#( arc: can't go back. )

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Me when someone says they don't like Echo

[extra-somethin-somethin]

If nothing else Koenma is a Kuwabara stan and I'm right there with him o7 (I need to write the kuwameshi fic that goes with this fr)

[general-cyno]

wano has become a favorite arc of mine for different reasons and it also gave me a lot of zolu brainworms to mull over, so here I go (again). spoilers for some of the big reveals in the arc so beware

despite getting separated shortly after reuniting, yasuie's execution once again highlighted how similarly minded zoro and luffy are - like zoro, luffy gets pissed at the sight of ppl laughing at yasuie after he's killed, though they both learn it's due to the effects of the smile fruits. and despite the fact that doing so could put their plan in jeopardy (hence why sanji yells at zoro to cool his head), luffy actively cheers zoro on (from the distance) when he goes after orochi in retaliation

a nice tiny moment is also back when they're together. luffy was worried since big mom appeared in wano yet jimbei (who had stayed in whole cake island to fend her off along his former crew so the straw hats could escape) hadn't arrived. albeit zoro wasn't even part of the WCI arc events, he's quick to reassure luffy:

although I'm not certain whether law was referring to them specifically or not, there's a part during the discussion of the raid where he says there's two idiots who, no matter how much planning goes into it, are likely to charge straight in regardless. then, of course, this happens:

(so yeah. I think they're probably the idiots)

and funnily enough, zoro doesn't get lost for once. not only does he find luffy, any intention zoro had of (ironically, considering he was causing a ruckus himself) chastising luffy for messing up the infiltration goes out the window when he tells zoro about the spilled oshiruko

this is a direct callback to their interactions with tama when they first reunited in wano. it's cute how attached they got to her and yeah, they're both stupidly reckless at times but this is one occasion in which it isn't just for the sake of chaotic shenanigans - it's them getting angry at how these ppl are disrespecting what tama and the oshiruko stand for. to those present, it seems foolish/weird since they don't understand the context behind it, but it's the kind of understanding that goes on between luffy and zoro precisely bc of the moments they share together.

there's some good panels of both worrying about each other after getting hurt and zoro carrying an injured luffy to safety. they're soooo.

this was pretty good too:

their plan to jump to the roof to face kaido ultimately fails here but it's still cute that zoro's so willing now to just cling to and let luffy carry him around like this (arlong park zoro has come a long way lol). it also says a lot abt luffy's trust in both the crew and zoro that he was fine letting them in charge below while he and zoro went to face kaido together.

the x drake ordeal was kind of funny but it served to show exactly why zoro complements luffy so well. luffy tends to be very trusting toward others, even those who might've started out as enemies which usually works out fine but still. zoro's quick to remind luffy that the guy's a traitor and unreliable, and (along with some of the other straw hats) refuses to blindly accept the impromptu alliance. it's interesting though, that zoro doesn't entirely disregard luffy's opinion nor x drake's help per se - he's just understandably wary of drake's true intentions (pointing out that he's still hiding where he stands in the whole conflict) and eventually agrees to team up. love the balance of it ngl.

that said, the actual fight on the roof has to be one of my favorite parts! it's probably one of the most obvious occasions in which zoro's role as luffy's first mate/right hand man and how much luffy relies on him too shines through. there's zoro slashing big mom and kaido's fire attacks so they wouldn't hurt luffy, taking the lead in attempting to stave off kaido and big mom's joint attack (and succeeding for a bit) despite the fact that he's got three powerful captains beside him, and several panels of him protecting luffy. this one was particularly crazy

this is pretty much zoro's equivalent to "if you wanna kill him you'll have to kill ME first". insane. I love them so much. zoro may be the one to have more instances in which he gets to demonstrate his loyalty and protectiveness towards luffy rather than the opposite - but knowing luffy's the one who usually risks himself for others in grandiose ways, I find it very compelling that zoro gets to be the one to protect him in these important moments, that luffy trusts him to do it and even thanks him for it here in this arc. to me, there's a reason why, out of the whole crew, zoro was the only one to take part in this particular confrontation. mutual trust/understanding/respect etc are at the core of their relationship. it's a two way thing.

fast forward to zoro vs king and OF COURSE this mf thought of luffy when facing the guy.

I posted about this the other day, but something similar happened during zoro's duel against mihawk. when the latter asks what drives zoro to fight despite being so weak, it's this exact part of his meeting with luffy at the marine base that he recalls. zoro has certainly driven himself to get stronger for the crew's sake and for his dream, but it's clear that luffy (and his own promise to kuina) is one of zoro's biggest motivators. he's also the one person zoro has cast aside that very dream of his for so... (thriller bark zoro you live in my heart always).

when zoro wins against king, too, it's his promise to never lose that he recalls. the promise he made to luffy. regardless of how you interpret their relationship, it's obvious luffy means a lot to zoro and moments like these don't let the readers forget it.

that said, this was perhaps the most insane part to me:

just when you think zolu can't get more trope-y than it already is, the manga says: wait a fucking second. canon sun/moon, heaven/hell, god/demon zolu.

