#arlong park next :D

[every-luffy-smile]

chapter 68: end! luffy smiles this chapter: 4 total luffy smiles: 314

[licorice-tea]

I’m A Ghost Of You, You’re A Ghost Of Me Pt. 2

Pairing: Roronoa Zoro x reader, platonic Straw Hat Pirates & reader

Content: slow burn, canon typical violence (nobody actually gets hurt), throwing darts (just for fun), mentions of a g*n (no shooting), reader shoots an arrow from a bow (no one is harmed), reader has special skills typical of a one piece character, bars, mentions of alcohol

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: This one is kind of long and there isn’t much reader x zoro in it, we’re still building up to that lol. There is a mention of him and his relationship to the reader at the end of this chapter though! Oh, and since Usopp is a sniper, but so is y/n (just different weapons) I’ve made it so Usopp’s thing/weapon of choice is his inventions instead! It won’t change the story much at all, but I didn’t want to make it so there are 2 people with the same fighting style on the crew once the reader joins. One last thing- this takes place after the crew has taken down Arlong Park- their next destination is Reverse Mountain, but they just so happened to meet the reader on an island first.

Part 1 • Part 3

Monkey D. Luffy had charmed you from the moment you met him- and vice versa. The two of you, though you had very different backgrounds and aspirations, were both young, free souls with big dreams. He had just begun assembling his crew that would ultimately help him achieve his goal of becoming King of the Pirates. So far, the future king had recruited a swordsman and a navigator. Or at least, that’s what he told you when he found you; in a bar on one of the smaller islands of the East Blue.

It was a quiet day, and the bar was empty save for you and the bartender. You weren’t much of a drinker, but the heat was intense and the bar offered shade and a place to relax. So while the few patrons of the bar drank, you took to playing darts. Alone.

You hold the dart in your right hand with your left arm outstretched as if to focus your aim; poised to throw. Then after a few back and forth movements of your hand- as if to determine the path the dart would take once you let it go- you exhale softly and do just that. The dart flies in a near straight line, only falling slightly at the end of its arc to hit the dead center of the dart board.

With a small smile you hum to yourself and pick up another dart from a box nearby. You don’t even really aim this time though, just steady your hand and repeat those back and forth motions before throwing. This time, you use more force, and the second dart splits the first.

One of the few others in the bar, a tall and burly man in a marine uniform, approaches you after the 4th dart has split 3 others. He puts an arm on your shoulder, and gives you a scrutinizing sort of look as he sizes you up.

“You shoot, kid?”

“Yeah, a bow.”

“Ever thought about being a marine?”

You shrug off his hand, “No, thank you.”

He steps closer, “Oh, so you think you’re too good for us? Wont take orders cause you’re the best, right?” You can smell the alcohol on his breath.

“Sure, something like that.” You respond sarcastically while taking a step back. You’re not one to go looking for a fight, but he’s clearly trying to challenge or test you. Sigh, marines and their pride.

He huffs, then turns to leave and spits in the spittoon by the bar doors. The marine looks back over his shoulder and points at you. “Meet me outside when you’re ready to put your money where your mouth is, kid.”

You simply roll your eyes and take a seat at the bar, as you’re no longer in the mood for playing darts. The bartend comes around to your side to take your order.

“A shirley temple, please.”

He gives you a deadpan look, and when you don’t quirk a smile or admit to it being a joke, he full on laughs at you.

“You’re gonna run from that marine on nothing but a shirley temple, huh kid?”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s still waiting for you outside, no doubt about it. I hope you’re fast.”

You frown and rest your head in your chin, thinking of how you were going to get out of this mess.

Sometime between your confrontation with the drunk marine and your conversation with the bartend, a new group came in. You hadn’t noticed earlier, but you did now as they were clearly watching you. They must have been listening to everything go down, too, based on their expressions.

The bartend leaves your end to go take this new groups orders before eventually coming back to make your drink.

“…I’m not running from anything.” is the answer you settle on as he slides you the bright red shirley temple.

“Sure thing.”

You pull out a few berries from your pocket, but before you can slide them over he waves you off.

The bartend nods his chin to the new group of people, who you realize are still not so subtly staring and talking about you. “Those guys paid for your drink.”

They sure are an interesting bunch. There’s a boy with a straw hat, a girl with orange hair, one man with curly brows and another with a long nose. And they’re just looking at you, mostly (with the exception of the blonde with curly eyebrows, who is giggling with literal hearts in his eyes.)

You nod to the group as a way of saying “thanks”, but you’re not sure if you should approach them… Fortunately, the boy with the straw hat makes that decision for you when he gets up and comes to stand by you.

“Hey!”

“Hi?” You offer a friendly smile, but it’s nothing compared to his huge grin.

“My name is Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m gonna be King of The Pirates!”

All you do is hum in acceptance of his grand statement, “Well, I’m l/n y/n.” You extend a hand to shake, “Nice to meet you.”

“You’ve gotta go fight that marine!” the boy exclaims. He holds his hands in fists, completely ignoring your handshake in favor of making punching motions.

“I- No, I can’t.”

“Why not? You can beat him- I saw you throwing darts!”

“Well, sure, but I don’t want my bounty going up or anything… I’m not looking for trouble, really.” You laugh nervously.

“Psh! He insulted your bravery! And having a bounty is coo-“ He’s cut off by the girl with orange hair who slaps a hand over his mouth.

“Sorry about him. I’m Nami… and you’re some kind of sharpshooter, right?”

You nod as you look between the two of them, then at the rest of their friends who were sitting on the other end of the bar but are now also making their way over.

“Well, y/n was it? I think what Luffy was trying to say-“ she then glares at Luffy, “before he almost outed us as pirates when a marine is outside- is that he’d really like to see more of what you can do.”

“Um… why? I’m not trying to be rude or anything, I just-“

“I want you to join my crew!”

You blink, shocked. “And why would you need me?” you say with a somewhat surprised laugh.

“I want a sharpshooter on my crew, and you have the best aim I’ve ever seen!” He says everything with such excitement, and you like it.

“Really? I’m a good shot, I don’t know about the best…” you giggle. “I’m not even a sharpshooter, I’m a painter; I just do this for fun.”

As you had explained: you didn’t really consider yourself a full blown archer. More like an artist who happened to have a talent for archery, and would use a bow and arrow as a means of protection. It was how you survived; not your dream.

Of course, being an artist whose work is known all throughout the world is a grand and respectable dream all on its own. You knew that- even if others had labeled you foolish or unserious for your passion. Sure, art wasn’t something dangerous that could earn you tons of glory, or even a career with a guarantee of money. But, that didn’t matter to you, because it was what you loved most in life. And, you had become enamored with the idea of beauty for beauty’s sake through many arguments with your parents over the purpose and need for art (beyond being a hobby.) You still doubted yourself occasionally, but the backlash somehow made it easier to believe in yourself when your confidence ran low.

That was over a year ago now, and you’d been making a name for yourself as a painter. You liked to travel between islands to find inspiration in a variety of places and people, but you got by just fine with the berries from selling your work. It was nice, having the freedom to do what you loved most… but this was your chance to follow your dream to someday be a master of the arts. And you felt in some odd way, that this small crew led by a boy no older than yourself; they were a part of that future.

“Ohhh, so that’s your dream then? Perfect! All of the Straw Hat Pirates have dreams!”

“The Straw Hat Pirates? So, you’re the captain then?” You can’t help but smile up at the boy with the Straw Hat. And it makes close to no sense at all, but you have a really good feeling about him- about all of them.

“Yep! Join us, cmon!”

“I… Um…” It’s not like you were really tied down at all. And how often did you meet people like these, who made you feel safe and appreciated even though you had just met?

Well, you did remember one time. But that was over a year ago, and you hadn’t heard from him since.

Nami shakes her head at Luffy once again, “Give them some time to think, would you! Not everyone can just run off with a pirate crew.”

Then, one of the other two crew members who had joined in on the conversation speaks up. “So… are you going to go fight that marine?” says the man with the long nose. “Oh, I’m Usopp by the way.” He gives a friendly wave.

The blonde responds for you; “They don’t have to do anything they don’t want to.” His eyes return from Usopp to you, and the hearts seem to reappear. “And I’m Sanji, it’s really a pleasure to meet you!” He takes one of your hands and shakes it with both of his.

You giggle and shake your head. “No, it’s ok.” You drain the last bit of your shirley temple, then stand up from your barstool. “I’ll do it.”

There are mixed reactions after the initial surprise from the whole crew- minus Luffy, he seems like he knew you would. But once the rest lose their shocked expressions Nami and Usopp both try to talk you out of it while Sanji cheers you on. Luffy simply crosses his arms and nods with a grin, and they all follow you out of the bar.

“But- but wait! You really don’t have to, this will just cause trouble!” Usopp tries to reason with you.

You shake your head, “It’s ok, he’s probably not even here anymore.”

And sure enough when you walk out onto the street, it’s nearly empty. No marines in sight- until you hear him.

“Hey, kid!” The voice comes from further down the street behind you, and you and all the Straw Hat Pirates turn to see who it belong to. Sure enough, there’s the marine- he seems to have sobered up a little, or enough that he’s not slurring his words or stumbling anymore.

As if this were some old western movie, you rest a hand on the bow slung over your shoulder. “Nevermind then. Can you give me a little space guys?” The Straw Hats back away and watch as the marine hurries toward you, stopping about 10 paces away.

“Here to defend your honor, huh?”

“No, that’s silly. I’m here because you interrupted my game of darts.”

He scowls and draws his own weapon- a standard marine issued firearm, by the looks of it.

Before he can even load it or cock it or- whatever they do with guns, how would you know? You draw your bow and knock back a single arrow, but with great force. It hits the barrel of the gun, fully bending it away from the direction your arrow hit it.

The marine, the Straw Hats, and even yourself (though you felt too confident to look surprised) were shocked. For a single arrow to dent the barrel of a gun? Well, you must be one hell of an archer. Yet it was “just a hobby” as you told your new crewmates, and so they were all excited to see the prowess you would exemplify over your actual dream.

He takes two cautionary steps backwards first, then the marine turns and full on sprints away. The Straw Hats all laugh, cheer, and pat you on the back while asking how in the world you did that. You weren’t entirely sure yourself, but were still content with the outcome of the day.

“So now you’ll be part of my crew, right?”

“Yes!” You laugh, “I’d love to.”

You explain to your new crew, or nakama as Luffy calls you, that you just have to go get your bag from the inn you’re currently staying in. The five of you meet back at the docks of the island just a few minutes before sunset, and they show you to their boat; the Going Merry.

But before any of you can begin to board the vessel, Luffy stops and exclaims, “Aw man, where’s Zoro?”

You whip your head around to face Luffy. Did he say Zoro? As in, Roronoa Zoro- the bounty hunter who’d led you get away a year ago to follow your dream? The man you still felt you owed your future to, for what he had done for you…

“Probably lost. Again.” Usopp sighs.

“Sorry, did you say Zoro?”

“Yep, he’s our swordsman!”

You have no words, so you just hum in response. What were the chances of joining the same crew as your… savior? Ally? Friend? The definition of your relationship was not at all set in stone, so you can only rely on what is tangible for now; the growing smile on your lips, and the faster beating of your heart.

Maybe you would get the chance to repay him after all.

[haveatthee83]

The Princess and her Fool (Buggy D. Clown/Reader) 3/4

Inspo: TIMEZONE-MÅNESKIN

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Word Count: ~9.7k

Warnings/Notes: Cursing, canon typical violence (very minor), angst(?), flashbacks.

A/N: MÅNESKIN is Buggy coded, no I won't elaborate, all chapters are inspired by different MÅNESKIN songs. Hope you like this one! Thank you all for all the love on my fics! It's been literally amazing! I am like constantly checking my activity tab to see all the little likes, comments, and reblogs. I can't stop like squealing in excitement every time one of y'all interacts. It's literally one of the biggest highlights of my day. Thanks so much for reading!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

You weren’t ready. Your mood dropped instantly as you saw the island on the horizon through your spyglass. Arlong Park. It was mere minutes away, really. Less than an hour. You swallowed the lump in your throat as you handed your spyglass over to Zoro next to you.

“Almost there.” You whispered, leaning against the railing of the ship.

“When are you going to tell him?” Zoro muttered, scanning the area with your tool. You quirked an eyebrow, “You gotta tell Luffy you’re leaving.” He mumbled.

Your heart skipped a beat, “Oh-oh…I’m not leaving.” You started, playing with your fingers.

“Yeah, you are.” Zoro scoffed, “You’re all goo goo eyed over that fuckin clown. You’re worse than the cook.” He jeered, nudging your shoulder.

You shook your head, heat rising to your cheeks, “I’m not going with him. I have stuff I need to do first.” You explained. “I’m here through Loguetown.”

Zoro nodded, handing your back your spyglass, “After that?”

“I’m going off with Buggy.” You admitted. “I told Luffy from the start that I wasn’t gonna stay with him permanently.” You mumbled with a sorrowful look in your eye.

Zoro sighed, rolling his neck, “You gonna be happy with him?” he asked, turning his head to look at you fully, “Cause if you’ll be happy, Luffy will be happy.”

You nodded softly, “He makes me a happier person.” You said, “I think I really love him.” You said it so softly that Zoro could have thought it was his imagination, but he knew better.

“Just…talk to Luffy soon. Don’t put it off or I’ll tell him.” Zoro said finitely, walking away from you, toward where Usopp and Buggy were arguing on how to best maneuver getting to the island.

“I will.” You promise to the wind.

Getting onto the island was easier than you all had thought, using Buggy as a guide through the thicket toward the park.

You and Buggy sat outside Nojiko’s small home in Coco Village, you were leant up against a tangerine tree and holding Buggy over your stomach, stroking his hair and quietly reading through the last chapter of your book, “-as the princess stood tall for her final stand, hand in hand with her beloved knight, she couldn’t help but smile wide, whispering to her beloved at her side, ‘I love you more than this world will allow, my dear. I cannot wait to hold you and love you without bound in the next.’.”

Buggy sank himself deeper into your hold, melting under your gentle ministrations. “You should braid my hair again, eh pretty girl?” he muttered as you finished the last chapter, the bittersweet ending a satisfying conclusion, but a heavy reminder of your circumstances.

You hummed with a small smile and set the book down on the ground beside you, “Okay, but I want to keep playing with your hair. Can I just do one little one?” you asked, raising Buggy’s head up to your face and planting a quick kiss to the tip of his nose.

Buggy scrunched up his face and wiggled it a bit, “I don’t mind, but damn, Doll. We’ve talked about the nose!”

You rolled your eyes and planted another kiss to his brow, “I remember talking about how much I love your nose, eh pretty boy?” you teased, running your hand through his soft blue hair. “So just let me love on you while I can.” You chastised, bringing him in for a longer, deep kiss on the lips, your thumb stroking his cheekbone right under his eye, his lashes brushing against the very tip of your finger.

Buggy nipped at your bottom lip as you pulled him back, making you huff out a low laugh as you settled him back in your lap, already separating a small section of hair from right behind his left ear to braid.

“I’m gonna miss you, Starshine.” He mumbled, relaxing into your touch.

You smiled sadly, pinching the braid in one hand and using the other to stroke the side of his face soothingly, “I’ll miss you too, Bugs.”

That night, you and Buggy slept under the stars, cuddled up close, his head resting comfortably under your chin.

When you and the other Straw-hats properly invaded the park, you and Buggy could feel the deep pull of anxiety as you both separated to find the rest of him.

After darting around a bit, you crested a hill and then he saw it. His body. It was strung up alongside some prizes in a game booth. You skidded to a stop, scanning the area to make sure it was clear, all the while, hugging Buggy’s head to your middle.

When you deemed it safe enough, you rushed over to the counter, letting Buggy float out of your grip as you got close enough. His head reattached to his neck and with glee he detached his hands and feet just long enough to free himself from his bindings, landing hard on the ground.

Buggy smiled wide, hopping over the counter and scooping you into his arms, spinning you for a moment. When he laid your feet back on the ground, you beamed, grabbing his face and drawing him into a deep kiss, his hands traveling over as much of your body as they could.

“Oi! Clown!” You and Buggy drew away from each other. It was Zoro. He was looking for Buggy somewhere nearby.

Buggy rolled his eyes but turned to you, “You sure you can’t come with me, Doll Face?”

Your heart dropped to your feet as you shook your head, “I can’t, Buggy. I…If I go with you now, I’d never forgive myself. I made a promise.” You said resolutely, “I’ll see you soon.” You whispered, nudging him to go.

Buggy nodded, “See ya, Sweet Cheeks.” He muttered quickly, pecking your cheek before bolting.

Zoro came around the corner, rushing to your side, “Where did that fucker go?”

You smiled and shrugged, “He had to go.” You said, boldly wearing his red kiss mark on your face, wiping at your stained lips.

The fight with Arlong and his fishmen had been difficult, not to mention those damned Marines, but you found the hardest part to be seeing poor Nami’s suffering. You wanted to find it in you to hate the younger woman for betraying you all, but you couldn’t. You understood duty and desperation, more than most.

So, there you all sat on the Going Merry, a fragile air of comradery on the deck. Your next stop was Loguetown. You looked out over the calm waves, glistening under the setting sun, and you couldn’t stop the little melancholy smile from spreading along your lips.

            Buggy missed you. He constantly found himself turning to the side to tell you some joke or snide comment only to be met with Cabaji’s face, not yours.

Buggy saw you everywhere. He found a stone on one of the islands he’d stopped on. It wasn’t anything super special, but it just happened to be a perfect color match for your eyes. Buggy had scowled at the stone, almost wishing he could explode it with his mind before chucking it back down at his feet into the incoming waves and stormed off. Only to immediately turn around, cursing the sky and sea and go to find it again. He had to make multiple attempts to grab it because the waves kept getting a bit too close or too high for Buggy’s comfort. It took him a half an hour to grab the stone again, but he did.

Cabaji had seen his captain’s antics from the ship but didn’t say anything. He did, however, note that he’d often see his captain with his right hand in his pocket, clearly holding onto something. Sometimes when Cabaji would come into Buggy’s room to communicate goings-ons of the ship, he’d walk in on Buggy tossing the stone in his hand, over and over. Sometimes he’d simply be holding it, staring at it, stroking its smooth surface with his ungloved thumb. Cabaji didn’t understand why he held on so tightly to the little rock. It would have made a good skipping stone, sure, but other than that, it was…just a rock. But nonetheless, his captain kept it with him. Cabaji often found himself breaking Buggy out of little bouts of daydreams, bringing the clown back to earth during meetings and rehearsals. Cabaji was concerned. What had happened while Buggy was with those Straw-Hats? Why was he so…different?

There was a crewmate on the ship that had the same hair color as you, and Buggy’d find himself whipping around on a dime, thinking he’d seen you, just trying to lay eyes on you, but of course, you weren’t there. You were at least three time zones away, sailing with those Straw-Hats. Buggy would scowl at the thought, crewmates flinching away from him. Buggy was one more sleepless night, missing the sound of your humming and feeling your fingers in his hair, from snapping and demanding his crew hunt the Straw-Hats down. All so he could finally have you to himself. The only reason he held himself back anymore was the conversation you’d had right before he’d had to run away.

“I can’t, Buggy. I…If I go with you now, I’d never forgive myself. I made a promise.”

Buggy’s jaw set at the memory, his thumb running over the stone in his hand, the candle next to him licking over his fingers and its dull scent wafting over him. He wasn’t mad at you per say. More so mad at the situation. He wanted you right there with him, lying next to him when he wakes up in the morning, cheering him on during rehearsals and shows, he wanted to teach you a few circus tricks. You seemed to already be good at knife throwing, just like him. Buggy often felt his chest swell with pride at the fact that you remembered how to do that, he had taught you after all.

Buggy kept having to remind himself that you didn’t abandon him, the opposite in fact. You wanted him, you wanted to be around him. You just had something to do first. Buggy could wait. Absolutely. He…could wait. Maybe.

Buggy frowned as he walked his way through the main town center. He had his eye out for one thing and one thing only, the bounty board. ‘God where is it?!’ his gaze roved over the square, finally landing on the patchwork bulletin board. Buggy shoved his way through the crowd, making a beeline toward it, only stepping on a few people’s toes. When he made it up to the board, his eyes darted over the board faster than he thought possible, finally landing on what he was looking for. You had a poster. You had a bounty of 8,000,000 out for you, alive. Buggy studied your face, looking for an inkling of a grin, but he found no such thing, only finding a look of disgust aimed at the camera, a snarl curling your face, your arm pulled back to lay a punch onto whatever unfortunate Marine had tried to get your picture. You hadn’t found it yet.

“Son of a bitch!” Buggy exclaimed, ripping your poster down and stomping back toward the docks, heading back to the Big Top. “Can’t catch a break, dammit.” Buggy mumbled and grumbled as he made his way through the crowded streets, shoulder clocking someone, “Watch where you’re going.” He hissed.

