#yeah its That one meme

[spacizia]

don’t worry, he got better

[motteteto]

stage7: homicidal rage

[asklesbianonceler]

Mom moment

[musicalburgerman]

[moeblob]

North and Simon: (shaking hands on killing Simon potentially)

[sleepy-seal]

seriously though where the hell Are they??

[sea-buns]

MISFITS AND MAGIC SEASON 2

IT FUCKEN WIMDY

[redswaberkez]

immediately after the offer he threw away the pills

[deoidesign]

panels from my webcomic. the characters are also from my webcomic. believe it or not it's about gay time traveling vampires

[jesterjaxx]

love language is gift giving but is trying to be lowkey VS is knawing at the bars of his enclosure about it

(this is the stupidest thing ive ever drawn it makes me laugh so hard)

[l-in-the-light]

So the SBS for newest volume was revealed and...

SBS corner isn't considered spoilers for me, but if it is for you, please skip this post, duh!

I just wanted to point out I was part of the camp that said it was Kizaru since the beginning, so even though it's not stated black on white (it's white on black, actually), I still think this is as close to a confirmation as we will ever get, so let me brag for a second:

Feels good, haha.

Now down to the nitpicks, so *why* did I think it was Kizaru from the start? (well, I did suspect Caribou too, but it's later revealed he was with Augur and Devon instead).

At first it was just a fight, Luffy vs Kizaru. He calls it "playing around" and Luffy declares that the same "playing around" is Luffy's job. It's important to remember that, because I think Kizaru realized he could use that for his own purposes.

Just when Saturn arrives and soon after Luffy loses G5, Kizaru's attitude changes to "this is not good". This change in situation was something he didn't consider to be desirable, despite that it tipped the scales in favour of the Marines.

Then Kizaru takes his sweet time when he realizes Luffy finally has reached his limit. I'm not saying this fight didn't take a toll on Kizaru, he was panting before at the very least, but let's not forget that if he moved now he would have to finish Luffy off. Seems like his original plan was to push Luffy beyond his limit before any other players (like Saturn) arrive.

"Someone gimme food"

Kizaru realizes the situation is rapidly escalating now and in all the wrong ways. Strawhats and the present-on-scene Vegapunks are all immobilized, Luffy run out of energy, Sentomaru got captured, Saturn is holding Bonney and giving order for Marines to shoot at her. One second of hesitation is enough for Bonney to lose her life. And all Kizaru can do now is to be worried about his dear friends and witness them dying. Or perhaps... he could help tip the scales a bit again.

And in next moment Saturn realized someone gave Luffy food. No one saw Luffy move away, no one is near him either, Strawhats are still immobilized btw (including Sanji and Franky). This thing could have been done only by Caribou or Kizaru, but Kizaru would be faster and indeed impossible to spot if he moved with his speed of light.

And we can see Kizaru also moved, he's no longer lying down but sitting instead. He doesn't say anything, but he has the "..." thought bubble that looks very distressed (the tore-up border of the bubble is betraying Kizaru's emotions in this scene). Is he perhaps thinking something like "I hope no one will figure it out" or "I think no one should have noticed"? Would be pretty fitting.

Overall it was a good plan, but Luffy didn't restore his strength in time to help Bonney. It was actually Kuma's unexpected arrival that saved her (very touching moment).

And that's Kizaru's only reaction to Kuma's arrival. His body language shows relief, but his words kinda contradict that.

Only after Kuma punches Saturn, Sanji, Franky and Vegapunk are "released" from the immobility spell, which causes Sanji to immediately collapse to the ground, apparently. This is the definitive proof that they couldn't have been the ones who helped Luffy before.

Kizaru's back to "playing around", openly declaring he just wants to test Strawhats growth. Very interesting, considering the situation worsened for the Marines. By all means he should be quick and down to business instead of playing around. Seems he made his decision of how to manage the situation: again, by stalling for time and observing how it all proceeds, while just resorting to "playing around".

