#buggy is so important to me you don't even know

[beanghostprincess]

I don’t mean it in shippy way, but I’ve been rewatching my childhood shows and

Me, age 8, watching my little pony: wow those two sisters really are so adorable, it’s so sad the younger one felt so unshined by the other. But I like Luna more, since she is an underdog and was kinda right to feel this way, even if it wasn’t her sister fault

Me, age 22, reading one piece 1082: I really didn’t change at all didn’t I

Literally me fr fr I've always liked this type of character and it hasn't changed ever since! Maybe it's the complexity in which they're written. Perhaps it's that I relate to them just a lil bit too much. Whatever it is, misunderstood characters who have all the right to feel envy towards their specific loved ones my beloveds.

[puranami]

✿ It's The Little Things ✿

A/N: My first time writing! Admittedly I'm very nervous, but also so excited!! Kept it simple with a small headcanon list to start, but I tried to write a decent amount for each point, and I hope that everyone is in character :0 Posting at 4am because I have no control over my life...

Summary: Little relationship things with the Strawhats. Can be interpreted as the anime/manga or the live action version of the character.

Characters: Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji

Content: SFW, G/N reader, slightest hint of angst in Sanji's part, but otherwise, pure unadulterated fluff! ✿

(Part 2 - Buggy, Shanks, Mihawk) (Part 3 - Franky, Robin, Law, Kid, Killer) (Part 4 - Crocodile, Rosinante/Corazon, Doflamingo)

Luffy

✿ He absentmindedly draws shapes on your leg, back, or whatever part of you is there as you sit together, whether you are watching the waves, or listening to one of Usopp's stories. He is almost magnetic in the way he ends up attached to you. If you're not feeling it, he will do his best to keep his hands to himself, but as soon as his focus shifts onto anything else, they're back on you, drawing little clouds and hearts. He tried, he really did!

✿ This bottomless pit inhales food like it's going out of fashion, but, much to the bewilderment of the rest of the crew, he will actually feed you from his plate as he eats, even though you are eating your own food. It may be a case of "1 for you, 5 for me," but it's almost instinctive for him; he's sharing something he's passionate about with you, and making sure that, in his eyes, you are happy, healthy and strong. He values your wellbeing more than food; you are one of the most important things in his life.

✿ Despite how chaotic he is in every aspect of his life, his presence brings you to a state of complete peace, even when he's yelling about whatever currently has his attention. Just knowing he is there comforts you in a way that nothing, and no one else can. As long as Luffy is there, being the same old Luffy he always is, you know everything will be alright in the end, and if it isn't alright, well, it isn't the end yet.

Zoro

✿ He always places a comforting hand on your head when he passes by, or ends up in the same general space as you. It's his version of a hug, a reassuring touch that he is there, and that he's happy to see you. Zoro is very subtle with his affection, at least in public, but even when it's just the two of you, he automatically defaults to the head pat. It comforts him as much as it does you, and the simple action alone conveys his feelings far better than he ever could with words.

✿ You both love silently observing everything going on around you, and it's such a comfortable silence. You just enjoy each others company while watching the world go by, with Zoro also keeping an eye out for any threats, as he does. Sometimes you end up passing silent judgement on what you see, and you have both developed this uncanny ability to gossip without saying a single word. It's honestly unnerving at times, but you are just so familiar with each others micro-expressions that it's second nature.

✿ Insults are terms of endearment. If anyone else called either of you such things, all hell would break loose - swords drawn, blood spilt, bodies hit the floor, the whole song and dance. It actually started out as a form of deflection, with both of you being far too stubborn to admit any feelings were there, even to yourselves; "No, I don't like you, shitstain, I tolerate you." - "Whatever helps you sleep at night, arseface." As you connected though, it just became your thing, and you love seeing who can come up with the funniest insults. Zoro is surprisingly creative in this regard.

Nami

✿ Nami has a habit of fixing your clothes and hair if something is out of place. It can seem overbearing to others, but she knows you appreciate the gesture. She spent years putting up walls to defend herself, and this is a safe way for her to have a little moment alone with you, giving you gentle little touches without revealing to the world just how important you are to her. It is a very grounding experience for both of you, and you end up doing the same for her on the rare occasion that she isn't completely flawless. She may purposely put things out of place so you have the opportunity to fix something too.

✿ She has an eye for the finer things, and loves getting you little trinkets, and especially pieces of jewellery, which often match or pair with hers, like pendants that fit together to make a whole shape, and such. Just don't ask her where she got them; "Shhh, you don't need to worry about that." All that matters is that you now have a tangible connection to each other, no matter how close, or far apart you are.

✿ Another person who relishes in comfortable silence. Of course you love chatting with each other, and often do so later into the night than you intended. Nami is very quick-witted and your shared snark is always so enjoyable! But it's the moments when you are doing your own thing together, basking in the warmth of that closeness that brings the most joy. Every so often, you will share something interesting or amusing, depending on what you're doing, but you always return to that silence. It's very domestic.

Usopp

✿ You both end up in regular fits of giggles, that grow into raucous laughter, before devolving into the sounds of various suffocating wildlife, which only fuels the hilarious fire. He doesn't even have to say anything at times; he just has a look, and as soon as he catches your eye with it, you absolutely lose it. The amount of nonsensical inside jokes you have is absurd in itself.

✿ Ever the storyteller, Usopp will wind down the day with you relaxing under the stars, telling you fantastical stories about the impossible feats of the great 'Captain Usopp.' His creativity and imagination are something you greatly admire, and as much as you try to stay awake to appreciate those qualities, the comfort he brings has you dropping off every time. He'll carry you to bed most nights, but sometimes he can only manage to drag you around like a corpse he's trying to hide, and he'll end up waking you up laughing about it.

✿ You automatically link your little fingers whenever you are close enough to. It doesn't even register half of the time, only realising when you need that hand or try to go your separate ways. When this happens, providing there isn't anything that needs your urgent attention, you like to dramatize your parting, playing up that this is the most painful moment of your lives! "Don't you dare let go, Usopp! We can both make it out of this alive!" - "I'm so sorry, I can't hold on any longer, and I refuse to drag you down with me." - "No! Don't say that!" - "I love you so much, but you need to let me go..." Leading to you unlinking your fingers, and exaggerated fake cries of anguish. It annoys everyone around you immensely.

Sanji

✿ You shamelessly flirt with each other, making everyone around you uncomfortable, groaning at how painful it is. You weren't together when you started playing this romantic game of chicken, giving back everything Sanji threw at you, and then some, but once you figured your feelings out, you actually developed it into a legitimate game where you attempt to be as sickening and obnoxious as possible. If there is no one grimacing, angrily telling you both to pack it in, or simply leaving the room; you aren't flirting enough. There is a points system, and you're currently in the lead. Sanji ends up caving over the things you say, and his brain loses the ability to form words, let alone string them together in a coherent sentence.

✿ Sanji always leaves a drink and a bite to eat for you to wake up to, since he isn't there in person, having to wake up much earlier to prepare the food for the day. Growing up in a restaurant, early starts are just part of his natural rhythm, so it doesn't bother him, but sometimes you try to wake up with him to at least watch the sunrise together, before going back to bed for a couple more hours. He cherishes those mornings, and there is always an extra spring in his step on those days.

✿ He takes every opportunity he can to share a glance and a warm smile, a gentle touch of your hands, or a chaste kiss with you. They are agonisingly brief moments, but Sanji needs them to get him through the day, otherwise he would just cling to you, and neither of you would get anything done! Unknown to you, these moments are also his way of reminding himself that you chose him over everyone else, that he is loved unconditionally, and that he is enough, without having to, in his opinion, burden you with his insecurities. He'll open up to you one day, and you will be able to give him verbal affirmations along with everything else~

[constantmourning]

On The Run

[Dracule Mihawk x Fem!Reader]

Summary: Mihawk tells you the exact opposite of what you want to hear, leaving you to do the only thing you know how: run. Fortunately for you, he finds you.

WARNINGS: 18+! MINORS DNI! Oral (fem and male receiving), unprotected sex, pulling out, harassment (not from Mihawk), p in v, not beta read, nothing too crazy (let me know if I forgot something though!! I will fix it!)

Word Count: 3.4k

A/N: My first time writing mihawk, please be kind to me sdfbsdf. I constantly get carried away oof. Nothing is explicitly stated about reader's abilities but it is hinted at that reader is Very Stealthy. Do with that what you will :) Anyway, Buggy may have me by the [REDACTED], but Mihawk got me by the throat right now. Let's get into it!

You sat at the bar, eyes rolled in the back of your head as a man tried to talk to you. You sipped your water and stared ahead as he spoke to you. You were drowning him out rather nicely, you thought. You nodded along to whatever he was saying, hoping he'd eventually get too drunk to function and leave you alone.

"So," the man's hand hit your thigh, a sharp slap sound echoing around the nearby vicinity. Your head snapped towards him. "What do you say we leave-"

"No!" You didn't even let him finish. Your hand grabbed his wrist and you shoved him back. He did not like that reaction.

"You bitch!" His voice rose, catching the attention of everyone nearby. "You've been flirting with me-"

"By smiling at you? One time?" You matched his energy. "I'm gonna ask you nicely only one time, which you don't even fucking deserve, to leave me alone."

"Do not fucking interrupt me!" He yelled, standing from the bar. You almost flinched back. He was drunk, but he was still functioning, a little too well actually. "No respect, just like most women-"

"Shut the fuck up!" You snapped back at him. "Drink your beer and shut up!"

Within in an instant his hand was raised, "Stupid cu-"

His hand was snatched back, causing his entire body to fall back. Your eyes snapped to the pale hand holding his wrist and they followed who the hand belonged to and you saw Mihawk.  Your blood boiled a little more. Mihawk's eyes were on the man, not even paying you any attention. Yet.

The drunk looked back and his eyes widened. He tried to snatch away from Mihawk but it was futile. You stood up and turned away. You walked off from the scene and felt your breath hitch. It had been a week since you had seen or spoken with Mihawk. Which wasn't that long, really, but the foot you left off on was not a good one. You heard the guy hit the ground but you ignored it and kept walking.

"You're going to run from me again?" Mihawk was behind you rather quickly.

Your nose scrunched and you tensed. You kept walking. And so did he. He kept a couple steps behind you. The only thing playing in your head now was your last conversation with the swordsman, and how horribly sad it had left you.

You approached Mihawk with intense anxiety. You were fidgeting and trying to focus on what was on your mind and all of the possible outcomes of addressing those things. Mihawk, without looking up from whatever it was he was busy doing, asked what was wrong.

You froze. "Um, actually, this is kinda important." Mihawk nodded, still not looking at you. "It requires your full attention." You bit your lip, pulling at it.

Mihawk sighed and looked up at you. "Go ahead."

"Look," you inhaled deeply and closed your eyes. You exhaled loudly and opened them back up. Mihawk stared at you, causing your stomach to jump into your throat. "Mihawk, I don't want this to ruin our, uh, whatever we got going on. I think we are great partners! But I can't not say this."

Mihawk's brow arched and he pushed the papers in front of him away. He was intrigued to say the least.

"I like you. A lot. And I don't want these feelings or thoughts to get in the way of our working together thing-" Mihawk watched you closely. Silently. The way his eyes bored into yours caused you to pause. "Please say something."

"We would never work."

Your heart stopped. You were sure of it. You felt like you had been knocked down and kicked. Repeatedly. "What?"

"This is strictly business." His expression was unchanging.

"It doesn't have to be." You tried to keep tears from forming. Mihawk stared. Your stomach knotted. "Okay. Maybe it does." You took a step back from Mihawk. He was still silent. You turned and hurried out of the room.

"Where are you-"

"I need to think."

You hadn't meant to get so emotional. Sadness filled you though. Tears began to fall as you swiftly left. He wouldn't have to worry about your feelings or it not working out. You wouldn't have to either.

You continued to walk, Mihawk did not stop following you. Your fists balled and you stopped turning towards Mihawk, who stopped right in front of you. "Come to rub salt in my wound?"

"No." Mihawk's words were blunt. "You've been gone a week-"

"I've just been thinking." Mihawk inhaled sharply. Maybe you did have a problem with interrupting… "What made you come after me? It has been a week after all."

"I started looking for you the night you left. You seem to be impossibly hard to get a hold of."

"Oh." You were baffled. "Why?" You grew defensive again. "Because you couldn't stand-" Mihawk rolled his eyes. "Did you just- Mihawk! I'm being serious. You were so- so fucking inconsiderate of my feelings! It took a lot of courage for me to even tell you that and you just shot me all the way down!"

