#luffy would throw everything on the line to protect his friends. i know this

[koobiie]

Do you have any favourite one piece moments?

just found this in my inbox lol, im sorry for answering this late! but my favorite one piece moment is post marineford, when luffy is crushed about losing ace, but then is reminded that he still has so much to live for - 

to me it really embodies what one piece is all about to me. it’s about adventure, about freedom, about justice, but above all it’s about the power of friendship, as cheesy as it sounds. luffy’s dream may be to become the pirate king, but the most important thing to him in the world by far is his friends.

[sanjisboyfie]

๑ keep safe : [name] joins the strawhats! (3)

one piece x male reader

it's you, it's you 

it's all for you 

everything i do 

i tell you all the time

『 prev 』

it had been so long since [name] sailed away from windmill village.

three years, that’s how long it’d been since he’d last seen luffy, ace, or dadan. he had visited more islands than he could count, most of those being accidental visits rather than purposeful. he had encountered interesting, aspiring pirates. and was in the presence of a pleasant pirate for a couple of months as well.

besides that point, though, he sincerely did miss luffy. and he couldn’t wait any longer. he kept himself posted to a particular island.

“oi! get off this island, or else boss will hear about it!” a “civilian” cried out, throwing food at [name] as he tied his shabby boat to be anchored to the island.

“you’re banned, stupid pirate! we don’t want you here! you’re unwelcome and a terrible guest!”

“cut the shit, i hate this island more than you’d ever know, but you gotta understand i’m not staying here by will!” [name] argued, seemingly equal annoyed at the people of the island. “i got someone to wait for! and i don’t wanna hear shit about it from any of you!”

he gripped the handle of his sword tightly and looked at each of their angered faces.

“if you have a problem with that, tell your boss to come down here himself and deal with me,”

“you brat!”

“i’m really not in the mood,” [name] said in a bored tone. “i’m going to sleep, you all leave me alone,”

and he walked off.

now, he had been lodging on the island for a couple of months now. he was training everyday, having nothing else better to do with his time, and making sure to check the newspaper everyday.

if any new of luffy broke out, he wanted to read and hear of it as soon as possible. and it seemed that luffy was making waves in the east blue! he already acquired himself a bounty.

“luffy!” [name] cried out the moment he saw the poster slip out of the newspaper roll. “you look so happy! i’m so glad!”

a childish grin broke out on his face as he hugged the poster, imagining that it was his dear friend instead. wordlessly, he unsheathed his sword.

a wave of power washed over the area he was in, causing him to curse as things were beginning to fall off of the shelves and tables. hurriedly, he cut out the photo of luffy.

just as the ground was beginning to shake more violently and the floorboards beneath his feet were cracking due to his sword being released from its confinement, he put it right back into its protective casing.

“maybe i should invest in a dagger…” he mumbled to himself noticing how much the area around him shifted with the presence of his sword.

he hummed happily as he looked at the photo only last time before putting it under the cloth that was tie around his wrist. it was fitting snuggly, peaking out from beneath the dark makeshift bracelet.

“seeing luffy has me so pumped up!” he exclaimed, taking his sword and pulling the strap over his chest. “i’ve got to go and get warmed up for when he arrives!”

he ran out of his home, which was far and secluded from the other “civilians.” he was up in a vacant area where there would be nothing to bother him. he unsheathed his sword once more, seeing a wide space ahead for him to practice on.

immediately after the sword was unveiled, he strongly swung his dominant hand that was holding it to cut the air in front of him. he chuckled as he saw the affects of his gifted sword and repeated the same action.

his laughter echoed in the hills as well as the sound of pure destruction as he got carried away in his happiness.

‘soon enough,’ he thought as he continued training to his hearts content, ‘luffy is gonna make it to the grand line! and he’s gonna come get me! man, i’m so excited just thinking about it!’

“woohoo!” he cried out, jumping up in the air and cutting down all the trees that were around him in one spin. they were all cut down for miles, as far as his eyes could see.

and despite his destructive habits, he was still humming that soothing song.

the people in the town all flinched as they felt another strong wave of tremors shake the ground beneath their feet. not only were they experiencing mild earthquakes every now and then, but the sound of trees and rocks falling as well as [name]’s happy humming was enough to put them on edge.

and annoy them.

they weren’t getting anyone visiting their island recently, leaving them with nothing to do. besides eat, sleep, and repeat. and because of that their resources were dimming down in abundance.

they just needed a pirate crew to pass through! to collect their share of any resource and then throwing them straight to their boss, especially if the pirates had any bounty on their head.

they had tried convincing their boss to just come visit quickly to collect [name], as his bounty was more than enough to be satisfactory for collection, but he always refused. reasons were unknown. but he said it was that he was too busy with other things. and most of his underlings believed it to a small extent.

but finally, it seemed that their prayers were answered one fine night.

the pirate ship with a sheep head and a strawhat jolly roger had sailed onto their ports.

and then they all played their roles perfectly well. they did as they were told, prayed that [name] wouldn’t ruin this for them, and tried to get the pirates to let their guard down.

seeing as one of them was more than comfortable letting his guard down, especially with women, and another one was eager to get his ego boosted, it was fairly simple. drown the captain with food to put him in a food coma and drown the other two with booze to make them pass out.

and their plan was going perfectly…until it wasn’t.

the one with green hair, named roronoa zoro, had caused them nothing but trouble the entire night. he was fighting one after the next, a seemingly satisfied and cocky smirk on his lips.

meanwhile, up in the mountains [name] was doing nothing but swinging his sheathed sword around his makeshift home. things were all a mess. stuff that was supposed to be on the shelf was on the floor, all furniture in his home was destroyed and the doors and windows were now open gaps, to let air blow in freely.

he hummed a tune that always calmed him down, putting his weapon down as he realized that it was now nighttime. he stepped outside of his home briefly, to light the light post outside with a match to exhibit a new bright burning light.

he didn’t look out into town.

which was a shame because if he did, he would have seen a beautiful sight of baroque workers getting their asses beat by a certain green-haired swordsman.

the night and town was lively, but [name] didn’t know that. he was stuck in his own bubble of personal relaxation and anticipation. he was busy sharpening and cleaning his sword, in a meticulous fashion before he was interrupted by a rough shake going through the ground beneath him.

he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, opening the door to his small home and looking out into town. his eyeballs almost popped out of his head as he saw piles of bodies were littering the streets, “when’d all that happen?!” he cried incredulously.

silence passed and no more sudden tremors were affecting him.

so he just yawned and decided it was time to sleep rather than investigate.

but then out of nowhere, another explosion had went off.

and this time he was pissed.

“i’m just trying to sleep!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, annoyed with the predicament of being constantly woken up from his slumber.

so he threw on a proper outfit, the sword to be strapped across his back, and made sure the cloth around his wrist was tied tightly. then he made it out of his home. he slammed the door shut, took in a deep breath, and forced himself down to the ports of the island.

a simple muttering of, ‘soru,’ allowed for him to be down there in an instant. it was easy to find the ship as it was the only one on the dock. but it seemed they were beginning to set sail, as their sails unfurled.

“right, show me the jolly roger of the poor crew i’m gonna slaughter,” he said grimly, watching as the ship was beginning to make its way to him. he was about to see the jolly roger, but decided against it, “what if its some crazy strong guy? it’ll be like a surprise!” he said to himself, “surprise, surprise, who’s there?~”

he jumped off of the side of the river and onto the fence of the ship. it seemed everyone was in a hurry to get away from the island, not even acknowledging his presence. so he allowed himself to sit on the head of the ship and lay down, deciding that attacking when their anxieties were lowered would be better. and funnier.

“hey! gimme my hat back! who do you think you are?!”

his eyes shut open in an instant. he sat upright in the blink of an eye and looked at the main deck where the crew was gathered. he scanned all of them. seeing green hair. orange hair, blue hair, and blonde hair. then finally, a familiar head of black hair.

his eyes were wide as he took in luffy’s frame, running the questions if it were seriously him over and over in his head. it only took him a moment to confirm it. but then he looked up, to where the whole crew was looking.

sitting on one of the feces of the ship was a woman dressed in a purple two piece. and atop her head was luffy’s strawhat, on top of her own.

“oi,” he murmured under his breath, brows furrowing in anger. he used soru once more, putting himself right next to the woman, but with his back to the crew. he kept his sword in the sheath, holding it to her neck.

“take off that strawhat. now.” he said, glaring at her with nothing but fury.

everyone on deck paused, their blood running cold as they realized another unknown, seemingly dangerous figure was aboard their ship. his sword's sheath was shining in the moonlight and zoro gulped at the sight of it, the aura it was radiating was enough to make his heart drop.

the waves of power that were emitting from both the mystery man and sword sent the crew into a still state.

as for the woman wearing purple, a single drop of sweat rolled down the side of her face as she recognized who her threatener was.

“and what business do you have on this ship, cursed one?”

the nickname seemed to fly over luffy’s head, as he was too focused on his strawhat, but everyone else in the crew locked eyes on him immediately.

“that’s not your business, get off this ship and take off that hat, now,” he said, moving his wrist ever so slightly to point it even closer to her neck.

she didn’t flinch at the feeling of the dull tip of the scabbard leaning into her skin, though, and instead complied.

“well, you pirates have the eternal pose i lent you, and i’m here to tell you it’s the smarter and safer choice, choose to believe me or not,” she spoke once more, directing her eyeline to all of the pirates on the deck below. “but if you do survive the route of little garden, then we shall meet again,”

she threw the hat onto luffy’s head and kicked herself off of the railing, jumping off the side of the ship onto her own transport (a huge turtle).

now that she was kicked off board, all eyes were on their other intruder.

“the cursed one-! the most well known pirate rookie to ever come of the east blue…” nami’s voice was shaking as she saw the man’s figure. first, that miss all sunday woman and now this! she just couldn’t catch a break! not to mention now, a warlord was actively going to try hunting them to their deaths now.

“you,” zoro grumbled in distaste, recognizing the man that had his back turned to the crew, “what are you doing here?!”

“huh? who’s that guy?”

“luffy, you seriously gotta catch up and learn names!” usopp shouted in disbelief, hiding behind the main mast while his legs were shaking.

”the pirate rookie that set off to sail 3 years ago, worth 200,000,000 milllion beri! he’s the one on our ship right now!” nami shouted, looking to zoro or luffy for help. get the man off of the ship, her eyes screamed.

but luffy was just even more confused. so he asked the man himself, “oi, who are you?” in that carefree and childish tone of his.

“luffy,” [name] began, putting the sword back into its protective sleeve and throwing it over his back, “you serious right now?”

“hah? i have no business with you - get off my ship too!”

in an instant, [name] turned around and kicked himself off of the railing and towards luffy. a wide grin was on his face as he crashed into the rubber man and brought him to fall on his back onto the main deck.

“that’s how you’re gonna greet me?!”

the crew was standing still as they processed the fact that [name] was on top of their captain, seemingly threatening his life. but things became weirder when they realized: luffy was grinning from ear to ear.

they’d never seen him smile so large before.

“[name]!” he shouted in glee, shooting his arms up into the air, both arms going past [name]’s sides and going straight up.

“luffy!” [name] reciprocated the energy, preparing for luffy’s rubber arms to crash back down.

in a second, luffy’s arms came back to their persons, wrapping around [name] more times than he could count.

“you’re here! you’re really here! haha! [name]!” luffy shouted, scrambling to find the right words to convey his excitement as he nuzzled his head into [name]’s neck over and over again.

the strawhat fell of his head at his forceful actions, making [name] catch it with a smile. he would’ve wrapped his arms around luffy in return, but they were caged in a rubber prison.

“you found me! i’m so happy!”

“of course i’d find you! i missed you luffy!”

there was s silence that fell onto the ship as they saw the reunion. then finally nami broke it up by shouting, “luffy explain yourself, now!”

“this is [name]! i grew up with him on my home island!” luffy explained, although that explanation did little to ease their worries or answer their questions.

“give us more than that to work with!” nami shouted, this time in anger and annoyance.

“don’t you know who he is?!” usopp yelled in fear, his knees obviously wobbly and shaking.

“yeah, he’s [name]!” luffy said proudly, poking [name]’s cheek repeatedly.

luffy was sat on [name]’s lap, [name]’s own legs sprawled out long on the deck as their captain’s legs were wrapped around his waist. as for [name]’s torso, it was completely caged in luffy’s rubber arms.

“wrong answer!” usopp shouted in disbelief.

“what do you mean? this is [name], guys!” luffy said, once again in a too casual tone for his crewmates. “i’ve known him since i was a kid, what’s the big deal?”

luffy’s tone was whining as he saw the scared looks on all of their faces, especially nami, vivi, and usopp.

