#barto got it the most... he wants to be free

[hauntingblue]

The people knowing about rebecca and saving luffy from fujitora yeaaaaah!!!! Cope and seetheeeeeee

[chenziee]

Second of my three pieces for the @opblondebombshells zine!! It's available for download for free, so check it out! ✨

This one is with perfect illustrations done by @trashchaser, please just look at them they're so beautiful ;__;

[ Read on AO3 | Ko-FI | Commissions ]

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“White Knight” Cavendish in Trouble?!

NEW WORLD, Grand Line | by Absa

Is “White Knight” Cavendish in some kind of trouble? That was the question running through our minds as we stalked—excuse me—secretly followed everyone’s favorite Pirate Prince after anonymously interviewing him about the cursed Straw Hat’s Grand Fleet. (See yesterday’s World Economic Journal for details.)

When we said our goodbyes, we noticed Mr. Cavendish was slightly nervous about the time, as if he had somewhere else to be. Naturally curious what had the usually confident pirate so out of character, we decided to see what was going on.

His first stop was his ship… but we knew that couldn’t be it. And so, we waited patiently for two hours for him to come back ashore—and boy, was the wait worth it! My dear readers, the sight this man made! He was shining even brighter than usual, his outfit flawless and worthy of a front page on the most prestigious fashion magazines and perfectly accentuating his princely appearance. It was clear he put a lot of care into his look today and it honestly made us wonder whether he spent the entire two hours just getting ready.

Having seen him walking away looking like a fashion star, it was quite obvious he had an important meeting (or perhaps, a rendezvous?!) ahead of him. And we couldn’t miss out on a scoop like that.

But then, we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw him approach—believe it or not—none other than the most hated pirate on all the seas, Bartolomeo the Cannibal!

It was near-impossible to hear what they were talking about, but from the few words that carried over to us it was clear the hooligan was scolding his partner for being “three fucking hours late!”, to which Mr. Cavendish simply shrugged, smelling his beloved rose and muttering something—something that only made the Cannibal throw his arms into the air in annoyance.

Mr. Cavendish seemed unphased by his barbarian behavior, however. He smiled brightly, so much in fact that our visual transponder snail was momentarily blinded when we tried to take pictures. He didn’t even protest when after a few muttered complaints, Bartolomeo grabbed his wrist to drag him somewhere, not at all fighting the violent grip on his hand the entire time they walked together.

Confused by why the “White Knight” would let himself be treated this way, of course we followed them. We were surprised even further when they arrived at an expensive looking restaurant, where the two of them were led to a table that was seemingly booked in advance.

What were they talking about? Was the Cannibal blackmailing him somehow? That was something we aimed to discover when we sneaked inside the restaurant.

Unfortunately, it was not possible for us to get close enough to the pair without a waitress tripping over me and becoming my wife—I mean, without being discovered.

What we can tell you, however, is that they ate a full course dinner together, chatting the whole time. By the way Bartolomeo rolled his eyes a few times, it seemed that Mr. Cavendish talked about himself a lot—but on the other hand, he also looked annoyed whenever Bartolomeo would start talking about something excitedly, pointing at a copy of Straw Hat Luffy’s wanted poster he pulled out of his wallet for some unknown reason.

At one point, it looked like they got into a fight with their faces very close to each other. It almost looked like they were kissing… but as the Pirate Prince and the Cannibal being that close is frankly unthinkable and honestly straight up impossible, we are assuming some secret information was being passed—possibly to threaten Mr. Cavendish!

What is going on between them?

Is “White Knight” Cavendish in danger?

Can he get rid of Bartolomeo the Cannibal somehow without harm coming to him?

We shall keep an eye on them and keep you, our wonderful readers, updated on the wellbeing of your most beloved star in the following issues of our magazine!

For now, we can only pray for Mr. Cavendish’s safety together.

- If you are able to provide us any more information on this matter (or want to become my wife), please contact our editorial team via the News Coo! -

[thepepsislvt]

Man yknow what I’m gonna ask. Barto with a virgin reader and first time has? And what if we did bonus points if the reader is short..

Mwehheehe i did it >:3

Warnings: Nsfw, Biting, Reader’s First Time, Mirror sex

Afab reader to fulfill my transmasc Delusions but no pronouns mentioned

“Are you sure about this?” Bartolomeo asks for what seemed like the 18th time that night. He means well though he wants to be sure you're ready. It was your first time after all.

You're currently straddling his lap on his large bed. The two of you both stripped down, clothes are scattered and forgotten around his room. The whole world seemed to be at a halt because all that mattered was that both of you were too lost in the moment.

You give him another soft kiss which he more than willingly reciprocated. After a moment of kissing you pull back just enough to mumble a quick ‘I’m sure’ against his lips before diving right back in.

He moved to place you on the bed.

“Alright, well if you're that sure, then let's getcha all stretched open for me, yeah?”

with one final peck to your lips, he started his journey down, kissing your chin and neck down your chest and stomach but stopping where you needed him most. You huffed impatiently as Barto started to kiss your knee. He slowly made his way up to your thighs where he started to nibble and gently bite at the skin. You let a soft moan escape your lips as he does so. Bartolomeo made sure to leave marks that would be there in the morning including punctures from his two most prominent teeth. As he licked the blood from certain bites his mind was fogged up with the thought that he was going to be your first and hopefully your only.

As you let out an impatient whine he decided it was time to let you finally have what you so desired. He leaned closer to your cunt and licked a long stripe. After hearing you sigh with pleasure he give you a few more licks before moving one of your legs onto his shoulder. He carefully inserted one finger into you. Once he knew you were comfortable and enjoying it he started pumping his finger in and out of you. He turned his head to the leg that was resting on his shoulder and started biting your inner thigh once more. You were experiencing pure bliss when he added a second and third finger. So much so that you grabbed into his hair to keep yourself grounded. He let out a groan when you yank on his hair hard and sank his bigger teeth into your thigh. With the added pleasure from his bite, you scream his name and came on his fingers. He helped you through your orgasm as he carefully removed his teeth from your thigh.

“Awe what a mess, and all for me? How sweet” Barto cooed at you as he removed his fingers before licking them clean. You watched in awe as he did so before he leaned down to kiss you again “you ready, sugar?”

With a nod you both moved to where you were on top. The both of you had agreed that you would be on top to control the pace and speed. He was a big guy after all and didn’t want to hurt you or cause you discomfort in any way. With your new position you were straddling his thighs with your hands on his chest to trade his tattoo. He had his hands holding your own thighs for support.

With a deep breath you sank down on him slowly, stopping every now and again to get adjusted. Bartolomeo rubbed your thighs in a soothing manner and kept telling you how good you were doing. When you finally bottomed out he pulled you down to face him

“doing so good for me, keep it up?” You blushed at his words and pulled him into a deep kiss.

When you finally got comfortable and adjusted to his size, you started to roll your hips against him. He let out a soft whimper and moved his hands to hold your hips, encouraging you to keep going. After a few more rolls of your hips you started to bounce on his dick, with him going deeper with each bounce you let your moans out free. It was taking everything in him not to thrust up into you. He wanted you to take the lead this time, there will be time for that another time if you let him.

After some time your legs and thighs began to grow tired and Barto apparently picked up on it. He held your hips in place to halt your movements. Before you could whine or complain he moved the two of you to sit on the edge of his bed with your back against his chest.

”How about a little help, hmm?” He asks before lowering you onto him once again.

One of his arms went around your hips. Once he started to thrust up into you he grabbed your face in his free hand and made you look at his full length mirror across from the two of you. Once you set eyes on him through the mirror he smiled at you with his eyes clouded with desire. He moved your head to the side to kiss your neck but he made sure you were still looking at the mirror.

After one particular sharp thrust, you let out a louder moan and threw your head back.

”Don’t do that now” Barto said in between heavy breaths. He moved your face back up to look at the mirror “ ‘wanna see yourself? Want you to watch, please?” Even with all the desire and lust built up he still was so sweet and gentle with you.

You couldn’t last any longer, the knot in your stomach was about to burst. He didn’t seem that far behind.

“Mmm! Barto! Keep going I’m almost there” you gave him a warning this time.

”mhmm go ahead sugar, I got you I promise.” He started biting your neck since he knew that would push you over the edge.

And he was right, shortly after you came all over him while screaming his name. His hips started to stutter as he came in you. After the initial high he started to panic.

”Shit, I didn’t mean to come in you. Let me get you cleaned up.” He took you off his lap and placed you on the bed. But before he could get far, you grabbed his arm and brought him close.

”I’m pretty sure I didn’t complain, in fact, I want you fill me up even more”

His face turned red as he processed what you said. But who was he to say no to you when you asked him so nicely.

[itzrafee]

One Piece Chapter Discussion (Chapter 1126)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[wonderlandoffanfics]

Manifest Fantasies (pt 1)

My first ever posted fan fic! I decided I'm not great with smut but I tried my best, and will continue to try in other things. This fic is Bartolomeo inspired - I'm really sorry if I didn't write him properly, I kinda got self indulgent to certain degrees. Most degrees.

This first bit is pretty tame, but the second bit I'll be posting has the smut, so I'm keeping the warnings on the whole thing.

Enjoy!

Part 2 swimsuit addition dat dress tho

WC: 3480

CW: fem reader, MDNI, bit o’ fluff turned smutty, vaginal penetration, no protection mentioned, cockwarming, Barto’s fangs doing as they do, praise kink (for him, of course), aftercare with brief non-sexual urination

You had never really been interested in pirate life. Pirates seem to be everywhere but you enjoyed your quiet island life. Sometimes their stories would take you to a daydream of adventure and lead you to believe your way of living was dull. But you always snapped out of the daze when the danger came into play. It’s safer here at home on the island you grew up on. Why ever leave and live in uncertain fear?

Working in a bar is enough for you, you hear all the stories from pirates that come in to port and they take their dangers with them when they go. Fantasies are worth a lot to you, as someone who likes to write. Every night you go home and jot down what you’ve heard that day, the vibrant stories giving you joy each time you reread them and dream of the places you would never see and things you would never experience for yourself.

Most of the townsfolk are too afraid to come to the bar; in fear the pirates may do something to them. You’ve never had much trouble, but you have heard the few brave local patrons get things stolen, or worse, they’ve been physically injured to a point where they don’t return to your bar.

You’re always kept on your toes because of this. Pirates are unpredictable. Tonight’s visitors are no exception. A bunch of new faces have come in and sat in the room looking for a good time, a few new groups, you believe, since they don’t appear to be interested in each other. They all appear more menacing than you’ve dealt with recently. It’s time to play extra nice and obedient.

There’s one you think is a captain, at the bar with a few others; he has the most intimidating aura. He’s got to be over 7ft tall, with vibrant green hair standing tall upon his head, piercings and tattoos, and teeth like you’ve never seen; fangs really, is a better description. He’s muscular, lean, and keeps some type of weapon, a dagger you think, in the front of his pants. Not someone you have interest in making upset.

You get behind the bar and take their drink orders, serving them promptly before going to tend to other patrons. You notice him watching you; he’s not being subtle by any means. It makes you weary and unable to focus on your tasks.

You’re snapped out of it when another pirate, in the back corner calls to you rudely asking for more drinks for his table. You smile and indicate to them you are coming and go get them their next round.

Placing the drinks on the table you try to walk away when one of them grabs you firmly by the waist, knocking the tray from your hands. “Where are you going sweetheart? We want drinks and company over here.” The man says with a rough voice. “That’s not a service we provide here.” You state trying to wriggle your way free. “This isn’t a request you can turn down, this is our bar until we leave, so we own you now.” He grunts out as he starts to fondle you.

As you’re about to try fighting back harder, something breezes past you and slams the man back through his chair and to the ground. Then you’re grabbed again, pulled towards a large body, but not held there against your will. “I don’t think ya wanna be doin’ that ta someone nice enough to serve such ugly assholes with a beautiful smile.” The tall man with fangs spits out at the men.

He’s standing with you between him and the other group of pirates, grinning at them, and crosses his pointer and middle fingers on each hand. The three men, all standing at the table alert now, try to all run at you at once but slam into something and fall back, confused. You had flinched at their abrupt movement toward you and held onto your savior, now equally as confused at what happened; you let go and step back.

“What….?” Is all you are able to breathe out; “You idiots better leave this bar before ya embarrass yourselves anymore.” He says while making faces at them from behind the wall he seems to have created between you all. The men grumble and stand up, looking like they are ready to try again, angrier now that they are being mocked.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” He says and moves you behind him. With one hand twisting his fingers together and one ready to punch, he knocks the one who had grabbed you through the table this time. You can tell he’s out cold in an instant and the other two men look stunned. They quickly pick up the man and rush him out of the bar, cursing you both as they leave.

“Sorry ‘bout the mess, miss!” the fanged man turns to you with a silly grin and blushes. “N-No, thank you so much for saving me from them!” you don’t even care about the table and chair, hell, he could have popped that guy through the wall and you’d still be grateful. “Please stay as long as you like, your drinks will be on the house.” You smile and go back to get him another pint.

After a bit of talking you learn his name is Bartolomeo, and you were correct in thinking he was the captain of a pirate ship. He’s on a grand adventure to help an infamous pirate become king, and he talks of him like you’ve never seen. Stars in his eyes and tears streaming down his face. How is this the same man that just saved you?

You close the bar early and just tend to him and his few crewmates that are with him, talking about his life on the seas. He says everything with such passion, it’s hard not to hang off his every word. You can’t wait to write his stories down later.

He asks you about yourself and if you’ve ever been off the island. “I’ve been content to live here my whole life, meeting new people through this line of work and writing down tales that are told in this bar. I don’t think I’m fit to have my own adventures, I prefer being safe, here on the island.” Just when you say it, you realize how unsafe the island was for you just hours ago.

“Well, if ya wanted, miss y/n, you could join my crew and write about your own stories. I’d keep ya safe, promise!” Bartolomeo chimes at you with the same wistful face he’s made while talking about his own life. He grabs your hands in his and gives you starry eyes, “There’s no safer place than behind my barrier powers, and on the side of the future King of the Pirates!”

“I woudn’t be much help on a ship, I’m not a fighter and I don’t know anything about sailing.” You’ve never had an offer like this before. “That’s okay, we can teach ya things and take care of ya. We would really love to have a woman on the ship.” He starts to panic after saying that, “not for anything weird or nothin’! Ya know, we’re just a rowdy bunch o’ guys that need a ladies help on the ship sometimes, like a big sister or somethin’. I promise, nothing bad would happen to ya!”

You’re shocked by the invitation and feel his honest sincerity. “Would I have time to think about this? I appreciate the offer, but this is my home and I need to think about if I would be able to leave it behind.”

“Of course, miss y/n! We plan ta leave in 2 days, you just let me know if I can do anything for ya in the meantime while ya think on it.” you smile at each other as he leaves that offer with you for the evening and takes his men back out into town.

