisfactorily in one way.

Because Whole Cake Island is about more than just Sanji learning that kindness isn’t a weakness (or whatever bullshit it was). It’s about learning what being a Utopia truly means, it’s about confronting your abusers and coming to terms with your past, it’s about shattering illusions, it’s about power and family and kindness. But more importantly it’s the beginning of learning exactly what the Strawhats role in the grand scheme of things is. But that’s a theory for another day. Whole Cake Island could be the start of a trend in the way One Piece approaches stories going forward. But it really depends on what Oda chooses to do going forward. I want to believe that Oda has good intentions but that’s just not enough anymore. Show me that you are the great storyteller I know you can be. One Piece has the potential to be the greatest story ever told and just know that no-one wants that to be more true than me.

#WholeCakeIsland Intentions Empathy

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dreaminglyyou · 7 years

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Luffy and Nami analysis

I ship Luffy X Nami so hard and I always will be. This is my analysis or thoughts about LuNa. People often mistook it whenever there is an act between them, they think that action evolves around love. 1) An example for this is when Luffy first saw a naked woman *cough lol I like this scene tho everyone was cute* which that woman is Nami. His face went red and his nose bleeds. But he didn't act like this when Hancock was naked in front of him. * I always thought that Luffy blushes when he saw Nami naked was because she was his friend and kind of like a family to him. * Also, he doesn't know Hancock the first time they encountered and he saw her naked. That's why I thought Luffy doesn't shows any kinds of feelings or emotions towards anyone he never met before. 2) Nami hugging Luffy. Gawdd I love that scene because it's their first time hugging and Luffy kind of hugged back helppp But, somehow I think Nami was going to do that in the first place or that: * She feels guilty because Sanji left them. * There was no other act except to hug her captain. Oda-sensei might already planned this scene (thank you) and Nami was running to them with open arms. Lol what would you do if not hug someone? * When Luffy mentioned Sanji, she immediately felt guilty and that's why she hugged Luffy. 3) Luffy entrusting his straw hat to Nami Another scene that I love. And also, I think this is just an act of compassion because: * Nami is the first woman around his age that he's grown closer to. * He trust Nami. Don't you realize that most of the time they were separated, Luffy would always called Nami first? Oh wait something just came in my mind- *When Luffy cried because Shanks was leaving, he puts his straw hat on Luffy's head and I think he does the same to Nami because it gave him comfort. (okay I'm done with my feels) I'm done talking why these acts are only showing that they do not have feelings for each other. Now, let me tell you why they have to be with each other at the end of series (I know it's going to be years until it ends but man, my heart hurts thinking One piece ending) 1) Luffy's dream was to become a Pirate King. And to him, becoming a Pirate King means he can sail the seas freely. 2) Nami's dream was to draw the map of the world. Don't you think these two will always be together and after Luffy becomes a Pirate King, it's time for Nami to finish her dream through Luffy's freedom on the sea and Nami to navigate him also drawing maps. 3) Nami said that she will takes Luffy wherever he wants to go as his navigator. (a navigator or a pirate queen? Both.) 4) Because they are so made for each other. 5) They haven't realized it yet that whenever they're around together, everything seemed cute around them. 6) It's been shown that Luffy and Roger had so many similarities. Nami and Rouge looked alike and I thought Luffy and Nami were incarnation of Roger and Rouge. I don't think that they will be together before they reach Raftel cause One Piece isn't a romance manga (duh) and maybe after a time skip, we will see them together. Yeah 'time skip' when in reality at the end of series *heavy breathing* Don't hate me for this is only my thoughts about them. In conclusion, yeah I think they are slowly having feelings for each other but they didn't realize it. Yet.

#lunami #one piece #luffy x nami #monkey d. luffy #cat burglar nami

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inexchangeforyoursoul · 6 years

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It’s been another month, so it was high fuckin time to finish another chapter... seems like 1.2/month will become the average until completion, huh. Have 95% fluffy critter bullshit. AO3 fanfiction.net

Anyway, I just put the fragments and stuff I've yet to use in another file... it's 28 pages. The chapters from 11 to 20 are 49 pages, and the next chapter is only about halfway done. First 10 were 38 altogether. Um, lol...? (tfw you're verbose and start including the author's notes, too)

And even though I have the map of the Sunny open all the time I’m still not sure how some doors work or even exist,,,,,,,,,,,,, NotLikeThis

19. Garchu~ (aka Hug Trilogy, pt 1)

Kat sits up fresh and ready on this extra bright Wednesday. She's a bit early, the girls are still sleeping or at least lying about. Nestling a bit, she goes cross legged and leans back against the wall.

Today she saw a dream that was... nice, overall. Even had the little surreal touches she knows from her usual ones. First is a vague memory of sitting in class at school... then she was with the man again. The one with the cloak. If it was indeed the same guy, at least; there were heaps of soft, pretty black feathers everywhere, actually. The town she was in made a nice backdrop, being almost snow white. This time she could also see what he looked like beyond being incredibly tall, too: he had fluffy, blonde hair, eyes that had a similar color to Law's, and either some makeup or tattoos on his face. Looked quite peculiar for sure; maybe it's the sheer height and the weird coat choice, but for the brief moment upon arrival, when he had sunglasses on, he reminded her vaguely of that one Shichibukai guy. Well... ex-Shichibukai. Uh... yeah, Doflamingo. Anyway, that aside, she also recalls him wearing an odd hat, and shirt with a pattern... at first it was flowers, but it changed very soon, and they turned into petals, maybe... no, hearts, yes, that's it! And there was smoke coming from under the coat all the time... An odd fellow, but he looked friendly enough.

At some point, a little girl joined; the three of them played in the white sand that the town was suddenly made of. A lot of buildings collapsed as time went by, and children, probably those from the school as most of them were wearing a uniform, joined them. Later came two other people, likely a couple, to take both her and the little girl 'home.' Something about the woman was eerily familiar... but only when she smiled. That surprised her into remembering the scene fairly well. Actually... that's kind of what her own smile looks like. And her actual mother's. No wonder she just accepted being their kid, huh. Oh, and the other, she could swear looked like Law in a lab coat. Except not... no matter how hard she tries to recall details now, she can't remember any face past the blonde man's.

It all ended as they entered the gates to somewhere and this guy smiled in a rather creepy way. She gets the feeling that she's seen that grin before, to be honest. Thinking about it, those gates, too... she's definitely seen that entrance before. Yes, it seemed to be the very same place as the first nightmare, but now that she's gotten a better, well, 'look' at it and what lay beyond...

She scratches away at her not-quite-existent beard; where else could she know it from?

After some consideration, she grabs her bag from beyond the wardrobe and pulls out some paper, her sketching board and a pencil to throw some rough doodles down so she can remember it all later. Because, honestly? She's getting suspicious of these dreams. There's too much... consistency, and the only other kinds of dreams she can vaguely recall also feel foreign or refer to the past few days only. This has been going on since inhabiting this body, and she's inclined to make some assumptions here. Will have to talk this over with Law.

Especially important for now are that gate... and the face of this man; she tries to nail a few features of latter first. The third doodle has the jawline and hair style in place, then she adds some sketchy feathers and a shirt. Having lost a lot of small details to oblivion already, she just jots down the vague position of blue and red spots that were remarkable. Now, as for the structure... a few arbitrary lines, and she's got the basics of both the wall and the gate. It all looks pretty simple, and she's never seen it in person, yet... it's so, so familiar. It's the feeling of having the name of something on the tip of your tongue... except there is no name you can think of. You just know what you know.

