#it's like a normal swirlie except with fire and usually screaming

[spkyscry-a]

anonymous asked: Important question: How does Amira beat up Leonard and his toxicity?

“Excitedly, happily, and with plenty of satisfying results.” Amira, turn your hands back to normal. Amira, the fire fists are not necessary. AMIRA. 

[jungwonenthusiast]

Friend's Don't Lie Ch. 3 & 4

Pairing: Jungwon x reader

Warnings for this chapter: Jay trying to smoke lmfao, swearing

Word count: 2.6k

Based on: Stranger Things

Jungwon

“No fucking way.” Jay shakes his head. “I swear she did it!” Jungwon voices. “You know him right? Sunoo?”

You nod.

“This is insane. How would she know him?” Jay scoffs.

“Have an open mind.” Jake says.

“How can we trust her?” Jay argues.

“Why not?” Jungwon says.

“No, she’s crazy.” Jay climbs up the stairs and opens the door to leave but it slams in his face. “What the fuck.” he opens it again just for it to shut again.

They turn to look at you.

“No.”

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“I’m telling you, she’s a psycho.” Jay sighs.

“No she’s not, she has super powers.” Jake sits next to her and she smiles.

“So where’s Sunoo?” Jay asks and you look away. “See? She doesn’t know.”

Then, you stand up and walk over to the table where the Dungeons and Dragons game lays. They’re eyes widen. You pull the board out and flip it upside down so that the board is just black.

You point at the board. “He's here.”

“What do you mean?” Jungwon asks.

“He’s here.” you point again.

“No he’s not.” Jay groans. “Sunoo’s been kidnapped.”

“No he hasn’t,” Jungwon sends him a stern look. “Something fucked up has happened. I can feel it.”

Jay scoffs. “What are you? Psychic?”

“Shut up,” Jungwon rolls his eyes. “Things have just been… off ever since that night.” “So what does this mean?” Jake comes up to the table. “She just flipped the board upside down.”

“Upside down.” you pick up the wizard character, Sunoos character, and place it on the board.

“Shit,” Jungwon says. “Is that where he is?”

“This is kind of crazy.” Sunghoon chuckles.

“Kind of?” Jay exclaims.

“Listen, they obviously have some kind of connection. She recognized him in the picture and she knows who he plays.”

“So what’s he doing in there?” Jake furrows his brow.

“Hiding.” you say quietly. Jungwon can tell that you’re scared.

“From what?”

You pull the demogorgon out of the box and slam it onto the board.

Jungwon makes eye contact with Jake.

“What. The fuck.” Niki says.

“What- what does that mean?” Jungwon looks at her.

“Monster.” you say quietly.

“Monster?” Jay bleats. “What are we in Alien now?”

“You don’t understand.” you say. “The world is more than you know.”

That silences Jay pretty quickly.

“So you know where he is.” Jungwon confirms and she nods. “Can you take us there tomorrow after school?”

“After school?” you tilt your head.

“Yeah, at three fifteen.” he says.

“Three fifteen.”

“Mhm, here,” he takes his digital watch off and fastens it onto your wrist. “When it says three one five, come meet us out by the power lines.”

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“Okay, don’t forget, three fifteen.” Jungwon tells you the next morning.

You nod but you seem blue. Your eyes are duller than usual.

“You okay?” he asks and you shrug. He sits in front of your fort.

“Jungwon-ah! Time to go!” Mrs. Yang calls out.

“One second!” he yelps. “What’s up?”

You hesitate. “I don’t like being alone.”

“I know, being alone is boring, but I can’t stay here again, I’ll get in trouble.” he sympathizes.

“Will they hurt you?” you ask, worried.

“My parents?” he cocks his head and you nod. “No no, they won’t hurt me, they'll just be upset.”

You nod and look down.

“I’ll be back soon though, just stay put until my parents go to work, okay?” he reaches to grab your hand and you flinch. “Shit, sorry.”

You shake your head. “It’s okay. I’m just not used to it.”

