#One piece discussion

[badly-drawn-doflamingo]

Brook’s Past, Military and Everything Between [ An Essay kinda ]

Brook’s past is not a thing many people seem to mention or think about, at least in full, however it’s something that's plagued me. Not only as a Brook fan, but simply out of the odd implications it has towards the future, if any. Oda’s planted too many seeds for it to utterly be nothing; there’s so much odd and seemingly out of place comments and facts stated by Brook and others towards this missing history. However, knowing that the show is beginning to near it’s end, due to time, I am unsure of what exactly will be done.

I believe however, for folks' interest and so we can have everything in one place, that compiling everything found so far can be beneficial, so, I have.

Starting with what we know for sure, Brook is from the West Blue, born 90 years ago to a certain kingdom, the same kingdom he was a military convoy leader from. We know this due to a few factors, however it’s still open to debate if it *is* the same kingdom, however seeing as he was shown as a child to already know what fencing is, practicing moves with his bow, I am just going to say he probably was. In any case, other things worth noting, on the topic of childhood, is that Brook seems to have had money. At least, stability.

Compared to a lot of the other strawhats, Brook is shown dressing very nice. No tatters, no tears, shined shoes and a full violin and bow. He also, as already stated, seemed to be exposed to fencing enough to mirror the moves. If this comes from his kingdom, it means he was exposed to it at a young age. Knowing that he was a military convoy leader, this could be taken that perhaps there were military demonstrations, perhaps the kid saw castle guard or other displays; it’s really up in the air.

We know Brook, again as stated before, became a military convoy leader. Now, the definition of what exactly that means can differ.

Wikipedia states; A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.

This could mean Brook’s job could’ve been accompanying ships for protection, being a knight for his King, mediating information and goods that come in and out of the kingdom. This would make sense on why his speed was needed, a 9.2 ft man being a great choice for a leader.

His weapon also would make sense for this kind of mission, perhaps secrecy being important or at least the ability to be discreet. His cane sword, a ‘Shikomizue’, is not unique however to just him in the show, one other man using one that has been confirmed so far, that being Fujitora. The pair also share a sea, the west, and both utilize iaijutsu (quick draw techniques.) Fujitora blinded himself with said sword because of something apparently so cruel and inhumane that he rather not see anguish. This may be related to Brook’s departure from his kingdom, which is addressed later in this essay. (Fig 3-5.)

Another thing that’s worth mentioning here is Brook’s attack patterns, being unique even for his kingdom apparently. Once again, during the Ryuma fight, Brook states, and I quote;

“Ryuma: “Now tell me, what part of that wretched excuse for a body would you like me to severe with my special ‘Arrow Notch Slash?’ Brook: You don’t know a thing about that move, so do not use it’s name. I use to serve in my kingdom’s raider squad. The quick draw attack that I was most skilled at was ‘Requiem Lebanderole’. My comrades-in-arms renamed it in regards to my fighting technique.”

(Fig. 1, Brook explains his raider squad and move names. A banderole mind you is a long flag for BATTLE crusades. )

This sets up a few interesting facts. 1. Brook was in a raider squad, a kingdom’s group of marauders, as well as if not the same job as convoy leader. 

2. His techniques were unique to him, or at least specialized to a degree of having a nickname. 3. As expected, he seems to have been close to these men he commanded, adding another layer over Brook loosing the Rumbars.

Being in both a raider squad and being a convoy leader at one point, if not the same point, implies either Brook was simply versatile, acting in both in separate years or periods. Or, the most likely, that he was higher ranking than expected, making him a CO, or commanding officer. (Lieutenant Colonel is another equal rank for scale, making Brook just below a Major.) This makes him quite the important figure, especially for a kingdom that seems to value its military so much, so much so that a child of Brook’s age would already know about their style of fencing, as expressed already. Brook’s devil fruit is worth mentioning here, the revive-revive fruit not likely to be found by a crew like the Rumbars. It is spoken about as if he has always had it amongst the crew, being a fact of life. However, when did he get that fruit and why? I propose where it would be useful; in combat. If your military convoy leader, your best swordsman could be shot and come right back to protect the king, would he not be utterly invaluable? You would never let him leave… But he DID leave. It’s not said why, however we have some extra tidbits of information that may tell us why, and that ALSO may tell us the answer to what kingdom he means.

