#team nami is a delight to draw

[ghostdoctor]

[ms-all-sunday]

soso sorry if you've already done any of these and i didn't see! for the ship game: frobin, cross guild polycule, lunami, and boa/reiji! (ik you mentioned cross guild somewhere but i don't think you talked about them and i love them sm. also, the appeal of boa/reiju to me is like. warrior princesses learning how to be human together, yknow?)

frobin - compelling, makes sense.

i recommend people frobin fanfiction all the time i made fanart for the most popular frobin fanfiction and it's what people on twitter know me for, yeah. i like frobin. freak for freak t4t love is the best kind of love there is. they have the best visual gag in all the series.

thematically, them being together is self expression. robin loves him because she truly relates to him enough to know what its like to be in his position and have the strength to do what he's done. the opposite is true for him. they are the greatest avenue of each others self expression, both what they are and what they admire, and isn't that the romantic ideal?

cross guild - compelling, makes sense.

i sound smart in these things, because im an articulate person. i'm going to briefly not sound smart, and say that those three men are the hottest beings alive and if they fuck it's my personal sexual fantasy. k back to sounding smart

cross guild is another one of those ships i find funny so I'm inclined towards, but the thing that compels me (especially on the mihawk and buggy end) is how preformative they all are. i think it makes for some incredibly compelling character drama, even when they haven't interacting that much in canon, but mihawk and buggy and croc all have this element of "im presenting it like i'm not a loser but i am and the only reason you think it's cool is because of my social status" and I'm always a sucker for character commentary on what level of preformative someones personality is vs how genuine it is.

luffy/nami - compelling and makes sense, (you probably missed it anon but i'll say it again, every eb5 combination you give is a hard yes from me. i am the merryshipper.)

what isn't there to love about these two? luffy is silly, but gives her the sanctity and security she craves. she gives him her presence and love in return. they love eachother a lot, and colead the strawhats together. nami often overthinks and it's the comfort she needs to listen to luffy and the opposite is true of him, he's reckless and it's a comfort he gets to listen to her. they're a team. a very silly team.

it's ultimately how mutual their partnership is that makes them a compelling ship, how nami comforts luffy and vice versa and how they can rely on eachother and how luffy accepts her unconditionally and nami accepts him conditionally. they see eachother as very safe. it's adorable.

boa/rejiu - never would've considered this before but you convinced me. im an easy person to convince on this front.

i'd write this. it's definitely more compelling to me than tashigi and reiju, as i think boa balances her out wonderfully. boa is a very traumatized girl, and reiju is too, and youve figured out that's my favourite thing in wlw ships by now surely.

boa getting to be a puppy girl towards reiju, and i think boa would be attracted towards reiju, as i think what she loves about luffy is how unaffected he is by her, she's not treated like a commodity. reiju would be similar and probably delight in the attention even though she's convinced herself she is unaffected by most if not all things, and they'd really be very healthy towards eachother. i think boa and reiju have both experienced sexism from men in their lives, in similar and opposite ways almost, and i think they'd draw each other out of what is deemed most "comfortable" for them.

i wont lie, i relate to boa hancock a lot (as i tend to relate to all women in one piece who have fucked up relationships towards men, this does say something about me! if you were wondering) and i think reiju is a tragic figure who is unable to prioritize herself as above the men in her life her relationship towards sanji is fucked. absolutely makes me uncomfortable in the way that i do not care for sanji at all and completely emphasize with her. im in love with her and want her to prioritize herself and i will kill oda for fucking real if she doesnt get a happy ending i love reiju so much i hated every minute she was onscreen in wci and i dont talk about it very often because she makes me want to cry. i do not vibe with her narrative at all in whole cake but i'm unsure if that's a moral beef i have with oda or with her.

okay. damn. im done. personal experience aside. i love this ship thanks for igniting my new obsession.

ask game

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Thriller Bark

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

the tone of thriller bark is super fun- the combination of horror and comedy is done really well, and i like how it’s set at the very start, with the introduction of a seemingly terrifying situation and character (brook and his ghost ship) that are very quickly revealed to be anything but. 

i also like that we hear singing and see music notes before we ever even see brook. we’re associating our musician with music before we even know him. 

brook’s recruitment is delightful, and so very luffy. of course he would want a talking skeleton musician on his crew, and of course he wouldn’t be fazed by brook in the slightest except to think he’s cool. i love him a lot. 

for the most part, thriller bark isn’t actually scary despite its horror theming- but it does get some good moments in, and of them, i think the reveal of cindry’s room is definitely the best. it’s not scary, necessarily, but it’s deeply creepy, and only becomes more so when you learn why it’s like that and what exactly hogback did. 

i love how team-based thriller bark feels. especially immediately following water 7/enies lobby (in which two crewmates leave and the crew has to deal with a ton of internal strife) and preceding sabaody (where the crew gets separated), it’s just so nice. it’s most obvious in the team fight versus oars (and i’ll get to that later because i LOVE it), but also in smaller moments like robin and franky’s team fight against the spider zombie.

the team just feels so cohesive in thriller bark, and it’s really good. robin and franky are the two newest crewmates, but they already trust each other enough to pull off some fantastic teamwork. 

usopp is really good in thriller bark. he also has the best outfit in this entire arc. 

my two favorite fights in this arc are usopp versus perona and zoro versus ryuuma, for very different reasons. 

zoro’s fight with ryuuma is fantastically cool, and i really like the level of respect and understanding that seems to exist between them. you have an ancient samurai and a modern samurai, separated by several hundred years, dueling it out to the best of their abilities- it’s really just awesome. 

usopp’s fight with perona is very different, because they’re both people who hate fighting directly and will avoid it whenever possible. their fight is a mess of diversions and distractions that makes usopp’s moments of courage and triumph, like sticking his hand into a bear’s mouth, not to mention his ultimate victory, all the more satisfying. 

i just really like seeing usopp grow and accomplish things!!

i’m aware there’s an argument to be made that the character we meet in this arc isn’t really ryuuma, because ryuuma is 1) dead and 2) possessed by brook’s shadow, but it isn’t going to stop me from saying ryuuma is awesome. 

the clouds of fire he’s frequently shown with are also gorgeous, and definitely evocative of the style oda will later use to draw wano, which is a very cool touch. 

