#hey op what the FUCK is going on

[miwtual]

im so fucking tired of the disrespect gifmakers get on the gifmaker website

[moongothic]

This is gonna turn into some Crocodad Propaganda eventually but putting the man aside for a little bit

Let's be real for a moment. Regardless of who Luffy's other biological parent is, regardless of if they're relevant to the story or not, no matter what has become of that person, if they're dead or somewhere out there alive, etc-- I believe Oda "knows the truth".

Although it took One Piece until post-Enies Lobby to reveal some of Luffy's blood relatives to us, Oda had technically introduced both Garp and Dragon to us all the way back in the East Blue saga. And Ace was introduced not too long after in the Baroque Works saga, along with his tattoo which held that secret tribute to Sabo all along. (Also he was introduced as "Portgaz D. Ace" meaning Oda must've intended to make the two non-blood brothers from the get-go.) All this means that Luffy's family, both adopted and blood relatives, have been in Oda's mind from the very begining of the story. And so if Oda had figured out Luffy's grandfather, father and at least one brother (if not both) from the begining, then why would he not have decided what became of the person who gave birth to the idiot as well? Like considdering how detail-oriented and meticulous Oda can be, would it not be unusual for him to essentially forget about a character that important (in the sense that Luffy literally would not exist without them) and just handwave them away without much thought? Would that not be out of character for Oda? As such, I don't think it is not unreasonable for us to believe that Oda would know what happened to Luffy's other bio-parent. Mind you, it really could be just something like "Luffy's mother died of The Disease when Luffy was a baby", or "the mom fell down the stairs" or "was eaten by a bear in the woods" or something, anything, whatever. Even if it truly does not matter to the story one bit, I'm sure Oda knows the truth of what happened and why that character wasn't a part of Luffy's life.

But at the same time, if the identity and the fate of Luffy's birthing parent truly did not matter to the story at all, then why wouldn't Oda just tell us who that was and what happened to them? In an SBS or an interview? It's not like people haven't been asking about it, because fans and staff alike have been asking about it for years. If the information really would not change anything, be it the direction the story will take or how we view the characters, if it really is just worthless trivia, then why keep it away from us?

Now of course, I'm sure you'd want to point out that one time Oda told Mayumi Tanaka that "A young boy's adventure begins after he leaves his mother's arms. I want to tell this young boy's adventure story, so his mom is not part of it." And Oda isn't known for lying, we do kind of want to take what he told Mayumi Tanaka at face value. At the same time though. If Luffy's other parent did become a plot relevant character in like the final 200 chapters of the story, after a 1100 chapters, they and their potential connection to Luffy would not have mattered to the story for 90% of its run. For an overwhealming majority of Luffy's adventure, that person would not have been a part of it. So if that character did become relevant, and Oda was lying, then it'd be a white lie at worst. But also, if Oda did intend to reveal that other parent eventually, when the time was right, then surely he wouldn't want to get people hyped up about it way ahead of time. If it did turn out to be a big plot twist or an otherwise important plot point, Oda would want to keep it under the wraps and a secret until the right time, you don't want to spoil something like that. Not to mention it could end up working like a distraction and make people not focus on the more important things happening in the story currently. So really, I think we'd all forgive him for a white lie there. Not to mention, technically speaking, if Luffy doesn't even have a mom but two dads, then Oda wouldn't really be lying either.

But that does bring up an important thing to considder.

If Crocodile does turn out to be Luffy's other dad, when did Oda get that idea, and when would he have committed to it?

