#and dragon punching garp out just like luffy did here

[kurozu501]

do you ever think about how oda fooled us all with garp's silly little "teehee im not going to capture you im your grandpa after all" routine in water 7 and then this "kill me or ace will die" moment happened and it was the last time luffy and garp ever interacted in over 500 chapters and 14 real life years now. We haven't seen luffy really think about garp or mention him to anyone else since. This could very well end up being their final interaction in the series.

[base0h]

Meeting his parents

a/n - can we please take time to imagine what meeting corazon would be like 😭

Warnings ⚠️ - g/n reader, modern au, (dragon is out getting the milk so garp is here instead)

- garp told him to wait until he was 30 to start dating

- he didn’t listen

- “Luffy I don’t know if I should meet your grandpa if he was against you dating..”

- “Oh trust me! He’s gonna like you! Hehe :)”

- you were nervous- all Luffy’s told you about him was that Garp used to beat him up ALL the time (and he still does)

- as you guys walked up towards his house, you could see two people scurrying away from the window, a blonde guy, and a black haired one

- you were concerned- but didn’t pay much attention, maybe those two were Luffy’s older brothers

- as Luffy unlocked the door, the two boys were waiting there with crossed arms, “Luffy?? Who’s that??” The black haired one asked with an eyebrow raised

- “don’t be mean ace.” The blonde one pushed him away before outstretching his hand with a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you! I’m sabo, that’s ace, and we’re Luffy’s older brothers.”

- Aw, sabo seemed like such a polite guy! Very different from Luffy.. Someone cleared their throat, a large figure looking down at you, a shadow covering you. Oh god. Your fate was sealed. Luffy’s grandpa was going to punch the shit out of you, and you weren’t even 18 yet!

- Sabo and Ace looked fearful as they stood off to the side, staring up at their grandpa. The atmosphere was dark, so heavy and intimidating.

- even Luffy wasn’t talking… It seemed as though their grandpa was quite the scary guy-

- you contemplated running away, but from the looks of it, you knew that the man would probably be able to catch you within two seconds

- “Uh… Hi? I’m- y/n… The one that’s dating luffy… Nice to m-meet you.”

- you were stuttering, your hands shaking as your eyes begged his grandpa not to kick your ass to the moon

- “LUFFY.” His voice echoed throughout the neighborhood, you turned around to see the neighbors running into their homes, shutting all the doors and windows

- WHAT THE FUCK? WERE YOU GOING TO DIE??

- Sweat beads formed on your nose and forehead as you clenched your hands into tight fists, praying to god that you wouldn’t get to meet Jesus today

- “Why didn’t you introduce me sooner?! Y/n seems like a very polite person! UNLIKE YOU!” Garp smacked the shit out of your boyfriend angrily before smiling at you, holding his hand out for a handshake

- You were going to faint, you hadn’t been breathing throughout this entire interaction out of pure fear. “It’s a pleasure to meet you y/n! You’re welcome to come inside!” Garp said with a grin, beckoning for you to come inside

- omfg you swore you almost shit your pants. But as the night went on, Garp was actually a very friendly grandpa! (But he beat up ace, sabo, and mostly Luffy the entire night)

- Law was hesitant to bring you over to his house, but you weren’t sure why..

- Was his house messy? Were his parents mean? Or maybe he was embarrassed of bringing you over??

- the thoughts circled your mind, and soon enough, you heard the doorbell ring. You were surprised Law didn’t just open the door himself, but maybe he just forgot his keys

- you swore you heard something breaking apart inside, as well as a thump against the floor that shook the entire house

- um… that wasn’t normal, right?

- law looked annoyed, sighing as he rested his disappointed face in his hands. The door opened, revealing a literal GIANT??

- you had to crane your neck up just to see this man’s face! He bent down to the doorway, and his smile almost blinded you with kindness

- “Ahh! You must be y/n!!! Oh my gosh! I’ve heard so much about you!!” He said, almost bouncing up and down in the air

- oh my gosh- this guy was SO excited. It made you so happy to see that Law’s dad was this happy to see you :)

- “Cora-san, did you break the oven again?”

- “Uh. No.. It was already broken! I swear.”

- poor law, maybe this was why your poor boyfriend was always so stressed. You smiled awkwardly at the tall guy, introducing yourself even though he already knew who you were

- “Law’s been telling me ALLL about you. He talks about you a lot.”

- “SHH! No I don’t!”

- “Oh come on! You said y/n is the most amazing person you’ve met!”

- “CORA-SAN SHUT UP!”

- Aw, Law talked about you?? That was enough to make you blush, “Awww you talk about me???”

- You and corazon were going to be the death of this man, and throughout the night, Corazon asked all about your hobbies and stuff. He wanted to know EVERYTHING. And I mean, literally everything about you

- “Oh my god. So- law still sleeps with his germa figures, you didn’t hear it from me!”

- “OMG REALLY?”

- law will chase Corazon around with a pan to get him to shut the fuck up. But it never worked, you learned many secrets about law that night

- “ALSO HE REALLY LIKES IT WHEN YOU SEND HIM THOSE MUSIC PLAYLISTSSS!! LAW DONT KILL ME!”

- “THEN SHUT UP IF YOU DONT WANT ME TO KILL YOU!”

- “YOU LIKE MY PLAYLISTS?!”

- also quick reminder that Doffy was there and remained quiet the whole time, watching chaos unfold while he sipped his wine 💀

- Ace was so excited to bring you over, he ALWAYS talked about how cool his mom was. He never talked about his dad, but referred to someone as “pops”. Maybe that was his dad?

- “My mom’s going to love you y/n, don’t be nervous!”

- how could you not be nervous??? Ace told you he had 1666 brothers?! Wtf??

- as you two walked up the pathway to his house, you noticed a beat up white van in the driveway… It looked especially good for kidnapping kids- and giving away free candy..

- Ace opened the door, and literally a MOB. I mean a MOB of people crowded around you two with giddy smiles. They were definitely expecting your arrival..

- “Hi y/n! We’re Ace’s brothers :))” -all of them

- ….wtf

- Ace could tell you were overwhelmed, you looked like you were about to faint! “Ok guys- maybe some space would be nice??” They listened to Ace, and backed off, a woman stepped forward, and she had the same freckles as ace! Must be his mom :)

- “Ah! Y/n! It’s so lovely to meet you.” His mom was so pretty!! She had long pink hair, brown eyes, and the same freckles around her nose and cheeks like ace

- You smiled politely and introduced yourself to Ace’s enormous family. You didn’t see Ace’s pops, but maybe he was just busy

- “I never thought- that someone would fall in love with ace.” *dramatic sniffle* -Marco

- “Huh?! What’s that supposed to mean Marco?!” -Ace

- Ace’s mom took you aside as the two kept fighting, and had a nice little chat. She asked about how you were doing, and what you liked to do in your free time.

- “I’m so glad Ace found you! He really cares about you- and he talks about you all the time! He kept telling me how amazing, kind, and talented you were :) also I’m super grateful for you helping him to stay awake in class… I’ve gotten many parent teacher conferences because of it..” Rouge was such a kind person, and you were so happy that Ace thought you were that amazing

- and yes, Ace did fall asleep a lot in class, so it became your job to wake him up before the teacher did.. It’s helped his grades a lot 👌

- overall, you mostly just chatted with Rouge while Ace’s brothers bombarded him with questions about you

- roger is out getting the milk with dragon btw

a/n - Corazon is totally your law gossip bestie now

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Paramount War (Part Two)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

ace’s execution is, in a way, the exception that proves the rule when it comes to one piece’s themes of blood and family. ace is set up to die for the crimes of a father he never knew and never wanted, and he does die here, but in the end he dies for the family he did choose, in the form of luffy, rather than the one he didn’t. 

god do i wish we knew more about ms portgas d. rouge. with ace’s storyline pretty much wrapped it looks unlikely that we’re going to be learning more about her than what we got, which in my opinion is an absolute tragedy, because what little we do know about her is amazing and she’s an absolute badass. oda give us more female ds please.

whitebeard’s power is so cool. it might be one of the visually coolest devil fruits we’ve ever seen, in my opinion. he he causes earthquakes and tsunamis while far past his prime; he pulls the sky apart with his bare hands. this whole arc is world-shaking, and whitebeard’s power is perfectly appropriate for it. 

doflamingo’s speech on justice and rightness is one of the most well-remembered quotes from this whole saga, and rightly so. i’ve always found it fascinating, myself, because he’s right. he dead-on hits how the one piece world works- the world government and the marines rule the world not because of any inherent actual goodness or justice or right, but because they won a war a very long time ago. 

in a way, this reminds me of blackbeard’s line of “people’s dreams never die” from jaya. i like how oda isn’t afraid of letting his villains be right about the themes of the story, sometimes even having better awareness of them than the protagonists. 

man, if i had to pick a single favorite spread out of the whole manga, it might be luffy’s marineford entrance. it’s so epic, and so completely unexpected for everyone else there. absolutely nobody was expecting strawhat luffy to drop out of the sky with a posse including two former warlords. it just makes me grin!! so much!! 

it also gets followed up by a solid two pages of just people’s reactions, from smoker’s “what the HELL is he doing with CROCODILE” to moria’s immediate incoherent rage, and i just love that the world and cast of one piece is so well-established and built up that we know exactly how all of those people know luffy and why they react the way they do. 

going back to what i mentioned in the last post about marineford being luffy’s conflict of interest arc, i’d say it’s also the only time where he isn’t the future king first and foremost. in this arc, before anything else, he’s a little brother.

there are a lot of what-if moments in marineford. moments where you kind of have to ask “what if this specific thing hadn’t happened, had gone differently?” would things have turned out differently? squard’s betrayal is one of them. does this change the outcome? would whitebeard have been able to survive if not for this injury? there’s no way to know. marineford is a lot of little tragedies, and they just pile up and up.

marineford has just so many incredibly striking spreads. all of the momentous moments (and there’s a lot of them, in this arc) are done full justice. this is such an image heavy post just because marineford is such an incredibly visually strong arc. 

conqueror’s haki is so cool and i love the way it’s set up and built up throughout this saga, with luffy’s constant inadvertent uses of it, from duval’s bull to marigold and sandersonia to the wolves in impel down, all leading up to this moment. 

i’ve heard people complain about conqueror’s as kind of a deus ex machina, but i honestly love it, it’s very cool and honestly i think it just seems to fit luffy as a power. if there was ever gonna be a character who turned willpower into a weapon, it would be monkey d. luffy. 

i’m gonna take this chance to talk about garp, because this sequence of panels is heavily implied to be garp’s thoughts just before luffy punches him down, and it hurts. garp is a flawed person who makes some bad choices, and there’s no arguing that, but i think it’s very obvious he really, really cares about his grandsons, even if he never could understand them as people and that they never would have been happy as marines. and that’s just tragic, really. 

the moment ace gets freed and the brief span of time where he and luffy can fight together feel so triumphant, and i think it’s one of the reasons the final tragedy of marineford hits so hard and feels so cruel, because luffy succeeds, here. he saves ace. he gives absolutely everything he had and makes it, and saves ace. the ultimate failure isn’t his. there was nothing more he could have done. 

the first time i was reading one piece, i hit this page (which is also the last in the volume) and had to put the book away, take the bus downtown, wander around for a few hours, and buy myself some candy and some new books before i started feeling okay again.

the thing about ace’s death, i think, is that it’s a tragedy, but it also feels so completely essential to the story going forwards and luffy’s character growth specifically that it’s really, really hard to imagine one piece without it. there are a lot of (really excellent!) fix-fics out there for marineford, and although those are often really good and their authors super talented, i think it’s really hard for them to ever hit the same way canon does with regards to this. 

i always think of this scene specifically in contrast to zoro and mihawk’s fight, back on baratie. zoro and mihawk are both people who believe in honor in battle, true victory or death, and that’s reflected in their fight, in zoro’s refusal to turn and run even in the face of imminent death, and mihawk’s respect for that resolve. whitebeard, too, is an honorable man. he refuses to turn to run, even when facing certain death. 

the blackbeard pirates, however, are not. 

i do enjoy how, just like roger’s, ace’s execution backfires tremendously on the marines. this was entirely a predictable outcome, too! this exact thing happened twenty years ago! the marines don’t learn. they don’t change. they’re so assured of their own rightness and power that they make stupid mistakes like holding a massive public execution after the last one blew up in their faces. 

(this is why they need coby so badly, for the record, and why it’s important that he still decides to become a marine after witnessing their corruption firsthand in shells town. the marines are long overdue for a reformation, one that orients them towards real justice.)

i really, really enjoy crocodile in this saga. mostly because he hasn’t been redeemed at all, he’s still pretty much the exact same kinda awful person he was in alabasta, he’s just on luffy’s side this time, and it lets us see him in a better light, when he gets angry at whitebeard for nearly dying or when he helps luffy and jinbe escape to keep the marines from getting their way. few of one piece’s characters are truly so one-dimensional as they can seem, and i really appreciate that. 

i really really love all the interactions between luffy, ace and sabo as kids. they’re so fun and bounce off of each other so well. even though we only see them together for a brief time, they really feel like siblings. (which of course only makes later events hurt so much more.

i’ve always been a little fascinated by the fact that it takes us this long to get luffy’s full backstory. it’s almost a fakeout, because we get part of his backstory in the very first chapter, and we’re kind of led to believe that’s all there is. it’s not until ace’s introduction nearly two hundred chapters in that we’re given any indication there’s more.

but at the same time, it makes sense. marineford is luffy’s focus arc, as arlong park to nami or thriller bark to brook. he hasn’t had a focal arc that’s really about him before this, while all his other crewmates have. it makes sense that this would be when he finally gets his flashback. 

i think it’s cool that dragon and the revolutionaries show up at the grey terminal fire, because it’s one of the only looks we’ve gotten so far into what their actual regular operations are like. and, of course, they’re saving people. i really like this about the revolutionaries, that helping people in trouble is basically their modus operandi, when pretty much everyone else in one piece’s world mostly does saving on an incidental basis if at all. 

i think a lot about how the last line of sabo’s letter to ace is also both of their last words to the strawhats. 

death in one piece always feels much realer and more impactful to me than in most other series, and i think this is part of the reason why: in one piece, we are always shown the mourning. nami at bellemere’s grave, carrot grieving pedro, ace and whitebeard’s funeral. 

there are fewer deaths, comparatively, than most other series, but they’re given so much room to echo. we’re still feeling the impacts of ace’s life and death in the most recent chapters of wano. it ties into the theme of inherited will and all the way back to hiriluk’s final speech, of men not being dead so long as they’re remembered. 

the picture of luffy at marineford always kind of strikes me. he looks so young and so solemn, and yet much more himself than he did when we last saw him losing his mind on amazon lily. i really like it. 

sometimes i just think about the sheer depth of trust and love the strawhats must have in each other to separate for two years, far longer than they were ever together, to solely dedicate themselves to improving for the sake of crew and captain. none of them even hesitate, and none of them ever doubt that the crew will be reformed at the end of it.

after all, luffy keeps his promises. 