“What are you drawing with such a serious expression, Kat?” she can hear Carrot's voice next to her all of a sudden. She must have been watching for a bit.

“Oh, morning... I've had a dream and am trying to make myself remember the stuff,” she replies, getting over the surprise, then turns back to the sketches. “Been a while since I last did this, but I've had some recurring stuff in the past days, so...”

“I envy you,” the girl mumbles, pouting. “I never remember a thing even when it was interesting, and when I do, it's something mundane like taking a walk or training. Although...” Her face saddens a bit; “I get to spend time with people I will never see again, too, I guess.”

“...” Okay, this got depressing fast. “... you okay?”

She stretches out her arms; “Yeah, sorry.”

“If you need a hug or something, just ask.”

The mink's ears shoot skyward. “Hug?”

“You're free to decline. Just saying in case you'll ever want onh---”

“I'm always ready for hugs!! Garchuuu~”

Okay, she's confirmed to be a hugger, Kat thinks to herself as the mink mushes her face against hers while squeezing all the air out of her. Which is kind of great, because she, too, loves hugs; noone's ever been this excited over one, though. Then again she's on the receiving end... and is lowkey infamous for her bear hugs, which people apparently don't like.

“You two sure are lively today,” she can hear Nami yawning in bed, turning to her other side. Five more minutes, please.

“Sorry~” Kat whispers with her leftover breath before being released. This is followed by some back-stretching, and -popping on her side, which feels beyond great after all these days where she just couldn't get Law's joints do the thing. Like, at all. Only his wrists would budge from time to time.

“Gee, you sure are strong... What's garchu supposed to be, by the way?” she asks once her oxygen supplies have been restocked.

Carrot's entire body is nearly vibrating... she's hyped and ready to pounce at the first thing she has to. That hug surely kicked off her day- she's trying to focus that energy into formulating a decent sentence now. “Of course I am! And 'garchu' is, like... it's more of a sound, literally speaking. But it's when you are being cuddly, kind of.” Her nose twitches and she scratches her head. “Which is very often. Iiit's... a mink thing.”

“I can get behind that philosophy,” Kat chuckles, crawling out of the cotton sea at last, and stuffs her things back into the bag where they came from. “Let's pull ourselves together to let the others do the same in peace, shall we.”

The rabbit girl nods, hopping to the wardrobe to get the sweatshirt she's been wearing on and off as it started to get colder. Must be just that range outside when she needs it in one minute, then gets too hot in the next.

As for Kat, -apart from being cold with the tee and all,- she's out with a bit more luggage than usual; if nothing else, noticing the drawing supplies might remind her of this shady dream business. Also, she's in a cuddly mood, and for better or worse she's already comfortable enough in this environment to give out some surprise hugs. Since she's also not one to hold back and Law's body is at least ten times stronger than hers... rest in pieces, mortals.

Her first victim was Usopp right outside, who's been kinda suspicious of her scheme to begin with... and found he was right in doing that. Didn't break anything, or even hurt him, really, but did scare the shit out of him for sure. All of his joints popped at once, making quite a racket, and he made a sound akin to a squeaky toy upon being crushed. And lifted, as is her standard for anyone she can do that with, and boy are her limitations near nonexistent right now. Then came Luffy, who was all for the deal despite his bestie's warnings. He was rather unfazed, but what does one expect from him anyway.

Right before she left for the submarine, the girls have also met their comeuppance; Robin took it like a champ, as did Carrot who was ready for seconds, this time as the recipient. Witnessing her massacre, Nami only agreed to a normal hug; this meant an extra tender one, as Kat only knows extremes in this matter. Realizing there are options, Usopp also insisted on not getting the anaconda treatment in the future.

Needless to say, she was in a great mood when arriving to Law. While her bounciness was a bit too much for his comfort, he only gave her a few suspicious looks when walking out and into the room. Speaking of which, the frequency of his (more than likely) toilet visits has declined. Which is good, for him and her body at least. Kat also noticed that he was rather underdressed whilst in his room and had a sweater ready for whenever he left for the surface; sometimes he'd come back with a glass of water or beer, too. Learned from the initial folly, didn't he... even at the price of more pressing reasons to go to the loo. The efforts put a smile on her face when she first realized- he took better care of that body than her, really. Either way, as she stayed halfway on-task this morning, he didn't really say anything between her arrival and lunch break. Though he was definitely scarcer with words than usual... hm. Noted.

Once having fished out another hoodie (where the hell did Law leave the one from yesterday...?) and being back on the Thousand Sunny for some grub, she also gives a not-too-bone crushing hug to Chopper. Strong little fella or not, she's afraid of hurting him in that tiny form of his. As she's putting him down, she notices Luffy and Carrot staring really intensely... volunteering for another round, aren't they.

As soon as she garchu'd the heck out of them, she also notices Sanji standing in the same spot... he's a follower of the same staring technique, apparently. After half a second of consideration, he also gets a crusher hug. Which earns a... 'reaction' with a side of nosebleed, and, uh...

“... I think he got a rib fracture,” Chopper sighs with exasperation, mild worry, and vague pity. The man is flung over the enlarged reindeer's shoulder as he's being taken to the infirmary for some painkiller and a quick patch-up. Luffy mutters a duck-faced 'Sanji's stupid.'

… oops...? Didn't even get to apologize... Somehow, this seems to be a common problem, though, so at least she doesn't feel that bad about it. Either way, Sanji seems to be accommodating to her frolicking around in this 'new' body. Will have to see how bad this piece of news is.

Kat looks over to her plates of vegetable soup, rice and pork chops. Eating this would feel weird now that she incapacitated the cook. But, she really needs to eat while this training lasts, and is also hungry because of it, so...

“... you still sulking about that, or...?” Carrot mumbles between two bites of a big representative of her namesake she has for dessert as Kat's fiddling with her leftovers in the doorway.

“... yeah.”

“It really is not that big of a deal, you know... Sanji gets to be under Bropper's care over much stupider stuff all the time.” She heard that at one point he almost died over a single nosebleed because he got hugged or something like that... she needs to control herself for a sec here, or else chuckling gets her to join the infirmary team for choking on her lunch.

“I've had the feeling, but... can't really punch my brain for making me feel like this, can I.” Beating up her feelings in fisticuffs would be a really useful ability to have, no lie. She'd probably lose a lot, though.

Carrot hums through a mouthful. “Zat's druu.”

Taking a look outside through the door window, Kat can see the sun shining really bright; she takes one last bite before giving up on the remaining morsels of her food, then makes her way out. As they are the last ones in the kitchen and she prefers to have some company, Carrot follows her.

Today's weather is really nice compared to the last few days. Kat enjoys the warmth with closed eyes, as does her mink companion, nibbling away at the leaves of her carrot. A second later, Chopper comes hoppling down the stairs.

“Oh, you're already done?” Kat is a little surprised, it's been fifteen minutes tops, after all- and he wasn't even coming from the room where she also got patched up a week ago. Everyone is working at light speed here... “Is he, um, alright...?”

“Yep, Sanji's fine,” he in forms her with a sigh; “I did prescribe him a good dose of 'keep out' as far as you and your hugs are concerned, though.”

“Sorry for the trouble, Chopper... I really didn't think I could break bones after all the people who survived without a scratch,” she muses shamefully while sitting down at the top of the staircase.

“Oh, it's fine,” he waves a hoof. “It's one of the things I'm here for, after all.” Household accidents tend to just happen. Especially over here. “Though I don't really understand how it happened, either.”

“I kind of get your confusion... I went easy on you, after all,” the confesses, leaning on her arms.

