#I also like Frobin

[werewolfhooligan]

we'll meet beyond the shore / we'll kiss just as before / happy we'll be beyond the sea / and never again i'll go sailing

[leyhunter]

I fought for like 20 years or something close to it fiercely against One Piece and now I am part of the hivemind

[i-am-minty-fresh]

Are you asking questions to feel superior then? You don’t seem to want the answers so I’m assuming is like an…ego thing?

I like Zolu? That’s what the post was about? It’s about the fact that people who ship Zosan also tend to ship Zolu? Zolu is not just charming but has deep meaningful connections between the characters brought on by their similar drive and loyalty to their crew and their dreams and each other. They’re two halves of the same coin and the story that their love for each other tells is both a tale as old as time, and a unique twist that endures you to both characters individually and as live-long companions.

Zoro’s character is about devotion and putting everything he has into his dream until there’s nothing left but Luffy helps share that burden.

Luffy’s character doesn’t believe in life-sacrifice. It’s no use dying for a future you’ll never get to see. Zoro helps Luffy with his structure as captain of the ship (Water 7), which he doesn’t have because he operates almost inclusively as a representation of childhood love (which includes a willingness to forgive and forget), but that isn’t how a ship can operate so Zoro helps regulate that.

They carry each other, they rely on each other, and they have complete and utter faith in each other in a way that makes their connection often both plot-relevant and meaningful.

I’m reading the same manga as you, I watched the same anime as you. I didn’t miss anything. They love each other, romantically or platonically is up to interpretation, but they love each none the less.

All the strawhats have incredibly complex and integral relationships that bring out the best in each other, and I don’t think anyone’s arguing that none are quite as explicit as Zoro and Luffy’s but all are important.

That includes the relationship that Zoro and Sanji have.

Personal preference aside I’m not going to let you minimize their relationship within the canon. Are they dating? No. Are they hopeless in love with each other? No. Are they romantically interested in each other at all? Obviously not. But their dynamic is telling an interesting story I feel like you’re ignoring.

Like @li-binauje-artisse said, arguing about which ship is more canon when neither can be canon is like arguing which number’s closest to zero when the only numbers that matter are positive numbers and we both have negative numbers. Sure -2 is closer than -10 but by them being negative means the numbers are equally as irrelevant.

I never said Zolu was stupid, I actually called it cute and healthy and easier to draw religious symbolism from poetically. I called it adorable and a tale as old as time. I’m reblogging Zolu fanart and bookmarking Zolu fanfiction like I’ve got a quota to meet by midnight tonight.

Zolu fans act like Zosan ruined their show…it doesn’t. You know people ship Sanji and Ace right? They’re tumblr’s hottest men and they’ve had like zero screen time…are those people reading into everything to just get two sexy guys to kiss? Maybe, who cares!

I watch the show without any romantic pairings because I’m aro/ace! I’m sex-repulsed, dude! Imagining Sanji and Zoro having sex makes me feel physically ill. Same with Luffy and Zoro. It’s all gross. I’m attracted to none of these characters. So why do I like Zosan? If you take away all the sex appeal, and all the worn out romance tropes, and all the headcanons…why would someone like Zosan? I can tell you why if you want, but you seem very comfortable in your amatonormativity.

I love how Zosan shippers also typically like Zolu. Zolu has the same general stupidity but it’s so much cuter. It’s easier to make religious imagery, and it’s easier to draw healthy conclusions to…but Zosan…

It’s got drama, it’s got anger issues, it’s got feelings of insecurity, it’s got unhealthy coping mechanisms, it’s got devotion, it’s got bloodlust, it’s got the whole crew pulling their hair out because they were fighting a second ago and now they’re making out while taking breaths to still make fun of each other.