[yukipri]

How do you think the ASL brothers would change if it was Ace that was separated and Sabo stayed with Luffy on Dawn Island?

Hey there! I’m so sorry for taking my time with this ask! It’s a really great question and I wanted to take my time thinking about and typing out my answer...and well. It got LONG ^ ^;;;;;

Bc oh man do I think things would change a LOT, but in order to answer this question, let’s first sorta picture the scenario itself. How did Ace end up the one separated?

This could go a number of ways, but here’s one that comes to mind.

~~

The boys are running back from causing mischief in High Town, when Ace overhears some gossip.

Did you hear, the marines are coming! Apparently they found a terrible, terrible criminal, hiding right here in Goa, and they’re coming to get rid of him before the Celestial Dragons arrive!

A terrible criminal?

Oh dear, what terrible crime did they commit?

Well, nothing, apparently, or at least nothing yet.

What do you mean?

They say he’s the son of the most wanted, most terrible man in history. But don’t worry, the marines’ll take care of him before--

Ace feels like the world’s suddenly gone black and white. He feels numb, barely hearing Sabo shouting at him to hurry, barely registers Luffy tugging his hand and looking up at him with worry.

They’ve come for him. He should have known. Gramps may have tried to hide him, but there’s no escaping Gol D. Roger’s infamy.

Ace knows once he would have sneered, said See, Gramps? I knew this would happen. But now, he feels fear.

Ace doesn’t fear death, and will look it in the eye and punch it when it comes for him. But fear grips him now, as he stares blankly into the campfire Sabo’s set up, finally registering that Luffy’s calling his name and still tugging at his arm.

He doesn’t fear death for himself. But when they come for him, to end his life because of his blood, will they spare Sabo and Luffy? Will they spare the brothers of the Pirate King’s son?

Somehow, Ace doubts it.

And so he knows he’s got to go. He’s got to leave now, before they find him, before they find Sabo and Luffy, before they can steal away his family.

An adult Ace, looking back regretfully, would lament the timing of his brash actions. But Ace had never been a thinker, more of a doer, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing his brothers--even now, he can’t.

And he couldn’t have known back then that the island had had two boys considered the sons of the worst criminals in history.

So he doesn’t blame his younger self for writing a sloppy letter, tucking it under Sabo’s head, and then fleeing into the night to steal a boat that he’d use to leave the island on come daybreak. Running away, leaving his brothers behind, making Sabo vow to continue looking after Luffy like he always had, until one day, the three of them could be reunited once more.

Young Ace doesn’t even know what a Celestial Dragon is. All he knows is that an enormous ship, the likes of which he’d never seen before, is approaching--

And then everything is FIRE, and then, blank.

Dragon and the Revolutionaries had been in the area, but not just to rescue people from the Gray Terminal fire. They had intel, and Dragon had reason to believe that the marines may have found Luffy, and his connection to Dragon. The commander of the Revolutionary Army kept his distance from his son, but he wasn’t going to let the child get slaughtered for his relation to a father he’d never even met.

He’d briefly run into Ace while he was stealing a boat. He hadn’t stopped the child, but had been curious about his raw desperation, his bitterness towards his blood, and his determination to protect his found family.

Dragon is surprised to find the boy in the wreckage of an utterly destroyed sailboat.

The boy is terribly burned, and has no memory of anything, not even his own name--but he is immediately terrified at the suggestion that they return him to the island, shouting that he doesn’t know why, but he can’t go back there, they’ll find Them and kill Them if I go back there, and it’ll all be my fault--!

He decides to let the boy stay. His name is Ace, they think, the name found among his belongings. With the Celestial Dragons come and gone, marine presence on the island also fades, and Dragon concludes that Luffy is safe for the time being. He sends a coded message to Garp to be careful, and then disappears back to Baltigo with his new charge.

After regaining his memories, adult Ace grudgingly admits that while he still wishes it’d never happened, there were some perks to memory loss.

For one, he’d completely forgotten that he was the son of the late Pirate King. He still had a weird fixation towards fathers, but after getting attached to Dragon, and Dragon accepting his protege’s need for a father figure, the desperation fades.

While not the best at studies, Ace is physical strong, and takes to Revolutionary Army training like he was born for it. He masters both Armament and Observation Haki by fourteen, and with his private training sessions with Dragon, is becoming terrifyingly proficient with Conqueror’s Haki as well.

Ace is still learning, but the power he exudes when unleashing Conqueror’s Haki makes Dragon curious (and some of their peers, nervous). He’s only ever heard of one person exhibiting the kind of power Ace seems to have the potential for.

There are also other perks to being a member of the Revolutionary Army. Dragon isn’t the most wanted criminal in history for no reason. The location of the Army headquarters in Baltigo is a tightly kept secret, one that the World Government has desperately been searching for ever since it was built, but to no avail.

Even as the Marines track the rumors of Gol D. Roger’s child, as long as Ace remains in Baltigo, it’s like he vanished into thin air. And should they have discovered Headquarters, the Pirate King’s son would have been the least of their concerns.

And so Ace grows strong, no longer shackled by self-hatred of his blood, but also haunted by nameless whispers that keep him up at night, a sense of foreboding and aching longing that he’s forgetting something vital about himself, something that he both needs to remember, and doesn’t dare to touch.

~~

On Dawn Island, on that fateful day, Sabo wakes up to find a letter written in a child’s familiar sloppy hand. He tries not to panic, knowing that Ace’s long gone, and tries to think rationally on how he should move next. Even with Ace’s clumsy words, Sabo understands what his brother had been trying to say.

They’d discovered Ace’s parentage. Ace felt that he would endanger Sabo and Luffy by staying with them. So Ace left the island early, by himself, entrusting Sabo with their younger brother.

Sabo doesn’t know how he can possibly tell Luffy that Ace left to protect them, and to convince him that they need to stay.

And then Sabo suddenly doesn’t need to, because suddenly there’s shouting below the tree house, and Luffy’s blearily sitting up.

Ace is dead.

~~

Sabo tries to maintain a level headed facade in front of Luffy (even if he cries, screams his lungs out for Ace in private). He needs to support their little brother, now more than ever. Ace is gone. Ace entrusted Sabo with Luffy.

Sabo will not lose Luffy.

~~

~~

What next?

There’s the chance that Sabo would act as Ace did, continuing training and then leaving the island at seventeen as promised.

But what if he didn’t? Seventeen is a number that Sabo chose, because noble-born children become fully fledged nobles at eighteen. But now there are other, more important things at stake now.

Given what happened to Ace, and the possibility of the marines returning, Garp tells Sabo about Luffy’s heritage (he hadn’t told Luffy yet, at Ace’s request, Ace not wanting Luffy to hate himself as Ace did. Garp doubted Luffy would react that way to Dragon, but he lets Ace have this, this attempt at protecting his little brother).

Knowing that Luffy’s the son of a man rapidly growing to be as infamous as the Pirate King kicks Sabo’s overprotective instincts into overdrive.

Sabo will not lose Luffy.

From here out, there’s three possible routes. The first two routes assume that Sabo’s parents never end up coming for him (they forgot about their son for five years, who says they wouldn’t for more).

1) Pirates Route:

Sabo swallows his pride, and agrees to join Luffy’s crew, much to the younger’s delight. The thought of being captain of his own crew now seems pale in comparison to keeping Luffy safe and also keeping his last promise to his lost brother. And so Sabo vows to stay at Luffy’s side as his guardian. They leave the island to become pirates together.

2) Marines Route:

Sabo demands that Garp take him and Luffy to be trained as marines. Sabo feels nothing for disdain for both the marines and World Government, and has every intention of taking Luffy and ditching as soon as they’re safe. But right now they can provide several things that he wants and needs:

1) He feels it’s too dangerous to remain on Dawn Island with potential government eyes on them, and Garp is a relatively secure way of ensuring they can leave. They know too little about the outside world now, and carelessly leaving on a boat and getting blasted like Ace is the last thing they need.

2) He wants training for both himself and Luffy, not just combat, but on how to survive at sea. The marines, at least, should be able to provide plenty of that experience.

3) Sabo doesn’t want to be caught unawares ever again. Ace fled because he’d overheard a rumor. If Sabo had known, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Sabo’s always been the thinker, the planner among the brothers, and he wants information, especially if there’s a chance that the government will make a move on Luffy. Sabo’s goal is to work his way up the ranks until he not only has access, but is in charge of investigations hunting the Revolutionary Army, and more importantly to him, the existence and location of the Commander’s rumored child. As Chief of marine intel, Sabo will be able to control what information goes to the higher ups, and which information needs to be quietly eliminated.

(and if his investigations into the Revolutionary Army leads him to become curious about the powerful fire logia user who is their Chief of Staff...)

3) Royalty Route:

Sabo’s parents find him, shortly after Ace’s “death,” and demand he returns to High Town and his noble heritage. With Ace gone, abandoning Luffy to a life by himself isn’t an option, but neither is letting his little brother be killed. So Sabo decides that he’s got to do what he must. Protect Luffy at all costs.

He strikes a deal with his parents. He’ll return to them, and he’ll be their perfect little noble son, but ONLY with the condition that Luffy comes with them. His parents are unhappy with the deal, but grudgingly agree, warning that if Sabo doesn’t truly impress them, they have no problem with, ah, eliminating both Sabo and his tag along because they have Stelly as a perfectly viable replacement.

Sabo can excel when he puts his mind to it, and although inside he froths with rage and hatred, he will do anything to keep Luffy safe.

Luffy is his one and only saving grace who keeps him sane. Luffy, who is now trapped in this birdcage alongside Sabo, and it’s all Sabo’s fault. He’s called Sabo’s “servant,” despite being incapable of doing chores, and is ignored by the entire household other than Sabo.

And while Luffy’s clearly uncomfortable, he doesn’t complain. He senses Sabo’s pain, and his suffering, and takes it upon himself to soothe his older brother, to keep him company, to love him. Luffy will never leave here, if it means leaving Sabo. Because nothing is more terrible than being alone and Luffy knows that best. 

So Sabo keeps moving forward, vowing to Ace every night that he’s going to protect Luffy, no matter what. If this is the hand that he’s been dealt, Sabo will just have to make do. Sabo wonders how far up the hierarchy he’ll have to climb in order to guarantee Luffy’s safety.

(or, Sabo eventually becomes King of Goa, and Luffy is his “servant.”)

~~

~~

Are just some possibilities I came up with! To anyone who made it to the bottom of this post, thanks for reading!

Do any of the three scenarios I came up with sound interesting? Which is your favorite/do you think is most likely? Should I write a follow up??

EDIT: >> Follow Up

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

[whirlybirdwhat]

AU where Morgan reign of terror traumatizes Coby and he leaves with Luffy and Zoro instead of becoming a marine.

ANON I LOVE YOU YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME!!!! I don’t know how to make this a comprehensive story yet so have some headcanons about 

~~REVOLUTIONARY COBY!!!~~~

Coby is disgusted by way marines are run

He has a “THIS ISNT JUSTICE” Revelation like in Marineford, but on a smaller scale. He sees how thin Zoro is, from being starved and crucified for saving a young, and how happy the people are now that Axe Hand is gone and is like - this isn’t the justice I wanted.

“I want to catch criminals, not harm innocent people.”

Coby starts thinking about his new companions and thinks Luffy’s rough and luffs feral, but he hasn’t hurt anyone. Axe Hand Morgan and his son have.

So Coby follows Luffy and Zoro into the great unknown.

He’s not entirely sure he wants to be a pirate however. Unlike everyone else he does have a moral compass.

“I don’t think I want to be a pirate.” He says after watching Zoro keep calling Luffy Captain.

 “Then be a bounty hunter? Go after whomever you want” – Zoro, who does not give a shit about Coby’s internal crisis, but wants to support him.

⁃Coby: “Huh. Okay”

⁃Cue nights where cobys just thinking about his future as he drifts in the waves with Zoro and Luffy being dumb idiots together and just heading for their dreams

HE doesn’t know if he wants to be a bounty hunter, because how can he tell which bounties are for genuine crimes and which are for people the government wants to kill?

Potential other au lmao coby becomes a bounty hunter

⁃At orange town, he panics at Buggy and hides - he doesn’t know how to fight, but he does get the key from chouchou the dog. He’s helping, in his own way.

⁃Zoro sees this and is like “NO. You need to learn how to fight cmon we’ll teach you.” Like Luffy, he has an aversion to people who cant stand up for themselves, but he likes Coby so he’s gonna help.