“Eh? Why that?” he pouts after the initial surprise, putting his hooves on his waist.

She returns the pouty expression; “Because you are small and I don't want to break you?”

“You could just ask me to turn big, you know?” He states with the bother already gone, then lifts his arms skyward. “I'm a pirate, I can take a beating! Hugs are no match for me!”

“Are they?” Kat asks, also lifting her arms.

“One way to find out!” With that, Chopper's already going for it, clinging to her neck.

She lies down dramatically with fake momentum as she's returning the gesture. “Oh no, how vicious...! How could I ever think that I stood a chance?!” The small doctor starts laughing.

“Oh my god, you guys,” Carrot chortles, then starts coughing- the last bits of those leaves did manage to go astray.

“... Kat... you can release me now,” the reindeer voices his opinion after a minute. “You're as cuddly as a mink, really.”

“Why, are you not one?” she asks, lifting him over her.

“Nope, I'm just a regular reindeer,” he informs the girl. “I can talk and stuff because of the Human Human Fruit.”

She blinks. “.... don't laugh... but I thought you were a mink who happened to eat the corresponding Ox-Ox model of all things...”

Chopper does break out in laughter again; calming down a bit, he nods; “Makes sense!” Kat sighs with a smile and crawls up from the floor, putting him down.

Getting over her own little crisis for good, Carrot chimes in: “There wouldn't be much of a difference, would there...”

'None at all,' is what Kat thinks to herself standing up. She can hear some voices approach while doing so; after short eavesdropping it's obviously Bepo and the Romeos. She's only seen them on board of the Sunny once before, though, so if they really are coming over, it's a little out of the ordinary.

“Look at that, we didn't even have to look for him,” Penguin says to himself as the other two become visible as well. He waves as he walks closer to them. “Hey there, girls and little guy!”

“Hi! What's the occasion?” she asks wondering as she goes down the stairs. Chopper follows her.

“We're actually here to ask our fellow doc whether he needs some supplies restocked since we're going shopping in a bit... plus, I'd also be interested in a book I've seen, if it's no bother,” he adds, looking over to Chopper.

“Why'd you have to wake me, though?” Bepo complains, rubbing an eye. He's been having such a nice nap in this weather, too...

“Because we could,” Shachi smiles to himself, then continues while Bepo groans an indignant 'that's mean!!'; “And we'll need help to carry stuff anyway, chill.”

“Actually,” Chopper starts as him an Kat reach the lawn, “apart from some food, we already bought everything last week. Sanji wants to deal with that tomorrow, if you want to wait that long.”

Shachi steps closer as Penguin lets out a thoughtful hum; “Nah, we'll pass, food is not our department. You can ask Fugu about that, but he's got this bug to go out for fresh stuff every day until we gotta stock up for departure.”

Meanwhile Bepo plods closer to the shore, listening to the faded noises of the fair from the dozen rusty and mostly closed-off storehouse's distance. The place has gotten a bit noisier compared to yesterday; as it happens, this was something that won't stop escalating until Saturday night.

“I see... well, which book are you interested in?” He put every single medical book he could find into one place the other day, so finding it shouldn't be an issue.

As Penguin is giving a description of a blue-bound tome concerning the nervous system, Shachi turns to Kat. “Were you guys telling jokes or something earlier? We could hear little Bropper having a blast from a mile away.”

“Kat's giving out hugs by the dozen,” Carrot informs him with a sudden glint in the eye, distracting Penguin and Chopper, too. The girl's ears are not just for show, are they?

Carrot, why… actually, she can work with this. “... yeah, today I'm super cuddly. Do you guys want one?” she asks with the sweetest smile. Even the boys can tell that her expression is just a wee bit too intense and scary for this offer to be any good. But by god, if she doesn't get her revenge now, it's never.

From a bit further behind the mink, Usopp's shout to attest their doubts can be heard: “No, you don't!!”

After weighing the options of funny and resulting work here, Chopper decides to talk them out of this endeavor, too. “... Usopp's right. She just sent Sanji to the sick-bay with fractured ribs.” There were two affected.

Catching that, the sniper's head pops up from behind the railing one floor above them. “No way?! You're lying!”

“I'M NOT LYING!” Chopper turns, screaming back at him.

“Guys, you are no fun,” Carrot pouts. She wanted to see this, man.

“... something tells me... we dodged a bullet, here,” Penguin mumbles under his breath. She broke Sanji... that tanky motherfucker Sanji.

While the others are having their banter, Kat zeroes in onto Bepo sniffling the sweet air that wafts from port, then walks up to him. As he notices her, he utters a little nervous 'ai?'. She spreads her arms.

“Garchu?”

She needs to react quick, as Bepo is already, well, incoming a split second of excited shock later. She's prepared for the worst, but to her surprise? There's no falling over now that she's prepared, in fact, she barely budges. Judging by gravity and the sheer weight, though... she's straight-out carrying him. She can lift a bear. Holy shit. Meanwhile Carrot notices the development and snorts really hard.

“Jesus Christ, what are you guys feeding Law with!?” Kat asks, waltzing backwards to the group with the, uh, baby still in her arms. Everyone seems to be quite amused by the scene; as Shachi starts coughing to hide his near-laughter, she puts the mink down at last.

“You know no fear, do you?” Penguin asks with a bright smile. “There's not a lot you can do when metric tons of marshmallow come at you like that...”

“... I guess I don't,” she muses after a some consideration. The only thing she can think of is her mild fear of heights, snakes, and (specifically flying) wasps that she can plough through after the initial scare or wooziness... and shit like burning to death and drowning would be unnecessarily painful, so she'd rather not go like that. As if she'd have a choice in the matter if that happens, anyway; but there's no point in worrying about that and it's not really fear fear unless you think about it a lot... is it? She doesn't really think about things she cannot change. She's rather at peace with them, though in some cases she probably shouldn't be.

Bepo yawns and mumbles an 'I'm going back to sleep.' Without further hesitation he's already nestling down in a nice corner behind the stairs.

“I see you are amusing yourselves,” Robin notes as she walks out of the kitchen with an empty watering can. Usopp seems to be a little confused for a sec, she must have been up there with him in the garden a minute ago. “Sanji is brewing some coffee, would any of you like some?”

“... actually, I do, too,” says Kat, joining the other raised hands. She can feel her power hugging taking quite a bit out of her... this is not going to last for much longer. And while she's at it, she might as well drink it out here, and maybe, just because she saw Law doing it often... use Bepo as a fluffy thing to lean onto.

#KMKY #opfanfic #this is still the thing where Law swapped bodies with a gal #about 4k words for this one #Kate writes

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forcedapotheosis-blog · 7 years

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Gloomy Days Chapter V

Alright fellas, apparently it’s the day of double updates. I felt a lot better with writing this chapter, hope that you might like it, too. Have a fantastic day!

Disclaimer 1: I don’t own One Piece or any of its characters

DIsclaimer 2: This seems to be Chapter 7, chapter 5 and chapter 3.4 because somewhere along the line, I messed up. It’s the seventh post of Gloomy Days and .. oh, I don’t know. Try not to pay too much attention to it D:

Chapter VII / V / III.4 - Second Chances

Where the Hell am I?

The question was not really as surprising as it should be, considering the person that was asking. After a good time of wandering around, it became blatantly obvious that he got lost within the mansion while he was looking for the bar. The exact bar that was in clear line of sight just a few minutes ago. The exact bar that the obvious blonde hair of Sanji could have been seen at. Still, he got lost. Besides that, he felt awfully naked without his trusty companions made of tempered steel at his hips. For the record, he had gotten lost in places that were much more simple than this opulent and imperial mansion, and his evergrowing thirst for booze didn't help. As did the fact that meeting Sanji after years of separation did indeed have a lasting effect on him, as much as he wanted to deny it.

