#the great wave manga chapter 4

[cocogum]

The Great Wave - Chapter 4 Review

‼️ SPOILERS FOR THE CHAPTER ‼️

This might just be the weirdest chapter so far.

Because what just happened???

Meanwhile, far away from Aurora’s bullshit, we go to the borders of Amakna. And not gonna lie, I just feel genuinely surprised by that one town they got us to zoom in on.

You’re telling me that after all those centuries, there are still regions that haven’t been touched by ANY calamities?? Really? NO CALAMITIES?

First panel:

Elsewhere, on the borders of Amakna.

Spared from wars and natural cataclysms…

These people either live very far away from other regions like Frigost or their villages are just way too small to ever be noticed by danger itself. With all the stuff we’ve seen in the World of Twelve and how many disasters people have been in, it’s just so odd to see that there are still places in the world that have never been affected by anything before.

I don’t know why but just seeing these people having fun and enjoying life makes me sick.

Like what do you mean they’re not suffering or have never heard of any danger??? Don’t these people know what stress is???

People are even giving each other kamas as if it were nothing. They support each other and help no matter when or where they are or with who they are.

This is way too good to be true, they just HAVE to suffer.

And as if my prayers have been answered, here comes the part where it all goes to shit 🥰 Except that this wasn’t what I was expecting… AT ALL.

BECAUSE WHY IS JULITH HERE?!!??

And I STILL haven’t figured out who’s the dragon with the Ebony dofus! (he’s kinda sexy-looking tho ngl)

I refuse to believe that that’s Grougalorasalar because why on earth would he be the one to hate Yugo after he PURPOSELY JOINED IN OGREST’S CHAOS??? Bro is hating on a traumatized man who grew up in a day cuz he accidentally created a calamity but didn’t mention the fact that he himself PARTICIPATED IN A CALAMITY.

So for now I’ll just call him “the dragon”.

We can see how the dragon makes his appearance and immediately starts sucking out the souls of these villagers, which is not only a huge reference from the Dofus movie, where Julith has used that same technique with the exact dofus to try to revive her husband Jahash, but is also what the dragon is intending on doing by reviving Julith.

The only difference here however is that the dragon doesn’t seem to be nonchalant or even satisfied to steal their lives. He looks to be in misery at the idea of committing this action since we can see him shedding a tear at the lives he’s stealing. So we at least know he doesn’t entirely want to sacrifice a bunch of innocent people but for some reason has to.

Julith discovered that in order to revive Jahash, exactly 1000 souls needed to be stolen. Her findings have revealed that one person is equivalent to 1000 souls. As the dragon aimed to revive only Julith, it is likely that he actually sacrificed at least 1000 people from this town, which had been thriving until now.

What’s also shocking about this whole ordeal is that the reason why he came to this specific village was because Julith’s body had literally been under the ground this whole time.

These people had unfortunately been unlucky enough to have settled their homes over her body which resulted in the dragon using them as the perfect sacrifices to revive her.

But why bring back Julith?

Would the dragon be hiring her for a job? Julith used to be the guardian of the Ebony dofus so the dragon somewhat had a reason to bring her back but why now then?

Would he use Julith to make her fight Yugo?

Is that what this is all about? Or is there more to it? Also, would Joris be in the later chapters or the next volume to see her again after all those centuries?

This chapter gave us so many questions and very few answers. Because now that we know what the dragon intended to do with the village, we now have to wonder what he plans to do with Julith.

I don’t know about all of this but I do think it’s ironic that Julith got revived by the very same technique that she intended to use on Jahash only to refuse to go through the complete process at the last minute.

#wakfu #ankama #krosmoz #wakfu manga #wakfu webtoon #wakfu the great wave manga #wakfu the great wave #the great wave manga #the great wave #wakfu chapter 4 #wakfu chapter 4 review #wakfu the great wave chapter 4 review #wakfu the great wave chapter 4 manga review #the great wave chapter 4 #the great wave manga chapter 4 #wakfu review #wakfu reviews #wakfu season 4 #wakfu s4 #wakfu season 5 #wakfu s5

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Hatake Kakashi

Kakashi is known for being a pretty cool and aloof kind of guy, but in one of the first few chapters we get this gem.

I'm unsure if this is Anime only or appears in the Manga as well, but either way I love me a dorky man (Seriously, i do. I married a punny man, this is right up my ally)

2) When Kakashi noticed Sasuke freaking out in the Land of Waves arc he takes a moment to assure his student that he'll do everything in his power to protect them, including dying if he has to. It's not a necessary thing to say, but Kakashi understands that his kids have been put on a mission way over their heads and they need support. In this instance, he supports Sasuke with a verbal promise. Later on in the same mission, after Zabuza and Haku's death, he supports Naruto by allowing his student to cling to him (holding onto his pant leg) and by supporting him when he calls Zabuza and Haku 'pretty cool'.

3) Just his general cool attitude towards Gai. Kakashi's never closed off to his friend, but he acts relaxed, and in their first few scenes together he can be seen asking Gai to repeat himself, to which Gai responds by talking about how 'cool' Kakashi is. I love this because up until this point, we've seen Kakashi as hyper-aware and although he's aloof he always seems to know what's going on around him. Then in comes Gai and he can play the 'sorry I wasn't paying attention' Card and I personally love that for him.

4) Teaching Sakura the Qi release technique. I know it's off-screen and only mentioned when she uses it, but I love that Kakashi found a moment to teach Sakura something that he didn't teach either of the boys. It highlights his ability to see potential in his students and to teach them useful things (even off screen) that they can make use of later.

5) How he protects his student. whether it's protecting Sasuke from Orochimaru by placing himself between them, protecting Sakura from enemy shinobi by killing them in one easy hit, or even guarding his friend's students as he does when Kakazu tries to attack Ino-Shika-Cho. I love that Kakashi's 'I will protect my precious people' isn't just words. that he really holds true to that and actually does everything he can to try and protect them. I love that he turns and walks away from Tsunade while she's demanding he go on a mission because he needs to go after Naruto and Sasuke. He needs to protect them. I love that he outright ignores Hiruzen's plan to send a letter to Danzo because he knows Tenzo is in danger, and instead he heads into root without any backup and only a plan to rescue someone he calls a friend. I especially love that through all of this, with him always being protective of others, Kakashi fights back-to-back with Gai and allows Gai to protect him. He won't accept protection from his students as a rule, or even from any of his other comrades that we see, but when he's fighting with Gai it's equal forces of protection/willingness to be protected. It's such a nice balance that I love to see.

6) I love that he recognizes Sai needs someone to reach out to him, and he offers that support and encouragement that Sai really hasn't heard from anyone else. and he does it in such a simple way. By saying 'I believe in you' and allowing Sai to hear that he is trusted. That he's relied on.

7) I adore that after years of being a good soldier and even giving up even more of his time to be a Hokage, Kakashi finally gets to just be a dork. I enjoy that he goes on Vacation with Gai and acts like a child. That he takes part in their usual competitions with the same energy (just shown in a much different way) as Gai, and he gets upset when Gai won't admit that he won their game of ping pong, showing that he really does care about their competitions and that he does like winning.

8) I love that he's gentle, even when he doesn't really have time to be. A great example of this is when he finds the Konoha boys laying asleep on the road (after Sakura knocked them out) and he takes a few moments to put them off to the side where they can be more comfortable and just a bit safer. I love that he apologized to them for not sticking around or helping more because he really did have to go, but he still found time to at least make sure they weren't laying in the middle of the dang road.

9. Kamuing away Diedra’s arm. A small moment but a brilliant way to introduce Kamui into the world. I love how Kakashi thinks in this scenario. ‘I have a problem. How do i solve this problem? I know! I’ll rip off his arm!’ Brilliant, beautiful, perfection.

10. (Book only) ramming his face into Gai’s ass in Kakashi Hidan. This poor man has suffered so much and now he must suffer me laughing his ass off. Also, talking up Gai before he swoops in to rescue him and then getting annoyed when Gai starts talking about how he understands what it’s like to have a ‘genius rival’. He was so done and i want to hug him. Actually most of that book has perfect moments. Both of his books did i NEED MORE

11. (Kakashi retsuden) ‘i’m not going to apologize for hiding who i am’ ya? And you’re gonna troll your little fanboy by sending him a book with your face on it as the big admission that yes, you are in fact the Sixth Hokage he looks up to? I love you you shit.

12: lamenting Redaku not having an Onsen because he just wants to soak in the nice warm water. Let my man rest.

13. Accidentally letting his cloth’s brush against the tent and thus waking up all the shinobi he hasn’t already knocked out, all because he got distracted thinking of a proud Iruka.

14: (anime only) forgetting he’s disguised as Sukea and almost giving himself away because Houki gushed about how cool he thinks Lord Sixth is.

15. Everything about kid Kakashi. Arrogance, brattiness, the full energy of an angry kid who has already lost so much and is trying so hard to protect himself from more hurt (only to fail because he genuinely cares). Man, i just want to give him a hug.

16. His arrogance. It Definitely eases a bit as he gets older, but once in a while that arrogance and confidence really shines through and i love it. Example: when he called 50 jonin rank shinobi ‘fifty nobodies’ because they posed absolutely no threat to him. Or how he confidently told Naruto he hadn’t even used his Mangekyo Sharingan against Kakazu because he didn’t feel the threat was big enough for that (straight shot to Kakazu’s pride if he’d been alive to hear that)

17: (Anime only) how he jumped over his desk to grab Iruka’s hand’s when Iruka’s words helped him realize a solution to his problem. This was a KakaIru’s dream moment and just adorable as all heck!

18: how just… dramatic he can be. Need to make an entrance into the chunin exam’s with Sasuke? A sudden appearance with leaves floating around them should do it! Want the enemy to believe they killed you? Throw your whole damned body into it my man or it’s simply not believable. Like seriously, he did not need to be this dramatic with his ‘death’ in the land of waves arc. It was over the top and i love it.

19: (anime only) cutting lightning specificlly to save Gai. It wasb’t a test of strength or ability. Kakashi saw danger and faced down a lightning bolt to protect Gai. One of his precious people. It’s a really sweet moment of him admitting to himself that he cares about Gai and wants to keep him safe, and it’s bad ass to see him slice lighting with his chidori,

20: stopping Kakazu’s lightning with just his hands to protect Team Ten. Shikamaru, Choji and Ino were surprised by Kakashi’s decision to place himself between them and Kakazu’s attack and who can blame them? Man faced a lightning attack head on and stopped it using only his hands. No jutsu’s, no fancy last second plan. Just his hands. It was awesome.

I love a lot about Kakashi, but these are some of my favorite things. Through all of his faults and mistakes, he really is just trying. He wants to be kind, he wants to help, and he knows he's limited in what he can do but damn it he's still going to do his best.

#Taryn's Birthday Bash #Hatake Kakashi

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Live Action - OP Fan Review

So it's finally time.

We waited on bated breath and anticipation to see if Oda's masterwork could in fact translate to live action, much less Netflix live action. Titles such as Death Note and Cowboy Bebop have caused sincere fears that it would not go so well, but with Oda in the production there was hope, and now we see if it's rewarded.

Knowing that this is an adaptation and they were covering most of East Blue's saga in 8 episodes there will of course be differences. But whether or not they work remained to be seen, so let's talk about it.

Spoilers for One Piece, both Live Action and manga/anime because there will be overlap to discuss

First and foremost we will need to pour one out for those who didn't make the cut; Woop Slap, Ripper, Ritchie (referenced but not seen), Gaimon, Django (he had a poster but not a presence), the Usopp pirates, Johnny and Yosaku, Carne, that fly in Fullbody's soup, Pearl, Moocy, and most surprisingly Hachi. It's a shame to not see them (also 3 future-warlords in the audience of Roger's execution) but I can understand them...minus Hachi he's kinda an important connective piece in the long run. Also no Usopp Hammer or Usopp Rubber Band, the sacrilege!

So as far as adaptations go though this was really good. Opinions are of course subjective, so a lot of fans are welcome to say that Live Action has done arcs better than the manga/anime, but I'd say it's either as good or a little less, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of people who haven't watched or read One Piece get a nice introduction of almost the first 100 chapters/45 episodes, which contrary to the memes of 'yeah One Piece gets good at episode 629' should be enough to whet people's appetites to see if they wanna take the plunge.

Of course, change is scary and sometimes not accepted, so not all the changes made were ones I liked, at least as much as the original source. I kinda feel like we did a few characters dirty; Makino (no flirtatious chemistry with Shanks? come on), the Orange Town Mayor, Mohji, Chouchou (again, I get it, can't really get animals to act so easily), Fullbody, Gin, Krieg, Genzo, and Nojiko did have a bit more to do in the source material but often only got one scene or lacked the same spark they had. Also the amount of death was surprising, I get most of it but at the same time killing off Merry (and recontextualizing how the Going Merry was named by not having Merry be its creator even with the lore change that Syrup village makes ships) does kinda leave Kaya even more alone, in the original at least she had him and the Usopp pirates for company. While Buggy as a character is awaiting praise later down the line I will have to say that his role beyond episode 2 was a bit lackluster, he was never gonna help the crew for sure but it was weird for him to just saunter away from Arlong Park, I also feel like we could've better explained Devil Fruits and water's effect on DF users, because it is a very big misconception by those on the outside that Luffy simply loses his powers when hit by a splash of water, rather than his strength being sapped when more than half-submerged; rain, splashing waves, that doesn't effect DF users that way, and it's not like it's an off switch Luffy could still stretch while in water it's just harder to do so. It was also a shame not to have Shanks and Buggy's backstory shown. The CGI did have some rough moments too, I was not too much of a fan of how they did Kuro's pussyfooting (no you don't understand it's literally called the pussy foot technique) in episode 3, episode 4 was better, I felt that Luffy vs Arlong relied a bit too much on it too. Zoro's flashback was oddly placed in episode 4, given how it's more fitting as a build up to Zoro vs Mihawk, also felt like the context of Zoro losing to Kuina 2001 times in a row was sorely missed in that flashback. I will also have to admit that while the costuming is great, there is a very glaring case of it being very easy to spot the important characters from the crowd.

Some changes I was more than fine with, Alvida changing her call to most powerful makes sense since insulting her appearance wouldn't really go down too well, Zoro could've been a bit more mellow but he still played the edgy deadpan guy well...at least until Luffy eventually wears down his brain cells, and as cool as the Mr. 7 fight was it does not help debunk those 'minority hunter' memes. Changing Sham's gender worked pretty well too, the actress wore the look very well, and though people were a little let down that Benn Beckman is not super handsome I didn't have a problem with his look.

Of the changes I liked more it's probably that we saw more of Nami growing vulnerable to the crew, sure in turn we lost her fake-stabbing Usopp and grabbing a lit fuse but we got her bonding with Kaya and staunchly try to convince Zoro not to fight Mihawk - whereas in the anime/manga she had already ran off with the Merry - plus I feel like we got more friendship between her and Zoro at this stage, it's not that they didn't get along but I do feel like Zoro's dismissal in the live action is almost tied to feeling a little hurt by her betrayal. I enjoyed and was surprised with how much Garp we got, and how much he and Koby interacted with Luffy this early, since while we get the cover story of Koby-Meppo it's more it's own thing and we don't even learn of Garp's relation to Luffy until about 3 more sagas (sagas, not arcs, sagas), but it did help flesh out Koby's character more and his own character growth in parallel to Luffy. Think the change I was most approving of was confirming Kaya x Usopp, like she loves that liar so much so it was sweet to see a kiss in there, no romance my ass Oda, I also liked that they made it that Kuro was poisoning Kaya, since her original illness suddenly going away was a bit strange.

Every major character in this show translated very well to their characters in the source, even if they are a little different in some traits. Inaki as Luffy is a perfect fit, being equal parts charismatic, serious when necessary and aloof, he handled the big pressure that would've come with a character of Luffy's character in fantastic stride. The other crewmates were of course very well casted too, having wonderful chemistry with each other, as were their child counterparts, but I found myself most impressed by the villains; Morgan, Helmeppo and Kuro especially surprised me by how well they came across, Jeff Ward as Buggy was always gonna be a perfect fit in my mind too, given how much I saw of him in Agents of SHIELD. Arlong did take a bit of time to grow, but I can't deny he does the laugh perfectly. Side characters such as Kaya and Zeff also impressed me, having been given a bit more content to chew on in their stories, and Shanks did soothe my worries I had from the trailer by being jovial and true to character.

The biggest positive impression I got from One Piece was the sense of wonder and vibrancy, the settings were all wonderfully crafted with care and style fitting to Oda's vision, I particularly liked the added carnival entertainment stands in Arlong Park to better reflect its homage to Sabaody Park, the same can be said with costuming - referencing previous colour spreads - and motifs like the bounty poster introductions and the leitmotifs of characters like Buggy, Arlong and the Straw Hats, plus the instrumental of 'We Are' is wonderful. Most important is that the moments landed, especially Shanks giving the Straw Hat, the barrel scene, and Nami asking for help, but we also crafted some newer subtle moments, such as Luffy being drawn to the Merry and pitching to Kaya regarding it, and Zeff and Garp's conversation. Easter eggs were also hidden well enough to not be blatant to non-fans but rewarding to those who know.

So yeah, it was very much a huge success, one I hope will be translated in its positive reviews and viewership. If there's a second season I'd anticipate that we'd cover Loguetown and the Alabasta saga, but with that comes more castings I do not envy the team to find, because outside of campaigns for Jamie Lee-Curtis to play Kureha there are a ton of big and iconic players in those arcs that'll need perfect casting to pull off; Ace, Crocodile, Vivi, Bon Clay, and Tashigi (since you'll have to have a comparison with Kuina's actress) is tough enough but we're also gonna have to make the 'puppet or CGI' decision with Chopper and somehow cast the most beautiful woman on the planet to play Nico Robin. Then perhaps Season 4 (providing they do the Skypeia saga all in Season 3, only needing to cast one to three properly big players depending on whether they have Shanks meet a certain someone) they'll have to struggle with even more casting difficulties.

Still, if they're up for the challenge go ahead and do it, I'll be there for Season 2 if they're willing to make it.

#one piece #one piece netflix #one piece live action #opla #opla spoilers #straw hat pirates #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #nami one piece #usopp one piece #vinsmoke sanji #monkey d garp #koby #helmeppo #buggy the clown #arlong #kuro one piece #kaya one piece #east blue saga #red leg zeff #dracule mihawk #shanks one piece #inaki godoy #mackenyu #taz skylar #emily rudd #jacob romero gibson #jeff ward

[merchantarthurn]

A Favour To Ask

(Orufrey, multichapter WIP, ~19k words) Chapter 4/?

Chapter 4: Winter ends, and so do certain hopes.

“You know exactly what I mean.” Qifrey twines his hands and their gazes together. “You’d think you’d be more used to delighting others by now, Olruggio, really.” 

Olruggio’s thankful for the dark, because his face heats up like it’s on fire. Tell that to Gwen , he wants to say, but his leaden-tongue fumbles into something else. “Could be just you. Maybe your tastes are weird.”

The stars are darkening in waves now. Great, unseen hands scooping them from the sky. Qifrey is calm and solid beside him. Olruggio is so full of jitters he might shake to pieces.

  Should I even say it?

“Y’know I… when I was drawing, I was… thinking about you.”

nearly 10 months and 7k words later, i finally updated this thing... got my zest for it back

#witch hat atelier #orufrey #tongari boushi no atelier #tbna #wha fanfiction #arthur art

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Currently watching - December

Because I love a good little list 😊

Regularly updated during the month, latest update 30.12.2022, colored = finished

This may contain spoilers!

I am sorry if you can't open the links on mobile!

The director who buys me dinner (6/10 on iQiyi)

I read the webseries and I loved it! So no pressure Korea 😅 But I did enjoy the first two episodes. It is funny and I had some really good laughts! It has an interesting story, if they keep up with the original. I am really looking forward to the next episodes.

Never Let Me Go (3/12 on Youtube)

The tension between the two mains is definitely there and noticeable. I already love the little shimmers of jealousy and the fact that it was love at first sight. I really enjoy their story and the plot around them. Nice show to watch.

Ameiro Paradox (2/8 on Viki and Gaga)

An enemies to lovers story with journalists and cute smiles? Count me in.

A man who defies the world of BL (2/4 on Gaga)

A man who tries to avoid the world of BL, in which he lives, by reading Yaoi mangas to get to know all the tropes he has to avoid in order to not get involved with the world as a main character. It is hilarious and makes fun of not just the viewers, but of the industrie itself. Really good so far.

The New Employee (2/8 on Viki)

I just finished reading the manhwa and I loved it. Now I am curious how it is realized. The first episode was good, just as I expected and Moon Ji Yong is quite an excellent cast for the role of Seung Hyun.

War of Y (10/20 on Gaga)

I finally watched the next chapter...And yeah, I think I can't watch the stories week for week. I need to wait until one chapter is closed and binge the five episodes. This is one of the few bls I watch with a lot of tension in my body and no smile on my lips...I need to calm a bit before I can dive into the next drama...

Between Us (8/12 on Youtube)

I like it, but I am not super hyped about it. I liek their connection and that both are not perfect, but perfect for each other in their own way.

Love Bill (8/10 on Youtube)

A vietnamese drama about a young man falling in love with a screenwriter. Well, of course there are some other things happening in between, but this is the heart of the story. Our boy Nguyễn Bá Vinh is doing a great job! I really enjoy this drama so far.

Till the World ends (9/10 on Youtube)

It is something else. Kind of brutal and gory and a little bit explicit. Not your usual bl. I like it, no wonder 😅 The end of the world is coming and Art and Golf try to survive the last days on this chaotic planet, to get to the safety of the last bunker which lets people in, chased by some lunatics with a special taste in meat...and with ep 8 we finally got the long-awaited kiss and damn they delivered!

