#and oda's writing just has a way of making you feel seen

[eastbluecrewed]

huge fan of the barrel scene (witness me getting sappy beneath the cut)

i had a small but meaningful personal achievement coincide with reaching the barrel scene on my rewatch, and it got me thinking abt the impact one piece has had on me since i started it eight months ago. i love these guys a lot and they've done an absolute number on my psyche so of course i'm gonna tie them into the good things in my life!! sue me!!!!

when i first watched this scene i didn't realize the deep impact this story and these characters were going to have on me and how i view life, but damn they sure did!!! and so i thought it'd be fitting to do a simple little redraw as tribute to that and to myself.

hell yeah one piece time

[night-dazai]

hi i need a ada dazai x reader x beast dazai smut please ;-; or otherwise with the same idea except that it's Chuuya x reader x beast Chuuya smut I'm eager to read and I love what you write I would be happy if you can write it 🙏

I have a feeling both Beast Dazai and Port Mafia Dazai might be similar in some senses here is the link to what I wrote of dazai X Reader X Port Mafia Dazai. I will mostly be writing this in headcanon form and not a storyline. ( cause too many ideas that way and I am already too late in answering this request sorry😭😭 )

I just loved these requests I did not know why I did not do them before !!!🥳😅

Dazai X Reader X Beast Dazai : 

Both looked the same at the same time not the same, the time travel machine which brought both you and your ADA detective lover “Weird never knew there would be a day I would see someone like me with a lover “ Beast Dazai scoffed scanning you from head to toe. 

It was going to take some time for your friends in the other universe to fix the machine and take you two back but that did not matter here. The Dazai were fixated on making sure they stayed at the port mafia headquarters. 

Your lover broke down a little when he first saw his dear friend Oda point a gun at him thinking he was beast Dazai but after escaping from him you were busy comforting your lover by riding him. 

“Osamu~” you moaned hands on his shoulder while he buried his face in the little space on your neck not looking at you and it had been like this for a while “Please look at me “ you would beg. 

Legs giving out and pleasure fading due to your slow moments “Hurry y/n” Dazai said not lifting his face. You thought he was crying but he was feeling a lot more inside “Please I feel scared look at me “ you said and this time losing all patience you grabbed his hair with a harsh tug pulling his face from your neck where red bruises adored your skin. 

Wet eyes, heart-shattering look, mouth quivering and biting his bottom lip Dazai looked at you, your heart squeened very painfully. All thoughts about your pleasure flew out of the window you wanted him to feel safe and loved not like this. 

You have never seen him like this, but now that you have seen him like this you don't like it “Please… he did not know, Oda would never do that you know right ?” you said rubbing your soft hands on his checks as he nuzzled his face “ mhh… I do ….he hated me y/n “ his voice quivered and shook. 

That's it you bounced a harsh one making him hiss and look at you confused “You only see me now, only me “ you said pushing him onto the big black bed and started moving again. Your legs hurt but you did not brother. 

Seeing your determination just made the man choke up more but holding your hips he helped “Harder love “ he mumbled as you both were near the end, the room door opened with a bang “What the hell happened I hea–” Beast Dazai paused capturing the scene in front of him. 

Dazai quickly got up making you lose your balance but his hand held you in place “You…” he said while you scrabbed and hugged your lover tight “Now now …you sad huh ?” Beast Dazai asked seeing the looking at his other self. 

He knew the feeling, he knew it better than anyone and he would also like to forget it, closing the door he removed his coat “I am sad too..” he pouted in faux affinity. You looked at your lover worried about this new development, it has been 4 days since you both came here and now what is this ?!

Your lover said nothing and moved inside letting his other self climb up behind you naked and rubbing his dick on your soft ass” mhh” you whimpered feeling your lover thrust in while the other clutched your breasts and twisted your nipples. 

Beats Dazai groaned in an animalistic way making you shiver but soon you found yourself mouth stuffed with your lover and the other self pounding into you at a rough pace. 

Your neck hurt and your back arched in the most breathtaking orgasms that they pulled out of you taking trunks to pound your pussy. It was not very different but Beast Dazai had a certain roughness your lover did not possess ( or so you thought ) and that had you feeling very different. 

After hours of helping both of them feel had you pass out in the middle to wake up to both of them on either side of your bed. 

In the next 3 days, your friends fixed the machine and you were back to your universe, but sometimes you would think about that night asking your lover to get rougher with you. 

“You can .. it won't hurt, “ you said shyly while Dazai contemplated your new requests, “ finally I can be…no I can easily hurt her it is not good, “ your lover thought and shook his head “Bella it is easy for me to hurt you and I won't like it “ his voice filled with concern and love. 

But driven by lust and hunger you shouted “Then do it ! For heaven's sake what am I a little kid huh !” you shouted pushing your hair behind annoyed. But before you could open your eyes you were flipped and on your stomach hands held tight on your back and Dazai dangerously close to your ear “Then don't complain later “The soft and sweet warmth was gone, and the cold brutal tone made you shiver with anticipation “ yes sir “ 

“That's a good girl “ Dazai smirked at the new awakening of you which just turned out to be more advantageous for him.

Chuuya X Reader X Beast chuuya : 

There won't be many differences between both of them in the style of fucking, both are rough but sweet. 

But one thing is for sure if you are dating anyone of them they would be more focused on making sure they did better than the other. 

His dick hitting parts that you had no idea but now painfully going near your cervix you shouted for him to slow down. But a hand held your neck and pulled you up “Who is better ?” Beast chuuya asked in a sexy voice which almost made you feel like you could cum on his voice alone “Feels good …..good” you mumbled. 

Mind all hazy while the other chuuya using your ass smacked it and kissed you glaring at the Beeast chuuya, it felt so good. 

You did not like the idea of getting shared but here it's chuuya and chuuya and you feel good so it does not matter. 

Unable to breathe due to the intense kiss you squirmed gaining a smack on your clit “Stay still slut “ Chuuya mumbled while Beast chuuya chuckled “Oh yeah, think you are better than me ?” he challenged.

This made the other redhead thrust harder and faster, your whole body shook and jerked with the intense force. Ass and clit red and puff a little painful from the hard thrusts into your ass and cunt while each focused on ripping out as many orgasms as they can give you as your milked their dicks dry “Harder.~~” you mumbled. 

Chest and neck filled with red and purple bites “Pretty “ Beast chuuya said running his hands over your chest and pulling your nipples with a harsh tung getting a whimper “Good doll “

Both of them chuckled seeing your fucked out face and state of mind where nothing other than a dick was all you wanted “Yes doll “ both said at the same time, surprising each other but soon smiled “I think we can find out with the number of marks tomorrow as to who is better “chuuya said. 

“Challenged accepted “ Beast chuuya said smirking, leather-gloved hands held your neck “Heard it doll, you better tell us “ 

[physics-of-one-piece]

Ohhh Fizzyyyy~ ✨

While researching Doffy's Looks, I noticed something sad about the DQ Brothers and I have to make everyone elses a bit sad with me ~ 😌

And someone else has probably pointed that out already

About the color reverse with Doffy and Rosi, it only happened after Doffy shot his Brother ! (Actually it happened when Doffy ruled Dressrosa, but let me have this!!! )

Before The Incident™ we see Doffy in two magnificent fits.

This one: white trousers, black shirt, bit of red and dark pink on his pants. Similar colors to Rosi over all, but not a color reverse. Not sure about the timeline right now, but the colors might symbolize Doffy being happy his little brother is back and therefore making them wear similar colours to show it (let me have this 😩plz)

And then there is our beloved Red Suit Doffy. No White in sight, just Black and lots of Red (= blood = Family and death). He feels betrayed by the only Family he has left and there is only one solution for him! 😩 Bang bang.

And only after Doffy realized what he has lost, he subconciously choose to wear his brothers colors! ( I know it was Odas choice to show the parallels with the Brothers in the Dressrosa Arc, BUT let me-)

Anyway ✨✌🏻 i just wanted to point this out !

Have a loveley Day, Fizzy 🦩

PS: Its totaly off topic but I headcanons Doffy with a bellybutton piercing. Let me ha-

Hello, Coco ~💕✨🫶🏻

I love this. First of all, these two pics made me swoon North Blue Doffy is so handsome 😍

We will ignore that Oda designed Doffy first and only later decided to make Rosinante (in Oda's first ever sketches of Doffy, Doffy was a single child! But man am I glad he changed his mind) and used Dressrosa Doffy's clothes colours but switched them for the base of Doffy's brother because clothes are another writing/artist tool- as a writer, what better way to speak to the audience than through clothes? You get to say soo many things with clothes, especially in manga. Clothes are such a simple tool and yet a great tool to show the connection between characters while also giving them their own style!

However, let's ignore that entire "Oda created Doffy first" which and focus on how the characters feel and what made the characters pick their clothes.

And you're right. Now, why Dressrosa Doffy reverse clothes colours scheme for Cora? Easy. Audience. By now, it's been (counting from ep 608 when post-timeskip Doffy aka Dressrosa Doffy is revealed) 100 episodes that the audience has seen Doflamingo dressed in those clothes, white shirt, pink coat. The moment we see Cora, our minds need to go "that's Corazon, that's Doflamingo's younger brother" at FIRST SIGHT of Corazon.

So, Oda does the colours the same but on different clothing aka if Doffy has a white shirt, Cora will have white pants. If Doffy has a pink coat, Cora can't have a pink coat but his upper body needs to wear sth pink. Pink shirt with pink hearts. Genius. Oh, and the biggest "THIS IS DOFLAMINGO'S LITTLE BROTHER" sign? Feather coat like Doflamingo's just a black colour. Oda coloured Cora's coat black but I love the purple of the anime too cus it's literally on the colour spectrum right next to pink. I think Oda made it black but myb it was originally purple but the amount of times Cora lit it on fire just made the poor thing turn black. Though, there is the entire thing with flamingos. They have black feathers underneath their main pink feathers - it's the black feathers that help them to fly.

