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quinloki · 1 year

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Hello! Can we get Smoker, Crocodile, and Corazon with the kinks: smoking kink (like shotgunning and just the act of smoking during sex) corruption kink, and size kink! Thank you very much💝

ROSINANTE \lol/ OMG SOMEONE FINALLY ASKED ABOUT THE OTHER DONQUIXOTE <3 <3 <3

I have no issue writing about Doffy (he is a blorbo), but I was just thinking "I'd love for someone to ask about Rosi, and if I catch up and no one has, I'll ask for asks including him" - and then I got this -^_^-

(Also I've been compiling these, and we're at like 21k words xD )

Hmm.. let's do this by character. Oh I really like all these characters - I need to write some good Smoker and Corazon something at some point, they're just good characters. (Gods there is so much DILF vibe energy in this ask, I just need a second.)

Smoker:

Smoking Kink - FUCK Yes - Considering his devil fruit I think it's safe to say that there's just more Smoker can do when he's got a surplus of smoke to work with. Plus he knows you like the sound of his voice when he has cigars in his mouth. There's just something missing from it otherwise - until he takes the cigars out of his mouth and leans down low, speaking right into your ear in that low voice that seems impossibly smooth and commanding.

Unless you smoke on your own he won't shotgun you. But the scent of the cigars during sex aren't taking anything away from the experience, that's for sure.

Corruption Kink - I guess - I can see Smoker being willing to role-play corrupting you in someway, but I can't see him doing so legitimately. The vibe I get is that you would both be on similar pages when it came to how worldly you were (or weren't), and while there are several kinds of corruptions to choose from, I don't see Smoker being a V-card collector anymore than I can see him being the one teaching you about bdsm, or trying to get you to steal xD

I can see you both learning about kinky things together, but yeah. He's a little cinnamon-roll-y to me <3

Size Kink - Smoker isn't very-- *looks up his height*... short. He isn't very Short. Holy shit this man's 6'10" ?!?! Hells, I thought he was like 5'8"-5'9"... *ahem*. I'mma need a minute.

Haaaa - okay, Smoker is a Sure/Yes for size kink and I think he feels a little bad about it. People can't control their height, but he does enjoy being the bigger one in the relationship. Possibly because at his height it's hard for him to not be the bigger one, but if he met someone at his height or taller, he wouldn't just dismiss the idea of a relationship with them either. I mean, it would be nice to trade off who gets to be the big spoon.

That said, he does like being able to basically engulf you. From easily being over top you as you pant and squirm under him all the way to being able to cuddle you like you were little more than an over-sized teddy bear. (he's also got a weakness for tilting your chin up so he can kiss you, cause you always look flustered even if it's just for a split second).

Sir Crocodile:

Smoking Kink - FUCK Yes - Crocodile's cigars smell good. It's a scent that slips along your skin and soothes your nerves. It's a little citrus, warm spices, and almost a kind of hot sand smell. It's lazes in the room and no matter how much he smokes it's never overwhelming - if anything it's relaxing. (I'm not saying he's laced his cigars specifically to calm you, but I'm not not saying that either).

This man will shotgun you - after he's already got you used to his cigars, and probably has you enjoying one every now and then. He certainly smokes during sex, well, depending on the kind of sex. He's not risking burning you or setting something on fire, but if he's leaned back and letting you do the work, the air's certainly heavy with smoke.

Corruption Kink - Yes - He's not a good guy, and if you understand that from the beginning then you'll certainly get some level of respect for it. But he's more than happy to pull you into his world - whether you want to be a part of actively or not doesn't really matter to him. You don't have to become a functional part of whatever business venture is going on, but he's not going to keep things from you either. You'll sink into the sandy depths with him, but he'll keep you from drowning, so don't panic.

He is, to me, the one with the most experience in the relationship, so he'll guide you through any kink you didn't already have, while happily indulging almost any other kink you do have.

Size Kink - Sure - Crocodile is very middle ground for this. He does enjoy being larger than his partner, but that just might be because when you're as tall as he is, statistically people are going to be smaller than you. He's not against an equal or larger partner, size hardly matters in any capacity, but even less so in terms of power dynamics. He'll be in charge no matter who's bigger than who.

Plus, if he wants you to have to stretch a struggle to take him, there's several ways to make that happen regardless of whether you're bigger than him or not.

Rosinante -

Smoking Kink - No - Rosinante doesn't even like that he smokes - if for no other reason than the habit costs him a lot in replacement coats and clothes. But he's already half a nervous wreck about having a slip up in the midst of sex, he's not bringing in extra risks. The smell of those cigarettes do cling to him, and it's not unpleasant at least, so if you like the scent of him smoking you're at least not missing out on that.

Corruption Kink - Oh god you have no idea - Something about nurture vs nature, but he is a Donquixote. He wants to own you, pull you into every kink he loves and make you irrevocably his. The biggest difference between him and his brother, is that he does want your permission to do these things to you. In every aspect that he can be your first he wants to be it - no matter what it is, no matter what you've already done, he's not going to turn you away if you've already been with someone, but he'll struggle to hold himself back if you haven't.

He wants to mark you and mess you up, behind closed doors, in sessions, without shattering who you are. It's a fine line, but he's been tight-rope walking his whole life, so he's good at it.

Size Kink - FUCK Yes - He wants to be the little spoon so bad. Coming at an impressive 9'7.5" though, he's uh... he's maybe not going to get that chance unless he can come across someone who has a devil fruit power that can change his size. Or hey, if you're tall enough (OP-sona go, go!) then you can certainly fill that desire for him.

All that said, he's not going to cast you aside if you're shorter/smaller than he is. The kink only rates that high because he's resigned himself to it never being fulfilled quite the way he'd like, and he'd probably cry if it happened.

Kinky One Piece Head Canon

#kinky one piece head canon #donquixote rosinante #rosinante x reader #x reader #smoker one piece #smoker x reader #sir crocodile #sir crocodile x reader

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heroes-r-us · 3 years

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Chubby female s/o who is very strong women but has gotten injured during a battle and now will deal with back pain for the rest of her life. She can usually manage it very well but sometimes she gets really bad pain and tries to hide it even tho it may not be completely discrete. Coukd I have the boys, Zoro,mihawk,sanji and crocodile headcanon/scenario of what they would do?

I also ask this because I had back problems go unsolved for years and had serious back surgery and the pain sometimes flares up and sometimes I like to imagine be being a strong devil fruit user and being comforted when the pain is extremely bad.

Again please and ty!!

GIRL everything you've sent in is so CUTE!! Also I hope your back is feeling better, I don't have serious back issues but I tend to hunch alot when writing and drawing and then end up with neck and back pain. (;-;)

I hope it feels better with the healing power of these headcanons! ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

>3<

Zoro:

- This man is as oblivious as they come.

- He won't notice small winces or when you need to sit or lay down. When you do, he simply assumes you were tired of standing and doesn't think much else about it.

- When the others are talking about past battles, your own battles get brought up. You'll casually mention your near death experience and get shocked faces all around, afterall the scars from the battle were on your back, and so far you had no need to expose your back.

- Of course you'll be peppered with questions about your injuries from Chopper, who's worry only increases when you mention your surgery.

- "You don't feel it anymore?" This question eventually leads to mentioning the back inconvenience d how you deal with it.

- Chopper is the first to begin talking about pain meds he can mix up, only to be stopped in his tracks by Zoro.

- "She's strong, she doesn't need any medicine."

- Cue enraged Chopper and Sanji.

- Zoro has a much better alternative than back massages from Sanji and pills from Chopper.

- Zoro had one thing they didn't.

- Sake.

Sanji:

- He's pretty tuned into all of the women on the ship, so any inconveniences they might face are usually taken care of by Sanji.

- There's very little this man won't do for a lady.

- He'll be one of first to notice any signs of pain or uncomfortability. He'll also be the first to offer you a back massage and the absolute royal treatment.

- Snacks, sweets and anything that you desire is already being prepared. Are the others being too noisy? He'll shut them up.

- He'll work together with Chopper to ensure that your medicine gets to you on time everyday.

- "Alright my sweet dove, don't worry, once you finish that disgusting medicine I'll feed you okaaay?"

- "I made this especially for you, dear! I hope you feel better today! If not I can always give you the most pleasurable massage-" "You're just a perv, stupid cook." "THE HELL DID YOU SAY MOSSHEAD-"

- At least you'll always know what his intentions are.

- He'll be certain to notice the occasional wince or when you place a hand on your back and sigh. Any sign of pain and he's there to soothe it.

Mihawk:

- Well, he's not as inclined as Sanji to jump to your rescue, but he will ask if you are in pain once or twice. He's not the type to completely ignore or miss signals like that either.

- If you deny, he'll assume you have it handled and will let you deal with it on your own.

- Should you mention it, he'll make an effort to assist you in finding an adequate doctor who can get you the proper medical care.

- He's not the type to smother you or constantly badger you with questions of your physical status. However, occasionally he will indeed bring up your treatments to ensure that the doctor is doing their job properly.

- He won't really remind you to take your medicines, but if you have a particularly poor memory he may set the pills beside your plate at breakfast.

- He takes a more observational stance, but don't take that to mean he doesn't care. Look into the library late at night and you'll find him reading up on doctor's books and notes about the human spine.

- He'll be the one to research and mention something he may deem helpful.

- Should you ask, he'll even assist you in carefully stretching out your back and neck in the evenings.

- He'll help out in small ways to ensure you don't put any unnecessary excessive strain on your back, but he won't baby you either.

Crocodile:

- This man is pretty observational and likes to plan things out. So, once he does notice the scars on your back, he'll be quick to set up a doctor's appointment for you. Whether or not you consented to a check up doesn't bother him in the slightest.

- He'll probably have learned about 'That Battle' through rumors or word of mouth before he met you. He's no stranger to body and life altering scars.

- Suprisingly the most understanding. He's experienced similar problems with his arm, and will probably sound mocking when he mentions your back pain. It's hard not to when comparing the loss of a limb to an injured back.

- Losing a hand seems a bit more extreme after all. Though he's not exactly nice about it at first, he will make certain you have proper care. What's a weak partner to him after all?

- You'll have to be pretty strong to gain his admiration, so I'd imagine that the back pain you feel would have killed a regular person.

- Once the doctor informs him of your spinal damage and that overall a regular human shouldn't be able to live let alone walk, he'll stop the mocking behavior and his tune will change real quick.

- Suddenly your pills and doctor appointments become a bit more important to the man.

- He does care somewhere deep, deep down. He just doesn't like to show it.

