#one piee spoilers

[bottlepiecemuses]

The Destruction Of Egghead Island Begins

One of the coolest locations in One Piece and it's going to be demolished like Ohara.

[cienie-isengardu]

The Development of Law and Zoro relationship - Part VI: Wano, Against Emperors (The Untold Journey)

<<Part I: Before Meeting>> <<Part II: Sabaody Archipelago, The First Meeting>> <<Part III: Punk Hazard: The Alliance (A)__(B)>>  <<Part IV: Dressrosa, The Breaking Point (The Plan Failed)__ (Saving Law)__(Protecting Law)__ (Birdcage, Pica and Doflamingo)__ (Aftermath)>> <<Part V: Zou, The Kindred Spirits (Traveling Together)__(Searching for Nakama)__ (Reunion)__ (Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance)__(The Last Moments before War)>>  <<Part VI: Wano, Against Emperors (The Untold Journey)__(Zoro & Luffy means Trouble)  ...>>

A word of introduction to the 6th part of The Development of Law and Zoro relationship: Wano arc is still an ongoing adventure and because of that, weeks if not months will pass before we learn all the details and its impact on the main characters and world as a whole. Right now, One Piece reached the 1000th chapter and from on, the Supernovas will finally face Big Mom and Kaido. It’s hard to tell if this will be their final battle or not and how much the author still has up his sleeve about Zoro and Law in regard to their relationship during this arc. I suspect some flashback may happen in the near future, especially since Luffy, Law and Zoro are going to fight arm to arm with Kid and Killer against the main target of the alliance - the Emperors. Because of that I can’t rule out the possibility that upcoming chapters could show the dynamic of Zoro and Law already analyzed by me in a different light yet I decided to slowly tackle the analysis of what was shown so far and eventually write an annex and/or correction if the future source material will bring any contradiction. 

Every part of the analysis so far got an individual subtitle from me, as a quick summary of Zoro and Law’s relationship stage. For example, Dressrosa Arc was the breaking point that in the visible way separated their neutrality (indifference?) from previous adventures and the clear comradeship presented from on. Wano is pretty hard to name properly so I went with the general “Against Emperors'' title. But frankly speaking, the Together But Separated so far would fit even better because from chapter 909 to 1000, Law and Zoro interacted directly or indirectly (including, having some thoughts about the other) for like, maybe 10 chapters at best. At the same time, most of the likely development of their relationship was happening offscreen - the journey to Wano that is basically omitted by the story so far and so is the time before Straw Hats went undercover. The upcoming confrontation with Emperors thankfully is going to change that. Because of lack of direct interaction I decided to write  also about A) Law and Straw Hats (especially Straw Hats men) and B) Supernovas to show how different it is from his and Zoro dynamic.

That said, time for a proper analysis!

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The alliance separated into four groups. Luffy's team went to rescue Sanji and got into a fight with Big Mom. Zoro and Law became part of Kinemon’s team and headed to Wano Country scrambled in Law’s submarine. For now (up to chapter 1000), there was little to no detail or flashback about that time of journey, but who knows what future chapters will reveal. 

Despite the lack of proper information, some conclusions may be drawn on the basis of previously established informations and logic:

➽ On Zou, Law promised Kinemon a safe passage to Wano. Since shogun Orochi worked closely with Kaido, Beast Pirates posed an additional threat on this part of the sea. Another  problem was limited ways to enter the country by ocean. The hidden tunnel leading to Mogura Port was used only when Kaido or Orochi granted someone permission thus was out of question. The other known method was the Climbing Koi Waterfall which itself was a pretty dangerous method, especially since sea currents and weather there were all the time bad for sailing (chapter 910)

So far, there is no information how exactly Team Kinemon avoided or passed by the natural dangers nor how they entered the country (did they find another way underwater?).To get into the country without being spotted by the enemy the submarine most likely needed to be submerged for the majority if not all of the course since Zou alone was already targeted by Beast Pirates.

➽ It’s hard to tell how long the journey took from Zou to the samurai homeland - what depended on the Elephant’s location, submarine’s speed achieved while sailing or during the submergence and eventual obstacles on the way. The most telling time reference we have is that:

⟹ Luffy’s team needed “multiple (several) days” to reach Big Mom’s territory (chapter 823, 824). Nami said Luffy wasted a week’s food supply which also supports the claim that the journey was meant to last for more than one-two days.