I was already spoiled about these bits, though they were exciting to read through anyway. I think it's very curious that both zoro's ancestry and his conqueror's haki reveal happened during the arc where the true nature of luffy's devil fruit comes to light and his awakening into joyboy/nika takes place. can't say for sure what oda's planning for them in the future, but wano is probably the biggest glimpse so far as to the kind of figures luffy and zoro are bound to become (or are already becoming) in one piece's universe.

joyboy luffy being considered a hero to wano only rivaled by shimotsuki ryuma is also so... oof, knowing that ryuma (also called god of the blade) is zoro's ancestor, whose zombie he faced back in thriller bark and whose sword shusui he wielded for a while after that, and that he resembles physically too (both being one-eyed samurai/swordsmen). there's a lot more parallels to be drawn between them, and zoro's conqueror's haki adds a whole new layer to their relationship, but a detail that's fascinating to me is that both zoro's presence and joyboy's awakening in wano are hailed as the work of fate at different points, by kawamatsu and zunesha respectively.

overall there seems to be a thread of "fate" that's tying the story together from the void century to roger's era to the present but choice is also an important aspect imo. zoro and luffy are an example, bc in spite of how their stories have turned out to be somewhat intertwined... it was luffy's choice to seek out the demon pirate hunter and rope him into his crew. it was zoro's choice to join him, to make a promise that'd tie his own dream to luffy's. there's a potential that neither of them could've reached if they hadn't come together to sail in that dinghy and formed an entire crew (a family!) that have all of them journeying towards their dreams, always relying on and striving to become better for one another. all of these little choices for luffy and zoro led them up to this point and onwards, which tbh is just really fucking good.

[cruilty-ink]

ARC 2, can't we go back

Prev, next

Masterpost

Ah, we love giving Leo trauma here

[boiwcndr]

do you think people remember that dick and talia were supposed to be around the same age when talia was introduced or is this knowledge that i'm still cursed with remembering every single time someone goes "talia beefed with a ten year old".

[bonefall]

as someone who has not read DOTC (and treasures my sanity too much to read it) i cannot fathom how people read clear sky as a hero, hes even written with the descriptions the erins love to give their villains! prowling, sneaking up behind people to say ominous lines, standing partially in darkness, having an utterly pathetic lackey kissing his ass at all times, even the territory expansion thing was like, explicitly bad when tigerstar did it in arc 1. i'm convinced these people havent actually read this arc??

It's because, I CANNOT make this up, he says sorry after he kills 3 people and causes the death of like a dozen at this big Murder Party he throws. A bunch of ghosts say he was just scared, Gray Wing swoons that he simply needs to learn how to delegate, and then Clear Sky says "haha woops :P"

After that, everyone who ever says, "Hey, I don't trust the physically abusive dictator or his intentions" is treated like an unreasonable idiot, a simple personality conflict, or an active villain. Thunder literally gets revictimized and undergoes emotional abuse a SECOND time and Gray Wing gets a scene screaming at him to get the fuck over it.

These WOULD be interesting characters if this was intentional, if the writers had gotten their heads out of Gray Wing's brother-loving ass to realize that Clear Sky is not redeemable. Gray is denying reality and letting people get hurt so he can cling to a beloved memory, and it doesn't matter if it was accurate then, because he's KILLING PEOPLE NOW.

But the arc is bullheaded in its simplicity: Clear Sky was not born bad, so he is not fundamentally bad. Unlike Slash and One Eye, evil through and through.

It's painful. Incredibly painful arc.

[korrasamibottles]

Yeah Venom of the Red Lotus showed us how crazy powerful Korra is but The Last Stand had Korra transform the destructive power of a massive bomb blast into something regenerative in the culmination of one of the best character arcs I've ever seen. In my OPINION!!

[raayllum]

—Richard Siken

[skrunksthatwunk]

thinking about when guts sent a bunch of his men directly into zodd's meat grinder without even knowing demons like him existed. and that moment after the fight where casca runs to griffith unconscious on the floor and tells guts it's all his fault. and the time gambino tells him he's bad luck and should have died instead. and about how he tells griffith he cares about his men, and how casca doesn't seem to see it. and the time guts is thinking about casca telling him it's all his fault (after he got griffith hurt) and then griffith comes to him and says (like it's nothing) do i need to give a reason every time i come to save you? or whatever. like he's worth it. like he's worth dying for, and like it can be a choice people make because they value you. like he's a good luck charm, like griffith needs him to reach his goals, his full potential. like griffith is not enough to make it without him. like griffith finds out when guts leaves. fuckin.g gnawing someone else's legs off because i still need mine to run into traffic

[echoing-gravity]

Can Marinette Bench press a building?!

(Ladybugs, also known as lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are able to carry objects that are up to 1,000 times their own weight due to the unique structure of their exoskeletons. An exoskeleton is an external protective covering that provides support and protection to the insect's body. This covering is made up of a material called chitin, which is a strong and lightweight polymer. The exoskeleton also gives ladybugs their characteristic shiny, hard shells. Ladybugs use their powerful leg muscles to lift and carry heavy objects, such as large leaves or other insects. The unique structure of their exoskeleton allows them to distribute the load evenly across their body, making it possible for them to carry heavy objects without being weighed down. Additionally, their strong legs and other muscles are equipped to sustain this weight too)

But like with her legs???