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

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The Voyage So Far: Paramount War (Part Two)

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

ace’s execution is, in a way, the exception that proves the rule when it comes to one piece’s themes of blood and family. ace is set up to die for the crimes of a father he never knew and never wanted, and he does die here, but in the end he dies for the family he did choose, in the form of luffy, rather than the one he didn’t.

god do i wish we knew more about ms portgas d. rouge. with ace’s storyline pretty much wrapped it looks unlikely that we’re going to be learning more about her than what we got, which in my opinion is an absolute tragedy, because what little we do know about her is amazing and she’s an absolute badass. oda give us more female ds please.

whitebeard’s power is so cool. it might be one of the visually coolest devil fruits we’ve ever seen, in my opinion. he he causes earthquakes and tsunamis while far past his prime; he pulls the sky apart with his bare hands. this whole arc is world-shaking, and whitebeard’s power is perfectly appropriate for it.

doflamingo’s speech on justice and rightness is one of the most well-remembered quotes from this whole saga, and rightly so. i’ve always found it fascinating, myself, because he’s right. he dead-on hits how the one piece world works- the world government and the marines rule the world not because of any inherent actual goodness or justice or right, but because they won a war a very long time ago.

in a way, this reminds me of blackbeard’s line of “people’s dreams never die” from jaya. i like how oda isn’t afraid of letting his villains be right about the themes of the story, sometimes even having better awareness of them than the protagonists.

man, if i had to pick a single favorite spread out of the whole manga, it might be luffy’s marineford entrance. it’s so epic, and so completely unexpected for everyone else there. absolutely nobody was expecting strawhat luffy to drop out of the sky with a posse including two former warlords. it just makes me grin!! so much!!

it also gets followed up by a solid two pages of just people’s reactions, from smoker’s “what the HELL is he doing with CROCODILE” to moria’s immediate incoherent rage, and i just love that the world and cast of one piece is so well-established and built up that we know exactly how all of those people know luffy and why they react the way they do.

going back to what i mentioned in the last post about marineford being luffy’s conflict of interest arc, i’d say it’s also the only time where he isn’t the future king first and foremost. in this arc, before anything else, he’s a little brother.

there are a lot of what-if moments in marineford. moments where you kind of have to ask “what if this specific thing hadn’t happened, had gone differently?” would things have turned out differently? squard’s betrayal is one of them. does this change the outcome? would whitebeard have been able to survive if not for this injury? there’s no way to know. marineford is a lot of little tragedies, and they just pile up and up.

marineford has just so many incredibly striking spreads. all of the momentous moments (and there’s a lot of them, in this arc) are done full justice. this is such an image heavy post just because marineford is such an incredibly visually strong arc.

conqueror’s haki is so cool and i love the way it’s set up and built up throughout this saga, with luffy’s constant inadvertent uses of it, from duval’s bull to marigold and sandersonia to the wolves in impel down, all leading up to this moment.

i’ve heard people complain about conqueror’s as kind of a deus ex machina, but i honestly love it, it’s very cool and honestly i think it just seems to fit luffy as a power. if there was ever gonna be a character who turned willpower into a weapon, it would be monkey d. luffy.

i’m gonna take this chance to talk about garp, because this sequence of panels is heavily implied to be garp’s thoughts just before luffy punches him down, and it hurts. garp is a flawed person who makes some bad choices, and there’s no arguing that, but i think it’s very obvious he really, really cares about his grandsons, even if he never could understand them as people and that they never would have been happy as marines. and that’s just tragic, really.

the moment ace gets freed and the brief span of time where he and luffy can fight together feel so triumphant, and i think it’s one of the reasons the final tragedy of marineford hits so hard and feels so cruel, because luffy succeeds, here. he saves ace. he gives absolutely everything he had and makes it, and saves ace. the ultimate failure isn’t his. there was nothing more he could have done.

the first time i was reading one piece, i hit this page (which is also the last in the volume) and had to put the book away, take the bus downtown, wander around for a few hours, and buy myself some candy and some new books before i started feeling okay again.

the thing about ace’s death, i think, is that it’s a tragedy, but it also feels so completely essential to the story going forwards and luffy’s character growth specifically that it’s really, really hard to imagine one piece without it. there are a lot of (really excellent!) fix-fics out there for marineford, and although those are often really good and their authors super talented, i think it’s really hard for them to ever hit the same way canon does with regards to this.

i always think of this scene specifically in contrast to zoro and mihawk’s fight, back on baratie. zoro and mihawk are both people who believe in honor in battle, true victory or death, and that’s reflected in their fight, in zoro’s refusal to turn and run even in the face of imminent death, and mihawk’s respect for that resolve. whitebeard, too, is an honorable man. he refuses to turn to run, even when facing certain death.

the blackbeard pirates, however, are not.

i do enjoy how, just like roger’s, ace’s execution backfires tremendously on the marines. this was entirely a predictable outcome, too! this exact thing happened twenty years ago! the marines don’t learn. they don’t change. they’re so assured of their own rightness and power that they make stupid mistakes like holding a massive public execution after the last one blew up in their faces.

(this is why they need coby so badly, for the record, and why it’s important that he still decides to become a marine after witnessing their corruption firsthand in shells town. the marines are long overdue for a reformation, one that orients them towards real justice.)

i really, really enjoy crocodile in this saga. mostly because he hasn’t been redeemed at all, he’s still pretty much the exact same kinda awful person he was in alabasta, he’s just on luffy’s side this time, and it lets us see him in a better light, when he gets angry at whitebeard for nearly dying or when he helps luffy and jinbe escape to keep the marines from getting their way. few of one piece’s characters are truly so one-dimensional as they can seem, and i really appreciate that.

i really really love all the interactions between luffy, ace and sabo as kids. they’re so fun and bounce off of each other so well. even though we only see them together for a brief time, they really feel like siblings. (which of course only makes later events hurt so much more.

i’ve always been a little fascinated by the fact that it takes us this long to get luffy’s full backstory. it’s almost a fakeout, because we get part of his backstory in the very first chapter, and we’re kind of led to believe that’s all there is. it’s not until ace’s introduction nearly two hundred chapters in that we’re given any indication there’s more.

but at the same time, it makes sense. marineford is luffy’s focus arc, as arlong park to nami or thriller bark to brook. he hasn’t had a focal arc that’s really about him before this, while all his other crewmates have. it makes sense that this would be when he finally gets his flashback.

i think it’s cool that dragon and the revolutionaries show up at the grey terminal fire, because it’s one of the only looks we’ve gotten so far into what their actual regular operations are like. and, of course, they’re saving people. i really like this about the revolutionaries, that helping people in trouble is basically their modus operandi, when pretty much everyone else in one piece’s world mostly does saving on an incidental basis if at all.

i think a lot about how the last line of sabo’s letter to ace is also both of their last words to the strawhats.

death in one piece always feels much realer and more impactful to me than in most other series, and i think this is part of the reason why: in one piece, we are always shown the mourning. nami at bellemere’s grave, carrot grieving pedro, ace and whitebeard’s funeral.

there are fewer deaths, comparatively, than most other series, but they’re given so much room to echo. we’re still feeling the impacts of ace’s life and death in the most recent chapters of wano. it ties into the theme of inherited will and all the way back to hiriluk’s final speech, of men not being dead so long as they’re remembered.

the picture of luffy at marineford always kind of strikes me. he looks so young and so solemn, and yet much more himself than he did when we last saw him losing his mind on amazon lily. i really like it.

sometimes i just think about the sheer depth of trust and love the strawhats must have in each other to separate for two years, far longer than they were ever together, to solely dedicate themselves to improving for the sake of crew and captain. none of them even hesitate, and none of them ever doubt that the crew will be reformed at the end of it.

after all, luffy keeps his promises.

#the voyage so far #one piece #opmeta #not japanese #arc: marineford #arc: post marineford #long post

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u-iona · 3 years

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After seeing the last episode on the YouTube channel GrandLineReview, I wanted to comment about a thing I hate about One Piece, but it was too long (as all my writtings tend to be), so I’m posting it here.

I apologise for all gramatical mistakes that will inevitabely appear.

I hate how female characters either don’t appear as much as males or are left as background characters while the males duke it out.

Marines: I can remember about three female characters from the top of my head (Tashigi, Tsuru and Hina) and even though there are more (Tsuru’s crew) there is nowhere near enough to counter the males. Additionally, we know of two former Fleet Admirals (Sengoku and Kong), one current (Sakazuki), and five Admirals (Akainu [former], Aokiji [former], Kizaru, Fujitora and Ryokugyu). Notice a trend? All males.

Cipher Pol: While writting about the Marines, I thought that maybe the reason for the lack of females was that the society at large expected women to not fight and simply take care of the house. With that being the case, it would make sense for Marines to promote the idea, since it would fit with the world at large. It would also make sense for the lack of female characters in CP1-8, since those are known to public (maybe even CP0, since they work mainly for the World Nobles and need to keep up the appearances). But it would not explain CP9, which is an allegedly assassination organisation unknown to the world. In that case a female would be more inconspicuous and thus better at assassination. So, either my idea is wrong and the Marines and CP0-8 have no real explanation for their lack of females or CP9 has no good explanation for only having Kalifa out of at least 8 known characters.

Pirates: Even if theory of misogyny mentioned above is true, pirates, who rebel against the World Government should have a better track record.

Shichibukai (including former, but not Blackbeard, since he’ll be a bit down with the Yonko): Admitedly, Shichibukai work for the World Government, but they’re more of independant contractors than actual employees. So, from all the know Shichibukai Mihawk, Kuma and Weevil get a pass, since they don’t have a crew. Boa Hancock gets one as well, since she does have an all female crew, but her whole crew (present, past and future, since Kija Pirates just seem to pass from generation to generation) is made of Kuja women only and doesn’t seem inclined to recruit out of her island. Which kind of makes sense, but is also discriminatory of every non-Kuja woman. Now to the rest. Crocodile had a bounty hunter organisation that employed both males and females, most notably current Straw Hat Nico Robin, who, once they got up high enough on the ladder worked in male-female duos. That sounds good, but (while I am not going to go back to manga/anime) I remember that, when explaining the structure of Baroque Works to Straw Hats, Vivi said that the number agents are the strongest men in the organisation, who then get a female partner with complementary skill set. Enough said. Next, Moria. But, there’s not much to say, since he basically had 3 living crew members and with that number it’s either man-man-woman or man-woman-woman, so it’s good enough that he didn’t have three men. Jinbei and honestly Fisher Tiger (who I still love and cry when I see him die) did a terrible job at gender equality, since there are no fishwomen or mermaids on the crew of Sun Pirates (there’s Praline, but she’s Aladins wife and joins during time-skip as a part of alliance with Big Mom, so I’m not really counting her). And we have no evidence that fishwomen or mermaids would be any worse at fighting than mermen or fishmen. Trafalgar Law does a bit better, but with one woman out of 20 crew members it’s still not much. Buggy (a guy I totally forgot was a part of this group, sorry Buggy fans) has a huge crew, but out of the well known ones, I’m pretty sure that only Alvida is female, but I cannot be certain that he doesn’t have more. And lastly, Doflamingo. Here I only count the Donquixote Family, since counting every minion would take too long. Out of his Elite Officers (the guys that stood for heart, club, diamond and spade) there were five (Roscinante and Vergo both standing for heart) and all male. Each of them could have subordinates which were: Giolla, Sugar, Violet, Lao G, Senor Pink, Dellinger, Machvise, Gladius, Buffalo, Baby 5. Then there was Monet, who was part of the family, but neither as an elite officer or an official subordinate of one. In total, out of 16 there are 5 females. Like with Moria, it is roughly one third, but better than some other and Doflamingo could have had more females. My main concern nere were the Elite Officers, but they were in general much harder to defeat than the other. Those that jump out would be Sugar (as being hard to defeat, but we need to take into consideration that she was being actively protected by Trebol), Vergo (being easier to defeat than other Elite Officers [in my oppinion], but that took Laws genuinly OP Devil Fruit] and Roscinante (since he didn’t seem to do much and his Devil Fruit was kind of useless, so he either had hidden skill we didn’t see or nepotism).

