writing-and-rebloging - Tumblr blog

writing-and-rebloging · 10 days

Text

Test Subject: Vulcan

Name: Test Subject Vulcan

Species: Daryan (originally), Dzlethian (attached parts)

Race: Bluescale

Role: A Test Subject of Winterkill Works whose experimental power is among the most disturbing— half of his body has been replaced with someone else’s. A gentle, inoffensive person with a soft heart (that often gets him hurt) who’s struggling not to bend under his circumstances.

Affiliation: Winterkill Works

Gender: Male

Age: 32

Height: 6’0

Appearance: Vulcan is a tall man with a strong build. The original half of his body has dark, red-hued brown skin, thick, black hair that reaches his neck, a bit of facial hair on his chin, and a dull, teal-colored eye. The half attached to him is lighter skinned, with a burgundy eye, a curved, sharp horn, and ruddy, dark brown hair that’s shorter-cropped than on the other side.

Personality: Vulcan is a kind, mild-mannered person who prefers to avoid conflicts and keep the peace. He gets attached to things and people easily, and despite all rational arguments to the contrary, ends up caring for them far more than he should. He’s not overly emotional, but he wears what passions he does have on his sleeve, heedless of how often they get him hurt. Though far from bold or brave, he has a calming, steady sort of presence that makes it easy to rely on him, and his sheer sincerity makes him hard to dislike. Since the experiments, he’s had recurring problems with thoughts and impulses that don’t feel like his own, however, and the silent, hidden dread of what (or who) he’s becoming is eating away at him inside.

Positive Traits: Vulcan is earnest, straightforward, and has very little to hide. He’s compassionate, willingly offering aid to those he sees as needing it, without demanding repayment in return. He’s even-tempered and patient, and good at easing others into his pace because of it. Content not to stand out, he’d rather serve as support for someone he loves than seek glory or pleasure for himself, though this can mean he neglects his own needs in favor of others. He loves strongly, and is deeply loyal to anyone he values.

Negative Traits: Vulcan is prone to worrying, though more about other people than himself. He’s self-sacrificing to a fault, and his freely-given honesty means he’s easy to manipulate by those who are willing to use his kindness against him. He’d rather push his own problems and distress down and out of the way than trouble others with them, but bottling everything up only leaves it to fester. When it comes to conflicts with others, he’s not very strong-willed, usually letting people get their way rather than fight back.

History: The earlier part of Vulcan’s life involved industrial construction; growing up studying the field, and then working in it. He had a calm, peacefully aimless youth, pursuing mundane goals, but a friend’s misguided money-making scheme eventually (and somewhat accidentally) led to his involvement with Winterkill Works. Vulcan still thinks it’s better that he ended up like this than his former friend (who had far more to lose), but he was painfully ignorant about what he was getting into, back when he joined.

Relationships: Vulcan gets along well enough with most of the people around him, though that’s very much a deliberate choice on his part. He makes an active effort to be agreeable even when not offered the same courtesy in return, and is fairly well-liked as a result. He’s especially fond of Minerva; the two have remained close despite Minerva’s attempts to dissuade him from getting too attached while her time is running out.

Interests: Vulcan likes architecture and related studies, hands-on craft projects, and being useful to people. He dislikes arguments, medical environments, and uncertainty. Since he’s been away from his career for a while, he’s resorted to various hands-on hobbies to pass the time.

WW Role: As one of the specially selected Test Subjects, Vulcan was given a particular experimental power. In his case, his body was bisected vertically down the center, and the left half was replaced with a Dzlethian transplant. Vulcan doesn’t know who that other person was, where his body came from, or how much of himself is really “himself” anymore, with it attached.

Miscellaneous: The experimental modifications done to his body were fairly successful, in the physical sense— Vulcan isn’t in any intense amount of pain from them anymore, and his body, mutilated though it is, remains mostly functional. It’s the mental and emotional consequences that haunt him. He genuinely loves Minerva, and can’t stop himself from hoping for a future with her, no matter how impossible that may be. His memory has also been impacted by the experiments; he especially struggles to remember things from years in the past, even major details about his life and family.