My School President (4/10 on Youtube)

Set in highschool we meet Tinn (the school president) and Gun (head of the music club). Tinn has a huge crush on Gun and Gun sees in Tinn the enemy who is standing between the success of his music club and the win of the Hot Wave Music Contest. The plot is predictable, but sometimes you just need a good old high school bl without the deep drama. I enjoyed this series so much. And the music is so good!!!

HIStory 5: Love in the future (1/20 on Viki)

Hm. This was kind of meh. I hope it is to early to judge and it will get better! Right now the story is a little bit...confusing. I hope for a little bit explaination or at least some help from the magical figure.

To Sir, with love (2/17 on Youtube)

Okay, it is finished by now and I looked up for spoilers. I didn’t have the emotional strength to watch it til now. But I will give it a try soon, because the first two episodes were really good!

Remember Me (12/14 on Gaga)

Okay what happend? I am emotional invested in this story! Why did it become so good within two episodes? I love the domesticity and the wholesomeness of the third episode so much! It touched me and moved me and now I am looking forward to the next episode! And the next episode was good too. I love Em and Name! Don’t hurt them, especially Name! JUST STOP HURTING NAME!!! This hurts so bad!

2 Moons: The Ambassador (10/12 on Youtube)

It is just bad.

I will knock you (1/12 on Youtube)

So Thi steps on the Lotus of Noey which is symbolic for his heart and now Noey wants his heart back so he can give it to the girl he has a crush on and Thi can't find it and gives him in exchange a charm for fortune, but in reality it is for love and soulmates...And Noey happens to be the leader of a gang which members wear khaki-shorts or way too colorful dresses for a street gang...the cringe radar is very strong with this one, but it is hilarious!

Something in my room (3/10 on Youtube)

I saw people talking about this one and how good it is. Well, it is quite okay. I guess it will get a little bit deeper with more episodes, but I haven’t had the time to watch more.

Finished in December

Series

Choco Milk Shake (11/11 on Youtube) - perfect recommandation score

Well, I love this one with my whole heart. On the one side it is light and comforting and the acting is on point and on the other hand it deals with grief and what happiness can be. The biggest message would be to love with your whole heart and live life to the fullest. Carpe Diem if you will call it that. You don't know how much time you might have left in the end, so cherish every second with what brings you joy and makes you happy. Choko and Milk made me really happy. The story was unusual and it is not explained why they could come back again just as they wish, but to be true, I don't care. I want them all to be happy! 10 out of 10 choco milk shakes

Happy Ending Outside The Fence (Happy Ending Romance) (on Gaga) - highest recommandation

This one was so good. The pasting was nice. The story itself is very complex. In the end Junghyun was the right person for Jungwoo when he needed to hide, to suffer and to feel the pain. But Jungwoo doesn't want to be this fragile, this hurt forever. He wants to go outside and live and that is when he meets Taeyoung. A literal ray of sunshine and he is exactly what Jungwoo needs to see the beauty in life again and to finally believe in himself again and lets face it, to say fuck you to all the haters and just don't give a fuck about what other people will think. The story and the complex relationships moved me deeply. It is a very mature story and so are the relationships built. Nothing is easy, but stagnation is no help in the end. 9,5 out of 10 manuscripts

Eien No Kino (8/8 on Gaga) - highly recommended

The aesthetics of this one is so beautiful. The story itself about a young love that is so strong that the one who dies can't leave this world because and comes back as a living corpse is both, unique and tragically beautiful. It broke my heart, especially the talk between Mitsuru and his father. The ending didn't wreck me the way I feared it would, because it was overall a great ending for their situation. 9 out of 10 loves at first sight

His - Koisuru Tsumori Nante Nakatta (5/5 on Viki) - highly recommended

Oh this was beautiful. The amount of thought that was put into this piece of media is amazing. I liked the dialogues and the dealing with coming out and the difficulties for lgbtq+ people in Japan and first loves and so much more in five fucking episodes. I wish there were more! Really good! 9 out of 10 surfboards

My Tooth Your Love (on Viki) - recommended without a doubt

I guess this could be called a nightmare for people with a fear for dentists. It is a slow burn, but when the fire was lit it was burning with a cozy and constant heat. I like Bai Langs and Jin Xun Ans story. And I must admit the last few minutes killed my cold heart with all the fluff and domesticity. As for Alex and RJ I wish we could have had a real reveal of their emotions. But it was a cozy last episode. 8,5 out of 10 plushies

Oh! My Assistant (8/8 on Viki) - totally recommended

This was funny and fluffy and cringy and lovely and I am in love with it! I don't know what it is exactly, but it brings me so much joy and a really good laugh! Even the fall-on-you-by-accident is just funny and predictable. The bi-awakening of the main is so simple and rational and I love this series for it. 8,5 out of 10 sexy drawings

Nitiman (10/10 on Youtube) - yeah sure, why not recommending

I read a review which said nothing happend in this series...and they were correct. The conflicts most of the times results in misscommunication or not communicating at all. What it is about? Well, college boy A likes college boy B and hits on him. They become friends and college boy B falls for college boy A. Some jealousy and some weird get-togethers of their friends to make a plan to get those two together. And college boy A and college boy B become secret boyfriends before going official. And you know what? I like it! It is just the right show to watch on a cold sunday afternoon to warm your heart. 8 out of 10 dumb reasons to get jealous

Ai Long Nhai (12/12 on Youtube) - recommended only if you want to laugh and love a slow death

Ai likes Nhai. Nhai likes Ai. They test a possible relationship. It works, they have a relationship and nothing more happens, okay yes, after knowing each other for like ten minutes, Ai asks Nhai in the last five minutes if he wants to marry him...Why? Just why? And I know, I said nothing happens in Nitiman, too, BUT! Nitiman has a decend acting, kind of likable characters and charisma, but this mess? I dont know...The story is flat and bland, the acting is not good in my opinion and I can't see the chemistry between the main couple for most of the times. The subtitles were one thing that made this whole experience funny. 4 out of 10 yellow ducks

Short films

Summerdaze Christmas together - recommended

This was a cute one. And a special chistmas episode? It is in my nature to love it. But it is really very cute and cozy. 8 out of 10 cozyness

Summerdaze (youtube) - recommended

It is so short! nd there is no dialogue. And yet the short film managed to tell a story. I am amazed. It is more of a trailer for a bigger project and we got a christmas special this year, which is so cute. Just have a look. 8 out of 10 good story telling

Movies

Sematic Error: The Movie (on Viki) - highest possible grade of recommandation

Well I rewatched the series a few days ago and now just watched this three hour long movie. There were only a few new scence, but I don't care. Every minute spent watching it was worth my time! I just love Semantic Error 💗 10 out of 10 gorgeous red outfits

rec (on Gaga) - recommended for the different type of view

Well, don't judge a book by its cover. I have to admit, that I needed to start this one for a second try. At first I was deterred by the way it was shot. The shaky cam and the amateur like filming was difficult to get used to. But I got used to it. I started to dislike Song Young Jun. He was a little bit too loud and too annoying. And I really thought, that they would break up, because his partner was annoyed by him. But they loved each other, dearly. And this movie can break your heart. It is deep and political and sad and yes, the nudity was part of this whole scheme of two people being vulnerable with each other, but not honest. It hurts. This movie hurts. 7,5 out of 10 beach scenes

What I’m looking forward to in December:

Oh! My Assistant (Dec 1)

My School President (Dec 2)

The Third Solar Term (Dec 5)

Lockdown (Dec 7)

Midnight Tod (Dec 12)

Never Let Me Go (Dec 13)

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (Dec 15)

Ameiro Paradox (Dec 16)

The New Employee (Dec 21)

HIStory5: Love in the Future (Dec 28)

Sin (Dec 28)

#currently watching #choco milk shake #eien no kino #my tooth your love #happy ending romance #happy ending outside the fence #between us #till the world ends #ai long nhai #remember me #remember me the series #war of y #i will knock you #something in my room #2 moons 3 #to sir with love #bl series #bl drama #thai bl #japanese bl #korean bl #taiwanese bl #oh! my assistant #my school president #semantic error: the movie #nitiman #rec #ameiro paradox #the director who buys me dinner #summerdaze

[hongchenzhu]

This is part 4

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 3.5

Also pls read the chapters in order, cause there is a lot of information in chapter leading up to this one

Also same as other chapter, if you don't like the outfit I describe then change it I don't mind, same with height the only thing that can't be changed is the eye's and hair cause they are plot related.

Also swearing

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

(Timeline might not match with the Manga)

“My logic is very simple if you are not dead by the end of this training session. Then I will make you work to death.”

WTF, who are you

Yup, that's me. You're properly wondering how I ended up in this situation? Well…

24 hours prior

“Congratulations on passing the 3rd selection. But bad news, your soccer careers are in danger of disappearing forever like worthless trash, along with Blue Lock.”

Murmurs of disbelief started among the boys

“But good work, playing against the world all-stars was quite the experience, right?” Ego display on the screen

“A lot happened since the third selection, I plan to narrow you down to five players, but… the plan has changed. The main problem is the bigshots of Japanese soccer are trying to put kibosh on Blue Lock, so I decide to send them a challenge.”

A holographic appeared on the screen.

“This means the next selection, which is done in three weeks will define the outcome of Blue Lock’s future.” Ego pushed his glasses towards his face, the light reflecting off the glass giving him a sinister look. “If you win this game, you can steal the honour of representing Japan at the U-20 World Cup.”

A series of murmurs started again “What” “No way” “For real”

“Therefore the time has come, my lumps of talents. To bring a new era.”

Small time skip - after the groups have been chosen (Cause I’m lazy 👍)

“For the first few days, you’ll have matches between each other after that you will start training, for the next two weeks.” Ego’s on the screen again telling group A what the plan is for the next three weeks “Of course, there will still be matching between to see how much you have improved.”

Isagi raised his hand.”Ego-san” “Yes, Yoichi?” “Who are we training with?”

Ego’s sadistic smile appeared on his face again “you’ll know who your trainer is when the time comes.” Shivvers were shot down the spine of people in the room, including Rin and Shindou. Just then a female appeared behind Ego “Ego, there is no need to be that harsh on them.” An elegant woman wearing a large hat came into view, with the hat obscuring her face but her straight posture exposed who she is to Isagi. ‘!!! Y/n is going to our trainer??? . . . We’re fucked,’

Another magic time skip cause I can’t be bothered writing the different matches ✌️

Day 1 of training

Everyone in team 1 was chilling, more like waiting cause ego called them into the meet room. “Hello, my diamond in the rough, how was your match? Not bad… great. Today marks the start of your training camp. And who is your t-” the screen closed

“That dame bastard, so annoying.” A new voice appeared in the room,

“Ahh” “Who?” “Ahh,” “WTF”

A Tall, white-haired female who clearly wasn't here before stood in the middle of the room. “Hello” waving her hand “I am your trainer for the next 2 weeks”

Murmurs began to start “now, to officially start this training camp, start by running 50 laps around this room”

“What?” “Do what?”

“Start now, or no dinner.” this caused people to start running. ‘I knew that would work, no one would reject not having dinner.’

“Oi, old hang you do I have to run,” Shido shouted

Y/n turned around and look at Shido through the pitch-black glasses she wears. “Because Ryusei Shido, it’s for you to get stronger.” Shido could feel her gaze through her glasses “Now get running or you’ll run another 5- laps”

Out of fear, Shido began running again, this time faster as he could feel her gaze on him almost making two holes in the back of his head.

Isagi was out of breath by lap 34 Shido was the second to finish, after Rin, and Isagi finished at number 8 and everybody slowly after that.

“Great, now that everyone is done with the warmup, I should do a little introduction.” Y/n clapped her hands as the last few finish up “I am Gojo Y/n your new trainer until the U-20 Japan match, nice to meet you” Everyone looked at her “Now, I will spend two hours each day for the next two and push you as far as you can after all” A shiver was sent down everyone’s spin… again almost like there fucked “My logic is very simple if you are not dead by the end of this training session. Then I will make you work to death.” In the sweetest voice anyone could have, but saying the most brutal thing.

And this was how most people in group 1 would die after every training.

Time skip … again

In the main presentation room, all 45 participants were present. Ego was on the stage. “When a person focuses on something, they can get so absorbed in their work they don’t realise the passing of time.” Ego’s tone was very stable and calm “taking enjoyment in the process, their brain enters a state of excitement. To put it simply, that is the ‘flow’.”

The Flow is a state of extreme focus where you are immersed in what you are doing.

“Now that Ego is done with his presentation, let me introduce you to another phenomenon called ‘curses’” Y/n stood on the stage in a black long-sleeve kind of body-hugging long dress with a long black coat, black heels and her signature black glasses. (Again if you don’t like this outfit then you can change it)

“Curses, are a race of spiritual beings created from negativity. Now everyone in this room has curse energy, but only a selected few can weld it by will.” A cart of glasses rolled toward Y/n “here, take one and passed it on.”

After everyone got a pair of glasses Y/n started talking again “Put the glasses on before we continue.” A movement of kids putting their glasses on. “These glasses have been imbued with curse energy, therefor you should be able to see the orb that I am creating.” Y/n held her hand open and a red ball appeared in her palm. “This is a form of curse energy, normally you wouldn’t be able to see it but since you are wearing the glasses it allowed you to see it. And that's what the flow is like a sudden surge of curse energy that gives you a push in what you are doing. Isagi!”

“Hai”

“Is a perfect example, he momentarily entered the state of the flow which means he had a burst of curse energy in physical strength and most importantly, the firing of neurons which allowed him to have a full spital awareness of the court.”

Yukimiya put his hand up “Yes, you”

“Y/n - san, how did you know Isagi momentarily entered the flow?”

“Yukimiya, to those who could weld curse energy at will we also have the ability to see curses, in a matter of fact if you look at the end of the room” Y/n walked off the stage while the boy’s head turned to see the back of the room. “What is that!” “That thing!” “I… want to vomit”

“This gents is a curse and as a jujutsu sorcerer, it’s my job to excoriate it.”

‘That thing’ thought Isagi ‘is similar to the one I saw in the training room’

“But like skills, different sorcerers have different ways to excoriate a curse.” Y/n walked towards the curse at the end of the room. “First grade huh,” she whispered, with a click of her finger, the head of the curse turned into a splatter with purple goo covering the corner that was trapped in. Everyone else in the room looked at her, more like her back standing tall and proud it seems like this is her everyday job.

“Now you can keep the glasses, but if you don’t want to see this creature when you are going to bed I suggest only wearing them when you are analysing your opponents.” Her glasses slid down a bit, allowing her eye to be visible. Bright blue eyes, like the reflection of the sky staring back at the player, the brightest object in this dark corner that seems to peer into the souls of the living. Unnerving and unwavering of the eyes looking back. “Right now get out and start training for the round coming up.”

Time skip to one day before the match

“Isagi, good luck on your match tomorrow” “Y/n why are you telling me this now” “Isagi, I have a mission tomorrow so I won’t be able to tell you that, I’ll try getting to the match as fast as I can after finishing off my mission, ok”

Y/n raised her hand and touched Isagi’s head, ruffling his hair “Isagi I know you can lead this team to win, you will become the star of this show.” Her bright blue eyes look into Isagi’s eyes “Because Isagi, you are similar to us. Your eye has traces of curse energy more than the average human but less than curse users, if you can somehow manipulate it at will then this will help you in the near future.” Y/n then touched Isagi’s face, her eyes began to water making her already mesmerising eyes even more ethereal.

“Wait for me Isagi, and let me see you win this match.”

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

After this is offically start of the U-20 arc the arc might be split up into different parts to make my life easier.

#Blue Lock #Blue Lock Y/n #Isagi yoichi #yukimiya kenyu #gojo reader #JJK and BL crossover #jjk x y/n #Blue Lock x reader #Rich reader #Powerful reader #ego jinpachi

[yellowocaballero]

HEY!! Your trigun swap au is so very good!! I've always loved roleswap aus as a concept, and yours is the perfect example of why. it's all about the balancing act of twisting the (swapped) character's background/mentalities for maximum domino effect while not actually *destroying* the character ya know? you still gotta recognize them, it's half of the fun. just some little nudges here... and there... with the delightful result of a changed plot/world that you can discover anew

Also I surprisingly vibe with Dr Knives. a lot. what can I say I guess it's the fucked up superiority-inferiority/guilt complex with a dash of imposter syndrome. also the transgenderism. he's just like me fr fr (minus the speciesism and bloodlust) 1/3

SPEAKING OF! I'm literally a week late for that but chapter 4 may be my favorite so far. it's got it all: Ww's bloodlust coming through and being given a GUN, M&M being #JustNormalGunsmokeKidsThings about it, Knives being incredibly tired and enthusiastically murderous in turns, TRANS PEOPLE!! Funky morally dubious trans men ! Intersex nonbinary Knives (in humans terms) !! small internal rants about ecosystems!

I particularly like that one bc I too found myself twitching whenever I see (in fics or fandom at large) Gunsmoke being shown as a ~hostile, barren~ planet when, like.... *waves agitedly at the Tomases* *waves frantically at the WORMS, in all their INCREDIBLY DIVERSIFIED sizes and shapes* tell me there isn't an entire ecosystem supporting and including these bad boys. And god do I wanna know about it. Terraforming this terraforming that. Enough. I want bio-worldbuilding fics that are just as weird and unhinged as the rest of trigun (2/3)

To go back to Nicholas : I loved his discussion with Knives about fate and predestination and stuff (esp since -I may be reading too much into it, but it’s interesting that Knives says he doesn’t believe in predestination anymore, and just a bit later goes about how his personality is Like That bc he’s Biologically Programmed for it), and his last words in it are especially ominous. WHAT were you gonna say about Vash. How does it concern Nicholas. This is gonna bite them in the ass later isn’t it.

Also ur last asks/answers REALLY doesn’t reassure me about woowoo’s fate. Is he gonna die. Is he gonna end up going thru the same things than his canon counterpart (concentrate of medical-and-general unethicality). Idk what those flags are for but boy They Are There.

Aallll that to say I absolutely love that fic and can't wait to see what you do next with it, thank you so much !! (3/3)

This is so nice thank you so much :D :D :D To comment in order:

Roleswaps are no fun if you can't recognize the character. You're absolutely right - the funnest part is to make the smallest changes possible, and see how they cause the biggest differences. That's true of every AU, honestly - you guys know those 600k shonen manga aus where something major is different but every story beat is identical to canon? Or they're identical to every other au? They're addictive but without substance. Also sounds boring to write.

It's so funny that you (and others) vibe with Dr. Knives! From my end, he has my own very wry deadpan and self-esteem problems. Characters who have both a ridiculously inflated ego for comedy purposes and some real self-esteem problems for drama purposes work great.

I was surprised that so many people enjoyed the trans thing so much! I didn't expect it to make people so happy. Of course it's a nice surprise. I don't remember why I made the BDN decision (funny, probably) or the 'Knives invented gender reassignment surgery' thing (funny definitely), but a very active decision and something that made Knives above every other character fun to write is that he is not a human being and does not think of himself as such. The way his body experiences emotion is different, his body itself is different in a way that probably includes genitalia, and there's no reason for him to experience gender the same way. As I'm about to talk about in the upcoming chapter, he casually refers to himself as a thing and with it/its and it doesn't affect his superiority complex whatsoever.

I...would not have said that this is trans by myself, if that makes sense, because I wouldn't have wanted to say "in order to really hammer in how this character is INHUMAN then I'm gonna make him not male or female and prefer neopronouns!". It's just the shape of the character, to me. BUT LIKE IF Y'ALL LIKE IT! NO PROBLEM! I was just worried I might be saying the wrong thing, so I didn't want to say it, if that makes sense. Y'all can say it though.

Trigun worldbuilding is nonsensical and hideously vague and as a writer if you stop and think too hard about silly questions like "where does the wood come from" or "why is Vash eating salmon sandwiches" then you go insane. But...yeah, Gunsmoke's like any other ecosystem, and its worms and thomases seem to be doing great! It's not Gunsmoke's fault it is almost completely uninhabitable to humans. It sucks for us, but...does Knives care about that??? Lmfao???

There is a shitton to say about Knives' relationship with predestination and inevitability, because it's why he made the worst decision of his life. I think of it as...reasonable, in a lot of ways. If all you knew about humanity was what you read in history textbooks, and human history ended with the destruction of Earth and themselves, how would you feel? Everything humans have done, they do again. And if they dissected your sister, in an act of cruelty that they had done to even themselves...of course you'd worry. Of course. If you're young and scared and you can hear the screams of the dead in your ears, of course you feel like it's going to be you or them. And if you're.........Millions Knives.......and reverse!Vash.....then eliminating the threat is just good business sense.

And you aren't reading too much into it - Trigun in so many ways is about choices, and the impact of your choices. Your decisions are you own, and you must take responsibility for them. Decisions have weight in Trigun. I think what ppl miss sometimes about Vash is that he also wants to fuckin' murder people sometimes. He wants to be violent, he wants to hurt. He just chooses not to. Sometimes choosing pacifism is a hard fucking choice, and I think wiping that away does a disservice to the character. So if Knives would say, "Well, it's just who I am, I had no choice, I had no control, I just go nuts and murder it's not on me..." - what does that mean, in Trigun? It's??? Like??? A pussy thing to say???

But, the way I thought about it - what Knives is fighting is his internal sense that he is predestined for cruelty. He knows "who he really is" and any attempt at goodness is futile, because he's secretly bad and will always be bad. And he fucks up sometimes and starts exploding worms. But Knives chooses goodness, and I don't think he's really cottoned on that his choice to do good is more important than his internal desires to do bad and his history of badness. Because he hates himself.

I think what Knives knows now as an adult is that our lives have paved a path for us to tread. Sometimes that path is innocent, and sometimes your life paves a very nasty path. But it's our choice if we walk it or not. Knives knows what his path is, and it gives him extreme shame - but he chose which one he walked, and that's what I judge him on. Still funny how much he loves murder though.

