#tags under cut lol ->

[pndrax]

i'm alive again guys

digital art has been kind of on the back of my mind, i haven't really had much motivation to create it, but there is also a lot of traditional that i've done recently as well!!

bdubs be upon yee

(traditional dump under cut!!)

[ REBLOGS >> LIKES ]

[canadianno]

WHERE MY GORE LOVERS AT BABY

I never see appreciation for the bishop purgatory designs anywhere, so. I am here. To change that.

I want to see more people mess around with the designs... I want to see more people including silly headcanons and stylizing them!!! Because the designs are all amazing!! The way each design conveys how the lamb fought them is INCREDIBLE.

The top of Leshys' head is devoid of foliage because the rest of him was hidden underground during his fight. Hekets' throat and stomach are raw and skinned because she's always landing and scraping around hard on stone when she's trying to crush you. Kallamar is covered in a large burn because it's so difficult to get close to him during his fight, implying the best strategy was a long range strategy. Shamuras' front is completely torn open and hanging out because they're running directly at you during the entire fight and that is exactly! Where! You'd! Be! Hitting them!

I'm just really really passionate about the bishop purgatory designs. I want to see more people explore them I think they're so cool.

[milkywayes]

■■■■ Shepard / earthborn / sole survivor / soldier. lovingly annotated.

scar refs (censored nsfw) under the cut >:) since I drew it and all.

[spooksicl-e]

do you guys think they h*ld h*nds

[jaestelle]

WISHING NIGHT: A Voxman Fan Comic

Page 3/6 - First | Previous | (Next)

This page is one of the ones that motivated me to make the comic! I imagined this page (and the next 3 tbh...) and I really wanted to try to share my silly vision with y'all.

I hope you're enjoying! We're halfway done >:33 Sorry for the delay between each page, ya boy tired LMAO

[ink-the-artist]

I love your artwork so much! Your colors are so vibrant and none of the white speckles in the paper ever shows, its so impressive and I really dig it! I was wondering if you use any sort of blending medium? Like baby oil or anything? Either way, I really enjoy looking at your artwork and I'm always excited to see whatever you'll make next

I use a colorless blender (prismacolor, which is wax-based so baby oil probably wouldnt work) but my scanner is also rly bad about picking up white specks in a way photographing the art with my phone isnt, so I usually have to do some digital editing to get rid of them as well.

I do this by duplicating the layer, setting the one on top to "darken," and using the mixer brush to blend out the white spots + just use the eyedropper tool to select the color of that area (needs to be a slightly lighter shade of it) and color over the white spots with the brush tool

i edited a small bit of the original scan to show what i mean

original:

with the edited layer:

heres how it looks set to normal instead of darken, I used both the mixing brush and regular brush just to demo it

[surelysilly]

i was reading about Klarion the witch boy.... for reasons... and something said he came to Earth specifically to harass humans... so... yeah...

i wanted to give him a very serious and cool mask like some of the ones in Dorohedoro but... this was funnier.

the devil knew exactly what she was doing.

Danny: Ok... Let me get this straight... You're from an alternative reality where devils make masks for magic users and you're just here to be annoying... culturally...? (No joke?)

Klarion: Yes. (Heh.)

Danny: (Wha...) ... Can you show me? (Are you lying?)

Klarion: The sheer awe of my greatness may stun you. (No.)

Danny: (...) I'll be fine. *squints*

Klarion: Very well. (uwu)

Klarion: Behold. (Impressed?)

Danny, stunned, dying laughing internally: (OMG.) O-Oh. (He's serious.)

[jitters-art]

some much needed hugs for naruto…..