Yonko: Since this is much lower on the list, I actually thought through the order of writting (from most women inclusive to least) and am not winging it like the rest. Firstly, Big Mom (Charlotte Linlin). She is a female and her crew is greatly inclusive to both genders and all races (species?), though the higher ups (Sweet Commanders, Ministers) seem to be ONLY her children. That means that unless a blood relative of hers a character has little to no chance of mattering. But that could be due to both her and her children, in general, being stronger than at least humans, as well as most of her crew being made up of Homies (if I remember correctly). Out of her three (formerly four) Sweet Commanders one, Smoothie, is female and, while she is weaker than Katakuri (like most of her family), her bounty is higher than Crackers, so she presents a bigger threat according to the World Government. Taking her and Crackers Devil Fruits into consideration, it is likely that Smoothie is more powerful than Cracker (without Devil Fruit), since Cracker can use his whenever he feels like but Smoothie seems to need to get close up, making her fruit harder to use against many enemies at once and thus needing to rely on other abilities. Like Big Mom, Kaido does employ many females, but not as much where it counts. For me, the characters from the Beast Pirates that I remember are Kaido, the All Stars and the Tobiroppo and from those 9, 2 are female (only Ulti and Black Maria). Not to say that those two aren’t awsome, I love both, especially Ulti, but I don’t think that it’s enough. On top of that, the All Stars (which are basically the Beast Pirates version of the Sweet Comanders) are all male, so not even the one third. Then we get onto Blackbeard, from who’s crew we know only the 10 Titanic Captains, where only one (Catarina Devon) is female. That could certainly be better and I will not comment much further, since the 10 Captains themselves show that Blackbeard has a gigant crew, most of who we don’t know, but having a few more females there would be better, since any Blackbeard female shown from now on will most likely be weaker than any of the captains. Next is Whitebeard, whose crew I genuinely hate. I honestly think that Whitebeard is cool and I support the idea of blood not making a family, but any and all females on his crew are nurses. No fighters, let alone a female being one of the 16 Divison Commanders (I checked and Haruta is male. I also heard some people mention Whity Bay, but she’s an ally and a captain of her own crew, not a Whitebeard pirate). So, while there are females, it showes them as damsels in distres rather than foghters. Nothing more to say. Lastly, the worst offender, Shanks. No females. That’s it. There is not a single female character that would be a known member of the Red Haired pirates, not even as a nurse. Grantes, we still don’t know much about Shanks or the Red Haired pirates, but we’ve seen them at Marinefort and I think that if at least one female from the crew was an important fighter, she would be there. So, there could be some, but either not strong or not a fighter at all.

Straw Hats: Let’s be honest, we all love Straw Hats, but they’ve got problems. There are females, but it’s still only two out of then, neither of the two is part of the three strongest (until the time skip Nami was actually seen as one of the weaker members and before Alabasta she didn’t even fight) and even their fighting styles show a problem. This is something I wanted to also point out (before this rant became longer than some of my essays [and I didn’t even research here, just checked to make sure some of the things I wrote were actually true and to check the names]), but another thing I don’t like is how even when female characters are shown, they are not fighters, not GOOD fighters (or in general tend to be weaker than men) or are long distance fighters. Nami and Robin are a great mple of the last. Both of them attack from a distance, which makes sense with their weapon/Devil Fruit, but all the other Straw Hats (excluding Usopp) fight at close or mid distance. That makes the Straw Hats balances, but it doesn’t make sense that neither of them are close combat (at least statistically), especially since Nami DIDN’T FIGHT until Alabasta (and even there her combat with Miss Doublefinger was pretty close range) so her fighting style could have been thought of for a long time. And Robin DOES have some close ranged attacks (shown in Alabasta and Skypiea arcs) but just doesn’t use them (especially post time-skip). And that’s not even talking about Haki. Logicaly speaking, it would make all sense in the world for Robin to have at least Arnament, since it would give her already OP (if used correctly) Devil Fruit a way to more effectively attack other Devil Fruit users and even normal enemies (since Arnament also seems to make attacks stronger, not only allow Devil Fruit users to be hurt) and, unlike basicaly all the other Straw Hats, who didn’t learn Haki during the time-skip, Robin was surrounded by people who knew Haki and could have taught her.

Thank you, for reading my rant. I hope you enjoyed. Additionally, I suck at tagging, so please let me know, if you can think of any.

#one piece #grandlinereview

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alkhale · 4 years

Note

so... that new his dark materials on HBO got me feeling some things and thinking... Memos HDM AU?

Memos His Dark Materials AU Ko-Fi Request

(for context for the excerpt down below this, when someone’s daemon makes contact with another person’s daemon, it’s considered very personal and intimate. This is normal between family members and very close friends or loved ones, say, Luffy’s daemon would probably touch all his nakama’s left and right just fine, but for certain others, this may come as a bit of an alarming little sensation for them since people feel what their daemons feel and the same vice versa as extension of their souls)

- Hoku’s daemon is a white panther named Hau.

The two of them don’t get along very well and tend to get on each other’s nerves due to personal reasons. They’re capable of being a fairly good distance apart even though this isn’t normal and considered painful for most people. They sort of trained themselves to be able to be apart because they felt following their independent values was most important. It’s a bit of a messy situation but they’re the first ones either of them would turn to no matter what. He has the same marking she has painted around the curve of his left eye because it’s tradition for Pokians to paint it onto their daemons when they come of age. All daemons from Artopoki are also always colored white just like their hair.

His name means “happiness” in Hawaiian.

- Mahina’s daemon is a white horse while Manu’s is a small white wild cat. Mihawk’s is a massive, massive ink black raven named Sable. She and Mahina’s daemon got along really well.

- Shank’s daemon is a reddish tinted lionness who goes by Reina. Hoku and Hau are a bit smitten by her but Hau kind of hates Shanks, maybe not hate but he tends to be on the more skeptical end of him versus Hoku being a little doe-eyed for the man. Hau loved Mihawk though. Mihawk was the first person to ever touch him outside of Hoku’s parents (human to daemon contact is a super big deal when it’s not family or intimate loved ones, daemon to daemon is a little more tolerable but raises some brows)

- Luffy’s daemon settles as a springy lionness name Soleil who he calls Sol. She’s very energetic and can’t really read a room but she makes up for it with energy. She and Luffy are two peas in a pod.

- Nami’s daemon is an orange fox named Riki, the greatest thieving duo across the East Blue.

- Zoro’s is a massive bengal tiger named Masumi and she’s got a much more approachable personality than her counterpart but tends to be just as lazy and ferocious.

- Usopp’s is a chameleon by the name of Emmo. She’s a bit of a coward too but she’s funny.

- Sanji’s is a beautiful, rather stunning lady jackrabbit by the name of Celine who loves beautiful people and kicking. She seems a little wiser than Sanji.

- Brook’s is the skeleton of a songbird named Aretha. They’re the strangest case on the Grand Line because of his devil fruit. She sings beautifully for a pile of bones though.

- Franky’s is a female beaver named Aspen, they’re pretty much carbon copies of each other.

- Robin’s is a black owl named Yuval. He’s on the quieter side and tends to creep people out on first glance but he’s a very gentlemanly owl.

- Ace’s ends up settling as a red and black lynx by the name of Iskra. Sabo’s is a peregrine falcon named Brisa.

- Vivi’s is a fennec fox named Seti.

- I couldn’t decide of Kid’s should be one hell of a murderous honey badger with attitude named Naga or a crocodile or a bear. Any of those three felt pretty right but I lean more toward the honey badger HAHAHA.

- Law’s daemon is a snow leopard named Estrella. These two are an especially dangerous duo and Estrella tends to be a bit more on the mysterious side at first.

- - - - - - -

“Your blood,” Shank said, cupping her cheek. “Is worth treasures more than his.”

Hau bit at Shanks’ cloak, snarling as a white husky in protest, trying to pull him away. Reina watched him in utter amusement.

Steam exploded from Hoku’s ears, her entire face flushing red.

“Oops, hey, someone get Makino! I’m worried dove’s got a fever!”

- - - - - - -

“It’s nothing but a childish crush,” Hau said pointedly to her, perfectly aware of the fluttery, gross feelings inside Hoku spilling over to him. He walked after her, lashing his tail angrily while Hoku stared up at the sky in a daze. Shanks had just given them a living, ripe kiionohi tree. “He just thinks we’re cute kids. He likes teasing us. This is how he took Luffy!”

Hau worked over-time to remain as indifferent toward Shanks as Hoku originally wanted to be. Hoku had just given up and rolled over to the fact that Shanks was just… so hard to dislike. Was there even a reason to dislike him? Sure, she still got jealous that Luffy was so damn fond of him, but when Luffy was always pulling her around despite that, promising she was his first before anyone else—

“Are you listening to me?” Hau hissed at her, biting her ankle in protest. Hoku looked down at him. “I don’t like him! He’s just another schmuck! Nothing’s gonna happen anyway! Dream on! We’re just kids to him, got it?”

“I know that,” Hoku snapped, cheeks flushing. “I-It’s just adoration. Childish adoration. What do you think I’m gonna do, ask him to marry me?”

“No,” Hau muttered, “but don’t get any ideas.”

“I’m not,” Hoku snapped back at him, lightly nudging his paws. Hau swiped at her. “He’s just… he’s just charming, is all. And you’re one to talk, you know. You look at anyone that’s willing to scratch your ears like they’re god!”

“I don’t let people scratch me behind the ears!” Hau protested. “No one’s allowed to touch me!”

“Yeah,” Hoku snorted. “Except Luffy, right? I feel what you feel too, dumbass. Think about how it feels for me to get scratched behind the ears too, okay?”

Hau grumpily settled down onto his haunches, stubbornly looking over to the side, “But it’s Luffy.”

Hoku could understand that, but it didn’t make the sensation any more normal. Actually, I might be starting to get used to that. Luffy’s so damn touchy it’ll kill me. She didn’t even flinch anymore when Hau and Soleil were pressed tight together, rolling around or tumbling about each other or cuddled up in a pile. Luffy’s warm fingers patting Hau’s head, hefting him up into his arms—that was still something she was getting used to.

Or Hoku, cupping Soleil’s head in her hands, pressing a kiss to the top of the daemon’s head, committing utter taboo. Hoku, letting Soleil cozy up to the crook of her neck, shove her face into Hoku’s hand, weave between her fingers while Luffy laughed beside them—

The four of them, touching each other’s daemons, each other’s partners, each other’s souls—

But I am getting used to it. Hoku shivered. Never touching anyone’s daemon, huh?

Hau lashed his tail, “I won’t let Shanks touch me, you can count on that.”

“You’re just jealous,” Hoku said. “Luffy and Soleil already said we’re first. And it’s not like Shanks is going to be here forever, he’s a pirate, remember?”

Hoku rubbed the side of her arm, looking down at her shoes, “He’s just… he’s just become Luffy’s idol. You see how he looks at him—Luffy knows what he wants to do now ‘cause of him.”

Hau huffed, whiskers twitching. Hoku gave him a little shove and Hau shifted into a bull, ramming at the back of her knees as Hoku laughed, shoving back at him.

Shanks was just a bit of fun, that was it.

- - - - - - - -

But Reina didn’t play by the rules.

“You’re getting faster, little dove.”

Hoku almost screamed. Her heart lodged into her throat, forcing her to choke as Mau nearly clattered onto the dirt from her hands had she not hooked it last minute. She apologized to the amused blade, checking for scratches and trying to work out a game plan in her head.

Hau frowned. As deep of a frown as an unhappy skunk could make, sitting by a log and looking pointedly Reina’s way.

She didn’t know when Shanks’ daemon had made her way over to them or where Shanks was, probably with Luffy to be honest, but there Reina was, living up to her name.

The lioness daemon was stretched out onto a fat slab of rock jutting upwards from the ground. Luffy used it as a launching platform a lot when they were playing. Her red-gold body rippled, leisurely soaking up the sunlight.

Hoku’s fingers itched.

Reina watched them with golden irises.

“Thanks,” Hoku said, trying not to be awkward but feeling very much so. “I’m not there yet though.”

Reina’s chest rumbled, a deep sound that made Hau wrinkle his nose in protest. She laid her head down onto her paws, rolling over onto her side. Hoku noticed the scars lining her softer underbelly, the notch missing from a piece of her flicking tail.