#i did tag as trans knives so the ppl who are purposefully seeking out genderweird characters can find it #the chapter im about to post talks about this a lot so stay tuned i suppose #it's also worth noting that Knives views a lot of his instincts as a good thing or at least neutral #he hates that he packbonds but. he secretly doesn't mind THAT much ya know. #and i think for him the fact that he views his knives as being meant not just as #instruments of hilariously extreme violence #but as meant to protect the people important to him #is an important part of his self-image and i dont think its a bad one #i mean its a bad one for canon knives because he's insane but. #my writing #my asks

[avidvampirehunter]

STRAY HEART | Chapter 4/? (Rated M)

Shakuji Park in the springtime was just as beautiful as ever. As Hiyori strolled by the pond, enjoying the sparkle of sunlight over the ripples, she breathed in the sweetness of the air, riding the wave of comfort and nostalgia. This park was a fair distance out of the way from her normal routes, sequestered in the eastern area of Shinjuku. Back when she was a teenager in her half-ayakashi form, jumping telephone wires and leaping great distances had made the journey feel like nothing. Now, she couldn't help but feel how heavy her body was, how her every step was tethered to the ground.

Summary:

Almost six years after the defeat of the Crafter, Hiyori remembers everything she had forgotten—despite Yato’s attempts to spare her from the dangers of the Far Shore. Meanwhile, an ancient deity, Susano-o, returns from his banishment beneath the seas of southern Japan to wreak havoc on the heavens.

But when Yato raises a blade against him, Susano-o recognizes him as none other than his fellow banished brother, the moon god, Tsukiyomi. Worse still, Susano-o’s sudden obsession with Hiyori places her in great danger.

Together, Yato, Yukine, and Hiyori must rise to a challenge more deadly than they ever have before in order to protect the ones they love.

Click here to read from the beginning!

#noragami #yatori #noragami spoilers #spoilers #noragami manga #manga spoilers

[silentwolfkills]

Naruto Timeline in Order:

Minato One-Shot Manga: Naruto Gaiden: The whorl Within the Spiral:

This Manga is going to be about the secret story behind Minato's jutsu.

One year before 9 tails attack and 6 years after:

Naruto Chapter 239 - 244 Kakashi Chronicles 1 - 6: Kakashi Gaiden: Naruto Shippuden Ep 119 - 120:

During 3rd Ninja war which was the year it ended and takes place a year before the 9 tails attack.

Itachi Shinden Book of Bright Light: Naruto Shippuden Ep 451 - 454:

Itachi is 4 start of novel then is 11 at the end.

6 years after 9 tails attack and 8 years after 9 tails attack:

Itachi Shinden Book of Dark Night: Naruto Shippuden Ep 455:

Itachi is 11 start of Novel and said to have joined Anbu 6 months ago and Shisui dies then said to be 12 soon by Fugaku which a year passed and he kills clan at 12 turning 13.

12 years after 9 tails attack and 13 years after 9 tails attack:

Naruto Chapter 1 - 8: Naruto Ep 1-5:

Naruto 12 in Academy, Graduates Academy.

Rin-No-Sho: Scroll of Facing: Konoha Side Story: At the Ichiraku…: Naruto Ep 101:

To-No-Sho: Chapter of Creation: Insect Collection:

Fu-No-Sho: Book of Wind: The Truth of His Face….: Naruto Ep 469:

Naruto Chapter 9 - 238: Naruto Ep 6 - 25, 27 - 96, 98 - 100, 107 - 135, 141 - 142, 220:

Waves Arc, Chunin exams, Search for Tsunade, Sasuke retrieval mission and then 3 months after mission Naruto at 13 in Dec leaves leaf village with Jiraiya.

14-15 years after 9 tails attack:

Kai-No-Sho: Scroll of Everyone: The New Erotic Ninjutsu Completed!!:

Takes place during the 2 and half years, Naruto is with Jiraiya.

16 years after 9 tails attack and 17 years after 9 tails attack:

Naruto Chapter 245 - 401: Naruto Shippuden Ep 1 - 56, 72 - 90, 113 - 118, 121 - 141:

Naruto returns to the village after 2 years and a half.

Sasuke Jinraiden: The Day the wolf Howled:

is before the 4th ninja war and after Sasuke kills Itachi, this takes place between Chapter 401 and 402 after sasuke finds out the truth behind massacre in Chapter 401 and before meeting team Hebi and renaming them Taka in chapter 402.

Naruto Chapter 402 - 699: Naruto Shippuden Ep 141 - 143, 152 - 169, 172 - 175, 197 - 222, 243 - 256, 261 - 270, 272 - 278, 282 - 283, 296 - 302, 321 - 346, 362 - 375, 378 -387, 391 - 393, 414 - 415, 418 - 421, 424 - 426, 458 - 463, 469 - 479:

Naruto finds out about Jiraiya’s death, Pain attack the leaf village, Sasuke attacks Kage Summit, 4th ninja War start then 4th ninja war Ended and concluded everyone saved from infinite Tsuyukomi.

Nearly a year after 4th ninja War:

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Ice Sky:

is nearly a year after war and is before sasuke leaves Konoha.

Then Sasuke leaves in Chapter 699: Naruto Shippuden Ep 479:

Sasuke been Pardoned for his past actions with his help undoing the infinite Tsuyukomi and also Kakashi becoming 6th hokage and the wishes of Naruto the key figure in ending the war, helped.

Sasuke leaves the leaf village to know the Shinobi world and how the world looks with the current him and it’s a journey of atonement too, Sasuke leaves the village and Naruto gives sasuke his headband back outside the village.

Two years after 4th ninja War:

Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness: Naruto Shippuden Ep 489 - 493:

Two years after the Great Ninja War, Shikamaru spends his days racing around, hands full as one of Konoha's key protectors. Then, large numbers of ninja from every region are reported missing. Even Sai disappears and the place where the missing shinobi end up is the mysterious empire, the Land of Silence. Shikamaru is sent with Ro and Hinoko/ Soku on an Anbu mission to find Sai.

Naruto The last: Naruto the Movie Novel: Naruto The last: Naruto the Movie:

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto must stop Toneri Otsutsuki, a descendant of Hamura Otsutsuki, after Toneri causes the moon to descend toward Earth. Which takes place in the depth of Autumn, stated in page 16 of Naruto the last: Naruto the Movie Novel, Which Autumn in Japan is September to November.

Retsu-No-Sho: Naruto Special Extra Chapter: After the Last Movie:

Naruto and Hinata go on a Date.

Rai-No-Sho: Scroll of Lightning: The Beast that was Shot by Love:

It is set during the events of the Blank Period after the events of The Last: Naruto Movie. The omake is unique as it is through Akamaru's point of view on his thoughts on master/partner Kiba Inuzuka.

Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of love Riding Upon a Spring Breeze:

I'll see you soon." With those words, Sasuke left. Time has passed since Toneri Otsutsuki's attack, and spring has come once more. Sakura continues to develop her medical ninjutsu, her days busy but peaceful. But as she supports her friends through their own love lives, she can't help but wonder...how long must she wait? Then, he returns. But dark shadows follow him, and Sakura must face a new trial, as both the leading Medic Ninja of her time...and as a woman.

Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding: Naruto Shippuden Ep 494 - 500:

Naruto’s and Hinata’s Wedding.

Three years after 4th ninja War:

Gaara Hiden: A sandstorm Mirage:

is set a few months after the Naruto’s and Hinata’s wedding.

Gaara has just turned twenty years old, so Sunagakure's elders think it's time for him get married.

They have already found a wife for him, which he is going to meet shortly and so, Gaara's toughest battle yet begins...

Akatsuki Hiden: Evil Flowering Full Bloom:

Nearly Three years after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke Uchiha travels through a forest.

Despite having once been an international criminal, he was granted freedom and a new outlook because of the friendship of Naruto Uzumaki, the love of Sakura Haruno, and the trust of Kakashi Hatake.

With flash backs of the Akatsuki members Itachi and Kisame, then Flashbacks of Hidan and Kakuzu, then flashbacks of Sasori and Deidara, then Flashbacks of Konan and Nagato and Obito who was going by the name Madara back then and also flashbacks with Zetsu.

Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise: Naruto Shippuden Ep 484 - 488:

Nearly Three years after the Fourth Shinobi World War.

As part of his redemption, Sasuke is still travelling around and protecting Konoha from afar.

In his journey, Sasuke still tackles missions sent by Kakashi while dealing with his own personal problems.

9 years after 4th ninja War:

Several years after Naruto The Last: Naruto Movie:

Naruto The Last: Naruto Movie Epilogue:

Shows Hinata Knitting and Boruto and Himawari Run by opening the door to go outside while it’s snowing and asking Naruto to play with them and jump on him, then it shows a photo frame of Hinata and Naruto’s wedding in the centre and on the left photos of Boruto as a baby and as a kid with Naruto and on the right photos of Himawari as a baby and a photo of her with Hinata and then Naruto has a snowball fight with the kids when then the kids ask Hinata to join in and play with them to.

Boruto stated to be 5 and Himawari stated to be 3.

9-10 Years After 4th Ninja War

Zai-No-Sho: The Day Naruto Became Hokage One Shot Manga: The Day Naruto Became Hokage OVA: Boruto Ep 18:

The Day Naruto becomes the Hokage and Kakashi retires from being Hokage.

Boruto is 122 cm and Himawari is 102 cm and in the last Epilogue, Boruto was 110 cm at 5 and Himawari was 93 cm at 3.

So Boruto is probably 6-7 and Himawari 4-5, Boruto’s birthday in March and Himawari’s birthday in Aug, 2 years age difference, Naruto had Boruto at 20 turning 21 that year and had Himawari at 22 turning 23 that year.

10-11 Years After 4th ninja War

Naruto Gaiden: The Road Illuminated by the Full Moon/ Boruto Chapter 0 also known as Chapter 3.5: Boruto Ep 39:

Mitsuki Origin story before meeting Boruto.

Boruto: The new leaves soaring through the blue sky! Novel 1: Boruto Ep 1 - 6:

Boruto enrolls into the ninja Academy.

Iwabee states the 4th Ninja War was 10 years ago the Academy starts in April and 4th Ninja War was in October meaning in October it would be 11 years ago meaning Boruto starts Academy at 7.

Boruto: A Call from the shadows! Novel 2: Boruto Ep 7 - 11:

The story of the dark shadow lurking in the Hidden Leaf! Someone's stalking Sarada, Cho-Cho, and Sumire at the Ninja Academy?! And what's this mysterious shadow that's making people lose control?! Perhaps a visit to his mother's family, the Hyuga Clan, will help Boruto get to the bottom of this and find out who's behind it!

Boruto: Those who Illuminate the Night of Shinobi! Novel 3: Boruto Ep 12 - 15:

The story of the ghost from the Hidden Leaf Village is stuck in another world! The identity of the specter haunting the village will be exposed as Boruto's new ocular power transports him to the location of his most fearsome enemy yet: the summoned beast, Nue! Class Representative Sumire Kakei's past is also revealed as the next generation of ninja fights against the darkness enveloping the Village Hidden in the Leaves!

15 years after 4th ninja War:

Naruto Chapter 700 Boruto:

Shino Aburame is now a teacher at the Academy, who is disrespected by his students, particularly Boruto Uzumaki. Hinata is accompanied by her daughter, Himawari, while visiting Neji's grave.

Rock Lee is training his son while Tenten is maintaining her own weapons shop.

Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and Scarlet Spring/ Naruto Chapter 700+1 - 700+10: Boruto Ep 19 - 23 & 24:

fifteen years after the Fourth Ninja War, Sarada is concerned about the identity of her absent father, Sasuke Uchiha, and whether Sakura Uchiha is her birth mother, Sarada follows Naruto the Hokage 7th Hokage with Chocho and Naruto arranged to meet Sasuke and are encounter by Shin clone which Naruto protects both girls, The Hokage takes the girls with him to Sasuke's location and Sarada awakens her Sharingan at the thought of meeting him. Shortly afterward Shin, faces Naruto and Sasuke and immobilizes both of them. Despite this, he is defeated by Sakura, after which a creature controlled by Shin teleports him and Sakura to his hideout.

Sarada said to be 11.

Boruto: School Trip Bloodwinds Records Novel 4: Boruto Ep 25 - 31:

Boruto and his classmates leave for a school trip to the land of water hidden mist village However, revolutionary, Sakusaki Sumishin, who is trying to regain the former "village of the Bloody Mist", is plotting a war with the new Seven Swordsmen.

Boruto: The Last Day at the Ninja Academy! Novel 5: Boruto Ep 34 - 38:

Boruto and his Classmates take Academy graduation exam and pass it becoming Genin.

Boruto Road to B:

The heritage of the members of Team Konohamaru/ Team 3/ Team 7.

12 years after 4th ninja War and 16 years after 4th ninja War:

Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scroll: Boruto Ep 106 - 111:

Mirai is seeing team team 15 trying to find cats, making Mirai 16 Mirai is 4 years older than Boruto and Boruto graduated the academy at 12 meaning Mirai is 16 at the time.

At the start of this Manga it starts of as Mirai as a Genin chasing Cat at this time Kakashi is still hokage, this would have to take place before Boruto was 7 and after he was 5 meaning 5-7 but age of graduating Academy is 11 or 12 unless Mirai somehow graduated early so possibly at 9 turning 10 that year.

While Novel is different doesn’t show Mirai as a kid Genin and it takes place when Boruto is in academy it takes place after chapter 700 but because manga shows them as genin then it takes place after they graduate academy and not while there in academy, so the Novel version takes place after Chapter 700 and Before Naruto Gaiden The Seventh Hokage and Scarlet Spring.

Boruto Chapter 1 - 10 and Boruto: Naruto the Movie: Boruto Ep 53 - 66:

Chunin Exams.

Naruto: Shinden: Parent and Child Day: Boruto Ep 93 - 95:

Shikamaru Nara the 7th Hokage’s Advisor, explains the holiday is meant to strengthen parents' bonds with their children. Because of his complicated relationship with his own children, Naruto suggests that they provide support systems in order to foster this parent—child bonding.

Sasuke Shinden: Teacher’s star Pupil:

Sasuke is put in charge of training Team Seven, and Boruto couldn't be happier! ...Except when it comes to actually listening to his new teacher. Now, famous pop star Lily Himeno has entered the spotlight with a new mission for the group! What does it mean to be a master? Or to be a student? And what future awaits these shinobi on the horizon?!

Shikamaru Shinden: A Cloud Dancing in Forlorn Falling Petals: Boruto Ep 141 - 151:

Disagreement at the Five Kage Summit causes a schism in the alliance that could trigger the Fifth Great Ninja War! Elsewhere, Shikamaru is dealing with a schism of his own, with his family beginning to drift apart... Can Shikamaru think up another genius solution to bring peace to both his family and the world?!

Boruto Chapter 11-15: Boruto Ep 148 - 151:

Mujina Gang.

Kakashi Retsuden: The Sixth Hokage and the Failure Boy:

Far from the Land of Fire, resting amid the mountain peaks, is the Land of Redaku. There, Kakashi takes another outcast boy under his wing, but soon learns that the country is on the brink of waging a new war... The battle between the Sixth Hokage and his new pupil is about to begin!

Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust: Boruto Ep 282 - 286:

Sasuke travels far from the Land of Fire to an astronomical observatory to meet with Sakura.

Together, they go undercover in search of information on the Sage of the Six Paths, but end up discovering a plot already in motion that transcends life and death! Will the husband-and-wife duo be able to overcome this new threat?!

Naruto Retsuden: Naruto Uzumaki and the Spiral Destiny:

Naruto has lost his ability to use chakra, and who should appear offering their aid but Orochimaru with a new Scientific Ninja Tool...! Meanwhile, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura are out of the country searching for clues pertaining to the Sage of the Six Paths when they find what may be the final piece to the puzzle! The true essence of friendship and what it means to each of the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf will bring them together once more!!This is the third book in the Naruto: Retsuden series!Cover illustration by Masashi Kishimoto!

Boruto Chapter 16 - 67: Boruto Ep 181 - 189, 193 - 208, 212 - 220, 287 - 293:

Ao Arc, Kawaki Arc, Code Arc.

Boruto chapter 47 No. 5 Rule of Otsusuki and Karma says Momoshiki attack the chunin exam tournament serveral months ago and implanted Boruto with Karma.

Boruto Chapter 68-80:

Omnipotence Arc. Boruto said to be 12 in Chapter 80.

20 years after 4th Ninja War:

Boruto Two Blue Vortex Chapter 1-10/ Boruto Chapter 81-90:

Boruto’s Return Arc.

#naruto #boruto

[tanenigiri]

Review #11: Seaside Stranger (Volume 1: Umibe no Etranger)

Japanese title: 海辺のエトランゼ (Umibe no Etranger)

Story and art: Kii Kanna

English publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Number of volumes: 4 in English, 5 in Japanese (ongoing)

A tidal wave of emotions.

(This review contains story spoilers.)

This is the third of three series in this project where I first watched the anime before reading the manga, the other two being Given and Sasaki and Miyano. This is a lot closer to the former in terms of what it aims to do, but even if I found Given’s tragedy to be heavier, I thought Umibe no Etranger was sadder? I don’t know if it’s because there’s a lot less humor and light-hearted scenes to go with the main plot - though those are definitely still there - but there was something about the movie that leaves you feeling emotionally drained by the end (in a good way, of course).

I got the same feeling while reading the first volume of Seaside Stranger, which encompasses almost everything that the movie covers. But more than anything, the manga filled in so many blanks about the movie that I ended up appreciating the story a lot more. There were some parts of the movie where I thought I didn’t have enough context to fully understand what was happening, and each of them made more sense here - and on that merit alone I already think this was worth the read for me.

But even without that, this is still a really great story about two characters who have different ways of dealing with their inner turmoil and how that ultimately affects their relationship. And we get this right from the very first pages, where we’re hit with the doozy of a reveal that Mio, a high school student, has already lost both of his parents. Since he doesn’t seem to be getting along well with his adoptive family, this leads him to spend a significant part of his day alone in a bench and staring out in the ocean, which catches the attention of a number of people in the island. Most notable of these people is Shun, a novelist who’s revealed to have moved to the island to live with his aunt after a falling out with his parents, which involved a discontinued marriage and his coming out to them as gay.

It’s with those inner demons where the two of them meet and develop feelings for each other, but it’s very telling that all of this happens within the story’s first chapter - when they both have these new feelings to contend with while still in the middle of dealing with their respective conflicts. While the rest of the series focuses more on Shun’s internal conflict, this first volume gives just as big of a spotlight to Mio’s own struggles. And while he’s implied to have made significant progress with his own battles in the three years he spends away from the island, I think the manga does a better job than the movie in reminding us that his conflict is far from resolved.

One of the reasons why I think that’s so is a manga-only scene that shows Mio actually fulfilling his promise of calling Shun once he’s settled in the new orphanage, but is instead seen talking to Eri, Shun’s close friend who has lived with him and his aunt for quite some time. As she is shown to be in a relationship with another woman, Eri and Shun share a solid connection even if they get on each other’s nerves, and it’s this friendship that leads Eri to warn Mio not to be hasty with his feelings, especially since Mio isn’t really sure with how to feel about being in a relationship with another man.

This was honestly one of those big “Aha!” moments for me, as it recontextualizes so much of what happens in the movie when I reread them here. While we get from Mio himself later in the story that he wanted to make sure he was ready to live alone and make his own decisions before moving in with Shun, the above conversation with Eri tells me that Mio also spent those three years away from Shun as he needed all that time to think about whether or not he was ready to be in a relationship with him. We actually get a sneak peek in the movie of what he does during this time - and I find out later on that this is taken from a future volume - but what we are revealed in Volume 1 is that Mio has slept with a woman, which I think happens within these three years. So when Mio says in the end that he does like women but finds himself being able to fall in love with Shun anyway, it’s a truth about himself that took him several years to figure out.

It’s also telling that Eri is the one who invites Mio to be Shun’s new roommate after she moves out, as for me, this implies that Eri and Mio have been in contact ever since their first call. I’d like to imagine that Eri’s been helping Mio about his feelings for Shun as well, as they’re shown to become pretty good friends in the few scenes they share together. And her funny reaction about Mio suddenly professing his love for Shun when the former moves in suddenly takes on a whole new meaning, as it also means that Eri now sees Mio as someone who’s ready to be in a relationship with her friend.

Of course, three years of soul-searching might have been good for Mio, but it took a toll on Shun. He is shown to be a lot more hurt about this specific issue in the manga compared to the movie, and I think that’s pretty justifiable. He is, after all, coming from a place where admitting he likes men has only brought him pain, and we even find out later in the story that Mio is the first man that he’s ever admitted his feelings to since he’s always scared of the repercussions that would come out of his confession. Mio ghosting him for three years (apart from a postcard) gives Shun the impression that he’s once again made the wrong decision, so to suddenly be hit with an “I like you too” from Mio after three years is something that Shun isn’t prepared to handle.

We initially see most of this struggle from Mio’s perspective, and while it seems to culminate with their night in the hotel room, it’s given another twist with a visit from Shun’s childhood friend and ex-fiancee, Sakurako. I was slightly dreading that this was gonna go down a “win him back” type of plot, and while we do find out that Sakurako hasn’t moved on from Shun in the same way that he has moved on from her, what she does bring to the table is much more interesting. Shun finds out from Sakurako that his father is gravely ill, and she encourages him to go home before it’s too late. This turns out to be an issue that Shun and Mio see from completely different sides, as while Shun is still very much hurt over his falling out with his parents, Mio knows all too well the pain of losing a parent.

What I didn’t expect to see from the manga, though, is how Mio is actually not as 100% supportive of the idea of Shun leaving to go to his family as I thought. While he still encourages him to accept Sakurako’s decision, the manga adds some dialogue where he does admit that he doesn’t want to be apart from Shun yet again. I think it makes his stand on the issue a lot more realistic, as while he still loves Shun and wants to make up for the three years he spent away from him, he loves him enough to know that this trip is a lot more important for him, even if the novelist doesn’t see it as so.