⟹ Additionally, the enemy subordinates transporting Sanji to wedding (chapter 825) also needed “several days'' to cross the borderline of Big Mom’s territory and they left Zou two days before Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Robin, Franky and Law get there. The Straw Hats spent at least two days before they separated into two groups, which gives the enemy four days of advantage. It feels like Big Mom’s pirates sailed around a week (4 day at minimum). 

⟹ Saving Sanji and fighting the Charlotte Family took another five days. On the fifth day, in the early morning the Straw Hats escape Totto Land (chapter 901)

⟹ While Luffy’s team sailed to Wano (chapter 903), manga showed the events happening at the same time in a different places, including the world leaders sailing to Mary Geoise for Reverie that last for a seven days. In chapter 904, it was said the conference would start in two days that have passed in chapter 908. Chapter 909 brings the storyline back to Wano and chapter 910 is the moment when Luffy’s team reach the country boardline. It seems safe to assume Luffy’s group took at least 2 days to reach Wano.

⟹ The journey from Zou to Whole Cake Island took Straw Hats several days but from Totto Land to Wano closer to two days.  

⟹ Jack the Drought’s return to Wano happened several days before Luffy’s arrival. Since “several” is an “indefinite number more than 2 or 3 but not many”(x), he most likely got there before Luffy left Big Mom’s territory. Of course that doesn’t tell much how long it took to sail from Zou to Wano, because Jack needed to be rescue from the bottom of sea first (after Elephant destroyed all ships of Beast Pirates on Momonosuke’s order, chapter 824) but at the same time it suggests that journey from Wano and back took days. To find Jack, the Kaido’s people most likely followed the vivre card - otherwise, how did they manage to find and rescue the person stuck deep underwater? And because they traveled through their captain’s territory, they didn’t need to avoid anyone in their journey, unlike the alliance. 

Though it’s impossible to determine how long time passed from Luffy leaving Zou to arriving in Wano, it was longer than a week yet the most likely shorter than a month. I feel like the safest bet is something around two weeks. When Luffy arrived in Wano, Zoro’s group was already working on their tasks yet the indirect information suggests that Kinemon’s group most likely traveled for a few(?) days rather than just hours. Whatever it was a few hours or one day or more, the Zoro and Law’s group was stuck in enclosed space deep under water for a while.

➽ The manga does not provide a precise scale to measure Thousand Sunny with Polar Tang. The closest in that matter are frames from Marineford and Dressrosa arcs

in which both Polar Tang and Thousand Sunny look tiny compared to Marine Battleship. It’s hard to tell for sure the difference in length but it’s not something truly drastic. Thousand Sunny uses a soldier dock system and the Coup de Burst in specific situations, relying mainly on sailing in a traditional way. Although Submarine is also equipped with sails, more often was shown during immersion. Both boats are equipped with some advanced technology though I suspect that engines and machinery for air circulation and heat (the basic life support equipment) built into Polar Tang may take some of space (that and at least some space was intended for the operating room). 

➽ Even if Law’s Polar Tang was spacious boat, it needed to accommodate Heart Pirates (Law and his 20 crewmembers), samurais (Kinemon, Momonosuke, Raizo and Kanjuro) and remaining part of Straw Hats (Zoro, Robin, Usopp, Franky). An eight additional people to feed and bunk somewhere, in case of a longer journey. For record, Thousand Sunny during its journey to Dressrosa carried only 9 Straw Hats and four additional people (Law, Momonosuke, Kinemon, Caesar Clown). Even if both ships are more or less of the same size, Sunny hadn’t been crowded like Polar Tang was while heading to Wano.

➽ In contrast to normally sailing Thousand Sunny, the submerged submarine has less space to find privacy (isolation) from the group or the noise. All members of Straw Hat crew have their personal space on the ship, be it Usopp’s Factory or Sanji’s kitchen or Zoro’s gym (lookout point). A place they may work in peace or relax. On Polar Tang, samurais and Straw Hats were the guests, thus on personal territory of other pirates. If they didn’t get along well, the journey could be awkward and uncomfortable. Most likely it wasn’t, considering how Heart Pirates were excited to meet their allies and the two crews already were partying together on Zou. At the same time, during that party, the lonely panel (evidence) showed only Usopp interacting with Penguin(?). Zoro was drinking with wolf Mink, while Robin, Franky and samurais weren’t there at all. The little bits of Law’s crew presented in the previous arc suggest they are more emotionally open and easy going people than their captain and both crews have a lot of stories to share and laugh about during their journey to bond over. Usopp and Franky most likely didn’t have any problem fitting into the new situation, but Zoro is a much more reserved, no-nonsense person than them, especially around strangers. Much more intimidating too. And the last journey with Bartolomeo’s crew proved how short-tempered he can be if surrounded by noisy and/or idiotic people for too long.