“You’ll get there,” Reina said soothingly. “Why don’t you take a break?”

I feel like I’m talking to the devil. Hoku shivered. Temptation incarnate. “I haven’t hit my number of swings yet.”

“Shanks and Luffy are playing by the harbor,” Reina almost purred. “Don’t you want to join?”

Hoku frowned at her boots. Yes. “No. I’m glad Shanks is taking up all his time.”

Reina’s ear twitched. Her eyes glimmered playfully. Hoku felt as though if her feet weren’t planted firmly to begin with, she’d already be making her way over to the lioness for no reason other than the fact that Reina seemed to be beckoning her over.

“How come you two can be so far apart?” Hau blurted. Hoku shot him a look of disbelief.

Reina’s whiskers twitched in amusement.

Hau hunkered down, waving his big bushy tail. “I-Isn’t it painful? It’s weird, daemons aren’t supposed to be able to do that.”

“You two seem to be able to go fairly far,” Reina murmured. “Is that not strange?”

Hoku and Hau flinched.

Reina laid her head down onto the rock, letting the sun color her pelt. She looked crimson gold in the sunlight. “He and I simply found it in ourselves to promise to live our lives to the fullest and the freest.”

Reina seemed to smile, lips pulling back to show her fangs. “Besides, like this, I can be with Luffy and he can be with little dove at the same time, hmm?”

Hoku and Hau blinked in confusion. They looked at each other and back to Reina who’d rolled over to show them her back, settling down for a nice, long nap.

“Finish up those swings, dove,” Reina purred. “Then let’s play.”

I miss Luffy. Hoku miserably flattened herself down against the grass, Mau propped up onto a trunk beside her. Hau was chirping haughtily in the tree branch above her, flapping his white wings even though he was supposed to be a toucan. I always run off even when he’s playing with Shanks. Maybe I should just suck it up and have fun with them too. Or, not fun. Just… spend time. Yeah.

Hoku groaned, rubbing her sweaty face with her hands.

“About time,” Hau chirped at her. “Let’s go! I don’t care if Shanks and everyone else is there, I want to see Luffy and Sol.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hoku snapped. “I heard ya. You just want to get touched again.”

Hau flattened, ruffling his feathers, “That’s not true!”

It absolutely is. Hoku sighed, preparing her aching muscles to lift her sluggish body up. Hau was practically touched starved and Luffy’s generous pats were like a drug. He did a good job making sure Shanks never got near him though. Hoku didn’t even flinch. Touching other people’s daemons is still such a weird feeling though, I can’t get used to anyone else but them.

She’d only ever touched Sable twice. Ki and Kekoa didn’t count because they were family. Soleil was the only one she ever really touch-touched, and even then, it was still a sensation Hoku felt all the way to the tip of her toes and down to her bones. Intimate.

Bet no one else has a daemon willing to get himself pet. Hoku peeked through her fingers at Hau who jumped from the branch and shifted into a little white butterfly. He’d turn into a dog later because it was easier to play with Luffy like that. What daemon goes up to someone to get themselves touched?

Some taboos just weren’t meant to be crossed.

A shadow fell over Hoku’s face and she blinked, moving her hands away to look up.

Reina looked down at her.

Hoku froze, stiff against the ground like a corpse. Her heart hammered stupidly loud in her chest, loud enough to burst through her ears. From this spot, she could make out every fine, red-gold hair smoothed over Reina’s slender face. She could see the dark lines that traced her feline gold eyes, followed the slope of her muzzle, to the long, elegant whiskers—a few cut short, and the few scars that lined her soft nose.

This was the closest she had ever been to the daemon.

She could sense heat from the lioness, hulking power and muscle. Reina’s killing paws sat on either side of her head. She could crush Hoku’s skull without much effort. Rip her throat out. In another world, Hoku would be fearing for her life—even in this world, Hoku was still fearing for her life, but, but, maybe death at the hands of such a beautiful, powerful daemon couldn’t be that awful.

Hoku waited, staring at Reina with wide eyes.

Reina blinked once, slowly. Something like amusement seemed to shift over the fine hairs on her face and she lowered her head over Hoku’s. Her body seized up, unable to breathe.

And then languidly, a warm, wet and scratchy pink tongue rolled once across her face, down her forehead to her lips and over her chin. Reina pulled away, satisfied, looking down at Hoku’s disheveled, slightly wet face and bulging eyes before calmly sauntering off, hips swaying.

It took her a moment. A good, solid moment. Her heart did something funny, her body frozen stiff and ascended to some other plain of existence, her mind whirring and still buzzing from the electricity of the slightest contact with—

Someone else’s daemon—

Reina—

Shanks’ daemon—

Touched—

Hoku’s face blushed a bright, scarlet red. She grabbed her face with her hands and rolled around in the dirt like the little bug she was.

Hau jealously nudged her face with his little ferret nose, huffing and puffing in displeasure.

She’d never been touched by someone else’s daemon before.

- - - - - - - -

The final nail into her own coffin was done by Hoku’s own hands.

At the crack of dawn, when the light was just beginning to crawl its way out of the horizon to peek over into the sky. Just hours before, Hoku had finally shown Shanks the book, speaking with him in the low light of that bar and making a total fool of herself—enough for Hau to tease and taunt her about it for hours until they fell asleep.

She woke up earlier than Luffy today, leaving him snoring in her hammock with Soleil sprawled as a baby badger over him. Hau woke up, slithering into her shirt and keeping himself warm by her stomach as they walked out into the forest.

Reina was already waiting for them.

“Dove,” Reina greeted, velvet voice carrying over as Hoku trudged through the dewy grass. Sunlight was warming her pelt, heating it up like a forge and turning the red-gold of her pelt darker and brighter.

Hau muttered a low, half-reluctant protest. Yesterday, Luffy had picked him up, holding him close and willingly thrusted Hau toward Shanks like some kind of sacrificial offering.

Shanks didn’t take the daemon, simply grinning in understanding at Hau’s horrified expression. Her daemon had never felt more betrayed.

“Hau, you gotta get along with everyone!” Luffy laughed. “Don’t be dumb like Hoku!”

Hoku couldn’t stop the greedy, uncontrollable itch in her fingers.

“...good morning,” Hoku mumbled, tucking hair behind her ear out of habit. Reina was stretched out, regal and picture perfect on that same slab of stone. Dawn was rising over the fine curve of her spine and the lioness kept her gaze on them evenly, waiting as Hoku slowly came to stand beside the slab of rock.

Reina’s ears swiveled forward. She watched Hoku, eyes glittering. A soft sound left her parted jaws.

Hoku hesitantly took a seat on the rock, a few inches away from Reina. She could feel heat rising from the daemon, her head turning to follow Hoku as they stared at each other.

She weakly raised one hand. Hau’s heartbeat matched her own.

“Could I… Could I draw you?”

Reina’s jaws parted to let out a soft rumble. Her body curved more, keeping Hoku in the middle. Her paws stretched out and Reina kept her eyes evenly on Hoku’s.

Hoku softly set her hand down on Reina’s side. Warmth flooded into her fingertips, spreading up her arm and making half her body feel almost numb with the sensation. Hoku’s head spun, buzzing with that vibrant thrum of energy as Reina’s pelt shifted under her fingertips. Hoku daringly let her hand come down Reina’s spine, feeling the muscles and scars in one gentle stroke.

Reina’s scratchy tongue dragged over Hoku’s hand in approval.

“I hope that man is deep, deep asleep,” Hau muttered. Hoku agreed.

She thought her heart was going to burst.

- - - - - -- -- - -

“This place is crawling with marines now,” Smoker said. “What are you going to do? Let them arrest you like some kind of washed up drunk?”

Hoku lightly pushed the glass in front of her. The bartender nervously refilled the glass, jumping in fear when Smoker glared daggers at him.

“Hoku,” Smoker said.

The woman kept swallowing mouthfuls of the whiskey in her cup, ignoring him. Blanca’s fur had settled over her back, smoothing out. His daemon watched the woman before them in silence, looking at Hau and then back to Hoku.

A soft sound left Blanca’s lips. Smoker shot her a warning look. The smoky colored husky daemon lowered her tail.

“What happened to all that spunk?” Smoker continued. “You don’t give two shits if I cuff you and take you in from here?”

Hoku didn’t even turn to look at them. She kept her shoulders hunched, curling in on herself over the bar’s countertop and refusing to meet the gazes burning into her back. The empty glasses spread out across the wood counter beside her, the heavy smell of alcohol settling amidst the cigarette smoke.

Hau kept silent at her feet, curled up and head low. Smoker observed the daemon carefully, noticing the matted fur, the dirt stains in the crisp white that used to be his go-to for hunting them down in the crowd. His unsheathed claws, caked with dried dirt and blood. The cleanest spot was the blood red ink curled over his half-hidden face under the countertop’s shadow.

A new spot was inked into his fur. A small, blood red flame right where the muscle of his shoulder blade bunched under his right foreleg. Smoker’s eyes traveled upwards to the matching red flame inked into Hoku’s skin over her right shoulder blade.

“This is it?” Smoker said gruffly.

Hoku snorted. Blanca shot him a look, gray eyes hard to read but Smoker never needed to read her eyes, he could hear her thoughts loud and clear in his own head, in the space they shared.

“Who cares,” Hoku muttered bitterly. “You got what you wanted.”

Blanca fell silent. Smoker shot his daemon a sharp look, but she refused to meet his gaze, tail limp behind her and ears pricked far forward, focused on the woman before them.

Hoku bowed her head. Her hands went up, carding through her hair, holding them there as though she were cradling her head in her hands.

“You won,” Hoku whispered.

His daemon took a step forward.

“Blanca,” he warned.

The husky kept her muzzle shut, looking at him.

“Smoker.”

Smoker tossed his cigar to the side. His gloved hand clenched into a fist before it loosened. Smoker let out an aggravated sigh, shaking his head. He took a step forward, raising his hand up.

Hau’s growl ripped through the air like a knife. A single, resounding warning. Smoker glanced down to the daemon, glaring at them with icy venom, fangs and claws bared. Blanca lowered her head only an inch, her only way of showing they meant no harm. Hau pulled his lips back into a louder snarl, tail lashing in aggravation.

Hoku glanced down to her companion, frowning for a moment before she raised her head and looked back at Smoker.

Tears continued to trickle from the corners of her eyes. They slid down the curve of her cheeks, dripping down her chin. Hoku watched him in silence, expression unreadable.

The admiral hesitated for only a second. Blanca let out the softest, softest whine.

For a moment, Hau’s body untensed, staring. The foggy look started to clear. Hoku’s brows creased and Smoker reached out with his gloved hand one more time.

The doors to the bar slammed open.

The light winked out from Hoku’s eyes. Hau stood onto his paws, head lowered, eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

His men flooded the dimly lit room, raising their guns and shouting out orders as Smoker cursed in his head and Blanca’s ferocious barks of protest flooded the room over his, ordering the marine daemons to stand down.

Smoker lurched, eyes snapping in surprise to where Hau suddenly had Blanca pinned to the wooden floorboards of the bar. His daemon was silent, rigidly looking up at Hau with her teeth barely bared, body still while Hau’s jaws were wrapped around her neck. Smoker felt his teeth on his own, Hoku’s dead eyes looking at all of them.

“Go ahead,” Hoku said coldly. She turned to the marines by the door, half-smiling. “Just don’t forget, Hau’s got one more life over her.”

Blanca kept silent, staring imploringly at Hau. The panther ignored her gaze, keeping his jaws buried in the scruff of her throat, waiting. Smoker stared hard at Hoku and she kept her gaze on his men, expression devoid of emotion.

