#chapter 339

[aristocraticvision]

Chapter 339: Disturbing Results

Dr. Mark Philson was nervous as he waited outside Prince Stephen’s study at Fitzroy Park Palace.

“Dr. Philson?” Bixby repeated.

The doctor turned.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said. “My mind was somewhere else.”

“It’s perfectly alright, doctor,” Bixby replied. “Prince Stephen will see you now.”

The doctor followed Bixby into the study, then walked forward   and bowed at the neck.

“Your royal highness,” he said.

“Doctor,” Stephen replied. “I didn’t expect to see you until next week, but fortunately, my morning schedule allowed for a brief audience. What news do you have? I assume my test results are back?”

Dr. Philson nodded.

“Yes, your royal highness,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to see you. There were some irregularities in your blood work that I want to follow up on. I was hoping to schedule some time for additional testing at Prince George’s Hospital.”

"You don't typically visit for this type of request, so I assume it's serious," Stephen asked. "Is there reason for me to be concerned?"

“Not at this time,” the physician replied. “While by themselves the lab results could be the result of several factors, your continued weight loss and digestive issues are cause for some concern. However, I’d prefer not to speculate until I have more information.”

Stephen studied him for a moment, then nodded.

“Well, then,” he said. “Have Bixby get something on the calendar.”

“Very good, your royal highness,” Dr. Philson said. “Thank you.”

The doctor stepped out of the room to find Bixby waiting.

“His royal highness has asked us to find time for additional medical tests at Prince George’s,” Dr. Philson said. “As soon as possible, please.”

Bixby looked at him intently.

“Is there a problem, doctor?” he asked.

“I sincerely hope not,” Dr. Philson replied.

CHAPTER 1 | BEGINNING OF PART 4 | PREV | NEXT

Continent of Oceana | History of Weston | History of Corwyn | History of Torenth | History of Allycia

[algumaideia]

Luffy I know you are impulsive plus you are restless because of Usopp but come on, you really did that?

I think Franky is ridiculous in a bad way sorry

Hmm CP9

[f-imaginings]

Lmao the current sneak peek at the latest chapter is just this

Gimme about a month and I'll have something better lmao

[deltajellybean793]

Asta's Zetten

Black Clover, Chapter 339

[sokkathebluewolf]

Preview: Gladiator Chapter 339

The attack on the Northern Water Tribe begins: with the airships' new weapons of volatile gas, Admiral Zhao finally progresses across the North Pole, his sights set on reaching the oasis while his forces continue to fight the Northern Water Tribe's defenses.

In the oasis, a brave princess attempts to defend the Moon Spirit: Zhao's initial sacrilege by Tui and La's pond catches Yue off guard. When all seems lost for the northeners, the arrival of unexpected allies may just be the sole salvation possible for a terrified Princess Yue...

Read Gladiator HERE or HERE

For a snippet of the new chapter, support me on Patreon!

[everydayspamton]

day 339 of drawing spamton every day until deltarune chapter 3

[kikokus]

Lucci and Kaku: An Analysis

I haven’t done long analysis/meta/essay-style posts in a while, but after seeing a comment that amounted to “every time Lucci’s shown an interest in something that doesn’t have to do with killing, Kaku’s involved” it made me think about whether or not that's true and, more specifically, whether or not there’s been sufficient build-up to justify what happens in Chapter 1111.

So let’s explore, shall we?

First of all, basic disclaimer that I’ve been heavily into One Piece since 2008 and Water 7 has been my favorite arc since the first time I read it that summer. Kaku, in turn, has always been one of my top characters in the entire series for various reasons…but this isn’t about him (at least, not entirely), so all of that is just to say that I’ve thought about these characters a lot over the years.

And I think what always struck me about them is that not only are they so fundamentally different, but that realistically Lucci should not tolerate Kaku at all. He’s pretty much everything Lucci’s not, and they’re more-or-less a perfect example of the ‘someone will die…of fun!’ meme in a lot of ways (and honestly it’s what I think of every time I see this card, but I digress):

At the same time, what happened in the latest chapter didn’t surprise me, because there’s been hints all along, and I’ve personally been waiting years for it to pay off…even though part of me thought it never would, or at least not in the way it did!

Still, how did we get here?

But First, A Bit About 相棒

So. Why is the fact that Lucci calls Kaku his “相棒” (aibou) so significant? Mostly because of the…individualistic meaning of the word. It literally translates to ‘partner’, but not in a romantic/life-partner way (not to say that it has never been used like that, but it’s not the inherent meaning of the word).

Unlike words such as 友人 (yuujin), 友達 (tomodachi), and of course, with Luffy, 仲間 (nakama), aibou generally only refers to one person. You can have many friends, teammates, crew members…but only one aibou. So by calling Kaku that, Lucci’s already placing him on a different level to anyone else in CP9 or CP0 and acknowledging openly that Kaku’s important enough to him to have earned that distinction.

