#I have the first 10 physically but I can pirate the rest

[redhelmetguy]

Bring back hater Duke

WFA ep. 132 but if it was We Are Robin!Duke instead.

[dilutedconfusion]

The Nameless

SoftYandere!Eustass Kid x F!Reader (Part 1) MDNI 18+

CREDITS TO @likeeliterallywtf for requesting this!!! She gave me an amazing request with a detailed description of what she wanted so hopefully I’m doing it justice!!

Summary: Kid sees you for the first time and is stunned. Melting into a cacophony of insistent need to have you. He’s had a rough past with woman before but this felt different. Or at least that was the excuse he was going to use to have you.

Warnings: YANDERE TROPE!!! There is no explicit warnings in this first part but THERE WILL BE. So I would advise not reading this if topics such as mental & physical abuse, blood/gore, and just an overall unhealthy relationship bother you! Of course you can still read this first part if you want just be wary of any of the other chapters.

Word Count: 4.4k

The clawing feeling that Kid felt inside when he first saw you wasn’t something he had expected.

The insistent pumping of his warm blood could be felt like a flame across every inch of his skin. Tying his stomach in knots and melting his marrow as he just stood there like a deer in headlights to watch you from afar. Expecting a glance. Expecting a conversation. Expecting your blood to boil with passion forcing you to run into his arms.

I’m a handsome guy. I’m the future pirate king. I could get any woman I want. But if you impress me enough...then maybe I just want you. This thought dripped like honey on his mind. Enveloping every crevice and stem with just this all-encompassing thought of you.

He could nearly taste you on his tongue. He could nearly feel your hair dance between his fingers. He could nearly see you smiling at him shyly as you spoke to him. A bright red dusted across your cheeks like the slow sweet blossoming of a flower. A flower he wanted to encase in glass and delicately touch whenever the urge hit him.

But just like the glass a wall of space separated the two of you. A gruesome space separating you from the man you’d spend the rest of your life with.

He just couldn’t wait to tell you the good news of his arrival.

“Earth to Kid! What the fuck man? Are you even listening to me right now?”

As if cold water had splashed over his face Kid's body jumped a little as he stood. The muscles in his neck tightened spastically. His eyes were weary and his hands nearly vibrated as he slowly came out of his stupor.

“Yeah..yeah uh what..what were you saying?” It was almost physically painful for Kid to take his eyes off you. To give even Heat an ounce of his attention. The slight sheen of sweat gracing his brow got swept back into his hair as he adjusted his goggles a bit.

“Since you’ve been blanking out everything for the last 10 minutes I’ll tell you what’s happening. We’re going shopping right now. Buying some ingredients before we head home. Look I get it, you hate shopping. But at least help me instead of just standing there.” Heat's voice was aggravated and low. A whisper of words meant to reach Kid's ears whilst trying not to reach others.

Kid didn’t particularly understand why Heat seemed so reserved. It was just a crowd. Just a herd of unmentionables moving through the open market. The sun oppressively beat down on the civilians. Their awkward and wayward gawking at the aforementioned pirates wasn’t something new to Kid. But if he wanted anyone to pay attention to him, to look at him at all, he was hoping it’d be you. Yet his hopes were not being met just yet.

You seemed to be staring out just like him on the other side of the street. Thanks to Kids' tall height he could see you past the bobbing heads walking by. No glaring sunlight or bright colors or the vendor's canopy fluttering above him would steal away his attention. Everything seemed to center on you as if it was where his eyes naturally glided.

Side pressed against the tagged and rough alleyway wall you stood. A thin hood covering the softness of your face in a deep shadow. The rest of your clothes seemed worn. You’re canvas pants shredded in a few places along with a rough patch of what looked like dirt on the calf. They led down right to a pair of shit-kicker boots slightly scuffed in some places. The deep red shawl laced with the hood itself covering up the loose black t-shirt hugging your torso. Though compared to the deep rift of darkness in that alleyway nearly swallowing you up, he could still see you crystal clear.

Maybe she’s just trying to stay in the shade. Beat the heat.

There was a keen look in your eye that fluttered over the passersby’s in the street and vendors at their stands. It was sharp and antagonizing. A slight snarl quirked at your lower lip.

You were looking for something or moreover, you were looking for an opportunity.

A thief are we now?

“KID!” A loud thud of pain erupted onto Kid's shin. Making his jaw get even tighter if that was even humanly possible.

“What the hell man? Don’t fucking kick me!” Kid's cheeks became noticeably flushed. Trying to mask his anger but also trying to appease the shop vendor to think that the two of them were at least partially normal.

Heats hands were still occupied with filling a small crate with supplies. Cans, jars, and a load of nonperishables slowly getting jenga-d in there. His sad-looking eyes not even sparing a glance towards Kid. “Quit being creepy and help me pack this shit up or I’m making you carry everything.”

Those words caught in Kids' ears like a fish on a hook. His lips flattened out into something far more ashamed. “I’m not being creepy. You don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

Heat chewed on the inside of his mouth. Holding himself back from saying something too stupid but glowering at him regardless. “Well I have a pretty good idea what you’re doing and it sure as hell doesn’t involve helping me. But since you wanna just gawk, you’re carrying the crate.”

“No the fuck I’m not”

“Yes the fuck you are.” Heat stare didn’t falter in the slightest. Sure this big red-headed brute was his captain but he was also his friend. A friend that just so happened to be a bit strange at times. Heat knew not to try and change him but he also knew to not let Kids habits get in the way of their work.

“Fine” Kid grumbled while sliding the full crate over towards him. Heat then promptly picked up some bags as they were sitting loosely on the floor. Kid hoisted the crate up easily and held it snugly under his right arm. Following Heat in a slow meandering pace out into the street.

Where is she? His eyes glazed over the spot where you once were. That full figure of yours is now gone from his sight. Heat of course was walking way too damn fast. Already a good bit ahead of him and siphoning through the crowd.

Fucking hell where is she? He made no move to walk faster and just scanned the crowd in utter desperation. Hoping to catch a glimpse of your red hood bounding through the streets.

Heat of course gave a wayward glance back towards Kid. His abnormally tall height made it easy to spot him along with the red hair of course. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, coming to a stop in the middle of the street until Kid met up with him.

“Should I just leave you here? I want to get home man it's hot as hell out here.” Heat's voice rasped out in a solemn whisper. Watching the way Kids eyes seemingly couldn’t maintain eye contact with him. Like the rest of the crowd held the promise of wealth and fame if he just looked hard enough.

Or it held another girl like always.

“I’m...I’m coming. I don’t want to have to hold a stupid crate when I…” Kid trailed off. Rubbing his prosthetic hand through his hair as he wistfully imagined the first conversation he might have with you.

She is going to swoon for me. Look up at me with those pretty eyes just begging to be mine. I have to be perfect. I need to show her what I am. What I can provide.

Heat had waited for Kid to finish his sentence but he never did. The redhead just chewed on his lips and looked off into the distance with a thousand-yard stare.

“God if I knew any better I would think little hearts should be floating around you right now. You gotta control yourself, man. Let’s just get home and then you can come back...and do whatever.” Heat stepped next to Kid's side. Trying to persuade him to keep walking as if he were a child.

“There’s no fucking hearts floating around me. It ain’t like that.” Kid snapped his head towards Heat with a snarl. Taking long board steps forward in a stomping motion to get a move on.

“Yeah? Well if that’s true then water must not be wet huh?.” Heat again gnawed on his cheek like always. His sarcasm was raw but his willingness to say more was seemingly gone.

“Shut up! I just don’t want to leave and then I don’t see her again. What if she’s leaving tonight? What if she doesn't live here?” That very thought made Kid's heart skip. Still trying to take notice of every passerby on the street hoping and praying one of them was you.

“So it is about a girl huh? Knew it. It’s fine if she leaves because what does it matter? You could pull someone else or go to a brothel like the rest of us.” Heat cocked his head up at Kid. A wry smile pulled at his lips, or at least the sort of half smile that his sad face could manage.

“I know that asshole. But I’m allowed to want what I want. Don’t judge me for being particular about the chicks I pick up.” Kid scoffed a bit and looked away from Heat. That smile did little to pick up his mood. He began walking even a bit faster. Urgency on his mind as the heels of his boots clicked against the cobblestone road.

“When have I ever cared about what you do with women, Kid? I literally don’t give a shit unless you start acting weird and not doing what you’re supposed to.” There was a slightly serious tone under the natural wave of relaxation that Heat often held. Kid has been infatuated with a few girls in the past few years. Picking them up just to string them along for a month max before leaving them on some island. It was...a questionable choice in his and some of the other crew mate's minds. Though if he was being honest it particularly annoyed him.

He gets hung up. He gets what he wants. He realizes it is not what he wants. He gets mad at the rest of the world for it. What a fun cycle about to start again. Heat nearly rolled his eyes at his thoughts. Gripping the bag handles a bit tighter as he offhandedly glances up at Kid once more.

“All I did was not help you buy and pack shit? Are you seriously complaining about that?” Kid couldn’t particularly see the logic in why Heat was complaining. To him this was simple. To him, he didn’t remember about those handfuls of girls he’d been maybe halfway committed to. It felt real and full and passionate at the start. But then they break his little heart by being completely different than what he expected.

This girl doesn’t seem like that though. She’ll be different. She’ll be perfect. She needs me. I can feel it.

“I’m complaining because I know how you are. You take things too far sometimes.” Heat mumbled his words a bit. Trying to cautiously weasel around the big elephant in the room that was Kid's love language.

Kid, though emotionally unintelligent as he is, still caught on to how Heat was avoiding specifics. He wanted to know what his crew mate thought of him. He wanted to wear it on his chest and feel the piercing sting it might cause.“Too far as in what?” Rolled off his tongue with an emphasis on the what. Eyeballing Heat as they slowly made their way out of the town. A rural glance between here and the sea upon them.

Heat paused for a moment, biting his lip in thought as he tried to piece together the best way to put it. “You..seriously don’t remember that blonde chick? The one that you...” He couldn’t finish his sentence. Not because what happened particularly bothered him. But Kid…just seemed different in the worst possible way the last time he had one of these so-called partners.

“Oh, you mean that. Whatever. She was pushing me to do it. It was practically her fault. I don’t like getting taken for granted and I don’t like my women looking at anyone else. She was just a fling and I’m fucking regretting it.” Kid once again scoffed. Brushing that whole incident aside like it was just dirt on his shoulder.

It wasn’t just nothing though. I’ve never seen him like that before. Heat's worry continued onto the present day. A day he was hoping wouldn’t be another chance for Kid to sink his teeth into someone.“It didn’t seem like a fling at the time...”

“You don’t know how it was! I’m saying she was worthless from the start and I’m fucking right about that. I didn’t take it too far, I took it exactly where it needed to go.” Defensive as always Kid couldn't see his actions as wrong. Heat knew they weren’t good people and he didn’t expect Kid to be a saint.

But what if he gets worse?

“So...are you planning on being the same with this girl?” The question was simple and didn’t point blame at Kid. He hoped Kid would come up with a resounding no. Saying he would take it slow, maybe test the waters a bit more before diving head first. If not for the girl then at least for his own sanity.

“She was pretty. She seemed interesting and there’s not a single doubt in my mind telling me she wouldn’t love me. I’m allowed to go for things that seem good, so quit being jealous.” The strong air of confidence that Kid held was average. He was confident in each and every single syllable that slipped off his tongue. Heat could tell there was no changing that but sometimes he wished his captain wouldn’t be so...persistent.

“I’m not jealous. Like I said, I literally don’t care what you do, I just don’t want it bothering the rest of the crew.” Heat averted the blame for Kids attitude towards him. Shaking his head dismissively as he walked a bit faster to finally approach their ship lined at the docks.

Heat was never much of a man who needed sexual pleasure to get by but Kid definitely was. So it didn’t make sense why Kid thought he was jealous. But Heat supposed Kid would even turn a scorned eye at Killer if he touched his ‘toys’.

“Well, you sound jealous. So don’t be catching looks when I come home with my woman later.” Kid eyed the few crew mates hanging out on deck. The sun slowly dipping into the watery depths of the evening gave him hope that he would have you soon.

Maybe even before midnight if I’m lucky.

Heat cast an accusatory yet playful smile towards Kid.“What are you going to do? Kidnap her? You’re sounding like a creep Kid.” There was a sense of worry in his voice though he tried to laugh through it regardless. Because it simply had to be a joke or else he wouldn’t be laughing.

I mean he would never do anything like that…would he?

Kid's body instantly paused. Leaving Heat to do a double-take and suddenly stop a bit ahead of him. He turned around towards the redhead with a weary glance. Noticing the piercing gaze that shot through him like a pistol.

Resolutions and ravenous tendencies dripped out of the hellhole that was Kids painted mouth.“I am a creep. I’ll be anything and fucking everything I need to be to get what I deserve. And I deserve her.”

__________

Fuck.

With sprinted exhaustion, each breath became a fiery roar of necessity. Legs close to throbbing from the amount of hits they had taken. A marred bruise turned to blood against your thigh. Each pounding step kept you unbalanced and staggered as you ran as fast as you could.

“Get that fucking thief!”

Shit. There was no time to realize what was happening until someone had slammed a stool down on your thigh. It had sent you toppled over ready to take a few sparse kicks in the spine body before you scurried upwards. Nearly falling face first as you barely managed to climb out of a window and out into the alley.

Now here you were running with a decent amount of money and scraps of food hitting your back. Thudding against your already sore spine you desperately clung to the makeshift tarp you were using as a bag. Your eyes skidded along the road in front of you as you made a sudden and sharp turn into another alleyway. It was slightly more crowded then the last and filled with exactly what you needed.

Perfect. It was a last resort in your mind but you were glad you had thought of it before stealing from that noble's house. You had a way to get into their town connected to the far more poor and dangerous area you were from near the shore.

A water flow system that brought water from the lake down through their city and back into the ocean. Of course, it was guarded on every inch of that huge wall that separated the rich from the degenerates. But you knew how to get in and had for a while now.

The sounds of racing footsteps behind you made your nerves go into overdrive. Hands shaking in a mix of fear and excitement from the rush. You quickly darted into the crowded alleyway. Running behind some large dumpsters you had pushed as a barricade into the middle of the road. Just a small enough slit to let you squeeze through their metal encasings just filled to the brim with rotting food and something a little extra.