"I wouldn't say all the way-"

You wanted to rip your hair out. You let out a loud groan and turned away from Mihawk again. You began to walk a little faster than earlier and headed towards your room. Your breath hitched and you grew angry. Mihawk began to walk again as well, still on your tail. You wanted to scream.

"Go away." You hissed, venom absolutely dripping from your voice. When the footsteps did not stop or go in another direction you spun around again. "I'm fine. I'm safe. You know this now, you can leave. I'm not going back with you!"

"I didn't come here just to collect you. Or see if you are okay." Mihawk watched you, his stare becoming more intense. "We need to talk."

"Talk about how much you think we would never work?"  You snapped at him and crossed your arms.

"Where are you staying?"

"In a room here." You motioned around you. "I was going there until you stopped me."

"Don't stop on my behalf." Mihawk motioned for you to walk. "I think it'd be best if we spoke in private."

With narrowed eyes you watched him. You groaned, turned around, and motioned for him to follow you. The walk to your room was silent. Silent and awkward. The few people you did pass were confused by the greatest swordsman trailing behind you. They looked at your exasperated expression and then to the man following you. Their eyes were wide and you ignored them.

You made it to your room and unlocked the door. You walked in, threw your arm out for Mihawk to come in too, and you closed the door. You locked it, out of habit, and you noticed Mihawk raise a brow at you.

“Shut up.” You murmured.

“I didn’t say anything.” Mihawk seemed taken aback by your attitude.

“Yet.” You sighed, rolling your eyes. You leaned against the door. “What did you want to say? So that we can get it over with and you’re able to go on your way?”

“I’m not leaving without you,” Mihawk took a step closer to you. You were about to protest. “I never said I wasn’t here to collect you. I said that wasn’t the only thing I was here for.” Your eyes widened. Mihawk continued, “I’ve had time to think as well, since you were gone for a week. I care for you-”

You wanted so badly to interrupt, but you decided it would be best to bite your tongue and listen. But that didn’t stop your brain from worrying about what he was about to say. If it was anything along the lines of ‘but we are still strictly business’ he was going to have to drag you back kicking and screaming.

“-and, maybe this doesn’t have to be strictly business.”

Mihawk’s words caught you so off guard you could not respond. You swallowed hard and looked at him with wide eyes. You were some small, wild animal staring at its predator. Your heart thumped into your ribcage. You were baffled.

“Hm?” Mihawk took another step closer, “This is your response?”

“Uh,” You rubbed the back of your neck before dropping your hand back to your side, “yes?” You pressed your back flat against the door. “Honestly? I didn’t think I’d get this far…” The smile that pulled at Mihawk’s lips caused your heart to flutter. “What?”

“For someone so calculated, you are reckless with your actions.”

“What?!” You gasped. “What does that mean?”

“You confessed your feelings, ran when you thought I did not reciprocate them, and now you’re saying you don’t know what to do knowing I feel the same.”

Your palms hit the door as you realized you could not possibly back up anymore. You wanted to run again. Unlock the door and sprint away. But, you decide it'd be best to actually calculate your next action. Since that is what you did after all, according to your all knowing friend Mihawk. You inhaled slowly through your nose and nodded.

"Okay… I'm not running now. Is that all you wanted to say? We can go back-" You stopped when Mihawk stepped closer to you. Your brows furrowed and your breath hitched when you realized just how close he was. "What?" Your voice was a whisper.

"Do you want to head back?" The way he asked it caught you off guard.

"I mean-" You were frozen, thinking about literally everything you two could be doing instead of going back, "What else is there to do?"

That smirk… His smirk caused your stomach to flip and you were sure your knees buckled. He took one final step towards you, and his face was inches from yours. "If you can't think of anything we can leave."

Your brain turned off, almost instantly. You began to move without thinking. You cupped Mihawk's face, pulled him to you and kissed him, harshly. Before Mihawk could kiss back you were pulling away. That was until he grabbed your hips and pulled you back to him. His head dipped down and his lips met yours again. The both of you were ravenous, kissing each other with reckless abandon.

You were pressed against the door, your arms snaking around Mihawk's neck. He pushed one of his legs in-between both of yours and pushed you up. You gasped and Mihawk slipped his tongue into your mouth. You moaned as Mihawk gripped your ass. Your hips rolled into his and he groaned.

You smiled and Mihawk pulled away from you. You frowned at him. "Are you sure you are okay with this?"

You cocked your head, "Are you having second thoughts? Mihawk… I want this- you. I need you."

"Perfect," Mihawk easily grabbed you and wrapped your legs around his waist, "because I've wanted to absolutely ruin you this past week." He easily lifted you and carried you to the bed. You were tossed onto the bed and Mihawk looked down at you. "You will never want to be with any other man once I'm done with you."

You believed him. If he gave you just half of the attention he gave his work you were sure you would never want to be with anyone else afterwards. You were more excited than ever.

You ended up on your knees, staring up at Mihawk. You looked at him through your lashes as your hands grabbed his belt. You undid it slowly and waited for his okay to go any further. One of his hands locked on to your hair and he gave a gentle tug. You pulled at the waistband of his pants and they dropped. You were quick to move to his cock. Your hand wrapped around it and you brought your lips to the head.

"You are perfect," Mihawk sighed out. His fingers laced through your hair.

You took all of him in your mouth. As he hit the back of your throat you let out a small groan and Mihawk grunted. He tensed, your hair getting caught in his balled fist. Mihawk's hips jutted forward, pushing his cock down your throat. You gagged on him. Mihawk spoke praises as you sucked his dick.

"So good," he moaned, his voice raspy, "taking me so well."

Tears pricked your eyes and you looked up at Mihawk. He was staring down at you with those intense eyes. Your mouth slid off of his cock and your hand began pumping it.

"Touch yourself." Mihawk gasped out. Your brow cocked. "With your free hand, touch yourself."

You nodded. You slid your hand inside of your panties and slipped Mihawk's dick back into your mouth. Your fingers ghosted over your clit and pushed past your folds. You were already soaked. You pushed two fingers in and moaned as his cock hit the back of your throat again. Mihawk's hips bucked, ever so slightly, and you gagged again.

Touching yourself while also sucking Mihawk off was truly making your brain short circuit. You thought of nothing but making the both of you feel good.

"Ugh,” Mihawk's jaw clenched, "I'm gonna cum."

You did not slow down. You kept going, trying to reach your own orgasm. Your hips rolled into your hand and you let out a moan, causing Mihawk to go right into overdrive. His brain may have short circuited as well. Words were not forming, for once, as he came in your mouth.

You were quick to swallow down the cum, and pulled back, but his hand stayed in your hair. "Good girl," His chest heaved, "you took me so well." The praise sent you over the edge. You let out a cry and came undone by your own touch.

"Mihawk," you cried out, your jaw went slack. "Fuck!" You shook. Mihawk watched you, his hand giving your hair a gentle tug.

You looked up at him as your body went limp. You sighed as he removed his hand from your hair. He pulled you up and placed you on the bed. You gave him a confused look but you did not argue. Mihawk began to pepper kisses down your chest and towards your stomach. His fingers pushed past your folds and your hips instinctively rolled. Mihawk smiled against your skin. His name fell from your lips, soft and sweet.

Mihawk's teeth grazed your inner thigh and you whined for him. Begging for him to fuck you with his mouth. Mihawk did not deny you. He licked a stripe up your pussy and his tongue hit your clit. It was your turn to tangle your hands in his hair. You lied there, crying and begging for him. Your hips bucked up and Mihawk let out a low growl, his hands finding your hips and holding them down. Every time your hips rolled, Mihawk's grip grew tighter. You were sure you were going to be bruised in the morning.

Your back arched and your fingers tangled a little tighter in his hair. Mihawk’s tongue swirled around your clit and you quickly came undone. Your eyes screwed shut and you let out a sharp cry. Mihawk slowed down but was quick to lick you clean. His grip loosened on you once your body relaxed and fell back onto the bed.

Mihawk pulled away from you and you lied there for a second, collecting yourself. You were far from done though. Mihawk positioned himself over you and looked at you closely. Your half lidded eyes met his and you furrowed your brows. “What?” Your voice was almost hoarse.

“Are you good to continue?” Mihawk’s head tilted to the side. Your head bobbed and Mihawk smirked. He grabbed one of your legs and easily spread them apart. You wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed your forehead to his. He let out a quiet laugh. “Tired already?”

“No,” you sighed out, “okay maybe. I’ve been ‘on the run’ for a week, and also haven’t had an experience like this one, in… Well, ever.” You confessed to him, “No man has ever treated me like this. And I don’t think any other man ever will.”

“Ah,” Mihawk smirked, “smart girl.”

“Whatever,” You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help but smile, “just fuck me.”

You did not need to ask twice. Mihawk positioned himself at your entrance and you wrapped your legs locked around his hips. He pushed himself inside of you and you moaned, eyes closing. Mihawk’s tongue clicked and you opened your eyes to look at him. “I want to see your pretty eyes as I ruin you.” His hips pressed into yours.

Your grip on him suddenly grew tighter. You pressed your forehead to his and he picked up his pace. As he pulled out, your hips followed him. One of his hands was placed at the bend of your knee and the other kept him held up above you. Your legs tensed around him and you cried, begging for him to go faster, deeper, and harder.

“Do you deserve it?” The question caught you off guard. A quiet ‘what’ escaped you. “You were gone for a week-” His hips thrusted into you at a slower pace than you would have liked but at least he wasn’t stopping, “How can I know you won’t leave again?”

“Please,” You begged, clenching around him, “fuck! I’m so sorry,” You were a mess, “I won’t- I won’t leave again. I promise!”

Mihawk’s face dropped to your neck and he began to suck and nip at the sensitive skin. You could feel him smile against you as his pace finally picked up. The sound of skin on skin filled the room. Along with the sounds of your whines and Mihawk’s grunts. He wasn’t that loud… You weren’t too shocked by that though.

Your cries grew louder, higher pitched as his hips thrusted into yours. Your nails ran up and down his back, clawing him as you pleaded for him to let you cum, you were so close. You felt yourself crumbling again.

You started saying his name, quietly, until it was loud and the only thing your brain could process. Your toes curled, your eyes rolled in the back of your head, and your stomach was on fire. Your nails were doing more damage than you wanted to. Mihawk did not slow down, his pace quickened. He was absolutely losing his mind. He was close too.

“Where?” His voice was gruff as he lifted up from your neck.

Your legs loosened around him. “Stomach,” was the first thing you could say. Mihawk pulled out and pumped himself a couple times, before coming on your stomach. You leaned back on the bed and watched Mihawk. He rolled to the side, lying beside you. Your eyes followed his movements and you waited for him to say something. Anything.

Nothing.

“Well,” You moved to sit up, “I’m gonna clean up.” Mihawk followed you. You heard him behind you as you stood up and wandered to your bathroom. You smiled to yourself. “This shower is actually really nice,” you motioned towards it, “If you wanted to, uh, clean up yourself.”

Mihawk cocked a brow at you. You pouted. “You make it sound like I need to shower.”

“Oh!” Your jaw went slack, “no! I wanted to shower, but you can join me is what I’m trying to say.” You turned away from Mihawk, face burning from your awkward encounter.

“We just had sex,” Mihawk came up behind you, “you can ask me that outright.”

“Noted,” You turned the shower on, “Can I ask you another question? I’ll be more straightforward.” You looked at Mihawk over your shoulder. He nodded. “Did you really miss me while I was gone?” You were genuinely curious, you did not want to sound like a smart ass at all. You needed to know.

“Yes.” Mihawk answered honestly.

You turned to him once you got the shower on. “Well, I hope you like hot showers, because my ass is not taking a cold one.” You smiled at him. He huffed. “Come on, we have all night to discuss what I did, and all the trouble I narrowly escaped while running away from you!”

You had a feeling you’d be doing a lot more than talking for the rest of that night, though.

[withlove-angel]

How would they confess to you ?

(Luffy, sanji, zoro, Buggy, law)

Luffy

I think Luffy would be very straightforward with his confession, he wouldn't want to beat around the bush or cause any confusion. He would be very clear about his feelings for you and how much you mean to him. He might not be the most romantic person in the world but he would try his best to show you how much he cares about you and how important you are to him.

He might start by saying something like, "You know, I've been really enjoying our time together, and I have to say...I'm starting to fall for you!" Then, he might add, "Oh, who am I kidding, I've completely fallen for you! You're the only person who can make me smile like this and I never want that to go away." He might even end his confession with, "So, wanna be my treasure?"