⁃So Zoro and Luffy tag team each other and teach coby how to fight. He learns a weird mix of swordsman ship and punching that really don’t go together, but its better than what he had.  

⁃In the meantime, Coby keeps on seeing all the places the marines dont reach and keeps losing his faith in the system. He starts wondering why the Marines are hailed as this awesome force when really a lot of the times they just abuse their power or do nothing to help people.

⁃At Syrup, he helps get Kaya to safety with Usopp, still unwilling to fight, but starting to regain his resolve to do something – to reclaim a dream thought lost.

⁃Coby’s disgusted at the Fullbuster guy on the Baratie and punches him. 

⁃“YOUR FIRST CRIME!” Luffy says, cheerfully. The chefs applaud. Go Coby.

⁃Now, Coby isn’t advancing as fast in training, because one, luffy and zoro (and Sanji, eventually) aren’t Garp, and two, he doesn’t have that drive anymore. Why does he want to be a Marine who punishes justice?

⁃But when Arlong shows up Coby figures out his new dream. He knows what he is going to do.

⁃“I’m gonna take down the Marines - they can’t be this corrupt forever, and how many people are just innocent people? I want to give the world justice again!”

Luffy doesn’t really care about anybody else, innocent or not, unless his crew cares, but Coby cares. He’s not a pirate, but maybe if the law isn’t right, being free to do as he wish shouldn’t incriminate him?

⁃THEN the Strawhats run into Vivi and Chopper and suddenly there are more caring people like him, and more evidence that the system is corrupt which he already knows but how can he change it. He’s able to fight off some men now, and helps fight off some of Wapols men and the Whiskey Peak people, but that isn’t enough.

⁃All his friends have goals that seem impossible but they are so sure they alone are going to reach it, even without the crew there. Coby doesn’t feel like he can do the same.

⁃But hen theres alabasta - He’s stronger now, can through a punch, hes more lean with more muscle. He helps fight, and maybe it doesn’t do much, maybe the man (Luffy) who opened his eyes to the world is still there bleeding out, but he did something.

⁃And Ace and Robin have a hint for him, for his dream.

⁃(Who is this, Ace asks, referring to Coby. He has no role on the ship, but Luffy is proud to call him my friend, and say he wants to change the world for the better. To bring back what Justice really is. Ace cringes at the thoughhht of Garp but hums, and says theres a group of people who will do that – The Revolutionaries. Look for them, Ace says, and leaves. They will help you)

⁃(Robin, who knows all, tells him about Dragon unknown in the East Blue, his home, buth the most wanted man elsewhere. He has a plan, to take down the World Government, and perhaps Coby can find equal footing.)

⁃The Revolutionaries -  Dragon, Luffy’s father.

⁃Coby has a goal now.

⁃He doesn’t want to say goodbye to the Strawhats, but he does, taking a boat lent to him by Vivi, and setting off to find the Revolutionaries. Pirates don’t care about fair fights and Justice, but Coby does, and the Revolutionaries do. His dream will grow there, but he will always be an honorary crew member of the Straw Hat Pirates (the first in some stories).

⁃At sea he runs into Helmeppo, whose drifting at sea stranded due to the marines, and helps him. They bond, and Helmeppo has done a little growth in character as well, and decides to follow Coby, much like Coby decided to follow Luffy.

⁃They run into Garp who is losing faith in the new generation and believes that maybe his son is right, gives them a few fists of training after asking about his grandson, and goes on his way.

⁃They save a town or two

⁃Coby punches several people in the face.

⁃Still no sign of the revolutionaries, but they have heard things from the grape vine that a pirate ship has fallen out of the sky into a navy base. Coby assumes at least Luffy is doing fine.

⁃Finally they run into - guess who – Sabo, on a information recovery mission, which Coby helps with. He questions them at first and learns their story.

⁃And knocks himself the fuck out when Coby says “Ace” “Luffy” and “Brothers”

⁃“OH SHIT THEY ARE GOING TO KILL ME” - sabo,after waking up, to a confused Coby and then profusely thanking him.

⁃Sabo agrees to let Coby and helmeppo into the Revolutionaries and trains them (wow Coby’s been trained by a lot of ppl at this point) if Coby helps him find Luffy and Ace.

⁃CUE WILD GOOSE CHASE WHICH ENTAILS COBY BECOMING THE HERO OF THE REVOLUTION just like Garp is the hero of the marines!! They just fight ppl but instead of in the name of becoming the pirate king, its for REVOLUTION and JUSTICE because Coby has a working moral compass.

⁃Coby develops new moves combining all that he’s been taught into a rather weird fighting style with a mix of weapons and martial arts. He gets a bounty, and it’s the worst day of his entire life and also the best. He can’t decide, Helmeppo Sabo and Koala (whom he met when Sabo had to explain why he wasn’t on his mission) laugh at him.

⁃Then Sabo runs into Ace, ands that reunion goes as well as you would expect, but that not the important thing, because its still not enough to not send Ace to Marineford. But they don’t know this. Yet.

⁃Sabo and Ace both get news about Ennies Lobby at the same time. Coby, when Luffy mentions knowing Coby to his visiting grandfather, receives a shudder down his spine as if he has narrowly avoided a horrible fate.

⁃But its whatever. Sabo contacts Dragon and plans to meet with him and Luffy at Sabaody, to keep an eye on the Supernovas and let Sabao and Coby see Luffy again.

⁃They never get a chance, as the Strawhat Pirates have disappeared by the time they arrive… and Ace is on the execution block.

⁃Sabo has to go save him and drags Coby along for the ride, who eagerly awaits the opportunity to THROW DOWN SOME MARINES

⁃Luffy still goes through Impel down and all that, but Sabo and Coby still arrive late to the battle.

⁃You know how Sabo saves Luffy and Ace in that one excerpt? Cue coby punching akainu in the face for trying to hurt his friends then dodging the hell outta there as sabo saves ace and luffy.

⁃He Learns his haki! Is like oh shit my crush is gonna die, better do some shit about that! The haki allows him to actually stop Akainu for a second, and stop the fighting, as he attempts to question the people – is this what justice is?

⁃Coby meets trafalagr law and also buggy again. He isn’t afraid anymore, and doesn’t hide. People are quietly proud.

⁃Luffy gets saved and ASL reunion happens.

⁃Luffy decides to train, and tries to get coby to come along with him.

⁃Coby Is just frustrated because he has a moral compass and Luffy is just here saying he’s now best friends with corrupt war lords and the pirate kings right hand man, who is a cool dude, but why luffy, coby is hurt, please stop punching people because you feel like it.

⁃(Coby’s just putting on appearances)

⁃HEs just a good boy who wants to tear down corrupt systems why do you make friends with criminals luffy why do you hurt coby like this

(Again, appearances, he’s not insane, thank you very much)

After leaving Luffy to train and after helping him due his oxbell thing, he leaves with sabo to FINALLY MEET DRAGON

He goes through his own two year training with helpmeppo who is along for the ride. Who Coby has now decided is stuck with him for life.

Training is hell, because Coby wants to find his own fighting style which means a lot of different stuff and seeing what works best and it HURTS

 “Just be grateful im not my father-“ – dragon

 Coby feels the shudder again

Yknow how The revs have that steam punk theme? Well

 STEAMPUNK COBY!!!!
 this is. so cool oh my gosh

 Coby goes around freeing people and when they asked what inspired you hes like “rubber bastard who doesn’t have a moral compass fkdjsha,dk”

Hes gay for luffy he cant deny it

Luffy fanclub #1

Anyway, Coby goes on to take down Akainu and corrupt governments across the world, and makes his dream of tearing down the marines a reality post Pirate King Luffy

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Daniel Barnes

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My next guest in this series is Daniel Barnes, writer for the Aggretsuko comic, and his original graphic novel The Black Mage. For my chat with him, he chose the Marineford arc, in which Luffy drops into a World Government headquarters in a desperate race against time to save his "brother" Ace from execution.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Marineford arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Marineford arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: Let’s say that for some reason, I get to the end of Impel Down, just before Luffy & Co. drop into Marineford, and I’m like “I’m done. This is it. I can’t handle any more One Piece.�� In one sentence, what do you tell me to keep me going?

  Daniel Barnes: Why are you stopping before you reach the payoff of everything you’ve read so far?

  I like that! How long have you been into One Piece?

  When I first started consuming One Piece in earnest, ironically enough, I was in the Navy at the time. It was 2014, and up until that point, my only exposure had been the 4Kids dub on FoxBox.

    Nice. I love a good FoxBox reference. Was it recommended to you? Because I know that, when a lot of people start One Piece, it’s like “FINE. I’ll watch One Piece. You’ve convinced me.”

  I don’t consume anime as voraciously as I did back then. Back then, I was an anime vacuum, but I was also in this weird spot where I was semi-depressed. But someone told me, “You gotta try One Piece, it’s the best.” And my first reaction was “Umm, the art style’s kinda weird, though.” But they told me “You’ll get over it,” and the thing that made me finally take that leap was Gurren Lagann, which also had an unusual art style and then became one of my favorite things ever. So I figured I should at least give it a shot. 

  That’s something I’ve heard a few times. Because in other big series like Naruto and Bleach, the character designs are much more proportionate and straightforward. And I felt the same way...until I watched it, and realized the art style is PERFECT for what it is. So, Marineford is pretty much the halfway point of the series, with characters returning from all over the place. Were there any that you were excited to see come back?

  There’s a few of them. I always love it when Mihawk shows up, but I think the big one is Whitebeard. Because up until this point, he’s just sitting around and you know he’s a big deal but you’re always wondering why he’s a big deal. And then you find out in Marineford. I enjoy seeing characters that are kind of defined as the “power ceiling” in an anime universe get to do stuff, and it was cool to see him make the entire world quake.

    I think I called it in an article a “Be Quiet, The Parents Are Talking” character. You’ll go through Luffy getting new power-ups and increasingly strong villains and these seemingly insurmountable admirals with their elemental powers and then Whitebeard comes in, and he’s leaps and bounds above everyone. And like you said, for the most part, he’s just sitting down beforehand.

  Yeah, he’s sitting down drinking a giant gourd of sake. His name is Whitebeard, but he doesn’t have a beard. Got a real Hulk Hogan vibe to him. Who is this guy? But then you finally see him after all this time, and that’s the magic of One Piece. You see all of these things over the years and you wonder what part they’ll play and then it finally hits you and their role and strength becomes clear. 

  Marineford, obviously, is all built around Ace. And what you get out of the arc probably depends on how much you enjoy Ace’s character. How did you feel about him? Did it make you emotional at all? I know he has the one scene with Garp where they talk about finding your purpose in life, and that really got to me, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Ace.

  Okay, I think Ace looks cool and I think he has good powers, but I didn’t really care that much when he died. I didn’t really know him enough. 

    Were there any characters that you did get attached to or like a lot in Marineford? I know you said you liked Whitebeard and Mihawk, but who was your Marineford MVP? Who shines brightest among all those crazy diamonds?

  Okay, so the cop-out answer is probably Luffy. He’s one of the weakest characters there and he manages to survive and he plays such a big role by rallying everyone despite being constantly outmatched. So, objectively, Luffy. But maybe I give it to Coby, because Coby stands his ground against Akainu. He gives you hope that maybe the Marines can change their ways one day and when he refuses to move in front of an Admiral, I thought that was a real stand-out, awesome moment. 

  So Ace dies, Whitebeard just wrecks Akainu and throws him into a pit, and then, out of nowhere, Blackbeard shows up. Whitebeard beats up Blackbeard and Blackbeard’s forces kill Whitebeard. What do you think about Blackbeard as a villain? Because he’s so unlikeable. He’s underhanded, he whines whenever he gets hurt, he’s super pompous. He has cool powers, but there’s nothing cool about who he is. 

  He’s super interesting, to me. He has a mystery around him with his two Devil Fruit powers, and he doesn’t really fit into any shonen villain stereotype. He’s an inverse of Luffy, but not in all of the super obvious ways. When you first see him in Jaya, you see him start with basically nothing, and you watch him work through the system and the powers that be, just like Luffy. They’re both trying to achieve the same thing and reach the same goal. But Blackbeard’s methods are different. 

    Yeah, Luffy will punch you in the face, while Blackbeard will stab you in the back.

  And getting to see that evolution is great, because they easily could’ve just said, boom, here’s the next big bad guy and given him to you without context. But it’s like I said about One Piece earlier, where it shows you stuff over time and gets you to look forward to what will happen with it later. That’s Blackbeard’s whole appeal. 

  You talked earlier about Coby standing up to Akainu, ready to die for his beliefs. And then Shanks comes and stops the war. How did you feel about that? Because we’re all still waiting to see what his deal is (which as you said is a big part of the continuing appeal of One Piece,) but were you hyped to see him show up?

  I thought it was cool, because One Piece has done a good job of establishing him as an awesome guy. He’s a lot like Zero from Mega Man X, where he shows up at the beginning, they imply how powerful he is, they make the main character want to be as strong as him, and then they take him away and only show him sparingly. So whenever Shanks drops by, he's been handled so well that you’re just on the edge of your seat wondering what he’s gonna do.

    So, after the war is over, Jimbei has to remind Luffy that he still has things worth fighting for. And then, the timeskip. Were you aware that a timeskip was coming?

  Oh yeah. It’s kind of hard to exist on social media and not get a bunch of these little hints about what’s gonna happen. But that was my goal with One Piece for a little while: I’m gonna get to the timeskip. I have to get there. It’s coming, I know it’s coming, I don’t know when it’s coming, but I just have to reach it. 

  There are so many big moments in this arc, but looking back at it, are there any moments that stand out as prime One Piece to you? 

  The obvious one, for me, is when Luffy goes Third Gear and punches the giant out of the way. That’s so cool and such quintessential One Piece. A giant on an arena made of ice and a rubbery kid inflates his fist to make it huge and knocks him around. It’s so weird and it works. 

  ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  Favorite One Piece character?

  Usopp.

  Favorite One Piece villain?

  Crocodile.

  Favorite One Piece arc?

  Sabaody Archipelago.

  Which Devil Fruit would you eat if you had the choice? 

  Bellamy’s Spring Spring fruit. 

  If you had to live on any island in the One Piece universe, which would you choose?

  Does the Gran Tesoro from the Film: Gold movie count? That one’s pretty dope.

  Favorite One Piece fight?

  Luffy vs Blueno, when he first reveals the Second Gear.

  One Piece moment that made you cry the hardest?

  When the Franky Gang beats up Usopp and Nami finds him and Usopp is like “I’m useless. I can’t do anything.” Whenever Usopp gets beaten up, his nose gets all crooked and he loses teeth. There’s so many cartoon-ey visual indicators for Usopp in pain. It got me.

  One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

  When Luffy punches the Celestial Dragon in the face. It’s so cathartic. 

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece Podcast Co-Host and storyboard artist Steve Yurko about his favorite One Piece arc: Baratie!!

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

[the-devil-fruit-tree]

A Monkey D. Garp Analysis

I’ve been thinking about Garp a lot recently. You’ve got this famous Marine Vice-Admiral who became grandfather to three kids, only one of which he’s blood related to, and knows he has to prepare them for what life is inevitably going to throw at them.

I won’t argue training vs abuse here. I don’t condone him beating them up, but I will acknowledge his reasons for doing so. With Ace being Roger’s son and Luffy being Dragon’s, they had to be able to defend themselves. If the Marines knew about them, it wouldn’t matter that they were children, and fighting Garp the Fist was probably the best training they could have to prepare for anyone who might come looking for them.

“Well why didn’t he train them in haki?” Probably because it has to be unlocked first, it takes years of intensive training to master which Garp can’t hang around on Dawn Island for, and Luffy could barely throw a punch without hitting himself in the face. Do you really want to add Armament to that? Instead he turned himself into the monster that forces them to work together to either try and overpower him or be smart and fast enough to escape. At least part of Garp honestly believes they hate him, and he’s willing to accept that as long as they’re safe and happy.

“But he tried to make them be Marines.” Wrong! He tried to make them CHOOSE to be Marines. A minor distinction but an important one. Do you really think if Garp wanted to, he couldn’t have just taken them to a Marine base and forced them into bootcamp? They were children. They would’t have been able to stop him. And it should be noted that he thought becoming Marines was their best chance at survival which, again, was Garp’s top priority.

“Then what the fuck was that at Marineford??” Good question. Most people will say he was torn between duty and family, and the former must’ve been winning out since he sat there and seemed like he was gonna let Ace die, BUT I think there’s another layer to it and it has to do with Garp placing the same level of importance on freedom as Luffy does.

“So? That doesn’t explain why he fights against the grandsons he claims to love!” It does if you look at it from the right angle. Remember Water 7? It was a family reunion of grandfather and grandson, which is why Garp had no issue letting Luffy go. But only when he got a direct order to capture the Strawhats and it turned from grandfather/grandson to Marine/pirate did he chase after him.  Luffy and Ace chose to be pirates which also means they chose to accept the consequences that come with it, and even though as a grandfather, Garp loves his grandsons, as a Marine it is his duty to hunt them. To Garp, doing anything less would be akin to disrespecting Luffy and Ace’s choice to be pirates.

Apply that logic to Marineford. Ace chose to be a pirate. Garp hated it, but he respected it, even up to the point that Ace’s choice led to his execution (even though he wasn’t being executed for being a pirate but because of his dad but I’m not gonna open that can of worms right now.) But he never want to hurt his family. He cried with Ace on the scaffold, and in the end refused to fight Luffy.

I’m not saying Garp was a great guardian or even necessarily a good one, but he did love his grandkids and at least tried to do what he thought was best with them.

[neverwatchedonepiece]

497-498: “Leaving the Dadan Family for Good?! The Kids' Hideout Has Been Built!” and “Luffy Becoming an Apprentice?! A Man Who Fought Against the King of Pirates!”

Luffy discovers Sword Art Online

Watched two episodes because it seems like the plot is branching off in another direction. Oda has established the brotherly bond. We know Ace, Sabo and Luffy are tight. Now, he’s throwing Sabo’s parents, the Bluejam Pirates and some Celestial Dragons into the mix.

This cannot be good.

Why do you run, children? I only want to teach you a lesson!

In between episode 496 and 497, Ace, Sabo and Luffy have been up to mischief. Nothing awful. Just childish hi-jinks like digging holes at the front door of Dadan’s shack to catch boar. Invading gang territory in Edge Town. Dodging the sheriff. Harassing Dadan to the point her sanity is stretched to breaking point and she can’t even escape them in her dreams (yes, I laughed at the Luffy Fairy). Still, as long as they keep bringing good food to the table, they are allowed to stay.  (Plus she totally loves them, but let’s pretend so Dadan can save face.)

It was nice seeing Ace, Sabo and Luffy working, fighting and living together. I’m guessing this is a high point in their lives they’d look back at and remember fondly. It was also nice to see Luffy being visited by Makino and the Mayor, who looked after him in Windmill Village. Mainly because it quashed my fear that Luffy has been passed from loveless home to loveless home. Nope. He was raised with affection there.

I liked how Oda showed the different reactions of Sabo and Ace to these strangers giving them gifts. When Makino said: “Free t-shirts, boys! Come and get sized,” Sabo ran straight over, laughing, accepting of the stranger. Here is someone who has been given gifts and has known kindness (even if it wasn’t from his parents). Ace was the opposite. He was cautious, surly, “Where’s the catch?” This is a kid who has always had to watch his back. Maybe he’s never had a gift before. Who would do that? No one on Grey Terminal.

At least Luffy and Sabo were able to talk him round so he had his first ever present. I bet he secretly loved it.

Makino and the Mayor also brought food for all the bandits (they really did think of everything!) At dinner, the boys argued over who would get the best cook first for their future pirate ships. Unbeknownst to Luffy, a grandfatherly man mountain in a Hawaiian shirt loomed behind him.

“PIRATE?”

Welp, I thought. You gone done pushed your grandpa’s berserk button.

At least Garp is... egalitarian with his lessons. Luffy got a punch. Ace got a punch. Dadan got a punch (for... not teaching the boys to be proper Marines even though he had made no such request?) Even Sabo got a punch. Once he was done chasing them through the jungle, Garp cracked his knuckles gleefully and said, “That’s it for today! I’ll be harsher tomorrow!”

I know this is just silly slapstick violence but damn, in another show, Garp could be a villain.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold 

At any rate, the boys had had enough. They ran away and left a note: “We will stand our own feet.” Dadan (who secretly worries about her adorable delinquent boys) was freaking out. “Anyone will try to kill them on sight if they’re not sheltered by us!”

Garp was unfazed (which made me wonder if that was part of his plan? Did he drive them away deliberately to make them even stronger, or was he just being a dick?) Either way, he washed his hands of the situation, as per, said, “My vacation’s over. Educate them to be good Marines by next time!” Then he disappeared again.

Dadan freaked out even more because... they are bandits. How are bandits supposed to raise Marines? Garp was asking too much.

But when the boys didn’t return and the rains came, she changed her mind and told her bandits to go find Ace, Sabo and Luffy. Of course, she said this was because she didn’t to be beaten by Garp (but we all know, Dadan. No one stares out into the middle distance in the rain like that if you are not worried).

So where had the young scallywags disappeared to? With Sabo’s uncanny design skills on their side, they built a hideout atop a huge tree using scrap from Grey Terminal. They planked a massive Jolly Roger on top. Not sure they get the point of a hideout. But it looked good.

Dadan eventually found them. I expected a warm, heart-string-tugging reunion. Nope. She triggered Ace’s Rube Goldberg Trap, got a mallet to the face for her trouble and thought, “Screw this.” I like Dadan. She has taken a lot of crap and knows her limits. At least she knows where they are and can keep an eye on them from a distance.

Luffy Recruits Old Man

Flash forward and the boys have been fending for themselves. Winter has come and the Big Tiger is back, stealing their food. I did feel a bit sorry for Luffy being denied his first ever catch. Nature is harsh, eh? He tried a bit of bravado but Big Tiger just looked at him like, “You are not even a snack,” licked him and batted him away with a massive paw.

I didn’t feel so sorry for him when his fool antics on the wooden bridge lost them their second catch and they had to go to bed hungry. (Still don’t know how Ace and Sabo were so patient with him. I would have raged.) But their late-night hunger chat lead them to make the arrangement that the one to defeat that Tiger would get to become a Captain.

To get in some practice, they fought a Big Bear. (I still think this is kind of weird because in real life, the biggest bears would probably beat the biggest tiger in a fight, but Oda’s Universe, Oda’s Rules.)  Their mistake was not noticing the Big Bear had a massive scar. This is a dead giveaway that the bear is a scrapper.

It was not happy being smacked on the head by a ten-year-old. They were saved only by the timely intervention of Naguri: an ex-pirate captain who now lives in Grey Terminal and happens to be an efficient haki user. 

Luffy was impressed by Naguri’s ability to calm down the Big Bear and was instantly reminded of Shanks staring out the Sea King. How cool! Sabo had met him before. He couldn’t believe it was the same old man who built random stuff, collected junk all day and was teased by the other scavengers. 

Turns out, even at seven years old, Luffy always had that Talent Scout ability. At the campfire, Naguri revealed he was a pirate captain who had fallen on hard times because he challenged Gol D. Roger to a fight and got his ass kicked. His crew split up and everything careered downhill from there.

Ace was disturbed by the mention of his father’s name and walked off. Sabo, being the more observant type, noticed. Luffy was too focused on recruiting this old guy to help train him to defeat Big Tiger. When Luffy had sealed the deal, he finally noticed Ace had gone and asked.

Sabo... now I don’t know why he did this. He told Luffy about Ace’s parentage. That, I understand. But he did it in front of Naguri, who is practically a stranger. For all they know, he could report Ace’s existence to anyone. It also caused a fight because Ace never wanted anyone to know (quite right. It’s his decision) and Luffy isn’t exactly the best at keeping secrets at the moment).

While all this is happening, Sweatychins has commissioned Bluejam to find Sabo. Bluejam is intent on stringing Sweatychins along to wring as much cash as he can from his noble coffers. There is also a visit from the Celestial Dragons on the cards.

I don’t know who I want to win this struggle.

You know it’s bad when you start rooting for a scumbag like Bluejam.

Age/sex/location? The infamous MSN Chatroom Pirates: scourge of the year 2000.

[justsomeboredgirl]

luffy and destiny and idk “choosen one” or did luffy chose his own path?

As we all knew from the latest chapter, there’s been debate whether odacchi pulled this shit out of his ass or if it was something he had planned all along. Now, if it ended up as another naruto-ashura bullshit, im gonna cry, like for real crying. I love one piece with all my heart and idk I just can’t if it’s another shit like that

Look, the thing is luffy’s greatness has been foreshadowed by odacchi for a long time already, from the first chapter even. Luffy himself doesn’t know that he’s this great person- the next joyboy- who will bring a new dawn, our boi here just wants to be the pirate king and become the freest person in the whole world (plus meat), but he’s definitely gonna punched all of those shitbags in WG and im-sama if they stood in his way.

But we knew. We, as the readers, have always known. This boy gonna do it, he’s gonna be the pirate king and reach Laugh Tale. Then the atrocity of WG and celestial dragons were introduced and we wished Luffy will just gomu gomu no pistol them. The D.’s was revealed to be something important. Then hints about joyboy and new dawn kept being dropped by oddachi and we’re here connecting the dots and trying to see how this all connected to luffy. Then the bomb that is ch 1044 was dropped and we all collectively lose our shits. IT WAS TRENDING IN MY COUNTRY’S TWITTER FOR FUCK’S SAKE

I just wanna say, it’s freakin obvious from the start, luffy is “the chosen one”. Well i dont like using the term the chosen one bc it’s just harry potter vibes, not that i have anything against HP but i want this to be a one piece vibes ya know. Luffy will bring a new dawn to the world, after he bring storm along. He got conqueror’s haki, the special haki of a king. Bc “D.’s will always brings a storm”. He’s joyboy, as Zunesha said itself. And he had the sun god nika fruit. He’s special

But the most special thing about luffy is he does not give a single fuck. So what if he’s joyboy? Or the gomu gomu fruit is actually hito hito no mi model: sun god nika. Or if he’s a D.? His goal is still being the pirate king, he still loves meat, and luffy will punch anyone who dares to makes his nakam sad. Nothing will really change in luffy except ya know, the power up? And his role in the world probably. But luffy will still not give a single fuck about any of that.

Back to my title, was destiny given to luffy or did he choose it itself? The thing about “chosen one” tropes is that they are chosen, they’re seemingly ordinary but in fact, they’re born with power and into their written great destiny. They were pulled into greatness by their destiny, their birth was always a chaotic ordeal where the world itself shift to accommodate these main characters. They did not choose their own destiny, merely followed what was written. The most familiar example is Harry Potter and Uzumaki Naruto.

What about luffy? It’s easy to say he’s the one, he’s born into greatness, and i can’t argue with that. Luffy is born a D., a Monkey D. to be exact. His grandfather is Garp the Fist, his father is Dragon the Revolutionary, both are great and powerful men. His birth probs shift the world itself, but don’t mind me im just getting poetic here.

