#he just has so many good scenes in alabasta

[twirlymarimo]

MR. PRINCE | SANJI ONE PIECE | EP. 108-109

[basedkikuenjoyer]

No Conflict On My End

Catch the classic Wano trick? Scattershot chapter but the title gives you the clue; conflict. It was smoother but we've stepped away from the Straw Hats, they aren't in this one. I said this when we finished Bonney's cutaway. If you look at what's left it's Stussy as a springboard to Bakkin/Marco which we haven't checked in on since their first appearance parallel to Egghead. SWORD also has an unfired Chekov's Gun with Drake. Either of those can pull a Kuma and rewrite Wano. Only one person there can do that and it was the girl playing coy in the end.

Last week, it was "If he's gone, who am I to live for?" This week it's this titular line about inner conflict, how it's proof of your humanity. Especially with the Seraphim and building off of CP9 being these vicious government dogs who just need the order to indulge bloodlust right by it. That role doesn't have to be who you are, and if circumstance deals you a bad hand that forces you to go against your nature those conflicted feelings are proof you're not losing yourself to it. The difference to me though is like we said with Stussy maybe needing her own "Okobore" era. I don't think this is really Kiku's story replacing humanity with gender identity...I see it more as a parallel to the implied backstory and growth that allowed you to give it your all freely on one final show with the old gang. Also, don't forget Bakkin was last seen with Marco and that's all tied up in Sphinx Island as one of these wayward villages in need of a humble guardian.

Oh yeah, and doing this while York introduces a truckload of ambiguity. This is a cool scene. Because we really have to stop and think about what York knows, what Stella knew, and of course these weird gaps when we also now know Vegapunk Prime was with Bonney during the Void Night. As above, so below and all that right? A story about the Void Century on the surface when the micro clash on this island has that big blank night before raising so many questions.

Specifically highlighting the idea VP is a horrible liar and a bad actor. Is there like, anything specific we could pair this with in York's conclusion that would enhance the aroma?

Hey look! We got Robonosuke and Momonosuke in the same chapter! If you count the cover page we also got both Tsurus which is nice. York's theory is that Robonosuke is set to guard the broadcast. My point is that, alongside Stella telling us his limited version of the Void Century after a string of unreliable narrators we have York offering us this theory in frustration. Specifically highlighting solid reasons to be flummoxed. Vegapunk may have pulled a big brained plan all along, he was dicking around with Robonosuke when we met him. But he also like, weirdly disappeared from that scene too which is one of those little things I try to remember about Egghead. Vegapunk also wasn't really far along at getting Robonosuke online.

This becomes some really good shit though if there is a mystery interloper. Because really it could go both ways. If York's right, they could already be there and ready to make use of it. A trap. If York's wrong, the chaos just gave you a perfect distraction and it's a perfect sign of beating the genius by getting in her head. I still think there's something to the idea that Vegapunk didn't have time overnight to fix this dude. Luffy's G5 heartbeat being a signal or that backhanded way of someone making good on his assumption you just need to know Robonosuke's real name? That works in a night we still haven't filled in. And no matter what this big, bad mofo is about to start wrecking shit. Which is pretty cool.

Last but not least we have our reactions to the message. One big thing I thought was cool was seeing a lot of Alabasta stuff but not Vivi directly. V cool. Not like these breakout stories anchored around the three ladies are exclusive; Stussy had that great beat introducing her inner conflict during Bonney's and Bonney was incidentally involved in the stuff @ Mariejois. Before we get to our main man here too I'd highlight Shakky potentially carrying over that idea from Nojiko & Miss Goldenweek last week. Practical, grounded women aren't paying much attention and going about their day-to-day.

But then you got Rayleigh. Love this little line of conflict between Vegapunk and Ray. Because like we hinted at last week on a meta level this is kinda fucked up for VP to be just dumping all the Void Century stuff. Or it would be if he wasn't walking that fine line of not really revealing too much. Notice how he's kinda back to talking about his own stuff over the past few months as York puzzles it out. We can forgive Ray for not catching the subtleties though because he's drunk. I like this balance honestly, especially when you have Crocus kinda straddling the two.

One last thought too that just can kinda go anywhere with this message...Robin still has like, four regular Poneglyphs we've seen but not really fleshed out. The other two in Big Mom's stash, the one above the secret passage in the Flower Capitol, and the one Law found on Onigashima. She might already know something important Vega doesn't and her being mysteriously injured last night is a great excuse for not giving them time to touch on it.

[moongothic]

Yeah hello hi I've been falling deep into the Crocodad Rabbithole and my brain is being consumed by small crocodile-shaped worms

So I've done what any reasonable person would do, I went back to rewatch some scenes from Alabasta and Marinford to psychoanalyze Crocodile and try to figure out what the fuck his deal is because genuinely the more I think about it the more questions I have and the more I want answers. And because I'm deranged I need to write all my thoughts down into an incoherent essay and release it into the world

So please, come along with me while and let's be Extremely Normal About Sir Crocodile Together and speculate about his ~Secret Past~

Quick note, my quickest access to some of these episodes is either through unsubbed episodes (not bothering with getting screenshots since there's no subs, also my Japanese is plenty good enough to not need it here) or through Ancient, Questionable Fansubs so don't get too hung up on the phrasing in the subbed screenshots- like they're not entirely inaccurate but y'know

The reason I want to do this is just that... Like I've been a fan of OP since 2008, when I was in middle school. I don't think I ever really tried to think deeper about this series in general at that time, because I was a kid. For a long time to me Crocodile had just been Some Greedy Asshole who tried to take over a country to obtain a tool of mass destruction and IDK destroy the world? Just a very classic Bad Guy McVillianMan, because I had not bothered to think about his character and question anything before.

But now I have brainworms due to the Crocodad Theory, and this is fucking One Piece, you never fucking know how deep a rabbithole can go with this bloody series. So let's go, let's try to figure out what the fuck is Crocodile's deal, because I need to get these brainworms out of my fucking system

I just want to start with this one quick throw-away line because it's kind of a sidenote. Also like. This is such a funny fucking thing for Crocodile to say if he is Luffy's dad. Like.

That's so fucking funny if he's Luffy's dad holy shit

But what really gets me here is that like... Like while I'm like 70% sure Crocodile is trans, there's still a part of me that's like "there's no fucking way Crocodad is real". Let alone, this be some kind of a hint Oda planted to suggest that this early on. Like it sounds absurd. And yet at this point in One Piece, Oda had already started planning out and laying out the groundwork for so many lore and plot-relevant concepts, ranging from shit like everything about Robin, the Poneglyphs, the Ancient Weapons etc. He had already started the "Prince Sanji ARG" (aka dropping the tiniest fucking hints to Sanji's Hidden Backstory that people were able to pick up on and make accurate predictions with about Sanji's backstory). There's fucking Laboon, and about a bajillion other things. And possibly most importantly, by this point Oda had already revealed both Luffy's father and grandfather to the readers, not to mention he even introduced Ace and vaguely hinted at Sabo! It's not like Oda had everything perfectly planned out from the very begining, that is objectively not the case at all. But it also literally would not be unlike Oda to drop hints to a character's backstory like this. He has been doing that for years, and had already started by the time we met Crocodile. Like it feels insane and yet it's perfectly plausible. And if he had Luffy's dad, grandfather and two siblings planned out in his head already at this point, it should not be that much of a stretch to believe that Oda knows and no doubt has known for the past two decades who Luffy's mom is (regardless of if that's Crocodile or not)

All this to say. Crocodile's comment about what Cobra said to Vivi when they reunited is a funny, sarcastic comment. But it would take a whole new meaning if Crocodad was real. Because it really would be perfectly normal if he did/had wondered what he would say to his long lost child if they were ever reunited. And really that just makes his roast turn sad.

Anyways

In Alabasta, we do get a very clear image that Crocodile does not like the World Government, not just because he's a Big Meanie Pirate who wants to conquer the world, but because he does seem to look down on how the Marines + World Government do their "justice" (which, y'know, knowing what we know now about the Government. Fair. That's entirely fair.)

He also dislikes Vivi's "idealism" of wanting to save everyone without bloodshed or anyone losing their lives (especially for her sake)

We learn that he is a broken man with broken dreams. Also he seems to be aware where he (supposedy) belongs in the Grand Line's power hierarchy, as in, he needs Pluton because he knows he's not strong enough in combat that he could take down anyone, let alone the World Government by himself (though he would still make a beeline for Whitebeard's head the second he saw him at Marinford, which, y'know, bold move)

And of course, we learn in Impel Down that Crocodile and Iva-chan have some beef. We can not say for 100% sure what that beef is (like the theory he's trans is very obvious and plausible, but until Oda spills the beans we won't know for a fact what the beef is), but we know that they knew each other. And if Crocodile knew Iva-chan, a high-ranking founding member of the Revolutionary Army, then it is genuinely plausible that Crocodile could also have known Dragon and/or been a member of the Revolutionary Army as well.

Since overthrowing the World Nobles and the Government are the Revolutionary Army's goal, the fact that they're trying to obtain weapons and people for their cause etc, Crocodile's view of the Government and his "Operation Utopia" does kind of align with the Revolutionary Army's

But we did also learn from Iva that "Crocoboy" isn't quite trustworthy. Needless to say, even if Croc used to be a part of the Army, he most certainly left YEARS ago, and clearly not on good terms.

Also, an interesting note, is that at Marineford when Luffy and co finally arrive at the battlefield (episode 466, 17:25 minutes in), when Garp spots the group, he makes a specific comment about Crocodile being there together with the revolutionaries and the prison escapees, believing they can't all be here to fight for the same cause. Which is an interesting thing for him to point out specifically. Like Jinbei was another powerful person who entered that battlefield at the same time, and while Jinbei did clarify to Sengoku that he's quitting being a Shichibukai and was there to save Ace, it's still maybe a little odd Garp didn't think it was worth mentioning that Jinbei had also "allied" with the prison escapees and the revolutionaries to enter the battlefield. Like it was Crocodile only whom he thought needed to be pointed out. I don't think Garp's comment adds at all to Crocodad because it would frankly make little to no sense (like we're all assuming Crocodile didn't know Dragon's lastname, which is why he never realized Luffy was his son (despite knowing Luffy's lastname), but if Crocodile knew Garp was Dragon's father then surely he'd realize Dragon's lastname would be Monkey, right), but it could maybe add to the idea that Crocodile might've been a part of the Revolutionary Army in the past, as Garp could be aware of something like that, thus he'd be puzzled by Crocodile's presencee. Point is, it's an interesting comment, make of it what you will

EDIT 2: Ended up going back to reread parts of Marineford and turns out ^that^ was an anime-only addition from Toei. Like Garp does make a comment about how these people probs aren't at the battlefield for the same reasons but did not specifically point out Crocodile or anything. So. I wasted enough time adding these paragraphs to the post, I ain't deleting 'em. But y'know.

