#he's a ninja? and a pirate? fuck yeah

[writing-hat]

man I'm rewatching skybound (help) to focus on the misfortune crew so here's a kinda long ramble about Flintlocke and Nadakhan friendship below

the way Flintlocke's voice shakes when he says to Nadakhan he's doing a mutiny. when he says "stay right there"

I know it's most likely from fear, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was out of a broken heart too like- it's his captain. one he has most likely spent years at sea with. the one he'd trust with his life, and must've done so. most likely his best friend. AUGH

And how Nadakhan reacts to it, too! he gets angry, he doesn't believe what he's hearing! how dare they not trust him? (gee I wonder why)How is Flintlocke daring him to change things around?

Can you imagine watching someone you care about diving into some kind of infinite madness, and you not able to do shit about it? And it's not like Flintlocke could help much. Since yknow Nadakhan just lost all his people in a single moment after spending 300 years inside a teapot, and after losing the one he loves, too. And he sees something is wrong the moment he sees Nya. He knows Nadakhan too well, and I take it he's used to the captain sharing plans with them if he's already hella suspicious when Nadakhan doesn't tell him what he has in mind when coming back from Djinjago

And he's not the only one; like the whole 'close' crew (as I like to call them) notices how their captain is kinda getting distant? and losing it

But like what are you supposed to do about that? especially since they're pirates, and the captain has to be kind of scary if he still wants to handle psychopaths under an iron grip of some sort

And they were ready to trust him. To the end, I guess.

fuck! Nadakhan just ruined all that was left to him during skybound, didn't he? what a fucking idiot.

And Jay was this close to do the same with his own friends huh (NOT TO THAT EXTENT GUYS COME ON-)

I just love to think of parallels between Jay and Nadakhan. Cole and Flintlocke. The obvious (? I'm not really sure about this one) but awfully made Delara Nya one (not saying I made a good one in my fic either but eh)

But they're pirates. They're not good people, and Nadakhan is a fucking bitch. You have on one side how Arrakore dealt with the loss, and on the other, Nadakhan's, who was probably so used to being a prince and stuff he just- ugh.

But that doesn't mean they don't have emotions, which I'm trying to write about

also I'm noting Clancee probably noted Nya resembling Delara when he gave Nadakhan the newspaper. But he didn't say anything. Hm. I'm keeping that in mind.

anyway. back to writing I goooo

[evilminji]

*Distant sound of frantic running growing closer*

*I throw open the door with manic eyes, breathing heavily*

Hatsume Mei! The Fenton's! Oh DEAR LORD. The Couple, the Doctors Fenton... would think she's A Lovely Young Lady ™! Normal even! Charming! I bet the Hatsume Adults would find to be a Charming And Upstanding Young Lad!

JAPAN ISNT READY.

If the GIW got out of hand? And Amity, as a town? Said "fuck ya'll we taken our ball and going home"? All they'd NEED to do? Is shut down the portal, get the skilled portal makers stationed at side A of town to open it up, rip the whole thing up, have the mover ghosts push it IN, aaaaaand? Everyone in? Good! We close it from the inside!

Fuck those guys.

Okay, so, I'm Jerry. You're real estate officer, we got some GREAT options for you this season! How do feel about ninjas? No? Pirates? Not feeling it? Superheroes? Seeing some interest! We got a- *continues their pitch as Amity is moved*

Amity get phased into the Japanese countryside.

What do you MEAN "there wasn't a town here?" Of course there way! We have roads and everything! Why are we all Americans? What're you a cop? Mind your business, spandex man.

.....yeah, they're gonna call this one a "Quirk accident".

Pay your taxes, folks, and we promise not to care!

Fenton's? Back in business, baby! Well, never STOPPED being in business. But details! They're now a "support company"! And yes! The quotation marks ARE on all their documents AND signs! They think it's stupid!

But you want lazers?

Oh ho hoooo~ DO WE HAVE LAZERS!!!

Maddie n Jack start hitting the scene. Conventions. Conferences. Fancy parties. Weirdly? They "unnerve" people. Cowards.

Until? Gasp? They meet just the LOVELIEST couple! Who are so FUN! Who ALSO has a daughter? Danny's age no less! Oh she is just PRECIOUS? Is that her first bomb? Aaaaaw~♡.

Danny feels a disturbance in the force.

Like... like his folks are... are about to try and introduce him to a Nice Young Girl again. The last time this happened was at mom's fighting competitions. She ended up being some sort of assassin royalty. Thankfully, she accepted he could commit to a life of murder, since he wanted to be an astronaut, but it was like this whole THING and- you know what? Not important!

Where are his parents!?

(Planning his wedding! Gotta incorporate BOTH the family's completely batshit Family Traditions!)

[weepingtalecowboy]

The chaos that would happen

Fanfic prompt : DR Jay seems to be very focused on survival and fighting for survival

Like he doesn’t even entertain the women's claim of knowing him because he fully believes and supports his master because Ras got him out of the administration (even if we yet don’t know exactly how lol)

But like the sheer amount of escalation that would happen if DR Jay went back to skybound because like he is dead set on trusting nobody but ras

And just woke up in a random cell on a random flying boat and now those pirate looking weirdos want him to do something related to some weird wish or something

yeah not gonna happen

He would kill somebody in scrap and tap if he could

Because there ain’t no Ras telling him to chill out like during the source tournament

Nadakhan would be so confused like …

Did he accidentally broke the blue guy completely and who the fuck is lord Ras

And why does the other not give a damn anymore what happens to his “girlfriend”

But like also if it was from the ninjas perspective then Jay would seem like nadakhan drove him insane and Nya was already feeling guilty for Jay getting taken by nadakhan in her place and now he doesn’t recognize nor care for them

If Cole was already infiltrating the pirate crew just to see his best friend who he unfortunately is on bad terms with kill somebody in scrap and tap

And then Jay tries to kill him when he tries to get him out because he considers him a threat and when Cole eventually gets him out by force

Maybe changing the outcome of the everyone gets caught ending up in the sword because he wasn’t making wishes but rather trying to escape with Jay who is fighting him on every step of the way and making shit hard

While screaming about some weird lord Ras guy

And Jay just starts fighting Nya on sight because he’s is still upset at her for losing because their match wasn’t even finished because nobody died and she just has no clue what to do now but feeling guilty because it’s her fault he is like that now

Yeah everyone has a very bad time and Wu isn’t even there anymore to figure out how Jay knows lord Ras

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 111

Matt; "Melting internally and outide ..." Okay then ...

Oh my gods what a perfect start to the bit ... you can't just bluff this Sam, you have to open it first to continue ... a threat of nina assassination violence implied with failure? Oh my ... that's great. I love it ... HOLY FUCK MATT IS NOW DYING OF MYSTERIOUS FAST-ACTING NINJA POISON!!! Wow ... Marisha too? BECAUSE TRAVIS USED HER AS A MEATSHIELD?!!! You goit ... and Robbie gets it by refusal ... wow ... and now EVERYBODY' DEAD BUT SAM ... I love this one so much ... oh, SAM was the ninja? You prick ... XD

Yeah, I know it was about the new Assassin's Creed game, but given I just watched The Shadow Strays on Netflix my irony is tripped in a different way ... O.o o.O

15? Oh my ... did Marisha make a backhanded confirmation they're all gonna be playing BOTH of their characters each, except for Robbie? Are we REALLY about to get a WHOLE SESSION of Bells Hells AND the Mighty Nein just vibing? I'm so ridiculously excited ...

OH GOD AND HERE WE GO ... PLAY THE SONG!!! IT'S THURSDAY NIGHT!!! ON A MONDAY!!!

SPRINKLE!!! Yay! And Pate! Oh my gods how's THIS meeting gonna go? And now the weasel's in the house on Laudna's back ... ye gods ... he continues to suffer, then ... XD

Yes, OF COURSE Beau remembers THEM ... and Marisha has ENTIRELY forgotten about the live game at WEMBLEY!!! Yup ... nice going, boos lady! LOL

True, true, Jester and Dorian ARE both blue ... "space pirates"? Oh yeah, OF COURSE Jester TOTALLY loves THAT idea ...

What the fuck are you saying, Samuel? Veth is wearing A FUCKING CATSUIT right now? XD An open relationship, Veth, REALLY?!!! So very convincing ... seriously DO NOT shag the minotaur ...

They WERE very stern with him, yes ... for all of FIVE MINUTES ... oh my sweet fuck is Chetney gonna try and shag Veth now? Is THAT where their minds are going right now?

Caduceus IMMEDIATELY marking Imogen and Orym as theonly two of BH with the working braincells ... I love that ... XD

Honestly, right now it looks like Matt's LITERALLY just watching a game of tennis, he's nothing but a pure spectator right now and having SO MUCH FUN as a result because he just UNLEASHED THIS on all of us ...

YASHA!!! Watch Ashley spent the next HOUR trying to get the hang of THAT FUCKING ACCENT again ... LOL ... The couples ... oh the couples ... Marisha's getting SO CONFUSED about the multiple ships she's involved in right now ...

Braius likes Jester? Is that ... oh ... oh no ... no, he RECOGNISES her from somewhere? Oh shit ... how is he gonna react to THAT revelation? O.O

Fearne is fawning over how built Beau and Yasha both are ... :3

Oh shit ... Jester and Veth are ADMITTING that they did the thing at the Temple of the Platinum Dragon and Fjord is trying SO HARD to kep them from just digging deeper holes for themselves ... oh wow she's hugging him ... hmmmmm ... and now trying to sell him on the Traveller ... yeah ... here we go ... as if that boy wasn;t ALREADY playing half a dozen different sides all at once ... O.O

Braius: "You ruined my life!" Oh wow ... are Braius and Yasha about to fuck each other up?

Jester is trying to cast CHARM PERSON on Braius ... wow ... yup, he just CRITTED his save ... and now he's MAD about that shit ... wow ...

Caleb and Jester are both FASCINATED by Ashton ... yeah ... oh, the Dirt Wizard will just GEEK OUT over the Dunamantic DOME in that rocky skull ... Fortune's Favour? Oh here we go ... Ashton backstory recap! Yay!

Yeah, that's right, these guys are Essek's peeps! XD

Comparing notes on the fight ahead, then ... yeah, safe to say the MIghty Nein need a crash course in what they're about to face ... and now comparing PSYCHIC notes too ... XD

Oh yeah, I forgot that Veth HATES the water ... LOL

Beau taking exception to Yasha considering herself SIMPLE-MINDED is so adorable ... :3

Marisha needs to get a handle on who she's playing when ... XD ... oh wait ... yeah, the fan is kind of cheating ...

Matt; "This is my favourite episode already. I haven't had to do ANYTHING yet."

Here we go ... the flirting begins ... she really is WEAK for minotaurs ... yup ... it is indeed beginning ... LOL

Imogen's not attuned to the Circlet? Oh boy ... she's got WAY TOO MUCH blasting her in the head right now ... wow ... yeah, Jester's mind-music will be SO LOUD ... O.O

Laudna's weird mementos ... ye gods ...

Insight check on whether or not the Mighty Nein are REALLY sneaky ... hmmmmm ... I mean they CAN BE ... yeah ... ummmmmm ... O.o

WOW ... nice Keyfish reference that has NO ACTUAL RELEVENCE in this situation, Caleb ... LOL

Laudna's turning Sprinkle into a puppet ... oh gods ... and Jester's just LETTING HER torment her weasel ... which is par for the course ...

Beau and Ashton both acknowledging that they're equally grumpy is cute ... meanwhile Caleb's grumpy too ... XD

Jester's trying to make up for ruining Braius' life ... hmmmm ... yeah, I mean SHE WAS going through a kind of crisis of faith ... oh ... are they both about to finallys BOND about being mutually artistic? Oh my ... a naked painting of Fjord ... oh, and Braius is very much PAYING ATTENTION to certain details, as he would ... XD ... HIS FIANCEE?!!! This is news ... O.O ... Suzy Greene? Jester's volunteerring to SEND HER A MESAGE?!!! Of course she is ... hmmmm ... how well is THIS gonna go? How likely is it she;s just going to make this poor girl think she's having a psychotic break?

Jester: "What is a guartertaur?" Yeah, indeed, I'm curious too. O.O ... she does sound pretty cute, yeah ... wow ... how many spell-slots is Jester about to burn to tell her ALL OF THAT?!!!

The first thing she calls him is "a shell of a man" ... LOL ... yeah, this is going JUST how I thought it would ... Ashton: "I love a drunk text, this is so good." Oh gods yes ... Jester really does SUCK at Persuasion ... XD ... oh man ... is this not working? Oh ... now she's just trying to let him down easy ... hmmmm ... yeah, he is NOT convinced ... but she BEAT HIM on an Insight check? Holy shit ...

Saint Jester the Pirate ... oh boy ...

Oh, are they going to make this a FRIENDLY match, then? That could be fun ... let Braius and Yasha just have a little sparring match instead ...

Ah yes ... Jester and her pastries ... which leads to reminiscence about FCG ... awwwwww ... man, not now, please ... everything was getting so fun ...

It's just getting HARDER AND HARDER to keep track of who's who and I'm enjoying it so much every time they have to catch themselves ...

FINALLY come to a decision, then ... going to the moon first, THEN set up the Tower for them to camp out before starting to mission proper ... here we go ...

Are they seriously considering putting Veth IN THE HOLE right now so she won't have to swim?

Just follow Orym, that's probably the best idea ...

Awwwww ... :3 ... I love Orym's sisters so much ... give them ALL the hugs, please!

That is some seriously cool Prince of Egypt shit right there ... O.O ... time to GO QUICK guys! Veth: "I'd rather ride HIM!" And then Yasha picks her up and puts her on Braius' shoulders ... LOL

Once again Sam derails Matt's narrative train of thought with his t-shirt nonsense ... yup ... just like old times ...

THE TUNNEL!!! YEAH!!!

It's all a bit trippy, yeah ... Dancing Lights! Yay! Meanwhile Caduceus is doing his cleric thing ... I love how they low key geek out together ... :3

So ... back on the Moon, then ...

Yeah ... giant worm tunnels are definitely A THING for both these groups ... yeah ... O.o

Dorian DOESN'T KNOW he's on the Moon yet ... and now they start fucking with him ... LOL

Roll a D20? REALLY Matthew? 8? Oh fuck ... something's coming? Of for fuck's sake ... O.O ... oh, so it's just a STORM on the surface? Okay then ...

Wait ... Caduceus has a new storm prayer? Hmmmmm ...

Imogen sends a message to Zhesh ... so it's potentially safe? Cool ... okay, then ...

Oh yeah! The Ruidian glass dancer ... sweet ...

MARISHA!!! Get your tabs in order! Two Beaus is not useful!

