#and it's because they know luffy speaks from an earnest place

[whirlybirdwhat]

belong among the wild flowers

For kyo for the 2021 Sake Exchange!!!! I hope you enjoy <33333 READ ON AO3 - outsider pov, ‘you’ are the outsider pov, gen, straw hat focus

--

You’re a seller. A seller of flowers that is. Beautiful flowers from seeds grown all over the world, grown by you and your wife – and.

Well.

Grown by you now, but it’s all the same. 50 years and your flowers haven’t lost their vibrancy, only gained. 

This morning you smile, breathing in the cool air so soothing on your old lungs and head out into the fields of beautiful flowers, filled with oranges, blues, pinks, and –

Red.

There’s – 

There’s red in your fields, between the blues and the yellows. 

The reds are the complete opposite side of the farm, by your wife’s grave, because she loved the color so much.

What is red doing here?

“Shishishi!”

Ah.

The hackles in you calm. Its just a boy.

(Your wife had loved children.)

He’s small, thin, dressed in vibrant baggy blue shorts and a red tee, open to display scarring on his chest. His head is turned away from you, black hair flying in the wind to shield his face but –

There is gold upon his head. Golden straw.

Odd. 

(The last man who came here wearing golden straw had died, his death in the newspaper. Oddly, already, you hope this boy won’t be the same.) 

Its wrapped in a red ribbon, bright red. Red doesn’t belong. Red –

“Shishishi!” The boy laughs and turns to her again, smile wide, scar under his eye sloping and wave like, so much more faded than the angry red across his chest. “Ah! Old person! Do you know where these flowers came from?”

You blink. Once. Twice. Eyes darting to the watering can in your hand and to the dirty but lovingly patched overalls you’re wearing, then back up to him. “Come again?” Is all you can say, but he’s already off on a tangent. 

“Ooh! Pretty! Hey, old person, these are almost like the flowers from back home! And the ones on Robin’s flower beds, the ones from where she grew up – Shishishi, I’m gonna take a few, kay?”

And he reaches down, down down and –

“No!” You yell, sudden, grabbing his hand, and hitting him over the head with your watering can. “Don’t pluck those flowers young man!”

“Owwwwww-why do you have haki?” He rubs at his head, eyes wide, and huh. 

Who knew such a scrawny brat could know haki?

“It’s the New World, brat! All old people know haki!” You tell him, a faint whisper of laughter in your voice. “Stop stealing my flowers!” You snap again as his hands snakes out and snaps back with a rubbery twang. 

“But they aren’t your flowers!”

“Yes they are”

“No! They’re Robins!”

“NO!” You shout, forehead to forehead with this boy. “They’re MINE! I grew them! I loved them! They are mine to pluck!”

He stares at you, pulling back, head cocked to the side, before his eyes brighten. You look at him critically as you bend down, easing dirt back into place and burying a worm back into its home. 

“Ah!” The boy shouts, fist landing in his hand. “They’re your dream!”

Your dream…

You haven’t had yours in a long time. 

When you last did, it was with your wife by your side. 

You shake your head at the boy, irritation bleeding into melancholy. “No. These flowers aren’t my dream.” You ease a petal up, gently brushing off dirt and giving it a gentle kiss. Your wife had always laughed when you did that, right before she gave you a kiss as well. 

“What is?” The boy asks, bending down with you, sitting on his heels and now careful – so very careful – not to touch your flowers. 

“Mm?”

“What’s your dream?” His hand drifts to the same petal you are touching, and you look up, and oh – 

There’s earnesty in his eyes. Honesty. A raw kind of hope, a raw kind of belief. He’s open, and you can never understand him, never want to, never will be able to look deeper than that bone deep honesty but –

You know this boy is a pirate. Only pirates chase dreams as honest as this. Only pirates want dreams as honest as this. 

(How old is he? The last pirate you saw was an old man, and the closest to this boy’s age was still a cabin boy. You don’t think this boy is like that – he can’t be. He’s got too much in him for that.)

Your tongue speaks without your bidding, without your permission. 

“I used to have one. Don’t have it now.”

He gives you a look. And maybe – maybe his eyes catch on the lines on your face, the etches of sorrow, the pockmarks and signs of age and the places your wife kissed.  Maybe he knows that you’re a liar as much as this boy is not. 

“Then what do you want?”

Again – your mouth moves without you wanting it to. This boy has power, some strange presence, a compelling to him that you can’t seem to fight. 

“Well, the Duke’s head would be nice.”

The boy nods, standing up, casting a shadow on you as the sun rises behind him. “Alright! I’ll beat up the Duke for you, and then you’ll give me flowers!”

Wait what –

“Let’s go!” Unstoppable as a whirlwind, this boy grabs your hand and tugs you forward, and off you go,  running through the paths of the flowers and determination in his eyes. 

“BOY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!” You scream, panicked, watering can left behind. 

“Shishishi!” Is all you get for an answer, a laughter like petal in the end and –

Well.

It’s been awhile since you went on an adventure like this.

-

The boy’s name is Luffy – Monkey D. Luffy.

(There hasn’t been a D. on this island since the last man with a straw hat.)

You learn this because a red-haired girl screams it when you crash into her, raging and furious, leaving Luffy with large bumps on his head. 

“MONKEY D. LUFFY!” She cries, fists raising down and bracelets and log pose catching in the light. “DON’T DO THAT!”

“Owwwww – Nami!” Luffy looks to her, giving her a long reminiscent of puppy dogs and pleading. 

Nami sighs, brushing off dirt from her orange overalls, and gives him her own look, something between terrible fondness and annoyance. “Don’t rocket!” She tells him, before tossing him a tangerine – one of your neighbors, by the looks of it. “Look!”

(You and your wife had walked through the groves when you were young and in puppy love. You had taken a flower and put it in her hair, just as your neighbors’ father had chased you out of the grove for theft. It had been fun.) 

Luffy catches the tangerine, looking it over, then up at Nami. 

“They’re just like Bell-mere’s!” Nami tells him, her eyes bright with something like nostalgia, so different from the rage only moments before. Her enthusiasm is earnest, just like this boy’s, and oh -  they must be crew. “I can’t believe Cocoyashi trees are all the way out here!”

The name catches your attention, with the disbelief, and you smile at her. “Our island, Flors, has plants from across the world – the rarest, prettiest, sturdiest you can think of. Are you from Cocoyashi? Must have been a long time since you saw trees like these.”

She gives you a glance, an assessing look, then tosses her head back and laughs. “No, I have my own trees back our ship. Ah – who are you?”

Trees on a ship? Tangerine trees? What- 

“NAMI!” Luffy interjects, before you can give your name, dancing on the tip of your tongue. “Which way is the Duke?” 

“The Duke?” Her attention switches from you to him in a moment. “There’s a Duke?” You don’t think it’s possible, but her eyes – they seem to turn into belli signs. “Where? Why do you want him? Is he rich?” She’s shaking Luffy now, and you can’t help but let out a laugh, same time as Luffy. 

“Shishishi! If I beat up the Duke, I can get flowers from the field for Robin!” He says, as if it makes perfect sense. It doesn’t. You aren’t sure where he got the idea that you would give him flowers, or that he’ll be able to beat up the Duke, but –

“Okay!” Nami says, brightly, soundly, understanding this wild boy. “I’ll find out where the gold is.”

Gold?

When had gold come into the equation?

“You go ahead – I’m sure if you run around enough someone’s going to come out and yell out you. Then I can have all the Duke’s gold!” In seconds, she’s pulling a staff from her waist, snapping it together and twisting, so that electricity crackles at the top. Her eyes alight, and there’s something dangerous about her. Something a bit deadly, a bit wanting, a bit fierce. “Be done soon Luffy! The log pose should settle by the end of the day, and I want to get out of here before the storm hits!”

Storm?

“Aye Nami!”

You remember deciding that this boy was a pirate, for how he talked about dreams.  You decide this girl must be a pirate, for how she’s unafraid of the storm, the wind, the weather. 

You stare at her, old limbs creaking, bewildered. She reminds you of your wife, when you had first met her, all wild hair and adventure. Something aches, quietly, inside your chest – but, strangely, this time, it isn’t a sad ache. 

Just a nostalgic one.

In  moments, Luffy arm is around yours, and he’s running, your feet off the ground and yourself carried in a side hold. 

“BRAT!” You say, elbowing him with Haki, but this time his own defense is up and you simply have to bear the running for now.

Seeing the island go by, faster than it ever has, you can’t seem to make yourself mad.

-

The next stop is apparently up in a tree, though why you can’t fathom. All you know is Luffy was running and running, and running despite your yells of terror again, and then he stopped, slamming you into his back. It had lasted all but a moment, before he was reaching a hand up and shouting that absolutely dreadful phrase –

“GUM GUM ROCKET!” 

-And dragging you high into the sky, crashing through branches, and into the waiting arms of a long-nosed man. 

He screams. 