EDIT: Minor addition, because I just remembered how Crocodile really went like out of his way to taunt Vivi about how she "can't stop the rebellion" and save her people. Which, y'know, is a perfectly normal Villian Thing To Do. But we know Crocodile does not think fondly of the World Nobles just like he dislikes the Government. Even if Cobra was a "good monarch" who genuinely cared for his people, he was still a king, and the Nefertari family and the Kingdom of Alabasta were a part of the World Government. The thing Crocodile specifically wanted to destroy. And this is just another one of those "surely that wasn't somekinda foreshadowing" but god fucking dammit what if Crocodile telling a(n unknowing) representative of the World Government that she can't stop "the rebellion", or the revolution if I may, (regardless of if he's allied with them or not) was actually meant to be like foreshadowing. Oda I swear to fucking god---

Anyway, so, Crocodile might've been a part of the Revolutionary Army at one point (the army was formed after the Ohara Incident 22 years ago, and for Crocodad Theorizing, Luffy was born 19 years ago), but if he did he must have left on bad terms for unknown reasons, and we can tell that although his goals in general could vaguely match that of the Revolutionaries, his methods most certainly don't.

Whether or not his methods and his worldview tie to his leaving the Army is unknown. Because we don't really know when and how his worldview was formed.

Like did Crocodile leave the Army because he became a cynical asshole who was willing to make any kind of sacrifice for his goals (thus he no longer fit in with the rest of the Revolutionary Army), realized he was far too weak to ever become Pirate King and thus decided to go looking for Pluton? Or did Crocodile suggest to the Army they should try to obtain an Ancient Weapon to keep casulties to a minimum (still in line with the Army), only ending up getting kicked out (big weapon bad), and soon realizing he had no chance at making a change in the world without "cracking a few eggs"?

Like it doesn't nececarily make a massive difference,, since the end result is still the same, but it does kind of affect the context and how one might view him, right

Of course, there's then the Forbidden Third Option, that Crocodile left due to

Gender issues (internalized shame of being trans and not having it in him to stay around people who had known him)

Postpartum depression

Dragon just divorced Crocodile either due to being straight (in a sad, accepting way) or due to being simply unaccepting and frankly homophobic, regardless, Crocodile leaves with a broken heart

Something else and/or a combo of the above, really, we could speculate endlessly here about what could've happened

(Though I will say that Crocodile's '"trust issues"' and how he views people as disposable could like. I dunno. Be explained if he had gone through some heartbreak and was left permanently unable to open up to people, let alone trust anyone)

I dunno, there's a lot of options, a lot of things to considder.

But there is one more thing that I do want to note on as it could potentially debunk the Crocodad Theory entirely.

It's that Iva-chan didn't know Dragon had a son.

(Episode 441, 9:50 minutes) By which I mean, Iva-chan wasn't shocked to find out Luffy was Dragon's son, rather, they were shocked there was a son to begin with. (To the point they thought Ace was also Dragon's son until Luffy cleared it up for them later) While it's not a massive leap to believe that Crocodile and Dragon knew each other (since Crocodile knew Iva-chan), nor is it a massive leap to believe that Iva-chan transed Crocodile's gender after having Luffy... It does become a bit of a leap to believe Iva-chan didn't know about Dragon having a child with Crocodile before giving Croc the Magic HRT. Like if they had a relationship that resulted in a baby and a divorce, how did Iva not know about any of it, especially when it's more than likely that Iva could not have transitioned Crocodile until after the baby was born (let's not think about how Iva-chan's powers would work on a pregnant person too much)

We do also get this flashback (in episode 441, immidiately after Luffy reveals his dad's identity to Iva) where Iva-chan questions Dragon about how he always stares out towards East Blue when the wind blows, wondering if Dragon has family out there whom he's thinking about (Dragon refusing to comment on it). This does very much confirm that regardless of who Dragon had Luffy with, Iva has no fucking clue who, where and how any of that happened. And althought I personally feel like Iva not knowing would debunk Crocodad, if Crocodile still somehow was Luffy's dad, Iva-chan would canonically not know about it. If Iva didn't know Dragon had a relationship that resulted in a baby, then regardless of if Iva even knew Crocodile got pregnant once, they would not be able to connect those dots.

Now let's be clear, there's many potential scenarios where Crocodad could still be real, scenarios that could explain why and how Iva-chan didn't know about Luffy nor about Dragon and Crocodile having a relationship*. Like it would not be difficult at all to come up with an explanation for it. But in my mind, I feel like the more you have to figure out and explain how the theory could still be plausible, the less plausible it actually feels. Like the more I need to go out of my way to explain it, the more forced it seems.

*(For example, maybe the two kept their relationship a secret, and when Crocodile got pregnant he """left on a mission""" that happened to take like 4-10 months, during the time realizing he was trans. Once the baby had arrived he returned the baby to Dragon in secret for him to deal with, got a divorce for one reason or another*, and sought out Iva-chan to start a new life, Iva thus never found out about anything, just knew that Crocodile left one day after coming out. Like that's one plausible scenario.)

*Hey remember the potential Forbidden Reasons to why Crocodile might've left the Army? What if it was Dragon's and/or Crocodile's idea? Remember how when Jinbei is trying to escape Marinford with the unconcious Luffy, Crocodile tells Jinbei to do better job at "protecting those he wants to protect", a line that felt really sudden and odd coming from Crocodile of all people? What if the two knew their child would be in grave danger if he was ever raised within the army (absolutely not a place for a baby)? What if they knew their baby would become a target for the World Government to hunt, much like Roger's lost child was, if the Government found out Dragon had a baby? What if they wanted to make sure nothing bad ever happened to their baby and were willing to do anything to protect the baby? Even if it meant they'd never see their child grow up? Even if it meant hiding your child from your best friend, pretending to have a horrible fallout with them and transing your gender because Oda doesn't know what gender dysphoria is? Just so nobody would ever find out you had a child?

Mind you. I do not want anybody to think this is an actual argument for Crocodad. Like I could write a dozen different fanfics about how Crocodile could be Luffy's other dad, and they would all be just as much pure speculation with nothing to support them as the above suggestions. It is an example of what could have happened, and a deeply interesting thought, but it is just a theory at best.

In the end, it doesn't really matter though, because until the day Oda reveals Luffy's mom and/or Crocodile's backstory to us, we will truly never know for sure What The Fuck Crocodile's Deal Is

And I'll be just stuck with these brainworms, making myself sad by thinking about sad scenarios where Crocodad could be real, because truly, if it's canon, ain't no way it won't be sad

EDIT 3: Originally I thought it'd be good enough if I just rewatched some parts here and there, but in the end I just fucking absolutely caved the fuck in and went and reread The Good Parts of Marineford. Mainly because I knew I was forgetting things and Toei adding/changing things can affect a character reading. Also it was just going to be easier to go through the manga and literally just all of Crocodile's scenes into an image folder for easier browsing, mainly because there's so much shit that happens between those scattered scenes it can be hard to like focus on one thing (especially if you're trying to specifically FIND those scattered scenes and appearances)

So yeah. Coming back a few days later to add shit to this god forsaken post. I need help

Actually changed my mind and made a separate post to continue this nonsense, enjoy

[deadite-central]

This took some time but we’re finally back on track with Dressrosa!!

I started this out in my last post, but while Rebecca's design is a genuine mess I think her story is great. Learning that the toy soldier the other Straw Hats teamed up with raised her is such a sweet altough sad story for everyone involved in it, and it makes the reveal that it was Kyros all along who had been forgotten all the more soul crushing. It also pains me to see this genuinely sweet girl be forced to fight for her life as a gladiator with everyone in the audience bashing her simply because of her herritage.

As for most of the Straw Hats, when Law's plan backfires on him and Doflamingo sets his eyes onto the crew, we get one of the coolest Sanji moments of him stopping the main villain of the arc, even if for a moment. It's a well done show of both of their powers, and it's lovely to see the Straw Hats and Momo cheer Sanji on

That's all the fun for now as we get to some gruesome reveals surrounding Dressrosa and Doflamingo, starting with Momonosuke recounting the time he saw one of many moments of cruelty from the man to those he deems lesser than himself. A gladiator is supposed to fight, bleed and die for entertainment, because that's how he wants it go, that's what'll make people excited. It's probably the most terryfying moment he has to me, especially because this was often how the less strong people were treated in ancient times. This was something that used to happen. Also Momonosuke being terrified of just the memory of this sells the entire scene very well.

Things aren't getting better anytime soon as we learn the story of how exactly Doflamingo took over Dressrosa. Starting a massacre using his devil fruit, making the people detest their king and then swooping in as the hero who saves them. I love the parallels Dressrosa has to Alabasta, and I'm already prepearing a seperate post for that, but the way Doflamingo and his pirates do this so quickly is just upping their menace and that's just good set up.

To make matters worse present isn't that much better as after fighting Doflamingo for a while Law lands right next to the colosseum in Luffy's view, and then gets shot multiple times. Things are looking incredibly dire for the main cast at this point, as it seems they are back to working out in Doflamingo's favour.

Thankfully, One Piece can always keep lightheartedness in the story. Like I said I'm not the biggest fan of the Colosseum but Bartolomeo is hilarious. I'm so happy we have a character in this series who's such a superfan of Luffy and the Straw Hats. He's so fucking funny in every scene he's in and I can't help but laugh whenever I see him. I adore this dude. Not only that but we get more into Bellamy's slow redemption (if you can call it that?? I'm not quite sure), and finally, we're met with somebody who's here to help Luffy. Sabo isn't intorduced in this arc completely tho yet so I'll get back to him another time

Remember when I said everything seems to be going in Doffy's favour? Yeah. Seems. Fujitora quickly reveals himself as not much of and ally to him, as we find out he clearly knows that what's going on here is eeringly similar to what was happening in Alabasta. He hates the Seven Warlord system and he will make sure that everything happening in Dressrosa will bring everyone closer to disbanding it. Which Doflamingo, obviously, would like to avoid.

The cherry on top of all of this is when it becomes clear that it's no longer Luffy who's fighting in the colosseum, and suddenly, Doflamingo’s calculated act gets shattered as things will slowly descend from bad to worse for him, and I can't wait to talk about that

[theclearblue]

Hello, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

For anime/manga : Haikyuu, One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Thanks 🌻

Sure, looks fun!

Jujutsu Kaisen

Favorite Character: Kenjaku, Yuuji, Yuki, Choso, Geto

Favorite arc/episode/scene: Different answers for all of these lol. Favorite arc would probably he a tie between Hidden Inventory/Shibuya (I think if I reread Culling Games though it could potentially overtake Shibuya, despite it's flaws). Favorite episode would be the Choso vs. Yuuji fight (ep 13 or 14 season 2?) And also episode 6 of season 2, Premature Death. Favorite scene is is probably a tie between the "I'm You" scene with Yuuji and Mahito and also Mai's death :'(

Character I think is underrated: Hmmm I think Hakari. I think this is the same answer I gave before but I don't think he gets enough love :( Just such a fun character, never disappointed when he gets screentime, he has such a cool CT and also mindset and I'm hoping we get to see more of his fight with Uraume!