Yay! Sashimi! So sweet and disturbingly creepy! Awwwwww ... :3 And yeah, the glass daggers ...

Making arrangements for teleportation travel ... and now they're gettign EVEN MORE CONFUSED ... XD ... and also some rather thinly veiled insults to Chetney ... this is getting increasingly hilarious by the second ...

Ashton: "It's really nice not to be the most fucked up person in the group for once."

BOOF!!! So ... did they all make it in one piece?

Oh phew ... thank fuck that worked out ... and now they're all crammed into a really tight little space ...

Yay! Caleb's Tower! Sweet! I've missed this ... pancakes and cat smell! Awwwwww ... :3

Now he's just showing off and I love it ... XD

Everybody's floating! Yeah, totally Willy Wonka style indeed ... XD ... oh, okay ... time to explore ... and Laudna's totally being her usual creepy self Spiderclimbing all over the walls ... startling spectral cats as she goes ... LOL ... oh yeah ... I forgot she could do the creepy cat-bone dislocation thing ...

Oh, so we're taking a break? Yeah, sounds about right ...

So ... is Laudna, like ... LOST IN THE WALLS now?

YEAH!!! THE BONE HARP!!! PLAY THE BONE HARP!!! I love the idea of a Yasha and Dorian harp and piano duet ...

Chopsticks ... snort! LOL

Wait ... Laudna's found the Cat Kitchen? O.O ... surreal ... Laudna shows Sprinkle ... by pointing him around the room like a flashlight ... XD

Laudna just slurped out of a hole and splattered down in the midst of them all ... lovely ...

True ... good point, the MIghty Nein never actually HAD a bard ... hmmmmm ...

Veth is now SLOWDANCING with Braius to sexy music ... LOL ... Sam is basically playing a flirty scene with himself ... this is beyond surreally meta ... LOL

Fearne and Jester are considering turning into cats and going exploring ... :3

Hero's Feast? Yay!

Laura Bailey and her dirty mind ... even more so whenever she's being Jester ... XD

Smart move ... making sure Yasha can't be turned against them for 24 hours ... shame they didn't have THAT capability once upon a time ...

Caleb and Orym personal time? Interesting ... oh ... is the Dirt Wizard going to offer the Wee Man up some advice? And yes, it definitely is very sound advice ...

Beau is NOT HAVING IT with Laudna ... LOL

Oh my ... is Ashton really asking Yasha for flirting advice from Yasha? Hmmmmm ... yeah, I mean it;s true, the big girl has ZERO game ... Beau pretty much just landed Yasha BY ACCIDENT, really ... yeah ...Jester TOTALLY gets in on that ... then again she is a MUCH BETTER choice to offer him advice ... yeah, Fearne DOES have really nice big boobs ...

Tusk Love! Oh boy ... seriously, how is Ashton going to take to the ultimate Exandrian romance novel? Oh ... just stuff his face in her boobs? Yeah ... yeah, that would definitely be a fun experience ... O.O

Here we go ... time for funky cat exploration games ... these two are definitely TROUBLE together ... I'm loving it ...

OF COURSE they go into the laboratory and just KNOCK SHIT OFF the worktops ... XD

A TIGER?!!! Ye gods, Caleb ... O.O

Beau and Fjord are currently MASSIVELY underestimating the Hells ... XD ... ah, the Taste of Tal'Dorei ... oh yeah ... now they're just FULL-ON INSULTING them ... LOL

Wait ... is Caleb A FAN of C-Pop creations? O.O ... holy fuck HE IS!!! And he has some of his pieces? Crazy shit ... wow ... so now they're bonding ... OF COURSE they are ... nothing appeals to the Old Man like flattery ... "Nein Hells"? Awwwwwww ... that's really sweet, actually ...oh ... "Nein HELLZ" ... that's even better, actually ...

Orym: "Chetney has spent many years bringing joy to the children of Exandria." Ashton: "And if he dies tonight he can bring much joy to the cats as they start feasting on his corpse."

CALEB HAS ONE OF THE WOODEN EGGS!!! O.O

OF COURSE Fearne tries to steal the egg ... while Caleb's holding onto it with Telekinesis ... oh boy ... she does SUCH A BAD JOB of that, I swear ...

Yeah ... I really don't see Caduceus being AT ALL responsive to any flirtation from Braius ... he's always struck me as being unapologetically ACE, if I'm honest ...

So Braius REALLY IS starting to return to the true path of the Platinum Dragon, eh? That's quite sweet, really ...

I love that so much ... Braius admits to having been drawn to Asmodeus and Caduceus simply answers: "I've heard worse."

Beau: "All right, fuckers. We got a big day tomorrow." Braius: "Dorian, you can stop playing now." Dorian: "I'm sorry, I was startled by the profanity."

Laim: "Yeah, we saw you from over in Campaign 2 and really liked your vibe." XD

Fearne's still pouting about not being able to start her collection of Chetney's eggs ... ALL FIVE?!!! Ashton: "All right, Thanos."

A future Bells Hells One-Shot? The Quest for Chetney's Eggs ... yeah, I could get behind that ... XD

So they're taking a rain check on that Braius/Yasha fight, then ... there's always tomorrow ...

"BABE!!! SEX!!!" Oh boy ... LOL

A Moon thing? Oh ... yeah, well as long as Laudna CAN come ... okay ... so now it's Imogen, Laudna and Caleb just floating around in endless empty space ... oh, LITERAL space, then ... cool ... oh weird ... that's some bizarre Quantum Realm shit ...

Ah yes ... or ja, if you will ... OF COURSE Caleb's been incommunication with the Voice of the Tempest, and indeed about Imogen's mum ... yup, sound advice right there ...

I find it very amusing that IMOGEN considers Caleb to be "very powerful" ... of course Caleb can see plain as day just how powerful SHE IS ...

Ooooh ... a gift from Caleb? Sweet ... a small metallic pyramid ... an Intuit Charge? Intriguing ... "It goes BOOM." Ja, of course it does. Not really expecting anything else from the Dirt Wizard who likes to set shit on fire ... XD

A celebratory party at Taste of Tal'Drei if they succeed? I could get onboard with that ...

Oh yeah! The Raven Mask! Get Identifying, Fearne ... just a lot of geeking out and nobody actually SAYING what it does ... XD ... that's kinda mean in a really funny way ...

That's an INSANELY high roll ... yeah, Braius just painted a bona fide MASTERPIECE ...

Fuck ... did Fjord just ANNIHILATE Pate with an Eldritch Blast? O.O

Oh my gods ... Laudna is continuing to torture Sprinkle without intending to ...

Chetney's whittling away ... stark naked ... and he lives through the night ... again ...

Dorian's calling on Orym just before bed? Oh shit ... OH SHIT IS THIS FINALLY IT?!!! Please please please please please let this be it ... Orym: "I have feelings for you ... maybe stince the day I met you." OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! The minds of EVERY FUCKING DORYM SHIPPER just EXPLODED!!! O.O ... and OF COURSE Dorian is receptive ... and so incredible sweet too ... oh my gods these two are being SO IMPOSSIBLY SWEET ... :3

Look at Matt's face ... oh my god he's just ENTHRALLED ... he's EVERY FUCKING ONE OF US right now!

THEY FALL ASLEEP IN EACH OTHERS' ARMS!!! OH MY GODS THIS IS SO FUCKING ADORABLE!!! I'M SO IMPOSSIBLY HAPPY!!! IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!!!

Bedtime for everybody ... and YES MATT MERCER YOU ARE SO FUCKING RIGHT that is a PERFECT PLACE to call it a night! That was THREE AND A HALF HOURS of perfect geekgasmic AWESOMENESS ...

[scalproie]

i cannot tell what is going on over there in mortal kombat. is your ship incest now? is this a dread pirate rogers situation? no idea!

buddy you really think I would be enthusiastic over fucking incest? If anything Im celebrating that its not. Its more a inter-timeline dread pirate rogers situation yeah

ok so for the actual explanation, three names you need to know: hanzo hasashi, bi-han and kuai liang.

For 30 real life years aka mortal kombat's entire runtime, hanzo hasashi has been scorpion: yellow ninja with fire powers, his whole deal was that he has been killed and came back with the only goal to take his revenge (either for himself or for his family that was also killed, it depends)

He was killed by bi-han aka sub zero, blue chinese assassin with ice powers. BUT bi-han is only sub zero in a particular instance: in the first tournament of mortal kombat aka always the first game, where he gets killed by scorpion. He comes back in following games as a literal shadow of his former self, and without ice powers. he never stays sub zero for long.

enters kuai liang, bi-han's younger brother who's also a cryomancer, who took the mantle of sub zero in the second game and has stayed the most consistent sub zero for the entirety of mortal kombat.

Theres been two timelines for mortal kombat, the og one going from mk1 to mk: armageddon (mk7), and the second one going from mk9 to mk11. Its a bit more complicated than that but im sparing you the details.

the og timeline has its moments (like scorpion deciding to protect the new sub zero to atone for killing his brother, even going so far as to switch sides and kill the big bad in his mk3 ending bc sub zero was on the opposite team), and the second timeline has even more (the mk9 sub zero ending and every single one of their shared scenes from mkx (mk10) to mk11) that makes the two enjoyable as an item. Its a fairly popular relationship in the fandom and their whole deal also happen to be my cup of tea idk what to tell you there. When people say "subscorp" it means kuai liang/hanzo as they were both the definitive sub zero/scorpion.

anyway we are at the dawn of a new timeline in mk12. and even tho its not the first mortal kombat soft reboot, as they already did that in mk9, this one is WHOLLY shaking things up. Mk9 was new but it kept for the most part the og backstories, dynamics and storybeats of the og timeline, with only some twists there and there to keep it fresh.

Mk12 drops the bombshell among other things that this time around, scorpion and sub zero are brothers, and if you think they mean "brother-in-arms" NO ed boon is very adamant to let everyone know every interview that they're blood brothers now, they have the same father and everything, and that their shared storyline is no longer a story of revenge, but a brotherly conflict of ideologies. Confusing and dark times (this was mere months ago).

Later the sub zero gets revealed to be bi-han, and now this begged the question: who is scorpion? He is dressed in yellow, have fire powers, and a literal scorpion tattoo. For many people it meant it was hanzo: he's been scorpion for 30 years, why would it change now (even tho this raised a lot of question like why is he now part of his enemy clan, why would he still be japanese and has a japanese name if his now brother and father are chinese, and so on). For others, the fact that this scorpion had: 1) kuai liang's brother, 2) kuai liang's dynamic with said brother, 3) kuai liang's face (as his face model was really similar to his mk11 one), 4) kuai liang's position in his clan, and in a later trailer revealed to also have 5) kuai liang's best friend, and 6) kuai liang's dynamic with said best friend, meant that uuuuuuh, maybe it was kuai liang. Even tho the guy named "Quick Freeze" in chinese had now fire powers.

Anyway this has been making me insane, if it was hanzo it had LITERALLY NOTHING in common with hanzo but the yellow outfit and fire powers, if it was kuai liang it was such a wild departure from kuai liang as we know him that this might as well be another guy completely. This guy is supposed to be the definitive sub zero but he cant fit that role anymore, he has fire powers.

Flash forward to last night, back on friday they revealed three mk trailers at comic con, and to keep the promo train rolling, they were invited by ign for an interview on saturday, and among the people there was yuri lowenthal aka smoke's new voice actor (let me remind you that smoke is and has been kuai liang/sub zero's best friend for both timelines). One of the dev was talking about smoke's role in mk12, and says this:

"We are playing up the relationship he had with Kuai Liang- uuuh Scorpion. Um. and-"

Its an accidental slip up so this is still to take with a grain of salt until we get actual footage confirmation that kuai liang is scorpion in mk12, but also come on, you cant fuck up that badly with context, kuai liang is scorpion in mk12.

And considering how HARD theyve been marketing it as "scorpion and sub zero are brothers now!" and not "one of the sub zero brothers is scorpion now!" Im guessing this was supposed to be a big reveal for later. Oh well.

Anyway now we know who sub zero is (bi-han), we know who has the mantle of scorpion this time around (kuai liang), and now the only person MIA is hanzo. Many people, me included, hope that he's narratively retired chilling somewhere and is enjoying life with his alive family for once, dude's had a hard life.

and to answer your question, no, its not incest now because hanzo is still unrelated to the sub zero brothers (tho one of them is scorpion now), and "subscorp" remains safe bc its really, again, more about kuai liang and hanzo than the ship of "scorpion" and "sub zero" regardless of who they might be.

[iamsonormalaboutninjago]

Okay just cause it’s so so interesting to me and no one’s talked about it:

The actual bullshit level of powers the Mega weapon had: 💅✨

1. Fuckin Time powers! Garmadon had the power of the four Time Blades in his back pocket and used it to fuck with the Ninja??

2. Access to the Departed Realm?? It brought back the pirate crew of Destinys Bounty from a 400 year stay in the departed realm??

3. Yeah the gift of Life. How did Garmadon recreate the ninja in perfect form, yet make them opposites??? Like that’s a power that’s never been been seen in Ninjago since omg. The only person who has similar powers IS THE OVERLORD

4. Gift of Life Pt2. NECROMANCY???!! HOW HAS NO ONE TALKED ABOUT HOW IT CAN BRING ANIMALS BACK FROM THE DEAD TOO?? WHO PROB DONT GO TO THE DEPARTED REALM SO WHERE DOES HE EVEN GET THEM FROM HUH?!!!

Also it rebuilt the bounty without even needing a charge or to be properly smelted into the weapon??

Idk if including the Golden Masters powers makes sense, but if we do we can add: Total telekinetic control of billions of square feet of objects, instant learn Spinjitzu, plus tornado of creation!

[obxthornton]

Chapter 3

WC: 2482

When I told Ashton the worst part of my week was getting put in a project with Luke, I expected him to agree with me. Not throw a sleepover.

All 5 of us were lying in Ashton's living room, in complete awkward silence, It had been months since we had all 5 hung out together. Utter bullshit that I was over here with 3 boys and my ex, while my best friends were having their own sleepover at Kiaras. When Ashton invited me to sleep over I thought it was just going to be me and him. Maybe Michael at one point.

But here I was, arms crossed as I glared at Luke who sat on the other end of the couch, mimicking my expression.

"Guys." Michael Said, "It's getting weird."

"Shut it, Clifford," Luke said not breaking my gaze, like it was some intense staring contest.

"Brilliant idea Ash," Calum said sarcastically laying his back down on the floor.

"Gigi said they were working together!" Ashton argued.

I took my gaze away from Luke to glare at Ashton, the real criminal here, "I said we were working on a project together! Which he is no help with by the way." 

Luke scoffed, "You don't like my handwriting! How am I supposed to help if I can't write anything?"

"Maybe if you actually fucking agreed with me on something, we wouldn't have to write so much." I shot back at him.