Which is why a lot of us were very excited about it, since this is not a common occurrence where Lucci’s concerned.

That aside, let’s get to the actual canon content.

Water 7

Obviously at the beginning we find out they both work at the shipyard, but that in and of itself isn’t entirely significant…until you consider that, since Kalifa is pretty much with Iceburg all the time and Blueno’s running the bar, the two of them are working in much closer proximity to each other than to the other CP9 members in the city. 

The first real indication we get regarding their comfort level with each other comes in chapter 327 when Kaku gets back from examining the Merry and goes to sit down to explain what he’s discovered. Paulie’s the closest to him, but he actually ends up stepping past both him and Lucci in order to sit directly beside Lucci on the same level.

It’s quite a while before we see the two of them alone again, and it doesn’t happen until chapter 339 when they’re speaking with Robin. Of course at the time we’re not supposed to know it’s them, but there’s really nobody else it can be since this is happening at the exact same time that Blueno’s talking with Franky and Kokoro at the bar. So, as will become fairly common, the two of them are again acting as a unit of their own within the larger group.

And then, of course, we get the infiltration of the mansion prior to The Big Reveal (which I’ve spoken about before because for me it’s still the single greatest reveal in the entire manga because of how carefully crafted it is, right down to Kaku’s limited dialogue in this section being completely devoid of his usual speech quirks in the original Japanese text). Once again, Blueno and Kalifa are doing their own things while these two are working together.

This panel has always been interesting to me because immediately prior to this Lucci says he can’t let Paulie live, and then he decides to just restrain him instead. In Luffy’s case it makes sense because they gave their word to Robin not to harm the Strawhats, but he has absolutely no reason to spare Paulie, and the little lines of shock/surprise beside Kaku imply that he hadn’t expected Lucci to do that, either. The ‘why’ is still unclear, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and it’s also…noteworthy that it’s the only thing Lucci asks Kaku to do. All of the actual damage Paulie takes comes from Lucci and he never asks for or expects Kaku to harm him.

I never connected these two panels before but it’s obviously very deliberate to have Lucci telling Iceburg that feeling emotions is a sign of humanity followed immediately by Kaku…demonstrating exactly that and thanking Iceburg. It’s important to establish that part of Kaku’s character, but keep in mind Lucci’s lack of a reaction here because it’ll come back later.

Again, very tiny moment, but there’s a lot of examples of Lucci deferring to Kaku or letting him take the lead without any hesitation, and I like this because Kaku’s noticed something that Lucci hasn’t and Lucci just goes with it immediately.

I’d forgotten about this but Kaku’s also the one that decides to take Usopp with them, first by recognizing him as one of the Strawhats and then going through with it even after finding out he doesn’t consider himself a part of them anymore. And Lucci just…stands back and lets him give out orders to the others while doing so.

Okay so this is what I was referencing earlier. Kaku shows actual emotions with Iceburg and Lucci’s silent, but the moment Kalifa gets even slightly happy about completing the mission he’s berating her instantly. Kaku’s expression here is interesting too because he looks absolutely haunted and it’s very telling.

And also another visual representation of Lucci and Kaku being equal to/on the same level as each other.

I didn’t include the panel but Kaku was ‘sleeping’ when Corgi was giving them all of the information about Nero while Lucci was (seemingly) wide awake, and yet Lucci has no idea who he is and relies on Kaku to have all the information. Which he does.

Kaku being the one to take charge again and direct the others even though Lucci’s standing right there. They do this more than I’d realized at first, especially since Lucci always seems to be looked at as the unofficial ‘leader’ of CP9.

Enies Lobby

We’ve made it to Enies Lobby, which is the first glimpse we get of these two interacting with the full CP9 group outside of any sort of ‘mission’ environment.

Mostly it entails Lucci being more combative (especially with Jabra) and Kaku being more annoyed, but again I can’t really imagine anyone else taking this tone with Lucci and getting away with it while Kaku does it fairly often and Lucci never retorts or gets angry with him.

And while Kaku’s not immune to taking Jabra’s bait in the right circumstances, his typical tendency is to de-escalate situations if he can and here he’s refusing to engage despite being deliberately called out…and Lucci, without being asked, immediately takes his side and defends his choice.

This is practically the next panel and while both Lucci and Jabra are kind of equally at fault for this little display, Kaku only berates Jabra for it while Kalifa’s directing her comments at both of them.

Now that I’m actually looking for these sorts of things it’s becoming more obvious, but again we have Lucci and Kaku in an equal position to each other at the front of CP9.

This isn’t just to Kaku since Kalifa’s there as well, but Lucci’s still encouraging them to eat the fruits and I have to believe it’s coming from a place of good faith because he’d know whether or not being able to swim is that big an issue in their profession. I also want to note that Kaku echoes Lucci’s ‘it’ll be fun’ line when he actually does eat his fruit, so obviously that resonated with him.

I’ve put these two together because they both highlight the same thing, that being in both of these sequences we get almost all of CP9 giving out their individual thoughts/comments on what’s happening but Kaku’s statement both times is a direct reply to what Lucci says, so again the two of them are paired off in a way that doesn’t include anyone else there. 

The only other thing of note in this section is that while Robin’s talking about what happened during the Buster Call on Ohara, Kaku and Lucci are the only CP9 members to kind of…break formation and actually look at her while she’s speaking, which is interesting.

And for the rest of Enies Lobby they aren’t together so there’s not too much more to say here other than Kaku of course being the one to have the actual key to Robin’s cuffs, but it’s never made explicit who came up with that plan or handed out the keys so…if I ever actually do the thing and write a full analysis of Kaku’s character we can talk about it then Lark you’ve been saying you’ll do this for years IF I EVER--

Interlude - CP9’s Independent Report

Besides the fact that this is still one of my favorite cover stories, there’s a couple of noteworthy things here, the first of which is that Kaku again is taking the lead. Even though he’s the only other CP9 member other than Lucci to be injured badly enough that he can’t walk on his own, he’s still the one directing them where to go.

Other than that, I love seeing all of them just…interacting like friends and being very relaxed and casual, and pretty much every panel where Kaku and Lucci are together they’re directly beside each other so I’ve included a bunch of those here.

Dressrosa & Egghead

The next time we see Lucci and Kaku is at the end of Dressrosa, where they’ve been promoted to CP0 Oda can we please get some explanation of how this happened and let me tell you, I remember this vividly because the spoilers at the time just said that Lucci was talking to ‘someone’ and when the raws came out you can bet I went right to the dialogue to see if it was Kaku because his way of speaking is so telling.

But even in this little scene, we can see they’re having an equal conversation and there’s a major difference between how Lucci’s speaking with Kaku and how he addresses Spandam mere seconds later.

After this we have the Reverie/Levely/what-even-is-this-thing-called arc where they get all of a single panel together and while it’s the first time we actually ‘see’ Kaku after the time-skip, nothing really interesting regarding their relationship happens, so let’s move on to…

The end of the colored manga! And Egghead.

We start with a very familiar situation: Lucci asking Kaku what’s going on, and while Kaku this entire arc seems more outwardly annoyed with Lucci than he ever was in the past (which is never really explained but then again, Lucci spends a lot of the arc doing things he’s specifically been told not to do, so maybe it’s understandable…), he still has all the information and relays it.

Though Kaku’s also much more comfortable letting his real personality show despite them being on a mission while before he was always completely serious after the Water 7 reveal, especially around Lucci. It came through with Zoro and Jabra but during the cover story he’s smiling and laughing a lot with Lucci right there so it makes sense he’d be more willing to let his guard down even ‘on the job’ by now.

So here’s the first real instance of Lucci showing concern for Kaku, something which escalates pretty quickly throughout the arc. It’s subtle, and though he’s framing it as a suggestion to Stussy, if he didn’t care at all he wouldn’t have said anything. 

At this point it’s fairly obvious that Lucci and Kaku don’t really have any authority difference between them and Kaku spends a lot of time in this chapter especially telling Lucci to Not Do The Thing. Anyone that’s ever lived with a cat knows how well this works.

I’ve always found this bit of dialogue particularly interesting because Kaku’s very openly…praising Sentomaru for choosing his loyalty to Vegapunk over assisting the government, and there’s no way Lucci doesn’t hear him say this but he doesn’t say anything in return. There’s no real evidence that Lucci knows about Kaku willingly giving up the key to Zoro or how conflicted he was about Paulie and everyone else, but this seems to imply that at the very least, even if he doesn’t share those sentiments, he wouldn’t think less of Kaku because of it.

Putting these two together since they’re in the same scene but at this point it’s not even subtle concern anymore, Lucci’s genuinely worried for Kaku and you can tell this caught him off-guard.

Kaku’s the first one to suggest working together but Lucci immediately backs him up and goes with the idea. It’s logical in the sense that it’ll give them the biggest chance to survive, but willingly working with pirates isn’t exactly the sort of thing that Lucci, especially in the past, would have so easily done regardless of the situation.

So at this point it’s becoming clear that this whole 4-v-2 section is supposed to be the most…light-hearted thing going on right now and a lot of it is played to be comedic, including Lucci’s inability to lie, but yet again there’s almost nobody else that could get away with scolding him the way Kaku’s doing here.

…And then we skip ahead a day and things happen that I really hope get explained at some point because they seem important, but while Lucci’s never going to have impeccable bedside manner, he’s very concerned with getting Kaku to rest and while Kaku’s trying to justify what happened Lucci really doesn’t seem to care about that. It’s a big departure from him being willing to write off anyone he deems ‘too weak’ and it’s a nice character moment.

I’d mentioned on my liveblog that some of the things Lucci was doing after this point were confusing, but if you look at them through the lens of him wanting to protect Kaku, it makes a lot more sense. Yes, he’s deliberately keeping him out of the loop, but Lucci I think has decided that he’s going to throw caution to the wind and act alone since if Kaku can’t prove he knew about the plan, he’s probably safer being left with the Strawhats, and if the Marines show up he should be safe anyway or so Lucci thinks…

When this chapter came out, I’d said something about Lucci being a hypocrite considering what the rest of CP9 did for him when they could have easily just left him at Enies Lobby, but given what happens almost directly after and likely what he’s trying to do with this entire fight, these words feel even less genuine…

And that brings us to this. The moment that I’ve been thinking about for almost an entire week now. The moment that, looking back at…oh, wow…almost 3000 words of analysis maybe shouldn’t be as surprising as it was for most of us, but it does feel like the payoff for a long, long buildup that’s taken nearly twenty years to reach. Because really, there’s no other way to describe them other than ‘partners’, and probably hasn’t been for a long time…and I’m so glad that Lucci acknowledged it.

To summarize, I think what surprised me most about re-visiting all of this is how much the manga has framed them as equals since the beginning even though it was never explicitly stated between the characters themselves. Lucci’s always been far more lenient with Kaku than with anyone else, and Kaku in turn has never had any fear of Lucci even if he wasn’t really expressing his true self with him for a long time.

The cover story being the turning point makes perfect sense, and the progression throughout Egghead of Lucci being more outwardly willing to show his concern and Kaku not hiding his emotions at all seems like a natural progression of their relationship and their level of comfort around each other.

And the fact that Oda is never really…hitting us over the head with any of it until that final moment when Lucci says everything so plainly because Kaku’s life is the most important thing to him even when faced with a literal monster… It’s so effective. 

I don’t know where we go from here. To be honest, I’m kind of scared of where we go from here. But regardless of the outcome, I hope this little essay has been at the very least interesting and perhaps allowed you to look at these two in a different light.

Thanks for reading.

[blueteller]

Hello, Blueteller-nim! I want to ask, do you have some small moment that you just loved? Like, a really short scene, that probably only explained within few sentences.

I have two! Both within the same arc that is Mogoru Empire vs Whipper Kingdom!

First, the first (and probably last) time, our brash and loud Cheapskate said "Please".

And second, is when the Black Despair, inside the Golem, gathered around Cale's warmth. Truly, what a holy scene. A being that console a cold and lonely things.

Hello, Konahana! You picked some really great, cinematic moments! As for myself, there are so, SO many things I love in TCF. Scenes of action, comedy, drama... but what really gets to me the most, are small, casual interactions between characters that mean so, so much.

Like this one, for instance, in chapter 201.

It's funny, touching, and heartbreaking at once! Like, there are so many layers here!

Or this scene, from chapter 339.

Just picturing this scene makes me emotional.

I just, gah!! I love these characters so much 😭There's so much to love 💖

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR NEW MASTERPOST

Ease of reading in mind

Season 1

Chapter 1: PG 1-20 Four Heroes Return

Bonus Chapter "Name"

Chapter 2: PG 21-31 Back Home

Chapter 3: PG 32-57 A "Walk"

Chapter 4: PG 58-81 Library

Chapter 5: PG 82-108 A Promise

Chapter 6: PG 109-128 Memory Lane

Chapter 7 PT 1: PG 129-155 A Hero Playing a Villain

Chapter 7 PT 2: PG 156-177 A Hero Playing a Villain

Chapter 8: PG 178-197 Dark Mirror's Shards

Chapter 9: PG 198-210 Triforce of Power

Chapter 10 PT 1: PG 211-222 Uncontrollable Curse

Chapter 10 PT 2: PG 223-244 Uncontrollable Curse

Chapter 11 PT 1: Unfinished Business Pages 245-259

Chapter 11 PT 2: Unfinished Business Pages 260-278

Chapter 11 PT 3: Unfinished Business Pages 279-308

Chapter 11 PT 4: Unfinished Business Pages 309-338

Chapter 12: Home again Page 339-360

Chapter 13: Darkness and Vaati 361-370

Chapter 14: A Waking Nightmare 371-386 Part 1

Chapter 14: A Waking Nightmare 371-410 Part 2

Chapter 15: Split 411-424

Chapter 16: Dark Link and Green Pages 425-446

Chapter 17: Dark Link and Green 447-457

Chapter 17: Going Further 458-468

Chapter 17: Going Further 469-492

Chapter 18: Reality 493-506

Season 2

Chapter 19 Shades of Blue

Chapter 19 PT 1: Shades of Blue Pages 507-510

Chapter 19 PT 2: Shades of Blue Pages 511-514

Chapter 19 PT 3: Shades of Blue Pages 515-518

Chapter 19 PT 4: Shades of Blue Pages 519-522

Chapter 19 PT 5: Shades of Blue Pages 523-526

Chapter 19 PT 6: Shades of Blue Censored Pages 527-530

Chapter 19 PT 6: Shades of Blue Uncensored Pages 527-530

Chapter 19 PT 7: Shades of Blue Pages 531-534

Chapter 19 PT 8: Shades of Blue Pages 535-538

Chapter 19 PT 9: Shades of Blue Pages 539-542

Chapter 19 PT 10: Shades of Blue Pages 543-546

Chapter 19 PT 11: Shades of Blue Pages 547-552

Chapter 19 PT 12: Shades of Blue Pages 553-556

Chapter 20 New Friends

New Friends Part 1 Pages 557-560

New Friends Part 2 Pages 561-565

Chapter 21 Link's Bedroom

Link's Bedroom Part 1 Page 570-574

Link's Bedroom Part 2 Page 570-574

Link's Bedroom Part 3 Page 575-578

Link's Bedroom Part 4 Page 579-582

Link's Bedroom Part 5 Page 583-586

Link's Bedroom Part 6 Page 587-591

Link's Bedroom Part 7 Page 592-595

Link's Bedroom Part 8 Page 596-600

Link's Bedroom Part 9 Page 601-604

Chapter 22 Cloudy Kitchen Thoughts

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 1 Page 605-610

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 2 Page 611-616

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 3 Page 617-623

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 4 Page 624-630

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 5 Page 631-637

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 6 Page 638-644

Cloudy kitchen thoughts Part 7 Page 645-649

Chapter 23 The Woods

The Woods Part 1 Pages 650-655

The Woods Part 2 Pages 656-659

The Woods Part 3 Pages 660-667

The Woods Part 4 Pages 668-673

The Woods Part 5 Pages 674-677

The Woods Part 6 Pages 681-687

The Woods Part 7 Pages 688-694

The Woods Part 8 Pages 695-700

The Woods PT 9 Pages 701-706

The Woods PT 10 Pages 707-712

Chapter 24: Secret keeping in the darkness

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 1 Pages 713-718

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 2 Pages 719-723

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 3 Pages 724-729

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 4 Pages 730-735

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 5 Pages 736-741

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 6 Pages 742-747

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 7 Pages 748-753

Secret keeping in the darkness PT 8 Pages 754-756

Chapter 25: Vio

Pages 757-762

Pages 763-768

Pages 769-773

Chapter 26: Dream's end

Pages 774-779

Pages 780-785

Pages 786-791

Pages 792-797

Pages 798-803

Pages 804-810

Chapter 27: Turning point

Pages 811-815

Pages 816-820

Pages 821-826

Pages 826-832

[sfstranslations]

UPDATE: The S-Ranks That I Raised (339)

“I’m- I- haven’t done anything alone. Even being an S-rank Hunter! In the end, that’s something noonim made me into. And when I tried to escape noonim, too… I got- the Seseong Guild Leader’s help. And then you… paid for it, in my place, and got me out. Even when I fought with noonim, it was all because you helped me. And I was just hesitating and avoiding you, but it was because Myeongwoo hyung gave me a push that I came out to meet you.” “Noah-ssi, even so, you yourself took those─” “I don’t even know what I want to do now!”

Read Chapter 339: Pleased To Meet You (3) now!

Request access to the My S-Ranks translations by sending us your email through our contact form.

[pharmaciacatholica]

Creation Theology Resources

Here are some resources that I think are good reads for those interested in the topic; I will likely add stuff as I come across more in the future. Like everyone else, I am always learning more.

Fathers:

Saint Theophilus of Antioch, Letter to Autolycus (A.D. 183)

Book II chapters 10-33

Book III chapter 24

Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis (A.D 306-373)

Saint Basil the Great, Hexaemeron (A.D 330-379)

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man (A.D. 335-395)

Saint Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Genesis (A.D. 339-397)

Specifically, Book I chapter 2 and 3

Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis (A.D. 347-407)

Saint Augustine (A.D. 354-430)

The Confessions; Book XI, Book XII, and Book XIII

On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis

City of God; Books XI-XVI

Doctors:

Venerable Bede, The Reckoning of Time (A.D. 708)

Specifically, chapter 66

Saint John Damascene, On the Orthodox Faith (A.D. 673-735)

Specifically, Book II chapter 1 and 2

Saint Bonaventure, Breviloquium (A.D. 1221-1274)

Specifically, Parts II and III

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (A.D. 1225-1274)

Prima Pars; Questions 44-46, 65-74, 90-92, 102

Councils:

Council of Trent (A.D. 1545-1563)

Session IV, Decree Concerning the Edition and the Use of the Sacred Books

Session V, Decree Concerning Original Sin

Catechism of Trent, Production of Man (page 42)

Second Vatican Council (A.D 1965)

Dei Verbum

Roman Pontiffs

Pope Leo XIII

Arcanum Divinae; specifically, paragraph 5

Providentissimus Deus

Pope Pius XII

Divino Afflante Spiritu

Humani Generis *the crown jewel, in my opinion*

Pope Saint John Paul II

Evangelium Vitae; specifically, chapter 2 parts 39-43

Pope Francis

Laudato Si; specifically, chapter 2

Pontifical Biblical Commission

Miscellaneous Articles

The Four Senses of Scripture

Creation and Divine Freedom

The Theological Importance of Creation

Is Genesis 1-11 Intended to be Historical

The Mathematical Impossibility of Evolution

The Metaphysical Impossibility of Human Evolution

Against Polygenism

Should Catholics Believe in Evolution

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Crisis of Faith

Books

Studies in the Theology of Creation Volume 1 by Gideon Lazar (no pdf available currently)

The Doctrines of Genesis 1-11 by Fr. Victor Warkulwiz

A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre

[reality-moonwalker]

Small piece of foreshadowing in HxH, 300 chapters apart

So I was reading some early manga chapters when something caught my attention

Ch. 40

Gotoh telling Gon about how faking a person's image would be difficult (yet implying it's not impossible)

Ch. 339

...

TOGASHI I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU

[pendwelling]

I'm literally crying. Anyway, I was curious about TWSB's Imperial Riester bloodline so I made a family tree for fun (maybe not so fun. I wasted sleep over this) and I realized something that made me feel so dumb LMAO

Look at this. I've been under the impression since 2021 that Jibril and Cédric were 6th cousins WHEN IN ACTUALITY THEYRE ONLY 2ND COUSINS 😭😭😭😭

IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS...... HOW HAS NO ONE EVER CORRECTED ME ON THIS? 😭 I WROTE LIKE 3 FICS FEATURING JIBRIL AND CED IM VRYFIGN....

I even went back to check Jibril's formal introduction chapter [Chapter 339 via Ridibooks] AND SURE ENOUGH LMAO........

SURE ENOUGH, CÉDRIC AND JIBRIL CALL EACH OTHER SECOND COUSINS 😭 When I was looking through the family tree it struck me like a bolt of lightning that Cédric and Jibril's positions didn't feel like second cousins and BOOM here I am. Enlightened. A Fool. Perplexed.

I don't blame myself too much tho because for some reason, even browser MTL sometimes translates 육촌 into "sixth cousin" (for reasons I don't even know other than MTL really just acts up like that)(see below)

But anyhow, from now on I'll be sure to use "Second Cousin" for these two 😭 This was 3 years of me spreading misinfo to people who've asked me about Jibril......... IM SORRY AAUGEHFHDJDJDJD

[capitaine-du-terror]

ARTICLES AND BOOKS (and illustrations!) BY H. GOODSIR

BOOKS

- Anatomical and pathological observations, 1845.

Goodsir, John (1814-1867) Goodsir, Henry Duncan Spens ("Harry") (1819-1847).

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/75603#page/9/mode/1up

Harry is the author of the following three chapters:

N°VI. The testis and its secretion in the decapodous crustaceans (pp 35-40)

N°XII. The mode of reproduction of the lost parts in the crustacea (pp 74-78)

N°XIII. Of the anatomy and development of the cystic entozoa (pp 79-103)

> The last one was read before the York Meeting of the British Association in 1844. I did a little research and found that Goodsir was “secretary” in the zoology and botany section:

(Read more:https://www.ypsyork.org/resources/articles/the-1844-british-association-conference-and-the-first-photographs-taken-in-york/ )

-Cases and observations illustrating the history and pathological relations of two kinds of hydatids, hitherto undescribed, 1844

Goodsir, Harry D. S. , Gairdner, John, Lee Thomas M. , Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/180385#page/3/mode/1up

Microscopial observations (two pages of illustrations at the end of the book, low quality).

-On two new species of leachia, 1841

Goodsir, Henry D. S. Esq.

(from the Edimburgh New philosophical Journal for October 1841)

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/188531#page/1/mode/1up

(One illustration at the end)

ARTICLES

-Description of the genus Cuma, and of two new genera nearly allied to it, 1843

in: The Edinburgh new philosophical journal, vol. 34, pp 119-129

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12565428#page/139/mode/1up

(Illustrations at the end)

-On the specific and generic characters of the araneiform crustacea, 1844

in: The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany and geology, vol. 14, pp 1-4

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2331360#page/14/mode/1up

(One plate at the beginning)

- Description of some animals found amongst the Gulf-weed, february 1845

in: The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany and geology, vol. 15, pp 73-76

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2248314#page/98/mode/1up

(One plate at the beginning)

- Description of some gigantic forms of invertebrate animals from the coast of Scotland, june 1845

in: The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany and geology, vol. 15, pp 377-383

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2248663#page/427/mode/1up

(One plate at the beginning)

-On the development, structure and eoconomy of the acephalocysts of authors; with an account of the natural analogies of the entozoa in general, june 1845

in: The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany and geology, vol. 14, pp 481-484

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/22068990#page/495/mode/1up

Abstracted from the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, having been read April 1, 1844.

> which I, of course, found:

Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol XV

pp. 560-571, three plates

Link: https://archive.org/details/transactionsofro15roya/page/560/mode/2up?view=theater

(His brother was also there!)

-On several new species of Crustaceans allied to Saphirina, 1845

in: The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany and geology, vol. 16, pp 325-327

Link: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/22069398#page/339/mode/1up

+Plate XI (at the end)

This last article is also mentionning the Erebus... I'm not crying, you are.

PS: I hope you enjoyed this overview of Goodsir's work, it took me days to gather it all and I'm glad to be able to share it with you all. As I'll soon be in Edinburgh, you can expect to see more Goodsir content! Love <3

[deltajellybean793]

"I can still...get stronger!!"

Black Clover, Chapter 339

[comfortlesshurt]

2024 Skyler Wrapped

Little 2024 update because my ass can never get enough statistics! (I enjoy the writing, but I fear my true love is math.)

Anyway, skip this post if it will bother you reading about a year of someone else's achievements! I will totally understand. Literally jerkin' myself off under the cut on this post, my dudes.

This year's new fics (in order of date first posted):

Ratings and TWs can be found at the links. Please check the TWs before reading!

09-Jun-2024: 5 Times Lance Doesn't Matter +1 Time He Finally Does (my first fic after an 18-month break!)

01-Jul-2024: Smiling 'cause you're used to it (a house that's always haunted) (first fic where I truly let myself go wild & write for my own dick & no one else)

03-Jul-2024: Chemicals, chemicals in my brain (where'd you go, where'd you go anyway?) (first time writing the fluffy part & enjoying it)

01-Aug-2024: Nowhere to call home (so I'll pack and run away) (first time completing a writing challenge on time)

10-Sep-2024: What are you wondering? (What do you know?) (I hate this one actually, but I wrote it this year so we'll just give it..... shortest fic I've written in AWHILE)

15-Sep-2024: On it, yes, indeed (on it, watch me bleed) (ugh opposite problem... I loved this one! but there's nothing really standout about it, I guess. just accept that I love it even if it doesn't have a Special Thing)

14-Oct-2024: 5 Times Keith Relies on the Blade +1 Time... (first time creating something to celebrate a fictional character's birthday. also first OCs with more than one line of dialogue, I think)

07-Dec-2024: With talk of love (as I make-pretend) (first work for a gift exchange! whole new scary experience for me!)

22-Dec-2024: Maybe this thing works out (if I'm lying too) (longest thing I have EVER written and shared. the inspiration for this thing is endless, I fear)

Stats I thought were interesting:

I wasn't actually back in fandom until June 3rd, 2024, so all the AO3 stats are based on the difference between my snapshot of that date and my snapshot on December 31st, 2024. Not a huge difference; it's just chopping out all the January through June interaction with my Spider-Man stuff that was already up since the last time I took a stats snapshot before that was 2021.

Published in 2024: 92k words, all VLD!

Written in 2024 but not yet published: 188k words, also all VLD

General new stats in 2024: 128 new work subs (we're so back), 20k new hits, 1.2k new kudos, 94 new comment threads (and i happy screamed at every single one), & 339 new bookmarks (and i crept through every single one with comments or tags attached... like a creep...)

New finished works: 7

New unfinished works: 2

Top artist for title lyrics this year: Those Who Dream at 16 unique titles (1 work title & 15 chapter titles)

Word count range for 2024 published fics: 527 (complete snippet) to 26k (WIP)

Most common additional tags: Keith-centric, POV Keith, Hurt/Comfort (these are surely surprising to you....)

Number of times I used the word 'just' in published & unpublished fics this year: 993 (0.355% of all words I wrote were this word.......)

Other milestones: first time writing someone who was Not My Blorbo and having fun with it, first time writing without it being an escape from something terrible, first shipfic, first time participating in a fandom event where there would be Consequences if I'd backed out, first explicit content posted on my main account, closest I've ever gotten to finishing NaNo* with one single project, first time c*mm*ssioning art for my fics, first time learning you have to censor the word c*mm*ssion to avoid getting scam bots in your tumblr DMs (just a huge milestone year actually)

New word count for this year technically doesn't beat my previous record of 315k in 2021, but 1) I was only employed full-time for 5 months of 2021 so I had way more free time then and 2) I didn't write a single word in 2024 before June 3rd, so 280k in 7 months of 2024 feels like a lot more than 315k in 12 months of 2021.

Also since literally no one IRL cares, some non-writing achievements I'm also proud of for 2024! Going in rough order from earliest in 2024 to latest:

Quit the most abusive job I've ever experienced

And immediately got my first job in my intended career field

Finally coded an AO3 stats tracker after 6 years of having it in the back of my mind

Grew my first ever eggplant (it was very small....)

Paid off my car

First semi-solo business proposal presented with a base price totaling more than all of the bids combined that I supported over 2 years at my last job

Made new friends I love <3

Acquired an unquenchable thirst for vld merch....

Went to my first con

And finally as of today, I'm under 89% of my original mortgage balance & on track to own this thing in half the original loan term! (praying this series of words doesn't wake up the sugar daddy bot again, he LOVES when I discuss my mortgage)

Also, some shoutouts for the year! In order of when we first met:

@zelandiangelo for being one of the few OGs I know still around and always being so nice to talk to and supportive. ;_; In case anyone's forgotten, they're the one who convinced me to write and post my first ever hurt/comfort fic and sucked me right back into fandom after I'd been clean for like... six years at that point.

For the record, there are other OGs and I'm glad to see them around! We're just not as close (but you can change that in 2025 ;) )

@hurtwithabitofcomfort for also being crazy supportive through all the fandoms I've been through. I didn't get to shout 'em out last year since I wasn't active on Tumblr then, but they're the one who kicked off me getting back into writing in 2023. I know I didn't SHARE anything from 2023, but they made me see how much I loved writing again around that time when the rest of my life kinda sucked and I was giving up on everything.

@perpetuallylatetothefandomparty for their incredibly nice comments! Deadass, I probably would've just posted my first one or two fics of this year and disappeared for another year or two if they hadn't been such a constant presence this summer, hyping up all the gen fics I was working on then.

@voltrohgodwhat for being so easy to talk to and being the kind of friend where either of us can like... disappear for a month and still be totally cool with each other. Also for sharing WIPs that still haunt me on a weekly basis because they're so unique and good ;_;

@existwound for being too intimidatingly cool for awhile but STILL hyping me up. If you've liked anything I've posted in the past three months or so, you've probably got Astra to blame for brainstorming it with me, letting me ramble about it, giving me fresh ideas when I'm stuck on something, or hyping it up.

@langst for always yapping to me about Klance and ALSO hyping up my WIPs and letting me ramble about ideas. Also special shoutout to El because she got me back into writing sprints and that is the source of a LOT of this recent word count. There is something so special about getting to stomp people's asses as you write.......

I'm not gonna harass all the writers I like who aren't like... people I talk to regularly, but even though this has been a VERY light reading year for me, there's a whole little list of VLD writers who I read over and over and like... instantly got motivation to write on my own fics afterward. If you've been in any of my 2024 fic rec lists, it's you... you are my motivation....

(Also, I am OLD and don't have my incredible teenage memory anymore, so if you see me add someone to the shoutouts later, no you didn't and I'm SORRY for not remembering in the first place.)

And final thing! Goals for 2025!

500k written in 2025: Just a little above my daily average in 2024 when you account for the 5 months I wasn't writing this year. The goal is to keep up the pace I've had since June 2024, but extend it through the full 12 months of 2025. Might be a bit of a reach but hey, I'll be happy to get anywhere near 500k in a year, so it works!

Start posting In Love and Death by the end of 2025: I'm running SO behind on where I thought I'd be with this project when I started, but there is no excuse for this to not be close enough to finished to start posting by the end of next year. Mark my words.......

Continue posting work I love: I fell out of habitually writing the last time because I was writing based on what I thought other people wanted to read and holy shit, it is so much easier to write what I want to read. So I'm gonna keep doing that in 2025. In 2024 we moved between gen whump, semi-shippy whump, and shippy non-whump, and I enjoyed them all because that was what I felt like writing at the time. I'll slide between them all as I feel like it again in 2025.

Prioritize my mental health online: I've mostly gotten through it fine, but every burst of bad mental health that affected my writing this year was a direct result of continuing to follow people who are just plain assholes and ruining my mood for no good reason when I'm trying to enjoy scrolling my dash. In 2025, I'll be reminding myself more often that no one is talented enough to make up for being a dick, and I will be more brutal with the unfollow and block buttons for anyone who's making my fandom experience worse.