Connotative Description: A disturbing experimental subject whose body has been partially replaced with a stranger’s. Kind and almost naively earnest, with a deep, romantic attachment to a fellow Test Subject.

#🥺🥺🥺#I want to hit him in the head with a mace #Anryuu epics #Winterkill Works #Vulcan #Bio #Reblog

7 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 11 days

Text

CP CATS!!!!!!!

CP9 Cat Headcanons

This is... a very silly post. XD After seeing a similar concept on Pixiv (images 10–12 in this log) and critiquing the breed choices it used, I wound up writing my own take on it.

These are written with actual cats in mind (not my usual Hybrid Au), and the breed choices are just for fun— as in, largely chosen based on looks/vibes, not anything too serious. I was definitely channeling that early 2000s "characters are cats for some reason now" mini-genre, so these are pure fluff/comedy, for once... >3>

. . .

Lucci

(Bengal)

Serial toy murderer. Violently destroys any and every toy you give him within a matter of hours, days at MOST.

Some of the things he’s done to his toys probably qualify as war crimes tbh. Likes to drown the catnip mice in his water dish. Also enjoys tearing things into ragged chunks/”gutting” the stuffing.

Sometimes you wake up to him on your chest with a present.

(A chunk of mutilated cat toy. He drops it onto your face.)

The most athletic cat you’ll ever know. There is no surface in your house he can’t reach SOMEHOW. Also can and will learn how to open doors, drawers, etc, and will use this unfortunate skill to get into everything if he’s bored.

Affectionate, but only on his terms. You don’t decide when you’re allowed to pet him; when the mood strikes, he’ll interrupt whatever you’re doing and forcefully put his body in your lap.

You’re not allowed to move until he decides you’re done. :)

Has a surprisingly cute kneading habit. He’ll go Baby Mode and make biscuits for hours. Sucks on certain blankets too.

Kaku

(Devon Rex)

ZOOMIES TO THE MAX.

Seemingly never sits still. Will run from one end of your house to the other at all hours of the day. At night, you’re regularly woken up by the distinct rapid thumping of galloping kitty paws.

Likes high places and unexpected perching spots. This includes your shoulder— and he can make the jump on his own!

Playful, but not prone to destroying his toys. Prefers batting hard objects down a flight of stairs to tearing the plush ones open.

Too brave (and curious) for his own good. Lacks any sense of danger when it comes to investigating something that’s caught his interest.

This includes slipping through the front door.

Not super cuddly, but likes being near you/keeping an eye on what you’re doing.

Has a squeaky “old man” meow. WEH!

Jabra

(Egyptian Mau)

Wild, playful, curious, and so very destructive. If he’s not kept entertained, your property will suffer for it.

Requires FREQUENT play and attention, but fortunately, he’s not too hard to please. Throwing a squishy ball for “fetch” can keep him occupied for hours.

The asshole cat who will make direct eye contact with you before (very deliberately) knocking something off a shelf, then sit there smugly while you try to scold him.

Very talkative! When he wants your attention, he YELLS, and seeing wildlife outside always brings out that excited, bloodthirsty chitter.

Taking him to the vet is an ordeal, for everyone involved...

Doesn’t mind being pet and handled. Pesters you for affection regularly, but gets bitey when he’s had enough. :/

Highly territorial. Will not tolerate other cats/animals near him.

Kalifa

(Turkish Angora)

Truly the embodiment of the “disdainful gorgeous fancy cat” trope.

Her fur is incredible, due largely in part to near-constant grooming. Do NOT interrupt her washing.

She’ll wash your fingers too if she’s feeling affectionate. Mlem mlem mlemmmm...