Think of the crew in a Zosan universe. It’s the top gossip. Zoro falling for his captain and Luffy falling for his first mate? Adorable, predictable, a tale as old as time. Zoro falling for the flirtatious cook with anger issues and Sanji falling for the directionless swordsman who never showers? Think about the other straw hats gossiping about it, think about the news coos definitely snapping pictures of them yelling at each other and then wrapping each other wounds after a nasty spat. It would be the biggest scandal since Cross Guild and if I was a citizen in the One Piece universe I would pay for a special edition newspaper all about what’s been going on with them recently with headlines like, “Zoro and Sanji finally breaking up for good?!?! Strawhat chef says he’s ‘done with the ugly swordsman’ Could this be it for our on-again-off-again-pirate lovers?!?”

The next edition would be like, “A pirate marriage! Sanji and Zoro finally tying the knot?!” And I’d be hooked on every fucking word.

@certain-arcade-dinosaur this is all of my thoughts and feelings on the matter (this is a lie I could talk about these dipshits til I croak)

[sassypantsjaxon]

I love that you don't even have to make fan kids for frobin because oda already made them parents

[wtfforged]

something i notice with a lot of op fandom talk is a very popular need to slap a familial label onto the strawhats relationships. like calling robin the crew's "mom" or calling chopper zoro's "kid/brother" etc etc. maybe im just a hearty combination of very aromantic and not very close to my blood relatives at all, but i think the platonic relationships are incredibly impactful and important, hell, imho, even more important than if they were forced into these nuclear family stereotypical "sibling/parent/etc" categories. like, idk, most of my friends are a lot older than me, ive had friends twice my age, and friends much younger than me too. theyre not my uncle or my mom or my baby brother and i never felt the desire to think abt them that way either, theyre just friends. YES the strawhats are found family but absolutely not in the traditional way with all these labels. theyre all friends with a very strong bond. friends ARE family!

[wigglesdtuff]

LOL ya but bisexuals aren’t gay!

I see Zoro and Sanji as bisexual! But franky to me is a full on homo which is why I asked how you see him with women,,, but “just cause” is a legit answer so 👍

Alright, fair I guess. I don't see him as gay I guess. Franky and Robin just feel so... intertwined. Besides the fact that he's the one who puts a crack in the shell that ultimately ended with her wanting to live, their stories work really well together. He loved weapons so much he turned himself into one and she was feared and hunted down for "being" one. It's poetic if not romantic. They also have really cute banter that feels like they're very comfortable with one another and it's pretty frequent. They're just deeply connected to me and whether or not that's in a shipping sense, that's entirely up to you.

[pensymbols]

ah yes the brook/franky/robin/jimbei polycule also known as the babysitters also known as monkey d luffys biggest enablers

[bluestation]

🖊 september sketch log (#12)

[iaxsl]

if oda wasn't against romance koby and helmeppo would be dating rn meanwhile the straw hats would've thrown a grand wedding for franky and robin

[ladyhoneydarlinglove]

{one piece fic} blunt force comfort — franky & zoro

{previous chapters: nami | usopp | sanji | chopper | robin }

i am free from the tropical hellscape i was in for a week and half, so naturally the first thing i'm gonna do now that i'm home is post fic lol.

Rating: G Notes: ngl chat, i struggled with this one and i'm honestly still not sure how i feel about it, but i also promised myself i wouldn't overthink any of this series too much so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ lemme know what you guys think!