Because, keep in mind, One Piece began back in 1997. Twenty seven whole years ago. Which means there's two things to considder; the evolution of queer rights over the past near three decades, as well as the fact that One Piece has more than surpassed Oda's original plans for the series. We must not forget how for a manga to remain serialized in Weekly Shounen JUMP, you need to perform well in the popularity polls consistently; if your manga starts dropping in popularity, JUMP can cancel it and force you end it prematurely. Of course, Oda arguably does not have to worry about those polls anymore after all these decades, there's no way in hell JUMP would ever cancel fucking One Piece in this day and age. But that might not have been the case 15 years ago, that was not the case 20 years ago, and that was absolutely not the fucking case 25 years ago. Like we all famously know that Oda originally planned One Piece to maybe run for like a year, then five years, then ten etc etc. That really is because at the begining of his career he had no quarantee he'd be able to tell the full story he was slow cooking at the back of his mind. Back in the early days, One Piece could've been canceled and ended prematurely, so Oda smartly chose to write it focusing very specifically on what mattered to the story at that moment, in the short term. Yes, he did start laying out the groundwork for things to come, but he did it so subtly that had OP been forced to end early, the series wouldn't have been left with too many massive, gaping plotholes or unresolved sidestories. Another thing to keep in mind is how comic artists for JUMP do have editors etc who can have a say in what goes into the manga (famously, Sasuke only existed because Matashi Kishimoto's editor suggested it). So again, while Oda might be able to do whatever the hell he pleases in One Piece at this point, that wouldn't have been the case 20+ years ago. He would have been more or less at the whims of his editors back in the day.

So would Oda have thought about giving Luffy, the main character of the series, a transgender father back in the year 2000? Could that really have been the secret plan from the start? And would Oda's editor(s) at JUMP have allowed that? Or, did Oda maybe come up with the idea later?

Now just so we're clear, I am NOT suggesting Crocodad was Oda's original intent and that his editors didn't let him do it or anything like that, my tinfoil hat isn't on that fucking tight. What I do want to suggest, is that it is plausible Crocodile being Luffy's other dad was an idea Oda was playing around with at the back of his mind from the begining, but wasn't sure he'd ever get to, mainly due to the uncertainty of series' future and partially because he could've been unsure if his editors would even allow him to write that story. And IF this was the case, Oda may not have even started committing to to the idea until around the CP9 saga. Or, it's possible Oda only got the idea sometime after the completion of the Alabasta arc/during Skypiea saga, and started laying down the groundwork for during Summit War so that, if he ever got around to it, he'd be able to commit and tell that story.

Regardless, let's be real.

It is interesting and kind of suspicious how Crocodile does just happen to be introduced around the same time the rest of Luffy's family was first shown to us, even if we didn't know Garp and Dragon were Luffy's family yet (this was also the same time the first canon queer character was introduced; Oda was playing around with queer characters during Crocodile's introduction, possibly testing the waters to see what he could get away with?) During the CP9 Saga we got the Miss Goldenweek cover story, where we see what's become of Crocodile after the fall of Baroque Works. This is of course adding to the world building of the CP9 Saga (where we're told the criminals who go through Enies Lobby are either sent to Impel Down or to Marineford; so us finding out Crocodile's gone to ID is playing off of what we knew would become of Robin and Franky and the Strawhats not come to rescue them. AND it's foreshadowing for the Summit War Saga), but also, soon after we were reminded of Crocodile and told where he's been sent off to, we were finally formally introduced to Garp and Dragon (Garp having already been mentioned by Aokiji at the begining of the Saga). And we close off the Saga watching Ace and Blackbeard have their fateful match. So again, Crocodile was on Oda's mind around the same time the rest of Luffy's family was. And indeed, after Thriller Bark we then move onto Summit War proper, where Oda does all The Things we would considder The Groundwork for Crocodad, most important being the introduction of Ivankov and their Devil Fruit. But again, just like before, Crocodile just happens to be there at the same time as this saga, which really heavily focuses on Luffy's family, plays out. While we learn about Dragon's secretive nature and connection to Iva-chan, Garp's feelings for the boys, Ace's struggle with his heritage and Luffy's love for him, Sabo and Garp... Yeah, Crocodile's just... Also there.

Whenever Oda starts dwelling into Luffy's family, Crocodile is always there. It's a bizarre coincidence if nothing else.

(And oh won't you look at that, Crocodile has once again become a plot relevant character, just in time for The Final Saga where Dragon has also started becoming actually plot relevant as well)

All of this to say, again.

The fact that Oda has refused to tell us anything about Luffy's other parent is sus, and to me indicates that either although unusual for him Oda genuinely just doesn't give a damn about Luffy's other parent, or he's been trying to play it safe for years so that if he ever got the opportunity, he could give Luffy two dads. (Or maybe there's some other twist that has nothing to do with Crocodile, that is possible too, I just feel like if that was the case then why hide it for 27 years?)