Likes to be involved in what you’re doing. The kind of cat to walk across your keyboard or loaf-sit on top of stray paperwork, seemingly oblivious to how badly she’s getting in the way.

At least your “adorable secretary” makes for good moral support!

Not overly playful, but she can be a DEADLY hunter when the mood strikes— fast, agile, and with amazing reflexes no matter what kind of toy you put in front of her.

Weirdly fickle about when you’re allowed to touch her. Will glare, hiss, and swat at fingers if you test those boundaries.

Blueno

(Norwegian Forest Cat)

The most quiet, low-maintenance, independent cat imaginable. You nearly forget he exists, sometimes.

Not much of a meower, but has a deep, calming, rumbly purr.

Content to curl up on a chair or in a corner and let you go about your day! He’ll alternate between napping and silently staring in your general direction; the eye contact is a sign of affection. <3

Won’t seek out attention on his own, but also won’t fight it if you pick him up and carry him around like a plushie.

...he stays limp and docile no matter what you do to him, actually.

Needs regular brushing, or his fur starts to matt. It’s pretty much the only “extra attention” he’ll require, though, and he’s (fortunately) cooperative about it.

Learned how to open doors at some point. You don’t know how he managed that.

Fukurou

(Persian)

R O U N D (and it’s not just fluff)

Despite being shaped like a furry bowling ball, he’s quite playful, and way more agile/fast-moving than you’d expect.

...that energy is much less cute when his full weight lands on your abdomen in the middle of the night, however.

VERY affectionate. Will take any opportunity to lay his chin on your palm, headbutt your shoulder/wrists, put his paws on your chest so he can try to lovingly lick your face, etc— purring all the while!

Chatty cat!! Chirps and squeaks at you non-stop; if you “respond” to him, it turns into a back-and-forth conversation with his mrrep-ing.

Fond of high places, like bookshelves and tall dressers.

It’s unclear how such a heavy cat manages to get up onto them, but he usually ends up yowling for help when he can’t get back down.

Kumadori

(British Longhair)

A huge, massively fluffy mini-lion of a cat, with that “polite little gentleman” face common in his breed.

Sheds. Sheds SO MUCH. All of your clothes are covered in his fur, no matter how hard you try to keep him thoroughly brushed.

You cannot escape the fluff.

YOWLS. The loudest, most determined drama queen when he wants something. Acts like he’s dying if his food bowl is empty for more than half an hour, non-stop howling included.

Extremely cuddly; wants as much attention from you as you’ll give, and will flop his entire body into your lap to get it.

Fond of jingly toys! The louder and more annoying the bell, the better.

If you ever have to give him medicine (be it a pill or liquid), he’s utterly betrayed. Gives you the huge, sad, miserable scared-kitty eyes for the rest of the evening, and won’t let you touch him.

(He’s over it by morning, and back to purring in your arms. Baby.)

Spandam

(Siamese)

The ugliest purebred imaginable, and his personality isn’t better. <3

Health issues. Skin/coat problems, numerous food sensitivities, arthritis, frequent UTIs, and a crooked tail from a past injury.

King of separation anxiety. If he can’t find you, he’s HOWLING, then finding a corner to cower in until his protector is back.

Truly the embodiment of the phrase “scardey cat”. Terrified of everything from the vacuum to rustling plastic bags. Huddles under the couch, trembling pathetically, after every little scare.

...it is kind of cute when he runs to you to “save” him, however.

This clumsy dumbass WILL get himself hurt (in incredibly stupid ways) if you don’t keep an eye on him. Utterly oblivious to real danger.

His distressed yowling is awful, and the attention-demanding yells aren’t much better. The classic So So Whiney Baby Siamese!

NEEDS to be the only cat in the household— he’s violently territorial, but guaranteed to end up the other cat’s punching bag once he’s pissed them off enough.

