#one-sided but it's sure there

[dawnslight-aegis]

17. sally

Haurchefant had never expected to receive the Warriors of Light and the sad remnants of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn on his doorstep in the middle of the night, cold, unarmed, and dressed for a gala, not a trek through the wilderness. He had certainly never expected that, when one of them looked at him with beautiful, tired blue eyes and declared that they’d not known where to go, where they would be safe, so they’d come to him, that his heart would crack open and leave him in awe of what lay within it.

So he did what he could in the moment – granted them sanctuary in the only place he’d ever been able to call his own, made jokes to lighten their spirits, served them drinks to warm the body and nourish the heart. And when all of that was done, and was not enough to stand against the darkness that wished to snuff out the light of the dawn, he had steeled himself and sallied forth into the unknown, to attempt to claim for a friend what he had never been able to fully claim for himself: a home in Fortemps Manor, safely ensconced within the protective walls of Ishgard.

His plea was refused, of course. Ishgard had closed her gates years ago, and it would take more than a few feats of heroism in her name to bid them open once more. But if the count de Fortemps would not heed the requests of his garrison commander, then perhaps his father would listen to his son, just this once. Never before had he asked anything of the man who sired him, but the look on the Warrior of Light’s face as she’d stood in the snow, lost and cold and uncertain as he’d never seen her, spurred him on.

Haurchefant spoke of light, and of inspiration, and of virtue; of a knight he had trained by his own hand, valiant and true and innocent of the crimes spoken against her; of a hero but also of a friend, dear to him above all others. He spoke of his obligation, his need to help her, to secure her passage to the only place in the realm that her enemies could not touch her. And in his heart, he admitted to himself that it was for her that he did this, not the others she brought with her. It was for her that he laid aside pride and put himself at his father’s mercy, knowing that refusal would bring an irrevocable end to a relationship long fraught with as much difficulty as affection.

It took a very, very long time, but in the end, his father’s love outweighed his sense of tradition and duty. Just as it must have all those years ago when he’d taken a lovely servant girl into his heart and his bed, and not turned out the baseborn child that had resulted, even though it drove a wedge of resentment between himself and his wife and trueborn sons.

Never before had Haurchefant been more sure of the strength of his father’s regard than in that moment. He had not granted him his name, or a place at his table between his brothers, but at the very least, he could give him this one thing. Fulfill one heartfelt wish, and take a dear friend into his home and into their family as much as he was able.

Edmont de Fortemps was a powerful man, but the Holy See was stubborn beyond measure, and for a time it seemed that even the determination of one of her highest lords, even with his voice amplified by another high house and the lord commander of the temple knights, would not shake her from her refusal. Would not convince her to open her gates to those who had literally stood with their backs to them, and guarded them against the onslaught of dragons that breached the wards of the Steps of Faith. In those long days of uncertainty, it was all Haurchefant could to grant whatever shelter and succor was within his own power, to guard his borders with sharpened steel, and pray to the Fury that it would be enough.

And it was. It was.

He saw his friend delivered to safety, though naturally it came with strings attached, as did every kindness in the city of his birth. He could only trust that when they attempted to strangle her, she would survive them, that when knives came at her in the dark, he would be able to shield her from them.

He needn’t have worried. Every challenge set before her, she rose to, and then overcame, by her grace and her valor. She repaid him many times over, saving his brother, saving his family’s reputation, saving his city itself by doing that which no one else had dared dream – walking alongside the heretics, learning and understanding, and from thence traveling into the heart of the enemy’s stronghold and cutting off the head of the horde that had long harried them.

So when she returned, with tales that exposed the rot that lay at the heart of everything his people held dear, he believed her. He took up arms in her defense. He loved her, even when she did not love him in return.

And when the time came, he shielded her as he always had, and felt not a moment of regret, save for the sadness it brought her. He had never wanted to be the cause of her pain, only the salve for it. Never her loss, only her shelter.

Never before had he asked anything of the woman he loved, but in that moment, he wished only to see again, for one final time, that for which he had risked and given all. His hero, no longer cold and lost in the dark, but brave, and brilliant, and smiling. And there, even at the end of all things, she did not disappoint him. She rose to the challenge and surpassed it, one final time.