“Rude, Captain.” It was Cabaji. He held Buggy’s eye with a disappointed glower, “Permission to speak freely?”

Buggy was taken aback, “Uh, sure I guess.”

Cabaji nodded, gesturing for Buggy to follow him into a quiet alley nearby. When they were far enough away from the crowds to not have to call over the noise, Cabaji settled, leaning against the damp stone wall and frowned. Buggy stood across from him, hands in his pockets, one running a thumb over the rock. Cabaji noted this with a furrowed brow, “Captain,” he started with a sigh, “You’ve been…weird lately.”

Buggy recoiled, face scrunching in annoyance, “Fuck you mean?”

Cabaji rolled his eyes, pointing at Buggy’s hand, still in his pocket, “You’re holding onto a rock. Not gold, not a gem, some normal ass rock,” he stated, “You’re more snippy than usual, which is saying something, and you just don’t seem very…present.” Cabaji finished, fingers beginning to fiddle with the ends of his hair.

Buggy’s jaw clenched, but after a moment, he sighed, slumping his shoulders before slowly dragging his back down the wall, sitting on the cobbled ground. “I know.”

Cabaji’s eyes widened, “See! Even that’s weird!” he insisted, gesturing wildly, “You would usually throw a damned knife at me for saying any of this! What’s wrong?” He asked, crouching down to level with his captain. “What happened while you were with those Straw-Hats?”

Buggy scowled, ripping his ungloved hand out of his pocket, the stone in the center of his grip, and studied it as he spoke, “It’s not like they tortured me or something.” He started, causing Cabaji’s confusion to visibly grow, “I mean they weren’t nice obviously, but…” Buggy hesitated, finding his words. “One of them was.” He finally said, meeting Cabaji’s eye.

Cabaji blinked a few times, trying to process what that could mean, “How does that-“

Buggy cut him off, “It was Gale.” He spat, cradling the stone more. Cabaji’s mouth dropped open a bit and he sat down fully then, cocking his head to think. “She didn’t even know it was me, but she was…great!” Buggy continued, “She fed me, read to me, let me sleep in her bed, hell she washed my damned hair!” he exclaimed, squeezing the stone tightly. “And she likes me.” He mumbled, pushing his knees up to his chest. “She really actually likes me.”

Cabaji took a moment, unsure how to proceed, “Well, do you like her?” he asked awkwardly, fiddling with his hair again.

Buggy rolled his eyes with a huff, “The fuck do you think?” he snapped, holding up the stone where Cabaji could see, “I carry around this stupid rock because it’s the same color of her eyes, I have her bounty poster,” he continued, ripping the paper out of his pocket, shoving it into Cabaji’s lap, “And I still have this braid in my hair because she did it.” Buggy finished, tugging the small braid out of his bandana. “I’m fucking whipped!”

Cabaji couldn’t help but smirk a bit, “Sounds like it.” He chuckled, “Did you close the deal?”

Buggy felt heat rise to his face, eyes suddenly focused on the stone again, “I was just a head, so…kinda.” He coughed out.

Cabaji threw his head back in a cackle at that, “Holy shit, Captain!” he chided, smacking Buggy’s leg, “Still got it, huh?”

“Never really had it.” Buggy mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Cabaji grinned and unfolded the bounty poster in his lap and his brows shot up, “You bagged her?” he asked incredulously, “She’s fuckin gorgeous!”

“Hey! That’s my girl you’re talkin’ about!” Buggy hissed, snatching the poster. “But…yes. I don’t know how I did it.” He chuckled, looking at your snarled face in your picture.

“Where is she?” Cabaji asked, “She still with the Straw-Hats?”

Buggy frowned, “Yeah.”

“Let’s go get her.” Cabaji stated simply, “I mean if she likes you, I don’t think she’d mind.”

“Can’t.”

“Why?”

“I have to wait.” Buggy explained. He saw Cabaji’s mouth open to ask why, but he cut him off, “She’s looking for something, Straw-Hat’s helping her. When she finds it, I can find her. We made a deal.”

Cabaji frowned, “Shitty deal.”

Buggy shrugged, “I’m not gonna stop her from doing what she has to do, I just…” he sighed, “I miss her, I guess. I want her here now, but I know I’m gonna have to wait.”

Cabaji nodded, mulling it over in his head before standing, extending a hand to his captain, “Let’s go. I’ll help with preparations for her arrival and ask some contacts to keep tabs on her, make sure she’s safe.” Buggy smiled softly, clapping his hand into Cabaji’s who hoisted him up, “Know where about she is?”

“Loguetown.” Buggy replied, walking stride for stride with the unicyclist, “That’s where her…thing is.” He explained.

Cabaji wanted to know what this ‘thing’ was but didn’t want to pry so he just nodded and kept walking. “So…” he asked, sunlight flowing over them as they emerged from the alley. Cabaji smirked a bit, “How’s she feel about the uh-“ he stopped himself, gesturing to Buggy’s face, especially the ‘center’ if you will.

Buggy’s eyes narrowed, “Shut the fuck up about my nose.” He growled, punching Cabaji in the arm.

Cabaji laughed, rubbing the sting out of the area, “Sorry, Boss. Curiosity killed the cat, you know?” Buggy rolled his eyes and kept walking. They remained in relative silence for the rest of the trek to the ship.

When they reached the ship, Buggy turned to head up to his captain’s quarters but hesitated, turning briefly to Cabaji, “She likes it.” He called, turning on his heel and getting back to work, all to the tune of Cabaji’s barked laughter.

Your eyes roamed over the expanses of Loguetown, clocking Marine after Marine through your spyglass. “This’ll be a close one,” you muttered to Luffy, “Crawling with Marines.”

“We’ll be fine.” Your captain said, waving you off, “We’ll get you your-“ Luffy cut himself off, sweeping the area, seeing you were both alone in the crow’s nest. “-fruit.” He whispered, “And then we’re off to the Grand Line! Easy peasy!” Luffy exclaimed, patting your shoulder.

You smiled at the boy, “We need a plan, Luffy.” You reasoned, resuming your sweep of the island from afar.

“Nami’s coming up with something, don’t worry about it!” he exclaimed, taking your spyglass out of your hands. Luffy’s smile shrank a bit as he closed it, “Zoro told me I need to talk to you.” He muttered lowly.

You pursed your lips, sighing deeply before guiding Luffy to sit with you, “Luffy. Do you remember our deal?” you asked, holding his hand.

“Which one?” he chuckled, “We have two.”

You huffed out a laugh, “Both, I guess.”

“Yeah.” He assured, squeezing your hand. “I remember.”

“I’m ready.” You explained, “I’m ready to go off and do my own thing, live my own life. I want to try and pursue my dreams now, all thanks to you.” You nudged his shoulder with yours before wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

Luffy smiled wider, “You’re gonna go perform?” he asked, eyes sparkling. “Where?”

You bit your lips together before speaking, “You remember Buggy?” Luffy nodded, “Well…I love him.” You confessed, waiting for Luffy’s reaction before you continued.

Realization dawned on Luffy’s face, “Oh! That’s what that was!” he exclaimed, “I was wondering why you looked at him like that.”

You felt heat rise to your face at that, “Yeah,” you took a deep breath, “I want to go with him, and I told him I would after I found my…thing.” You explained.

Luffy nodded, taking this all in, “You want to join his crew.” He reasoned, wobbling his head side to side, “Okay.”

Your eyes shot wide, “Okay? Okay what?”

Luffy shrugged, smiling all the wider, “Okay, you can go. I won’t make you stay.” He explained, “Just don’t forget about us. Maybe visit every once in a while.”

You beamed at the boy, wrapping him up in a tight hug, “God, you’re such a good kid. You’re gonna be an amazing King.” The hug lasted for a good while, neither wanting to let go.

Luffy pulled back from the hug to look at you, “You said you knew Gol D. Roger?” he asked.

You nodded, “Yeah! Not for very long.” You said, “Remember how I was telling you about Cardinal and Peacock?”

“Yeah, Shanks!”

“They were still sailing with Roger when I knew them. It was a few months before they disbanded.” You elaborated, “So they brought me to meet Roger. I got to listen to his stories over dinner, and he let me onto the ship anytime I pleased while they stayed on my island. He even tried to get me to join them after he saw how well me, and the boys got along.”

“Wait.” Luffy said, cogs turning hard in his head, “If Cardinal was Shanks…the clown said something about sailing with Shanks when they were young.” He said, watching as your eyes widened in realization, “Would that make Binky Peacock?” he asked, beaming up at you.

You visibly flinched back at the thought, “Oh my God.” You whispered, “Buggy’s Peacock.” You shot up to your feet as you said that, beginning to pace as you spoke. “It’s been so long I couldn’t remember their faces, I only remembered Buggy’s eyes! Oh my god, it’s him!” you exclaimed. “Luffy!”

Said boy shot up with you, waving his arms around, wildly, “He’s your friend!”

“Oh, you beautiful, brilliant boy!” you squealed, picking him up and spinning him in an embrace, “We have to get that fruit now!” you exclaimed, setting him down. “Cause I gotta see Buggy!”

Luffy nodded with you, ready to climb down and tell the other Straw-Hats to hurry up the plans when he stopped, handing you back your spyglass, only a tiny grin pulling at his lips now, “I’m gonna miss you Clown Lady.”

You melted a bit, reaching out to hold the young boy’s face for a moment, “I’ll miss you too.” You said, a mischievous grin spreading over your face, “Call me when you’re king if you ever need a jester.” You chided, pulling him into a final hug, handing him something before descending to the deck below.

“So, I have Marine uniforms for everyone,” Nami stated, everyone surrounding her as she pointed to different points on the map of Loguetown and their Marine base. “We’ll sneak in here,” she said, pointing to a back way vent system, “And they’ll be keeping things like treasure and such here,” she said, pointing to a treasury room of sorts, eyes on you. “You’ll go there, Usopp made you a few bombs to blow open the vault door, okay?” you nodded, “As for the rest of you, we need to stock up, so I’m assigning you to-“ she trailed off in your mind as you stared at the map, trying to memorize it as thoroughly as you could.

“Then who’s with Clown Lady?” Luffy asked, pointing at you, “She doesn’t have a partner.”

“Yes she does,” Nami chuckled, “Me!” she exclaimed, “I’m gonna steal a bunch of their Berry for us, and see what else they’ve got.”

You locked eyes with her for a moment, nodding, “Okay, if you’re going with me, I’m gonna need to talk to you after this meeting, okay? Gonna explain what I’m looking for.” You said, her cocking a brow, intrigued.

The meeting wrapped up shortly after, everyone grabbing a Marine uniform and heading to other parts of the ship, only you and Nami remaining. You turned to the young woman and sighed, “Can I trust you?” you asked tentatively, Nami’s face scrunched in offense, going to retort, but you held your hands up and continued, “This is very important to me, and I need reassurance that you really are on my side here. I need to know you won’t try to take it.”

Nami set her jaw, still clearly a bit peeved, “I won’t take it.” She said, raising a hand to clear her hair out of her face, “I promise.”

You nodded, taking a deep breath, “It’s a Devil Fruit.” You explained, Nami’s eyes shot open, “It’s been in my family for as long as there’s been Devil Fruit. The Marines stole it during my father’s funeral, and I want it back.”

Nami nodded slowly, “Okay, but why?” she asked, “Like you don’t seem the type to want powers or something.”

You sighed, leaning against the table that still housed the maps you had been using, “It’s my duty. I have to eat it.” You explained.

Nami shrugged, “What happens if you…don’t?”

You blinked a few times, trying to process things, “I can’t let the Marines have it. It’s too powerful.” You reasoned. “It would only make their corruption worse. Nami, it’s called the Kaku Kaku no Mi, the Paint Paint Fruit. It can make soulless versions of living things, you just have to paint it. They could paint an army.” You explained.

Nami sighed, “Why does it have to be you? Why can’t you just, I don’t know, throw it in the ocean? Or keep it with us and we’ll put it on the top of some mountain, or we could find someone better to eat it.” She suggested, a soft look of concern on her pretty face, “You shouldn’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”

“There’s too much risk in that, I mean, what if someone finds it in the ocean, or it washes up somewhere? If you guys keep it, what if you get raided, or worse targeted for having it.”

“Have you tried destroying it?” Nami asked, “We could burn it.”

You thought for a moment, “Would it come back if you burned it?”

Nami shrugged, “I’ve heard of it working but I’ve never seen it. If we do it on the ship, worst comes to worst, it’ll be on my tangerine tree, and you can eat it then. Just…wait?” she suggested.

Your mouth went dry, but you nodded, “I can wait.”

Getting inside of the base went much easier than you expected, you and Nami sneaking around effortlessly, you subtly laying a trail of ‘breadcrumbs’ in case you needed to find your way out that’s less dramatic than a window. The vault is on the third floor, after all.

When you reached the treasury room, you saw a large vault door, guarded by two young Marines, ‘Really? They put fresh meat on the vault?’ you thought to yourself as you and Nami walked up to them.

“Shift’s over boys,” you barked, hoping your age and tone of authority make them listen, “I don’t know what you did, but you pissed off Smoker big time. He wants you in his office, immediately.” The two young Marines straightened up in fear, eyes wide as they stammered, saluting you quickly before rushing down the hallway, away from you two.

Nami grinned, “You gotta teach me how to do that,”

“I’m just a very persuasive person.” You shrugged, digging in your pockets to find the low-level explosives Usopp made you, placing them along the corners of the door. When they were in position, you stepped back, arm out to make Nami move with you, other hand occupied by a dead man switch, your thumb indenting from the pressure of you holding it. “Cover your ears.” You said with a smile, letting go of the button.

BOOM, CLANG.

The door now laid flat at your feet, and you and Nami hurried in, Nami immediately shoving Berry and gems and gold into a bag she had brought, while your eyes scanned the room, landing on the large, colorful fruit, “There you are, you bastard.” You hissed, grabbing the thing and shoving it into your own bag.

“Hey! Freeze!” bellowed an older Marine from the other end of the long hallway, already calling on backup.

You grinned and stepped out of the vault, Nami right behind you, “Window?” you asked her, nodding to the large pane of glass next to you.

“Window.” She nodded, both of you stepping back before launching at the pane of glass, shoulder first, it shattered around you, both of you freefalling for a moment.

When you landed, Nami was a bit more graceful than you, rolling onto her back. You however hit the ground with a heavy ‘oof’, but popped up quickly, breaking into a dead sprint with your crewmate toward the docks. After a moment, you pulled something out of your pocket, a little cackle leaving your throat. Nami looked over at you and saw a remote in your hand, looking back when you pressed it, skidding to a stop.

BOOM

The marine base lit up in a chain reaction of explosions, ending right where you two had jumped out of the window, a rise of massive, orange flames.

“Usopp’s not the only one who’s been busy making stuff.” You exclaimed, grabbing Nami’s arm and resuming your mad dash to the dock.

“What if you hurt the others?!” Nami yelled, running right next to you, “That was stupid!” You shook your head, “You sent them to wings that wouldn’t have been hurt by the bombs, and they’re already out!” You called over the wind of your momentum, “Luffy gave me a signal!” you said, gesturing to a small transponder snail connected to your ear. “He’ll pick us up at the dock!”

Nami was befuddled, bewildered, amazed, “You really are meant to be with Buggy!” she yelled, a laugh breaking through.

Your cackle rose through the air as you spotted the dock, a certain rubber captain waving you over, ready to launch you all onto the ship. “There he is!” you yelled, pointing to the boy. “LUFFY!” you yelled, waving your arms to tell him to get ready. He grinned wide, readying his stance.

Just when you and Nami were stepping onto the dock, you saw something, a gleam out of the corner of your eye. It was a camera. You smiled wide as you ever had and saluted at the lens.

‘I’m coming, Buggy.’ You thought, heart fluttering.

“Okay, everybody!” Came the booming voice of your captain, Luffy gathering all of your attention under the night sky, “I have an announcement!”

You all gathered around him, chatter dying down.

Luffy smiled, “Today, we helped our dear Clown Lady achieve one of her goals.” He began, gesturing to you. A chorus of little whoops and whistles resounded with raised liquor bottles and smiles, “Now, I have to let her achieve one of her dreams.” Causing a few confused glances around the group. You smiled at your captain, your hands wrapped around the bag that sat in your lap, “Very very soon, our Clown Lady will be leaving us.” Luffy explained.

A look of understanding overcame your crewmates’ faces, “She will be joining another crew, following her heart like I tell all of you to do.” He said, his smile never wavering. “She will be missed, but I don’t want to mope with the time we have left. Let’s celebrate, give her a sendoff she’ll never forget!” He exclaimed to cheers, motioning to Nami, who popped up and quickly retrieved something, a metal barrel with branches and dry grass inside.

“Can I have a light, Sanji?” Nami asked.

The blond cook nodded, “Of course,” he said, taking his lighter out of his pocket, “Anything for my girls.” He said, lighting the flame and lowering it down to the dry kindling, watching it take immediately.

The fire took quickly, a bright orange tower of flames licking into the inky sky above.

Luffy called your name, gesturing for you to “take the stage”. You chuckled and rose, taking your captain’s position, him stealing your seat.

“I bet you guys have been wondering what I went to all of this trouble to find.” You began, nervously fiddling with the seam of the burlap bag you still had hung over your shoulder. “Well, here it is,” you said, scooping the large fruit out and holding it up for them all to see. A few shocked gasps resounded from Usopp and Sanji, Zoro only quirking a brow. “This was my father’s Devil Fruit, and his father’s, and his father’s and so on and so forth as long as Devil Fruit have been around.” You explained, looking at the colorful skin of this thing that has caused you so much strife. “I am meant to be the next in line to eat it, to keep it out of the government’s hands. But…” you trailed off, meeting Nami’s eyes, “I don’t think I want to.” You finally said. “I never wanted powers or anything like that. I just want to be…normal. Well, as normal as you can be when you’re a pirate.” You joked, a few snickers around the circle. “Nami suggested we try to burn it. See if that destroys it once and for all.”

Zoro frowned, “What if it doesn’t?”

“Then my one of my tangerines will become the fruit and we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Nami explained, urging you to go ahead.

You took a deep breath, the sweet scent of the fire offering you a bit of comfort as you held your hands out, hands shaking as the fruit hovered above the fire. “I’ll see you in hell, you dumbass fruit.” You said, dropping it into the flames, cheers of your crew mates resounding through the air. The flames ate at the fruit greedily, charring the outside and peeling its skin. The flames kicked up and grew as if you had poured gasoline onto it. As the fire bit into the flesh of the fruit, the flames curled and writhed, heating up even more. The fire burned hotter and faster, consuming the fruit until nothing was left, not even ash.

All was quiet other than the fire as you all eyed the tangerine trees, silently praying that they would stay tangerines. After a solid five minutes, nothing happened and your eyes welled with tears, “I think…I think it worked.” You whispered, smiles growing all around the crew.

Luffy got up to his feet, bounding up to you, taking you into a swinging hug, “You’re free, Clown Lady!” he exclaimed as you sobbed into his shoulder, arms wrapped around him tightly.

You sniffled as he settled down, “I’m free, Luffy.” You whispered.

“Let’s party!” Luffy yelled, pulling back from you. “We got a lot to celebrate!”

Buggy had just docked at a new island, on track for the Grand Line, and frankly on track for Loguetown. He had practically leaped off of the ship when they managed to anchor, running to the town square as quickly as he could.

“Sir.” Cabaji said, pushing open the door to Buggy’s captain’s quarters, a grin he was trying to suppress on his face, “There’s been an explosion at Loguetown’s Marine base.”

Buggy went rigid, head snapping up to look at the unicyclist. “What?”

“I think she found it.” Cabaji said, “I’ve redirected us to the closest port so you can check.” He explained, letting the smile spread onto his face.

“Where is it, where is it?” Buggy mumbled, searching over the area to find the bounty board. “There!” he exclaimed, rushing to it. “Croc, me, Rubber boy, Sword fucker, the cook…” Buggy trailed off as his eyes landed on yours. Your poster. It was a new one, freshly printed. Your bounty had been raised to a clean 20,000,000. But what made him pause was your picture. You were in a Marine uniform, looking right at the camera, a bag strapped over your shoulder, something large and round inside. You were smiling with a little two fingered salute. A big beaming smile. You found it. You blew up a Marine base, and you found it. He’s in love.

Buggy smiled wide, snatching your poster off of the board, running straight back to the docks, “CABAJI! WE’RE GOING BACK OUT! SHE GOT IT!”

Buggy couldn’t drop his smile as he sat on the clown figurehead at the front of the Big Top. His freaks were perturbed, and kept checking on him, making sure he was okay, bringing him food. Buggy hadn’t sat up there in years, getting too afraid of falling off, but not now. Now he was sitting on the clown’s head, beaming.