It makes Shun’s insistence of Mio going with him to the trip in the end a lot more meaningful, as it sees Shun come to terms with quite a lot of things he’s been bottling up at that point. He realizes that he does want to see his family and maybe even get some closure out of it, but he also realizes that he cares for Mio just as much - and, more importantly, he doesn’t want to run away from either of them anymore. So when Shun sees the opportunity to still have both of them by his side, he takes it.

While it may seem like I enjoyed Seaside Stranger more for how the manga executed things when compared to the movie - and I admit that’s a big part of it, specifically for this volume - my initial thoughts of it having a gut-punch of a story still remained, and it’s perhaps even amplified after reading this. It really succeeds in exploring Shun’s and Mio’s internal conflicts and eliciting a lot of emotions out of them, which makes the few moments where things do work out a lot more rewarding.

Random thoughts that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

I also wanted to point out how Mio being ready for the relationship doesn’t mean that he suddenly has the relevant experiences for it, and I think the story did a good job in portraying that. While it was often played for laughs, I still noted it as something that Mio was actively working on, and this is thankfully a plot point that future volumes continue to address.

I should mention how unique the setting is - this is one of only two series I’m covering for this project that’s primarily set outside of a city, the other being Restart After Coming Back Home. There’s obviously the whole factor that this is somewhere that Shun escapes to after what happens between him and his parents - which can be compared with how this is somewhere that Mio returns to - but I think how quiet and laid back the island is makes for a nice contrast with how the story’s conflicts are anything but those two descriptions. It was also nice to see the whole “everyone sorta knows each other” vibe in the early chapters too.

Where is the Eri x Suzu spinoff??? I really want to know more about them and their domestic life. This is one of the few volumes I’m covering for this project that doesn’t have any bonus chapters, and I 100% believe that if it did, it would focus on the two of them.

Thanks for reading! This is one of those cases that makes me glad that I decided to go through with this project, as there were several points about Seaside Stranger that I only realized as I was writing them down for this review, which only deepened my appreciation for the series even further. While I do have copies of the first three volumes of its sequel, Harukaze no Etranger, I'm still deciding whether or not I should cover them for this project.

#Seaside Stranger #Umibe no Etranger #Stranger by the Shore #Stranger by the Beach #Kii Kanna #Shun Hashimoto #Mio Chibana #Eri #BL manga #manga #manga review

[kusaka6e]

TUTOR

three | four | five

chapter list

———

the next day, you drive over to see your brother after your morning lectures, the cold winter air cutting through your clothes as you approach the entrance

you pull a mask over the bottom half of your face as you enter the building, thankful to be out of the cold.

"hey (l/n)! how are you?" the charge nurse waves from her desk, eyes crinkling into a smile from underneath her mask.

"hi suni, good to see you again."

you make your usual route down the hall, knocking gently when you reach the door.

"hey bub, you awake?"

"hi sissy." he paused his switch, smiling at you from his bed. you sigh, seeing the multiple bags of fluids on his iv pump.

"how come you're hooked up to so much stuff today?"

"the nurse said my platelets went down last night, so they're giving me more today." you nod, trying your best to not let any negative emotion show.

"i brought you something. the book store on campus got more in a couple days ago." you unzip your backpack and produce the next few volumes of a shounen manga your brother had been raving about.

"no way!! thank you!" he smiles brightly, wrapping his small arms around your torso. as you hug him back, you feel how much thinner he's gotten and internally sigh.

"do you like your nurses this time?"

"they're really nice! i don't remember her name, but the one from a few nights ago helped me get vending machine snacks." he's smiling brightly and talking with so much enthusiasm, you almost forget why you're there.

you stay for a couple of hours, playing games on his switch and talking to each other about schoolwork and other random things until he falls asleep.

as your packing up your things, there's a soft knock on the door.

"oh, hi (l/n)! i was just coming to check on him, you guys need anything?" one of the nurses you'd seen before whispers as she comes in

"no thank you, i'm just about to head out. can i ask you a couple questions?"

"of course." she nods away from the room, gently closing the door before facing you.

"is there any update on the waitlist thing?"

"because of his age, he's been made a priority patient on the waitlist; which is great! but, he's taking to this round of treatment fairly well. it has been tiring him out but the tumor isn't growing and there aren't any new ones."

"that's so great, thank you. and, thank everybody here from me, you all have been so wonderful."

"we're happy to help. you take care of yourself too honey, we'll see you next time." you give her a small wave before heading back to your car.

you glance up at your dashboard, cursing when you see '4:18' written on the clock. if you hurry, you'd only be a couple minutes late.

at 4:29 you fly into a parking space, throwing your car into park as you sling your backpack over your shoulder.

thankfully, baji is sitting at the same table you two were at yesterday, so it's not hard to find him once you enter the library.

"what was that you said yesterday about making an entrance?"

you glare at baji as you pull your notebook and a stack of paper from your backpack, brushing your hair out of your eyes. his hair is pulled into a bun, some baby hairs falling around his face.

"didn’t wanna be late." he grins, hearing the same words he said to you yesterday.

"i was looking at the notes you wrote me yesterday and i got confused."

"about?" you were greatful for baji not picking up on how stressed you were, or at least wasn't saying anything about it.

"how to get answers with this avo... ago... avor?"

"spit it out already." you giggle, his face twisted in focus.

"av... avocado's number. i don't know how to use it."

"avogadro's number. let me see the problems."

he noticed you looked stressed, different from your usual collected demeanor. given, this was only the second day he'd actually spent time with you. but, whenever he saw you with mikey or on campus, you always came off unbothered and put together.

"okay, we're gonna do some practice problems. you gotta know this to be good at stoichometry."

"stoich-y what?! i thought this was chemistry!"

"stoichometry is a part of chemistry, dipshit. it's just a fancy way to say dimensional analysis."

"that already sounds fancy, don't make it even more complicated."

"shut up and do the problem."

just like the day before, it takes him awhile, but all the problems get done without any mistakes after a number of tries and a multitude of questions.

"no celebration routine today?"

"not until i don't need your help with anything, remember?" he doesn't look up from having his head tossed back in exhaustion, long eyelashes fanning towards his eyebrows. you let out a small smile, surprised he remembered what you said.

am i blushing ?? ew

"well we've got a ways to go, but you're not doing too terrible."

"wow, thanks for the encouragement." he chuckles, lifting his head to look at you.

"i've gotta go but i'll see you next time, text me when you wanna meet up again."

"bye (l/n)." his eyes stay on you as you exit the library, sighing.

....

"what's got you quiet?" chifuyu raised an eyebrow at baji, lighting the joint in his hand.

"grades. chemistry sucks."

"how's that tutor mikey found for you?" he notices baji tense, smirking.

"she's really smart."

"and...?"

"and what?"

"is she hot?"

baji's lack of an answer makes matsuno laugh, letting a puff of smoke exit his lips.

"so, when are you gonna ask her out?"

"dude!"

"you're not? why don't you give me her number then?"

"i'm not giving you her number!" baji glares at him, jealously kicking in before he can try to keep it under wraps.

"i'm just fucking with you, i'm not gonna mess with her."

"it's not like she'd hang out with me other than tutoring."

"what makes you say that?"

"because she's so like.... together . she never seems stressed or mad, or sad, or anything."

"so? mitsuya comes off that way too, look how quick he is to knock someone out. i don't think you know her well enough to say that yet."

baji sighs, holding his hand out to chifuyu and taking a drag from the blunt.

"i guess it can't hurt to try, right?"

#tokyo rev x reader #tokyo rev #tokyo rev x y/n #chifuyu matsuno #chifuyu #baji fanfic #baji fic #baji x reader #keisuke baji #baji #baji keisuke

[cocogum]

I made a little something cuz of Chapter 6 🥰

spoilers under the cut

@geekgirles @onyichii @vinillain

#the great wave chapter 6 #ankama #krosmoz #wakfu #wakfu yugo #wakfu season 4 #wakfu s4 #wakfu amalia #yugo #wakfu the great wave #wakfu amalia sheran sharm #amalia sheran sharm #yugo sheran sharm #wakfu yugo sheran sharm #the great wave manga #wakfu manga #wakfu webtoon #wakfu the great wave manga #the great wave #wakfu season 5 #wakfu s5 #wakfu sadida kingdom #sadida kingdom #wakfu aurora #wakfu sadida #sadida #wakfu osamodas #osamodas #wakfu meme #wakfu memes

[brainbuffering]

12 Days of Manga 2022

 Day 4: Top 3 Shonen

Aka... the Shonen Jump award... Yes I am a hypocrit who complains when people only ever read stuff from Shonen Jump/Viz but also it’s the best deal in comics and it would seem I ONLY read shonen from them this year so.... to continue to be incredibly basic:

1) Akane-Banashi by Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Mou from Shonen Jump (T: Stephen Paul L: Snir Aharon) 

[ID: Japanese Cover for Akane Banashi Vol 1. Akane wears a pink floral Haori/Kimono jacket over the top of her school uniform. She points a closed fan outwards and pulls a goofy expression. Behind her are panels displaying scenes of Tokyo as well as her Father performing Rakugo]

“Shinta Arakawa wants nothing more than to pass his shin'uchi exam-the test that would make him a top-rank headliner and master storyteller in the traditional Japanese art of rakugo. His daughter Akane Osaki is his biggest fan, and even practices the same performances while watching him behind the closed door to his study. When rakugo master Issho Arakawa expels everyone after the exam with no explanation, a fire is lit inside Akane. From that day forth, she has had one goal-to avenge her father and prove his art was worthy of the title of shin'uchi.

Akane unintentionally stirs up the specter of scandal when she's discovered taking informal lessons from her father's former teacher, Shiguma Arakawa. But she's about to make even bigger waves, because her first step in climbing the ranks of rakugo performer from zenza opening act to shin'uchi headliner is exchanging her secret lessons for formal training. And she'll still have to finish high school and navigate her relationship with Shiguma's existing apprentices, all while learning that becoming a stellar rakugo performer takes much more than just being good at performing!’

This series has been making it into a lot of people’s top 10s this year and justifiably so. The series stands out from the usual Shonen Jump fair, not just due to its female protagonist, but also how at its heart it’s an educational slice of life. Sure, it maintains those shonen tropes of following your dreams no matter what, but Akane’s dreams are far more realistic than becoming hokage or curing your sister from being a demon or even winning the sports ball world cup! She just wants to become a top level Rakugo performer, something reasonable and possible to achieve. Okay, the whole “seeking revenge for the way her father was treated” is very Shonen, but equally Theatre Kids are just Like That(TM). In many ways, that attitude is what makes her such a realsitic character. I’ve seen some say that she’s a little bland, but I think it’s more that she’s not a caricature of something we’ve seen a thousand times before. Akane feels like a girl I could have met at my Drama Club, and that’s great!

The thing that really stands out to me though is the way Mou’s artwork helps to emphasise that this is a story about story telling! I’m always a fan of seeing an art style change as a way of ehancing story telling and scene adaption and Mou shows a real master class in this as they swap between a contempoary manga style, and one clearly inspired by traditonal japanese ink painting. It not only helps differentiate between what is ‘real life’ and what is ‘Rakugo’ but it also makes the book more visually engaging and apealing.

In recent chapters, we’ve also seen this come into being as a way of giving more information about the characters and the nature of their performances. I’m very excited to see where this goes, and how the style develops as the series goes on. After all! We’re only on chapter 42! There’s plenty more left to go.

I’ve also been very interested in Paul’s localisation choices throughout the series. It must have been a lot of hardwork to make sure that the visual puns for the Rakugo stayed, and I wonder how much of the translation is Paul’s own personal translations, and how much is established rakugo? There must have been a lot of research involved in preparing for this series, and being able to get it out on a Simulpub schedule is truly impressive! If anyone can point me towards interviews about the process of translating this series, I would be very grateful.

It’s also not often an SJ series keeps honorifics in, even though it makes sense for a series so deeply centered in Japanese Culture. I don’t think Manga has to be culturally educational, but I think that is definetly one of the appeals of it: especially for younger readers. International theatre traditons are not something commonly taught in schools, and whilst I did have a tiny bit of a grounding in Japanese Theatre Tradition thanks to a combination of Crash Course Theatre* and Case File no. 221: Kabukicho** it’s been so much fun to learn more about the history of the medium and the art as a whole!  

I think some of the more recent chapters have been perhaps trying a little too hard to ‘say something’ about gender in the industry, and I’d rather we had a little more show and little less tell, but on the whole I’ve been really enjoying the series and know that my past teenage theatre-kid-weeaboo self would have been eating it up with a spoon!

Now if Akane could get some female friends, that would be great too.

*Crash Course Theatre does not cover Rakugo, but it does cover Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku and is absolutely worth checking out! But prepare for mispronouciations.

** a modern day Sherlock Holmes adaption in which he presents all his deductions through the art of Rakugo. David Wald is one of my favourite ever Mrs Hudsons but I had to drop it because the show did my girl Mary Morstan so dirty

2) My Hero Academia: Vigilantes by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court from Shonen Jump (T: Caleb Cook L: John Hunt)

[ID: English Cover of Vol 13 of MHA: Vigilantes. Koichi in an All Might Hoodie sends a circular blast off at No. 6 as he raises a glowing fist to punch him. Bomb people in civilian clothes and full black face masks reach up to grab Koichi and pull him down to the ground. An explosion is going off in the background.]

“In a superpowered society, there is nothing ordinary about evil anymore. Heroes, trained and licensed to protect and defend the public against supervillains, stand above all the rest. Not everyone can be a hero, however, and there are those who would use their powers to serve the people without legal sanction. But do they fight for justice in the shadows, or for reasons known only to themselves? Whatever they fight for, they are called...vigilantes.”

As one door opens, another one shuts... and another has something stuck in the hinges that makes it refuse to close even though the cold is getting in and I think this metaphor is getting away from me?

Vigilantes has been an absolute highlight of a Superhero series for me! At first I was put off by some of the over sexualisation of Pop, and how it appeared to be suffering from Watchman-itus but as the series settled down and found its own pace it lost all of that and instead became a solid and enticing addition to the Superhero canon!

Because to me, that’s the fundemental difference between mainstream MHA and Vigilantes. Mainstream MHA upholds the hero society status quo, and we’re never really taught to question it. Not just in terms of the inuniverse discussions but those for the medium as a whole. I used to read it weekly, but I’ve honestly gotten so tired of the “Women In Fridges” level misogyny that I had to stop. I’ll get back to it eventually just to say that I saw it through to the end, but I think I need to let it end first.

Meanwhile, I felt like Vigilantes didn’t out stay its welcome at all! It was the number of volumes it needed to be to tell the story it wanted to tell. Whilst Pop could have been treated better, she was still given her own development and character arcs! I also liked how her “empowerment” came with her putting on MORE layers, not taking them off! She found her sense of self through frumpy jumpers and goofy hats, not bikini bottoms and push up bras which is something we so often see in the Superhero Medium.

This was something that was reflected throughout the series, to be honest! Especially with Midnight, who quickly became my favourite character in the franchise due to this series. Furuhashi and Court took Horikoshi’s one note sex joke and gave her development, an actual character, and a street-flasher-style-trenchcoat to keep her warm, covered up, yet still in character. Given that Mainline MHA runs in Jump and Vigilantes in Jump+ you would think this would all be the other way around? The series aimed at older teens featuring the skimpily dressed version and the one at young boys the more modest version. But that’s manga for you I guess!

You can tell the deep love the Vigilantes team has for superheroes, with their knowing nods to heroes like Nightwing (hey, remember when I wrote a literal essay about how great his butt is?) in a way that actually helps aid the narrative rather than just fun time cameos. They’re also open for discussion, encouraging the reader to question the world around them, and to not even take what’s in the book at face value! They expect to be critiqued in the future, and want you to do so. It’s very refreshing given how mainstream hero media is turning more and more towards coppergander.

I really feel as though Vigilantes is adding to the communal hot pot of comics creation, and not just borrowing; and that’s why it’s in my top reads!

3) Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo from Shonen Jump (T: Casey Loe, L: Rina Mapa)

[ID: English Cover of SXF Vol 9. Becky Blackbell sits in a pink George Nelson Coconut Chair wearing a pink, green and white pinstripe dress. She has a toy sheep with her, and varrious items scatter the floor underneath such as school clothes, shoes, handbags and gift boxes]

“An action-packed comedy about a fake family that includes a spy, an assassin and a telepath!

Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions for the betterment of the world. But when he receives the ultimate assignment-to get married and have a kid-he may finally be in over his head!

Yor's on assignment and finds herself up against a gang of assassins on board a luxury cruiser. Meanwhile, Loid and Anya each discover that bombs have been planted throughout the ship! Will their best efforts be enough to save the vessel?”

I understand that many people are perhaps a little sick of SXF being on every recomendation list and top 10, but what is perhaps most frustrating is that it does genuinely deserve to be there. It’s like complaining that someone’s favourite food is cocolate. Maybe it’s a little cliche, maybe it’s a little obvious, but it’s a very valid answer!

I’ve loved getting to see Yor’s character development as something beyond the goofy milf everyone wants to drool over. (Thank God this year’s Anime Waifu is an actual adult who is written with constant agency, and not a big boobed teenager). Yor’s sweet, she’s caring, she’s got some big questions in her heart about her role in the world, not just as the fake mother in this fake family but also the very reason she’s still killing for a living. What is she out here to defend? What does it mean for her future? And how has her relationship with Anya and Loid altered her world view?

I especially loved having Yor’s intense action sequences where she must fight off spies and assasins to defend her widowed client and child, being contrasted with Loid’s panic that if he isn’t enough of a “Cool Dad” Anya will leave him and the mission will fail.

I don’t know if it’s because Endo worked as an Assistance to Kato on Blue Exorcist, but there’s definitely a “drinks his respect women juice” vibe in his work that is absent in a lot of SJ titles (looking at YOU Horikoshi). Even when they’re gag characters like Fiona Frost who on the surface is just there to be a Yandere in love with Loid, she’s still treated with a level of professional respect not found elsewhere. She’s a highly competent agent, who also happens to be deeply and obsessively in love with Loid. Something highly relateable, if we’re all being honest. Endo is even able to do the “School Girl has huge crush on Adult Man” and make it highly realistic (as far as a comedy setting goes) and leave it with no shadow of a doubt that absolutely nothing is going to happen between the two characters.

Now I think this is probably one of the only SJ series to regularly pass the Bechdel-Wallace test? Of course the test was originally conceived based upon how difficult it is for Lesbians to see themselves portrayed in media when women weren’t even allowed to talk to each other and things that weren’t men, and therefore it is perhaps a little irelevant to mention. However, given how easy it is to interpret Yor and Loid’s relationship as Queer Platonic, and the overall “family of choice” vibes the series gives off, I don’t think it is too far reaching to say that the series has the potential for queer inclusivity.

Again, I can see why people are frustrated to see SXF being plastered all over the place, but I’d be more frustrated if it wasn’t. This is a must read series, for all ages! I’m excited to see where the rest of the series goes, and know that once we get Sherwood’s full backstory I am going to be a crying mess on the floor. 

Thank the gods for lactose-free chocolate ice cream....

#shonen #akane banashi #my hero academia vigilantes #spy x family #manga #shounen #12 days of manga #12 days of manga 2022

[nofacedpoet]

AWWT | Ch.14: Family

TW: pt.4 of this chapter contains self harm. There is additional spacing before and after this part to make it easier for those that want to quickly scroll to the next part.

(Pt.1)

Three years later….

“Happy fourteenth birthday, you fucking weirdo,” Valentine shoved Ava and she collided into Eren. 

“Ouch,” Ava rubbed her arm. 

“What should we do to celebrate?” Eren asked. “Rob the donut shop or-oh-wait I know. I can steal us some alcohol from—”

“No! Please-God-no,” Ava put her hand up to his face. “I only ask for one day of peace without you and Valentine causing havoc around here.”

Armin giggled. “You’re asking too far much from them.”

Eren sighed and crossed his arms. “No! I can do it,” he carried such little confidence as he glanced over at Valentine for reassurance. She smiled and nodded no. “I don’t know why you’re giving me that look as if you’re not the one that causes most of the chaos!”

“Shut up!” Valentine shoved him. “We all know it’s you,” she said under her breath.

“This!” Ava held her arms out in front of an ice cream shop that had a gigantic ice cream cone on the front. “Is all I want.”

They each got a 6-inch tall ice cream cone and sat on the side of the road as they raced to see who could finish theirs first. Ava got cotton candy and birthday cake, Valentine got chocolate, Eren got strawberries and cream, and Armin got lemon vanilla. Ava took a giant bite of her ice cream and Eren seized the opportunity. He leaned over and barley nudged the bottom of her cone to where the ice cream smooshed into her face. A bit got on her nose and he laughed. 

“Eren!” She wiped it with her sleeve.

“What’d your parents say about you guys sleeping over at my house tonight?” Eren asked as he attempted to lick the side of the cone that dripped with ice cream.

“They were weird about it,” Ava shrugged. “Seemed really uncomfortable about the whole idea, really.”

“I’m not surprised,” Armin said. “Especially since the great disaster.” This is what they called the night in which all of their parents, except Armin’s grandad, freaked out and grounded all of them. 

***

The four of them had originally planned to hang out but Armin and Ava decided that they wanted to do something more “fun”. Which in their opinion, consisted of their usual hobby of reading each other’s favorite books and conversing over the writing techniques, plot, and character analysis. 

“I don’t want to do that boring nerdy stuff,” Eren pouted.

“We’re not asking you to,” Armin said. “And it isn’t nerdy stuff. It’s just interesting—”

“I don’t want to know,” Valentine interrupted. 