( Fig. 2. Brook states his leaving of the military for unknown reasoning, the word certain being used in an odd way, establishing his bounty.) This bounty mind you all is in fact, using inflation method, 297,000,000 berries. That is a MASSIVE bounty for just a pirate. Perhaps a certain blond stole a treasure a kingdom could not replace; their convoy leader. Lets rewind for a moment and cover something that may be seen as off topic however I will come right back to the subject at hand; Calico Yorki. Yorki is an odd bird, pirate wise. He makes his crew read his bounties and information, is never shown to play an instrument/sing but makes his crew preform/they all do, and makes Brook make him dinner. (Steak, and Brook continues to be able to make it as confirmed by an SBS.) What is oddest yet, other than his large crew and shirtless habits, is his nature. A man that set to sea to play music for “orphans and crying children” as stated by himself; a crew made for “any men who love music.” Now, I could be reading into this too hard, however from his speech patterns, to this apparent need for a large family, it seems that singing to orphans may be a very personal goal. An orphan turned pirate perhaps, with lofty dreams and a heart of gold, it reads to me that Yorki may have been just that. Knowing this, orphan or not, we now can compare these facts to Brook’s life up until their meeting. A child who probably grew up being taught to fight, being around access to education, expenses and the kingdom’s training. Why would a man like Brook ever join a man like Yorki, and if it’s only music, would that not make Brook a deserter? I do not think that is the case. I will now bring forward some interesting evidence regarding Brook’s kingdom and WHY he would leave. Germa 66. During Zou to Whole Cake, a few mentions of Germa are made with Brook around, garnering interesting reactions indeed.

( Fig. 3. Brook listens but chooses not to add anything utter than silence, his music pausing as well.) This silence could be take as simple ignorance, however Brook later admits he knows of the kingdom, in fact, he knows a lot. A lot more than anyone else did, Reiju admitting interest in his knowledge and once again, Brook brushes it off.

(Fig 4, 5, Brook speaks about Germa 66.) He seems to underplay or simply not elaborate a LOT on his kingdom, as if something happened. Perhaps joining Yorki was not out of simple cowardice or need to be free, (which again if he did would both reflect poorly upon his entire character and not be in character for him what so ever,) but in fact, out of necessity. It could have been Germa 66, it could have been some other grouping, however I believe this will come to be something important. The kingdom possibilities are interesting as well, and I will list the following LIKELY possibilities. (Other options are known to not be military, like Ohara, or literally places like Thriller Bark itself.) - Toroa - God Valley - Illsia Kingdom - Soja Kingdom The most likely candidates, because again, it is labeled as certain kingdom (Fig 2.) is Toroa or Soja, however I will personally lean into Toroa. This is because of a man by the named of Byron.

(Fig 6. Byron and his information.) His nose and face shape vaguely resemble Brook, however honestly that is a stretch. What is NOT however is his familiar attire, family line and the placement of his kingdom. This could easily be Brook’s home, however again, this is just speculation. Brook very well could belong to God’s Valley, or the same kingdom as Issoh, fleeing because of something he did not agree with or literally could not stand any longer. But, that falls under possibility, not fact. This concludes the facts section, now comes the final question; What does it mean for the story? And, honestly, that can be debated. What Oda has done is plant odd seeds of information about the man, similar to Sanji and his ties to Vinsmoke, that have not been addressed nor talked about in full, or so I’ve found sufficiently. These seeds MAY bloom into what I hope will be a tie into some huge reveal, perhaps aid from a past member of his convoy or kingdom, or perhaps this will only spark conflict. Perhaps it will be minute, Brook being able to aid due to his knowledge, the man already in Thriller Bark showing his prowess by being able to command the strawhats into defeating zombies via salt and tactic. In any case, we can only hope these things mean anything, tied into some huge story that could explain why a man like him would quit for a redneck like Yorki, other than perhaps love, and what kingdom would let a man like him go willingly.