You scream. 

He doesn’t drop you though, only settling you on the part of the branch closest to the trunk, and continues scream.

You stop, then start again, because there is a living plant wrapped around him, moving like a wolf, and a bug the size of your head fluttering next to his.  

You are a seller. A gardener. You deal with bugs. Just not the bugs this particular orchard has, because Old Man Johnson is terrifying and likes to collect bugs bigger and bigger than your face. 

Fuck, you think, looking down to the bottom of the forest floor but finding it far too high for your old, brittle legs, even with haki. 

Luffy has no such problem, falling off the branch only to bounce right back up, tumbling into the long-nosed man just as he had tumbled into Nami. “Usopp!” He cries, joy in his face and –

Usopp’s face, morphs from terror to joy and pride and happiness in an instant, his arms coming around to circle Luffy as if this wild boy had always belonged there. It’s sweet. It’s comforting. 

It’s rocking the sturdy branch you are sitting on, and you have no idea how Usopp is managing to keep his balance.

Then you notice the living plant pushing against Usopp’s back, the bug helping, and immediately understand how.

But not why.

Does this man have control over plants or something? A bug devil fruit? His crewmate, Luffy – for what else could Luffy be than his crewmate – has a devil fruit, you think, so it wouldn’t be so surprising.  It’s like magic the way the vines grows and growls, familiar to you in some distant way that you can’t quite name and – 

“Luffy!” Usopp cries, holding Luffy to his chest. “You’re here! When you shot off I tried to look for you, but had to fight a thousand giant flowers first! Each threatening to swallow me whole but I defeated them with my trusty slingshot!”

What? You start to think, something that you think is far too common with these people, before noticing the way Luffy’s face shutters at giant flowers and swallow whole. Odd, you think, odd, but you aren’t the only one to notice. Usopp’s face flicks over Luffy’s with careful affection, cautious notice, and then lunges into another tale. 

“It was after that I stumbled upon these! Look – Luffy they’re just like the island I trained on!” And Usopp shoves a bunch of seeds into Luffy’s face, seeds that split before your eyes and grow into beautiful figures and designs. 

Luffy’s eyes turn into stars as you watch. “OOOOO! From the mystery Island with the plants!”

“Ah Bowin Archipelago Luffy.”

“Bowie Archipelago!”

“Ah, close enough! Anyway – with these I can breed new types of Pop Greens! Like maybe a dragon!”

“A Yeti!”

“A giant tiger!”

“A giant!” They go on like that, trading amazing fantastical thing after amazing fantastical thing, each more incredible with the last, each with full surety that this thing could happen. It’s… its foolishness mixed with childish glee. 

(You remember looking after your neighbors’ children with your wife, watching as they laughed and laughed and laughed. They had the same tender joy that Usopp and Luffy have, though where the children were edgeless and free, Usopp and Luffy’s joy is tempered with age and hard muscle, truth of pirates beyond the fantastical wildness of dreams. Its joy brought into reality.

You wish your wife as here to see it.)

Usopp takes a pause from chattering with Luffy, and also a pause from making the branch bounce far to much for what you’re comfortable with. 

(Your wife had always teased you for your fear of tall, wavering places. It made you smile when you climbed crows nests for her.)

“I do wonder,” the long-nosed sniper ponders, “How these plants got all the way here. The Bowin Archipelago is in Paradise – nowhere near here.”

“Shishishi! Nami’s tangerines were here too!” Luffy tells him with glee. “And Robin’s flowers!”

“Really!? Amazing! Hey – who’s your friend? Do they know anything about this?” Usopp turns to you, gaze piercing like any sniper should.

You gulp.

Then register what he called you. 

“I’m not his-“

“They’re a mystery person!” Luffy cuts in. “I gotta beat up a Duke to get Robin’s flowers from them!”

You would face palm, but that would mean letting go of the trunk.

“A Duke!?” Usopp cries, a mix of fear and readiness. “Did you tell Nami? She’s going to want his money before you beat him up.”

The confidence these people have in this boy – you don’t get why. 

(Maybe you’re starting too. He’s pulled you away from your garden, hasn’t he?)

“Shishishi! Nami knows! She’s gonna get the gold while I beat him up!” 

“Do you even know where the Duke is? What if he’s strong? Terrifying? What if he has a thousand teeth and eyes and wants to eat me for picking his flowers – Luffy you gotta beat him up, you gotta!” Usopp chatters, wavering between fear and terror and sheer bravery. An odd one, this boy is. You like him though. 

“Shishishi! I will!” Luffy promises him, grin stretching wide on his face and promise ready on his tongue, not a doubt in his mind. “Just watch me!”

Usopp melts, just a little. Ease ripples through him, and he lets out a quiet, proud “I know.” Then – he turns to you. “Uh, would you like a ride down?”

Yes. Yes you would. You nod, before Luffy stretches out his hand and oh god not again, your joints are not good for this adventure –

“OI! SHIT HEADS!”

Luffy’s arm stretches back, a laughing tumbling out of his mouth and you turn to your savior.

It’s a man, in the most god-awful shirt you have ever seen, with boat shoes and horrible matching shorts. 

It’s a man, with blonde hair and cigarette and swirly eyebrows shadowing a glare on his face as he holds giant fruits from the seeds of the giant land of Elbalph inn either hand with ease.

It’s a man, who is floating in the air. 

You let out a large squeak but no one seems to notice. 

“SANJI!” Luffy cries, and this must be another one of his man crewmates, and just how many of them are on this island, exploring and racking up havoc. 

You spare a moment to consider how Sanji got over the giant fences Farmer Green had set up. Then you remember, right, he’s flying, and wonder how that’s happening.

Sanji gives a kick, and dodge Luffy’s lunge, letting him fall to the forest floor and bounce back up. “Hey Captain. You guys know where Nami-swan or Robin-chwan are? I found some rare fruits that I can use, and I want to give it a try.”

“Sanji! Meat!” Luffy cries, practically salivating. 

Sanji gives a shrug. “No meat, Captain. Haven’t found anything like that on this island – just plants, plants, and more plants.” Luffy sags where he stands, in a pout so childish, and Sanji’s next words come out in a rush that he tries to play off as nonchalant. “Me and the shit-swordsman can go and cut up a sea king. I think I saw some off the coast.” Here, his tone turns ponderous. “I could make a Sea King platter with this dressing – and palate that with a fruit salad or start shish-kabobbing if we are more pressed for time…”

“And dessert!” A voice pops up, tiny and squeaky, and a racoon dog in a hat pops up from behind Sanji’s shoulder. “You promised me desert!”

“CHOPPER!” Luffy and Usopp cries, and in an instant, the animal is  jumping from where it was clinging to Sanji’s back and into his apparent crew-mates arms. 

“Usopp! Luffy!” The animal cries, holding up his bag. “I was able to restock EVERYTHING I had from the Birdie Kingdom! Even the rare ones that only grew there! I even found the herbs that can help with heart stuff that everyone thought went extinct! This place is AMAZING!” There’s sheer glee in the animal’s – Chopper’s?- gaze and-

Oh dear sweet mother of oceans. The animal speaks. The animal has a name, speaks, and knows medicinal plants.

You want to faint. You want to go back to our flowers. You – you –

Chopper is right next you, holding a vial of spicy something underneath your nose, rescuing you from your faint.

You somewhat wishes he didn’t. You are old and quite done with this, you think. Are any of these folk even paying for what they are grabbing?

“Ah! You’re awake! Make sure to drink more water okay?” Chopper tells you, looking so concerned, and oh, he’s adorable. 

You nod, belatedly, then tune back into the conversation.

“…beat up the Duke for Robin’s flowers!” Luffy is telling Sanji determinedly. 

“Ah! Anything for Robin-chwan!!” Sanji twirls in the air, eyes like hearts. “I’ll help – ah, Never mind. I need to get these to the ship – this kind of fruit supposedly decays within five hours of being cut from the branch, which is why they’re so rare. I think the Duke’s mansion is that way though.” Sanji tilts his head, blonde hair shifting, and gestures to the distance. Luffy follows his line of sight like a dog after a ball. 

“Shishishi! Thank Sanji! Make a biiiiig feast for when we’re done! A party!”

“Alright captain. Chopper!” And Sanji turns to you and the tiny – doctor? Is he a doctor? – and calls over. “You coming with me or do you want to help Luffy beat up a Duke?”

Chopper perks up and turns from you, leaving Sanji to glance over you, mostly hidden behind the very fluffy reindeer. “With you! I want to make these medicines soon as possible so I can get more if needed.” 

Sanji nods, and gives another kick with his legs, keeping him in the air somehow – even with Haki, you have never seen this – and turns to Usopp. “Usopp?”

“Ahhh I would only overshadow Luffy if I went! Too little a job for me!” Usopp crows, hands on his hips, grin on his face. 

“Coward.” Sanji tells him, deadpan clear. You remember the tale this man told at the beginning and wonder what his role on this crew is. 