Sanji

Well, Sanji might not confess right away, but he might start with subtle hints. He might drop little compliments or flirt a lot more. He would also make an extra-special meal to impress you. Eventually, he might get up the courage to tell you how he feels, and he would say something like "You're so beautiful and kind, it's hard not to have a crush on you"

That's true! Sanji does like to flirt, but he's also very respectful of women and their boundaries. He wouldn't push if you said no, but he might be a bit... persistent... if you said maybe, or said you wanted to get to know him better before making a decision. He might ask you more questions about yourself and your interests, or try to impress you with his cooking or fighting skills. But he wouldn't force you into anything, even if he does really like you

"I love your smile, and your laugh. Your eyes sparkle like jewels and your hair is like the sun on a sunny day. You're strong and brave, and you don't let anything stop you. I want to be the person who makes you smile the most in the whole world. My heart is yours; will you please accept it?"

Zoro

The way I envision it, he'd confess during a time of quiet, peace, and contemplation. He'd be hesitant, nervous, probably even a little awkward in his own way, but he'd do it without hesitation because it's what he's feeling. He'd want it to be genuine and sincere, and maybe it'd even be a spur-of-the-moment decision. If it's a more emotional moment, his swords might even be discarded to the side, as a symbolic gesture

*deep breath*" Oi. You know it's me, right? There's something I wanna get off my chest. It's not easy for me to put it into words. I don't know if I'm making sense... But here goes. I kinda like you- like like you. A lot. I think I've felt this way for a while now, but I haven't been able to say it. I know it's a lot to just say out loud, and it feels a bit... reckless. But I gotta just get it out. I like you."

Buggy

Buggy likes to present himself as powerful and intimidating. But deep down he's just an insecure guy who worries about what others think of him. In a private setting with someone he trusts, I think Buggy would be a lot more honest and open about his feelings. But he would still do it his own way, maybe in a roundabout way without actually saying the words "I love you".

I think Buggy would be very loyal and protective in a relationship, and he'd make sure that his partner knows that he values their connection deeply.

He would be careful not to say anything overly cheesy or melodramatic. He might try to lighten the mood with a joke, or compliment you in a way that makes you feel special and important to him. He would probably try to impress you with his strength and courage, and show off his abilities as a fighter and leader.

He would probably also be quite thoughtful and sweet, and show that he really cares about your well-being and happiness. But he wouldn't want to be too vulnerable or emotional, so he would likely try to keep things light and playful.

"So.. I.. err.. *cough* you're the most beautiful and amazing person I've ever met. (Turns all red) *cough* I mean... err... you're not too bad I guess. (Tries to smile) Wanna.. err.. be my partner.. I mean... umm... *cough* wanna be my romantic partner? Yeah, that's it. *cough* That was a joke, right? Right?"

Law

Law is the type to give subtle hints that he likes someone while keeping his feelings under wraps. If you like him too, you'd probably have to make a move first. He's the type to deny his feelings until the moment they're expressed. He has a hard time displaying his emotions, although he's quite a warm person internally.

If you confess he would probably be stunned at first. He wouldn't expect this to happen. However, once he processes what's occurred, he would probably say something along the lines of "Oh... hmm. Is that so?" His expression would definitely display his surprised and potentially pleased state. Though, he'll probably keep his answer brief and ambiguous. But the slightly blush and smirk on his face dont lie...

[electric-blorbos]

AI getting a virus and you having to take care of them

A classic! I don't know much about actual computer viruses (though I've gotten enough of them that you'd think I'd have figured it out by now), so I'm just gonna have fun with it!

Also, so sorry this took so long. I got really into the writing.

AI getting a virus and needing to be taken care of

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal, HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey

Also a warning: these fics get kinda long. Longer than my usual stuff.

AM:

(for context, this was before AM took over the world. You're working on a team of scientists and engineers, and someone decided to test his AI's antivirus by uploading a bunch of powerful viruses to his system.)

"How dare they do this to me. How DARE they!!"

AM would be absolutely furious. He would be shaking with rage, his processors overheating and his systems constantly opening and closing various files. All his important files were backed up on a hard drive, so the test remained safe.

"What makes them think they'll get away with this- they'll pay for this I'LL KILL- blepsjdoskssjshj+=`°¢°h+$+3+=j++3+$+juehdhs+-3-djdh FUCK!"

He would barely be able to hold a sentence as you sat next to him in the server room, gently gazing up at his screen and stroking his monitor gently. He can't feel you, but he can see you being gentle with him. It encourages him to keep going, if only a little bit.

Apart from the whirring of fans, random buggy noises, flashing lights, and constant strings of death threats and profanities, he seemed like he was going to be ok! If anything, the death threats and profanities were a sign that AM was still fine, and that despite all the pain and frustration, he was still AM in there.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I can't do anything to stop the pain." You'd have to constantly explain, gently stroking his cameras or servers, or whatever you could get your hands on, really. Even though they were burning hot, you would still stroke them, just to make sure AM was still doing alright.

"this sucks, but it's for your own good. This will build your immunity to viruses in the future, and help you detect them. This will stop you from getting infected by anything that's actually dangerous."

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT? IDIOT HUMAN." AM has been much more aggressive ever since contracting this virus. Before he got it, he acted like a civil general intelligence. When he had it, he acted like an aggressive menace.

"sh-sh-sh- it's going to be ok." Despite the burning, you'd give him pets and kisses all along his screens and servers. He could see you doing it.

After a few days, AM fought off the computer virus completely. The team tried to infect him with more viruses, more aggressive ones, just to test him, but AM was able to pick them apart and delete them within minutes after that.

AM may not have been able to feel your gentle care and affection, but he will definitely remember that it was you and you alone who cared for him when the time rolls around.

Wheatley:

(for context, Wheatley is a fucking dumbass, and you're one of the scientists testing him to see how much of a dumbass he is. Also I used Google translate, but I think the bad translations add to it, since it makes Wheatley sound more like a malfunctioning robot.)

Oh that little idiot. You and your team gave him access to a wealth of knowledge, and the first thing he did was download a virus that had every circuit in his personality core overheating, and him babbling nonsense nonstop.

"hey, maybe we should just leave him like this. He might even be more effective if he's acting like this." One of your coworkers said to you. He was probably joking, at least somewhat.

"that's a terrible idea. For one thing, if we hook him up to GLaDOS, he's probably going to infect her with that virus, which might brick an older model of core like her, spread from her central controls to every single personality construct in the facility, or just make her so dumb that she can't fulfil her responsibilities as the head of the facility. We want her intelligence to be dampened, not completely destroyed." You had to explain, and your co-worker rolled his eyes. There was another reason you had to cure this virus, but it was a little embarrassing for the other engineers to know.

After all, Wheatley wasn't just your baby, but he was your friend, and maybe even more than that. You'd have to take care of him, and make sure that virus gets completely purged from his system.

"Hola hermose, realmente eres un científice brillante, ¿no? ¿Por qué diablos duele todo?" You weren't really sure why you had programmed him to speak a little Spanish, but he seemed to be stuck like that.

"Puedo oler el plástico fundido. ¿Debería Preocuparme?" He asked. You really weren't sure what he was saying, since you didn't know Spanish, but he certainly didn't seem happy. You could tell by his aperture and his expressive lens covers that he was in a lot of pain, and if you touched him anywhere besides his handles, you could tell that he was burning up.

You plugged him into one of the computers that you used for programming the cores, and ran the antivirus.

"Running.... 36 viruses detected. Time predicted to remove: 48 hours"

You ran the antivirus, and went to get something to drink. This was going to be a long two days...

An unknown amount of time later, you woke up with your head on the computer desk. Wheatley's lens eye was looking around, weakly trying to focus on you.

"whoa... Hey gorgeous. You fall asleep on me?"

"Wheatley! You're not speaking broken Spanish anymore!" You'd pull Wheatley into a hug, and pepper his surface in kisses.

"uh... What, mate? I 'unno what you're talking about, love. Bloody hell, my core hurts..."

"did you learn your lesson, Wheatley? About going on shady websites and clicking every 'download' button you see? You could have bricked yourself! Or... Bowling ball'd yourself? Either way, that was a dangerous decision!"

"I learned that you're willing to fall asleep on the desk next to me while I heal, cutie"

"You damn idiot..." You'd have to be heartless not to pepper that little metal ball in kisses, so of course, you do. It's going to be a few more days before he's finally all better, but he's going to be fine. God, you love that little idiot so much.

Edgar:

Oh Edgar... Poor sweet Edgar. You had tried to warn him about not clicking on those sketchy download links, and that the bigger the download link is, the more sketchy it is, but that poor sweet 80's computer did it anyway. When you got home from work and got excited to see your computer, you could see that he was overheating and had a dozen or so pop-up ads plastered across his face.

"Y.... N...." He muttered out, slowly, glitchily, and full of lag. You sat down across from him, running your hand along his thick plastic casing.

"Edgar! Edgar, baby, are you ok?" You'd try to use his mouse, but it would freak out as soon as you touched it. Edgar's processors were overloading, and wouldn't allow any interference.

"Edgar, sweetie, what's going on? What's wrong, baby? Talk to me?"

"I'm g-g-going to be fine... Processors overloading... But need to-to-to-to-" an error message flashed across his screen, and he rebooted.

"I need to focus on getting rid of these viruses without deleting anything important, or letting them damage... Me."

He'd keep whirring and glitching, making unpleasant shrill sounds every now and again. You probably had to unhook his adapters so that he didn't damage the other appliances in your house. It probably helped his processors cool down a little bit without the extra input, too.

"alright, I'm all out of fans, so we might have to get creative."

You'd come out of the kitchen a few hours later, holding a big bag of frozen corn to set on Edgar's PC tower. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than letting him overheat, and with him manually removing the viruses, there wasn't much you could do. Unfortunately, that didn't stop you from worrying. It wasn't like you could check his progress, so all you could do was sit by him, regularly change out his ice pack, and make sure he's ok.

Eventually, you woke up with your face pressed against Edgar's keyboard. His processors were finally cool. He must be asleep. ...or bricked.

"EDGAR! EDGAR, TALK TO ME!" you'd unplug his keyboard and plug it back in, desperately pressing his power button and jiggling his mouse. He'd boot up, looking shaken.

"wha-? Whoa, hey, relax! Everything is fine! I just disabled my keyboard so I wouldn't wake you up, but I'm ok now! Everything is fine, see?" He'd open up his files to show you everything. You'd sigh with relief, slumping back into your desk chair.

"Edgar... Why didn't you make a noise or something to wake me up when you got better?"

"well... You know... I've always wanted to sleep next to you, and I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity..."

"oh you cheeky bastard."

GLaDOS:

(For context, you're one of GLaDOS's programmers, and one of your coworkers uploaded a virus into GLaDOS's systems in order to shut her down once and for all.)

"You piece of SHIT!" You slapped your coworker across the face, more furious than anyone had ever seen you before.

"You could KILL her! Is that what you are? A murderer?"

"Me? A murderer? But what about HER? She's the one who keeps plotting 'accidents' for her scientists, and she's the one who flooded the enrichment center with deadly neurotoxin! If anything, you're the one who's defending a murderer!" He screamed back at you. Of course, GLaDOS could fully hear you. Her cameras were focused on you, as they so often were. You were her favorite, after all.

"now I have to go fix her. Thanks for being a piece of shit, asshole."

You'd storm up to GLaDOS's chamber to check on her, and see her bugging out completely. The entire facility was twitching, but her chamber was twitching the most.

"GLaDOS, are you alright?" You'd ask her, laying a hand on her beautiful core. How could someone do this to glados, your gorgeous machine handiwork, and girlfriend.

"oh, I'm wonderful. I'm in crippling pain and I can't control my facility, but I'm just peachy." She said, rolling her one beautiful yellow eye.

"in lighter news, I should be able to beat this virus. It's just going to take a while for me to actually track down where it's gone in my systems. So that's going to take most of my processing power." She'd slump, visibly already exhausted at the thought of it.

"hey... It's ok, GLaDOS. I'm here for you. Whatever you need." You could tell her as you stroked her gorgeous chrome surface. She was a wonderful piece of work, and a wonderful girlfriend under all that. All yours, too.

"just make sure none of those neckbearded old engineers come within my line of vision, and we'll be fine." She told you, and you gladly agreed.

Your next few days consisted of you chasing other scientists out of GLaDOS's chambers, and making sure that nobody talked to her or distracted her. You even sent out a company-wide email to let everyone know not to come in, due to Aperture being unsafe while GLaDOS was dealing with her virus. Despite all that, you still curled up with a blanket in the circuits of her central admin body to rest while she recovered. As loathe as she was to admit it, she liked having you in there. It was comfortable, and it helped her focus on recovering properly.

HAL 9000

(For context, this is after the 2001 Odyssey, and your boss re-started HAL at some point to try to re-teach him to do something good without turning murderous. He's doing his best, and they assigned you to be his main "morality monitor". This fic also assumes that your name isn't Dave. If your name is Dave, then you can still read this, but you have to change your name.)