Maybe if these dumbasses behind me had a lick of sense they would smell the gas in the air.

There was about a quart of alcohol sprinkled over the perfect kindling that was trash. Along with a very small and homemade piece of dynamite and a half-assed Molotov cocktail just to make it a bit more...well what would you call it?

Eyebrow scorching. Finally, these bastards will look about as ugly as their insides do.

You were quick despite your shaking hands. Picking up the Molotov cocktail you had hidden behind some trash bags. Eyes fluttering down the alley to spot the hoard of angry guards you had roused closing in on you. With quick succession, you threw your bag of goodies a good 20 feet away. Flicking out a lighter tucked into your pocket and walking backward from the men.

A devilish smile couldn’t help but quirk itself at your lips. The darkness that surrounded you now getting filled with the faint spark of light turned that turned into a flame. Butane hitting your senses just so you can breathe it in a bit deeper.

This is going to be satisfying.

You pressed that small flame against the dry rag sticking out of the bottle. Taking no time to throw it as hard as you can directly into the dumpsters.

“BURN IN HELL FUCKERS!” You yelled, a crazed laugh shaking in your chest as you heard the ceremonious crash of glass which of course quickly escalated into huge balls of flames.

The boom that resounded through your stomach and skull was nearly climax-inducing. Your body struggled to fall back as you took in the contrasting flames now filling up the once-dark alleyway with a piercing light. The roofs and windows of the nearby building instantly set on fire. The dumpster now jagged lines of half-melted metal barfing out trash onto the street.

You had shaken your small portion of the world yet again. A small triumph amongst an endless sea of crimes that were your playground.

Their screams took hold of your attention long after you had been staring at those rolling balls of flame. Backing up towards your bag of goodies you listened to the people panic. Trying to find a way to put out the fires the owners of the houses on each side of you called up yet another round of authorities.

Welp, that went accordingly. You walked up to a manhole cover hidden behind a few cardboard boxes you had placed. Picking up the heavy metal with a grunt you slid it over. The men were still trying to see past the dumpsters. Some of them were weaving their way around the buildings to make it to the other side. But you were already two feet underground before they spotted you. Every civilian's eyes were on the fire and every guard just a moment too late.

__________

The walk home was damp and dark. A small cement trail perfect for a brisk stroll. An underwater river that made up the water system of the city to add to the ambiance. A few rats following you along to keep you company.

It was gross and it was dark and it felt like you.

You had been feeding these rather plump rats for a while now. At first, they nearly bit your fingers off but now the little guys couldn’t help but find your light inviting. The small pitter-patter of their feet across the cement and piping brought you comfort despite being alone.

“Here you go you guys.” You mumbled softly. Quickly breaking off little pieces of bread for each rat as they scurried up to your feet. Standing up on their hind legs as their little hands greatly accepted the bread.

It was a ritual at this point. Like paying the toll on a bridge except you were underground and the toll was entirely self-inflicted. Though the rats clearly appreciated it or so you’d like to think. Their black glassy eyes just near a smile and their quiet squeaks a thank you. Letting you scratch their soft tummies before they hurried into the nooks and crannies that were their home.

A home that was akin to yours as soon as you made your way out of these tunnels.

We’re not so different, you and I.

It was a bit difficult getting out of these tunnels because it required nearly getting swept up in a strong current. A smaller cement walkway slanted down towards the river where all lines of water conjoined back together. So you had to tie your bag to your pants. Looping it through your belt and leaning forward as far as you could go without slipping into the water.

The ceiling above was curved and made out of scratchy brick. You’re ass pressed against the wall as you side shuffled towards the light of night. The cool milky sparkles cast upon the rushing water only halfway distracting you from the gross spiderwebs you sometimes ran across.

Eventually, you made your way out. Quiet as a mouse you pressed you’re back to the tall wall separating the towns. Eyeing a forest line off to your right that would ensure nobody would spot you. Of course, the guards up top swung their blinding lamps and guns at anything that got too close. So you had to hide in the shrubbery that lined the walls. Thorns pricking into your skin though you made sure to wear nothing but long selves as you hurried your way towards home.

Thank god that's over with. You slipped into the forest, finding the trail you had carved out to lead you through the darkness. Your home was pressed against an outcropping of rocks. Wood, tarps, and thatch make up the cabin you belong to. One that was made with inexperience but love.

Walking up to the door you let out a little huff of air. Dusting off the dirt on your clothes before grabbing the handle and walking on through. The cabin was dark inside as you started slipping off your boots. Setting the loot bag down on the ground and bending over to unlace your shoes before kicking them off lazily.

Your thigh was of course still hurting like a bitch even if it had stopped bleeding. Your spine basically imprinted with the few kicks they managed to land on you.

A soft sound caught your ears and made you halt. Noticing the small sliver of light coming from underneath the door to your kitchen.

Did I leave that on? No, I always make sure to turn it off. But maybe I didn’t?

Fear struck you like lightning. You’re body halting as if it had been frozen before you forced yourself to move. Carefully craning your neck and pressing your ear to the wall. There were no loud sounds but you could tell there was some faint shuffling. As if someone was walking around in there looting the place.

I’m getting fucking robbed. Nobody knows I live out here! Did someone trail me to my place?

What once was fear became rage. Grinding your teeth unconsciously as you made your way over to the hallway closet. You tried to stay as quiet as possible. Clicking the door open and grabbing out a stolen rifle. Pressing the hilt of it into your armpit you got yourself ready. Aiming it steady as you cautiously walked up to the door. You gave yourself a second to breathe and wipe your sweaty hands on your pants before quickly opening the door. Letting it slam across the wall as you peered into the lit kitchen.

Eyebrows knitted as you found a nearly 7-foot-tall man at your stove. His wide back turned to you before he swiftly turned around, a big smile on his rosy face.

“Ah, glad you’re home dear. I’m making you something.” His voice was smooth and warm. The light rasp of his throat and the soft light of a lamp cast across his imposing figure. His amber eyes looked up and down between your confused face and the gun in your hands.

“What the fuck are you doing in my house?” Growled out of you. Hands steady as you pointed the gun right at his head. Not daring to take a step closer from the doorway.

With a grunt, he pressed his lower back up against the counter and crossed his hands over his wide chest. The corners of his smile turning more sarcastic around its edges. “Making you dinner that’s what. Though I personally don’t think rifles and pasta mix. But whatever makes my doll happy.”

A/N: So basically Kid is weird as hell. A walking talking red flag if you will. Dude just stared at y/n and was like “Yep…she literally needs me”. AFTER LITERALLY NOT SAYING SINGLE WORD TO HER. JUST DELUSION. Hope you like him like this 💞

[teecupangel]

I've been checking this game called Shipwrecked 64 and there's this section in the game where you use something like the Eagle Vision and you could use it for the rest of the game in some areas, I wanna see your thoughts on this because the entire time I was thinking of AC

You know what would be fun, nonny?

If we set up the core setting of Shipwrecked 64 to a game that Abstergo developed and released for a limited time.

It was meant to be the Entertainment Division’s first game using a prototype VR system that would later be developed as the Animus gaming console (that’s what they tell the public but it’s not true. The VR system was created using the Animus as the base but they later scrapped it and just modified the Animus).

But the game itself was in development hell for so long, only later having a limited release after the Animus’ first game (Liberation) proved to be successful. It came with a 10% discount voucher that the players can use when preordering Abstergo Entertainment’s next game “Pirates of Nightmare”.

Of course, because this is Abstergo and they’re scummy, the voucher is only available for PREORDER and will expire the moment the game is released.

The game wasn’t even given a digital release with Abstergo going for the physical copy first then just… never bothering to do a digital release because they were betting that Pirates of Nightmares would be so successful no one would remember that weird short 2D platformer that Abstergo released between two major games.

And it sorta worked.

The game wasn’t even played all that much. It was cheaper because it was short and the controls were clunky as it was created for the prototype. Abstergo only did the bare minimum to port it to the latest Animus gaming console and players can’t even access it IF they have one of the newer models (specifically the models released for “Triumph of the Borgias” onward) because it’s not backwards compatible.

Then… a Game Preservation group called “Shipwrecked 17 Recovery Crew” released an emulator that can play it even for the latest model of the Animus gaming console. They released it for free with the emulator saying “if you enjoy this game, please consider donating to the [a link that takes people to one of the site that archives all video games with a list of video games that have not been archived or preserved yet]”. There’s no request for monetization at all so Abstergo isn’t exactly keen on trying to take it down less they suffer a backlash from players who would say “you’re not even rereleasing it so why are you taking down a passion project from fans???”

The emulator also notes that it fixed some of the codes so there should be less bugs and would provide a more ‘complete’ experience.

The setting of the game is quite simple. The player plays as Shipmate 0, the captain of the Ship (no name was given so fans call it ‘ship’). The Ship suffered terrible damage during a severe storm on the sea and Shipmate 0 wakes up in an island and the goal of the player is to find all ‘16’ shipmates that are stranded in the island (with each having their own minigame, of course).

The normal ending would be getting all ‘16’ shipmates safely in a newly repaired Ship.

Most players assumed that it’s called Shipwrecked 17 because Shipmate 0 is counted as one of the shipmates so, in total, there are 17 shipmates.

Then… some starts looking at the code.

And they post the comments on a function called Golden_Ending().

// Unlock Subject 17. // Requirement: kill all 16 Subjects.

They believe the ‘Subject’ are the shipmates and the morbid requirement fascinated some players. Other players do not that “kill” has a different meaning in codes so maybe it’s not actually killing the shipmates ingame.

Then one player realized that they can kill Shipmates using specific methods during the minigame portion. This player unintentionally found this out while he was doing the tag minigame with Shipmate 4 (the duck). The game had been simply chasing Shipmate 4 until he takes a short rest and reaching him during that short rest. BUT if a player was to use their left hand while chasing Shipmate 4 (not during short rest) and the distance is an arm’s length or shorter, the game glitches for a moment and Shipmate 0 actually tackles Shipmate 4, staying oon top of Shipmate 4 as he slumps down.

After that, a short audio of an older sounding man and a woman are played by the screen glitches to show Shipmate 4’s profile window (where it says the actual name of Shipmate 4 is Daniel the Duck) talking about how unstable ‘Daniel’ was becoming and prolonged sessions on the Animus only had minimal effect on helping him stabilize his mind.

The glitch ends with the profile showing a different profile for a fraction of a second and it was only after a few more people tried the method and recorded their playthrough so they can take a screenshot of it later on that the players found out the second profile was the ‘session’ records of a Daniel Cross, complete with dates and summary of each session.

And now, Abstergo is trying to get everyone to stop playing, saying that the game has been tampered with or that someone modified it to include such morbid things, it was meant to be a kids’ game!

People barely cared. The mystery and the ‘horror’ were more interesting than the whole “help these animal-ish creatures get off the island”. Streamers started playing it, trying to find ways to kill the other Shipmates…

They learn new things along the way…

Like how Shipmate 15 is actually pregnant and the way to kill her is… well… morbid. Shipmate 16 can only be killed by chasing him into a specific trap that will cut him to pieces.

Every time they manage to kill a Shipmate, they are transferred to an empty bar with the walls slowly being filled with the pictures of the ‘Subjects’ that appear after killing the Shipmate, including Daniel the Duck, Robert the Rabbit, Clay the Cuckoo, etc…

Then when all 16 Shipmates are killed, they return to the bar once more but it’s now burning and there’s a Dog ‘Shipmate’ in front of them.

The final Shipmate.

The key to the Golden Ending.

[iamnot-crazy]

Stowaway Chapter 9

Trafalgar Law x Fem!Reader

Summary:

The reader is a slave to a nobleman due to her devil's fruit ability which allows her to control the emotions of the people around her. She flees to bump into Trafalgar Law and boards his ship.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

Your moment with Law was short-lived as you passed out in his arms your body falling limp so much so everyone feared for your life. Even Law was fooled as he shook you in concern however, the feeling of your heartbeat from the back of your neck pulled him out of it sighing with relief. The Straw hat's doctor rushed over to perform his own examination, "She'll be fine" Law stated rising to his feet. "Do you have a medical room?"

The blue-nosed reindeer nodded, leading the way to the ship and into his medical room. Law placed you down on the bed before casting room and used his sword to scan you for any remaining strings or injuries caused by yanking the string out of you. He pulled his sword down satisfied to find no lingering effects. unfortunately, his scan can only look for physical injuries and can see the mental turmoil. He pulls the chair next to the bed and starts petting your hair lovingly.

Chopper decides to give the two of you your privacy as he turns to rejoin the party but before he can close the door Law speaks an order, "Tell Straw Hat we should set off soon the island won't be safe for long." The reindeer nodded as he closed the door.

When the door shut you grab onto Law's wrist pulling his attention back to you. You look up at him with tears in your eyes and your eyes glowed black. "Y/n." Law spoke with concern as he held your hand with one hand and cupped your face with the other using his thumb to wipe away your tears. You leaned into his hold, "do you remember?" He asked but held his breath as he awaited your answer. You smiled softly and nodded. Law breathed out and couldn't help a single tear fall as his head fell on your chest listening to your heartbeat. He quickly fell asleep as he was able to relax next to you.

You fell back asleep and after an hour when the party died down Law left the room to attend to some task. The Straw Hats finally decided to leave the island of punk hazard and Law returned to the medical room.

He climbed onto the small bed and pulled you close into a cuddle for the first time in 2 years when you were taken from him.

You slept for a full 24 hours and when you woke up it was the middle of the day and Law was on the deck exchanging plans with the Straw Hats. You sat up rubbing the back of your neck a weird itch continued to pester you. You swing your legs over the bed and place your feet on the floor trying to gain balance before swaying to the door. When the door opened everyone who was on the deck yanked their attention toward you as you leaned on the doorway.

Law quickly began to run up the stairs to reach you before you tried to push yourself off the doorway only to stumble. Law reached you before you fell and pulled you to your feet. "y/n?" He spoke in concern. "What are you doing up?"

He tried guiding you back to the room "I wanted to get some air." you mumbled as you tried to push away. Law's eyes widen in response he hasn't heard you voice your wants in a long time so he quickly changes his direction and guides you to the deck where everyone is hanging out lying on the grass. Luffy was the first to jump up to greet you with his cheery attitude but when the rest of the crew saw you flinch the red-haired pirate quickly knocked him back down onto the ground. He pouted but received a warning glare from Nami.