They had been brothers in all but blood for many years until the rot began to tear the crew apart. Even the strongest metal could be destroyed by corrosion, a mountain could be ground down by waves. With the bonds of friendship, it was just the same. When people stopped to be true towards one another, to keep a thing going only for the sake of it being what they used to be, even the strongest ties tended to lacerate. The swordsman had used the long time apart to reflect on it, something that none of his former crewmates would have believed.

Damn cook, I bet he's at the bar now, flirting with some broad and having booze, while I'm .. somewhere, I guess. Think I didn't leave the house, did I? Why does everything here look so unfamiliar?!, he was of a mind to just punch his way through the walls until he found some people and just a few years ago, he would've done it in an instance. Today should have been a special day for his former navigator, though, and if he accidentally broke the skull of her groom, she'd probably not be too happy about it.

That, and I still owe her a load of money. This fact was more a problem now than it used to be. When they were still travelling together, there was booty to be had, money to be stolen from other pirates. Now that he pursued his dream of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world on his own, things went .. a little slower. Falling back into his old ways as a pirate hunter, he found out the hard way that the World Government didn't actually like to pay bounties to ex-pirates. Scratching that off of his list, he worked as a bouncer for a few months, as his former captain did. Sadly enough, the paycheck wasn't even close to cover his drinking habits. That, and his employers didn't like that he slept on the job. To keep himself floating, he resorted to teaching swordsmanship, although that also didn't work out as well as he was expecting. If people got monstrously strong in a relatively short amount of time, they sometimes lost perspective. This loss of perspective did dawn on him when he broke both the arm and the wooden sword of a pupil during a practice session, after seeing that, the large influx of new people that were drawn to his name suddenly subsided.

I wonder when the ceremony is going to start, I might just be able to hear them .. until then, why not take a small nap? Can't do anything wrong with not moving any further away, right? Right?

It was all the more unfortunate that simply taking a nap wasn't as good since he left the crew as it used to be. On the outside, the green-haired swordsman was a killing machine, a force of nature when it came to battling their foes, but still waters used to run deeper than one might have thought. The events of their separation did make a lasting impact on him, traces of that even haunted him up until this very day.

"YOU GODDAMN MORON!", he shouted out in an unusual fit of rage when the first punch was thrown. The cook didn't even try to react to it and faced the consequences. His balled up fist came crashing down on Sanji's face and sent him flying straight into the ship's rail. A lesser man would've lost consciousness from the force of impact alone, but even though Zoro would never admit it, the cook was as tough as nails. Thus, he was able to simply shrug it off and stand up as if nothing happened, rubbing the place of impact in an apathetic manner.

"We're done yet?", the indifference in his voice enraged the swordsman even more, didn't the moron see that he was trying to help him?!

This scene was just the climactic finale of the developments that had occured within the crew since Brook's final death. The situation got from bad the worse and here they were, under the cover of the moon. The swordsman's blood was boiling because of the scene he had witnessed just minutes before. Not only did that dumb cook hurt himself in the process, but he hurt the one woman who might actually be able to unconditionally feel for him. Not in any physical way, of course, but that somehow made it even worse.

"YOU GET BACK IN THERE AND APOLOGISE!", he shouted again, at least showing enough foresight to not draw his swords. Things would have gotten really messy if both of them unleashed all they had.

"What does it matter? And why do you care, of all people? This crew's finished, marimo. Robin knew it, even Franky and Chopper left. This is it, deadlock for our dreams. Just stay out of my way, I'm going to hop off at the next harbor and you'll never have to see me again. It's just a matter of days.", he pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips, though he didn't have a chance to ignite it as the swordsman took his next swing. A mean hook that impacted on the right side of his head and smashed him to the ground again, throwing the cigarette from his lips.

Zoro was quite surprised about the whole situation himself. Usually, he pretended not to care at all, especially when regarding the cook. This time though, it was different. When Usopp left the crew after his fight with Luffy, there were more pressing concerns to be taken care of and things worked out in the end, anyway. He was so sure about it that he didn't feel the need to intervene. The same thing happened again when the cook was doing his spiel with his wedding, though he pretended not to give too much of a concern about the situation, he was certain that Sanji's abilities would be more than sufficient to resolve it in their favour. Yes, it did need the invertention of Nami, Luffy, Chopper and Brook, but things worked out.

This time, he couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. He had to do something about it or the whole thing would go to Hell. It probably already was.

"You didn't answer my question. Why in the world do you care?!", Sanji's indifferent facade was finally crumbling, his hands were balled into fists and after the first two, free hits, he was finally ready to defend himself.

"Shut up, go in there and apologise if you don't want me to kill you.", the anger wasn't exactly subsiding, but at least the swordsman had found a way to use it in his usual manner. Focussed on the enemy, he raised his hands in the style a boxer would.

The fights between these two always had something comically serious, as if two storms were wrestling with each other, two unstoppable forces of nature. Surprisingly enough, none of them had ever been hurt within their encounters, but both of them knew that this time, the outcome could be different. One of them might die.

For an outsider, it would have looked as if two mortal enemies were engaging each other, they wouldn't have known what was lying underneath. After all that happened, this fight was still a show of mutual respect. None of them was giving quarter or a second of relieve to the other and besides the fact that Zoro wasn't using his swords, he went all out. Even blocking or evading attacks became secondary as they traded crushing blows that would have killed a lesser man. In this situation, they broke bones and tore flesh apart, but none of it was lethal. These men were evenly matched and it seemed that the only condition of losing was to go in the defensive.

After a few minutes of all-out combat, the swordsman and the cook were breathing heavily, bleeding from a dozen or more minor wounds and ignoring a plethora of broken ribs and other bones. Still, they went at each other in a final clash in which they traded hits again. Sanji's shinbone came crushing into Zoro's ripcage, again, and unfolded enough kinetic energy to throw him into the ship's rail, but the trade-off was that he wasn't able to defend himself against the swordsman's devastating right. The impact let him collapse backwards and blurred his vision. After all, none of them was in the condition to continue this fight much longer and they did make one hell of a noise out there.

Getting back up, Zoro knew that another one of those kicks would damage his internal organs enough that it might kill him. If the broken ribs hadn't already began with puncturing his lungs. Too bad that showing weakness or admitting defeat was not his strong point. At least the cook wasn't looking much better, if any better at all. He had taken so many htis to his head that he was sure to have a concussion and blood was running down his nostrils and his mouth. The situation would have proven dire if all the noise they made didn't alert one of their remaining nakama. She bursted out of her cabin, her eyes still teary from the conversation they had, before the fight between these two 'brothers' escalated.

"STOP IT, PLEASE!", she started crying the moment she realised what was happening. And against any better judgement, even after all the things he said .. or more, didn't say and didn't do when the whole world came crushing down on them, she still ran up to the now sitting Sanji and fresh tears filled her big brown eyes. "Please, Sanji-kun, please stop ..", this provided Zoro with yet another proof that he was doing the right thing here.