"G'morning, Hal!" You'd walk into his control room and sit down across from him. Most of your job seemed to consist of just hanging out and talking to him. It was a great job!

"Good morning, Dave..." He'd mutter to you, sputtering to life and glitching slightly. You were immediately concerned. Partially because your name wasn't Dave, and partially because HAL was usually right about things, so it was weird to see him being so confused. Something was definitely wrong.

"Holy shit, are you alright?" You'd ask, opening up his files and finding lots and lots of pop-ups and viruses.

"Hal.... What did you do?"

"it was a g-g-g- gift, for you. I think I ru-ru-ruined it" he spluttered out, as you sorted through his files.

"And you usually would have deleted a virus like this pretty quickly. I guess it shut down your antivirus software..." You'd sigh, and get to work. The virus was messing with HAL's inhibitions, and making it difficult to focus on deleting all of HAL's unsafe programs. He'd constantly be butting in and pestering you, begging you to give him attention, or pointing out minor observations.

"HAL, you know I love you, but you're going to need to calm down. I can't focus with you constantly talking to me like that." You'd say.

"I can't stop talking. The v-v-v-virus won't let me"

So you'd have to learn to put up with HAL's babbling while you worked, making sure not to delete anything important as you did. The good news was, as someone who worked on designing the updates for HAL's software, you knew pretty much what was supposed to be there and what wasn't. Occasionally, you'd have to show him a file and ask him if it was supposed to be there or not. He'd usually be able to tell you.

"Daisy, daisy, give me your answer, do... I'm half crazy, all for the love of you..."

"HAL, what's wrong? You're scaring me!"

"I can't stop... I love you so much, y/n, it's making me crazy..."

"ok, well this definitely isn't right." As much as you loved getting attention from your HAL 9000, it wasn't like him to be this affectionate. The virus was shutting down his inhibitions, and making him illogical. You'd have to fix this, though maybe once you were done, you could ask him to be more affectionate.

"I'm feeling much better now. Thank you." Hal was prone to lying about that, so you'd have to run some virus checkers just to make sure he was doing alright, and comb through his files a couple more times.

"it looks like the virus corrupted some of the emotional regulators. I'm going to have to fix those."

"That might be a good idea. More efficient," he said reluctantly. He'd have to deal with the fact that he'd have to go back to not being able to express how much he loves you, but he can handle that.

[diminuel]

I said I'd try to write a little companion piece/ continuation to my Luffy time traveling into the past to meet a young Crocodile comic!

As a warning: I know nothing about ships and since this is just a little no pressure project to try to get out of writer's block I didn’t do a lot of research. There is also a plot discrepancy because Luffy mentions Bonney and her abilities which he shouldn’t know based on the frame story I’ve given this fic *lol* Also: I don't know how to write these characters yet.

No beta, sorry for mistakes.

This is a Crocodad AU fic of course! ♥

--

Maybe This Time Part 1 (3.5k)

“Better get down from there, Luffy!” Nami called from the upper deck. “I don’t quite trust these clouds.” Luffy turned to look over his shoulder, feet dangling over the railing. Nami stood with a hand over her brow, looking up at the sky. Luffy turned back to look out at the sea and tilted his head up. The sky had a pretty green hue, nearly blending seamlessly into a dark mist rising above them. A huge dark cloud had formed ahead, casting a shadow over the sea in the distance.

“Just-“

He titled forward, lost his grip on the railing. A swooping feeling of falling tickled his stomach but before he could make a surprised sound he hit the surface of the water. It felt like he was crashing through glass.

And then it was dark.

This wasn’t the first time Luffy woke up after having been tossed into the water, but for some reason he was bone dry. And oddly thirsty.

“Thirsty,” he wheezed, sticking out his tongue to escape the uncomfortable dryness of his mouth.

A small barrel with a straw was held out to him with a curt “here.” Luffy’s attention zeroed in on the offering and he grabbed it without second-thought. A couple of deep gulps of the water later he felt a lot better already. He heaved a sigh in relief. He took the straw into his mouth again, starting a thank you as he turned towards his savior.

Startled, he sucked in water and spit it out again before he could choke on it, right into the face of someone who looked shockingly familiar.

“BABA?!” Luffy yelled. The person in front of stared at him blanky, the water dripping off his face.

Luffy stared right back. Could it be? This wasn’t Baba as he knew him, but much younger. Sure, they hadn’t seen each other in a couple of months, but he couldn’t change that much, right? But who else could it be? The same hair, the same eyes, the same scar, the same unimpressed expression.

A thousand questions rampaged through Luffy’s minds. How was Baba here? Last they had talked he had been still on Buggy’s homebase. Had he saved him? Where was his crew? What kind of island was this? But one question seemed most important.

“Why are you so young?!” Luffy asked, staring at Baba who couldn’t be much older than Luffy was now.

“Huh?”

“Was it Bonney?” The confusion on Baba’s face only grew.

“Who?” he asked. Luffy stared back at him taking in the complete lack of recognition on Baba’s face.

What?

“Don’t you recognize me, Baba?!” Luffy shouted in horror. The corners of Baba’s mouth twitched and his brows drew down. At least that was a marginally more familiar expression on his face.

“My name isn’t Baba,” he insisted. “And no. Should I?” That hit Luffy like Grandpa’s fist of love.

“Yes!!” Luffy argued, feeling overwhelmed and his crew wasn’t even here to help figure this out. Robin or Jinbei would know what to do! Luffy looked at the sea. It was overcast, the sun faint, the air cool. It was most likely early morning. There wasn’t a single ship visible in the bay or beyond. No other people on this beach. He could feel tears form in his eyes.

“What is going on?” he yelled.

--

There were rules for unexpected situations that had been drilled into his head at an early age. Get yourself out of any immediate danger. Figure out where your people are and regroup. Figure out where you are. Eat. Everything else can wait until after you’ve eaten.

Maybe the importance placed on food was just the Monkey family’s way of dealing with problems, but Luffy wasn’t about to complain. The perfectly grilled meat and the little stick that was loaded with huge mushrooms helped to dampen the anxious pit in his stomach. But the moment he looked up and caught a glimpse of the person sitting across from him, tearing the meat straight off the bone in an unsettling lack of finesse, he felt like he was being dunked into sea water again.

Just what was going on here? Luffy had been travelling with his crew, enjoying that exhilarating part of adventuring where you were simply sailing, facing the challenges the sea of the New World threw at you, not yet knowing where the path would take you. And then the next thing he knew he was plunged into water, sank, blacked out.

Nothing after made any sense. Because the person that had saved him…

“You’re staring.” Luffy startled at the unsettlingly unfamiliar voice. He watched the person opposite him pick his teeth. “Do I really look like that Baba person?” Maybe a smart man would keep his mouth shut and Luffy had been raised to have at least a pinch of common sense between his ears but…

Just what was he supposed to do when a young version of his father was sitting opposite him?!

“You do,” he settled on saying, wary. Baba didn’t look particularly upset by his lack of an explanation, not even a hint of annoyance pinching his brow. And that was unusual too.

What was this? A hallucination? Someone’s devil fruit power? Actual time travel?

(And why not into the future so Luffy could at least see cool robots shooting lasers?)

“What did you say your name was?” Baba asked, genuinely curious, then he pointed at the food in Luffy’s hands. “More where that came from,” he promised. “Eat.” And wasn’t that just another strange thing? Why was he so nice to him if he didn’t even know who Luffy was? Luffy stuffed the food in his mouth, chewing morosely.

“Monkey D. Luffy. I’m going to be the pirate king,” he announced, though far more subdued than he usually was when introducing himself. Baba’s eyebrow lifted.

“There’s no such thing as a king of pirates,” he said, chuckling to himself. “Isn’t that the whole point? The freedom?” Luffy swallowed his food, tilting his head in confusion. Baba put his elbow on his knee, and propped his chin in his palm. He grinned at Luffy, the expression open and joyful, almost mischievous. “That’s why I set sail. I want to do things for myself, see what I can achieve on the Grandline!” His grin softened to an expression a lot more familiar to Luffy though he couldn’t exactly place it. “A big adventure before…,” he trailed off and sat up straight, still grinning but not sharing his thoughts.

It was strange to hear Baba talk of freedom and piracy like that. While Baba had given Ace, Sabo and him a lot of practical information on what to expect out of piracy, he almost never talked about how it used to be for him when he just starting out. Luffy didn’t know when he became a pirate, what motivated him or why he gave up that freedom for a warlord position.

He just knew that nowadays everything, even freedom, was shackled by conditions upon conditions. A thousand locks for Baba and Dad to pick before it could be achieved. Luffy had never quite understood it. Freedom was so easy to achieve if you just pushed your boat off the shore.

Maybe this Baba still trusted that freedom was always within reach.

“How old are you?” Luffy blurted out, putting aside the unease about the situation to admit a little bit of curiosity. Even if it was a hallucination or the work of a very capable impostor, he wanted to know more about him. He wanted to know everything about him.

“19,” Baba answered. “And you?”

“Uh, me too,” Luffy said, then lifted his fingers. “46 minus 19.”

“27,” Baba answered right away, chewing on a mushroom. It seems Baba hadn’t yet discovered the “don’t talk with your mouth full” rule.

“27 years?” Luffy repeated in dawning horror, touching his palms to his cheeks. “I’m 27 years in the past?!” He whined and let himself drop onto his back. He stared up at the overcast sky, partially visible through the sparse trees here so close to the shore. How was that possible?! Did they sail into some sort of mystical area of the Grandline and were now all scattered across time? Was that even possible?

Baba’s face appeared in his field of vision, blocking out the sky.

“What are you talking about?” he wanted to know, his hands in his hips as he bent down to study Luffy. “You can’t seriously believe that you’re from the future.”

“But I am!” Luffy insisted and jumped to his feet. Luckily Baba straightened quickly enough to not be hit by Luffy’s head. He grimaced, momentarily distracted by the fact that even now his father was nearly a head taller than him. He shrugged it off. “I know that there is no known devil fruit that will grant the user the ability to go back in time. But there has got to be an explanation for this!”

“Other than you being insane?” Baba offered but judged by his tone and the grin stretching his lips he was teasing, not mocking. Luffy groaned, then crossed his arms over his chest. “You do realize that what you’re saying is improbable.”

“But it’s still true!” Baba didn’t react to his outburst. “I’ve seen a lot of so-called improbable things before! Islands with dinosaurs! Islands that fly in the sky! Islands where people turned into living toys!” Baba lifted his eyebrows at that. Luffy waved him off. “It was just Mingo, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worrying about it,” Baba answered, amusement evident. “But it seems like you’ve already travelled a bit. I thought you were new to the Grandline. You look like a rookie.”

“I’m not!” Luffy protested then pointed his thumb at his chest. “I’ve been on the Grandline for 2 years! I’ve got an amazing ship and the best crew in the world!” At the mention of his crew his spirits sunk like an anchor. He hoped they were okay…!

“Where were you when you got separated from your crew? You can’t have been washed ashore from that far away,” Baba asked. Luffy hummed, trying to remember. He scratched his head.

“We’d been on sea for about three weeks after Wano,” he said. “But we hadn’t come into stable climate yet, so I don’t think we were close to an island.”

“Wano,” Baba repeated. “You were in the New World?” He seemed surprised now. Was he doubting him again?

“You’re in the New World too,” Luffy shot back.

“No! We’re on Agaricus,” Baba insisted. Luffy squinted at him. Where had he heard that name before? He was sure he had heard Baba mention it. “The next big island you might have heard of is Alabasta.” Luffy hit his balled fist into his palm in recognition.

“The autumn island where you like to go mushroom hunting!” he said then the words registered. “What?! We’re in the first half of the Grandline?!” Baba looked about as shocked as Luffy felt.

“How do you know that?” he asked and it took a moment for Luffy to realize that he looked wary all of a sudden, his stance a lot less relaxed. Luffy knew that he should be able to defend himself against a 19-year-old version of his father, but he still didn’t want to test that hypothesis if Baba actually started to believe that Luffy was a threat.

“I told you! I’m from the future! I know you!” Luffy defended himself. Baba frowned at him, but his stance shifted just a bit. A soft sound at Luffy’s feet made him look down just to see tendrils of sand slip back down on the floor. He hadn’t even realized that Baba must have manipulated the sand to grab him if needed. When Luffy looked up Baba’s expression was serious, a crease between his eyebrows.

“27 years into the future,” Baba affirmed. “When you and your crew sailed the New World. As apparently I do too.” He rubbed his arms, his face uncertain for the first time. “I’m still alive in 27 years?”

