#Ship it Good

[pockysquirrel]

For the toku ships: Godai/Ichijou and, uh... Hongo/Ichimonji/Taki?

WOO YEAH THESE ARE GOOD ONES 👍

Godai/Ichijou

It makes sense and it COMPELLS MEEEEEE yessir I am extremely normal about this ship. Although after almost a solid decade in the fandom I have mostly calmed down about it. Mostly nowadays it's compulsive like/share for every piece of art I come across, sharing that one cap from episode 2 with folks who are considering watching the show, and the same level of "14-paragraph infodump when properly triggered" that I have for any other element of the series.

Godai/Ichijou feels like wearing a watch to me. Sure, it's not mandatory, and sure, I can do things without one. But not having it feels weird and I strongly prefer when it's there.

Hongo/Ichimonji/Taki

Yeah! Hell yeah! It makes sense to me and it compels me! I already got verbose about the Double Riders on their own in a different post, and adding a Taki really does change that dynamic in interesting ways. I'll say this particularly about the KR71 version of the characters because the TV series really does far more than any other version in terms of making Taki his own person, but I digress.

For all their differences, a thing Hongo and Ichimonji have in common is that they need a human connection to keep them anchored to their own remaining humanity. It's the one thing they can't give each other. And sure, you can get that from various places in the supporting cast, but I really think Taki does the best job of establishing an equal bond with each Rider independently. (Especially important for Ichimonji, I think.) So he fits right in with that camaraderie-turned-flirtation the Riders have with each other, except he's there all the time so we get to see so much more of it.

[quinloki]

Ship It, Ship It Real Good (Part 2)

The other snake person. Modeus ate the scale-scale fruit and it's also a Zoan-type but not a mythical one. He turns into a Yuanti-like critter.

As a D&D nerd, I thought you'd appreciate that one. I'll include a pic from the monster manual that he's based off of at the end. Modeus, named after Asmodeus the mouse-eating snake from the Redwall series (can't remember if he was in Redwall or Mossflower), is an olive oil green snake.

Unlike Avalon, he can change between his human form, a hybridized form between the two, and the snake form. Even as a snake he has two arms. He's VERY LARGE and has some hidden pockets under his back scales where he stores scimitars. He looks unarmed as a snake but he is very armed. Unlike the Yuanti in the picture, his face is broader and he has more pronounced head ridges that are more hornlike. He has a shit-ton of sharp pointy teeth and he enjoys eating a healthy diet of people.

He mostly eats Marines and fishmen. Yes, I said fishmen. I see him as running afoul with Marines and ending up in prison next to Arlong at some point. If there's an escape, they're both getting out and not getting along. Modeus uses Arlong to get out of prison and far away from the Marines, Arlong uses Modeus to get out of prison and find his way back to the Grandline (because last we saw Arlong canonically, he was in the East Blue under arrest).

If Arlong gets a ship, Modeus occasionally eats one of Arlong's crew until he finds the island he wants to disembark. At some point, I imagine him finding his way to the Cross Guild and staying with them. I can see him getting along well enough with Sir Crocodile and having a healthy respect for Mihawk. He continually harasses Buggy and hates that he can't eat Alvida because every time he makes a grab for her he just slides off.

Modeus prefers his snake form but if he needs to "blend in" he'll opt for his hybrid form. His hybrid form is basically a human with alopecia so he wears a ton of clothes as this allows him to hide in plain sight. He skin has an iridescent quality to it making him look like he's shiny and beautiful but if you pay close attention it's his scales rippling just underneath the surface of his skin.

His DF doesn't really like the hybrid form and wants to be either one or the other, so the scales are always trying to surface when he's in hybrid mode. He wears a hat that he pulls low to cover his eyes. He can keep claws and teeth hidden in hybrid form but his eyes always look reptilian with the extra eyelid-lens thing that snakes have to protect their eyes and kind of clean them. He also still has a forked tongue that flicks in and out in hybrid form.

He 100% uses the tongue for tracking purposes. The Cross Guild uses him to track people and gather information because he can sneak around better than anyone else.

"Enjoys eating a healthy diet of people."

So he is Not friend-shaped. At least not right at the start of things O_O (I Love the frustration of dealing with Alvida's devil fruit XD )

Honestly, I love all the vibes with the Cross-Guild. The idea that Buggy's only safe because he's specifically on the Do No Eat list which, probably only actually includes Buggy, since Crocodile and Mihawk have nothing to fear >.>

Buggy, by virtue of constantly failing upward, wouldn't be eaten even if he wasn't on the DNE list. But that would be even more frustrating for Modeus than Alvida.

I love your OCs <3 I gotta admit though that this one scares me a little. Too bitey. Not friend shaped. (affectionate, I mean this all affectionately).

Ship it Good ask game

[just-prompt-things]

best trope and you can fight me over it (i abuse this so hard with my ocs)

[iwasbored777]

I HATE HOW HARD I LAUGHED

[samd1o1]

My experience with queer media lately:

[lavender-rroses]

this is the vibe i think

[garaks-padded-bra]

You used to have so much fun here, remember?