Here though he declares something contradictionary to his behaviour from mere moments ago. Perhaps beause he's speaking to Saturn. He emphasized the point that too many people are around and they need to be quick. But when you're quick you might have to prioritize impact over efficiency (which leaves openings for possible escape - Kizaru wouldn't be able to guarantee every target is actually eliminated).

Kizaru probably still was hoping to avoid this result, but once he realized he can't save Vegapunk no matter what, he decides it's better if he kills him himself. At least it will be quick with his powers, you know? The least he can do for his friend is to relieve him from his suffering, make sure his death is a bit more humanitarian than slowly bleeding out. Before Saturn actually stabbed Vegapunk, Kizaru was not ready to make this decision btw, always choosing to do something else (go after Strawhats, engage in the fight with Luffy, lying down beaten up).

This scene further proves my point. Kizaru assures them this is a mercy killing that won't hurt a bit. Because he believes the only alternative would be a very painful death instead. Thankfully him betting on Luffy was a good move, because it's Luffy who stops him here. So it officially looks like Kizaru did everything he could to kill Kuma and Bonney, but the enemy stopped him, so the end result can't be blamed on Kizaru. He's doing that dance between stalling the fight and avoiding the worst case scenario for most of Egghead's arc.

"I'm in a real pickle now". Yes, he is indeed. Sanji is cute btw for offering him an easy way out, lol. Kizaru will still have to write that apology letter to Akainu anyway.

And finally Luffy sent him flying far, far away, and this time Kizaru doesn't even try to get up anymore. That's it for him. He had to kill Vegapunk with his own hands and I think he didn't expect how big of a toll it will take on him. Luffy in a way provided him another easy way out of the situation, because if Kizaru just stays here and hopes for the Strawhats to take Bonney to safety, then at least he would have saved her.

So this is what I believe Kizaru was trying to do all this time. Avoid killing Vegapunk somehow (though he knew there was a really slim chance for that, but a man can still hope, right?) and at the very least make sure Bonney won't die on Egghead. Kizaru indeed has a heart, but he also has to make sure not to lose face and he can't really disobey or ditch his responsibilities as a Marine Admiral. But he definitely wasn't lying when he said he was forced to kill his best friend, and he truly wished he wouldn't have to do that.

That being said, I wonder what's his plan from this point onward. Some people suggested he might retire after this, but I think somehow that would erase the whole point of his struggle here, it would make it lose it's meaning. But he definitely showed us a little bit of his rebellious side. Though we need to remember, he ended up being just a circumenstencial ally to Strawhats, at least at this point in time.

What's the moral of this story? NEVER TRUST A "..." THOUGHT BUBBLE. It hides secrets, every. single. time. If Oda delibaretely hides character's thoughts from us, but emphasizes it by using "..." thought bubble, then ask questions, dig deeper, there's something to discover there. Also I don't mean speech bubbles, just thought bubbles. This has been a thing in many other mangas, it's not just a One Piece visual storytelling gimmick. For example, Death Note used that device in exactly same way, pfff.

[rox-of-iu]

my old blorbos are back in my brain

heart pirates my absolute beloved. shame theyre chillin somewhere in the ocean lol (do not mention the pre-time skip hats of penguin and shachi I'm still attached even tho its already been a million years since then)

anyway every time i remember that Law and Kid are assigned german and Scottish by Oda i gain one hundred years

[astral-schools]

bro that really haunts my narrative

[groovygrub]

[rinseveryday]

I asked Twitter what cake would they give Rin and Yukio for their birthday.

There were a lot of good choices but this one was probably the worst.

Thanks to @yzomiris for the cake image and to @grinu for his genius idea: "Kinzou would give that cake to Rin"

[biscuitscheesebiscuits]

Reading physical copies of The Queen's Thief series for the first time and realizing that the maps in them are inconsistent???