➽ Straw Hats for the first time had a chance to see Law on his turf. Up to this moment, they interacted on either neutral, enemy or Straw Hats’ home ground. Now the roles were reserved, Law was the host and captain of the submarine. Kinemon may be the leader of the team, but during the journey it was Trafalgar (and Heart Pirates) that guaranteed safety and took responsibility for the wellbeing of the rest. Straw Hats were the ones who needed to adapt to the situation (like not getting in the way of Heart Pirates when the crew performed their duties) and trust Heart Pirates’ navigation skills.

➽ Adding to that, all the additional 8 people weren’t really accustomed to traveling underwater for longer period of time. Of course, Straw Hats had some experiences with the little submarine built by Franky but from all of them (beside maybe Franky himself), only Robin, at least manga-wise, took part in submerging search for Fishman Island, two years earlier - what was seen in chapter 490. And was apparently aware of the danger submerging too deeply.

All Straw Hats experienced submerging to Fishman Island but according to Nico, it was “nothing like a submarine” and it felt like they were “flying through the air” (chapter 604).

Which may imply that traveling in Law’s submarine was very new and/or different experiences to what Straw Hats knew.

➽ Also, out of 8 people, half were devil fruit users. We may only wonder how spending hours/days underwater could affect samurais (who were still catching up with the technological change that happened in the last 20 years) and Robin - and depending on the result, affecting Zoro, Usopp and Franky. Like was mentioned above, Robin already had some experiences with submerging but we must remember that “Shark Submerge III” was built by Franky, thus trusted to be a safe way of exploring the ocean while Polar Tang was totally new, alien territory belonging to other pirate crew. Once again, we don’t know how long the journey lasted and how enclosed and crowded space was and how being trapped for a longer period of time under water was affecting devil fruit users. Claustrophobia and panic attacks could happen at any moment, even more if the submarine was attacked by sea monsters or flowed into an excessively strong current. Law presumably was used to the feeling and enclosed space by now but at the same time, his crew so far doesn’t seem to have any other devil fruit user beside him. Traveling together with so many (inexperienced) stranger devil fruit users could be much more exhausting than it seemed at first glance.

➽➽ Frankly, the additional scene in episode 490 showed that:

A) living conditions on the submarine can be affected by external factors. In this case, the submarine going through an underwater volcanic(?) region caused the rise of temperature inside the boat and thus brough discomfort to Heart Pirates. 

B) The living conditions worsened to the point Bepo was suffering overheating. He admitted “I hate riding the submarine. Spending several hours in a cramped area together with these scruffy guys.” and even kinda bullied Penguin and Shachi into submarine ascent so he could breath with fresh air.

We don’t know much about the underwater region(s) between Zou and Wano but manga mentioned at least strong sea currents. Depending how deep the submarine could - or rather needed - to submerge, the outside temperature (and pressure) of water could affect traveling people. Generally, the deeper into the ocean, the temperature is lower while the hydrostatic pressure increases. Of course, waters of the Grand Line are unpredictable and there was no one in the group that knew for sure what awaited them during underwater travel. So if even experienced Heart Pirate like Bepo, who according to SBS (vol. 84, chapter 840) met Law shorty after Cora’s death and is his friend since then thus we may assume has the same years of experiences with submarine, could be so affected by heat, cramped area and hours of traveling underwater with “scruffy guys”, the possibility of happening something similar to Straw Hats or Samurais can’t be excluded.

➽ In contrast to the uncertain situation of devil fruit users, Franky and Usopp most likely were smitten with all the technology of the submarine and bonding over it with Heart Pirates. In addition, both men were friendly by nature.

➽ Zoro, sadly, wouldn't have much to do there. No lookout point available, no guarding ship, no way for a serious trening or real fight with Law or samurais (to avoid destroying the submerged boat). Did he happily sleep or drink through the journey or did he grow restless at some point, we don’t have any clue so far. At the same time, Zoro wasn’t on his (safe) ship, had other Straw Hats (and samurais) to look after, didn’t have anything important to do (no real duties, no knowledge how to maintain submarine) and unhealthy habit of sleeping barely 3 hours per day that could finally took its toll. Though looking at Law’s dark circles under eyes, his sleeping habits may not be better than Zoro's .