Character I think is overrated: Hmm it really just has to be Gojo doesn't it lmao. And I say this where he's still in my top ten characters in the series and used to be in top five, but his popularity is so so so much that you also get terrible interpretations of this character ALL the time and it's very grating. I'm very sad he died (I cried when I read the leaks lmao) but my eye does twitch a lil when I see Gojo revival theories after like 6-7 months for him when the narrative keeps reaffirming he's dead.

Fave ship/Pairing: Threeway tie between Satosugu, Nobamaki, and Chosoyuki. Honorable mention to my rarepair Takaken.

Something I love about the series: I think Yuuji really is the heart of the series and he's such an engaging and complex protagonist. I think the themes around death and purpose in life and death are explored in such an interesting way with him where he's such a kid but has to grow up so quickly in the face of such overwhelming tragedy in his life, knowing that for a lot of the stuff that happens, it's because he's alive and acted as the vessel to Sukuna. Any and all complaints of JJK never involve him and any scene he's in, it's always when the focus is away from him that a few issues arise for me. Also as a sidenote, big fan of the lore when we do get crumbs of it lol.

(One Piece and Haikyuu!! will be under the cut)

One Piece

Favorite Character: For strawhats probably a three-way tie between Zoro, Sanji and Robin. Also Luffy. For non Strawhats probably Corazon and Law, Pudding, Dragon, Vivi, and Crocodile.

Favorite arc/episode/scene: This is so difficult with this series lmao. Favorite arc still has to be Water 7 (and if I can wrap Enies Lobby in there too I would). Favorite episode would probably be Episode 1015, that shit was movie quality lmao. Favorite scene...so many to choose from omg. Right now my gut says the moment Sanji came back to the crew in WCI, or maybe Corazon and Law's last moments, or maybe the Alabasta goodbye, or maybe Robin's backstory, or maybe Nothing Happened, or maybe Gear 5-I could go on lmao.

Character I think is underrated: People need to start RESPECTING Pudding omg. She's just a girl in this world, and she's fucked up, but her arc in WCI was so so good and I just see people call her a bitch (which, YEAH, that's the point genius). Obviously I don't like that she hurt Sanji, but she grows from that and changes and the why is very clear after getting her backstory.

Character I think is overrated: Controversial Opinion but Garp. Don't get me wrong I think he's a very well written character and he's interesting and needed in the story, but he has such a large fanbase that go "Golly he's such a victim of the system :(." ...You mean the system HE'S voluntarily upholding???? He's so terrible to Luffy but ESPECIALLY Ace, and Koby might be his student but Koby is already twice the man Garp is lmao. I feel no sympathy for this man sorry.

Favorite ship: Frobin and Zosan, honorable mention to Namivivi as well. Frobin makes the absolute most sense in this world and Zosan I find to be a very fun exploration of both characters, even if it makes a lil less sense sometimes.

Something I love about the series: So I'm never going to claim One Piece is perfect, I have my issues with it. But it is undeniable that there is such love and care and joy injected into this series, while also balancing some really dark/realistic themes and concepts. Such incredibly strong character writing and worldbuilding, but most importantly Oda threads his themes through EVERYTHING in such an engaging way. I can talk about this series for hours upon hours I love it SO much.

Haikyuu!! (Forgive me this is the one I've watched the least recently plus I'm anime only lol)

Favorite character: I actually haven't talked about him much but probably Sugawara! Also Oikawa, Hinata, Bokuto, and Tsukishima are some of my faves as well

Favorite arc/episode/scene: Ooh maybe The Spring High Preliminary arc? I'm very excited for the movie though and I've heard great things about that arc as well. And not really an arc but I really really enjoy anytime they're training together, some of my favorite moments from the show even though they are less hype lmao.

Character I think is underrated: Sugawara >:( I just get him like no other and also kind of related with him being the second best setter on a team anskslxlfl

Character I think is overrated: Hmm don't feel too strongly about any character being overrated, maaaaybe Kageyama? I know most people would say Oikawa lmao but I like him he's the kinda pathetic man I like <3

Fave ship: Bokuaka!! Kind of elaborated before but yeah I just think they have a very sweet dynamic where they compensate for the other's quirks very well. Also love Hinata/Kageyama ofc, and also IwaOi

Something I love about the series: I think this is such a strong start point for people getting into anime or sports anime, idk if it's necessarily doing anything revolutionary but it just does everything right you know? Good feel good show and I do also particularly appreciate the volleyball aspect as that is my favorite sport lmao.

[temporalbystander]

Going through One Piece reactions on YouTube and oh boy are people way too blinded by emotion. So, since I refuse to write an essay in the comment section. You get to deal with it.

Under the cut my little thesis/rant on the way people view Garp during the Marineford arc.

First the set up. Monkey D Luffy is on his way to Marineford to save his sworn brother Portgas D Ace from execution. Also there, and sitting on the sidelines for the majority of the arc, is Luffy's grandfather Garp, also know as Garp the first, one of the Marine's top brass.

Now Garp, despite swearing to protect Ace from the insane people rounding up all the pregnant women Ace's father may have bed (one of the many things the World Government does that makes you question whether they're a cult or not but that's a seperate topic), does pretty much nothing through this entire arc and some people aren't too happy about that.

Big Question One. Why didn't Garp do something to help Ace?

Simple Answer. Why would he?

Yeah, as cruel as it sounds, and as batshit crazy some members of the world government may be, Ace is a pirate. Sure you can say he's one of the good ones but he's still a criminal. Hell just look at some of the filler in Alabasta where he torches several ships with one attack. Look at Shanks or Whitebeard, two emperors who sit at the top of the pirate world in terms of strength and are definitely nicer than the other two but still has a crew more than willing to murder. Yes, the Warlord system is fucked, corruption is rampant and calling the Celestial Dragons gods is very cultish but in the world of One Piece? The straw hats are probably the only pirate crew whose members had a death count before becoming pirates. After? Nobody dead by their hands.

Simply put, even though the public execution is basically just an attempt to put an end to the "pirate era" Gold Roger started. Ace does kind of deserve to be there. Garp tried to mould them into marines so they wouldn't face this problem but that clearly didn't work. Once Ace and Luffy made that choice, and continued to make it, they chose to have the World Government and Garp as enemies. Thinking anything else would happen is simply being naive. Garp has had years to accept that, as has Ace.

Follow up question. Why was Garp there then?

Simple Answer. To be with his grandson in his final moments.

Hell, according to Sengoku, Garp was not supposed to be up on the execution platform, he was only there because it was all he could do and nobody is dumb enough to try and stop him. He didn't get involved until Luffy was running up the improvised path to the platform and even when Ace escaped he didn't chase them down. He rode the line between grandfather and Marine as well as he possibly could have. In fact, had the world government not found out who Ace's father was, and had Ace not joined a crew as big on loyalty as Whitebeard's? It would have been quick, painless and (hopefully) somber. It only becomes a true nightmare once the cavalry arrives and the Marines put their plan into place which, while the fact they don't want it televised shows that they are aware how fucked up it is, is nevertheless affective when operating under the belief of how dangerous pirates are.

Big Question Two. Then why was he so upset when Ace died?

Simple Answer. Because Ace just died... Duh.

Okay obviously that's not all there is to it, in fact the comments surrounding this point are the reason why this little rant needed to be made, but it is a part of the reason and the quickest to explain so that's why I picked it. But before I get into all that, let's set the scene. Luffy made it to Ace, the sea prism shackles are undone and the two are fighting together as they try and get the hell out of there, while contending with Admiral Akainu, the human Volcano and the reason why pirates were boiling alive and why Whitebeard has two giant holes in his torso. Dude is scary.

Ace and Akainu clash once and that's all you need to know that Ace is outmatched. Now, I've seen complaints about why Akainu was able to kill Ace despite Ace being a Logia and I'm sorry but those people are idiots. Dude is clearly using Haki which allows Logia, or certain Paramecia like Luffy, to be hurt by attacks that would normally do nothing. Anyway, they fight, they run, Ace dies and Garp is about ready to go after Akainu when Sengoku stops him.

So. Why was Garp so upset at Akainu? Now, I've seen so many different comments describing different thought processes and they all make me face palm. The easiest to dismiss is those that think he was overcome by grief which, yeah is true, and probably why he was able to be stopped so easily despite all the hype about his strength, is nowhere near the full right answer.

Some said it's because an execution and what Akainu did are two seperate things. That what Akainu did was murder or some such. Clear bs in my mind. It's war at this point death is inevitable and will be brutal. Side note, Akainu melts a marine deserter prior to this, plus the whole boiling people alive, and I saw some comments defending the dude. About how his actions made sense under the circumstance. Needless to say, those people scare me.

And of course there are those people who just rant at Garp, saying that he should have done something prior to Ace dying if he was going to do anything at all. And it's to those people I write this and say "grow up and stop being such a crybaby." Which I say out of love because I'm certain these people are just too overcome with their own emotions that they don't remember anything about Ace's death other than the fact he died. Why does this piss me off enough to write an essay? Because it not only belittles Ace's final moments but minimises how truly twisted Akainu is.

So then, why did Garp react the way he did? While grief is a part of it it doesn't explain why he was so set on going after Akainu. The reason for that is simple. Ace wasn't the target of the attack that killed him. Now I'm sure those who have actually read this far are already aware of that fact but I feel it needs reiterating. Ace could have lived, I mean sure he loves Luffy as much as Luffy loves him so there's no way he would have let him die but the possibility was there. Akainu, as well as every other marine nearby, should have only had one mission at that point. Stop Ace from escaping, yet Akainu went after Luffy. He was so blinded by his own anger that he completely neglected his duty for his own satisfaction.

That's why Garp was pissed. Not only did Akainu kill his grandson but it was during an attack on his other grandson made out of anger. The moment Akainu focused on Luffy is the moment Ace's death went from sanctioned execution, or casualty of war, to collateral damage in a personal vendetta. Given how much infighting we've seen among marines it's no wonder Garp reacted like he did. He definitely seems the type.

Of course this is just my own take on this and I may be wrong but I think it makes a whole lot more sense than the other comments who only seem to remember the death part and not the why of the scene... And if you don't believe me about the neglect of duty let me remind you that Luffy managed to get away from Akainu, while still holding on to Ace's body, and even managed to have the time to beg Ivankov to heal his brother. Markov and Jimbei showed up right after Ace's final words to get Luffy out of there. Had Akainu tried to kill any other pirate? Ace would have escaped, Whitebeard might have survived (unsure just how good a doctor Markov is or if he can use his Phoenix powers to regenerate someone else's injuries) and Akainu would have been fired. Well demoted at least, with Garp there laughing because he loved the kid and he was able to focus on his duty better than Akainu was.

At the end of the day, the World Government lucked out. Had pirates actually been the heartless scum they paint them as, or had Ace been the monster they said he was just because of who his father was? Their plan would have failed big time.

