#i have mixed feelings on the rat king shell tbh it feels like its too much rat not enough king

[sil3ntm0thart]

have to remember to take new screenshots of the current look for Leilus & Swallowtail so I can draw them again. love having taken painstaking care to screenshot everything just to so quickly change my look

it's been different for a while of course but I liked the old armor as a vibe. the current look with the plague doctor outfit though is so nice, plus they had the rat king shell in the bright dust store like a week or two before launch so got that

[epiphyllous]

What if: Marine!Luffy (technically)

I feel like a lot of people have touched on the AU if Luffy ever became a marine instead of a pirate, and I really like reading about them! I watched a video on YT that goes into it pretty in depth (check it out here), and I do agree that some of it is very plausable! But it takes away a lot of what I believe is integral to Luffy’s story (asides from the fact Luffy wants to be a pirate).

Honestly, this stemmed because I don't want Luffy to lose most of the integral part of his life-- which is meeting Shanks.

As stated in the video, it due to Shanks’ influence and Garp's absencenthat sets Luffy on the path to becoming a pirate, and I do see why Shanks has to be out of the picture for Luffy to even consider being a marine.

But what if Luffy raised to be a marine but still maintains his integrity that not everyone is bad just because of what they are? And thus we would still see OUR Luffy but Marine, which makes me happy :)

(Feel free to interact and share your thoughts too! I'm just trying to have fun fleshing my thoughts out. ‘tis long post)

Luffy doesn't grow up wanting to be a marine hero like Garp, bc I still maintain that he doesn't want to be a hero. He should still be a free spirit for the most part, but I think his main goal in this AU at first would be strong-- whether it's to be strong for the sake of being strong or to protect other people.

Or maybe he hears and listens to marine stories and learns how they travel through the Grand Line-- all romanticized, btw, but I do believe marines out there who do fight justice (not that Luffy is interested in that aspect at the age of 6) and go on "adventures" as they put it, making Luffy star eyed about the world. Regardless, he isn't off-put by the marine thing and that's the big point. Maybe if Garp hadn't just forced him to be a marine and instead instilled the aspect of adventure and camaraderie, Luffy wouldn't be so resistant.

When Luffy meets Shanks, I think most of the interaction remains, except Luffy's fascination is replaced with curiosity. Doesn't change much, but it does let Luffy still be as fearless as ever in the face of pirates and want to know more about Shanks. Maybe as a child he DID have the mindset that all pirates are bad, so he tries to fight them off much to Shanks' amusement and eventually realizes after interacting with them that not all pirates are bad after all.

"Take me to sea with you!"

"No way! You're too weak! Besides, aren't you afraid of sailing with a bunch of pirates?"

"Shanks is not a bad pirate!"

"So there are good and bad pirates now?"

"Yeah. Good pirates party all the time and have fun. Bad pirates do bad things," is what I'm sure Luffy at age 6 would think for the most part.

And they'd laugh and tease Luffy for being weak, Luffy would cut his eye to prove he's not, and at this point Shanks is more of a role model rather than a pirate role model: he shows what a man should do, how he should protect his friends, and when to stand up for yourself.

And in saving and sacrificing his arm for a Luffy who doesn't want to be a pirate but a marine, it solidifies the theme that it doesn't matter what you are, but who you are that counts.

And that teaching follows Luffy everywhere he goes for his entire journey.

As for the straw hat, I stubbornly refuse that Shanks does not give it Luffy. As we know, the hat plays in a much larger role than being the crown for the next king of pirates. It's evident in the large straw hat in Mariejoa and the significance the Gorosei puts on a symbol like that. Anyhow, I'm not going to go into that much but REGARDLESS, Shanks gives Luffy the straw hat and to return it to him once he becomes a great (read: powerful, impactful, influential) man.

I think a large bump in the road with this theory is that Luffy would have an insanely harder time in his childhood. As a big-mouthed child, he wouldn't shut up about being the next Marine Admiral (best position of power little does he know; Luffy just knows they tend to be the strongest Marines), and knowing Ace who would never EVER want to be a marine because of his influence with Sabo and his upbringing of bandits, this does not fly well. I could probably entertain that Ace could have been a marine because people hated his father so much, but I think his goal of being more than just his father's son really paves a path for him to be a pirate, regardless of other influences.

So if you think Ace hated Luffy before at this point in time, oh boy.

I mean, Luffy can't just DIE, so really the meeting between him, Ace, and Sabo go relatively the same except Ace and Sabo are much more suspicious of Luffy, which doesn’t really bode well for him. But I’m pretty sure, marine or not, even Ace and Sabo wouldn’t abandon Luffy if he refused to rat them out-- or they might even feel even more incensed that Luffy didn’t say anything because he wants to be a marine.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“If I said anything, you wouldn’t be my friend!”

“We’re going to be pirates; you’re going to be a marine-- we’re not even on the same side! We shouldn’t even be friends!”

“But why does that matter?”

And everything goes well, they become brothers, and Sabo “dies.”

And above all, I think this moment is a turning point in Luffy’s life (wow he’s having a lot of revelations as a ten-year-old; poor kid) because now he not only recognizes that not all pirates are bad but also know not all marines are good (because how could they be protecting someone who killed his brother?) and their system has a lot of fixing to do.