Law guided you to the bench under the mast where the dark-haired pirate sat. She looked kindly at you with a soft smile as you looked uneasy joining the group. Now that you have sat down Luffy the wild captain jumped up again "y/n-y! So did it work do you remember me now!" He shouted as he ran up to you.

You nodded in response and he jumped up excitedly and you couldn't help but smile slightly at him as he ran over to his friends. "You must have been through a lot y/n are you sure you want to be out here with everyone?" Robin the kind pirate next to you asked in concern.

You nodded again which left Law confused you haven't spoken a word to anyone other than him. He leaned over to your ear, "Are you sure you're ok. You can speak up."

You nodded stiffly, "Yes Master Law….." You quickly threw your hands up to your mouth as everyone looked concerned at your response. Law's eyes slightly widened but calmed quickly as he saw the fear in your eyes.

He pulled your hands off your face and into his, "It's ok we'll work on it. No one is expecting you to be fully cured from a year's worth of torture." He kissed your forehead softly which left everyone surprised to witness the Surgeon of Death's soft side. He pulled your head into his chest in which he took his opportunity to give a death glare to the boys of the ship who were snickering.

Sanji then walked up to you with a tray of lemonade and offered you a glass with a soft smile. You gratefully took it and began to look around, "Where are we?" You asked.

"The Thousand Sunny!" The large cyborg spoke excitedly. "Only the best ship for the best pirate crew the straw hats! isn't it super!" He then posed with his hands in the air you nodded while drinking out of the straw of your lemonade admiring the ship while Law silently argued with Sanji and why he doesn't get lemonade. You have been on many ships in your life but this one was truly something and just breathes of homelyness. You like the Polar Tang and the Heart Pirates but the steel walls and echos of the sea around you feel so different than the open air and smell of the sea.

"Where is our crew?" You turn to Law snapping him out of his argument.

"They are on Zou with Bepo we will meet back up with them soon. I am sure they will be very excited to see you back to normal." He spoke with a smile now completely ignoring the upset cook and only focusing on you. 'normal' that word rang in your ear as you thought back to the time before your capture which quickly shot your memory to the day Amazon Lilly was attacked. Law watched closely as your eyes shifted colors darting back and forth. The small amount of red mist began to fum off your hands as you sunk deeper into your memories. Law quickly grabbed your hands forcing you to drop your glass and hold his hand sending all your emotions into him.

Law breathed deeply as he felt your fear and regret swimming through him but confidently looked into your eyes until yours shifted back to normal.

When you feel yourself grounded again you notice Sanji yelling at Law for dropping his glass and tried offering you a new glass of lemonade. You quickly jumped up and bowed your head, "I am sorry sir I will get this cleaned up right away!" You bent down to pick up the glass with your bare hands. Law sighed as he cast 'Room' and swapped the broken glass with the ice that was in the glass Sanji was holding. Sanji was taken aback by your action and silently took the broken glass away.

Law grabbed your hands and inspected it for any damage. "Maybe it was too soon to come out." You sigh feeling defeated as everyone is looking at you again. You pushed yourself up and made your way up the stairs and back into the room in which you came. As soon as you closed the door you locked it to prevent Law from entering and fell to the floor in tears.

Law went to follow you but Robin grabbed his wrist, "Give her some time." Law looked pissed at the woman giving him a suggestion but as he watched you run away he couldn't help but agree as he sat down in a huff.

"What happened to her?" Luffy asked jumping over. "When I met Y/N she was much more fun. When she and the amazon's snuck over to the island Reighley was training me she and I would compare our observational Haki. Then she would show me her super cool powers and she would make the animals do super funny things." Luffy laughed as he recounted his experiences with you, "But then she stopped joining the amazons."

"Doflamingo happened." He stated plainly which sent furry into Luffy's eyes. "He kidnapped her while she was on Amazon Lily."

"Then let's give him the biggest ass-whooping ever!" Luffy punched his fist into his hand with passion bursting in his eye. Law smiled as he realized that he had chosen the right person to align with. The other straw hats agreed with a shout.

Law knocked on the door of the medical room holding a bowl of fried rice that Sanji had made for you. You didn't answer the door and when he went to jiggle the door handle it was locked. Law frowned as he looked through the window to see you sitting on the door asleep. He smirked as he used his powers to transport himself into the room and got a better view of you. You were curled up holding your knees and your head laid on top of them as you peacefully slept. Law touched your shoulder gently which stirred you and you looked up into his eyes, "Law?" He just nodded and helped you up and to the bed.

"Sanji made this for you something about it helping you with your strength." He spoke as he handed you the bowl. You took one bite of it and your mouth began to water at the taste it was the best food you have ever had and you began to shovel it into your mouth. Law laughed, "I will admit their chef does know how to make the best food." He said to which you nodded aggressively.

Once you finished Law took the bowl and placed it on the desk. "How are you feeling?" He asked gently.

"Better." You state as you pull your knees to your chest for comfort as you prepare for his list of questions.

Law sighed as he leaned on the desk, "How much do you remember?"

"Everything."

Law paused at the ramifications of that answer before continuing, "When you didn't what were you able to remember."

You took a breath and closed your eyes unable to meet his while recalling your trauma, "I remember he locked me in a cellar and would come by daily grab me by the back of my neck, and ask me questions. After two weeks my memory became a blank canvas for him, he told me stories of how I was thrown away by my parents how he rescued me, and how he was now my family. He then molded me into his perfect servant and taught me how to amplify my powers. When with you and the crew all I knew was my training and my purpose….."

You jumped up in a panic, "My purpose! I was sending Doflamingo information!" but Law remained calm. "Law this isn't good when you were away I would contact him and tell him what you were up to!" You began to pace in worry but Law remained stagnant.

"I Know." He spoke calmly. "I figured he would so I kept the most important information away from you."

You let out a deep breath, "But what about punk hazard he knows you were there."

"Monet was going to tell him anyways." Law walked up and pulled you into a hug, "I'm sorry." You felt the tears hit the top of your head.

"I'm here now thanks to you." You respond as you pull away from the hug, "I know you have more questions." You sit back down on the bed as he joins you.

"Just one. How?"

You sighed, "When Doflamingo got wind of you aiming for the warlord role he wanted some kind of advantage over you so when my old master told him about you protecting me he figured I would be it. He somehow found me at Amazon Lily and began a raid. Hancock insisted I stay hidden from the outsiders but he found me. He used the amazons to attack me and I couldn't… I couldn't do." tears started to fall down your face as the memories that happened 2 years ago that you had long forgotten and it all hit you like a brick.

Law grabbed your head and pulled you into his chest as you cried.

**

You woke up 3 hours later tangled in Law's arms as you both had seemingly fallen asleep on the small bed after you talked. You slowly pull yourself out of his arms and quietly leave the room. The cold salty air hit your face as you walked onto the deck. The moon shined brightly lighting up the deck and revealing to you the time of night.

When you made it to the center of the deck you lay down feeling the grass all over as you thought back on your past. Having all your memories return all at once and going through the past 2 years without any has not been easy on your brain. You close your eyes and focus on the other people on the ship. Their emotions are each unique but each has a sort of passion in their hearts that soothes you. You focus on the ship and the items around it feeling the emotional echos that tell the story of the Straw Hats. You can tell how loved the Sunny is and you feel safe knowing this is the crew that Law has aligned himself with.

You dig through your pocket to find a transponder snail you stare at it in your hands and its pink coloring.

***

Next Chapter

[dianaladrislovebot]

random gone headcanons that have popped into my unhinged little brain, part 10

why hello there my friends, we’ve officially reached part ten of the hc’s series ! and almost directly after the 2 year anniversary of the first one too, funny how time works. a bit of a long one for you today as a treat to celebrate the occasion. i also wanted to mention that i love hearing everyone else’s thoughts and idk if yall have noticed but ive included other people’s hcs before so if you have any hcs you’d like to see included pls share them w me !!!!

frederico ran the black market at coates. in my hc (which is very extensive if anyone wants to hear the rest of it 👉🏻👈🏻) he was at coates for being a dealer so i feel him running it makes sense. black market for what ? i don’t know and it doesn’t matter, but freddie runs it.

he’s also the one that came up with the idea to have a black market in the fayz but that one is also attributed to howard, who he co runs it w.

the crux of drakes sadism is less about just simply wanting to cause violence and damage and more about being fascinated w pain and the fear associated w it. he enjoys the idea of pain and enjoys seeing other people (or just any living thing tbh) in pain, and that includes himself. he used to harm himself before the fayz purely bc he liked how it felt. however, he’s only ever felt a certain amount of pain so it’s not until he loses his arm and feels what pain is truly like that he doesn’t like it on himself anymore.

sam’s alcoholism began in the fayz. after the big split and the migration to the lake, orc had stopped drinking and howard, feeling like his purpose was fizzling out, was rescued by sam being bored. the lake being peaceful left him unsatiated and astrid leaving left him unstable, so he took up drinking just to give himself something to do. he accidentally weened himself off it at the end when the barrier went dark, followed by gaia and then the fayz ending, purely bc howard died and he had no access to alcohol anyway. he picked it back up later after the fayz to help him cope.

quinn listens to 80’s music

quinn gets tattoos post fayz. i have no clue what he’d get, but he’d get em. maybe even a piercing or two too

also, a bunch of kids in the fayz gave themselves dodgy stick and pokes, including lana. they get them properly tattooed later to immortalise them but there’s no way there wasn’t at least ONE kid who got a stick and poke in there

lana also went all out in terms of mentally ill and dyed her hair (im thinking maybe red i think she’d suit red) and cut herself bangs. she even considered giving herself a nose piercing but couldn’t find any jewellery to put in it and gave up on the idea.

quinn’s love language is physical touch so he’s incredibly clingy, and sam being his only friend means sam gets all the cuddles he didn’t ask for. quinn’s hanging off his shoulders or his arms or wherever he can reach at any given moment and there is nothing sam can do about it so instead, he must endure it (he’s secretly okay w this)

diana was a winx girly. in those conversations of “were you a barbie girly or a bratz girly” her response would be winx. the series is set in 2008/2009 so she probably would have been 9 or 10 when winx debuted in 2004. she pretends to think it’s childish but continues to watch the show as it comes out long after the fayz.

on this note, her being a winx girly is based off the fact she’s a fairy girly. she had an obsession w fairies as a child and never truly grew out of it. she has a deep affection for fantasy and whimsy and is part of why she romanticises her relationship w caine, and despite her outward attitude being generally off putting, she’s just a magical fairy princess on the inside 🧚‍♀️✨👑

also on this note, drake was a pirate kid and took it incredibly seriously. like was probably a klepto as a kid and had fake swords he took everywhere and threatened people w type of serious. this is based on the one scene of him humming the pirates of the caribbean theme song and also because i think it’s funny

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

🫵 pointing at you...you should tell the rest of the world about the sea otters proposal....

not the big bird level threat in my inbox first thing in the morning😭 jfndkfjdsnf hi haaaaash hope you and your one piece husbands are doing well this morning. it's time for the sea otters exposure in the form of long form yapping though 🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣

(oda is so sick for making these designs of ace at 40 and 60 and then never making sure he will never be using them in the canon. so fucking sick. bring my freckled husband back to life, you evil man TAT)

so for the context leading up to the proposal:

for the longest time in our lore, ace and i are actually common law spouses and don't officially tie the knot until we're 37ish

we get together when we're either 19 or 20, around 22 i break the ice and take the plunge in referring to him as my husband and we just go along with that for the rest of our pre-actually married relationship and mael accidentally comes along when we're 28 (yeah our kid was an accident ndfkjndkf) so we have a considerable amount of time just being common law spouses in our timeline

i guess during our early 20s, it just seemed impractical to get married because we were always on the sea? we're traveling across the grand line trying to live long enough to see luffy find the one piece, everyday is a new adventure with battles periodically and not to mention if we did have a wedding it would be very hard getting the certain individuals we wanted to be there physically present

when i got pregnant you would think we would have a wedding then but no our biggest priority was going back to dawn island for a few years so dadan could get to know to the kid we would we be having. and... unfortunately garp but that was ace's decision. i have a very 'if you want your grandpa around, that's your decision and i will respect it as your wife' mentality when it comes to garp because ace is a better person than me so yes garp does get to know his great granddaughter. after a few years when mael is a little older, we go back to sea and we are a happy little family of three with our larger extended found family with the whitebeard pirates, occasionally running into luffy and sabo and things like that

by the time we're about to marry, whitebeard has unfortunately passed away and ace is now the captain of the crew

the proposal itself:

i kinda just get inspired one day seeing him with our daughter and everything it took to get to that moment and i just want to put a ring on it

so obviously i have to go to my nigga wallace (which if you know anything about sea otters, he is my best friend from the spade pirates transitioned into the whitebeard pirates) and tell him the scoop because i obviously can't keep all this to myself and i need help figuring out ace's ring size. all i know for sure, is that i want to exchange vows with my best friend i've known for most of my life and i want it to be a private and intimate proposal between the two of us so i just say when we get to our next island 'hey, let's have a date night, someone on the crew can babysit'

and honestly the entire date feels very reminiscent of our time in sabaody and the feelings of nostalgia make me want to propose more than i already do. we're hitting up multiple restaurants, we're dancing as local musicians play their songs and then we're off to explore more of the natural sights before we're at some lake that's large and reflecting just about every star in the sky and laying against an oak tree like we're 10 again and back on mt corvo and that's when i know it's the moment

i probably have a whole speech planned that i ran through for weeks to make sure i would be able to recite perfectly and that shit just goes way out the window.

writing my thoughts down? i'm amazing

verbalizing it? poetic prose goes right out the window

i'm not an emotional person but i'm pretty sure i'd already be tearing up trying to even start the speech and at that point i'm just like 'fuck' on both knees like a fool and i just whip out the ring

but low and fucking behold, he pulls out a ring because plot twist he was planning on proposing too and he tries finishing what i can't but he's also got his own tears and snot running down his face, his hands are shaking and i'm trying to steady them not that i'm really helping because i'm a shaking mess too

but we do manage to pull ourselves together and exchange engagement rings

ultimately, we get the transponder snails and tell ace and sabo 'hey how long will it take for y'all to get to x location, we're getting married and we want you there'

ace has sabo and luffy both as his best men, i have mael be my maid of honor and in typical luffy fashion, he gets the entire island we're at jumping for a wedding where no local knows the bride and groom but we're all celebrating our asses off

[idontknowanametouse]

Tashigi and Smoker siblings AU (plus Hina and some others)

Because one (1) person asked me to talk about it! Yay! (long post btw)

OMG this is so fucking niche and may be cringe and OOC but I don't care this is so much fun

Secretly soft Smoker my beloved. Weirdgirl Tashigi my beloved. Pretends to be responsible but is actually not Hina my beloved

(cw: canon typical violence, child neglect, emotional abuse, toxic family relationships, physical abuse, private prison, kidnapping, children in life-endangering situations, brainwashing/mind control/idk-like situation, slight misgendering, deadname mention, non-consensual drugging)

Backstories (because if Oda doesn't do them backstories apparently I'll have to myself)

Smoker and Hina:

Smoker's village was attacked and destroyed by pirates when he was 5, and then was taken in by an orphanage that took care of many orphans from all of the world (they were a floating place, similar to Germa). However, they didn't take care of the kids well and mainly neglected them, also instituting physical punishments. At there, Smoker met Hina (she is 2 years older than him here) and they became the only friends each other had at the time, having a sibling-like relationship. When Smoker was 14 and Hina 16, they ran away due to being tired of that place and almost died a few times until they met Tsuru who offered to take the two in on the Marines, and they did accept it, not only because of the whole almost dying thing but also because they hate pirates due to them destroying their homelands. While in the marines as a recruit, Smoker did approach a lot Akainu, who saw in him a potential of someday taking over his place as Admiral, both in power and mindset. That lead to Akainu eventually taking a decision he would regret for the rest of his life.