Buggy laid back, arms behind his head and looked up at the stars, wondering if you were looking up at them too. He was having his crew sail through the night, impatient and ready to have you in his arms again. Hell, he didn’t even want to sleep. He wasn’t going to, but Cabaji practically dragged the clown into his captain’s quarters, violently tucking him in. Buggy thought he wouldn’t be able to doze off, but after a while longer of daydreaming about you, he slipped into actual dreams. Dreams of holding you and of quiet nights with you braiding his hair.

When he woke up, he immediately scrambled back onto the figurehead, using binoculars to try and spot the Straw-Hat’s ship. He had slept in, kind of by force, Cabaji not allowing anyone near the captain’s quarters or any loud noises all throughout the ship, all in hopes of forcing Buggy to sleep through the trip to where Cabaji’s contact said the Straw-Hats were anchored, presumably waiting for them.

So there Buggy sat, practically vibrating in excitement, eyes on the horizon. “You really are whipped,” came a voice from behind him, Cabaji coming up to sit beside Buggy.

Buggy scowled, “I’ll push you off.”

Cabaji barked out a laugh, “I bet you would!” Buggy rolled his eyes, “So, I thought I’d help you kill some time.” The unicyclist said, clapping his captain on the back, “Tell me something about your little Nightingale.”

Buggy huffed out a laugh, “What do you wanna know?”

Cabaji shrugged, “You take her on a date yet?”

Buggy shook his head, “Kinda did when I was fifteen, but I don’t know if it counts.” He chuckled.

“Whatcha mean?”

“Well,” Buggy began, setting his binoculars in his lap, “First off, we weren’t dating. Second, we didn’t kiss, and third,” Buggy lost the end of his sentence to a laugh for a moment, “we ended it by running for our lives.” He said, taking off his signature gloves, shoving them in his pocket.

Cabaji smirked, “Best dates do.” He said, nudging Buggy’s shoulder, “What happened?”

“Do-do you want to go see a play with me?” Buggy asked, wringing his hands in front of him, afraid to meet your eye.

You grinned and nodded, “Of course!” you exclaimed, “Is Cardinal coming or is it just us?”

Buggy slumped forward a bit, his whole face feeling like it was on fire, “I-I was hoping it’d be just you and me, Nightingale.” He stuttered out, “But-but I can ask if he wants to come if you want me to!” Buggy added on quickly, waving his hands in front of him, worried he’d made you uncomfortable.

You giggled, grabbing Buggy’s waving hands, “I’d like that, Peacock. Just you and me.” You said, giving his hands a quick squeeze.

‘SHE’S HOLDING MY HANDS!’ Buggy thought with a start.

Buggy melted a bit, knees a little unstable, loving your laugh and smile, “Go-good!” he exclaimed, “It’s a new play at the theater in the square, it’s called ‘The Princess and the Fool’.” He continued, still having trouble meeting your eye, “It’s apparently really good, I’ve heard tons of people talking about it in the markets today.”

“That sounds great! How much are tickets?” you asked, beginning to walk toward the center of town, still holding one of Buggy’s hands. Buggy’s heart skipped a beat, but he recovered quicker this time.

Buggy snickered, “You think we’re paying? You’re with a real-life pirate!” he exclaimed, jamming a thumb in his chest, “We’ll sneak in! Get into the best seats in the house!”

You laughed, “And where would that be?”

“The balcony, duh. I’m gonna get us into the rich people seats!”

“Oooh,” Cabaji hummed, “I see why you had to run.”

Buggy shook his head with a mischievous smirk, “Just you wait.”

When the two of you reached the heart of the island, you stopped, turning to Buggy, “Do you want to get some dinner first? Or do we have time?” you asked, scanning the area for food stands.

Buggy nodded, “If we get something fast, we can eat it during the show.” Buggy looked around before an idea dawned on him, “You-you can pick what we get!” he insisted.

You thought for a moment, still scanning the area, “How about some arepas from over there and some fries from that one,” you suggested pointing to the different stands, “and we can get some sodas from him!”

 Buggy nodded, already walking you two towards the arepa stand. “Sounds good to me!” he chirped, “You know these stands better than I do!”

You laughed loudly as Buggy practically dragged you toward the savory smelling stand. You waved at the happy, portly man who owned and ran it, “Hello Mr. Ricardo!” you chimed.

Mr. Ricardo smiled wide, “Hello, chicken girl!” he chortled, “The usual?”

Buggy turned to you briefly, “Chicken girl?”

You smiled and waved him off, “Two of em.” You said, “Make sure it’s all of the good stuff, my friend here hasn’t been here before.”

“Yes ma’am!” he jokingly saluted you, turning to grab a few of his arepas, placing them in wax paper and folding them in a way that made it easy to hold, handing them to you with a grin, “Here you go!” you took the food and said your thanks, reaching into your pocket for your stash of Berry, but Buggy beat you to it, slapping a few notes onto the wooden counter before dragging you to the next stand, you protesting the whole way, “See you later, chicken girl!”

“You didn’t have to pay for me!” you exclaimed, kicking Buggy in the knee.

Buggy’s hands went to cradle it, hopping on his good foot, “Let me be nice, woman!” he chuckled, “I wanna treat you tonight!”

You pouted a bit, “I feel bad though, you don’t have to waste your money on me.” You whined, kicking at some dust on the ground.

Buggy’s smile softened a bit, “It’s never a waste if it’s for you, Gale.” He said, taking one of the sets of arepas from you. You opened your mouth to protest, but he cut you off, “Now, I have two questions, one, what’s an arepa, and two, chicken girl?”

You sighed, walking with Buggy toward the stand you wanted the fries from, “Well, arepas are basically fillings like cheeses and meats inside of some special kind of flatbread.”  You explained, ripping off a piece of the shell of one of your arepas, holding it up for Buggy to try, “Here. Try some!”

Buggy felt his ears burn, but he relented, taking the piece you offered into his mouth, careful not to touch your fingers. Buggy liked it, the taste was basic but warming and almost buttery, Buggy hummed in approval, “That’s good.” He said.

You smiled, putting your hand at your side, “It’s even better with all of the fillings and stuff.” You explained. “And he calls me chicken girl because he never remembers my name, and one time I was helping another stall nearby and one of their chickens got out, so I had to chase it! It took all afternoon! I swear that thing was smarter than me!” you both laughed at the silly tale, coming up on the stand you were looking for, “Of course he remembers that and not my name.”

You waved at the new stand owner, holding up two fingers with a smile. She nodded and got to grabbing two paper cones, filling them with the crispy fries. You took them from her with a smile, and she motioned something with her hands. Buggy tried to give her a few notes of Berry, but she waved him off, giving him a wink. Buggy blinked for a moment, putting the money back in his pocket. You frowned and motioned with your hands, communicating something with displeasure. The stall owner simply stuck out her tongue, turning away with a smile.

You sighed and started your way toward the next stand, “She said she gave us fresh ones,” you explained, handing Buggy a cone. “She never lets me pay even though I try, says she owes me.”

“What for?” he asked.

“I babysit her younger sister all the time,” you explained, “she has trouble finding help.”

“Why didn’t she talk?”

“She’s deaf. Her whole family is.” Buggy hummed in understanding, grabbing one of his fries out of his cone with his teeth, hissing at the hot potato, “I go over to their house for dinner sometimes. They love me.” You chuckled, “They think it’s really cool I learned sign language so I could talk to them.”

“Is that what that was?” Buggy asked. You nodded, “You should teach me some.”

You grinned at the boy, “I’ll teach you a couple after the play.” Buggy agreed eagerly as you got to the last stall. It was actually a cart run by a young boy with one front tooth and a Marine’s cap with the ‘Marine’ crossed out.

“Brat.” You acknowledged the boy with a curt nod,

“Witch.” He nodded back, “Whatcha need?” Buggy looked between the two of you, bewildered.

“Two Tony’s please.” You said simply.

‘Brat’ nodded and dug two bottles of orange liquid out of some ice, setting them onto the counter, “Hundred Berry.” He said, a nod of finality.

You scowled, “I’ll knock out your other tooth, you little shit.”

The boy blanched, “Two berry.” He amended, rubbing the nape of his neck. “God you’re damned scary.”

You narrowed your eyes at the boy, “I’ll tell your mother you’re hiking prices and cursing.” You hissed, lowering your head to his level, “I know it’s only one Berry for two you ass.”

Buggy looked at you in shock, taking in your threatening aura with awe. He couldn’t help but think you’d make a damned good pirate.

You ripped a single berry out of your pocket, slapping it onto the cart and grabbing both bottles by the neck, “I’ll see you tomorrow, you little conman.” You said, knocking the boy’s hat off of his head. You hooked your arm through Buggy’s and started walking, “Come on, let’s go get our seats.” You insisted.

Buggy laughed loudly, “You gotta tell me the story there.”

You rolled your eyes with a frown, “He’s my neighbor. I have to watch him all the time for his mom when she goes out to fish, and he’s such a thorn in my side.” You explained, guiding Buggy to the theatre.

“Sounds like it.” He chuckled.

You motioned in front of you with your head, “We going in the front or the back?” you asked.

“What do you think?”

“I shouldn’t have asked,” you sighed, walking the two of you around to the back end of the large building. Back there you found two windows and an employee’s only entrance. “Door or window?”

“I’ll try the door first,” Buggy said, pushing at the painted wood with no success. “Window it is.” He said, backing up to get a better look. “I think I can reach-“ “It’s a pull door, Peacock.” You chided, holding open the door.

Buggy blushed, “I knew that.”

As you made your way through the back halls of the theatre, you avoided workers effortlessly, often having to grab Buggy by the hand or the collar and drag him behind corners or next to a crate of some kind. At one point, you found a stray top hat, and put it onto Buggy’s head with a giggle. You quietly made your way up a set of stairs, finding a door that led to a low lit, patterned carpet hallway, “Must be the right way,” you whispered, “It’s looking fancy already.” You both snickered to each other for a moment before quickly making your way down the hall, finding a small set of crushed velvet curtains.

“After you, m’lady.” Buggy said dramatically, giving you a bow, top hat in hand and holding open the curtain for you.

You gave a deep, dramatic curtsy, “Thank you, m’lord.” You tried to hold in your smile, but you couldn’t, a grin splitting your face as you went into the little booth, grabbing Buggy’s hand on the way, causing him to drop the hat.

There was no one else in this particular booth, leaving the two of you alone, only two seats in the little closed off area. You both sat down quickly, settling in and situating your meals between you.

“Oh, here.” You whispered, grabbing one of the bottles of soda, “Lemme open it.” You quickly put the lip of the bottle cap on the balcony railing and slammed your free hand down onto it, the lid popping off and clattering to the ground. You held the bottle out for Buggy who took it eagerly. You grabbed your own bottle and opened it in the same way. Once it was opened, you leaned back in your plush seat and turned to Buggy, facing him fully, “This is my favorite drink. It’s only on our island, it’s a peach and mango soda one of our people came up with!” you explained, holding up your bottle. Buggy did the same, going to clink it against yours, but you wrapped your arm around his, “Bottoms up, Peacock.” You said cheekily, taking a sip.

 Buggy swallowed dryly before trying a drink of his own, enjoying the sweet flavor and the bite of the bubbles. “That’s good shit.” He muttered as you untangled your arm from his.

You nodded, pointing to the food he had in his lap, “Eat up! While it’s still hot.” You said, grabbing one of your arepas and taking a bite.

Buggy grabbed one of his own and took a bite, ‘Damn. All the food is so good here.’ He thought to himself.

“You know,” you said through a bite of your food, “I’m glad it’s just you and me tonight.” Buggy almost choked on his food, having to take a double take, “I mean, I think I’m gonna miss you the most, Peacock.” You muttered, taking another bite. Buggy swears up and down his heart stopped for a moment when you said that. He tried to say something, but you continued, “I think you’re really cool, and I hope I’ll get to see you again after you leave.”

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” Buggy couldn’t say what he wanted to, your attention stolen by the man on stage, announcing the start of the play. The lights went down quickly all around the crowd, a spotlight on the announcer, “Welcome!-“ Buggy tuned out the man’s spiel, eyes focused on you. Your eyes were wide with wonder as you watched the stage, completely enamored by the theatrics.

Throughout the first act, Buggy found himself looking at you for every reaction, every minute emotion on your face as you watched. You two saw the princess sworn off to a duke of a far-off land to stop a war, as a result she fell into deep sorrow. Her father, the king, saw this and sent his court jester to amuse her, make her laugh, but try as he might, she just can’t seem to even smile. Day after day the jester tried, and day after day the princess’s sorrow grew. Finally, she had enough, the wedding was days away and she couldn’t take it. She held a dagger over her heart, ready to take her life when the jester appeared. He stopped her and took away the knife, soothing her as she cried. As the act drew to a close, the jester gave a soliloquy about how he was falling in love with the beautiful princess, but he couldn’t hope to marry her for fear of execution, speaking as he wrote his thoughts into his journal alongside waxing poetics and jokes to try out, determined to make her laugh. The last scene of the act was of the king’s advisor finding the journal and opening it, when he did, you gasped and took Buggy’s hand in shock, giving Buggy a heart attack.

“Oh my god, Peacock!” you gushed as intermission began, “This is amazing!”

Buggy smiled, “Glad I got you to come.”

You still held onto Buggy’s hand, leaning closer to him, “I really hope they get to run away together.”

Buggy stiffened slightly, a lump forming in his throat “Do you think she’d go with him if he asked?” he said tentatively.

“Of course!” you insisted, “She’s clearly already falling in love with him, and she hates all her responsibilities in her home.” You scoffed, “Sounds like a dream come true to me.” You mumbled, resting your head on Buggy’s shoulder.

Buggy stared at you for a moment, hesitant, “Would you…would you want to go with me?” he whispered, his grip on your hand tightening a bit.

You went rigid briefly, “What are you asking, Peacock?”

Buggy swallowed his nerves, “Would you like to go away with me, sail with Gol D. Roger?”

You lifted your head, reaching your free hand out to cradle Buggy’s face, sorrow in your eyes, “I can’t.” you whispered, moving your hand to the back of Buggy’s head, threading your fingers in his hair. “I want to more than you’ll ever know, but…I have to stay here.” You said, bringing Buggy’s head close, resting your forehead against his.

“Why?” Buggy whined, watching as you winced slightly, closing your eyes.

“I’m my parents’ only child, and they’re getting old. If I leave, no one will be there to take care of them.” You reasoned, opening your eyes to stare into his, “If I could, I would sail across the horizon with you tonight.”

Cabaji scowled, “Sounds like she has a lot of shit with her parents and responsibility.” He said.

Buggy nodded, forlorn, “She’s loyal to a fault. Always has been.”

You and Buggy were interrupted by muffled voices in the hall behind you, making you pull away to listen to the intrusion, “What’s this hat doing here?” came a gruff voice. You and Buggy paled, eyes wide. “Check through those curtains,” another voice suggested.

The curtains pulled back, showing you a trio of uniformed Marines, “Fuckin asshats.” You mumbled, you two putting your feet on the ground slowly, readying to run.

“What are you little shits doing in here?” asked the tallest of the trio. The three immediately blocked off the whole exit, shoulder to shoulder. “C’mere.” The tall one commanded, waving you both over.

You and Buggy shared a look, but walked behind your seats, facing the men head on. “What do you want?” you spat, crossing your arms.

One of the Marines with glasses cackled at your abrasive attitude, “Feisty one, heh?”

The last of the three, a man with a patchy beard looked you up and down, a smirk on his face, “Pretty lil thing, aren’t cha.”

You snarled, about to speak when Buggy beat you to it, “Shut the fuck up, you nasty perv.” He hissed, stepping in front of you, moving you behind him.

Beardie scowled, “The fuck you call me?” he growled, grabbing Buggy by his collar, “Cause I know some freak with a fuckin pomegranate for a nose ain’t talking shit to me.” Buggy glared, grappling at the hand holding his shirt.

“Put him the fuck down!” You yelled, throwing a right hook against the Marine’s jaw without question, knocking him back. You grabbed Buggy’s hand and kicked beardie in the crotch, dodging away from the other two Marines, and sprinting into the hallway, back out the way you came in, dodging actors and technicians alike, practically dragging him through the theatre.

“GRAB THOSE FUCKERS!”

You two burst out of the building, eyes taking a moment to adjust to the light change, but you plowed onwards, dragging Buggy toward the center of town again, weaving through the stalls. “MARINES!” You yelled out, “MARINES CHASING US!” Now, your island was no normal island. Your island actively chased out or maimed Marines who do anything other than be peaceful and buy shit. So much so, that the second you announced their presence, half the square pulled out a weapon of some kind, going after the trio that tailed you.

You slowed as you approached the fountain in the middle of the square, sitting on its rim, heaving for breath, “Damn, Peacock.” You coughed out, “You know how to show a girl a good time!” Buggy gave a sarcastic chuckle, sitting next to you, slumping into your side.

“I did have fun though.” You said through your heavy breathing. “We should hang out one on one more before you leave.” You laughed.

Buggy nodded with a laugh that turned into a coughing fit, “Don’t die!” you teased, patting him on the back.

Buggy flipped you the bird as he caught his breath, “Fuck you, Gale.”

You smiled and bit your lips, thinking. After a moment you nodded to yourself and leaned into Buggy, laying a peck on his cheek. Buggy’s face lit up beet red, sputtering, trying to find the right words to say.

You just laughed, laying your head back on Buggy’s shoulder, “Thank you, Peacock.”

Buggy sighed, fiddling with the binoculars in his lap, “I had to leave only a few days later. When I left, me, her, and Shanks all promised to see each other again, but we never were able to. Not until she helped that Rubber Fucker steal the map.”

Cabaji nodded, a genuine smile on his face, “She sounds like a good catch, Cap.”

“She is.” Buggy sighed, bringing his binoculars back up to his eyes, scanning to the left. “How much farther?” Cabaji laughed, and nudged Buggy’s gaze forwards, to the right. “Holy shit!” Buggy exclaimed, popping up to stand on the clown head, Cabaji following shortly, “THERE IT IS! SHE’S RIGHT THERE!”

“Let’s get your girl, Captain.” Cabaji said, clapping Buggy on the back before turning back and guiding the man onto the main deck again.

Shortly after, the ships pulled up next to each other and the Big Top laid anchor, Buggy’s crew slamming down a large plank to connect the ships, a chorus of curious murmurs echoing through the quiet space. Afterall, their captain had said nothing of a raid, and he wasn’t even wearing his hat and coat.

“After you, Captain.” Cabaji said lowly, gesturing for him to walk ahead. “Go get her.”

[sparoart]

Hello, it's been a while since I started to fall in love with your Arlong Park ocs and I was wondering. What is the type of girl that Pyke likes?😏🤭

Damn, thank goodness I'm answering this before the end of Pride Month! Thanks so much for your questions :D

Quick reminder : Pyke is a One Piece OC of mine, she's part of the Arlong Pirates and one of the characters of my little story about the years of Arlong before One Piece. You can see my other posts with the tag 'Sea, Salt and Sun' or 'my art' or 'one piece oc'

Please if you have other questions about my OCs or anything, do ask! There are a few asks and suggestions I really want to get to but I haven't had much time this month sadly! The French political climate is horrible 😞

Next month should be a little easier for me!

[mmkin]

The Siren's Shark

New Arlong story! I originally wasn't gonna post this til I finished GYSA but I'm struggling with the next chapter for that one so i decided to go ahead and share my new Arlong project... yaaay. Link here, chapter also under the cut.

Summary - After losing Arlong Park to that damn rubber kid, Arlong is forced to confront his inner demons and the consequences of the choices he made throughout his life, which is not easy for a prideful and arrogant sharkman. However, a chance encounter offers Arlong and his fishmen a chance at happiness even if it's hard-fought.

The Siren’s Shark

The events of Arlong Park have come and passed, and this story starts after the Sabaody arc but before Marineford. However, one thing I noticed while watching more OP episodes is that you don't see Arlong or his men at Impel Dawn even though with their crimes and whatnot they'd in all likelihood have ended up there. We do know that Hatchan escaped, and reappears in the Sabaody episodes (which just delighted my heart) I was also thrilled when they introduced Jinbe in the Impel Dawn arc. Such a cool character.

But still, no one knows what happened to Arlong as of this date (aside from Eiichiro Oda) and since I think Arlong and fishmen are cool, I wanted to do a story with Arlong regarding this. So this story, aside from flashbacks or backstory, starts after Sabaody and happens concurrently with Impel Dawn/Marineford and so on but focusing on Arlong and his crew (and Siren!) Hatchan also appears in this story – he was in Sabaody but joins up with Arlong later on (which will be explained in the story)

Haki comes in three main forms as we see on the show but given that all sorts of weird things can be done with willpower (with or without Devil Fruit. i.e. what Portgas D Rouge did with her pregnancy) I decided to play around a bit with that idea here in regards to what the siren can do.