“Well fine then,” Ava stood straight up with her hands on her waist. “Why don’t me and Armin hang at his place to do our nerdy stuff and you two can go do whatever weird shit you usually do when we’re not around.”

“We don’t do weird shit!” Eren crossed his arms and scowled.

Armin gave him a look of disbelief. “Spying on your neighbors with a telescope—”

“Or having burping contests,” Ava pinched her nose as she waved her hand out.

“Is weird!” Ava and Armin said at the same time.

Valentine and Eren glanced at one another. “Nah,” they said at the same time.

Ava sighed. “Whatever. If you need us, we’ll be doing nerdy stuff.” She grabbed Armin’s hand and walked off back toward his house. Armin glanced back with a light wave. 

“C’mon, we don’t need them!” Eren snatched Valentine’s hand and stomped off back inside of his house. 

Eren and Valentine played through most of his video games, wrestled one another (Valentine won each match), practiced throwing ice into each others mouths from across the room, made a specialty tea that Eren spat all over Valentine because he began to laugh as soon as he took a giant gulp, (she had to end up changing into one of his wrinkly shirts from his dirty pile because he still hadn’t done his laundry) and afterwords they cooled down with one of their favorite things to do: they took turns reading through their favorite mangas in a tone and voice that they thought fit the characters. It usually ended with them laughing so hard that they couldn’t even continue. And later that night, at about three in the morning, the great disaster took place.

Carla, Eren’s mother, had bursted through Eren’s door as if she was on a heist mission and was appalled at what she walked into. Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped and she gave the biggest gasp of her life. “Eren!” she screamed horrified. 

Valentine and Eren were tangled up in blankets on his bed and completely passed out. Her left arm and leg danged off the edge of the bed as her head rested in a pile of Cool Ranch Doritos, which were Eren’s favorite. Eren laid half way on top her with his face smooshed into her right shoulder and his arm stretched out across her stomach as he drooled onto her. 

“Grounded! Oh, you’re in so much trouble mister! A week! No! Three weeks!” 

“Huh?” Eren opened one eye and slightly moved his head up. “Why are you screaming?” he said annoyed and slightly confused. 

“Hm?” Valentine squinted her eyes open to see Eren’s saliva stretching like a spiderweb from the corner of his mouth onto a small puddle that absorbed into her shirt. “Ew! What the fuck, Eren!” she shoved him so hard that he fell back on the floor. 

While this chaos unleashed, there was another war zone happening at Armin’s house. Unlike Valentine and Eren, Ava and Armin were still awake. They were camping inside of tent in the corner of his room with a starry sky projector. Inside, they squished into the same sleeping bag and whispered back and forth and giggled about certain chapters of the books that they were reading with their tiny flashlights. 

BANG! Armin’s bedroom door slammed open so hard that it nearly cracked the wall behind it. They gasped and both glanced at each other with wide eyes. 

“It’s the alien monster,” Armin trembled as he and Ava squeezed each others hands. The zipper of the tent ripped open to unveil a very upset Mila glaring down at the both of them as if they had done the worst thing in the world. 

“I’m really sorry about that,” Armin’s grandfather could be heard saying from the background. “I assumed it was alright.”

“Really, Ava?” Mila said in the most disappointing tone that Ava had ever heard from her. “And where is Valentine?” She stretched an eyebrow so high that it nearly left her forehead.

Armin and Ava glanced at one another for a long moment. Then Ava slowly moved her gaze back to Mila. “I don’t know,” she answered quietly. 

“Armin,” Mila said.

Armin’s eyes widened but he kept his stare on Ava, who wasn’t even looking at him anymore. “Yes ma’am?” he said politely as he refused to make eye contact.

“Do you know where she is? Or Eren? Are they together?”

Armin began to tremble as he struggled to get his lips to make out a response.

Mila sighed. “I guess I have a pretty good idea where she might be. Let’s go, Ava.”

When they reached Eren’s house, it only got weirder. Mila put her hands on her head as she stared at Eren’s shirt that Valentine wore. “Oh my God,” she walked off with Carla and they both whispered back and forth in the corner as they shook their heads and occasionally glanced back at them.

“It’s just a shirt,” Eren mumbled. “What the hell is going on?” He scratched his head.

“So how long do you think this time?” Ava said exhausted.

“Three weeks,” Valentine said. “We’re definitely all grounded for three weeks.”

***

“I still don’t understand why we were in so much trouble that night.” Armin shook his head. “I mean, I get that we didn’t explain to any of them that we split plans but was it really worth the freak out and drama?” 

“If we’re going to get yelled at and grounded, they should at least tell us what we did that was so forbidden!” Eren said annoyed.

“Parents are so weird.” Ava giggled. “Anyways, they eventually did say yes to tonight.”

“What?!” Armin screamed. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Valentine said. “They just want to have a talk with Eren’s parents and your grandad to ensure that we’re all going to be in the same place.”

Eren rolled his eyes. “My parents also want to talk to them first. And they made it a rule that we all have to sleep in the living room,” he sighed. “I cleaned my entire room for no reason!”

Armin shrugged. “At least we get to have another sleepover together. I thought they’d never allow us again.”

//

Later that night…

They made an entire fort in the center of Eren’s living room with blankets and sheets with pillows inside. Snacks scattered everywhere as they sat in a circle and  prepared for the long awaited birthday finale, the gift exchange. 

“Alright, mine first!” Eren slammed his gift in front of Ava. It looked like a crumbled up paper ball. Ava was certain that it was another joke of his and that there was nothing in there at all. Last year, he claimed that his present was his friendship.

“Hm. I wonder.” Ava began to tear through it. There was a small 2x2 black box in the center of all the wrinkly paper but still, she was certain it was nothing. She shook it a few times and could hear something hitting the edge of the box. She gasped and her eyes lit up. “You actually got me something?” 

Eren crossed his arms. “It’s not anything crazy, so don’t get your hopes up.”

She paused for a moment as she glanced at the box as if her life would never be the same after she opened it. Then, she hesitantly slid the top lid off. Her eyes widened as her lips slowly parted. Eren refused to watch and instead stared off into the other direction. 

“Well what is it?” Valentine asked. Armin leaned over and gasped.

“It-” Ava’s eyes watered. “It’s the necklace.” She slowly moved her gaze up to Eren, who was still staring off into nothing. “Eren,” she said in a somewhat serious tone. “Why did you get this?”

Ava had wanted this necklace for months. Every time they walked down Shop Avenue, she’d always stop by this one shop just to stare at it through a small glass case. She knew that she could never afford it but just seeing it was enough for her. It was a four petal flower that had a different colored gem on each petal. Each one reminded her of each of them. The yellow was Armin due to his soft and warm nature. The red was Eren due to his passionate rage. The green was Valentine due to her explorations. The pink represented Ava just because that was her favorite color. And in the center laid a white gem that connected all of them together. That one was special. It represented a pureness of their friendships that could never dull. 

“You must’ve saved up months of allowance for this,” Ava’s voice nearly broke. “I-I can’t accept it.” She laid the box in her lap and stared into it with regret.

Eren rolled his eyes and glanced at her finally. “You think my allowance could pay for that? I stole some of my parents money.” Ava gasped.

He was lying but only Armin and Valentine knew that. He did extra work around his house and even some yard work for nearby neighbors to save up for it. It was the first time that Armin and Valentine had ever seen him put so much effort into one thing. 

“It’s not like they’ll know! Plus, you’ve always wanted that. Just enjoy it. It’s not like the shop takes returns anyway.” His cheeks blushed but he tried to look as unbothered as possible.

Ava grinned and moved her gaze back to the necklace. “Thank you.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Eren waved his hand.

She pinched two fingers on either side of the chain and carefully took it out of the box like she was defusing a bomb. A massive grin stretched on her face as she wrapped it around her neck and Eren helped her hook it on. She caught Eren smiling but he quickly wiped it off and looked away.

“Okay-okay, open mine now!” Armin scooted his neatly wrapped gift across the floor toward Ava. It had a fluffy pink bow on top. 

She gently took the bow off to where it wouldn’t break and unwrapped the box. “Oh my gosh! You did not!” She yanked a hoodie out that had a pear with a face on it. It was an odd clothing brand that was some weird joke between the two of them. Eren and Valentine never understood it and never really cared too. “I cannot believe you actually got it!” She laughed as she put it on. 

“You can add it to your collection,” Armin said. 

“Our collection,” she smiled at him. They usually borrowed each other’s shirts and hoodies. Especially when it came to that collection.

“Okay, let’s just get this over with already,” Valentine slid a box over. It wasn’t wrapped at all but it was in a box at least.

“Hm,” Ava smiled as she opened it. She glanced inside and her eyes widened. She reached in and pulled out a handful of books. “No way…the entire collection?!” She had mentioned this series, titled “Monsters”, subtly to Valentine years ago. She didn’t have the money when the final copies were sold and complained about how she could never obtain the only copy from the library because it was always checked out. “But I thought no other copies existed?” Ava said in awe as she held the first book up like it was gold. 

“There isn’t. It was a real bitch to hunt down one of the owners and even a bigger bitch to make a deal. But they finally budged. And I didn’t have to kill them for it,” Valentine said. 

Ava glanced at her with watery eyes and Valentine looked away. “Thank you,” Ava whispered. 

“Don’t make a big deal,” Valentine said. “They’re just books.”

//

They giggled as they passed around a flashlight and confessed their biggest secrets that they only entrusted in one another. At first, Armin didn’t want to play and claimed that he had no secrets to tell but each time the flashlight made its way around to him, Eren pressed him.

“Seriously Armin, you have to tell us at least one secret. Something you’ve never told anyone, ever.” Eren gave him a devious smile.

Armin sighed as he glanced to the side at Eren’s shadow that smeared against one of the sheets of their fort. He squeezed onto the flashlight between his hands that aimed directly from under his face. He moved his attention back to Eren with a look of exhaustion. “Sorry. I just don’t feel very good. I don’t have anything.” He opened his hand so the flashlight rolled out and made its way toward Eren.

Eren’s eyes widened. He leaned in to grab the flashlight and whispered, “Did you take your medicines today?”

Armin scowled. “Eren,” he crossed his arms. Anytime anyone brought this topic up, he became severely uncomfortable and slightly agitated. He didn’t like to talk about it. All they knew was what he told them, which was that after what happened to his parents, he had been directed to use certain medications daily. 

“I’m just asking.” Eren stared into the flashlight. “You said you didn’t feel good, so—”

“Okay.” Armin wanted this conversation to end already. 

“Someone else go then.” Eren flipped the flashlight in his hand to where the handle faced outwards.

“I guess I can go,” Valentine grabbed it.

“Oh, this is going to be good.” Eren shoved some popcorn into his mouth.

They all got situated in their spots to where they faced her. 

Valentine aimed the flashlight to where it was partly hitting her face. Most of it beamed alongside her face and stretched behind her. She stared into a single piece of popcorn that laid on the floor. “I…did something.” Her tone shifted into a dark and mysterious one. She hesitated to fully glance up at the others.

“Well, what is it?” Ava asked. Valentine slowly parted her lips as if to speak then sealed them again. 

“Ah, c’mon. It can’t be that bad.” Eren laughed. “It’s not like you killed someone.” Valentine’s eyes slightly widened and their was a few seconds of pure silence. Armin and Eren glanced at one another. Ava stared at Valentine with wide eyes and didn’t bother to break it when Armin and Eren glanced at her. Eren moved his gaze back to Valentine, who was still staring downward. She didn’t want to see their reactions. “Did you?” Eren finally broke the long silence. 

She slowly moved her gaze to meet Eren’s eyes. She was perplexed to see a calmness in his eyes. He didn’t even look slightly alarmed, just a bit surprised. 

“Two,” she answered in almost a whisper as if she didn’t want to really admit it.

Armin’s eyes widened as he slightly moved his head back. He had always known that Valentine was violent but he would’ve never imagined that she actually killed people before.

“Well, did they deserve it?” Eren asked with a completely unbothered expression.

“Yeah. They did.” Valentine glanced over at Ava, who was still staring with shock at the fact that she admitted that. They had all been friends for years now but this was the ultimate test of trust. One that could change everything forever.

“Well then,” Eren smiled from the corner of his mouth. “There’s two less shitty people on this earth.”

This time, Valentine was the one that was taken aback. But she was grateful of his reaction. “Yeah.”

“I’ve killed too,” Eren admitted. Everyone jerked their heads toward him. 

“You don’t have to say that to try and make me feel better,” Valentine glanced to the side.

“I’m serious,” Eren admitted. “Armin was the only one that ever knew. Until now.”

They all glanced at Armin and he sort of shrunk in himself as if he was the one that did the actual crime. Valentine and Ava caught each other’s eye for a moment before Valentine glanced back at Eren. “What happened?” she asked with a sort of relief that she wasn’t the only one in the group that managed to do this.

“They were trying to kidnap this girl, one of my father’s patients. They killed her parents and took her hostage. They were animals and deserved the death they got!”  He crushed a popcorn inside of his hand. 

“Four less shitty people,” Valentine said.

“Hm,” Eren smiled. “Yeah.” He moved his gaze to Armin and caught his eye. “By the way…” his tone shifted a more serious and angry one. “I’d kill for any of you if it ever came down to it.”

Armin’s eyes slowly widened. “Don’t say that,” he whispered.

“I mean it,” Eren’s tone was stern. He and Armin stared at one another for a few long seconds in silence. 

“Alright. Don’t get all emotional now,” Valentine grabbed the piece of popcorn from the floor and tossed it at Eren.

“You’re the most emotional one here!” Eren grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it at her. Some of it got on Ava.

“Eren!” Ava laughed as she grabbed whatever snack was closest, which was chocolate covered almonds, and chunked it at him. 

“Ouch! Those hurt!” Eren shouted as he grabbed a water bottle. 

“No! Eren—” Armin tried to get up to move but it was too late. Water splashed everywhere and on everyone. 

Armin, Valentine, and Ava gasped as they glanced down at the mess. Eren started laughing. “That’s what you all get!”

“That’s it,” Ava grabbed a water bottle and yanked her arm around to spill water on everyone. 

“What did I do?” Armin tried to shield himself. 

Within seconds, the inside of the fort had turned into a massive food and water fight.

//

Eren decided that they had to do something crazy for Ava’s birthday, even if it was subtle. After much debate, mostly from Ava and Armin who absolutely hated doing most things that consisted of trouble, it was settled that they would all sneak out of the house to their secret spot. This consisted of a ten minute hike to an abandoned and collapsed house that sat on the edge of a mountain. It overlooked the entire city of Shiganshina with all of its beautiful mountains and city lights. It was like being in a secret world that was only theirs and it was always more magical at night. 

When they finally reached this majestical place, Armin and Valentine sat on the edge of a giant slab of cement that laid off the edge of the mountain with a huge drop right below it. They swung their feet back and forth as they took in the view. Meanwhile, Ava and Eren, who both refused to get that close to the edge, stayed back and giggled in the background. Eren put his right earphone in Ava’s ear and placed the other in his. He put on one of their favorite songs, one that he swore was made for her, and they held hands as they pretended to know how to dance. He couldn’t dance for shit, and neither could she, but he had always teased that he would have his first dance with her. This was the closest thing to it.

Valentine subtly glanced at Armin and noticed that he was wearing one of Eren’s hoodies, which looked odd on him since they had contrasting styles of clothing. But he didn’t have a choice in the matter because it was chilly out and he hadn’t brought his own pullover to the sleep over because he hadn’t planned on sneaking out at three in the morning. He clutched tightly onto the strings that dangled from the neck line as he stared out into the view. The light from the full moon gently caressed the surface of his skin and the soft blonde peach fuzz that brushed against his cheeks sort of glimmered. It had a similar effect on his blonde hair, which looked as if it contained bits of glitter. The way the blue toned moonlight hit the iris of his big blue eyes made it seem as if they were slightly illuminating. Valentine always admired these small glimpses that she captured of Armin and would collect them in her mind as if it was an album made just for him. They were rare but always so…

“Beautiful.”

Armin slightly moved his head as he was taken out of whatever thought he was stuck in. He turned and glanced at Valentine with his big blue eyes. “Hm?”

Now that he was facing her, she could see the full portrait of him. And now, she could tell that there was a gloominess clouded inside of his eyes. “Did you say something?” he asked with his usual soft and gentle tone. 

“No,” she said in almost a whisper. Her chest became heavy. Why hadn’t she noticed that gloominess before?

“Oh.” He stared for a second. “Alright.” He moved his gaze back to the city lights. 

Valentine hesitated for a moment. “Armin…” she said in a serious tone that still had a gentleness to it.

“Hm?” He turned to look at her again.

“You know you’re one of my bestest friends.”

He looked a bit confused. “Yeah? And you’re one of mine.” He smiled. His smile was so warm, as usual, but there was something off about it tonight.

“Yeah. So that’s why I need to ask you…”

The smile slowly faded from Armin’s face. “What is it?”

“Are you-” she glanced to the side to ensure that Eren and Ava weren’t paying attention and leaned in a bit closer to Armin. “Are you alright? Like alright, alright?”

Armin’s eyes widened and he quickly looked away. He moved his head to where his blonde hair covered the side of his face to shield her out. “Why would you ask that?” His tone was incredibly heavy now.

“Well…like I said. You’re one of my bestest friends. I want to make sure you’re alright and I want you to be able to tell me if you’re ever not.”

Armin moved his hands to the outside of his legs and clutched onto the edge of the cement as he stared downwards at the drop. He didn’t respond.

Valentine looked toward the lights. “I won’t bring it up again.”

There was a long silence and it felt like a dark invisible entity had made its way between them. Then, the silence broke with the sound of nails scratching against concrete. She glanced down to see his fingers now squeezing tightly onto the edge of the cement. She slowly moved her gaze up to him but could still only see his hair. His breathing became heavier and his entire body began to tremble. Is he just really cold? Valentine leaned forward a bit to peak around the curtain of his hair. Her eyes widened as she realized his face was completely drenched with tears. He clenched his teeth and scrunched his eyes shut as if it was taking everything he had to hold them back. She slowly leaned back. 

“Do you…want me to do anything?” she asked.

“I’m sorry,” he sniffed his nose. “I just,” he tried to keep his tone down so no one else could hear that he was crying. “I really don’t want to be a bother.” He wiped his face with the sleeve of the hoodie.

“Armin,” Valentine said in a serious tone. “You’re not a bother.”

He glanced at her as a tear dropped from his eye and slid down his cheek. The bottom of his eyes were red now. “A-are you sure?” He struggled to speak through his tears.

Valentine extended her hand out to him with the palm faced up and her fingers just slightly curled. He glanced at it for a moment before placing his hand in hers. 

“You’re my fucking best friend, idiot,” she said. 

This made him laugh. “I know, but—”

“Armin, I’m telling you.” He looked at her and noticed her serious expression. “You’re not a bother. If you were, I’d simply tell you.”

He gave a small broken laugh and wiped his face with his other hand. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He glanced toward the city with sad eyes. “I’m really not okay…” he squeezed her hand and everything that came after was a shock to Valentine.

He told her everything that he’d been going through and it wasn’t just recently. Armin had been struggling silently for years. She realized that all of this time, Armin was enduring a mental torture and none of them knew. This made her feel incredibly guilty as a friend. He admitted that he thought about his parents every single day and blamed himself for their deaths because he should’ve prevented them from going. He felt like a complete idiot for placing Eren in that position and wondered a lot of the time of what it would look like if he had lost all of his friends in the balloon that day.

He revealed that he had nightmares nearly every night, seeing his parents die over and over again, and sometimes his friends. The medication helped him to not have as many nightmares but it still couldn’t block them all the time. He was surprised and slightly relieved that Valentine knew what it felt like as she admitted that she also had night terrors and Ava had to wake her up a lot of the time. She tried to explain to him that the incident with his parents had nothing to do with him and that he shouldn’t blame himself for that. Then, as their conversation deepened, he revealed one of the biggest secrets of all…

“Wow.” Valentine stared at him with wide eyes. “I would’ve never guessed that.”

He laughed. “I hope not.”

“Do you think you’ll ever tell him?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced forward and a light gust of wind brushed his hair back. His hair looked so soft. “I doubt that he feels the same way towards me and I would hate to ruin our friendship by making it awkward. So probably not.”

Valentine held her pinky out towards him and Armin squeezed it with his. He released a giant sigh of relief.

“Hey!” a voice called out as a bright light shined onto them. They both glanced back to see a soldier making his way toward them but struggling to get through the rubble fast enough. “The hell you kids doin up here?!”

They all gasped and glanced at each other. “Shit! MPs!” Eren bolted before giving anyone else a chance to react.

“Uh!” Ava hesitated for a moment then chased after him. Armin and Valentine jumped to their feet and followed.

“Get back here!” a second MP made his way through the rubble and followed after them. His light flashed back and forth as he chased them.

They laughed as they zig-zagged down the road and watched the MPs struggle to catch up. Nothing else matters in the world than this moment right here, Armin thought as his face warmed up and blushed. Running down a brick road, at four in the morning, with my bestest friends, being chased by MPs, with a full moon and sky full of stars. It’s perfect.

(pt.2)

It had been two weeks since Valentine and Ava saw the boys. Eren was grounded due to something terrible that he refused to explain to them and Armin caught a bad flu. Ava and Valentine were filled with boredom since they were so used to spending nearly everyday with Eren and Armin. While on their time away from them, Valentine’s behavior had shifted into a more somber one. At first, Ava teased that it must be separation anxiety since she’s been away from her partner in crime sidekick, Eren, for longer than usual. But then Ava realized that her behavior became even stranger.

Valentine would wake up in the middle of the night and walk around the house to ensure that everyone was alright and all of the doors were locked up. She had never done that. Some nights, she would sit outside mumbling strange words to herself as she drank herself off until she could pass back out again. She also never did that before. 