Usopp squawks but doesn’t deny it to both Chopper and Luffy’s uproarious laughter.  Sanji gives a sly grin, and in seconds, faster than you can tell, Chopper is back on his back and Usopp beside him on the branch. He nods to Luffy, and with a brief “See you, Luffy!” he’s off, kicking his way through the sky.

Usopp stares for a moment then starts yelling again, leaping fearlessly from branch to branch, and you realize, with sudden clarity, that it was not the bravery that was the façade, but the cowardice.  

Luffy’s crew is odd. You just want to wonder how he fits into it all.

-

Luffy takes you on his back this time, scratchy straw placed carefully on his head instead of crushed against your cheek. 

It’s running, so much running, and stretching and stretching.

You have time to think. To wonder. To question.

It builds in you, tumultuous and roiling. This boy – he’s running across the entire island, all for a chance for some flowers. He wants to face the Duke, the Duke who is so terrible, so terribly horrible, just for some flowers. For some Robin.

It’s clear he could so easily take them anyway – you may have haki, but you are no match for the muscles rippling under this boy’s back – but he doesn’t.

You’re dream,  he had said, and it marks him as a Pirate but it just makes you question – 

What’s his dream? Who’s Robin? Why is this straw hat so familiar? Who is he? Cabin boy or crewmate or something more?

You start with the simplest.

“Brat. Who’s Robin?” You ask him as he pauses upon the top of one of Flors’ giant mushrooms. He pauses for only a moment, before turning to you with the most blinding grin. 

“She’s Robin! My archeologist!” My, he says, like she’s his. My, he says, like he’s in charge.

My, he says, like he’s the captain, and suddenly, you realize that’s because he is. 

This boy, smaller than you were when age didn’t bend your back like a willow, with sloping and burning scars, and a smile like the sun – is a captain, the captain of Robin and Nami and Usopp and Sanji and Chopper, and more you haven’t met. A pirate crew in the New World. 

It humbles you, in a way you didn’t expect. 

“She likes flowers?” You ask, instead of voicing why, why does a pirate crew need an archeologist, why do they follow him, who are you straw-hatted boy?

“Yeah! She has a whole garden on the Sunny! And the flowers in your garden are from her home! She showed me a book of them once.” Every word is said with pride, and you wonder how you missed it all before, the way he cried Usopp and Nami and Chopper and Sanji with mine, and love, and protection all those times before. This boy is a Captain.

Then, his words strike you.

Home island.

Those flowers in your garden were from Ohara, given to you by a woman so long ago, a gift from her home island in turn for a glimpse of the stone at the center of Flors. Your wife had loved those flowers.

Ohara is gone now.

These flowers are all that’s left.

These flowers, and Nico Robin.

Oh, you think, oh. 

Straw Hat Luffy, 1.5 billion berry wanted man, laughs from where he carries you, dashing from mushroom to mushroom.

He’s so young, and yet, not really. He’s 19, or so the papers say, and he’s taken on all three of the government strongholds and come out almost on top each time, has fought emperors and warlords, saved kingdoms and islands. He’s young, but not in the naïve way, the childish way. Only the youthful way, in that his face still has baby fat and his smile has crinkles from laughter not rage.

(No one who holds a loved one in their arms like that is young. You speak from experience.

Your wife had been soft and bloodstained when she brush the hair from your face.)

He’s…

This boy – this man…

You have run out of words to describe him.

Suddenly, like before, like in your field of flowers, the words spill from your lips unbidden. This boy has revealed so much by only praising his navigator. You could so easily turn him in. Yet –

“The Duke is a cruel man,” You begin, not really sure if Luffy is listening, not really caring in the end. “He came here ten years ago, drawn by our beautiful, beautiful flowers and plants. He thought he could make a profit, thought he could earn billions from this place and – he – “

Luffy stops moving. 

He doesn’t interrupt. But –

There’s not a lack of care in him. In his eyes as he turns to look at you. It’s a lack of need. 

“I don’t need you to tell me this. The Duke hurt your dream, right?”

You nod, small, quiet. 

“Then I’m going to beat him.”

Simple as that, he smiles at you, not brilliant, not vibrant, but safe. Sure.

(I’m going to turn the world upside down! The last wearer of this hat had cried, so sure, so confidant.

The echo of that – louder and changed and triumphant – is here.)

Luffy moves again, and you don’t speak. You don’t think you possibly could.

-

(Here’s a story, that the future King of the Pirates will never know, but one that draws close to your chest.

You were born and raised on this island, collecting sea grass by the sea, when your wife had washed up on the shore, wild haired and half drowned. You had rescued her, your strange, sea-faring wife, and learned of her travels, her tales, her losses at sea. It’s a miracle she made it to shore.

It’s a miracle she wakes up in your arms, and offers you a kiss. 

You loved her then, and you will love her for the next infinity. She tended the gardens with you, loving the colors and the reds that you had saved her in. She loved and lived and so did you.

Then the Duke, cruel faced and greedy, had shown up, making each of you sell your wares in stead of trade, bringing in outside sales, and taken all of the profit for himself.  

Then the Duke, cruel faced and greedy, had fought your wife who was bold and terrifying and a pirate with her sword still strapped to her waist, even at 30, 40, 50 – 

And struck her down. 

That’s the end of the story, for you are just a gardener, a seller of flowers, with old bones and the haki your wife taught you, who once saw the Pirate King and the archeologist of Ohara, collected seeds from a thousand islands and planted them with care, who had a dream, once, shared with your wife but –

Your wife is dead, and so the story ends here.)

(A boy in straw is here, and so your story blooms.)

-

A voice sings out from the flowers, and it’s with joy that Luffy jumps down, rubber easing the impact that shocks up your back, to sing with a skeleton.

A skeleton, who has an afro and a guitar and who can sing.  

“Yohohohoho!” The skeleton laughs, melodious even without vocal chords. “Hello Luffy!”

“Brook!” Luffy smiles, “Franky!”

Who –

“YEOW LITTLE BRO! Isn’t this island SUPER!?”

A singing skeleton, and a cyborg, with a hair shaped into sunflowers. Sunflowers.

If it weren’t for the sting of the vial still sniffling in your nose, you think you would pass out again. The New World is weird – but not this weird.

Dear mother sea almighty – these two tower, yet are dressed in sparkling floral patterns and shirts. 

Luffy jumps into their arms without hesitation, setting you down just before he does in the first time since the tree and the other members of his crew. The cyborg – Franky, you think, by Luffy’s laughter – catches him easily, swinging him about and finally settling him on his shoulder, where the skeleton, Brook, places a crown of flowers around his hat.

It’s sweet, with love and adoration in every motion. This whole crew is like that, and it hurts you, emboldens you, does to you a thousand things to see them be like that. Loving, without restraints, without fear, whole and happy. It is incredible that this boy, only a teen, this man has been able to gather to him such authority, such power, such loyalty.

It warms you, you think. 

(It strikes a chord in you, you think, of something like jealous but not all at once. You want this, but you will never be a part of this crew, and you never wanted to have this, never knew it was missing before this but – here it is. 

Without you.

You miss your wife.) 

“Who’s this, Luffy?” Franky asks, gesturing to you with a large red hand. Flowers are painted over it, in the colors that the children use to paint the fences. Little handprints scatter about, and its obvious that these two had had a run in with the children of the island, and cared for them, gentle and loving. 

“Shishishi! They have the flowers Robin likes! From her island! I’m gonna beat up the Duke for them so I can get the flowers!”

It’s an old routine by now. You still don’t quite believe he can do it, no matter that you know he has beaten billion belli pirates and warlords and emperors. He’s just – The Duke is –

“Sounds perfect, Luffy! We beat a few of the Duke’s ah, lovely gentlemen there.” And the skeleton waves his hand to the path behind him, sweeped beneath giant flowers, to where bodies lay in the ground, bloody, barely breathing, and decidedly unconscious. 

All covered in the white uniform of the Duke’s men.

Oh, you think, feeling familiar rage bubble up at the sight of them. Oh. 

“They were picking on some SUPER kids! Had to put a stop to it, knew you wouldn’t mind.” Franky enunciates, striking a pose. “Zoro helped out, but we lost him when we turned away for a second.”

“He really blends in with all this green, Yohohohoho!” Brook snickers, and you remember bounty posters with a piercing glare and green hair and none too little blood, and wonder how you lose an entire ex-bounty hunter turned pirate.

You don’t think you will ever know what these people are. Ever. 

“Shishishi! We’ll find him!” Luffy reassures, already grabbing onto you again. 

“Bro, you’re just as bad!” Franky tells him, and you wonder with what? Before Luffy has hauled you onto your back.

(Maybe you should invest in hiring someone to do this. You haven’t been off your feet so much in YEARS.) 

“Shishishi! Bye Franky! Bye Brook!” Luffy shouts, ignoring his crew and dashing off into the woods yet again. “Sanji’s throwing a feast after I beat the Duke!” 