He smiles at you. “See you soon El, don’t forget, three fifteen.” he says as he walks up the stairs.

El

Everything is strange. The carpet feels weird on your feet. You’ve only ever walked on cold tiles.

You venture up to his room.

His room is dark and lived in. There are science fair trophies on his dresser and the walls are covered in band posters.

You touch one of them.

“The Cure. Boys Don’t Cry.” you say softly.

He has a bookshelf full of cassettes tapes and novels with the spines peeling off. There’s a couple baskets of vinyls on the floor and you squat to look at them.

You read them all outloud. “New Order, The Police, The Human League, Black Flag, Duran Duran, Devo, Misfits.”

You don't know what they are. You remind yourself to ask when you see him again.

You climb under his covers and snuggle into his pillow.

You notice that he still has a stuffed animal on his bed and you smile.

Jungwon

He finds you standing tensely by the powerlines. Your arms crossed and your shoulders hiked up.

“El!” he jogs up to you. “You okay?”

You smile a small smile and nod.

“You ready to take us there?” he asks.

“Yes.”

You hop into the Camaro and tell him every time he needs to take a turn until they arrive at their destination.

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“Are you serious?” Jay scoffs.

You had brought them to Sunoo’s house.

“What?” Jungwon says to himself. “He’s not here, El.”

“See? She’s a liar.” Jay groans.

“I’m not a liar.” you say.

“This doesn’t make any sense.” Sunghoon sighs.

“You don’t understand.” you grumble.

“Then help us understand!” Jay says, agitated.

You shake your head in annoyance.

You all slump into your chairs when the blaring of sirens catch your attention.

You all twist to check out what’s going on. It’s a dozen police cars driving at the speed of light.

Jungwon puts the car into drive and follows them.

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CHAPTER 4

Jungwon

He can’t believe his eyes. He feels his knees buckle as Sunoo’s limp body is pulled out of the water.

He doesn’t remember anything that happened that night except the way he screamed at you.

“You liar! You fucking liar! I trusted you!”

Words couldn't explain how he felt. He felt cold but there was a fire building up in him. He’d never been that angry in his life.

El

He doesn’t understand. That body is fake. Sunoo is breathing. You can feel it.

Jungwon

You try to sit next to him on the basement couch but he scoots away.

“Jungwon,” you say but he ignores you. “Won.” that gets his attention. “I am not lying to you.”

“You keep saying that,” he groans. “You expect me to believe you? I saw him with my own two eyes.”

You shake your head. “It’s fake.”

He scoffs.

“I’m not lying.”

“I’ve had enough of this-” he stands up to leave but you grab his hand.

“Jungwon, please listen to me.” you pull him back down to sit.

You reach to the table and grab his walkie talkie. Your eyes shut and the basement light flickers.

Jungwon’s about to get up to leave again when he hears static, and Sunoo’s soft voice.

“Darling you got to let me know,” Sunoo sings, as quiet as ever. “Should I stay or should I go?”

Jungwon’s jaw nearly drops.

“If you say that you are mine, I’ll be here ‘till the end of time-” his singing is cut short.

You look at him, waiting for a response.

“Was that?” he looks at you, dumbfounded.

“Sunoo.” you nod.

“How’d you..?”

“Friends don’t lie.”

He pauses for a moment to process everything that just happened, then his head drops. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” you say and he shakes his head.

“No it’s not. I shouldn’t have yelled at you last night. I’ve been so rude.” he looks up at you for a second just to look away again.

You pick up his chin and his eyes widen.

“It’s okay. People make mistakes.” you say and he smiles.

El

You want to hug him, but you’re not sure how to. He looks so small right now. He looks like he needs a hug.

Jungwon

You hold onto his hand for a quick second and his heart leaps into his throat.

“What’s wrong?” you say and he looks up at you.

“What?”

“Your cheeks.” she points. “They’re red. Are you angry?”

He touches his cheek. “No, no, I’m just…” he giggles. “No, I'm not angry.”