North Blue Doffy

I think the moment Doffy hit 21 (that's the legal drinking age in Japan) he switches to suits/more formal wear. And yes, you're right about Dressrosa Doffy being the reverse clothes switch of Cora aka after his brother's death. Doffy liked red a lot to go with his wardrobe.

This is how he dressed at 17 (I love it, it makes no sense and I love it) at Roger's execution. Maybe it was hot that day, but it did start to rain later but it was probably summer rain anyway. But I can totally see this being 17 year old Doffy's everyday fit.

So, sometime later when he reached 20 and he became the young pirate underworld businessman as Law (and we, the audience) meet him later as in North Blue, he switched to formal wear. Doffy likes luxury. He's a Celestial Dragon. Also, I like to think the climate of North Blue doesn't agree with him, so he goes for long sleeved shirts such as dress shirts and the full red suit. Of course he goes for suits. They can also make him appear less dangerous than he is while giving him an edge over other pirates who dress... Well, like pirates 🤣

So, when Cora came back (Doffy was 24, Cora 22) of course Doffy will try to colour match somehow. Ties are a no go. First, he needs EVERYONE to know that this clumsy pyromaniac is his wonderful cute little brother! And how does he do that?

COAT.

Doflamingo already probably has quite a bounty on his head even in his North Blue days (probably a 100,000 berries or a bit more, I think it skyrocketed to its 320 mil. when he attacked the Heavenly Tributes). His coat is probably INFAMOUS. It's what other pirates recognise him by. You see a big pink feather coat? Oh, that's Donquixote Doflamingo.

And so Doflamingo wanted everyone to connect Cora's black/purple(in anime)coat to "this is Doflamingo's younger brother, Corazon"

It's not known whether the pirate world is aware that Corazon is Doflamingo's younger brother,but I'd wager the answer is a big NO. They think as Doflamingo's right-hand man, it comes with the perk of wearing a feather coat 🤣

In short, I am a 100% sure Doffy picked Corazon's outfit.

Red Suit Doffy being = blood, family, death you get it Coco, you get it. 🥹🫶🏻

I love being delulu thinking Dressrosa Doffy subconsciously chose to wear his brother's colour scheme but reverse and with his own twists cus wtf are those pants colour, Doffy what fckn colour is that, Doffy. I fckn love it but what fckn colour - oh even that is just a lighter shade of Cora's beanie, just shoot me.

I mean, I know it's probably not true that he like subconsciously chose them cus of Cora, but I totally get you, Coco. Even if Doffy most likely chose them cus he likes them+white dress shirts are always worn by royals (thinks Sanji's outfit in Whole Cake) I support being delulu☝🏻🫡

Thank you for the ask, it hurts but it's worth it. 🫶🏻💕

But maaan, all this clothes talk is just making me wonder if Merlot & Primroses Doffy would be so terrible (at least it's in Reader's POV how Reader would understand it) to give Reader Cora's extra black feather coat fitted for her. Or myb the opposite, sth that he tries to erase Cora's presence with...

Where are those American flamingos...

A feather coat like this colour? It's such a close shade to pink but is its own shade. Like, the people will be thinking "there is a connection to Doflamingo" and that already is bad enough the moment they think that

Plus, the Chilean flamingos have their tail feathers in a darker pink colour too!

And some flamingos have black tail feathers, too (prob why Oda drew Cora's coat black (or bcs of the underneath black feathers as I said), now that I think about it).

Aaah, thank you for making me cry over DQ brothers again, Coco 🫶🏻🥹✨💕

And you may or may not have made me think about how to make Merlot & Primroses even more angsty, though I for some reason don't want to give Reader any feather coat. Those things can be HEAVY.

Doffy with a bellybuton piercing 😳😳 oh my 🫣🫣 that is so cute 🥹🥹

[aki-bara]

A YouTube comment I typed out to try and help someone understand Sanji's character a bit better:

I almost left this comment on your last video, but didn't because I didn't want to be "that guy." I'm only leaving it now because I believe you will genuinely be able enjoy the show more if you understand something about Sanji's character.

Sanji is a closeted character.

Not (necessarily) in the homosexual context, though many have (and will) argue that point. What Sanji is "hiding" is a self perceived flaw in his own character-- a feeling of not being good enough, and particularly of not being masculine enough.

Sanji grew up around a lot of toxic masculinity and was constantly belittled for not being like them. He hates men because of this, but as a result also desires approval. There's a certain amount of self-preservation in it too, an idea that if he tries hard enough to "fake it" he can get by without being "seen" for what he is.

I do NOT think this excuses any of his perverted behavior.

However, what I think you and many others may have missed is how much of Sanji is just a front. He IS the man behind the curtain. He is literally ALL talk.

I cannot say this with 100% certainty as I've been reading the manga over the course of many many years, but I believe that in the comic Sanji has never once touched a woman without her consent. He does not hesitate to go on at length about how beautiful he thinks women are, but he still respects women as people.

Sometimes Toei (the animation company) make him act like more of a perv because they think it's funny. I do not fault you for finding this annoying. It makes the anime basically unwatchable to me personally, but Sanji as Oda writes him genuinely is and wants to be a gentleman.

He genuinely believes that women are better than men, and therefore thinks its only "proper" that he act as their servant. He also believes that all men are inherently dog shit. His issue with Zoro can be boiled down to "he's a masculine guy" and masculine men are threats to Sanji's well being. Zoro mostly fights back because Sanji is annoying about it.

Many people (for multiple reasons) believe Sanji actually genuinely wants to be a woman, and thus view his hatred of men as an extension of his own self-hatred and his admiration for women's bodies as an expression of that desire. Again, IF true this would not excuse his behavior, but in no way is his "perversion" born from a desire to CONTROL.

Sanji would absolutely never ever do what Hogback has done to Cindry. If a woman rejected Sanji, he'd think-

Of course she would reject me, for I am a disgusting pig/man/pervert and she is a lady. This is the natural state of things.

-and continue to fulfill her every desire. And if her desire was for him to jump off a cliff? HE WOULD DO IT.

He doesn't "serve" women because he wants something from them, he genuinely thinks women just deserve to be served.

So please, if you can, look at Sanji's actions and not at his words. Keep in mind who it is he says these things to. This is not a command! You can have whatever opinion of Sanji you like, I just think you'll like the show more if you can keep this idea in mind.

[asher-agere]

Ooh Ashh i dreamed about little dazai and cg oda /gen. Now i can't stop thinking about them...

Also i woke up inspired? Maybe i'll try to continue writing my fic :>

Recently i've been thinking about creating a blog more personal to me, tho i'd only use it when using the computer, for some reasons. Then i'd feel comfortable not being on anon all the time hahahha (im shy and anxious all the time </3) what do ya think? I have sooo many headcannons about bsd, i think the blog would be just for them...

Love ya! -🦭

(Talking about anon stuff, if this isn't in anon mode, please ignore it... i say this because recently i had an ask of mine answered (not from you!) and it wasn't on anon mode and ot kinda freaked me out a bit hahahah)

I’VE BEEN WANTING TO RESPOND TO THIS ONE FOR SO LONG. FOR SO MANY REASONS? For starters baby Dazai and caregiver Odasaku is one of my favorites. They’re one of the few cases I actually view as a solid parental bond rather than the caregiver just being a vague role. Plus you should absolutely make a personal blog! Cause that means I can support you and interact with you more! Plus we always need more BSD agere content. Also an ask not in anon mode must’ve been so scary… Hopefully nothing bad came from it? (That’s also another reason supporting personal blog :^)

Little Dazai + Caregiver Odasaku

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺˖⁺‧₊˚ ♡ ˚₊‧⁺˖༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

₊ ⊹ These two have known each other since Dazai was 14, Odasaku has seen first hand that Dazai was forced to grow up way too fast. And well. He’s always had a soft spot for kids. Dazai is no different. Dazai regresses to 2-5, which is just a bit younger than the orphans Odasaku takes care of! I don’t remember exactly what age he took the orphans in at but surely he dealt with them when they were at least somewhat in that age range, so he’d got experience! With Dazai’s age range specifically! This makes him even better at taking care of Dazai!

₊ ⊹ Odasaku is a writer! You know what that means? All the bedtime stories ever! He writes his own bedtime stories to read to Dazai, he’ll turn Dazai’s babbling tales into a story, Dazai can even help him write! A lot of the time Dazai just wants to hear his caregivers voice, he doesn’t care what’s being said, so Odasaku will just talk about some writing ideas he’s had! Dazai is happy to supply his ideas! Odasaku tones them down a bit of course, and doesn’t always use them (Cats with laser eyes don’t really fit into a story about pirates… But maybe a pirate ship can have a cat aboard)

₊ ⊹ I think Odasaku has tried before to let Dazai play with his orphans, he thought it would be a good idea! But… Dazai gets overwhelmed really easily, especially while he’s regressed. Not to mention jealousy and all those other yucky emotions! Odasaku is his. Just his. Plus what if these kids think he’s weird? They wouldn’t of course, Odasaku didn’t raise them to be judgmental. But still… And he’ll lash out with bites or hitting if he gets to overwhelmed! Needless to say that’s a play date that only happens once

₊ ⊹ Lashing out is a common thing with Dazai. Most babies have the instinctive reaction to cry when things go wrong, Dazai learned very young that crying doesn’t help you. Fighting does. He feels bad after of course! He never wants to hurt Odasaku! But Odasaku reassures him that it’s ok! He never uses a harsh tone, always just gently reminds Dazai “We don’t hurt” If Dazai is so overwhelmed he won’t listen to reason though a swaddle is the solution! Wrap him up nice and tight in a blanket so he can’t move much, a pacifier in his mouth so he can’t bite or scream, then they stay like that until Dazai wears himself out! He never got a chance to show his true emotions. So if a tantrum is how he chooses to express those emotions of course Odasaku allows him to get it all out