But like, luffy chose to be the pirate king, he chose (albeit a stupid choice driven by hunger and pettiness of a 7 yo kid) to eat the gomu gomu fruit. He chose to held on tight to the strawhat shank gave him and with it, their promises. He chose each and every one of his crew, i mean sure it’s probably fate and yadda yadda that they could met, coincidences and whatnot. But the strawhats all chose each other and it’s beautiful sobs. Luffy chose to went up to skypiea, he chose not rescuing ace and then went down to impel down to save him. Luffy chose to join in marineford, he chose to train with rayleigh for 2 years. There are so many choices luffy makes that are part of his adventures now. Sure there are coincidences but never forget that luffy chose this path himself, and he’s even prepared to die.

He’s not pressured into his “written destiny” nor he is an unwilling participant in his great fate. Luffy is very willing, in fact, to walk the path of a king, to reach his dreams he decided himself. Destiny may try to reel in luffy, but that’s not gonna work, Monkey D. Luffy will do whatever the fuck he wants. Look, we dont know yet how much this sun god nika and joyboy gonna affect luffy, so maybe in the future what i wrote here will be completely bullshit (i hope not), but i still believe Luffy chose the great destiny himself. His “great fate/destiny” is written along as he goes with his adventures.

Odacchi hinted that sun god nika is the warrior of liberation. And liberation is what the people need, that’s why there’s the revolutionary army, we dont know yet what’s luffy’s role gonna be. But this is the breaking point of the people, the oppression and corruption of WG and celestial dragons reach a new peak and they all can’t. And coincidently, luffy here ate the sun god nika model so… destiny or not?

Guys, look at all the previous chapters where odacchi kept dropping hints after hints. I know i’m not the only one who see luffy and thought he’s gonna change the world, he’s gonna do it, he will be the pirate king. Bc conviction, idk man, this is just my honest thoughts.

Everything is happening in luffy’s era: Poseidon, the new dawn that the kozukis spoke of, 20 years later which refer to luffy’s time in wano, roger who said he’s not the one and it wont happen in his time. Skypiea, meeting trafalgar law, another D., nico robin who can decipher the poneglyphs, franky with the blueprints of pluton (sunny??), marineford, Madam Shyarly’s prophecy which can come true anytime, and idk man add more in the notes please. The thing is, this is it, the cogs are turning, a new era will be born and luffy will be the center of it all, destiny will come true right here right now.

All the foreshadowing is here and honestly, i cant wait. So yeah, i will say i need about 10 chapters or so before dropping my final judgement, so keep it up odacchi!!

currently writing an essay about luffy and destiny and i really have became crazy

[thisisarealtagwhy]

Day 1: Character

Hi all! So, instead of posting in order here is number one, proceeding number 2... 

Anyways, the prompt was characters so i aim to please! There are obv spoilers for p much everything so please dont spoil for yourself. 

Monkey D. Luffy was a mystery inside an enigma. He was unusually idiotic but smart at the same time, in his own way.

He had little regard for the system of so called ‘justice’ or the world, for that matter.

He could lift his middle fingers up and say fuck you but he wouldn’t. No, he would become the king instead.

King of the Pirates and give the world the biggest fuck you he could.

Wherever he went he made friends; it was as natural as breathing, he was just…

There’s just something about Luffy.

Was it his charisma?

Was it the way he would kick anyone’s asses if they screwed with his nakama?

Or was it something written into their DNA, tying them with the free boy.

Makino watched over Luffy first for Garp but then she took a more parental role, allowing him into the bar as much as he wanted, the patrons simply adored him. But Makino saw the sadness in his eyes as he was clearly more lonely than the boy would let on.

Shanks was a pretty chilled guy so when the squirt had demanded he tell them stories of being a pirate he had indulged him. Who’d have thought that he would end up like this? He thinks, watching the blood, the carnage and more importantly, the fire-cracker that was Roger’s son.

Garp loved his grandson despite the fact that his good for nothing son had just given the babe to him without a backward glance. So he watches as he grows and finds himself more attached, he loves Luffy, he loves him more like a son than a grandchild.

Ace loved Luffy more than he loved himself despite the hatred he had for the rest of the world. It is why he couldn’t bear the thought of a world without his light so he moves and watches as his light flickers and floats away, the only regret heavy on his soul is that he will not see his baby brother become Pirate King.

Sabo loved him because he lit up the world and made Ace believe in himself. Years later and their pledge of brotherhood has not diminished. Sabo cries and sobs because ACEACEACEACE. But then he remembers someone else who believe he is alone, beingalonehurtsmorethandeath, and he pulls himself together.

Coby loves Luffy like a brother, it was only because of him that he had the courage to stand up to Alvida and say no. He becomes a marine for Luffy-san and when he sees him at Marineford… despite knowing that Ace is his brother, this is the path they have both chose. Later he tries to stop Akainu and meets the Yonkou himself, it is a befitting finish, he thinks.

Zoro joined him because of a promise and because he saw Luffy. And because of a promised dream, he will become the world’s greatest swordsman. He will make Luffy the King of the Pirates. He now follows the boy, no, man, because of all of the shit they’ve been through together.

Nami joined because of a mutual agreement but now she follows for she was encased within the charisma of the boy. She loves Luffy like a brother and cherishes his love whenever she sees him. He came for her even after everything.

Buggy wants to say he hates the bastard, well, he does. Partially. In Orange Town it was only fair that the bastard beat him, besides, it led to much greater things. Impel Down is hell and he unwittingly drags himself into a whole new mess following the rubber-bastard. And then Marine-ford… he hates it, the momentary grief he feels for the late Portgas D. Ace, son of Portgas D. Rouge and Gol D. Roger. So he helps the bastard out a bit whilst fighting World, it’s for a selfish reason but nonetheless he feels satisfaction as flames lick up the rubber man’s arm.

Gaiman watches the self-proclaimed mugiwara no Luffy hide the truth from him and he sobs, sobs that he wasted so much time here for those chests and now it was wasted. But he still loves the animals he is surrounded by. So, in two years time he will read the paper and jump in relief at the sight of the ‘Straw hats are back!’ emblazoned on the front page.

Usopp joined for adventure, he knows now that he never, ever wants to lead their band of merry misfits and he will cry and thank the man who saved him several times over.

Mihawk is impressed by the straw hat wearing boy, the one-armed, red-haired fool didn’t give away his treasure so freely. And then he recalls the rage in the boy’s face as he slashed the young swordsman. Then, at Marineford, fate smiles down on upon the boy and he escapes with his life.

Sanji joined for the ladies, well, that’s a lie and he knows it. He joined for his dream, but didn’t the rest of the fools in their tiny crew join for that as well? He remembers the hopelessness of being stuck on that island as his captain grieved and promises that he will never feel that way again.

Gin creates a new fleet, but, he knows that if Monkey D. Luffy, senchou of the mugiwara no ichimi, ever calls, he will join him.

Hachin watches in barely disguised confusion as he, and all of the other fishmen are defeated. Arlong had always taught him that humans were evil and weak. But then he will remember another before Arlong and cry for the man who is the hero of their country. He will try and defend the Sunny for a crew that is waiting for her.

Smoker ponders over the mystery of Monkey D. Luffy, son of the revolutionary Dragon, more than he probably should. He remembers the town of the beginning and end. But, more vividly the War of the Best replays in his mind and (he will never, ever admit this to anyone ever) felt his heart cry for the boy. But he is a Vice-Admiral and cannot ever endorse pirates so he will defeat Mugiwara no Luffy.

Dragon is proud of his son. He’s only met him once but Dragon watches from outside sources and the papers of what his son is doing to change the world. He might be doing it unintentionally but it is amusing to think about Sengoku’s reaction to his son. He will change the world.

Crocus knows that the crazy son of a bitch can do it, he has Roger’s smile, and the same air of confidence around him. Crocus cries and cries when he sees the news about Soul King, he shows an eager Laboon and the two cry in joy at the thought of one of their friends still being alive (was he really alive though?).

Vivi thinks that the Straw Hats are stupid, at first. She thinks they’re so dumb to be led into a trap like this, but she eats her own words as she watches a boy defeat Crocodile and save her Kingdom. She does not progress with him but watches through newspapers and den den mushi’s. (Her heart breaks at the battle of Marineford but she laughs when she finally figures out the meaning of the tattoo).

Tony Tony Chopper joins because, he isn’t a monster. He’s loves Luffy, his captain. He might be a naïve blue-nosed reindeer but he is Luffy’s doctor first and foremost. And if he has to be a monster to protect his nakama, then he will be a monster.

Crocodile is a shichibukai, he didn’t become one by slacking around. So he hates mugiwara no Luffy in the beginning, for such an awful good luck with Logia akuma no mi and watches as his plans fall to dust. He lost when he was a rookie, why should the overconfident bastard be any different? Although, he saves Portgas D. Ace, why? He doesn’t even know that answer… to piss of the Marines? Probable. Why did he save Monkey D. Luffy? He thinks it’s because the bastard will hurt more if he’s still alive after witnessing that.

Bentham never had many friends, ever. Not even when he was a part of Baroque Works, it was just how it was. No-one liked being friends with a queer. But after the fall of Baroque Works he protects the straw hat wearing boy because he is his friend. He feels like such a coward within Impel Down but… he knows he will have died to save Luffy’s brother.

Mr 3. Is unsure of the prowess of this boy, the powerhouse that took down his boss. He’s surprised when he runs into him again in Impel Down and even more surpised

Nico Robin is used to a life on the run. She joins the boy because he is stronger than a shichibukai, she will be able to use him to her advantage. But after so much, she can’t just let them die. And then… they come and she cries because her life has meaning. So, within their training she cries because her captain is alone.

Bellamy is a proud member of the Donquixote Pirates, he likes that, just mess shit up and you’re guaranteed a spot in Doflamingo’s crew. But the straw hat fool kicks his ass, just like that. And suddenly he is killing his friends, a cause of the flamingo and he cries, because he is given a second chance but is it really worth it? And then he wishes for the rubber fool to kill him, kill me. And he is proven wrong.

Blackbeard likes the kid, he’s got good fire within him, chasing his dream like that. But when he learns that the crazy kiddo is Ace’s lil bro he thinks well damn, one way to kill two birds with one stone. Later, after Marineford, he knows that he’ll have to kill the bastard, finish him off. It’ll be fun to watch him write in agony. He wanted to make him burn with his own brother’s akuma no mi but that idea is shot out as the bastard from the Revolutionaries beats him to the punch.

Montblanc Cricket is a crazy fool chasing a stupid dream. But that boy… he is just as dumb. But even so, when he hears the golden bell ring, he cries because thank you Mugiwara no Luffy.

Wiper thinks that the Straw Hat boy is a fool, and a weak one at that. But he is proven wrong as Enel falls and for the first time in a century, they are all at peace. He waves the straw hats away and knows that they will take the world by storm.

Aokiji is a fool, he knows this, but he does not care. He allows Nico Robin to live, he did, after all, let her escape all those years ago, it’s only fair if he lets the grandson of Garp live if he is willing to put his life on the line.

Franky joined because of his dream, they’re a crew of dreamers. And as his body becomes more metal than human he still loves their crew, he will become stronger so that his captain does not have to carry the burden of grief like that ever again.

Brook joined because he could. Well, that’s why he did in the first place, later on, it’s because the boy has bought his respect, as has the rest of them, so he sets sail and watches in horror as his crew is sent away because it is just like before. And when the tattoo comes through he starts a new career (temporarily of course).

Camie likes the pirates, generally, she doesn’t like pirates because pirates mean more abductions but one has to give someone the benefit of the doubt. And then she herself is kidnapped and then she’s on display and men and Tenryuubito and then Luffy. After the War of the Best she is sad for him but then when she sees him two years later she knows that he is okay.

Shakki has met many people over the years, both as a pirate and as a bar-tender on the Sabaody Archipelago. Monkey D. Luffy exceeds her expectations but at the same time fulfils him, she’s glad to see the straw hats come back together after two years of training.

Rayleigh is reminded of his own captain as he looks in the eyes of the straw hat bearing boy. A charisma of daring and challenge within him. It’s only proven as the brat single-handedly punches a Tenryuubito without any remorse. Afterwards, he’s glad when Kuma knocks him away because it means that they will not face utter annihilation. And then, he offers to train the boy because he has the potential but it is untapped. So he tries to help the boy heal and train.

Trafalgar D. Water Law isn’t sure what to think about Monkey D. Luffy when he sees the boy for the first time, he knows that the boy is a D, obviously. But he fights alongside Kidd and mugiwara-ya, decidedly impressed by the skill of the boy. Then the serious rage as he punches the Tenryuubito. And then he sees him broken and wonders if he will gain the courage to go on. When Law meets up with him later on, in Punk Hazard, he is amazed by the stupidness of the boy, but at the same time he is not surprised and he’s glad that he found a partner to take down Doflamingo down with.

Eustass Kidd dislikes the straw hat shit, because he knows that he’s going to be a pain in the ass to defeat when it comes to One Piece. And when the straw hats resurface two years later he laughs because, finally, someone worth defeating.

Jewelry Bonney thinks that the kid is certainly interesting, and then Marineford happens and she wonders whywhywhy, and that Blackbeard will pay. Her thoughts stray to the fool who didn’t surface until a couple of weeks after the war and rings the bell, signalling a new age. She likes it.

Kuma is first and foremost a revolutionary, he was secondly a shichibukai. This does not affect his day-to-day life and he fights against the injustices in the world alongside a man with a tribal tattoo. He watches as his leader looks to the East Blue every single time. He likes the Luffy boy, he knows that they’re not strong enough to face the New World yet so he flings them away and makes a promise for a boy in a straw hat.

Marguerite has never seen a man before in her life, but Luffy is the exception to this rule. And after he is brought back from the War she hasn’t seen a man so… broken.

Boa Hancock hates men, hates them as much, maybe more than Tenryuubito. But then Monkey D. Luffy comes crashing down into her life. He is a man, but… maybe. He can change her… And then… Then her Luffy is in such agony because his brother, his light, is dead. She knows how it would be to lose her sisters… For that to happen to her Luffy… But thankfully he seems to get over the pain of loss during the two years he trains.