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

“Estrella,” Law drawled, ice dripping with the roll of his tongue.

His daemon pounced.

They poor no-body marine dog never stood a chance.

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

“No,” Law said. “This is rehab.”

He kicked Hoku’s lower back, sending her flying down the stairs with an ungoldy screech and down into the boiler room. Penguin and Sachi peeked their heads around the corner, staring down into the darkest depths of their sub while Law shoved a hand into his pocket.

“Is she still alive?” Penguin asked.

“She’s got a couple, right?” Law asked Hau. “Which one was that?”

Hau flicked his tail tip, the only sign of his annoyance. Estrella watched him with peering eyes, following the sway of Hau’s haunches as he slunk down the steps into the boiler room after Hoku.

“Fuck you, Law!” came the ghostly holler. “I’m going to blow up your submarine! You forgot I’m suicidal, asshole!”

Law looked satisfied, turning his back on them and closing the boiler room door. To Sachi and Penguin he added, “Make sure she doesn’t come out until she’s done.”

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

Law froze, his entire body stiff as ice.

He took a moment, reassessing the sensation he felt unfolding in his chest. He considered it carefully, made sure this… this feeling was not a mistake, that he had not wrongly interpreted the shared sensation between himself and his daemon. He picked it apart in seconds, slowly, rigidly turning his head to the corner of the deck.

It was dark, only a single headbeam lit from the corner pathway of the submarine. The deck on top of the rounded hull was bathed in darkness, but even in the thin light, he knew down to his bones he was not seeing wrongly.

Law gave the woman beside him one discreet, searching glance.

Hoku looked completely and utterly unaffected. He watched her a second longer to make sure it wasn’t an act, but her careless, bored demeanor showed truthfully she had no inclination whatsoever to sharing his barely, barely startled turmoil. Hoku looked completely at ease, still squinting in the distance to see if she could make out the constellation they’d just discussed, mouth moving around the dried fruit she’d just popped into her mouth.

Law carefully, with great composure, withheld the light, creeping shiver that traveled down his spine. He narrowed his eyes, looking back, but Estrella coyly kept her mind blank, hiding all of her thoughts from him the way they’d taught each other to.

There, against the side of the entry doorway, the two of them laid.

Hoku’s daemon had stretched out, directly in the middle of the deck to keep the perfect distance away from either side of the railings. His long, furred body turned a pale, ghostly shade of white under the moonlight, large paws hiding pearl white claws. Hau’s side rose and fell in lazy slumber, his tail stretched out behind him like a white whip, ears twitching only occasionally.

But the issue was who was beside him.

Estrella had silently made her way from Law’s side across the deck to his. Her lithe, powerful feline body almost nearly matched his in size. Law watched her with rapt, rigid focus, brows furrowed in dark disbelief as his daemon purposefully ignored his silent prodding.

She stopped inches from Hau’s form, sitting on her haunches, tail curled neatly over her paws. Hau’s ear flicked once in her direction to signal he’d noticed, but kept his eyes closed. Estrella stared down at him, icy gray gaze that had stared back as she ripped throats out of marines and pirates and their enemies alike, becoming almost clear.

Estrella rearranged herself, laying down on her stomach barely a centimeter—a heavy, tense centimeter Law could feel—from him. She folded her paws neatly over each other, staring out seemingly in boredom. Her striped black tail flicked from side to side, occasionally brushing against Hau’s limp one. A ghost of a touch.

Touch.

His daemon. Estrella.

Hau didn’t move, tail limp, body relaxed. Estrella turned her head to look down at the other daemon, expression carefully blank. Her tail curled and then the tip of it brushed against Hau’s flank. His fur seemed to shift, bright, scarred pink nose twitching but he remained relaxed. Estrella seemed pleased by this and her tail promptly laid out beside his own, curling idly over his.

Touching.

Law looked back at Hoku and she reached for another dried fruit, popping it into her mouth. She shuffled through her bag, debating whether or not to shove a handful more. Oblivious.

Is your connection to your daemon that terrible? Law almost bit out. Almost. It would have come out calm and cold and collected. Are you that dull? Is it that messed up? Are you an idiot—

He went rigid, gripping Kikoku with white knuckles.

Law exhaled, slowly. He carefully turned over his shoulder, inch by inch, glaring daggers behind him.

Estrella didn’t even blink at him, eyes trained sideways and away. She looked silver against Hau’s snow white. Her long, raspy pink tongue slid out languidly from her mouth in soothing, relaxed motions. It showed off the dangerous curve of bone-crushing fangs. But Estrella’s tongue was now running over the top of Hau’s face, over his ears, around his neck as she turned her face and—

“Are you grooming him?” Law spat out in disbelief at her.

The snow leopard lazily flicked her tail behind her in response. Hau yawned, stretching his paws out, unbothered, and resumed his slumber as Estrella continued her grooming, content.

Law ripped apart the shudder that almost raced down his spine. He shoved the sensations traveling from Estrella and Hau’s shared connection, the low buzz of energy, of electricity that came when two daemons touched each. A feeling he’d only ever felt when Corazon’s Rosa would curl her soft, furry body up around Estrella—

He grit his teeth, squaring his shoulders and forcibly maintaining his composure as he promptly knocked Kikoku against the metal railing once.

Hoku looked up, brows creasing. A fruit stuck out from between her lips. She gave him a look, as though he’d done something wrong for disturbing her.

Your daemon is touching my daemon.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Hoku asked.

Do you not feel what I feel?

Law gave her a flat look. Hoku continued to chew.

Go get your daemon—

“Hoku,” she and Law both looked down. Hau’s voice was smooth and not too low, like a melted rumble. He came up to her leg, pressing his big head against her hip and curling his tail over her leg. The white panther daemon blinked blue eyes up at them. Law could see gold.

Hau seemed to examine Law for a moment before his long whiskers twitched. The white panther blinked once. Law stared back at him, curious about the eye contact someone else’s daemon was making with him.

Without even pausing, Hoku’s hand ran over his face, pushing past his soft ears and turning against his cheek to scratch under his chin. Hau lifted his head for better access, a loud rumble filling the air.

Several feet away, Estrella slowly made her way toward them, nonchalant and shifting mass of silver and black fur. She didn’t even acknowledge the icy daggers her other half was fixing her with, haunches swaying as she came up and sat down loyally by Law’s feet. Estrella looked up at Hoku, whiskers twitching.

“What game are you playing?” Law thought at her.

“Nothing,” Estrella thought back at him, innocent. “Nothing at all.”

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

P.S - If you guys like this au, highly recommend checking out 500shadesofblue’s story “Echoes” on ao3, super good.

#memos #memos au #hdm au #daemons #straw hat crew #shanks #trafalgar law #mihawk #mahina #manu #hoku #ko fi requests #smoker

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softrozene · 4 years

Note

Hello luv. I just came across your blog and I was wondering if you could do a one shot or headcannon for crocodile? Maybe something along the lines of someone kidnapping his wife or something. Feel free to make it as angsty as you want. Thank you and have a great day.

Ahhhh I actually had to do a double-take at who sent this because guess what? I’m actually a fan of yours lmao. Not too long ago I read your All Might Omegaverse story on ao3 and it was soooo good omg. Anyway, you asked for angst? I hope I delivered! I did a one-shot but it was on the shorter side so I also did bonus headcanons! Hope you enjoy it Lovely and stay safe out there!

Sir Crocodile x Wife!Reader

Warnings: Angst, so much angst, mentions of violence and injuries, I made the ending neutral meaning it can be bad or good depending on how you feel :’) The bonus headcanons may help ease any heartache

Words: 1650

Crocodile stares down at the piece of paper with that everlasting scowl on his face. The words on it fill him with rage but his eyes remain emotionless. The question now, is how should he go about this? Slowly, his hands twitch alongside the piece of paper before his eyes flicker up to Nico Robin.

“Well… What are your thoughts on this sudden problem, Miss All Sunday?” He questions.

Robin merely smiles at his tone. He is angry, very angry, and she for one knows better to keep any information on this subject to him. She speaks in a calculating tone, “Whoever sent this has been tracking you for a long time if they know you are in Alabasta. However, they do know that you are respected across the country but did not know of your ties to Baroque Works. That can only mean that they know you from your past if they followed your name here. They must have known her too if they were able to capture her so easily-“

“Do watch your choice of words when speaking about my wife. (Name), could not have been captured easily even if she did know her kidnapper. She would have put up a fight,” Crocodile growls out momentarily losing his cool.

Robin only hums before she continues. “It says a time, a date, and a number. There is no location. They may be sending another note soon then. I expect that to be when they wish to meet with you and money. Mr. 0 I advise you to be careful. If they are from the past and still holding a grudge who knows what has happened to her. You even went the whole mile to make sure she was a safe distance. Their anger probably holds no bounds so prepare for the wor-“

“You are dismissed,” Crocodile cuts her off.

He can’t even bear the thought of her saying prepare for the worst. Robin leaves immediately and he is stuck in his dark office observing the stupid paper that holds his precious wife’s fate. Your fate.

Crocodile will not admit it with his organization- But you are truly his whole heart. You are one of the reasons why he has not completely fallen and why he has made sure you were so far away from him, actually at a home where you can be happy and hopefully soon be a mother with his kids, and not on the run with a Warlord like him. He thought you would be safe without the target on his back from the enemies he has made over the years but this proves not to be true and now he realizes that your true place is really by his side where he can protect you in a moment’s notice.

He will be damned if anything happens to you.

~*~

You do not know how much longer you can hold out for. It feels like it has been years since this group of pathetic pirates seeking revenge took you from your home and lit your home on fire. All because they wanted to see Crocodile in pain. The note they sent with your handwriting on it as proof they have you was a lie.

They made you write the time, date, and a money amount after making you write how you have been kidnapped by these people. How they are just looking for money Crocodile owes them for once taking out their entire ship and ruining their dreams. It truly was pathetic because they plan on having you half-dead by the time the date is supposed to be here.

You have a feeling it is soon from how weak you are. They have starved you, dehydrated you, watched you bleed, painted your skin black and blue, all for the sake of seeing Crocodile upset. You have been married to the man since he was a rookie, so you know they are doing this in vain.

He will never give them emotion even if he is painfully feeling it. They will see the satisfaction of him being hurt but with your observant eyes and knowing his true self you will see it painfully clear.

“Oi, have a little bit more fun with her will ya? I’m going to send the location- Be prepared to move her when I get back,” The boss of the whole kidnapping states.

One of the burlier men started to make his way back to you and you wish desperately that you can beg or plea with them but… It did not work the first time and it only made the men angrier. His large hand comes across your face and the numbing you had felt a bit ago is gone. The pain is so much from the previous beating that you can’t help but to cry out.

They enjoy that and as the boss leaves- You fear that your time may be running out.

~*~

Crocodile sighs as he finally gets to the location- Some abandoned building in Alabasta, near Rainbase. Your kidnappers really did want to get him that they hid right under his nose. He does not knock. He uses his Devil Fruit powers to enter the building and reform himself. Immediately, shots are fired but as always, they do not faze him.

“Still same tough boy, aren’t you?” The leader questions with a laugh.

With a bored expression, Crocodile glances around the room only for his eyes to fall on your unmoving form. It looks like you are barely breathing. The blood tainting your skill is enough to put him in a murderous rage, but he holds off.

The men standing idly are waiting for his expression to change but when it remains the same, they begin to sweat out of slight anxiety.

“In the note, it said she would be fine, but it appears she is dying. Not that it bothers me, if she truly let herself get kidnapped by you lot then her life was not worth much anyway. I will be disposing of the lot of you for wasting my time. In your next life make sure whatever you have hostage actually has meaning,” Crocodile states in monotone.