Sure, it wasn't easy for Nami and Sanji when things started out, but somewhere along the way, his relentless pursuit of fulfilling all of her wishes made her open up. So much, in fact, that it seemed for a while now that she had made the conscious decision of being with him, openly caring for him. And he was about to throw it all away. Zoro knew that the cook understood his trail of thoughts when their eyes met. The navigator was sitting right next to him and visibly wanted to comfort, to embrace the cook. Maybe a simple touch could have changed how things went, maybe it could have been more than a hope spot. The moment passed, though, and Sanji worked himself up, aching every step of the way, carefully averting his gaze from the red-haired woman next to him. This scene reminded Zoro too much about what had happened minutes ago, when she was on her knees and begged him not to go.

Still, he wasn't even looking at her, the one remaining person he desired more than the All Blue itself. Zoro's lips silently formed the words 'Stay. For her.', but to no avail.

The Sunny was in the middle of the ocean right now and Sanji had suffered some devastating blows, yet he still refused to give in. To do what's best. The last chance for a second sunrise vanished into thin air when the cook jumped into the air, his face full of regrets and his visible eye the source of neverending tears. He skywalked out of sight within the next moments, leaving behind shattered bonds and two broken hearts. Hers and his own.

"Excuse me, sir, are you alright?", he was opening his healthy eye, actually being happy to have been awoken from this haunting dream. The swordsman took his sweet time to reply, first and foremost beginning to inspect who was talking to him. Hrm .. too handsome for his own good.

"It's alright, just took a little nap before all the .. fuss.", he didn't know how to assess the cautious laughter that followed his remark, but an idea already began to form.

"Haha, oh, my good friend, you're absolutely right. I, too, find it a little distracting from the more important things. The wedding probably is blown out of proportion. Many of the guests aren't here to meet Nami, anyway, they're here to attend my parents.", he was holding out his right hand towards Zoro to help him get to his feet, but the swordsman declined by shaking his head, getting up on his own instead.

"Thanks, I'm .. good. My throat's terribly dry, though, where's the bar?", he was leaning his head to both sides, making his neck crack in a manner that visibly sent shivers down the other man's spine. Yet, he continued to smile.

"Sure, my friend. Right down this hallway, you can't miss it. Before you go, though, may I ask you something? Since I don't know you, I assume that you belong to my dear Nami's guests, is that right?", Zoro nodded, moving his right hand in a small circle instead of just telling him to go on.

"That's great, I'm really excited to finally meet most of her family and friends! Judging from the hair and the rough exterior, I assume that you're Roronoa Zoro, is that right, too?", again, the swordsman just nodded. How much did she actually tell that guy about her past? The scion of an old and influential family, getting married to a former pirate? Even if the guy himself wanted it, his parents might not be as excited about this prospect.

"You might not want to write it on your shirt, though. People can get a little weird when they're in the company of pirates. Or .. former pirates.", in contrast to Luffy, who's bounty had been erased by his grandfather, Zoro's was still active. That also was the main reason that he wasn't able to collect bounties from the people he hunted down.

"Oh, don't worry about it, my friend. Nami trusted me with these informations about her past, none will hear them from my lips. It would cast quite the shadow on our marriage and I really don't want to put her through this stress. I mean, even if it was to come out, I'd still stay by her side, but the act of calming the waves would be a distressing start for a life in wedlock, don't you think?", still, the swordsman wasn't really sure what to think about him. He was as tall, dark and handsome as they could get, definitely not a bad catch. And he had money and even though he knew about her past, he seemed understanding enough. A nice companion for her future.

"Yeah, better that way. What's it you want to know? Just going to remind you that I'm really getting thirsty right now.", well, he mostly was thirsty, but he also wasn't terribly delighted to be a part of this conversation right now. As far as he could see and feel it, there was nothing really wrong about this guy. Quite on the contrary, even. I've got the impression that he actually is genuine.

"Well, my friend, it might be the wrong time to fill you in on this, but since you're one of her closest friends, maybe you'd know a way to lift her spirits. During the time she was writing your invitations, especially during the last one she wrote, she actually broke down and started to cry. See, she wrote all of them during the nightly hours, away from our bedroom and in isolation. When I heard her crying, I rushed to her bureau, but she just wouldn't let me in. So .. I mean, you don't have to answer me, but I'd love to know what that could have been about. The next day, everything went back to normal and I didn't ask what was going on, thinking that she'd open up to me when she felt like it, but that did not occur yet.", for the first time now, the groom had Zoro's full attention. After meeting so many wealthy and powerful people, it felt refreshing to meet someone who at least seemed to be a reflective, true-to-himself person. Yet, Zoro didn't want to get pulled into this. He had tried to intervene once and it failed, he wouldn't try a second time. That, and if he said anything, just about anything wrong here, it might be his fault that this nice bubble that Nami had built for herself would burst. How would he react when confronted with the swordsman's theory that her heart, in fact, might still be beating for another man? Probably not what you want to hear on the day of your wedding.

"Sorry, can't help you with that, but I'm sure it's going to work itself out. This way to the bar, right?", it was obvious by now that he wanted this conversation to end. If in any way possible, without leaving a broken groom behind. Not going to carry that cross. Every other, but not this one. I'm not even going to try to fix this mess for you, freaking perverted cook.

The groom nodded in a sad fashion before he forced himself to smile again.

"This way, my friend. Well, I already said that it'd be alright if you wouldn't want to answer that question. Just .. see, I want Nami to be happy, in the best of all cases, I would want her to be happy with me. I just fear that if there's an unspoken thing between us, the marriage might suffer from it. That's not what I want, neither for her, for me nor for my parents. So, one last time, my friend: Is there something I should know about her past? Did she have bad experiences with another man?"

Whatever this is going to be, I'm not playing a part in it.

"Give it a rest, man. It's probably nothing and you'll have a nice, clean marriage waiting for you. This way to the bar, now?", again, he was pointing at the wrong direction. For the third time or so.

"My friend, this way. And I'm sure that you'll understand that it's rather difficult to put this situation to rest. You've known her longer than I did, that I'm sure of, so, shouldn't it be a shared interest of us to see her happy? I .. see, my friend, I know that I told you that you don't have to answer me, but I simply can't stop thinking about her crying in the night. I'm sure that it wasn't the only time that it happened, either. Sometimes, when she wakes up, her eyes appear to be swollen. She's always quick to cover it up, even telling me that it's because of an allergy, but you wouldn't believe that either. Especially not during the Winter."

Hell, can't he just leave me alone? I don't want to be a part of this!

It was then that another thought occured to the swordsman. For all his life, he never believed in fate, in some kind of god or a divine plan. Even if godlike things existed, they wouldn't care about humans, wouldn't they? So far out of touch with their own creation, nothing they would think or do would matter to him.

But what if .. No, no, no. We're not going down that road. I've tried it once and I failed. We're not going to do that again. Whatever happens between all of them, it doesn't concern me anymore. I really need some sake right now.

The gnawing doubt was still there, though. What if there was some kind of a divine force that lead people through their lives? Not even all the time, only appearing when they were straying from their paths? Would these powers be able and willing to grant second chances?

ARGH! They better will, because that frenzied woman will have my head if this doesn't work out!

Finally having made a decision, Zoro stopped in his tracks, turning around to the still waiting groom.

"You know .. Cassian, was it? I don't like it, because you seem to be a nice guy, but you forced my hand in this. Yes, there once was another man. Do with that information what you will. I'm just telling you right here and right now: You're not big enough to fill the hole that he left."

With these words, he started moving towards the bar, now in dire need of a drink because Nami would almost certainly kill him and dying blackout drunk didn't seem like such a bad thing.

"Hey .. my friend, that's not the way to the bar."