Ivankov is an okama, he is also a revolutionary. But he simply adores straw hat boy, not just because of the strength of his spirit but also because he is Dragon-boy’s son. It is a depressing thought to know that the boy’s brother is dead but he knows that the boy will be fine, he has Rayleigh and Jinbe to stress over him.

Jinbe joined the man because he was asked, simple as that, Luffy is a man worthy of being followed by him and it is long past due that he flexed his wings as a pirate he is proud to be. So he reminds Luffy of what he has to live for and relishes in their meetings two years later, first at Fishman Island and then at Whole Cake Island.

Whitebeard is impressed by the cheeky brat, having the gall to challenge him and defend him from the Crocodile brat. So, he knows that there is a strong possibility that Monkey is the D Roger has been waiting for. And when a sacrifice is made of blood and fire he will enact his revenge and hope that his crew will protect the straw hat brat.

Marco decides that seeing as it was Ace’s final wish to protect his baby brother so he swoops down, deciding that Monkey D. Luffy will survive this, even if it means death. And then when his aid is requested long after the revenge war that they lost. He gives it, because Monkey D. Luffy asked, and he is the only link he can think of for Ace…

The Marines think that Monkey D. Luffy is suicidal for his actions at Marineford, any sane person would run away, tail between legs at the thought of fighting the Navy’s best. Although, he survives, so what does that say about their thoughts?

Fukaboshi thanks mugiwara no Luffy a lot, he is happy that the boy broke the law about the exchange of blood and defeated Hody of the New Fishman Pirates. He mended fishman island even if he didn’t think it. And the fact that the boy was going to contest for their territory with a yonkou… he owed a lot to the mugiwara no ichimi…

Shirahoshi has never left the tower she lives in for almost as long as she could remember. It is a condition of her living, but Luffy-san… he comes in and breaks her fragile world into little pieces and she is grateful for it, so very grateful. It is her dream to see Luffy become King of the Pirates now…

Doflamingo is a heavenly demon, he fell from the heavens to this ungodly realm. But he will rule this domain eventually. He hates the straw hat fool, ruining all of his plans and getting the stupid boy his revenge. His plan is in shambles but he laughs because he knows he will be released, he knows far too much.

Rebecca thinks that Lucy has a very good chance of winning, he is obviously very strong and agile. She is worried about winning the mera mera no mi, then she discovers just who Lucy is and resigns herself to her fate. And then her kingdom is free and she lives as free as anyone else, all because of the Straw Hat Pirates.

The Tontatta tribe is very secluded, has always been this way since the very beginning (after their release at least). But even so, they willingly commit to the Straw Hat Fleet, even if their commander did not agree, if the Straw Hats are ever in trouble they will come in all their forces.

Bartolomeo finally meets his idol and can’t help the tears swimming in his eyes, even so, he promises that he will win the mera mera no mi for Luffy-senpai! And then when he is officially a part of the Fleet he smiles for he may be needed by Luffy one day.

The Straw Hat Fleet is comprised of over 5000 members in total, none of them are officially bound to their leader for he did not want to oversee such an amount of people. Instead, they pledge themselves to him and promise to come if they are ever in trouble.

Admiral Fujitora, for the first time in many years, wishes that he had not slashed his own eyes, he wants to see Monkey D. Luffy’s face. See his smile, what kind of man must he be for an entire kingdom to protect him?

Carrot thinks that Luffy is funny, he smiles a lot and laughs a lot. He’s also super strong, strong enough to avoid the two elders on Zou! She was very excited to go on an adventure with the Straw Hat Pirates to save Sanji-san!

Reiju’s first thought is thank god Sanji ended up with such a crew. They’re so nice and she can’t help and hope that he had a semi-normal childhood after he left. She wishes it for Sanji, he was so nice and she couldn’t do much about Ichiji, Niji and Yonji otherwise they would hurt her.

[recentanimenews]

The 42 Greatest Anime Moments of Monkey D. Luffy

  May 5 is the birthday of One Piece's main character Monkey D. Luffy, and over the past couple of decades of his existence, he's given us some moments that will stay in our minds forever. And so I've decided to chronicle 42 of his best ones, antics that will hopefully remind you how much you love the free-spirited, determined, ridiculous Birthday Best Boy. One note, though — while this list does contain some of those sweet, sweet fight scenes, I've already written a list that ranked his 20 greatest knockouts against bad guys. So, in order to not repeat that list entirely, I've tried to mix it up a little bit. 

  1. Luffy Wakes Up From A Great Nap

I can't think of a better anime debut for Monkey D. Luffy than "wakes up in the barrel that he miraculously survived a whirlpool in and immediately knocks out some pirates by accident." It's everything fun about the dude rolled into one.

2. Luffy Gets Coby To Hit Him

    One thing that doesn't get mentioned enough about Luffy is his haphazard, yet skillful ingenuity. He knows that Koby will never get to join the Marines if he's associated with pirates, so Luffy, his one brain cell working overtime, gets Koby to punch him in order to prove that they're not friends because would friends brawl on the floor of a restaurant? 

3. Luffy Gets The Straw Hat

A moment from the first chapter of the manga that was delayed until Episode 4 of the anime, Luffy getting the straw hat from Shanks is iconic. It sets in motion his entire journey and creates a symbol that represents freedom, adventure, and destiny.

4. Luffy Gives Nami The Straw Hat

  Luffy giving Nami his straw hat is more than just a simple, comforting gesture. It's Luffy telling Nami that if she wants, she'll be a Straw Hat now and for the rest of her life. Nami may have problems, but she'll never have to deal with them alone ever again.

5. Luffy Gets His First Bounty

    By gaining a bounty when he takes down Arlong, Luffy is introduced to the wider world of pirating, the World Government, and eventually the Grand Line. Though Buggy's reveal that he knew Shanks and Mihawk's appearance hinted at a wider world, this is Luffy's first real step into it.

  6. Luffy Smiles At Death

    Luffy obviously doesn't want to die. But as he smiles at the crowd and his crew while Buggy brings a sword down onto his neck, he grins. Because he didn't die in vain. He never became Pirate King and he never found the One Piece, but he did live his life exactly the way that he wanted to. And that's more important than any title or treasure. I'm glad he didn't die, though. They never would've found the Grand Line if Zoro had ascended to the role of Captain. They'd probably still be arguing in the Loguetown harbor.

7. Luffy Holds Up Hiriluk's Flag

   Wapol wanted to destroy Hiriluk's flag and thus eliminate his legacy. But Luffy — smoking due to being recently shot by a cannon and holding up the flag — proved that's not something you can just do. As long as someone is there to fight for it, a flag is forever.

  8. Luffy Disagrees With Vivi

   Vivi, frustrated, enraged, and embarrassed about the treatment of her country, was more than ready to sacrifice herself for it ... and only herself. But Luffy wasn't hearing it. If she was going down, they were all going down. It wasn't just Vivi's fight anymore. The Straw Hats had reached Ride or Die status.

  9. Luffy Beats Crocodile

  I did a list of Luffy's best knockouts so I'm not gonna list every major punch here. However, the ones that are especially meaningful deserve recognition. And this one, where, after two defeats, Luffy battered Crocodile up through the streets of Alubarna, is inarguably one of the most memorable. It's a triumph that's a long time coming, equal parts brutal and satisfying.

  10. Luffy Lets Himself Get Beat Up And Meets Blackbeard

  Mirroring Shanks' restraint when he let himself get harassed by the Mountain Bandits, here we see Luffy decide not to fight Bellamy and instead he listens to Bellamy's foolish proclamations about why dreams suck and why you shouldn't have them and why Mylo Xyloto is the best Coldplay album, probably. However, even if he didn't need the pick-me-up, Blackbeard meets him outside to reaffirm that dreams never die. It would be a super nice remark ... if anyone but Blackbeard was saying it.

  11. Luffy Is Immune To Enel

  Until this point, Enel is borderline unstoppable, able to strike down anyone in his path and — with the help of his "mantra" —  barely takes any damage in the process. And it's made him pretty cocky. But to see Enel's face distort in cartoonish disbelief when he realizes that Luffy is a Rubber Type Pokemon and that he's impervious to Electric Types is so joyously satisfying.

  12. Luffy Decides To Get Rid Of The Going Merry

    With the Going Merry slowly becoming unusable and actually becoming a handicap to the crew, Luffy figures that it's time to find a new ship. It's a sad moment, but you can't help but see Luffy's side. A good pirate crew needs a good pirate ship. And if the Going Merry suddenly sinks, Luffy is dead. Like very, very dead.

  13. Luffy Faces Usopp

  Usopp relates to the Going Merry, fearing that its "weakness" and "inadequacy" represents his own. And so when Luffy decides to get rid of the ship, Usopp lashes out, causing Luffy to have to "put down" Usopp. It's a difficult decision, but it shows that Luffy isn't all laughs and "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" declarations.

14. Luffy Does Not Recognize Sogeking

    And then, after the most heartfelt showdown in the series, Luffy doesn't even recognize Usopp's Sogeking disguise, despite the fact that he has most of Usopp's traits, most of Usopp's weapons, and showed up only a little while after Usopp left. Oh, Luffy. Never stop being you.

  15. Luffy Goes Second Gear

  Power-ups are pretty common in anime. But Luffy saying that he needs to take his skills up another level so that he won't lose his friends still feels pretty special. And then the music kicks in and Luffy beats Blueno to a pulp and it's one of the most hype scenes in the entire series.

  16. Luffy Declares War On The World

   He'll always have a target on his back, he'll never be able to rest easy again, and the World Government will pursue him as long as he draws breath. Luffy knows this, but when the time comes to save Robin from CP9 in Enies Lobby, he doesn't hesitate to take on the whole world. It's just what friends do.

  17. Luffy Refuses To Fall

  When Luffy and Lucci fight, it isn't a quick contest. They go to absolute war on one another. And when Lucci thinks he's won, having left Luffy spitting up blood on the floor, we see that ... no. Luffy will not leave his feet. He has too much pride, too much grit, and too much determination. Defeat is not an option here. He will stop fighting to retrieve Robin when he's dead.

  18. Luffy Is Reunited With Garp

  For a long time, Luffy's actual flesh and blood family was a mystery. Shanks is kind of a cool uncle and Ace is someone that Luffy considers his brother, but where did Luffy, ya know, come from? As it turns out, his grandpa is the cannonball-throwing Marine Vice Admiral Garp, who is not only just as goofy as Luffy, but also really, really, really strong for being 76. What's his secret? Low carbs? Eiichiro Oda, please let me know.

  19. Luffy Punches The Celestial Dragon

  Luffy can't stand bullies or anyone that relishes the misery of others. So when a Celestial Dragon shoots Hatchan in the auctioneering house, Luffy walks right up to him and turns his face into a catcher's mitt.

  20. Luffy Loses His Crew

   Luffy's darkest hour (so far) comes when, in a fight with Kuma, Kizaru and the Pacifistas, his whole crew eventually gets wiped out and spread across the world. All the while, Luffy is powerless to stop it — his Gum Gum skills no match for Kuma's abilities. It's a truly pitiable thing to see Luffy beat his fists on the ground in futility, something entirely unlike any scene in the series before.

  21. Luffy Covers Sandersonia

   Back in Little Garden, Luffy agreed it wasn't necessary to actually have a reason for the fight between the giants. They were having an honorable contest between warriors. That was enough. Later when Sandersonia's scars were about to be revealed after a battle, Luffy covered them up. He had no interest in killing them or exposing their secrets. That is not what the battle was for. The contest was simply one that he wanted to win so he'd eventually get back to his crew.

  22. Luffy Decides To Save His Brother Before Reuniting With His Crew

   When Luffy learns that Ace is to be put to death, he must make a choice: Get the gang back together or dive into the depths of Impel Down and try to rescue his brother. He ends up choosing the latter, which shows a great deal of trust and respect for his crewmates. He knows they're strong enough to be OK without him for now.

23. Luffy Embraces Mr. 2

    This is just plain wholesome. Luffy's love for his friends is might be the best thing about him.

24.Luffy Falls From The Sky

    Luffy's story isn't just about his quest to find the One Piece, but the formation of a legend. And when Luffy and the other Impel Down escapees plummet from the sky into the Marineford war, you can practically see that legend being written.

  25. Luffy Faces The Admirals

  Yes, Luffy's attempts to kick a frozen log at them goes nowhere. And yes, Luffy is almost immediately knocked down by Kizaru when he tries to rush past him. But the guts in that kid! Facing down three of the most powerful men in the One Piece universe and demanding they give Ace back to him. That is moxie, my dudes.

  26. Luffy Goes Comatose

  Ace is dead. The mission has failed. A brother is lost. And all Luffy can do is go numb and lifeless. He has no words or actions to explain or react. A chunk of his soul has been ripped away.

  27. Luffy Realizes He Still Has His Friends

    Yes, his attempt to save Ace was a bust. But in the most hopeless of times, Jimbei asks him what he still has. And Luffy remembers he still has his friends — friends he has been there for in the past and who will most certainly be there for him later. They are still there. And because they are still there, Luffy's existence has worth.

  28. Luffy Gets An Upgrade

  Reuniting with his crew in Sabaody, it doesn't take too long for Luffy to find a way to show off the results of two years of training. He's been doing some grinding, so his skill tree has some new branches. He's unlocked some new abilities, and he's reached his evolved form. When a Pacifista comes at the Monster Trio (Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji,) they beat the bear out of it.

29. Luffy Decides To Make Fish-Man Island His Territory

    For the most part, Luffy doesn't really care about the dominance sought by other powerful characters. But after he's gotten to know the citizens of Fish-Man Island and he sees the terror caused by Big Mom, he tells her straight-up he's gonna defeat her and take Fish-Man Island under his protection. It's the closest that Luffy has ever gotten to being a character in Goodfellas.