Updates:

- Confirmation that he’s educated! Perhaps in military or just as a whole, but confirmation nonetheless!

- I realize the reason he’s so confident with Big Mom isn’t just guts; he’s fought for royalty before. He’s just back in the fucking building again /j

- Sabaody behaviors, a convoy leader

CHECK REBLOG FOR PART TWO!!

[ PLEASE ^^ It contains the rest of his information! ]

[ikuramachi]

someone on twitter said that Sanji haters hate the fact that he’s not the mindless slave they make Zoro out to be (neither of them are, obviously, but this is how generally most Zoro fans treat him unfortunately) and honestly it didn’t struck me until now how accurate that is

putting aside the hated side of Sanji’s gag and pervertness. almost always it is guaranteed that if you come across any post praising literally any good quality about Sanji it’s immediately followed by hoards of people saying “what about Zoro? Zoro did this better. Zoro this and that” it’s insane. I’m obviously not downplaying Zoro’s importance and impact and what he’s done to the crew and Luffy, but I’m honestly baffled at how HARD Zoro fans try to dismiss any act of loyalty and sacrifice from Sanji and their “better” example is almost ALWAYS the singular moment of “Nothing happened”

also, I honestly can’t believe people think that questioning Luffy in the slightest means disloyalty from any of the Straw Hats because “he’s the captain he’s the boss his word is absolute” while yes it’s true he has the authority of decision, for one, to even think that someone who’s 17-19 whose barely developed into a proper adult and whose blatantly childish and whose prefrontal cortex hasn’t developed, people expect Luffy to be way smarter than he is. obviously we can all acknowledge that Luffy can be very emotionally intelligent when he needs to be, that doesn’t mean he’ll always know what to do right. I think One Piece has made it abundantly clear that in MANY many instances the captains of other crews as well as Luffy himself aren’t always making the best decisions and sometimes those wrong decisions easily lead to the whole crew’s demise, preventing Luffy from potentially making the same mistake IS CRUCIAL even if it means “questioning his orders” cause at the end of the day, Luffy is still a TEENAGER with a teenage understanding of the world even if he always knows what’s the right call

what bewilders me the most about what I mentioned previously specifically is, why is EVERYONE else on the crew held accountable and questioned of their loyalty to Luffy when they disagree with him and keep Zoro on this pedestal and seriously think that he’d mindlessly do ANYTHING Luffy says WHEN HE LITERALLY DIDN’T LET USSOP REJOIN THE GROUP UNLESS HE APOLOGIZED IN WATER 7 otherwise Zoro himself would LEAVE the crew?? why are we collectively acting like Sanji was SO disrespectful for disagreeing with Luffy on occasions (such as him kicking Luffy when he almost said something completely regrettable to Ussop and HE ADMITS that it was bad) but somehow forget that Zoro did the same thing??

Zoro fans are a phenomenon that I will never understand. don’t get me wrong I LOVE Zoro, I swear, as much as I bully him and call him stupid and ugly I truly love him so much. but I HATEEEE this insane mischaracterization of him that also somehow FUELS the Sanji hate train. what a strange bunch of people you are.

[outofpocketonepiecethoughts]

I love the transfem sanji headcanons and fanarts and fanfictions to pieces, but I think there is something so so important about him being a man who has personally suffered because of patriarchy.

Spoilers for whole cake island, and 3D2Y/marineford, under the cut

I’m sure it’s been said before, but Germa as a culture is patriarchy incarnate. The men of germa are expected to be emotionless killing machines, to the point where the king robbed his son’s of their emotions through genetic experimentation. And it’s not lost on me that Reiju still had her emotions in tact, because in Judge’s eyes women are supposed to be emotional. And Reiju had to spend her life suppressing her emotions in order to be seen as competent, for fear of being seen as just an emotional woman.