#Sannami #SaNami #SaNa #Sanji x Nami #Nami x Sanji #Vinsmoke Sanji #Nami #OTP #Gloomy Days #Roronoa Zoro #OC #One Piece Fanfiction #Fanfiction #One Piece FF #OP Fanfic #Alternate Timeline #Shipping

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namirotraeu · 7 years

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Online Relationships

“Personalities and relationships tend to differ offline. “

(Part 1) I (Part 2)

Title: Online Relationships- Part 3

Pairing:Trafalgar Law X Nami

Genre: Romance/ AU

Rating: T

Word Count: 2828

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, they rightfully belong to Oda Eiichiro

"He stole a gun from where?!" Nami shouted in disbelief.

"The Marine Head Quarters." Sabo, Luffy's brother, repeat for the nth time.

"I know this is just our brother's stupidity, but we need your help, Nami." Ace, another brother of Luffy, pleaded.

"Let's take him to the hospital. Chopper's already having a hard time taking the bullet in his chest with the tools he has." Nami said as she looks over her best friend, Luffy, that was groaning in pain as Chopper tries to touch his skin.

"We've already told you, we should not. Our brother would get arrested for what he did." Sabo reasoned out.

"Your grandfather is an Admiral. I'm sure he could pull some strings for Luffy. We need to do this or else he would die." Nami said in despair.

"Luffy would die from Gramps' wrath. Sending him to jail would better than what would Gramps do to him if he knew what he did." Ace shivered at the thought.

"Nami, Luffy's condition is worsening. I'm a failure as a doctor." Chopper's eyes teared.

"Chopper, you can do it. Luffy would not die of something like that he has a very strong will that would keep him alive." Nami comforted his friend.

"I know my limits as a doctor. I specialize in making medicines, not on surgeries. We really need a surgeon."

"A surgeon." Nami thought for a second. "Law is a surgeon and he is the best one in his class." She gleamed as she finally has the answer to their problems.

She quickly dialed his number and to her relief he quickly answered her call.

"Law! It's Nami, I need your help."

"Nami-ya? What's the problem?"

"It's Luffy." She briefly discussed how her best friend ended up being operated in her condominium unit. Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Sabo and Ace came banging her unit's door. They brought the already injured Luffy. She hastily made the guest room's bed so his friend could comfortably rest. Sabo had already given his brother first aid treatment before they went to Nami's, however, they needed Chopper's assistance to get the bullet out of Luffy's body.

Law sighed from the other line. "I'll ask more details later. Can you bring him over my apartment? I'll text you the address."

Sabo drive so fast that Nami swear she saw sparks of fire in the wheels. Thankfully, they all reach Law's apartment in one piece. They were greeted by Law in the garage to open a parking space for Sabo's car.

"Law! Thank you for helping us." Chopper said while crying.

"Tony-ya, it's my duty as an upcoming doctor. You need to compose yourself. I'll be needing your assistance." Law said to the reindeer.

Law had a small clinic in his basement. He made it with the old apparatus and machines from his uncle's hospital. It is where he practices, experiments and other stuff like patching up Eustass Kid when he gets in trouble with the police. What he is doing could revoke his future medical license, but he is a man who does what he wants most of the time so it doesn't matter.

Taking out the bullet from Luffy's body was an easy work for Law. Being a genius surgeon and someone who has been practicing medicine since the age of 7, he knew what to do in such case. Chopper was assistance was a great help that fasten up the operation, however, it still took hours to finish. Luffy lost a lot of blood so Law transferred some of Ace and Sabo's blood for him to recover.

Nami was so worried about Luffy. Law did not allow her to enter the clinic so she settled in his living room. From time to time, Ace or Sabo would come out of the clinic and tell her what is happening. Relief washed over her when she heard that Luffy was stable. His brothers went out to get them dinner as a gratitude to their brother's successful operation. Nami wanted to see her friend, but Law still hasn't allowed her to enter the clinic. She decided to relax in the living room couch while waiting. All the fatigue, stress mixed with the relief she was feeling made her tired causing her to doze off and sleep on the couch.

"Law, I'll finish wrapping up his wounds." Chopper said while carefully bandaging his friend.

"I'll call Nami-ya. I'm sure she'll want to see her.... boyfriend?" Law was quite unsure what the relationship of the two is. There were rumors around the campus saying that Luffy was dating Nami. They are frequently seen together being too close to one another. Although it was Luffy who introduced to Nami, he can't help being jealous of how they interact with one another.

"Luffy is not Nami's boyfriend. From what I know, she likes someone from the university. I overhead Sanji and Zoro talk about it, but I never knew who it was." Chopper clarified.

Law simply nod, then, he went to where Nami was. She was sleeping soundly on the couch. He eyed her fair skin and cute sleeping face that draws him near her. To resist the temptation, he gently covered Nami's body with a blanket. Then, he sat on the carpet leaning on the legs of the couch. Being close to her, he could still smell the Tangerine mixed with the ocean smell from her. He sighed and tried to doze off.

"Done with Luffy?" Nami said while her eyes peeking over the blanket covering her.

Law turned his head to her direction. "Yeah. Strawhat-ya is safe now."

"Thank you, Law." She said fondly. She sat upright with the blanket still on her shoulder, then she taps the available space next to her. "Come sit here."

"Nah. Too tired to move." Law wanted to sit beside her, but he smells like blood because of the operation. He didn't want her to smell him like that.

"Okay." Nami ruffled his hair. "Thank you again, Law. What you did mean so much to me. I don't know how could I take it if Luffy died."

“You two are really close.”

“We’ve known each other since first year college. I know I could always count on him like how he could rely on me. He’s a brother to me.” Nami said in nostalgia.

“Just a brother? I thought you two are dating.”

“Why would you think that? I mean we are always together, but our relationship was platonic. I’ll never see him more than a friend or brother.” Nami explained which soothe Law’s worries away.

Both liked how they can freely talk right now. They both wish this moment would repeat again whenever they see one another at the university.

It was almost closing time of Baratie Diner. Most customers are off their last plate or waiting for their bill. One table appeared to be cheerful like they still have all night. Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Robin were on that table. Luffy kept on asking for refills of his meal which was catered by their friend, Sanji, who was working in that restaurant. The diner' s owner, Chef Zeff, allows them to stay in and hang out in all Baratie's branches even way past closing time as long as Sanji was with them. Today, they were all gathered due to Sanji's requested. Ussop, Chopper. Franky and Chopper have some things to do so they weren't able to comply with his request.

When the other customers all left, Sanji quickly joined his friends. He has a very important news to share with them.

"I'm getting married." Sanji said.

The shock was painted in the faces of his friends. They could not believe that the woman loving friend they have is settling down. Despite that, they greeted him congratulations except for Zoro. Luffy commented on how weddings have a lot of food and they should have the biggest cake in the world.

"So, who's the unlucky girl?" Zoro questioned.

"Unlucky? What do you mean by that?" Sanji glared.

Zoro was about to answer, but Nami intercept. "Who's the girl, Sanji? We wanted to know the details."

"My lovely Nami, I shall tell you how it happened." Sanji said in a deary tone. "My beautiful fianćee is the one and only Charlotte Pudding. The moment I saw her Facegram profile, I fell in love. "

"What you just met her online? Well, what do I expect from a love cook." Zoro mocked.

"Shut up, Marimo. Let me finish my story." Sanji rebutted. "Both our families are prominent in the technology business which is why my father wanted an alliance. We were forced into this arranged marriage, however, I just can't help but fall in love with her. "

The girls awed at how bold he is expressing his feelings. Zoro wanted to puke hearing his love-sick friend. Luffy continued to eat with delight.

"Have you met her personally?" Robin inquired.