Whatever the case, I'm sure Oda knows the truth.

And I'm sure we will find out the truth eventually, be it on the pages of the comic or in the SBS.

[introspectivememories]

buggy, dreamily sighing: did you see marco today?

shanks, warily: yeah? why? we see him like every other month?

buggy, immediately gushing: wasn't he soo cool? like the way he transforms and those muscles! didja see his muscles, shanks? he could probably pick me up with one hand....

shanks who has just realized that he never wants buggy looking at another man who isn't him: .....yes... cool

[mamawasatesttube]

i have to speak my truth. i think timkon clone baby aus fucking suck

[putterphubase]

Hey r/relationshipadvice okay so im a cheer captain for my schools team and i asked a guy on the football team where their cheer captain was and long story short we ended up physically fighting each other which is whatever because i fight a lot of people but now i think he’s obsessed with me or something what do i do

[writing-hat]

Spoil for chapter 14 of my own fic? I guess? This is Nadakhan's alternate death, that I had to scrap for reasons explained below

And cw for um gruesome way of death

I had another death planned for Nadakhan when I wrote the end of chapter 14 that I didn't use because it was way too unrealistic (yes more then what I wrote) and because I FORGOT THE DAMN WISH WHEN I WROTE IT

I kind of- left myself get taken by the current of writing y'know

And, as bittersweet as it sounds, Nadakhan hadn't realized (well I hadn't realized) that Jay was indeed broken, because nothing can make it up for what he's been through. Here, his frustration was quick to be resolved, which didn't sound right. Especially when dealing with Nadakhan, of all villain.

Someone who won no matter the outcome.

[punches their wall again at the thoughts]

And that caused Jay to never be satisfied with whatever he'd do

[Breaks wrist by punching the wall again]

BUT it did not have the Jay taking Nadakhan's eye away part which I thoroughly enjoyed writing afterwards to make up for the scenes I had given up. Sigh.

But hey! Here's a snippet of what I had written! Enjoy!

-----

Jay came behind, watching what he had done so far.

The arm he had taken off was slowly burning, the electricity left there making the skin turn a dark shade before the fire ate it away. It amused him, if anything. Especially when it came to watch the torn shoulder, badly torn, with the putrid liquid being forced out at the absence of the limb it was supposed to keep alive.

Nadakhan coughed. Painfully. It was a melody to his ears.

But it didn’t feel enough. It never did.

Groaning, he got closer. What was there to do? What more could he do to the one that had taken everything away from him?! He couldn’t figure it out, and it made him more frustrated. The static around grew thicker, heavier. Nadakhan cried as it pushed him further into the ground, not feeling into himself a way of fighting back.

Then, burning fingers came on his back, pulling away the armor as if it was made of nothing but scraps. He threw it to the side, discarding it far away from here, and placed his hands on the djinn’s back- hands that were made of pure energy, tearing his skin apart as it searched for something-

There.

He took the spine, and pulled on it. Not quite breaking it apart- no, that would be too easy. Would kill that asshole too quickly. Instead, he made it so the bone was sticking out, simply making sure that it wasn’t protected, yet still connected to the nerves.

The body under him twitched and screamed, as he agonized in horror.

Not enough. Not enough.

He had one final wish.

There was something else he wanted to take away. Something that intrigued him too much.

“I wonder if you have a heart. You fucking monster.”

Before an answer could be given- if there even was an answer to be done, he speared through the man’s back, right where he knew the vital organ to be.

“Let’s see if you survive this.”

In a blink, he was in front of Nadakhan, and pulled the heart out, warm and bloodied in his hand.

The body got electrocuted as he did, and he watched with envy, as the eyes immediately dulled, not before a veil of pain made them roll in the back of his skull.

Then, Nadakhan fell limp. Nothing showed that he was still alive, no. Nothing to show that something would grow back. Instead, a dark pool kept extending under him, slight twitches from the electricity still coursing inside.

Other then that, everything became silent, aside the rumbling of the storm that was nothing but comfort to him. A storm that stood proud, and understanding of his choices.

Nadakhan was dead.

And suddenly, he felt bliss.

