#Cindry you rule

[basedkikuenjoyer]

I hit 100 followers a while ago. It's not the biggest thing ever I know, but I also didn't really expect anything like that when I started this silly little blog about a mysterious lady and her goofy samurai gang. For 50 we did 27 favorites. People seemed to like it. Main cast taking up a bunch of spots is boring, though I do think a few of these could potentially end up in the main one. For now though that's Nami, Brook, & Jinbei. This time is more measured, I actually thought about a Sweet 16 and why. It's fun to see how it changes over time:

Cabbage: I love pretty idiots in anime. This one was necessary to keep me invested in Dressrosa. But there is a real amount of nobility there and the story of actually being a fallen prince obsessed with stardom is a good one! Most little guy Leo is surging but Cavendish is still my favorite of the Grand Fleet captains.

Queen Otohime: I've already said a lot about her with our Seafloor Sidestory. Such a great examination of a political leader, a civil rights icon. I've flirted with that role myself at times and always been around it as a quirk of fate...so it's cool to see someone who gets the nuances like Oda did with this story. How it plays off of Tiger's, influences someone like Jinbei. I rate Fishman Island very high and Otohime is a huge part of that.

Pudding: Pudding is such a two-faced little snot but young enough and cartoonish enough about it I think she's funny. Whole Cake is a great arc, love how she plays off of Sanji, the "Doll" element hits a little close to home.

Crocodile: He's got style, he's got grace. He'll throw sand in your face. Cool villain, loved him in Impel Down/Marineford, epitome of T-Boy swag.

Miss Goldenweek: Marianne, Goldie...such a treasure. Girl makes me laugh so much. Comically lazy but the secret weapon that was a nightmare for Luffy. Cover story that made her shine as a capable operative and Rainbow of Dreams rocks. Please come back to Cross Guild you little weirdo. I need you and Buggy playing off each other, I need Crocodile hyping up one of his superstar agents to Mihawk only for her to doze off/ask for snacks in the middle of it.

Nekomamushi: He is a massive yellow cat man. This is a great start. Had a nice theme song too. He loves lasagna but isn't an asshole like Garfield. Rising love. Samurai cat man. Then he's Kiku's lil bro and I enjoy pondering that dynamic. Goro nya nya.

Kin'emon: He was pretty funny before, making the chauvinist a simp for his classy af wife and the confused, but caring father figure to a sweetheart trans girl is hilarious. I love his devil fruit and impersonating Doffy was classic. His supernatural luck forced his way deeply into my heart.

Conis: Conis is lovely. Sweet angel girl...with a big ol bazooka she is not afraid to use. People forget Conis but I still love her. Sky Island was fun.

Jewelry Bonney: Being an angry child makes her so much more fun. Always thought she was a solid Supernova. Being such a glutton is funny. Egghead has elevated her. Interesting devil fruit, it's the one my sweetie would want to eat himself which is neat.

Izo: Izo is very, very pretty. He is also good at shooty but have you seen how pretty he is? He is also the dashing elder brother of #1 blorbo...

Kiku: I know this inclusion will surprise some of you. She's a total sweetie with hidden narrative weirdness. What's not to love and obsess over? Plus she's really tall and forgets that when hiding behind things. Imagine if we saw her trying to hide behind Chopper sticking most of his body out from behind a hiding place. That would tick us back at least one minute from midnight.

Cindry: The other Okiku and subject of our Spooky Sidestory. Maliciously compliant zombie with a showgirl vibe. Far out. Hucking plates rules as a combat style.

Ginny: Some might say she's too new. Some Might Say is a pretty good early Oasis song. Neither of those are relevant right now. I love Ginny. She's wonderful. She got done dirty because flashback characters always get done dirty.

Hina: Hina pleased to be included. Hina pleased. She was our Shackled Sidestory and I love her. The cool vibe mixed with a couple of childish traits. One of our truly good Marines who probably hasn't gotten high enough up the ladder to really know how depraved the World Government is. Cool fruit too, perfect for a Marine.

Monet: Punk Hazard came out right before I went into grad school. I love thinking of her as the beleaguered, far more talented assistant to Caesar Clown who I hate and should just die. Harpies are also classic cool and I will not accept statements to the contrary. I love her snow power too.

Gecko Moria: Touched on this in a post about him for Halloween. He's grown on me a lot as a villain as I've gotten old enough to understand him. There's a realism in his motivations that makes him more of a unique villain. I actually believe if he was serious from the start Luffy would never have stood a chance. Shadow fruit is cool and Thriller Bark is an excellent arc.