#One Piece #CP9 #CP0 #Lucci #Rob Lucci #Kaku #Jabra #Kalifa #Blueno #Fukurou #Kumadori #Spandam #Headcanon #Reader #Reblog

54 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 21 days

Text

The range of Erik's potential diet is once again fascinating me, on the basis of the sheer number of things that can highly inconvenience/kill a human. Obviously there's the chemical/plant/animal poisons that first come to mind—y'know, arsenic, belladonna, the unpleasantness that happens if you try to eat a monarch butterfly, that sort of thing. And I do have fun wondering if Erik's the type of guy to just … snatch some poor, poisonously bright insect off the side of a trunk and pop it in his mouth, as is his due as a Dragon Slayer who are just kinda like that sometimes.

However. The thought of Erik carefully harvesting and making his own wild licorice and monkshood tisanes, making use of a well-loved copper teapot and his treasured, antique tea service painted with lead-based glaze … kicking back with a cordial of pure ethanol, and the cordial is of course made of lead crystal … Meredy wandering over to an unsupervised, brightly-colored cookpot because whatever's in there smells amazing, then suddenly Erik is tackling her away and shouting about the cyanide he just spiced his quail and grass pea soup with, did Oración Seis not tell her to not touch his cadmium-painted cookpots?! Just, Erik being fancy about his poison consumption, because humans sure have figured out a bunch of ways to really inconvenience themselves and he might as well take advantage of their mistakes.

Also, what counts as poisonous enough to use? Humans can intoxicate themselves on too much water. Can Erik use that? There are so many things that are nonlethally, and even unnoticeably, harmful to us, so how trace can a poison be before Erik can't convert it into magic? Carbon monoxide is a notoriously odorless, colorless gas that is very bad for us—can Erik convert a poison he can't perceive? Can he straight-up eat rotten food because it would otherwise be harmful for literally anything else to eat? Relatedly, does this mean he really likes fermented food, because that's essentially rotten food that humans like to eat? I have questions

#fairy tail #Fairy tail Erik #Fairy tail Cobra #Reblog #Op I love you so much #I've always had the headcanon that his food is poisonous even if he doesn't try but this? *thank you*

19 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 24 days

Text

something about Dazai being comfortable enough around Chuuya to be vulnerable and let him see his genuine reactions (especially his genuine shock) as he processes out loud is SO SO IMPORTANT TO ME

plus Chuuya not being shocked to see the genius at work tells us this isn’t the first time he’s seen Dazai actively figuring things out in real time…

the way Chuuya knows Dazai's nervous habits— noticing that Dazai is worried, and subtly checking on him. the way Dazai drops his facade in favor of putting all of his focus into the mental game at hand is such an obvious sign of trust & closeness for someone like Dazai, whose facade is his main form of defense

how they interact with each other in the downtimes when there’s nobody's watching…

all i can think is, look how far they’ve come since they were 16 when Dazai couldn’t trust anyone with his plans. how even now, Dazai is always putting up his “all according to plan” front, even with the agency. how Chuuya is the one person we’ve seen him truly drop the mask around, and Chuuya doesn’t bat an eye. even their banter is ongoing, but subdued.

soukoku and their subtle displays of intimacy will be the death of me 💔

#bsd #skk #soukoku #bungou stray dogs #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bsd 114 spoilers #Reblog

3K notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 27 days

Text

Has this been made yet /hj

#Reblog

13K notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 30 days

Note

I know shinigami bad, and I share the feeling, BUT. What if a *really* messed up one ended up capturing Ulquiorra? Just for the pride of having a powerful arrancar at their disposal, so... 73 with Ulquiorra getting railed with all the intention to break him?

73. “God, you love it like this, don’t you?”

The Arrancar’s body is deathly pale, almost laughably fitting for a creature that’s never known the warmth of sunlight on its skin. It looks far more human than you expected, however— more man than beast.