  30. Luffy Allies With Law

  And then, shortly after talking trash to Big Mom, Luffy teams up with Trafalgar Law in a plot to overthrow Kaido, another Emperor of the Sea. It's a real leap forward for Luffy. One day, you're just a kid from East Blue punching everyone that seems mean. The next, you're taking an active role in changing the power structure of the entire world. That's just how it is sometimes, though. As Logic once said, "Who can relate?"

  31. Luffy Has Been "Picking Fights All Along"

    Luffy knows he doesn't just tumble from one situation to another. He isn't just a poor guy caught up in the gambits of powerful evil forces. No, Luffy has definitely chosen to live a life where he will interfere with your best-laid plans if he feels inclined to. And if that includes a lot of fighting, well, so be it.

  32. Luffy Reunites With Sabo

  It's been pretty much non-stop action since the beginning of the Post Time Skip era, and that hasn't really allowed for a ton of emotional moments for Luffy. But when he reunites with Sabo in the coliseum and his scream comes out as a mix of happiness, confusion, and surprise, he finally gets one. Cry it out, buddy. We love ya.

  33. Luffy And His Allies Head For Doflamingo

  From orchestrating a breakout in Impel Down to creating a charge toward Doflamingo with all the allies he met in the tournament to win the Flame-Flame Fruit, Luffy has slowly gone from being the captain of a small crew on a ship with an animal head on the front to being the full-on leader of a Pirate Alliance. Luffy 2020 is what I say.

  34. Luffy Goes Fourth Gear

  Years after the reveal of Second and Third Gear, we get Fourth Gear, a power-up that even more freakishly transforms Luffy's body. It's not graceful, nor is it particularly beautiful to behold, but it gets the job done.

  35. Luffy Beats Doflamingo

  Doflamingo — a man that's been a thorn in the side of nearly everyone in the world for about 15 years of anime history — finally gets taken down. And still, it's only a stepping stone to Wano. Somehow, Eiichiro Oda creates these moments that seem like the biggest events in history, and yet, they're only just the beginning.

  36. Luffy Refuses To Fight Sanji

  Luffy knows Sanji is conflicted and not really a bad guy. And he's also aware of the fact that he'll be creating an even bigger issue if he fights back against his chef. So he just takes the kicks, hoping Sanji sees there's another way out of this. Sadly, it'll be a few episodes before he realizes that.

  37. Luffy Waits For Sanji — And Then Punches — Sanji

    Sanji finding Luffy because his captain's stomach is grumbling super loud is so cartoonish and lovely — because what is Sanji's role if not to feed his captain? Of course, Luffy enjoys Sanji's rain-soaked cookin' and then he punches Sanji for still being a twerp that won't admit what he really feels.

38. Luffy Clashes With Big Mom

    Luffy stood beside Whitebeard, but this is his first real showdown with a Yonko. And it doesn't go very well. Big Mom is easily able to block him, which shows that, while Luffy has come a long way, he's still got a bit farther to go.

  39. Luffy Places The Hat On Katakuri

  Much like the previous covering of Sandersonia's shame, Luffy covers Katakuri's mouth with his hat after their duel. The two combatants fought and earned each other's respect. And so Luffy leaves Katakuri with his pride.

  40. Luffy Knows He's Arrived In Wano Due To The Swords

    That giant baboon is using a sword? Obviously this must be Wano, the land of samurai. That's Luffy logic at its most pure. 

  41. Luffy Promises Tama She Will Not Be Hungry Again

  For the most part, heading to Wano seemed like a pretty impersonal act. The only reason he thought about going there in the first place was because Law seemed pretty confident it was a solid idea. But then he meets Tama and learns that she — along with most of the country — is starving. So his journey to take down Kaido gets some personal stakes. He's now shouldering the hopes of an entire group of people.

  42. Luffy Is Beaten By Kaido

  OK, so Round 1 didn't go so well. Luffy pummeled Kaido with everything he had and Kaido one-shotted him with a melee weapon attack. Luffy has to rethink his strategy and expand his move-set and maybe, with some luck, Round 2 will be a tad more even. I can't wait to see what Luffy moments we have in store when One Piece returns!

  What is your favorite Luffy moment? Do any on this list stand out to you? Let me know in the comments!

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[neverwatchedonepiece]

476-478: “Luffy at the End of his Tether! An All-Out Battle at the Oris Plaza”, “The Power That Will Shorten One's Life! Energy Hormone, Redux!” and “To Live up to a Promise! Luffy and Coby Collide!”

You know, Whitebeard, with your massive ham hands, you could stretch Luffy, aim for the scaffold and ping him onto it like a rubber band. Just a thought.

Had time today, so burned through three episodes in a row. Glad I did because 478 was worth the watch with Luffy unconsciously using Conqueror’s Haki (Shanks will be so proud).

Can’t lie, I’m getting fed up with the “charge/knocked back”, “oh the blades are coming down, no... wait” repetition. I joked about the obstacle course a while back but come on...This is getting ridiculous.

It’s hard to split everything that happened into themes, so I’ll have to go through this write-up by episode. That way, I won’t lose my mind keeping track of everything.

476

This episode finally addressed the elephant in the room: Garp. Prior to 476, he had been hanging out with Ace and Sengoku on the scaffold, biting his nails, agonising, torn between duty and familial affection for Ace.

White Whitebeard ordered his crew to clear the way forward for him and briefly turned Aokiji into an Admiral Kebab (ha), Luffy charged the scaffold. Closer than ever, Garp watched his grandson’s advance, watched Vice Admiral Momonga slash up a tired Luffy who had reached his limit, then witnessed Kizaru take advantage and strike. Sengoku watched Garp’s reaction closely, noticed the tell-tale sweatdropping and sensed the conflict in Garp. Being a clever general, he knew he had to nip that in the bud. Having a powerhouse and famous Marine hero like Garp turn against you would be the worst for his meticulous image management strategy. “Garp, remember that you are one of us.”

Funny how Sengoku actually considered Garp might turn against the Marines. (I have a secret hope he might one day. Maybe one atrocity will push him too far and he’ll finally rebel).

Further to my shock-horror discovery that Kizaru is actually cold as ice and an accomplished shit-talker (Aokiji at least expresses regret, you know), he went Full Justice and approached a weakened Luffy through a dust cloud. I liked the shot where he looked down at Luffy and said...

“But, Strawhat, if you’re not strong enough, you can’t save him, no matter how hard you try. Now why don’t you just get lost.”

Luffy, unable to dodge because his vision was blurring and his legs wouldn’t hold him up, took Kizaru’s kick straight to the face. Ouch.

See, though, Kizaru... Luffy having courage is important. Even if he’s not strong enough to take you on now, courage is the starting point. Strength can be built. One day, Luffy will turn around and be fast enough to smack you right back. Rules of shounen, Kizaru. I don’t make them. Unless Oda breaks them, then everything’s out the window.

Luffy’s luck was with him, though. Whitebeard caught him in one massive hand and told his crew to treat him because he’d done enough. Luckier still, Ivankov and Jimbei scaled the wall (via Ivan’s giant face, ha) so Luffy could be treated properly.

I like that Whitebeard defended Luffy and reassured Ace at the same time (@meaheartonepiece has good point about everyone being able to hear everything on the battlefield. Dat manga physics). “He’s nothing but a bundle of energy who bluffs. Young and clumsy. But I like fools like him,” he said, while looking at Ace. Aw, Whitebeard.

But the Sea Dad feels were not to last. For he then stood up, called out the Marines, “Any of you who want to die, come forward!” Only Akainu stepped up to the challenge. Banter was exchanged. They clashed.

Oda (or Toei) love those contrasting colours. Reminds me of DBZ with Frieza vs Goku (and Goku vs anyone, really). The last time they used it to good effect like that was Ace vs Blackbeard (which still wins but this was great too).

It all went off for a while. Kizaru was firing out lasers like he was handing out candy (”one for you, one for you”), Jimbei swore to lay down his life (please don’t, Jimbei. I’d like you to survive this one) and the Shichibukai were still going at it outside the walls.

Marco realised this and saw an opportunity to sweep in and take Ace. Unfortunately, Garp chose that moment to make his Decision. He falcon punched Marco, sat on a vacant Admiral throne and roared, “If you wanna go any further, you’ll have to kill me first.” (Don’t say that, Garp. All these death flags are making me paranoid).

477

The Fodder hacking at each other with swords were quivering that the Legendary Garp had finally entered the battle. They gave us a handy-dandy rundown of Garp’s C.V. Twenty years ago, he fought Gol D. Roger, which we knew about, but he also fought some guy called Shinki the Golden Lion. (Is this filler? I vaguely remember someone mentioning this name a while back).

Gotta say, even if it is, I loved that shot of 70s cop duo Sengoku and Garp. Look at those Pulp Fiction-esque suits. Splendid.

Whitebeard was annoyed. “Don’t get tripped up by Garp’s name” He’s just an old soldier.” You know, I call out Kizaru for his sass but Whitebeard is up there with the best of them. He has top banter with Akainu too, who complained, “I told you not to destroy the city!” to which Whitebeard countered, “I told you to protect it.” 

Ha. Check and mate. Your move, Akainu! 

While this chaos was unfolding, Sengoku ordered the execution. Now, I’ve just had a thought, but could he just... do it himself if it’s that important? I know he probably won’t want to be personally responsible for Ace’s death because of Garp but really he is the one ordering it, so he is already pretty damn responsible.

Cue a close up of Ace’s sad, tired face which faded into a flashback. This was interesting because it revealed that Ace didn’t always hate Roger. At his adopted island, he’d wander around town, asking groups of unfortunate randoms what they knew about Roger. Most people hated him and gave Ace viciously negative responses, which earned them an ass-whooping and Ace a reputation for being out of control. 

I wonder when Ace started to hate Roger? Maybe he’s never really hated Roger. Or maybe it’s complicated.

There was a nice moment with Garp, though, which is a damn good quote for lie, really, now that I think about it. Ace, racked with guilt even at his young age, said to Garp, “Did I deserve to be born?” What a question for a kid to ask. Garp thought about it, then said, “That’s something you’ll see as you live.”

Excellent answer, Garp. It made me tear a bit, to be honest. That’s a quote I’d take away from One Piece and use in real life, no question.

The memory of that conversation triggered something in Ace. He looked out over the battlefield, over the carnage and chaos and wept because, even though that guilt was still chasing him, he was so happy because his family and friends had come to rescue him.

The boy wants to live, damn it. ;_;

I am certain those words hurt Garp more than any physical blow.

Now, this is where I have to disclose something. I have been avoiding talking about Ace and where I think this execution is going to go because way back when I first started this thing, a random, weapons-grade walnut sent me a PM with three “spoilers” in it. I say “spoilers” because one of the three turned out to be fake. Some of you might know this because I think I mentioned it in the early posts. One was that Roger was Luffy’s father, the other was that “Ace dies” and the third was “they have another brother.” The first is fake, so I’m holding out hope that the random was just trolling because now that Ace wants to live and has come to terms with his guilt, it would be cruel to take Luffy’s only brother from him.

Maybe Whitebeard will sacrifice himself for Ace because THOSE WOUNDS.

While fighting Magma Brat, Whitebeard had an attack of Old Age. Akainu struck and blew a goddamned hole in Whitebeard’s chest. (Oda likes that angle, doesn’t he? It reminds me of Luffy vs Magellan). At the same time, Marco was sniped by Kizaru, Diamond Jozu was Diamond Frozu by Aokiji, and Luffy was down.

But not for long. He has traded a portion of his life for a boost of Ivankov’s Regenerating Hormones. I like how Ivankov refused him at first, saying he could never face Dragon if he let his son die. But Luffy, as always, has that hellish charisma. “If I knew I'd done everything I could, I'd be happy to die. If I can't rescue Ace, I'd rather take my own life afterwards. Let me have the strength to fight now!"

That is some iron conviction you have there, Luffy. Ivankov, even though he was conflicted, said, “UGH, FINE STRAW BOY, HERE. DO WAT U WANT, SMH.” And it was business as usual. Another charge!

478

Meanwhile, Coby spent most of 476-477 feeling terrified, inspired and conflicted by Luffy’s strength and conviction.

It’s nice that he found his courage to fight and stand up to Luffy, but the encounter was laughably short. He saw Luffy through the dust cloud, built up an attack (does Coby have a fruit?) aaaaaaaaaaand... he got his face caved in.

At least he’s not dead, eh?  Coby, son, you need to level up! Go join Kizaru’s crew. He’ll teach you how to be a cold, hardass MF WHO IS ALSO CUNNING.

Realising his beams wouldn’t work on Marco because Marco regenerates, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, Kizaru cuffed him with seastone, negating his powers, and then sniped him.

What a magnificent bastard he is. I hate that I like Kizaru. I am as conflicted as Coby, haha.

At this point, things were not looking good for the Whitebeard Pirates and Allies. Sengoku gave the order to kill Whitebeard and a bunch of fodder leapt at him with swords to the point he looked like an angry, roided porcupine. He even took a bazooka to the face. But that didn’t matter. "They think they can beat me so easily? I don't need any help. BECAUSE I’M WHITEBEARD.”

That was awesome.

“Did he call me wounded? Ridiculous. I won't die from such a small wound.” (He said with a fucking hole in his chest). “I know.. what will happen.. if i die. Then, you know, I can't allow myself to die until... I see a bright future ahead for my sons. Right, Ace?”

I wasn’t crying. Nope. Not at all.

Sengoku did not like this. He ordered the swords to be brought down. Whitebeard tried to stop it from happening, but his vision blurred. Luffy was too far away. He fought and fought, got punched in the face, knocked back... there were too many Marines. Ace was going to die. And he couldn’t reach him. It all became too much...