“Your ears too.” you point and he grabs at his ears.

“I-it’s nothing.” he stutters and you shrug.

“I wanted to ask you something.” you say and he nods. “What are those things in the boxes on your bedroom floor?”

He ponders for a moment. “Oh, my vinyls?”

You shrug. “What's a vinyl?”

Has she never listened to music? He wonders.

“They’re like these discs that you put onto a player and they play music.” he explains.

You furrow your brow but nod.

“Maybe we can play them sometime when my parents aren’t around.” he smiles.

“And the papers on the wall, The Cure, Boys Don’t Cry.”

He sighs and grins. “The Cure, they’re the greatest band ever. You have to listen to them, they’ll change your life.” He begins to drum on the air and sing a tune. “I would say I’m sorry if I thought that it would change your mind, but I know that this time I have said too much been too unkind.”

“Pretty.” you say and he looks down, blushing again.

A moment passes before he speaks up again. “I have an idea.”

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“How are we gonna sneak her in?” Jake asks. “She doesn’t have any normal clothes.”

“She can borrow some from Jooyoung noona.” Jungwon says.

“She’ll fucking kill you if she finds out.” Jay says.

“I know, so none of you say a peep.” Jungwon orders.

“It’s kind of funny watching her beat you up to be honest.” Niki chuckles and Jungwon glares at him.

“Remember the time she gave him a swirly.” Sunghoon chimes and the whole group breaks out into laughter.

“Yeah I remember, I almost died.” Jungwon sneers.

“Honestly I wouldn't mind if she gave me a swirly if her tits were pressed up on my back like that.” Jay jokes and Jungwon pounces on him. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”

“Don’t fucking talk about her like that man.” Jungwon huffs and rakes a hand through his hair.

“Is it so wrong to say your sister is hot?” Niki holds back a laugh.

“You wanna be next?” Jungwon raises an eyebrow and Niki playfully gallops away.

“You guys are weird.” you say quietly and Sunghoon nods in agreement.

“You’re all getting off track, how are we gonna sneak her into our classes?” Jake finds comfort in your fort.

“Do you think we can say she’s a new student?” Niki suggests.

“No, no one can know about her.” Jungwon says.

“Why not?” Jay asks and lights a cigarette.

“Dude, what’d I tell you about fucking smoking?” Jungwon groans.

“Just light an incense.” Jay says and Jungwon grabs the cig.

“My mom’s not an idiot.”

“Maybe we can just get her in during lunch.” Niki suggests.

“How is she gonna get on campus?” Jake asks.

“She can hop the fence and meet us by the gym, no ones there during lunch.” Sunghoon says.

Jungwon turns to look at you. “Do you think you can jump a fence?”

You stare back at him. “I’ve never tried.”

“We can meet her at the fence and then help her over.” Jay says.

“Wait, how’s she even gonna get to the school, it’s not like she can drive.” Niki says.

“Fuck you’re right.” Jungwon sighs. “Do you think you can bike there?”

You shrug.

“Of course she can’t, she can barely talk properly.” Jay grumbles.

“Stop being a fucking dick head.” Jungwon snaps.

“Okay bitchy Betty.” Jay jokes.

“Maybe I can just give you biking lessons tonight?” Jungwon turns to you. “What do you think?”

“Okay.” you say and he smiles.

El

“Here, hop on,” he holds the bike steady for you. It’s late at night and it's so cold that clouds puff out of your mouths every time you talk.

You hesitate. “What if I fall?”

“You won’t, I’m holding on tight.” he assures you.

You grab the handles and try your best to get on. You wobble and let out a small squeak.

“This is scary.” you say to him and he chuckles.

“It’s scary at first, but you’ll get it soon.” he says.

He gives you a moment to regain your balance. The moon is shining bright in his backyard and it’s illuminating his face.

“Ready to peddle?” he says and you shake your head. “Come on, it’s easier than you think.”

“Fine.” you mumble.