[darishima]

made a chart of the straw hats' skin tones with the colors being screencapped directly from the episodes, to show how much they've lightened. this is more than just an "artstyle change" or "design evolution" or "just the timeskip" this is blatant racism/colorism. it's fucking ridiculous and i don't understand how toei is continuously getting away with it please reblog btw, i think this is something people should see

[neo--queen--serenity]

Utterly tragic that Chilchuck canonically sees Senshi as a paragon of sex appeal and Senshi canonically sees Chilchuck as a small baby child in need of a parent

[eatmyson]

[abstractfrog]

Happy 1 year anniversary to Mr Sherlock Holmes! Here's a litttleee celebratory comic from me

[paintedcrows]

they make me feel unwell

(continued: Stan & Young Ford)

[time-woods]

EMOTIONAL WIN ! ! the bug lets his emotions make decisions for once !

[egophiliac]

this is basically what happened, right?

(these guys are very lucky that everyone at NRC 1) has the combined intelligence of a sack of bricks, and 2) is easily distracted by shiny things.)

[nouverx]

Day 7 of Radiostatic Week

First fight! But surely not the last :)

[andaniellight]

one of the funniest gigs in pre-timeskip was that whenever Zoro tried to be considerate with the coward trio while handling their eager stupid captain is that this thing would bound to happen regardless of anything at all....

and then the aftermath would be like:

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Normal boy spotted.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[iampresent]

I am two episodes into Malevolent and I have determined that the truest horror element is having your body taken over by a demon who is somehow. more incompetent at running your life than you are.

[itzmellooo]

Lumity week day 1: Surprise!!

Something about promise rings or something sappy n romantic idrk... (they're madly in love your honour)

[kumquatpoo]

I hate these fucking gays

[moongothic]

Crocodad AU where immidiately after having left Dragon and his baby boy Crocodile finds an 11 year old Robin. And while he's 100% only recruiting her so they can make a beeline for the Poneglyph and Pluton in Alabasta by the two of them... Crocodile accidentally sorta kinda adopts Robin.

At this point Robin's been running for her life from the Government for three years so her deep trust issues and fear of betrayal are starting to take root in her little heart. Like perhaps they haven't taken fully over yet, and being still a child I'm sure Robin might've still had that genuine hope that she could find a safe place to stay in. But I'm sure the though of "what'll he'll do with me once he gets what he wants?" would be nagging at her at the back of her mind. Meanwhile Crocodile's struggling between the pain and hurt he's already gone through and given him his trademark trust issues, as well as the aftermath of The Dragodile Divorce. But he also has his Fresh Paternal Instincts and probably misses his baby. So when given a small, scared child who is running for her life, being chased by the very same Government that'll want his son dead if they ever find out about him... Yeah that might fuck with your brain a little

You know this post was supposed to be just that first paragraph and just a few footnotes from the following two paragraphs. And then I kept on Having Thoughts. And I kept on writing them down. And oh no what happened when did this post get so long (Look I was going to either kept on writing my Additional Thoughts in the tags or I just put them in the actual fucking post)

Like considder this: based on this one SBS, we can kinda tell that if Crocodile was given a chance to raise a child, that child would be a spoiled little shit, right

So in this scenario, where Crocodile's looking after lil Robin, would he be kind of torn? Unsure how to feel about her?

Because on one hand, this strange child would have the potential to not only ruin his plans, strip him of his Shichibukai Privileges by outing him and his plans to the World Government, but also put his son in grave danger by extension (if she found out about him having been involved with the Revolutionaries and/or having a child). But on the other hand, his paternal instincts could make him want to spoil this poor little girl rotten. But only because he needs to (perhaps literally) buy her trust so she'll behave. No other reason, he doesn't feel sorry for her one bit, no sirree. (But maybe he did feel sorry for her, since his son could very well end up exactly like her. Poor little thing) (Which is why he needs to nuke Marijoa out of orbit as soon as possible, no matter the cost, and this child can't get in the way of Crocodile protecting his son) (But also this is a child. Like how bad could she be. Besides all he really needs to do to win her trust is be nice and make her feel safe, right?)