“what the fuck?” zoro breathed out, recognizing [name]’s face in an instant and not believing his chances of running into him being like this.

“oh! mosshead!” [name] screamed cheerfully. he would have once again used his arms to greet him, but luffy had him completely trapped.

“don’t call me that!” zoro said, bringing his sword out from its sheath and going to cut [name]’s head clean off.

if it weren’t for his captain’s head swinging in front of his blade instead, “zoro! don’t attack [name]! he’s apart of the crew!”

“DON’T JUST MAKE DECISIONS LIKE THAT!” the rest of the crew shouted in disbelief.

“no! i’m serious! [name]’s been apart of the crew since i was little!”

“well, not since then,” [name] corrected, looking sheepish, “i used to think i wanted a crew of my own, but-”

“but now he’s a strawhat! hehehe!”

luffy finally unwrapped his arms from [name]’s body, standing the both of them up before jumping around [name] in happiness, “tell me all the stories of your adventures! i want to know everything!”

“oi! luffy, you’re seriously treating this too casually,” sanji said, lighting his cigarette and blowing smoke out.

“everyone knows who he is,” vivi said, still standing in shock and fear, “why is he on your ship?!”

“because he’s apart of the crew!”

“don’t say it again like it’s true!” usopp shouted once more.

[name] looked at the crew, pursing his lips, “i understand if you guys don’t like me, because of whatever news you’d read, but i’m only here to help!”

“what could you possibly do to honestly help us!? with a bounty as high as yours you’d do nothing but cause us more trouble! oh, the marines are gonna seriously be after us now!” nami shouted in agony, thinking of the constant running the crew would have to be doing now.

“i think you’ve got to worry about having a princess held hostage on your ship as more concerning,” [name] said, yawning as he pointed his thumb in the direction of vivi, “say princess vivi, what are you doing so far from home?”

vivi’s legs trembled as [name] addressed her directly, her shaky feet stepping backwards to make some space between the two.

“tell me! did crocodile put you up to this?! first miss all sunday and now you! how much is he paying you for my head?!”

[name] seemed shocked at the sudden shouting, especially when it was the accusations she was screaming about him. he put his hands up in surrender, meaning to show that he meant no harm.

“i’ve never even spoken to this crocodile you’re talking about,” [name] said, defending himself, “…but the animal sure is tasty, now i want to eat some crocodile!”

‘they’re more similar than they seem!’ the crew all thought, noticing how luffy jumped up at the thought of eating crocodile.

“wow! good idea [name]! we should eat some crocodile! sanji, we’re hungry, hungry!”

the blonde cook eyed the newcomer in suspicion, not liking the fact that his presence alone was sending the beautiful woman on the ship into an anxious state. he puffed out some smoke in displease, eyeing [name] with disgust.

“i don’t like him being on board with us,” sanji said simply.

“one thing we can agree on then, pervy cook,” zoro mumbled, not pleased with seeing [name] again.

“oh! what was it we said we’d do if we ever saw each other, fight again right?”

zoro’s forehead was now full of angry tick marks as [name] got to quick work in trying to get a duel started.

“remember when i beat you last time? you remember?!” he said in a sing song voice.

zoro was ready to cut him in two had it not been for luffy interfering, again.

“no fighting amongst crew members!”

“he’s not a crew member!” half of the people on board shouted at their captain.

“he is if it say he is!” luffy shot back, crossing his hands over his chest in his usual stubborn fashion. “and i say so - so he is!”

nami smacked her forehead with her palm, not understanding how simple minded her captain could be. zoro grit his teeth, picking up on luffy’s words being a direct captain’s order, and decided to not pick any more fights. usopp couldn’t say anything as he was stuck in a state of shock. sanji was silent, not sure how to feel.

luffy went back to doting on [name], attaching onto his back like he was a backpack.

“[name]! come on let me show you around! this is the going merry!”

“she’s a beautiful boat,” [name] said gently, looking at the small, but sufficient boat.

this comment made usopp forget his fears as he went on to boast about how magnificent the going merry was, “she’s simply the best boat out there as is! only the greatest crew deserves her which is why we get to sail with her!”

[name] smiled softly at the obvious joy the ship brought to usopp. he could respect that amount of admiration. just as he was about to say another compliment, to fuel the man’s happiness, sanji interrupted him.

“oi! luffy, is it really the smartest to take this guy onto our ship right now?” he asked, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

“what? i’m the captain, whatever i say goes!”

“well, obviously, but use your head for once. vivi-sama is a princess, not only is that enough of a reason to be suspicious of [name] joining all of a sudden, but she’s also got a bounty on her head. we’ve already promised to deliver her safely to alabasta, even if you don’t think he’s a threat,” sanji sighed, glaring daggers into [name]’s head, “he could endanger vivi-sama by his mere presence alone and i’d never forgive that!”

[name] chuckled at the obvious favoritism luffy’s crewmate had to women, but it seemed sanji didn’t find anything funny at all. in fact, [name]’s laughter only enraged him more.

“what’s so funny?! you think the idea of a beautiful woman such as vivi-sama being in harm’s way is funny?! what’s your issue, seriously?!”

“that’s definitely not why i was laughing,” [name] said simply.

“so explain it to me!”

“i don’t have to explain anything to you!” [name] said, enjoying the riled up look on sanji’s face and the, supposed, real hatred oozing from him.

“oi, sanji! i’m the captain and if i say [name] stays on board, he’s staying! besides, [name], you wouldn’t be the type to endanger your own friends would you?!” luffy was seemingly serious, so [name] nodded back with reciprocated energy.

”of course i wouldn’t, if these people are important to you luffy,” [name] looked at all of their faces, some looking scared for what he was about to say next, whilst others (zoro and sanji) simply looked annoyed, “then i’ll protect them too, since that makes them my friends as well,”

“don’t wanna be friends with you,” sanji and zoro said in monotone voices, waving their hands in disinterest.

it seemed that his words didn’t ease vivi’s worries either, who only looked the other way.

it seemed that he only really had luffy’s trust on the ship, maybe even the long nosed guy, but he highly doubted it.

it’s alright, he’s used to proving himself to be good hearted anyway. although he wished there was a more natural way of getting the crew to trust him, as they were important to luffy so they were important to him as well, but there wasn’t anything he could do change how things were now.

he’d just have to prove himself true to his words by his actions.

_

[ .ᐟ ] the babygirls (luffy and [name]) have been reunited <3

ー

『 prev 』 ˗ˏˋ꒰ 🌊 ꒱ 『 next 』

[beanghostprincess]

You know, One Piece is all fun and happyness untill you learn that the world and themes are actually some of the darkest and most depressing things that were ever put on paper. The biggest potrayal of this tho is the fact that many characters have different running gags and quirks that are actually products of their horrible past trauma and messed up life.

Luffy- Wants to befriends literally everybody because of his fear of being alone and picks fights with all the people he doesn't like because he wants to protect his friends.

Nami- Her greed and kleptomania were developed because her mom literally died because sge was poor and was never able to give her and Nojiko all they wanted/needed.

Usopp- Makes absurd lies about everything because as a kid he had to keep lying to keep his mother happy and when she died he kept on doing so to keep himself safe.

Sanji- Puts all women on a super high pedestal because growing up women like his mom and sister wrre the only good people in his life and men like his Judge and his brothers were fucking awful.

Brook and Robin- Super S tier dark humor to cope with S tier dark trauma.

In other words, One Piece is just a comedy passing drmatic anime, but I think we all already knew that.

Ah, yes, I love this topic so much.

But I wouldn't say One Piece is a "comedy passing dramatic anime". One Piece is both comedy and drama. The drama doesn't hide behind comedy at any moment. You don't have to actively look for it or read between the lines to understand the characters. I think Oda is an amazing writer because he manages to just tell us/show us about his characters in the clearest and most obvious of ways. He throws hints at us over the episodes to then explaining it to us very carefully how his characters are built. This is why I find so difficult to understand why people (mainly from the general audience or, y'know, dudebros) don't get the characters in the first watch/read. An example of a comedy passing dramatic show would probably be just any sort of satiric comedic show in which they don't actually address the drama but instead make jokes about it. Like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (God I love that sitcom).

I know what you mean, though. You're talking about the whole "making jokes/running gags about something when the reason behind them is actually way deeper". And I agree wholeheartedly.

Luffy has abandonment issues and that's why he keeps wanting to protect his friends and hates being alone, Nami sees money as safety and comfort because her mom died because they lacked money, Usopp's lies come from trying to make her mom happy because his dad left them, Sanji has an obsession with women because they're the only ones who never hurt him, Brook and Robin have no filter when it comes to dark humor because they've been alone for so long that the only way they have to cope is jokes and nobody gets them except them... And also:

We treat Zoro's relationship with Tashigi as comedic at some points but he has so much trauma regarding his best friend dying that he can't be close to someone who looks like her.

We make fun of and exaggerate Sabo's love for Luffy to the point of brocon/possessiveness because he literally spent most of his life having forgotten him and when he remembers his brothers, one of them dies, so of course he wants to look after the little one.

Boa's love for Luffy exists exclusively because she feels safe around him and it's the first man who has never seen her as a sexual object.

And a lot more of these but, basically, Oda is great at character building and writing because these are not things that you have to read between the lines. These are not exaggerations for the reader to understand what's going on with the characters. These are just trauma responses that constantly happen in real life. It's just a well-written story with awesome, realistic characters, and I absolutely love it.

[arielxlazarus]

I almost forgot about that fanfic appreciation week, but I wanted to at least do something for it! So here's a rec list for some of my favorite fics in the one piece fandom!

This list is not at all exhaustive btw (there's still loads of other fics in the fandom that I love), so please don't feel bad if you weren't included! Also if anyone wants more recommendations from me, you can check out my bookmarks on my ao3!

Who Knows (what could happen) by Chromi

Rating: T

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: For as long as he could remember, he had wanted to set out to sea as an adventurer. His father, unfortunately, dictated that he was to follow the family tradition and become a doctor instead.

Following a lifetime of hurt and sorrow at the hands of his family, he eventually breaks free and takes to the sea alone - determined to keep it that way. Fate has other ideas in store for him; fate crosses his path with Portgas D. Ace's, a brand new pirate.

And what does he hate more than pirates?

Nothing.

Or: from Sixis to the Moby Dick - the lives of the Spade pirates.

First Time by Chromi

Rating: E

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: "Because it is Ace, and it will only ever be Ace, that he wants to see like this, and he wants to be responsible for unravelling him down to his core and loving him to his very center."

In which Ace and Deuce go all the way for the first time.

@chromiwrites

Seabound by AnkhPosts

Rating: T

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Ace is a selkie, making one of his periodic stops on land to catch a breather and get some ridiculously tasty human food, maybe see some sights if there are any. His pelt is safely hidden, he'll stay a day or two at most and be on his way.

Deuce is a mer, alone on the sea and traveling as he pleases for the first time in his life, and while he might not be terribly interested in actually interacting with humans it's hard not to see them as fascinating.

Ace meets Deuce. Deuce meets Ace. Neither knows the other isn't human.

@ankhposts

Death is only the beginning by Chizyk

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: “Ankhreshet?” he whipped his head round at the sound of a raspy voice so fast he almost got whiplash. He could feel his body going completely cold as he saw the mummy’s empty eye sockets staring right at him.

@chizyk

I'm Still Here (part of a series) by theprodigypenguin

Rating: M

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace (also Izou/Sabo later in the series)

Summary: "When I do die, don't bother burying me in that empty grave. Put my body in a boat and set me out to sea. Let me sleep eternal on the ocean that my father loved so much; because before everything else in this world, I am a child of the sea, and when I die, I want to return to it. Put me in a boat and set it aflame so I can go down in the same fire I lived."

Forget-Me-Not Fall by theprodigypenguin

Rating: M

Pairing: Izou/Sabo

Summary: “Most of the nobles I’ve met tonight look meticulously put together. They look like they were built to portray a certain image paralleled a hundred times over. People who were copied and pasted. Flawless clothes, flawless faces, flawless makeup, flawless hair.”

“Not me though,” Sabo stated, and Izou hummed.

“It’s comforting.”

“Huh?”

Izou met Sabo’s eye. “Everyone else in this place hides their worst attributes with a mask they modified to fit their faces. They don’t seem to comprehend that those perfect masks only make their worst characteristics more pronounced and defined.” His expression was terribly gentle as his eyes wandered across Sabo’s face. “It’s comforting to be approached by someone not trying to be something else.”

Sabo tilted his head. “How do you know I’m not manipulating you like some common Goa aristocrat?”