[oakdll]

my favorite straw hats ranked :3

01 robin - she is genuinely just so unbelievably well written, her concept as a character is insane, but my favorite trait of hers is how she thinks so similarly to luffy. this place is also interchangeable w luffy

02 luffy - i normally don’t like main characters this much, but luffy is just so likable, i love his backstory so much, and having him be the emotional core of the paramount war saga + him losing ace is a stroke of genius. one of the best written characters literally ever

03 zoro - he’s cool as fuck and his tits are the biggest on the whole crew

04 nami - her character arc in east blue is so perfect, and seeing her be so happy in the straw hats is just amazing. her character interactions with the rest of the straw hats are so entertaining, her faith in luffy (like w her fight against ulti) is undying, and the fact she is so frightened yet so brave is super cool. she normally gets very afraid by the situations luffys antics get them into, but when things get serious, she knows she can’t stop luffy and suddenly gets very brave. i love her

05 usopp - i hope after elbaf this ranking will be a bit higher, but having such a human character in contrast to literal gods like luffy is so cool. his bravery and character moments are peak, water 7 in particular might have the single most emotional and realistic moment in one piece with his argument and fight with luffy. i just wish he had more character moments post time skip. the only time he really had a standout moment was dressrosa and i hope elbaf can give him some needed character development

06 sanji - he would be so much higher, maybe top 3, but the whole “pervert” gimmick sucks and i hate it. not only is his backstory amazing in east blue, but he is SO CLUTCH ALWAYS. he is constantly making super important decisions behind the scenes and saving everyone constantly. mr prince in alabasta, sea train in water 7, not to mention his importance being the cook of the straw hats. his backstory was already good enough, but then he got a SECOND ONE in whole cake, one of the best arcs in the whole series. one of my favorite moments of his is when he was kidnapped by black maria in wano and asked robin for help, his sheer faith in robin makes me so happy. his emotional moments are incredible, his fight scenes are amazing, the only issue is how annoying the “perverted” gimmick is.

07 franky - SUPER!!! he’s just so fun, his personality and dynamic with the whole crew is amazing. him being a cyborg and everybody being so enamored with his silly mechanics is an incredible bit. him being able to press on his nose to change hairstyles, and his massive hands post time skip having smaller hands inside of them is hilarious. the moment with robin and the big robot transformation on thriller bark where she rejects their transformation is one of the best jokes in the whole series. he doesn’t have too many emotional moments besides his backstory and his fight with senor pink (incredible fight btw) but he’s one of my favorites because of just how fun he is

08 jinbei - jinbei is kind of tied with franky, i love him but he has only really been a straw hat for like 1-2 arcs. him being so nice and noble is amazing, his relationship with nami and feeling guilty for arlongs actions, and his backstory with fisher tiger is absolutely phenomenal, i just wish there was more of him. he hasn’t had too many defining character moments as an actual straw hat besides showing no fear in front of big mom (but even then he wasn’t really a straw hat at the time). i love him as a character i love him though

09 brook - brook is also just a super fun character, his skeleton puns never get old, and his moments on whole cake and wano were COLD (literally). calling big mom “young lady” is a moment for history books and him actually getting the road poneglyph is amazing. his backstory is tragic, maybe the saddest on the whole crew, and him being a musician makes me very happy (as a musician). he is a great character but he also has the “pervert” gimmick which kinda sucks. it’s definitely less bad than sanji though, it doesn’t really interfere with his character much, he just blushes and asks to see women’s panties (asking to see big moms panties is insane btw) and it’s definitely a big character flaw, but it’s not as irritating as with sanji.

10 chopper - chopper is the only straw hat i’m kinda disappointed by. he’s a great character, but as a straw hat he barely has any defining moments. his personality is kinda basic, and the last really impactful moment for me was monster point on enies lobby. the interesting thing about monster point is that he can’t control it, and then he only uses it like one more time for a tiny bit on sabaody before he gains control of it over the time skip. other than that, he’s just kind of a nice person with a really sad backstory. this feels a bit too harsh on him, i do really like him as a character, but for being one of the main characters, he is a little lackluster.

[abysscronica]

Do you think One Piece is a political anime?

I guess it depends what you mean by "political"?

I've always thought there's a curious duality in OP: it definitely portrays a lot of politics, showing many different facets and crafting complex political and social dynamics among various states/ethnicities/races. AND YET it all happens around a main character that just wanna do his own thing and couldn't care less about labelling himself part of any group. Quite the opposite in fact, he wants to be the most free a person can be. His dream is to be a King that rules over nothing and answers to no one. I think it's very poetic.

Granted there's a part of Luffy's dream we don't know yet and Oda chose to keep a secret, so it's possible that may change this image a little bit. For example, if since he was a child Luffy uttered to Ace and Sabo something like "I want to tear down all the barriers of this world", or something to that effect, that would already give him a sort of ideology.

At least this is how I always perceived One Piece, keep in mind politics is not really my forte, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm sure you can find analyses around from people much more versed than me on the matter.

In the story itself, there's a recurring theme of revolution against a totalitarian power (the Revolutionary Army vs. World Government), and you can draw many parallelisms between situations in OP and the real world. The fascinating thing is that Oda presents this struggle from so many points of view! Even though most of the time it's pretty clear which one is the wrong side, the story as a whole doesn't buy into a simplistic vision of "all the good guys vs. all the bad guys".

Let's take Alabasta for example. When we dock there, it's a kingdom torn apart by a mounting revolution against the current monarchy. And yet in this case Oda doesn't really pick a side between the two, does he? Or better, he leaves the choice to the reader. He draws the struggles of the desperate population turned rebels, the passionate strong princess that tries to avoid the war, a king that (in his weakness) loves his people, the old man that stays behind and chooses to have faith. Sure, Oda gives us an actual bad guy, a culprit to blame, the mastermind that orchestrated the misunderstandings behind the crisis. But I don't think this takes away from the depth of the political overview we're met with in the Alabasta arc (on the contrary, it adds layers, as we're certainly not exempt from manipulation behind the scenes in our world).

And then, AND THEN! Oda goes on and offers Crocodile redemption?! Or, once again, putting it into better words: he leaves you free to choose. He goes like: hey, here's Crocodile again, kind of an interesting guy, I've got a lot of lore on him, maybe he's not all bad, in fact he's going to help Luffy now for a bit, oh but he still has his ambitious goals and schemes of course. What will you do? Do you like him now, despite what he did to Vivi and her people? Does this mean that you forgive him?

Oda does that a lot with former villains, in general. Hachi, Bellamy, Bon Clay, Buggy, Caesar Clown (?), etc... they all did horrible things to people. Katakuri killed his servants in cold blood as they begged for their life, just because they saw him eating, and he's one of the most beloved characters ever.

It seems that I'm straying from the topic, but here I circle back: Oda goes as far as offering a possibility for redemption to the most f*cked up character ever, a Celestial Dragon. I'm talking about Mjosgard, of course.

And Mjosgard only has a chance because of Queen Otohime. Through Otohime, Oda shows us a different ideology, a different path to change a broken society (incrementalism maybe?).

Does it work? Was it worth it? Does Mjosgard even deserve it? Will it serve to anything?

Again, you're free to choose your answer. And if that answer is no, then what about Hody Jones killing Otohime? Does the mean justify the ends?

I won't delve into Fishmen Island here because there is waaay too much to unpack, one could write a doctoral dissertation on all the layers, the different personalities, the background, how the past of individuals and societies shapes futures and ideologies. SO many aspects!

Also, also, the possibility for redemption that was given to Mjosgard was given to Orochi too, through Oden, with diametrically opposite results. Why? Was it the trauma? Did Orochi's past break him beyond redemption?

It's horribly sad if you think about it. This would suggest that it's the environment that shapes you. Mjosgard had a chance because he was privileged since birth, whereas Orochi had to live through extreme trauma in his childhood, so he had no chance.

But then Oda goes ahead and flips the cards again! Is it really just the environment? Does the individual account for nothing? Look at Doflamingo and Corazon then. Born nobles all the same, endured trauma all the same, turned out completely different. They were completely different since birth, Corazon even says Doflamingo was born evil (and yet he may be capable of love as it's suggested he truly cares about the closest members of his adopted family).

On another note, what about the Marines? They're the dogs of the WG, the antagonists of the story, many of them are depicted as horrible. But do you hate them all? Koby, Smoker, Tsuru, Garp? Can you hate the category and spare the individuals? Do you condemn all of their ideals?

I could go on and on, there's SO much more to this story. I didn't even mention slavery and human trafficking, another theme very much present in OP. I barely hinted at the fact that racism is also treated. But this post is already long so I'll stop for now.

I am really not suggesting any answer to the questions above here, you pick your own. After all, Luffy overthrows kings and protects princesses. He beats bullies up and then he forgives them. If Oda lets you free to choose, who am I to sway you?

[animebw]

Reading One Piece: Chapters 721-722

-”He’s like a father to me!” Alright, show of hands, how many chapters do you think it’ll be until we find out he actually is her father? My guess is forty.

-”Sorry about that. You emptied your purse for me, so I didn’t want them to go to waste.” he’s such a good egg holy shit

-And just like that, the black pages make everything ten times better. The wordless realization that Rebecca blames herself for her mother’s death. The soldiers tracking her so she doesn’t even have the chance to scream out all the pain inside her. The mutual bond that builds between her and the toy over long stretches of time. The hints of Doflamingo’s rise to power in the background. Just... fuck, man. Oda knows how to write a backstory.

-god she still keeps the flower petals with her

-Hooooooold on a minute. Rebecca’s the granddaughter of the old king before Dofy took over? She’s a princess? Then why was she living out on the countryside with only her mother? Man, things are getting interesting now!

-”It doesn’t matter what her grandpa did!” Is this the first time Luffy’s even shown hints of being critical of Garp? I think it might be.

-”You have no right to slander her if you will not risk your life in turn!” God damn, Cavendish! Talk about setting a good example for white knights everywhere,

-skdfhskdhf wait I missed he had a loudspeaker on his horse what the fuck

-”You’re not that bad after all! Still hate you, though.” snrk

-”They made me angry... and it seems like things are hard for you. Now forget this happened. We’re enemies.” In just one scene, Cavendish has already skyrocketed high in the list of One Piece characters I respect the most. He’s a true gentleman.

-So this is actually an interesting situation. The people of Dressrosa think the previous King Riku was a tyrant who deserved to be deposed, but the little people are fighting to restore his honor. So was the Riku dynasty truly evil, or has Dofy been lying to the populace? It could honestly go either way, and it excites me that there’s no clear answer yet.

-”I can’t even tell right from left?!” “Yes.” sdkfjhsdkhf rip Zoro

-Christ almighty, just three men wiped out Dressrosa’s old army? The playing card consortium is no joke.