everything about cindry makes me so, so sad. 

i’d also argue that the fact that she overcomes hogback’s conditioning by finally expressing emotion, first by crying and then by smiling, is the first manifestation of the same thread we’ll later see with koala and the slaves of the celestial dragons. one piece says over and over again that there is no point where someone stops being human, no matter how much agency they’re robbed of. 

i just think nami giving her attempted rapist several thousand volts to the face is very very sexy of her

like i mentioned, the crew against oars is such a HIGHLIGHT of this arc. i think it’s one of the only times we actually see the entire crew focused on a singular opponent (the only other case i can think of is the pacifista and then kuma at sabaody), and it’s just so much fun to see. 

i also appreciate that the strawhats carry the first half of this fight without needing luffy to be there. he might be their captain and the linchpin of the crew, but they’re still a crew when he’s not around, and still very capable of working together without him. 

this is just still one of my favorite gags.

continuing re: the team fight against oars, the final sequence where the entire crew coordinates for one final attack, some of them working to incapacitate oars and others to weaken him and other to position him just right for luffy’s final blow to paralyze him- that’s the GOOD SHIT.

i don’t know that there’s much i can say about zoro’s confrontation with kuma that hasn’t already been said, so all i’ll say is that zoro’s loyalty to luffy is absolutely staggering, and hits me in the chest every time i so much as think about it.

zoro has the second “luffy’s going to be pirate king” moment, i believe, after usopp in alabasta, and definitely one of the most memorable. 

there’s something about luffy on top of brook’s piano that always delights me. i think this is their dynamic in a picture: brook playing music, and luffy listening, and talking, and cheering him up. 

there’s something about the ending of thriller bark that really hits, in a way not really shared by other arcs. there’s a certain finality to it, a swan song. i think it was sarc opbackgrounds who pointed out that unlike most other character flashbacks, which come at the middle of the arc to add extra weight before the climax, brook’s comes at the end. the battle’s already finished, and now it’s time for him to close out the last fifty years and bid farewell to his old crew before setting sail for a new dream. 

it’s really nice. this is how the rumbar pirates get to go out: singing and dancing, after the battle’s already won, as their last survivor finally gets pick his hopes and dreams back up again and set out to sea once more.

it’s not a panel, really, but i feel like i have to include binks no sake in here. for one, it’s a really good song and sticks in my head like glue whenever i so much as see the lyrics. second of all, it’s the pin that holds this ending together, the shared point between the past and the present. the rumbar pirates sing it for their final performance and they sang it for laboon years before; brook sings it alone to himself on his ship, lost in the fog; and the strawhats celebrate and dance and sing it at the tops of their lungs.

i’m a sucker for a good musical throughline, but i think this is probably the first time i’ve ever seen it done well in a fucking text-based medium. 

i’m happy for him :’)

i LOVE the new crewmember toasts so much. look at them!! look how happy they all are!! 

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece 1000 - 10 Confessions as a One Piece Fan

Although we did the Initial Thoughts a week ago (a long week ago, damn) which you can read here I wanted to do something for the official release of One Piece’s 1000th Chapter At first it started out to be ‘10 things I wanna ask Oda that I don’t think we’ll ever know’ but I couldn’t think of 10, then I was gonna do a General opinion post about it, but didn’t want it to come off too negative. So I am settling on a confessions post, which will have elements of these anyway.

So as we have a happy 1000, let’s talk about some stuff I usually don’t get to talk about in One Piece

Note: There will probably be spoilers so make sure you’re up to date

10. Late Beginnings I think the first confession I have to have is that despite being older than One Piece I am unfortunately not a ‘Day One’ fan. In fact I think I mainly got into One Piece around mid-Whole Cake Island arc, before I had of course known about One Piece, it was a ‘Big Three’ anime after all but the most I knew about it was that they had a guy named Luff-y and another called Zorro, and it was about ‘Pirates who can’t swim’. My curiosity only developed when in a youtube deep-dive of anime clips I kept being recommended One Piece clips, and decided to give a couple a go. Most of them were Paradise arc stuff from the anime, the dub voices were mostly atrocious so I stuck to sub. I was happily surprised about the amount of fun and emotional weight these clips gave me, which led me to check where One Piece was as of current and backtrack from there (Ironically I did the same with Beastars). I did eventually get caught up around the time of the Mafia Meeting and I’ve kept up with each chapter since.

9. I mostly still prefer the Pre-Timeskip looks When I first felt this I thought it to be pretty controversial, nowadays not so much. I understand that Oda wanted to change the look for many characters but some of them did feel like a downgrade. I think the ones who got it worst was Franky, I think it’s the bulbous shoulders, Franky was no stranger to body horror from Enies Lobby to Sabaody but I kinda preferred that he still had a lot of his humanity rather than looking like an action figure. Otherwise I think Robin, Nami and Chopper had it bad, maybe Brook too but his was more fashion than design; the women in general took heavy hits by Oda’s proportion design - I mean I get it boobs are nice but proportions are what make them better - but Robin also underwent a skin color change in the anime, who pre-timeskip shaded her skin darker than in the manga and corrected it to match the manga, I think most of us would’ve preferred Robin to have kept the darker skin tone and possibly even the fringe, Robin’s hairstyle (and her fashion in general) can be hit and miss. I go to and fro about Nami, other than the general waist and bust adjustments I think it fits her character to use her sexuality a bit, she was no stranger to that pre-Timeskip, sometimes though I can’t tell whether I preferred her with short or long hair (Short was definitely better on Nojiko), I do think though that Oda could have her show less skin, she is still very pretty in outfits such as Water 7, Thriller Bark and even her fake pirate disguise in the early chapters/episodes. Finally with Chopper I think it was a bad move to alter the hat, that was a memento from his father figure Hiriluk, it’d be like if Luffy altered his straw hat or Zoro replacing Wado Ichimonji, I do also feel that the design for Chopper’s points while easier to draw don’t look as good, I think a lot of it is the scruff, or lack thereof in favour of smoothness, Walk Point is fine but Heavy Point, Guard Point and Horn Point seem less threatening, Monster Point especially too, in Enies Lobby he looked like a cave painting of menace and destruction, now he’s smoother and his scruff lighter so it’s not as good. The rest of the designs I’m quite fine with though.