Izou smiled. “There are a few reasons.”

@theprodigypenguin

A Light To Guide You Home by TheSkyIsMyHome

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: In a world that despises mutants, Ace lives purely to protect his little brother.

Until the flames inside him find their perfect match and opposite, and he doesn't know what to feel anymore.

The Phoenix's Mate by TheSkyIsMyHome

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Marco is a handsome man. Ace really can't be blamed for being attracted to him. Nobody minds, either.

But Marco isn't always a man. Ace still loves him regardless, and his sexual urges are catching up to that fact.

Marco indulges him, but he might just find himself enjoying it more than he thought he would.

@evvazi

ASL in Red (series) by Kereea

Rating: G-T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law (both asexual), Koala/Sabo, Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks/Benn Beckman, Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante/Aokiji | Kuzan, Roronoa Zoro/Sanji, and several other minor ones

Summary: In an alternate universe, forces conspired to put Ace, Sabo, and Luffy in the care of the Red Hair pirates as children.

The Grand Line would never know what hit it.

Mates (part of a series) by Deubatty

Rating: E

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Deuce just wanted to go searching for plants! A nice walk in the woods. Except, he ends up becoming the mate to a very persistent naga

His First Mate The Mermaid (part of a series) by Deubatty

Rating: T

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Instead of finding another person on Sixis, Ace finds a mermaid

@masked-writer

Being Human by MaiKusakabe

Rating: E (no smut)

Pairing: None (heavy focus on the platonic relationships between Marco, Whitebeard, and the rest of the crew as they form)

Summary: The line that differentiates human from object appears to be clear, but sometimes it blurs to the point where it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

The Unknown Devil by MaiKusakabe

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Ace hadn’t expected his last week of imprisonment before his execution to be any different from all the years preceding it. Then again, he hadn’t expected to have Marco the Phoenix as a cellmate for that week, or that Marco’s presence would shake his bleak world so much.

Ripple Effect by MaiKusakabe

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: After the incident with Shanks, Garp didn't take Luffy to Dadan's, unaware of how much that would change the life of his other grandson.

@maisstories

To Build a Home by endlessblankpages

Rating: G

Pairing: None (heavy focus on the platonic relationships between the ASL bros and the Whitebeard Pirates)

Summary: The ASL pirates are used to being accused of crimes they didn't commit. But when they're accused of destroying a small village in the New World, it sends them hurtling toward a deadly confrontation with the strongest man in the world, Whitebeard. The results are not what they were expecting.

Persistence & The Impossible (part of a series) by dragonsfall

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: In order to keep himself from losing his job, Ace takes on an impossible story. Get an interview with the ever-elusive Phoenix. Guess he might as well kiss his job goodbye.

Self Discovery (part of a series) by dragonsfall

Rating: E

Pairing: Izou/Sabo (sort of, it's technically masturbation)

Summary: Sabo has been waiting for a day like this for a while but it doesn’t go quite how he planned it.

@clockworkpanic

A Breach of Intention by Depths

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: It was unspoken, but some pirate crews and mermaids had an unspoken solidarity. Pirates throw their enemies overboard, and the merfolk will take care of them.

mer!ace au

@leviathiane

Running on All Sixes by lunarshores

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace, minor Izou/Thatch

Summary: The Whitebeard gang might be one of the most influential in the city, but to Marco they're just his family. Though he sometimes wishes they'd just leave him alone, especially when Izo's playing matchmaker, and Ace is his usual oblivious self. When a brother betrays them, they'll have to fight to show why no one ever messes with their family.

nothing is impossible with you by lunarshores

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Five times Ace and Marco accidentally mixed their flames on accident and one time that was entirely on purpose.

@lunarshores

I Want You to Look at Me by shockandlock

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: One night, Marco is missing from dinner, so Ace decides to bring dinner to him. He's surprised to see Marco wearing glasses and now he can't stop thinking about the way he looks. Now with additional chapter(s) including more miscellaneous MarcoAce PWP!

To My Dear Fire (part of a series) by shockandlock

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Living in the city is a new thing for Ace. After being raised near a cozy coastal mountain town through his childhood, it's definitely a change of pace, but it doesn't help when he loses his new job after an unfortunate encounter with actor Marco Newgate. He just wants to live-- and meet his long time pen pal, Phoenix.

Marco knows that being an actor is hard, so he takes the little things when he can: writing his pen pal (and honestly one of his best friends) Fire Fist, flirting with the cute new waiter at his favorite café-- not that he has a chance after a disaster on social media. But maybe fate really does give him a second chance when Ace shows up at Four Emperor Studios...

@shockandlock

Uncharted Territory by silverwolf_fox

Rating: E

Pairing: Masked Deuce/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: This was by far one of Ace's most ridiculous ideas.

When Deuce keeps getting flustered everytime he tries to dominate Ace, they created an opportunity where he didn't have to be afraid of messing up.

Now he's free to do and try whatever he wants...

...so long as Ace doesn't wake up.

Watching the Sunrise (part of a series) by silverwolf_fox

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Many years have passed since Rouge gave up her life for her son’s...except she didn’t die, but she thinks Ace did. Living her life on Baterilla, she’s mourned each and every day until the morning she receives his bounty poster. She sets off immediately to find him, but finds their meeting isn’t as easy as she’d imagined.

@the-devil-fruit-tree

never shall i forget, how you climbed out of a dream by siojo

Rating: T

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: “Kaido,” Ace smirks, flames burning around his feet as he shifts in preparation for Kaido’s next attack, already trying to decide what he’s going to do in response. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You’ve seemed to have been enjoying yourself here.”

“I thought you would be smarter than this, Portgas. You’ve never tried to fight another Yonko before, your bounty won’t matter much when you lose.”

Ace barks a laugh, his teeth bared in a facsimile of a grin, “You must have missed out on the brawl I had with Big Mom after she sent two of her daughters and a son for me to consider marrying. This is a bit more personal than that.”

@wordsdrippinginink

Reborn in Fire by aerle

Rating: M

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Fireman Marco has earned the nickname 'the Phoenix' by saving numerous people from a certain death. After an accident however, he has to relearn to walk and gets a new job as arson inspector at a different fire station. There he gets confronted with a boy from his past, now all grown up and gorgeous.

Three's a Crowd, Four's a Double Date by aerle

Rating: M

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace (main), Izou/Thatch (secondary)

Summary: "We're not dating," Marco said definitively. "That we're sharing a bed tonight is a total coincidence."

@aerle

Universal Dive by EmpressKira

Rating: M

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Ace had been making his way through the city to go to one of his favorite cafes. Well, that was until this hole ripped in the sky and some pirate fell out with the flaming bird guy following. Getting targeted, he is dragged into a different world with pirates and everything defying the reality he is used to. Will he make it home? Will he go back when the time comes?

@empresskira

Blue moon (series) by de_Winter

Rating: T-M

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Urban fantasy AU, werewolf Marco and witch Ace

Red Velvet by de_Winter

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: Ace already knew their routine by heart, just from observing them for a couple of mornings when he had early delivery, and from Izou’s daily long winded—and probably sexually frustrated—rants. Big Blond would come out of the bakery wearing a shirt too tight for him and too thin for the weather as soon as he was done setting up the tables inside the storefront, holding a take out cup and a small box in his big hands. They looked really, pleasantly big from where Ace was standing, and he honestly wished he wasn't standing that far away.

@dee-de-winter

We'll Look Back and Laugh at Ourselves by JuHuaTai

Rating: M

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace, minor Gol D. Roger/Portgas D. Rouge

Summary: Between his new boyfriend and his workaholic boss, Marco felt like he was surrounded by family issues of the father and son dispute variety. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

Or maybe he should've listened to the office gossip more. Maybe then he'd figure it out sooner.

Gratitude of the Phoenix (part of a series) by JuHuaTai

Rating: M

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: [Based on 'The Crane Wife' Folklore]

One day, he saved a bird from freezing to death in a trap. Then, a stranger saved him from suffering the same fate, and a request to stay for one night turned into having someone to fill the void left in the small cottage and in his heart ever since his brothers left.

These two incident doesn’t seem to be related to one another, but they both changed Ace’s life in ways he could never have imagined.

Watashitachi wa Roger kaizoku desu (we still stand proud) by stereden

Rating: T

Pairing: None (heavy focus on Buggy, Shanks, and Crocus)

Summary: The Roger Pirates disappeared after their Captain's death, and were happy enough to let the Marines forget about them.

Until the Marines decide to execute their Captain's son, that is.

@stereden

This Bites! by Xomniac

Rating: M

Pairing: None (heavy focus on a main character oc and the strawhat pirates)

Summary: Sea Kings, sea-sickness, sunburns, a 95% genocidal Navy and more than a million and one other assorted ways to die. It's official: Being inserted into an anime sucks ass... Buuut I guess it could be worse. I mean, look on the bright side: At least I'm sailing with the future king of the pirates.

A Fortune that Never Grows Old by imperialmint

Rating: E

Pairing: Marco the Phoenix/Portgas D. Ace

Summary: It's one thing to get butterflies in your stomach when you seen an attractive person but it's another thing entirely for Marco to want to stomp out a courtship ritual and lay foundations for a nest when he meets the navy's new (hot) secret weapon.

@imperialmint

Most of the authors on this list have many other excellent one piece fics I'd definitely suggest checking out! Enjoy your reading and try to show them all some love if you can!

[robinchan-hananomi]

Ok, so some quick thoughts on One Piece 1038. First, I’m glad to know that not everyone escaped Whole Cake Island unscathed. I’m not surprised Judge and Ichiji would leave Niji and Yonji behind and honestly I don’t feel bad for them at all, but it is good to know that everyone didn’t slip out without a problem. We’ll probably have more to deal with that down the line, but not at the moment.

What do we have to deal with at the moment? Well Luffy’s fighting Kaido and Sanji’s still out, Usopp is still pulling the samurai to safety, Nami is still with Tama, and Brook and Robin are probably still together. Now we got Franky trying to find Zoro and Jinbei trying to hold up a ceiling to protect as many people as possible.

Chopper is normal sized again and he gives us a reminder that because Zoro took that drug, his body is going to be dealt back nearly twice the damage he would have had before. Then we see Zoro, who is currently so hurt he’s paralyzed. Even more concerning is the grim reaper like being standing over him, bringing a scythe down on him. Think Zoro cheated death one too many times that Death himself is like ‘yeah, no more?’ I know it’s unlikely Oda is going to kill Zoro, but it’s still nerve wracking.

Zoro’s current and future condition along with the strain on Chopper’s body and the changes that Sanji are going through is actually a bit of a relief to me. They are taking on two Yonko at once. If we hadn’t taken on so much damage I would almost feel like we were being jipped in this fight.

No idea where Marco is right now, but we also see Yamato trying their best to keep the flame monster from blowing up the whole island. And then we got Izo. Izo sustained some heavy damage helping Usopp and the others escape, only to wonder into CP0. CP0 decide to ignore Izo for the moment, as they are more interested in capturing Robin. Why CP0 wants Robin is a whole other mess, but Izo is a man of code. He is there to avenge his fallen master, protect his little sister, and stand by his friends. That means he is in an alliance with the Straw Hat Pirates. In addition he is still keeping Whitebeard’s finale order in mind, protect Luffy and survive. Not only that but Luffy is Ace’s little brother and someone whose crew is currently protecting Izo’s little sister. How can he do anything else but stand up for them? So despite his injuries he tells CP0 that they aren’t taking one step further, and you know that as long as Izo can still stand, he’s not letting CP0 walk past him. The scene gave me goose bumps and it kinda reminded me of a few other scenes. How many times has Luffy and the others been able to keep traveling because someone who they accidentally allied themselves to or befriended heard an enemy say they were going after the Strawhat Pirates and that ally said ‘over my dead body you are.’ Mihawk was 1000% in his assessment that Luffy’s greatest strength, greatest power, is his ability to draw people to him.

But the highlight of the chapter was Big Mom’s fight against Law and Kidd. Just like the strawhats and the samurai, all the pirates are putting everything they have into this fight. Seeing Law and Kidd working together, even if it’s more like a tag team than anything is awesome. And the two of them are just as committed as the rest of them there, vowing even if they have to give their lives to do it, Big Mom will not reach the roof.

Between 1037 and 1038 we got a lot of new things to think about. And we know our allies are mounting up, even if the others don’t know they are there. Zou is getting closer, and with it the entire mink tribe. There’s a lot being built into this battle, and no matter what happens or ends we know it’s going to throw an every increasing chaotic world into more turmoil.