And on this day, she sat on the room floor staring into a book that had been the same page for two hours. Rain slammed against their bedroom window and a loud thunder roared so heavy that it shook the walls. The light flickered a few times before shutting off completely. 

“Ugh. Great. I was nearly done reading this page,” Valentine mumbled.

Ava, who was laying down on the bed counting the number of spit balls on the ceiling, rolled over to face Valentine. “You know what we should do?”

“Hm,” Valentine said unamused. 

“We should go play in the rain!” Ava said excitingly. “We haven’t done that in awhile!”

“Mm.”

Ava tilted her head. “You love playing in the rain. We can play hide and seek and you can be the seeker!”

Valentine shut the book and stared at the cover. “I really think we should just stay inside today—”

“Okay, I’m going!” Ava jumped off the bed. “You better come find me or I’ll be waiting for nothing!” She quickly slipped on her rains boots and ran out the door before Valentine could say no.

“Ava,” Valentine glanced toward the door with annoyance. She sighed and slowly stood up. She slipped on her boots and dragged her way toward the bedroom doorway. She peaked her head down the hall as if something was going to be waiting for her. All of the lights in the cabin were still shut off and there wasn’t a bit of sound. Not even a small mumble of talking or laughing from their parents. “Mila?” Valentine turned to face the other direction. “Hm. That’s weird. Where are they?” She walked into the living room and glanced around. The front door was cracked open and rain was pouring in. She had just realized that she hadn’t seen Mila or Mannie all day. She wasn’t sure of whether that was because she was in her own world or if they had left somewhere. Regardless, she felt incredibly uneasy. 

She opened the door and hesitantly stepped one foot outside. She watched as her boot drowned into a puddle. “Better just get this over with,” she pulled herself outside completely and slammed the door behind her. The rain poured down so hard that it felt like small needles colliding into her skin. It was so intense that she could barely see anything a foot in front of her. It also didn’t help that there was a heavy immense fog clouding the air, which also made it hard to breathe. 

“Ava?” she called out but the rain was so loud that she could barely hear her own voice. She put her hands above her eyes to shield the rain from her face and began to walk further into the forest. The ground carried a thick slushy mud with giant puddles of water everywhere. “Can’t exactly track her with this shit.” As she made her way further into the murky forest, she realized that the feeling which she felt for the past two weeks had strengthened significantly. She stopped in her tracks and stood for a moment. Her chest became heavy and her lungs felt like they were collapsing. She tried to take a deep breath but the air was too thick. She leaned over with her hands on her knees and realized that they were trembling. The rain was getting louder now and her eyes were becoming blurry with all the rain in them. The air became denser and colder and she began to shiver. Lightening struck from nearby and caused the ground to shake all around her. “Agh,” she fell back on the ground and landed into a massive muddy puddle. She tried to breathe through her mouth but incidentally inhaled a bunch of water and choked. She heard the sound of cracking wood from nearby and glanced in the direction, yet she still couldn’t see anything. BOOM! There was a giant crash from the other direction and she jerked her head towards it. Did the lightening knock a tree down? I’m certain it came from the other direction.

She made her way to her knees and noticed that the ground in that particular area felt different. Huh? She crawled a bit more and felt area with her hands. She found where the sinking mud stopped and became normal again. I don’t understand, is this a track? If so, what kind of animal can be that huge… Her eyes widened as she felt a presence behind her. It was one that she had never felt before but knew was massive and sent chills down her spine. She slowly turned around to be met with an eye of a titan staring directly at her. It was leaning down towards her and seemed like it’d been there for a few seconds. They stared at one another quietly for what felt like the longest minute of her life. Then, it huffed as if to sniff her and there was a massive wind that blew against her face.

“Ahh!” Ava screamed from the forest. Valentine broke out of her frozen stare down and realized that Ava was still out there somewhere. The titan moved its gaze in the direction of the scream and slowly stood and faded into the fog above. Valentine bolted towards her best guess of the direction in which Ava was.

“Ava! Where are you?!” Valentine looked around in circles but only saw a heavy fog surrounding her. I’m not going to reach her fast enough. Is that the only one out here? If there’s one, there’s surely more. How many more-

“Valentine!” Ava’s voice screamed from the left. Valentine bolted in that direction. Please be okay. Please be okay- BANG! She collided into something and gasped as she stumbled back. It was Ava. 

Ava’s eyes were big and full of a terror that Valentine had never witnessed on her before. “Th-there’s a t-t-t-I-I saw—” she was shaking so bad and could barely get her words out at all. 

“Ava, listen to me.” Valentine squeezed her hand. “We have to run. And don’t stop. Just run!”

\\

“Hey! Kid! Can you hear me?” a Garrison soldier kneeled down on one knee as he shook Valentine by the shoulders. “Where are your parents? Are there others?” Valentine stared straight through him like he wasn’t even there. He glanced up to another soldier and nodded. A nearby soldier screamed as he was snatched by a titan. 

“Gah-damn it! We gotta go!” The soldier snatched Valentine up. “Listen, you’re going to have to hang on. We don’t have time to run. We’re flying!” Valentine nodded and clutched onto him. “You got her?” he asked a second soldier that carried Ava. “Let’s go!” They launched their ODM gear and headed for the inner city of Shiganshina. 

When they got there, it was pure chaos. Alarms went off in every direction. Canons fired off as soldiers attempted to hold the titans back from reaching any further inside of the city. Some people were being eaten alive by titans. Most people were fighting each other for a spot on the last boat that was already filled and getting ready for departure to the other side of Wall Maria, the only escape route. The soldiers that held Ava and Valentine struggled to get through the crowd and decided that it was best for only one to attempt to fight his way through with both girls. 

“Let us on! Please don’t leave us here!” a woman screamed. 

“Children only!” a guard yelled from the entrance of the boat.

“You’re going to let me on that damn boat or I’ll kill you for it!” A man threatened as he got in the guards face. He pulled a knife out and a separate guard tackled him into the crowd. 

BOOM! There was a loud stomp from nearby and everyone glanced back to see a titan that made its way through the canon fire and was now heading straight for them. Everyone screamed in panic and began to shove each other to get on the boat. Some drowned in the crowd and were trampled on. Others attempted to risk their life and jump from the ledge toward the boat, all of which fell straight to their deaths due to the immediate impact of water or due to drowning.

“Go! Get them out of here!” the guard screamed as he waved his hand up to motion the other soldiers. The boat nudged forward a bit and slowly began to move.

“Wait!” the soldier that held both Valentine and Ava tried to shove his way through. “I have two more children!”

The guard waved his hands for the soldier to toss them over the people that stood between them. He tossed Valentine first, then Ava. The guard threw them into the boat and they both landed on a few other children. The boat nudged a bit more and began to move faster now. Screams erupted as the titan made its way to the crowd and began to snatch people up from the ground. 

“Don’t leave us!” a man yelled as he shoved through the guard at an attempt to make it on the boat. Yet, they both fell off the ledge to their immediate deaths.

The children cried and screamed of panic as they watched their friends, family, and homes being ripped to shreds by the very giants that they had only ever heard stories of. 

“Grandad!” a painful and broken voice screamed. 

Valentine gasped and glanced up to see Armin down the boat. He reached his hand out toward the chaos as tears streamed down his face. His grandad waved to him as he tried to hold a brave face. He screamed something out to Armin but it was much too loud to hear.

Valentine and Ava made their way towards Armin. When they finally reached him, Ava wrapped her arms tightly around him and squeezed as she cried. Armin could barely hold himself up and collapsed to his knees as he weeped of pain. Valentine glanced around and found Eren a few feet away. He sat and stared straight ahead with wide eyes. She made her way towards him and silently sat beside him.

//

When they reached the other side of Wall Maria, it was fairly silent as everyone glared and gave them disgusted expressions. There was a few murmured remarks here and there through the crowd.

“Ugh, just look at them. Should’ve let the poor bastards just die with their parents.”

“Who’s supposed to look after these damn orphans? It isn’t coming out of my taxpayer money is all I’m saying.”

“Damn gruts. They’re going to eat all of our food and take all of our resources!”

“Do you think the titans will break through our wall as well?”

The boat came to a halt and a garrison soldier approached the entrance gate to let them off. He gave them a gross expression as if they were a disease that made its way to his home. “Well hurry it up!” He yelled angrily. “We don’t have all day. Get the hell off!” 

“Dirty gruts,” another soldier mumbled underneath his breath as he glared at them.

(pt.3)

It was a long two years for the refugee children of Shiganshina. The usual behavior they faced from commoners and soldiers consisted of being spat on, shoved around, laughed at, made fun of, treated unfairly, punished for no reason a lot of the time, forced to work without pay, and forced to eat left overs after the commoners had their share, if there was any left that was. They were forced to live in a secluded area away from the commoners. 

Valentine scooted her tray away that had one scoop of old mashed potatoes. “Eat.”

Armin sighed. “Valentine, stop it. You keep giving your share away to everyone else and you need to eat too.”

“I’m fine,” she sounded weak. “I can handle it. You three split it.”

“Get to work, you damn grut!” a nearby soldier yelled as he kicked one of the Shiganshina refugees down on the ground. He dug his boot into his back and forced him to his stomach. Other nearby soldiers laughed. Eren clenched his fists and began to tremble with anger. 

“Just leave it,” Armin glanced at him. “You barely got out of the hole yesterday.”

The hole was a giant 15-meter hole in the ground that was filled with sewage. It was where the soldiers would send the refugees for punishment or if they did any little thing that the soldiers didn’t like. They would usually leave them for days at a time without anything to eat or drink. Since it was outside, it would be scorching hot during the day and extremely cold at night. Over the last two years, nearly 100 refugees died in that hole.

Valentine glanced at Eren with heavy eyes. She and Eren were always in and out of the hole. They were a lot alike and weren’t the type to take any shit from anyone, especially the soldiers. One soldier walked behind Valentine and smacked his lips as he glared at the back of her head. “Fucking grut bitch,” he mumbled under his breath. It was the same soldier that she always got into with the most. Ava glanced at Valentine and subtly nodded her head no. Valentine sighed.

“Why aren’t you eating, grut?” The soldier walked to beside the table and glared down at Valentine. “Is it not good enough for you? Maybe we should take away your eating privileges for a week.”

Eren clenched his jaw. The soldier reached for her tray and dragged it all the way to the edge of the table until it fell. The potatoes splattered everywhere on the ground. “Oops,” he said.

A nearby soldier watched from a few feet away and laughed. “Careful with that one. She has a temper, now.”

The soldier leaned closer to her. “Pick it up.”

Valentine slowly moved her gaze to him. “No,” she said calmly. Nearby refugees gasped as they watched.

“What did you just say to me?” he leaned a little closer.

“Are you deaf?”

The soldier’s jaw tightened. “That’s it—”

Valentine grabbed his head and slammed it against the table so hard that it broke his nose. He fell back on the ground and groaned.

“Get the damn grut, she’s back in the hole!” a soldier yelled. A separate soldier grabbed her by the back of the collar and threw her to the ground. 

“Hey!” Ava yelled as she, Armin, and Eren all stood.

The soldier attempted to hold her down but Eren tackled him to the ground and began to punch his face over and over. “You bitch! Don’t you touch her!” Eren screamed.

More soldiers began to make their way over now. 

“It’s just a misunderstanding!” Armin pleaded with his hands up. “Please, let them off!”

“Don’t fight back!” Ava screamed. “Please!” She knew it would only mean more time in the hole and was exhausted from constantly worrying everyday if she’d ever see them again.

Valentine punched one of the soldiers in the face and kicked the other in the head, knocking both of them down. A third soldier threw a fist at her and she dodged it and upper cut him so hard that his bottom jaw cracked. Other soldiers held Eren and began to beat him. 

“No, get off of him!” Valentine screamed as she ran towards him. Four soldiers yanked her back. 

“Get down, now!” They threw her to the ground and shoved her face into the dirt. “You dirty fucking grut!”

“Stop!” Ava cried with her hands over her head. 

They shoved Eren to the ground beside Valentine to where they faced each other. They couldn’t help but laugh. 

“You think this is funny?! Get up!” The soldiers yanked them up. “Back to the hole for these two.”

\\\

“How long do you think this time?” Eren asked as he leaned against the wall of the hole and stared up at the distant sky. 

Valentine stood across on the other side as they weren’t allowed to be too close. She sighed and studied the human waste along the walls. “Who knows. A week maybe.”

“Wouldn’t be our worst.”

“Yeah.” She moved her gaze to Eren. He looked so exhausted and defeated. He had a black eye and streams of dried blood that stained from underneath each of his nostrils onto his shirt. “You shouldn’t have done that for me by the way. It was my fight. Not yours.”

He sighed as he rested the back of his head on the wall and glanced at her. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this. I’m never going to just stand by and let them or anyone ever touch you. Ever.” Valentine rolled her eyes. “I’ll always fight for you. For all of you,” Eren said in a more gentle tone. 

She smiled from the corner of her mouth. “But you kind of got your ass beat.”

“Yeah, well,” he glanced away. “I guess I’ll just keep getting my ass beat for you then.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You’re an idiot. But I’ll always fight for you, too.”

(pt.4) ***TW: pt.4 contains self harm.

“I’m just”—Ava squeezed her arms tightly together as streams of tears fell from her face—“a bystander. And that’s all I’ll ever be.” Her lips trembled. “I hate myself,” she whispered. 

Armin’s eyes widened. “Ava,” he said softly. “Don’t say things like that.”

“I do,” she admitted. “I’m such a fucking waste. I can’t even save my friends from being hurt. I can’t save them from anything. All I ever do is just watch,” she covered her mouth as she began to weep. 

Armin put his arms around her. He knew exactly how she was feeling because he felt that way his entire life. But he’d never admit that to her or anyone else ever. It always worried him when Ava got this bad because he knew how dark her thoughts could become. One time, it became so bad that he caught her attempting to harm herself.

***

“Ava, stop it!” he cried as he yanked the piece of glass from her. He hadn’t even realized that his hand was bleeding from how hard he grasped onto it.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.” 

She made him promise to never tell anyone about that moment, especially Valentine. 

***

He gulped down to try to fight back his tears as he held her. “All we can do is just be there for them as much as we can, in whatever way we can. It’ll be alright.” 

(pt.5)

Valentine grabbed her tray that had cheddar soup, crackers, half a piece of toast, and a canteen of water that read, “Cadet Sakleysi”. She glanced down the long and crowded room that filled with new recruits on the first day of training. 

Valentine was the last to get her tray of food due to an extra 5-mile run punishment she was ordered to after training practice. There were a number of odd glances and whispers as she made her way through the crowd. “How the hell did she finish her punishment that fast? Did they let her off easy?” “Is that the one that got into with drill instructor Miko?” “Yeah. I wouldn’t mess with her. Did you see how quick she knocked him down? “That’s a man three times her size.”

“Well if you ask me, it sounds like you’re asking for a challenge!” a voice screamed over everyone else’s and caused most of the chatter to die down and everyone glanced in the direction from which it came. 

“Oh yeah?! Well bring it on, horse face!” Eren’s voice screamed. 

Valentine’s eyes widened. “Shit!” She took off toward the chaos but struggled to get through the crowd that surrounded the scene. “Fight! Fight!” the crowd cheered.

“Move it!” Valentine violently ripped through everyone and made her way to the front. Armin and Ava had their hands over their faces. Eren was in a stand off with another cadet that was much taller than him. They both held their fists up but neither was really making the first move. Valentine sighed as she threw her tray down on the table and everyone took a few steps back from her. 

The cadet that stood across from Eren was about to throw his fist when Valentine ran towards him and pushed him so hard that he flew into the cadets that stood behind him. 

“Ohhh!” the crowd screamed of excitement. This was the best action they had gotten the entire day. Other than Valentine’s scene earlier with the drill instructor. 

She glanced down at the cadet that was now on the floor. “If you want to a fight, then fight me.”

The cadet glanced up at her with wide eyes then bursted out into laughter. Nearby watchers gasped as they glanced back at Valentine to watch her reaction. 

“Huh?” she said confused. She never received that reaction before. Is this guy insane? Maybe he doesn’t know who I am— 

“Valentine, right?” the cadet said as he struggled to stand up. 

Her eyes widened. So he does know who I am and he isn’t afraid? More of the crowd around began to move further away to prepare for a disaster. “Yeah,” Valentine answered as she glared at him. 

He glanced down at her and put his hands up as he gave a warm and friendly smile. “I’m not about to fight you, okay? I know you’ll beat my ass. I was just messing with Eren anyway. It was all jokes!” 

“It didn’t look like much of a joke to me.” 

“Look, I’ll even make a truce,” he walked up to Eren and extended his hand out to him. The crowd moaned of disappointment as they scattered back to their tables and groups. “Truce?” the cadet asked with a smile. 

“Yeah, fine. Whatever.” Eren firmly grabbed his hand and they shook. 

Jean leaned in a bit more to where only Eren could hear him. “This is also a shake to say that I will graduate above you in the top five.” 

Eren snatched his hand away. “My ass!” This entire quarrel began because they quickly realized in training that they were each others biggest competition for a spot in the top five. Then soon enough, the argument became more so of who was going to be above who in the top five. 

The cadet turned to face Valentine and put his arms out as if to invite her for a hug. “See? We’re cool now.” Eren could be heard growling from behind him. “I’m Jean, by the way,” he extended his hand out to Valentine. 

She gave him a stern stare as she walked up to him and snatched his hand tightly. “If you ever mess with my friends again,” she said in a low threatening tone that let him know she wasn’t kidding, “I’ll beat your ass.”

“Yeah. I get it,” he said with a smile as he shook her hand. “Truce.”

///

“Go, go, go!” drill instructor Thomas yelled through the hard pouring rain. “If your squirrel asses don’t make it to this gah-damn line in two minutes, you’re done for! I don’t want to see your ugly face back in this training again!” 

Cadets were performing the first of many difficult courses in training. It consisted of flying through the rainy forest on ODM gear that they had only learned to manage the day before. Rather than using blades to swipe the napes of fake titans, they were being shot at with paintballs the size of baseballs. Which as you could imagine, hurt like hell. They had to quickly learn to fully balance themselves through unpredictable weather and events while dodging every single hit. If one cadet was touched even slightly, it would stain their uniform a bright neon color that they couldn’t hide and they were to receive punishment after words. Not only did they have to worry about not falling from the air while dodging painful hits, they had to make it to the end of the forest within ten minutes. Then do it all over again and again for hours. 

A giant pink paint ball was heading straight for Jean’s face and he quickly yanked his body to the side. The ODM gear jerked a bit and he nearly lost balance and almost rammed straight into a tree. “Shit!” He grabbed a hold of the gear and found his balance again. “Whoo, that was close. But I’m still better than you, loser!” Jean screamed. 

“I’m not competing with you! You’re better! Fine! I just don’t want to die!” a voice answered back. 

“Huh?” Jean glanced to the side to see cadet Bertholdt. “The hell? Where’s Eren!? He was just right here.” 

“I don’t know! I don’t care!” Bertholdt swung to the right to dodge a paint ball. 

“Shit,” Jean clenched his jaw. “Don’t tell me that little twerp made it to the finish line before me!” He raced out of the last part of the forest but failed to have a clean landing and plummeted into a muddy puddle face first. 

“Ha!” Valentine said. “Nice one.”

“Shut up!” Jean stood up and swung his arms outward to get the mud off. He glanced around and noticed there was only a few cadets that made it out so far and Eren wasn’t one of them. “He didn’t beat me?” Jean smiled. 

“One minute remaining!” drill instructor Thomas screamed through a megaphone. 

Jean glanced back toward the forest as more cadets began to make their way out but still didn’t spot Eren. “Agh!” Jean clenched his fists. “C’mon you big idiot.” A few seconds went by and Eren still wasn’t in sight. “Gah damn it,” Jean took a step forward. 

“The hell do you think you’re doing cadet Kirstein?!” Thomas yelled. 

“Sir. I’m going back in there for a fellow cadet, sir!” Jean answered. 

“You will do no such thing, cadet!”

“With all do respect, sir, I am!”

“Cadet—”

Jean flew off into the forest before the drill instructor could finish his sentence. 

“You big headed idiot! I can’t believe you’re making me do this!” Jean yelled as he flew to the spot where he saw Eren last. “Eren?!” he screamed out but didn’t hear anything back. He landed on a tree and glanced around. A giant neon yellow paint ball was heading straight for him. “Shit!” He jerked his head to the side and barely missed the hit, yet slipped and fell from the tree. “Ah!” He quickly launched his gear and saved himself from hitting the ground below. He gasped as he spotted Eren upside down a couple yards away. “Eren!” He flew towards him. 

“I’m stuck! The damn gear locked up!” Eren yelled. 

“Shit, hold on,” Jean attempted to pull on Eren’s gear that was locked into the tree. 

“Thirty seconds, you ass wipes!” the drill instructor could be heard screaming. 

Eren gasped. “Just go!” He shoved Jean away.

“No! I’m not leaving you here!” Jean pulled on Eren’s gear from the tree and it began to loosen. 

“You idiot!” Eren shoved him again. “Don’t lose your spot for me!”

“Oh shut up, I’m not doing this for you!” Jean pulled one last time and Eren’s gear unlocked. It made a zipping sound as it quickly retracted back toward Eren and he shot it off toward another tree. “Go!” Jean yelled and they both took off racing out of the forest. 

“Five! Four!” the drill instructor counted down. 

“We’re making it out, damn it!” Jean screamed. 

“Three! Two!”

Both Jean and Eren flew out from the forest and rolled across the ground a few times.

The drill instructor glanced down at them as he screamed, “One!” He made his way over and glared down at them. “I gave you an order to not go back in there, cadet Kirstein. For your misconduct, you are ordered to a ten mile run after practice!”

Jean stood up and glanced at him with wide eyes. “Ten?!”

The drill instructor walked up to where his boots hit Jean’s. “Do you want to make it fifteen, cadet Kirstein?! Cause I very much can!”