Tashigi:

Tashigi's parents were pretty absent in her life and very neglectful, to the point she had to learn to do many things on her own as a 6 years old. Her deadname was just the word used to refer to the eldest son, so, uh, yeah, lots of neglect here. Due to being seen as weird by the other kids in her town, she didn't have any friends, and instead would go to the library to read about swords and snow. She met a guy who worked at the library who was the only one to be always kind to her, and though they didn't interact that much, she always saw his many younger siblings calling him "nii-chan". That made her wish she had an older sibling to care for her. When she was 9 years old, Tashigi was kidnapped by a runaway ex-marine alongside many kids from other islands. She was kept in private prison inside a basement from the age of 9 to 13 years old, and, while she was there, they were forced to call the man "aniki" and into a twisted family-like dynamic. They were forcefully trained Rokushiki and fought against the man daily, and, as kids, they would obviously always lose. As a punishment for losing, they were forced to take off their clothes and were spanked. Eventually, all the other kids died, leaving only Tashigi behind before she is rescued.

Timeline

(They meet 10 years ago, Tashigi is 13 and Smoker is 26)

The marines were making a routine supervision over an island when they found out an ex-marine runaway was hiding there. Akainu, who was amongst those marines, decided to go kill the man himself. He found the place the man was hiding and, with all the destruction of a battle, the door to the basement Tashigi was kept was destroyed and she immediately tried to run away. However, she saw Akainu pursuing the man and was scared he would do the same to her. That's when Akainu said the words "strike down", words the man always used to order her to attack. Her built-up instincts made her go against the man, managing, for the first time, to take him down. Akainu sees her "potential" and decides to hand her as a "gift" to Smoker so he can learn how to "forge a weapon of his own" (did I already mention how much I fucking hate this bitch)

Akainu hands Tashigi to Smoker with no further explanations about what the fuck is going on, and Smoker, who doesn't know shit about taking care of a child, tries his best on providing her the bare minimum. He realizes she doesn't like her deadname and starts calling her "kid" until she picks a name for herself.

It takes two weeks for Smoker to realize he can't take care of a kid alone. One day, Tashigi is training with some of the weakest recruits and she is losing, because she is a kid. However, Smoker realizes her getting each time more nervous, and, that night, he thinks if he should really be the one to take care of Tashigi. He decides to talk to her about it, but when they meet, she starts to take her clothes off. He asks what the fuck she is doing and that only makes everything worse and then Tashigi just says she thought he was gonna spank her for failing so many times that day. Smoker is fucking horrified and tries to explain her how wrong all of this is, but she doesn't seem to actually grasp it. Then, he promises that, while she is on that headquarter, nobody will hurt her, and if they do, he'll kill them, and that if she needs to or feel scared, she just needs to scream for him. Tashigi is so schocked by this demonstration of care she can't even walk, so Smoker gets her to bed. When he is carrying her, she tells him her name is Tashigi. He immediately calls Hina after that because she kept in touch with the whole orphanages situation much more than him and knows more about taking care of kids than him.

When Hina gets there, she thinks he wants to hand Tashigi to an orphanage or to someone else, to which Smoker replies Absolutely The Fuck Not. She hands him the reports of the conditions in which Tashigi was found and Smoker, who didn't know any of that, is fucking horrified. Hina talks to Tashigi the next day and Tashigi asks her to not take her anywhere else because she likes there and Smoker is very kind to her. Hina is... confused, at the very least, but promises she will never take Tashigi anywhere she doesn't want to.

Time starts passing by. Tashigi comes out as a girl and Smoker tells her he's trans too. Hina forces Smoker to take Tashigi out of the headquarters and to a sword store (idk the name for that sorry) and they wait for, like, two hours while Tashigi goes crazy about everything around her. When it snows for the first time, Smoker thinks Tashigi is gonna faint from such happiness she feels. She sometimes has nightmares, and while Smoker doesn't know how to handle them, Hina helps her calm down.

When she turns 14, she starts taking estrogen. Sometimes, Smoker just stays by her side while she walks on the city so no creep will bother her, but Tashigi doesn't know that, so she thinks he's just being an asshole and doing it to embarass her. At this age, Smoker starts to realize Tashigi is a lesbian before Tashigi herself notices it, as she really likes staring at girl's butts. He always rebukes her for doing it on duty, but she still looks anyway out of spite.

At 18, she officially enters the marines as of her own choice (before, she would just accompany Smoker on missions and patrols with the excuse of being his "apprentice"). When she does, Tashigi talks to him and apologizes for not being able to train or sparre with him, and talks about the things "Aniki" made whenever they sparred. She is able to fight anyone but him. He is glad she told him that and promises he would never force her to do that.

There aren't much important occasions to the AU and everything with Luffy runs like in canon... until after Marineford.

After finding Tashigi, Akainu didn't have as much contact with Smoker anymore and didn't get news from him or Tashigi (that was Hina's doing. She always hated the guy). When they met again in the post Marineford, like, when all marines reunited and where talking about the damage and the normal guys were treating their wounds and recovering the body of the deceased, he could see Smoker and realized he was much different than he thought he would be now. He was softer than Akainu remembered, specially for Tashigi, who also was not how he had expected to be. When the two talked, he realized that change was much deeper than he had thought, as Smoker didn't seem to hold the same hate for pirates he did 10 years ago. Akainu associated all of this to one thing: Tashigi. Then, he remembered about one creation of the marine's science departure to which they asked his opinion over who would be a good test subject. He now knows who.

A few weeks after Marineford, when things were starting to settle down and look normal again, Smoker is called to Punk Hazard and is told to be completely alone, bringing nobody else with him. As soon as he arrives, he realizes the place looks really empty for a science unit and starts suspecting about something. He receives a call from Tsuru and she tries to warn him that she found out what they want with him, however, before she can finish, Akainu shows up. Smoker realizes he's fucked and tries to get out of there, but ends up being caught and imprisoned with Kairoseki.

Caesar Clown developed some sort of truth serum they would test on him. It works, and Akainu uses it to find out about Tashigi's main weakness, which is the fact she can't fight Smoker. After the serum's effects are over, they decide to test YET ANOTHER invention on him (Smoker can't catch a fucking break). This time, it's a drug whose effects include major memory loss while it's active and make the mind open to suggestions. Akainu uses it to make Smoker come back to his mentality of 10 years ago, but even more harsh and cruel. He also uses images of Tashigi as subject of hate and loathing. He wanted to experiment it to an extreme, to see if it would work even going against extremely strong beliefs and feelings.

As soon as Tsuru's call is cut, she realizes shit got fucked up and immediately calls Hina, as she managed to find out what they were gonna do to Smoker. However, when Hina goes to find Tashigi to tell her what happened, she is nowhere to be found. The thing is, Smoker didn't tell anyone where he was going, and therefore Tashigi thought he had disappeared and just went on her own rampage looking for him.

Two weeks pass by with no news of Smoker or Tashigi. Tsuru warns a few marines, only the ones she knows she can trust, about what actually happened to Smoker: Hibari, Doll, Koby and Helmeppo. They all do agree this is pretty fucked up to do, specially to one of their own. These four plus Hina and Tsuru team up to go to Punk Hazard so they can spank Caesar Clown until he hands them the solution to this shit.

Meanwhile, Tashigi's search took her to the headquarter that is basically all dominated by Akainu. Yes, she know this idea is dumb as fuck, no, she won't stop. She gets there and manages to get infiltrated for a while, but is soon discovered and has to run away, however, she refuses to because she won't leave without Smoker.

Tashigi causes a big commotion by defeating most of the guys there and attracts Akainu's attention, and he actually finds it good that she is there so he will be able to test Smoker. He goes towards Tashigi and she tells him to fuck off and just tell her where Smoker is. He smiles in the grossest way ever (gods I hate that bitch so fucking much) and then Smoker comes in.

Tashigi is relieved for a second, then she realizes something is wrong and asks Akainu what he did to him. He says he only helped Smoker. Tashigi, then, starts running and Smoker chases her (yes I made a "pun" with his nickname cuz I think I'm clever) until she has nowhere else to go. She begs him to stop and asks for help, and then he says the words "Aniki" always said before he spanked her and that is one of the most traumatizing things that could ever happen to her.

However, Smoker is suddenly stopped by something before he can hit her. It's Hina, who came in really fast with those other marines mentioned before. They manage to get Kairoseki handcuffs on him and through a lot of struggle they run away and drag Smoker with them.

Now, the thing with the drug is: he's been receiving constant doses and reinforcements of it for two weeks. It will take that same time so it completely leaves his body. And the meantime sucks. Like, a lot. For all of the people involved in it, and as Smoker still wants to kill Tashigi, they can't even let him walk around freely and all that stuff, so the Kairoseki makes his pain worse. Yeah, nobody's having a good time.

All of the people involved in his "kidnapping" are now being chased by the marines, and they can't come back with him detoxfied, so, yeah, they are basically runaways now. Again, nobody is happy. Tashigi goes to him everyday even with everyone telling it's a bad idea, she doesn't care. She just wants to see him.

Eventually, the drug finally runs out of him and his memory is fucked. The last month felt like a really long and weird dream from which he can't recall much, but he knows it wasn't good. Eventually, however, after he is freed from the Kairoseki, he sees Tashigi and immediately remembers, like as in a deja vu. For the first time in his life, he runs away.

Eventually they have a talk (Tashigi forces him to) and assures she is not angry at him and that she'll fucking kill Akainu and Caesar Clown. They start picking up the pieces as they start creating a... new marine, let's say. One that doesn't stand the shit the world government does.

Things I wrote for the AU

First Meeting (Tashigi and Smoker meet and spend their first day together)

Rough Night (Tashigi ends up vomiting in her second night there and Smoker helps her)

Some other facts about the AU

Tashigi and Hina's islands had lots of Wano immigrants, similar to Zoro's, and the two often talk in Wano language/japanese when alone

Tashigi is autistic. That's it

Smoker and Tashigi are both trans. Smoker chose his name after he ate the fruit as an 8 years old and Tashigi chose hers also as an 8 years old after a great swordswoman from a few centuries ago (little nerd Tashigi my beloved)

Tashigi tries her best to never cry and has more traits of Smoker's personality on her own, as she is much more... aggressive to pirates than in canon, at least in her words. She doesn't like killing anyone though.

Tashigi almost never uses Rokushiki today, and when she does, it's incorporated in her sword style, which is the one she masters.

When they are in private, Tashigi calls Smoker nii-chan and he calls her snowflake

Tashigi and Reiju are dating after she was assigned once the guard the Vinsmoke family and they kept in touch until they started dating

Hibari and Helmeppo, due to their very absent and neglectful fathers, would often be sent to the headquarters Hina and Smoker were in so they would babysit the two. Due to that, they often spent a lot of time with Tashigi for being the only kids there and became friends, even with the age gap.

Tashigi was not born with sight issues, but due to the constant injuries on her head and eyes, she couldn't practically see anything anymore without glasses, which were handed to her when she got to Smoker.

[piratesofhyrule]

The Story That Will Never Be Told 4(I think?): The Yeti

Considering how many other options were up, I'm a little surprised this one got such a high ranking! Pleasantly so though, so let us get right into it

Now the Yeti have only appeared in Twilight Princess (to the best of my knowledge that is), but they left quite the impression on us all. I figured that Hebra would be a good place for them to make a comeback as what're essentially "ice Gorons" if you will. Physically huge and imposing, but some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

They were the original inhabitants of Hebra millennia ago, their highly specialized adaptations to cold weather the main reason why they've not gone much farther then Hebra's icy peaks (having thick waterproof fur and blubber is great for the cold alpines, not so much anywhere that's above 10 degrees). True there's small settlements of them in other cold locations such as the Highlands of Gerudo and Lanayru, but for the most part they're found almost entirely in Hebra.

The Rito and Yeti get along fairly well, the Rito's expanse along southern Hebra and Tabantha well outside of the interest of the Yeti while their arctic homes were too environmentally extreme for the Rito. However, both had plenty of specialties that they eagerly trade for. Yeti cuisine is incredibly popular among the Rito while they can acquire ingredients from afar for the Yeti to enjoy. But more importantly, both the Rito and Yeti are considered "the grandchildren of the Frost Witch". Veelith is a patron spirit to both, her rare visits eagerly anticipated by Rito and Yeti alike.

Now most Yeti are happy with staying in Hebra, but one particular cook among them longs for adventure. Yemo's a young man amongst the tribe, already an accomplished cook and its his culinary expertise that's the main drive behind his desires to see more of the world. He wants to expands his cooking repetoire, sample dishes from the other far-off lands that the Rito traders talk of. It has been a longtime dream of his, one that was given an opportunity under the direst of circumstances.