₊ ⊹ Nicknames!! Odasaku uses the sweetest pet names for his baby, and everything sounds so poetic when he says it! “Sweetheart” is definitely a big one, but he can’t be to sweet with pet names or Dazai gets defensive, so he’ll also use more casual ones like “Buddy”! There’s also “Little One” but that has to be used carefully! Only when Dazai is right on the edge of regressing, usually when he’s a little worn out and less likely to fight it. And then of course! What does Dazai call Odasaku? I view them as a father son relationship because. Even regression aside I view them that way. Regression just makes it feel even cozier. So I think Dazai calls him “Da”. He’s trying to say “Oda” But to many syllables… Odasaku points out that it sounds like “Dada” and Dazai denies it if course! But… That’s his “Da” he stops even trying to say “Oda”

₊ ⊹ I think that when Dazai’s in more of a toddler headspace they play a lot of card games! It’s very nostalgic for them considering they played a lot of card games when they first met. Like a lot a lot. It was how they bonded! Of course Dazai always calls Odasaku out on cheating, in response Odasaku calls out Dazai’s clumsy attempts at hiding cards up his sleeve. Dazai of course denies this, and Odasaku denies his own cheating. This usually leads to Dazai pouting, but nothing on tantrum level! Just upset he isn’t getting his way. Odasaku tried betting with candy before but the Dazai takes it to serious and it does ends in a tantrum

₊ ⊹ Dazai is weird with food, he’s noted to be underweight, especially in Mafia Era (The only time Odasaku was alive) Baby Dazai only drinks milk or formula. No solid foods. He’s a baby through and through. However toddler Dazai plays a silly game with Odasaku! He requests specific ways for all his food to be poisoned and Odasaku says he does it! For example if Dazai requests a poisonous flower, Odasaku takes a harmless flower and puts it in the dish in front of Dazai! Odasaku has to make his own food separate though to keep up the illusion. Dazai refuses to let Odasaku eat the ‘poisoned’ food

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺˖⁺‧₊˚ ♡ ˚₊‧⁺˖༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

This was supposed to be up way earlier, but where I live there’s no power. Anywhere- On the entire island- So that’s fun. So posting might be slow the next couple of days. But I finished this while my parents were using the generator! So yay! Also I keep bring inbox notifications but then there’s nothing there… Kinda weirded out

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

What I don’t understand in shuggy is why oda added that brothers line. The in universe explanation of marines didn’t knew works, but we as readers? Why he decided to add that? I heard people talking that Japan is very specific about sworn brothers and shuggy are not but why even write that line? I don’t get this decision. Unless he wanted us to think they were like that or idk Did you ever talked about it from the author pov? Like everything author puts in his work he does on purpose. That line has to have a purpose. And what do you think it was? I’m not attacking, just finding good writer who likes shuggy so can answer that in smart way

well, first off i have to disagree with you: oda isn’t doing everything on purpose.

i mean that both in the sense that we know not everything about one piece has been planned all along, and in the sense that we know he’s added elements to his story and world unthinkingly. sometimes he forgets to draw things! sometimes he makes a joke and didn’t think through the implications! you should look through the SBS catalog sometime, it’s fun to see him come up with explanations for some of this stuff after the fact.

now, is the sworn brothers line one of those unthinkingly added elements? probably not. it feels like something written with intention to me.

what intention? as far as i can tell, just the textual one: to show how limited the marines’ understanding is.

the marines looking at buggy’s history with shanks and calling them sworn brothers shows how, even with all the facts in front of them—like viewing the complete impel down prison footage and deciding that luffy and buggy had the breakout planned from the start—the marines will consistently come to wildly incorrect conclusions about who buggy is, and why he does what he does.

(this has become a common theme with buggy & the marines in the years since marineford—just look at cross guild!)

i’m not even saying this as someone who views that relationship as romantic. shipper goggles off, i’m saying i simply do not believe buggy considers shanks a brother.

we’ve seen a sworn brothers’ bond before: the one between ace and luffy. we know how buggy thinks of shanks. the two relationships could not be more different. thus, by having the marines misidentify the buggy & shanks relationship as 兄弟分, as kyoudaibun, as sworn brothers, oda shows that the marines don’t understand buggy at all.

i really don’t think it’s any deeper than that.

oh, what, you wanted to see what else i had to say? okay, then. but this bit gets kinda mean.

listen.

i am certain that oda does not intend for a queer reading of shanks and buggy. i’ve said it before: oda is a remarkably queer-friendly shonen author as far as gender is concerned—though not so queer-friendly that one of the main characters of the series isn’t deeply transmisogynistic—but queer sexuality is just not present in the text.

now, that doesn’t do anything to stop me from having a queer reading of shanks and buggy. that doesn’t stop any of us from having all kinds of queer readings of one piece!

but it does mean that when you ask me, “i understand your point about the marines being wrong in-universe, but why did oda use the phrase sworn brothers?” a big part of me wants to say, “i don’t know, and i don’t care.”

i’m not a mind reader! i can’t tell you what oda was thinking! and frankly, it doesn’t matter to me what he was thinking! death of the author, you know? our interpretation as readers is equally, if not more, important than any theoretical authorial intent.

and even if oda does someday condescend to answer an SBS question about a five hundred chapter-old turn of phrase, and it turns out i’m totally wrong about everything… so what?

you’re not gonna “prove me wrong” about shuggy. i am under no delusions that i am “right.”

[hannigramislife]

Question: What's your opinion on all Dazai ships? I personally think that literally everyone could do better <3

Omgg anon, I love this ask so goddamn much!! Okay, let's get into it-this is gonna be long.

Two things before I continue. One, I'm a Hannigram fan, make of that what you will. Secondly, shipping does not mean "oh, these two are definitely canon, they have feelings for each other," shipping has always meant "I love their dynamic and can see a world where it could be romantic." That's why we have more than one.

Soukoku (Dazai/Chuuya) - Obviously this was gonna be my first choice to start this conversation. I think that soukoku is textually supported. I'm sorry, but there's just some things you don't write if you don't want people to ship two characters. These two are written for each other, therefore a perfectly valid ship. I myself do not ship skk, don't care about them as a ship at all, but I can certainly see the appeal. They have a history, and they're now on opposite sides, but still every bit the lethal team-up. I don't get the emotional side of it though – they inspire no such feeling in me, and I do believe Chuuya could definitely do better XD

Kunizai (Kunikida/Dazai) - This one I actually like quite a lot. I don't necessarily ship them in canon, but I believe they're good for each other. Kunikida with his rigidness and morals and Dazai with his carelessness and disaster that seems to follow him. I also like how Kunikida has a book where he jots down the best way to live, and Dazai has a book he carries around on how to die. I believe they're very different, but the sincere trust and care they have for each other, as well as the easiness of their partnership is something they both rely on and need. 10/10 ship.

Dazatsu (Dazai/Atsushi) - The age gap here is the biggest problem for people from what I've seen, but I don't think this is a proship or a bad ship that should be discouraged. Again, I don't ship it, but I feel it's perfectly fine if you do? "Oh, there's a power imbalance-" bitch, what power imbalance?? Like, you do know they're coworkers, right? Yes, Dazai saved him and Atsushi is grateful, but Atsushi is not stupid or blindly devoted or whatever. What he is, is mentally ill, but then again, so is Dazai, and if you think Dazai would take advantage of him, then that says more about Dazai as a character than it does the ship itself. Atsushi could definitely do better, and to me, that better is Akutagawa XD

Morizai (Mori/Dazai) - Well, I don't think I have any thoughts on this, other than the obvious ones. Dazai was a child in the Mafia, and they do seem to have a more guardian/ward relationship, fucked up as it is. Mori was definitely at least mentally and emotionally abusive to Dazai, from what we've seen. I don't think anyone would actually ship this? Unless you're talking purely fanfic scenarios. In this case, Dazai could do better. So yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and "nope" this.

Odazai (Oda/Dazai) - Now listen. Again, I don't ship this (I don't know if I ship anything that has Dazai, I hate the man), but if you think Oda and Dazai had a father/son relationship, you're delusional. Dazai cared so much for Oda, and upon reading Beast, I refuse to believe there was no universe where Dazai developed feelings for him. I think of them every time I listen to any Adele songs. "Them" being their Beast version. I'm so serious. This is a valid ship far as I'm concerned.

Dazaku (Dazai/Akutagawa) - This one is a ship that I get so riled up about. Because of the fandom. I honestly never gave this ship a second thought until I saw how hated it was. Then, I realized it's hated for all the wrong goddamn reasons. I don't ship it, because I hate Dazai on principle, but sometimes, I feel like I'm shipping it out of spite. It's like people can't make up their minds about the dynamic of these two. When you want to say Dazai abused Akutagawa, they'll be like "Oh, Dazai was a child, too!" Then you say they both grew and are healing – and maybe Dazai cared after all? – and it's all "You can't ship him with his abuser!" Well, which is it now? Is Dazai a bad guy still? Is it so wrong to want Dazai to care? To imagine Dazai pulling Akutagawa into the light with him? When people vehemently hate on this ship, I take that to mean "Yeah, Dazai is the worst, how could you ship Akutagawa with him?" Which, great take, I'm all for that. This ship is overhated in my opinion. Both Dazai and Akutagawa are two important pillars of what makes Bsd what it is. Their relationship is complicated and messy and important – so yeah, I'm not surprised people would ship this. Sometimes, toxic yaoi is where it's at, and you just wanna fix them. Akutagawa can DEFINITELY do better.