Content Warning – There will be discussions/instances of slavery, racism, violence, sexual assault, torture, etc (nothing you don’t already see or hinted at in One Piece) This isn’t Game of Thrones and I will keep most of that in the background/offscreen but there will be scenes which some readers might find disturbing, depending on various tolerance levels.

o0o0o0o

Somewhere in the South Blue…

Arlong narrowed his eyes as he stared out at the chilly waters of the South Blue. The last months had been especially trying for him, with one challenge after another after these damn Straw Hats came to the Conomi Islands. Much as he wanted to deny it, the Arlong Park era was over. He could try starting over somewhere else, but where? He and his men had managed to break free of the Marines and throw the government off their trail, but he didn’t doubt that by now, it was known that the Marines who had arrested him and his gang were missing, never having made it to their destination.

The Marine ship had been useful for a while but too conspicuous, so they stole a merchant ship and here they were, on a ship laden with various goods – some more useful to the fishmen, others less so. He shivered before he pulled up the collar of his jacket. He missed the balmy atmosphere of the Conomi Islands, and again cursed the Straw Hats and Nami.

The crew managed to keep itself well-provisioned with various catches from the sea, but certain things could only be obtained on land. Fishman Island was a ways off, and Arlong had gained a healthy sense of caution. His distinctive appearance was on wanted posters through the East Blue, and self-preservation tempered the recklessness he had sometimes. So they'd made a hasty retreat to the South Blue, going south enough to enter a climate that eight years in the tropical Conomi Islands left them little prepared for.

He huffed as he looked at the water, pulling up the collar of his jacket. Take had modified it to accommodate his dorsal fin, cutting a slit down from the neck before attaching a knit hat to it that Arlong could slide his fin into. Fishmen were hardy creatures, but even they could only tolerate so much cold before it became uncomfortable and the carp fishman had an appreciable talent with needle and thread. Fortunately, between what was cobbled together from Marine uniforms and the various items on the merchant’s ship, the fishmen were able to find some level of comfort, but it still felt weird having to layer clothing after spending years wearing little more than shirts and shorts.

And now they were running low on booze. Arlong had a hard time sleeping many nights, overcome by anger, frustration, depression, confusion, anxiety, bitterness, and regret in a seemingly endless random cycle. The alcohol helped to take the edge off that. Dimly, Arlong was aware that it was not a healthy method of coping, but at this time there seemed little else to do than hide. There was a reason he’d targeted the East Blue. Out of the Blues, it was considered by many the most placid of the seas, with pirates and criminals there being relatively minor compared to those in the other Blues and he didn’t want to be fighting one of the Warlords, Emperors, or various families or organizations.

Life is a constant struggle. If you see an opportunity to exploit others, grab it. Get whatever breaks you can, he recalled the gruff voice. The fishman race has suffered far too long. Mercy is for the weak. Someone hits you, hit back twice as hard if not more. Ajkul’s voice hissed at him from the depths of his memory.

Arlong created such a reputation for himself that if he tried to re-establish himself anywhere in the East Blue, the Marines if not the World Government would be on his ass. It was a humbling experience not only for him but the fishmen that were still with him. They'd reigned high and mighty in the Conomi Islands, having twenty towns under their control and a steady influx of tribute money and good times. Aside from a few examples that had to be set, the humans had generally been docile in paying their tributes and doing their work.

Then the Straw Hats had to come and fuck it up, and Nami had gone off with them. He grumbled to himself as he narrowed his eyes, seeing a speck in the distance that could be an island. Turning around, he called a few fishmen over to do some scouting. There were a few grumbles as his subordinates faced the prospect of heading into the chilly water, but he was still the captain of his crew.

o0o0o0o

Since that little long-nosed bastard had beaten him around the head multiple times with his hammer, Chew suffered from migraines. They’d lessened some by that point, but he still suffered bouts of debilitating pain that made it difficult for him to focus.

And now, he was sick too. And there was no doctor to look after him or the few other fishmen who'd been unfortunate enough to catch something from… wherever the fuck they'd caught it from. Hatchan did his best, but there was only so much even a man with six arms could do. Some of the fishmen knew first aid, but there was no substitute for a well-trained doctor. Or even the loving care of the mother he barely remembered.

o0o0o0o

Kuroobi sat in the infirmary, hearing the soft groan as one of the fishmen rolled over, trying to get comfortable despite his aches. When the fishmen had taken over this ship, there were some medical supplies in the infirmary, but it wasn’t as well-stocked as it should have been. And with what had been going on lately, they were already out of a few things. Not just medical supplies or pharmaceuticals, though. And it wasn’t as if they could just waltz into a marketplace anytime they pleased. Stealing was tempting, but the crew wanted to draw as little attention to itself as possible, especially from the damned Marines.

The ray fishman furrowed his eyebrows as he mused over his defeat at the hands of a human. A fucking human. It’d been many months, but it still rankled him. He’d prided himself so much on his skills, but as he now bitterly realized, nearly a decade of living in the Conomi Islands had softened him. The humans he’d come across were easy to terrorize, even the Marines. And so he and his fellow fishmen and captain had lived eight easy years, relying on brute force and intimidation to keep things under control.

He frowned at Chew thoughtfully as he looked over his longtime nakama. Hachi was making soup for everyone here, and Kuroobi looked forward to having a bowl of his own. Cold weather was not kind to fishmen who had large fins like he did, so when it was possible, he spent his time within the ship, and looking over Chew and the others was as good an excuse as any to avoid going outside. Take had put together a coat for him using one coat and much of another, which he was grateful for, but it felt unnatural having his fins covered in the thick material of a jacket.

His stomach rumbled hungrily. Hatchan mentioned something about being low or out of some ingredients, but he wasn’t a picky eater. As long as it was hot and edible, he’d take it.

o0o0o0o

Hatchan looked over the ingredients, making note of what they were running low on on top of what he’d already run out of. When he’d rejoined Arlong, the sharkman was in charge of this ship, though it bore the emblem of the man who previously owned the vessel. Sorrowfree Wanderer wasn’t a bad name for a ship, but right now, there was plenty of sorrow.

Reeling from the loss of his beloved takoyaki ship at the hands of xenophobic humans, he’d left the Thousand Sunny in the care of Duval, Silvers, and the other friends of the Straw Hats, no longer feeling quite as safe at Sabaody, especially after what happened with Camie. Besides, as he’d reasoned, the Straw Hats needed his help, and perhaps if he traveled out into the world, he could find at least one of them. That would do more good than sitting around and waiting for them to come back.

And instead of finding a Straw Hat, he’d found Arlong, making his way down the South Blue.

Arlong knew none of his business with the Straw Hats, though. That was the last thing Arlong needed to hear, that one of his long-time nakama had befriended the Straw Hats, of all people. All the sharkman knew was his undersea stroll and how he had helped a village of catfish and gotten a takoyaki ship. When Hatchan recounted how his ship was destroyed by humans, Arlong gave him a bitter but regretful sneer.

“When you asked for some time, it was not easy for me to let you go, but I did. I am sorry that happened to you, we know how stupid humans are but destroying your ship is an absolute disgrace. Fishmen aren’t even allowed to have their own damn takoyaki stall!”

Reeling from his loss and nursing the sting of justified anger and rage, Hatchan could only accept Arlong’s words, bowing his head and resuming his old position within Arlong’s crew, welcoming the protection and company they offered. He didn’t hate all humans like Arlong expected him to. Despite his loss, he knew there were plenty of good humans out there, and perhaps one day Arlong wouldn’t hate them so much.

Eventually, they'd have to go among humans again, if they didn't come across an island inhabited by fishmen. Arlong would grumble about how fishmen had a safe place on the surface until Nami betrayed them and the Straw Hats defeated them. It was tempting to remind Arlong that he’d betrayed Nami by finding a way around the promise he’d made her almost a decade ago. The one time he’d done that though… Arlong had gone into a blackout rage, alcohol and anger proving (for the umpteenth time) to be a poor combination for the sharkman’s already considerable mental and emotional strain.

Hatchan wasn’t sure if Arlong remembered that the next day, waking up with one hell of a hangover that had him snarling at anyone who came near him. And the octopus man never asked, nor did he bring up the topic again.

Hatchan simply hoped that in the next market, there would be no trouble and they'd be able to get in and out with the supplies they needed. Perhaps some hot and/or fried food would improve the captain’s mood.

o0o0o0o

One of Yolande Sato’s favorite things to do was look out at the sea. Sometimes at night, she would go swimming, going out further or deeper than anyone else on the island could. But right now it was too cold for that, so she hunched over the railing, taking in the vantage before her, the sea a deep but forbidding blue. She took a deep breath, feeling the cold air cut through her throat before she noticed a ship on the horizon. This remote island in the South Blue did not get a lot of traffic, but it was not so out of the way that a ship caused great excitement. Idly, she wondered if it was a Marine or merchant vessel. It revealed itself to be the latter when the sail came in view, a lighthearted caricature of a smiling face. She smirked to herself, wondering what sorts of stories these sailors would bring. Not to mention how much alcohol they would buy at the bar, and how much they might spend on supplies here while the locals looked over whatever trinkets they would offer for sale. She stood outside the pharmacy, enjoying the fresh air and letting her thoughts wander as there were no customers to serve.

She had to stop herself from doing a double-take when a trio of men from the ship came to the pharmacy. From a distance, they looked like ordinary men bundled against the nippy weather, but given her experience, she recognized what they were as one of them approached the bench she was sitting on. They looked worn and tired, but then many sailors coming to port after a long voyage did.

“Do you know where I can find the doctor?” the fishman with an especially bulky-looking middle asked her.

“Yeah, sure, he should be in his office now. Just, go up two buildings to the one with blue shingles. Ring the bell.” She afforded him the courtesy she would afford anyone else, regardless of race, but she knew not everyone viewed others the same way, and though the newcomers tried to conceal it, she could tell they were more than just tired.

They left, and she went back inside, taking inventory until they appeared again, startling her when she turned around. A glance at the clock showed that less than fifteen minutes passed. This time, the two other fishmen looked upset and angry, though they tried to not be too obvious about it, and her stomach formed a knot.

She found Doctor Flen to be snobbish, even regarding other humans. So, in regards to fishmen… She held back a sigh. Come on, really, you old fucking asshole. So much for age and wisdom, and the oath you’ve sworn as a doctor, eh?

“Can I help you?” she asked with the same warmth she offered before. She was glad the pharmacist was not here at the moment, because he was Doctor Flen’s nephew. “Would you like vitamins, or analgesics, or…?”

“We really need a doctor,” the stocky fishman said. He had wide lips that made her think of an octopus. Actually, that would explain the bulk under his jacket… he had to be hiding extra arms. Though his companions were upset, their leader seemed less angry and more desperate.

She swore under her breath. “Doctor Flen’s the only one on the island. But…” She looked at the fishmen, understanding their anger. It wasn’t fair, the way Flen was acting, but when a doctor could hold life or death in their hands, you tried to not piss them off. “I’ve been trained as a nurse. If you like, I could look at whoever needs help. And if it seems severe enough… well, let’s say Doctor Flen owes me a favor.”

“… Seriously?” the octopus fishman exclaimed softly. One of the other fishmen – one with ruddy skin that could pass for severe sunburn if one didn’t look too closely – regarded her with a curious glance.

“Unlike some others, I’m not prejudiced against fishmen.”

“Oh, thank you!” the octopus man gushed, barely registering that she’d identified him and his companions as they really were. He seemed like he wanted to pull her into a hug. “I’m Hachi.”

“Nice to meet you, Hachi. I’m Yolande. Let me get my bag and lock up.” She paused as she stared at the trio. “I have a question to ask, and this has nothing to do with race. If I come to your ship and render my services, you will guarantee my safe conduct?”

She was, after all, a lone woman who faced the prospect of going on a ship full of strange men. She was good-hearted, but not stupid.

“You have my word!” Hachi promised, and the others nodded in assent.

The air was brisk but the sun shone brightly as she walked down the pier with the octopus man at her side. Hachi had explained to her that there were several fishmen abroad that were sick and feverish and that they lacked a doctor at this time.

She had even more questions about the situation as she was led onto the ship – under the questioning, and then indignant glares of the fishmen on the deck when Shioyaki quickly recounted the tale of the doctor refusing them. When she entered the infirmary, she came face to face with a monolith of a pale-skinned fishman with dark hair and eyes, and impressive pectoral fins.

What the hell had she stumbled into, she wondered as she clutched her bag to her chest while Hachi talked to the ray fishman. She was allowed to examine the fishmen but could feel the heat of Kuroobi's gaze as he kept his attention on her the whole time. She was thankful for the octopus man's presence, as she took out her stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and thermometer because it looked like Kuroobi expected her to pull out a bomb or poison.

What the hell happened to these fishmen to make them so fearful and paranoid, she wondered as she took vitals and asked questions. One fishman seemed especially reluctant to have her touch him at all, and the one with big lips appeared delirious. She tutted over him gently, wiping his feverish brow.

“Fortunately, I don’t see anything that requires emergency intervention, but these men do require care and rest, as well as vitamins and medication. How well-stocked is your medicine chest?”

Not very, as it turned out. Well, it was a good thing she worked in a pharmacy, right? “I can help you stock up on all the things you need,” she offered Hachi. “I can put together some things for you once I get back for immediate care. It’ll take a bit more time to stock the ship, but we’ll worry about that later, ok? If you’re willing to come back with me, you can return to the ship with the vitamins and medicine, all right?” she asked.

“Sounds good to me!” Hachi said with relief evident in his tone. Kuroobi pulled him aside and had a whispered conversation with him as she put everything back in her bag, giving the fishmen one last glance. She was glad it wasn’t a broken bone or serious illness, but these poor fishmen were not quite out of the woods.

o0o0o0o

It was a bitter pill to swallow to allow a human aboard the ship, but Arlong couldn’t sit back and let Chew and the others get sicker and possibly die. They’d already been through so much and he didn’t want to lose another nakama.

Going to Fishman Island had been – and still was – a possibility. But it’d been over a decade since he’d been there, and now a human protected Fishman Island. Could humans ever be trusted with such a thing? Apparently, King Neptune believed so.

And like the merman king was entrusting a human with the safety of his kingdom, Arlong was being forced to trust a human with the health of his fishmen. He glared through the window, seeing a glimpse of Hatchan leave with the nurse, descending the gangplank of the ship with Shioyaki and Kaneshiro. She was bundled up in a jacket but he saw the top of her head, a thick mass of wavy dark reddish-black hair. He narrowed his eyes at the receding figure.

-yours-

He blinked and shook his head. Couldn’t even get a fucking doctor, they had to rely on a fucking nurse. That was what Shioyaki informed him of when Hatchan led the woman into the infirmary. In the days of Arlong Park after their doctor had died, he could have simply forced the doctor from Cocoyasi Village to render medical aid when needed. Doctor Nako knew what price would be paid for failure, so he’d been compliant, and Arlong could have trusted that he would administer medicine or treatment to the best of his ability.

Once they were gone, he emerged from his cabin, lifting his head to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin. How he missed the Conomi Islands and its comfortable climate. He stood there for a few minutes before entering the infirmary. It pained him to see his brothers suffer so, especially Chew. Even when the illness passed, there would still be the migraines.

And for the whole crew, unless something happened or something concrete was decided upon soon, they would continue to drift. After nearly a decade comfortably ensconced at Arlong Park, with the promise of the park waiting for him and the others at the end of every trip and mission, it felt strange to not have a place to go to.

o0o0o0o

Hatchan sighed with relief as he felt the parcel tucked in his jacket with the instructions she’d written down for him. There were various bottles of several different types of pills along with a few hypodermic needles after she asked him if he or anyone on the crew knew how to use needles.

Kuroobi had been reluctant to let him go back to town, wondering if an ambush had been arranged somehow by Yolande, but Hatchan didn’t believe so. She’d seemed upset upon hearing that the doctor was refusing to help them, and she seemed so kind when looking over the patients in the infirmary.

There were good humans in the world. Plenty of bad ones, true, but as Hatchan knew from experience, there were plenty of good ones, too. When he’d asked Yolande how much the medicine cost, she said she’d wait to settle up, pointing out that there were sick people to take care of first. Yes, she was right, and he hurried back to the ship with the medicine.

o0o0o0o

Yolande got scolded by her boss when he came back from his lengthy lunch break. She pointed out to him that his uncle had denied some men in need service, so she’d rendered it.

“Huh, that doesn’t sound like him.”

“They were fishmen,” Yolande said. He blinked and then shrugged.

“Well then, that explains it. Fishmen can be violent, and my uncle has to protect himself.”

“So why did they walk away instead of committing violence, then?” she challenged. He had no real answer to that, and she scowled to herself as she went about her work, hoping that all the aid she’d rendered would do Hachi’s friends some real good. She was not a doctor, but she’d learned plenty enough from studies and experience to make solid judgment calls (which included telling someone they needed an actual doctor)

She sighed softly as she looked down at the ledger, having written down everything she'd given Hachi. There was more room to write in anything else the ship might need. She'd been nagged for giving Hachi the medicine without payment, and to get her boss off her back, she volunteered to cover the tab in case the fishmen disappeared. There was the chance of that, of course, but Hachi seemed so genuine in needing her aid and wanting to be fair with her that she didn't think he had any ill intentions.

Hachi was there in the morning, almost right when the pharmacy opened. He brightened upon seeing her.

“I take it the medicine helped,” she said.

“It did. Chew’s fever finally broke. Thank you so much!”

“I’m so glad to hear that. Is there anything I can help with?”

“Would you know who is the best person to go to if we have goods to sell?” he asked. Why are you asking a pharmacist’s assistant, she mentally asked before the answer was as obvious as what was in front of her. If the doctor was willing to spurn him, who else on the island would?

“If you want, I’ll help you myself. I’m curious to see what you have, too.” she smiled.

o0o0o0o

Arlong glanced over the crates as Hatchan and his companions pulled them up onto the ship. Some of the knick-knacks had been unloaded, and most of the saffron. Thank goodness for that, Arlong thought. He didn't much care for the flavor of saffron but Take insisted it was valuable and should not be unloaded so easily.

He glanced up at the sail as he recalled the ship he used to have. The Shark Superb. It had been a magnificent vessel, and much larger than this. Much of it had been used to build Arlong Park, and sometimes he regretted the loss of his ship. Especially in comparison to this merchant ship. It was serviceable enough for him and his crew, but it still felt cramped.

Perhaps they would upgrade soon if circumstances moved in their favor. His attention returned to the supplies. What if the help that had been so easily offered was just another trick? Was the cooking oil, flour, or beef tainted in some way? Had the medicines been compromised?

“Have the provisions been examined?” Arlong asked sharply. Shioyaki nodded.

“We looked over everything before agreeing to anything. She even haggled on our behalf a couple of times. We’re going to be good on most of our supplies for a good while now,” Shioyaki acknowledged. At seeing the captain’s frown, the salmon fishman quickly added, “She knows we’re fishmen. She was simply wise enough to acknowledge our superiority which is more than I can say for that stupid doctor.”

"Hmph," Arlong smirked. Hatchan frowned as he heard that, but continued hauling up the sacks and crates.

o0o0o0o

Yolande squinted for a moment as she turned around, the wind whipping a few strands of hair free from the loose braid she had her dark hair in. She’d been to the ship’s infirmary once again and all the fishmen seemed to be on the mend. She’d spent a bit of time taking a walk along the pier with Hachi, delighted for the opportunity to make a new friend. The two others, Shioyaki and Kaneshiro, who usually accompanied Hachi to town, also seemed to warm up to her a bit.

Not that she didn’t sympathize with their paranoia. Something happened to make Kuroobi leery of her, his eyes fixed on her whenever she was on the ship. Perhaps humans had attempted to take them into slavery. Or they were escaped slaves? She hadn’t asked too many questions, but Hachi simply said they’d sailed south and that humans had destroyed his takoyaki stall and tried to enslave him.

She knew there were whispers on the island about the fishmen. But they had caused no trouble. It seemed that all they wanted was to rest and resupply, no different than any other crew. Nothing more, nothing less. That didn’t stop the scowls and whispers, especially around her because it was no secret that she’d been helping the fishmen with their needs. The fishmen might not have made use of the tavern, but a fair amount of alcohol was traded for and taken onto the ship, so the brewer still made his profit.

Whatever. She shared a laugh with Kaneshiro, Shioyaki, and Hatchan, entertaining them with a few amusing limericks. It was one of the things she enjoyed about newcomers to the island – they often brought with them amusing anecdotes and limericks that she could share.

o0o0o0o

Arlong ventured out on the deck. They would be leaving in a couple of days, and good riddance to this cold, forsaken place. If Chew or any of the other fishmen had taken a turn for the worse, he would have given serious thought to rampaging through the island with his crew.