8. I wish some markings stuck as well Tattoos and Scars seem to be optional in the One Piece world sometimes, unless it’s branded in molten heat like the Dragon’s hoof, Sun Pirates logo or an attack from Sakazuki. While Nami’s redesigned tattoo has stuck around and Luffy and Zoro’s scars persist, they are mainly character reminders/mysteries for huge moments in the story, and I kinda wish that some of the Straw Hats had littler markings, not just scars either. For instance, the Alabasta X on the arm, I really wish that stayed on each of the Alabasta characters’ arms since it was a symbol of friendship with Vivi, I also wish that Luffy kept the 3D2Y mark on his arm. In terms of scars though it would’ve been nice to see the characters a bit more battle-worn; Zoro’s ankle scars from Mr. 3 have faded and frankly he should be covered in little and long scratches given his fights with Mr. 1 and 2 years of Mihawk Training, Nami’s shoulder scar is hidden completely by her tattoo and she has no scars on her hand (from fake stabbing Usopp) or foot (from blocking Miss Doublefinger), Usopp himself could’ve used some small scratches because lord knows how there’s even still bones in his nose plus he was in murder island for 2 years, Chopper could at least have a small bald patch from when his shoulder was impaled and burned by Shura’s fire lance too, other than that there’s just Jimbei’s potentially missing shoulder scar from Marineford, though Oda has kept it obscured a lot so maybe that is still there. I understand why Oda doesn’t or forgets to, but it would’ve been nice if we lived in a vacuum of no time limits and whatnot.

7. Dead End Adventure is my favourite One Piece film I don’t know what it is, but Dead End Adventure just gives me the most fun out of the One Piece films. It has a good side plot and the side character Shuraiya was a blast of a character. Granted, Gaspard wasn’t too good of a villain side for actually harming the straw hat and his defeat was a bit underwhelming but the race, the settings it was all fun. It is not to say I don’t enjoy any other One Piece movies, I delight in the horror fuel of Baron Omatsuri - and that killer final punch - and Z’s tragic tale of a fallen marine, Strong World has that epic entrance to the party and Stampede also had some great team up moments and fantastic writing for Usopp and Smoker but Dead End Adventure always feels like the movie I could watch in any mood.

6. Skypeia and Fishman Island are some of my favourite arcs While I can understand the criticism of the Long Ring Long Land arc (especially since the anime dragged out the Davy Back Fight) it surprised me that people found Skypeia and Fishman Island arcs to be boring or less entertaining than previous arcs. Everyone has their preferences of course but I felt that Skypeia and Fishman Island were very powerful arcs especially with the theme of racism. Both had glorious setting design different to the common customs of the world we had seen, Oda made both Skypeia and Fishman Island feel very much lived in with its own budding culture and prejudices, with a villain who was dead set on destroying everything just to have their way. With Enel and his priests we were able to push several characters to newer limits, with Robin showing her fighting capabilities, Zoro learning his projectile slashes, Chopper having to endure fighting 3 priests and even Usopp growing all the more braver in the face of seemingly indestructible opponents and later gaining access to the dials. With Fishman Island it was different because it was basically a ‘flex arc’: where the main villain is meant to be a stepping stone rather than a threat but even then the symbolism of the enemy is what’s significant with them, the inherited hatred of humans. But at the same time we do learn new strengths from the crew; Red Hawk, the use of armament Haki, Skywalk, Hell Memories, Franky Shogun, Usopp’s pop greens, Nami’s weather eggs, Brook’s Soul Solid and his new DF power (which is possibly an awakening), as well as the first true steps of Jimbei joining the crew. The biggest strength of both arcs is the flashback as well, like Wano would in present time both arcs demonstrated that Oda can carry a story without his main characters and still keep it as captivating as ever, be it the friendship of Noland and Calgara, the tragedies of Otohime and Fisher Tiger or the life of Kozuki Oden and the man who would be Pirate King. And the impact of Fishman Island and Skypeia’s flashbacks both come back around in Dressrosa with the dwarves and Koala, and Fishman Island really does kick off the whole Yonko saga with Luffy challenging Big Mom, these arcs were definitely significant as they were entertaining with silly faces, strong fights, challenging themes, lorebuilding, good side characters and unique twists. And the overall message of healing from the past is still significant to this day. Through Wyper’s sacrifice and the Bell ringing to Jimbei giving blood and the Ryugu royals wanting to attend the Reverie, it is all very powerful stuff and while the arcs are similar in nature its their similarities that make me love them. Also the cover stories with Enel and Gedatsu on their own mini adventures are fun

5. I really want to know where Ghin is Ghin/Gin was such an interesting character in Baratie. Given that this was right before Arlong Park too so we had not seen a character conflict with different loyalties in One Piece until then, his gratitude to Sanji against his loyalty to Krieg created a fantastically complex character, but then he left and we didn’t hear about him ever since. Did he survive Krieg’s poison gas? Is he still with Krieg? One reactor of the episode said “maybe he’ll become the next Don” which was a concept I kinda really liked. The guy was pretty strong given that he had bested Sanji at that time, and since he didn’t appear in a cover story my mind does wonder. It’s not just Ghin either, a lot of the early East Blue characters kinda fell off the map; where is Morgan? Last we saw he was sleeping as he sailed past Jango, where is Kuro? For someone wanting to resume piracy after some years off he has been very quiet, where is Krieg? Only Arlong and Morgan were arrested and the latter escaped so the rest of these characters are a mystery. Recently in Wano I am still wondering where Law’s crew that he brought to Onigashima went, as well as Caribou - where is that slippery bugger?