You leave the clearing, bouncing through sunflowers, to the sounds of cheers of “Knock ‘em dead Luffy!” and “A party! How delightful!”

-

Running, and running, and running. Always more running. Are these pirates always like this – running from location to location, dashing and jumping, never settling more than a moment?

“Shishishi! Yeah! What’s the fun in staying still?”

Oh, you said that aloud, didn’t you?

“You’re funny old person!”

“Oh, shove off you brat. What happens when you can’t beat the Duke?”

When, you say, purposeful, deliberate, smothering the hope in your chest. When. 

“I will.” Comes Luffy’s response, and you should have expected that, you should have but – 

“But-”

“I Will.” Comes Luffy’s grin, and – 

“Why?”

It comes out of your throat strangled, half dead because you don’t get him, you don’t, you don’t, an you don’t know why because this boy is just like your love and your wife, adventurous and outgoing. 

“Remember?” He looks at you, never moving, and oh,  you do. “The Duke hurt your dream! He can’t do that!” And he won’t, goes the unspoken promise. 

“Oh,” You say, like you said before, trying to commit that truth to heart. Oh.

-

It’s mid-afternoon by the time you arrive at the Duke’s mansion.  It’s gleaming white, made off the backs of the poor farmers of this station, who only wanted to grow plants and share seeds in peace. It fills you with rage. Horrible, horrible rage that consumes your very soul and makes your bones ache. 

The place where your wife last caressed your face burns. 

“This it?” Luffy asks you, and you give a nod. He slides you off his back, offering a steady arm for your to grab onto, and you both stare at the mansion. You have dreamed of setting this place on fire. Dreamed of it. 

Here, Luffy is ready to make it a reality. 

“Now – where’s the Duke?” Luffy tilts his head to the side, peering at the building. You peer with him, trying to remember where the Duke liked to make his nest when – 

“You! Peasant! Off my lawn!” Comes a voice, a voice that fills you with rage, from the Duke’s own personal garden. 

“Oi – what’re you doing old man? I’m trying to sleep here,” Comes another voice, younger with a deep timber and ooh–

Luffy’s tugged you by the wrist and you go over the hedge, landing squarely in front of – 

“Zoro!” Luffy cries, and tackles the man with three swords, lying on the ground.

Ah.

That’s why Franky and Brook thought this man would blend in. He’s so green. Like a little moss ball. A marimo! 

Adorable. 

Zoro caves easily to Luffy’s demands, catching him and moving aside so Luffy can find his own place wrapped around him, ease in every motion. Comfortability in every act. 

“Hey, Luffy – you know where everyone else is? I was beating up some of the weird guards around this place and wound up here.” Zoro asks, seemingly entirely genuine.

Luffy only throws his head back and cackles. “You got lost!” 

“No, I didn’t! This place moves that’s all! Like Usopp’s plants!”

“No, you’re just stupid Zoro.”

“I am not!”

“Are too!”

“A-HEM!” The Duke calls, interrupting, and to his credit doesn’t even flinch when the unimpressed glares of Zoro and Luffy land on him.

The Duke is – he’s towering. Eleven feet tall with muscles toned and strong, haki perpetually on his fists and a war hammer on his back. He wears pristine white suits, a flower in the lapel, red and plucked from your own garden, and his servants lay out a carpet before him, so he doesn’t have to deign to step in the mud in on an island of farmers and gardeners.

You hate him. You hate him. 

Something flies in the air, landing perfectly on the Duke’s white clothes.

A – a booger?

You look to your right, and there is Luffy, picking his nose and looking entirely unimpressed. “Heh – Who are you?” He asks.

The Duke, pale skinned and furious, goes red.  “I,” He declares, pompous, his servants cowering in the background, “Am The Duke of Flors, Lord” –“

“Ooooh, you’re the Duke! Zoro doesn’t he look like the axe-dude?” Luffy cuts the Duke off before turning entirely to Zoro. Zoro, for his part, cocks his head to the side.

“You know, if I cut off his arm, he really does.”

You stare.

The Duke stares.

Luffy wheels back his hand and smashes his fist into the Duke’s face, coated in haki and a direct hit to the man’s face.

There’s a cracking noise and a scream as the Duke goes flying. 

You stare.

The Duke is too far to see.

Zoro snorts. “What he do?” He asks. Luffy cocks his head toward you and Zoro gives a hum before settling back down into the ground. “Wake me up when you’re done. The bastard interrupted my nap.”

You stare.

Zoro snores.

The Duke comes crashing down from the sky with furious screaming, fist cocked back, only to be met with Luffy bouncing him off and back – blowing himself up like a balloon.

You stare.

The Duke screams.

Luffy laughs, and jumps into the fray, easily knocking back the guards that attack him, and Zoro defending himself easily with one sword as he lies down.

(He has three swords though. Why? Why do you need three swords? You are so confused.)

You stare, surrounded by  guards attacking you as this invincible fortress, surrounded by walls of white and a legacy of blood, begins to be torn down. The Duke comes back, white clothes ruined, trading blows with Luffy who almost looks as if he’s toying with him. In the midst, a skeleton and a cyborg appear, riding atop a motorcycle of all things, knocking down entire walls of this palace that should have never been. 

Usopp appears, the same time as the aerial squadron of the Duke’s arrives, and giving you a small nod head into the battle without a second of fear. He’s – he’s no act of bravery, and now, yyou think you could believe in every one of his tales, as you watch plants bloom to life to become dragons and snakes and forces of nature hundreds of feet tall. Chopper, the small raccoon dog – he’s different now, charging and shifting forms in an instant, and he’s a zoan, but you thought zoans had three forms. 

Not seven.

Not – Chopper crunches something and grows and roars – not eight. 

You are frozen, held in place, even as Sanji comes to drape a jacket over you before heading off, by this crew.

The Straw Hat Pirates, they are called. Dangerous they are called.

And they are.

But you can’t help but feel anything but awe as you stare at them, magnificent and beautiful and deadly, wielding nature and bending it to their very whim. They know they can win – and they know that this is nothing. 

They’re having fun while they do this, with amazing feats and sights that you – even living in the Grand Line, the New World, thought you would never see. The last straw hatted man who came through here, walked these fields and touched these flowers – he had nothing on this. 

“Ah!” A voice next to you says, loud enough amidst the explosions of laughter and fear, familiar and sweet. “Should have known this was where Luffy got up to!” It’s Nami, with a large bag on her back. 

You give her a look, then look at Luffy – now fighting the Duke in the sky, with a giant fist, covered in haki and fire.

This boy – 

“Amazing, isn’t he?” Nami asks you, settling down and adjusting the solid gold crown on her head. “He saved all of us – saved entire kingdoms. Just because we were his friend.”

Really!? Amazing! Hey – who’s your friend? Do they know anything about this? Usopp had said, and Luffy hadn’t protested.

Friend.

The Duke had hurt your dream, and here Luffy is, destroying an entire kingdom for you and your dream. 

It’s – it’s incredible. This boy, he – 

“He’s the man who will be King of the Pirates,” Nami tells you, nothing but truth ringing loud and free in her voice. “And we’re going to follow him, and chase our own dreams.”

Tears well up in your eyes as you watch the Duke fall from the sky, chased by a man made of rubber, chased by a king in a straw hat, chased and chased and chased and –

“So,” Nami smiles to your side, looking into your face. “Are you ready to chase yours again?”

The Duke slams down into the ground in a flurry of petals and red, and oh – 

It’s red. Red your wife’s favorite color, wife the color of your favorite colors, red the color of the horizon and everything god, red, red, red –

Red, the color of the ribbon around a straw hat, and red, the color of the vest of a king. 

It’s beautiful. 

“Yes.” You say, trembling as the Duke fails. “Yes – I’m. I’m ready. My dream – my dream –“

Luffy raises a fist, and delivers a single punch that frees your entire island, avenges your wife, saves you. 

He smiles as he does it, a grin on his lips and a shout to the sky – “I’M THE MAN WHO WILL BE KING OF THE PIRATES!”

It’s red.

“My dream is to collect all the flowers in the world! To shelter them! Even the flowers at Raftel!” It’s like an oath, spilling from your lips, last said hand in hand with your wife but now – now alone, but not, because your wife may be gone but she’s still here – never forgotten, always loved, and alive in your shared dreams.

Nami smiles, Luffy laughs, and you think red looks beautiful in your garden.

-

There’s a party on the shore, next to a ship with a sunflower head, decorated in flowers and the fruits of the island. The Straw Hats celebrate, as well as with the other residents of the island, who praise them and thank them and welcome them, lading their arms with all sorts of delicacies.

You aren’t there. Neither is Luffy.

Instead, the two of you head back to your farm. This time your back is straight and there’s a smile on your face. You stand tall and on your own but not alone and – 

It’s good.

It’s good.