-____________________________________________________________-

After writing Bartolomeo’s stories out last night you started thinking about what it would be like to live the adventures you’ve heard about over the years. Strangely, you trust that you would be kept safe. With a ship of 50+ men, you were bound to be protected well against most things. Especially with Bartolomeo around to watch out for you.

But then you also think; a ship of 50+ men. That in itself seems dangerous for you to be a part of, after last night having just three men try to keep you for themselves, maybe this is just a nice way of keeping you like that. How could you be sure that nothing bad would occur once you’re out at sea?

You walk along the beach in the early afternoon and see Bartolomeo up ahead so you wave and he comes running toward you smiling wide. “Miss y/n!” he calls to you. “Hello, Bartolomeo, do you have time to chat?” you ask and smile back. His energy does give you more comfort about the decision you have to make. “My time is all yours, miss y/n!” he beams excitedly.

You talk for a while about your concerns and he reassures you that you would get your own room on the ship (near his in case you need him), a lock on your door, and if any of his crew dares to make you uncomfortable than he would deal with them personally. He offers for you to meet the whole crew if that would bring you additional comfort in making the decision and you agree to that.

He decides you should see them at their rowdiest to make sure you understand the worst of what you may be around. Still comforting you in that you can stay near him the whole time and he will be sure you stay safe, not that he doubts his crew in the least. By evening you are on the ship with all his men, in the largest, loudest party you have ever been a part of.

Everyone is drinking and laughing, some are playing table top games, and a few are singing shanties as well. Bartolomeo introduces you to the crew, not that you would learn all their names in one night, but it was nice to see their reactions to you possibly joining them. They were all so excited and had each had ideas of things they could teach you about pirate life and being on a ship. He was right; it would appear they just want a female presence, like a sister, to enjoy time with. You imagine the amount of testosterone flowing around here was enough to make them go crazy sometimes.

As the evening progresses, Bartolomeo guides you through the inside of the ship, giving you an excited tour of his home. He shows you the room nearest his that has been cleaned and readied for your possible arrival, and seeing it makes you think how you could really make a home with this rowdy bunch of jokesters.

He begins to walk down the hall a bit more to continue the tour, but you stop him by tugging on his wrist. “Bartolomeo….. But, why me?” you ask, still not 100% sure of your answer to his invitation.

He turns and leans down at the waist to be face to face with you, “Because I can tell ya care.” He says plainly like you should already know. “Ya care about people, and have this look on your face when ya hear stories like ya wish you could be a part of them in the best of ways. I go with my gut and my gut says I need ta be the one to show ya the world…. Your world, if ya want it.” He says while standing back up at full height, slightly blushing and grinning with a hand on the back of his neck.

You sit in the moment quietly while a smile creeps on to your own face, “Well, how am I supposed to say no to that?” He looks at you, gleaming. “I’d be delighted to join your crew, Bartolomeo, thank you!” With that, he picks you up and sits you on one of his forearms; you wrap your arms around his neck to hold on due to the surprising lift. He takes you back out on deck to where the crew is still partying; carrying you like a prize he just won.

“We have a new crew member!!” He yells excitedly at the men and they all yell back with the same enthusiasm. Bartolomeo sets you back down on your feet after the party goes back to the standard loudness it was before the announcement. 

“If we’re leaving tomorrow, I should go home and pack my things. I’ll meet you all back here in the morning, sound good, captain?” You ask Bartolomeo and he quickly stammers out, “ya don’t have to be as formal as the rest of them; Barto is fine, miss y/n. We’ll be here waiting for ya!” you giggle back “If I don’t, neither do you, just y/n is fine, Barto. I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you again.” You lightly squeeze his hand with yours as you turn to walk away from the festivities on the ship deck.

-____________________________________________________________-

It’s been a handful of months since you started your pirate life but you’re still shocked every morning you wake up at sea surrounded by men. This was never the life you envisioned for yourself but you’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Barto had kept his promise of an atmosphere of safety and keeping you as such when there was any danger nearby. He made sure you were his first priority if the ship was under attack, looking for you and once located, taking you to a safe place on the ship or creating a barrier around you (or the ship itself if needed).

You have settled well, being a den mother/older sister figure to the men. You cook (some of the men help since cooking for 50+ multiple times a day is a large feat.) and clean, and your favorite thing to do is talk to Gambia’s grandmother on the transponder snail every day. You’d be lying if you were to say she hadn’t made you feel even more comfortable living on this ship, even though she was back in her own home, she told you from the start how wonderful this crew is and how you were safe with them.

Today the ship was scheduled to dock on an island you were excited for. It was much like your home town but larger and with more shops. You had been meaning to pick up some things to decorate your room with a bit more; a change in scenery can help when you are at sea for long periods of time.

Barto instructed the men to find certain things and off they went into town. You were always impressed that someone with such a soft heart was able to command with such strength. You found yourself watching him more and more as he did his captain-ly duties. Knowing how your initial impression of him was one of concern and intimidation, you were now realizing that you’re fond of every aspect of his being, even the side that made people in town nervous. You knew that walking next to him, you would continue to be safe, no one would bother you after seeing him glare and bare fangs if they even looked in your direction.

Barto would accompany you anywhere you wanted to go. Since there are so many crew members to do other tasks, he was free with you to do as you both pleased. You took him into store after store looking for new and interesting things and he never complained or seemed to be bored of watching you shop.

After finding just the right things to put out in your room, you see a clothing store across the street that has things of your taste in it. “Would you be willing to help me pick out some new outfits too?” you ask, knowing any man would probably hate this. You see Barto blush and turn his face away but still answers that he “would be honored to be your side no matter what the task.”

Running around the store while Barto sits near the dressing area and waits for you, you grab numerous things that you would love to try on. You don’t want to make him do this all day, even though you probably could, so you hurry back to him with an arm full of pieces. “Okay, I won’t grab anything more than this, but we have to go through the whole pile.” You grin excitedly, popping into the dressing room to get changed into the first set.

The main bundle of outfits was for everyday on the ship; different patterned pants and shorts, with crop tops and t-shirts that matched each bottom. All very cute and fit nicely as you walked around and showed off like a runway was in front of Barto. Next you had a couple of sleepwear items; a cute nightgown and a set of boy shorts with a button up top. Each time you came out he was quietly looking just past you and gave you a thumbs up with a weird smile.

You decided to test a theory and tried on the one swim suit you picked out next. The bikini top was solid red on the right breast, and yellow on the left, and the bottoms were black and tied on the sides. You peek out from behind the curtain, “I need you to be honest with this one…” you step out and reveal the suit, “is it too much?” you turn slowly and watch his reaction.

Bartolomeo’s mouth hangs open for a moment before he stands up quickly and takes off his long coat to cover you, you see him red faced and looking around the store. “Are ya trying ta attract a crowd?!” you giggle and slip away from his coat, going back behind the curtain, “okay, any other thoughts?” you ask and he goes quiet, uncharacteristic of him, you look out again to see what he’s doing.

His face is that of pure bliss but he’s staring at the ceiling, tears dripping down his face. You hide back behind the curtain and try on the last outfit, hoping to tease him a bit more. You’re not even sure where or when you would wear this but it was too pretty not to at least try on. It’s a red dress; the top of it secured around your neck like a collar and has an open diamond shape down the front to show your cleavage. No sleeves, backless, and a high slit on the left leg as it drapes down to the floor but hugs your curves. You smile at yourself in the mirror, proud of this before you even show him.

“This is the last one, promise! Are you ready?” you ask while you twirl once in front of the mirror. “R-ready!” he calls back to you after making sure no one else was around, just in case. You draw back the curtain and pose; one hand up on the curtain still and the other gracing your hip and accentuating the slit down the leg.

Barto stands up and again and walks towards you, putting his hands up on the curtain rod and boxing you into the space, blocking any on lookers from seeing you with his large frame. He’s inches from you and in a quiet voice says “Ya know this makes keeping my promises more of a challenge, right?” You sense your body heat up and take a step back; he takes the chance and draws the curtain back to a close.

You see him eye the dressing room and go to grab the dress you just had on. You look at him a little stunned and questioning. “It suits ya too well ta let anyone else have it… it’ll be for special occasions.” He mutters as he grabs everything else from your hands and goes to pay. You guess you pushed just far enough, and smiled seeing him motion to you to follow him out the door.

That was not the reaction you thought you would get. Did you push it too far?

You get dressed again in your own clothes and pick up the stack you wish to keep, leaving the dress hanging up and thinking maybe it was too much. You step back out of the dressing room with your pile in hand and have a hard time looking him in the face. “Ready to go back to the ship?” you ask.

[strawberriemarswrites]

CHAPTER FOUR

Chapter Summary: You treat Bartolomeo to lunch, and you're pretty sure you're not reading too deep into how he interacts with you... Right? Pairing: Bartolomeo x F!Reader Rating: Mature (18+ for the story, SFW chapter) TW: None this chapter, unless you count misunderstandings. Or you're afraid of kitties. Ao3 Link: Chapter Four (3,411 words)

The place was a hole-in-the-wall diner near the subway station. You kept telling yourself that you’d try it sometime after work, given that it always smelled like fried food when you walked by. Now you had the perfect opportunity. Greasy burgers and fries weren’t the most romantic thing in the world, but you weren’t going for romantic. You were going for something that was cheap, filling, and within walking distance. Better to save anything ritzy or personal for when you knew for sure whether or not Bartolomeo was interested in you, or if you were even compatible. After all, you were trying to thank him, not scare him off.

The good news was that Bartolomeo was more than happy with the choice. He agreed to the location with all the enthusiasm of a kid being told he could get whatever he wanted from the toy store. With how quickly he showed up at your door, you had a feeling that he would have shown the same level of excitement if you’d picked gas station sushi. Even with the return of his cool and untouchable demeanor when you both stepped out the door, you didn’t miss how he kept glancing over at you during the whole walk to the diner. Like he was worried that you would fall behind with how big his stride was, or somehow get swept away by the moderate foot traffic.

Resisting the urge to hold his hand was easier said than done. Unbeknownst to you, he was thinking the same thing.

In fact, for Bartolomeo it was agonizing, but he already felt like he toed the line of “too much” when he showed up at your door less than thirty minutes after you asked him out. He was trying to play it cool, though internally he was about ready to throw you over his shoulder and take you back home. Who cares that you both just sat down for food — he wanted to find out firsthand if his fantasies could compare to the real thing. 

He vigorously shook his head, trying to focus on the menu. Slow down, Barto. It’s just lunch. With her. In public. Where anyone can see and assume we’re—

“Everything okay?”

He looked up then quickly back down. Nevermind. He wasn’t sure he’d make it through lunch. Surely, he’d die of cuteness overload first.

“Yeah,” he lied. “Just wonderin’ what to get.”

“Whatever you want,” you said, resting your cheek against your knuckles. “My treat, remember?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to go broke or nothin’.”

You smirked. “Are you planning on having one of everything?”

He shook his head. Just you.

“Then don’t worry, lunch with you isn’t gonna break the bank.” You looked down at the menu yourself and gave an exaggerated wince. “Maybe don’t order the steak.”

Bartolomeo’s responding laugh was low in his chest, a stark contrast from his usual loud and boisterous one but no less full of amusement. A pleasant shiver went up your spine at the sound, and you wondered what you’d have to do to hear more of it.

Once drinks were ordered, you leaned forward again and smiled, kicking your legs. “So, last night, I never got an answer to the whole ‘something you’re passionate about’ thing.”

From there, it was almost seamless. Bartolomeo told you about his interest in motorcycles, how he was saving up for one so he could get out of the city every now and then. You chatted about different places you knew from growing up in the suburbs, and where the best scenic roads were. You mentioned your free time was usually spent watching movies or playing video games, which led to him to go on for several minutes about the Yakuza Kiwami series and how he could lend you his copies. Then he talked about how his own free time now was usually spent helping his best friend Gambia, whose grandmother owned The Sound Barrier. When you told him you thought it was nice of him to help, he shrugged it off — he wasn’t nice, he just knew it’d be shitty not to help out someone who was practically his brother. You decided not to argue that he was nice, considering he barely knew you when he had offered to look out for you. Better to let him have his way so he could keep up the whole devil-may-care attitude.

By the time the food came out, you were more aware of the fact that Bartolomeo’s legs were stretched out far enough for his feet to be touching your side of the booth. His knees were wide apart, leaving your legs dangling between his. Feeling a bit more bold, you lifted and dropped one leg, letting your calf brush against his and watching carefully to gauge his response.

“By the way,” you said after inhaling a few fries, trying to remain nonchalant, “my friends seemed to like you. Nami especially. She thought what you did was hilarious.”

Bartolomeo shrugged, his ears turning pink. “Guy deserved it. I’d be a pretty bad bartender if I let that kind of shit go unpunished.” He then cracked a smile. “You should’a seen him after the switch. Dumbass didn’t even realize his drink was suddenly cider instead of beer and just kept drinking it.”

You laughed, covering your mouth. “No way, seriously? How fucked up did he get?”

He shrugged again. “Last I saw him he could barely stand from the barstool. Gambia had to throw him out the back door when we closed up. I didn’t tell him about what happened ‘til after.” He tore into his burger to keep from going into detail about what he did in the alley, and hoped to whatever god was out there you didn’t notice him shiver when your leg touched his.

You lifted your other leg, this time letting your foot nearly touch the underside of his knee before letting it drop back down. More color spread across his face, and his posture seemed to stiffen. Was that too much? You crossed your ankles and dug into your grilled cheese, thinking it might be better to see if he reciprocated the contact.

“Robin kept calling you ‘Rooster’ all night, so I know she likes you,” you continued. “She thought what you did was funny, too — said it was ‘unorthodox’ but deserved.”

Bartolomeo relaxed now that you weren’t making his heart race, and tried to appreciate the flattery behind your statement, but then he remembered the fourth member of your friend group. He felt the same knee-jerk jealousy that crept into his mind upon seeing him last night, and he had to force it back down before it made his shoulders turn to stone with the rising tension. “What about the big guy?”

“Drake? He actually saw the initial slip, then saw you switch before he could step in.”

His brow twitched, and he tried not to let the bitterness creep into his tone. “Sounds like a nice guy, if he was willin’ to get involved.”

You shrugged. “Last night was the first time I’d seen him outside of work, so I wasn’t sure how he’d do. He seems kind of protective though, thinks you went a little far.”

Bartolomeo could care less what he thought. You were grateful, and you were still here without a scratch on you, and that was what mattered. He kept his promise to look after you, and he was going to keep looking after you. No matter how “protective” anyone thought they were being if they decided to get in the way of that.

You finished your drink and continued, “I think he’s just more of a stickler for doing things the ‘right’ way, since he was also really worried about Nami scamming drinks off your other customers.” Your eyes widened and you covered your face. “Oh my god — she’s gonna kill me for telling you that.”

The loud, boisterous laugh was back, and Bartolomeo shook his head. “She’s not the first to try, won’t be the last.” He grinned, leaning forward and resting his cheek against his knuckles, the tension finally leaving his shoulders some. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

Sweetheart. Your chest fluttered so suddenly it was almost painful. That had to mean something, for him to use it when it was just you two and outside of the bar. You giggled and smiled wide, unable to stop the floaty feeling in your chest from reaching your voice, “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”

He shrugged. “Hey, what’re friends for?”