The tinkling of unfamiliar laughter echoed through the air, and Arlong blinked as he approached the side of the ship, seeing a handful of fishmen busy loading the last of their recently-obtained provisions. Hatchan was laughing with a woman that he recognized after a moment as the human who'd done much good for his crew. He'd only ever seen her from behind, Hatchan speaking while she listened.

He stared at the pale, laughing profile, her hands clapping together a couple of times as she stood there with Hatchan, at ease as several fishmen moved past her. He felt himself pulled forward as if this woman had grabbed him by his collar.

He slid down the gangplank, silently and predatorily, closing in on her like a shark does its prey.

“Oh, that’s a good one, Hachi. I’ll have to remember that,” she said with a chuckle, wiping a tear from her eye. The octopus man giggled and caught his breath before he took notice of his captain, eyes widening in surprise as Arlong approached them. His shadow moved across Yolande, and she turned to look up at him, sunlight catching in her dark gray-green eyes for a moment.

Arlong had heard plenty enough about her from Hatchan and even a few grudgingly kind comments from Shioyaki or Kaneshiro. He had to admit his curiosity was piqued, but he'd also remained suspicious and distant, not wanting to deal with a human directly unless he absolutely had to.

He stared down at these eyes, feeling that pull more intensely now. In his mind, there was a note playing, one he now knew he had heard before, the first time he saw her. Only that first time, it'd been so distant he hadn't been sure it’d been real. And then he was certain he heard it in his dreams after that day, but dreams were so hard to remember upon waking unless they were terrible. But now, looking into these eyes, hearing her laugh and her voice… it couldn't be. It was impossible, but there was no denying what was happening.

“Boss?” he heard his nakama ask. He blinked, tearing his attention away from Yolande’s face, realizing that a few other fishmen looked surprised to see him out here with a human around.

“I wanted to meet the person who was so helpful to my crew,” Arlong finally said, pulling his frenzied thoughts together. Hatchan stared at him for a moment before smiling.

“Of course! Yolande, this is the captain of our ship, Arlong.”

o0o0o0o

Yolande repeated the name she was given, staring up into eyes as clear as the sky, and as cold as the southernmost reaches of this sea. His shoulders were broad, the effect bolstered by the jacket he wore, and even though she wasn’t a short woman, he towered over her. Well, most of the fishmen she’d met were taller than her, but Arlong’s mere presence overwhelmed her, with almost as much physical force as a brick wall slamming into her, and she found herself unable to breathe for a moment. Thick black hair was held in place – just barely – by a dark, wide-brimmed hat. Aside from his eyes, the most arresting feature was his nose.

She stared up at him, and his mouth spread into a slow grin, revealing sharp teeth. She was barely aware of Hachi's hand on her arm. She heard her name come from the sharkman in a rumble that seemed to vibrate through her.

Yolande blinked and took a step back. Arlong’s grin only widened. Hachi moved between them, whispering something to Arlong as the two stared at one another. She managed to pull her gaze away, wondering what the fuck that was.

-mate-

She wasn’t chaste – before marriage or after becoming a widow – but she couldn’t remember wanting to fuck anything as much as she did Arlong. It wasn’t even simply a desire to have sex. She wanted something more, and though she couldn’t explain it, she knew that Arlong felt the same.

What the hell? Her hand fluttered to her throat as she felt heat creep up her neck. Several whispered words were exchanged between him and Hatchan, but his eyes remained on her, cool azure under the dark brim, glinting from the shadows. His grin widened further, and it seemed that her breath was frozen in her throat.

"The captain wishes to thank you for all the help you've rendered us. Please accept his invitation to come for dinner tonight," Hatchan said as he stepped in front of her, blocking Arlong from her view, which filled her with both disappointment and relief. She blinked and looked up at the octopus man she'd been on friendly terms with since the first moment they'd met.

“Dinner? Well, that sounds like it would be fun!” she said with a smile as she looked up at him, hearing a faint, deep note that she chalked up to the lightheadedness.

o0o0o0o

Ajkul – Arlong’s mentor Akula (and several variations of spelling, including ajkula) is the word for shark in Russian and several other Eastern European/Central Asian languages. Neat factoid – when I was looking for a name for Ajkul, I was looking up the word shark in various languages, and noticed that language families tended to have a similar word for shark, there were a couple of similarities (or differences) that I didn’t expect, which led me to brush up a little on geography and history, haha.

Hatred – whether it be racism, or sexism, or homophobia, etc, tends to be passed down. It doesn’t come out of nowhere, and I figured that as Arlong has passed down that hate to Hody Jones, someone had to pass it down to Arlong. The talk of carrying on bitterness and vengeance and all that sounds like something that Arlong had been inculcated in. These hateful beliefs would only have been reinforced by the things Arlong witnessed such as human pirates coming to Fishman Island/District to kidnap and enslave seafolk, which would only reinforce Arlong’s beliefs and give him justification and/or excuses for the things he did.

It’s honestly fascinating. Judging Arlong simply by the Arlong Park arc in the anime, he’s more of a one-dimensional asshole but the live action of OP as well as what is revealed about fishmen in the Sabaody and Fishman Island arcs give the gorgeous sharkman (as well as the fishman and seafolk races overall) some depth.

Yes, Yolande is Arlong’s y/n. This story is a standalone, but if Marvel and DC can have their multiversal stuff, why can’t I do one for Arlong too? I had a lot of fun with my first Arlong story and setting a scenario where he got to keep Arlong Park but this time I wanted to do something closer to canon. This also resulted in some serious consideration for Yolande and how I wanted to develop her (and Arlong) and I’m having a lot of fun so far, I already have several chapters written for this and am watching the anime on Netflix (as well as many of the movies) and hoo boy, the most recent episodes of OP certainly have come a loooooong way from the first season/saga of the anime.

This story was in development for a few months and the chapters I have so far were a hell of a lot of fun to write. Who knows if we will see Arlong again in the anime or manga, but I hope this story is a fun what-if of that. All feedback/suggestions/reviews are welcome.

[gendervapor14]

two fights for freedom ~ chapter nineteen: no reason for treason

A familiar heat dawned upon him as he approached the center of town. He adjusted the crate against his hip and eyed around the civilians who fell rather quiet. Staring. Glaring.

Three years ago, he was familiar with this feeling. And twenty years before that. His skin crawled as Nami’s declaration echoed like the sting of a gunshot.

Traitor. Traitor. Traitor!

“Hey, you’re Dante, right?” A particularly bold vendor voiced up.

Rosinante didn’t reply. How could he? These people were his friends yesterday. And now—how could it be this sudden? How could everything fall apart so quickly? It was the same way back then, back when his father was just trying to buy his first apple, his first normal human interaction—

Was one botched conversation really enough to doom an entire family?

“It’s him, yeah!”

“Hey, you workin’ with the fishmen?”

“Answer us!”

Their voices started to multiply in volume and quantity. Rosinante felt his vision whirl and fade. People weren’t moving in with rolling pins or leather boots, but in that moment, they were. In that moment, he needed his brother to help him run. In that moment, there was nowhere to hide. How did it come to this? Why did it come to this?

This was supposed to be paradise. Hadn’t he run far enough?

i have a draft of chapter 20 written up but that's it... that's all i have left! 😅 i'm currently sick so i'm going to try to rest and not exert too much energy towards heavy projects like this. so there will definitely be an updated chapter next thursday but uhhh no promises for after that. hoping i have time to throw something together by the 25th. 🤞

title: two fights for freedom rating: M category: F/M, gen content warnings: graphic depictions of violence status: incomplete, nineteen chapters, 56,979 words relationships: rosinante/bell-mere, cora & law, rosinante & hatchan, bell-mere & rosinante & law & nami & nojiko, rosinante & genzo, bell-mere & genzo characters: rosinante, bell-mere, law, nami, nojiko, genzo, nako, hatchan, arlong, arlong pirates additional tags: canon divergent, fix-it, everybody lives, pre-arlong park, angst with a happy ending, angst and feels, fluff and humor, hurt/comfort, suggestive themes, sexual tension, limes (yes i'm bringing limes back), eventual smut, romance, slow burn, financial issues, broken bones, references to depression, alcoholism, mental health issues, canon backstory, mentioned doflamingo, non-canon backstory (giving bell-mere a backstory), found family, medical inaccuracies, blood and injury, trafalgar d. water law is a little shit, developing friendships, past child abuse, nightmares, self-harm, fake marriage, selective mutism, PTSD, more tags to be added later summary: freedom for one means adventure. exploring all the world has to offer, while avoiding the occasional haunting. freedom for another almost costs an arm and two daughters. a home, a village. perhaps freedom is best sought back-to-back. {a cora and bell-mère lives au}

♥

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Live Action One Piece

(Thanks @knightsweeties for this awesome penguin version of Mihawk)

Now Live action adaptations often had the appeal of Durian Smoothies and the last Live action adaptation of anything I remotely liked was Aladdin (and even I admit the bar was Low on that)

So hearing that there was an Adaptation of ONE PIECE of all things, covering the East Blue arc. My hopes were in the ground. But hearing Oda himself have direct involvement from Casting to Writing made me a lot more optimistic. Did this adaptation live up to my expectations?

For this review I will be going about things differently. then my usual reviews. I will be trying to keep things as direct as possible as there is a LOT to talk about

Here are the categories:

The Plot (How faithful was it to the manga, what changed? What was consistent? Did the changes work?)

The Characters (Did they capture the spirit of the character? Did the character get some changes? Did those changes work?)

Fight Choreography (How did they adapt the fights to live action?)

Cinematography: How were the scenes shot? How were the backgrounds? The Atmosphere?

Does it grasp the spirit of the Manga?

Final Thoughts

____________________________________________________________

The Plot

As mentioned before this season covers the entirety of East Blue, from Romance Dawn to Arlong Park. Our story begins with the Pirate king Gol.D Roger being executed after revealing to the world that his treasure is out there and that it belongs to who ever finds it. Cut to 22 years later with our protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy setting sail to find the one piece and become King of the Pirates.

On his adventures, he rescues Koby, a kid that wants to be a Marine, from the nasty Alvida. He ends up meeting up with the Pirate Hunter Zoro, a swordsman with dreams of becoming the world's greatest swordsman, and Nami, a Cat Burglar that has a love of money and is very interested in the Grand line map. Recruiting them both despite their protests, and they get the grandline map from Axe Hand Morgan, a nasty marine with a spoiled brat son.

After escaping with the map, they end up getting captured By Buggy the Clown and Luffy must fight his way out of the circus (while having flashbacks of how he got his rubber powers and met Shanks). They beat buggy and free the captives of the village that the mad jester destroyed.

The crew finds themselves on Syrup village in search of a boat and Meet Usopp, a liar with a gift for sniping with his slingshot. There they fight Kuro, a pirate pretending to be a butler in order to steal the money from an orphan rich girl and retire. And through figuring this out the crew. save the girl and recruit Usopp.

Their next adventure involves them at Baratie, a floating restaurant where they meet the ladies man and amazing cook Sanji, and this is where the first big deviation occurs. Instead of having to deal with Don Krieg, Mihawk (the one Zoro wants to beat to be the best) wiped them out already, shifting the story to focus more on the main villain, Arlong. Who shows up after Zoro tries to fight Mihawk (and as you can imagine Zoro didnt win)

Arlong and his crew have been a LOT more active in this plot, intimidating Buggy and using him to track down the map.

Eventually Arlong fights Luffy and Nami gets Arlong to leave as she got the map and reveals to everyone she is Arlong's crew the whole time.

Sanji joins the crew and off to rescue Nami.

Nami finds out that all her years of saving up money to buy back her town from Arlong was for nothing as Arlong told the marine he's bribing where the stash is. Nami breaks down and Luffy is there to assure her that they will save the villaige, mirroring that iconic scene in the manga and anime.

And the fight with Arlong's crew commences, ending with Luffy destroying Arlong park and slaming that fishman supremacist into the ground.

But instead of ending there with the crew sailing into the grand line, Garp, the vice Admiral who captured Gol.D Roger. had been chasing the strawhats the whole time shows up and he aint letting them get away this time. Forcing Luffy to fight his Grandpa. Luffy proved himself to his grandpa who let him go this time, but next time they met it would be much more serious.

I think the plot is actually well paced considering it only had 8 episodes and it was relatively consistant with the arcs, it does have some pacing issues in the syrup village arc and in the last episode but I overall enjoyed the plot and think its enjoyable

7/10

Now that I got that out of the way. Its time to list all the Big changes that were made in the plot. (That I remember) and how I rate those changes out of 10:

-Garp shows up much earlier in the plot and is chasing Luffy and his crew since the events of Axe hand Morgan (7/10)

-Koby being an ally to luffy isnt resolved right away (8/10)

-Luffy meets Nami trying to steal the Grand line map from Axe hand morgan, instead of when she is stealing stuff in Orange town (8/10)

-We see Zoro kill Mr.6 in a fight on screen (10/10)

-Luffy sees Zoro get arrested and put in the Yard. (7/10)

-Axe hand morgan has the map to the grand line instead of buggy (5/10)

-Luffy, Zoro and Nami end up getting captured by Buggy. (8/10)

-Buggy trying to kill Luffy with Sea water instead of a canon (9/10)

-No lion fight (1/10)

-The Plot around the dog was cut (5/10)

-No Jango in the Syrup village arc (0/10)

-Kuro kills merry (10/10 great change)

-Kuro being more of a threat and only having 2 of his crew left (7/10)

-Kaya being poisoned instead of being sick from depression (8/10)

-Kaya kissing Usopp (9/10)

-Luffy's sea battle with Garp before escaping to Baratie (7/10)

-Mihawk kills Don Krieg and nearly all of his armada thus removing his attack on Baratie (10/10)

-Mihawk being told by Garp to capture Luffy (7/10)

-Zoro's injuries are treated as much more serious.

-Gin being the only survivor of Don krieg's armada and NOT betraying Sanji's kindness (6/10, we lose an arc but it still does the job)

-Arlong kidnapping buggy and using him to find the strawhats. (9/10)

-Nami betraying the crew at Baratie

-No Hatchan (0/10 the best part of the crew)

-Luffy doesnt use Arlong's teeth to bite him. (0/10)

-Coco Village didnt understand why Nami worked with Arlong until after Arlong had the Marine's steal her money. (4/10)

-Garp fights Luffy to test his resolve before the grand line (8/10)

Overall those are just the big changes that were noticed and for the most part I enjoyed them. Most of it was likely for time constraint and overall I give the changes made 7/10

like the plot.

______________________________________________________________

The Characters

(I am only going to discuss the strawhats in length)

Monkey D Luffy: Played by Inaki Godoy:

Did He capture the spirit of the character? This actor is Luffy in Human form. I cant see anyone else as live action luffy. I would say his casting is on the level of Hugh Jackman as wolverine

Did the character get some changes? Aside from being a bit more sorrowful when his crew is in danger he is relatively the same. And maybe calming him down a touch to work with the tone works.

Did those changes work? Yes

10/10 casting

Roronoa Zoro: Played by Mackenyu Arata

Did they capture the spirit of the character? Yes, I think Mackenyu captured Zoro's seriousness and loyalty perfectly. Yes he is edgier but I think it works for the adaptation.

Did the character get some changes? Edgier and more serious than his manga counterpart at this time, but it never seen as TOO out of character

9.5/10 casting. He's good and I think he deserves credit where its due

Nami: Played by Emily Rudd

Did they capture the spirit of the character? Emily captured Nami's focus and how she is the level headed one of the group, she also got how its clear she is looking at all the angles and her emotional breakdown is phenominal.

Did the character get some changes? Nami is not as peppy in this, she is usually more playful and would use her wiles to get things. This iteration still will use her charm in some aspects but its usually more subdued and she doesnt try to scam free meals which I feel is a bit out of character for her.

Did those changes work?) Yes and no. I think they could have made Nami have more of a dichonomy, hiding her true self with fake optimism and scheming. She betrays the group a LOT in the original, but I can also see how with the time constraints it wouldnt have worked as well

8.5/10. She does it well but sometimes it didnt feel like Nami, but when she is on, its very convincing

Usopp: Played by Jacob Romero Gibson

Did they capture the spirit of the character? I think they nailed Usopp's Lying nature perfectly. Jacob also nails the secret insecurity that can be shown in his character. I think he suffers from the limited screen time and constraints of the show.

Did the character get some changes? Aside from physical features and removing his kid crew. They also give him a back story where he is shown WHY he lies so much and its cause of his mom who we see basically die. (Yassop you a$$)

Did those changes work? Yes to an extent. Usopp feels less useful until the end of the show where he finally clutches a win, but it feels minuscule in comparison

9/10. Jacob just needs a bit more screen time to flesh out his Usopp

Sanji: Played by Taz Skylar

Did they capture the spirit of the character?

Taz nails Sanji nearly perfectly. I would say he is just behind Inaki in terms of perfect casting. His presentation, his flair, his cool and flirty nature. He is the live action Sanji

Did the character get some changes? They made him less of a pervert and a bit more of a rebel. Changes I really enjoy because Sanji does suffer from the cliche perv trope. But they now made his interest in Women more flirty instead of out right perversion.

Did those changes work? It fits in quite well.

10/10

My only gripe is that Sanji joining the crew does feel a bit abrupt but thats time constraints and not Taz's fault

Now for the other characters the casting varies

Jeff ward's Buggy is nothing short of Inspired! They really upped the pirate clown by making him much more spotlight hungry and joker like antics. I loved how committed to the bit he was

Craig Fairbrass as Chef Zeff was basically Gordan Ramsey if he was a pirate and I LOVED it. His conversation with Garp is one of the best scenes in the show so far

Peter Gadiot as Shanks was serviceable but I never felt it was amazing

Morgan Davies was a solid Koby. Capturing that naive and cowardly nature mixed with a desire to do good no matter what.

Aiden Scott as Helmeppo was straight perfection.

Vincent Regan as Garp... Look wise he matches what I would expect but the direction they went with Garp is a mix for me. But overall I enjoyed it

McKinley Belcher III as Arlong. Im not gonna lie, I was so worried how Arlong would be handled but McKinley brought that aura of Menace to the role and I LOVE it

But let me tell you, out of all the side character, there was one that was such perfect casting and performance on par with Inaki's Luffy.

And its Steven Ward as Mihawk

LOOK AT THIS.

THE FLAIR! THE STERN LOOK. Even the aura of dominance. I dont know how the Live action did it, but they Made Mihawk EVEN COOLER.

Masterful performance and I was entranced every second he was on screen (GP is dressed like him for a reason)

His fight with Zoro was on the level of the Manga and for that I applaud

The rest of the casting was a mixed bag. The only child actors that I felt were good were child Sanji and Nami.

Overall solid casting 9/10

_____________________________________________________________

Fight Choreography

I will say that for live action they do the best they can. Zoro's sword fights are always S tier. And I did like how creative they were without trying to mimic the manga one for one.

Kuro and Axe hand Morgan seemed like legit threats in this. And the fight with Buggy was creative.

Though the CGI was a mix in some places and some of it felt wacky for live action.

overall 8/10

______________________________________________________________

Cinematography:

How were the scenes shot? I think this show relied a bit TOO much on close ups. In some cases like in the Syrup Village arc, it worked as it added a level of suspence. But in the other cases its because they wanted to save on budget. When they go for the wide shots or shooting action scenes they do capture what they want and it is done quite well.

7/10

How were the backgrounds?

I felt that the stand out areas are the Baratie and Buggy's circus tent. Arlong park felt more like a lame carnival as opposed to a recreation of Sabody. But overall the shot of Logue town was phenominal.

7/10

The Atmosphere?

I think that the world was a bit more dark but it still did give off the air of freedom. In a way it felt like Pirates of the Caribbean. I give it a 7/10

_____________________________________________________________

Does it grasp the spirit of the Manga?

Now this is what the live action really comes down to. Does this feel like one piece?

And to answer this, it needs to be discussed

Eiichiro oda himself oversaw every part of the live action remake, approving of Casting choices and the scripts.

And in that regard you can tell Oda called the shots, as this was adapting his baby.

Oda understood that making this a one for one would have been impossible, so he focused on capturing the Essence of One piece. And in that regard, this was successful.

Is the live action better than the Manga? No, but it has things that the manga doesnt have and in some regards the changes could be seen as improvements.

This one piece is just a piece of the One piece experience and I hope it does bring more people to watch it.

_____________________________________________________________

My Final thoughts.

The show is good. I think it would be best to be a fan before going in, because this was made as a love letter to the fans. I think it could win over some new fans but its main focus is on the OG fans.

I can also understand why some fans didnt like the live action. Its not everyone's cup of tea.