Jean put his head down. “No, sir.”

“That’s what I thought!” The drill instructor turned and walked off. “Everyone get ready for round 45!”

“Sir!” the cadets screamed.

Eren glanced at Jean, who looked like a sad wet dog. “You didn’t have to go back for me. You shouldn’t have.”

“Well it’s done now, isn’t it?” Jean said in a sad tone. 

Eren lightly slapped Jean’s shoulder. “Thank you…idiot.”

Jean glanced at him. “No problem…idiot.”

“Go!” Thomas screamed and the cadets took off back into the forest.

///

“Alright then. Fine,” Annie said with crossed arms. “Girls vs boys it is.”

“Ha,” Reiner lifted his sleeves. “Pick your best five to represent your team and let’s get this over with already.” 

Annie turned around to face the girls. “Any volunteers?”

“Uh,” Sasha raised her hand. “I’m not volunteering to fight the guys but I just want to say, don’t volunteer unless you can fight because I really really really want some of that steak and sausage and beer so—”

“So are there any actual volunteers?” Annie cut her off as there were more important matters right now. “I myself am going.” 

“I’ll go too,” Valentine stepped out in front of everyone. 

“Oh, we’re for sure going to win now!” one of the girl cadets screamed. 

“I change my mind. I didn’t know she was going to be competing!” a boy said from a few feet away as he stepped back into the boy crowd. 

“Ah, c’mon. You can take her!” Reiner said. Valentine rolled her eyes. 

“We need three more,” Annie said as she studied their side of the crowd. She glanced at Ava.

“Oh, no way,” Ava nodded her head as she stepped back. “I’m not embarrassed to say that I very truly suck at fighting and will lose!”

Sasha covered her mouth and giggled. “You’re funny! I like you.” She gently shoved Ava’s shoulder with her own.

“Hey Sasha!” Connie yelled from the other side. “If you fight, I’ll compete against you! We’ll finally find out which of us is the stronger half!”

“That’s it,” Sasha stepped out. “You’re on!”

“Woohoo!” the girl side cheered.

“Alright, anyone else?” Annie asked. No one else answered. She sighed and glanced toward Valentine and Sasha. “I guess that means some of us will have to fight twice. I can do two rounds.”

Sasha glanced back and forth between Valentine and Annie. “Ah, c’mon! It can’t be me! You’re stronger anyway!” She shoved Valentine. 

“Fine. I’ll double round,” Valentine said. 

“Alright then,” Annie said. 

“Phew,” Sasha wiped her forehead. 

They faced the boys to see that the five lined up consisted of Connie, Eren, Bertholdt, Reiner, and Jean. The crowd began to cheer and throw out names as to who they were rooting for. 

“Hey!” Reiner said “You’re supposed to choose five! Do you not know how to count or what?”

“Some of us will be doubling,” Annie said.

“Which of you—”

“You’ll find out eventually.”

The guys nervously glanced at one another. 

“Fine, whatever! Double the ass-beat for your team then,” Reiner smirked. “Put your first runner up in the center circle and let’s do this!” The crowd cheered even louder. Annie rolled her eyes and turned to the girls. “Alright, anyone care to go first or should it be me?”

“I’ll go!” Sasha said excitingly. “I really want to get this over with already to be honest.”

“Alright then. Go ahead,” Annie moved to the side and turned back around to face the guys. 

“Okay,” Sasha made her way to the circle as she stared back at Annie and Valentine like she was a kid going to her first day of school. “Well aren’t you going to wish me luck or something?”

Valentine sighed. “Goodluck—” 

“No,” Annie said at the same time. 

“Yay!” Sasha turned around to be faced with 6-foot Bertholdt standing across from her with a giant smirk on his face. “Wh-what?! Wait! I thought I was going against Connie!”

“Change of plans,” Bertholdt said. 

“Uhh,” Sasha nervously glanced back. Valentine nodded for her to go ahead. 

“Ready, get set,” Reiner said. “Go!” The crowd began to jump and scream. 

Sasha turned around to see Bertholdt racing towards her. “Ahh! Don’t hurt me!” she screamed with her arms crossed over her face as she braced for the worst. 

Bertholdt tackled her to the ground and there was a “Ohh!” from the crowd. Valentine made an expression like she sort of felt bad for her. 

Sasha kicked her feet and arms out. “Okay! You win! Ahh! I’m tapping out!”

“One for the boys!” Reiner screamed and his side cheered. 

“Pathetic,” Annie mumbled.

Bertholdt made his way off of Sasha. “That was too easy.”

Sasha struggled to stand and walk back to the girls. “I’m never”—she said through heavy breath as if she did much—“doing that again!”

“Alright, so who’s taking me on now?” Reiner flexed his arms out as he made his way to the circle. 

“Oh, please,” Annie rolled her eyes as she walked up. “I’ll be kicking your ass today.”

“Ha! Well I’d like to see you try—”

He was already faced down on the ground before he could even finish his sentence. “Oohh!” the crowd went crazy. 

“Agh,” Reiner groaned. “That hurt.”

“I should’ve chose a more competitive opponent,”  Annie said as she walked back towards Valentine. 

“I didn’t know you could fight like that,” Valentine said amused and impressed. She hardly ever met anyone that fought with skill close to her own. 

“Yeah, well,” Annie rolled her sleeves back down as she faced toward the boys. “I don’t go bantering about it to everyone like you.” 

“Huh?!”

“Alright, who’s up?!” Reiner screamed as he held the side of his stomach. Valentine and Jean made their way to the circle and everyone cheered.

Jean rolled his sleeves up. “I’ll try to take it easy on you,” he smirked. 

Valentine laughed a bit. “Sure.” She put her hands up.

“He’s going to get nuked!” a boy screamed.

“Hey, you’re on my team!” Jean yelled.

“Ready?” Reiner screamed. Jean glared into Valentine’s eyes. “Go!” Reiner screamed and the crowd cheered.

Jean attempted to rush a tackle and leaned down as he grasped his arms around her waist. Valentine pivoted her feet into the dirt and began to push against him. 

“Huh?!” Jean’s feet began to push back. 

She took one step forward and he lost all of his balance on his feet. He didn’t even know how it happened but all he knew was that his back was against the ground and Valentine was on top of him. The crowd screamed with cheer. 

“Too easy,” she shoved him into the ground and pushed herself up. 

“How did—” he glanced around confused and noticed Reiner shaking his head with his hand on his face. “Well you try to fight her then!”

“Get up already!” Reiner yelled back. 

“Shut up!” Jean stood and walked back embarrassed. 

Annie fought Eren and easily won within a second. Valentine fought Connie and it was barely even a fight if anything at all. 

“I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!” Connie screamed as he dropped to his knees. “You win! You’re stronger! Please!” he desperately tapped his hand on the ground over and over. Valentine gave him a peculiar expression. 

“Boo!” The crowd screamed. 

“Hey, what the hell is going on in here?” a drill instructor yelled from nearby. Everyone gasped and scattered like ants back to the dorms.

In the end, the girls won the match and got to feast on the stolen meat and beer from the officers pantry.

\\

Eren, Armin, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Connie snuck into the girls dorms to have a secret party with Valentine, Ava, Sasha, and Annie. It had been a year since they joined the scout training program and they figured they deserved some celebration for being among the ones that have passed onto the second and final year of training. Eren managed to steal some very expensive blue rare wine, along with some other alcohol, from the officer’s pantry while Ava and Sasha managed to steal a ton of food. 

“Oh-oh! I know! A titan!” Sasha screamed as she jumped up and down and pointed at Connie. He nodded no and tried again at his turn of charades. He was terrible.

“I’m going to get another bottle, do you want one?” Ava slurred as she leaned all the way into Valentine. 

Valentine laughed. “Sure, I’ll take one. Are you sure you can make it to the table and back?” she teased.

“Yesssss I’m sure!” Ava stumbled as she tried to stand. Valentine shook her head and moved her attention back to the terrible charades. 

“How the hell was that supposed to be drill instructor Thomas?” Reiner yelled out at Connie. 

“Hey,” Connie extended his hands outward. “It’s not my fault I’m so good and you guys suck.”

“I’ll go and show you guys how it’s done,” Annie stood up and made her way to the front. 

Ava grabbed two bottles and noticed that the door was slightly opened. “Hm?” She walked over to shut it when she realized that someone was standing outside alone. It was Jean. He rested his elbows on the wooden balustrade as his arms hung slightly over with one hand barely holding a grip on his empty bottle. He stared into the few drops that remained at the bottom. She walked up beside him and noticed that his face was wet. 

“Hey,” Ava said in her usual soft tone. 

Jean nearly jumped as he hadn’t realized that she was standing directly beside him. “Uh,” he wiped his face and sniffed his nose. “Hey,” he said without glancing at her. 

“Are you alright?” She placed her warm hand on his cold one. He never knew what it was about Ava but she always gave him a sense of home, even though he was so far from home. “You can talk to me if you need to. No pressure.”

“Yeah,” his voice broke before he could even finish and he began to cry uncontrollably. He covered his face with his other hand embarrassed and began to hyperventilate. She rarely saw Jean cry but she had never seen him this broken before. “I kn-know it’s lame and pathet-ic but,” he struggled to breathe and speak at the same time. 

“Here,” Ava placed the two bottles that were in her other hand on the balustrade and pulled Jean in for a hug. She tightly wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. Jean completely collapsed into her arms as he rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. He began to weep now. She could feel his entire body trembling and parts of her shirt getting caught in his clenched fists. “It’s okay, just breathe, okay?” she patted his back.

“You-you’re so nice,” Jean said as he cried. One of his favorite things about Ava was that she never needed to know what exactly was wrong to comfort someone. Even though she had no idea why he was hurting, she just held him.

Ava smiled. “Sometimes.”

This made Jean giggle a bit. After a few moments, he felt himself begin to calm down. “Sorry,” he whispered as he awkwardly broke away from her. He wiped his nose with his sleeve. 

“Don’t apologize,” she said. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for…Do you want to talk about it?”

He put his head down as if he was ashamed. “It’s so pathetic,” he said with a light laugh that sounded more broken than cheerful. “But,” he hesitated as his breath became heavier. “I just…really miss my m-mom.” His eyes began to water again and he glanced away toward the wilderness around them. “I was always such an ungrateful asshole. I never appreciate the things she did for me until she wasn’t around anymore”—he wiped his nose again with his sleeve—“not even big things either just little things like…her blueberry pie and the way it smelled the entire house…I miss going down the stairs and hearing her hum to the same song each morning. It used to irritate me,” he laughed. “But I just miss it so much now…I just think this first year of training is really taking its toll on me now.”

“Hey, ya know what?” Ava said as she poked his cheek. He gave a broken smile as he glanced at her. His eyes were still really watery like he was about to break again. “Why don’t you write your mom and ask for the blueberry pie recipe and we can make it here?” Jean’s eyes widened and lit up. “I used to help my mom with baking so I have a bit of experience. I’m sure I can’t perfect it as well as your mom but it may give you a small taste of home in the meantime until we graduate.”

“You”—Jean wiped his face—“would do that?”

“Yeah, why not?” Ava smiled.

“That’s literally the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“Yikes. Sorry for that,” Ava teased.

Jean laughed. “Okay! Let’s do it! I’ll write her and ask for the recipe!” His tone changed into a more excited one. 

“Yay!” Ava cheered with her hands up. 

Jean put his arms around her and lifted her from the ground. “Thank you! Thank you!”

“Ahh!” Ava yelled. Jean was much taller than Ava so it felt like a giant lifted her from the ground.

He gently placed her back down. “Sorry, I don’t what came over me,” he scratched his head. 

Ava laughed. “It’s alright. Do you feel better?”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “I do.” He moved his gaze to his hands. “This is going to sound so weird but…you’re kind of…” he glanced up at her with an awkward expression. “You’re like home to me in some ways.” Ava’s eyes widened a bit. “Not like in a weird way or anything!” he quickly said. 

Ava giggled. “It’s not weird.”

“In the least weird way possible,” Jean smiled. “All of you guys are like family to me.” He quickly wiped the smile off of his face as her realized that that sounded even more weird. “Is that a creepy thing to say?”

“No! Of course not,” Ava said. “I feel the same way about all of you. You’re my family.” 

Jean smiled from the corner of his mouth. “Don’t tell them I said that though. Especially Eren. That little twerp.”

Ava laughed. “Okay, I won’t tell them. But for the record, they see you as family too. Especially Eren.” 

“Really?” Jean was waiting for her to that she was joking. 

“Of course. I know you and Eren are constantly lighting a fire under each others asses but he does care about you a lot. He just doesn’t show it the same way that I do.”

“Hm,” Jean rolled his eyes.

“In fact, I think that’s his weird way of showing he likes you.” Ava grabbed the bottles and handed one to Jean. 

“I could sure use one of these—” he glanced at Ava with a peculiar expression as she bit her teeth into the cap. “Dude, what are you—”Ava’s cap screwed off and fell to the ground. Jean’s eyes widened. “How did you? But your teeth?”

She grabbed his bottle and did the same thing. “Valentine taught me that trick when we were kids.”

“You guys were drinking when you were kids?!” He grabbed the bottle from Ava. “Sheesh. Your parents must’ve been so cool.”

“They were actually kind of strict. But Valentine and I would sometimes sneak a beer from the fridge and sit in the closet and drink it.”

Jean laughed. “Definitely sounds like something she’d do. But you? I’m surprised.”

Ava smiled. “Me too, to be honest.” Jean laughed again. She held her bottle towards him. “To family.” 

“To family,” he repeated as he tapped his bottle on hers.

//

Eren glanced at Armin and noticed that he was shivering. “Are you cold?” Eren’s words slurred.

“Oh-uh. Yeah, but I’m fine.”

“Here,” Eren unzipped his jacket. 

“No-stop that. You need it.”

“We can share.” Eren wrapped one half of his jacket around armin’s shoulder and violently pulled it to where Armin’s body jerked towards him. 

“Eren,” Armin said in a soft tone. 

“Sorry. Hold on,” Eren slurred. “Let me just…” was all Armin heard before mumbles. He glanced down to see that Eren was rubbing the ends of the zipper strips together and wasn’t even in range of the actual zipper hook. 

“Here,” Armin brought his hands out from underneath the bottom edge of the jacket. “I got it.” Eren dropped his hands and sighed like it took all of his energy. Armin gently slid the zipper up until it reached the top. “There.” 

Armin turned his attention back to Bertholdt, who was telling some random story to the group, but Armin could barely keep up with the details and quickly became confused. He felt Eren’s stare and turned to him. “Hm?”

Eren’s eyes looked so heavy like he could barely keep them open. He tried to concentrate on Armin’s face and began to slightly sway back and forth. “Do you,” he mumbled. 

Armin laughed. “You have dragon breath.” This is what they called it when one drank so much that their breathe smelt of such intense alcohol to where they could ignite a fire if they wanted. 

“Like her?” Eren slurred. 

“What?” Armin smiled. It was hard to take Eren seriously. 

“Do you l-like her?”

Armin gave him a peculiar expression. “Who are you talking about?” 

“You know.” 

“No, I don’t.”

Eren sighed and drunkenly rolled his eyes. “Reiner told me.”

Armin glanced over at Reiner. Alcohol spilt from the sides of Reiner’s mouth as he gargled down his sixth bottle. “Chug! Chug! Chug!” Bertholdt, Sasha, Connie, and Annie all cheered. 

Armin shook his head and moved his gaze back to Eren. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think you’re just drunk.”

“Reiner!” Eren screamed so loud and abruptly that it hurt Armin’s right ear. Reiner released a giant burp and slammed his bottle down on the floor. 

“Woohoo!” the others cheered. 

Reiner turned to Eren. “Huh?”

“Tell Armin!” Eren slurred.

Reiner leaned toward them. “What?” he tried to scream over the loud noise.

“Tell him about the girl!”

“Oh!” Reiner wiped his mouth. “I forgot about her.” 

“Who?” Armin asked. 

“There’s this girl who’s interested in you. She’s like a major nerd like you too and kept asking me to invite you to her study but I forgot.” Reiner grabbed Armin’s shoulder. “She’s a hot one too, boy, let me tell you.” Armin made a gross and awkward expression.

“Whoever won the last game gets to start this one,” Sasha interrupted.

“I know. That was me, idiot.” Valentine snatched the cards from her. 

Reiner turned his attention back to the others. “I won the last match, you liar!”

Armin moved his attention back to Eren, who looked somewhat sad. “I swear, I didn’t know,” Armin said in a soft tone.

Eren mumbled something but Armin couldn’t make out what he said. Then, Eren put his arm around Armin and pulled him closer but was so drunk that he hadn’t realized he pulled him so rough that they head butted one another.

“Ouch,” Armin said as he rubbed his head.

“But if you did,” Eren slurred as he slightly swayed. “You’d tell me, right?”

“Tell you what?”

“If you had a crush on someone.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.”

Eren leaned into Armin’s face and whispered, “So do you?”

“You’re so drunk.”Armin slightly moved his head back. “And do I what?”

“Do you have a crush on someone?”

Armin’s eyes widened. “W-what?” he laughed nervously. “Why are you asking me that?”

Eren smiled. “Because, I think I know who it is,” he whispered as he stared straight into Armin’s eyes. 

“Uh—” Armin jerked his head the other direction. “You do?”

“Yeah.”

Armin was terrified. He felt his stomach nearly fall out of his ass. “Oh,” his voice trembled as he stared away from Eren. “Who, then?” 

Eren stayed silent for a long moment. Armin felt his chest tighten as he slowly turned back to face him. 

“I’m just joking!” Eren laughed. 

“Oh,” Armin laughed nervously but was on the verge of passing out. 

“But if you did, you would really tell me, right?” Eren asked. 

“Y-yeah.” 

Eren rested his head on Armin as he took in a big gulp of his beer. “I think I’m going to puke.”

“Me too.”

///

One year later…

Cadets gathered around a giant bonfire that took place a mile away from the training grounds so they wouldn’t get caught. It was the day before the graduation ceremony and the bonfire was a celebratory tradition. 

Armin glanced up at the stars that twinkled in the dark black sky above. He reached his freezing hand for the two laces that dangled from the edge of Eren’s hoodie that he wore. He closed his eyes as he felt the warmth it gave off along with the warmth from the giant bonfire. He smiled and as he opened his eyes, he noticed Eren staring at him. Armin’s eyes widened. 

“What?” Eren asked. 

“Oh-uh,” Armin became somewhat shy. “I was just thinking of that night when we snuck out of your house…on Ava’s birthday.”

Eren smiled and glanced at the bonfire. “Feels like so long ago. We were just kids then.”

“We finally get to do our long awaited mission,” Ava said as she and Valentine walked up beside Armin. 

“Jeez,” Valentine said. “I actually thought I had a chance at getting passed those guards at the gate.” They all laughed. “And now…those gates will be opening up pretty soon for us.”

“I can’t believe it’s actually happening,” Ava said in a more serious tone.

“We finally get to see the world we’ve talked about,” Eren put his arm around Armin and pulled him closer. “Lands of ice,” he moved his bottle outward toward the bonfire as if he could already see it. 

“Fiery water,” Ava said.

Armin’s face blushed and he glanced up at Eren. “And the sea,” he said in a soft tone. 

Eren glanced at Armin and their noses nearly touched. “What should we do first?”

Armin stared into his eyes and instantly feel felt his face heat up. He could feel Eren’s calm breathing as his chest slowly raised and lowered. He could feel his warm breath brushing against his face. “The s—”

“Sea! I knew you were going to say that!” Eren smiled. “That’s still your favorite.”

Armin smiled. “Yeah. It is.”

“Panel 30 of A World With Titans,” Eren whispered like it was some big secret.

Armin’s eyes slightly widened. “You remember?”

“Of course I remember.”

Valentine smiled from the corner of her mouth as she watched them from the side of her eye.

“I don’t know what all that is about but,” Jean interrupted as he rested his elbow on Eren’s other shoulder. 

Armin’s smile quickly faded and he jerked his head away to glance at the bonfire. Eren gave him a peculiar expression.

“All I know is that I’ll have the first titan kill and you can all suck it!” Jean said. 

Eren sighed and rolled his eyes. “We’ll see about that, horse face.” 

Jean scowled. “Stop calling me that!”

Eren laughed but the smile quickly faded as he became incredibly serious all of a sudden. He dropped his arm from around Armin and turned to face all of them. 

“Eh? What’s wrong with you?” Jean asked. 

“Can you guys promise me something?” Eren said in a serious tone. They all glanced at one another. “It’s just...we’re graduating now and all of our lives will be very different from this point on. Nothing will ever be the same. Especially after we leave out those gates,” he glanced at the ground. “Just promise me that,” his breath shortened and he struggled to get his words out. “We’ll try our best to all make it out of the scouts alive because…I-I don’t know what I’d without you guys. You’re my f…” he moved his gaze up to them and they could see now that his eyes were slightly watery. “My fam—”

“Yeah!” nearby cadets cheered as Reiner ripped his training jacket off and tossed it into the bonfire. 

“Idiot, you need that for tomorrow!” Jean yelled out. Reiner waved his hand out as if to say whatever. Jean moved his attention back to Eren to see his cheeks were deeply flushed now. “Ah!” Jean yelled as he stepped back. “What are you doing? Don’t do that! Stop that!” He pointed to Eren’s face. 

“Stop what?!” Eren yelled angrily.

“Stop blushing, you weirdo!” Jean screamed as his own cheeks went pink. 

“I’m not! I’m just hot from the bonfire!” Eren yelled.

Ava covered her face and glanced at Valentine and Armin to see that they all had the same blushed cheeks. But it was definitely not from the bonfire.

Eren crossed his arms and glanced to the side. “Don’t make this into a big deal. Just fucking promise me already so we can stop talking about this!” He violently stuck out his pinky. 

“You serious?” Jean laughed. 

“Hurry up!” Eren yelled. 