And then there’s Sanji. He’s everything Germa culture believes a man couldn’t be. He’s emotional, weak (by their standards), and soft (kind). To Judge, and Germa as a whole, those are very feminine traits, and that’s considered a bad thing. To them, being a man with feminine traits is worse than being a woman, and that’s why Sanji is abused so horribly.

It’s important to me that despite later developing a rough exterior and bad attitude, he retains these traditionally feminine qualities while still being a man.

Now I wanna talk about Kamabakka kingdom. I don’t know if the okama’s are supposed to be trans or if their drag queens or a combination of both, so forgive me if I get something wrong, but the important thing to note is that the second they meet Sanji, they essentially try to forcefem him. I think to them, his natural personality is like the ideal of femininity. Like in germa, Kamabakka kingdom sees Sanji’s emotionality and kindness as feminine traits, but unlike Germa, they see it as a good thing. Germa tried to force Sanji to give up those traits and beat the femininity out of him. Kamabakka kingdom wanted Sanji to embrace those traits but tried to force Sanji to become a woman because of them. And it works for a couple of weeks (until he sees what happened to Luffy in that one funny scene where the makeup literally melts off his face), but he’s not like them. He is not a woman, doesn’t want to be a woman, and doesn’t want to be perceived as a woman. He can love women and know he is not one.

Sanji isn’t a trans woman (canonically, but I absolutely love all the fanart and fics. This little analysis has no bearing on my love of non canon depictions of Sanji as trans). He is however, gender nonconforming in the context of the culture he was born into. I think in that brief time he went along with the okama’s ideas of him being trans, possibly had a lot to do with the doubts germa’s ideals cast on him about his gender identity. Germa taught him being emotional and kind were woman things, so with the Okama’s trying to convince him that he did feel that way, he might start to think, ‘well maybe I am a woman’, but the second he sees something that reminds him of Luffy, all that confusion goes away and he immediately goes, ‘no I am a man’.

Because Luffy doesn’t try to force Sanji into any kind of gendered box because of the traits that so many people he’s known have seen as feminine. Luffy doesn’t try to force him into traditional masculinity or try to force him to become a woman. To Luffy, Sanji’s kindness and emotionality are his best traits, and those traits are not connected to gender at all. Within the strawhats, Sanji has a freedom of gender expression that he didn’t have anywhere else (the baratie didn’t force anything on him but they were all kind of macho men so I don’t think Sanji would have felt super comfortable expressing his full range of emotions).

I think Sanji as a gender nonconforming man, fits better with his character narratively than sanji being transfem. Everything with Germa is a demonstration of how patriarchy is damaging to both men and women and nonbinary people. I think him being a man is very important to his relationship with the strawhats, and how he found acceptance with them as a man with a lot of traditionally feminine traits (in addition to him being emotional and kind, there’s also the fact that he’s a cook and is the only man on the crew to bathe everyday, specifically, he bathes as often as the girls). With the strawhats he is able to express himself fully without fear of judgment or of a label being forced onto him.

I guess my main point is, Sanji is an example of how patriarchy can hurt men, and how deconstructing traditional ideas of gender norms allows people to live more honest and fulfilling lives.

Sidenote 1: Luffy giving Sanji a space for freedom of expression is perfectly in line with his ideals of freedom.

Sidenote 2: Sanji’s sees woman as naturally emotional (a good thing to him) and kind because the only people he knew with thise characteristics besides himself were his mother and sister.

Sidenote 3: I sometimes see transmasc Sanji headcannons, which I love because they fit so well into his story.

[sunandflame]

What Made Mihawk the Marine Hunter? An Untold Theory

Word Count: 1024

What do we really know about Dracule Mihawk?

That he’s the strongest swordsman in the world. That he has a bounty of 3,590,000,000 Berries. That he stands at 198 cm (6'6"). That his birthday is on March 9th. That he once lived on Kuraigana Island, and is currently part of the Cross Guild.

These are all interesting and well-known facts. But what about the real questions?

Where does he actually come from? Which island was he born on? Where did he spend his childhood? Why is he called the Marine Hunter? Why is he so distant, so serious, and why does he rarely smile—except when the situation demands it?