Bellemere, Kawamatsu, Denjiro, and Hancock would be the honorable mentions. But these are my true One Piece loves.

[victorie552onepiecespeedrun]

Reading One Piece pt 222: “I’m A Healer But…” *Loads Gun*

Chapter 469

Thoughts:

- Fpos/cs: Enel is very confused about his freshy acquired chibi army. You and me both, man

- Hogback doesn’t know what’s happening

- Clearly, shadow in Cindry wants to listen to orders but Cindry’s body aka CINDRY doesn’t

- ;_;

- “Even thought it’s been 10 years? Her will still remains… even thought her soul has left the body…?” weren’t you yelling at her last chapter to snap out of it? In a way that make me super mad? Chopper, make up your mind. But yeah, that’s big

- “I couldn’t tell you that… even with the help of all the libraries in the world.” Nice line, Robin

- Oh, Cindry’s giving up :( well, thank you for effort, Robin will take it from here

- FINALLY, some Doctor on Doctor Violence!

- “You’re not even human! You’re a monster!” low blow

- “My captain doesn’t care about any of that! Whether you’re a monster, a cyborg, a demon, a pervert, a pessimist, he’s got all sorts under his command!” that would be… Chopper himself, Franky, Zoro, Sanji and most likely Robin? Where’s Nami in that count down. Eh, she can go under a pessimist too

- Oh come on, don’t switch scenarios now, manga, I wanted to see some violence, they were JUST about to drop Hogback to death

- Anyway, we’re with Luffy and Moria now

- Hey Oars, how it’s hanging

- He’s listening to Moria now :(

- “Defeat Straw Hats!” “Ok” oooo, this aint’ good

- Oars destroyed the ceiling and suddenly Luffy, Robin, Chopper and bad guys are all on the same battlefield

- Hogback and Cindry fell off

- Cindry’s body is uncooperative again :D

- Oh?

- Guys. Guys. I think Oars stepped on Hogback

- …today is good day

- Oh, hey Usopp

- And Sanji with Nami too! Looks like gang is coming back together :)

- Ok, how big is that guy, I swear all Straw Hats were in totally different part of Thriller Bark, yet Oars is everywhere at once

- Hey Zoro

- Oh, not Absalom again!

- Luffy doesn’t care, he’s after that main villain’s butt

- Zombies are taking Perona into safety. Yeah, she’s in no condition to do it herself

- “SHOW YOURSELF, STRAW HATS CREW!” communication is a key

- Now everyone knows Oars is after them. They’re all more or less freaking out except…

- …Zoro, why are you like this.

Chop, chop, got a King Kong to defeat.

rOP 221  rOP 223

[opopnomi]

To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my blog and the almost 200 followers (thank you so much guys, I can’t even express how grateful I am for y’all to support me like this) I’ve decided to throw this little event around the steampunk aesthetic.

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It would be a bit like my Suit Up ! event I did a few months ago. The idea is to post 1 sketches per day in DECEMBER, so 30 spots are available.

I still accept some late asks but otherwise I will fill them myself or just delete them I am not sure for the moment...

Anyway thank you for everyone who participate !!! The festivities begin on 01/12 ! UwU

The Rules:

You guys can send me 3 characters you’d like to see in this style and I’ll pick up one of them. You can also chose one category you want your character to fit in but it’s not an obligation. You can pick one if you feel inspired by it or you can let me decide, but once again there is no obligation to it, you are totally free to send only 3 characters.

In a perfect world I would draw only each characters once but if after one week, all the spots are not claimed I may consider doing them twice but with a different category.

- To help you with it, here is some category ideas :

Scientist

Navigator / Pirate

Aristocrat

Doctor

Mad Max style

Engineer

Military / Fighter / Marcenay…

Professor

Prostitute

Priest

Thief / Outlaw

Musician

.....

Once again, there is no obligation to chose a category, it's just a guideline if you don't feel inspired.

You can request as many time as you want but please don’t exagerate…. Also references are always welcome if you have something specific in mind !