[shepscapades]

Evil Anvil has permanently changed my brain chemistry about the ending of limited life

[tvgays]

and this is why they both fell for her

[overlymetaromantic]

Dungeon Meshi, or as I like to call it, Marcille's-increasingly-difficult-to-ignore-revelations-that-her-endless-devotion-to-Falin-may-in-fact-be-more-rooted-in-lesbianism-than-she-originally-thought

[heilos]

I don't want you to feel like you're nothing

[pockysquirrel]

You have in fact been saved from having to think about our beloved nemesis Inoue because I just remembered something older:

Hongo/Ichimonji, OG and Shin versions, compare and contrast? (And any other versions you happen to have encountered)

(Also totally agree Kaguragi-shipping contains unexplored possibilities, as much as I love his backstabbing games with Racles. Himeno, Rita and Jeramie would all be very strong dynamics)

(I'm glad you're doing this ask thing because it's fun chatting to you, disabled replies etc (which to be clear--very sensible in this hell world) would normally mean bombarding you with more asks would be the only way of directly replying haha)

OH MAN I AM FAILING AT TUMBLR

I read this and couldn't figure out why you couldn't reply...the problem was, evidently, we weren't mutuals. Do I know why? Nope. 🤦 Anyway, fixed that and adjusted my settings, because I do like replies, just not from randos.

ANYWAY!

All forms of Hongo/Ichimonji are valid and good! It makes sense and I am compelled by it! I am QUITE compelled by it. But you asked for more analysis and I can't do that while actively drooling, so let's mop up and proceed.

The KR71 version of the pairing, true originators of love in the 1970s, are one of those ships (and these are among my favorite kinds) that gives you a lot to think about in relatively little content. It's not often you get both Riders in the same place at the same time, but when you do, it instantly feels like a big deal. Obviously because it signals that the stakes are rising in the story, but also because, IMO, of the chemistry they have with each other. I point out the coin flip scene in the Sakurajima arc as an obvious example, but there are more.

Then I found out they have a canonical telepathic bond and basically catapulted into full fandom mode. There really are few things more intimate than the ability to touch minds.

And speaking of the types of weird intimacy you can only find in genre fiction, I must of course mention the manga, and one page thereof that has lived rent-free in my brain since the day I read it. The characterization is different here - for Ichimonji in particular - and it affects how they relate to each other in a way I don't care for as much. But come on. These guys got to share a body! Their minds joined together, all of their senses experienced as one! And that's incredibly sexy! (I wrote fic about that. And it takes A Lot for me to be into something enough to surpass my hangups and write smut.)

Which brings me to Shin, and the literal flailing meltdown I had in the movie theater when I saw my favorite manga page replicated in exact detail. These poor guys. They both wear their emotional wounds much more openly than their 71 counterparts, but they are also much more visibly healed by each other. This version I think offers the best example of how much of a relief it can be to find someone who shares your experiences, your pain, and to realize you aren't alone.

I love Shin KR dearly, wouldn't change a thing, so this is much more me lamenting the constraints of a feature film format than it is an actual complaint. I wish we had more time to see the Double Riders getting to know each other. But hey, that leaves plenty of room for fic, and I am more than good with that.

I've seen First/Next twice now and my brain still tries to pretend those movies don't exist most of the time. We'll leave it at that.

[quinloki]

What's this - someone who actually wants to hear about my OC? Like, willingly???    (Of course, this led to me not knowing where to start and overthinking every detail, and long story short, this took me almost two hours to write. But also, I’m so happy I have an excuse to share her with someone.)

My character is a sea witch named Blue, who was enslaved from an early age due to her ability to manipulate the ocean. Think water bender, only for saltwater. 

The crew meets her early in the Grand Line when she wrecks the Going Merry on the island of her current captor. He conveniently ran the island’s only shipyard and used Blue’s powers to manipulate the tides to lure in (and then wreck) ships, which he would then fix at a huge cost. 

Luffy and the others are the first people to show her kindness in a long, long time. So when she finds out her owner plans to turn them over to the Marines for the bounty, she decides to help them escape. Of course, things go wrong; she’s found out, and everything leads up to a huge battle to take down the operation and free her in the process.

I focus a lot of her story on learning how to become a person. Her whole life, she’s been treated as a tool to be used, so even though she’s free, she has no sense of identity or purpose and no clue how to move through the normal world. Each of the Strawhats helps her figure it out in one way or another, and she slowly goes from being this blank slate to a lively, compassionate person who finds joy in the smallest things.

Anyway, I ship her with Zoro (or Sanji and Zoro when I’m feeling a certain way 😉). I like to think they’re a good contrast; she softens his hard edges, and he helps her sharpen hers. I’ve spent way too much time world-building the history of her people and how they tie into the world. I’ve been in and out of the One Piece fandom since the 4kids days, so Blue is one of my oldest OCs. She’s changed a lot over the years as I’ve grown as a person and as a writer. The live-action rekindled my love for the series, so I’ve been catching up on the anime for the past few months. It’s been fun to visit with her again and imagine how her story has progressed through these latest arcs.

Ok, I'm done. Byeeeeeeee.

I love Blue! \o/ The name immediately made me think of Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire 2 - Blue is an amazing Naga wizard you can recruit and she's always powerful (super cool looking too).

But then we got to Water-bending! Yes! I love it. A non-DF style control of the world around you. A derivative of how fishman karate works /nod nod/ it's a great build for an OC.

I'm so glad the Live Action rekindled your enjoyment of One Piece, and I'm glad to hear you're enjoying catching back up. I have *not* been into One Piece since the 4kids days, but I do remember it airing back in those days. (I was watching Reboot and DBZ >.> ) I only started watching like mid-2022, and then just dove into writing because of it.

Eeeeee, thank you so much for sharing about Blue =3

If you write anything official for her, or have already, please let me know. I'd love to read it ^_^ <3

Ship it Good ask game

[syrupbitee]

sanji's first days in the crew

[grace-williams-xo]

Idk if anyone else has done this but it came to me in a vision so I had to make it immediately