There’s a few different things going on here, battles that each part of the alliance is trying to handle. The first is getting the island to land safely without destroying the Flower Capital and everyone on the island. That is what Momo and Yamato are focused on. Then we are trying to defeat Kaido and Big Mom. So far, thanks to the Strawhats, almost all of Kaido’s officers are down. Luffy is facing down against Kaido and Kidd and Law are trying to take down Big Mom. THen we have CP0 slinking around trying to get Robin. Brook is currently keeping Robin from their hands, but Izo is now holding them off. And of course the Beast Pirates have to be completely dismantled to free Wano.

So even though things are starting to wrap up, we are still facing a lot more trials. And when this fight is over, we are going to have a lot of troubles. Sanji, Zoro, and possibly Chopper at the very least are not going to be in ANY shape to be fighting or even moving any time soon. We have CP0 and the World Government waiting to continue the fight as well, so hopefully Zou can take care of that little problem. Still doesn't change that we now have a giant elephant in Wano, one with problems of it’s own that is probably next on the list to resolve. And Wano and it’s problems aside, we also have no leads on the fourth and finale poneglyph. Fans may have a few ideas where it is, but the actual characters do not. So not only is the rest of Wano going to be intense, but there is so much going on in the aftermath too.

[softrozene]

I hope I'm doing this right ! It'smy first ask on Tumblr 😊 I love "HeNeeds a Pirate Queen" and my fav chap is 64 for jealous Luffy 😂. May I get some hcor scenarios about lufdy kid and law being jealous over their fem mc. Thanks for being an amazing writer !

Omg, thank you for the request! This was so sweet. I can’t believe how many people have been telling me they love the story as of late. It makes me so happy! I hope you enjoy lovely! (Since you brought up Chapter 64 though I would love to say that Luffy doesn’t get jealous until someone points out that he should be.)

Kid’s came out more like a headcanon scenario? Anyway Jealous Luffy would be so cute lol

Random thought: a poly relationship with robin? Sign me the fuck up

Warnings: Fluff (we are looking at the cinnamon roll Luffy), jealousy, since Law and Kid are in here there will be suggestive actions (I am looking at Kid. If you know, you know.) Probably grammar errors- I’m tired

Words: 1365

Eustass Kid-

If you are the type of partner to make him jealous on purpose, the relationship will not last at all. His jealousy gets ugly and rather fast. It can lead to a different situation that we do not want. Thankfully, I would hope anyone who wants to be his partner would not mean to make him jealous on purpose. If that is the case it would make handling him a lot easier.

Kid will never admit he is jealous. That just is not his style. No, instead he becomes aggressive, passive-aggressive, or usually both. Passive-aggressive towards you and aggressive towards others. It does not take a genius to know that he is just jealous but if confronted about it he will throw hands.

So, Kid likes to keep his eyes on you constantly. It is not as if he does not trust you. He does not trust other people. This is how it would usually go. A party out in a random town on an island. He will watch you with boredom as he drinks (if he were single you bet he’d be mingling). He will keep his eye on you and his crew members may tease him, but he will ignore it or glare at them to make them shut up.

It is when someone from the island decides to chat you up. His crew is not dumb enough to ever chat you up like that. He will watch for a bit see your reaction, feel proud when you ignore, or start to yell, but all bets are off when the person touches you. You are his so why the hell are they touching you?

It will most likely be immediate anger. He does not hesitate to cause harm or maim them. He did not receive his reputation for nothing. He would never harm you but anyone else that dares try to get him to stop protecting what is his? They are fair game for sure.

Killer is the only one who can stop his captain from going too far but if that fails you have to make it up to him tonight. Expect a lot of claiming marks by morning.

Monkey D. Luffy-

Luffy is too pure to know jealousy (Unless it comes to food), so he will need a pointer from a friend or have to really be into his emotions. It would probably go like this:

It is just a normal day out on the Thousand Sunny. He was having a blast just messing with Usopp and Chopper like always when he noticed you were laying on the deck with Robin and Nami by your side. He thought nothing of it but felt something odd in his chest when Sanji came out and offered to put sunscreen on the girls’ backs.

He is not really bothered by it but that weird feeling will not go away. He wants it to because it makes him uncomfortable, but he just ignores it. That is until some crew member (definitely Zoro) points out Sanji being too happy to help the girls.

“Should you be the one putting sunscreen on (Name)’s back?”

Luffy tilts his head and asks, “Why?”

Zoro scoffs as Brook lifts a finger to agree. “Ah! You would be right! When courting putting on sunscreen would be more of an intimate act, wouldn’t it?”

“You’re thinking too much into it. Sanji’s just… helping… putting… it on…” Usopp realizes that it is definitely something more if Sanji is doing it. He continues, “You need to go put it on her!”

“Why?” Luffy asks again not getting it as the feeling in his chest grows.

Franky thankfully interrupts after pausing in his tinkering of the toy the trio wanted to previously play with. “How do I explain this? Uh, you know how meat is like super cool to you?” He starts off.

Luffy nods his head with excitement and Franky continues, “It is sort of like that to Sanji? Oh, that came out super not cool. Let me try-“

“(NAME) IS LIKE MEAT TO SANJI?!”  Luffy’s eyes widen at the realization.

The nasty feeling in his chest grew and the jealousy takes over as he does not hesitate to gomu gomu the fuck out of Sanji’s face. Sanji moves just in time and out of the way so the girls are not in danger, but it fuels Luffy more. Franky realizes the way he worded it definitely came out wrong for multiple reasons.

Chaos is ensuing everywhere. Usopp, Brook, and Zoro are laughing while Chopper is worried. The girls watch with bemusement. You hesitantly decide to call out.

“Luffy, do you want to put sunscreen on my back? I was next.”

That stops the fight immediately as Luffy’s jealousy goes away in a split second and his excitement as if he were eating food comes in full.

Yeah… Definitely expect whiplash for sure.

Trafalgar D. Water Law-

Homeboy ain’t worried about you with other people. He does not get jealous easily. It is an extremely hard feat for someone to do. However, that was before he realized that the Straw Hats are something totally out of this world. His crewmates flirt with you but of course, they never go too far knowing that their captain’s wrath is something not to deal with so they are surprised too when Sanji is open about his affection for you (as he is with any girl).

It is something Law passes off with ease until a few other Straw Hats decide to see if he has emotions. Robin, Zoro, Brook, and Franky decide to take on this feat.

Robin and Brook of course being the actors in all of this (and an absolute saint for letting you know what chaos is going to happen beforehand). It starts with Robin. She starts to get really chatty in the morning, asking about you, Law, and the crew. You respond with enthusiasm since you like her. Then she starts the plan at breakfast after everyone has engaged in a conversation or another. Her hand casually slides over to yours, and she keeps that smile on her face as her fingertips slowly slide in between your fingers. She stops and leaves them to be. You and her both can feel Law’s harsh gaze but do nothing else.

She slowly continues moving the conversation about you and lord the way her acting is? It’s actually terrifying you with how flustered you are becoming. You stay strong and try not to cave in but the warmth in your cheeks makes your head fuzzy. Robin is fully aware of the effect she has and continues with a chuckle.

“You’re so cute! I could just eat you up,” She murmurs the last sentence being more intimate than she planned.

A glass breaks and you look over to see Law looking at his now wet pants. Oops. The plan must continue. Brook is next as he takes your fingers into his bony ones and does not hesitate to say his famous line.

“Will you show me your panties, (Name)-chan?” Brook states.

It’s taking Zoro and Franky everything they have not to laugh while the others are just absolutely confused and slightly panicky on why Robin and Brook would pull the moves in Law’s girl. It is okay though. Their plan works. The outcome is delicious to them as Law gets up, makes his way to you, and without any hesitation forces you up so he can sit and have you flush against him on his lap.

He starts to eat from your plate like that all while glaring at Robin and Brook. You finally cave in and start laughing making Law scowl.

“The only reason why you two aren’t dead is because of our new alliance,” Law states.

Robin giggles and Brook starts to laugh too. You lace your fingers through his free hand and say, “Don’t worry Law. I’m the only one for you and you’re the only one for me.”

“Though we did scare you for a second, didn’t we?” Robin muses.

Law can’t wait to get off this ship. He pinches your thigh and you know you are getting his wrath later.

[whirlybirdwhat]

LETS TALK ABOUT ZORO. Again. 

More specifically this time, his ‘loner’ type. This particular post was inspired by the filler episode where Zoro gets unwillingly adopted into the family at Water 7. You know the one.

Anyway, family plays a big part in One Piece, whether it is the absence of one, the loss/gain of one, or the treatment of one, its there.

Luffy has his brothers, Nami has her village, Nojiko and Bell-mere in particular, Usopp has his father to aspire towards and no mother, Sanji has Zeff (And the abuse by the V*nsmokes...) Chopper has the two doctors and the rejection by his herd, Robin lost Ohara, Franky has Tom, Icebarg, and the Franky Family, and Brook has his former crew Laboon (And Who Else Oda what has this man done where has he come from).

All of these people feature heavily in flashbacks, arcs and more.

In comparison... Zoro appears to only have his sensei, Koushirou, who, in canon, is very sexist, traditional, and absent of many emotions. And, to my knowledge, he only features heavily in One episode very early on in the series.

Kuina’s dead. He met Johnny and Yosaku later on, after he had set off, and as much as I like the Goth Family (Mihawk, Zoro, Perona) they came far later. Zoro has never even been shown to have any friends in the dojo.

Zoro has always been alone. He came into the dojo alone, dressed in rags and eating straw, and left alone, lost and with a goal.

Its very odd in comparison with the rest of the Straw Hats, who always seemed to come from backgrounds with a lot of companionship. Zoro never even seems to be at odds with it, even though knowledge of how people work (in regards to him being first mate and helping the crew go through emotional distress) technically shouldn't be in his nature, because he has not experience with it.

This is extremely interesting to look at in terms of his character development... and Luffy. 

At first - Zoro only cared about himself, his next meal, and his goal, as evidenced by 1) the Shells Town Arc and 2) the episode of how Johnny, Yosaku, and Zoro met. 

By the time of the Time Skip he is 1) willing to throw away his entire future for Luffy (Thriller Bark) 2) Throw away his pride as a swordsman for Luffy (Training with Mihawk) 3) Get irrationally angry to the point of summoning extra limbs and an entire demon (Enies Lobby, Battle with Kaku) 4) Be extremely tactile with the Strawhats (.... have you seen the Straw hats) and lastly, 5) Do anything and everything he can to protect what’s his captain’s and the safety of the crew (Usopp situation.)

Zoro has come a long way from the ‘loner’ type he started out to be.

What brought this change? I’d say Luffy, (With Johnny and Yosaku helping him open up to the process of hey, people aren’t so bad, of course.)

Zoro would fight for any member of the crew. He would live for them. But the only person I’d say that he die for, give up his dream for, like he has in canon is Luffy. 

Luffy, who saved him from execution.

Luffy, who gave him a family that wasn’t a cold sensei with a dead daughter.

Luffy, whose dream he values more than his own.

My favorite thing about all of this is that Zoro appears not to have changed. He still seems to be a loner, always sleeping instead of joining the crew’s fun, typically fighting his battles on his own, etc. etc. Even opponents sometimes comment upon this! The consensus in the OP world seems to be that Zoro’s a big grouchy swordsman who doesn’t like people and will kill you if you look at. him wrong.

Even too the viewers we don’t see how far he’s come.

But he has! His life now is in total opposition to his life before. His character has developed so much, and I want to see it develop more.

Which brings me to my next point.

Wano.

You have all seen the theories. I agree with them - this is going to be Zoro’s past arc, because 1) similarities between Zoro and Wano and 2) Zoro has had one episode about his past. One. One canon one.  To develop his character further away from the basis ‘loner’ type, something needs to happen. And 3) We haven’t had a character with this kind of ‘I don’t know what my past is’ storyline and it would be cool to see play out.

I think this is it.

In One Piece: Strong World, Zoro states while fighting the clown scientist that He was born and raised in the East Blue. Now if this was any other movie I’d take that with a grain of salt... but Oda wrote this movie himself. So. Moving on.

Zoro believes he was born in the East Blue.

I think (jokes about him getting lost from his parents and winding up in the East Blue aside) that he doesn’t know his parents. That its going to be a big reveal, his family may be dead, whatever. I don’t particularly care who his family is, only what his reaction will be.

I can see it going two ways, both of which would have never happened without his character development.

1) He doesn’t give a shit in typical Zoro fashion, but this time because he has his crew, and the past doesn’t matter on the Thousand Sunny.

or..