He holds on the back of the seat and one handle as you slowly push forward.

“I’m gonna fall!” you yelp.

“No you’re not, look how good you’re doing.” he says as you pick up speed.

And soon, he’s jogging to keep up to you. You don’t even notice that he took his hands off the bike until he points it out.

“Let’s leave the backyard,” he says and points to the gate. “Go through there.”

You follow suit.

Riding the bike is invigorating. The wind is cold and crisp against your skin. You’ve never felt anything like this before.

Eventually you look back; you see Jungwon jogging after you, his smile as bright as ever. You smile back so big that it almost hurts your face.

You let your leg down to stop yourself. He catches up to you.

“That was awesome.” he says, a little out of breath.

You giggle and his eyes widen.

“What?” you ask.

“I’ve never heard you laugh before.” he says and you look away sheepishly.

You’re all alone on this dark road and the only source of light is the moon. The scene would be eerie if Jungwon wasn't there with you.

“Well, now you know how to ride a bike,” he says. “Do you think you can make it all the way to school?”

“I think so,” you nod and he nods back.

A moment of silence passes before he speaks again.

“So how’s the fort? Is it too small?”

“Only a little, I like it though.” you reply.

“I wish I could build you your own room or something,” he says. “You could sleep on the basement couch but that’d be pretty risky.”

“What about your room?” you ask cluelessly.

“My room?” his eyes widen. His eyes are already so big and when he widens them they basically take up half of his face.

“Why can’t I sleep in your room?” you say blatantly.

“Uhm, I guess you could. That’s kind of risky don’t you think?” he says and you shrug.

You rub your arms from the cold.

“Let’s go inside,” he nods to his house. “It’s freezing.”

Jungwon

You both sneak back into the basement and he waits for you to wash up in the bathroom. He sticks his hand through the door and gives you a fresh set of clothes. Today it’s plaid pajama pants and a sweatshirt.

“Do you ever get bored here?” he asks as you change.

“Not really,” you say.

“What do you do when I’m gone?”

“I go to your room and look around.” you say and he goes beet red.

“What do you look at?” he asks, suddenly embarrassed. It's not like he had anything to hide, but the thought of you being in there makes him feel like he should’ve cleaned up or something.

“Everything,” you pull the sweatshirt over your head and exit the bathroom. “Is that bad? I’ll stop if you want.”

“No, it's fine,” he says. “I wish we could hang out more.”

You nod and scoot into your fort.

“Winter break is soon, I’ll be able to see you more then.”

“Winter break?”

“It’s this three week vacation all kids get during the winter.” he explains and you nod.

“Well, goodnight El.” he says while walking to the stairs.

"Wait," you run up to him and he whips around to look at you. You gently wrap your arms around his neck. "Thank you for tonight. It was very fun."

He stands there for a moment, too shocked to move. But he quickly snaps back to reality and rests his arms around your waist.

"Yeah, uhm, no problem." he says, trying his hardest not to sound shaky.

Your cheek feels smooth against his neck. There's this foreign electricity racing through his veins and it just makes him want to hold you tighter against him.

You pull away (to his disappointment) and smile before walking back to your fort.

He watches you get comfortable before heading up the stairs. He knows he won't be getting any sleep tonight. ┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

taglist: @shawkneecaps @enhypenengenebea

[t-khalynn-tales]

Meetings and Farewells, Part 4: Memories of Fire

Memories of Fire

“Can you tell us what happened, Mei? What you remember?”

Mei closed her eyes for a long moment, clearly hesitating. When she opened them again, mismatched eyes caught Tala’s.

~T is sure? Is hurtful,~ she conveyed silently.

The meaning was clear. Tala would be pained by the knowledge, possibly more than Mei herself.

But her blue eyes remained bright and resolute.

“Then we’ll share th’ pain, an’ th’ memory,” she replied firmly, grasping both of Mei’s hands in reassurance.

After a moment, the taller lala nodded reluctantly, mouth silently echoing her words.