-”I hope you get stabbed in a fit of passion.” pfft

-GOD DAMMIT BROOK NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO REDISCOVER YOUR ARTISTIC PASSION

-”Forgive me, I don’t know that much about art after all. I really don’t have an eye for it!” AHAHAHAHAHA OKAY I’M SORRY I DOUBTED YOU

-Okay. I need to sit back and process everything Dofy just unloaded onto us. The World Government was formed out of twenty kingdoms, and the descendants of those kings (minus Vivi’s family in Alabasta) are the Celestial Dragons, those who truly rule the world. The world government is just a legacy project for a bunch of old monarchial bloodlines to exert their power through. And Doflamingo’s family is one of those bloodlines. They were the original rulers of Dressrosa before they headed off to the holy land with the rest of the dragons, and the Riku dynasty just replaced them. That’s... wow. We literally just got started exploring Dofy’s backstory, and I am already overwhelmed.

[brainfuzzz]

Old Truths Ch. 4 "The Windmill Village"

Yep, another Crocodile learns that he's Luffy's mother fic because why not? Also, I'm making him the Snake Princess before Hancock because I'm already in Crocomom hell so why not pile on more to it, right? Expect a reunion with Dragon as Crocodile goes on a journey for the truth and eventually finds peace.

The search for Dragon’s town is proving to be more difficult than Crocodile expected. Apparently, asking people if they knew of a village with windmills isn’t an adequate enough description to pinpoint the specific town. Despite this, he continues on, all while ignoring Daz’s constant staring, the throbbing headache that has persisted for two days now, and the fact that he’s hardly slept in over a week. Every night when he closes his eyes, he’s met with the same nightmares that are content to replay themselves over and over again. The first is always the scene of Luffy being impaled by his hook in the Alabasta desert while the sound of his dripping blood rings in his ears. The second is in Impel Down when he ran ahead, leaving his child to fight Magellan alone, knowing he probably wouldn’t win. This is quickly followed by the sight of Akainu rearing back to strike at his boy’s traumatized and comatose body. In some dreams, it plays out the way it happened, and Crocodile is able to slice through Akainu’s body with his sand. Other times aren’t so merciful, and his sand doesn’t reach him in time, forcing Crocodile to watch helplessly as Luffy is killed just out of arms reach.

            And if that isn’t enough, his waking thoughts are consumed by the conversation he had with Granny Nyon back on Amazon Lily. Her betrayal, the truth about his son, and learning that Dragon had tried to cross the Calm Belt to reach them, each a weight he’s unable to put down, making every waking moment a struggle. Sometimes he can trick his mind into remembering pleasant times of when he and Dragon were young, but even those memories leave him feeling hollow in the end.  Least to say, it’s beginning to take a toll on both his mental and physical state.

            By the time Crocodile has returned to the ship, his movements have become sluggish and any attempt to keep up appearances has vanished. Daz waits for him on the deck with his arms crossed, clearly wanting to say something but smart enough to hold his tongue. Like all the others, Crocodile didn’t have much hope for this island. Every person had a different response to his questions about a town with windmills. The only good thing about stopping at so many islands is that they have been able to purchase new clothes and supplies.

He makes his way into the captain’s quarters and examines the map of the East Blue that he’s spread out on a table. He crosses out this island and stares at the countless others he’s yet to reach. Just looking at the other islands leaves him fatigued. He slumps into a chair and lights another cigar. On the exhale, he lets his head fall back so he’s staring up at the ceiling.

            He must have closed his eyes and drifted to sleep because the next thing he sees is Luffy hanging from his hook with blood dripping to the sand. He jolts awake, immediately tense with a racing heart. He rests his forehead in his hand when his headache throbs behind his right eye. He needs to sleep but that’s not really an option at this point. He only lifts his head when he hears a mug being placed on the table. He carefully picks up the warm cup, inspecting the dark liquid and enjoying the rich aroma of coffee for the first time in ages.

            “Do you want me to call a doctor?” Daz leans against the table as he sips his own cup of coffee.

            “What the hell for?” Crocodile takes a sip, feeling the warmth spread down his throat and chest. Daz gets the message and doesn’t ask again. He forces himself to his feet, no longer trusting himself to sit, and looks back over the map before making a decision on where to go.

            Crocodile knows next to nothing about the Goa Kingdom. But then again, he knows next to nothing about any island in the East Blue. He expects the island to be as much of a failure as all the others, that is at least until the island comes into view and he catches sight of the first windmill.  

            “We should move on to the next island.” Daz says as they grow closer to the island. He points towards the shore. “There’s a Navy battleship docked at the pier.”

            Crocodile grins when he spots a sign just past the battleship, “It appears this island is under the protection of Vice Admiral Garp.”

            “Even more reason to move on.” Daz turns to point the ship in a different direction but stops when Crocodile shakes his head.

            “No, drop me off and take the ship out of sight. I’ll call you on a mini transponder snail when I need a pickup.” Crocodile lets out a stream of smoke and smiles. He’s found it. The place where Luffy was raised.

            Before departing their ship, Crocodile makes sure to ditch his signature coat and cigar. He doubts anyone would be able to connect the dots as to why he came to this island, but he’d rather not take the chance. Not to mention he has no intention of ever returning to Impel Down. He pulls a cloak over his head and starts down the main road of the sleepy village. The village itself is small compared to the city just past the mountains and, true to Dragon’s word, there are plenty of windmills peppering the landscape. There are also a plethora of marines milling around the streets. Every now and then, a few will look his way but eventually lose interest. Walking around with a cloak isn’t as inconspicuous as it seems, but it’s still better than the alternative and so far no one has recognized him. When a group of marines start down the road, he decides to hide out in the local bar until they move on.

            “My, you must be new here,” the bartender says once he takes a seat at the counter. Her face is bright and kind. He can usually tell if a town is peaceful and easy going by the bartenders. If they are tense and rough around the edges, then so is the town. But if they’re bright and easygoing, then it usually means the town is safer than others.

            “I am. Just passing through.” He nods his head politely and orders a whiskey neat.

            “We haven’t gotten many visitors lately.” She says as she slides him his drink. “It’s probably due to that new sign near the docks.”

            “Get a lot of pirates here then?” he sips his drink, careful not to expose too much of his face. She gives a shrug and a sigh.

            “You could say that. They aren’t all bad, though I can’t say I was upset to see the ones who came this way after the Marineford incident leave.” she drops her eyes to the counter, grief clear across her face.

            Carefully, Crocodile says, “I heard a rumor that Portgas D. Ace came from this village. Is that true?”

            She presses her lips together as tears form in the corner of her eyes, “Yes. And I don’t care what anyone else says, he didn’t deserve what happened to him.”

            Crocodile gently swirls the whiskey in his glass. He still remembers standing at the base of the platform after stopping the first two executioners. Then the image of Luffy holding his dead brother flashes behind his eyes. He downs his drink.

            “Then I guess its safe to assume that Monkey D. Luffy is also from this village?” He gestures for another round.

            She pours him another drink and gives a sad smile, “Yes, Luffy was always chasing after his brother and getting into trouble when they were younger. That never really changed, I suppose.”

            “Luffy,” a voice further down the counter grunts. Crocodile and the woman turn to look at a man hunched over his drink. His words are harsh, but his face only shows compassion. “We should be ashamed that such a pirate came from our village.”

            “Mayor!” the woman snaps, but it doesn’t stop him.

            “But what did we expect?” the mayor sways drunkenly in his seat, “He was raised by mountain bandits after all!”

            Crocodile chokes on his drink and draws the attention of both the woman and the mayor. When he can finally speak, he says, “Bandits? You’re saying that mountain bandits raised Monkey D. Luffy?”

            “Yes, surprising I know, considering who his grandfather is,” The mayor says, and then, a little quieter he mumbles, “Or maybe it’s not so surprising at all.”

            Crocodile rubs his temple and grumbles, “I hate how much sense that makes.”

            “Oh? Do you know Luffy?” the woman asks. The mayor turns to him as well. Crocodile pauses before downing the rest of his drink and standing.

            “Thank you for the drink.” He puts a small sack of coins on the counter.

            “Oh, wait! This is too much!” the woman calls after him. He says nothing else before disappearing out the door.

            It only takes questioning two people for Crocodile to find the mountain where these bandits are supposed to live. He discovers a trail and decides to follow it with part of him wanting to use his sand to speed up the path, but he doesn’t dare expose himself when Garp could be lurking around any corner. Mountain bandits. As if he didn’t already have enough reasons to hate that man. What was he thinking?

            Eventually, he comes to a house hidden deep within the forest. It’s a humble home with a clothesline stretching from a tree all the way to the house. He approaches the door, listening for anyone inside. He considers knocking but finds himself pushing the door open before giving it any serious thought. Once past the walkway he can hear voices past a curtain. Without hesitating, he whips the current open to take in a room full of bandits currently fighting over a massive pile of meat.

            Crocodile lets out a sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. This makes too much damn sense. No one has even noticed him standing in the doorway yet. If he had come here to kill them, they’d be dead. He spots a large woman sitting near an irori and decides she must be in charge. He walks over and sits next to her. She takes a giant bite out of a piece of meat, still not noticing Crocodile.

            “Are they always this rowdy?” He asks. When a piece of meat rolls towards him, he picks it up, inspects it, and then takes a bite. Normally, he wouldn’t eat something that touched the floor, but considering his kid probably lived like this for most of his life, it seems only right that he does it too.

            “Oh yeah, especially around dinner time! But you should see them in the winter when huntin’ is scarce!” the woman laughs with a full mouth. Crocodile takes another bite as the woman freezes and the room falls into a dead silence.

            In an instant, everyone in the room is on high alert and pointing some form of weapon at Crocodile and shouting, “Who the hell are you!”

Crocodile finishes chewing the bite in his mouth before turning to the room. “Are you the bandits that raised Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy?”

“Maybe we are, maybe we aren’t! What’s it to you?” The woman shouts.

“I’m here on behalf of Luffy’s mother.”

This makes the room fall into another deep silence.

“Mother? Garp never mentioned Luffy having a mother!” a short man next to the woman says. The woman slowly lowers the bat in her hand.

“Yeah, so what if you are? He ain’t here. What do you want with us?” She frowns down from where he sits. Crocodile reaches into his cloak and pulls out a sizable sack of coins and jewels. He tosses it so it lands at the feet of the woman with a loud THUD. The woman’s eyes nearly bulge out of her head when she sees what’s inside.

“It’s payment for looking after him for all those years.” He shifts so that he can bow with his palms and forehead pressed to the floor. “Thank you for looking after Luffy for all those years. It shouldn’t have been your burden to carry, so on behalf of his mother I thank you.”

“Wait, so does this mean his mother is alive? Why isn’t she here doing this herself? Not that I’m not grateful, Garp sure as hell never paid any child support or even said thank you! But it’s still odd that a mother would give up her child like that.” the woman folds her arms as Crocodile flinches at her words.

“The situation with his mother is… complicated to say the least.” He gets to his feet and turns towards the door.     

“Hey, wait!” a man with a face that reminds Crocodile of a rooster, digs into a crate before rushing to his side. “You’re going to see his mom again, right? Then give her this. Luffy came to us when he was really little. I bet she’d like a picture of him.”

Crocodile stares down at a small photo of a bright eyed boy with a fearless smile. He’s wearing the same straw hat that he always wears. In the background are two other boys a few years older. One is obviously Portgas D. Ace but the other one is unknown.