{Read on Ao3}

~~~~~

It’s not that Franky is jealous of Zoro. Franky is a thirty-six-year-old cyborg with a wealth of life experiences, and Zoro is a nineteen-year-old swordsman with just a couple of (admittedly large) adventures under his belt. Franky’s a man, and Zoro is still just a kid; exactly the kind of troublemaker that, under different circumstances, he might have brought into the Franky Family fold. The idea that Franky might be jealous of him is patently ridiculous.

It’s just, well…

Here’s the thing. Franky spent over a decade being the leader of the Franky Family, the guy that everyone called ‘Big Bro’ because he had a talent for finding snot-nosed street punks and looking after them, just like a real big brother would. He’s always liked that title, because it feels very apt; Franky’s never considered himself quite responsible enough to fill the role of a father figure, but a big brother? Big brothers get to be a little (or a lot) wild and crazy, so long as they’re still around to help the younger siblings that need them. And that’s exactly what Franky did for over ten years before he agreed to join the Straw Hat crew.

Of course he knew that things were going to be different going forward; that he’d be a shipwright working under a captain instead of a boss in his own right, and that was just fine. Franky was totally prepared to defer to Luffy in that regard, because he could tell that Luffy was something special. But it’s become clear to Franky pretty quick that while every Straw Hat member trusts their captain implicitly and have arguably already followed him to the gates of Hell itself, they are also all in absolute agreement that Luffy is an idiot and definitely not the person they’re going to for help most often, at least not for day-to-day things. That responsibility falls largely on Zoro.

In theory it makes sense. Zoro’s the first mate, and first mates are supposed to pick up where their captains are lacking. But therein lies the conundrum. Because Zoro—at least as far as Franky can tell—is also an idiot. A serious idiot as opposed to a goofy one like his captain, but serious doesn’t equal responsible or even helpful. Franky’s been around the block long enough to know that, but unfortunately, it seems like he’s the only one.

Nami asks him for help with calculations for her navigational charts, even though Zoro can’t tell right from left half the time and calls her ‘witch’ every third sentence. Usopp asks him for assistance testing his gadgets, even though Zoro clearly doesn’t understand a thing he’s doing; Franky once heard him refer to a screwdriver as ‘the pointy thing that you twirl the screws with’. Sanji wants him there on supply runs and sometimes meal prep, even though he and Zoro are two seconds away from killing each other at any given moment. Chopper’s at least not dumb enough to try consulting with Zoro on medical stuff, but he follows the swordsman around as surely as any awestruck little brother, often squealing about how Zoro is so cool! 

Even Robin has gone to him for help with things on occasion, though for what, Franky can’t even begin to fathom. So he asks her, because at least Robin’s past the point of being the kind of punk ass kid Franky would have been trying to whip into shape not even two months ago, and Franky figures she’ll be able to shed some light on the situation. 

He instantly regrets it when Robin takes one look at him and then smiles devilishly.

“You’re jealous,” she says, and Franky sputters.

“I’m not jealous!” he insists, suddenly very glad that the cybernetics in his face prevent him from blushing. “I just don’t get it. You can’t tell me that you don’t think he’s an idiot.”

“Oh, he absolutely is,” Robin chuckles. “But he’s also… How did Nami put it to me once? Stupidly profound and profoundly stupid.”

Franky raises an eyebrow. “Profound?” he says skeptically.

“Mmm.” Robin takes a sip of her coffee. “I don’t quite understand it either, but try talking to him about a problem sometime and you’ll see what I mean,” she suggests, smiling at Franky over the rim of her cup. “You’d be surprised at how insightful he can be.”

Franky doubts that, but he can’t deny that his curiosity has been piqued. Which is why one night, when he goes to the galley for a cola refill and finds Zoro alone there cleaning his swords, Franky decides to give it a shot.

“Hey, Zoro-bro,” he says. “Can I ask you something?”

Zoro grunts, not lifting his gaze from his swords. Franky takes that as an affirmation and pops the top off his bottle of cola, taking a sip before he asks, “You ever feel like you’re not exactly sure what your role on the crew is?”

Zoro frowns. “Can’t say that I have,” he answers after a moment. Franky honestly expects that to be the end of it, so he’s a little surprised when Zoro adds, “Why?”

“Eh, I don’t know,” Franky lies, leaning back against the breakfast bar. “Guess I’ve just felt a little off-kilter since I joined up. Trying to figure out my place here, y’know?”