A plate shattered in the kitchen.

You both flinched and Bartolomeo looked over his shoulder, meaning he missed your smile shattering to the floor. Friends. You were almost embarrassed, really — he just said his free time was spent helping his friend, so probably didn’t have the time for a relationship. He probably had no interest in one, either. 

It still stung like hell to hear it. Friends.

When Bartolomeo faced you again, something seemed different. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something seemed just a little less radiant about your smile. “Everything okay?”

You nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

Now why didn’t he believe that? He gave you a once-over, brow furrowed slightly. You had tucked your arms in a little closer to yourself, and he hadn’t felt your legs nudge against his for a bit. In the midst of his earlier euphoria over the gentle contact, it hadn’t occurred to him that maybe it was accidental, and now you were suddenly aware of how much space he occupied. While it hurt a little to think it wasn’t intentional, it made sense — maybe you didn’t want to rush things (even if he really, really wanted to). Not wanting to make you any more uncomfortable, he spread his legs a touch further. He already almost fucked up by letting his little guilty pleasure get out of hand, so he’d do anything to try and remedy it by getting to know you the normal way.

Even though doing anything the “normal” way didn’t suit him, Bartolomeo was determined to be at least a little bit good. Just for you. He didn’t want to scare you off.

You, however, were now certain you had spooked him. He had shifted his legs further apart, which in your mind proved that he didn’t reciprocate the earlier touches. Though trying to keep up the smile was starting to feel phony, you used it to hide your disappointment, slowly letting yourself sink into the seat. It was fine. This was fine.

You did your best not to let the walk home be awkward. You let Bartolomeo lead the conversation a bit more, listening to him describe other times he’d stopped creeps at the bar. Apparently, though infrequent, it happened enough that he and his friend had a system, and he’d technically gone off-script the night before. You considered asking why he’d done something different for you, before biting your tongue and considering otherwise. It was nice just to listen to him, and you were again reassured that regardless of whether you were friends or more that he’d watch out for you.

As you approached the apartment building, you paused, a very faint but familiar sound reaching your ears. Bartolomeo kept on for a few steps before stopping himself, turning to look at you. “You good?”

You nodded but said nothing, instead staring down the alley between the apartment and the neighboring building. 

He rejoined you and leaned to one side, his gaze following yours. “You sure about that?”

“I just thought I saw something,” you said, distracted.

Then you heard it again: a very faint, mewling sound.

With a gasp and no hesitation, you started down the alley.

“Ah — wait a sec!” Bartolomeo only had to take a few long strides to catch up, but he very nearly bolted out in front of you. “Where’re you going? The front door’s—”

You shushed him, putting up a finger and pausing to listen. The mewling came again, much closer and to your right. You turned and looked down, seeing a beat-up, damp box. The lid had been folded shut in a way that kept it closed without tape, but was clearly too much for the critter inside to break through. Falling to a crouch you shuffled toward it, ignoring the grit and grime of the concrete as you put your hands down on it to keep yourself balanced occasionally. 

Bartolomeo followed your lead, though you missed how his hands reached and retreated — something about the risk of you getting dirty made him nervous. To him, it was like you were reaching into a world you didn’t belong to. He wanted to keep you safe from it. He could get dirty all he needed, all he wanted, and if you were going to insist you do the same he doubted he could stop you. This was all sparked by what amounted to just gritty concrete and a dingy box, but he still couldn’t help but worry.

Carefully, you opened the box, and let out a high-pitched cry. “Barto, look!”

He peered over your shoulder, and nearly melted.

In the box was a very tiny kitten, black with orange speckles. It mewed, standing on its back legs and attempting to climb out of the box now that it was open, but it could barely reach the top edge.

You whimpered and reached in, letting the kitten sniff your fingers before petting its head. “Who left you here? Who’d be so mean?”

Bartolomeo leaned over you, trying not to let your bodies touch. He wanted so badly to pick you up and hug you with how you cooed and doted on a stray kitten, but he remembered how you looked in the diner, and that he was trying to be good. But goddamn, it was hard to resist. Instead, he reached past you and toward the kitten as well, mirroring your gesture and letting the kitten sniff his hand. 

“Poor little guy,” you said, before shrugging off your cardigan. “Barto, do you know if there’s a pet deposit?”

He was so distracted by the fuzzy, glittery bulbs he imagined around you that it took a moment to register that you asked a question. “What?”

“I’m taking him in. You think the landlord would mind?”

Bartolomeo blinked and struggled very hard not to get choked up. Of course you’d take in a stray kitten. You were so good. As you bundled up the kitten into your sweater, the fuzzy bulbs returned, and he felt like he was staring at a painting of a Madonna and child. How could he ever hope to measure up to that kind of goodness. The saint who’d given the sinner a chance — he was suddenly all too aware of how easily he could tarnish it.

He cleared his throat, regaining his composure with a shake of his head. “No — uh. I don’t know about a pet deposit, but it should be fine.”

You smiled, the light from it nearly blinding him. “Can you help me keep this little guy secret then? Between us friends? At least until I can either find a home for him or get him settled.”

Bartolomeo nodded eagerly, mirroring your smile. “Yeah, I can do that.”

And then it hit him. A secret between... friends?

Oh. Oh fuck. Friends.

Part of him? Ecstatic. Absolutely thrilled. Could not be happier to be considered your friend, and that was the honest truth. He was going to be the best damn friend you’d ever had.

Another part of him, however, cried out in anguish. How was he ever supposed to hope he could get close to you if you just thought of him as “friend”? Panic filled his veins. What could he have done different? Did he misinterpret the leg touching? Should he have reciprocated? Should he have let his body touch yours just a moment ago? Should he have told you the lengths he went to in order to ensure that creep from the night before never set foot in his bar again?

Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck—

“Oh no.”

Your voice snapped Bartolomeo from his thoughts. He looked down at the kitten in your arms, and noticed it, too.

There was a cut under its left eye.

You gently tipped its head back, trying to get a better look at the crusted over gash. The kitten protested, wiggling a bit and mewling louder. Your heart ached — did someone hurt it, then try to abandon it when they realized they couldn’t? Or was it hurt from the start and someone decided they weren’t going to keep something that might actually take effort to take care of?

With a huff, you pushed yourself up and looked back toward the street. “Come on, let’s sneak him in! I’ll get him all cleaned up.”

Bartolomeo nodded and stood, still reeling internally with the mixed ecstasy and despair. With another shake of his head he recomposed himself, taking the lead out of the alley. He could tear himself apart internally over the word “friend” later. Right now, he was going to get you past the landlord.

It wasn’t all that hard to get the cat through the door and up the elevator. The landlord didn’t even seem to be in his office. You thanked Bartolomeo for the help, and he thanked you for lunch, and you parted ways in the hall as you set to work cleaning up the kitten. 

It served to be a nice distraction from the crushing feeling in your chest, checking it for fleas, disinfecting the cut, what its parts were (you had said “little guy” as a diminutive, but it turned out to be accurate). Once he was all dry, you took a picture and sent it to the group chat, asking for name ideas. You know you’d said that you wanted to keep him secret from the landlord until you found someone else to take care of him, but who were you kidding — you’d always wanted a cat. It didn’t take long for the group chat to respond, your phone chiming in quick succession with messages.

From Nami, embellished with heart emojis, “WHAT A CUTIE!”

Followed by a message from Robin, simply reading “Cute,” with a single heart.

Then from Vivi, “He looks like Luffy. Look at that scratch!”

You cocked your head and typed, “Who’s Luffy?”

“An old friend of ours,” Robin responded. “He has a scar under his eye, too.”

Rebecca pitched in. “He has a kind little face. But also looks like he’ll get into mischief. Exactly like Luffy.”

You lifted the kitten up and cooed, “What do you think? Are you a Luffy?”

The kitten let out a loud mew and wiggled in your hold.

You texted, “Luffy it is, then.”

As you sat back on your couch doing the math on how much you could afford in cat supplies this paycheck, you could no longer ignore the twisting pain in your chest. With a deep breath, you finally let yourself cry.

“What are friends for?”

Swallowing the heavy lump in your throat, you decided were perfectly okay with being just friends with Bartolomeo, especially if he treated all of them with the same level of protectiveness and loyalty he seemed to naturally hold. It wasn’t like it was his fault that you misread the situation. You’d been too hopeful and reading too deeply into things, and so it was your burden alone to untangle your feelings. You could do that. Easily. It might take a few days, and a few tipsy, sad calls to the group chat, but you would be okay. At least you had the advantage of only knowing him for a comparatively short amount of time, as opposed to the crushes you had known for years and made the same mistake with.

It still sucked. So you cried. The release felt like a weight off your shoulders, even if it made you miscalculate your budget a few times.

That night, as you lay in bed wondering how to best ask for Monday off so you could take Luffy to the vet, there was a faint nagging feeling in your mind of being watched. But all too quickly, you were falling asleep, and didn’t think too much of it.

Besides. You weren’t being watched. Not technically.

Bartolomeo was just sitting next to the window. Not looking in.

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Dressrosa (Part One)

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

fujitora’s introduction is so memorable. we don’t even know he’s an admiral until a little while after this, but the way he’s introduced makes him both immediately intriguing and tentatively likable, and also shows he’s terrifyingly powerful. similar to wano, dressrosa is a very twisty arc with a lot of hidden identities and things and people that are not what they seem, and fujitora’s introduction establishes that right off the bat.

it’s no secret i really like law, and i think his relationships and dynamics with the strawhats are some of the reasons why. it’s very good. the way he usually interacts with them (read: suffering) contrasts against the very real respect and faith he develops for them, and for luffy in particular. he refuses to call luffy his subordinate, here, even though it would be basically a get-out-of-jail free card when it comes to dealing with fujitora, and it comes up again more than once later in this arc too (though never to the strawhats themselves).

genuinely the tournament subplot is one of my favorite parts of this entire arc, especially because it happens while the action in the rest of dressrosa is mostly still setting up. it’s so fun to watch luffy go completely ham with minimal consequences, especially because we know more or less from the beginning that he’s not really likely to face a challenge from anyone here. 

it allows the supporting cast to be built out as a pretty entertaining group in their own right, too, especially bartolomeo and cavendish, and sets up most of the future grand fleet without being too obvious about it. 

i may as well say now, because i’m sure i’ll be talking about it a lot: kyros is one of my favorite one piece parents, and his and rebecca’s relationship hits me in the fucking chest. i’m consistently upset that they got so much stolen from them, and very very glad that they got the happy ending they dearly deserved.

i really like rebecca. and i like her story, too. i know there are people who want her to be more of a fighter, more violent, but i think that’s missing the point. rebecca is someone who has been victimized and commodified and put on display to die in front of a country that hates her again and again and again, and she still stays gentle and good, and i think that makes her one of the strongest characters in this arc.

obviously in isolation ‘damsel in distress’ is not really a good trope (and i’ve complained about it before with regards to tashigi in punk hazard), but i also don’t think it’s really at play here. rebecca is someone who deserves to finally lay down her sword and rest and be happy and safe, and her father deserves the chance to give her the protection he hasn’t been able to. 

i really like when oda does things like this with paneling, i think it’s tremendously cool. there’s some similar examples with law’s powers in this arc and punk hazard as well, and it’s cool as hell every time. 

this is one of my favorite panels in all of dressrosa. 

kyros has a line a lot later on about ‘restoring the true dressrosa,’ and that’s what this scene makes me think of. this is the true dressrosa- the broken and forgotten and lost, down in the darkness beneath the city. and no matter what he may think of himself, riku is still their king. 

this panel also reminds me of the similar scene in udon in wano, where the prisoners kneel before momonosuke. which is, incidentally, another favorite of mine. i really like whenever one piece deals in themes of loyalty, i feel like it always hits very hard. 

[spoilers for recent wano chapters]

i think some parts of dressrosa line up very nicely with the recent reveal in wano that law’s new goal is uncovering the mystery of the will of d. it’s something that feels very natural and fitting for him, and i think this is one of the reasons why. 

of the Ds we’ve seen, law is the only one who’s been really shown to be actively aware of the name and the weight it holds (and thus, the only one to bother to keep it secret), and he even weaponizes it against doflamingo throughout dressrosa in order to throw him off balance, and succeeds. it feels like a very natural progression from that awareness to trying to understand its mystery, at least to me. 

barto is a great character because he’s introduced as being a completely unlikable shithead, and like, that’s not inaccurate, he totally is, but he also somehow winds up being likable anyways. part of that is his idolization of the strawhats (because, let’s be real, all of us can relate), but part of it is also that he’s kind of honorable in his own way, and i think him saving bellamy from dellinger despite having no stake in the situation just because they fought together is probably the best example of that.

i really like how the sabo reveal is handled. all the focus is placed on luffy and his reaction, and then we get our actual introduction to sabo as an adult slowly over the course of the next few chapters in how he acts and interacts with other characters throughout the tournament, culminating in his proper introduction after it’s over. 

the actual explanation of what happened to him, how he survived and the entirety of his reunion with luffy is saved for the end of the arc, and i think it’s good that it happens there, in a quiet time after the dust is settled, rather than being smacked in the middle of the rising action. 

of all the many many devil fruits that have appeared in one piece, i think sugar’s is the scariest, and also one of the ones i’ve probably thought the most about, if only in terms of its sheer inherent horror. the moment her spell is broken is, in my opinion, one of the most satisfying in the entire story. doflamingo’s hold over the entire country snaps, just like that.

the entire sequence of dressrosa’s great panic is one of my favorites in the whole series. i’m a really big fan of moments where the tides are all at once turned, and this is so very much one of those- sugar is knocked out; all the toys revert to human all at once, including kyros, who promptly decapitates (unfortunately not the real) doflamingo; sabo wins the tournament, eats the mera mera no mi, and obliterates the colosseum; and usopp becomes god. 

it’s really really good. 

even though this is a fake doflamingo it is very satisfying to see him get wrecked, and even though i love the outcome of the luffy and law versus mingo and trebol fight i do think kyros deserved to decapitate the real thing also.

usopp’s role and development in dressrosa is really great. it’s the most focus he’s gotten since water seven/enies lobby, and it comes at a time right when he’d been in the background for a rather long time. in dressrosa, he gets to be a proper hero- he indisputably saves the entire day not once but twice, and even doflamingo recognizes him as by far the biggest wrench in his plans- and more importantly, he gets to do it for the first time as himself, instead of having to hide behind a mask, as he did at both thriller bark and enies lobby. 

the way a lot of the fight panels with doflamingo specifically are drawn is very cool, i think. there’s a real sense of speed and danger to a lot of them, which makes sense, as doflamingo is a very dangerous opponent fully capable of slicing off limbs and heads with ease if his enemies make a wrong move, something both the characters and the audience are fully aware of by this point. 

to be continued in the next post with the rest of dressrosa!