[secretlythatsme]

i really love dc x dp tbh but i hate how so many fics end up making the batfam dumb as shit. and i don't mean in a "loveable goof" kind of way but in a genuine "these people don't have the skills or intelligence to be heroes" kind of way. which is just antithetical to their entire thing

sometimes it's because the writer just genuinely doesn't know anything about the batfam or what they've been through so they come across as idiots. and other times it's because the writer is writing op ghost king danny or just generally op danny and they genuinely think he could outsmart or beat them. more often than not, it's a combination of the two.

it's just so sad. like not only is it disrespectul to the batfam, essentially getting rid of all the skills and experience they have just to prop up danny, but it also makes things a lot more boring imo. don't get me wrong, i don't mind the occasional "main character is super op" kind of story, but it's boring when like 70% of fics are like that and there's no real challenge or obstacle for him. part of why the show danny phantom was so fun was that it was exciting and chair gripping to see danny have to deal with his new ghost powers, figuring out how to deal with ghost attacks or vlad, and dealing with school and his parents on top of that.

but often, dc x dp fics just,, get rid of any challenge for him. sure batman is a skilled detective but danny will always be able to trick him! sure cass has been trained since birth to read people's body language but this random ghost teen knows how to conceal and control everything!! yeah damian has also been trained since birth to fight and kill but this random guy from the midwest who just started fighting in his teens is so much better!!! like, alright. it's fun every now and then but it sucks when so much of the dc x dp content is just people acting like the batfam are the worst vigilantes/detectives in the world.

and honestly i still feel this way even with the ghost king danny fics because how? he's never had to deal with people obsessively reading his body language or reading between the lines. he's had to deal with hiding stuff sure but his parents aren't the most observant people - their whole deal was being neglectful. even as a ghost king, why would he know how to outsmart, take advantage of, or beat the batfam in any capacity when he would still mostly deal with ghosts. it's a completely different skill set here - one that he likely wouldn't be prepared for. it'd be fine if they at least attempted to explain why danny would have those skills (like league danny aus) but most of them don't.

and i'm not saying danny couldn't do it at all, especially if it's a ghost king au, but i'm just tired of seeing the batfam constantly downplayed in these fics Just to make danny look better, smarter, stronger, etc. ik most people in the fandom are just danny fans but it really shows with how they treat, characterize, and shit on the dc characters just to prop danny up. it also serves to occasionally make danny look like an asshole when he intentionally messes with them and basically commits psychological torture for a goof.

[aromanticasterisms]

yknow i was a little miffed when yoimiya got her second story quest but i can't even be mad that cyno's getting his. he's been around since manga days he deserves it

[just-your-average-tangerine]

Sorry I'm just being super bitter again about having to give up *everything* because some jackass couldn't handle not being the center of the world for 5 fucking minutes

[apollos-boyfriend]

i hope at least one person has clicked on the original of that greek mythology post in an attempt to remove all the reblogs and been blasted by my cpurpled transfemme beam

[stolen-stardust]

> opened twitter for the first time in a few days

> sees the phrase “jewish terrorist state”

> closes twitter for a few more days

[moongothic]

Counter-counter point: Oda tends to draw a LOT of little boys with VERY similar faces, so i think its notable that, as an adult (since Luffy is, also an adult) Crocodile seems to have the strongest resemblance to Luffy (although im fairly sure the ‘what if dragon is actually Garp’s son-in-law’ theory is dead)

-the entire existence of Sabo kind of puts a LOT on the table that Oda seems willing to do with Luffy’s backstory, conventional logic be damned

-i can 1000% believe that Dragon is sort of just a weirdo. Thought Luffy’s mom was special? Feels guilty leaving a kid with Garp? Just general ‘this kid is the one’ vibes?

-can you imagine how funny it would be to come out that Luffy and Vivi were half siblings the entire time?