2) He does care. He wants to learn more of his family, because he has learned to value other people he cares about, and not just about himself .

tl;dr Zoro was a loner (due to his upbringing by Koushirou) in the beginning of the series, and while he may still appear to follow that line of character, he is not as his character has developed to be more open and accepting to other people, specifically his friends and crew. That is, in part, thanks to Luffy introducing him to the Straw Hat Pirate crew and his growing understanding of how people work. This will effect how his probably family/past arc in Wano plays out, though I am betting that he doesn't particularly care nor know who his parents are, and is completely content with just having the Straw Hat Pirates as a crew.

Thoughts

[touchmycoat]

um hey Nami/Reiju would be such a valid ship, like:

- Nami the Hugest Lesbian

- who would be so protective of Sanji at first. They all know that in her heart, Reiju is kind, but she’s still the One Who Stayed, who could only bandage but never prevent, who chose to side with the violence for the sake of self-preservation

- but Nami also knows a thing or two about looking like the bad guy, so she’s sympathetic. Sanji doesn’t blame Reiju, so neither does Nami—plus she saved Luffy’s life.

- and now Reiju

- I fully believe vying for beautiful women is genetically programmed into all Vinsmoke children

- Reiju who is so grateful for her baby brother’s crew mates, particularly this lovely little lady

- Nami, who often looks scared and wary, but marches into battle anyways for her friends, for the sake of doing the right thing

- can you imagine Reiju learning about Nami’s past, perhaps on one quiet and tentative evening bonding with Sanji, sharing a glass of wine

- Nami, who found the strength, as a CHILD, to stand between her beloved village and Arlong. Who couldn’t have the Cocoyashi villagers killing themselves to rescue her, not when she was gonna rescue THEM. Who took up the mantle of the bad guy with no thought at all, because she knew what was important, what she wanted to protect with all her heart.

- can you imagine Reiju CRYING, just finding herself suddenly wracked by these choking sobs, breath unable to pass

- because this incredible woman, as a girl, had been able to do what Reiju never could. Because Reiju had given in to the fear, had shut away all the unhappiness and heartache she ever felt in order to hide from the pain.

- can you imagine Nami finding out, and telling Reiju, quietly, about all the bad things she’s seen, she’s done, she’s let happen as a teenage girl stealing from the world. She asks if Reiju can absolve her of the guilt of throwing other people under the bus, young pirates, old pirates, everybody with stories and pasts that she didn’t care about. She hated all pirates once. She may have never slit a throat, but she’s certainly left people on a sinking ship. Can Reiju forgive that girl for putting her own safety first, when cast into a bad situation?

- Reiju says yes, she can easily absolve a child. But Poison Pink is not a child, hasn’t been one for ages. She’s known, all the while, what standing with Germa 66 means, and yet she stayed, feet planted in those goddamn raid boots. Surely she can’t be absolved of that.

- no, Nami agrees. But if Nami’s learned anything from making a career out of backstabbing, it’s that there’s really no such thing as absolution. There’s certainly forgiveness from person to person, but no one is ever wholly “absolved” because no one is ever everything to everyone. All you can do is figure out whom you want to forgive you, and work toward that.

- and if you’re lucky enough to love a brother like Sanji-kun, she would add, he’d have already forgiven you.

- so not to sound cheesy or anything, but what it really comes down to is can you forgive yourself.

- can you? Reiju asks Nami, quietly and with so much on the line.

- most days, yes, is Nami’s proud answer. But on the days you can’t...

- well, on the days you can’t, you make sure to feed a little slice of mikan to Luffy. You make sure to shift Zoro’s swords out of kicking range from exiting the cabin door (you with your cat burglar hands are the only one who can do it so silently, Zoro doesn’t shift in his sleep). You make sure to check in on Usopp’s new experiments and inventions. You make sure to thank Sanji for the delicious afternoon tea.

- you praise Chopper’s work ethic. You tell Robin about the most recent novel you read and ask for recommendations. You bring Franky a chilled bottle of coke and take one of his many sea-faring bikes out for a spin. You point to a place on an old world map and challenge Brook to play a song from that region. You cuddle with Carrot in between her wrestling bouts with Luffy. You pay it forward, is her point, to the Nakama you treasure, every little gesture as a self-aware vow, “I promise I won’t betray you, not like I did before.”

- Reiju is unconvinced. Death, it seemed to her, was the easiest compensation. Why else would the world have death penalties? In death, there was no risk of a second betrayal. There was no risk of going back to that cool mask of Poison Pink. No risk to her, no risk to others.

- Nami getting ticked, as she does at anyone who throws away their life. She reminds herself this is not an unknowing child though, but a grown woman who has survived an incredibly violent life. How EASY it was for Ichiji, Niji, Yonji, who had someone else handily cut the humanity out of them. Reiju had to do it herself, and if left messy scars.

- I held onto life because I had something to protect, Nami says. I had people I loved and a dream I wanted to fulfill no matter what. You... you’ve got to find that.

- I’m a human weapon crafted for war, Reiju answers with no trace of self-pity whatsoever, sounding instead bewildered. I’m a mercenary. Sure, I would like to protect Sanji, but even you would admit that’s a rare chance to be had.

- ...it’s a process.

- and then Nami snaps her fingers, an idea coming to mind.

- a mercenary, huh? You take any job for money?

- we may be evil, Reiju says carefully, but we still have a code.

- then how about I hire you for a job?

- if any of the Strawhats witnessed this moment, their jaws would be on the floor, seeing Nami willingly fork over money. Reiju just looks bemused.

- the job is to go protect someone who needs it. It can be anybody. Just... you’re so strong Reiju, and you can do so much. Germa’s already taken so much of your life, I would hate to see them ruin the rest.

- cue Reiju’s arc of self-discovery, figuring out what she likes, what she wants, what she cares about. She admires Sanji so much for his passion in cooking, Nami for her passion in cartography. She wants something like that for herself so, so bad.

- (maybe she becomes a rare amphibian conservationist. All those poisonous frogs 🐸 , and the slimy bastards remind her somewhat-fondly of her stupid brothers-minus-Sanji.)

- anyways omg, Nami giving Reiju job after job like, “go give someone a present they didn’t expect,” or, “go give someone comfort in a moment of need.”

- Nami’s growing love for this weird, beautiful, poison-drinking older lady who wants to not want to die so badly. She also gets to delight in Reiju always coming back, to see Sanji sure, but also to see her specifically. Reiju develops a habit of bringing back presents: advance tech, old maps, weather gadgets, canned oranges from different islands. Nami gets someone as fixated on GIVING her things as Sanji is, but some of Reiju’s presents make her blush.

- omg, Nami giving Reiju a map to Cocoyashi village. “Go give someone a hug for me.” Reiju and Nojiko bonding over the bonfire that is Nami, saving both their lives.

Wow anyways this can go on and on but!!! Even Sanji would ship it!!! God, he’d be so stressed out about who to give the shovel talk to, ‘cause that’s his sister but also that’s ~Nami-swan~ but in the end he just ends up talking Reiju out of shovel-talking herself and encourages both of them to go for what they want.

[wordsdrippinginink]

So Prompts cause you wanted em this way instead of Questions! (there are 4. This is 1 of 4. I know you know this but like, i want you to be aware that there will be 4). So. OPvengers. The avengers and the world reacting to eachother as Ace Chases Luffy through the grand line?(TONY GOING WHY THE FUCK DONT THE ISLANDS MAKE SENSE, WHAT IS WITH THE PHYSICS, maybe inventing a thing?)

“You’re going to have to do something big,” Marco says setting the last of the dishes into the sink. “You’ve been presumed dead for two years and the marines have been celebrating your death.”

“Don’t suppose there’s any marine bases close by for me to wreck, is there?” Ace says teasing. “I think that I’m going to have to do a lot of things to get my name and bounty restored.”

“Not to mention,” Marco states, leaning down to lift Kotatsu into his arms and laughing as the cat started to wiggle to reach Ace. “Two years have passed and you the same. I don’t think there’s a way to age you up those two years.”

Ace snorts, “I’m still the oldest of my siblings, my birthday is in January, you know,” he smiles at Kotatsu, scratching underneath his chin. “We’ll need a ship. I assume that you, you never found what happened to Striker.”

“Teach has it as far as I know. Kept it as a trophy. And I don’t think your friends would fit on Striker. At least Tony wants to go with you and see the world. I think he was talking to Jozu about the islands.”

“Their world is so different. There’s islands but they’re no where near as common as ours are. It’s like giant Alabastas all over and their science,” Ace whispers excitedly. “They can do things that I never dreamed of. Some of it’s the same, but some things are better there. I think the islands offend Tony.”

Marco laughs, “I’m sure that they do. Considering they each have their own seasons or just stay the same without change. I think Pepper is looking at this like a vacation.”

“Pepper runs Tony’s company. Like Iceberg on Water 7, only bigger. It’s huge and it’s all over their home world,” Ace pauses. “I was scared they could never get me home. I thought that, I don’t think I could live there.”

“Thank you for coming home,” Marco smiles crookedly. “I would have missed you forever if you hadn’t. I’ve already missed you so much.”

Ace shifts slightly, “I could stay? Luffy’s not going to notice if I take time to find him.”

“Ace, no. I can miss you and know that you’re coming home. I did it often enough on the Moby, but now I know that you’re going to come home. How are you going to travel, I know Jozu would offer to take you to another island, but I don’t know what you want.”

“There’s a marine base around here, isn’t there? One that had some nice ships if I remember rightly.”

Marco smiles easily, Ace wonders is it was that easy after he had died, if being here on this island had helped him. If the people had. He knows that Marco is happy here, Ace can see it, but he also thinks that maybe coming back made Marco happier. Just a little bit.

“You’re right. Going to steal a Marine ship, and beat up the base, should get you noticed. I don’t know how they’re going to feel about that.”

Ace shrugs, kicking his feet, “I think that I explained it well, at least to Tony, Pepper, and Clint. Steve doesn’t like bullies, so I don’t know what he’ll say. Nothing is clear cut here. But I won’t change myself for anyone.”

“No, I didn’t think you would,” Marco agrees. “You can sleep in the living room if you want, or-”

“Pretty sure I wanna sleep with you, if you would let me.”

Marco laughs, soft and pleased as he shifts to touch Ace’s cheek again, “I was hoping you would.”

“Let me get this straight,” Tony says tapping his hands on the table as Ace leans into Marco’s side, he doesn’t think they’ve been apart for more than a few minutes the whole time that they’ve been here. “You want to go steal a marine ship to sail off into the sunset to find your little brother and tell him you’re not dead.”

“Brothers,” Ace corrects. “Apparently the other one isn’t dead either, so I have to go kick him for being stupid and forgetting us.”

“Brothers,” Tony nods. “I think I need a little clarification here. Are you the bad guy? Are the marines the bad guy?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Marco answers. “The World Government controls the marines and use it to protect their interests, the World Government is controlled by the Twelve Celestial Dragons, who are very rich men who decide what can and can’t be done.”

Ace rolls his eyes, “The marines answers to whomever the Dragons are supporting. Who ever has the most money, the most blackmail, or who’s interests align best with their own. Some are good, my gramps and there’s one that Luffy likes too, but some aren’t.”

“I hate politics,” Tony mutters tiredly. “And pirates?”

“Depends on the crew. Whitebeard Pirates, the crew that Ace and I belong to, took in islands and protected them for a small price and the promise of trade. Others will kill everyone in a town, plunder it and keep going. Nothing is black and white.”

Tony hums, “Guess we’re about to become pirates, Pep.”

“This doesn’t carry over to our home world,” Pepper states not looking up from the device in her hands. “I’m still trying to figure out how I have 4G.”

“I programmed it the same way that I programmed Thor’s, he can’t make calls but he’s always online,” Tony answers. “It’s got it’s own things to keep up 4G and it’ll charge in sunlight as long as their UVs are too different from back home.”

“Shiny,” Pepper deadpans. “At least we won’t be in financial ruin when we get home.”

“Back to steal this ship,” Tony says looking excited. “Who’s going to captain it?”

Ace laughs, “I am. I was captain of my own ship before Pops recruited me,” he pauses. “Did Deuce and the others?”

“Not sure where they got to after we split up. I know a couple of them were alive, but you know how big the crew was. Might have joined up with Doma, he’s taken a chunk of our old territory and kept it under his protection,” Marco answers, petting the giant cat’s head. “Think that’s where Deuce got to.”

“I wanted to be captain.”

“How about first mate? They’re the ones who have to boss people around?” Ace offers.

Tony dithers, because he does like bossing people around, “I think Pepper would be better. I suppose I could just be the guy who invents stuff.”

“I’m defecting if there’s paperwork,” Pepper states calmly, still tapping away. “I have enough work to do and I don’t want more.”