Zoro’s frown deepens. “What do you mean? You’re the shipwright, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but besides that,” Franky says. At Zoro’s blank stare he continues, “You know, like how Chopper’s the doctor but also kind of the kid brother? Nami’s the navigator but also the annoying yet lovable younger sister? That kind of thing.”

Zoro clearly has no idea what Franky is talking about; the cyborg can practically see the gears straining behind his eyes. Still, to his credit, he does ask, “Well, what else do you want to be?”

Franky shrugs. “Dunno yet,” he says. “Back on Water 7 I was the ‘Big Bro’ of my ragtag family, but I can’t really do that here.”

“Why not?” Zoro asks, and Franky blinks.

“Uh,” he says, caught off guard. “Cause that’s your role, isn’t it?”

Now Zoro blinks. “It is?”

Franky stares at him. “Yeah dude,” he says. “Isn’t that why the others always go to you for help with stuff?”

Zoro’s forehead furrows so deeply that his eyebrows are nearly touching. “I thought they did that because I’m the first mate.”

“That’s exactly what I mean; you’re both,” Franky explains, honestly kind of shocked that he has to.

Zoro squints at him, still clearly not getting it. “Uh… okay. Sure,” he says slowly. “But why does that mean you can’t be a big brother too?”

Franky freezes with his soda bottle halfway to his mouth, blinking several times in rapid succession. 

“I…” he begins, and then stops, realizing that he doesn’t really have an answer to that. 

“You’d probably be better at it than I would anyway. Since I didn’t even know I was one.” Zoro shrugs and then after a mildly awkward pause, adds, “You’d definitely be better at helping Usopp with his gadgets than I am; I don’t mind listening to him but I’m not gonna pretend I understand any of that shit.”

He says all this with what Franky thinks is a surprising amount of sincerity, as though the prospect of sharing a big brother role really doesn’t bother him at all. Franky thought for sure that it would; Zoro’s got a competitive streak a mile wide, not to mention pride to spare. Pride usually goes hand-in-hand with ego, and all too often that leads to easy antagonism and sometimes outright hostility; Franky would know. He’s (usually) man enough to admit when he lets his own ego get the better of him.

Like now, for instance.

“Huh,” Franky says out loud. “Guess I hadn’t really thought of it like that.”

Huh, Franky says inside his head. Guess he is kind of stupidly profound after all.

[sieglinde-freud]

ok i think im done i think ive finally done it. i have completed the awakening ship chart with the second gen. except for nah sorry nah. yes i do love rarepair hell thanks for asking im never leaving

[giraffepiracy]

i keep thinking about a post i saw before even meeting franky saying he was forgiven too quickly or that frobin doesnt really make sense. insane ass fucking takes.

[casualbugenjoyer]

I'm rewatching water 7 and ennies lobby and oh my God. Both Franky and Robin are super fucked up in water 7, but the each have a moment in ennies lobby where everything makes sense and they start behaving like somewhat normal adults. This happens after they've met each other and realized they were in the same boat and are somehow almost the same level of fucked up. Not to mention, it's the first time Robin openes up to anyone- let alone someone who is similar and has similar circumstances.

Anyway all I can think about is Frobin. They are everything to me. And they make so much sense. They both have autistism lmao .

Things that are not often looked at in future arcs that are really highlighted here include: Franky's anger management issues, Robins propensity to skip people's feelings for "a more logical solution", and of course both of their traumas influencing their decisions (based off of how people in their past got treated). Later both are more used for action and jokes. Franky being super 'super' and Robin being morbid. Give me more content with them that isn't flat!!!!!!

This arc is truly amazing, and honestly nothing in post time skip had gotten to this point yet. I hope it does, because it's really beautiful the way Oda highlights how trauma never leaves you. How unless you get help, or can get help, things won't change.

Idk this was a message that really struck with me. I really loved the idea that no matter who you are and what you've done, if you want to overcome adversity your have to trust other people. And I know that's a common theme in every arc, but it's one of the best in this one imo.

[sassypantsjaxon]

It will never not be funny to me that Franky and Robin are everybody's parents

[isfrankytime]

They are married, your honor.

I fear this is as close to done as this will be 😅

Why do sketches always look better than cleaned lines?!

[hauntingblue]

Stampede aka another episode of luffy turning haters into dick riders just with his kind and big heart