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Update 01/11 :

- Sabo for Anon

- Doffy for @coolannepotts

- Katakuri, Shanks or Killer - Mad Max for @idontlikeiobsesswriting

- Mihawk, Sanji, Robin - Professor for @idontlikeiobsesswriting

- Law, Crocodile, Monet - Detective for @chocolate-n-cheese

- Sanji, Killer, Ace - Prostitute / Doctor for @vemuabhi

- Zoro, Doflamingo, Rosinante - Mad Max for Anon

- Aristocrat Nami, Engineer Franky, Military Sabo for Anon

- Doflamingo - Priest for @doffyholic

- Zoro, Law, Ace - Policeman / Fireman / Professor for @rivvd-art

- Iceburg, Paulie, Kaku - Airship Engineer for @pagingdoctorbedlam

- Killer, Ace, Benn Beckmann - Mercenary for @mysticaltigersorceress

- Law - Priest for @some-piece

- Smoker, Wiper, Tashigi - Pirate for @ochizokulevy

- Heat, Koza, Dalton - Military / Mercenary for Anon

- Katakuri, Oven, Whitebeard - Thief for Anon

- Perona, Ulti - Artist / Performer for @midorimortem

- Iceburg, Aokiji, Victoria Cindry for @chocolate-n-cheese

- Law - Scientist for Anon

- Marco, Law, Chopper - Doctor for @chromatic-lamina

- Robin - Musician

- Robin, Zoro - Mad Max for Anon

- Marco - Scientist

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UPDATE

My deeply apologies but life get in the way and I wanted to finish the historical event before begining this one so I'll just postpone this event until DECEMBER (it's even better since this blog bday will be on November 30th)

My apologies for the delay....

[alegnace]

Thanks for the tag @majoraop ! 💛

Rules:

- post the file names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous the name;

- send me an ask with the title that intrigues you the most and I’ll post a little snippet or tell you something about it;

- tag as many people as you have wips

Here's my OP wips

Background study with hearts + ruins

Background study + floating market

Cindry

Core hearts eyes

Cowboy shachi 3

Flower field

Hearts scifi fashion study

Ikkaku kill bill

Law monet

Lawpen

Lawpen hands + coffee

Penchi

Penchi 2

Penchi 3

penguin lighting study

revenge

Shachi + nami

sanji law take me somewhere nice

tattoo sheet 2

white bay

Tagging @the-cal-amity @ninhaoma-ya @slashseeker @op-sheepy and anyone who wants to do it ;)

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Holding Pattern

“There is no such thing as coincidence, only fate.” 

 ~ “Supersonic” Van Augur

We’ll dive into the heart of Cindry’s story starting tomorrow. I hope you enjoy, it’s been fun so far. Probably also start to see the first spoilers for 1064. I was in the mood for pondering One Piece today, seemed like a perfect chance to take a peek back in on the original reason for this whole blog. The shift in focus has been nice, but with a little distance looking back on the present story...I don’t feel any different. Something’s up.

To recap; Wano’s most beautiful flower was a mystery as the arc wound down. Most notably being the conspicuous absence from a late fight that made one explicit point out of not being there and another that makes a big bookend from her intro. Then Wano ends on a somewhat strange note overall and Egghead Island Arc found itself leaning on a lot of the same thematic threads that Kiku found herself tangled up around, while also generally fitting the narrative role of a soft “Act 4.” SWORD & Drake, Bonney & funky time. Doesn’t have to mean a lot, but it was already enough to ponder if we’re fully done with Big Mum here. If the trend persisted over the next leg of our journey then, what would that mean? 

Okay wow, even get them both neatly in one strip. Holy crackers. First off, if Drake floating around was worth noting...him plus CP0 heading this way? This is solidly the storyline from Wano bleeding over. Kiku & Izo were the locals tied up in it who just so happened to spend more time building around the wider world and the Straw Hats than leaving closure in Wano. Now add in this quirk of Vegapunk’s. Many faces, many forms. Kaido and Orochi both reflected it back and it was this huge running line of double identities for the Akazaya that Kiku’s the subversion of. It’s one thing to have a relevant thread in play. That can go a different way. But the more you check off the more you zero in to the point there are fewer who can thread the needle. 1062 leaves us there and then...

Huh!? This is breaking my brain. Not to say I don’t love it but huh? We’re in Egghead Island. Why are we randomly cutting away? This is all close enough I’m not ruling out it being more immediately relevant. Seriously though, what the hell? To quote a long time friend of the blog, this was a choice. A choice an author made. In a scene around Blackbeard. Blackbeard’s scenes are almost always some kind of foil to what’s going on for Luffy. This was a choice. A sudden, jarring choice to make. We’ve...done that before in this territory haven’t we? After all, which of the Titanic Ten did we flesh out after Act 1? 