Luffy smiles at you, gentle and brilliant, and you look to the fields where the flowers he wants are – 

Being tended to, by a woman with long black hair and a tender smile. A fishman is next to her, blue and tall, seemingly awkward amidst the yellows and blues and delicate petals, but just as willing to stand with who you can only assume is Robin. 

“Luffy!” She cries first, so happily, showing the petals to Luffy. He jumps into her arms, swinging her arounds, and in quick motions you carefully take the plants from the earth to wrap into a boquet, roots attached to be easily replanted, and had it it Luffy. By the time he sets Robin down, he’s pressing the flowers into her hands.

“For you!” He says, bright, and you know he gave you a dream back  but –

You know, in truth, he really defeated the Duke for his crew. For his family, his nakama. For Robin, to see this bone-deep happiness on her face. 

She smiles, and later you will hear tales from the guards of the stone, who speak of a women who could read the ancient script inscribed upon It while having a thousand arms but – 

For now, you see a woman gifted the world, and know joy. 

The fishman beside her – Jimbe your recognize, first son of the sea – gives a laugh and oh, is there red here, is there love here.

This boy, this king to be, Luffy, he came in and swept you all like wildflowers in the wind, simply to make one person happy.

Amazing, you think, looking around your island that’s unchained and your dream restored and your fields filled with red, how one man’s selfishness, leads to an island’s freedom. 

-

You wave goodbye from the cliffside, your wife’s grave beside you. Upon the ship of a king is a bag, to be filled with the flowers of the island at the end of the sea and returned to you after that.  You had been given a hug before you left, one made of rubber limbs and crushing weight, and watched as he rejoined his crew and celebrated another adventure. 

You had watched the party they had upon the shore, so wondrous, so amazing, and had watched them sing out victory over the crowds, with chopsticks up their noses and a rock star as their backdrop.

The Straw Hat pirates – their names dance on your tongue.

How amazing, how wonderful, how world-shaking to know them, even for just a moment. 

You have met straw hat wearers and archeologists and kings but never – never have you met anyone, just like them.

So you wave from the shore, your wife with you, and belatedly, tragically realize that you gave them your dream, but never your name.

Damnit!

#rbs appreciated!!! #op #one piece #whirlywhat #whirlywrites #flowers #outsider pov #luffy #monkey d. luffy #zoro #roronoa zoro #nami #usopp #chopper #sanji #brook #robin #nico robin #franky #jimbe #jinbe #jinbei #jimbei #so many NAMES #think thats it #sunny #thousand sunny #opfic #ao3 #fanfiction

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Daniel Barnes

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My next guest in this series is Daniel Barnes, writer for the Aggretsuko comic, and his original graphic novel The Black Mage. For my chat with him, he chose the Marineford arc, in which Luffy drops into a World Government headquarters in a desperate race against time to save his "brother" Ace from execution.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Marineford arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Marineford arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: Let’s say that for some reason, I get to the end of Impel Down, just before Luffy & Co. drop into Marineford, and I’m like “I’m done. This is it. I can’t handle any more One Piece.” In one sentence, what do you tell me to keep me going?

  Daniel Barnes: Why are you stopping before you reach the payoff of everything you’ve read so far?

  I like that! How long have you been into One Piece?

  When I first started consuming One Piece in earnest, ironically enough, I was in the Navy at the time. It was 2014, and up until that point, my only exposure had been the 4Kids dub on FoxBox.

    Nice. I love a good FoxBox reference. Was it recommended to you? Because I know that, when a lot of people start One Piece, it’s like “FINE. I’ll watch One Piece. You’ve convinced me.”

  I don’t consume anime as voraciously as I did back then. Back then, I was an anime vacuum, but I was also in this weird spot where I was semi-depressed. But someone told me, “You gotta try One Piece, it’s the best.” And my first reaction was “Umm, the art style’s kinda weird, though.” But they told me “You’ll get over it,” and the thing that made me finally take that leap was Gurren Lagann, which also had an unusual art style and then became one of my favorite things ever. So I figured I should at least give it a shot. 

  That’s something I’ve heard a few times. Because in other big series like Naruto and Bleach, the character designs are much more proportionate and straightforward. And I felt the same way...until I watched it, and realized the art style is PERFECT for what it is. So, Marineford is pretty much the halfway point of the series, with characters returning from all over the place. Were there any that you were excited to see come back?

  There’s a few of them. I always love it when Mihawk shows up, but I think the big one is Whitebeard. Because up until this point, he’s just sitting around and you know he’s a big deal but you’re always wondering why he’s a big deal. And then you find out in Marineford. I enjoy seeing characters that are kind of defined as the “power ceiling” in an anime universe get to do stuff, and it was cool to see him make the entire world quake.

    I think I called it in an article a “Be Quiet, The Parents Are Talking” character. You’ll go through Luffy getting new power-ups and increasingly strong villains and these seemingly insurmountable admirals with their elemental powers and then Whitebeard comes in, and he’s leaps and bounds above everyone. And like you said, for the most part, he’s just sitting down beforehand.

  Yeah, he’s sitting down drinking a giant gourd of sake. His name is Whitebeard, but he doesn’t have a beard. Got a real Hulk Hogan vibe to him. Who is this guy? But then you finally see him after all this time, and that’s the magic of One Piece. You see all of these things over the years and you wonder what part they’ll play and then it finally hits you and their role and strength becomes clear. 

  Marineford, obviously, is all built around Ace. And what you get out of the arc probably depends on how much you enjoy Ace’s character. How did you feel about him? Did it make you emotional at all? I know he has the one scene with Garp where they talk about finding your purpose in life, and that really got to me, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Ace.

  Okay, I think Ace looks cool and I think he has good powers, but I didn’t really care that much when he died. I didn’t really know him enough. 

    Were there any characters that you did get attached to or like a lot in Marineford? I know you said you liked Whitebeard and Mihawk, but who was your Marineford MVP? Who shines brightest among all those crazy diamonds?

  Okay, so the cop-out answer is probably Luffy. He’s one of the weakest characters there and he manages to survive and he plays such a big role by rallying everyone despite being constantly outmatched. So, objectively, Luffy. But maybe I give it to Coby, because Coby stands his ground against Akainu. He gives you hope that maybe the Marines can change their ways one day and when he refuses to move in front of an Admiral, I thought that was a real stand-out, awesome moment. 

  So Ace dies, Whitebeard just wrecks Akainu and throws him into a pit, and then, out of nowhere, Blackbeard shows up. Whitebeard beats up Blackbeard and Blackbeard’s forces kill Whitebeard. What do you think about Blackbeard as a villain? Because he’s so unlikeable. He’s underhanded, he whines whenever he gets hurt, he’s super pompous. He has cool powers, but there’s nothing cool about who he is. 

  He’s super interesting, to me. He has a mystery around him with his two Devil Fruit powers, and he doesn’t really fit into any shonen villain stereotype. He’s an inverse of Luffy, but not in all of the super obvious ways. When you first see him in Jaya, you see him start with basically nothing, and you watch him work through the system and the powers that be, just like Luffy. They’re both trying to achieve the same thing and reach the same goal. But Blackbeard’s methods are different. 

    Yeah, Luffy will punch you in the face, while Blackbeard will stab you in the back.

  And getting to see that evolution is great, because they easily could’ve just said, boom, here’s the next big bad guy and given him to you without context. But it’s like I said about One Piece earlier, where it shows you stuff over time and gets you to look forward to what will happen with it later. That’s Blackbeard’s whole appeal. 

  You talked earlier about Coby standing up to Akainu, ready to die for his beliefs. And then Shanks comes and stops the war. How did you feel about that? Because we’re all still waiting to see what his deal is (which as you said is a big part of the continuing appeal of One Piece,) but were you hyped to see him show up?

  I thought it was cool, because One Piece has done a good job of establishing him as an awesome guy. He’s a lot like Zero from Mega Man X, where he shows up at the beginning, they imply how powerful he is, they make the main character want to be as strong as him, and then they take him away and only show him sparingly. So whenever Shanks drops by, he's been handled so well that you’re just on the edge of your seat wondering what he’s gonna do.

    So, after the war is over, Jimbei has to remind Luffy that he still has things worth fighting for. And then, the timeskip. Were you aware that a timeskip was coming?

  Oh yeah. It’s kind of hard to exist on social media and not get a bunch of these little hints about what’s gonna happen. But that was my goal with One Piece for a little while: I’m gonna get to the timeskip. I have to get there. It’s coming, I know it’s coming, I don’t know when it’s coming, but I just have to reach it. 

  There are so many big moments in this arc, but looking back at it, are there any moments that stand out as prime One Piece to you? 

  The obvious one, for me, is when Luffy goes Third Gear and punches the giant out of the way. That’s so cool and such quintessential One Piece. A giant on an arena made of ice and a rubbery kid inflates his fist to make it huge and knocks him around. It’s so weird and it works. 

  ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  Favorite One Piece character?