Counter-counter-counterpoints:

Older Good-timeline Luffy does look a lot like Garp too

The Garp Genes can not be denied (also yes Luffy Age 40 does resemble Crocodile, he can resemble both at the same time (it's just the same face syndrome lmao)) (also also yeah I have discussed the "what if Dragon isn't Garp's son" thing in the past and how I don't believe in the theory, we can agree on that)

Honestly I don't have issues with Sabo's backstory/existence beyond how he feels almost like a replacement for Ace in the story as far as Luffy having a brother goes, but that has more to do with when and how he was introduced into the story along with how Ace was handled rather than the character's backstory itself

Okay to be fair Luffy does indeed have the Power to Draw In People's Faith etc etc, so Dragon could become oddly facinated by Baby Loof from that fact alone. And I do like the concept of Dragon being at least a little bit a loser but that's just me

Crocodile knocking up Alabasta's To-Be-Queen and then stealing the baby before Cobra ever met his to-be-wife would be a hysterical twist ngl

But you know what.

In the spirit of Absurdist Theory Crafting, I wish to one-up you with A Horrible Concept;

What if the Dragon we know isn't the "real" Monkey D. Dragon. What if Garp originally had ""a daughter"" instead, who hated the Marines and everything they stood for, who ran into some Freedom Fighter Guy and his Queer Bestie, transed his gender and switched identities/names with the Freedom Fighter Guy just to make sure Garp would never find the real him. "Crocodile" goes off to enjoy a life of piracy while "Dragon" now pretends to be Garp's new transgender son, and Garp is none the wiser (though oddly accepting of the trans part, just not the Freedom Fighter-ing). And the only other person who knows the truth is the Queer Bestie Ivankov. And NOW we re-introduce the "Dragon isn't Luffy's real dad" back into the mix, because yeah the Freedom Fighter Guy might not be Luffy's dad, but the real Dragon aka Crocodile IS! >8D

And that's how we get Luffy looking like Garp and Crocodile but not Dragon

[diarydiarydiaryblank]

an idolomantises post that said he wouldn't be voting because biden is too evil and i commented saying i'm voting so project 2025 doesn't happen and my comment was deleted lol what

[dreamlogic]

...

[mako-island-moon-pool]

I really do deserve a fucking apology for all the times my friends and family valued strangers on the internet and their opinions more than me

How am I supposed to be just fine with being ignored for years and years or bullied for openly liking what I like, only for those same fucking people to then turn around YEARS LATER, AFTER THE DAMAGE WAS ALREADY DONE, and be like "actually this is cool, so glad I found it" while still ignoring me. Why am I not allowed to be fucking pissed about it? Why is it considered ""gatekeepy"" when I get upset someone who deliberately ignored me for years and insulted the shit I enjoy when I asked them to get into it cuz I thought they'd like it suddenly finds interest in it because it got popular online, not because I'd been begging them to give it a chance and to listen to me for years???? Why is that not allowed????? THAT'S SUCH AN ASSHOLE MOVE, WHY IS IT 'NOT OKAY' TO BE MAD? WHY DON'T THEY GROW A SPINE AND APOLOGIZE FOR DISMISSING ME FIRST? HOW ABOUT THAT?????

[ms-all-sunday]

a year ago, today, was the day i first watched arlong park. it was the day i admitted to myself that one piece could be my new special interest. it was also the day i wanted to show my childhood friend one piece and then thought that would never happen. (it happened and she reacted exactly the way i wanted her to. it was so perfect! you have her back in your life now and shes so perfect. you can literally feel her love you.)

i think the guy who experienced arlong park for the first time would be so fucking happy with where we ended up. he would be so happy we have her tattoo, she's apart of us not only our identity but our body, too. he would be so proud, jealous, and in shock that any story- any shonen- lived up to our expectations.

he'd be in shock i like m/f pairings, he'd be in shock i like romance in one piece, he'd be in shock that i like sanami. he'd be in shock that we are now in love with a story in a way we never could've imagined or never even experienced ever. he'd be in shock that we have a blog about one piece that people i think respect the opinions of- he'd be in shock that now generally id say my preference romantically is towards women. and we are attracted to women and are normal about it, now. he'd be in shock that we now trust creators of stories and we trust oda to write a good one, that one piece as a story can in fact love it's audience in the deeply intimate way any story can love it's audience. that it loves us. that we are no longer scared of that trust being broken.

he would be in shock, but he would've said "i told you so", because today was the say he said "if one piece isn't the story to be my new special interest, there's nothing else it could be. this has to be it." -an author capable of arlong park is capable of anything. an author capable of giving me nami is capable of giving me my new special interest.