He’s small, slender-boned, with enormous, unblinking, emerald-green eyes that bore into you like blades even when your back is turned. The Fourth Espada is surprisingly unprotesting now that he’s thoroughly restrained, you note; he doesn’t bother to struggle against the spiritual pressure-draining cuffs, nor does he spit threats, or demand to be freed.

In fact, the first words he says to you only come when you start to cut away the cloth of his chalk-white uniform— “What are you intending to accomplish?”, is what he asks, voice toneless and utterly dispassionate.

“Do you know what sex is?” you question in return, as you peel back the layers of white to reveal the matching hue of skin underneath.

“Reproduction, as done by living beings.” A hint of confusion, this time.

You smirk. “That’s right. But us dead things can do it too— even Hollows, sometimes. The evolved ones have the parts for it, at least.”

By the time the Fourth Espada is bare, you’ve confirmed your guess to be correct; there’s a small-ish, yet normal-looking dick right where it’d be on a person, just as pale as the rest of him, save for the blush-colored tip peeking out from its shield of skin. The Arrancar twitches, flinch-like, when you push his knees up to his chest. He’s cold to the touch under your hands, but the little shiver that runs through him at the contact holds your interest.

“This is pointless,” he hisses as your fingers find his hole. “Hollows aren’t capable of reproduction. You have nothing to gain.”

“There’s more to fucking than just reproduction, baby. You’ll see.”

It’s a slow process, not helped by how tense he is, or the lack of proper lubricant to slick the way. Still, it’s not like you need to worry about hurting this creature, so you pay his initial discomfort little mind. Hollows are used to pain, after all... and what you’re doing will feel good soon enough.

By the time the Arrancar is loose enough to take more than your fingers, his body is starting to respond. His hole clenches when your touch retreats, and you laugh. “See, what did I say? You like it, don’t you?”

The Arrancar doesn’t answer you. There’s a small, almost pout-ish scowl tugging at his lips, but his gaze is far too unfocused for the supposed displeasure to be too convincing. He’s kept quiet so far, no gasps or whines escaping his clenched-shut jaw, but the slow, merciless stretch of penetration is what does him in— he yelps as his body spasms in protest, knees snapping together like that could hold you away.

Though he’s inhumanly cold inside, and too nervously tight for it to quite be pleasant, the look of stunned, helpless pleasure on the Arrancar’s face is everything you’d hoped, and more. Delightfully entertaining, really.

#Bleach #Ulquiorra #Ulquiorra Cifer #Arrancar #Reader #Fic #Lemon #non con tw///#Reblog

20 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 1 month

Text

things i REALLY want to see adapted in opla (eventually)

sanji seeing a bug on jaya and screaming very high pitched

extremely homoerotic nami vs kalifa fight

the gag from whiskey peak where a nun pulls a gun on zoro

sanji getting kicked in the dick at enies lobby

ace, smoker and luffy's meeting in the restaurant, beat for beat, exactly the same

10 extended minutes of ace and sanji gay eye contact

bon clay using his devil fruit ability to force the actors for the strawhats to play their characters OOC

the straw hats doing a cheerleader pyramid for thriller bark's docking scene

nami, luffy and sanji getting their asses kicked by jamie lee curtis

impel down buggy with long hair and a ponytail

franky having multiple fully-coordinated flash mob sequences

sogeking having multiple full theme song sequences

background gag of zoro lifting increasingly improbably-sized weights

enel having absolutely zero facial acting until the Enel Face Moment at which point we learn he is capable of contorting his face in a VERY hilarious manner

makkenyu doing zoro's Cool Pose on little garden and his call of bravery on skypeia

sanji's appalling skypeia outfit

tiny luffy from gear 3 cooldown

thriller bark but it's filmed and directed like a low budget 70s exploitation film (with camera grain to match)

Gothic Single Father Mihawk

iñaki carrying law's Significantly Taller actor around dressrosa like a sack of potatoes

zou but every mink extra is played by fans in fursuits

omega flowey levels of terrifying mixed media for gear 5 that comes out of your tv and kills you in real life

feel free to add your own✌️

#One Piece #Reblog #The homoerotic Nami vs Paula too

985 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 1 month

Text

Second set of trainer cards, prompted by @writing-and-rebloging!