  Usopp.

  Favorite One Piece villain?

  Crocodile.

  Favorite One Piece arc?

  Sabaody Archipelago.

  Which Devil Fruit would you eat if you had the choice? 

  Bellamy’s Spring Spring fruit. 

  If you had to live on any island in the One Piece universe, which would you choose?

  Does the Gran Tesoro from the Film: Gold movie count? That one’s pretty dope.

  Favorite One Piece fight?

  Luffy vs Blueno, when he first reveals the Second Gear.

  One Piece moment that made you cry the hardest?

  When the Franky Gang beats up Usopp and Nami finds him and Usopp is like “I’m useless. I can’t do anything.” Whenever Usopp gets beaten up, his nose gets all crooked and he loses teeth. There’s so many cartoon-ey visual indicators for Usopp in pain. It got me.

  One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

  When Luffy punches the Celestial Dragon in the face. It’s so cathartic. 

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece Podcast Co-Host and storyboard artist Steve Yurko about his favorite One Piece arc: Baratie!!

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[neverwatchedonepiece]

563-564: "A Shocking Fact! the True Identity of Hordy!" and "Back to Zero! Earnest Wishes for Luffy!"

...

I’m guessing this is what all the caught-up OP fans have been waiting for this entire arc.

Here’s the verdict: I really liked the “Nothing” twist. Oda was brave to create a realistic villain like Hordy Jones. And he is probably one of the most realistic OP villains. I get why people hated it. But I know people like this guy and I think other OP fans who come from a background where there are real, engrained systemic, centuries-old problems (racism, sectarianism, whatever -ism plagues your town), they will see Hordy Jones and his goons in all the downtrodden, bitter, brainwashed poor people who had nothing to cling to but the past and a manufactured sense of social superiority.

But I’ll go into that later. There were a couple of happy Strawhat scenes. Can’t ignore them, so will dive back into the serious Hordy stuff later.

Leave It All to the Strawhats

Just have to give a brief thumbs up for the return of Sane Sanji. Or at least the Sanji I like best: the one who is smart, sarcastic and smoking. Loved that scene with the Sea Bonze guy when he did a Moria and inflated to a large size. “How do you like my size?” Sea Bonze guy boasted.

“Kraken’s bigger,” Sanji said bluntly.

“OH YEAH, HOW ‘BOUT NOW?”

“Still bigger.”

At this rate, Sanji won’t have to lift another finger. The Sea Bonze guy will keep inflating, take out more and more of his own team, and Sanji can sit back, smoke and enjoy the view.

Chopper’s little moment with Zoro was great too. I’ve always thought Zoro and Chopper have this weird, special kind of understanding. They were paired up in Strong World and, I have no evidence to base this on so tell me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember Zoro ever ragging on Chopper like he sometimes does with the other Strawhats. (It’s almost like he knows Chopper’s a sensitive, kind, little soul so he wants to protect him? The other Strawhats can take the banter, so he goes for it.) 

Whatever the case, Chopper busted out his Heavy Point and went toe-to-toe with the strongest of the Fishmen Goons. Zoro turned and joked, “Hey, Chopper! That was the form that gave you the most human look, but now you look more monster-like.” It’s nice that Zoro can joke like that with Chopper. He knows Chopper was sensitive about his humanity. It was almost like Zoro was saying, “Hey, that form’s strong. Are you okay with the look?”

But Chopper’s self-esteem has rocketed since he joined the Strawhats. “I wanted to look like a human because I wanted friends. Now I want to be a monster who helps Luffy!”

Chopper really has accepted himself. Excuse me while I dab my eyes with this tissue.

Also, Zoro is making short work of Drunk Sword Fish Guy. “Bring the strongest swordsman on Fishman Island,” he said. “You’re not even strong enough to kill my boredom.”

Hospital treatment needed for that burn.

And I just have to say that scene with Robin freeing the human pirate slaves was spectacular. The little moment between her and Jimbei (”I cannot refuse the request of a handsome man”), her spinning the situation to prevent grudges against innocent Fishmen (”You can thank Jimbei for asking me to free you”) and that Cuerpo Fleurs: Double Clutch move...

It was beautiful. ;_; I only wish she had used it on Spandam. The only thing better than one clutch is two. But that Hammond guy had it coming, so I’m not complaining.

And speaking of slave-taking racist scumbags...

It Always Starts Small

I definitely liked the “Nothing” twist. 

It was a shock at first. Must admit that. I kind of stared at the screen and laughed for a moment before what Fukaboshi said sank in.

“Hordy is a monster brought to life by our environment. The New Fishman Pirates are monsters created by an ancient grudge. A grudge born from our ancestors in the shadow of Fishman Island. They fear the grudge will be forgotten, their anger against humans dispelled. That’s why they are so impatient. They want humans to be evil so they can justify their crusade. They just want to see bloodshed. They don’t even want peace for Fishmen. Their hatred is not rooted in experience or true beliefs. They have no substance. They are completely empty.”

It might seem a cop out. Mundane. Motiveless. But that’s the thing. Hordy does have a motive: his empty hatred drives him.

And the sad thing is, I totally get what Oda’s trying to do here. Kind of wish I didn’t, but I do. I know people like Hordy. I’ve mentioned this before here, but where I live, sectarianism is a thing. Two branches of the same bloody religion have divided my part of the planet for centuries. There’s a horrible history of repression and terrorism on both sides. Now there are segregated schools and whichever football team you support outs you as “on a side”. Even your name and where you work can mark you. If you visit FB pages dedicated to the city, you won’t have to look far for sectarian posts. Dive into the football teams and, oh boy, you are in for a real treat! 

The thing is, the people who are most virulently into this crap are often (but not always) the poorest, most downtrodden people in society. Scrape the bottom and there you will find them. There’s a lot of poverty where I live (relative compared to the rest of the world, of course). Grinding poverty means you don’t have much going for you. All you have to feel superior is your football team and your religion. (And these people actually have very little knowledge on the tenets of their respective religions, by the way. Same goes for social history. Ask them anything and they’ll get angry because they know they know nothing.) All they know is: the other side is BAD. Why? Because dad said so, and his dad said so, and so did his. They cling desperately to empty hatred.

Hordy Jones and his goons are like that. Though they’re even worse. At least the sectarian folk from my city have actually met each other in the streets after a game and have beaten the crap out of each other face to face. Hordy has never met a single human in his life.

“What did humans do to you?”

“Nothing.”

He straight up admitted it. 

I loved the way Oda revealed how Hordy acquired his toxic prejudice. Because it was realistic.

Lynchings

It started small. Drip feeding the hatred. Every inch of Fishman District, that poverty-stricken, lawless place where there was nothing to do but hate. Every week another attack. Every week another kidnapping. Every once and a while a hero comes along, dying a martyr’s death (one was lauded for burning down the Human Shoppe. Probably a small business run by Fishmen, but what does that matter?) As a kid, Little Hordy loved heroes.

Then a Big Hero came along. Arlong. He liked to sit the little kiddies down and tell them tales of humans. Drip feed that poison in their ears. I guess this is what Otohime was trying to counteract. (Now that scene when she scolded the Fishmen who were about to lynch St Myosgard is really put in perspective.)

“This is a crusade! Ages ago, the filth we call humans envied the chosen and gifted Fishmen. They decided to persecute us. They were everywhere, like maggots.  Humans used the only advantage they had: numbers. They drove us down to the sea floor. Never forget our grudge against the humans. Humans know and fear that their reckoning day will come, and that’s when we’ll make them pay!”

The worst, most insidious statement was this: “Never forget our history. Feel the disappointment of the dead. Take over their resentment. Hold a grudge against humans.”

That line: “feel the disappointment of the dead”... that’s evil. Proper emotional blackmail. These people died with hatred festering in their hearts. Honour the glorious dead. Damn... I feel sorry for Fisher Tiger being used in this way.

Hordy was so twisted by the poison poured in his ear on all sides that he couldn’t even listen to a story young Hatchi told about Rayleigh. He was a human but he was different. Rayleigh never made a face when he looked at Hatchi. “I don’t like your story, Hatchi,” Hordy said. “It makes me sick.”

When Tiger was killed by Marines, Hordy’s gang, swilling beer in a pub, concluded he wasn’t the chosen hero. Someone had to step up to take his place.

Then - and I could hardly believe this was in a kid’s show - it went all KKK. Torchlit lynchings of Fishmen who had helped humans in some way (one poor guy donated blood). The Royal Family were obviously traitors. They wanted to forgive humans. Jimbei was a traitor too. He had joined the Shichibukai. 

“This country needs a hero,” Hordy Jones concluded. And he decided that he would be that “hero”. So he pulled the trigger on Otohime and stoked the fire of hatred against humans. The contrast between the funeral scenes and Hordy’s gang laughing it up at the pub was infuriating but effective.

Then, ten years later, it was time for their revenge. “This is a crusade. Prepare to kill as many humans as you can before your own death. We are devoting our lives to this vengeance.”