"Oh yeah, like it's such a crime for me to disagree with you." He rolled his eyes at me causing me to kick his leg hard with my foot.

"Don't you dare roll your eyes at me, Hemmings," I said narrowing my eyes at him. He knew how much I hated when he rolled his eyes at me.

"Guys stop," Ashton said.

"Oh no you do not need to be upset with us when you put us here Irwin," I said glaring at the boy.

"Those questions are easy guys... I mean how can you not at least agree on a few of them? Go and stop? Pirates and ninjas?" Calum said sitting back up. He now seemed interested in the conversation.

"We're two totally different people," I said earning a nod from Luke. 

"How the hell did y'all date?" Michael asked making Luke scoff. "Lots of alcohol mate." This earned him another kick to the leg. "Stop that!" Luke yelled at me hitting my leg with his foot back.

"Asshole," I mumbled.

"Okay! I give up!" Ashton yelled raising his hands in surrender and standing up. "You too are too fucking childish to even respect each other."

"I never will respect Luke," I said simply said.  Luke's face softened lightly almost in regret before it went back to a glare.

"I don't respect someone who doesn't respect me." He said.

"What the hell even happened to you two?" Calum asked.

Crazy how that one question can change our whole mood. Luke chewed on his fingernails anxiously and I pulled my feet up on the couch, wrapping an arm around my knees. "Nothing," I said barely above a whisper.

"No no... I'll tell em," Luke said looking over at me. For once in a while, the look wasn't laced with a single ounce of resentment.

"You don't have to." I mumbled, "It's over and there's no point in making them think differently of you when they weren't even there." 

"Luke, what the hell did you do?" Ashton asked glaring at his friend.

I knew the second that it happened Luke regretted it. I knew that our breakup would have been more of a "break" if it wasn't for my song getting stolen. If it wasn't for the fight after I confronted him.

"You know jazzy?." Luke asked closing his eyes and resting his head on the back of the couch.

"Jazzy like Jasmine Hodge? Hottest girl in all of Australia?" Michael asked.  I wanted to roll my eyes at that comment. But somehow it made Luke's case for him better.

Luke, however, winced at the words. "Jasmine Hodge yeah."

"What does Jasmine Hodge have to do with this story?" Calum asked.

"Everything." I sighed. This earned a guilty glance from Luke.

"We started playing truth or dare." Luke said, "And I chose dare."

I honestly didn't want to hear the story anymore. I didn't want to relive that moment at all, I could tell neither did Luke.

"Kiss the prettiest girl in the room," Luke said, the words rolling over his tongue like ice cold water. He seemed to scoff at his own self as he rubbed his mouth. Silence fell over the group as the boys stared at Luke Like he was Insane. "So I kissed Her. I kissed Jasmine Hodge." 

I closed my eyes at the words.

"Dude," Calum muttered.

It wasn't even the fact that I wasn't the prettiest girl in the room. It just had to be the girl at our school that everyone wanted to have. The girl every guy would leave their girlfriend for. He was my boyfriend of 4 years And he kissed her right infront of me.

"What the fuck Luke," Ashton said ruffly.

"I don't have an excuse that I haven't said to Geo before, so I'm not going to try to save myself now," Luke said swallowing hard. "Fuck." He mumbled.

"We took a break and then a month later officially broke it off," I said.

"Is that the fight we heard?" Michael asked making me stiffin and Luke open up his eyes. Just like that, our whole demeanor changed. That fight was nothing or Luke would even consider telling the boys what it was about. Even if they heard parts of it, it was no reason to go back to that day. The fight was the real reason we broke up I think. Not Jasmine, not the song, the fight.  Sure all those things started the fight but it opened up a whole new topic that made a lasting impression on how me and Luke view eachother.

"I'm going home," I told them standing up abruptly.

"Of course, right when the fight gets mentioned you leave," Luke said huffing at me, any ounce of guilt that was left on his face was replaced with the same old Luke I knew.

"I'll see you on Monday asshole," I said walking past him to grab my bag off the floor.

"Bye Calum, Bye Michael. Fuck you, Irwin." I said walking out the front door.

"Yeah walk out like always bitch!" Luke called as the door slammed.

Walk out like always bitch

----

When I was 7 Ashton pushed me down the stairs and broke my arm. I hated him after that and told him I never wanted to be his friend again because I couldn't go swimming for a whole summer.

When I came home from the hospital in my cast there were wilted, old flowers on my porch. They looked as if they had been there for a few days or so, probably the time I had been at the hospital and surgery. I had recognized them as the ones from Ashton's flower bush in his front yard.

Ashton ended up getting grounded for destroying his mom's flower bush but ever since that day, whenever Ashton would "mess up' he would bring me flowers.

I guess that's why the front doorbell rang this morning.

I was still in my pajamas as it was only 10 in the morning. An iced Coffee in hand as I hid behind the wall not wanting for the unknown salesman to see me. The no soliciting sign in our neighborhood meant nothing to those guys.

"It's me Gi." A faint voice called from behind the door.

I sighed as Ash's voice came out behind the wall and walking to the door. I know I shouldn't be upset with him, he just wanted to hang out with all his friends on Friday. But it was hard not to blame him for all the re opened wounds. I should blame Hemmings, not Ash.

I unlocked the door and opened it seeing Ash stand there, a half dozen flowers in his hand as he kicked his shoe against my house. No longer were the flowers Ashton gave me from the yard but normally from the local store.

I smiled lightly as he turned to me holding them out.

"Come in," I said holding the door open alittle wider. He smiled largely as he walked inside the house and took off his shoes at the door.

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a vase for the flowers and filled it up with water.

"I know you said you and Luke weren't good, but I just wanted, I Don't Know, to have my friends back," Ashton said sitting down at the kitchen table. "I should have asked you how you felt before I invited him."

I shook my head and sat the flowers to the side, "I'm sorry me and him can't get along. And I'm sorry that I took it out on you. there was no reason for me to be upset with you over wanting your friends to be friends."

Silence filled the table as we both felt guilty. Just because I couldn't stand Luke Doesn't mean I should put ash in the middle.

"You Wanna go get lunch?" He asked making me smile.

"Of course." I said standing up, "My treat."

"I'm supposed to buy you lunch, not the other way around." He said following me up to my room.

"I have band practice at 4 so gotta be back before then." Ignored his previous comment as I walked into my room and opened up my closet.

"I have it at 4 also." He said 

I grabbed some jeans and a t shirt and threw them on as Ashton lay face down on my bed. What a gentleman.

After I was dressed I walked over and pulled his head up by his hair. He sent me a smile which I returned before I dropped his head back in the pillow.

"So where are you thinking? Marcos? Snags?" I asked walking back down the stairs.

"I just want pizza," Ashton said shrugging.

"You always want pizza." Ashton and I both slipped on our shoes and walked outside to Ashton's car parked in my driveway. It was... weird seeing his car parked in my dad's spot. Not that my dad was ever home to park in it, but a car never filled the spot when He wasn't home.

"I'm thinking of that new pizza place on the corner of wintergreen." He said interrupting my thoughts, I hadn't even realized I had got in his car.

"Perfect," I said messing with the radio.

When we finally got to the restaurant I was more than starving. It was small and like Ashton said, off the corner of Wintergreen.

"Have you ever thought of, I don't know, a rebound?" Ashton asked as he sat down at a table in the far corner.

"I don't need someone to date to get over hemmings," I said rolling my eyes at Ashton. I was completely and utter over Luke and did not need a 'rebound' as Ashton called it.

"Hey I'm Liam, what can I get started for you today." 

I looked up at the waiter and smiled nervously. Liam had tattoos covering his arms in his tight black shirt. He stood there holding a pen and paper looking me up and down.

"Still don't need a rebound?" Ashton whispered to me making me stomp on his foot hard. He winced, "Just a water." 

Liam chuckled lightly and scratched it down, "and for your girlfriend?"

I laughed and shook my head, "Oh I don't have a boyfriend- I mean we aren't together. Water also please." 

He smiled and nodded at me, "Good to know. I'll have those drinks out in a second." He clicked his pen against the paper before walking back to the kitchen.

"No no, absolutely not," Ashton asked as I turned to him smiling. "Look at him!" I turned and looked at Liam who was stacking napkins on top of each other in the corner. "You haven't flirted with someone in 4 years and that's who you choose?"

"Hey! I have flirted with people in the past 4 years." I said not very convincingly.

He looked at me unamused, "other than Luke."

My face fell and I thought for a second. I snapped and pointed at him, "I went on a date with Amanda Zeno." 

Ashton's face scrunched up, "that weird girl from our science class?" 

I sighed, "Yeah she was my rebound."

He shook his head and waved his hands at me, "Well honestly I like her better than this guy."

"Here's your water," Liam said putting the waters on the table. "Know what you want to eat."

"Yeah well share a 12-inch of everything pizza," I said.

"I'll put that in right now." He said putting the paper in his back pocket.

"So Liam." Ashton said leaning in his seat towards Liam, "Where do you go to school."

He laughed and shook his head, "Oh I'm not in school. Got out of high school last year." Older and educated. Perfect.

Ashton shot me a look that said "Don't you dare."

"Do you work here full time?" I ask ignoring Ashton's glance.

"Most of the time. I'm also in a band." My smile got wider as Ashton sighed and let his head slip to the table earning a concerned glance from Liam.

"So am I." I said smiling, "I'm lead and guitar what about you?"

"Same! You should really come to see us perform sometime. We have a gig at Jordan's in a week or so." 

Ashton let out another loud groan and let his head smack down on the table again.

"No way! Us too! The 13th?" I asked.

Liam just laughed and nodded, "Small world. So you must be.... sugars?" He asked snapping his fingers. "And are you in sugars too or the 5 minutes of spring?" He asked Ashton.

"5 seconds of summer," Ashton mumbled.

"Ah sorry mate. Anyway, I guess I'll see you there. Maybe we can get dinner before?" Liam asked.

I nodded smiling at him, "it's a date."

"Great." Liam said smiling back at me, "I'll uh put in your orders."

As Liam left Ashton just lifted his head and shot me a look I knew too well. The 'you're making a terrible mistake look'.

But I didn't care. I was just smiling like an idiot as I sipped my water through the straw.

Our pizza came and went and when the check came, Liam slid the customer's receipt to me and wished me a good day.

Liam Payne 011-788-2397

I shoved the copy of the receipt into my pocket as Ashton frowned at me knowingly.

[klonoadreams]

I was reading all the posts about Mako and, damn, now I have a taste(? for the couple that won't be a couple, Dellinger x Mako.

It's impossible but that has never stopped the ships. (And then I remember the age difference they have, it would be more or less the difference between Pudding and Sanji, right?)

Would there be about 4 Fishman/human hybrids? Big Mom's twins, Mako and Dellinger?

Who would be your actress in mind for a live action? I dominate Anya Taylor Joy or Isabella Gomez.

Lmao the NOTP of interest, like nope for reasons but also owo 👀

I getchu tho, its the concept, the parallels, but also, without Dellinger, we wouldn't have had Mako in the first place.

It's an interesting concept. Also yee, those actresses seem cool, Jenna Ortega or Xochitl Gomez are also some I'd have in mind too. So fun :V

Idk about the hybrids, yes maybe??? Idk lmaoo

Also gather round for my tirades. Its gonna get looong lmao and also at some point I went fuck it because nuance but also I don't have the brain cells to even go anything further than what I just blurbed lmao.

Like, sometimes I forget that Pudding is 16, but like that's why I had to make One Piece the exception to a lot of shenanigans, given the complexity of the fact that you got 17 and 19 year olds drinking so much, which even by the standards of Japan's drinking age, its still under it (which is 20).

So at soem point I was just fuck it, we ball. It's like with my Naruto fics, where you just set apart the civilians from our ninjas. Do that with pirates and whatever.

But remember, civilians are exempt from this. Thats why you got Mei flirting (albeit, playfully) with Chouko and how Killer B said she wasn't his type do to marriage custom shenanigans. And of course pre official genin Haku considered a civilian when he got engaged to Chouko, even tho he's older than her lmaooo.

It's honestly easier this way, but always keep in mind there is a line to be drawn. And that's why you got Law, Robin, Mako, and so many others that are resentful of the World Government.

Because they didn't even have a choice when they were all forced to grow up so soon, which is why so many of them are stunted to a degree. Even Mako has her own suffering, with how she kept suppressing her own emotions, to the point it made her sick because her body could not handle the strain at all.

Zoro probably has the most "normal" ish upbringing like he went through a lot, but no abuse, no neglect, no world government bs, but something along the lines of what I call Bridge to Terebithia, where you lose your childhood friend so suddenly like that. Because life is random sometimes and it sucks (also the writer's son's friend irl died via lightning strike, but it was tweaked to what happened in the book because it wasn't as realistic so yeah), and it will forever stay with you. So live on.

Probs the most stable as a result, he is a rock. Love him. :V

[thepeanutbutterwizard]

Hi.What reactions ninja will have to Tiger Widow stuff in Skybound?Will the encounter with one make Nya remember her true potential or is it just "oh,those can make good food" reaction from Underworld duo?

Skybound is one of the seasons where I have a vague idea of what will happen, but not a whole lot nailed down. Like in cannon a few people have been captured already, and on top of that I think I'm going to have everyone split into two teams almost immediately, after the Lantern Memorial but before Nya actually makes it back to Ninjago.

I have no idea who's already been captured at this point, and other than probably Lloyd being the first family member Nya finds, I'm not sure how everyone is going to be split up, or which group will be doing what.

All this to say, I'm not entirely sure who'se going to be going to Tiger Widow Island, so I'll just list all of the Main cast and what they would be doing if they end up going there

Jay: Doing him first to say that if Jay makes it this far he doesn't get sent after the venom solo bc if he still makes the wishes for money and a big house he doesn't hide it from everyone else bc he has no interest in Nya in VT and a wish for money and a house would be for his parents bc they're not getting any younger and Jay's worried about them. No motivation to lie -> no liar revealed fallout.

Nya: If she doesn't have much of her memory back, she's taking one look at the Tiger Widow, thinking 'hell yeah, lunchtime!' since Tiger Widow is probably her favorite food, and charging. If she does have more of her memory back, then she's a lot more cautious; not for her sake tho.

Lloyd: He all but superglued himself to Nya once they reunited, so he's clinging to her back while she's doing whatever she's doing, whether that's on Tiger Widow Island or not. He would think it's really cool to finally see a Tiger Widow after hearing his dad and sister talk about hunting them, and he's also really glad he's still kinda stuck in his Dragon form bc holy shit they were downplaying how freaky and dangerous Tiger Widows are.