But I think the acting is great, the plot is good and it is fun.

And thats what one piece is about, The fun of adventure.

Let it be free, and I give it my best rating of all live action

9/10

TLDR: If you like one piece, Give it a watch.

[divineerdrick]

One Piece Live Blog: Get Cruising!

Oh boy! Here we go!

The Netflix One Piece adaptation convinced me to take another stab at the genuine article. My previous attempt had stalled out on Kuro's arc. But with Matt Owens, Steven Maeda, and the gang highlighting what I'd enjoyed my first try, I'm back for more.

Since Netflix One Piece is filled with spoilers for the manga and anime, this first part is going to be #not so live blog. I'm basically going to cover all of East Blue in this one massive blog, having paused after Luffy got his first wanted poster. From here, I'll be trying to go one episode and chapter at a time, using episode previews to let me know if I should watch an episode before reading a chapter. For example, I know that the next episode of the anime is Buggy's journey after getting Gum Gum Bazooka'd off the island. But that episode was covered in Oda's famous chapter pages in the manga.

I might look to see if anyone has a good watching/reading order out there. If anyone knows of one, please let me know!

I should also note that I'm not going to be policing spoilers very hard here. I'm going to try to watch each episode and read each chapter as fresh as I can, but let's face facts. One Piece is an integral part of modern anime's DNA, and it's honestly all over the parts of the internet I call home. I'm going to have some preliminary impressions going in for a lot of the characters and arcs that people have raved about throughout the literal decades. Again, if I find an intrepid assistant who feels like intercepting asks and the like, I might accept their help. But I just think it's pretty hard to do this one as a truly blind read/watch.

Without further ado, here are my #not so live blog thoughts on what I've gotten through so far! I'll also go over my thoughts on the differences between manga/anime and Netflix, and occasionally manga and anime . . .

First Thoughts

Right off the bat, I feel like I need to mention that I still struggled through East Blue. It was definitely an easier read than watch, and I found myself enjoying the manga a bit more than the anime. There felt like there was a bit too much generic Shonen bullshit in this first part of the story. Now granted, as one of the OG Shonen works, this is more that other Shonen anime have made some of this boring and generic, but it's honestly still kinda dumb, boring bullshit here.

But that all changed when I got to Arlong Park. That arc felt incredibly tight and well paced, with each character being well utilized. The jokes all landed, the fights were all awesome, and the villain was enjoyable. This is definitely where One Piece started to sing for me, and showed the promise of why this work has had so much staying power.

Please keep that in mind when I get to my coverage of the various arcs.

Characters

Monkey D. Luffy

Our primary protagonist and the Captain of the Straw Hats took me a little warming up to in the manga and anime. Part of this is that Netflix Luffy is a couple notches higher in terms of good nature and IQ, and a couple notches lower on the pirate scale and silliness. In short, Netflix Luffy is a little closer to generic Protag-kun than his animated counterpart. He's really not a pirate, not even a "different kind of pirate." He's an adventurer using the term pirate as his title.

OG Luffy is definitely a pirate. He's a little mean, a little underhanded, and, most importantly, he won't let anything get between him and his goals. There are plenty of times when he just flat out slaps someone down because he thinks they're stupid or they're in his way. The only reason he becomes Zeff's choreboy is that the old pirate kicks the crap out of him. While Netflix Luffy opines that everyone has a story about Nami, except for Nami herself, OG Luffy just doesn't care. Nami is his navigator, and the thought of leaving Conomi Island without her never crosses his mind.

And honestly, while he took a bit to grow on me, this makes OG Luffy such a more fun and interesting character to follow. Yeah, as even Oda jokes, he's thick as brick. But even this has its charm. He sits at a nice middle ground between Goku and Jack Sparrow. He's just mean enough, and just crazy enough that you can't predict what he's going to do, while still being likeable enough to be a hero you want to follow for a thousand plus chapters.

Roronoa Zoro

The first of the Strong Trio, as I've heard them called, Zoro (or Zolo in the version I'm reading) is probably the character who varies the most from his Netflix adaptation to his OG self. OG Zoro isn't as thick or silly as Luffy is, but he's still a lot of fun. He's nowhere near as tightly strung or straight laced as Netflix Zoro is. He also jumps on Luffy's side a lot faster, accepting his role as Luffy's swordsman in exchange for his swords and sticking to his oath from that point forward. When Mihawk destroys him at Baratie, he's genuinely distraught that he not only lost, but he failed Luffy.

He also gets more time to shine during Arlong Park too, with his own opponent to face down and defeat. Granted, I understand why Owens and Maeda probably did this. At that point in the show, we know Zoro is a badass, especially with Mackenyu's amazing displays of swordsmanship, and Sanji needed to be established as the second member of the Strong Trio. Plus I'm betting Hachi would have been trying on their budget.

But again, this version of Zoro is just more fun to follow. We've seen the straight faced, snarky action hero done to death. I like the fact that the OG is much more laid back and willing to have some fun.

Nami

Tied with Usopp for how faithfully she was adapted, Nami is so far the most serious and intelligent member of the Straw Hats. She's a fan favorite for a reason. Besides sporting a cute design to appeal to the core Shonen audience, Nami is honestly one of the most capable characters in the story. And she's shown repeatedly to be pretty badass when she needs to be. All three versions of her are likeably and laudible.

That doesn't mean there aren't differences though. Netflix Nami feels a bit more victimized. And, I mean, fair! She refuses to get close to the Straw Hats because she believes she's doomed to hurt those around her. It feels more like an internalized failing, rather than the result of the overwhelming external force that is Arlong. OG Nami is a loner because she believes she has to do everything herself. It's not that people around her get hurt because of her, it's because if she involves anyone then Arlong might remove them from the picture. She plays a villain to Cocoyashi village not to distance herself, but because she doesn't want anyone else to get hurt saving her.

Either way, the emotional aspect of her arc throughout East Blue is one of the things that made Arlong Park so compelling. Now that she's free, I can't wait to see how her character develops. If her exit from Cocoyashi is any indication, it will be a lot of fun!

Usopp

Usopp is also pretty faithfully adapted in Netflix, with one small exception. Both versions of the character have dreams of being a hero, the same hero they portray themselves as in the stories they tell. However, for now at least, OG Usopp is a little close than Netflix Usopp. While Usopps cowardly antics seem a lot more over the top in manga/anime action, his acts of bravery are also more numerous.

Usopp won't stand by and let someone else get hurt. He may not be able to jump into the fray when things get started, but the moment an innocent person is in danger he doesn't hesitate. Part of this might be the changes made to the arcs for Netflix's adaptation. In the Netflix version, only Kaya is any real danger from Kuro and his Black Cat Pirates. So when Usopp refuses to leave Kaya's side, it comes off more as him refusing to abandon a friend then sticking up for someone that can't defend themselves. But in the original version, Usopp is defending the whole island from the Black Cats, an island that thinks he's a liar and a menace. He's also the one who jumps to Zoro's rescue when Mihawk strikes him down. And at Cocoyashi he repeatedly intercedes when fishmen are menacing the village.

Even his fight against Chew is because he knows he needs to even the odds or the three lieutenants will easily overpower Zoro and Sanji. While Netfix Usopp flees the moment Chew sets his eyes on him, then manages to setup a knockout punch, OG Usopp lures Chew away and then renews his attack the moment Chew tries to give up on the chase.

In short, Oda does an amazing job at showing that Usopp genuinely does have the ability to become a hero. I know he's still mostly comic relief and is part of what is occasionally called the Cowardly Trio, but I do hope we get to see Usopp get some development towards his dream.

Sanji

The last member of the Straw Hat's I've met so far, I have the least to say about Sanji. His dream and ambitions are perfect as the ship's cook, but they aren't particularly compelling for me yet. His fighting style is a lot of fun to watch though. And, as opposed to Zoro, it's so far more fun in animation and sequential art than live action. His swooning over Nami isn't really entertaining for me, though it's also not annoying. It's again, a little more entertaining in the manga/anime where the cool confidence that would probably serve him well in courting her is completely upended by drooling idiocy.

I will use this space to note another difference for the character, though this time it's in their back story and not their character traits. And it's strangely one where Netflix went with the manga, while the anime changed it. I just find it interesting that in both the manga and Netflix, Zeff sacrifices his leg on the rock to stave off his hunger so that he can give all the food to Sanji. But in the anime, they had him sacrifice his leg ahead of time to save Sanji, thus meaning he already had the leg as potential food source before making the decision. I'm curious why they made that change.

Johnny and Yosaku

While not part of the crew, I still felt I should give the two fanboys a mention. They provide something that Netflix missed out on, and maybe even spoiled a little in where they chose to cut and change things for the adaptation. They help setup some of the power scale for the adventure. Put simply, Johnny and Yosaku help give us a notion of what a normal, human adventurer is capable of compared to the pirates of the East Blue.

While the East Blue is the small pond of One Piece's world, that doesn't mean that Buggy, Kuro, and Krieg aren't real and genuine threats. Johnny and Yosaku traveled with Zoro as bounty hunters, and they presumably fought pirates and other outlaws. But they're completely outclassed when Krieg shows up. And when they go to Arlong park, they're dispatched so easily Arlong doesn't even bother to have them killed.

This helps establish that it's not just that Luffy is starting his adventure in a level appropriate zone, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and even Nami are genuinely in their own class by East Blue standards. They are destined for greatness by right of their ambitions and everything they've learned and done to get to this point. They're not Lvl 1 Heroes killing slimes to get their first copper sword, they're already at or near vanilla level cap and just need the unifying force that is Luffy to get them moving.

I don't know if the two fanboys will play any further part in the adventure, save for maybe montages of characters past like with the wanted poster. For now they're staying in East Blue, where they've done what I think the story needed them to do.

Arcs

Alvida and Axe-Hand Morgan

One Piece starts out strong. Alvida makes for an entertaining first goon for Luffy to show off on (though am I spying a reinvigorated "most beautiful pirate" on these chapter pages?) Koby makes a nice lore character to get us started off, and Morgan makes a credible threat to defeat as our first baddy.

Obviously the first thing to point out here in differences is that Netflix, with fewer episodes to work with, assembles our first three Straw Hats here. In the original story, this is just where Luffy meets Zoro. I already discussed the changes there. Though I think this is another one where Netflix went back to the manga for one change? In the anime they have Zoro being punished for a month, but I seem to remember the manga had it as like a week or something.

Either way, the first adventure is a lot of fun and sets up some side plots for later. Where I am in the manga, I've just started getting chapter pages for Morgan and Garp. Netflix, of course, made a whole B plot for Koby, Helmeppo, and Garp as they pursue the bread crumbs Luffy is leaving behind.

Buggy the Clown

This was also a really enjoyable arc. I'm not going to discuss the difference here, as there are just too many. Buggy is given a full side character role for all of East Blue in Netflix, where in the manga we just get the chapter pages. The one difference I do want to highlight is that in the manga and anime, it's Nami that thinks to tie down all of Buggy's parts and not Luffy. Though Luffy definitely shows some of that underhanded nature in this fight as he tickles and nut shots his vulnerable opponent whenever he tries to go after Nami with the Chop Chop ability.

Buggy is just so much fun! I don't know how much he actually shows up in the story, though it's obvious even without the Netflix teaser that he's itching for a rematch. His power is so cool and creative, and though he's so far not very competent with it, Netflix showed the potential it has. I hope I get to see a lot more of him.

This arc also nicely sets up Nami and her story for East Blue, though you only realize it in retrospect. Again, I remember just always having a lot of fun with this one.

Captain Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates

This was my original stumbling block and man did I feel it the second time around too. They try to make Kuro out to be this clever and menacing pirate, but I just never buy it. Part of the problem is he just doesn't do anything!

This is one of those arcs where I was getting tired of the Shonen bullshit. The arc starts with the introduction of Usopp as a comic relief character. Since I hadn't had a chance to see the bravery he'll show later yet, and Netflix didn't deliver on it, that's all I get for him as things start. Then we get a rather cliché murder plot. The butler did it! Kuro is revealed, and his plan is . . .

Well, the hypnosis part is creative I guess? It's more fun and interesting than just, "I'll trick the family accountant to signing everything over to me!" Jango fails to be anything but more comic relief though, and that's with Usopp already looking to fill the role.

Then we get to the fight. Usopp starts to show his bravery, but it's buried under all the attempts at comedically stalling things out. Oh no! They're at the wrong beach! Oh no! Zoro's caught in the grease trap! Oh no! Luffy got lost! Oh no! Zoro got his swords stolen! Oh no! Luffy got put to sleep by Jango!

And all the while, Kuro just stands there. Nami doesn't really do much here either, even though I honestly think she could probably take Kuro on her own. Then Kuro just announces he's going to kill everyone and the pirates stop doing anything too. And when Luffy and Kuro finally do fight, it feels drawn out. Like it really just feel like Luffy could have just walloped him if he'd been taking things a bit more seriously or been a bit more creative with his powers.

I will say, Usopp's bravery does start to shine through here. He keeps getting knocked down but refuses to give up. Usopp honestly is the best thing about this arc and it does set his character up well.

Baratie

And finally we come to it: the wall.

Baratie almost ended my second attempt at this. It starts out so strong too! Sanji's introduction is awesome, Zeff is really cool, and the idea of a bunch of "fighting cooks" that can beat pirates is really fun. Then you get the introduction of Mihawk. This is one of the points where I wish I'd stuck with my first attempt at One Piece. To be fair, Netflix's introduction of Mihawk is fantastic. But this was even better in many ways. I feel I would have enjoyed this more anime/manga first, then been impressed by the adaptation. It comes out of almost nowhere with just the barest hints of what's about to happen before Mihawk splashes down in the East Blue like a giant in a puddle. Netflix felt the need to tie Mihawk into the ongoing story. As other commentators have pointed out, this undermines the sense of scale and danger that is The Grand Line.

OG Mihawk isn't on any kind of mission. He's just bored!

But Krieg and his pirates. Oh man . . .

The point of Krieg is that he is the proof that the East Blue is the leveling zone. Here is a man with a ton of resources and know how. He has a massive armada, state of the art weapons, and a vicious and dedicated crew. The chefs of Baratie might have fought off pirates before, but they're no match for Krieg's crew.

But Mihawk, one man with one sword, destroyed it all.

Yet Mihawk gets bored again and doesn't finish the job. So now Luffy has to prove that he does have what it takes by beating them by himself (with some help from Sanji of course.)

It's a pretty functional device as plot devices go. The implementation just sucked.

Krieg is not interesting. "I win because I have the strongest weapon," is such an old trope and one that, especially in anime and manga, almost always means you're a loser. Gin isn't interesting. He's got just enough character that I would actually like to see if Oda does something more with him. But in this arc he starts out feeling like a weak lackey. Then, surprise! he's second in command! Then he's just a weak lackey again. Then, he's a lackey, but he's strong enough to walk away.

And the less said about Pearl the better.

But the biggest problem is, again, no one does anything! For most of the arc, Sanji is the only one that does any fighting. Other than launching their "secret weapon", the fighting chefs don't fight. And Luffy and Krieg just spend the entire arc staring each other down. It starts even before Mihawk shows up, and doesn't stop until Gin beats Sanji. Luffy makes a couple of extremely half hearted attempts to run . . . run . . . over to fight Krieg. But because, and I can't stress this enough, he only ever tries to run over to fight Krieg, Krieg easily repels him with his guns.

Once the fight actually starts, it's clear that Luffy can just pound Krieg into the dust. He just doesn't. And so the fight drags on longer than it feels it should, as Zeff opines about how Luffy will win because he has the will to do so. Even though, we literally just saw Zoro, who has almost, if not as indomitable a spirit, get owned by someone that's just plain better than he is, it's all actually about will and heart.

Well, maybe not just saw. As I said, this drags on a bit. We're quite a few episodes/chapters away from that before Luffy and Krieg actually start fighting.

Now I will say, I know there's more to this. Luffy is still very young and inexperienced. We start the adventure with him leaving his island, having not been show doing any actual fighting. We're literally seeing all of Luffy's actual combat experience in this anime and manga. He's constantly inventing new moves as he learns his abilities, and he also needs to learn how to use those moves at the right time. So this fight is supposed to be part of Luffy's learning process.

But it's just not fun and not funny and not interesting. He used the Gum Gum Rocket in the first arc, yet he keeps trying to, again, run over to fight Krieg. He's shown he can deflect projectiles, yet he just let's Krieg's poison shell hit Baratie. He punches right through Krieg's steel defenses, then takes his time breaking Krieg's spear.

It's just not a good fight!

But we can leave all that behind us now. Because once Krieg is defeated and Sanji says his suitably over the top farewells to Baratie, we can finally get to . . .

Arlong Park

Like I said, this basically saved One Piece for me and brought me back to the promise of the first two arcs. It also proved that this story can deliver on more than just Shonen action and slapstick comedy. Take everything I said about Baratie, change it to the opposite, and you have Arlong Park.

A lot of people have already talked about the difference between adaptations here, so I'm not going to mention it much. This is already getting long here. I do wish Nami had actually gotten to take some part in the action, but she still gets a heroic moment as she faces down the monster that murdered her mother and has controlled her entire life.

Also the way she reacts as Luffy destroys her prison hits hard.

But yeah, everything about this arc is fantastic. The pacing is great! The characters, and their designs, are all fantastic. The jokes all land. The way they divided up each fight is nearly perfect. And there is real, and intense, emotional pay off.

Even the Shonen trope of taking Luffy out of the fight to come back later is done well. Luffy being dumb and trying to do the cool new move he thought of getting him stuck is hilarious. And Arlong's reaction to it is a peak villain moment. It does make me wonder a bit about the way Devil Fruit powers work, because I thought that the ocean takes you power away. But Nojiko is able to stretch Luffy's head above water. Still, it might be that the Devil Fruit permanently made Luffy out of rubber, and it makes for a creative solution with some genuine suspense.

Even our comic relief villain, Hachi, is both funny and menacing. I really liked the fishmen designs in general, though I'm not as much a fan of Chew's design. Kuroobi is probably my favorite of the fishmen, possibly even more than Arlong. He's got a great design, his fighting style is awesome and a great test for Sanji, and he's shown to be more cool and level headed than his boss.

But Arlong is still a great villain. His planning and cunning and evil are demonstrated throughout the arc. And when the fight actually gets going, it's clear that he's a proper match for Luffy. Not only is Arlong strong, but his moves are just the right level of over the top. I'm particularly fond of the Shark Darts. I am a little sad he pulled out that massive sword to not really get to use it much, though. They also do a great job using him to demonstrate Luffy's strength by showing the force Arlong's nose can take before Luffy breaks it.

Final Thoughts

So yeah, I'm on a cruise now. From this point on it's going to be one episode/chapter one post. I'm going to try to do three to four episodes a week. At that pace, it's possible I might get caught up by years end. Either way, I'm hoping to have a lot of fun!

[laws-yellow-submarine]

Together With Fruit Ch. 6

AO3

FF.Net

It’s still Thursday for about 3 more minutes, so I win! Thanks to everyone who’s decided to check this out, it really means a lot to me! We’re starting to get to the good stuff now!~

[yamaoni]

The Second Great War of Remnant has begun. Once more, Vale and Mantle are embroiled in a massive conflict, only this time, they are on the same side against Atlas.

I don't think it was a coincidence that so many people drew parallels with the last episode and WWI. We've never seen people fight that way in RWBY. Grimm don't use projectile weapons the way humans do, so the benefits of the trench are diminished; especially if you compare it to the drawbacks.

Now, I understand not everyone in the Atlas military has their aura unlocked and the squishy soldiers need some cover, but if The Long Memory didn't nuke every grimm on Atlas, the lines would have been overrun and then there would have been nowhere for them to retreat to.

You think the very real hand to hand struggles in the trenches of WWI were bad, imagine being trapped in a narrow trench with a bear. Or having this thing explode out of the ground under you.

I refuse to believe no-one in Atlas ever thought, "if we put the dirt from the trench in a box, no only can we give our soldiers cover, we can also give them an elevated position to fire from."

The top of a wall has been the primary defensive position for the people of Remnant for a long time. You can see them in the establishing shots of most settled places the team has visited. So why are we seeing a trench now?

Simple.

Show, don't tell.

RWBY has done a pretty great job, especially in the last few seasons, of showing the audience what it is trying to convey without explicitly telling them. They especially like drawing from well known folk lore to give insight into the future of the show.

Only difference here, instead of drawing the parallel between characters, they're drawing parallels between worlds.

Remnant's first Great War started with Mantle suppressing freedom of expression, the destruction of Art and Color. Ironwood always has little in the way of color, but in his first broadcast since everything started hitting the fan, he has none.

That broadcast also included evacuation ships being blown up by fighter-bombers, Dunkirk. It threatend to level a city if they didn't surrender, Battle of Brittan. All delivered by a dictator trying to scare his opponents into submission through careful use of film.

