#I LOVE THIS ARC

[gachagon]

I've enjoyed this arc a lot even though it really did seem to drag on for literally ever. Because in the end, we got to see our protagonist and our Antagonist swap roles for the first time, and they've finally been put in the other's shoes. Kaiser has to deal with the fact that he not only lost this battle against Isagi, but that he had fun while doing it. Playing alongside a person who truly understood him deep down from the beginning was the most fun he'd ever had playing soccer, and all it took was him emotionally coming to terms with his own identity on the field, and destroying his own ego in the process. I love when characters have to experience something akin to ego-death so they can enjoy the mundane things about life...like playing soccer lmao T_T

Honestly I find it hilarious that in order for Kaiser to actually enjoy soccer with another person and to feel human he had to do the actual impossible...which was let someone else use him to make a goal, give up all of his own ideals and take a step back so someone else can be the king on the field for about 5 seconds. The thing that lead to him losing was the simple fact that he let go of all of the grievances and anger and hatred he had toward Isagi for not even 5 minutes on the field.

Do you know how ridiculous and silly that sounds lmao? Your rivalry ends because you end up enjoying the time you spend on the field with them and when you realize that simple fact, you're more angry at yourself than the other guy? Playing alongside Isagi made Kaiser finally realize things about himself that Isagi had already seen ages ago, and now he undoubtedly feels very stupid and maybe a little embarrassed.

It all goes back to the time when Isagi compared him to the Emperor with no clothes. This is Kaiser not only realizing that he wasn't as great as he once thought he was, but that the key to reaching that greatness lies in his ability to connect with other people on the field as a person and to not see them solely as stepping stones to get to where you want to be.

Kaiser's backstory showed that he was a heavily isolated person and that isolation was a burden. It gave him a strong ego sure, but was it good for his mental well being? Was it what he needed to stay level headed and sane on the field, is it even what he needed to become number 1?

And I fully understand that by saying all of this it makes it seem like I believe one side is more correct than the other. That the empathy a person feels is more important for fueling their ego than cold, hard logic. I don't really know yet though I just haven't thought enough about it lol. But Isagi who was once a deeply empathetic person on the field to the point where that was how he was able to defeat other people, is now someone who is using that empathy for cold hard logic.

In my opinion, it seems like Isagi is treating his empathy for other people as a tool to use them. He understands how the people on the field around him work because he knows what they're feeling and is able to use those feelings to his own advantage. So when Isagi says "becoming a machine for the goal" I think what he means is that he is coldly using his own empathy and ignoring any conflicting feelings he may have about winning over other people, or using them to score in order for him to score.

I only say this because to be honest this is only like what, the third or fourth time Isagi has been this outwardly "cold" towards a rival? Granted, Kaiser kind of does deserve this I'm not even gonna pretend like Kaiser wasn't a huge asshole for the whole manga up until he had his one epiphany.

But Isagi just straight up called him a clown, and then extended his hand out to help him up, which if anything is probably the "meanest" Isagi has ever gotten towards Kaiser T_T (You know, besides that other time he said he was gonna fucking kill him but who's really keeping track!) I think this time's worse because Kaiser is used to people talking to him angrily and with threats, but he's not used to people who he (used to) deem beneath him treating him like a fool.

Their positions have been totally swapped and the worst part is that Kaiser let this happen. He willingly let all of this happen, and Isagi didn't even say much of anything to him the entire match or convince him to do any of this outside of asking for help. It took Kaiser losing to Isagi hard in one game for him to get to this point lol.

I have to reread this whole arc some time because I already know I'll enjoy it with fresher eyes, but honestly it's probably the best arc we've gotten because of just how deeply introspective it got with the characters.

[matlasaya]

Tenzō and Kakashi

[ssaraexposs]

I'm smelling a REAL PARTNERSHIP here...

[beaulesbian]

wano spoilers

feeling some kind of emotional about rayleigh and roger flashbacks in wano, with smol shanks and buggy. and later oden and toki and their kids :'(

rayleigh has so much patience for them lmao

just few of my favorite panels:

(their captain is an idiot; a shared sentiment by whoever's captain wears the strawhat, probably)

(this is so cute and sad especially knowing this playfulness and love from roger never reached ace ;-; sorry)

"reminds me of the old days." - i wonder if rayleigh means by this shanks or buggy (or both? im not that far yet, if we know more of their backstories, but they were already very young on the roger's ship, so it would make sense if they found one of them as a baby and basically were raising him together ;-; *cries again*)

no really, these flashbacks said rogerray with kids rights, and rayleigh was the only one with a parenting braincell

and this last thing reminds me how often it's one of the strawhats (cough. zoro) reading luffy the news, mostly about their new bounties

smth smth captain and his first mate

and then this angst.... with the goodbyes, and rayleigh possibly keeping roger's pirate hat after he left.

these flashbacks were so emotional! so good and informative how roger's pirates worked, how oden went with them and their journey to the places we've seen luffy and strawhats travel from beginning of one piece - skypiea and the poneglyph text that oden wrote there for roger. water 7 and meeting young franky!, fishman island and roger and oden hearing that voice but rayleigh not hearing it. that was all so interesting.

it was both so fun and joyful, but also sad and devastating, what it must have been to part in the end, for the rest of the crew (and rayleigh especially.)

[shannonsketches]

i am rereading the manga and having a wonderful time

[miirasola]

[inpursuitofnunchi]

Oh god where do i find a su for myself??? Absolute favvv cutie pieeee a little baby must be protected at all costs

[mushyooms]

"Then they recognized me. Each embraced me tightly in his arms, and started sobbing in desperation. So the house rang loud with noise, and even [Circe] herself pitied them."

[formulanni]

Roan of Arc

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls

[snarkspawn]

did I doodle this mostly so I had an excuse to draw this spite reaction image?

(YES HAHAHA YES!!!)

[zephyrine-gale]

drawing one mydei a day until he comes out - the fallen angel

[stingray-art]

Black Whale, 12.5x12"

I tried quilting for the first time! It was super fun and I learned a lot. It's nowhere near perfect but I'm really proud of it!

Originally submitted for a mini event in @greedislandchallenge <3

[mindie-arts]

Training camp squad💥

[sopuu]

pesky…snail?

[skyllion-uwu]

SANDPIPER CROSSING TIME

[knox-knocks]

Can’t get over the trojans expecting jean to be a big scary raven and getting a scared, sweet kid instead vs the foxes expecting a quiet and unassuming neil and getting a loud mouth mafia nepo baby (affectionate)