Garm: While answering this ask the image of Garm chokeslamming Nadakhan through a brick wall popped into my head, and now I have a bit of an actual plan for what happens to him, so thank you for that! He is going to be captured by this point; Nadakhan targets him first bc he's the biggest threat to his plans, and also bc Garm's a grieving father who desperately misses his daughter, so he has a glaring weak spot to exploit. But as soon as Nadakhan tries use Garm wanting Nya back to manipulate him, the Oni snaps, going from super depressed to super pissed in .02 seconds. Its been awhile since I've seen Skybound (its my least favorite season despite how much I Love fictional pirates) and I don't remember when/where the lava lamp of doom Sword came from, or how it worked (didn't he like, need them to wish themselves into the sword or something? or did he just like fucking with them?) so lets just pretend that there would be nothing preventing Nadakhan from immediately trapping Garm, he just tried getting him to make wishes for fun and made it two sentences into his 'wish it all away' pitch before nearly dying

Misako: Nothing really phases her anymore, so she just kinda shrugs off the giant spiders. If she's the only parent there she insists on being the one to milk the Tiger Widow. If she's not the only parent she initiates the game of rock paper scissors to decide who's going in.

Ray: Absolutely hates spiders, they gross him out, but if he's the only parent he also insists on being the one to collect the venom.

Maya: Actually kinda excited to see the Tiger Widow. Again, insists on being the one to collect the venom if she's the only parent. And if she isn't the only parent, she grabs the other parents and drags them with her to get the venom as a team.

Kai: If Kai doesn't know that Nya is back, he's laser focused on getting the venom. He and Pixal actually start planning on using the venom to weaken Nadakhan so they can wish for Nya back without him twisting their wish to help him. If he does know that Nya's back, he's more focused on helping her than anything else.

Pixal: Pretty much the same as Kai.

Morro: He would nominate Jay as the one to get the venom, but would probably choose to be the one to get it.

Zane: Would volunteer to get the venom. If I go with Oppo, he's also picked up on the fact that Kai is planning something and he's keeping a concerned eye on him. If I don't go with Oppo, than Zane has turned his emotions way down, which means he would try and insist that he be the one to get the venom, as he's rebuildable and therefore the most logical choice.

Cole: Other than not being mad at Jay, unless I go with Lava the only thing that changes for Cole is him not being a ghost. If I go with Lava than he's the one who picks up on Kai planning something and is keeping a concerned eye on him.

...

I think that's everyone

[yamat0]

since u gave me the opportunity to rant I have to ask you...what's your fav things about yamato! I know nothing about one piece but I wanna hear about the inspiration behind the url! 🎤

*shaking visibly*

okay this probably won't be as well written and thought out as yours because I type like I talk shooting from the hip but I love Yamato first.... let me show you him

this is how we first see him and he's like 8'8" and all we know about him is that he's kaido's son and kaido is the big bad villain of the wano arc so everyone was speculating what he was going to look like so when he finally takes his mask off and rips the sleeves off we see...

YAMATO! he's a gnc trans man!!!! (this is a very contentious debate in the fandom because he was introduced as the Oni princess but everyone including his warmonger abusive father and his crew call him son and use he/him pronouns! people are just attracted to him and the fact he has tits breaks their brains)

yamato calls himself oden (another character in the series) because he saw the real oden get boiled to death in hot oil and was like... damn! I want that gender! so then he was like well if I'm oden then I must be a man so badabingbadaboom! and I love it! I love the fact he's gnc and no one questions him about it he bathes with the men and they're all like cool you're strong and bathing with us let's have a party! and yamato is like fuck my dad I hate my dad everyone hates my dad so he teams up with Luffy and luffy's like yeah I fucking hate your dad he's interfering with people's freedoms! I'm gonna beat your dad! so Luffy and yamato and a bunch of other pirates and non pirates like ninjas and furries get together to take him down and yamato got front row seats to see Luffy in gear 5 turn his father into jump rope!

oh and yamato can turn into a dog but he's separate from the aforementioned furries

[spinjitsuburst]

How Many seasons Evil Jay theories we have to create to any writer to make it happend for real

We have

Snake Evil (cause why not)

Nindroid (cyborg) Jay

Chen recruit

Pirate with family issues

Overlord-Jay

Ice emperor minion

Purple Lightning corr

Jay was Unagami

Or mister i lost my wife so i’ll lost my self LMAO

But only received twice a Brain washed magic that corrupted the rest of the Team as well, for them not even represent a menace in the plot.

OMG YES TO A L L OF THIS

Snake Jay but Evil is such a vibe tbh

CYBORG JAY I LOVE ROBOTS I LOVE NINDROIDS I LOVE CYBORGS AAAAAAAAAA please i love this so much

Chen recruit verrrrrry interesting :D normally I see Kai in this position but a Jay one would be fun (esp since he's always so tied to snakes)

PIRATE WITH FAMILY ISSEUSEUGSG YEAH that's just season 6 canon /j

Overlord Jay ooooh :O tbh the Overlord is an under-utilized villain by the fandom i think more people should have fucked up Overlord possession AUs

ICE EMPEROR MINION YES tbh the fic Ice Emperor and Earth Dragon kinda ruined my brain chemistry if I don't consume a new form of "Ice Emperor corrupts one of the ninja" concepts like every month I lose my mind, I love the Ice Emperor

Funny story about the purple lightning thing, I wanna storyboard that section of Seabound where Jay goes apeshit on Kalmaar but he gets struck by the purple lightning and gets extremely OP and proceeds to KICK KALMAAR'S ASS. Having it CORRUPT Jay tho hmmm,,,,,,,

JAY AS UNAGAMI CORRECT NO COMMENTARY NEEDED

literally i - okay okay okay okay i fully. before we got any crystalized info at all before we got the name and the poster and all that. i FULLY thought season 16 was gonna be jay being desperate and heartbroken and going to nadakhan to wish nya back and that would be the plot i was SO SURE. they set up the teapot for so long and i was like THIS IS IT THIS IS WHERE IT'S GONNA COME INTO PLAY. and then. that did not happen HGJKFDSHJGHDFHGDFSKJGF

as for the last one i'm assuming that happens in crystalized which i've only seen half of LMAOOOOO i'm too scared to watch the rest of it

[phatburd]

([Yet Another] 'Questions for Fic Writers') Multiples of 9!

9. Have you ever collaborated with someone else on a fic?

I was in The Old Guard Reverse Bang 2022, and you can see the original post here.

I've never collaborated on a mutual writing project however, but maybe the current spate of Napoleonic roleplaying blogs qualifies. I didn't expect to hit angst with Murat so soon, but he'll be back to his glittery self soon at some point.

18. Are there any fics or authors that have been particularly influential or inspiring to you?

There's a number of authors who've influenced my fics, including Octavia Butler, Robert J. Sawyer, Marko Kloos, and John Scalzi. But the biggest influence by far is James S.A. Corey.

JSAC is actually two people -- Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Everything about The Expanse (books and show) has been a huge inspiration in my fics. It's the incredibly detailed world building, it's the story pacing and structure, how to create memorable characters that leave an impression even if it's only for one scene. It's the brutal cold opens and even more vicious cliffhangers.

Andy Weir is another huge influence. He makes hard science easily accessible to audiences who might not be so knowledgeable. However, the way he influences my work the most is his humor. That scene in The Martian with pirate ninjas? Fucking genius.

Humor, when sprinkled in at the right moments, keeps the audience's attention and keeps them engaged and immersed. Yeah, Weir could have used "kilowatt hours per sol" but that's a mouthful and, as a reader, doesn't that make your eyes just glaze over? So, instead of "kilowatt hours per sol" he named the unit "pirate ninjas."

This is why in "Once All There Was" I was inspired to let Ney name the Russian forest "Those Fucking Trees" and let him keep calling it that. It's a moment of gallows humor in a desperate situation, but also doesn't grind the audience down in the horrible situation Third Corps is in.

27. What two (or more) fandoms would you like to see a crossover for? Would you ever write it?

I have this slightly insane fusion/crossover I want to do but it may be too ambitious for me to tackle.

It's a period-accurate War of the Worlds, but instead of Edwardian England, it's in contemporaneous La Belle Epoque France instead, specifically in Paris.

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Sarah Bernhardt, and Oscar Wilde go set out to save the world from the Martians. There's also a lot of absinthe and cigar smoking in-between dodging Martian tripods. Yeah.

Thanks for the ask!

[birdmitosis]

🎥, 💕 !!^_^

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

Oh man, MULTIPLE. The one I keep coming back to at the moment is in the third movie, when Kururu is trying to hack the enemies' shit in the Final Hour to defeat them, Mutsumi drops into save him, they work together and finally beat that shit + also develop these robot-things they deploy everywhere to cancel out and undo the enemies robot-things that had been hypnotizing the whole planet. It's just a legitimately cool teamwork scene that they don't get enough of!

I also, I admit, love the bit in the flashback episode where they met that... It's not A Scene so it's kind of cheating, but when Mutsumi catches Kururu out, this obvious alien invader who'd been trying to attack him, Kururu tries to pass off being a good guy and Mutsumi asks why he's there, and Kururu says "to protect love, justice, and peace" and Mutsumi fuckin laughs at him and answers, "you're terrible at lying, alien." Then at the end of the episode, a while later after they've become friends, they're bantering and Kururu asks him what he's using the thing he stole from Kururu for and the exchange flips around: "for love, justice, and peace, of course" "you're terrible at lying, human." I just love that. So much.

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

Honestly, I adore Dororo and Kururu both, they might be my top two faves, but I want to talk about my other fave here. Saburo Mutsumi, a fuckin. Totally normal-seeming, incredibly laid back teenage boy who is just... completely inexplicable the more you see of him.

He's somehow on the same wavelength as the universe's biggest known jerk, who is in return somehow utterly cool and friendly with him. He never goes to fuckin school. He's not just a radio DJ but a secret radio DJ who keeps his identity secret by using the alias 623 which he pronounces "Mutsumi." He goes along with invasion shit just for kicks, because he finds it fun. He can show up out of nowhere, even to the ninjas. He flies around on the top of a flying saucer-looking thing in one of the movies, which is just so extra and unnecessary. He seems to have a hard time getting attached to people besides the universe's biggest jerk, but is still willing to fuckin die to save Earth. He's a poet. He's a fuckin nerd. He plays multiple characters in shogi and can't win a game. He visits alternate universes in his spare time just to peek in on alternate versions of himself (including: invader of Earth, space pirate, trans girl??). When he decides he wants to stop working at the radio station he quits, claims to be an alien returning home to Venus, gets Kururu to help him fly away in front of an audience, then just keeps broadcasting from a private flying radio station probably also made by Kururu. Apparently he's an orphan who was raised on another planet by aliens since age nine (manga canon, but seems like it was also intended to be anime canon). In the manga he has an IQ of 350, which is like twice as high as IQ scores actually go. His introduction in the anime is a spoof on Kaworu Nagisa complete with O Fortuna playing because he's voiced by Ishida Akira.

There is nothing about this character that is normal and yet it's so hard to remember that sometimes because he's in the role of "Natsumi's senpai she has a crush on who shows up and gets involved weirdly rarely," but then sometimes the show'll go "reminder that this is Kururu's best friend actually" or "oh yeah, this guy's fucking wild, remember?"

[spw-art]

I love to way you draw Eddie

I’m honestly happy that there’s someone that draws Eddie in a not-so-serious or goofy way, he always came across as some dude that did funny or stupid stuff for fun since he’s a deity of sorts when it’s not all kill and kill part 2 electric boogaloo

Oh my god I never fucking saw this oh my god this is from LAST UEAR. SORRY. Anyway yeah!! To me he comes off as pretty goofy. He’s like a kid with too much energy who wants to play with his laser guns and be a ninja pirate samurai mummy from the future. Watching the Iron Maiden playlist of him not wanting to get in the box kind of reinforces that to me. He’s a bit of a silly guy! A little goofster! Spiritually, he’s very little and mischievous and childish. He’s the spirit of art and creativity, he’s absolutely not serious. And he’s never really been serious either. If you look at the old Derek Riggs art archives, his commentary really shows what kind of a guy Eddie is. (Silly)

Here’s a link to the archive of his old portfolio, by the way!

[voidsentprinces]

