#We stan Rocinante

[i-have-a-lot-of-ocs]

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

(Before you read tags there's a big spoiler, not that obvious what the spoiler is but it might ruin the surprise)

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

The appeal of One Piece

I know everyone's a bit sour on One Piece after the clown stunt tumblr pulled, but with the live-action series out and the anime popping off on social media, there's more eyes on this goofy pirate story than ever, and I've been dying to talk about it, so now's the time.

A lot of the conversation around One Piece is steeped in hyperbole, and it's hard not to be hyperbolic when you're talking about a work of almost unprecedented length and popularity. With that in mind, I wanna try to explain what makes One Piece so good in a way that is concise, spoiler-free, and that will give you an idea if this might actually be a story you'll enjoy.

And I do actually think a lot of people who would enjoy One Piece are currently writing it off, and I think a lot of the blame lies on assumptions people have about shonen as a genre. One Piece is no doubt a shonen, with young and teen boys as the primary demographic, but it is also first and foremost an adventure story about a group of quirky outcasts setting out to follow their dreams, despite (or often in spite of) the crushing weight of reality.

But you can't have an adventure story without a world to set that adventure in, and what a world Eiichiro Oda has crafted. One Piece manages to feel like it has fully realized an entire planet, with every island we travel to having a very distinct sense of culture and visual identity. A lot of care has gone into building the history and politics of these places, and the mechanics by which their more out-there elements, like the sky-high ocean geyser or the mountain with an upside-down waterfall, function. As such, it is a setting that afford its story a lot of variety, while also being able to tackle a lot of very heady topics like authoritarianism, racism, and abuse in intelligent, nuanced ways.

But just as important as all of islands we visit are the wonderful characters we meet. A lot of people aren't into One Piece's exaggerated cartoon aesthetic, and I respect that, but it does lend itself to a lot of very unique faces and body types that make its cast of 1000+ characters a joy to behold. This is admittedly less true of the more conventionally attractive women, many of whom look very similar, but this is does not extend to their writing. Oda is very good at imbuing his characters with life, pulling on their histories to give them personalities and quirks that are often as funny as they are sad. Everyone I know that reads One Piece has a side character that they stan hardcore for, be it the lovable klutz Donquixote Rocinante or the petulant ghost girl Perona.

And all of this is especially true for our protagonists, the Straw Hat Pirates, each one of which is a deep, multifaceted character whose drive and dreams can be traced back to their often heartbreaking origins. I know I mentioned it at the top already, but at its core, One Piece is ultimately a story about a group of hurt, lonely individuals who find in each other not just friends, but a family that will support and protect them as together they chase their dreams in the face of a world whose systems have been built to squash them underfoot.

All of this is brought together by Oda's exceptional artistic skill. While as mentioned earlier, One Piece's cartoony artstyle isn't for everyone, it's by no means an accident. One Piece is a story set in a cartoon world, and Oda is able to give even his most ridiculous characters and places a tangible sense of physicality, making everything feel real within the confines of the page. While Oda has a team of assistants to help him, he still does the brunt of the art himself, and his dedication to his craft means the comic is full of panels that are breathtaking in their complexity and visual density.

But it's not just his technical skill that makes the art of One Piece so good, it's that Oda is also very good at letting his art speak for him. Compared to a lot of other big shonen manga, One Piece doesn't lean as heavily on the dialogue to give the readers all the necessary information, but can convey a lot of what is happening and how characters are thinking and feeling through its artwork. There's some sections where this doesn't hold as true (and they are frequently less well-liked as a result) but it makes One Piece a far lighter read than its soon to be 1100 chapter-count would make you believe.

But the thing I think makes One Piece the most exceptional of all, and what makes me recommend it despite its length, is that as a story, One Piece has a remarkable clarity of vision. One Piece has a stance and a worldview that it does not waver on, and it is present from the very beginning. It's is romantic story, about the power of faith and dreams, about people's right to be free and be who they want to be, and about how the beauty and wonder of the world makes its worth its danger and uncertainty.