Selmie's one of the very few Hylians that lives up in Hebra, ergo she has become regarded as a friend to the Yeti as well. A hurricane nearly strikes Hebra, but is suddenly dispelled, much to her relief. During a routine foraging trip through the frozen peaks, she finds a young Hylian man, one that's frost-bitten and badly wounded. Too far from her cabin, she takes him to the nearest shelter; the Yeti.

Rescuing travellers (or laying them to rest) is pretty common for the Yeti and with Veelith visiting them, it was quick for them to get the stranger into recovery. Assured he was in good hands, Selmie then returned to her cabin and is almost immediately visited by the famed Rito pirate, Revali. Apparently a shipmate of his went overboard a few days ago and they've been searching for him, Selmie in turn pointing them towards the Yeti.

Sure enough, the Rito crew find their wayward deckhand. Teba's first to see him and in a state of delirium, Link briefly wakes up and reaches for Teba, murmuring "Dad, it hurts"

Days later, when he's recovered and lucid enough to travel, Link wants to find the Yeti that had been providing his meals. The cook in question is Yemo, the two just chatting and comparing cooking methods. They hit it off so well that Yemo asks if he can join the crew and Link's up for it, promising to endorse the Yeti's recruitment aboard The Wolf of the Seas.

[nifedick]

When I was 15 or so iTunes took a song away from me and that day I lost all faith in digital media and started buying physical and pirating music and saving everything I can get my grubby hands on when I can because I do not trust Amazon, I don’t trust Google, I sure as shit don’t trust Apple, and they will all fuck you the first chance they have to squeeze 5-10 $ for the rest of your miserable life

Hey not for nothing but this is exactly why I have no trust in digital media "purchases" that aren't physical and also why I am of the opinion that if a physical option isn't made possible then it should be considered morally neutral for me to download a copy for my own digital collection to view when offline.

[not-freyja]

LUBB 2023 Fic Claims

Hello Artists!

I hope everyone is as excited as I am to start working on these, and that we're all eager to meet our partners and get going. But! Before we can do that, we have to pick them.

This form shall allow you to pick your fic, and will go live for you to respond on 11/18/23 at 4pm EST (as close to on the dot as I can manage).

Fic Synopses And the F.A.Q. Under the Cut

Fic Synopses

Working Title: Why can't you hear me?

Archive Warnings that May/Will Apply: Graphic Depictions of Violence Projected Archive Rating: T Synopsis: Legend is lost, he doesn't know where he is. Suddenly Dark Link appears and tells Legend his plan, to corrupt the veteran hero, and use him to get to all the other Links. Legend fights back but does not succeed. From then on, the chain slowly (really slowly) figure out whats going on and have to find Dark Link and find out how to rescue Legend from the corruption/possession. 

Working Title: Little Stitches

Archive Warnings that May/Will Apply: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death Projected Archive Rating: M Synopsis: A 5 plus one style series of vignettes of Hyrule with his resurrection dolls. The major character death is temporary, but will happen several times. Angst with a happy ending.

Working Title: Four Times

Archive Warnings that May/Will Apply: None Projected Archive Rating: T Synopsis: Time accidentally picks up the Four Sword. This goes about as well as anyone can expect.

Working Title: A Quieter Kind Of Courage

Archive Warnings that May/Will Apply: None Projected Archive Rating: G Synopsis: After a few days of resting in Ordon Village, Wind notices that something is weighing on Twilight's mind and asks him about it. Twilight admits that he has never told Uli and Rusl about his wolf form, and that he wants to but is afraid that they will fear him and drive him away. Wind encourages him to trust in their love for him and go talk to them. Twilight works up the courage to tell them. Many tearful hugs are had and Twi gets his fluffy head pet by his baby sister.

Working Title: Captain's Log

Archive Warnings that May/Will Apply: Graphic Depictions of Violence Projected Archive Rating: M Synopsis: Pre-LU fic where Wind gets captured by a band of rouge pirates and its up to the dream....ish team Linebeck and Tetra to get their swabbie (and trash rat) back!

Working Title: X Marks the Spot

Archive Warnings that May/Will Apply: Graphic Depictions of Violence Projected Archive Rating: T or M Synopsis: taking place in a modern world filled with mythological creatures, a group of bounty hunters go after their biggest prize yet; three young heroes reincarnated. 

F.A.Q

How Do you decide who gets what fic?

I do not decide anything. The claims will be awarded on a first-come basis. The first person to fill out the form gets their first choice. The second person also gets their first choice (unless the first person picked it, in which case they get their second), and so on.

When will the form close?

When the last artist who signed up for the event has made their choice! So in 10 minutes or three days, that's up to you guys.

When will I be told what fic I got?

As soon as physically possible. I will contact you through your listed preferred method, and inform you of which fic you have successfully claimed, and provide you with your author's preferred contact information. Depending on various human factors, this could take 30 seconds, or a few hours. I am but one man.

Why is there almost a week between fic synopsis reveal and claims?

So that everyone has a chance to look at the fics and make their decisions before you all rush me with your choices. Trying to keep this fair for the terminally online and the grass-toucher alike.

What if both my first and second choices are taken?

In this unlikely but unfortunate scenario, I will reach out to you directly for your third choice. I won't continue confirming claims until after I hear back from you, so don't worry, the next artist who answered isn't going to 'cut' your place in line.

Have any fun facts for us?

Yeah, actually. The fic to artist ratio has worked out so that two fics will actually end up with two artists. That's super fun and exciting for the lucky author who gets picked twice, and actually makes it more likely that all artists will get their first choice. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, I am participating as an author. So one of you will be getting a "hi you got my fic," message.

Wait! You forgot to answer my question about XYZ!

Please feel free to send me a message! Sorry for leaving that info out friend!

[fantasyinvader]

So I originally wanted to do this as a huge-ass essay, going over the scenarios, explaining the players and the like. However, to properly do this I'd probably need to reread the series. Or watch the anime which is over a hundred episodes long. So, forgive me for this but I kinda wanted to talk about this and spoilers ahead for a great series.

I've read Legend of the Galactic Heroes. All ten books. They are currently sitting on my shelf, next to The Witcher. I'm a fan of the series, and would recommend people at least try out an episode or two of it for themselves. And the reason why I bring this up is that Legend of the Galactic Heroes was referenced by the developers with regards to Three Houses. Specifically, how Claude was inspired by Yang Wen-li, one of the main characters.

And wouldn't you know it, the series talks about meritocracy. Basically, it's not treated as some cure-all solution regardless of it being applied to a democratic state or an autocratic one.

First and foremost, who sets the definition of what is merit? The guy at the top, of course, and that's why it can be dangerous. If the head honcho has certain prejudices, they can be baked into the system. Case-in-point, the first Galactic Kaiser Rudolf von Goldenbaum. The guy had a good track record fighting pirates for the former Galactic Federation, and as a result was able to hold the offices of President and Prime Minister...at the same time, no one else doing so not being a rule more a formality Rudolf ignored. And from there, he crowned himself Kaiser.

Rudolf believed that there were certain vices that needed to be cracked down upon in order to better humanity as part of his “holy duty” to protect it. These were drinking, drug usage, gambling... and homosexuality. He believed that living in poverty was a symptom of them having unfit genetics, and as a result enacted the Inferior Genes Exclusion Act. A firm believer in the “Law of the Jungle,” he saw to it that those with physical or mental conditions were sterilized or killed. In addition, be was a racist who decreed that non-whites couldn't be part of his nobility, which he opened up to supporters of his with Germanic names who shared his ancestry (he viewed himself as the pinnacle of humanity, even trying to get his height used as the standard unit of measurement and was stopped only when an accountant told him, possibly lying, it would be super expensive to change everything. The fact he fathered a child with cognative disabilities and it might have come from HIM haunted him, even after he killed the Mistress, her family, everyone present at the birth as well as their families). As a result of all this, billions died and the human population plummeted due to the sterilizations carried out, and with his death the nobles he empowered kept the Empire going.

Another fun fact about him: One of his descendants was gay, abandoning the throne and fleeing with treasure alongside his lover.

Through Rudolf, we see the dangers of giving one individual the ability to solely decide what is “merit” among the rest of his power. The series has his legacy in the background, a warning to both Yang as well as his rival, Reinhard von Lohengramm.

On the other end of the spectrum, there's Fleet Admiral Lassella Lobos of the Free Planets Alliance. Lobos was said to have been competent enough to get such a position despite lacking imagination and track record, only for him to be in over his head in reality. He signed off on a plan, submitted by a Commodore who went above his superiors, to invade the Empire after they lost the previously unbeatable Iserlohn fortress to Yang. The plan was pretty vague, did not take into consideration things such as supply lines, and ultimately played into Reinhard's hands. Of the 30 million Alliance soldiers who went into the invasion, only 10 million survived and shifting the balance of the war into the Empire's favor. This is a factor in Lobos resigning, as well as crushing the Alliances's faith in the military, allowing Reinhard to sabotague them leading to an insurrection (of military commanders who believe the government is corrupt and only looking out for themselves, taking over in order to “protect democracy.”) while he's caught in a civil war with the Imperial nobility.

The Alliance is full of issues due to the long war. Since so many people are being funnelled into the military, there's not enough people to maintain the upkeep of the infrastructure. Yang originally tried to study in order to become a historian, only to have to study military history...and then for the program to be shut down, leading him to either being transferred to officer's training or have to pay back his tuition. Likewise, the families of soldiers are pushed to take in war orphans, but then the orphans are expected to pay back what the government paid those families to look after them usually through military service. Oh, and if you speak out against the war there's a militia going around terorrizing people even if they're in the military. The aforementioned invasion was carried out instead of suing for peace after taking Iserlohn in order to regain strength.

People like Yang might be able to rise up on merit, but the threat of another Rudolf can cause them to be viewed with suspicion by those at the top. Those people can use their power to try and control those they deem as threats, such as calling in Yang for questioning a speech he gave about how protecting individual rights and liberty are more important than protecting the nation (as the government believes war and self-sacrifice makes people better rather than them becoming decadent). Sadly though, Yang's flaw is his belief in democracy and his unwillingness to defile it. He didn't allow himself to take power even when urged to do so, or violate orders from his superiors (such as blasting the now-Kaiser Reinhard after the Alliance surrendered). He wouldn't violate the democracy he fought to protect, even if it's leaders were corrupt or to save it.

On the other hand though, there's a case where someone is sabotaged by those under him. Oskar von Reuenthal was one of Reinhard's Fleet Admirals, and a damned good one as well. Together with his friend Wolfgang Mittermeyer, a commoner who was promoted by Reinhard for his distinguished service, they were known as the Twin Stars/Pillars of the Empire. Reuenthal is dark haired while Mittermeyer is a ginger to boot for all you Ferdibert fans.

Reuenthal was put in charge of managing the former Alliance territories, but was framed as a traitor by one of his subordinates, Fleet Commander Alfred Grillparzer. Grillparzer could have been promoted in due time, even has this pointed out to him, but instead concealed evidence that would have absolved Reuenthal so that he could “betray” Reuenthal (he fatally shot him) to the Kaiser and be rewarded for it. All he wanted was to gain achievements in order to stand out and prove his merit. Instead, he's forced to commit suicide as a punishment after Reuenthal's pride wouldn't allow him to back down from the Imperial forces coming to stop him. Reuenthal, to the end, was loyal to Reinhard even when fighting against his forces commanded by his best friend Mittermeyer.

This is after Reinhard began his reforms to make the Empire a meritocracy, and Reinhard strives to be a benevolent dictator. But even this is not above criticism, as Reinhard loves fighting. Fleet Admiral Paul von Oberstein at one point calls him out on it to his subordinates, criticizing how Reinhard would fight a battle that would cost millions their lives rather than use hostages to pressure the other side into surrendering. Hell, the reason the Allinace surrendered was because Reinhard's secretary and later wife, Hildegard von Mariendorf, convinced Reuenthal and Mittermeyer to make a break for the Alliance capital to capture it while Reinhard was fighting because she realized he was going to not only lose but die.

Speaking of which, her sickly cousin, Baron Heinrich von Kummel, attempted to assassinate Reinhard due to the machinations of the Cult of Terra (think the Slithers of the setting). The man was powerless due to his illness, bed-ridden for most of his life. He would never do the great things that would prove his merit, and so during the assassination attempt savored the feeling of putting Reinhard, who had become Kaiser, in his power.

The people on top can hold the people below them down regardless of merit, as Yang's history showed us. Those at the bottom can sabotague those on top, as what happened to Reuenthal, and those who are powerless may lash out, as shown with Heinrich. Meritocracy does not make everyone play nice, nor is it fair.

But back to Oberstein. He has had artificial eyes since birth, noting that during Rudolf's era he would have been put to death for it. Hence, why he wants to tear down the old regime and, despite his willingness to do the dirty work for Reinhard no one else would, wants to prevent Reinhard from becoming another Rudolf. He also spells it out during the incident with the hostages, he was given his position by Reinhard himself. If the admirals under him have a problem with his decision, then they are disagreeing with their Kaiser. Likewise, their relative positions means that Oberstein does not have to answer to his admirals as he is above them in the hierarchy, he only answers to Reinhard himself. Naturally, this pisses off the admirals and it's especially poignant because the reason Yang got back into direct action was because someone appointed by Reinhard to oversee Yang screwed up and caused Yang to flee for his safety.

That is the nature of meritocracy, a hierarchy. And you have to play by the rules of the guys on top. This plays a part in the finale, as the remnants of Yang's forces (Yang dead at this point), have to make the case to Reinhard in order to preserve democracy. As such, in order to show him the value of it they have to prove it's worth. How? By fighting him, boarding his ship (which has never been damaged prior to this) and confronting him directly. Members of the Yang fleet, guys we've known since the first book such as Schonkopf or Merkatz, die during this. It's not that they can retake the entire galaxy, they don't have the forces to do that. This is all to make one last, desperate appeal to a man who believes democracy prevents the great from acting as it tangles things up in bureaucracy and red-tape.