Souheki (Dazai/Ranpo) - I think they're besties. Absolutely nothing romantic here for me. I cannot see it, but I love them both, so I'd read fics at least. They're both geniuses who hold deep respect for each other. They may be able to understand each other much quicker and on a deeper level than other people, but I think they'd be a disaster if they were to date. Absolutely not. Plus, I'm a huge Ranpoe fan, so I'm biased.

Fyozai (Fyodor/Dazai) - They have a lot of tension, I'll give them that. They're two pretty, genius bitches playing 3 dimensional chess while everyone else plays checkers. Plus, being on opposite sides?? I can appreciate some enemies to lovers when I see it. I think if I were Fyodor, I'd definitely be interested in this young man who can match my intellect even as I've been alive since Jesus Christ was born. Also, don't ask me why, but they feel so gay when they're together – just, not for each other? I think in a no powers au, they'd definitely experiment together lmao. So, valid ship in-universe? I'm going to allow it. They could both do better.

Sigzai (Sigma/Dazai) - I don't know how this ship got popular?? I mean, sure?? Great ship?? Genuinely don't know what to say. I mean, they're there and they're both pretty?? I guess? Honestly, Sigma reminded me of Akutagawa, it was kinda funny to see. But go off XD??

I think that was it, lemme know if I forgot any major ships!

[raconteur-wanpi]

ONE PIECE 1124

I'm probably gonna start writing these thoughts / reactions with each new chapter at this point. At least as long as I have something to say!

Sentomaru is alive waaaahhhh!!! Mr. Golden Boy! I'm so glad! He skyrocketed his way up my favorite character list in this arc, but then again I'm weak towards any characters based on folklore / fairy tales and mythical heroes to begin with. It's nice to see him escape Egghead, but it's devastating to see him mourning like this. He lost so much, he really is a tragic character. Seeing him cry is genuinely a bullet through my heart. He lost his adoptive father, he lost the island he has spent much of his life on, he failed to protect the civilians who he risked his life to save, he's now a fugitive running from the government, and the man he considered an uncle and mentor figure was the one to pull the trigger. Poor guy, his experience with the Buster Call and loss of mentors almost makes him feel like a parallel to Robin. I hope he gets to heal, there are some revealed surprise good news he might want to hear eventually.

And speaking of tragedy within this little family unit, here it is. Borsalino's regret. This really reminded me of Garp and Ace, but unlike Garp being just passive and complacent in Ace's death, here Borsalino was the man who actually did it. You can see the sorrow and devastation but also the complacency. He was always going to do it, no matter how he feels about it. What in interesting character, I want to dissect his brain. His lack of a sense of actual justice and code was something introduced as a joke, but here we see what that actually looks like. A man passive enough to follow any order, even if it's something he isn't going to be able to bear.

And of course, the aftermath of such a conflict. This is the first time we've ever seen him sad and / or furious. He's sobbing and screaming to Sakazuki, someone who he's always tried to appease in the past. I wonder where will this lead him as a character. I adooore seeing the Marines betrayed, broken and fed up by their own system one by one. Maybe they will eventually realize they're on the wrong side of history. Or maybe Borsalino over here will stay complacent and passive as he always has been, who knows. Either way, I love the way Oda has approached all this interpersonal tragedy within all the grander politics of it.

Yep, there is it! The big twist! ...That most people myself included completely expected. Punk Records is still intact! The Gorosei need Vegapunks mind, so they explicitly tried to protect that part of Egghead. And that means, of course, all the Vegapunks' consciousness is still up there in the Cloud. There's a chance any of them could talk through Lilith, Stella included. Hell, she could probably build new android bodies for them if she gets the resources. Or at least, that's what I'm assuming she means by "everyone's alive", since she doesn't elaborate further.

Aaaand Robin getting excited to meet Saul again. 🥹 God I hope it goes well, I'll be devastated if it doesn't. PLEASE let this reunion happen properly.

And to close things off, somebody is waiting for them on Elbaf. People have pointed out the silhouette looks similar to the mysterious kasa-hat-wearing man we see chatting it up with Crocus in one of the cover stories. The most common guess I've seen is that it's Scopper Gaban, the man from Roger's crew, and potentially that he is the "man marked by flames". Others have suggested things like Shiki or even a 90-year-old Yorki who survived. I don't know if I personally have any predictions, but Gaban feels like a good guess. It could potentially also just be a character we haven't met yet. Really looking forward to the future!

[itzrafee]

One Piece Chapter Discussion (Chapter 1126)

Ooh looks like the mystery continues with Yamato investigating the disappearances. I am so curious to see what kind of long lasting effects this will have as with this chapter we’re getting some resolution on a six to seven year old cover story. It’s nice to see Oda expanding on the story around Wano as it’s clear he had a lot of thoughts around it when he was writing it that he didn’t get to explore. I’m also quite curious as to what will happen with the cover stories the closer we get to the end. Whereas he has space to explore other facets of Wano through the cover story, is that something he’ll be able to do with Elbaph with it being so close to the end? Anyways, the rest of the discussion, which is spoiler filled, can be found below the cut!

I don’t know about y’all but I think it would be absolutely terrifying to be where the Straw Hats are in this first page if they weren’t allies with the giants. They straight up just kinda look like their dinner. But we’re not talking about Big Mom so I think the Straw Hats are probably safe. Also while somewhat terrifying, the designs of the Giants are great, they all ooze personality and joviality. I would not want to see them angry either. It’s interesting that the name of the absinthe they’re drinking is the “Green Fairy” and that it can cause hallucinations. Is that just set up to explain how and why the two parties got separated or is it set up for some absinthe-driven hallucinations? 

It’s interesting to me on a story structure level that this chapter kind of illustrates how Oda might have to delve into more slice of life stuff with the crew going forward. That before making this chapter important by flitting around the world and getting updates, Oda first spends some time with the crew just having fun and goofing off. It satisfies the pre-timeskip crowd clamoring for these types of scenes, me among that crowd.

This small sequence with Bonney also gets me right in the heart. Not only does she feel comfortable enough to finally be a child and not put on the airs of a grown adult that the One Piece world requires of people but also she gets to finally be free with her father. One Piece has this startling quality to it that makes the reality of war and oppression so real by contrasting the comedic with the emotional. And nothing hits quite as hard as the fate of the children of this series. We see through the suffering of the Straw Hats as children, Nami, Sanji, and Robin, among a few other characters throughout the series, on how oppression forces you to grow up and be stronger than any child should have to be. In recent arcs that oppression is a reality our young adult Straw Hats face head on. From Otama and Toko in Wano to the metaphors of growing up too fast that Bonney and Momo face us with, Oda is able to use these fantastical elements to deliver truths in more digestible ways. The tragedy of Momo and Bonney having to grow up so fast is such a potent and heart wrenching way to show this side of opression. But Oda is able to provide us with a catharsis that the real world so often denies by having Bonney feel safe again. By having Momo be safe and surrounded by loved ones.

Moving on from that dour and entirely too real note, we finally get a resolution on a cover story from wayyyy long ago where Bartolomeo burned down Shanks flag in Luffy’s name. And there’s a lot to talk about here. For such a fan-favourite and an audience surrogate for many, including myself, It’s odd that it’s been so long since we’ve seen Barto(don’t even get me started on Bon Clay!!). But it’s interesting that Oda seems to understand his impact as it seems like he’s being placed on the same level as Kid and Law in a way. Now this might be a little tin foil hatty of me but don’t you find it odd that Kid, Law, and Barto, all devil fruit users by the way, were all sunk at sea in the New World, the most dangerous sea maybe aside from the Calm Belt? 

And if we remember certain man with a burn scar who was first mentioned in chapter 1056(56=GoMu) and then again brought up in 1081 where it was mentioned that anyone who comes close to him gets swallowed up by whirlpools, I think we might have an option for what might’ve happened to those three. Adding on to that, if we go allll the way back to chapter 2 and full tin foil hat, we can see Luffy getting sucked into a whirlpool soon after he sets out on his journey but then bursting out of a barrel sometime after with Koby. In my head, I can totally see the aforementioned three joining Luffy on Elbaph, especially now that’s been separated from his crew. Maybe Luffy was also kidnapped by this whirlpool wielding man with a burn scar…again.

Okay, fanciful thinking aside we still gotta talk about how we’ve seen Shank’s main crew be ruthless badasses. Lucky Roux in Chapter 1 straight killed a dude while the whole crew laughed. Benn Beckman not only threatened Kizaru but also cut off Kid’s arm. And here, Yassop basically has a cannon attached to his gun and blows up a fleeing Barto Club. While these guys may seem easygoing, they’re still stone cold pirates. Also that ultimatum with the poison was pretty cold too. Barto’s ship blowing up also shows how lethal Yassop’s Haki must be, because I can imagine that Barto might’ve tried to shield his ship with his devil fruit.

I find it curious that Koby was so important to Blackbeard’s plans. I wonder if Blackbeard wanted to use Koby like how the Marines used Ace? We know how much Blackbeard’s plans mean to him. His scheming, though a lot of the time quite impromptu, is half the reason he’s an emperor already. And Blackbeard is in prime position to execute some big time operations. Not only does he have leverage in Garp(though thinking about it, wouldn’t the marines be glad to be rid of him?), he also has Pudding and all the knowledge Caribou brings. Oda makes it a point to show that Caribou has finally gotten to Blackbeard. It’s interesting that he’s surveilling the Revolutionary's too. Especially with Lafitte. Maybe he’s trying to get the heat off of himself by having Lafitte do some undercover hits and then blame it on the Revo’s?