I wanna see a MLB x DC fic where Marinette is working with young justice and like a building fucking falls on them but marinette just fucking kicks it away. Or picks it up. Itd be even more absurdly funny if she wasn't transformed and the super strength is like a kwami side effect.

WHAT IS MARINETTES WEIGHT? IS THERE A CANNON ANSWER??? DO I HAVE TO PULL A MATPAT AND DO PIXEL MEASUREMENT MATHAMATICAL BULLSHIT???? I WANNA KNOW IF SHE CAN LOFT A BUILDING OR NOT!!!

[demodraws0606]

You know I think there is something interesting to say in terms of where the fuck WxS is going because like

I think WxS is the only unit where the end goal or overall progression is probably the most unknown out of all of them ???

MMJ and VBS are extremely obvious, they both have the most explicit goals that are said to us in a straightforward way

25-ji, in the end we know the main goal at the end will be for all of the characters to go over their hurdles with Mafuyu finally being able to find herself and move forward

Leo/need is probably the closest in terms of vagueness but we know the end goal is clear for them to grow as a band, probably ending in a big concert or something along those lines

But with WxS...like I guess the closest thing I can see to an end goal is all of WxS preparing a show together with everyone playing their part but that definitely doesn't feel like something you'd build up for an entire arc and definitely not something that feels fitting after the emotional turmoil that was the disbandement arc ???

In terms of physical achievements as well they literally revived an entire parc through one gigantic show, so it just comes into question what they can do now.

Then you look at their first few event for this arc considering usually the first event kinda set up what will be planned for the future but it's...weird.

Yeah, Tsukasa and Rui's events set up they're inexperienced and how they will grow in the future but also there is this weird feeling of something feeling off ?

The plays/scripts all are strangely depressing, the play in Tsukasa's event being about a failed writer planning to drown himself (which I believe is one of the only undeniable explicit description of suicide ever in the game?????) and the second being someone whose given up on life meeting their estranged sister only for her to become ill.

We even have Emu's side story in Rui's event where they watched the movie Rin was watching during the event made by the same producer and Emu herself note how depressing the story is (meanwhile the main character of the movie clearly parallels Rui)

We don't see the conclusion of these in-game stories as well, lingering on their worst moment never really seeing the presumably happy conclusion.

THEN we also have Emukasa fes which....again strangely different in tone from what you'd expect a WxS fes card, they're not really all that conclusive either. Tsukasa never aknowledges how he relates to the brother in the story and Emu doesn't really get a conclusion on her grief.

Then we also have Rui's entire fuckign event with the cards and his cyberpunk deadbo-YOU SEE WHAT IM SAYING

The closest we fucking have to knowing what WxS's fucking endgoal towards the story is, is fucking WL which....TELLS US NOTHING

At least with VBS we know that they're goal is to go even further beyond and conquer the whole world, that is a developpement of their goal.

What I'm saying is I don't know what the fuck colorpalet is cooking wiht WxS but I feel like i'm a fucking twilight zone reading the way they're writing WxS now because I can't be the only one feeling insane at how weird all of this is

[scintillyyy]

and the thing is that dick *did* need tim's emotional support and help during the beginning of the batman reborn era because dick's life was also falling apart and they did need to help each other badly and tim leaving him to fix everything and handle the city and damian by himself *was* mean and a bit selfish, but also if tim had stayed to do this, there would have been no real chance for good independent growth for himself (in-universe and narratively speaking) and staying to help dick manage the city would have also meant deprioritizing his own wants and continuing to push down his own grief to do what's best for the greater good and ignoring both his suspicions and what he felt he needed to do at the time (search for bruce, prove himself right, have a breakdown around the world as he figured out his place in it) to focus instead on prioritizing what was currently best for current batman/dick's sake. which is just. kind of a continuation of what he's done/tried to do since he showed up in alpod. (would therapy probably have been a healthier option to move past this? well, yes, but unhealthy coping mechanisms or gtfo frankly) (anyways despite the fact he left to ostensibly find bruce, which is still batman related, leaving is still what allowed tim to get into situations that made him solidify himself as the person he wanted to be moving forth into adulthood + get to the point where he is still helping batman but also is starting to prioritize himself over prioritizing batman's needs so leaving was the objectively correct decision for himself)

anyways, they were both doing the equivalent of putting on their own oxygen masks first here instead of prioritizing what the other felt they needed at the time. and that's okay. they're both allowed to be a bit selfish at this point.

[laugtherhyena]

Control over time

[shitpostingkats]

*raising my voice to be heard over the club music* Yeah, lately I've been getting really into a Yusei Adopts Rin and Yugo AU.

[cruilty-ink]

ARC 2

Can't we go back?

Arc 1. Next

Ohoho, and so. We come to arc 2. Hope you guys enjoy just as much as is this right?

:)

[andromeda3116]

rereading order of the stick (again), and greyiew is only in a few comics so far but man do i love this nihilistic wolf