Ace has a lot of mixed feelings about this, because his baby brother may want to be a marine, but Sabo died from going against the government-- so what does this mean for their future? But in the end, Luffy is still Luffy, and Ace wouldn’t abandon his brother, especially not when after he announced he wasn’t going to die Luffy declares that he was going to be a Marine and destroy the system from within.

Not really sure how small Luffy would put that in words, but the feeling is already there, and that sets his beginning, seven years later.

Some Straw Hats are not going to be with Luffy, and it’s unfortunate but a must. Some will, like Zoro, who Luffy saves at Shell Town-- and honestly, it might just be easier for him to find Mihawk if he’s part of the Marines-- and Nami, whose mother was a marine and the Arlong Pirates never gave her any reason to like pirates anyhow. There is some sticky business considering Nami’s earned treasure was stolen by the marines, but I’m very sure meeting Luffy would definitely convince her that there are good marines out there.

Many of the Straw Hats would have never been pirates if not for Luffy, asides from Usopp and Brook, who were or had aspirations to be a pirate before. As such, Usopp’s village would be saved by Luffy, but he wouldn’t go be a marine because he’s always wanted to be like his father. Brook would probably go back to Laboon after getting back his shadow on Thriller Bark and Luffy wouldn’t have a musician and the One Piece Universe Beyonce would never be born :(

Tbh, there’s a high chance Chopper wouldn’t join either, considering his father-figure waved a pirate flag, but I wouldn’t put it past Luffy to defend that flag anyways because of its significance to Chopper and the bravery that Dr. Hiruluk conveyed through it. But for the sake of this indulgent AU, lets say he does. :))

Robin though... uhhh being a wanted women makes it pretty difficult for her to join Luffy and considering Enies Lobby and the whole Buster Call deal... probably not. I can see her joining the Revolutionary Army pretty early on as a result though, but Luffy’s choice to save her life would not have changed nor would his impact on her change as well. You know, low key, I kinda want her to hide out on Luffy’s ship for a while and his crew being all “wtf captain, she’s a danger to society; isn’t she a bad person?” and Luffy just shrugs and laughs and tells them it’s okay (his original Straw Hat crew that stuck with him as a marine just smh but they know him too well to think he wouldn’t save Robin otherwise) and to have them decide if she’s a bad person or not themselves.

And EVENTUALLY Robin will be recruited into the Revolutionary Army, maybe in like a intense, “You have to go Robin, because even I can’t save you if you stay” sorta deal. (This could also be a chance for Luffy to meet Sabo, but that’s like a whole ‘nother can of worms.)

So Enies Lobby doesn’t happen. Franky doesn’t join either :/ And I don’t see Jimbei becoming a pirate after all the shit that’s happened to him and his bros, and honestly I just ever see him as being a marine, no matter how much he admires Luffy. Maybe they’d be buddies when he’s a Warlord though :))

So Alabasta-- Vivi gets to save her country with actual marine support aka Luffy. He works together with Smoker (heehee!) and Tashigi (god I would die for the interactions between her and Marine!Zoro) and kicks Crocodile’s butt regardless of his title as Warlord. Luffy calls it as he sees it, and violent dictatorship and mistreatment of his friends is a BIG no-no, maybe especially as marine who upholds goodness.

He gets promoted and gets the credit he deserves, though he’s too busy chomping down on food to even notice.

Vivi stays with her people, and they leave.

Meeting Ace during the Alabasta arc would have taken a little more secrecy-- or maybe Ace goes undercover for a brief period of time like Oda drew him a while back; wouldn’t put it past him to meet his little brother while he chases after Blackbeard.

Oh wait, would Sky Island even happen??? Honestly, who knows, but if he fights Bellamy, it would just ruin his redemption arc during Dressrosa bc wouldn’t Luffy just capture him?? or maybe he just punches him and that’s punishment enough who knows I didn’t think about this part in particular

BUT MARINEFORD. oh marineford

You see, I think as a marine, Luffy is completely different from Garp from the fact that he would NEVER put his job over his family. Luffy has already had one brother die, and he isn’t going to let another die if he can help it.

So what does that leave us? Maybe a prison break? Maybe going behind the scenes (as per Nami’s suggestion and implementation bc Luffy can’t be subtle for shit) to rig the execution and fuck up the cannons.

But the real mega problem here, is if Ace dies, I don’t know if Luffy can be a marine anymore, and that’s a big problem. Or maybe in having his brother die in his arms, despite trying to help him escape, will incite him to challenge the system and destroy corruption once and for all. (Demotion be damned.) But when Sabo finds out Luffy let Ace die in front of him, I think the connotations would change with their reunion since Luffy is a marine and thus still, regardless of who Luffy is, “on the other team.”

In fact, the existence of the Marineford Arc makes it extremely difficult for Luffy to continue being a marine, so honestly, at this point, even though it goes against the entire Marine!Luffy AU, I think Luffy could just go rogue, like he was always meant to be in the original One Piece timeline. So maybe it’s a full-circle to Luffy being what he was meant to. Who knowssss but that’s all I’ve got.

Let me know what you think!! If you read this far haha I’m always down to talk about Luffy bc I love him sm.