“Who is this boy?” he points to the blonde boy.

“That’s Sabo. Another one of Luffy’s brothers. He died at a young age, I’m afraid.” The small man from before says. Crocodile swallows the growing knot in his throat while folding the picture and slipping it into his breast pocket.

“Don’t you want to hear about his childhood or something?” The woman asks.

Crocodile can’t face her. He shakes his head and says, “Just from one look around I can tell that he was happy here. And from the looks of it, he had two brothers looking out for him too. It’s clear that he was loved and still is. That’s all that matters.”

He doesn’t let them stop him again and forces his way out of the house.

He stumbles down the path towards the village, tripping on nearly every root and rock sticking up in the path. Eventually, he leans against a tree to steady himself. His head is swimming. It’s still odd that a mother would give up her child like that.

“I didn’t give him up!” he breathes helplessly to no one. He finds himself aimlessly wandering from the main path until he comes to a river. He sits on a rock to even his breathing and wait for his head to stop swimming. He can’t stop himself from pulling the photo of Luffy out of his pocket. He rubs a thumb gently across the boy’s face. He does look happy. But still, he can’t help wondering what type of life they would have lived if they could have spent it together.

Eventually, the photo of his boy begins to blur as fat tears fall from his face. He forces himself to put the picture away and wipe his eyes. It does little to help and he’s too tired to keep the tough guy act up any longer. A pain more painful than any wound aches in his chest. For a moment he wishes he had never escaped Impel Down and learned the truth. Even if he spent the rest of his days being tortured and never being able to see the sky again, it would still be less painful than what he’s feeling now.

He stays by that river for hours, having no strength to pull himself together. By the time the sun begins to set, he’s finally managed to stop the tears. He glances up at the orange and pink sky. He and Dragon used to sit and stare up at the sky, usually while Dragon went on and on about the injustices of the world. Every now and then he’d tell Crocodile of some absurd tale that couldn’t possibly be true. He would pull on a smile not much different then Luffy’s and swear by it. At last, Crocodile manages to give a deep exhale and muster the energy to get to his feet. He needs to get back to Daz before he decides to come looking for him.

As he turns to leave the river, he feels eyes glaring at him. He glances over his shoulder just as a giant crocodile lunges out of the water at him. He lets off a small burst of conquerers haki, subduing the creature. Crocodile looks the beast over. She’s large and covered in scars. He finds himself reaching out to run a hand over her rough scales.

“Seen better years, huh girl?” he says softly. Now that she fully understands who she’s dealing with, she comes across as much more friendly. Much like the banana gators that he had while in Alabasta. Behind her are four other crocodiles, each hesitant but curious about the stranger petting their mother. Crocodile smiles down at the beasts, “Wanna come with me?”

He hadn’t meant to leave the island with a line of crocodiles, but at this point he’s learned to stop questioning fate. When he leads the beasts onto the ship, Daz stares at them blankly.

“Sir, this isn’t why you chose to come to this island… right?” he’s unable to take his eyes off of the five new members of their crew.

“Don’t worry about it, Daz. And set course for the Grand Line.” He pats his shoulder while walking over to sit in one of the sunbathing chairs. There are already a few stars out. He lets his right hand gently rest over his breast pocket while imagining a life that he and Luffy could have lived together.   

Read the full story HERE on AO3!!!

[robinchan-hananomi]

One Piece 1053

So I have a lot of feelings about this chapter. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was a fun little chapter for the most part. From the poor chief putting everything he had into making the perfect menu for the entire party only for him to learn that Jimbei is the only one who could bother making an appearance, to the wonderful celebrations going on all around Wano. It reminded me a lot of the celebration parties that we saw on Cocoyoshi, and part of that is because there was a lot of similarities between the two arcs. This isn’t the first country we have seen Luffy and the others liberate. However one thing that Nami’s home and Wano had in common was the people KNEW they were being subjugated. Alabasta, Dressrosa, and even Punk Hazzard had no idea that their leaders were enslaving them. While not as long as some of the other celebrations, we can see how much the people are putting into it. Seeing Luffy, Yamoto, and Chopper running through the streets devouring food; Hiyori playing Moon Princess for the public and mentioning the Ninja-pirate-mink-samurai alliance which the people know nothing about (because Luffy asked to be kept a secret); seeing Kidd trying to fight Luffy for a title Luffy knows nothing about and Luffy just roping him into the celebratory mood, all the way to the fireworks celebration. And the fireworks celebration was awesome. Sanji, Nami, and Shinobu are cheering together; Zoro is drinking with Franky, Usopp, and Kinshiro; we see Kiku with Raizo and Toko, Carrott is finally reunited with the minks, the Yakuza, Tama and Speed, Kinemon and his wife Tsuru together again, even the Kidd pirates and Heart pirates. Also as some have pointed out, Sabo still has an active poster so that’s good. However, there were a few things in this chapter that really stood out and I’m probably going to get a little out of order here about them.

The first is the bounties. We see that the Navy are very much upset about Luffy’s new wanted poster, as they ordered for the ‘D’ in Luffy’s name to be removed and they had not given permission for the image of Luffy’s newest form to be used. However Morgans’ is still in charge of what gets printed and pretty much doesn’t care. Morgans was already a huge fan of Luffy’s and he’s obsessed with putting out the most ‘thrilling’ story. Luffy, Kidd, and Law’s bounties have jumped up to three billion a piece, which is a large jump and definitely painted a massive target on their backs. There was no mention of any changes to the other Strawhat’s bounties, any members of the other pirate crews, or anyone from Wano receiving bounties but that could be for a number of reasons from them not getting one to it just not being posted yet. I expect at the very least all the strawhat pirates getting some sort of increase due to this monumental feat. After all, the only other time a yonko has been brought down took the entire force of the Navy, the shichibachi, and the interference of a second Yonko to keep Shanks from arriving in time to stop the battle.

The next is Robin’s part. We see Robin has been exactly where we all suspected, in the basement of the castle likely looking for the poneglyph that I think Brook said was there. In fact we see a poneglyph is right behind Robin in that whole scene, but I think Brook said it wasn’t red so we need to find the Road Poneglyph soon. Robin has already read it since she is looking at the kokeshi dolls, and we see the Tengu, the man who made one of Zoro’s swords, arrive. He tells Robin that collecting the dolls was a hobby of his, something that we learned when he was first introduced, and that he’s been imprisoned down there for many years. He mentions that creating swords was also a hobby of his and reveals that he is really Kozuki Sukiyaki, Oden’s father and Hiyori and Momo’s grandfather. He had not told anyone that he survived and while some of the retainers probably figured it out, he has no intention of telling his grandchildren who he is. This likely means that Robin and Sukiyaki are the last two, and only two, to know how to read poneglyphs. They also mention that Pluton is currently in Wano.

This is really important. If the world government knows that Pluton is in Wano it could be part of why they want the country so bad. We’ve seen the length’s the navy and world government are willing to go to get their hands on that weapon. They tried to have Iceburg assassinated, they ensured Tom’s death, they imprisoned Franky and Robin and intended to torture them. In addition we saw what others in the world who know about Pluton would be willing to do for it. Crocodile enslaved an entire country and manipulated it’s people for years, became a shichibachi and even created an entire organization all with the intention of getting Robin to the poneglyph in order to find the location of Pluton. We know Pluton is a type of warship, and is one of the three most powerful ancient weapons in the world. And now we know for a fact that it is currently sitting in Wano.

The fact that Sukiyaki, the former shogun, was alive all this time is a little upsetting too. In a way it sort of parallels Riku, but while Riku had every intention of looking after his granddaughter, making her a princess and keeping her close, Sukiyaki has decided to continue looking after his grandchildren in secrecy. And the fact that he forged Zoro’s sword Kitetsu III is actually pretty neat. We know the Kozuki Clan and the Shimotsuki Clan had strong ties. Toko’s father Yasuie was a good friend of both the Shogun and rather fond of Oden. He also just died to ensure Momonosuke would be the next ruler of Wano and that the Shogun and Kaido’s rule would end. We know Ushimaru was a daimyo of Ringo and was so loyal to the Kozuki Family that he died for them. We also know Kozaburo, Koshiro’s father and Kuina’s grandfather, forged the swords Wado Ichimonji and Enma, the latter of which he considered his greatest blade and entrusted to the Kozuki family. I wish we could have seen more of that connection in Wano but I suppose it was a little much.

Next we got our new friend Green Bull. So apparently for the last week the Beast Pirates have been licking their wounds at the Former Prisoner Mine. Green Bull/Ryokugyu whose real name is apparently Aramaki is currently out there, using what appears to be a plant based devil fruit to drain Queen, King, and the other high ranking members of the crew. We don’t learn much about Ryokugyu, but we do see he can absorb nutrients through his devil fruit from people’s bodies, probably why he mentioned he hasn’t eaten anything in years. He also is a fan of alcohol, but good alcohol. He also is a huge Sakazuki fanboy. He just wants to be praised by his hero and decided the best way to do that is to bring him Luffy’s head. I was kinda hoping he would be an alright guy due to his and Isshio’s conversation before but I guess that was too much to hope for.

The last thing is the new four emperors. Luffy wasn’t a surprise, but the odd one was Buggy. Now Buggy being a new emperor is actually pretty cool, both for story telling purposes and in-universe. A few people have already pointed out that Oda has used Buggy as a way to sort of discredit some positions. For example, Buggy get’s made a Shichibachi just before they dismantle the entire position. In a way it’s kind of like saying that Yonko’s are no longer that big of a deal. At least to us readers.

In-universe though it kinda makes sense. We as the readers know a lot about Buggy. We know he’s mostly for show and he’s not really that strong. However let’s look at Buggy from the world of One Piece’s view. Despite Zoro, a renowned and professional bounty hunter, not knowing who Buggy was we see that Buggy was actually seen as a legitimate threat in the East Blue. In Romance Dawn the three most powerful pirates in the East Blue was Arlong and the Arlong Pirates with a twenty million berry bounty, Don Krieg and the Krieg pirates with seventeen million berries, and Buggy and the Buggy pirates with fifteen million. The only other ‘big name’ in the East Blue at that time was Kuro and the Black Cat pirates, and Kuro was worth sixteen million, only one million more than Buggy. Nami and Usopp had both heard of Buggy and even thought Luffy didn’t initially stand a chance against them. In addition we as the readers saw that Buggy was ruthless, and something that quickly added a little credence to his name was that we learned he had been to the Grand Line and made it back alive, something that we learned in the East Blue was a major feat that only the strong were capable of.

Now we know that the world government didn’t have that high of an opinion of the East Blue. Despite some very real threats coming out of the East Blue, it was generally regarded as the weakest sea. Therefore they didn’t really pay much attention to the people there. It’s probably why they never really bothered to look into Buggy’s background. When they arrested Buggy they didn’t even bother to discover much about him, just chucked him into Impel Down. And here is where the new legends of Buggy begin.