I wonder if Hordy will be willing to sacrifice his own life for his ideals? Or is that only for other people? 

Push the Reset Button

You know what else I liked? Fukaboshi’s reaction to the realisation of where Hordy Jones had come from.

It was what Otohime had realised years ago, but maybe never had the chance to discuss it with her kids.

“I don’t know when, but we lost contact with Fishman District. They’ve become something like an isolated, dark side of Fishman Island. We pretended not to see the twisted hatred building up in that lawless ditch in the deep water. I filled mother’s shoes, I collected signatures, but it was only superficial. I thought I was making progress. It was too late! People like them are the ones my mother feared the most. We should have fought with ourselves first. We should have fought our own feelings towards humans. Mother was killed by the grudge growing on Fishman Island. Maybe she knew it. But a part of me held that resentment and hated humans for killing my mother. Dead people take their regret to the grave, so  grudge is an illusion the living create and they alone cultivate it. Because I hated humans, I overlooked the resentment in Fishman District. When I finally noticed, it had become too powerful and beyond control.”

See, this is why I respect Fukaboshi a lot. He admits he had a part to play in the mess. Granted, I think he is justified, in a sad way. For ten years, he grew up believing a human had shot his mother dead. Despite that, he carried on her dream. But the whole Fishman District being a lawless, broken place that was ignored is interesting. If you leave a place to rot and don’t do anything about it, the people there will become poor and downtrodden. It is really easy to radicalise people who have nothing to lose. What the Royal Family should have done was double down on Otohime’s efforts to include Fishman District, to alleviate the poverty and lawlessness. Maybe that would have helped. Maybe.

His solution to the problem? It was pretty radical, actually.

“If nothing is done, Fishman Island will destroy itself through hatred of humans! We don’t need the past! Reset our history to zero. Wipe out those phantoms who shut the island away from the sun. Bring Fishman Island back to zero!

That’s also pretty radical. I guess Fukaboshi thinks there’s so much necrotic, gangrenous flesh poisoning Fishman Island that it’ll be best to just amputate the diseased limbs than let it spread any further. It’s sad that it’s come to that point, but I guess the hate is too strong.

Luckily, Fukaboshi and Shirahoshi have a Luffy who doesn’t give a crap about the past. “As long as you let me handle it my way, don’t worry,” Luffy assured. “Our minds were made up when we arrived at the plaza with Jimbei. We won’t let anyone harm Fishman Island. Leave it all up to us, Brother-Hoshi. We’re friends, right?”

I dunno, but I get the funniest feeling that this particular, rubbery human has made a lasting impression on Fukaboshi. ;)

Be honest. It’s how you’d want to go too.

#one piece #neverwatchedonepiece #nwop #never watched one piece #monkey d. luffy #hordy jones #fukaboshi #princess shirahoshi #arlong #fishman island #tony tony chopper #roronoa zoro #nico robin #sanji #jimbei #franky #brook #nami #king neptune #hatchi

[kaizokunohime]

Black Lines of Distraction Ch. 8

Last chapter! Thank you all for the support! (And sorry, not sorry about the cliffhangers) Enjoy your reward of fluff and Lemons! ^v^/

Thanks for writing this story together with me @lululawlawlu-fanfics!

AO3 link

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pairing: LawLu

rating: Explicit

trigger warning: anxiety, mentions of death/ trauma

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Law’s eyes darted left to right scanning the small island for any sign of Luffy. The landscape had quickly turned molten, melting the entire island into the sea, and still Luffy hadn’t emerged.

‘This is just how Luffy-ya operates,’ Law tried to tell himself, willing himself to remain calm, ‘He’s going to be fine’.

The crew didn’t seem worried in the slightest, but then again, they hadn’t been there in Marineford- hadn’t seen the carnage on the battlefield. They hadn’t had to witness their captain comatose and half-dead; too far gone to even feel pain without anesthetic. Law could imagine the circumstances that lead to Luffy’s state back then and just how trauma-inducing the current lava-like environment might be for the younger captain.

Every passing second had an uneasy anxiety mounting in Law’s racing heart. Though he still felt weakness with the use of his powers, he was ready to gather all the strength he could manage if it meant shambling Luffy to safety.

In the end Law had been made to feel like a fool at the sight of Luffy’s riding out to meet them, waving and smiling as if nothing at all had happened. It would be far too embarrassing for Law to admit he’d been worried at all.

As soon as he saw that Luffy was safe, Law returned to keeping himself at a distance while he gathered him thoughts. He’d already gotten too close- gone too far with his ally. Ally was all Luffy was- all he could be. He had to accept that now. Law had known all along that something about him was dangerous, reckless, and flippant, but he’d let himself get too close anyway.

That’s not to say that messing around in bed wasn’t fun, or that he hadn’t enjoyed it, but Law had let his emotions come into play. No matter what he tried to tell himself, the truth was that he desired deeper connection- not just physical attraction. Law only needed some time to put his feelings into the right words to make Luffy understand he no longer felt comfortable having one without the other.

Unfortunately for him, Luffy’s patience had dwindled to nearly nothing, and Law soon found himself cornered in his hiding place among the tangerine trees at the back of the ship.

“Torao! I missed you so much!” Luffy expressed openly, throwing himself at the older captain. He wrapped his arms around Law’s neck, standing on tiptoes to press his lips to Law’s.

Law’s body went rigid. He could not allow himself to give the slightest bit of warmth or comfort to Luffy. He felt that the moment he did, he would be trapped in an unhealthy relationship of purely physical pleasure at the cost of his emotional stability.

“What’s wrong, Torao? Why are you hiding all the time?” Luffy pulled back to look up at him, his big obsidian-dark eyes studying Law’s face for reaction, but Law couldn’t give him any hint of emotion.

“I love you and I want you to be happy,” the younger captain insisted, “happy with me.”

It was still more than a little unsettling for Law to hear Luffy say that word- to confess his love again. ‘Love’ was not a word to be just thrown around as if it could be equated to any kind of fond emotion. Love was deep. It was binding. It was meant to speak volumes about the devotion that bloomed within the hearts of those willing to open themselves completely. Something about the way Luffy spoke it so casually just crawled under Law’s skin.

Law was aware that he’d started the whole mess when he first kissed his ally. He understood that he had encouraged Luffy’s physical affection up until now, so his behavior might be confusing to him. It was confusing to Law himself. He hadn’t expected to get so caught up in his feelings but now that he had, he couldn’t let their relationship go on without setting things right or at least trying to explain himself.

“Don’t use that word so lightly. Don’t tell me you love me-” Law cautioned him coldly, his willpower straining against the warmth of Luffy's advances, “-unless you’re interested in more than my body. I don’t want to hear it unless you’re serious about accepting every little part of me, good or bad.”

“But I really do love you and I am serious- really serious,” Luffy spoke again with a frown, his eyebrows drawn together, agitation creeping into his voice. “What do you want me to say to make you believe me? You want me to say I’d die for you or something because-”

“No! Don’t you dare say something like that!” Law snapped, nearly shouting the words at him. He grasped Luffy’s face in his trembling hands to look him in the eyes.

The mere suggestion of such a thing happening to Luffy had a tightness winding itself up in his chest. Images of the past dredged themselves up in his mind, reminding him of how close to death the younger captain had looked lying limp and bloodied on his table. The thought of Luffy taking on more than he could handle again had Law’s chest gripped in pain, threatening to constrict his lungs harder with every breath, ready to crush his heart and swallow him whole.

“I won’t say something like that,” Luffy continued, placing his hands over Law’s, his voice resolute, “because I wouldn’t want you to die for me either. It hurts too much to be the one left behind. Instead I’m always gonna fight hard to make sure you never have to worry about that.”

“You idiot. What are you saying? You already made me worry.” Law choked out, trying to still his quivering voice as he rested his forehead to Luffy’s. His eyes were burning, vision starting to blur though he willed himself not to shed tears- not to let his vulnerability show. “I watched that island turning into a molten pool of lava and there was no trace of you. How do you think I felt?”

“Sorry,” Luffy spoke warmly moving to hold Law in his arms, “but it’s ok now. And now we have each other, right?”

“Let’s go somewhere else,” Law suggested, wanting to continue in privacy if he was going to bare his emotions any further.

Luffy only smiled, taking him by the hand to lead him back to the captain’s room- the only place on the ship away from any possible interruptions or prying eyes.

This time when Luffy kissed him, Law accepted him in earnest, leaning into his kiss, loving the way Luffy so eagerly slipped his tongue past his lips to tangle with his own.

Law slid his fingers under Luffy’s open shirt, urging it off of his shoulders as he kissed his way down Luffy’s neck, smiling against his skin as a pleasured gasp from the younger captain reached his ears.

Luffy’s hands roamed hungrily over Law’s body, nearly tearing the buttons off of his shirt in his eagerness to show Law his affection.