~Ok, T. Ok.~

Mei was still little, so can’t remember everything. But Mei remembers a big house, with lotsa trees outside. Big kinda trees. But far away from other houses. An’ other peoples.

Mei doesn’t remember the up-top of the house. Mostly, only the bad peoples stayed up top.

Under-side was lotsa cages. Is where ‘speriments were. Like Mei, and T. But others too. Moon cats, an’ Sun cats, an’ elezen, an’ even some Bunny-people too. But Mei did not see them until the Fire. T knew they were there.

T was bigger. Kept there longer. Knew more stuffs about everything.

T said there was another lala, before Mei. One they did the same ‘speriments on, too. But that lala got sick, an’ died. So they got Mei. Needed two for their ‘speriments.

Always two.

Mei can’t remember how Mei was there. Lotsa ‘speriments. Pokings, an’ hurtings, an’ icky drinks. Mei has lotsa scars. But T had more.

Then one day was different.

The boss of the bad peoples came. The bad man that watched, always in shadows. An’ he had a box. It had two big metal sticks inside, with big metal circles. They came for T an’ Mei. They took ‘way tunics, made T an’ Mei take a bath. Then T an’ Mei were tied down ta different tables.

An’ some other bad peoples took the two sticks, an’ set them on fire. But, not like normal fire. Magical purple fire.

At first, both were in the same fire. A purple fire, inna glowy circle they drew onna floor. But then they pulled them apart, an’ they changed colors. One turned blue. An’ the other turned red.

An’ when the circles were different, they took the red one. Was all on fire still. An’ they pressed it to T’s back, ta T’s left shoulder. An’ the same time, they put the blue one on Mei’s right shoulder.

Mei remembers the fire. Was more than burning. Was a magic fire. Was alive. Was trying ta burn inside of Mei, and inside T. Ta change inside of both T an’ Mei.

Was working for T. T was changin, an’ T’s eyes were changin, from purple ta red. But wasn’t working for Mei. Mei wasn’t takin in the blue fire, wasn’t changin. Mei was burnin up.

T tried ta help, tried ta reach through an’ show Mei what ta do.

But the bad peoples were cursing. Saying was useless, an’ that was gonna kill both lalas. An’ how was all a waste of time. Just when Mei started ta understand it, the boss man tole them somethin. Somethin mean. An one of the big mean ones pulled out a big knife.

An’ then T got mad. Real mad.

Somehow, T grabbed at the fire, blue an’ red both. T pulled all the blue fire from the circle, through Mei. An’ took all the red fire too. But was not mixin back up, was all swirly red an’ blue. But T took it, all of it.

An’ then T’s eyes were all bright an’ glowly, an’ everything ‘xploded.

Everyone except T an’ Mei got blasted back. An’ then the bad people were on fire, an’ running around screaming. Fire everywhere. The chains on T melted away. An’ T set Mei free.

But was too much fire for T. Too much burnin. T was too full. Mei would feel it. The fire was leaking out, too much to hold. T was burnin up inside. T was dying.

So Mei tried to reach back in, ta take some of it away, like T did.

But T dien’t let go. Everythin in T’s mind was all mixed up an’ angry. Mei could see bits of T’s heart thoughts. The stuffs T didn’t share. Like pictures, of another burning house, an’ the bad people killing peoples. An’ another lala, a boy, with a face like Mei’s, like T’s, all grey an’ not breathing. An’ all the hurtings, an’ cuttings, an’ all the stuffs the bad people did.

An’ all of T’s mad feelings, burning ta make them all hurt. Just like they made everyone else hurt. Using the fire they put inside T.

T wooen’t let go of the fire, ‘cause of the hurting memories. Was hurting too much, an’ making T too mad to stop. An’ T woulda died.

So to save T, Mei took them.

When Mei took T’s memories, T was burning too much.Too much fire, inside an’ outside. Everything was burning. Mei had ta hurry. So Mei just grabbed at the fire an’ pulled. Was rushing, an’ not careful. Grabbed red, not blue. Grabbed too rough. Pulled too hard.