Jean sighed and rolled his eyes as he and everyone else wrapped their pinkies around Eren’s. 

“Promise!” they said at the same time.

#aot #attackontitan #enemiestofriendstolovers #enemiestolovers #levi_ackerman #leviackerman #levifanfiction #leviff #levixoc #levixoriginalcharacter #slowburn #slowbuild

[sashi-ya]

Theory Time!

So it's been a long time since I thought about this, but since we are all talking about Joyboy again due to the last manga chapter. I think it is a good moment to point out an idea!

So... do you remember when Law tells Doffy about the Ds? (Frankly sounds like a statement: us the D against the fake gods, the celestial dragons)

The "D" will blow up a STORM again!

Interesting, Law... where else do we have a "storm" named? Yes! One of the verses of Binks no Sake tells us about a storm!

Somewhere in the endless sky, a STORM has started coming by Waves a-dancing, sails a-prancing through the wind and rain If we let blow winds of fear, then the end of us is near Even so tomorrow the sun rise again Yo-ho-ho-hoo, yo-ho-ho-hoo!

Good, interesting!

Now, do you remember when Robin asked about Joyboy to King Neptune?

Neptune tells about Joyboy being someone who made a promise, right?

They don't really know what and why that ship called "Noah" is there, but they do know that once the promise comes about the Noah will FULFILL it's purpose.

And so, you might ask me what the fuck has to do this with storms? Well... let's say that there is a certain myth that probably most of the cultures and some religions have: the Flood Myth!

A flood myth or deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval waters which appear in certain creation myths, as the flood waters are described as a measure for the cleansing of humanity, in preparation for rebirth. Most flood myths also contain a culture hero, who "represents the human craving for life".

Good, the floods are created by rains -mostly-. Well, storms bring the rain, aren't they?

Good, good... then, related to the myth there is NOAH'S ARK (I'm pretty sure you all know about, but just in case...)

Noah's Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: Tevat Noaḥ) is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative (Genesis chapters 6–9) through which God spares Noah, his family, and examples of all the world's animals from a world-engulfing flood

Now, have you seen how it is depicted? They look kinda similar, don't they?

"Real life Noah's Ark" "Oda's Noah"

So... what does this mean?

Well I strongly believe that:

1. Luffy and co will create somehow a HUGE storm (don't forget about Dragon having -maybe- some kind of fruit that creates STORMS and Kaido creating constant storms around Onigashima).

Edit: Also I remembered about Enel (a fake god, just like Im) who had the Goro Goro no mi that creates thunder... and also had his "ship" right? well...

They kinda look alike...

(Joyboy is strongly related with Skypea and Nika... and Enel was the bad guy from Skypea...)

2. Remember Arabasta? the problem came when there was a certain powder that was able to create STORMS. Do you remember who's photo had Imu-sama on her/his/their hands? Yeah, VIVI the princess of ARABASTA. What was the main problem? the lack of RAIN!!!

3. Edit 2: I keep remembering shit! Do you remember the Aqua Laguna in Water 7? YES, THE FLOODS?? WELL... W7 was the place where Tom's Workers built... THE ORO JACKSON AND THE THOUSAND FUCKING SUNNY!!!

4. What will this storm, and consequent flood create? THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RED LINE DUE TO THE POWERFULL FORCES OF THE WATER (AND IN MY OPINION, SEA KINGS AND SPECIALLY WHALES HITING THE DAMN RED LINE.... DO YOU REMEMBER LABOON? SHE WAS HITTING THE RED LINE CONSTANTLY) -- the destruction of the Red Line will create no other that the union of 4 seas, hence the ALL BLUE. But also the FALL OF FALSE GODS (Tenryuubitos). Leading to the ENDING of the night... depicted by the DAWN! (I'm pretty sure the D comes from Dawn)

5. The Noah will be useful to be able to save people from those floods.

What do you think?

#one piece theory #one piece #theory #one piece manga #one piece anime #mugiwara no luffy #trafalgar d. water law #nefertari vivi #imu sama #world government #red line #gyojin island #fishmen island

[dokojuice]

i see from your blog that you like zosan, do you have any fic recs bc i've basically run out :')

08/29/2022 A/N : this list will be continually updated with new zosan fic recs! I will be adding them chronologically, so all the newer ones will be at the bottom past the cut :D 

how does one RUN OUT of zosan 🤔

but here are some of my favs anyways

SOME OF THEM CONTAIN MANGA SPOILERS BTW

*drumroll* top 5 :

1) and then the sun came out - demonzoro (shrinewreck)

this fic is GREAT, it's quite long so the slow-burn is to die for, the writing style is great and it has stupid fluffy moments, canon-centric and zosan not being very ooc which i personally love, and it includes a link in-story with rlly cute illustrations by huanghying on twitter!

“Maybe there is something to be said that the first time they kiss, they kiss on a sinking ship. As if to say: this too, is inevitable. The waves are gnashing above the sea’s bottomless maw, and the timbers of the sinking galleon groan their own dirge – as far as this space of sea is concerned, the world is ending. Then there they are, balanced on the cusp of it, concerned only with how they exist relative to each other.

There’s an awful devotion to it, and it shouldn’t be romantic. But Sanji is hopeless. He’s always wanted a love like this.”

2) Instinct - LarmB

one of those fics you come back to and read again just because of how great it is

i personally love sanji-centric zosan fics, and the world-building and character-development/analysis in this fic is *fat chefs kiss*, the ending almost had me sobbing but it's really such a good fic

“Zoro took a good look at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Why wouldn’t I be? My whole life has been a fucking lie, that’s all.

He wasn’t just not a ladies’ man anymore. And he wasn’t just not disgusted by that fucking brute and inelegant seaweed of a man.

Sanji had a huge, massive, overwhelming, undeniable crush on Zoro.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

*** The Straw Hats end up on a small, seemingly empty island, where they take an opportunity to encounter the thing each of them needs the most, in a series of personal challenges. Sanji, like everybody else, goes on his search alone... until a stupid green marimo gets on his way.”

3) 15 Reasons to Fall in Love - xpiester333x

another sanji-centered, and it's really fluffy. zoro making the first move and leaving sanji to scramble with his feelings is just a trope that I will never get tired of when it comes to these two, especially with how the writer depicted zoro to be the perfect balance of soft with sanji and a marimo-stupidface *happy sigh*

“Sanji knows he and Zoro would be a bad idea, in fact he's written an entire list of reasons why they would be a bad idea. Of course, the marimo won't hear of it. He wants Sanji to give him a chance. So Sanji is just going to have to prove him wrong, right?”

4) for those that sleep on the sea - sanjitea

the latest one i read and it does NOT disappoint, 10/10, so depressing, the brooke-center in this piece is something I really dig, it gives a new perspective in terms of how zosan's relationship can be written and perceived. this fic I think can be seen as either romantic or platonic between them but it shows just how deeply connected they are, how much they respect each other, it depicts their relationship so great, potential chapter 1031 spoilers !!! 

“brook is seeing a ghost.”

5) This Unruly Heart - Hazel_Athena

THIS FIC IS SO DAMN GOOD

i personally love timeskip fics and this one checks all my boxes and BEYOND!!!!!! plus, the perona feature is something wbk I like because perona is my queen and moon and stars

but seriously, this fic is so well-written and the satisfying little twist in the end just made it that much better to read. left me happy and smiling, 10/10 fic

“Perona - in further proof that god either doesn’t exist or has at least abandoned Zoro personally - is on him like a dog with a bone.”

others below the cut !!!

- Make No Mistake - dickyang, vageege

oh. my. goodness. I don’t think you understand how disappointed I am that this fic has not been updated since 2015, genuinely such a shame because it’s so good. the writing, the world-building, the characterization, the dynamics between each strawhat, it’s so unbelievably amazingly written. why is zoro so mean to sanji in this :(( 

there is side sanuso which i love!! and nami and usopp’s friendship!!! and usopp and franky’s!!! and frobin!!! and zolu!!! keep in mind, the romantic aspect is all zosan, but this fic delves into other dynamics which are written crazy good, like seriously something I’ve never seen before, it’s so good AAAAAAAAAA i can’t bro, this fic is honestly like none other i’ve ever read, it’s so amazing and original and it lives restlessly in my head.

I remember being an hour early to work and sitting in the backroom feeling completely empty after finishing it. it’s so good but I am warning you, reading this fic comes at a cost since it will most likely never finish and you’ll be left with an empty hole in your heart over it </3

“College AU. This is an account of a series of events poorly defined as the best days of their lives. Zosan/Frobin+”

- The Sun and the Earth - iguana8llama

this one was so close to making the top 5 because JEEZ what a fic, i remember stalking the writer's page every three days waiting for an update and the ending was sO GOOD!! the worldbuilding is so great, which makes so much of the fic but the zosan part is *GASP* so good

the worldbuilding, the writing style, the plot and smut is all *chefs kiss*

“Over a thousand years ago the God of the Earth awoke from his slumber, insationbly hungry for everything. So hungry that when he looked up to the sky and saw the sun, he thought that only it could satiate him. He shook the ground and raised the mountain of this island to reach the sun, but our ancestors begged and pleaded with the God to not eat the sun, for without it, the sky would stay forever dark and the Earth would grow cold.”

- At the Height of Luxury (Take Me Higher and Higher) - Trixree

i remembered this fic in the middle of the night waking up in a cold sweat and reprimanding myself for forgetting it on this list. I had a screenshot of it and used the date of it to cross-reference over 10 pages of ao3 history to find it again. it’s that good. the writing style is articulated in a way where you can clearly invision what is happening in the moment, and having zoro and sanji’s emotions and mannerisms on display just gives it an OOMPH that’s to die for. did i mention the smut is fantastic? (rip to usopp)

“They’d arrived at the island of Mae to catch the end of a brutal, bloody conflict between the island natives and a band of thugs from further inland. After helpfully settling the conflict, the townspeople of Mae offer to throw the Strawhats an island-wide party complete with food, dancing, music and free credit at the best brothel their town has to offer.

Wherein Sanji smokes a questionable substance prepared by a local devil-fruit user and gets a little bit hornier (and a little bit looser with his inhibitions) than he ever intended to be around a certain swordsman.”

- The Tribulations of Temptation - SweetyGreeny

one of those fics where you come for the smut and stay for the plot because HOT DAMN this is a really good story. we all love a bit of acesan and jealous zoro, do we not?

“It was one quiet night, when Zoro was on watch, that he came across Sanji in the ship's storage room. Except it wasn't only Sanji, there was someone else as well, and Zoro really wished he hadn't looked.”

- Say Something - three_days_late

coming out fics are 1000/10!!! the "zoro is a gay mess" trope is one i love and this fic just makes it that much better, you marimo fool, don’t make sanji feel bad after coming out *smacks him over the head*

“It would be fine, he knew. His friends had already proven they would want him and care about him no matter what. Right? He just had to say something.

When Sanji comes out to the crew, he's met by love and acceptance from everyone. Well, almost everyone. Zoro's been acting weird, but surely he doesn't have a problem with Sanji's bisexuality.

Right?”

- To Grind One's Gears - sh33pish

FUCKING SMUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we love a little hate sex here and there, but the development from “sex with a guy I hate” to “fwb” to “catching feels” is just ‘YEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS’

“Even now, years after they started their journey, Sanji still couldn't shake the irritation when having to do anything with the swordsman. Something about his mere existence ground his gears, got under his skin, made him short circuit and react with unadulterated aggression.”

- Who Did What Now? - @charlottepuddingsama

zosan being their shitty snarky selves towards each other + luffy being his usual absent-minded idiot self = happy juice :D

“Hey, Zoro, I don’t think I’ve ever asked before – do your earrings mean anything?”

Zoro rolled his eyes and turned back to his food, shrugging. “No real meaning to ‘em. Just exactly what you see: three swords. Thought it looked cool.”

“What about the other one?”

Zoro just shrugged again, grabbing a fork full of rice. “Wedding band.”

- Sweet Fruit - PandaMega

smut smut SMUT, it was a bit heavy on the more mature aspects, but it ends up working out

“A mysterious devil-fruit user attacks Zoro while he’s alone with Sanji gathering supplies. The power forces the two of them to engage in lustful acts at the risk of death, making them face their own desire and come to terms with their feelings for each other. Lots of sex.”

- firestarters - adietxt

AGAIN WITH ZORO BEING A GAY MESS

“Zoro doesn’t have a single romantic bone in him, and never once the idea of marriage crossed his mind.

At the end of the day, though, marriage is about loyalty, about devotion and faith in something outside of yourself. And that — Zoro’s good at that. Zoro’s a natural at that.

(Five times Zoro accidentally proposed to Sanji without even knowing what a proposal is, and one time he gets properly proposed to.)”

- this, at least - adietxt

another great one by this author, someone kiss them for me pls

(honestly, anything by adietxt is just so perfect)

“The most annoying thing about this whole falling in love thing, Zoro decides, is the fact that he doesn’t even have a say in it.”

- Stigma by ZephGale

- zosan, but really nakama-centered as well and oh. my. god. this fic is so fucking good. i cried. my heart did improvised advanced gymnastics. it’s so beautiful. sanji’s characterization, and the characterization of the entire crew, it’s so amazingly well-written and it’s just such a good one. 100000/10, i’m just such a sucker for sanji being cared for openly

“They were used to their reputation changing and growing after leaving an island. One doesn’t defeat a few Warlords, Emperors, free kingdoms from tyranny and declare war on the Government without gaining something. But it seemed like they acquired something else after leaving Whole Cake Island, and it was something that was much harder to wear with pride.’

~*~

With Wano behind them, Luffy and the others finally manage to find a nice island where they can relax, restock, and not have to worry about life or death situations.

But the seemingly normal town that welcomes them turns on its head, and it’s one Straw Hat that suffers from their hatred.

~*~

Post-Wano but not dealing with anything that’s going on in Wano”

- Exposure to Sunlight by LibbyLune

- zosan with a little bit of vinsmoke family dynamics thrown in there as well :) ooooooooo i originally found this one when going through the “vinsmoke yonji” tag because i love the fanon, ooc version of him and tbh, i really dig how this story does that while also keeping elements of the original vinsmoke dynamics in there as well. i’m just a sucker for non-canon vinsmoke dynamics, and sanji is just so sweet in this one AAAA this one is rlly nice

“Sanji never escapes from the Vinsmokes as a child, and Zoro finds himself in the path of Germa 66 after the disaster at Sabaody.”

- Say It Again by 8ball

- anything. anything by 8ball. is amazing. their twitter is right here and it’s FULL of the greatest zosan fanart. the comics are genuinely the most entertaining I see, they’re so FUNNY and CUTE and LOVELY

this fic though, is the SWEETEST thing ever

“Zoro tells Sanji how he feels. And then again. and again.”

- Fingers Only by SweetyGreeny

- brb gonna go lock myself in the bathroom in the basement in the corner in the dark to read this smut in attempt to hide from the eyes of God because this smut is so filthy, it’s my one-way guilty ticket to Hell. 1000/10

zoro, get your hands off sanji challenge: failed

sanji, stop being a priss and admit you like it already: also failed

“Zoro and Sanji finally give in to each other, a long-standing desire they both can't deny. The only problem is, Sanji still has his pride, and Zoro definitely doesn't keep trying to tempt him.”

- Fuck, Marry, Kill (or, how Usopp becomes the best matchmaker of the sea without really trying) by adietxt

- BACK AT IT WITH ADIETXT they are my zosan vice, truly a master in the art of writing beautiful fics revolving around these idiots

“Everyone wants to marry Zoro. Hypothetically. Sanji can’t believe everyone would pick that useless patch of growing mold over him, and considers killing Zoro. Not hypothetically.

He has a list on why Zoro would be the Worst Husband Ever, not that he spends a lot of time thinking of a (purely hypothetical!) situation where he is married to Zoro, fuck you very much.

(a.k.a, the one where Usopp invented Fuck, Marry, Kill.)”

- unintended consequences by itsmylifekay

SOBBING ON MY HANDS AND KNEES THIS FIC IS SO CUTE AND IT MAKES ME HAPPY ITS JUST AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA lovely. super flavor. ravishing. sanji getting zoro a bracelet and zoro never taking it off? stupid rivalry turns into stupid pining? feed me this trope for the rest of my days or I will choose to starve.

“Imagine person A making person B a friendship bracelet, expecting person B to never wear it, but when it’s given to them person B puts it on and is rarely seen with it off.

A group of marines charge, Zoro slices through them, and in that instant Sanji feels his own eyes grow wide. Because there, on the arm now outstretched towards him, steel glinting in hand, is the stupid bracelet he’d given Zoro. The bastard is actually wearing it.”

- concorde by olgaphobia

i actually saw this fic on twitter when 8ball posted the most ominous, glorious fanart that I didn’t understand until I actually read the fic. It leads moreso towards being a character study with an undertone of Zosan that I just keep coming back to, because it’s such a HEAVY fic. do not read if you’re looking for something cute or smutty, this one sticks with you like an echo in the back of your head

“Perona used to tell him ghost stories about its previous occupants. Stillbirths and young boys who didn’t come back from the war — spectres for a young Zoro to face sword in hand. She told Zoro not to leave his bedroom on a full moon, to keep his curtains closed once the sun hazed down. She said there were noises at night, that if you lay sweet and still in bed, you heard the thumpings. You heard the wailings.

The Vinsmokes had always lived next door.

***

Modern AU. Zoro met the love of his life when he was four. Three years later, he meets Sanji.”

- An Inexplicable Obsession with a Certain Swordsman’s Chest by Arescore

this is a relatively shorter fic but we all love a little gay-panicky Sanji every now and again, don’t we?

the good news is that it’s incomplete, which implies we’ll be getting more of it :D

At that moment, Sanji knew three things.

1. For the first time in many weeks, Sanji finally found the source of his little problem. 2. Zoro's chest was very big. 3. He was positively, absolutely fucked.

Or: Sanji realises that Zoro has big boobs and he likes them very much

- Technicolour by rkdlkai

this fic almost made me cry, i felt so bad for Zoro in this one until the happy ending, made me wanna hug him the entire way

“Oi. Sanji. What colour’s my hair?”

He could see the incredulous look on the waiter’s face out of the corner of his eye. “How the fuck should I know? Just looks grey to me.”

And there it was, the damning sentence that confirmed Zoro’s fears. He let out a long breath, gritting his teeth as he processed it. Zoro had found his soulmate, but Sanji hadn’t found his.

(or the six times zoro didn’t have a soulmate, not really, and the one time he did.)

- A Perpetual Passing [Ships in the Night] by auspizien

this is THE cutest soulmate fic I’ve ever read. the fact that it starts from their childhood and we watch them grow up together is ADORABLE!!!

and the fact that they wanted to meet by chance??? the times they just almost did????? my heart was screaming throughout the whole entire thing. plus the whole idea of drawing on your soulmate is such a cute concept I haven’t seen in many fics before so it was really cute :)

You only get to meet your soulmate for the first time once... and Sanji was a romantic.

Zoro thinks it's stupid.

- Burning Man by neonglaceon

the most iconic trans! Zoro fic should not be this late to recommend, I apologize. But it’s the most known and appraised for a reason, and I think that there should be no description here so you can all experience it in it’s rawness yourselves. A beautiful fic.

“You’re lucky, Zoro,” she had spat, eyes turned up towards the sky, like she was trying to hold in tears. He'd never seen Kuina cry before. He’d never seen any expression on her face other than her teeth gritted in determination or her grinning in victory. “I want to be the greatest swordsman too. But girls grow up, and their bodies become weaker than men's. I’m never going to be the greatest.”

Kuina tells him this, and Zoro can barely comprehend the words she’s saying. He thinks of the countless hours he’s spent training by the river bed, the green locks of his hair left on the floor after Koushirou helped him shear it all off, of the people he thought of as family a lifetime ago calling him by a name he despised. Zoro puts a hand to his chest, where he’d hastily wrapped bandages earlier that day, remembering how his body had begun changing and he didn’t understand why-

“You’re lucky to have been born a man, Zoro,” Kuina finishes lamely.

Zoro sees red.

- Facade by Hazel_Athena

currently my FAVORITE EVER. I go back to it all the time because it’s the perfect mix of canon zosan and our lovely little fanon romantic ship. the fake marriage trope will never die. plus Zoro secretly being in love with Sanji the whole time and the Strawhats being in on it all??? (plus Law lol) WE LOVE TO SEE IT!!

also judge gets jumped in this one. a win-win for everyone !!!

I found this fic on twitter after I saw @huanghying’s BEAUTIFUL fanart

Left with only three other crew mates, it’s a ready expectation that Sanji will start fawning all over Robin in his usual obnoxious way. However, that’s not what happens. Instead, looking wild around the eyes in a way only someone who knows him well would recognize, the cook doesn’t break stride until he’s firmly within Zoro’s orbit and can wrap both hands around his upper arm, clinging tight.

“Hi, darling,” he chirps, his expression desperately conveying that Zoro needs to play along under pain of death. “Did you miss me?”

- Serendipity by CreepyCoat

ZOSAN PARENTS OF BABY DUCKLINGS. THAT’S IT, THAT’S MY PREVIEW. 10/10

/ˌsɛr(ə)nˈdɪpɪti/

Noun: serendipity; Plural Noun: serendipities The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. "A fortunate stroke of serendipity" Synonyms: Chance, Happy Chance, Accident, Happy Accident

- Sweet Child O’ Mine by Hazel_Athena

(all of Hazel’s works are top tier zosan, we bow to their greatness and superiority)

dad zeff is something that we, as a fandom, need more of. Hazel is a godsend feeding us the crumbs that we sustain ourselves upon

“What are your intentions towards my idiot child?”

#one piece #one piece fanfiction #one piece fic recs #zoro #roronoa zoro #sanji #black leg sanji #vinsmoke sanji #zosan #zoro x sanji #kuroashi no sanji #zosan fics #zosan fic recs