Though, weirdly, the most important tidbit here to me is that Moria got away. It seems most likely that Moria will join Cross Guild as it seems to be the place for Warlord Alumni and Perona already has connections there in the form of Mihawk. I’d originally thought that Blackbeard was going to get Moria to reanimate Kaido, Big Mom, and Garp’s corpses with the obstacle standing in their way being that Blackbeard was responsible for Absolams death but now it seems like Moria’s going to be a player for Cross Guild, with at least the Yonkou resurrections still on the table. Also if Cross Guild is the place to be for former Warlords then we could see Boa join too. And maybe even Kuma and Doflamingo if the latter breaks out of Impel Down. Which I kinda hope he does just purely due to the fact that it might provide a path for Bon Clay to get out too.

This scene with Bonney and Jinbei is adorable but uhh, what’s Lilith staring at? Could she be communicating with Vegapunk?

Finally, in the last page we get some weird shenanigans happening. First, someone wakes Nami up but it appears that she’s alone. She’s had a change of clothes and seems to be in a lego house. The floor is kind of undeniable proof of that even if you want to try and explain away everything else. And finally, she seems to be alone. The going theory seems to be that this is Prince Loki’s lego house and that he’s playing with the StrawHats like toys. He could’ve been the one to call out for Nami. He could be a fan of the StrawHats. And honestly, that theory kinda makes sense, I totally subscribe to it. Loki could be a somewhat petulant giant like Big Mom. I also don’t think the impatient figure at the end of 1124 is him either as that seemed to be a human who was drinking, my going theory about that person being that it was Scopper Gaban, the third crew member of the Roger Pirates after Roger and Rayliegh. See ya next week!

[beanghostprincess]

You know, One Piece is all fun and happyness untill you learn that the world and themes are actually some of the darkest and most depressing things that were ever put on paper. The biggest potrayal of this tho is the fact that many characters have different running gags and quirks that are actually products of their horrible past trauma and messed up life.

Luffy- Wants to befriends literally everybody because of his fear of being alone and picks fights with all the people he doesn't like because he wants to protect his friends.

Nami- Her greed and kleptomania were developed because her mom literally died because sge was poor and was never able to give her and Nojiko all they wanted/needed.

Usopp- Makes absurd lies about everything because as a kid he had to keep lying to keep his mother happy and when she died he kept on doing so to keep himself safe.

Sanji- Puts all women on a super high pedestal because growing up women like his mom and sister wrre the only good people in his life and men like his Judge and his brothers were fucking awful.

Brook and Robin- Super S tier dark humor to cope with S tier dark trauma.

In other words, One Piece is just a comedy passing drmatic anime, but I think we all already knew that.

Ah, yes, I love this topic so much.

But I wouldn't say One Piece is a "comedy passing dramatic anime". One Piece is both comedy and drama. The drama doesn't hide behind comedy at any moment. You don't have to actively look for it or read between the lines to understand the characters. I think Oda is an amazing writer because he manages to just tell us/show us about his characters in the clearest and most obvious of ways. He throws hints at us over the episodes to then explaining it to us very carefully how his characters are built. This is why I find so difficult to understand why people (mainly from the general audience or, y'know, dudebros) don't get the characters in the first watch/read. An example of a comedy passing dramatic show would probably be just any sort of satiric comedic show in which they don't actually address the drama but instead make jokes about it. Like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (God I love that sitcom).

I know what you mean, though. You're talking about the whole "making jokes/running gags about something when the reason behind them is actually way deeper". And I agree wholeheartedly.

Luffy has abandonment issues and that's why he keeps wanting to protect his friends and hates being alone, Nami sees money as safety and comfort because her mom died because they lacked money, Usopp's lies come from trying to make her mom happy because his dad left them, Sanji has an obsession with women because they're the only ones who never hurt him, Brook and Robin have no filter when it comes to dark humor because they've been alone for so long that the only way they have to cope is jokes and nobody gets them except them... And also:

We treat Zoro's relationship with Tashigi as comedic at some points but he has so much trauma regarding his best friend dying that he can't be close to someone who looks like her.

We make fun of and exaggerate Sabo's love for Luffy to the point of brocon/possessiveness because he literally spent most of his life having forgotten him and when he remembers his brothers, one of them dies, so of course he wants to look after the little one.

Boa's love for Luffy exists exclusively because she feels safe around him and it's the first man who has never seen her as a sexual object.

And a lot more of these but, basically, Oda is great at character building and writing because these are not things that you have to read between the lines. These are not exaggerations for the reader to understand what's going on with the characters. These are just trauma responses that constantly happen in real life. It's just a well-written story with awesome, realistic characters, and I absolutely love it.

[moongothic]

Tbh I wanna see crocodile fight someone so we can see how strong he is because the last time he’s gotten in a real fight was in marineford. Does crocodile have haki? Does he need it at all to survive the new world? Like with most of the relevant pirates knowing haki, retroactively or otherwise, it’s kinda hard to gauge what he’s capable of

Anon I am so sorry I'm gonna go slightly off-topic/become deranged because I've been thinking about writing a whole ass post about this very subject and now you just gave me an excuse to word vomit incoherently instead. So I'm just gonna do that. I'm so sorry

(Hey won't you look at that I actually came back and edited this so it's vaguely legible and there's like a proper point to my thesis lmao)

Also I am. So sorry. For how obscenely long this got. Holy shit I have no idea how this happened I am so sorry

I can not put into words just how badly I want to see this man have an actual, proper 1-v-1 fight with someone. Oda, for the love of god let him fuck up someone, please, I c̵͍͛r̶̢͠a̴͕̾v̷̠͆ḛ̶̐ ̸̤͝t̷̟̋h̷̳̓ḙ̵̀ ̷̱͌b̶͓͑l̸̦̚ô̶̠ȯ̸͇d̴̲̕

No for real though, the one, true, proper 1v1 we ever saw Crocodile have WAS with fucking Luffy and like, to be fair they did fight three times, but still, during Summit War? Sure we see him exchange a few blows but it's never a proper 1v1 because we keep on cutting from one thing to another and the opponents keep on changing etc. So there was no time for a proper battle with anyone

So out of principle alone I want to see him have a proper fight with someone (who isn't a Strawhat preferably) at least once before the series ends (though honestly if we could have more than just one fight scene with Crocodile I would not complain at all, but I might be asking too much at that point)

But also yes. I want to know Croc's actual Power Level in the story right now (and I don't mean that in a powerscaling-kinda way, just in a "I want my husband to look cool because it's what he deserves" kinda way)

Like. The Crocodile we've seen in the past absolutely under no circumstances deserves the fucking unit of a bounty he has on his head right now. And I mean, to be fair Buggy doesn't deserve his gigantic bounty either, canonically the numbers don't matter or mean THAT MUCH-- They just reflect what the WG thinks a person is worth, not the true level of threat the person actually poses But also. Croc's bounty has literally gotten like 24 times bigger from his OG pre-Shichibukai era bounty. To be fair, according to trivia his OG bounty would've at least doubled had the WG known about Baroque Works, but his current bounty would still be like 12 times bigger than before. And god fucking knows Crocodile does not fucking deserve a bounty this fucking big if he hasn't gotten any more powerful since Alabasta. No amount of hanging around with Mihawk and running evil organizations should beef up his bounty that much

So surely, he must've gotten more powerful since we last saw him action, right? Surely? Somehow?

But indeed, how?

And that's where we kinda get to the interesting part, don't we? We have no idea what Croc's been up to for the past two years. Like whatever he's been doing, surely it's been better than spending a decade sitting on his ass and barely ever lifting a muscle when overpowering rando pirates attacking Alabasta with his Logia powers, right. Like surely being in the New World alone would be enough to make him break a sweat for a change

But then like, the only two times we have seen Croc post-timeskip (pre-Cross Guild) he has been just sitting around reading the news (to be fair, the scenes were also about him catching the news about Luffy, it's not like he can't do anything else outside of those scenes). So like. I feel kind of conflicted, like on one hand to get stronger then surely he must've been working out or something. But also I do kind of mentally associate Training Arcs with much younger characters, and Crocodile is quite middle aged, like is he even allowed to go through a training arc anymore?? Especially when he's like a such a Proper Gentleman, it's so hard to imagine him to go back to the basics or anything

But also?? How else would he get stronger?? Like?? Maybe there really was?? AN OLD MAN TRAINING ARC??

But also, to be fair

Crocodile did make a big point about how he "keeps on honing and developing his Devil Fruit skills instead of stagnating like some other losers" back when he and Luffy had their first match. So I really would love it if Oda kept that actually true for the character, I'd love to see him actually whip out some new tricks, techniques and attacks instead of us seeing Sables again for the 839423th time

And really he can't really whip out new attacks if he hasn't at least tried to come up with new tricks (and preferably tried them out)

But that was just the basics right, Croc's Devil Fruit capabilities

Then there's the whole mystery of Crocodile's Haki Status. A whooole different can of worms. Considdering how the only actual damage he seemed to take during the entirety of Summit War was because of Jozu's Haki, and the fact that even fucking Blackbeard can use Haki now, it'd feel deranged if he doesn't have any kind of Haki capabilities. Like everybody knows Haki is going to be Croc's persona kryptonite, including Croc himself! And Haki Mastery really is The Thing that decides whether a pirate crew can actually make it or not in the New World (Kaidou made a specific point about that too). So surely, considdering Croc's supposed to be A Smart Boy and all, he knows he'll need to actually figure out how to use Haki if he doesn't want to lose another limb, right. Like surely he's figured that shit out, right???

Now people have been speculating for years if both Crocodile AND Moria used to be Haki users who lost their Haki after getting their asses kicked in the New World. Which, in theory would make sense, since Haki is essentially just willpower, and getting crushed the way they did would give them good in-universe reasons to why they didn't use the ability, as their traumas could translate to them losing their wills. But also it is willpower, that's not really a tangible thing you can really lose, and the idea of "Haki loss" isn't actually canon (yet at least). So although it's great fanon, we can't assume it's true. Like just as an example, we know Hancock can supposedly use Conqueror's Haki but we've never actually seen her demonstrate the ability

And to be fair to Croc (and Moria), the concept of Haki didn't really start to get Truly Solidified in the story until post-War, so expecting Alabasta!Croc to use it a whole decade earlier in real world time would be ridiculous since Oda hadn't figured out the system yet.