One Piece knows what it wants to be from the very beginning, and because of that you don't have to wait for it to get good. A problem that a lot of longform media struggles with is that the opening hours are a slog to get through, because it doesn't show you its hand early enough for you to know if it's something you'll like, and that is not a problem One Piece has. It is exactly what it is going to be from the beginning, only in a simpler, cruder form that it is going to expand upon to become the sprawling pirate fantasy epic it has grown to be. This clarity of vision also makes One Piece very rewarding for attentive readers, as it frequently hints at future places and characters, and plants story seeds that it pays off hundreds of chapters later. It does a lot to make the world feel big and interconnected, and makes One Piece very fun to re-read as you pick up on things you missed the first time around.

It is frequently recommended that new readers start with the initial 100 chapters, the East Blue saga (which is what the live action series adapts, for the record), to see if One Piece is right for them, and that's the note I am going to end this post on, as well. East Blue uses its 100 chapters to tell a fairly self-contained story that introduces the first half of the core cast, setting the stakes and building its world while giving you plenty of interesting places, bizarre creatures, and wacky action all the while. It is One Piece showing you its hand, with the promise that if you like what you see, it'll have so, so much more in store for you

[kyros-tha-soldier]

🏵️OP fathers day list🏵️

Hewwo, looks like I'm a bit late but happy father's day for all the dad's out there who love their kids (deadbeats Btfo we don't want you ugh) and a happy father's day for the actual one piece dilfs as well!

today i wanted to make a list for my beloved one piece papis!

Okay, let's go!

🦩 Doflamingo

i know, i know some of you are saying "ummm, who?" Yes, i agree, I'm a little biased on doffy, but hear me out. Doffy is a good dad, how? Why? The fact that he recruited kids is a bad thing, at least for irl standards, but he still cared for them, he knows that sugar is older than she looks yet he cares for her by assigning Trebol to protect her, also when he was making a toast, he gave Law, Baby 5 and Buffalo juice instead of wine. Now that's a good papi

🏰 Capone Bege

The Chad, the goat, the big father and the greatest mafioso daddy in this list, while Capone seems like a terrifying bloodthirsty gangster, he's an amazing husband and an even better father, always there for his kid, playing with him, entertaining him, and loving his wife, a real family guy!

🌊 Neptune

Cry-hoshi's (and her three brothers') father is also included in our list, yep yep! i figured that he needed to be recognized as a father more. What i liked about Neptune is that i liked how he's still loyal to his wife, but i kinda don't like how he sometimes looks weak willed, either way we Stan a mer-daddy!

🍊 Genzo

Most new OP fans may not remember him, but he's one of the Bravest civilians in one piece. He was there when Belle-mère and her daughters were attacked by Arlong and tried to defend them, making him get heavily injured resulting in his iconic scar and somewhat acted like a father figure for Nami when Belle-mère was gone (whomstdve make fun of him, he's precious and btfl 😤) he's now living his best life while following all of Nami's news and achievements.

💊 Hiriluk

Dr Hiriluk, one of the earliest father figures in OP, i liked how he went from treating chopper as a random deer, to an apprentice, to straight up treating him like his son (I'd do that too he's just super duper kyuttttte!) Sure he had his shenanigans and moments where he looked bad, but he's an overall good father figure for chopper, seeing how good he was to him and how he was the one who made him decide to become a doctor.

🍘 Sengoku

"no way, Sengoku has no kids!" ahem, did you forget that he literally adopted Corazon? We don't see much about them interacting, but from what we've seen Sengoku loved Rocinante as if he was his own child, he cared for him and would call him every now and then, and cried real hard when he died and at the end of Dressrosa when he was talking to law it felt like he held him real dear to his heart. Rocinante may have been a marine to the other admirals, but to him, he was his son.