[silenceofthecookies]

Hi! All those hair playing and doing stuff awakened a need of having my own hair being played with (and also a need of getting back into Magi but that's another story) so may I ask headcanons for something similar but for Bartholomeo and Cavendish ? I wish you a lovely day 🐌

Hi Snail Anon! I’m glad you liked them, hair playing is the cutest and most relaxing thing there is in my honest opinion ❤ I’d really reccommend getting back into Magi! I finished the manga not too long ago, and I’ve still got many, many feels from it. 

So maybe I got a little too excited and wrote these instantly? I can’t help it, I love these hairplay headcanons too much. I hope you enjoy them! ❤

Bartolomeo

Bartolomeo will gladly play with your hair! Despite being known as a merciless criminal, this guy is surprisingly soft once you get to know him. And as his significant other, he’ll treat you with almost as much love and respect as the Strawhats. Almost. Sorry, nobody can win from Luffy-senpai.

He’ll let you pick the position you’re most comfortable in, but his favourite is definitely having you lie on top of him so he can wrap one arm around you to hold you close, and play with your hair with the other hand. Badass or not, this man loves being physically close to you, and he makes no secret out of it.

If you want your hair styled crazy, like his, he’ll gladly do that! Don’t ask him something normal like braiding your hair though. Barto has no idea how to do that, but he will let you teach him if you’d like him to do that sometimes. The braids are uneven and messy, but he’ll try his very best for you!

He’ll be over the moon if you offer to play with his hair! If you don’t like how it feels because of all the gel and hairspray that’s in there to keep his crazy hairdo, he’ll gladly wash his hair first.

Once you offer to play with his hair, it’s free game. Just playing, braids, fancy hairstyles, you name it, he’ll allow anything. He prefers to lay his head in your lap or on your chest though, so in that position not everything is possible.

If you let him rest his head on your chest while you play with his hair, he’ll snuggle up to you and it’ll be difficult to get him to let go.

Bartolomeo has no preference when it comes to giving or receiving, he likes both equally.

Cavendish

Cavendish doesn’t mind playing with your hair at all. Who could resist his touch after all? Read between the lines of his narcissistic monologue, and you will realize that he’s actually quite happy to do this.

He prefers to keep any and all hair play private. He’ll say it’s ‘because he doesn’t want bystanders to get jealous’ but you know that’s a cover-up. Cavendish prefers to keep intimate things, things where he can drop the act and just relax and not care about others, to just you and him.

When it’s just the two of you, and him playing with your hair, he’ll talk a lot. It’s a moment where you’ll hear all of his uncensored opinions about literally anything and anyone. A little bit of a gossip moment, if you will.

Ask him to do your hair anytime if you want to look like absolute royalty. Cavendish can do more than just his own hair, and he LOVES dolling you up. If you ever wanted to know how you would look (and feel) as a princess, Cavendish has got you covered.

He’s not too eager about you playing with his hair though. Not because he doesn’t like it, quite the contrary, but he’s afraid he’ll relax too much and fall asleep. Then Hakuba would come out and he could hurt you. That’s one thing he wants to avoid at all cost.

Also maybe because when you play with his hair it gets a little messy, and he has to do it all over again.

But sometimes he can’t resist, and he’ll allow you to play with his hair for a short while at night, while he is sitting on his chair. Just enough to get the feeling, but not enough to fall asleep.

That’s why Cavendish prefers to play with your hair instead.

[shingansoul]

We Can Figure it Out After

Summary:  Law has spent every day of the last 13 years thinking and plotting his action for that day in Dressrosa. Now that's it come and gone with the unexpected result of his surviving, how is a man without a purpose supposed to look forward? Luffy thinks he can help.

read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23374645

Time felt like it had slowed or no longer flowed with the rest of the world that morning. The sun was warm, and gentle as it shined down upon the deck of the Barto Club's prized vessel. Everyone was either still awake, just rising, or pre-occupied with maintaining the ship and keeping to themsleves elsewhere on the ships main and lower decks.

Law ever running from sleep and his own mind had taken to dozing tentatively in the small tangerine grove towards the rear of the ship, leaning up against one of the trees from his place sat on the grass portion of the deck. He had been there since early morn before the sun dared break past the horizon, hoping to remain unseen until he was sure he could pull off a mask of bored calm around the other crews. It seemed though unseen, sight wasn't the only sense that could lead anyone to him.

"Oi! Torao!"

Law flinched slightly at the call, knowing he couldn't feign sleep to avoid the other's unwanted company or attention. However he knew, not after Dressrosa and all he'd seen and done, could he say no to Luffy. So with a forced sigh, far too dramatic to fool the observant type, he looked up to the smaller captain and gave him a weak and tired glare as the other approached him.

"Mugiwara-ya."

"What're you doing all the way over here? Breakfast is soon!" Luffy spoke as if missing the meal in question were of a truly disastrous consequence, though the comment only earned him an eye roll from the surgeon. Pouting at the older man, Luffy sat himself cross legged in front of Law, hands gripping his knees as he tilted his head and met the surgeon's gaze; a not so subtle inquiry.

Law looked away, offering a weak excuse. "I...couldn't sleep." As Luffy's gaze never wavered, Law seemed to find tracing the spots on the thighs of his jeans to be quite the fascinating task. At the least, it was certainly the safer option than meet those wide dark eyes.

Luffy, noticing the obviously vague explanation, seemed to come to a decision. He spun himself around, still sitting but now with his back to Law before he scootched backwards until his back was pressed against the other's chest. Law jumped a bit, not expecting the sudden close contact or movement though he stiffly remained seated with his knees bent putting his thighs on either side of the other captain.

"Wha-"

He was cut off promptly, but with a soft tone. "You don't have to talk about it, okay?"

Law still stiff, chewed on his lip and stared at the grass to his side. Taking his silence either as an answer in itself or like a signal, the younger man reached back and grabbed one of the tattooed hands of the elder captain. Law did not resist, but his body moved and reacted in sharp movements, too on edge from the unpredictable situation he was faced with.

Luffy huffed, puffing his cheeks a little in frustration yet he forced his small amount of patience into his gentle tugging of the hand in his grip and waited, pulling the owner of it forward slightly against him more with Law's arm over and against his shoulder. When the other finally gave in and did so, Luffy set about to tracing the tattoos before him.

He started with Law's forearm, his fingers warm against the cooler skin of the other, tracing the spiked ring bordering the central shape of the tattoo. Law through all this was reeling, wound taught like one giant ball of nerves screaming to get up and away, yet he simply sat there instead. Over time in the quiet between them, Law let his arm and eventually his posture relax bit by bit as the other repeatedly traced and rubbed at the designs on his flesh until he was far enough forward to rest his chin on the other's shoulder where his upper arm once rested.

"Does this help?" Luffy prompted, having moved to the simpler designs on the back of Law's hands. Law simply hummed in response, trying to simply focus on the sensation of the others touch and for once not getting stuck too deep within his own thoughts.

In his thoughts was where his toughest battles were after all. The reminders in an array of voices telling him he was a waste of life, that he didn't deserve to be alive, to have the good things around him now. That he was a failure and that everyone was disappointed in him, ashamed of him: his parents, Lami, his crew...Cora-san. The voices of those who loved him mocked him, beat him to the ground and he believed every word of it most days. After all, he was simply a boy on borrowed time in exchange for the life of someone so much more than he'd ever be.

What was the point anymore anyways? He didn't even take down Doflamingo himself, he didn't deserve to celebrate, to have survived Dressrosa. He should have died, hell he had planned on dying for years there and he wanted it, to be free of this constant burden of moving forward and doing, planning, caring so much by not caring, hurting...His mission had been completed, and now with a life he didn't expect to keep, he had to keep going. What was the plan now?

"Well, just...do whatever you want. That's what I've been doing and look how far I got."

Law's eyes widened and he flinched, an audible gasp softly passing his lips as he realized his thoughts had slipped past him while he was unguarded.

"I..." Law trailed off meekly, unsure how to respond. How could he? Luffy stilled a moment and Law quickly went rigid in kind, taking the others pause as a sign he was leaving or dissatisfied. That was fine, Law decided, clearly lying to himself. His insecurities and demons were his to bear, of course a man of conviction and radiance like Luffy wouldn't understand or have the patience for someone who was unwilling to follow suite.

However he was soon proved oh so wrong when Luffy released his arm just to pull his other one forward too. Luffy swiveled his own arms above Law's, effectively loosely placing tattooed arms around his midsection. Law was still, eyes widened slightly in awe of the gesture.

With a satisfied chuckle and a grin to match, luffy then reached up and removed his signature strawhat only to plop it gently atop Law's head. Law's shoulders stiffened and rose at the gesture, his mind racing at what was going on his teeth firmly clamped down on his lip not letting himself break further than he had already.

That venture was short lived however, as Luffy softly patted Law's uninjured bicep and said, "It's okay if you don't know what you want yet. I'm not too good at math so i don't really get exactly how long it was, but you spent a real long time thinkin' about that 'mingo guy huh?"

It was silent for a few moments, Luffy left hanging yet he didn't make to move or speak further. Then, like a dam reluctantly, finally, falling apart the tears came like the metaphorical waters - rushing all at once now freed. Law buried his face into the rubber man's shoulder, first simply crying and soon devolving into sobbing and wailing into the red clothes he hid his face in. His arms tightened around Luffy's waist, now outright hugging the smaller captain to himself.

Law felt so much, yet nothing at all right now and it seemed he couldn't care any longer about the pride and distance he'd spent building up for so long, he didn't care anymore. He was elated and upset, he was hurting yet he wanted to celebrate. He was full of so many thoughts and feelings, from his past and his regrets, to the terrible things his mind forced down his throat from all the years of fear and rage burning within him. It all and so much more hit him, and Luffy spoke it all into existence and broke down his walls.

Law wanted to scream out to the heavens how much it was, too much for him. Everything was too much and so overwhelming, he had gone through so much on Dressrosa and the pain of it plus everything before had reared its head. And now he had a life to live, free of Doflamingo and with knowledge from a marine of all places that Cora-san had truly loved him and wanted him to be happy. What the fuck was he supposed to do with that?

How could he face so readily the simple truth he refused to let himself deserve for 13 long years? How was he supposed to live, what was he to do with that life he had finally truly gained? What was he supposed to do now, his purpose was done and though his life was guaranteed to be shorter than the average man's, he had a decade or two minimum to go should he not be killed or off himself like the miserable fool he was.

All this and so many other thoughts circled in Law's head and who knows, maybe he said all of it or none of it or something else entirely, he didn't know or care anymore. He just kept crying, as if he could expel everything out of him and replace it all with the warmth radiating out of the smaller man in his grip. It took a moment before Law remembered he had Luffy tightly in his arms sat in his lap more or less, but when Law tried to suddenly stop himself (to no avail) and pull away, Luffy was quick to put a hand on the back of Law's neck, holding his face against the crook of his neck.

"It's okay, you're allowed to do whatever you need or want now Torao. If you're upset? Be upset, that's fine. And when you don't wanna be upset anymore or don't have anymore in you to be upset about, we can both figure out together what you wanna do after that."

A wet gasp followed by deep sniffling was followed by an almost unintelligible question of, "What if it takes years before I'm not upset anymore?"

Luffy hummed softly in thought for a moment before replying simply, "then we'll figure it out after however many years it takes." He said it like it was so simple, and knowing him he thought it was exactly that simple. It was enough to elicit a tired chuckle followed by a small cough out of the surgeon, his outburst slowing by this point.

While Law had not loosened his grip, Luffy took to humming to himself idly, returning to tracing the tattoos on Law's arms and hands again. Starting this time by tracing the lettering along his fingers. As the older man's sobs turned to soft hiccups and sniffled, he moved his face to the side resting his cheek on Luffy's shoulder and facing out to the side. He let his still wet eyes close as he listened to and felt the other in front of him. In their little hidden place within the tangerine grove, he decided that when he was truly ready to face himself, he'd have to take Luffy up on his offer of help figuring out what to do next.

Luffy in a short amount of time had certainly lived a lot of life after all, how crazy could it get following in his footsteps or at his side?

[khasmc]

[ E - MAIL too; Barto ] Hey man, I'm looking for a consultation for a new tattoo on my left thigh. I've been looking around for a style and yours popped up from a friend who got some work recently done and I fell in love. I was just wondering how much you charge an hour or session? Yuji Masamune, call or email me on, xxx-xxxx-xxx and ymasa@gmailcom. Thanks.

> EMAIL TO: ymasa@gmail.com

> SUBJECT LINE: Thigh piece consult

Yo dude, thanks for the interest in my work! Just a heads up, if you wanna do a consultation, they’re free at the shop. All you need to do is call in the shop to schedule an appointment, but if you have a busy schedule and can’t meet in person, I understand. Any idea what you wanted to get done for your thigh piece? Did you already have something in mind or were you winging it? Any visuals or a specific type you were looking for?

I generally dislike shooting numbers over email since it’s a range. Most of it depends on the details of the piece, how big, where it’s going, etc. You get what I’m saying? So really, my rates go anywhere between $80-250 an hour, but I’ll tell you what.

Drop by the shop when you can and let’s talk about your friend and the piece they got. And I’ll see what I can do about the numbers, how’s that sound?

Hear from ya soon, Yuji.

Bartolomeo 💥

| Belligerence | The end of a pointed nail tapped once, twice, three more times until it lifted, slid along the curve of a jagged fang and a bellowing laugh left his laughing maw before Bartolomeo raised his eyes from the screen into the serious eyes of his boss.

“N’ how’s that?” he echoed, all grins with a hint of mischief bleeding into his gaze.

Hajrudin, sporting his usual severe frown from behind a thick beard, did not yield to the typical goad. Arms crossed over his chest, unwavering, he jerked his broad his to the side, a wordless gesture that Bartolomeo understood immediately, albeit took his sweet time following.

“Yuji, Yuji~ wonder the dude saw that got him all in love~ with my work.” Short of breaking into a loud cackle that disturbed the steady buzz of tattoo guns going across the parlor, he carefully vacated from the computer, tap dancing the tips of his fingers across the shoulders of the large burly man. “C’mon, wouldn’t it fuckin’ funny if it was that rooster piece?”

The tail end of a chortle cut off too late and Hajrudin, unbidden, hung his head to laugh a raspy chuckle, one that grew in sound when he recalled the sheer idiocy of the aforementioned tattoo. “God, that tattoo…”

“An absolute masterpiece!” Fingertips to his lips, he smacked them together with an exaggerated kiss; the better of his mood already throwing a skip to his step on the way to his station. Even a passing jeer from Oleg, already in the midst of doing his own sketch, elicited nothing but the wag of a proud middle finger. “Hehaha~ wanna bet fifty it’s the rooster?”