And while that is 100% true and fair.

Thing is. Although extremely vague, I do think Oda had been slowly starting to build the IDEA of Haki already in Alabasta. Like we know the concept gets properly introduced during the Skypiea Saga where Blackbeard both namedrops it and we get to see Observation Haki in action, under the name Mantra. But already in Alabasta, when Zoro is trying to figure out how to cut steel (to defeat Daz), that whole "breath of things" and hyper-awareness he gains when near death... I'm not the first one to point out how much that sounds like rudamentary Haki. And like, yes, on paper the idea of the battle was that Zoro became strong enough to cut steel. But also, learning to use Haki would be what would allow anyone to cut through a Devi Fruit ability like that. The same applies to Luffy's final attack on Crocodile too, his punch destroying the sand blade that before would've sliced his entire hand in half before is poetic on its own, but makes even more in-universe sense if you considder the possilibity Luffy might have subconciously been using Haki at the very end, his sheer willpower allowing him to punch Croc.

The reason I'm pointing all that out is that I kinda wonder if we might've gotten hints at Crocodile having not just Haki, but fucking Conqueror's Haki in Alabasta

This is based on two things:

First, Crocodile's pet bananawani. Yes, he could just be Really Good with animals and that would be adorable on its own. But we know Conqueror's can be used to intimidate and tame animals, including really fierce beasts. Keeping in mind that bananawani are meant to be one of the few species of animals that prey on Sea Kings, IDK, if you told me the reason Crocodile was able to tame them and keep them as pets thanks to Conqueror's, I would believe you. It's nothing solid, there's no proof one way or another, but it would make sense in-universe, it is plausible.

Second, this scene.

Does that blast of Ominous Air/Energy on the third page not remind you of one of those Conqueror's Haki shockwaves?

Of course, considdering Luffy was able to knock out Bon-chan with his untrained, uncontrolled Conqueror's in Impel Down (though to be fair, in the Impel Down scene Bon-chan was in rough condition anyways), if Crocodile was displaying his Haki here, either

A) Shit's real fucking weak or

B) He must've intentionally "kept it down" in this scene just to make sure his agents didn't actually pass out on the spot

But of course, if Croc had fullblown Conqueror's that he was able to control that well, you'd think he might've actually used it to subdue weaker enemies at some point or something (though, again, Hancock also supposedly has it and we haven't seen her use it, and if we had seen him use it on Luffy or something then the story really would've ended in Alabasta). So if that really was Conqueror's, I'd personally maybe rather lean on it being weak as hell (especially if Haki Loss was canon) over him having perfect control over it

Of course, just because that ominous blast of air in hindsight might resemble a weak ass Conqueror's Haki Blast, it doesn't mean that's what it was. Just like with the Bananawani example, there's nothing solid here to go off of, it's just plausible

(Also just for clarity's sake, Crocodile doesn't need Conqueror's Haki. I just think there could be evidence to suggest it if you overthink it just right)

All of this to say

Regardless of what Croc's Haki Status was during Alabasta and Summit War, the fact is that the dude really does kind of need Haki just to survive in the current storyline. So if he can't use ANY KIND OF HAKI, I'm just gonna be speechless. Like Luffy could kill him by just farting on him at that point Not to mention I'd actually love to see the Haki Loss-concept explored in the canon. Like either have it debunked, or somehow confirm it's a thing and show off what a horrifying threat Crocodile can be when he's actually putting his everything into a fight (same for Moria btw, if all he has to protect rn is Perona I'd love to see him go apeship and use Haki to protect her)

BUT THEN THERE'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT DIRECTION WE COULD GO WITH CROCODILE'S POWER LEVEL

OH DID YOU THINK I WAS FUCKING DONE WITH THIS POST? NO, WE'RE STILL FUCKING GOING MAN

So I've seen a lot people speculate about Logia Awakenings and what they could be like. Most people seem to agree on the theory that Punk Hazard being the way it is could be a result of two awakened Logias (namely Akainu and Aokiji) clashing. Similarly that Enies Lobby could be where an Awakened Light Fruit did a thing in the distant past, causing the eternal daytime on the island

I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that's what Logia Awakenings will be like (some people have also suggested Enel's Final Form was a Logia Awakening, which I kinda doubt but okay), it's a neat idea in any case, we'll just have to wait and see what Oda has cooking for us

Regardless. On a mere narrative level, if they're even possible then I think it'd be cool as hell if Crocodile could act as an introduction to Logia Awakenings and what they're actually like. Because, depending on the role the bastard is going to take going forward, it could prepare us and Luffy for what's to come with Akainu (the real threat)

And again, depending on his role in the story, I think he could be an actual candidate for someone who could deserve to be Awakened-- like the whole Awakening State is sliiightly OP, and Logias are also kind of OP by default. So between OG Croc being kinda weak as hell (by current standards), but also him being an experienced pirate who's known his abilities for god knows how many decades... IDK I think he could deserve The Honors, y'know?

Like compare him to someone like Sabo or Blackbeard who got their Logias only recently and are still learning to use their abilities (more or less). If either of those fuckers somehow Awakened their Logias before Sir Fucking Crocodile I'd be kinda pissed off y'know?

The Admirals are kinda OP to begin with anyways too, I kinda just don't want Smoker to get The Honor of being the first on-screen Awakened Logia either, and really that would leave us with like... Ceasar and Enel as our only remaining options

And Dragon, if he does have a Wind Logia (which remains to be seen)

So. Yeah. If Logia Awakenings can be a thing, I think Crocodile could be the perfect guy to actually introduce them in the story (depending what his role will be).

All of this nonsense to say

Mr Oda, please, I would like to see Sir Crocodile in action pwease

And I want to know what the hell that weird spike thing was

Mr Oda please, I wish to see the Husband and see what kind of tricks he can do now after all these years, please allow him to commit a murder or two or three

[theclearblue]

Is it bad that I feel personally victimised by WCI or am I just being dramatic?

I don't think so anon, I think the themes of family in WCI are some of the most personal and nuanced Oda has ever done and while tragic in so many ways, I think results in the best way of conveying how powerful found family is but also how someone can have complicated feelings towards their blood family.

Throughout all of One Piece, you can see this through line of found family and how blood relations isn't what matters in who you consider family (The ASL brothers, Bellemere and Nojiko for Nami, Kuina for Zoro, Zeff for Sanji, Saul for Robin, Tom and Iceburg for Franky, and while not a strawhat, Corazon and Law deeply affected me as well). This is obviously a trope Oda has liked writing for a long time and one he does well, but (with somewhat the exception of Marineford/Post-War arc with Whitebeard and Ace), WCI is the first time he really dives into these themes of what family is, and what I really appreciated, how messy it can be.

(I uhhh wrote a lot after the cut so be prepared for that)

And it's not just Sanji in this arc (I'll get to him though don't worry), from Germa, from the Big Mom Pirates, and the Firetank Pirates, so many characters are acting as narrative foils to Sanji and dealing with family related trauma, and responding to it differently. The ones that really got me were Pudding and Katakuri though, and they're pretty similar to each other as well. I've talked a little bit about Pudding already here so I'll talk a bit more about Katakuri instead, but it hit me really hard when he made a temple for himself, and he lets the rumors fly about "his back has never touched the ground, he's praying to a god of war, no one has seen him eat" and it's just. Him laying on his back, eating donuts happily. And the scene is kind of silly and funny right, but I kid you not my New Year's resolution this year was to just, try to be more comfortable in my living room/kitchen without thinking everyone is going to judge me for, what? Eating? Watching a show I like? Completely normal things, but if you've ever grown up in a house where just, EVERYTHING you do is picked apart and criticized by family, it's easier to just shut yourself away in a room and hide it. And isn't that tragic? Katakuri projecting this image of strength that his family asks of him so much that he feels he has to hide completely normal things like lying down and eating? I could go even deeper into this character but this is just one example of a character's complicated relationship with his family, where he hides so much of himself for them, but also it stemming from a place of love after what happened to Brulee when they were kids.

And now to talk about Sanji. Ohhhh where do I even start with this guy. As kind of a sidenote, if you've seen any of my posts from Thriller Bark through Punk Hazard, I was really struggling to like Sanji as a character and I didn't make that a secret. Which was upsetting to me because, from Baratie-Enies Lobby (and really good moments at the end of Thriller Bark and Saoboady) he was a favorite of mine! And at times I thought his character was done pretty dirty where he was stripped down to a singular gag and Oda leaned into it way way way too hard. But it's immensely satisfying to me to see all the little seeds Oda planted for so many years come to fruition in Zou and WCI, to the point I think he's turned from being the most one note strawhat to the most nuanced and layered in the span of a singular saga. And that was incredible to see.

I think what really captivated me about Sanji from the beginning were how strong and rigid his convictions are, and that even though he's kind of a rude brat (I say that with love lol), he's so undeniably kind, even to a fault. And with his first backstory we see how a lot of his rigid rules he's made for himself come from, it's from Zeff. He doesn't hit women, he'll feed anyone who's hungry no matter what, and he learns to fight to protect people he cares about, but he isn't really a fighter in the same way Luffy and Zoro are, and that's made clear in his desire to protect his hands in a fight so that he can do what he really loves, and that's to cook. A lot of what makes Sanji who he is today is shown here, but Oda was smart in showing aspects of Sanji that clearly don't stem from Zeff without telling the audience why for the longest time.