“You can assign it to someone else,” Ace offers. “Deuce did. He hated math and we had someone who use to be a teacher on the crew.”

Pepper smiles, pleased, and her hand taps Steve on the head, “Paperwork.”

“Has to be easier than when I was in the army,” Steve says shrugging helplessly. “So we’re stealing a ship.”

Tony should have known that Steve would be weak. They were going to be pirates, it’s like super villainy and Tony had flipped a coin early on about if he was going to be hero or villain, now he would get to be a cool super villain.

Marco grins at the News Coos that he had received, the picture of Ace caught mid-movement still very clearly Ace as everything around him burned. There’s smaller pictures of the others, Pepper and a stolen staff surrounded by  unconscious Marines, Clint up close as he uses his bow like a bludgeon, Tony with his thrusts glowing, and Steve mid-throw.

“Gol D Ace Alive?” Marco whispers, taking his time to read over the article and check the bounties. Because he was, Ace was alive and he was going to make sure the world knew it.

[swans-anime-ramblings]

“Luffy had no reaction to Boa...doesn’t that mean he won’t have romance?”

I’ve been debating about posting this blog because I was hesitant about the kind of reaction it would receive. But I think this topic is worth discussing logically.

Alright, so let’s dig into this thing.

If we’re going to understand Luffy and his actions (or not actions) towards Boa, then we have to first understand him as being a character that fits the Battle Shonen archetype. The genre, despite people’s complaints about it, is the most popular type of manga/anime genre there is. And One Piece, for all its glorious writing, world building and character development, is perfectly happy to sit in its genre, with Luffy fitting right into the hero archetype.

Where did this archetype even come from? It may surprise you to learn that Dragon Ball is in fact the grandfather of modern Shonen. You know what kind of stories were running in WSJ as DB’s contemporaries? Big burley manly men who never changed or progressed like Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.

 And the antithesis of this is Goku, little innocent Goku who takes this character type and flip it on its head.  (Kid Goku is so cute guys! *cries*)

Toriyama’s writing absolutely can’t be understated here. Nobody had ever seen anything like Dragon Ball. It became a cultural phenomenon. It became a blueprint for success. 

The classic Shonen Hero archetype has evolved into the following:

innocent

clueless when it comes to love

loves to fight/ get stronger

has a catch phrase

wants to protect their “Nakama”

thinks before they act

often stupid or a simpleton

gains power ups through training and other means

cute

Within the archetype you’ve got big hitters such as:

Goku— the OG who was so clueless, he couldn’t tell someone’s gender without slapping them in the crotch. Also obsessed with getting stronger to the detriment of, well, everything

Luffy— the uber innocent muffin who will do anything for his crew, and will go out of his way for people if it concerns their dreams. Aware of his weaknesses more than the others, Also really dumb at first

Naruto--- the misfit who starts out peeping at girls but then ends up taking on the burden of the entire world, because he’s THAT concerned about everyone and everything. Definitely the most selfless, has dumb moments, but smarter than the others

Ichigo--- the lovable grump who literally doesn’t give a shit. Coolest one of the bunch

Natsu--- loves his friends so much he gains power ups in the middle of the battle to win through the power of friendship. Probably the funniest one, takes life one job request at a time

Asta— the new kid on the block. Constantly yells to the point of irritation, believes working hard will solve all problems, doesn’t understand how relationships work and that nuns don’t get married

Deku— I know people will ask. Yes, he is a Shonen Hero, But doesn’t fit into the archetype so be will be left out of the discussion (the kid actually suffers from overthinking...complete opposite than these lovable idiots)

So, for fun, let’s throw all these Shonen Heroes into the same situation Luffy found himself in

All of these heroes fall through the ceiling and into Boa Hancock’s bath where they come face to face with the most beautiful woman on the planet who is naked.

Goku: completely unphased by Boa’s beauty. Asks who Boa is, and when she gets pissed, stands there with a “huh?” Look on his face when she shoots the love beam at him. After it has no effect, Goku puts his hand up with a smile and then says, “see ya!” Before flying off. Probably more concerned with where Vegeta went and if he managed to find a new level of Super Saiyan

Naruto: definitely phased by Boa. Would probably turn to stone ahahahaha

Ichigo: after being annoyed because he fell through the roof, would take one look at Boa, and get flustered out of embarrassment. By the time Boa tries to question him, he’s already left and found the exit.

Natsu: upon falling into the bath, he’d also be completely unphased by Boa. Would most likely take note of her earrings and ask about them. He’d probably also end up saying something Boa would find unbelievably rude, but something I would laugh hysterically at. “Woah?! Is that your guild mark?! Cool!!!” 

Asta: I imagine Asta would most likely cover his eyes out of courtesy, and ask for the way out. When Boa gets mad and asks why he’s not head over heals for her, nor why he’s looking at her body, he’d say something like, “sister Lilly is waiting for me” and then leave. *sigh*

So here’s my point. Three of our boys would have the same exact reaction as Luffy. When it comes to the archetype, lusting after girls simply isn’t in their nature. Natsu’s reaction to a naked Lucy was to cover her boobs with his hands “fine I’ll cover them” he sighs in the dub. No lustful reaction whatsoever. I’m pretty sure any normal guy would, um, not react that way. He looks so bored.

Asta refused to peep at a girls bath (way to shut that down buddy), and Goku’s seen plenty of naked people and he doesn’t care. He even has the same reaction in Dragon Ball Super, after he’s married, when he accidentally sees another woman naked (who is very beautiful).

(Harsh reaction there Goku, lmao)

Luffy’s reaction to Boa is completely in line with the archetype. The innocent nature of the main character is extremely important. Oda even says in the SBS that it would just be plain weird for Luffy to get a nose bleed. I agree.

So, do our boys reactions to Boa mean romance isn’t possible for them? Of course not. Goku got married and had 2 kids. Naruto, who is the most interested in women, got married. Ichigo ended up with someone and had a kid. Natsu’s relationship with Lucy isn’t “canon” yet, buuuttt with this sequel coming and all the art Mashima’s been posting, I think we can all just call it and it’ll be happening. As for Asta, the manga is still young so it’s hard to say, but judging how Tabata is treating romance in his manga, I’d say It’s a distinct possibility. Asta does have a low-key herem going on 🤷‍♀️

When Goku was a kid, he came across a foe who could turn evil (ie bad thoughts) into a weapon and kill you. Goku was the only person to ever survive because he has no impure thoughts. It basically works the same way as Boa’s love-love beam.

This innocence is why Goku can ride his magical flying cloud the Kinto-Un, aka the Flying Nimbus. That innocence in Goku stays with him forever, too. Goku can ride the cloud after he’s gotten married and created spawns. The idea is, sex isn’t dirty. It’s just how you treat it may or may not make it dirty (ie unwarranted advances). Master Roshi, Goku’s perverted teacher, can’t ride the Kinto-Un. Using Goku as an example, our innocent muffins can still have romance/make babies. Their highly innocent nature doesn’t stop them, but normally with these types, they will only have romance/make babies if it’s with one very special person.

This is important to remember; for this genre, romance is a part of maturing and growing up. Most of these shonen heroes end up with someone once they’ve passed a certain point. 

In One Piece Specifically 

When it comes to Oda’s writing specifically, romance between characters doesn’t really play a huge role in One Piece like the way it does in Naruto and Fairy Tail. Everyone who reads OP should recognize this. Whatever ends up happening at the end of One Piece, there aren’t going to be a zillion pairings and those pairings staring off into the sunset. 

There’s that famous line from Oda where he answered a question in the SBS (from chapter 317)

D: Doesn't anyone on Luffy's crew fall in love? Will there never be a tale of on-board romance? (Sanji is an exception in this case) I'm just wondering.

O: OF COURSE THEY'RE IN LOVE... WITH ADVENTURE! (← good one)

The SBS is a place where Oda jokes around with his readers. I think his answer is a good answer because it’s true, and when it comes down to it, a deflective answer.  And whatever else Oda has said or hasn’t said in magazines or interviews, Oda can change his mind about what he wants to include or not include in his manga.

The reason I think this is worth bringing up is because I can see a storytelling shift which has changed in his manga. Romance in any capacity used to play almost no role in the early story. Just think about the type of characters he was creating. You’ve got Nolan’s descendant who hangs out with guys that look like monkeys. You’ve got the giants of Elbaf, you’ve got the Galley-Law company guys. There’s hardly any blood families in the first half either. Vivi and her Dad are a notable example, but they are the minority, not the majority. The first half of the story was mostly focused on people who were not blood related and were making their own families, like the Franky family. Like the Strawhats. 

Post time-skip and New World, we’ve got a very different story being told. With Kyros and his wife Scarlet, Oda actually gave us the backstory to their romance! Dressrosa was set up a bit for that type of story, but I still find it notable. It wasn’t necessary for character motivations for Kyros. It felt like Oda wrote it because he wanted to.

You’ve got romance playing a big role in Whole Cake Island, even with Chiffon and Bege. This is a married couple with a young son, and not the type of characters we’d see in the early story. Sanji and Pudding were more of a serious type of relationship, even with Sanji “choosing to feel love” for Pudding. Guys, that’s...mature. We’ve seen a lot more blood ties in the New World, even to the point of the Big Mom pirates, dysfunctional as they are. 

In the end, you write what you know. When One Piece started, Oda was a single guy, now he’s in his early 40′s with a daughter. The types of stories he’s telling now are based on more mature aspects of his own life. 

Does this mean Luffy will most definitely end up with someone? Of course not. There’s a distinct possibility OP will end with Luffy as he is and there be no pairings of any sort.

But to dismiss the possibility of parings based on Luffy’s reaction to women or something Oda said back in some interview, is also too dismissive of a stance to take. Like his Shonen counterparts, romance for Luffy is a possibility. Remember what I said about the genre; romance is sign of growing up and maturing. Luffy is still growing and maturing, so it isn’t out of the cards.

In the end, Only Oda knows. Until One Piece has concluded, we’ll have to wait and see. 

[cyb-by-lang]

OSF AU - “All the Little Children” (11/?)

Part 11: In which a really bizarre custody battle ensues.

Content Warnings: Garp.

Gramps looked worse than Ace could remember. He had a big ol’ knot on his head, bigger than the ones Ace and Sabo and Luffy usually ended up with whenever he came calling, and his knuckles were busted up like he’d been hitting stuff way harder than rock. And being hit back, too. On the other hand, while Kei’s clothes had some blood on her and dirt and two missing sleeves and stuff, she didn’t really look hurt. Not like anyone else would after fighting Gramps.

“I heal really fast,” Kei said, when Sabo asked about that.

Ace was pretty sure she was brushing them off, but he’d seen Naruto break a finger once and be fine after an hour. And Gaara’s nose didn’t look like it’d ever been busted. Maybe it wasn’t just an adult thing.

“You’d make a decent Marine, if you weren’t a no-good pirate,” Gramps told her grudgingly, while everyone cooked up a bear the Tailed Beasts had caught. There wasn’t much of a head left, so Ace hadn’t asked how.

“I’m not a pirate,” Kei said, poking at the fire with a stick.

“Well, then you should become one!”

“A pirate?”

“NO, A STRONG MARINE!”

Kei wiped spittle off her cheek and glared back. “Not interested. I’ve had nothing but trouble from Marines since I got here, and yes, you count.”

Ace had never heard anyone tell Gramps “no” before and not get punched. His and Luffy’s jaws both dropped, while Sabo looked confused as hell.

He’d learn.

“Then you shouldn’t be wearing Whitebeard’s emblem on your back,” Garp argued.

“Who’s Whitestache?” Luffy asked, while picking his nose.

“Luffy, stop that,” said Fū, snagging his hand and trying to get him to stop.

“Whitebeard’s an old pirate, out on the Grand Line,” Kei explained, while Ace and Sabo leaned in to listen. Her voice changed a little as she spoke, sounding like she was talking less to them and more just because she was remembering. “He’s considered the Strongest Man in the World, I think, but mostly I hung around since he was one of the first people I met. And his crew decided I was their new best friend.” She picked at the sleeves of her now-battered coat. “So I’ve got the jacket, and weaklings got scared off while I traveled. The end.”

“You didn’t want to join them either?” Naruto asked, from Ace’s left.

“I didn’t spend twenty years defending Konoha and fighting as its kunoichi to join up with the first recruiter who asked. Pirate or Marine,” Kei said flatly. “Not while I have a job to do.”

“And you…what? Fought your way off the Grand Line?” Fū asked skeptically. Ace didn’t think she knew much more about the Grand Line than he did, but it still sounded really cool. Also really impossible. “That’s like…”

“I have,” Kei repeated with terrible patience, “a job. Which is to protect Naruto, even if I have to get into a fight with Vice Admirals or Sea Kings or whatever other things this place throws at me.”