There is no mercy as he has the floor made of sand beneath them open and up and swallow them. This truly was a waste of time for him and his anger grows as he makes his way over to your form. Your eyes are trying to stay open and he kneels down beside you to pull you onto his lap.

You recognize the anger in his eyes but ignore it as you give him a weak smile. Your hand comes up to cup his face and he immediately leans into it, the warmth for you, showing in his eyes now that he can let his guard down.

“I am pathetic, aren’t I? Getting kidnapped by these idiots. I am sorry to make you worry so much,” You say in between wheezes.

Crocodile adjusts him and you so he can help you sit up and hopefully breathe better. If you are wheezing in a pile of your own blood- It just is not a good sign at all. He can see how fatigued you are, and he hates it for not finding you sooner.

“You aren’t pathetic. These lowly scumbags were. I commend you for staying alive for what they did to you and when you recover, I will lavish you with the attention you deserve. I will never let you out of my sight again,” He promises.

Your hand has trouble sliding up his face to mess up his gelled back hair, but you did it with struggle. You mumble, “Dear, I believe you me if, not when. I am not feeling too hot right now.”

“Really? I think you look divine as always. Enough talk. Save your strength. I will have my associate, Miss All Sunday help us go to a private clinic so they can work on you,” Crocodile states.

In his mind, there is no possibility of you dying so you no longer try to tell him how you are slowly fading away. Nico Robin as she enters the room, for once, does not have the heart to say anything witty as she sees an innocent woman slowly perishing all while her husband is denial. If luck is on their side, you will survive but- When has a man who lost his hand and with ever-growing arrogance ever have luck?

For your sake, Robin is hoping that you are his good luck charm.

Bonus Headcanons:

Okay so yeah, much like in the one-shot if Crocodile had a wife who was kidnapped- He would be boiling with anger

He would look all calm at first but the moment he saw the damage he would murder everyone on sight for daring to hurt his precious person

He would be more caring if he wasn’t y’know trying to take over Alabasta for the weapon but since he is in this one-shot that is why he tries so hard to pretend he does not care

He totally would go ballistic

He is possessive and he hates the idea of someone else touching his wife

For the sake of the one-shot, I had his wife away but as I said in the prior point he is possessive so he would definitely have eyes on his wife all the time- She is one of his only weaknesses so he would protect her at all costs

Here is a fluff idea! He would love just giving his wife items of luxury- It just makes him happy knowing he can provide for her even if he is doing it with blood money since he is a bad guy

He would also remember every important date that has to do with him and his wife so he can lavish her on said dates

#my writing #crocodile x reader #sir crocodile #one piece x reader #one piece #fanfiction #one shot #headcanons #one piece fanfiction #one piece oneshot #one piece headcanons #angst #female reader #one piece crocodile

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recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Daniel Barnes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

Favorite One Piece character?

Usopp.

Favorite One Piece villain?

Crocodile.

Favorite One Piece arc?

Sabaody Archipelago.

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

Bellamy’s Spring Spring fruit.

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

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

Favorite One Piece fight?

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

One Piece moment that made you cry the hardest?

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

One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

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

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

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

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

By: Daniel Dockery

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

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onepieceoftheoceanblues · 4 years

Note

Scar headcanons for...whoever you feel like? XD sorry im not so specific, I just want to hear every bodies lol

Nah its fine, i dont mindScar headcanons for whoever I feel like! Lets gooooo!

Luffy-

Besides the obvious scars (his cheek scar and the one on his chest) he actually doesn’t have many, as his devil fruit makes it harder for him to scar.

Luffy traces his chest scar when he thinks of Ace. It also aches when it gets too hot or when he uses his Red Hawk.

He has 3, small and clean white lines on the left side of his stomach that curl up slightly from the Bear attack after Sabo died. They’re really light, so you have to really look to see them, but they’re there. When Luffy thinks of Sabo, he’s unconsciously put his hand on them.

He has a bunch of little white scars in his hair from when he got punched with spiked gloves. One or two just peek out from under his hairline, but they’re pretty fine and thin.

He also has similar thin white scars on the tips of his fingers from climbing the mountain on Drum Island.

Usopp

He has stretch marks from his 2 year training. He doesn’t normally mind them, but sometimes when he feels like he’s eating too much, looking at them can send him into a food avoiding spiral.

He has a few scars on his fingers and hand from when he was learning to shoot his slingshot when he was a kid. The most notable is a thin whitr scar between his thumb and finger from when his older slingshot shattered in his hand.

He has this thin, little cut on his left shoulder that he has no idea where he got it from, but he got it sometime after sailing with the crew.

He also some pretty deep scars on his arms and shoulders from using the reject dials, which also mark where he broke his arm bones from the same dial. His arm aches when it’s cold.

Sanji-

A few tiny little nicks on his fingers and hands from when he started to cook, also a burn or two. Otherwise his hands are completely injury free.

He has a rather long and straight surgical scar from his surgery on Drum Island to fix his broken back and ribs.

He has several scars on his legs. One of the most notable being a burn scar on his left leg from when he tried his Diable Jambe for the first time. The other are several small scars on the bottom of his feet and up his ankles, mostly from when he started training to use just his legs when he was younger.

He has small, jagged ’S’ shape scar at the nape of his neck that disappears up into his hairline. He knows it’s from when he was with the Vinesmoaks and it was most likely from an attack from his brothers, but he doesn’t know when or who. He only knows it’s there because Zeff once commented on it.

Robin-

She, next to Franky, has the most scars. She is absolutely littered with them.

Stab wounds, bullet wounds, shrapnel, burns, you name it, she has it. She has been in some of the worst company for most her life after all.

Most of the serious ones happen to be on her hands and arms, as whatever is done to her copies is translated back to her, just in a lesser degree. (If it was full translation, her hands would have been cut off ages ago im sure) Not every injury scars, but over the years they have built up to quite the collection. Mostly slashes and stab wounds, with a few burns and a gunshot wound or two, ect.

The stab wound from Crocodile ended up being a scar, a quite nasty one too, directly in the middle of her chest, between her breasts. It’s jagged and roundish, slightly longer and thinner near the top due to the shape of the hook. Thankfully most of it not noticeable. Though it always itches really bad and tends to be sensitive.

She also has a bit of a lightning scar on her right shoulder, running down her arm a bit, from Enru.

She also got a small scar above her left eyebrow, it goes into her hairline. She got it at Enies Lobby, she thinks it was Spandam, but he and a lot of other people hit her quite a lot that day so its hard to tell

Ace- (slight self harm warning)

Oh boy

This boi grew up in a jungle with mountain bandits

It’s surprising he’s not 99% scar tissue tbh with his upbringing

He has huge claw marks on his upper leg from inner thigh to out from a bear attack right after he meet Sabo

Actually he has several claw marks and lines from different animals all over, mostly on his limbs, but most are faded or lighter then that one

Has a bite marks from wolves in his lower left calf, left his hip, and the nape of his right shoulder.

Has a single, jagged line up the middle of his back from someone in Grey Terminal when he got careless (it got covered by his Whitebeard Tattoo later)

He has three self harm scars from when he was younger, before Sabo. He just didn’t know how else to deal with stuff, and he heard from some adults in Gray Terminal that it would help. He ended up not doing it again, just didn’t work out for him like he thought it would. But anyways, the scars themselves

One is on his left arm, near the inner elbow. It’s just a small, nick, his very first one and he wasn’t sure about it.

The other two are on his right arm. The first is more around the side, light and small. The last is directly across the wrist. It was done with a shattered, broken pipe piece, and he was very angry when he did it. The line is jagged, deep, and looks more like an accident then deliberate. He nearly bled out with that one, and from then decided not to do it anymore.

He doesn’t like looking at that one, always lies about where it came from

After eating his devil fruit, he stopped mostly stopped scarring (also because he got better with dodging and Haki XD)

He does however have a round, bullet scar on his right shoulder from a seastone bullet when he got cocky with his Logia powers.

#one piece #headcanons #ask #self harm tw #non-graphic descriptions of self harm and scars

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genogenocrazycatman · 5 years

Text

Stillwater - Chapter 14

Stillwater [Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.Net, Mibba]

Characters: Original Female Character, Monkey D. Luffy, Rorona Zoro, Vinsmoke Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Nefeltari Vivi

"We build as only children know to build

We made a way where there's a will

No slowing down or standing still

Innocent and reckless

"How did we get so old and never notice

How did we gain the world and lose the moment

Rise and fall, the tide surrounds us

And drowns us all"

-Hands Like Houses

***

“What in the world was that?” I asked, pausing my polishing of the furniture, when I felt the ship suddenly rock.

“Luffy, what else,” Nami said, standing in the door way of our shared room. “Looks good.” She nodded towards the bar. “Smells good too.”

“Not a bad polish,” I said, looking at the container, “But I’m sure that I could probably make my own from the peels of your tangerines, if you start saving them for me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah totally. People have been using lemon and orange oils to polish furniture for years. I don’t see why tangerine wouldn’t work.”

“Huh. I’ll have to start keeping them for you then. I’m gathering everyone up for a quick crew meeting, you good to head on up or do you need a minute?”

“Nah. I’m good. I’ll finish up later.”

I set my stuff down and followed Nami out. “The boys were all hanging out on the aft deck. Nami went back to get them. Vivi was already standing on the main deck. I plopped down on the ground, sitting crisscross and resting my head in my hand.

“Hey, listen up you guys. We’ll be landing at Alabasta soon, and this is no time to be joking around. Like a pack of hyenas. Come on.”

“Yes ma’am,” The boys all grumbled, save for Chopper, who hadn’t suffered through enough bossy Nami to be properly put off.

“So what is Alabasta then?” he asked as they descended the stairs.

“It’s the country, where Vivi’s father rules,” Nami explained.

“Yeah, except there’s this guy named Crocodile, who’s trying to take over the country right now,” Usopp elaborated.

“And Crocodile’s one of the seven war lords of the sea,” Sanji added.

“Who are those guys?”

“Government sanctioned pirates,” I answered.

“The government actually supports pirates?”

“In exchange for doing the governments bidding, and bringing in other pirates, they get to do whatever else they want without fear of the marines.”

“Pretty weird, huh?”

“I’m really looking forward to meeting this Crocodile guy.”

Luffy was the only one. I had never run into any of the war lords. I considered myself lucky that way. The last thing I needed or wanted was anyone associated with the government having knowledge of me or my family. It was bad enough that three of the four emperors did. While they were significantly more powerful than any of the war lords, they were focused solely on their own agendas, none of which included me anymore.

“Crocodile is considered a hero back home. He helps get rid of the pirates, who attack Alabasta. However, his good deeds only appear good on the surface. He is an evil man. In truth, he’s manipulating the citizens of Alabasta to bring about a civil war, so that he can take over the country. No one has realized what Crocodile’s doing yet, not the people, not even my father,” Vivi explained.

I had to give to Crocodile. It was a smart plan. Crocodile would be lauded as a hero, if he successful took over. The man, who brought an end to Alabasta’s civil war. Someone that the people would want to , appearing as a hero, while secretly

“Right. This should be fun. All we have to do is beat up that Crocosilde guy.”

“Yes, but order to do that, we have to avert the civil war in Alabasta and get Baroque Works out of the picture.”

“Baroque Works?” Chopper asked.

“Oh yeah. You don’t know anything about them either. To be honest, I don’t completely understand what’s going on with them myself. They have a really complicated system of agents, bosses and partners.”

“The system is actually pretty simple...”

I followed Vivi’s explanation of the organization, which led to the realization that all of the high-ranking officials were one their way to Alabasta too, as well as many of the 2,000 foot soldiers. Not that averting a civil war was ever going to be easy, but it was getting increasingly more complicated. Luffy’s only concern was Crocodile, which was to be expected. If only, it was only that simple.