“You mean that abysmal cock you-”

“The both of you, do not talk about cocks in the shop-”

[asexualzoro]

list of reasons I find zoro ridiculous

after my similarly titled mihawk post took off I decided to make a zoro post, since he’s my second favorite character and also arguably the most ridiculous character in all of One Piece. here we go

- I know what you’re all thinking. i’m gonna open this list with how he wields three swords, right? no. no, Zoro has done so much ridiculous bullshit, this doesn’t even seem weird anymore. i don’t even bat my eye at this. this is nothing. now that i’ve got that out of the way, let’s begin

- this dude has like, an obsession with cutting off his own limbs? and MAYBE i can understand trying to cut his feet off when they were stuck in wax—you’re trying to save your friends, i get it—but what about when he was sword shopping in loguetown? who’s first response when buying a cursed sword and testing if it’s really cursed is “i’ll toss it in the air n see if I get amputated lol.” plus there’s that old filler where luffy gets his finger stuck in a bottle and, when he asks zoro for help getting it out, zoro tries to CUT IT OFF. im convinced he lost that left eye of his bc he got dust or something in it and then tried to stab it out

- there’s like, several occasions where Zoro has been directed to head up a staircase and gone some other direction. it happened in enies lobby and in dressrosa? like, what’s the dude got against stai—... oh, wait

- his reintroduction post timeskip. get on the wrong boat? just cut it in half! who even cares! how’d you even end up on the wrong boat? you had to walk towards that boat, which means looking at the boat. that boat looked nothing like the sunny, wouldn’t zoro have noticed that? he also has to make an effort to climb on, which means, you guessed it, looking at the boat! he probably sees the crew members, maybe even gets helped up by one or a few. how did he not at any point in time notice that wasn’t his boat?

- also when they landed on sabaody the first time and zoro was like “i’m gonna go take a walk!” and both Sanji and Usopp tried to stop him, talking to him like concerned parents of a troublemaking toddler, like “Zoro you can’t go out there you’ll get lost!” to which Zoro replies “yeah but the grottos are numbered, I can find my way back if I just remember the number!” and Sanji and Usopp are like “okay, solid logic, even YOURE not dumb enough to mess that up” and what does Zoro do? what does he fucking do?

- I want to emphasize he messes it up because a bubble covers the 4 in “Grotto 41” so he thinks it’s grotto 1. BUBBLES. ARE. TRANSPARENT

- “sorry, I don’t pray to god” fuckin edgelord

- Zoro’s epithet is “Pirate Hunter” and it’s super lame. he could’ve been “Demon of the East Blue” but they went with pirate hunter, even though he became a pirate. even Chopper’s is better than his lbr

- THERES A SCENE WHERE SANJI THREATENS TO PUT RAZOR BLADES IN ZOROS FOOD N ZOROS LIKE “do it u won’t” SO SANJI DOES AND ZORO JUST EATS THEM? ODA EVEN GOT ASKED ABOUT IT IN AN SBS AND CONFIRMED YES, ZORO DID IN FACT EAT RAZOR BLADES. THIS 2EDGY4U BITCH JUST. STRAIGHT UP. ATE RAZOR BLADES

- in film gold he wears that black jacket under the white one. mind you he had no way of knowing he would be trapped in gold by tesoro or that they’d all have a dramatic coordinated outfit change once he was free so what the fuck was he doing? why did he wear that? who wears two jackets for no reason?

- “if i’m gonna be a statue I want it to be in this pose” “i’m glad I struck a pose”

- remember when zoro fought mr. 1 in alabasta and mr. 1 dropped a stone building on him and he was just like “this is a rocky day” or smth equally awful? i hate him

- the tarzan yell in skypiea

- actually, the goggles too.

- didn’t he try to convince someone he was fighting they were sunglasses bc they had some blinding light-based attack? I feel like he did but I don’t remember skypiea well enough to be sure

- Zoro vs the bird in skypiea. spent a fair amount of the damn arc running around skypiea getting messed w by a bird (which, according to Luffy, was more evolved than Zoro bc it had developed a sense of direction. burned by ur own captain)

- when asked why Zoro was able to speak with a sword in his mouth, oda said “IT’S HIS HEART SPEAKING”

- that colorspread Zoro where he reads a book about weightlifting while balancing a weight on top

- when Zoro fights that masochist guy in film gold (I think his name was dice?) and said some cocky ass one liner after the guy fell unconscious that went something like “What's wrong? Didn't it feel good? Aren't you gonna scream in pleasure?" awful

- Zoro almost gets murdered by Mihawk and then, later that day, tries to take on fishmen underwater. others r like “you cannot handle this, you will literally die” and Zoro doesn’t even care bc Luffy is in trouble

- he was sailing bc he left home to find mihawk and then couldn’t figure out how to get back

- remember that filler where Zoro taught Luffy how to skate but then forgot to teach him how to turn. I love both that this happened and the implication that Zoro is a person who knows how to roller skate and therefore has spent time roller skating. Zoro roller skating backstory when?

- when Zoro was fighting oz, a 500 year old corpse, he licked his sword. now, on top of licking his sword being ridiculous as hell because, listen, there’s NOTHING cool about licking your sword. you just look like a loser. but a sword that just came out of a 500 year old corpse? really? i know it was preserved by the cold and all but there’s no way it didn’t rot at all. that’s a rotted, frozen corpse. Zoro what in the HELL were you thinking. I hope you get sick

- i’m sure it probably wasn’t even the first time he licked his sword in a fight but I will say with absolute confidence he looked like a loser every single time

- I feel like he licked his sword while facing mr 1 but I can’t remember. if he did, that’s honestly iconic. stare down a dude that’s made of swords while licking yours? power move. only decent time to kick your sword

- Zoro, joining Luffy: “if you stand in the way of my dream i’ll kill you!” Zoro, a day later: “of course i’ll carry my captain in this heavy cage on my back to safety. oh this gaping wound in my side? nothing. who cares about bleeding to death, my captain needs me!”

- all those big weights he’s got. all of them.

- especially that time he was lifting weights post thriller bark after barely surviving kuma, still heavily injuries, complaining about how weak he is. buddy...

- that time in drum island where he decided to train by going swimming in the freezing ice-country water, then when he got out he got lost in the snowy mountains until he wandered into a random battle and took out some guy just to steal his coat

- this isn’t the only time he steals some random dude’s coat

- the chimney.

- that filler in smiles lobby where he gets, like, abducted by a bunch of children for a day and integrated into their family?

- Roronoa Zoro went fursuiting in dressrosa and that’s a canon fact you all must acknowledge

- speaking of being a furry anyone remember mugiwara theater?

- THE FUCKING MUGIWARA THEATER NAMES. mugiwara theater is a gift, alright? here’s some: nakamura hanzorou. zobear. ZOROMILK

- I FORGOT TO MENTION. THAT TIME ZORO N USOPP WERE HANDCUFFED TOGETHER AND ZORO TRIED TO CONVINCE USOPP TO PLAY ROCK PAPER SCISSORS WITH HIM TO SEE WHICH ONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE TO CUT THEIR HAND OFF

- also the fact that his logic was “it’ll be fine cuz chopper can just sew it back on”

- can we also talk abt how later that fight he uses Usopp as a sword because holy shit Zoro

- this isn’t technically zoro’s fault but the guy who sold him his sword to him in loguetown has a giant version of bounty image up above his bath, which........

- barto asked for zoro’s autograph and Zoro just wrote “sword”

- the grave of the rumbar pirates was finished right around when Zoro woke up from his coma post thriller bark and Zoro decided to walk over while Brook is sitting there mourning almost everyone he ever loved and just. plops his sword—an inanimate object—in the dirt by the grave of BROOKS ENTIRE CREW like “hey i’m gonna bury this here u don’t mind tho right? cool”

- he’s lucky Brook is such a cool dude cuz if I was mourning the death of MY crew and some fuck decided to plant a rusty sword there i’d just fuckin kill em

- in Zou they were talking abt whatever and Luffy mentioned how Sanji was as strong as one thousand men and Zoro, clearly jealous that Sanji got praised by Luffy, butt in with a stuttery objection on how HE was stronger than Sanji and worth TWO THOUSAND men, which luffy ignored, and Nami had to reassure him that yes, Zoro, we know you’re strong. toddler

- this is also not technically zoro’s fault but one time someone asked oda in an sbs which strawhats would eat ice in their drink and oda answered who would n wouldn’t (Luffy, Chopper, Brook, Usopp, and Robin would, if ur wondering). Zoro was on the wouldn’t list, and some fan sent oda a letter informing him of a panel where Zoro was shown eating ice to disprove this. someone pulled zoro ice eating receipts on oda and that’s a fact we all have to live with

- the first time Zoro meets mihawk—the strongest man in the world, the man he wants to defeat someday, and incredibly powerful and impressive dude—he cries like a baby

- zoro’s been crucified like 4 times now. once in his introduction than in three movies (6, gold, nebulandia). idk why this keeps happening but honestly? keep it up

- when Brook joined the crew, Zoro said he was sorry for Brooks bad luck as if one of the first things Brook ever saw Zoro do wasn’t to try and die for the crew via Giant Paw Ball of Pain

- speaking of, i’m pretty sure half the reason zoro DIDNT die in thriller bark is because if he died via smth as silly as a giant paw ball his injured pride would kill him again

- I was going to make fun of Zoro for wearing only a suit and a fake mustache in dressrosa as a disguise but then I realized, like, given how absolutely shredded Zoro was in Punk Hazard and how that suit somehow managed to squish it all down without zoro ripping the sleeves off? solid disguise

- when merry was burning and everyone’s bawling and remembering great memories on the ship and Zoro was standing there, 100% stoic, remembering a nap

- Zoro saw marines (Garp) coming to Water 7 while Luffy was still unconscious and ran off to warn the others but couldn’t find his way back to the hotel

- that G8 filler where he falls off a cliff in pursuit of his swords

- speaking of fillers, remember that amnesia one? (ha). highlights include Zoro trying to physically fight a small sea horse (plus Usopp doing a bad lip-syncing) and Zoro swimming through the Grand Line with his swords tied to his head by his bandana

- meets a dragon, eats the dragon

- it got mentioned once that Sanji and Nami canonly help Zoro and the other guys get dressed. so every time Zoro wears something absolutely ridiculous (which is often), it’s probably Sanjis doing

- “I can’t believe I cut a freaking booger!!”

- speaking of, remember that time Luffy flicked a booger into Zoro’s drink at the Baratie and Zoro tried to force him to drink it?? remember that?? I hate them both

- that time Zoro was trying to find the Right Eye in Skypiea, said that (though the path to get there was STRAIGHT AHEAD) all he had to do to find the right eye was just keep going right (even though that would just lead him in circles!). and then after that do you know what direction he went?? do you know?? he fucking went left

- the time Zoro got lost walking on a straight path in a filler.

- Zoro lost to a guy in a fight and just fucking let the dude cut him in half. like, yes, the baratie scene was all cool as all hell and I love it but Zoro did in fact basically invite a dude to cut him in half

- when they were hit by negative hollows and everyone else said stuff that was kinda funny but Zoro went straight up “I don’t deserve to exist” please honey talk to someone

- he was fighting Kaku and kept engaging in Kaku’s devil fruit bs and then berating himself for being uncool as if he wasn’t already fighting a giant giraffe

- to end this list, I want to get to Zoro’s absolute worst offense. remember when Zoro fought Kaku and he did that asura form thing? where he straight up grew four extra arms and two extra heads, all wielding swords? what the FUCK was that? and don’t tell me “fighting spirit” alright. that’s bull. people don’t just GROW EXTRA SWORD-WIELDING BODY PARTS because they’re just REALLY INTO a FIGHT. like I know this is One Piece and shit’s ridiculous all this time but this? this is too much. even for One Piece this is too much. this is so ridiculous. there has to be a line, even in One Piece, with what these guys are allowed to get away with. I can accept haki so good you can see the future. I can accept spinning so fast you set your leg on fire. I can accept being made of springs. I can accept booger bombs. I can accept all that and more, but this? this is where i take my stand. Roronoa Zoro cannot keep getting away with this! fighting spirit is just not an explanation. and the worst part? the absolute worst part?

- Zoro makes four extra limbs and two extra heads, all armed with swords, MATERIALIZE out of THIN AIR with absolutely NO REAL EXPLANATION and then pretty much NEVER DOES IT AGAIN! he did it once in sabaody (and once in strong world) and then hasn’t done it since! everyone else uses the power ups they got in enies lobby all the time but Zoro, somewhere out there, knows how fuckin sick this attack is (bc yeah it’s ridiculous as hell but like I still enjoy it) and he just won’t do it again. not once post timeskip has he used it at all. Roronoa Zoro knows what he’s doing and he is out there, right now, laughing

- roronoa zoro is one of my top three favorite one piece characters and I make this list entirely out of love. (feel free to add on more moments I may have missed and i’ll add them)

[starwood-stranded-archived]

A new Oracle arrives in Lukra, hoping that the Home of Oracles can be his as well. Treat and Ammanas help him get his bearings. // read on ao3 / read on deviantart

Achzina walked into the Pilgrim’s Rest behind the group of longnecks he'd met on the road and stopped, taking in the sight of the inn. Its construction might be hasty and slightly ramshackle, but it was an imposing structure even so, enormous and tangled, built around the native trees. Achzina could not fight the feeling that if he took three steps out of this main hall, he would become hopelessly lost.

Most of the longnecks continued on. Unlike Achzina, they had written ahead and arranged their lodgings. But the shaman, Viro, in whom Achzina had confided his worries on the journey, lingered.

“This is where we leave you,” Viro said in accented Common. “But do not fret, young one. Any clan would be lucky to have you.”

Achzina smiled and didn’t correct the shaman about his age. “Thank you, Viro. I hope you find the answers you seek, as well.”

“That is the hope,” said Viro, with a stately nod, and moved on.

Achzina spent another long moment looking around the canvas-roofed space, taking in the variety of dragons eating, lounging about, and conversing over their meals. Surprisingly, very few of them were in shifts, as he was; Achzina had always been taught that to enter a shared building in one’s natural form was most impolite, especially for larger dragons, but here he saw guardians and imperials curled against the walls with their full-sized bodies, others picking past their tails with barely a glance at them. A ridgeback sat almost directly in front of a door, apparently not caring that a group of harpies had to split up to go around them.

Just another thing to get used to, Achzina supposed, though he couldn’t help feeling quite intimidated by the sheer size of the dragons around him. He’d seen large dragons before, of course, but not all in a big mixed-species group like this; not when he had something to compare them to. Clutching his satchel, he made his way across the huge courtyard, looking for any sign of the authorities he hoped to talk to. A moment’s investigation revealed a masked pearlcatcher doling out food from a stand on one side of the courtyard, and Achzina went there.

“Stew for you’ll be 5 treasure,” the pearlcatcher said, sizing up Achzina. “Everything else has prices on it.”

“I was hoping you could point me to someone in charge, actually,” Achzina said, feeling small and awkward.

“If you’re looking for lodgings, Ammanas organizes that. Gold and silver tundra in a floppy hat -- he’s usually over that way. Otherwise, I might be able to help you.” The pearlcatcher put aside the ladle she carried and smiled at Achzina. “Name’s Treat. You?”