He shares the dream of the All Blue with Zeff, but where did it come from? Zeff is kind of similar where he has this hard exterior but underneath is kind as well, but it's taken to another level with Sanji where it becomes self sacrificial. Throwing himself down the mountain on Drum Island, taking the lightning bolts from Enel for Nami and Usopp on Skypeia, boarding the water train alone to try and get to Robin, and most prominently, at least for me, him trying to take Luffy's pain at the end of Thriller Bark instead of Zoro, where he very clearly places more value on Zoro's dream and life than his own. That was the moment to me that made me really realize he does not see value in himself, unless he's providing something he deems useful. And if the situation calls for it, he'll throw his life and dream away if that makes him "useful" not realizing that the crew don't see him as this dispensable thing like he sees himself.

And all of Sanji's strengths and flaws as a character just come to make this perfect storm and mess that is Whole Cake Island. And the kindness that is Sanji's most definitive trait is so clearly not in this family, at least not seen at first. His brothers are made to have no zero empathy and beat down on him constantly, verbally and physically, and Judge just watches and doesn't care, eventually just hides Sanji in a cell and pretends he's dead. Because he was physically weaker and human. And yet he continues to cook because he loves doing it, he remembers his mother's kindness, and his dream of the all blue is formed in a small dark room and just. This got to me big time. Not to get too personal but the set of expectations put onto Sanji by his family, ones he can never live up to and finding passion in something his family finds to be worthless and a waste of time. Finding an escape in books and finding his dream there even though everything around him is hell. Slowly realizing the extent of cruelty that his father will go to as he grows up. Very unfortunately for me this might be the most relatable character I have ever come across in regards to my own experiences. I'm someone to voice my thoughts on things even if nobody else cares (hence why I've been liveblogging on here since Drum Island I think lmao) but while watching Sanji's backstory it affected me like nothing else ever has. It's not even something that made me cry really, I was just in shock after watching it for awhile. And Reiju saying to Sanji, "There are people out there who will accept you for who you are, you need to get out of here" which is so similar to what Saul said to Robin and even similar to what one of my sisters said to me growing up. Yeah. I also felt personally victimized by Whole Cake Island lmao.

But the end result of Sanji's arc is so beautiful and amazing. Sanji putting on this act of looking down on Luffy, and once again trying to sacrifice himself to protect those that he cares about, but Luffy just cuts through the bullshit because he knows that isn't really Sanji talking in that fight. Luffy's speech as Sanji is being driven away where he says that he can't become the pirate king without him by his side. This isn't an original thought but Sanji and Zoro both kind of represent different aspects of Luffy's dreams. Zoro with a seemingly impossible ideal and putting 100% of yourself into it. "I will become the greatest swordsman." "I will become the pirate king." But Sanji's dream of finding the All Blue reflects Luffy's dream of finding the One Piece. They both don't know if either of those things are even real (the audience at this point knows the one piece is real, but to my knowledge and where I'm at, Luffy doesn't). Yet there's this childlike wonder they both have about these dreams, because, what if it is real? Luffy knows that Sanji is irreplaceable because of the ideals that they share, not because of what Sanji can provide or be "useful" as.

It takes so much for Sanji to go running back to Luffy, and even when he does, he obviously gets insecure again and starts listing off reasons why he isn't worthy enough to go back to the Sunny and to the crew. And God is it satisfying to see Luffy absolutely rock his shit for saying that and asking him to just SAY what he really wants. And Sanji breaking down and saying how much he misses the Sunny and the crew and also airing out how he feels backed into a corner and doesn't know the way out, that he wants to help his family even though he doesn't consider them family and he KNOWS it doesn't make sense, he is being kind to a fault again. But Luffy smiling at him and saying "Well, that's just how you are. Let's go crash the wedding." That's when I started sobbing lmao, because there is such unconditional love and kindness in that statement that Sanji has so desperately needed ever since his mother died. Someone who just accepts him and all his faults wholeheartedly, and is that not the most beautiful representation of family??? His relationship with his blood family is so messy and complicated and full of mixed feelings(and that's very common), but his feelings about Zeff and Luffy and the rest of the strawhats are so clearly full of adoration and unconditional love for them, and they feel that same love for him as well! How lucky all of them are where they found their people, and how everyone else in this world has that opportunity to find the space and people they truly belong to, not tied down by blood. Whole Cake Island's themes on family were so well done and also fundamentally changed me as a person I think.

[loseiso]

Assuming vs world government is endgame: that'd mean the gods knights have to be the final opponent for the straw hats right?

Right now we have 3 out on Elbaf and some matchups for them to get defeated here that make sense BUT hear me out: the crew can 'stop' them on Elbaf but not defeat them (ala Big Mom on Whole Cake)

Right now whoever fights Gunko, Killingham, and Sommers is a mystery (all of whom having about 3 characters I see them fighting) but theres one gods knight I think has a clear opponent.

Shamrock vs Momonosuke

First off: I don't think Zoro and Sanji will fight a gods knight, as the wings of the pirate king they should fight someone's higher (the Elders) which means we have two remaining gods knights assuming the silhouettes depict the correct amount we are short two characters.

So why Momonosuke to fill in one of these two characters? Simple, he is one of two characters who had a long heartfelt goodbye with Luffy and the crew and was called explicitly a Nakama. Not only that, but Luffy said that Momonosuke is like his little brother.

We haven't seen much of Shamrock's and Shanks's relationship, however it seems to not be that good (I havent read the chapter in a bit so I'm going off of memory of it being stated to be not good) despite them being blood related, whereas Luffy and Momonosuke are incredibly close brothers in spite of the lack of blood relation.

You might ask Why not Carrot, Yamato, Law, Kid, Shanks, or Kin'emon;

Law and Kid have been Luffy's primary rivals as pirates since Sabaody and I think it'd be a disservice to them if they weren't with Zoro and Sanji fighting the elders. Furthermore one has a personal grudge against them for merely being a father of a man who sank his ship while the other was a enemy from birth to them

Yamato and Kin'emon I think will be getting 1v1s however neither had the bond Luffy had with Momo; while yes Yamato did almost set sail with them he only knew Luffy for a handful of hours. That I feel would be a disservice to Shamrock here. As for Kin'emon I think there's someone else he fits better against but that's for another post

As for Carrot. The answer is simple, she never got an invitation (unfortunately)

Finally Shanks. For this, I actually don't have much besides I personally think he'll die before then. Though I think Shanks vs Shamrock would be great, I just think a Momonosuke vs Shamrock fight would be even better

Second: The person who takes on Shamrock can't just be a straw hat, it has to be someone important even among the crew and like I said before: Zoro and Sanji should fight one of the elders.

Besides Momo; the only ones who I can see as being important to defeat a Shamrock are Usopp or Nami (if either possesses the D. Which I know are popular theories), Robin who I think will know the full history at this point, Jimbei for being a former warlord, fourth strongest, and will be in the forefront of leading the fishman to the surface, or Vivi who is a D.

Momonosuke, I think, fulfills all of these in a way.

While he doesn't have the D. (that we know of at least) Wano is involved in the true history as it holds Pluton, he is the Shogun of Wano (possible standin for Warlord), and will open the border when the time to unleash Pluton is ready. And lastly, this is based on no evidence but I feel as if we'll find some ancient Ponegliff during the current Cover Story which Momonosuke would somehow learn how to read that will detail some important information.

There is some possible concerns over if Momonosuke is even strong enough to fight a warlord. I'll admit, that's a point against this theory. However I think with Yamato and Kin'emon he could learn how to become strong enough to handle say Franky. And as we've seen earlier in the cover story even Otama is able to handle grunts, I see no reason why Oda can't just say he's been training to hell and back off screen.

This was a fun theory to write, I do apologize for any typo or misplaced paragraphs I'm not practically that skilled in typing out my theories

[softlypaintedseafoam]

I have returned to your inbox! I haven't finished whole cake island yet, but the last ask you sent me got me curious about what got you into one piece and what made you want to continue watching it.

I also was curious about what you think about some arcs too, mainly punk hazard and dressrosa. some other day I'll bother you with questions about other arcs (also yes, I'm starting with the ones that brought my man (law) back into the story)

oop an uno reverse card in my inbox, hi angel thanks for answering my long ass ask and indulging me fjdkfjndf

i'm sure anyone into one piece regardless of their country of origin has seen the 4kids pirate rap and that was my exposure to one piece. i was watching those terrible censored anime adaptations there and one piece was no different. wanted to get kid nyla hype? turn on the tv and let her hear "YO! YAYOYAYOOOOO"

i was one of the kids on the playground who watched all the at the time big 3 (naruto, bleach, op)

but i think what really motivated me beyond tuning into 4kids every week was i bought a random shonen jump volume and in it was the chapter ace was introduced in alabasta and a younger nyla basically went "luffy has a hot older brother?" and started watching episodes from the beginning on youtube after i learned how much 4kids censored/changed/removed (girl they removed all of little garden and even the laboon episodes when they entered the grand line. how were they gonna justify brook joining the crew later??? and if you're wondering how they introduced mr 3 in alabasta, they just said he had been following the crew in secret since loguetown. i know. i know)

(and speaking of ace, one garp hater to another: here's my entire hit piece on him being a terrible grandpa on my old writing blog djgnkdfjgn fuck that bum, pay dadan her child support)

now as for my thoughts on the arcs you listed!