🍳 Zeff

move over Judge, Sanji's real father is here!

He sacrificed his leg for Sanji, LITERALLY, just so the little boy won't die of hunger. And even after that, he ditched piracy and took him under his wing to teach him how to cook and be a real gentleman, he might've been harsh a little, but his heart is in the right place!

🍢 Oden

The true definition of the muscle brain trope, Oden is HUGE, kinda dum dum, he likes to goof around, extremely strong but has a soft spot for his family. He's a perfect family guy to his wife and kids, and despite all, he decided to put his family, disciples and friends at his top priorities, and that's why we totally Stan!

🏜️ Cobra

One of the OP characters that i didn't expect to be SO BRAVE for a non-fighting character. I like how he greatly cared for his daughter, but what i didn't like is how pervy he acts at times (bath scene) but other than that, he's such a beloved father, especially whenever he looked out for his daughter (along with Igaram), such a goof.

🐾 Kuma

We still don't know much about Kuma's past and his relationship with Bonney, why he chose to become a cyborg, why he's climbing the redline...etc etc. But from what Oda has shown us, Bonney loved him so much that she was willing to protect a pacifista since it reminded her of him, and ofc that speaks volumes about him.

🖤 Corazon

Ahhhhh, i remember how hard i cried during law's flashback when it first dropped in the manga, Corazon treated like as if he was his own son, he looked like an insane man at first when he kicked and beat buffalo and baby 5 (which i dunno, was uncalled for) but he's a really good father figure. He did all he could to save law, keep him entertained, made him food (they were grilling sweet potatoes in that one manga cover) and gave him all the love he needed. That is one hell of a reason for law to seek revenge against doffy!

🐋Whitebeard

Yep yep, Oyaji is here, i really like Whitebeard for how he would literally take any fatherless child (be them actually fatherless or just mentally) and make them his child. He's a VERY forgiving father as well, even when he got attacked by one of his sons, he just didn't hold it against him and forgave him. GOOOOOOOD that was sad af i cried!

🌻 Kyros

Once someone asks who's the best OP father the first person that comes to mind is Kyros. Trapped inside a toy's body, forgotten by everyone, if he tells his daughter who he is he will be thrown into the scrape heap, he had to organize a revolution. bro never took a break and ALL of this while taking care of his daughter! If this isn't one of OPs peak dad material then i dunno what he is!

And there you have it! The best OP dad's in my book!

Future dads? Take notes please!

[-this-dizzy-dreamer-]

Colleagues and Cocktails (Chapter 3)

Pairing: Coworker!Sebastian Stan x Plus-size!Reader AU

Summary: When you get moved up to a new department at work you can’t help but dread every aspect of it, that is until you find yourself expecting one of your co-workers to walk through the door every day. Then you realize it might not be as bad as you thought. But the thing is he doesn’t seem to notice you at all. All he seems to give you are daydreams and interesting chats with your best friend.

Warnings: Language.

Word Count: 2K

Enjoy!

It had been a week since you had found out that elevator guy was now your boss and well not much had changed. You had been on time after that too, except for that one time Rocinante had a flat tire, but other than that you’d done just fine. You hadn’t bumped into your boss either, thank God, because who knows what would come out of your face hole if you did. And you still talked...well texted Sebastian every now and then. Looking at the work you’d done putting your hair in a fishtail braid you, you came to realize that everything was pretty well off and there was not much that could ruin your streak so far.

You were already up and it was extremely early for work and since you were almost ready you decided to sit and eat a bowl of cereal while starting to rewatch Supernatural for the 10000th time.

sstan01: What does one pack for a work retreat? Every year I have the same problem. Are you taking formal or casual clothing?

As you checked your calendar you panicked. You had completely forgotten about your work retreat. Everyone had to mandatorily go to a company owned cabin in the middle of basically nowhere to build “teamwork ethic.” And to top it all off you were leaving today in less than 3 hours. YOU HAD TO PACK IN LESS THAN 3 HOURS….

coffeelover04: Both???