4. Basil Hawkins is probably one of my Top 5 Supernova There’s something about that dude I gravitate towards, which makes it quite frustrating when the anime decides to add extra malice and creepy faces to him. Hawkins in Wano is still a victim, if anything he is simply a prisoner with better working conditions, if he thought he could survive escaping Kaido he would but he doesn’t so he won’t, he’s also gonna feel sore about Drake betraying him and letting Law cut him up, so it annoys me that Hawkins is seen like a villain. Not only does he have an extremely interesting Devil Fruit and creativity with it but he’s also audaciously confident in his fortunetelling, even Luffy ran from Kizaru at Sabaody while Hawkins looked at his cards while Kizaru was about to boot him to holy hell and said ‘nah I’m not dying today’, you gotta respect that moxie. At the same time though as a pirate he has that shades of grey element, he’s okay with letting some of his crew be disposable and we don’t even know to what end, he doesn’t look like a guy too concerned about being Pirate King or having riches. I also get a good laugh in that his hobbies are interior design, it makes me really want to see what the inside of his ship looks like. I think as a top 5, I have Luffy, Zoro, Law, Hawkins and then Kid, Bege, Killer and Bonney are not far behind with Apoo dead last because fuck Apoo. Kid and Killer are cool but I do feel like they need a bit more character, Bege earned some points in being funny and his care for his family in WCI and then there’s Bonney - I really hope we dig into Bonney’s significance, she feels really important and that mystery keeps her fresh whenever we see her. Drake too has only really started to become interesting because of SWORD, we could still see more fleshing but for now he is like bottom 3. It’s a shame Urouge has to be so low, he’s not bad but he’s not spectacular either, gotta admire his hobby of lovemaking though, you do you Urouge.

3. I don’t think that either of the ‘Most Beautiful Women in the World’ are the Most Beautiful Women in One Piece The in-world consensus seems to be that the Most Beautiful Women in the World are Boa Hancock, Komurasaki and Shirahoshi, and granted they are very pretty, but the most? Not for me. I mean, y’all know that Nico Robin, Nami and Vinsmoke Reiju exist right? Makino as well is stunning, as are Tashigi, Bonney, Margaret, Ishilly, Nojiko, Vivi, Rebecca, Pudding, Perona, Cosette and I’m sure a few others, realistically I think they could all give them a run for their money. I get how for those three their beauty is a plot point (Boa it’s drilling home Luffy’s obliviousness to it, Komurasaki it’s the swerve of her not being awful and for Shirahoshi it’s due to Vander Decken IX pulling the creep factor on her) but it would’ve worked the same way without the ‘world’ hyperbole I think. As much as Oda is iffy with proportions and rarely writes women with as much attention as the boys he sure knows how to make them attractive.

2. Some of my favourite individual Straw Hat scenes aren’t in Canon If I were to have a top 5 moments of each character, it may surprise you that some of it comes from movies or filler episodes, particularly Sanji’s flexing on Jessica in the G8 Arc (in fact, Jonathon is one of my favourite marines, T-Bone is in there too, but I don’t have room to fit that). Some are of course obvious because of how iconic they are but it does go to show that sometimes filler isn’t all bad. Since you’re probably curious: As a Group Goodbye Merry [Enies Lobby] Entering Shiki’s Palace [Strong World] Walk to Arlong Park [Arlong Park] Entering the Grand Line [Reverse Mountain] vs a Stuck Oars [Thriller Bark] Jimbei Giving Luffy Blood [FMI] Vagabond Drill on Big Mom [WCI] Leaving the Big Mom Pirates [WCI] Returning in Wano [Wano] Trying to argue with Luffy [FMI] Brook vs Chess Soldiers & Big Mom [WCI] Flashback [Thriller Bark] Breaking Mother Carmel’s Picture [WCI] Baron Corpse vs Dog Minks [Zou] Hysterically laughing at seeing Duval [Sabaody] Franky vs Senor Pink [Dressrosa] Playing with the Kids [Punk Hazard] vs Fukurou [Enies Lobby] Freedom Roller [Wano] Trapping Caribou in the Barrel [FMI] Robin  I Want to Live [Enies Lobby] Clutching Spandam [Enies Lobby] Throwing Usopp under the bus [G8] vs Yama [Skypeia] Clutching Tequila Wolf guards [Amazon Lily] Chopper Monster Point [Enies Lobby] Flashback [Drum Island] Chopper Man (& Minoru Kazeno) vs Usobada [Chopper Man Special] Don’t blow the whistle: Immediately blows whistle [Skypeia] Dr Chopper the definitely Human Doctor not wearing fake glasses [G8] Vivi w/ Karoo (she counts okay!) Goodbye speech [Alabasta] Escaping Bon Clay [Alabasta] Karoo Digging Luffy Out [Little Garden] Luffy Fan Club Meeting [Reverie] Slapping Usopp awake [Drum Island] Nami vs Kalifa [Enies Lobby] Standing by the kids [Punk Hazard] Saying goodbye to Bell-mere [Arlong Park] Helping Luffy vs Cracker via Lola’s Vivre Card [WCI] Luffy WILL be Pirate King [Wano] Sanji ‘I needed a light’ [Skypeia] Flexing on Jessica [G8] Saving the Vinsmokes [WCI] O-Soba Mask [Wano] vs Doflamingo [Dressrosa]  Usopp Alabasta speech [Alabasta] Awakening Observation Haki [Dressrosa] Sogeking Theme Song [Enies Lobby] vs Perona [Thriller Bark] Saving Luffy from the fire [Stampede]  Zoro Nothing Happened [Thriller Bark] vs Ryuma [Thriller Bark] vs Mr. 1 [Alabasta] vs Gyukimaru & Kamazo [Wano] “He’s sweeping our floors that fiend!” Test of Luck [Loguetown] Luffy ‘On the Sea, you fight Pirates’ [Wano] Red Roc [Wano] vs Katakuri [WCI] Haki clash with Doflamingo [Dressrosa] Punching Saint Charloss [Sabaody] I will have to say that for some characters I could go to 20 so if one’s missing it may’ve just missed the mark, such as Usopp and Nami vs Enel or Luffy putting back a Zombie or Stealth Luffy, I mean it is 1000 chapters as well as movies and filler episodes/specials...