Gramps crossed his arms, making a thoughtful noise. “Then you’re staying here?”

“I might have to find some people,” Kei said, casting a glance at Naruto, whose eyes widened. “Other than that, my job hasn’t changed.”

“Kei-sensei,” Naruto said, drawing the adults’ attention to him, “you’re not gonna run off, are you? You’re really sticking around Dawn Island.”

Kei sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yes, Naruto. I built a house and everything.”

“YAY!!” Luffy and Naruto cheered together.

Ace and Sabo exchanged glances. Going by Sabo’s hesitant smile, he probably thought it was a good idea that the only adult who could get in a fight with Gramps and walk away was probably on their side. And while Ace wasn’t quite sure of that, yet, at least Gramps seemed to be a bit less likely to hit them in the head while she was around. If only because Kei was a bigger target.

Ace crossed his arms and said grudgingly, “I guess you’re not a shitty old hag.”

“What a ringing endorsement,” rasped Gaara.

Kei, though, gave Ace a look that made him wonder if she was seeing right through him. Just for a second, he wondered if she knew. So he squared his jaw and did his best to stare right back, just in case.

Then she said, “Thanks?” in a sorta hesitant voice and the spell was broken.

What a dork, Ace thought. This is the same person who killed Bluejam?

“Even if Ace is Roger’s son?” Gramps asked, and Ace’s blood ran cold.

Ace was already on his feet, backing away. No, no—Gramps, how could you—

“Ace?” Luffy asked, before looping his arms around Ace’s waist to keep him from moving. Instead, it meant Luffy got dragged along with him. “Ace, come back!”

Luffy already knew. Luffy was safe. Sabo was safe because Ace had told him, because the two of them were brothers and so was Luffy and they’d never leave each other over something like who Ace’s father was. But Naruto and Gaara and Fū? The woman who could fight Gramps to a fucking tie and god damn it—

He had to leave. He had to get away—

“Who the hell is Roger?” Naruto asked, even as he darted to Ace’s left side, matched by Sabo on his right.

“Get away from me!” Ace snarled, making the older blond kid hesitate. Unlike Sabo, Naruto didn’t latch onto him, preferring to keep his distance.

Good. He knew Naruto was still stronger, and Ace didn’t want him too close. He’d need every advantage he could scrape together if he was gonna get away.

Fū reached for him. “Ace—”

“Ace, it’s not—” Sabo began.

“It is a problem!” Ace snapped, though he couldn’t shake Sabo loose. Some small part of him didn’t want to, but he had to leave before Gramps’s stupid fat mouth made things worse. And Sabo wasn’t letting go. “Sabo, you remember—”

“What would you say if the Pirate King had a son?”

Ace choked on the knot in his throat. Gramps was here and he knew and he made Dadan promise to look after Ace, but Gramps had just told—

"A son? That devil of a man?!"

"It'd only be right to kill him, of course!"

"Would serve him right for carrying that demon's blood in his veins!"

“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” Kei roared, silencing everyone else.

Ace looked up, trapped between his brothers and his maybe-friends and the forest and the fire. Unable to run, he sat stock-still as another one of those rogue waves—of cold, deadly anger, ripping through the fire-warmed air like it was nothing—swept past all of them. Ace felt its fingers anyway, and from the way Sabo gripped his arm harder, so did he.

“I don’t care,” Kei began, ignoring everyone else in favor of bearing down on Gramps like a landslide, “if you’re that kid’s uncle, grandpa, guidance counselor, or his pet jackass. Just going by his reaction, you weren’t supposed to tell anyone who his old man was. And why the hell did you think it was a good idea to do it anyway?”

Ace blinked, tears threatening to run down his face. What?

She didn’t—

“If you’re going to protect my grandsons,” Gramps said, getting to his feet and looming way more, “you’d better know what you’re getting into. I won’t allow a dirty no-good pirate anywhere near them unless they’re safe.”

“They’re never safe with you!” Kei snarled back, “When you’re around, all you do is chase them all over the island! Which is once in a fucking blue moon, since this is the first time we’ve met!”

“Gaara,” Naruto whispered. “Now.”

Sand sprang up all around them, cutting them off from the outside world. In the dark, Ace couldn’t see anyone, but he could still feel Sabo and Luffy. Gaara had to be there, since there was so much sand, but it took until Fū said, “Let’s go home,” before Ace realized she was in the dome, too.

The ground shook, and Ace clung tighter to his brothers as the sand globe moved.

And the sand spat them out in the FNG base, all in a pile, and it took everyone a second to untangle themselves. Ace was free for maybe half a second before Fū grabbed him and, for once, didn’t squeeze that hard.

“I’m so sorry your grandpa’s a jerk,” Fū said, when she pulled back and Luffy inflated back to his normal shape. Fat tears welled up in her eyes. “If-If you want, I can forget he said anything! That’s a promise.”

“Garp was a jerk before this,” Naruto said, and he patted Ace’s shoulder before adding, “I dunno what they were talking about, but you’re our friend first. Whoever your dad was… Well, you’ve heard us talk about our parents before. It doesn’t matter to us.”

Fū had said once that normal people didn’t get armies to run from ‘em. But Naruto’s dad had. What did that make him?

Gaara just nodded, and Ace wondered if he hated Rasa as much as Ace hated Roger. Gaara didn’t talk about a lot, ever, but it wasn’t hard to tell he and his dad weren’t close. And he never talked about his mom.

Sabo hated his dad, too, and Ace knew he never wanted to see him again. Ace still didn’t know exactly what the old noble bastard had done to Sabo, but whenever the question came up he wanted to break the guy’s knees.

Fū didn’t know her parents, and neither did Luffy. He just had Gramps, and the villagers he couldn’t see anymore if Gramps was around.

“It’s different,” Ace muttered, though his heartbeat was slowing back down.

“Why?” Naruto asked. When Ace glared at him, he held up his hands defensively and said, “No, seriously. I don’t know who ‘Roger’ is. Gaara? Fū?”

Both of them shook their heads. Fū scrubbed at her eyes with her armwarmers, pressing her lips together.

“If you don’t wanna tell us, that’s fine,” Naruto said belatedly. “But I’m trying to make a point. None of us are gonna treat you differently. Okay?”

“How do you know?” Ace bit out. “Everyone always thinks stuff like that, but once they learn they’ll…” Ace’s heart was in his throat. “You’re wrong.”

“I didn’t!” Luffy said, poking Ace in the chest with his chin. “And neither did Sabo! We’re your brothers forever. Just because your dad’s the Pirate King doesn’t make us any less brothers. You’re ours first!”

Sabo smacked himself in the face. “Luffy…”

All three of the FNG squad looked at each other.

“...Yeah, I still don’t get it. Sounds kinda cool?” Naruto shrugged.

Ace saw red. “It’s not ‘cool!’ You think it’s somehow okay for that bastard to—that if people find out, they’d kill me just for being his son?!”

“That’s stupid,” said Gaara, sitting down next to Shukaku as the little monster showed up. “They’re stupid.”

Eh?

Naruto nodded seriously. “Gaara’s right. That part sounds like the same kind of shit that made Kei-sensei so mad.”

“Besides, they’ll have to go through us.” Fū’s fists clenched. Her eyes almost glowed orange as she looked up, though they were still a bit puffy. “We might not be your brothers, but we are your friends. Right? And friends look after each other.”

“We won’t let anyone get even close to hurting Ace!” Luffy swore, squeezing Ace’s waist harder. “So don’t look so sad, Ace. We love you.”

“Come on,” Sabo said, tugging Ace and Luffy back to their feet. Or Ace’s feet. Luffy seemed to want to be carried instead. “We’re gonna all stick by you tonight.”

“I’ll keep watch,” Gaara volunteered, with Shukaku at his knee. He was blocking most of the kid-sized entrance with his body and the gourd thing on his back. “You’re safe here.”

Ace wasn’t sure he believed that. But with his brothers both glued to him like limpets, and his friends doing their apparent best to help? Maybe he could try.

[kingcocoabutter]

Pride And Prejudice

One of the most iconic scenes in #VinlandSaga is this one:

 Halfdan tells Thorfinn that he will give him the funding he needs for his venture as long as the latter licks his boot. To a wealthy man, having someone else *struggle* to put aside their pride and do something so debased and shameful is a greater reward and provides a greater thrill than gold or produce. He’s shocked, however, when Thorfinn bends down to do so without a moment of hesitation, even asking which boot to lick. Halfdan is repulsed because he can’t believe someone would sacrifice their dignity in such a manner but to Thorfinn it’s such a small price to pay for the sake of his dream. But I digress because I’m not really here to talk about Thorfinn, I’m here to talk about Sanji and false pride. Now maybe this is premature but I HATE the idea that Sanji did not even hesitate before deciding that he was going to use the Raid Suit as a disguise when taking on Page One (especially after the events of WCI and even post arc) which were meant to be about how he was escaping his family’s legacy. And fans have offered up innumerable justifications for his willingness to do so, ranging from how it’s “acceptable” because he will *only* use it as a disguise or how he’s putting aside his “pride” for the sake of the crew. And it really fits in with this mythological perception we have of Sanji as being the Strawhat’s “shield” or their white knight and how willing he is to throw himself into harm’s way to protect his crew. Some of which is true. But I’d argue that out of all the SH’s not only is Sanji the most deeply flawed but he is also the one SH of which the fandom has the most flawed misconceptions.

Sanji is SUPREMELY prideful. And that in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s problematic in the way that Oda has framed it with regards to the story and his attitudes towards certain demographics. Sanji is SUPREMELY proud of his status as a man and a chef and he VIOLENTLY rejects anything that would lead others to perceive him as less than in those regards. Hence his virulent homophobic/transphobic attitudes to the point where he has created an attack that is the literal embodiment of his gay panic. As he told the LGBTQ+ denizens of Peachy Kingdom. 

This attitude also manifests with regards to his treatment/perceptions of women, whom he showers whom he deifies and showers with adoration/love/affection while simultaneously objectifying and sexually assaulting them not realizing how contradictory those attitudes are. I’ve written about the latter extensively and so I’ll refrain from espousing anything further but I will most definitely be addressing one of his more controversial attitudes (i.e. his refusal) to hit women later in this thread but first I must digress.

I’ve been vocal in my disdain of how lackadaisical the SH’s attitudes/approach to declaring war with one of the Emperors has been and personal dislike aside I don’t think any of their approaches has irked me as much as Sangoro the Soba chef. Tasked with collecting information/intel on Kaido’s forces, “Sangoro” instead does this: 

Now again I admit that maybe he had some plan we are not privy to but it’s the events that follow that tempt my ire. Kyoshiro sends some goons to wreck Sangoro’s Soba stall and in the process they wreck some food thus earning Sanji’s ire. So of course the reasonable way to respond is for him to beat the crap out of all of them for daring to disrespect food.

The way the events play out is very much #OnePiece and very much what we know of Sanji. Not debating that. But it again goes to show how little this series has progressed and it’s characters have developed or changed over the course of 900 chapters. I get mad when fans suggest that Sanji is going to don the raid suit to protect his crew when his actions re the Soba shop are what led to the crew being endangered in the first place. The SH’s are in the heart of enemy territory and yet none of them are acting as such. How are we supposed to believe that the Emperor’s are one of this world’s most powerful forces of nature, and that Law/Luffy working together have only a 30% chance of victory if their plan is *flawlessly* executed and everything goes according to plan when the SH’s lack any kind of awareness that they cannot act as they like?

A more powerful narrative arc would have seen Sanji putting on a façade and allowing the goons to destroy his stall and ruin the food, and him apologizing for having set up an unlicensed stall. Would it go against everything that Sanji stands for? Of course! But as he stupidly points out later, when Page One is chasing them, Robin and Nami would be in trouble if they get caught and were tortured for information. So if he realized that why would he do something that would very obviously draw attention to himself when their goal is to be discrete?

And I’m not saying that Sanji wouldn’t or shouldn’t retaliate. He could have donned a disguise (not the fucking raid suit) at night and paid the goons a visit at night to exact vengeance for what they did and that way there would be no attention drawn to him or the SH’s. Hell Oda could have even turned “Sangoro” into a mythological figure by taking a page from Food Wars book and having Sanji operate a food stall that shows up in different districts of Wano at night serving food to the hungry masses and then disappearing. And similar to Food Wars this mythical stall would serve different varieties of food every night creating an air of mystery and excitement that would make the people of Wano seek it out. This would have been a great way to collect information, inspire the masses, and frustrate Kaido’s forces by keeping them preoccupied with this so the others could operate in secret.