Their case is that despite the meritocracy, it can still become corrupt. Just because all the power is consolidated at the top doesn't stop this, and when it happens there's no checks or balances to it. Reinhard might be (mostly) benevolent, but all it takes is one bad egg of an Kaiser to ruin everything Reinhard has done. For in a democracy, it's failing are the failings of the people as they voted those clowns into power, whereas in an autocracy there's no one to blame but the guy with all the power. Hell, the former leader of the Alliance Job Trunicht did everything he could to increase his own power, and after the surrender was trying to do the same thing with his new role in the Empire before he ticked off Reuenthal by badmouthing Reinhard and criticizing the democracy that empowered him.. because it put someone like him into power. Quote, “if autocracy will give me the power I want, then autocracy will become my next benefactor.” Meritocracy does not fix corruption.

Even Reinhard himself was given his first opportunities to distinguish himself not due to merit, but because his sister was the favored concubine of the Kaiser.

They push Reinhard to consider creating a constitution for the people. Reinhard, dying of a mysterious illness, allows the former capital of the Alliance to remain a democracy but under the condition they don't screw it up. Before dying, he instructs Hildegarde to begin implementing a shift to a constitutional monarchy if she believes it's worth it as well as saying if his newborn son isn't up to being Kaiser, than he shouldn't. In the end, all the power in the galaxy is left in Hilde's hands. And that's where Legend of the Galactic Heroes ends.

Funny though how people think the series endorses autocracy. I mean, it wins in the end and the democracy is corrupt, but people still believe in the latter. Enough so that they're willing to fight to keep it from being wiped out, and ultimately succeed in doing so with the potential for it to spread out across the galaxy again. Someone like Rudolf is to be prevented, whereas Reinhards only come along once and a while. Do you really want to take such a gamble giving absolute power to one individual?

[mytheoristavenue]

Straw Hats Reacting to Seeing You with Short Hair HCs

Summary: After two long years away from your friends, you are excited to reunite with them and see how they've changed (and vice versa).

Warnings: Fem!Reader, reader had long hair before the timeskip, plutonic!Chopper and Jinbe, no preestablished relationship (just silly crushes)

(Sidenote: I realize that Jinbe was not officially apart of the crew until the Wano arc, but I wanted to include him because I wanted to share my Dad!Jinbe HCs too.😅)

Intro:

You sat on the railing of the Sunny, smiling happily to the sidelines, watching your friends buzz around each other, greeting one another. You silently observed them all, noting ways that they'd changed physically, or shifts in their demeanors as you'd known them. Looking out to the sea, you beamed, letting your hood fall lax against your shoulders, revealing a shaven head, with what may have been a mere inch of the length you'd had the last time you were seen. You blinked in surprise at the silence that fell over the ship. A few had the curiosity to comment on the drastic change, prompting you to explain:

"Oh, I buzzed it about a month ago. It got in the way of my training. Do you like it?"

Monkey D. Luffy:

"What'd you do to your hair?" he asked frankly, cocking his head, a bit puzzled. "It's so short now, like a boy." You giggled a bit, before explaining. The captain circled you, inspecting you closely for any other startling changes. "Will it grow back?" Your heart sank a tiny bit at his disapproval, making you feel a mite insecure.

"Well, yeah. It's just hair, Luffy." you scoff, crossing your arms at his dramatics.

"Are you gonna shave it again if it does?" He interrogated you, face inching closer with an accusatory glare.

"I don't know, maybe?" you barked back, backing away from him, only to be trapped between him and the railing of the ship. "What's with the second degree, man?"

"Well, that's just not gonna work." he tutted, backing away and giving you your space before grinning ear to ear with hands on hips. "As your captain, I command you to keep your hair short. It makes you look way more intimidating and I need crewmembers that are gonna strike fear in the hearts of my enemies!"

Loves it, thinks you look so cool. 9/10

Pirate Hunter Zoro:

You fell under Zoro's perpetually annoyed gaze as he studied you before smiling a bit. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were copying me." he teased, earning a blush from you.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, moss head!" you snarled before explaining why you'd done it in the first place.

"Mhm," he snickered. "It definitely wasn't for attention." he chided, eyes resting for a moment before flickering back open and over to you. "I'm just messing with you. I actually like it, you should keep it that way."

You became bashful under his stare and tried your best to play yourself off as unaffected by his compliments. "Yeah, whatever, we'll see."

Likes it, thinks it's cute. Respects the reasoning behind it. 8/10

Cat Burglar Nami:

"Oh my Gosh, what did you do to your hair?" she shrieked, rushing over to you, rubbing her hands all through what little there was left, tears in her eyes. "(Y/N), you're pretty hair!"

"Will grow back," you laughed, taking her by the wrists to pry her hands from your head. "I bet it'll be long long yours was within a few months." A part of you was a little hurt that she didn't seem to like it. Though you didn't do it for the sake of fashion, you did like the way it looked on you, and you wished she shared that sentiment.

"You're right..." she pouted, still a bit disappointed. "I'm sorry, I'm just gonna miss playing with your hair."

"You still can," you joked. "Now it'll be even more of a challenge."

Not thrilled, but she'll live. A bit excited to gel/spike it, just for fun. 3/10

God Usopp:

He stared at you intently for a moment before stepping up to you, fidgeting nervously. "You cut off all your hair?"

"Yep!" you chirped, hopping off the railing and leaning against it, ruffling your own scalp while explaining why. "What do you think, Usopp?"

He was hesitant to answer, wanting to choose his words very carefully. Ultimately, he decided to try and play things cool, clearing his throat. "It's cool or whatever." he brushed it off, his face contorting weirdly as he tried to settle on a manly expression.

"You can tell me if you don't like it, I won't care. It's already gone, it's not like I can put it back." He continued his charade for a few moments more before releasing a deep breath, looking up at you timidly.

"Okay, I like it." he admitted, glancing away, feeling a tad defeated. If he was going to tell the truth, he might as well tell the hole truth. "You look really, really pretty, actually."

"Awe, Usopp, you're so sweet!" you gushed, pulling him into a humiliating hug, squeezing his face to your chest. "Maybe I should keep it like this."

"I-I'd like that."

OBSESSED. Thinks you've never looked better. Can no longer look at you with a straight face, though. 10/10

Black Leg Sanji:

He smiled at you softly, stepping up to you. It worried you that he was no longer swooning over you as he always had. Maybe you looked too boyish now. "This is...different." he cooed, reaching up to caress the side of your temple.

"Is different bad?" you asked, cringing a bit as you waited for his answer.

"Not necessarily in this case. " he answered vaguely. "Change is good sometimes."

"I suppose you don't like it as much as I do?" you asked, a bit saddened by his short answers this far, but elated at the way his fingers continued to play with the short strands they could find.

"What makes you think that?"

"You're not fawning over me like you did with Nami and Robin. Or even how you used to with me." you pointed out a tad too somberly.

"That's because I only swoon over pretty girls." You could feel your heartstrings tightening after hearing those words tumbler over his lips. How could he be so rude?

"Sanji! What the hell?" you spat, but his serene demeanor never faltered. "Just because I don't look as pretty as I used to, doesn't mean you can just openly insult me!"

"My apologies, I like to take the time to properly appreciate true beauty when I find it, so you'll have to excuse my staring." Your cheeks caught fire as you processed what he'd said. Was he calling you...beautiful? Was he saying he was more attracted to you than other women? "And a beauty such as yours is a most rare treasure indeed."

Adores it. Can't even imagine you with longer hair now. 10/10

Tony Tony Chopper:

"Oh no, (Y/N)!" he scuttled over to you, instantly taking your hand to drag you away. "What happened to you?!"

"What do you mean, Chopper?" you asked, halting in your tracks, knowing he couldn't move you on his own. With a gentle smile, you crouched to his level and let him come into your arms, his little hooves on your knees. "Now tell me, what's got you so riled up?"

"All your hair fell out! Did you get sick while we were gone?" he fretted, eyes glossy with concern. Try as you did, you couldn't help but snicker at his naivety. "It's not funny, (Y/N)! Tell me what's wrong right now! If we wait, I might not have enough time to treat you!"

"I'm not sick, I promise!" you giggled as he tried to pull at you again, only to freeze in his tacks.

"So where'd all your hair go then?"

"I shaved it." you smiled, explaining your reasoning as to why. Afterwards, Chopper felt very foolish, pouting with crossed arms and back to you. "It was giving me headaches because it was too long." you fibbed, bringing him back into your arms.

"So you did it so you'll feel better?" he perked, glancing at you over his shoulder.

"I did. It was the best I could do." you explained with a sigh. "I didn't have the best doctor on the Grand Line to treat me anymore, so I had to improvise."

"Oh, shut up!" he gushed, swaying back and forth a bit, a bashful heat in his cheeks.

Not excited about you taking your health into your own hands, (especially at the loss of your pretty hair) but he's happy you're feeling better. 5/10

Devil Child Robin:

She had been eying you from across the ship for a while now. Even before the big reveal, ever astute, she could see glimpses of your scalp, and took note when your hair had yet to fall over your shoulders when in positions that should have allowed for it. Now that the hype was beginning to die down, she slowly inched towards you with that serene smile that always rattled your bones. "Quite the chop," she remarked, circling you to get a good 360 view of you.

"Yeah," you replied nervously. Robin was always good at concealing her thoughts and feelings. She could find you repulsing and never let on. It was one of her most terrifying attributes. "What do you think?" you asked, knowing that if nothing else, she was honest, sometimes brutally so. That, you figured, was much better than this state of wondering.

"I have to admit, I thought you're longer hair looked exquisite on you. It always framed your face so nicely." she smiled, reaching up to ghost her fingertips over the shocked ends of your buzzcut.

"O-Oh," you faltered. "I appreciate your honesty."

"But," she continued, her gaze falling from the (H/C) fuzz down to your eyes with the most genuine expression. "I like this much better. I've never seen anything more (Y/N)."

Your face lit up at her compliments, knowing how true they were if it was her saying them. "You really think so?"

"I do, this suits you very well."

Loves how unique it makes you look. Thinks it's very 'you'. 8/10

Cyborg Franky:

"Where'd all your hair go?" he asked, couching down to inspect you. You explained with a laugh, running your fingers though it before looking back up at it. After a moment of contemplation, he cracked an enthusiastic grin. "Well, I think it's pretty badass!" he shouted, scooping you up into his mechanical arms and hoisting you to sit on his shoulder. "Hey, ya know what we should do?"

"What?" you asked with a giggle.

Suddenly, his pompadour fell lax and reshaped itself into a row of spikes. "We should get matching leather jackets and when your hair grows out a little more, we could do mohawks! How cool would that be? Ride into to battle like that, we'd be the scariest lookin' guys out there!"

Obsessed with it. Will not leave you alone now about spiking it, and every time you port, he tries to get you to go shopping for biker gear with him. 10/10

Soul King Brook:

His head tilted as he stared at you though curious hollowed sockets. You felt a bit uncomfortable under his silent gaze, and tried to inch yourself out of it, to no avail. "Are you going to say anything?" you asked, features cringing at his creeping. Still, he continued his act, slinking toward you until he was inches away, towering over you.

His lanky spine bent, cracking as it did to try and meet your height, and his skeletal fingers found themselves under your chin. Unsure of what he was planning, your cheeks began to glow with embarrassment. Eventually, he'd seemingly given up on leaning over, opting to simply crouch, his knees popping as they fell into place. "Why aren't you saying anything...?" you wondered aloud.

"I'm studying." he simply answered. "I want to remember ever bit of you after your gone."

Why the hell was he being so cryptic? You'd never heard Brook say a romantic thing in your life, he's always just been a creep to you and the other girls. "So, do you like my hair?" you asked cautiously.

"I don't care about your hair." he reassured. "I think your lovely no matter how long or short it is." It was at this point you realized that his sockets were not trained on your face or your hair, but your cleavage. You immediately delivered a ripe smack to his cheekbones, before assaulting's him with a barrage of insults.

Doesn't really care. Prefers your longer hair, but when he's looking at you, he's rarely looking at your face, so it doesn't matter. 5/10

Knight of the Sea Jinbe:

He looked down on you lovingly as you came to him, enveloping him in a hug. "I missed you," he smiled. "So very much."

"I missed you too." you sniffled as you pulled away. You had grow very close to him in the recent years, fighting alongside him many times and exchanging letters during your time away. He had been the only one to know where you'd gone to train, and he often sent you your favorite snacks, or even little trinkets when he could afford the risk. He had been the only one you'd told about your chop. He was like your dad, how could you go without talking to him?

"I've never seen a more beautiful little girl," he remarked, cupping your cheek, and resisting the urge to let his emotions get the better of him.

"I'm not a little kid anymore." you reminded him, nudging his large hand away.

"I know," he sighed, memories of his first time seeing you as a small child flooding back to him. "You've grown up entirely too quickly. I hardly even noticed.

You rolled your eyes at his sentimentality. "How do you like my new do?"

"It's not how I imagined it, from how you described in your letters." he replied, putting on a falsely curious face and ruffling it to 'test' it. "I may need to inspect it before I get you an answer."

"I had to keep some mystery about it, right?" you laughed. "How else am I supposed to keep you on your toes, old man?" You both shared a hearty laugh as you embraced once more.

"I don't think you could look prettier."

Adores it, but only because it's on you. Just happy to see you again. ♾/10

[izzyliker]

Izzy, Stede, and the conflicts of class-based masculinities: an entirely too long look into my twisted mind

Disclaimer: I don’t dislike Stede. I don’t think Izzy is perfect. I think they’re both great characters. I do dislike the fact that people often seem to take for granted the notion that Stede is feminine, and that his brand of masculinity is “healthy” – as well as the notion that Izzy by contrast has uniquely high amounts of “toxic masculinity” and is “femmephobic” because of his dislike of Stede.  

I agree that Izzy’s approach to himself is unhealthy. I don’t think Stede is particularly feminine, nor do I think Izzy sees him that way either. I think their conflict is a matter of different kinds of socially supported kinds of masculinity, and that these differences and distinct struggles are based almost completely on class. 