1. I’ve learned quite a lot due to One Piece Since my fascination started with a deep dive of checks, I did start to learn a hell of a lot more not just about the franchise itself (you know it’s almost catching up BATMAN on total sales, which has been around more than 3 times longer?) but I also learned a lot about stuff Oda has used as a reference key; folklore, actual pirates, actual practices, the amount of detail Oda puts in is astounding. Which does lean into another thing I’ve learned, One Piece has changed the way I approach some of my ideas for writings and whatnot, before I would be afraid of either spoonfeeding or being too vague, Oda’s mastery not only in storytelling but character development, character quality and pacing has both helped and intimidated me a lot of times, I mean consider this: it took hundreds of chapters to get a proper backstory on Luffy, the main character, how unprecedented is that? Often I could fall into the trap of making sure you knew everything about the main character from day one but now I wonder about what’s necessary for the now and what can I work on. Another thing that both inspires and intimidates me is his drawing, I suck at colours and still do, and a lot of Oda’s attention to detail is incredible considering he’s gotta whip that out on the weekly, but at the same time you see some of his rough sketches and they’re pretty similar to a rough sketch of my own, so in a way it’s a ‘there’s still hope for you’ moment seeing those. I can’t say I’ve learned Japanese from listening to One Piece, but I have picked up on some stuff, some hiragana there, some phonetics here, I also appreciated some of the stuff kaizokuou-ni-naru does (I won’t tag them in case that’s a bit rude to do it out of the blue but check out their tumblr) when it came to deciphering the Japanese of chapters and the little puns and hints Oda puts in his native tongue. And of course any One Piece fan has learned one thing above all else: Patience. Oda himself included, it took over 20 years to get to 1000 chapters and we still have plenty of questions to ask, plenty of islands to see and thus plenty of chapters to go. So Straw Hats off to you Oda, and a happy 1000th!

[itsthemoofacewriting]

A boring Saturday

I had dreadful writers block and it especially didn’t help with this pairing; I struggle to write them romantically at the best of times.

Also, bad news, I am currently no longer chapters ahead of myself. I was holding off from posting this to see if I could get ahead but figured I’d made you wait long enough. So, we’ll see how that goes…

Summary: They were going to need each other if they wanted to survive education. A-level/School AU. LuNami.

Rating: K. 

This can also be found on AO3 and FFN

Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3

Anyway, enjoy.

--------------------------

“Nami, I’m bored.” Luffy said, laying down of the grass and picking at the grass next to him.

“So you’ve said.” She said absently, engrossed in the book she was reading as she turned the page. It was just starting to get good.

Luffy had been texting her and was apparently unimpressed by her slow responses, so he showed up uninvited. It wasn’t anything new. But he wasn’t doing anything different now to what he was doing in his texts, except she couldn’t ignore him now.

She’d been in her garden, enjoying the beautiful Saturday weather before she’d been rudely interrupted. Although, to her glee, he’d gone quiet. She’d have to use this opportunity whilst she could. Don’t get her wrong, she enjoyed Luffy’s company and he was easily one of her closest friends, but sometimes the peace was nice, especially as that’s all she’d planned for today.

“Woah! Look at this.”

Ah, so that’s why he’d gone quiet. He’d taken to wandering around her garden whilst she was distracted and had stopped to snoop through her shed. In it he’d found one of her old water pistols she’d had when she was younger. To be fair, it was impressive and when she was younger, she’d loved it.

“I bet this still shoots well.”

She didn’t like the look on his face. It gleamed with bad intentions. “No.”

Hi face fell. “Wha? But-”

“You are not shooting that at me.” She cut him off, sending him an unimpressed look.

“Obviously! That’s no fun if you don’t have a weapon either. Did your sister not have one too?” He turned, not waiting for her response to continue digging. She didn’t get the chance to confirm, he triumphantly turned around and thrust the second one into the air. “Yes!”

She sighed, putting down her book and looked at him more seriously now. Reading would definitely be out the window now that he’d found those. She looked around her garden, seriously questioning whether it could take Luffy’s rampaging. It definitely wasn’t big enough and she’d have to keep him far away from Bell-mère’s orange grove.

“Your place isn’t big enough, let’s go to mine!” It’s like he read her mind sometimes. Although she doubted that they had to same reasoning behind the suggestion. “There’s more places to hide too! Ooooooh, let’s invite everyone else!”

Places to hide? This was starting to sound extreme. Surely this was just supposed to be a bit of fun, everyone ran around and got wet and that was it.

“It’s worth asking, but I don’t know if everyone will have water pistols.”

.

.

.

Everyone had water pistols. She was expecting rounds or that someone couldn’t come. Anyone who didn’t own a pistol was supplied one by Usopp. Apparently, he plays with some of the kids on his road. So here they were, stood in a circle going through the rules. Her hunch about it being an extreme water pistol fight had been correct, but then with this group, she shouldn’t be surprised.

It’d escalated from just running around with a water pistol to someone suggesting they add food colouring to the water and wear white tops so they could determine a winner at the end. Everyone’s competitive spirit was brimming to the surface with that suggestion. They’d split off into two groups to go into town to gather supplies, one group tasked with getting different food colours and the other to get some cheap white tops. Luffy had gone with the group to get food colours from the supermarket, so naturally they came back with ice lollies.

With little variation on the food colours, they’d used the lolly sticks to decide on groups, colouring the ends to determine who would be paired with who. There was uproar about there being a group of three, but Robin had made a very good point that it came with both advantages and disadvantages. The group of three would have an extra fighter but would also be at a higher risk of losing with having another person to shoot at.

Nami looked around the group, calculating who she wanted to be in a team with. Luffy or Zoro would be good, both great fighters and hated to lose. Sanji was just as good and he would also protect her from being shot at, he was already shouting about how he would throw himself in front of her and Robin. Robin would be a good pick; the woman was sneaky. Actually, as she looked around, probably any of them would be good.

Okay, she was wrong.

“You take the lead and I’ll back you up!” Usopp exclaimed.

“How am I stuck with the coward?” Nami said to herself, pondering her poor luck as they huddled behind a garden table that they’d turned on its side.

Once the groups had been announced, everyone had taken cover in their teams to discuss a strategy before starting.

There was her and Usopp. Sanji and Brook. Franky, Robin and Chopper. Zoro and Luffy. Nami’s eyes narrowed, the last group was definitely the most dangerous combination.

“You’re no better!” Usopp said, outraged and pointing a finger at her accusingly.

Nami ignored him. “Sanjiiii, you wouldn’t let me get shot, would you?” She called, looking over at him and pouting cutely.

The reaction was instant. “Of course not, my lovely swan! I’ll shoot those who so dare to shoot at you or Robin. I’ll even use my own body to shield you if I must, a worthy way to lose.”