But Oda can’t or won’t do that because he can’t do anything that would make Sanji look less noble or do anything akin to asking him to sacrifice his pride for the sake of the greater good. I mean we’ve seen this all the way back in W7/EL when he was willing to let a crewmate die for the sake of his pride. And let me make it very clear that Sanji’s refusal to hit women isn’t noble or moral or even acceptable when it’s so blindingly hypocritical when he turns around and assaults and objectifies them. And again for a man that claims to love women he doesn’t even put on the pretense of caring about them in any non-superficial way. What good is his adoration of them when he outright ignores how they’re treated and abused by others? It’s the equivalent of claiming to value/love freedom and yet remain silent when minorities are being assaulted and discriminated against. 

And what frustrates me even more than all of that is that Sanji’s only able to do what he does and hold the moral high ground and never question his values because Oda will never let him be wrong. He can never face a consequence for making the wrong choice. One of my favorite moments and lines from The Dresden Files *SPOILER* is one where Harry is going through a crisis of faith and when talking to his father he gets this advice:

H: “I crossed a line”

F: “I know. It only means what you decide it means.”

H: “What?”

F: “Harry, life isn’t simple. There is such a thing as black and white. Right and wrong. But when you’re in the thick of things, sometimes it’s hard for us to tell. You didn’t do what you did for your own benefit. You did it so you could protect others. That doesn’t make it right – but it doesn’t make you a monster, either. You still have free will. You still get to choose what you will do and what you will become. As long as you believe you are responsible for your choices, you still are.”

And another:

“Take the high road if you want to. Choose to walk away from this strength in the name of principle. But after your noble death, everyone who might one day have come to you for help, everyone who is killed in the aftermath of the Darkhallow – every life you might have protected in the future will be on your head. That is the act of a coward. It is beneath contempt.”

The only reason the SH’s and hell even Sanji are able to play off his sexism as “chivalry” or “nobility” on W7/EL (or hell even with Pudding) is with the acceptance of the idea that no one was harmed by his actions. On W7/EL this meant acknowledging that Robin would not die and that she would be rescued no matter what. And you can spin that any way you like (he had faith in the crew etc.) but what the crux of it comes down to is this: what would Sanji have done if Robin had been killed because of his failure to act? How would the crew react? Would they blame him or would they split the blame equally amongst themselves. Would this make Sanji reconsider his position? What if Kalifa had been like Lucci personality wise? Would he have behaved the same way if after she immobilized him she went after the other SH’s? After Nami?

The reason those quotes above spoke to me is how they relate to the idea of choice. I’ve been told that if Sanji were to hit a woman that it would somehow “ruin his character” or that it would mean that he somehow after that would justify hitting all enemy female combatants without regard for his “chivalry”. That’s all bullshit. There is a difference between *choosing* to fight a woman and hitting one in a blatant abuse of power. It’s about time that he starts taking responsibility for his actions and choices into his own hands and owns them rather than ascribing them to something external. Given the choice between taking an enemy combatant out of commission to save the life of a friend or holding on to your principles and placing the burden on your teammates, it’s obvious which action is worthy of praise and which is one is worthy of contempt. Too bad we seem to have got them flipped.

[nearlyso]

One Piece 852 It’s All Dad’s Fault

I can’t believe the amount of information Oda packed into this chapter! For a chapter between breaks, it gave us plenty to chew on during the wait. For this chapter, I’m going to skip around by topic instead of going through the chapter page by page.

Sanji, Luffy, and The Basket

When we see Sanji in the infirmary, unsurprisingly the basket’s still with him. He’s NOT throwing that food away. It’s sticking around until he reunites with Luffy, and it’s a good thing, too, because Luffy is running on empty.

I found it REALLY interesting when Nami tells Jinbei that Luffy burns 3x more energy than the average person. While I’ve seen this theory used plenty of times in fanworks, and it’s pretty much been a long accepted assumption, I think this is the first time I’ve seen it stated in canon. 

Which means that Oda is going to use this metabolism issue of Luffy’s to create more drama between Sanji and Luffy. If Nami knows that Luffy needs 3x more food than anyone else, then Sanji sure as hell knows that. He also knows that Luffy would starve 3x faster than anyone else. ONE DAY without food for Luffy would then be equivalent to THREE DAYS without food for anyone else.

And surprise, surprise. As soon as Luffy’s free and he knows Jinbei will protect Nami, he’s GONE. BTW JINBEI HAS ALL HIS PARTS SO DID HE LOSE  YEARS? IS HE AN ACTING SH NOW OR WHAT!? I NEED TO KNOW!

But look at him struggling just to get some answers out of ONE guy. His arm is still gushing blood, and he’s in pain, AND wheezing.

He can’t take on a single strong enemy like this, never mind whoever Smoothie may be sending his way. Luffy might FIND Sanji, but I have a feeling it’s Sanji that’s going to be saving Luffy’s ass when he does. 

The Vinsmokes and Sanji

Someone please take a minute to gush over little Sanji in this panel with me because this is the cutest fucking thing I honestly want a figure in THIS EXACT POSE he is completely adorable.

And, it turns out, his adorableness is completely by luck. He could have just as easily turned out to be sadistic and apathetic like his brothers, and it wouldn’t have been his fault.

As much as I hate everything the Vinsmoke brothers did to Sanji, it’s completely NOT THEIR FAULT. It really, honestly isn’t.

And that DOESN’T mean you have to like them, and it DOESN’T mean that you have to forgive them for being the way they are. But it does mean that you can’t blame them for CHOOSING to think they way they do. It’s not a choice.

Judge edited out the emotions needed to choose to be a good person. If you can’t FEEL sympathy, you’re not going to sympathize with others, and you’re not going to understand people who do. You don’t blame someone born blind for not being able to see, even though they’re SUPPOSED to be able to see. You can’t blame the Vinsmokes for not being able to be decent human beings, because the capacity to BE that was robbed from them before birth.

On top of that, with the drug Sola took to counter the operation, AND the fact that she was carrying quadruplets, it’s a miracle all of them survived to term. I’m sure Oda isn’t super savvy when it comes to all the ins and outs of pregnancy, but the more babies, the more risk involved. I wouldn’t be surprised if Judge planned it out this way, just so he wouldn’t have to wait through multiple pregnancies to see how his child soldiers were turning out.

Which makes Reiju and Sola’s (Sora?)roles in Sanji’s childhood clearer. Out of the entire family, only Sanji was like them. He’s Sola’s secret miracle baby. Probably the ONLY one of the sons she sees as an actual, real child. And probably the only one of the brothers that Reiju actually thinks of as a REAL sibling.

 And yet, any help that Reiju might offer Sanji against their brothers as children would have made him a bigger target for them and for Judge, because it would just further emphasize the fact that Sanji came out “wrong”. 

Sola and Judge seem so different personality-wise, I’m thinking that this marriage was not consensual. 

This would explain why Sola was forced to have an operation while pregnant that would change her children for the worse. I’m thinking there’s a lot more to this relationship, but I’ll save that for a separate post.

It’s probable that the drug Sola took gave Sanji a little bit extra in the empathy department, which would be a factor contributing to his selfless nature and willingness to self-sacrifice. 

BTW am I the only one who was kind of happy that Sanji said “Luffy and the others” instead of “Nami and the others”? I like to see moments where Sanji lets it slip that he cares about the guys just as much as the women, so even though it’s a small detail, it kinda made me smile. Especially since I’m anticipating some great Sanji and Luffy moments in the future.

Sanji’s realizing that being willing to sacrifice isn’t always going to be enough.It must be a scary realization because giving his life isn’t ever going to guarantee the lives of his friends. There’s a feeling of power in deciding to sacrifice yourself to save others, so he must be feeling pretty powerless after realizing he can’t protect them,

Reiju 

We knew Reiju was going to end up an ally this arc, Oda’s been building up to it, but now he’s in full-on redemption mode. 

 We see from the flashbacks that Reiju clearly loved her mother, and she rightly holds no grudge against Sanji for their mother’s death. When Sanji left, Reiju was alone with four males, three of whom are genetically incapable of love, and one who might as well be. The loss of her mother, with whom Reiju was allowed to express her emotions, and then the separation from normal, emotion-feeling people must have been very difficult for her. She would have had to show no weakness, or else be seen as a target.      

Now, we have Reiju willing to sacrifice herself (wonder where she learned that?) to see that the other Vinsmokes are killed. She’s been trapped by Judge all these years, and obviously unhappy if the thought of death doesn’t faze her.

And now she’s trying to talk Sanji into saving himself by bringing up his crew. I love when characters outside of the crew acknowledge how special being a part of the SHP really is. This is the friendship version of“don’t let them get away”.

While Sanji just isn’t going to allow Reiju to die ON PURPOSE (what kind of a fool would plan to die? I knew that line would connect to something eventually) if anyone were to die this arc, my money would be on her (and hopefully Judge). Oda wants us to care about her, and she’s remorseful about what she’s done (willingly or not), so I’m sure she’ll have some sort of ultimate redemption by the end of the arc. 

Next chapter we’ll probably see who Smoothie is sending to deal with Luffy  unless Oda decides to shift to Brook/Big mom, Pudding, Chopper/Carrot, and/or Jinbei/Nami.

Maybe we’ll meet Commander Startch? I need Sanji to go save Luffy and

FEED HIM SO HE CAN REGROW HIS TOOTH!!!

[kunoichi-ume]

yo wtf is happening with Sanji lately?

I don’t know how much you know so here is a basic overview of whats doing down. 

So the current arc started about a year ago, which I think Oda called at some point “The Year of Sanji”. Or maybe that was just us, Basically his father arranged a marriage between him and one of Big Mom’s daughters and she sent her men to Zou (where he was with the half of the crew we didn’t see for like a year) to “collect” him. He went to save his friends from being in danger, because it is Sanji and he does things like that. 

Of course once Luffy hears of this he is determined to go save Sanji and he, Chopper, Brooke and Nami (with a few new friends from Zou) set out to Whole Cake Island. 

Sanji is being held prisoner, with two lovely wrist cuffs that will explode if he tries to escape and cost him his hands which as a cook he needs. As added collateral to keep him in line, his family (who are all pretty awful though his sister is so far no where near as bad as his brothers and father) threatened Zeff. 

Now he is in this tricky situation where he has go to along with his father and Big Mom’s plans or the man he considers his real father will die. After deciding that it’s for the best just to go along with it, once again showing the self sacrificing streak both Sanji and Zoro exhibited on Thriller Bark, and reasoning that the crew can find another chef, he stops arguing against the marriage.

So when Luiffy and Nami show up it throws a wrench into this. As much as he wants to, Sanji can’t go with them. Not until he gets those cuffs off and certainly not until he knows Zeff won’t be threatened anymore. So he needs Luffy to leave because right now escape isn't an option but he doesn’t want to see either of them hurt by his siblings (or their clone army) so he decides to get rid of Luffy himself. That’s why he fought Luffy and said those awful things, both to try and make Luffy leave and give up on him (as if, this is Luffy after all) and to protect him from fighting against someone who would actually want to hurt him. I don’t think he expected Luffy not to fight back, or to go on his hunger strike, and certainly not to understand that this really was hurting Sanji more than it was hurting himself. 

After the fight he meets Pudding, his betrothed who revleas that she met Luffy and company earlier and had agreed to help them out. She apologizes for not being able to keep her promise. Sanji confides in her that he has weighted his options, knows he cant run and is going to have to go with the flow to try and save his friends and family. They decide to just go along with the marriage.

Except that in the last chapters we learned that Pudding is a very good actress and did not mean a word of that. Actually, thanks to Sanji eavesdropping while Pudding laid out their evil plan (classic villain monologue style and everything) to his captive sister, we know about how her mother put her up to tricking Sanji to get the Vinsmoke family into their territory to kill them all to take possession of their clone army and tech. 

That’s where we are now, with Sanji standing in the rain looking heart broken and betrayed, which he probably is. Back on Dressrosa after all he declared that he would never question a lady’s tears but Pudding just revealed that her teary apology for his situation was utter bullshit. 

It will be interesting to see how he reacts to this after the shock wears off, because Sanji always wants to see and accept the best in women but here is one that is beautiful and appeared kind and sweet but is really evil, manipulative and (based on her obvious joy at his situation and her part in it) cruel. 

Also we got the story of his childhood, and it is every bit as sad and awful as everyone else’s because One Piece’s main rule is NO HAPPY CHILDHOODS. 

So yeah... That is how things are going for Sanji. I hope this was what you wanted to know? Thanks for asking! I don’t get to talk about it much but I love One Piece and could talk about it for days on end and not run out of things to say.