In general, the alliance journey to Wano could provide a lot of interesting and important details about the development of Law and Zoro relationship, especially since for the first time in the four arcs, Law was on his home ground and had better control over the course of events. At the same time, his dorky crew could tell many stories of their (and Law’s) past or previous adventures. There were also matters of Wano to discuss, but also no place to run away if Zoro wanted some distance from noisy Law’s crewmembers - on Thousand Sunny Law at least could choose to sleep on the ship deck instead of being cramped with others in the men quarter. Straw Hats and samurais didn’t have such luxury.

Zoro and Law could learn something new about each other or simply fall into an already established dynamic or even get tired of each other after being forced to spend time together in enclosed space. Sadly, so far manga did not provide anything useful about their journey.

The next part: Zoro & Luffy Means Troubles...

[insidethecrack]

The Dandelion Side of me

I think this one is going to be hard to understand for most of non-psychotic people, I’ going to do my best but can’t proise anything (which means if you have any questions, feel free to ask for more explanation). (update : I didn’t say half what I wanted to say on the subject... it was horribly damned long, tell me if you want the rest of it...)

One of the basic of psychose is that you don’t have boundaries for your mind or your body. You might not get what he means, I’ve discovered it’s very hard to understand that when you don’t experience it. So let’s start slowly with body boundary. When you watch your hand you can clearly see the outlines of it. I’m even sure you don’t actually have to watch it, you can feel your hand, you know where it is, you know it’s yours. Most of the time, you don’t have to think to know where are the parts of your body. You can touch people with no fear because you will always know where your body ends and where the other’s starts.  Well, know that’s a blessing and I spend insomnia after insomnia cursing you for being so blessed and not even know you are (but don’t take it too personnal...).

Here is my “morning routine”. Wake up. Mind instantly launches like it’s a fucking machine with only an on/off switch. Figure out when I am, then where. Looking for the piees of my body. Checking that every pieces of it is in the right place. Are there any pain anywhere ? If the night was good, this routine takes 3 minutes maybe. If night was bas, it can go up to 2 hours before I’m even able to get out of bed. Because how can you stand on your feet if you feel like the bones of your legs are misplaced ? Like, not broken, but laying somewhere on the kitchen floor while your hair are clearly hanging froom the roof ? Spoiler alert : you can’t. It is physicaly impossible. Since body has no proper boundaries, only blurry outlines, waking up means having my body all over the place. And I have to think to bring every pieces together. My body is a fucking puzzle I have to rebuild every morning.

That means I have to live my days with the fear of seeing this fragile and delicate puzzle being smashed up by the outside world. This is the difference between you and me : since you don’t have to fix your body every morning, it doesn’t even occur to you that is could break right in the middle of the street for no reason except that the wind was a bit strong today. And when I say break, I insist, I don’t mean broken bones. I mean being like a dandelion. When I was child, I loved those flowers, it was so beautiful so blow on them and watch the seeds fly. My mother told me that if you could catch one of the seeds after blowing on it, you could make a wish.

My body is a dandelion. Except that there is no wish to make. When you blow on a dandelion, if you can catch one or two seeds, you’re lucky. You never know where the seeds go. Can you imagine trying to catch all of the dandelion’s seeds ? Me neither. But sometimes, I have to look for the pieces of my body to fix it when the wind has blowed on me. Can you imagine the agony, the painful panic of knowing that you will never be able to catch all the seeds, leading you to abandon some pieces of your own body in the world, knowing that you’ll have to rebuild it from scratch ? Well, if you can, you’re not even close to what it’s really like (but thank you for trying to imagine, you’re great). Because I have to live with the knowledge that I can’t protect us, body and mind, properly, I will always lose pieces in the wind, no matter what. You guessed right : more guilt to carry and live with. Because when you don’t have boundary : enough is never enough.