Buggy was one of the few to actually escape Impel Down. Then the Navy discovers that he not only served on the ship of the former king of the pirates, Roger, but he is also a ‘blood brother’ to one of the four yonko’s. The public hear about Buggy when the Navy credits him as one of the three main ringleaders of the Impel Down escape. Then they see him during the War of Impel Down, sassing Shanks and even seeming to get respect from Whitebeard of all people (albeit it was because he had some really powerful people following him). Buggy has a massive crew now, made up with former prisoners of Impel Down and Baroque Work’s Officers. He has a number of crew that fall under him that practically made up a whole fleet. He even formerly had five giants under his command, something that has been shown again and again to be nothing to underestimate. So as far as the Navy and the rest of the world is concerned, Buggy is another powerhouse that escaped the East Blue, someone who like Arlong used the low importance the world set on the East Blue to escape notice until he was ready to reveal himself. So Buggy is made a Shichibachi. And from there his strength only continues to grow

We as the readers know that Buggy is nothing special. He is rather just a mediocre guy who happened to have connections with some of the most powerful and important people of his time. He isn’t strong, but he is good at using the reputation he gained to fake that strength by having extremely powerful people under his command. People who make up for his weaknesses

.

Overall I think it was a good set up for the finale Saga.

[vemuabhi]

Hii! It´s me popping here again! How are you doing? So, I would like to ask if you have a favorite Sanji moment and outfit (if it´s possible to chose hahaha) <3

Author san~~~ I'm doing good. How are you. And.... this ask... it took a long while for me to collect the pictures and scenes. I had so many scenes but I tried so much to cut them down to some of the scenes.

This is going to be a long freaking post. With cusses and spoilers.

Sit back and play a song for feels!

My Favourite Sanji scenes!!!

Warnings : Simping, Please be aware I sometimes cuss at that man because I love him. That is how I really am. I cuss the person that I love idk why. But not all the people I cuss are the ones I love. There will be a lot of difference and I'll respect that.

Disclaimer: This is solely my pure opinion.

There are just so many moments like when Sanji saves Otama or tries on his raid suit and all those but Tumblr won't allow me to post more than 10 pictures sadly. So I did the only scenes part here, I'll do outfits in other post and make sure I'll link it here too. Check it out also!

So.. yeah... here it goes. My favourite scenes of Snooj!!

1) Sanji VS Enel

the 1st thing I always remember about Sanjis Coolest scenes is the one at skypiea. Sadly its one of the underrated scene of the anime.

Sanji in this scene protects Ussop and takes the hit. See his smile at the end. Wait for it. The SanUso moment is so pure where ussop understands Sanjis feelings completely.

He stands still even after receiving the hit and then takes a puff of his cigarette and says "Thanks, I needed a light", then falls down. Please... why isn't he given more credit. He is an amazing chef and yes I know you see it but... he has his amazing fight scenes too.

I absolutely adore the way Sanji always thinks about so many things while he fights. I mean... he plays with the mind too. You see, in this same scene he made sure to ruin enels ark from the inside. He is like this in another movie too. Not only that, a scene in alabasta arc too, where he enters into the base of Mr. 3 and talks to crocodile.

2) Sanji saving the Vinsmokes

Even after facing so much of abuse, he still saved his father and siblings. Looking at them after saving their asses is a delight to watch.

This is the moment they all realise that Sanji won... he has become stronger without their genes and techniques.

3) Sanji shouts at Luffy for Ussop

As Ussop and Luffy start to argue about merry, Luffy almost says to pack up and leave but he was stopped in between because Sanji kicks gim in the face and shouts at him for almost saying Ussop should leave.

Sanji never lets anyone to talk about leaving (even though he left and had a huge ass arc for him). He really cares about his crew and hates and it is really shown here. Not only the ladies. He definitely cares about the guys of the crew too.

4) Sanji uses Knives to fight

Cmon... its the only fight of Sanjis that he uses knives. The person being a chef and using food to fight made Sanji even more angry. He was already trying to find Robin chan and got into this shit where another chef keeps his kitchen dirty and uses food, pissed him off.

He decided to teach him a lesson and got into the fight by using Knives (Improvisation on spot!) Isnt he excellent here.

5) Reunion with Luffy

Getting back to his King, his Captain Luffy was the only scene where Sanji smiled truly after coming to the Whole Cake island. Its way too adorable. Him realising what he truly wants and to know that his nakama would save him definitely if he is in any problem.

Their smile is definitely the most precious. Infact for me... their smiles are the one piece for me. The most valuable treasures.

Bonus scenes

* Sanji saving the Maid of Vinsmoke family

Never he lets anyone harm a lady. Its not him. I could add Kalifa scene here but... this is also a good scene. One of the reasons why I really respect him. Yeah it gets annoying some times but... still its just how he is.

* Him saving Tashigi because he heard her cry.

I know its Extra af but cmon, we are dealing with Sanji here. Its going to be like that.

* Sanji's Surgeries

He is the best plastic surgeon ever. I won't step back on this opinion. He just makes people to completely change their faces. There were 2 of these who were shown in the anime. I really wanna see more people though.

* AceSan and ZoSan moments

I definitely love these scenes so much. The Ace scene is just so beautiful + dreamy. He was so daamn polite and so nice with Ace. Yes Sanji is good with everyone if they are polite with him.

The ZoSan scene is perfect + precious. Yes this is the thirst quencher for me. I adore this moment very much. Please they could've kissed.

The next one is kinda personal and not that needed. So I suggest you to skip this.

Like Comment and Reblog this! And share your favourite moments of Sanji with me!!!

XOXOXOXO

But if you wanna read then go ahead.

* After Sanji and Pudding Kiss and also pudding cries.

This scene was so emotional and personal to me...

Its weird but... when she was crying, I was crying too. Idk why These feelings were there but... It was the moment I realised I liked that jerk Sanji. And... I actually dont like pudding. Everything about her felt a bit odd and not trustworthy. But... when she cried. I cried too. When I was rewatching that scene now again, I cried. I myself don't know why I cry watching that scene. I get so many mixed emotions and my feelings are not even clear to me. I don't know.

If you did read this. Thankyou for reading.

Like Comment and Reblog this! And share your favourite moments of Sanji with me!!!

Wait.. you say you didn't read my post on "my favourite outfits" then click here!!!

[deadite-central]

While I adore Alabasta and see the whole of it as my favorite saga in all of one piece, Impel Down is actually my favorite arc lmao

It's opened with a pretty serious scene between Ace and Garp. It pokes logic in Garp's idea that if the boys simply became marines everything would be alright, and it also makes it clear Ace doesn't want anything to do with his father, which before the reveal in Marineford, makes sense to be Dragon

Impel Down itself is a genius idea for an arc setting. The six levels clearly being based on the seven rings of hell idea from Dante's Divine Comedy, which I always love to see be implemented in creative ways. It also just generally feels like hell on earth when it's shown to us. This isn't a place where anyone would want to be, and it puts Luffy in a sense of urgency to get Ace and himself out of here as quickly as possible

The other thing I love about Impel Down is how it without fail reintroduces characters we've met before. I'll talk more about the full rescue team once we get to them, but even the appearance of Buggy is absolutely hilarious and having him on OUR side this time makes for so many peak comedy moments

On level one we met Buggy, on level two we meet Mr 3, and I will say I much, much prefer him from here on out than I did in Alabasta. He's actually so funny and pairing him up with Buggy for most of the arc is the best idea Oda could have come up with for him

Besides old characters reappearing, we're introduced to new ones, the first of them being the final Warlord, Jinbei!! I love Jinbei. His introduction sets him up as a force to be reckoned with like the others, however, unlike them he's shown in a more positive light, being friends with Ace and refusing to stand on the side of the Goverment when they plan to execute him. I love him so much

Speaking of Warlords! When you get to Impel Down you already know Crocodile is in there thanks to the Baroque Works cover story (which is great, btw) so Oda builds hype around his reintroduction, starting with casting him in the shadows again, and letting us now that he has a grudge against Whitebeard

AND FINALLY WE MEET BON CLAY AGAIN Absolute joy of a character to see, and unlike in Alabasta, they're completely on Luffy's side this time. They're very important to the arc and I was so happy to see them again. Such a good side character, and I'm so happy pretty much everyone agrees

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: East Blue (Part One)

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

so!! hey folks. as i’ve mentioned before, to mark the upcoming chapter 1000 (holy shit!!) as well as my blog’s first anniversary this december, i decided it would be a good time to go back and put together some highlight reel posts of my favorite panels/moments/scenes from each saga and some commentary about what i think the best parts of each arc and the series as a whole are and why, as a celebration of just how far one piece has come and how many fantastic moments we've had so far! 

this will be quite a series of rather long posts- they’ll all be tagged #the voyage so far, if you’d like to avoid this messy retrospective. i'll be posting one saga a day each day until chapter 1000's official release on january 3rd!

honestly, i’m opening with this panel because it has a special place in my heart: i’m pretty sure it was the first time that one piece ever made me laugh. 

the entire prologue does a really good job of setting up the tone for the entire rest of the story. i think i haven’t really written much about it before, but i really love romance dawn. it hits the exact mix of humorous and serious that’s practically one piece’s trademark tone, and introduces us to some of the main themes of the series: inherited will especially, and the theme of freedom, and the idea of betting your life for what you love. 

technically this isn’t the first time we see luffy as an adult- he punches out the sea king before this- but it is his formal introduction, as well as (in the chapter title) the first time he’s referred to as strawhat luffy/mugiwara no luffy. 

i really like a lot of these very early panels of luffy, really. i’m a writing person, not an art person, so i can’t really explain why, but there’s something about how he’s drawn that i think is just delightful for some reason. i like the earlier one piece art a whole lot in general, even though it’s often much less intricate and more simple than the current artstyle (which is not by any means bad either!! it’s just different). i think it fits the atmosphere of the start of the story very well- a journey just starting out. 

he’s going to be pirate king!!

i’ve complained before about how zoro’s backstory doesn’t really hit the way a lot of the others do, mostly because it goes so fast, and kuina’s death is unfortunately the closest the series comes to fridging, but- that said, i do really like the core of it. i really like zoro being motivated by a promise to the one friend and rival he could never beat, and i love how this moment is what he cites later on while facing mihawk: a promise to a friend. 

i love all the strawhats and their dynamics, and seeing the crew grow and develop and become a family over the course of hundreds of chapters is one of the great joys of one piece, but i think i’ll always have a soft spot for luffy and zoro’s relationship. there’s never really any conflict between them after their very first meeting; there’s loyalty and dedication and understanding there that starts from this moment and never really wavers.

it makes me grin to see the two of them, here at the start of it all. they don’t have a flag or a ship or a destination, yet, but this is the start of the strawhat pirates.

this series will probably reveal that i have a great weakness for group shots, and i think oda is particularly good at them- especially in these earlier arcs, you can usually see every character’s personality and feelings coming through in how they’re placed and what they’re doing. 