“I’m Achzina,” he said, and then blurted, “I’m an Oracle.”

“Are you now?” A certain guarded look fell into place in Treat’s green eyes. “So, you’re not here to ask a question, I’m guessing?”

“No,” Achzina said. “I’m -- I’m looking for a home.”

They did advertise this place as the Home of Oracles, so Achzina hoped he could be forgiven for imagining that that might apply to him. So far his gift had brought him little but trouble -- harassment from those who did not believe his predictions, who thought that he was making the misfortune he foresaw happened; or from those who did believe him, and wanted his knowledge all to themselves.

“Right.” Treat wiped her claws on an apron, then took the apron off entirely. “Let’s go see Ammanas, and he’ll see about getting you into the Inner Sanctum. The clan’ll want to interview you. We’ve had such interviews before, you know. They haven’t gone very well.”

Achzina’s face must have fallen, because Treat smiled reassuringly, though it didn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Don’t worry, dear. The others failed because they were charlatans, and thus had to be thrown out on their ears. You have nothing to worry about … if you’re telling the truth.”

At least they were only thrown out. I can handle that. On the way in Achzina had passed a gibbet decorated with the skulls of various dragons and beastclans, and a warning: The Oracles have teeth!

“I am,” Achzina said, confidence somewhat restored. “You’ll take me to see this Ammanas? That’s kind of you.”

A dragon coughed behind him, a green tundra. “What about my food?”

“Grab what you want and put the gold in the basket,” Treat said. “Don’t cheat us or Ammanas’ll sniff you out. This way, Achzina.”

The pearlcatcher led him through the crowd, though Achzina sometimes struggled to keep up, as she moved faster on four legs than he did on two. When she took to the air to get around a particularly large guardian, he gave up and let his shift fall, despite the deep feeling of impropriety, following her on a skydancer’s wings. Treat glanced back, smiled, and flew the rest of the way.

They finally landed near a tundra who must have been Ammanas, floppy hat and all, as he spoke to a fae and an imperial about finding them lodgings together. Treat gestured for Achzina to wait, and in a moment Ammanas concluded that conversation and turned to them. “Treat? Is something the matter?”

“I’d like to introduce you to Achzina,” Treat said. “He wishes to join the Oracles. I thought you could find him a place to stay for tonight, and then one of us could speak to Aridatha.”

Ammanas bowed his head. “Of course. Achzina, please follow me. Treat, I believe Calana’s scheduled to come by in about an hour if you want to give her the message then.”

“When do you think they’ll be able to see me?” Achzina asked. “And, uh, who exactly will be seeing me?”

“You’ll be interviewed by a few clan members,” Ammanas said. “Aridatha and Lioska, of course -- ”

“Aridatha’s our leader, and Lioska oversees the guards,” Treat added. “Sorry, love, but I’ve got to get back to my stall -- Ammanas will see to you, I promise.”

Achzina nodded and thanked Treat, and she fluttered away.

“I hope we can make you comfortable here,” Ammanas said, watching Treat go. “Oh, and you’ll see someone to evaluate your powers. That dragon varies -- could be Acrux, Frip, Machine, or possibly Barholme or Bartos; they may not have such sight themselves, but they’re magical experts.”

“What will they be looking for, exactly?” Achzina asked, a bit nervously.

Ammanas looked him over and smiled. “Just that you are, indeed, who you say you are; and that you would be able to contribute to the needs of dragons here. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We have been looking to recruit … Well, let me see you to your room, and then you may feel free to wander until they’re ready to speak with you.

“All right,” Achzina said, trying to quell the butterflies in his stomach. “I hope that’s soon.”

[allenmendezsr]

The Consistency Code Mental Game Coaching System

New Post has been published on https://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/the-consistency-code-mental-game-coaching-system/

The Consistency Code Mental Game Coaching System

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    “Yesterday we played a match play tournament and I applied some of your methods and it made a huge difference in my game. [… it made me feel so confident. Long story short, I eagled 9 so we took the team match. I was down 1 with 2 to go in individual match play and won 17 and 18 with clutch 5 foot par putts and won. Oh, and feel free to use these comments any way you want, this is by far the best money I’ve ever spent on my golf game. I look forward to doing some private sessions with you in the future.”

Regards, Rob Bartos Southwick, MA

Imagine harnessing the power of a method that makes you actually crave pressure, hit the quality shots when it matters most, feel no nerves over must make putts and play with an unstoppable inner confidence no matter what your handicap…

“I wonder if I’ll be able to hit the ball the way I need to. Geez, I hope people don’t think my game sucks. Will they be thinking “what is this guy doing in this tournament anyways, he’s got no game.” I won’t be able to handle it if I can’t play well tomorrow. Maybe I can call and drop out of the tournament.”

This was from Brett, a client of mine. His inner demons were crushing him. He’d lost before he started. You can see he had almost no chance of playing to his potential or enjoying the game. He’s not alone. How many of these are ruining your game?

Uncontrollable nerves

Inability to focus

Increased sense of pressure over important shots

Negative self talk

Performance anxiety

Mentally giving up

Not being able to pull of the shots needed when it matters most

And the list goes on…

Stop trying to wrestle with your inner demons, it’s a fight you can’t win

What you resist persists…

What demons do you try and wrestle into submission? How successful have your inner battles been? If you’re like many golfers I work with you continue to leave the golf course frustrated and perhaps even wonder if it’s worth playing the game at all.

The sad truth is it will stay like this unless you make some changes in how you use your mind.

It’s kind of like being trapped in a room and the building is on fire. There are two doors and a window but there are flames on the other side of the window and smoke is billowing under the cracks of the doors. You desperately need to get out but you can’t find a way.

One thing’s for sure, no one wants to be stuck in a burning building with no way out. Sadly, that’s exactly what’s happening to most golfers every round they play. They’re suffocating on the mental fumes of their own uncontrollable mind.

Remember, what you resist persists. The more you struggle the worse things get.

The Discovery that Changed the Game, Forever…

You see, I have a background in the Psychology of Human Excellence. I’m an NLP Trainer with Ericksonian Hypnosis training and a host of other skillsets. My life, before golf, was focused on helping others achieve real, dramatic improvements in mental and physical performance. Then, just like you, I got infected with the golf bug and was obsessed with playing as well as I could.

In a minute you’ll find out that I taught myself how to golf, without taking lessons, but wanted more than just a good swing. I wanted to win and play well all the time! But, like you, I experienced frustration at not being able to duplicate my great rounds and play as well in tournaments and competitive situations.

That was until I discovered something, almost by accident, that changed my game and the games (now numbering in the thousands) of my private clients and students from all over the world. It is so powerful and effective at dissolving virtually every single mental issue a golfer faces. The endless issues that prevent you from playing the way you are capable of.

Yet what you’re about to learn is it has NOTHING to do with the swing and EVERYTHING to do with how you use your mind…

The Golf Whisperer Method Was Born

While teaching myself how to golf through applying my knowledge of advanced peak performance strategies and accelerated learning techniques I got down to a 3 handicap, without taking lessons. Not bad, huh.

Other golfers began hearing about my results and begged me to work with them. I said “I’m not a golf teacher or a pro.” That didn’t stop them. They just wanted results. I told them again, “I’m not a golf instructor or a sports psychologist.” They just smiled, ignored my comments and conitnued to pursue me.

One client said it best, “you may not have a Phd but you clearly have a masters in results and I want the results you’re getting!” A few of them admiringly nicknamed me the Golf Whisperer. That name stuck and became my brand.

So I started working with golfers of all skill levels, men, women and children. Something incredible happened. Almost be accident. This discovery has become like a Viagra for your mind. Real, predictable, measurable mental potency. You’re about to see why this analogy fits so well…

“It’s The Best Inner Game Training I’ve Ever Seen”

The Golf Whisperer’s material is the best mental game instructional training I have ever seen in over 30 years as a golf professional at the highest level and I am personal friends with several of the well known mental game gurus on the PGA Tour.

There has never been a champion that didn’t have a strong mind and the ability to control their thoughts and their focus. These methods are comprehensive and reveal the fundamentals of the inner game more succinctly than anything I have ever seen.”

Bobby McIver, PGA Tour Coach & Author of The Heart of the Game

What do Viagra, covert mental game training & lower scores have in common?

Did you know that Viagra was an accident? The Pfizer company was working on a drug for a completely different purpose and were doing clinical trials. Then from participant feedback they found a peculiar side effect: men were staying erect for hours! This had nothing to do with what they were developing the drug for.

The side-effect became more powerful (and with some stimulating benefits…) than the original purpose of the drug! It was an accident. So here I was working away on golfers’ games from all over the world using covert mental techniques I’d developed during these personal client “trials.”

(what I was doing began to spread very quickly by word of mouth alone. I didn’t promote myself at all yet I was getting swamped with requests)

We worked with visualization techniques, cool mental imagery exercises and some insanely potent mental drills. Yet my focus when working with players was just to improve their game and make them learn it faster.

And then something incredible happened. The game changing event slapped me in the face! I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier.

The “AHA” moment struck me when dozens of students began sending feedback and testimonials on how calm and confident they were while playing the game. They told me they stopped feeling nervous over shots. Their focus improved. A laundry list of mental game issues as long as your arm were melting away, one after another.

I’m going to show you how this side effect has become the biggest breakthrough in game improvement in the past 50 years. It will save you more strokes than a big headed driver or a new set of irons EVER will!

It’s like taking a magic pill that unlocks the full potential of your mind & body

Imagine having a simple system, a method so potent at supercharging your mind it’s like taking a magic pill that instantly cures EVERY conceivable inner game problem you experience??? This is exactly what the Golf Whisperer method does. It will take your mind places you’ve never been on the golf course, I guarantee it.

Are you ready to enter a whole new world in golf? Do you want the red pill or the blue one? Yes, just like Morpheus in the Matrix he asks you to choose a pill: the red one or the blue one.

The red pill is what you’re already taking, by default. Not doing anything IS taking the red pill. It’s the toughest pill to swallow and easy to choke on yet golfers will mindlessly continue to take it. Your experiences will continue to stay the same, game after game after game.

The Red Pill Golfer’s World

Negative self talk – you beat yourself up after almost every shot – if you talked to others the way you talk to yourself you’d probably have no friends and for sure few playing partners…

Missed pressure putts – contantly missing that putt to win or shoot a personal best score

Bad swings at the wrong time – just when you need it least “that” swing shows up

Play worse in compeition – it’s easy to play well with no-one watching or nothing on the line but how well do you play when competing?

Uncontrollable nerves – first tee jitters and even score crushing nervousness while you play

Lack of focus – a scattered mind that can’t focus will never allow you to shoot your lowest scores.

Poor decision making – not thinking clearly and being certain your shot selection and club selection are the BEST for the sutuation

Easily distracted – someone walking or talking near you, coughing, birds chirping or whatever else, scatters your brain and you lose focus on your shot

Mentally giving up when things aren’t going good – this is a killer of ever being a great player.

And this is just a short list!

It’s hard to calculate how many strokes a round you’re losing every time you play

Blue Pill Golfer’s World with Golf Whisperer Training

Laser focus – you don’t even notice distractions because you’re so dialed in

Calm under pressure – this will stun your playing partners at how casually you make clutch shots and putts

Mental toughness – you’ll have a “never quit” attitude, regardless of your score and when the going gets tough you dig even deeper

Clear decision making – this will save you a minimum of 4 strokes a round Excitement and anticipation for competitive matches and tournaments

Mastery over your nerves – quick and lasting methods for staying calm, centered and relaxed from the first tee to the last putt

Play better in competition than in casual rounds – yes, BETTER Enter the zone at will – No-one else is teaching this. Know why? They don’t know how. There’s a path that leads to the zone and I’ll give you the GPS

It’s time to take control of your mind and your game and play to the level you KNOW you are capable of, isn’t it?

Covert mental techniques used by green beret’s, olympic athletes, martial artists and secretively by a handful of pga pros…

Do you think it’s an accident that when Tiger Woods was at his peak years ago he had the most dominant mind the game has ever seen? His mental toughness and focus were almost legendary. I have yet to see any player even close to his level of mental control, have you?

This wasn’t by accident, fluke, luck or chance. It was by design. Hypnosis training and advanced mental strategies were used throughout his early years. I modelled these strategies, built on them and created an entirely new system that has taken things to a new level never before seen in golf. Bold statement? Sure. Can I prove it? Absolutely.

Better yet I’ll let my customers do it. After all, they’re the reason this method exists.

“I racked up 5 birdies & won the competition by a mile!”

[petite-neko]

Dissentient - 4

Fanfiction: Dissentient Story Summary: Trafalgar Law wasn’t a lot of things. But the one thing he most definitely was, was a man in denial. But you’d never hear him say that. Instead, he’d just blame that damned Strawhat. Characters: Zoro, Luffy, Law Pairing: Eventual LawLu Rating: T Warnings: Swearing, Angst, Mentions of Suicide A/N: YOU NEED TO READ THIS STORY FIRST.

So this was longer than intended so I hope you enjoy!

Previous story || Read on Ao3

Part 3 || Part 4: 7.5 Guilt || TBA

Joker… Doflamingo…

Law had to admit: he was still angry – no frustrated was a better word – at Luffy. Luffy had screwed everything up. Luffy had changed his plans. Luffy had saved him.

Luffy made the impossible possible. He had made something that Law had thought was beyond even their combined grasps obtainable.

Yes he was grateful but…

People said revenge was bittersweet, but that wasn’t this. No. Law felt empty because…

What else was there to do?

He knew people would say for him to live, to be free and make his own choices, to go with the flow of life and see where it took him but…

Trafalgar Law didn’t know how to do that.

His life had always been ruled by something outside of his control. Illness and fate. Doflamingo and vengeance.

And now… now he was free and he didn’t know what to do with this newly gained freedom.

Trafalgar Law always had a plan.

And yet he didn’t.

“Torao!”

Law startled at the screaming rubber thing that came flying at him and toppled him over.

“A-Ahk!”

Luffy… only Luffy…

“Hello Mugiwara-ya.”

Ignoring him would get Law nowhere, so he might as well just accept it. Accept Luffy for who and what he was. Accept his antics, however annoying and cumbersome they were…

“Didja hear? Our bounties are matching! Shishishi. I wish he saved your poster though… it probably looked cool…”

Oh by the… was this fucking supernova pouting?

(Over his fucking bounty poster no less!)

“Don’t worry, I’m sure my crew saved one. That is, if Zou gets news coos.”

And that pout faded into his expression of unadulterated joy. “Yay! What do you think the picture was? Could it be…”

Off that idiot went again with his hypothetical tangents…

.xxx.

To be honest, Trafalgar Law wasn’t too certain just what he was expecting.

That it was supposed to get better overnight? That he was supposed to be cured of an ailment that plagued him for over a decade? That he was supposed to be completely fine simply because he achieved his goal?