Brook’s head popped over from their cover. “But Sanji, water makes a white top go see through…”

Both of them had a perverted look on their face, no doubt imagining what would happen.

Nami rolled her eyes, trust the two of them to think of that, that had to be the worst team in this match. Brook was a lost cause, but Sanji’s odd chivalry will surely save her. “Sanjiii,” she called, drawing his attention back on her and making sure to flutter her eyelashes. Any of his previous thoughts were thrown out the window and he continued his previous shouting about protecting the girls.

“Sanji, me too!” Usopp shouted over her shoulder. It snapped Sanji out of his spouting and shouted at Usopp that he had to save himself.

Any further discussion was cut off as Luffy ran across the garden, declaring war and shooting at anyone he could see in his sight.

Everyone scrambled after that, plan or no plan.

.

.

.

It was carnage. Everyone was running around screaming, either from being chased or being shot at with freezing cold water.

It’d started off well enough. Sanji had kept his word and although he was supposed to be on a different team, he might as well have been paired with Nami and Robin. He shot at anyone who came close or dove in front of them to take the damage. There was so way his team would be winning. However, as soon as Zoro had goaded him, he was a lost cause. They were exclusively shooting at each other now and Nami was glad they’d all decided to wear glasses, if not, she was sure that’s where they’d both be aiming right now.

Usopp had pretty much abandoned her once Luffy had started, he’d legged it up a tree. Although she had no ground cover, he at least snipped people from high up and from what she could see, he still had a relatively white top. She’d had a similar idea and had been slinking about, hiding behind whatever she could. They could win if they carried on like this.

Just as she peered around the bench, she locked eyes with Luffy. Oh god. No. Not him. Maybe if she stayed still, he wouldn’t see her… because apparently Luffy was now a t-rex.

His smile slowly grew, until it was splitting across his face and he slowly started to walk towards her. Similar to the way a lion stalked towards an unsuspecting gazelle.

Except she was aware of him. It was only a split second later and she was pushing the bench towards him in hopes of slowing him down as she took off across the garden. Luffy hot on her heels and cackling.

“No! Go and chase someone else Luffy!” Nami screeched, zip zagging to avoid the water spraying behind her.

“Look at your nice white top!” He cooed back at her. His was a rainbow of different colours, a clear indication of how many fights he’d recklessly been in before pursuing her.

She led him past the tree where Usopp was stationed but he didn’t even blink as he was sprayed, still intent on getting his prey. She could hear him gaining on her, his feet thumping on the grass and laughter drawing closer as she was running out of steam.

Daring a glance behind her shoulder she shrieked, he was so much closer than Nami had expected. She needed to do something and quickly. Without giving it much thought, she turned on her heel suddenly, just dodging Luffy bumping into the back of her and sprinting past him in the opposite direction. She even managed to get a quick spray in as she ran past him. He was laughing at her bold move, gathering his wits and taking off after her again. Perhaps if she did this for long enough, he’d run out of water and she could get him.

That didn’t happen. Luffy wasn’t looking where he was going, too focused on her and tripped over the bench she’d pushed over when he’d started chasing her. Nami looked back just in time to see him go down and instead of checking he was okay; she ran up to him and started to spray him mercilessly with her water pistol.

She was giggling madly, delighted at the turn of events. Luffy joined her and rolled onto his front, soaking her pristine top. Nami didn’t even care at this point, lost in the joy of getting the better of the boy on the floor.

To prevent him getting up, she put her foot on his chest. “Yield!” She panted out, between her breathless giggles.  

“Never!” Even though his water was getting on him too from firing upwards. But he didn’t seem to care.

Nami was a mess. Her face was red from the combination of running and laughing, her hair sticking to together in clumps from the water. But she had the brightest smile on her face, eyes filled with mirth at her relentless attack on Luffy.

She almost stopped spraying Luffy when she caught the look on his face, she’d never seen that expression on his face before.

Before she could voice her concern, Luffy interrupted, “You look so pretty.”

The spray from her pistol stopped and she gaped at him, not expecting such blunt words. Considering how red Nami’s face was already, she could still feel the flush extending down her neck. In all her time of knowing Luffy, had he ever acknowledged someone’s looks? Her mouth kept opening and closing, completely lost for words. Luffy didn’t look phased at all, he just continued to smile up at her and somehow that only made it worse. She never did get the chance to respond as another voice interrupted their moment.

“What the hell is going on?” A voice boomed.

All nine teenagers in the back garden froze. Their heads snapping towards the back door of the house to see a flabbergasted Garp standing there. In all the madness and noise, no one had heard his car pull into the drive or him shouting out Luffy’s name to see if he was home. It was only as Garp made it through the house that he could hear shrieking and made his way towards the noise.

“Gramps! …. Uhhh…” Nami hadn’t moved her foot from his chest, still frozen, and Luffy was currently looking at his Grandad upside down.

Garp looked around the garden, it was like a warzone. Garden furniture thrown around, plants and bushes trampled. All nine of them still gaping at him, trying to figure out what his reaction would be.

It wasn’t hard for him to work out what was going on, all of them holding water pistols and sopping wet. His grandson currently trapped underneath a girl he hadn’t met yet. Was this the Nami that he’d heard so much about? She was pretty; Luffy had good taste. Especially as she’d seemed to best him too, a difficult feat for someone like his grandson.

He slowly grinned. “So, who won?”

Suddenly, everyone came alive. Shouting as they argued for their teams.  

-------------------------

As always, please forgive any spelling errors.

Thanks for reading.

[laws-hat-headcanons]

Easter Egg Hunt

Little bit of Easter fun with the Straw Hats + Arayya!!! Much shorter than I was intending because I didn't realise I had an Easter egg hunt to plan myself. Still hop you enjoy it!!!

Egg Hunt

“Hey, everyone,” Nami calls, standing on top of the bench surrounding the mast to draw everyone's attention to her as Arayya stands beside her with a large cardboard box in her hands. “Come here please!”

The Straw Hat crew gather in front of the two women with a mixture of expressions, Luffy and Chopper look excited, Sanji, Usopp and Robin look intrigued and Zoro looks annoyed at being woken from his nap.