STEDE & MASCULINITY

Stede is a wealthy land-owner who has not worked and does not have to work. Period. He romanticizes the life of hard, fulfilling work and the earned rewards of it. When we see people bully him it is specifically people who went on to fulfill this desire (namely by joining the navy) and his father, who would’ve probably been his first male role model. He gets bullied for being a sensitive coward by his peers and for not working to earn what he has by his father. In adulthood Stede’s completely accepted and taken for granted in his presentation of masculinity: he’s a wealthy man, he performs masculinity just fine in this context. He does not stand out from the rest of his peers in terms of his dress, his behavior, his mannerisms, or whether he works or not. None of these people work! They haven’t earned anything! They’re all equally “trapped” in this idle, unearned luxury (see episode 10). Stede’s bullies are specifically bullies with directly violent imperialist ideals on an interpersonal level – not the idle detached status quo for his class. He stands out for having been a pirate, because he has challenged the status quo, the typical masculinity of his class, and his social status. 

Stede and Mary’s relationship mirrors the typical stifling heterosexual relationship model of socially powerless women forced to dance around the whims of their husbands. Stede takes the notion that Mary should soothe his anxieties and take care of the household with little to no help from him for granted. His presence is such a burden on Mary’s life that in her eyes it straight up doesn’t begin until Stede leaves. Her life revolves around Stede! Stede, despite not wanting to be married to her in the first place, holds his wife on a leash because that’s the social context of their dynamic. His masculinity is firmly in the context of this structural misogyny that keeps both of them equally trapped, but Stede is COMPLETELY ignorant of this uneven power dynamic – his male privilege, if you will, lol – and is entirely focused on his own pain, the unfairness of his own situation, his trauma. Mary’s suffering and sometimes straight up her personhood doesn’t even enter his mind. She doesn’t want to be there either, but unlike Stede she doesn’t have the luxury to wallow in her sadness. It falls on her to keep the family running. Stede leaves but then he comes back and takes up the house, he adds to Mary’s workload and does not help, he walks around like he owns the house after having been gone for so long, he assumes he can just waltz back in with no work required, he lays down to sleep next to her like nothing’s changed and literally takes up the entire bed, he’s there and he’s still unwilling to talk to her, she’s still the one doing the caretaking and nurturing of his feelings and his physical wellbeing. 

On his ship he does nominal amounts of work most of the time. Things “just work out.” He’s clueless in a way white upper class masculinity is constantly rewarded for. He wants to deserve things but he’s so used to not having to do jackshit that the most ridiculous things count as him deserving a reward, or as him having done something worthy of respect and applause. He fumbles his way into stealing some poor guy’s plant. His crew doesn’t respect him because he’s arrogant and useless. He brings on board a type of positive influence – the “talk it through” kind of energy that he never had with his wife – which is a good thing! But Stede is the captain for a reason, and that reason isn’t because he’s actually deserved anyone’s respect or because he’s worked hard to prove himself or learned how to do anything. Stede bought his way into it. Stede is not displaying femininity and softness. He is displaying literally just arrogant and thoughtless ideals of upper class masculinity. 

Stede uses up food frivolously to make cake (!) and gets upset when it’s a problem that they’re now out of an important ingredient. In Stede’s world these aren’t things he has to worry about! Things just magically appear! While everyone else is searching for vital resources Stede is wasting money and time going on a little treasure hunting trip. To Stede the promise of a special treasure – just for him, one that would make him special, one that he doesn’t want to share, no matter who it really belongs to – is much more pressing, much more applicable to his interests than frivolous things like food. That’s what he has a crew for! Stede is there to give out commands and have fun. His wife makes food, his wife takes care of the children, Stede is there to get lost in his own world and play with his children, to be upset and confused when him being distant and useless means that Mary grows to resent his presence. Stede is there to journal through a proxy (despite being one of the only people who know how to write!) and to dream about becoming known for being special and changing the face of piracy. 

His crew, other than Lucius (and I’m not sure about Olu) is poor. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Stede, a wealthy landowner is “educating” a group of much less fortunate people (some of whom were implied to have been enslaved previously). These are people who have had to work if they wanted to eat. In the context of piracy this means a certain kind of approach to the job that doesn’t really have room for touchy feely emotional moments. They can do this because Stede will pay them a salary regardless of what they do. Stede is sharing with them the world of leisure with his privilege. 

The “softness” and “kindness” exhibited by Stede is – sorry, a lot of the time it’s condescending or breathtakingly privileged. Let them eat cake mixed with genuine meanness. He’s a bitch! His pettiness and bitchiness is a rich people's game of layers upon layers of sarcasm and passive aggressiveness, and he’s clearly completely unafraid to act exactly like that with no remorse. We laugh at his mean remarks and then we forget that he said them at all. I assume the reason people read him as feminine is partially because “passive aggressive bitch” is something we associate with women as a negative stereotype, but in the show canon that is a gender neutral trait and the other major character to talk that way is that French dude. When Stede warns Ed about it he specifically says “this is what my people are like.” We are not supposed to see that as a feminine trait. It’s a class thing. “We talk it through as a crew” is nice, sure, but it’s also a very naive, privileged understanding of what pirates do. They rob little fishing boats for god’s sake. I’m sure he wants to be the good guy – despite his insecurities he certainly sees himself as wanting to be one! – and as a core sentiment it’s a good one, but undeniably his wealth and his resistance to giving it up makes him unable to actually be an equal to his crew. 

Stede doesn’t fit in in his old life not because he stands out from the accepted notions of masculinity but because he doesn’t want to be a part of it. His childhood bullies didn’t either – their route was to join the navy; they chose to be a part of the imperialist military complex. Stede doesn’t want that. He wants to be their direct enemy and to show them what working for respect can look like (that is, challenging the status quo with the least unnecessary violence possible). But where they have found solidarity between each other – being from the same social background, wealthy and hateful – Stede is still clinging onto his class, he’s still holding onto all of the social implications of wealthy masculinity, while also trying to roleplay as someone who isn’t wealthy. This is why him giving away all his wealth at the end of ep10 is so important: he’s no longer held back by this disconnect. Stede is now (somewhat of) an equal. His upper class masculinity was always stifling but he refused to let go of it; and he couldn’t, as long as he still had his wealth, as long as he was imprisoning Mary. By the end of the episode he doesn’t have his fancy ship or his expensive clothes. He has neutral clothes, he’s got his small boat, he’s alone, and he’s free. 

And to make a connection to modern day masculinities – Stede is the man who loads the dishwasher once a week and comes to find you just so you’ll pat him on the head and tell him what a great job he’s done. Stede is the man who eats your packed lunch from the fridge as a midnight snack and is confused when you’re upset when you can just buy something from the store or perhaps Chipotle on your lunch break. Stede is the man who buys a $1800 smoker to put in the backyard without asking and then is confused why you’re upset. Stede is the man who gets asked to do a task and immediately delegates it onto his eldest child. Stede is the Disneyland dad. Stede is the freshly divorced man who “I can fix him” types see as endearing because his first try of running the dishwasher involved him flooding the kitchen with bubbles. Stede is the man who doesn’t remember his kids’ birthdays or his anniversary date. Stede is the man who buys you a stand mixer for your birthday and a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. He’s the man who works a nonsense finance job he got through nepotism or owns a company he inherited and is so mindlessly bored with it that he wants to do something else, anything else, but doesn’t want to actually lose the safety net of his wealth.  

IZZY & MASCULINITY

On the other hand Izzy (and Ed, but this is about Izzy) represents working class masculinity. We don’t know much about his past but his dress (complete with a shirt that blatantly just doesn't fit him right as evidenced by the fact that his sleeves are tied up), his attitude and his presentation of masculinity are much more strictly aligned with what would be expected of someone who’s masculinity is tied to their role in a gendered class society as a worker primarily and as a provider secondarily. 

Firstly: Ed and Izzy run a real pirate ship. Izzy works under Ed, period. This is a mutual exchange of safety. Where Stede is at the top of the food chain completely untouched by anyone else, Ed and Izzy need each other to equal degrees. Izzy can’t run the ship on his own, but neither can Ed. Izzy is replaceable to some extent, but Ed would be reluctant to actively try to replace a first mate without really needing to. Both of them are competent at their roles but Ed, like Stede, no longer wants to do his job. Just like Stede he’s sick of it, he’s bored, he wants to try something else. 

Unfortunately for Izzy, again, his livelihood depends on Ed just as much as Ed’s depends on Izzy. That means that any misstep from Ed can mean that their entire workplace and their actual mortal lives crumble into nothing. So when Ed, already tired of having to work a thankless job he sees as stifling and above all else boring, directs that energy into pretending to be wealthy Izzy is upset because he sees this – not as feminine, lol – as him throwing away the “deserved” title of Blackbeard, of making himself look stupid, like a wealthy landowner who doesn’t know what work looks like, like Stede. 

I want to highlight here that Izzy doesn’t actually give a shit whether Ed wears Stede’s clothes or becomes soft or whatever. He’s on board with Ed’s plan of killing Stede and taking his place. Ed retiring into a life of luxury? More power to him. If he kills Stede he’s certainly deserved it. Izzy wants him to have a plan and he wants for it to be a realistic one because they rely on each other. There is a level of communication they need from each other. He doesn’t want Ed to be this guy if he also wants to remain as Izzy’s captain, because then it’s just him slipping into a world where he expects people to take him seriously despite showing every sign of not being worthy of that anymore. Pirates and the wealthy notoriously are, well… enemies. How would it look for them for Ed to be lost in this fantasy world where he, himself, is a wealthy aristocrat? Where he’s bought his ship, hired his crew, not worked a day in his life? Izzy’s working under him. What would that say about Izzy? That he’s accepting wealth as proof of status? Of power? That he’s working essentially the same kind of job he would on land? Where a wealthy, lazy man hires him to do the chores his wife won’t or can’t?

And so when Izzy turns himself into a provider it is not because he’s martyring himself or because he’s a toxic caretaker. It comes from a working class context of… needing to work to survive. In his world – just like Stede thinks – you deserve things by working hard for them. There is a structure of proving yourself, not by money or status but by your actions and your experience. Stede’s a captain not because he’s worked for it but because he’s bought his way into it. Izzy works his ass off. Izzy runs his ship and he’s fucking miserable with no clear support from the one person who was supposed to be on his side but he’s the only person who will do the work. Stede’s crew at this point is used to being able to just do whatever: they will get paid no matter what they do, because no matter if they respect him and no matter if they actually raid a single ship ever Stede can afford to do so to keep his little pirate fantasy alive. Is this fairer? Maybe! It’s also just not how it works for Izzy, and when he tries to get them to listen to him they don’t. In his world this is a prelude to mutiny. Izzy is a caretaker just as Stede is, but his POV comes from the very opposite side of class privilege: Stede can take care of his crew’s mental health and give them days off and pay them regardless of how they perform; Izzy (or Ed) can not. They have to work or they won’t be paid.   

So when Stede and Izzy clash it comes from this inability to see each other’s points of view. It comes from Izzy’s disdain for Stede and his wealth; his “softening” of Ed into a ghost of his former self; where softness is a stand in not for femininity but wealth, for indulgence, for luxury. Their life does not have room for that! Izzy sees Ed with his clean shaven face and his prioritization of feelings over work as him pretending to be like Stede, meaning a wealthy man’s fantasy of a pirate. Ed doesn’t even have money! Ed still needs to work for his money, but he’s trying to apply Stede’s POV as someone with immense class privilege to how he runs this ship, where you don’t actually need to MAKE money. This is infuriating to Izzy, who never left the real world. When he yanks Ed back into reality he overcompensates because of this anger and frustration, and Ed overcompensates back because he’s vulnerable and needs support instead of anger, because Izzy is being cruel but he’s not completely wrong, because Ed’s already feeling unworthy and unlovable. 

Ed makes Fang get rid of his dog. When this is brought up Fang cries and Ivan comforts him. Izzy doesn’t say shit about the crying or the comforting. Neither of these things is seen as bad: this is a necessary sacrifice, with an emphasis on sacrifice. The feelings are fine and expected. It wouldn’t be a sacrifice if it didn’t matter, and stoicism isn’t the point, you don’t have to be desensitized, you just have to be practical. Izzy calls Stede Ed’s pet. Stede’s useless. Ed can be sad and cry about it and Izzy will understand and help him through it, but he needs to rip off the bandaid or it will just get worse! Izzy even offers to kill Stede for him if it’s too difficult for Ed. He gets it. But it’s possible! It’s necessary! See, Fang did it! We’ve all sacrificed! Now’s your time to put your money where your mouth is. Stede belongs in doggy heaven with the rest of the sacrifices we’ve made to stay alive, to make ourselves stronger as a crew, to build these delicate social bonds we all depend on. Don’t ruin this for everyone. If you refuse to match everyone else’s sacrifice you’ll seem like a hypocrite and a bad, unfair boss. Etc. Caring is not a weakness: you can care, but you can’t carry it with you on the forefront of your mind if you want to be a part of the social structure. 

So to me like – modern context Izzy is the neurotic shift leader who lashes out at his coworkers because they’re Leaning instead of Cleaning because he’s caught wind that they’ve started shutting down locations in this area and he’s scared they won’t make their sales quotas. Izzy is the shift leader who’s filling in for the store manager who’s stopped showing up to work. Or Izzy is the store manager who gets told by the regional manager to cope and seethe when he tells them he’s understaffed and overworked. Izzy’s the guy who takes out his anger on his crew because he sincerely thinks he’s doing them a favor. Izzy’s the guy who’s got an intricate social structure built into his workplace and he knows EVERYTHING about all of his coworkers and can manipulate all of them however he likes if needed. He’s the guy who covers up for the boss when he doesn’t pay you on time and convinces you that the direct deposit just hasn't cleared with your bank yet for some reason. He’s the guy who makes excuses for terrible management and pukes during his lunch breaks from stress and takes his job too seriously because he’s been working at this branch for thirteen years and at this point it’s a sunk cost fallacy but he’s got a social contract with his boss he’s also probably in love with. His hair is turning gray and he has ulcers because he thinks that without him the whole place would collapse and he’s right, but he has not yet realized that that doesn’t make it his responsibility and it doesn't mean his coworkers appreciate it. He’s the guy that tells you to quit your second job or to stop wasting your time with your failing marriage and just get a divorce already because your work performance is fucking atrocious. He’s the guy who goes into his manager’s office and straight up tells him to get over his ex because he’s tired of explaining to the team why he keeps showing up to work in a dressing gown and having group therapy sessions in the common space. 