First set here~

#Anryuu epics #Aphri Novus #Alan Novus #Regana Exousia #Emilia Lunaria #Mythian Lunaria #Art #Trainer Cards #Reblog

3 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 1 month

Text

@writing-and-rebloging tempted me into making these... >3>

Second set here~

#Anryuu epics #Arassia Daryan #Anya Daryan #Analaya Daryan #Asakiri Daryan #Luka St John #Art #Trainer Cards #Reblog

6 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 1 month

Text

For the next few months, she practices until there are blisters swollen on her palms. Every second she can get is spent either going over her training time and time again or running through strengthening exercises until her muscles burn.

By now, she’s getting big for her age. She stands a solid couple of inches above the other kids, and her muscle tone is just as obvious.

She’s faster and stronger— able to haul heavy loads of laundry for twice as long as them, and with the pain tolerance to scrub dirty cooking pots even when her fingers peel open and bleed. Both of them look at her with a certain wariness now. It’s as if a chasm has opened up between their way of life and hers, and there’s no way to overlook it.

“How long are you going to do that for?” the girl asks one night, when Lillianne has decided to stay up late and get in a little extra practice.

“Until I’m as good as they are.”

That answer brings a nasty frown to the girl’s face. “Do you really think you’re going to catch up? Most bandits don’t last long, you know. You’ll get hurt real bad, and then you’ll realize how stupid all of that is.”

Lillianne pauses. She sheathes her practice sword smoothly at her hip and crosses the eight or so feet the girl has between them. The girl looks up at her with a bitterly determined look on her face, balling her little hands into fists by her sides.

“If someone hurts me,” Lilliane says, “I’ll hurt them right back. I don’t care how many people don’t last long; I’m going to make it.”

She stares right into the girl’s eyes as she says it, and she catches the exact moment where her ‘opponent’ backs down. The girl’s lip quivers for a second. Her eyes go a little wider, then she clenches her jaw and quickly turns away. “Fine! Go die if you want to. They’ll find someone to replace you in no time.”

With that huffy insult, she scurries away— and looks back over her shoulder once with darting, fear-filled eyes to make sure that Lillianne isn’t trying to follow her.

Once she’s gone, Lillianne opens one hand and stares down at her scarred, roughened palm. The calluses follow the lines of where her sword lies. She put them there through her own hard work, and that seems like reason enough why she should have faith in herself to survive. The other two didn’t have the strength to do this. She’s the one who doesn’t want to spend her life helpless and taking orders.

[[ first | previous/next ]]

#Anryuu epics #Lillianne #Shorts #Reblog #!!!!!!!!

9 notes · View notes

writing-and-rebloging · 1 month

Text

Honestly? While there's no doubt that Luffy fucked up in Whiskey Peak? Like 80% of the outrage and 100% of the accusations of "ooc"ness come from 1) the misconception of Luffy being this super intuitive guy leading to him being put on an altar, and 2) a refusal to allow him any emotional depth.

To start off – Luffy's not that intuitive. The closest thing to it is what the crew call his "animal instincts" in Water 7, where he predicts that he will have to fight Rob Lucci, like he predicts other fights before and after. Only – is that really what happens? He "just knows"? Because, from what I remember, he very clearly identifies him as the leader and the strongest member of CP9 (#366: "of all the people we'll be fighting in a little while, the strongest is that pigeon guy! I'l definitely be the one to send him flying!"). Of course he assigns himself to fight him. That's his reasoning every other time, as well. At times (certainly not often, but sometimes), he demonstrates actual strategic thinking, like with Moria.