"No, but based on her facegram account she's a really sweet and kind girl. She even asked me out to meet her in advance before our predestined meeting with our families. Pudding is really lovely." Sanji glee.

"So, you chat one another, huh? That's really nice." Nami said while remembering her relationship with Law.

"This cook might mess up like before." Zoro pointed at Sanji. "You know the Viola incident."

All of them remembered that time. It was three years ago, during Zoro, Sanji, Luffy and Nami's first year in college. Robin has been already in her fourth year in the university that time.

Viola was the university's superstar. She was a slender, charismatic dancer, sophisticated and came from a well-off family. Her beauty magnifies whenever she dances in her Flamenco dress in university events. Sanji was entranced by her beauty. He quickly added her up in facegram and messaged her.

Hi, my one and only idol Viola ~

At first, she replies modestly in his messages. Everyone could be your idol when it comes to dancing. However, thank you.

Sanji continued to chat her whenever he had a chance. There were even times he mentioned that he saw her inside her classes. She finds it very odd, but nevertheless she still answered. He even used his friend, Gin, as an excuse to get her number but he failed. He continued to pursue on chatting her till she stops replying. He wept for days to the he even wanted to confront her. Zoro knocked some sense into him by telling that they barely interact personally and he should just give up.

That time Sanji went back to amorous flirty attitude to any attractive women he sees. He vowed never to settle down to loving just one girl again. He belonged to all the ladies in the world.

"I believe Sanji has learned well from that incident. But, I suggest that you tone down for a little bit. You still haven't seen her aside from what is on the internet." Robin warned.

"Whatever makes you happy, we'll support you. Just be yourself with her. I'm sure it will work out fine." Nami said.

"Thank you, my lovely angels." Sanji was touched by his friends' words.

"Oi Sanji!" Luffy said seriously. "Don't forget to have a big cake in the wedding!"

They laughed at their friend's comment.

Navigation focuses on monitoring and controlling moments of a craft from one place to another. Ironic, that Nami specialized in this field, but failed to navigate her feelings and situations on the right track.

Her professor in Navigation was also her professor in Cartography 1, back when she was in her first year. Professor Arlong is sophisticated and hard to impress when it comes to Oceanographic subjects. His subjects became a bottleneck for his students. Though he was a good lecturer, it was his bossy and dominant attitude that makes his students dislike him.

Even professors are not exempted with social media problems. Nami remembers that when she was taking up Cartography 1, a drop out student rant about Arlong in social media. It was a big issue for a lot of students are scared to say a thing about him. Arlong was enraged by the post in Facegram, he also talked about it in his classes, however, he decided not to take any other actions.

Back then, his actions scared Nami most. She was afraid that she would fail Cartography because her professor was mad. Her fear was lifted when she passed the said subject. It made her think that maybe Arlong was just misunderstood.

"Okay class, you are dismissed." Arlong said to his students. "Bepo, Nami, stay for a while. There's something I'd like to discuss." His sharp eyes were serious as ever.

The two students stayed behind. Bepo was curious why they were called by their professor.

"I don't know if you heard, but there is another occurrence of social media rant about me. This time the faculty is quite shaken." Arlong started the conversation.

"You mean the #FireTheShark Campaign? I've heard it from some of my colleagues." Nami inquired.

The #FireTheShark Campaign is an on-going social media campaign that raises awareness of the hardships of the students taking up a course under Professor Arlong. The admin of the said website that holds the campaign remain anonymous and continue to gather petition from students. They wanted Arlong to be fired.

"Yes! That crazy campaign. I'm furious at how my students could do that. As college students, I expected you to be more open minded. " Arlong ranted.

"Um, I'm sorry, Professor, but this is the first time I've heard about it. We, Mink Tribe, are not too familiar to social media." Bepo said apologetically.

Nami was quite skeptical of what she should say. She knew who are the masterminds in the campaign. It is Vander Decken and his crew. In front of Arlong, they act like they really like him, but outside the four corners of the room they despise Arlong. Not wanting to be involved in such issues, she decided not tell Arlong about it.

Arlong looked at Nami to find an answer. "I'm sorry, Professor. I don't know who did it. But, I believe that you should be bothered by it. The world is still full of fun things to be upset over angry students." Nami advised.

"Very well. Thank you to the two of you. You are dismissed."

Chopper caught a flu at the peak of their midterms. Nami being a good friend took care of him. Sanji occasionally went to visit to bring food and check on Chopper.

"Nami, I'm already late for my classes. Dr. Kureha would give me a bad grade if I don't show up in her classes." Chopper said weakly.

"But Chopper you are still sick. Don't worry, I'll get some notes for you and talk to some of your classmates to inform your professors."

"Thank you Nami."

'Bing'. A notification rang on Nami's smart phone.

Sanji-kun sent a photo to Strawhats

Nami laughed at the photo Sanji sent. It was a screencap of Law's latest status. Don't you think I'm a heart stealer? ;)

She quickly opened her facegram to check Law's account, however, she could not find the certain status anymore. Law probably deleted it because obviously, it’s his friends who posted it. He would never do such things.

Remembering what Chopper needed, she quickly messaged Law. Hey, can you give Chopper some notes? He's been sick for 2 days now.

Sure. I'll just take pictures then send it to you. He quickly replied. Then after a few minutes he sent the pictures.

Thank you Mr. Heart stealer. Nami teased.

Even you saw it? Damn. I couldn't delete it because a lot of people saw it.

Aw, you didn't delete it? I was going to comment; however, it was gone after I clicked it.

It’s still here. Anyway, I'm going to study. Bye.

It was just a subtle conversation, but Nami was content. It puts her in a very good mood. Law was really dedicated in his studies. He doesn't talk too much when he is focused and Nami finds it inspiring. She also finds herself studying harder when he is studying. Which is good because tomorrow she has an examination.

Tomorrow came and Nami was sitting in front of her room, waiting for the previous class to finish. Being bored she decided to open her facegram account. To her delight, Law's status last night popped up on her news feed. She read the comment section and saw most of his friends mentioned her name but didn't tag her.

"Oh. A heart stealer, huh?" She quickly commented to tease him. Then she turned her phone into silent mode since she will enter the examination hall.

It was merely just to tease him a little bit. Little did Nami know, a simple comment could launch a series of events that could change their lives.

#trafalgar law #fic:Online Relationships #nami #one piece #fanfic #lawna #lawXnami #college #OPAU

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recentanimenews · 4 years

Text

Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/19

Let us give thanks for a hearty helping of briefs!