Theories

If the rest of the season is WWII, I have several theories on plot direction. Considering how well they did keeping up with both ends of the battlefield it wouldn't surprise me if they followed all of them at the same time.

Operation Dunkirk

Or, the evacuation of Mantle.

Players: Penny, Nora, Ren, Happy Huntresses

The Happy Huntresses involvement is a given. Not only has saving Mantle been their goal the whole time, they're also stuck in the middle of it right now.

Penny is the Protector of Mantle. It would be a shining moment for her character to fully throw off the virus Watts implanted and overcome Ironwood's threats to do so. Just crossing my fingers that it doesn't end like the Iron Giant.

Nora is currently Penny's tether to sanity, so she has to go with, and I doubt they would separate Ren from her for the next arc so he's going too.

Surprise twist for this plot I'm betting will be the Starwars "they aren't warships, just people" scene everyone loves to rag on. After all, the broadcast went out that they needed help and, at least at Dunkirk, it was fishing boats and pleasure crafts that retrieved the 338,000 surrounded on all sides.

Why We Fight

Or, countering Ironwoods propaganda.

Players: Robyn and Qrow

For one, these two are unaccounted for and in the heart of Atlas' military machine. If anyone has means to do so, it's them.

The film, Why We Fight, also countered the dramatic cinematography of Goebbels propaganda by painting it as ridiculous and making a folksy call to action much like Robyn has done in the past.

Operation Fortitude

Or, the deception of Ironwood.

Players: Emerald, Jaune, Oscar

This is the mission to make Ironwood think the team is going after the relic. This theory is why I actually thought of and wrote out this whole thing. Thanks @maxiemumdamage, I had things I was supposed to do tonight.

https://maxiemumdamage.tumblr.com/post/644291955872890880/willing-to-bet-my-own-soul-that-emerald-uses-her

Only difference in my theory and their's, is Jaune is going to be playing the part of Penny.

I say this for two reasons. One, Joan of Arc pretended to be a man. While we've gotten both Jaune pretending to be something he's not and him in a dress, this would pose the first time in the story he could do both. Two, it would put him on a direct collision path with Cinder. It needs to happen at some point to bring his arc to a conclusion, but man I hope we're not about to watch him burn.

With Ozpin active again, Oscar has to go along to direct them to the vault. He's also one of two backing the idea of Emerald joining the team and Jaune wouldn't be willing to work with her without him.

Operation Overlord

Or, busting down the doors of Atlas Acadamy.

Players: Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang

Where Operation Fortitude was the faint, Operation Overlord was the real deal. For those that aren't history buffs, this is D-Day.

I think this is the reason we've only seen the main team fighting together once since their split from Beacon. And even then, that fight was at most pairs of fighters and not all four of them supporting one another.

RWBY tricked us into thinking season 4 was the post-timeskip level up we come to expect from anime when really we ended up watching the training flashbacks as they happened instead.

We've seen hints of it with the various team ups and combinations, but are we really ready for how much ass kicking they are about to do?

I'm hoping for a One Piece level of badass entrance that can give me shivers whenever I go to watch it again like the walk to Arlong Park still does to this day.

(Aside: if you try telling me RWBY isn't anime, I'm just going to ignore you. Anime is an art movement. If you don't understand what that means, watch this video. https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI)

Now last and certainly not least

Operation Valkyrie

Or, the death of Ironwood.

Players: Winter and Marrow

The long awaited defection. Plenty of speculation has already floated around about if and when these two where going to cave to their morals and jump ship. I don't know how many of us were expecting the straw to break the camel's back to be a nuke held over Mantle, but I certainly wasn't.

What worries me, is Operation Valkyrie failed and all its conspirators were executed. As if there weren't enough death flags for Winter before.

Even if it's not Winter that kills him. I don't see Ironwood surviving this season. Even if it means he goes out like another hated dictator. It's not like it would be the first time RT had a fallen hero chose to use his own sword.

Wildcards

Or, Murphy will have his due.

Players: Cinder, Watts, Neo, Tyrian, Mercury, Clover

These players can go any which way. Three we know for sure are going to be active in the coming episodes and I wouldn't be surprised if the other three play a part as well.

Oscar made a hell of a light show for Tyrian and Mercury to see behind them. Not to mention, Salem will still need a ride home when she pulls herself back together.

Clover keeps getting mentioned even though he's hospitalized. If he was truly out of commission for the rest of the season, they would have made us think he's dead before bringing him back like they did with Penny.

Up to now, what we've seen is a three way conflict. But one of the hallmarks of Remnant's First Great War, was making temporary alliances to fight off grimm.

The grimm might be gone, but the wild cards can't complete their own objectives if they are dead. The question is who's goals better align with their own.

Two surprise twists I can see here. One, Mercury stabbing Tyrian on his way to defection. He was raised by an assassin and has not going to get a better chance than that. Two, Clover joining Operation Valkyrie. He might have accepted that sacrifice is a necessary evil to ensure Atlas' survival, but might go Schindler's List on us and find horror in what Ironwood plans to do.

TLDR

I spent way too long writing this out. All the WWI imagery means we're getting a WWII movie with RWBY characters. Major death flags for Penny, Jaune, and Winter.

Also I finally figured out how to do a readmore. Apparently it's just been a long time since I updated.

Note: kept seeing things talking about clovers death and I kind of went ???? Isn't he barely alive in medical? Went back and watched that scene and though I am 90% sure he is dead still kind of weird that they have him in his own room instead of a morgue and the initial framing made my mind instantly think he was propped up on a hospital bed. I mean, I guess we needed to have all the ACEOPs there for their reaction to Ironwood... but it definitely made me think he was alive. That and they have a bandage on his chest wound... when he's supposedly dead. Also have a phantom memory of Harriet saying something about him being in critical but I think that's my memory playing tricks on me.

Having his face exposed instead of covered by the sheet and seeing him in the same frame as Winter being treated also didn't help my gut reaction of "Oh Shit! He's alive? How?!" If I'd followed up more on the "how" might not have made the blunder of writing his return as the final twist in my theory. Oops

[bubbly-bungee-may]

ZoNa Valentine’s Week: Day 4 Why I Ship ZoNa: Part 1

So because i’ve never explained why I ship ZoNa, I’ve decided to use this Valentine’s Week as an excuse to make 3 separate posts on why I ship them. 

 They will be long posts because I am relying on the gifs I made of the anime rather than the manga (even though the manga may be more accurate, but I just started reading the manga so give me some time lol)

OKAY LET’S START.....

So just as a preface: First and foremost these two have known each other the longest. I’m not saying that in order to be a couple you need to know someone for a long time, but in ZoNa’s case I feel like it’s an important part of their relationship. 

They started out as friends then shit went down in Arlong Park (namely where Nami plays the villain for a hot second and that shakes Zoro up cause he had trusted her) but then everything was settled and they went back to being friends. 

I feel like that incident was necessary not only for the plot, but for Zoro and Nami’s relationship to develop. After everything, they now have full trust in the other and their relationship was able to evolve. 

This all leads me to my first reason as to why I ship ZoNa:

1. They are friends FIRST

Yes, I ship them as a couple, but I believe that all successful relationships begin as friends (that’s just my own personal belief). A foundation built on friendship and mutual understanding and trust is what I believe allows this ship to sail.

And despite the fact that everyone thinks Nami and Zoro are only capable of fighting and butting heads, they are actually very good friends who are capable of holding normal conversations.

Exhibit A (Ep.54) : Nami took notice of how Zoro was acting strange and commented on it. She’s aware of his presence and isn’t just writing him off. And this also shows that she cares about him.

Exhibit B (Ep. 62) : Zoro wanted Nami’s opinion on what the strange sound he heard was. Also Nami is taking the time to answer him; she could’ve just ignored him completely but she decided to pay him attention. 

Exhibit C (Ep. 154): This is a very brief moment, but Zoro and Nami have a conversation about dropping anchor and the layout of the island. And they are both on the ship alone and idk I like to think that Zoro was waiting for Nami to be done changing so that they could go on the island together.  

Exhibit D (Ep. 161): Nami wanting Zoro’s opinion as to if he saw anything. Just shows that she trusts his judgment and how she can rely on him. 

Exhibit E (Ep. 161): Short conversation, but still important. Zoro is showing concern and care for Nami by telling her to be more careful. And Nami is replying sincerely.

Exhibit F (Ep. 217): Zoro notices Nami is mad without even looking at her. If that doesn’t tell you how well he knows her by now, then idk what does. But it’s also important that Zoro is listening to her concerns and commenting on them.  

So YES, they can hold normal conversations, here is the proof! And having known each other the longest, they also know the other well.

Zoro can spot Nami’s money obsession anytime, anywhere.  (Ep.105)

And Nami knows how much Zoro loves sake, so she went out of her way to get it for him. (look at how happy he is hehe) (Ep. 255)

And this ⤵ gif (Ep. 159) is one of my newfound favorite moments and leads us into the next reason. It’s not in the manga, but maybe the animators are also ZoNa fans....??

2. They are comfortable around eachother.

Okay, but doesn’t it seem like Zoro is teasing Nami?!?! She almost ran into a tree and then Zoro is like “oooo a perfect opportunity to tease her”. Idk I just found this part super cute. Like Zoro isn’t usually one to be playful like this, but he is with Nami and ughhh it’s so cute!  

And then the multiple times that Zoro is seen sitting/sleeping next to/near Nami. It just shows that they don’t mind each other’s company and honestly (intentional or not) I think they gravitate towards each other because of how comfortable they are with each other.

Exhibit A (46): He came to sit next to her during breakfast when he could’ve sat down next to his captain. Like is this his seat? Has he claimed the spot next to Nami as his own? ..... I like to think so.

Exhibit B (48): The start of Zoro’s debt. I just love how Nami leans in and he doesn’t seem to mind it hehe.

Exhibit C (Episode of Alabasta): The circumstance here was a bit different, but I like to think that she just wanted to be close to Zoro. And idc who tf you are, but if you were in Zoro’s position you can’t just not think about or be conscious about the woman on you. Like yeah you can call yourself friends, but you gotta be at least a bit conscious of where you’re touching and what’s touching you.

Exhibit D (Ep.149) : The start of the famed drinking buddies act. Nami moved here after pouring Robin a drink so I like to think that she felt comfortable and decided to settle down next to him. So i’m guessing Zoro’s seat is next to Nami during breakfast, and Nami’s seat is next to Zoro when they’re drinking?!

Exhibit E (Ep. 193): Psssst Zoro, just scoot your hand over a smidgen 

Exhibit F (Ep. 225) : Before one of my favorite parts in the Foxy Arc (that will be shown in another part hehe). 

Exhibit G (Ep 228): The two of them were up here alone before Sanji came. I like to think that Nami was relaxing and then Zoro came up wordlessly and just plopped down and fell asleep (before Sanji interrupted) 

Exhibit H ( Ep 554): Honestly, Zoro is used to it at this point. And this just proves that Nami believes in his strength and believes that he will protect her no matter what.

Exhibit I (569): Ah yes the drinking buddies, an upgrade from Sky Island.

Exhibit J (569): Ah yes the sobering-up buddies. I made another post (here) on this, but I like to think Zoro likes being near her so he can protect her.

Now, I’d also like to make the argument that them butting heads is actually proof of how close they are. 

Nami isn’t afraid of getting close to him and giving him a piece of her mind. Remember in my previous post when Zoro does this with Nami (who is Sanji in Nami’s body). Yeah, they def don’t mind being close to each other even when it comes to arguing.

(Ep 93)

You’d think Zoro would learn that he can rarely win an argument with Nami, but nah, that ain’t Zoro. Personally, I think Zoro low key likes arguing with her. Aside from Nami the only one he really argues with is Sanji (but even then what they argue about is usually something petty).   (Ep 147)

I really like this gif because it shows that Zoro is trying to explain to Nami why they did what they did. She thinks they were “beaten”, but that isn’t necessarily correct, so he was trying to get her to see the real picture.... which she didn’t. lol (Ep 151)

But if there’s one thing I noticed about Zoro and Nami’s relationship when it comes to arguing, it’s that the other party is trying to get the other one to see from their point of view; they don’t argue just to argue.

Putting aside the fact that they were arguing about marriage (although if they ever did get married I’d think Nami would want something extravagant while Zoro would just be like “whatever just wake me up when I have to go in” ah okay my imagination is running wild.. stop stop)

Anyway, this part is important because this time it’s Nami who is trying to get Zoro to see from her point of view. Of course, she can’t do so without yelling and gnashing teeth, but the sentiment is the same-she wants Zoro to understand where she’s coming from. (Ep 764)

I mean look, friends have differing viewpoints and thoughts. Yes, they may disagree, but in the end it doesn’t really matter because people can still think differently but be close.  Ever heard the saying “opposites attract”? yeah, that’s basically ZoNa in a nutshell. They may argue and disagree, but I think that brings them even closer. 

And Zoro is usually referred to as the “calm and cool” guy, but the fact that he easily loses his “cool” over something slight that Nami says, idk I just find that cute that she’s able to get under his skin like that. 

I love the dynamic between the two. They’re opposites who like to fight, but always have each other’s backs and couldn’t stand to see the other hurt.   

[where-s-all-blue]

Modern Hospital AU

Strawhats

In this AU, the Straw Hat Crew is a small gang led by Monkey D. Luffy. The crew isn't actually interested in causing trouble, they just want their own turf, which just so happens to be The former Turf of one Gol D. Roger.

Monkey D. Luffy

Young man who wishes to claim the old turf of Gol D. Roger's gang.

Lives with his two older brothers.

He's the leader of his own little gang, but nobody knows how or why he managed to become the boss.

He's just the type of person you want to see what they'll do next and then 24 hours later you're attached.

Likes Law and is 100% convinced that he and Ace would make a nice couple.

Sends Law memes and cursed images constantly.

Chaotic dumbass/sunshine gremlin.

Roronoa Zoro

Second in command of the group.

Is partially deaf.

Looks like could kill you, might either actually kill you or give you a head pat.

Is the big bro™ of the group.

He's there to stop Luffy from doing anything stupid unless he wants to see where it goes, in which case he's there to stop the person trying to stop Luffy.

Casually sweeps in to eat your fridge empty and drink your booze.

Vinsmoke Sanji

Can use sign language (Reiju taught him as the helmet their father forced him to use made talking hard).

Only uses them in order to communicate with Zoro and/or Zeff as both of them has trouble hearing.

Works at Zeff's, which is considered to be the grey area where all gangs can eat in without being attacked.

Is arguably the kindest person you'll ever meet.

While he has declared himself as the protector of women, he also treats men with kindness.

He later on boardens this into protecting the minorities without caring about their gender.

Usopp

He's known as the eagle-eyed sniper thanks to his ability to stay accurate with his shots no matter the distance.

He prefers to use rooftops as his road, it makes it a lot easier for him to observe and see where his targets are, plus go unnoticed by most people.

Works at the local music store, sometimes being rented as the DJ to parties.

He has connections everywhere thanks to his ability to read and adapt to the way other people act.

Nami

Former receptionist at the Arlong Park Hotel, which was located in the centre of the turf owned by the Arlong Crew. Currently works for Zeff as a receptionist.

Sometimes helps Zeff sort out accounts and do the inventory, the old man is delighted to have her as Sanji can't do math to save his life.

Similar to Usopp, she has connections everywhere.

She also does heists as a cat burglar/phantom thief.

Master of disguises.

Tony Tony Chopper

Intern at the hospital, and he's absolutely terrified of Law.

Currently, his job only includes watching how Marco works, take notes, help the man and to make coffee.

His goal is to become the best doctor ever, he hasn't yet chosen a specialisation.

In this AU, he's a teenaged human boy, who collects cute reindeer mascot merch. The said reindeer mascot is called Toni.

Nico Robin

An archaeologist turned museum guard.

Joined Luffy's gang because she wanted to get back into the thrill of adventure.

She might use the tunnels/catacombs under the city to move around, nobody can prove it though.

Franky

An entrepreneur who builds anything you need. Need a house? He'll do it. In need of a ship? You got it boss. Need an emergency escape pod that'll launch you to the opposite side of that planet where nobody can find you? Give him a minute.

His personal record of getting anything built is twenty-four and a half seconds. It was a bridge. Very detailed bridge.

Takes great pride in his craft.

Sometimes complains about the thing not being 100% like he want them to.

Brook

Local skeleton man becomes accidentally Beyoncé.

All he did was play a guitar someone left on the graveyard and someone heard him. They now call it the raveyard.

Loves cats, has complex feelings towards dogs.

"Please return my feemur Mister Dog".

Jinbe

Has no idea how the hell he ended up joining the Strawhats, but he's now attached and he ain't leaving.

Funky uncle™.

Is friends with the majority of WB group.

Can walk anywhere without being attacked because everyone knows that he's technically under the protection of the WB himself.

Often gives Ace hints on how to charm Law. They don't work. Because Jinbe has no idea how humans romance.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Maffew

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

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

  My next guest in this series is Maffew, creator of the popular pro wrestling web series Botchamania. For my chat with him, he chose the Alabasta Arc, in which Luffy and his crew not only have to save a desert kingdom but also topple Baroque Works and its powerful leader Crocodile.

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

    Dan Dockery: So I guess my first basic question is, let’s say for some reason, I got to the end of Drum Island and I said “Well, One Piece ends here for me. This seems like a good finale.” What would you tell me to keep me going into the Alabasta Arc in one sentence?

  Maffew: Well, after Chopper has made all the kids cry, you’ll need pickin’ up.

  That’s pretty good! What was the impetus for you getting into One Piece? What made you want to jump into an anime that’s nearly one thousand episodes long at this point?

  I think I tried watching it on YouTube back in 2009, and I just couldn’t get into it. At that point in my life, I wasn’t ready for a character like Luffy and his adventures, and I couldn’t wait for the villains he fought to kill him. So I dropped it. A year later, I’m in Germany and this wrestler ACH was doing a Q&A panel for this German wrestling organization called WXW. And ACH is a REALLY big One Piece fan, and even dresses up as Luffy in New Japan and Ring of Honor. And I was like “Hey, you watching JoJo?” because that was my thing at the time, and he was like “No, no. Just One Piece.” I said, “What else are you watching?” “Just One Piece.” And I’m like “Wait, what? Just the one?” But he was sellin’ it to me like he was a One Piece ad on QVC. And guys like Steve Yurko are so passionate about it, and if one person tells ya to watch something, you’re like “Eh, whatever,” but if five people tell you, you start to pay attention. So I’m gonna blame ACH and my good friend Steve Yurko for this.

    What do you like about this arc in particular?

  You get so much wonderful worldbuilding. They go to Alabasta, meet up with Mr. 2, and it’s one of those cool interactions where they’re meeting, but they don’t know who they are meeting exactly, like when they meet Blackbeard in Jaya. So later on, they’re like “Oh, it’s THEM!” There’s a real sense of everything not being really pre-determined at this point. It’s building everything through a bunch of pirates just doing stuff. Ace shows up, knocks out some assassins so he can get his royalty checks.

  That’s such a funny way to put it.

  Then we get Kung-Fu Dugongs, and they’re a pretty pure expression of One Piece. They’re all synchronized, they’re adorable, they play their part amid all the serious stuff, and they’re completely ridiculous, but they work anyway. And it’s with Alabasta that Eiichiro Oda starts to perfect the tropes that he puts into place throughout, with the new islands, the new leader who everyone loves but is actually a bad person, the crew having to deal with him and the Navy, them having to help put someone back in their position, etc. And even though, on paper, it reads like “Well, he’s gotta beat this dude and this dude and this dude,” it’s so much more chaotic and less formulaic than you’d expect. It keeps things interesting. 

  I agree. I like how he takes all of these pieces and he’s consistent with them, but Oda always plays around with how he sets them up.

    But it’s all a foot massage before the real reason to watch Alabasta: Sir Croc. 

  Are you a big fan of him? That dude is so cool, conniving and powerful. He’s kinda the perfect villain. 

  Back when I was being miserable and first watching One Piece, I really liked him. I like the design, the sand powers that could actually pose a threat. I always appreciate it when a villain provides actual tension. It’s like why I think Goldeneye is still the best James Bond film. Because Alec Trevelyan is constantly reminding Bond “Remember, I could kill you. I’m from the same place as you. I can take your exploding watch and just, eh, I’ll stop that then. Thank you.” And Luffy loses twice to him in the three-match structure that really works here as it did for wrestling in the 70s.

  How so?