I think a lot of people want to think that Luffy "intuits" the Straw Hats' potential or even their pasts when he asks them to join, but we don't see any evidence of that. What we do see is a lot of instances where Luffy witnesses good things about his friends, both in terms of skill and of character. In Brook's case, he literally just went "talking skeleton cool cool cool cool cool". And that's all. It might be hard to swallow that some of the deepest and strongest bonds we see in the series, the most important ones and the cornerstone of the story, are based on something as flimsy as "hee hee I like you be my nakama", that Luffy didn't somehow know that they needed to be taken in. But that's just the way it is. Hell, if it had been solely up to him, Kureha, Iceberg and a bunch of random zombies without a will of their own who were trying to kill them would be part of the crew.

I think that what happens is that Luffy is very undiscerning and undemanding about who can join the crew or even sail with them (he also let Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 go with them without a fuss, same with the Franky Family, who he only knows from, you know, having beat up Usopp and stolen 200mil berries from them) and we want to think that there's some deeper reason for it. We know that it's nothing rational, because we're not so detached from what's happening on the page, so that leaves some kind of instinct telling him that these are the right people. It's a nice idea – it gives Luffy some unconventional wisdom to make up for his lack of it otherwise and fits well with his upbringing in the jungle.

But there's not really anything special about the people he picks up, except the fact that he picks them up. Not in the sense that they're special because of him, but that they become special to him. That's the real reason why he goes after Nami and Robin and Sanji when they leave. It's not that, oooh, he can sense how tortured and traumatized they are and that deep down they're good people. Nah – he just believes them when they say they are his people, so he refuses to abandon them.

And, okay, this might seem damning in the context of Whiskey Peak, because where was this faith when it came to Zoro, who arguably earned it more than anyone else in the crew? To be honest, that's one of the points where I'll concede that Luffy fucked up the most, but there is another matter at play here: everyone else claimed to be on his side, or at least be a certain kind of person, before apparently turning on him. He chose to believe that original impression out of loyalty.

Not only is Luffy not that discerning, he is known for being a sucker for deception. He can't lie, and he's so honest that most of the time he can't even conceptualize that someone might be lying to him. ("Are you going to betray me?" "No." *grins*) The idea that he could just... take a look at someone and divine either good or evil intent goes directly against canon. He gets taken in by CP9, by Kanjuro, hell, he buys that King Cobra betrayed Alabasta as Vivi is telling him of how Crocodile manipulated them.

And that leads me into Whiskey Peak and point 2.

Before we start, think back to Wano, if you would. (If you haven't reached Wano, don't worry, the spoilers in this paragraph are very light.) Imagine that, after spending the day with Tama, and Tsuru, and Kiku, and the rest of the village who gave up their scarce supplies to feed them, Luffy and Zoro go to sleep. The morning after that, Luffy wakes up to a massacre. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has been cut down. The people who helped them, the people who he was talking and laughing with just a few hours ago, dead or near enough. He recognized Tsuru among the pile of bodies and she still has some breath left, so he asks who did it.

Basically, imagine sympathetic victims to the Whiskey Peak massacre.

When we read Whiskey Peak, we know there's something fishy going on. For starters, it's Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9's town, which makes it suspicious enough. Then, before the attack, we see them writing a letter saying that they wanted the Straw Hats to go there, making it obviously dangerous. This is without even getting into the clear threat evident to us readers because we know this is a story and that there's no way the heroes will have it that easy. We mistrust and refuse to sympathize with the Whiskey Peak inhabitants from the start. Until the reveal that Vivi's undercover, they're enemies and future meatsacks to us. We forget that that's not the case for the Straw Hats. Especially, that's not the case for Luffy, who takes everyone at face value.