Something in T tore. T screamed an’ fell down.

But was already too late. Was no time.

The fire was spreading. Had ta get out. __________

Tala’s voice was raspy, both from repeating the story for Talin, and the emotions evoked by the tale itself.

“How did the two of you escape the fire?”

Mei shrugged. ~ Mei opened all the other cages. With other people. Mei didn’t know other peoples were there too. But was in Ts memory. Some of ‘em helped Mei an’ T up an’ out. But the fire made everything mixed up. An’ then outside moon cats came, an’ there was lotsa fighting. Was ‘lot of smoke. Too much. Mei fell ‘sleep, and when Mei work up, the house was burned up. An’ T was gone.~

“How didya get ta Ul’dah?”

The younger lala grimaced. ~Mei was picked up by some peoples headed ta Ul’dah. But got ‘way from them quick. They were not nice peoples. Not like the bad peoples, but not nice.~

“Okay, how ‘bout th’ bad people who did all this, are they still ‘round, d’ya know?”

Mei shook her head. ~Dunno. But Glassesman is dead. Mei saw.~

Blue eyes blinked. “Glasses-man?”

~Yes. Was who did needles, an’ icky drinks, an’ cuttings. Tole the big mean ones ta do hittings, an’ hurtings.~

“Kay, so the Glasses-man died. An’ th’ others, how bout th’ other bad ones? Did they get away?”

~Maybe? Too much fire, too much screaming. Running away.~ Mei’s expression darkened, eyes harsh. ~But maybe Watching-man. Sneaky. Hated most.~

“Why did you hate the ‘Watching Man’ the most?” Talin asked curiously.

Mei shook her head. ~Not Mei. T hated Watching-man most. Glasses ran ‘speriments, T said. But Watching-man was boss. Was bad, more bad than Glasses. T was bigger, knew more stuff. Saw more stuff. Tried to ‘splain. But Mei di'en understand.~  The younger lala touched the scar on her throat, looking uncomfortable. ~Mei’s crying made Watching-man mad, one time. So, this.~ *

Color drained from the older lala’s face.

Talin grit her teeth. With Mei’s permission, she’d taken a closer look at those silver scars. She’d even consulted with Kalen, hoping that perhaps his findings would be different than her own. But even Kalen agreed with her assessment -- the cuts were very precise, and very deliberate.

Someone with chirurgical training -- with healer’s training -- had intentionally stripped a young child of her voice. She’d suspected as such, but hearing it confirmed was sickening. And worse, it was done in such a way that the damage could not be healed, even with magical aid. All because someone found a terrified child’s cries annoying.

“Do ya remember anythin ‘bout him, the Watching-man?” Tala asked quietly.

Mei tilted her head to the side, thinking. ~A tall-folk. Not lala. Kinda thin. Always hidden. Covered face. Only heard. Spoke quiet. Deep, rumbly voice.~

“Covered? Covered how?”

~Wore a fancy mask.~ Mei covered her face with both hands, emulating a mask covering the top half of her face. ~An’ a weird thing on his chin.~ She used her thumb and forefinger to trace the shape of an odd, inverted goatee under her bottom lip -- one thin at the top, that widened at the bottom.

"If ya heard ’im talk again, could ya recognize his voice?"

~Dunno. Maybe? Been long time. Why?~

It wasn’t much to go on. Hardly anything at all. But it was something.

“ ‘Cause, Mei. If we find ‘im, I wanna be sure ya can tell is really him.”

Mei’s eyes widened. ~T is looking for Watching-man? Why?~

Tala nodded curtly. “Ta stop this from e’er happenin’ again.” __________

A.N. - sorry that it’s a little short.

*The incident of Mei having her voice silenced is actually posted as “Trapped by Forgotten Dreams”, and can be found here.

Tala can sometimes access her lost memories in her dreams. However, she doesn’t remember the dreams when she wakes. What’s more, when Tala has these nightmares, Mei usually shares the dream/memory at the same time, although neither of them realize this.