Now, try to imagine what it means to me to touch or being touched with this dandelion body. I used to say I don’t like being touched or touch, but I realised it’s a bit more complicated than that (I know : what a surprise !). In France, to say hello to friends, relatives, close ones, you kiss on the cheeks. I. Fucking. Hate. This. I hate “having” to touch someone. I hate having to kiss strangers. I hate when I have to let people I don’t like kiss me. I’m terrible at this. I can’t lie, but my body is even a worse liar than I am. Really ! If you care and watch closely, I have the most readable body language of the world. (that’s why I suck at poker : I don’t get the point of a game where all you do is lie to other for money)(well that sounds like a good summary of life too... does it mean I suck at life too ???) I don’t like you ? I will not make a move to you, find a way to be as far of you as I can, and if we have to cheek-kiss, well, you’ll do all the job because I want even move my head (and if I really really hate you, you can see my whole body contracting itself and my fist getting ready to punch). If we’re ok, I’ll try, and smile, but still contracting (don’t fly away dandelion body...). If I like you, I will still try to avoid if not in the mood, but won’t contract if we touch. If we’re really friend or I love you, I will make the move to touch you (probably in a more or less awkward way but I will !).

All this because of the Dandelion effect : touch you could kill me. Or at least a part of me. Touch you could break a part of the dandelion for ever. And it’s not even the worst. I told you my body has no boundary and it can sometimes be hard for me to feel its outlines. When I touch someone, these outlines get even more blurry. Where does my body stop ? Where the othere’s start ? It’s terrifying. It’s a fucking vertigo. And when I have to touch someone I don’t like / hate... it’s hell. It feels like I could be swallowed by the other. I can’t defend my boundaries because I don’t know where they fucking are. So I feel under attack, and there is nothing I can do to defend myself. Nothing. At all. Except avoiding being touched.

On the contrary.... on December, I saw a friend, a very touchy friend. And she knows I don’t like being touched and it took her time to accept not cheek-kissing me. But we didn’t see each other for months. I really missed and was fucking happy to meet her again. While waiting for her, I was debating with myself that I would like to touch her (I trust you all to be clever and open-minded people who will perfectly undersantd after this reading that when I say “I want to touch someone” it’s not always about sexual stuffs). And she arrived “I know you don’t like that, but I haven’t seen you in months, can we hug ?” I was overjoyed she asked me before.... which leads me to be overjoyed to hug her, and hours later when we left, to ask for another hug to say goodbye. And I loved and am still treasuring those two hugs.

I love hug, and kiss, and touch and being touched, if I feel safe with the person, if I feel the other can understand I don’t want to be touched in any ways. If I feel like I’m forced to (just like with social convention of cheek-kiss in France) I will hate it, feel under attack, in danger, and that I might die / disappear / suffer in the process, just because the person in front of me thinks “well it’s just a kiss and there’s only me, don’t be lazy !”. I’m not lazy, I’m terrified. You will not be there to look for all the seeds of the dandelion. I will. Alone. And I won’t be able to find back all the seeds. I will lose parts of me again. Just because you wanted to be cheek-kissed by me. And this is the kind of behaviour that leads to me cursing all of you during insoomnia, the kind of behaviour that leaves me crying at night over the lost pieces, fucking alone. Always alone.

You may think it’s not so hard to avoid those situations, but, unfortunately, you’re wrong. For exemples, I hate massages. It makes me feel like I’m going to break, to explode from the inside. Body reacts by contracting even more. Massages are painful. Massages are hell. ut have you tried to explain this to your love one who just wanted to release you from a terrible neck pain ? Good luck with that. In the outside world, massage = good. So when you can’t help but having your body reacting to a message by contracting and half-screaming half-spitting “stop this go to hell stop pain !”... well it’s not the proper answer. He would stop... but try again the next day. I said it was very nice of him and I appreciate the gesture and the fact he wantd to take care. But please, don’t. It’s painful. “of course it is ! you should relax and you contract every muscles !” Like if I had a choice. I don’t control this part of me. Body feels in danger ? Body protects itself.

You know what I like ? People having their hands on my shoulders. Not moving nor massaging. Just being here. I love the warmth of it. The peaceful feeling. The not being alone feling. The outline of my body unblurrying. I love to feel that someone is there. In a way, it makes it up to all the alone night crying over dead dandelion body.

I never dared to ask ex-boyfriend. Or the guys I kinda dated since. Because to the world it’s like “nothing”. Just holding someone feels like nothing. You have to do something.

I guess the world hasn’t spent enough nights crying over a dead dandelion body, caring the guilt of lost seeds, feeling terribly alone, and scared of the next day where you will have to fix the body puzzle, alone, once again.

[bottlepiecemuses]

Of Course He Would Say That

Then again Ussop did get them both into this.