Of course, while I'm suggesting Crocodile could have some parental instincts, realistically, he hasn't actually spent any time being, you know, a father to a child (looking after his newborn for an unknown though short amount of time aside), so it's possible he wouldn't even know how to parent Robin even if he wanted to, would he? (Like taking care of a newborn and an 11 year old kid aren't the same either) So if he was kind of just emotionally flipflopping between No Trusting Ever and It's Just A Kid for God's Sake, Crocodile trying to be nice to Robin to make her feel safe and then telling himself to stop being so soft and vunerable... Yeah that would make for an absolute mess of a relationship. (Not to mention, let's be real, dude's a scary motherfucker too, and a bloody giant compared to itty bitty baby Robin. He could keep on accidentally scaring the shit out of Robin (who would be On Fucking Edge To Begin With) by just Being Himself. Like for example, can you fucking imagine if he caught Robin trying to cheer herself up with a little "dereshishishi" only to tell her to stop because "it was stupid"? 'Cause I can imagine him doing that, and boy howdy would that make Robin feel bad)

Or who knows, maybe Crocodile was just Born To Be A Dad, maybe he just Fucking Gets It. Like Crocodile is canonically pretty good at manipulating people to do what he wants them to do (see: how he played Vivi like a fiddle), so knowing Robin's position and understanding how she feels, maybe he COULD completely nail how she needed to be treated. Not being too familiar but still making her feel safe and happy, knowing exactly when to be stern and when to spoil her, etc. Dude just goes off and wins the Dad of the Year Award while being a deadbeat dad himself. The only thing Crocodile would have to worry about then would be making sure HE doesn't get too fond of her. And certainly that could never happen, he's so in-touch with his own feelings and so grounded, he's not a softie, get outta here. Or maybe he does but never realizes until it's too late and good luck backpedalling on those emotions now dumbass

Alright so, the reason I went on that whole rmble is just that like. I'm so interested in the relationship Robin and Crocodile already have in canon. I'm so facinated and curious about how the two feel about each other, considdering they did spend 4 whole years of their lives together as criminal business partners, though neither ever trusted the other. A partnership that was only ended because Robin betrayed Crocodile, out of her own trauma. (God, I want to see these two "reunite" so bad, I want to know how they feel about each other now after the timeskip and Robin joining the idiot in flipflops who foiled Croc's plans)

My question here is just that... if they had met 13 years earlier, would things have been different? Especially if Crocodad Real? Because as I mentioned in the begining, Robin would've been on the run for only 3 years by this point, as opposed to 16 years before running into Crocodile. Simultaneously, this would be before Crocodile went onto spend an entire decade all alone, slowly losing his marbles in his emotional solitude. They'd both be emotionally traumatized, yes, but would it have been as bad in this scenario? Like I did start this post kind of joking about Crocodile adopting Robin, and for clarity's sake I don't think they'd have like a father-daughter relationship nececarily. But it would be a strange relationship still, because we'd have two broken people, both struggling to trust anyone. One who had lost her mother and her only friends, leaving her all alone and afraid while running for her life. The other a father who had just given up his son whom he probably missed dearly. Both having these holes in their hearts from loss of family, holes that could not be filled with replacements. But could they find comfort in each other anyway, because they still as people occupy similar roles to their respective loved ones? If they both could just get over those trust issues?

Okay I've been going off on the Emotional Side Of Things for this AU Concept, THERE'S PLOT TOO

So if Crocodile did pick Robin up like 19 years ago, that should be before he set up base in Alabasta, long before he had built is homebase and financial empire etc.