The truth is, Mihawk is a solitary character who clearly has trouble trusting others. But why is that?

Let’s try to dig into just one of these questions.

The Marine Hunter

Chapter 1058

In Chapter 1058, the name Marine Hunter is mentioned for the first time—not by Mihawk himself, but by Sir Crocodile, who casually reveals that Mihawk was once known by that title.

The full details of Mihawk’s rise as a pirate and swordsman remain a mystery, but we do know he became famous even before the start of the Great Pirate Era. He clearly holds a grudge against the Marines, which seems to be the reason he was given this name.

But why? What exactly happened?

We know pirates and Marines aren’t exactly on friendly terms, but earning the title Marine Hunter goes beyond that. It implies something more specific. More personal. Oda-sensei even confirmed this in SBS Chapter 1094, when a fan asked if there was a connection between Mihawk’s Marine Hunter title and his later position as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

The answer was yes.

The Betrayal

SBS Chapter 1094

This confirmation opens more questions than it answers—but that’s understandable. Mihawk has been a key figure in the story since the very beginning, and his backstory is still tightly guarded. One thing Oda-sensei has said is that Mihawk suffered a great betrayal. Let’s focus on that point for a moment.

What kind of betrayal could have pushed Mihawk to gain such a bloody reputation and such a high bounty? (Keep in mind—he’s not a Yonko. And as a solo pirate, his bounty is the highest of any living pirate who doesn’t lead a crew or an empire.)

One theory is that Mihawk may have tried to help someone—someone he trusted. And that person may have betrayed him by selling him out to the Navy. This would explain his grudge against the Marines. It would explain why he hunted them. Why he earned the name Marine Hunter. But when you consider the SBS from Chapter 909 and analyze it further, you might come to a very different conclusion.

Marriage?

SBS Chapter 909

This SBS includes some hilarious sketches of Mihawk, Crocodile, and Doflamingo kids (Also Mihawk being a girl dad fits so well). But hidden beneath the humor is something that stood out—something that raised more questions than answers.

According to the translation (and I’ve checked several versions to confirm this), Oda implies that one of the three had been married. Doflamingo seems unlikely. He killed his father and his brother and has never shown an interest in forming a traditional family. His crew is his family. That leaves us with Crocodile and Mihawk.

While both show signs of deep-rooted trust issues and could fit this narrative, I want to focus on Mihawk. (I have several reasons why I don’t think it’s Crocodile, but that’s an entirely different discussion—and yes, it involves the Ivankov theory rabbit hole.)

In another SBS, Oda-sensei wrote that Mihawk was tired of life and simply wanted peace. That line really stayed with me.His calm, distant, yet consistently polite demeanor feels like it’s hiding something. Like there’s a message buried beneath it.

So what if Mihawk was the one who had been married? And what if that marriage ended in tragedy—perhaps at the hands of the Marines? That would explain a lot.

It could explain why he became the feared Marine Hunter. Why he cut himself off from others. Why he avoids attachments and keeps people at a distance.

Even though Mihawk usually appears composed and in control, we haven’t seen the full extent of what he’s capable of. But there are hints—moments where it feels like his calm is holding something back. His cold precision, his solitary life, the mystery of his past—it all points to a man with buried pain, and possibly, a thirst for vengeance.

It starts to make sense when you think about it.

Mihawk always appears calm and composed. He speaks with purpose. Moves with clarity. And yet, we’ve never seen the full extent of his power. But we’ve seen glimpses. Enough to know he can become something terrifying when pushed. His cold precision. His isolation. His mysterious past. All of it points toward a man with something buried deep—something heavy. Something that’s never been fully addressed.

Maybe it’s pain. Maybe it’s grief. It’s the kind of silence that follows a loss you never fully recovered from. He avoids attachment. He keeps people at a distance.

Yes, his power is overwhelming. But there’s always a weight in the air when Mihawk enters a scene. Like he’s not just watching the world— He’s walking through it half a step behind.

Not detached. Just… done.