I think a lot of people maybe get too caught up in their image of Luffy as a sort of chaos, "do things for the laff" entity who'll liberate you from tyranny in exchange from food, so they don't realize that there might be emotional, non-transactional reasons for his behavior. That he feels thankful to the people who help him, because he's survived on the kindness of others all his life and he would've died without it (and if you think that doesn't apply now that he's a pirate, go back to read the Baratie arc). That he might get attached to the people who are kind to him and others. That, even if he doesn't feel affection for them, he'll still be outraged when their kindness is met with cruelty by others. We joke about his disproportionate responses to being fed (aka overthrowing the government for a bowl of rice), but that's because he's not acting under a perceived debt, but out of a bond he's created with his benefactor/s.

So Luffy, who couldn't understand duplicity if it showed up with a twin, gets to a village full of people who happily welcome him and his crew, who appear to do this for every weary traveler that has just passed through the harrowing ordeal of Reverse Mountain. They offer them food, drinks and shelter for as long as they need it. Not only that, they all spend hours partying together, chatting, having fun. Than, Luffy wakes up to find everyone either slaughtered or nearly – the people he was partying with not long ago, from the elderly to children, and, okay, gross, but let's recognize that One Piece is a piece of media with an antiquated system of gallantry that says that it's also an outrage that the women were also hurt. He walks up to one of them and asks them who did it. He says it was Zoro.

Take a moment to place yourself in his shoes. This was objectively a horrifying experience. You wouldn't be surprised if he went after the culprit if it was a stranger. And while I think he should have given Zoro the benefit of the doubt, there's something actually a lot more horrifying in the fact that it was one of his friends who did it: that means Luffy's responsible. He's the one who brought Zoro there, after all. Most codes of honor would have the leader of a group vouching, at least implicitly, for its members.

And it might have easily felt like a betrayal. Not because Zoro went against Luffy, but because he let him down.

A lot of people bring this fight back to loyalty – hasn't Zoro shown Luffy how loyal he is? (And, you know what, I think we could have an interesting discussion about that? About what's said, what's implied, also what's actually witnessed by the characters, but never mind.) Zoro promised him he'd be the best, and that he'd stick by Luffy in his path to achieve that... but he never promised he'd never cruelly cut down an entire village in the meantime, something which is not beyond what any other pirate would do, loyalty notwithstanding. And a good thing, too, because he did, in fact, do that in WP!

That's the other thing. Imagine waking up to a whole village of people who helped you and your crew cut down by a member of said crew. The children included. The idea of there being a good reason for it is actually more out there than a prideful and powerful man who agreed to become a pirate, specifically to establish himself as the strongest in his field, would lash out at the flimsiest offense to his ego, to be honest.

Basically, it all goes down to how this guy, so honest he can barely conceive of being lied to when he's directly informed of it, should have walked out to find bloodied piles of bodies and gone "this guy with violent tendencies I met like a month ago killed dozens of people, including children, who fed us and sheltered and fed us, who I like because of that, probably did it for a good reason". Forgive me if I bring up the children too much, it's just that, if there's one demographic you don't expect anyone to have enough of a good reason to maim, it's that one. Faced with this kind of scene, it makes sense to doubt your initial judgement of a person.

Of course, what he did see of Zoro before that should have told him enough to at least doubt. At the very least, he should have heard him out before killing him. Zoro did try to explain. (Then again, if someone admitted to slaughtering a whole neighborhood and then claimed to have a good reason for it I wouldn't be jumping to hear them out.)

That said, it's not about Luffy doubting Zoro's loyalty, it's about doubting his character when faced with incredibly damning evidence against it. One the one hand, maybe Luffy's the one who should've been more loyal. On the other, the fact that his loyalty didn't extend to forgiving one of his crew when they apparently go rogue and attack not just an entire village, but of full of people who helped them and continuously did the same for others, just goes to prove that he doesn't have the moral backbone of a wet noodle, in addition to checking out with his tendency to develop an attachment to people who feed him.

#Reblog #One Piece #monkey d. luffy #I'd argue that the fact that just liking someone's vibes being enough to offer a place in his crew makes everything even better

29 notes · View notes