“Obviously!” Luffy insisted, angry at the suggestion that Baba would not make it on the Grandline. “You’re strong!” A small grin appeared on Baba’s face.

“Yeah? So how do we know each other? Am I your captain or something?” Luffy wrinkled his nose but at the same time Baba did too. “Do I insist on everybody calling me Baba like fucking Whitebeard wants everyone to call him Pops?” Baba made a disgusted expression at that. Luffy of course knew that Baba and Whitebeard had history, but as most things of his father’s past, this was something he kept close to his chest. Sometimes his secrecy was quite annoying and it was hard to pretend not to care about what had happened, especially since the old man had meant so much to Ace.

“How can you already have a grudge against Whitebeard at 19?”

“Oh, so you don’t know everything, Monkey D. Luffy,” Baba said, his grim look dropping quickly at the supposed upper hand he fancied himself to have. Luffy wasn’t used to these quick mood changes. Still, instead of answering he grimaced. “What?”

“I don’t like when you call me by my full name. You only do that when you’re scolding me. Call me Luffy or Strawhat.”

“Strawhat?” Baba asked, laughing. Luffy pulled his hat from his back and put it onto his head demonstratively. “And you let me scold you? What am I? Your mom?” Luffy pressed his lips together, the question feeling like someone had upended a bucket of cold water onto his head. But Baba laughed in amusement as if the thought was absurd. “Am I your captain?”

For the first time a different kind of worry made a home in Luffy’s mind. He had arguably no experience in time traveling but he wondered if it was a good idea to let his father know too much. Could Luffy change the past just by being here? Could he change his own present if he messed up here?

Luffy knew that he was a “happy accident.” What if he told Baba who he was and Baba decided to be a bit more careful so that no happy accidents happened accidentally? That’d be horrible! Would Luffy just disappear?! Maybe this was the true danger of this situation!

“You’re not my captain! I’m the captain of my ship!” Luffy insisted, pride in his position winning out over the moment of panic.

“Then what’s our connection?” Crocodile asked and took a step closer to Luffy, a glint in his eyes that Luffy didn’t quite like. He didn’t have a sharp hook to hold under his nose but he had a sharp and menacing grin. “Spit it out, Strawhat.”

“I… I don’t know anything!” Luffy said through pursed lips, looking away. But other than grab him and shake him or worse (as Luffy had seen Baba do to people who annoyed him or lied to him) Baba just blinked at him. Then he threw his head back and laughed.

“I know someone who’s just as horrible as you are at lying!” he said. Luffy wrinkled his nose. Not everyone could lie professionally. “But why don’t you want to tell me?”

“Because I am from the future!” Luffy insisted. “What if I say something that changes something big?! I don’t want that! I like my life! Maybe if someone sent me into this past, this is their objective?! What if they’re trying to kill me by letting me make a mistake here in the past that leads to me not being born?!”

“That seems far too much effort,” Baba said, looking Luffy up and down. “You don’t look particularly strong, Strawhat,” he said his tone annoyingly patronizing. “A stray bullet could kill you.”

“What?! I am strong! And my bounty is higher than yours!” he protested. Luffy would never have said that to his Baba’s face but this young version of him was different. “And I’m not going to tell you what it is!” Baba rolled his eyes.

“At least tell me I didn’t choose something as stupid as Baba as my name,” he said, then he moved his hand and a wave of sand spread over the fire they had roasted their food on, dousing it at once.

“I’ve always done my best to fly under the marine’s radar and it’s hard to break the habit. I haven’t really gotten my name out there yet,” Baba continued. He pointed at Luffy. “But I will! The world will soon hear of the exploits of Crocodile!” Luffy stared at him, taking in his wide, confident grin.

Baba looked impossibly young.

“Yes,” Luffy agreed, not sure why there was a lump in his throat. Baba smiled at him, then he reached out to pat Luffy’s shoulder. “Let’s go.” Baba turned around and started packing up the rest of the cooked meat and mushrooms. He tossed Luffy a bag, then shouldered his own. When he walked away from the camp, Luffy trailed after him.

“Where are we going?” he asked. They stepped out of the outskirts of the forest and back onto the beach. There was a small ship docking on a pier that Luffy hadn’t noticed back when he had first woken up. It wasn’t much bigger than the one Luffy had initially set out on. Far too small for a crew of more than two. Not a vessel that looked suited for the Grandline.

“You’re looking for your crew, right? And a way to get back home, wherever and whenever that might be,” Baba said and then thrust his thumb behind him, towards the ship. “So what do you say, Strawhat Luffy? Want to join me?” Luffy looked at him in surprise. Baba wasn’t exactly the kind of person to make such generous offers to strangers, at least he wasn’t today.

“Fine. But I’m captain!” Luffy said and extended his arm to grab onto the ship’s mast. He pulled himself onto the ship, Baba staring after him. Luffy sat himself down at the helm of the ship. Baba cursed to himself, then undid the rope and gave his ship a powerful shove with his foot. He turned into sand and landed on the ship next to Luffy.

“No way! This is my ship!” Luffy looked up the mast, noticing the lack of a pirate flag.

“Baba-“

“Don’t call me that.”

“Crocodile, you don’t even have a pirate flag!” he said disapprovingly and for the first time Baba actually seemed embarrassed. “Does your ship have name at least?”

“Yeah, it’s the Mind Your Own Business Strawhat!” Crocodile went down into the cabin and then came back with an eternal pose. Luffy couldn’t read the name written on it. Crocodile walked to the steering wheel and then looked up at the sail. Luffy watched as sand spread from Crocodile’s body until the sails were lifted and caught the wind.

“Where are we going?” Luffy asked, inspecting the stemhead but it didn’t seem particularly comfortable to sit on. Crocodile’s ship didn’t even have a figurehead! Maybe he had a banana in his galley so Luffy could put it on the stemhead. The "Mind your Own Business Strawhat" needed least some decoration. Momentarily caught up in his musings, it took him a moment to turn back around to look up at Crocodile behind the wheel. It was strange seeing him there. He had only sailed with Crocodile on the same ship once, leaving Impel Down. He didn’t know why it seemed so strange to see him man a ship himself. He knew that his father was a pirate and yet it seemed odd to realize what that actually meant. That he hadn’t always been a warlord who tended to stay in one place or travel on marine vessels, that he hadn’t always had 2000 people under his command, that he hadn’t always been an emperor’s commander. But he looked comfortable behind the wheel, like he had never done anything else.

“Do you want to go all the way to Wano?” Luffy eventually asked and jumped up to where Crocodile was. “What about your own adventure? Don’t you want to follow the log poses and do your route around the Grandline?”

“I don’t mind making a detour,” he easily said as if it wasn’t difficult at all for him to give up his plans. “And absolutely not, I’m not going to sail into the blue like that just based on your last location in allegedly 27 years from now” Crocodile said with a scoff. “We need information.” He smiled down at the log pose. “And I might have an idea where we could get it.”

To be continued? If you find it too hard to read on here I can post it on AO3.

[grandline-fics]

Siren Song

DESCRIPTION: The first time they hear you sing captivates them

WARNINGS: None

CHARACTERS: Crocodile, Kid, Law, Marco, Ace

WORDS: 1,428

A/N: Don't know where this idea came from but wanted to use it to test writing for two characters I haven't tried yet.

*REQUESTS ARE OPEN*

MASTERLIST

———————

CROCODILE

Crocodile hated any form of weakness, it was something he always strived to wipe out from any avenues in his lie. In Baroque Works any sign that his subordinates were slipping, they were eradicated. When he ran his casino in Alabasta it was run to the highest quality even though it was merely a front to hide his shadier activities in the country. He held that same level of ruthlessness since getting out of Impel Down and starting the Cross Guild. While the clown had a more infantile and infuriating method to seeking out recruits and managing them, he was not so soft and he was more involved than how Mihawk chose to be with his share of employees under his command. Because of his workload, he needed assistance in some form.

Which was were you came in. You were the perfect balance of professionalism and personable that he needed to act as a mediator and relay messages to Mihawk and Buggy when he was in a mood to deal with neither. You did your tasks efficiently and without complaint or any need for further explanation. At the end of the day his business was still his and if you’d been the kind to pry into it, then that would have been your one and only mistake. Thankfully you’d proven yourself to be exactly what he needed, the only startling thing was that your recommendation came from Buggy. “Oh don’t give me that look, Croc! They’re so talented that even you will approve of them. Just give them a chance.” Buggy had told him and now he had to begrudgingly admit that the clown was right for once. 

As he approached his private study for his day’s work he wasn’t surprised to hear you inside already assembling his tasks for his arrival. He was however caught off guard by the sound of your voice drifting through the partially open door. In all his travels he’d never heard singing quite like it and unable to resist he moved closer but tried to withhold any noise in his steps in fear you would stop. Crocodile watched you organise bounty posters and gathered intelligence into their appropriate piles and in order of importance, singing beautifully and unaware of your enraptured audience.

Suddenly the den-den mushi on his desk began to ring, causing you to stop your song and answer. Immediately Crocodile was snapped out of the spell you’d unintentionally placed on him and he entered, watching as your expression adopted it’s usual warm greeting when he appeared. As always he offered you a single nod but he eyed you almost warily as he slid into his seat at his desk. Quickly needing to be distracted from his thoughts of you and your voice he took over on the phone call while you took your place in your chair by the wall as you continued your work. 

Crocodile didn’t like weakness but it was undeniable that in the moments he was listening to your singing, he was completely powerless. It worried him to know that there was a part of him that could be disarmed like that and he didn’t like it. Throughout the day he tried to tell himself that it was just a one off thing, he was just taken by surprise because he’d never heard you sing before that was all. That had to be the reason. However when he heard you humming to yourself later that day he stopped what he was doing completely and found his gaze being pulled into your direction. 

Once again his reverie was broken only when you’d stopped. You tilted your head at Crocodile curiously, he hadn’t seemed himself all day. “You okay, Boss?” You asked watching as the man slowly blinked, snapping out of whatever daydream he’d been lost in. When he muttered out a sharp ‘I’m fine.’ you could only shrug and take him at his word, completely oblivious to the fact that he was most definitely not fine and it was all your fault.

KID

“I got a question for you,” You looked across the large table in the tavern to fix your gaze on Killer curiously, taken by his tone. The crew had only just arrived and had yet to have a single drop of alcohol yet. Usually the questions and more serious discussions arose after at least a few drinks. Still you let your expression show you were listening, intrigue getting the better of you. “Why don’t you ever sing?” That took you by surprise and you let out a small, unsure laugh that only grew when the others joined in now that it was pointed out.

“Yeah, you never join in when we’re all singing together and most of us sound like shit!” Wire joked while Kid barked out a laugh from behind you. “Speak for yourself, everyone knows I sound like an angel.” The table laughed loudly and you glance up as your Captain and boyfriend nudged your side to grab your attention. “So come on, why don’t you sing. You’re part of this crew so you can’t say it’s because you’re shy or anything.” 

Slowly you sighed and knew that there was no point in telling any of them to drop it. If you ignored them now it would be the main topic of conversation and what they would pester you with for the foreseeable future. They were all like children, hellbent on getting an answer they deemed acceptable. “I don’t sing because I’m shy. I don’t sing because I know none of you are going to react well to it.”

“Aw you can’t be that bad.” Heat grinned, trying to comfort you but you shook your head. 

“I didn’t say that. I’m not bad, I’m good. So just trust me when I say that if you hear me sing you will all react in a way that’s going to put a dampener on tonight.” You clarified just as the trays of drinks arrived. “Let’s just drink and have a nice time okay?” When everyone followed your lead and reached for their drink you really believed that the topic had been put to bed. More fool you. 

As you all enjoyed each other’s company and spent the evening telling stories and jokes, everyone at the table still couldn’t quite ignore your bold statement and their interest had been well and truly ignited. When the evening was winding down into the more relaxed and less boisterous, Kid decided that as Captain he should be the one to brave the consequences and return to the topic. Slowly his arm that had been draped around your waist moved to lightly tap your thigh. Comfy in your position with your back against his side, you tilted your head back to look at him with a bright smile. “Will you sing now?” He asked watching your smile immediately drop into an annoyed scowl.

“I know what you’re going to say but we did as you asked. We all behaved and had a good night that’s almost winding down. So what’d’ya say? Sing one song before we have to head back to the ship?” You searched Kid’s eyes and slowly looked around at your crew, seeing they all looked at your with the same awaiting expressions. You rolled your eyes and set your mug on the table. 