And then this happened.

Conqeror’s Haki. Absolutely golden. Shanks would be proud, Luffy. You are now worthy of wearing that hat.

[neverwatchedonepiece]

461: The Beginning of the War! Ace and Whitebeard's Past!

Yeah, I can see why Ace crumbled and joined him.

Really enjoyed the reveal of Ace’s past and how he achieved his infamy. And it turns out Ace was an infamous, powerful pirate in his own right before he joined Whitebeard. That, I was not expecting.

Loved that part at the start of 461 when Luffy was chatting to Ivankov and pulled a Hagrid. Ivankov was wondering if Dragon would show up to the execution because he was certain, absolutely certain that Dragon would not allow the WG to kill his own son.

Luffy, the oblivious rubber child, said within earshot of the entire breakout crew: “Wut? No, Dragon is MY dad. Ace’s dad is Gol D. Roger. He got the cool one, eh? Wait... I shouldn’t have said that. I really should not have said that.”

Oh, Luffy.

Whitebeard

Then, finally, after I don’t know how many episodes of waiting, the main event arrived.

@mrkashkiet asked if I had any predictions on Whitebeard’s powers. I said my first predictions were for a fruit power. Then, when I learned about Shanks and his lack of fruit, I figured maybe Whitebeard would be one of those guys who is so strong he doesn’t need a fruit. If Whitebeard did have a fruit, since he is a big, physically powerful guy, I guessed he would have earth or earthquake powers to compliment the muscles.

Argh, I was so close!

Whitebeard’s entrance was understated but even that showed his supreme confidence in his power. The other two ships popped up beside his, revealing he had brought all fourteen of his commanders with him. Then, in deathly silence, came the chink, chink, chink of someone slowly, deliberately ascending a flight of stairs (there’s those stairs again. Might start shipping Oda x Stairs).

Of course it was Whitebeard. I cheered.

I loved the casual threats he sent Sengoku’s way.  “It’s been a while. You’d better be telling me that my adorable, fiery son is alright?” Sengoku was sweat dropping like he was out at Nandos with the lads and regretted slathering on all the Vusa sauce to show off.

Then Whitebeard turned to Ace and was like, “Yeah, just gimme a sec, son.”

I thought, such bravado from the whitest of beards. But it was not mere bravado.

Whitebeard built up power and (this was so badass I’m still not over it) punched the air so hard it cracked. I wasn’t sure what was going on at first. I figured it was lightning (but then that had already been done with Enel) but Sengoku kindly explained the technique. Whitebeard has eaten the Tremor Tremor Fruit (not sure I got that right). It causes sea quakes! Not earthquakes. Argh, I was so close.

Then the action cut to flashback.

I have never welcomed a flashback as much. Come to think of it, I always enjoy One Piece flashbacks. Up until now, they’ve always served a plot purpose or as a reminder to a viewer (like remember when Luffy beat this guy two hundred episodes ago?) This is in contrast to something like Naruto. If you’ve seen it, how many times did you see Naruto having that sad day on the swings? Exactly.

The flashbacks revealed that Ace has ticked off some awesome boxes, just like Luffy.

Ace’s Past

The flashback opened with a young, fresh-faced Ace, waving goodbye to little Luffy. Almost immediately, Ace was causing chaos. He founded the Spades Pirates (I see what you did there, Oda) and tore the place up to the point he got himself into the OP News.

Garp was mad. He wanted Ace to become an accountant.

Whitebeard also read the OP News. Sage old man that he is, he shook his head. These young whippersnappers are too hasty. Whitebeard revealed  that Ace even refused a request to join the Shichibukai (now that’s really something. I wonder if Sengoku had his suspicions about who Ace was. Maybe Garp was behind the request, subtly prompting the Marines to enlist Ace because it would keep him safe?)

But that wasn’t all. Foolhardy young Ace went to visit Shanks.

He dragged his crew with him up Caradhras a snowy mountain. Spade Crew expressed doubts because this was The Shanks they were crashing in on, uninvited. But Ace was like, “It’ll be fine, stop bitching!”

Ace rocks up with his crew and Shanks was not in Saving Tiny Children Mode, but in Badass Mode. He wasn’t too keen on Ace impinging on his chill time until Ace said, “Nah, I’m not here to fight. I want to say thanks for saving my little bro.” It’s amazing what mentioning Luffy’s name does to Shanks. He thawed immediately and it was party time.

The reveal that Ace wanted to become Pirate King when he was younger was unexpected. I totally assumed that he had grown up hating Roger and everything he stood for, so that when Whitebeard came along as a substitute father, he latched on. 

The reality was different. It took a long time for Ace to come around. Now that I think about it, I like that much better. Ace gave up his dream to be the Pirate King but it took a long time, a lot of convincing and it was his own decision, taken after a great deal of thought and only when trust, mutual respect and a real relationship was established. Good.

I love that Ace fought Jimbei for five days. No idea why Jimbei felt obligated to screen Whitebeard’s appointments like his secretary, but it was cool to get a feel for how tough Jimbei is as an opponent. 

I felt sorry for Ace when after he collapsed, done with Jimbei, Whitebeard sailed up out of the mist and was like, “So I heard one of you was looking for a fight?”

Exhaused, Ace said, “Yes, that would be me. Run, crew!” But Whitebeard was just too strong. Luckily, Whitebeard had taken a liking to Ace (maybe he saw Roger in Ace and suspected?). He extended a massive hand and said, “I like you. You are cheeky. You are valuable. Become my fiery son.”

It was a hard pass from Ace, but he woke up on the Moby Dick. He was not happy. Ace tried (hilariously) to assassinate Whitebeard over a hundred times and got reckt.

He met Thatch, the 4th Division Commander who came a cropper courtesy of Blackbeard (rip, Thatch). Thatch was nice. He gave Ace some good advice: “You can either get off this ship and start again, or stay and wear Whitebeard’s mark.” 

Ace stayed. He made such a name for himself that the Whitebeards started talking about making him 2nd Division Commander. Ace was like, “Who, me? But there are people there who’ve been around longer.”

One of those people was Blackbeard!

That was another interesting thing to learn, that Teach was one of the original Whitebeard crew members. It makes his betrayal all the more disturbing. Ace was sitting casually, with him, worrying if BB would be offended if he went for 2nd Division commander. Blackbeard said: “Don’t worry...

Technically true, but also a such a huge, bare-faced omission of truth it’s equivalent to a lie. Sneaky, evil Teach.

The moment Whitebeard finally won over Ace fully was when Ace knocked at his door one night and told him about his heritage. Instead of being angry that his old rival’s son had infiltrated his crew, Whitebeard was cool about it. “That doesn’t matter. We’re all family.” Whitebeard didn’t care that Ace was Roger’s son. He cared that Ace was his son. Excuse me while I dab my eyes with a nearby handkerchief.

Then Thatch found the Yami Yami no Mi and it all went to shit, complete with black and white “is that a dagger I see before me” flashback with Teach looking demonic and pleased.

Ace was distraught when he found out. He took Teach’s betrayal personally. As Teach’s commander, Teach was his responsibility. Worst of all, Teach had disgraced Whitebeard, Ace’s father’s, name. Whitebeard tried to stop him, said, “This is an exception. I have a bad feeling about this,” probably knowing what fruit Teach had stolen. But Ace was too wrapped up in grief and anger to listen.

Ace knows that now. He admitted to causing the omnishambles that is about to kick off. He should have listened. Why did they come?

But Whitebeard said he told Ace to go? Wtf? I don’t get that yet, but I hope he will explain himself in 462.

Good episode, though. 10/10 would watch again.

During a late night father-son chat, Whitebeard reveals the secret of how he sculpts his facial hair.

[recentanimenews]

5 Anime Fighting Games That Will Punch Your Face Off

It's really weird to me when anime characters aren't fighting. I watch Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai and think "But why doesn't bunny girl just take her TRUE BEAST FORM and annihilate that dude?" And in all twelve episodes of Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, not once did Honda unleash his THOUSAND MANGA SKELETON SMASH on an annoying customer. It's major narrative oversights like this that draw me back to fighting games that are based on anime and manga where everyone is fighting, all the time, often for little to no reason. And it's why I'll wind up playing Jump Force when it comes out. 

  Regardless of your feelings on the playable characters (It's 2019. The Jump Force roster should logically be the cast of My Hero Academia and then maybe Krillin), there's no doubt that Jump Force is going to deliver on spiky haired anime protagonists beating the tar out of other spiky haired anime protagonists. But it doesn't come out for... 4 days. What am I going to do until then? Play the critically accliamed Resident Evil 2, a game that critics and fans alike have deemed to be almost perfect and has seemingly revitalized the survival horror genre? Easy, there. I'm gonna play some underrated anime fighting games, and I'm gonna start with...

  JUMP ULTIMATE STARS

  I wrote an entire article about this game but honestly, every article on the internet, regardless of its topic, should show tribute to Jump Ultimate Stars. After you create your team (from the 56 playable characters and the 249 support characters) by assembling them on a manga page, you unleash them in arenas based on various manga series. The combat is fast and intense, and the art style is perfect. If the characters on an issue of Weekly Shonen Jump suddenly leapt from the page and began strangling eachother, it would look like this game. 

  Now, Jump Ultimate Stars never got an official English release, so if you want to play it on your DS or 3DS, you're probably going to have to pull up a GameFaqs walkthrough at the same time. But it's not that hard once you figure out the menus. And honestly, it's pretty worth it, especially if you've spent years thinking "The cast of Dr. Slump COULD beat up Sasuke."

  DRAGON BALL Z: BUDOKAI

  I didn't watch Dragon Ball Z growing up, because I was raised on limited cable in the South, which means that if I wanted to watch anime, I either woke up at 5:30 in the morning to catch Pokémon on UPN, or I hoped that Pat Robertson ended The 700 Club with a Kamehameha. And so, my first exposure to it was through my roommate's PlayStation 2 games in college. I take that back. My FIRST exposure to it was through my friend's fan art in sixth grade. He drew Vegeta bleeding from the mouth, and then when a girl he liked asked him what he was drawing, he threw away the picture and said "Just stupid stuff." And I never respected Dustin again.

But my friend Tim, who unabashedly displayed a seemingly endless collection of three Dragon Ball Z games, supplied me with a great introduction to the series. Now, especially when you compare them to the beautiful, measured combat of Dragon Ball FighterZ, the Budokai series can feel clunky. They seem less like a tounrament between the world's greatest martial artists, and more like two drunken Super Saiyans fist fighting outside of a Chili's. However, they are so fun and I love them. 

ONE PIECE GRAND ADVENTURE/ONE PIECE: BURNING BLOOD

Yeah, I'm putting two One Piece games on this list. One Piece is kind of my "ride or die" series and it's my list, so I can and will do what I want with it. 

If you've ever listened to the absolute banger that is the 4Kids One Piece pirate rap, and you thought "If only all of One Piece could be more like this," you are in soooooo much luck. The opening cinematic to One Piece Grand Adventure includes what can only be generously described as "rapping," and it includes all of the "random record scratches and misplaced hip hop! Kids these days like that, right?" that the 4kids opening had. Also, it is dubbed by the 4Kids cast as well, so that's kinda fun. 

    One Piece: Burning Blood was weird for me at first because, by the time I started playing it, nearly everyone who played it casually had left. So, by the time my thirty minute matchmaking session had ended, the people that I was playing against were god-tier, S-Class warriors, much more akin to the secret, borderline invincible bosses that you run into unexpectedly in JRPGs than actual players. However, in retreating to the single player options, I found solace, and I believe when it comes to arena battle anime games, Burning Blood is one of the best. Also, after playing Burning Blood, Monkey D. Garp is my next choice for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC. Don't overthink it. 

  YU YU HAKUSHO 2: KAKUTOU NO SHO

  The aesthetics of the Yu Yu Hakusho anime are PERFECT for the Super Nintendo, and that's why the Street Fighter-esque YU YU HAKUSHO 2: KAKUTOU NO SHO is such a pleasure to play. Its story mode takes you up through the end of the Dark Tournament arc, which means that you spend about a third of the game fighting Younger Toguro. But considering that Yusuke vs Toguro is one of the best rivalries in the history of fiction, I have absolutely no problems with this. It'd be like complaining that I got to eat strawberry shortcake too many times this week. Why am I complaining? IT'S STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, BRO.

  Now, this is another game that only got an official release in Japan, so if you don't want to import a copy, you could play Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament for the PS2. It's not a bad game, but something about it feels off, like the protagonists often move super slowly in comparison to the demons that are pummeling them. I have to wait for Kuwabara to deliver an uppercut, and meanwhile, Chu has already punched me in the groin seven times.

   NARUTO: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM SERIES

  Talking about the visuals in a fighting game can be odd, because fighting games never really give you a chance to "stop and smell the roses." If you wait to say "Dang, I LOVE how Kakashi's outfit looks," Sakura will have already pulled out your spine. Also, the lazier anime fighting games tend to hope that you'll be too wowed by the fact that you're playing as familiar characters to even care about the graphics, which is like hoping that you'll be excited to see your Uncle at the next family reunion, without noticing that he's currently made of slugs.

  That said, the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm games are quite awesome to look at, with really vibrant, energetic colors. And the gameplay is super fluid, living up to the rad fights in the actual show. Also, exploring the Hidden Leaf village in the first game and doing training quests between fights was way less of a chore than I thought it would be. Overall, the Ultimate Ninja Storm series takes what could be some really lazy cash-ins and turns them into great games.

  What's your favorite anime fighting game? What do you think about the games listed here? Are you gonna play Jump Force? Let us know in the comments!

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  Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll that uses Twitter for the dumbest reasons. On Jump Force, he wants to main Luffy, Younger Toguro, and Hisoka. 

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