“Crescent Moon Hunter” Catarina Devon. That lady with nearly the same fruit as Yamato. A many-faced shapeshifter strutting her stuff right after our intro to Wano where Luffy gets real close real quick with a naturally gifted actress. Who’ll go on to have some deep ties. And it’s all dunked in a Thriller Bark callback. Been sitting on that one a while, glad it found it’s way in eventually. It's not just the ability to find something that connects, right? Sure feels like its happening enough times and getting specific enough it's harder to ignore the undercurrent. All that remains is to see its purpose.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Minor exposition for the Mysterious Four, but there’s one thing that has always stood out to me about Cindry here. Long before we ever got to Wano even. For how goofy and off-the-wall this manga is...this right here is pretty much one of the only jokes that even flirts with the 4th Wall. Just not something Eiichiro Oda likes to do apparently.

You get the joke though, right? The actress is upstaging him. It’s cute, and under the umbrella of something we see out of anyone with performer theming. Kiku (and Izo) included. It works its way not just into the character concept, but how they’re written. They get to break the “rules” a little bit.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Perfect Timing

We have a third actress in the mix too don't we? Another one building off seeds in Thriller Bark who's story includes something around a marriage and a theme of duality. Hey, this one's even got a little secret about her body she's sensitive about too! Remember that bit with Cindry and performer themed characters breaking narrative “rules?” Way to go Miss Pudding, I like you pulling double duty with your own cover story! Lovely way of playing with time.

Bare minimum a good chance to delve into how WCI and Wano thematically tie together...but we were just talking about how Blackbeard’s scenes are almost always a mirror of Luffy's current journey.

That thread doesn't need much more than building off of what's already been said. Last arc had a "Bad End" involving leaving behind a young lady on a sad note. While she fills a different role on paper, Blackbeard has captured said girl and has her stowed away on his ship. I like a couple of subtleties of this scene though. First you have the lovely use of the “Tower” type line from Vasco the jailer here. That was the tarot we explained, right? But also this nice little wrinkle of Law’s crew and Blackbeard’s not knowing anything about their naval proficency. Like us the readers but it’s something in universe characters may not have as much trouble with. 

Before going any further, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take any chance to manifest this. Oda, I won’t just accept a legendary callback to the scene (we already referenced recently) right before bringing Robin on. I'd love it. What got them calling Zoro awful names like four-swords back then? Telling them they should have just kidnapped Vivi if they wanted her so bad. Just saying...that works. It’d be a fun parallel to Dressrosa and Neko would help them plan it. Regardless, Pudding:

Pudding is a part of this whole...whatever you want to call it with Cindry and Kiku. Convention-defying actresses who can’t be tied down to one man or one cohesive folklore reference. We see her for the first time right around introducing the Tamataebako as our undersea adventure winds down, it interrupts her wedding destroying a big ol tower, then Kiku picks up the latter half of Urashima Taro's tale. Many of the same themes apply. Might have some more fun with that later. Finally, there was one more thing from 1064 that has Thriller Bark on my mind:

We're specifically calling attention to Luffy's old guy form being the "bad future" from the SBS. Harmless fun potentially but then again, what was Moria's role? A premonition of the ruinous road you're on. The "Subverted Sabaody" idea certainly feels strong right now. And I like this funky stuff with using the cover story and SBS in chapter. We've been slowly trickling light meta beats like that in recently, Kiku & Izo getting a couple of good ones. If nothing else, I get adorable scruffy teen Jinbei and that makes me happy.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

A nightmarish premonition of the course the Straw Hats are on. It will of course be subverted by the time skip, but that’s this arc’s role in the big picture isn’t it? A showdown with someone who faced the consequences of forging blindly ahead too fast. That’s what I’m seeing Thriller Bark as now. An eerie warning to our gallant hero. But one that give him and his crew a chance to learn lessons they’ll need to ultimately succeed where Moria failed. Fun fact, Moria’s raid on Wano happened while Oden was a dancing fool. Any interaction between him and the Kozuki Clan is plausible.

Love we get Cindry in for such an iconic scene. Parts of yourself being used against you. As much love as Skypiea gets for seeding things to come this one here rules. It’s not just a great echo of Wano’s core theme of people vs their role...what’s the big motif for the Fishmen? The downside of losing your shadow tracks with what’s to come there too. Makes me wonder if Cindry’s back there on her own just to stand out. Get you thinking why she might be, especially if you’re looking with later eyes.