“Well first thing’s first. We have to get to Alabasta, but that doesn’t mean you get to mess around until then. Use the next couple of days to get ready.”

We all nodded and voiced our agreement.

“Hey, Mimi?”

“Yeah, Luffy?”

“Since Nami’s all better, does this mean you’ll tell everyone that you’re a vampire?”

Had I been sitting in a chair, I probably would’ve fallen out of it. I wouldn’t really expect anything less from Luffy, but still.

Sanji reacted quickly, making up for my lack of reaction. “Luffy, how dare you insinuate that our lovely Mira is a vampire?! I should kick your teeth down your throat for just suggesting such a thing!”

“A vampire?!” Chopper and Usopp yelled, terrified at the prospect.

“Guys there’s no such thing as vampires. I told you to stop screwing around, Luffy,” Nami scolded.

Unlike the others, Zoro and Vivi had caught on yo my distress. The pair both looked at me. Vivi was concerned, her soft gaze filled with worry. Zoro narrowed his eyes, his gaze wary.

“Mimi,” Luffy whined, two goose eggs on his head, one from Nami and one from Sanji. “You said after Nami got better.”

I should’ve said after Alabasta. That would’ve been smarter.

Luffy was looking at me with a slight pout and those big eyes. It wasn’t a puppy dog pout, but it was close enough for me to cave. ‘Damn it.’ I didn’t think I would ever be immune to a puppy dog pout. I had tried and tried to build up a tolerance to it, but still big eyes and pouty lips usually got me to cave or yell for Cal, so that she could deal with it, but she wasn’t here right now.

“I did,” I said, dragging my hand down my face. “And I thought we agreed that I wasn’t a vampire?”

I had tried figuring out how it was that I was going to go about this. Sure, Luffy believed me right off the bat, but it was Luffy. He was more concerned about Chopper being a magical transforming reindeer than a doctor, a chance to have the devil’s daughter on board, even better. Sanji said he believed me. It sure felt like he did, but maybe that was just part of his nature. After all, Sanji was looking for something that many didn’t think exist, the All Blue. Not that it was a direct correlation, but it seemed that Sanji was more open to the impossible.

“Wait what?” Nami asked, turning to look at me.

Everyone was looking at me.

Sanji, sighed lighting another cigarette and taking a drag.

“Mira, what’s Luffy talking about?” Vivi asked.

“Well, I’m not a vampire, if that helps,” I started. “But I’m not human either.” I gave them a second to take that in.

“You look human,” Chopper said. He sniffed. “You smell human, mostly.”

“Mostly?” Usopp asked.

“She kind of smells like the ocean.”

“I’m still here,” I reminded them, causing the pair to look at me again.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Zoro asked.

“That must be it! You really had us going, Mira!” Usopp slapped his thigh.

“She’s not joking,” Sanji said.

Usopp’s face twisted into a look of confusion.

“You’re in on it, Shit Cook?”

“There’s nothing to be in on,” I interjected, before Sanji and Zoro could start fighting. “Look. Here’s the deal. Many of the legends that people talk about are based in some type of reality. They might have been distorted over time, but there’s usually a shred of truth at their core. I say this, because you’re not going to believe, what I’m about to say. Not at first. Maybe not ever. I can’t change that. I’m not really looking to, but I made a promise to Luffy, so here we go. I’m the daughter of the sea devil.”

I got blank stares. I just kept going. They were going to catch up or sit there in disbelief. If it was the latter, then I could just leave them there stunned and deal with it later.

“And I do mean the sea devil. I’m not just using that phrase to call him an asshole.” ‘Although he is an absolute fucking asshole.’ “It’s through my blood, through him, that I can move water like I do. It’s an ability I was born with. I never ate a devil fruit. The reason why I don’t go into the water is because I can’t use my powers on or when I’m in salt water. And while I’m not immortal like he is, I’m very old and very hard to kill.”

“Isn’t it cool?” Luffy giggled.

“That’s impossible,” Vivi said.

I shrugged. I knew what I was saying was true, but I still felt stupid. It was like telling your older sibling that you were afraid of the monster in your closet, only to have them tell you that, “Monsters aren’t real,” and, “You’re a wuss.” This was a terrible idea. Who the hell just ran around telling people that their the devil’s child?

The air got heavy. Even if they thought I was full of shit, it was clear that I didn’t think so. They were trying to figure out how to deal with the situation. What do you do, when you think your crewmate is starting to lose it?

“Let’s say you really are the sea devil’s daughter. How’d you end up in Logue Town?” Usopp asked. “Wouldn’t you be in like his evil lair or whatever?”

“I washed up there,” I answered honestly.

“Washed up?”

I groaned, my pride taking a hit. “I picked a fight with him, and got my ass kicked, again. He launched me out to sea, and used the currents to beach me at Logue Town.”

“Picked a fight?”

“Our relationship is complicated.”

“How complicated?” Vivi asked. She didn’t seem to believe me, but she also didn’t seem to think that I was totally out of my mind.

“I’ve been trying to kill him for decades now with little to no success.”

“You can’t be serious,” Nami said, seeming to be firmly on the “she’s lost it” side of things. She was annoyed, which wasn’t really surprising. She was concerned about getting Vivi to Alabasta first for foremost. Distracting everybody from their goal for such a stupid sounding confession was bound to piss her off. “The Sea Devil? Really? That’s farfetched, even for Usopp.”

“Yeah, Mira. Can you prove it?” Usopp asked.

“I can prove that I’m not human.” I closed my eyes. When I opened them, my irises, which were a medium shade of grey lighten to a shade of silver that was almost glowing, and my pupils were now rectangular.

Usopp screamed, grabbing onto Chopper, who was shaking.

Nami’s eyes were wide as were Vivi’s. “Back in Little Garden?”

I nodded. I closed them, returning to them to their previous state. “I don’t look human, naturally. The same power that allows me to manipulate water, allows me to change my appearance, so that I can blend in with humans. In Little Garden, I shifted my eyes back, so that that girl’s traps didn’t work on me, since I see things differently.”

“If you are telling the truth, that means you’ve been lying to us from the beginning,” Zoro pointed out. His voice was hard. “In which case, why should we trust you now? How do we know that you’re not a threat?”

I looked over at him. His arms were crossed over his chest. He believed me. He wouldn’t be upset like he was otherwise.

“I have been,” I confirmed. “And you shouldn’t, because you don’t. You don’t know basically anything about me. You know some of my skills, cooking, cleaning, sewing, fighting. You know I’m strong and that I heal quick. You have no idea, where I came from, or what I can do? I never told you, who my father is or that my very presence puts you in danger. That storm that hit us right before Whisky Peak, that was my father’s doing. He doesn’t seem to be fond of the idea of me joining a pirate crew, and there are others out there, who want me dead. Keeping me around is foolish.”

“So you’d leave willingly?”

“No one’s leaving,” Luffy said, matching Zoro’s seriousness.

Zoro’s gaze shifted from me to Luffy. “You’ve already made a decision?”

Luffy nodded.

I think it was finally settling in on the others that what I was saying was true. Luffy believing me was one thing, but Zoro was another. They also had to come to grasp with the realization that they knew very little about me. I had listened to them tell stories about their homes. I had eve asked questions, but had offered up little in return.

“Mira’s a part of this crew. It doesn’t matter, who her dad is. She’s our stewardess. I’m not changing my mind.”

Zoro said nothing, standing up and walking off.

I sighed, leaning my head back against the Merry and closing my eyes.

Sanji patted my shoulder and stood up.

“Don’t even think about it,” I said, opening one eye to look at him. “He’s allowed to be mad, and you’re not going to give him shit for it.” Sanji looked ready to protest.

“Sanji, I’m kind of hungry. Do we have any pudding?” Nami asked.

“I’ll go make some right now, Nami-swan!” Sanji said, rushing towards the kitchen, Nami following behind.

The mention of food, returned Luffy to his usual cheerful energetic self. “Sanji can you make pudding with meat?” He chased after the love struck cook.

Wait! I’ll come with you!” Usopp cried, afraid of being left with me.

That left Vivi and Chopper. Chopper seemed frozen, where he was.

“Mira.”

I looked at Vivi.

“Thanks for telling us,” she said, giving me a small smile. “I know that was hard for you. I don’t know what I believe, but I know that you’re good people, and that’s the important part. I’m sure the others will realize that, even Mr. Bushido.”

I gave her a smile in return.

She stood up and headed inside.

The only one left was Chopper. I felt so bad. Hey welcome to your new home. I’m the daughter of evil incarnate. “You don’t have to stay,” I told him. “It’s okay that you keep your distance. I won’t take it personally. I know you’re scared.”

“No. It’s okay,” he said, sounding the exact opposite. He slowly walked over, taking the spot next to me. I kept my eyes on him, but didn’t interrupt him. “Can I ask you some questions?”

“Sure. I can’t promise I’ll have an answer, but I’ll try.”

“I just- I was gonna ask you guys about your medical histories anyways, so that I have a good background for when I need to treat you, but considering you’re not human, I want to get yours first. I need to know what’s different about you, so that if something goes wrong I can treat you properly.”

I smiled down at him. He was terrified, but still was making sure that he could perform his job to the best of his abilities. “You’re very serious about your work. It’s an admirable.”

“Complimenting me won’t make me happy,” he said.

“Uh huh. Sure. Well… First off, you don’t have to worry much about me. I have advanced healing capabilities and regeneration abilities.”

“Really?!” he asked, sounding amazed.

“Yep.”

“That’s amazing. How does it work? Do you know what this could mean for the medical community? How did it originate? Wait! I need a note book and a pen. I need to document this as part of your history.”

I chuckled at the reindeer. He was so cute, and so excitable.

I stood up. “Come on. Let’s head down to the girl’s room. I’ll fill you in. I can’t tell you much about my parents. My mother died, when I was a toddler, and I don’t know much about my father aside from him being a bastard. Cal would be better at this than me. It’s going to be a lot, if you want to know about injuries though.”

“You’ve had a lot of injuries?” he asked concerned.

“I’ve got advanced healing and regeneration, a tendency to do really dumb stuff and a lot of time. Yeah. I’ve had a lot.”

***

Notes: I don't really like how this turned out. Initially, I wanted to give the sea devil's back story in this too but that was a bit much, especially, because some of them are still struggling with whether or not they even believe what it is that Mira's saying.So just a brief rundown:-Luffy believes her and is excited to have a "not" vampire on the ship.-Zoro's believes her and is pissed, but Luffy's already made a decision, so there isn't anything that he can do about it.-Sanji believes her and is fine with everything.-Usopp's on the fence, and he's scared.-Chopper's believes her and is scared, but has a job to do.-Vivi's confused, but believes that Mira is a good person.-Nami is on the fence, but is more concerned with getting Vivi to Alabasta than anything else, so she'll deal with it later.Also I mentioned that Mira disguises herself as a human and can't use her powers on salt water or when she's in it, and I'll explain that more later, but once again, there are things that I think people are going to be curious about immediately.1.) Oda said that devil fruit users are weak to all water, not just sea water.-She didn't eat a devil fruit. Additionally, this is my fanfic. I'll destroy cannon if I please. If you don't like it, don't read it.2.) Does she get weak in water?-Powerless? Yes. Physically weak? No.3.) Can Mira disguise herself as anything?-Nope. Basically, there's her natural form and then her human one. That's it. She can change the human one's appearance, but not just willy-nilly. It takes time, so she doesn't do it often.Thanks for reading. See yinz next time.