I continue poorly explain ffxiv

Welcome back to Final Fantasy XIV or as I like to call it Fantasia Character Rotissiere. Last time we fought secondary dragon satan who possessed the unwashed elf boy that is Estinyan. Saved our baby boy’s sister from being assassinated by Identity Fraud and his gang of back up dancers and watched our one true boy Papalymo sacrifice himself to stop another calamity. So naturally Spike from Buffy the Vampire shows up and convinces us to activate an alien super weapon to break our boy’s sealing spell and we’re like SIGN US THE FUCK UP! So naturally after that happens a new war begins between the Eorzean Alliance and the Garlic Jr. Empire cause Garlic died last time and there was a civil war but we didn’t see it. All you need to know is Blond Alan Rickman is now the Emperor and his right hand man is...still probably on those floating islands safe and sound and is still very much alive because I unlocked Aurum Vale for roulette and I am unlocking nothing else that is essential to progress that isn’t MSQ. Where was I? Oh yes, Ala Mhigo which lies somewhere between the Red Wood Forest and Death Valley. Whose people are subjigated by the Garlic Empire. The time has come to free them and by free them I mean get told off by the local populace fight an angry scottish woman and then get one shot by Rocky from the Horror Picture show if he was ten feet tall and carried a golf bag of SWORDS! So many swords he probably swipes left if you’re not at least metallic and SHARP! But enough about that, Al Pacino has the bright idea that in order to free Ala Mhigo we first must free Doma who is under the same rule as Ala Mhigo working with the same exact problems Ala Mhigo does but I am sure this will turn out just find. So after black mailing Captain Elf Sparrow, we send Al Pacino where he belongs. Into a ghost graveyard and we leave his ass there because now its time to arrive at Kugane, where we’ll attempt to climb a tower for five minutes, get pissed by invisible collision boxes, log out and swear we’ll never play this stupid fucking game ever again. But the game knows you’ll be back, YOU’LL BE BACK! So we start up Genshin Imp--hahaha fuck no, log the fuck back in we got a catfish to punch, an old samurai to save, and the lost Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to save all while running away from the POLICE! And what better way to evade arrest than to flee the fucking country so out into the Ruby Sea we go, which is controlled by the Confederacy. Don’t worry its not the racist one its the pirating one. But I hope you like swimming because you’ll be doggy paddling back and forth between these small islands for about 2 hours before we are hooked up with DIVING! So come visit the Ruby Sea. We got manta rays, grotesque demon walruses, an armored turtle with a giant fuck off sword and getting STEPPED ON by an angry woman who I am 20% spends half her scene time smoking opium. Don’t worry though despite the Garlic Empire being a big problem they’re not so much a big problem that you and the Scooby Gang can’t handle them. In fact we can handle them so well we only get our asses kicked by the giant top heavy Ken doll ONE more time before we’re allowed into the LIZARD KINGDOM. Where reptiles roam the earth and every single one of them want to kill you. So like Heracles we have to do a bunch of tasks to win their trusts like breaking into their sacred holy ground and stealing their parrow, picking unwater sea kress, and talking to Sadu Dotharl the baddest motherfucker this side of the Hildibrand questline. Seriously if you ever wished you could be a crater on the ground, this woman will GRANT THAT FUCKING WISH! Sorry where was I. Oh yeah, after descrating their holy ground we are invited to a blood contest to choose their next leader so naturally falls to you and your first decree is maybe show up to class when the Garlics are ready to rumble. Cause if you don’t well...this entire trip was completely utterly useless. Lets just blow up the castle and call it a day--actually we kind really do just blow up the castle in the process of freeing Doma. Who knew the only thing you needed to do to win a revolutionary war was raise up an army of dragon people and causing FLOOD DAMAGE to the Historical District. Don’t think too much about it because now that we’ve TOTALLY freed Doma from the iron fist of the Garlics its time to go back to Ala Mhigo...despite there...still be an entire empire out there that will definitely reinforce their lost territory but don’t worry about it. They don’t seem the type to just level an entire territory on at the slightest scent of revolution anywhere else...right? Anyway after crossing the sea and remember Alphinaud exists, we return to Ala Mhigo with none of the Doman army to back us up and we...actually do very well. We run into Braveheart again but its alright she just pisses off the snake people and summons a GIANT WOMAN TO ENSLAVE US WHEN WE SLEEP! So after knocking that one out of the park. Rock the Ken Doll arrives and decides he likes us blowing up buildings so much he’s going to give Fordola a cannon. And blow us to kingdom come...and thus ends our life in Final Fantasy XI--I am fucking kidding Estinien comes back and ONE SHOTS A FUCKING CANNON! If you think that sounds dumb, it isn’t it is the most awesome thing ever. Imagine watching a War Documentary where after the battle of Gettsyberg, the ghost of George Washington juiced up on the blood of Satan got into fist fight with a tank and WON! It is EXACTLY as awesome as I just described and will be taking no criticism at this time because after a wardrobe change for Yda definitely Yda, she is definitely Yda don’t worry about it she would Lyse to you now would she? We go to the Lochs. Where we take in the sights, get caught by border patrol, beat the Guinness World Record for longest breath ever held, listen to a soldier talk about getting the BEST head ever before killing him and his comrades and facing off against a woman I am surprise isn’t wearing 20 belts and using some healing crystals to give her a migraine. All in the name of saving Krile who will DEFINITELY give us black mail material so we can hold Alphinaud hostage. Sorry, I meant we’re going with Alphinaud to fight a bunch of Samurai wolves and if you think that sounds awesome, you’re kind of fucking right. After punching them so hard PETA is probably going to ram a jeep into my front room, we kick open the door, fight through the streets of another castle and whoa would you look at that Doma finally shows up to give us aerial support...like...at the last fucking minute seriously we re-capture 99.9% and Doma comes in acting like its 0.01% is going to get us the A+ on the project. Anyway, all you really need to know is Ken turned into a DRAGON and we fight on a convinently placed platform in the sky before he kills himself and we play the National Anthem....seriously what the fuck did I just pl

[nehswritesstuffs]

fly little seagull, the world awaits - Part 4 of 5

Fucking hell, I reread Wano for this.

Also, you’re reading that title line right. It’s now five chapters instead of four, because otherwise I’d have a 20k+ word chapter and I don’t want to subject everyone to that level of bullshit this time around lol (I am also SOBBING at ch. 1081, btw, so there’s that)

Chapter 1 on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3] 

Chapter 2 on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3]

Chapter 3 on [tumblr] - [FFN] - [AO3]

Doflamingo is in Impel Down. Strawhat-ya is going to rescue his crewmate. The Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance has begun shifting gears. An entire nation is ready to break its shackles and rise. Law just wants to keep his daughter safe through it all. [11,188 words; AU where Trafalgar Law gets forcefully assimilated into the Unconventional Single Dads Club]

The submarine was full of dread and excitement as it made its way towards Wano. While the Heart Pirates were all glad to be back with their captain, none was more glad than Nauja. She stayed close to Law as they sailed towards the unknown land. Even the guests on the ship were aware that something had shifted, that there was a new element hanging in the air, and that it involved the captain and his newly-discovered daughter. They regarded her presence carefully, not wanting to spook anyone.

“That is truly a disastrously cute kid,” Usopp said, sitting down with Robin and Franky on the top deck of the Tang. Nauja was on the other side of the deck, sleeping curled into Law’s side as the captain himself napped against Bepo. “Really does make sense of his fury when he discovered what Cesar was doing to the kids at Punk Hazard.”

“He makes a good father,” Robin nodded. She handed Usopp a map of Wano’s capitol to let him study it.

“I wonder where she was during Sabaody two years ago.”

“Probably hidden in the ship,” Franky said. “She’s a clever thing—I doubt she’d do anything to reveal herself unnecessarily. That’s what you do when you’re raised by pirates.”

“What’s that you’re working on?” Usopp asked. He looked at the schematics on Franky’s board—it was of the Polar Tang. “I thought Ikkaku didn’t want anyone touching her baby.” He pat the bit of the deck next to him; the submarine was a unique one.

“Well, yeah, but I want to help her make a super special space for the little one once we get a bit of downtime,” he explained. “Space is tight, so I’m trying to think of something to grow with her, as well as some other additions and modifications, as a thank you to Torao for being such a super ally.”

Usopp stared flatly at the cyborg. “Don’t tell me your idea of an alliance is the same as Luffy’s.”

“Fine then; I won’t.”

Robin chuckled quietly at the interaction, glad that the quick repeat separation from the others was not doing anything to hamper their morale any more than it already did. With Zoro sulking in the galley and the concept of losing Sanji forever looming over them, it was good that this at least was easy, that it was as it always was. She then went back to her book only for a shadow to block out the sun.

“Nico-ya.” She quietly closed her book and glanced up at her host captain. “A word.”

“Of course,” she replied. Her eyes found Bepo and how he was now napping with Nauja curled atop his chest. She felt a slight tug and suddenly they were in the empty infirmary, away from prying ears. “Oh, it must be serious.” She took a chair and sat, crossing her legs. “What is on your mind? Is it related to what we discussed earlier?”

“No; Kitsune-ya was giving me some background earlier on the current state of Wano,” Law stated as he leaned against the counter. Robin tilted her head curiously. “He is concerned for Nauja’s safety, as it is no place to bring a child at the moment unless necessary.”

“As her father, I’m sure you have similar fears,” she nodded. “This is not like normal islands, where you can simply leave her in the ship.”

“Precisely.” He felt his face grow warm at the verbal affirmation that he was, indeed, her dad. “That is why I have an extremely important favor to ask of you. It might be a while before Strawhat-ya catches up and I wish to ensure my daughter’s safety in the meantime.”

“…and you trust me?”

“…yeah.”

The infirmary was quiet for a moment while Robin mulled the request over. “This is truly something you wish to entrust with someone from another crew? Alliance or not, you would be putting your child’s life in my hands, and you and her both know me far less than your own crew members. That’s not something to consider lightly.”

“I am not putting my daughter’s life at the mercy of a Revolutionary, nor someone the Marines refer to as the Devil Child, nor even another pirate. I want Nauja to stay in the capitol, where there is plenty of safe food and water, under the care of someone else who knows what it’s like to be the only one to survive.” He saw tears well in the corners of her eyes as she tried to not allow the admission to hit her too severely. “I know about Ohara, what they did, and that it led to you running until you found Strawhat-ya and his crew. Flevance was very much the same, if you turn pursuing knowledge into slowly being poisoned and a Buster Call into bullets and arson. Nauja represents something that can’t change those facts, but can make them easier to live with. You can’t even imagine how often I think of just taking her and leaving all this behind… letting someone else deal with it.”

“Every time you look at her, at the very least,” she replied. He blushed more, averting his gaze.

“Both our crews love her, and there’s no doubt in my mind that they wouldn’t protect her with anything less than their lives, but you alone understand what she truly is to me… what she is to an entire nation she will never meet.”

“This is an honor I do not accept lightly,” Robin said. She made eye contact with Law and he could see the silk and steel that kept her composure steady. “Where exactly am I to keep the Heir to Flevance safe?”

Law allowed himself a small, appreciative smile, knowing full-well that he made the correct choice.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“So, you wish to learn the geisha arts?” the old woman hummed. She regarded the younger woman bowing before her—so regal despite her tattered clothing—and nodded. “You already hold yourself well for someone never trained; I see promise. Tell me something first.”

“Anything, Tsugaru-okaa-san.”

“Why do you wish to learn?”

“My family was ruined and I have been on my own since I was a child. I wish to be free of such uncertainty once and for all.” The woman lifted her head and sat up straight and seiza. “We were with trusted friends, but I made the decision to break from them, as they cannot help me provide what I must. A geisha, on the other hand, does not live by the whims of men and their quarrels. I wish a better life for my ward than a lifetime ruled by the pettiness of men.”

The older woman raised an eyebrow. “You have a child?”

“I did not birth her, yet she is under my care.” She turned and beckoned a child into the room, having her sit next to her and bow. “O-Ja has no mother of her own and is nearly the same age I was when I first found myself alone in the world. It was fate.”

“Quite.” The older woman watched as the child shook in fear, seiza sloppy and hands stained by dirt. “You have curious names and come to me from nothing. Who are you?”

“Refugees who go from place to place, the last being the ruins of Kuri Castle. Please forgive our poverty and ignorance, as it was borne of isolation.”

“We will work hard!” O-Ja exclaimed, face still turned to the floor. “O-nee-ya says young girls can become shikomi and help their geisha sisters! I want to help her gain an audience with the shogun!”

“Is this true, O-Robi?” the older woman asked. O-Robi replied with a nod.

“If I can gain an audience with the shogun before the festival, I would be most honored, as it would show my ward an irreplaceable lesson.”

“Which is…?”

“The value of hard work, how buds blossom and turn into fruit worthy of pride.”

Silence fell over the room, punctuated by noise filtering in from the okiya’s courtyard and corridors. The old woman looked at the poised O-Robi and the trembling O-Ja, thought for a moment…

…and cackled.

“You girls sure have spunk!” she laughed. “O-Robi, if you work hard at this and prove yourself worthy, I shall present you to the shogun as a special case before continuing on as a sort of advanced maiko after the Fire Festival. O-Ja, then you shall become her shikomi, and one day we will be glad to see you graduate to maiko, and then, after much work and training, you too shall become a geisha and be free.”

“Oh, thank you so much, okaa-ya!” O-Ja cried.

“Yes,” O-Robi said, bowing again. “The information we shall learn in your care shall be invaluable.”

“Right then,” the older woman grinned. “Let’s get to work!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The street was busy as Penguin leaned against a building, looking as though he decided to rest and people-watch for a while. The Flower Capitol was a busy place, that was for certain, and he was glad that the crowd was able to hide his presence easier than in a normal port.

“Oh, oji-ya!” He raised his eyebrow as a small child popped out of the crowd and approached him. “I’ve been looking for you! You’re nee-ya’s friend!”

“If I’m nee-ya’s friend, then you can call me nii-ya,” he deadpanned. This acting like they didn’t know one another shit was precisely that. The little girl laughed, fishing an envelope out from inside her yukata sleeve.

“I don’t know about that, oji-ya” the girl said with a grin. Fuck… she really was the Captain’s kid, wasn’t she? He pocketed the envelope and sighed; there had to be a better, safer way to pass information along. “Is there anything you want nee-ya to know when I tell her I completed my errand?”

“Yes—tell her that we have a special errand for you to do soon, and that we hope you both are learning well.” Penguin pat the girl on the head and offered her a smile. “This is a very brave thing you’re doing.”

“I know it is, but I’m a member of the crew, and I gotta do what I can!”

“That’s a good kid,” he chuckled. “Now run along and tell nee-chan that it’ll be in three days’ time.”

“Gotcha!”

The girl vanished back into the crowd, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. He stayed where he was for a few more moments before making the trip back to the edge of the city, where Law popped him back outside the gate.

“Got the goods?” he asked. Penguin nodded. “How’d she look?”

“Just fine—they must have good food in the okiya. She’s faring better than Bush-Bog Bepo at any rate.”

“Then the plan’s going well,” Law stated. He seemed to exhale in relief under the tengai basket, glad that at least one thing in the gods-forsaken place was still going smoothly. “Alright; let’s move out. I want to be at the farm by nightfall.”

“Shame we can’t empty it all,” Penguin shrugged. “It’d make a statement, that’s for sure.”

“We’d get caught.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like we’d be hogging it all; we’d be like the Witching Hour Boy I keep hearing about…”

“Enough of the stupid fucking Witching Hour Boy,” Law grumbled. “We’re not doing that—we’re pirates. Pirates doing good things for civilians makes me sick.”

“Cap…? Isn’t that kind of how you got yourself a kid…?”

Penguin couldn’t try to outrun the Room’s reach fast enough.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Entering the bedroom, Robin felt absolutely exhausted. She sat down next to a low table and exhaled heavily—every part of her body felt as though it hurt from practicing her posture, movements, and dancing. It made her glad that she had been given a room to herself, sequestered from the other oikya residents as she endured her rigorous training.

While it wasn’t the first palace she had gone undercover to infiltrate, it didn’t mean that this one was going to be any easier.

“Nee-ya, I’m back,” Nauja said as she entered the room. She hugged Robin and immediately went to work on getting the ornaments out of her hair. “Did you learn much?”

“I did,” she sighed. “This is a job for those with solid constitutions and silent tongues.”

“Is it?”

“That it is.” She heard each of her hair ornaments get placed upon the corner of the table out of her sight. “What did you learn on this fine day?”

“I learned of histories of Wano that I did not know,” Nauja replied. She then frowned. “Nee-ya, why can’t I attend school?”

“School is for those with money, which we decidedly are lacking,” Robin explained. “Cheer up; who did you hear this history from?”

“One of the customers—he was one of the yakuza’s men, and he said how Wano when you were my age was a very different place. Shogun Orochi had yet to make a pact with Kaidou and his men, and a fool danced in the streets to protect the people.”

“That is how I understand it,” Robin replied, careful of her wording. Even there, where the other okiya residents were very warm and accepting, they needed to watch what they said in case of spies. “Then again, I was only a child, so there are things I do not recall as well as others might.” She felt the final pin slip from her hair and the strands all tumbled down her back. Nauja then grabbed a brush and began to untangle it. “Have you been making yourself useful?”