(Well, no, that was far from his original expectations but…)

Every god damned time he closed his eyes…

He could hear that laughter. See that grin. Feel the bullets as they entered his chest. His arm would start screaming echoes of when it was severed from him. Cora-san and his last smile. The sound of those bullets…

He’d never sleep like this…

It was extremely frustrating because he knew that rest was the best treatment for him. He was still exhausted from the overuse of his powers on Dressrosa and the injuries he sustained there. Not to mention he was still using his powers over the course of the day to promote the healing of his arm.

(Luffy’s curiosity on the actions was rather… amusing actually.)

“Torao? What are you doing?” Luffy asked with wide eyes as he pointed at his hand.

Said hand was hovering above the injured area, a blue sphere around it.

“Promoting the healing process.” He explained neutrally. “Increasing the blood flow and circulation.”

Luffy made a strange expression – as if he was trying to figure something out unsuccessfully. “But… you’re moving it right? So it’s better?”

Law had to sigh. Luffy was just so naïve… “Even though I can still move it, the limb is slow and it’s still fairly numb.” He flexed the arm, demonstrating the slowness of the motions. “I can feel things still, but it’s like my arm is asleep. That tingling sensation when you lay on it for too long…” He paused and took a breath. “It wasn’t just a cut Mugiwara-ya. Nerve endings and tendons were severed, and while that little princess’ devil fruit ability repaired what probably could not have done naturally, there is still much to do. And if I don’t do this the tissues could become necrotic – die – and I will have to cut the limb off again to prevent infection.”

Luffy’s eyes looked like they were spinning. (What was he to expect?) “I don’t think I could ever become a doctor. Too much mumbo jumbo to remember…”

“…I think that’s for everybody’s benefit Mugiwara-ya.”

He wouldn’t want to know what it was like if Luffy, of all people, had to fix him up…

He sighed and took off his hat before running his hand through his hair. He supposed he could just go out and take a watch shift? Sure, he wasn’t necessarily included in them but…

He didn’t have anything else to do.

“Trafalgar? We said you could sleep.”

He shrugged as one of the Barto Club members addressed him.

“It’s fine, you can head to bed of you want. I’m not somebody who takes pleasure in letting others do all the work.”

That was a truth, but not the whole truth. At least it was acceptable and understandable and the pirate nodded before yawning and heading off to bed.

Dressrosa was far beyond the horizon by now, but Law looked for it anyway.

Doflamingo was defeated and yet…

But he had said it himself, didn’t he? It took time to heal his wounds, and he was still bleeding.

.xxx.

For some reason Luffy was clingier than usual.

Well – no – maybe? Ah, fuck it! Law couldn’t decide. There were too many factors to take into considerations to tell one way or another. Regardless it didn’t really fucking matter. He was allowing it.

It was just one more thing he had to accept about Mugiwara no Luffy.

Luffy would talk about some mundane thing like the weather and then what he did on a day like this. Sometimes he’d talk about fishing and the fish he caught once upon a time. And sometimes he’d just stare and watch him as he worked on his arm. Silently. (It was almost creepy.)

The one thing Luffy never did, however, was leave his side. He was always leaning against him. Or hugging him. Or laying on his lap, or…

Clingy, see?

.xxx.

“Did you meet Sabo?”

His voice was hushed and the young supernova stared up at him.

It was relatively quiet around them and the sun was starting to set. Everybody was otherwise preoccupied (including that swordsman which was odd) with tasks such as fishing or reading or training or whatnot. It was more or less a private conversation.

Law had to shake his head. “I was unconscious just as you were when he came to visit. I believe I saw a glimpse or two of him on Dressrosa though. He’s… your brother, isn’t he?”

He had to restrain himself from add in a ‘too’. Their conversation on the Thousand Sunny was still all too pungent in his mind. It wasn’t something he was really willing to revisit right now…

“Yeah… I thought he died all those years ago and… I find out that he’s alive and well…” Law glanced to see this unusual smile on Luffy’s face. It was almost heartbreaking. “I’m just so glad. And he has Ace’s fruit and…” He laughed and brought his arm up to his eyes.

“I’m glad Torao. I’m just so glad.”

And like that, that expression was gone, replaced by this pure happiness.

It only baffled him just how this boy could change emotions so quickly.

“Thing worked out in your favour.” Law replied quietly. It was the only thing he could think of saying. He just didn’t know what to say.

And Luffy, oh he made that usual sound of confirmation, still smiling. “We got Ace’s fruit, and saved you, and beat Mingo’s ass!”

…So Luffy saw it that way too? (He supposed it was true from Luffy’s perspective. Doflamingo had captured him after all…)

“I can’t wait to meet him again! We have so much catching up to do!”

(Luffy just didn’t know to what extent he had saved him… He didn’t know what Law was planning or thinking… so yes Luffy had saved him, just in a bigger way than he thought. But…)

What now?

(He still hasn’t figured that out yet.)

.xxx.

To say it surprised him would be a lie. To say it was unexpected was also doubtful.

If anything, Law found it unusual that it hadn’t happened the night before.

“Torao? What are you doing up?”

Luffy. That’s what.

And that’s who was talking to him. He could feel that worried gaze on him. Could sense it. Could almost hear the question:

Are you still bleeding?

(Of course, who knew just how he’d phrase it. Luffy was unusually perceptive after all. He didn’t doubt the other captain suspected that it wasn’t just a conversation that kept him up all those nights ago…)

“Night watch.” Law replied neutrally. It was the truth after all. Just like the night before…

He wasn’t about to admit that he couldn’t sleep. Wasn’t about to admit that he could still hear that bastard’s laughter in his head. Not to Bartolomeo’s crew. Not to Luffy.

“Didn’t Rooster-head say we don’t have to worry about that?” Luffy huffed.

Why? Why was he huffing? It wasn’t like it bothered him or anything… It was him doing the night watch, not Luffy.

Law sighed. Something told him too that Luffy wouldn’t accept the same excuse he provided that pirate last night: that he didn’t want to be a free-loader. In fact, Luffy would probably just go off on a tangent that he deserved to and needed rest and relaxation and he didn’t have to do night watches and…

(Which was complete bull shit. Well having to after all.)

And he trusted Luffy, he did, but this just…

It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. It wasn’t something he was ready or willing to discuss and…

There was the fact that Luffy had saved him.

It was Luffy who defeated his demons. Luffy who had avenged Cora-san for him. Luffy who had stopped Doflamingo – the man who killed his hope, the man who wanted him dead simply for the sake of immortality. Luffy who had prevented his death even though he attempted it.

Luffy, Luffy, Luffy.

Luffy had done everything in his power to help and assist and save him. And it was Luffy who would worry at what he would describe and…

It would be insulting him.

Because Luffy had done so much for him and he was repaying this kindness with only hurting his body more by not sleeping.

(Because if defeating his demons didn’t work… what would?)

Law didn’t admit his insomnia on that night and he sure as hell wasn’t about to now…

It wasn’t a matter of trust. No, it was a matter of preference.

…Trust?

…If there was one thing that damned Strawhat didn’t ruin…

It was that Trafalgar Law was an opportunist. He was meticulous and knew how to answer a question truthfully and hide what he wanted to hide.

“It isn’t very relaxing knowing that complete strangers are in charge of my safety Mugiwara-ya.” Law leaned back, relaxing and concealing the recent thoughts that rampaged through his mind. “Certainly they vowed to protect you, but I’m not on that list. I don’t have complete faith in their capabilities to ensure my well-being while I’m unconscious.”

(Sleep implied dreams, and, well… Law preferred unconsciousness over sleep any night. Even tonight he had woken up with a start and a cold sweat and that laughter ringing in his ears.)

“Especially after the incident with the hail.”

Luffy laughed at the last comment. “But that was fun Torao!”

Trafalgar Law didn’t scoff. “Drowning isn’t my preferred way of death Mugiwara-ya.” No, his voice was just an annoyed droll, that was all. “Remember, we can’t swim.”

“Shishi, you’re too serious sometimes Torao.”

Trafalgar Law did resist an eye roll however. “Better than not being serious enough.” Instead he shrugged before glancing at Luffy when silence ensued.

And Luffy, well he walked up to a railing and just stared. Out to the sea like he did before. Up at the stars that reminded him of his late brother.

“I still miss him.”

(This. This was what was not surprising. Law knew, oh he knew that something had awoken this young, naïve, happy captain tonight. And he had high suspicions on what only to be confirmed on yes, this was it.)

“Ace. But then I think of what you said and I remember that I’ll never stop missing him.”

Law tore his gaze away. That damn Strawhat, reading more into his actions than he should have… He hadn’t done that for Luffy’s sake!

“You’re a good friend Torao.”

And there it was again, that soft laughter, that chuckle that was so typical of Mugiwara no Luffy, and Law knew that if he glanced over the other would be grinning up a him, those dark eyes light up with that laughter…

“Sabo misses him too, but… he’s glad. He’s happy that I lived.”

(Sabo, yes Sabo. He knew that was the cause for this nightly disturbance.)

Law could hear the way Luffy clutched tightly at the railing.

“We’re both lucky I guess.” Again, that laughter.

Law sighed – Luffy made him do that a lot didn’t he? – and his hand itched to pull on his hat. He didn’t know what to say, really. Luffy was fortunate… to have somebody come back from the dead like that…

(Nobody from his past could do that, no. Even if Lami had survived the fire, the amber lead would have claimed her by now. And, even if the way his screams echoed out into the cold frigid air wasn’t an answer enough, his conversation with Sengoku would have been the final nail in the coffin…)

“Life works in strange ways.” He finally said.

And that it did. Trafalgar Law was living proof of that after all.

Luffy nodded. “Mmm, and even though it still hurts, I know I’ll be better eventually. Thank you Torao!” He laughed once more and walked off.

Again. Again with the fucking thanks.

Law was never doing anything for Luffy’s sake. He didn’t back in Marineford, and he definitely didn’t do it back on the Thousand Sunny. His hand clenched. It wasn’t like that! He hadn’t!

He wanted to yell out at Luffy. To tell him that he had no selfless intentions on that night. That he was just doing it for his revenge. That he was just using Luffy for this. That they weren’t friends.

That Trafalgar Law didn’t deserve thanks.

That Trafalgar Law was just a selfish bastard.

“You’re such a fucking idiot…” He groaned.

He didn’t know if he was talking to Luffy, or himself.

[realestate63141]

Bethesda's Nannies Brace For Government Shutdown

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U.S. embassies are promoting President Trump’s properties — though without a “Plenipotentiary For You and the Kids!” slogan, alas. A Republican Senate campaign confused Washington with Hangzhou, China, so if the campaign doesn’t work out, the candidate probably has a future in Trump’s diplomatic corps. And the president has completed only 30 percent of his 100-day promises, though if you don’t count California, the number is much higher. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, April 24th, 2017:

GOVERNMENT SET TO SHUT DOWN SATURDAY MORNING - As if this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner weren’t already strange enough. Julia Edwards Ainsley: “Should talks fail, the government would shut down on Saturday, Trump’s 100th day in office. Trump, whose national approval rating hovered around 43 percent in the latest Reuters/Ipsos polling, is seeking his first big legislative victory…. The White House says it has offered to include $7 billion in Obamacare subsidies that allow low-income people to pay for health insurance in exchange for Democratic backing for $1.5 billion in funding to start construction of the barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border…. A Republican congressional aide said Democrats may agree to some aspects of the border wall, including new surveillance equipment and access roads, estimated to cost around $380 million. ‘But Democrats want the narrative that they dealt him a loss on the wall,’ the aide said, adding it would be difficult to bring any Democrats on board with new construction on the southwest border.” [Reuters]

HONESTLY, WE THOUGHT IT’D BE LOWER - Congrats to the president! Jill Colvin and Calvin Woodward: “Of 38 specific promises Trump made in his 100-day ‘contract’ with voters — ‘This is my pledge to you’ — he’s accomplished 10, mostly through executive orders that don’t require legislation, such as withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. He’s abandoned several and failed to deliver quickly on others, stymied at times by a divided Republican Party and resistant federal judges. Of 10 promises that require Congress to act, none has been achieved and most have not been introduced. ‘I’ve done more than any other president in the first 100 days,’ the president bragged in a recent interview with AP, even as he criticized the marker as an ‘artificial barrier.’ In truth, his 100-day plan remains mostly a to-do list that will spill over well beyond Saturday, his 100th day.” [AP]

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U.S. EMBASSIES PROMOTE TRUMP PROPERTIES - This makes a certain amount of sense as the United Kingdom is the only country in the world with worse tourists than the United States. Darren Samuelsohn “President Donald Trump isn’t the only one promoting his private Mar-a-Lago club as the ‘winter White House.’ His foreign policy team is doing it too. The State Department and at least two U.S. embassies — the United Kingdom and Albania — earlier this month circulated a 400-word blog post detailing the long history of the president’s private South Florida club, which has been open to dues-paying members since the mid-1990s and is now used by Trump for frequent weekend getaways. He has hosted foreign leaders there twice…. Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also slammed Trump’s administration, linking to an April 5 tweet from the State Department’s Economic & Business Affairs office that promoted the president’s club by asking: ‘Curious about the President’s winter White House also known as Mar-a-Lago?’” [Politico]

ADMINISTRATION LEVELS NEW SYRIA SANCTIONS - Julie Hirschfeld Davis: “The Trump administration on Monday said it was imposing sanctions on 271 employees of the Syrian government agency that produces chemical weapons and ballistic missiles, blacklisting them from travel and financial transactions in the wake of a sarin attack on civilians this month. The sanctions on members of President Bashar al-Assad’s Scientific Studies and Research Center more than doubles the number of Syrian individuals and entities whose property has been blocked by the United States and who are barred from financial transactions with American people or companies. It seeks to punish those behind this month’s chemical weapons attacks and previous ones carried out by Mr. Assad’s government, senior administration officials said, and to deter others who are contemplating similar actions.” [NYT]

Trump crapped on the United Nations today — and his own ambassador (sort of).

TRUMP FORCING ENTIRE SENATE TO COME TO HIS HOUSE - As power moves go, this one’s a little odd. David Nakamura and Ed O’Keefe: “The White House announced Monday it would host an unusual private briefing on North Korea for the entire U.S. Senate, prompting questions from lawmakers over whether the Trump administration intends to use the event as a photo op ahead of his 100-day mark…. [T]he location at the White House perplexed lawmakers who have grown accustomed to such briefings taking place in a secure location on Capitol Hill, where there is more room to handle such a large group. Past administrations have often held briefings for smaller groups of about two dozen or fewer lawmakers in the White House Situation Room. But they have traditionally sent high-level aides to Capitol Hill to hold discussions with larger groups in secure, underground locations. A senior Trump administration official said the meeting with senators will take place in the auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the building next to the White House.” [WaPo]

REPUBLICAN LAUNCHES SENATE BID, PROMISES TO REFORM OUR CHINESE CAPITAL - Real estate executive and Republican bundler Jeff Bartos announced today he’s running for Bob Casey’s Senate seat. “Bob Casey’s Washington is booming,” Bartos said in his announcement video, which features scenes of economic decline from Bartos’ hometown of Reading. However one of images that flashes on the screen as Bartos discusses “Bob Casey’s Washington” (at the 29 second mark) is actually a stock image of a construction site in Hangzhou, China, according to this Getty Images page. We welcome our new Chinese overlords and hope to see them at the next Communist Party meeting at Ryan Grim’s house.