At least, not yet.

[cipherpolfiles]

Welcome to the grand opening of the newly created* CPFiles’ Corner!

* Newly created literally means I just came up with this crap, because I couldn’t find a suitable image from this week’s chapter (One Piece  865), so I recycled this from an edit I made back in September and added Judge into it; now Niji looks like a midget LOL. The layout ended up looking like it was advertising a section, so here we are. Hope you don’t mind. Also, sorry for the delay.

Here, I’ll try to analyse manga scenes, backgrounds/backstories and even offering critique on Oda’s treatment concerning certain characters, always taking the info we have on them into account. To sum it up, basically what I’ve been doing until now, but with a fancy name. Let’s go then!

As the section header claims, today I’ll be analysing the panels the Vinsmokes and Sanji had in chapter 865 ‘Hey, Mother’ and comparing them to what we already knew about this infamous family beforehand.

Now, everyone should know I find the Vinsmoke family interesting by now. Do I think they’re good, nice people? No, I don’t. Do I agree with their methods or ideology? Not a chance in hell, but that doesn’t automatically exclude the fact that I think they make fascinating characters. Just wanted to make sure you all understood that before anyone has the brilliant idea to accuse me of being pro-nazi or something of the sort.

Well, let’s begin with the actual analysis.

The first thing I noticed a few chapters back and that I kept wondering about during this chapter, was the change when it came to seating arrangements. See, as I said here, the immediate positions to the head’s right and left are always reserved for guests of honour or people/family members they have in great esteem. To date, as far as the Vinsmokes are concerned, these two positions have always been occupied by Reiju and Ichiji.

As you can see in the panels, Ichiji maintains his position at the seat of honour whereas Reiju has been replaced by Niji. What happened?

My first thought was that Judge had “demoted” his firstborn for everything that’s happened involving her, but then I remembered that he doesn’t know a thing about it, so there would be no reason to take away the seat from her.

Then I realised that, because it’s a big event with many guests, they probably had their seats assigned by Big Mom’s staff and didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Let’s go to the next panel.

This issue they keep repeating about needing the raid suits and Judge’s entire attitude when it comes to trusting Big Mom really bothers me, because it really shows just how inconsistent Oda is being when it comes to his characters during this arc.

1. Judge’s attitude

Judge was first introduced as a ruthless genius warlord and we later discovered he’s also a genius when it comes to science, since he discovered the lineage factor (good old DNA) along with Vegapunk.

Then we got this from Reiju. As I said before on another post, Reiju is basically telling us her father is a very cautious and rather distrustful man, but that even he seems to be taking the situation lightly. She makes him sound like he has some serious trust issues. What we were shown in chapter 864 though, is a Judge who blindly trusted a notorious pirate such as Big Mom would keep to their word, which is completely out of character for him.

This is not “taking a situation a bit lightly”, this is far beyond getting a little overconfident; it’s pure recklessness and it completely clashes with that cautiousness Oda was conveying at first. How can someone who is so wary and suspicious of everything, trust a criminal blindly and show up without any sort of back up plan?

2. The Raid Suits

This one REALLY bothers me. I understand Judge needing one, because he’s not genetically modified like his children are, but whatever do his kids need the raid suits for? Aside from being a bit of an extra help, I mean.

They have superhuman strength, speed and exoskeletons that are as hard as a rock and that function as a “natural” armour. These kids were already doing stuff like the images below show by the time they were 7-8 years old.

So I ask again, why would they need the raid suits if they already are human weapons themselves?

And, yes, I know that candy coating Perospero created for their bullets pierces through the exoskeleton, but the Vinsmokes don’t know that, with the exception of Reiju, who was actually the test subject for said bullets.

Anyway, moving on.