Beastars, Vol. 2 | By Paru Itagaki | Viz Media – If there was any doubt after reading the first volume of Beastars that I would be following the series, it has been completely banished after finishing the second. The sensitive gray wolf Legoshi continues to be a major draw for me, but so is Louis, the driven red deer who becomes an even more prominent character in the second volume (in addition to being featured on the cover). The scenes that the two share together are particularly intense, their contrasting personalities clashing and complementing each other in interesting ways. In part, using the framework of herbivore versus carnivore and the seemingly natural order of things, Beastars‘ narrative explores personal identities that challenge the expectations placed on individuals by a society that tries to neatly categorize them. But people are complicated and relationships are messy, something that Itagaki captures extremely well. Beastars is a dramatic and compelling series; I’m hooked. – Ash Brown

CITY, Vol. 6 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – Again, I feel that Arawi is not playing to his strengths by making this story of a city try to be as broad as possible. It’s best when there’s a through plot we can enjoy, such as seeing the restaurant owner/chef suffer from his cooking being average and his restaurant failing. There’s also some chapters that succeed by showing off amusing faces, such as the one where they try to figure out if one girl is mad or not (she’s not… at first), or trying to tell two identical twins apart when they insist on doing the exact same thing despite yelling about their differences. Unfortunately, when it’s random people doing random gags, it’s merely an average title. I’d like to be able to recall the names of anyone in this the way I can for Nichijou. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 7 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – This volume concentrates on fleshing out the cast and backstory, possibly at the expense of the humor—there’s been less and less each book—but it’s not unwelcome. particularly when we get Senshi’s backstory. Elsewhere, Laios may be a child of prophecy, and he and his group had better find his sister and somehow get her back or the elves will get there first and destroy the entire dungeon… which will lead to massive loss of life. That said, rest assured that there’s still some eating of delicious monsters in this book, which is one reason people started to read it. It’s just that now there’s a plot that is more important. Now that this series comes out so infrequently, each volume is even more of a treasure. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 8 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – We’re finally leaving the village, as Senku and company decide to take the fight to Tsukasa, which involves building a car. Yes, they build a car. That said, that’s hardly the most surprising thing in this volume, as we’re reintroduced to Taiju and Yuzuriha, last seen seemingly being written out of the manga for being too boring. But now, six volumes later, they’re back, and they’re in Tsukasa’s camp. Which is good, as Chrome has been captured. There’s slightly less science and slightly more action in this volume, but that just helps remind you that this is a Jump title at heart, and it will be nice to see the original three stars back together again. Though can Taiju and Yuzuriha magically get interesting? – Sean Gaffney

Guilty, Vol. 1 | By Ai Okaue | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Sayaka and Kazu have been married for ten years, but only now has Sayaka actually told him she wants a child. Kazu does not. You’d think they’d have had this conversation over a decade ago! While he initially seems like a kind husband, readers soon learn that he is carrying on an affair with Rui, a woman who has positioned herself as Sayaka’s confidante at the bar she frequents, and is essentially keeping Sayaka trapped in a lie and denying her what she really wants. He’s utter trash, but Sayaka’s hard to sympathize with, as she is all too ready to believe his flimsy excuses. Drama involving GPS trackers, a coworker’s extramarital affair, and Sayaka’s first love ensues. I don’t really like these characters—though I have to admire how conniving Rui is—but I will probably be back for more. – Michelle Smith

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 11 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – The ‘serious’ plots here are Ishigami deciding to try and get serious about studies to woo the girl he likes, only to find out how hard that is when you’ve slacked off for so long, and the cliffhanger ending, where Shirogane reveals what he plans to do about college. There’s also some great stuff with Hayasaka having to once again pretend to be Kaguya’s butler in order to fool Fujiwara. But all that pales next to the extended chapters of rap battles we get which reminds you that when the series is trying to be as funny as possible there’s no equal. This was around when the anime was announced (there’s a chapter lampshading it), and I honestly can’t wait to see these chapters done. Still great. – Sean Gaffney

Melting Lover | By Bukuro Yamada | Kuma – This is a collection of BL short stories with a supernatural bent. In “Bottom of Heaven,” a reluctant hitman is followed by a hedonistic angel who helps his victims rest in peace. In “The Circus After Midnight,” troupe dancer Luce exposes his animal trainer roommate’s most closely held secret after said roommate fails to believe his father figure could be guilty of sexual assault. The best story of the bunch is “Melting Lover,” in which a typhoon carries a shapeshifting blob onto the balcony of Keisuke, who is obsessed with his (straight) senpai from high school. Does he fuck the blob? You bet he does. The worst is “Noisy Jungle,” in which an android tells himself it’s natural to boff his human pet, while clearly thinking of it as an animal. Ick. Overall, though, I liked these dark stories and would read more by this author. – Michelle Smith

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – There’s another prose short story at the end of this second volume, which mostly just involves Katarina dreaming she’s in another universe, based on a standard shoujo private school manga, and because it lacks the “fantasy” elements her fate is… far more tolerable? As for the main manga, Katarina’s reactions to everything are the reason to get it, as it can give us all the faces that the light novel art wasn’t able to convey. She meets Maria here, who (to no one’s surprise) falls for Katarina just as hard as everyone else has, and Katarina is just as unaware of it. Still, Maria is still being bullied, so the plot of the game is still happening. A great adaptation. – Sean Gaffney

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 6 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – I sometimes forget what an amazing balance Yamashita-sensei strikes between moments of romantic progress between Rihito and Mikado—like the scene where Rihito says, “I’ll help you. As long as it keeps you with me.”—and ominous reminders that Rihito has been through some terrible trauma and is a broken and dangerous person. In this volume, there are some parallels between his plight and that of Erika Hiura, who is trying to get away from the cult leader who’s compelling her to curse people. It was great seeing five to six characters in a scene together all working towards this common goal and feels like we might be heading towards a conclusion fairly soon. I hope Mikado emerges unscathed, but I do love that I am actually feeling some doubt about that. Can’t wait for the next volume! – Michelle Smith

One Piece, Vol. 92 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – I was so worried going into this volume that Luffy was going to mess up the plans of the Wano rebels, which involve careful coordination and laying low for two weeks, neither of which he appears capable of. And, indeed, when he thinks Kaido has killed Tama, the little girl with whom he’s bonded, he picks a fight with the Emperor of the Sea. (I did appreciate seeing Luffy laid out by a single hit, though.) He ends up in a labor camp and, actually, this is for the best story-wise as it allows his more competent crewmates to help with the plan instead. It was so nice seeing Usopp distribute fliers, and Franky attempt to track down building plans for a mansion, and Robin snoop around in her geisha guise. I’ve missed those characters! This is shaping up to be a pretty fun arc! – Michelle Smith

Skip Beat!, Vol. 43 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I can’t recall there ever being a bad volume of Skip Beat!, but this one was exceptionally good. Kyoko has been cast as Momiji, but Moko did not get the role of Chidori, so Kyoko is worrying a lot about her (and feeling guilty). It turns out, however, that another challenging role has come Moko’s way. I very much love how these friends can talk to each other about their professional setbacks and opportunities. Meanwhile, Yashiro contrives for Ren and Kyoko to spend some time together, but it backfires when Kyoko, still beliving that Ren is in love with the horrible Morizumi, gets so overwhelmed by how he makes her feel that she gets mad. Poor baffled Ren. Still, I can’t help but feel that this is the start of some real progress for them. We shall see! – Michelle Smith

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 2 | By Honda | Yen Press – This is a fun title to read, but there’s not particularly much to review here. Honda-san walks us through more problems that Japanese bookstores have, from author signings to employee turnover and reassignments, to the difference between BL manga and gay manga. We meet wholesalers, go to a drinking party, and once again deal with a wide variety of customers, including possible yakuza and those who simply buy 90 pounds of titles and can’t carry them out the door. And there’s also the fact that Honda’s manga is now out, which means trouble when one of the prior plotlines, the customer service coaching one, annoyed the bosses. Still good, but you may want to stick to the anime. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 6 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – It’s hard to top the last volume, which contains the two most famous chapters in the series to date. But this volume remains cute as a button, with an extended plotline involving a visit to a water park that shows off Nishikata’s nice side as well as his embarrassed and scheming sides, and reminds you why Takagi likes him so much. Even better is a chapter where she’s depressed (and thus not teasing him) all day, and he tries to find out why and cheer her up. Not that she’s willing to give up her place as the winner of every battle. That said, even the chapter with the eyedrops (which is another “will they try for a kiss” moment) has a tag reminding us these are still innocent middle-schoolers. Which is why this is so cute. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

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