i had actually forgotten that usopp did this, and while i know kuro was egging him on on purpose, i feel like he doesn’t get enough credit for being a reckless idiot sometimes. there’s a reason he fits in as a strawhat, after all, even if he himself isn’t always aware of it. 

this is a lovely panel just on its own, but i think it (and all the other appearances of sunrise and dawn in the story) hits different now, with all the 'coming dawn’ theming that’s been established in recent arcs. 

oda often absolutely nails his use of negative space to emphasize heavy little moments like this, and i for one absolutely love it. this one in particular gets me in the heart. 

i like how you can reread some of these early arcs and see nami’s affection for the crew growing in little moments like these, and it’s very sweet, but there’s also a quiet kind of sadness in knowing she’s spending the whole time knowing she’s going to have to betray and leave them eventually. 

i LOVE the new crewmate toasts. they all always look so happy.

also, in my opinion, this is the first time the strawhat pirates feel like a proper crew. they have a SHIP now! and just after this, they get their jolly roger to seal the deal. 

it is my opinion that sanji has one of the best character introductions i’ve ever seen. in just a few chapters we know just about everything we need to know about him: he's not to be fucked with, he has extremely high respect for food and absolutely none for morons, and the first genuine smile we see from him is when he gives a free meal to a starving man. 

i think about this moment a lot, really. luffy knows almost nothing about sanji at this point. he hasn’t tasted his food- he doesn’t even know his name. but he’s seen sanji give free food to gin for no other reason than that he’s hungry and it’s right, and that’s all it takes for luffy to decide that sanji is gonna be his cook. 

baratie is mostly a serious arc (and leads into the even more serious arlong park), but it has some really good funny moments towards the start and this is one of them. you know they’re friends because they all just start roasting luffy without sympathy or hesitation. 

i’ve mentioned before that the zoro and mihawk fight was one of the big things that hooked me on one piece (the other being sanji’s backstory), but the way it ends, especially, is one of my favorite moments in the whole series. i love,, strawhat loyalty moments. carve “any complaints, pirate king?” on my fucking grave. 

sanji has a lot of really great action panels in this arc, but this is one of my favorites mostly because his combat abilities are being revealed to the audience at the same time they’re revealed to a lot of the characters watching. i can’t remember who pointed it out but sanji’s character design (especially pre-timeskip) just really looks like he’s designed for kicking- shiny black shoes, about 70% leg- and it really shows in panels like this. 

sanji and zeff’s chronic inability to communicate is kind of the emotional core of baratie, and i think sanji calling the restaurant zeff’s treasure sums up the entire conflict between them very neatly. of course zeff values sanji way more than the restaurant, but zeff will never tell that to his face and sanji has negative zero self-worth so he’s never going to figure it out on his own. so they’re basically in a stalemate. 

sanji’s backstory is absolutely brutal. we spend a truly agonizing amount of time literally just watching him slowly starve to death. it’s no secret that oda is really amazing at backstories, but i think sanji’s is probably one of the most effective at driving home exactly where his very specific mindset as an adult comes from. it’s hard to even read this section and not come away with at least a little more appreciation for food. 

(to be continued in east blue part two!)

[opbackgrounds]

Inspired by the fights giving you little to talk about: despite being a battle manga, I’ve always found the fights to be the least interesting aspect of One Piece. Some of them do a great job at tying in other elements while others feel like they’re just sort of there. What do you think makes a fight feel meaningful in One Piece?

When analyzing something like a fight there are two things you have to look at. First, there’s how the information is actually presented on paper. It’s all the technical stuff like the artwork, paneling, the powers themselves and how they’re conveyed. It’s really hard to get invested in a fight if you can’t understand what’s going on, or if that Information is presented in a way that’s boring or unappealing. There are some stories where the entire appeal is the technical. Take, for example, Jojos or Death Note. Yes, there’s all the connective tissue in the background stringing the characters along, but there are a lot of people out there who just want to see some crazy Stand battles or Light dramatically eat potato chips as he outsmarts everyone else in the room.

The second thing is the story behind the fight. Why are these two people punching each other in the face? What ideas are being expressed? What problems are being resolved? Does this conflict tie back to the main themes of the arc or is it purely for spectacle?

Take, for example, the difference between Luffy vs Bellamy and the Luffy vs Yokozuna fight. Don’t remember Yokozuna? He’s the random sumo wrestler Luffy beat the crap out at the start of the Wano arc, an antagonist so inconsequential I’m not sure I spelled his name right just now.

The antagonists are similar in personality. Both fights are one shots. Luffy walks away from each unharmed. So why is the Bellamy fight remembered as one of the more epic moments in the series, when Yokozuna is barely a blip on the radar? The answer is obviously story. Oda crafted the Bellamy conflict as the climax of the Jaya arc—the emphatic final note on some of the most interesting introspection into Luffy’s character in the entire series.

Not all fights have to be so heavy or important. Comedy has always been integral to One Piece, and sometimes you just need to cut back for some Rule of Cool. But good fights—even for secondary or minor characters—should have internal stakes as well as external. Chopper’s fight vs Gedatsu in Skypiea is his first solo win and one of his first steps toward maturity. Usopp vs Perona closes out the Sogeking storyline. Zoro vs Kuma proves how much he’s willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Straw Hat Pirates.  I’m less versed in the technical aspects of drawing out a fight scene, but the general consensus within the fandom is that Oda is good but not great at things like paneling and composition of fights. The action can be muddled or confusing, especially when crowds are involved, which is becoming increasingly common as the cast of important characters grows exponentially over time.

The biggest change I’ve noticed, however, is that Oda is not dedicating as much time to individual fights as he once did. I mentioned it when going over the Alabasta saga, but the Chopper and Usopp vs Miss Merry Christmas and Mr. 4 fight was 3 or 4 uninterrupted fight chapters. Nothing else happened. Those 4 characters were the only ones shown. We got to see a definitive beginning, middle, and end.

A good fight will be its own story in miniature, both from a technical punchy-punchy level and also in terms of character motivation. And in modern One Piece, a lot of that story is being cut for time.  This is not always a bad thing. With as many characters that are running around, the story would quickly descend into Bleach levels of terrible pacing if every fight for every character was shown in meticulous detail. But go too far in the other direction and things can feel choppy and unsatisfying.  I don’t want this to sound like I think there are no good fights in the mangas recent history. I thought the Katakuri vs Luffy fight was fantastic and generally enjoy Oda’s action scenes. They’re just not Oda’s bread and butter, and that’s okay.

[legitimateluffy]

One Piece Animation Thesis: Sabaody

One of my favourite arcs not only story wise but production wise! There’s a lot to talk about in this one, but it should be fun and I’ve really been looking forward to it!

The Master Google Doc is found [HERE]

Here are the individual posts that are posted here on Tumblr: [East Blue] [Alabasta] [Skypiea] [Water Seven] [Enies Lobby] [Thriller Bark] [Sabaody] [Impel Down] [Marineford] [Fishman Island] [Punk Hazard] [Dressrosa] [Zou] [Whole Cake Island] [Reverie] [Wano]

Sabaody is a great small arc that is, once again, a pivotal point in the One Piece story. Seems like every arc to One Piece is important. How does Oda do it.

Kazuya Hisada continues his role as character designer for his second arc, which allowed me to find a new character sheet for Luffy in his base form and we can compare how styles and times have changed.

Left is Kizumi, right is Hisada.

Luffy’s look has slowly changed throughout the series, and while watching it, it’s something that is easily not noticed, especially when binge watching. However when you take time to step back and compare designs, the differences are quite noticeable.

Early Luffy’s design had quite short legs and torso, and his features were a lot more exaggerated. His hands and feet were massive, and his hair is thinner with more individual strands of his bangs being shown. Lineart was also thicker, especially with his eye scar being somewhat thicker and more prominent compared to later designs where the line variation is practically non-existent. The straw hat also felt more flat, lacking any type of depth in the brim while also fitting his head more snuggly.

The design used for Sabaody shows Luffy to be taller than his beginner design, however not as tall and lanky as that of the Water Seven-Enies Lobby era. Less hair strands are used for his hair, reducing the number of bangs. His face remains being round, however his smile is not as prominent and exaggerated like it once was. The biggest change I think is definitely how the hat is drawn. The top of the hat doesn’t fit as snuggly as it once did, and the brim begins to have more depth. At this point, the hat is fine however in some instances it can be very overdrawn and bloated and it, quite frankly, looks so awkward and large on his head that it looks absolutely ridiculous. 

These are the designs of Luffy from the specials Episode of Nami and Episode of East Blue respectively.

However during this time, Sabaody till Impel Down is an arc that feels quite loose and is a little jarring to the rest of the series. This is definitely not a bad thing and I think is quite welcomed, especially due to One Piece being a long running anime series. Change is necessary otherwise it looks boring, stale and repetitive. That is, when it is executed properly and boy does Sabaody knock it out of the Sabaody park (Haha).  Ba Dum Tss. Yeah yeah, look Tuna forced me to put that in so thank him for that. Unfortunately, many believe this arc to be one of the ugliest because of its loose style in places. But this is something that I think greatly enhances and appropriately fits the style of One Piece and Oda’s wacky designs. 

This is a plus in my book. Having a good character designer and strong character designs allows animators to be more flexible in what they’re working with. That is why, up to this point, Baron Omatsuri was the best animated thing that Toei had produced at the time in regards to One Piece. So let’s have a look as to who shines as bright as Kizaura’s leg before striking down Zoro’s head.

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Naotoshi Shida continues to show off his striking skills, especially with Rayleigh’s striking kick against Kizaru. The camera moves with the character, with incredibly smooth movement and his iconic sharp shading and effects. 

Yoshikazu Tomita shows off how powerful his hits and effects hit, making each of his scenes feel incredibly powerful.

This is the last time that Naoki Tate is this prominent in the series with his key animation. His style is absolutely incredible, having very subtle character acting showcasing the absolute terror of the situation. He continues to pop up here and there as the series goes on.

Ryo Onishi makes a great spectacle here, really portraying his character acting in this arc. You can feel exactly how each character is feeling and their thoughts all without even hearing the voices of the characters as well as music placement. 

Hiromi Ishigami makes sparse appearances throughout the series, having a similar style to Tate during this period. Subtle movements and pudgy shapes are used to make the character convey their actions.

Ken-ichi Fufisawa makes his characters feel really bouncy. Luffy feels like actual rubber in his cuts by the way he makes the arms flail when stretched. 

Kenji Kuroyanagi really knows how to turn and rotate the characters in his scenes. He also makes simple scenes look interesting, with Hancock he makes the whole body move in order for her to pull her arm up. He also knows how to make the camera follow the characters so it always feels like the scene is moving.

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A massive thank you to everyone who has participated and uploaded at Sakugabooru! Without it, I would not have been able to make nearly as much as I have without all the hard work in identifying and tagging animators’ work! Most of the footage used to showcase these animators has come from there! I simply just turned the videos into gifs for an easier showcase.

I would also like to issue a big thank you to Animators Corner! The staff listing really helped me in determining who worked on what episode to identify animators and their works!