Afterwards, we got this page showing us Sanji’s desperate attempt to get to his blood-family before they’re murdered and Reiju playing martyr once again. I’m seriously getting tired of all this Saint Sanji and Saint Reiju stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love both characters, but there’s no need for Oda to keep repeating just how wonderful they both are over and over again, it’s getting old. I already commented on the “I’m ready to die” smile on another post, so I have nothing else to say about this.

Next time we see the Vinsmoke family is in this scene: Big Mom’s scream.

Let’s have a look at what seems to be going on in these panels.

A - Reiju. We can’t see her eyes, but we can see in her expression that she’s making an effort to stay conscious, although not too much. She does seem to be withstanding the wave rather well. On the lower panel, though, we see her slightly toppling over from her position, as if she were completely exhausted.

B - Yonji. He seems to be the most affected by the scream and Haki. Just by looking at his rolled eyes, he actually seems to be on the verge of losing consciousness. Thus, we can conclude his willpower is the weakest.

C - Niji. He seems to be one of the most affected by Big Mom’s Haki, along with Judge and Yonji. We cannot see his eyes, but just looking at his tense jaw and the veins popping up on his face, we can determine that he’s making a huge effort to stay conscious.

D - Ichiji. His facial expression seems a bit tighter than usual, but otherwise, he keeps being nearly impossible to read. He seems to be resisting the cry and haki combo rather effortlessly, but we can’t see his eyes, like in Niji’s case.

E - Judge. He seems to be holding his own rather well, actually. He’s grimacing and making an effort as the rest of them, but his eyes are not rolled back, not even an inch. His willpower is pretty strong.

Let’s continue with the next set of panels.

Ok, so Chopper plugs the Vinsmokes’ ears (Reiju’s in the picture) while Sanji destroys the candy that’s immobilising them.

Is no one else bothered by the fact that Reiju looks like her child/preteen self here? I mean, her face was drawn rounder, like that of a child’s; I don’t know, I just find her weird in these panels.

Also, I want to seize this opportunity to talk about the Vinsmoke eyebrows now that we have a rather good headshot of Judge.

As you can see, Judge’s eyebrows seem to be thick and unlikely to curl in the way his children’s eyebrows do (I’m not going to trust the anime right now, because they seem to be making an awful lot of mistakes this arc - the longleg lady, turning the raid suits into tights...). We also know that Sora’s didn’t curl at the end either. So my conclusion is that Oda was NOT joking when he said that maybe Sanji was a devil fruit in SBS Volume 45. It’s very possible that Judge might have actually mixed some devil fruit DNA into his children to make them more powerful, hence the swirly eyebrows they all have, but that they do not seem to have been inherited from their parents, or their mysterious ability to create/wield elemental powers (fire, lightning). I’m probably completely wrong, although it might be worth considering.

Next one is probably everyone’s favourite panel.

There it is!

The evolution from chwan to swan I joked about while comparing Sanji’s backstory to The Ugly Duckling.

This is clearly the moment when Judge realises, even if it’s for just a second since we don’t know what he’ll do next, that Sanji might not be a failure after all.They’re all awestruck, with the exception of Niji, who isn’t even looking at Sanji at all. Wonder if that has a hidden meaning or he’s just trying to get up after being trapped by candy for a while.

I must say it’s nice to see Ichiji with an expression other than anger or a blank face, but it’s obvious he doesn’t understand why Sanji is doing this. He can’t wrap his mind around the fact that he’s being saved by someone he had bullied all his childhood. Also, notice how the panel is specifically designed to leave Reiju out of it, because she already knows how great Sanji is. This was clearly planned to be the moment for the rest of the family to realise the greatness that is Sanji and be forced to look up to him for once.

And last but not least, we have this panel.

Nami and Carrot handing their respective raid suit to each Vinsmoke.

Once again, Ichiji seems lost and doesn’t really know how to react to these people who are giving their all to help them even though they were nasty to them and Sanji turned them away rather rudely the previous day. Not much else to mention here, except for what I already said here: Ichiji’s ears go from elf to normal every other panel he appears in, which is not important per se, but I find it funny.

My God, that was long!

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