Of course, all of this is just speculation on my part—based on manga panels, SBS clues, and the tone Oda-sensei has built around Mihawk over the years. So please take it with a grain of salt. But keep in mind, Oda-sensei’s most powerful characters are often the ones carrying the deepest wounds.

Maybe Mihawk isn’t just a swordsman. Maybe he’s someone who once had something to lose—and lost it. And maybe, after that, he made sure no one would ever get close enough to take anything from him again.

Maybe the name Marine Hunter wasn’t born from ambition. Maybe it was born from grief.

After all, hasn’t Oda-sensei given us some of the most tragically beautiful love stories in this series, time and time again?

[zoolitsky-fandom]

I’ve noticed this somewhat common phenomenon in some ZoSan artists—at least on Tumblr—where the artist likes Sanji much more than they do Zoro.

It’s not an issue of liking Sanji, everyone is entitled to like the characters they like. But it kind of makes me wonder if some of the fan content is less about the ship itself with both of the characters and more about Sanji having someone to kiss?

This isn’t meant to be accusatory, I just see this kind of thing in a lot of fandoms. I’m curious as to why people ship characters if they’re not passionate about both of them as individuals before their relationship.

Do you guys have any thoughts on this? Do you understand what I’m trying to say or am I misinformed/misinterpreting something?

This is all /gen, I think this is interesting and want to talk about it with y’all

[cranberryspringart]

I wonder if Rosinante got to pick his outfits when he was undercover or if Doflamingo picked them out like either way Rosinante's outfit and makeup definitely make him a clownish caricature of his brother, and honestly, I don't think people talk about that.

What do yall think?

[transgwender616]

I've never watched One Piece but I predict there will be a dumb plot twist that Luffy himself was the One Piece.

[phiaflowers]

reddit one piece community is so mind numbingly stupid. people have such a problem with the races of all the characters. as if oda didn’t literally say that usopp was african, luffy was brazilian, and zoro was japanese, etc.

i think it’s so crazy how i go to reddit and see a bunch of dudebros insisting that everyone in one piece must OBVIOUSLY be straight and white , then i come to tumblr and people are like, “yes, zoro is OBVIOUSLY a gay japanese man. usopp is OBVIOUSLY black, sanji is a closeted bi man, etc.”

like we’re all watching the same show right? how can people be so dense and narrow minded.

[chopapop]

genuinely one of my favourite scenes. probably just because I'm a geek for all things arachnid. I'm curious as to what Usopp's favourite kind of tarantula is (if he has one) and what people think is his favourite. Yes this is shameless interaction bait. Hi tell me what you think his favourite Tarantula would be. I think Mexican redknee's

[speckledblade]

Something I see a lot in fanfics is Zoro being like… overly conscious of. sexuality and gender stuff. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s not very in character for Zoro.

Sanji: Am I a… BOYKISSER???

Zoro: You’re likely bisexual ☝️🤓

Zoro is NOT the kind of guy anyone would talk to about anything ever ngl

zoro feels like the kind of guy who gives really good advice but won’t because he doesn’t really care

Yeah, and also people don’t get advice-giving vibes from him so they don’t even ask either

But if Zoro ever got hit by the truth        truth devil fruit beam or whatever he’d be spilling EVERYONE’S therapy notes they didn’t even know he had filed away in his head

THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN TO READ STOP

but also i don't think zoro would get super philosophical about it. zoro is still zoro, even if he got hit with a devil fruit, so i think it would be smth like

usopp: *doubting himself in silence*

zoro: "stop telling yourself you're not good enough. you wouldn't be here if you weren't"

usopp: "how did you..?"

zoro: "you're doing that thing you do when you feel bad about something"

usopp: "....what thing"

zoro: *shrugs and walks off*

or maybe he would just do that normally idfk

EXACTLY

[momonica05]

I don't see many people talk about how shanks is actually a pretty good representation, let alone even acknowledge the fact he's disabled.

Take this with a grain of salt, tho. I'm not disabled myself, but I just realized how one piece has so many characters like that. Shanks doesn't need a fix for his arm (sure it may be inconvenient for him in his day to day at first, but he just adapts to it). Whitebeard was fucking old and still rocked everyone's shit. Fujitora is blind but still a high admiral.