“Of course, nee-ya!” the girl grinned. “I clean tables and help the geisha and maiko get customers more drinks to pour or food to eat! They tell me I am cute and a hard worker! Okaa-ya says that I am doing well.”

“Maybe, when I have accomplished what I meant to, I might have the time to educate you myself,” Robin said. “I know many things that a geisha does not—my first true family was a scholarly one before it was set to ruin—and I might be able to impart some of that knowledge.”

“Really…?!”

“I do not doubt the ones you were with before my care, but if things go a certain way, I might be able to do so.” She felt the girl hug her from behind and she smiled privately. If only she had been given such luxuries as a loving and supportive family at Nauja’s age; would things have been different? “Now, how about your hair?”

“It’s easy to keep when it’s this short,” Nauja beamed.

“You don’t want it to be longer? A shikomi can do much with longer hair.”

“Yeah, but I had long hair when I was little-little, and I had to get rid of it.”

“You did?”

“Oh, yes, but I don’t mind,” Nauja said. “I like only having to brush it in the morning.” She helped Robin out of her kimono, who in turn helped her out of her yukata. It was good that they had stolen actual clothes instead of Kin’emon’s disguises; they did not need someone coming in to find them sleeping in what should have been dayclothes. They set up the futon once they were in their nightrobes and went to bed huddled together against the chilled evening air. “Should my hair be long?”

“It should be exactly how you like it,” Robin chuckled. She kissed the girl on the forehead and snuffed the lamp before settling in and whispering, “Good night, Nauja.”

“Good night, Nico-ya.”

Robin held the girl close as they eased off into sleep—there was no way she was allowing Torao’s treasure feel anything but secure in her father’s absence.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was Strawhat-fucking-ya. Again.

Law really didn’t know what ever possessed him to think that an alliance with the other pirate captain had been a good idea. The kid was absolutely batshit insane, could not follow even the simplest plan, and was incapable of any sort of subtlety, all of which had been repeatedly proven time and again. It had yet to be an entire day and everything was already falling apart and their covers were blown, causing Law to very quickly ditch the wandering monk guise and get Nico-ya to pass off his daughter so they could vacate the Flower Capitol while flirting with capture.

“I need you to stay here with the other children,” Law said. He, Nauja, Penguin, and Shachi were in Amigasa Village, where Momonosuke and Tama were currently hidden, while Bepo was guarding the remainder of the crew in the meantime. “Tony-ya and Kiku-ya will take good care of you.”

“…but Dad! They didn’t figure out that I’m one of you yet!” the girl pouted. “I can still do recon work for everyone from the okiya!”

“No—you are staying here with Tama-ya and Momo-ya,” he replied firmly. “Not only is it no longer safe there, but it’s bad enough you’re not on the Tang.” He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “You might not be strong physically, but just like the rest of the crew, you are a seasoned pirate. Help Tony-ya and Kiku-ya keep Tama-ya and Momo-ya safe. Okay?” Nauja sniffled and nodded. “That’s my girl. We’ll be back soon.”

“Must I be left here in this place?” Momonosuke frowned. “I would be best served darting about from one locale to the other, learning what I can from those who are paid no heed. Verily, the courtesans and cleaning women are to have much information spoken recklessly in their presence. Even the girls may come and be of service.”

“No sale, you pervy little shit,” Law hissed. Momonosuke harrumphed in irritation. “Be glad you’re even being left with my daughter at all. One toe out of line and I don’t care what you’re heir to or what alliance I joined—you’ll be dead from starvation before they find all the pieces to put you back together.”

“Papa Law is so scary when he’s protective,” Penguin snickered. “I wonder what will happen when real suitors come calling?”

“Let the man live in parental bliss for now,” Shachi joked. “Eight or ten more years and we’ll have plenty of new, young, virile recruits to vet.”

“Are they here to serve under the best captain in the world, or here for the chance to court his lovely daughter?”

“We’ll have to even keep an eye on the women, for who knows who would want the delicate bloom for themselves…”

“I will murder both of you and no one would know the difference,” Law threatened.

“Cap, you are a grown-ass man threatening a child,” Shachi noted.

“You did not watch him motorboard every woman he could while on the Sunny—the child is mentally ill and raised by poor examples, therefore needing a firmer hand in order to correct it.”

“How dare you, knave!” Momonosuke charged at Law, only to collapse into little pieces thanks to a Room. “This is treason!”

“I literally cannot commit treason in or towards Wano despite the alliance—maybe Kiku-ya will be kind enough to explain it while we’re gone. She seems fairly knowledgeable.”

“Vaor…? What are you talking about?” Nauja wondered, an expression of deep confusion spread across her face.

“Remember Nauja,” he said gravely, “you can punch him.” Law then opened a Room and he, Penguin, and Shachi were replaced by leaves.

Huh. Dads sure were weird. Uncles were too… but dads… definitely weird.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Please play nice while this one has a conversation with our esteemed physician,” Kiku requested gently before heading into one of the empty houses with Chopper. This left Nauja, Tama, and Momonosuke to poke around Amigasa themselves. They found an old dojo with child-sized equipment, which they hauled out to the clearing near the house.

“Verily, this shall be good practice for whilst we await the rest of the adults,” Momonosuke grinned. He took a shinai and beat it against the practice dummy, the thwap it made satisfying him. “You two may watch or serve as a lookout.”

“There’s more than one shinai,” Nauja noted. She picked up the other one, feeling the weight of it in her hand. It felt… right. “Maybe we can spar?”

“I do not engage in battle with women,” Momonosuke huffed. Nauja and Tama exchanged unimpressed looks—even they knew it wasn’t a practical tactic. “If you wish to spar, practice ninjutsu with the junior kunoichi. A sword is unbecoming of you.”

“Kiku-ya’s your samurai—why can’t I fight with a sword too? I already use a knife.”

“O-Kiku was a loyal vassal under my father. You are just a stupid girl.”

Quickly, Nauja used her shinai to hit the other out of Momonosuke’s hand, then spun around, stopping her swing when the practice weapon was nearly touching the side of his head. Tama gasped loudly, while Momonosuke’s eyes went wide.

“I am not stupid,” Nauja insisted. “Besides, I am not the one who can barely hold a sword.”

“That’s no fair! I wasn’t expecting that!”

“Bad adults are not going to care if you’re ready or not!”

“That is why a shogun has vassals!”

“That is how people die!”

“Wait a second! What’s going on out here?!” Chopper shouted as he came out of the house, Tama pulling along Kiku close behind. “Why are you fighting?!”

“This insolent wench decided to attack me,” Momonosuke hissed. Kiku gently took the shinai from Nauja’s hands and stroked the girl’s hair.

“Tell this one what is the matter, Lady Trafalgar,” she insisted, cradling the girl’s face in her palm.  “Why do you quarrel?”

“He’s an asshole,” the girl said. Momonosuke went to charge at her, only for Chopper to turn into Heavy Point and hold him aloft by the back of his collar.

“That’s not nice either,” the reindeer sighed. “We need to work together if we’re going to stop Kaido and Orochi.”

“That is correct! My father’s country is at stake! I must become shogun!”

“You’re just a kid!” Nauja snapped. “What do you know?!”

“I am Kozuki Momonosuke, next Shogun of Wano! You are nothing!”

“I am Trafalgar Nauja and I am not nothing!”

“Of which house do you belong, Trafalgar Nauja, that has you believe you can speak to me in such a manner?!”

“Not one run by spoiled brats!” Momonosuke stuck out his tongue and pulled on his lower eyelid, while she gave him a two-fingered salute. “I’m not here to baby you! Grow up!”

“Verily,” Kiku sighed, “we should all take a walk to settle our nerves. This one knows of a path to the beach. We can let out our frustrations against the sand.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Chopper agreed. He was beginning to regret being left behind with the children, but at least he had Kiku as backup.

With that, the two adults marched the three children single-file down towards the beach. Salt still carried on the air from the ocean, while sand began to overtake the ground beneath their feet. Tama could feel the tension between Momonosuke in front of her and Nauja behind her—it wasn’t good.

“Maybe,” she said as she fell into step beside Nauja, “you should apologize to Momo.”

“Why should I?” Nauja scoffed. “He’s an idiot.”

“Even if he is, we’re here to help him.” The junior kunoichi gave her friend a kind smile. “Then, how about if he’s ever doing something stupid, tell me instead!”

“What good would that do?”

“It’d make my shogun less cross with you.”

“He can be cross if he wants,” Nauja huffed. “Shogun or not, he can’t go pretending rules don’t exist when he wants to; I didn’t go through all the trouble I did just for him to treat me like shit.”

“Strooth, however, it gives none of us license to treat him poorly as well.” Tama looked at the other girl and tilted her head. “Where do you and your father hail from, might I ask?”

“Well, he comes from the North Blue, from a country that doesn’t exist anymore. I used to live on an island called Water 7; that’s on the other side of the Grand Line.”

“It no longer exists…? Was it merged with another kingdom…?”

“No. It was killed. The whole country. Vaor… Dad… he escaped.”

“So… you could be the last of the kingdom’s line; prestigious,” Tama nodded. Nauja never wanted to hear anything ever again about sounding like an old lady for using big words and calling people -ya; she wasn’t even certain Tama knew what some of the words she was saying meant… not that it was her fault… “What of your mother? Is she still in the Seven Waters?”

“Tama-ya, I…” Nauja was nearly about to tell her friend that sometimes people didn’t have moms when Momonosuke and the adults all gasped.

They were at the beach alright, right near a beached whale named Charlotte Linlin.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Queen the Plague was gone, having taken the unconscious Emperor with him. Tensions were still high in Udon’s prison, all the way up until Momonosuke accidentally revealed himself. There was a hushed gasp around the yard and nearly everyone dropped to their knees in reverence around the boy.

“…what are they doing…?” Nauja asked, wrinkling her nose. Tama raised an eyebrow at her.

“They are bowing to Momo,” she replied, as though it wasn’t obvious. “I know you don’t get on, but he is still the old shogun’s son.”

“Yeah, I really don’t care about that,” Nauja scoffed. She tried to act aloof in an imitation of her father. “He’s still a brat.”

“You call me such names despite being younger?” Momonosuke snorted. “It is plain to see that you are merely jealous, as commoners often are.”

“Uh-huh, sure, you piece of shit.”

“O-Ja!”

“Oh, to have the quarrels of children again,” one of the prisoners chuckled. Many of them were looking at the pair with laughter in their eyes instead of the insult that Tama feared. “You shall learn of the Kozuki Dynasty’s might and honor soon enough.”

“I’d rather not.”

“They would bow to you as well, you know, if you were my betrothed,” Momonosuke smirked devilishly. Nauja tilted her head in confusion, having never heard that word before. “Oh, come now—fifteen years and I’m sure you’d make a lovely bride… although probably flat-chested as tomboys tend to be…”

“No wonder Vaor said I can punch him,” Nauja said to no one in particular. She gathered up her wits and drew her dirk. “I’m only seven, you idiot! You can’t tell any of that, as though it would even matter!”

“…and I am but eight years of age—we would mature together.”

“Get lost, pervert!”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Wano, Trafalgar D. Water Law felt a chill go down his spine and inexplicably desired the ability to murder something.

“Could Momo even marry O-Ja…?” Tama wondered. “Even if she wasn’t a foreigner, I think there would possibly be too big a class difference.”

“Yeah—I’m in the class that can kick his ass!” Nauja went to charge at Momonosuke, but was deftly intercepted by Kiku, who scooped the girl up into her arms. “Lemme go! I gotta teach the idiot prince a lesson since no one else will!”

“You are staying with this one, Lady Trafalgar,” Kiku giggled gently. “How spirited you are is a reminder of this one’s childhood, raised by men good of heart but rough of language.” She held Nauja as one would a stuffed animal, which made the girl pout. “They too taught girls to be forceful with their emotions and follow their passions as they grew into confident women. Such excellent role models they made...”

“You sure about that?” Raizo deadpanned. He looked at Kawamatsu, who gestured at the children still mocking one another. “She is the daughter of an ally; brusque yet formidable.”

“If the child is that bold and fearless, her parent must be a force to behold,” the kappa shivered.

“The giant bird called her Trafalgar?” Kawamatsu and Raizo glanced over to see Eustass Kid, who was watching the children fight with interest. “Yer havering; dinna ken the bastard had a wee bairn of his own. Don’ seem the type.”

“You are acquainted with her father?”

“I wouldn’t say something as nice as ‘acquainted wi’, but aye, arsehole and I butt heads when occasion calls,” Kid snorted. He looked at the girl carefully. “Must’ve knocked some poor thing up when he was still barely a nip himself.” He paused and clearly did some mental calculations. “Feck… she didn’t plop out of his mechanic, did she?”

“Her mother is unknown; Lady Ikkaku is more of an uncle to the child than an aunt or mother,” Raizo explained. “I would not test your luck, as he is extremely protective of her.”

“…and how’d yeh ken this, crag-face?”

“Her father’s underwater vessel was my transportation back to Wano; I have seen them interact.”

Huh. Interesting.

“Well, not my bloody fucking business if he uses this as a fucked-up family holiday,” Kid scoffed. “Oi, Killer, let’s go round up the lads—we’re gonna have some fun.”

“Faffaffaffa,” Killer chuckled before cringing. “Have’t untangle this fucking fankle before shite really goes down. Y’ken Heat and Wire gonna have a conniption…”

“Feckin’… see yeh losers up the road.” Kid and Killer both sauntered off, deciding that they were going to use this new information, but how was the question.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“You know, I’m gonna kill Law once we get a hold of him,” Penguin grumbled. He and Shachi were running through the woods, trying desperately to get through Kuri as quickly as possible. “We seriously could have busted his ass out by now!”

“He’s better at getting information,” Shachi reminded him between gasps of air. “We just have to ‘take care of the crew’ until he makes it out.”

“…and it’s his fault for getting us used to teleporting,” Penguin argued. Before long, Amigasa was within sight, the operation being much more crowded since the last time they were there. Some of the people there they did not recognize glared at them as they made their way through the encampment, suspicion being lifted as they finally found Nauja and she paused her katas to run up to them happily.

“You’re back!” she grinned, hugging both of them at once. “Penguin-ya, Shachi-ya, come meet my friends! We were just practicing!”

“We gotta get going, kid,” Penguin said. Instead, she latched onto his wrist and dragged him over to what looked like a sparring area. The purple-haired Tama was trying to beat up a practice dummy, while a pink-haired girl they’d never seen before was sitting off to the side with a shamisen and an unsettling grin.

“Tama-ya, Toko-ya, these are two of my uncles, Penguin-ya and Shachi-ya,” Nauja said. Both children stared at the men and the men stared right back.

“Where’s Momo-kun?” Shachi asked. All three girls silently pointed in the same direction, off to where a house was to the east, where the boy was poking his head around some shabby curtains to stare at them. Ah. “Is he being a dumb boy again?”