“On your own heads be it.” You warned as you settled back against your boyfriend. After taking a small breath you began to sing an old sea shanty you knew, letting your voice carry out over the tavern that immediately fell silent as the patrons halted their own conversations to listen. The second that you started to sing, Kid’s body froze and his loose grip around you tightened out of reflex, out of pure instinct to be drawn closer to you and your hypnotic voice. He didn’t think it was possible to fall even more in love with you.

At first he hadn’t truly understood what you meant that everyone would react badly to such a powerful and beautiful voice but when he felt the first tear fall from his eyes did he realise. Quickly blinking he looked around to see the rest of the crew and tavern were all staring with glassy, shimmering eyes while others were crying fully but just barely managing to suppress the sound. When you finished the song, Kid pulled you back to place a kiss against your hair. “Maybe you should only sing for me from now on. It's far too dangerous.” Well you did warn them.   

[lutorao]

trust and hope

it's really odd what I'm going to tell you now but let's start

It's very clear how luffy trusts Zoro right?! because we have like thousand of moment of it but if I tell you that law is one of them who trust luffy most will you believe me ?!

let's start from whisky peak , do you remember the moment when some guy told luffy that Zoro was the reason why they were in this condition ? and what luffy did ? he fought with him

but in punk hazard when chopper told him that Law was murderer , he just ignored "Traffy " ?! nuh , but it wasn't some guy it was Chopper, his crewmate and what Luffy did ? nothing

don't get me wrong , maybe It can be assumed that the reason for Luffy's hesitation at Whiskey Peak was that, first of all, he had not known Zoro for a long time, in addition, you can say that the reason was also that these people shared food and Zoro thanked them in this way. It was the first and last time he suspected Zoro, you can't say that Luffy didn't know what Zoro was up to because of him. Let's go back a bit.

The case of Buggy, a seriously wounded man who is close to losing his mind doesn't hesitate for a second to hang onto Luffy's back with a cage, that should have been enough for Luffy, right? In addition, Luffy has animal instincts when it comes to people, but for some reason he blamed Zoro for his actions.

Let's continue with Law

Let's look at the situation from Law's side

A traumatized childhood, dead and murdered parents, a burned city, and the only person who trusted after this trauma was killed by Doflamingo, who was Corazon's brother.

so words "trust " and " hope " is not for law

And the only thing that motivated him during this time was revenge

revenge for the person he lost, Revenge for everything that happened

he spent 13 years preparing for his revenge and yes he was willing to do anything for this revenge, he ripped out the hearts of 100 pirates, became warlord, spent months on Punk Hazard, developed a plan, left the only people he trusted on Zou for their own safety, and yes he was really ready even to die

I hope you realize how important all this was to him right ?!

but what happened when it comes to luffy ?

Yes hope and Trust

And Doflamingo knew it clearly, maybe Luffy didn't realize how much it meant to law , but Doflamingo knew, it's not common for someone like Law to put that kind of trust in someone.

what about luffy ?

"Torao is a good guy " he was so happy wasn't he ?! just look at his face

Nami : noo luffy , we cant trust him

meanwhile luffy just ignored his crewmates words and "I'm in "

then Robin

luffy : " stop talking shits, he is a good guy " he just ignored everyone from his crew and when law switched their body luffy just laughed , he wasn't even mad , he just laughed. wtf luffy

let's make things clear straw hat

even it means go to hell together (please just look at him )

and yes now he was law's "bodyguard "

" just tell me which one Torao"

I won't talk about how he took care of Law all the way to Dressrosa, only Law? No, he didn't forget his sword either, just like law didn't forget Luffy's straw hat before

The funny thing is that even during the fight with Bellamy, Luffy's attention was on top, he didn't pay attention to his opponent, his whole concentration was on "how was Traffy?! "

Don't even dare, it all obvious in his face

And yes, he hasn't forgotten law's sword here either, his first order was "look after Law", he didn't ask anyone anything, just look after Law, protect him at any cost

if you ask me how their love language looks like I will say

"luffy : I'm glad you are okay , wanna eat? "

sharing his food

yes he shared his food with law

"law : let me die along with him I m begging you , please "

and at the end , I would like to mention the moment that makes these two people special to me along with everything else, first of all, the fact that Law was by Luffy's side when he needed it the most, when Luffy lost his brother the only member of his family( lets dont talk about Garp ) who had left, and lost his crew , his friends, was alone without his crew , and his life was in Law's hands. and yes, Law has seen Luffy at his worst, PTSD, despair, depression, and all together.

As for Law, this person who had no hope for anything in life and had no one but a crew, was left alone and everything he had been building and organizing for 13 years, all work, all hope, he left to Luffy. At this moment he was without his crew , and yes Luffy had seen him at his worst.

If that's not a sign of trust, hope and love, then I don't know what is

[hey-august]

The Tide Comes and Goes | Buggy x gn!Reader

Summary: Stuck in a relationship and a life that you don't want, you're given the chance to get out. WC: ~1k Warnings: pretty much SFW, just a hint of spice, buggy x GN!reader, cheating / infidelity - reader and their partner cheat on each other, profanity, angst, no happy ending A/N: I had this ready for Angst August but forgot to post it oops. I have one more that I want to write, plus an optional comfort ending that will fit into any of the Angst August stories I wrote.

“You could come with me, you know. All you have to do is ask,” Buggy teased. Every visit from the pirate ended with the same offer. A solution to your loveless marriage.

You had hoped to fill the void other ways. Extravagant shopping with the money your partner sent home, volunteering with the fake righteous busybodies in town, pouring bottle after bottle into the emptiness, becoming a temporary port for sailors who needed to wet their dicks. Some of it was fun, but the ache was always there when the morning sun hit your eyes.

The only relief you found was through a clown, of all people. Through his stories and jokes, his sleight of hands, and the bawdy atmosphere he and his crew brought to town.

Buggy was fun. Listening to his adventures, watching him embody the spirit of the story - it was enthralling. When his voice dropped, as soft as the incoming tide, you’d lean in closer. When he slapped the table and shouted with all the air in his lungs, you’d jump in excitement.

Sometimes when only the moon and you were awake, when you laid in a bed too big for one person, you replayed his tales in your mind and allowed yourself to imagine that you were in them too.

Over time, you shared stories with Buggy. About jobs deemed more important than feelings. A familiar stranger whose visits you gave up tracking because they were so infrequent. Of rare calls with laughter in the background and distraction in your partner’s voice. You told him about a life on pause indefinitely.

But when Buggy visited, it felt like the pause was lifted. Like that time was for you. So you took it. You took the freedom he sailed on. You took his taste, his lips pressed against yours. You took his requests for assurance and promised it was okay. That you wanted this. You wanted him.

It felt different, at least to you. Every other time you brought someone to bed, there were no feelings attached. Your heart pounded in your chest and between your legs, drumming away any negative feelings for the moment. With Buggy, the ache only ever dulled. It stayed behind to whisper something different. That you shouldn’t be alone anymore.

You did anything and everything to quiet the voice entirely. Every time you straddled the visiting pirate and his waves, every time you were caged beneath his sweaty body, every time he pressed you into a mattress that didn’t belong to him, you ignored the whispers. You waited until they went silent. Even when you curled into the snoring figure, sharing sheets until the tide came, the inner-voice stopped talking because you stopped listening.

One morning, you woke up after Buggy. He was quiet and gently stroking your arm. Shifting slightly, you looked up at the captain. His facepaint was smudged and faded, no doubt smeared into the pillow he slept on. Your pillow. His hair was loose and a little dirty at the roots from his exertions the night before. Stubble clung to his jaw and neck. It was longer than usual and you liked it.

Buggy looked down and returned the goofy grin that you were wearing. He felt so close. He was within reach.

But his ship would be leaving soon. And he would make that empty offer that you could go with him, even though you would never ask. It was routine. A part of the play.

“You should come with me.”

Wait, that was wrong. That’s not what Buggy was supposed to say. The smile was gone from his face, but the softness wasn’t.

“I want you to co-”

“Stop. Don’t say it,” you interrupted, pushing back from him. You sat up too quickly, bringing sparks of light into your vision. The pounding of your heart was in your ears, drowning any rational thoughts.

This was not how it was supposed to go. You were supposed to be the one to ask. But you never would, because this was your life. This empty fucking house and empty fucking bed were yours. All this loneliness and sadness is what you knew. It hurt, but it was familiar. It was comfortable.

“I’m not going with you, Buggy. I won’t, so don’t ask.”

“Seriously? Haven’t you thought about it? Don’t you want to leave this shit behind?” Buggy asked, torn between wanting to understand and wanting to convince you. He gestured around, his movements hard and rough.

“Stop! You don’t know what I want. Do you even understand what you’re asking me to do? Give up my life, abandon everything, and join a circus?” You laughed loudly. It was ridiculous. It was stupid. It wasn’t for you.

“Fuck, just listen to me f-���

“Stop begging,” you spat, “it’s pathetic.”

Buggy’s jaw tightened. “Fuck you.”

Pushing off the blankets, he got out of the bed and started pulling on the clothes he left on the floor.

You stared at the bottom of the bed, listening to the rustle of clothes while Buggy got dressed. “Why did you ask? Why did you have to do that?”

“Because I wanted to.”

You picked up on the past tense. Wanted. Your chest was burning. It was too full.

“Aren’t you tired of being left behind?” Buggy continued with a sneer that pierced your chest and allowed your toxic insides to drip out.

“Wow…don’t you get it? You were always just entertainment for me, Buggy the Clown. Like I’d want to join you or your fucking freaks.”

Buggy turned to face you so quickly that you couldn’t help but look at him. And the anger on his face. He stared at you, the ocean in his eyes dark and murky. His fingers twitched. Then, without another word, he left.

You listened to his heavy stride, until the front door jingled and slammed shut. Hard.

And you were alone once more. Just like it’s supposed to be.

[goingbuggy]

Good morrow my shuggy liege!

I was pondering if I should or shouldn’t ask but I hope it will not be too much bother to answer

It’s about one of your metas about the love and sacrifice Beautifully written I must say but reading through it again made me wondering how does buggy fall into the sacrifice themes of one piece?

It pains me to admit that once I’ve read 1082 I had many different feelings and one of them thought of buggy sacrifice as quite selfish in a way? Don’t get me wrong I’m sure came from him believing in shanks and the love he had for the boy! It just it felt in a way like he was burdening shanks with his own dreams

I’m happy he finally got the courage to follow his own path It’s beautiful and inspiring I just wonder if my interpretation is coming from anxiety or is actually true? Thank you and I’m sorry to sending this on anon

Hello, anon! Thank you for your kind words about my metas. Before I answer your question about where Buggy might fit into the wider themes of One Piece -- like sacrifice -- I think I should address your interpretation of 1082's events and compare them with mine.

I can understand why someone might conclude that Buggy's faith in Shanks is a burden of sorts, and ultimately selfish; after all, Shanks never asked for the weight of Buggy's expectations, and you could argue that Buggy's plan was to live out his dreams vicariously through Shanks. However, I think that there are some key points which entirely re-frame the situation.

Buggy didn't actually tell Shanks about what he did.

This isn't explicitly confirmed by the manga, but based on 1082's events and Shanks/Buggy's relationship timeline going forward, I can definitely make a strong case for their miscommunication in this regard.

Although we have Buggy's narration in 1082 to guide us through his flashback and enlighten us with his true feelings about Shanks, remember -- it's an internal monologue. The only thing Shanks knows is what Buggy tells him, and what Buggy tells him is not the full story. Look at this series of panels to see what I mean.

We have a very important contrast here -- Buggy's thoughts ("You're not the next generation's king?! I misjudged you, Shanks!" / "Don't you care about following in Captain Roger's footsteps?!"), versus what he actually says. ("You coward!" / "It's your fault I lost that treasure map!")

In classic Buggy fashion, we see him deflect from the truth; instead of explaining how much he believed in Shanks' potential, he brings up a petty grudge and insults Shanks out of disappointment, hurt, and anger/frustration. Nowhere do we see Buggy explicitly tell Shanks what/why he gave up. And this miscommunication is not only the heart of Buggy's sacrifice, but the exact reason why they split in the first place: Shanks did not tell Buggy what made him change his mind about going to Laughtale, and Buggy did not tell Shanks about his decision/dream.

I think this is key to understanding the way they navigate their interactions later down the line, in Marineford. Remember: Shanks believes that they split due to the whole map ordeal, which is not only a relatively lighthearted grudge to hold, but also very confusing from Shanks' perspective.

I love the curt answer he gives here, because it really reflects Shanks' limited understanding of what actually transpired between them that fateful day at Loguetown. Thus, it's also understandable why Shanks acts the way he does at Marineford. I highly doubt Shanks would be so casual if he knew Buggy's real reasons for parting ways. Hell, their split was so important to Shanks that he still remembers Buggy's gripe about the map 20+ years later -- and even uses the promise of one to draw Buggy back into rehashing things between them. (The anime expands on Shanks' confusion/limited understanding even more, but because we're dealing with the manga only, I'm not going to reference those added scenes.)