You quickly pulled out your old suitcase and began throwing things in, the necessities first, everything else later.

“ I can do this. I can totally do this.”

Seb smiled as he read your text realizing you had probably forgotten all about the trip. He, however, had been looking forward to it since the moment he realized he’d have to talk to you during the whole week. Yes, he had been texting you, but he was pretty sure you had no idea it was him and well maybe you not knowing wasn’t a bad thing. What would everyone else say if they knew you’d been getting special attention from the boss. Not that it was special attention or anything, but people always talk.

sstan01: Right, thanks!

He had also already packed, since yesterday, and had texted you just to make sure you remembered, which he could tell basically saved your life. However, he wasn’t completely lying about not knowing what to take. That had been his conflict last night He was too excited to sleep and kept overthinking what he had packed. He couldn’t be too laid back because he was in charge now, but he also didn’t want to intimidate everyone else, especially not you.

After you finally finished packing you had an hour to get to the office, meaning you really only had half an hour to pull yourself together and text Liz to look after your apartment for the week.

As you drove to work you couldn’t help think that maybe you were going on this trip to underdressed. But then again you were going to be stuck on a bus with other people for possibly the whole day, so who cares, sweats and a sweater were a great idea. And Liz was wrong you couldn’t talk to him and you definitely weren’t dressing for him.

Pulling up to the parking lot you noticed you were either really early or super late. The bus had arrived, coach obviously, and the only one placing their luggage in was your boss.

“Liz is wrong. Liz is wrong. Liz is wrong..”

Finally having convinced yourself you’d be fine you pulled yourself out of your car and got your luggage out of your car. Walking toward him made your stomach hurt. You could hear your heartbeat pounding in your chest. What would you even say? “Hi?” That’s so pathetic. Why did it even matter?

“ Goodmorning! We were just waiting on you Y/N? Almost left, but Jessica insisted you’d make it. Said late is your middle name.” Your boss smirked slightly and your palms were suddenly really clammy as you processed the interaction.

“ Hi, yea sorry. I’m here.” You frantically moved around him trying to put your suitcase up under the bus and failed miserably as it slid back down. Fuck.

You heard your boss chuckle behind you. He was right behind you. You could feel his presence so close to you. Like in your dream.

“Here let me help you with that.” His hand came up behind you brushing your arm slightly to catch your suitcase before it slid down again.

“ Yea thanks.” You said as you left him there to get on the bus feeling your cheeks heat up turning bright red. “Liz is wrong. Liz is wrong. Liz could be right??”

Jess had saved you a seat next to her in the back so that you could stretch out comfortably she said, but you knew she loved watching everyone else and catching all the gossip. Moving to the back you kept your face down so no one would notice how red you were. When you finally got there and sat down Jess already knew what had happened.

“ Girl I saw it out the window! Truth be told you two would be sooo cute together, or it would at least be a change.”

“ What do you mean a change?”

“ Well, he has only dated those super athletic model type girls, that I know of at least. Not that you aren’t fit to be a model darling, but...well you know what I mean.”

“ It’s ok Jess I know I’m fat and plus that would never happen. Like you said I’m not his type.”

“ Okay look here don’t put words in my mouth and second you’re not fat you’re THICK. He’d be lucky to have a girl like you. More cushion for the pushin’.” Winking at you Jess looked back at the boss he had finally settled in his seat and pulled her sleeping mask over her eyes leaving you still blushing if not more.

And as the bus pulled away your notifications went off.

sstan01: Can I text you? I’m pretty sure you don’t like having to open your email just to message me back. And just in case they don’t keep the bus wifi on the whole way.

You had completely forgotten that Sebastian was on the trip too, obviously. So since Jess was snoring softly next to you-you decided to occupy your time trying to figure out just who it could be. An texting sounded like the perfect way to find out.

coffeelover04: Sure!