Shanks really stands out to me, though, because the only "superpower" he has is haki. He doesn't have a devil fruit like Kid (who lets remember got his shit kicked for making fun of Shanks missing arm) or other similar characters. He really just is a fucking power house despite not seemingly that much special in comparison to others.

[ikuramachi]

the experience of getting into One Piece in this day and age is so funny to me, and this is an experience that I’m sure a lot of people resonate with, and it’s how, before watching it and getting into the series we all at some point went “1000+ episodes? absolutely not. how bad can a story be to need that many eps? no thanks” and it’s not until you actually sit your ass down to watch it that you realize that, not only is the story GOOD as hell and is completely worth it, but suddenly finishing a thousand episodes just feels like a tuesday, it’s just not enough. and now you went from hating on the show to developing an irrational fear of finishing the anime too quickly you won’t have enough episodes left to consume

I’m in the beginning of Marineford, I still have a good 600-700 episodes left to catch up, but I genuinely don’t want to. I don’t want to ever reach the end of this story, matter of fact I hope they never find the damn One Piece

[outofpocketonepiecethoughts]

I want to preface what I’m about to say by saying that I have nothing against any ship. I have nothing against SanZo/ZoSan and even enjoy some of the fics and fanart. More importantly, I have absolutely nothing against people who like ships that I don’t like.

But goddammit why is it that if I like even one piece of ZoSan art it ends up being my entire dash. I want to see ZoLu. Sometimes I admittedly get a bit annoyed by it because I just wanna see LuZo and the only thing on my dash is ZoSan and LawLu. I don’t wanna block those tags because there’s a lot of talented artists posting there but I sometimes wish that LuZo was more popular.

Sorry for venting and being a bit negative. I don’t want to hate on ships I’m not as into or be super complainy but you know what I want to vent a bit so I’m gonna vent.

I also just don’t really get the popularity those two ships have. I get why people like SanZo. It’s got a lot of drama and they do have some pretty gay moments, but I have a hard time understanding why it’s so much more popular than LuZo. Like, the incredible devotion involved with Zoro and Luffy is insane. I get LuLaw less. Like, dressrosa made me get why people ship them, but I don’t quite understand the popularity. I don’t know maybe I just prefer to have more material to work with in terms of ships compared what there is with LuLaw. It’s like, I kind of get why people ship it after dressrosa but I still don’t really get the appeal. And I don’t really get why it seems to be quite a bit more popular than Zolu.

Again, I’m not hating on other people for liking what they like. Your preference is yours and mine is mine. I just sometimes get tired of seeing so much stuff for ships I’m not really into instead of what I really want to see.

Sorry for the rant, I just felt like I needed to get this out so I can go back to being a normal member of the fandom and just talking about things I like instead of being negative.

I probably won’t post about this stuff again because it is pretty negative, but just this once I’m gonna let myself be a bit negative.

[teague-azrail]

I just really really want to talk to people about Ace and see how other people view him so PLEASEEEE tell me all your analysis' and views on him

[thedarkangel74]

For the longest time, I was stumped by this page back in Chapter 1033 in Wano.

I wasn't sure what the lesson Zoro was supposed to learn here. What was Enma teaching him? Don't hold back your power? Dont be afraid to die for your dream? Or was it some generic shonen fight logic that didn't deserve much speculation.

Then, during one of my rereads, I reread chapter 49 and got to this part.

Zoro's words struck me here and I was finally able to pick up what Oda had put down in Chapter 1033.

Enma was trying to teach Zorro that he was already dead. He had forfeited his life when he took on Kuina's dreams. So, to use Enma's power freely, he had to accept that the power could kill him. But since he was already dead, that shouldn't bother him. So in order for him to win, he has to be willing to wield his own mortality. It's all an edgy version of living life to the fullest (The Core Theme of One Piece) but framed in a way that makes sense in Zoro's worldview. Now, Zoro fully accepting the path of swordsmen is a path to hell, it makes sense that to become the strongest, he needs to become...