“The dumbest boy!” Nauja groaned.

“O-Ja has beaten him up a lot!” Toko laughed. “He doesn’t like to learn his lesson!”

“Momo and O-Ja quarrel unnecessarily and they are often separated by the adults,” Tama admitted. Nauja simply grimaced at being immediately tattled-on by her friends.

“Then let’s change the equation,” Penguin decided. “Get your backpack—we’re leaving. Captain’s orders.”

“…but, I want to stay with Tama-ya and Toko-ya!” Nauja insisted. “They’re neat! It’s Momo-ya who gets in the way.”

“Trust us, okay?” Shachi insisted. He was beginning to sweat—the last thing they needed was someone like Nami or Chopper coming over and asking questions about their captain, as they were liable to crack underneath even the slightest pressure. “Now come on: get your backpack.”

Except, she didn’t need to, as a chain of arms sprouted from the ground and brought it over to her.

“What the fuck…?” Shachi marveled. “How did she…?”

“Don’t underestimate me,” Robin giggled from right behind them, making the two men jump. “I promised Torao I’d watch over his daughter unless it was to pass her off to another appropriate guardian, of which I believe you both count. Between O-Kiku and myself, you can report that she has been well-cared for these past few days.”

“Uh… thanks…” Penguin replied, not really knowing what else to say. Another chain of hands brought over a furoshiki cloth containing some bento boxes, which she handed to a now-excited Nauja.

“It’s a long road back to the Flower Capitol; don’t eat anything you can’t trust.”

“We shall!” Nauja said. She then handed the lunches to Penguin so that she could hug both her friends goodbye. “Promise we’ll meet later?”

“Yes!” Tama said. “We’ll both get strong and help fight as samurai!”

“I’m not strong, but I’ll make sure to not die!” Toko giggled. The trio hugged and Nauja went with Penguin and Shachi, her dirk at her side and Shachi carrying her backpack.

“Fight as samurai, hmm…?” Penguin asked once they were outside of the town. “You’re not a samurai; you’re a pirate.”

“…and Tama-ya is a junior kunoichi, but that doesn’t matter,” Nauja nodded. “We’re gonna help everyone fight! It will be the element of surprise!”

“Do you think your dad will seriously let you join us during the raid when he almost died in Dressrosa and you bullied him into coming along here?” Penguin sighed. “Kids don’t belong on battlefields.”

“…but Tama-ya…!”

“…is probably going to stay here along with Toko and that old guy with the platform sandals. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Tengu-ya wouldn’t…!”

“Something tells us that he would,” Shachi replied. “Listen: we’re not doing this to punish you. Children shouldn’t be soldiers, is all.”

“…but that’s the thing! The enemy wouldn’t be expecting someone like me or Tama-ya! We would have the element of surprise!”

“Nauja.” Penguin stopped walking and knelt down, looking the girl directly in the eyes. “Shachi and I were young kids when our parents died and we were taken in by pieces of shit who made us do things that no kid should have to do. Your dad was only a kid when he experienced war, where he watched people he loved die all around him… do you think we’d simply let you walk onto Onigashima with us?”

The young girl looked at the ground. “N-No…”

“That’s right,” he affirmed. “We’re taking you back to the Flower Capitol because we need to keep you safe, and right now, that means to keep you moving.” He stood upright and held out his hand, which Nauja took in order for them to walk along. “Tama and Toko are your friends now?”

“Yeah,” she admitted quietly. “It’s nice having friends my age.”

“It really is,” Shachi agreed. “Looking at the three of you kinda reminds me of me and Peng and your dad! How old are they?”

“Well, Tama-ya is already eight, and Toko is six…”

“Shit, if you’re seven still, then you really are just like the three of us,” Shachi laughed. “Now all you need is a Mink toddler and you’re set!”

“All they do is poop their pants and electrocute people,” Nauja frowned. “Maybe when the Mink is my age, then we’ll talk.”

She didn’t expect them to laugh as hard as they did. What was honestly so funny about that?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Done with attempting to torture more information out of Hawkins, Law decided to leave the prison. Most of the other man’s blood was coating the floor and the bottoms of his zori as the fortune teller remained within a hair’s breadth of death. He went through the door into the corridor of the torture wing, only to see that X Drake was standing there, simply watching him walk away. The former Marine made no move towards him and Law sensed nothing that could be described as either bloodlust or a desire to recapture him.

“If letting me go is part of your plot,” he said, “then consider me a willing participant.”

“Oh, I’m certain I’ll be seeing you soon,” Drake said. There was something about the tone of his voice that made Law hesitate, turning around on his heel in curiosity.

“Why let me go? I’m an invaluable piece to the puzzle.”

“Let’s just say I don’t like making kids cry,” Drake quipped. A protective ire crossed Law’s face and he chuckled. “Then the rumors were true: you do have a kid.”

“Nowhere you can get to, you overgrown lizard.”

“Relax, Trafalgar. I said I don’t like to make kids cry. Hearing about the two of you makes me nostalgic, is all.”

“Nostalgic? For what?”

“You really want to know?” Law raised an eyebrow and sensed around them with Haki—nothing was raising flags, let alone was there anyone else in the prison’s torture wing. He nodded, allowing the other Supernova to continue. “It reminds me of how my first dad was before my mom left. I have another dad now—a foster father, if you will—but I got him as a teenager. Although I can’t deny what he gave me, there’s nothing like being a little kid whose dad cares, whose parents in general care, and I’m not about to get in the way of that.”

“Didn’t peg you for being a softie,” Law scoffed. “Daddy issues, yeah, but not soft.”

Drake snorted. “Oh…? Of all the things, daddy issues was what you went with?”

“Rare is the Northern kid with a rebellious streak that doesn’t have heavy daddy issues, in my experience. The only difference is if they’re willing to talk about it or not.”

Rolling his eyes, Drake chuckled at that. “Is this you warning me about your crew somehow?”

“Possibly—time will tell.” Law then rested Kikoku on his shoulder and turned to walk away. He made it to the door and popped out of sight, being replaced by a pebble.

Pebble, discarded doll, dango skewer, cat; Law kept moving himself along the streets of the Flower Capitol, searching for any sign of his crew. He found nothing as he scouted the area, nothing until…

Ah! There! He felt a familiar presence within the city and began to make his way towards it. When he finally arrived, he was standing outside an old soy sauce brewery, the windows and doors shuttered. He went around the back and was able to slip in through some loose boards. It was dark as he made his way through the building, going mostly off of how his Haki felt than anything else. He eventually came to a storeroom, where it appeared to be nothing more than some old barrels and busted crates. All it took was a Room and he was able to disassemble one of the barrels, revealing Nauja having been hiding in it.

“…and why are you back in the capitol, young lady?” he asked.

“Uh… if I stayed with Momo-ya for one more moment, I’d crack a shinai over his head?”

“While I like that answer, it’s still the wrong one.” He opened up another room, this one bigger, and decided to takt Penguin and Shachi out of the walls. “Why is my daughter back in the capitol?”

“We needed to make sure she was alright after not only were you captured,” Shachi defended, “but you also said that we needed to take care of the crew.”

“Plus, we heard about a prison uprising in Udon and that one of the people we left her with had been there, so it was something of a security measure in case the village’s cover was blown,” Penguin added. “There’s a lot of people there now—we don’t know if they’re there on borrowed time or not.”

“Shit… and there’s not long until the raid…” Law mused. He allowed the Rooms to drop and Penguin and Shachi landed on their faces while Nauja landed on her feet. “We need to gather the others and lay low for a while, which shouldn’t be too bad as long as there’s a place big enough for us…” He glanced around and frowned. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

“Hunkered down in Ebisu for the time being,” Penguin replied with a groan. “Bep’s with them.”

“Yeah, we were mostly waiting for news that you escaped so we could figure out what to do,” Shachi agreed.

“Plus, we found this place as a hideout!” Nauja grinned. “Isn’t it great?! Even Jean Bart will fit!”

Law looked around the old brewery again—it was spacious, that much was true, but there was still the fact it was in the middle of town. “It’s big and abandoned, but we’ve got too many people to house and feed to remain under the radar here. This place might be able to accommodate six or seven maximum without drawing attention, not twenty-two.”

“Then we need a big-ass place,” Penguin surmised. He and Shachi were now both standing, covered in wood splinters and plaster dust. “You have to admit that our spatial needs are… unique.”

“I wouldn’t say unique, simply a mild challenge,” Law said. The sight of Nauja jumping up and down with her hand up caught his eye. “Yes…?”

“I know a place!” she said happily. “It’s big, and it’s still in the Flower Capitol, and we can use it to gather more information while we prepare! It’s very useful!”

“That’s my girl,” Law replied, a prideful smirk across his lips. He patted his daughter on the head and she grinned up at him, which was enough for Shachi and Penguin to stare at one another, unimpressed.

“So then, where is this magical place, squirt?” Shachi wondered.

Oh… they did not like the look on her face one bit.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was in the early hours of the morning as Tsugaru woke from her slumber to a silent okiya. The elderly woman had gone to bed early the night prior, which accounted for her early rising more than she would like to admit. She shuffled from her room to the bathroom, refreshing herself before going to sit on the courtyard porch and look at the moon. It was impossibly big and beautiful for its partial phase, lending a serene air to the early hour.

Times like this made her glad that she was free.

After a while of sitting there, Tsugaru heard a peculiar noise. It wasn’t a mouse, nor a cat, but it was trying to get in at the gate. The lock rattled—an intruder.

“Well, okay, out of ideas,” a man’s voice said quickly.

“You know I can take apart the lock, right?” another man deadpanned.

“No, no, throw me over!” a child’s voice insisted. Tsugaru paused; the child sounded familiar. “Okaa-san might be angry if you force the lock! She’s really nice when she’s not angry!”

“We are not throwing you over,” the second man replied sternly. “You could hurt something.”

“Won’t know until we try!” a third man said. There was a sudden scuffle—the second man was apparently restrained—and the sound of the child squeaking as she was tossed in the air and tumbled down into the dirt. Tsugaru looked in the direction of the yard and saw a small girl running towards her…

…and it was O-Ja…?

“Okaa-ya!” the girl gasped. She looked terrible, as though she hadn’t bathed or eaten her fill in days, befitting someone who had suddenly gone missing. “Please! I need your help!” Tsugaru brought the girl close into a hug, her ire resurfacing—how dare that villain use a mere child for her schemes?!

“O-Ja… O-Ja, listen to me,” she held the child at arms’ length, “did you know that O-Robi was a lying, thieving spy?”

“Okaa-ya, I’m a spy,” the girl admitted. Wait… what…?! “We never lied to you, though! We’re here to help Wano be free… free like geisha are!”

“If you walk away from that life right now, then I will let you stay here at the okiya without O-Robi,” Tsugaru said. “We will act like nothing happened… like you didn’t show up here with a wanted criminal…”

“I can’t. I have to help how I can! I’m part of the alliance—I can’t let it fail!”

Tsugaru raised an eyebrow. “The alliance…?”

“Yes! The Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance! We’re helping the Kozuki Family!”

“Whatever offshoot has you fooled is just a bunch of nonsense causing you trouble,” the old woman claimed, shocked the child spoke a name long-taboo in the Flower Capitol. “The Kozuki Family has been gone for twenty years—they’re not doing much of anything these days.”

“That’s because they just got here,” O-Ja said. She took a photograph from her sleeve pocket and showed it to Tsugaru. “Is this proof enough?”

There, in the photograph, was O-Ja alright… along with a small girl with purple hair, a smaller girl with pink hair, and… Kozuki Momonosuke…!

“If this is a prank then it’s not funny,” Tsuguru scowled.

“It’s not—I just need to convince you to let my family in for a little while we hide from Orochi’s men!”

“…and why me…?”

“…because you might be strict, but I know you’re good and kind! Why else would you take in strangers before?”

Tsugaru looked in the direction of the gate, then back at the child. “There are men with you.”

“My dad, and the crew, and they promise to behave and not bring you trouble.”

“Your father…? Then you lied about that as well…?”

“I told you: we never lied! O-Robi said I had no mom, which is true! And if you thought I was an orphan, then that used to be true too before Dad gave me his name! You were too important to lie to, okaa-ya! Well, other than my name, but it was close enough!”

“Too important…?”

“…and if anything, then Dad at least wants to thank you for taking care of me, because he might be a pirate, but he still knows manners!”

Tsugaru stared at O-Ja, both of them trembling. She looked in the child’s eyes and tried to see something… something that could justify her sounding an alarm and getting the yakuza’s attention. Nearly an entire minute passed and she made her decision.

“Open the gate and bring your family into the banquet hall,” she said. “I’ll get the others.”

“Right!” O-Ja rushed to the gate and opened it, bringing the Heart Pirates inside the okiya’s domain. By the time Tsugaru led the okiya’s other residents into the hall, the pirates were all sitting seiza as they waited. Several gasps escaped them—it was the missing shikomi, with a group of rough-looking strangers! Tsugaru motioned for her staff to sit facing them, with herself sitting directly in front of O-Ja and a man who looked like their leader.

“Now tell me,” Tsugaru demanded firmly, “why are a bunch of foreign pirates darkening our door?”

“For one,” the man next to O-Ja said, “to thank you for caring for my daughter and giving her a means of acquiring good food and water as well as information for the assignment she insisted on participating in.” He bowed deeply in the Wanolese fashion, which seemed to unnerve the others who were with him. If Tsugaru believed that the child had not been eating her fill of food, then the adults appeared to have eaten even less.

“You used a child for espionage. By any moral and legal code, that is unacceptable. Who is to say I shouldn’t turn you over to the yakuza right here and now? We do that and the girl would be mine to raise in a safer and more stable environment than you could ever provide. She would be free of you, and all I’d have to do is lift my hand.”

“You won’t,” he replied, sitting up straight.

“…and how do you know that?”

“…because although I don’t trust you, my daughter trusts you, and she tends to be a good judge of character.” The man’s piercing amber eyes sent a chill through the okiya’s residents. “Our second reason for being here is that we need a place to hide for a few days and she suggested this okiya. If you do not consent, we shall be out of your hair immediately and you shall never need to think of us again.”

“You’re really doing it, aren’t you?” Tsugaru wondered. “You’re really planning on helping bring the Kozuki Family back from extinction?”

More gasps and murmurs from the staff.

“It is a goal that aligns with our interests, yes. I have done plenty more foolhardy things in the past—none of them involve Nauja being in the line of fire.”

“So that is your name…? Nauja…?” The girl tightened her fists as she avoided eye contact. “Then why, O-Nauja-chan, are you so young, yet you believe in this cause so much?”