***

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malcolmwritesinspace-blog · 7 years

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A Devil by the Deep Blue Sea

Written for @blitzcastle.

Rama breathes in deep, filling his lungs with salt air. He holds it there for a moment longer than comfortable, letting the brine and the bite of it soak into him. He has not smelled the sea like this, fresh with the morning breeze and untainted by a city’s stench, in far too long. He sighs it back out, and feels a measure of the weight on his broad shoulders expelled out with it to be carried away on the dancing wind. His troubles haven't lessened any, but they always feel lighter, less implacable, when he's in sight of the sea. Perhaps it's because the sea speaks of freedom, of possibilities. Or maybe it's because the vast and abyssal depths of the sea remind you that you are, ultimately, insignificant.

Rama snorts with laughter. He hears that last observation not in his own voice, but one with a sharper wit and a wiser heart. It's a voice he hasn't heard in fourteen years, except in his head. He opens one of the three lockets he wears around his thick neck and smiles fondly at the pictures of a woman with clever eyes and a little girl with those same eyes underneath nubby horns. Melody and Imp. He squeezes the locket, but it only feels like metal. There are two more just like it, and enchanted to connect with one another so long as the holder is alive and on the same plane. Melody took the other two, all those years ago, promising Imp would find hers 'when the time was right'.

He looks out at the sea again and thinks about insignificance. He knows that when Melody talked about it, she meant it in a positive way. He hadn't figured that out, of course, until she explained it. If we accept our own significance, she'd told him one day, we are free to create our own significance. He'd found his in fatherhood.

Footsteps interrupt his thoughts. The grind of boots in thick sand, the smell of leather and oil. Abu. Rama turns and grins at the half-elf. "My friend!" he says expansively. "You're finally here. I've missed you, these long days apart."

Abu'l Hawl, Father of Terror and Conqueror of the Five Castles, once captain of three crews and plunderer extraordinaire, squints at Rama and says, "It's been three hours, Rama. I went to get breakfast." He holds up a sackcloth bag that smells of pastry and fresh fruit. "And yet," he says with a note of resignation, "you couldn't use that time to put a shirt on."

Rama guffaws and slaps his thick, muscled belly. "I'm the spawn of a devil, old friend, I don't need to heed petty mortal conventions."

Abu rolls his eyes and sits down on a chunk of driftwood to share out breakfast.

The two eat in silence, munching on fresh dates and buttery buns and soaking in the sunrise. Rama watches his friend as they eat. Abu stares out to sea, and Rama can see the longing there. The sea was in his blood, even more than Rama's. He'd been born in the Fertile Kingdoms, where the rich rivers ran down from the Spine of the World to the sea. His father had been a poet in a sultan's court and his mother a sea-elf. He has his mother's eyes, large and brilliant green and almond shaped, and the high-cheek-boned handsomeness of his father, and from both brown skin tanned even darker by years of sun and salt. They had sailed together as shipmates, as captains, occasionally as rivals, for decades, and there were few Rama knew or loved as well. Not that he entirely trusted Abu, of course, nor did Abu entirely trust him. They were pirates, after all. Retired, maybe, but still pirates.

The sun is now clear of the horizon and the food is gone. Abu stands, stretches, brushes crumbs off his robes. Then he hesitates, just enough that Rama notices. They are not alone.

Abu comments that he needs to see a man about a dog and walks down the beach a ways before ducking into the tree line. Rama sits on the long and works to keep the tension out of his shoulders despite the pricking down his back as he imagines an assassin's bolt. He has caught of whiff of sulphur on the air.

There is a long silence, just the lapping of the waves and the cawing of the gulls. Far out to sea, Rama sees a xebec in full sail and low in the water, heading to Stalia with a full cargo, and he feels the old instincts tugging at him. Fat, rich, and unsuspecting. He sucks in a breath and imagines instead his daughter, feels his pride for her. If he is to die on this beach, that is what he wants his last thoughts to be of.

There is a sudden and un-assassin-like squawk of alarm from the bushes behind him and the sound of a brief and one-sided struggle. Rama stands, turns to see Abu dragging by the collar a short, unassuming human man onto the beach.

Abu drops the man at Rama's feet and wipes his hands on his robes. "This is probably the least threatening person who's ever tried to kill you, and I'm including that time you were bitten by a baby."

The man is kneeling on the sand, his eye already swelling up where Abu struck him, and glaring at Rama and Abu with a mix of fear and indignation. Rama takes in the man's prissy, expensive clothes and the fat rings on his fingers. The smell of sulphur is stronger now, like he's sweating it. "You know," Rama muses, "he doesn't look like much of an assassin. More like a merchant." Then it hits him, and his lips peel back from his teeth in an expression almost exactly like a smile. "Or a banker. Is that you, Wormwood? Let's see your real face, not this sad sack. It doesn't suit you."

The man on the sand glares at Rama the harder and bares his teeth right back. He shimmers and twists and then he is not a man but a jackal-man, though the fine clothes stay. "Is this how you treat guests now, Rama?" Wormwood barks. He goes to stand, but Abu plants one hand on his shoulder and shoves him back down.

"You're not a guest, flunky," Rama says with venom, "you're an intruder. And I can do with you what I want."

"That's against the rules," Wormwood said, a sudden note of worry in his voice. "Now that I've identified myself you must-"

"<!> the rules!" Nearby, a songbird drops from the air and thrashes on the sand for a moment before fluttering away. Rama guiltily tries to ignore it. Cursing in Infernal is a literal if you really mean it. He also ignores Abu's raised eyebrow. "What does the House want with me?" he asks after a moment. "Your master and I have no business."

Rama can see Wormwood thinking about correcting him, and he resolves to kill the yugoloth right there if he does. Perhaps Wormwood sees this, because he subsides. "Not my master," Wormwood says as he pulls out a leather courier's tube. "Someone else."

Rama takes the tube and snorts. "Since when are you a courier, Wormwood? Get demoted? Finally got caught with sticky paws?"

Wormwood smirks, and a little blood leaks out the corner of his mouth. "Hardly. Just doing a favour for an auditor and his... special... friend."

A cold feeling suddenly grips Rama by the nethers. He pops the seal on the tube and unrolls the message within. He reads, voraciously, ignoring the stares of Abu and Wormwood. He carefully folds the letter back up, and stares out to sea for a long moment. And then he starts to laugh and laugh, and he wipes away a small tear and turns back. Abu has one eyebrow arched, but Wormwood looks disgusted.

"You are a cambion," the yugoloth says, like the words are sour in his mouth. "You weep over a letter from some tiefling girl like you're not the son of-"

Rama punches him hard in the mouth, hard enough to crack teeth, and the jackal-faced creatured topples over in the sand like a sack.

"Feel better?" Abu asks after a moment. He smirks, and uses his toe to push the mumbling, semi-conscious Wormwood over onto his side.

"A little." Rama shrugs. He holds up the letter. "It's from Imp. She's off on her bardic walkabout with Melody's father."

"I thought you didn't trust that guy."

Rama makes a sour face. "I don't really like him, but he knows what he's about."

"Didn't you try to feed him to your crocodiles once?"

"...so?" They laugh together, and Rama sits down on the log. "She fought a dragon. And won."

Abu chuckles. "You must be jealous."

"Insanely."

The half-elf sobers and nudges Wormwood again. The yugoloth whimpers, but doesn't stir. "What's she doing hanging around an auditor, though? That can't be a coincidence. You think Cas-"

"Don't say his name," Rama snaps, with enough force that Abu blinks and leans back a little. Rama holds one hand up in apology. "Sorry. Just... you never know if he'll hearn. But no, I don't think this is about me. My business with... with the House was finished a long time ago. Before she left, Imp said they were joining up with some old friend of her grandfather's on an expedition. If it's funded by the House, there'll be an auditor along. I'd guess Wormwood here offered to act as courier so he could find me."

"And to get Imp under contract," Abu adds darkly.

"And that. I'm going to write a response, you watch Dogbreath there."

The birds sing, the sea waves, the sun rises higher. Eventually, Rama holds up his letter, scatters sand across it to dry the ink. He scowls at his own atrocious penmanship. He's written the letter in Vulgate Minoan, the language Imp grew up speaking on the Pirate Isle, not because he thinks it'll stop Wormwood from snooping if the yugoloth is willing to break the rules that badly but because it'll annoy him. He folds the letter, seals it, places it in the message tube. Abu has roused Wormwood, roughly hauling the yugoloth to his feet.

"Alright, dogbreath," Rama says, relishing the face Wormwood makes, "scurry on back and deliver it." He leans right down into Wormwood's face and waves one meaty, red finger finger under his nose. "And after that maybe you should hand this particular case over to someone else, yeah?"

Wormwood thinks it over. Fear wins, and he nods reluctantly. Rama straightens, Abu lets go of his collar. Wormwood straightens his shirt, dusts it off, and resumes his human guise. The split lip and black eye carry over. He glares at Rama one last time, then poofs with a cloud of soot and the smell of sulphur.

Rama puts his hands on his hips, squares his shoulders, breathes in deep, and, just to annoy Abu, does a pec pop.

The half-elf rolls his eyes. “So the actual reason I wanted to meet out here,” he says drily, “is that I found out- Titan’s blood, man, would you stop that? It’s distracting.”

Pop pop go Rama’s pecs. “Do I distract you, Captain Hawl?” he asks as sweetly as a six-and-a-half-foot tall, bright red devilspawn can.

Abu gives Rama a severe look. “You’re a married man, Rama.”

“You know what they say, old friend, once to sea everyone’s a bachelor.” Pop pop.

“Didn’t you try that with Melody once? Didn’t she stab you?”

“Only a little,” Rama admits cheerfully. Pop.

Abu sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. “Anyways,” he tries again, “I found our friend the Commodore.”

Rama’s chest ceases its quivering for a moment. “Hammersmith? She’s sailing again?”

“Aye. Some Atruschoi duke or other commissioned her to blockade the Strait of Zanclea and force tariffs out of anyone not flying the Atrus flag.”

Rama’s left pec pops almost unconsciously as he thinks. “Is the blockade backed by the capital?”

Abu shrugs. “Not officially, but you know how they are. They’re looking to see how far they can push before the Bashah pushes back.”

“How many ships does she have?”

“At least three proper war galleys with cannon, plus a handful of smaller craft. No idea how the crews are, but knowing The Hammer, they’ll be learning fast.”

Rama chews one lip pensively. “That’s a lot of guesses.” Abu shrugs but doesn’t respond. “How many have you got?”

“Two of my own, plus Heba and Farhat, Sakarbaal, and Xerman.”

“That’s a proper flotilla.”

“Except they have a condition.” Abu takes a breath, and says, “They’ll only do it if you agree to take command. Sakarbaal is a miserable old bull, and there’s no way Xerman will take orders from Heba or Farhat after what happened off Khasab.”

Rama chuckles. “Yeah, they hoisted him good. Who’s funding this?”

“A Stalian conglomerate, but I got the feeling it goes higher than that. We get expenses, a bounty per ship sunk, and favourable terms on prizes.”

“So,” Rama muses to himself. “So we’re being hired to break up illegal activity and help out honest merchants. Doesn’t sound like piracy to me.” He grins at Abu, and pop pop. “Sounds downright heroic. I promised Imp I wouldn’t go on the Round.”

“Of course you did. I’ve got a boat waiting around the point, once you’re dressed.”

“I am dressed. Dressed for the sea.” Pop.

Abu just throws his hands up and stalks away. Rama laughs, then opens the second of the three lockets around his neck. Inside is a rough portrait of an iron-haired, iron-jawed dwarf with a neatly trimmed beard and a jagged scar across her eye. “Alright, nemesis mine. Let’s go do war again.”

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