Now the thing is, while we don't know when, where and how Crocodile learned about the Ancient Weapons, Pluton specifically and how the lead on it would be in Alabasta... Considdering Crocodile did once upon a time aim to become Pirate King, it would make perfect sense if he had learned about Poneglyphs during his past adventures, as he would have needed to get the Road Poneglyphs to find One Piece. And while the World Government did bury the truth about why Ohara had been burned down and why Robin had been given her bounty (remember, the WG claimed it was because she had sunken a fleet of battleships, which she had not, it was because she could read the Poneglyphs), considdering this is a Crocodad AU specifically, you could totally make an argument Crocodile could've learned about what actually happened to Ohara from Dragon and co. So, just to make this AU work, you could just assume Crocodile learned about the concept of the Ancient Weapons from Dragon. And who knows, maybe he overheard the truth about why Robin had been given her bounty from Dragon too (maybe Dragon was able to get intel from Garp in secret) or while going to Marijoa himself to attend a Shichibukai meeting or something IDK.

Maybe he learned about Pluton being in Alabasta before finding Robin by accident, and maybe they made a beeline for Alabasta the second Croc recruited Robin. Travelling takes time and the guy would've most likely had to find an Eternal Pose to Alabasta just to get there (also canonically Robin didn't enter the Grand Line until her 20s so they should've met in West Blue probably, since that's where Ohara was) Or maybe Crocodile had to haul Robin around for a few months while looking for That Missing Piece of Information that would lead him to Alabasta. (Imagine the two travelling from like island to island, library to library, Crocodile trying to find that leads while Robin's just so excited about ALL THESE BOOKS (she's helping too with the research) (but to her, research is playtime, so she's just having the time of her life) (Also, notice how Crocodile's Theoretical Child is a fucking loser ass nerd? Yeah Crocodile would encourage Robin reading and studying, surely. And that would be fucking cute))

But like, once they set sail to Alabasta...

Sure, Crocodile could try to do it The Slow Way that we know he tried in canon, building trust and creating his little empire etc. But also, in canon, Crocodile couldn't have jumped into action head first because without Robin, even if he had found the Poneglyph he couldn't have read it and found the location of Pluton. Crocodile choosing to do it the slow way may have been partially because he didn't have much of a choise and it could've felt like the smarter move long-term.

But in this scenario, he already has Robin. Yes, he could do it the slow, secure way.

But what'd be there stopping him from infiltrating Cobra's palace and kidnapping him (in the night, when nobody suspects a thing), demanding Cobra to spill the beans lest Crocodile kills him and/or his pregnant wife* (*Vivi was born 10 months after Luffy so depending on how long it's been between Crocodad leaving Luffy behind and this scenario... Yeah either the wife is there, still pregnant, or there's a newborn Baby Vivi)

Like it'd be a risky move but depending on how ballsy Croc's feeling and how confident he feels in being able to kidnap the king without being noticed... Yeah he could probably do it. And I'm sure he'd have no problem killing Cobra either, if anything it'd be required if he didn't want the Government to find out he was out to find Pluton, and god knows Cobra would tell on Crocodile if left alive. I could see Crocodad being maybe a little iffy about killing Baby Vivi though (it's not like the newborn baby could report him to the WG anyways), but if nothing else, he just needs to be able to pull off the bluff of his life to convince Cobra to do as he's told. And we all know Crocodile's good at convincing people.

The only question is, how would Robin take that?

Watching Crocodile go into Full Murder Mode, hearing him say he'd kill a pregnant woman/a newborn baby if he didn't get what he wanted? Like yeah, I'm sure 11 year old Robin would be fine with that, that wouldn't make any alarm bells go off in her head at all, it'd be fiiiine. IT WOULD NOT BE FINE, SHE'D BE SCARED SHITLESS. That fear of "what will he do with me when he gets what he wants"? Well, Robin may not have found the answer to that question in particular, but she certainly found the answer to the opposite question, and it's not good

So say Cobra, kidnapped (perhaps with Baby Vivi) by Crocodile in the night, guides the two to the Poneglyph under the tombs. Crocodile puts Cobra out of his misery because he's not needed anymore. And he asks Robin to read the Poneglyph for him.

Robin, who has spent the last little while, be it weeks or months with Crocodile, him having become her "guardian", the thing keeping her safe. Crocodile, who has now shown how cold blooded and cruel he can be. Robin, who might be scared out of her mind. Of him.

And the Poneglyph says Pluton, the thing Crocodile wants, isn't there. It's in Wano.

What's she going to do?

EDIT: I wrote a sequel post, enjoy