  So you’d have somebody like champion Bruno Sammartino and someone like Ivan Koloff or one of the Wild Samoans or Stan Stasiak. They’d have one match where the hero would beat Bruno by disqualification. Bruno’s still around to fight, but he’s lost. Luffy survives being thrown in the sand, but he’s been beaten. Then they have the second match, where Bruno would win because the villain would just give up and leave and get counted out. Luffy attacks Crocodile with water, but it’s not enough, and Crocodile just kinda leaves Luffy thinking it’s all done. And then Bruno would be like “Oh no ya don’t. Next time, you won’t be able to escape, because we’re gonna be in a cage match.” And then Bruno wins, just like Luffy wins by punching Crocodile up through that giant enclosed space. He escapes the cage.

      It’s just so satisfying and that’s a great way to describe it. So, villains in the series have had extensive crew members before, but they haven’t been as recognizable and colorful as Croc’s crew, Baroque Works. Do you have a favorite member?

  They’re all good in their own way, but at this point, I’m gonna go with Mr. 2. Eh, that’s probably too obvious an answer…

  Mr. 2 is a lot of people’s favorite member. 

  Oh, who cares. I’ll go with Mr. 2. I like how Mr. 2 interacts with everyone, having fun with the boys and fighting Sanji with kicks but respecting him. 

  So, in this arc, there’s a lot of government intrigue and a revolution is about to happen, and everyone’s dissatisfied with their perception of the monarchy. How did you react to all of this political drama in One Piece? 

  Well, it’s great because you have Vivi, and you get to learn her motivations and because she’s on the crew, it gives you a reason to care for the crew and how all of the political intrigue affects them. Without her, you’d just hear about a war and say “Oh, sorry about that. Hope it goes well.” And with all this lore being thrown at you because you have Vivi and that connection, it’s adding to the main conflict, rather than distracting.

  Yeah, Vivi really grounds it all with a personal attachment. Because otherwise it’s just savin’ the kingdom, which is cool and they’re good for it, but it doesn’t have the same impact. So, they did this back in the Arlong Park arc, but what returns here is the kind of 1 vs 1 match structure, where a member or members of the enemy crew are matched up against a Straw Hat or Hats. Mr. 1 has knife body parts, so he’s obviously gonna fight Zoro. Mr. 2 kicks and Sanji kicks, etc. What do you think about that kind of matchmaking, because it’s also a little wrestling-esque.

    Yeah, right, like if you have D-Generation X fighting the Nation of Domination, you can’t just have The Rock fighting Triple H. Ya gotta have D’Lo Brown vs X-Pac and The Godfather vs Billy Gunn. I like it because the characters feel like they have to prove themselves, like Zoro’s a swordsman, and he’s gotta test himself against another swordsman. And Usopp does it when he fights Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas with Chopper, because they have a weird dynamic and they’re fighting two people and they have no clue what they’re up against. 

  So, at the end of the arc, they do the iconic “We can’t let Vivi become associated with pirates so we’ll hold up the X symbols on our arms in solidarity” pose. What did you think about that? Because it’s one of the most famous images in One Piece, and it’s hard to avoid it, even if you’ve never watched the series. Was that your first time seeing it?

  It actually was. And I’m glad you brought this up because I was watching it and I thought “Wait, they’re just going? They’re not even keeping the duck?” And then they do that with the X and the original opening starts playing and I get goosebumps just remembering it. That really hit me. Because it finally got me really emotionally invested in the series. Made me feel a bit cheeky. 

      ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  So, considering you’re such a huge pro wrestling fan, your lightning round is gonna be a bit different. I’m gonna say a Straw Hat that’s in the crew at this point and you tell me which wrestler they’re the most like. You can also tell me what time period they’d fit the most in, since wrestler personalities tend to change. So, Luffy?

  Gotta be Cena. Specifically? With Luffy’s attitude? Probably 2015 defending-the-United States-Championship John Cena.

  Zoro?

  He’s all business, he likes to fight. So I gotta go with Cesaro.

  Sanji?

  Going with Eddie Guerrero.

  Usopp?

  That character is all over wrestling - the underdog who isn’t very good and uses every trick in the book to win. Gonna go with MJF. He had one of my favorite matches of this year against Cody Rhodes and he just had to use EVERYTHING to beat him - brass knuckles, distraction, chairs, everything he could to get that win. But he could be MJF, could be The Miz, could be Mikey Whipwreck from ECW, take your pick.

  Nami?

  Hmmm. Becky Lynch. 

  Chopper?

  KeMonito 

  Robin?

  Oh, she shows up after being booed for ages and you’re supposed to like her, so 2019 Charlotte Flair.

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece's official English manga translator Stephen Paul on his favorite One Piece arc: Skypiea!!

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

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

By: Daniel Dockery

[gendervapor14]

two fights for freedom ~ chapter eight: fighting demons

Over black coffee and eggs, he told Law he was going to make amends with the tangerine lady. And that night, when he returned to the inn, his mood seemed to make a total turnaround.

“Bell-mère agreed to let us help her!” He unveiled with glee, “And her daughters taught me all the basics for getting the grove back in shape!”

“Aren’t we doing construction work?” Law tossed his hat on the nightstand beside the bed.

“That’s only a part-time job.”

“That grove is huge, Cora. It’s going to be a full-time job.”

“We’ll manage just fine.”

Typical for him to take on an insurmountable workload. Only a matter of time before it came crashing down and bit them in the ass. Law was calling all the shots for their next adventure. His patience with this dimwit was running dangerously thin.

oh how badly i wanted to post a snippet of the opening of this chapter, but i decided against it. i don't want to falsely advertise this fic! 😅 some cora & law shenanigans should suffice.

title: two fights for freedom rating: M category: F/M, gen content warnings: graphic depictions of violence status: incomplete, eight chapters, 25,281 words relationship: rosinante/bell-mere, cora & law, rosinante & hatchan, bell-mere & rosinante & law & nami & nojiko, rosinante & genzo, bell-mere & genzo characters: rosinante, bell-mere, law, nami, nojiko, genzo, nako, hatchan, arlong, arlong pirates additional tags: canon divergent, fix-it, everybody lives, pre-arlong park, angst with a happy ending, angst and feels, fluff and humor, hurt/comfort, scheming, suggestive themes, sexual tension, limes (yes i'm bringing limes back), eventual smut, romance, slow burn, arguing, financial issues, broken bones, references to depression, alcoholism, mental health issues, canon backstory, mentioned doflamingo, non-canon backstory (giving bell-mere a backstory), found family, medical inaccuracies, blood and injury, trafalgar d. water law is a little shit, developing friendships, past child abuse, nightmares, more tags to be added later (?) summary: freedom for one means adventure. exploring all the world has to offer, while avoiding the occasional haunting. freedom for another almost costs an arm and two daughters. a home, a village. perhaps freedom is best sought back-to-back. {a cora and bell-mère lives au}

♥

[snurps]

zolu!!!! :D

send me a ship and i’ll reply with

vomit / don’t ship / okay / cute / adorable / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying / i will ship them in hell

*slams fists on table* YEAHHHHHH zolu’s my main otp!! they just trust and understand each other so much, and they were the first two straw hats, and they’re just so wholesome and loving and soft together, but they’re also a power couple for sure.

usopp is probably luffy’s best friend on the crew, esp for goofing around, but i think zoro is honestly pretty close too - they spend a lot of time exploring together in arcs and fighting together and stuff if you pay attention. i honestly feel like you can say luffy is the most important person to zoro in the world. he’s constantly looking out for luffy, and he seems so comfortable and quite smiley around luffy, especially after the time skip, like he’s been missing a part of himself for so long and finally found it again when they reunited. 

as for luffy, i feel like he and zoro are just often on the same wavelength, and there are multiple examples where they silently understand each other’s perspectives and values, and luffy is obviously comfortable with trusting zoro with the safety of the crew. when zoro keeps him in check as a captain, luffy may not always immediately seem to show it, but i’m sure he listens.

let me just list my favorite zolu moments (as in all of them askdhadjd):

their first meeting where they immediately start fighting in sync and when zoro calls luffy captain

zoro almost freaking dies in orange town because he insists on carrying luffy’s cage himself (and how luffy freaks out when buggy destroys the major’s house where zoro was sleeping)

luffy and zoro teasing usopp together iirc when they first meet him too

luffy holds himself back but painfully watches as zoro loses to mihawk, then immediately rockets over as soon as the fight is done

zoro’s about to throw himself into the water to save luffy at arlong park when sanji says that he’ll do it instead because zoro’s too injured

while sanji and usopp are waiting outside, luffy sits by zoro’s side after arlong park as he’s screaming while the doctor fixes up his wound from mihawk (ouch)

while everyone else is focused on getting merry up reverse mountain and/or generally freaking out, zoro’s the one to catch luffy’s hand to make sure he gets back on the ship after he does his balloon move

zoro and luffy whiskey peak fight lol

zoro getting so worried about luffy fighting crocodile the first time that he starts stress lifting eyelashes the camel

zoro and luffy silently understand each other and don’t fight back at the bar in mock town (there’s a doujin i read where luffy comments that he felt fine at that moment because zoro was there standing beside him and i just ashdkshd)

zoro tells luffy that he has to be strong as the captain or who else will they look up to?

zoro and luffy blast a hole in the aqua laguna while on the sea train (what’s 108 times 2? 216. that’s too hard to say. then just say 300.)

also when luffy orders zoro to cut up the train cart in the way and zoro just does it

kinda different but when zoro protects usopp from marines so usopp can call out to luffy for him to stand back up

eeeeeverything that happens in thriller bark. everything, to the point where zoro is actually too hurt to stand up against kizaru next arc (my heart)

when luffy sees bon clay at first in impel down, he gets super excited because he thinks zoro is somehow there! and when bonchan turns back, he says he’s still happy but a little sad it isn’t zoro after all

when zoro hears about ace, he immediately tries to find a boat so he can be by luffy’s side, and when he can’t get one, almost gets ready to swim to sabaody i think

zoro puts aside his pride to ask mihawk to teach him swordsmanship and mihawk acknowledges that such a man as zoro would only be willing to do this because of someone else

zoro and sanji reunite with luffy on sabaody!

on the way to fishman island, luffy and zoro chat about what they did during their two years apart and zoro’s like “oh you would not BELIEVE who i trained with” or something

robin imagines zoro carrying luffy on his back for crossing the river (and zoro’s the one who pulls luffy up out of the water when they fall in)

zoro chastises luffy for not taking the new world seriously at punk hazard and luffy says got it, even though he immediately goofs off later lol

in dressrosa, zoro cheers luffy on at the colosseum which he got distracted watching on tv, and later he gets mad that luffy didn’t tell him about it too

zoro smiles and laughs when sabo asks everyone to take care of his troublesome little brother because sabo reminds him of ace

at zou, luffy teases zoro about worrying about sanji when he left the crew, and zoro gets mad and says he’ll kick him (luffy was right)

also at zou, when zoro gets jealous when luffy praises sanji and calls him as strong as 1,000 men (then i’m worth 2,000!)

ZOLU HUG IN WANO

zoro protects luffy and otama from basil hawkins!

ZOLU HUG IN WANO

did i mention ZOLU HUG IN WANO

truly, even if you don’t ship them, they have one of the best friendships in the series and probably in all of shonen manga

[wessasaurus-rex]

One Piece Theory of Everything - A Revision of the Inherited Will Theory

I believe I've figured out most of the manga's greatest mysteries. A lot of the major ideas that I used as a jumping point are from the "Inherited Will Theory" by King Fisher over at the Arlong Park Forums which I'm sure most One Piece theorists are already very familiar with. I know it has it's detractors but for the most part, a sizable number of people seemed to like it and I was one of them. However, I believe the Inherited Will theory was not broad enough in scale to truly explain everything.

However, one of the most solid ideas of the Inherited Will theory was the use of repeating patterns, themes and foreshadowing in One Piece to form a prediction of things to come and this is primarily what I've used to deduce the rest of the theories in this list. I'm not sure how to break these down but I'll just go right ahead. I'm sure I can maybe edit this for readability later.

"One Piece" was the Ancient Kingdom. The One Piece is both an ideology and a tangible thing, as I believe Professor Clover was about to explain before he got shot. The One Piece is the entire world united in a piece, as one nation, and in true harmony with all of it's inhabitants. Therefore...

The Pirate King is the ruler of "One Piece". I formulated this theory even before the reveal of Rocks D. Xebec and that served as a confirmation on my part that I was indeed in the right direction with this theory. The title of "King of the World" and "Pirate King" are basically the same thing. This fits in perfectly with all of the descriptions of the Pirate King as the one who "owns everything in the world" or "owns the greatest treasure in the world". The greatest treasure in the world is quite simply the world itself. How was this done? Not by force, but by 20 rulers around the world swearing loyalty to one man. But this was not to last.

Ims was the first mate of the first Pirate King, the first "Dark King" The Pirate King was Julius Caesar and Ims was his Brutus. This explains why Rayleigh's title as the right hand man of the Pirate King is the "Dark King". He is meant to serve in the shadow of the Pirate King and guard him from the darkness. But this also places him in the perfect position to stab the Pirate King in the back. This is, what I believe, happened to the first Pirate King and Ims. And yes, that would mean that Ims is an immortal being - a possibility that was already foreshadowed in Law's fruit. In order to successfully do this, this must have taken more than one conspirator - which is who I think the first Gorosei were. If we were to take the Shakespearean comparison further, the Gorosei would be the senators that took part in the stabbing. They must have been part of the 20 Kings who swore loyalty to the Pirate King, perhaps swayed or tricked by Ims. However, this betrayal did not go unnoticed...

The War between the Ancient Kingdom and the World Government was a Civil War. Imagine a war that spanned the globe that erupted after the great betrayal. This was a war between those that were loyal to the Pirate King and those that usurped the throne. Unfortunately, whether it be by numbers or the use of devil fruits perhaps, the usurpers won a crushing victory against the loyalists who were then forced to run and hide and to inscribe their messages and warnings of this great threat unto indestructible stone while the usurpers erased history in order to both establish themselves as the supreme rulers of the world and also to hide their crime in the murder of the Pirate King.

The World Government is currently the "One Piece". Or to clarify, a corrupted version of the One Piece. Instead of uniting the world in true harmony, fairness and equality, the World Government subjugates the world and controls it for the personal gain of it's leaders. Further evidence of this is the entire ideology of the "Empty Throne". The throne is empty because that throne belongs to the Pirate King. However, only a true Pirate King would actually refuse to sit on the throne and lord over the world, instead choosing a life of freedom and adventure. The very essence of this was exactly recreated in the formation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. And we know that current "Empty Throne" is nothing but a farce as there is someone who sits on it in the shadows.

Alabasta, Ryuugu, Shandora, Ohara, Zou and Wano were loyal to the Pirate King These powers and perhaps more were all loyal to the Pirate King and fought against the usurpers, with many other kingdoms possibly completely destroyed and erased during the war. This is why they were all keepers of the poneglyphs. Ryuugu Kingdom was promised liberation from the sea and for it's inhabitants to be able to dwell on the surface by the Pirate King. To light the fires of Shandora is to keep the truth alive in protecting the Poneglyph. Wano isolated itself and kept it's borders closed because they knew that the world was their enemy - and to open it's borders is to signal the return of the Pirate King. Alabasta joined the world government but it's royal family refused to become World Nobles. I'm guessing that the King of Alabasta was actually tricked into betraying the Pirate King and then realized it later and regretted it (foreshadowed by Squard) but decided to stay in the World Government as a means to either survive or keep a mole on the inside.

The Ancient Weapons were the power base of the Pirate King If you're gonna be a King, you're gonna need actual power on top of symbolic power and I believe that's what the "Ancient Weapons" were supposed to be. Specifically, I believe Pluton was the main ship of the Pirate King, perhaps even his first ship when he first united the grandline. I also believe that Franky already built the Pluton in the form of the Thousand Sunny, perhaps as a transformation. Franky burned those blueprints because he already memorized them. Next, the power of Poseidon enabled the Pirate King to control all the sea kings - effectively granting him control of the entire oceans. And Uranus, though it has not been revealed, I am confident enough to assume is indeed Momonosuke and I believe it enables him to control ALL OF THE TITAN SIZED CREATURES of the world - one of them being Zunisha. These Titans were probably immortal and indestructible and were therefore banished instead of killed. Zunisha is one of them...but the rest are hidden away in the Florian Triangle.

The Void Century was but the start of an era of darkness. After they crushed their enemies and formed the World Government, Ims and his Gorosei continued to erase history. It's more accurate to call it the Void Era rather than just a century. The process that rid the world of it's history in the Void Century never ceased. Ohara is a prime example of that. Every time someone got close to the truth, they would snuff out the light and keep the world in darkness. This is how they are able to maintain power - through blind faith in their system of justice and ignorance of the past. And the reason why they must continue this process, even to the very present day of the series, is because a Pirate King always rises. Whether through the hopes and wishes of the people, or through murmurs of a forgotten past, a will to overthrow this darkness and for the Pirate King to rise again was inherited. The Pirate King is not a title passed down through by blood. It is a title gained through merit. But this is something that the Kings of the World Government do not understand and still see the Pirate King as a traditional King and this is why...

Ace was executed because he was the rightful heir to the Empty Throne, The Pirate Prince This explains why the World Government went to so much trouble just to execute one man. Why they would go to war just to make sure Ace died in a public fashion - it was an effort to snuff out the flames once more. To keep the world in darkness. But what they didn't understand was that the Pirate King was not born...he was made. This enables a man truly worthy of the title to rise. And a mechanism of this already exists...

The Grand line is a Tournament for the Pirate King One Piece was a giant tournament arc all along. The Grandline is similar to a grand prix. It is an obstacle course where you also face others in a tournament for the throne. It forges any man, even a simple man, to rise above and become worthy of the title. The Supernovas are rookies that made it through the first elimination. The Yonkou are simply the finalists.

Garp knew. Garp, through his own experiences and probably Roger himself telling him the backstory, knows the truth about the One Piece. It explains his distaste for the Celestial Dragons (on top of the obvious reasons) and it explains why he wanted Ace and Luffy to be marines - he wanted to reform the World Government from the inside by training the next generation to be better. I don't think he knows about Ims though nor did Roger.

The Revolutionaries know. Seeing Roger executed at Logue Town gave Dragon his final resolve but he first knew the truth from his father, Garp. However, they had a difference in opinion. While Garp still believes in the institution of the World Government, Dragon would rather be rid of it altogether. However, he has no desire to be King and thats why he didn't take the route of being a pirate that is gunning for the throne. He just wants to destroy the main obstacle.

The Donquixote Family knew. Through privileged access to information or some other means, Doflamingo's parents probably knew the truth - or at least a part of it. That is what spurned their change of heart and decision to live as commoners. Doflamingo himself definitely knew but probably didn't understand it fully as a child and instead focused and internalized more the abuse that they recieved after becoming commoners. This is the secret that he speaks of often. More on the national relic specifically later...

Kaido vs. The World Government This is the "age of smiles" that Doflamingo talked about - the new age. He knew of Kaido's plan to invade the World Government and establish himself as the knew King of the World/Pirate King. Doflamingo's entire angle is just him being in a high position in the new world akin to a World Noble. This is why he was always just gonna be a lackey - he lacked ambition. This also means Kaido already knew of the secret and instead of going after Laugh Tale, he just plans to go straight for the main obstacle, same with Dragon albeit for more selfish desires that liberation.

Tom-san was secretly royal. Just as Poseidon was from the Ryuugu Kingdom, the original Pluton was probably built by Fishmen (submarine mode?), the same Fishmen who built the Noah. This doesn't necessarily mean he had to be royalty but so far, all the secret keepers of Joy Boy had been royalty. It might also be why he was living in the surface - to hide him away in case the Ryuugu Kingdom fell. It would have been terrible if 2 weapons were in one basket so to speak.

The Will of D The Will of D is the inherited will to unite the two halves of the world in a piece - in relation to the plan of destroying a portion of the Red Line in order to truly create the One Piece. The D is not an initial, it is a symbol. (Half a circle, D) A symbol that one carries in your name to denote that your clan believes in the dream of One Piece. The original carriers of the symbol were all loyal to Joy Boy, the first Pirate King...specifically, I think they were his original crew members. Monkey, Jaguar, Trafalgar, Portgas, Gol, Marshall, Rocks...and one more yet to be revealed (Ims?) And I believe each of them came from one of the allied Kingdoms...Alabasta, Shandia, Ryuugu, Zou, Wano, Ohara...and two more yet to be revealed. (My hunch is the kingdom where Big Mom found her Road Poneglyph and Elbaf). These people and nations represent the 8 outer circles in the symbol of the Kozuki Clan. This I believe was the flag of the Ancieny Kingdom, One Piece. The big circle represents Joy Boy and the One Piece. A total of 9 circles... such as the 9 Red Scabbards...or the 9 Straw Hats. (What about Jinbei? He could be the 10th circle, signifying change and progress, could also be why his proper membership has been delayed) Theres a lot in this one but certain parts could be true independent of the rest. I just put them together for the sake of formatting.