“Dad doesn’t care about it as much, but I do,” O-Ja said. She then looked at Tsugaru, expression steely despite her young age. “Momo-ya’s a dumb boy, and I don’t like him one bit, but under him, Wano would be free! No more Kaidou, no more Beast Pirates, no more SMILEs or poisoned factories or poisoned food or wondering when you’ll get kicked out of the Flower Capital for not being important enough! Okaa-ya took O-Robi and I in because we said we wanted to be free, and that’s the truth! We want Wano to be free of these evil people! Free like pirates! Free like geisha!”

The adults in the room all stared at O-Ja, impressed and moved by the child’s conviction. They only saw honesty in her, which moved some of them to tears. Tsugaru frowned before clenching her fist in determination.

“Alright!” she decided. “You can stay!”

“…but okaa-san…!” someone gasped.

“Most of you don’t remember, but business was better under the Kozuki Family,” the old woman said. “Think with your hearts or with your purses—the answer’s the same. We will hide you for as long as you need—Orochi will pay for his maltreatment of the ones who he lauded power over. His laws mean nothing if we are not freed by them… and living in fear of falling out of his favor is no way to live.”

The man next to O-Ja grinned. His gamble was turning out to be a fruitful one.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I don’t like this,” Shachi scowled. Feeling naked without his hat and sunglasses, he tried to flex his shoulders in an effort to get his kimono to shift—no sale. Between that, the cosmetics on his face, and his hair having been straightened and done in an elaborate manner, he was severely uncomfortable. “I want to touch my face; it’s itchy.”

“No touching,” Ikkaku warned. She was busy applying blush to Clione’s white-painted face, both men having been volunteered alongside her for informant duties. “If I have to redo your makeup too often, I will murder you.”

“I’ll be honest,” Clione said, “I didn’t even think you knew how to do this sort of stuff.”

“Never had the patience to do it very often, and that was before landing a spot on a ship where I’d sweat it all off in half an hour anyhow,” she shrugged. It was then that Nauja came into the room, brandishing a mannequin head wearing a blond wig.

“I got okaa-ya’s extra hair!” she cheered. She waited for Ikkaku to put the finishing touches on Clione’s cosmetics before handing over the wig, which got secured on the man’s head. “Oooh… you look pretty, Clione-ya!”

“Thanks…?”

“…and don’t worry Shachi-ya! You look pretty too!”

“That’s not as much of a compliment as you think it is, kiddo,” Shachi deadpanned. He tried to wriggle his face muscles in order to alleviate the itch, only for Ikkaku to threaten him with the powder brush.

“I will end you,” she threatened. She then finished with Clione’s wig, the three adults now looking no different than many of the other maiko wandering about the okiya. “Okay then, star helper-child—bring us to the goods.”

“Right!” Nauja beamed. She led them through the corridors to one of the dining halls, where there were customers already eating and drinking away. “Nee-ya, I brought the new maiko.”

“Very good, O-Ja-chan,” smiled the geisha who was in charge of the room. “Bring them in.” Nauja did, directing the new hires to be seated on cushions along the wall.

“I’m surprised that Tsugaru-san is willing to take more in after that disaster,” one of the customers scoffed into his drink. “That would have ruined any other okiya, geisha or oiran.”

“That is an astute observation,” the lead geisha admitted. “However, we are taking extra precautions now because of it. There shall be no special exceptions unless we see fit, not because someone requested them. These maiko shall be tested here for as long as it takes before they are allowed to be sent to the shogun. Tsugaru-okaa-san takes pride in her craft and does not permit others to make a mockery of it. If one is to judge this okiya, it should be on the consistent quality we have beholden ourselves to over the years despite our station, not the actions of one snake who found a path through the grass.”

“Didn’t the kid show up around that time?” the customer mentioned, staring at Nauja. The child held a shiver down as she gathered plates to be brought back to the kitchen.

“This cutie-patootie?” another customer giggled, face already red from drink. He ruffled Nauja’s hair and pinched her cheek. “Are you kidding? She’s going to run this okiya one day.” He then shifted and looked at the newcomers before attempting to wave them over. “Don’t be shy! You learn by doing!”

“With respect, our profession learns by watching,” the lead geisha stated.

“Nonsense,” the second customer snorted. “Long as we don’t touch, I think it’s alright to give these gals a taste of what’s to come.”

Customers and subordinates alike turned towards the lead geisha, looking for instruction. She knew the position she was in, as well as the “newcomers” in question…

“For a moment,” she agreed, motioning towards the Hearts. Ikkaku, Clione, and Shachi stood, taking positions next to customers while attempting to seem shy. While the first two secured seats between customers who merely bowed their heads in greeting, Shachi ended up sitting next to the man who gave the suggestion, feeling his eyes claw up and down him.

“Nice to see Tsugaru-san is diversifying again,” the second customer said, staring wistfully at Shachi. “I’d like to get a hold of you in the middle of the night, darling.”

Yeah, and the near-twenty pirates hiding under the tatami mats in the crawlspace would be ready to help make him regret those words.

“Can we go to an okiya without being subjected to your taste in bedmates?” a third customer groaned loudly. He leaned over to Ikkaku and sighed. “He’s a menace, I swear. He gets us kicked out of restaurants for groping the waitstaff.”

“A place with rules should help rein him in then,” she replied with a smirk. She looked at Nauja, who was placing trays by the door, then at Clione, who was trying to not die, then at Shachi, who was not only really trying to not die but was also trying to figure out how he was going to talk his way out of this one considering the timbre of his own voice. They were only supposed to be watching silently from the sides…

“You can’t get her to reply,” Nauja said as she collected more dishes. “O-Chi-nee-ya and O-Line-nee-ya aren’t allowed to speak yet. They sound like farmers.”

…and the kid comes in clutch, thank fuck.

“O-Ja-chan,” the lead geisha gently chided, knowing how big of a save it was. “You must work quietly.”

“Yes, O-nee-ya,” the girl replied. “Forgive me.”

“She is just a young girl; Tsugaru-san has time to mold her into shape,” another man said nonchalantly.

“Speaking of young children,” someone piped up, “I heard the craziest story yesterday, you know… about those whispers involving Lady Toki’s prophecy.” The rest of the customers jumped at the change in conversation, seizing it tightly.

“Tch. Conspiracies.”

“They say that Oden’s son leapt through time and has shown up as a child.”

“…as a child? You know that has to be a pretender, right?”

“A grandson, mayhaps, if the boy had survived?”

Aaahhh… there they were… now maybe all the sexual harassment was going to be worth something.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was two days until the raid on Onigashima.

Moving stealthily in the middle of the night, Law returned to the okiya to retrieve his daughter and the last of his crew. He had moved the other half the night before, while keeping the ones who were helping gather information in the game for one more day. Once he was within the okiya’s walls once again, he allowed himself a smile as Nauja ran to him and jumped into his arms.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

“I am,” she said, clinging to him with her arms around his neck. He saw the rest of the crew were all ready, with Tsugaru standing in the doorway.

“I am truly in your debt,” Law said, bowing his head slightly towards the elderly woman. “They are all I really have.”

“Then protect O-Ja and put the better-paying shogunate back in its place,” she demanded. “Go, and don’t come back until you’ve done precisely that.”

With another nod, the Heart Pirates left the okiya and dispersed into the city. They all knew of the meetup point outside the Flower Capitol’s borders, as traveling in a large pack would do more harm than good. Going out different doors and headed in varying directions, most of the Hearts pretended to not know one another side from a few small groups.

“Otou-san, can we get some soba?!” Nauja asked excitedly, seeing a stand sitting in front of a textile shop. Chuckling, Law shook his head.

“It will spoil your dinner,” he gently chided, playing along with the ruse. “Maybe we can have some on your birthday.”

“Oh, I would like that very much,” she said. She held his hand as they wandered through the streets, pretending to be out on a stroll, only pausing when she stepped in front of him and held her arms up. “Please…?”

“You’re getting big for that, aren’t you?” he chuckled. She merely grunted and did a little hop in place. Giving in, he picked her up, careful not to remove the furoshiki cloth that was hiding the Sora design on her backpack. “Better?”

“They’re behind us,” she whispered in his ear.

Taking her claim seriously, Law slipped into a nearby alley and began to run. Using his Devil Fruit at this point would be a potential disaster, while breaking out into a fight in the open was only asking for even more trouble. He eventually found himself blocked in, a certain blue-haired yakuza boss staring him down.

“Kyoshiro,” he growled.

“Public Enemy Trafalgar,” the other man replied. He watched as the pirate drew his own sword, holding it one-handed as he kept Nauja close to him. “Turned to kidnapping, have we?”

“Can’t kidnap what’s yours.” Law tried to flex his fingers to see if he could open a decent Room without dropping his daughter—no dice.

“I beg to differ; kidnappings can come in all forms, as do bluffs.” Kyoshiro looked at the way Nauja clung to the younger man’s yukata and frowned. “What’s to stop me from rescuing that child and bringing her into my household, raising her to be a proper lady?”

“As though a yakuza has any room to judge.” Reaching out with his Haki, Law felt that they were surrounded. “Then again, your wards tend to be… troublesome, from what I hear.”

“You talk of my pride, joy, and heartbreak,” Kyoshiro replied, staring at the pair carefully. “How very astute of you—she was like a daughter to me, wasn’t she?”

“It’s difficult watching them do what they please, isn’t it?” Law said. “It’s difficult and hurts, both heart-wrenching and rewarding, and yet is one of the easiest and best things in the world.”

“Poetic.”

“Words from someone who knew what he was talking about.”

Kyoshiro continued to stare at the little family, his eyes narrowed and tired as he examined the situation. He sheathed his own sword, which only served to confuse his men.

“What are you doing, boss?” one wondered cautiously. “We have him right where we want him!”

“Yet is there not something… familiar about them?” Kyoshiro said. He stepped forward and Law tensed. The other yakuza adjusted their grips on their own swords, hoping that they would not need to rush in to defend their boss. “Let me ask you a question—your reaction decides your fate.”

Law did not answer, instead narrowing his glare at the taller man. Kyoshiro, figuring it was as close to consent as he was going to get, bent down and whispered in Law’s ear, so lowly not even Nauja could hear.

“Long live Kozuki Momonosuke, brother to my ward as she lives and the true shogun of Wano Kuni.”

Law sucked in a breath—fuck—this Kyoshiro was not entirely as he seemed. They exchanged a glance as the older man straightened. He sheathed his sword and created a Room with his now-free-hand, father and daughter being replaced by leaves.

“Shogun Orochi’s not going to be too happy about this,” a subordinate grimaced.

“Then he shall never know,” Kyoshiro stated. “It was a favor, one father to another. That child needs her father, if only for a short while longer.”

“…but what about…?!”

“We all have our part to play,” Kyoshiro nodded. “Now let’s get the fuck back to base—I’m exhausted from all this running around.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“You must listen to your father, child,” Hitetsu said gently. Nauja was sobbing on the shore near Amigasa Village, with the elderly man at her side and her father staring her down. Tama and Toko both awkwardly stood a short distance away, wanting to comfort their friend, but being too intimidated by the adults to do anything.

“I want to go along!” Nauja insisted. “I’ll be good and stay on the Tang!”

“No, you are going to stay here, with your friends and Tengu-ya,” Law countered. “You already shouldn’t be here. I can’t risk you any more than you have already.”

“…but I’m strong! I can take care of myself!”

“This has nothing to do with how strong you are and you know it.” Law exchanged a look with Hitetsu and the older man nodded, instead heading towards Tama and Toko. “I thought you were okay with staying.”

“Momo-ya gets to go,” she whined. She then breathed deeply and swallowed to clear her nasal passage.  “Why is he going…? He’s pathetic.”

“That’s not my decision to make,” he replied sourly. He really wished that the brat was also staying behind, but he understood the tactical advantage of bringing a physical manifestation of the old dynasty into battle, even if he didn’t agree. “This is why I wanted you to stay on Zou with Alana-ya and Yepo-ya… so that we could avoid this.”

“You keep almost dying,” she reminded him, letting herself lean against his legs. “I’m sick of you almost dying all the time.”

“…and what would you rather me do?”

“Live, with me, someplace not here,” she mumbled. “Just be my dad.”

“Except, when we took down Doflamingo, we took down Kaidou’s supply of drugs, and I highly doubt he’s going to let that one slide,” he explained. Law knelt down in the sand and held his daughter by her shoulders. “I need to look for something there anyhow, and I don’t think I can find it, help take down Kaidou, and protect you.” He gently turned her chin upwards so as to look her in the eyes. “Listen, famke, I love you, and I am different because of it in all the best ways. I plan on coming back, whether it’s to celebrate a victory or to grab all three of you girls and run. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Good.” He kissed her forehead and gave her a smile. “I love you, Trafalgar Nauja.”

“I love you too, Vaor.”

“Now go enjoy the festival.” He opened a Room and disappeared, being replaced with a pebble that was on the deck of the waiting Polar Tang.

“Now that’s settled, let’s begin to prepare for our journey to the Flower Capitol for the Fire Festival,” Hitetsu announced. Nauja sat on the beach instead, watching the Polar Tang slip beneath the surface of the waves. The old man sighed heavily—how he wished comforting the child were but a simple act.

“Let us pack!” Toko grinned as she bounced up towards Hitetsu. He saw that Tama was heading towards Nauja and he took solace in at least that.

“Yes, do lets,” he agreed, letting the child lead him back towards the village. They were both well out of earshot before Tama sat next to her friend. Both girls stared out at the horizon, watching the waves gently crest and reach out towards the tide line, never quite touching their toes.

“I get it,” Nauja croaked out as she tried not to cry, “but he doesn’t think he’s coming back.”

“How can you tell?” Tama wondered. Nauja wiped her nose on her sleeve.

“He looked at me like that before,” she said. “That time he went alone to fight the guy who grew the SMILEs for Kaidou. Now he’s taking the whole crew… everyone but me. They even took Momo-ya, and that little brat trips over his own geta.”

“I don’t remember how my dad looked at me, verily,” Tama admitted. She let out a little chuckle, trying to hide her own tears. “My parents died so long ago now that I don’t even remember their faces. I like that you have a dad… that I saw him look at you, because I can imagine that’s how my dad looked. It’s really nice.”

“Tama-ya… I…”

“Nah, it’s fine,” the junior kunoichi said. She stood up and stretched, reaching high as she could into the air. “Wow! What a great day! Verily, it would be a shame to waste it!”

“That’s why we’re going to the Fire Festival, right?” Nauja asked. Tama grinned instead, pointing towards the treeline.

Speed was there.

Speed had a boat.

Speed still did everything Tama asked of her.

“The adults might want us to stay here, but I wanna help create a Wano that doesn’t have Orochi, where we can eat our fill every day, not just on festivals and birthdays. You in?”

In…?! Nauja couldn’t stand up and hug Tama fast enough.