Maybe it would be a trip to remember, but you did know one thing for sure. Whoever Sebastian was you couldn’t tell. No phone went off, so the only other conclusion you could come to was that they had their phone either on vibrate or silent. And since Jess was still asleep and you had nothing else to do you decided to reply and take a nap yourself.

After about 10 minutes with no reply Seb convinced himself to look back to check up on you, however, he had to make it as normal as possible after what had happened outside the bus. So obviously he pretended to make do a head count even though the bus hadn’t stopped anywhere yet. He sat back in his seat smiling to himself at the image he had seen a few seconds earlier. You sleeping soundly with a smile on your face snuggling up to Jess. You looked so sweet and innocent. Just as sweet and innocent as you did fumbling with your suitcase. The closeness between the two of you had made him want more. He had to use all of his willpower to not wrap his arms around you. You radiated something that attracted him to you and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It made his hair stand on ends when he was near you and it made his head spin. And to tell the truth, he loved it.

You woke abruptly from your nap from some weird dream you couldn’t remember now, but slowly came to your surrounding. It seemed everyone had gotten off the bus at the rest area and no one had bothered to let you know. And getting off now would be so awkward and you’d probably make everyone have to wait too. So you curled up into a blanket you assumed belonged to Jess and curl up again, but of course, you had to check your phone again before you dozed off. 

You couldn’t help blushing slightly at Sebastian’s response. Was he flirting with you or was it all in your head? Could you still be half asleep? 

Just as you hit send you saw someone get back on the bus in your peripheral vision and heard their phone chime. 

“ It can’t be? Can it? Holy shit, what if it is?”

Slowly you looked up into the driver's mirror. The guys head was down so you couldn’t tell who it was, that and well you had taken your glasses off to nap. However, you decided to try something. 

It was him. For every text that you had sent you had heard a chime on his phone. They correlated perfectly. It took you a second to pull all of your courage together to go up to him and properly introduce yourself, but just as you were about to get up Jess came back on the bus with everyone else behind her. You couldn’t possibly do it now. Sitting back down you pulled the blanket back on and decided you could do it later. Maybe after a few episodes of your favorite show with Jess. So, you pulled out your laptop and headphones as Jess sat next to you under the blanket. 

“ Oh, look who’s finally up. I tried to wake you, but you said something about “fucking off” or something.” Jess said as she handed you your favorite candy and drink from the vending machines. 

“ I’m sorry Jess. I really am, thank you so much for the snacks. You’re the best.” Taking your snacks from her you offered her a headphone and started up your Netflix account. 

As the last person got on the bus. Everyone cheered and applauded for being back on the road. And once everyone settled down you looked back up to the mirror and put on your glasses. He seemed familiar, but you couldn’t completely make him out. He seemed to be shuffling around for something. After a few minutes he got up and you could have sworn that the whole bus heard what you said next. 

“ No fucking way.”

Sebastian had stood up to address the bus. 

“If anyone has seen my phone, please let me know. I think it might have slipped between the seat. And now that I’m up here I should also let you guys know that we’ll be there in about 2-3 hours.”

You felt queasy. No way no how was it him. It couldn’t be. 

“ Y/N are you ok? It looks like you just saw a ghost and not the one on your screen.”

Shaking your head you turned to Jess with a small smile. “I’m fine just a little car sick, but I have a quick question. Since we are on the trip to get to know everyone. What’s the big boss’s name?”

“ Oh, I totally forgot you didn’t know. It’s Sebastian, dear. We can go over everyone’s name later if you like.”

“ Yea, Jess...that sounds great.”

Looking back up at the mirror you saw him looking back up at you, elevator guy, the boss. 

“ Sebastian..”

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I start classes this Monday, but I promise you guys I’ll try to keep updating on time! Once again any feedback you guys have for me is perfect. I love you all so much. If you guys ever just want to talk to have questions feel free to message me! ~xoxoxo~