Law pulled away from him to finish the job, shrugging it from his shoulders, stripping himself of the shirt before proceeding to do the same to Luffy. Even though Luffy’s chest was bare before him under his open shirt, Law didn’t want there to be any barrier between himself and his lover.

He explored Luffy’s chest, licking his nipples and the crevices created by his abs, marveling at the musculature of such a lean figure. He ran his hands down Luffy’s back and began to knead at his delicious backside while bringing his head back up to once again explore the mouth of his lover.

He popped the button on Luffy's jeans with one hand, urging the zipper down as he slipped a tattooed hand into the front of the other’s pants to palm at his erection. He didn’t know if he was more satisfied or turned-on at finding the Luffy so hard already, but he knew he was going to enjoy making Luffy even more excited before he was through with him.

Law sank to his knees and began mouthing over the smooth fabric of Luffy’s red boxer-briefs. Luffy’s breathing hitched, his eyes glazed with lust as he watched him.

“You’re making me feel so good Torao,” Luffy murmured. “Oh fuck, you’re so good. Give me more. Don’t stop.” A thrill ran down Law’s spine. Being so sincerely praised never failed to cause a desperate fire within him, driving his need to make Luffy feel even better.

Luffy’s fingers combed through Law’s hair, uncharacteristically gentle, especially given that Law had expected him to be frantically urging him to move and give him more pleasure. Luffy seemed to be testing his patience against Law’s as he continued to murmur praises and Law continued to tease his straining erection.

Law tugged the clothes from Luffy’s hips, humming as Luffy’s bare cock greeted him, fully erect, glistening precome forming at the tip, making it even more irresistible. Law moved impulsively, flattening his tongue over the slit before taking him into his mouth, fully aware that he was moving too quickly as he worked his mouth around Luffy, urged on by the younger captain’s claims of not being able to imagine anyone more perfect than him.

Luffy’s fingers wound themselves up in his hair, tangling in the strands and tugging at the sensitive spot near the base of his skull, causing Law to whimper at the pleasure-pain that resulted.

“Torao~” Luffy moaned, his voice deep and silky with arousal.

Law only hummed around his cock in response as he continued, picking up speed, hollowing his cheeks as he went down on him and sliding his tongue along the underside of the shaft every time he came back up.  

“I- I’m- ahhhhh~” Luffy cried out as he bit his lip, tone suddenly higher than expected, tinged with urgency.

Law pulled away a second too soon letting Luffy’s release paint warm, wet streaks across his face and chest.

“You're too good at that,” Luffy spoke, breath heavy on his lips as he gazed down at Law, seeming to admire the mess he'd made of his lover as a lazy smile tugged at his lips.

He sunk to the floor, as if intent to clean up the mess he’d made of Law, licking his milky release from his cheeks. Luffy’s tongue flicked over the inky dark lines that decorated Law’s chest as he lapped at the liquid that had been spilled there. His hand palmed at the bulge that had grown in Law’s pants, sliding his fingers up to fumble at the button on his tight jeans.

Law chose to let him take care of it on his own, sliding his own hands up Luffy’s sides, enjoying the feel of the taut muscles under his fingertips.

As soon as Luffy had Law’s pants undone and his clothes removed he pushed him back onto the bed. He kissed along Law’s hip, slowly moving toward his erect, aching cock that was straining for attention. Luffy held his hips down as he started to take it in, pushing Law’s cock all the way to the back of his throat, preventing Law from thrusting into his mouth as he so desperately wanted with that warmth around him.

If Law wasn’t allowed to move his hips, he had to distract himself from the unbearable somehow, so he reached out to take Luffy’s hand, bringing his slender fingers up to his lips. He took Luffy’s index and middle fingers into his mouth slowly, swirling his tongue around them provocatively in a mock gesture of what he would do if Luffy’s cock were at his mercy again. He was confident that this this was having his desired effect given the way Luffy moaned around him before pulling off.

“Do you know how crazy you make me?” Luffy gasped, withdrawing his fingers from Law’s mouth.

“Why don’t you show me,” Law suggested with a smirk.

Luffy eyed his body hungrily, seemingly curious to explore the places he hadn’t yet been able to, bringing his saliva-slicked fingers from Law’s mouth to press against the ring of muscles at Law’s entrance.

Law willed himself to relax, taking a deep breath as he felt Luffy push in with both digits at once, the bare minimum of lubrication giving enough resistance to send small shocks of pain coursing through his nerves although it caused him less stinging pain than he’d anticipated. Allowing Luffy’s fingers to explore their newly found territory was more pleasurable than he’d imagined. He found himself wondering how Luffy had known to curl them, pressing against the sweet spot inside of him that made him ache for more.

“Law,” Luffy spoke his name quietly as if it were something sacred, revered, “I want to-”

Law didn’t let him finish his sentence. He didn’t need to. There was only one reason they found themselves back in bed, enjoying the feel of each other’s bodies.

He got up to sift through the drawer of the bedside table, relieved to find an small, unopened bottle of lube. Law spread an adequate amount on his fingers as he made his way back over to Luffy, not quite desperate enough to hope that precome would be enough lubrication to get Luffy in him without a significant amount of pain.

He urged Luffy to lie back, swiping his fingertips over the head of Luffy’s cock, wrapping his fingers around the girth, stroking it slick. Law took a few deep breaths as he straddled the other man to sink slowly down onto his length, indulging in how it stretched his hole and filled him up so well.

This was a sensation he’d thought he knew, but somehow having Luffy inside of him set his nerves alight in a way that made Law feel as if this act were something transcendent- something so much more intensely pleasurable than any experience he’d ever had. The burning lust building inside him was mirrored on Luffy’s face, mingling with something akin to awe.

If Luffy was feeling this good from the start, Law was sure he was in for a good time. He pushed his hips up, bringing himself down as hard as he dared, Luffy’s cock hitting deep inside.

“Oh, fuck! Law-“ Luffy gasped.

Law continued to move his hips, sliding against Luffy’s cock. If he weren’t so lost to his own pleasure he might have laughed at the way Luffy gazed up at him, mouth gaping, panting, looking for all the world like he’d lost his mind.

“Law, you feel,” Luffy murmured, “feel so amazing.”

Luffy’s hands found their way to his hips, gripping them appreciatively, following Law’s movements as he rocked his body, moving to the celerity of his lust.

Law took Luffy’s hand from his hip, guiding him to take his neglected erection in hand. An involuntary moan slipped past his lips as Luffy stroked him, following the pace he’d set and he could feel himself getting close to release. He angled himself, trying to making sure Luffy’s cock slid against his walls right, working his body to draw them both toward climax.

The fingers of Luffy’s alternate hand dug into Law’s hip as he came hard inside of him, stroking erratically to bring Law along to orgasm.

Law slowly slid himself off of Luffy, panting as he lie down on the mattress. His emotions, like his body, lay bare before his lover as they bathed in the light of mutual ecstasy, giddy traces of emotion dancing across their minds in the post orgasmic bliss they shared.

… … … … …

“What was your first impression of me?” Law asked, eyes absentmindedly studying the ceiling as he lazily stroked Luffy’s hair.

Luffy hummed in thought from where he lie with his head on Law’s shoulder. He pushed himself up on his elbows to look at Law, as if that would help him remember.

“Well, you seemed really cool, but kind of... umm… arrogant I guess. Like you thought you were too cool to give a shit about anything,” He explained. “I didn’t know until later that you’re so deep.”

“Hey, don’t you think that’s a little harsh,” Law spoke with mock-disappointment in his voice.

“Why did you ask then? You know I’m not gonna lie,” Luffy laughed, leaning over press a kiss to Law’s lips. “Besides, I think I loved you all along.”

His eyes lingered over Law’s a moment before he spoke again.

“I thought of a way to make you believe me,” Luffy spoke, sitting up in bed, “I want you to have my heart. You know, do that thing you do and take it out and keep it. I want to trust you with it. And, you know, you should trust me with yours too.”

“You want my heart now?” Law raised an eyebrow.

“Sure. But you don’t have to. I still want give you mine anyway.” Luffy smiled, his finger tracing the line of the heart inked on Law’s chest.

“Oh, I see how it is. This is about the tattoos you like so much,” Law teased.

“That’s not it! I really love you!” Luffy protested, before quietly muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “But that would be so cool.”

If Law had learned anything about Luffy it was that he could count on him to be honest to a fault. And while he wouldn't ordinarily describe Luffy as a purposefully thoughtful person, it was more like this kind of gesture was just instinctual for him.

A smile tugged at the corners of Law’s lips. Luffy was such a powerfully genuine person. Even if Law would never admit it, through his odd brand of compassion, Luffy had warmed his way into Law’s heart deeper than he ever thought he’d let anyone get. Little did Luffy know, Law's heart had been his for a while now, and Law couldn’t ever see that changing.

#LawLu #Fanfiction #Black Lines of Distraction #Final chapter