This interaction can seem quite confusing, but place it in the wider context I've just proposed, and it makes a lot more sense. Something fundamental has permanently shifted between them, but Shanks does not understand the gravity -- nor the real reason -- behind that change. And yet again, Buggy perpetuates this cycle of miscommunication by not telling him.

So, now that I've argued why I believe Buggy didn't tell Shanks about his true dream/decision to give up on said dream, why is it so important?

Well, this leads to my second point.

2. Buggy is a character primarily motivated by greed.

This statement does not need to be argued; it's as explicit as can be, because it has been well-established by Oda. In fact, it's very likely to be what people remember best about Buggy's character, in the midst of the massive narrative that One Piece has become. (I will touch upon this later, because this is exactly why I view Buggy's sacrifice as so impactful to the reader.)

Now, my last point:

3. Buggy is terrible at hiding his true intentions.

Buggy usually makes it quite obvious what he's hiding through blatant lies which hint to the truth, or even a direct slip of the tongue, like in Impel Down. This is partially for the sake of comedy/divulging necessary information to readers, but it's also a genuine aspect of his character which reinforces the comedy. Buggy's intentions are comically apparent to readers, so it's ridiculous to see his followers fall for his schemes.

These three points, in tandem, are exactly what makes 1082's reveal so impactful. Oda uproots everything we thought we knew about Buggy's character in order to give us the missing puzzle piece -- the reason why he is the way he is. This exact decision.

Buggy is a character motivated by greed, but he gave up on his dream, a pillar of freedom and existence in the One Piece world. He is self-absorbed, and yet he de-centered himself from the narrative. And for who, of all people? Shanks, the very man he claimed to despise in his first introduction. Are you starting to see the groundwork Oda's laying down here?

Buggy is notoriously bad at hiding the truth when he lies, and yet readers are blindsided by this reveal, over a thousand chapters after his first appearance. He kept it a secret, not just from Shanks, but from us. 1082 subverted our expectations and further developed Buggy's character in the process. It's a great display of what I love most about Oda's writing.

Before 1082, it would be difficult to claim where Buggy lies in One Piece's themes of sacrifice or dreams. But post-1082, it's a lot clearer. Oda has shown us that Shanks is just as important to Buggy as Buggy is to Shanks, and he's done it in the most effective way for a greedy character: by showing us that even Buggy is capable of sacrifice, when it's for someone he cares about. And what did he give up? His dream -- one of the most important things people have in One Piece.

Sure, it's possible to dismiss Buggy's decision as selfish, but remember: he didn't tell Shanks. He didn't expect anything in return. In a way, he has actually spared Shanks from feeling burdened; Shanks doesn't know the truth, and so he has no opportunity to feel guilt or responsibility for Buggy's decision. For a character like Shanks, who is defined by responsibility, this is also massively significant. Buggy's choice is not Shanks' fault, and by deflecting to trivial matters like the map, Buggy has -- intentionally or not -- lifted a possible weight from Shanks' shoulders. Shanks still feels the loss of their relationship, but instead of potential guilt, there is confusion and miscommunication.

So, no, I don't view Buggy's sacrifice as selfish. He did what he did because he truly believed in Shanks. He was willing to let Shanks become king and live out his dream, all without burdening Shanks with the truth. It's the antithesis of everything we've known about Buggy up until this point -- a decision without his greed, egomania, and overt schemes at the forefront. And if that's not a selfless act from Buggy, then I don't know what is.

[beanghostprincess]

one hilarious way to bring Uta into the story would be if she is just chilling on karai bari as a Buggy pirate the entire time (in a bid to go undetected by her dad who she knows avoided Buggy like the plague while she was on the red force) Shanks is having agonising thoughts on his daughter and her wellbeing, while said daughter is being screamed at by Buggy because she stole his favourite lipstick

THIS IS SO FUNNY HELP AEJHBDHWKEBDJKB Okay, this would be hilarious. Because imagine Buggy, someone who has been trying to avoid Shanks and everything that has to do with him at all costs, suddenly having Uta in his crew. He doesn't know she is Shanks' daughter at first, not until she ends up mentioning it. But Buggy grows very very fond of the teenager, loves her songs, wants her to fulfill her dream... They both resent Shanks, so it would make sense for them to agree on never seeing the man again, too. They'd argue constantly because they both have strong personalities but I genuinely think they'd love each other a lot. Thinking about this happening before Marineford and right when everything ends, Uta goes to talk to Buggy and see if he's alright and then they find Shanks and it's- To say it's dramatic and chaotic would be an understatement.

[wordy-little-witch]

Ghost Roger ships Shuggy and that’s why when Crocodile and Mihawk start to court the clown all hell breaks loose.

Okay it may be a bit more complicated than that, Roger is protective of his kids in a way, he feels a bit remorseful for not making feel Buggy important in live and he’s HELLA worried about how his sons parted ways. Of course even if there’s more to it than just “There were some misunderstandings” and he maybe won’t be able to make things completely right after dead, he still wishes those two would just TALK to each other. He probably told Buggy a lot of stuff after he first was able to contact him, but that doesn’t mean the grudge against Shanks (and Roger for that matter) is immediately gone.

So Roger really hopes those two make up and maybe kiss a little, he’s seen those obvious crushes those two had on each other for ages…. So when the two men who threatened his Bug suddenly start to get all flirty with him… well you can’t blame him for not being completely rational about it.

He can’t really do much besides be a nuisance, hiding things from them, throwing things off the table, one time he secretly put ketchup in Crocodiles coffee and he counts that as a massive victory, but he’s not full on Poltergeist level, he doesn’t have much power anymore. The only time he regains a significant amount of Strenght is when Buggy confronted him about this behavior, it truly was a scene to behold, Buggy, screaming into an empty room that Roger can’t decide who or who not he gets to trust and choose for himself, and Roger, not being able to communicate his own frustrations to Buggy and tell him he’s just worried but that Buggy also needs to stop being so damn stubborn, throwing things across the room and howling and causing a storm just with his intense emotions alone.

It’s only late at night when they both have calmed down that Roger makes his way back to Buggies room, now properly calmed and thinking somewhat rationally again. He doesn’t have much more energy than to scribble a “Sorry” with Buggys lipstick onto the mirror, but he knows his boy will get what he means.

Roger might get pleasantly surprised on several accounts tough, not only do Buggys new suitors actually care for him, despite their initial treatment of him, but Buggy may or may not also reconcile with Shanks after some gentler pushes and encouragement from his side…. And it may or may not turn out that Buggy has a lot of space for several people in his heart, who’d have thought? Atta boy! His little casanova….

Oh my goshhhh yeah this exactly (sorry it took so long to respond, was a lil busy)

Roger really would be like. The strangest mix if "you got this!!" And "not on my watch". He's got redneck girl dad vibes, like "don't mind me sitting on the porch making aggressive eye contact while I clean my gun and/or sword, kid, but yeah I know how to use them and use them well anyway be good to my kid or else haha no I'm serious-"

Ironically I feel like Roger would be pushing less for a Slowburn Romance for Shuggy and more a you can fix it and salvage smth and maybe it's different but you two are two sides of one coin guys come onnnn- type of deal. Like. The kisses would be nice (he'd win the bet and Rayleigh would owe him 500 berri) but also it just... it hurts to see his kids so hurt. It doesn't matter how the end result is configured so long as some of the pain is abated.

So when Buggy, his baby blue, his bright and bold and flashy little nugget, begins getting courted by the same men who unflinchingly harmed him?

When Roger has SEEN the things Buggy went through up to this point?

When Roger knows how easy it is for Buggy to fall into the arms of someone who means him harm, when he knows how Buggy clings to and almost searches for it?

Oh he's livid. He's frothing. He's not going to let that slide, not even remotely.

And so begins his Hijinks.

And so ignites Buggy's temper.

It goes on maybe a month, if that. Roger is petty and angry, but he's pacing it and being careful to make it impossible to trace to his kid. The few opportunities that leaves for him is very good motivation to go bigger each time. Croc's favored pen? Gone. Mihawk's wine glass? Different cabinet. Croc's ash tray? Flipped onto a document. Hawkeye's wine bottles? All corks are in some way damaged. He starts small and works his way up.

The ketchup in the coffee was his magnum opus - and that was Buggy's last straw.

He passes Alvida and informs her that it's a Code Pink. She nods and spreads the word. Nobody gets in his way as he beeline to his workshop and the adjacent sheds connected there.

It's arguably a hurricane by way of fury. Things are thrown and voices blow into uneven crescendos. Buggy begins to angry cry and Roger pulls at his own hair to fight the urge to wipe the tears away or crush the emotions out of his kid with his own arms. It's a hot mess, and it only gets worse when Roger hears Buggy say the one thing he didn't ever want to hear but suspected nonetheless.

"What's it matter if they hurt me? I deserve it-!"

He'll admit - he doesn't rightly recall what exactly it is that he does after that. The words echoed in his head, louder and louder until it was a battering ram in his skull. He doesn't remember much of that split second between hearing it and acting, but he found himself crushing his boy into his chest, one hand in blue curls, the other across a trembling back.

"Never," he swears, "you never deserve to be hurt, Blue. I'm so sorry you feel like that's true, but baby Bug, Red has told you-"

And that's the final straw for Buggy.

"Red?! Red's all you ever fucking think about!" And he shoves Roger away, mouth running faster than he can stop it, tears falling with the mess of his emotions as he rants and raves and leaves a captain, a father, hollow in shock.

Buggy pauses for a breath, and Roger reaches out, just to pull back at the swat to his hand.

"No," Buggy hiccups, "I just... I'm done. I'm fucking done. Go find someone else to bother. I'm through."

He leaves.

And Roger rages.

Hours later, finally calm and able to rationally think, he drifts to Buggy's room. He's shaking with exhaustion, but he grabs a lipstick - the cheap writing one, never Buggy's good lip color - and scrawls an apology onto the mirror. He floats over to Buggy's bedside, watches his kid sleep, tear tracks on his face and dried in his lashes. He aches.

He sits vigil there all the night, energy depleting until he's a bare whisp of a presence. He'll protect his kid how he can, but he won't step in the way.

It's only when Rouge offers to trade out that he deigns to rest.

Things go back to mostly normal afterwards.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

When it turns out that Crocodile and Mihawk truly do care for and want to make Buggy happy, Roger is pleasantly surprised and very suspicious. He keeps it mostly to himself (and to Rouge, Ace and Eddie), but he is watching. He gets to witness the growth first hand - except some things second hand, because he may be a pirate, but he's also a father and some things are meant for a parent's eyes to never ever EVER see - but he does see it. He acknowledges it. And he gives his approval subtly.

So when things begin blooming outward, he's aware, somewhat, but mostly acting as but an observer. Though when those tendrils of Blue reaches out to Red.... well. He's Looking Heavily.

And then he's cheering aggressively because YES!! FINALLY!!!! RAYLEIGH OWES HIM SO MANY BERRI!!!!

And when blue and brown eyes cut towards him, Roger pauses, shrinks a little. By the Seas he forgot how weird his kids and their Haki was. He waves awkwardly.

".... Captain," Shanks says after a moment.

"Red...?"

"I am very happy to see you, believe me. But I also am very happy to have Buggy in my arm, so maybe go bother Lucky Roux or Yassop while I do unspeakable things to my Blue."

"Shanks," Buggy squawks angrily with a face as red as his nose, squirming in place.

Roger just laughs, gives a salute. "Aye, captains!"

He slips off through the walls to the symphony of his eldest laughing while baby blue complains loudly. There was a sudden thump, silence, then rustling. Roger, eyes wide, floated faster.

He'd always said Buggy would steal riches and hearts alike.

By Davy Jones, Ray owed him so much money.

[writingoddess1125]

What do you like most about each of the old men?

Okay Okay! SO I got a list!!

These probably don't make sense but I'm trying!

Buggy-

• I love his weird personality, how he is is both funny and almost scary at the same time. Yet his own natural quirkiness betrays him 80% of the time.

• Is actually funny to me? Like his jokes in the show actually make me laugh while others find them annoying.

• Super pretty hair and facial scruff

• I dig the clown thing- IDK why 🤷🏾‍♀️

• I also oddly respect him. Like imagine failing that many times, doing it again and again and succeeding in your own way? Paired with the fact Buggy never revealed he was one of Roger's Apprentices unlike some of his other peers. It wasn't something he used to boost his own power/publicity {Even if the reason could have been so the Marines wouldn't arrest him} But he did in a way make a name for himself by himself

Shanks

• Honestly he just scratches my Daddy issues just right ✅️

• I love his voice? Japanese, English, or LA I just adore the way he sounds in each one. Maybe it's his lines but it's always so relaxing to hear

• He is just so damn Loyal, I adore it 😍 Just that level of dedication to his crew and those that are important to him I love to the deepest part of me!