punk hazard

punk hazard was an arc i really enjoyed it! we finally got to know more about law after he came in clutch for luffy in marineford and his initial introduction in sabaody. my only nitpick was caesar's fuck ass laugh jnfkgjn it haunts me to this day

imagine living in one piece's world and trying to crack a joke and you just get "SHURORORORORORORORORO" "KEEEEEEEEEESHISHISHISHI" "GURARARARARARARARA" "PICAPICAPICAPIRARARARARA" in response all at once to you saying some dumb pun jfsndkfjsndfkjn

i also, in hindsight, really like oda's choice to make the addicts in the season children. a lot of people seeing those going through addiction can be unsympathetic but by having them be kids who the straw hats can't harm due to their age and constantly being told it isn't the kids but the withdrawal and seeing later in egghead there has been no immediate fix, the kids are still recovering but are doing their best? i think that helped with viewing irl addicts in a softer light, at least i hope so

it's also crazy seeing the setup for wano all the way back in punk hazard and the years it took for oda to finally get to that point. 11/10 writing

this doesn't necessarily have to do with law in punk hazard as much as it does his actions in marineford, but i think punk hazard shone his actions in said arc in a new light

because at first value it feels like law showing up to the war was completely out of left field, however comma, punk hazard despite his initial introduction as an apparent enemy showed he's actually pretty nice. healing others without needing payment, completely truthful in his allying himself with luffy without the intention of betraying him. etc etc

so his actions in marineford look different to me now thanks punk hazard because he saw that luffy's brother was slated for execution and for no reason other than the kindness of his heart and knowing what it is like to lose a sibling, he went to help luffy out and that says a lot about his character

so i guess that brings me to my thoughts on

dressrosa

we can get it out the way early, yes the pacing was egregious anime-wise. it was torment. BUT I'VE NEVER WATCHED DRESSROSA ON .x SPEED, I RAW DOG THE PACING AS IT IS INTENDED EVERY TIME

alright with that out the way jnfkgjdfng

i really loved dressrosa's story. everything it told us about law, the story of the donquixote brothers- i could write a whole dissertation on that dynamic as a whole but that would probably make this post 20x longer

but it really was good writing to see how the same situation can affect siblings/people differently. and seeing how much doffy adored rosinante before shit went up in smoke. the tragedy of it all makes you wonder what could have been different for them

but then that spirals into me going if even one thing had been different, law might not have lived past 13

i also loved the reintroduction of sabo; that shit was so wild the community lost its mind. some people complained but not me; with the info we got in the post-war arc, it would have been too cruel to me for luffy to lose both of his brothers TAT so i'm happy oda decided to give one back to him so luffy wouldn't have be to be alone in that sense

\^o^/ thank you for the ask! i'll stop now before i get too longwinded but def send more, i love to yap about anime

[mingos]

【 h.c. 】 ー "food = survival" (food trauma)

　　　(cw: disordered eating, food talk.)

　been having back-and-forth with @belovedcorvid the last few days about the bird brothers™ and how their relationship with food was absolutely altered due to those formative childhood years being forced to eat garbage (as well as probably bugs, plants, or anything in the woods that looked vaguely edible) & steal to survive.

and we discovered that both birds, like everything else in their lives, had complete opposite trauma responses; rabbit's rocinante is more-or-less food avoidant because the act of eating is generally uncomfortable outside of specific tastes & textures, whereas i feel like doflamingo would be gluttonous when it came to food. basically, they can hardly stand to eat in the same room as each other because their eating habits are so opposite that it makes them either sick or irrationally angry.

-

it started with the realization that, although rosinante was only forced to survive by eating garbage & stealing for that two year period before being taken in by sengoku, doflamingo continued to eat garbage & steal. at least for another 3-5 years until his gang was established. because they were the ones looking to doflamingo to get them out of poverty, not the other way around, their first headquarters was is a garbage dump.

pair that with him being in a rough environment and his general desire to survive no matter what (ie. he can't survive if he dies of starvation), he'll eat almost anything without complaint. ate his entire devil fruit, stem & all, for sure.

almost anything. he has one specific food trigger (that he has tried to overcome for years for the sake of his "food = survival" mindset, but he just can't do it) which is barbecue or any slow-cooked meats. any meat with char on it, tooーreally, any meat that is drier than medium-rare is probably pushing it.

pretty sure it was just a dark joke made by oda about him almost being immolated as a child, but since i've already headcanoned that as the worst/most humiliating experience of his entire life, i'd say the memories being enough to make him repulsed by the thought is valid.

more about his other specific behaviors (food aggression, compulsive overeating, food waste anxiety) under the cut.

food aggression: i don't know if there's a human equivalent to this phrase because i've only ever seen it used when describing animal behavior when they become territorial over their foodーbut he has whatever that is. his food is his food; he doesn't share, he doesn't let people eat things off his plate, and if you try to take away 'finished' plates without his say so, or eat the last bite of any dish at his table (at least without asking permission first) he'll get irritated at best and furious at worst. really kind of just depends how hungry he is because, the hungrier he gets, the more his brain slips into the "survival mode" from when he was a child. same goes for pantry/snack foods he enjoys. even if he has no immediate plans to eat it, if you don't ask him first so he at least knows that food is not going to be there next time he seeks it outーthat's his food. he was saving it. how dare you eat it. so, i guess "food hoarding" can be tacked onto this point, too.

compulsive overeating: i generally see & write doflamingo as a hedonistic pleasure demon (he drinks, he parties, he's hypersexual, etc.) so him having a habit of overeating definitely tracksーbut it's not a hedonism thing. it's ironic considering his business partnership with cesar & kaido has indirectly contributed to the starvation of thousands of people, but he has an irrational fear of food scarcity. even when he's a rich as fuck crime lord & king with his own walk-in pantry and multiple fridges, it's never quite gone anyway. every meal may as well be his last meal so he's going to eat like a hibernating grizzly bear and stuff himself to the point of sicknessーeven past sickness sometimes, if he's in a particularly weird headspace or he's having his first meal really late in the day because he was too busy. big portions. double portions. triple portions, even. very rarely will he turn down food offered to himーusually only if he's sick, too busy to eat, or if it's his one food trigger. otherwise... yeah, just hibernating grizzly bear energy.

food waste anxiety: somehow, i keep finding ways to compare doflamingo & sanji, so me seeing him having a general hatred of wasting food tracks. they both had periods in their childhood where they were starving and had to covet what little food they could find, so it makes sense to me. though, dare i say, i think doflamingo would be a little more unhinged about it. because, when normal people talk about not wasting food, they usually just mean finish your plate, don't throw stuff on the floor, don't let food spoilーwhich doflamingo agrees with, don't get me wrong. he does. if you don't finish food in front of him (especially if it's food he offered you) he'll want to wring your neck. but... 'wasting food' to him also extends to not wasting edible food scraps. if it's edible, he will eat it (or at least have it turned into something else, like a broth). including, but not limited to: banana peels, orange peels, cheese rinds, apple cores, watermelon rinds, potato peels, and vegetable stalks, stems, or leaves. basically, there's this fanart of doflamingo smoking a cigarette with rosinante and, after he's done, he just... eats it. that's the vibe. that's what eating with doflamingo feels like. just... horror, and confusion, and you can tell something is mentally wrong with him just based on the way he eats

[bnesszai]

May I know your top 3 favourite Dazai ships (either platonic or romantic) and why? Thank you ❤️

hello anon!

skk (romantic/platonic) - i could go on for a while but I'll try to keep it short. These two have so much trust in one another, no matter how much they try and claim otherwise. They know the other has their back. No matter what the situation, no matter how much time has passed, just. no matter what. They also definitely do hate each other because they see the worst of themselves reflected in the other BUT they also see the best of the other despite these parts, even if they try and deny it. They bring out the worst and the best in each other. When they're together, they don't have to have their guard or facades up. Together, they can enjoy the things they typically don't get to, such as arcades or just being stupid for no good reason. They can find their lost childhoods and the essence of who they could have been in a different world within each other. They also understand each other on such deep level. they don't even need words or signals. They just know. They also believe in the humanity of the other despite, once again, how much they try and deny it.

kunicuuzai (romantic/platonic)- kunizai on its own is okay, but i prefer all three together for reasons that are probably just stupid and personal but meh. anyway. You have the above dynamic but also added in you have Kunikida who is an idealist. He is someone who never wants to see someone die before his eyes. He is a self-sacrificing, bleeding human who has seen horrors but always chooses good (i have some hcs about a delinquent past but that's a different story). He can help Dazai and Chuuya see their humanities and the good parts in themselves that they feel they have lost. He can soothe over some of their aches and pains in a way neither Chuuya or Dazai can do for themselves or each other because Kunikida has never been in an organization that has asked him to kill ruthlessly, relentlessly. He also is the only one who can keep their bullshit shenanigans to a more tolerable amount (that said, he also loves shenanigans. he also loves safety and getting home on time for dinner). Dazai and Chuuya help Kunikida see the more fun things in life and how it can be okay to deviate from his schedule sometimes. Sometimes, it's okay to be horribly selfish.

Dazai and Oda (platonic only)- I was a lil torn between saying Oda or Atsushi or Ango for my platonic relationship, but ultimately, Oda did have the largest impact on his life (I have gone on rants about him and Ango before and probably will do so again). Anyway. There is the way Chuuya understands Dazai, but then there is the way that Oda did. Oda could see the deep lonlieness inside of Dazai. He could see that Dazai is too smart, too clever, too something to ever find something that will fulfill him in life. And that's heartbreaking. And yet, Oda tried his best to help Dazai out. He kept him company, he indulged him (I'm pretty confident Oda always knew Dazai was lying about his injuries), and he surely taught Dazai many things and comforted him to the best of his abilities when he could. Oda understood Dazai as if Oda had lived a life inside his body (i cannot think of a less creepy way to describe this sorry xD). Oda understood Dazai. Oda called Dazai a friend. Oda cared for Dazai and encouraged him to at least find the beauty in life, to atl east use his talents for good, even if none of it will ever make Dazai truly want to live. It's incredibly heartwarming and tragic all at once and GOD. reading tdipud (both sides) and Beast really makes Dark Era hurt that much extra. In every fic I write, I want Oda to be alive so they can be happy together as stupid friends, but his death is so vital to Dazai's development that I have not been able to bring myself to keep him alive thus far. Perhaps someday I can let them be happy (doubtful).