“As you guys know, Easter is almost over,” Nami says, shifting slightly. “We've had some great food from Sanji-kun, some amazing songs and stories from Brook and Arayya and a lot of Easter facts from Robin.”

“So Nami and I thought it would be fun to end our Easter celebrations with an egg hunt!” Arayya says, grinning as Luffy and Chopper let out a few whoops of excitement.

“Mhm! Arayya and I have hidden chocolate eggs all around the ship, and you guys are going to have to go an find them!” Nami explains. “We-”

“Oi Nami, that's not fair!” Luffy complains, cutting her off. He tilts his head to the side and frowns. “You and Arayya are gonna know where all the eggs are. That's cheating!”

Nami takes a second to massage her temples and Arayya pulls a face at their captain before saying, “We aren't taking part you turnip.”

Luffy blinks at her as he processes that information, then a grin spreads over his face, “Oh! Okay than!”

“Anyway,” Nami tries again. “We need three teams of three – lets see, Robin, Chopper and Jinbei you can be captains.”

Again they watch as Luffy frowns and he opens his mouth to argue.

“You're already a captain, you can't be one again,” Arayya says before he can open his mouth. “Stop interrupting.”

The captain sticks his tongue out at her, which Arayya mirrors before turning her attention back to the Egg hunt. “Okay Robin, do you want to pick first?”

Luffy immediately springs to his feet, begging her to pick him, and while Robin chuckles at his antics she chooses Franky instead.

"Suppperrrr! We're gonna win for sure!"

Chopper picks Usopp, much to Luffy's annoyance. Jinbei finally chooses Luffy just to stop his badgering and the rubber man springs over to join his team captain. Robin then picks Sanji, much to his delight. Chopper attempts to choose Zoro, and although Arayya and Nami both shake their heads vigorously to dissuade the little Reindeer, he still picks the swordsman.

“Oi, Oi, why were you shaking your heads like that?” Zoro demands, giving the two woman a glare.

“Zoro,” Arayya starts, slowly because he is dumb, “This is a game of finding things and I saw you get lost on your way to the bathroom the other day – any team you're on is bound to loose.”

Zoro clenches his jaw as the rest of the crew laughs and goes over to stand with Chopper and Usopp, looking furious.

Finally Jinbei picks Brook and the teams are complete.

“Now, the rules are simple. You can go anywhere on the ship except for mine and Robin's room and Arayya's room,” Nami states, folding her arms across her chest. “There are no eggs in there so there's no point. You have an hour to search and at the end of the hour we will count up the eggs of each team and see who the winner is!”

“One last thing,” Arayya adds, finally putting down her box, she takes out a pair of white bunny ears. “Everyone has to wear one of these.”

Each crew member comes up and collects their set of bunny ears, except Zoro who refuses to move and declares he would rather die.

Arayya and Nami put on their ears and pass the final set to Luffy who, with the help of Chopper and Sanji, manhandle Zoro into wearing them.

Luffy steps back and gives a grin, “Shishishi, you look like Carrot!”

With that done, the game commences and Arayya takes a seat to watch the chaos unfold, a minute later Nami sinks down beside her with a sigh.

They watch in silence as Usopp drags Zoro around, chasing after Chopper.

Luffy, in his excitement overshoots the helm and ends up flinging himself off the ship. Jinbei takes precious time to fish him out because no one else is willing to waste any hunting time.

Miraculously they both have their rabbit ears on when they reappear.

Robin uses her powers to turn over objects, looking for eggs until Usopp and Chopper declare it as cheating.

Arayya watches as Brook tips open his head to show his team where they can keep their eggs, chuckling as he does so.

“This was way more trouble than it was worth,” The orange haired navigator says, shaking her head.

“It's fun!” Arayya grins, “How many eggs did you hide anyway?”

Nami turns her head slowly to look at the other woman, her eyes wide with panic.

“You were supposed to hid the eggs, Arayya!!” She hisses, moving in close so that the rest of the crew doesn't hear. “Please tell me you're joking!”

“I'm joking,” Arayya says.

“Are you? I can't tell if you're being serious or not,” Nami complains, and when the other woman says nothing she wails “Arayyaaaa!”

“Of course I hid them!” The blue haired woman laughs, receiving a slap from Nami. “Except these two. Happy Easter Nami!”

Arayya hands over one of the bright foil covered eggs to her friend who lets out a long suffering sigh and accepts it.

“Happy Easter to you too.”

[moncercueil]

I’m suddenly feeling really paranoid and have a bad feeling that I’m going to be used in his pity narrative just like he used his exes on me before. I should have known that things aren’t as they appeared; he told me so many times that he had been abused and manipulated by the women in his life and my heart went out to him completely and I just wanted to love him and provide comfort, but now I’m on the opposite end of that and I know that he’s calling me toxic and abusive and manipulative-- when he’s the one who hurt me so many times repeatedly over the course of the time that we were together. It makes me feel sick, it makes me want to cry, and I don’t know what to do because right now it’s only a suspicion and maybe my own paranoia, but I have a gut feeling that he’s painting me out to be an abuser to the person he’s been talking to lately. I have a feeling that he’s not only replacing me by moving on to this person but that he’s painting me in the worst light possible to make me seem like one of the people who hurt him and abused him and treated him badly. GOD.

I finally trusted someone and let them in because they promised to love me and never hurt me or break my trust but then when my back was turned they went on my phone and violated my privacy-- I can already hear it!! I can already imagine what he’s saying!! But where is the part of the story where you talked shit about me behind my back? Where’s the part where you called me a horrible, abusive, toxic girlfriend-- after an argument YOU started, I groveled for, and apologized for absolutely nothing? You had triggered ME in that argument and made me feel absolutely awful and horrible and like a bad, cruel person for being hurt by the things that you were doing! Where is the part of the story where I begged you, looking you in the face, to PLEASE tell me what’s wrong and tell me what was going on and why you were upset? Why couldn’t you just tell me instead of talking to someone else about the issues we were having? And least especially the person I was most insecure about!