[ ID: 5 different half body digital drawings of naruto hugging other people. first is naruto hugging sasuke from behind. the viewer is facing their backs, and narutos face is turned away. sasuke is holding naruto’s hand over his shoulder. second is iruka hugging academy aged naruto tightly. they both look upset like iruka is comforting naruto. third is naruto and sakura sitting and taking a nap together. naruto leans into sakura and hugs her arms which are wrapped around him. fourth is sai and naruto hugging, naruto with his back to the viewer. sai grips narutos shirt tightly. fifth is a side view of naruto and gaara hugging, narutos face is obscured. the backgrounds are all the same off-white. the one with sakura has a tree that the two are leaning against, and the one with gaara has the outside of sunagakure. the others all have an enlarged copy of the lineart. END ID. ]

[ ID: 5 different half body digital drawings of naruto hugging and being hugged by other people. first is naruto hugging sasuke from behind. the viewer is facing their backs, and narutos face is turned away. sasuke is holding naruto’s hand over his shoulder. sasuke is drawn pale with a scar on his chin, and an industrial and lobe piercing. he wears a blue sweatshirt and black pants. naruto is drawn brown with light freckles and is wearing an oversized beige tshirt and pink shorts. second is iruka hugging academy aged naruto tightly. they both seem upset like iruka is comforting naruto. iruka is drawn brown and wears a light brown longsleeve with striped sleeves, brown jeans and gold dangle earrings. his nails are painted pink. naruto is wearing his goggles and and orange tshirt. third is naruto and sakura sitting and taking a nap together. naruto leans into sakura and hugs her arms which are wrapped around him. sakura leans her head on top of narutos. sakura is drawn blasian with coily hair, a gold septum ring and eyebrow piercing. she wears a pink sweatshirt and brown jeans with designs. naruto wears an orange headband, a blue hoodie and orange sweatpants. fourth is sai and naruto hugging, naruto with his back to the viewer. sai grips narutos shirt tightly. sai is drawn pale with a large mole underneath his eye. he wear a black croptop and sweatpants. naruto wears a pink tshirt and grey jorts. fifth is a side view of naruto and gaara hugging, narutos face is obscured. gaara is drawn tan with super light freckles, multiple silver piercings, a couple moles and a beige sweatshirt with shukakus pattern on on the arms. naruto wears a light green sweatshirt and his nails are painted purple. the backgrounds are all the same off-white. the one with sakura has a tree that the two are leaning against with an open forest behind them, and the one with gaara has the outside of sunagakure. the others all have an enlarged copy of the lineart. END ID. ]

[serafphim]

charviv on the brain

last one is: excuse me he asked for NO pickles.

[salty-an-disco]

popping outta my lockdown cuz watching my friend stream Pristine Cut and we just got Apotheosis and Damsel's new chapter and fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

(SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!!)

focusing just on Happily Ever After for now, cuz fuuuuuuuuuuuck, this route messed with me–

like. badly. like. gotta step away and take a break before continuing badly.

From the branching path alone– the way Smitten reacted to the first disagreement we ever had with the princess. The way he panics, thinking the 'Happily Ever After', is ruined– he had a perfect fantasy prepared for us, and we ruined it. We said it wasn't enough. We… rejected his perfect ending. So he had to take it upon himself to craft a better ending for us–

But he couldn't do it alone, he needs her for that, so he showed her our heart and asked for help–

And. Gosh. Can we just talk about how eerie this chapter feel? It's so bright and yet so. hollow. Empty. Quieter. Realizing Smitten isn't with us just made it worse. Me and my friend started worrying he had actually turned out to be similar to Tower, and for a moment, while talking to the princess, it seemed like it was just that, but… no. He's just doing what we asked for. We asked for a 'Happy Ending', so he gave us that. No matter how much it takes out of him, no matter how much it pains him– we can see the shadows, at first onminous and almost malicious, softens and slouches. He's just as tired as we are, as she is, but– we asked for this, we asked to drag this out, we asked for our 'Good Ending'–

Gosh. And the way Narrator himself starts getting tired of it. Realizes what's happening and– how much it fucking hurts. How painful it is. How empty it feels.

You both feel empty. You say as much, and you both are so tired, and clinging to this 'happily ever after' won't bring you any fulfillment, you just– gotta let go. You gotta let her go.

Not even Narrator tries to stop. He realized just as you did how meaningless eternal happiness is. "There are worse endings than the end of the world," he says. He finally gets it.

And then– THEN

you can finally do what she wanted. And you dance under the stairs.

[kirby-the-gorb]

MY favorite gorbs of all time (so far)

[261], [364], [764] [798], [953], [972] [1034], [1104], [1379] [1401], [1636], [1706] [1770], [1880], [1891] [1894], [1901], [1932]

(doesn't include anything from november or december because it's too fresh to properly look back upon)

[coastalmangoes]

literally how it feels to make ur faves brown

Image description:

Digital comic. the artist's self-insert sits at a desk in front of a laptop bored/expressionless, announces "ok time to draw the fave again"

Cut to the laptop's screen, where we see a lineart next to a colored reference image of a generic anime character. The reference has bright pink hair and pale skin. The artist colorpicks from the reference image to fill in the drawing. "Ok all done"

The artist looks at the pale-skinned drawing. ponders it. narrows their eyes at the color-picker, and, with an almost apologetic expression, shifts the color selection to a darker brown hue, and starts re-coloring the skin.

The artist regards the finished piece. Sees how cute and beautiful it looks. The drawing looks more lovingly rendered now.

Cut to the artist with huge affectionate wet teary eyes

[front-facing-pokemon]

[iceicewifey]

so um... i found a pose reference that gave me big vanishay vibes, but then i got carried away then tried to turn it into a lore moment for some reason? 😭

i don’t totally like how his arm looks plus i couldn’t get him low enough because the height difference was making it a really awkward angle, but that’s what i get for copying the anime style again... it’s janky but close enough lmao full disclosure vanilla's bangs and face are heavily referenced bc they were giving me the most grief to copy, no thanks to all those damn little LINES. reference + transparent vers. under the cut!

𝚝𝚊𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 :: @goblinselfshippr、 @over--heaven、 @spookysinner45、 @little-miss-selfships | join my tag list ᡣ𐭩

can’t find a direct link since i saw it on pinterest (💔) but it’s by mellon_soup!

[njessie]

Jack’s been trying to propose for weeks now, but he keeps getting interrupted. No one notices, because everyone thinks they’re engaged anyway. Joke’s secretly egging them all on because he thinks it’s hilarious.

(G, 2,359 words, 5+1, post canon)

1. Proposing at the school almost feels like a full circle moment. Regardless of what happen after, Joke was one of the first people Jack told about his dream. Since then, Joke's done everything possible to make it into a reality and together, they've been able to firmly establish themselves in the community. The school is a little haven for them as much as it is for the kids, a safe place to learn and grow. Not to mention, it's also where they promised to stay together, sealing it with their rings.

They're both in the office, wrapping up for the day. The paperwork has piled up and Jack's in the middle of creating a math curriculum he hopes is easier to understand, especially for the kids that missed out on earlier lessons. He can see Joke is starting to get restless though, sitting for so long. Sure enough, Joke's out of his seat in the next minute, telling Jack they should call Ama and see if she's made anything for dinner.

"Maybe we can get some take out if she hasn't. There's that new noodle stall in the market I want to try," Joke says as he organizes his papers.

Jack grabs his hand, turning Joke so they're facing each other. He rubs his thumb softly over the ring and smiles at Joke's puzzled look. The moment feels so right.

"Wait, Joke, I—"

The door to the office bursts open and Toi Ting rushes in, talking a mile a minute.

"P'Jaaack, P'Joke, what's taking so long! Let's go home already, I'm hungry and there's a new noodle stall in the market. Ama won't mind if we get noodles, right?"

Joke smiles at him before he lets go and moves towards Toi Ting. He has a gentle hand on her shoulder as they walk towards the door, discussing noodle options. It's only been a second but Toi Ting has somehow already roped him into also buying ice cream. Not that it takes much to convince Joke when it comes to sweets, but it's impressive how quickly she did it.

Jack didn't even manage to get the words out, so he's a little exasperated, but if anyone's allowed to interrupt them it's Toi Ting. She deserves all the attention they can give her, so he grabs his phone and keys from the table and follows them out the door.

2. Hoy is the first to crash through the gate, as usual. Jack was halfway to his knee, question at the tip of his tongue, Joke waiting with a small smile on his face. They both startle and look towards the entrance, where Tattoo and Aran are walking in behind Hoy with bags of clinking bottles.

“We’re here for dinner and brought drinks! Why are you crouching like that, P’Jack? Are you practicing lunges? I want to workout with you too!”

Jack pinches the bridge of his nose and wonders if Hoy’s voice has always been this loud. The proposal is obviously off the table, again. Joke has already moved towards the kitchen to help Ama bring food in. His grin is wide and there’s a glean in his eyes as he passes by, giving Jack’s hand a quick squeeze. Jack thinks he might be missing something, but he’s soon swept up. Tattoo has complaints about the assistant Jack hired to help him and Aran thinks he might be ready to lead a knitting class. Hoy’s still going on about lunges and fitness plans, regardless of anyone listening.

He sits at the table and closes his eyes for a moment, but Jack can’t bring himself to be too annoyed. His house is full and Joke’s a warm, solid presence next to him, nudging him to put more food on Toi Ting's plate.

He figures proposing can wait another day.

3. They're tucked into a small corner of the bar, sitting close together on a sofa. It's not often they get the chance to go out like this, so Jack's savouring the moment. Joke looks so lovely under the dimmed lights. He's smiling in that way he only ever does for Jack, small and secret, like there's no one else in the world he'd rather be looking at. Jack loves the way they're huddled together, warm where their legs are touching, turned towards each other in conversation. Jack didn't think he would be able to love anyone as much as he loves Joke. There's something about him that Jack's always felt drawn to, since they first met at this exact bar. There's an easiness to their conversations, a trust that took time to build but has since solidified, a warmth to the way they fit into each other's lives.

Joke's resting his head on the back of the sofa, turned fully the side so they can see each other while they speak. Their drinks lay forgotten as they lose themselves in conversation. Jack idly plays with Joke's hand, running his fingers over his knuckles, his palm, his ring. He's not sure if Joke's noticed how often he's been doing that lately, but given how many times he's tried and failed to propose, it's always on his mind. Jack gears up for it again, thinking he's safe from interrupting friends or daughter in this little bubble they're in. He thinks Joke might be expecting it too, if his soft expression is anything to go by. But of course, nothing in his life seems to come easy, and it's at that moment the music changes tempo, from soft jazz to something more upbeat.

There's a crowd of people coming in through the door, the makeshift dance floor filling up. He looks over and sure enough, there's Rosé at the centre of it, surrounded by friends and, inexplicably, Nang. Jack notices two of her bodyguards at the bar, carefully watching the crowd. Rosé spots them as she twirls around, squinting at them before she smiles wide. She's definitely already wine drunk.

"My friends!" Rosé nudges the woman next to her. "Look at my lovely friends! Isn't Jack handsome? You know, I used to be in love with him." Her voice breaks a little at the end, somewhere between a laugh and sob.

Jack's sure she tried to whisper the last part. He hopes. Joke is laughing next to him but shifts over slightly when Rosé starts to walk towards them and that just won't do. Jack moves back into his space and they share a look. He knows Joke still feels a little awkward around Rosé, but given Jack was two seconds away from proposing, he doesn't feel like putting any distance between them. He doesn't care if anyone thinks they're sitting too close, he just needs to feel Joke beside him.

4. Joke has spent most of the day in the kitchen with Ama, learning a new recipe. Jack's noticed he gets into a state of single-minded focus when he's doing something he loves, especially when it's hands-on. He works at recipes until they're perfect, has learned enough about mixing drinks that there's new ones on the menu at the bar, and scribbles away at his sketchbooks almost every day.

Today's no different. Ama taught Joke the basic technique and has since gone upstairs to rest, but Joke's determined to get the recipe right. Jack has a rare day off, so he brings a chair to the kitchen and pretends to read while he watches Joke work. His movements are precise and skilled and once everything is in the pot and cooking, he steps back and stretches. Jack comes up behind him and wraps his arms around Joke's waist, rests his head on his shoulder.

"Tired?" Jack asks.

"A little. But I think I've gotten the recipe right. It should be ready in 15 minutes. Do you want to go call Ama? She must be hungry by now too."

Jack hums into the back of his neck. Jack loves how much Joke cares, especially for Ama. He's always thinking of everyone around him, so much so that Jack worries he doesn't think about himself enough. He wants to be able to do that for Joke too, to find a good balance in caring for each other. They're definitely getting there in their own relationship and Jack is so excited to spend his life trying. He spins Joke around, grabs his left hand, and gets down on his knee.

Joke's smile slowly gets bigger, until it lights up his whole face. Jack smiles up at him, clears his throat and—

Ama chooses that exact moment to walk in.

"Jack, why are you kneeling on the floor like that? It's dirty, your pants will get stained. Get up, come on, get up quickly."

Ama's waving at him impatiently and he stares back at her, disbelieving. Joke pulls him up by the hand he's still holding, laughing at his plight. He stands and groans, rests his head on Joke's shoulder again. Joke pats his back for a second, before pushing him back for some space to turn back towards the stove.

5. Jack knows Joke is tired. It's been a long day at the school, but it turns out Joke is excellent at handling sponsors and managing staff. He doesn't love it, there's too much paperwork and Joke prefers the work at the bar but he also loves Jack and wants to help out as much as he can. So Jack knows Joke is likely halfway asleep, but he figures if there's anywhere he won't be interrupted it's late at night, safely tucked in bed.

Joke's curled into Jack's side, as he often is. Jack runs a gentle hand through his hair and steels himself up for it. He doesn't think Joke will say no, but he's worked this up in his head so much at this point.

"Joke. I know it hasn't been that long, and we've been through a lot together, but I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else. I want us to take the next step together. Let's get married."

Jack lets out a breath and waits, knowing Joke sometimes needs a minute. He continues to run gentle fingers in his hair, waiting a moment, then two. But Joke still hasn't said anything, and that's unusual.

"Joke?" Jack looks down at him and Joke is...asleep. Jack stares at him for a second, convinced he's tricking him. But Joke's breathing is even and relaxed and Jack can't help but laugh a little at the absurdity of it all. He shifts onto his side and hugs Joke closer, presses a soft kiss to his forehead.

There's always tomorrow.

+1.

It's a rare evening they're having dinner alone. Usually, there's a host of random friends and family joining them, eager for Ama's cooking, often the only meal they get with warm invitation. If no one else, it's them and Ama or Toi Ting, but today Ama has gone to bed early and Toi Ting is studying with Tattoo. Joke arranges the table full of small dishes, plates of vegetables and fish and chive dumplings he's spent the afternoon making.

Jack feels like he's going to burst with the question. It's been weeks and there's always something, or rather, someone, getting in the way. If he doesn't get to ask soon he might just drag Joke to the courthouse and elope. Joke piles his plate high with food, saying something about a new recipe and I think you'll like this Jack, and yeah, Jack's not waiting anymore.

"Joke. Let's get married."

Joke freezes, the sauce from the vegetables he was about to add to Jack's plate dripping on the table. He stares at Jack for a minute before his face splits into a huge smile, and Jack's so happy he feels his heart might burst.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay, let's get married."

They both move at the same time, pulling each other into a tight hug, swaying with laughter and joy. They stay like that for a while, breathing each other in, foreheads touching. Joke is the first to pull back and his eyes are shining and Jack loves him, so much.

"Hoy is going to be so happy he won the bet," Joke laughs.

BONUS: It's hot and crowded in the house, just another evening everyone has joined them for dinner. Hoy, Tattoo, Aran, and Toi Ting fill in the extra chairs at the table, replacing their usual calm dinner with banter and quick-fire conversations. Jack feels like he hasn't stopped smiling since he proposed and he wants everyone to know, wants to share the love and joy. He's holding Joke's hand under the table, playing with the ring on his left hand. He clears his throat, not that it helps in quieting anyone down.

"So, Joke and I are getting married."

Everyone looks over at that. They all stare at him, but it's not the reaction he's expecting. They’re looking at him like he's grown a second head.

"Well obviously. We've known that for months." Aran rolls his eyes so hard Jack's surprised he hasn't given himself a headache.

"What, no. I just proposed yesterday, what do you mean!" Jack says.

"I just proposed yesterday!" Tattoo mocks, "yeah okay, whatever P'Jack."

Jack splutters, looks over at Joke for support but Joke's silently laughing and Jack knows he's lost. He looks to Ama, but she's frowning at him.

"What do you mean you just proposed," Ama says. "Joke's been wearing your ring for months, are you telling me you've been making him wait for months?"

"The ring was a promise! Not a proposal! I mean obviously I was always going to propose, eventually, at some point, but—"

Ama’s shaking her head at him and Joke's doubled over in laughter now and Jack realizes explaining it is making everything worse.

"Sorry Ama."

He concedes to losing this one, but Joke's hand is warm in his, his laughter vibrant, and his ring is on his finger. He's sitting at a table with people he loves knowing he'll be spending the rest of his life with Joke. So really, it's not a loss at all.

[mochiajclayne]

OP Analysis: Blackbeard, his motivations and devil fruit powers

Spoiler alert! This meta post will contain manga panels from the following arcs: Drum Island, Alabasta, Jaya, Post-Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marineford.

Blackbeard occasionally appears in the animanga but he is always taking advantage of the chaos behind the scenes. This is equally interesting as much as it is frustrating--but he is a man shrouded in mystery and majority of the information that we, the audiences know, were derived from other characters.

Under this cut will be my observations about Blackbeard.

Blackbeard was first mentioned by Dalton in Drum Island, stating that his group attacked the island a few months ago. I am curious as to why he decided to do this as the relevant information about Drum Island thus far is that they have the greatest doctors, and their medical knowledge is top notch.

My two cents is that Blackbeard wanted to cause an incident that would feature his group in the newspapers. However, the incident isn't news-worthy as what seemed to be the covered story by that time was the rebellion in Alabasta as well as the movements of the Revolutionary Army.

Another theory that I have might sound far-fetched, but I think Blackbeard was looking for the Ope Ope no Mi or at least, if someone in Drum Island ate it considering the reputation that the place holds with Blackbeard expressing interest in the devil fruit's ability to grant eternal life as well as his penchant on hunting down powerful devil fruit users. Starting out in an island full of the greatest doctors is a good place to look, don't you think?

(Another thing I've noticed about Drum Island is its striking similarities with Flevance: both abandoned by their royalty as soon as an issue came up. Wapol abandoned Drum Island as Blackbeard attacked them while the royal family of Flevance escaped with the WG's assistance when they found that Amber Lead Poisoning was incurable. I don't know if it's a similarity brought upon by coincidence but it's an interesting detail.)

Then, we have Ace's introduction/manga appearance. His "little business" was looking for Blackbeard. At this point, we know two things: Blackbeard and his group attacked Drum Island and Ace was looking for him. Their true connection wasn't revealed yet.

Then we have Blackbeard's first appearance in Jaya and revealing his intention of targeting Luffy due to his 100 million berry bounty. Pirates can't even keep the bounty and will be arrested if they drop by any Marine Headquarters, so this course of action is for the sole purpose of gaining an evil reputation. I have to admit that Blackbeard has a good discerning eye for setting his sights to Luffy at the beginning as the Alabasta incident was covered up. If he wanted to gain notoriety, eliminating a rookie captain of a small pirate group responsible for overthrowing a Warlord was a good start.

Speaking of Warlord, Lafitte (who is later on revealed as part of the Blackbeard Pirate crew), invaded the meeting to nominate a "certain man". Interestingly enough, Blackbeard was only acknowledged as part of the Seven Warlords after defeating Ace but he initially targeted Luffy in hope to qualify but failed. At this point, it was revealed that Blackbeard is interested in the Warlord position, hence, his insistence to prove his strength to earn the position. His true intention will be revealed later on in the animanga but knowing initially that the Government gives certain privileges with the Warlords, he is clearly planning to use it to his advantage.

Another mention of Blackbeard was from the conversation between Shanks and Whitebeard. Here, more details about Blackbeard are revealed: (1) he was part of Whitebeard Pirates, (2) he broke an ironclad rule and killed a friend, (3) he was part of the second division, to which Ace is the commander of, and he was looking for Blackbeard to teach him a lesson. Shanks asked Whitebeard to stop Ace from confronting Blackbeard as it's too "soon" for them to face each other. He also warned Whitebeard about Blackbeard hiding from the shadows and patiently waiting for his chance to take action and how he might end up taking over Whitebeard's position (as one of the four emperors). Despite Whitebeard responding that Blackbeard is his (or Ace's, by extension) responsibility, it was shown later on in the Marineford flashback that Whitebeard initially stopped Ace as he had a bad feeling about Blackbeard and his newly gained powers as well as to let this incident go, feeling apprehensive about the entire thing but Ace insisted to get justice as well as to make Blackbeard pay for dishonoring Whitebeard.

The incident that was the catalyst of the Paramount War: Ace and Blackbeard's fight in Banaro Island. Blackbeard invited Ace to join his crew and expressing intent to catch Luffy in Water 7 (this is still in line with wanting to secure the Warlord position as the Strawhats gained notoriety and recognition after the Enies Lobby incident). Ace, naturally, didn't like the idea and refused the invitation.

(Take this part with a grain of salt and I might be overthinking this bit, but I think it was a stroke of luck that Garp decided to visit Luffy in Water 7. Aside from looking out for his grandson's wellbeing, I think it's also partly to prevent pirates from attacking a pirate crew still recovering from their injuries. I'm amused that despite Garp's qualms about Luffy choosing to be a pirate, he's openly laughing and is proud of his grandson's shenanigans, but I digress.)

Here the common ground between Ace and Blackbeard was revealed as he confessed that he killed the Whitebeard Pirates' Fourth Commander Thatch to get the devil fruit that Blackbeard had been looking for (as they have a rule that whoever gets the devil fruit would be the one to eat it). He also mentioned that sailing with Whitebeard for several decades offered the best chance of obtaining the fruit. Here, the Yami Yami no Mi was introduced and based on Blackbeard himself, despite being a logia fruit, it's completely different from the rest--it is the most powerful ability of all the devil fruits.

One of the Yami Yami no Mi ability is "gravitation". Blackbeard himself says that it's a force that sucks everything in and not even light can escape, the attack is appropriately named as Black Hole.

Interestingly enough, whatever that Blackbeard absorbs, it doesn't completely disintegrate into the void but instead reduced a town into ruins. Continuing with the idea that this ability worked like a black hole, I do have a theory that there is a limit on how much Blackbeard can handle in terms of mass. Whatever that he absorbed doesn't disappear, instead, it functions like he would "carry" them around until he decided to liberate or release them. If we continue with this idea, Yami Yami no Mi poses a risk in a way that it's not an infinite pool of "storage" even though it can gravitate and pull everything including light. It's not as bottomless as Caribou's Swamp-Swamp fruit. I think this is also the reason why he can only handle two devil fruit power at the same time, despite the infinite gravitational pull that his ability offered.

Here we are introduced to the most dangerous aspect of Yami Yami no Mi: it can nullify devil fruit's powers through directly touching the opponent.

Despite Blackbeard calling Yami Yami no Mi as the most powerful devil fruit, another thing I've noticed about its property is that it doesn't function like the usual Logia fruit which allows the user to be a physical manifestation of an element of nature. It happened twice with Luffy being able to punch Blackbeard and Whitebeard's naginata wounding him in Marineford.

It was revealed later on that Blackbeard joined the Seven Warlords to infiltrate Impel Down and recruit the Level Six prisoners as crewmates. He definitely took advantage of the Marines focusing their forces for the Paramount War but I think one factor that worked too well for his favor was Luffy sneaking into the underwater prison prior to rescue Ace. Blackbeard's presence was like a fuel added into the fire and he took advantage of that mess.

Ending this long meta post with the iconic panel of Whitebeard straight up telling Teach that he's not the man that Roger is waiting for. With the recent manga chapters and Caribou planning on informing Blackbeard about the Ancient Weapons, I think Blackbeard's dream is eerily close to what Rocks D. Xebec aimed for--world domination. Interestingly enough, he does fear death unlike the other Ds in the animanga and I think that would be highlighted in the final arc. How far would he actually commit to his ambition if his life is threatened?