SO GLAD WE’RE MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN - But thank God Ivanka and Jared are moderating influences. Michael McLaughlin: “Harassment, vandalism and other hostile acts against Jewish people and sites in the U.S. increased by 34 percent last year and are up 86 percent through the first three months of 2017, according to data released on Monday. A spate of bomb threats against Jewish community centers and schools, and vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in the U.S. this year have contributed to the surge, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s report. There have been more than 100 bomb threats against 75 Jewish community centers and eight Jewish day schools around the country this year through early March.” [HuffPost]

Congratulations to the anti-globalists: “Why Paul Wolfowitz Is Optimistic About Trump” [Politico]  

BEGUN, THE GREAT GOP FLOP SWEAT HAS - Alex Isenstadt: “Republicans say President Donald Trump needs to turn things around fast — or the GOP could pay dearly in 2018. With the party preparing to defend its congressional majorities in next year’s midterms, senior Republicans are expressing early concern about Trump’s lack of legislative accomplishments, his record-low approval ratings, and the overall dysfunction that’s gripped his administration. The stumbles have drawn the attention of everyone from GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, who funneled tens of millions of dollars into Trump’s election and is relied on to help bankroll the party’s House and Senate campaigns, to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Adelson hasn’t contributed to pro-Trump outside groups since the inauguration, a move that’s drawn notice within the party, and McConnell is warning associates that Trump’s unpopularity could weigh down the GOP in the election.” [Politico]

LOBBYISTS PRETTY AMPED FOR YOU TO BREATHE SMOG - What’s the over/under on industry groups paying prominent fashion designers to include air masks in their next collection?  Alexander Kaufman: “A utility lobbyist called on regulators to do less work monitoring greenhouse gas emissions. An oil and gas lobbyist praised the Trump administration’s retreat from safeguards and urged federal rulemakers to limit regulations on carbon emissions and smog. A lobbyist for wood-product manufacturers complained about the ‘ever-tightening’ public health standards for ozone pollution and asked regulators to change the permitting process. Those were just some of the requests made by industry advocates during a conference call Monday, when the Environmental Protection Agency held the first of several sessions to ask the public which rules should be eliminated under President Donald Trump’s executive order instructing agencies to slash regulations. The three-hour call, held by the Office of Air and Radiation, focused on clean air and ozone pollution rules.” [HuffPost]

IMPORTANT LABOR DEVELOPMENT - Man, the unreleased alternative ending to “Norma Rae” sure got weird. Cora Lewis: “Back in October, 2011, Hernan Perez got chewed out by his boss. We’ve all been there. But Perez, whose workplace was in the midst of a tense unionization campaign, escalated things during his next break by publishing a Facebook post dedicated to his boss: ‘Bob is such a NASTY MOTHER FUCKER don’t know how to talk to people!!!!!! Fuck his mother and his entire fucking family!!!! What a LOSER!!!! Vote YES for the UNION!!!!!!!,’ the post read. Three days later, after the post came to management’s attention, Perez took it down. A little over a week later, following an investigation, he was fired. He’d worked at the company for 13 years. But on Friday, a federal appeals court ruled Perez, like all workers, has the right to call his boss a nasty motherfucker — at least when such speech is part of legally protected statements involving union activity.” [BuzzFeed]

WILL THERE BE HEARINGS NOW? - Lesley Wroughton and Yeganeh Torbati: “Former Fox News anchor and correspondent Heather Nauert will be the new U.S. State Department spokeswoman, the State Department said in a statement on Monday. Nauert was most recently an anchor for Fox News’ morning news show ‘Fox and Friends,’ and previously was a correspondent at ABC News. ‘Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world,’ the statement said.” [Reuters]

OBAMA RETURNS, THANKS YOU FOR YOUR ‘STILL MY PRESIDENT’ FACEBOOK POST - No, he didn’t. He doesn’t care. Marina Fang: “Former President Barack Obama returned to the spotlight on Monday, moderating a civic engagement panel featuring Chicago-area high school and college students and young leaders. ‘So, uh, what’s been going on while I’ve been gone?’ he joked at the start of the event, held at the University of Chicago. The panel discussion was Obama’s first formal public appearance since leaving office in January. It was also a homecoming, as Obama began his political career in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the university for 12 years. He is building his presidential library just south of the campus, in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood, with the involvement of the university and community organizations.” [HuffPost]

BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR - Here’s a baby elephant frolicking on the beach.

STUPID RESTAURANT HAS STUPID NAME - It’s a real shame that the cultural mecca of Friendship Heights — the Paris of neighborhoods that abut AU Park — is taking such a hit. Dan Steinberg: “From the moment Tony Kornheiser announced in January that his high-powered group of friends would buy classic Friendship Heights restaurant Chad’s, it was clear that the name would eventually be changed…. Kornheiser announced on his podcast last week that the former Chad’s (formerly Chadwick’s) has been renamed Chatter, effective immediately. The name is both a reference to the restaurant’s new podcasting studio — which he said should be open by May 1 — and to a famous quote about newspapers…. As it turns out, though, I work at a newspaper, and I had never heard of this precise line. So I Googled it to try to source the origins correctly, and I was unable to find the reference. Then I put the beginning of that phrase — ‘Cut the chatter, sweetheart’ — into Nexis. I found six references. All six were Washington Post columns by Tony Kornheiser.” [WaPo]

COMFORT FOOD

- We can’t stop reading the Flat Earth Society’s FAQ page.

- Bowling a perfect game in 90 seconds.

- Don’t mess with the Utah Jazz’s mascot.

TWITTERAMA

@AdamSerwer: What if Mark Halperin was replaced by a bowtied dog named Bark Halperin

@alanalevinson: Folks, can we all settle on one platform for posting our video “stories”? I am exhausted by watching your brunch boomerang three times

@pourmecoffee: @realDonaldTrump Maybe the Saturday rally will fill the hundred-day-hole in your heart.

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The Consistency Code Mental Game Coaching System

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    “Yesterday we played a match play tournament and I applied some of your methods and it made a huge difference in my game. [… it made me feel so confident. Long story short, I eagled 9 so we took the team match. I was down 1 with 2 to go in individual match play and won 17 and 18 with clutch 5 foot par putts and won. Oh, and feel free to use these comments any way you want, this is by far the best money I’ve ever spent on my golf game. I look forward to doing some private sessions with you in the future.”

Regards, Rob Bartos Southwick, MA

Imagine harnessing the power of a method that makes you actually crave pressure, hit the quality shots when it matters most, feel no nerves over must make putts and play with an unstoppable inner confidence no matter what your handicap…

“I wonder if I’ll be able to hit the ball the way I need to. Geez, I hope people don’t think my game sucks. Will they be thinking “what is this guy doing in this tournament anyways, he’s got no game.” I won’t be able to handle it if I can’t play well tomorrow. Maybe I can call and drop out of the tournament.”

This was from Brett, a client of mine. His inner demons were crushing him. He’d lost before he started. You can see he had almost no chance of playing to his potential or enjoying the game. He’s not alone. How many of these are ruining your game?

Uncontrollable nerves

Inability to focus

Increased sense of pressure over important shots

Negative self talk

Performance anxiety

Mentally giving up

Not being able to pull of the shots needed when it matters most

And the list goes on…

Stop trying to wrestle with your inner demons, it’s a fight you can’t win

What you resist persists…

What demons do you try and wrestle into submission? How successful have your inner battles been? If you’re like many golfers I work with you continue to leave the golf course frustrated and perhaps even wonder if it’s worth playing the game at all.

The sad truth is it will stay like this unless you make some changes in how you use your mind.

It’s kind of like being trapped in a room and the building is on fire. There are two doors and a window but there are flames on the other side of the window and smoke is billowing under the cracks of the doors. You desperately need to get out but you can’t find a way.

One thing’s for sure, no one wants to be stuck in a burning building with no way out. Sadly, that’s exactly what’s happening to most golfers every round they play. They’re suffocating on the mental fumes of their own uncontrollable mind.

Remember, what you resist persists. The more you struggle the worse things get.

The Discovery that Changed the Game, Forever…

You see, I have a background in the Psychology of Human Excellence. I’m an NLP Trainer with Ericksonian Hypnosis training and a host of other skillsets. My life, before golf, was focused on helping others achieve real, dramatic improvements in mental and physical performance. Then, just like you, I got infected with the golf bug and was obsessed with playing as well as I could.

In a minute you’ll find out that I taught myself how to golf, without taking lessons, but wanted more than just a good swing. I wanted to win and play well all the time! But, like you, I experienced frustration at not being able to duplicate my great rounds and play as well in tournaments and competitive situations.

That was until I discovered something, almost by accident, that changed my game and the games (now numbering in the thousands) of my private clients and students from all over the world. It is so powerful and effective at dissolving virtually every single mental issue a golfer faces. The endless issues that prevent you from playing the way you are capable of.

Yet what you’re about to learn is it has NOTHING to do with the swing and EVERYTHING to do with how you use your mind…

The Golf Whisperer Method Was Born

While teaching myself how to golf through applying my knowledge of advanced peak performance strategies and accelerated learning techniques I got down to a 3 handicap, without taking lessons. Not bad, huh.

Other golfers began hearing about my results and begged me to work with them. I said “I’m not a golf teacher or a pro.” That didn’t stop them. They just wanted results. I told them again, “I’m not a golf instructor or a sports psychologist.” They just smiled, ignored my comments and conitnued to pursue me.

One client said it best, “you may not have a Phd but you clearly have a masters in results and I want the results you’re getting!” A few of them admiringly nicknamed me the Golf Whisperer. That name stuck and became my brand.

So I started working with golfers of all skill levels, men, women and children. Something incredible happened. Almost be accident. This discovery has become like a Viagra for your mind. Real, predictable, measurable mental potency. You’re about to see why this analogy fits so well…

“It’s The Best Inner Game Training I’ve Ever Seen”

The Golf Whisperer’s material is the best mental game instructional training I have ever seen in over 30 years as a golf professional at the highest level and I am personal friends with several of the well known mental game gurus on the PGA Tour.

There has never been a champion that didn’t have a strong mind and the ability to control their thoughts and their focus. These methods are comprehensive and reveal the fundamentals of the inner game more succinctly than anything I have ever seen.”

Bobby McIver, PGA Tour Coach & Author of The Heart of the Game

What do Viagra, covert mental game training & lower scores have in common?

Did you know that Viagra was an accident? The Pfizer company was working on a drug for a completely different purpose and were doing clinical trials. Then from participant feedback they found a peculiar side effect: men were staying erect for hours! This had nothing to do with what they were developing the drug for.

The side-effect became more powerful (and with some stimulating benefits…) than the original purpose of the drug! It was an accident. So here I was working away on golfers’ games from all over the world using covert mental techniques I’d developed during these personal client “trials.”

(what I was doing began to spread very quickly by word of mouth alone. I didn’t promote myself at all yet I was getting swamped with requests)

We worked with visualization techniques, cool mental imagery exercises and some insanely potent mental drills. Yet my focus when working with players was just to improve their game and make them learn it faster.

And then something incredible happened. The game changing event slapped me in the face! I don’t know why I didn’t see it earlier.

The “AHA” moment struck me when dozens of students began sending feedback and testimonials on how calm and confident they were while playing the game. They told me they stopped feeling nervous over shots. Their focus improved. A laundry list of mental game issues as long as your arm were melting away, one after another.

I’m going to show you how this side effect has become the biggest breakthrough in game improvement in the past 50 years. It will save you more strokes than a big headed driver or a new set of irons EVER will!

It’s like taking a magic pill that unlocks the full potential of your mind & body

Imagine having a simple system, a method so potent at supercharging your mind it’s like taking a magic pill that instantly cures EVERY conceivable inner game problem you experience??? This is exactly what the Golf Whisperer method does. It will take your mind places you’ve never been on the golf course, I guarantee it.

Are you ready to enter a whole new world in golf? Do you want the red pill or the blue one? Yes, just like Morpheus in the Matrix he asks you to choose a pill: the red one or the blue one.

The red pill is what you’re already taking, by default. Not doing anything IS taking the red pill. It’s the toughest pill to swallow and easy to choke on yet golfers will mindlessly continue to take it. Your experiences will continue to stay the same, game after game after game.

The Red Pill Golfer’s World

Negative self talk – you beat yourself up after almost every shot – if you talked to others the way you talk to yourself you’d probably have no friends and for sure few playing partners…

Missed pressure putts – contantly missing that putt to win or shoot a personal best score

Bad swings at the wrong time – just when you need it least “that” swing shows up

Play worse in compeition – it’s easy to play well with no-one watching or nothing on the line but how well do you play when competing?

Uncontrollable nerves – first tee jitters and even score crushing nervousness while you play

Lack of focus – a scattered mind that can’t focus will never allow you to shoot your lowest scores.

Poor decision making – not thinking clearly and being certain your shot selection and club selection are the BEST for the sutuation

Easily distracted – someone walking or talking near you, coughing, birds chirping or whatever else, scatters your brain and you lose focus on your shot

Mentally giving up when things aren’t going good – this is a killer of ever being a great player.

And this is just a short list!

It’s hard to calculate how many strokes a round you’re losing every time you play

Blue Pill Golfer’s World with Golf Whisperer Training

Laser focus – you don’t even notice distractions because you’re so dialed in

Calm under pressure – this will stun your playing partners at how casually you make clutch shots and putts

Mental toughness – you’ll have a “never quit” attitude, regardless of your score and when the going gets tough you dig even deeper

Clear decision making – this will save you a minimum of 4 strokes a round Excitement and anticipation for competitive matches and tournaments

Mastery over your nerves – quick and lasting methods for staying calm, centered and relaxed from the first tee to the last putt

Play better in competition than in casual rounds – yes, BETTER Enter the zone at will – No-one else is teaching this. Know why? They don’t know how. There’s a path that leads to the zone and I’ll give you the GPS

It’s time to take control of your mind and your game and play to the level you KNOW you are capable of, isn’t it?

Covert mental techniques used by green beret’s, olympic athletes, martial artists and secretively by a handful of pga pros…

Do you think it’s an accident that when Tiger Woods was at his peak years ago he had the most dominant mind the game has ever seen? His mental toughness and focus were almost legendary. I have yet to see any player even close to his level of mental control, have you?

This wasn’t by accident, fluke, luck or chance. It was by design. Hypnosis training and advanced mental strategies were used throughout his early years. I modelled these strategies, built on them and created an entirely new system that has taken things to a new level never before seen in golf. Bold statement? Sure. Can I prove it? Absolutely.

Better yet I’ll let my customers do it. After all, they’re the reason this method exists.

“I racked up 5 birdies & won the competition by a mile!”