You said that I have jealousy issues-- where’s the understanding that I’m not some crazy toxic jealous bitch, but that you would repeatedly tell me that you hate me, call me a horrible sickening cunt, tell me that I’m the worst person to happen to you after your abusive mother-- AND THEN TURN AROUND AND TELL JOE YOU LOVED THEM IN THE SAME BREATH? Of course I would be terrified and sickened with fucking fear that I was losing you to them-- who wouldn’t be after such whiplash? I was dying for scraps and shreds of your love, and whenever I reacted out of fear or showed any emotion that you didn’t like, you would immediately nail me with the words that hurt me the most-- toxic, manipulative, selfish, you’re so selfish just like Kayleigh and Chris-- how many times did I have to hear that? How many times did you compare me to your exes when you were angry at me, just to hurt me, after I begged and pleaded for you to please stop comparing me to them? How many times did you make me feel empty and less than nothing, hollow and stupid and cruel and abusive for unintentionally hurting the person I loved most in this world without even meaning to? I’m still unlearning this-- it’s been nearly six weeks of therapy and Liz is still trying to get me to understand that I’m not a bad person, that I’m not cruel or evil or manipulative, that I’m a regular human being-- someone was nice to me the other day and I almost started crying, hyperventilating because I genuinely believed that I had manipulated them into thinking I was a kind person deserving of even a shred of niceness or decency-- how fucked up is that!? You destroyed my sense of identity as a person, you destroyed the only thing I genuinely believed about myself-- that even if I’m ugly or fat or stupid or unsuccessful, at least I’m fucking kind, I’m fucking soft-hearted and loving-- you took that away from me and I see myself as a monster, I hate myself and I genuinely believe I deserve to die for hurting you (even though everyone keeps trying to tell me that I didn’t really hurt you) because if I can hurt the person I cared most without even trying, what kind of fucking monster does that make me? What kind of evil thing does that make me? I deserve to be put down before I could ever hurt someone again--

And yet you’re okay, you’re doing just fine and moving on, you were going on tinder dates two weeks after you dumped me in the most hurtful and crushing way possible, and you’re talking and hinting at an online relationship with Nami exactly one month since it ended-- it would have been our six month anniversary together, and instead it’s the one month anniversary of our death. And you’re okay. I’ve wept and sobbed and hurt myself over and over every single day-- and I still do, and I still am, and I’m still hurting by watching you and seeing your interactions online-- because I’m stupidly there, stupidly waiting and holding on, because that’s what love is, right? Holding on and being patient? And you said you needed time, that you weren’t sure what you were feeling, that your heart is on cope mode and that it would be months or years before you could feel again and find out if you care about me-- BUT IT LOOKS LIKE YOU��RE DOING JUST FINE how could you not be? You’re telling Nami you love her publicly, drawing art for her, rejoicing in your follower count and presenting yourself as a delight and a savior to the FE3H fandom-- and nobody knows that you’re capable of so much fucking cruelty, that you’ve hurt me and fucked me up so badly, that you’re intentionally putting on a mask and parading your happiness with an online persona to spite me, because you knew that it hurt, because you know that I haven’t unfollowed you or blocked you, and you know that I can see all of this. And I? I’m so stupid as to allow it, I’m stupid for holding on, for trying to find a way to reconcile the pain and grief that you’re putting me through with the blind hope that one day we can recover what we had. I’m stupidly living in the past, soaking up the nostalgia, reminiscing over and over, thinking back on the times we spent together in San Francisco, in Santa Monica, protecting the home I carved for you inside my heart, as if you wanted to return, as if you weren’t already looking for someone else to burrow yourself into. I’m aware that I’m hurting, that I’ve been hurt and humiliated in a way that’s so toxic and cruel and hurtful it should be unforgivable, but I’m still here, still waiting, still wishing for a scrap of indication that you think of me, let alone care, anxious to be away from my phone just in case you text me (you won’t). I wish I could move on, I know fully well that you already have, but something in me is clinging for dear life because I fucking chose you! I chose you and I let you in! I never do that! I have never before let anyone know me so thoroughly, I’ve never trusted someone to see all of me, to know my secrets and my feelings without limits, I gave myself in my entirety to you and you didn’t fucking care! You didn’t fucking take care of me the way I did of you! I made myself small, I poured myself over, I made myself available to you 24/7, lest you should feel alone or unloved for even a second-- and for what? You disposed of me! You didn’t care! You don’t care and you’re already searching for someone new and using me and the memory of our relationship, the memories I cherish so much, to achieve that! You’ve desecrated everything, everything that was so fucking sacred to me, that meant so much to me, that I poured and dedicated everything to-- and you don’t care. I can’t wrap my head around or fathom such cruelty, such an absence, it’s such a profound feeling of loss, knowing that I and everything we worked for, everything we dreamed of and promised one another, means nothing and can be disposed of and forgotten in a heartbeat-- and that you can even spite it all and call me cruel things, call me toxic and a bitch and everything that you must be saying-- all the things that you’ve already said, worse even, to my face-- a sickening cunt, that I disgust you, tainted. Why am I still holding on when you’ve made your loathing so painfully, cuttingly clear? When my unconditional love and understanding have been met with nothing but pain and cruelty? Why am I still holding on? Because I’m fucking stupid and despite the pain, despite the humiliation, despite your utter loathing and depreciation, I know hat I’m still in love with you, I still wish I could be by your side through the process of your healing, and that I could stand with you at the end of the process, knowing that I have you, fully healed and full of love toward the person who stood by you unflinchingly.

But you don’t want me. You don’t want me, and you disparage my love, you call me selfish and sickening when all I ever did was promise you unconditional love and promise you that I would stand by your side through everything you went through, that we were a team and you were my partner, and I would never leave your side. I’m still holding on to those promises. I’m still holding on, as if it’s fulfilling a promise that you broke long ago-- which you excuse by saying that my actions were so severe that they freed you of any promises you could have ever made. But you broke a promise long before that, the first promise I asked you to make. You told me you would be gentle with my heart, because I was terrified of being hurt, terrified of the prospect of loving and being in a relationship, but I wanted to do it, I wanted you to be my first and only. Instead, you broke it, over and over, and it’s been so badly damaged and hurt, I don’t know if I could love again. I’m trying to pick up the pieces pouring out from my chest, but there are too many and they’re all slipping through my fingers.

It’ll be years before I let go. It’ll be longer yet before I could recover.