Final thoughts

So: Stede and Izzy clash because of their different types of class-based masculinity. For a show to explore masculinity it does not actually necessarily require any specific examination of femininity, and the minimization of Stede’s indulgence in the fruits of his class AND gender privilege is a little frustrating. These things are toxic not only to himself but more acutely to his wife (and the women in his life in general – there’s a REASON why so many of Mary’s friends were relieved to have their wealthy useless husbands die, lol). When we talk about “toxic masculinity” it almost always gets flattened into violence: it becomes “men can’t show emotions other than anger”, “men see love as a weakness”, etc etc. Hegemonic masculinity (also known as toxic masculinity) is… masculinity that enables the material oppression of women, and the fact that people seem to only be able to see the traits we associate with working class men as “toxic” comes across as classist, and flattens Izzy into just being “a homophobic gay with toxic masculinity" while letting Stede completely off the hook despite the fact that out of every character in this show he's the one who's had a tangibly awful impact on a woman precisely because of his ignorant wielding of, well, a very typical kind of middle to upper class masculinity.

I also want to note here that when we talk about violence you have to remember that beyond his burning desire to commit acts of violence to prove himself Stede 100% also benefits from it. It’s just that as a wealthy landowner he doesn’t actually have to see it happen, and he can comfortably be distanced from it. So to look at Izzy and Ed and scoff at them and call their killing and maiming toxic masculinity but ignore the ways in which Stede as a wealthy man directly gains wealth and social power from the same kind of killing in different places around the world (possibly including by his father) is a bit troubling. Violence is not inherently toxic or inauthentic. Violence in the face of injustice is not evil. Stede’s proximity to immense privilege means he has had no need to engage in it. Izzy and Ed are desensitized to it because they have to fight for their survival. Stede’s crew has become desensitized to it because they, too, have had to fight for their survival. To look at this and come to the conclusion that Stede is displaying healthy masculinity while Ed and Izzy are displaying toxic masculinity is to ignore how privileged Stede is, comparatively: the point of piratehood is not to be nice and sweet and polite, it’s a way to fight against the oppressive frameworks of imperialist wealth. Stede does not understand this and it’s clear from the fact that he is well. Wealthy, lol. 

Izzy sees Stede as an idiot and a privileged snotty little thing and they hate each other’s guts, not because one of them is more or less masculine than the other but because their types of masculinity clash with each other. They’re the extreme ends of each other. Stede cares about his crew even though the way he shows this is often both misguided and dangerous, and extremely crucially he does not care about his wife until the very end of the season beyond his fears of how she sees him in terms of his courage and worthiness. Izzy cares about Ed and he wants to be loved by him, but he does not know how to fit this care and love into the context of the world they live in without it being toxic for both of them. Izzy’s pragmatic and practical. Stede is idealistic and he can afford to do so. Izzy doesn’t have that luxury. That doesn’t make Stede feminine and it also doesn’t mean Izzy has any more toxic masculinity or internalized homophobia than Stede (who had to be explained to by his wife what love feels like) does. If this show was telling us that Stede is the model of healthy masculinity it would be extremely troubling.

[sunriseverse]

Please tell me your thoughts on Ed + chronic pain!

(@sweetcheese1 @mhaccunoval ) thank you all for indulging me! putting it under the cut because it got long:

okay, so first off, my headcanon for what type of chronic pain ed has: i think he has hypermobility-related chronic pain. most people who are hypermobile (around 10% of the population is hypermobile, and it's usually something you're born with, with a decent link to genetic inheritance, but it can be developed through, say, gymnastics) do not develop any sort of related chronic pain, but in some people, it does happen (hi! that's me! i don't have a specific disorder like EDS though, i just have hypermobility and hypermobility-related chronic pain). basically, the joints are "loose", (this can mean they experience partial or full dislocations, known as subluxations (this is what happens with, say, hEDS (hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome)) and your muscles have to overcompensate to try and keep them in place—which is what leads to chronic pain.

one of the things that happens when you have hypermobility-related chronic pain is that high-impact activities (think running or ball sports, but it can also mean, like, a lot of walking) make things, uh. worse. like, leave you in bed for the rest of the day or multiple days kind of worse, depending on how bad your baseline pain is, and can also make things permanently worse. for me, things were pretty manageable (like a two on average) up until i started having to do ball sports in school, which made things worse, to the point where i am at about a four or five on a daily average.

i personally think that ed probably also had pretty manageable symptoms as a child—probably his worst areas were his spine/back and legs, since those are typically what's under the most strain. however, pirating isn't exactly a low-impact lifestyle—so, i think this probably made things a good deal worse. starting off at the lower levels of the ship hierarchy (cabin boy and swabbie, for example) would also mean he'd be putting his body under more stress than most of the others on the ship, and then, of course, there's the "regular" pirating activities of raiding ships, and fights.

ed, obviously, wouldn't really have been able to take a break to recover. additionally, even after he became a captain in his own right, i think it's safe to say that he'd convinced himself that showing weakness was absolutely not the done thing (not to mention how much worse izzy probably made it), especially since he's blackbeard, basically the pirate epitome of hale and hearty and terrifyingly physically capable. he's unlikely to have done things like, again, take time to just recover, or to draw himself a hot bath at the end of the day. all of this would definitely make things worse for him—he's probably residing around a six or seven on average pain-wise just on a day to day basis.

that brings me to two points: knee braces and smoking. i believe that the area worse-effected for him is his knees, but, more specifically, his left knee. I think it's entirely possible that at some point, his knee simply couldn't take the strain anymore, and he had to support it in some way, just to be able to walk, let alone do things like run around during raids—hence the knee brace. given the time, it wasn't really possible for him to get anything professional, but his contraption on his leg looks fairly similar to the knee brace below, which is specifically meant to stabilise the joint (i've included a tweet with photos of ed's knee brace as well for comparison). anyway, second point: smoking! as you probably know, marijuana can be used to relieve pain. i personally have never used it, so i can't vouch for it, and from what i understand, it varies from person to person. on that note, ed's been shown to smoke a couple different times in canon, and personally, i think that's what he's doing, in lieu of pain medications (most of which either didn't exist, or he wouldn't have had access to, like laudanum)—in fact, aside from the knee brace, it might be the only way he's willing to manage his pain, since smoking is already an acceptable activity in his social sphere. i don't think he uses a cane at all pre-canon, despite how helpful it can be, because it's a much more visible sign of his "weakness", especially with how he would have to use it continuously, as opposed to the knee brace, which can be brushed off as merely an accessory by someone who doesn't know any better. (izzy uses a cane in 1.10, but for him, this is a temporary situation, and i really doubt he's happy about it)

now, getting into my other headcanons! for starters, i think stede notices ed's pain after a bit. it's not incredibly obvious or anything, but after a while of being on the same ship, stede starts to notice the way ed will wince slightly with each step after a long day, or the way he holds himself very carefully so as not to exacerbate his back. also, stede's not an idiot, despite his ineptitude as a pirate, so it doesn't take him long to realise the real purpose of the knee brace—i think this probably happens after the party in 1.05, where ed spends all day without it, so afterwards, he's pretty much limping, and it carries over into the next day or so, though not as noticeable with the brace—stede's probably the only one who puts the pieces together on this, with the others on the ship probably assuming he's aggravated an injury from a fight or something that'll pass in a day or two. stede begins to draw ed baths after particularly long days to help with the pain, with the excuse that it's good for ed's skin, or something (he probably has multiple excuses, actually, and probably also uses one somewhere along the lines of "it's what a gentleman does").

also, on the note of canon: i think that his time with stede aboard the revenge works to undo some of his shame and internalised ableism in regards to his chronic pain. he doesn't fully get rid of it or anything, but i think that, at least, he does start drawing baths of his own volition, and taking time to rest instead of diving full throttle into the next raid, or swordfighting lessons with stede, or what have you. i think he's aware that stede knows at least some of what's going on, but they never talk about it.

1.10/post-breakup era definitely sees him slide back into old habits, but possibly even worse—he let stede see this incredibly vulnerable part of himself in being just ed, and the chronic pain is definitely a part of that vulnerability. beyond the knee brace, i think he really stops doing anything to try and mitigate the pain—he instead tries to fight through it, because he figures, yeah, it'll make things worse in the long run, and it hurts like hell, but the kraken can't show any weakness, and he'll probably be killed in battle before that becomes a problem (oh, ed, beloved, you really do not have a healthy relationship to this shit).

and, finally, post-reunion! it definitely takes a while for him to start trusting stede again, but once he does, they slip back into the routine of stede drawing ed baths. however, at this point they've realised that, actually, communication is really important, so i think that, very grudgingly, ed does talk about it. after a while, he finally manages to peel back the "well, i'm going to die, so the pain doesn't matter" attitude, and begins to take things easier. trusting stede also eventually leads to him asking if stede would be willing to help him relieve some of the pain when things get especially bad through massages (stede read up on it after realising what ed was going through and mentioned the knowledge offhand), which stede is more than happy to do. it also helps a lot that they've somewhat retired from piracy—they still raid ships, but they don't do much fuckery or risky raids, and when they do, they leave most of it to the crew (fuckery is high-impact by, like, every definition of the word. i can't imagine doing any of it myself because i know how taxing it would be). finally! ed eventually gets a cane! his original one is a pretty standard, black walking cane, without any embellishments, but for their anniversary, stede has a slightly fancier one commissioned—it's not super ostentatious or anything, but it does have a carved handle with an arctic tern on it, and at its base there's a band of metal that matches the rings that they exchanged when they decided to commit to a long-term relationship.

[soulrider-elena]

Elena and North #2

So...here is random lore that is crucial to Elena's life 👀

Elena actually went through 2 soulsteeds already, her frist one was a old dapple mare ( Her first horse + her first North ) who died only 4 years later ( she was 10 when she arrived and is 14 when the first North died. ) She accepted North's death peacfully until they returned as a small fleabitten colt. Well before the first North died Concorde had her transformation and alla that stuff so while North #2 was growing she would ride some other horse she had or ride with one of her soul sisters, but on the second month of having No5rth #2 her sisters began to fight more ( like it went from screaming to physical ) and this effected Elena so she would walk instead.

In the seventh month of having North #2 her sisters where fighting while a small group of Garnok's army wreaked havoc on the Epona countryside. ( The old Dew's farm ) Well her sisters decided to start fighting at Wolfhall Inn 🤦🤦 and COMPLETELY FORGOT THEIR MISSION. Elena knew this farm was important to Maya so she asked Concord if they could fly into battle together to stop it from being destroyed by pissed off aliens seince her sisters where busy. Concorde agreed and they took off with Elena using what she learned from Alex about shooting people. Concorde and Elena where successful in diriving them into the sea and landed back at Wolfhall Inn where a group of Druids ( Avalon, Evergray, Rhiannon, and a few others ) came to scold the sisters for sitting on their arse and not joining in. They congratulated Elena and the soulseeds for taking action which pissed off Alex, Anne, and Lisa ( especially Anne for taking Concorde ). They demanded to meet Fripp and talk about this in the Stone Circle so Elena came the next day with North #2. It got out of hand and the soulriders ( except for Linda ) decided to throw hands with Elena...A MINOR DOING WHAT SHE WAS TOLD. Well, she failed to protect North #2 and he was flung back by one of the sisters ( Fripp believes it was Anne ) into one of the pillars, bashing his skull in and dying apon impact. At the time she blasted Alex and Lisa off of her and scooped up North #2 and ran out, dissapearing into the forest, Rhiannon found her later that day sleeping with the corpse and took her back to stay with Avalon and Evergray in their house for now. ( she didint send her home bc she is homeless and sleeps with Rhiannon in the barn lol ) Fripp and the other Druids '' quarantined '' the soulriders, not leting the 5th and the rest come in contact until Elena's therapy and training is done but she can visit the soulsteeds.

North #2 was unusally stupid so Elena and Rhiannon did things like this to try to get him to do ANYTHING

The next soulsteed will be a black horse named Pirate and I am a BIG httyd fan so I wanted to use Toothless and Hiccup's relationship from httyd 1 and 2 as a reference for Pirate and Elena

whose mc and soul horse is this

[kjthenbee]

I just finished the s1 finale of Our Flag Means Death. And hooooo boy was that a ride :’)

!!!MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPS 9 & 10 OF OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 1 BELOW!!!

First, OH MY FUCKING GOD WE GOT A BLACKBONNET CONFESSION AND KISS SCENE!!!! IT’S CANON AND NOBODY CAN SAY OTHERWISE!!!! However… I had a hunch when that scene happened in ep9 instead of ep10 that we were probably headed for some angst, though I didn’t expect quite this much angst. The last ep in particular felt so devoid of the usual humor the show has, and while of course there was still some, it was really devastating to see Ed devolve back into his dark past self and just plain heartbreaking to see how much he very clearly loves Stede, especially the scenes with him sobbing alone in Stede’s cabin. And this is part of what makes this show so great honestly - it’s not just “humor and nothing bad ever happens”, there are actually stakes and real emotions, and this is what makes these characters feel so real.

I really had hoped that Stede would make it back to Ed in time by the end of ep10, but I can see why that didn’t happen. It looks like the showrunners really wanted to set up the plot of the next season as a journey for Stede and his crew to get Ed and the Revenge back. Which means that if there is a season 2 (please dear god let there be a season 2), there will be a lot going on. I just really hope they don’t drag out the BlackBonnet angst for too long :( I do think it was quite a ballsy move to end the season like this. Like if for some reason (god forbid) it’s not renewed for a second season, I would absolutely HATE for the show to end in such a way. However, I am extremely thankful that Ed and Stede were confirmed to be in love prior to the angst/separation/misunderstanding. That’s more than can be said for Nandor and Guillermo at the end of the most recent season of wwdits lmao.

I really haven’t been this invested in a show since wwdits last October, and even then I wasn’t nearly as obsessed as I have been with ofmd. I binged all 8 eps last Friday night and have spent the last 5 days constantly thinking about this show, anxiously waiting for the final episodes to the point where I was literally experiencing physical anxiety symptoms (which are finally thankfully gone). It may seem silly that this silly gay pirate show affected me to such a degree, but as a queer nonbinary person, I’m so thankful for David, Taika, and the rest of the cast and crew for giving us such a gem of a show. I’m gonna continue spreading the word about it so we can at least get a season 2, which I’m very hopeful will happen since it seems like interest in this show has increased significantly in the past week.

P.S. LUCIUS IS ALIVE I REFUSE TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE.