#chapter 370

[righteousenjoymentofthunder]

for the first time in- a while, maybe, yjh is the one telling the story! really, with the amount of stuff he knows now i wouldnt be surprised if he regained the 'avatar' trait that was exclusive to 1863rd round yjh, which is, i.e. the author trait.

the crux of the problem is that kdj (usually) assumes that he knows yjh: his actions, his thoughts, his motivations. that might have been true three years ago, but there was still bits of him not understanding yjh (see: the start of divorce arc monologue that kdj goes into) but he DOESNT! since coming back, he hasnt even been able to regularly see into yjh's thoughts through his understanding. nonetheless activate 'first person pov' through him - or whatever the level is called.

furthermore: kdj really, REALLY cant comprehend that yjh cares about him, for realsises. he has an inkling of it now that the fourth wall is down, but not really. he hasnt even really seen the midday tryst notifs from the three years at this point but like- he doesnt know/realise that yjh missed him!

kdj knows all these things, these facts about yjh. but he doesnt really know him. not as a person.

there's the wall thats been separating them all this time.

[everyitachi]

[fallensnowfan]

Usopp appreciation post!

The man is a god at seeing through facades of others when they are trying to give up on themselves, or their own happiness/freedom, out of some obligation they don’t have to. Where as Luffy usually gets involved when he sees someone else trying to take freedom away from his friends. Cool how well his and Usopp’s abilities compliment the other’s.

It’s something every Straw Hat has done at some point, though Oda seems to intentionally have Usopp be involved in a key way when it’s the women he knows who are the ones being overtly self-sacrificial. Which I’m fairly certain now is a reflection of Usopp telling his mother not to give up on believing in impossible things as a child, because being a pirate means nothing is impossible.

[masterangst]

CHAPTER 370

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Thoughts on chapter 370 & 371

370 was, in my opinion, mostly about setting up the future events of the main battle, the BBs essentially just arriving to the scene and telling Asta to go ahead; that they can handle the clones. And that... for some reason the Clover castle needs to be in the skies for Lucius' plan to work (I guess JuLu really just is gonna climb the tree of Qliphoth and punch their celestial parent for missing out on parenting /j). But also just securing that Yuno and Asta as a duo are the only "real" threat to Lucius. Though I have to suspect that there is going to be some kind of a scene stating that they weren't alone, and were only able to do it because of the wonderful people and friends they met along the way.

(But I also gotta laugh at Auggie just chilling in his castle while there the apocalypse happening outside. Do the limits of this man's incompetence know no limits?)

Charlotte deciding that she can't die yet. My romantic heart wants to believe that it's partly because Sukehiro needs to talk to her about something, once the battle is over. But also for the very obvious reason of... the world being about to to end, and her being one of the people that stand in the way of it. Rill might just be able to soon paint his masterpiece.

Then...

MEREO

CLK

FUE

Oh gosh. I love how Tabs went from the pure battle into some lore! He gave an explanation to Mereo's decision to leave the capitol, and it was simply because she didn't think that she'd get to ... grow stronger, in the proper sense of the concept. Because growth exists outside of one's comfort zone, and she would have, most likely, been stronger than anyone she goes up against with just being comfortably at home. There wasn't enough to quench her thirst for ability, for knowledge. Life inside the castle walls just wasn't enough, because there was no challenge.

I can now really imagine how much that battle during The Tuesday of Blood and Fire meant for Mereoleona. It was one of the first, perhaps only, times when someone really, truly, engaged with her into a proper battle. She must've been ecstatic! Such a proud big sister!! And we always knew that she has fire in her heart, and she was going to make something out of herself, but even her, she couldn't quite make it on her own. She needed that push from the people behind her. They might have been weaker than she was, but they gave her the necessary nudge.

Then we have Morris, blabbering about how the most weak preach the most... and then goes to preach about how he was chosen by God. Well... I guess he can't appreciate the irony in it, but I can.

Fue arrives to the scene, when she's on the brink of realizing. After having shown some of his strength, and only to see the dead souls of their squad rise from the flames of hellfire that exists in Mereo's fire! She figures out her ultimate magic! And as she does, she declares that she wasn't waiting for anyone. She's going to charge ahead, with someone or without, because that's the only way to get stronger. To keep pushing the limits!!

Her soul is Fire! And she manifests that forth, into her body and gives body to the fallen souls. "You fools can't just die and think you'll get away with this!! That is not an excuse!" Like damn... what a mentality!

But these people were the ones who were not deterred by her training methods. They were afraid yes. They were aware of their weakness in comparison to her. But that was not an excuse for them to not push their own limits!! Mad respect. And Mereo grins. "This is the true shape of a human soul!" Something that burns with passion and bravery, charges forward and refuses to give in.

Like holy hell (pun intended)

And then she glances back with a mad grin, like something hell itself spat out.

I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes... like a fire spirit after this? I mean... Salamander is The Great Spirit of Fire, but he has a physical form. And Mereo is doing something similar, though at least between the Spare and Final arc, it seemed like she was able to still retain her body -body. I wonder if, but I also doubt, that it would be the same after the final arc. It might be that she'll become permanently a spirit. But... I honestly can't blame. Because that is not her death, even if it comes to that. It's her becoming.

If I wasn't afraid of Mereo before, I sure as damn am now (in a positive way)

That's my girl!

Hell yeah!

Burn baby buuuurrrrnnnn~

[algumaideia]

Things are getting tense

[calekinnieplus]

"The demon king is incredibly powerful...I'm not very confident in my chances against him."

But the white-clothed individual didn't think like that as he said.

"You haven't even faced him, what makes you think you can't face him? You're the strongest in humanity, the first to break through to <SSS>, what makes you think that you can defeat him? Have a little bit of faith in yourself."

"If only things were like that…"

[...]

Suddenly, sensing something, the black-clothed male's body jerked towards the right, and a powerful aura swept out of his body.

"He found me."

[...]

"What exactly are you looking at, and who found you?"

"The time remnant."

[...]

"Sorry, I have to go."

"Hey wai—"

"I have no time now, I don't want it to find you. It's not something you can deal with."

"What are you—"

Before the white-shirted male could finish speaking, the world slowly started to crumble as the darkness started to envelop completely.

Before long, everything disappeared, and what remained was a chilling darkness.

...so we have a lot to unpack here...

These synchronization chapters, damn...

Ok, we have two individuals. The black-clothed one is the first SSS-rank in humanity. But would you look at that? THAT'S NOT CURRENTLY A THING.

So! We are left with time-related elements. The talk of the Akashic records and the time remenant are also hinting in that direction.

Let's look at it from this perspective. The demon king is, in a way, a threat to the Akashic records, yeah? And since it's this powerful collection of... everything, it can put up some countermeasures, albeit not directly kill him.

So we have the system. The goal of which is clearly to defeat the demon king. Kevin has the system. That's one countermeasure.

But where does Ren come in? What does his status as the author amount to? What is his connection to this world. He wrote it, but at the same time... he didn't write everything. This world exists independent of him, especially now.

Also, I'm willing to bet those black-clothed guy and white-shirt guy are Ren and Kevin, respectively. Probably some timey-whimey bullshit.

I mean, come ON, Ren has the seed of limit AND is on his way to BAMF-ness (already a BAMF, but like... you get what I'm saying). AND?? The MC. Makes sense he would be the first SSS-rank.

And with Kevin having the role that he does... yeah, I think that's a pretty safe bet.

It could also be Kevin and Jin, say... OG timeline, like it was in TCF. But meh, this theory doesn't go as hard.

BUT THERE ARE SO MANY VAGUE ELEMENTS HERE!

Counting down, we have:

Ren's transmigration and status as author. I mean... WHAT DOES IT MEAAAAN. Was it also a countermeasure of the Akashic records? But then, what does it mean to be an author? THIS IS THE AUTHOR'S POV, WHAT ARE WE DOING??

Kevin's system. Why are you the only one who has it? How did it choose you? Ren? Ren chose you? Or the Akashic records?

The red book! That mf is one piece of work! Thank you for preventing Jin, Kevin and Ren's death btw. Very cool of you.

But is this red book a manifestation of the time remanant thingy? And what was that shadowy creature in Kevin's bedroom previously doing? Was THAT the time remanant? Infiltrating the book, I guess?

Is the red book a... branch, let's say, of the tree known as the Akashic records?

OH YEAH

TIME TRAVEL!

What was the black clothed guy saying over there? We'll just call him... BCG, yeah. He tried everything? The only solution is to defeat the demon king? This implies several runs of this world. But then... what is the current timeline? Does the reset wipe the memories of the regressors, in this case, Ren and Kevin? And with time, the memories come back step by step? And that's what synchronization is?

Man, it's so complicated. I doubt I'll guess it before it's revealed. Or heavily hinted at, I guess.

It's fun when there's many pieces thrown in our direction, with no hints to what the picture might be.

Future me, pls don't be mad if I was way off base with my guesses ○.○

Ok, onwards!

[in-kaeya-we-thrust]

Farewell

[beevean]

Consider the fact that, when he was human, Griffith had 2 personas: the friendly, childlike one he showed Guts mainly and the saintly smiley but somewhat detatched commander that he showed the rest of the Band and also Charlotte

Griffith viewed his human warmth and capacity to feel love as an obstacle to his dream so upon turning into Phemto he discarded that childish friendliness, leaving only the detatched demeanor taken to the extreme

Besides he's still not emotionless

He smugly smirks quite often when around Guts or after achieving a major victory, like in Black Swordsman when he mocks Guts, on the Hill of Swords for the same reason, right before handing Ganishka his first L and in the most recent chapters after kidnapping Casca

Besides his rape of Casca was absolutely emotionally driven

So Femto does still have emotions!

They're just twisted

True. While some could chalk up Femto's smugness in the first chapters to Early Installmente Weirdness, the rape of Casca was 100% driven by human emotion, which IIRC Slan even comments on - even if someone theorizes that he knew that she was pregnant and he needed to corrupt the baby to be reincarnated, forcing Guts to watch reveals his true, petty motivation.

What Griffith saw as weakness weren't emotions as a whole, I think, but specifically getting attached to others, having tethers that would keep him from reaching his dream. He was affected by the boy who died in his army (who even returned in the vision that pushed him to accept the Godhand's deal), he developed his whole vision of the world that a true friend is his equal with his own goal in life, which would exclude the entirety of his band, and I don't need to say how much his affection for Guts ruined him. So smugness and vindictiveness aren't really off the table, they don't get in the way :P that's why I said, he might act perfectly nice to Sonia and the others, and perhaps part of him means it, but he forfeit the ability to care.

Of course, then there's the matter that he's still compelled to protect Casca, perhaps due to the influence of the vessel, so he's not as free as he hoped to. And isn't this a recurring theme with Apostles anyway? Thay they try their best to cut off their humanity to rise above the pit of despair humanity put them in, but part of it still lingers?

[everytobito]

[ofa-on-crack]

Sorry I haven't been posting, School got in the way and my wifi leaving at times.

But how we all feeling about the 2nd and 3rd users? Or Hikage's and En Colors? I'm a little disappointed about the red and white, the red is growing on me though.

[sokkathebluewolf]

Preview: Gladiator Chapter 370

A distressed Chan accidentally comes across Azula and Renkai as they return to the Palace. His new orders weigh on his mind, and they reframe reality for him as the Princess's loyalties and ideology become harder to parse for the confused soldier.

In the Black Cliffs, the Gladiator Army reunites with its leader: after a few emotional reencounters, Sokka holds a meeting to plan strategies for the coming battle... Ozai, in the Fire Nation, does the same with Aonu, Shaofeng and Princess Azula. Darkness falls and the sun sets on the eve of the final battle of the Hundred Year War...

Read Gladiator HERE or HERE

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

[everyitachi]

[wovenstarlight]

weaning myself off mtl and into direct translating... slow going but it is SO satisfying

[valleymyristica]

[Masterpost] FOP What it takes

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑ ⠀⠀░░▒▒▓▓▓██████▓▓▓▒▒░░ 🌸 In The Beginning 🌸 ⠀⠀░░▒▒▓▓▓██████▓▓▓▒▒░░ ㅤ [ Read on AO3 ] ┝━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┥

Chapter 1, To get a star Chapter 2, To make a wish Chapter 3, To be sick Chapter 4, To make it through Chapter 5, To have a normal day Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11,

┝━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┥ ⠀🌲 ░░ ░░░ ░░░░░░ 🌲 ┝━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┥

Tags: #fop What It takes -> All works that fall under the story

#fop What It takes Chapters -> All the chapters of the story

#fop What It takes Art -> Just the things I create for the story. Don't promise much, but just something. Better than nothing, right?

#fop What It takes Ask -> All asks related to the story

#fop What It takes Fanart -> Doubt it, but there is one, though, we have a long way to go till we get there, but do hope we get there. Man, and then we have her too, I really do hope we get to that point and meet her. Then we have pesky Bug, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We haven't even gotten to the place to return to yet. Well, we haven't really started yet, have we?

#Valley Writing -> For all the writing we do

#Valley Creation -> For that one game I made

#A little ask in my valley of despair -> For all the asks I get, yay!

Read other stories on AO3

[the-avatar-player]

They’re coming for the boss