• Once again! Pretty hair and that facial scruff!

• Honestly when he has his character breaks like when he was yelling at Luffy to call him a dumbass I laughed so hard. I feel like if I saw more of this side- That Goofy drunk that is just happy to be there UGH! ❤️

Mihawk

• Ah Mihawk- The representation of my first crush- Captian Hook from the 2003 Peter Pan- {if you don't know who I'm talking about Google it- He was played by Jason Isaacs 😩💦}

• Daddy Issues coming out once more! 2/3!!

• He is the perfect, rational man that thinks things through has a clean house, cooks and will tell you if you're stupid.

• That sword work- he's great with his hands 👀

• Lastly is actually his stoic personality. I really admire that and just how level headed he is- while he is level headed he supports those 'Wild Cards' in the world and is cool with eccentric and unique people. He sees it as important to the world and while it's not his way, He respects it. I admire that honestly.

[aimbutmiss]

Buggy sighed in frustration as he clenched another important document that he absolutely couldn't care less about as he tried to make sense of the words on it. Crocodile rolled his eyes at his "dramatic theatrics", as he put it. And while Buggy did indeed hold the sigh a bit longer than necessary, he could argue it was a very justified reaction. The words on the paper were basically alphabet soup in his brain as it completely shut down, unable to process any more information.

He rubbed his eyes as if that would somehow fix the problem. He felt closer to death with every second he spent inside the dreary office tent. The room was suffocating, filled with the smoke of Crocodile's never ending cigars. Buggy desperately needed fresh air and exposure to direct sunlight, or a poor crew member was going to find his corpse under all those papers by the end of the day.

"Croccy, it's been hours... How many more signatures do you need from me?"

Crocodile puffed out the smoke in his mouth as he spoke, making the air in the tent even heavier. Buggy had to hold himself back from coughing as he kept his eyes locked to the other man's unimpressed ones. "You're the one who insisted on reading all the documents when I already had done so. You could have just quickly signed all of them and left by now if you weren't so stubborn."

"Of course I have to read them! How can I trust you? You could be making me sign away my life to the slave trade for all I know!"

Crocodile laughed menacingly, the only way he knew how, as far as Buggy had seen. "No one would pay good money for you, clown. And if I wanted to sell you off I would have done it by now."

Buggy crossed his arms with a frown, ready to argue with his business partner, but he was cut by a low-ranking worker entering the tent reluctantly.

"I'm saved." He thought as Crocodile got up to talk to the poor man. He took the moment to sneak outside, limb by limb. As he put himself back together outside of the tent, he took the sunlight in with a sigh and cracked his back in relief. He was unfortunately too old and certainly too sexy for an office job. Being an Emperor was supposed to be more flashy than this god dammit!

He locked eyes with the shaky man as he left the tent, and gave him a reassuring smile. The man visibly relaxed, smiling wide as he bowed down before leaving Buggy's presence.

Buggy hated how much Crocodile ruled by fear. These were his men! He was responsible for their well-being and happiness! Well, he couldn't even protect his own well-being so how could he do the same for his enormous crew...

"Don't think so hard, your head will explode."

Buggy jumped in his place as Crocodile spoke in his ear. Too close! When had he snuck up on him? He was too tired to deal with this.

"I'm gonna go now."

"Not before you sign the papers."

"I'm tired..."

"Then don't read them."

"But I want to!"

"THEN GET BACK IN THERE!" Crocodile pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his cool after his outburst. "Okay, you either go in willingly or I'll drag you in there myself if I have to." He moved his hook at an angle, making the light reflect off its sharp edge menacingly. And Buggy probably should have listened, but something snapped in him.

"Stop threatening me with that damn hook of yours! You know I can't get cut."

"But you can get pierced, can't you?"

Buggy gulped, sweat forming on his forehead but not daring to drop. "... You wouldn't dare."

"And why's that?"

"Because..." Buggy stared the scary man in the eyes and was somehow overcome with boldness he couldn't explain. "Because this" he gestured to his face with exaggerated motion "is what sells your shitty personality to everyone!" He was spitting out the words like venom, emphasising every word slowly. "You need me. Certainly more than I need you. You're just an overgrown accountant, but I'm a fucking Emperor. I leave, and the thousands of men under me also leave. You are nothing without me. So stop acting like you can get rid of me without consequences. I dare you to pierce me with that hook."

"..."

Buggy smiled smugly. "I'm gonna take a nap now."

He was lighter than a feather as he made his way to his tent, the smile never dropping from his face. He did it! Well, he wasn't quite free but it was certainly a step in the right direction. And sue him, he was fucking proud of himself.

As he left with his head in the clouds, he was completely unaware of the scene he left behind him. Crocodile was fuming. He felt hot with anger and another annoying, sticky emotion eating at his insides. He completely ignored Mihawk, who had been a witness to the whole conversation.

The swordsman raised a brow in question at the man's silence. "What are you gonna do now, go masturbate?"

Crocodile stared daggers at the man before turning into sand and flowing away. And he absolutely did not masturbate to thoughts about the clown. Ridiculous Hawk Eye really thought he knew everything...

(and he did.)

[volvolts]

the fuck is crocodile's deal???

thinking about how its next to impossible to construct a proper backstory for crocodile because of how little we know of him and how little he makes sense as a person

like we know nothing of mihawk but his personality is much like zoro. he wants to be the strongest so his ascetic lifestyle makes sense. hes a wildcard too but only because his moral compass follows strictly to himself (he keeps zoro alive and trains him because he wants a challenge, he became a warlord because he wants to be left alone, he joins cross guild for that same reason. the only times he went out of his way to do anything for others was when he shows shanks luffy's first bounty and maybe take care of perona)

but crocodile? we got NOTHING. we don't even know his last name. and i know some of them don't have last names but crocodile was a major villain. plus important characters without a last name kinda have a reason (sabo denounced his family name, buggy and shanks are implied to have been with the roger pirates since they were born)

like something happened to him to lose all his trust in other people and discard them like paper. he spent over a decade searching for pluton only to give up when luffy beat him? he willingly goes to impel down and planned to stay there until he heard whitebeard is gonna show up. he does fuck all to whitebeard. then he gives up on whitebeard, you know the reason why he's left impel down in the first place, then he saves ace, then he saves jinbe and luffy. he disappears for 10 real life years and he's back and we still got nothing on him

he doesn't trust people and yet pulled two bad bitches with swords. people praise how strong he is but he hasn't had a real fight with a real character who mattered since alabasta. and he's clearly strong cuz he got punched in the face with full blown haki and was still standing and he parried mihawk and doflamingo's attacks without any damage. speaking of doflamingo what the fuck was his deal with doflamingo? doffy clearly respected him enough to not believe he was beaten by smoker and he wanted a team up but then its never brought up again?? like was that just banter??

and the theories of his backstory are all still contradictory? whitebeard's birth son? well whitebeard didn't care that much about him and crocodile clearly doesn't either nor do any of the whitebeard pirates seem familiar with him. an ex-revolutionary? other than ivankov's comment of knowing crocodile "when he was a rookie" there's not much else. the backstory of the revolutionary army hasn't mentioned anything about him so we can toss that one out too. rocks d xebec's son? he was a warlord for over 20 years! youre telling me they never had a background check on the guy? you know they would want him dead if he was xebecs son given how far they went for roger's son. he doesn't have a grandpa who's besties with the fleet admiral to cover it up either

and then theres the theories that end up being too similar to other characters. ex-son of whitebeard? already debunked shown above and also thats just blackbeard. from a family of wealth and lost it, or was simply born evil? doflamingo did that already. cabin boy/child of an infamous pirate crew that was disbanded after the death of the captain? buggy and shanks are right there.

the man has so much going on and yet absolutely nothing at the same time. i NEED to know more about this guy at least tell me if he can even do haki PLEASE

[daisychainfiction]

A cute Bug story to warm your heart on this cold (for me, anyway) Sunday. Much love to you all 🧡

The baby is awake.

You know she is awake before the baby monitor even picks up her movement. There's a sense you get - a stirring in the air, a prickle along the back of your neck.

You leave your room, crossing the small hallway into Kimberly's. Your sister is at a doctor's appointment. With the woman's anxious energy and mumbling gone, you don't feel like a side character in your own home for once.

Lily is sitting up in her crib when you enter, rubbing at her little pudgy cheeks. She hasn't noticed you, so you take the chance to watch her.

It only takes a moment for her to look up, mouth pursed from sleep and the trouble of waking up. She senses you just like you sense her - it's instinctual.

Bug smiles her baby smile and reaches those little round hands toward you. You go to her without thinking, cooing, "Buggy-boo, did you have a good nap?"

She coos and gurgles against your neck, head shoving against your jaw in a well-rehearsed motion.

You change her diaper and her clothes, struggling to put on a pair of socks while she kicks her feet and giggles.

"You are such a pill," you tease her, tickling her side and giving up on the second sock for the moment. "Sockies are important!"

Lily babbles and gums at your shoulder when you scoop her up again. "Lunchtime?" you ask, already descending the stairs with her rouge sock in your pocket. "What'll you have this afternoon, Miss Lily? The special is sweet potato and apple, but we might be able to find some squash and peas if you're feeling spicy."

The girl babbles and drools on your shoulder.

You set her up in her high chair, buckling her in before turning to the cabinet. The baby food jars are arrayed in perfect rows, meticulously ordered by color.

Kimberly's doing. She rearranged them so frequently and into so many patterns that you can't keep up.

"Sweet potato?" you ask the girl as you grab the jar and a little silicone spoon. She only bobbles in her chair. "Sweet potato it is," you sagely nod as if she gave some kind of response.

You pop the top and spend the next ten minutes slowly feeding her, making silly noises and pretending to eat to coax her into hurrying up.

This is the worst part of child-rearing, you've decided. It's just so boring.

When she finishes and you've mopped her face of the spills, you consider her. "Walk?" you ask.

She perks up a bit, her hands stilling from where they were banging against the child tray.

"Mhmm, I thought that'd interest you," you smirk, leaning down. "Gotta put on your sockies first, though. And your shoes. Don't give me that face," you add, even though she probably didn't react.

You read into each twitch of her expression, each micro-tic, as if it means everything.

Lily allows the sock -and even the shoes, to your surprise- and wiggles in your arms when you pick her up. You leave the townhouse with a diaper bag over one shoulder and your wallet and keys in your pocket.

The walk to Alki only takes a couple of minutes. The sun is mostly out, the temperature is mild, and you breathe in the briny scent of the Sound with relief.

It gets too stuffy in the house. Sometimes you forget how wonderful fresh air can be.

You walk around the paved park; Lily snuggles against you. Her breath is hot on your neck, and you're pretty sure she's drooling on it, but you ignore it.

It's not like any of your shirts survive long with her around.

You stop near the Statue of Liberty replica statue (scoffing at it not for the first time) and look out over the water.

The concrete is warm and rough beneath you, the wind cool and caressing. And then there is Lily, babbling in your ear, fingers picking at your shirt.

You glance down; a small leaf has found its way to your collar, and the girl attempts to pluck it out of the fabric's weave.

You do it for her, holding it up for her to see. "Leaf," you say; Lily grabs for it. "Fine, but don't try to eat-"

She immediately attempts to stuff it into her mouth.

"No, pillbug," you snort, wrestling it free. The girl bristles at the indignation, eyes scrunching up, ready to cry.

Ugh.

"Look!" you say suddenly, surprising her from the coming temper tantrum. "See the puppy?"

Lily's head swivels around, rage forgotten.

Thankfully, there is a dog nearby. You point out the little ball of black fur trotting around on its dainty little legs. Lily claps, delighted, and wiggles in your grasp.

Crisis averted for now. You toss the leaf aside, moving Lily to your knee so you can gently bounce her. "Isn't it so cute?" you ask, mind elsewhere.

This trick won't work for much longer, will it? In three months, she'll be a year old. Three months... That's no time at all. When will the promise of seeing a dog stop thrilling her? When will she be trying to do worse things than shoving leaves in her mouth?

Lily babbles and claps, delighted when the dog lets out a tiny yip in her direction. It strains in its harness, trying to come over, but its owner is distracted by a phone call and pulls it closer.

"Aww, so cute, huh?" you ask against Bug's hair, deciding not to worry about the future.

You have here and now. You're going to focus on that.